by Patten, Sean
The last part of those orders rang in my head. A working car would be our ticket out of here. But what would I do if I were to find one? Load up Steve and Kelly and desert? Hell, it’d be hard for me to turn my back on the refugees at Esperanza—the odds of Steve leaving just like that were even slimmer.
Had we gotten stuck?
“Form up with your squads,” Mason barked. “And stay frosty out there—I want to see every last one of your smiling faces back at Esperanza. Move out!”
That was that. Mason pointed at a few of the troops, the ones he’d selected going with him on his mission to meet with Donahue. And it could’ve been my imagination, but I was almost certain that he gave me a hard glare before heading out, as if wanting to make sure I knew he had his eye on me.
But then again, maybe I was just seeing things.
“All right, troops!” said the soldier up ahead, another lieutenant like Mason by the looks of it. “Time to hit it! Stay close, and don’t do anything I wouldn’t do!”
Kelly and I shared a look.
“Guess we’ll be using our teeth and claws if it comes down to it,” she said.
At first I was confused, but when she patted the part of her belt where a sidearm would be kept, I got what she meant.
“No guns for the half-soldiers,” I muttered.
Steve, on the other hand, was strapped. A military-issue Beretta was on his belt, and an M4 carbine was slung over his shoulder. It was a surreal sight—not only seeing my brother loaded out and suited up like that, but knowing we had access to some serious firepower. Even if I wasn’t the one using it, it was good to know it was there.
“I’ve got your back,” said Steve with a grin. “Always was a better shot than you anyway.”
“Yeah right,” I smirked.
Before he could offer a rejoinder, the squad began to move out.
Steve and Kelly stayed with me in the back, and I did a quick count of the troops, seeing that there were twelve altogether, not including the three of us. Hopefully, that’d be more than a match for any hostiles we might come across.
But as I watched Mason and his men take off, I felt my fists clench at my sides. I needed to be there, to see what was going to go down. I had a feeling that everything I’d need to know about Mason would be revealed at that meeting.
We continued down the Strip, and it struck me again just how quiet and desolate the place was.
“What happened to the rioters?” asked Steve, speaking low enough that only we could hear him.
“I’m wondering the same thing,” I said. “This is…weird.”
“Maybe they went to Esperanza?” Kelly said. “Bet half the population of the city’s there.”
“Yeah,” said Steve. “But that still leaves the other half.”
“Right,” I said. “Metro pop of Vegas is something like two million. Plenty probably fled or wandered off into the desert, but there should still be some people kicking around.”
“Maybe other camps?” Kelly said.
“Maybe,” I said.
No way to know—without the sort of intel that Donahue likely had, any guess was as good as the last.
The lieutenant in charge led us to the left, down an intersecting street which ended up being as dead as the Strip. We continued on, my eyes flicking left and right to hopefully catch sight of something.
About ten minutes into our walk, I did.
The sound of metal lurching echoed through the area, and for a moment I thought it might’ve been the supports of a building giving way. But seconds later a car rolled out from a nearby alley, flames shooting from the windows.
“What the hell?” said Steve.
I knew what was coming. Sure enough, when I turned I spotted another car, rolling out of an alley behind us. Just like the other, the car was covered in flames.
We were trapped.
“Justin…” Kelly started, fear in her voice.
“Take cover!” I shouted. “It’s an ambush!”
If there was any doubt among the troops, it was answered seconds later by the crackle of gunfire sounding out in the otherwise lifeless city.
Chapter 19
“Hostile contact!”
The voice of the lieutenant rose above the gunfire.
“Holy shit,” cried out Steve as he whipped the M4 from around his shoulder.
“What do we do?” shouted Kelly.
Without saying a word, I pulled her down to the ground, the two of us dropping into a prone position. I wrapped my arm around her shoulders and pulled her close, making she sure she didn’t panic and run.
Steve was crouched ahead, his rifle raised as he popped off shots in the direction of the buildings around us. I looked around, watching the soldiers take cover as I tried to see just where the shots were coming from. But I only managed to spot a few bright flashes of gunfire from a few of the windows on both sides of us.
“We need to get out of the road, now!” I shouted to Kelly over the noise.
“Right there with you!”
God, all I wanted was a fucking gun. Being unarmed was about the worst thing I could imagine in a situation like that.
Steve whipped around where he stood.
“Come on!” he said. “I’ll get you both out of here!”
Getting out of there wasn’t what I wanted. I wanted to be armed. I wanted to fight. But the sight of a scared Kelly next to me was enough to put those feelings out of my head, and I knew then that her safety took priority.
I quickly helped her to her feet, Steve taking point and laying down some suppressing fire as we made our way off the road.
As soon we were out of the main line of fire and in cover behind a fire-gutted sedan, a few pangs of bullets against metal rang out, letting me know that we’d found cover not a moment too soon. We couldn’t afford to linger; it was only a matter of time before they’d manage to draw another bead on us.
“There!” I said, pointing to the front of a theater ahead.
“Yeah!” said Steve. “On three!”
He counted down, hitting one before coming out from behind the car and opening fire from behind the hood. Staying low to the ground, Kelly and I hurried down the sidewalk to the theater and rushed in through the thick, metal doors, Steve following a moment later.
Once we were inside, the sounds of combat became muffled. I looked around to make sure that we weren’t standing near any windows, but the front of the theater was solid wall. Unless whoever had opened fire on us was packing RPGs, we were safe for the time being.
“Who is that?” asked Kelly. “Who’s shooting at us?”
“Heard reports of gang activity near the Strip,” Steve said. “But nothing confirmed.”
“I guess that’s our confirmation,” said Kelly.
Steve glanced over his shoulder at the door.
“I gotta get back out there,” he said. “Not gonna leave my men twisting it the wind like that.”
“Steve—” I started.
I wanted to tell him to forget it, to take cover with us and wait for the worst to die down. But I knew there was no use in it. He wasn’t the type to cower while others did the heavy lifting. And if I were in his position, I’d probably make the same call.
“Be safe out there,” I said.
“I’ll be back before you know it.”
I watched as he turned and hurried out of the theater, the doors banging shut behind him.
“Should’ve asked for his damn pistol,” I said, frustrated with myself. “Seen if I could help.”
“Not a chance,” Kelly said. “I don’t know much about guns but I don’t think you’d do much good shooting at people in buildings with a pistol.”
She was right about that. Even on the off chance that Steve would be willing to part with his sidearm, me running out there with a close-quarters gun would do nothing but make me a big, easy target. And leaving Kelly alone was out of the question.
I listened, hearing the rattle of auto-weapons fire from the
troops mix with the pop-pop-pop of the rifles and pistols of whoever was shooting at them.
“Stay safe out there, Steve,” I muttered.
Kelly turned, taking in the sight of the lobby in front of us. It was a huge space, the theater done up in a golden-age-of-Hollywood style. Big movie posters featuring stars like Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall adorned the walls. And the place had been trashed. Every surface that could’ve been flipped over and ransacked was, and the concession stand had been smashed, all the junky, overprices snacks long gone.
“You see anything?” I asked Kelly as I moved over to her side.
“Nope,” she said, shaking her head. “Looks empty to me.”
I didn’t see anything that made me want to disagree with her assessment.
Kelly walked further into the lobby, the wooden floor creaking and groaning under us. The building was old, no doubt, likely one of the oldest theaters in Vegas. And it’d probably be one of the first structures to go down from lack of maintenance.
As we moved further, I noticed that the counter at one of the ticket stations had been completely ripped from the ground, the wooden boards jutting up with sharp-looking edges. The groaning and straining of the wood grew louder as Kelly moved closer to it.
“Be careful over there,” I said. “Don’t go getting any splinters on me.”
I gave her a half-smile, one that she returned.
“I’ll be careful,” she said.
I turned my attention back in the direction of the firefight. Over the next minute the gunfire slowed down, the pops becoming more and more intermittent. Eventually, it stopped.
Shit, I thought. Please be good news.
Several seconds passed.
“All clear!” came a voice from outside.
Thank God, I thought. Now please let Steve be okay.
I stayed still, my eyes on the front doors.
Then they opened, and two sounds erupted through the theater. The first was Steve, yelling out “Time to go!” The second was the ear-splitting sound of wood cracking.
“What the hell?” I said.
I turned around just in time to see the floor beneath Kelly give way. She went down through the floor with a shriek, her wide, shocked eyes the last thing I saw before she vanished.
“Kelly!” I cried.
“What the hell?” asked Steve as he rushed over. “Did the floor just collapse?”
“It sure as shit did,” I said, hurrying over to the jagged hole, praying that Kelly was all right.
My gut tight, I dropped to my knees at the edge of the hole, dust and debris still floating through the air.
Then I saw her. Down about fifteen feet was Kelly, sprawled out on a pile of something. She was stone still, and for a moment I feared the worst.
But then her eyes opened slowly and she looked up at me.
“Kelly!” I said. “Are you okay?”
She looked around, trying to get a sense of where she was.
“I…I think so.”
She turned her attention to the pile she’d fallen on. Now that my eyes had adjusted to the dim light I could see that it was a large stack of cardboard boxes.
Kelly lifted the flap of one of them and revealed something bright orange.
“T-shirts,” she said, a laugh escaping her. “Landed on a bunch of T-shirts.”
“And you’re fine?” I asked.
“Yeah,” she said. “Just a little shook up is all.”
Steve and I shared a look, one that conveyed just how damned relieved we both were.
But then I realized the next issue, that she was down there and we were up here.
“You see a way out?” I asked.
Kelly looked around.
“I think I’m in a supply room or something. No food in here, though.”
“Don’t worry about that,” I said. “Just find your way out.”
She nodded before getting up and disappearing out of sight. I heard her pull on a door and grunt.
“Shit!” she said, returning to view. “There’s one door and it’s locked. Big lock, too.”
“Look for a key,” I said, as if the idea wouldn’t occur to her. “There’s got to be one somewhere.”
She was quiet for a few moments as she searched her surroundings.
“Nope,” she said finally. “Padlock on the other side and not a key in sight.”
“Okay,” said Steve. “We bring her up through the hole.”
“Agreed.”
I stood up straight and looked around. After a few seconds of searching, I spotted the solution.
“Just stay there!” I said. “I have an idea!”
Before Kelly had a chance to respond I was in motion, making my way over to the red velvet rope that separate the ticket-taking station from the lobby. I yanked from its posts, gave it a tug to make sure it was sturdy enough, and hurried back over to where Steve was standing.
“Here!” I called out. “Grab this and we’ll pull you up.”
Kelly nodded and I dropped it down.
Once we all had a grip on the rope I turned to Steve.
“On three,” I said. “One, two…”
We pulled hard, lifting Kelly off her feet and up towards us. We slowed our movements once she was almost out, making sure she didn’t bump into any of the jagged pieces of wood that bordered the hole.
It took some doing, but before too long we had her up back on the main floor, my arms crying out from the exertion.
“Shit,” said Steve. “That’s was scary.”
“Sure you’re not hurt?” I asked Kelly.
“Yeah,” she said with a nod. “Like falling onto a mattress.”
Relief took hold of me, but only for a second. There was still the matter of the gunfight.
“What’s going on out there?” I asked.
“Fight’s over,” Steve said. “We took out a few of them and they must’ve lost their nerve.”
“Anyone down?”
“Not a man,” he said with a proud grin.
“Great,” I said. “Let’s join up and get the hell out of here.”
“Hey,” said Steve as we began to head out, a joking tone to his voice. “Didn’t Mason put me in charge?”
We shared a grin as Steve opened the theater door, then the three of us exited the building, ready to rejoin the squad.
But only silence greeted us. The streets were empty.
Chapter 20
I looked up and down the street, as if I might’ve missed a squad of heavily armed soldiers at first glance.
“What the hell?” said Steve. “Where are they?”
“Not here,” said Kelly. “Did you tell them that you were coming in to look for us?”
He shook his head, paling slightly.
“Thought I’d be in and out,” he said. “I didn’t think.”
Fuck.
I couldn’t blame Steve, not really. If I’d been in his position I probably would’ve done the same thing.
But that didn’t help us now.
“They can’t have gotten far, right?” Kelly asked hopefully.
I stood still, thinking about our next move.
“Any idea where the other group went?” I asked.
Steve regarded me with a curious expression.
“You mean Mason’s team? You heard the same thing I did—they’re going to meet with Donahue.”
“Right,” I said. “But did you hear anything specific about where the meeting was going down?”
He thought it over for a minute, his eyes going wide.
“Yeah!” he said. “I heard Mason mention that Donahue’s using some restaurant near the Strip as his command center.”
“Probably where we met him, right?” Kelly cut in. “I mean, if not there, then around there.”
“You’re right,” said Steve. “He said it was near the Medley, now that I remember.”
The Medley—the casino where Steve and I had stayed that first night in town. Just the mention of the name wa
s enough to make my heart beat faster at the memories of what went down there. It all seemed like forever ago.
“Wait,” Steve asked. “Why do you want to meet up with the other team?”
“‘Meet up’ isn’t really what I have in mind,” I said.
“Then what?” he asked. “What do you have in mind?”
“I want to see what Mason has planned for Donahue,” I said. “And I want to see if Lambert’s with them.”
“Are you serious?” Steve asked. “Just show up unannounced and ask what’s up?”
“No,” I said. “We stay back and observe.”
“I…I just don’t get why you want to do this,” he said. “Why this is worth deviating from the mission?”
“Because some serious shit just went down, and we played a part in it,” I said. “Mason just took over in a coup, and the reason we both were there, on his side, when it happened was because we hoped that it was going to be for the best. Now, if we’re going to be following his orders, I want to know for sure that he’d the sort of man who deserves it.”
It was, of course, a little late to go back on the decision if Mason proved to be the wrong man for the job. But I had to know.
“Sounds dangerous,” said Kelly. “Are you sure about this?”
“We just check out the area and see if we can find him,” I said. “Not to mention that if we’ve lost our squad it’s the only sensible move. The three of us wandering around the city is a bad idea.”
“Yeah,” said Steve. “No arguments there.”
“The Strip looked pretty clear,” I said. “After dark’s probably a different story, but if we go there now and try to stay out of sight, then we should be able to do some looking around.”
“Okay,” said Kelly. “But only because I’m not crazy about the idea of getting shot at trying to find the rest of the team.”
We were just about to start off, but Steve stopped in his tracks as if he’d remembered something. He unfastened the Beretta from its holster and handed it over.
“Here,” he said. “Not exactly regulation to hand over a service weapon to a civvie, but…”