The Alex Cave Series. Books 1, 2, & 3.: Box set

by James M. Corkill

  Joyce was as startled as Randy was, but she threw herself across the desk, covering the pistol with her body.

  Randy looked up at the two women. The taller one was moving toward him, and he saw the hostile look in her eyes. He needed the pistol, and glanced down at it as Joyce was starting to roll off the desk. Then he realized he was still holding the telephone receiver, and raised it over his head, intent on bashing Joyce’s head in. He saw a pink blur of motion and felt a searing pain in his right hand as it was smashed aside, the receiver flying out of his grip. He turned his head to see what had happened to his hand and saw the short woman at the end of the desk. A long, pink object extended from her raised right hand, and, as if in slow motion, he watched the pink object move toward him. He wanted to duck out of its way, but felt frozen in place, his eyes focused on the pink object streaking straight at him. His eyes crossed as the pink weapon smashed against his forehead, and then everything went black.

  Christa heard a sickening thud a fraction of a second after she released the pink sock and watched the man stagger back a step before toppling backward onto the floor. She’d never done anything like this before, she realized, as she stared down at the limp body. “I’ve killed him!” She suddenly felt sick. She flinched when she heard a door slam shut, and looked up. Judy had closed the door to keep anyone walking by from becoming suspicious, and had her back against it. Christa looked back down and rushed to the guard’s side, kneeling as she grabbed his wrist. She felt a pulse, and released the breath she’d been holding. Thank God! Only then did she notice Alex standing on the other side of the bars, and the men and women around him. He smiled and she wanted to hold him, but couldn’t because of the bars.

  “The keys are in the desk,” Alex told her.

  As Christa stepped over the old man’s body to open the drawer, Judy stepped up to the bars. “We came as soon as we could, and we don’t have much time,” she said to Alex. She looked at Harold. “Sorry about this.” He nodded, looking very shaken.

  *

  Pam was sitting on the far side of the parade ground when she heard the muffled explosions. She saw people running around, most looking scared and not knowing what to do. She realized this might be her only opportunity to rescue her parents, and ran toward the jail.

  *

  Everex leapt out of his chair when he heard the first faint explosion. He ran to the door and stepped out on the porch, searching for the source. He recognized Pamela Woolly among the other people running across the parade ground, but was distracted by two more explosions. About fifteen miles away, he saw a bright orange light reflecting off the clouds. The convoy! It’s the other army! They must be closer than the spy had told him. Blackwood must be fighting them right now! How do I get these people under control? I’ve never had to do this before, he realized. The bugles! Have to play the bugles and get everyone here. As he turned to enter the cabin, he saw the Wooly girl standing against the wall of the jail. When he realized what she was up to, he was torn between calling central control for the bugles, and stopping the escape of the prisoners.

  *

  Christa first unlocked the cell door for Alex, then the one that held the women. As she turned, she saw Judy wrap her arms around Alex and hug him tightly. She fought to hold back her tears, and walked back to the desk where Joyce was sitting, holding the pistol in her lap.

  Harold started to approach Calli, desperately wanting to hold her and ask forgiveness, but she folded her arms and turned away. He felt sick at heart, and stopped.

  Alex looked over Judy’s shoulder and saw the anguish in Christa’s eyes just before she turned away. He gently pushed Judy away and was about to walk over to Christa when the door suddenly burst open and a young girl rushed through, her rifle swinging back and forth at everyone. He saw Joyce start to raise the pistol and knew this was no time for heroics. He reached out and shoved the pistol back into her lap. When Joyce looked at him quizzically, he shook his head. He saw the frightened look on his friends’ faces, and then saw the Wooly woman and her husband smile.

  “Pamela!” Calli shouted, and rushed to her daughter.

  Pam wasn’t sure what to make of the situation. Why was everyone out of the cells? She recognized Joyce and her parents, and wondered who the others were. She kept the rifle pointed at the strangers as her mom tried to hug her. “Are you all right?” she asked, trying to keep an eye on everyone. She saw her father smile, and she lowered the rifle. “What’s going on?”

  “We’re being rescued,” Calli told her.

  Alex was trying to sort out what was happening when a deafening gun blast suddenly filled the room. He watched the young girl stagger forward and topple to the floor, the rifle sliding away under the bars of the cell. A short, muscular figure stepped through the doorway, a large caliber pistol leading his way.

  Calli rushed to her daughter and knelt down. “Pam!” she screamed, and threw her body over Pam to protect her.

  Harold stared open-mouthed at his precious daughter, lying on the floor.

  “Get away from her, bitch!” Everex yelled. “Everyone back in the cell!” He looked at the others, and recognized Joyce. A brutal smile spread across his face.

  Joyce saw the leering smile and couldn’t control the rage swelling inside her. She swung the pistol up and squeezed the trigger, but nothing happened.

  Everex saw the pistol in Joyce’s hand. He instinctively brought his own gun up and fired, watched Joyce fly backward and hit the wall, then collapse to the floor. He saw the Wooly woman turn to face him, her eyes filled with hate. She started to stand, and he pointed the pistol at her. He grinned sadistically and started to squeeze the trigger.

  Harold felt a savage rage course through his every vein. He turned to Everex, releasing a barbaric animal scream as he rushed him.

  Everex heard the scream and turned his head to find the source. He brought the pistol around to fire just as a loud explosion shook the camp. He flinched and squeezed the trigger, saw Harold suddenly spin around like a top and tumble to the floor. Another explosion rocked the camp, and Everex knew it was close. The camp was being attacked! He decided to shoot all the prisoners before trying to organize a defense.

  He caught a movement to his right and saw the Wooly woman holding her fingers out at him like claws as she rushed forward. He swung the pistol around.

  Alex saw Joyce’s pistol lying on the floor and dove for it. As he rolled to his feet and aimed it at Everex, two different-sounding explosions filled the room, one loud, the other slightly more muffled. He stared at Everex and saw a large bloody hole where his chest had been, and watched him topple forward against the Wooly woman. Both collapsed to the floor with a dull thud. Alex swung the pistol at the doorway as a young boy stepped into the room.

  “Mom!” Mark screamed and dropped the pistol as he grabbed Everex by the shirt and rolled him off Calli. He saw the blood all over her chest and stomach. “Mom!” he screamed in fear.

  Harold tried to push himself up from the floor, but his left arm didn’t want to work. His eyes focused on Calli and the blood that covered her chest. “No!” he shrieked, and crawled toward her. “Calli!” he moaned, and got up on his knees next to his son.

  Calli blinked and gasped in a deep breath. Everex had knocked the wind out of her, and when she saw Mark and Harold kneeling above her, she hadn’t been able to answer. She drew another deep breath. “I’m . . . all right,” she gasped, and saw the stunned relief on the faces of her son and husband. “Pam!” she yelled and struggled to sit up.

  Mark leapt to his feet and rushed to his sister, lying face down on the floor. He saw the small hole in the outside edge of her back and rolled her over. The cloth on the right side of her shredded shirt was a bloody mess.

  Alex ran over next to Mark and knelt near the girl’s head as he sized up the damage. He felt her neck, and his fingers found a strong pulse. He ripped the shirt away, saw the torn flesh along the outside of her ribcage and the cracked white bone of an exposed rib. “
She’ll be all right!” he told everyone. “It looks like the bullet glanced off a rib.” He looked into Mark’s eyes. “Run and get a doctor!” Mark nodded, jumped up, and disappeared out the door.

  Alex hurried over to Harold. The cloth on his left shoulder was torn away, along with some of the flesh. The wound was oozing blood, but apparently, the bullet had missed an artery. Alex ripped part of Harold’s shirt away and tied it around the wound. “You’ll be fine,” he assured him and stood. He looked around at the frightened faces of his friends, then down at the dead woman named Joyce. Everything had happened so fast they were stunned and motionless, all staring at the bloody people on the floor. “Close the door, Judy,” he ordered. “Okay, tell me what’s happening out there.”

  Harold looked into Calli’s eyes, she into his. “I thought you were dead!” Harold said softly.

  Calli remembered hearing Harold’s savage scream and watching him rush the man with the gun. He was trying to save our lives she suddenly realized, and for the first time in her life, felt proud of her husband. Tears rushed into her eyes and she reached out and hugged him fiercely. “Oh, I do love you, Harold,” she whispered in his ear.

  Christa and Judy explained what they had done as Marcia, David, and Alex listened.

  The door suddenly burst open and Mark rushed in, the gray-haired doctor right behind him. The doctor glanced down at the open eyes of Major Everex, saw the blown open chest, and knew the man was dead. He knelt next to Pam and studied her wound for a moment, then moved over to Harold and gently untied the piece of cloth on his shoulder. He glanced around the room at the others, and from the look in Alex’s eyes, figured he was in charge here. “We’ll need a stretcher for the girl. I don’t think the rib punctured the lung, but we have to be careful. We’ll take these two to my infirmary. We’d better hurry. There’s going to be a lot more wounded when the fighting starts.”

  “There won’t be any fighting,” Alex told him. “I made that story up for that asshole.” He nodded at Everex.

  The doctor looked puzzled for a second, and nodded in understanding. “You’d better tell the rest of the people out there, before they start shooting each other by accident. They’re all pretty scared right now.”

  Alex looked at Mark. “I heard an assembly bugle a while ago. Do you know how to turn it on?”

  “I think so. They play it from central control.”

  “Turn it on and meet me on the parade ground,” Alex told him. Mark nodded and left the building.

  “I know where the infirmary is,” Marcia told him. “David and I will bring back a stretcher.”

  “Good,” said Alex. “The rest of you stay here and help the doctor. I’ll meet you at the infirmary later.” He picked up the pistol, tucked it into his belt, and left the jail.

  No one paid any attention to him as Alex walked to the center of the parade ground and waited. A bugle blared from the speakers, and a moment later, Mark ran up beside him. People began to assemble around him, all staring at the porch in front of Blackwood’s cabin.

  “You need to stand up there,” Mark told him. “That’s where the Colonel and Major Everex stood when they talked to everyone.”

  “Okay. Come up there with me.”

  They walked up the steps and looked down at the people gathering below. One man approached and stood at the bottom of the steps.

  “Who are you?” he asked.

  Alex stared at the man, and saw the challenge in his eyes. He was slightly taller than he was, and in good physical shape from what he could tell under the uniform. “Major Everex is dead, and I’m taking over,” he said firmly, locking stares with the man.

  The man stared into Alex’s eyes and saw an air of authority, with a glint of cunning that told him to back off. The man nodded and looked away toward the crowd of people, then back up at Alex. “My name is Carl Grady. I was in charge of training. I guess I’m the next senior officer in charge.”

  Alex looked over at Mark, who nodded affirmation.

  “He’s all right,” Mark told him.

  Alex reached down to shake Grady’s hand. “Alex Cave. Why don’t you come up here while I tell everyone what’s going on.” Grady shook his hand and climbed up the steps. There were thirty-four people assembled in front of the cabin. Alex watched for new arrivals and looked at Grady when no one else walked onto the parade ground.

  “That’s about it, I think,” Grady told him. “The rest went with the Colonel.” Alex turned back to the crowd, and Grady stepped up to the railing. “Listen up!” he bellowed in a raised voice. As the muffled conversations faded, he stepped back out of the way.

  Alex saw he had their attention. “Major Everex is dead,” he told them. “And we will not be attacked by another army. I want everyone to calm down before someone gets hurt.”

  Muffled conversations began again, and a young man, about twenty-seven, stepped forward. “Oh yeah?” he said with a haughty attitude, standing with his arms folded across his chest and a glare in his eyes. “Well who put you in charge? You’re just a civilian!”

  Alex stared down at the young man without replying for a few seconds. Telling them he was a teacher wouldn’t impress them, he realized. “I work for the Director of National Security.” Alex watched the young man suddenly lose a bit of his assurance and step back into the crowd. “I’m not here to take over. Mr. Grady will do that. Right now, I need for all of you to relax and do what Mr. Grady tells you.”

  Alex turned to Grady. “I’d appreciate it if you found something to keep them occupied. Mark and I need to get to the infirmary and check on our friends and family.”

  Grady nodded and smiled. “Okay. I’ll join you in a little bit. I have a lot of questions.”

  Alex smiled, nodded, and walked down the steps, Mark followed close behind him.

  * * *

  Chapter 33

  IDAHO. ROUTE 22 NORTH:

  Jerry Monroe looked at the odometer on the dash, and they were fifteen miles from camp. Suddenly, he felt the steering wheel jerk in his hand as the concussion from the explosion shook the truck and trailer violently. He and Blackwood heard the roaring boom as Monroe stomped on the brake and cranked the wheel around to pull onto the shoulder of the road. A troop carrier skidded to a stop on his left side, and he glanced at Blackwood, who stared at him wide-eyed, his mouth hanging open.

  “They’re attacking us!” Blackwood screamed.

  Monroe thought the same thing. “Out of the truck!” he hollered as he threw open his door and leapt out. He ran to the passenger side as Blackwood tumbled out the door. He grabbed him by the arm and helped him stand, then pulled him out into the field.

  Both men stared at the flames that engulfed what was left of the Roadmaster motorhome. Its sides and roof had disappeared. A few seconds later, the fuel truck behind it exploded with a concussion that knocked them both off their feet and sent a massive ball of yellow fire soaring into the air. Flaming diesel fuel rained down on the last two troop carriers and the following tanker truck.

  Monroe and Blackwood rolled over and stared at the carnage. The stench of burning rubber filled the air, and horrifying screams filled the night as soldiers entombed in flames staggered from the trucks and rolled onto the ground.

  The second fuel truck erupted like a volcano, hurling the first food truck off the road like a toy and sending it rolling across the field. The writhing soldiers were engulfed by burning fuel, and the fire ignited huge areas of dry grass, expanding in a wide circle on both sides of the road.

  Monroe saw the flaming grass moving their way and yanked Blackwood to his feet. They ran to the front of the pickup and squatted down, with the soldiers from the troop carrier next to them.

  After a few minutes, the flames began to die off, and Monroe realized he didn’t hear any gunfire. He slowly stood and looked around. The light from the remaining flames illuminated the fields for several hundred feet in all directions, and he didn’t see any signs they were being attacked.

  One of the
soldiers crawled over to Blackwood. “What should we do, sir?” he asked.

  Blackwood stood, looked around for a moment, and came to the same conclusion as Monroe. He turned to the soldiers. “Let’s go help the others. Help the wounded into the trucks and take them back to camp. Move it, people!”

  Blackwood turned to Monroe. “What do you suppose happened?”

  Monroe shook his head sadly. “Something blew up in the motorhome, is all I can figure.”

  Blackwood stared at the wreckage. Four troop carriers had managed to escape unscathed, and Blackwood sighed with relief when he saw the red and white cross on the canvas of one of them. “We better go take a look.”

  As they walked through the disaster, Blackwood and Monroe could smell the stench of burnt flesh, and saw several soldiers bent over, retching violently. Pitiful moans and pain filled screams came to them from all directions, and both men felt a deep sorrow for the wounded. They stopped and stared down at white eyes looking up from a charred face, Monroe turned and threw up. Blackwood felt his stomach churn, and bile rose in his throat, but he’d seen worse in the POW camp, and managed to maintain control.

  They continued walking along the road. Debris from the explosions littered the ground in all directions for as far as they could see. Around them, dozens of able soldiers were making their way through the bodies on the ground, and, in the light of the burning fuel, trying to find the living among the dead, carrying them to the drivable trucks. The air reeked of oily smoke and burnt flesh, and screams of agony echoed across the valley.

  When they had reached the last troop carrier, they stopped and looked at each other. “What now, Colonel?” Monroe asked.

  Blackwood turned to stare at the wreckage. “I’ll call back to camp and tell them what happened. The rest of us will wait until dawn and bury the dead, and then we go back to the camp.”

  “I don’t remember seeing a cellphone in the truck, and I didn’t grab one. Did you?”