She had tied together a lot of loose ends for us in a few short minutes. We were stunned. Again. None of us had even questioned the reason for the presence of the troops. We figured either Eddie had told them we were here, or Eddie was here himself. Or we figured they were just blocking the roads. But Reagan was right. Why would they have to? They weren’t worried about a handful of Americans getting out. They could easily sit down at Grand Lake or Granby on the other side of Trail Ridge Road and wait for people to come down. I felt like an idiot, and I’m sure Danny did too. Her story made a heck of a lot more sense.
“Anyway,” Reagan continued. She was clenching Jenna’s hand now. This was hard for her. “Tuesday they beat me and had me raped repeatedly, figuring they could easily break me. But after the first few times it barely even mattered anymore how many men there were or what else they were doing to me. It hurt, every single time, but I almost became numb to it. I know you can’t possibly understand that.”
Tara nodded. She had an idea.
“When I didn’t give away Dad’s location then, they beat me some more. A few hours later they beat me and raped me again. Same thing happened Thursday. Then they had me watch them give Abbey drugs, all kinds of drugs. I didn’t see them rape her or beat her. Only saw them drug her. I did all I could to convince them she had absolutely no idea where Dad was. She never did know. But then they made her watch me get raped and beaten. She didn’t say anything. She just cried. These men were ruthless.”
We were all back to wanting to kill them now.
Reagan kept talking. “Friday they brought me out here where the highest-ranking officer was, and they raped and beat me some more. When the officer left, he told his men to do what they wanted to us—not just me—us. And when the one guy started feeling up Abbey, I lost it. They gagged me so I couldn’t scream, but I was going crazy. My sister was so drugged she couldn’t have fought it off if she wanted to. He started taking off her clothes, and I couldn’t take it anymore. They left, and another girl they brought along to ‘interrogate’ was killed. I fought my way free and took off. I wanted to find Abbey, but I had no idea where to look. I saw more guys coming towards me, and I took off. Everything else is exactly like I said it.” She was sobbing again. “I’m responsible for my sister’s death.”
Danny knelt down at her feet and looked up at her face. “I’m sorry. You have no idea how sorry I am. I want to leave you alone, but do you have any idea why your dad is in that truck?”
She shook her head, and Danny stood back up to let Jenna take Reagan away. But Reagan turned back for a second and pulled away from Jenna. “They had to have gotten his attention somehow and let him know they had us. That we were still alive.” She took a few deep breaths and continued. “He must have come out of hiding to try to save us. The Secret Service guys aren’t supposed to let him out of their sight, but my dad must have found a way.” She let that sink in and turned away again with Jenna. “They never would have found him otherwise.”
FIFTY-ONE: (Eddie) “Qi Jia Command Center”
The place was buzzing. They’d captured the vice president, alive. All their intel had been correct. The American military command had moved him to a safe house up in the mountains outside Denver, and after a week of searching the soldiers had found his daughters and used them to lure him out of hiding. They were holding him at one of the three mini-camps in Estes Park tonight. Tomorrow morning he’d be airlifted down here to Central Command, and they would be able to interrogate the “standing President” of the United States in a live broadcast around the world, and then kill him in front of everyone—the coup de grace in America’s final chapter.
There was one problem. Major Eddie didn’t like this plan. No one else may have cared, but Eddie was boiling mad. First of all, he was pissed off he didn’t know the agenda of the men he was now working with, and clearly subservient to, at Central Command. He was kept in the dark as to what was actually taking place in Estes Park. As the supposed second in command of the Intelligence Division, that gave him a significant personal issue with the Qi Jia commanders. Second, word was once they brought the vice president down, they were going to remove the troops from Estes Park. That was most problematic in that it would leave him with no way whatsoever to keep tabs on the area he assumed “his lions” were holed up. He understood there was no real reason to keep troops there. One hundred twenty men watching a few snow-blocked routes, to prevent the potential escape of a few Americans? That didn’t make sense. Not when they would probably die anyway trying to get out in the winter months. There was no point in keeping them there, but Eddie needed to come up with a reason. He needed the soldiers to stay there.
He was disappointed when the two soldiers’ bodies arrived from Estes Park. No gunshots. A girl, apparently the VP’s daughter, had fled one of the camps and stabbed one of the soldiers in the neck with his own knife. She’d crushed another one’s skull with a rock. When Eddie found out she’d been raped by these guys, he didn’t doubt she was capable of such brutal violence. He wouldn’t have minded shooting the guys himself. Eddie knew some of the other Qi Jia officers saw rape as an inevitable side effect of the invasion. They barely discouraged it, if at all, essentially turning a blind eye to it and/or participating in it themselves. Eddie had no tolerance for such brutality.
The one man above him in the Intelligence Division, Colonel Nobi, was supposed to take a squad of men up to Estes Park in the morning to pick up the vice president. Nobi didn’t want to go. Eddie was called before The Seven commanders, and offered the mission the colonel had passed on. Eddie considered declining the mission as well. He’d rather just stay here. His next in command would gladly sub in if that were Eddie’s decision.
As Eddie was about to decline, one of The Seven commanders spoke up. “Major. We also wanted to give you some good news. We flew some officers into Colorado Springs this morning from our command post in Casper, Wyoming. They had three men with them who fought in that battle at the depot in Cheyenne. Strangely, they didn’t recall you being there and didn’t know anyone else had survived that battle. Captain Kubar is bringing them here to Central Command tomorrow morning sometime. I’m sure you would love to see them again.”
Eddie nodded, reeling internally. “Absolutely sir. That is unbelievable! Did the Captain tell you their names? I’m sure one of my guys knows them at least.”
“Sorry,” the Japanese commander replied. “He did not. But you will see them tomorrow.”
“If it’s all right with you all,” Eddie spoke. “I’d be honored to retrieve the vice president for you in the morning. Hopefully we can do so and be back in time for me to get together with my comrades from Wyoming.”
“Fantastic,” the Russian commander said. “Thank you, Major. Your men will be waiting for you at the hangar at 0900.”
Major Eddie was fuming now as he walked back towards his office, where he’d already ordered his men to assemble. The problem with being a captain of his physical stature was people tended to remember him. It had no doubt surprised the commanders to learn these men, supposedly under Eddie’s command, had no idea who he was and didn’t remember him being in that fight. How do you forget a six foot seven, three hundred pound African?
Eddie knew for a fact none of his other men had survived, so these were definitely the men who had tracked him down from the Dakotas, and almost killed Lazzo at the depot. As soon as they saw him they would probably recognize him, and the entire master plan he’d developed would be over—likely his own life as well. Damage had already been done to his credibility. But how much? That remained unknown.
He swung the door open to his office, and Lazzo, Omar, and Cabo leapt to their feet. “We have a big problem,” he said angrily and told them the whole story. Eddie decided he needed to deal with this problem right now. He looked up the base address where Captain Kubar was stationed and jotted it down on a piece of paper. Eddie stood up to leave, and his men rose to follow him, but he held them off. He told them to meet hi
m at the hangar at 8:30 in the morning. “I need to talk to this Captain Kubar on my own today.” Eddie said, waving off their objections. “Tomorrow we’ll take care of the other men.”
The drive to Colorado Springs took a little over an hour, which turned out to be more than enough time for Eddie to come up with the perfect plan of action.
FIFTY-TWO: (Ryan) “Call of Duty”
Night had fallen again at the Alluvial Fan and over all of Horseshoe Park. Fires were burning down at the Endovalley troop camp, and Danny, Cameron, and I were watching the light dance above the trees from our vantage point on the ledge. It was shortly after 9 p.m., and Danny was trying to figure out his next move. His Special Ops training was telling him he had to get to the vice president somehow. But beyond that, he didn’t know what he would be expected to do. Reagan had shared with the group that her dad was ex-Special Forces. He knew what he was doing. He knew what he was getting himself into. Was Danny still supposed to try to rescue him at all costs? To potentially give his own life for a man that apparently had neglected his own political responsibilities and surrendered himself to try to save his daughters? Was he supposed to kill the vice president, so he couldn’t be used for the enemy’s purpose? Wouldn’t the vice president know how to kill himself to prevent that?
As far as we could tell, no additional security had been added to this camp. We found it curious they hadn’t even brought men from the other camps a few miles away. We guessed they weren’t worried about anyone in this area trying to free the vice president. In all likelihood, the VP wouldn’t be here long. It didn’t seem they were going to move him tonight, but surely they would in the morning.
It was still snowing, and troops were on patrol right now, but the temperature was dropping fast and those men weren’t dressed to stay out all night, unless they just stood by a fire. Danny knew he had to at least go to the camp and scout it out. But he also knew if he were caught, he’d have to claim he was with the vice president and give up on all hope of returning to this cave. In other words, he’d likely be dead.
It seemed like a lose-lose, a totally hopeless situation at best. But he and Cameron had joined the military for exactly this purpose, to save people. His new Commander-in-Chief, if the former President was indeed dead, was now less than a mile from us, tied up in a tent. The responsibility didn’t get any bigger than this. This was one of his all-time favorite video games, Call of Duty, being applied to real life. It was time to report.
Sunday, November 29, 2020.
Estes Park, Colorado.
Danny and Cameron left the cave around 2:30 a.m. They were counting on it taking an hour to get there and an hour to get back. That meant they had an hour and a half in between before daylight would make it impossible to hide. It wasn’t a lot of time to work with, but it was so cold now the enemy troops were barely visible, and those who were still up were huddled around fires. This was the enemy at their weakest against Danny and Cameron at their favorite hunting time. The boys couldn’t have it any better than this.
They made their way down to the road, crossed under the bridge, and approached the camp along the water, adjacent the herds of sleeping elk. The animals’ movement in the morning would cover their tracks almost perfectly. The last three hundred yards, though, were wide-open space. They either had to cross the road again and approach through the trees, or crawl in from here.
Danny and Cameron decided it would be foolish for both of them to go all the way into the camp. Two people were “two visible” they reasoned. They scouted out as much of the camp as they could and noticed only one tent was being guarded, and even then all three guards were gathered around the fire in front of the tent. One appeared to be sleeping standing up. The other two were deep in conversation. Danny left Cameron in a position where he could keep an eye and gun on those three men, in case Danny ended up needing help. They worked out their signals. If Danny knelt down on one knee at gunpoint, Cameron was to take out as many men around him as he could, starting with the man holding the gun on Danny. If Danny knelt on both knees, Cameron was to stand down and go back to the cave. It was primitive, and the fist bump they gave each other could be their last, but it was a “go.”
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I could see Cameron kneeling, rifle trained ahead, from my perch on the upper ledge. Blake had brought some climbing rope and stakes and had set up a line for us to pull ourselves up to another ledge about fifteen feet above ours. It was an easy climb with the rope and gave us a decent long-range view of half the camp. When it was windy it would be too risky to be up there, but tonight was calm. Snowy and freezing, but calm. It would be worth tolerating the cold to have a better view of the camp.
When Danny started crawling away from Cameron, we lost sight of him. He was hugging the ground along the other side of the road by the water, heading towards the camp. I told Blake to watch Cameron and let me know if anything happened with him. I was going to keep my eye and scope on as much of the camp as I could see, namely the three guys standing around the fire. Their movements would be my best indicator of whether or not they saw Danny.
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Danny slowly closed the distance between himself and the guarded tent. It still seemed strange to him that, with an available building, they’d keep their prisoner out in a tent. But then, the officers were highly unlikely to give up their own comforts for a prisoner of war. It made sense, but it was a dumb move. Then again, it was possible they didn’t even know who they had. Doubtful, but possible.
Every ten yards Danny would lift himself up a little to survey the camp. He reached the back of the tent around 4 a.m. He could hear the guys around the fire talking in a foreign language. He was less than twenty feet from them, separated only by tarp walls. If one of them decided to walk around the tent, someone would die. And then there’d be a lot more death.
Danny touched the back wall of the tent with his finger. Standard tarp. It would cut like wet cardboard. He pulled out his sharpest blade and slowly inserted it into the tarp wall. It pierced through, and he methodically worked it to his left. When he had created a hole about a foot wide, he gently lifted the tarp to see inside. The man they’d seen in the cage was indeed in there, eyes closed but facing him. He was on his knees, chained to the pole holding up the middle of the tent. There were two cots in the tent but no one in either. Danny lowered the tarp and continued to cut across the base of the wall. When he had created a gap large enough to slide through, he removed his backpack and set his rifle down on top of it. He slowly eased himself through the seam he’d created and slid under one of the cots.
He was lying facedown and preparing to crawl over to the vice president when the front tent flap opened, and one of the men came in with a lantern. Danny glanced behind him at where he’d entered and saw the canvas flapping lightly from the draft created by the soldier’s entrance. The soldier didn’t seem to notice. He staggered wearily to the cot and set the lantern down on the floor, less than a foot from Danny’s face. He sat down on the cot above Danny and took off his boots. He farted loudly, and the men outside said something to him, which he replied to in a cursing tone. They laughed. He muttered a few more words and lay down, pulling a large blanket over himself. Underneath, Danny was lying as flat as possible. The man’s heavy body made the cot sag to within inches of Danny’s back. The lantern now illuminated the entire tent. Danny had hoped the man on the cot would shut it off but he didn’t.
Danny shifted his eyes to the vice president and was surprised to see the man’s eyes wide open and focused on him. A few minutes later, the man above Danny began snoring. The vice president looked from Danny to the man on the cot, then back to Danny and slowly nodded. The flickering lamp now posed the bigger problem. He couldn’t put it out with the man snoring. The soldiers just outside would probably notice that. Nor could he emerge from under the cot and approach the vice president without the light revealing his shadow to the men around the fire. Danny took a breath and waited for a par
ticularly deep snore before poking the man hard in the side. He made a snorting noise, the snoring stopped, and there was silence for a second. The vice president nodded again, and Danny turned the knob on the lamp, shutting it off.
The guys outside said something, presumably directed at the man on the cot. As expected, the lamp going off had caught their attention. Danny held his breath. This was the moment of truth. The man on the cot didn’t reply, but he shifted and farted again. The men around the fire laughed and went back to talking, and the man above Danny gradually returned to his snoring. Danny slowly released the breath he’d been holding and cautiously moved the lamp aside, careful not to knock it over. He slid out from under the cot. Inch by inch he slid across the floor to the vice president and raised himself up beside the man. When he got to the man’s ear he whispered, “I’m here sir. What would you like me to do?”
He moved his head in front of the man’s mouth and the vice president replied softly, “You have to leave me and find my daughter.”
Danny paused a few seconds to make sure nothing around them had changed and then whispered back, “We have her, sir.”
The vice president turned his head sharply, surprise spreading across his face, and then he seemed to realize who Danny was talking about and shook his head. “Not Reagan. But thank God you have her…I meant my little girl, Abbey. I came here last night and took her to the Stanley Hotel.” He was wheezing and wincing with each deep breath. His face was bruised and bloody.
2020: Emergency Exit Page 24