Avalon- The Construction

by L. Michael Rusin

  They both got into the car and the sheriff headed back toward Fitch.

  ◆◆◆

  The gravel crunched as Mike, the sheriff, and Randy walked toward the jail. It sounded louder than it actually was as the men trudged along with a grim determination. A cricket was heard chirping in the dead of night. The sheriff fumbled with the keys to the office before inserting one into the keyway. A click sounded as the key was turned and then it clicked again as the sheriff turned it a second time, engaging the small pistons that completed the sequence. The door opened with a small push and the three men walked toward the cell area. A small lantern attached to the wall cast a dim light that barely lit the area up. It was adequate to see, especially after coming into the room from the dark night. They walked toward the large door that led to the cells. Another key opened the lock and the sheriff swung it open. He looked to the left when he entered and could see the form of the deputy sound asleep to one side on a cot. The sheriff approached the sleeping deputy and gently shook his shoulder. The deputy woke up and the sheriff said,

  “Go home Cliff. We’ll take over now.”

  The deputy rose from the cot into a sitting position and reached down to put his shoes on.

  “What’s going on, Sheriff?”

  The sheriff put a finger up to his lips.

  “Quiet, I’ll tell you all about it in the morning. Go home now and don’t worry about anything. Keep this to yourself. This has to be kept very confidential and that means everyone, understand?”

  The deputy had a questioning look come over his face,

  “I promise, I’ll let you know in the morning. Go home now and we’ll take care of things here. Do not talk about these two men to anyone. I can’t explain right now but tell no one about them. Do you understand?”

  The deputy nodded. He reached over for his jacket that was on a hook above the cot and put it on. His hat, which was sitting on a chair next to the cot, followed, and he put it on his head. He was done, and walked toward the door with heavy footsteps, they echoed slightly as he went through the door and was gone. Mike, Randy, and the sheriff walked to the door that led to the cell area. Mike whispered,

  “Let’s chain them up Sheriff. We don’t want these guys to run if they get the chance. We can’t risk them getting away.”

  The sheriff agreed as they walked to the first cell and opened it. There was a rasping clicking noise and the door was unlocked. As the sheriff pulled the door open it squeaked. He approached the sleeping man and woke him up with a gentle shake on his shoulder. The man woke up a bit astonished and said,

  “Whaaa!”

  The sheriff said,

  “Stand up.”

  When the man stood the sheriff and Randy put a chain around his waist, adjusted it and locked it in place with a padlock, and then fastened two sets of handcuffs, one set for each wrist. The other end was fastened to the chain. They fastened leg irons and chains to his ankles. The sheriff said,

  “This one is ready.”

  They left the cell, closing the door behind them, and moved to the next cell where they repeated the same process with the second prisoner. Mike suggested,

  “Sheriff, move this prisoner out to the car, I’ll be out in a moment.”

  Randy, the sheriff and the one prisoner walked toward the door that led to the office area and closed the door behind them. Mike went into the first cell, reached over with another pair of handcuffs and secured the cuffs to the man’s handcuffs attached to the waist chains. Then he locked the other end to the bars of the cell. The prisoner stood there wondering what was going on; unable to move from where he was fastened.

  Mike looked at him intently and said after a minute, his face barely visible in the low light of the lantern,

  “We know what brought you boys to our neck of the woods. We read the letters and the orders from the president to Alvin Cobb at Gold Nugget. Get on your knees. The man balked but Mike spun him around and put a foot to the back of his leg behind his knee cap and pushed down on his shoulders. The man went to his knees, his hands still connected to the bars of the cell. Mike said in a low voice,

  “I don’t know if you are a religious man, but I’ll give you the opportunity to pray. I am a Christian man and I believe that is the only right thing to do before someone is about to die.”

  He pulled a silencer out of his pocket and slowly began to screw it on to the barrel of his pistol. Mike stared at the man as he screwed the device on, and the prisoner began to sweat profusely. In a moment he could smell the fear emanating from the cuffed man. Suddenly he blurted out,

  “Why are you doing this?”

  His voice was strained and pleading as he looked up at this man with the pistol in his hand. Mike said in a gruff voice,

  “You know why! We can’t afford to keep and feed you. We have concluded this is our only option. This is what result when people take sides, and in your case, the wrong side. Treason only warrants one penalty and that is death. We have decided you must die.”

  Now the man was definitely pleading when he responded by saying, in a hoarse voice that cracked with each word,

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about. We haven’t done anything wrong. Our plane had mechanical problems and we were forced to bail out.”

  Mike eyed the man with the evilest look he could imagine on his face and answered him,

  “Let’s cut to the real story and quit screwing around, we know the two of you were sent here to spy on us and we know you are connected to those people over at Gold Nugget. The letter from the president spelled it all out. We know the plan is to take over California and the oil deposits. We also know about the president and how he came to be in office. Unfortunately for you and your buddy out there, you’re going to have to pay the price for what they were planning to do.”

  Mike chambered a round and said,

  “Pray, damn you. This is the only opportunity you’ll have before you die. Do it or go wherever it is you’re going to go to without the benefit of asking for forgiveness, and with a lie on your lips as your final living act in this world!”

  The man’s composure crumbled, and he began to babble. Mike couldn’t understand him, so he said,

  “I can’t understand you. Calm down, get hold of yourself, and start over. I want details. Stop crying like a baby. You’re a man damn you, act like one.”

  The prisoner began to spill his guts. He started by telling Mike he had a wife and child. Mike stopped him, saying,

  “We all have families and friends, so stop that, I don’t care about you. I care about myself, my wife and my friends. I want to know what you people had planned for us. Start talking; you’re running out of time.”

  “If I tell you, will you give me your word you won’t kill me?”

  “If it’s good enough I’ll certainly consider it—start talking.”

  Mucus was flowing out of the man’s nose and he was shaking all over as his story began to unfold. Mike noticed he had urinated in his pants and it was all over the floor. The plan was elaborate and brazen, but with the right people and equipment in place, it could work. They were facing the beginnings of a planned dictatorship. This conspiracy was obviously well planned and by the sounds of what Mike could hear in bits and pieces, he was also complicit along with the sheriff or rather, governor, without their knowledge or their permission. They were to be included or they were to die. Mike knew he and the sheriff had never agreed to any of it. How could they? Their communications had been limited to radio contact, and certainly nothing relegated to writing. Knowing this bothered Mike. He would never agree to any kind of a conspiracy of this nature or of this nefarious design. As Mike listened, he was convinced he was going to have to risk his life to get to the bottom of it.

  Outside in the patrol car the sheriff, Randy and the prisoner sat waiting for Mike to come out with the other man. Mike walked out, opened the door to the car, reached in, grabbed the prisoner by the shirt and began to drag him out of the back seat. Once out of
the car Mike dragged the man to the grassy area in front of the office and forced him to the ground. He pulled his pistol out of his waist and held it up in the moonlight. He had a boot to the back of the man’s neck. He did the same thing as before; he took his silencer out of his pocket and began to screw it onto the barrel of the pistol slowly. Mike spoke in a hushed tone,

  “The penalty for treason is death. I’ll give you an opportunity to ask forgiveness from your maker before I put a bullet in your brain like I just did to your friend in there. Start praying, you’re out of time.”

  “Sheriff, can you get someone over here to the jail and get rid of that body in the cell? We can bury both of them as soon as I shoot this one.”

  The man struggled to look at Mike but could not for the boot to his neck. He said in a muffled voice,

  “You can kill me, but your day will come when the Republic becomes what it is destined to be, the New Order. Freedom is an illusion. People have to be led as if they were cattle and that goes for you as well. I’m a soldier, I’m not afraid to die”

  Mike reached down and turned the man around. He fired a single shot into his head. He had been about to say something else, but the bullet stopped his voice and he was dead. Randy and the sheriff were stunned. Mike looked at the two men,

  “Let’s get rid of this piece of garbage, men. I didn’t want to delegate this execution to someone else. It was my decision and my responsibility. We cannot keep them both, but we can keep one of them. I have a little better understanding of what was about to happen to us, and frankly, this is all the mercy someone such as this deserves.”

  The three of them loaded the body into the trunk of the patrol car and shut the lid. They drove out to the cemetery and dug a shallow grave apart from the others, laid the body in the shallow trench and covered it up. The sheriff said,

  What did you do with the other one Mike?”

  Mike answered him in a low voice,

  “He’s still in the cell, handcuffed to the bars. Probably still praying. We need to go get him and take him to Avalon for safekeeping. Let’s get going, we’re done here.”

  The moon was shining down on them with a crisp silvery light. It was a bright night. In the distance, over the mountains that surrounded Avalon, heat lightning was brilliantly illuminating the night sky with momentary flashes. Mike suggested to the sheriff,

  “In the morning we need to have two graves dug and a marker placed over the spot in case someone comes along later and wants to see where these two are buried. We’ll simply dig another hole and then fill it back in. It will make most people believe the two parachutists were killed and are buried here. Theater. Most people will believe what they are shown and that will be the end of it.”

  The Sheriff said,

  “What if someone wants to dig them up later on?”

  Mike answered him with a logical response,

  “Sheriff, or rather Governor, you are the final law here in California, you simply say no.”

  The governor grunted and that was that.

  Chapter 33

  Decision Time

  When Mike landed at Avalon it was early morning and the sun hadn’t risen but was already lighting up the skies. It was light enough to see the landing strip. Randy and Mike and the prisoner got out of the plane and walked into the office where they could use the radio. Crystal was in there doing paperwork.

  “Good morning Crystal.”

  She acknowledged the greeting,

  “Whatcha got here, Sir?”

  “A prisoner of enormous importance, Crystal. We need to compose a message for the president telling him we found two dead parachutists, and it appears they had been murdered and searched by persons unknown to us, and they had no identification on them whatsoever. One of our Militia patrols found them and brought them to Fitch. We gave them a Christian burial and thought that since they had parachuted down here, that either the president knew who they were, and if not, perhaps he wanted to know about the incident. We aren’t aware of many people having airplanes or parachutes other than Chicago and ourselves. Does the president have any comment concerning this development? We’ll wait for an answer.”

  Crystal turned on the radio and waited. She began to write on a sheet of paper and when she was done, she handed it to him.

  “Is this what you had in mind, Mike?”

  Mike read it,

  “Good job Crystal, wait for an answer. I need a favor.”

  “Shoot.”

  “Keep all of this to yourself. I’ll explain later, but it is vital the least number of people know about this the better. Think you can do that?”

  “No problem, I won’t tell a soul. It’s a good thing you came this early or many of us would have seen you come in with him.”

  “It was my plan, and thanks. We have to keep a lid on this until we know where we are going with it.”

  Mike turned to Randy,

  “Take this man out to one of the buildings down by the big barn, post a guard and make sure no one talks to him under any circumstances. We need to keep him alive for the time being. We’ll decide what we’ll do with him later. Feed him, make sure he has water and a bucket to piss in, a bed with a couple of blankets and make absolutely sure we have a guard on the rear of the building as well. I don’t want anyone communicating with him including the guards. Keep him chained up until I tell you different. Does everyone understand that? If for any reason he needs anyone to be with him such as a doctor or anyone else along those lines, make sure there are enough people accompanying them to insure there can be no escape. It is critical we keep him alive and incommunicado.”

  Randy nodded and took the man out of the office.

  The prisoner said,

  “Hey, I thought that everything was okay with me and you people. Why are you going to keep me detained?”

  Mike looked at him and replied,

  “You are still a traitor. Because you told me what I wanted to know back there in the jail cell only prolonged your life for the time being. Once someone crosses that line between patriotism and treason and being a traitor to his own countrymen, that person should never expect anything less than a bullet to the brain, or at the very least utter contempt from the people he betrayed. I would advise you to keep your mouth shut so that I don’t lose my temper and be done with you once and for all, like I killed your partner. Got it!”

  There was no response from the prisoner.

  Randy escorted the prisoner out of the office and walked toward the barn where he would be held securely.

  Crystal waited for a response to the message she radioed to Chicago. They came back with an answer an hour later, telling those at Avalon,

  “The president doesn’t know anything about the parachutists, and it was unfortunate they were killed.”

  Mike concluded that was a partial affirmation of his worse fears; there was a conspiracy. He would have to go to Chicago. The only loose piece in this puzzle was the president himself, he had not signed the letter. Someone else had. Pretty feeble, but it was something. This could be a dangerous mission. For the time being he needed to play along and see what he could find out. Mike put Randy in charge of security at Avalon and he prepared to leave. He would fly the Cessna 421 to Chicago and fly it back; if he could get back with his scalp in place.

  Caroline was not pleased. She did not want her man to leave her, regardless of the reasons. She was pregnant, and she sensed this was going to be a dangerous mission for Mike.

  “I hate it. I don’t want you to go. Send someone else.”

  “I can’t do that Caroline after all I am an admiral and I will be expected to go.

  “But why you?”

  “Because I am the only one who can get to the bottom of what we need to know.”

  “And what is it you need to know?”

  She was shaking all over. She cried as she pleaded with Mike. He had not told her about the parachutists and the letter. If he did it would reinforce her argument for him not to go. Fi
nally, Mike said,

  Look, Hon, our world has been torn apart. We have lost lots of friends, family and neighbors along the way. You have lost everyone you were friends with or related to once the war started. We have to know and understand where we stand in the world right now. I want answers and so do the people here at Fitch and the surrounding area. We cannot keep on going along by guess and by golly, we have so much to do to rebuild California—to rebuild the country—and we need answers to questions many of us want to know about. We need to eventually open trade routes with other survivors, begin industry and factories, and establish a monetary system that will work for all of us, and so much more. We need to find as many of the survivors as we can and bring them into the fold. We have to…”

  She brought her fingers to his lips and pressed them firmly to stop him. She reached out and grabbed him to her chest and squeezed. She was crying, and her body shuddered as she held on to him. They stood there for minutes until she finally pulled away,

  “Okay, Mister Admiral, I understand you have to do this, but I don’t have to like it. Please hurry back to me and our child, please come back to us. Without you it will be the end of my world!”

  She threw herself onto the bed as she cried in frustration. Mike was at a loss to deal with her emotions right then and there and he showed it. He simply reached out a hand and stroked her hair. His other hand hung down to his side and his dog was licking it. He too understood something was wrong but didn’t know what. Champion was growing like a weed. He continued to lick Mike’s hand. There was a knock at the door. Champ perked up as Mike walked over to answer the knock. It was Harlan Herrera and Penny. Mike invited them in and showed them to chairs at a small table.

  “What’s up?”

  Harlan and Penny could see they had interrupted a tense scene and were ready to leave rather than interrupt something that appeared to be serious.

  “If this is a bad time, we can come back...”

  They both glanced over at Caroline and could see she had been crying.

  They didn’t want to be there at a bad time. Caroline saw that she should say something and offered,