by Chase McCown
Howard sighed, realizing his options were very few. “Very well. We’ll play your game.”
“Wonderful! You may call me Bakar. My friends here are José and Manuel. They will escort you to your quarters.” He then barked some orders at them in Spanish, and the four were led away to a nearby building that resembled a barracks.
“You sleep here,” Manuel said. He pointed to a small room with four bunks. “Food served morning and night in the mess hall. Questions?”
“No. Thank you,” Howard replied.
Manuel and José walked off and left them to get situated in their new abode.
Finally, having a chance to speak privately, Susan asked the question on everyone’s mind.
“How are we going to get out of this one?”
“I don’t know,” Howard admitted.
Charlie groaned. “That figures.”
“We need to take a look around,” Howard said after several minutes of silence.
“We could talk to the people here and see if we can get any information out of them.”
“Do the people here even speak English?” Jacob asked.
“Everyone we’ve met so far has,” Howard observed.
“If not, I speak some Spanish,” Susan offered.
“Good, then it’s settled. Since you’re the only one who speaks Spanish, we should probably stick together. Where do you want to check first?” Howard asked.
“Well, it’s almost dinner time anyway, so why not the mess hall?” Charlie suggested.
“Good thinking, Charlie.”
And with that, they headed down to the mess hall. They got turned around a few times in the mazelike hallways of the barracks, but eventually they found their way.
The mess hall was spacious, but the floor was covered in water bottles, plastic silverware wrappers, discarded straw paper, banana peels, and foodstuffs. There was no air conditioning in the room, turning it into a sauna. The stench of rotting food and sweat mingled in a most unpleasant way, along with someone’s vain attempt to cover the smell with air freshener, and as they entered the room, any notion of hunger left them. They were left with only the nagging wish to leave and never have to return to the horrible room, but they had work to do.
Howard deferred to Susan since she could speak Spanish. She guided the group to a table in the back corner of the room where five men sat playing cards. Each had elaborate tattoos, and they spoke to each other in Spanish.
Susan initiated the conversation, although the other three had only the faintest idea what she might be saying. The few words they recognized were words like “Hello” and “English.” They assumed she was asking if any of them spoke English.
They laughed with one another and waved her off, replying to her in Spanish.
“What’d they say?” Howard asked.
“Well, I asked if they spoke English, and they told me only two kinds of people speak English: gringos and those who want to speak with gringos, of which they are neither.”
“Ahh,” said Jacob.
“Let me try again,” Susan offered.
She began again, and this time, the others agreed the tone was more urgent, though they could still not make out any of what she was saying.
They replied something to her, and she appeared a bit disappointed. She turned to the others and began to translate.
“I told them we were taken prisoner by Bakar, and we just needed some information, but he said the only way I’d get it was to play a game of cards with them. If I won, he’d tell me anything I wanted to know, but if I lost I’d have to give him this,” Susan motioned to her wedding band.
“We can find someone else then,” Howard said, turning to the exit.
“No, I think I can beat him. I know the game they’re playing. We used to play every day down at the precinct, and I got to be pretty good. I’m sure he knows something,” Susan urged.
“Are you sure, Susan? He might just be playing you,” Howard warned.
“I’m sure. Besides, we don’t have much choice,” Susan said.
Susan returned to speak with the man, who in turn appeared to be pleased by her decision.
The other men pulled up a chair for her. The man she had been speaking with motioned for her to take a seat and re-dealt the cards.
The game seemed to last for hours, and it was difficult to tell who was winning. At times, it appeared Susan was winning, but then fortunes would appear to shift in the other direction. It wasn’t until at least forty-five minutes later that the game ended.
Susan shot the other three a wink, and they assumed that meant she had won. She and the man with whom the deal had been struck talked for a long while, the conversation much too complex for the others to understand. Finally, they both stood up, shook hands, and Susan walked to the others to tell them what had transpired.
“Good news. After I won, he told me that Bakar is having trouble keeping the troops in check. Apparently, there have been food shortages for weeks now, and some kind of rebel faction has become increasingly powerful, challenging his rule. He said Bakar has tried to save face, but more and more people are flocking to support the rebels.”
“Great! Ask him if he knows who’s in charge of this rebel group and if we can meet him,” Howard suggested.
Susan nodded and returned to the man. At first, he seemed to laugh her off, but as they spoke longer, his tone became more serious.
The man stood up and motioned for the others to follow him.
He led them far from the mess hall, back to the troop housing station they had already visited, and to a remote corner of the barracks. They reached a small room with a curtain over it. The man peeked behind the curtain and asked something in Spanish, and the inhabitants responded to him.
The four were led in, unaware of what may lie ahead.
Chapter 28
May 10th, 2025. El Paso, Texas.
“Come in, come in,” a voice called from inside the room.
They were led into the small room where three men sat around talking. The men grew silent as the four entered, and two of the men glared at them. They whispered something to the third man in Spanish, but he seemed to pay them little mind.
“Do not mind my friends. They mean well but fail to grasp the possibilities of this meeting. Come, sit down. My name is Francisco. The men to my right and left are my trusted advisors Juan and Miguel.”
Francisco was around five foot six inches tall and was thin and muscular.
As for the others, Juan was taller than Francisco but leaner. He wasn’t quite as tall or thin as Bakar, though. Miguel was slightly taller than Francisco but appeared to be a great deal stronger than the other two.
“Hello,” Juan puffed at last.
Miguel stood to his feet, his hulking frame seeming to take up the entire room. “I do not support this,” he said in English, speaking to Francisco directly. “I will be outside. If they try and slit your throat, do not say I didn’t warn you.”
He stormed past the four, throwing the curtain back and disappearing into the outer hallway.
“I agree with Miguel, sir. We cannot know who to trust. They could be sent by Bakar himself,” Juan spoke up.
“If you agree with Miguel, you may go stand outside with him. These four have not been here long enough to know much of the goings-on of this city and have no ties to either Bakar or us. They are neutral so far and could become a great asset to our cause.”
Francisco then turned his attention away from his advisor, speaking to the four at last. “Please, forgive them. Things have been difficult lately. Have a seat.”
“Thank you,” Howard said at last. “My name is Howard. This is Susan, Charlie, and Jacob. We’re on our way to DC, following the evacuation procedures. I am, or was, a pastor up in Portland. All we want is to get our supplies back and leave this city and continue our journey. Can you do anything to help us?”
Francisco nodded knowingly. “Ahh, I understand now. You were merely caught up in all of this.” He
gestured around the facility itself. “I think we may be able to help each other,” he said, smiling.
Francisco had a long talk with Miguel and persuaded him to return to the meeting. Shortly afterward, the seven of them began to go over their next course of action.
“First, you must earn Bakar’s trust and gain entrance to the armory. Once you’ve done that, you can begin smuggling us the equipment we need to stage a revolt large enough to overthrow Bakar,” Francisco said.
“How do we do that?” Howard asked.
“Start small. Do what he asks of you and work to earn his trust slowly. Eventually, he will trust you with greater and greater tasks. You simply have to be patient and bide your time. I know working for a man like Bakar is difficult, to say the least. But remember, it is only a means to an end. We will bring down Bakar, but first, you must put yourself in his favor,” Juan said.
“How long is that going to take? We can’t be stuck here forever,” Charlie objected.
“As long as it must. And if you refuse to help us, I fear the four of you may never leave,” Juan said.
“Do you think this is our best option, sir?” Miguel asked.
“If we don’t get our hands on weapons and ammunition, we may as well put any idea of a revolt to rest. Bakar knows many of our own men, so these strangers are our best option for getting inside Bakar’s operation and smuggling out supplies to fuel the resistance,” Francisco replied.
“I suppose you are right,” Miguel said.
“Are we all in agreement then?” Francisco asked.
“What do you guys think?” Howard asked.
“What other choice do we have?” Charlie asked.
“Charlie’s right. This is our best chance to get out of here,” Susan agreed.
“I think so, too,” Jacob said.
“Good. Then it is settled. Be careful—if he discovers your true agenda, he will not hesitate to kill you.”
“Thanks for all your help. We’ll do our best,” Howard assured him.
The four bid their leave of Francisco and headed back to their beds.
“So now we’re helping a group of rebels overthrow a highly trained military regime? What are we thinking?” Charlie asked.
Susan laughed. “I guess we are.”
“And how do we even know we can trust Francisco? He could be working for Bakar!” said Charlie.
“I think that’s probably something we should have thought of a little earlier,” Jacob said.
“You were right before, Charlie. It was the only choice we had. All we can do now is hope it works out,” Susan said.
“Yeah, I guess you’re right,” said Charlie.
“It’s been a long day. I think we should all get some rest,” said Howard.
The others agreed, and they quickly fell asleep.
Chapter 29
May 11, 2025. El Paso, Texas.
The next morning, Bakar requested their presence, and they were escorted back to the town hall to meet with him.
“Hello again. Now that you are all situated, I think it’s time for you to start pulling your weight around here. We have a storehouse where we keep the rations that our search parties recover each day. Your task will be to move some of those rations to the mess hall. My good friend Carlos runs the storehouse, and he will show you how much needs to be transported each day. Any questions?” Bakar asked.
“No, no questions,” Howard said.
“Good. Escort them to the storehouse,” Bakar commanded.
Some of his men nodded and led the four to a small warehouse at the far northern end of the city. At the entrance, a small, old man with thick-lensed glasses squinted at their approach.
He began speaking quickly in Spanish to the guards, who replied to him almost as quickly. He sounded quite agitated, and they seemed mostly to dismiss him. Finally, he nodded and waved the four over. The guards took their leave, and the old man led them to the back of the warehouse where burlap sacks and crates of various foodstuffs were stored.
The man spoke very little English, but he kept the storehouse meticulously clean and well-organized. He constantly barked orders at the workers, who scurried about to carry out his demands. Supplies were separated into food, water, ammunition/explosives, and building materials.
“These for today,” he said, pointing to a shelf stocked with two burlap sacks, two crates, and several cases of bottled water.
“Just those. No else,” he clarified in broken English.
He paid attention to them only long enough to assign them this task before something or someone caught his attention, and he went shouting and grumbling toward the opposite side of the warehouse.
Howard grabbed one side of a large burlap sack, and Susan grabbed onto the other side. She followed closely behind him as he started toward the exit of the building. Jacob grabbed one of the crates, and Charlie stacked up a few cases of bottled water, and the two hurried to catch up to Susan and Howard.
It took what must have been hours to load all of the supplies into the mess hall, which was quite a trip to make while carrying the heavy provisions around.
By the end of the work, the four panted in exhaustion. Charlie’s legs and arms throbbed with pain, and his stomach rumbled in hunger. His back was also sore from the weight of the water he carried.
“Well, we loaded up all of this crap. We may as well eat some of it now,” Charlie huffed.
They were treated to a small plate of rice and beans. It wasn’t fancy by any means, but it tasted better than anything the four had eaten in weeks. Maybe it was all the work they’d done, or maybe it actually tasted as good as it seemed, but that meal kept them going and raised their hopes when they had nearly run dry.
They slept well that night after such tiring work, but Howard was awakened in the middle of the night by a strange voice calling his name.
“Howard?” the voice asked.
“Who’s there?” Howard asked, still groggy.
“Francisco sent me to see how things went. Did you get into the armory?” the voice asked.
“No, he put us to work in the storehouse,” Howard answered.
“Ah. I will tell this to Francisco. Keep looking for an opening to get into the armory. I will report back to check on your progress tomorrow.”
The voice became silent, and soon Howard had drifted back to sleep.
Chapter 30
May 12, 2025. El Paso, Texas.
“Wake up,” a voice demanded, shaking Jacob.
Jacob groaned in protest, rubbing his eyes to see who had called him. He turned to see one of Bakar’s men standing over him.
“Bakar requests the presence of you four. Follow me.”
Jacob woke the others, and they followed the guard back to the town hall.
When they entered the room, Bakar was having a heated argument with someone, presumably one of his advisors. They spoke only in Spanish, and they spoke for such a short amount of time that Susan was unable to determine what the argument had been about. Once the four entered the room, the advisor grew silent, and Bakar put on a false smile to greet them.
“Hello. I sent for you because I have a matter of utmost importance, and I need people I can trust to carry it out for me,” he said. “You can leave us,” Bakar said to the advisor and the guard. They nodded and headed out of the room.
“Is everything okay?” Howard asked.
“Fine. Some are simply a bit narrow-minded and stuck in their ways. Unwilling to trust.”
He moved back toward his desk at the far side of the room and lit a cigarette.
“Would you like one? They have become harder and harder to find, you know.”
“No, I’m fine. Thanks,” Howard responded. The others shook their heads, willing to let Howard control the conversation for them.
“Trust,” he continued, “is a very delicate thing. It can be easily crushed if one is not too careful, and once it is damaged, it is not easily repaired. I trusted you to carry out a task yesterday, one
that was very important to the people here in El Paso, and you carried it out diligently. You did not betray my trust, and for that I am grateful. Now, though, I have a more significant task for which I will need your assistance.”
“We can handle it, sir. What is it?” Howard asked.
“I am sure you are aware by now of the so-called ‘rebellion’ here in El Paso?” Bakar asked.
“No, sir,” Howard said.
“To be frank, it is nothing more than servants ungrateful to their generous master. They strike out in ignorance, not knowing that without my protection, they would die. Their misguided efforts complicate my ability to protect my citizens. This is why I need you. I cannot protect the city without weapons, neither can my scouts gather the supplies we need to keep the town running, but the rebels threaten to steal our weapons for their ignorant cause. I cannot allow this. I need people I can trust to work in the armory and ensure the weapons are protected and maintained properly. I believe I can trust the four of you because you are new here and are among the few who have no connection to the rebels.”
“You can count on us, sir,” Howard assured him.
Bakar called out in Spanish, and the guard returned to the room. He said something else, again in Spanish, which Susan told the others was an order to take them to the armory.
The guard nodded, and within a few minutes, they arrived at a converted shipping container. It was filled with racks of guns and stacked to the ceiling with boxes of ammunition.
Two men were already working inside the armory, and after speaking with the guards in Spanish, they began instructing the four about their task.
The two men spoke to Susan, and Susan did her best to translate back to the others. Sometimes, they would have to help her understand the meaning of a certain word, but she was able to translate most of what they told her.
“They said that we’re going to clean the guns and make sure they’re ready for the soldiers to use,” Susan explained.
The two men explained further, and after they had finished, Susan again relayed what they had told her. “They said one of the teams out scavenging is on its way back now, and when they get here, we’ll need to take their weapons, clean them, and make sure they get stored properly. Then, before we finish for the day, we need to double check each gun and make sure it’s in the right place and cleaned. If a gun misfires or breaks down, we’re going to be held responsible for it.”