by Shane Crosby
I studied it over and over again and came away with nothing that would tell their identity. They did well hiding that part of them. The one thing I can confirm is that it doesn’t look like they faired to well against my home protection system. They took a lot of causalities, but they’ll regroup soon enough. Now that I’ve injured them, they’ll make it personal. As if them killing everyone we bump into wasn’t personal enough.
We won’t be able to stay here too much longer. We’ll need to clean out all of the evidence Don has collected and get the hell out of here.
“Hey, man, come back here and look at this.”
Mase walks to the back room and sees all of the pictures, paper and other evidence on the walls.
“He’s officially obsessed.”
“Yeah, I told him as much.”
“Where did he get all of this stuff?”
“I guess he collected it all while he was helping Trevor.”
“We’re going to have to remove all of this stuff and take it back to Don.”
“If anything happens, we’ll still have all the evidence.”
The television was blaring out a news report that got Mase’s attention. He stopped to listen and became aware that Don’s house had made the evening news.
“Dub look at this!”
I walked back toward the living room to see what he was referring to. Apparently when they tried to break in, the neighbors heard the noise and called the police. Which lead to a highspeed chase throughout Berlin. It not only ended with some of the bad guys dying, but plenty of civilians lost their lives today as well. There will be families missing loved ones at their dinner table tonight, all because of us. I can’t tell you how sad that makes me.
While I stood there and watched the wreckage happen as if I was there. I was more than confident, they’ll be returning. Only this time, they won’t be coming to take evidence this time; it’ll be to take our lives.
“Mase, do you still have Harris’ number?”
“I guess we’re thinking the same thing?”
“That would be?”
“We might need something armored and armed to get out of here.”
I gave my brother a smirk and turned to leave the room.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
GUILTY BY ASSOCIATION
BERLIN
Harris
I received a call from Mase asking me to bring them a Humvee. These brothers are a special breed, they live by honor and duty, perfect for the military. And, like the military, being associates of theirs has the very real potential to get you killed. Despite this, I took the Humvee as instructed. Driving down civilian streets in a military armored vehicle has got to be the strangest thing I’ve ever done in my life. I’ll be telling this story to my grandkids one day. Hanging out with these brothers is starting to make me appreciate life more.
When I was two streets over from their address, I called them to let them know I was close. As I turned down their street, I slowed down and did what I could to notice anything that didn’t quite fit. What I saw lead me to believe we weren’t going to make it out of this neighborhood alive, at least not without a fight. I hoped I was wrong, but not likely.
At the edge of the driveway, right on cue, the garage door opened and I drove in. Once inside, the brothers are there with the welcoming committee.
When I got out of the jeep, Mason grabbed me by the head and put me in a headlock.
“Hey newbie! I guess you have some balls after all. Hey Dub! Look whose here.”
Dub comes around the corner when he sees me he breaks out into a wide grin. He opens his arms wide and I disappear into those massive biceps and cannonball sized pectoral muscles bulging a mile off his chest. He lifted me off the ground and squeezed so hard I know I heard a few ribs cracking.
“Heeeeeyyyyy, Newbie! Welcome to the party. I guess Mase is right. You do have a pair after all.”
I wasn’t amused. They’re telling jokes acting light like nothing is wrong and I was trying to prevent myself from shaking too death.
“Like I said, I’m glad I’m an only child.” They start laughing.
“Hey, Newbie, make yourself useful grab some of this stuff. We’ve got to go.”
“Dub, do you have everything?”
“Yep. Checked it four times.”
“Harris, you know what to do, right?”
Before I responded, I took a deep breath and let it out.
“Yeah, guys about that.”
“What?”
“Uh, I think we might have a little problem leaving.”
“What did you see?”
“I’m not sure, but I don’t believe the neighbors down the street are just normal neighbors.”
“Go on.”
“I could swear someone was looking out of the corner window with an automatic weapon in his hand. He saw me looking, I believe. He moved back quickly.”
“We don’t have as much time as we thought.”
“Doesn’t look like it. The plan?”
“We have a tank; weapons and we’re trained to fight. I’d say that’s all we need because either way, they’re coming. We can’t say here.”
“I can help. I might just be a private, but I’ve been trained for combat, remember?”
“Harris, we’ve been doing this a lot longer. I don’t want to have to explain to your mother if anything happens to you. Have you ever had to do that? I’m guessing, No. Well, it’s a shitty job. I pray you never have to be the one to call your buddy’s mom and tell her he’s not coming home.”
“No offense, but I’m well of aware of the possible dangers you could find yourself in when you join the military. I’ve gone through the same process as you guys.”
“Did you hear that Dub?”
“Yeah, I heard him, textbook soldier; no action yet.”
“My thoughts exactly.”
“You’re not listening, Newbie. We never said you didn’t know the process. We said, we’ve been doing it a lot longer.”
“Right. I don’t know how it works in an only child home. But, I do know how it goes when you’re a family of five brothers and one mom. You look out for each other. You may not want any brothers but you have two today.”
“And, we’re making it our personal mission to get you back to your mom safe and unharmed.”
“I know you don’t like it, but that’s the way it’s going to be. You can risk your life on someone else’s watch.”
“I’m already involved. I brought the tank over here and everything.”
“No one is going to bother you in a tank and they can’t do anything just yet. They’re planning, waiting for us to leave or take too long to leave.”
“This isn’t fair.”
“The first lesson about life kid.”
“Okay, let’s finish with this and get out of here.”
We finished loading the truck and got prepared to make our exit. The garage door slowly raises and we start to back down the driveway. When that garage door closed, I felt butterflies. I don’t know about the brothers, but I feel exposed. I knew it was just a matter of time before trouble came for us.
Mason continues down the driveway backing onto the street. While Mason puts the truck in drive, Dub is looking around to see if it’s still clear. They’re both on high alert. It’s too quiet everything is too still. Dub reaches over and touches Mason. He sees something moving in the distance. With movements resembling a turtle, it’s coming closer and closer.
“Move, move, move!”
Dub yells. Mason speeds up to escape the oncoming vehicle. The black SUV just misses the side of the Humvee. The SUV turns around speeds down the street in pursuit of us. Through the driver’s side mirror, I raise my head just a little and can see the passenger of the SUV leaning out of the window with a rifle. Mase, sees the same image in the rear view mirror.
“Dub, we’re getting ready to take on fire. Cover us and I’ll get us to safety.”
“Already on it.”
As soon as Mase formed those words, bullets are ricocheting off the Humvee sounding like the game at the carnival where you have to shoot a certain number of ducks to win a prize. You can see the fire from the gun powder igniting light up the night sky. It looks like New Year’s Eve has arrived early this year.
A car approaches from the front. We’re about to have a head on collision.
“Mase! Look out!”
Mason swerves and barely misses the oncoming vehicle. The Humvee goes off the road and straightens back up and begins to pursue us again. Dub has his weapon ready and waits for an opportunity to return fire. He leans out of the passenger side window and starts to return fire on the black SUV. The passenger ducks back into the car. Dub continues to fire at the vehicle. Another passenger in the back of the SUV returns fire and Dub does the same. Blood splashes on the windows and seats inside of the SUV, the man’s weapon falls to the side, his body slumps over across the side window. Chaos erupts inside of the SUV. They’re holding onto his belt, his legs anything to keep him from falling to what would surely be his death, if he’s not dead already. They cross the line and hit a parked car and swipes another. The driver fights to keep the truck under control.
I could hear them, one giving instructions to the other to save their fallen friend.
“Pull him in! Don’t let him fall!”
“I’m not! I got him!”
They’re consumed with trying to save their brother in arms until another shot fired from Dub’s weapon hits the driver. Resembling a top, the SUV spins rapidly in the road. Things haven’t calmed down inside from the last casualty and now they’re trying to recover from another. They grab the driver and try to pull him into the back seat all the while the truck is weaving back and forth across the road. Attempting to maintain control of the vehicle, the passenger in the back grabs the steering wheel. The SUV continues to swerve back and forth across the line clipping the side of a passing car sending it over a curb into the front of a home.
Inside of the SUV, the two men are still struggling to keep things under control. Finally, he successfully gets the driver into the back seat and regains control of the truck.
“Damn!”
“What is it?”
“They didn’t crash, still coming. Keep it as solid as you can, Bro. They’re limping, but they want to go another round.”
Dub leans out of the window and continues to open fire. Shots are being fired from the back of the SUV. Dub steadies his hand as much as he can and shoots the front of the truck. A stream of smoke emits from the front of the SUV and water pours out from underneath. In frustration, the driver hits the steering wheel repeatedly. He points at us and forms his fingers in the shape of a gun.
“YEAH!”
“Good shooting, bro!”
They clasp hands.
“Hey, you all right down there?”
“Is it all clear?”
“Yeah, they’re not going anywhere any time soon.”
CASUALTIES
A FIELD IN BERLIN
Dub
Everyone breathes a sigh of relief and we continue to our destination. The quiet and stillness Dub complained about earlier has returned. But, he appears to be more appreciative of what the quiet has to offer this time around. He sits back and tries to enjoy it.
The drive takes on a new meaning and inside our truck there’s a sense of accomplishment, victory even. However, that will be short lived. We’d been driving close to an hour when our victory celebration was interrupted.
“Is it safe for me to get up now?”
“Damn!”
“I guess not.”
“Not is right. Get comfortable newbie.”
“Mase look.”
Mase swerved to miss the oncoming vehicle. An explosion rocks the peace that I just drifted into a few seconds before. All you can hear are tires screeching, metal crushing and, glass shattering. The road is covered with burnt rubber. Both trucks are flipping in the air as if they’ve been giving new capabilities that allow them to fly. The Humvee hits the ground upside down and then flips onto all four wheels. Leaving us shaken, broken battered covered with cuts bleeding and struggling to figure out what happened. The second SUV lands upside down and slides fifty feet down the road. The passengers involved have taken on more casualties. A stream of blood oozes from the wounded inside. You can hear faint cries for help. Gas starts to leak from the ruptured gas tank, if help doesn’t arrive soon; no one is going to survive.
I began to call for survivors. Suddenly, my focus is turned from our wounded to the eruption behind us. I know this may sound bad, but only to those who’ve never had to fight for their right to survive. The sound that explosion made followed by the sounds of pieces of metal hitting the pavement made me feel relieved. I knew our way out of here was clear.
“Harris, Harris, Mase, Mase,”
Mase doesn’t answer and neither does Harris. The horror of losing my brother grips me like a hand around someone’s throat. I crawled over to Mase turned him over straddled him and smacked his face repeatedly.
“Mase! Come on little brother you’re stronger than this!”
“Mase!”
I screamed at him over and over while hitting him in the face. I started to perform CPR. He still wasn’t responding. I continued to repeat this procedure until I got a pulse and Mase starts to cough as his lungs fills up with oxygen.
“Mase!”
Mase, rousted from his unconscious state, appears groggy and a bit disoriented.
“Mase! Come on little brother don’t do this!”
Finally, back to a state of consciousness. He realizes what’s going on.
“Hey man, get your big ass off of me. I already can’t breathe.”
I smacked him. “You scared me too death!”
I’m usually the least out of all of us to show emotion, but this occasion called for it. I lifted Mase up by the collar.
“Don’t you ever do that again!”
“Okay, okay, get up already. It’s not like I could help it. I’m glad you didn’t go to school to be a nurse. You’d be fired for sure.”
“Man, Shut up! You had me worried too death. I should kill you myself for practically giving me a heart attack out here. Get up. I thought you were dead.”
“Yeah, uh, I’d love to. If it wasn’t for this gaping hole in my back.”
I turned to look at him more closely. A closer look revealed the trail of blood leaving from Mase’s back into the pool forming onto the floor of the Humvee. I was astonished at the blood loss. I knelt down to pull Mase’s shirt up to expose the baseball size hole exposing muscle tissue, veins and the source of the constant free flowing blood stream that I saw earlier.
“Oh shit! Mase, this is bad. Damn it!”
“Listen, I’ll be fine go find Harris. I don’t hear him.”
“Okay, right. See if you can get up and find some towels or something to pack in this hole.”
“I can. I know how to pack a wound. Hurry up, go.”
I jumped out of the Humvee and started to look for Harris.
“Harris, Harris, man don’t start joking around now, this is not the time.”
Mase still sitting inside the battered Humvee calls out to his brother.
“Dub! Did you find him?”
“No!”
“Awww man, please tell me he’s ok.”
“He is stop worrying. Just pack your damn wound. I can’t have you bleeding to death out here.”
Mase was quiet. Then I started to wonder if he was dead and I found myself wondering if I should forget about Harris and go back for Mase. Then just like that, God gave me my answer.
“Dub! You hear anything?”
“Only you calling my name a million times. Makes me remember why I don’t like going on road trips with you. Be quiet.”
I continued to walk through the field hoping I stepped on or tripped over a terrified but alive Harris.
“Dub!”
“Shhh.....I think I hear s
omething.”
I followed the noise until I stumbled upon Harris drowning in his own blood. Much like Mase, Harris is coughing, gurgling, and gasping for air. I ran to him turned him over and hit him hard on the back. Harris cried out in pain. I knew I shouldn’t move him, but I don’t have time to do everything according to protocol right now.
I straightened Harris’ broken body. I looked down and damn if he doesn’t have a wound in his abdominal area. The worst place besides your chest to have a wound. All your vital organs reside in those places and any little trauma could lead to death.
Blood is pouring out Harris’ body and has covered the ground under him. When I looked at the wound, I knew the odds of Harris surviving this were slim to none. I cradled him in my arms and began to talk to him.
“Listen Harris you’re a soldier. You’re going to beat this. None of my little brothers die on my watch. You’re not going to end my streak today. Do you hear me?”
To keep him from succumbing to unconsciousness I repeated the actions I did to Mase earlier, I smacked him in the face. He looked up at me, and with a weak voice that’s barely audible he tried to speak.
“Honored to be in the family.”
He smiles but he’s overtaken with blood filling up in his lungs. He begins to choke. In an effort to help him breath, I lifted him up and hit him on the back again.
Mase, hurt himself stumbles over to where I found Harris. When he sees the seriousness of his injuries I could see in his face, he knew they’d both need a miracle to pull through.
I’ve been on more combat missions than I can count. During those missions I’ve lost a lot of brothers in arms. I can’t lose this kid. He’s just a kid. He hasn’t even lived or experienced life yet.
“Get him up. Come on.”
Mase grabs Harris’ legs and we carry him back to the Humvee.
“Look for anything that will stop the bleeding.”
Mase finds a pair of pliers. He starts to pull the top off the bullets they have.
“What the hell are you doing? We need those.”
“You said stop the bleeding, right?”
“Yeah, but you look like you’re trying to make a bomb.”