by Mark Tufo
“Could be.” She rubbed her neck. “But what about the twelve IEDs that are out there as well? Each with five bricks of C-4 stuffed into metal suitcases, each with a remote detonator, keypad, and tamperproof trigger?”
“Rose?” I asked.
“Legit sounding enough,” she replied. “Doesn’t mean it’s true, though.”
“What kind of damage could that do?” BT asked.
“Each one could take down a good-sized building, no sweat,” Rose said.
Deneaux cough-laughed again. “You wouldn’t believe the number of places you can hide a suitcase.”
“Where the fuck are they?” BT was moving closer.
“It’s tough to say…with my advanced age, I’m not sure I remember….and were there twelve? Fifteen?” She shrugged, pushed Eastman’s water away, and grabbed her pack of smokes.
“Yeah, fuck you.” BT snatched them from her hand and crushed the box into tobacco and formaldehyde dust.
Venom shot from her eyes; I swear I could see it.
“She’s full of shit. Right, sir? She would have said something at the jail,” Kirby said.
“Get back on guard duty,” I told him without turning from the figure beneath me. “He has a point, Vivian. Why bother with coming on our little excursion if you could have unveiled this threat?”
“You wouldn’t have believed me.”
“Would have had a little more punch if you hadn’t had hours to think about it,” I told her.
“It’s a lie or it isn’t. Is this something you want to chance? Can you imagine the death toll if something happened to the school?”
“What the fuck is wrong with you?” She flinched as I yelled at her; first normal and genuine reaction I think I’d seen so far. “So, the people you want to lord over, you would have no problem vaporizing them?”
“Fear is among the most efficacious ways to make people capitulate. Governments around the world have been doing it since the dawn of the monarch.”
“Queen Vivian, the Dastardly,” BT said.
“Has a ring to it.” She had Eastman help her stand. “I can give you a demonstration,” she said. “Relax…I’ll give a warning, and all the precious people can get to safety.”
“You care so little about humans, why in fuck’s name would you want to preside over them?” I asked.
“People need to be ruled over, to be commanded, and there may be no one better suited to do the difficult aspects of the job than I.”
“So what? You do your bomb display and we’re supposed to bring you back and make you President of Etna?” I asked.
“I’d hoped to come into power the more traditional route, buy my way in, you know pave the way with promises I had no intention of ever keeping. This will work too.”
“And if I just had the base swept for explosives?”
She laughed again. “Who are you going to trust? Obviously, whoever was knowledgeable enough to put a bomb together would most likely be involved in the potential removal. Anyone starts looking, they start going off, and Michael, I can assure you, the loss of life would be catastrophic. It is likely Etna would not survive the outcome.”
I was thinking on her words. Unwittingly, Deneaux had given me some valuable information. Good chance Rose knew every person on base with any knowledge of explosives—professionals, amateurs and wannabes. I think they met up every Wednesday, like the AV or Chess Club. Basically, nerds with the terrifying ability to blow shit up. When we got back, I was going to have her give me every name then round up the pyros for some in-depth questioning.
BT smacked my shoulder; I followed him a few yards away.
“You trust her?”
“Trust her?” I had to ask.
“You know what I mean. Has she done what she says she has?”
“It sounds like her; it also sounds like something she could have come up with to save her ass.”
“I say we let her do a demonstration. If she’s got a bomb, let her blow it. It would be one less we’d have to worry about, plus, easier to prove her sabotage to whoever cares.” BT said.
“Yeah, yeah…but I just want to kill her. I’ve never wanted anything more in my life, except maybe that time when I was sixteen and there was this 1970 Mustang, I wanted that pretty badly.”
“Mike.”
“Sorry, I…I think I’m losing my fucking mind. Here I was totally fixated on the damage Dewey could do; I had Deneaux as a distant second. I am always underestimating her or thinking that perhaps we have turned a corner and are somewhat on the same team. Why I can’t get it through my fucking head that she is never going to be anything other than evil incarnate is something I’m going to have to work on. You’re right. She proves her bluff or I’ll rip her kidney out through her belly button.”
“Something like that,” BT said.
I went back to Deneaux. “Fine, you can do your little demo. How does this work? How are you going to contact them?”
“I don’t have to do anything,” she sneered. “My inaction is the trigger.”
“Have it your way. Who do we need to evacuate?”
“Your wife has until eight pm Eastern time to remove any valuables from your home. If this were chess, Michael, I have just placed your king in check. Your move. And one more thing, have your large friend find me more cigarettes or I’ll let the second bomb go off, too.”
I was shell shocked; I wanted to backhand her hard enough to spin her head off. “Eastman, get me the base.” I was heading to the plane. He must have been somewhat taken aback as he didn’t even say anything about me forgetting to call him Major. “BT, she moves, feel free to see how far you can shove her lower leg up her ass. Grimm, find her some of the oldest cigarettes you can. Clove, if possible!”
In two minutes, I was talking to the base operator. “Get me the Old Man and I don’t want to hear any shit about he’s busy. You’ve got less than a minute or I’m going to make you wish you’d been born a groundhog!”
“What the fuck does that even mean?” Eastman asked. “And you realize you just chewed the head off a captain, right?”
“He’ll be fine, I didn’t even go into detail.”
“Lieutenant Talbot,” Bennington sighed into the radio, “haven’t I already heard enough from you today?”
“Deneaux has Etna rigged to blow. I thought it was a lie, but she’s doing a live demonstration tonight, and my house is going to be ground zero. I need you to get them evacuated.”
“How do I know this isn’t all your doing?” Bennington asked.
“Sir, this is Major Eastman. What the lieutenant is saying is true; I heard it straight from her mouth. She has IEDs and Claymores scattered throughout the base.”
“You’re still on my shit list, Major, but your word carries weight.”
“And mine?” I asked.
“I once read a study, that said when a human dies, they lose twenty-one grams of weight which could be attributed to the soul departing…less than that,” he said.
“I read a Snopes article, sir, that dismissed this notion.”
“Then even less. But your family…I will make abundantly sure they are safe. When is this demonstration supposed to take place?”
“Five pm your time.”
“Four hours, should be plenty,” Bennington replied.
“Sir, even though we’re on shaky ground at the moment, I know you wouldn’t do anything to harm my family, but I need to talk to my wife. I need to know that she is safe, that goes for all my family, and my fur kids.”
Bennington didn’t give me even the slightest bit of disdain at my questioning him. “Stay close to the radio. I’ll have her on her as quickly as I can locate her.”
“Thank you.” The relief that swelled in my chest was palpable.
Eastman and I made small talk in the interim, well, mostly I made small talk and Eastman tried to keep up.
“I never did like Miracle Whip; tastes like sadness.”
“What?” Eastman asked.
“You ever have the vile concoction? There you are, planning on eating a fantastic sandwich, only to realize that the person who made it for you absolutely hates your guts and smeared that ghost feces on the roll.”
“Ghost feces?”
“Yeah, because it’s white.”
“The Native American rightly feared crazy people,” was all Eastman could say. He moved out of the cockpit, I would imagine so that he didn’t have to enter into dialog with me anymore. It was close to fifteen minutes before Tracy came on the line; you cannot even imagine how many less than savory scenarios I went through in the interim.
“Mike, what in the hell is going on? Where are you?” Tracy asked, interrupting my commentary.
“Super weird story, hon, timeline got severely moved up; I’ll fill you in when I get back. In the meantime, I want you and everyone that lives in my squad’s houses to evacuate.”
“What? Just leave?”
“It’s Deneaux.”
“How much time?” she asked.
“None. Get everyone out.”
“I’m going to kill that bitch.”
“You’ll be standing in a line that looks like Starbucks at eight in the morning…or the final ascent to Everest—that might be a better analogy, because the longer it takes for you to do it, the more likely harm is to befall you.”
“Don’t need witty right now, Mike.”
“Sorry. Just get everyone to safety, and for now, find a place to stay that is not a vital area or heavily populated.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means I’m not sure where it’s safe on base; she may have targeted vital locations.”
“This can’t be happening. How can she be so vile?”
“The better question might be, why did we ever allow her entry into our midst, knowing who she is? Call me in an hour when it’s done.”
“I will. I love you, Mike.”
“I love you too, woman. Should be home tonight.”
“You’d better.” By her tone, I couldn’t tell if it was to kiss me passionately or slap me. Could go either way, really, maybe a little of both…wait…would I be turned on if she smacked me while kissing? Not going down that path.
“Sir, Major Overland is on the way back.” Stenzel came in just as I got off the radio. “Everything all right?”
“So far. Did he secure a ride?”
“They’ve got the Stryker.”
“Let the games begin,” I said as I followed her out of the plane. “Don’t forget what I said about the Miracle Whip!” I shouted back to Eastman.
“Never going to be able to forget,” was his reply.
“Sir?” Stenzel asked.
“Another good deed done.” Don’t know where Grimm got them, but Deneaux was sucking something down; I should have told him to lace them with Drano, not that she would have noticed or cared.
“Sir, I’ve been keeping an eye on it—nothing’s changed, but I thought you should know,” Kirby said. I nodded for him to continue. “Off to the east, I’ve seen wisps of smoke, and I don’t think it’s an uncontrolled fire.”
The implication was easy; controlled fire meant people, and people assuredly meant danger. “How far off?” I asked as he handed his binoculars off and pointed.
“Five miles.”
“Close enough they would have seen this behemoth land. Could even be heading this way now. No way they wouldn’t check it out.”
“Check what out?” BT had come closer. “Had to get away from Rose; she treats the explosives like she’s five and hates her toys.”
I pointed, handing him the binoculars. “Major Eastman!” I yelled up and into the plane.
“If this is about mayonnaise, save it.” He had poked his head out.
“I can see you’ve been spreading your crazy around.” BT was looking at the smoke.
“Potential for company.” I showed him where we were looking. He shielded his eyes and peered into the distance. “I think I’d feel better if you went on a sightseeing tour while we were on this mission.”
“Can’t. Just enough fuel to make it back, and, before you ask, Major Jackson checked the depot here, there must have been a leak somewhere. There’s water in the holding tank.”
“Okay, we’re not leaving our ride unattended; I’m not taking the scenic route home. Gunny, you, Sergeant Talbot, and PFC Grimm are going to stay home and keep an eye on her.”
BT grabbed my arm and pulled me away. “No.”
“What?”
“I’m not doing guard duty while you’re out there.”
“BT, this whole mission is a clusterfuck and it is vital we get home as soon as possible. Deneaux made sure of that, and the only way we can do that is with this bird. I need people here that I can trust implicitly to do the job.”
“Besides Cruella over there, you can trust everyone here.”
“BT, you’re my second in command.”
“Some would argue first.”
“Okay, fine, we’re equal billing. That means we each need to lead a squad to do a job.”
“Great, you stay here and watch the plane. I’ll go help Overland.”
“Done.”
“Wait…what? I didn’t expect you to cave so quickly…now I’m left wondering why.”
“Both are important. Of course, I’d love for Overland to get his man back but getting back to Etna right now is my number one priority. More lives are hanging in the balance than just the one. You don’t even know how close I am right now to pulling up stakes and heading home.”
“You couldn’t do that.”
“I know I couldn’t but that I’m even thinking about it should tell you something.”
“All right, I’ll do Overland’s mission, but if I come back and find you out sunning yourself, I’m going to be pissed.”
“Pick four to go with you. Two of them are Rose and Winters.”
“How am I picking four if you’re telling me I have to take those two?”
“Medical and demolition.”
“Right, Grimm and Kirby it is.”
“You’re just taking them because you like to fuck with them.”
“Of course. What good is having rank if I can’t lord it over my squad?”
“Change of plans!” I called out. “Kirby, Grimm, Winters, Rose get your stuff together. You’re heading out with the gunny when the major gets back. And I’ll deny this at my court-martial, but you take your orders from the gunny and no one else. You understand?”
“Got it,” Kirby said. “Don’t listen to anyone with authority.”
“You’re almost like a son to me,” I said. “I’m serious about this, though. Gunny’s got your backs; I’m afraid Overland’s judgment might be a little cloudy.”
“You think?” Kirby asked sarcastically.
“Twenty, now,” BT said calmly, motioning for Kirby to get on the ground and do twenty push-ups. “Already got one mouthy grunt in the squad, not going to allow two. This is your fault Talbot; it’s leadership by example. All the way down, those last three don’t count.”
“Fuck me,” Kirby grunted.
“How many are you prepared to do?” BT asked.
Just as Kirby was finishing up, Major Jackson let us know that Overland was almost back. We heard heavy engine noises and saw the black smoke of burning diesel.
“Damn, you want to switch places?” I asked BT as we saw the armored truck swing onto the tarmac.
“No, you stay here to do the easy work. I’ll carry the team like I usually do.”
“Load up,” Overland said, opening the back hatch.
“Change of plans,” I told him as I walked closer. “We’ve got contact. Sending my gunny and a team of four with you; the rest of us are staying behind to guard the rear echelon.”
No idea what was going through the Major’s mind. “Better be enough,” was all he said.
I looked at BT. “You sure about this?” I asked. “I doubt he gives two shits about anything but getting Fors
yth.”
“I’ve got this, Mike.”
“Be safe.”
“You too. Let’s mount up!” BT swirled his finger in the air and pointed to the back of the vehicle.
“Hey Stenzel, you’re low man on the totem pole. Run like hell if the LT tells you to start cleaning your weapon!” Kirby had stuck his head up through the top hatch.
“Don’t listen to him; I’d start with my brother,” I told her.
“Not cool,” Gary said.
“Okay, you three, I want you to pick out an area of approach to keep an eye on.”
“What are you going to do?” Gary asked.
“Me? I’m going to see what the refreshment cart looks like on this plane.”
“There’s a refreshment cart?”
“If only that were the case. I have the unenviable task of guarding Deneaux.”
I waited for a moment while the rest of the squad dispersed and the noise of Overland’s Stryker dissipated. I was watching Deneaux in her classic smoker’s pose. She had her right elbow cupped in her left hand, her right she kept close to her mouth so she could breathe the trailing smoke between continually taking drags, fervently assuring none of the carcinogens were lost to the wind. The cuffs were just long enough to allow this, albeit somewhat awkwardly.
“Did you get ahold of your beautiful wife?” she asked.
“I know you don’t care about anything but yourself, but if anything happens…”
“Yes, yes, Michael, I know. You’ll resort to violence.” She raised her head so I could better see the bruises on her neck.
“Am I supposed to be feeling guilty about that? Might have at one time, long ago, but not anymore. Keeping your chin raised like that only makes me want to continue.” She dropped her head.
“You would have made a great addition to my team.”
“The fuck is wrong with you? There aren’t any teams; it’s just humans and zombies now, us against them, life and death.”
“Are not those opposing sides?”
“Twisted view,” I told her.
“So, when your humble little abode goes the way of the dodo bird tonight, have you come up with a plan on how to deal with me?”
“I was getting to like that place, Deneaux, and I cannot even begin to tell you how much I hate moving.”