The Jakarta Pandemic

by Steven Konkoly

  “The last one worries me the most,” Ed said.

  “Yeah, it’s not good news. He also picked a good spot to watch over half of the neighborhood. Notice he’s parked on the wrong side of the road to be facing this way. But parked over there, he can see all the way down our road, and all the way to the Murrays’. Plus, he’s far enough back in the neighborhood to avoid any attention from Harrison Road. I think this guy has some experience with this kind of activity. Shooting the light out leads me to think that this guy doesn’t give a shit. We’re looking at a bad combination of traits my friend,” Alex said.

  “No kidding. How long until he figures out that the Murrays’ house is unoccupied? It’s the only one left.”

  “Not long. The signs I put up won’t deter him if the lights don’t go off. I should have put that doctor and his wife in the Murrays’.”

  “We got some decent people in here,” Ed said.

  Alex considered his comment. They did the best they could with the choices they had. The Carters’ house was filled first, though in retrospect, he would have been better off putting that couple in the Murrays’ house. The Fullers’ house went to a family from Connecticut driving a BMW sport utility vehicle, and the Cohens’ to a family with kids, from somewhere just west of Boston. The parents looked preppy and drove an Audi station wagon. Alex and Ed didn’t ask them many questions, just directed them to the Cohens’ house. At that point, the sun was setting, so they both gave up their valet duties for the night, leaving the Murrays’ house unfilled. Alex didn’t recall seeing the Volvo station wagon during daylight hours.

  “Yeah. I just think it might have been a mistake not to fill all of the houses. There were some cars that didn’t look too bad. Fuck. I’m gonna have to sneak out tonight and turn off the lights inside the Murrays’,” he said thoughtfully.

  “Do you really think it’s necessary?” Ed asked.

  “I have a bad feeling about that car. I think I might have to hang out in the house for a few hours and progressively turn the lights off like a family retiring for the night,” Alex said.

  “And leave your family alone with those nutbags camped out on the street? I wouldn’t. We might be totally overthinking this. They might be just fine. Maybe it’s just someone like you, smart and just covering all the angles? You know, keeping their car in a safe spot.”

  “Where do you feel the safest at night? Under lights or in the pitch black?” Alex asked him.

  “Uhh. I guess in the light, but I don’t know…”

  “Your first instinct is right. We’ve been conditioned since birth to fear the dark. Most people would feel safer in the light, unless they’ve been reconditioned, which takes time and experience using the dark to your advantage. Trust me, if this guy gets into the Murrays’ house, or any house, we’re going to have a serious problem on the block.”

  “Do you think we could get them to leave?” Ed asked.

  “I don’t know. But I do know that approaching that car in the dark is probably not a very good idea.”

  “And leaving your own house is an even worse idea, Alex,” Ed cautioned.

  “If I don’t make it look like someone’s in the Murrays’ house, we might as well start baking cookies for their welcome party.”

  “How many lights did you turn on in the Murrays’ house?” Ed asked.

  Alex shifted knees, keeping his binoculars trained on the car. “A few on each floor. Enough to fit in with the rest of the occupied houses.”

  “I wouldn’t leave the house. Can you see anything with your night vision?”

  “Hey, hon? Can we come up now?” Kate yelled from the basement.

  “Hold on, Ed.” He raised his voice so she could hear him from downstairs. “Yeah. I think it’s fine. Let’s keep everyone on the second floor for now. In their rooms away from the front windows, please,” he yelled back.

  “Sorry about that,” he returned to Ed. “Night vision. Hold on. Let me grab them.”

  He took a few steps over to his nightstand and opened the top drawer. He moved the empty black nylon pistol holster out of the way, grabbed a stubby black night vision scope, and took it back to the window, unscrewing the lens cap and activating the 4X scope.

  Let’s see.

  He heard Kate and the kids talking as they came up the stairs.

  “You still there?” he asked Ed.

  “Yep,” Ed replied.

  “All right. I can see the front seat. One man…or woman in the driver’s seat.”

  “You can’t tell?”

  “This is a cheap Russian knock-off of a field scope. 4X magnification. You get what you get with these. Anyway…I can’t see into the back seat due to the downward angle. Maybe if I move down…”

  “Only one in the front?” Ed asked.

  “Hold on,” Alex said, squinting through the eyepiece, searching the green image.

  He’s right. No, it’s this piece of junk night vision. There’s gotta…

  “Hold on,” he said again.

  “Do you see anyone else in the front seat?” Ed repeated.

  Alex suddenly felt the weight of the HK USP tucked into the back of his jeans and suddenly craved heavier artillery. “No,” he whispered flatly.

  Someone else is out there.

  His phone handset suddenly glowed orange and illuminated the side of his face. He pulled the phone away from his ear, and the phone’s LCD bathed the front corner of the bedroom in a deep orange glow. Shit. He slammed the phone down to the floor, face down, put the scope on the window shelf, and lay down to check the caller ID on the phone. Charlie. He heard Ed through the phone and put the phone back to his ear.

  “Charlie’s on the other line. I’ll call you right back,” he said.

  “Okay,” Ed said and hung up.

  Alex switched over to Charlie.

  “Hey, Charlie. You watching, too?” he asked.

  “Did you see him shoot it out?” Charlie asked.

  “No, but Ed saw him get back into his car immediately after he heard the shot. Thought he saw a rifle in the guy’s hands.”

  “I think I spotted someone creeping around the Murrays’ house. Might be the guy missing from the front passenger seat of the car. Car’s jam-packed with people, except the front. One of them is out scoping houses. If I see a gun on him, he’s dead. I should take out the guy in the front seat of the car right now,” Charlie said.

  “Don’t go shooting into the car. Never know who you might hit. Bullets bounce around, Charlie.”

  “Not when I’m using a 10X night vision scope on my Remington Milspec. The only thing that’ll bounce is his head,” Charlie countered.

  “Please don’t shoot into the car.”

  “I’m not gonna shoot into the car…unless I have to,” Charlie promised.

  “What can you see in the car?”

  “I see…in the driver’s seat, one male with what looks like hair coming more than half-way down his neck. He’s either a hippie or that’s a mullet. My guess is mullet. In the back seat, I counted four people. One more adult male, but I can’t see him very well. He’s on the far side from me. In the middle are two kids. I can’t tell the ages, but I’d guess under ten. One boy and one girl. And…one female adult in the rear passenger side seat. This one talks to the driver a lot, lot of back and forth between the two of them. There’s a third row of seats, and I can see one more kid. Looks like a young boy…elementary school age maybe. And…another adult female. Looks like the woman is holding something. Could be a baby…but it looks like something bigger. Like a young toddler-aged kid. I can’t tell very well. The back row seats are blocking my view.”

  “Are you pointing your rifle at them?” Alex asked.

  “Yeah. Linda’s got the spotting scope looking around for the other one,” he said.

  “Just be careful and keep the safety on. You don’t want to accidentally shoot any kids,” Alex warned.

  “This gun doesn’t go off by accident. Have you ever seen the 5R Milspec? It’s
modeled after the M24 sniper rifle used by the Marine Corps. Beautiful weapon. Hard to get your hands on one. I could find you one if you wanted. Mine’s fitted to shoot 300s instead of the standard .308. I use it deer hunting. Unbelievable accuracy. It’s a Remington 700 on steroids,” Charlie bragged.

  “Those are pretty nice weapons…but I think the Marine Corps sniper rifle is called the M40-A3. They’re all modified versions of the 700, but the Marine version is handcrafted and built in Quantico. Either way, you have a nice piece of equipment there.”

  How many rifles does this guy have?

  “That’s right. The army uses the 24…hold on a second,” Charlie broke off, and Alex could hear some yelling in the background at Charlie’s house. “Linda just saw a guy dodge between the Hayes’ and Coopers’ house.”

  Alex heard the floor creak inside the bedroom and turned around briefly to see Kate standing in front of the closets.

  “What’s going on out there?” she whispered.

  “Not now. Hold on,” he said and turned back to look through the night vision scope.

  He directed the scope at the opening between the Coopers’ house and the McCarthys’, figuring that it was the closest and darkest approach to the car.

  “Charlie, I’m watching the opening between the Coopers’ and McCarthys’. You keep a tight watch on the car.”

  “Roger.”

  Alex felt his chest tighten and his pulse quicken. Within the span of a few seconds, a thin film of moisture formed on his face.

  There he is.

  “Got him. Coming between the Coopers’ and McCarthys’. Moving right toward the car,” he said to Charlie.

  His senses were acutely focused on the scene developing through the scope, distracted only momentarily by Kate kneeling down next to him. He watched the man as he jogged to the driver’s side of the car and knelt down next to the window. The driver motioned angrily for the man to get into the car, and the man with the hat quickly crossed in front of the Volvo and entered the front passenger side door.

  Ed’s right. No light.

  “They have the interior lights turned off. Sneaky mothers,” Charlie muttered into the phone.

  “Yeah. This crew worries me.”

  He watched as the man with the hat pointed with his left hand in the direction of the Murrays’ house. The driver immediately pushed the man’s arm down and nodded toward Alex’s house, talking at the same time.

  He saw the phone. This guy knows what he’s doing. I wonder if Charlie would really be willing to take them out.

  “I think you’ve been made, buddy,” Charlie said.

  “Yeah. My phone lit up when you called. Nice orange beacon for him. Hey, can you see the license plate?”

  “Already checked it out. Maine for sure. Hold on…looks like they’re leaving.”

  Alex’s right eye was blinded by a sudden green flash in his scope as the Volvo’s headlights bathed the street with light. He closed the eye and put the scope on the window sill next to his binoculars. “I’ll let you know where they go,” he said to Charlie.

  “Good, because I can’t see out of my right eye,” Charlie said.

  “Me either.”

  The Volvo’s headlights moved toward Alex’s house. He moved to a front window and watched as the car drove slowly past his house and headed down the street toward the Perrys’. He expected the car to continue around the loop to the Murrays’ and was surprised when it turned toward the neighborhood exit.

  “Huh. He’s headed back out onto Harrison Road,” Alex commented.

  “Who?” Kate asked.

  “Maybe he didn’t like the idea that some of the neighbors are watching him,” Charlie said.

  “I don’t know. He might be driving over to Everett Road to park and walk his family through the backyards over to the Murrays’. Or he might just come back at three in the morning. Either way, I expect to have new neighbors in the morning.”

  “I hope not. They look like bad news. Car’s jammed full of people, but that’s about it. I didn’t see any supplies, or anything that even looked like a bag,” Charlie said.

  “Do you think it’s strange that the car had Maine plates?” Alex asked.

  “I don’t know. Maybe their house got destroyed, or burned. Who knows? Maybe they stole the car a bit further south. They didn’t look like Volvo station wagon types.”

  “That’s what I was thinking.”

  “Well, I’ll keep an eye on the Murrays’ tonight, see if anyone shows up. I’ll give you a call if I see anything,” Charlie said.

  “Right. I’ll probably be up all night watching for those yahoos, too,” Alex replied.

  “I see them running around at night again, and I might make them one fewer.”

  “I wish I could say that I didn’t like the sound of that…have a good night, Charlie.”

  “You too, Alex.”

  Alex disconnected the call and put the phone back in its receiver.

  “What was going on out there?” Kate asked.

  He walked over to the bed and lay down. Kate followed him and they both lay staring at the ceiling, side by side, arms hooked together.

  “A Volvo station wagon parked under the light, and the driver shot the light out…”

  “Jesus,” she whispered.

  “And Charlie saw a guy snooping around the Murrays’. We both saw this guy emerge from the McCarthys’ backyard and get in the car, then they left. I’m pretty sure they’re coming back for the Murrays’ house. These guys seem to know what they’re doing. Like they’ve cased houses before. I think they had a close look at the Murrays’ and weren’t fooled by the lights.”

  “What makes you think they’ve cased houses before?” she asked.

  Alex explained his theory about the interior car lights, the position of the vehicle and the license plates.

  “I don’t know,” she said, unsure.

  “The guy brazenly blasts out a street light? Trust me. These are not the kind of people we want in the neighborhood, Kate.”

  He left out the likelihood that the driver had spotted him, not seeing any reason to escalate her anxiety.

  “You don’t think they’re from Maine?” she asked.

  “I doubt it, and I’d hate to think about what happened to the owners of that car. I hope Charlie does some hunting tonight.”

  “We don’t need Charlie shooting at people in the dark. You and Ed have made some nighttime trips, and you’re lucky nobody took a shot at you.”

  “Maybe. Either way, I don’t think there’s any reason for anyone to be alone on the ground floor after dark from this point forward. At least until we figure out what’s going on with these guys. Okay?”

  “Sounds reasonable,” Kate said.

  “Did you lock the door on the way in?” he asked.

  “No, should I have?” she said defensively.

  “Not if you’re okay with our kids walking in on some steamy sex,” he said, rolling over onto her, grasping her hands.

  “A little presumptuous, aren’t we? What if I wasn’t in the mood?”

  “I figure that your playing hard to get days ended several years ago.”

  “Nice. This is what it comes down to after fifteen years?”

  “Pretty much,” he responded.

  “I’ll lock the door,” she said and jumped out of bed.

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Saturday, November 30, 2013

  Alex knelt in the dark and peered through a small gap between the windowsill and the bottom of the pull shades in his office, scanning the block in both directions, first with his naked eye, and then with his night vision scope. He had alternated between the window and his computer for the past three hours. So far, the computer had proven more interesting.

  Maine Medical Center and Mercy Hospital were no longer accepting any new patients. The decision was announced late Thursday, prompting protests outside of Mercy Hospital that required National Guard intervention.

  Several state-funded
triage centers had been established over the past week around the greater Portland area and had filled with patients even before they officially opened on Thursday, leading to more protests and a near takeover of the triage center located at the Maine Medical building in Falmouth. Local law enforcement and State Troopers had kept the situation from escalating out of control until elements of an Air National Guard unit could be airlifted into a nearby strip mall parking lot.

  As of Friday afternoon, most Guard units had been reassigned to provide security for area hospitals and state triage centers, leaving local authorities to handle any civil unrest within Portland.

  Portland’s situation seemed no different than that of the rest of the nation. Every treatment facility was overwhelmed, understaffed, and days away from exhausting any critical medical supplies. Federal and state emergency supply packages couldn’t meet the demand and would likely be exhausted within the next few weeks. The country was on the brink of a complete breakdown, and New England was now facing a storm system that most meteorologists agreed would be a uniquely devastating early season storm.

  Alex stopped his scan and focused in the direction of the Murrays’ house. The scope’s green picture was different on this scan. His last good scan of the neighborhood had occurred about thirty minutes earlier.

  “All right, what’s going on here?” he whispered to himself, half asleep.

  He squinted into the scope. The area didn’t appear to be as bright as before. Alex turned off the scope and opened the battery compartment. He took two spare AA batteries from a half empty value pack on his desk and replaced the batteries in the scope, tossing the old ones into an empty black metallic waste can, making way too much noise for two in the morning. He cringed from the noise and listened intently for any signs of disturbed sleep throughout the house.

  Nothing. It would take a string of firecrackers to jar these people out of their sleep. Or a rock to the head.

  He turned on the scope and resumed his inspection. The scene was slightly brighter, but still darker than before. He stared at the scene for another minute and then suddenly lowered the scope.