“Well, Ares, you already tried parricide but as you learned,” Mal said, “I am just better at this than you, period.”
“Oh, are you really now?”
David began to reach for his pistol as Mall fell backwards and out the window as he attached his clip to the window sill and rappelled down the three stories, he had until he hit the ground. Mal heard an audible BANG, as David’s firearm went off. Mal’s line broke and he fell to a crashed car, denting the roof in the car and cracking the windshield. David’s head popped out of the window as Mal, saw his pistol on the ground while trying to blink the cobwebs out of his eyes.
“Pretty legendary level good move there but, still going to die old man.” David said as he trained his pistol on Mal but as he did, sniper fire hit the window sill, “Jace! You fuckin’ bitch!”
David raised his pistol to return fire on Jace, even though there was no chance he could hit her from that distance but there was a moment of hesitation, like the David that Mal and his wife raised was still in there.
Something isn’t quite right there, Mal thought
David’s moment of reasoning gave Mal the opportunity to roll underneath the overhang as the QRF team meets him and the female fire-team leader handed his XM-24 to him.
“You broken?” She asked with genuine concern in her tone.
“I am fine,” Mal said as he pulled off the Adaptive Camo suit and throws the helmet to the side and racked back the XM-24 while motioning to the QRF fire-team.
Mal pressed the exploding round into the launcher. Like he used to have to do with Grenade launchers when he just used an M-4 like most people used on the ground these days, the XM-24’s rounds were a big upgrade. Mal turned and ran down the side of the building in a roadie run to keep him out of the line of fire as the rest of the QRF team followed him as the clap of gunfire sounded.
“We have engaged,” Tye said as Mal ran to the opposite side of the building, “We have some senior leadership running to the hole in the sewer, permission to engage the hole? We can seal it up with an RPG?”
“I got it,” Mal said as he stopped at the other side of the building and lined up the open shot at the hole. All of their soldiers had ran to the side that Tye had engaged at.
Mal lined up the shot to the sewers and was about to pull the trigger as Quinn’s mug crossed his line of sight.
That’s perfect. Kill him, The voice of The Wolf said in Mal’s mind.
Mal breathed out and prepared to fire when David’s face crossed his line of sight he had a moment of pause, as his son lifted his rifle.
DO IT! Screamed The Wolf.
Looking at his father in the eye it felt like, Mal had all of the memories of the last eight years. Raising his rifle, Dave fired two shots into the wall around him and he disappeared into the hole. Mal fell back into cover then turned and fired. The Explosion was enough to drop the hole but the shrapnel from the exploding round was enough to cut four men down immediately and six more fell with Injuries
“Engage!” Mal screamed as the men in his QRF team advanced and fired on the remaining militia.
“DROP IT!” Tye screamed to the last man standing.
Mal started kicking guns away from the men, on the ground.
“What the fuck are you thinking?” Tye screamed at Mal.
“I didn’t have a clear shot,” Mal lied.
“No! You saw your kid and you decided to let them get away. Leaving every single person along this wall in fucking danger, Mal!”
Poking Tye in the chest, aggressively, Mal stood up to Tye.
“You don’t get to call me that name…You don’t know me like that.”
“Oh screw you! You are such a pretentious asshole who thinks he is more than he really is.”
Mal groaned because he knew he was in the wrong here. Mal made a personal decision to protect his child over protecting the city as a whole.
“I am sorry, Tye,” Mal said, “Maybe I shouldn’t be here.”
“Yeah, maybe you shouldn’t!” Tye screamed.
Mal walked away from Tye and out of the building. As men and women asked him what had happened, repetitively. Mal ignored them all like he hadn’t heard them and walked straight into the bar a block down the street.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Never ends
Mal walked up to the sign of the Bar, “Half Moon Saloon”.
Mal sat down at the barstool and waved for the bartender to come up. The woman walked up to him and she had a tight shirt on, a lot like Mal, she had to be in her late 40s.
“I don’t get a lot of BANS troops in here while on duty,” she said, “you must have a story.”
“Scotch, two ice cubes please.” Mal responded.
“Oh come on,” She said coyly, “give me something here. Guys like you are a dying breed. I am going to guess you were Active Duty military when this started out, a SEAL?”
Mal was gob-smacked that she could possibly have interpreted that from just him sitting down here.
“How?” Mal asked.
“It’s on your shirt tough guy,” she said, “I am Tara.”
Mal looked down at his t-shirt that read:
SEAL Team 7
Wolves Platoon
“Malcolm Daniels,” Mal said, “Most people call me, Mal.”
“Wait, THE Malcolm Daniels?” she asked.
“That’s my name,” Mal said.
Tara shuffled off to the back before grabbing a plaque, coming back to Mal. She grabbed a scotch bottle and two glasses.
“You know, I meet a lot of people in here Malcolm,” She said, “I don’t meet very many heroes. Heroes die in today’s world. You are one of the last ones.”
Mal looked at the plaque, reading it:
“With indescribable Valor, SO2 Malcolm Daniels protected a young woman and child from an assault from Al-Qaeda operatives. When Malcolm Daniel’s assault rifle ran out of bullets, he drew his sidearm. When his sidearm ran out of Bullets, he pulled out his knife. When his knife broke, he used his fists. For such courage under fire, SO2 Malcolm Daniels is awarded the Navy Cross for outstanding courage under fire.”
Mal smirked.
“My Grandpa owned this bar, ya know?
“I am sorry,” Tara said, “It was pretty rundown when I got here.”
“I didn’t mean it that way, “ Mal said as he sipped on the scotch, “I grew up in this place in a way. That’s why that is here. He served in Vietnam and he was the one person so incredibly happy for me to receive that but, what I received for it other than a silly medal was this.”
Mal pulled his shirt up to show a gunshot wound in his hip.
“That’s the only thing war gives you that matters, the only thing people care about, is pain,” Mal said, “One generation just wants to ensure the next generation deals with the pain as shitty of as they did.”
“So that’s your story?” She asked.
“I wish it was that simple,” Mal said as Jace and Tim walk in to the bar.
“Commander Carpenter, I am guessing you are here to see him?” Tara said motioning to Mal.
“I guess you could say that,” Tim said as the two surrounded him at the bar, “what happened?”
Mal sighed.
“Well, I had a shot and I didn’t take it,” Mal said.
“Because David was in the blast radius?” Tim asked with a knowing look.
Mal nodded to Tim. Tim was a father too, he had three children, Ava at fourteen, Carly at Twelve and Malcolm at eight. Yes named after this very same man, who saved his life more times than he could personally count. The powerful man who controlled the Monster inside of him to help people.
“Can’t tell someone to murder their children,” Jace said, “I can’t imagine what that was like.”
“It happened pretty quickly,” Mal said, “That second though…it felt like a lifetime.”
Tim put his arm around Mal.
“I understand, this is a pretty fucked up situation but I can’t do this without you
, Mal. You are such a critical piece that I am pretty sure it’s all over, without you.” Tim said.
Mal nodded his head with Tim.
“I get that but, this isn’t really as fucked up as it may seem,” Mal said, “This whole world has went through this whole circle before. Brothers killing brothers, fathers killing sons and the rest of the world just keeps moving along. No one cares. Not a single person, we are useful tools in a box to be used to fix a situation. With our blood or our pain.”
Mal slammed back the scotch.
“It’s this Circle of Death and pain, it just never ends,” Mal said, “Because no one cares enough to end it.”
Tim put some cash in his hands and raised it to Tara, “Booze, for all of us, whatever he is drinking.”
“Heroes drink for free,” Tara said with a smirk.
Mal annoyed at this notion turned his head.
“Lady, I am not a hero.” Mal said as he laid his heavy head down on the bar.
“Wins an award for Courage,” Tara stated sarcastically, “claims he isn’t a hero.”
“Look, I did something heroic but that doesn’t make me a hero. I killed fathers, sons and even a few daughters, I have taken far more from this planet than I have ever given,” Mal said then sipped the scotch, “I am many things, a hero isn’t one of them.”
“I think you are, I wonder if I asked that Afghani woman what she thought of you what she would say?” Tara asked
“Tough question to ask to a dead person.”
“What do you mean?”
Mal took a deep breath out, realizing this was going to be a hard sell.
“What do you understand about Afghanistan?”
“It’s a country,” She said, “they killed Russians and we didn’t rebuild their country so about twenty years later they dropped four planes on the east coast.”
“That’s historically accurate but, Afghanistan is a country of warlords,” Mal said, “Not in a bad way but, it’s passed from father to son or as now it is Parent to child.”
Tara nodded.
“This Kurdish warlord was a good ally to us, they were the type that the US barely funded but they were always coming with intelligence and troops,” Mal said, “they were basically a proxy for US troops in the location. Well, his daughter was pregnant and near the end of term with a boy when AQ sent a strike force of about twenty technicals in to take her out while she was in a small town outside of their complex. Our team was there to protect her.”
“So, you sacrificed yourself to save her, sounds heroic.”
“As the attack started, I tried to get her out of there as quickly as humanly possible, so I went to one of the old tunnels her dad had made decades before to fight the Russians. Unfortunately, AQ was prepared for this and collapsed the tunnel in front of us, so I set up to try and hold them off. As I did that, she went into labor splitting my force in half as I only had one Corpsman with me. As the baby came I began to run out of Ammunition, so yes I went to my knife. There was only two of them left, my knife got stuck in one, so I left it in the last guy and ran forward: Charging as he raised his pistol and fired it into my hip. I picked up the soldier and slammed him on his stomach, then snapped his neck.”
“That’s pretty fuckin’ heroic,” She said, “what’s your point?”
“My point is that I took the hoods off of those people, they were all kids. Couldn’t have been older than eighteen years old at best,” Malcolm said, “I killed a bunch of kids. So then I took a look behind me and noticed the corpsman had delivered the baby but the Bullet that had exited me, hit the woman right in between her eyes. This whole thing talking about what a hero I am, it’s all based off of me failing and people not mentioning it.”
Tara nodded her head along but then squeezed Mal’s hand.
“Malcolm Daniels, a hero doesn’t decide they are a hero, the people who look to them do and by the looks of it, you have quite a few who need you,” Tara said looking at Jace and Tim, “this world is dying because we don’t have anymore heroes.”
“Tara, this world doesn’t need a hero, it needs a professional. At least before the war, these morons would just dress up like they were war-fighters, now they fully intend on attempting to Live Action Role-Play all over the country.”
Tim turned to Mal before placing his hand on his should.
“Man, if I knew exactly how philosophical you get when you are drunk, I would have gotten you drunk back in Coronado and I was in that dumb philosophy night class. You would have saved me some fucking time.”
Mal chuckled and realized there was just enough in there for a traditional SO toast, he stood up.
“Here’s a toast: To those of us, those like us and those who wish to be us. Damn few.”
“DAMN FEW!” Tim and Jace said as they threw back what was left of the scotch.
Mal waved off Tara who was about to ask if he wanted another.
“Got to get back to work,” Mal said, “there’s men out there who want to die for their cause, I have to oblige them.”
Mal got back to his feet and looked at a picture still on the wall. It was his Grandfather from Korea.
Protect those who can’t protect themselves, that was our job, Mal thought back to his Grandfather talking about his time in Vietnam.
CHAPTER NINE
Reliable information
Wallis was running up the stairs and losing her breath quickly. The Courthouse in Mount Vernon that had been remade into BANS HQ wasn’t just a regular building, it was an old and pretty tall building which meant it had no elevator and the stairs were steep. The walk from the operations section of the courthouse up to Commander Carpenter’s office was five floors of stairs. She bent over before the last two sets of stairs to catch her breath. Since it was the middle of the day, the building was also crawling with people who were filing reports or there to use it for it’s original use: as a place that the law was practiced.
“We need an elevator.” Wallis said as she bent over at the bottom of the last two sets of stairs.
Wallis looked up when a hand touched her on her right shoulder.
“Everything okay?” Mal asked with a concerned look spread across his face.
“I know who Raynor Davis is and why the Reds want them.” Wallis said.
Mal turned around to a group of men walking down the stairs.
“Make a hole! Shit! Make way,” Mal said as he pushed through the operators who had just been in Tim’s briefings.
Mal had remembered that you aren’t supposed to say “Make a hole”, with females around because, well the connotations aren’t great. They reached the top floor and Mal saw that Tim’s assistant was in the doorway, blocking their progress.
“Move or die,” Mal said as he barreled into the office.
The young man chose to move, Wallis stopped at the doorway and caught her breath, squeezing the aerosol container for her Asthma into her mouth. Tim looked at Mal as he raised his eyebrows, Tim had just realized she had Asthma
“Take a second,” Mal said.
“Raynor Davis isn’t a real name in our database so I cross referenced it with anything related to Crane Naval Station,” Wallis said, “turns out it wasn’t an actual name. It’s a pseudonym for a DARPPA researcher who created a device that could disperse a vaccine over a mile and a half stretch in aerosol form.”
Mal, Tim and Jace eyes met.
“Fuck.” they said in unison.
“What’s this guy’s name?” Mal asked
“Dana Raynor, SHE lives in Evansville,” Wallis said, “Why are you guys concerned?”
“Chemical weapons,” Mal said, “They aren’t very effective for wiping out population centers without air support and even when they are used in the air it’s hard to target, but if you have something like you are describing…you could wipe out any city on the planet with two guys.”
“Where is it located?” Tim asked.
“Same place you assumed they were going,” Wallis said, “Crane Naval Stati
on.”
“VX?” Jace asked.
“Could be one of hundreds of different types of craziness they have there,” Mal said, “Wallis do you have the list of what’s there?”
“Big list but I will draw it up.”
Mal nodded and got up from the couch.
“I am going with Jace to Evansville right now.” Mal stated.
Jace hopped up.
“What do you think I should do?” Tim asked.
“Nothing, play the part of someone who has no idea what is going on. You do that well.”
Mal and Jace walk out the office as Mal realizes exactly how Quinn intended to step over his corpse.
Good luck asshole, Mal mouthed to himself.
LATER THAT DAY
“So, I am surprised you didn’t call the cavalry to get her back to Mount Vernon,” Jace stated.
“We are going to disappear into the crowd.”
Mal was right, the Reds couldn’t stay out in society long enough to search for them, so running would be important.
“So that’s why we are in a Dodge Challenger?”
The two were in the souped up 2041 Dodge Sports car, it sold for almost a hundred thousand dollars because it was known for being able to outrun pretty much anything.
“Yep, this thing can outrun anything I can think of,” Mal said as they pulled up into a subdivision on the north side of Evansville, “she has a daughter so we have to get the two of them into a safe place quickly.”
“Where are we going to put them?”
That was a good question, Mal had this feeling that someone inside BANS was feeding information to the Reds so they couldn’t take her back there Mal touched his ear piece to turn it on.
“Hey Tim, you remember that place that we used to hang out in when we first came here?”
“Yes,” Tim said, “ Why?”
“Operation Mockingjay concludes there,” Mal said.
“Check rog,” Tim said.
Mal knew everything that has fallen the way of the Sons couldn’t have been an accident. He wasn’t leaving anything to chance.
“Don’t you think we should be locked up there? We can let the Reds into Crane as well.”
Monsters Page 8
