Breakout (Final Dawn)

by Maloney, Darrell

  Mark asked Smitty, “I can’t wait until we can eat some real eggs for breakfast. And some fresh bacon from those pigs too. Are you sure she was carrying eggs?”

  Smitty said, “That’s what they looked like. I don’t know what else they could be. And I know she got them out of that building, because the basket was empty when they went into it.”

  They looked up and saw Skully walk into the room. He didn’t look like he was in the mood to socialize.

  “So, Skully, are we gonna go or not?”

  “Hell no, we can’t go. Those arroyos are gonna be full of rushing water coming off the mountains. You might get through them on your wheeler and you might not. And that field inside the wall will be hell to run across when it’s muddy.”

  It seemed to hurt him physically when he finished his thought.

  “We’ll have to wait a couple of days until it dries out a little. Damnit!”

  Skully spent most of the morning pacing back and forth in front of a large picture window, cursing the rain.

  By early afternoon, the rain had stopped and the sun came out to start drying everything out.

  Mason asked Skully, “You think it’s a go for tomorrow?”

  Skully looked at the sky.

  “I don’t know. Get everything loaded and ready to go. We’ll take a look at it in the morning.

  The following morning the crew came outside to overcast skies. It didn’t look like more rain was coming, but the clouds would keep it relatively cool and it would take longer for everything to finish drying.

  Skully cried, “Crap!”

  Then: “We’ll try again tomorrow.

  Back at the compound, things were a little more blissful. It was Bryan’s birthday. Helen had made him a cake, and was planning to bring it to him after everyone finished their evening meal. The cake would serve as everyone’s dessert.

  As Helen was taking the cake out of the oven, Sarah came into the kitchen.

  “Have you made the icing yet?”

  “No. I was getting ready to mix it up while the cake cooled. Any special requests?”

  “Yes. Can you make the icing pink?”

  Helen just looked at her, unsure if she was kidding.

  “Are you sure?”

  “Yes. I’m positive. I know it sounds silly, but I’ll explain to everybody after he blows out the candles.”

  Helen laughed.

  “Oh, I can’t wait to hear this one. Must be a heck of a story.”

  “It is. You’ll love it. And thanks, Helen.”

  Sarah found Hannah and Sami in the lounge, playing hearts against Brad and Little Markie.

  She snuck up behind Markie and said, “Hey, little trooper. How are you guys doing? Are you winning or losing?”

  “I don’t know. I don’t understand this game at all. I like Go Fish.”

  “Well, if you don’t know how to play, how do you know which card to put down?”

  “Mommy looks at my cards and tells me which one to play.”

  Sarah looked at Hannah and raised her eyebrows.

  Hannah laughed and said, “Hey, I’m being honest.”

  Brad said, “Sure you are. That’s why they’re beating us by fifty points.”

  Sarah asked Markie, “You want me to take over? Miss Helen said you could help her in the kitchen.”

  He didn’t have to be asked twice.

  “Sure!” he said, laying his hand face up on the table.

  Sami tried to cover them before Brad could get them all memorized.

  Sarah sat down and picked up the cards while Markie ran off to help Miss Helen frost the cake and lick the bowl.

  Sami said, “Great! There goes our game.”

  “Hey, I just didn’t want you two to take advantage of poor ol’ Brad.”

  Sarah looked at Sami.

  “I mean, other than that other way you’re always taking advantage of him.”

  The girls laughed and Brad turned red. It was an inside joke that he wasn’t privy to, but he was sure it was something dirty.

  As soon as Sarah joined the game, Hannah and Sami began collecting points. When they lost the game, Sarah said, “Ha! I knew you were cheating. Shame on you for letting your young impressionable son take part in such a shameful activity.”

  Hannah just shrugged.

  “Hey, it’s a cold harsh world out there. Not everything is fair. I’m just trying to teach him that he won’t always get a fair shake, whether it’s a card game or life in general.”

  The dinner bell rang as the group was finishing the next game, and the group reassembled in the dining room. Sarah’s husband Bryan joined them.

  Sarah remained silent until they’d all finished, and Helen carried the birthday cake out to Bryan.

  They all sang happy birthday to him, and he tried to pretend he was surprised.

  And he was, to a degree. Surprised to see that his birthday cake was pink.

  He blew out his candles and everyone clapped.

  Sarah said, “Before he cuts the cake, I just wanted to let everybody know that his biggest wish has already come true. We’ve been hoping for a baby, and I took a test this morning. It’s positive. In nine months, with God’s grace, we’re going to have a healthy baby girl.”

  Bryan was caught off guard as much as everyone else. Sarah had played her surprise off perfectly.

  And all of a sudden, the pink birthday cake made sense.

  Chapter 37

  It turned out that Sarah wasn’t the only one expecting.

  The following morning, Hannah was working her shift on the security desk when the ham radio came to life.

  “This is Frank Furter with a message for Johnny Bravo. I have some exciting news to share today. My wife gave birth to a healthy baby girl this morning. We didn’t even know she was pregnant. I guess I have a lot to learn about having babies. This is Frank Furter, over and out.”

  Hannah got on the two way radio.

  “John, this is Hannah. You have a really bizarre message at the security desk.”

  John was at the beverage bar in the dining room, refilling his cup of coffee for the eighth time. Hannah’s call piqued his interest, so he went to check it out.

  “Hey, girlie. What kind of message?”

  “It’s from Frank. He said his wife had a baby girl. He also said they didn’t even know she was pregnant. I thought it was weird because, I mean, how could they not know she was pregnant? And also, Frank looked like he was your age. Like sixty. I mean, that’s ancient. Can people your age even have babies anymore?”

  She made the comment with such a sweet and mischievous smile that he couldn’t possibly be upset. So instead of chastising her, he laughed.

  “He must be talking about the cows, you gooberhead. One of the cows must have given birth. Funny, I didn’t know any of them were pregnant either.”

  “Why didn’t he just say he was talking about cows?”

  “Because I asked him never to refer to them on the radio. Or the pigs or chickens either. We don’t want anyone else to know about them, remember?”

  As they talked, Hannah continued to watch the security monitors. None of them showed any activity. So neither she nor John had any clue that at that very moment, Smitty was climbing up the blind side of Salt Mountain, out of the view of the cameras.

  Once he was in position, Smitty called Skully on his walkie talkie.

  “Hey, Skully! I’m ready when you are. How far away are you?”

  “About five minutes. We’re not gonna slow down, so be ready. How many people are in your sights?”

  “Only one of them is outside. A woman.”

  “Is it the same woman we saw the other day?”

  “Negative. This one’s a blonde.”

  “Okay. Line her up. As soon as we make the turn I’ll give you the go signal. Then you can take her out.”

  “10-4.”

  Sami didn’t have a clue that anything was amiss. She was enjoying a beautiful day, the sun warming her face and a light
breeze blowing through her hair.

  She couldn’t feel the crosshairs of Smitty’s scope on her chest.

  John and Hannah saw them at the same time. On the monitor covering Highway 83, a brown Humvee and a white pickup truck came into view at a high rate of speed.

  Hannah’s hand went to her mouth and she uttered, “Oh, no.”

  She was hoping against hope that the vehicles sped right past, but it wasn’t meant to be.

  They slowed and took the cutoff that led directly to the compound. John was trying to get a count of the number of men who were in the back of the truck when they heard a shot ring out.

  Hannah said, “Oh my God, no!”

  John was on the radio immediately.

  “We’re under attack. Bryan, you and Mark get up to the roof. Brad, guard the gate. All women and children to the center of the building. Sarah and Karen, Hannah’s here with me. Take a head count and let me know if anyone is missing.”

  Bryan and Mark were already running full speed up the stairs even before John’s orders. They’d gone through this drill many times in their heads, and as soon as they heard the shot they were off like bolts of lightning.

  “Bryan, Mark… can’t get a number on them. A Hummer and a pickup truck full of them. At least a dozen. They’re pulling up to the south wall and taking ladders out of the back of the pickup. They’re going to scale the wall.”

  Bryan went directly to the hunting blind set up on the southwest corner of the building. It was fortified with sand bags and gave him a direct view of the south wall. He opened the gun case stored inside the blind and took out an AR-15 rifle. He inserted a magazine, charged the weapon, and switched it from “safe” to “semi.” Then he took aim at the top of the south wall. In his sights he could see the top of a ladder appear from the other side.

  Mark was a few steps behind him. He’d stopped at the blind on the opposite corner of the building just long enough to grab the rifle stored there. Now he was alongside his brother.

  John was back on the radio.

  “Two men coming up the ladder now. Let them in, boys. That’s a big field. Let the first two in. Then shoot the next two off the ladder and go back for the first two.

  As John finished speaking, the brothers heard a gunshot and felt the sensation of a bullet skimming off the rooftop of their blind. Mark turned around and saw Smitty a hundred yards away, changing position on the side of Salt Mountain, trying to get to a more stable place to shoot.

  He never had a chance to get set up. Mark took aim, took a deep breath, and slowly released it through his mouth as he gently squeezed the trigger. The bullet ripped through the upper part of Smitty’s heart. He was effectively dead even before he rolled off the side of the mountain and fell sixty feet to the hard ground below.

  Mark didn’t see any other movement on the mountain. He turned back to the south wall again as Bryan shot the first of two men off one of the ladders. As Bryan lined up on the other man, Mark zeroed in on one of the two intruders running across the muddy field, trying to make it to shelter.

  Mark’s target went down face first into the mud and didn’t move. Mark knew he was dead. As he lined up on the second man, Bryan shot the man on the second ladder, forcing him and the ladder backwards and out of their sight.

  Mark took out the second man running across the field, and Bryan shot a bullet through the head of the next man who appeared at the top of the first ladder.

  Then everything went eerily quiet. Skully and his thugs decided they needed to go to Plan B. The problem was, they didn’t have one. But it was obvious this wasn’t working.

  John got back on the radio.

  “It looks like they’re regrouping. They’ve taken down the ladders. They’ve got three casualties outside the fence, and two on the inside.”

  Then Sarah’s voice came on.

  “Sami’s missing. We can’t find her. Has anyone seen Sami?”

  John was Sami’s father. He fought hard to maintain his composure.

  “Mark, Bryan, can one of you scout the compound, and see if you can spot Sami?”

  Then, “Sami, come in baby. Come in Sami.”

  Hannah looked at John. Then she got on the radio.

  “She said she was going to look at the blossoms on the apple trees. And I don’t think she has a radio.”

  Mark told Bryan, “I’ll go.”

  He checked the face of Salt Mountain and saw no more movement. Then he low crawled quickly across the rooftop to the north side of the building.

  From there, he could clearly see Sami’s rumpled body lying in the grass on the outer edge of the orchard.

  He said nothing on the radio. He didn’t know if she was dead or alive, and he didn’t want anyone to get their hopes up.

  Sami had gone instantly to the ground without ever realizing how lucky she was. Smitty had her chest dead in his sights, but lost his footing as he pulled the trigger. The bullet that should have killed her instead went high and to the left, through her upper shoulder blade and out her back.

  She lay on the ground, dazed, unsure if someone had punched her. She’d heard what sounded like a gunshot, but didn’t put the two together. Right now her shoulder was numb and throbbing, and she was nauseous and confused and on the verge of passing out.

  Mark shouldered his weapon and shimmied down the rungs of the fire escape ladder on the west side of the building. He sprinted to the orchard in record time and knelt over Sami to inspect her wound.

  She was conscious and breathing. She looked up at Mark and weakly asked, “Mark, what’s going on?”

  Instead of answering her, he got back on the radio.

  “I’ve got Sami out by the orchard. She’s hit, but not seriously. I’m bringing her back to the main building.”

  John said, “No. Take her to the feed barn. Lift up the false floor to the tunnel. Karen and David, get everybody down the tunnel and to the mine. Sarah, go through the building. Make sure we don’t leave anyone behind.”

  “10-4.”

  John had to keep his wits about him. Not only for his wounded daughter’s sake, but for everybody else’s too.

  “Brad, are you still covering the gate?”

  “Yep. Anybody who comes through it or over it is getting a fast ride to hell.”

  “Bryan, are you okay up there? Can you get an eyeball on anybody else?”

  “I’m okay, John. No activity I can see. There was somebody on Salt Mountain, but Mark took him out. I don’t see anybody else over that way. Are they still south of the compound?”

  “Yes. They’re huddled up, probably licking their wounds and trying to figure out what they’re going to do next. Debbie, you and Sarah give me the all clear when everybody’s in the tunnel except Hannah and us four guys. Got it?”

  “Yes, sir. Got it.”

  “Mark, after you get Sami safely in the tunnel, turn her over to David and get to the main gate to help Brad. But be ready to go back to the roof if they try to scale the wall again.”

  “Got it.”

  Chapter 38

  Outside the compound’s south wall, Skully knew he’d pulled a colossal blunder. He’d known about the cameras. He should have known the people inside the compound would see them coming and be ready.

  He’d heard the shots coming from inside the compound, had seen the three men on the ladders get shot. He had to assume that the two who’d made it in were dead as well.

  And now he couldn’t raise Smitty.

  “Smitty, damn it, come in and tell me what’s going on in there.”

  Smitty was the only countermeasure to the cameras. He was Skully’s eyes and ears to whatever was going on in the compound. Where everybody was at. How many men they had.

  But Smitty was no help at all if he wouldn’t answer the damn radio.

  “Smitty, what in hell is going on in there? Did any of our guys make it to the buildings? Talk to me, you son of a bitch!”

  But Smitty would never talk to anyone again. He lay in a heap bes
ide the shear face of Salt Mountain. His glazed eyes, opened wide as he tumbled off the side of the mountain, were frozen in time that way. Glossed over and staring into space, yet seeing nothing.

  His radio survived the fall, and lay in the dirt eight feet away, squawking loudly as Skully’s curses drifted unheard into the passing wind.

  This wasn’t the way it was supposed to happen. He was supposed to be the conquering general, leading this ragtag army and taking the compound with all its spoils.

  Now Skully was screwed. His lookout was either dead or his radio was out of commission. Three of his men were known dead. And from the lack of gunfire within the compound, he had to assume the other two were dead as well.

  He began to realize he’d gone about this all wrong. He should have spied on the compound for days… weeks even. As long as it took to figure out how many men they were facing. And he should have put more men on the mountain.

  Now he was pissed. He was blind, going into a place he was unfamiliar with, against a force of unknown size and firepower.

  This sucked. It really did.

  But it was too late to turn back now.

  He looked at the other faces gathered around him, as John asked Bryan on the radio.

  “Bryan, that 7.62 round shouldn’t have any trouble going through that wall, right?”

  “No trouble at all, John.”

  “You’re in the south blind?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “I think from your angle, if you fire a few rounds at the left side of the third panel, about three quarters of the way up, they’ll go through the fence and into the general area where they are. You may not hit anybody, but maybe it’ll scare them away.”

  “10-4, John.”

  Skully made his decision. He was moving forward.

  “Okay, back in the vehicles.”

  He scrambled into the drivers seat of the Humvee. The others climbed into the back of the Humvee or jumped in the back of the pickup, just as a volley of shots came through the wall and into their midst. One of them went to the ground, shot in the midsection. They left him behind.

  The two vehicles went around the wall and to the gate that Skully had seen on the east side.