Rise From The Ashes: The Rebirth of San Antonio (Countdown to Armageddon Book 3)

by Darrell Maloney

  -44-

  When they arrived at the end of the county road a hundred yards from Tom’s ranch, Tony told the others to stay put. He and Kevin went ahead to scout the ranch and make sure it was unoccupied.

  Tony sent Kevin back fifteen minutes later to get the rest of the crew.

  While he was waiting, Tony found the sign that Tom had left to scare them off.

  STAY OUT

  OR DIE.

  It didn’t work. Tony wasn’t afraid of much of anything. In fact, he loved a good challenge, and he viewed the sign as an invitation.

  But there were others in his group who were more easily intimidated.

  Before the others arrived, he pulled up the sign and tossed it aside.

  In the daylight, Tony could see through the dead branches of the mesquite tree and make out the rope that was tied across its trunk and which staked it to the ground.

  He cursed under his breath and walked fifty yards on each side of the fallen tree. He could see that the other dead mesquites were anchored down in a similar fashion.

  Now he was getting angry. He seemed to take the residents’ efforts to protect their property as a personal affront. In Tony’s twisted world, it was a personal insult to him.

  And it wouldn’t go unanswered, or unpunished.

  “All right, this just slows us down a little bit, but it doesn’t stop us. I’m a lot smarter than these sons of bitches think I am.”

  He took a section of rope and wrapped it around several of the branches at the top of the fallen tree, careful not to get stabbed by any of the inch long thorns. Then he had one of his men stand off to the side and pull the rope, to draw the branches out of the way.

  He did the same thing to another set of branches, and had another man pull them aside in the other direction.

  He chuckled at his ingenuity.

  “Just like Moses parting the sea.” he muttered.

  It took a little bit of work, but with the tree’s top branches pulled out of the way, Tony had a tunnel of sorts to walk into. He entered the tunnel with the pruning shears he’d brought along and snipped each of the branches as close to the base of the tree as he could. One by one they fell away, until the tension on the two ropes was completely gone.

  Tony had successfully created a passageway, free of the thorny branches, that extended all the way to the center of the tree.

  Then he stepped back and found Lolo, the youngest and smallest member of their group.

  Lolo was technically still a kid. Barely fifteen, he wasn’t much to look at. Short and skinny, with buck teeth, he didn’t look intimidating at all.

  But in the harsh world of street gangs, looks could be deceiving. Often, the smallest members of his gang were the most vicious. Lolo had street cred. He’d earned it through brutality, and his weapons of choice were a four inch blade and a four foot chain.

  He’d bring his victim down with the knife and then beat them bloody with the chain.

  And he needed very little reason to do so. Sometimes he used this method to rob innocent bystanders of their money. Sometimes all someone had to do was look at him the wrong way.

  His biggest claim to fame was beating a man to death at a bar. Just for questioning the authenticity of the Mexican Mafia tattoo on Lolo’s forearm.

  The fact was that Lolo wasn’t a member of the Mexican Mafia. He was a wannabe who just claimed to be.

  And the penalty for calling him on it was death.

  But as vicious as he was, Lolo knew Tony was the boss. This was Tony’s operation, and Lolo was a good soldier.

  So he’d follow directions, as long as it wasn’t a suicide mission.

  “Lolo, you’re small enough to crawl through there. Crawl through and untie this bastard so we can pull it out of the way.”

  Lolo did as instructed while the others were retying the ropes to the remaining branches at the top of the tree.

  And twenty minutes later the tree was pulled out of the way and off to the side, and the group was in the north field.

  There was just enough daylight left to make out the trench. It took Tom and Jordan half a day to make it, and it would have worked well had the marauders come in the darkness. But in the waning hours of the day, they could see it, and simply went around it.

  It was much like the famous Maginot Line the French had built to protect themselves from the Germans in the buildup for World War II. The line itself was impressive, but too short. The Germans simply went around it.

  But the trench served a psychological purpose if not a practical one. As they passed by the end of the trench, one by one the men looked into it to see how deep it was.

  And one by one, the men saw the pointed spikes that would have impaled them had they fallen in.

  And one by one the men came to the realization that they were facing a formidable enemy. Tony had played this off as a camp of old women and children, with maybe a couple of old men to help out with the chores.

  Several of the men started to worry, and started to wonder if Tony was leading them into something they might not be able to handle.

  -45-

  They stayed at the trench, unwilling to move any closer to the compound until darkness fell. The field was almost two acres in size, and had been cleared for farming. There were no trees or shrubs to hide behind, and if they crossed it in the daytime they’d be sitting ducks for any good rifleman.

  Of course, staying put until darkness also worked against them. They hadn’t noticed the surveillance cameras during their previous excursion to the fence, because it had been too dark to see them. Had they decided to attack in the daytime, they would have seen the cameras and taken them out.

  Waiting until darkness almost certainly ensured that they’d overlook them again. And that gave the people in the compound the advantage of being able to see their enemy without being seen.

  As darkness fell, Tony kept a close eye on the moon. He waited until a large bank of dark gray clouds flew in front of it before he dispatched Lolo and Kevin to scout the place out.

  “Stay together and stay low. Take the bolt cutters with you. Walk completely around the fence if you need to. See if you can find a gate that’s secured by a padlock. If you can find one, cut the padlock off, but don’t go inside. Do it quietly.

  I also want you to look for cameras. They have electricity, so they might have a surveillance system. It’ll be too dark for you to see the cameras themselves, so look for little red lights. They might be flashing or solid. But all security cameras have a little red light to tell you they’re on.

  If you find any cameras, see if you can disable them without firing any shots. Pull the wires loose from them, or turn them to where they’re pointing toward the ground. Whatever you do, though, don’t shoot them. We want to surprise these fools and catch them all in their beds.

  We’ll wait here. After you do all that, come back and tell us what you found and we’ll plan our best move.

  Tony, unfortunately, wasn’t as smart as he believed himself to be.

  All video cameras did not have little red lights. Only the ones he’d encountered during the home and business burglaries he’d been on. The ones at the compound did in fact, have such lights until Scott disabled them.

  Lolo and Kevin left the others without comment or argument, and low crawled in the general direction of the fence. They knew it was out there somewhere, but in almost total darkness it was hard for them to see. Finally, forty yards away from it, they noticed that the bottom of their horizon was darker than the sky above it. They’d made it almost to the fence without incident.

  Then two things happened almost simultaneously.

  A pair of dogs inside the fence started barking furiously.

  And Hannah, sitting at the security console, yelled at the top of her lungs, “There are two men just outside the fence.”

  Suddenly pandemonium reigned on both sides of the fence. Inside the house, Sara ran from room to room, waking the children and prodding them to the basement
in their pajamas and slippers. Once there, she told them to turn on the television and put a movie in, and try not to be afraid. The adults had everything under control upstairs, she said.

  Secretly, she prayed she wasn’t misleading them.

  Once down in the basement, she turned on the auxiliary surveillance console and sat in front of it.

  “Okay, Hannah,” she said into her radio. All the monitors are on and working. I’ve got control now.”

  Hannah scampered up the stairs and took her assigned place at the east window. Her job was to feed ammunition to Joyce, and to serve as a second shooter if here were too many targets for Joyce to handle.

  Hannah was an adequate shot with a handgun, but less proficient with a rifle. There was an extra 30.06 standing by, but the group had decided she’d use it only if she had to. They didn’t want to waste any ammunition in case it was a long siege.

  Tom and Linda were already in place on the north side of the house, in two different windows. Both had their AR-15s loaded and charged.

  Jordan and Zachary covered the south side of the house. It was the side of the house farthest away from Tom’s ranch, and therefore the least likely to come under assault.

  The west side of the house, which looked out over the compound, was unmanned. The plan was for Tom and Linda to shoot as many of the intruders coming over the wall as they could. If any of them made it into the compound, Tom would quickly move to the west windows and try to get a bead on them.

  Tom immediately noticed a major flaw in their security system. Their shooting positions weren’t high enough to see the men on the other side of the fence. The tall security fence, as great as it was, simply blocked their view. And they couldn’t take any shots if they couldn’t see their targets.

  “Sara, this is Tom. Can you read me okay?”

  “Loud and clear, Tom.”

  “Have you seen any others besides the two?”

  “Nope. Just the two that came out of the wheat field. They’re on the outside of the north side of the fence, heading toward the front of the house.”

  “Okay, you’re the only one who can see them, so keep talking to us.”

  “Okay. They’re nearing the corner of the fence now, getting ready to make the turn. One of them is holding something. I thought it was a rifle, but now I’m not so sure.”

  “Jordan, this is Tom. Any activity over there?”

  “No, sir. Nothing.”

  “Keep an eye out. If they have enough men, they’ll probably try to attack us from two sides.”

  “Got it.”

  Jordan was surprised. He’d always thought he would be terrified when this moment came. But he wasn’t shaking. He wasn’t even nervous. He felt excitement more than anything else.

  “Okay, Tom. They’ve gone around the side of the fence and are at the gate now. They’re shaking it, and appear to be trying to figure out how to get it open. I can get a clear view of what he’s carrying now. It’s not a rifle. It looks like a pair of bolt cutters.”

  Tom smiled. He knew that bolt cutters would do the marauders no good. All of the gates were padlocked from the inside.

  “Okay, they’re moving on now. They’re trying the front door and trying to look into the front windows.”

  “You’re doing fine, Sara. Keep it up. You’re a big help.”

  -46-

  Back at the trench, Tony was fit to be tied.

  “Where the hell did the dogs come from?” he demanded of no one in particular. During their first visit there had been no barking dogs. This was something he hadn’t counted on. And he’d been dog bit before. He had no desire to go over a wall blind into the jaws of a pack of pit bulls.

  In fact, on the night they’d peeked over the wall before, Duke and Duchess had been in the house, laying on the floor together in the den. Their pups, Prince and Princess, were in Hannah’s room playing tug of war with an old chew toy, much to Rachel’s amusement.

  Moving them outside to help guard the compound had been Linda’s idea.

  “As long as it’s not too cold, let’s put them out there two by two. Switch them out every night. They’ll sense an invasion before we can probably even see anything on camera. And if they don’t scare the intruders away, they’ll at least let us know they’re out there.”

  So they did just that. All of the dogs spent their days in the house. That first night, Duke and Duchess were left outside. Duchess sat on the back porch most of the night, whimpering. She thought she’d done something wrong.

  The next night Prince and Princess pulled guard duty. And the dog teams switched off every night thereafter.

  By the fourth night, Tom had provided a little bit of comfort, by finishing up a large doghouse. In the back of the doghouse was a small space heater that was turned on each night and allowed to run through the night. Most of the heat went right out the doghouse door, of course, but when the dogs weren’t investigating strange noises they were able to lay in front of it to keep warm.

  “Okay, they’ve given up on getting in the house, and they’re working their way along the east side of the fence.”

  Then five minutes later, “They’ve turned the corner and are working their way along the south side. I think they’re going to go all the way around looking for a way in.”

  Sara had figured out their strategy, but by that time it was pretty apparent to Tom and the others upstairs.

  Tony was getting anxious, pacing back and forth not far from the trench. He knew there hadn’t been any trouble, since he’d heard no gunshots. But surely the barking dogs had awakened the residents. Even if Lolo and Kevin were able to cut open the gate, their invasion would be a lot tougher now.

  Half an hour later, Sara made her final update.

  “Okay, they’re back where they started now. They’re huddled at the north fence talking.”

  Tom was speaking directly to Linda, but everyone in the house could hear his words.

  “Okay, sweetheart. We’ve talked about this. You know what we need to do, right?”

  “Yes. I know.”

  “Just tell yourself you’re doing it for the children. You know damn well they’ll be back, and in greater force. And they’ll come back shooting next time.”

  “I know. I’m ready.”

  Everyone knew what they were talking about. They’d discussed it several times. Tom finally convinced Linda and Joyce that it was a mistake to let the intruders leave the night they peeked over the wall.

  He told them that they were at war now. In war you have to take advantage of the enemy’s mistakes to cull their numbers. Wars were really just battles of attrition. They had to take out the enemy before they themselves were taken out.

  The women knew that now.

  They didn’t like it. But they knew what had to be done.

  Sara was suddenly back on the radio.

  “Okay, they’re leaving the fence now. They are working their way back toward the wheat field. Back toward where they came from.”

  At that point, Tom took over.

  “Okay, sweetheart. Let me know when they come into view.”

  Ten seconds later, “Okay. I can see them both.”

  “I’ve got the one on the left. You take the one on the right. They’re moving slow, so lead them just a hair but not too much. Let me know when you’re sighted in.”

  The rest of the house braced themselves for what they knew was coming.

  “Okay, Tom. I’m ready.”

  “Okay, take a deep breath and slowly let it out. Pad of your finger on the trigger. On my count… three, two… one… fire.”

  The sound of almost simultaneous shots ringing through the house was deafening. Much louder than Linda thought it would be. For a brief instant, she forgot what she’d just done and her concern shifted to her children. She hoped they’d remembered to cover their ears.

  Through her night scope she saw the two figures, laying on the ground. One of them appeared to be moving.

  Lolo had gone down inst
antly, Tom’s bullet clean through the heart. He’d never heard or felt a thing, and he never would again, since he was dead before his face hit the dirt.

  Linda’s aim was off just a bit, but Tom couldn’t blame her. Under the circumstances, it was extremely hard for her to pull that trigger. He was proud of her.

  Kevin squirmed on the ground, still dazed and trying to figure out what hit him. The bullet missed his heart by half an inch but tore through his left lung and took some of a rib bone with it when it exited the front of his body.

  Kevin didn’t know he was dying. He just knew he was in an enormous amount of pain and couldn’t catch his breath. It never occurred to him that his final breath was only a few seconds away.

  Tom came back on the radio with a terse command.

  “Cover your ears again.”

  Tom’s second shot was as clean as the first. Kevin’s face went right into the dirt and he would never move again.

  Tony was unsure of what happened, and equally unsure of his next move. For a few seconds he thought he heard someone moaning, and he called out “Kevin, what’s happening?”

  Then the third shot came. And the moaning instantly stopped.

  He waited another thirty seconds. Nothing. By then he knew his men were gone. If they were under fire, they had plenty of time to either return fire or make it back across the field by now.

  They weren’t coming.

  They were dead.

  He felt no sadness or remorse. He simply cursed his own bad luck under his breath.

  He told the others to head out. They were done for the night.

  But they’d be back.

  -47-

  Tony and his gang stopped at the darkened ranch house just long enough to regroup.

  One of the new men had the nerve to challenge Tony and was quickly put in his place.

  “Hey, man! That was Lolo! He was one of us! Shouldn’t we go back after him? He might still be alive.”

  “Are you a special kind of stupid, or what? If he was alive he’d have run across that field. And if he’s shot so damn bad he can’t run, then what in hell are we gonna do for him? Do you know how to do surgery, fool?