Worst Case Scenario - Book 5: Militia (10 page)

CHAPTER 19

Mr. Rivers was sitting up, and actually had the makings of a smile on his face. 

“How do you feel?” Amy asked the old man.  She thought he looked like shit.

“I…” he stopped and took a sip of water.  “I feel like death sucked the soul out of me, took it out for a night on the town, and then put it back in me the wrong way,” he said, with a voice that warbled.

Amy laughed, and Mr. Rivers tried not to laugh.  They were sitting inside of the community center.  He was lined up against a wall with several other wounded people.  Dr. Cadet was busily trying to work on the wounded.  He was being assisted by two elderly nurses that demanded that, ‘they still got it,’ and jumped right in to assist the doctor.

After the attack, it had been a gruesome time helping to clean up the scene.  As it turned out, the community center and trailer park were located at the edges of a large retirement community along a lake next to I-20. 

The local police officer showed up on an old motorcycle after the battle.   He was shocked at the carnage but was ready to help Ian and his team in any way.

“You’re the first military we have seen since this entire thing started,” Officer Waters noted to Ian.

Ian nodded; he didn’t want to make an excuse for the Government’s lack, or inability, to respond.  But, by the same token, he wanted the people to have some sense of hope that the Government had their backs…and would eventually fight back!

“It has been hard pulling the pieces back together,” Ian stated.  “We’re not really more than a militia right now, but I guess we’ll do our best to help.”  He didn’t think he was the best rah rah speech giver.

“Well, that’s more than anyone else has promised us.  What can we do to help?  We’re not much more than a few hundred old folks, two cops, and a few others.”

“Don’t sell us short, Waters,” one of the men said, listening in to the conversation.  Both Ian and Officer Waters turned to listen.

“My name is Jim Tribbie, I’m 72, but damn it, I can fight!  I was in Nam from ’66-68.  I volunteered after college, and they made me an officer.  I can still lead people, and I know there are a bunch of us here that are tired of this crap!  I had brothers die to protect this country, and I don’t want their lives wasted any more than I want to see more of us slaughtered like what just happened!”

Ian cleared his throat.  “Thank you, sir, for your service,” he said, and looked around for Reed; he had an idea.  Catching his eye, he waved him over.

“I need the radio we gave you.”    A crowd had formed around the group.  They all wanted to feel needed, protected…they wanted to know their fate.

Reed unhooked the earpiece and gave it to the colonel.  Ian then handed it to Jim.  “You want to help,” Ian handed him the radio.  “I know that most of you want to help fight the enemy,” he said, raising his voice and addressing the entire community center.  “I know you want to strike back at those that murdered the innocent here today.  I know you want to make a difference,” he looked over at Grace.  She was smiling at him.

“So, today is the day that you start to fight back!”  There were sporadic ‘yes’ and ‘alights’ that rose from the group.  “Officer Waters and Lt. Tribbie will be your points of command.  We need people that have medical skills, people that can fire weapons, people that can repair things and make them run again.  This is your time to show America that you are still relevant, and this is the start of when we take our country back!”

The crowd exploded with applause and whistles.  Fists flew into the air, and people slapped each other on their backs.  They just needed someone to tell them that there was something to believe in and give them a direction.

“Start with weapons and ammunition,” Ian ordered Waters and Tribbie.  “Find what you can.  Find the people that know how to use them and train others.  Save as much of your ammo as you can.  Think about food and water, these will kill you before the Chinese do.   We will be in the area supporting you and taking the fight to them.  You will see us using the highway.  Don’t let your people use it, it could be a deathtrap.”

Both men nodded, casting affirmative looks at each other. “How do we get hold of you?” Officer Waters asked.

“The radios, channel 25, ask for Colonel Burrows with the War Dawgs.”

“Sir,” Joshua broke through the crowd and grabbed Ian’s elbow.  “I got through to Adam. He has given me the details on what’s going on. We need to move, now, sir.”

“Okay, let’s go.  Amy, would you mind staying with the kids and Mr. Rivers here for right now?” he asked, standing in front of the elderly patient.

She shook her head, tears forming at the base of her eyes.

“Ian,” Dr. Cadet stood up, “I’m coming with you, everyone here is stable until we can get back…” Ian started to shake his head, but Seth was not taking that as an answer.  “Ian, they took my wife and kid.”

“I know,” he said, putting a hand on the other man’s shoulder.  “They took my wife, too.  Let’s go!”

The team exited the community center to cheers and to chants of ‘USA!  USA!  USA!’

“Adam, report! Over,” Ian ordered into his headset as they sped down the interstate.  He was in the hummer with Reed; Joshua and Grace followed in the Rover.

“I am on the other side of the track, directly across from the grandstand.  They have the women separated and in two different skyboxes.  Somehow, they have lights on, so I have a really good view into the boxes.  Over.”

“Roger, that.  What I want to know is, are they being harmed in any way?  Over.”

“No, sir, not that I can see…wait a minute.  Hold.  I’m switching to an open mic,” Adam said, toggling the switch on his radio and then looking harder into the optics of his binoculars.  “Shit!”

“That doesn’t help, Adam!” Ian fought to contain the tone in his voice.  He knew that, for the most part, he was dealing with untrained people, under an extremely stressful environment, and asking them to do things he used to ask Rangers to do.  “Tell me the details of what you are looking at.”  His voice calm and deliberate.

“Well, sir, there are two levels that are lit up.  Both are completely glass on the racetrack side.  There are no other ways to get to the boxes except from the inside.  I can see Momma B, Dr. Cadet, and my mom in the largest box at the top in the exact middle.  There is a guy that is talking to them; I think he is the leader.  He looks like he is the only one with them, and their…their hands are tied together.”

“Perfect, Adam,” Ian praised.  “Now, what about the others?”

“Ah,” Adam shifted the view of his optics and focused on the lower skybox.  “I see Anna and Raven.  They are also bound and sitting in the room alone.  There are several armed men in the room next to theirs and several more in the adjoining skybox.  The men look like they are arguing amongst themselves.”

“How many do you count?”

“Maybe, nine.  The leader guy is the only one that I can see on that floor.”

“Okay, now, where is Mary?”

“Mary?” Adam questioned out loud.  In the excitement and stress of having his mother and would-be girlfriend kidnapped by these assholes, and then having to kill one of them in a public bathroom, he had totally forgotten about Mary.

“Yes, Adam. Mary, where is she?”

“I’m inside the Grand Stand, I think I’m one floor below the girls,” Mary whispered transmission broke across the airwaves.

Ian smiled. 

“I was out…uh…taking care of business when those assholes came into the tent and took them.  I’ve got the sniper rifle, so, I can see Adam across the track.”

“Oh, shit, sir!” Adam broke in on the open channel.  “It looks like Momma B and the leader guy are fighting, or…” his voice trailed off.

“Or what?” Ian insisted.

“They’re definitely fighting, sir.  I…hold on.” Adam dropped the binoculars and swung his rifle up to a firing position.  He tilted his head and allowed his right eye to take in the small optical picture in front of him.  “I’ve got a scope on him,” Adam whispered.  “Should I take a shot with them in the room?  Sir?”

“Hold your fire unless you think it is a clean shot!  Give me your radio!” Ian yelled at Reed.

“Sir, I already gave…”

“Not that one, your issue radio!”

“Yes, sir!” Reed said, handing the man the military grade radio.  Raven had turned it off moments after they left the protection of the Georgia National Guard a week earlier.  Reed applied a little more leverage to the gas pedal and noted that the Rover behind him was having a hard time keeping up.

“Oh, God!” Grace said, driving the Rover.

“What’s happening?” Joshua asked from the passenger seat.

“I think Dad is going off the reservation!” she yelled.  “Climb in the back and pull up the carpet.

“What?  You don’t have an RPG back there too, do you?”

“Just do it, Joshua!” Grace demanded.  She was trying to concentrate on following the path of the Hummer, keep an eye on any enemy missile attacks in her review mirror, and push the 1960’s era machine past its design limits on speed.

Joshua climbed into the back seat.  “Do you mean here?”

“No!  All the way in the back!”

He did his best high leg maneuver over the seats and found himself in a pile of survival gear, mostly blood stained by Mr. Rivers.

“Now pull up the carpet from the front to the back!” she ordered, keeping an eye on him in the rearview.  She could also hear on her radio, as well as the others on the team, what her father was asking for on the military radio.

Joshua pulled the carpet back, and much to his surprise, found three compartments sealed with flip locks.  “I see three compartments.”

“The one on the left, open it!”

Joshua opened the metal box welded into the floor.

“Do you see them?”

“If it’s the smoke canisters, yes, I see them.”

“Good, take them out and give me two, and you take two,” she ordered. 

“What is the difference between the yellow stripe and the blue stripe on the can?” Joshua asked,

“Ahh, I think the yellow one is tear gas, and the blue is just smoke.  I think.” 

Joshua looked up to see that they were almost back at the track.  He flipped the second box open.  “Holy, crap!”

“What?”

“There are two grenades in here!”

“Sweet, Jesus!  Bring those too.”

Joshua tucked the grenades into his pockets and then went to open the third box, but it was locked.  “What’s in the third box, it’s locked?”

“I don’t know.  Don’t worry about it, get back up here!”

“Oh, well, I guess we’ll find out some other time,” he said, climbing back into the front passenger seat.  “I thought we might be able to use these, too,” he produced two dark green gas masks.”

She nodded, following the hummer onto the dirt and across a field towards the track.

“Sir!” Adam yelled into his radio, stopping Ian from his conversation on the military radio.

“Go ahead, Adam.”

“Leah, I mean, Momma B subdued the man, and they are free!  They…she has a gun, and she has a radio!”

A few seconds later, they heard her voice.

“Adam, this is Momma B, over,” she whispered.

“Momma B, this is Adam.  Go ahead, over.”

Leah gave a thumb up to Tabby and Violet.

“Are you safe?” She asked.  “Do you know where the others are?”

“I am, and I do, Momma B, but they are in trouble, and you need to hurry!”

CHAPTER 20

Anna and Raven had their hands bound by zip ties.  Up to this point, they had not been touched other than by the over the top frisk by Chet.  They were in a skybox overlooking the racetrack, sitting on the floor.  They could hear yelling from men outside the door, and it frightened Anna.

“They want to come in here and…” her voice trailed off.

“They want to rape us,” Raven said it for her.

Anna looked at the girl who wasn’t much older than she was, but she was so calm.  “How can you sit there like that?”

“Like what?”

“Like you don’t care!”

Raven tore her focus from the racetrack and looked at Anna.  “Because it happens, and we move on,” she said.  “If I get a chance to kill one during the act, well, score one for us.”  Raven was doing her best to harden her mind and prepare for what she felt was coming.  The tact didn’t sit well with Anna.

“What the f…”

The door rattled as if someone was coming in, and then it stopped.

“What are you talking about?” Anna tried again.  “They are coming in here, and they are going to gang rape us!  Don’t you get that?!”

Ian had Reed pulled directly up to the back of the Grand Stands.  Two guards were standing at the gated entrance and looked at the military vehicle.  Ian got out of the hummer and started walking towards them.  Both guards raised their rifles, pointing them at Ian.  Reed shot both guards from the hummer as Grace drove by; she was headed to approach from another entrance.

Ian briefly searched the men on the ground, taking their weapons and their radio.  “Watch for others,” Ian ordered as he gave one of the rifles to Seth and threw the other one into the back of the hummer as he listened to the radio.  He took a deep breath, knowing what he just did was stupid.  “I swear if we all survive this, we need to implement some serious training if this militia is going to make it!”

Reed nodded, not knowing if the colonel was just talking to him, Seth, or himself.  Seth looked at Reed, shrugged, and did the same.

“We are at the gate,” Grace whispered into the open comm.  She and Joshua packed on as many extra items from the rear of the Rover as they could, which included a bulletproof vest for Joshua, their new smoke canisters, and one grenade each.  “We are headed in,” she said, with the sun setting behind her.

“Roger, that.  We are in and moving up the main entrance,” Ian responded.

“Are you sure you don’t know what was in the third box in the back of the Rover?” Joshua asked, finding that he needed to break some tension, as they sprinted up the ramp to get to the skybox level.

“I don’t know.  Be quiet!”

“Mary, what’s your location?” Ian whispered.

“Still one floor below.  I can hear yelling from upstairs.  No screaming from the others, just men yelling.  I can still see Adam across the track.  As far as I know, they don’t know I’m here.”

“We are two floors below you,” Ian responded.

“Adam, now that everyone is here, we need to get out of this room,” Leah said. 

“Ma’am, there are now at least four armed men in the room next to you.  Two are sitting, and two are standing next to the door.

“Okay.  Once the rest of the team gets in place to help the others, I need you to light up the skybox next to us.  You okay with that?”

“Yes, ma’am,” Adam said, his hands sweating again.

The gunshot outside of the room holding Raven and Anna startled the girls, causing Anna to scream.  Seconds before the shot, there had been men shouting in the room next to theirs; now, it was quiet. The doorknob twisted, and four armed men came in and shut the door.

“Looks like two of us is going to have to wait our turn,” the first guy in the room said, reaching for his zipper and smiling at the ladies.  Anna screamed, again.

“They broke into the room. They’re attacking the girls!”  Adam yelled.

“Adam, fire on the room next to us!” Leah ordered.

Adam unleashed ten rounds into the glass room.  The glass overlooking the racetrack exploded in multiple detonations of shrapnel.  The men in the room dove for cover behind leather couches and mahogany furniture but there was no real place to hide from the unseen attack or from what was coming next.

“Adam, hold fire!” Leah yelled as she burst through the door firing at the stunned and bleeding targets with Russ’s .40-caliber pistol.  She picked up a pistol from one of the dead men and handed it to Violet.  She then handed Tabby one of the rifles on the floor.  “Here, the safety is off.  Just point and shoot.”  She stopped long enough to key her microphone.  “Ian, we’re free and headed down to the others.  Adam, nice shooting!  Over.”  She waved a shell shocked Tabby and a determined Violet forward.  “Let’s go get ‘em.”

“Roger, that!” Ian responded.

Adam continued to narrate.  “They have the girls and are…”

Daisy started growling.  Adam turned to see the guy he had left bound up in the bathroom.  His hands were soaked with blood, and they were no longer bound with zip ties.

“Daisy!  Attack!” he yelled.

The dog took three steps and leapt for the man’s throat, but he was ready for her this time.  He ducked and pushed her up and over the side of the railing in the stands.  Daisy fell to the level below.

Adam tried to bring his rifle around to fire, but the man, driven by anger, was too quick.  He grabbed the barrel of Adam’s rifle, forcing the shot to go into the wall behind him.  He then reached up with his other bloody hand and laced his fingers around Adam’s throat.

Adam could hear Leah screaming at him through the earpiece of the radio.  The man continued to choke Adam, while trying to wrestle the rifle out of his hands.  Adam dropped the rifle and tried to punch the man.

“Ian!  He’s killing Adam!” Leah yelled into the radio.

Ian stopped climbing and looked out onto the track, he could see the pair struggling on the other side.  He stopped, set his rifle on the back of a railing, and tried to iron sight the target.  “Hold still,” he whispered.  He heard Reed fire at someone behind them.  He heard Grace in his earpiece say that she was under fire.  He couldn’t get the angle.  “DAMN IT!”

Adam was gasping for breath, and the man was going to kill him.  The man turned his back to the track and lifted the boy off of the ground.  He was going to slam Adam back into the concrete wall and finish his life, when the front of the man’s forehead exploded in a gush of bone and blood.

Adam crumpled to the ground, gasping for breath.  He was covered in blood and brains.

“Adam, are you alright?”  Mary asked, her finger ready to fire a second round from the sniper rifle, if necessary.

Adam nodded, and then realized that no one could probably see that gesture, so he stuck his hand in the air with a thumb up.  “War Dawgs,” he croaked into the radio.

“Sir,” Reed said.  Ian turned back from the track and saw four men walking down a set of wide concrete stairs, headed right for where he and Reed were standing.  Anna and Raven had guns to their heads and were being used as shields by their captors.

Reed and Ian each drew up and sighted a target.

“I wouldn’t do that, G.I. Joes,” the biggest one said, using Anna as a shield.  The man was huge, easily three heads taller than Anna.   Tattoos covered his arms and crept up his neck from his shirt.  Most of the tattoos were black ink, and most had come from a life dwelling in jail.

Ian and Reed did not respond, nor did they drop their rifles. 

The men and the hostages continued down the stairs with their fronts guarded by the women. 

Raven started to say something, but the man holding her smacked her on the head with the pistol to get her to shut up and walk.  Ian noticed Reed’s body tense up with the action.  He now knew where Reed was aiming.

Just as the group got to the bottom of the stairs, Leah, Tabby, and Violet appeared at the top.  Leah and Violet’s arms were outstretched, holding their aim at the targets.  Leah moved down a few more stairs with deliberate catlike steps. Tabby was just behind them, trying to hold the rifle up.  Ian could see the tears streaming down her face as she watched the large man manipulate her daughter as a pawn.

One of the two men in the group without a human shield spun around and pointed his gun at Leah.  “Don’t even think about it, ladies.”

“Don’t hurt my daughter!” Tabby shouted.

“Is this one your girl?” big man shook Anna’s frame.

“Nooo, don’t hurt her,” Tabby said, dropping her rifle on the concrete stair.  “Please, don’t hurt my baby.”  She took a step forward, and Leah gently put a hand out in front of the other mother. 

“Oh, if she wants to come play, Pete is pretty lonely.  Aren’t you, Pete?”

One of the two men without a shield nodded.  “Yeah, she can come to.  Old is still better than none.  Right?”  He laughed, but he instantly stopped laughing as the sound of a helicopter reverberated through the concrete structure.

“It’s those bastards,” big man said.  “We’re pointing guns at each other, and we need to be pointing them at those assholes!”

“That is my point, too,” Ian snarled.  “But, that helicopter noise you hear is not the Chinese…”

“Well then, who the hell is it?”

At that second, a giant green Blackhawk helicopter descended into the center of the track and hovered above the midfield.  The side door was open, and the gunner trained the sights of his machine gun onto the group.

“I give!” Pete said without warning.  He put his gun down on the ground and went to his knees.  Without being told, he interlaced his fingers behind his head, clearly familiar with the process of surrendering to the police.

“Anybody else?” Ian asked.

The other three men all looked at the big guy holding Anna.

“You assholes can do what ever the hell you want to,” the big guy said, backing away from the group and down the exterior hall at the back of the stands.

Ian, Leah, and Reed all advanced on the ones remaining.  “Easy way or hard way, fellas?” Reed asked.  “Let her go,” he added, lowering his voice and advanced another step.

The two men left standing looked at each other for support.  The next one without a gun to anyone’s head dropped his weapon on the ground and mimicked Pete by putting his hands behind his head.

The guy leaned into Raven and smelled her hair, then, roughly let her go.  Reed was on the man in an instant and knocked the gun out of the man’s hand before forcing him to his knees.  “On your faces, assholes!  Hands behind your back!” he yelled. 

Leah came down the steps and cut the zip ties off the girls’ hands, and then all three of them fell into a hug.  Reed stole a look at Raven, and she at him.  She smiled and nodded, unable, or unwilling to be released from the motherly hug.

Ian moved off around the corner in search of the big guy and Anna.  Tabby was on his heels.  They could see him 20 yards away, still on the cause walk of the Grand Stand. There was a wall of blue-grey smoke blocking his path, and he was hesitant to walk through it.  He turned back around and confronted Ian and Tabby.

“The Army doesn’t scare me, man!  And neither do you!  I did 17 years for raping and murdering a girl,” he said, squeezing Anna a little closer to his chest.  “So, it’s time to get some more!” he warned and turned into the smoke.  Anna screamed as they disappeared.

A gunshot cracked through the layer of smoke before a gust of wind caught most of it and took it away. 

Ian and Tabby ran into the clearing smoke. Ian still had his rifle drawn on the shape of a hazy figure.  “Drop the gun!” he yelled.

Dr. Seth Cadet turned to face Ian; he was holding his daughter in a hug and pointing the barrel of his rifle at the figure on the floor.  Tabby broke past Ian, running to embrace her family.

“Dad!” Grace said as she and Joshua appeared, walking around the next corner.  She dropped the barrel of her rifle when she saw her father and the Cadet family.

Ian kicked the pistol away from the large man, who was bleeding profusely but still alive.  He then put his arms around his daughter. 

“Is that all of them?” she asked.

“I think so.  Nice trick with the smoke.”

“Thanks,” she said, looking at her best friend and their heartfelt reunion.   “The chopper landed,” she added.  “I’m thinking they want to talk to you.”  She pulled away from his hold and looked up to his face.  He raised his eyebrows at her and shrugged his shoulders. 

With the immediate danger ebbed, the group began moving back to the others.  “Do we need to do anything for him?” Joshua asked, with a thumb in the direction of the man on the ground, bleeding out.

“No!” the two doctors said, at the same time.