Patriots & Tyrants

by Brian Cotton

  ***

  While the others sat around the wooden table in the chow tent stuffing their faces in between jokes and war stories, Kaspar moved at a frantic pace. He got together some water and something to eat. Harvey noticed his team member’s desperation and got up from his seat to help him. The steam from his hot cup of coffee brushed against his face as he moved. He took a slow sip and placed it down by his foot on the grass.

  “What’s up?” Harvey asked.

  Kaspar kept his focus on gathering supplies. “Krys just had another episode.”

  “They’re getting worse, aren’t they?”

  “I didn’t say that.”

  “You need any help?” Harvey wondered. He could tell from Kaspar’s pace that the episode she just experienced was worse. He decided not to press it.

  “Yeah, if you could grab some meds, that would be great.”

  Harvey nodded his head, bent down for his coffee, then walked over to the tent next door that had various, stolen medical supplies. Kaspar finished with the plain oatmeal, and then grabbed an orange, placing it in his pants pocket. He turned to see Harvey bring in a small red bag. Harvey handed it over.

  “You guys rest up, we might have a beat on another one.”

  “I’ll take care of her. We’ll be ready.” Kaspar replied.

  “Just make sure she’s comfortable.” Harvey said.

  Kaspar slid the bag over his shoulders. “I will. We’re going to find that cure.”

  “I know.” Harvey replied, not believing himself.

  Kaspar could sense the disbelief, but didn’t want to say anything to cause a ruckus. That was one thing that Krys had taught him. She instilled in him a new attitude of letting things go. There was something odd about Krys. He couldn’t quite put his finger on it, but not even Mother could make Kaspar want to be a better man. When he was with Krys, however, he wanted to be the best person on the face of the planet for her. The first time that he started to feel this phenomena, it was an experience that overwhelmed him.

  With his upper body bent down, Kaspar entered the small tent. She was lying there on the bed, a white bucket beside her down on the grass. Kaspar walked over to her and handed her the bowl of oatmeal. She propped her head up using her pillow and began to slowly eat at the steaming oats. While she ate, Kaspar got together the various medications that Harvey gave to him.

  “Thank you, Ryan.” Krys said, in between spoonfuls.

  “Don’t mention it,” Kaspar replied.

  When she was finished with her breakfast, Krys placed the bowl down next to her bucket. Kaspar then passed over the medications that she was doped up on all the time. Pain killers, stomach medicine, and some concoction that Harvey came up with that gave Krys a shot of adrenaline. This wasn’t going to last long, as this morning proved.

  “Krys,” Kaspar said as she took the first of her medications. “We’ve got to be more careful. We can’t push it too hard anymore.”

  “What do you mean ‘we’?” Krys demanded.

  “You know what I meant. I’m your partner, I’m a part of your life, too. You’ve got to take it easy.”

  Krys swallowed another pill, the taste so bitter she had to pucker her lips. Once she was done, she replied, “How can you say that to me? Women are out there dying, just like me, but I have the power to help them. I told you six months ago, no matter how bad I got, I would continue to fight. There is no letting up.”

  “I don’t want you to quit fighting. It’s just, everything is happening so fast, I…don’t want to lose you.”

  “Me quitting, or taking it easy, isn’t going to cure me. Yeah, it might make me more comfortable, or extend my life a little bit, but I’m still…”

  Kaspar put an index finger over his lips and nodded. He didn’t want her to finish that sentence. It was all just too hard to take in. She was right, after all, but he didn’t want to see her suffer. If this was the end, she deserved some rest after all that they had been through together. Ultimately, though, it was her decision on what to do. He did promise her that he would stick by her until the end. He also made a promise that either they would find the cure or that he wouldn’t get in her way when she got worse. More promises he couldn’t keep.

  “I know, baby. Look, I know you don’t want to live with false hope, but I will save you.”

  Krys smiled. “You already have.”

  Kaspar allowed a smile, too. He moved in and gave her a slight peck on the cheek. When he pulled back, he felt a hand on his arm. Krys began to shake her head. Kaspar’s grin grew wider. She was so beautiful when she did things like that. At that moment, he also had to fight back a tear. Krys placed her hand on the back of Kaspar’s head and pulled him in.

  “I love you,” she said.

   

  .06

  The squad was all gathered together in the central tent which served as their briefing room. An eager, determined Buck sat in the very front. He was so poised and every word his father said during the briefing was taken with the utmost urgency. The pen in his hand formed words on the pad of paper in front of him at a lightning pace. There would be no more screw ups. He would make sure of that. Steinner sat next to him, a bit more relaxed, but still listening with intent. Dexter Byrd, the man who drove the armored truck during the mission days earlier, sat in the second row, next to Kaspar, who in turn sat very close to Krys. She was seated on his right hand side.

  Kaspar’s right hand was firmly placed inside of Krys’s strong grip. The medications she took earlier seemed to perk her up a bit. She was no longer as lethargic as before. Her stomach pains went away, too. Kaspar tried to focus his attention on the briefing, but his mind kept wandering to the status of her health. These briefings all seemed to be the same, with a few variations here and there depending on the layout of each location. All he needed was a gun, and then he would figure out the rest as it came up. The enemy didn’t care how prepared they would be, so Kaspar became very good at improvising. He just hoped that, this time, the kid up front would calm the hell down and do his job.

  “You still with me, Kaspar?” Harvey demanded.

  Kaspar nodded his head. Harvey took a few deep breaths before he continued with the brief. If there was one thing the old man couldn’t stand it was a soldier not paying attention to what he was saying. There he was, spending his precious time explaining what to do so they wouldn’t get killed out there, and it was apparent that Kaspar didn’t give a shit. That was one thing that he and Kaspar went back and forth on. Harvey knew that Kaspar did, in fact, care. It was just that he did a piss poor job of showing it.

  Harvey turned his attention back to the screen behind him. On the screen right now was a hacked, real time satellite image of the complex they were to raid in the coming days. It was located somewhere in the Deep South. The screen showed Agents on their patrols on the outside of it. The way they moved was almost identical to the patrolmen of the last complex and the one before that, too. It still amazed Harvey how the USR operated. Everything was the same, it seemed, and it became rare to see them switch tactics. It spoke to the arrogance of the military and government leaders, Harvey thought.

  The complex itself sat, in what looked like a bowl, from the satellite images. There were hills all around it. The hills made for a perfect line of sight for Harvey, who had scout sniper training with the Marine Corps. He explained in the briefing earlier that he would provide sniper fire this go round, given the lay of the land there. Harvey would take down the guards outside, plus create confusion for those inside, which should buy the others some time to get in, get the job done, and then get out. 

  “Now, moving on.” Harvey said after he collected himself. “Buck, we are not sending you in there alone on this one. You’ll have Krys and Dex to give you back up. Just don’t panic in there. Take your time, breath, and act like there’s nothing around you. Focus on the task at hand, just like in practice, and you’ll do fine.”

  “Yes, sir.” Buck replied.


  Dex, as Harvey called him, looked over at Buck and gave him a wink. He was still getting over a gunshot wound from a previous mission. The bullet penetrated his upper body, where his body armor curved around his under arms. Dexter Byrd seemed eager enough when Harvey called out his name as going in on this one. Byrd was a young man, around Kaspar’s age, who spent time as an Agent before getting out when he learned of the population control drug. He spent some time going it alone, taking out Agents at night, using the USR’s own training against them. Harvey eventually met up with him and offered him a spot in his squad.

  “Steinner, you’ll once again have Kaspar alongside you. We’re going in silent on this one. I’ll be providing sniper cover from the outside. We’ll be using silenced MP-5 submachine guns, too. This base, from what we can gather, isn’t as highly patrolled as the other ones, so no need for making any kind of racket if we can avoid it. We are still going to try and get whatever Intel we can from the inside, but like always, let’s not get our hopes up.”

  That’s exactly what Kaspar was doing when he said it.