Shauna’s head popped up along the waterline midway between the bow and stern, and she lifted a hand for a quick thumbs-up to Bart as she pressed in close to the hull and dog paddled to the stern with the rope now in her hand. Shauna had never seen the Miss Anita out of the water, of course, and neither had Bart, but Bart had looked over the vessel’s drawings before Vic was killed, because as with all watercraft, he was fascinated by the design and wanted to admire her lines and construction details. And Vic, being the proud owner and captain, had gladly obliged. Bart had told Shauna after she outlined her plan that the trawler had a single, three-blade screw, and that the rudder blade extended down into the water a foot or so aft of it. That would make it possible to lash the prop fast if she could do it while the shaft wasn’t turning, but just as she neared the stern, she heard the big diesel roar to full throttle again and felt the hull lurch against her just before the prop wash once again swept her forward. There was nothing to grab hold of on the side of the hull, the growth of green slime from the waterline down making it impossible to get any purchase. Shauna knew she couldn’t fight it, so she went with the flow until once again, the man at the throttle let up, and the big trawler settled back against the restraint of its chains that held it to the bottom.
Seizing this new opportunity, Shauna submerged and swam quickly aft once again, this time feeling her way along the bottom of the hull until she came directly to the end of the keel where the prop shaft made its exit. Shauna knew she would probably be killed if the jerk up there in the pilot house hit the throttle again while she was in the way of the prop, but she put that thought out of her mind and quickly put a half hitch around the shaft and then took a couple of wraps around one of the three blades before reaching farther aft to feel for the rudder. When she found it, it too was far too slick to get a secure grasp on it, but she managed to put a turn of rope around the middle of it and then took another loop around a different prop blade. Shauna worked as fast as she could, adding more wraps until her lungs felt as if they would burst. There was still more rope available when she secured it with another quick hitch and surfaced beneath the overhanging stern. As soon as she exhaled and sucked in a new breath, Shauna heard the clunk of the transmission going into gear and then the full-power revving of the engine. But this time, no matter how much throttle the man up there gave it, there was no surge against the anchor rodes, and there was no prop wash at all. Shauna had succeeded in lashing it securely to the rudder, and the Miss Anita was going nowhere.
Thirteen
WHEN KEITH AND WILLIS rounded the corner of the house one block to the west of the intersection where the three contractors had been shot, Keith was relieved to see that all was still clear, and he figured he was right to assume these guys had been the last of the attackers left in town. That final radio conversation that the one guy was engaged in may have involved receiving orders to come in then or remain in place a while to mop up if they saw anything moving. Either way, Keith knew they didn’t have long to act. He spotted Joe behind the corner of the nearest house on the south side of the street and waved to signal that he and Willis were about to move, then broke for the truck at a run with Willis close behind him. When he reached it and yanked open the passenger side door, the body on that side fell to the pavement. Both side windows had been down when they fired, so the interior wasn’t as messy as it could have been, and the windshield and rear glass was still intact. Keith reached over and switched on the ignition and deemed the vehicle operable.
“Damn! These two never knew what hit them, did they?” Willis asked, as he helped Keith pull the driver’s body out the other side.
“Nope, and it’s a shame too, after seeing what they did to Mrs. Bouchard. They didn’t deserve to go this easy, but at least they’re dead.”
Willis was a seasoned hunter and wasn’t bothered by the inevitable blood that got on his hands and clothes as he helped Keith lift the dead men into the bed. When the last one was rolled in, he slammed the tailgate shut and the two of them hopped in the cab. Keith drove back to where they’d parked Ronnie’s truck and saw that Joe and Ronnie were now waiting there as planned. He pulled ahead and led the way out of town and then turned onto the gravel road that ran parallel to the bayou. Five miles to the south, he turned off that road into the small parking lot next to a public boat ramp. The place was deserted, as Keith had expected, because most of the people still here that were using small boats were keeping them in the water, tied up at their own docks or pulled ashore at their camps. No one would dare leave a vehicle unguarded anywhere in the parish these days, so ramps like this one saw little to no use.
“What would make them think to even look way out here in the middle of nowhere?” Ronnie asked. “They’re not from around here, so it’s not like they’re going to know about every little backroad out in the woods.”
“No, but since the truck is part of their operational fleet, you can bet that someone is keeping tabs on it. We already know that the one guy was talking to someone on the two-way radio. When that call got dropped, it may not have worried them much at first, but by now, I’ll bet they’re wondering what happened.”
“Well, they can’t track it by GPS with the satellites disabled,” Joe said.
“No, but radio signals can be triangulated too. I’m not sure how far it is to whoever he was talking to, but I’ll bet if I transmit a signal from here, they’ll pick it up. It may take a little longer than GPS tracking would, but it’ll lead them here eventually.”
“So, then what?” Willis asked.
“Then we kill more of them! What do you think? This parking lot is the perfect kill zone if we set up sniper positions in that treeline to the south, on the levee there just to the north and on the opposite shore of the bayou right over there,” Keith pointed to the woods just across from the boat ramp.
“You plan to do that right now?” Ronnie asked. “How will we get over there?”
“In my boat. We’ll leave Willis and Joe in the first two positions on this side of the bayou to keep watch in case they happen to show up before we get back, but I think we’ll have plenty of time to run down to your place and drop off your truck, then come back in the boat. We can hide it just around the bend downstream and slip back up there through the woods on foot.”
“What if they don’t show though? Or they show after dark?”
“If it’s after dark, there’ll still be enough light to shoot by out here in the open, because the moon is almost full tonight. There’s nothing we can do about it if they don’t come, but I think it’s worth waiting a few hours to see. This is exactly the kind of thing that my brother said it’ll take to fight back against these guys, and I think if we can hit them hard with a double whammy in one day, it will have some impact and let them know we mean business. Besides, after seeing what they did in St. Martinville today, I think we owe it to the victims to exact a bit of retribution. I’d sit out here all night tonight and half the day tomorrow for an opportunity to get another crack at some of those bastards. So, what do you say? Are you guys with me or not?”
“Hell yeah, I am!” Willis said. “Y’all didn’t let me do any shooting the first time. I oughta get my turn now. It’s only fair!”
“I’m in too,” Joe said. “It’s what we signed up for. You just make sure Diane and Becca know what we’re doing and tell them to stay on high alert tonight. I don’t like the idea of them being down there at Ronnie’s house alone.”
“If they don’t want to stay, they can ride back out here with us and wait with the boat.”
“That’s what they’re gonna want to do, all right,” Ronnie said. “I can’t see either one of them wanting to stay home, especially not knowing how long we’ll be out here.”
“If they come with you, then Diane will want to take up a sniper position of her own,” Joe said, “after getting hit in the face like she did. But you’ve got to promise me you won’t let her, Keith.”
“I won’t. She’s not ready for that yet
. None of us are really, but Eric will fix that when he gets back. I just don’t want to miss this opportunity because I think we can pull this one off on our own.”
Keith was grateful for his willing companions, as this wasn’t something he would attempt by himself. He knew, of course, that there were no guarantees any more of the contractors would even come and that lying in wait for them might amount to many wasted hours. But if they did come, he had an idea of how they might ensure the most kills. That plan involved moving the three bodies that were piled in the bed of the truck, and it was the reason he’d brought them in the first place.
“It would be great if we could divert their attention and get them to split up when they get here, because it will make our target selections easier. I’m thinking that if we drag these three guys away from the truck in different directions, they may do just that. When they see the empty truck with the doors open and their three men all down nearby, but not together, they’ll think they drove here first and then engaged in a firefight that got them killed. They’ll be on high alert at first, but we’ll leave their weapons next to the bodies, so they’ll think whoever hit them did it fast and split without bothering to collect them. If they take the time to check the bodies and collect the weapons themselves, which I’m sure they will, we’ll have an opportunity to take four of them down almost immediately, with little chance of two of us picking the same target.”
“Unless one of us misses, like a damned idiot,” Ronnie said.
“It happens to the best of us, Ronnie. Nobody’s keeping score, so just forget it and focus on the next go round. Breathe deep, relax, and squeeze the trigger; you won’t miss again.” Keith pointed out the three spots where he wanted to place the dead guys. “Willis, your target is whoever gets to that one first. Joe, you take the guy on the south side, and Ronnie and I will watch the one down by the water’s edge. We’ll be too far apart to do a countdown to fire, of course, but we’ll all see and hear them when they arrive, so get ready and zero in on your targets. I’ll fire the first shot and that will be your signal to shoot. If we do this right, the primary targets won’t have time to react, and if there’s more of them than that, just fire at will and shoot as many as you can.”
As soon as they had the bodies in position, arranged with their weapons so that at first glance it would look as if they had died on the spot, Keith returned to the C.R.I. truck and picked up the radio mic after turning the unit back on. Pulling the collar of his shirt over his mouth, he transmitted a muffled stream of non-sense, purposefully releasing the mic button several times as he spoke, to break up the signal even more. It was enough for them to pick up and home in on, if there was someone monitoring the frequency they were using, but not enough to give away the fact that it wasn’t one of their own men making the call. With that done, he and Ronnie left while Joe and Willis departed to pick their sniper positions and settle in for the wait.
Diane reacted exactly as Keith had predicted when they arrived at the house and told her and Becca what had happened and what they were doing. Of course, she wanted to take part in the ambush, and she assured Keith that she could shoot well enough to do it, having hunted with Joe on many occasions.
“I promised Joe that if I let you ride with us, I would leave you and Becca waiting at the boat, around the bend.
“And I seconded that decision,” Ronnie said. “Both of you need to wait there and let us handle this. There are four of us, so we have more than enough shooters, and somebody needs to watch the boat.”
“I just want to do my part,” Diane said. “Your brother said it was going to take every willing volunteer to fight these people. He didn’t say ‘men only’ either, and you know it! It’s going to take everyone who is willing and able to use a gun, young or old, male or female!”
“You’re right—when the time comes for that—but this isn’t that time. This isn’t a planned operation, just an unexpected opportunity, and it may not even happen if no one shows. You’ll get your chance to get involved, Diane, I promise. But just be patient for now.”
They got into his patrol boat and Keith headed back in the direction of the boat ramp. He found a place to land about a quarter mile down from the boat ramp on the opposite bank, as he’d told Joe and Willis he planned to do. Diane and Becca would be safely out of sight of any action that took place, but the boat was near enough to access it quickly if they needed it in a hurry. But Ronnie was giving Becca a reassuring hug and Keith was checking his spare magazines when suddenly, a rifle shot rang out, followed almost instantly by a second one. All had been quiet before the sudden, unexpected shooting, and Keith knew if Joe and Willis had fired at any C.R.I. operators, they must have arrived before he pulled up in the boat, because he hadn’t heard any vehicles since he shut it off. That this was the case became vividly apparent in the next few seconds when the sounds of intense return fire ripped through the echoes of those first two shots. Keith heard automatic bursts that he knew were from military M4s or M16s, as well as rapid semi-auto fire that could have come from either side.
Diane wasn’t taking no for an answer now when she grabbed her own rifle and jumped out of the boat, so Keith didn’t bother trying to dissuade her. Becca, on the other hand, wasn’t so gung-ho and was clearly frightened enough to obey as Ronnie implored her to sit tight with the boat and keep quiet. With Keith taking the lead, the three of them made their way up along the bank, keeping within the concealment of a dense reed brake that grew from the water’s edge right up into the woods behind them.
The shooting wasn’t letting up, and Keith pushed through the tall reeds almost at a run, knowing there wasn’t a chance of being heard over all that noise. When he was close enough to see what was going on, he made his way to the edge and looked out over the bayou to see two more pickups parked behind the one they’d left at the ramp, and two more bodies on the ground next to those they’d dragged from the truck. Keith couldn’t see either Joe or Willis, but there were two men firing on Willis’ position from behind one of the trucks, and he saw another two moving across the overgrown grass, closing in on Joe’s side with their rifles at ready. Keith had no idea if Joe or Willis had found adequate cover from which to fire, as he’d merely suggested a general area for each of them that would set up a good kill zone once he and Ronnie were ready from their side of the bayou. Now, of course, he and Ronnie had arrived too late, and for whatever reason, Willis and Joe hadn’t waited for them, probably because they figured they would miss their opportunity to shoot if they did.
Keith dropped to a knee and put his scope on the lead guy headed towards Joe. He was wearing a vest that appeared to have plates, so Keith aimed low, hitting him in the upper hips. The man went down instantly, and Keith shot his companion down too before he had time to react, then adjusted his aim again and placed an anchor shot in each man’s head. The remaining shooters behind the truck were still focused on Willis, and Keith heard sporadic return fire coming from the young man’s position, confirming he was still in the fight with his lever action .30-30.
“We’ve got to take those two out!” Keith said, as he turned to Diane and Ronnie. “I’m going farther up the bank, where I can get a better angle. You two put as much heat as you can on their position so they can’t move on Willis. But get down behind there before you start shooting!” Keith pointed to a massive cypress stump near the edge of the water.
“Where’s Joe?” Diane asked.
“He’s probably behind cover over there somewhere!” Keith pointed to the general area where Joe was supposed to take up his position. “I’ve got to go. Now get ready!”
Keith was a little concerned that there was no sign of Joe, and the fact that the two men he’d shot down were moving that way in the wide open didn’t give him a good feeling. But checking on Diane’s husband would have to wait until all the shooters were down. Diane and Ronnie were engaging the last two now, and Keith could see glimpses of them as they repositioned behind the trucks to try and find cover from this new
threat they clearly didn’t expect. He wanted to be sure he could take them out cleanly, so Keith kept moving up along the bank, until at last, he reached a point from which he could see both of them firing back at Diane and Ronnie while also trying to stay out of Willis’ line of fire. Keith put the nearest one down with a round to the side of the head. The other guy dove for the pavement and attempted to roll away to the opposite side when Keith saw him suddenly double up, clutching at his abdomen as he was gut shot from the other direction, probably by Willis. A second later, Keith saw the results through his scope as another bullet blew a chunk out of the back of his head, confirming that Willis was indeed on target with his 190-grain hunting rounds.
Diane and Ronnie apparently saw it too, as they presently ceased fire at the same time. Keith swept the area around the vehicles with his scope, making sure there was no one else moving, and then he saw Willis rise to his feet from behind the large log he’d been using for cover. Willis glanced across the river at him and then at Ronnie and Diane, giving them a wave, before taking off at a dead run across the boat ramp parking lot.
“JOE!” He shouted. “HEY JOE! ARE YOU ALL RIGHT MAN?”
“Where was he? Keith yelled back, looking past the first two men he’d killed to see if there was any sign of Joe coming out of cover.
“JOE!” Diane screamed. “WHERE IS HE WILLIS?”
Willis didn’t answer, but he stopped running when he reached the edge of the trees on the side where Joe had been hiding. Keith saw him drop to a knee and at the same moment, he saw Diane throw her rifle aside and plunge into the bayou, running until she was up to her neck and then swimming like mad for the other side.
Feral Nation - Defiance (Feral Nation Series Book 8) Page 13