The Day America Died Trilogy Page 30
“Damn, Zack, don’t you think the lucky bastard is dead enough? You want me to shoot him again?”
We only found one more alive, and he was unconscious and only had half a face. Mike shot him before I could.
I waved the women down from the tower and Ally rushed over to me and hugged me.
“I saw that SOB rise up to shoot you and was afraid he would shoot before I could. I couldn’t stand losing you.”
“I thought the same thing when I heard the bullets ricocheting off the water tank.”
Lynn walked over with her hand on her shoulder.
“One of those bullets missed the water tank. Boy, this stings.”
I ripped her t-shirt to expose her shoulder and said, “It’s only a scratch. Rub some dirt on it, and you’ll be fine.”
I motioned for Joan to keep the pressure on the wound. It was through and through the flesh on her arm just before the top of her shoulder.
“Lynn, I guess that you will have to receive the Farmer’s Purple Heart for this little nick. Joan will keep the pressure on it until we get you to the Nurse at the farm. Seriously, it’s just a flesh wound, and it will hurt like hell, but you’ll be okay. Several others received minor wounds from ricochets, but the wounds only needed cleaning, antiseptic and bandages."
***
Bert and his team watched patiently as they saw the trucks pull into the truck stop about a quarter mile away and hide behind the restaurant. It was an hour before dawn with a half moon in the sky. His men were hiding in the dark under light and sound restrictions while the enemy soldiers were smoking and laughing as they approached the warehouse. Both teams had six NVGs, but the attackers stood out in the moonlight, and the glowing cigarettes stood out like a neon sign. Bert’s men were invisible as were Zack’s men. Bert had a mixture of twenty-three deputies and farmers against twelve in the group walking through the field towards the warehouse. They were getting closer, and Bert could hear them talking.
“Men remember there is a bounty from the city on Johnson’s and the Sheriff’s head. Dead or alive. There is a bounty on every one of these traitors who was hoarding these medical supplies while your people died by the thousands.”
“We’ll surprise them and cut them into pieces.”
That was the last thing any of them said before a dozen lights came on and highlighted them against the side of the warehouse. Twenty-three rifles started barking, didn’t stop spitting lead until every one of the intruders was on the ground and stayed there.
Bert walked up to one of the survivors and asked, “Who do y’all work for? Who is behind this attack on our warehouse?”
“You piece of shit. The Mayor told us to take the warehouse, hunt you down and bring you back dead. Go ahead, bastard arrest me and see how long I stay in jail.”
Bert waved at his men, and they started shooting each one of the survivors in the head.
“No prisoners. You heard it from their lips. They were going to kill or make slaves of all of us. None can be left alive. Go get the Greens.”
His deputies fetched the Greens from the back of a pickup and dragged them to the middle of the battlefield.
“What do you have to say for yourselves? You see what happened to the men who came to kill us. You gave them the information that set this all in motion. If we hadn’t suspected you were traitors, we’d be lying dead.”
“We didn’t know they would try to kill anyone. We just thought it was unfair that we didn’t share our food and medical supplies with the people in the town.”
“Well, you made your bed, now pull your covers up around your ears. Don’t worry about your kids, we have them adopted out.”
He drew his pistol and shot both of them in the head.
Then he said, “Traitors, looters, and thugs die when and where we find them. I know it’s bad to kill a woman, but she was just as guilty as her asshole husband.”
I finished thanking the brave men and women who had risked their lives implementing the ambush and then headed over to the warehouse with Mike and Ally. We drove up to see enough lights to light up a football field. I saw Bert patting backs and shaking hands, which was a big relief.
“Well, Zack, how did your ambush go? Ours was like shooting blind fish in a barrel. Those NVGs are worthless when you shine a bright light on them. Every one of these fuckers had military grade NVGs and body armor. We were lucky and could see their vests before we started shooting. Now we have military grade NVGs, and we will make sure we observe light discipline when we use them. Those poor bastards marched in as they were going to Sunday school. They were dead before they knew it. Most of their weapons were never fired. Look, we also have eight new AR15s, a bunch of Glock 17s and 7 sets of body armor that survived. We escaped without any serious injuries.”
“Our attackers had NVGs and body armor also. We knocked them down several times before we figured it out. Hell, I thought they were hopped up on cocaine. The bad news is all of the vests were ruined.”
“Too bad on the vests, but congratulations on the victory. Was anybody wounded?”
“We caught them by surprise, but they put up a losing fight. We were behind good cover and caught them out in the open. The firefight was intense, but we had cover, and they were caught flatfooted. We only had one lady shot and a couple of minor flesh wounds. What are you going to do with the Greens?”
“They have been rewarded for their treachery with a bullet to the brain.”
“Hard men for hard times. I remember you balked when I told you about us shooting looters.”
Bert laughed and replied, “That was before the jail was at my house. What are you going to do with Grant and Mary?”
I didn’t laugh, but he had a good point.
“I don’t know. You had hard proof on the Greens. We still just suspect Grant and Mary. I want to put a bullet in both of their brains, but not until I know they are guilty.”
“Let's have a town meeting after supper at your place and let everyone know about the surprise party we threw for our guests from the city. Do we need to put out extra guards tonight?”
“Yes, and probably until we get a sense of what’s going on in Owensville and Anderson. Oh, by the way, one of the intruders told us that the Mayor was behind this attack. We also heard the men talking as they walked up. They said that the Mayor placed a bounty on yours and my head along with our men and women who resist her.”
“Damn, we need to quickly throw her a retirement party.”
“Amen brother, amen.”
There were no losses on either of our teams, only one serious wound and three minor ones on my team. We planned well, executed well and had God on our side. We implemented the most sacred rule of any gunfight, which is never getting into a fair fight. Always cheat to make sure you have an overwhelming advantage. Overall, it was a great day for the good guys, not so much for the evil people.
***
“Alice, you must have spies in your staff.”
“Look, Alan, no one on my team even knew why they went with your two teams other than they were going to confiscate some supplies from an abandoned warehouse.”
“These farmers caught us by surprise with two well planned and executed operations. They cut our men to pieces before they had a chance to steal the cattle and ammo. I lost three at the depot and four at the warehouse, and you lost 20 more. They were waiting for us; we walked right in, and they ambushed us. Not one of our soldiers came back alive. The assholes dumped the bodies at the roadblock on Highway 54.”
“Did you even think your spies turned on you or were found out by the Sheriff? He could have fed them the information just to set up a trap.”
“Two traps and executed to perfection.”
“Come over here and love on me. We can plan Bert’s and that damn Johnson’s deaths later.”
Alan replied, “Yes dear,” but thought I’ll only have to keep this bitch happy for a few more days.
Alan had set up the meeting between the Mayor and Todd, bu
t ever since the meeting, the Mayor’s town had fallen into disease, famine, and devastation. He had to take over quickly before there was nothing left to take over. He needed hundreds of strong, healthy men and women to take over the entire area including Anderson. It was his right and his destiny. He would make nice with the Sheriff and Johnson until he didn’t need them anymore.
She went into the bathroom while he fixed their drinks. He slipped the first dose of poison in the drink and stirred it thoroughly, so she wouldn’t notice any undissolved powder. The symptoms of the poison would mimic the symptoms of dysentery, and she would be just another unfortunate casualty of the uncontrolled disease. His head of security was poisoning the drinks of the top five remaining city leaders later that afternoon. The citizens would be looking for the strong leadership that he would provide and the farmers and Sheriff will relish the olive branch. He would open the grain bins for his subjects and share fuel with the farmers.
Chapter 13 - Mayor Prescott
Owensville, Kentucky
Sally, Mike, Ally and I were playing cards after supper when Callie came running into the kitchen
“Dad, Carrie just came to me and told me that Grant just beat up her mom. Carrie tried to separate them, and he hit Carrie. Please help them.”
“Baby girl, why did Grant beat up Mary? I thought they were in love.”
“Mary loves Grant, but Carrie thinks Grant was just using her mom. She told me that Grant has been stirring up trouble in our community, and at first, her mom tried to be on his side, but he started spreading rumors about you and Uncle Mike that are lies. Her mom called him on it tonight and got a beating. Carrie thinks Grant is some kind of spy for Todd.”
“Mike, let’s go see what’s going on and bring Mary back to our house for her safety, then we can deal with Grant when Bert gets here. Ally, try to get Bert on the radio. We’ll be back in a few minutes.”
“Darling be careful. That guy is just waiting to stab you in the back.”
“I will.”
“Ally, don’t worry, I’ll have Zack’s back.”
We jumped in Mike’s truck and sped over to the house where Grant and Mary had set up housekeeping. It was about a mile and a half east of the farm and another quarter mile off the road. We turned down the road to their house just before sunset, and we could see Grant out on the road to the house waving a pistol. He saw us, took aim and fired, missing the truck on the first shot. We came to a halt as he fired twice more hitting the truck both times.
“Mike, you go left, and I’ll go right. Try not to shoot the bastard unless you have to.”
“Screw that, he's shooting at me; I’m going to kill the SOB.”
“Mike, we need him alive to tell us who he’s working for.”
More shots rang out, and dirt flew around me as Mike cut behind a tree heading to a yard barn beside the house. Mike was running wide open to tackle Grant when he tripped and fell at his feet. Grant lowered his pistol to shoot Mike when I fired first and shot him twice in the chest. He pulled the trigger as he fell to the ground, the pistol bucked and the round missed Mike by a few inches. Grant died on his way to the ground.
“I thought we weren’t going to kill the sack of crap. What happened? He fell for my trick, and I was about to have him hogtied and in the back of the truck in just a minute.”
“Mike you are so full of crap; your eyes are brown. I just beat him by a half second. If I had waited, that bullet would have castrated you.”
Mike looked down between his legs and saw the hole in the ground where the bullet had struck and said, “You just saved my private parts, but I still think I could have wrestled him to the ground.”
Mary came out from the woods, ran to Grant and cried over the body.
“Mary, I’m sorry, but he would have killed Mike if I hadn’t shot him. Are you okay?”
“I’m okay. I saw the shooting, and he would have killed Mike. Why did I fall in love with this creep? He could be kind and gentle to me, but was mean to Carrie and hated Joan, Mike and you.”
“What did we do to him? I gave him a ride home from Indiana, and we have fed him for months. The lazy shit.”
“I didn’t know until this afternoon when I overheard him talking with a couple of the farmers from east of here. He works for his cousin, Todd, from Anderson. Joan and Callie left Todd to come over here, and you beat Todd up for no reason according to him.”
“Well, that answers a lot of questions. We know who he works for and good riddance to him and his spying.”
“Zack, I have to confess I bought what he was saying and passed on to him everything I heard from Carrie or picked up around your house. I guess I was blinded by love.”
“Don’t worry about that. Are you okay? Let’s get you over to my house and get the Nurse to take a look at you.”
Before we could head to my farm, Bert and two of his deputies drove up with guns drawn. Neither Mike nor I recognized one of them. He was a guy who could pass for a Navy Seal, was dressed in black BDUs and had body armor.
“Zack, what happened? We got the message and headed over here as fast as we could. Is that him over there?”
“Yes, he started shooting at us as soon as we drove up. I had to shoot him when he pulled his gun on Mike. Mike would have been dead if I hadn’t shot him.”
“Why did you call us if you were going to handle this yourself?”
“Bert, we came over to prevent him from killing Mary. He beat the hell out of her. Take a look.”
“I’m sorry Mary, but can I take a look at your injuries?”
“Yes, go ahead. If I’d had a gun, I’d have shot him. He wouldn’t let me have my gun except when I pulled guard duty.”
He looked at Mary and winced when he saw the bruises on her face and arms.
“I guess it was a justifiable shooting. I’ll do a formal interview with Mary in the morning, and I’m sure all will be okay. I’ll drive her to your farm.”
Bert and the deputy helped Mary into their car and drove off.
“Zack, what was that all about? Bert got all official on us. I thought he would ask for our guns and who was that new deputy? I thought I knew all of his people.”
“He could ask and try to take them. I smell a rat, and I don’t think Grant was the only one around. We always knew that Bert was a political animal, however; I thought he was truly on our side. He just didn’t seem to be himself. Now I wonder who we can trust.”
“Let’s call our normal meeting that we have after a big event and see how people react.”
“I think we need to underline what Aaron told me when he said to be prepared for anything.”
“Maybe we're just paranoid.”
They both replied the same exact words, “Just because you are paranoid doesn’t mean they’re not out to get you.”
I added, “And I’ll add, keep your friends close and your enemies closer.”
“I’m now very glad that you talked us into finding and equipping a hideout fallback whatever we need to call it.”
“Let’s just make it easy and call it the hideout.”
We drove into my driveway and saw Carrie and Callie running to meet us.
“Where’s mom? Is she okay?”
“Yes, she’s riding back with the sheriff. She’ll be fine after some rest.”
Mary had been severely beaten, but there was no permanent damage. She had the mother of all black eyes and would limp for a while where the worthless excuse of a man had kicked her. She would survive this, but now we had to decide what to do with her. The big question was can we trust her ever again?
***
Everyone had left, and Mary and Carrie were spending the night with us out in one of the extra trailers. I was sitting at the kitchen table with the others enjoying a glass of sweet tea, and the girls were eager to know what happened. They listened patiently until I got to the part about Mike almost being neutered and Sally hugged him.
“Mike, this scares me. I could have lost you.”
Then I told them about Bert and his deputies showing up. I was surprised by the reaction.
“Dad, there is a new deputy, and the Sheriff didn’t bring him by the house to meet us when he started? That sucks and is not something a friend would do.”
Ally said, “Wait a minute. Bert said he needed to investigate before you are cleared, and it looked like the shooting was justified. Has he lost his damn mind? Grant beat Mary, he tried to kill Mike, you shot Grant. What the hell does he want, a videotape of the shooting? Mary backed up your story and since when does Bert doubt your word?"
Sally interrupted, “Since he got the new deputy, I’ll bet. We need to know more about this guy and where he came from.”
“Darling, this smells like crap and looks like crap; therefore, it must be crap as my dad used to say. We have a big piece of the puzzle missing. You’ve gone from hero to a suspect in just a few days.”
Callie raised her hand, and everyone turned to look at her when she said, “Dad list the facts on a piece of paper. Grant was spying for Todd. Mary says Grant was starting rumors that you are doing bad things. Bert has changed and gone all official. There is a new cyborg deputy who probably wouldn’t look you in the eye. Darn right, it stinks, and I’ll bet it’s all tied together. We just don’t know who tied the knot and when it changes into a hangman’s noose.”
“Baby girl, you are wise beyond your years. Let’s keep this to ourselves until I can feel out Roger. I don’t trust anyone else until we get a handle on these developments. We need to hope for the best and prepare for the worst without anyone knowing we are preparing.”
“Dad, you don’t trust mom?”
“I trust your mom, but remember her new boyfriend is tight with Bert and I don’t trust him right now. What your mom doesn’t know, she can’t let slip during pillow talk.”