The Shadow Patriots Box Set

by Warren Ray

  “How are you holding up, Pieces?”

  “I feel like I’m in pieces, but I’m good.”

  “We’re not too far from the road.”

  “Thank God. A paved road, it’s all I want for Christmas.”

  Meeks formed a half smile. He looked at his watch. It was getting close to one a.m. They'd been on the run for close to five hours.

  “Maybe we can find some shelter and get some rest.”

  She nodded.

  He could see she was shaking a little and wanted to find shelter quickly. Though they couldn’t pause too long because he wanted to get across US 12 before it got light, just in case the cops were still lingering in the area.

  They continued to slog across the muddy field and finally made it to Waldron Road. The excitement of walking on pavement lifted their spirits and gave them a renewed outlook on their situation. They had walked about a half-mile on Waldron Road when they spotted a farmhouse on the right.

  “Are you going to knock this time?” smirked Reese.

  Meeks let out a laugh.

  The visibility was poor in the heavy rain, so they ran up the driveway and found the house had a barn off to the side. Taking hold of Reese’s arm, he guided her toward the barn. He pulled the door open, turned on his penlight and found a pile of hay. Reese let go of Meeks and fell down onto the hay. Meeks followed her.

  “Much safer than knocking on someone’s door at one in the morning, don’t cha think?”

  “This is heaven,” said Reese stretching out.

  “Let’s get your boots off and get your feet dry, don’t want you getting trench foot,” he said unlacing her muddy boots. He pulled the boots and wet socks off and saw her feet were cold and clammy. He started to rub them.

  “Oh, that feels so good,” she said leaning back in the hay.

  “They don’t look swollen, thank goodness,” said Meeks.

  He spent the next few minutes massaging her feet until he noticed she had fallen asleep. He then wondered if there might be a car he could hot wire in the garage. He covered her feet with hay, got up and left the barn. He headed toward the garage but stopped when he heard an engine out on the road. He turned and squinted through the rain and saw something dark moving along the road. In his fatigued state of mind, he wasn’t sure what he was seeing. He moved toward the road to get a better look. He hurried across the lawn and saw the tail end of an SUV. It didn’t have the headlights on and was driving away. It took a couple of seconds before Meeks figured out what it was. He took off in full stride to catch up to the vehicle, but it was pulling away faster than he could run. He started yelling. His right foot came down kicking up a rock. Meeks bent down, grabbed it, wound up and threw the rock. He wasn’t sure if it had been an accurate shot until the brake lights lit up. Meeks stopped. He panted so hard he began to feel faint. He bent down to catch his breath. He looked up and saw Scar running towards him.

  Scar grabbed him and lifted him up in a big bear hug. “Meeks, buddy.”

  Meeks felt like a child in the safety of his father’s arms. He struggled to get the right words out, but could only nod his head. He hadn’t realized how fatigued he was and how much stress he had been under until that moment.

  Scar put him down. “Hey, buddy, you okay?”

  Meeks nodded. “Just friggin tired.”

  “You look like hell,” said Scar.

  Nate joined them and patted Meeks on the back. “Where’s Reese?”

  Meeks pointed to the barn.

  “I’ll get her,” said Nate.

  “No, better let me, might startle her,” said Meeks.

  Meeks composed himself and the three of them hustled to the barn. He took out his penlight and kneeled down beside the sleeping Reese. “Hey Pieces, wake up.”

  She opened her eyes. “Is it time to go?”

  Meeks smiled and nodded.

  “I can’t move.”

  “It’s okay. We got ourselves a ride.”

  “We do?”

  “Scar and Nate are here.”

  “They are?”

  “Hey, Reese,” said Scar and Nate.

  “Oh thank God, thank God.”

  Scar bent down, placed Reese’s arm around his neck and lifted her up. Nate grabbed her boots and they dashed across the lawn to the SUV. Nate opened the rear door so Scar could put Reese in, while Meeks crawled in on the other side. As Scar got behind the wheel, he turned to watch them melt into the seats and pass out.

  Chapter 74

  Jackson Michigan

  The Shadow Patriots emerged from the woods that bordered US 127. In front of them were twenty-five vehicles filled with sleeping Jijis. They would soon be sleeping for eternity thought Winters as he positioned his men to attack.

  A Jiji, relieving himself by the road, heard a noise in the woods and looked up to see a man wearing a camouflaged Boonie hat. The man leaped at him swinging a tomahawk. It was the last thing he ever saw.

  Bassett slid the axe back into its sheath and swung his M4 off his back. He gave Winters a nod.

  Winters, wearing the infrared goggles, watched his men sneak up to the road and line up ready to fire. He waited until the last man was in place, raised his M4, flipped the switch to auto and opened fire.

  Hundreds of shots rang out in the rainy night, the flashes of gunfire looked like a disco lighting up the night. Winters could barely hear the screams of dying men above the thunder of the gunfire.

  Winters moved around to the front to see if any had escaped from the driver’s side. A few doors were open, but he could only see the inert bodies of those who had tried to crawl out before dying.

  The gunfire lasted less than a minute before it petered out and the Shadow Patriots began to open the doors to check on their gruesome work. A random shot rang out here and there to finish off a suffering Jiji.

  Winters thought about what to do next. He wanted to push Mordulfah off balance. Would knowing he just lost a hundred men do it, or would this just be more of an annoyance? He did have three thousand men at his disposal and Winters didn’t think losing a mere hundred men would bother him. Mordulfah was a man of power who expected his men to follow his orders. Anything less was a sign of disrespect. Disrespect would be more annoying than losing a few men. How could he sow the seeds of doubt in Mordulfah’s mind and make him feel he was losing his grip on power. Then it came to him. He would use the same tactics they did at the train station when they first came together as a group, he would make these dead Jijis disappear. With no bodies, Mordulfah could never be sure what happened here.

  “Corporal,” Winters yelled out.

  Bassett trotted up to the front of the vehicles. “What’s up, Captain?”

  “Corporal, I want to sow some seeds of doubt in Mordulfah.”

  “Oh?”

  “I want to make these cars disappear.”

  It took a moment before the concept formed in Bassett’s mind. He broke out in a grin. “It bugged the hell out of Major Green and Colonel Nunn.”

  “We need to get all the shell casings. This rain should take care of just about anything else.”

  “You got it, Captain.”

  “Oh, and I want to go and take out the others as well.”

  Bassett nodded. “I’ll make sure we use less ammo.”

  Winters gathered the men together and told them of his plan. The men set off to gather up all the shell casings and whatever else they might have left behind. They moved swiftly and were able to put the night-vision goggles to good use finding all the shell casings. It took close to forty-five minutes until Winters was satisfied the area was completely sanitized. Before mounting up, he asked for a few volunteers to stay behind and take note of which direction the Jijis came from in the morning. Not only did Winters want to sow doubt, he wanted to know where all the other Jijis were hiding.

  The twenty-five vehicles had twenty-five new drivers as they drove them into Jackson. Winters decided to hide them in one of the abandoned box stores by the interstate. Not
only would it save time, but also he didn’t want to bring the cars into town for fear of the spy tipping off the cops.

  Winters stood at the rear entrance of the big store watching the men park the cars when he heard someone coming up behind him. He turned to see Elliott, who handed him a radio.

  “Captain, it’s Scar. They’ve found them.”

  An enormous weight lifted off Winters’ shoulders. He grabbed the radio. “How are they, Scar?”

  “Dirty, wet and tired.”

  “Where are you?”

  “We’re heading into town now.”

  “Take them to the hospital to get checked out.”

  “You guys still need help?” asked Scar.

  “No, you get some rest. We’ll need as many well-rested men as we can get tomorrow.”

  The drive west to the other patrol of Jijis was uneventful and the operation went the same as before, only this time, they used their ammo sparingly so as not to have the extensive clean up like before. The whole operation took only an hour and went off without a hitch. After parking the cars in the box store, Winters ordered the men to get some rest. They had an even bigger day ahead of them tomorrow and he needed everyone to be as alert as possible.

  Chapter 75

  Alexandria Virginia

  Major Green woke up early in the morning after a restless night. He turned over on his back and looked up at the ceiling. He couldn’t keep from thinking about the evidence he and Sam had gotten from Alison O’Connor, proving the bombings had been a conspiracy between her husband and Reed.

  He got up and dressed for an early morning run. As always, the run had helped clear his mind. It was the one place he felt safe from prying eyes. Since his neighborhood hadn’t awakened yet, it was easy to determine if he was being watched.

  After showering and having breakfast, he headed to work. He hoped he didn’t have to see Reed today. It was difficult enough knowing the bastard had been responsible for killing thousands of men in the Patriot Centers. Now, it was worse knowing he had also coordinated the bombing of American cities. He wasn’t in the mood for pretending today and didn’t trust himself. He might just pull out his gun and shoot him on sight.

  Green got onto the beltway and immediately ran into a traffic jam. The radio announced a four car pileup, which made him wonder if it was another hit and run set up by Reed. The accident turned out to be nothing too serious but made good rubbernecking entertainment for passersby. The accident caused him to be an hour late getting to the office. He pulled into the parking garage and drove to his assigned space. As he pulled in, he noticed a young girl standing off to the side and wondered whom she was. She was dressed in dark blue jeans and a blue shirt. She obviously didn’t belong there. He gave his sidearm a reassuring pat but didn’t think this girl was there to kill him. As he got out of his car, she approached him.

  “Excuse me, sir.”

  Green hesitated before answering. “Yes, what can I do you for you?”

  “Are you Major Green?” asked Cara knowing who he was since she had seen his picture.

  Green grew suspicious. “Who are you?”

  “Please, sir. I need to talk to you.”

  “Again, who are you?”

  Cara pulled out the picture of her family. She handed the photo to Green.

  He looked at the picture and instantly recognized Cole Winters. He tried not to show any emotion. “Is this supposed to mean something to me?”

  “I’m Cara Winters, my father is Cole Winters, the man you’re after. You are after him, aren’t you?”

  Green wasn’t sure what to make of this encounter and looked around to see if anyone was watching them. He only vaguely knew Winters had a daughter. “How do you know who I am?”

  “I have a friend here in town and had her ask around.”

  “She must know a lot of people to have found that out.”

  “She does. She grew up here.”

  “I’m a little confused. What exactly do you want?”

  “I want to help my dad. He’s not the monster they’ve been making him out to be.”

  Green wasn’t expecting anything like this and was unsure of what to do. On one hand, he thought perhaps he should help this poor girl, but on the other hand, he didn’t know her from Adam and wasn’t sure he could trust her.

  “Cara, is that right?”

  She nodded.

  “I’m not sure how I can help you. He’s a wanted man and when he’s caught he’ll be given a fair trial.”

  “No, they won’t, and you know it. My daddy is not a killer. He would never have killed my mother. He loved her.”

  “That’s not what the news is saying.”

  “They’re lying. It’s all lies. My dad wouldn’t hurt a flea,” she started to cry.

  Green certainly wasn’t expecting this either. He watched her reach into her purse and pull out a tissue. He waited for her to compose herself and wondered how long it was going to take. She must be going through hell watching all the news. “You know, Cara, I met your dad.”

  “You did?” she said looking up.

  “Yes, I did.”

  “How was he? How did he look?”

  Green looked around to see if anyone had spotted them. He thought they should at least go to an empty office on the first floor. He didn’t like standing in the parking garage out in the open.

  “Why don’t we go inside,” he suggested.

  Cara’s eyes grew big. “No, I don’t want to go inside.”

  “Why not?” asked Green.

  “It’s just with all the lies the government has been telling, I like, don’t trust them.”

  “I work for the government.”

  “I know, but out here I can run away from you,” she said looking around.

  Green felt bad knowing the media had painted her dad as the scourge of the country. He looked at his watch and saw he was late.

  “Listen, I’m running late for a meeting. Is there a number I can call and maybe meet with you another time?”

  “You won’t try anything funny and take me in?”

  “No, I promise.”

  Cara hesitated a few moments before giving him a contact number.

  Chapter 76

  Detroit Michigan

  Mike Vatter sat down in his office in the Detroit Police station and eyeballed the phone. It was nine o’clock and he needed to give Mordulfah an update, even though he probably had already received one from his own men. Vatter hadn’t gotten any sleep the previous night. Not only had he lost the girls they had rounded up, but also, the rebels had killed thirty of his men in the failed ambush. He wasn’t even sure how many of Mordulfah’s men had been killed. The poor bastards up on the interstate were like sitting ducks when the rebels hammered them. From the report he’d received, it sounded like they’d lost close to a hundred men, but he wasn’t sure of the exact number. To top it off, it appeared that some of Mordulfah’s men just took off. None of the men posted north or west of Jackson were there. They must have gotten scared or something because they’d disappeared. Vatter scoffed thinking about the so-called dedicated men Mordulfah had. If they were going to run at the first sign of conflict, then this wasn’t going to be as easy as he thought it would be.

  He picked up the phone and dialed the number. Mordulfah’s assistant, Wali answered the phone.

  “Yes.”

  “This is Captain Vatter. I need to make my report.”

  “Just a moment.”

  Vatter took in a couple of deep breaths trying to compose himself. He knew Mordulfah wouldn’t be happy with him.

  “Captain Vatter, how are things in Detroit?” asked Mordulfah already aware of the failure.

  Vatter filled him in on the details of last night’s debacle. There were a few moments of silence after he’d finished.

  “This is most troubling, Captain. You had a simple task to do last night and you failed.”

  Blood rushed to Vatter’s face.

  “I’m at a loss for words
trying to figure out how this happened. Thanks to our spy in Jackson, you knew the rebels were coming south, you had the men posted on all the roads giving you the perfect set up to take out these rebels all at once and somehow they escaped.”

  “I’m not sure how they figured it out, but they got lucky.”

  “Does luck explain how they were able to get across your lines and rescue those girls?”

  Vatter started rubbing his forehead. “I’m at a loss to explain that one, too.”

  “Captain, I hadn’t expected to do this, but I’m going to have my men block off all the roads leading into Jackson today. I will not allow Mr. Winters and his men to escape. I had hoped to take him out last night. I allowed my men on the interstate to take losses because I knew it would split up the rebel’s force. Why they didn’t attack last night is beyond me. I had men hidden, waiting for it. Now, we’re going to have to deal with an urban assault. This will be a bloody block by block fight.”

  Vatter was starting to get a little-pissed off. “Are we going to able to count on your men to not run away?” he asked in a fake concerned voice.

  “We don’t know if they ran away. They could have been killed for all we know.”

  “We didn’t see any signs of foul play,” said Vatter taking a little pleasure in the statement.

  “Until we know for sure, I’m going to assume the rebels had something to do with it.”

  Vatter smiled at a small victory.

  “How long will it take to seal off the town?” asked Mordulfah changing the subject.

  “Several hours, maybe more.”

  “Don’t screw this up, Captain. We have them within our grasp and I don’t want anything to go wrong or someone will pay.”

  Vatter scoffed when Mordulfah hung up the phone.