Return To Ely

by Darrell Maloney

  For the only other place it could possibly exit the bunker was through the pillbox.

  He couldn’t see it, but could clearly smell it.

  If he could smell it from outside and sixty yards away, he knew the people in the bunker were miserable.

  On the inside John Parker was fit to be tied.

  And he was angry, in the same unreasonable manner bad men always employ to take offense to cops for coming after them.

  In the minds of bad men, law enforcement always employs unreasonable and unfair tactics to take them off the streets.

  Everyone has seen bad guys on the TV, cursing the cops for catching and arresting them. None of them ever blame themselves for the pitiful situations they’ve placed themselves in.

  It’s always the cop’s fault.

  In this case Parker was cursing like a sailor, the target of his wrath being the men outside.

  They had the unbelievable gall of wanting to steal the bunker they’d stolen from others.

  The nerve of them, anyhow.

  Also, Parker had dropped all the pretense of affection he ever claimed for Sarah.

  She was now persona non grata, as unwelcome as any of the other hostages.

  As such, Parker had no qualms about placing her in harm’s away.

  When it became obvious no attack was coming; at least right away, Parker gave his men permission to reoccupy the back of the bunker.

  It would take awhile, for the lingering stench of the tear gas would take hours to dissipate enough to be comfortable.

  But no one wanted to hang around the front of the bunker either.

  There was the sense that whenever the people outside decided to make their assault, that’s where the bullets would be flying.

  Parker growled to Karen and to Sarah, “You and your little brats stay up here,” meaning the room just below the pillbox.

  “When they attack, you’ll be the first to die. You’re the expendables.”

  To Santos he said, “She’s your woman. You stand here and make sure they don’t try to escape. When the shooting starts make sure they stay put.

  “If they try to go deeper into the bunker, shoot them dead.”

  It was a terrible position to put Santos in, having to choose between his friendship to Sarah and his allegiance to Parker.

  But it was what it was.

  He simply nodded his head to indicate he understood.

  Parker and the other men made their way deeper into the bowels of the bunker, coughing and hacking every step of the way due to the lingering traces of gas.

  Vega asked Parker, “What in the hell are they waiting for? Why don’t they just attack and get it over with?”

  Parker didn’t know for sure, but offered his best guess.

  “They want to drag us down. Weaken us and worry us. Exhaust us. They want to make us as weak as they can before they come in to root us out.”

  “So what do we do?”

  “We break into shifts,” Parker said. “Half of us will sleep. The other half will be ready for the attack.

  “And we hope it comes sooner than later. Because the longer they wait the bigger advantage they’ll have.”

  To Dave it was much simpler than that.

  He had no grand scheme or schedule.

  He had merely a simple three step process to getting the friendlies out of the bunker and to make the rest pay.

  The first step was a warning and a taste of things to come.

  That had already been done.

  It would have been nice if his first step was sufficient to clear everyone out, crying and screaming, where Dave could pick off the bad guys and spare the good.

  But he didn’t really expect the first step to solve the problem.

  As for why he was waiting for the second step, he had no real reason other than he wanted it to eat on the bad guys’ minds.

  It would come soon enough.

  Once he was certain no one was coming out anytime soon Dave broke down the sniper rifle and slung it across his back.

  He retreated to the woods and made his way back to Sal’s rig to replenish his supply of smoke and tear gas canisters.

  And the extra surprise he’d found on the shelves of the abandoned supermarket.

  It would be the game changer.

  It would be what won the war for him.

  Chapter 54

  It was mid-afternoon when Dave made it back to the bunker site.

  As he’d done many times before, he forgot to wind his wind-up watch.

  He felt like such a dumb-ass.

  It wouldn’t affect his operation directly, for he wasn’t on a strict by-the-minute schedule.

  But it served to remind him he could get sloppy during such operations and that he had to be more careful.

  From the position of the sun in the sky it was around fifteen hundred hours, give or take a few minutes.

  He still had plenty of time to finish this today.

  That wasn’t mandatory, but it was preferable to him.

  For in his mind the only way the men in the bunker could turn the tables on him was to slip out of the bunker after dark and to find him while he was sleeping.

  He’d rather not give them that option.

  He went back to the area just north of the second ventilation pipe. The one where he’d ended his first assault.

  And where he’d finish the second one.

  First he unslung the sniper rifle and took off the muzzle cover.

  He lifted the scope cap and made sure it was aligned properly and not dusty.

  He snapped on the bi-pod and put the weapon on the ground, aimed at the unoccupied pillbox, then cleared the brush and rocks away from the ground directly behind it.

  He wasn’t sure how long he’d be lying in the prone position waiting for his shot, and wanted to make sure he was comfortable.

  Once the rifle was in place and at the ready he left the weapon and moved to the other vent pipe. He removed the plastic bag.

  Instantly he got a whiff of the lingering smell of tear gas.

  It was but a vague scent now but still potent enough to make his eyes tear just a bit.

  He’d timed the first attack, back before his Timex stopped ticking, and knew it took just over ten minutes for the tear gas to go through the bunker and out the pillbox.

  That was using four canisters.

  This time he’d use eight.

  One by one he pulled the pins on the canisters and dropped them down the pipe.

  After he deposited the first four in the first vent he replaced the plastic bag and moved quickly to the second vent.

  There he repeated the process.

  And to add to the chaos inside the bunker he tossed in two smoke grenades.

  Red smoke.

  Because he suspected he was dealing with escapees from the Ft. Leavenworth Military Prison.

  He imagined his adversaries were former soldiers.

  And he wanted to send them a very distinct message their bunker was a hot zone.

  Very hot, in fact.

  And he planned to make it hotter.

  By the time he ran to the sniper rifle all hell was breaking loose ten feet beneath his feet.

  Parker yelled down the corridor to Santos, “Cover your face! Round two coming down!”

  Sarah had a pretty good idea who was behind the assault.

  She told Santos, “That’s my husband Dave out there. I told you he was coming after us.

  “We’re going out. You can shoot us if you want, but your only chance to survive is to come out with us.

  “Use your head, Robert. This is a life or death decision.”

  Santos hesitated but only for a split second.

  He made a motion toward the pillbox with the muzzle of his AK-47 and said, “Go.”

  The women wasted no time.

  Karen went first.

  If they were wrong, if it wasn’t Dave out there, and if they were going to be shot as they exited, she’d be the first to die.r />
  At least she wouldn’t be around to watch her children meet the same fate.

  Before she crawled up the access hatch, she called down to her kids, “You guys follow in my footsteps. Don’t stray from my path.”

  Dave saw the hatch open on top of the pillbox and held his breath.

  He half-smiled when he saw the familiar form of his sister-in-law.

  He hoped she knew the safe path away from the bunker and finally exhaled when he saw she did.

  One by one her children followed, like ducklings following their mother.

  Dave yelled to her.

  “Karen! Over here!”

  Chapter 55

  Sarah was crawling out of the hatch when Karen and her children cleared the danger zone.

  Karen sent the kids into the woods.

  “Hide,” she told them. “Stay together and don’t come out until we come looking for you.”

  Without so much as a word they complied.

  Karen ran over to Dave and slid into the dirt alongside him.

  All those years of playing softball paid off.

  She took the AR-15 Dave had unslung from his back and aimed it toward the pillbox.

  They now had two weapons trained upon the box, and suddenly Karen had the sense the battle was over.

  Whatever happened from here on out, the battle was won.

  Dave never took his eyes off of Sarah as she made her way toward them.

  Dave had to ask, although he dreaded the answer.

  “Lindsey… where the hell is Lindsey?”

  “She’s safe, Dave. She and Kara went to the farm.”

  Dave breathed another sigh of relief and placed his eye back on the scope.

  He trained it back on the hatch and asked, “How many more friendlies are inside?”

  Sarah made it to them just in time to hear Dave’s question.

  “Santos said he’d coming out in a minute.

  “He didn’t have to let us go, but he did.

  “He deserves to live.”

  As if on cue, another head popped up from the hatch.

  Sarah said, “That’s Santos. Don’t shoot.”

  Dave took his finger off the trigger and went into standby mode.

  He’d wait until Santos was safely out of the way and prepare to shoot the next man to show his ugly head.

  Then the oddest thing happened.

  As Santos cleared the top of the hatch and started his descent off the top of the pillbox a small hole suddenly appeared in his chest.

  A gaping hole appeared in his back.

  He fell off the side of the pillbox and rolled down the incline.

  He rolled onto a personnel mine which exploded, ending any chance he might have had of surviving his wound.

  Even as a tiny puff of smoke cleared the muzzle of Karen’s weapon, her sister was already yelling at her.

  “Karen! What have you done? That was Santos! He let us escape!”

  “I know who it was. Shut up, Sarah!”

  Dave was confused.

  He didn’t understand the situation, and had never heard the sisters argue before.

  He didn’t know what was going on.

  But he’d sort that out later.

  Right now there wasn’t time.

  Right now he was in the heat of a battle.

  “That’s it,” Karen yelled to Dave.

  “Anybody else coming out needs to die.”

  That was good enough for Dave.

  It was like a good military order.

  Short. Concise. Not ambiguous at all. No chance of confusion.

  He had his marching orders.

  The next head to appear would be blown apart.

  But nobody else came out.

  Inside the bunker, Parker was cursing.

  He’d made his way down the corridor to find the front of the bunker absolutely empty.

  He’d been betrayed.

  Santos deserted in the face of the enemy.

  Santos was a sniveling coward.

  He’d heard the gunshot and the explosion right after it.

  He knew men were dying outside.

  So did his men, who were right behind him.

  All were coughing mightily.

  All eyes were clamped tightly closed, only allowing them to squint occasionally to help find their way.

  And all of them were waking up to the realization they were going to die.

  Chapter 56

  Parker instinctively knew anyone else who tried to exit the bunker would fall victim to a gunshot.

  In all likelihood they’d have no chance of defending themselves.

  Their eyes were full of tears. They couldn’t focus on someone three feet away in close order combat, much less a man with a rifle a hundred yards away or more.

  In a word, they were screwed.

  He didn’t know if they had a chance left to survive.

  If there was a chance, though, it wouldn’t be by going out there.

  Out there was certain death.

  His men looked to him for help.

  He felt the discomfort felt by many Army officers in combat.

  It was an old story.

  Newly minted lieutenants enjoyed the trappings of their rank.

  They enjoyed being saluted by the enlisted men, some of whom were old enough to be their fathers.

  They enjoyed the higher pay, the better quarters, the ability to walk into the officers club to buy a cold beer when the majority of base personnel weren’t welcome there.

  Eventually, though, they had to pay the piper for all those niceties.

  Eventually they found themselves in the heat of battle, expected to make the tough decisions no one else wanted to make.

  Eventually they had to send men to die.

  Or to make a tough call which would either win their battle or lose it.

  Parker looked around the tiny room at the front of the bunker as best he could though watering and squinted eyes.

  As far as he could tell, all other eyes were on him, looking for guidance.

  He had very little to give.

  He took the wet t-shirt away from his face and coughed out a few words.

  Few because every one caused him pain.

  For every word he uttered took some of his breath with it.

  Breath he’d have to replace.

  With searing tear gas.

  “We’ll have to tough it out until darkness. It’s our only chance of getting out and getting away.”

  It wasn’t much of a plan.

  But he could do no better.

  Dave, of course, had his own plan in mind.

  And it had nothing to do with letting Parker and his men get away, or even survive to see nightfall for that matter.

  Although Sarah, if asked, might have been indifferent, Karen was on the same sheet of music.

  “No one’s left inside except the marauders who killed the Dykes brothers.

  “We can’t let them out alive, Dave. They’re too dangerous. They’ll go on hurting and killing until we rid the earth of them.

  Karen had no idea how much residual affection her sister might still have for John Parker.

  Moreover, she didn’t care.

  She glared at Sarah, defying her to argue.

  Sarah said nothing.

  Karen turned back to Dave and said, “We have to kill them all.”

  Dave needed no prompting.

  He issued his wife some quick instructions.

  “You’ve shot deer before. This rifle is like your 30.06, only a lot more accurate and with a much better scope.

  “Keep both your weapons trained on that hatch. Blow away anything that comes out of it.

  “I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

  With that he stole away, back to the first ventilation pipe.

  He opened his backpack and took out several of his secret weapons.

  Dave lived in San Antonio, Texas for most of his life.

  Now San Antonio is by far the pretti
est city in Texas, with a rich and proud history.

  It’s a wonderful place.

  But it has its share of problems, just like any other city.

  One of them is palmetto bugs.

  Northerners likely never have to deal with these little spawn of the devil, and in fact may never have heard of them.

  Picture cockroaches on steroids.

  These things are huge and exceedingly ugly.

  They spit vile-smelling secretion and fly.

  They send grown women, and sometimes grown men, running for cover and screaming like schoolgirls.

  They invaded Dave’s garage on occasion and laid their eggs there.

  Dave crushed them beneath the heel of his boot whenever he could, just for the satisfaction of hearing them crunch.

  But sometimes they got away, crawling into the cracks in the walls or beneath some of his accumulated junk.

  He found the best way to keep them in check was to bomb his garage occasionally.

  Not a Mark-81 dumb bomb or a GBU-12 laser guided smart bomb.

  Either would kill the palmetto bugs, sure.

  But they’d take Dave and his house along with them.

  No, the type of “bomb” Dave used to kill his palmettos was sold in his local supermarket.

  It came in a small aerosol can and contained a heavy duty pesticide.

  All Dave had to do was take off the cap, depress the activator button and lock it into place, and leave the house for a couple of hours.

  He figured if such bombs would kill bugs the size of a man’s thumb it would kill two-legged vermin as well.

  In Dave’s brief absence Sarah had the time to ask her sister, “Why did you shoot Santos? He didn’t have to die.”

  Uncharacteristically, Karen attacked her.

  “Shut up, Sarah. They all have to die now to keep your secret. I’ll get to Lindsey and Kara before Dave does. I’ll swear them to secrecy about you and Parker.

  “You just keep your mouth shut and say nothing. It’s the only way to save your marriage.”

  Chapter 57

  When Dave visited the abandoned supermarket on the outskirts of Ely, he wasn’t surprised to find the insecticide aisle largely untouched.

  All the food was gone, the water too.

  Everything that could be eaten or drank, including pet food, was taken by looters long before.