by Krista Wolf
“We set up what you told us to, though,” he told Austin. “What did you call it again?”
“A dead man’s switch.”
“Yeah,” he nodded. “That.”
I winced as Dietz drank our milk straight from the carton. It was almost as terrible as the idea of us getting wiped out, and having to rely on a computer to release the information my brother compiled.
“So how are we doing this?” he asked.
“By ambush preferably,” said Austin.
“Obviously.”
“We’re not going to sit around, waiting for them to come,” Maddox went on. “We strike first. We strike hard.”
Dietz wiped his mouth with the back of one arm and put the milk back. I winced again.
“Yes, but—”
“We lure them back out into the desert again,” said Austin. “The buyers, the sellers, the dealers… all of them.”
Dietz laughed. “With what? Cheese?”
“Better than cheese,” said Maddox. “You’ll get them out there.”
“Don’t think so,” said Dietz. “I don’t have nearly the pull you think I do. They won’t come.”
The door swung open, and Kane lumbered into the kitchen. He already wearing his desert camos. On top of that he was strapped with weapons and Kevlar, armed and armored to the teeth.
“They will if you tell them,” Kane said.
Dietz shook his head again, as if he were trying to explain something simple to a small child. A child that just wasn’t getting it.
“And what in the fucking world would make you think that?”
Kane’s arm swung up, and two big bricks thudded to the table. A cloud of dust preceded them, all tied off and wrapped in brown paper.
“Because you’re gonna tell them their drugs are missing,” said Kane. He jerked a dirt-caked thumb over his shoulder. “And that’s something they’re probably gonna want to check out for themselves.”
Karl Dietz complexion was already fair. But now he went as white as a ghost.
“Holy shit,” he croaked. “We’re all dead.”
Maddox laughed from where he was reattaching the stock of his rifle. Austin patted him consolingly on the shoulder.
“Did you really want to live forever?”
Their former comrade was still glaring sightlessly down at the table, looking like he was in shock.
“Well… I kinda wanted a little more time.”
“Then follow the plan,” said Austin. “Don’t deviate. Don’t waver. And whatever you do, don’t blink or panic.”
The camera on Kane’s phone clicked as he took a close-up shot of the two dusty bricks. He pressed a few buttons, and another beep sounded from Dietz’s hip.
“There. I just sent you that photo.”
“A—And?” Dietz’s voice was still broken.
“In about an hour, you’ll send that to them. Tell them it came from an unknown number.”
I watched the man’s Adam’s apple bob hard as he swallowed. Dietz was scared. Legitimately frightened.
“And then what?”
“And then we wait,” said Maddox. “In position, of course.”
“They’re going to come pick me up immediately,” said Dietz. “They’re going to drag me out to the desert with them.”
“That’s fine. You’ll send the message from your place.”
Dietz’s eyes went ridiculously wide. “FINE? How the fuck is that fine?”
“Because you’re gonna play it cool,” said Kane. “Real cool.”
“Your best poker face cool,” said Austin.
“Life or death cool,” Maddox added, putting down his barrel brush.
By now Dietz looked like a deer in headlights. Through it all, he kept shaking his head.
“This isn’t right,” he said. “Even if they don’t kill me outright, they’ll shoot me like a dog when we get out there and the drugs are missing.”
“Not if you play it right,” growled Kane.
“No,” Dietz sneered. “You don’t get it! You don’t understand these people—”
The sharp clack of a weapon being racked turned everyone’s head in Maddox’s direction. He stood his fully-assembled Barrett up on the table. It was so long, the muzzle nearly scraped the ceiling.
“We’re not looking to understand them,” said Maddox.
Sixty
DALLAS
The desert was somehow warmer this time around, or maybe it was because I’d prepared myself for it. The night sky was crystal clear. Looking up from our position on the ridge, it was like being trapped under a bowl of a million stars.
“You remember what we told you?” said Maddox. It was more an order than a question.
“Yes.”
“You are to hang back, no matter what. Stay completely out of the line of fire.”
“I know.”
“You don’t engage unless it’s bad.” His voice went ominously low. “Really bad. As in the rest of us are already—”
“Stop, already. I get it.”
He stared at me hard, the wind blowing his blond hair over one stubbled cheek. I wanted to kiss that cheek. I wanted to feel it warm against my lips, while it was still safe, still mine…
“Alright,” said Maddox. “With that in mind, come with me.”
He walked back to the truck, and I solemnly followed. It was just the two of us on the ridge. The lump was still in my throat from saying goodbye to the others.
Dallas… don’t.
It was hard not to think that way, not to imagine what could happen. But if I was going to be of any use at all, I had to put it out of my mind.
Maddox pulled a flat black case from the back of the vehicle. He unlocked it with two sharp clicks, and swung it open.
“You know what this is?”
I stared down at the weapon. Like a ghost from the past, it stared back at me.
“It’s a SCAR.”
He nodded slowly, looking impressed. “That’s right. It’s a SCAR-H, Mark 17 battle rifle. Ever shoot one?”
Now it was my turn to nod. “Yes, a bunch of times. I used to shoot Connor’s.”
“This is Connor’s.”
The skin all along my arms prickled with goosebumps. For a split-second I tried to convince myself it was the wind. It wasn’t.
“I… I didn’t realize…”
Maddox lifted the weapon with practiced ease and put it into my arms. For some reason it felt warm. The grip fit perfectly into my palm, like it was made for my hand.
“Your brother saved my life with that rifle,” said Maddox gravely. “Kane’s and Austin’s too.”
Connor’s rifle…
I stared down at the weapon with all new eyes. I was holding a piece of my brother. An extension of his life, an artifact that had outlived his body but not his legend.
“There were others too,” Maddox went on. “Names you would’ve know. Brothers of ours that Connor was willing to sacrifice himself for, and—”
BRZZZ!
A crackle of static burst from the radio at Maddox’s hip. He plucked it from his belt, just as Austin’s voice came through.
“HEADLIGHTS. THREE KLICKS OUT.”
Maddox looked back at me. Our eyes locked.
“Only if it comes to it,” he said sternly. “Promise?”
I nodded slowly as I checked the magazine on my brother’s weapon.
My lover swore under his breath. “Not good enough. Say it, Dallas.”
“I promise.”
He swept me in and kissed me, pulling me tightly against him. He smelled like war — like iron and leather and fire.
“You’re not just Connor’s sister,” he murmured. “You’re much more than that to us.”
My forehead was pressed against his. Maddox’s gaze was piercing, his irises bright and alive as they bored into mine.
“We’re in love with you Dallas.”
The lump in my throat was back. This time it was the size of a softball. I wanted to speak, but I c
ould barely breathe. There were so many things to say…
“TWO CLICKS,” the radio spat.
He was staring at me like no one had ever stared at me in my life. Looking at me not only as Dallas Winters, but as a woman. A lover.
“We’ll get through this,” Maddox assured me. “All of us.”
Somehow I swallowed past the ball in my throat. “For Connor,” I managed to squeak.
We were lost together in a sea of wind and stars and crisp night air. Pointing our weapons downward with one arm, holding each other with the other.
“For Connor,” Maddox agreed.
Sixty-One
AUSTIN
The column stretched backwards into the night; three trucks, then four, then five. More vehicles than we initially realized.
A lot more.
I watched from my belly, peering over the ridge with my night-owl optics. The vehicles joined the ones already there, the ones that came in from the west. The ones that came from the north too, although that ‘column’ consisted of a single Escalade that arrived before anyone else.
It was funny, how dark everything was. Every car, every truck, every SUV — all of them were painted in black or midnight blue. Like they were telegraphing their own evil, beneath the cover of night.
They can’t possibly think they blend in better.
I laughed at that part. Odds are they probably did. Yet beneath the desert moonlight, each of them stood out like dark ants on a sand-colored hill.
“I HAVE EYES ON DIETZ.”
Maddox’s voice called back to me from the other hill, on the opposite side of the canyon. We’d switched to earpieces now. Everything else was silent, save for the chatter in the valley below.
God, there have to be twenty of them.
I picked through the growing crowd. At least a dozen men had rifles slung. A few others were strapped with sidearms, too. They’d already uncovered the hidden compartment, and were in the process of sliding it open.
“I HAVE DIETZ ALSO,” I murmured back, although there wasn’t that great a need to keep my voice low. With all the talking and arguing going on down there, I could start whistling if I wanted to.
I watched the last of the vehicles roll to a dusty halt. The smoke cleared, leaving them in a rough semi-circle. I picked Dietz from the crowd again, zooming out a bit to follow him.
“KANE’S IN POSITION.”
That part I had to rely on Maddox for. Kane was positioned three-hundred feet directly beneath me, tucked into the terrain. From the original ridge, Maddox could see him. I couldn’t.
I hope this works…
It certainly wasn’t ideal. ‘Hoping’ for something wasn’t in our playbook — planning was. Hope was for the weak, the lazy, the ill-prepared. Of course we always did have prayer, but was the last page, the final resort. And it generally didn’t do any better than hope when it came to determining outcomes.
Person by person I scanned the crowd, thumbing the ‘save’ button on my optics for each. I was taking pictures of the bad guys. Digital images that would become records proving their involvement tonight… provided someone were to ever download the scans.
That of course, would all depend on who won and who lost. What was the old adage? History is always written by the victors?
My eyes fell back on Dietz. He looked stiff. Nervous. Jumpy…
Dammit Dietz, stay chill.
Mentally I projected the words. If he heard them, it didn’t show in his body language. I was happy to see he was still carrying his weapon. If they hadn’t taken it yet, they couldn’t suspect too much on his end.
Then… next to Dietz…
“I HAVE ALACARD.”
I said the words low, as if trying to keep them from Dallas. But of course that was silly. Dallas had an earpiece too.
It was strange, how calm she’d gone after learning who killed Connor. As if the knowledge had alleviated the anger, instead of releasing all the pent up rage, sorrow, and other emotions.
I knew better though. If anything, she was bottling it up even more. It was something she’d eventually have to talk about, or at the very least let out. And the longer she went in silence…
“DIETZ IS MOVING.”
Maddox’s last phrase caused me to drop my binoculars. I grabbed my weapon and looked through the scope, where everything seemed smaller and further away, yet just as clear. Finally having a target reticle on these assholes felt pretty damned good. I switched from target to target, assigning each of them a value. Assessing each in terms of threat level.
Basically figuring out which of them I’d do first.
“BE READY…”
I’d been ready for months. For just over a year, to be precise.
“WAIT FOR THE SIGNAL…”
I couldn’t be more ready.
“DIETZ IS—”
BOOM!
An explosion rattled the rough stone valley, sending up a thick plume of dust. It was followed by another, more familiar sound:
BBBRRRRAAAAPPP!
Gunshots! Fully automatic fire.
The restless milling in the canyon suddenly became frantic, as half the men dropped instantly to their bellies. The other half scrambled for cover.
“FUCK!” I heard Maddox swear over our channel.
More dust swirled upwards, whipping into the air. Too much dust. Someone had set something off — a concussion grenade, or maybe a small explosive device. In the confusion I lost everyone; Dietz, Alacard, the guy with the Kord 12.7mm I wanted to nail first. No, scratch that. The guy I needed to nail first, because if I didn’t get him the Russian heavy machine gun would tear us all to shreds.
FUCK!
My sentiment echoed Maddox’s exactly. I could only hope he still had Kane. That he had much better sights than I did, and somehow, through all the chaos, he had our friend covered.
Down below, it was total bedlam. The swarm of people were scattering, with no one actually sure which direction to run. The smart ones fled back to their vehicles for cover. The dumb ones…
I swept the area with my scope. It panned over just in time to see Dietz putting someone down with the butt of his rifle. I couldn’t tell who, but the man was wearing a suit. A suit. Out in the middle of the desert.
CRACK! CRACK!
The sharp report of Maddox’s .50 caliber rang out from above. I glanced up, peering to the other of the canyon. Muttering under my breath that no matter what he did, no matter what happened, he’d better keep her safe.
Then I saw what was happening over there… and a spike of terror bolted straight through me.
Sixty-Two
DALLAS
I made the truck in seconds. With a quick turn of the key it roared to life, billowing dust all around me as I slammed it into gear.
My heart nearly exploded in terror as it lurched forward… straight toward the edge of the cliff.
Oh SHIIIIIIT!
I stomped down on the brake with both feet. The tires screamed to a halt, but the momentum kept me moving, sliding, skidding inexorably forward. Pushing me to the very lip of the terrifying, three-hundred foot drop…
“DALLAS!”
Austin’s scream nearly tore out my eardrum. I reached up reflexively to pull out the earpiece, but my hand clamped right back over the steering wheel.
This is it…
At the very last second, the truck skidded to a halt. I could see Maddox through the passenger window, lying on his belly, clutching his rifle. He turned his head, a look of total incredulity frozen across his face.
“DALLAS, WHAT THE—”
I didn’t hear anything else. I was already in reverse, tires spinning backwards, skidding down the embankment while looking wildly over my shoulder. I couldn’t believe I was doing this! But even more unbelievable, I’d nearly driven over a fucking cliff in the process.
“—GET BACK HERE! DON’T EVEN THINK ABOUT—”
Now I did yank out the earpiece, tossing it over my shoulder. It was loud, it was distract
ing, and nothing they could say would stop me anyway. After witnessing the pandemonium below, my only thoughts were with Kane. He was still down there, all by himself, with only Dietz as a potential ally.
And the last thing I’d seen before the explosion… a half dozen men, weapons drawn, closing in on his position.
Hurry up!
The truck roared down the hill, picking up speed. The vehicle was already shaking, every bump magnified by a factor of ten. I was clenching the wheel. Shaking left and right, up and down…
Go faster!
“OWW!”
I cried out as my head bumped the roof. I was already pushing the limits. Every pebble was a boulder at this speed. Every piece of debris was—
THUMP!
I didn’t even see the first guy I plowed into. All I saw was his rifle, lying across the windshield as he went straight over the roof.
Holy shit holy shit holy shit!
Another thump, this time off to the side. I saw two very surprised bad guys literally bounce off my fender. The looks of utter shock frozen upon their faces actually made me laugh out loud.
What the fuck are you laughing at?
My heart was hammering out of my chest. My whole body was flooded with fear and adrenaline and a whole host of other emotions I couldn’t even stop to consider.
How are you going to find him?
I really had no idea. Right now it was like driving through a dust-storm, steering blindly left and right. I pointed the nose of the truck in the direction I imagined I saw Kane last. But whether or not I was right…
BBBRRRRAAAAPPP!
Something loud and obnoxious erupted somewhere off to my left. I steered away from it, only vaguely aware I was now probably skirting the face of the cliff.
I had to slow down. Only I couldn’t slow down because there were people everywhere. I couldn’t see them but I could hear them; shouting, crying out, somehow even firing, although I couldn’t imagine they weren’t just as blind as I was. And then all of a sudden…