Behind the man I could see a body lying on the pavement near a burned out SUV.
“Where is the rest of your group?” I asked, stopping maybe 20 feet from him.
“Most are sheltering in the overgrowth, and one’s over there,” he nodded toward the drainage ditch where Ray had noticed the concealed person with the weapon.
“Why were you attacked?” I asked.
“We’d just picked up some diesel fuel. Guess the people that hit us wanted it more than we did.” He paused and then said, “Listen, I don’t expect you to trust us. But can you help us? I’ve got some boys who have injuries that need tending. I don’t have time to explain everything right now. I’ll ask for your help, not your trust; I don’t have time to build that right now.”
“I have one more question,” I said.
The man nodded, waiting anxiously, “Yeah?”
“How did you know we weren’t the people who hit you coming back to finish the job?”
He shrugged. “Didn’t for sure. You see that boy on the road back there?” he choked out the words, turning to look behind him at the body on the pavement.
“Yes,” I said, hearing the emotion in the man’s voice.
“That’s my boy.” A tear trickled down his cheek. “There’s another one dead inside that SUV back there, and I just lost a nephew a few minutes ago.” He paused for a minute, then said, “If you were the ones that did this, I was going to kill you…or at least die trying.”
His answer was enough for me. “Come on out,” I called to the person in the ditch. “We’re not here to hurt you. We were just looking for a place to camp.”
The man in the ditch – a young, not bad looking man – rose and approached warily. I couldn’t blame him for his cautiousness considering what had apparently just gone down.
“Where are your injured?” I asked the older man.
“Over there,” he nodded toward the jungle-like tangle of weeds and palms that lined the drainage ditch on the other side of the road.
Ray walked up closer to where we stood.
“You have medical supplies? The older man asked.
“Some,” I said.
“We’d be obliged if you could take a look at our wounded and maybe give us a lift back to the coast.”
I took a deep breath, thinking. We had our own situation to consider and taking a lengthy detour to the coast was not on our to-do list. “We don’t have much gas,” I said. “We take you there, and we’ll be out completely.”
“You help us, and get me and my boys, both dead and alive, back home, and you can have all the gas you can carry,” the man said.
“Fair enough,” I said. I stepped closer and held out my hand, “John Stevens,” I said. “And this here is Ray Navarro,” I nodded over to the soon-to-be-papa standing next to me.
“Gordon Parks,” the man said, shaking my hand. “This here is my oldest boy, Jeff. And now if you don’t mind, I’d like to get my people tended to.”
“Sure,” I said. “Let’s see what we can do.”
CHAPTER 5
It didn’t take long for Jake and Ava to realize that things in Miami were chaotic and disorganized to say the least. There were several small gang-like factions that believed they ran things in their little neighborhoods, but as far as any sort of central structure in place for the commerce within the greater Miami area, there was none.
The two quickly figured out how they wanted to set things up. Taking a page from their Atlanta experience, they decided they’d like to create a central marketplace of sorts similar to that of Atlanta’s Underground. However, they would expand upon this idea, building a web of interconnected marketplaces off this main hub – some of which already existed in certain neighborhoods – throughout the city. They also decided that similar to Atlanta, they would focus on fuel, sex, and free market consumer purchases as their three main controlling industries. The main difference in their plan was that rather than dividing these various industries among three independent families, Jake and Ava would limit any confusion and act as the only controlling organization.
But before any of this could occur, they first needed to expand the membership of their organization after having downsized it significantly in their failed effort to remain in Atlanta. This rebuilding process didn’t take long. It wasn’t hard to find people willing to lie, cheat, steal, kill, and whatever else was asked of them for the food, booze, cigarettes, sex, and debauchery that being a part of Jake’s organization offered. People were looking for leadership in Miami, and Jake felt that he was the perfect person to provide it, as long as he got what he wanted – unquestioned and unrequited loyalty – in return.
In private, upon the night of their arrival to the Miami area, Jake pulled Ava quietly aside, pushing several of his crew out of the Stryker armored vehicle that he was currently using as his command post.
“So what’s the plan?” he asked her after the men were gone and he was sure that they were alone.
“You know the plan,” she said. “We discussed it already on the way down here.”
“No,” he said, unfurling a large map of the Miami area and spreading it out on the floor in front of her. “I want you to show me. I know what we’re doing, but I want to see how we’re going to do it and what we are going to control on here,” he shoved his finger down hard onto the map.
Ava took a minute to search the interior of the Stryker, finally finding a black, felt-tip marker. Jake waited silently, sitting before the map until she came back.
“Okay,” she said, sitting down beside him in front of the map. “If the Miami metro area was hit by the flu the same way as everywhere else we’ve been so far, which I think we can safely assume it was, we probably have about a quarter of a million people at most currently left in the entire area. That area includes going all the way up through Fort Lauderdale and into Palm Beach. But we aren’t going to focus on those areas right away, just the Miami area. I think that if we can get Miami, Fort Lauderdale will be easy, and Palm Beach a breeze…if we even want them. So we probably have somewhere around 125,000 to 150,000 people left just around Miami. It sounds like a lot, but because the area is so large, I think the majority of them are going to be sprinkled all over the place and pretty unorganized, so we can divide the city like this.” She pointed at a long line that stretched across the map just under a bolded ‘Hollywood’ location name. “This will be where our area of control starts…here,” she used the marker to draw a line across north Miami that followed highway 820 from A1A across to intersect with I-75. “This will be our northern-most border for right now.” She then used the marker to draw a line from 820 down I-75 and along the 821 Homestead Extension tollway south until it linked up with US1 between South Miami Heights and Cutler Ridge.
Jake stared at the Nevada-shaped area bordered on its east side by the Atlantic Ocean that Ava had outlined.
“That’s a lot of territory,” he breathed. He used his finger to measure the scale in the corner of the map and then held it against the north/south line that Ava had drawn. “About 30 miles north to south.”
“We can handle it,” Ava said confidently. “I know we can. This is what we’ve been waiting for.” She traced the outline with her finger. “Just think,” she said, running the finger along the marker lines and then over onto Jake’s thigh. “We’ll have our own empire. An entire city,” she continued tracing her finger around his leg. “An entire…US…city,” she emphasized each word as her finger continued up, then around and down.
“How do we know what we’re up against down here?” Jake said.
Ava already knew what the situation in Miami was, but she couldn’t tell Jake that because then he would want to know how she knew. And telling him would ruin everything.
“We don’t for sure,” she lied. “We’ll have to send out some scouting missions to get a better read on things. We’ll start first thing tomorrow,” she continued in a breathy, almost husky, lust-filled tone.
It was the th
ought of power that came with controlling Miami that Ava was truly longing for and that had her all worked up, not Jake.
“We’ll send the Strykers out, let people know we’re here and we mean business,” she said. “But let’s not worry about that now,” she continued massaging him. “Let’s worry about us.”
Ava needed an outlet for the pent up emotional and power-hungry hormonal high she was feeling.
And she was content to let Jake – for the moment – be just that.
* * *
The next morning, Jake was comfortable letting Ava handle the logistical aspects of their recon work. And she was happy to do so. Keeping Jake’s nose out of things made her life easier in more ways than one. She sent out groups that did little more than drive around and report what they saw. Most of the intel they provided was useless to her, but it allowed Ava to create the illusion that she was collecting the data she had already compiled while still in Atlanta by way of the trips her men Brownie and Blondie had made.
After a couple days of this, Ava felt she’d made it look good enough to proceed with the rest of their – her – plan.
The time her recon work had bought them had also given them a chance to recruit more members for their growing organization and provided them with the manpower necessary to make their first few critical strikes.
Ava recognized that this would be the time when they were most vulnerable. Even though the controlling gangs around the Miami area were disorganized and unprepared for what was coming, they still far outnumbered Jake and Ava’s crew; plus, they were fighting on their home turf. But Ava hoped that taking her plan and dividing it into two distinct stages would allow her enough time to continue to grow their numbers, yet not take so much time that they showed their hand, and in the process gave the rival gangs time to get organized.
The first stage of her plan involved adding even more risk to their already risky venture by splitting their forces. Jake didn’t like it. Jake liked having the upper hand when it came to numbers and firepower in a fight, but Ava told him that this was the only way that they could ensure they’d be able to secure that advantage in future operations.
Therefore, they divided their crew into two teams, Jake’s team and Ava’s team. Each of them took around 20 guys, one Stryker armored personnel carrier, four armor-plated SUVs, and several support vehicles. Their numbers seemed paltry when Ava considered their objective – taking entire Miami neighborhoods – but it was all they had; and the longer they waited to recruit more men, the more likely it was that someone would let it slip about what they were up to.
Ava went over the plan time and again with Jake before they made their first move. She was concerned that he’d botch part of the operation without her around to stay on top of things, so she pulled Mad Dog and Rambo aside in private and away from Jake and reviewed everything with them as well. She felt better knowing that they understood what was going on, and better yet, that she could trust them to see the plan through to fruition with or without Jake’s involvement.
Ava developed a two-pronged attack for this first stage of their Miami takeover. She chose what she knew to be two of the more lightly-controlled sections of town out of the ten total areas she’d outlined. The ten areas included Carol City, North Miami, Hialeah, Little Havana, Miami Springs, Westwood Lake, West Miami, South Miami, Coral Gables, and Palmetto Bay. Jake and his crew would take the northern target – Carol City – and Ava and her men would attack from the west, hitting Westwood Lake.
During these two offensives, both Jake and Ava split their 20-man units into small squads of four or five. In this way, they could spread out, becoming acquainted with the areas more intimately, finding out exactly who was controlling what and how. Then they could rough some people up, break a few heads, slit a few throats when and where necessary, and assassinate the leadership of any potential resistance that wasn’t willing to cooperate. This sort of activity quickly and brutally informed any remaining area residents in these two locations who was now in charge. Then Jake and Ava made a final show of force at the area’s local market. They rolled in with fangs bared, the Strykers leading the way. And there, in crystal-clear terms, they explained to the local businessmen – as well as any shoppers – how things were going to work.
“Either your with us or your dead,” as Jake concisely put it.
The people of these areas were still free to conduct their business, but they would supply Jake, Ava, and their crew with whatever supplies they needed, up to 15 percent of their weekly transactions.
After this was done, Jake and Ava left a skeleton crew of six or seven loyal and heavily-armed guys behind to keep the peace, get things organized, and recruit more manpower. One group was managed by the Fallback Man, a middle-aged, former career criminal who was great at organizing and planning. The other group was handled by Johnny Switchblade, their man who was deadly accurate with a knife when throwing at targets or in close quarters.
Jake and Ava picked up some new recruits to replace those left behind as their occupying force, plus a few more if possible, and moved on to the next stop on their list.
They took a little time after taking their first few locations – just 24 hours or so – to consolidate their new holdings, load up on guns and ammo, and regroup. But Ava didn’t want to pause so long that word about their move on these neighborhoods spread to other areas around Miami or that their men began to relax and start partying.
As they continued their march forward, moving from neighborhood to neighborhood, it quickly became apparent that Miami was in dire need of leadership. As Jake and Ava’s conquest for complete domination progressed, they rapidly gained momentum, picking up more weapons and recruits with each area they overran.
Each neighborhood appeared to be set up pretty much the same. There was a sort of central marketplace or open-air bazaar where area vendors would set up to sell their wares or peddle their services and residents would come from the surrounding area to shop.
Guided by Ava’s overarching plan, they moved from the north and west, Jake pushing south, and Ava driving east. They would eliminate any resistance, eventually meeting up and making a final push toward the sea, enveloping, trapping, and eventually destroying any retreating defenders in their path.
Jake wondered if Ava had been an army general in a previous life. He himself hadn’t made it past the 10th grade, but he remembered learning about World War II and Dunkirk. The war portion of history class in particular had interested him. Ava’s plan reminded him of Hitler’s generals trapping the British army on the coastline during their invasion of France. The only difference was that, unlike Hitler, Jake didn’t plan on giving his enemies the opportunity to escape. Jake’s war was a total one, and the only option in his mind was complete victory.
By the time word of their movements and territorial takeovers got out to any remaining neighborhoods, it was too late. Jake and Ava’s organization had become too large. They’d become a steamroller that was big enough and powerful enough to crush just about any and all opposition no matter how well prepared or organized. And this steamroller got bigger and carried more momentum with each area of Ava’s map it consumed.
Soon, Jake and Ava began promoting their generals, providing them with their own troops and areas to overrun and control simply because the operation was of a scale far too great for just the two of them to manage. Mad Dog, Rambo, Kill King, Switchblade, and Fallback all got a group of their own to command. Each consisted of a platoon of about 25 men that they could split into smaller squads that were typically led by longer term and more trustworthy individuals of the organization. Then they would conduct the same sort of operation as Jake and Ava had in the initial forays into the Miami area. These small squads of four or five men each would spread out, casing the area, getting a feel for things, killing people who needed to be killed, and generally letting people know who was in charge. Then they’d make their final show of force at the local market or similar symbolic neighborhood center where t
hey could threaten or cajole the remaining populace into subservience and crush any remaining resistance.
Ava was in charge of her own platoon of men, as well as overseeing Kill King and Johnny Switchblade who led similar platoons. Jake of course had his own men in addition to overseeing Mad Dog and Rambo’s units. Ava wanted it this way since she could trust Mad Dog and Rambo and they needed very little supervision to conduct their operations the way she wanted them to. Meanwhile, she could keep an eye on Kill King and Johnny Switchblade who were more loyal to Jake and had a few of his more irresponsible tendencies. In actuality, this left Ava controlling all their forces except for those directly under Jake, as well as those under the Fallback Man who was assigned to oversee the neighborhood occupying forces. The Fallback Man harnessed his organizational capabilities to ensure that these occupying forces kept things running the way Jake and Ava wanted among the area businessmen and residents after the “big dogs” had moved on.
Things were coming together just the way Ava wanted, but Jake had no idea that this was the case.
Not everything was smooth sailing though. Several Miami neighborhoods proved tougher nuts to crack than Ava had expected. But again, in moves that were straight out of a war strategy textbook, Ava decided to skip these areas of greatest resistance, cutting them off from any supply lines or reinforcements simply by moving past them and surrounding them. This “island hopping” campaign through the city allowed her to control everything moving into or out of these cut off sections by overrunning the outlying areas. She understood that while this might leave these strongholds in place temporarily, after a week or so of being cut off from food, water, ammunition, and other supplies, some of the resistance would just give up, some would be killed while scavenging for supplies, and those who remained would likely be so demoralized, exhausted, and hungry after holding out against the elements that they’d eventually just surrender.
Her plan worked perfectly. A month after their arrival, all of the outlined areas on Ava’s map except one – a particularly strong enclave in Little Havana – were under their control.
The Systemic Series - Box Set Page 83