“What do you want, Frinton?” Brenda yelled, waiting for Mack to attack. “Is this all about stealing land and helping the pharmaceutical company?”
“So you are undercover agents,” Adam growled under his breath, staring down at the street.
A cold line of panic struck his heart. Whoever Brenda and Mack were, he realized, they knew the truth. And they could handle themselves in a fight. Adam knew he wasn't in a position to kill his targets. No. He was now alone. The only two options that were on the table were miserable options. Adam could either run or wait for his brother to send in a hit team. The hit team, Adam knew, would certainly fill him full of bullets. If Adam ran, his brother would hunt him down.
“Bruce will find me no matter where I run to.” Adam muttered and kicked the roof with a hard boot. “My only choice is to get out of this corn town and kill him. Forget these agents.”
Mack cut through the shingles over his head and emerged into a dying day. He spotted Adam standing at the front of the roof, staring down at the street.
“Turn yourself in, Frinton,” Brenda yelled, keeping her voice stern and steady. “It’ll go better for you if you cooperate.”
Adam began to back away from the edge of the roof but stopped when he saw Josh zoom around the side of a dry building and start running down a cracked sidewalk.
“Dead, they're all dead!” Josh was screaming at the top of his lungs. “Men in gray! Shooting everyone!”
Fear grabbed Adam's mind. “Bruce sent in a team… he betrayed me!” Adam spun around and prepared to get off the roof. Mack was waiting, standing tall and powerful, aiming a deadly M-16 right at Adam's chest.
“Drop your rifle,” Mack warned in a voice that told Adam that if he moved one single inch he was a dead man.
Adam stared at Mack. “We're all dead,” he informed Mack. “There's a hit team in the corn. We're not leaving this town alive.”
Josh burst into the diner and ran into Brenda's arms. “They're dead...” he screamed as hot tears flooded from his eyes. “Saw a man shoot down Mr. Sallows and Mr. Trails. Melvin was laying dead in his driveway.”
Brenda put a firm arm around Josh. “What are you talking about, son?” she asked.
Josh planted his face into Brenda's stomach. “A man… he tried to kill me. I bit him and ran into the corn. When I ran past the other farm houses… I saw...”
Brenda wasn't exactly the motherly type. Holding a crying, frightened, child wasn't her part of her skill set. Still, Josh needed to be comforted and Brenda knew she couldn't push the boy away.
“Son,” she said, squatting down, staring into tears of agony, fear and pain. “I'm not going to let anyone harm you, but you can't run off again, is that clear?” Josh nodded his head. “Now, go into the kitchen and stay there. Please,” Brenda actually spoke in a soft voice that made her insides turn a little.
“I won't run off again,” Josh promised, wiping at his tears and hurrying to the kitchen.
“Brenda!” Mack yelled down from the roof. “I have Frinton. The others have deserted town. We're coming down. Meet me in the alley.”
“You're a dead man,” Adam warned Mack. “We're all dead.”
Mack eyed Adam. The smiling face he had seen plastered inside a false book now looked mean as a rattlesnake and hungry for a fight. “You're scum,” he told Adam, lowering the M-16 in his hands.
“You want to fight me?” Adam asked, reading Mack's body language.
Mack knew that he needed to shoot Adam where the man stood, but something came over him—hearing Josh's terrified voice, a deep, volcanic, anger erupted inside of his heart. “Brenda, give me a minute,” he yelled and then narrowed his eyes. “Kick your rifle into the middle of the roof.”
Adam couldn't believe that Mack was itching for a fight. He kicked the rifle laying at his feet to the middle of the roof and then tossed a hidden Glock 19. “Your turn.”
Mack threw down his rifle and his own Glock 19. Without saying a word, he began walking toward Adam. Adam dropped down into a vicious fighting position and threw a hard roundhouse kick at Mack's face. Mack ducked under the kick and brought a hard right fist into Adam's chest. Adam stumbled backward, caught his balance. “You're dead.” Adam smiled as his murderous eyes began to flash. “You’re no match for me.”
Mack lowered his head and narrowed his hard eyes. “Come get some.”
Adam wasn't afraid of some stupid cop or agent or whatever Mack was. He dropped down into a secured fighting position and waited for Mack to attack. “Your turn to play.”
Mack knew Adam was testing the waters to find out how tough he was. Mack didn't care. Inside his mind, all he could hear was Josh’s voice echoing. No kid deserved to be trapped in such a horrible nightmare. It was time for the monster to die. “Is that all you got, boy?” he asked Adam. “I've had worse from a street junkie.”
“Oh, I have more,” Adam hissed. He pulled out a sharp combat knife. “I'm going to carve you up. You messed with the wrong Navy Seal.”
“Shut up and fight, coward.” Mack stepped forward. “No more talking.”
“You got it,” Adam aimed the combat knife at Mack and then threw a hard front kick that forced Mack to step back. As Mack stepped back, Adam spun around and tried to slice Mack's throat with the combat knife. Mack threw his head back just as the blade sliced past his throat. He grabbed Adam's right arm with powerful hands and used his right leg to kick Adam's left leg out from under him.
Then he brought Adam’s arm down over his right knee, snapping the arm in half. A horrible cry of pain left Adam's mouth. Mack shut the man up by bringing his right knee up into his nose. Adam felt his nose shatter as his body was flung backward. Realizing that he was done for, he began crawling for his gun, using his left hand to reach for the weapon.
Mack reached down and retrieved a hidden revolver from a hidden ankle holster. He waited. Adam crawled to his gun, secured the weapon, and rolled painfully onto his back. As soon as his back hit the roof, Mack fired off a single bullet. The bullet tore through Adam's forehead like a hot knife cutting through chicken. Adam's head jerked back on his shoulders so hard that his neck nearly broke. His head dropped down onto the hot roof, landing in a shadow of death.
Mack stared at Adam for a moment and then yelled, “Another one down, Brenda!”
The sun continued to set over the corn. Mack scanned the corn closely. The fight was far from over. Escaping Green Ridge alive was going to take a miracle.
Chapter 6
“You saw men in gray uniforms?” Mack asked Josh, taking a drink of water from a plastic yellow cup.
Josh nodded his head yes. “They were standing over the bodies talking into walkie-talkies.” Josh wiped at a streak of tears.
Mack glanced at Brenda. She wiped sweat from her forehead. “Found a dead body out in the corn,” Mack informed her. “The general store is clear, too. The town is clear… for the time being. The hit team seems to be clearing out the farms before moving into town.”
“Hey, let me out, I'm freezing!” Wilson begged, his voice muffled by the thick cooler door.
Mack nodded his head. Brenda didn't object. She walked to the cooler and snatched open the door. “Out!”
Wilson hurried out. “I've been listening… Please, let me go. I don't want to die,” he begged, his teeth chattering. “I didn't want nothing to do—”
“Shut up,” Mack snapped at Wilson. “We're all getting out of this town together.”
“Put your hands behind your back,” Brenda ordered. Wilson hesitated and then did as ordered. Brenda whipped out a pair of handcuffs from the right pocket of her suit jacket and secured Wilson's hands behind his back. “Ready to move, Mack.”
Mack snatched open the back door and looked out into a dark night. The corn fields had been transformed into a sea of blackness. “Dark moon tonight,” he grunted. “Can't use any lights.”
Mack turned to Josh. “Son, stay right—” Mack heard the sound of a military-grade helicopter in th
e distance. “Into the corn! Now!”
Brenda grabbed Wilson and dashed out of the diner into the dark corn, an M-16 in her right hand. Mack scooped Josh up with his left arm, securing his own rifle in his right hand, and dashed into the corn, leaving a cursed diner sitting behind him like a screaming nightmare begging to be forgotten. As Mack ran into the corn, he eyed the dark sky. To Mack's dismay, a second helicopter approached from the opposite end of the town. The first helicopter began scanning the town with a bright spot light while the second helicopter focused on the cornfields. Midnight was still far off, but Bruce had grown impatient and ordered Rhode to attack earlier than planned.
To the right, a bright light illuminating the corn raced toward her position. There was nowhere to hide. The searchlight on Rhode’s helicopter splashed right down onto Brenda, Mack, Josh, and Wilson. “There, sir!” the searchlight operator yelled.
“Red Team. North cornfield, move!” Rhode spoke into a headphone in an excited tone. “Four targets in the corn. Let's hunt them down.”
Rhode waited until the helicopter swung back around. “Bravo Flight, let's squeeze them in. Fly out and unload the Red Team. Red Team, squeeze them in using a circular formation. Green team will connect with you.”
Mack watched as the helicopter carrying Rhode buzzed back toward town. The second helicopter slipped farther away into the corn. “They're going to squeeze us in,” he informed Brenda. “We can't run.”
“Do what you have to do, Mack,” Brenda nodded her head, remaining calm. Brenda knew how to control her emotions. When she was alone, at certain times, yes, the tears fell and the nightmares came. But when the moment required steel nerves, she could rise to the occasion.
Mack put Josh down. “Stay at my side, son. Is that clear? No matter what happens.”
Josh looked up through the darkness, spotted a rough, shadowy face, and nodded his head. “Yes, sir.”
Mack pulled out a cigarette lighter from his trench coat. “Let's set the corn on fire,” he said.
Brenda found her own cigarette lighter and began lighting one corn stalk after another on fire as quickly as she could. Mack worked with his back to Brenda.
“What are you doing?” Wilson begged.
“Separating the teams,” Brenda explained as she and Mack continued to set the corn on fire.
Mack lit one last corn stalk and then grabbed Josh's hand. “Move,” he ordered, running on tired legs as the burning corn began to catch and spread as if someone had doused the entire cornfield with gasoline.
“Fire, sir,” a combat soldier yelled as the helicopter carrying Rhode circled around one last time. The smoke from the burning corn began to flood up into the air, blinding the bright searchlight.
Rhode's excitement turned into rage. “Lower us down, now!” he yelled at the pilot.
The pilot lowered the helicopter low enough to the ground to allow Rhode and his four-man hit team to jump out into the corn. As soon as Rhode's combat boots hit the dry earth, he took off running, putting the fire behind him.
“Check the town,” he ordered his team. “I'll secure the corn. They may have doubled back.”
Rhode knew that his targets were still in the corn but he wanted the trophy all for himself. Whoever had set the corn on fire was going to pay. Bruce Collingsworth was going to demand heads, and Rhode wasn't going to be one of those heads.
The pilot zoomed back up into the air. He looked down at the cornfields and saw the fire cutting the cornfield in half in a bright, hungry, blaze. Brenda and Mack were setting corn stalks on fire as they ran. The fire was spreading like a giant red wave crashing toward shore, picking up power as it moved forward. Red Team was completely cut off.
“Sir,” a man called in to Rhode from the opposite end of the cornfield. “The fire—”
“Search the cornfield. The targets could be on the other line of the fire,” Rhode ordered, running beside the burning corn, using a bright flashlight to examine spot corn stalks that had been disturbed by passing bodies. Rhode put away his walkie-talkie and increased his speed. He was confident he was gaining on his quarry, who couldn’t possibly keep up the same pace he could.
“Please… slow… down,” Wilson huffed and puffed, struggling to run with his hands behind his back. Before he could say another word, his legs became tangled up and he hit the ground, nearly taking Brenda down with him.
“Get up!” Brenda ordered in an angry voice. She reached down and grabbed Wilson's right arm to pull the frightened man up. As she did, a single bullet exploded into him. Wilson's body jerked forward and crashed into Brenda, causing her to fall backward.
Mack spotted a dark shadow squatting down in the corn aiming a rifle in his direction. He grabbed Josh and hit the ground. Brenda pushed Wilson's dead body off her and crawled over to Mack.
“Shooter in the corn. There.” Mack pointed him out with his eyes, using the bright burning flames to illuminate his motion. “Split up and stay low.”
Brenda nodded as Mack began firing at Rhode. Rhode ducked down and dropped back into the flames. “I'll pick them off one by one,” he growled as the flames continued to spread throughout the cornfields.
Mack stopped firing and pulled Josh away from Wilson's dead body. “Josh, run. Go get help. Don't stop running until you find help. Is that clear?” he ordered.
Josh looked into Mack's hard face—saw a caring man who had been beaten down by life—and then took off running into the corn like a streak of lightning. “Good boy,” Mack whispered and then turned to hold his position until he felt that Josh had a good head start.
Mack figured the fire had separated the hit teams, but he knew that at least one solid team was on his side of the corn. Escaping, he knew, wasn't going to be a possibility. Josh might have a chance to escape—if he and Brenda stayed back and held off the hit team long enough for the kid to vanish. Mack was certain that the hit team had clear infrared scopes attached to their rifles and night vision goggles.
Rhode army crawled through the corn, moving away from the fire, keeping close to the edge of the cornfield, circling around Mack without being seen. Surely the woman had taken up a firing position behind Mack or maybe the woman had fled with the kid? Rhode wasn't certain. He didn't care. He could run down the woman and the kid after dealing with male cop. The nearest town was fifty miles away. Plenty of room and time to run down two scared rabbits.
“There you are,” Rhode grinned, using a high powered infrared scope to spot Mack. Mack was slowly belly crawling backward, struggling to keep away from the burning corn. “Clean shot.”
“I don't think so.”
Rhode jerked his head to the right and saw Brenda laying on her stomach aiming a hard Glock right at his head. And then with a single bullet, the black abyss swallowed him up forever.
Brenda let out a sigh of relief, lowered her gun, and placed her head down onto a patch of dry dirt for a second. “Have to stay strong,” she whispered and rose up onto her knees. A bullet tore through her chest, violently throwing her body backward. Mack saw Brenda take a bullet and then spotted a second shooter. But the shooter wasn’t wearing the gray fatigues of Rhode's team. The shooter was Bruce Collingsworth, a man wearing a sharp suit and carrying a hard M-16.
Bruce had no intention of letting anyone leave Green Ridge alive. As much as he trusted Rhode, his gut told him to travel to Green Ridge and monitor the situation in person. When Bruce saw Brenda kill Rhode, he knew it’s time to take action.
“Green Team, get to my position. Follow the signal attached to the walkie-talkies.” Bruce lowered his walkie-talkie and studied Brenda's motionless body.
“Good thing I tracked you, Rhode,” he whispered under his breath.
Mack raised his M-16 and sighted a clear view of Bruce's head. Just before he pulled the trigger, a hard boot came down and stomped his firing hand.
“I don't think so,” a deadly voice yelled. Mack looked up and saw a man wearing a pair of night vision goggles staring down at him. The man, p
art of Rhode's Green Team, had been called into the corn by Bruce. “Mr. Collingsworth, over here!”
Bruce heard Mat holler out. He hurried through the smoky corn and spotted Mat standing over Mack. “Kill him and then find the boy,” he ordered, covering his mouth with his arm. “The smoke is getting too thick. We have to hurry.”
Brenda slowly opened her eyes. She felt as if a ton of elephants had crushed her chest. Good thing I was wearing my protective vest...never leave home without one, right Mack?
Mack didn't know Brenda was alive. He looked at the M-16 Mat was holding and drew in a brave, bold breath.
“Do it,” he told Mat in a hard voice.
Mat grinned and squeezed his M-16, looking down into a face that had fiery hot flames bouncing off it. But before the killer could put a bullet into Mack, three bullets exploded. One bullet tore into Matt's neck; he dropped the M-16 and grabbed at his neck, trying in vain to stop his life’s blood pouring out over the dry ground. The two other bullets ripped into Bruce's forehead and mouth. Bruce's body tumbled down. His head landed near the edge of the fire. Mack watched the blistering flames start licking at Bruce's head—and then catch. Within seconds, the man's head was engulfed in flames.
“Mack!” Brenda called out in pain.
Mack scrambled to his feet, ran to Brenda, snatched the woman up over his shoulders, and began to run as fast as he could. “It… hurts,” Brenda moaned, feeling her body bouncing all over Mack's right shoulder.
“You'll live. Stop whining. Nice shooting.”
“You… need me. Guess I won't be going to Los Angeles after all. Never one to back down from a fight...” Brenda moaned in pain, feeling as if her chest was going to rip open.
Mack grinned. Brenda was his partner, for better or worse. “We're getting out of here,” he promised and kept his legs moving as the fire continued to eat through the corn. Mack ran and ran and ran, until his legs collapsed.
Finally he was forced to put Brenda down and rest for a minute, expecting to be shot down at any second. Once he caught his breath, he picked Brenda back up and continued to run, and run, and run through the corn. Mack ran for what seemed like hours, putting distance between himself and Green Ridge, shocked he was still alive. When his eyes spotted flashing lights that belonged to a brown Sheriff's car, he darted out of the corn with Brenda on his shoulders. The sheriff’s car slid to a stop. Josh jumped out and ran to Mack.
Hide No Secrets Page 4