When the recently dead were kept upright their lower jaws usually fell open. Not always, but usually. Gilroy did not appear to have voided his bladder. Well, that was not a given either, but it also happened many times.
Feeling overly cautious, Clicker paused to consider. He wished he could see Gilroy's other hand. Too many TV shows where the villain has a hidden weapon, he supposed. Still...
Clicker shuffled his feet so that the movements could be heard. Then he silently stepped to a new spot and said loudly, "What I'll do is put a bullet into his brain right from here. If he is still alive, that will finish him."
Clicker expected no response, but he still raised his rifle higher and was ready.
Not ready enough.
Gilroy's eyes snapped open, and his fisted revolver rose with them. Still trying to focus, Gilroy began shooting. His first round plowed dirt near where Bell had shuffled his feet. The second split air closer to Clicker, and Gilroy was squeezing on his third round when Bell killed him.
Although astonished that the man actually lived, Clicker took time to aim his rifle. It paid to hit with the first shot, and Bell did not forget that basic.
Bell aimed high on Gilroy's forehead and squeezed fast. With his scope on lowest power he could hold like a rock. At point blank range his bullet was still rising when it struck Gilroy.
Almost between the eyes, the jacketed round passed through the skull, exploded Gilroy's brain, and buried itself in the earth.
This time, Todd Gilroy was really dead.
Clicker Bell ejected the spent round and chambered a live cartridge. He circled Gilroy's lifeless form and still watched it carefully as he moved in.
Colonel Greg Maynard was right. Snakes sometimes did strike after they were believed dead.
Gilroy's cellular phone was exposed by a gaping pocket, and Bell removed it. He dialed Maynard's number to explain the battle's outcome.
This final call would be on the late and never to be missed, Todd Gilroy.
Chapter 18
December 1999
Greg Maynard replaced the Bell's phone with satisfaction. "And that, by everything that's ever been holy, should be the last lawyer, politician, historian, or archeologist that we have to talk to."
Perched on a high stool at the breakfast counter, Trooper Jason McWide adjusted the squelch on his radio and said, "You forgot the PO-lice, Colonel. Every suit I know has been out here at least twice."
Sydney leaned from the kitchen to ask, "Suit? Is that a tribal term?"
McWide grinned. "Not likely, Sydney. Suit means one of the higher ups in our illustrious law enforcement community—people who never get into uniform. There are certain negative connotations to the usage."
Clicker scowled, "You been taking courses or something, Mac? Those are big words you are tossing around."
McWide was busy with a chocolate chip cookie.
Bell turned to Greg Maynard. "If you had agreed to tell people that we were there and what happened we wouldn't have spent the last two months dodging questions."
"Clicker, our lawyer said to tell 'em nothing. Make them prove everything. Only stupid people fight their own lawyers."
"I hate lawyers."
"Everybody hates lawyers, but we aren't in jail, are we? We aren't being sued, and Iraq is not trying to extradite us."
"When Professor Grant and his team go public next month, we probably will be. He claims he has the front cover of Newsweek for the shield story."
"So what? He isn't mentioning us or how the shield got out of Iraq. You've got to remember, Click, that even Shelby doesn't know what happened. All he can say is that he got up one morning and the shield was leaning against his door."
Clicker was scornful. "Two times two still equals four, Colonel. That's why you've been on the phone all of the time."
McWide hoisted his top-heavy body erect and planted his hat on his head with the brim almost down to his nose. "Everybody in Wyoming knows that you two went into Iraq and dug up that shield, Colonel. I don't know who you think you are fooling."
"They don't know, Jason. They just think they do. Who, beside you and a few other friends, could testify to anything, and your testimony would be only hearsay.
''The point is not to fool anyone. The point is to not admit anything. The proof lies with them, and there is no way in hell they can prove anything."
Clicker was disdainful, "We never left a trace, right? Except for two pilots who got us close. George Patton who drove us closer, and two Jordanians who went with us. There are probably fingerprints all over that hide, if the Iraqis looked, and the small point that we had once been there—as had Gilroy. Plus Gilroy's letter, Gilroy's attack on you and me, and Henri Deladier's testimony, if they ever haul him into court. Yep, we really got away clean."
Maynard pointed out, "We're coming across as heroes, Click, not villains. Relax. It's about over."
McWide was at the door when Sydney brought him a plastic bag of cookies.
The big trooper was as appreciative as usual.
"Thanks, Syd. Your cookies are nice when I am out there patrolling the lonely and dangerous highways and byways of our magnificent state, standing staunchly between vicious criminals and the helpless innocent, protecting the citizenry."
Clicker said, "Good-by, Mac." And McWide departed.
Bell said, "I hope you didn't give him all of those chocolate chips, Syd. He gets loaded down about every day and I run out about noon."
"There are enough to go around, Clicker."
It was Saturday, and the ranch duties were light. Greg Maynard especially liked the weekends when they loafed around, usually at Clicker and Sydney's lodge.
He heard McWide's tires grind as he wheeled his police car out of the yard. The trooper was a regular who had become a friend.
Of all of the officials who had appeared at the Sixplex to get in on or feed from the mysterious shield, only the amiable McWide had become family.
With Clicker's wound virtually healed, and Clicker and Sydney now man and wife, well ... well, Maynard couldn't see how it could get much better.
On top of that, he had something intriguing to talk about and maybe propose. Now, seemed a good time.
He began with an aside. "No one has claimed Gilroy's body, Click. Looks like he goes in the county's poverty row."
Bell did not even bother to answer.
Maynard said, "I got a call from Professor Grant earlier this morning."
"What's the prof got to say?"
"Well, you know he has been in close touch with the Irkutsk University professors."
"Yeah?" There was something in Maynard's suddenly oily tones that Bell mistrusted.
"Well, as you know, the old Soviet Union never gave out a secret they didn't have to, and the new Russia is little better, but lately, because of the Khan's shield, I suppose, the professors over there have opened up a little to Shelby Grant, and something pretty interesting has surfaced."
Bell did not comment on the lengthy sentence, which made Maynard nervous.
"Anyway, it seems that there is more writing concerning the Khan's caravan, and in particular, the treasures carried by the big camel."
Clicker stirred, and his voice was darkly suspicious. He knew Greg Maynard, and he could feel something coming at him that he wouldn't enjoy. Maynard could be like that, easing in from the side before dropping some huge bomb into the middle of everything.
"Like what, Colonel?"
It was not going as comfortably as Maynard had hoped. Sydney had gone outside, and that might be just as well. He decided to make it fast.
"Well, they had a book stored within the curve of the great shield. The book was written on plates of gold, and...."
Bell rose and limped toward the cookie plate. He only limped when he wished to send messages. Maynard hurried on.
"The book told the history of the Great Khan's reign, and it just might have...."
Bell said, "I'm not going, and that is final."
; "Damn it, Clicker, I haven't even finished."
"I know what you are going to say. You are going to claim that the Iraqis probably didn't even dig in that hide. They figured we had gotten what we came for. You're going to say that the ATVs are already over there, and that we've got men who will help, and that the plane is already rigged, and that ... I'm not going, and that is final."
Maynard was placating. "Don't get all heated up, Click. I was just thinking that with the rifles still over there, in case we got into difficulty, and with all of the GPS fixes we have, it wouldn't be very hard to get in and out in two days. Most of the digging is already done. The book is probably only a few inches deeper—there for the taking, you might say."
He watched for Bell's reaction, but Clicker was turned away. Maynard thought his back looked stiff.
"Just imagine, Click. A golden book. It might be something like the Book of Mormon. Who could say? If we don't get it, someone else will go for it as soon as word of the book's existence gets out. Why...."
"Let 'em have it, Colonel, it's not ours, anyway."
"I hate having the Iraqis come up with the thing." There was no response.
"I suppose I could go in alone. Maybe take George Patton. He would jump at the chance."
"Yeah, right. What a killer of a team that would be."
"I guess Patton and I wouldn't be the best if something did turn wrong, but...."
There was extended silence.
Bell said, "Sydney would not let either of us go, Greg."
Maynard cautioned himself to proceed gently. "We wouldn't be going next week, Click. There would be preparations, and...."
"I'm not going, Colonel."
After a while Clicker said, "By now, those Kawasakis are probably junk."
"It's only been a few months, and those machines are tough."
"The odds are the book got thrown out when the camel panicked and ran. It won't be there, anyway."
"The shield was."
Carefully, Greg, carefully.
Clicker said, "Man, I hate that country!"
"You know, Click, we won't have many more chances in our lives to enjoy real adventures. Opportunities like this never come to most men." Maynard's voice had turned wistful.
"We'd only be over there for a few days. Imagine—a golden book thousands of years old. Imagine what it might reveal. Imagine...."
"I told you. I'm not going!"
"Well, you're probably right, Click. We aren't that young anymore, either of us, and...."
"We're young enough, Colonel. We could pick that book out from under their noses. That's not the point." Clicker was angry at himself for sniffing around the bait.
"But we aren't going, Colonel. Neither of us, and that is final!"
Sure it was.
Clicker Bell could not see Greg Maynard's twisted grin.
About Roy Chandler
Roy F. Chandler retired following a twenty year U.S. Army career. Rocky then taught secondary school for seven years before becoming a full-time author of more than sixty books and countless magazine articles. Since 1969, he has written thirty-one published novels and as many nonfiction books on topics such as hunting, architecture, and antiques.
Now 87 years of age, Rocky Chandler remains active and still rides his Harley-Davidson across the continental United States.
He divides his time among Nokomis, FL, St Mary's City, MD, and Perry County, PA.
Rocky Chandler: Author, Educator, Soldier, Patriot in 2012
Books by Roy Chandler
Reading order of fiction books in the Perry County Series
Friend Seeker
The Warrior
Arrowmaker
The Black Rifle
Fort Robinson
Ironhawk
Song of Blue Moccasin
Tim Murphy, Rifleman
Hawk's Feather
Shatto
Chip Shatto
Shatto's Law (Ted's Story)
The Boss's Boy
Tiff's Game
Cronies
The Didactor
The Perry Countian
The Sweet Taste
Old Dog
Gray's Talent
Ramsey
Shooter Galloway
Shatto's Way
All Books By Publication Date
All About a Foot Soldier, 1965 (A colorful book for children)
History of Early Perry County Guns and Gunsmiths (With Donald L. Mitchell), 1969
A History of Perry County Railroads, 1970
Alaskan Hunter: a book about big game hunting, 1972
Kentucky Rifle Patchboxes and Barrel Marks, 1972
Tales of Perry County, 1973
Arrowmaker, 1974
Hunting in Perry County, 1974
Antiques of Perry County, 1976
The Black Rifle, 1976
Homes, Barns and Outbuildings of Perry County, 1978
Shatto, 1979
The Perry County Flavor, 1980
Arms Makers of Eastern Pennsylvania, 1981
The Didactor, 1981
Fort Robinson: A novel of Perry County Pennsylvania, the years 1750-63, 1981
Friend Seeker: A novel of Perry County PA, 1982
Gunsmiths of Eastern Pennsylvania, 1982
Perry County in Pen & Ink, 1983
Shatto's Way: A novel of Perry County, Pa, 1984
Chip Shatto: A novel of Perry County Pennsylvania, the years 1863-6, 1984
Pennsylvania Gunmakers (a collection), 1984
Firefighters of Perry County, 1985
The Warrior, A novel of the frontier, 1721-1764, 1985
Perry County Sketchbook (And Katherine R. Chandler), 1986
A 30-foot, $6,000 Cruising Catamaran, 1987
The Gun of Joseph Smith (With Katherine R. Chandler), 1987
The Perry Countian, 1987
Hawk's Feather - An Adventure Story, 1988
Ted's Story, 1988
Alcatraz: The Hardest Years 1934-1938 (With Erville F. Chandler), 1989
Cronies, 1989
Song of Blue Moccasin, 1989
Chugger's Hunt, 1990
The Sweet Taste, 1990
Tiff's Game: A work of fiction, 1991
Tuck Morgan, Plainsman (Vol. 2) (With Katherine R. Chandler), 1991
Death From Afar I (And Norman A. Chandler), 1992
Kentucky Rifle Patchboxes All New Volume 2, 1992
Behold the Long Rifle, 1993
Death From Afar II: Marine Corps Sniping (And Norman A. Chandler), 1993
Old Dog, 1993
Tim Murphy, Rifleman: A novel of Perry County, Pa. 1754-1840, 1993
Death From Afar Vol. III: The Black Book (And Norman A. Chandler), 1994
The Kentucky Pistol, 1994
Ramsey: A novel of Perry County Pennsylvania, 1994
Gray's Talent, 1995
Hunting Alaska, 1995
Last Black Book, 1995
Dark Shadow (The Red book series), 1996
Death From Afar IV (And Norman A. Chandler, 1996
Morgan's Park (Vol. 3) (With Katherine R. Chandler), 1997
White Feather: Carlos Hathcock USMC scout sniper (And Norman A. Chandler), 1997
Death From Afar V (And Norman A. Chandler), 1998
Ironhawk: A frontier novel of Perry County Pennsylvania 1759-1765, 1999
Sniper One, 2000
One Shot Brotherhood (And Norman A. Chandler), 2001
Shooter Galloway, 2004
The Hunter's Alaska, 2005
The Boss's Boy, 2007
Pardners, 2009
Hawk's Revenge, 2010
Antique Guns (included above)
History of Early Perry County Guns and Gunsmiths (With Donald L. Mitchell), 1969
Kentucky Rifle Patchboxes and Barrel Marks, 1972
Arms Makers of Eastern Pennsylvania, 1981
Gunsmiths of Eastern Pennsylvania, 1982
Pennsylvania Gunmakers (a c
ollection), 1984
Kentucky Rifle Patchboxes All New Volume 2, 1992
Behold the Long Rifle, 1993
The Kentucky Pistol, 1994
Hunting
Alaskan Hunter: a book about big game hunting, 1972
Choose the Right Gun, 1994
Hunting Alaska, 1995
The Hunter's Alaska, 2005
Sniper Series
Death From Afar I (And Norman A. Chandler), 1992
Death From Afar II: Marine Corps Sniping (And Norman A. Chandler), 1993
Death From Afar Vol. III: The Black Book (And Norman A. Chandler), 1994
Death From Afar IV (And Norman A. Chandler), 1996
White Feather: Carlos Hathcock USMC Scout Sniper (And Norman A. Chandler), 1997
Death From Afar V (And Norman A. Chandler), 1998
Sniper One, 2000
One Shot Brotherhood (And Norman A. Chandler)
Gun of Joseph Smith Trilogy (Young Adult)
Gun of Joseph Smith, The (With Katherine R. Chandler), 1987
Tuck Morgan, Plainsman (Vol. 2) (With Katherine R. Chandler), 1991
Morgan's Park (Vol. 3) (With Katherine R. Chandler), 1997
Children's Books
All About a Foot Soldier, 1965