Embers of Empire

by Mark Goodwin

  “Busy news day,” Ava said.

  “That’s not all. Markovich had a big production in Washington for Woods’ funeral. He turned it into the big enlistment rally that we upset in Houston. The only difference is this one was aired all over the country.

  “He pledged to bring the perpetrators of the attack on the stadium to justice and to put an end to Blackwell’s rebellion. You know how the media spins it. According to them, the Alliance-States movement is just some fantasy ginned up by a few kooks in the Pacific Northwest.”

  “Did the national media mention me specifically as being responsible for the bombing or Woods’ death?”

  “No. You’re just wanted for questioning. If they name you as the attacker, then they’ll look stupid if they don’t catch you. Besides, they can’t risk you popping up on the web, claiming responsibility for the attack but telling everyone that you had nothing to do with Woods’ assassination. If the regime gives you street cred by labeling you as the mastermind, you’ll become an icon; a living representation of the resistance.”

  “Well, I’m no icon.”

  “Maybe not. But you are brave. And you are a hero . . . or heroine, rather.”

  “I sure don’t feel like it.” She sat with her arms crossed.

  “That’s part of the reason that you are.”

  Ava stayed low in her seat for the rest of the trip back to Sam Hodge’s farm. She watched the treetops pass by.

  Once they made the last turn onto the county road, she asked, “Do you think Sam and Betty will come to Oklahoma?”

  “They should, but I kinda doubt it.” Foley glanced over at her. “What about James and Charity? Do you think they’ll come?”

  “Definitely. I know Charity will want to get out of here. I think James may be finished fighting, too.”

  “I don’t know. James may surprise you. I think he might be a little gun shy from taking a shotgun blast to the face and neck, but I bet he’ll get back in the saddle.”

  “If he does, it needs to be of his own accord. He doesn’t need any goading from you,” she said firmly. “I’d hate for Charity to go through the same worry I’m going to have to deal with.”

  Ava let out a deep sigh of relief as Foley turned into Sam Hodge’s long driveway. They followed Ulysses up the gravel road to the house.

  Ava saw her father exit the vehicle in front of them with his rifle in one hand and the other hand up in the air. Instantly, she knew something wasn’t right. “The front door is wide open.”

  Foley grabbed his rifle. “Stay here.”

  Ava retrieved her rifle also. “I’m not getting separated from you and Dad, are you crazy?”

  Foley spoke low. “Then at least make sure Buckley stays in the truck.”

  Ava closed the door gently and came around to the front of the pickup. She kept close to Foley as he hustled toward the front door where Ulysses waited to enter.

  Her father nodded to Foley, then the two of them rushed into the house. Ulysses covered the stairwell leading up.

  Foley penetrated into the living area and scanned the kitchen. “Two dead.”

  Ava looked through her reflex sight as she entered the kitchen. Sam and Betty Hodge were on the floor in a pool of dried blood. Flies buzzed around their corpses, signaling that they’d been killed days earlier.

  Ava swallowed hard and trailed Foley while he cleared the remaining rooms downstairs.

  After Foley searched the downstairs bathroom, he called, “All clear.”

  Ulysses said, “Stack up by the stairs.”

  Foley and Ava lined up behind Ulysses, who led the team up the stairs. One by one, they cleared each room, with Ava’s bedroom being last.

  “Clear.” Ulysses lowered his rifle.

  Ava walked into her room, which had been ransacked. On the wall, written in what looked to be blood, a message was inscribed. It said you were warned.

  “Chip and Raquel,” she said.

  “How did they figure out you were staying here?” Foley asked.

  Ava thought back to the shootout at the warehouse. “When Raquel was lying on the floor after the firefight. I suggested to Dad that we bring her to Sam to get her fixed up. She must have figured out this is where I was staying. It’s my fault. I got them killed.”

  Ulysses held his rifle low and put his free hand around Ava. “Even if that’s what happened, it’s not your fault. Chip and that little witch killed Sam and Betty. But we’ll talk about this later. We have to clear the garage, the barn, and the rest of the property. SJL could still have people here. I need you to keep it together and be brave for me right now. Can you do that?” He looked into her eyes, which were tearing up.

  She swallowed hard again and nodded. “Yes.” Ava pulled the butt of her rifle tightly against her shoulder.

  Ulysses wiped her eyes with his thumb. “Okay. Let’s go. Foley behind me. Ava behind Foley.”

  The team worked their way back down the steps, out the front door and moved quickly toward the garage. Ulysses opened the side door and led the way up the stairs to the FROG. Foley and Ava followed close.

  “Clear.” Ulysses lowered his rifle then went to the window and looked out.

  Ava stood beside him. “No sign of Charity or James. Do you think they took them?”

  “I don’t know. We still have a lot of farm to cover.” Ulysses finished surveying the property from the window and led the team back down the stairs.

  All three of them kept their rifles up as they exited the side door of the garage. Ulysses started toward the garden. He put his hand up for them to stop.

  Foley went to one knee. Ava followed suit.

  Ulysses proceeded cautiously, pausing at what appeared to be another body lying face down in the grass. After inspecting his find, Ulysses waved them over.

  Ava soon recognized the body to be James’. Flies swarmed around his corpse, just as they had Sam and Betty’s.

  Ava’s heart sank. Whether she found Charity dead, or if she’d been taken by Chip and Raquel’s team, neither scenario offered a palatable outcome. Ava’s fear melted away into sorrow and anger. “I can’t believe Raquel did this. Sam tolerated her coming in late, showing up hungover; and that’s what he got in return. I can’t believe I let her live. I should have put a bullet in her skull at the warehouse. I should have put her out of her misery and mine.”

  Ava turned to her father. “And Chip. We should have taken him out before we left to Houston.”

  Ulysses looked around the farm. “We didn’t have time. We can’t go back and change the past. So, there’s no use in debating how we could have done things differently. I spent thirty years learning that lesson, but believe me; it’s true. Let it go and move on.”

  Ava looked at James’ motionless body, face down in the grass. “I can’t let it go. We have to get Chip. And we have to kill Raquel.”

  Ulysses glanced at her tight-lipped, then continued to watch the landscape surrounding them. He did not respond.

  Foley kept his rifle at a low-ready position and watched the opposite direction. “She’s right. This guy is never going to let this go. We have to take him out, or he’ll follow us to Oklahoma.”

  Ulysses stared blankly for over a minute. Finally, he said, “We need to get Chip. But it can’t be about revenge.” He turned to Ava. “If you can’t put that aside, you’ll have to sit out. Foley and I will bring him in.”

  “It’s not about revenge,” Ava lied. “It’s like Foley said, we have to take him out before he takes us out. And we have to get Raquel, also.”

  “First, we have to clear the property. Stay sharp.” Ulysses raised his rifle and continued walking toward the animal pens.

  When they approached the hog pen, Ava saw that the wild pigs were gone. The door had been left open. She heard the chickens clucking. They were out of the cage, but most of them appeared to still be in the vicinity.

  Foley branched off from the group toward the rabbit hutch
es. “They let the bunnies go, too.”

  Ulysses checked inside the barn. “Clear.” He lowered his weapon. “They may be back, but no one is around now.”

  Ava kept walking. She continued to the river’s edge and walked the serene bank where she’d fished with Charity only days earlier. A glint of something in the bushes caught her eye. “Pink.” She hurried over to the item. A sneaker was lodged in the mud. Ava pulled it out. “This is Charity’s shoe, I’d recognize those pink laces anywhere.” Ava gazed up the river in the direction the shoe was pointed. A breath of hope filled her lungs. She sprinted back to her father with the shoe.

  “I think Charity may have gotten away.” She held the muddy sneaker for him to see.

  Ulysses looked toward the river.

  Ava pointed south. “It looks like she followed the river. I think she might have gone down to Riemer’s Swimming Hole. The park has a restroom and a pavilion. It would be the only shelter she knew about. Since we kept the trailer there for the bombing raid on the collection points, she might think we’ll go back there.”

  Ulysses nodded. “Foley, take Ava down to the park and check it out. I’m going to try to get these chickens back in the cage. I’d like to take them with us when we leave. I’m also going to get started on some graves. Once that’s all finished, we’ll dig up those AK-47s and get out of here. I don’t want to be here when Chip comes back with his SJL squad. Keep your radio on.”

  “Yes, sir. We won’t be gone long.” Foley led the way back to his truck.

  Ava opened the back door of the vehicle to let the dog out. “Stay with Dad, Buck.” She closed the back door and took her seat up front.

  Foley turned the truck around and headed back out the drive. The most direct route to the riverside park took them down a dirt road. A cloud of dust kicked up in the wake of the truck as Foley drove hard toward Riemer’s Swimming Hole.

  They arrived a few minutes later. Ava jumped out of the truck with her rifle ready for trouble. “Charity?”

  Foley exited the vehicle in a much more cautious manner. He carefully scanned the area with his AR-15 at low ready.

  The door to the small public restroom building creaked open. Ava tightened the stock of her rifle against her shoulder. “Charity?”

  The girl peeked out the door. “Ava?”

  “Are you okay?” Ava had to be sure this wasn’t a trap and that no one else was behind the door before embracing her frightened friend. “Are you alone?”

  Charity emerged from the facility. Her face contorted with sorrow as she began to weep.

  Ava let the rifle hang by its sling and took hold of Charity. “It’s okay.” She nodded for Foley to double check the restroom, to be sure they were indeed alone.

  Foley seemed not to need the cue as he was already walking toward the door.

  “It was awful, Ava!” Charity spoke between sobs. “I was feeding the animals. I didn’t take my rifle. I couldn’t do anything. It’s all my fault. James, Sam, Betty, they’re all dead because of me.”

  “No. You didn’t kill them. Chip and Raquel killed them.” Ava held her tightly.

  Foley came out of the restroom. “All clear.”

  Charity wailed for a long while. “They came in armored vehicles; five of them. They didn’t stand a chance.”

  “Did you see Raquel?”

  “Yeah, she was in the last vehicle with a really tall guy.”

  “That sounds like Chip.”

  “They didn’t get out of the armored vehicle until the soldiers had already killed James. I hid in the bushes by the river. When Raquel and the guy got out I heard him order the soldiers to search the property. I didn’t know where else to go, so I came here.”

  “What day was this?”

  “Monday afternoon.”

  Ava pulled back enough to get a good look at Charity. “Did you have food and water?”

  “No. The power is out, so there’s no water in the restroom, but it did provide me with shelter. Yesterday, I gave in and drank water from the river.”

  “We’ve got water in the truck. Come on. Let’s get you back. You can take a shower in Dad’s trailer. I’ll have something ready for you to eat by the time you’re cleaned up.”

  Late Wednesday evening, Foley closed the Bible he’d been reading aloud from in the fading light. Charity placed a bouquet of wild flowers near the simple wooden cross, which marked James’ grave. The long green stems with fluffy purple rods at the top were the only thing that distinguished James’ final resting place from that of Sam and Betty’s.

  Ava cried for her friend who’d held the exact same flowers for her wedding only weeks earlier. Like bookends, the flowers marked the beginning and end of Charity’s brief time of being one with her husband; one bouquet heralding such great joy, the other unspeakable sorrow.

  Ulysses stood next to Foley. Both were filthy from having dug the graves and excavated the cached weapons behind the barn. Ulysses said, “Daylight is fading fast. We need to be gone before dark.”

  “You two don’t want to get cleaned up first?” Ava asked.

  “We don’t have time. We need to leave. We’re very vulnerable being here at all. Darkness will make this place that much more dangerous.”

  Foley tucked the Bible under his arm. “Buchanan Lake is less than an hour away. It has a campground. Probably no electricity, but it’s a place to park.”

  “Then that’s where we’ll go.” Ulysses kicked the dirt off the shovel he still held in his hand. “Let’s load up.”

  “Come on.” Ava felt cruel pulling Charity away from James’ gravesite so abruptly, but it had to be done.

  Ulysses had put the chickens in the vacated rabbit hutches. The temporary cages were loaded into the back of Foley’s truck along with a few scavenged items from the Hodges’ farmhouse.

  All the food and most of the other consumable provisions stored at the house had been taken by the SJL soldiers who’d come with Chip and Raquel. Ava drove Sam Hodge’s GMC Sierra. Charity rode with her. Ava’s team left very little behind except for the roof which had provided their shelter, the soil which they’d worked for food, and the terrible memories of the loss they’d just suffered.

  CHAPTER 25

  But when they persecute you in this city, flee ye into another.

  Matthew 10:23a

  Thursday morning, Ava exited the travel trailer to walk Buckley. Like the campground at Lake Livingston, Black Rock Park on Buchanan Lake was empty except for Ava and her team. Unlike the Livingston Campground, Black Rock was officially closed, which meant the team could get unwanted attention if they were spotted. Ulysses chose the camping space farthest from the road.

  Ava restrained Buckley’s leash to keep him from wandering after his morning business had been settled. “Come on, Buck. Sorry, no exploring today.” She led him back to the campsite.

  Ulysses and Foley sat at the picnic table provided by the campground. “How’s Charity?” Foley asked.

  “Not good. She doesn’t want to get out of bed.”

  “It’s best that we leave her be.” Ulysses folded his hands. “I doubt she got much rest during the two days she was hiding out in the public restroom. But let’s make sure she stays hydrated. We won’t know for sure whether she picked up anything from drinking river water for another day or so. If she does get sick, it will be easier for her to deal with if she’s fully hydrated. Plus, keeping the water going will help flush out any potential toxins.”

  “I started her on a course of prophylactic antibiotics.” Ava held the leash firmly and took a seat at the table.

  “That will help if she was exposed to bacterial contaminants, but we have to think about viral pathogens, also. River water is a little different than a crystal-clear mountain stream. She could have chemical pollutants as well. The only thing you can do to mitigate that at this point is keep drinking clean water,” Ulysses said.

  Ava asked, “So, what are we going to do about Chi
p? Are we going to get him before we leave Texas?”

  Foley looked at Ulysses before turning his attention to Ava. “We were discussing that before you walked up.”

  “Don’t let me stop you. Please, continue.” She gestured with her hand.

  “Markovich has a full-scale manhunt going for you.” Ulysses straightened his back. “I’m thinking it might be best if we took you and Charity across the border first. Foley and I can come back to collect the target.”

  “Without me?”

  “The regime is making wallpaper with your mug shot, Ava. It’s not safe for you anymore.” Foley shook his head. “We need to get you into friendly territory.”

  “I’ve never been arrested, it’s not a mug shot. It’s my driver’s license photo. But still, you’re blowing it out of proportion.”

  “I disagree with you, Ava.” Ulysses gave her a stern look. “We’ll have to go into Austin to capture Chip. The majority of the population there would give you up in a second. They’re mostly loyal to the regime.”

  “We’ll go in at night.”

  “Yesterday morning, you were finished fighting. Why can’t you let this go; sit this one out?” Foley quizzed.

  “Because he killed my friends.”

  Ulysses shook his head. “I told you, this can’t be about revenge.”

  “It’s not revenge. It’s justice. Besides, two people can’t pull this off. His apartment will have a twenty-four-hour guard posted outside. He’ll probably have SJL soldiers inside the building, also. You need me.”

  “We only have one silencer. I need to go back to Oklahoma to get more suppressed weapons anyway.” Ulysses stood up to pace, as he often did when he was developing a plan.

  Ava turned around to watch him walk about. “That’s a nine-hour drive each way. More if you plan on taking the backroads. Plus, you have to get across the border twice; no, three times. You’d save two days of driving and reduce the risk of getting caught at the border if you’d just snatch him up first, then take him with us. I think traveling back and forth is more likely to get you caught than the noise of gunfire. If the guards don’t see us coming, one suppressed rifle will be enough.”