Raz was bent over the bed of his truck when the first soldier asked him, “What’s under the tarp?”
Raz looked at the boys opposite him. In the bright lights their eyes showed they were scared stiff, as if they were about to be shot on the spot. Raz knew that could happen at any moment if he didn’t do something.
“It’s my stuff,” he said in a defiant tone. String the bastard along as far as he could go. Bit by bit. Look for an opening. Be ready. Be two steps ahead of your adversary. Thoughts were rapidly racing through Raz’s mind. He knew how to handle situations like this.
“What’s your name?” the soldier asked. He was coming to the end of his rope, getting impatient, irritated with this backwoods hillbilly.
Raz cracked a smile and answered sarcastically, “Heyward.” He sneaked a peek at Cody letting him know to be ready.
“Heywood?” the soldier said. “Heywood what?”
“Heywood Jablowme. And stop askin’ so many fuckin’ questions,” Raz chuckled, ready to make his move.
Cody and Nick immediately cringed.
Rage exploded over the soldier’s face at Raz’s remarks. “I’ve taken enough shit from you, you fucking old geezer.” The soldier backed off half a step, finger on the trigger, about to blow Raz’s head off.
“No! No!” Nick screamed. He then did something very stupid. He jumped from the rear of the truck, leaping toward the soldier in an attempt to protect the old man.
But it was too late.
Bam! A gun blast tore through the deadly night silence.
Bam! Another shot went off.
Bam! Then a third.
Before Nick could grab the soldier, Cody had pulled the pistol out of his jacket pocket and promptly shot the soldier in the head from across the truck. Instant death hit the man as the soldier went down firing a wild shot missing Cody by inches.
The second soldier was slower to react and he was taken down by Raz with his old pistol drawn like a seasoned gunslinger. A big hole blew through the soldier’s unprotected chest as he fell backwards, bouncing off the hood of his Humvee and onto the raw ground.
The rapid explosions had taken less than a second. The blasts left clouds of smoke in the air, the smell of burnt powder in the cold, and echoes of recoiling thunder receding into the night. Raz and Cody looked at one another, as if to congratulate each other for their quick reaction. The two soldiers lay dead on the frozen shoulder.
But Nick wasn’t standing. He was on the ground behind the pickup truck. The soldier’s errant shot had pierced Nick’s right side, tearing a gaping hole through and through.
“Nick!” Cody yelled. He ran to his friend and knelt next to him. Blood was gushing from the wound, soaking his shirt and jacket and forming a thick muddy red puddle beneath Nick’s body.
Cody held his buddy’s head trying to comfort him, helplessly attempting to keep his friend alive. “Nick,” he whispered, working to stay calm. But it was impossible to remain composed. “I got you, Nick. I got you.”
The old man moved toward Cody. Nick looked real bad.
“Raz!” Cody yelled, looking for help.
Nick tried to say something. “Co…Cody….”
“Yeah, buddy. I’m here.”
“I…I only wanted…to see my wife…and kids,” Nick struggled.
His eyes looked up at Cody, but they were blank. A steady stream of dark red blood seeped from his side. A trickle of blood spilled from Nick’s mouth. Gasping short breaths he could barely breathe, his heart ripped apart by the bullet. “Sa…save my fam….” They were Nick’s last words.
Cody held his friend, crying as if he had just lost a child. “I will, Nick,” he answered. “I promise.” He rocked back and forth with Nick in his arms, as if that would bring his friend back. But all the crying and all the rocking in the world would do Nick no good.
Looking on, Raz grunted. “He’s gone, Cody.”
“No!”
“Let him be, son.”
“But why? Why did this have to happen?” Cody howled.
Raz went to Cody and patted him on the back. There were no good answers. Bad things happen to good people. “ ‘Cause there’s always bad people around us,” Raz answered.
Cody shook his head. It wasn’t a good enough reason.
“He just saved us,” Raz said. “If it weren’t for Nick, we’d both be dead.”
“What should we do?” Cody asked.
“We’ll have ta leave him here, son.”
Cody shook his head. “But it’s not right.”
“I know it ain’t right,” Raz said. “He didn’t deserve this.” Raz turned away so Cody wouldn’t see the emotion in his face. He had seen too many good men die like this.
“Damn, damn, damn!”
“We can say a few words,” Raz added.
“Yeah.”
“Dear Lord,” Raz began to pray. “Please take this young man, Nick…ah.” He stopped and had to ask Cody, “What was Nick’s last name?”
Cody thought for a second. “I…I don’t know,” he answered shamefully.
Raz began again. “Please take this young man, Nick, ta ya glorious heaven. He was a good man tryin’ ta do good things. May his soul rest in peace. Amen.”
“Amen.”
Cody gently placed Nick’s head on the ground. He had lost a good friend, a brother. He rose to his feet and rubbed the tears from his eyes. The pistol still in his hand he walked over to the dead soldier he had killed, the one who was going to kill Raz, the one who had murdered Nick.
Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam!
Without thinking Cody’s primal rage had taken over his rational body. Primitive vengeful wrath had emptied the remaining bullets from his pistol into the son-of-a-bitch who had killed his friend and changed his life forever. With each successful blast of the gun Cody had lost his innocence, his naïveté, his trustworthiness, hiscontentment, his indifference to what has been going on in the world.
Cody had become a changed man. He was now a part of the high stakes game of life and death.
Raz watched the young man transform before his eyes in the time it took to fire five shots. Raz knew the rage and guilt and agony Cody was going through. At some point in his life each real man would experience it.
“Ya done killin’ bad guys?”
“What?” Cody said, his warm breath escaping in short, fast vapor clouds.
“I said, are ya done killin’ bad guys?”
Cody looked at the bloody mess beneath him and at the soldier Raz had shot. Then he turned toward Nick’s body. His friend was gone, like so many others today. “I’ve just begun,” he said in a determined voice.
Chapter 25
“We should be goin’ now. It’s dangerous out here and it’s gettin’ late,” Raz recommended.
Cody looked around at the death they had caused. The scene was surreal, like a late night action movie where the good guys had just won a small battle against evil. But the losses had far outweighed the victory, and the war was only beginning. “Let’s take the Hummer,” he suggested.
“That’s a damn good idea, Cody. These guys won’t be needin’ it no more,” Raz growled. “We might be able ta outrun other patrols if we run inta ‘em and the truck will be useful travelin’ through the desert.”
“Sounds good,” Cody agreed. “Let’s transfer our load into the back.”
The men took five minutes unloading the Chevy. They lugged the cans of gas and the jugs of water to the back of the carrier’s cargo bed and secured them. The sleeping bags, boxes of food, duffel bags, and the rest of the supplies were thrown into the military vehicle’s back seat. Raz shut his pickup down, turned off its lights, and removed the keys which he pocketed. He then grabbed his papers and maps.
Raz stopped for a second, then retrieved a gas can from the Humvee. He opened it and poured a few gallons of fuel on his beloved Chevy pickup, dousing the inside seats, the engine hood, and the empty bed.
“No need leavin’ the truck for someone els
e.” He took out his pistol ready to shoot the old piece of shit truck and ignite the fire. Then he thought it better to drive a safer distance before blowing it up. He bent over the dead soldiers and retrieved their rifles and side arms, and threw them in the Hummer. “Can always use the extra power,” he smirked.
The two looked at Nick, and with their eyes saluted their goodbyes. “I’ll save your family,” Cody whispered his promise.
“All secure, Cody. Let’s go.”
Cody went to the driver’s side of the Humvee. Raz gave him a strange gaze. “What ya think ya doin’ boy?”
“I’m driving this beast,” Cody answered with commitment.
Raz shook his head. “No ya ain’t. Not yet. I know where we’re goin’. Ya’ll git ya chance later.”
Cody gave in to the old man without complaining and moved to the passenger side. Perhaps Raz was right. He hadn’t been wrong yet, Cody thought.
The engine was still running. Raz climbed into the bulky vehicle and settled into the driver’s bucket seat. The interior was warm from the humming heater. He found the light switches and flicked off the overhead beams. Maintaining a low profile was still his best bet. He was familiar with the vehicle, but never had one of his own.
“I think I’m in love,” Raz chimed as he got comfortable.
“One of the best high mobility multi-purpose vehicles ever built,” he said, slamming the steering wheel. “Camouflaged and low profile ta hinder detection, sixteen inch ground clearance for rugged territory, wide wheel base for low center of gravity stability runnin’ on thirty-seven inch run-flat tires, turbo-charged V-8 diesel engine with 190 horsepower, armor-fitted on laterals and below, capable of a three ton payload, high-maneuverability and the ability ta climb sixty degree slopes. Can be mounted with a variety of interchangeable armaments, includin’ the M134 Mini-gun capable of firin’ up ta 6000 rounds per minute, a grenade launcher, light and heavy machine guns with a remotely operated weapons station controlled from inside the vehicle.”
Raz finally caught his breath and let loose with a grand smile.
“Sounds as if you really like this thing,” Cody remarked. He couldn’t help but smile too.
“Oh yeah. I know everythin’ ‘bout ‘em. Never owned one, not ‘til now,” Raz said.
“Guess what, Raz,” Cody said. “You don’t own this one either.”
“That’s what ya think. Like ta see someone try ta take it from me.”
“I see your point,” Cody agreed.
“Only one thing this beauty don’t have,” Raz conceded.
“And what’s that?”
“There ain’t no AM radio.”
Cody just shrugged his shoulders.
“And no cup holder,” Raz ended.
He began turning onto the roadway ready to light up the Chevy, when Cody suddenly yelled. “Wait!”
“Now what?”
Cody opened the door and dashed toward the pickup. He yanked the passenger door open and leaned inside. In less than thirty seconds he returned to the Hummer, his hands filled. “I almost forgot,” he grinned and dropped the socks full of coins on the floorboard near his feet. He slipped them safely under the seat.
Raz smirked. “Good thinkin’, boy. Can we go now?”
“Yes.”
He pulled onto the road, passed his old Chevy and the human carnage. From twenty yards away he stopped, raised his pistol, and shot at the pickup. The bullet hit solid metal creating a spark. In seconds the truck was ablaze. The rusted hood blew off from the sudden blast, lighting up the roadway. Watching the raging blaze for several seconds, Raz then continued south. “I’m gonna miss that wrinkled old girl.”
Cody stayed silent for a minute. “I’m gonna miss Nick.” He scratched the stubble of his day-old beard and rubbed his cold ears. Raz knew something was bothering him.
“Ya done good back there, Cody,” Raz said in a fatherly tone.
“Yeah, I know.”
“Ya saved us from ‘em soldiers. If ya hadn’t took the shot we’d both be lyin’ there with Nick.”
“Then how come I feel sick inside?” Cody asked.
“Ya just lost a good friend, that’s how come.”
“It’s not only that,” Cody admitted.
Raz looked at the young man. He knew exactly what was bugging Cody. “It ain’t fun killin’ a man, is it?”
“No, it ain’t…ah…isn’t.”
“It sticks in ya gut, huh?” Raz said.
“You ever kill a man, Raz? I mean before tonight.”
Raz looked into the darkness. “Only when they had ta be killed.”
“Yeah.” Cody thought about that for a moment. “Do you ever get used to it?” Cody had to ask.
“Nah. Ya never git used ta it no matter how many times ya do it.”
They drove down the highway in the Humvee. It was a strong, solid ride with its wide tires hugging the pavement as Raz swerved and weaved around abandoned cars. On the road side he noticed dead bodies frozen to the ground. People who couldn’t get to where they were going, succumbing to the brutal elements, helpless in the face of extraordinary circumstances. He kept driving.
“Cody, look on this map,” Raz said, handing the man a folded atlas of Arizona. “See if ya can find the turn off up ahead. Should be a few miles farther up, off one of the next exits.”
Cody flipped on a flashlight and searched the faded map for their location. “Here,” he pointed. “Is this it?” he asked. “Off exit fifty-eight, there’s a small dotted line that runs northwest into the desert.”
“That’s it, boy. A few more minutes and we’ll be safe.”
Less than thirty seconds passed on the quiet stretch ahead of them when Raz saw something else he hadn’t anticipated. “Son-of-a-bitch!”
A line of cars were blocking the road not two kilometers away. There were at least three sedans angled across the highway, though there was no traffic to stop. Except for the stolen Humvee. Their red and blue emergency lights swirled in the pitch blackness, casting eerie kaleidoscopic laser-like shadows over the drab desert landscape.
Raz slowed down his armored rig. The flashing lights reflected off the vehicle barricade. Raz squinted hard and made out the green striped cars. “Looks like Border Patrol.”
“Why would the Border Patrol be here? Wouldn’t you think they’d be at the port of entry in Nogales? Especially with all that’s going on,” Cody said.
Raz grunted. “Don’t be stupid. There ain’t nobody at the border. It’s wide open by now. The border agents have either been pulled away by DHS for other purposes or simply melted into the woodwork. Some people are tryin’ ta go south thinkin’ it might be safe down there. But it ain’t. My guess is more people are tryin’ ta come north where the pickin’s are ripe.”
“What do you mean by that?” Cody asked.
“Haven’t ya learned by now, sonny, that at the point when civilization is no longer controlled by legitimate law enforcement, anarchy raises its ugly, sinister head. Even law abidin’ folk turn to their sinister ways. But the criminal elements, those people who live a life of crime and feed off the weak and unprotected, they’re the first ones ta hit the streets. Ya saw the group at that grocery store. That’s exactly what we’re about ta run inta up yonder,” Raz explained.
“Cockroaches! That’s what I call ‘em. No good stinkin’ cockroaches. They come out in the dark searchin’ for scattered crumbs. They target anyone who has what they want, anythin’ that looks like easy pickin’s. But these kind of cockroaches work together, in gangs, numbers that can put the fear of God inta anyone who has the unfortunate bad luck of bein’ in their path.” Raz stared straight.
Cody just looked at the colored streams of lights ahead bouncing off the low hanging night clouds.
“But these roaches are the worst,” Raz warned.
“How so?”
“These low-life cockroaches are armed to the teeth with nobody ta stop ‘em,” Raz ended.
As they inched closer to the
road block Raz and Cody could make out a dozen or so men with rifles watching them, their weapons at the ready. “Have ta git ta that side road,” Raz mentioned. “I ain’t turnin’ back for nothin’. We don’t have the time.”
Cody watched his old friend thinking. Another plan was in the making. He could almost hear the wheels in Raz’s brain moving, the genius mechanism working its magic. “What should we do?”
Raz chuckled. “Let’s see what they want. They’ll think we’re on their side in this green tank. Might let their guard down long enough.”
“Long enough for what?”
“Long enough ta take ‘em out,” Raz explained.
Cody pulled the gun from his jacket, got a box of bullets from his other pocket and began reloading his weapon. After dropping two cartridges on the floor he finally settled down and put the loaded gun
back in his pocket. It was likely, he figured, that he’d be using it again, real soon.
“Here,” Raz said. “Load mine too.” He handed Cody his pistol and some ammo which Cody loaded faster this time and returned the gun to Raz. Then Cody reached into the back seat, grabbed one of the dead soldiers’ automatic assault rifles, and placed it on his lap.
Just in case.
Raz slowed down to about twenty-five miles per hour. He wanted to scope out the ambush situation ahead and be prepared once he came up to them. “There’s lots more of ‘em than there are of us this time,” he advised Cody. “Ain’t gonna’ be no turkey shoot like before.”
That was a turkey shoot? Cody thought. “Are the sides of this Humvee well armored?” he asked.
“Against small arms,” Raz nodded. “The glass ain’t bullet proof though, so be careful.”
Cody had a crazy thought. He was starting to think like the old man. “What if you pull up to them in the middle, like we’re friendlies? We’d have a good shot at most of them from both sides, maybe catch them by surprise.”
Raz turned to Cody, a shocked grin on his face. “Ya got some balls, boy. Just go up ta ‘em like we want ta shoot the shit and have a beer, then mow ‘em down. The whole bunch of ‘em?”
“Well, I was just thinking. At first they won’t know what to think. Then, bam! Blast our way through.”
Treasonous Behavior- in the Beginning Page 17