by Liscom, Sean
on his back. She had her elbow locked around his throat and was trying to choke him out.
He threw himself backward and landed his full body weight on top of her. It was enough to
break her grip. He rolled off and came after me again. As he came in to deliver another hard kick, I dropped to my side and fired a kick of my own. His missed and threw off his balance. Mine landed directly on the front of his left knee. His whole leg buckled in the wrong direction and he went down screaming.
I got to my feet and was pretty unsteady. My right thigh was aching and the muscle was quivering. The enforcer that had knocked me down in the beginning was back on his feet and going after Jill. She was scooting across the floor trying to stay out of his reach. When she backed into the wall, he lunged. She rolled to one side but still absorbed a large portion of the hit. He pushed her down with one hand and reared back to take a swing when a single gunshot rang out and the enforcer went limp.
I turned to see Paul standing with his pistol at arm’s length, smoke drifting from the barrel. He still hadn’t moved from his position. His eyes were glazed over and his left hand was holding his chest. A dark stain covered most of his torso. He looked at me, shrugged his shoulders and collapsed to the floor. I hobbled toward him. Jill
was closer and she slipped from under the dead enforcer. She made it to him before I did.
“Are we good?” he asked her. She was on her knees trying to put pressure on his chest wound.
“Yeah, we’re good,” she muttered. She tore off his shirt and could see the severity of the wound. A blood puddle was rapidly forming under him. She wadded up the shirt and tried to apply even more pressure.
“How’s this for karma?” he asked weakly.
“Shut up, Paul. This ain’t over,” she said. He reached up and grabbed her wrist.
“It’s over. At least for me….” his voice trailed off and his hand went limp. His eyes were still open, staring unseeing at the ceiling. Jill sat on her knees, just staring at the man that had tried to kill her once.
The building shook again. This time it was enough to dislodge a couple of the ceiling tiles. I looked around the room. The cartel heads were still in hiding under the table. Carmine was beaten and bloody but still on his feet. Ray Judge was nowhere to be seen.
“Where’s Judge?” I asked loudly. Carmine pointed toward the door.
“Get all of these people to the roof,” I yelled at Carmine. Jill and I both took off in the direction that Ray had gone. I stopped long enough to pick up his ivory handled 45 and the magazine he had tried to load into it. I slapped it home, racked the slide and went after him.
When we reached the end of the hall and burst out onto the stairs, I heard the roof top door close. I also heard the sound of a helicopter.
The air was thick with acrid smoke from the fires below us. Jill was moving faster than I was and she threw the door open. She threw herself back inside when shots rang out. Several bullets pierced the door, narrowly missing her.
The sound of the chopper was getting louder, much louder. This time I threw the door open but didn’t step out. Two more shots were fired. They were barely audible over the sound of the rotors slapping at the air. Judge was hobbling on his good leg and he was climbing into the open chopper door. I could hear the pilot begin to apply more power for takeoff. I pulled the .45 up and sighted in on Ray. Another second or two and I’d lose my chance.
I shifted my aim a few feet to the left and pulled the trigger just as the Blackhawk’s wheels left the rooftop. The pilot’s door window cracked from the impacts and I saw the pilot jerk several times. He wrenched back on the controls sending the nose of the bird into the air and the tail rotor into the rooftop. The chopper spun hard to the right and plummeted over the side of the building.
CHAPTER 40
Tuesday August 29th, 2017
Las Vegas, Nevada.
“Dammit, Isabella! There are 10 tanks siting on the freeway and they are pummeling that hotel tower!” Braden yelled into his radio. “There’s nothing we can do to stop them! We can’t even get close!” he knew he was breaking the rules of radio silence but his brother and sister-in-law were somewhere in that building.
“I’m well aware of the situation and help is inbound! Now, clear the air and stay the hell away from those tanks!” she ordered coldly.
“Copy that. You better be right!” he said and slammed the radio down on the crate he was standing next to. He didn’t really expect her to answer.
“What do you want to do?” Melissa asked.
“We move on to our next objective. Pass the word and move out!” he ordered. Three quarters of a mile away, Isabella slipped her radio back into its pouch and looked at Major Jackson.
“Does the hardheadedness run in the family?” she asked.
“All of the charges are set and all of our people are out of the tunnels,” he reported. A sly grin came across his face. “I don’t think it’s so much being hard headed, it’s more like they have
a lot of tenacity,” that got Isabella to shaking her head.
“Okay. Have Ray’s ground forces left the airport yet?” she questioned.
“Yeah, all of his ground forces are in the tunnels. Teams 1 and 2 are beginning their run. They should be breaching the airport fence as we speak.”
“Excellent,” she turned and looked at Cory who was sitting in the front seat of the Hummer. He had the headphones on and pulled them off when he saw her waive at him. “Any word from Luke Air Force Base?”
“Six F-16’s inbound, ETA of 4 minutes. Flight lead reports they are only going to have about 15 minutes of loiter time before they are BINGO fuel. They’ve been supersonic since they left the ground,” Cory reported.
“Very good. Make sure the armor on the highway is the number one priority. Pass the word to Kari, she can guide them in once they are overhead.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Cory replied and slipped the headphones back on.
“There! Judge’s ground forces are starting to come out of the tunnels!” Dennis said pointing his finger. Isabella picked up the detonator off the hood of her Hummer and squeezed it. There was absolutely no emotion on her face. After a three
or four second delay, the biggest explosion any of
them had ever seen lit up the night sky.
The shock-wave shook the Hummer and blew the maps that were laid out on the hood to the ground. If there were any seismic devices left operating within a hundred miles, they would have picked up the explosion as an earthquake.
When Major Jackson and his team entered the city through the underground tunnel system, they planted nearly 500 pounds of explosives along their route. When detonated, the overpressure inside the tunnel system would have been immediately lethal for anyone caught in or near the main routes. For those that were caught outside of the immediate blast zones, the pressure would shatter eardrums and could quite possibly destroy internal organs depending on proximity. Isabella had literally triggered a weapon of mass destruction under the streets of Las Vegas.
The majority of the damage was evident in the areas where the entrances to the tunnels were. Large craters were formed and huge chunks of concrete and asphalt had been blown several hundred feet into the air. An army of thugs and outlaws had been wiped out with the press of a button.
Jill and I were looking over the side of the Kings Casino tower when the charges went off. Even through all of the smoke rising from the
burning building, the damage on the ground was
quickly evident. Columns of smoke and dust were rising all over the city.
“What the hell was that?” Jill said out loud.
“That was the tunnel system! Someone just blew the shit out of it!” I said. “Come on, we gotta get the hell out of this building,” I grabbed Jill by the arm and turned for the stairwell door. I took about three steps when I saw what I thought was rockets streaking across the sky. It took me a second to realize that I was looking at six planes running full afterburner. Jill and
I were both fixated on them as they headed straight for us.
The F-16’s backed off of the afterburner and dropped below the side of the building, we were looking down on them as they raced past. They made a hard left bank and went after the tanks that were lined up on the highway. The first pass was made with their Vulcan cannons. They broke into two groups after the first pass and circled around. We watched as both groups pounded the armor with a combination of guns and bombs. As fascinating as it was, we needed to go. Jill and I made our way down the stairs again to the 68th floor. The smoke was much worse this time.
“Judge?” Carmine asked as we entered the conference room.
“Dead,” Jill and I replied at the same time.
“So are we if we don’t get out of here soon!” a woman said from behind him. When she
stepped to where I could see her, I was a little shocked. She introduced herself as Adolpha and she was not what I expected. She had to be in her mid-sixties and she looked rather frail.
“Think we can get down the stairs?” she asked as she finished freeing the last of the cartel leaders.
“No. Fires have gotten too big…...” I started looking around on the floor and the bodies.
“What are you looking for?” Jill asked.
“A radio. I need a radio…..”
“Here,” Carmine picked one up off the floor and tossed it to me. I changed the frequency and put it to my mouth.
“MAYDAY, MAYDAY, MAYDAY….. This is Rogue Two calling any friendly units in the Las Vegas area, do you copy?” I repeated the call twice more before I got an answer.
“Rogue Two, Wraith…..” the call sign was unfamiliar but it sounded like Kari. No, her call sign was Specter….. Whatever…..
“Wraith, there are nine of us trapped on the top floor of the Kings Casino. The floors below us are on fire and we need assistance!”
“Standby, Rogue,” from her vantage point, Isabella could see the burning tower and she knew that trying to get help up from below the burning floors would be futile, at best.
“Major, are there any choppers at the airport?” she asked Dennis. He picked up his
radio and made the call to the Teams that were parked on the tarmac at McCarren international. A moment later he had his answer.
“Yes, there’s another Blackhawk. They are trying to find a pilot now,” he reported.
“Tell them to launch as soon as possible. We have nine people that need off of that tower,” she ordered and put her radio back to her mouth.
“Rogue, Wraith. Stand by for ex-filtration from the roof top. Say again, get your asses to the roof top for exfil!”
“Copy Wraith!” I said into the mic. “Let’s go! Everyone on the roof, NOW!” it took a few minutes to get all of us up on the roof. The wait for our ride felt like an eternity. By the time we heard the helicopter, the fire had made it to the floor below us. The roofing material was starting to bubble up and stick to our boots, the heat was becoming unbearable and the smoke was threatening to choke us out.
The pilot deftly maneuvered the chopper through the rising smoke and held the wheels about a foot off of the deck. The nine of us piled in and I could feel him adjusting for the added weight. I was the last one aboard and saw Dan sitting in the co-pilots seat. I didn’t know the pilot but Dan had him at gunpoint.
“Go!” I shouted over the engine and prop noise. The chopper began to gain altitude and
turned away from the building. From this vantage point, I could see the massive scale of destruction that had been levied against the building and the surrounding area. There were still some small skirmishes taking place on the ground but it was hard to tell who was fighting who.
Five minutes later we were on the ground at the airport and the turbine engines of the Blackhawk were spooling down. The vehicles from all three Teams were parked alongside another set of rigs. Two five-tons, two Hummers and four MRAP’s. I’d no sooner stepped from the Blackhawk when I saw Major Jackson shaking hands with Kari through the open window of her Hummer. He slapped the door and the small convoy pulled out.
“WAIT!” I shouted but she just waived and drove off. Major Jackson was walking in our direction now.
“You two look like the long tailed cat that got stuck in a room full of rocking chairs!” he laughed and extended his hand. I shook it but he got his customary hug from Jill.
“Been a rough couple of days, Dennis. Where are they headed?” I pointed to the taillights of the Ghost Crew.
“Not really sure. They said that they had other business to attend to and they were in a
hurry to get to it.”
“Whatever. Seems they want to remain a
mystery, let ‘em. Who all did you bring with you?” I asked.
“Just about everyone. Come on inside and I’ll give you the full briefing…..”
Over the course of the next four hours, Jill and I were brought up to speed on everything that had happened to this point. Dennis covered all of the bases as to what had happened after I left the ranch so long ago. Dan had interjected a few thoughts and he made sure to fill me in on what had happened with Melissa. I was shocked that she would go off-mission but in the end, it seemed that she had done the right thing. When I asked him about the F-16’s, he chuckled a little.
“Our friends on the Ghost crew have some pretty powerful friends. The kind of friends that owe them favors.”
“I guess it’s a good thing we’re on the same side.”
“I wouldn’t want them as an enemy! That’s for sure!”
At some point during the night, Braden and Melissa both came into the hanger that was being used as the temporary command post. When I hugged my brother, he told me where I could stick the leadership crap.
The rest of the troops that had come from the north had all filtered in just before dawn and
after the final tally, we’d only lost four people. The heaviest losses were tallied against Adolpha’s
people, the grounders and the conscripts that had turned on the enforcers. That number was over 200 dead or missing.
I sat with Adolpha, Carmine and the heads of the cartels for nearly two hours. I learned what was really happening in Vegas before Ray showed up. Turns out, the cartels had helped set up a giant trading post in Vegas and they were trying to get their goods and services distributed from there. They had gotten out of the drug trade, for the most part anyway and were now dealing in things like food and fuel. Coffee was their biggest trade item.
The other item that was high on their barter list was protection. The cartels would provide security, at a cost of course, for supply convoys and small towns or cities that needed it. It was not a mission to try and influence local power but to keep other outside forces from doing exactly what Ray had done. They were as interested in the stability of the region as we were. I asked them about their associations with the gangs in LA and Phoenix, their reply was simple.
“Scum!”
They wanted to be rid of that vermin. It made them look bad and they went against everything that they were trying to do. They had
a lot of on the ground intelligence from the two groups and they were more than happy to share
it with Major Jackson. His intent was to take that information as high up as he could. He vowed that by the time he was done, even the President would know what was really happening.
It was decided to allow them to continue with their operations so long as they would remain in communication with us or any other authorities that may turn up in the future. The cartel heads were agreeable to the deal as was Adolpha. I think she knew that it was going to be a long road to putting her little empire back together. Adolpha also promised to help us re-supply the ranch, in return, we would train her people.
Dana Wesson and a handful of her people wandered into the hanger a little after 11am. As soon as I saw her, I knew that I’d be the one to tell her that her husband was dead. I was steeling myself to break the news to her as she approached. I was about t
o tell her what happened when Jill intervened. She put her arm around the woman’s shoulders and they went for a walk.
When Jill returned to my side, she told me what Paul was really trying to do when he confronted Ray Judge. Dana knew of his plan to try and gain control of Ray’s forces. She also knew that distracting Ray by using us as pawns,
he would have had a better chance. Paul had confided in her that he knew we would have his
back if things went awry. Jill also told me that she had invited Dana and the remainder of her fighters to the ranch. Her hope was that they could be absorbed into the community of Elko so that they could get on with their lives.
By noon, the remainder of Adolpha’s people were left in charge of the city and the burning ruble that had once been the Kings Casino. It had collapsed in spectacular fashion around 10am. The pile of rubble would smolder for weeks, if not months. Our huge convoy pulled out of the airport with four nearly new Chevy suburban’s leading the way. Melissa was driving the lead suburban, Braden was sitting in the other front seat, and Jill and I were comfortably seated next to each other in the back seat. In the rear cargo area was two hundred pounds of fresh roasted coffee beans. A gift from the cartels to go with the new Chevy’s. I gave Melissa instructions to take us to the Kawich peak area, west of Rachel, Nevada. I’d promised Monica Danville and her kids some help. I was going to deliver on that promise.
It took us a full day of scouring the range before we finally found them. Well, we found the kids anyway. They were hiding in an abandoned miners shack. They told us that their mother had left two days before to find food and she never
came back. We found her body the next morning. Dan said that it looked like a mountain lion had
attacked her. After burying Monica, we loaded the two kids in the rig with us. The six year old boy was named Luke and he took an immediate shine to Jill. He was curled up on the seat with his head in her lap, sound asleep. The girl, 12 year old Tara, was curled up against me. She was also sound asleep.
I kept catching Jill looking at me out of the corner of my eye. Every time I’d look in her direction, she would just smile and look at the two children. It was nearly a hundred miles before she said anything.