The Shadow Patriots Box Set 2

by Warren Ray

  “Oh?”

  Reese turned onto Jackson and headed north. “Yeah, he was beating the hell out of my mom, so when he left that all ended. So, in a way, he did us a big favor.”

  “Too bad for him, because he missed out on a raising a great kid.”

  Reese flashed him a smile.

  “I thought we were headed to the hospital?”

  “Meeks wants me to grab Eddie, too.”

  “Yeah, good thinking, something tells me we’re gonna be taking a trip.”

  “Probably so.”

  Reese noticed Badger was at ease with her aggressive driving and seemed to enjoy how fast she was going. He would have been a great dad and she was thankful to have him in her life as well. Each of these guys played a big role in her life now. She could see how he would be naturally good at raising daughters. She was always at ease around him, even when he was being grouchy with everyone else.

  They reached Lansing Road in good time and Taylor climbed out to find Eddie at the overpass. Fifteen minutes later, the three of them entered Elliott’s room where the meeting was ready to begin.

  Chapter 48

  Sabine Iowa

  Winters woke up in a sweat and opened his eyes. The air in the bedroom was hot and stagnate making it difficult to breathe. He rolled over on his side and looked at the other bed. Collette had lain down next to Laney and he was surprised he had not heard her come in, but then realized just how tired he was. He had only slept sporadically over the past few days and was exhausted. He put his feet on the carpet and looked at his watch to see it was three in the afternoon, which meant he’d gotten a solid seven hours of sleep. He glanced over at the sleeping girls and noticed how innocent they looked. He let out a scoff because these girls had been dealt a bad hand. No longer were they innocent kids. They had been forced to grow up and leave behind whatever remaining childhood they should have had.

  Winters nodded his head thinking about their willingness to help and how they handled themselves. They were quick thinkers and acted fast, which was a good combination.

  Their explanation of the butterfly tattoos spoke volumes about who they were and how they viewed their situation. They never gave up the hope that it would eventually pass and they could be reborn and hold their heads high. They had done what was necessary to survive and save their families, and now these trials were over.

  The big question was how they would handle what happened last night? Laney already had some doubts and was confused over the matter. Winters hoped he had told her the right things. He thought maybe he had by the way she reacted when he mentioned she no longer had to work. That reality would help get them over any lingering doubts that might creep up on them over the coming days. Taking a life is never an easy thing, but perhaps experiencing what they had gone through would make it easier.

  He continued to stare at the girls and found himself drumming his hands on his knees as his favorite song popped into his head. He hadn’t done that in a long time and then it dawned on him why. Last night’s operation had a different meaning than his previous killings. These had nothing to do with revenge, but with helping a bunch of girls in need. Damsels in distress was always a worthy cause. Looking back on it, after meeting Finley, he realized he never thought about Mister Hyde or noticed his presence again. Her talkative spirit penetrated deep into his core and gave him a renewed purpose, which began to flush away all his anger. He helped a young girl out of a bad situation and there was a pureness to it. He took a deep breath and held it for a second before slowly releasing it.

  He then assumed a one-sided smile, wondering, if in some strange way Cara had led him here. Had she not died, last night never would have happened. These girls would still be living in their own hell. A warm sensation shot through him because not only had he done a good thing here, but it also gave Cara’s death a meaningful purpose. He decided to take this notion and hold onto to it for everything it was worth.

  He grabbed his boots and laced them up. He tiptoed out of the room leaving the door open for fresh air. He entered the living room where Ashley played cards with her daughter Kaitlyn. The scene reminded him of playing cards with Cara when she was younger. She learned to play Go Fish before moving to Crazy Eights and then Gin Rummy. Those were the good years before she became a teenager and for the most part, they were a happy family. Winters brushed the thoughts away, scared they would lead him back into melancholy.

  “Hey,” said Winters.

  “Well, hey yourself, how’d ya sleep?”

  Winters sat down in a kitchen chair. “Soundly.” Winters turned to Kaitlyn, “you letting your mom win?”

  “Just a little,” replied Kaitlyn, “she isn’t very good.”

  “Hey, now, I’m just unlucky,” said Ashley.

  Winters winked at Ashley before turning back to Kaitlyn, “sounds like you’re pretty darn good.”

  “I am. Do you want to play?”

  “Geez, I don’t know, I’m not sure I want to get shown up by a kid.”

  “I’ll go easy on ya,” giggled Kaitlyn.

  Winters laughed. “Maybe later, I’ve got lots to do.” He turned back to Ashley and asked where everybody was.

  “Finley’s mom and sister are resting with her, and Stacy left a little while ago with Laney’s mom. That passed out girl, Blair, woke up and took off.”

  “How’s Finley doing?”

  “Stacy says she needs to see a doctor, she’s running a fever.”

  “Is there one around here?”

  “No.”

  Winters leaned back in the chair. If Finley needed a doctor, then he had little choice but to get her up to Winnipeg. It was an eleven-hour drive if all went well. He would need to take along as much gas as possible. He remembered the girls telling him Billy Gamble had fuel stashed somewhere.

  Ashley got up and prepared Winters something to eat. While she did that, he peeked in on Finley. Her mom and sister were on the bed with her sound asleep. He closed the door deciding to wait to discuss the trip to Canada.

  Chapter 49

  Jackson Michigan

  Meeks had never been in charge of a Shadow Patriots meeting before, but here he was with eight of them waiting for him to begin. As a high school football coach, he had a lot of experience holding meetings with his players and other coaches. It could be as many as a hundred people, so he had no problem speaking in front of large numbers of people. He decided to treat this as he would any other meeting. The only difference was, these people would talk back and offer him suggestions. This was a good thing because he needed suggestions as to what they might do. Everyone in this room would offer sound advice because they cared about Scar and the others.

  He looked into the faces of his friends and was about to begin when it dawned on him that if it was the reward the cops were after, then Americans would have to be involved for the payout. Since cops sank the canoe, this meant they wanted to deal with Americans on the sly and nothing official. At first, Meeks thought this was bad until he realized it was too good to be true. It was a good thing because that meant the cops from Detroit would be involved and Meeks had no problem shooting any cop from Detroit.

  He started the meeting by telling everyone his thoughts.

  “Meeks, my boy,” said Taylor, “I got to hand it to ya, that’s a brilliant analysis.”

  “Thanks, Badger.”

  “You’re gonna need to think about an ambush site then,” said Nate.

  Meeks gave him a firm nod and then dug into his satchel full of maps and found one of Port Huron. Amber took some medical tape and hung it up on the wall.

  Meeks turned to Hadley. “Don, point out where Scar launched and landed.”

  Hadley took a red marker and made two circles.

  Nate moved to the map. “Question is though, which way will the cops cross into Canada, Detroit or Port Huron?”

  The room remained silent for a few moments before Amber spoke up. “Port Huron.”

  Everyone turned to her.

&
nbsp; “The Sarnia cops would be able to control things on their home turf, maybe even bribe the border guards. They can’t just be letting American cops come and go without proper authorization.”

  Meeks stared at her for a second. “Amber, you’re no longer just a hot looking chick.”

  “Finally,” said Amber, throwing her palms up in the air. “I’ve been waiting forever.”

  Meeks shot her a kudos nod.

  “You need to set up a position right here,” said Nate pointing to the last exit before the bridge. “Get Nordell’s friend, Hollis, to man a sharpshooter position.”

  “He’s a hell of a shot,” said Hadley. “The way he took out those spot lights from the lake was amazing.”

  “You’ll need look outs along the route,” said Nate.

  “Meeks,” said Elliott trying to get his attention from his bed.

  Everyone quieted down to hear Elliott speak.

  “You also need to get back to that garage and wait for them in case they escape. And check the river downstream as well in case they swim across.”

  Meeks nodded. “Okay, how many guys are we gonna need?”

  “At least twenty,” suggested Nate. “Eight at the ambush site, four more for backup and then you got the lookouts to spread around. Another waiting at the garage and some along the river bank.”

  “Whew, that’s a lot of vehicles to take and a lot of gas,” said Meeks.

  Nate put his hand on Meeks’ shoulder. “Yeah, well, it’s what you need.”

  “I wanna go,” said Reese.

  Everyone turned to Reese as Meeks scrunched his face.

  “Don’t deny me this. My leg’s better, and besides, I can at least baby-sit the garage. You might as well let me cause if you don’t I’m gonna be burning through more fuel around here anyway.”

  No one had said anything to her about using the precious fuel because everyone saw how it had improved her overall attitude.

  Meeks gave it some thought. “Okay, but the garage is yours.”

  Amber put her hand out and gave Reese a fist-bump.

  “Alright, it’s done. We need to leave right away, so let’s meet in the parking lot in one hour. Badger, can you get five vehicles fueled? Oh, and we need to monitor the cops’ communications, so make sure one of them is a squad car. And we’ll need supplies, no telling how long we’ll be out there.”

  “I’m on it.”

  “Eddie, round up some guys,” said Meeks, counting the bodies in the room. “We need fourteen more. Hadley, go find Hollis.”

  Meeks waited for everyone to leave the room and turned to Nate and Elliott, who would be staying behind. It was never easy to go on an operation without these two because they were original members and an important part of the group.

  “Good meeting, Meeks, you did good,” said Elliott.

  “Thanks, I just hope we can find them.”

  “You’ll find ‘em. Just trust your gut,” said Nate, “and keep your six clear. Always have an exit.”

  “I hear ya. You guys gonna be alright?”

  “Well, I don’t know,” sighed Elliott, “you’re taking the two prettiest girls away from nursing me back to health.”

  “I could order them to stay,” offered Meeks.

  Nate let out a scoff. “Yeah, that’d be like telling them not to go shopping.”

  Meeks burst out laughing. “Damn, Nate, you are sexist.”

  “Yeah, well, I’m sexy too.”

  “Sexy enough to tend to your friend while we’re gone?”

  “Please, he’s just milking it for all it’s worth, aren’t cha buddy?” asked Nate, with a sly smile.

  “I won’t deny I like having Amber hovering over me.”

  “I’ll be sure to tell your wife next we see her,” kidded Nate.

  “Oh, I don’t think Amy would be too worried about me getting some TLC, you know, being in the shape I’m in and all.”

  “Don’t worry, buddy, I won’t tell her.”

  “Yeah, it’s probably best you didn’t.”

  Meeks let the two lifelong friends continue to pull each other’s legs as he left the room hoping he’d be able to find his friend. He and Scar had been through thick and thin over the years and even more so over the past few months. It would suck not having him around even more so than Winters.

  Chapter 50

  Washington D.C.

  Green tried to stay busy and keep his mind off what was coming next. His skin was crawling as he tried to get through his paperwork and make a few phone calls. He looked at his watch and saw he had only had another hour before most everyone went home, and then an hour after that when Reed would leave for the day. He still needed to turn the security cameras off, but couldn’t do that until the building was vacated enough to minimize the chance of being detected.

  He thought about the two guys they had kidnapped earlier. It was a spectacular operation and he was pleasantly surprised by how well Stormy had performed. He had to admit he wasn’t expecting much from her. She seemed too beautiful to be anything but a china doll. Green let out a laugh at how wrong he’d been about her. Her biggest asset was her looks and how she was underestimated because of them. You wouldn’t even imagine someone like her could kick your butt? He rolled his eyes because he’d never think that about her again.

  His thoughts moved back to the two guys and how they were going to die for them. It was brutal but this was war and war was hell. He’d begun to accept the idea of this new kind of war in which he was now involved. The battlefields were different and most often were underhanded, but then that was Washington D.C. now and always had been.

  He tried to visualize what was going to happen tonight and how he could most effectively contribute to their success. He would enter the underground parking garage at the right moment and save Reed from certain death. Besides his looking like a hero, Reed would be convinced Perozzi was targeting him. Green drummed his hands on the desk at the thought of Reed having complete trust in him. No telling what he’d be able to accomplish with that trust.

  Green looked at his watch again and decided to grab his stuff as he was going to head to the room where the security cameras recorded all movement at the entrances. He offered his secretary, Grace, an early time off, of which she took advantage and shut down her computer before grabbing her purse.

  After she left, he shut the office door and started down the stairs where he noticed some of the staff in the offices below had begun to leave. The bankers typically left when the markets closed, which cleared out the majority of the offices. The building didn’t have any other form of security staff, but then it wasn’t an important target. This place paled in comparison to the many highly desirable targets in the district.

  The security closet was just ahead and no one was in the area, so Green approached the door and slipped on a glove before opening it. He rolled his eyes having expected to force the door open. A good shove would have done the trick, but it was unlocked. He entered the small room and shut the door. The room was dark with the monitors providing the only light. He sat down in the chair to observe all the entrances and watch the people leave. He looked over at the power strips and figured out which buttons to switch off per Jacob Gibbs’ instructions. He started flipping switches until the green lights turned red. The cameras continued to run, which he needed to monitor the garage, which weren’t too far away. At a quick pace, he could be there in seconds.

  Thirty minutes later, the parking lot was empty with the exception of a vehicle here or there. Then he noticed his van come in and park by the entrance to the building. Blood rushed to his head knowing that inside the van, bound and gagged, were the two men they had kidnapped. He rocked back and forth in the swivel chair while staring at the monitors waiting for Reed to leave. He looked at his watch again to see that time was fast approaching. He grabbed his Beretta M9 and pulled out the magazine again to make sure it was full. He then pulled the spare mags out of his jacket and gave them the once over.

  His p
ulse skipped a beat when Reed’s bodyguards came into view on the monitors. They were escorting him down the hall toward the exit. Neither man looked too concerned as they approached the double glass doors. Both figuring it was just another day of getting the paranoid Lawrence Reed home.

  Green got up and left the security room just as popping sounds echoed in the background. He bolted down the hall to the glass doors. Both guards were bleeding on the concrete floor. “Nice shooting,” thought Green. He found Reed cowering behind a car. He rushed over to him just as a shot hit the gray painted concrete wall just above his head.

  “Stay down, Mister Reed,” yelled Green, as he fired his pistol.

  “Major, please help me,” Reed cried out in a shrill voice.

  “Just stay down! I’ll get you out of here!”

  Green raised his head as Jacob Gibbs slid open the van door. He manhandled one of the unconscious men out and stood him up. Green took careful aim and pulled the trigger twice. Both rounds exploded into the man’s chest. Kyle then pushed the other one out onto the garage floor. He and his dad, Jacob, picked him up and leaned him on the front of the van. Green took careful aim before shooting him. The body crumpled to the ground.

  Gibbs gave him a thumbs up before they both fired the dead man’s pistols a few more times and then dropped the guns by the corpses. They both then ran out of the garage where Stormy was waiting out on the street.

  Green looked at Reed. “I got ‘em both, sir.”

  Sweat poured down Reed’s face to his double chin. “Are, are you sure?”

  “I’m sure, sir. We should get you out of here.”

  “They’re dead?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Green rose up and helped Reed up off the concrete floor. Reed’s hands trembled and his pale complexion turned back to red as he looked at the scene. “I want to see them.”

  Green bit his lip to contain his satisfaction with the operation. He needed to keep focus and get Reed out of there to follow through with their charade. He kept his gun at the ready as Reed regained his composure and moved to the carnage. He bent down and took a good look at the first one he killed. Reed then went over to the other and pushed him over with his foot. Reed shook his head a couple of times but stayed silent. This didn’t surprise Green because Reed always kept his cards close to the vest.