by Dave Bowman
Jessa instinctively raised her own rifle and aimed at the man.
“Don’t shoot! I’m unarmed,” the man pleaded.
“Is there anyone else out here?” Nick asked, stepping out with his own gun drawn and followed by Charlie.
The man shook his head. “I’m alone.”
“I only saw him,” Liz offered, refusing to take her eyes off the man.
Jessa looked at Mia, who was standing behind Liz over by the tool shed. “Go inside, Mia.” Jessa watched her go inside and shut the door behind her.
“We’re not going to take this guy at his word, are we?” Charlie asked, scowling.
“Of course not,” Nick said. “Charlie, do you want to go check the property?”
“I’m on it,” Charlie said as he ventured into the darkness with his rifle raised.
“Who sent you? Why are you here?” Jessa growled at the man.
“No one sent me,” the man said. “I was just looking for food and water. I swear.”
“He was prowling around out here,” Liz said. “Hiding out behind some trees.”
“Yeah, I was just listening to see if you folks were friendly before I went and knocked on the door. You can understand that, can’t you?” He asked nervously, his hands shaking in the air.
“I don’t believe you,” Jessa said. She walked over to the man and lifted his shirt up. A 9-mm was tucked in his waistband. She retrieved the gun and scowled at him.
“Unarmed, huh?”
The man laughed nervously. “I guess I forgot about that.”
Jessa patted him down, removing a pocket knife. “Now you’re unarmed.”
“I knew he was lying,” Liz said, disgusted. “What do we do with him?”
“I’ve got an idea,” Jessa said. She walked briskly to the tool shed and disappeared inside. A moment later, she emerged with a roll of cordage.
“We need some information from him. We wouldn’t want him to try to escape in the middle of a conversation.”
Nick and Jessa grabbed an arm each and led him inside. They had him sit down next to the wood stove as Trina and the others watched with big eyes. Nick waved off their questions as he bound the man’s legs together securely, tying his hands behind his back. The guy protested the whole time, claiming his innocence.
“Cut the crap,” Nick said, looking down at the man before him. He was balding, and wore a tattered flannel shirt with beat-up jeans. “We know you’re working for a gang. Which one is it?”
The guy shook his head. “I’m telling you, I’m innocent! I don’t know anything about gangs. I’m from Idaho Springs, and I just drove down here looking for something to eat. All the food is gone from my house. It’s gone from everybody’s house up there. If you’ll let me go, I’ll be on my way. I get the feeling you folks don’t have any food or water to share.”
Charlie walked through the front door as the guy was making his case. “It’s all clear outside,” Charlie reported. “He came alone, as far as I can tell. He drove a Subaru to get here. It’s parked at the end of the driveway and has a CB radio in it.”
Nick gave him a pointed look. “Does everyone in Idaho Springs have a CB radio?”
The man sighed and kicked his bound legs together against the floor in frustration.
“You want to tell us the truth, now?” Liz asked. “We’re going to get it out of you one way or another.”
“All right, all right,” he said through gritted teeth. “I’m with the BSC. They sent me out here on a scouting mission. I was supposed to gather information.”
“What kind of information?” Nick asked.
“You know, how many of you there are, how many guns, the layout of the place. I was supposed to get enough details to draw a map of the driveway, house, and property.”
Jessa exchanged a look with the others while the man glanced nervously around him.
“What are you guys going to do to me? I’m not really a gang member. They just made everyone join or they’d kill us. Or let us starve.”
“I don’t know if I believe that either,” Jessa said.
“When is your boss planning to attack?” Nick asked.
“We’re just wasting time talking to this guy,” Charlie said, annoyed. “We should just get out of here now.”
“You won’t get out of here,” the hostage said plainly. “They’ve got the roads blocked off in every direction.”
Fear raced up Jessa’s spine. They were trapped in. Somehow, she didn’t think the man struggling against the rope on the ground was lying about this part.
Nick rubbed the back of his neck. “How many are out there?”
“Fifteen or twenty to the north and about a dozen to the south. But they’re sending more guys in.”
“None of this makes sense,” Jessa said. “What do they want from us? They control half of Denver, right? Why do they need our trucks and our supplies? Don’t they have enough already?”
The man squinted at her, surprised she didn’t understand. “You killed their men.”
“So they want revenge,” Nick said.
A twisted smile came over the man’s face and he nodded his head as he chuckled a little. “Yeah. And they want the women.”
Liz’s mouth hung open.
“You guys need to let me go. I’ll help you surrender. Maybe Bobby will go easy on you and let you work on a farm. They’ve got some bad dudes working for them.”
Nick paced back and forth, not answering him.
“I guess you haven’t heard how they find their foot soldiers?” the man continued. “They pair up newbies and give them some kind of weapon, like a baseball bat or a knife, and have them fight to the death. Whoever is left alive they send in to battle.”
Everyone was silent for a moment, appalled by the twisted logic of the gang.
“Is that how you ended up here?” Jessa asked contemptuously.
The man shook his head. “Nah, I’m not a soldier. I just do intelligence.”
“Well, aren’t you a saint?” spat Liz.
The man shrugged. “I had to hustle before the Hosta. It’s that the same thing now, just a new gig.”
“How did they find us here?” Jessa asked.
“All of us were on alert looking for a Forest Service truck with New Mexico plates,” he said. “I take it you’re the forest ranger we were looking for?”
Jessa didn’t answer, but pursed her lips together.
“The boss heard about your little showdown in the truck stop, and we were looking everywhere for you. Then the bulletin came out for us to find three trucks with New Mexico and Texas plates. We were lucky we found you all in one place,” the man said, twisting the side of his mouth up into a smile.
“I say we shoot him,” Charlie said. He was fuming. “This bastard tracked us here. Let’s shoot him and then leave. He’s probably bluffing about all the guys out there.”
“Hey, I didn’t choose to come out here,” the man blubbered. He looked at each of them, fear wrinkling his brow.
“They made me do this. Anyway, it won’t do you any good to kill me,” he rattled on, talking faster and faster. “And it won’t do you any good to try to escape. You guys are going to get slaughtered if you tried to drive out of here. You have to surrender. And you need to keep me alive so I can tell you the best way to do that. You know, so no one gets hurt. But whatever you do, don’t kill me. I’m just the –“
Charlie raised his rifle and brought the butt down against the side of the man’s head. His eyes rolled back in his head, and he slumped to the side.
“Damn, Charlie!” Jessa said. She checked the man’s pulse. “He’s still alive, but he might be out for a while.”
She turned to look at Charlie. “That was a little rash. He could’ve been useful to us. Next time, you need to run that by all of us first.”
“Next time, you don’t need to run off to Colorado and put all our lives at risk,” Charlie said, narrowing his eyes.
“Charlie, I was only trying to do the
right thing,” Jessa said evenly. “I had no way of knowing this would happen.”
“You shouldn’t have run off, Jessa. We wouldn’t be in this mess if you had stayed home,” Charlie said bitterly.
Jessa felt a flood of guilt. While her intentions had never been to cause more trouble, she hated that the people she cared about were now in danger. If only she hadn’t stopped at that truck stop. If only she could have avoided the dangerous areas in Denver, they wouldn’t be in this situation now.
Nick stepped in. “There’ll be plenty of time for pointing fingers later. Right now, we have to decide what to do.”
Charlie turned away, crossing his arms over his chest. Jessa looked down.
“Should we believe that guy?” Bethany asked.
Liz bit her lip. “He was lying at first. Why should we believe anything he said?”
“But what did he have to gain by lying about them sealing off the exits?” Trina asked.
Charlie rolled his eyes. “He was obviously trying to stall. He wanted us to wait around while they send in armies of guys. Right now we’re just wasting time. We need to get in the trucks and go!”
“If we leave now, we risk being ambushed on the road,” Nick said. “These guys have found us. They’re not just going to let us go peacefully.”
“But how can we just stay here and wait for an army to descend on us?” Liz asked, wringing her hands. “We can’t fight them all off.”
“I think we should stay,” Matt said. “At least we have a better chance here than in the trucks.”
“I agree,” Trina said, shaking her head. “I hate the idea of staying here and fighting them, but wouldn’t it be easier to defend the cabin than to confront a roadblock?”
Nick nodded his head. “Yeah, they say you have an advantage defending a property.”
Charlie snorted.
Nick glanced at him. “We know how you feel, Charlie. Bethany? Liz? What do you two think?”
“I don’t know,” Liz said worriedly. “Things went pretty well for us on the interstate earlier today. Maybe being in the vehicles would be the best bet if we have a confrontation.”
Bethany raised her hands in frustration. “I don’t know. You all seem to have so much more experience with this kind of thing. I’m just scared out of my wits.”
They passed a moment in silence. Finally, Liz spoke up.
“Where’s Mia?”
“I’m in here!” she called from the bedroom.
Liz and Jessa exchanged a worried glance, then walked into the bedroom.
“Up here!” her voice came from above. Jessa looked up at the small loft space in the corner of the room, where the roof came to a peak. She had seen it before but hadn’t paid it much attention.
“Hasn’t anyone been up in this loft yet?” Mia asked.
“I guess not,” Jessa said. “This bedroom is where I found Chris. I didn’t look around too much.”
Mia paused. “I think you guys should come check this out,” she said.
Jessa climbed the ladder and into the small loft space. She gasped.
“Liz said she had a kind of sniper nest on the interstate overpass, right?” Mia asked, her face hopeful. “This is like that.”
Nick climbed a few rungs of the ladder to poke his head into the space. A smile crept over his face.
The walls of the loft were lined with ballistic steel plate, making them bulletproof. A small window, made with tempered glass, was positioned at just the right height. A Remington M700 sat atop a shooting tripod in the small space; its muzzle poked out a small hole in the window. A box of ammo was on the floor.
Jessa looked through the rifle scope. “This is amazing. The scope has night vision. I’ve got a great view of the property.”
Nick climbed the rest of the distance, squeezing in the small space to look through the scope.
“I had no idea Chris had this set up,” Jessa said.
Everyone had crowded into the bedroom. Charlie craned his neck to look inside the loft.
“Do you see anyone out there?” he asked.
“Negative,” Nick said. “But that doesn’t mean they’re not out on the road. I don’t have a view of the highway – the trees are in the way, and it’s too far away.”
He climbed down the ladder. “What you think, Charlie? Do you still think we should try to leave?”
Charlie went silent as he thought it over. He opened his mouth to speak, but instead his eyes got big.
“Do you hear that?”
He paused and listened. Suddenly, they all heard it. There were muffled voices, followed by a door slamming in the distance.
"They're already here," Charlie said.
35
Trina was the closest to the door, and the first to move. She raced into the living room, grabbing her rifle. Charlie was next, followed by the others, except Nick, who still scanned the property with the scope.
Nick couldn't see them with the rifle sight in the driveway, so he assumed they were still on the road. Finally, he descended from the loft to join the others in the living room.
Everyone took their weapons and grabbed handfuls of spare ammo to pocket.
“I’ll cut the lights,” Jessa said. She lowered the wick in each oil lamp, and the small flames were extinguished, bathing the cabin in darkness.
"Everyone out into the woods – there’s still time to save yourselves!" Nick said, charging into the room to look out the window.
Jessa started to respond, but Nick cut her off.
"They haven't started coming up the driveway yet. I think they're leaving their vehicles on the road. That means you all have a couple of minutes to escape to the woods behind the house. I'll stay in the cabin, in the sniper’s nest," Nick said quickly. "They'll surround the house, thinking that we're all in here. I'll keep them occupied for a while and the rest of you can escape into the woods. Go now!"
Jessa frowned as she pocketed several magazines of ammo. "I won't let you do that! That's suicide. You can’t take them all on alone!"
"I'll do my best," Nick said. "And it'll give the rest of you a chance to get to safety."
Charlie was dead set against the idea. "We're not going to leave you, Nick."
There was a chorus of agreement with Charlie, and Nick knew there was no use in wasting time arguing.
"Bethany and the kids should hide in the woods, far from the house," Trina blurted out. She turned toward the three of them. "It's too dangerous for you to stay here. Go now, and you have a chance to get away to safety."
"I can stay and fight," Matt started to protest, holding his shotgun.
Nick shook his head. "I need you to help Bethany and Mia get out of danger.” He looked squarely into his nephew's face, and Matt nodded.
"Move straight into the woods past the tool shed." Nick pointed in the direction he wanted them to go, indicating east and away from the driveway. "Go deep into that forest as fast as you can. Don't turn on your flashlight. Run, now!"
Mia threw her arms around Nick's neck for a quick hug, then followed Bethany and Matt out the door into the dark night, disappearing into the woods.
“The bastards are going to think we’re all in this cabin. They’ll surround it and devote most of their men to ambushing it. We won't fire until they're surrounding it," Nick said, gathering up ammo. "I’ll pick off everyone I can see from the loft. When you hear me start shooting, then you can start picking off whoever you have in your sight."
"We'll need to have some people outside, right?" Liz asked.
Nick nodded. "They won't be expecting that, so yes. The more unpredictable we are, the better."
“With Nick in the loft and someone else down here, we can cover the north and west sides of the house," Jessa said hurriedly.
"I saw a deer stand back behind the house," Trina said, pointing to the south. "It was into the woods quite a ways, but I can climb up in that and maybe get a decent shot on anyone trying to get in the back way."
"Liz and I can fan
out from the deer stand to the southeast and east," Jessa said.
Nick nodded. "Just make sure you know each other's location so you don't get caught in crossfire. Try to stay covered behind trees or the outbuildings."
"Got it," Liz said, clenching her rifle in her hands and looking out the window.
“So that leaves me to stay down here,” Charlie said, motioning for Nick to help him push a bookshelf in front of the window.
"What about the hostage?” Liz asked.
Nick glanced down at the man who was still out cold in the kitchen. “Leave him.”
He silently opened the front door, pausing to look and listen. "I think they're still on the road, but they'll be here soon,” he whispered. “Go quickly to your spots and wait. Don’t fire until you hear me shooting from the loft. If things get bad, just run straight back into the woods to safety.”
"We’re not abandoning you," Liz said.
“We can do this,” Jessa said, lowering her voice.
“Absolutely,” Charlie whispered.
Jessa followed Liz and Trina outside, ready to split off to go to their respective places. Nick turned inside, locking the front door and pushing a couch in front of it. The heavy oak bookcase blocked off most of the window. It wasn’t enough, but it would have to do.
Charlie stationed himself at the window. The light was low beyond the portion of the open window pane. The moon had not yet risen, still hidden behind the mountains in the distance, but the faint glow of the just-past-full moon spilling over the ridge cast the property in a dim light.
In the bedroom, Nick moved a heavy bureau in front of the only window, then he climbed the ladder to the loft, shutting and locking the small door behind him.
Trying to calm his pounding heart, he looked through the night vision scope. The sound of the voices was still distant.
He prayed his nephew, Bethany, and Mia would be out of harm’s way. Pulling on an ear muff to protect his hearing from shooting in the small, enclosed space, he took a deep breath. He had the Remington on the tripod, and, if he needed them, his AR-15 and Glock beside him.
