by David Nees
Sergeant Gibbs looked over at Cameron.
“Go find those cuffs,” Cameron said calmly. “We’ll figure this out as we go.”
Chapter 5
Some of the assembled soldiers looked like they were beginning to think something unusual was going on by the time he walked out onto the asphalt to stand before them. The men standing on the periphery of the group with rifles, on the other hand, had different expressions, carefully blank; Sergeant Gibbs had spoken to them. By the time Cameron was halfway through his recitation of Roper’s misdeeds, a few of the men started glancing around nervously at their fellow soldiers holding M16s.
Ten men held weapons. Twelve men were unarmed. Two among the unarmed were men that Gibbs had said he didn’t trust; the others he was simply unsure of.
“Captain Roper is in his office. I have put him under arrest,” Cameron concluded.
The men stirred uneasily.
Someone shouted out, “You got any evidence for your charges?”
“Whoever asked that question, step forward,” Cameron said. No one moved. “I’m willing to answer questions, but I will not answer anonymous questions shouted out from a group. If you have a question, step forward and ask it.”
The group slowly parted, leaving a man standing alone. It was Specialist Atkinson, a thin, dark-haired man. Atkinson looked at Cameron belligerently. “So you gonna arrest me ‘cause I question what you’re doing?”
“No, Specialist. I’m going to answer your question. I’ve got the testimony of Charlie Cook, the chief of police here in town. He attended meetings between Captain Roper and Frank Mason in which they discussed the Captain’s fees, meaning his cut of the booty collected by Joe Stansky’s gang, and the nature of the Captain’s services.”
“Well, he ain’t here to tell us himself, is he?”
“No, and I don’t have time to assemble a courtroom level of evidence to present. But Chief Cook is my main witness, and we have a respectable pile of gold and jewelry found in the captain’s quarters.”
Atkinson shook his head but said nothing more.
“Now here’s the deal,” Cameron said. “Some of you are not part of the special detail just announced, and you are not armed. That special detail is not going out. It’s covering you. Consider yourselves under guard for the moment. Do not attempt to disperse. Sergeant Gibbs has given these men orders to shoot anyone attempting to leave this assembly.”
He watched as the men stirred and began to grumble. The volume of dissent grew. Someone shouted, “You can’t keep us restricted, we haven’t done anything wrong.” Cameron did not bother to identify the speaker this time. He simply stared at the group until the commotion subsided.
When they had quieted he said, “I can do what I’ve just done, and you are required to obey my orders. Absent Captain Roper, I’m the senior officer here. Now to get back to the plan, as of this moment we face a serious strategic problem that constrains my options as acting commander. I will not have the time or the men to keep Captain Roper under guard pending reunion with battalion command. Nor will I have time to be looking over my shoulder at this platoon and worrying about who might be disloyal to me. The reason is that, very shortly, we will be engaging a force superior in numbers to our own—the militia of the city of Hillsboro.”
Dead silence.
“I have just told you about the corruption of the city government. That government is now preparing to attack and murder some civilians outside of town. This unit is going to do something about it.”
A babble of voices arose from the group. Cameron spoke over the confusion, quelling it. “I need every soldier I can trust. And I cannot afford to have any soldier I cannot trust, no matter the circumstances. Due to these conditions, I am going to turn Captain Roper loose, send him out of town. To make it back to Colonel Stillman, if that is what he chooses to do. Any soldier who does not agree with the actions I’ve taken, who wishes to continue to follow Captain Roper, can leave with him. Those of you who remain will be in a fight for your lives…and the lives of the civilians we are all pledged to protect.”
“You just gonna throw us out of town, on foot?”
Cameron didn’t pause to single out the questioner, although he was certain that Gibbs was on it—the word us had been loud and clear.
“I’m going to give Roper and anyone who leaves with him a truck, with a full tank of fuel, one full fuel drum, and food for a week.”
“What about weapons? You can’t throw us out without any way to defend ourselves.”
The same voice. Yes, Gibbs was staring coldly at someone in the assemblage.
“I can. And in the case of Captain Roper, I ought to. The captain made his choices and they were the wrong ones. He can now be judged complicit in the deaths of two civilians, and in the deaths of others yet to be identified.”
“This is all about your girlfriend, isn’t it?” Private Jensen shouted.
“Soldier, you have just made your decision to leave with Roper. Sergeant Gibbs, make sure that man is on the truck.” Cameron’s gaze swept the group. “Now, before I was interrupted, I was about to say that I will allow one rifle per soldier. The weapons and the ammunition will be locked in a case. Those of you who choose to leave will be escorted out of town under guard. The escort will give Captain Roper the key when they break contact. If the truck stops or anyone disembarks while still in sight of the escort, we will open fire on you. If we encounter you in the field after you leave, you will be considered enemy combatants and treated accordingly.”
He turned back to Gibbs. “It’s time to separate this group into who’s going and who’s staying.” Before he could speak further, another soldier shouted, “What can we expect if we stay?”
Cameron paused. After thinking for a moment he responded, “That’s a good question. The best way to answer it is to remind everyone that we are soldiers. Our job is to put ourselves in danger when required, to protect our country and its citizens. Sometimes that mission is hard to discern, but we still carry it out. Here at home, in the present crisis, it can be even more confusing, but not in this case. We have direct threats to civilians from a criminal group that is running this town. The mission is not hard to see.
“We are going to put ourselves in harm’s way to protect the civilians, probably leading to a fight to liberate this town from the group that controls it now. The fight will be dangerous, it may not succeed, but we will set out on it anyway. I have an experienced sergeant to help me lead us, hopefully to victory. This may be the only time you’ll ever get a chance to sign up for a mission instead of being told you’re going on one.”
A couple of men laughed. The man that had asked the question responded, “Where do I go to stand?”
Quickly the men began to shuffle around. When it was done, five men had gone to Sergeant Gibbs and said they wanted to stay. The other seven were standing together, having chosen to leave with Captain Roper. Cameron kept his face immobile. He had hoped for more but this was about what he had expected. He knew that at least two of the seven, and perhaps more of them for all he knew, were dedicated soldiers who simply remained unconvinced that he was right to have relieved the captain of his command without a formal investigation or trial, even in the current circumstances. Finding themselves corralled at gunpoint did not make them think better of the Lieutenant’s actions.
And he suspected that some of them figured traveling with Roper and having some means to defend themselves was almost certainly a better proposition than going up against Stansky’s gang.
There was nothing to be done about it. Cameron needed a force he could rely on.
Gibbs put the seven dissenters under guard in one of the storefronts. Cameron went to three loyal soldiers and told them to get one of the transport trucks ready. Then he headed back to Roper’s office. The sooner Roper and his contingent were gone, the sooner Cameron could start thinking about what they were going to do about the threat. The threat was no longer only to the people in the valley. Wha
t remained of his platoon was now just as much in danger.
As the men dispersed to their tasks, he heard something. Engines. Close by. Many. He looked around with a flash of panic, and stared. A line of old cars and vans with police insignia were making their way slowly into the encampment lot.
Chapter 6
Charlie walked hurriedly through the streets towards police headquarters. His clothes were soaked with sweat. Black thoughts swirled through his mind. He felt he had come very close to being shot back at the arena. He was not sure now that getting shot wouldn’t still be his fate after the day’s events were over. Would Leo recommend taking him out? Would Joe have already come to that conclusion? He could take no comfort in the thought that Frank might stick up for him. Frank had made it clear that Charlie should not oppose Joe, that Frank couldn’t help his old pal if he did. Charlie didn’t know where the day’s events might lead. What he did know was that his instincts were screaming at him to act quickly. To not assume that he could carry on like yesterday. Today things had changed, and if he was to avoid a terrible fate—for him and Mary—he had to act decisively.
When Leo had come to take him downtown to the arena that morning, he had told the officers he was still sure he could trust to stay close to the station. He had wanted them available if he needed them. Leo’s attitude had made him concerned without knowing why. Now he understood. But his earlier orders to his people had given him a possible way forward. As he hurried on, a plan began to form in his mind.
When he arrived at the station, Charlie went quietly around to his ten loyal officers individually. “When I send the others down to the arena, you stay put. Don’t ask me why, just don’t go. Be busy, be out of sight, but don’t leave.” They all gave him surprised looks, but none of them said anything.
After Charlie had spoken to all of them, he went back to the ready room. “Higgins!” he called out.
“Yes, sir?” Higgins was the only police lieutenant on the force these days. He was bald, wore steel-rimmed round glasses, and had a tall, lean build. He had been a serious cop, hard on perps, harder than Charlie liked. He was also pretty much devoid of conscience. He had been corrupted early by Joe.
“I need men down to the arena,” Charlie told him. “Pronto. That’s a hell of a big crowd, and things were a little more exciting than expected. You take Brodsky, Vance, Brown, and Smith.” There were only five cops on his untrustworthy list in the station; the rest were out in the streets. “I want you to go down there and help the militia. They don’t know about handling crowds, and I don’t want a bloodbath. Show them how it’s done.”
“Should we take the cars?”
“No. Gas is too limited and the militia has vans to stuff people into. Grab the bikes, they’re almost as fast, and get your asses over there. Pronto.”
“What about rifles? Shouldn’t we take our riot gear?”
“Dammit, I just told you the militia is there in force. Your job is to keep it from getting out of hand, keep civilians from getting shot. Now hurry or you’ll be too late.”
After the five officers left, the others that Charlie had spoken to began to gather in the ready room. They all had quizzical looks on their faces. When they were assembled, Charlie spoke to them.
“We’re moving to the army camp. I want you to gather all the weapons from the building and load them into the vehicles.” He looked at Les Hammond, “How many vehicles do we have here right now?”
“We got four cars and one van. There’s six cars out on patrol right now.”
“That’ll do.”
“What’s going on?” another officer asked.
“Lots. Maybe a revolution. We don’t have time for me to explain now, but Leo Stupek just told me I was finished. And that may mean any honest cop is finished.”
“Holy cow!” someone muttered.
“Gather up all the gear you can find and let’s move. We may not have much time before the militia shows up.”
“There’s a fight coming,” Charlie told his ten police officers. They were standing in a large tent that Cameron had led them to after running out to meet them. Charlie related what had gone on at the arena. “I’m probably now considered part of the opposition. Most of you will get put in that same category. Stansky will allow no resistance to whatever he’s planning. He’s ruthless, as is Leo Stupek. They’ll eliminate everyone who opposes them. I’m sorry to have put all of you in this position where you and your families may be threatened, and I know you just want to do honest police work, but that’s where we’re at. I made a decision…and Mary supports me in it. To not go along with Stansky turning the town into a criminal enterprise.”
Charlie took a deep breath. “The days of being on the fence, trying to do the right thing while going along with some of the wrong things we saw, are over. With Stansky, that won’t be one of the choices. We’ll either be part of his militia—there won’t be any normal police work anymore—or we’ll be eliminated.” He looked hard at his officers, one by one. Eight men and two women. Half of them had families, he thought. Could they make the hard decision? Would they? “You can join with Stansky…or you can join the opposition. There’s no middle ground. I brought you out here to be able to give you the choice. But you have to make it now, there’s no time to lose.”
Many in the group looked stunned. They glanced around the tent. Charlie noticed many eyes settling on Cameron, who was standing to one side watching the group, waiting for him to finish speaking.
“I could see this coming,” Les Hammond finally said. “I think we all could. Just didn’t think it would happen this sudden.”
“I didn’t sign up to be a gangster. Chief, I joined to do police work, to fight crime,” Hank Ames said.
“What about our families?” Barbara Thomas asked.
Charlie looked over at Cameron as he spoke. “I don’t know. But if you decide to stay, throw in with me and the army, we have to do something fast. There’s no plan here. Events are happening fast, so we’re figuring this out on the fly.”
Mike Ortez recited a list of ten other names and asked about them. These were officers who he thought were loyal to Chief Cook.
“We’ll have to assign a couple of you to intercept them and ask them which side they want to be on. I’d like to give them a chance to join us rather than leave them stuck with Stansky’s men,” Charlie replied.
“Things are changing here in camp as well,” Cameron said. “I’m Lieutenant Cameron. I have just taken over command of the platoon. Captain Roper is under arrest and we are separating our men into those who want to follow me and those don’t.”
Murmuring arose among Charlie’s officers.
“Give me five minutes to talk with Chief Cook,” Cameron said, and he motioned to Charlie.
“What’s going on here?” Charlie asked when they had stepped out of the tent.
“I confronted Roper, after we were ambushed downtown. I told him I knew what had been going on with him and Mason and Stansky.”
“Why the hell—?”
“Let me finish. It was time to pick a side. That scene downtown meant Stansky was taking the gloves off. I couldn’t let Roper play it as if nothing bad was going on.”
“So what do you do now?” Charlie asked.
“I’ve decided to let Roper leave with any men that want to follow his command.”
“And you’re staying? How many men do you have?”
“Fifteen.”
Charlie blinked at the number. Even with the addition of his own people, it would be a very small force to oppose Stansky’s militia. This was beginning to look hopeless. “So what do we do now?”
“I’m going to take the men loyal to me and leave with Roper and his men. Act like we’re all leaving town. That’s what Mason and Stansky expect to see.”
“But where does that leave us? I brought these officers here to join you. And now you’re leaving?”
“We can’t stay here. This compound is indefensible. On top of everything, Stansk
y has mortars. He can just lob them on us until we’re wiped out. We have to retreat, connect up with the valley. You know they’re going to be attacked, so we need to defend them. Then we can plan an assault on Stansky.”
The feeling of security from having arrived at the compound melted away to nothing. “But how will we fight them? You’re leaving us alone to deal with Stansky?” Charlie waved his hand at the tent behind him. “These officers stayed loyal to me and now they’re in danger. We’ve got families here in town that are vulnerable.”
“You can leave with us,” Cameron said. “Send your cars to collect them all, fast.”
“And when are you leaving?”
Cameron looked around at the activity going on in the compound. “Probably not until tomorrow.”
Charlie shook his head. “That’s too long. If Stansky or Leo figure out we headed here, they might attack us right away.” Charlie knew his outburst at the executions might have already triggered orders to the militia, putting all his loyal officers at risk. He struggled to clear his head.
“Chief Cook, I’m sorry, but everyone who isn’t behind Stansky is in danger, no matter where you’re staying. If you’re not on board with his agenda, for him being the absolute authority, you’re in danger. Given what Leo told you, I think you made the right move.”
The lieutenant stared across the compound for a moment. “Can your officers stay in the city? Change where they’re living and hide out? There’s lots of empty buildings around town. They can help train those dissidents you met. That group may be the fifth column of fighters we need.”
Charlie thought about it. “We can do that,” he said. If we’re very lucky, he thought. They’d have to move fast, collect their families and disperse. The plotters could help his men hide later, but at the start they just had to get gone; find unoccupied places without preparation and get into them without being seen.
