The Blockade

by Darrell Maloney

  And that when the motion stopped, he was almost instantly awake.

  Johnny was outside the Hummer, his back to the vehicle and pretending to pee into the snow bank.

  In reality he was removing the gun from his coat pocket and was getting ready to fire it.

  He heard Frank, on the other side of the vehicle, open the door and step out. He heard the door close.

  He tightened his grip on the gun and was ready to fire.

  He knew Frank would have to walk around the rear of the vehicle, for the front was blocked. The snow plow blade was pressed tightly against the snow bank in front of them.

  He knew Frank would be coming around the back bumper in five… four… three… two…

  Then the oddest thing happened.

  To Johnny’s immediate left the rear door suddenly burst open and a huge man-child stepped out with a big grin on his face.

  “Hi,” he said in a booming voice behind a monster of a smile. “I’m Eddie. What’s your name?”

  He held out his hand, which might have been awkward if Johnny was really using the bathroom. But as it happened there was a gun in his hand, which he very quickly tucked back into his right coat pocket.

  The back door of a Hummer has hinges in the rear and latches in the front. It’s sometimes called a “suicide door” as a nod to the 1934 Ford Coupe. The ’34 Ford has been a favorite with hot-rodders since the 1940s. It wasn’t the first car with such doors, but the first one to become famous for them.

  Because the door opened to the rear it blocked Frank’s view of Eddie and Johnny when he came around the rear of the car.

  Frank never knew how close he came to being murdered. And since Johnny was able to pocket his gun before Eddie saw it, he was unaware as well.

  Johnny smiled and shook Eddie’s hand, half frustrated that his ambush went so wrong, and half relieved. They would have been his first murders, and he’d been having second thoughts about pulling the whole thing off.

  Only Tina, watching from the warm cab of the pickup truck behind the Hummer, had a clue what was about to go down.

  She’d seen Johnny pull the gun from his pocket while Frank was walking around the rear of the vehicle and waving to her.

  Then he saw Eddie’s door fly open and block her view as well as Frank’s.

  Tina was relieved Johnny’s ambush didn’t go as planned.

  Johnny was too dumb to realize it, but his plan had a major flaw. Had he wheeled to his left and fired two shots into Frank’s chest there was a good chance the bullets would have passed through his body.

  And Tina was directly behind him, in the line of fire.

  He could have killed Tina as well.

  An unintended “twofer.”

  And he wasn’t even smart enough to realize it.

  Frank didn’t realize how close he’d come to dying.

  Neither did Eddie or Josie.

  But Tina did.

  And she wasn’t too happy about it.

  Johnny surrendered the driving duties to Frank and crawled into the passenger side of the pickup.

  “If you don’t mind driving a little longer, babe, I could use a nap. I’m really beat.”

  She looked at him with fire in her eyes.

  “No problem.”

  “Or if you want I can drive and you can nap. Then I’ll nap later.”

  “I’ll drive.”

  “Baby, are you mad at me?”

  “I’m fine. Just go to sleep.”

  Six words that no man ever wants to hear from his wife or girlfriend: “I’m fine. Just go to sleep.”

  -44-

  Frank continued south on State Highway 87 at the maddening pace of three miles an hour.

  Out of curiosity he tried driving with his eyes closed, just to see if he could do it. He clamped them shut, held the wheel straight, and felt for the bump beneath the tire.

  Then the next one, the one after that and the one after that.

  After a minute or so he heard Josie say, “Ahem…”

  He opened his eyes and looked at her disapproving frown. And decided driving with his eyes closed wasn’t a good idea after all.

  She said, “You know, Frank, if you’re tired I’ll drive for awhile and you can rest your eyes.”

  “You wouldn’t mind?”

  “No, not at all.”

  Truth was, Frank wasn’t that tired.

  But he was bored out of his mind. He didn’t like driving three miles an hour either, and hoped against hope that as they went farther south the snow pack would lessen a bit so they could see the reflector poles just off the road’s shoulder.

  Once they could see the poles they could pick up the pace. At least five miles an hour and maybe even ten.

  In the meantime, though, he’d love to give the driver’s seat to Josie.

  He coasted to a stop.

  Tina did the same.

  She got out and walked around to the passenger side of the truck.

  “Enough napping. It’s my turn to rest. I had to drive all night too, you know.”

  Johnny wasted no time jumping out of the cab and switching positions.

  Then he remembered he needed to empty his bladder for real this time and jumped back out to do so.

  By the time he climbed back in and put the truck in gear, Josie was a hundred yards ahead of him.

  But catching up wasn’t exactly a problem.

  Johnny still didn’t have a clue why Tina was mad at him. She probably would have told him, but he was afraid to ask. He figured it was better to pretend all was well between them.

  Pleading ignorance wasn’t a problem for him either.

  After a few minutes he looked over at Tina, and was greatly relieved to see she was sound asleep.

  “That must be it,” he thought. “She was just tired.”

  As he drove along at breakneck speed he began formulating his Plan B.

  Frank and his crew may have cheated death once.

  But they wouldn’t be so lucky the second time.

  -45-

  Mayor Al had a telephone on the small table next to his hospital bed, but he never used it. Everybody he knew was in Eden, ninety three miles to the north.

  He was nearing the end of his hospital stay. The doctors told him they’d keep him for about ten days after his surgery, and if he was mobile and his organs were working normally they’d set him free.

  This was day number nine, and the phone rang for the very first time.

  Al assumed it was a wrong number, since nobody he knew in Eden had a land line connection to the base.

  Neither did his friends in Salt Mountain either for that matter.

  Still, it would be rude not to answer it.

  He picked it up, expecting to explain to the calling party they’d dialed the wrong number.

  Turns out they didn’t.

  “Hello.”

  “Good morning Mayor Petrie. This is Captain David Wright. You met me the other day. I’m a friend of Hannah Snyder’s.”

  “Oh, yes. I remember. How are you doing this morning? And isn’t it rather early to be up? It’s still dark outside.”

  “Yes, sir. I know. Sadly, in my line of work, duty calls pretty early sometimes. Is Hannah awake?”

  Al looked over at the spare bed on the other side of the room.

  Hannah, who tended to get cold when she slept, was beneath four blankets and dead to the world.

  Al chuckled. Even her head was covered. He wouldn’t even know she was there except that half of her left foot was protruding from the bottom of the blankets.

  “No, I’m afraid not. She’s pretty much out of it. Is it important enough for me to wake her?”

  “Yes, I’m afraid so. General Mannix just called and woke me up. He wants to see me in an hour, and he wants me to bring Hannah too. I’m sorry to ask, but would you mind waking her up and telling her I’ll pick her up in forty minutes or so?”

  “Oh, I don’t mind you asking. I like waking her up. She takes great gl
ee in waking me up in the morning.

  “Besides, I get the easy part. You’ll pay a much bigger price.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I only have to put up with her for forty minutes. You’ll probably be with her for hours.”

  It only took him a second to understand what Al meant.

  “Is she a grouch when she has to get up early?”

  “No. She’s a grouch wrapped up in a bear wrapped up in a dragon. With a little bit of wolverine thrown in for good measure.”

  “Oh, goody.”

  “Just don’t say I didn’t warn you. Can I tell her what the meeting is about?”

  “He didn’t say. But he didn’t mention a firing squad, so I think we’ll survive it.”

  “I’ll make sure she’s ready to go, and I’ll send her downstairs to wait so she doesn’t bite my head off.”

  “Thank you.”

  Wright hung up the phone and walked to the public men’s room, where he locked the door and took a sink bath.

  He wasn’t happy about being awakened at oh five hundred, but at least none of the other attorneys staying in the building were up, so he didn’t have to share the facilities.

  He wondered, as he dressed, why in the world the general saw the need to summon him so early.

  If he had a legal question, or a question about the defense’s case, he could have asked over the phone. That wouldn’t require a face to face.

  But then again, Mannix was a man who preferred to meet face to face, where he could flex his military muscles and emphasize his control. And it was no skin off his nose to summon others and to make them come running. He wasn’t the one who had to go anywhere. Such was one of the benefits of being a general officer.

  He was hungry, but didn’t have time to go to the dining hall.

  He reached inside the third drawer of an unused file cabinet and withdrew an MRE.

  The label on the heavy plastic pouch read “Teriyaki Chicken.”

  It wasn’t his favorite, but it was filling. He tore open the inner pouch and used a plastic spoon to eat the entrée cold.

  By the time he walked out to his staff car he only had a couple of minutes to scrape the newly fallen snow from the windshield and be on his way.

  When he pulled up to the main entry of the hospital minutes later Hannah was sitting on a bench waiting for him.

  She was also shivering and scowling just a bit.

  He’d hoped Al was exaggerating about her disposition first thing in the morning.

  He obviously wasn’t.

  Luckily it didn’t last long.

  When the pair walked into the bunker they were greeted a bit more warmly this time. Captain Krebbs seated them in the general’s office and said he left momentarily to take a classified phone call. She took their coffee orders and came back with the freshest cup of coffee Hannah had had in years.

  “What did you guys do, grow these beans yourself?”

  She was teasing, and was surprised when the captain answered, “Do you have a grow lamp?”

  Hannah said, “Yes. Well, not on me. Back in Junction we have one. Why?

  “Because I do grow them, in my quarters. I only have a few plants because of the space. And they don’t make a lot of beans. The beans I harvest are just enough for the general and myself and an occasional special guest or two.”

  That comment made Hannah feel good, but from the way she looked at Captain Wright when she said it Hannah was pretty sure she meant it for him.

  “I can give you a few beans to take with you if you’d like to try growing your own.”

  That part was meant for Hannah, and she bubbled, “Oh, that would be awesome. Thank you.”

  “My pleasure. The general will be with you shortly, and I’ll see you again before you leave.”

  Hannah’s morning blues were officially gone. The coffee chased them away.

  -46-

  “Good morning,” General Mannix said when he walked back into his office from an anteroom. “Sorry to keep you waiting.”

  Hannah responded with, “Good morning general.”

  Wright said nothing. He was trying to remember the last time he heard the general apologize for anything.

  He wondered what the man might be up to.

  He was about to be floored.

  “I hope you don’t mind me calling you in so early. There was once a very successful advertising campaign the United States Army put out. It shows a platoon of men in the field watching the sun come up as they finish up a long march.

  “The tag line for the ad was something like ‘In the Army we do more before 7 a.m. than most people do all day.’

  “It’s true, and I personally subscribe to the same thing. I get up at oh three hundred hours every day.”

  He made a show of whispering to Hannah, “That’s 3 a.m.”

  She just smiled. She knew that already.

  The general continued, “I come to work at four. Most of the rest of the people in the bunker come in at six. I’ve found that I get more work done in those first two hours than I do in the other ten hours of my day.

  “That’s because I’m the only one here. It’s quiet as a church and I can concentrate. I can stay focused. I’m not distracted by the phone ringing or people interrupting me. That’s my favorite time of day.

  “The rest of my day is a waste. Nothing but phone calls, staff meetings and appointments with people like you.”

  He smiled when he said it.

  Hannah got the joke.

  She felt no animosity, but wished he’d get on with it.

  He seemed to read her thoughts and did just that.

  “I called you back today to let you know that I enjoyed our debate yesterday.

  “Usually when military brass say they’ve taken something under advisement it’s B.S. They usually mean they heard what you said and discounted it outright.

  “I’m guilty of doing that myself from time to time.

  “But not in your case.

  “I’ve been thinking about your argument, and I have to say you scored some points.

  “I didn’t tell you this when you were here, and maybe I should have. But I’ve been conferring with others lately regarding this case too.

  “One of them is a very old friend of mine. Another general. John Paul Stephens only has three stars, because he’s not as bright or as good looking as me. But he’s a good man and a fine officer.

  “Flag officers have to stick together, you see, because there aren’t many of us. We’re in the second most exclusive club the military has, after Medal of Honor recipients. Generals and admirals all know one another and serve as unofficial advisors to one another.

  “I asked General Stephens to serve as court martial president at the trial of Colonel Wilcox and Colonel Medley. That’s the same position as a judge in a civilian trial. But I didn’t ask him because he’s a close friend of mine. I asked him because he knows his stuff, and I believe him to be the most qualified man in the country to fill that role.

  “I took him aside the other day and asked what he thought about this whole situation. Do you know what he told me, Hannah?”

  “Um… no, sir.”

  “He told me I was bat-shit crazy. And I’m not paraphrasing here. Those were his exact words.

  “Now bear in mind that I have the rank and authority to take one of those three shiny little stars away from him for insubordination. But I let it slide because he knows his stuff. And also because he’s probably the only man in my Air Force I’d let say that to me.

  “I also talked to another friend of mine, retired Judge Advocate Billy Adams. Billy retired just before the first freeze and is kicking back in Tampa now. I had to talk to him via the radio.

  “I told him what General Stephens said and he agreed with it. He said John nailed it right on the head. That I really am bat-shit crazy.

  “So there we have it. The opinions of my conduct from the two people in the world I admire most on matters of jurisprudence m
atched exactly.

  “But two do not make a consensus. I had to get a third opinion.

  “You gave me that third opinion. And although you’re too polite and ladylike to say the words, I got the sense you agreed with John and Billy. Did you not?”

  Hannah hesitated, wanting to come clean but certainly not wanting to offend him either.

  He let her off the hook.

  “You don’t have to answer, dear. I can see it in your eyes.”

  He turned his attention to Captain Wright.

  “David, I know you’ve put a lot of work into this case.

  “I know it’s kept you up at night and I know you’ve been burning the midnight oil. I know that long before they blocked the gates and you had to move into your office that you were working long into the night several nights a week.

  “I know because I have spies everywhere. It’s one of the perks of being a general.”

  “Yes sir.”

  “David I’m a hard case. I know that. I normally consider it my best virtue. It sometimes fails me, but not very often.

  “Most people don’t believe I have a compassionate side, but I do. Thank God it only rears its ugly head occasionally, lest I get the reputation I’ve turned into a softie.

  “Every once in a while, though, I get the urge to do something nice for someone who’s deserving.

  “And I’ve decided that you of all people are deserving. So I’m going to do something you’ve been wanting me to do since that night my bunker was breached.

  “I want you to take Hannah to the brig. I want you to meet with Colonel Medley. And I want you to tell him he’s a free man.”

  -47-

  Generals are verbose by nature and love to hear themselves talk. Many, like Lester Mannix, especially loved talking about himself.

  He continued, “I want you to understand something about me, Hannah. I have a hard time admitting it, but I’m as flawed as everybody else.

  “You may have noticed that Captain Krebbs was not invited to attend this morning’s session. You probably assumed she just had some other duties to perform. That’s not the case at all.