The Shadow Patriots Box Set

by Warren Ray

  He grabbed the radio. “Everyone back up. Back the hell up. We’ve been set up.”

  Winters turned to Elliott. “Get us the hell out of here.”

  Winters heard the impact of the first bullet coming through the windshield before he heard the report. He looked over and saw muzzle flashes coming from the tree line to the left and right. He grabbed his M4 Carbine and pushed the window button down. He pulled his weapon up and started firing wildly into the tree line to his right. He emptied the magazine in just a few seconds and slammed in another one. More bullets ripped into the front of their vehicle. Steam began to pour out from under the hood.

  Elliott looked in the side mirror and saw the vehicles behind him starting to back up. He threw the shift lever into reverse and slammed the pedal to the floor. The tires spun and white smoke passed them by as the truck shot backward.

  “I’m going to whip it around,” yelled Elliott. “Get ready.”

  Winters locked in another full mag.

  Elliott spun the wheel around.

  Winters saw muzzle flashes to the left. More bullets pelted their truck. He had just a couple of seconds to fire to the left as they turned. He straightened his leg to brace himself as Elliott made the radical 180-degree turn. Winters pointed his weapon and emptied the mag into the flashes. Their tail end was now protecting them as Elliott stomped on the gas. They didn’t have much room to maneuver as both lanes were clogged with everyone trying to get out of the way of the ambush.

  Winters looked into the side mirror and saw cop cars coming up from behind. He grabbed more ammo, moved to the back of the SUV and smashed the window. He opened fire on the approaching cars.

  The SUV jerked ahead and then sputtered.

  “We’re done here,” yelled Elliott. “Engine just died.”

  “Grab the radio and let them know,” said Winters. “I’ll cover our six.”

  “Scar, Burns, we’re taking heavy fire, I repeat we’re taking heavy fire. They’re on both flanks. Our truck is dead, and we’re on foot, over.”

  “I’m about thirty seconds out, over,” responded Scar.

  “I’m approaching now,” said Burns. “I see the bad guys on your flank. We’ll take them on.”

  “How’s it looking, Captain?” asked Hadley on the radio.

  Elliott responded. “We need a pick up, over.”

  “I’m coming back now, sir,” said Hadley.

  Elliott looked up and saw Hadley coming hard and fast with his SUV in reverse. “Captain, let’s go.”

  Winters crawled back up front. He and Elliott grabbed everything and they jumped out and ran to the approaching Hadley. They scrambled into the back and Hadley peeled out.

  Winters breathed a sigh of relief. All the vehicles had escaped and had moved into defensive positions up ahead. He hadn’t had time to think but was now able to assess their situation. His first concern was Amber and Reese. He hadn’t heard from Nate and Meeks and wondered if the Jijis had taken them, prisoner. He picked up the radio and tried them.

  “Meeks come in.”

  “We’re here, Captain,” he responded right back.

  “You guys all right?”

  “Yep, we’re getting close to the girls, and we’ll have additional passengers.”

  “How many?”

  “Ten to fifteen.”

  “Where are you guys at?”

  “We’re across the street behind the gas station.”

  Winters thought for a moment. The four of them were behind enemy lines and they would have others in tow. He assumed they knew they were on their own.

  “Go south and get them out of the way,” said Winters.

  “Will do.”

  Winters put the radio down relieved that they were okay. He took a moment to think about how the cops knew they were coming. It was a perfect ambush. Had he not seen the movement in the trees they would have put the whole convoy in peril. They must have had someone in town reporting on their movements. Nothing else made sense. He then remembered what Amber had said about the cop’s unusual behavior of attacking the churches. Could this whole thing been set up from the get go? His mind raced back to Burns and his Sun Tzu quote. “By holding out baits, he keeps him on the march, then with a body of picked men he lies in wait for him.” The thing that bugged Winters the most was why Mordulfah had his men just sitting up on the interstate. They hadn’t moved even after his men attacked. Why had they not moved? Then it hit him. Mordulfah like to play chess and he was playing a game right now. Mordulfah played a perfect diversion tactic move on him. He was sacrificing his men by dividing his army, knowing that we would have to do the same. He had an overwhelming force and now Winters knew that Mordulfah’s men were there waiting to strike. The hairs on his arms stood straight up as if charged by electricity when he realized both Scar and Burns were heading into an ambush as well.

  Chapter 48

  Washington D.C.

  After clearing the rest of his workload, Green packed his briefcase and headed out the door. He had just reached the parking garage when he saw someone approach him. The overhead fluorescent lights didn’t provide good lighting, and he couldn’t recognize the man. He grew tense, wondering if the man was going to shoot him. He reached into his jacket for his sidearm. The man walked by without incident. Green breathed a sigh of relief and thought that maybe he was being a little too paranoid. He decided to check the box of evidence and opened the trunk. He pulled up the spare tire and saw the contents were still there. He looked around to see if anyone was watching him. Not seeing anyone, he got into his car and drove home.

  He entered the front door carrying the box, hoping to prevent his mother asking aloud what it was. Fearing the house was bugged he walked into the kitchen with his finger to his mouth.

  Sarah Green looked at the box and nodded. “How was work, John?”

  “Oh, the usual, paperwork and meetings, nothing exciting.”

  “Before you eat would you mind helping me out in the shed?”

  Leaving through the back door, they walked across the lawn and opened the tool shed. Sarah’s petite figure allowed both of them to stand inside between the lawn tools and mower. Major Green set the box down, opened it up and briefed his mother on his meeting with Alison O’Connor.

  “You don’t seem too surprised, Mother.”

  “No, I’m not. What I am surprised about is that you have this info. It’s an unbelievable find, John.” She paused for a moment. “That poor woman, no wonder she drinks.”

  “She’s definitely carrying a heavy burden. She seemed relieved to get rid of this box.”

  “Question is, what are we going to do with it?”

  “I’m not sure. I’m nervous just having it here. I don’t even want to tell anyone about it until we’re sure we can trust them.”

  “Including Gibbs?” asked Sarah.

  “Especially him, my last meeting with him was really short. He was acting very odd and scared. I don’t like not having control over Pruitt’s computer. Up until now, it was the only tool I had with damning info about Reed and Perozzi.”

  “John, you can trust him.”

  “Yes, but you never know whether or not someone has something on him.”

  Sarah shrugged her shoulders.

  “I know I’m acting paranoid, but I think under the circumstances, it’s a good thing.”

  Sarah gave him a reaffirming nod. “Let’s scan the journal, download the recording and put it all on a flash drive. We can find a good spot to keep it.”

  Chapter 49

  Woodstock Township Michigan

  The back door to the empty building was unlocked and gave a slight creak as Meeks pulled on it. They entered a large room, which looked like it had once housed the kitchen for a restaurant. An obnoxious odor invaded their nostrils. Meeks knew it was the smell of death. He could see light coming from underneath a door to the right and more coming from another in the front of the building. Meeks pointed to the one on the right. Nate gripped his Mossberg
590 A1 tactical shotgun tightly. Meeks carried a Colt M4 as they moved silently toward the lit doorway. He stopped short when he heard a noise coming from the door at the front. They had nowhere to go. The door opened and light spilled into the open room and exposed them. Meeks raised his weapon and took aim. He was about to fire when he heard a familiar voice call out to him in a hushed tone.

  “Meeks?”

  He recognized Reese’s voice and lowered his weapon. He waved them back through the door as he and Nate crept toward them. They entered the front of the oversized room and saw the dead cop by the entrance.

  “You guys all right?” he asked in a whispered tone.

  Reese nodded.

  Meeks noticed the blood on her hand and gave Nate a bump.

  Nate gave Reese an approving nod.

  “We’ve got two guards here. You guys stay here while we go fish them out,” ordered Meeks.

  Reese, feeling left out, glared at him.

  “I need eyes on the front, can’t have any surprises coming at us.”

  The two men hustled back into the kitchen and approached the door. Meeks grabbed the handle and slowly gave it a turn. He peeked inside and saw a group of girls sitting on the floor. He opened it a bit further and spotted one guard sitting in a chair with his back toward the door. Meeks whispered to Nate who signaled him to open it and he’d rush in first. High on adrenaline, Nate jumped through the door and bum rushed the guard knocking him to the floor. He swung the stock of his shotgun into the cop’s gut. Nate struck him again as Meeks swept the room for the other cop among the frightened young girls who sat huddled together on the floor.

  “Where’s the other cop?” Meeks asked the girls.

  “He had to use the bathroom,” answered an older girl.

  Meeks shot Nate a worried glance.

  Amber headed toward the rest room on the far end of the building and was startled when the door to the men’s room swung open. A short cop walked out and was equally surprised to see Amber standing there. Both hesitated for a second before the cop lunged at her. She tried to cry out, but he had grabbed her around the throat with both his hands while pushing her up against the wall.

  The cop was strong, but Amber’s five-foot ten-inch athletic frame towered over the shorter man and her days of playing college softball came in handy. She swung her right arm under and up around the cop’s arms forcing his hands off her throat and seized his upper torso tightly, pinning his arms. She tried to throw a punch with her left hand, but the cop twisted around tripping them both. She landed hard on the tiled floor with him coming down on top of her. The fall broke her hold on his arms. The cop swung a punch, which landed across her face. The blow stung and stars raced before her eyes. She twisted around onto her stomach and used the last of her strength to lift up and push them both into the wall. This time she fell on him. Her left hand felt something familiar. It was his holstered pistol. She yanked it unsnapping the strap and freeing the weapon. She leaned away from him, pulled back on the slide to chamber a round and pulled the trigger.

  The loud report of the pistol alerted Reese who jumped out of her chair while firmly gripping the Taurus 9mm she had confiscated from Jaeger. She sprinted across the room and met Meeks and Nate as they came bounding out of the back room. The three of them arrived to find a heavily breathing Amber sitting on the floor staring at her first kill.

  “Whoa, Amber, you all right?” asked Meeks who reached down to her.

  She started shaking.

  Meeks put his arm around her and helped her stand up. “Hey, you did good, honey. It was either you or him.”

  She nodded trying to catch her breath.

  Reese put her arms around her.

  “It’s my first time,” she said.

  “The first is always the hardest, especially close up,” said Meeks.

  “It’s so weird though, I’ve seen so many get killed, but it feels so different when you’re the one pulling the trigger.”

  “Think of it as payback, Amber,” said Nate. “These sons-of-bitches owe you a lot.”

  She nodded her head.

  Nate looked at her face. “I see you’re going to have a badge of honor. Don’t look too bad, it might even look sexy.” He gave her a wink.

  She let out a little laugh.

  More gunfire coming from the west side of the road interrupted them and they turned their attention back to the situation at hand.

  “We need to get these girls out of here and into the woods behind us,” said Meeks. “We’re behind enemy lines so we’re on our own.”

  Chapter 50

  It dawned on Winters that the chess move Mordulfah had made was why he had left half his men up on the interstate. It was a way to divide Winters’ men and use his superior forces to slaughter the Shadow Patriots. He had walked right into the trap and now there was no time to lose. He heard gunfire from his right and knew that Burns was already engaging the shooters that had almost taken him out. He heard nothing from the left. Scar hadn’t gotten there yet.

  He reached for the radio. “Scar, Burns, come in, over.”

  “Little busy here, over,” said Burns.

  “Just reaching the intersection,” said Scar.

  “This whole thing is a trap, Jijis are in the area, get the hell out of there.”

  “Too late for me,” said Burns. “They’re coming in on my six now.”

  “Damn it,” said Scar. “I’ve got those cops on 124 behind me now. I’ve got a tree line on both sides. I’ve got nowhere to go.”

  Winters put the radio down and thought about his options. He had his force divided into four parts, half of which had no idea what was happening. Basset’s men were forty miles away, too far for radio contact. He needed them here, now. The only thing he had in his favor was that the sun was setting and it would be completely dark in about thirty minutes

  He turned to Elliott. “Get Hadley over here,” he ordered in a stern voice.

  Hadley came running up to him.

  “I need you to haul ass and get in radio range of Bassett. You tell him to get down here.”

  Hadley nodded.

  “Then I want you to go find that nutcase Nordell. Tell him he needs to get as many men ready as he can. Something tells me those Jijis are coming into town.”

  Hadley jumped into his SUV and peeled out.

  Winters got on the radio and told Scar to hold on.

  He turned to Elliott. “Let’s get over and help Burns.”

  “What about Scar?”

  “Just do as I say,” snapped Winters.

  Elliott raised an eyebrow.

  Winters shook his head and waved both hands. “Look we can’t help them both and hold this line at the same time.”

  Elliott nodded and ordered up a squad.

  Winters picked up the radio. “Burns, we’re coming in. Where you at?”

  “We’re in the driveway between two buildings. They’ve got shooters up in the house and I’m taking fire from the road now.”

  “We’re coming in from the north. Get ready to move.”

  Winters led a five-vehicle convoy down into a ditch and up an embankment to enter the field north of Burns’ position. As they got closer, they began to draw fire from the tree line. They exited the vehicles and Winters ordered up the M249, affectionately known as the SAW, a belt fed machine gun that fired 725 rounds a minute. Each belt had two hundred rounds ready to go. It was an effective badass weapon.

  Elliott set the gun down and snapped in a belt of ammunition.

  Winters radioed Burns to get ready.

  Elliott pulled the slide back and fired off several bursts.

  Burns radioed in. “More to the west.”

  “To the right,” he told Elliott.

  Elliott pulled the trigger. Tracers streaked out. He lined up his shots.

  “Right there, Captain,” radioed Burns. “Rain hell on them, they’re already running.”

  Winters yelled to the men telling them where to concentrate their fire.


  For the next few minutes, the Shadow Patriots continued firing. Small trees fell over as lead ripped through them. Gunfire echoed through the air as smoke wafted over the men.

  “Captain, we’re coming through,” yelled Burns.

  Winters shouted to cease-fire.

  One after another, vehicles burst out of the trees and made their way through the open field. The men excitedly yelled out their “Hoorahs”.

  Chapter 51

  Lima Township Michigan

  Bassett and Eddie watched from the top of the barn as Taylor and another car sped down the interstate to try to force the parked Jijis to react. They had stopped about five hundred yards away and waited. A shot rang out from on top of the overpass that the Jijis now patrolled.

  The shot fell short, hitting the pavement about seventy-five yards in front of Taylor’s car.

  “Not much of a player,” chuckled Taylor on the radio. “She’s going to have to do better if she wants any of me.”

  Bassett laughed. “You bring your Savage, Badger.”

  “Come on Twinkle, I don’t come to a party unprepared, just ask your mom.”

  Taylor reached in the backseat and pulled out a Savage 110 BA sniper rifle. It had a range of 1100 yards and Taylor had been practicing with it in Canada for the last week. His bad eyes weren’t a problem with the high-powered scope he was using. He placed the rifle between the opened front door and the fender, took aim at the idiot Jiji standing in plain view on the overpass.

  The shot rang out. A second later, the shot found its mark, throwing the Jiji backward.

  “Ah,” yelled Taylor throwing back the bolt.

  The Jijis scattered, taking cover. They then returned fire shooting their AK-47’s.