Mal crawls over to a mirror on the next car and breaks it off, shining it back to check the position of the sniper. He sees him holding a modified Dragunov Sniper Rifle on a deck next to a BBQ grill. The sniper shoots the mirror out of Mal’s hands.
“Ow, Dragunov SV1, how many in the clip?” Mal asked Jace.
“Five,”She said.
So that’s three.
Mal took off his hat and tossed it to Jace, she pulled out her collapsible baton and extended it placing his hat on top of it. Mal stood next to the opposite side of the car and waited for Jace to be ready. She nodded back to Mal.
“Execute,” Mal said as Jace pushed the cap up on the baton.
BANG! BANG!
The sniper shot twice and Mal could hear the clip hit the ground. No sniper would be fast enough of a reloader at this range. Mal let his body cross into his scope and squeezed the trigger as the bullets riddled the snipers body.
“Nice shot,” Jace said, “unfortunately your hat is ruined.”
“Oh no, not the blank black hat, how will I mourn it’s passing?” Mal sarcastically asked.
“That’s okay, everyone in, “ Mal said as he sat in the passengers side, “Dana, if you wouldn’t mind driving. Just in case, we get into trouble we can fight them off.”
Dana hopped in the challenger’s front driver seat and Mal smiled at her. Her face was like a bagel that was spread heavy with concern.
“No problems, you really think this is the toughest exfil I have ever done?”
“No, I get the feeling you are kinda good at your job,” Dana said, “damn shame you don’t have a country to defend anymore.”
The tires spun as they started driving. Mal spun his head and saw Dana’s daughter sitting very quietly in the back seat, staring at Jace.
“I promise, Jace doesn’t bite. Well, actually you did bite me once,” Mal said jokingly.
“Hey, you deserved that!” Jace said as Dana laughed.
“What do you like Lisa?” Mal asked.
“Music, Basketball and stuff,” Jessica said.
“Don’t ask Mal’s taste in music,” Jace said, “it’s bad.”
“I still contend that Nickelback isn’t that bad,” Mal said.
“Mal!” Dana said as he turned around.
BANS troops blocked off the street ahead, over twenty people with guns and one woman with auburn hair. A loudspeaker in her hands.
“GET OUT OF THE CAR! WITH YOUR HANDS UP!
“Jace, stay here with them,” Mal said, “if anyone tries to take them you know what to do.”
Mal stepped out of the car as about twelve guns were traced onto him.
“Ladies, Gentlemen and everything in between, what happens to be the problem here?” Mal asked as a female officer approached him from the barricade.
“The problem is you just shot up a neighborhood,” She said.
“I am here on orders from regional command in Mount Vernon, to take these people back to regional,” Mal said.
“Great, she can stay in our custody,” She said.
“That’s not my orders,” Mal said, “and let’s just cut through the bullshit and let’s talk about the scenarios here okay?”
“Sure, Old guy I have never seen before,” She said, “Go ahead.”
“Well, Scenario A. You try to forcefully take them from my car and there are too many of you for us to kill all of you. You probably get all of us but I most definitely kill you, and him,” Mal said pointing at a man with a mustache in the crowd of faces, “I always kill the mustaches first. Scenario B: you guys drive separately to Mount Vernon where you talk to command and give us a good distraction. There’s C. You piss me off, I just go ahead and kill as many of you as I can, then the lady is going to drive over our corpses. I am good with all of them, ladies choice.”
“B, I choose B,” She said with a look of pure fear.
It was obvious to anyone with half a brain that she wasn’t a seasoned officer, just the person in charge they decided to send out. Almost flinching as Mal patted her on the head.
“Good choice!” Mal said as he spun around and walked back to the car.
“We will take Diamond,” Mal said, “you take the Lloyd Expressway. Just so you know, you have a Sons infestation and...”
Mal pulled out his radio and a note pad hearing the meters distance from their location before pulling out a map. The way the tag worked was using three different Cell phone towers and pinging off the distance from the cell towers. If you got all three of those numbers, using a map, you could figure out where your enemy was. It would never work on someone like Mal but on a more junior or inexperienced person, it would work once.
“About here,” Mal said as he circled the Ford center, a stadium in Downtown Evansville, “I tagged one of their guys on his way out of here. It stopped changing distances a minute ago, they probably took off their clothes.”
The officer went to her radio on her tactical vest but Mal stopped her before she could press the button to talk.
“Don’t,” Mal said, “I have a sneaking suspicion they have gotten into your Communications or they have people on the inside.”
“What should I tell them? I can’t exactly just run off to regional command without a reason,” she said.
Mal got on his radio back to Tim.
“Hey Tim,” Mal said, “I need you to call Evansville command on a secure line and tell them we are borrowing their unit as an escort force.”
“Why?” Tim asked.
“Because I am looking at them and they didn’t seem super stoked about a firefight so close to them that they weren’t invited to.”
“Okay,” Tim said begrudgingly, “Tell them it was invitation only.”
Mal knew he would be getting a talking to because Tim wanted to communicate with them but the reality was: the only reason she and her child were alive was because those two had went in alone. Mal started walking back to the car and got back into the car opening the door to the passenger side asking Jace to drive and motioning Dana to move to the rear passenger door.
“Why didn’t you just call them, Mal?” Tim asked.
“I don’t think we would have been that clean with that many bodies, they would have muddied this whole fucking operation up with their amateur shit,” Mal said, “If I had brought them in the loop, they would have used Detonation chord on the ceiling and taken them out. Every Son in the area would be here, but I just killed the ones they sent me to kill. It was surgical, not an amputation.”
“Just what I wanted to hear,” Tim said while chuckling, “That’s good with me.”
Mal looked over at Dana and Lisa. They looked scared, that the idea that they were still free because Mal and Jace were surgical.
“Okay guys,” Mal said, “We are going towards New Harmony, turn right onto Diamond and run it till we get to the loop around town. We will hit the Yellow Tavern there, anybody hungry?”
Lisa nodded her head.
“Cool, we can rustle up some grub there,” Mal said.
CHAPTER TEN
Fast and Furious
“Why do you seem to know someone at every place in this county?” Jace asked.
“I don’t know if you know but my family was so heavily ingrained in this county and state that when my Grandpa died, the Governor put the flags at half staff,” Mal said.
“Holy shit,” Jace said before grabbing her mouth like something bad came out on accident, “Sorry.”
She handed out the Grilled pork tenderloins they bought at the Yellow Tavern.
“Here’s my childhood on a bun,” Mal said taking a big bite as the Barbecue sauce local to Southern Indiana called Uncle Bob’s ran down his chin.
“I am going to drive and eat,” Dana said looking at the nice car and around with apprehension, “is that okay?” Dana asked.
“Fuckin’ duh,” Mal said with a mouth full of Grilled Tenderloin.
They pulled away from the restaurant’s sidewalk and Mal realized that he had just cursed in front
of a teenager.
“Don’t worry,” Dana said, “she’s heard worst from my ex-husband.”
“Single?” Mal asked.
“And?” Dana asked.
“Just wondering,” Mal said.
Jace snickered from the back seat.
“That’s Mal for, ‘Want to go out sometime?’” Jace asked.
Dana seemed embarrassed in that.
“I am not really into guys anymore,” Dana said.
“I wasn’t really asking you out,” Mal said, “I was just asking.”
Mal shook his head back at Jace.
“Single?” Jace asked from the back of the car and the three of them laughed.
Mal finished his sandwich and looked in the rear view mirror and saw a truck with three men ine the back of it.
“Jace,” Mal warned, “get her down. Three men possible tangos approaching from the rear in a technical. Dana keep driving until you see a sign that says ‘Harmonie State park’, turn right onto the road.”
Mal opened the window.
“What are you doing?” Lisa asked.
“Little stuffy in here, I am going to open a window.”
Mal pushed his body up and out of the window with his rifle. Mal was waiting for some sign of aggression but he wasn’t seeing anything thus far. Three guys in a truck isn’t an aggressive action.Three guys drove by with guns but they weren’t assault rifles.
“Hunters,” Mal said after he slipped back into the car and put down the window.
Mal took a deep breath out.
“Well, that was fun,” Mal joked.
They turned down Harmonie State Park road. As they got closer to the gate. Mal handed sunglasses and a hat to Dana, who understood what he wanted her to do. She slipped on the hat and sunglasses, as we pull up. The first person we see looks familiar.
“Tye,” Mal said, “I am so-”
Tye waved him off.
“No, I am sorry, I hadn’t thought about how that would make you feel.” Tye responded, “He said you knew where it would be.”
“Drive straight ahead one mile,” Mal said, “There’s a road to the right, take it.”
They drove down the dilapidated road of the state park until they got to a road that wasn’t visible at first, until a door slid back.
“Where are we going here?” Dana asked.
“A place that only five living people know exists,” Mal said, “Luckily, one of those isn’t my son, the guy who is trying to find you.”
We drove down to the end of the road to a log cabin with a line underground to Solar Panels a mile away.
“Why all the way out here?” Dana asked.
“It’s a self sustaining place, hidden in the forest, with solar panels that power it, cells that could go a week without sunlight and completely surrounded but an electric fence completely covered by the tree line,” Mal said.
“Our invisible fortress.” Jace said.
“We will bring you guys food and if you are nice,” Mal said, “I won’t bring you any I make.”
“It’s awful,” Jace retorted.
Tim walked up on the four of them in the car.
“Mal’s the hunter, not the cook,” Tim joked, “Anything you guys need from your house? I will send the Evansville troops to pick up anything you need and run it out here myself. You will have a guard 24/7 365 and these two bad asses are less than five minutes away in case of emergency.”
“These two bad asses are the only reason my daughter and I are alive, so if you want to give them shit,” Dana said, “you get to go through me first.”
“No disagreements here, Ma’am I just needed Mal to give me the reasons, so I could give to Evansville of why they were kept out of the loop. He has always been the man with the excuses.”
Lisa got out of the car and looked around.
“Great, I always wanted to go to jail,”Lisa said.
“Just temporary till we get this situation handled,” Mal said.
“How do you handle these people?’ Lisa asked.
“You remember what happened to the men who came to your house?” Mal asked.
“Yes,” Jessica said, “You killed them all.”
Congrats, Mal. You have contaminated a fourteen-year old kid, Mal thought.
“That’s how I plan to handle them,” Mal said.
Mal walked back to the Challenger with Jace and Tim in tow.
“You must have intelligence on where they operate from?” Mal asked.
“Pretty sure they have a camp somewhere outside of Henderson, at the national guard station.” Tim said.
“I need a way to get there,” Mal said.
“Why?” Tim asked.
I haven’t prepared adequately for this conversation, he wasn’t going to like the answer but the answer was what it needed to be.
“If we are going to find the details of their plans, we have to go there.” Mal asked.
“We also need to figure out what the endgame is here,” Jace said, “what are the signs of the attack is as important as what it is.”
“Well, there’s only one way over there,” Tim said, “You are going to have to talk to Evansville. They have an Osprey.”
“Great,” Mal said, “You can just tell them to loan it to us right?”
Tim shook his head.
“Even though I am in charge of the region, I don’t have that type of power. They want something in return,” Tim said.
“Help them with their Sons problem,” Mal retorted.
Tim nodded and Mal got in the car.
“We are on our way,” Mal said, “I am taking Tye though.”
Tim gave him a thumbs up.
LATER THAT DAY
Mal walked up the steps of the command center in their Headquarters in the Evansville Police department. Mal, Jace and Tye walked until they saw a sign that says Operations on it, walking inside the door. Thirty men with weapons and a divisional leader are sitting in the conference room. The large men wore full body armor, head to toe with mini-guns with them.
I know they are wearing this because they think it’s effective but to anyone who has actually hooked and jabbed for a living, they look like a Call of Duty villain and there’s only one Call of Duty villain you can take seriously, Mal thought.
“Makarov,” Mal said in a British accent before looking at Jace like he had just done something embarrassing.
“Is everything still located upstairs, Social Security investor?” Jace jokingly.
Mal nodded.
“I would just like to point out,” Mal stated, “I invested a whole bunch in Social Security and I am not going to get shit out of it. That’s what I get for being a Millennial. Fuckin’ Boomers finally screwed it up.”
Jace slanted a smile at Mal.
“I get the distinct feeling we are under-dressed here,” Tye said.
The heavy plate armor that most were wearing looking protective but, Mal knew better
“I prefer to be able to move,” Mal said, “Body armor isn’t 100 percent effective. I would rather miss bullets than catch them.”
“Agreed,” Jace said.
Mal stood up on a table, whistling loudly.
“Who is in charge? Raise your hand.”
The largest guy with armor on raises his hand, he takes his helmet off and he has a large scar down the middle of his face like it was sewn back together.
“Malcolm Daniels,” Mal said with his hand outstretched, “This is Jace and Tye. They are part of my team. Have we made a plan here or what?”
“Trevor Jenkins, it’s not exactly scientific. Go in and take them out.” Trevor said.
“That’s not a plan,” Mal said, “This is real life. We can’t just run in and bust their ass. We need to hit them in a kill zone.”
“Oh yeah? Please tell me all your combat experience you have over me?” Trevor asked.
“I am a Navy SEAL who was deployed over one hundred times, has eighteen different combat action ribbons, a Navy Cross and a Silver Star
. What about you?”
Trevor looked like god himself had walked through the door and Mal understand why he felt that way.
This kid has probably been running this team for a few years and the only training he has received is from the person he took it over from, Mal thought, and if he took it over from someone else, that means he was a clear upgrade. Trevor is looking at the one person in the county that isn’t a high-level officer in BANS that could train him in all of these things that seemingly every single troop in BANS is missing: Training that isn’t “Let’s shoot at targets for thirty minutes”.
“Sorry,” Trevor said, “not a lot of people with your skill set anymore.”
“It’s okay, just show me the architecture of the Ford Center.”
Trevor walked him over to large table with plans on it, Mal took a look at the large entertainment complex that used to double as a stadium for Basketball and Hockey games. Mal looked over to see Trevor, gigantic man that he is, trying to explain why they don’t have much choice to do anything except go in on the ground.
The Basement entrances aren’t going to work, the Sons love their explosives and with it’s location they couldn’t defend any of them adequately. I am sure that since there’s only one way in and out of the basement that they didn’t bother rigging the original doors with explosives but rigged the entrance into the concourse.
Mal marked out the basement entrances.
“Hey! Earth to SEAL,” Trevor interjected as Mal snapped out of his investigative trance.
Jace grimaced at Trevor.
“Just be quiet for a second, that’s his process,” Jace said, “he’s going to stand here and not say anything for a few minutes but when he comes out of it, he will have a plan for you. Just shut up and watch, maybe you can learn something.”
Mal took a relaxing breath back in, closing his eyes and breathing out.
With no Basement entrance and the bridge across from the parking structure being blow, I understand why Trevor thought about going in guns blazing. There are not many options for the untrained and non-adept but, I am trained and I am adept.
Mal walked straight over to the computer screen showing a three dimensional breakdown of the Ford center and the surrounding building, as Trevor and Jace followed behind him like two dogs hoping for a treat. Trevor was so focused Mal’s right hand as he jotted on the map. To the average person the right hand would be th thing to watch but Mal’s left hand had an almost tempo on his left hand, he used that clicker like a set of drums sometimes.
Monsters Page 10
