Gas the house

One of the gas company technicians handed Rick a gas tank about the size of an apartment fire extinguisher. "You probably know that natural gas has no odor. We add ethyl mercaptan to let people's noses detect when there's a leak."

Rick nodded. It was something he'd probably been told at some point in his life and then made no effort to remember.

"This right here," the technician tapped the tank he'd given Rick, "is pure ethyl mercaptan. There's enough there to stink up the entire neighborhood."

"I can get it under the house," Charlotte promised. "I'm tiny enough to slip into small spaces."

"Do not go under the house," Rick said. "Kat said they were bragging about booby traps. Putting them in the crawl space under the house would be typical."

"So would traps near the perimeter," Tanya said. "If they're ex-military, they'll have sensors around the base."

"You don't need to get that close," the tech said. "I meant it when I said the whole neighborhood will be stinking."

Charlotte insisted on clutching the stink-bomb as they pulled into Balch Spring. The technicians turned on the flashing amber lights and when they reached the block where the Black Hat HQ was located, Rick and Donna hopped out and put traffic cones out to barricade the street.

While Tanya, who'd picked up a huge shotgun in addition to her .22, found a shooting location, Charlotte darted onto the Black Hat property, twisted a valve on the gas tank, and dashed back behind the truck.

"Okay, the tech said, "everyone in a gas company uniform start knocking on doors. Get people out of their homes while we investigate what appears to be a serious leak."

It didn't exactly appear to be a leak but it sure smelled like one. As promised, within a few minutes, the entire block stunk.

"Donna," Rick said, "you take the other houses. I'll take Black Hat."

"They'll recognize you."

"They may recognize you, too, from the dance club. But people don't look at people wearing uniforms. They'll see the gas company logo and that'll be that. Well, that and the smell."

At least that's what Rick was counting on. Because Black Hat was going to be suspicious and if they recognized Rick, the natural gas stink wasn't the only rat they'd smell.

He jogged up the path to the front door and knocked loudly.

Less than a minute later, he heard the distinct snick of a semi-automatic being readied. "Yeah, who is it?"

"Gas company. We've detected a possible leak from this area. We'd need everyone here to evacuate the house. Shouldn't take more than half an hour to locate and fix the leak but for now, it's potentially dangerous."

"I don't smell any gas."

Rick wanted to suggest the asshole check in with a doctor but controlled his tongue. "Sorry, sir. Better safe than sorry."

The shave-head opened the door they'd been talking through and took a sniff. "Damn, you're right. Smells like it's close."

The tank was, in fact, only a few feet from the front door. "Are you alone, sir. We need to evacuate everyone."

"I have a couple of friends over for a... ah, poker game. Let me get them."

"Please hurry. The longer we talk, the less work we're getting done in solving the problem."