by Leo Nix
“Roger that, we'll stay in touch and provide whatever information we can. We're looking forward to seeing you…” there was a pause then Major Sam Samuels came on the air. “Petty Officer, you do have those parts Bluey prepared for us? Over”
“Roger that, Major, we've got it and we'll deliver it whole, over.”
“Copy that, OK, have a safe trip, talk to you at sunrise tomorrow, out.”
The goodbyes and tears were genuine, not just from Emily's two girlfriends but from the rest of the townsfolk who had warmed to the two hard-working SEALs. Their vehicle was packed to the brim with fuel and supplies as they waved goodbye knowing that soon enough the townsfolk may soon be in a fight for their lives. If all went well they would talk to Bluey and Joey in the morning.
The sun had already set when they hit the dirt track leading into the arid deserts of Western Australia on their Black Hawk rescue mission.
Chapter 11 – Obi-Wan's War
Ranger Staff Sergeant Ben 'Obi-Wan' Kennedy had other things on his mind that sunset as Murphy and his team drove off into the desert. He had a very sick Senior Constable Kerrie Black on his hands and nothing to stop the spreading infection she now suffered as a result of her wounds.
According to his map there was a farm, a 'property' or 'station' as they called it in the Australian outback, not too far away. They were traversing a region where there were occasional cattle stations and mining villages, often surrounding a cluster of open mines and deep pits. Obi-Wan's map showed some stations that might still be occupied.
“Damn it,” Obi-Wan hit the steering wheel with the palms of his hands causing the car to vibrate. “We've come too far now to lose anyone.” He turned to Kerrie, she was hunched over in the back seat, shivering, wrapped in a blanket despite the heat.
“Obi, she's got twenty-four, maybe forty-eight hours if we're lucky. I suggest we drop anchor at this farmhouse… here.” He pointed to a dot on the map that suggested a largish cattle station. “If they have any antibiotics she might pull through, but as it is… she's not in a good way.” Fortune didn't need to spell it out any more than that.
“Yep, that's what I was planning to do. There's another property a couple of hundred kilometres farther east. Damn it, I hate to see anyone on my team suffering like that. Her arm's twice the size it should be, it must be hell for her.” He folded up the map and rested his head on the steering wheel. “Right, we'll sleep for a few hours. Hooky?” He leaned out of his car window and called the WA Tactical Response Group police officer over. The ex-SAS's arm rested in a dirty sling. “Hooky, we're going to have one of your Aussie 'kips', I'm so damn tired. We have to grab some sleep. It's been hell driving this past few days with barely a break. Wake us in four hours.”
Hooky nodded and settled the fold-up chair beside the two vehicles so he could watch the road some distance away. He leaned his Heckler and Koch G36 against the side of his chair and relaxed, planning to walk around regularly to stay awake.
That evening the two vehicles approached what appeared to be a small village. There were sheds, houses, pens for cattle and an enormous warehouse. What struck them as odd was the number of cars, mostly four-wheel drives and a dozen or so trucks. Although it was approaching midnight the warehouse was lit and there appeared to be movement inside.
Before they proceeded they sat together and discussed their options.
“It could be a standard cattle station, everything appears pretty much right for it. Maybe everyone for miles has joined together to form a community, you know, strength in numbers, 'let's stick together' sort of thing,” suggested a very tired Danielle.
Skip said it might be a drug laboratory. “There are too many vehicles here. That warehouse can't be lit up like that at this time of night for any other reason than the manufacture of drugs or growing marijuana.”
They continued discussing options when they heard Kerrie groan.
“Damn it, I need to know if these people will help us or hinder us. Danielle, Skip, and you, Hooky, position yourself to provide covering fire if we get fired upon. If one of us is caught or hit then withdraw and regroup,” said Obi-Wan. He and Soldier of Fortune were armed with their AK47 assault rifles, pistols and prepared for just about anything. Everyone was nervous. That many cars meant a lot of people - and a lot of people meant complications.
“OK, Fortune, let's go.” The two set out in stealth-mode to investigate.
They approached some of the vehicles first and checked them over, they saw nothing suspicious. Next they crept to the first building which looked like an office or administration building. The door creaked softly when they opened it. Fortune covered the entrance while Obi-Wan searched inside. Again they found nothing of interest except a chair with straps on it. Obi-Wan thought it would make a good chair for interrogation - or torture.
“The warehouse,” Obi-Wan whispered. They stealthily passed through a half-dozen parked cars then crossed a cleared area to get to the enormous shed.
'Listen,' indicated Fortune, he pointed to his ear and then the shed wall. They could hear noises, human noises. They crept slowly to a window and looked in.
The warehouse was large enough to hold a dozen massive harvesters, some of which were parked outside. But the inside of the warehouse held nothing of the sort. Inside they saw fifty or more people. Most were sleeping on the floor, these appeared to be prisoners. Three guards chatted over a game of cards while another twenty or so slept in bunks lined up against the wall. Behind them was an enormous laboratory and warehouse, clearly set up for drug manufacturing, and glasshouses for growing marijuana.
Obi-Wan pulled Fortune back to a space between the vehicles so they could plan what to do without being heard.
“There was something wrong here after all. Prisoners, men, women and children, I wonder who they are and who those armed men are. They aren't wearing uniforms like we've seen with the Revelationists, they've all had some form of identifying clothing. These are dressed like bogans - T-shirts, thongs, jeans… more like a drug gang, an organised drug manufacturing and distribution business…” Obi-Wan's voice tapered off.
As they watched, a group of armed men entered the building, so the two special ops returned to see what was developing.
There appeared to be a power struggle happening. One man was seated playing cards. He was tall with long, dark hair that fell straight down his back, he had the body of a dancer or a boxer. The other was short, ruddy and powerfully muscled. They appeared to both be in their thirties. The shorter man stood over the seated, taller man. To the special ops soldiers it looked a lot like a battle for supremacy.
The smaller man moved to push the seated one, there was a rush of guards, weapons were drawn and a stand-off ensued.
“Hey, Obi, we might be lucky and they'll end up killing each other.” Fortune had one hand on the wall to steady himself and the other flicked the safety off his weapon.
The tall man now stood up, the smaller immediately got into his face and they began screaming at each other. Obi-Wan and Fortune could hear it now, the argument certainly was about who ran the 'village' and who owned the drugs and the prisoners. The smaller man finally left with his gang and things seemed to settle down. The tall man then walked over to what appeared to be a CCTV monitor, probably making sure the smaller man wasn't up to something.
“OK, so we now know it's a drug lab. These people, the prisoners, could be locals forced to work here or they could be from a tourist bus or something like that. But they're right in the middle of the desert, it doesn't make sense,” whispered Fortune.
“They could be a biker gang too. It looks like their leader, that tall fellow, is their warlord. The other fellow might have been his second in command before the apocalypse.” Obi-Wan stopped for a moment. “OK, we'll head back to the vehicles and get out of here. I doubt these folk will be interested in helping us. We'd just end up sleeping on the floor with those prisoners. These people are edgy, anything could set them off. We've got to find a frie
ndly cattle station or a mine site where we can get some treatment for Kerrie. This one's not worth tackling, we're compromised enough as it is.”
Obi-Wan stayed back to cover the retreating Fortune, when he was satisfied his buddy was safe he started to move.
“Don't try anything stupid, mate. Drop your weapon and stand up - slowly,” came a voice from behind him. It wasn't just the one person behind him, he could hear perhaps a half dozen mumbling voices.
Obi-Wan slowly placed his weapon on the ground then put his hands in the air.
“Good, now where's your buddy we saw on our monitor? There were two of you, weren't there, where did he go?” asked the voice. It contained a gentle menace, yet it was also friendly. Obi-Wan was unconsciously alerted to the resonance of kindness and charisma in that voice. It came from the tall, muscled male they had just seen arguing in the warehouse.
There was something tapping Obi-Wan inside his head - something he had witnessed in his years with intelligence, a particular personality characteristic he was trained to notice. Then it came together - he was in the presence of a psychopath.
'Great, I get caught by a psychopath and his henchmen,' he thought to himself. 'So this is the warlord and I guess that he's looking to build his business into an empire. That's what psychopath warlords do.'
“Mate, you've just joined my army, whether you like it or not.” The man laughed and the others around him joined in. Obi-Wan wasn't laughing, he was waiting for the psychopath's games to start.
“Luke, go out and get the bastard that got away. See where their car's parked too and if there's anyone else.” He stared at Obi-Wan noting his casual clothing and military webbing. He also noted the AK47 rifle. “Toby, you'd better go with Luke.”
Turning back to Obi-Wan the tall man spoke. “So, you're WAPOL? Tactical perhaps? You look the police type but something doesn't look right with this picture.” He spun and with a round-house kick to the chest he knocked Obi-Wan to the ground.
Obi-Wan was winded and in considerable pain. 'Damn, I bet I've now got some cracked ribs', he thought as he struggled to breathe through the stabbing pain. He slowly curled into a ball trying to get his breath back.
“Like my kung fu?” laughed the tall leader and his men joined in.
Just then there came the sounds of gunshots and the sound of cars revving then racing through the gears as they sped off.
“Well, well, the big fella here brought some friends. That's not one friend driving away, that's two.” He stopped his friendly banter and viciously kicked Obi-Wan in the stomach. “Who the hell are you? The world's finished, you idiot, there are no more police, get it!” He bent down and screamed in Obi's face. “It's ended! Everything has ended!” He stopped when Luke and Toby returned, panting.
“Khan, there was more than one, sir, there were two cars. They drove off as soon as they saw me. Sorry, sir, I couldn't stop them.” He stammered a little then cowed when Khan suddenly swung his fist at him. Luke automatically swayed his head back a fraction causing Khan's fist to miss its mark.
“Prick! Move closer and don't sway back this time. And get your hands down away from your face!” Khan screamed. He held the luckless teenager by the throat with one hand and punched him in the face with the other. The teenager's nose broke, the sound was clearly audible to the group. Luke's eyes rolled upwards and he collapsed.
“Toby, get here,” Khan ordered. The group went quiet, some snickered which made their leader even more animated.
Khan smiled as he teased his next victim. “Come on, Toby, come closer, you didn't do anything wrong. I like you, you're one of my favourites.” Khan reached out his hand and pulled Toby into an embrace. He put his mouth in the boy's hair and spoke, looking at the group surrounding the two.
“Luke got his punishment because he was a loser. You're not a loser, you had no choice but to follow behind Luke, you didn't fail me. THAT PIECE OF SHIT ON THE GROUND DID!” he screamed and kicked the prostrate Luke.
Toby wasn't sure what to expect. Sometimes Khan was generous and kind while at other times he was cruel and vicious.
Khan now took Toby by the hand and put the boy's arm around his own shoulder. “There, we're friends, that wasn't too hard now was it. I told you I'm not angry at you.” He kissed Toby on the top of the head. “You know what happens to those who disappoint me. Just don't disappoint me, simple isn't it?” He let Toby's hand go. The shaken young man eased himself to the back of the group.
“Come on, get this pig inside, we'll ask him a few questions.” He thumbed towards Obi-Wan on the ground and two of his men picked the big Ranger up and helped him walk into the warehouse with the rest of the men.
It was just starting to lighten in the eastern sky when Obi-Wan woke and looked around. He was seated in a chair facing the civilians. Most were awake and talking softly, some remained asleep. He tried to work out where he was and what was happening. When he moved he felt his broken ribs, they reminded him of the night before.
'Genghis Khan, that's right.' He stopped thinking and let his mind probe his body for injuries. He found some, ribs, back, neck, face and stomach, but both arms and legs were functional. 'I've got a lot of bruising, some cracked or broken ribs by the feel of it, and my back and stomach muscles are killing me. I'll be fine if I can just stand up and move.' But he was tied tightly to his chair.
It wasn't until midday that Khan came to visit his new prisoner. Obi watched as the people in the warehouse were organised into work parties, none fought back or argued. A few punches or the jab of a rifle butt in the ribs or face soon settled any possible dissent. Where they went Obi didn't know. He counted over fifty individuals with weapons, it confirmed his earlier suspicions.
“So, you're awake I see. I think it's time we talked.” Khan pointed to two of his guards who untied Obi-Wan. They half carried half dragged the injured Ranger out of the warehouse and into the administration building. He was thrown into the interrogation chair he'd seen the night before.
“We'll start civil-like. What's your name?” Khan fingered a long, sword-like machete as his two henchmen stood lazily nearby enjoying the show.
“Ben Kennedy,” Obi-Wan replied.
“What organisation do you belong to? And it better not be that piece of shit Spiro's who's trying to take over my empire. If I find out you're one of his, Ben, then I'll be using this machete on you.” Obi-Wan noticed that it had a two-foot blade and the handle was about half that, it looked very much like a martial arts weapon.
“I don't belong to any force, or to your… whoever it is you're talking about, and I'm not police.”
Khan settled a little. “Ah, so you do belong to a force of some kind then, but not the police, I like this game.” Khan laughed. “I've got more questions for you. What force do you belong to if it isn't the police?”
“I'm military, as you already know.”
“Yes, everything about you smells of army. I was army once, Corporal Khan, supplies, Q-stores and all that. I made my fortune selling weapons and materials to the biker gangs, terrorists, anyone who had the money. I then bought myself a property and an army of my own. I manufacture drugs, I have a harem of gorgeous women on tap… the army was good to me, eh?” He paused, wanting to go on but his curiosity got the better of him.
“OK, so what rank are you? Officer, NCO? What regiment? You're not Aussie either, so what the hell is a yank doing out here in the middle of the Australian desert?” He kicked Obi-Wan in the shin, it hurt, pain flared behind Obi-Wan's eyes and he breathed deeply to quieten it down.
“Ahhhh,” he sighed slowly releasing his breath as he calmed his mind. “I'm American, yes, on leave to visit friends in Perth. We got caught up in the apocalypse and escaped into the desert. We saw your light was on and investigated. We'd almost run out of fuel and water, we needed a place to rest up.” Obi-Wan stopped, he was used to this game, he'd played it himself.
“Right, good, now I can see why you're here. OK, but who was that other bloke with yo
u, the one who ran off. And who else was in the cars?” asked the Khan, his eyes began to roll upwards as he tried to control himself and remain focused. “And that assault rifle… what… what…” Obi realised that the warlord was entering a substance-induced high so decided to take the conversation to its obvious conclusion.
“That was my friend, Gary, he was the fellow I was visiting. He and our girlfriends obviously didn't want to hang around when they saw Luke and Toby running at them. I guess they're half-way to Adelaide by now, the bastards.”
Khan rubbed his face then picked vigorously at a lump on his lip, splitting it open. Next, he scratched at his scalp and armpits. Obi-Wan watched patiently knowing the warlord would wind down soon enough then the fun would start all over again.
It was warm inside, he wondered if the air-conditioning system was working properly. When Obi-Wan glanced up he saw the air-conditioning system was fitted to the walls but there was no sound or air flow. 'Good, let's hope he overheats and makes a mistake', he thought.
It was about now that Obi-Wan started a special form of breathing, packing energy into the muscles and tissues surrounding his broken ribs. He knew Khan would soon want to fight him so he needed to pack energy into his wounds as quickly as possible.
“So your friend is military too, eh?” asked Khan, his mind and voice came back for a moment - then he grew broody and quiet. Obi-Wan braced for another kick.
“No, he's an accountant, a dumb-arse who plays paintball and Counter-Strike, he thinks he's a hero. I guess he's much like me, a wannabe.”
One of the men looked up at Obi-Wan's comment. “Khan, he's built like a brick shit-house, he's like a weight lifter or something. Watch out, he's dangerous.”
Khan looked at his guard and blinked rapidly. He stood up and leaned over the man. “Did I ask you a question? Did I say you could speak?” He put his face into that of his henchman and pushed him in the chest. “Who the hell asked you for advice anyway?” Khan wanted to hit the man but instead he yelled in his face, “Do you think I'm a dumb shit like you? Eh?”