by Payne, T. L.
“Where are the guards?” Lugnut asked.
“Three guards took off around the beige house with the red door,” Stephens said.
“Gilbert, cover us,” Sharp said, disappearing around the sign.
Maddie stepped around Gilbert and rushed after them. When she stepped onto the sidewalk, she took in the size of the neighborhood. This street alone went on for at least a quarter-mile. Older, single-story homes lined both sides of the street. The grass was waist-high on each lawn. Grass and trees saplings grew from the gutters of some houses.
Normally, these would all be an indication that the homes had been abandoned, but these days, most people didn't bother with yard work. It took too much energy, and they needed all the energy they had just to feed themselves. It didn’t appear the homes were being used, though. The grass should have at least been trampled down from the occupants coming and going. Also, it was at least ninety-five degrees out, and none of the windows were open. There was no way anyone could remain inside very long in the heat of the day.
Maddie scanned the houses looking for any with open windows. Some had the windows broken out. The lack of screens told her those, too, were unoccupied. At least on a regular basis. The mosquitoes would eat them alive at night without window screens. Maddie unconsciously picked at a particularly itchy bite of her own on her right elbow. She had managed to avoid being eaten alive by ticks, chiggers, and mosquitoes—for the most part—but their stock of bug spray containing DEET was getting dangerously low. They’d need to find an alternative soon if they couldn’t find more.
“Maddie! Get down!” Lugnut yelled. He’d taken cover behind a minivan several houses up the street.
Maddie ducked behind a Ford Focus parked along the curb. She moved along the bumper toward the sidewalk and glanced back. Gilbert was hidden behind the rock wall with the .50 cal. balanced on top of it. Maddie heard yelling but couldn’t make out the words. She saw Sharp speak into his radio and then chop the air with his right hand, gesturing for the others to move forward. Rank looked back over his shoulder as he stood into a crouch and stepped out from behind the van. Maddie stood and prepared to follow them. Rank balled his hand into a fist and gestured for her to stop. She ignored him. He looked pissed as she caught up to him, but he said nothing. He knew she wasn’t going to hang back and wait for them. This Nelson nut had her brother.
Sharp stopped and spoke into his radio. A second later, gunfire erupted somewhere in the subdivision. The sound of repeated rifle reports echoed off the houses, making it difficult to determine what direction they were coming from. Maddie assumed they were coming from one of the other teams engaging Nelson’s guards.
They continued to push down the block, staying close to the parked cars, sometimes dropping down behind the tall grass for concealment. Maddie scanned each house they passed for signs that it could house the prisoners, but she saw none.
They stopped behind a motorhome parked in a driveway about halfway down the block. The gunfire had intensified. From the continual thud-thud-thud, it appeared the soldiers were trying to keep the enemy’s heads down—they were laying down cover fire. That meant the Army was likely still advancing on their objective.
A noise behind her made her jump. Maddie twisted to face it. Gilbert with his .50 cal. and another soldier with a big ammo box were running toward them. They ran past her and dropped down beside Sharp. Sharp pointed toward a side street three houses down on the left
Gilbert and his battle buddy got up and ran ahead, crossed the street, and dropped in the tall grass next to the house on the east corner of the adjacent street. Sharp, Stephens, and Lugnut followed soon after.
“Go, Maddie,” Rank called back to her.
Maddie sprinted across the street but stopped when she caught movement in the yard behind the house. “Rank?” Maddie said in a low voice.
“There, Maddie. Next to that house. Get behind those shrubs,” Rank called as he crossed the street behind her.
Maddie ran to the corner of the house across from where the others had taken up their position. She ducked behind an unruly hedge and peeked through the foliage. A second man crossed the yard behind the house. They were trying to work their way around to the front and ambush Lugnut and the others. Just as Rank slid in behind her, the gunner took off toward the back of the house before Maddie could warn him. She thought of running across the street and warning Lugnut, but as soon as she stood, she heard the report of rifle fire coming from behind Lugnut’s position.
“Lug! Behind you!” she screamed. Rank grabbed her by the shoulder and pushed her down as he brought his rifle up. Lugnut and Sharp returned fire, and the two shooters dropped to the ground. Lug and Sharp wasted no time advancing down the side street. Maddie and Rank followed them.
Gilbert, his gunner’s assistant Bronson, and Sharp ducked between two cars about one hundred feet ahead of Maddie. Rank grabbed Maddie's forearm and pulled her behind a boat parked on a driveway. Lugnut and Stephens were moving between vehicles, approaching their position.
Sharp smacked Gilbert on the back and Gilbert went to work, firing on a house on the next street. Maddie couldn't see what or who they were shooting at. All she could think was that her brother could be in there. She wanted to scream for them to stop, but the thunderous noise of the .50 caliber weapon drowned out all other sounds.
“Rank,” Maddie said, grabbing his arm.
“Zach’s not in there,” he yelled in her ear.
He couldn’t know that. She knew he was just saying it to keep her from running off and getting herself killed. It pissed her off. Didn’t he care that Zach and the others could be killed?
“Enemy down,” the gunner called out.
“Roger that,” Sharp said. “Push left.”
The .50 cal. team gathered their weapon and ammunition, then ran toward the corner of the next house. As he did, rifle fire chased them across the street. Sharp, Lugnut, and Stephens returned fire.
“Reloading,” Sharp yelled.
A second later, Stephens yelled, “Moving!”
Sharp laid down cover fire for her.
“Alpha Two. Move up and give us some support,” Sharp called into his handset. “Gilbert, twelve o’clock.”
“Alpha One. This is Alpha Three. I’ve got two friendlies down. Moving the wounded out of the kill zone.”
"Copy that," Sharp radioed back.
Stephens fumbled in her pack for more ammunition.
Rank dropped to his belly and sent rounds into the house on his left.
Gilbert cried out and then cursed loudly, his hand holding his neck.
“You hit?” Sharp called to him.
“I caught shrapnel,” Gilbert yelled back.
“You bleeding?”
“He’s fine,” yelled his battle buddy as Gilbert pulled the charging handle the .50 cal. and continued sending rounds down the block. It wasn’t true—blood ran down the man’s shirt—but he remained engaged in the battle.
Using a U-Haul truck parked at the curb for cover, Lugnut, Stephens, and Sharp slowly moved toward Gilbert. Maddie sprinted toward the truck. Rifle rounds slammed into its side as she dove behind it. Her ankle twisted, and Maddie slammed her knee onto the pavement, sending a wave of nausea through her.
“You okay?” Rank asked as he slid in beside her.
“Fine,” Maddie said as she got hold of herself and moved toward the front of the truck.
Lugnut took off, closing the distance between the truck and the gunner.
“Moving,” Stephens called out. She ran over and dropped down beside Gilbert.
As Stephens began tending to the gunner’s wound, Lugnut moved to man the .50 cal. A moment later, the gun was silent. “I’m out,” Lugnut called as Gilbert’s battle buddy began firing his M4.
A figure poked his head out from between houses and fired in their direction. Lugnut picked up his M4 and returned fire. As the man ducked back, Lugnut stood and ran toward him. “Rank,” he called over his shoulder.
Rank took off after him, leaving Maddie and Sharp at the truck.
Maddie dropped back and braced herself against the rear bumper. She heard gunfire erupt between the houses and stop an instant before a round slammed into the side of the truck where she’d been standing…
Another shot rang out, and a black-clad man spilled into what was once a flowerbed. Lugnut lay prone behind an evergreen shrub at the corner of the house. Rank quickened his stride and fell in beside him. Lugnut gestured, and Rank ran over and seated a boot on the man's chest.
“Where are the prisoners?” Rank yelled at the man.
Maddie couldn’t hear the man’s response, so she rose and stepped into the street.
“Maddie, get back,” Lugnut called to her.
She caught movement to her left. The advancing men were quickly moving toward her. Her mind registered multiple things as they stopped and brought their rifles up. She heard the rifle’s report to her right as her adrenaline began really pumping, Maddie flinched and flattened herself against the vehicle, head swiveling toward the source of the shot. Stephens was returning fire. She felt a hand on her shoulder and jumped. Sharp pulled her back toward the front of the truck and stepped in front of her. He poked the rifle barrel through the jagged hole in the side window and sent three-round bursts of rifle fire at the advancing men.
Seconds later, Sharp’s radio came to life. “Alpha One, Alpha Three is advancing on your position.”
“Alpha Three, Alpha One is in heavy contact with six to eight shooters to the right front of the U-Haul truck. Gilbert’s down,” Sharp radioed.
As Alpha Three’s team engaged the shooters to their right, Sharp pushed forward toward Stephens and Gilbert’s position, leaving Maddie alone behind the truck. Maddie scanned the front of the houses looking for Lugnut and Rank. She spotted them concealed behind a car two houses from the corner. Running in a zig-zag pattern to avoid being shot, Maddie reached them and dropped beside Rank. He gave her a dirty look but said nothing.
“What did the man say? Where’s my brother?”
“He didn’t know. They were supposed to move them. He didn’t know if they had or not,” Rank said.
The shooting had stopped. Maddie scanned the houses. “How the hell are we going to find Zach?”
"We'll find him, Maddie," Rank replied.
She hadn’t meant to say it out loud, but she was growing more desperate by the minute. If he wasn’t hurt by now, he soon would be with the number of rounds being fired. If he was in any of the houses on this street, he could already be dead. She had to find him and the others and get them away from there—now!
Maddie rose to a crouch and stepped around Rank. “I have to go. I have to find my brother before your soldier friends get them all killed.”
Chapter 26
Sunnydale Acres Subdivision
Dent County, Missouri
July 15th
“Maddie, hold up. You can’t just go running around kicking in doors. You’re going to get yourself killed,” Rank yelled after her.
She turned the corner and ran toward the back of the subdivision. Maddie stopped and pressed her back against a wooden privacy fence surrounding the house at the end of the street. Crouching, she inched her way to the far end of the fence nearest the road. She stopped and slowly leaned forward.
“Maddie, this is insane. You need to stop,” Rank said as he slid in beside her.
“There are screens on that house. The windows are open. The lawn is trampled down. Someone’s been staying there. Zach could be inside.”
“Maddie, you have to wait…”
She whipped her head around. “I’m not waiting until your friends shoot up every house in the neighborhood looking for their precious gold. I’m going to find my brother—alive!”
Rank grabbed her arm and squeezed it. “Do you think Lug and I don’t want to rescue Zach and the others? We just—”
She cut him off. “It doesn’t look much like it.” She wrenched her arm away. “Are you going with me? I’m getting inside that house—with or without you.” Maddie stood and stepped around the corner of the fence.
“Stop!” an unfamiliar voice yelled.
Rank stepped around Maddie, pointing his rifle at the two men standing in the middle of the street. Maddie couldn’t tell if they had weapons on them, but they weren’t pointing them at her and Rank. Who were they? Were they prisoners or guards? They lacked the black tactical uniform the rest of Nelson’s guards wore.
The two men threw their hands in the air and started to back up. “Whoa! Whoa there. You’re with Zach, right?”
“You know my brother? Where is he? Is he hurt? Take me to him.” Maddie attempted to step around Rank, but he blocked her with his elbow.
“Zach went to free his friends. He said it was his group that was attacking Nelson’s men. We came out to see for ourselves,” the shorter of the two men said.
“How many guards are here?” Rank asked.
“At any given time, I’d say twenty. Half of them went out to fight you guys.”
“Where are the others?” Rank asked.
“They took off with Nelson.”
“Which way did Zach go?” Rank said, lowering his arm and allowing Maddie to step forward.
The man pointed over his shoulder. “That way. There’s a farm at the back of the subdivision. He said his friends were being held at the farmhouse.”
Maddie grabbed Rank’s arm. “Let’s go, Rank.”
“Which direction did Nelson and his men go?”
“Rank! I don’t give a shit about the gold. We have to find—”
“Which way did they go?” Rank interrupted her.
“To the farm,” the taller man said, pointing over his shoulder.
“You two need to find somewhere safe to hide until the shooting stops,” Rank said as he ran past them.
The street ended at a tall steel gate. The wooden privacy fence, typical of such subdivisions, was topped by three rows of barbed wire. A padlock lay on the ground. Maddie reached down, pulled on the latch, and pushed the gate open slightly. “Let me,” Rank said, pushing her aside. He poked his head through and pulled his rifle scope to his eye.
“What do you see? Is Zach in there?”
“I don’t see anyone.”
Maddie attempted to squeeze past him. “Let’s go find him.”
“Wait, Maddie. There’s no cover. It’s an open field all the way to the house.”
She was nearly out of her mind with concern for Zach and the others. They were running out of time. She could feel it. “We have to get in there. We have to help Zach before the guards get to him.”
“I know, but we can’t help them if we get ourselves killed. We need to head along the fence and then cut through the field close to the barn. You’ll have to run fast to make it. You think you can make it three hundred feet?”
Run three hundred feet? She used to run ultra-marathons. Before the lights went out, she ran ten miles or more every single day. Now, she barely had the energy to walk a block. Malnutrition had taken its toll on her body. It had taken its toll on everyone.
“I can make it,” she said, trying to sound convincing. She’d make it. She just wasn’t sure she’d have the energy to continue on afterward.
“Okay, stay low. Be ready to hit the ground,” Rank said, stepping through the gate and moving to their right.
There were about one thousand yards between them and the house and all of it open pasture. A fence lined the gravel road that led to the south side of the house. All the windows were open and had screens in them. She tried to see if she could spot any rifles poking out of any. She couldn’t. Could a bullet reach them at this distance? The front door was wide open. If they were in there and expecting trouble, wouldn’t they have closed it? Maybe Zach had left it open.
Rank crouched and stepped to his right. Maddie followed, trying to stay as low as possible. Tree branches hung over the fence. If they’d been smart, they would have cleare
d those away. They provided a shadow underneath, which likely would make it more difficult to see anyone from the house. It was obvious they hadn’t been concerned with people climbing over the fence from the outside. This fence was meant to keep people in, not out. Maddie glanced around. This place lacked the guard towers present at Nelson’s property. Had they felt the fence was sufficient? It wouldn’t have been for her. She would have been over that fence in a heartbeat. Why hadn’t Zach and the others attempted it yet? Maybe they had.
At the corner of the fence, Rank and Maddie turned and followed it along the eastern side of the field. The grass was taller and would provide some concealment if they were to crawl on their bellies, but they didn’t have time for that. Once again, time was her enemy. It seemed everything was an emergency these days. They were always in a race against time to survive. This time, her brother and her friends’ lives could depend on her and Rank arriving on time.
Rank stopped when they were parallel with the barn and took a knee. Maddie crouched beside him as he scanned the barn through his rifle scope. The cattle barn had open sides with stalls for calving. Large round bales of hay were stacked three high in one of the sheds on the south side of the barn. Maddie couldn’t see anyone inside. There would be a dozen places in there for someone to hide and pick them off as they crossed the field. She wiped the sweat from her brow. She was overheated and dehydrated. She hoped she had the steam to run the distance.
“See anyone?” Maddie asked.
“No, but there’s the box truck. Nelson’s here.”
“That doesn’t make any sense. Why would he run here? It’s so open and exposed. There are no defensive positions. Something stinks about his, Rank.”
