We were all in position for a good ten minutes before I saw Elizabeth weaving unsteadily down the street. In the moonlight, her blouse looked unbuttoned down to her waist, and she waved the empty bottle in her hand as she staggered up to the two guards. I could hear her say, “Are either of you two ready to satisfy a really horny woman?”
I could hear an argument between the two guards. Finally Elizabeth said, “Not here, let’s go behind the building; I don’t want your friend to watch.”
She led the unlucky guy by the hand to the side of the building, and she stopped just in front of the air-conditioning unit. She leaned back against the building and opened her blouse. She had already taken off her bra, and the guy seemed to stare in anticipation at her breasts.
While his eyes were fully engaged, Arnie snuck up behind him. I saw his knife reach around the man’s head and slit his throat. Arnie then whispered to Elizabeth and she ran to the front of the barracks. I heard her say to the other guard, “Help, I think your friend just had a heart attack. He collapsed just as soon as I took off my blouse.”
The man and Elizabeth ran back to the dead guard. Elizabeth stood at the fallen man’s head so the second guard had to stand with his back to the air-conditioning system. As he knelt down to check on his friend, Arnie once again covered the guard’s mouth and slit his throat with his commando knife.
The rest of us reached the dead guards just as Elizabeth finished buttoning her blouse. She was shaking, just staring at the two dead thugs lying on the ground with their throats slit open. Brenda surrounded her in her arms providing comfort, and suddenly she was okay.
We moved to the front of the barrack, and as previously agreed, Eddie stayed hidden in some bushes near the building providing cover. I was almost afraid to open the door to Jessie’s prison.
I think Arnie sensed my fear and pushed me gently aside. He opened the door and stepped inside the dark room. He took out a flashlight and turned it on. “Holy shit,” was all I heard him say. I stepped inside the prison and couldn’t believe what I was seeing. There were over a dozen women sleeping in beds. Jessie was in the fourth bed on the left and was looking into the bright light shining in her eyes. All of the women were handcuffed to their beds. I called out Jessie’s name and she was suddenly wide awake.
I ran to her side and hugged her with an intensity I never knew I possessed. I kissed her on the lips and then asked, “Where’s the key to the handcuffs?”
“I think the guards keep them,” she said.
One of the other women agreed with Jessie. “The fat guy keeps them in his pocket.” Sammy immediately left the building and returned a minute later with the keys. He moved from bed to bed and freed the women. I suddenly noticed the vile smell of urine and feces, and then I saw the buckets beside each bed. I had a thousand questions, but the priority of the moment was to leave this place as quickly as we could.
Arnie whispered to the women. “Follow me and be very quiet. We’re going to take you to a UHaul truck about a mile from here. Then, we’re going to drive out of this hell-hole.”
I suddenly realized one of the women was very pregnant and from the looks of her, she must have been pretty close to full term. She wasn’t wearing maternity clothes, so her belly had burst through the buttons on the front of her dress.
Arnie, with four of his soldiers, led the way, followed by the sixteen female prisoners. The rest of us formed the backend of the freedom march. Eddie, using his night vison equipment, saw we were leaving the barrack and left the cover of his hiding place and rushed out front as an advanced scout. I heard Arnie talking to Private Duncan as we walked quickly east. We passed the tall building and after a twenty minute walk, we passed through a break in the base’s perimeter fence and found the U-Haul truck hidden in the woods.
Sammy and I helped the women climb into the back of the truck. Francis, the pregnant lady, needed some extra help. I wasn’t a doctor, but it seemed like she might give birth right in the truck. Elizabeth drove the truck with Arnie riding shotgun. The rest of us were crammed into the back of the small U-Haul.
Jessie was resting in my arms. I had my back leaning against the corner of the cab, and I looked out at this motley band of soldiers and unfortunate women. Some of the women were crying, but most had smiles on their faces. They knew they were free from ever having to provide sexual favors for these scumbags.
Some of these women looked like they had been living in the same clothes for months, and I wondered if Francis had become pregnant from one of these men. If she had, it meant she had been held prisoner for at least eight months. What was she thinking about?
The answer came a moment later. Francis grimaced in pain. “The baby’s coming; it’s started.” It took us almost an hour to reach the helicopter. Arnie wanted Francis to be flown directly to the campus. He had already called Mary, and she was taking steps to deliver the baby.
We watched the chopper take off and head south. Then the rest of us got back in the truck and sped south toward Florida. As we rode down the highway, I thought about the last twenty-four hours. We had found enough of the specialty drug to keep Margaret alive for several years, but at a cost. Rich was dead, and his body was still inside the warehouse never to be buried with the honors befitting his efforts. Then I looked at the sixteen women we had saved. That was an unexpected bonus. As I fell asleep with Jessie in my arms I wondered what this group of terrorists would do when they found out their captives had all been set free.
Chapter 49
We reached the campus a little before noon. We had stopped once for gas and bio-breaks in the bushes. I immediately took the life-saving drug to our makeshift hospital. I bumped into Mary, Paul, and Phyllis who were sitting outside the operating room with smiles on their faces.
“It’s a boy!” Mary said. “Mother and son are resting and doing well.” I handed Mary the drugs. She smiled again, and I followed her down the hallway to an engineering lab where Margaret lay asleep in a hospital bed. Mary gently stroked her arm until she opened her eyes. “Jim brought you the pills Margaret. I want you to take two to start off, then one each day.”
Mary helped her patient swallow two of the white capsules and Margaret mouthed the words thank you. She reached out to me, and I kissed her hand. I left the room with tears in my eyes, but they were good tears, the kind you get when something extraordinary happens.
Next I visited Francis, who was resting comfortably in the operating room holding onto her newborn son. I kissed her on the forehead and she started to cry. “I don’t know how to thank you enough. I’ve been held captive for over nine months. I had lost all hope, and then you guys swooped down like angles from the sky.”
“Have you picked out a name yet?” I asked. “Jessie told me one of your people was killed, a man named Richard. I think I’ll name my son Richard in honor of the young man.”
Again, happy tears ran down my face. “Francis, that’s wonderful. I’m sure Rich would be honored.
Several of our female residents immediately took charge of the freed captive women. I would see them later in the day with; new clothes, clean bodies, and smiles on their faces.
I found Jessie in her apartment. She had just stepped out of the shower. I held her in my arms. “I want to marry you now Jessie. I don’t care how it looks to the rest of the community; screw them. If I have to, I’ll resign from the Board of Governors. I love you and want to spend every night with you.”
Jessie dropped her towel and gave me the most passionate kiss I could ever remember. When we broke apart, she was crying. There were too many tears today. I wiped her tears away from her face with my hands and kissed her again. “Well, I’m waiting for an answer. Will you marry me?”
Jessie was still crying, but she nodded yes and melted into my arms.
She finally broke free and asked, “Can Paul perform a quiet ceremony?” “If that’s what you want, but what will our friends want? We have so little to celebrate. Think about it before you make a final decision”
Chapter 50
USS Jimmy Carter The USS Jimmy Carter had been slowly moving along the eastern seaboard recording the presence of survivors who were living in small communities along the coast. Six months into their epic journey they had risked foraging for food on isolated areas along the coast, but were reluctant to have intimate contact with any survivors.
Doctor Raymond Fleming, the ship’s Chief Medical Officer had been lobbying Captain Sanchez for weeks. It was time to end their self-imposed isolation and reestablish direct contact with other survivors. His latest plea was at the daily meeting of the ship’s officers. Ed Sanchez felt he was being beaten into submission. “Look Ray, I only want to protect the lives of the crew. They’re my responsibility. We’ve gone over this subject every day for months.” Sanchez was silent for several long agonizing minutes. The officers knew him well enough to not break the silence. “Okay, here’s what I suggest. This decision is just too important. Let’s let the crew vote on it. I know it sounds like a copout, but it’s their lives we’re talking about. What do you guys think?”
There was unanimous agreement to the Captain’s suggestion, and the meeting was immediately called by the ship’s Executive Officer. Sanchez stood in front of his full crew. He was proud of his men who still looked like a dedicated group of sailors ready to defend their country or carry out his orders. He looked slowly around the cramped mess area before he spoke.
“Gentlemen, we have come to a point in our journey where a critical decision needs to be made. Doctor Fleming feels there is a high probability our self-imposed quarantine is no longer necessary. He is the first to admit it’s just a guess on his part because this pandemic has been unprecedented, and there is little scientific evidence to guide us.
“Each time we have made contact with survivors, we have asked if they were aware of any survivors who had been in isolation for several months following the outbreak of the disease. Doctor Fleming indicates if someone had been isolated from humanity for three months and then established contact with survivors and didn’t come down with symptoms, it would prove the period of contamination had passed. As you are aware, we found evidence of a few such people, but they still had not passed the period of possible contagion.
“So here we are, almost six months into our journey, and the question confronting us is when do we take a risk and make direct contact with other survivors. I personally feel responsible for each of your lives, and it would cause me great pain if we made contact and then contracted the disease, but this is such an important decision; I want to put it up for a vote. Are there any questions or comments before we vote?”
There was total silence in the meeting room. Each sailor had struggled with this issue for many months, and each had come to their own conclusion regarding personal risk.
The Captain said, “All in favor of risking direct contact raise your hand now.” Sanchez looked at each man in the room. He was surprised to see every hand raised. He smiled at the men, “There is no need to ask those opposed to raise their hands. The decision is unanimous. We will make contact with the next group we encounter.”
The crew cheered. They all had endured the isolation, and now they were going to once again make contact with their fellow survivors. As the meeting broke up, the crew manning the watch on top of the ship’s massive sail monitored the coastline with renewed energy.
Chapter 51
Jessie and I gathered my two foster children in our apartment after they returned from school. “Jessie and I have something important to tell you. We’ve decided to get married. Jasmine and Hunter jumped up and down and hugged both of us.
Jasmine asked, “Does this mean Jessie will be moving into our apartment?”
Jessie answered, “Yes it does. From now on, we’re going to be a family of four.”
Jasmine looked thoughtful. “We’re a family right?”
I answered, “Yes, we’re a family.” “You told us to never forget our Seminole heritage. If we’re a family then both of you are part Seminole. In our culture when people get married they have a special ceremony called the Rite of the Seven Steps. Will you perform the ceremony during your wedding?”
I turned to Jessie. It would have to be her decision. She knelt down on her knees in front of our two foster children. “Jim and I would consider it an honor to have a Seminole wedding ceremony, but you and Hunter will have to help us plan everything. Will you help us?”
The kids answered by hugging Jessie. Jasmine said, “We’ll need to go back to the reservation. Our tribe kept all the sacred things in the museum.”
I said, “Tomorrow is Saturday. Let’s take a trip to your village. You both can show us around and gather up everything you’ll need for the ceremony.”
After agreeing, the kids left to do their homework and Jessie looked at me. “I guess we’re going to have a big wedding.”
“Let’s talk to Paul, but first I want to hear all about what happened to you.” Jessie opened up a bottle of wine and said, “Let’s talk outside. I don’t want the kids to hear this.”
We sat down behind our apartment on the sand overlooking the lake. A half-dozen kids were swimming at the beach. It was almost like a normal day before the pandemic, but Jessie was about to end the illusion.
“Rich and I were pulling together all of the manufacturing procedures for synthesizing the drug. Two of them just barged in and wanted to know what we were doing. I told them, and then they just shot Rich. I couldn’t believe it; they just killed him for no apparent reason. Then they handcuffed me and dragged me out to their car in the parking lot.
“We drove for about thirty minutes and wound up near the airport. They kept me in the car.”
“I know; Elizabeth and I followed you to the parking lot. Private Duncan was keeping track of you with the satellites.”
“They told me I was their slave now, and they would be taking me to their main base. Their leader arrived an hour later and he opened the door and groped my body. His body smelled so bad I almost puked. He kissed me and I bit his lip. He wiped away the blood and slapped me across the face. Then he told me I would be his to take. He slammed the door to the car and walked away.”
“Did he touch you again?” “No, we drove to their base outside of Augusta, and they dragged me into the barrack where you found me. They had been abducting women for months and keeping them locked up in there. The women were basically sex slaves. The women told me guys and sometimes even women would come in during the day and force them to perform sexual acts. The women were kept there all the time and handcuffed to their beds. They had given up all hope until you arrived. I told them you would find us and free us, but I don’t think they believed me. They had given up all hope.”
“Did anyone hurt you?” “No, one of the guards just felt me up. He said the general was going to arrive soon, and he would have firsts; but others would be lined up right behind him. He just stood there and laughed. I’m glad he was one of the guys you killed.”
“Then Brad Davis showed up and just started laughing at me. He squeezed my jaw and said he’d be waiting in line to get a piece of me.”
Jessie finished her story and remained quiet for a long time just sipping on her wine. “I knew you would come; I knew somehow, someway, you would find me. I never lost hope.”
“Francis gave birth to a little boy. She named him Richard in honor of Rich. We can’t tell Margaret about Rich’s death until she’s better. Let’s visit her now and tell her we’re getting married. I’m sure the news will cheer her up.”
Chapter 52
Jessie and I checked up on Francis. She was nursing little Richard and covered up as soon as we arrived. Jessie walked to her bed and kissed her on the cheek. “I told you he would come.”
“I didn’t believe you, none of us did. We had given up all hope. I can’t believe this place. It was just like you described it, only better. It’s like paradise and everyone is so nice. This is going to be the perfect place to raise little Richard.”<
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Richard screamed for more milk, so Jessie and I left to see Margaret. Mary was sitting in a chair next to her bed reading a medical textbook. Margaret was sitting up, still weak, but in better spirits then when I last saw her.
She smiled as we approached her bed. Jessie leaned over and gave her a kiss on her cheek. I held her hand. Jessie leaned over again and whispered to her. Margaret looked at me in shock and then screamed. “I knew it; I knew it!”
Mary looked up in surprise. Jessie turned to Mary, “We’re getting married.” Mary laughed, “I knew it as soon as I saw the spider bite. Of course you’re going to let Beth arrange everything.”
Jessie nodded her head, “I guess we’ll have no choice.” Margaret said, “I’ll come to the wedding. I wouldn’t miss it for the world. I can feel the pills making me better already. How soon will you have it?”
I answered, “I don’t know. We’ll talk to Paul and Beth, but in the next few days. We’ve waited too long.”
With Margaret’s spirits restored, we walked back to the main dining area. We found Major Connors and his assault team eating an early dinner before they headed back to Tampa in Sammy’s chopper. We pulled up two chairs and the team made room for Jessie and me to sit down next to Arnie. “We’ve got a problem,” I said. “Brad Davis used to live here. He was at Fort Gordon and talked to Jessie. That means the group knows we were probably the people who freed all of the women and killed two of their men. I think they might be headed this way to get even and take back their captives.”
Arnie thought as he finished chewing on a piece of meat. He took out his satellite phone and punched in a number. “Private Duncan, this is Major Connors. We have reason to believe the men at Fort Gordon know where their captives were taken. I want you to set up round the clock surveillance. Be especially concerned with any buildup of forces in the area. We’ll be back at the base in another few hours. I want a full report by then.”
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