The Devil's Pet

Chapter 15

Saturday June 27, 2008

As Sam had instructed, Sean did some research on sourcing weapons, legally--for now. He hadn’t been in a gun store for many years and didn’t want to waste his time with smaller shops so he decided to visit The Artillery Store in Elgin the next morning. The store was even larger than he had expected and well named--it looked like it had everything one would need to start a small war.

The proprietor was a colorful fellow who called himself Emperor Bob, “that’s EB for short”. EB wasn’t very friendly at first, wary would be more like it, when Sean tried to strike up a conversation about what he would need for home protection. It was apparent that Sean wasn’t very knowledgeable about guns, maybe that was it. EB waved his hand toward the store telling Sean to take a look around and ask if he had any ‘good’ questions.

Walking around the low bunker-like concrete building, it reminded him of part Army Surplus Store and part IRA Outpost. All the usual military clothing was there, plus an immense assortment of guns—handguns, rifles, assault rifles, shotguns, you name it, was behind the front counter. Hanging on the wall that ran the length of the store were hundreds more, even an 81mm mortar tube and a fifty caliber machine gun mounted on a tripod with a sign “For Display Only”.

Several large cases of knives ran down the center aisle, every kind of knife you could think of from an antique Boy Scout Classic to a modern soldier of fortune killing blade. Then there was an entire section of holsters and knife sheaths designed to conceal just about any weapon.

Sean was sure he had come to the right place.

By now he had become more accustomed to his new senses, meaning they didn’t overwhelm him anymore, but he was still learning to use them effectively. One effect was that he periodically would look at his hands and touch the tips of his fingers to his thumbs one at a time. He had never been very good at his but now he could do it so quickly his fingers were a blur. He stood in the middle of an isle watching his hands work as if they belonged to someone else.

Although he was on the other side of the store he heard two low voices conversing, a man and a woman. He couldn’t make out the entire conversation but he was sure they were talking about him. “I’m telling you it’s him, it’s him!  I have to go talk to him.”

It didn’t take long for EB to recognize Sean. Turns out, Emperor Bob was a big fan who had been following the news accounts of Chicago’s Reluctant Hero with rapt interest. EB was a Vietnam Vet who considered himself a defender of the second amendment, and was always on the lookout for self defense stories like Sean’s.

“It’s a real pleasure to meet you Mr. Collins!  Hot Damn!  Sean Collins in my store!  I’m sorry I was kind of cold to you when you first came in, I’m not a morning person and I didn’t have my coffee yet and I didn’t recognize you, oh shit I’m rambling aren’t I? I ramble when I get nervous. Maybe I should shut up and let you do the talking for a change?”

“EB this is an impressive store you have here. I think I came to the right place.” 

EB was positively glowing with the compliment. Sean needed help and it seemed like he would find it here.

“I’m going to confide in you EB, the police want me to go under their protection because of possible retaliation for what I did, I guess murderers have a lot of friends. So I need to be able to protect myself from these kinds of people, I need more than the ordinary home defense solution.”  He told EB a believable story.

“And that’s why you came here? Well, I’m glad I paid extra for the yellow pages ad my friend. Missy, lock the doors and put out the ‘closed’ sign, I’m giving Mr. Collins my undivided attention.”