“We have to get Hodges!”
Cooper’s hand dropped from hers, “What?”
She cast a gaze at Jake and worry clouded her eyes. She leaned in to whisper in Cooper’s ear, so he wouldn’t hear her.
“He told me he wasn’t going to stop until he got you. Said he had help coming.”
Cooper took a step back, buying time to think.
“Where is he now?”
She shook her head, her eyes turning morose. “I don’t know.”
His face turned hard, “Keep Jake inside.”
He turned to Jake, “I need you to stay in here for a few minutes with Julianne. I’ll be right outside.”
Jake reached out and grabbed his father around the waist, “Don’t leave me!”
He dropped to one knee so he could look into his son’s panic-stricken eyes. Cooper wanted nothing more than to wrap Jake in the world’s longest hug until his tears, fear, and pain left him, but he knew Hodges stood in the way. “There’s something I need to do that I don’t want you to see. I’ll be just outside and I won’t be in any danger at all. They’ve surrendered and are all disarmed.”
Jake looked unconvinced, fear gripping him. Cooper stood up, plying his son’s fingers from their grip on him. He looked at Julianne, who stepped in and cradled Jake in her arms, holding him back. Cooper gave him one last reassuring look and then turned to go outside.
**********
The prisoners had been lined up, their weapons stacked up alongside the cabin’s front wall. Angela and the snipers were clustered off to the left. Jason and the man from Huynh’s gang were waiting for him. Cooper raised a finger to him, asking for a minute. Jason nodded and pulled a cigarette out from his pocket, lighting it, and walking his men a few paces further into the distance.
Cooper turned to the prisoners, “Who’s in charge here?”
The men looked at the ground; no one would step forward.
Calvin caught his look and inclined his head to indicate the man with the gray beard and shemagh. Cooper stepped to where that man was and grabbed him by the collar, pulling him roughly from the line of prisoners.
“I’m guessing it’s you.”
The man looked up at him with fierce, defiant blue eyes.
“Whatcha want?”
“I want to know where Hodges is,” Cooper said, meeting his eyes full on.
“I don’t know,” the man nearly spat the words at Cooper.
“Really?”
“Really.”
“I don’t believe you.” Cooper ripped his pistol from its holster and held it next to the man’s temple.
“I’m going to ask one more time. Where is Hodges?”
The man glared back at him stone faced. “He’s my brother.” It sounded like an excuse.
Cooper shook his head, “I’m going to count to three. One!”
The man flinched, emotions warring.
“Two!”
“Just tell him. Dad!” A voice screeched from the end of the line of prisoners. The face of the man in front of him fell.
“Shut your mouth, you damned pansy!” The man admonished his son.
Cooper grinned, “Well isn’t this interesting? I need to know where Hodges is so that I can save my son once and for all.” He walked down the line to where a younger man, in his twenties, had yelled. “Now, you can decide whether to save your son right now.”
Cooper raised the pistol once again.
“Alright, I’ll tell you!” The gray-bearded man said in a crestfallen voice.
Cooper walked back towards him, “Tell me.”
“He’s at his place. I can tell you how to get there.” Cooper didn’t like the tone of his voice or the way his eyes shifted when he said the word ‘place’.
He looked intently at him, “Before you say another word, I should tell you. I’m going to bring your son with us. If you’re lying, a bullet into his brain is the price you’ll pay for dishonesty.”
The man angrily kicked the dirt, “Damn you! You son-of-a-bitch! Sure, you got me. He’s at Roscoe’s place. He’s got the Ham radio.”
Cooper sneered in disgust, “Where’s that?”
“I know where that is,” Miles spoke up from behind him. Cooper did a half-turn towards him and nodded.
He turned back to the gray-bearded man, “You know I don’t like liars. At all.”
“Good for you.” His voice had turned obstinate once more.
Cooper’s elbow crashed into the man’s face, shattering his nose. The man yelped and fell to his knees. Cooper’s lips curled in disgust and his voice was icy, “No, good for you.”
**********
After directing Calvin to keep everyone under guard, he walked over to where Jason was waiting.
He extended his hand, “Thank you. My son is safe.”
Jason shook his hand, but his face was hard. “We have a problem.”
“What’s that?”
“We were promised a machinegun, but it was wrecked by the grenade.”
Cooper kept his face placid, “We can get you more gold. Later today.”
Jason shook his head, “I don’t have the time. We’ll take all the M16s instead.”
Cooper paused for a moment, feigning thinking, “Sure, you can have everything from these guys.” His hand swept over the prisoners.
“Most of what they had were semi-auto. Not good enough. I want all of the M16s.” His men’s weapons were raised and suddenly pointed at Cooper and the rest.
Cooper cursed himself for not seeing this coming. His blood rose in anger, but he steadied himself.
“C’mon, man. I still gotta deal with Hodges. He’s going to keep coming for me.” His eyes pleaded.
“How’s that my problem?” Jason asked, unmoved.
“At least let us keep two of them.”
Jason looked at him and shook his head.
“One of them belongs to Dranko and he was shot to pieces. At least let me keep that one.”
Jason’s face softened, “Alright, I can do that.”
“Thank you,” he said grudgingly.
Everyone else had heard the conversation and, under gunpoint, the arms were exchanged. Jason let them keep the semi-automatic weapons from Hodges’ men. Apparently, they weren’t worth his time.
After he had the weapons in his possession, Jason approached him again.
“I hope you know this isn’t personal. It’s business. I do hope you get Hodges.”
“Thank you. Our odds would get better with one more M16…” he smiled warmly at him, hoping for sympathy.
Jason offered a sympathetic smile, but shook his head nonetheless, “Give us a five minute head start and then you can go back to the cars.”
Cooper nodded. Jason and his men retreated, keeping their weapons fixed on them until they were out of sight.
He directed his attention back to his people and sidled up next to Miles.
“Can you join me on this next thing?”
Miles nodded, “Assumed it.”
Cooper clasped his hand, “Thank you. Can you find one more of your men to join us? And, can you send some men back to your place to keep an eye on Jake and Julianne?”
Miles nodded and moved out to discuss things over with his people.
Cooper only needed to exchange looks with Calvin and Angela to see that they were in.
“What do you want to do with these guys?” Calvin asked, referring to the prisoners.
“We’ll lock them inside the cabin. Someone will come and find them before too long, but it will give us the time we need and they won’t be able to warn Hodges.”
Calvin nodded.
Cooper ran over to where he had left Dranko. He shuddered at seeing his friend wrapped in a bevy of bloodstained bandages. Doug was still with him.
“How is he?”
“He’s a tough son-of-a-bitch. Honestly, I’m surprised he’s still breathing. That is a good sign.”
Dranko’s eyes were closed and his breathing was shallow, ra
spy. Cooper had never seen him prostrated before. He looked smaller.
“How do we move him out of here without killing him?”
“Get me a few men. I will rig up a travois. That’s the best we can do.”
Cooper shouted, “Miles, we need three men over here. On the double!”
He turned back to Doug, “Make it happen. Get him back to Miles’ place. I need to get going. Gotta deal with Hodges once and for all.”
Doug nodded. Other men rushed up as Cooper darted back to the cabin.
Jake and Julianne had been brought out of the cabin and the prisoners were put inside. Two men were at work, securing the doors from the outside.
Miles, Angela, Calvin, and another man were gathered off to one side. They were readying their weapons and gear.
Cooper went to Jake’s side, dropping once more to his knee, “Son. There’s one more thing I need to do. To make us safe, once and for all.”
Jake looked back at him, resigned. His voice was cold, “You’ve never lied to me before.”
Cooper looked back at him, shocked, “What do you mean?”
“We won’t ever be safe again.” His voice was toneless, empty of feeling. His son’s eyes looked vacant.
Cooper’s heart dropped into his stomach. “I’ve got to try!” His desperate plea was as much to convince himself as his son.
Jake’s voice was faraway, morose. His eyes fell to the ground. “Yeah, I know you do.” They were the words of a person devoid of hope. Cooper’s mind railed against the notion that his son had become that person. He struggled for something to say. He desperately wanted to inspire his son. To make him see it would be safe again someday. But, he could not even convince himself. And, he would not lie to his son. Finally, he gave up.
“I’ve got to go,” he said as he stood up. He gave his son a futile pat on the head and stumbled away.
“You ready?” Calvin asked him has he approached.
Calvin’s words made something click, “Oh, man. Where’s Lily?” He looked about, expecting to see her standing nearby.
Calvin’s eyes clouded and he slowly shook his head from side to side, “Miles found her.”
Cooper pushed past him, and made a beeline to the pickup truck.
His hand came to his mouth as he rounded it, near where her body lay in the dirt, hastily covered by a rain poncho. It only covered the top of the body and her skinny legs were exposed and cast at awkward angles.
He dropped to his knees beside her. His mind was insisting there had been some mistake as he jerked back the poncho from her head.
Her head had been pulped by a direct hit from the machinegun. His lips curled back in disgust. He pulled the mess to his chest and wailed. His mind protested. Lily was the most alive person I’d ever known. She can’t be dead! He rocked back and forth, struggling to grasp what had happened. The poncho fell away from her torso and he saw another gaping wound in her belly where another machinegun round had found a home. Grief consumed him.
“Why’d you come out here, Lily? Why’d you do that?”
“She would have wanted to die doing something worthwhile,” Miles’ words from behind shocked him. His words were even, emotionless. Cooper gently set her body back to the ground and covered it once more.
“I’m so sorry…” He began, but Miles waved him off.
“Later. We have work to do. You ready?” Miles’ voice was steady and he met Cooper’s eyes.
Cooper’s mind was far away. He didn’t answer, paused for a moment and then simply started walking back to where the vehicles were awaiting them. His gait was like that of a drunken man, uneven and unsteady. The quartet fell in step behind him.
Lily’s death shocked him. Grief laid its consuming claim to him and he struggled to push it all away.
Jake’s words deeply troubled him. So much of his son’s childhood had been sluiced away in large swaths. He was unsure if any was left now. He shuddered to think of what being kidnapped and held hostage had done to him. He raged to think he had one more thing to do, rather than just being able to be with Jake and care for him right then. He knew he had to turn his sadness to anger and focus it on finishing the job with Hodges. His mind continued wandering as he walked. The others could tell he was deep in thought and left him alone.
A surprise was waiting for them when they arrived back at the vehicles. On the hood of Dranko’s Jeep were an M16 and a bandoleer of magazines for it. When it came into view, Cooper smiled to himself. He saw a white piece of paper flapping in the wind, pinned beneath the hood and the rifle. He picked it up.
Scrawled in black Sharpie: Use this to protect your boy. It was signed, “Another dad.”
Cooper picked up the rifle and bandoleer and held them aloft.
“You see this Dranko? Even now, even among gangsters, there is some goodness left in this world!” Cooper was beaming and laughing. Then, when he realized his friend wasn’t in the group, his face fell. He was so used to him being there. Always there. He shook his head in disbelief and embarrassment. Calvin came by and put his hand on his shoulder.
“It is alright. I miss him, too.”
Cooper nodded and slowly his puzzled look turned back to normal. Calvin took the rifle and the bandoleer from him. He let them go, in a daze. He shook his head in exaggerated fashion to clear it and focus back to the task at hand. The others clustered around him. He turned towards Miles.
“So, what is the best way to get to Hodges?”
“I can get us there easily enough. The trick is how to get close enough to him to get him.”
“Can you act?” Cooper answered.
Miles’ eyebrows furrowed, “What do you mean?”
“Could you convince him that you have me? That you are tired of me tearing up your community and you want it to be over?”
A wry grin spread across his face. “You thinking about that scene from Star Wars? The pretend prisoners?”
Cooper shook his head, “I don’t remember that, but it is one of the oldest tricks in the book. Use your opponents’ desires against them. They want to believe that what they want is coming to them, all nice and tied up in a bow.”
Miles mused for a moment, “I can make that work. Hell, I am tired of you messing up our nice little town. I’m just going to solve it a bit differently than I’ll be saying.” Cooper smiled at him.
“We take two vehicles. You go up with your man. You tell Hodges you have me. Make sure you ask for something for giving me to him. That will help sell it. Then, radio us, and we’ll come up. Their guard should be down a bit. Once we roll up, guns out and blazing. Everyone got it?”
The determined faces and nodding heads surrounding him told him the answer was affirmative.
“I’ll say ‘bring him up’ if everything is going to plan. If not, I’ll say, ‘Get Cooper here’. Make sense?” Miles offered.
“Great idea,” Cooper said, nodding and smiling.
It was odd for Cooper to see Angela behind the wheel of Dranko’s Jeep. It made the world off-kilter, like the way he felt when he temporarily misplaced his car keys because he never lost his car keys. The ground underneath him shifted and he felt unsure of his footing. He hoped to God that Dranko would make it. It was incomprehensible to think of him being gone. Since the outbreak of the Brushfire Plague, Dranko had been such a key to their survival that he could not imagine trying to move forward without him.
Focus. A word his father had drilled into him a thousand times. Only a focused man accomplishes anything. His father had abhorred men who flitted from one pastime to another or who could not accomplish one task before moving on to another one. He had talked ad nauseam to Cooper about the need for focus. His father’s words came now in full force. I’m about to go into combat. I can’t be thinking about Jake or Dranko. He pushed those thoughts aside and set his mind to getting ready for the task at hand as Angela started the Jeep and fell in behind Miles’ truck.
He inserted a fresh magazine into his rifle. Then, he made sure the othe
r full magazines were in the pouches closest to his hands. This way, his reloads would be faster and he wouldn’t mistakenly push in a magazine that was only half-full. He pulled his pistol out and checked it. Then, he checked it again. He continued with his anxious ritual of his equipment review. He ended by racking the slide on his pistol and working the bolt on the rifle. Both unnecessary actions, except they helped calm his nerves.
Outside, the world raced by as Angela sped to keep up with Miles who knew the roads and drove them expertly. Angela struggled to keep up with him, but managed. The sky was gray, oppressively so. He watched her face intently. It was screwed up in a look of focused determination. Eyes locked on the road. Her hands gripped the wheel tightly. The muscles on her forearms stood out in stark relief as she worked the wheel and her sleeves would pull up from time to time. He found himself smiling as he looked at her. He realized how close he felt to her. She was always there for him. She stirred a decidedly different set of passions within him than Julianne did, but stir them she did. She caught his gaze and an awkward smile lit across her face.
“What?” She demanded.
Cooper looked away sheepishly, “Nothing.”
She smiled. He could tell she knew what was on his mind. He was surprised when he realized he was actually all right with that. Unlike Julianne, he felt no need to pull away from her. His mind drifted as he thought about…
Focus. He punched himself in the chest to break the chain of thoughts that were beginning to form in his mind. The rifle was glued to his white knuckles.
They rounded another bend in the road and Miles flashed his hazard lights several times as he slowed.
“Pull over,” the radio lying on the seat between them buzzed. Miles’ voice was tight, anxious.
Angela pulled the Jeep over to the side of the road. Her hand went to turn the ignition off.
“Don’t,” Cooper said, reaching to stay her hand.
“We need to save the gas,” Angela countered.
“Not right now,” Cooper responded. Angela answered by withdrawing her hand.
They watched Miles’ truck travel another quarter mile and then turn sharply into a driveway. It disappeared among the trees.
“Now we wait,” Cooper said evenly. He fixed his gaze straight ahead, trying to will time to speed up. His body was rigid, muscles tensed. His breath was shallow.
Brushfire Plague: Reckoning Page 32