by Warren Ray
Burns nodded.
They waited there for a while, watching a couple of cars pull in.
“Seems like a party,” quipped Murphy.
Two men got out of one car and three from another. They were joking and laughing with each other as they made their way to the entrance. A few people came outside and engaged with them before the new arrivals went inside.
“What do ya want to do?” asked Murphy.
“Let’s see if we can see inside.”
They ran across the road to the building nearest them. They snuck up to the first window only to find the curtains closed. They found the same thing on the next set. They scooted down the long row of windows to find all of them closed off.
Burns came to a patio where lights sliced through the darkness. He heard voices and raised his fist. Murphy stopped dead in his tracks. Burns turned to Murphy and motioned him to back up. They slipped through the darkness, the way they had come and ran to the safety of the woods.
Burns gave Murphy a serious look. “Whatever is happening in there can’t be good.”
Murphy didn’t respond.
“We can do one of two things. Neither one is going to be pleasant.”
Murphy waited for Burns to continue.
“We can either walk in like we own the place or wait for one of them to come outside and knock him over.”
“Then what?”
“Force him to talk.”
“What if he doesn’t?”
“Like I said, neither of these options are real appealing.”
“I’d go with the first option if we had Scar here. He’s good at improvising, me, not so much.”
“Yeah, good point. We’ll wait for one to come out alone.”
“A small one if we can,” laughed Murphy.
“Oh, gosh yes.”
“So, should we water board the bastard?” asked Murphy slyly.
“We’ll twist his arm and see what happens.”
Murphy thought for a second. “I suppose we could give him a wedgie.”
Burns rolled his eyes.
They sat, waiting for the next couple of hours and watched all the people move in and out of the party. They could see some were drunk inside and decided they wanted one who had been drinking. More than once they thought they had a chance only to have it spoiled by someone else coming into the parking lot. It was getting late and they were starting to lose patience when they finally spotted one coming out alone. He looked all around for his car, going in different directions before settling on a destination.
Burns and Murphy bolted out of the woods and across the parking lot. They split up and ran to either side of their unsuspecting victim. The man stopped at a car and reached for the door handle. Burns sprang up from behind. The cop thought he heard something and turned his head to see a fist come at him. The punch knocked him unconscious. His body collapsed to the ground.
Murphy came up behind Burns and looked to see if anyone might have noticed them. He gave the okay and opened the back door to the car. They picked him up and threw him in the backseat. Murphy climbed in with him and closed the door. Burns slid into the driver’s seat and found the keys in the ignition. He thought it odd at first, but then thought who would have taken it.
Burns started the car, drove cautiously out of the parking lot, and turned north on Ann Arbor. He was nervous, but forced himself to keep cool, and took the first right on Harper Dr. Apartment buildings were to his left and he swung into the big parking lot. It was a large apartment complex and had windows busted out on several of the units as if they had been ransacked.
Burns turned to Murphy. “Is he still out?”
“Yep. Did ya have to hit him so hard?”
“I barely touched him, he must be pretty hammered.”
Burns drove to a secluded corner of the lot and shut the car off. He grabbed the canteen he had in his jacket, unscrewed the cap and handed it to Murphy.
Murphy poured water all over the man’s face.
The cop woke up shaking his head back and forth. He was barely cognizant of his situation. He opened his eyes and stared at Murphy with a confused look.
“Hey, you all right?” asked Murphy.
“Who…what, what…where am I? Who are you?”
“Who am I? Dude you don’t remember me?” asked a bemused Murphy.
“I… I know you?” he slurred.
“Yeah, I saved your butt that one time.”
The man’s eyes wandered around the backseat. “Yeah, yeah, you’re huh.”
“Carl, I’m Carl.”
“Oh yeah…Carl.”
“So tell me, what’s going on back at that party?”
“You don’t know?”
“If I knew, I wouldn’t be asking you.”
“Oh yeah…that makes sense…my head hurts what happened?”
“You tripped over yourself and fell backward.”
The cop rubbed the back of his head.
“So you were going to tell me what kind of party is going on.”
“I was?”
Murphy nodded.
“Why don’t you just go and find out yourself?”
“You know how bashful I am…always got to know before I go in. So you’d be helping me out.”
“Oh, yeah. Well, you know it’s the usual party…got plenty of booze and girls.”
Murphy gave Burns a sideways glance. “Who are the girls?”
“You know.”
“No, I don’t know.”
“The ones from the towns.”
Murphy knew exactly what that meant. This is where they were bringing the girls. They were forcing the girls into slavery. He suddenly felt rage rifling through his body, he wanted to beat the hell out of this cop but thought better of it. Better not to tip their hands.
“Hey, Carl…I need another drink…you want to come to the party?”
“Depends on how many girls are there?”
The man’s eyes fluttered up and down trying to think. “I don’t know for sure, there’s a bunch though.”
“Yeah…alright. Hey, how young are they?”
The cop smiled and snickered at Murphy. “They’re not as young as what Mordulfah has.”
Burns looked at Murphy. “Who’s he?”
The man looked at Burns as if he was stupid.
“Mordulfah, come on you know he’s that Saudi Prince. He’s the one in charge.”
“Where’s he got his stash?”
“I don’t know. Wherever he lives, I suppose.”
Murphy had heard enough. He turned to Burns, tilted his head to the door, and they climbed out. Without saying a word, they took off back to their car, leaving their drunken friend to fend for himself.
Chapter 22
South Bend Indiana
Burns and Murphy pulled in early the next morning. Although exhausted, they walked into the commons area and found Winters, Scar and Meeks sitting down eating breakfast. They walked directly over to them and sat down.
“You guys back already?” asked Meeks.
“Oh yeah, and we discovered something really bad,” said Burns.
He related what they had discovered.
After hearing their story, Winters leaned back to contemplate this revelation. The news didn’t really surprise him too much. The existence of the “party house” was a logical conclusion to what they figured was happening to the girls. However, having it confirmed somehow made it different.
Hearing about this Mordulfah character was the bigger surprise. He would need to find out who this person was, and how he fits into the government’s grand scheme. Perhaps, Colonel Brocket would be able to find out.
“What do you want to do, Captain?” asked Scar.
“Rescue those girls as fast as we can.”
“Yes, and at the same time, we need to stop these animals from kidnapping any more of them,” said Scar.
Winters thought about that for a few moments. Scar was right, but they would have to prioritize their missio
n. The sooner they rescued the girls, the better. He couldn’t allow anyone to remain a sex slave for even one day.
He looked at Scar. “We’ll go to Saline today.”
Scar nodded.
Winters turned to Burns and Murphy. “You guys go get some rest, we’ll take care of this.”
They both looked at each other. “We’ll sleep in the car, Captain.”
With that, they all got up and went to prepare for their day. Winters found Elliott and Nate and briefed them.
According to Burns, the “party house” only had a few people taking care of the place during the day, and since they would get there early, he didn’t think they needed a large contingent to rescue the girls.
What he didn’t know was how many girls there were and if they had enough vehicles to transport them. Nate was only able to fill five vehicles with fuel, which included a transport. With the exception of Burns and Murphy, who insisted on coming, he decided to just take just enough men to drive the vehicles.
Within an hour, they were ready to go. Everyone grabbed their gear and headed for the vehicles.
Amber approached Winters. “Captain, I think I should go with you.”
Winters gave her a puzzled look.
“It would be comforting to those girls if you had a female with you.”
“It’s going to be real dangerous.”
“I should have been one of those girls, Captain. I’m not worried.”
Winters shrugged his shoulders. “You can ride with Nate.”
Winters had reached the door of his vehicle when Sadie came running up.
“Weren’t you going to say goodbye?”
“Hey, you’re up. I came by but you were still asleep.”
“Is it true what they’re saying, you found where they have more girls?”
“Yes, we have.”
“Can I come? My mom might be one of them.”
“No, you stay here. If I find your mom I’ll tell her where you’re at.”
“You don’t know what she looks like.”
“I’ll look for the prettiest one, the one who looks like you.”
Sadie smiled and gave Winters a big hug.
Winters pulled away and stared at her. After witnessing the slaughter in Eau Claire, he figured the cops were doing that in every town. He didn’t have the heart to tell her, that her mom was probably dead. He would put that off for now. There was no sense in getting her upset.
Meeks turned and saw Amber walking over to the transport. “Amber’s coming with?”
“She thought she could be helpful with the girls.”
“She’s going with Nate?” chuckled Meeks.
“Nate’s going to love that, Captain,” said Scar.
“Wonder if he’ll ask her to cook him lunch,” laughed Meeks.
“I’d like to see him ask her that,” snickered Scar.
Winters turned to Elliott. “Nate’s got more sense than that, right?”
Elliott gave Winters a grimaced look and shrugged his shoulders
They all walked over to their separate vehicles.
Winters got in and saw Sadie still standing there. He rolled down the window. “We shouldn’t be too long, so don’t worry.”
“You know I will.”
Winters grabbed onto the gearshift and threw it in drive. He pushed on the gas and led the small convoy out of the campus.
Chapter 23
Alexandria Virginia
Corporal Josh Bassett had gotten into Washington late last night and called Green at home. Green instructed him to come to his house in the morning. Bassett was a no nonsense soldier, and loyal to Green and to America. He was not afraid of much and took everything in stride. He stood six feet and had a muscular build he liked to keep in shape. He was a God-fearing man and believed the man up stairs had his back.
Bassett pulled into Mrs. Green’s driveway, got out of his rental and headed to the door, where he gave it a hardy knock.
Green came to the door. “Corporal Bassett.”
“Reporting for duty, sir.”
“Come in, Corporal.”
They walked into the kitchen, where Mrs. Green had left some breakfast for them. She had gone shopping to give them their privacy.
“Coffee?”
“Yes, sir.”
Green poured the coffee and instructed Bassett to help himself to the food. Bassett, with no hesitation, piled bacon and scrambled eggs onto a plate. He hadn’t had bacon in quite a while and figured he wouldn’t have another chance anytime soon.
“How did the men take the news of their deployment to the war?” Green asked.
“Most were pretty happy. They wanted to get into the fight. Others, not so much, especially knowing what they know about what’s going on in the Midwest.”
“Yes, I can’t blame them for that.”
“They don’t trust anyone in power anymore.”
“They can trust their new field commander. I know him, he’s a good man.”
“They’re disappointed you’re not with them.”
“As am I, Bassett.”
“They’re worried about you, we all think it’s strange you’re here.”
“Yes, well, that’s why you’re here now. I need someone I can trust. You’re going to be doing many things I can’t ask anyone else to do.”
“Are we going to be helping the Shadow Patriots?”
“As much as we can.”
Bassett was pleased. “You can count on me, sir.”
“Good, cause something tells me they’re going to need our help. Have you heard, the government knows who Winters is now?”
“No sir, I didn’t. How did they find out?”
“They sent a spy to St. Paul and he ran into someone with a big mouth. Once they got a name, the rest was easy. The media is blaming Winters for everything that Colonel Nunn was responsible for and more.”
“What are we going to do?”
“We’re going to spy on the government, find out everything we can about what they’re up to, and relay this info to Winters. The government still wants to find him, so we’re going to feed them false info to throw them off track.”
“How are we going to do that?”
“Oh, didn’t I tell you? They put me in charge of finding the Shadow Patriots.”
Bassett stopped eating, nodded his head, and gave Green a satisfying grin.
Green handed Bassett the report Reed had given him. “First thing I want you to do is to go to Michigan. There’s a report of the Shadow Patriots having a firefight with the cops in Eau Claire. I need you to find out what really happened. Also, look around see what else you can dig up. I’ll get you official status by issuing you a Homeland Security badge.”
“You can do that?”
“They’re dead set on catching our friends and have given me a blank check. Hell, I’m even going to fly you out there on a military charter.”
“A badge huh, I could use badge.”
“This stays between you and me. You answer only to me.” He handed him a slip of paper with an address on it. “They’ll take your picture and get your credentials in order. You’ll catch a plane out of Andrews to Detroit. Once you get there, check in with Captain Cox. He runs the National Police station there. Find out what you can, but don’t push any subject too far. Remember, you’re there to help catch the Shadow Patriots.”
“You got it, Major,” said Bassett, taking another strip of bacon.
Chapter 24
Saline Michigan
The Shadow Patriots pulled into the town of Saline from the south. They pulled into a parking lot on the corner of Ann Arbor and Henry St. The sun shone brightly and took the chill off the morning. Winters got out of his car and stretched his legs while he looked around the empty town. It looked like any normal town in America except there was no one around. No cars were parked on the streets and there was an eerie silence that wasn’t normal. He lifted his head and noticed a water tower, wondering if it still held water.
/> Burns walked over to him holding a map. “Captain, that place is over there.” He checked out the street sign and put his finger on the map. “And we’re right here.”
“Let’s leave the transport here,” announced Winters.
He walked over to Amber and handed her a Glock 17. She took the 9mm and checked the magazine.
“What’s our play, Captain?” asked Scar.
Winters turned to Burns. “Let’s get to where you were watching them, so we can see what’s up.”
Five minutes later, Burns and Murphy, had them set up where they had been last night.
“This parking lot was full of cars last night, Captain,” said Murphy.
“Hell, there’s only three cars here, there can’t be that many people inside,” said Scar.
“Everyone must be working,” said Murphy.
“Well duh, they’re out looking for us,” quipped Meeks.
Scar bumped Meeks’ shoulder. “They’re not very good are they?”
“Nooo they’re not,” snickered Meeks.
“I don’t see any reason, we don’t just walk right in there,” said Scar. “Meeks and I will just go on in like we usually do.”
“I like the sound of that, Captain,” said Meeks.
Winters shrugged his shoulders. “We’ll get to the rear entrance and wait for you.”
Meeks thumped Scar on the shoulder smiling. “You ready partner? You got some wild story in your back pocket?”
“You know I don’t, it’s all spur of the moment for me, you just be ready.”
Scar asked Elliott for the keys to the SUV and the two of them ran back to where they had hidden the vehicles. The rest would wait for them to enter the parking lot before they left the safety of the woods.
A couple of minutes later, Scar drove the SUV into the lot. He gave them a thumbs up. He parked and they stuffed pistols into the small of their backs.
As soon as they walked into the building, the rest of the Shadow Patriots ran out of the woods and headed to the back of the former retirement home.
A uniformed National Policeman looked up from his desk when he heard the door open. He immediately got up, grabbed his sidearm and pointed it at Scar and Meeks.
“Hey, hold the fort there, buddy,” said Scar raising his hands.