by Warren Ray
“You and me both,” said Elliott.
Winters spoke up. “That guy was Major Green. He’s investigating the missing men for this Colonel Nunn guy, seems our little plan of deception is working.”
“There was something not quite right about him,” said Elliott.
“Why’s that?” asked Meeks.
“We got into this weird conversation about how jobs were hard to come by these days, and I told him how grateful I was to have one, even if I had to do things, that weren’t normal. You know implying that killing innocent people wasn’t normal. He seemed a bit baffled and asked what I meant by it.”
“What did you say?”
“I played it off by saying I had to work for the government.”
Meeks slapped Elliott on the back. “Damn, Elliott, you’re about as quick as Scar with a good lie.”
Scar turned to Winters. “We’d better double-time it, Captain. That major will be pretty pissed off when he finds no one up there.”
Winters turned to him. “Where?”
“To the Patriot Center.”
“We’re not going now.”
“Why not?”
“We won’t have time,” said Winters.
“Sure we will, we don’t have as far to go.”
“Yeah, but those Humvees are a lot faster than these transports.”
“We’ll be alright.”
Winters raised an eyebrow.
Scar tried again. “If we don’t go now, we’ll never get another chance.”
Winters grudgingly agreed.
They all turned to walk into the woods, and as they came to where they left the volunteers, they spotted bloodied bodies lying motionless on the ground.
Chapter 25
Buffalo County Wisconsin
Green and his men pulled into the parking lot of the drop-off location. His driver drove up to the building while the rest of them parked off to the side. Green got out of the vehicle. Both he and Lieutenant Crick walked toward the entrance of the building. Green took in a deep breath and immediately smelled an awful odor. He then glanced at Crick and pointed to a big garbage pile at the edge of the field.
“You’d think they’d take the time and burn their garbage,” said Green.
Crick cringed. “Bad enough having to look at it but to have to smell it, is unbearable.”
“I thought the Center was disgusting, but I think this place is even worse.”
“Well, the caliber of people is not ideal.”
“They’re representing the government, perhaps we can encourage them to clean up.”
“I wouldn’t count on it.”
“Seems too quiet here, you’d think someone would have come out.”
Crick jerked the door open, and both stepped in. They instantly balked at the smell, which was much worse inside. Flies buzzed around in celebration of their surroundings. They both shook their heads in disgust as they entered a long hallway. Green yelled out for anyone. When no one responded, he nodded to his lieutenant and they unholstered their side arms. They crept down the hall and opened the first door only to find an empty storage room. They proceeded to the next door and saw a few sleeping bags sprawled out, and clothes haphazardly lying about. The end of the hall emptied into a much larger room. A makeshift kitchen had dirty dishes on the counter along with opened cereal boxes. In the corner, a garbage pail overflowed with trash. Green walked over to a glassed-in office on the far side of the room and found nothing but a messy desk with piles of paper.
“I’m going to call the Colonel,” said Green.
He then moved to the desk, sat down in a tattered swivel chair, which squeaked as he scooted it closer. Picking up the phone, he dialed the number. While waiting for the connection, he thought back to the transports he had pulled over. He suddenly realized they were the only things that appeared out of place.
Nunn’s sergeant finally answered.
“Colonel Nunn’s office, Sergeant Owens speaking.”
“Owens it’s me. Is he in?”
“Yes sir, he’s in.”
“How’s his mood?”
“The usual. So, is it good news or bad?”
“Don’t know yet. Put him on,” said Green.
Green held onto the phone, patiently waiting for Nunn to pick-up. “Major, what do you have for me?”
“Well, we went up to the Wisconsin Patriot Center, and I had a chat with Wakefield and all seemed well. He appeared stable and content with his situation.”
“And?” Nunn asked impatiently.
“We've arrived at the drop-off and there's no one here. Which is strange, but even more strange, is on our way here, we happened to meet their convoy heading back to the Patriot Center. They said everything was fine when they left the drop-off.”
Nunn kept his silence and continued to listen.
“It’s not so much what they said, but how they looked. They were a different breed than people who usually staff these centers.”
“In what way, Major?”
“Well sir, they weren’t the typical scum, and they were much older than any of the others.”
Nunn straightened up in his chair.
A prolonged silence made Green wonder if the connection had been lost. “Colonel, you still there?”
“Major, get back to that Patriot Center as fast as you can. You find those bastards you pulled over. For whatever reason, they’re trying to stop our operation by killing our staff.”
“Yes sir,” said Green.
“I’ll call Wakefield and warn him,” said Nunn.
Chapter 26
Rock Island Illinois
This news solidified what Colonel Nunn had suspected. These Patriot Center workers weren’t running off but were being killed. It had to be the volunteers doing it.
Colonel Nunn hung up the phone after putting Wakefield on high alert. He told him to trust no one until Major Green arrived.
Nunn opened the bottom drawer of the desk and took out his bottle of Scotch. He reached for an empty glass and poured himself a larger amount than usual. The smoky aroma hit his nostrils before he finished the pour. After setting the bottle down reverently, he raised the glass and took a sip. He then leaned back in his chair as he thought about the situation.
Someone must have caught wind of their actual operation, and now was trying to shut it down. This meant they took out three of the nine locations, and more than likely recruited a fair number of men. These volunteers couldn’t be too heavily armed. They had been instructed not to bring any personal firearms. They probably have only what they took off the dead.
Some of them might have gone back home and procured weapons they weren’t supposed to have after the government’s weapons reclamation program. What a disastrous program, trying to encourage citizens to give up their firearms. Nunn chuckled to himself when he remembered they had even resorted to a buyback scheme. Of course, some brought their weapons in for sale, but they were mostly old or broken ones. As a last resort, they had tried to reward folks for ratting out their gun-loving neighbor. The only thing that accomplished was to anger even more people and forced the government to finally back off.
His thoughts turned back to the current situation and how this could be a disaster for him if the volunteers spread the word about what these centers really were. For all practical purposes, they were out of business in those three areas. The best thing he could do was to find these men before they hit the remaining centers. Operation Wildflower; more like Operation Wilting Flower, he snickered to himself. He glanced at his watch and decided to call his boss Director Reed. He finished his drink before picking up the phone and dialing the number.
“Director Reed’s office,” his assistant answered.
“This is Colonel Nunn, I need to speak with him.”
“One moment please,” came the response.
A couple of minutes passed before Reed picked up the phone. “Colonel, what’s the good word?”
“We’ve got a problem,” he answered.
&nbs
p; “What kind of problem, Colonel?”
“The exact problem we wanted to avoid.”
“Someone is aware of what we're doing.”
“Oh, it’s worse. I think we’ve got ourselves a rebellion. I found out Decker and his men most likely didn’t walk off the job. More than likely, they were killed, as well as those in Minnesota. Major Green was at the Wisconsin Center, and they seemed to be experiencing no difficulties. He then proceeded to the drop-off location, which he found abandoned of all personnel. He's heading back to the Patriot Center as we speak.”
“You’ve lost a third of your Patriot Centers?” an astonished Reed asked.
“For all practical purposes, yes.”
“Do you have any idea who it is?” asked Reed.
“Maybe. Green encountered our trucks from the drop off point heading back to the Center. He pulled it over to ask them some questions. He said they were older guys, but didn’t think anything of it at the time.”
“Perhaps it wasn’t such a good idea not to tell him about Operation Wildflower.”
“Maybe so, but he's not an individual who would have voluntarily been involved in this operation.”
“Well, in light of what’s happening he’ll need to be informed, don’t you think?”
“Eventually.”
“How do you think he’ll respond?”
“I can handle Major Green. It won’t matter much because whether he likes it or not, he’s participated in these killings. Albeit from the sidelines, but his records will disclose his involvement in Operation Wildflower.”
“I knew there was a reason I wanted you on our team. Listen, I’m sending someone out there to give you a hand.”
“Who?”
“Commandant Boxer.”
Nunn scoffed not liking what he heard.
Chapter 27
Winters gave in to Scar’s suggestion that they would have time to go and take out the Wisconsin Patriot Center before Green got back. They all headed into the woods to pick up the Wisconsin volunteers and the first thing they noticed were three dead bodies on the ground with the volunteers standing around them.
“What the hell happened?” asked Winters staring at the bloodied dead men.
No one answered.
“Who are those guys? Where are the prisoners?” he continued.
The men stood still. Scar walked over to the dead men and rolled one of them over. The man’s skull was caved in and was unrecognizable. Scar squatted down and put his finger on an earring hanging off a piece of flesh.
These are the prisoners, Captain.”
Winters yelled out. “Would someone mind telling me how this happened?”
“They killed our friends,” a voice finally spoke up.
“Yeah, my cousin came through here last week, they deserved to die,” yelled one of the men who Winters had been afraid might be inspired to take matters into his own hands.
“So, you decided to start beating the men?” asked Winters.
“No, we were only asking them questions about what you said, and they wouldn’t answer. So, we started roughing them up a little, and things got out of control.”
Winters threw up his hands in anger and walked away from them.
Elliott came up alongside him. “Captain, don’t go off on them, remember how angry you were when your friends got killed.”
“Yes, but prisoners,” retorted Winters.
“Cole, I know, and I’m with you, but all of this is new to them. Hell, it’s new to all of us.”
Winters stopped and took a deep breath. These men didn’t know him and more than likely don’t care either. Not wanting an argument, he decided to give them a pass.
He returned to the men and explained the plan. “We’ll get you guys back to the Patriot Center, and then you can decide what you want to do. You can either join us or go home and spread the word so no one else shows up at this place, which is just as important,” said Winters laying the last bit on thick. After the murder of the prisoners, he didn’t really want these men to join them.
With everyone loaded in the trucks, they were now heading to the Patriot Center. They would have to hurry if they wanted to get these Wisconsin men on their way before Major Green came back.
Winters stared out the side window thinking about the day. He was impressed with Scar and how bold he had been walking up to those guards. Winters wondered if the man was that confident or did he merely put up a good front.
Winters' own nerves had about done him in as he walked up to Scar and those guards. Meeting your enemy face-to-face had been more nerve-wracking than sneaking up on a sleeping drunk adversary.
He was also impressed with Elliott and how he handled himself when confronted by the major. He had been pretty calm and collected, which was quite a change from when they had pulled into the Iowa Patriot Center where he had been nervous and unsure of himself. He figured they’d all get better as they went along.
Winters began thinking about the dead prisoners, and how they were clearly murdered. Being associated with such an act made him uneasy, but then again, these same prisoners would be dead had the Shadow Patriots attacked them at the drop off location. Winters shifted in his seat at the easy rationalization. Amazing the great lengths, the mind will go through to justify one’s actions. First, he justified the killing at the train station because they needed to be stopped. Now he had done some mental gymnastics on murdering prisoners. He adjusted his hat while contemplating how much he was going to change over the coming weeks and what he would morph into. Would he be any different than the workers at the Patriot Centers? A lump formed in his throat at the notion.
He forced his mind off the subject and thought about what the old man had said regarding the government throwing everything at them, which will be the case now that the Army knew they existed. It would get much worse for the Shadow Patriots. They were nothing but a disorganized group of old men who couldn’t even stop prisoners from being murdered.
Twenty minutes later, they reached the town where the Patriot Center was located, as planned, all the pickup trucks pulled over, and allowed the transport trucks to continue into town. When the three transports arrived at the Patriot Center, Winters wasn’t too surprised that no one was outside to greet them. He figured the major called and told them to get out of here. The men dismounted and maneuvered their way around all the vehicles, which cluttered the parking lot. Winters, Elliott, Scar and Meeks walked toward the entrance of the building as Nate, Murphy and Burns walked around back.
They walked in and found no one inside.
Elliott turned to Winters. “Well, where do you suppose they all went, Captain?”
Meeks’ face lit up. “Oh hell, these pansies skipped out of here.”
“They probably got a call from that major,” said Winters.
“Here come the others,” said Elliott seeing the pickups full of the Wisconsin volunteers coming toward them.
“I’m kind of hoping these Wisconsin guys don’t stick around. No offense guys,” said Winters turning to Burns and Murphy, their newest recruits from Wisconsin.
Burns replied. “None taken. We don’t even know them. We’re not from here.”
“Where you guys from?” asked Scar.
“Chicago,” said Murphy. “We left as soon as the first dirty bomb went off. Kind of thought there’d be a lot more of those being deployed.”
Burns added. “Yeah, so we came here. Figured it’d be safer.”
“Safe in the land of cheese heads,” said Murphy.
The vehicles pulled up and parked on the street and immediately the men poured out. Some of them walked straight to their vehicles, got in and took off. Others came up and asked to join the Shadow Patriots, acknowledging they didn’t agree with what had happened.
“We’re gonna need a couple of those transports, Captain,” said Elliott.
Winters nodded.
Meeks snapped his fingers. “Captain, I’ve got a great idea. Now that they know who we are
, why don’t we leave them a message. Give them a little something to think about. Maybe even change a mind or two.”
“Like what?” Winters asked in a skeptical tone.
“Oh, I don’t know,” he said turning to Scar. “But I’m sure my good friend could come up with a little something.”
Scar stood thinking for a few seconds. “What about we write it on the wall outside, so everyone can read it. Meeks, go see if you can find some spray paint.”
Scar sat down at the desk and started to write and within a few minutes had the message completed.
“We found some paint,” said an excited Meeks coming around from the back. “Got ourselves a can of gloss black, and look what else we found.”
“What?” asked Scar.
Meeks held up a couple of grenades.
Scar reached out to grab one. “Oh, hell yeah, look at those babies, I haven’t seen one of these since I was in the Corps.”
“Did you come up with something to write?” asked Meeks.
“You might say that,” he handed the paper to Winters, who read it approvingly. He gave it back to Scar.
Meeks tried to contain himself. “Let me see. It was my idea.”
“Hold on a minute,” said Scar as he exited the building.
Meeks shook the paint can while he followed him outside. He then handed it to Scar, who went to work.
The job took several minutes to finish as Scar tried to keep the lines straight. Some of the paint ran down onto the next line, which only added character to the message. Once he finished, he stepped back to admire his handiwork, and asked, “What do you guys think?”
TO THOSE OF YOU WHO ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR TAKING PART IN THE MURDER OF INNOCENT AMERICANS, WE WILL HUNT YOU DOWN. FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO ARE FORCED TO PARTICIPATE IN THIS TREACHERY LEAVE YOUR POST NOW. THIS IS YOUR ONLY WARNING, CONTINUE AND YOU WILL FIND NO MERCY FROM US. THE SHADOW PATRIOTS.
Everyone gave Scar a shout out.
Winters interrupted. “Gentlemen, we need to get out of here.”
Scar agreed. “Don’t want to take on the Army today?”
“Did you see the machine guns on those Humvees?”