by Ricky Sides
“Yes, Captain?” she asked.
“See those men sitting off to themselves?” he asked.
“Yes, sir,” she stated.
“Land near them and open the cargo bay door,” Jim said.
“Right away, sir,” Namid said and then she proceeded to land the ship as ordered.
“Lieutenant Wilcox, inform those men that if they wish to see justice done, then leave their weapons in their vehicles and board from the rear. Have your men stand near them just in case one decides to do something crazy,” Jim stated.
The lieutenant walked briskly toward the cargo bay and his men fell in behind their leader automatically. In minutes, they returned with the men who’d lost their women. “Welcome aboard gentlemen,” Jim stated. “I wish that your visit was under better circumstances, but we are going to punish those responsible for your loss and I thought you might wish to observe. Please do not touch any controls in this room,” Jim cautioned and then turned to Namid. “Lieutenant, take us back to the scene of the crimes.”
Five minutes later Namid brought the Peacekeeper to a hover in front of the building. Jim requested a line to the external speakers and when Patricia nodded that the line was ready he activated his microphone, “Since you wouldn’t release the captives, we decided to take them back without your help.” Jim waited until angry voices shouting inside the hotel confirmed that they were now aware that the peacekeepers had freed the women. “Now send out Tom Whitmore and we’ll give you an easy death for your crimes against the women. Refuse and we will burn you out. There it is men. That’s the best deal you get now. Take it or leave it. You have two minutes to decide,” Jim said with an air of finality.
“There were two pistol shots inside the house and Tom’s voice shouted, “Why don’t you just come on in and get me, Jim? Or better yet, just meet me outside and fight me like a man.”
“Well come on out, Tom, and you’ll get the fight you crave,” Jim said into the microphone with a smile.
“How do I know you won’t have me shot the moment I walk out the door?” Tom asked.
“Don’t worry, Tom. I’ve been waiting for this for a long time. I won’t spoil the moment by having you shot,” Jim stated emphatically.
“I feel the same way. I’m coming out, Jim,” Tom said.
“Have your men come out with you and lay down their weapons, Tom,” Jim insisted.
“Ha! Like they’d listen to me if I ordered that. I just had to kill two who wanted to turn me over to you,” Tom said. He added, “Don’t worry; we can fight on your side of the blockade. My boys can’t target you there,” Tom said and then he added, “I’d rather fight you out there than have to fight your men from in here and my own men who are trying to stab me in the back.”
“Okay, come out, Tom, but if you try to run anywhere but outside the blockade, a drone will kill you,” Jim said pointedly.
“Fair enough, I’ll be right there,” Tom said and opened the door to exit the hotel.
“Watch the windows for snipers guys,” Jim said and turned to exit the ship.
“Captain, wait!” Namid said.
“Namid, my mind’s made up,” Jim said.
“I just wanted to suggest that you let me land first, sir,” Namid said straight-faced, and then she proceeded to land the ship.
“Oh sorry, Namid,” Jim said with a rueful grin.
“No problem, sir. Beat the hell out of him,” she said smiling.
“I plan to, Lieutenant,” Jim said grinning. During the month leading up to the war, Jim had spent every free moment practicing his martial arts. He was at his peak readiness for physical combat.
Jim met Tom between the Peacekeeper and the eight-foot tall barricade. He waited while Namid repositioned the ship so that they could see the fight through the windshield.
“You want to know what’s really funny, Tom?” Jim asked.
“What’s that?” Tom asked.
“You could have started a kingdom in America with our blessings if you’d gone about it in the right manner. We would have even helped you when we could,” Jim explained.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Tom said frowning.
“No, Tom, and that’s what’s so very funny to me. All you had to do was treat the people decently and follow civilized laws that respect other people’s rights. We permit city states, and even corporate controlled cities. A king is not out of the realm of possibility. Indeed I expect there will be a few monarchies in America in the years to come,” Jim said and shrugged. “I just wanted to let you know that before I punish you, Tom.”
“A lot of men have tried to take me. I’ve killed them all,” Tom said.
“Well I’m waiting, Tom. Come kill me if you can, Tommy boy,” Jim said smiling causing Tom to frown.
Inside the Peacekeeper, the control room was eerily silent as the people watched the tableau unfolding outside. The drones hovered silently keeping a silent vigil on the hotel. Pete had sent the order that at the first sign of a shot from the hotel they were to burn it to the ground.
Jim advanced toward Tom who was standing twenty yards away waiting. “Time to dance, Tommy boy,” Jim said and continued advancing a bit faster.
In the ship Pete said, “If any of you have never seen Jim fight, watch close. You’re in for a show.”
Tom aimed a punch at Jim’s throat but Jim caught his wrist as he torqued his body to avoid the strike. Stepping around with his back leg, Jim pulled hard on Tom’s trapped limb and threw him through the air toward the Peacekeeper. As he flew through the air, the would-be-king tucked his body into a tight ball and when his body hit the ground, he rolled in the direction of the momentum of his body. Tom quickly jumped to his feet but Jim was there with a powerful sidekick aimed at his opponent’s upper chest. The force of that kick slammed Tom hard against the front of the ship, briefly stunning him. Jim slapped Tom hard across the face three times and then grabbed the man’s right wrist and threw him back toward the blockade wall.
Tom got up and crouched breathing heavily. “You’ll pay for that insult. No one slaps me and lives,” Tom threatened.
“That was for Lina,” Jim said smiling and stalked in closer to the man. He feigned a kick to Tom’s knee and then slapped him again so hard that the sound penetrated the skin of the ship without the need of the external feed. Tom launched a furious set of punches, palm strikes, and kicks in retaliation. Using circular footwork Jim blocked his opponent’s attacks but stayed near him. After that set of blocked strikes, Jim retaliated with a palm strike to the solar plexus, followed quickly by three more slaps. Tom staggered backwards away from his opponent. For the first time, there was fear in Tom’s eyes. “That was for Robert,” Jim said simply.
The peacekeeper captain closed with Tom again and this time he executed a series of better than a dozen punches, pummeling Tom’s face, chest, and midriff. The strikes were designed to disrupt the breathing of the opponent. His strikes were landing so fast that the men and women observing missed many of the hits. Tom was only able to block a fraction of those strikes. But the tyrant countered with a series of low kicks designed to take the legs out from under his enemy. If he could just get Jim off his feet, he thought that he could win this fight. Jim easily blocked the lower body attacks and with each blocked kick, he would move in and slap or punch Tom in the face. “That was for our dead pilots,” Jim said.
Backing off, the captain decided to let Tom try a move or two and he grinned as he taunted, “What’s the matter, Tommy boy? You have trouble when it comes to fighting men? Come on, Tommy boy. It’s just you and me now. Show me what you’ve got.”
Enraged, Tom charged Jim who had continued to back up a few paces. Jim caught a flailing fist and stepped around going with the flow of Tom’s motion. He threw Tom high over his shoulder toward the Peacekeeper. At the apex of the throw Tom’s upside down body slammed hard into the front end of the ship. The impact of his body with the hull of the ship caused it to reverberate. Tom’s feet and legs were visible in the windshi
eld for a moment and then he fell to the ground at the front of the ship.
“Damn,” said one of the strike force members. “Remind me not to make the Captain mad!” General laughter greeted that statement as Jim continued to punish Tom.
Jim launched a punch at Tom’s head, which Tom easily blocked. Tom tried to hold onto Jim’s wrist but Jim reversed the grab and twisted Tom’s wrist. He twisted harder using both his hands and that forced Tom to bend forward from the waist or have the tendons in his wrist hyperextended. As Tom bent forward, Jim’s right foot shot up to kick the man in the face, but Tom blocked that attack. Jim let go of the wrist with his left hand and stepped around with his left foot. At the same time, he raised his left hand into the air above his head and slammed his elbow down onto the back of Tom’s hyperextended elbow. There was an audible cracking sound as the joint gave way beneath the impact.
Jim shoved the man away from him and said, “That’s one.”
“One what?” Tom asked panting in pain and confusion.
“One broken piece of your body, there will be twelve before you die. One for each of the women that I know you killed while you were in Salina,” Jim said.
Tom grunted and launched an attack of his own with a series of blindingly fast kicks. Jim blocked them with a flurry of well-timed strokes and after the fourth kick, Jim retaliated with a kick of his own to Tom’s short ribs. Tom groaned and wheezed as Jim broke three of his ribs. “Four,” Jim said smiling, certain that his kick had broken at least three ribs. He had broken a two by four with that kick while practicing during the buildup to the war with Tom.
Jim circled the man then and darted in with the speed of a striking cobra with a palm strike to the side of his opponent’s nose. “Five,” Jim said calmly, after darting back to his preferred fighting distance.
“I’ll kill you!” Tom raged and rushed Jim. He grabbed Jim’s throat with his good hand. Jim calmly reached up, grabbed the man’s little finger, and bent it backwards until it broke. Enraged, Tom squeezed harder on his hated enemy’s throat. Jim caught the next finger and bent it backwards until it broke as well. Tom let go and backed away screaming in pain.
“Seven,” Jim stated matter-of-factly.
Tom charged him again and this time he jumped into the air to try to deliver a devastating roundhouse kick. Stepping out of the way of that attack Jim countered with a devastating front kick to the groin timed so that it connected when both of Tom’s feet were off the ground and he couldn’t possibly avoid the kick. The impact of that kick literally knocked the man a full foot higher into the air.
“Damn man, that’s got to hurt!” a man in the ship observed.
“I hope so,” said one of the men whose wife was among the dead.
“Nine,” Jim stated calmly. He stared down at Tom and said, “You see, Tom, what people like you fail to understand is that there is always someone stronger and faster than you out there. Someone who just may punish you for your transgressions.”
Tom struggled to his feet obviously in acute pain. He staggered toward Jim saying, “Just end it now. There’s no way I can beat you and you know it, so just end it now.”
Jim considered the man’s request and was about to grant it when Tom whipped his hand toward Jim’s face. Too late, Jim saw the knife as he automatically moved to block the strike with his right forearm. He felt a burning sensation in his wrist and saw his wrist begin to bleed furiously. Grabbing the man’s wrist in his right hand, he gripped the rear of the forearm in his other and forced both his hands downward as hard as he could. At the same time, he snapped his right knee up with great force and there was an audible popping sound as he broke the man’s arm. “Ten, Tommy boy,” Jim said and followed up with two devastating punches to Tom’s ribcage. “Twelve, and a portion of justice has been served,” Jim stated solemnly. He felt light headed and glanced at his wrist that was still furiously spurting blood. He saw the door in the side of the Peacekeeper open and turned his attention back to Tom who was wheezing on the ground in so much pain he just laid there. “Time to finish this,” Jim thought and he moved to stand beside Tom. He kicked Tom hard, square in the throat, breaking the man’s neck and crushing his larynx. Turning to go back to the ship Jim took three steps toward Pete and Lieutenant Wilcox who were both followed by other men and then he fell. He heard the sound of numerous lasers firing and more than a few rifles, and then he heard nothing.
***
Jim awoke in the infirmary with an anxious Lacey and Evan by his side. “How long have I been out?” Jim asked and Lacey jumped, startled by the sound of his voice.
“Jim, you’re awake!” Lacey said sounding excited. Then she turned to Evan and said, “Son, go let the crew know Jim is awake!”
“Yes, mom,” the boy said and Jim noted that both Evan and Lacey looked as if they’d been crying.
“How long?” Jim asked again. His voice sounded odd to him and he realized that his throat was dry.
“Two days, Jim,” Maggie said from the door. “You almost died. That cut got a vein and if trained medics hadn’t treated you until I could be summoned this could have had a lot different ending.”
“I almost died from that little cut? It didn’t seem that bad, just bled a lot.”
“That’s because you were fighting. Your adrenaline was pumping. Your heart rate was elevated and you continued working the muscles in the wounded arm literally forcing the blood out faster than normal,” Maggie explained.
Pete stepped through the door then, followed by Tim and Patricia. “You guys can come in for five minutes, but then it’s back out of here so he can rest. He’ll live, but he isn’t well yet,” Maggie said in a tone that brooked no argument.
Smiling, Pete came to his bedside and said, “You almost bought it that time, Jim. You can die you know. From now on just shoot the bad guys, OK?”
Smiling Jim said, “You remind me when the time comes.”
“Count on that,” Pete said and stepped away so the others could speak to Jim a minute. He hugged Lacey who had started to cry again and told her, “Here now, Lacey. He’s out of danger now, so don’t you cry.”
Tim said, “Well big brother, it looks as if I can’t leave you alone in the ship without you wanting to go all Wyatt Earp on me, so I’m back.”
Jim saw the deep concern in his brother’s eyes and said, “I didn’t mean to worry you all. I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry, Jim. It isn’t your fault that Tom pulled a knife at a fistfight. We’ve just been really concerned,” Tim said.
“Welcome back, Jim,” Patricia said smiling though she too looked exhausted.
“Haven’t any of you folks been sleeping? You all look totally exhausted,” Jim said.
His brother wiped his eyes, unabashed by emotion of the moment and said, “Well now brother, the truth is that you had a really close call. We stayed awake in case Lacey and Evan needed us. Neither of them would leave you alone you know,” Tim said frankly and Jim appreciated the candor and the fact that they had all been so supportive of Lacey and Evan. He found that comforting.
“Lacey and Evan can stay of course, but everyone else, out please. He needs his rest,” Maggie stated dictatorially.
Patricia patted Jim’s shoulder and said, “You get well soon, Jim.”
“Thank you,” he said tiredly.
Lacey came over and sat beside his bed on a stool and Evan approached Jim saying, “Jim, I’m so glad you’re going to be all right now. I don’t want to lose you.”
Jim reached out for the boy with his good hand and Evan took it. “I love you, Jim,” Evan said. “While you were sick, I tried to remember the last time I told you that and I couldn’t remember. I’m sorry for that, Jim,” the boy said with tears streaming down his face.
“That’s all right, Evan. I know you love me. I love you too, son. And I love your mother. I’m sorry I worried you both.” Then seeing the exhaustion in Evan’s face he said, “You need to go to bed, son. I’m going back to sleep myself but
I’ll want to see you in the morning.”
“I think I can sleep now,” the boy said happily and he walked around the bed to kiss his mother goodnight.
Looking at Lacey, Jim asked, “Are you all right? You look positively exhausted.”
“I’ll be fine after a good night’s sleep,” but then she said, “Oh, Jim, we thought we’d lost you. By the time Maggie was able to stop the bleeding you’d lost so much blood. It’s a good thing half the crew has your blood type. Maggie got blood from so many of the crew that she got nicknamed vampire lady for a while there.”
“Where are we?” Jim managed to ask.
“We’re still in Salina at the moment. Maggie thought it best to stay a while so you wouldn’t be jostled about too much and she’s been working with the two catatonic women and Lina as well. It seems Tom had drugged them constantly so that he could carry out some of his acts of perversion on them without resistance. Maggie’s drying them out,” Lacey explained.
“Lacey,” Jim said. “I love you and I’m sorry you’ve been so worried. I’m going to sleep now, but first I want you to promise to go to bed and get a good night’s rest. Come back to see me in the morning.”
Lacey kissed Jim gently on the lips and said, “I love you. You sleep well and I’ll see you in the morning.”
Lacey watched as Jim closed his eyes. She knelt on the floor beside his bed and offered a prayer of thanks. She wasn’t the only person aboard the ship who offered such prayers that night.
Her prayers completed Lacey quietly left the infirmary to go to their cabin and try to sleep a few hours.
Chapter 31
Ten days after the battle Maggie reported to Jim that Lina’s body was recovering but her mind was another matter. She privately informed Jim that in her opinion if Lina didn’t snap out of it she would probably die soon. She explained that Lina seemed to have lost the will to live. Maggie then suggested a radical approach to the problem. She wanted to send Namid to speak to the woman. Maggie explained that Namid had shared a similar experience and made a full recovery, therefore Namid might be able to reach Lina on a level that she could not.