Read Online Frontier Justice - 01 by Arthur Bradley - Free Book Online Page A

matching hose, attached to the pump’s output port, was routed into a large gas can. When everything was in place, Carl activated the drill, and fuel began pumping from the tank into the can.
    “That’s handy,” Mason said, thinking how his method of fuel retrieval paled in comparison.
    “John rigged that up for us,” Jules said with a proud smile. “It’s simple, but simple is good when everything’s falling down around you.”
    After watching for a couple of minutes, Mason said, “I’m going to check on a friend. I’ll be back in a few.”
    Carl nodded, not taking his eyes off the drill pump system.
    Mason walked around to the back of the building. The dog was still in the same condition as when he had left. He poured some bottled water into one of the makeshift bowls and dumped some cat food into the other. He set them on the seat and lifted the animal’s head so that it could eat and drink. It didn’t take long for the dog to start lapping up the water. When it had drained a full bowl, it turned its attention to the cat food. It quickly finished two of the small cans before laying its head back down on the seat.
    “All right, let’s see if you can keep that down,” Mason said, petting him on the back of his neck. The dog stared up at him, obviously enjoying the attention.
    “You’re going to need a name.”
    The dog looked at Mason intently, its ears folded back.
    “You’re big, that’s for sure. And determined to stay alive. Plus you’ve got those two mismatched eyes, as if your body couldn’t decide which one to choose. Hmm … What shall it be? Twinkles?”
    The dog stared at him without any reaction.
    “No? Grizzly then?”
    Again, nothing.
    Mason thought for a moment.
    “I’ve got it. I’m going to call you Bowie.”
    The dog tipped its head sideways.
    “It’s perfect. There’s Jim Bowie, the famous frontiersman and hero of the Alamo, and there’s David Bowie, the musician with two different eyes. Not sure if they’re different colors, but that’s close enough. Sound good?”
    The dog set its head back down and licked the seat to see if any cat food might have spilled out.
    Mason patted the big mutt on its side.
    “I can’t promise things are going to get any easier for you, Bowie. But fate brought us together, so let’s see what else she has in store for us.”

    After saying goodbye to Carl, Jules, and John, Mason spent the next few hours carefully searching the convenience store and burned-out automotive repair shop. He loaded up several plastic crates from the back of the store with an assortment of snacks, cigarettes, batteries, toiletries, and over-the-counter medications, all of which could be useful, or, at the very least, traded as barter goods.
    In the garage, he found a large rack of car and truck parts, several cases of motor oil, four brand new Diehard batteries, a couple more empty fuel cans, and a red metal chest filled with hand tools. His greatest find, however, was a two-kilowatt inverter. The unit, which was about the size of a thick briefcase, would enable him to convert DC battery power into AC power. It even had an adapter that allowed it to be plugged directly into a car’s cigarette lighter. While two kilowatts wasn’t a great deal of power, it was enough to power a microwave oven, a computer, or nearly any other small electronic item with a standard three-prong plug.
    When Mason came across an automobile fuel pump and some rubber tubing, he decided to try to build a fuel retrieval system similar to the one that Carl had demonstrated. He started by securing the fuel pump to a small piece of plywood using metal straps and wood screws. Next, he attached a ten-foot length of tubing to the input and output ports. For power, he wired the pump’s terminals to one of the car batteries using an electrical switch that he took out of the partially burned wall.
    He carried the apparatus over to the fuel ports that Carl had explained earlier and lowered the input