Years After Series | Book 1 | Nine Years After

by Clary, LeRoy

  I told them what to expect, what I expected, and we dressed in rags as they asked questions. Every weapon had a silencer and a flash suppressor. All were hidden under loose shirts.

  We were only going to explore. I kept telling myself that, even as I received more medication, a combination of pain pills and pep, along with antibiotics.

  Hopefully, we’d locate Tess and Bream right away. I provided their descriptions and ordered them not to shoot either. I told them not to shoot anyone unless we were attacked.

  There was no way to know what time of the day it was. I wanted darkness. Instead, dim light filtered into the elevator portion of the flooded basement when the door opened.

  At the entrance of the massive door to the sanctuary, we paused. I smelled rot, stale water, mold, and more. It was an improvement over what was below.

  Only I believed that. Those behind gagged, covered their noses and mouths, and two vomited. The mystery of how the nose can adjust to terrible smells still amazed me. I kept them there until I was certain all would remain quiet. The last thing we needed was to quietly move out to where there may be Sir Wilson’s soldiers waiting and have two or the three of my squad barf and give away our location.

  I’d briefed them with all they needed. With luck, I’d scared the hell out of them. I’d told them of the smells and that we’d wade through the muck to our knees before reaching a broken window where we’d pause and assure ourselves there were no enemies out there.

  Not one whispered. I’d warned them about sounds carrying in the basement and they moved slowly behind me, as quietly as if they had done it a hundred times.

  I’d elected to only carry pistols for several reasons, one of which was that I didn’t want Sir Wilson to gain access to any captured rifles. The second was that there was no way to conceal them from curious eyes. The last was that any fighting we did would probably be close-in.

  Single-file took us to the same broken window that had let me inside. Along the way, the boom of the metal entrance closing echoed, and the last person in my squat pushed the hinged wall back into place with a quieter sound.

  I took one side of the broken window, my shoulder to the wall as I watched outside without exposing myself. A smallish woman took the other as if we’d planned it. She kept her surprise and amazement of the lush vegetation to herself as she watched for danger.

  The sun was directly in front of me. The opening faced west, so it was late afternoon. Good. That was better than darkness. It would give us a while for my squad to adjust to the outside.

  I took the shoulder of the man directly behind me, pulled him close, and whispered, “Go through the window quietly. Run to those bushes and dive under. After that, do not move until dark.”

  A pat on his shoulder got him going. I liked that. He didn’t argue or hesitate. Ten steps took him to the shrubbery where he dived and rolled under the lower branches, his pistol held ready to fire.

  A woman was next, not the one protecting the other side of the window and keeping a stern watch. She joined the man. They were too close together.

  The next one moved closer to me. “See that tree over there? The one with the drooping branches? Run to the undergrowth behind it then do not move. Do not hesitate to shoot if a gun is pointed at you. We won’t move until dark.”

  He sprinted and disappeared within a few seconds. Each of the others was similarly spread out. Finally, there was only the woman beside me.

  I said, “Are you up to following me and watch my back?”

  She nodded.

  As I leaped out, she was at my heels. We went left until reaching the corner of the building where we halted and peered around for enemies, our guns ready to point at any danger. Then we darted to a tangle of vines larger than a truck that concealed us as soon as we entered them. We found and followed a small path to the far end of the building and watched an empty street until we felt enough to move ahead to the last corner.

  Once we had circled the building, I knew two important things. Maybe three. Nobody was lying in wait, such as a band of thieves or Sir Wilson’s men, Tess and Bream were not around and that worried me. The last was that there were no soldiers or signs they had been near the building.

  The last had been my biggest worry. If they had captured Tess and Bream and suspected the entrance to the Everett Sanctuary was nearby, there would have been signs. New paths would have been trampled in the grass, evidence of their searching in the form of upturned debris, recently broken windows, and hundreds of footprints in soft mud would all tell that tale.

  My objectives narrowed. After the sun went down, but before full dark, I wanted to reach the top of the building where Tess and Bream had last been. If they had relocated, a message would be there. I hoped.

  After reaching the roof, no matter what I found, my squad of soldiers needed experience. Together, we were going to spy on Sir Wilson’s compound and attempt to identify a few of the various buildings and their uses.

  We would do it from the safety of the hillside that was covered in brush, never venturing close to the perimeter or exposing ourselves. Once back inside the sanctuary, we would compile our findings and devise a plan.

  It all sounded as innocent as a walk in a park. However, one sighting by an enemy or resident trying to gain favor with Sir Wilson would jeopardize everything.

  My squad knew what was expected of them, our intentions, and most of all that there must be nobody left alive that saw us. That left my two friends at risk. While I’d described them thoroughly, they may have changed clothing, their descriptions might be hidden in the darkness, or the people with me might shoot before properly identifying them.

  We rejoined our soldiers. Two were placed as guards a few dozen yards to either side, while the others were huddled close. I spoke softly and explained that it appeared we were in no immediate danger, but everyone would remain in place until after I returned from the roof.

  They were again dispersed, where we all waited quietly for the sun to sink and the light to fail. I imagined the wonder each of them felt as a steady breeze blew off the water and up the hillside until reaching us. Branches shifted, smells they hadn’t tasted for nine years touched their noses, even the sunlight that was so much stronger than in the tunnels below made them squint. The salt air of Puget Sound wafted up to us along with the breeze.

  In my short time on the surface, I’d almost become accustomed to much of it. The strong scent of the cedar tree I lay under made my eyes water, still the scent was invigorating. I impatiently watched a sun that didn’t seem to move closer to the horizon.

  The shadows eventually drew longer, and the light dimmed.

  I climbed to my knees and then to a crouch, realizing the eyes of everyone were on me and the two I’d selected to go along. The others would remain on watch and protect the area. We quickly went to the corner of the building and around it, then leaped onto the file cabinet and plastic crate we had placed there, and pulled myself up the ladder to the first landing where I went belly-down and waited. My gun was ready to shoot, my position such that I could scramble down the ladder at the first hint of trouble. In no time, the other two were beside me.

  It was not full dark, but early twilight. The side of the building with the outside stairs was in shade on the east side, which helped. After a few short breaths when nothing happened, I risked tip-toeing quietly up another flight, then another. The two soldiers were my shadows.

  We climbed over the three-foot-high brick parapet. The flat roof was clear of enemies. Being high, it was still lit from the last of the setting sun.

  Where the three of us had slept that last night was a weather-grayed half sheet of plywood propped up between a chimney and a couple of bricks that hadn’t been there before. I went directly to it.

  Words were scratched into the gray board with the point of a knife, probably. It read, D. Gone to the camp for 1st night in city. T. & B. That was all I needed. I knew where they were, and they were probably safe, At least, they had been
when they left the roof.

  The camp was where the old lady was located and the drunk men had chased Bream. The T was for Tess.

  I’d been below for ten days, possibly more. They had little food and no choice but to go somewhere. Relief flooded through me and my instincts said to get to the ground and go find them.

  That couldn’t happen. There was far more at risk than the reunion of the three of us.

  As my exuberance subsided and rational thinking returned, I knew Tess would return here to search for me regularly. I pulled my knife and carved into the gray wood exposing the light tan beneath I’ll come. D. Nothing else. They would know I was alive and expect me if they saw it.

  That accomplished, the last of the light had faded and a cloud-cover restricted the light from the stars. The moon had not risen. We carefully and slowly climbed down while making far less noise than I’d expected.

  It only took a few moments to gather our troops and move in a single-file, each separated by a few yards to travel about five or six city blocks. We emerged on the side of a hill two or three hundred feet high, overlooking the old navy base. There were plenty of lights in windows, people moving about, and even lights on boats entering or leaving.

  They were not the fishing boats I expected but sailboats or modified fishing boats that had sails and moved at a pace so slow they seemed to stand still. Without fuel and repair parts, like the cattle and mules that replaced tractors, sails had replaced motorized boats.

  While interesting, it was not what we’d come to see.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

  The navy base was our objective. We planned to find out as much as possible about the way it operated, what the soldiers did there, where they went, the building that housed Sir Wilson, and anything else that might help us attack it.

  Attacking and defeating the stronghold of Sir Wilson was the only way to ensure our safety, meaning the safety of the thousands of people living in the Everett Sanctuary.

  I placed myself between the woman who was the ex-bartender-bouncer and a guy who had been a rookie cop for a year before deciding that was not the right job for him. Bailey and Josh were their names.

  We had the only one pair of binoculars. I watched the others of my squad to make sure they were concealed and quiet, knew what to look for, and to protect our backs while we focused on the base.

  I watched the fishing boats. After a while, I realized a pattern of each boat pulling up to the same set of docks, unloading fish under the direction of a dozen armed soldiers, and departing so another boat could land and presumably to catch more fish. The fish were transferred into wagons that were pulled by two men, not soldiers, so I assumed they were some sort of slaves or workers.

  Most fish were taken to a large building and empty wagons returned to the dock for another load. A few were taken to a second building where numerous soldiers came and went. I said, “That L shaped building is where they cook and eat.”

  “Agreed,” Bailey said. “I watched a bald man with muscles on muscles, so he stood out from others. He had went inside when we first started watching. A half-hour later he came out. That’s about right for a meal.”

  “Where’d he go then?”

  “See those five narrow buildings all together?”

  “Soldiers going in and out of them?” I asked.

  “They go in. Not many come out.”

  That made sense if they were barracks and the end of the day was approaching. I said, “I don’t see many weapons.”

  Josh said, “Only on the people at the guardhouses, or going to them, and those watching the fishermen carry them.”

  He was seeing something different than me, valuable information. I asked, “What else have you seen?”

  “Two guards located at each elevated guard station. There has been only one exchange of guards, so we don’t know how long their duty is yet. Probably two hours.”

  “What else?”

  “While the towers are in view of each other, they are not lighted,” he said. “It makes sense. Light would reveal their locations and guards to enemies. Make them easy targets at night.”

  “Why is that important to us?” I asked.

  He hesitated, then plunged ahead, “In an attack at night, if done quietly, the guards in one post could be killed without alerting those posts on either side. Then our people could slip inside the outer barrier without being seen.”

  Interesting. I hadn’t noticed that. His manner of speech was more educated than expected. That also surprised me although it shouldn’t have. Plenty of cops have college degrees. His accent sounded slightly foreign, unlike the Swedish influence in the northwest. So, it stood out.

  I mentally measured the distance between the guard posts, watched the shadows and found he was right. With silenced weapons like ours, we could get close and shoot both guards without alerting the posts on either side, but then what? Sir Wilson or his predecessor had cleared more than a hundred yards of space to the nearest buildings. There was no cover between the outer fence and those buildings, and even then, they seemed more like storage or warehouses.

  A ring of poles circling the buildings contained lights.

  Beyond those lights, an inner layer of defense was six or seven men walking a second perimeter constructed of crushed rock or maybe shells because it was so white and stood out starkly in the dim light. I adjusted the binoculars and found each of those men carried a rifle on their shoulder, each following the one ahead by fifty yards, always in sight of those in front and behind. That was a far more organized structure. There would be no getting past them without alerting the ones behind.

  Right inside the walkway were uniformly spaced posts fastened together in the center to form large Xs. That drew my attention because they didn’t seem to belong. A trick of the light revealed they supported several rows of wire on both crosspieces, making a double barrier because if the construction. Barbed wire, or concertina wire, no doubt. An effective inner defense that would slow any intruder.

  Not only did we have to break through the reinforced outer wall, sneak across a hundred yards of openness, but then the ring of light poles would reveal us, and the marching guards would sound the alarm, then barbed wire. At first, it was daunting.

  I thought I saw a weakness.

  “How would you do it?” I asked Josh.

  “Two phases of the initial attack. Phase one is simple. A dozen of us go together. Using our rifles on a dark night, we kill both men at a guard post. It would be nice to have a little diversion while we slip across that open area and spread out for phase two. At a prearranged signal, we shoot those circling. All of them at the same time, so none sound an alarm.”

  “Will that work? The second part, I mean.”

  “I think so. If we spread out so we have the entire loop covered and at the prearranged signal, we shoot the guard closest, then instantly turn to the next and next. All of us try to shoot the nearest three to us before any alarm is sounded. Ignore the lights at that point. Cut the wire and be ready to go in. By then, a thousand other of our people should be following right behind us.”

  That was a plan. However, I was a pessimist. “What if the alarm is sounded?”

  Josh turned to face me. “If we’re already positioned at that loop inside and our people are pouring in behind, we’re committed. If we don’t attack, the following day Sir Wilson will have his army searching for us—and find us.”

  “Once committed, we go or die. That simple?” I asked while trying to picture it in my mind.

  “Yes. Both sides of the battle will have about a thousand troops, right? The majority on both sides will be untested in combat, but we will have far better weapons and surprise on our side. They will be unorganized and most without weapons, which will probably be stored in an armory. They might not even keep weapons in the barracks, so they would have to run to another building that is their armory.”

  I gave that some thought to it and came to the realization Josh had put his finger on the probl
em that had plagued me as well as providing the answer. He’d basically omitted surprise as a major factor. Good. It should help us, but who knows how much it would change the course of a battle. I decided that an invading force like ours while shooting and yelling, would cause any recruit to run and hide.

  If we told our people before the battle what to expect, and that speed was critical, it would be worth more than surprise, however, I’d take what small advantages were tossed our way.

  Bailey was listening to us and watching the compound as we talked. She said, “I’m pretty sure of the buildings that are the barracks, the warehouses, and where they process fish which means they probably dry and salt it, and where they cook and eat at the chow hall. There are mechanical repair shops to the left because I saw the foundries and heard hammers pounding earlier.”

  “That’s good,” I said a little irritated at her interruption.

  “Let me get to the point,” she said, sensing my attitude. “If I was Sir Wilson, I wouldn’t want the smell of fish guts right outside my window, and those hammers of the smiths that are still pounding would drive me crazy. I wouldn’t have my personal quarters near the soldiers and the mess hall because of all the talking and noise, and I wouldn’t want to be near the defensive ring where enemies could arrive first. I’d want to be safely tucked away inside. Like a mother holding her baby.”

  Now she had my attention. By eliminating where Sir Wilson wouldn’t be, there were not many other places. I scanned the area with the binoculars and located only one place that avoided all her conditions.

  Besides, there seemed to be a direct paved route from three smaller buildings to where three fast-looking sailboats were tied up, not where the other boats were unloading fish. They were not used for fishing. All three were sleek, polished, luxurious, and they were all forty feet or more, and it looked like there was crew living aboard who maintained them and were probably ready to set sail at the slightest hint of a battle.