by James Hunt
The car finally arrived at the plant and entered through the front security gates. One of the guards that was riding in Samantha and Chase’s car pulled her out of the back seat when the vehicle finally stopped. “I want to see my daughter,” Samantha demanded.
“Of course,” Chase replied.
The plant was massive. Samantha gazed around at the machines diligently working, mixing different chemical agents and packaging them into pallets to be transported out of the facility.
“VX gas,” Chase explained when he saw Samantha looking around the plant. “It’s a nerve gas. It breaks down a person’s muscle control, causing convulsions and paralysis. Nasty stuff.”
Chase brought Samantha up to the executive offices where Annie was being kept. Without hesitation, Samantha ran to her daughter.
“Mommy!” Annie screamed.
Samantha scooped Annie up into her arms, holding her tightly.
“Are you okay? Did they hurt you?” she asked.
“I got scared and tried to hide, but they found me,” Annie said.
“I love you,” she whispered.
“I love you too, Mommy,” Annie whispered back.
Chase nodded over to one of his guards, and he peeled Annie off of her mother. Samantha screamed and Annie started to cry. The guard pulled out a knife and put it to Annie’s throat. Chase’s henchman kept the blade close. Just one slip and she’d be gone.
“See?” Chase asked. “I can do anything I want.”
“Please.” Samantha dropped to her knees. “Please, don’t hurt her.” Her voice was shaking. Her face was distorted with pain, fear, and hopelessness.
Chase stepped in between the guard holding her daughter and Samantha. “You have nothing to offer me. Absolutely nothing. I’m the one who has what you want. If you want to see it again, you’ll do everything I ask.”
Samantha’s whole body started to convulse as she put her face in her hands. Her eyes were bloodshot and snot dribbled down her nose and chin when she finally looked up at Chase. She couldn’t speak anymore. She just nodded.
“Good girl,” Chase said, and then ordered another guard to come and take Samantha away. When Samantha was dragged out of the room, the last image she saw was the guard’s knife to Annie’s throat.
Chase brought Samantha to his office.
“Get your phone out,” he said.
Samantha fumbled in her pockets to pull out the phone Jim had given her the day of Matt’s funeral.
“Call your brother,” said Chase.
***
Jim sat in the office where Locke’s replacement had told him to wait. He’d been sitting there by himself for almost twenty minutes. Twenty wasted minutes he could be out doing something, but instead he had to request time to meet with the acting general to get the supplies approved for his mission.
“I’m sorry I’m late, Jim,” Paul said, shuffling through the door.
Jim rose at attention. “General,” he stated, saluting his newly appointed superior.
“At ease, Jim.”
“I need my supplies request approved for a mission, sir,” said Jim.
Paul leaned back in his chair and looked Jim up and down. “This isn’t a traditional request, Jim. You’re asking for resources without letting the military know what you’re using them for and asking us to look the other way when you take…well, whatever it is you’re planning on taking.” Paul tilted his head to the side slightly and shrugged. “I don’t think this is something I can approve. Not in this climate we’re in right now.”
Jim didn’t have anywhere else to go. He was about to go into a fight with more unknowns than he’d like to have in a mission, and the three other men that he trusted were the only ones coming with him. Jim was good at what he did, but he knew he wouldn’t be able to do this without the General’s resources. “I didn’t like Locke.”
Paul raised his eyebrows. Paul’s predecessor wasn’t even in the ground yet, and it wasn’t typical for a soldier to openly give their opinion of a general in front of a superior officer, let alone one that had just been killed in combat.
“He was manipulative. He didn’t have the slightest problem using somebody for the greater good. I know because that’s what he did to me. But the one thing I can say about Locke is that he got things done. He put himself out there in a way that I’ve never seen an officer of his stature do before. That’s all I’m asking from you, General. Help me get the job done.”
The general drew in a slight breath. He stayed silent as Jim kept his eyes focused on him, drilling into him with a stare only a man with as much to lose as Jim could. “Locke trusted you.” The general drummed his fingers on his desk. He rose, walking to a filing cabinet parallel to where they sat. “He liked you too.” The general pulled open one of the drawers, thumbing through the files inside. “He always appreciated a soldier that didn’t give a shit about the chain of command, like you do.”
The General removed a slip of paper and returned to his desk. He sat down, pulling a pen from his desk, and jotted down notes on the paper. “I had a look at your file before I came in here. I’ve never seen a soldier have that many misconduct forms and still have more commendations than a dozen soldiers have in their career. It was impressive.”
Jim’s eyes lowered to the form on the desk, trying to make out what it was. He was hoping it wasn’t a court marshal form or discharge papers. It didn’t really matter if he was officially in the military or not after this conversation. He was going to get his sister and niece back no matter what.
As Jim’s hand reached for the paper, the general kept hold of it for a moment. Jim looked up at him while the piece of paper connected them.
“If you cause me trouble, I will crucify you,” the general said.
“Thank you, sir,” he said.
Jim called Twink as he left the general’s office. When Twink picked up, Jim simply said, “We’re good to go,” then hung up.
Coyle sat in the waiting room at the end of the hall from the general’s office.
“We got it,” Jim said, passing Coyle.
Coyle fist-pumped the air, jogging to catch up with Jim. “What’s next?” Coyle asked.
“We’ll do some research on what we can find on the plant over the next few hours and then draw out our strategy for San Diego.” Jim’s phone started to buzz. He pulled it out, and the name on the screen stopped him dead in his tracks. He pressed the answer button and slowly brought the phone to his ear. “Samantha?”
“Jim,” she said. Her voice was shaky.
“Where are you?” he asked.
“San Diego.”
“Are you okay?”
“They have Annie, Jim.”
People passed Jim in the hallway, oblivious to the fact that Jim was listening to the sobs of his sister. “Is she okay?”
“She’s scared, but she’s okay,” Samantha said, trying to compose herself.
Jim heard some shuffling around and another voice came on the line.
Chase’s voice was casual, confident. “Hello, Jim. You know, I’ve been chatting with your sister here for quite some time and I’ve learned a lot about you. Your spectacular military career is something to be admired, Jim. What you’ve accomplished is impressive.”
“I’m coming for you,” Jim said through gritted teeth.
“It’s a waste of time and energy, Jim, trust me. You can’t stop me any more than you can stop a river flowing into the ocean. There is a way to improve your situation, though. I could use a man of your talents. You don’t seem to go away easily, and I’d like to use that to my advantage. Of course, you’d be compensated properly and your family would be free and safe to live wherever they wanted.”
“I know where you are,” Jim answered, “And I’ve got a bullet in the chamber waiting for you.” Jim ended the call and looked at Coyle. “We leave in an hour.”
***
With the dial tone in his ear, Chase tossed the phone in the trash. He walked over to his guards, whi
spering orders in their ears.
“They stay alive. We may need them for leverage. I want everyone we have for security here in fifteen minutes. Give me eyes everywhere.”
The guard nodded and left as Chase walked back over to Samantha.
“Your brother seems dead-set on learning things the hard way,” he said.
“I would say the same for you,” Samantha replied.
Chapter 9
The chopper headed south along the coast toward San Diego. Jim glanced down at the white caps rolling onto the dirty yellow beaches below. So much had changed for him, but as he saw the tiny dots moving around on the beach and in the water with the sun sinking low into the horizon, he realized that, for most people, things hadn’t really changed at all.
As they approached the vicinity of Chase’s plant, Twink switched the chopper to stealth mode, and they flew in between the mountains below any radar detection. They landed a mile from the perimeter of the plant, using the mountainous terrain as natural cover.
Jim, Brett, Coyle, and Twink collected their gear. Twink and Coyle pre-programmed twelve charges for remote detonation. From the schematics they got from Locke’s files, they learned that the chemical weapons being produced were stored in a warehouse at the south end of the plant. Twink would provide cover on the mountain ridge with his rifle while Coyle planted the charges. The plan was to use explosives hot enough to incinerate and neutralize the gas in the stockpile.
Jim and Brett would handle getting Samantha and Annie out. Jim picked Brett because he was the best hand-to-hand combat expert in the group, and he didn’t have Coyle’s big mouth.
“Okay,” Jim said. “Let’s go over this one more time. Me and Brett will sneak in through the rainwater drains running into the plant. Twink, you’ll be in your spot on the ridge while Coyle places the charges around the building’s perimeter.”
Jim turned to Coyle. “You know where they need to go?”
Coyle nodded. “I got it.”
“Good,” Jim replied. “Once Brett and I have Samantha and Annie, we’ll clear out and Twink will trigger the bombs. Twink, if anything happens to us and Coyle can’t activate the detonators, you order the airstrike and take the whole building down, understand?”
Twink nodded.
Jim paused a moment as the group of men around him waited for the order to move out. He knew that the likelihood of them making it out alive was slim. Jim had asked men under his command to go into shit scenarios before, but it was never personal for him. This was personal. “I couldn’t ask for a better group of brothers.”
“You’re gonna make me cry,” Coyle said, ruining the moment.
“Let’s move out,” Jim ordered.
The sun was almost below the horizon. Jim and Brett tried to use what cover they could find, but it wouldn’t be long before they were spotted. They had to get close enough to where they could sprint for the runoff tunnels.
In the distance, Jim saw workers loading pallets into the backs of semi-trucks from the warehouse were the VX gas was stored. “Looks like it’s not going to take them a week to move this stuff out,” Jim said as he motioned over to the warehouse to get Brett’s attention.
The first gunshot snapped Jim back to the moment as bullets ricocheted off the rocks around them. The shouts of guards in the distance echoed around the desert as Jim saw jeeps quickly heading their way. If they were going to get in, they’d have to make their move now.
Jim and Brett sprinted toward the drainage tunnel. Sand flew from under their boots as they hoofed it towards the cover. Guards sprayed another blast of bullets from their jeeps at Jim and Brett as they raced closer to them.
Brett made it to the tunnel first and Jim rushed in a few seconds behind him. They didn’t stop moving once they were inside. Chase’s guards would follow them into the tunnel, and by now the whole plant was aware of their presence. Jim hoped that Coyle was having better luck than he was.
***
“You barely made it two feet,” Twink said over the radio, picking off another guard with his sniper rifle.
Coyle was glued to a wall along the plant’s exterior. So far he’d only placed one charge.
“I can’t help it if a spider crawled across my boot!” Coyle pleaded in defense.
“You screamed, didn’t you?” Twink asked, mowing down another guard.
Coyle made a beeline for the second location, planting and activating the charge.
“It was a pretty big spider,” Coyle muttered.
***
Jim and Brett sloshed through the mucky water, finally making it to the belly of the plant. Jim located the entrance door that the schematic promised would be there. Brett covered Jim while he made the climb and once Jim was at the top he returned the favor for Brett. Facing a locked door, Jim pulled explosive putty from his bag and stuck it in the crack of the door between the frame and the handle. He then laid a small, black detonating strip across it. Jim and Brett stood around the corner as Jim aimed his pistol at the explosive and fired.
The explosion blew the door open, sending it flying into the hallway. The men rushed toward the entrance and filed in. Once inside, they heard the security sirens begin to blare. Jim expected Chase to keep the girls in the executive offices on the north side, and that’s where they’d start their search. Jim checked his watch and figured that Coyle would have at least half the charges in position.
***
“Coyle, I don’t think I have ever seen a man run as fast as you have in the last ten minutes,” Twink said, scanning ahead for guards around Coyle’s next stop.
Coyle huffed and puffed as he turned the corner of a concrete pillar and stuck another charger to the wall. “Just trying to rise to the occasion.” Coyle gasped for breath. “That, and not die.”
***
Inside the plant, Brett and Jim split up to cover more ground. They’d only signal on the radio if they’d found one of the girls. Anything else was strict radio silence.
Four guards lined the doors down the hall as Jim peeked around the corner. He leaned back behind the wall, taking a deep breath as he prepared his rifle. Jim turned the corner, his rifle raised, and four silenced shots brought the guards down. Jim grabbed a set of keys from a dead guard’s pocket and opened the first door. Empty. Just tables and chairs.
He walked to the second door. As he turned the key in the lock, four more guards turned the corner. Jim shoved the door open as the first guard raised his pistol and fired a shot into the wall next to him. After slipping into the room, Jim locked the door behind him and turned around to see his sister sitting in a chair. Samantha jumped up and rushed over to her brother. She threw her arms around him as the guards outside rattled the door.
“I knew you’d make it,” she whispered in his ear, keeping her arms tight around his neck.
“You okay?” he asked.
“I’m fine. Did you get Annie?” asked Samantha.
“Not yet. Do you know where she is?” Jim asked.
“She’s on the other end of the hall. Six doors down last time I saw her,” she responded.
The pounding on the door intensified. Jim looked around for any other exits. The room didn’t have one; at least not a normal one. Jim walked over to the windows and examined the drop. A hundred feet at least. He and Samantha backed up to the wall across from the window panels, keeping her behind him. He fired three shots at the glass, shattering it. He used the rifle to knock off any jagged edges around the frame. Jim removed rappelling gear from his pack and anchored the rope to the door handle, instructing Samantha to climb onto his back. Jim gently backed out of the window with the rope in his hands. Samantha held on tight as Jim flew down the rope as fast as he could. Just as they landed, the door of the room they escaped burst open and the rope went slack as the two of them rushed toward the stairwell.
***
Brett stepped lightly and swiftly along the hallways on the other side of the plant. He turned a corner and saw a group of three guards escorting
Derrick. Brett got off one shot that passed through one of the guard’s skulls before the second one knocked the rifle out of his hand. Brett pulled a knife out of his belt loop and stuck the blade into the armpit of the guard. He went limp, bleeding out on the ground. The third guard tried to remove his pistol, but Brett was too fast. He went right for the guard’s neck, slicing his throat.
Derrick stepped back and began to clap as his last guard’s body hit the ground. “Very good,” he said. “You’re playing for the wrong team my friend.”