by H.T. Phair
"You've come a long way, haven't you?"
"Yes," her voice was filled with resignation, "I certainly have."
She handed the hotel clerk forty dollars and he replied with the room key. The woman turned to leave the warmth of the office when the clerk interrupted her departure.
"Miss," she gave him only a sideways glance, "you enjoy your stay in North Carolina now."
The woman ignored the remark and proceeded into the cold January night.
"Yankee Bitch," The clerk mused at the closing door.
The woman walked towards the rows of locked doors facing the parked cars. A second woman stepped out from the shadows and fell in line behind the first. Both continued in tandem without missing a step. They moved like some four legged creature of one mind, one purpose.
Once in the room, they conducted what had become their nightly ritual. Locking, then barricading the door, drawing the heavy drapes before unpacking the two large nylon shoulder bags. They carefully removed the guns and ammunition; lining the weapons along the bed furthest from the door. Once the bags were emptied, the two women set about checking, cleaning, and loading each gun before replacing them in the bags. For the remaining hours, they would alternate between standing watch and sleeping. To be caught unprepared would risk capture and that would never do for these two pursuers of truth. Never.
In the pre-dawn hours, as Grady slept, Jamie wondered when it would end. The outcome would be their death; that was not to be questioned. When was the only unknown.
"Is it my shift?" the voice was no more than a whisper as Grady got to her feet.
"When do you think they'll get us?" Jamie needed to hear Grady's guess.
She sat, cross legged, on the floor next to Jamie. Her back firm against the wall and her eyes fixed on the small opening in the drape which provided a view of the outside of the door. Grady sighed before answering. She took a moment to count in her mind.
"We might get in two or three more eliminations before they anticipate our next logical target. The government may be corrupt but it's not stupid," Grady smiled slightly.
"It needed to be more, you know? To really make a statement that could not be ignored. We needed bigger numbers," Jamie was desperate for sleep but wanted to talk. "All we did was inconvenience them."
"I know," Grady could not disagree. "Jamie, after this one let's go back to New Hampshire for a while."
"Is that smart? They must know about the cabin. They'll be waiting." "Right but I still want to do it," Grady smiled broadly. "Let us pick our finest hour and the means of our own end."
"And we take out a few more bad guys with us?" Jamie spoke the hidden plan aloud.
"Most definitely," Grady smirked.
1 INJURED
Durham, N.C. - Three postal workers were killed and one customer seriously wounded when two masked gunmen burst into the local post office. Witnesses reported that the two entered at the stroke of noon with guns blazing. Witnesses observed that the two left as soon as their gun clips were empty. Robbery does not appear to be a motive as nothing was stolen. Police are downplaying a possible connection to three other post office shootings on the east coast. In each of those cases, masked gunmen stormed small post offices at noon firing automatic weapons. The FBI denies that the shooting are connected to each other in any way other than coincidences. Officials report there are few leads in the shootings and no apparent motive.
