by Liscom, Sean
“I'm starting to get the impression that you people miss having Adolpha at the helm.”
“Dude, I've been with her since the beginning. She was my next door neighbor. I ain't gonna lie. She was a hard core bitch, but she took
care of her people. Even the people from other gangs that surrendered, she treated them fairly. The workers in tent city didn't starve and they weren't treated like animals. Since Judge showed up, I'm ready to skip town. It's getting bad unless you're one of his thugs.”
“How many men does he have, not
including the conscripts?”
“Here in the city? Probably 175, maybe 200 loyalists. You know how to tell the difference between the two, right?”
“No, how?”
“Loyalists have a scar across the palm of their right hand. It's some blood oath bullshit.”
“Good to know. Thanks Oscar. We appreciate all of your help.”
“Didn't have much choice. I owed Billy and Steve, big time. We're even now though,” he said with a smile. “You two need to get going.”
“Alright,” I said and reached across the desk to shake his hand.
“Good luck and good hunting.”
CHAPTER 37
Monday August 28th, 2017
Las Vegas, Nevada.
Jill and I left the warehouse and walked right out the gate. The guards never gave us a second look. It was pushing 3pm and the late summer heat was stifling. It was over 100 degrees and the black t-shirt I was wearing felt like it was on fire. It was about a half mile walk back to the main street, Sahara Boulevard. Once there, we made the right as we had been instructed by Oscar. As soon as we crossed Sammy Davis Jr. Drive, we could see the tent city that he also spoke of.
The lot covered probably 40 acres of what was once a park or something like that. There were no trees for shade and it was fenced in with a pair of eight foot tall chain-link fences, separated by about 10 feet, that had concertina wire strung along the top of them. The smell emanating from the camp was horrible. A combination of human waste, body odor, wood smoke and a slight hint of death thrown in to complete the assault on my senses.
The city was made up of tarps, tents and anything else that could be scrounged up to make a shelter. Men, women and even children were visible as we walked down the street. A
small group of kids ranging in ages from about five or six to the early teens shadowed us from inside the fence. Their pleas for food or water fell on our ears and I could see that it was really getting to Jill. I know I was getting more pissed with every passing moment.
When we rounded the corner onto the infamous Las Vegas Strip, the first thing that caught my eye was the dirt lot we had been told about. There were bleachers set up on either side of the lot and there was an area about the size of a football field that was surrounded with chain-link fence. Inside the fenced in area, I could see several broken down, brightly painted cars and other obstacles. The thought of going after Judge tonight was beginning to take hold in my brain.
We were standing across the street from the massive Kings Casino and looking up at the 68 story tower. There was a heavy enforcer presence at the front entrance. They appeared to be guarding eight newer model Chevy Suburban’s. All of them were white with blacked out windows. I counted 32 enforcers and another two dozen men that didn't have any ID badges showing. All of them were heavily armed.
“The cartel heads pulled in this morning,” a voice said from behind me. Jill and I both spun and came face to face with Paul and Dana Wesson. “They have eight more rigs just like those parked by the rear entrance,” he finished.
While we were in our room in Blisshaven, I told Jill about my encounter with the man that nearly killed her. Her reaction was almost lockstep with mine. We both figured that if he was really trying to set things right, we could let it go. The past was done, it was the future we were trying to build.
“Paul, you already know Jill,” I said dryly.
“Yeah.....” she surprised him by extending her hand. When he took it, she leaned in close and spoke in a low voice.
“If you're sincere, I'll have your back. If you cross me, remember that you already blew your one chance,” the look that briefly passed across his face was one of panic. He didn't say anything except to introduce Dana. She'd heard what Jill had said and I read her expression as one of understanding.
“Come on, we need to get off the street,” Paul said turning and walking to the south. “How much help were you able to get?”
“You're looking at it.”
“Are you kidding me?” he grumbled. “What happened to the other woman, Melissa?”
“I sent her back to the ranch. With any luck she made it and with a little more luck, we might have some friendlies headed this way. I don't know for sure.”
“That's not good, Jason. I really need to know how much help we have coming. I can't
make plans and stick to them if you're going to be so flaky,” I stopped walking and grabbed his arm.
“You listen to me! This is a fight you asked me to join. This is of your choosing. Jill and I can turn around and walk the fuck out of here right now and leave you holding the bag. I've done what I can do and now it's either time to go after Judge or we can pack our asses right on out of here. Don't you dare assume that I've done a half ass job! Time to fish or cut bait! You decide!”
“Jason, he's got over a hundred men in that building. That's just his loyalists. The cartels showed up with another 50 or 60. Are you really ready to waltz in there and take on those kinds of odds? This is a bettin town and I'd be bettin you'd get your ass kicked. I need every fighter I can get, not Ricky and Lucy!” he growled back and started walking again.
“Where are we going?” I asked. He didn't answer, he just kept walking. I looked at Jill and could see concern in her eyes. Ahead and on the left side of the street was an old clothing store. All of the windows had long since been broken out and all of the contents taken.
Paul quickly crossed the street and entered the abandoned storefront. He pulled a flashlight from his pocket and turned it on. We went
deeper and deeper into the store until we came to a set of stairs that led to the basement.
Without the light, it would have been pitch black. The concrete floor was covered with trash and empty beer cans.
We went toward a freight elevator that was stuck between floors with the doors forced open. Paul stopped directly in front of it and shown his light around. Satisfied that we were the only ones there he slipped into the elevator shaft and motioned us to follow. There was dirt and broken concrete covering the floor at the bottom of the shaft. He shown his light on a gaping hole in the wall.
“Let's go,” he said and led the way into the narrow tunnel. After about 20 feet, it opened into a large concrete cavern. This one had a channel running down the middle that was filled with dirty, stagnant water. We were standing in one of the underground drainage tunnels that I'd heard about before the pulse. I'd watched an entire documentary on the subject.
Paul turned to the left and kept walking. I realized that we were under the Vegas strip. I also couldn't believe that I hadn't thought of this before. Some of these tunnels actually dumped out well outside of Judge's immediate territory. There was a labyrinth under the city that was measured in miles. Before the pulse, many of the homeless made these tunnels home.
“Doesn't Judge know about this?” I asked Paul.
“He knows but he won't come down here, it's cost him too many men. He's tried blocking off the entrances but these guys just make new, hidden ones,” he made the next left and we continued on.
“These guys?” I asked.
“Some of them are Adolpha’s people that have slipped through the cracks. Others were here before everything went down,” after going another five or six hundred feet, he made another left and I could smell the faintest odor of something cooking.
“They all ready to fight?”
“More or less, yeah.”
“What's that mean?” he stopped walking and looked at me again.
“Adolpha’s men are ready to get some but the grounders, not so much. They kinda figure that since Judge more or less leaves them alone now, he'll continue to leave them alone. Better to not poke the giant.”
“Grounders? You mean the people that lived here before?”
“Yeah.”
“You mean they're happy living down here?”
”Not really but you gotta remember, Jason, the grounders have been at this for a while. They've been stuck in this perpetual war of attrition basically since the pulse. It's gotten a
million times worse since Judge set up shop. Before that, there were about 200 people living down here. Every time the grounders take a poke at Judge's men, he hits back harder.”
“How many grounders are there now?”
“Forty or so.”
“Ouch. How many of Adolpha’s men are down here?”
“Twenty two.”
“They reliable?”
“Like I said, they're ready but the problem is, most of them lack guns and the ones that have them are low on ammo.”
“They can pick up weapons once the attack begins.”
“They're reliable, Jason, not stupid. There's no way in hell they are going to charge Judge's people with not a whole lot more than curse words to fight with,” Paul said. I sighed a long loud sigh.
“Have you given any thought to a plan of attack? I'm not asking them to charge in with nothing to fight with, Jesus. What were you planning on doing tomorrow night?”
“We've got a tunnel right under the bottom of the Kings. All we gotta do is blow it open and we're in. These guys want to try and hit the weapons warehouse before they go in though. I can't get them to agree on any plan that doesn't involve hitting that place first,” he explained.
“Take charge, Paul. Put the plan on the table and then execute it. Right or wrong, just do something other than argue with them,” I said and started walking again. He quickly fell in next to me and finished leading us to our destination. The man made cave he led us into was larger than the rest. It looked like several of the smaller concrete caves fed into this one.
The LED lights that hung from the ceiling illuminated all of the tents, tarps and other refuse that lined the floors and walls. I was mildly surprised to find that we weren't challenged by any lookouts. Light blue wood smoke drifted in the air along with the odor of cooked meat.
We weaved around the tents and other makeshift shelters until we came to a four way intersection. In the middle of the intersection was a table with maps and blueprints laid out on it. There were already four people standing around it arguing about something. They stopped when they saw us approaching.
“Who's that with you, Paul?” the man with the long gray beard and matching hair asked, looking over the top of his glasses.
“This is Jason and Jill Sterling,” Paul introduced us. “Jason, Jill. This is Corky, leader of the grounders.”
“You're the ones from Elko?” Corky asked.
“Yeah, that's us,” Jill replied.
“Where's your army holdin up at?”
“What army?” I asked.
“Way I heard it, you was bringin a whole army with ya.”
“Then you heard wrong. There may be some people coming from up north but I'm not counting on it. You get the two of us,” Corky looked from me to Paul.
“If'n this is the best you can do, me an mine are out of this deal,” he stated flatly and started to walk away from the table with another man who I assumed was his second in command.
“So that's it, Corky? You're just gonna fuckin punk out like a little bitch?” the Hispanic man at the end of the table asked loudly. Corky stopped and slowly turned to face him.
“Go fuck yourself, Carmine. You feel the need to get yourself killed, feel free. I'm in no hurry to take a dirt nap!”
“It's all or nothin, old man! You ain't nothin but....”
“HEY!” I yelled. If Paul wasn't going to put an end to this, I would. Every head in the room snapped around and looked at me. “Are we gonna come up with a plan to take Judge out, a
real plan, or are we gonna stand here and argue like it's the fucking playground?”
“This isn't a fight we can win, Sterling!” Corky barked.
“Then you've already lost. Get the hell out of here!” I pointed in the direction he was
already headed. “I need fighters, not quitters, but remember one thing, Corky.”
“What?”
“When we win this, everyone here will remember who had whose back and who turned theirs.”
“Yeah,” Carmine piped up.
“And you, this isn't some revenge thing. You want to get Judge, so do I, but you gotta remember that we're all equal here. You want Corky's help and trust, you gotta earn it, not demand it!” I shifted my gaze to Carmine. Dead silence followed. I let it hang in the air while they all shifted on their feet uncomfortably.
I took the last couple of steps to the table and looked at what they had laid out. There was a map of the subterranean tunnels. Blueprints for the Kings casino and a city map. All of them were marked up with red pen and had notes written on them. I started flipping through the large pages of blueprints until I found the page I wanted, the underground floors of the Kings.
“What's this?” I pointed to a spot circled in red. Corky stepped back to the table.
“That's where our tunnel is.”
“What's on the other side of the concrete? It says this is a storeroom, but are you sure about that?”
“It was when Adolpha was in charge,” Carmine said as he too stepped back to the table.
“What's your plan on getting through that wall? You realize that's reinforced concrete that's probably six feet thick. If you try to blow your way in, the over pressure in the tunnel will be lethal,” I pointed out.
“Then what are we supposed to do? We can't make a frontal assault,”
“Paul, you've scouted out the Kings, right?”
“Some basic scouting,” he answered.
“How many entrances?”
“A dozen, maybe more.”
“Is there a loading dock?”
“Yeah, east side. Two large roll up doors.”
“Any ramps?”
“One.”
“Okay, this is going to hinge on three principals. Speed, surprise and violence of action. We hit them so fast they can't react fast enough. We hit them from a direction they won't expect and we hit them so hard they don't get up,” I began laying out the basic plan that was forming in my head.
Monday August 28th, 2017
Ely, Nevada
“At this rate, we're not gonna make it in time,” Braden mumbled to himself.
“What are you thinking?” Dan asked.
“I don't know. I thought, hell. I don't know
what I was thinking. I figured we could rally a few more people than this. It's just taking too long.”
“People are afraid, Braden. They don't want to leave their families.”
“What do you think we should do?”
“I think we should say to hell with it and push on into the rally point. This is rather fruitless.”
“Will he have enough fighters?”
“I doubt it, we never do,” Dan replied. Braden looked around, taking the whole scene in. The fuel tanker was topping off the last vehicle in the convoy. The few people that had gathered around were starting to disperse. No one had stepped forward to join their ranks at this stop.
“Let's quit screwing around. As soon as the last rig is fueled, we'll get on the road. This is pointless,” Braden finally said.
“Okay. I'll go pass the word,” Dan walked away and Braden turned to get back on the bus.
“Excuse me, Mr. Sterling?” A female voice called from behind him. He turned to see a stunning woman with long black hair approaching. He guessed her to be in the mid-twenties.
“Yes?” he asked.
“Mr. Sterling, my name is Isabella. I have a message for you from my father,” she spoke with a slight Spanish accent and held out a folded piece of paper. Braden took it from her and
unfolded it. He read it and then he re-read it.
“Miss, I.....” when he looked back up, the woman was gone. He scanned the immediate area but there was no sign of her anywhere. She had vanished. “DAN!” he yelled.
Dan came trotting back to the front of the bus and looked at Braden who was holding out the folded note. He took it from his trembling hand and read it. When he looked back up at Braden, the confusion in his eyes was evident.
“The Ghost Crew?” he asked.
CHAPTER 38
Monday August 28th, 2017
Las Vegas, Nevada.
“For the last time, Carmine. If you try to hit the weapons warehouse first, you'll tip them off. They're already on high alert with the cartel here. We don't need them getting antsy before the big show,” Paul said again. I was getting tired of hearing it. It had been the same argument for the last hour.
“Wait a minute, Paul..... Carmine, you got 22 people down here, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Do you think you could slip a five man team into the weapons warehouse? Slip them in without alerting anyone?”
“I know I can! That's what I've been trying to tell Paul! I'm going to need more than five men though.”
“No. You get a five man squad and you slip into the warehouse. You said they have a little bit of everything in there, even military hardware, right?
“Yeah....”
“You get in there and you find something that can be fired at the Kings from the location of the warehouse. You get on the roof and you throw everything you can at that casino tower
until they either run you out or you run out of things to shoot. I want another five man squad to cut the fences and take out the gates and guards at the tent city at exactly the same time. I'm taking the other 12 men with me,” I ordered.