“I wish I could say you get used to it, but I’d be lying.”
Lucas glanced over his shoulder at the ward and then back at the man. “I’m looking for a Chinese guy who’s supposed to be helping here as an orderly. Older, smallish fellow. Name’s Yi.”
The man’s brow furrowed. “Yeah. Sure. Little guy. Doesn’t talk much. He’s out in back. Just ducked out a few minutes ago.”
“Much obliged.”
Lucas worked his way to the rear exit, past a row of cadavers in body bags, and gratefully breathed in the fresh air as he burst through a pair of double glass doors to what had once been a loading zone. Yi was helping a muscular Hispanic man at the far end heave body bags onto a wheeled cart fashioned from the rear bed of a pickup truck, with a pair of mules tethered to it.
The little Chinese man looked up at Lucas, who waved him over. Yi said something to his companion and walked over to where Lucas was standing in the shade of the overhang.
“See you’re making yourself useful,” Lucas said.
“The food’s good, and the work isn’t hard.”
“Crummy detail.”
Yi shrugged. “It’s what they assigned me. I’ve done worse.” He eyed Lucas expectantly.
“Got a few questions for you,” Lucas said.
“Sure.”
“The Chinese gang. You said we were in their territory. But that’s a big area. Where’s their headquarters?”
“I told you. They move it around. Smart.”
“How hard would it be for you to find out?”
“Here? Impossible.”
“No, I mean if you go back to where we met. Act as an operative for me.”
Yi’s eyes narrowed. “You mean a spy.”
“Call it whatever you want.”
“What’s in it for me? I could get killed.”
“Seem to recall you have a taste for gold. I’m thinking you get me what I need, there’s an ounce in it for you.”
“One? Maybe if we were talking three or four, it would be worth it. But one? There’s a good chance I’d get my head blown off if anyone’s seen me working here.”
Lucas sighed. “Fair enough. Two. But I need the info now.”
“I’ll need an advance. Some rounds and at least one ounce. I’ll need to share some of the wealth to get anyone to talk.”
Lucas’s lips tightened into a thin line. “You screw me on this and you won’t have to worry about any of your gang buddies.”
“Don’t you think I know that? I won’t screw you. But I’m going to need to bribe some of the street hustlers to get the location, and they won’t work for free.”
“How many rounds you figure you’ll need?”
“As many as I can carry. Couple of hundred, at least.”
“Who’s your supervisor?”
“Carter.”
“Don’t know him.”
“I can introduce you.”
Yi led him down a long corridor. He turned into one of the wards, Lucas on his tail, and the little man approached a gaunt giant of a man who could have modeled as a human scarecrow.
Carter’s eyebrows rose as Lucas neared, indicating he recognized Lucas.
“Howdy, Carter,” Lucas said. “I’m afraid I’m going to have to take Yi here off your hands for a while.”
“We’re pretty short on help.” Carter paused. “Lucas, right?”
“That’s right. Sorry, but I really need him. I’ll see if I can’t rustle up some more men to help. It’s pretty ugly out back.”
Carter frowned. “Can’t it at least wait until dark? We’ve got a backup of cadavers and need to move them out before they really start decaying.”
“I understand, but no. I need him now.”
Carter nodded slowly. “You’re the boss. But please send some more help. We’re buried here.”
“I saw. I’ll do my best.”
Yi accompanied Lucas to the supply tent, where Sam, Terry, Henry, and thirty of his men were stacking ammo cans. Lucas told Sam what he needed, and Sam side-eyed Yi before agreeing. He counted out two hundred rounds of jacketed .223 ammunition and hefted the metal container. Yi took it, the ropy arm muscles beneath his copper skin straining from the weight, and turned to Lucas.
“Need that ounce you promised me, and I’ll get moving.”
Lucas fished a single gold maple leaf from his back pocket and slipped it into the breast pocket of Yi’s shirt. “Remember what I told you about crossing me,” he warned.
Yi grunted. “Don’t worry. I want the other one more than I want to spend the rest of my life dodging you.”
“Smart man.”
“How will I find you when I have answers?”
“Check with Sam here. He’ll know where I am.”
Yi walked off with the tin of bullets, and Sam leaned into Lucas and spoke in a low voice. “Pretty shifty little weasel there.”
“No argument. But sometimes that’s what it takes to get the job done.”
Sam smirked. “Ten rounds says you never see him again.”
Lucas watched Yi disappear around a corner and shook his head. “No go. I wasn’t thrilled about having to use him, but he’s our best shot.”
“He’ll disappear into the city like a plague rat. Mark my words.”
Lucas sighed. “Probably right.” He paused. “Don’t suppose you have a couple of spare men you could send over to the hospital, do you? Guy running it, Carter, needs a hand in a big way.” Lucas described the situation, and Sam frowned.
“I’ll ask, but we’re all shorthanded right now.”
“I know. Consider it a personal favor.”
Sam shook his head. “Only for you.”
Lucas managed a small grin and gazed after Yi, a sense of foreboding nagging at the core of his guts, the air suddenly almost too thick to breathe.
Chapter 14
Colorado Springs, Colorado
Elijah remained well to the rear as his army battled with the neo-Nazi holdouts who ran what had once been Colorado Springs. After two hours of running firefights, the defenders were on their last legs, and Elijah’s men were mopping up the last of them. He’d sent an envoy into town with an offer for the Nazis, but it had been rejected, and his messenger returned to him with his body lashed faceup to the animal’s back and gutted, his intestines dragging in the dirt as his horse neared.
The message had been a simple one: join Elijah’s army and reject their evil ways or face complete destruction. That they’d chosen the latter, either convinced of their superiority because of their entrenched position or merely unwilling to bow to a new master, didn’t surprise or bother Elijah. He was sure he’d be able to grow his force from the town’s residents, whom the Nazis had preyed upon. Once freed, his bet was that they would find their way to the Lord, lest they suffer the same fate as their oppressors.
The boom of a detonating grenade reached him, and he twisted to where Benjamin was sitting beside him on horseback. “Sounds like it’s almost over.”
Benjamin sounded almost regretful when he spoke. “They had no chance.”
“Yet they still chose to fight. Fools, all of them.”
“They’re used to running the show. I would have been surprised if they’d given in. Besides which, we’re better off without them. They don’t really fit the profile of our target…recruits.”
“True, although the Lord works in mysterious ways. And as we’ve seen, they’re ferocious fighters. We could have used more like that.”
“The trouble they would have caused in the ranks outweighs any benefit we’d have seen. But it’s a moot point now. They’re obviously going to fight to the last man.”
Elijah shrugged. “It doesn’t matter. We’ll gather the townspeople and make them an offer they can’t refuse, and add more men than we lost. Everything happens for a reason.”
“Still, we should seriously consider avoiding a repeat in Pueblo. Just bypass the town and continue to the hot springs.”
“No. We need our force
battle-hardened for what’s to come. And it serves the additional purpose of ridding our southern border of scum who would have eventually caused us trouble. After we’re done, we’ll march on Pueblo and do the same as we’ve done here.”
Benjamin didn’t protest. He’d already spent enough time with his new master to understand that there was no talking him out of an idea once it had taken root. That Elijah would willingly sacrifice any number of his troops to prove a point didn’t surprise him in the least. After all, Elijah had never been close to a battle and even now sat as far removed as possible from anything resembling real danger. So of course he could be glib about death and the process of killing.
Benjamin recognized him as a megalomaniacal sociopath, but the prophet had been cut from the same bolt of cloth, so that hardly came as a shock. Perhaps what did was how quickly Elijah had been able to step into his father’s shoes and infect the entire congregation with the madness of bloodlust and a thirst for revenge that required the slaughter of an entire tribe – one that had by all accounts saved humanity from the latest iteration of the virus. Regardless of the rhetoric, Benjamin knew in his heart that was the case from speaking to newly converted travelers, who’d described their terror of the new version of the bug in unmistakable terms. Members from Shangri-La had willingly risked their lives to rescue their fellow man from a horrific end, and even if it was heresy within the Church to speak that truth, Benjamin was neither a stupid nor a naïve man. He stayed in his position with Elijah because it was the best opportunity, not because he believed every bit of superstition the father and son team could conjure up.
None of which he would ever admit, upon pain of death.
Another blast boomed from within the town, and then the steady ack-ack of a big machine gun – no doubt one of the Brownings they’d brought from Denver.
“Our men must be moving on their headquarters now,” Benjamin observed.
Elijah nodded. “The final showdown. May the Lord have mercy on their souls.”
The only glimmer of sunshine had been that Elijah had stayed out of the tactical decisions, leaving them to Benjamin’s greater experience. At least for now. But he could see the young prophet’s hubris strengthening and his feeling of invulnerability increasing with each conquest. They’d mowed through two encampments of settlers who had established themselves beyond the southern city limit perimeter, demanding loyalty and obedience or putting them to death as tools of the Dark One, and the ease with which Elijah had made life-or-death decisions had gone to his head even more than the power of running the most powerful organization of its kind in the west.
Delusion and ego were a dangerous combination anywhere, Benjamin knew, but on the battlefield, they could be deadly.
An hour later, the battle for Colorado Springs was over, and Benjamin had lost thirty-nine seasoned fighters. As Elijah had predicted, the bulk of the residents, many little more than skin and bones, had agreed to join the ranks of the saved – but unlike Elijah, Benjamin viewed the mass conversion as more mouths to feed, and would have happily traded the lot of them for his thirty-nine men back.
Elijah stood in front of his army with a beaming smile as the Colorado Springs inhabitants were pressed into service, and when he spoke, his voice was strong and confident.
“We have won a great victory again today, against a foe that was as evil as they come. Some of us fell in doing so, but be assured that their deaths were not in vain, and that they even now have joined my father in heaven, where they are basking in the everlasting glow of the Creator. Their reward is one of eternal bliss, as will be that for any of you who make the ultimate sacrifice.” A cheer rose from the men’s throats, and fists and rifles pumped in the air. Elijah soaked up the adulation for several beats and then held up his hands to silence the crowd.
“As your reward for fighting bravely and exterminating the vermin who enslaved this town for years, we’ll make camp here for the night while we bury the dead. I’m sure the locals will be happy to break into their stores and prepare us a feast as thanks for ridding their city of the menace that terrorized them.” He paused for a moment to let his words sink in.
“So rest easy tonight, and tomorrow we will ride on Pueblo, where the same fate awaits anyone who serves Satan. Once we’ve freed those who have suffered under their rule, we will make our way to Shangri-La and destroy the last refuge for true evil in our land. It is a proud moment now for me to see you triumphant, but I’m confident it is only the first in a series of victories that will be spoken of for generations. Guided by the New Spirit, we are unstoppable!”
This time the cheering was even louder, and Elijah stepped back, arms extended into the air like he was supporting the sky with his hands. Benjamin’s face could have been etched from stone, his eyes revealing nothing, as his men roared approval for a killing spree without precedent in the Church’s history. It wasn’t lost on him that the locals appeared far less enthusiastic about having been liberated from their masters than Elijah’s words indicated, and he wondered what gruel they would be able to scratch up for the hungry troops from supplies that were meager by any measure.
Not his problem, but yet another friction point to be aware of lest some take it into their heads to wage a guerilla attack during the night.
Chapter 15
Seattle, Washington
Lucas was dozing in the shade following a bout of afternoon rain when Henry called out to him from near the supply tent.
“Lucas! Your man’s back.”
Lucas pushed the brim of his hat from where it had been covering his eyes and glanced over at Henry and then beyond him to where Yi was beelining toward Lucas from the encampment perimeter. Lucas yawned and stood and waited for the little Chinese man.
“Well?” Lucas asked when Yi drew near.
“I found out where they’re holed up. Cost me all my ammo, but I got the info.”
“Where?”
“In Chinatown. A building that used to be a gym. They’ve been there for two days.” Yi eyed Lucas expectantly. “I’ll tell you exactly where when you give me the other coin.”
Lucas shook his head. “That’s not how it works. You take us, show us the building, and you get paid once we verify they’re inside.”
Yi’s eyes darted to the side and then fixed on Lucas’s face. “Going there again would be too dangerous for me.”
“I’ll bring a small army. You’ll be fine. I’m not asking you to lead the charge. But there’s no way in hell I’m giving you another dime until we’ve verified you’re telling the truth.”
“I wouldn’t lie.”
Lucas’s mouth twisted in a tight smirk. “Right. Last honest man. But you’re still not getting the coin until you show us the place.”
“How do you intend to get a small army deep into Chinatown?”
“We’ll wait until after dark. We should be able to sneak a hundred of my men past any sentries. Assuming there will be any at night.”
Yi looked uncertain. “There…there might be. I don’t know. Normally, just the usual places, but everything’s upside down now…”
Lucas glanced at the fading light in the sky. “We’ll leave in a couple of hours and hit them once it’s dark. Go grab yourself a hot meal and be back here then.”
Lucas’s tone didn’t leave any room for argument, so Yi slunk off, his shoulders slumped, obviously unhappy that he was going to have to venture into what was now enemy territory yet again. Lucas believed he’d found the headquarters, but he wasn’t about to bet his life on it, much less the lives of his men. It was always possible Yi was playing both sides and would lead them into an ambush. But the risk would be far lower at night, with no lights or reflective material on any of the fighters. And with Yi in the thick of the group, the likelihood he would turn on them was greatly reduced.
At least that was what Lucas told himself. He’d learned the hard way to be prepared for anything, including treachery from those who were supposed to be on his side.
; Lucas went in search of Art and found him in consultation with his subordinates in his temporary quarters near the hospital. He explained the situation with Yi, and Art’s face clouded as he finished.
“I know you want these guys, but heading into Chinatown at night on the word of a sketchy informant…I’ll give you the okay if that’s what you’re asking for, but I’d be lying if I said I liked it.”
“That makes two of us.”
Art handpicked a hundred of his best fighters and had Sam equip them with flak vests and enough ammunition and ordnance to go to war. The men ate and then sat for a briefing about their objective and the approach they would use. Lucas and Sam would direct the operation while Art held down the fort, on alert for a counterattack.
“The goal is to capture any of the invasion force we can, and then to neutralize the gang so the residents don’t have to fear anyone once we leave town. The mission will depend on stealth, so no chatter once we’re underway, and no mention about it before we leave. As far as anyone’s concerned, this is a drill or a surprise patrol, nothing more,” Art said.
Lucas took up the thread. “We have an informant who’s located their den, but we should expect the area to be well guarded. He knows the locations of the guard posts, but those might have changed, so we need to be ready for anything.”
“How do we play it once there?” Terry asked.
“It’ll be a fortified brick building, so we’ll have to figure out the best way once we’re there. Maybe a roof entry. I don’t know. Nobody but the informant has seen it, and he’s thin on details other than it’s a two-story building in a dense urban area. My hunch is we enter the adjacent buildings at the far end of the block and make our way to the target that way, but until we know if there are snipers on the roof, it’s up in the air.”
After the briefing, the men checked their weapons and adjusted their gear. Conversation among them was hushed. It was obvious this would be a dangerous sortie and, as with all such missions, would likely result in some of them not making it. As the light leached from the overcast sky, a quiet settled over the group, the calm of men who had killed and knew what was to come, and were prepared to take life or give their own.
The Day After Never - Legion (Post-Apocalyptic Dystopian Thriller - Book 8) Page 8