by K. J. Dahlen
“That’s true enough, but our group had the lowest body count of them all.” Reaper nodded.
“Even one man is one man too many. I lost nine altogether.” Stone sighed heavily. “The last one took the bullet with my name engraved on it.” He rubbed his chest lightly. On his chest was a tattoo of an eagle. The most majestic bird ever created. The bird itself was standing with its head bowed holding an olive branch, the universal symbol of peace in his claws while overhead were nine shooting stars. Each star held the initials of the nine men he’d lost to battle along with the date they died. The last one held the initials of C. T. D. Cole Thomas Dent.
“Why did you give it all up?” Sam asked. “When I knew you, it was your dream to be a Marine.”
Stone nodded. “I worked my ass off to get where I was and it was the one thing in my life that made sense to me. But it was time to let it go. I’d lived through three fucking wars, starting with Desert Storm. Then there was Afghanistan, then finally the war on terror in Iraq. The last battle I fought was TARFU from the very beginning. All we were doing was a routine patrol. We’d been there before and everything had been quiet. Intel claimed no trouble in the area. As soon as we hit the outskirts of the town, enemy fire blasted us. We didn’t know where the fuck it was coming from or who the hell was shooting at us. Then I heard a lone shot and just before it hit, Dent, the last man who died under my command stepped in front of me and lost his life.” Stone shook his head. “At that point I was done. I’d given the Core thirty years of my life and at that moment, I wanted nothing more than to walk away from it. I held that boy’s body in my arms and watched him bleed out. I made up my mind then, I would never watch another man die on my command, so I got out. I brought Dent’s body back and I got on my bike and just rode. I picked up these guys along the way and they’ve been with me ever since.” He motioned at the three men sitting there with him.
“Pappy, we’ve been together a long time now.” Reaper smiled.
Stone chuckled. “Yeah, I’ve been looking at your ugly mug for most the last fifteen years, Master Sergeant, one way or another.”
“Here’s to fifteen more years of watching you get older than dirt.” Reaper lifted his glass in the air while he gave Stone the finger.
Stone looked around at the men gathered there. “I’m on one last mission for my country. About a year ago, Colonel Shay Montross contacted me. He asked me to come to Washington for a mission. I took these three with me and we met in secret with Montross and a few of his men.” He paused and ran his fingers through his white hair again.
“Who is Montross?” Deke asked.
“Shay Montross, “Stone announced, “Was our intel officer in Desert Storm. He wasn’t a Colonel back then but he was a damn fine intel officer. He doubled checked everything before he passed it along to the troops and he made sure we weren’t headed in hell before he let us go in. We came out alive because of him and every man jack of us knew he’d always have our backs. We worked together in some way shape or form for five years before he was promoted and left us. The day he did, we threw him a hell of a party.”
Reaper snorted rudely. “Yeah too bad, the asshole who came in to take his place wasn’t more like Shay.”
“What do you mean?” Sam asked with a frown.
“Like I said before, the man that replaced Shay as Intel was Carmine Vance. Now that man was absolutely useless in the Intel department. He couldn’t find his own asshole if it bit him in the ass. In fact the last three missions he sent us out on got at least four of my men killed. I told the upper brass he was giving us bad Intel, but all they would say was they would look into it.” Stone shook his head. “That’s when my man Recon started hanging out near the Intel tent. He watched the messages coming and going and got informed as to what was going on. He saw Carmine ignore Intel that would have helped our guys stay alive. Carmine sent one unit out to secure a dumpsite and because he ignored a report from a local, he got six men killed. Not all the men were ours but that didn’t make a difference. I told the Commander about it and when he got all the facts, he stormed over to the Intel tent and reamed Carmine out. He demanded to know what was going on and Carmine lied right to his face. When Recon showed him the report, he’d thrown way earlier the Commander got pissed and demoted Carmine on the spot and sent him to a holding area under armed guard. Two days later, Carmine was sent back to the States under guard. He was supposed to face a court martial but instead, he ended up doing office work for Major Wright at the Pentagon.”
Reaper let out a grunt of disgust.
Stone shook his head. “Anyway, getting back to our trip to Washington, Shay was now a Colonel and stateside, but he was still a Marine and as such he was given orders to secure things back here. He contacted me and several others he felt he could trust and gave us the orders to set up a network on our own home ground. With all the terrorist activity, here at home we needed a way to keep the violence they would bring here down. Using the contacts I’ve made over the years, I’ve been tasked with setting up a network of good honest people to watch out for domestic problems. President Lincoln himself said that the United States could never be brought down by another country but that we would be brought down from within our own borders. I believe that. Whether it’s within our own government or our borders, the result will be the same. I will do whatever I have to do to stop that from happening.”
“What can I do to help?” Sam asked.
“Me too.” Mountain chimed in. He’d joined them a while back and just sat there to listen. There were others sitting around them.
In fact, every one of them seemed willing to help.
“You know there’s a whole army of people no one has asked for their help yet,” A petite red headed young woman spoke up.
Stone turned to her and frowned. “And who would that be…?”
Deke now smiled for the first time since they all arrived. “This is my wife, Cassie.” He beamed with pride.
“I bet they would be willing to lay their lives on the line to help you in your quest. All they want is the right to be asked,” Cassie remarked from her post on the edge of the group. “Redemption House, a place we have created to help the less fortunate and homeless is protected by older vets, most of them were living on the streets before the House was in place. Over the course of my life, I’ve met quite a few people living on the streets because they have no place to go or nobody that gives a damn where they are. They’re good honest men who have been forgotten by their government for no other reason than that they are old. They have been deemed old and useless by the same people that asked them to serve and give their lives for their country. They would be honored to serve their country again. If you ask them, that is. I’ll even bet, they can help you set up a network all the way across this country. Probably faster than you can.”
Reaper smiled. “That might just work Pappy.”
Stone grinned. “Yeah, it might.”
“You can also reach out to the various MC’s,” Sam told him. “I know at least some of them are vets that wouldn’t mind helping.”
Stone nodded. “That’s what this trip has been about. Reaching out to people who can help in this matter.” He turned back to Cassie. “Are you sure they would help us?”
She nodded. “They would love the chance to help. Come by and meet them tomorrow, talk to them, see what kind of men they are. Then if you feel they could help you, ask them. They have contacts in all sorts of places. Contacts you wouldn’t believe.” She shrugged. “I lived on the streets for over half my life. People tend to overlook us, but there is a network of caring people out there just waiting for the chance to be useful again. Sure, every once in a while, you’ll find one that would sell you out for a dime but most of them just need to be needed, same as anybody else.”
Stone nodded. “I’d like to talk you in the morning about your Redemption House. From what I hear about the place, I’d like to take your idea and make it a reality back in my home town. Places like that ar
e needed desperately for people down on their luck. All they really need is someone to believe in them again.”
“That’s what Amos and his friends are giving them and what they are getting in return. Someone who believes in them.” Cassie smiled. “I would be more than happy to show you Redemption House.”
Chapter Four
Everyone sat there absorbing the information Stone had just presented. Mountain, Deke, Sam, Gator, Iceman, Wiley and all the others in the club. Reva and the other women stood in the kitchen waiting and listening.
“I hope to get a network from the East Coast all the way to the West Coast,” Stone told them. “It sounds impossible I know, but this is important to preserve our way of life. The people who would destroy us are already here, on our homeland and I’ll be damned if I’m going to let them destroy it.”
“So what exactly would you want us to do?” Iceman asked.
Reaper shrugged. “Just keep your eyes and ears open and if you hear something you think we should know about call us and let us know. We can determine if the threat is real or not but if we don’t hear about it, we can’t stop it.”
“What we don’t want is anybody to be a fuckin hero.” Stone growled. “Don’t confront the source head on. Bring us into it.”
“How far are you in setting up this network?” Gator asked.
“We’re just getting started,” Stone admitted. “It took us a while to get our base set up.”
Reaper snorted then laughed. “Yeah, part of our team back home are Green Berets and y’all know how much Marines just love those Army brats.”
Sam snorted and crossed his arms over his chest. “So Pappy, what do you need us to do here?”
Stone looked over at his men. “First of all we need to find Hades. Hopefully, before he finds McKenna. Once he’s sorted out, we can deal with the network.” He glanced over at Calico. “I hope you are as good as you claim to be. I can get everything we have on Hades if you can find his dumb ass.”
Calico nodded. “I’ll find him.”
Stone turned to Deke. “We have to call in a Boston badge. She’s been working with a Matthias Jones. He can bring us more info, police report and the like.” He cocked his head to one side. “While we do all this, I need to know she’s protected.”
“She’ll have everyone here looking after her,” Deke assured him.” This wouldn’t be our first time doing that.”
Sam nodded.” Hell no. We have been up against this before.”
Stone titled his head with interest.
“NO!” McKenna shouted. “You can’t do that.” She got to her feet and began backing away.
Stone turned his head and stared at her for a moment. “Why the fuck not?”
“Because the more people you put between me and this Hades, the more chance he has to kill them.” McKenna explained. “He won’t stop. Not until he gets to me.” Shaking her head, she begged, “Don’t you see? He won’t stop until he gets to me.”
Stone stood and walked over to her. Leaning forward, his forehead rested on hers. “I’m not giving you up,” he whispered. “I’m not letting Hades take you to his world of pain and death. Don’t ask me to do that.” His lips touched hers gently.
“I don’t want someone else to die in my place. I’m afraid to die but to have someone else do it in my place, just isn’t right. I couldn’t live with myself if that happened.”
Stone turned his head and glared at Calico. “Then you better pray he’s as good as he says he is, because there’s no way in hell I’m giving you up.”
“But you don’t even know me,” she argued.
“Oh, yeah I do,” Stone assured her. “I know enough for the moment and can’t wait to discover the rest.”
McKenna looked at him with tears in her eyes. Raising her hand, she cupped his face. “I think I’d like that.”
“Right Pappy, we need to get things moving to find Hades,” Viper suggested.
Stone turned his head to glare at the other man.
McKenna agreed with a nod. “Let me call Matthias and get him here.”
Stone looked over at Sam. At the other man’s nod, he reached for his phone. A few minutes later, he gave the phone to Sam. “Give my man an email address to forward the info to. That way, Calico will have it when we get the info from the Boston badge. We can get started before you arrive with the paper files.” Running his fingers through his hair, he sighed. “Man, I hate working with civilians.”
“Yeah, me too,” Sam agreed. “But in this case, we don’t have much choice. We need the information on the murders your man has committed since he left.”
“While Zipper gets the info from the badge, I need to know everything about Hades you can remember. Calico interjected. “And I mean everything. He may be smart but there is always something to trip up a man with. Most of the time, it will be something little that screw him up.”
“Such as?” Mountain asked with a frown.
Calico shrugged. “I was telling these guys earlier I caught a perp from listening to him repeat a key phrase.” He lifted his coffee cup to his lips. “It can be as simple as that sometimes, but most of the time it’s so much harder. Me, I like to know as much about the man I’m after as I can. I want to know him like he’s my brother.”
“Hey, I’m not that bad,” Reaper complained.
Calico snorted. “You, I’d know how to track. All I’d have to do to find you would be to follow the trail of beer stains. You are a slob, brother of mine.”
Reaper punched his brother in the arm.
Stone and the others grinned. Reaper was known for the messes he left behind.
He turned to look at Calico. “I can get a copy of his service file, if you need it.”
Calico nodded. “That’s a good place to start.”
“I can get Zipper our Intel guy…” Deke grinned. “…Looking into his life before and after the service. We can start compiling info before the badge gets here.”
Cassie walked up behind her husband and laid her hand on his shoulder. “Do you guys really think you can find this guy? I mean the military couldn’t find him ten years ago.”
“The military had better things to do ten years ago than go looking for an AWOL Marine,” Stone replied. “We were fighting a war we couldn’t win and rather than admit it, we just kept putting men in front of more bullets.”
“If you feel that way,” Reva spoke up now. “Then why are we still fighting?”
Stone’s eyes narrowed. “I never said I felt that way but the military won’t do what everyone knows needs to be done to get the job finished.”
“And what is that?” she frowned.
Reaper answered this question, “They need to just go in and wipe the bastards out. They won’t do it because the enemy hides behind women and children. More often than not, they use those women and kids to fight their battles. They put guns in their hands because they know we won’t shoot them. In our minds, women and children don’t belong in a war zone. They are innocent of the problems their men want to go to war for.”
“Getting back to the matter at hand.” Deke set his coffee cup down on the table. “I think we should get his picture out on the street and get our own army looking for any sign of this guy.”
Stone frowned. “You have your own army?”
Deke nodded. “They are the same men Cassie was telling you about before. They know this city and everywhere there is to hide in it. If they find your man before Calico does, they will keep an eye on him for us.”
“We can’t spook him or he’ll go underground,” Reaper warned.
“My guys won’t spook him,” Cassie assured them. “If fact, he won’t even know they are there. That’s why this might just work. You see, most don’t even pay attention to street people. They are almost invisible, especially my guys.” She patted Deke on the shoulder. “As soon as we have a photo, I’ll send it to Amos and get them started.”
Calico got to his feet and looked down at Deke. “Where can we set
up? I need a quiet place to go through the files and set up a timeline.”
Deke glanced at everyone in the room. He knew they wanted to be part of this and he couldn’t deny them that. This was a bigger problem than they had ever worked before and they wanted to be part of it. Running his fingers through his hair, he motioned to the end of the room. “Might as well set things up here. We’re all in this as much as you are. Maybe with more eyes on the case, we can find the key to bring this down before he kills again.”
Everyone began to get set up. They moved a couple of long tables together and began stringing several lines of wire along the back wall. Zipper brought over a stack of papers to them. He’d gotten into police files from Baltimore, Trenton and Pittsburg. He downloaded what they had then warned them, “The badge from Boston might have more than are actually in the files online but that’s what I got.” He shrugged. “They always have more than they put in the files. They like to hold stuff back from the public in case they actually do find their guy.” He shook his head. “In this case, they don’t have a fuckin clue who they are looking for.”
“Why do you say that?” Deke asked.
“Because this guy is whack.” Zipper shook his head. “He’s so far gone, there is no coming back for him.”
Stone stood and listened as he knowingly nodded his head.
“You got all that from the files?” Deke asked.
Zipper nodded. “What this fucker does to these women is just plain wrong. Any way you slice it, it’s just wrong.”
“Do you think we can find him?”
Zipper shrugged. “Maybe, but it isn’t going to be easy or fun. This fucker is seriously messed up.”
“Then pray we catch a break and can find him before he finds us.” Deke said. He turned and looked at the room behind him. His family lived here and he hated the fact they might be in danger yet again.
A short time later, Detective Matthias Jones and his partner Jonah Trent joined them in the clubhouse. Matthias was a tall man but not as tall as Deke or Sam. He was only about six foot with ruddy cheeks and a pale complexion. His dark red hair and green eyes looked pale compared to the dark looks of most of the men in the room.
