Orchid Blues (Holly Barker 2)

"I don't know, but Ham and I were spotted immediately as not being on the party list, and three men came over and checked us out."

"Give you a hard time?"

"In a polite way. When they heard that we, especially Ham, were ex-military, they relaxed a little. Ham dropped a few names- Vietnam, Desert Storm-and they seemed to like that."

"You get their names?"

"One was named Peck Rawlings."

Harry took out a notebook and wrote down the name.

"The other two we talked to were named Jim Cross and James Farrow."

Harry wrote them down. "I'll run them through the system and see if the computer likes them."

"I'd appreciate that. They had one hell of a firepower demonstration, too." Holly told him about the pit and the old cars.

"I've heard of that sort of thing. It's how they get their jollies, I guess."

"I guess."

"And they had this weapon called a Barrett's rifle."

"That, I know about," Harry said. "It was one of the reasons for the raid on that Branch Davidian place, out in Waco."

"How so?"

"Our people got a report that they had one or more Barrett's rifles; that's why all that armor was brought in. There were rumors that a round from that thing would penetrate a Bradley fighting vehicle. Nobody knew for sure, and that made everybody very nervous."

"I can see how it might," Ham said. He told Harry about his experience with the Barrett's rifle in Iraq.

"Very scary weapon," Harry said, nodding.

"I find this little town scary," Holly said. "It has really given me the willies. Can you check it out?"

Harry looked serious. "Well, if this is a tight little group, like the Branch Davidians, it takes a lot of time to penetrate one of those. I don't think it would be good for me to just send a carload of agents out there and start questioning people. Better they don't know we're looking at them."

"I think Ham might hear from them again," Holly said. "They seemed real interested in him."

Harry turned to Ham. "You think they might contact you?"

Ham shrugged. "Who knows?"

"If they do, will you play along a little?"

Ham shrugged again. "Let's see how it goes. I don't have much time for people like that."

"Don't mention that to them," Harry said.

18

Holly arrived at her office on Monday morning to find a message to call Joy Williams at Southern Trust; it was marked "urgent." Holly picked up the phone.

"Joy Williams."

"Hi, Joy, it's Holly Barker, from the Orchid Beach Police Department."

"Oh, Chief," Williams said. "Thanks for calling me back so quickly."