Down the Road: The Fall of Austin by Bowie Ibarra Page A

strongly to a person
he could know exactly where they were when they were not around. It
was an ability he knew he had, as well as his family. But it was
their secret. Having been around his fireteam members long enough
to connect to their spiritual energies of hate and anger, they were
forever bound to him, and would never be lost while he was
around.
    Spc. Knight approached Talltree from the
senate chambers, escorting two women to the restroom. Talltree
nodded subtly to the group as they passed.
    The trio passed the three guards under the
rotunda.
    “Hey,” Knight said.
    “Don’t squeeze the Charmin , Knight,”
Rodriguez chuckled, eyeing the well-dressed female senators as they
passed.
    As the trio walked further away, Rodriguez
leaned toward Garrison and whispered, “I’d fuck them.” A smile
spread across his lips. “And if they didn’t want to fuck, I’d fuck
them anyway.” Garrison and Rodriguez shared a laugh.
    It was hard to like anything about Spc.
Garrison. It wasn’t that he was overtly mean or cruel like his
fireteam compatriots. It was more the fact that he was simply a no
talent kiss-ass. He was smart enough to establish himself as a
confidante to the well-positioned within any establishment or
league he was working with. Using that influence, he would
reposition himself within the organization and have his opposition
dismissed by the powers that be—even opposition that had earned the
role.
    Spc. Rodriguez was a force within fireteam
Nickson, and it was important to Garrison to maintain his
trust.
    A short man, Garrison had a chubby face like
a three year old who eats too much junk food. An unsanctioned
graying goatee fell from his chin that made him look just that much
more foolish.
    Spc. Goodson, the only fireteam Arnold member
placed with Garrison and Rodriguez under the rotunda, grimaced in
disgust at the antics of his teammates. “Give it a rest, guys. You
don’t have to talk like that.”
    “Goodson, you little bitch, shut the fuck
up,” Garrison sneered. “If you’re going to act like a pussy, do it
somewhere else.”
    From day one, Goodson had wanted to punch
Garrison in the face. It was one of those feelings of instant
repulsion, like the nauseating feeling of stepping in a pile of dog
shit in your Sunday best.
    A man of significant size and muscle mass as
well, Spc. Goodson was a powerful man, but significantly shorter
than Rodriguez. With GQ cover good looks and an Aryan appearance
that would have made Hitler proud, Goodson was far from being a
fascist and had a more reasonable disposition that rarely exploited
his size and strength.
    Today, however, he wished Rodriguez wasn’t
around. He wanted nothing more than to crush the little bastard
Garrison.
    “Garrison, seriously, you need to be real
careful what you say to people. Especially these people. Who
knows how many of them might have pull with our higher-ups.”
    Garrison, once again, unconsciously stepped
toward Rodriguez like a small child steps toward his parent for
protection. “So fucking what, Goodson?”
    Goodson shook his head in repressed
anger.
    Talltree watched silently, estimating the
level of the rising tensions and recording the moment in his
mind.
     
    * * *
     
    Down the hallway from the State Seal, Spc.
Knight was leading the women to the restroom. Conversation was
uneasy.
    “So, why were ya’ll here so late?” Knight
asked.
    “We were working on passing legislation that
would allow the state of Texas to turn all major highways into toll
roads.”
    “Why would you want to do that?” Knight
asked, lacing the question with sarcasm.
    The female senators were no fools, and picked
up on the subtext as Knight reached the restroom. “Next time you
travel on a Texas Highway, just remember how it was paid for.”
    “I’m from Kansas,” Knight lied, motioning the
women to stop and wait. No females had needed to use the restroom,
and the women’s facilities had not been secured yet. “Thanks for
the