by R. Chauncey
As soon as Karl had disappeared into the darkness, Derrick took out his com-cell and called Dorothy.
“Yes, Leader,” she answered.
“Our two targets will arrive in two or three hours,” he told her. “They’ll probably try to get to the information center through a gap in the mountains. I’ve ordered Karl to position himself and Willow on both sides of the gap. Lester and Charlie and I will be a hundred feet behind them. You will take up a position directly behind me, a hundred feet, and give me covering fire in case I need it. If not, you will not fire until I order you to. Make absolutely sure you are not seen.”
“Yes, Leader,” Dorothy promised. “I’ve night vision goggles so I’ll be able to see you and Charlie and Lester.”
“Very good, Dorothy,” he said. “You will be my second in command when this mess has been settled. No member or soldier will rank higher than you.”
“I will appreciate such a position in your service, Leader,” she said in an obedient voice. Her expression said she didn’t believe a word he said. After what he’d done to the other two leaders and the Council of Twenty, trusting Derrick would be an extremely stupid thing to do. And Dorothy had no intention of being stupid around Derrick. The other two leaders and the Council of Twenty were dead because they had stupidly trusted Derrick.
“Keep your com-cell turned to our special frequency,” he told her.
“I will, my Leader,” she replied, knowing Derrick would believe her.
*
5:55 p.m.
Dodge’s night vision goggles had given him a clear view of everything in front of him and enabled him to walk faster than he originally expected he could move. Now he began to jog. He was worried that he’d arrive too late to do what he had to do. And that he couldn’t afford to do. He had to reach the coordinates Karl had given him before anything happened, or his plan would collapse. And he and his family would die. He had been waiting too long to have a plan of escape from the Society for it to collapse. If Karl and Willow succeeded in killing Marlene and her accomplice before they did what they were supposed to do, the leaders and the Council of Twenty would have absolute power for as long as they wanted it.
The Hidden Society’s been around long enough and done enough damage to freedom on in the world. They’ve got to go, and I can’t fail. He jogged a little faster.
*
6 p.m.
“Larson,” Marajo said.
“What?” he asked.
“We can’t see a damn thing in this darkness. Maybe we shouldn’t try to get into the information center in the dark. We may get lost.”
“Wouldn’t be so bad if there was a moon out,” he said.
“But there isn’t any moon out and we don’t know, at least I don’t know, if there’s going to be one.”
“Neither do I,” he said.
“So let’s stop and wait until sunrise,” Marajo suggested.
Larson didn’t like admitting it, because he would have preferred to get to the information center in the dark, but she was right. They could get lost and that wouldn’t do them any good, but it would help the Society killers looking for them. Those murderers were probably experienced at finding people in the dark who were lost.
“You’re right,” he said. “We should stop and get some rest, then continue tomorrow morning when we have more light.”
“How far do you think we are from the gap?” she asked.
“We’re certainly less than a mile away from it. We’ve covered a lot of miles for two people our age,” he answered. A second later he walked into a cactus. “Ouch!”
“What?” she asked as she stopped and looked in his direction. She could just barely make out his outline in the darkness.
“I walked into a cactus,” he said, backing away from it.
“Are you alright?” she asked him.
“Just hurt my pride,” he said.
“See what I mean,” she said. “We should stop and wait till sunrise. God knows what pitfalls we could fall into in this darkness. Anyway we must be very close to that mountain.”
“Probably just in front of it,” he said.
“So let’s stop,” Marajo told him.
“Let’s see if we can find some place to hide,” he said, brushing thorns off his clothes.“Want me to take the lead?” she asked.
“Let’s both take the lead and find some safe place,” he suggested. “We start following each other and one of us could get lost in the darkness.”
It took them fifteen minutes to find a boulder on the side of a small hill, make sure there were no animals hiding under or near it, and sat down next to it and removed the blankets from their backpacks.
“You know, Larson, I’m glad we haven’t run into any snakes or spiders,” she said.
“Like I said they’re all probably hibernating. Only humans wonder around in the desert at night in the winter. And spiders die before the winter sets in. Their young emerge from an egg sack in the mid-spring.”
“How do you know that?” she asked him.
“Read about it some years ago in a National Geographic magazine I get.”
“You sleep first. Wake me up in two hours,” she said.
“Alright,” he said as he pulled his blanket free of his backpack, folded it into a pillow, and lay down.
*
10:50 p.m.
Derrick had been in position between two boulders since six-thirty and he was angry as well as uncomfortable.
“Where are they?” Derrick asked Karl over his com-cell. “We’ve been in position for almost four hours.”
“I don’t know, Leader,” he answered. “Maybe they’re waiting for sunrise.”
“Foolish of them, don’t you think,” Derrick said.
“They probably don’t have night vision goggles,” Karl said. “They’re probably holdup somewhere waiting till the sun comes up.”
“I could be in that damn camper relaxing,” Derrick said angrily.
“Yes, sir,” Karl replied as he used his com-cell to access the infrared unit’s computer.
The unit showed no heat signatures that were human. He looked at the mountain to his left and wondered if Marlene Done and her accomplice were working their way up the north side of the mountain? That’s what he’d do if he was in their position. If they were the infrared unit wouldn’t pick up their body heat because they’d be shielded by the mountain. Is she and her friend that smart? He thought. No, he decided, they were amateurs. “I suggest you stay in place, Leader,”
Karl said. “They pop up unexpectedly, and you’re not here to stop them wouldn’t look good.”
“Oh, alright,” Derrick said, settling down in his uncomfortable position between the two large boulders and looking around at the wild terrain and swearing silently to himself that he’d never again end up in such a place. I shall purge the Society of every fool and romantic democracy believer hiding among the members. Oh, I shall allow democracy to continue expanding until it dominates the world, but I will have the real power. He turned around and looked back where Dorothy was hiding and waiting to protect him from any unexpected danger. He couldn’t see her even with the night vision goggles on maximum magnification. She had hidden herself very well. She’s a repulsive looking woman but a good, reliable soldier. I wonder if I should reward her as I’ve promised, He thought.
***
Chapter 54
January 13, 12:45 a.m.
Made it, Dodge thought as he sat on the ground checking the map, and looked up at the short mountain range facing him. He was lying on top of a small hill. His night visio
n goggles gave him a clear view of the surrounding terrain. And that short range of mountains due east of his position had to be the Simpson Park Mountains. They were exactly where the coordinates Karl had given Betty and him.
Now all he had to do was get in position and wait for the shooting to start. So far everything had gone as planned. He took his binoculars out of his backpack and looked at the mountains and saw the small gap in the mountains. That’s where they’ll probably come from. I wouldn’t. But Karl and Willow will expect them to come that way. And they will be waiting for them. And that means they won’t be expecting me to arrive from the south.
He scanned the area looking for places where he could move closer to the gap and not have his body heat picked up by the infrared unit he was positive Karl and Willow were using. He saw a dry stream bed that appeared to be over two feet deep and twice as wide. It went south for about a hundred yards then curved back north again. He adjusted his binoculars for maximum magnification and saw that the dry stream bed didn’t stop until it reached the gap in the mountains. Probably fills up with water during the rainy season, he thought. I’ll have to belly crawl, but it looks like the best way to reach the mountains. Unless they’ve got an aircraft in the air with infrared scanning down, they won’t be able to see me.
He saw thick desert plants grew on both sides of the stream bed just before it reached the gap. Extra cover, he thought. He scanned to the left and right of the stream bed and didn’t like what he saw. The land on both sides was flat with few plants growing around it except for a few narrow depressions and some large rocks. Good to hide behind in case of an emergency, but no good for firing from. Every time he rose up to shoot, he’d expose himself to fire. And he knew wherever Karl and Willow were they were in damn good shooting places with good protection on both sides and a three hundred and sixty degree clear field of fire for at least two hundred yards. Well, he thought. Might as well get into position, and hope for the best.
Dodge took one last look and saw what he was hoping for.
Two hundred or more yards before the dry stream reached the gap was a large depression about forty or fifty feet wide and at least two and a half feet deep to the northwest of the dry stream bed. It was no more than thirty or forty feet from the dry stream bed. That was a short run for him. Assuming, of course, Karl and Willow weren’t covering it. If they were, he’d make ten feet, maybe twelve, before they saw him and any unexplained movement by a man or woman would draw fire from them and kill him. He decided to use it. He didn’t have much of a choice anyway. The trick would be getting to it on his belly without being seen by Karl or Willow or before being picked up by a heat detector.
Damn shame I can’t detect when it’s scanning in my direction. If I could I could wait till the beam passed then make my move. But I can’t so I’ll just have to take a chance and pray Lady Luck is still with me.
He put the binoculars back in the left pocket of the parka he wore, took two large swallows of water – he didn’t know how long it would be before he could drink more water, and moved down the back of the hill toward the dry stream bed making sure to keep the hill in front of him. When he reached it, he got down on his knees, made sure his parka was tight around him – he didn’t need or want to scrap dirt into his pants as he crawled. It would make his crawling uncomfortable and slow him down. He took the backpack off his back and held it in his left hand and got down on his belly and crawled into the dry steam bed.
*
12:55 a.m.
“Think I should check the infrared?” Willow asked Karl.
Karl thought for a few seconds then said, “No. I doubt if Done and her friend have any electrical detecting devices, but why take the chance? Let’s wait for an hour or so.”
*
1 a.m.
Dodge stopped after crawling nearly a hundred yards in the dry steam bed, and listened. He was positive Karl and Willow were waiting to trap and kill Marlene Done and her accomplice at the gap between the mountains, but he didn’t know where Marlene and her accomplice were. He heard nothing. Not even the wind was blowing. The desert was a quiet place. It was the perfect place to live if you wanted to avoid people and commune with your thoughts or nature. He wondered if there were any animals hunting in the darkness, he hadn’t encountered any. If they had sensed his presence they didn’t bother him because they probably considered him to be worthless as a source of food and not a threat to them. He breathed quietly and listened for another five minutes, while he wondered what was in those damn mountains that made this place so important? He didn’t even know the importance of the area, but he was positive it had something to do with protecting the Society.
After five minutes he started crawling again, making as little noise as possible, and hoping he didn’t crawl into Karl or Willow. Even though he didn’t think they’d be anywhere near this dry stream bed unless Marlene and her friend were coming by another route which he doubted. They were civilians and not trained in flanking attacks.
They’ll come straight in and trust to luck.
He stopped after another five minutes of crawling and started to slowly raised his head when he stopped and dropped flat.
Damn, I’m wearing night vision goggles. The damn things operate off electric current that can be detected with a Society com-cell.
He removed the night vision goggles from his face, turned them off, and wondered what he should do with them. I won’t need them if things go as planned.
He rolled over on his left side and started digging a hole in the dry stream bed with his right hand, glad that he was still wearing his gloves. He dug a hole about six inches deep and twice as wide and dropped the goggle into the hold and covered it up. Then he rolled over on his belly and crawled what he estimated to be at least fifty yards before he raised his head and looked over the edge of the dry stream. Dodge couldn’t see anything in the darkness. He lowered his head and continued crawling.
When he bumped into the right side of the dry stream bed he knew he had reached the point where the dry stream bed turned north. He had moved faster than he thought. He lowered his head and waited and listened. If his body heat had been picked up, they’d come for him. Thinking he was on Done’ side.
The seconds passed like a snail, but all was silent. But that could simply mean Karl and
Willow had detected him, didn’t know who or what he was, and were waiting for him to crawl into a trap if they thought he was Done’ accomplice. He started to move again when he heard a sound that frightened him into stillness. It was a rattling sound. He wondered what it could be.
What rattles? He thought. He listened carefully to the rattling sound for a few more seconds then he realized what it was. A fucking rattle snake! In the winter! Why the hell ain’t that damn snake sleeping like other animals or down south where it’s warmer? It must be forty-five degrees out here.
Dodge calmed down and wondered where the snake was? From the sound it had to be a few yards in front of him. Rattle snakes didn’t rattle a warning unless something larger than them and more dangerous was close to them. It was their way of saying, ‘fuck off.’
What can I do? He thought. For a second he thought of going back, but he quickly realized he couldn’t do that. The depression he was trying to reach was the only safe place around for shooting from. He tried thinking of everything he’d read about snakes. How to get them out of your way? Minutes passed and he couldn’t think of anything. Then he remembered a 1950’s western he had seen on cable TV years ago as a child. The good guy was trapped between some bad guys and a snake. What did the good guy do? He smiled when he remembered what the good guy had done.
He got a hand full of dirt with his left hand and threw it in the direction of the rattling.
The rattling continued. He threw three more
hands full of dirt at the sound. The rattling continued.
Fucking stupid snake! He silently cursed as he threw three more hands full of dirt at the rattling sound. Hoping the sound of the dirt didn’t attract attention. Too far away for Karl and Willow to hear the dirt I’m throwing if they’re covering that gap. Then he heard a hissing sound and the rattling stopped. He threw four more hands full of dirt and waited. No hissing or rattling. He crawled a yard forward and stopped. He couldn’t hear anything. Maybe the snake’s gone, he thought. He crawled another yard and stopped again. Again there was only silence. Fuck you, snake, he thought as he continued crawling and listening.
After half an hour, he stopped crawling again and raised his head and looked to his front left. He couldn’t see the depression or anything else in the darkness. It was like looking into a bottomless black pit. He wished he still had the goggles, but he knew if he did have them and used them they would enable him to see how far he was from the depression, but they’d give away his position.
I’ve been crawling for almost an hour and according to what I saw with the goggles and binoculars that depression has to be only a few yards away. Maybe the binoculars will help.
He lay back down and rolled on his right side and pulled the binoculars out of his parka pocket, and rolled back on his belly, and raised his head again with the binoculars pressed to his eyes.
Better, but not much, he thought as he looked to his front left. He could just barely make out what appeared to be the depression. He looked about for objects that he’d have to pass that would help him locate the depression. He saw what looked like a bare tree reaching into the dark sky no more than ten or eleven feet from the depression.
That looks like one of them candelabra cactus. If I keep to the south of it, it just may be able to help me.
He estimated the candelabra cactus was less than thirty feet away. He thought of jumping up and running, but he’d make noise and if Karl and Willow were close by they’d hear him. Plus the infrared unit would probably pick up his body heat. He knew it had to be scanning in a circle.