Stolen Liberty: Behind the Curtain

by Thomas A. Watson

  “It was Tabitha. She’s fine now,” Charlie whispered as Robbie pushed another body to the side. Feeling the current push against Robbie, Charlie was glad Robbie was the size of pro linebacker.

  Each step Robbie took was slow and steady. When he planted his foot, he tested his grip before moving his back leg. “Oh, I’m gonna be killing something very violently for having to do this shit,” Robbie mumbled, pushing more floaters away.

  Moving for what seemed like hours and feeling like a Hobbit, Robbie gave a sigh to see light ahead finally. Flipping the NVGs up, “Book, twenty yards to the opening,” Robbie whispered back.

  “Okay, keep this pace,” Charlie said, letting go and Robbie turned to see Charlie’s head floating upstream with his helmet rubbing against the roof of the tunnel.

  “I bet you wished you were that good of a swimmer at Benning,” Robbie mumbled and felt a hand grab his pack. He turned and saw it was Tabitha, who like Kristi, had to bounce off her toes to get her mouth above water. Impressed that she wasn’t ramming her head into the concrete roof, Robbie turned around and continued on.

  Reaching the opening, Charlie moved to the side, putting his back against the wall and his feet down. Looking over at the drainage pond, he sucked in a breath at the mass of bodies dotting the surface. Hearing faint voices, Charlie lifted his hand out of the water in a fist and Robbie stopped back in the culvert.

  Bringing his rifle up and keeping only his eyes out of the water, Charlie eased up while tracing the voices. On the north end of the drainage pond sixty yards away, he saw two men laughing and pointing out at the water at the hundreds of floating corpses. Scanning around the pond, he didn’t see any more.

  Catching the body of a woman as she floated past, Charlie moved out of the tunnel to look along this bank. Keeping his head beside the woman, Charlie walked out, slowly turning his head. Not seeing anymore, Charlie brought his rifle up and let the woman’s body float away.

  Pulling the stock into his shoulder, Charlie saw the men were drinking beer as they laughed at the body filled lake. Seeing one turn up his bottle, Charlie put his reticle on the other’s face. Flicking the safety off, Charlie slowly squeezed the trigger.

  The muffled shot gave a weird ‘twang’ as the water cooled the hot gasses and Charlie centered on the other just as the back of the first man’s head exploded. The second man coughed up his beer bending over, and Charlie’s shot entered the top of his head and blew out his spine.

  Dropping his rifle under the water, Charlie moved over to another body and held it in place while he looked around, making sure the shots weren’t investigated. With the rain, the roar of water, gunshots in the distance and engines at the checkpoint, Charlie didn’t think there was a risk but still waited. After ten minutes, Charlie guided the floating body he was hiding beside to the front of the tunnel. Charlie lifted his hand out of the water, motioning Robbie to move.

  Stepping out of the tunnel, Robbie felt sick to see the bodies dotting the water forming a solid sheet in places. He had one that wasn’t floating almost take his legs out from under him when it rolled along the bottom. As he neared Charlie, he pointed for Robbie to lead.

  Waiting while the others passed, Charlie stepped up to walk with Randy. “Give me Clark,” Charlie said, grabbing Clark and pulling him to his side. “Go find out who the fuck those guys were,” Charlie snapped, moving over so Kristi could grab his pack.

  Ahead, Tabitha retched at the sight of hundreds of corpses and there wasn’t anything anyone could say, except Tabitha did it quietly. Moving through a pond of floating corpses pushed them all to nausea. Feeling Clark shivering, Charlie glanced over and saw tears running down his rain-soaked face. “Don’t look, Clark,” Charlie said, following along.

  Lifting his mouth out of the water, “They were shot,” Clark whimpered softly.

  “I know, Clark, I know,” Charlie said, having to bend over now to keep just his head out of the water. “Can you walk and keep your head out of the water till Blaster gets out?”

  Nodding, Clark let go and turned around to see Kristi wiping her mouth. “Puked under water. Don’t try it,” she gasped. When she caught her breath, she lowered back down so only her nose was out.

  When Charlie saw Robbie stand up and wade out, he fought the urge to take off running to get out of this watery hell. Walking into the trees, he saw the clump of bushes Randy had spoken of. Charlie turned around and saw Randy out of the water at the two agent’s bodies.

  “Go,” he whispered, waving the others past and kneeling beside a tree. It may have been wrong, but Charlie chuckled when he watched Randy strip the bodies and pull the naked corpses out into the water with the other corpses they’d just been laughing at. Keeping Randy covered, Charlie risked a glance back and saw everyone was in the bushes.

  When Randy stopped beside him, Charlie looked in Randy’s face. “Who were they?” Charlie asked.

  “Homeland,” Randy answered, holding up two badges.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Outside Country Club Hills, IL

  Moving to the bushes with the others, Charlie and Randy found Kristi stripping Clark and Emily in the small clearing. Cody was at the other end leaning back on his rucksack. “Who were they?” Robbie asked, taking his claw off. Sitting beside his mom and dad still shivering, Chase looked with wide eyes at Robbie’s left forearm where the bullet had amputated his hand at the wrist.

  “Homeland,” Charlie answered, tossing the credentials over.

  Looking at the badges on the outside of the wallets, Robbie dried his stump off and then shoved a towel down in the tube that fit over his forearm to hold the three-fingered claw. “For some reason, that doesn’t surprise me,” Robbie grumbled.

  “Blaster, them taking people’s property on fake charges is one thing, but to execute citizens is Hitler-era actions,” Randy said, dropping down and taking his rucksack off.

  “Shadow, some could say shooting them is more forgiving than throwing them in prison to rot away like animals,” Robbie told him. “Any equipment?”

  “Nah, only Glock .40s, and I tossed them in the drainage pond after I pulled the bodies in,” Randy replied, opening his rucksack. Untying the waterproof bag, Randy pulled out his woobie and two cellophane packages. Ripping one of the packages open, Randy unfolded a silver heat blanket.

  Walking over to Clark and Emily, who were standing barefoot in their underwear, “Here,” Randy said, wrapping the heat blanket around both of them. They looked up with quivering lips.

  “Thank you,” Clark said, trying to keep his teeth from chattering.

  Wrapping the camouflaged poncho liner around them to cover the shiny silver blanket, “Not everybody gets to use my woobie,” Randy smiled at them.

  “No shit! I tried to use it once and we got ambushed. Shadow starts fighting me, even with hadjis shooting at us,” Robbie laughed.

  Pulling his boots off, “I told you to leave Shadow’s woobie alone,” Charlie laughed.

  Turning to Kristi, “Get under there with them,” Randy said, then walked over to Chase. “Stand,” Randy told him.

  Huddled into his mom and dad, Chase stood up with his teeth chattering. Reaching down, Randy pulled the boy’s shirt off and dropped it. As Randy undid Chase’s pants, Ryan leaned forward but Cody grabbed his shoulder.

  “Open your mouth, and I kill you right here, right now,” Cody snapped, letting Ryan go and moved beside Randy, kneeling down and untying Chase’s boots. “I’ll deal with Kristi. She only stays mad for so long.”

  “Y-y-oo- you can k-k-kk-kill him if he says anything about helping Ch-chchch-ch-chase,” Kristi shivered, with chattering teeth while crawling under with her kids.

  Hearing Ryan was cleared for a lead injection, Robbie seemed to levitate off the ground. Robbie moved over and shoved Randy and Cody to the side. “I got this,” he said, buckling his claw on his forearm. Chase looked up at Robbie, standing over him without a shirt. “You’ll be warm in no time,” Robbie grinned, looking at
Chase’s blue lips.

  “Here, Blaster,” Randy chuckled, holding out the other heat blanket package.

  Taking the package, Robbie knelt to take Chase’s boots off and then his pants. Opening the package, Robbie wrapped the shiny blanket around him, then picked Chase up and carried him over to his rucksack.

  Pulling his own woobie out, Robbie sat down, taking the heat blanket from Chase and pulled Chase between his legs. Wrapping the heat blanket and woobie around both of them, Robbie grinned over at Ryan. “We’re warm,” Robbie grinned, praying Ryan would say anything.

  Picking up Chase’s clothes, Cody wrung them out. “Tabitha, I would advise you to get warm,” Cody told her while tossing down a package and Tabitha saw it was a heat blanket. Before she could say anything, Cody walked away to hand Robbie Chase’s clothes and boots.

  “Tabitha,” Kristi said, feeling warmth seep back into her body. “Get out of your wet clothes and put them under the blanket with you, so they will warm up some before we leave.”

  While Tabitha did what Kristi told her, Ryan glanced around in shock, since nobody seemed to care about him. Then he looked over at Robbie smiling at him, and Ryan noticed Chase wasn’t shivering and was leaning back against Robbie.

  “We need better rain gear, Momma,” Clark said, feeling much better.

  “Doesn’t exist,” Randy admitted, taking his prosthetic off. “Want to stay warm and dry? Stay out of the rain.”

  Drying his stump off, Randy dried the inside of the prosthetic boot off. “We have two hours till dark. I suggest everyone gets ready for a hell of a night,” Randy advised, pulling his poncho out and putting it over himself.

  “We have to…” Clark paused as he swallowed hard. “Move with dead bodies again?”

  “Don’t know, but we might. We will be moving along a creek on the other side of Vollmer Road,” Randy told him. “Just keep your mind on the here and now. When your hands and feet get cold, move your fingers and toes like you do when we are hunting.”

  “Can we use our heat packs, please?” Emily begged from under the blanket.

  Looking over, Randy chuckled to see Emily had the blanket pulled over her head in a warm cocoon with her mom and brother. “If you need to, but you’d better already have them out because when we start, the only time we stop is to make sure the area ahead is clear,” Randy told her, then everyone heard a group of rifles off in the distance fire at the same time.

  The smile fell from Randy’s face. Gunfire sounded around them but now, everyone knew what the group firing was doing. “Shadow,” Kristi snapped. “You aren’t getting side-tracked, understand?”

  All the boys turned to see the stern look on Kristi’s face. “Kristi, I would never dream of such a thing,” Randy grinned.

  Cocking her head to the side, “You do realize my husband did talk, right?” Kristi asked.

  Leaning back against his rucksack and getting comfortable, “Man, I wish we had Wheat for this,” Randy mumbled, trying to scratch his back on the rucksack.

  Watching the boys relax while preparing themselves mentally, Kristi sighed with a smile. “He’s with us,” she said under her breath.

  Robbie looked over and saw Randy using his prosthetic foot to scratch the center of his back. “I ever see a woman that can scratch her back with her toes, I’ll marry her on the spot,” Robbie vowed, making everyone chuckle quietly.

  They could hear diesel engines around them, moving on the interstate and Vollmer Road. The darker it got, everyone noticed the tempo of gunfire around them increased, but none of them mentioned it.

  When Randy stood up and started dressing, Charlie sighed. “Get ready,” Charlie said, grabbing his boots. Putting on dry socks, Charlie cringed to put his wet boots on.

  Checking the straps on his prosthetic, “I’m checking the road,” Randy said, grabbing his vest and pulling it on. Patting his gear down and strapping the drop platforms on, Randy press checked his AR. “Book, if I’m spotted, I’ll meet up at the first rally point.”

  “They see you, we are fucking hosed,” Cody moaned, getting ready. Not acknowledging he’d heard, Randy slipped through the bushes. “Man, if he’s that quiet and fast on one leg, I bet he was a terror on two. I only got to see it once and to be honest, I only remember being terrified.”

  “Babyface, I watched him slip into an enemy camp and steal their teapot,” Robbie chuckled, and Charlie snorted hard, trying not to laugh. “Two hadjis were on guard and five others were sleeping and Shadow just slips in, steals their teapot, brings it back, and we had tea.”

  “I thought Wheat was going to kill his ass,” Charlie chuckled, wiping his eyes.

  “Did Dad tell Uncle Randy he couldn’t?” Clark asked, pausing as he tied his boots.

  “No,” Robbie chuckled as he dressed Chase. “Wheat told Shadow he couldn’t make coffee. We were following that group to a meeting.”

  “Did the bad guys find out?” Emily asked. She was shocked when her mom answered.

  “No. The seven hadjis got into a fistfight because Randy brought the teapot back … empty,” Kristi smirked, tying Emily’s boots.

  Grabbing his rifle and making sure his optics were good, “In all fairness, Wheat told Shadow to get rid of the pot,” Charlie chuckled. “That was some good tea.”

  As Kristi moved over to check Clark, he leaned to her ear. “I like it when they talk about stories with Dad,” Clark whispered.

  Seeing his boots were tight, Kristi looked up with a smile. “You’re getting old enough to hear them now,” she told him, and Clark grinned in excitement. “Make sure you tighten everything down hard, so it doesn’t rub you.”

  “Okay, Mom,” Clark said, pulling his backpack on. Putting the waist strap under the magazine carrier strapped to the vest, Clark pulled it tight and then grabbed his AR. Looking over at Cody, Clark saw Cody patting his gear and then pull the six magazines on his vest out, tapping the side to seat the rounds before shoving the magazine back in. Looking down at his gear, Clark copied what Cody had just done.

  Cody moved over, taking the head harness of the NVG Clark had and adjusted it. “Just keep it on tonight. I have extra batteries,” Cody told him, putting the harness over Clark’s head and buckling the chin strap.

  “Can’t I put it over my right eye?” Clark asked.

  “No, you can’t aim with it over your right eye,” Cody explained. Reaching to his thigh pocket, Cody pulled out a boonie hat in A-Tac camo. “This will help keep water out of your eyes,” Cody grinned at him, tightening the cinch up.

  “Thanks,” Clark grinned.

  “Here, tadpole,” Charlie said, walking over and putting his boonie hat on Emily after Kristi had put Emily’s NV monocular on. Spinning Emily around, Charlie pinched the back of the cap to take the slack out and pinned it with a safety pin.

  “Rangers keep the weirdest shit in their rucksacks,” Kristi chuckled.

  Putting his helmet on, “It only takes one lesson to learn what to carry,” Charlie said as Randy eased back through the bushes. “Verdict?”

  “We are going to have to cross in ones and twos,” Randy mumbled, moving over and lifting his rucksack. “Don’t know what’s happening to the east, but MRAPs are rolling hard.”

  “As long as it stays east, we don’t care,” Charlie said, tightening his gear down. “I’ll cross with Chase. Babyface, you have tadpole. Blaster, you come last with Clark. Kristi, you take Tabitha and Ryan can drag his ass across alone and if he hesitates for a second, the next MRAP down the road will run over his dead body.”

  Before Ryan could say anything, Tabitha popped his arm. “Shut up,” she whispered, then turned to Randy. “It’s still light out,” she noted in the twilight filtering through the rain clouds.

  “It won’t be when we get to where we cross,” Randy said, walking off.

  Before Charlie moved to follow, Cody moved in front of him. “I don’t like Kristi crossing with Tabitha,” Cody barked in a harsh whisper.

  “Babyface, they’r
e Kristi’s baggage and she will help tote it,” Charlie replied, walking around Cody. Walking past, Charlie saw the shocked face on Tabitha but just looked away.

  “Cody, he’s right,” Kristi said, pushing everyone to follow Charlie. “I’m the one responsible for them.”

  Watching them file out, Cody looked over at Robbie. “Don’t look at me, Babyface. I’m waiting for my opportunity to bleed Ryan dry, very slowly,” Robbie said, pushing him to follow.

  Following Cody out, Robbie jumped when Randy’s voice came over his earbud. “Radio check, over,” Randy called out.

  “Book up,” Charlie called out.

  “Babyface up,” Cody answered.

  “Blaster in the rear with the gear,” Robbie smirked.

  Weaving through the trees with standing water above his boots, Randy headed east while gripping his AR tight. “Rain is good, just not so much,” he mumbled, careful not to splash as he moved. Off to his right, he saw a car burning in a parking area. Impressed the car was burning with the steady rain, he scanned around. Moving further left, Randy veered away from the light.

  When Randy turned south, he lowered his NVG over his left eye and turned the thermal on mounted in front of his scope. “Down and dirty,” he mumbled, moving ahead and the trees became separated, but they left the standing water.

  Crossing a pedestrian path, Randy sped up to a cluster of trees ahead. Pushing through the thick vegetation at the edge, he eased in and could see the four lanes of Vollmer Road through breaks in the foliage. Stepping up, Randy made room for the others as a large vehicle rolled past and he eased closer to see it was an MRAP heading east.

  “Don’t like the idea of fighting the side with armor,” Randy mumbled, dropping to his knee. When he felt Charlie grip his shoulder, Randy moved up to the tree line slowly. Looking west, he could see the lights of the checkpoint over a mile away. Turning east, he saw the MRAP a half a mile away still moving quickly east.