Obstacles

by David Wilson

  Talon stood there a moment then spoke softly, “Guys I don’t want to do this, but we do not have time to mess around, and I need some answers, truthful answers, and judging from your conversation earlier I’m not going to feel really sorry for either of you. So this is how this is going to work. I’m going to ask a series of questions of one of you and then the other, if the answers do not match then, it’s going to get really painful fast for the both of you. The ropes around your necks are connected to each other, so if one of you passes out or panics or even just relaxes, then it chokes the other one. It won’t be fast, but unless you can break 5/50, you will choke. This part is important, so pay attention. The guy lying on the floor has a length of 5/50 around his feet, which is connected to the neck of the guy in the chair. So the floor guy is going to have to maintain a leg lift so as not to choke the guy in the chair. Sure hope the guy on the floor is in good shape as I have several questions. So is everyone ready? I’ll take the shaking of your heads that you are, so let’s get started.”

  Ben bent over and put the shooting muffs on the man under the desk. He struggled at first, but a quick yank on the cord around his neck changed his mind, and he allowed Ben to get the muffs in place. After getting the muffs in place, Talon nodded, and Ben turned and went over to the stairwell to stand watch to make sure no one could sneak up on them.

  Talon looped the noose with a slip knot around the man’s neck, sitting in the chair. Up to that point, Talon had been maintaining pressure on the cord, but when he released it, the only thing keeping the rope from choking the man was for the man on the floor to keep his legs about 18 inches off the floor. Talon reached up and pulled the tape off the eyes of the man in the chair. The man glared at Talon with unconcealed fury and hate. Talon just returned his stare and waited until the man on the floor started to tire, and his legs drooped and pulled the rope taut. The man in the chair eyes flew wide, and he began to struggle in his chair, of course, this jerked on the rope around the other man’s neck. Talon allowed this to go on for a few seconds before he reached up and pulled some slack into the 5/50 cord around the neck of the man in the chair. This caused the man in the chair to stop struggling and relaxed the cord around the neck of the guy on the floor.

  “So now you both see how this works, if the guy on the floor does his job, no one gets straggled,” he said, still looking straight into the man’s eyes. Do you understand, nod your head if you do,” said Talon.

  The man nodded with vigor, his eyes wide now, the hate being replaced now with fear.

  “What is your mission on the overpass,” asked Talon, reaching out and pulling the tape off the guy’s mouth.

  “I just do what they tell me to…” the guy gasps as Talon released the tension of the cord. The guy on the floor attempted to hold his legs up and did for about twenty seconds, Talon just sat there and stared into the man’s eyes as he began to panic as he felt the tension come back on the line, then tighten to the point where he was having trouble breathing. “Ok, OK,” he gasped. Talon once again reached out and took up the weight. “Ok,” gasped the man, “We were put under DHS when the President declared martial law. Our mission is to collect people during the day to send to the FEMA camp. At night we just stay around this overpass and grab up anyone that is out roaming around. It is too dangerous to try and round up people at night.”

  “Where is this FEMA camp,” asked Talon.

  The man came back immediately, “The camp is over at the football stadium on George Mason.”

  “Why is everyone being rounded up?” asked Talon.

  “We were told that big crowds of people were out of control as they moved west away from the fires and they were getting shot or shooting other people to get food and water. Once they are in the camps, we can control them,” said the man.

  “What is the plan to do with them?” asked Talon.

  “I do not know, hey, I’m only a Sergeant, they don’t tell us shit, those bastards in DHS are in charge,” the man said bitterly.

  “What other units are working in this area, and where are they set up?” asked Talon.

  The man's eyes looked over Talon’s head before he began, but Talon beat him to the punch and just let go of the line. The line snapped taut instantly, and the man started to choke, his partner on the floor jerked his legs up, but he only lasted a few seconds before the line pulled tight again and the man in the chair began to choke in earnest. Talon just sat there for a slow count to ten, before grabbing the line again.

  “Last chance, do not try and lie to me, I can spot that a mile away, but the next time you do lie to me, I’m going to get up and go take a piss, it will be over by the time I get back, and I’ll take my chances with getting my answers out of your friend,” growled Talon, never looking away from the man eyes.

  Over the next thirty minutes, Talon interrogated the sergeant about the military and law enforcement actions in and around Fairfax County. Talon spent most of his time questioning what lay west of their present position, giving every indication that was the direction they were traveling. After Talon was satisfied with the information, they took the two men and zip-tied their hand behind their backs and then duct-taped them together, sitting back to back. Taking the tape off their eyes, Talon made a production out of pulling a hand grenade out of his pouch, straightening the pin, and then duct taping the grenade to a nearby desk. He then tied a length of 5/50 to the pull pin on the grenade, running the other end back to the two men and looping the end of the cord around their bodies and pulling the cord taut. Snapping his fingers to make sure he had the tied up men's undivided attention, he said, “I’m going to put the tape back on over your eyes, and then I’m going to set this other grenade over here on this side. That way, if you guys try and move around, you will pull one or the other of the pins. That would be a terrible idea. Just sit still until your relief gets here at 0600. I know it is going to be a little bit embarrassing, but you will be alive, which you won’t be if you struggle and try and escape. Do you both understand? Good. We will be leaving in just a couple of minutes, so don’t do anything stupid.”

  Double checking that both men had their eyes completely covered, Talon removed two large rubber bands from his first aid kit. Removing the hand grenade from the first desk, Talon attached the rubber band to a desk drawer handle and then the 5/50 cord to the rubber band. Moving quickly to the other side of the men, he duplicated the setup with the last rubber band. Lastly, he walked back to the tied up men and warned them once again about moving. After informing them that there was little to no slack in either of the cords to the hand grenades, Talon turned to Ben and nodded.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Getting back to horses as quickly as they could, Talon and Ben gathered their gear and cinched down the saddles on all the horses. After they had everything ready to go, Talon could tell from Ben’s body language that he wanted to ask something. Not wanting him to be distracted with anything, once they were set to go, Talon walked over to Ben and stated, “You did a good job in there tonight. I know you have some questions, but unless it has to do with our safety, they need to wait. We might not have any time at all before those men are discovered, or we might have three hours. We really need to get on the road and get around this by-pass as quick as we can. We don’t want to mix it up with these guys if we don’t have to.”

  Ben thought for a couple seconds, “No I’m good, I do have a bunch of questions, but they are about how you did things back there and can wait until we have time to sit down and talk. So let’s get out of here.”

  Talon smiled, then handed Ben two more hand grenades, “They each had two more of these, and I figured we might need them more than they would. But you are right, let’s get out of here before they find those two.”

  Leading the horses back out of the underground, they turned back north on a side street until they came to a major road leading east. Mounting up, Talon kicked the big horse into a trot. The pair rode that way for about twenty minutes before Talon pull
ed the horses to a walk and turned them onto a smaller road heading south.

  Walking the horses for about 200 yards, they came to a small bridge crossing a creek that was no more than five feet across. Turning off the road after they crossed the small bridge, they dismounted and let the horses drink. Pulling out his map, Talon studied it for several seconds, then refolded the map and put it away. “If I’m correct, we should have traveled far enough east to put a small hill in between us and the overpass back there. I’m just hoping this overpass we are coming up on doesn’t have any troops on it. Once we cross under the toll road, we should come to a road I know that will take us straight into Fairfax and bring us out almost on top of Diane’s apartment complex. It’s almost 0330, but we should be able to make her complex before first light. Just so you know, this road is curvy two lanes and should be downhill most of the way. The neighborhoods are made up of really expensive homes set on two or three-acre lots, but they are not part of a complex, just individual homes. I’m hoping they have not gotten together and organized some sort of security and closed down the route. Any questions?”

  Ben only nodded his understanding, then asked, “So if we get there at first light, are we going to make contact with her today or wait until tonight?”

  Talon grimaced, “We will make that decision when we see what the neighborhood looks like. Plus, we need to move as soon as we can, as those guys back there at the overpass are sweeping neighborhoods and removing all the people to FEMA camps. And yes I know what your next question is going to be and my answer is I don’t know. If they have already been swept up and moved to the campus, we might try the letter Jake gave us, but we will have to make that call once we get there. You ready to do some more riding?”

  Ben laughed, “I’m as ready as you are.”

  Mounting up, they turned the horses south again. They came to the underpass after just a few minutes, and just as the sergeant had told them there were no soldiers. Talon kicked the horses back up into a trot, trying to stay on the grass as much as he could. As they travel south, Talon watched the houses closely for any sign of life. These homes had not been burned, and he figured that was part of the plan also. Most of these homes, no not homes, estates would run in the two to four million dollar range, and Talon figured someone or groups of people still in power had plans for these. Talon was tempted to stop and examine a few of the bigger estates, but he reminded himself to concentrate on the mission. They made good time, and it wasn’t long before they begin to catch glimpses of tall city structures off in the distance when the road ran south. The only reason they could make out the structures in the dark was due to the fires. Consulting the map, Talon figured what they saw on the horizon was the Tyson Corner area, and it all appeared to be on fire. Talon could see from the smoke that a westerly wind had picked up and was blowing most of the smoke east. That was good as there weren’t many things more deadly than smoke from modern structures.

  It was almost 0500 before they came to the junction of 238. Talon informed Ben that they were only about five miles from Diane’s apartment complex, but that from here on in, they would be in built-up areas and to keep a sharp eye out. Talon had him put away his DP-12 and to get his AR-10 out. Any shooting they would be doing in this area would more than likely be dealing with snipers at ranges unsuitable for the shotgun.

  Talon pulled to a stop and checked his map before he stepped from his saddle and led his horses across the yard of a burned-out house. Judging from the size of the yard and from what was left of the house, it had been a really nice house before some idiot had set it on fire. Only the roof and most of the second floor had actually burned. Talon checked the side gate and found it locked. Talon handed his reins to Ben and, without a word, walked back around the corner of the structure and disappeared from sight. In less than a minute, Ben heard Talon on the other side of the fence gate. Ben heard a latch being withdrawn and watched as the gate was swung wide. Talon stepped out and took the reins back from Ben and walked his two horses through the gate. Ben took one more look around, and seeing nothing, he swung down and walked his two horses into the backyard. Dropping the reins, he turned and re-latched the gate from the inside. Reminding himself to do something about the latch before they left as the latch was a straight pull/push latch that most horses given enough time will figure out.

  Picking up his reins, he led the horses around the corner of the house and onto the patio next to Talon’s horses. Ben immediately followed Talon’s example and began stripping off all of the horses' tack and carrying it inside the partially burned-out house. Standing his saddle up on end so it could get some air, he spread the horse blanket and pad over the back of a couple of chairs. The house appeared to still be in good shape, minus the burned-out second story. After Ben finished with his horse’s gear, Ben looked around for Talon.

  Hearing a noise coming from the other side of the privacy fence, Ben began to raise his AR-10 towards the noise, when a kid’s plastic pool came flying over the fence. Ben lowered his rifle and walked over and dragged the kid’s pool over to a level spot by the patio. Ben had spotted the hose reel on his way in and walked to the other side of the house and pulled the hose off the reel. He first tried and failed to get any water to come out of the water spigot on the side of the house, but he had figured that and unscrewed the water hose from the spigot. Dragging the hose back to the patio door, he pulled about half the hose into the kitchen before dropping the hose as he went in search of the downstairs hot water heater. Finding the laundry room off the kitchen, he found the 40-gallon hot water heater in a closet set in the laundry room. Returning to the kitchen, Ben grabbed the hose and dragged it to the hot water heater and screwed the hose to the drain spigot at the bottom of the heater's tank. Returning outside, he laid the end of the hose into the kid’s pool and used a nearby gnome to weigh hold down the end of the hose. Returning to the laundry room one more time and opened the valve to its full-on position. Walking back outside, he saw the horses were already gathered around the pool as a steady stream of clean water flowed into the pool.

  Talon came through the gate on the other side of the house and walked up to the patio. He raised an eyebrow and gave a grin, “You know good help is hard to find these days, good job and thanks again for using your brain without having to be told what to do, I’m going to double-check the fence real quick and make sure there is no way these guys can get out of this yard.”

  Ben went back inside and pulled out one of the twenty-pound bags of mixed oats. Taking it outside, he made four small piles and got the horses started on their own pile before going back and adding to each pile, making sure the big Belgian got a little more than the rest. It only took each of them a few minutes to chow down the oats, but with water and the grass in the backyard, they would be fine, even if it took them a couple of days to find Diane.

  Talon was back in a couple of minutes and proclaimed the fence solid. He next sent Ben back into the house to find a couple of wire clothes hangers to secure the gates from the inside and to keep any of the horses from unlatching the gates. Ben was back out and handed Talon one of the hangers and then turned away and headed to the gate to wire it closed. Finishing with that task, they both met back on the patio and went inside to discuss the upcoming rescue mission. Closing and latching the sliding patio door, Talon walked over and sat down heavily into one of the empty chairs. Ben sat down in the only other empty chair and looked at Talon, waiting for him to speak.

  Talon discussed several scenarios with Ben, walking him through how they would handle a couple bad case scenarios. Next, Talon pulled out his map and made sure Ben knew where the rallying points were. After they had covered everything Talon thought was important, he ended the conversation with, “Ben, if anything happens to me, just get Diane back to meet up with the contact team west of Leesburg. Just as always, if I tell you to take her and her kid and run for it, you do it. No questions, no lip, just take them and get the hell out of there. Remember to go west from here and stay
south of 66 until you get to a least past Centerville before you cut north. Just take Roberts road and head west all the way over to Clifton. There are plenty of places you will be able to hole up for the daytime is you stick to that route.”

  “How far are we from Diane’s now,” asked Ben, “I have it figured that we are within about three blocks of her housing area.”

  “Yes, I agree, and we need to get a move on, the reason I picked this house was it one of the last ones that were burned out in this area. The next block of townhouses have not been touched, yet, but the troops might be back today to finish the job, or those might be just too close to campus and even might be housing the troops or DHS personnel so we need to get a move on and get in and get out as fast as we can,” said Talon. Standing as he finished speaking, he grabbed his small go-bag and swung it onto his back.

  Ben followed suit and stepped out as soon as Talon did. Moving back through the burned-out house, Ben followed Talon as he maneuvered his way to the garage and then outside via the side door of the home. Talon locked the doorknob and pulled the door shut behind them. Ben gave him a ‘what the hell look,’ but Talon only shrugged, but one of his hands on Ben’s shoulder and said, “Anything to slow down anyone that tries to get in here.” Ben nodded his agreement and fell into the now-standard patrol formation they used when they moved on foot.

  Keeping to the tree line while they moved, Talon turned southeast on the next street. There was less cover and concealment on this street as the street was lined with businesses. The buildings were not right next to each other, but they both could see a couple of strip mall type businesses coming up. Just before they got to them, Talon turned them off the main street, and they moved much faster in the alley behind the businesses. After three blocks, Talon cut across the next street and moved diagonally to a gated apartment complex set back off the street and surrounded by a fancy wrought iron fence.