I knew he was dead so I got up and walked over to the three jerks laying on the ground. Two were dead but one was still alive and cried, “Please don’t kill me, Mister!” I kicked the gun away from his hand.
The three kids walked up next to me and Billy pointed at the man saying, “He’s the guy. He’s the one that hurt Rosie.”
This jerk looked like a real piece of shit. He had long matted hair and of course a beard that was gray in color. He was kind of scary looking with his long witch-like nose and beady eyes. His face was almost black from all the dirt on it. I wanted to blow his head off and kill him on the spot.
I told the dork, “I’m not going to kill you. I’m going to hurt you real bad then God is going to kill you for what you did to these kids.”
I looked at the dork and he had at least 2 wounds in his upper torso. He was as good as dead so I thought I might as well help him suffer a little more. I fired the M4 shooting four rounds into his leg. With each shot his body jumped in the air and he screamed in pain. Then I pointed the M4 barrel at his crotch, pressed the barrel on it, and fired one more round. That really made him jump and scream. That was the least I could do for a bully and child molester. They should all be shot on sight.
We stood there a few minutes watching the life drain from his body and the worm finally died. The kids didn’t say one word as I walked around picking up the handguns and tossed them down the sewer drain in the street. I commented, “Well they won’t be hurting any more kids. They’re going to hell.”
I picked up Peter and as we started walking again Billy told me, “I want to be a Ranger like you, Mister Jack.”
“Billy I’m not a Ranger. Rangers are better warriors than I am. They are better trained and younger than me. I have a lot of experience and training but I am not an Army Ranger. Do you know what the Ranger motto is Billy?”
“No. What’s their motto?”
“Rangers Lead the Way.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means just what it says. The Rangers are always leading the way into battle. They are the first ones to be called on because they are the best the Army has. Not everyone can become a Ranger. You have to pass a lot of tests before you are accepted. I think you could become a Ranger some day if you really want to.”
“Mister Jack, can you teach me about guns and how to shoot?”
“Yep I’ll teach you how to shoot. That’s one thing I am good at.” We continued walking without any further chatter.
It took us 30 minutes to reach 22nd Ave. where we stopped to rest. At the corner of 3rd and 22nd there is an old house that was owned by my father. It was boarded up and vacant now. We went into the back yard so no one could see us. Putting Peter down I reached up above the door frame and found the key that was hidden there years ago. I went in the house to check if it was safe. The old house had no furniture ever since my father passed on years ago. I looked in each room and it was all clear. I waved the kids to come inside and we flopped down on the floor exhausted.
In the old days this was a safe place to live. I recall all the neighbors coming over on Thanksgiving Day for turkey and steaks which my brother Ron would donate free of charge. It was a mixed neighborhood where your skin color or religion didn’t matter because everyone was friends. In those days neighbors helped each other.
This area is now a dangerous gang-infested zone all the way to 34th Street. The gangs roam at night doing their dirty deeds, getting high on pot, crack, or meth. They are dangerous and would kill me, take my guns, and kidnap the children. The kids would be used as sex slaves or sold.
Rosie asked, “Whose house is this?”
“It belongs to my family now. My Mom and Dad use to live here years ago.”
“You got a Mom and Dad?”
“No, not anymore, Rosie. They passed on a long time ago.”
I gave the kids some water from my camel-back and another power energy bar. I asked Peter, “How is your foot doing?”
“It feels pretty good.”
“Do you think you can walk for a while?” Peter would have to walk now because I needed to have my hands free to use my weapons.
“Yeah, I can walk.”
I looked at my watch and it was 0345 hours. I said, “We’ll rest another 15 minutes and then leave.” That would give us one hour to reach the extraction point.
Billy asked me, “How much further do we have to go?” I heard voices from outside.
“Everyone be quite. Someone is outside. Follow me.”
My Father had a safe room built years ago. There was a fire place and next to it was a hidden door built into the wall. The door looked like it was part of the wall. It was made from 6 inch thick hard wood and was lined with steel sheet metal. It could be locked from the inside and there were no windows or other doors into the room. It was pretty much bullet proof. The door opened out so it was impossible to bash in. The only problem was you couldn’t see or shoot out because it had no viewing ports.
I took the kids into the hidden safe room and locked the door behind me. The safe room was “L” shaped so you could also hide behind a wall.
I heard one man yell, “Hey man this back door is open!” I heard them walk inside. There was no telling how many men were outside but I think I heard six different voices.
One gang member said, “This is cool man. How come we never been here before?”
Another one said, “What we gonna do now?”
A reply came, “I don’t know about y’all but I’m smoking a bud. After this smoke we gots to find some food and money. We gots to rob someone tonight.”
Just then Billy sneezed and one gangster said, “Y’all hear? That someone’s here.”
Another replied, “I didn’t hear shit. Hey Bro, y’all hearing stuff from being on that crack.”
“I’m telling y’all I heard a sneeze from dat wall.”
I could hear them walking on the tile floor and then they were knocking on the wall … thump … thump … and then … thud … thud … as they knocked on the hidden wooden door. You could tell a difference in the tone.
“I told y’all, why dat wall sound different here. Somethin’ behind here for sure. I’m gonna kick it down.”
I heard him kick the thick wooden door which he thought was a wall. He said, “Dam dat thing solid. Look around for a hammer or somethin’.”
“Ain’t no hammer in here. Shoot it, fool.” I heard him rack a round. I could tell by the sound it was an AK47 so I told the kids to move behind the wall with me.
He started to fire on full automatic and after firing 15 rounds he stopped. No bullets made it thru the door. He said, “We need to blow it up. Give me that RPG.”
One smart jerk replied, “Fool y’all can’t fire dat, it’ll burn down the house.” I hoped he wouldn’t use the RPG because that will blow the door down and half the house. I was thinking of opening the door and shooting it out with them. I had the element of surprise on my side.
If I unlock the door and kick it open maybe it would hit one or two men knocking them down or off balance; then I could just lean out and shoot anyone I saw. If I did that I’d have to kill them all before they could use the RPG. Once I open the door I would have to finish the fight. Thinking further I realized it was too risky to try with the kids here.
I looked at my watch and it was 0410 hours. My team would be coming by here at any time. I can reach them on the radio if they are close by. I pushed the talk button and said, “Recon team reply, Recon team reply … need help …reply.” I repeated my radio message every few minutes.
The gangsters were now bashing on the door with some type of heavy object. The door was shaking but held firm. After a few more blows I heard something start to crack. I was running out of time.
“Recon team, Jack here, reply.” No reply was heard.
Then it occurred to me I had two hand grenades. All I needed to do was open the door a little and toss one out into the room. That would kill most of them. When they stop b
anging on the door I’ll toss it out.
I advised the kids my plan and told them to cover their ears and stay behind the wall. I told them don’t come out of the room until I tell you it’s ok.
The jerks got tired and the banging stopped. One of them said, “That’s hard work,” as they walked away. I went to the door with the grenade in my right hand. I unlocked the door and opened it just enough to toss out the bomb. Pulling the pin I tossed it out into the middle of the room and quickly closed the door.
I heard one of them yell, “Shit, grenade!”
The M67 hand grenade is a small bomb that can be thrown by hand. It’s designed to detonate after a set amount of time, usually about 4 seconds. The M 67 is an anti-personnel fragmentation grenade that disperses lethal fragments upon detonation. If you’re within a few meters then kiss your ass good-bye.
As soon as I closed the door … KABOOM … the grenade went off. I reached for my M4 and bolted out the door firing on full automatic. I sprayed the room with a full magazine of bullets and then jumped behind the big open wooden door for cover. I dropped the empty mag. and reloaded a new one. I popped my head out a little to see if anyone was still alive and saw five bodies on the floor.
BAAAAAAAAAM … A shower of bullets hit the door. I ducked and thought it came from the kitchen about 20 feet away. There’re two ways into the kitchen one is through the family room, which I was in, and the other through the dining room. The family room is also connected to the dining room with a big-door way. He was in the kitchen hiding behind the wall. I decided to throw my last grenade right at the kitchen door. When it blows I’ll run into the dining room. I hoped when he saw the grenade he’d run out the other kitchen door into the dining room, trying to escape the explosion, and then I’ll have him in my sights. If he doesn’t run, the grenade will kill him.
I pulled the pin and lobbed it to the kitchen door. KABOOM … I dashed though a haze of smoke to the dining room and there he was standing right in front of me about 15 feet away.
Our eyes locked on each other as we both aimed and pulled our triggers at the same time. His trigger just went click, proving he was out of ammo, and I fired a burst into his chest until my ammo ran out. The impact of the bullets pushed him back to the wall. He fell dead as a door nail on the floor full of oozing bloody bullet holes.
I heard another man moaning so I drew my pistol and quickly moved around the room shooting all the jerks in the head to make sure they didn’t come back to life like a zombie. I searched the bedrooms to see if anyone else was hiding in the house. Just then I heard on the radio, “Hey Jack, you in the house?” It was Tommy.
I turned around and standing in the doorway was my recon team. I said, “Hey you guys missed all the action. I could have used your help.” My hands were trembling as I leaned up against the wall and lit up a smoke. I was very lucky the dirtbag ran out of ammo because his AK47 rounds would have penetrated my bullet proof vest.
“It looks like you didn’t need any help. All we needed to do was follow the dead bodies to find you. I assume you killed the four men about six blocks from here,” Willis commented.
“I had a run in with the men who hurt these kids so of course I had to kill them. We stopped to rest here and this doper gang shows up.”
“Shit, Jack, you killed ten bad guys on this mission.”
“How many have you guys killed?”
Willis answered, “I didn’t know we were keeping count.”
“I always keep count. The less dirtbags on this earth the better.”
“Ok, you win Jack, but you have to admit it you attract bad guys like a magnet.” Everyone laughed but me.
I yelled, “Kids, it’s ok come on out!” Looking at my watch it was 0430 hours so we needed to move out double time. I just hoped we wouldn’t run into anymore gangs.
I didn’t like leaving the dead bodies in our house so we dragged them outside into the yard. Maybe the rats, dogs, or coyotes will eat them. As we left I locked the door and promised myself I’d be back to clean up the mess. I hid the RPG in the safe room because it may come in handy some day.
Tommy took the lead and I was last in line with the kids. This time Tommy took one side of the street and Willis the other to provide a cross fire if necessary. We were moving at a double time pace and Peter couldn’t keep up so Hammer picked him up like a sack of rice putting him over his shoulder. I grabbed Rosie by the hand pulling her along forcing her keep up. Billy managed to stick with us.
If we saw anyone we would shoot and scoot. That means don’t stop, just shoot and keep on moving. I heard Willis and Tommy fire at someone but I didn’t see where the bullets went. No one was firing at us as we trotted down the street. We were almost at the extraction point when I looked behind me.
Coming up fast from behind was a crowd of people. They were running down the middle of the street after us so I yelled, “We got company behind us!” Hammer, Billy, and, with Rosie in tow, started running as fast as we could.
Willis and Tommy stopped as we ran by them. I watched them kneel down and fire on full auto into the crowd of people about 300 feet away. As bodies dropped to the street the crowd scattered. After the crowd dispersed, Willis and Tommy caught up to us as we were climbing the exit ramp to our extraction point on Interstate 275.
The Humvees were sitting there waiting for us. It was a great sight and a feeling of relief came over me. We jumped into the Hummers and took off as we heard bullets pinging off the back of the truck.
No one said a word as we sped away because we were too exhausted to speak. I was just starting to gain my breath back when I looked at Hammer and little Peter was curled up in his arms fast asleep. I glanced at the other kids; they were also asleep as we rumbled down the highway back to the safety of Tocabaga. I started to doze off and I heard Hammer say to me, “Jack you did a good deed saving these kids. You’re a good guy in my book.”
“You too, Hammer,” as I sat there with my eyes closed. I thought to myself, Thank you God, for giving me the strength to save these kids.
We arrived safely back on Tocabaga at 0545 hours. The driver stopped at my house and I said, “Wake up kids. We’re home now. Welcome to Tocabaga.” Rubbing their eyes all three climbed out of the vehicle and looked around.
Hammer commented, “I’ll stop by and check on the kids sometime today. See you later Peter.” Hammer patted Peter on the head. I could tell Peter had just made a new friend. Willis just waved good-bye, he was probably too tired to talk, as they took off for the Fort.
My whole family was up waiting for us as we walked in the door. Tommy and I were greeted with big hugs from all. The table was set with fried fish, hard boiled eggs, and fruit.
The kids I rescued stood there watching and I introduced them to my family. I told everyone, “I want you to meet Rosie, Billy, and Peter. They’re part of our family now. Their Mother and Father were killed by the FPF and I found them downtown outside the Green Zone. They have no place to live so I brought them here.”
Hemmi told them, “Kids come here, sit down, and have something to eat.” They didn’t need to be told twice. Tommy and I sat down and ate with them.
Billy said, “This is great, thank you so much.”
Rosie spoke up, “Yes, thank you. Do you eat like this every day?”
Shanda told them, “Yes, every day we have at least two meals and sometimes three. You’ll get fat in no time.” Shanda noticed how skinny they were but didn’t press the issue. Shanda used to be skinny like them before she came to live with us. She knows what hunger feels like.
Kendra spoke up, “We eat a lot of fish, fruit, and eggs.”
After everyone had eaten our wives took the newly arrived children upstairs to clean them up and provide them new clothes. The ladies of the house would arrange their sleeping quarters.
I told Amy about the infected cut on Peter’s foot and that he needed to see the Doc right away. Amy advised me, “After we clean them up we’ll all go to the clinic and have them ch
ecked out.”
Ron approached me and said, “We have to talk about the spy situation.”
“Ok, what’s up?” I replied.
“Last night someone tried to kill Rick. He got shot in the arm. He’s ok but will be out of action for a while. Doc Scott took out a 380 slug. They shot him through the window at his house.”
“Shit, that’s serious. Everyone likes Rick so who the hell would shoot him? I think from now on we need to post security at our house 24-7 and no one goes anywhere by themselves. I’m done playing around with these spies.”
I phoned Rick and asked, “I just got back from my recon and heard someone shot you. Are you ok and do you know who did it?”
“I’m ok. It’s lucky for me they were a bad shot. I just worry it could have been my wife or daughter. I don’t know who did it. The Doc told me it was a 380 round. If I was going to kill someone I wouldn’t use that round.”
I told Rick, “I got an idea who shot you. There’s only one person I know who carries a 380 semi-auto and that’s Scotty.”
“Who’s that?”
“You know Scotty, he works in the fields for Maggie and Farmer John.”
“Oh that Scotty. I call him Scott. You think he did it?”
“We need to get the slug from Doc and do a ballistics check on it then get Scotty’s gun and compare the two.”
“Good idea, Jack.”
“Listen Rick I’m going to call Maggie and find out where Scotty is. We’ll grab him on the spot and check his gun today. You call Doc and get that bullet from him. Once you got it let me know.”
I called Maggie on her phone and asked her, “Maggie, have you seen Scotty today?”
She replied, “Yep, he’s out here picking vegetables now. Why? Do you want to talk to him?”
“Yes, but I’m coming down there now to meet him face to face. Don’t tell him I called. You got that Maggie.”
“Ya, I got it Jack.”
I told Tommy, “Let’s go pick up Scotty at the farm. Maggie told me he was there. We’ll surprise him and take his gun for ballistics analysis.” The sun had come up and it appeared to be around 8 am.
THE TOCABAGA CHRONICLES: (BOX SET - PART I - BOOKS #1-5) Page 37