Autumn (Four Seasons Book 1)

by Robert Sullivan

  Zach got out of the truck with the rest of his company and said, “Stay out of trouble, boss.”

  Greg nodded and looked at his gun. He sincerely hoped that he would not need to use it.

  Zach moved away from the truck, along with the several dozen Conspiracy fighters that had accompanied him. Since the night they had secured the gold, Zach had made good his losses and expanded the fighters enough to be able to organize into a company made up of four platoons which were each divided into two squads. A budding officer corps had been set up, with the leaders of the platoons picked by Zach himself.

  The company moved into the building across the street from the building that the Black Hand was occupying. “Lieutenants, on me,” he said.

  The four lieutenants came forward. “Our objective is going to be to secure the candidate. You are allowed to engage any hostiles that you come across if they try to resist you. I want Alpha and Bravo platoons to engage the front of the building, Charlie platoon to move around to the left, and Delta platoon to move to the right. I will go in with Charlie myself. Are we understood?”

  The lieutenants all responded, “Yes, sir!”

  “Good, move out on my signal,” Zach said.

  The platoons got into position, ready to move when called upon. Zach himself moved outside of the building and to the alley on the left side, waiting for an opening. He had a line of sight to the hostile building and could still see shapes moving around in it. After a tense few minutes, he waved the platoons ahead, saying, “Engage!”

  Alpha and Bravo platoons moved out and began firing on the building. The idea was to lay down covering fire both to keep the Black Hand from firing back, but to also give time for the other two platoons to reach the building intact. As they moved across the street, shooting at any moving target, Zach led his platoon to the left side of the building, keeping a careful eye for any hostile activity.

  Suddenly, the building in front of them erupted. Bullets flew into the advancing company, catching them by surprise. They were caught out in the open which gave Zach two options: advance or retreat. Retreating was not an option so Zach kept urging the company forward and fired upon the building to keep them distracted. His soldiers followed suit and continued to advance, foot by foot towards the building.

  Despite taking some casualties, Zach was able to get his platoon to the left side of the building. He looked for an entrance, but did not see one. He waved his platoon forwards towards the side of the building facing the water, hoping to find a back way there. As he rounded the corner, he noticed several hostiles exiting the building in that direction. He opened fire on them, hitting one, before the Black Hand soldiers turned on him and fired back. Zach retreated to behind the corner again and waited for the gunfire to cease.

  Zach laid down on the ground and peeked around the corner of the building, hoping his low position would not be noticed by the hostiles. The Black Hand soldiers, however, had taken advantage of the reprieve and fled down the docks, already out of sight. “Do we go after them?” his lieutenant asked.

  “No. Our objective is the candidate,” Zach replied, striding purposefully towards the now abandoned entrance.

  Greg had heard the gunfire, but knew it could not hit him here, so he remained still. Despite his nervousness, he felt a little safer knowing that he had the handgun with him and could defend himself if he was forced to. So far, though, no one had come close to the trucks, which led him to become increasingly calmer. Greg decided that the fight would be over soon and began to relax.

  A man came around the corner of the building, holding his arm where he had clearly been shot. Greg watched him curiously, until he noticed the Black Hand insignia on this non-injured arm. He felt the air rush out of him; this man might interfere with the trucks and make them unusable, something the Conspiracy could not afford.

  Without thinking, Greg clambered out of the truck, pointed his gun at the man, and said, “Get down on the ground now!”

  The man looked at him and said, “What are you doing? Shouldn’t you be fighting with the rest of them Conspiracy fucks?”

  “I’m not much for fighting,” Greg said, keeping his gun steady as Zach said.

  The man spat, saying, “So, you’re a coward then?”

  “I didn’t say that,” Greg replied, advancing slowly. “Get down on the ground.”

  “What, are you going to arrest me?” The man said indignantly. “I’d be out in no time, pussy.”

  “I could just shoot you now,” Greg retorted.

  “You don’t have the balls,” the man said, drawing a knife with his good arm. “So I’m going to carve you into little pieces.”

  The man charged. Greg reacted instinctively, firing on the man. For his time using the gun, it was not a bad shot, as he hit the man in the side. The man staggered, but adrenaline was taking over his dying body and he continued to charge. Greg took a deep breath and as he exhaled, fired a deadlier shot and struck the man squarely in the chest.

  The damage was too much for the man to handle. He staggered again, dropping his knife, and clutching the wound in his chest. He staggered once, then fell down, landing on his back as he began to cough up blood. Within a minute, it was over and the man was dead.

  Greg immediately leaned against the truck and threw up. He had not been trained to be prepared for taking a life like Zach had and was responding accordingly. He did not even have the wherewithal to get back in the truck. Greg remained standing next to the truck, using it for support as he came to grips with the fact that he had just taken his first life.

  Zach burst into the building and found that the way he had come in was clear of Black Hand soldiers. He suddenly realized that the sound of gunfire had stopped altogether and he said, “Sweep the building for hostiles. They may have all pulled out just now. If anyone finds the candidate, report back to me immediately.”

  His platoon obliged, spreading out throughout the building and finding that the Black Hand had indeed fled the property. Zach was furious, they might have made off with Liam as well if that was the case. He was not in the mood to be chasing the Black Hand all over the city and he asked over his radio, “Is the building secure?”

  The lieutenant said, “There’s no sign of hostiles at all, but there are a lot of cameras for this building, considering its state.”

  Zach looked up and saw that his lieutenant was correct; there were several security cameras in the room he was in, leaving no possible blind spots. It made him uncomfortable, but there was nothing he could do about it at the moment; his techie Amanda was in another platoon.

  Zach descended down a set of stairs and came to a door that he figured would open up into the basement. As he opened the door, a flash startled him, forcing him to duck. When he realized that it was just a flash, he looked up and saw a camera mounted in the wall in front of him. It had clearly just taken a picture of him. Looking to loosen his nerves, Zach took the butt of his gun and smashed the camera in, hoping that it would then be unable to send his photograph digitally.

  This part of the building was suffering from water damage, with pools of water in all directions and mold choking the walls. This was a hazardous environment to be in and Zach moved quickly, hoping to get out of there in a hurry. He came across another closed door and opened it to find a cleanly scrubbed atrium that had a large window. Through the window he could see Liam Hensen handcuffed to a table.

  “Major Stanford, come in,” he said quickly into his radio. “I’ve found the candidate. I’m going to secure him now.”

  “Good work, Captain,” the Major replied. “We are sending more men to help you secure him. Did you run into any hostiles?”

  “I did and we took some casualties,” Zach explained, moving into the room with Liam. “Most of them fled though and we were unable to capture any alive.”

  “Damn it,” Major Stanford replied. “Well, keep Hensen secure and we will help pick him up.”

  “Yes, sir,” Zach said, putting his radio down. �
��Are you alright, Congressman Hensen?”

  “I’m fine,” Liam replied. “Thank you for rescuing me though.”

  “We’re going to have you stay here for the moment and wait until the Army comes,” Zach explained. “They’re going to want to debrief you and get as much information on the Black Hand as possible.”

  “I don’t have much to give them I’m afraid,” Liam said mournfully. “I wish I could though, this was a horrible stunt they pulled. I thought they had been mostly defeated too.”

  “So did we,” Zach said, fiddling with the handcuffs tying Liam down to the table. “Everyone was mistaken apparently.”

  “Apparently so,” Liam replied as the cuffs came free and he was able to rub his wrists. “What’s your name?”

  “I’m Captain Zach Gates,” Zach replied. “I’m with the Conspiracy.”

  “What’s that?” Liam asked.

  “We are trying to stop the Black Hand here in the city,” Zach explained. “The way I understand it though, there are copycat groups that have sprung up in other cities to accomplish the same thing we are doing. We all want peace.”

  Liam put his hand on Zach’s shoulder and said, “That is a noble goal.”

  Zach nodded and said, “We should at least escort you out of this basement. I don’t know how long you’ve been down here, but we may need to take to the hospital for observation because there is a heinous mold infestation down here. You don’t want to be getting sick off of that.”

  Liam nodded and said, “I’ll let you be the judge of that. I’m sure that I can postpone a rally or two to recover from this ordeal.”

  “You have five months until the election; I’m sure you’ll be able to reschedule it,” Zach said, leading Liam down the hall past the worst of the mold. “I’d take a few days off after this and lobby for some Secret Service protection while you’re at it.”

  Liam said, “I’ve been putting off asking for it, but I think after today, I don’t have any other choice.”

  They emerged at the top of the stairs where the rest of his platoon was waiting. Zach led Liam through the crowd and took him out of the dilapidated building. The rest of the company was out in the street waiting for reinforcements to come in or otherwise tending to the wounded and those worse off than that.

  Zach saw two of the lieutenants and called them over. “Keep him secure,” he ordered. “I need to check on something.”

  Zach left them behind and went around the building that was hiding the trucks. He found Greg sitting next to a pool of vomit and saw a dead body a few feet beyond that. “Was he you first?” he asked.

  Greg nodded. “I’d never even fired a gun before.”

  Zach walked forward to him and helped Greg up. “It’s about time you learned then,” he said. “Do you think you could talk to the candidate right now?”

  “No,” Greg said emphatically, shaking his head. “I’ll probably kick myself later for it, but right now all I want to do is get the fuck away from here.”

  Zach nodded. He had seen a similar reaction that other civilians had made when forced to use lethal force to protect themselves. “Okay, Greg. Get up in the truck and as soon as the Army comes to secure Hensen, I’ll take you back to your apartment. I’ll let Ashley take care of you.”

  It did not occur to Greg to ask how Zach knew that he was going out with Ashley with increasing regularity. He just sat in the truck and waited as he had been told for the time to pass.

  Later that night, Greg was back at his apartment with the other Conspiracy leaders. In the intervening hours, Greg had regained his composure somewhat, but was still very shaken. This meeting was important though as they needed to discuss the events of the evening. Ashley was sitting next to him, holding his hand and rubbing it gently to help console him while Zach was explaining to the other what had transpired.

  “I don’t know, maybe it was the fact that they didn’t really have the numbers that we had, but the Black Hand gave up a lot quicker than I thought they would. Especially since we’ve seen Jared has had his people burn down Central Park, rob the Federal Reserve, and wreck half of Staten Island before. He didn’t seem like the kind of person to give up that easily.”

  “And what was the point of kidnapping Hensen in the first place?” Eric demanded. “They just got him to Queens and gave up. What was that about?”

  “I don’t think it was about actually holding on to him,” Christine mused. “It was about sending a message to anyone who thought they had been defeated. I mean, it’s hard to argue that they are swirling the drain when they can just bust into a national party convention, desecrate the flag, and kidnap their candidate.”

  “How many did we lose?” Greg said suddenly.

  Zach sighed. “We had a dozen injuries and two fatalities. The Black Hand had five fatalities. If they had any injured, they managed to evacuate them successfully.”

  Greg thought for a moment and said, “It is weird that Bennett gave up so easily considering his recent track record. We really need to get someone in the upper echelons of the Black Hand so we can get a better idea of what’s going on.”

  “Those Black Hand soldier he had with him were the remnants of the hit squad we defeated when we were transporting the gold,” Zach explained. “We got a positive ID on one of the bodies as someone who was there. It is likely that Jared just took over this hit squad and is using it for his own ends since Ethan was killed.”

  “Could somebody get on that team?” Greg asked.

  “Tough to say,” Zach said. “What do you think, Eric?”

  “Guys, I don’t know,” Eric said. “I’m low level street trash, remember?”

  Zach nodded. “We’ll figure something out. For now though, everyone needs to rest. We can talk more about this later.”

  “Can someone give me a ride?” Eric asked.

  “I will,” Zach replied. “Christine, do you need one?”

  “I’ve got my own way home. Ashley, are you going to need a ride?” Christine asked.

  “No, I’m staying here with Greg tonight,” Ashley said.

  Christine raised her eyebrows, but did not say anything further on the subject. She, Zach, and Eric all left, leaving Greg and Ashley alone. “Do you want to go to bed?” she asked.

  Greg nodded. He got up and let Ashley lead him to the bedroom, where he collapsed on the bed. Ashley settled in next to him, holding him as best she could. She was facing him and for the first time, Greg noticed how beautiful her green eyes were. He leaned forward and kissed her gently on the lips for the first time. Her lips felt warm and helped ease the tension that had been pervading through him for the past few hours.

  With the comfort that Ashley’s gentle kiss gave him, Greg finally fell asleep. It was the deepest and most relaxing sleep he had had in years with Ashley by his side.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Riot

  The public’s reaction to the shocking live abduction of the popular Globalist candidate was one of immediate shock and outrage. Even after it had been confirmed that Liam Hensen had been rescued late in the night, there were protestors out in force the next day demanding that the Fed protect him like they were the other major candidates. For the growing Black Hand cells around the country, it was too perfect of an opportunity to pass up on.

  Rebecca was working hard in Kansas City to at least blunt the growth of the Black Hand, but to little success. Up to that point, there had been no sense of urgency on the part of the people she was trying to recruit to do anything about it. To her growing frustration, the Black Hand in the city seemed to be growing at a faster rate and there was little she could about it.

  When a spontaneous protest broke out in the Power and Light district in downtown Kansas City, Rebecca saw it as an opportunity to network. The people had to have been angry about the brazen Black Hand attack and would have been more willing to do something about the threat now.

  Rebecca was waiting for Spencer to arrive to pick her up and take her to the protest. Ge
orgia had insisted on coming along and was waiting with Rebecca in her tower. “How much longer do you think this is going to be, Bec?” Georgia asked.

  “He said he would be here around noon,” Rebecca replied. “It’s only a quarter til, so if he shows up now, he’s being early.”

  There was a knock on the door and Rebecca turned to see Kathleen enter the room. “What are you girls up to?” she said plainly.

  “We’re going to the protest,” Rebecca said.

  Kathleen nodded. “Ed would not approve you know.”

  “I know,” Rebecca said. “We need to do this though. The Black Hand is here in the city.”

  “Why don’t you let someone else take care of this?” Kathleen asked. “You’re not even an adult yet!”

  “The authorities won’t do anything,” Rebecca said. “We’ve already tried that. If something is going to done about them, we’re going to have to do it ourselves.”

  Kathleen sighed. “I just want you to know that I love you two so much. Please be safe out there. I can’t stand to lose another one of my children.”

  “We will,” Rebecca said reassuringly.

  Kathleen turned to walk away, leaving Rebecca feeling guilty for what they were about to do. She had not given much thought to the hell that Ed and Kathleen must have gone through when one of their adopted children had died. She had only been focused on her grief when Anne passed and not given a second thought to anyone else. Now that her grief had been turned to righteous fury, she realized that she had not been the only person to feel the pain of Anne’s death.

  Rebecca was started out of her reverie when Georgia suddenly said, “There’s Spencer. Let’s go.”

  Georgia led the way out of the room, with a determined Rebecca following close behind. Though it may not have been a bullet that killed Anne, Rebecca was still determined to continue the fight that she had been a part of. She was going to get a new start in the Power and Light district.

  The scene was rapidly growing more chaotic as Spencer parked his car well away from the protest in case something happened. Rebecca was out of his car first and noticed that a steady stream of people was heading towards the area the protest was supposed to be happening. In the distance, she could hear shouting and she realized it would be hard for her to ask people to join the fight against the Black Hand unless she had a way of getting all of their attention at once.