They waited in the front room for Jonah to arrive. Captain Underwood kept glancing at his watch. After several minutes Jonah’s car followed by another SUV arrived at the complex. Jonah had got out along with the driver who got into Jonah’s car. Sarah was relieved that Jonah knew not to let this new person into the meeting.
Jonah came to the door and knocked. Mary opened it and for the first time didn’t search Jonah. This he immediately picked up on.
“Finally trusting me?” Mr. Schweppes asked.
“I think you earned it,” Captain Underwood said.
Jonah smiled and got right to business.
“Well, I have found a way to get you back to the states. I have a cargo ship making its way to Michigan. We will put you on the ship in one of the cargo containers. When you arrive you will have transportation standing by to take us back to base.”
“Us?” Sarah asked.
“Of course. I am joining. I am going to come along,” He said as if this was common knowledge. “I have several members who are willing to join and more who want to manufacture.”
Captain Underwood cleared his throat before speaking. “That sounds great. However, we have some business to attend to before leaving.”
Chapter 20
Defending the Farm
The room was chaotic for a moment as everyone scrambled around. Nolan whistled and everyone stopped and turned to face him. He had to think quickly. They needed to be prepared to take down as many USSB agents. There were three vans which meant potentially thirty agents.
“How many guns do we have?” Nolan asked.
The woman who was in charge of finding their inventory answered.
“We have thirty-eight rifles and each rifle can have two magazines.”
That wasn’t much but it was all they had.
“Alright everyone take a gun and magazines.” The group did as he instructed. Everyone moved to get rifles, as Nolan gave orders. “I need everyone to spread out on the grounds. We need people hiding in the field. We are going to take down the USSB agents. We can’t get caught now.” The room filled with tension as Nolan spoke. “When you have your rifle head outside and into the field. I will give the order when to attack. Danny and Ian are hiding in Terri’s house so watch your fire in that direction. If things go well those agents will never make it to that house.”
Anthony rushed to grab his weapons and headed to Nolan. He had a concerned look on his face.
“You sure we should attack?” he asked.
“Anthony, we can’t let them get this farm now. This is the whole cell here.”
They moved towards the door when the woman came to them.
“Nolan, we also have this.” She held a rocket launcher in her hand.
“Any ammo?” Nolan asked.
“Two rockets.” She said.
“Let’s hope that is all we need,” Nolan said. “What is your name?”
“Rachel,” She answered.
“Glad you are here, Rachel,”
Two people came up to them. It was a middle-aged man and what looked like his wife.
“Sir,” The man said. “There isn’t enough guns for us.”
Nolan grabbed his pistol. He also grabbed Ian’s rifle which was by his bed.
“This is the best I can do for you,” Nolan answered. “When I find some lying around I will get one for you.”
“Why would there be…”
“I plan on taking down a few agents,” Nolan interrupted as he led the way out of the barn and into the field.
He carried the rocket launcher on his shoulder. He moved along their line giving instructions. The vans turned on the small road leading towards the house. Nolan loaded the rocket launcher.
“I am going to take out the last car. When I do get ready to take out the agents exiting their cars,” Nolan whispered down the line. “It is going to get loud. Stay focused and take your time with your shots.”
The van drew closer… closer… closer… It came to a stop Nolan aimed his rocket launcher just as the first person was getting out the last car. His rocket scored and hit its target.
BOOM!
With a large fireball, the last car exploded. People in the front two cars fell to the ground. Agents looked around for where the rocket had come from.
“Fire!” Nolan yelled.
Gunfire erupted from their line. Nolan watched six people get taken down at once. USSB agents on the opposite side of the vans took cover and started returning fire. Some of the agents ran around their clothes on fire from the blast of the car.
“Don’t shoot the burning people!” Nolan ordered. “Save your ammo for the people firing back!”
Nolan looked to Anthony who was taking aim and trying to hit the agents who were moving around towards the house. Nolan recognized it as a flanking attempt. Nolan moved fast. Nolan grabbed several people and told them to follow him. He rushed to outflank the agents before they had the advantage. As Nolan moved with the three people he called to Anthony.
“RPG!”
He hoped he understood. It seemed he did because Anthony moved to Nolan’s position. Nolan rushed to cover the barn. He fired at several agents as the group rounded the barn. He saw two of them drop. The last moved up towards the house. He fired as the man walked behind the wall. He saw the rifle fall and hoped that the agent was down. Bullets flew past his face, which meant tthe other agents must have spotted him.
Bullets started passing through the thin barn walls. People behind the barn moved to find cover. One of the groups members was hit. Nolan crawled over and saw the woman’s shoulder was hit. Nolan put his hand on the wound to stop the bleeding. Shards of wood flew in the air from bullets piercing through the walls. Nolan told the others to crawl to safety. Nolan did his best to drag the wounded woman.
He heard the rocket launcher fire, and an explosion from one of the other vans. Nolan took the opportunity to stand. Using all his strength he picked up the woman like a baby and ran to the cover of the field. He set her down in time for more gunfire to erupt from behind him. The agents had moved from the car and made their way to the barn.
“Come here,” He said to the nearest person. A middle aged man with a dark beard ran over, he was panicked. “Take a breath,” Nolan instructed. “I need you to keep pressure on this wound, alright.”
“al… Alright,” the man said.
Nolan took his hand off the wound as the man put his on it. Nolan grabbed the wounded woman’s rifle. He found the couple who didn’t have weapons and handed the gun to them.
“Not sure how many rounds are left but it should be better than the pistol,” Nolan said before he moved farther down the line.
He found Anthony who instructed others, where the agents were. Nolan came up behind him and leaned on him. He didn’t want to get blood all over Anthony.
“You hurt?” He asked fear in his voice.
“No, we have at least one wounded. How many agents do we got left?” Nolan asked.
“Not sure, We are running out of ammo though,” Anthony said.
Could they retreat? They needed to get Danny and Ian. Nolan had kept an eye on Terri’s house it was quiet which meant they hadn’t opened fire with the rest of them. Good. Nolan wasn’t sure what to do. Their options were limited and the agents continued to advance on them. Nolan was going to have everyone draw the agents from the house so he could get Danny and Ian when he saw something coming up the drive.
There were was what looked like seven trucks of all different styles rushing towards the farm. Nolan for a moment thought it was USSB reinforcements but realized they were town’s people all of which had hunting rifles and shotguns. The trucks stopped and the people charged the house. Nolan moved his people to flank the agents. The group left the field and cornered the agents. The group fired into the mass of agents. Blood sprayed the air as agents crumbled to the ground and in what felt like seconds, and the gun battle was done.
Nolan asked if anyone had medical training. Several people
from the group that arrived came forward and Nolan told them where the wounded woman was. Nolan saw Lee holding a shotgun coming towards him. He smiled.
“I leave you for one hour this is what happens?” He joked.
“What can I say,” Nolan said.
Terri came from the crowd. She saw Nolan’s bloody hand and rushed to him.
“Are you hurt? What happened?” She seemed to be talking a mile per minute.
“I am fine. One of the girls was hit.” He said.
She threw her arms around him. Without thinking, Nolan kissed her.
“I am fine,” Nolan said.
He spotted the look on Lee’s face. He knew he made a mistake. Now wasn’t the time to talk about. From behind the group of new arrivals, someone called. “We have a live one,”
Nolan rushed over to the new comer and ordered no one to harm them. The man was on the porch. This was the man Nolan shot. He was hit in the leg. A large pool of blood was around him. Nolan must have hit an artery. The agent was pale. Nolan came and put pressure on the wound.
“If I am going to save you I need to know how you found out about us,” Nolan ordered the man.
“You are stupid if you think I am going to live through this,” The agents said.
“I will ease your pain then,” Nolan said.
The agents coughed. He seemed if possible to be getting increasingly pale. He struggled to find words.
“Your cop… he is being held by us… at his house… Major will kill him when he finds out what happened…” The agents said. With one last shake, the man died.
Nolan looked to Lee who seemed just as pale as the dead man. Nolan stood.
“Mark gave us up. What else could he have told them?” Nolan asked.
“Any number of things. He has been with us since the beginning.” Terri said.
“Besides Terri, he was one of the first we recruited,” Lee said.
“If he is being held that must have been why he gave us up,” Terri said.
Nolan thought for moment. The USSB would know that something had happened by now and they would move to reinforce the agents here. Mark had as much information as anyone. They needed to get him or silence him before he gave up anything else.
“Terri, Lee, I need you to bring everyone to the silo where the weapons are being held. That will be our staging area.” Nolan instructed.
“Where will you be?” Terri asked.
“I am going to take my team to free Mark and his family.”
“Just you three?” Lee asked.
“Yes. You all need to prepare for the battle. We need to let people know what is going on. We need the support of the Quad Cities,” Nolan told them.
Lee agreed and everyone started to move. Nolan stopped some people from taking the remaining USSB car.
“I am gonna need this,” Nolan told them.
He searched the fallen USSB agents. He found one agent that was killed by a headshot. This meant the uniform was mostly clean. Anthony walked up to Nolan who dragged the dead agent towards the car. Ian came around from behind the house and also watched Nolan remove his clothing and change in the dead agents clothes.
“What are you doing?” Ian asked.
“Look around and find a uniform,” Nolan said. “We going to need these if we plan on getting close enough to that house.”
“You want us to steal dead guy’s uniforms?” Anthony asked.
“Yes,” Nolan responded as he stripped the agent’s clothes.
There were some blood stains on the outside of the uniform but Nolan planned on wearing his clothes underneath. He hoped that the large number of USSB agents here, meant that they wouldn’t know everyone in the area.
“Not a bad idea,” Ian said. He went to look for a uniform.
“That is fucking sick,” Anthony said.
Nolan put on the dirty uniform. When he finished he went the remaining SUV in hopes that it could at least run enough to make it back to Mark’s. As much as the car had bullet holes it was still able to turn-on and from afar you wouldn’t be able to tell what happened to the car.
The town’s people packed up the trucks. Nolan spotted some of them helping Danny into the bed of a truck. Nolan gave him a nod. Some of the people gave him and his squad looks of disbelief. His squad put their guns into the back seat of the car and grabbed some of USSB agents guns and as much ammo as they could. Nolan figured there couldn’t be too many agents at the house.
The three of them got into the SUV and sped off towards Marks. Nolan had a vague idea where it was but Ian had noted every turned and how far it was from Lee’s to Marks. Nolan will have to remember to reward him for making notes of that information. In the meantime, they needed to focus on their plan.
“When we arrive at the house we will look for any posted agents. I would imagine there is at least two on the house side door guarding.”
Nolan’s uniform had a captain’s insignia on it. This would hopefully give them the advantage where they wouldn’t question him as much.
Nolan continued. “When we get to the agents we need to take them out quietly.”
“I can do that,” Anthony said. He handed Ian his large knife. “Use it. I won’t need it.”
“When we get inside we have to move fast. We will take out as many as we can quietly,” Nolan instructed. “Obviously we don’t know where the family is being held so we will need to clear the house until we find them. Avoid using guns if we can.”
They spotted Mark’s house. Nolan pulled slowly in the driveway leading to the home. He wanted to seem casual. As he expected, two agents were on the porch guarding the door. Nolan moved close to house before putting the car in park. He didn’t want them to see the passenger side of the SUV. The bullet holes would be a dead giveaway. Nolan opened up his car door. His insignia flashed in the morning sunlight. The two guards stood at attention as Nolan and his squad strolled towards the door.
“Good morning sir,” the one guard said.
Nolan spoke with the voice of all of his officers back at command. “Good morning. We are here to replace you, boys.”
“I…wasn’t…” one guard with a thin face stammered as Nolan drew closer.
“Of course you didn’t know. Why would an officer give all his information to some privates’. The family still inside?” Nolan asked. He hoped this wasn’t a giveaway.
“Of course, sir. No problems here.” The other guard said. This one had a deep voice and didn’t seem to fit his body. The agent was small thin with five o’clock shadow.
Nolan and his squad were on the final step of the porch. The thin faced agent looked at their uniforms and how dirty it was. The guard put his hand on his gun and opened his mouth but before he could Ian jumped on him. Ian thrust the knife into the throat of the man. Ian caught the agent as he fell to the ground. Anthony punched the deep voiced guard. Knocking him right out. Nolan could have sworn he heard something break, either Anthony’s had or the guard's face. Anthony then grabbed the man’s neck and in one fast motion snapped the man’s neck. Nolan looked through the window. It seemed the people in the house still had no idea what was going on. Nolan could see some people sleeping in the living room. Nolan suspected the family was in there. He couldn’t see where the other agents were.
Nolan had his gun ready and his hand on the doorknob. He signaled his team that they were about to breach. Nolan opened the door quickly and Ian was the first one in followed by Anthony and Nolan. The family stirred in the living room but Ian got their attention and put his finger over his mouth to tell them to stay quiet. Michelle grabbed her kids and followed Ian’s lead. Nolan didn’t see Mark anywhere. He could hear voices coming from the kitchen.
“We haven’t heard from the strike team,” A deep raspy voice said. “If you told them we are coming I swear we are going to make your wife wish she were dead.”
“I swear I didn’t respond to the message,” Mark said. “They might know I am not there. I told you I have never even been there. I don
’t know how the Major knows where this base is.” He had a pleading tone in his voice.
Nolan and Anthony moved towards the kitchen as Ian helped the family leave the house. Nolan and Anthony were at the threshold of the door when one of the voice inside the kitchen spoke.
“Check and see what is going on outside. I don’t think we’re are supposed to be relieved anytime soon.” The voice said.
Nolan could hear footsteps coming towards the door. Anthony had his gun ready to hit the agent. An agent in his mid-thirties came through the door. He had a young face and shaved head. He was surprised when he saw Nolan and Anthony standing there. Anthony hit the agent hard in the head. He hit the ground before Nolan could react. Nolan stepped right over the fallen agent. He entered the kitchen and another two agents were sitting at the table with Mark and Cain. Nolan fired several shots at the first agent he saw. The bullets hit the man in the chest spraying blood on the back wall. Mark hit the ground when the gun went off. The second agent was young fast. He grabbed Cain and used him as a shield. Nolan could see the gun to Cain’s head.
“Drop your gun or the kid dies,” The agent said.
“Where are you going to go?” Nolan asked.
“You aren’t going to get away with this,” the agent threatened. “There are people standing guard outside this house. You won’t be able to escape.”
“I don’t know about that,” Nolan said.
Nolan refused to put down his gun. He had it aimed directly at the agents head. He wondered if he killed the agent would his gun go off. The agent must have been no older than Cain was. His hand shook as he held the gun to Cain’s temple. The desperate look of fear was on the agents face. Nolan could see how beaten Cain was. The agents must have beaten him. Mark’s face was also badly beaten. Mark whimpered as he watched the agent move with the gun to Cain’s head. The agent moved towards the door. Nolan moved around towards Mark and the dead agent. Nolan knew this man was trying to leave. The man had his back to the doorway. Was he going to take Cain hostage?
“Drop your weapon,” The agent started but was unable to finish. The agent gasped and dropped his weapon blood pouring from his mouth. Anthony stood behind the man with a knife in back of the man’s ear. He fell to the ground with the agent and crawled to his father. The two of them cried and held each other. Anthony twisted the knife in the man's head before pulling it out. A pool of blood quickly formed under the dead agent.
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