Embers of Empire

by Mark Goodwin

  Ulysses softened his face. “Any idea what they may have been driving?”

  “Maybe.”

  “Good, check it out. Foley, watch her back. I’ll help James get this other crate loaded into the truck.”

  Ava led the way out the front door. She saw the familiar blue Maserati parked behind her Jeep. “That’s it.” She checked the door. “Locked. Maybe Raquel has the keys. I’ll be right back.”

  “Hurry!” Foley kept watch.

  She ran inside and rifled through Raquel’s pockets. Once she had the keys, she dashed back out to the Maserati and unlocked the door. Ava hit the trunk release and hurried to the boot of the car. “I think we’ve got ‘em.”

  Foley quickly helped her transfer the crates from the trunk to the bed of the truck then jumped into the cab with James.

  Ulysses approached Ava. “Do you want me to drive?”

  “I’m fine.” She looked at the Maserati. “Foley said you’re pretty good at permanently incapacitating a vehicle. Do you think we have time for a quick lesson?”

  Ulysses drew his knife with haste, lay down under the car, then popped back up. “Poke the fuel tank on the very bottom. You don’t want to hit air and create a spark. That’s bad for obvious reasons.” He quickly walked around to all four tires and jabbed the side walls. “Start the Jeep and pick me up.” He came back around the first tire and cut a strip out.

  Ava got into her vehicle, started the engine, and backed up to Ulysses.

  He got in, lit the strip of tire and tossed it into the puddle of gas. “Go!”

  Ava sped off while Ulysses dialed 911 on Raquel’s phone.

  “White female with multiple gunshot wounds at the warehouse on the northeast corner of Navasota and 5th.” He removed the back of the phone, pulled the battery and tossed it out the window of the Jeep. Ulysses cracked the phone into two pieces, flinging each fragment in different directions.

  “You were right about the plan going wrong. Thanks for getting me out of there.” Ava sped south on I-35 with Foley and James close behind.

  “You got yourself out. You did good. You’re quick on your feet when it comes to solving problems under stress. You did what you had to do with your captor. Anytime you get a chance to get away, take it. And always eliminate anyone who might interfere with your escape.”

  “Still, if you hadn’t been there, I don’t think I could have gotten out.” She glanced over at Ulysses. “What are you doing?”

  “Transferring the Monero back to my crypto-coin wallet.”

  “So we got all those explosives for free?”

  “That was a pretty heavy operation. Back in the day, I called that work. If you think that counts as free, well, I guess we’re all entitled to our own opinion.” Ulysses closed Fred’s phone and pulled the battery out.

  “Are you going to get rid of his phone?” Ava asked.

  “No. His contacts might come in handy some time. We’ll hang on to it.”

  “What do we do next?”

  “Stash these supplies until we find a good place to put them to use.”

  “When will that be?”

  “Easy tiger; slow and steady. Let’s get home and celebrate this win before we run off trying to get ourselves killed again.”

  Ava nodded. She knew the adrenaline would be running out soon, but for now, she was ready to fight!

  CHAPTER 16

  Thou art my hiding place; thou shalt preserve me from trouble; thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance. Selah.

  Psalm 32:7

  Ava sat with her legs crossed on the bed of the upstairs apartment over the garage. She didn’t get involved in the debate, she simply listened.

  James puckered his forehead into deep rows. “Neither one of them saw me. Let me walk the bombs into the collection centers.”

  “The girl saw you, James. And it’s highly likely they’ve got pictures of all of us up at the firearms collection points,” Ulysses argued. “If they do, you’ll never walk out alive.”

  James crossed his arms tightly. “Charity worked with that girl. How do you know Charity won’t be one of those pictures?”

  “Charity wasn’t with us.” Foley sat on the bed next to Ava. “She has no reason to think Charity is involved.”

  “Do I have any say in this?” Charity fumed. “No one has even asked me if I want to do it.”

  James interrupted, “You don’t need to. I’m going to walk it in. So it’s an irrelevant discussion.”

  Ulysses raised his hands for everyone to calm down. After everyone had been given the opportunity to quiet down, he asked, “Charity, how would you feel about walking the bombs into the collection points?”

  “I want to do it. I didn’t get to go on the last mission. I want to be a part of this.”

  James began shaking his head.

  Ulysses put his hand on James’ shoulder. “We’ll only send her in if we know they’ve got too many people turning in weapons for them to check the ammo boxes. The plastic explosives will be buried in the bottom of the ammo cans under boxes of ammo. She’ll turn in a gun along with droves of other people anxious to hand over their last morsel of freedom. The clerks set up at the collection point will be in a hurry to get the receipts written and get people out the door. They’re liberals, they don’t want to work. They just want to go home and watch Oprah.”

  James growled. “Charity doesn’t have to get away with it just once, she has to go to four separate locations. Why are we handing over four guns anyway?”

  “For the ruse. It’s a small price to pay. Two of them are from the warehouse job anyway. The other two came from the raiders who hit the house. We’ll get more guns.” Ulysses smiled and nodded. “And if any of the locations aren’t busy, we’ll skip ‘em. Charity will only go to the centers where the workers are likely to be overwhelmed.”

  Ava sat forward, letting her legs hang off the side of the bed. “So, the plan is to drive around and set off all the bombs as soon as Charity has dropped off the last one?”

  “Yes, that’s the plan,” Ulysses confirmed.

  Ava crossed her feet. “We’ll kill a couple of the Social Justice Legion processors, and perhaps some of their henchmen who are looting the contraband, but innocent people are going to get hurt.”

  “Which innocent people?” Ulysses paced to the window and looked out.

  “The ones turning in their guns.”

  “You mean the cowards who are arming the enemy by giving them free guns and ammo?” Ulysses stared down the driveway.

  “That’s not their intention,” Ava defended. “They just want to stay out of it.”

  “You can’t sit on the fence without getting a picket in your tail.” Ulysses pivoted back to the group. “We’ll be sending two messages. To the enemy; we will not go without a fight. And to the fence riders; peace through neutrality does not exist, so pick a side or have one chosen for you.

  “By hitting the collection centers first thing Monday morning, we may help nudge a few people who are having trouble deciding. The absolute cowards mostly turned in their guns Thursday or Friday. The fair-weather patriots and the people who are conflicted will wait until Tuesday or Wednesday. If they see that capitulation is no more safe than resistance, maybe they’ll do the right thing and join in the fight. Even if they decide to bury their guns in the mud, at least the SJL won’t have them.

  “This is about more than just blowing up a collection point and taking out twenty or thirty Markovich thugs. This is about a violent action against the oppressor and those who support him. It’s an event that will energize the patriots, strike fear into the heart of the enemy, and force the uncommitted to lead, follow, or get out of the way.”

  Charity held James by the arms. “I want to do this. You’ll be right outside, and you’ll all be listening to what’s happening. I’ll leave my phone on with the volume all the way down. The same as you guys did with Ava.”

  James twitc
hed his mouth and looked at Ulysses, as if he blamed him for this cockamamie scheme. “I don’t like it.” He turned his attention back to Charity. “Promise me that if anything looks suspicious, you’ll scrub the plan and come back to the truck.”

  “I promise.” She hugged her new husband tightly. “Come on; help me pick out a couple of rabbits from the hutch. Betty is going to teach me how to make rabbit stew.”

  James waved as he followed Charity down the stairs.

  “See you in a while,” Ava said.

  Once the newlyweds were gone, Foley pulled a crate of plastic explosives out from under the bed. “I was thinking, maybe it would be best if we didn’t come straight back here after the operation. If we’re followed, we’d lead them to Sam’s. Not only would that ruin things for him and Betty, it would leave us with nowhere to rendezvous if we get hit and have to split up.”

  Ava picked up one of the C-4 bricks and inspected it. “What if we took the trailer down to Riemer’s Ranch Swimming Hole? It’s a public park with a parking lot, but hardly anyone ever goes down there. The park has multiple dirt roads so we could split up if we were to be chased.”

  “It could work.” Ulysses took one of the M112 bricks from the crate and began pressing rows of marbles into the soft outer cover. He secured them onto the brick with duct tape.

  Ava watched. “Let’s say we head back to the trailer in the park, and we get attacked. If we have to run, and we’re able to get away, how long should we wait to go back to the farm?”

  “Seventy-two hours.” Ulysses secured the ignition component of the detonator to the brick. “So, everyone should have some cash, a pistol, and a pack with food and water. Not much, but some. Too much water will slow you down.”

  “Which decreases your odds of being around to need it,” Foley added.

  Ulysses finished adding another layer of marbles to the brick then wrapped it tightly with three more layers of duct tape. “It’s a good plan, Ava. Good thinking on your part.”

  “Thanks.” She smiled.

  Ulysses handed the improvised explosive device to Foley to inspect. “You, too. Good call on not leading the enemy back to base.”

  “Thanks.” Foley looked over the wad of duct tape and marbles. “This is nice work. I’ve seen how much damage these little marbles can do once they leave the nest.”

  “Yeah, unfortunately, this ain’t my first rodeo.” Ulysses' eyes showed no pleasure in creating the destructive apparatus.

  Monday morning, the five-person team sat in Ulysses’ trailer which was a mile and a half away from the Hodges’ farm, at the public park. When the team left earlier that morning, Sam and Betty had understood something heavy was about to go down, but they’d seemed to know better than to ask questions.

  Ulysses pointed to the map saved on his laptop. “The convention center and the library at UT are going to be the biggest collection points. They’ll have the highest turnout, the most visibility, and they’ll be the most heavily staffed. The two smaller drop-off centers are up north. One is in a strip mall in Windsor Hills. The other is all the way up near Round Rock, in an office park. Those two are extra credit. If anything doesn’t look right at those two, we’ll walk away in a heartbeat. But the convention center and UT, we need those for this operation to be considered a win.”

  “The ones up north are a long drive.” Ava studied the map.

  “About twenty minutes away from the two down south; a straight shot down I-35. We’ll split up into two teams. Charity will make the drops up north, then a two-person team will stay there until she makes the drops down south. Once those two devices have been delivered, we’ll coordinate the detonations at the convention center and the office park. The two teams will rush to their secondary targets and fire off the other two bombs. Both teams will keep driving in their respective directions and meet in the middle. We’ll get off I-35 at Anderson Lane and take that west. It’s the scenic route, but that’s good. It gives us time to identify any potential tails before coming back here.”

  “Sounds good. What are the teams?” Charity asked.

  “James and Ava will stay up north. Foley and I will escort you south.”

  “Nope, not gonna happen.” James shook his head. “You can’t ask me to be split up from my wife. I don’t like being in this situation in the first place, but I’m definitely not getting separated from her.”

  Foley said, “Ulysses and I are the experienced gunfighters. You should trust us to take care of her.”

  James waved his hands. “I know that’s the logical answer, but she’s my wife. And that trumps logic. I’m not bending on this one. Rework the teams.”

  Ulysses looked at James as if he were contemplating how he was going to respond. Finally, he said, “Okay. I’ll take the north side by myself. If something goes wrong up there, I can address it alone. If Charity hits a snag, you’ll need all the shooters in one location.

  “But all the phones will be connected, and I’ll be calling the shots. Once we leave this parking lot, no one argues, no one questions my decisions. Got it?” Ulysses glared at James harshly.

  James nodded and looked away.

  Ulysses armed the four IEDs and placed them in the bottom of four separate green, metal ammo cans. Next, he covered the devices with boxes of ammunition and clamped the lids shut.

  “Foley, grab two of these and follow me out to the vehicles. Ava, grab those four handguns.”

  They all exited the trailer. Ulysses placed the ammo cans in the floorboard of the Jeep where Charity would be sitting and positioned the corresponding firearm near the box with the matching ammunition. “Keep these pairs matched up. You don’t want someone to open the ammo can and wonder why you’re handing in .357 ammo with a .22 pistol.”

  “Yes, sir.” Charity got into the passenger’s seat of Ava’s Jeep.

  Ulysses kept two detonator remotes and handed Ava the other two. “They’re labeled; convention center and library. When we retreat, we’ll take 360 south. When you go over the bridge after the attack, chuck these in the river. But peel the labels off first.”

  Ulysses stood by as Foley and James climbed into the rear of the Jeep with their rifles and extra magazines. “Any questions?”

  She tucked the detonators in the pockets of her hoodie. “No, sir.” Ava started her engine and waited for her father to get into his truck and lead the way.

  The one-hour journey to the first collection center went without incident. Ulysses led the way to the office park but pulled into the parking lot of a hotel before arriving. Over the headphones connected to Ava’s phone, he said, “I’ll wait here.”

  “Got it.” Ava continued to the office park where the collection point was located. She saw several people gathered around a sign with the new red-and-white Social Justice Legion logo. She turned to Charity. “Are you ready?”

  “I’m nervous.”

  James put his hand on her from the back. “Relax. Everyone going in there to turn in guns is feeling nervous. If anything happens, I’ll be in there in a second.”

  Her worried eyes didn’t match her smile. “Okay, thanks.”

  Ava watched as Charity got out of the vehicle, making sure she took the right ammo box for the location and the right pistol to turn in with it. She did.

  Ava waited with baited breath as Charity disappeared behind the doors of the collection center. She listened on her headphones. Soon after, Charity’s voice could be heard, evidently speaking to another person who’d just turned in their gun. “How long did you have to wait?”

  A man’s voice said, “Ten minutes. It’s moving pretty fast.”

  “Thanks,” Charity said.

  The next ten minutes seemed like an hour to Ava. She felt bad for her friend. Finally, she heard the transaction taking place. The voice of someone Ava assumed was a clerk said, “.22 revolver, Taurus, like new. Here’s your receipt. Sorry, you don’t get a tax credit for the ammunition, but at least you won’t get in tro
uble for having it.”

  “Thanks.” Charity’s reply was brief.

  Ava watched the doors. Seconds later, her friend emerged, walking briskly toward the Jeep.

  Ava pulled away from the parking spot the moment Charity was back inside the vehicle. “How did it go?”

  Charity took a deep breath. “Good, but they have a big picture of your driver’s license picture on an 8-inch-by-twelve-inch piece of printer paper. Over top, it says terrorist, in big letters. Below it says, have you seen me? If so call, and it has the telephone number.”

  “Dad, did you hear that?” Ava asked.

  Ulysses' voice came back. “I got it. They may be looking for your Jeep. Come to the place where I pulled off. We need to switch vehicles. And you should let Foley drive so you can sit in the back. Sink down into the seat when you pull into the collection points.”

  “Okay.” Ava didn’t like the idea of her father being in the Jeep, but at least he wouldn’t have to drive up to any of the drop-off centers until it was time to detonate the devices.

  Ava drove to the hotel parking lot. “You didn’t see pictures of anyone else; James, Foley, or my dad?”

  “Just you,” Charity answered.

  “It was probably Chip who had the posters made up. He’s figured out a way to worm his way in with Szabos and parlay his relationship into profits.” Ava turned into the parking lot.

  “How do you know that guy anyway?” Foley prepared to get out.

  Charity was familiar with the seedy details of that answer. Foley was not. Ava wanted to keep it that way. Ava got out of the Jeep. “He’s one of Raquel’s idiot friends; probably her boyfriend du jour before she got herself all shot up. I’m sure he’ll move on to someone with less bullet holes.”

  “Sounds like a real creep.” James quickly transitioned from the Jeep to the back seat of Ulysses’ pickup truck.

  “How many SJLs were in the collection center?” Foley helped Charity move the ammo cans and pistols to the front seat of the truck.