by Tom Clarke
The radio crackled back, “Affirmative. I have eyes on you, moving back to the rally point now. See you in a few.”
Dimitri looked at Jim with a half grin. “My cover guy” Jim said with a short smile. “He had instructions to punch some holes in you with his rifle if I had popped this flash-bang I got. You’ll like him.” Dimitri just smiled and nodded his head.
As Jim, Nico, and Dimitri approached the SUV, Jim let out a quiet bird like whistle. Almost like a ghost on command Darrel appeared from the shadow of the woods. “Looks like we’re all clear Jimmy,” he said. “Those other two jokers got into a truck and hauled ass. It’s a good bet that they are going to call for some back up first chance they get so we better get out of here.”
Jim nodded, “Darrel this is Dimitri. Dimitri this is Darrel.” As the two shook hands Dimitri said, “I have my ride just over that hill. I can go and contact my team and then meet with you later… if that will work?”
“Jim I’m going to go with Dimitri, we have some catching up to do. I also want to meet the rest of the team.”
Jim looked at Nico for a second, “Okay. Let’s meet back at the hotel we stayed at last night in a few hours.”
Nico nodded and then he and Dimitri headed off back into the woods.
Darrel looked at Jim and started to say something, Jim cut him off by shaking his head and they both got into the SUV.
Jim got into the driver seat, Darrel into the front passenger seat. As they started driving down the road in the opposite direction that Nico and Dimitri had walked off in Darrel spoke up. “Jimmy, that cat Dimitri, when I shook his hand, he had the same tattoo on his wrist that those fucking Cossacks who shot up your kitchen had!”
Jim nodded in agreement, “Yeah, I know, I saw it. So did Nico. Listen bro that dude said that they had been keeping tabs on me since that shit went down at Rocket’s.”
“Oh my God” Darrel said as the color ran out of his face. “Jim, what the hell are we going do?”
Jim didn’t take his eyes off the road as he took a deep breath and exhaled, trying not to choke up. “Brother, I think that Nico is one of them, or something, if everything he said is the truth he sure as shit isn’t one of us. I also think that us bumping into these priests out here is a set-up, almost like some street theater. Listen, Darrel, I don’t know if Shelly is still alive, I feel it in my bones that she is, but I don’t know it. “ Jim turned and looked at his friend, “If I have to hitch a ride with a truck load of these demons, monsters, or whatever the hell they are to find her then that’s what I’m gonna do. You should think real hard about getting off this ride while you still can.”
Darrel looked at Jim for a second, “Man, after all we’ve been through, how can you even say that! Besides, where am I gonna go?”
Jim smiled and grabbed Darrel by the shoulder, “Thank you brother! We got some prep work to do before Nico and that goofy Russian get back, that and I can use a drink.”
Darrel smiled and kicked his knees up against the dash, “Fucking-A brother! Jimmy, she’s alive. I don’t know how I know, I just know. I also know that we’re going to get her back. And then we’re going to make these things wish they had never crossed our path.”
Jim just smiled as his grip tightened on the steering wheel. His rage had been sitting just below the surface, screaming to let loose, and now one of his two best friends on the planet had joined his crazy train. The thought of the two of them killing all the animals who had taken the most important thing in his life from him generated a warm, almost calming feeling, all over his body. A smile spread across Jim’s face as he thought to himself, yes, they will pay…. Pay with their lives.
Jim glanced up into the rear-view mirror and just for the briefest of seconds, he saw the reflection of a wolf staring back at him. Jim didn’t even bat an eye, he grit his teeth, took a deep breath, and enjoyed the warmth he was feeling.
14.
The Smell of Burning Rubber
Driving back to their hotel Jim and Darrel passed a large sporting goods store, “How much room do you have left on your credit card?” Jim asked.
Darrel looked at him with a furrowed brow, “I don’t know, couple grand I think. Why, you want me to take you out for a nice steak dinner?”
Jim smiled, “Maybe after this thing is over and done Shel and I will take you out for a nice dinner, you know, golden arches or some such” Jim said laughing. “We need some supplies and my plastic is just about at the point of spontaneous combustion.”
Darrel nodded, “You got it bro. I will be expecting a check when this is wrapped up, you know that right, a big ass check.”
Jim just smiled, nodded, and pointed at the store.
As he pulled into the parking lot Jim said, “Let’s keep it simple, all the .223 we can get, the tipped stuff if they have it, and handgun ammo, .40 and .45.”
Darrel nodded, “Yeah, we better get some rags and couple rolls of duct-tape too, you know for bullet wounds.” Jim shook his head in agreement.
He knew that they were in for a fight when they got to their destination and it was some good thinking on the part of his partner to acknowledge that and be ready for their own causalities.
As they got out of the SUV and started walking towards the entrance, Jim slapped Darrel on the back, “You go get the bullets, I’m headed to the grocery store across the street for some food, water, and maybe if you’re a good boy, a bottle of cheap whiskey for after.”
Darrel sneered, “Cheap fucker! You better get the most expensive shit you can find. I’ll meet you back here at the rig.”
After about 20 minutes of shopping Jim was back at the SUV loading a case of water into the back when Darrel came strolling out of the store pushing a shopping basket that was completely full.
“I got it all” Darrel proclaimed with a smile on his face.
“You sure did” Jim replied, “what all did you get?”
“Later” Darrel said as he looked around the parking lot. “I sort of told them that this stuff was for a training we were doing with the local PD. I showed them my retired creds but made sure to keep my thumb over the part that said retired.”
Quickly loading items into the back of the SUV Darrel laughed and said, “Poor kid, acted like he had never seen a real life fed before. Anyway, he let me sign a purchase order for the bullets, so we probably should get out of here before someone decides to call and check out my story.”
Jim just smiled as he and Darrel quickly loaded the boxes into the back of the SUV. Pulling out of the parking lot Darrel rolled his window down and waved to a very young-looking store clerk who was watching them drive away.
“So how did we do?” Jim asked as he navigated his way through the crowded parking lot.
“Okay, so I got 400 rounds of .223. They did not have any tipped ammo, ball was all they had. We have 200 rounds of .40 and 200 rounds of .45 for the handguns and I grabbed some shotgun ammo too. Check this shit out, I also got six one-pound cans of Tannerite and one of those drones with the camera that will transmit back to my cell phone.”
“A drone?” Jim said, looking at Darrel with a look of confusion. “The Tannerite I get, we can set it, shoot it, and then watch it explode, but what the fuck are we going to do with a drone?”
Darrel just smiled, “Well, I plan on flying it forward of our position and using to scout for bad guys, besides wait until you see this thing! It’s all black and tactical and shit. Then when it’s all said and done, I’m going to use it to spy on my neighbors. You know, I’m gonna be that creepy old man with the drone.”
Jim just laughed as he pulled out of the parking lot. The jokes continued for the duration of the drive back to their hotel. The levity was a welcome break from the stress of the fight they both knew was coming.
A few hours had passed since Jim and Darrel arrived back at their hotel. Darrel had spent the time working with his new toy the drone and Jim had been loading magazines and getting the rest of their gear together.
The sun had set, and darkness taken over when Darrel walked out of the mostly deserted hotel they were saying at to find Jim sitting on the tailgate of their SUV in the parking lot.
“Where do you think Nico and his friend are?” Darrel asked as he handed Jim a cup of coffee.
The concern on Jim’s face was evident, “I don’t know. If we don’t see him before morning, then we will have to move forward without him.”
Darrel nodded as he took a sip of his coffee. Looking into the back of the SUV he could see what Jim had been out there working on. Jim heavily wrapped the containers of the Tannerite in duct-tape. As Darrel leaned into the back of the SUV Darrel could see that wrapped within the layers of the tape were what looked like screws and nails.
“That’s some good thinking” Darrel said as he motioned towards Jim’s improvised explosives. “You are thinking of using those to cover our retreat?”
Jim nodded, “Yeah. The wrappings of the tape should increase the explosive potential of the Tannerite and then the nails and what not will make a nice little shrapnel-based surprise. The range won’t be that far, but it should ruin the day of anyone standing in the immediate vicinity when they go off.”
“Nice!” Darrel said with a smile, “So what’s our plan?”
Jim took a long sip from the coffee Darrel had given him, “Tomorrow I will call Smiley and tell him that we have the tablet and arrange to meet and do the exchange. We will be sure and arrive early, so we can stage the area with these little knuckle busters. When Smiley arrives, we make the exchange, once Shelly is secure, we kill them all.”
Darrel took a breath and nodded in agreement.
“Now here’s the important part” Jim continued. “I have loaded one of those cans of Tannerite into the bag with the tablet. We know that those jokers can’t physically handle the tablet so after I flash it to them it will go back into the bag. I will pass the entire bag to Smiley. Once Shelly is with me, I want you to hit the bag with a rifle shot setting off the Tannerite and hopefully destroying that tablet.”
“Jimmy, that may be a tough shot if he’s on the move.”
“Yeah, I know,” Jim replied. “We will try and suck them into a narrow space we can arm on both sides with the IED’s. I will blow one with a pistol shot and hopeful he will hit the ground or be slowed down a little. Spray that slimy bastard with an entire magazine if you have to but we want to send them home with a broken tablet.”
Darrel smiled, “That I can do! What’s our egress plan?”
“No egress” Jim replied stoically. “Once the ambush is in motion we kill them all, except for one or two, that can tell us how to get back to their home. Once we have that information they get shit canned as well.”
Darrel looked at Jim for a second, the coldness of his statement was not like him. The violence of the plan yes, but the tone in his voice while he was describing it, especially the last part about killing everyone there, it just didn’t seem like Jim.
“Something wrong with that idea?” Jim asked.
“Nope” Darrel replied, “just seems a little cold blooded to me.”
Jim nodded, “Brother these cats know where I live. They know who my wife is, and they are going to be pissed when we break their stone toy. Not to mention they're not even human! These evil fuckers need to go.”
“Yeah, your right Jimmy, I’m with you till the end, you know that.”
Jim grabbed Darrel by the shoulder, “Listen, the last time I tangled with the guys in Rockets they were in the business of cutting people’s heads off and eating the bodies. We cannot, under any circumstances, let these assholes off the hook!”
“I’m with you my brother” Darrel said. “The time has come for us to…. what the hell is that!” Darrel said as he pointed to a pickup truck barreling down the road, smoking rolling from the engine compartment, and heading right for the hotel parking lot.
Jim and Darrel watched as the truck jumped the curb and slowly rolled past them, coming to rest against a tree on the far side of the parking lot. They could see that the truck had been riddled with gunfire, all the windows had been blown out, fluids were running from the engine compartment, and what looked like blood was smeared across the front and down the side.
“Holy shit!” Jim exclaimed. “That’s Nico in the driver seat.
Jim and Darrel jumped into the SUV and sped over to where the truck had come to rest. They both jumped out and found Nico, who was bleeding from multiple gunshot wounds, slumped over the steering wheel.
Jim climbed into the passenger side of the truck and started applying pressure to the wounds that were bleeding the most, “Quick clear some of the shit out of the way in the back of the SUV and then back it up to the driver’s door here” he yelled.
Darrel quickly cleared a space in the back of the SUV and then backed it up so that the open tailgate area was as close to the open driver’s door of the truck as he could get it.
“Is he alive?” Darrel asked as he passed Jim a roll of the duct-tape and some rags from the back of the SUV.
“Yeah” Jim replied as he ran his hand down Nico’s back trying to feel for any exit wounds or other injuries. “I got four gunshot wounds, two exit wounds to the lower right quadrant. His breathing is shallow and labored.”
“Jim, we got a fire in the engine of this truck!” Darrel barked. “Get that rag taped onto him quick!”
Jim put the rags that Darrel had passed to him over the wound that was bleeding the most. He then ran the tape around Nico’s chest tightly compressing the rags into place.
“Okay, he’s coming onto his side, get ready to pull!” Jim moved Nico’s semi-lifeless body onto his side and as Darrel pulled he pushed until they had Nico moved from the truck and into the back of the SUV.
As they finished loading Nico in the back of the SUV, Jim jumped in on top of him and again started applying pressure to Nico’s wounds. Darrel jumped into the driver’s seat and quickly pulled away from the truck, which was now fully engulfed in flames, and started heading for the parking lot exit.
“God damn it!” Jim yelled. “Stop the truck, get back here I need your help, he’s stopped breathing!”
Darrel pulled the SUV into a secluded spot next to some dumpsters and under a street lamp in the empty hotel parking lot. As he climbed over the seat and into the back he could see that Nico’s chest wasn’t rising but blood was still pumping out of his wounds indicating that his heart was still beating.
“Pressure on the wounds” Jim said. “I’m starting CPR.” Darrel applied pressure as best he could to the wounds on Nico’s upper body as Jim started rescue breathing.
Nico’s chest rose as Jim attempted to breathe life back into his friend. As Darrel did his best to apply pressure to the numerous gunshot wounds he suddenly noticed that the blood was no longer running freely, it had stopped, and was starting to thicken around the wounds.
Darrel reached up with his left hand, using his right to keep pressure on the wounds, and checked for a pulse on Nico’s neck. “Jim! His hearts stopped…slide over!” Darrel yelled as he climbed forward and straddled Nico’s lifeless body.
Jim slid to his right, looked up at Darrel who was sitting on top of Nico and yelled, “Go!”
“One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight” Darrel spoke out loud as he compressed Nico’s chest, “Breath!”
Jim leaned in and breathed four solid breaths into Nico’s open mouth. He then turned to Darrel, “Go!” and the sequence began again. They continued the sequence for several minutes, each rotation the frustration and panic became more and more prevalent until neither of them was counting and just yelling at their friend to come back…to no avail.
Darrel looked up at Jim who had not started rescue breathing after the chest compressions. The look on Jim’s face said all that needed to be said, Nico was gone.
Darrel just sat there for a minute looking down at his dead friend whom they had tried so hard to revive and failed.
“I thought he was immo
rtal. Jesus Jim, all that shit he said, I thought he was immortal, I thought he would be okay.”
Jim just sat there and stared at Nico’s body. He had seen dead people before, but the sight of a dead friend whom he had been trying to save, a dead friend who- just a few hours ago he thought was more likely a villain- was more than he could process at that moment.
Jim didn’t say a word he just got out of the SUV, walked over to the lone working light pole in the parking lot and started puking his guts out. His body convulsed as everything in his stomach ended up on the ground.
As Jim stood and did his best to wipe his face clean Darrel handed him a bottle of water. Jim took a long drink as Darrel held onto his shoulder, “He’s gone brother, he’s gone, and we have to get the hell out of here or this will all be for nothing.”
Jim took another long drink from the water bottle and then with all of this might he threw it as hard as he could against the ground. “FUCK! Come on help me get his ID and gear. Let’s put his body back in the truck and then torch it.”