“Are you the leader of this group?” the man asked Sean pointedly.
Sean looked around to a few smiles and a chuckle or two from the guys. “No, no,” he protested, “I just have a tendency of talking too much so I end up out front a lot. We don’t have a leader here. We essentially manage our group by voting on the important things. Off the bat though, I feel that I need to clarify something with you first. We were not responsible for the raid on your town last night. Why would you think we were?”
The man looked perplexed for a minute, “Um, we were told at the town meeting this morning that a large group of looters had settled down near town and was responsible. Mr. Andrews said that one of the Deputy scouting parties had seen you guys last week roaming around, and last night one of the same deputies had recognized someone from your raiding party. Mr. Andrews is enlisting all able-bodied men to help run you out of the area.”
“And yet here you sit?” Brody asked quizzically. “So after this morning’s town meeting, you just decided to gather up your family and walk them straight into the lion’s den, into a camp of savage looters and raiders?” Brody did his best to look suspicious. He wanted the man fearful enough to tell all the details of whatever he knew. “That seems really odd, don’t you think, guys?” Brody looked around at the other members of the retreat who were all nodding. “You must have one heck of story here.”
The man began by nodding. “To be honest, you aren’t exactly what I was expecting. I don’t know exactly what I was expecting, but you’re not it,” he said almost disappointedly. “I don’t know if you can help me after all. I mean to kill Mr. Andrews, and I am going to need help doing it.”
Brody smiled really large, taking the man off guard. “Well, Luke, you came to the right place.” There were a few chuckles and Caleb laughed out loud. “We have our own reasons for killing Mr. Andrews, but I’m curious why you want to kill the leader of your town.” The women showed up at that point and began passing out bowls and deer stew.
Luke sighed then and started to run through the previous night’s events. “Last night before the raid, three men broke into our house as we slept. I awoke just in time to be hit over the head and knocked unconscious. My boys and wife tried to fight them off, but to no avail. I think they broke my eldest boy’s arm in the process.” Sean noticed the boy’s limp arm for the first time as the husband continued. “They tied them up... and took my daughter....” The man looked as if he was about to lose it as his voice cracked, but he continued. “She’s only fifteen. Like I said, I was unconscious but my wife noticed one of the men had a long grey pony tail sticking out from under his ski mask. One of the other men was a large black man. It’s just too ironic that two of Mr. Andrews’s men have those same features.”
“I went to Mr. Andrews as soon as he came into town this morning to report our daughter being kidnapped. I didn’t give him any description of the assailants but I know they are part of his security team. He dismissed me without even a hint of remorse and said he had bigger things to worry about today. He said that it must have been part of the raiding party from last night, but I know he’s lying. We’ve heard rumors that some of the more promiscuous women in town have been getting extra rations and I understand how these things work. However, there have also been rumors of horrific rapes with some of the girls disappearing altogether, and the rapes were happening long before you guys came along. I have to hold on to hope that our baby is still alive. I’m willing to bet that he has her at that compound of his up on Baker’s Hill. I need to get her back as soon as possible and I think you can understand why.”
Sean nodded his head in understanding and compassion. “Hey, Allison....” His sister looked up from where she was just finishing placing silverware. She had almost completely recovered from the gunshot wound to her shoulder with only some tightness remaining. “Do me a favor. Run and grab Darren Sorenson and ask him to bring his medic bag. Also, tell him to bring an arm splint just in case he doesn’t have one in his bag.” Sean turned his attention back to Luke. “We have a doctor here and we’ll have him take a look at your boy’s arm.”
“Thank you very much,” Luke’s wife said appreciatively.
“No problem. Caleb, would you mind blessing the food?” Caleb nodded and proceeded to bless the food and asked God for discernment dealing with their current dilemma. Every one dug in while they continued their conversation. “You said Mr. Andrews lives up on Baker’s Hill. Do you know exactly where?”
“No, but that’s what I’ve heard and I’ve seen him coming and going from the west gate, so it kind of makes sense.”
Sean looked around at his companions and they all realized that they finally had the information they needed. Beth Ann returning to town had been an unnecessary risk but they couldn’t have known today’s revelation would happen.
“In the past, when you’ve seen him coming into town, how many men does he travel with?” Brody asked.
“It’s always the same three men. Everywhere he goes, they go. Most of the time they are wearing some kind of Army fatigues in a pattern I haven’t seen before. They also carry those M-16s like the Army.”
Brody continued with more questions. “And what kind of vehicle are they driving? Is there anything special about it? Is it armored?”
Luke shook his head. “No, I don’t think so. It just an old 70s Ford pickup truck—nothing special that stood out.”
“When is this invasion supposed to happen?” asked Caleb.
“He didn’t say. He just said they expected every able-bodied man to volunteer and report to the town square tomorrow at noon. He said they would be re-issuing the weapons that had been confiscated when he first established the town’s bylaws. He didn’t say much else aside from the fact that they had captured a spy that they suspected had been giving information to the looters.”
“What did you say? Who did they capture?” Brody almost yelled making Luke and his wife jump.
“I don’t know. Mr. Andrews didn’t say who he was, but they plan to hang him tomorrow to show the town that spies won’t be tolerated.”
“You said ‘him.’ Are you sure they are talking about a man?” Emily asked, concerned.
“Uhh, no, I just assumed....”
“Dammit!” Damian exclaimed.
Brody sat down hard on the picnic bench and buried his head in his hands. “We have to go tonight,” he muttered.
“Yeah, we can’t wait. We have to do this tonight,” Randy said gravely.
“Did you guys send in a spy?” Luke asked, concerned.
“Kinda,” Sean answered. “A young woman that we took in was from town and we sent her back to try and find out which road Mr. Andrews uses to enter town.”
“Oh, I see,” Luke definitely seemed concerned, especially after finding out it was a woman Mr. Andrews was planning to hang. Luke wondered how that would go over tomorrow with the other townspeople, but realized that even if there were objections, nobody would speak up. He wouldn’t.
“Mr. Andrews also told us that Butch’s widow moved to town for his protection, but I’m starting to have serious doubts now. Have you noticed anyone new in town?”
“No. There are only a couple hundred people left in town and I’d recognize most. I haven’t seen anyone new that I can recall,” Luke answered.
“Alright, we don’t have much time then. We have to get geared up and leave soon if we intend to circle the town by foot and still get there by midnight. We’ll need time to set up before morning. Brody, do you have any ideas?”
Brody looked up from his hands. “Yeah, I have some ideas, but it depends on the lay of the land. We are going to need to find a choke point somewhere with good elevated shooting positions. That road he comes in on is Route 62, right?” he asked Luke. “That’s the road that runs down along the river, isn’t it?”
“That’s the one,” Luke confirmed.
“If I remember correctly, there are some sections that run right alongside the river. We can set up on
the other side of the road. It will prevent cross fires and it won’t leave them any cover opposite our shooting positions.”
“What if they jump in the river?” Randy asked.
Brody considered it for a moment. “Then we’ll have a man or two positioned a short distance down the bank. If we can find the right elevated sniping position, it will prevent Mr. Andrews and his men from hiding behind their truck.”
“And how do you intend on stopping the pickup?” Sean asked.
“We’ll set up a deadfall tonight with a couple large trees which we’ll drop right in front of them, forcing them to stop or at least slow down to get around it. Then we’ll need Damian’s Barrett .50 cal rifle to shoot the engine block so they can’t reverse out of the ambush. A well placed shot or two should do the trick. We should also make some spike strips to blow out their tires if the Barrett doesn’t connect. A couple one by six’s with some roofing nails should do the trick.”
“What then?” Luke asked when no one spoke up.
“We light up the bastards,” Brody responded cold heartedly.
“What about my daughter?” Luke protested. “If you kill them all, which don’t get me wrong, I’m all for, how do you intend to locate exactly where his compound is? All I know is that he lives up on Baker Hill and there are a lot of cottages and cabins up there.”
“Good point,” Sean said, looking back to Brody.
“Ok, fine. We light up their truck’s tires with a couple dozen rounds to let them know we mean business, than we give them a chance to surrender. Having a good sniper position down the road is going to be imperative at this point, not only for if they decide to go for a swim. We’ll need some well placed non-lethal shots. When a man is bleeding out, he loses his will to fight really quick if peaceful surrender and a doctor’s services are offered.”
“Good luck getting Darren to go,” Randy added.
“Go where?” Darren asked suspiciously as he walked up, medic’s bag in hand.
Randy looked at Sean sheepishly and shrugged his shoulders. “We’re going tonight to put a stop to all of this. We’ve found out what road Mr. Andrews uses to enter town. He has also taken Beth Ann hostage and we believe he intends to hang her tomorrow.”
The passive doctor looked ashen. “We told you it was too dangerous for her!” he said angrily. Darren had been one of the dissenters in sending the young inexperienced girl back into town. “Does her brother know yet?”
“No!” Sean said forcibly. “And I don’t want anyone to tell him. I can’t trust him coming with us and going off at the wrong time, ruining our plans. He is staying behind and I need him focused on his watch duties here, but we’ll need you with us. There is a good possibility someone may end up getting shot tonight.”
“I don’t know if I could...,” Darren started to stammer.
“You’re not going to be involved in the ambush. We need you there as a medic, just in case.... Okay?”
“I see, you want me there to clean up the mess you make,” Darren said sneering.
“That’s right!” Sean said, visibly angry. “Or we can all just stay here and wait for the entire town of Tionesta to come and kill everyone. Then you can clean up a lot bigger mess. It’s your call.” Sean stared at him, waiting for an answer.
“Alright, alright. That’s not what I meant.” He looked around sheepishly, “Is there someone injured over here?”
Sean was still too irritated with him to even respond. “Yeah, the young lad over there may have a broken arm,” Caleb said, pointing at Luke’s eldest.
Sean calmed down as Darren started over to the young man. “Darren, why don’t you take the two boys and Luke’s wife over to Peter’s and set them up in the spare bedroom. There’s still an extra bedroom there, right?”
“Yeah, we’ll have to clean some stuff out of it first, but we’ll make room,” Darren agreed.
“Ok, take them over and look at the young man’s arm, then pack everything you’ll need for tonight. Make sure you go into the supply room and get a lot of Quick Clot packages. Prepare to deal with multiple gunshot wounds. I hope it’s not the outcome but be ready, just in case.” Darren didn’t look too thrilled at the prospect but nodded his head and started to lead Luke’s family away.
Luke’s wife looked uncertain. “It’s okay, honey. I’ll stop over before we leave.” The discussion about a gunfight and the thought of her husband leaving didn’t settle her nerves at all, but she acquiesced and followed Darren towards Peter’s farmhouse.
Sean waited till she was out of earshot. “So I take it you’re coming with?” Luke nodded in affirmative. “Okay then, just be aware that you will follow our orders and do exactly as you’re told. Is that clear?”
“Yeah, I got it. I just wanna get my girl back,” Luke said solemnly.
“We just want to get ours back as well,” Sean agreed.
Chapter 23
Sean lay on his back behind two large logs, sweat permeating his shirt. They had spent the night packing their gear, circling the town, finding the right location, sawing down trees, and digging protected positions overlooking the road. The members of the group were spaced about ten yards apart as they couldn’t be sure exactly where the truck would end up stopping once they dropped the tree in the truck’s path. Brody, Sean, Caleb, Andrew, and Damian each had positions overlooking the roadway. Randy was set up about fifty yards down the road with Damian’s Barrett and his own silenced .308 Ruger Gunsite Scout rifle. Luke was the furthest away; about a hundred yards back up the road in the direction Mr. Andrews’s pickup would be coming from. Luke only had experience with a deer rifle, so Sean let him use his .308 Tikka and positioned him away from any close quarters fighting. Luke had originally complained about being so far away from the action, but understood the reasoning behind it. There were no complaints out of Darren who was in a hidden position near Luke. Darren’s only job was to break cover momentarily and place the spike strips on the road after the engagement started to prevent the pickup’s escape if the Barrett didn’t perform as expected.
It was nearing dawn and they had just finished setting up the deadfall for the final time. It took quite a bit of time to fall a tree large enough to block the entire road, then de-limb it, and get it into position. After using a block and tackle to raise it in the air, there had been some debate on whether to test it out after all the hard work to get the large tree trunk in position. It was a good thing they did, because their first try saw the tree glance off a nearby limb and land horizontal to the road. After climbing the neighboring tree and cutting the limb and some other modifications, the tree landed squarely in the roadway the second try. It had been hoisted up into position one more time and now stood in position, waiting to be dropped a final time. Sean’s muscles ached and he fought off the temptation to close his eyes after the sleepless night of physical labor. Due to their weight, only one steel silhouette target had been brought and was positioned in front of Randy, who had the least protection. He would be on the river side of the road with only one medium-sized tree available to hide behind. Every possible scenario and outcome had been discussed. What if “x” happened? What if “y” happened? Now it was just a waiting game.
They didn’t have long to wait before Luke whistled out a warning which made its way down the hillside. The most important part of their plan was about to happen and Sean’s adrenaline and anxiety was boiling over in an instant. He could now hear the truck barreling down the road but was unable to see it yet. If Damian didn’t drop the tree at the exact right time, then their whole ambush could be ruined. If he dropped it too early, then the truck could stop too far up the road and have time to turn around. If the tree was dropped too late, then obviously the truck would just keep driving down the road with only the Barrett to possibly stop it with a perfect shot on a moving target. Sean saw a flash of white through the trees up the road and turned to watch Damian, who was two positions away. A second later, Sean saw the tree careening down towards the road. Just as i
t was about to hit the ground, it bounced perfectly off the stump of a nearby tree they had removed from the deadfall’s path. The large tree trunk came to rest at an angle only blocking three-quarters of the roadway.
The sound of tires screeching filled the perfectly quiet morning. The truck came to rest sideways on the road. Sean emptied an entire magazine in the direction of the rear tire closest to him. After the first shot, everyone else joined in. Through his red dot scope, Sean watched bullet holes appearing all over the bottom side of the truck. Even though Randy was fifty or sixty yards away, the sound of the bolt action Barrett was obvious. There were two men in the back of the truck still, though Sean wasn’t sure how they had managed to hang on during the truck’s violent stop. At this point they were lying down in the back of the truck and firing randomly over the sides of the bed. The old F150 lurched forward as the driver tried to navigate around the obstruction. Everything happened so quickly in a matter of seconds. Sean grabbed the spare mag off the ground in front of him and reloaded his SU-16. The sounds from their weapons slowed except for the Barrett which continued its slow bolt action cadence. “Boom...Boom...Boom!” At the last shot, Sean noticed a stream of radiator fluid shooting out of the front of the truck in all directions. The truck lumbered to a halt directly beside the tree, not getting very far.
“Hold your fire!” Sean screamed at the top of his lungs. A few more sporadic shots came from over the top of the truck’s bed, but they weren’t even looking where they were shooting. It was what Brody called panic fire. “Hold your fire!” Sean screamed once again, this time at the pickup and not the other guys from the group. “We have you completely surrounded: outgunned and outmanned! We didn’t have to miss! We don’t want to kill you, but if you don’t surrender, we will! We only want your supplies and guns!” It had been decided that they should try and portray themselves as simple looters. If Mr. Andrews knew who they were, who knows how he might react. He might decide to shoot it out.
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