The Shadow Patriots Box Set 2

by Warren Ray

  Butler remained in the truck and hit the horn a couple more times. Whoever was here wasn’t expecting him. These people could either be friends of Butler’s or his buyers. Cochran said the buyers were a bunch of scary people.

  The headlights behind him went dark, which meant Collette and Laney were out of the truck.

  Winters kept staring at the door until it finally opened. Four shirtless men exited the building carrying weapons. They belong to a street gang, as everyone had what could only be described as gang tattoos covering their bodies. They talked to Butler for a moment before one of them started coming his way.

  Chapter 44

  Cloquet Minnesota

  A shirtless man came up and banged on the door. He was a lean, muscled man with a tattoo on each side of his face and host of others covering his body.

  “Are you Cochran?”

  These were the buyers, and this one didn’t know who Cochran was. Winters answered in a muffled tone while pushing the door open to climb out.

  “Yeah, I’m Cochran,” said Winters as his body tensed.

  Tattooed started towards the back. “Where’s them bitches you got?”

  Hitting the pavement, Winters kept the door open and flipped his goggles down before catching up to him. He took a quick deep breath to try to slow down his heart rate.

  “Where are they?” he asked again in a frustrated tone.

  “Got in ‘em in the back, man. They’re tied up and ready to go if ya want a turn,” said Winters playing on the man’s desires.

  “Good. Cause I got a train waiting for them inside.”

  Running a train was slang for when a group of guys stood in line to have sex with the same girl. Winters knew the term but didn’t know how many it meant. “Cool. How many are ya?”

  “There’s eight of us. Think these girls can handle it.”

  Winters jerked his head back. His job just went from doable to more difficult. “Are they asleep or something?”

  “Yeah, man. Hell, we were all sleeping till you guys showed up.”

  Winters heard enough and raised the suppressed Glock and pointed it at the back of Tattoo’s head just as he went to pull the cargo door open. He depressed the trigger once, and it bucked in his hand followed by a muffled spit. The front of the man’s head exploded splattering blood and flesh onto the cargo door as it rolled up. Winters let the body fall to the ground unconcerned where it landed.

  He was satisfied with the suppressor. The report had been minimal and further disguised by the cargo door opening. It was, however, louder than you’d hear in a Hollywood movie.

  The sound of footsteps caused Winters to turn around to find Collette and Laney rushing in wearing their night-vision goggles. Neither of them spoke and breathed in measured paces while shouldering their M-4’s. He motioned them to follow him to the front of his truck.

  Another man had appeared outside as they began looking at the supplies in the back of the truck. This left three more inside who would be able to barricade themselves, which meant an extended gun battle. It wasn’t ideal, but he didn’t have the patience to wait for the others to join them.

  He turned to Collette and Laney. “I want you guys to swing around to the other side of the road till you’re in the middle of the trucks and get on the ground. Don’t fire until I signal you. Once you fire, your position will be exposed, so you’ll need to move to another one.”

  “What’s the signal?” asked Laney.

  “I’ll turn the headlights off.”

  “What about you?” asked Collette.

  “As soon as you guys are in position, I’ll open fire and take out what I can. The ones I don’t hit will scatter. There’s three more inside. That’s why I want you to stay hidden. You’ll have the perfect line of sight. Got it?”

  They gave short jerky nods.

  “Remember girls, we own the night,” said Winters tapping on his goggles trying to give them a confidence boost. “Now, go.”

  They took off and swept around before stretching out on the asphalt in the middle of the road. Winters pulled his M4 into his shoulder and stepped in front of his truck. He flipped the weapon to full auto and applied pressure to the trigger.

  The parking lot lit up with muzzle flashes and a deafening barrage of rifle fire. Two guys instantly fell to the ground dead, both taking multiple rounds to the chest. Another in the truck turned around with a pistol. The pistol jumped twice in his hands with one bullet whizzing by Winters, as he emptied his magazine on the gang-banger. He took numerous hits before dropping dead.

  The one managed to run back inside while Butler jumped into the cab of his truck and started to drive away. This was an unexpected move, one he didn’t have an answer for. Losing that cargo would make this gun battle a useless endeavor and a waste of time.

  Winters ejected his empty mag and fished out another. He slammed it in and started for Butler but was cut off by gunfire from inside the building. It was time to get the girls involved, so he turned the headlights off.

  Collette opened fire at the building firing in full-auto shattering all the windows. Winters nodded in satisfaction and was pleasantly surprised when Laney took off after the escaping Butler. She ran right up to the driver’s door and started shooting inside the cab. Seconds later, the truck’s movement began to slow down, and she hopped on the running board to open the door. Butler’s body tumbled onto the asphalt. She then crawled inside and threw the truck into park.

  All that was left were the four men barricaded inside the building. Collette continued to keep them at bay, but she had nothing to hide behind, and they would soon fire on her position.

  Winters thought of a quick solution and ran to the back of his truck finding just what they needed. He grabbed a long carrying-case before jumping out of the truck and running out to the road. Laney had just begun to suppress the enemy fire from her new position while Collette moved to a different one. Winters reached her just as she was about to open fire again.

  “Wait. Don’t expose yourself,” ordered Winters as he put the case on the ground.

  Collette bobbed her head at him. “What is that?”

  Winters opened the case.

  “Is that what I think it is?”

  “It is indeed,” said Winters just as the men inside began to return fire at Laney’s position. He could see the muzzle flashes from their rifles. Winters hoisted the RPG to his shoulder but then remembered when they fired one at the police station in Detroit. They were further away than this and still felt the concussion. “Let’s back up a bit,” said Winters.

  He looked over at Laney and waved her back. She saw the RPG and scurried away. Collette was first across the road and into another parking lot. Winters sidled up next to her and put the launcher back on his shoulder. The men inside were firing blindly as Winters pulled the trigger. The rocket flew out with a swoosh and fire entrails lit up the night as it zoomed towards the building. It took a couple of seconds before impacting into a massive explosion.

  Debris began raining down on the road and bouncing off the asphalt, so Winters dropped the launcher and got on top of Collette to protect her.

  After it stopped raining down on them, Laney came running over yelling.

  “That was friggin awesome. Look at it. It’s, like, all gone.”

  Winters helped Collette up and turned to see the building partly demolished and on fire. There would be no survivors. The flames began reaching the two trucks.

  “C’mon let’s get those trucks out of the way.”

  Collette reached hers first and began backing it up out on the street. After moving them, Winters checked for damage only to find paint burned off the front of his.

  “Did you see me stop, Butler?” Laney asked in an excited tone.

  “That was impressive,” Winters said putting put an arm around her shoulder.

  “I knew I had him. He, like, never even saw me coming and I fired right into the truck.”

  “Both you guys did great. Collette, you
moved to a new position just when you needed to.”

  “Sergeant Hicks trained us on that,” said Collette.

  “Did he now?”

  “Oh, yeah. We ran those courses a bunch of times.”

  “It shows. Now listen, I need to ask you guys a big favor.”

  “Yes, we’ll drive the trucks to Jackson,” presumed Laney.

  Winters raised his eyebrows.

  “You want these trucks, and you need drivers,” said Laney. “Of course, we’ll help you.”

  “We’ll do anything for you, Cole,” declared Collette.

  “Well, alright then. What do ya say we get the hell out of here? No telling if there are any more bad guys around. Laney that truck’s yours,” said Winters pointing to the one she shot at. “Keep the headlights off.”

  Winters didn’t stop worrying until they were through the town of Cloquet and on State Road 210. He wanted to get as far away from Duluth as possible before the sun came up. They would need to pull over and get some rest before they went much further. Their adrenaline would be waning, and fatigue would set in after such a long and eventful night.

  * * * * *

  A dizzy, tattooed gang-banger crawled away from the burning building and got up on his feet. He was shaken and not thinking clearly but knew enough to go for help. He took a few steps and had to catch himself from falling over.

  The sound of engines revving in the air snapped his head back to reality. He aimed toward the end of the building but found his coordination floundering. If he didn’t know better, he would have thought he was drunk the way he stumbled around the building. He was just in time to see three moving vans pulling out onto the street and head east.

  “Who the hell were they? Was it those bitches that Butler kidnapped?” he asked aloud.

  Whoever they were, they were stealing a payday and making their escape. He needed to get to his crew and stop them. He fell into his white Caddy and fired it up. It took all his strength to pull down on the gearshift. He floored the gas pedal and squealed the tires as he swung onto the road. He needed to go for help and had to hurry if they were to have any chance of catching up with them. If anyone could do it, it was their leader, Big T. He was the baddest among them and tenacious as hell.

  Chapter 45

  Hanover Michigan

  The temperature hadn’t dropped much since the sun had gone down a few hours ago and Meeks was glad he’d worn his tactical chest rig rather than a vest. It was hot, and he was out of breath after jogging across empty fields for the last fifteen minutes. He flipped up the thermal goggles and grabbed a bottle of water. He took a few gulps before offering it to Amber. She shook her head and grabbed her own. Meeks chuckled knowing she didn’t want his cooties.

  They were on the other side of the border, way past Pulaski Road where they usually brought the convoys across. They’d been out for over an hour and was surprised the separation between the Jiji guard post was much broader than usual. They had never seen it like this before and thought something was up. They hoofed it up and down the field on both sides to see if they could spot any hidden Jijis. It would have been impossible for them to hide since Meeks was wearing the thermal goggles, which picked up the smallest of heat signatures. Not finding any, the concern was the enemy had changed tactics. Meeks had decided to jog a couple of miles west to make sure they hadn’t moved into a different position.

  “So glad we came this far,” said Meeks sarcastically.

  “You’re not tired are ya?” kidded Amber.

  “Not enough to fall behind you.”

  “Oooh. I sense I’ve challenged your manhood.”

  “Ya damn right, you have.”

  “Well, the way I heard it from Reese, is that she beat you that night you guys were on the run.”

  “That there girl, is a speed demon, let me tell ya.”

  “Yes, she is,” said Amber remembering her own little run-in last night when she plowed into a Jiji face first. She won’t soon forget it, if ever. She was glad she came out tonight because she needed to get back-in-the-saddle and put it past her.

  “You know, if ya didn’t know better, you’d think the Jijis have given up.”

  “It is weird that they’re not in their usual places.”

  Meeks looked at his watch. “We better get back to the border.”

  “Are we racing or pacing.”

  “C’mon now, we’re not in that big of a hurry.”

  “Alright…wimp-dog,” laughed Amber as she started jogging back toward Pulaski Road.

  Meeks wasn’t ready and took another sip of water before he started running to catch up to her. She set the pace for the next fifteen minutes faster than he would have liked but as soon as he saw the border up ahead, he took off in a sprint. He was feeling confident, as the empty road was not more than fifty yards ahead. As he got closer, he kicked it up a notch knowing she was doing the same. He was just about there when Amber pulled past him and reached the border first.

  It took a couple of minutes for both of them to catch their breath and settle down. Meeks took the ribbing from Amber in stride having enjoyed the competition. It was the one thing he missed most from his football days, competing with others. He didn’t mind being beat by this particular girl, as she was younger and a former athlete like himself.

  Meeks grabbed the radio and called out to Scar who had been waiting on Main Street in the small village of Hanover. Ten minutes later, the convoy arrived and started moving across the border, unimpeded.

  The last short-bus crossed the border, and Meeks turned to Scar. “How many did we get across?”

  “A hundred and twenty-five.”

  “Nice.”

  Nordell stood on the other side of Meeks. “How far away are those idiots?”

  “About a half-mile on either side of us.”

  Nordell turned to Scar. “Something’s going on. I think we should check them out.”

  That notion had been gnawing on Scar too since earlier while he was out checking the borders with Reese. Add to it the western border guards had separated more than usual told him they should investigate. “Let’s do that then. Gunny, you and Badger, take half the guys to the south. Meeks and I will take the north.”

  “C’mon Badger,” said Nordell.

  “We jogging there?” asked Amber half-kidding.

  Scar turned toward the SUV. “You can if you want, but I’m driving.”

  “I’m with Scar,” said Meeks. “But hey if you want.”

  “Wimp-dog,” whispered Amber as she passed Meeks before hopping into the front seat.

  Scar looked at Amber and then back at Meeks. “I take it winners sit up front?”

  “Ya darn right they do,” stated Amber.

  Scar kept the speed at a snail’s pace through the empty fields not wanting to arouse any attention as they approached their enemy. It didn’t take too long before they were a hundred yards away from the Jiji border directly across from them. Scar got out of the truck and led his team of fifteen toward the Jijis.

  He took out the Night Optics D-321B-AG binoculars and observed the Jijis leaning on cars. They were at ease and chatting with each other seemingly bored with guard duty. None of them were paying attention to the field in front of them. Scar could easily walk right up to them before they’d know he was there. The thought appealed to him and suggested it to Meeks.

  “Don’t see why not,” whispered Meeks.

  “What’s further up?” asked Scar.

  “We didn’t go up that far.”

  Scar thought about it for a minute before pulling his radio out to call Nordell. His main apprehension to attacking the Jijis was they had been using this area to bring convoys through and didn’t want them to post more men out this way. They’ve had much success in using this area and didn’t want to spoil it. However, his fear that something was amiss overrode the concern.

  “I’m thinking the same thing,” said Nordell. “I want to see their response.”

  “Roger that
. I’m sending a squad north to cover our flank.”

  “Will do the same. Call me when you’re ready. We’ll synchronize our attack.”

  Scar sent a squad north and instructed them to only engage if they tried to flank them. He waited ten minutes before leading his team closer to the border. The crunching of grass underfoot was the only sound they made as they closed in on their prey. Sporadic clouds kept the light from a crescent moon to a minimum as the twelve Jijis stood in a couple of groups yakking and laughing oblivious to their impending doom. Scar sent Meeks and Amber around the north side of them while he lined up with the others. They were fifteen yards away and could hear the Jiji voices carry across the field.

  Scar pulled his radio out and whispered into the mic. “We’re in position.”

  “Copy. We’re ready,” replied Nordell.

  Scar looked to his left and right signaling his four men before he opened fire. Muzzle flashes lit up the darkness as gunfire rained in on the twenty Jijis. A group of eight leaning on the side of the car fell dead taking the brunt of the fire. Scar emptied his magazine and threw in another before aiming at the other group. They scrambled and took cover behind a car but by doing so exposed themselves to Meeks and Amber.

  Meeks was in a kneeling position with Amber next to him waiting for them to make this very move. As soon as they did, they opened fire on the defenseless Jijis. There was an abject look of terror in the Jijis’ eyes as he and Amber swept their Colt M4’s back and forth. Bullets slammed into them and the cars behind them. It was over in under a minute. All were dead or dying.

  Scar began walking toward the carnage while listening to the echo of gunfire from Nordell’s men finishing their job. He didn’t detect any other type of weapons being fired, which meant these Jijis didn’t return a single round.

  Scar’s radio came alive from his squad in the north to report the Jijis piled in their cars and drove away from the gunfire. They weren’t going to help their friends. Scar put the radio away confused as to why they responded this way. He suspected something was going on, either that or they’ve gotten lazy.