by Mark Tufo
Deneaux’s lips pursed tight.
“Went on and on about his battleaxe of a wife, how she was the reason he was a senator and also why he drank. He said you could spit venom from one side of your mouth while smooth-talking someone with the other. He confided in me that he was terrified of you, and that if anything ever happened to him, odds were that it would be you behind it.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Deneaux said dismissively.
“It gets better,” Overland said.
“Do tell.” I leaned forward.
“I’d just finished a mission in Afghanistan and was at the Pentagon when we started getting word of the zombie invasion. A strange twist of fate this was, but I was tasked, along with some other teams, with getting all of the higher government officials to safe zones or bunkers. Any guesses who my first target was?” Overland asked.
“No way!” I leaned back quickly, like I’d been watching a blockbuster movie and they’d just thrown in a huge twist.
“Who was it?” Gary asked.
“Seriously?” BT asked him.
“Well, of course, we know it was Senator Deneaux, but I need him to say it,” Gary replied.
“Don’t ruin this for me, brother,” I told him.
“Sorry, sorry. I’ll keep quiet.” He was squirming around in his seat like a five-year-old waiting for his parents to finish eating so they can get to dessert.
“Found him, drink in hand, dead with a bullet to the head and an ashtray full of cigarette butts. I suppose if the world had gone on as it had been, you would have found yourself charged with murder, though I’m sure you would have had enough dirt on some higher-ups that the whole thing would have been dismissed. You would have got the fortune he took from you back, probably even found yourself living in the home you murdered him in,” Overland stated.
“I bet the chair she killed him in would become her favorite,” BT said.
“Is that true, Deneaux? You kill your husband?” I asked.
“He was my ex.”
“Not an answer.”
She was decidedly tight-lipped.
“You ever worry about the convention of ghosts you’ve created coming back to haunt you?” I asked.
“Don’t sit there, Michael, and pretend you don’t have your own contingent.”
She was right, I couldn’t even argue with that.
“Anyone threatens you or your family, they must be dealt with, correct?” She was leading. “The only difference between you and I is that I take satisfaction from knowing that I bested my enemies, where you harbor guilt for the same thing. I mean, I can’t even imagine what you’re going through in regard to Corporal Collier.” She gave me a sharp look.
“Collier? The one that the colonel said had possibly gone AWOL?” Overland asked. “…Lieutenant?”
How much did Deneaux know? And by getting rid of the corporal, had I unwittingly done her a favor? A loose end tied up?
“He tampered with our gear and weapons on our last mission, not to mention he tried to kick my head off,” I stated, not so much as a justification, merely as fact.
“I wondered if he’d be able to get some shots in.” Deneaux was smiling.
“Those are some serious charges. Why didn’t you bring them up with the colonel?” Overland asked, ignoring the grinning snake.
“She just answered the question. He was connected. What do you think would have happened to him or me if I had?”
“So, you killed him?”
“No, should have, wanted to. Took him a good way away from the base and dropped him off, even left him a weapon and some ammo. Up to him to survive; told him not to find his way home.”
Overland was shaking his head. “I feel like I barely know the base.”
The truck stopped abruptly with a squealing of brakes, and I was momentarily thrown into Deneaux; felt some slight disgust as I brushed up against her perceived scales. I was worried about how quickly we’d stopped, that maybe we were being met by a bunch of MPs. Could hear the drone of a plane engine as it was being started. Overland moved us quickly onboard.
“Hello, co-conspirator,” I said to Eastman’s back. He may have bristled, though he did not turn or say anything—nothing I heard, anyway.
“Major Eastman, I require your assistance. I am being illegally detained, bordering on kidnapping,” Deneaux said as she stopped at the entrance to the cockpit. Overland grabbed her shoulder and moved her toward the back.
“Not gonna quit, are you?” I asked.
“Would you?”
I shrugged, had me there. One thing Deneaux wasn’t, was a quitter. Odds were she was going to battle death when the time came, and the bet was even money on the victor.
“We’re on a plane now; could you remove these?” She held her restrained arms up. “Not like I can go anywhere.”
“Not happening, and if you move from that spot, I’m going to handcuff you to the webbing behind you. Gonna suck, standing up for the entire flight.”
We took off quickly and were climbing at an angle better suited for rockets. Whatever Eastman was doing, he was in a rush to do so. When we finally started to level off, I undid my seatbelt in the hopes of flagging down a flight attendant and getting a drink or maybe just go and talk to BT. That was when I noticed one of Eastman’s crew coming back. “Major Overland, Major Eastman would like to talk to you.”
I followed them to the cockpit. “You realize he was talking to me, right?” Overland asked.
“Well aware, but as a commander of a team here, pretty sure I should hear the shitty news you’re about to get, firsthand,” I replied.
Eastman looked past Overland at me; if he wanted me to go back, he didn’t say anything. “I thought we’d get further before we were discovered. We’re being ordered to turn back.”
“If we don’t?” I asked.
“Bennington is prepared to send the Apaches our way,” Eastman responded.
“Can’t we outrun them?” I figured that was a valid question.
“It’s not the helicopter I’m worried about but the missiles it can carry.”
“Can’t you delay them long enough to get out of range?” Overland asked.
“Doubtful. They’re already spinning up and will be airborne soon. He knows as well as I do that I comply now or we’ll be gone,” Eastman said. “I thought you should know that we are all very much in danger for possibly the next fifteen to eighteen minutes, depending on how quickly they gear up and get moving.”
“How do you feel about our odds?” Overland asked.
“This one is up in the air,” Eastman replied.
“Two birds are up,” Major Jackson said, looking at his instrumentation.
“We’re in this to the end, I just thought you should know that it could be over before it’s started,” Eastman stated.
“He’s willing to shoot down one of his planes, a pilot crew, a SEAL team, and my squad?” I asked.
“You’ve got to look at it from his point of view. Your squad has escaped prison, and we’re stealing a very valuable piece of equipment. What should his response be?” Eastman retorted.
“Lieutenant, do you want me to scrub the mission?” Overland asked me.
“As he said, we’re in it to the end, Major. All we were doing in that jail cell was biding our time until they proverbially hung us…or is it literally? They the same word?”
“This isn’t going to make the charges against you any better or go away, no matter how it turns out.”
“Didn’t figure it would, but now I get to deal with them on my terms and not theirs, whether it’s Deneaux, Bennington, or the both of them in some weird form of collusion.”
Eastman flipped a button so we could hear comm from Etna. “Major Eastman, this is Colonel Bennington. I am ordering you to turn that plane around—this will be your last warning.”
Overland nodded to Eastman before the man spoke. “Sir, as I’ve told you before, my crew and myself have been hijacked. If
I attempt to turn around, we’ll be shot.”
“Let’s cut through the bullshit, Eastman,” Bennington said. “Overland would no sooner shoot you than he would his wife.”
I pointed to myself. “Blame me,” I mouthed.
“Sir, it’s Lieutenant Talbot holding us hostage.”
“Goddamn it! Get him on this phone!”
I was shaking my hands back and forth while also backing up. “Fuck, no,” I said softly.
Eastman looked sternly at me and thrust the comm my way.
I mouthed the word “motherfucker” before I snagged it from him. I placed a false smile upon my lips. “Colonel!” I said cheerily. “How’s it going?”
“Talbot, what the fuck are you doing?” The question was so loud it created a squelching sound in the speakers. I looked at those with me and went with the truth.
“We’re going to get Gunnery Sergeant Forsyth, sir, you remember him, right? He was involved in your ill-designed plan to get Dewey.”
There was a moment of silence on the other end. “There are risks in every mission, Lieutenant.”
“I know that, sir, but he’s alive.”
I could about hear Bennington counting to ten, maybe a hundred, attempting to quell his anger before he spoke. “I sympathize with the loss of Major Overland’s man; it is regrettable, but how many are being placed in jeopardy for this rescue?”
“Not the point,” I answered. “If he’d fallen, that’s one thing, but he’s being held prisoner. That demands action on our part.”
Eastman tapped my side and pointed to the radar screen to show me the two helicopters heading our way.
“Colonel, we need to do this, you know that.”
Nothing.
“Whatever you believe about me, sir, I have no desire to run the base, to usurp your power, or do anything—other than making what we all call our home a better place.”
“Strange way of showing that.”
A panel flashed red; it was an active weapons lock.
“Sir.” I did not want to be hit by a missile and find myself free-falling for thousands of feet before making an impact crater.
“Help me!” Deneaux yelled, she’d somehow come up to join our party. Grimm grabbed her shoulder and was pulling her back.
“Is that who I think it is?” Bennington asked. “Did you kidnap the leader of the Civilian Board?”
“Kidnapped sounds like an angry word. I suggested she come along for her own safety.” I said.
“Her safety?”
“Yeah, because if she didn’t come, I was going to kill her,” I said.
Overland sighed and turned away, palming his face.
“I want you to listen to me very closely, Lieutenant. I don’t know who’s involved or how you did it, but you’re going to turn that plane around. We’ll deal with all of this when you get back.”
“Which parts of all this, sir? The part where you didn’t honor your agreement with Avalyn? Or is it maybe having Dewey in the compound? Or maybe the part about my Private Springer, yeah, I know about him. Because those are on you, near as I can tell. The only thing I’ve done wrong is call you out on them. It’s not healthy when leaders round up the people who question their actions; that sounds more like the Soviet Union in the ’60s and ’70s, probably ‘80s too, I don’t know.”
“Bring that fucking plane back, Talbot.”
“It’s Lieutenant.”
“We’ll see about that,” he replied.
“And no can do, sir. First we’re getting Forsyth. After that we can talk.” I tossed the mic back to Eastman. “Guy gives me a fucking headache.” I walked away.
BT pulled the straps he was wearing tighter. Deneaux was glowering at me. Grimm had her in a seat and belted down.
“Your face is going to get stuck if you keep looking at me like that,” I told her.
Overland came back. “Parachutes. Now.” PFC Reed started tossing one to everyone, (even two to BT, which I thought was hilarious, the big man—not so much).
“He’s going to shoot us?” Kirby asked as I checked his straps.
“I’m hoping he has a moment of clarity before it gets to that.” I smacked his shoulder, letting him know he was good to go before I went to the next.
“What about me?” Deneaux asked.
“Oh, you and me are going to jump tandem. I hope the arthritis in my hands doesn’t flare up; I would hate to lose my grip,” I told her as I checked Grimm’s rig.
“Let me talk to the colonel,” she fairly begged.
“Not a chance. I can just about hear you telling him to grab my family and use them as leverage.” Her lips puckered. “Damn, woman! You must be scared! You don’t usually give yourself away so easily, or at all, really.”
“We’ve been through a lot, you and I, Michael.”
“We have. You’ve also put me through a lot.” I smacked Stenzel’s shoulder, to let her know she was okay.
“Doesn’t that count for something?” Deneaux asked.
“Deneaux, since this may be our last few minutes alive, why don’t we just cut right to it. Don’t you think the time for bullshit is through?”
There may have been a nod, or it could have been the slightest bump of turbulence.
“Why? Why have you been trying to kill me? Why do you want the base? Is not what we have there good enough?”
“It could be better.” She avoided nearly everything I asked.
“What? You want it called Deneaux-Ville?”
“Can you imagine the cost of the property tax?” BT asked.
“You want me to put this on her?” Winters asked, holding a chute.
“No, I was serious. She jumps with me. I don’t get some answers, we’ll see how well the Wiccan part of her can catch air without her broom.”
I could feel Winter’s gaze upon me; he was not a fan of tactics that involved harm. Tough to blame a person who’d dedicated themselves to helping others.
A light flashed as the back of the plane opened up. Deneaux looked in horror, like it was a monster rising from the depths. Overland was escorting everyone to the back. I undid Deneaux’s buckle and grabbed her arm; wisely, she didn’t pull away.
“Fine! Fine!” she screamed. “You want to know why I deserve to run that base? Bennington is an idiot. He couldn’t run a solar panel. As for getting rid of you, well, it’s because you would never stand by and let me do what I wanted. It’s as simple as that. Once you were dealt with, pushing that dolt Bennington over would have been no harder than a drunk toddler.”
“Come across many of those? Drunk toddlers, I mean?” I had to shout to be heard over the whistling of the wind blowing in from the back. “Bennington isn’t in on this, then?”
“He’s somehow slower than you, Michael. I only tell him what I need to. I’ve told you what you wanted to hear; I expect to land safely,” she said as we walked closer to the opening.
“Sir?” Overland said next to me. I hadn’t a clue who he was talking to. He hit the button that began the door closing process; the light flashed and an alarm chirped three times.
“Someone want to tell me what’s going on?” I asked. Deneaux sagged against the side of the plane as if finally telling the truth about anything had wholly wiped her out. Who knows, maybe it had. Trying something new can have that effect.
“You hear that, sir?” Overland asked.
“Who the fuck…” I said. Overland put his finger up.
“Loud and clear.” It was Bennington over the above speaker. “Lieutenant Talbot, I expect a detailed report upon your return. Feel free to trade Deneaux for Forsyth. Out.”
“What just happened?” Gary asked.
“I think us stupid military people just tricked a wily old fox into a cage,” I smiled.
“So, we’re good?” BT asked, looking around.
“I don’t know about good; we’re still facing off against a horde, but no missiles from helicopters, so that’s a plus. Kirby, go break open some MREs. I’m starving,”
I told him.
“Leave the chute on?” he asked.
“Probably should; Eastman’s flying.”
Eastman shot a finger over his head.
“You set this up?” I asked Overland.
“Not from the beginning, but I saw the fear in her face. Figured we could still salvage some good out of this.”
“No chance you could have let me in on it?”
“While she wasn’t listening? I was hoping for genuine responses,” Overland replied.
“I could have done that,” I told him.
“Pul-lease,” BT said. “You couldn’t act at a puppet theater. Kids would be booing and hissing at how wooden the performance was.”
“What the hell are you talking about? If not for getting into trouble with the law when I was younger, I could have been a world-class actor. I have the roguish good looks to go with what would have been Shakespearean performances.”
“You are delusional. Just the other day I saw you trying to pretend your sister hadn’t served you a rotten toadstool and called it a cupcake; didn’t fool anyone.”
“Hey! Hey!” I shouted, pointing a finger at him. “No one is that good!”
“Now what?” Deneaux had found a seat and, I would imagine, was thinking of a way out of this latest turn of events. When hasn’t she been scheming?
“Vivian, I don’t know.” I was looking down at her, before sitting. “You’ve proven yourself an adept survivor. Leaving you alive, in even the worst predicament I can imagine, doesn’t benefit me.”
“Like with the sharks and the laser beams,” Kirby said.
“BT, will you shut him up.”
“He’s talking about Austin Powers, Mike. That’s a pretty funny scene; makes fun of the whole James Bond trope,” Gary felt the need to add.
“This shit. This is the shit I deal with and wouldn’t trade for the world. My family, my friends; we’re there for each other—to help. To pick them up, to laugh…. How do you go through life without that? There has to be a part of you that gets lonely.”
“I’m self-sustaining. Given enough time, everyone will let you down, every single one.” She made sure to look at my entire squad.
“It would be weirder if they didn’t. We’re not infallible; when whatever happens is said or done, then you move on, you mend the bridges.”