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“New wire’s going to the new subdivision out on Huffine. Prairie dogs are all over the place. Thought we’d get a little target practice in over lunch.”
Prairie dogs were everywhere in the West. They tore up open fields by burrowing entire towns underground and were shot for fun on private land. Barbaric, but natural selection at work.
The rifle stayed right on Robber until the cops arrived. The fifty-something guy on the cell must have updated the police to the various weaponry in the store and how they had Robber contained. Thankfully, they didn’t shoot all of us and ask questions later.
Two minutes after the police swarmed in and took Robber into custody, the fire department rolled up, sirens blaring.
I was being questioned by an officer named Dempsey out in front of the building. Forty-ish and kind, he took his time gettingmy statement. Ty walked up in his fire uniform, navy T-shirt and yellow bunker pants and boots. Red suspenders. God, the red suspenders made my heart skip a beat. “Can you give us a minute?” he asked the officer.
Boy, I was glad to see him. My adrenaline had worn off and left me weary and shaky. It felt really great to see a familiar face. Comforting in all the insanity. I craved a hug and a kiss right behind my ear.
“What the hell are you doing here?” he asked through clenched teeth. Obviously, he was trying not to shout as the veins on his neck stuck out like he was about ready to stroke out.
“Getting gas.”
He looked from the store to my car in front of one of the pumps. “That’s it?”
I twisted my hand back and forth. “You know, the usual stuff that happens to anyone at a convenience store. I watched some lunatic hold up the store five feet in front of me with a bowie knife before three well-armed citizens cold cocked him and held him at gunpoint.”
“Do you have a gun?” he asked as he looked me over, as if I had a holster like the Old West slung around my hips.
“Um, no. I don’tdoguns. My part in the whole thing involved staying out of the way, then handing over a roll of duct tape I found in the household section to tie him up.”
Ty closed his eyes and I could swear I saw him counting to ten in his head. A vein pulsed at his temple. “Are you okay?”
He looked me over again. It wasn’t heated, but clinical.
“Fine,” I replied. “But I forgot my tea.”
He lifted a brow and shook his head slowly. His hands went to his hips. “Jesus,” he muttered.
We both watched Robber carried out by two officers, held up by his armpits. They hadn’t traded the duct tape for handcuffs. Must’ve done a good trussing job. He shouted and ranted aboutneeding money but was ignored. An EMT approached and the officers placed him face down on a gurney to be taken to the hospital.
“That guy’s out of his mind,” Ty commented as they slid the gurney into the back of the bus and shut the door. Quiet returned.
“He has to be on some kind of drugs.”
“Meth. Word out is there’s a new shipment around town. Churchill fire had a mobile home burn to the ground the other night. Meth lab. Something big is happening in the area but we don’t know what yet.”
Churchill was a tiny town fifteen minutes west of Bozeman. More Bozemanites were moving that way for cheaper home prices and a longer commute into work.
“Great. I’d hoped my kids would grow up in a safe, drug-free place.”
“Meth’s everywhere, even Bozeman,” he commented. “This lunatic goes into the store waving a knife around and three men jump him with guns?”
“One of the utility workers had a knife, the other a gun. Another guy was getting gas, saw the man through the door and took his hunting rifle out of the window rack of his truck.”
“Shit,” Ty said. He stepped back and walked around in circles swearing. He returned to face me and ran his hands over his face. “I can’t do this. You’re like a magnet for disaster.”
“Me?” I asked. My voice rose as much as his.
He poked a finger into my shoulder. “You! Who else would have a man steal something off their doorstep, practically get blown up and then get involved in a holdup?”
Was he losing his mind?
“It wasn’t my fault the guy robbed the store. I was just getting a tea!”
“Exactly,” he countered immediately. “You weren’t eventrying. I can only imagine what kind of disasters you can create when you actually try!”
