Nemesis: Inception

by G. Michael Hopf

  “How did you know me?” Gordon asked.

  “I met your wife and friends.”

  Gordon almost choked hearing this. “When, where?”

  “Outside Rahab’s camp. I escaped and they helped me. Apparently they went looking for you and found me instead.”

  Hearing about his wife, Samantha, brought pain to Gordon. He blamed his actions for the reason his son was murdered at the hands of Rahab but couldn’t find the strength to go back after being freed. Instead he followed in Lexi’s footsteps and went looking for Rahab.

  Lexi explained her brief time with Gordon’s group while he listened intently. The more she talked, the more he regretted his decision. When she mentioned his wife, Samantha, seeing his son’s body, it tore him up. Like each day before, he again questioned what he was doing, but now he was closer to finding Rahab than ever before, he couldn’t turn back; he had to complete the task.

  “What do you know about Rahab’s whereabouts?” he asked, needing to shift topics and get back on point.

  “I heard them mention a place in Oregon, I’m not sure where, but that was my only clue.”

  “Rajneeshpuram was a name I found on a map of Oregon,” Gordon said, pulling it out of his flannel shirt pocket. He unfolded the map and pointed to the edge of the paper where the name was written. He had found the map after Rahab had left him for dead.

  “I’m not sure what that means,” Lexi confessed and continued, “Where did you get that?”

  “I found it in a building back at Rahab’s house of horrors in California. I managed to get out of there with this map and this,” Gordon said, pointing at the thick scar on his face.

  “What happened?” Lexi asked, curious.

  “That’s another story entirely,” Gordon replied, not wanting to discuss where the scar came from.

  Seeing his reluctance to talk, she moved on. “We have a map with a name, but there’s no specific location circled or marked telling us where it is,” Lexi said.

  “I’ve asked every person I’ve encountered, but nobody knows. It seems like no one in Oregon knows anything about Oregon,” Gordon lamented.

  Lexi’s eyes grew wide. “Apparently you haven’t met John before,” she joked. She turned and hollered, “John.”

  John immediately turned and replied, “Yes, dear.”

  “Ever heard of a place called—” Lexi paused for a brief moment to look at the map “—Raj-nessh-puram.”

  “Yeah, it’s an old hippie cult compound not too far from here, say about one hundred and forty miles.”

  Lexi and Gordon looked at each other and smiled.

  Gordon jumped to his feet and raced towards the bar with the map in his hand. “Show me where it is.”

  John took a lantern and moved it closer. He stared at the map, and with a sharpie he had behind the bar, he circled the exact spot. “Right there, you’ll take the old highway here and look for signs, I believe it’s still marked.”

  Lexi walked up and gave Gordon a nudge.

  He turned and asked, “You want to go hunting with me?”

  Putting her arms on her hips, Lexi cocked her head and asked, “Does the pope wear a pointy hat?”

  February 24, 2015

  “Justice is revenge.” – Saad Hariri

  Crescent, Oregon

  Lexi’s departure from the Mohawk was bittersweet. She’d miss John and prayed for his safety, but something told her she’d never see him again. They embraced and John again offered her a place to come back to once she was done. Lexi knew that would never happen, but gave John some hope. Again the thought of this being the last time she’d gaze upon him came.

  “You be a good girl,” John said and patted her shoulder.

  “Take care of yourself and thanks for everything,” Lexi replied. She briskly walked away and jumped into the Humvee. She wasn’t one for farewells, plus she couldn’t wait to get going.

  Her partners on this adventure were Gordon and the three Marines: Corporal Rubio, Lance Corporal Jones and Private First Class McCamey.

  She was as happy as a child going to Disneyland for the first time. All those weeks of traveling and searching were coming to an end, and soon she’d be face to face with her sister’s murderer.

  Rubio turned around and joked, “Everyone take a piss?”

  “Let’s get going,” Gordon said.

  “Roger that, you heard the man, McCamey, let’s go,” Rubio said and faced the front.

  Lexi looked at each man in the vehicle with her and up through the hatch to Jones, who manned the M-240 machine gun. She never imagined she’d have this type of firepower going to get Rahab. She was thrilled and couldn’t wait for the fun to begin.

  Central, Oregon

  The drive along the state highway was going without incident.

  Not driving allowed Lexi to get some much-needed rest. Within ten minutes of leaving Crescent, she was fast asleep, her head buried in a crumpled jacket.

  Lance Corporal Jones was riding in the hatch, manning the M-240 machine gun, when up ahead he spotted something suspicious. He bent down and hollered, “Corporal Rubio, up ahead. We have a victor in the middle of the road and two people.”

  “Roger that, I see ’em,” Rubio responded. “Go ahead and stop, McCamey. Let’s get some eyes on this before we proceed.”

  McCamey brought the Hummer to a stop at an angle just in case they needed to pull off road to flee.

  Rubio pulled out a pair of binoculars and began to look at the scene ahead.

  Jones too was assessing the situation with his own set of binoculars.

  Gordon was interested in what was happening, so he was peeking over Rubio’s shoulder.

  “Looks like a man and a woman, a couple maybe?” Rubio said and handed the binoculars to Gordon to take a look.

  Gordon peered through and saw exactly what Rubio had seen. It looked like the couple were having car trouble, and it was expected of them to wave and signal a military vehicle if they saw one.

  “Jonesy, you see anything different up there?” Rubio called out.

  “No, Corporal, I just see two people. A young woman, she can’t be older than thirty, and a man, who looks about the same age. The hood of the car is up. Wait a minute, there might be a third person. I see a car seat through the back window.”

  “Corporal Rubio, where are we, you think?” Gordon asked.

  “We’re about here,” he answered, holding up a map and pointing at a county road just south of the state highway.

  “That makes us how far from Rahab’s possible location?”

  “Miles, I’d have to calculate, but my guess, about twenty miles along this road right here,” Rubio said, running his finger along a yellow highlighted line that led to a red circle.

  “You know what I’m asking, right?” Gordon commented.

  “Yeah, if this is an ambush? I feel you. I tell you what. I’ll just walk up to them. You and Jones cover me.”

  Gordon thought for a second and said, “Roger that.”

  Rubio exited the Hummer and began to walk down the muddy gravel road.

  Gordon took up a position behind the open door with an M-4, watching Rubio walk up to the two people. They were too far away for him to hear, but after a few arm gestures, followed by a wave, Rubio was heading back without incident.

  “They’re cool. They ran out of fuel,” Rubio said, walking back.

  “Really? What’s up with the hood?” McCamey questioned.

  “Don’t you know it’s an international distress signal?” Rubio shot back. “Boot.”

  The last comment was directed at McCamey because he hadn’t seen combat before. He was on his first deployment when the lights went out. Rubio and Jones were combat veterans of Afghanistan.

  “Everything looked okay?” Gordon queried.

  “Yes, yes. Listen, not my first rodeo here, Mr. Van Zandt. These folks just need some fuel. We can spare enough for them to get where they’re going,” Rubio answered Gordon. “McCamey, take us down
there,” he then ordered.

  Gordon felt uneasy about the situation.

  The Hummer rumbled its way slowly down the road and parked just behind the old 1959 Ford Crown Victoria. The car’s blue paint along the rear quarter panel had given way to rust years ago. From the condition of the vehicle, Gordon was surprised to even see it in drivable condition, but the times had made people very resourceful.

  Rubio slamming the rear hatch woke Lexi up. She sat up, yawned and looked around. “We there yet?”

  “No, we got a couple people that need help,” Gordon said, stepping out of the vehicle.

  Lexi rubbed her eyes and looked through the windshield at the people. Her expression changed instantly when she saw the man.

  Gordon walked up and started chatting. “So why are you folks out here?”

  The young woman answered quickly, “Oh, we have a ranch down the road.”

  “Nice,” Rubio said.

  Gordon was looking closer at the vehicle. He took note of the car seat and asked, “You have children?”

  “Yeah, she’s back with her uncle,” the woman answered.

  The man walked back and got back inside the car.

  Gordon was watching everyone’s moves. These people looked innocent, but he was very skeptical. He began to look around. They were sandwiched to the right against a hillside and to the left was a large grove of mature pine trees.

  The woman began to flirt with Rubio, who was being receptive to her actions.

  The man just sat behind the wheel of the car and didn’t move.

  Gordon kept scanning the area. His instincts kept taking him back to the large grove of trees. He looked for anything out of place.

  Lexi jumped out of the Hummer without closing the door. Her gaze was fixed upon the man’s reflection in the side mirror of the car. She marched towards him, her body tense, veins pulsating in her neck. As she passed Gordon, she brushed him.

  Gordon looked at her but didn’t see the pistol in her hand.

  She walked up to the man, who was still sitting behind the wheel. She pressed the pistol to his temple and asked, “Remember me?”

  The man looked startled to see her. Fear instantly overcame him as he did remember her face from before.

  Not saying another word, she pulled the trigger.

  Lexi’s gunshot blew the side of the man’s head off. Brain, skull, hair and blood splattered the interior of the car. Not hesitating a moment she trained the pistol on the woman and shouted, “Don’t fucking move, or I’ll plant one in between your eyes.” She stepped up to her and placed the pistol in her face.

  Gordon unslung his rifle and turned it on Lexi but paused before pulling the trigger. “What the fuck!”

  “These are Rahab’s people! I recognized that piece of shit behind the wheel.”

  “Holy shit!” Rubio shouted. “Are you sure?”

  “When you’ve been raped repeatedly by someone, you never forget their face.”

  Gordon still had his rifle aimed at her. He thought it made sense that the man got behind the wheel so as not to be recognized.

  “Gordon, I’m on your side, put down your rifle. These assholes were going to ambush us further down the road. If you don’t believe me, ask her,” Lexi said as she pressed the pistol firmly against the woman’s head.

  “She’s right, there are more of us down the road,” the woman cried out.

  Gordon lowered his rifle and said, “Thanks for letting them know with that gunshot.”

  “Get on the radio and tell them you need their help with someone you just killed,” Lexi ordered the woman.

  The woman just nodded and slowly walked past Lexi to the front of the car. Lexi kept the pistol pressed against her head as she leaned in and grabbed the blood-covered radio. She keyed the button and said, “Hi, Malcolm. We need some help up here.”

  The radio crackled and a voice came over. “What happened?”

  “It’s okay, we had to shoot someone. We need…” She paused out of fear.

  Lexi pressed the barrel harder against her head.

  “We need your help with the others; Brother Clarence has them at gunpoint.”

  There was an uncomfortable pause before the radio crackled again. “Okay, we’ll be right there.”

  “They’ll come up the road,” the woman said, pointing to the road ahead, which rose then disappeared several hundred feet away.

  “How many are there?” Lexi asked.

  “Three, there’s three. Please don’t hurt me,” she begged.

  “We won’t,” Gordon assured her.

  Ignoring Gordon, Lexi hit the woman over the head with the pistol, knocking her out.

  “Why did you do that?” Gordon asked.

  “We can’t trust that she won’t signal them,” Lexi shot back as she holstered her pistol. She grabbed the keys from the steering column and unlocked the trunk. She then grabbed the woman and began to drag her back towards the rear of the car. “Well, are you going to help me?”

  Rubio, Jones and Gordon all exchanged looks.

  “I told you she was a piece of work,” Jones quipped from behind the machine gun.

  Rubio jumped up and helped her toss the woman in the back. They quickly came up with a plan and took positions in anticipation of the men coming.

  Jones hid inside the Humvee. He would man the machine gun when the timing was right.

  Gordon, Rubio, Lexi and McCamey all went and hid in the grove of trees.

  The plan was to use an L-shaped ambush. They assumed the men would approach from the road ahead. When they stepped into the kill zone, Gordon and the others with him would open fire. The men would most likely turn towards them. Jones would then get behind the machine gun and hit them. This was a textbook tactic and, if all went accordingly, would work.

  Lexi kept her eyes glued on the road. She knew the others would appear very soon.

  The minutes crawled and felt like hours.

  She heard Gordon grumble under his breath. His patience was running thin.

  Everything was quiet except for the occasional rustle of the trees when the cold wind blew.

  Lexi’s patience soon waned too. She now began to worry that the men would outflank them. Her fears were dashed when she spotted movement on the hill.

  A head popped up, then another. They moved up and cleared the hill but stopped to talk. The third man was missing.

  Lexi couldn’t hear what they were saying, but it was obvious they were being cautious.

  “Fuck,” Gordon said under his breath.

  Lexi, only a couple feet away, asked, “Any thoughts?”

  The radio in the car came to life with a voice. “Brother Clarence, where are you?”

  “I’ve got the guy on the left,” Lexi whispered to Gordon.

  “Where’s the third guy?” Gordon asked out loud.

  “Brother Clarence, Sister Tabitha, where are you?” the voice asked from the radio.

  Lexi placed her index finger on the trigger and applied pressure like she had been trained. Her natural arch of movement caused her sights to float around the target as she steadied her breathing.

  Gordon settled in for his shot and said, “I’ve got the guy on the right, take the shot.” He squeezed the trigger and the shot went off.

  Lexi’s rifle followed right behind his with several shots hitting the man on the left.

  The third man finally appeared. He took a couple of shots before disappearing as quickly as he had appeared.

  Lexi stood up and began to run for the Humvee.

  Gordon took her cue and followed.

  “Jones, we gotta go!” she said, jumping behind the wheel and starting up the Humvee.

  “Whoa, wait a minute!” Jones exclaimed.

  “We don’t have time. We gotta catch that other fucker!”

  Lexi put the Humvee in gear and hit the accelerator.

  Gordon was running as hard as he could, but he was too slow. She drove past him without stopping.

  “Stop!
” Gordon screamed.

  The red rear lights came on as she slammed on the brakes. “Get in!”

  Gordon ran over and jumped in the passenger seat. She hit the accelerator again and took off.

  “Hey, wait for them!” Gordon yelled, referring to Rubio and McCamey.

  “No time!” she said as she tore down the road.

  They approached the top of the hill just as the man she had shot started to rise slowly.

  She put the accelerator on the floor and aimed the Humvee at the man. He raised his arms as if that would protect him from a two-ton vehicle traveling at forty-five miles per hour and accelerating.

  She hit him and didn’t stop.

  Once over the hill, she looked for the third man.

  “There, straight ahead!” Jones hollered.

  Forty feet directly in front of them, the man was running. Hearing the Humvee gaining, he turned and fired several shots but missed the vehicle.

  “Doesn’t this thing go faster?” Lexi yelled in frustration.

  The man fired another volley of shots. This time the bullets hit the Humvee.

  “Open up on him!” Gordon commanded Jones.

  No response from Jones.

  Gordon looked up in the hatch and found Jones’ body bouncing around. It appeared he had been shot.

  The man stood defiantly in the center of the road and emptied his magazine into the Humvee, hitting it but causing no major damage.

  Lexi was closing fast and was within feet of hitting him, but he dove out of the way and rolled down an embankment.

  Lexi slammed on the brakes. Her sudden stop caused Jones to fall into the vehicle.

  He was still alive but had been badly wounded.

  Gordon jumped out of the vehicle and took off in pursuit of the man.

  Lexi turned the wheel hard to the left and went off road.

  The man was fifty plus feet away, but Lexi knew she could catch him.

  Gordon had other ideas. He found a boulder, rested his rifle on top and got behind it. He settled in, took aim on the man’s back and squeezed off a single round, which struck the man in the middle of his back.

  The man arched his back when the round hit him, and he disappeared into the tall grasses.