Read Online The Journal: Fault Line (The Journal Book 5) by Deborah D. Moore - Free Book Online Page B

the public? It
would have better access.”
    “While that’s true, it’s also the drawback.
Once word gets out I’m giving everything away, it would be a free
for all and we may have a riot,” Trevor explained. “Out on the
highway there will still be a lot of traffic, but it would be more
controllable.” He paused. “That makes me think of another option.”
He pulled his note pad closer and started writing, picked up the
blue pencil and drew more lines, then used the red.
    “What’s the first thing you need to do,
Trevor?” Christine asked, pulling his attention back to the
drawing.
    “The number one priority will be to visit
each store and assess what’s on hand. Come on.” He pulled her up
from the chair and hugged her, then pushed her to arm’s length and
smiled. “This is going to be quite the adventure. Are you
ready?”
    “Let me grab my purse and a jacket.”
     
    ***
     
    Trevor backed his delivery step-van into his
reserved spot behind the store on Main Street. He punched a code
into the alarm and opened the service door to let Christine in and
turned on the lights. He stopped to write something down on his
pad.
    “Can you help me to remember to change the
keypad codes at each store?” he asked, and she nodded. He stood
there a few minutes, reprogramming that entrance code.
    Christine looked around at the crowded room.
The amount of boxes and crates astonished her. “What’s that?” she
asked, pointing to the large coolers.
    “Those are the store rooms for, and access
to, the coolers out front,” Trevor replied. “Whenever the cooler
runs low on milk or water, we come back here and fill from behind,
pushing everything forward. That way everything stays rotated, and
the stock stays cold.” He led the way to the front of the
store.
    “There looks to still be a lot on the
shelves, but I can see that there is a lot less than usual,”
Christine said, walking the short aisles, stopping in the bakery
section. “Even if most of your suppliers can’t get across the
earthquake zone, can’t you still get bread and milk?”
    “For a while, sure. However, the bakery in
the next town still needs flour to make the bread and that flour
comes from out west. Once they run out, they can’t get resupplied
either.”
    “Oh,” Christine said. “I suddenly feel stupid
and ignorant about all this.”
    “Stupid and ignorant are two vastly different
things. Ignorance is the absence of knowledge. Stupidity is the
inability, or the lack of willingness, to gain that knowledge. You,
my dear, are not stupid, and you’ve never had the need for
some of this information so we can and will fix that.” He moved
around behind the counter.
    “With the lights on in here aren’t people
going to know someone is inside?” Christine asked nervously. “Maybe
we should come back at night.”
    “The lights would be even more obvious at
night. Right now, the lighting blends in with the daylight. We just
need to be quiet,” Trevor answered. “Give me a hand with some
boxes?”
    Together they filled a dozen boxes with
cigarettes and liquor bottles from the shelves behind the counter,
setting the filled boxes by the back door.
    “There’s still more back here,” Christine
commented, looking behind the counter.
    “If we take everything, it will look
suspicious. Besides, I have an idea, and I’ll explain over
lunch.”
    Retrieving the boxes the bottles came in,
Christine filled another six boxes with wine from the shelves, and
another three from the cooler. “What about all this milk?”
    “Leave it. It’s still good and people should
have some. Let’s see what we’ve got in back so far,” Trevor said,
leading the way into the stock room, shutting off the front
lights.
    After surveying the piles of boxes, Trevor
and Christine started loading the back of the van, acutely aware
they would need to make two trips. After unloading the van into the
cavernous storeroom at Spring Hill, they took a break