“You only have two choices here. One, you tell the truth and we will take care of you. Or….” Walter paused for a while to give the men some time to contemplate. “You can withhold the information from us. I can’t say for sure what would be the consequences for that,” he teased them.
Walter then drew closer to the men to whisper, “These folks over here are pretty pissed about what you did to their families. If they find out that another wave of threat is coming their way, they will do anything to stop that. Anything!”
He stepped back. One of the men could not look him straight in the eye. The other turned to him and said, “Tell him! I know you have some information.”
Walter suddenly looked interested. “Is that so?” he asked the other.
He turned to his companion for any signs of disapproval. When he would not even look his way he decided to reveal some information to Walter. “He is the son of Big Dave,” he said.
“And who might Big Dave be?” probed Walter who was getting more interested by the minute. The colonel and Benjamin looked on from a distance.
At this point, the other guy was starting to pay close attention. He looked at his companion very intently, as if to warn him not to reveal anything more.
But he was persistent. “Big Dave is the leader of the group,” he said calmly.
Walter leaned back with his arms across his chest while his fingers caressed his jawline. “I see…” he said. “By group, you mean the marauders who attacked the farm?” he clarified. The guy nodded.
“Looks like we got a lucky break, huh?” he said with a mischievous smile. The guy, who was revealed as Big Dave’s son, fidgeted in his spot.He was feeling more agitated with each passing minute.
At that point, Anthony approached Walter to listen in on the conversation. “What’s going on?” he asked.
“A lot is going on, brother,” he said, still smiling. Anthony looked at Walter with curiosity. The latter had a weird smile on his face.
“Mind to catch me up?” he asked.
“Of all people that we got as hostage, we got the group leader’s son,” he told Anthony.
“Which one?” he asked. Walter pointed to the guy on the left.
“So… what’s the plan?” Anthony followed up.
“We’ll discuss with the rest on that regard. I’m sure they will be pleased to know this bit of information. Thank you, by the way,” he said looking at the other hostage.
“What have you got about the radio?” Anthony reminded him.
“I’m sure Big Dave’s son has a few things to say about that matter. Don’t you?” he turned to Big Dave’s son, still with a menacing look to his face.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he continued to refuse giving out information.
“Come on!” the other hostage egged him on.
“What do you want me to say? I have nothing to say to them!” he shrieked.
“We can play pretend here all day. But if you do not want to end up like your ‘friends’ that we disposed of, I suggest you start to speak now,” Walter was starting to lose his patience. A look of fear started to register on the young man’s face.
“I’m trying to be patient with you here. But I tell you, my patience don’t last that long,” Walter threatened.
A pause of silence followed.
“What about you?” Walter turned to the other. He looked startled. “What do you know about all this?”
“I’ve got nothing to do with this, sir,” he said. Walter raised his eyebrow.
“I promise. I was a hostage, too,” he said crying.
“Hostage?!”
“Yes! We’re a refugee from Southcrest. Me and my sister,” he explained.
“How come you were with them?”
“They abducted us while we were moving out of Southcrest. They threatened to kill my sister if I insisted on not joining them. All I knew was that they were plotting something big. They wanted to get as many people as they could to fight for them. So I had no choice but to fight with them,” he added.
“Where are the other members of your family?” Walter asked out of curiosity.
“My mother passed away when we were kids. My dad,” he paused for a while to control his emotions. “He…he was killed when the riots made it to Southcrest. A group of marauders broke into our home. They took plenty of our stuff.Dad made us hide in the basement. We did not know that they would kill him. That’s when I and my sister decided to move out of our house and into our family farm. We thought we’d be safer there.But before we can even make it there, his father and their group took us as hostage,” he detailed while looking at Big Dave’s son.
“Your sister is with the group? As hostage?” asked Walter. He nodded.
“I did not want to come here. But they said that they will kill my sister if I refused to go,” he said as he shrugged. “I had no choice.”
“You have no other siblings?”
“No. It’s just the two of us now,” he said.
“What’s your name?”
“Adam,” he responded shyly.
“Adam, are you telling me the truth? You’re not just trying to make up this sob story to save your life here?” Walter clarified. He looked him straight in the eye.
“Absolutely! I’ll tell you all I know if that meant defeating the other group. And if I can get my sister back safely,” he said. The thought of his sister made him teary-eyed.
Walter tapped him on the shoulder. “We’ll be counting on that,” he said.
“As for you,” he said turning to the other hostage. “You need to speak up soon. If you think you can keep your mouth shut and that you’d be rescued by them soon, you are sadly mistaken.” Walter and Anthony walked off. They decided to share the new information they gathered to help them plan their next move.
“Do you think it is possible that they could be intercepting our communication system?” Walter interrogated Chris. They continued to study how the marauders could possibly infiltrate their communication lines. Walter sought the advice of his friends from the militia because he realized they might have some knowledge about this.
“It is highly possible,” Chris said. “But it depends on how well the message is being transmitted. Do you think they have folks out there who are skilled enough to mess with our radio communication?” he asked his friend.
“With what we have encountered so far, I have learned not to underestimate people, Chris. You know that – we’ve been in the battleground before. The moment you underestimate your opponent is the moment you make yourself vulnerable to them,” he said. His eyes looked deep and foreboding.
Chris nodded.
“What if you knew that they were tapping into our communication? What then?” Chris posted an important question, Walter thought.
“First off, it makes us more aware. We know we are being monitored, so we have to take measures to keep them from doing so. It is important in building our defense plan, especially now that we’re stuck here,” he said.
“You’re right,” Chris agreed.
“What if…” Walter came up with a suggestion. But he tried to play it up mysteriously.
“What if what?” Chris asked.
“We try to send in false information over to their camp? We can exploit it to trick them,” Walter suggested with a wide grin on his face.
“Brilliant idea! You sure have learned a lot from your stint in the army, huh?” Chris teased him.
“Hopefully, this will work and we can defeat what is left of the marauders. If we can do that, we can slowly restore peace back into the city, as well as the whole state,” he said.
“Walt!” Anthony called out for him.Hewas running towards them in an excited haste. This caught both men’s attention and they looked on as he approached them.
“What’s up?” Walter asked.
“The colonel and Benjamin just came over to the prisoners. I’ve told them about what we had gathered about the other hostage.”
“Cut to the chase,” Walter said, sounding impatient.
“As I was saying, they talked to Big Dave’s son. They got him to admit that they had been intercepting the communication lines over here.”
This news excited Walter so much that he got up from his seat. “What else did he reveal?” he asked.
“Unfortunately, that is all he was able to share with them. He did not know who was doing it and how they’re doing it, he just knew they did. Said, he overheard it from their conversations.”
Walter turned to Chris. He was seeking inputs from him. “Well now you can pursue your plan,” he said.
“We also have additional information, this time from the other hostage. His name was Adam, right?” Anthony quipped.
“Yes, yes! Adam!” Walter said, excited at the prospect of getting some more information.
“He says he know where the marauders are currently based.”
To this, Walter raised his eyebrow. It was a little too good to be true at this point. “How is that possible?”
“He said when the marauders ambushed him and his sister, they asked where they were headed to,” Anthony detailed.
Walter paused. He could not believe his luck that day.
“Adam’s family farm?” he asked Anthony. He responded with a grin.
Walter turned to Chris once again. “This is pure gold right here! We have all the information we need to map out our next move. Thanks Anthony!” he said.
“Sure,” he responded.
Walter excused himself and blitzed over to the farm house. He wanted to talk to Benjamin and the colonel about the information relayed by Anthony.
Chris and Walter, together with their other two militia friends, were working on the radio. Their plan was to send out false information to trick Big Dave’s group. They had talked all day about their plans and they are ready to execute it.
The women were skeptical about the plan, however.
“Would it be safer if we leave it to the hands of the army?” Mary said. She tried to stop Benjamin and the rest on their plan to attack the marauders’ base. She was too scared about the possible consequences of another cross-fire.
“If we just sit here and wait for the army, it might be too late,” explained Chris on behalf of Benjamin. “They won’t stop until they get all of us.”
“Chris and Walter have plenty of experience with these. The colonel and the sheriff will also help us out. We’ll be just fine,” Benjamin reassured his wife.
She gave him a piercing look. No amount of explanation convinced her that it was the right plan for them. Instead, she turned away.
Anthony decided to stay behind with Grandpa Taylor and Aaron. They will be helping to watch over the farm while the rest of the group head to Adam’s family farm. They decided to bring Adam with them so he can show them the direction to their farm house.
“You think we can trust him?” the colonel asked right before they set out to leave. He expressed his skepticism about the plan. He was too wary that the group trusted Adam too quickly. “Who knows, he could be leading us all into a trap,” he pointed out once.
“Colonel, I do understand your concern. But we’ve already talked about this. We will not employ an aggressive attack of the farm. As Adam had pointed out, they have a few hostages there. So, it is important for us to secure their safety too,” Chris reassured the colonel.
“Our primary objective is to bring down Big Dave. When we can do that, the next few steps should be a cake walk,” said one of his militia friends.
“Don’t get too cocky,” warned the colonel.
The guys from the militia were joined by Chris, Colonel Caesar, Sheriff Taylor, and Walter. “Stay here,” Walter pulled Benjamin aside when he saw him preparing to get up onto the vehicle.
“No, I’m coming with you,” Benjamin protested.
“No, you stay here,” Walter reiterated. “There is more than enough guys to help out, Ben. These guys, they have a life full of experiences with this kind of situation. I trust them to help me work this plan out. And besides, you should stay here to help Anthony and make sure that the farm is safe while we’re away.”
Benjamin shook his hand.
“What about Victoria?” he asked his friend.
“That’s why I opted to have you stay here, too,” he explained. “I’d be more at peace knowing that you’re around to keep everyone safe, including her.”
The friends exchanged hugs and the group set off with Adam. They were to travel a few miles south from the Taylor’s farm house.
The convoy traveled for 40 minutes south before they finally reached Adam’s family farm house. The group decided to disperse immediately. Chris, however, was tasked to guard Adam. His hand cuffs had been removed but they were still closely monitoring him. They also received pointers from him with regards to their positioning.A few meters away from the farm, which served as the marauders’ base they got into their respective position.
With the help of the militia men, they were able to design a position that would enable them to see each other. Itremoved the need to use radio to communicate and risk detection. They relied on pre-agreed hand signals to communicate non-verbally.
They stayed in position for more than 30 minutes and close to an hour. However, there was still no sign of activity from the farm house. Chris, however, kept his eyes peeled for any movement in and around the farm house. In fact, he had his gun loaded and ready to fire when needed.
Another 10 minutes passed, butstill no sign of activity.
Suddenly, they heard voices from inside the farm house. A minute later a big guy came out to the front. He looked like he weighed about 200 pounds. He wore several layers of clothes that made him look bigger than he already is. And because of his weight, he seemed to drag along as he walked.
He went to his truck that was parked just outside the gate. Adam instantly turned to Chris. He gave him the thumbs up. It was a signal intended to identify Big Dave, the group’s leader.
Chris turned to Walter and the colonel. He gave them the thumbs up signal. They looked at each other to indicate that it was time to make their move. They also deemed it the best opportunity to take down Big Dave since he was alone. There were a few people on the yard now, but no one was anywhere near Big Dave.
One of the militia men had a silencer on hispistol. He was designated to take down Big Dave. He had some experience with sniper training and so he also had the best skill when it comes to aiming his shot. They did not want to stir up fear amongst the other members of the group.Being aggressive on their attack was too risky as they did not know exactly how manythey are dealing with.
He had positioned himself for a shot. They can see him targeting his aim on Big Dave. Walter waited nervously. Big balls of sweat lined up his forehead and temples. He knew this was a critical shot. If they can take down Big Dave, it will be easier to convince the group to restore peace in the town. If not, they could buy themselves a ticket to some big trouble.
Chris looked on intently while Adam turned away. The level of tension was overwhelming. And Adam could not handle the situation. He knew the importance of making this plan work because his sister’s life is at stake.
The militia guy placed his index finger on the trigger. Five seconds passed and he still has not released the trigger. He was constantly adjusting his aim. At this point, Big Dave was doing some repair on his truck. He constantly moved from one spot to another. It became more difficult to maintain his aim.
But when Big Dave crouched down to check on the tires, he was able to stay in position for a while. Chris signaled for him to release the trigger. And so he did.
As the bullet traveled from the magazine and into the air, he flinched a little. There was a mild pop that came out from his pistol. This slight sound caught Big Dave’s attention. But when he turned his head to see where the noise came from, the bullet had landed smack on his forehead.
He temporarily froze in position before falling flat on his face to the gro
und.With just one shot they managed to take him down.
At that point, it was Adam’s turn to make a move. He was to approach his friends and talk to them. This was their plan A. They wanted to come in peace.Walter and his friends from the militia, together with the colonel and sheriff did not want to launch another shooting spree. Their goal was to bring these people back to their normal lives – a life away from the violence they had lived under Big Dave’s rule.
Chris nudged Adam. “It’s your turn, kid,” he said.
The Second Amendment: A Novel On Surviving The Coming Collapse Page 17