Into the Bayou

by George West

  Adam pulled out the blade from its sheath.

  “Brother, what the hell are you doing?”

  “What I should have done all along.”

  Adam stepped behind Landry and grabbed his hair. He then pulled his head back to expose the guy's neck. Seconds later, the K-bar sliced through Landry's flesh while blood splattered against the walls.

  Chapter 11

  “What the fuck is wrong with you?” screamed John as he tackled his brother.

  Members of 5th special forces group rushed into the interrogation room and subdued Adam. Dawkins continued to resist, but his attempts were futile. The SF guys had Adam pressed against the blood covered floor while the men zip tied his hands.

  Major Gandler finally entered the room and froze after witnessing the horrific scene.

  “You sick bastard!”

  Sergeant Byron had his knee pressed against Adam’s back to keep him from squirming. The SF medic attempted to stop the bleeding, but the gash on Thomas Landry’s neck was too deep. The hacker had lost too much blood. The medic glanced at Major Gandler and shook his head.

  “Get this psycho out of my sight. Find a place to lock him up,” ordered Gandler.

  Sergeant Byron shoved Adam towards the door, but John was not going to allow his brother to be taken prisoner. John pulled out his sidearm and pressed the muzzle against the sergeant’s head.

  “You are not taking my brother.”

  Several SF guys pulled out their pistols and every gun in the room was aimed at John’s head. John kept his gun pointed at Byron’s. The entire room was silent as they waited for John’s next move. Sweat dripped down the soldiers' heads, suffering in the Louisiana heat, praying that they wouldn't have to pull the trigger. John flicked his safety upwards and slowly lowered his weapon.

  Byron and another soldier led Adam out of the room and down the hallway to the stairs. Adam was forced upstairs into a musty attic. Byron zip tied all four limbs to parts of a chair. Adam was fortunate that they didn’t throw a black bag over his head like last time. His heart was pounding so hard that he felt like it was going to burst from his chest. Filled with confusion and anger, Adam didn’t know how to calm himself down. He had never felt this off-tilt. The muscles in his body tightened; he couldn’t keep his jaw from clinching. Sweat continued to drip from the heat box in which he was imprisoned.

  Adam’s mind eventually snapped back to the problem at hand. The girl I love is a prisoner of war. He couldn’t stop his mind from producing images of Kat being tortured for information. He could hear her screaming for help as the G.A. continued to torture her. Images of Katherine being strapped to a table with a towel over her face while men water-boarded her.

  Adam started to struggle to break free from the zip ties. He clenched even harder and used all his strength, but nothing happened. He was trapped.

  “Get me out of here! I need to save her!”

  Dawkins continued to jerk his arms in an upward motion. He tried to rock the chair back and forth to create more momentum as he tried to rip through the zip ties. In an instant, he rocked too hard and found himself spiraling down to the floor. On the way down, his head nailed a steel pipe to an old water heater. His vision became blurry as blood spilled from his head.

  “I…I need to save…”

  ***

  “What the fuck is this, major?” screamed John. “You can’t lock my brother up!”

  Members of Reaper team and the rest of ODA 596 were gathered in the operations room planning their next move. People scurried around the old living room looking at maps of the town and reconnaissance photos.

  “Yes, I fucking can! He just executed a prisoner on my watch!” replied Major Gandler.

  “He’s not military. You have no authority!” asserted John.

  “Yes, yes, I know you and your team receive orders from DHS, but I just made a call to the agent in charge, Agent Reyes. You are under my command now. I have operational authority for the rest of this mission,” explained Gandler.

  “This is bullshit. I’m not taking orders from you!” replied John.

  “You and I want the same thing. We want to retrieve Katherine Shaw. And I will do everything in my power to make that happen, but know this: we cannot trade the Icarus code for her life. So, you either get on board or go join your brother upstairs,” declared the major.

  John Dawkins was silent. He didn’t like the situation, but he cared about Katherine and finding her was more important than this bullshit. “Fine."

  “The meet is in two hours from now. The G.A. wants to make the trade at these coordinates,” explained Gandler.

  John looked at the map and reconnaissance photos spread across the table. “Are you kidding me? This location is less than a mile from the Global Alliance naval fleet. This is a fucking set-up."

  "I am well aware. That is why we are going to ambush them," replied Gandler.

  "What? The moment bullets start flying, they will execute Kat."

  "It's a calculated risk. Central Command has ordered negotiations to be taken off the table. This is the only option we have been given," replied Gandler.

  "Central Command doesn't give a fuck about Kat. They just want Icarus," said John.

  "Come on—you know as well as I do that this weapon will change the tide of this war. We can't justify saving one life over millions," replied Gandler.

  John Dawkins didn't have a reply. He knew that the major was right. They couldn't negotiate with the Global Alliance. John molded over the plan silently, tapping his foot.

  "Fine. Let's go hunting."

  The members of Reaper team and the SF guys suited up for battle. They raided the arms room and took serious firepower with them. Mortars, rocket launchers—and Claymores, of course.

  Soldiers exited the house and mounted their ATVs and trucks. John Dawkins was one of the last to leave before heading to the meet. Clark Stevenson and Jessica Boudreaux were the only ones left in the house.

  "Hey, we need you two to hold down the fort. One of the SF guys will be outside pulling security. I am going to link up with the rest of Reaper team. They are parachuting two klicks from the meeting spot. We are going to take these guys down. I promise we will get Kat back," declared John.

  Clark and Jessica just nodded back as they continued to gaze at the computer screen that harnessed the most powerful weapon on earth.

  "Oh yeah, by the way. Don't let that laptop out of your site. It's not like the fate of the war depends on it."

  An hour later, Clark and Jessica just sat in the operations center. Boredom and silence filled the room. Clark was not particularly good at making small talk, especially with beautiful women.

  "So..."

  "So." replied Jessica.

  Clark's face started to flare up from the awkwardness that resonated in the room. "So, were you born in Louisiana?"

  "Um...yeah. The Boudreaux family has been here for a very long time."

  The conversation discontinued and silence filled the room, again. Clark decided to open his laptop and act like he had work to do until a sound resonated from the radio.

  "This is Blackbird. I repeat, this is Blackbird. Requesting immediate extraction."

  Clark almost fell over in his seat after recognizing the voice.

  Chapter 12

  "Have a nice nap. Don't worry. I'll be back soon," smiled Odin.

  Two men dragged Katherine's limp body back into her cell as Odin stood at the threshold. The door shut, and all the light vanished from the cell. Katherine remained limp and lay in the same place where the men had dragged her. She was too tired to move, and every movement she made sent a jolt of pain through her nervous system. She felt a burning sensation on her chest from the countless hours of electro-torture. The ship continued to rock and sway as she began to shiver from the cold sea breeze that flowed through the tiny holes scattered through the ship's hull. Even though her mind was torn, it still raced as the flashbacks of the jumper cables being pressed against her flesh dri
lled in her brain. She tried to resist the images of her captor and his smile as he pressed the jumper cables against her naked body.

  "Stop! Please stop!" screamed Katherine as she cradled herself on the cold dark floor.

  Several hours later, Katherine realized she needed to release the pressure from her bladder. She remembered that her captors tossed an empty bucket into her cell. She started to crawl around her cell searching for the bucket. After several minutes of feeling around, her hand hit an object and knocked it over. Katherine knew what she had just hit and immediately heard the liquid waste ooze onto the floor. She didn't care anymore; she had lost her sense of dignity after her first session with Odin. As Katherine set the bucket up, she felt the swaying handle rattle against it. Her eyes lit up as she grasped the metal handle attached to the bucket. She jerked the handle, but had no luck separating it from the bucket. She placed her feet on the rim of the bucket and pushed her legs downward while continuing to pull on the handle. Eventually, the handle broke free from the bucket and Kat finally felt an ounce of hope surge through her torn body. She went to work, scraping one of the ends of the metal handle against the floor.

  Half an hour later, Kat heard a sound at the door to her cell. She immediately stopped sharpening the handle and laid back on the ground. One of the guards opened the door and light filled the dark room once again. He had with him a bottle of water and a piece of bread for Kat's meal. Odin wanted to make sure that Katherine had just the minimum number of calories to keep her alive.

  "Ooooh...oh, God," lamented the guard as he stared at the pool of excrement.

  The guard trudged his way over to Katherine's apparently unconscious body and grabbed hold of one her legs. As he attempted to drag Katherine away from the pool of excrement, she sat herself up and jabbed the guard in his jugular vein. The guard fell to the ground, and Kat continued her attack with several more jabs to his neck. The man held his fingers against his wounds in attempt to stop the bleeding.

  "Where is the communications room?" questioned Kat.

  The guard didn't seem to hear the question as he coughed up blood. Katherine pulled off the man's necklace. She held the Cross in front of the dying man's eyes.

  "Help me. You will be judged very soon. Where is a radio?" screamed Katherine.

  The man slowly lifted his finger and pointed in the direction to the right.

  Katherine grabbed the guard's pistol from his holster and rushed down the hallway. She ignored the pain as she moved quickly down the corridor. She held the pistol with both hands as she sprinted down the hall. She had no idea where she was going, but she needed a way to call for help. Kat heard sounds coming from a room farther down the hallway. She wasn't sure if she was hallucinating, but she continued, tiptoeing toward the room. She leaned her head past the threshold and glanced inside the room. She noticed a large communications system and the back of a man's head sitting at the desk. Katherine took long and deep breaths while her hands began to twitch. She counted down from ten in her head until she reached one, then rushed into the room and bludgeoned the back of the man's head. The man didn't even notice Kat's advance due to the headset he wore as he listened to communication channels. Katherine continued hammering the man's face with the butt of her pistol even after his body stopped moving.

  Katherine stood up after her attack with a blood-covered face. She looked at the massive radio set while contemplating her next move. She stared at the headset still on the dead man's head and grabbed it. She started to plea for help as she frantically switched to different frequencies.

  "This is Blackbird. I repeat this is Blackbird. I need help. On a ship. Location unknown. I repeat I need help.... aaaaahhhh!"

  Katherine collapsed to the ground from the jolt of electricity that surged through her spine.

  Odin stood above her body with a Taser in his hand still smiling.

  "That's my girl."

  Chapter 13

  "We can't tell him," asserted Clark.

  "Oh yes we can!" replied Jessica.

  The two had been arguing after hearing the radio transmission. Clark paced in circles around the operations room while Jessica continued to replay the recorded radio transmission. "This is Blackbird. I repeat this is Blackbird. Request immediate extraction. I am being held on a container ship, but I don't know my location. Please, someone help." The transmission abruptly cut off after the plea for help.

  "Stop playing that over and over. I can't stand to hear her voice right now," demanded Clark.

  Jessica started to walk towards the stairs until Clark blocked her path. "You aren't going to tell him."

  "If you don't get out of my way in the next five seconds, I will physically remove you."

  Clark didn't even hesitate. He quickly jumped out of Jessica's way. As Jessica climbed the stairs to the attic, Clark yelled, "I am not taking the blame for this!"

  Jessica tried to open the door to the attic, but the SF guys had placed a lock on it. She tried kicking the door down, but that only hurt her foot. After attempting to knock the door down with her shoulder she knew that she needed a way to get in that room.

  "Fuck it."

  She ran downstairs and entered the arms room. She scanned the room up and down for the perfect tool. She spotted the tool she needed, grinned, and sprinted back upstairs. The tool Jessica held in her hand made a pumping sound as she loaded the 12-gauge shell into the chamber. "Fire in the hole!"

  Jessica fired several times at the lock until it broke free. When she opened the door, her jaw dropped after seeing Adam unconscious on the floor. "Adam!"

  She sprinted over to Dawkins, who laid on the floor still tied to the chair. Blood continued to gush from his head wound. Jessica pulled out a pocketknife and started to cut the zip ties that strapped Adam's unconscious body to the chair.

  "Adam, wake up. Wake up!" screamed Jessica as she repeatedly slapped his face.

  Half an hour later, Adam slowly woke up. His vision was still fuzzy, and he felt like someone had hit him in the head with a hammer. A bandage was wrapped around the top of his head. "What? Where am I?"

  "You hit your head on a pipe. I had to sew your head back together and drag your sorry ass down the stairs."

  "I think you made things worse by dragging me down those stairs," said Adam.

  "A thank-you will suffice. This is also the second time I have saved your ass, but who's counting?"

  Dawkins jumped up from the table that he lay on and locked eyes with Clark who was shaking. Adam walked over to the coffee machine and poured a cup. "What's with you?" asked Adam.

  Jessica was even more anxious now. She realized that she should not have released him from his imprisonment. "It's about Katherine."

  Adam froze. He had completely forgotten about Kat's abduction. "What happened to her. Is... she dead?" Adam felt like someone had placed a ten-pound weight on his stomach.

  Jessica noticed the fear in Adam's eyes and attempted to calm him down. "No, no. She's alive. We received a radio transmission from her," explained Jessica.

  Clark turned on the radio and played the recording. Adam felt a sense of relief as he heard Kat's voice. He now had hope. He rushed over to the radio and continued to replay the recording several times.

  "A container ship? Are there any anchored in the bay?" asked Dawkins.

  "Adam, it could be a trap," advised Jessica.

  "That's not what I asked. Are there any container ships located in the New Orleans Bay?" repeated Dawkins firmly.

  Jessica paused, wondering about the consequences of providing Adam with the information. "Yes, but there are probably close to a hundred in the area. There's no way of knowing which one she is being held," explained Jessica.

  Adam slammed both his fists on a table. Clark felt terrible seeing his team leader in such pain. "I'm regretting helping you on this one, sir. However, I may be able to narrow down the search."

  Adam immediately looked up at the intel analyst.

  "I've seen intelligence briefs
about the G.A. using ships as black sites for interrogations. If Katherine Shaw is being held on one of those vessels, then its communications system will be much more advanced than any other container ship in that port. I'm talking about high-capacity communication systems like SATCOM, Cerberus underwater detection systems, and surface-search radar systems," explained Clark.

  "And this helps us how?" questioned Adam.

  "The Icarus satellite has electronic surveillance measures that has the potential to intercept telemetry from wireless data communications."

  "In English, please," interjected Jessica.

  "I might be able to track the wavelengths from the ship's communications systems and find the exact coordinates of the ship."

  "How long will it take?" asked Adam.

  "Um...I don't know. Maybe thirty minutes—an hour tops."

  "You have twenty minutes until our team makes contact with the G.A. for the exchange. When you find the ship's location, radio me the coordinates."

  Dawkins marched into the armory to grab his gear. Adam threw a Kevlar vest over his shoulders and started to shove extra magazines into his ammo pouches.

  "You can't be serious. The port is heavily guarded by G.A. troops. There is an entire naval fleet anchored in that harbor. There is no way you will even get close to that area."

  Adam continued to load up on weapons and ammo. He walked over to the corner of the room and found something he needed. He picked up the Claymore and stuffed it in his pack.

  "Did you not here what I just said? This is a suicide mission. You can't save her!"

  Adam stopped what he was doing and stepped within a foot of Jessica. "I will do whatever I have to so she can live."

  Dawkins grabbed his gear and headed for a dirt bike parked near the campfire. As he tried to start the engine to the motorcycle, he heard the clicking sound of a firing pin being cocked.

  "Hey, stop! I'm under strict orders to keep you detained," announced the soldier.

  Adam looked up at the soldier who had a gun pointed at him. "Listen, I understand you have orders, but someone that I love will die soon if I don't go after her. Now, either you shoot me or get the fuck out of my way."