Praying for War: The Collin War Chronicles

by W. C. Hoffman

  The fresh air had a sobering effect, because Major Logan suddenly felt acutely aware of everything.

  “I brought you here so you could see what we see. And perhaps to bid farewell to your soldiers. Even though you turned on them, they didn’t turn on you.”

  Logan balled his hands into fists and clenched his jaw. He knew that he’d done what was necessary to ensure the future of Goshen and, most importantly, himself. Swallowing his anger, Major Logan forced a tight smile and said, “I appreciate your consideration.”

  “My pleasure.” Brady clamped a hand down on Logan’s shoulder, which pushed him forward just enough to give him a start.

  Major Logan shot Brady a dark look to which he smiled and nodded back toward the tunnel.

  “We should go,” Brady said. “There’s some stuff you need see.”

  They both stepped away from the edge before turning to retreat deeper into the mountain.

  “I’m rather tired of walking around, as you know it’s been a long day. I hope you’re bringing this meeting to its conclusion.”

  “I figured you for a patient man, Major,” Brady said, clasping his hands behind his back again.

  It quickly became apparent that Brady was leading him in a new direction and this time he was aware of the downward slope as they came down from their vantage point above the meadow.

  Humidity levels rose slightly. It felt good, but Major Logan wondered what could be causing it. He had never spent much time in caves before. As they descended to the lower levels of the cave complex, turns and intersections came up with growing frequency until the tunnel dead ended at a door.

  Two armed Vipers stood near the door behind a low wall of neatly stacked sand bags. Both men nodded at Brady and then turned their attention to Major Logan, looking him up and down. Logan returned the visual assessment, and found that the only remarkable thing about them were the weapons. Both men held rifles, which had almost certainly originated in Goshen.

  “Open up, guys.” Brady gestured toward the door.

  “Yes, sir,” said one of the guards. He turned to open the door while the other man stood, eying Major Logan.

  Major Logan ignored him. A guard was below his interest.

  The other guard fumbled for his keys, after an awkward moment, he plunged a large key into a large, industrial-looking padlock. It clicked open. After removing the lock and lifting the metal bar that helped to secure the door, the guard stepped back to allow the men to enter. He used a different key to unlock the door handle and then he swung it open and stepped aside for them to pass.

  Major Logan looked inside for a moment but there was nothing much to see. Only one small light glowed in a distant corner and it failed to cast enough light to be useful. He stepped forward to get a better look inside. As he did so, Brady snapped his fingers and several large overhead lights flickered and snapped on.

  Surprised at the sight before him, Major Logan took an involuntary half-step back. Stacked on the floor were several HAGS medical crates. He had only expected to see one.

  Anna lay atop one of the crates with her eyes closed. She looked good - clean, unhurt, and fed. Her hands were handcuffed together and a chain ran toward the back wall. It was at least four feet long, a reasonable length given that the room was rather large and mostly empty.

  “Anna, are you okay?” Major Logan asked.

  She opened her eyes and sat up. When she saw Logan, she stopped and leaned back against one of the other crates. It looked terribly uncomfortable.

  Major Logan looked at Brady. “You couldn’t give her better accommodations?”

  “I’m fine,” Anna said in a dull voice. It was enough to send a tingle down Major Logan’s spine that warmed his desire for her.

  He walked closer and sat on the crate next to her.

  “Do you need water or anything?” Major Logan asked.

  Anna sat up and inched away so there was space between them. She glanced at Brady again.

  Brady smiled and shrugged at him.

  Anna shook her head, flipping her hair back and forth. “I’m fine, really.”

  “Unlock her, Brady.” Major Logan stood and pointed at the handcuffs encircling Anna’s thin wrists. The metal cuffs glinted in contrast to her pale skin.

  “No. I don’t think I’m going to,” Brady said. He held a hand up to stave off a rebuttal. “At least not yet. First things first, Major. We need you to open the crates.”

  Major Logan stood for a moment and looked from Brady to the crates and back at him. Then he broke out into a hearty chuckle.

  “You mean to tell me that you’ve been stealing crates from us and you can’t even open them?” Major Logan burst into laughter. He wiped the corner of his eye and grinned openly at Brady. “Dumbasses.”

  With the clank and spine-chilling grind of chain against stone, Anna stood up and looked at Logan with pleading eyes.

  “We have to open these for the Vipers,” she said with a gesture at the crates. “Or they’re going to kill us.”

  Major Logan whirled and jabbed his finger at the smug bastard behind him. “That is not a part of the deal.”

  “We need the crates opened. You know how to open them. Consider it a demonstration of our cooperation. We killed your soldiers; you open our crates. It’s a very simple request,” Brady said. He raised his hand and mimicked turning a dial. “Just a few quick turns on the lock and we will all be happy.”

  “Do I look happy to you?” Major Logan glared at Brady.

  “You look like a man that will do what he needs to do to survive. I trust you’ll make the right choice.”

  “Please, Logan. Just unlock the cases,” Anna said. The chain grated against the floor as she moved closer to him. Her big doe eyes gazed at him, stirring his ego and spurring him to action. She jerked to a stop as the chain went taut. She squeaked a little in surprise.

  “Why haven’t you opened them?” Major Logan asked. “Even if you don’t know the code, they would be easy enough to open with the right tools.”

  Brady crossed his arms over his chest and tapped a finger against his chin.

  “We’ve had...issues. Some of the cases are not what they seem.” He looked pointedly at Major Logan, who looked confused.

  “What the hell does that mean?”

  “Ever since our attack on the Eagle’s Bar, we’ve received a retaliatory crate...or two,” Brady said. “We lost a lot of good men.”

  Major Logan’s eyes went wide.

  “You look surprised, Major.”

  “Well aren’t you a fucking genius?” he growled sarcastically. He frowned and rubbed the back of his neck.

  “So, now you understand why you are in here. You will open the crates. I will wait outside with the guards just around the corner. Once the crates are safely opened, then our previous agreement is back in full effect,” Brady said.

  “I’m your canary in the mine, so to speak,” Logan said. He brushed past Anna and inspected the crates carefully.

  Brady wore another of his devious smiles.

  “Major, please open the crates so we can go home,” Anna said.

  He ignored her and continued his inspection of the crates. He needed a moment to think. Major Logan looked over each crate, and then stood up.

  “There are no explosives in these crates,” he said to himself, louder than he intended. He was confident of that fact even though he still felt nervous at the prospect of opening them. If HAGS had booby-trapped a crate before, it was possible these were too. Possible, but not probable.

  “You can’t possibly know that,” Brady said.

  “I know for a fact and I don’t need to open them to know.”

  Brady just looked at him.

  Major Logan gestured at the three crates. “HAGS didn’t put explosives in any of these crates.”

  Anna tilted her head at him. She looked from Logan to Brady and back.

  “How do you figure that, Major?”

  “Because I’m with HAGS.” Major Logan sa
t on the crate, where Anna had been earlier. “I didn’t tell them about the plan to blow up the Eagle’s Bar. So, they must have returned the favor of their own volition.”

  “You work for HAGS?” Brady said, cocking an eyebrow at him.

  “You think Goshen would survive without me?” Major Logan threw his hands up and gaped at him. “You think they would provide a small, insignificant town military grade weapons and medication without a man on the ground? Don’t be so naive, Brady. I am HAGS. We are building a better future. A future that you can be a part of.”

  Anna rushed at him, chain clanking, and swung her hands at his face.

  Major Logan blocked her strike and stood up, stepping out of her range.

  “You knew about the attack?” Her face turned red. “How could you?”

  Major Logan nodded. “It forced Pastor Pendell to authorize a retaliatory strike, which is why I’m here now.”

  “But you knew HAGS would bomb the Vipers too?” Anna looked furious.

  He didn’t answer right away. Reluctantly, he nodded again.

  “Population control was part of it. Another part was to diminish the Viper’s defenses enough that both sides would be forced to negotiate and merge for survival. The orders came from the top.” He shrugged. “Right or wrong, management saw it as the only way.”

  “That’s idiotic,” Brady said, frowning.

  “You killed my friends!” Anna screeched at him.

  Her anger tore at his heart. He did the right thing. The only thing he could do.

  She lunged for him again with her fingers curled like claws. When she came to the end of the chain, she twisted and lashed out with a kick at his head.

  Major Logan threw his forearm up to block the blow. Otherwise, it would have caught him in the cheek. The impact sent a sharp pain shooting up his arm. He stepped back and cradled his arm to his chest.

  She glared at him through the tears that streamed down her face. “You bastard.”

  Major Logan looked at her curiously, thankful she was chained up and that the medical crates were now between them.

  “Are you upset about Goshen or the Vipers?” he asked. Women had always seemed so emotional to him.

  Couldn’t she see the logic behind my actions?

  “Both. You monster,” she said, wiping tears from her cheeks.

  Major Logan shook his head and bent down to unlock one of the crates. The dial spun easily as he twisted it to the three numbers that would release the shackle. With a click, the lock opened, and he opened the crate and held up a shrink-wrapped pack of BT76. Brady and Anna stared at it.

  “See. No bomb,” he said with a satisfied look on his face. “Combined this with the supply you borrowed from the hospital, thanks to little miss ransom here, and we should have enough BT76 to last us until Christmas.”

  “Us?” Brady said with a doubtful look. He walked toward Anna.

  “Us - Goshen and all of your Vipers,” he said.

  Brady stopped beside Anna and pulled a key out of his pocket. He unlocked her handcuffs and she threw herself at him. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him close. They kissed passionately, unconcerned that Major Logan stood mere feet away, with betrayal burning in his gut.

  Major Logan slammed the lid of the crate and pounded his fist against it.

  “You dirty little whore,” he screamed at Anna. Veins bulged in his neck. Rage tinted his skin fire engine red.

  “You never needed to kill Eagles or Vipers. You never needed to listen to HAGS. You never needed to listen to Pastor Pendell’s foolish raving,” Anna said. “You only needed to open your heart and your mind to other possibilities. Now you reap what you sow, you creepy bastard.”

  He glared at both of them while they continued to hold each other in a tight embrace.

  “No, no, no,” Major Logan said. “You’re mine. That’s part of the deal.”

  “I will never be yours.”

  Brady pulled out of her embrace and led her to the door.

  Major Logan just stared after them. It’d all been a ruse he realized.

  Anna walked through the door.

  “No! You’re mine.” Spittle flecked his lips as he threw the box of BT76 at Brady and Anna. His aim was terrible. It flew wildly off target and smashed into the wall. They all heard the glass vials break inside the packaging.

  Brady stopped in the doorway, turned sideways, grabbed the doorknob, and looked over his shoulder at the major. “You know, I never understood why you let that crazy, old bastard run the show. It would have been so easy for you to make him go away.”

  Major Logan glared at Brady. Breaths came in short, quick puffs. His brow had grown damp with sweat. In a low voice, he said, “HAGS considered removing him, as did I. He was always a memo away from elimination. I don’t make policy, I just carry it out. If only toppling him was as simple as it sounded. But there are bigger things at work here and it’s not so simple. It’s a big game of chess and sometimes a king must sacrifice a few pawns.”

  Brady scoffed at him.

  “Then consider this checkmate,” Brady said as he backed out of the doorway and pulled the door closed behind him.

  Panic seized Major Logan. He rushed for the door, hoping to catch it so they couldn’t lock him in the room. He was still feet away when the door slammed shut and the lock clicked into place.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Water ran over Collin, washing away the sweat, dirt and grime from gardening. Helping his neighbor, Rick, tend to his greenhouse garden had been dirtier and more tiring than he expected. Collin never considered himself a green thumb, but out of necessity, he began to pick up the skills.

  After moving a couple of wheelbarrows full of compost nearly halfway across town and then spreading it among the plants, he was almost thankful for the scheduled trip to the hospital. Dr. Horner told him it may be his final blood donation. Oh, how he wished that turned out to be true. He smiled to himself at the thought.

  He finished washing up and stepped out to dry off. He dressed quickly and rushed out of his house. Despite all of the work he’d done with Rick, Collin felt refreshed and ready to tackle the rest of his day.

  With Major Logan still out on a big raid, he was left in charge of security. He could delegate most of the work. He would spread it around to a few extraordinarily capable sergeants. Despite their lack of formal military training, the sergeants still managed to live up to the reputation that came with their rank.

  He recalled the old saying, “We’ve done so much for so long with so little that we can do anything with nothing.”

  Several things still required his personal attention such as details regarding the construction of the wall along the river and personnel issues. None of those was critical though. Whatever cropped up since the last round of status reports could wait until after his appointment with Dr. Horner.

  He passed a security patrol on his way to the hospital. The Eagles saluted him as they would with Major Logan. He felt awkward, but he returned the salute, and then picked up his pace. The faster he got to the hospital, the faster he could get out and back to the kind of work he could understand.

  Dr. Horner’s ramblings about vaccines, genetics, and other medical sciences were entirely beyond his base of knowledge and understanding. He always smiled and nodded like he understood but in truth, he was clueless. Still, he went along with it because he enjoyed Julie’s company.

  Collin entered the hospital and strode into the outpatient clinic to meet Dr. Horner. She already knew his preference that she be ready to draw blood as soon as he got there. No small talk in the lobby beforehand. It was all business.

  He sighed as he neared his room. Dr. Horner and the nurses had even taken to calling it “his room” because he was there so often. They joked with him that he should bring a blanket and pillow from home. Settle in a little and make it comfortable but quickly shot down that idea.

  Blood donation wasn’t a cakewalk for him the way it was for others. It mad
e him lightheaded and sweaty. Recently the draws seemed to wear him out for hours afterward.

  Seeing blood, didn’t bother him. He could get hurt and bleed without adverse side effects. But take a vial or a pint and he was out of action. He complained about it to Julie. All she said was, “It’s normal.” Luckily, it didn’t normally hamper his ability to do his job as a member of the Eagles.

  He opened the door to the room and saw Dr. Horner leaning against the sink with her head resting against the cupboards, which held supplies and other goodies like his juice. She straightened up and ran her hands down her white doctor’s coat. She looked at him and he could see that she cried recently.

  Collin pushed the door closed behind him and approached her. He looked into her golden brown eyes and put his hands on her shoulders.

  “We’ll get her back,” he said.

  She silently nodded her head. Julie leaned forward, slid her arms around him, and rested her head against his chest. They embraced for several long seconds.

  When she pulled away, she sniffed, and looked up at him sheepishly, embarrassed by the show of emotion. Collin reached for the box of tissue that sat beside the sink. He held it out for her and she smiled in thanks.

  “So, you ready to sink your fangs in for some more juice, doc?” he said with a grin, trying to lighten the mood.

  “You know the drill,” she said, gesturing toward the examination table. She began to pull the stuff she needed out of the cupboards. In her distress over Anna, she hadn’t setup, but Collin didn’t mind.

  Even though Collin knew the real reason Anna was with the Vipers, he couldn’t tell the doctor. Not yet.

  “How’s the research going?” he said.

  She smiled at him. It was a genuine smile filled with hope and true joy. “Very well. We’re close.”

  “Excellent news, Julie. Truly amazing work you’re doing on this,” he said. “When the history books are written, yours will be the name that lives on. Everyone will know who Dr. Julie Horner was.”