The Fall of America | Book 2 | Fatal Encounters

by Benton, W. R.

  “I'll let you have the first six then.”

  “Sounds good to me because they're the easiest.”

  “What happened back there in town?”

  Margie told her tale as John scratched Dolly's ears. When she finished, he said, “You're good. Almost everyone I know would have broke out running, especially after a killing, and that would have sealed your doom. Also, you didn't go back through the market, which shows you think well under pressure.”

  “Do you honestly think I did the right thing?”

  “You're alive and here tonight, right?”

  “Why don't you get some sleep and I'll move to the front window to keep watch, because I think that's the best spot, right?”

  “Yep, wake me at midnight, or when you get tired. Now, don't fall asleep on me, or you might get both of us killed. Wake me if you get a strong urge to sleep. What you did today tired you more than you realize, even if most of it was mental fatigue. Okay?”

  Standing, with John's AK in her hands, she said, “I'll keep that in mind. Any idea how long we'll be here?”

  He laughed and then asked, “Why, do you have a hot date or something?”

  “I wish I did, just wondering.”

  “We'll see tomorrow. A lot depends on the Russians and how determined they are to catch us. They may think you were a common thief, and if that's the case, they'll not spend much time looking for you. But, by me using a grenade, I think they'll come.”

  Suddenly, realizing she'd forgotten something, Margie reached into her pocket and pulled out a poster she'd ripped from the wall of a building as she was leaving Edwards. Handing it to him she said, “These are all over town.”

  John read the poster and then placed it in his shirt pocket. Gazing into Margie's eyes, he said, “This will anger the resistance much more than a prison camp will. The killing of women and children is something animals would do, not human beings.”

  “I didn't know if I should bring one out or not. I was unsure what they'd do to me if I had one in my possession and they captured me.”

  John shrugged and then said, “Hard to say. I'm going to sleep, so you need to get to the window. The killing of hostages doesn't bother me personally; all of my family, except for Sandra are already dead. But, as an American, I dislike it and I'm sure the resistance will move against the Russians hard over this.”

  “It's wrong, but I'm a little bug and I'll do what I'm told. If you need me, I'll be at the window.” she said and then made her way to the empty room.

  As she pulled guard, her mind jumped in all directions, seemingly at the same time. She'd be thinking about Edwards, then memories of her late husband would jump to the forefront of her thoughts. She allowed this to happened, just to pass the time.

  The wind was howling and screaming now, as rain pounded the old house. Suddenly, Dolly stood and gave a low growl of warning.

  CHAPTER 12

  Lieutenant Colonel Pankov walked around in the middle of the street, where John had killed the Russian troops, cursing. How could one woman, a starving one, kill this many of his men, or was she really a woman looking for her lost family? The resistance was made up of both men and women, so she may have very well been spying on the town. She was a spy, he thought, or where would the grenade have come from?

  “How many dead, counting the two in the alley, Sergeant?”

  Belonev said, “Ten, counting the two in the alley, sir.”

  “They were going to rape her, because the one shot had his penis out.” Durchenko said with disgust.

  “Sergeant, what we do to the Americans is not your concern, but finding those responsible for the deaths of our men is, and I want it done quickly.” A light rain was falling as the new commander spoke.

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Gather up two squads and go look for them. I should send more men with you, but we do not have the manpower to do that right now. I will send helicopter support, one aircraft, and keep the others on alert, in case you run into something big.”

  “That should be enough, sir.” Durchenko said.

  “What about me? Am I to go with the group or stay behind.” Belonev asked.

  “Stay, because if something happens, I do not want to lose both of you in a battle. I need one of you to remain behind.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Durchenko said, “I will gather my men and leave now, sir, with your permission.”

  Waving the man away with his left hand, the Colonel said, “Go, and good hunting.”

  A loud crack of thunder was heard and the rain intensified as Master Sergeant Durchenko organized his men and then walked into the bushes. They left the dog handler behind, due to the rain and it showed no sign of letting up any time soon. The men were anxious, because the wind blew the long grasses and made the brush sway.

  The man on point stopped and when Durchenko neared he asked, “What do you see?”

  “There are no tracks, Sergeant.”

  “None?”

  “Look for yourself. The rain has washed them all away.”

  Pulling out his compass and map, the Sergeant said, “Keep moving east and after a few kilometers we will move north. I suspect they will move for the swamps. The area to the north has many swamps and it would be impossible to find them, if they know the swamps well. However, the helicopter may see something from the air. Hand me the radio.”

  Five minutes later, they were moving again and the Sergeant had asked for a helicopter to fly over the swamps. Maybe we will get lucky and the pilot will kill them. If he does, then I can get out of this rain and nurse a bottle for a few hours. I am too old to be doing this shit, Durchenko thought.

  Pankov said, “While we are out here, let us raid the traders and see what we can find. Hell, one or more of them may be part of the resistance. Everyone into the trucks!”

  They drove to the market and as they unloaded the truck, Sally slowly made her way from her booth and walked into the wet trees behind her. The trees used to be a park, but no one had kept it up, so it was overgrown with grasses and trees. She didn't like being wet, but knew it beat a bullet in the head any day. She lay down but kept her head up to see what was happening.

  Pankov yelled, “Gather all the civilians and place them next to the house across the street. I want three guards on them at all times. Then, search each booth and look for anything unusual. If you find anything, bring it to me or call for me.”

  The soldiers began to ransack the booths, found nothing in the first few, and then moved to Fred's booth. All went well for him, until they pulled a plastic container out from under his folding table. A private opened the container, gave a loud gasp and then stepped back. Sergeant Belonev moved to the box, looked inside and then said, “Colonel, you need to see this, sir.”

  Pankov walked to the booth, glanced inside the container and then asked, “Who owns this booth?” His English was fair, because he'd attended an English language course as a requirement to become an intelligence officer.

  When no one replied, Pankov said, “I will not ask again. If you do not answer me, I will have all of you shot.”

  A woman suddenly shouted, “Fred owns it and that's him, right there.” She pointed to the fat man.

  Fred tried to blend in with the others, but couldn't do the job. He began to shake in fear as the Colonel commanded, “Seize that man and bring him to me.”

  Once he was in front of Pankov, Fred said, “S . . . sir, why do you want me?” Since Fred didn't speak Russian, he had no idea what was going on, but he had fears and suspicions.

  Placing his hands on his narrow hips, Pankov asked, “Are you the owner of this booth?”

  Fred started to lie, but knew it would do him little good, because he'd already been identified, so he nodded.

  “Can you explain why there are human hands and feet in this container?”

  “The box is not mine. I buy my meat from a man who delivers it each morning.”

  “Bring me the woman who identified him to me now.
”

  When the woman neared, Pankov could see she was terrified, so he asked softly, “Is what he is telling me the truth?” Then, to get the woman's attention, he pulled his pistol.

  “No, he brings his meat in from his farm. Few of us here buy any meat that is white from him, because we know what it is.”

  “Oh, and how did you know this?”

  “By his tone. He'd say, 'I butchered another two legged hog last night,' or something like that. We didn't know for sure, so we said nothing.”

  Pankov said, “Take all of them, except these two to the new camp. They will be our first visitors and while it is crude, it will keep them where we need them.”

  “Yes, sir.” Belonev replied and then yelled, “Get the civilians by the wall in the truck. Let us go, and do the job quickly.”

  Fred noticed everyone was watching the guards roundup the people, so he made a dash for the trees where Sally was watching. A Russian machine gunner fired and the bullets stitched down the center of Fred's back, spraying blood and bone in all directions. The butcher screamed, fell to the grasses, and his body jerked violently. After a moment or so, he stopped moving, and his blood slowly added crimson to the water puddle under him.

  Pankov looked at the woman and thought, she is not ugly and yet young enough to please my men, once clean. I must keep my troops happy or I will have problems with them eventually.

  He could see the woman was not wearing a bra, so he extended his arm and squeezed her left breast. While she didn't like his touch and gave him a sneer, he asked, “Your breasts are firm. Do you want to continue living?”

  Thinking quickly, she realized if she said no, they'd likely kill her, so she said, “I can make you a happy man, sir.” I must survive, she thought, even if it's as a whore.

  “What do you want done with the woman, sir?” The Master Sergeant asked.

  “Bring her with us, she will be useful entertaining the troops. The men use up women too quickly, but a few will enjoy this one before they grow tired of her.”

  While she didn't understand a word said, she was smiling when led to the Colonel's staff car, not realizing the fate awaiting her.

  “What of the butcher's body?”

  “Drag it to the street and then hang him from his ankles. Place a sign on his ass that says, guilty of butchering humans and peddling the meat.”

  “I will see to it immediately, sir.”

  Looking around, Pankov said, “Leave this place as it is, so some of the food and other things can go to the people of this town. I think their market has just been closed.”

  Durchenko and his men were cursing the rain as they moved. The rain was harder now and it angered him there were no tracks to follow in the mud. The rains had cleaned all sign of anyone passing.

  The radio man walked to his side and said, “Base says the helicopter pilot is on a weather hold and we are to continue to the edge of the swamp. The commander does not want us to enter without an aircraft overhead.”

  “Acknowledge that I understand and we will hold on the edge of the swamp, until the aircraft is in the air.”

  Throughout the afternoon, the Master Sergeant wondered why they'd seen no mines or booby-traps, and was beginning to think he was on the wrong trail. He was an old partisan hunter and knew they often made attempts to scare, injure, or kill, those following, but he'd seen nothing so far.

  Looks like no aircraft will be with us this day, he thought as he neared the edge of the swamp. Turning to the radio man he said, “Contact base and let them know we are at the very edge of the swamp. Ask them if we should call it a day and start fresh in the morning. And, get a weather report.”

  A couple of minutes later, the man carrying the radio said, “We are to spend the night here. Weather is forecasting rain all night, with dense fog at daylight. Once the fog burns off, base hopes to get the aircraft into the air.”

  “Give them our exact coordinates and tell them we'll contact them every hour, on the hour, and we will move in the morning when they tell us to do so.” Then, looking at his wet men, Durchenko added, “Men, we will spend the night here, so move to the small clearing among the trees. I want two men on guard at all times. If I catch a guard sleeping, I will beat his ass.”

  The men cursed the mission and their luck to have to spend a night out in the rain. Durchenko knew a cursing soldier was common, so he ignored the chatter.

  “Can we have a small fire, to cook on, before it grows dark?” A private asked.

  The Master Sergeant laughed and replied, “If you can find anything dry enough to burn, sure, but it goes out at dark.” These men are such fools. It has been raining hard all day and unless they look under big trees, they will find no dry wood.

  One of the privates said, “I see a nice log over there.”

  He moved forward and suddenly he erupted in a sheet of fire, his body coming apart before it flew into the air. Men fell to the ground and once the noise of the explosion, as well as the dust, died down, Durchenko said, “Keep your eyes open for mines, anytime you are in the field. Is anyone else hurt?”

  “We have two others down.” A junior sergeant said, who Durchenko knew was their medic.

  “Well, see to them, fool!”

  “What if there are more mines?”

  “You'll be safe enough, if you stay behind the dead man. It's not likely the ones we follow placed a mine field around here. It was designed to slow us down, so check my men.”

  The medic cursed under his breath and then moved to the injured men. He squatted by the first man, shook his head, and opened a bag he carried, and removed a needle. He gave the man a shot and then moved to the next man. After a few minutes he returned to Durchenko and said, “One will die, he has been hit in the gut, and the other has a slight head wound. I have dressed the head wound.”

  “And, Doctor Sergeant, what makes you think the belly wound will die?”

  “The blast took a big chunk of his spine out and even on the base, a doctor could do nothing for him. He will be dead in a minute or two.”

  I think you have given the man too much morphine for his pain, so he will die for sure. I would want you to do it to me, if I was hurting and had no chance to live, Durchenko thought and then removed a ration from his pack.

  Near midnight, while all were asleep, one of guards opened fire at something he thought he saw moving in the water of the swamp.

  “What in the hell are you shooting at?” The Master Sergeant said as he stood, weapon in hand.

  “I think I saw a man swimming toward us in the water, so I shot.”

  Durchenko moved to the edge of the water and saw a huge alligator dead near the bank. The body of the animal was leaking blood from a half a dozen bullet holes. He laughed and said, “Come here, fool, and see your man.”

  The guard, visibly shaken by the experience, walked to the edge of the swamp, looked into the water, and then said, “It looked just like a swimming man.”

  “Alright, everyone back to sleep.” Durchenko said and then turned to the young guard, “When you are tired, it's late and dark, your eyes often play tricks on you. The next time, wake someone instead.”

  When morning arrived, fog draped the swamp and low areas in a veil of white that looked to go forever. The men ate and then relaxed as they waited for word from the base. The radio man neared Durchenko, who was making coffee, and said, “This fog will not be gone until around 10 hundred hours. Weather says a cold front collided with a warm one, which is causing the current conditions.”

  “Let them know we are ready to move when they give the word.”

  The rain had eased and was more like a mist now, but each man wore a poncho. The man with the belly wound had died the night before, as well as the man with the head injury. The old Master Sergeant knew head wounds were tricky and sometimes the best medics didn't understand a head didn't need to be bloody to be a serious injury. But, he hadn't known the names or anything about either of the dead, so he forgot about them. I need to conce
ntrate on keeping these men alive and not worry about the dead. They are beyond worrying over now, he thought as he picked up his canteen cup.

  An hour later, at 0900, the radio man neared and said, “Weather is breaking near the base, so a helicopter will be airborne shortly.”

  “Do they want us to enter the swamp now?”

  “No. We are to wait until the pilot contacts us before we move in any direction.”

  Durchenko nodded and then said, “Check your gear and make sure nothing rattles. When we enter the swamp, keep a close lookout for snakes. Most of the water snakes in this part of the country are poisonous, so watch where you place your feet and hands.”

  No sooner had the fog dissipated than the Master Sergeant heard noise from the radio. The radio man grinned and said, “I understand.”

  “Well?”

  “We are to wait here until the helicopter checks some areas in the swamp.” The radio man said and then added, “We might not have to enter at all, not the way things are looking.”

  “We will enter. The aircraft is checking now to see if he can catch anyone out walking. I do not think he will be an hour checking either, so get rid of the grin.”

  “I can hope, Master Sergeant.”

  The radio squawked and when the man answered it, he spoke for a minute or two and then said, “We are to enter. He claims the area looks clean and informed you to not go more than five kilometers in to this place.”

  “Alright, don your packs and gear. I want a man on point with good eyes, and another man on drag.”

  Soon they were moving down a trail, but there were no tracks or marks indicating anyone had ever been here before. Mud was ankle deep and it slowed the men down. The chopper kept flying near and at times he'd drop low to check out suspicious looking area or to break the boredom.

  The man on point covered about two kilometers when he suddenly stopped and said, “Tripwire.”

  Durchenko moved forward, looked at the wire, and marked it with a stick in the mud in the middle of the trail. “It is marked, so move forward, but keep your eyes open at all times.”