Awakening

[The Stig]

It was well into the morning as the pilot circled above the single runway of Shelton’s airport. He had flown in from Florida with a load of supplies and would leave with some documents and a passenger. Donovan had people coordinating supply flights to augment what the contracting firms could do for themselves. Some of the flights were military, and many of the smaller ones were other contracted firms. He was spending a lot of Federal assistance money that he had deftly convinced President Alan he needed to make sure his area was a secure as possible on the program.

Glancing out the window he saw a break in the stubborn fog and decided that it was worth taking a chance to land. He radioed the tower regarding his intentions and began maneuvering the plane into a crosswind approach to the airport.
The twin engine Piper Navajo responded as he eased the throttle back to begin losing altitude. The aircraft had all the advanced navigation equipment one could imagine along with a small cargo door. This made it ideal for ferrying in miscellaneous equipment to some of the smaller and more remote areas. Today’s delivery was mostly first aid supplies and radios.

Expertly transitioning back and forth between the instruments and the outside world the pilot began the turn to the downwind portion of his approach. If luck held, and the gap in the fog didn’t close up he’d be on the ground in a few minutes.

****

One of Aperture Consulting’s M35 six wheeled trucks slowed as it approached a series of turns in a road eight miles to the east of Shelton. Werner had purchased several of the trucks to move large amounts of men or material and they augmented their fleet of SUV’s and pickup trucks nicely.

The driver, his assistant and the small team of contractors following behind in an SUV was heading out to the north east corner of the county to take a load of ammunition and other sundry supplies to the small outpost Werner had established there. He had placed the base there to help manage the collection of small towns in the area and act as a forward staging area for operations. He dispatched the truck to deliver the food and ammo they would need for prolonged operations against any troublemakers.

The road was just one of the millions of small, lane and a half sized roads that crossed the south like ribbons. For the next quarter mile the truck would slow as it maneuvered the turns and then finally cross a one-lane bridge before hitting a long straight away. The contractors were fully aware the turns were a perfect spot for an ambush. The misty fog didn’t help their anxiety.

As the truck would slow for a turn the tailing SUV would slow accordingly to avoid becoming too bunched up. All of the eyes in both vehicles, short of the drivers, were scanning the adjacent roadway for any signs of trouble.

****

Just after the Navajo had turned to the final approach the fog closed back in. Cursing the pilot moved the throttles forward, raised the nose and calmly announced a missed approach over the radio.

As he climbed out over the field he though to himself he’d give it another fifteen minutes then he’d divert.

The fact was he was dieing to use the restroom.

****

The driver of the duce and a half truck breathed a sigh of relief as he worked his way through the gears after negotiating the last stretch of curves before the bridge. The contractors were keenly aware of the attacks against them and fully expected something to happen in the turns while they were moving so slowly.

Turning to his assistant the driver commented that they were almost home free as he aimed the front wheels of the truck at the small bridge. In a couple more seconds he could jam the accelerator, as much as the old truck could accelerate, and get out of the area.

Had the driver not turned his head at that instant, and distracted the assistant, they stood a slight chance of seeing the two small black boxes about a quarter of the way across the bridge deck. While remote, they may have been able to slam on the brakes and avoid crossing the small light beam that one box shot across the bridge deck towards the other box, containing a reflector.

This simple arrangement, stolen from a residential garage door safety system, served to seal their doom. As the wheels of the big truck broke the light beam a small electrical signal was transmitted along a wire that ran beneath the bridge.

The Captain had authorized the use of some of the C4 explosives they had stolen from the military when they left so many months ago. They had been hording it and using other improvised explosives in their other attacks to conserve what they had of the military grade materials. As the electrical charge reached the detonator it served to explode the C4 explosives, which were nestled between several residential propane tanks, common to millions of barbecue grills across the country.

The explosion was deafening and clearly heard in the outskirts of Shelton. As the bridge deck simply vaporized the large truck was hurtled nearly ten feet into the air before slamming back down, on it’s side, in the shallow creek bed. Truck parts and contents were sent flying in all directions, some as far as several miles.

Traveling behind the truck, just coming out of the last turn, the SUV slammed on its brakes and pulled off the side of the road to avoid being stuck in the open. As the occupants threw open the doors a hail of gunfire slammed into the truck from the opposite side of the road. The driver had broken to the right and fortuitously chosen the side away from Reynolds and Lowry. Had he swerved left they would have been nearly on top of the men and stood no chance of exiting the vehicle.

The SUV provided some cover as the occupants on the far side spilled out. The man in the backseat was able to crawl across the seat and crash out, nearly on top of another contractor, in his hurry to find cover. The driver, however, trapped by some gear that hung up on the steering wheel never stood a chance. Reynolds cleanly shot him, through the door, with enough rounds to ensure he’d hit his target.

One of the other contractors made the mistake of leaning too far from the end of the vehicle in an attempt to locate Reynolds and Lowry. Lowry, who was positioned more towards the curves quickly dispatched him.

Even over the gunfire and ringing from the explosion, Reynolds could clearly hear one of the men screaming frantically into his radio for help. He smiled knowing that forces, only eight miles away in Shelton, would converge on their location. Their instructions were to draw in as many other contractors as possible and so far the plan was going smoothly.

[The Stig]

Lowry was stuck. The four contractors were closing in and he was running out of options. The decision to move back to the motorbike separately wasn’t tactically wise and he was about to pay for their poor choice.

Reynolds, only fifty yards away through the thick underbrush, had already started moving towards Lowry’s position when he heard the gunfire from a new direction. But he had problems of his own to contend with. While he tried to move through the thick tangle of trees, bushes, vines and thorns, the contractors from the roadway realized they had withdrawn and begin pursuing him. Every step he took towards Lowry was a step closer six contractors came to him.

Knowing the risks he pressed on towards his buddy. He and Lowry had survived all sorts of Middle Eastern hellholes and ambushes. He wasn’t going to leave his friend behind.

Reynolds, had just cleared into a small opening about twenty five yards from the tree offering Lowry his scant cover. He had to dive backwards and to the side to avoid the hail of rifle rounds from several of the contractors that were closing on Lowry’s position.

“Hold on Lowry” he yelled into his radio microphone. He knew the situation was bad, and the contractors from the roadway were nearly on top of him. He tried to find some way to break cover and put rounds towards the contractors near Lowry. If he could do that they might get out of this yet.

As rounds whizzed past him he heard his radio key. As he was staining to find a way to shoot back at the contractors he heard Lowry’s voice, calm and flat, “Reynolds. I’ll cover you. Go. Now. It’s an order”.

It took his brain a second to process what his Sergeant was telling him. He was shaken from his confusion as he heard Lowry’s rifle open up and a loud scream coming from his direction. The rounds stopped hitting around him.

Reynolds, knowing that his friend was providing him an escape quickly vaulted to his feet. Glancing back quickly he saw Lowry, kneeling behind the tree, exchanging rounds with the contractors who were nearly on top of him. Even the contractor that was shooting at him had turned his attention towards Lowry.

Knowing that he had a fraction of a second he sprinted forward with every ounce of energy he could muster. The contractors from the road were seconds from being able to see him. Ignoring thorns that tore at his skin, and vines that threatened to trip him, he pushed on to cover the short distance to the motorbike that served as his means of escape.

He heard the rifle fire die down in the background as he frantically pulled the bike up from underneath the leaf-covered tarp used to hide it. Jumping on he kicked the starter and prayed it would fire the first time.

The small engine sprung to life and he wasted no time as he lurched forward. Despite being only twenty yards ahead of the contractors they had drifted off line towards the scene of the gun battle with Lowry giving Reynolds the time he needed to escape.

Soon he had covered enough ground that he could start carefully navigating down some lonely country roads. Ever vigilant for a truckload of contractors, or a roadblock he pressed on back towards their compound. It would be several hours before he got back to The Farm.

Sam Reynolds was a hardened combat veteran, but the Corporal that looked oddly like Cuba Gooding Junior couldn’t help but have tears in his eyes.

****

After effecting their escape from the hillside near the Shelton airport Dink and Captain DeMetrie covered the ground towards their equally hidden motorcycle. Their escape had been far easier. Between the confusion over Reynolds & Lowry’s diversionary attack, and the suddenness of their own, the few contractors at the airport stood no chance of finding them, let alone engaging them.

“Damnit” said Dink as the quickly and carefully navigated through the woods. “I burnt the hell out of my hand on that suppressor”

Their plan had been simple. They laid in wait on the hill just to the side of the lone runway at Shelton’s airport. Using suppressed rifles to conceal their location both men poured as many rifle rounds as possible into the aircraft just as it was taking off. DeMetrie focused on the engine while Dink aimed what he could at the cockpit area. Their choice of vantage point was a good one and they were more or less directly across from the point where the aircraft was rotating for takeoff.

Hitting a moving target isn’t all that easy. To compensate, both men used the fully automatic selection on their rifles to launch as many projectiles as possible in the small window allotted to them. Their rifles had been perched atop backpacks to steady them an a small stack of magazines stood at the ready to increase the firepower at their disposal. They weren't even sure they could bring down the aircraft, but felt it was worth the try for such a high value target.

Soon they got back to their cached escape vehicle. They began the long journey back to the farm to swap war stories with Lowry and Reynolds.

****

“What the hell happened?” demanded Greg Donner from Captain DeMetrie. The Captain had just dropped the bombshell on the Donners about what happened to Lowry. He wasn’t over it either, but he assumed his command face and carried on in the way he had so many times before. It never got any easier.
Clarrisa Donner sat in stunned silence, face ashen with remorse. She knew there was danger and she knew the risks they were taking. Reality often hits like a freight train and this case was no different.

“It would appear that the opposition got on scene faster than we anticipated. According to Reynolds, they got separated and they backfilled on Lowry” said the Captain. While his voice was even and flat, his heart was nearly broken. This was the second of his Sergeants he had lost in this backwoods intergovernmental pissing match.

The room was dimly light. The group had once again assembled in the upstairs room of the Donner house it what had become part conference center, part command center and part refuge. Candles lit the room and the light flickered oddly across everyone’s face.

Greg finally broke the silence. “We have to get more people involved in this deal. You guys can’t carry the brunt of this forever.”

“Miller will be back tomorrow,” said DeMetrie. “Then we’ll figure out the next step here. We can’t just go door to door asking people if they want to join a resistance”.

“As long as you know what you are doing, “ grumbled the old man. He knew there was little they could do but didn’t like the situation at all.

“If yall don’t mind me saying so,” interjected Dink, “we have a bigger problem here”.

All eyes in the room turned to the ex-sheriff’s deputy turned freedom fighter.

“They are going to identify Lowry’s body. Once they do, it’s a matter of time before they connect him to Green Acres here”. The statement hung in the air as everybody contemplated the ramifications.

“Dinks right” Greg agreed. “Between military and electronic records, and the information they gathered when they came to the farm it won’t take them long to point back in this direction.”

“How long do we have” asked DeMetrie.

“Best I recon, couple days. Tops” hypothesized Dink. “If we are lucky’.

DeMetrie sprung to action. “Donners, you prepare supplies you’d need to take with you to evacuate the farm. Travel light. It’s you two only. Sorry, but the other employees are on their own. You’ll leave with us”.

“What” said Clarrisa. “Leave the farm?” She knew it was an eventuality but hearing the words turned her blood cold.

DeMetrie was not to be side tracked from his orders after all those years in the military had conditioned him to give orders not work in a committee. “Mr. Barnes is going to move in for a while. He’ll serve as watch and assist with a trip to our compound if the need arises. Reynolds will prepare our gear and transport to get us to what Miller has arranged.”

“Greg, make sure you destroy what you need to destroy and bring any cash, papers or equipment you can’t live without. Keep it light”. Greg nodded his understanding. “Have it ready no later than tomorrow morning. Use the phone and someone will come pick it up and pre-stage it at our place.”

“Clarissa, Barnes will be here tonight. You cook up a cover story to explain his presence if anybody asks. Once Miller returns and we know where we’re going I’ll deal with the logistics.”

Continuing in his smooth but not rushed cadence, “we need an early warning system so we know if vehicles roll down that drive way. We’d at least have some warning then. Who wants it?” Greg again nodded.

“Mr. Roberts and I will put together some diversions to try to keep our friends busy the next couple of days. That might buy us some time.” As was his custom, DeMetrie looked in the eyes of everyone in the room to ensure they heard his direction and had no questions.

“Captain,” came the heavily accented interjection from Dink Roberts. “There is one other thing yall should consider.”

“Yes?”

“We could always hit them, hit them hard and do it before they expect anything”. Despite the obvious risks involved, Dink beamed from ear to ear.

“Mr. Roberts” said the battle hardened Captain. “I like the way you think”.

[The Stig]

Across the country the political situation continued to spiral out of control. Crutchfield’s forces capitalized on their victory at the battle of Franklin by driving westward and essentially capturing nearly all of the state of Ohio and Western Pennsylvania. This placed the Federal forces, still aligned with President Alan, in Eastern Pennsylvania and West Virginia in grave danger. Crutchfield could now attack into eastern Pennsylvania and New Jersey without fear of exposing their flank.

And that’s just what the treasonous Generals from the North East did. Within days they thrust into the area in three main columns. The fighting was fiercer than before when battles were fought between mismatched troops and without proper support from aircraft or artillery. There it was more like a rolling bar-fight. In the east, the fighting took on the feel of the Russian plains in the 1940’s where larger formations advanced under the watchful eye of aircraft and following a thunderous pounding from the ground shaking artillery. Battles were bigger, more intense and consumed more lives.

Crutchfield played his cards well. While he knew he couldn’t afford large slugging matches for long, he played on President Alan’s apparent obsession with protecting the Washington DC area. This allowed him to both gain ground and tie down large numbers of the President’s resources in a confined area.

The same commander that had engineered the breakout at Franklin was working on a new plan. This one was more bold and on a grander scale than his previous operation. With Crutchfield’s blessing he was putting the details together for a thrust to push into Kentucky and Tennessee. This would serve to further encircle the mass of President Alan’s combat forces that had pulled back from their original positions into the Virginia’s and Maryland.

Augmenting his men with troops from the captured areas that came over to the Crutchfield side, the commander would have just enough forces to make the push, assuming the rest of the President’s combat troops stayed pinned down in the east.

And Crutchfield had another card to play. Since the battlelines were being drawn along political ideologies, a great many of the politicians from the Chicago area were pledging their support for his movement. Should this drive to the south be successful, they would cast their lot in with Jackson Crutchfield and lend whatever men and material they could muster from their areas. The key to his success was gaining ground, and more importantly, manpower.

It was important that this southern drive be successful for yet other reasons. Interests not friendly to America had pledged naval assets to Crutchfield’s cause should he gain enough ground. A navy was one thing he was not able to acquire when he turned on his country, as there just weren’t any naval assets in his sphere of influence. The situation was different there and no naval units of significance had pledged support to Crutchfield. The one area where President Alan had shown some resolve was ensuring that ships of the US Navy were far away from the North Eastern states once this trouble started brewing.

Should his move to drive a stake in the heart of the eastern US be successful, other interests would move to ensure his states were not blockaded and supplies could continue to flow into the area.

The time for President Alan to act, and act boldly was now. If he failed to act, and Crutchfield’s latest plan succeeded, the state of the union might forever be in jeopardy.


****
Barnes and Reynolds quietly cleaned and assembled gear. The Captain had called from the house indicating they might have another operation soon and the gear and weapons had to be readied.

Reynolds had lost friends before. He’d seen men die and held them in his arms as life slipped out of them. But losing Lowry, after losing a different Sergeant earlier was a big blow. Reynolds struggled when he first arrived in country when the unit was in the Middle East. He couldn’t adjust, couldn’t find a rhythm and wasn’t screwed on straight. Both Sergeant’s took the time to help him get unstuck. They saw the potential in him as a solider and helped him get through the rough learning phase of combat.

Now, they were both gone.

Reynold’s pushed that to the back of his mind while he maliciously cleaned rifles and loaded magazines. For his part, Reverend Barnes tried to strike up a conversation with battle weary Corporal but soon realized it wasn’t in the cards.

They quietly assembled the gear as they awaited the return of their Captain.

****

As the evening wore into early morning the group was exhausted. They had planned and schemed all evening to work out the details of both a possible evacuation and quick strike on the contractors. Clarissa said little except with the occasional suggestion. DeMetrie and Dink did most of the planning with assistance from Greg.

Despite the odd group assembled, they worked together fairly well. As dawn was breaking they finally came to the realization there wasn’t much left to do. Miller would be back and as soon as he arrived they’d launch the operation.

What Clarissa didn’t grasp was what DeMetrie and Dink had in mind had the potential to turn into a last stand rather than a decisive victory. All three men in the room fully recognized that four men against much larger numbers was a tall order. Surprise and experience notwithstanding the odds were against them all returning.

Sergeant Lowry’s loss wasn’t likely to be the last one before this mess was over.

****

It turned out be a very busy day for the contractors in the employment of Aperture Consulting. By late afternoon the operational tempo had reached a near manic pace.

The first incident was an attack on a roadblock just outside Lumberton. Several armed men fired on contractors as they were stopping cars and inspecting the passengers. Nobody was hurt, with the exception of the paintjob of an SUV. Before the contractors could regroup and pursue the men they vanished into the thick woods.

At nearly the same time another small explosion took place near the gas station DeMetrie’s men had destroyed. The attack was another hit-and-run and by the time contractors patrolling in the area arrived on scene none of the attackers could be found, save some motorcycle tracks in the mud.

In the far North Eastern corner there was a combined attack. A small attack hit the forward base that Werner had established with some harassing gunfire. Once again the attackers melted into the woods. Just outside of one of the various small towns in the area, however, there was a major firefight as some contractors raided another farm. Just as they were approaching the house attackers appeared from the distant woods and engaged them in battle.

It was a futile attempt, however, as the attackers fielded low grade, outdated weapons against modern military models in the hands of experienced men. One of the attackers died when his HighPoint pistol failed as he prepared to shoot a contractor. As the man glanced down to figure out why his pistol wouldn’t fire, the contractor calmly shot the man to death.

All told, four attackers died and the contractors found signs that others had escaped.

At lunch someone tossed a firebomb in one of the trucks parked just down the street from Shelton’s City Hall, the central headquarters of the entire county. The few witnesses either saw nothing or gave wildly conflicting accounts of what took place. The only casualty: one burned out truck.

Another patrol of contractors was hit by well-aimed rifle fire as they drove down a backcountry road on the way to investigate anonymous reports of a weapons cache in the extreme southern end of the county. The contractors, as they were well trained to do, immediately left their vehicle to seek cover. As they did, a wall of gunshots collapsed on them. In the brief three-minute fight, all four contractors were killed.

A short while later a drunken man attempted to run a checkpoint some contractors had established just outside Shelton. When contractors cornered him, he attempted to open fire with the aim only double vision can provide. A hail of bullets pummeled his car and rendered both it and the driver inoperable.

Things seemed to subside somewhat after an improvised explosive demolished a small building outside Lumberton that contractors were using to store some equipment. Like many of the other attacks, the perpetrators disappeared long before the contractors could respond.

[The Stig]

The tired and dirty group of men reassembled at the farm. The mean wearily trudged into the building and began stowing their gear after a long day of racing around the country to various locations.

They just wanted to rest and eat a meal. Captain Mike DeMetrie had other plans.

“Ok boys. Take ten minutes, but then we have to start gearing up for the main show tonight. It will be dark soon”. Reynolds groaned but complied, the result of years of military order. Dink made a wisecrack but too complied.

“Mr. Barnes” said the Captain. “Did you ready the equipment?”

“Yes sir” he said eagerly. “All of the fresh packs are assembled in the main room, ready for you guys to inspect. Want to make sure I did them right.”

“And you loaded all of the magazines?” continued the questioning. For what they had planned, DeMetrie didn’t want to leave anything to chance.

”Captain” interjected Dink has he massaged his bare feet. “What about Miller?”

The Captain, attending to his own personal needs, looked over. “If he gets back in time he’s going. We’ll need the manpower. If not, we have to give it a go without him. We can’t delay this.”

Dink agreed. He hoped Miller would get back in time. In addition to the extra manpower, it would be nice to ride out in a blaze of glory with a friend.

“Dinner is almost ready,” said Barnes. “It’s not much, but Clarissa brought over a few things to make it a little better.”

“You know, for a Reverend, you are turning into a hellofa supply sergeant,” quipped Dink.

Smiling the Captain restored order. “You’ve got ten to chow, hit the head, and refresh your mess. Then we gear up, review the plan, and roll”.

All of the men, Dink included, replied with a crisp “yes sir”. Mike DeMetrie was the sort of leader than men naturally responded to.

****

Werner and Caddy were having a long day of their own as they inspected the scene of the four dead contractors.

“It appears the attackers were stationed here and there,” said the contractor pointing to a spot across the road. “These guys knew what they were doing,” he continued. “Well placed shots, no wasted ammunition, perfectly executed ambush.”

Caddy knelt beside one of the young men. He tenderly collected some personal items and prepared to write the letter to his next of kin that would shatter their lives. He didn’t have to do that, but it was a carryover from his military days.

Both men were tired, hungry and mad. The attacks happened so quickly, and far enough apart that many of the contractors spent time chasing attackers that weren’t there. For each incident there would be a hurried response, frantic communications back and forth between Caddy and the field commanders, decisions made in a dynamic environment and people dispatched to respond. Many of the men were frustrated.

They spent the day chasing their tails.

“You think all these attacks are related?” asked Werner as the two men gathered by the side of the road and watched bodies being loaded into the back of trucks.

“We’ve got big problems Werner. Those attacks yesterday were by pros. And today wasn’t a mistake. Coordinated effort or random event…who gives a shit. People are fighting back.”

“Well tell me something I don’t know,” said Werner angrily.

Caddy ignored the snipe and continued on. “Other than speeding things up, you shouldn’t deviate from our plan. We’ve got the information Donovan gave us about people’s calls and purchases. We’ve got a good list of people to press. Keep on that course.”

Donovan wasn’t a name Werner wanted to hear. The Senator had already called in an irate tirade about all the attacks. Werner wasn’t sure how the Senator already knew what was going on, but he took the full force of the verbal assault without responding.

“Listen Caddy,” Werner continued. “This has been your plan. Your teams have been the ones taking losses. Your rope is even shorter than mine”. With that he turned and stormed off.

At times like this Caddy tended to ignore Werner and let him blow off steam. He turned back to the men and continued to help them process the scene.

It was several minutes later, on the drive back to Shelton, when Caddy’s voice came across the radio. After the procedural call and refrain to verify everybody was who they said they were Caddy gave him several more details about the ambush scene. He also reminded Werner of the night raid they had planned for the Northeastern corner of the county. Werner slowly calmed down as they discussed business.

Before signing off, Caddy asked, “I have the team ready to transport the prisoner. Did you make the arrangements for the travel?”

“Affirmative” came the terse reply.

****

“Dad, what have we gotten ourselves into?” wondered Clarissa Barnes as she and her father sat in front of a roaring fire. Even with the farm’s exemption, it was becoming more and more difficult to keep the power on at all times. So they’d gotten into the habit of using candles for light and the fireplace for heat and some cooking. Some nights it was almost like being thrust back into pioneer days.

Greg merely grunted to note that he heard her comment.

“I mean we’re doing the right thing. I’m glad we can help. But are we really ready to put everything on the line? We don’t even know these men,” she said into the flames as she contemplated her coffee mug.

“What’s worrying you sweetheart? You’ve been on board the whole time,” asked Greg.

She paused for a while. Clarissa wasn’t one to spout off without collecting her thoughts. “Well Dad, when this all started it seemed more like an adventure. Some guys were hiding out in our back woods and fighting evil. Let’s play freedom fighters! Now, we may have to leave the farm, that poor Sergeant Lowry is dead, and there’s a good chance more men are going to die. I don’t know……” she trailed off., “is it going to be worth it?”

The fire crackled as a log burned in two and thousands of little sparks went up the chimney. Greg leaned further back into his tired and worn chair and stared at the ceiling. Suddenly he was thrust back into a different time and different land. Despite the warmth of the room he was gripped by the bone aching chills he last felt while fighting in a frozen wasteland around a worthless reservoir in North Korea. It was funny how various things would trigger memories even after all these years.

“Sweetheart,” he started off slowly. “There was a time a million years ago when I thought the same thing. I knew we were doing good, but when I looked around at the mangled bodies of buddies, or thought about the nameless kids that came and went, I’d have to wonder.”

She sat quietly. Despite neither of them being young anymore she hung on his every word, just as she had done while she sat on his knee as a child.

“There was this kid. Good kid, big and strong with blonde hair. The kind who played football and dated the prom queen. From Iowa I think. Everybody liked that kid. He was a good solider.”
Taking a long sip from his coffee, he could almost smell the stench of the battlefield. “We were on a patrol when it happened. The Chinese jumped us. There must have been a thousand of them. Everywhere you turned you saw those little bastards. Guns nearly melted we shot so much ammo that day.”

He stopped to take a drink. He feet hurt the way they used to after a long day wearing combat boots. The sounds of gunfire and men screaming echoed through the recesses of his mind.

“So an hour into it a couple of guys are trapped. The Chinese know it and are bearing down on them. Everybody’s scrambling and yelling and before anybody can do anything this kid runs thirty yards, through the open, to get to the men. Along the way he’s shooting and tossing grenades like mad.” Greg could almost feel the pinging of rounds hitting the dirt around him.

”While this big, dumb kid is fighting the rest of the guys get off their asses and run up to join him. It was just enough to break up the Chinese so the trapped men could get pulled back to the main cluster of our unit. Saved their lives.”

As the tears started to well up in his eyes, Greg continued. “Of course, the kid was hit several times. While he’s laying there dying, guts spilling out into the dirt, I asked him why he did it. Why’d he run into certain death to save those guys?”

There was a long pause. Almost enough where Clarissa wanted to prompt her father to keep talking, but she knew enough to just let the story unfold.

Greg felt the kid’s blood spill through his fingers as he frantically tried to apply the pressure bandages and stem the flow. The feeling was so strong he looked down at his hands to ensure they were dry.

“All the kid says as he’s gasping and choking is ‘sometimes you just do right, even if it hurts.’”

The fire crackled and tears streamed down Greg’s face. He’d never told that story to his daughter. Like many men who’d seen combat, he never told any real stories of substance. But it was a long time since he’d thought about being trapped in that foxhole, certain he was going to die, and how his big dumb savior from Iowa saved his life.

****

[The Stig]

The duo sat in silence for a long time. Greg lost in days gone by, his daughter trying to dig deep and find the courage to continue this bizarre fight. For the first time in a long time, she thought about her dead husband.

As the fire died down and the embers began to glow, Greg dozed off while Clarissa contemplated the situation. She was startled when the phone rang and quickly moved to answer it to avoid waking her father. The phone didn’t ring much these days, and Miller had made it clear that it was likely tapped.

It was a short conversation. Anybody listening in, and they likely were, wouldn’t need much detective work to figure out what the conversation was about. But the caller was excited and the information was critical.

Hanging up the phone she ran upstairs to the small utility room that Greg had originally built to be a sewing room. Getting into the boxes stacked in the corner she dug out the small field phone. Hooking it up to the two wire leads hidden under the carpet she cranked it a few times and waited for the answer.

Once she got it she relayed the news the excited caller had shared with her. She couldn't believe it and shook with excitement.

****

The Farm was suddenly a beehive of activity. DeMetrie, Dink and Reynolds were about to leave on their mission. Miller had just returned and they were hurriedly bringing him up to speed on their plan. Barnes was scurrying around helping them with their gear.

Then the field-phone from the house rang.

When Captain DeMetrie returned from the office area his face was a mixture of excitement and anguish.

“Listen up” was his short directive. As usual it got the attention of all the men in the room. “Lowry is alive. They have him at the jail in Shelton.”

The news was like a bolt of lightening as all of the men were instantly focused.

“Turns out Miller’s source at City hall tipped us off. They are moving him, possibly in the morning, to the coast.”

The room fell silent as all of the men began silently plotting how they’d rescue their friend.

Dink, was the first to speak. “The jail in Shelton is attached to the back of City Hall. I’m assuming these contractors set up camp their like their predecessors?”

Miller nodded in the affirmative.

“I’m just a dumb country-boy, but I don’t see why we couldn’t modify our plan slightly and use it as a distraction. I know that jail. Me and Miller can slip in, grab our man and get out of dodge.”

Miller was the first to speak up, “That means your distraction force has just been cut in half from four men. That’s a tall order”.

DeMetrie didn’t miss a beat. “I think with our can-do attitude and some force multipliers we can make it work.”

“By all means Captain. Let’s make it happen,” said Miller.

With that all five men got to work hurriedly putting together a plan. They only had a few hours to figure out a game plan, finish loading up gear, travel to Shelton and get in place. Their only chance to was strike before morning. Even then it was a long shot to pull something like this off.

But they had no choice. It wasn’t like they could leave their friend behind.


****

The city of Shelton’s town hall was like a thousand other city halls across the country. It was a large building in the middle of downtown that commanded an entire block. Most of the ground surrounding it was open and there was a small playground to one corner of the building. The jail was a one-story building that occupied the back corner of the city hall complex.

Behind it was another open area, large enough for a helicopter to land, while to the one side, across a large open park area, was the high-school building. It was at this building that Captain DeMetrie and his men lived on their first trip into town. Several smaller buildings were scattered around the complex.

When Werner and Aperture Consulting took over the complex, he housed most of his men in the city hall buildings. He turned offices into bunk areas and living quarters. A few men were quartered in the jail area, but the vast majority were in the three story part of the building that comprised city hall.

As more and more contractors flooded the area they were housed at the school building, which was still equipped to house men thanks to DeMetrie’s efforts. The entirety of the center of downtown Shelton was transformed into a pseudo command complex. The presence of the contractor’s vehicles parked all around the grounds along with some prepared firing stations, replete with sandbags, added to the overall aura.

Due to the increased attacks on the contractors, Werner had posted men on guard duty around the building. There were teams of two men each scattered around the grounds, ostensibly to keep citizens from vandalizing cars or creating a ruckus. That the men stat behind the prepared, and sandbagged, emplacements, belied that they were ready for an attack, if need be.

The team was lucky. It was a near moonless night that added additional darkness to provide the men some aspect of concealment. Flying in the face of traditional doctrine, Caddy instructed the exterior of the City Hall complex to be kept fairly dark at nighttime. He preferred to have the same advantage of concealment, as any would-be attackers.

Their plan was relatively simple. Reynolds and DeMetrie would take up separate positions in some buildings around City Hall. Using suppressed weapons and night vision equipment they would eliminate any guards. Then using some of their homebrewed technology they’d make a scene large enough to draw out a large contingent of contractors. From that point they’d engage further.

The hope was this would create enough of a diversion for the two men to slip inside and retrieve Lowry. Dink still had keys to the jail from his days as a County Sheriff, but if the locks had been changed they might need to get creative to gain access to their friends.

Creativity was never a problem for Miller and Dink.

****

Miller and Dink moved quietly and quickly into position behind a building across the street from the backside of the City Hall complex. Their assignment was to cross the open ground behind the building and enter the jail area through a service entrance behind some electrical equipment. The service entrance led to a janitorial space, which if their luck held, was normally empty.

As they got ready to radio DeMetrie, Dink poked his head around the building to get the lay of the land. He turned back to Miller with a huge smile on his face. “I guess they were planning to take Lowry out in style” he said while jerking his thumb in the direction of City Hall.

Miller was surprised to see the helicopter parked in the open area. The landing lights surrounding it were on a very dim setting, which provided just enough light to make out the copter.

“I think I have something for that” said Miller.

“Don’t scratch the paint. I hear their insurance plan is awful,” came back the joking reply.

Miller traveled with a suppressed AR-15 that he had used since the beginning of this mess. They had shortened the barrel using some of the farm’s equipment, and rethreaded it to allow for use of a sound suppressor. This made for a more easily manageable weapon for the ambushes and attacks the men had been perpetrating.

Dink chose to travel light. He had borrowed the suppressed Browning HighPower pistol Miller and Barnes had retrieved from Ron Little. He carried nothing else but a small pouch. He didn’t know what condition Lowry would be in, nor did they know the situation at the jail so he preferred to have more of a plainclothes appearance than be decked out in fatigues.

Miller quietly said, “lets do this” to his friend.

Keying his radio he simply said, “go when ready”.

****

DeMetrie was stationed on the third story roof of a building that housed a sewing machine store and was across from the front of the City Hall building. He was closer to Miller and Dink’s starting point, which was to his right and prepared to eliminate the two guards that would most likely see them as they approached the building.

Reynolds was stationed inside the ground level of a building off to DeMetries left, and on the side of the building opposite where Miller and Dink would enter. The intention was clear; they hoped to draw contractors away from the side of the building where Miller and Dink would be working.

DeMetrie looked through the electronic sight atop his fully automatic M4 rifle. It was the same rifle he borrowed from the Army when he and his men decided this was a more noble force. With his night vision goggles he saw the area in front of him awash in a greenish tinted light, as if it were high noon on Venus.

He quietly inhaled and then released half of the air in his lungs. As he had done so many times in the past, he centered the dot of his electronic sight on the man’s chest and slowly pressed the trigger.

[The Stig]

The rifle shot was barely audible as DeMetrie was using some specially loaded subsonic rounds he had Barnes make for just such a purpose. Even with a suppressor, a rifle can still be heard as the bullet creates a sonic boom and the distinctive crack sound. In many cases, the crack is very hard to follow so the shooter can remain hidden. It’s almost distracting, especially if the sound echoes.

But in this case they wanted stealth. They had to eliminate as many guards as possible to allow Miller and Dink to cross the open area and get into the building. Then they’d switch over to normal rounds and begin making enough racket to wake the dead.

His first target grunted, grabbed his chest and fell over. This, obviously, alarmed his partner. However, the combination of tiredness, confusion and fear caused the man to make a deadly mistake. Instead of reacting he desperately looked around to see who was attacking them. Soon he too fell to the ground.

Reynolds was busy doing the same on his side of the building. Over the course of ten seconds all of the external guards were eliminated, one after another.

Captain DeMetrie spoke into his radio, “go”.

****

Nudging his friend, Miller and Dink began moving quickly across the open area towards city hall. They both hoped that DeMetrie and Reynolds had removed all the opposition.

They quickly crossed the street and made a slight detour to their left to go by the helicopter. DeMetrie watched them from his perch and silently commanded them to hurry up as they paused near it.

Soon enough, however, they were behind the electrical equipment and out of sight.

Miller whispered into his radio, “hit it”.

****

When DeMetrie and his men decided to join Miller’s cause, they grabbed as much useful equipment they could haul. Since then they had hoarded as much of the difficult to replace items as possible. DeMetrie reluctantly doled out things like explosives, if and only if, there was no other way to solve a problem. Fortunately, his men were quite creative.

In this case, however, DeMetrie was more concerned with getting Lowry out than maintaining their stock of fighting weapons.

When he heard Miller’s command to begin the distraction phase he quickly pulled the pin on two grenades and threw them as far as possible towards the City Hall building. After their fuses expired they detonated with a thunderous explosion and DeMetrie could hear little bits of fragments hitting the stone façade of the building. As soon as they went off, he hurled three smoke grenades off the roof and across the street in various places in the yard around the City Hall building.

As DeMetries grenades exploded Reynolds was preparing to do the same. He only threw one explosive grenades, followed in rapid succession by several smoke grenades. He also pushed the button of a residential garage door opener. This sent a small electrical signal to an explosive planted in a building several doors down from the one that housed Reynolds’s perch.

The explosive blew out the storefront sending purses and women’s clothes flying into the street. It was a very small amount; just enough to demolish the interior of the building but not so much that it wrecked the entire building. But it was loud.

****

The noise of DeMetries grenades exploding and blowing out windows knocked the contractors from their slumber. Most of the men had combat experience and rolled out of their beds and directly into fighting mode. A couple men were dazed but it didn’t take long for them to figure out they were under attack.

Werner jumped from his couch, grabbing for his boots as several windows shattered and rounds pinged against the stonewalls. Reynolds had fired off a few rounds just to continue the distraction from his side of the building. By the time he had them laced, Caddy came running into his office, rifle at the ready.

“What the hell is this?” exclaimed the normally unflappable warrior. “All of the outside posts are not reporting back in”.

Werner replied, “Get the men organized. Don’t let them trickle out of the building in dribs and drabs. We’ll go out in teams and deal with what we find”

“I’ll take the west side, you get some men and handle the south. Have some of the men stay behind in reserve and the men from the school building start to work their way over”.

Werner nodded in agreement. While technically he was the boss, at times like this he and Caddy took more of a co-leadership role.

****

Miller and Dink quickly made entrance into the building as the explosion of the grenades echoed off the surrounding buildings. Within seconds they were inside the darkened janitorial space. They maneuvered in the dimly lit room, careful to avoid knocking over the various mops, buckets and other cleaning supplies.

When they decided to make entry further into the building was entirely up to them. Without saying anything both men felt it better to wait until their was far more commotion before going any further. They wouldn’t have to wait long.

[The Stig]

Reynolds picked up a second garage door opener and pressed the button. One of the contractor’s trucks, to the far left of his position, exploded in a tremendous roar. Vehicles to either side it burst into flames as they were peppered with shrapnel that also blew out windows and tires.

By this time a group of contractors was running to the scene from the school. DeMetrie’s team had gotten lucky that the majority of the contractors housed in the school were on a mission to the northeastern corner of the county. As such there were only five men in the school at the time of the attack. As the group of contractors ran along the side of City Hall they quickly moved into Reynolds’ line of fire. Quickly, and with no hesitation, Reynolds shot three men in rapid succession. The remaining men sought cover in a stairwell to the basement of the building.

Soon teams of contractors were trying to exit the building and find a position, any position, from which to safely return fire. Some dove behind the sandbagged positions just outside the doors of the building. Those faired the best. Several men tried to run to the positions further away from the building and were quickly gunned down by DeMetrie or Reynolds. Some of the contractors fired off into the night at what they thought might be targets.

The smoke from the grenades hung in the air and created mass confusion amongst the contractors. As their eyes fought to adjust to the darkness, DeMetrie and Reynolds calmly dispatched those foolish enough to stray into the open. Through their night vision goggles they could see clearly, as if it were day and no smoke existed.

To further add to the confusion, DeMetrie tossed a grenade off to one side of his position. Just before it exploded he moved quickly to his left, behind some air conditioning equipment. There he lit and tossed an old fashioned Molotov cocktail into the street off to the contractor’s right. Because of his elevation, and throwing the flaming bottle from a position far back from the edge of the roof, the contractors didn’t see it until it was well away from him and arching down towards the street. By the time the bottle hit and sprayed flaming liquid all over the blacktop DeMetrie was back in his original position and preparing to fire.

****

Hearing the gunfire outside and men running around in confusion, Dink carefully opened the door to the interior hallway. He could see men running past the end of the hall but nobody in the immediate area. He glanced back at Miller before moving off into the hallway. Miller followed closely behind.

They cautiously moved down the hallway towards the jail area. The jail area was at the end of the hall and to the left. After entering the jail area there was an open reception area, with an entrance to the outside, several offices and then a locked door leading to the cell area.

Dink cautiously peered into the reception area and was relieved to find it empty. So far their luck was holding out. He motioned to Miller to take up a position behind the counter so he could cover the hallway they just came down. Quickly moving across the room, Dink found a place where he could see through the large glass doors to the outside. The burning remains of the truck Reynolds blew up illuminated the haze from the smoke grenades, causing a surreal lightshow. Rifle fire punctuated the shouts of contractors as they desperately tried to find their attackers.

Using his keys he quickly moved to unlock the door to the cells. “Let’s hope this works,” he thought to himself as he slid his key into the lock and began to twist the cylinders. If they had changed the locks this plan would unravel quickly. In all the confusion when Aperture Consulting took over command of the county, getting the locks changed in the jail was overlooked. The lock released with a satisfying click and the door popped open.

With a smile Dink moved into the cell area. There were ten cells, five per side. The cells were more like holding cells, and divided by bars, not walls. As such, when he entered the area he quickly found the jail’s sole occupant.

****

The situation outside was slowly starting to turn in favor of the contractors. While DeMetrie and Reynolds had the advantage of stealth, surprise and technology, the contractors had numbers. Twenty versus two is never a good situation, especially if you are on the side with two.

Caddy and Werner both had gotten control of their men and taken up more secure positions behind the sandbags just outside the city hall position. While they couldn’t move for fear of exposing themselves, they had the men inside the building moved into darkened rooms on the upper stories. From there, they could provide covering fire. Caddy and Werner would then lead their teams across the open ground in an effort to draw fire. They’d deal with what they found from there. It wasn’t a great plan, but it was what they had to work with.

They also recalled a patrol that was fifteen minutes away. Those men would come in behind the buildings where they suspected their attackers were hidden and begin setting up a cordon.

On Caddy’s side of the building, the two contractors remaining from the group that was in the high school had an advantageous position in a stairwell. They were just outside the glass doors that led into the jail reception area. From there, they thought they had an idea where Reynolds’ position might be. They laid down some covering fire to allow Caddy the time to get his team ready to go.

Miller and Dink needed to move fast before the situation spiraled out of control.

****

“Sergeant Lowry I presume” said Dink in an oddly cheery voice.

Lowry groggily lifted himself from his bunk. His face was bruised and swollen from an obvious beating and he shuffled to the front of the cell waiting for Dink to turn the key.

“Took you guys long enough” was all the humor he could muster.

Dink smiled, “Come on boy. We’ve got to hustle.” Grabbing Lowry under the arm to support him, he began maneuvering Lowry back towards the reception area. They might just pull this off after all.

[The Stig]

“And go!” commanded Caddy as he pushed his team out from cover. The cover fire erupted from the second story of City Hall and the men in the stairwell as Caddy’s group of three men moved quickly to the outer firing position. Rounds pinged off the front of the buildings around Reynolds. They didn’t have his exact position, but a pretty good idea and the rounds seemed to be getting closer and closer.

He didn’t want to wait too long and get himself caught. As he watched Caddy’s men moving to the outer position, he mentally calculated that he’d let them get to the position. While they were in the process of finding cover he’d pop smoke and then escape out the back of the building.

From his vantage point, DeMetrie could see across the square and noticed one of Caddy’s men who was sticking out the back of their firing position. Most of Caddy’s team was inside the c-shaped area and hidden from view, but this one man set up just slightly outside of the rear of the stack of sandbags and metal. DeMetrie coldly shot him and watched as he slumped over and was pulled from view.

His position of height was both advantageous and dangerous. Height in combat is almost always a better firing position. However, should his position become compromised, he would have to descend three flights of stairs, in addition to losing situational awareness, to get to where he could escape. That was something he wanted to avoid.

When the hail of bullets erupted from the upper stories of City Hall, they flew in all sorts of directions. He was experienced enough to know this signaled the movement of a different team. It was a tactic he had used many times himself.

Realistically they only had a few more minutes at most before they’d have to leave or risk capture.

****

“Just a walk in the park” said Dink as they prepared to make the dash back across the street from City Hall through the janitorial room they had originally entered. They took a minute for Lowry to tie his boots and get ready to make the dash.

Miller opened the door to the outside and started to pull Lowry through it. Just before he did, the doorknob to the inside of the building started to turn. In their haste they didn’t lock it behind them.

The door slowly opened as a young contractor peered into the dark room. Not seeing anything he tentatively stepped inside the space. Immediately he knew something was wrong when he saw the saw the door to the outside wide open. As he quickly crossed the space investigate, he was startled to see a man in the shadows to his left. Before he could react Dink pulled the trigger of the HiPower pistol and it dully coughed. The round crashed into the contractor’s side and spun him around. Falling into a stack of mops the man groaned.

“Sorry son” was all Dink could think as he calmly shot the man a second time. Glancing down through the darkness Dink was shocked to see he recognized the man. He was one of the former Sheriff’s Deputies who had been absorbed into the ranks of the contractors.

Ducking outside the door to the outside and pulling it shut he nodded to Miller. They could hear the gunfire and even see the occasional round that sailed off to the contractors left and sparked off the front of a building. Careful to not drift too far towards the front of the City Hall building and risk detection, they darted across the street and disappeared into an alleyway.

“Clear” was all Miller said into his radio.

****

At the sound of Miller’s voice DeMetrie prepared to make his exit from the scene. The team of contractors had moved into the forward firing positions and they were far enough forward that he’d have to expose himself greatly to put aimed rifle fire on them. Instead he chose to lob one last grenade that exploded just to the side of the sandbags. The force of the explosion knocked them and several of the men behind them, including Werner, to the ground.

As he raced down the stairs he prayed that the contractors hadn’t figured out where he was. If they had, they could very well be waiting for him at the bottom of the stairs.

****

Picking himself off the ground, Werner and several of his men got ready to make a dash across the street. Men on the third story of City Hall had spotted the gunman in the building opposite their location. Werner was going to enter the building and attempt to pin the man down.

He gave the command and several men from City Hall windows opened up on the front of DeMetrie’s building. Werner and his men dashed across the street, while several more men ran from City Hall all the way across the street. Within a few seconds, seven men prepared to enter the building.

On a signal from Werner one of the men busted out the glass door of the building. After two strikes from the man’s rifle butt the glass surrendered and gave way.

“Alright, move into the building and seal it off. Make sure to find any stairways near the back,” commanded Werner, “and you two go around back and find the rear doors”. The team of contractors returning from patrol to assist them was only a few minutes away and would add to the cordon. With any luck they’d have the man cornered.

****

Just as Werner’s man went to enter the building the helicopter exploded with a tremendous roar. Bits of aluminum and rotor blades shot through the air, some of the fragments reaching Werner’s position and injuring several men. Flames shot into the sky and even from their position Werner could feel the blast wave.

Several shots rang out from beyond the helicopter and added to Werner’s dilemma. If there was another group of men attacking them from that direction, Werner had to deal with that. Depending on the size of the group, he might need all seven of his men.

He hesitated for as second while his men awaited his direction. Just then a smoke grenade landed on the street outside one of the buildings facing City Hall. Anticipating that the smoke was cover for men to move into position Werner barked out orders.

Soon all of his men were moving to a better position to set up flanking fire on any men that might emerge to attack City Hall from the rear.

It didn’t take long for him to realize there wasn’t going to be an attack.

****

On his side of the building Caddy’s men also quickly moved into a better position to begin tracking down the attackers.

Underneath the protective fire of the men behind them, Caddy and several contractors moved across the street. It didn’t take long to realize which building the shooter had been positioned in.

They efficiently tossed flash-bang grenades into the space. After the defining roar they quickly assaulted the space.

It soon became apparent their attacker had long sense left his position. Given his numbers, Caddy had no choice but to return to City Hall.

****

It would be a long, hard ride back to The Farm but after several hours of riding cross-country the exhausted men returned to their makeshift home.

They had gone into the lion’s den and rescued their friend. In doing so they also eliminated a number of contractors and destroyed several vehicles.

Miller and DeMetrie had rolled the dice and won. They both knew that this attack would have serious ramifications. They just hoped their tiny band of men would be able to survive the aftermath.

[The Stig]

The sleek turboprop executive aircraft circled the Shelton airport as the pilot prepared to land. As he circled the airport in preparation he noted the crumpled and burnt out wreck of an aircraft just beyond the end of the runway. His eye was drawn to it by the tire tracks and burnt areas of the grass that surrounded it.

Despite his thousands of hours flying the scene did strike him as a bit peculiar.

Refocusing his attention on the airport as he continued his downwind visual approach he judged the distance before he’d make his turn to base before double-checking his instrument panel.

His passengers voice boomed from the back cabin, “everything on schedule Ted?”

“Yes sir. We’ll be on the ground shortly. I see your car”.

“Excellent,” was the almost jovial reply.

He dipped the nose slightly as he turned to his final approach and gently reduced his power further. Double-checking to ensure he had fully extended his flaps he also monitored his sink rate. It was far too nice a day to splatter his plane all over the runway.

Expertly he flared his aircraft and gently touched down just beyond the large numbers denoting which direction the runway pointed. The tires chirped and there was a gentle deceleration as the reverse thrust slowed the sleek and spotless turboprop to a slow roll.

Within less than a minute the pilot guided the aircraft to a spot on the tarmac just to the side of several large, black SUV’s that looked more like tanks than vehicles to haul soccer moms and four kids to the park.

As the props slowed to a stop the rear door sprang open and fell to the earth. A man in a black suit, sunglasses, an ear piece and close cropped hair stepped from the plane first, scanned the horizon and after motioning to the passenger descended the stairs. Several men, who carried rifles and military uniforms held a small parameter around the vehicles. Like men in that line of work often do, their heads were focused away from the vehicles, scanning for trouble.

“I’ll only be a few hours Ted. No later than this evening,” said the passenger with a broad smile.

“I’ll be ready sir.”

As the driver of the second vehicle fluidly exited his seat and opened the rear door the passenger spryly descended the aircraft stairs and walked directly to the open door.

Within less than a minute all of the men returned to their vehicles and the entire convoy was headed down the road. It was clearly a routine the men had practiced many times before.

****

The pall of the previous nights battle still hung in the air around Shelton’s City Hall complex. While the bodies of dead men were gone, the spent rifle cartridges, the shattered glass, the pockmarks on buildings and blood were evident for all to see.

It was clear that a serious firefight had taken place and the contractors had taken a beating.

As the convoy from the airport pulled into the city center the men in the vehicles scanned the buildings for any sign of trouble. Their vehicles were armored for anything short of a massive IED or tank-busting missile and being unannounced nearly eliminated those as potential threats.

The scene on the airport tarmac was reversed as the vehicles pulled in front of City Hall. All the trucks were parked in such a way that they could leave quickly if needed. The men filed out of the trucks, set up a perimeter and based on a nearly imperceptible nod the passenger immerged. After tugging on his jacket to ensure it was taught he gave the signal and the entire group marched to the doors of City Hall.

Following closely behind the passenger was a small, almost impish man. With slicked back hair and a greasy demeanor, he carried a small briefcase and a large notebook. He dodged and weaved over the spent shell casings that his boss seemingly ignored.

Glancing around at the carnage the man simply whistled.

****

“Caddy, I’m telling you this is bad,” said Werner. Rarely for him, Werner was equal parts angry and scared; angry that his men had been bested, scared what the fallout from the failure would bring.

“We had our assess handed to us on a plate, lost good men and let the prisoner get away. This is not going to end well for us,’ Werner continued.

“Listen Richard,” counseled Caddy as a father would a son. “Yea, we got waxed. Happens. But you can’t shut down because of it.”

“Shut down!” Werner exclaimed. Rage rising in his face. “Who said anything about shutting down?”

“All I’m saying is that we need to fight fire with fire. We’ve raided some farms. Killed some bozos with HiPoints and SKS’s. Big deal. The men we want are pros and we need to find and get rid of them. Nothing else is a higher priority right now. Stop all those roadblocks and checkpoints. Go for the jugular”

Calming himself down Werner muttered, “you’re right. Ok. Let’s grab some lunch and figure out a game plan.”

As he rose the intercom system buzzed, almost startling him. “Sir?” came the voice of Julie, the secretary Werner inherited.

“Yes?” he called out.

Before she could answer Werner’s eye was caught by Caddy suddenly standing from the couch. He nearly leapt to attention, which, needless to say, was rather odd.

Turning to see what Caddy’s saw and caused such a reaction, the blood drained from Werner’s face. Icy chills shot through his veins and for the first time in his adult life he felt like a school boy in front of the principal.

Juxtaposed with Werner’s fear was the demeanor of the guest. He was short at barely 5’6” and was a slight man. His swept back graying hair seemed oddly out of place with his tan skin and nearly white teeth. He was clearly physically fit and his demeanor was of an older uncle who hadn’t visited in some time.

“Richard,” came the booming voice, odd for a man of that size. “I think we need to talk”.

“Please Senator Donovan” came the stammering reply as Werner motioned his guest into his office. “Please come in”.

[The Stig]

The Senator sat on Werner’s couch while Werner gave him an update on the happenings in the area. He danced around the events of the previous night. All the while he was giving the Senator an update, Werner was trying to figure out how Donovan heard about the battle so quickly.

The room was empty of everyone except Werner and the Senator. Even Caddy had left.

“Ok, cut the bullshit Werner,” said the Senator with a jovial smile. “What the hell happened here last night? All of it. Details”.

With a deep breath Werner proceeded to explain in exacting detail what had transpired less than twenty-four hours ago. When he finished, Donovan let the silence fill the room to the point of being awkward. Werner wisely kept his mouth shut.

Donovan then changed the subject and began quizzing Werner about a number of administrative tasks and situations. The conversation lasted a good forty-five minutes before the Senator brought the subject back around to the original topic. It was a tactic aimed at getting Werner comfortable and relaxed, before the Senator moved in with a hammer blow. It was a tactic that had served him well over the years.

“Listen Werner. The last guy who held this post is rotting in a swamp after it was clear he failed. I shitcanned him for far less than what you’ve done. You’re on the edge of a full-blown rebellion here. The only reason you aren’t on the way to a camp is because of your Daddy and me, but that only goes so far in covering your ass.” All the while the Senator was talking his smile and jovial demeanor remained in place, which only served to make the situation that more ominous.

“Senator, I understand”

Cutting him off Donovan continued. “I want your analysis of why things are sideways”

As the silence again filled the room, Werner once again felt like he was standing at the principal’s desk. It was a feeling he did not enjoy.

“Senator, I’ve been following the advice of my second in command, Caddy, who you just met. He’s been preaching an approach of restraint. I’ve wanted to go for the jugular with these troublemakers but have allowed my sentimentality for Caddy to cloud my judgment. He’s also suggested they are local bumpkins when we have a clear reason to believe the men behind most of these attacks are professionals. Perhaps ex-military.”

“Continue” was all the Senator said.

“As I said, I allowed myself to be swayed by his counsel and failed to evaluate the situation correctly. I can assure you Senator, I will not allow that to continue,” said Werner solemnly.

The Senator smiled. “I think that is wise. This is your company after all”.

As Werner began to comment, the Senator abruptly continued, “you will follow every lead, use every source and all of the resources at your disposal. If you can’t bring in enough men to replace your losses or get the job done, I’ll get you more. If any person farts and it smells like a resistance they will be eliminated. Their property will be destroyed and assets seized. There will be no more trips to the camps for these people. Total destruction is what you will provide them”.

“Senator, I understand fully” was all Werner could say.

Again the conversation drifted off to other topics. As the Senator prepared to leave he stood and said, “You do plan to eliminate this Caddy fellow as a problem, do you not?” Again, the broad smile and twinkling eyes gave the question a sinister edge.

Werner looked him dead in the eye. “Sir, I should have put my foot down earlier. He will be dealt with appropriately.”

“I think you can get things back on track here. Keep me posted”.

As the Senator gathered his items and summed his impish assistant he issued several directives on matters outside the country.

He turned back to Werner and said directly, “You will resolve this situation, or I will.”

“Yes Senator” was the neutered reply.

Donovan turned and talked with his aide for another few minutes leaving Werner to stand helplessly. Finally the Senator left City Hall without another word being spoken to Werner.

Standing in his office, Werner watched as the convoy faded into the distance. He acted and acted quickly.

“Julie” he called though the intercom. “Get me the section head of that team we’re sending over to Lumberton tonight. Send him to me right away. Once we’re done you can get me Caddy”.

****

A full hour and a half had passed before Caddy returned to Werner’s office. He was still picking up the pieces from the disastrous attack on City Hall. There were personal effects of dead men to deal with, next-of-kin to notify, staffing issues to resolve and damaged property to repair. In addition, he had a team of men searching the two snipers hides looking for any clues to their identities.

On top of all that, he was still sending out patrols and they had three small raids planned for the night. It promised to be another long evening.

Finally finding time to quickly eat a sandwich he and Werner discussed a number of operational details. Caddy finally broke the ice by asking, “how did it go with the Senator?”
Werner didn’t skip a beat. “Surprisingly well. He’s obviously concerned but expressed confidence that he’d get it handled.”

Their meeting finally wrapped up and as Caddy was preparing to leave Werner said, “I’ve rescheduled that raid in Lumberton for later tonight. 0:400. I want you to tag along. The section leader has been a bit flaky and I want your opinion on him.”

Caddy, somewhat confused by the request replied, “Rogers? He’s been solid. Hell of a shooter too.”

“I think he’s having personal issues. Just ride shotgun.”

Still in the dark about Werner’s intentions Caddy simply agreed.

****

As he sat in his office Werner’s request bounced around his mind. The whole situation was odd especially given the timing.

Chalking it up to post-traumatic stress after the Senator’s visit he continued on with his work.

As he was filling out some reports the team leader who was investigating the sniper’s hides used during the attacks excitedly came into the office. “Caddy, a minute?” was all he blurted out.

With a smile Caddy responded, “Go ahead”.

“Here’s the situation sir. All the brass used in the attack was 5.56x45. The smoke grenades were mil-spec. The accuracy of the shooting was phenomenal despite it being night, smoky and longer distances. The attacks were coordinated suggesting good communications and training.”

Caddy was seeing where this was all headed but let his young contractor continue. “Sir, I’m certain these men are or were military.”

Caddy said, “I agree. We’ve been saying they’re pros all along. Being full-blown military makes sense.”

“It would explain all of the attacks really. So I sent a request to the military command that Senator Donovan put together. I asked for a list of any military desertions from units either in this county or adjoining ones in the past year,” said the contractor with a grin on his face.

“Spit it out before you choke on it,” said Caddy with a grin.

The young contractor pulled out three color photographs from a folder and handed them to Caddy.

“Look familiar?”

One picture was clearly the man they had captured and held prisoner. The other two were likely the men Caddy had seen at ClarMar farms.

“Well done. Very well done,” said Caddy while he patted the young contractor on the shoulder. The youngster showed a lot of promise for the future.

“Anybody else know about this?” asked Caddy.

“No sir”

“Ok. Keep it that way. I want to verify a few things before I present this to Mr. Werner. You’ve done a good job, I just want to make sure we have all our details straight first. No slight on your work. ”

“Yes sir”.

“You did great work son. This is excellent.”

“Thanks Caddy. I appreciate it.”

As Caddy prepared some gear for the nights mission he thought about the pictures and service records that sat on his desk. Werner was up to something. Caddy couldn’t put his finger on it, but something was odd. The man had been on edge for weeks and was now completely calm despite having been called on the carpet by the man who could sentence him to death with the snap of a finger.

Something was up. Caddy decided to hold onto the information about the men until he could figure out what was going on.