The kid didn’t seem to like it much either and kept complaining. Riley had to tell him to be quiet numerous times and finally threatened to swat him. As far as Cummins could tell, Chad was the only child and Cherrie was the only female on the compound. Neither Smith nor Riley seemed too happy that Best was making both her and the little kid attend the swearing-in ceremony tonight. In fact, they had less than twenty minutes now. At least Cummins had found a clean bucket of water in the latrine and managed to shave off his newly grown goatee. The room Keller had told him to bunk in was hardly luxurious and he doubted that Smith’s accommodations were much better.
I wonder if he’s sorry he brought the flat screen, he thought, recalling loading the item into the U-Haul truck.
Smith seemed to read his thoughts.
“This sure ain’t nothing like I thought it would be,” he muttered as he scooped more of the lousy chow from his plate. “Nothing like they promised.”
“Sure ain’t,” Cherrie said. “And I don’t like the way that Keller guy keeps looking at me, neither.”
“He touches you,” Smith said. “I’ll kill him.”
You’d better be ready to use your bare hands, Cummins added mentally. Because I’ve never seen him without that big Desert Eagle and they took away your handgun just like they did mine.
“And we made over a hundred grand hitting that armored truck,” Smith continued in a low voice. “And so far we ain’t seen none of it. We was supposed to get bonuses.”
“Bonuses,” Riley accompanied by a disparaging laugh. “And Keller said I gotta go on training maneuvers all day tomorrow. I asked him, who’s gonna take care of my kid? Know what he said back?” Riley scraped some more of the gruel with his spoon, looked at it, then shoved the plate away. “The prick said it was my problem for bringing him. Can you imagine? I got a good mind to vacate this place.”
“If it gets much worse,” Smith said. “We’ll go with you. I didn’t sign up to be another fucking grunt crawling in the sand.”
“I can take care of him again,” Cherrie said. Her voice sounded weary.
Riley turned to stare at her, his lips curled back from his teeth in a semi-snarl. “Okay, but like I said, don’t be giving him no more of that medicine.”
“If need be, I can give you a hand, too,” Cummins said. “All they have me doing is some bookkeeping right now.” He forced a laugh. “Guess they don’t trust me with a weapon yet.”
Everyone fell into an uneasy silence for a few moments, then Riley said, “Appreciate that, Jack.”
And I’ll appreciate the opportunity to be alone with the kid for a bit, he thought. Get the little shit use to good old Uncle Jack.
Maybe this was going to be easier than he thought. Disgruntled personnel, hints at a way out ... Maybe it was time to call Wolf and start setting up that trade.
Near the FROZ
Bendover, Oregon
Dickie Deekins had proved more resourceful than Wolf had anticipated and loaned them a pretty sophisticated miniature body cam and recording mic. All they had to do was promise to email him back any videos of the apprehension of Zeus. Ms. Dolly readily agreed to do that. She’d brought along her radios, with the lavaliere mics as well. The only question that remained as they got assembled in the rear parking behind a closed, boarded-up drug store was how to proceed.
Wolf and McNamara donned raggedy-looking sweat shirts with hoods and Mac made sure his covered the Glock 19 he had in a pancake holster on his belt. He placed a black baseball cap on and pulled the hood portion over it. Wolf’s sweat shirt was a couple sizes too large to cover the Taser and the Glock 21 that McNamara had insisted he carry on this one.
“An ex-con carrying a gun,” Wolf said with a grin. “You know what’ll happen to me if we get caught?”
McNamara snorted. “I guess we’d best not get caught then. Besides, you know what’ll happen if we get caught up in a fire fight with these sorry-ass jokers with you only armed with a Taser. Better to have a gun, than not.”
“Y’all come up with a plan yet?” Ms. Dolly asked. It had pretty much been agreed that she would be on the perimeter in the van, waiting to pick them up.
“Listen,” Yolanda said. “Me and Brenda are the only two of us that can go inside this FROZ place without being conspicuous. Let us go in, play up to this dude and get him alone.”
“And then what?” Wolf said. He didn’t like the thought of exposing them to the danger but after all, it was what they did.
“We taze his sorry ass and handcuff him,” she said. “You guys can be standing by to carry him out.”
“Too risky,” McNamara said. “We have no air support, no reinforcements … We can’t afford to get into a fire fight with a numerically superior and better armed force.”
“Oooh,” Brenda said. “You know I love it when you talk military stuff like that, big guy.”
Mac grinned. “Glad you liked it but it don’t change the facts. We can’t even call nine-one-one if the shooting starts.”
“In other words,” Wolf said, “we need this to be a stealth op. In and out without being noticed.”
“Exactly,” McNamara said.
“Which is why me and Brenda need to get him alone in his little room,” Yolanda said.
“This ain’t exactly our first rodeo,” Ms. Dolly said. “Trust us and let us do what we do best.”
“And that’s looking bad-ass and kicking butt,” Brenda said with a deliciously wicked smile.
Wolf and McNamara looked at each other.
“You think he’ll take the bait?” Wolf said.
She batted her eyes and puffed out her chest. “Wouldn’t you?”
He smiled.
Actually, the idea was making more sense to him now. If they could tag up with Zeus and if they could somehow separate him from his protection detail, on the pretext of wanting to get intimate, it could give Mac and him a chance to sneak in and subdue their quarry. But, there were a lot of “ifs” and a lot of intangibles.
“It’s getting dark now and from what we heard, this asshole’s like a vampire,” McNamara said. “Let’s go reconnoiter a bit.”
“And if we see him?” Yolanda asked.
“Then we watch and figure out a way to take him down.” McNamara turned to Ms. Dolly. “You ready to drop us off darling?”
Her hand caresses his jaw. “Just tell me where, sugar.”
“Where” for Wolf and McNamara turned out to be on a side street a block or so away from the abandoned police precinct. Yolanda and Brenda said they were sure they’d be allowed inside the front gate. They’d all communicate by radio or text until they rendezvoused inside. The code word, “bailout,” meant that something was amiss and they were all to make their way out of the Zone as quickly as possible. “Evergreen” was the distress word that meant immediate help was needed.
Ms. Dolly slowed the van and pulled down a side street while Yolanda and Brenda got out. Both were wearing tight-fitting blue jeans and brightly colored tank tops. Yolanda’s was bright orange, Brenda’s was red. Both of them had ear mics for their radios and fanny-packs for their weapons. They were both wearing gym shoes for good foot speed. As they wiggly-walked together, laughing and touching and looking at their smart phones like any two young ladies out for a good time in the FROZ, Wolf felt overcome with concern.
“Don’t let nothing happen to my girls,” Ms. Dolly said, shifting into gear to spin around to the next drop off point.
“I’ll scrub this whole thing before I let something like that happen,” McNamara said.
Just then his cell phone rang and he pulled it out and frowned.
“Yeah, Kase,” he said. “What’s up?”
Wolf reminded himself to turn his own phone on vibrate and slipped it back into the backpack that had their other equipment. McNamara continued to listen and murmur into his phone.
“The son of a bitch has got an ass-whipping coming,” McNamara finally said. “As soon as we get back me and Steve’ll go check th
at damn trailer park again. In the meantime, you keep checking as best you can.”
From the sound of it, Wolf surmised that she still hadn’t heard from Chad.
“Yeah, he’s here. Why?”
McNamara raised an eyebrow and handed the phone to Wolf. “She wants to talk to you.”
Wolf took it figuring it was going to be another admonishment from Kasey about making sure her father didn’t take too many risks or get hurt.
He answered and waited.
“Steve, another guy called here and was trying to get ahold of you,” she said. “He used a blocked number.”
“Okay.” Wolf tried to assess this new information. “He give his name?”
“Well, yes and no. He said, ‘Tell him his old army buddy, Jack, called.’ Said he’d be calling back.”
Army buddy? Jack?
Could it be Jack Cummins?
Just what I need at this point juncture, Wolf thought. Another distraction.
After thanking her, he handed the phone back to Mac and ruminated on this new development but after a few seconds, he pushed it out of his mind.
Concentrate on the mission at hand, he told himself. Deal with this other stuff later.
“Here y’all go,” Ms. Dolly said, stopping the van on a dimly lighted residential street.
McNamara leaned forward and kissed her and Wolf regretted that he hadn’t kissed Yolanda before she’d departed.
Another time, he thought as he pulled back the sliding door and jumped out. Another place.
They walked to an intersecting street and then came to an open field about forty yards long that led up to a twelve-foot cyclone fence topped with concertina wire. Beyond it was the abandoned police building but in between a motley collection of make-shift tents redolent with the pungent odor of unwashed bodies and human waste.
McNamara sniffed the air with exaggeration.
“Guess we know where the homeless are hanging out,” he said. “Better watch where you step.”
Wolf regretted not bringing any heavy-duty wire cutters, but as they got closer to the fence he saw that someone had already done the job for them. A large section had been cut and pulled back allowing easy access. Both he and McNamara slipped through quickly.
“Check that out,” McNamara said, indicating the shattered glass rear doors of the police building. “Might as well take a look-see.”
Wolf nodded and held up his hand. After glancing around to assure their privacy, he keyed his mic and said, “Sit-rep.”
“We’re on Main Street heading your way,” Yolanda said. “How about you?”
“At the PD,” he said.
“Anybody there?” she asked. “I thought it was empty?”
“Abandoned but hopefully not totally empty,” he said, wishing they’d spent more time going over radio protocol. Gabbing about trivia wasn’t the best tactic for a mission.
“If you two love birds are finished,” McNamara broke in, “let’s clear the net.”
“Roger that, boo daddy,” Yolanda said. “I think I see something interesting anyway. Don’t call me. I’ll call you. Or maybe I’ll text.”
Wolf and Mac exchanged grins as they zigzagged through the sea of tents toward the building and finally went up the cement steps leading into the station. Spray painted graffiti was everywhere, most of it profanity directed against the police. The shattered doors led inside a glass foyer of sorts where a solid metal door lay on the floor after evidently being torn off its hinges. The long brick hallway was dark, except for moonlight streaming through an overhead skylight. More crudely scrawled messages, all of them profane, decorated the walls. The floor was littered with more broken glass, ceremonial plaques, and trampled pictures of groups of uniformed police.
“Watch it,” McNamara said, pointing to a pile of human feces on the floor ahead. Several more piles formed scatological trail markers up to an empty door frame leading to the outside.
“Sorta feels like we stepped off into a new version of The Lord of the Flies,” Wolf said.
“Plenty of them around,” McNamara said, then stopped. “Aw, hell.”
A filthy, trampled American flag lay crumpled in a corner.
Wolf stooped down and grabbed the flag and shook it vigorously.
“Let’s fold it until we can dispose of it properly,” McNamara said.
They went off into an adjacent corridor, removed their tight-fitting leather gloves, and held the flag out between them. Wolf had the end with all the stripes, so after folding it length-wise two times, he began to make the triangular folds with rote skill, recalling the many times he’d done it before, including over the caskets of fallen comrades. He was sure that Mac had lost way more of them than he had. McNamara tucked the flag’s edge into the triangular field of blue with white stars and nodded. Wolf slipped the back pack off and placed the folded flag inside.
A rat scurried across the room and disappeared into a crack in the wall. The room had numerous windows, all with holes of varying sizes. More papers and other items were strewn about. A broken telephone had been ripped from the wall and two large sections of smashed black plastic, seeming to be radio recharging stations, were in a corner. McNamara nudged Wolf over to another dangling door. This one was listing lugubriously, still being attached by one hinge. The sign on the front read EQUIPMENT. Wolf pulled the door open the rest of the way and saw a jumble of detritus on the floor of what had been a large walk-in closet. He pulled out his mini-mag flashlight and shone it around, stopping on a box that contained two reels of nylon rope.
“Lookie what we got here,” McNamara said, stooping down and removing the reels. Wolf held the beam over the box as Mac reviewed the contents.
“Seems like two rolls of three hundred feet each,” he said. “Got some D-rings in here, too.”
The sound of laughter crackled in his ear from his radio, and a feminine voice saying, “Hey, hey, hey, boo. You must be the man ’round this place.”
Wolf realized it was Yolanda sending him a message. McNamara caught it was well.
“So you gonna take us up to your place and show us the most elegant bachelor pad in the FROZ?”
It was definitely her voice.
“Maybe smoke us a little weed, honeybunny?”
That was Brenda. One of them was keying her mic to let them know they’d located the target and were headed back this way.
“Maybe do a little dancing, make a little love,” Yolanda said and then both girls chimed in together to sing, “And get down real good tonight.”
“You got it, sweet things,” a deep, masculine voice said. “And I got the baddest shit in town, too, and I ain’t just talking about what’s in my pants.”
More giggles and laughter.
“Lemme text my other boo,” Yolanda said. “Tell him it’s off for tonight.”
Wolf quickly removed his cell phone from the backpack and watched the screen. Presently, a text appeared.
Hey, boo. I’m busy tonight.
It was obvious that the plan to tag up and do some recon had been accelerated, whether by design or serendipity. What was clear was that it was time to improvise. Wolf stepped to the window and gazed out.
K, Wolf texted back. Keep in touch.
“Didn’t Deekins say that Zeus’s apartment was in the building across the street?” he said.
“Yep.” McNamara joined him at the window. “Top floor.”
“The girls are headed there now,” Wolf said.
McNamara studied the building across the way.
“You thinking what I’m thinking?” Wolf asked, pointing to the open balcony facing this way.
“Let’s do it,” McNamara said and grabbed the two rolls of nylon rope.
Fort Lemand
Southern Arizona
Cummins lay on his bunk staring at the ceiling. Keller had declared “Lights out” an hour or so earlier but slumber wouldn’t come. His mind raced trying to figure out his next move. Then he heard the faint knock on his door and recog
nized Smith’s whispering voice.
“Jack, open up.”
Cummins swung his legs out from under the sheet and made sure he’d tucked neoprene money belt under his pillow before padding to the door and unlocking it. He’d felt compelled to take his extended wear contact lenses out earlier to put them in the cleaning solution, so the room’s interior was a soft, myopic blur. So was Smith’s face as he slipped through the opening.
“What’s going on?” Cummins asked. “Where’s Cherrie?”
“She’s in our room,” Smith said. “Me and her been talking. Charlie, too. We ain’t liking it here much, especially since they promised they was gonna give us something good for hitting that armored car. Turns out the fucker didn’t give us shit.”
Cummins remembered Keller promising the three of them a substantial bonus for doing the deed. He nodded.
“One of the other guys we served with in Iraq overheard Keller and the Colonel talking about maybe making Cherrie and Charlie’s kid move out,” Smith said. “Get a room in Desolation City and stay there while we train.”
That might make an abduction easier, Cummins thought. But, then again, all he had to do would be to tip Wolf where the kid was … After he had the bandito, of course.
“You listening to me?” Smith asked. The irritation was easily perceivable in this tone.
Devil's Brigade (Trackdown Book 3) Page 19
