“Let’s just get to work on those pits, we’ve got a lot of digging to do and traps to lay, they’ll be approaching from the south in two days.” Marshall and Chester dig their pits and cover each one with the leafy overlay that Big Phil gave them; Chester takes logs and secures them with ropes wrapped around trees. “Just remember, none of this can be visible. He is keenly perceptive, if he senses a trap or sees any signs of one, he will flee and it will get messy.”
“Where do you want the bear traps?” Chester asks.
“We’ll litter them across the northern edge of the woods, between those, the spring traps, pits, and nets; we’ve got about every avenue of escape covered.”
“What about the dubbyuk box?”
“Are you afraid of it?”
“To be honest, I don’t fear much but if those stories about it are true, we should bury it and yes, it causes concern.”
“I’m not a man that believes in superstition or the supernatural. We know his other tricks; he employs them to inspire loyalty and fear. He has a system and we will turn it against him, expose him for what he really is, the anonymous leader of a cult, he’s a con man like the snake oil salesman of old. For him, it’s all about spectacle.”
“But how does he see into the future?”
“He doesn’t, his foresight is the product of intense paranoia, meditation, and backwoods spies that he employs to serve his purposes.”
“Then why haven’t we met any of them?”
“I’m sure, when this hunt nears its conclusion, we will.”
“How do you know we’re not being watched right now?” Chester says as he looks up into the trees.
“Right now, we are not, earlier though up until Poplar Bluff, he employed a few to watch us.”
“Why didn’t you say anything?”
“I wanted them to study what we were doing. Because now, we will do what they least expect. We will turn their beloved forest against them. They studied our methods but our game has changed.”
“We are two men against fifty,” Chester says, he wipes the sweat from his brow.
“Think of this forest as our chessboard, slowly and non-lethally, we will take their pieces off the board. Unlike a winning strategy in chess, we will let them occupy the center, let them settle in, our traps are already in place.”
“Those bear traps could take a man’s lower leg off.”
“Modern medicine has evolved, I didn’t say it would be painless, we must ensure the women and children flee to the south though, the same way they’ll all enter here,” Marshall reasons.
“How do you plan on ensuring that?”
“I’ll tell them,” Marshall says as he picks up the bullhorn. “If Princeton was here, it wouldn’t concern me.”
“He was only in it for the money. We don’t need him.”
“You get a crowd of people under the effects of hallucinogens, toss some tear gas at them, then you send a man in a bearskin on a horse, they’re gonna listen to the man on the horse.”
“Or the man standing in the darkness with a bullhorn.”
“About that, I have wireless speakers; we’ll place them in the trees. He won’t discern my location. Wear this on your chest,” Marshall advises.
“What is it?”
“It’s a comm. device; I’ll be wearing one too. If I speak to you, you’ll hear
me. The volume is turned down low, just press the button here to talk.”
“It seems like you prepared for everything.”
“It’s our job, to be prepared. The part that disappoints me the most is I failed as leader.”
“I don’t know why you would say that. You’ve led us this far. Now we may die in this forest but I don’t believe we will and that’s because of you, now I do believe I know you well enough that if you die tonight, you would feel like it would be a fitting death.”
“As long as we stop him, yes, I’m willing to die for it. I sure as hell won’t plan for it though, I have a trial to testify at and an assassin to catch and there’s Addler, my work would be incomplete. But, as a leader, I have failed. A leader captures the hearts and minds of men, a leader can convince a man to walk through fire, I failed to win over Princeton’s heart or mind.”
“The boy’s heart was set only on gold, his mind, well, let’s just say the boy’s been out in the sun too long.”
“The boy’s sharp and his heart is good, if I was a better leader, I would have been able to win him over.”
“There was nothing you could do for him. When my mother was dying, in those last days after she gave up the chemo, I realized for the first time in my life that I was powerless; there was nothing I could do to help her.”
“You stayed with her until the end, that’s all you could do. You were there to hold her hand and that is all that matters for all of us, everyone deserves one person there to tell them it’s going to be all right. Some people have more but for her you were that one person and really, one person is all we need.”
“If it comes down to that, I’ll be there for you, in the end.”
“Likewise, but I don’t intend to die tonight and I’ll damn well make sure that you don’t.”
“You need to forget about Princeton and you’ve got to forget about Gina, the doubt will only get in our way.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Marshall, it was your idea to bring me on this adventure. Surely, you don’t consider me stupid.”
“Of course I don’t.”
“I’ve seen you talking countless times and there was no one there. Nights in hotel rooms when you couldn’t sleep, I heard all those conversations you had with her, only she was never there. Now, I’m not sayin’ you need help and I’m not sayin’ you’re crazy, shit we’re all a little crazy but I’ve been around you every day for three months now, I know you’re in pain and I know it’s grief and, believe me, I know it’s a process but you’ve gotta let her go. Princeton chose to leave and Gina was taken from you, but you can’t live dwelling on what you could have done differently, you should know this better than most, the past needs to stay there. You need me to help you end this and I need you here completely in the present, all we’ve got is each other, I believe in you and you believe in me, but we both need to set aside our pasts, our focus is bringing this man’s world down around him, you need a clean head to do that and so do I.”
“Princeton told me the same thing a while back; he told me that I needed to let her go.”
“Then the boy was right for once. You have to accept what happened and let her go.”
“They’re coming, we do nothing until he sends his men out,” Marshall tells Chester as they watch from deep within the woods.
“I know, I’ll stay quiet,” Chester answers him. They watch the man in brown and his followers set up their camp, some of the followers are carrying his personal effects which they place inside the cabin. Marshall counts all the followers up and, including the man in brown, and the girl, there are fifty total. They build a pile of wood in the center of the camp and when night falls they light it, the man in brown steps out of the cabin with the girl beside him, the crowd quiets down, Marshall and Chester are watching with their night vision goggles on. Before he speaks, seven of them break away from the group and head to the west side of the woods; they have hacksaws and cans of gasoline. Marshall and Chester get into position, Chester is hidden beside the pulleys of one of the nets, Marshall hides in the darkness on the other side. When the seven approach, Marshall squares up and, on the other side of the net, he watches them and when one looks over, he flicks his lighter on.
“What the hell was that?” one of them asks. “Something lit up over there.”
“Then check it out,” one of the other men responds. Two men follow him to check out the flicker of fire, Chester hits the rope near the base when they are on the net, they are pulled up, Marshall pulls his tranquilizer gun out and shoots all three of them before they can begin shouting. Chester approaches the four
men left and Marshall does too, Chester grabs the first man and knocks the hacksaw out of his hand, he punches the man hard in the chest, then the stomach, he turns him around and shoves him at the other three. Marshall fires his tranquilizer gun and hits two of them, Chester wraps his hand around the mouth of one of the men and picks him up, the gasoline can falls on the ground. Chester pounds the man against a tree and knocks him unconscious, then he focuses on the only man left.
“What is this?” the man asks.
“It’s an ambush,” Chester says, he punches the man in the jaw and knocks him out, Marshall nods, Chester heads to the north side of the woods quietly. The man in brown begins to address his followers after they have all drunk from the jug.
“Our journey has ended here and the beast has followed us, it’s loyalty to us has not wavered, children. But, as always, it requires a sacrifice. I had a dream the other night and I saw a woman, this woman,” he says as he holds up a wooden figurine. “Her blood must be spilled, but first we have other matters to attend to, one of our own is missing, the brave boy sought to confront my adversary, I fear he was unsuccessful but an attack on one of us is an attack on us all. Should our enemy appear, he must be killed along with any that are with him, they would seek to undo all of our work, to end our community, to send us scattering like ants, but we will fight back, he cannot stop us now. Our lives are all about balance, we seek to restore it to this world, a world that does not currently deserve it. But I ask you one last time for the loyalty you have always displayed, place your faith in me for I will protect you and one day the scales will be level. For now, a display of power shall suffice, behold the leviathan awakes,” but there is no noise, there are no splitting branches, there are no eyes of fire. The crowd murmurs as they look off into the darkness, there is nothing. “Perhaps it did not hear me,” he says as he raises his voice. “Behold the leviathan,” he shouts but still there is nothing, he turns to the girl and says quietly. “You go pack up now like we’ve practiced before,” he advises her.
“Won’t you come with me?” she asks.
“You know that I can’t but have faith, I have fight in me yet,” he says, she goes inside and packs up what she is supposed to bring. “Forbearers, here is the woman that you must find, if you encounter resistance, kill them,” he commands. Then he addresses the crowd again, “Worry not, my people, even the beast tires. Perhaps it did not travel to us yet but, in time, it shall arrive.” The forbearers depart the man in brown and head north, Marshall sets up the dummy with the light on it on the other side of the nets, he tells Chester to get ready. The girl approaches the doorway of the cabin with her packed bag and her bow and quiver of arrows.
“Did you grab enough food?” he asks her.
“Yes, I did,” she responds.
“Head north, be mindful of traps, if you see my adversary, run, you must escape,” he says, he hugs her and kisses her on the forehead. “Now go, stick to the woods and avoid the city.”
“Meet up with me,” she says.
“I will try but I fear it will not happen,” the man in brown admits.
“These men are armed,” Marshall tells him, “what’s that sound?”
“I heard it too, that was gunfire,” Chester says. Princeton rides into the camp with both of his pistols drawn; he pulls his bronco up behind the throng of followers.
“This man is an evil wizard, I means to see if he’s bulletproof,” Princeton says, he fires two shots at the man in brown, who ducks inside the cabin door. “If he has any sense, he’ll stay in there, where’s them forbearers go?” A few of the followers point north, Princeton begins riding again in that direction.
“The boy’s coming,” Marshall says.
“Maybe the vault was empty,” Chester adds. A few of the forbearers approach the light, when two are over the net, Chester hits it and it springs up. Two more of the forbearers draw arrows back in their bows, a third brandishes a knife, Marshall aims his gun at one of the archers, then he hears the rope around one of them and the zip as it pulls taught, Princeton throws a second lasso and wraps the second archer up. Chester goes for the forbearer with a knife, the man flips the blade over and starts slashing, Chester moves back, Princeton hogties the two archers and ropes them together, he begins pulling them around on the ground as he rides his horse over to Chester, Princeton draws his gun and fires, hitting the man in the shoulder, Chester hits him with a right cross and knocks the man cold, the knife falls to the ground.
“Don’t either one of you think of touching that knife,” Marshall says as he slips a glove on and bags it. “Besides, we’re still missing two of them.”
“Why big ol’ Chester, I do believe I saved your life,” Princeton says.
“No, you didn’t, but you probably saved his,” Chester says, pointing to the knocked out forbearer.
“Detective, what now?” Princeton asks.
“I can’t let the other two get away,” Marshall says. “Chester, go free the old couple from the cave, do not let anyone see you.”
“I see’s them two, and the girl is headed that way,” Princeton says as he points in the other direction.
“How can you see them when I can’t, wait I see the girl, that’s his daughter,” Marshall says.
“Because my eyes is trained for the dark, you’re relying on equipment,” Princeton says. “I’ve got an idea,” Princeton says, he continues to ride with two of the forbearers dragging behind his bronco, Marshall runs after him.
“Let the girl escape, we need the two forbearers.”
“All right, follow my lead then,” Princeton begins twirling another lasso, he ropes one of them around the feet, then he ropes the second one, Marshall punches one of them in the jaw, then he takes his fist and smashes the knee of the second man, the second man pulls a large hunting knife out of his holder, Princeton pulls both of the ropes and rides away, now dragging four of them behind him, he circles back around, he offers his hand out to Marshall. “Fancy a ride, detective?” Princeton asks.
“Sure thing,” Marshall says as he takes Princeton’s hand and gets up on the back of the horse.
“Just hold on,” Princeton says as the ride back to the camp,” Marshall takes out his bullhorn.
“This man you’ve been following is a murderer and a charlatan, we’re only after him and his entourage of hunters, we already have all of them. Women and children, run south now,” Marshall says but hardly any of them move.
“You heard the man, now git,” Princeton adds as he fires his pistols in the air. A large man steps forward from the crowd.
“We will stay and we will fight,” he says.
“We don’t have time for this shit,” Princeton says as he shoots the man in the leg.
“That was unnecessary,” Marshall remarks.
“You said no killing but you didn’t say shit about shooting to wound, these ignorant bastards. Anyone else want to step up and fight for the murderer?” Princeton asks.
“Back the horse up a bit,” Marshall says.
“Why?” Princeton asks.
“For starters, they could swarm us but I need room.”
“For what?’ Princeton asks.
“Crowd control,” Marshall says as he tosses the canister into the crowd, Marshall turns around and fires his tranquilizer gun at the four forbearers that Princeton was dragging around, he hops down and cuts them loose from the horse.
“What the hell is you doing?”
“I need those four alive; I need you to help me disperse the crowd. You keep dragging them around, one of them could split his head open, plus I can’t have them running away now.”
“They is all tied up.”
“And unconscious, they will stay that way.”
Chester is at the cave, he shoves the boulder at the entrance aside, he calls down for the old couple but they don’t emerge, Chester still has his night vision goggles on, he reluctantly slides down the cave entrance. He hears a man growl, then the old man is on him, Chester says, �
�I’m here to rescue you,” he restrains the man through he is unusually strong.
“We don’t need your help,” the old man snarls, Chester sees the bats above and his heart jumps.
“We promised your son, we would rescue you and your wife.”
“Where’s my boy?” the old man asks.
“He’s safe, now get your wife and follow me,” Chester says. He doesn’t hear her behind him, she sticks the knife in under his ribs, she tries to come back down with the knife on his back but he turns and grabs her wrist, he turns her over onto the ground, he thinks of putting his boot on her neck, he doesn’t know how she got the knife that far in, he starts dragging both of them out of the cave, his back by his ribs feels like it’s on fire. The old man continues to resist and he is still strong, Chester just hits him on both sides of his neck to knock him out, then he continues dragging both of them with the old man unconscious. “You struggle and I don’t hit women but I’ll have to knock you out too, you just had to stab me, didn’t you?” Chester asks.
“You’re just a big ol’ brute,” she says.
“I’m the brute that’s saving you and your cannibal husband from that madman,” he says, he looks out across the camp and sees the teargas.
“Here put this on,” Marshall tells Princeton as he hands him a gasmask, Marshall puts his own on.
“I don’t need it,” Princeton says, he wraps a black handkerchief over his nose and the lower half of his face.
“That isn’t going to protect your eyes,” Marshall tells him.
“I’ve been gassed before,” he says as he rides around the crowd, he begins pistol whipping the men that swarm him.
“Women and children flee south,” Marshall says and finally, some of them listen, Princeton shoots another man in the leg. Marshall yells into the megaphone, “If you don’t want to get hurt, flee south or get down.” Marshall fires his last tranquilizer rounds at two men that charge him, then he draws his pistol, Princeton charges through the middle of the throng on his horse, until his bronco is taken down in the sea of people, Princeton has both of his guns drawn and fires, wounding many of the men who surround his horse but there are too many, he fires in the air and more people disperse. He backs up to the cabin, he smashes one of the windows and dives in. Marshall hears the glass break, he can’t see Princeton past the mass of followers, Marshall continues punching any men that approach him, the crowd has begun to scatter, Marshall works his way towards the cabin, he turns and lights the ethylene oxide, the ring of fire blazes up, he watches it spread in a circle around the cabin. Marshall removes his gasmask, he turns his recorder on.
Detective Tumbler and the Man in Brown (Detective Tumbler Trilogy Book 2) Page 22