Russle Stevens, the plant liaison, hadn’t gone back to work when he’d left the Major stranded at the riverbank.

It didn’t look like his day had gotten any better as he knelt in the old Methodist church courtyard with a gun trained on his temple.

Mr. Thomas had been a surly old homebody, but he had two boys who helped him with the little farm they kept on that side of town. Todd and Aaron Thomas, who went by Bud and Ace, were no strangers to trouble. The Chief of police here in town knew their address by heart. They could be counted on for a drunk and disorderly or even drug smuggling a few times a year.

None of that compared to this situation. My blood ran cold watching the two men standing on either side of Mr. Stevens with their hunting rifles aimed at his head. That was problematic on its own, but it was getting worse by the minute as I got closer and noticed the two Plant MP’s laying crumpled at their feet.

I had ordered the Major to wait in the car when we arrived. The chaos of screaming and gunfire on the radio had been followed by seven slow-moving minutes of absolute silence before we reached the main strip in town.

I didn’t have time to argue when I saw him step out of the car. I just hoped he would stay back and keep his mouth shut.

From my vantage point, I was hidden from the Thomas boys. I contemplated the best way to de-escalate the situation, but I was coming up blank. There was nothing for it but to address it head-on.

Before I could change my mind, I moved into the scene with my hands held out. I was not about to get shot today. Ace tensed, and I knew he’d seen me. The knuckles on his hands turned white. With a subtle nod, he pointed Bud in my direction, too.

Todd twitched. His eyes seemed to drift in and out of focus.

“Miss Eva, what a pleasure to see you.” He said with a smile that was anything but comforting. It dropped abruptly as he continued, “Now, this ain’t a town matter. It’s a family matter.”

“It’s a damn criminal matter you…” started Stevens.

I cut my eyes to a panicked stick of a man. He looked just about wound up enough to do something stupid.

“Shut up, Stevens,” I said through clenched teeth. “You’re not helping.”

He gaped at me like a fish on land, opening and closing his mouth before finally deciding to heed my warning. His glare shifted from the brothers to me and back again.

“Okay, Bud, I’m unarmed, see?” I held up my hands higher “I just want to talk with you a bit. Is that okay? Can you tell me what happened here?”

For a brief moment, his eyes were focused and clear— and full of anguish.

“My Pa is dead and gone, and this fuckin’ plant scum came in with his goons and tried to take me and Ace in like we had somethin’ to do with it.”

He spat in Stevens’ direction. It didn’t take much to imagine how Stevens had come in with a power trip and walked right into the worst tempers in town on the worst day of their lives, and it had escalated to a fever pitch. I was hoping against hope that the MP’s on the ground were just knocked out because I didn’t see any other way the brothers were coming out alive.

I lowered my hands and casually waved in Stevens’ direction.

“Oh, that’s just Russ. He works at the plant, but he doesn’t have any power. He’s just trying to figure out what happened.” I said.

Stevens looked like a rod had been rammed down his back. He had the nerve to bristle at my description. Sweat dripped down my neck as I strained in the effort of willing him to stay silent.

“Oh yeah?” Ace’s voice answered to my left. “What about this guy? Bet they’d get the point if we took him out.”  

My heart raced as Ace and his buddy Jake Long hurled the Major to the ground next to Stevens. They had zip-tied his hands, and his face hit the pavement with a sickening crunch.

My hands flew to my mouth, but before I could make a move, a herd of armored gunmen flooded the square and killed Ace with a single shot. He fell back, crumpling just like the man in the suit had all those years ago. It was a new fight in Charon now.