“Yes, that’s it. Perfect. Now reassemble and put the batteries back in. Then let the capacitor charge.”
“Okay got it. That was super easy. Cool,” he said holding the improvised Taser up chest-high. “Hey Wicks, look what me and Red just made. Pretty neat, huh?”
“Yes, Dre. It’s beautiful,” she said with an odd tone to her voice.
Simon wasn’t sure if she was placating Dre, or if it was simply her way of answering without really listening to him.
Simon continued his teaching. “To stop a bad guy, you’ll need to make sure the capacitor is fully charged, then make direct contact with his skin using the exposed leads. As soon as they touch him, bingo, you’ve protected yourself with a homemade Taser.”
Dre charged the unit, beaming an ear to ear smile. He held the device close to his ear and listened to the increasing pitch of the flash unit charging.
“I love the sound of energy storage in the morning,” Dre said, licking his lips. A minute later, the sound stopped.
He held the Taser higher in the air and locked eyes with Simon. “So, like this?”
Simon saw Dre turn the unit around and press it against his own neck. Before Simon could yell at him to stop, the charge went off, zapping the kid with the full force of the energy stored in the capacitor.
Dre hit the deck, convulsing violently as the Taser’s charge drained from the flash unit and entered the body of the young boy.
Simon rushed to his side and expected the rest of the crew to do the same, but none of them did. They were all standing with feet planted, laughing.
“I never get tired of seeing that,” G said, laughing. He was bent over at the waist, struggling to get the words out.
Wicks was now on her knees, laughing so hard that her eyes were shedding tears.
After the seizure stopped, Simon helped the kid sit up. “You okay, Dre?”
Dre opened his eyes. “Damn, that was fun. I’m gonna have to do that again,” the precocious teen said, grinning like he’d just gotten off a high-speed roller coaster. “Maybe I should build a second one and use both at the same time. That would be totally off the hook!”
Simon snatched the device from the kid before he could inflict another round of self-abuse.
Dre stood up, took an exaggerated bow with widespread arms, then left the room with a joyful bounce in his walk.
Simon looked at Wicks.
“He got you good on that one,” she said, pushing the phrase through her giggle.
“Seriously?”
“Yep, Dre wanted to test your knowledge and see how’d you react.”
“I take it I passed.”
“Oh, yeah. With flying colors,” G said, not waiting for Wicks to answer. “I think you just made a friend for life, Red. Though, don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
“Warn me about what?”
Before G could answer, the door at the top of the basement stairs flew open and feet pounded down the steps. Kat’s face appeared, looking worried.
“Someone’s here! Come quick!” she said, looking at Wicks.
Simon followed Kat’s gaze to Wicks, then asked, “Another test?”
The laughter on Wick’s lips vanished in an instant, her face screaming it was no joke. She took off running for the stairs and Simon followed.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Wicks made it to the top of the stairs and followed Kat out the back door of the main house and into the drizzling rain. They crossed the yard to where the bonfire was burning under the yellow canopy.
It appeared that most of the wire had been stripped and was sitting beside the fire, but the last coil was still atop the blaze. Jazz was tending to the fire as its flames sent thick black smoke into the air, drifting up and through the razor-thin slits in the apex of the cover.
Wicks slowed as she neared Slayer, who was holding a man at knifepoint. The prisoner looked to be in his twenties and was panting rapidly. There was a scrape across his forehead, but it wasn’t deep or bleeding. At least she didn’t think so, but it was difficult to know for sure with the rain turning everything red.
Someone approached Wicks from behind, nudging her shoulder with a brush of movement. She swiveled her neck to find that Simon had arrived.
“What’s going on here?” he asked.
“Found this guy crossing our property,” Slayer answered, raising the knife from the man’s chest to his throat.
“I wasn’t crossing your property. I was coming here to warn Tally,” the captive said with a nervous voice, his hands up and away from his body.
“Who are you?” Wicks asked.
“Ray Austin. Your brother Wyatt sent me from Jericho.”
The unexpected words filled her insides with panic, but she fought it down, wanting to remain calm for her crew. However, she wasn’t sure what to do next. She looked at Simon, hoping for some insight.
“You recognize him?” Simon asked her in a low voice.
She whispered back. “Nope. But I don’t know many of his men.”
“Then he could be anyone. You need to determine intent. Then verify.”
She nodded, peering at the prisoner. “Wyatt sent you here? Why?”
“He wanted me to warn you,” the trespasser said.
“About what?”
“Jericho is under attack!”
Wicks mind flashed a vision of the Carnegie brothers. She grabbed Simon’s shoulder, just as every cell in her body voted in unison, wanting her to jump in the van and go find her brother.
“Easy now,” Simon said, looking at her eyes, his powerful hands gripping her forearms. “I know what you’re feeling right now, but we need more information first. Take a deep breath and allow the anxiety to fade. A true leader never lets emotions influence a command decision.”
She turned her attention inward, focusing on the panic swelling inside her chest. It wasn’t easy, but she kept her composure and didn’t allow her feet run to the van.
Simon continued whispering in her ear, “You need to slow down and remember what your grandparents taught you. Think everything through from start to finish. Trust me, your crew will rally behind you if you stay in control and lead, not react. Show them strength through intelligence. If you give them that, they’ll follow you into the fires of hell, if that’s where this leads next.”
She looked at Simon, letting his words soak into her brain. He was expecting a lot. Maybe too much. She wasn’t sure she could do it. “Maybe you should handle this. I’m not sure I can do this.”
“Yes, you can, and you must. Pandora needs its leader and that’s you, Wicks. I have every confidence in you. Just control your breathing and run through it a step at a time. I’m right here, if you need me.”
Wicks nodded, turning her focus to Slayer. “Was he on foot?”
“Yep. Found him walking toward the feed barn, cutting across the backside of the property. Asshole was sneaking around like a criminal. We should string him up. End the threat before it starts.”
Austin’s eyes flared as Slayer moved his knife closer to the skin on his neck.
“Hold on, Slayer. Let’s hear him out first,” Wicks said.
Kat and Jazz circled around behind Wicks, taking a position on the other side of Redfall. They’d now formed their own line of scrimmage, standing together as a united team, just as Simon said they would.
Well, everyone except Slayer. He was the wild card now, repositioning his feet behind the prisoner like he was preparing to lean against a door. “Just give me the word, Wicks and I’ll bleed him.”
Wicks put her hands out, hoping to signal to Slayer to slow down and remain calm. “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Let the man speak. I want to hear what he has to say.”
Slayer hesitated, looking at Wicks.
She nodded.
He pulled the knife away from the man’s throat about an inch.
Wicks studied Austin’s terrified eyes, trying to determine if the man was telling the truth. “Why would my brother send you
? He could’ve just called me on the radio.”
“Like I said before, Jericho is under attack. Wyatt can’t call because they took out our communications first. That’s why your brother sent me here to warn you. If the truck hadn’t broken down on the way here, I would’ve been here a lot sooner.”
“Is Wyatt okay?” she asked.
“He was when I left. But there was a lot of gunfire and RPGs going off.”
Wicks looked at Simon for guidance. She was trying to be strong and think it through like he told her to do, but the mention of RPGs and gunfire had her flustered. Her legs wanted to burn a trail to her brother’s camp.
“Who attacked?” Simon asked Austin. “Describe them. Weapons? Manpower? Vehicles?”
“I never saw them. Wyatt sent me out the back of the barn when the attack started. At that time he wasn’t sure, but he thought it was the Carnegie brothers. That’s when I snuck out to bring you this message. I wish I knew more but I never got a good look at them. All I can tell you is they had RPGs and I heard a lot of gunfire as I drove off.”
Tally turned to Simon. “We need to go help him, right?”
Simon shook his head. “With what? We’re black on ammo and only have a questionable .22 rifle and a never-fired .44 magnum.”
“But we do have some exploding rounds,” Diesel said, joining the group from the house. “Five of them to be exact.” He stood next to Kat. “What did I miss?”
“Some dude just showed up and Slayer grabbed him. Says Jericho is under attack and he was sent here to warn Wicks,” Kat answered.
G showed up, too, standing behind Diesel.
Austin spoke with a deliberate voice. “Wyatt told me to tell you not to come for him. He said he’d come here and find you when it was safe.”
“I say we string him up,” Slayer said again, bringing the knife closer to the man’s throat once more.
Austin tensed and held his breath, his eyes sending a message that the blade was now touching skin.
“Stand down, Slayer,” Redfall said. “We’re not stringing anyone up.”
Slayer didn’t budge. His eyes tightened and his face flushed with red. “Look, old man. I don’t take orders from you. Only from Wicks.”
“Do as he says, Slayer. Let Austin go,” Wicks said before another second passed.
“I think you’re making a big mistake,” Slayer told her, looking angry.
“Let! . . . him! . . . go!” she said. “And I mean right now! That’s an order!”
Slayer paused, then pulled the knife from Austin’s neck. He took a half-step back, then kicked at the man’s back, sending the intruder stumbling forward in the rain, landing on his knees. “He’s all yours. I just hope you’re right.”
Wicks moved to Austin, bent down, and put a hand on his wet shoulder. “Are you hurt?”
“No. I’m okay, but Wyatt’s truck isn’t. He’s gonna be pissed I totaled it, but he told me not to stop for nothing,” the man said, rubbing a hand across his lower back. Then he stood, putting his arms up.
“Did Wyatt say anything else?”
“No, just stay here and he’ll come for you.”
“He sent you unarmed? That doesn’t seem like my brother, even if he was in a hurry.”
“Actually, he had me bring some guns and ammo, but I lost them when the truck floated away in the creek.”
Wicks turned to read everyone’s eyes, hoping for unanimous support, but realized Diesel was no longer standing with the group. “Where’s Diesel?”
The eyes of the camp darted in several directions, but nobody responded.
“Diesel?” Wicks called out.
“Up here!” his voice answered.
Wicks craned her neck and swung her eyes to find him on the roof, carrying a telescope on a tripod. He was walking across the nearly flat section that connected two peaks of the roofline together. A few seconds later, he stopped moving, then his hands adjusted the tripod legs for the camp’s ten-inch telescope. He stood the unit up.
“What are you doing?” she asked him, seeing Dre tagging along behind Diesel.
“Checking something. Hang on a sec,” he said, pointing the telescope due west. Another ten seconds went by while he looked through the device. “Crap!”
“What?”
“Can’t see anything in this rain. I was hoping for confirmation. You know, like smoke or something.”
Wicks turned to Simon. “I think we need to go help my brother. Or at least check to make sure he’s okay.”
Simon exhaled, letting air blow slowly through his lips. He eventually nodded, though his expression told her he didn’t approve.
“Okay, but not everyone. I’ll go with you, and we should take Slayer. But the rest need to stay here and keep working on the shielding. We don’t know what we’re dealing with over there, so we need to use a stealth approach until we know more. We can’t do that with a large, untrained group, so we keep our squad small and we move in slow. Agreed?”
“Fine, but we need to get moving,” she said, finally feeling like a leader. Her chest was full of energy, but her hands were shaking.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
“Wait!” Diesel yelled from the roof.
Simon’s feet froze as his ears waited for more information from the camp’s mechanic. He looked up and saw Diesel with one hand on the telescope and one eye pressing against the eyepiece.
“Someone’s coming! Looks like six—no wait—seven black SUVs heading this way,” Diesel reported, with Dre standing next to him.
“I knew it!” Slayer snapped.
Simon reacted out of instinct, whirling around and catching Slayer’s hand in mid-strike. The young man’s blade was on its way to Austin’s lower back, but Simon managed to trap Slayer’s wrist between his palms, twisting Slayer’s hand up and out.
The swift maneuver buckled the wannabe assassin’s knees. Slayer screamed in pain as Simon applied more leverage, forcing the kid to open his hand and drop the knife.
Wicks snatched the knife from the wet surface, holding it in a defensive position after she stepped back from Slayer.
Simon let go of the Slayer, giving him a shove in the process. Slayer fell back, landing on his butt in the layer of red water covering the yard.
“You could’ve broken my wrist!” Slayer yelled.
“Trust me, kid, if I wanted to break it, it would be broken. We don’t know what’s going on here yet, so you need to stand down before the wrong person gets hurt.”
Wicks moved a step closer to Simon, but never took her eyes from Slayer. “He’s right. Pandora is a harbor of peace. Always has been, always will be. That was the deal when you joined up. So let me perfectly clear. There will be no killing and certainly no hangings.”
“Wicks is right,” Simon added. “Taking a life is a last resort.”
“They’re coming up the drive!” Diesel said from the roof, his eye glued to the optics on the scope. “We need to do something!”
Simon grabbed Austin by the collar, pulling him close enough to send his breath across the man’s face.
“Are you part of this? Did you set us up?”
“No. I came here alone. You have to believe me. I don’t know any more than you do.”
Simon spun Austin around with one hand, then held the other one in front of Wicks, palm up. She gave him the knife. He aimed the tip at Austin’s back.
“Time to find out,” Simon said, pressing the tip against the intruder’s spine. “Let me be perfectly clear. If you’re lying to me, I won’t hesitate to do what Slayer wanted to do. So I ask again, are you part of this?”
“No, I swear. I’m here to help. Wyatt sent me.”
Simon gave him a nudge, sending Austin into a slow walk. Austin entered the house first, under the direction and control of Simon’s hand on his shoulder.
Wicks, Slayer, Jazz, G, and Kat were only a few steps behind, with Diesel and Dre remaining on the roof in an overwatch position.
* * *
“Everyone
stay here,” Simon told the Pandora faithful as he led Austin at knifepoint through the front door and into the dirt driveway. He swung his head around to check that Wicks and the others had remained behind. They had.
Ahead of him and parked in the rain forty yards away were seven almost identical SUVs—all black—forming a neatly spaced perimeter across the muddy entry drive to Pandora.
Standing in front of the unmarked trucks were twenty-six troops, all wearing assault gear and carrying various types of weapons. Their chest rigs weren’t identical, showing different load-outs across the squad.
All but two were tall and stocky, making him think they were men. He couldn’t be sure about the others. Their smaller stature gave him pause, and so did their helmets and eyewear, not allowing him to get a clear view of their faces. The rain wasn’t helping either, still failing in a steady drizzle like it had since it started.
The center vehicle was the only SUV with a suite of antennas attached to its cab, leading him to believe it was the command vehicle. Based on the facts before him, Simon didn’t think the unit was military, and they certainly weren’t local militia, ruling out the Carnegie brothers. However, they could’ve been from any number of federal agencies, including the FBI or ATF. Yet he didn’t think so, knowing from experience that the feds usually rolled with insignias clearly present.
The man in the center stepped forward, holding his hands out to his sides. The rest of the squad fanned out, each man moving an additional four feet away from each other. Their weapons were angled slightly toward the ground, but Simon knew they could be raised into a firing position in an instant.
“Identify yourself!” Simon yelled at the man advancing toward his position. He pulled Austin two inches closer, doubling his grip on the man’s shoulder.
The visitor walking forward moved his right hand slowly, swinging the microphone on his rail-attached headset away from his lips.
“My name’s Bruce Tanner with Nighthawk Services Group. I’m commander of this unit and we were sent here to speak with Simon Redfall.”
“I’m Redfall. Who sent you?”
“General Rawlings and Director Wiggins.”
Redfall: Freedom Fighters (American Prepper Series Book 2) Page 8