Previously:

As they searched for a human, they were met with a thin high-strung man, who reminded Liz of a childhood comedian on a TV show, Don Knotts, nervously holding a double-barreled shotgun, aimed directly at them. If that one jammed for some reason, he had a pistol in his hip holster.

************

Liz wrinkled up her nose. The burnt coffee scent that had steered them there, smelled more burnt than ever. She saw the source of it was about half an inch left in the 12 cup pot, sticking down.

She'd seen that many times, where she worked. The last person had neglected to unplug it. There was no sign of creamer and only one dirty mug. That meant he'd be extra-wired from straight caffeine.

How were they ever going to talk him down enough, to listen to why they were there and the possible plan of operation they had concocted.

The trio's pride, from breaching the secured boundaries, had morphed to fear, humiliation and icy silence.

"I have only one automobile, here, and you are not getting it." He announced this through gritted teeth and with an anxious readjustment of the shotgun.

"How'd you get in here, anyway? Everything's locked up tight."

Tommy cleared his throat with a touch of guilt. "There was a door over near a ladder that we nudged, so it was a wide enough opening for us to squeeze through."

"Well, I'll be darn. I was sure I secured all the doors. There sure's a lot of um."

He sounded as much like Don Knotts as he looked. But there was nothing comedic about a double-barrel shotgun aimed at your body by a shaky, skin, and bones guy.

Tommy risked an intervention. "Oh, our names are Linda, Liz, and I'm Tommy. We're not here to take a vehicle; we're here to have you help us get a vehicle. We want to bring it back here for you to work on."

"I can't leave here. I've got to protect this place and my promise."

The three looked at each other bemusedly. They had no idea what the complication was. They were sure they had scrutinized every possible stumbling block.

"Couldn't you lock the place up? That was our speculative plan. We had this all figured out for you, to make it easier for you." Liz was doing her best, to assist in this mediation.

Linda's part was to pray. She was a powerful prayer person. She had gotten Liz and her out of many predicaments.

The gunslinger responded with his voice all aquiver. "It's not that simple. I owe allegiance."

There were three simultaneous sighs of frustration.

It was Linda's turn to take a try at this stymied stalemate. "How would locking everything up, be going against your commitment? Would they even know you left for a short time?"

"Their medicine person saved my life. Doctors couldn't figure out what was wrong me, even with test after test. Chief Lavendar got her medicine person to work on me.

"She smudged me with burning sage, and sang chants along with other people who joined in Ceremony. They said the beat of their drums echoed my heartbeat. They said there was an imbalance in my spirit."

Liz could sense his voice and tone softening the further he elaborated.

"My lungs were no good and the Medicine Person said they needed to draw bad spirits out of my body. I've stopped smoking cigarettes and now, I make a daily offering of a small amount of tobacco. I've been doing much better."

He no longer pointed the gun at them, holding it at his side. His eye contact with them was reassuring. "That's why I can't leave here until the owner gets here. I'd like to help you, you seem like nice enough folk; but you can see, there is no way I can leave."

"Well, what we need is a way to charge the battery of my car. Do you have a portable battery charger, we could borrow? We'll drive my car back here for you to work on it."

"It's the only one I have. I know it works. I just used it to charge up a battery yesterday. I suppose I could let you borrow it. You said you'll bring it back. Right?" He sighed with indecision, then resignation. "Okay. But don't be gone long."

He paused before going to get the charger. "Oh, of course, I'll need some collateral, before I let you leave with this."