by Warren Ray
It was the last picture the three of them had been in together. The thought upset her because she missed her mom. She would never be able to hug her again or be able to tell her what was bothering her. Her mom had always been there for her and loved her unconditionally, unlike her father, who always thought he knew best. The thought of him started to make her angry and she whispered, “Don’t worry mom. I’ll make him pay for what he did to you.”
The Hoover building came into sight. Cara took in the enormity of the concrete building and thought it was ugly. She thought it looked like a jail and hoped she was not going to be staying there.
The limo became dark as it pulled into an underground parking lot. After a few turns, it came to a stop. A man approached the car and opened the door.
“Miss Winters, I’m Lieutenant Wagner.” The Lieutenant was in his early thirties and sported a crew cut. He wore the dark blue uniform of the National Police. He put out his hand for Cara.
Cara grabbed it and scooted out of the car. The lieutenant led her to an empty office suite and invited her to sit down at a long conference table. The room had a Spartan feel, as there was nothing but the table, some swivel chairs and a monitor at the far side of the room.
“I hope you had a good flight.”
Cara nodded her head. Wagner offered her a pastry and something to drink, but she declined.
After a few minutes of small talk designed to enable Wagner to assess Cara and her motives, he said, “I just wanted to meet with you briefly to give you a heads up on what to expect. Tomorrow morning, I’ll introduce you to Commandant Melnick and Mr. Reed. They’re the ones in charge and they’ll be overseeing everything. After that, you’ll meet with a person who will help you navigate the district.”
Cara smiled and thanked him.
“For now, I’ll have the driver take you to a hotel. It’s the best one in town and has a five-star restaurant, so please feel free to order anything you like. Get some rest and I’ll see you in the morning.”
She hopped back in the limo and slumped into the black leather seats. She liked the way Lieutenant Wagner treated her. He made her feel important, which reinforced her decision to come to the police. Her thoughts on that were elevated when she arrived at the hotel. The lobby had a marble floor and everyone was dressed in business attire. She suddenly felt out of place wearing her jean shorts and a tank top. Her flip-flops slapped the marble floor as the driver escorted her to the front desk. The lady behind the desk smiled and welcomed her to D.C. then handed her a key card. The elevator ride to her room seemed to take forever and she was taken aback when the bellboy opened the door to her room. She wasn’t sure if she was supposed to tip him, but it didn’t matter since she had no money anyway.
Cara’s mouth literally dropped when she walked into her room. A room that was bigger than her whole house back in Iowa. She looked around and knew she had arrived.
Chapter 22
Jackson Michigan
Winters was grateful when Scar stepped in between Nordell and himself. He hadn’t had anyone question his action like that since the first Patriot Center drop-off back in Jackson County Minnesota. It had been a slaughter that day. They lost many lives including Rogers, a friend of Elliott and Nate. The men from Minnesota were angry that Winters hadn’t come in and just killed everyone. He had just experienced the same response from Nordell.
Winters had become pretty good at reading body language and he could see Nordell hadn’t settled down. Even though the man was now talking with some of his men, it didn’t seem to matter. Winters learned from Scar that Marines of his stature were not the most patient people and typically wanted to kick ass whenever and wherever.
Nordell didn’t have the burden of the bigger picture that was required of Winters. It wasn’t easy to allow these cops to leave Jackson without retribution, but Winters knew it was for the best. If he were right, these cops would be back in full force, which put them at the disadvantage of open ground. If the Shadow Patriots played their cards right, they could set up an ambush and take them all out at once. They could end this in one day instead of chasing them all over the state for the next few weeks or months.
Winters gathered the men together and explained how they were going to set up an ambush on the interstate. Everyone was excited knowing they had the opportunity to be on the offensive again. They had only been on the offensive a couple of times. One was the storming of the “party house” the cops used to satisfy their deviant desires. Rescuing those girls had been gratifying, but it came at a high price when they had encountered the cops in the sandpits. The most recent time was the raid on Mordulfah’s compound but that had been a rescue mission. Not since attacking the Patriot Centers had they really been on the offensive. However, that was in the early days and most of the men with them now hadn’t even been in their group at that time.
The Shadow Patriots drove all the vehicles to the closed down Jackson Crossing outdoors mall located just off the interstate. They drove around back to park the vehicles out of sight.
Winters noticed that Nordell and Hollis hadn’t joined them. He thought they must have gone home.
Winters walked up to Scar. “Did he go home?”
Scar knew whom Winters was talking about without having to ask. “He said he’d be back tomorrow. He needed to be with his neighbors.”
“Yeah, I get that.”
“Can’t be easy, Captain. Seeing your neighbors shot up and then seeing us standing on the sidelines.”
“Yes, but…”
“Don’t get me wrong,” interrupted Scar. “I’m with you on this.”
Winters let out a sigh. “I know, it’s just that it was a pretty intense moment for me.”
“Captain, I know being in charge isn’t easy. Believe me, when you were a prisoner, I had to carry your burden. It’s not something I relished. Even though I was a business owner, and had employees, it wasn’t anything like having to make constant life or death decisions. And hell, I’m a Marine.”
Winter couldn’t help but wonder if Nordell was going to be a problem.
Chapter 23
Nordell slammed the door of the squad car and started it up. He threw the gearshift into drive and stepped on the pedal. His mind was moving at high speed thinking about what had happened in his hometown of Jackson. How dare the cops come in and shoot up this town. Kill innocent women and children. Nordell had seen many things in his life but nothing compared to this morning. He wasn’t going to let these bastards get away with it. One way or another he’d find the ones responsible and kill them.
His thoughts then turned to these so-called Shadow Patriots and their weakling leader, Cole Winters. Never had he seen such a pansy leading that many men. The men who followed him must be under some kind of spell to fall for his bullshit. The man didn’t have any kind of a military background and looked like he couldn’t take a punch or give one for that matter. Nordell thought Winters was about to wet himself when he got up in his face. A real man would have taken a shot at him. Of course, it would have been his only shot, cause he would have dropped him like a sack of flour. Still, he would have respected that, but no, his friend Scarborough, who calls himself a Marine, had to rescue him. That idiot was probably a clerk and did nothing but shuffle papers around.
Nordell turned to his passenger John Hollis. “You up for taking these bastards on?”
“Which ones?” snickered Hollis referring to the Shadow Patriots.
“Yeah, right.”
“You know I’m with ya.”
“We’ll gather the boys up and whoever else wants to join us.”
“We’re going to need a lot more weapons than what we got.”
Nordell gave that some thought for a moment. “I know where there’s plenty of weapons.”
Hollis glanced at his friend.
“Did you see how well supplied those Pansies are?”
“I did notice they were carrying some fine weaponry,” said Hollis.
“Wonder whe
re they got it all?”
“Don’t really care, just as long as they want to give us some of it.”
“Well, I’m sure we could be very persuasive.”
“Yeah, they don’t look like much of a problem.”
Nordell was glad to have his childhood friend John with him. He and Hollis went way back as kids roaming the town of Jackson, when it was allowed, even expected for kids to be gone all day. They explored on their bikes, fished and swam in ponds and rivers. Shot BB guns and graduated to rifles, as they got older. Their fathers took them hunting at a young age, and they both got their first deer before they were twelve. As teens they started to go hunting without their fathers and once they got their driver’s licenses would go on overnight hunting trips.
They wanted to join the Marines together, but Hollis had been in a car wreck that rendered him immobile for close to a year. The accident left him with a slight limp and he wasn’t able to pass the physical. Instead, he became a truck driver, which gave him the opportunity to see the country. It also allowed him enough time to continue his passion for hunting.
They reached the center of town on West Wesley Street and pulled into a parking lot, which was shared by two churches. As they pulled into the lot, they saw a crowd had gathered and the looks of despair turned to anger when they saw the police car. Word had spread that the cops were responsible for the killings.
Relief was visible when Nordell and Hollis got out of the car. They approached the crowd gathered in the center of the parking lot. Many were trying to console the families and friends of the victims killed inside the churches. Some of the people recognized Nordell and knew his background.
“Gunny, did you take them on?” asked someone in the crowd.
Nordell turned to him. “John and I took out four of them.”
“You going after ‘em,” asked another.
Nordell knew the crowd expected him to put together a posse and extract revenge. He looked at them as they stared at him and said, “Hell ya we’re going after them.”
Passionate affirmations ricocheted throughout the crowd.
“First things first. We need to bury our dead and then we’ll go after them.”
Chapter 24
Washington D.C.
Green changed cars at another parking garage and headed for a meeting with his friend Sam White, who worked at the State Department. It was Sam who had gotten Green the info on Pruitt.
Sam had been an unwilling participant at first, but as he became more involved with helping Green, he decided to go all in himself. Sam was looking into more connections to Perozzi and Reed, connections that might be able to help them piece together all the players involved.
Green walked into Pub II, the same sports bar he’d met with Sam back when he started asking for his help. As before, all the monitors had European soccer games on. Green saw his friend shooting darts off to the side of the bar. Sam had ordered a bucket of beers and Green grabbed one as soon as he reached the table.
Green took in a large gulp and then shook his friend’s hand.
“That bad, huh?” asked Sam.
“If I’m right, then yes.”
Sam raised an eyebrow, which made the deep wrinkles around his mouth and eyes appear more pronounced.
Green filled him in on what Jacob Gibbs had and hadn’t told him.
Sam shook his head in anger and took a large gulp of beer. “When are we meeting up with the group again?”
“Tuesday night. Are you coming?”
“Yeah, I’ll be there.”
“I’ll tell what though, the man looked nervous as hell.”
“Gibbs?” asked a surprised Sam.
“I know. It doesn’t seem like anything would spook him.”
They took a couple of turns of darts and each polished off another beer. As always, Sam was beating Green by knocking out the bull’s eye with ease. Sam had honed his skills at darts in college, playing for money, and kept at it over the years.
Sam was in mid-stride when he remembered something. He stopped for a moment and then threw the dart, which didn’t even hit the board.
Green grimaced.
“I just friggin remembered something.”
Green waited for him to finish.
“If Reed set up all the protesting, then I might know who could have had something to do with it. I was doing some digging into Reed’s background and ran across some names that didn’t mean anything at the time, but there was this one guy, named Patrick O’Connor, who Reed knew from way back. He was over in Afghanistan, but was discharged for killing some Afganies that he apparently had a run in with and wanted to send a message.”
Green was surprised. He had never heard of him or the incident.
“It was kept pretty hush-hush.”
“Didn’t he get court-martialed?”
“Nope.”
“What happened to him?” asked Green.
“Somehow O’Connor managed to get a job with the ATF.”
This surprised Green even more, but then remembered Colonel Nunn had been let out of jail after being convicted of selling weapons on the black market. “Where is he now?”
“He’s dead.”
Green shook his head and sighed. “Let me guess, he was killed in a car accident?”
“Bingo. I’m sure Pruitt had his hand in that,” said Sam with a smirk on his face.
“Well, that’s that,” said Green.
“What about his wife?”
Green put down his beer. “He was married?”
“Don’t know for sure, but I can check.”
“Good, do it first thing in the morning. Let’s meet at the coffee shop at ten.”
Chapter 25
After convincing his wife he needed to go to an important meeting, Reed entered his favorite five-star restaurant. The hostess greeted him and led him to his usual table where Perozzi was already waiting. He squeezed his rotund body into the booth and slid across the dark leather seat into the booth. Perozzi had already ordered a scotch for him.
Reed reached for the drink and held it up. Perozzi met his glass halfway across the table. They clinked glasses and each took a sip.
Perozzi smiled and said. “So, tell me what kind of girl is she?”
“One who hates her father, that’s for sure.”
“Obviously,” said Perozzi through a small laugh. “But, can she pull it off?”
Reed thought for a moment. “They tell me she’s a bit on the scruffy side but nothing that can’t be fixed. Other than that, yes, I think she’ll do just fine.”
“I’m assuming she wants the reward?”
“I would imagine. If she plays along with us, then we’ll see about that.”
“What are your plans for her?”
“I’m going to do use her to test Major Green’s loyalties.”
Perozzi’s interest was piqued.
“I’ll have her seek out Major Green and ask if he knows how to find her dad.”
Perozzi took a sip. “How are you going to do that?”
“Haven’t worked out the details yet, but I’ll have a back story ready for her, maybe have her drop some names.”
“Which brings me to our next subject,” said Perozzi.
Reed didn’t like the tone of that. He knew Perozzi well enough to know that he usually starts bad news with that type of statement.
“Mordulfah is meeting us here. He should be here in about thirty minutes.”
Reed was not happy. He didn’t like the man and didn’t like being around him. He detested the man’s insatiable appetite for little girls. He had granddaughters that age and couldn’t understand why anyone would be attracted to them. Reed had done many underhanded things in his life, including taking down a president, he had many people killed, but never would he purposely subject little girls to a pedophile like Mordulfah. It crossed a line and left a bad taste in his mouth. Unfortunately, it was something that he had to keep his mouth shut about because Mordulfah was Perozzi’s partn
er in this endeavor to take control of the country. A deal in which Reed thought Perozzi was giving away too much. Moreover, he knew it would be a problem down the road. Importing Muslims and giving them a whole region of the country would only whet their appetite for more land. It was like allowing a hornet’s nest to grow in your garage; eventually, you would have to deal with it.
“What’s his problem today?” asked Reed.
“He didn’t really say.”
“Does he want us to supply him with workers to fix up his precious mansion?”
Perozzi chuckled. “Now, let’s not go down that road.”
“Why doesn’t he just move to another house out there? Hell, there’s plenty of nice ones.”
“None as famous as the Ford Mansion. It has a lot of meaning to a man like him.
“Yeah, pretending to be some kind of industrial leader.”
Perozzi let out another laugh. “You really don’t like him, do you?”
“No, I don’t. He’s someone whom I’m going to have to deal with down the road.”
“Maybe, maybe not, who knows what the future will bring.”
Reed wondered if Perozzi had other plans for Mordulfah. He didn’t know all of Perozzi’s thoughts, but it bothered him that Perozzi never seemed fazed by the deal he had made with Mordulfah.
Chapter 26
Jackson Michigan
The rain in Jackson, Michigan, started out as a sprinkle and soon turned into a downpour. Winters’ men had broken into an abandoned big box store, which they parked their vehicles in the back of and took shelter for the night. Not only had the Canadians furnished them with weapons, ammo, and food, but they also supplied them with sleeping bags. Taylor, being in charge of supplies, distributed MRE’s to the men, and they settled in for the night.
Winters stood at the open garage entrance and watched the rain coming down so hard it was difficult to see beyond the parked vehicles. He liked watching the rain and the fast moving storm clouds roiling overhead. He thought, perhaps, they’d be in for a tornado, which wouldn’t be too unusual for this time of year. Living in the Midwest, you grew accustomed to severe storms. They had been lucky to avoid any major storms in their travels. The only time they operated in the rain was during their escape to Mr. Peterson’s farm.