Half Past Midnight

by Jeff Brackett

  “I slept a whole day?”

  Ken nodded, too. “And half of today.” He pointed to Debra. “Your lady here threatened anyone who got within fifty feet of you with the violent removal of precious body parts.”

  I thought back on the bits and pieces I could recall of the ride back in the Humvee. It had been light enough to see Rene and Sarah-early morning. When I’d seen the light in the window a moment ago, I’d assumed that it was nearly noon of the same day.

  I could tell by Ken’s expression that he had more to tell me. So I shoved my confusion aside and waited patiently for him to continue.

  “When Larry showed up yesterday, he parked his tank just across the bridge and sent out a messenger with a white flag. The messenger claimed Larry was a lawful representative of the United States Army, and that you were wanted for war crimes.”

  “What!”

  Ken held up a finger. “Just wait. It gets better.”

  “Jim told him you’d been killed in the fighting, and that even if you weren’t, in consideration of the damage he’d done the town so far, the good general was going to have to give us more than just his word that he was a legitimate government official before we would even consider turning someone over to him.”

  I smiled despite the circumstances. “How’d Larry take that?”

  “Not well.” Jim took over from Ken. “I watched that man take my message back to Larry. As soon as he finished talkin’, Larry pulled out a pistol and shot the man where he stood.” He shook his head. “I ain’t never seen nothin’ like it. His own man! Just dropped him ’cause he didn’t like what he had to say.

  “Then he climbed back in his tank, and him an’ the rest of his boys just left like nothin’ happened. This mornin’, he came back with thirty hostages from the hospital. Turned ten of them loose and sent ‘em in with hundreds of leaflets.” The mayor slid a piece of mimeographed paper across the table. “Read.”

  It was the same mimeograph paper as that on which the Chronicle was printed. I read silently.

  Citizens of Rejas. It is my understanding that you have unknowingly harbored a criminal by the name of Leeland Dawcett. He is wanted by the U.S. Government for the ambush and brutal murders of several innocent people on the evening of June 13, 2015, on Highway 189 while en route to your town. Leeland Dawcett is the sole purpose of our expedition, and upon his delivery, my troops and I will withdraw from your town.

  Today at noon, if he has not been turned over to me, you will then be guilty of harboring a fugitive during a time of martial law, and I will be forced to renew hostilities in order to recover this wartime criminal. Please do not force us to use the full might of the U.S. military against you.

  Turn this murderer over to us so that we can leave you in peace.

  Signed,

  General Lawrence D. Troutman — USRD

  I had no idea what to say. So many implications were buried in the note that it was overwhelming. “He’s claiming I killed those people on D-day?”

  Jim nodded.

  “The guy’s nuts, Jim! I mean, I knew he was a crook, even a murderer. But this?” I wadded the note into a ball and threw it on the table. “He’s crazy!”

  The mayor shrugged. “No doubt about that, Lee, but he’s crazy like a fox. And with his tanks and troops, he has enough clout to make ever’body listen to what he wants to say.” He indicated the wad of paper with a wave of his hand. “That note implies that all of the fighting and killing here has been because of you and, if we turn you over to him, he’ll leave us alone.”

  I paused and took a deep breath. “So how many are ready to hand me over?”

  “Surprisingly few, actually,” Ken interjected. “These aren’t the good ol’ days when people would blindly believe whatever they saw on the idiot box. These are rough times, and actions speak a lot louder than words. Rejas has seen what you’ve done for her, and what Troutman has done. What he did to that messenger was just the icing on the cake.”

  That was reassuring, but it raised a question. “I appreciate the sentiment, but if you weren’t arguing about whether or not to turn me over, just what was all the yelling about?”

  Jim looked hurt. “You don’t really think we considered turnin’ you over to that lunatic, do you? It’s just that it’s almost noon, and we were tryin’ to decide whether or not to wake you up. You sorta made that a moot point, though.”

  “Thanks, Jim, but I wouldn’t blame you if you did decide to trade me. You have more people than me to think about.”

  He pursed his lips. “That may be. But this man has already proven that he can’t be trusted. I don’t think he’d stick to his word, even if we did give you up. The hostages he released had some other stories to tell when they got back to us.

  “Seems Larry was in a hurry to get the hostages here this morning. He was in such a hurry that he couldn’t be slowed down with a bunch of sick and wounded.”

  “Oh God!” I hoped the story wasn’t going where I feared.

  But my hope proved to be in vain, as Jim continued, “He killed everyone that couldn’t keep up and forced the rest to march here overnight. According to Eric’s report on his raid, there were over a hundred people left in that hospital. Larry got here this morning with thirty. He didn’t leave anyone behind.”

  I slumped back in my chair. Then something occurred to me. I looked over at my wife, tears flowing silently down her cheeks. “Amber?”

  I finally understood Debra’s tears. She was in a no-win situation. If I surrendered to Larry, she would lose her husband. If I didn’t, she would lose her mother. No matter what happened, she was about to lose one of the people closest to her within the next few hours.

  Of course, my first thought was that I would do the right thing and turn myself over to Larry. It seemed straightforward enough-my life for twenty others, one of them my mother-in-law.

  Then, “But what if he doesn’t keep his word?” And finally, “If? Of course he won’t keep his word! Remember City Hall? This man will do anything to get what he wants. Anything!”

  I was at a loss. I truly had no earthly idea on what to do. My jaw kept flapping open, then closed, an ugly parody of a fish aground.

  “Shut your mouth, Leeland. Nobody’s turning you over to that lunatic.” Ken’s words brought me back to my present surroundings. “Not even you.” He held my eye to see that I understood. He had obviously followed my thought process and come to the same conclusion. Larry wasn’t trustworthy enough to deal with.

  Defeated, I let my fatigue take over and slumped down in my chair. “So what do we do?”

  “Well, it’s not as bad as you’d think. We have a plan, of sorts. It’s just that there are some complications keeping us from acting on it. Twenty of them, to be precise.”

  Chapter 17

  August 21 / Noon

  En cite obsesse aux murs hommes amp; femmes.

  Ennemis hors le chef prest a soy rendre:

  Vent sera fort encore les gendarmes.

  Chassez seront par chaux, poussiere, amp; cendre.

  In the besieged city men and woman to the walls,

  Enemies outside the chief ready to surrender:

  The wind will be strongly against the troops,

  They will be driven away through lime, dust and ashes.

  Nostradamus — Century 4, Quatrain 52

  I squeezed Debra’s hand and emotionally braced myself to leave her and Megan with the rest of the crowd that had come out to the meeting with us.

  Megan smiled grimly. “Kick his ass, Dad.” When they’d brought me back injured, her emotions had made the predictable transformation from grief to barely controlled rage.

  I hugged her to me and whispered, “If this doesn’t work, it’s up to you to watch out for your mom and Zach.”

  “It’ll work.”

  I appreciated her confidence, but I hadn’t told her what I had in mind for this meeting.

  Jim and I stepped onto the bridge and away from the grim faces of the people
that had come with us to meet Larry. The folks of Rejas brandished a variety of weapons, from machine guns taken off of the bodies of Larry’s so-called soldiers to homemade bows and arrows. Each of them had come with whatever they could get their hands on and, though they were outnumbered, outgunned, and quite possibly outmaneuvered, there wasn’t the slightest hint of hesitation. Everyone appeared ready to make their stand.

  The bridge stretched over the reservoir for about two hundred yards, and I saw two figures approaching us from the other side. As we walked out to meet them, I examined our opposition. Out front, partly on the bridge itself, sat one of Larry’s tanks. Just behind it, I could see a few hundred troops. Just past the bridge, the road veered sharply to the right and into the thicket, blocking any further observations, although just at the edge of the bend, I spotted the front of a second tank.

  “You call this a plan?” I said through the side of my mouth. We were under the supposed protection of a white flag, but my confidence in Larry’s willingness to honor the truce was limited. The whole thing was iffy, at best. Too many things had to go just right.

  If Jim had similar thoughts, he kept them well hidden. “Just keep walkin’.”

  I recognized the two people approaching as Larry and Han. “Larry’s leg seems to have healed well. There’s no limp at all.”

  Jim grunted. “Maybe next time.”

  “One can only hope.”

  We stopped a few feet away in the middle of the bridge, twenty feet above the murky waters of the reservoir. I was surprised at the hulking leviathan beside Larry. I had forgotten just how huge Han was, or perhaps the rough lifestyle had bulked him up. Whatever the reason, I had to work to keep my jaw from dropping.

  “Hello again, Leeland.” Larry smirked. “I see your townspeople have determined to do the sensible thing and turn you over to me.” He leaned forward and lowered his voice, a wicked gleam in his eye. “Doesn’t it frustrate you to find just how little you mean to them? Or that you’ve wasted your time with a group of people that just don’t care much what happens to anyone else, as long as they are left alone to meek out their miserable existences?”

  “You haven’t changed a bit, Larry. Still a big-headed windbag with delusions of grandeur, eh? You even had to put on a uniform and call yourself a general to appease that ego, didn’t you?”

  His eyes narrowed, and he turned to address Jim. “I’m gratified that you decided to do the right thing, Mayor. I’m truly sorry that we had to use such drastic measures to recapture Mr. Dawcett, but this is a martial law situation. You understand, I’m sure.”

  “Han, bring him.” Han stepped forward.

  “Oh no, you don’t!” I whipped out the pistols I had hidden under my jacket, planted the first one firmly in Larry’s ribs, and jammed the second under his chin. “Tell your dog to stay put, or I’ll do what I should have done two years ago.”

  Larry froze.

  Han froze.

  Jim froze.

  “What are you doing, Lee?” Jim yelled. “This ain’t what we agreed on!”

  “Change in plans. I’m not about to trust this scum to turn our people loose unless he has to.”

  I dug the pistol into Larry’s side. “This is to make sure he has to.”

  “What makes you think I’ll do it now?” Larry’s words were laced with disdain, but I could see the way his Adam’s apple bobbed beneath the muzzle of the pistol.

  “Because I’ll kill you if you don’t. It’s as simple as that.”

  “And why should I believe you won’t if I release them?”

  “Because one of your hostages is my mother-in-law. And if you’ll recall, I went through hell and back for my family, even went so far as to take a beating from your pet gorilla to buy them time.”

  “Leeland, I assure you-”

  “Shut up! Your word doesn’t mean dick! You’ll let those hostages go only as long as I force you to. So get on your radio and send them out. Now!”

  I pulled the second pistol from under his chin and tucked it back under my jacket. As I did, I saw Han at the edge of my sight trying to inch closer. Without turning away from Larry, I said, “Go ahead and try it, Han. I’d love an excuse to ruin this pretty uniform your boss is wearing.”

  He stopped and moved his hands out to the side where they could be easily seen.

  “You might be smarter than I gave you credit for. Now pull open your jacket and drop your gun belt. Make it slow. Jim, take his gun and toss it into the water.”

  Jim jumped, apparently startled. “This ain’t right, Leeland. It ain’t what we agreed to.”

  I stole glimpses at the crowds on either side of the bridge. On both sides, people had weapons raised, some aimed at me, some at Larry and Han. Still others aimed at the opposing army. Everywhere though, people appeared uncertain as to what exactly was going on.

  “Do it, Mayor!”

  He hastened to grab the pistol from the ground, but seemed to hesitate at throwing it into the reservoir. I understood. Firearms and ammunition were valued commodities, rapidly diminishing resources. Nevertheless, it was vital that Larry and Han be unarmed if this was going to work.

  “Don’t worry, Mayor. I’ll still go with them. You’ll get to save your precious town. I just want to make sure my family is safe first.” I turned back to Larry and frisked him with my free hand. I left the radio on his belt and threw his pistol out to join Han’s. The splash told me that it wouldn’t be easily recovered.

  Jim started to step toward me. “Leeland-”

  Whipping my second handgun out again, I pointed it directly at Jim. “Sorry, Mayor, I need you to come over here where I can see you.”

  Jim looked at me as if he had never seen me before. “What the…?”

  “Get over here with these two where I can keep an eye on you.”

  “Dammit, Leeland!”

  “Now!” Jim scrambled to do as I said.

  “Now reach into Larry’s jacket here and pull out his radio.” When he did, I ordered, “Take it, Larry. Tell your troops to release those hostages or, so help me, I’ll drop you where you stand, and to hell with what happens after.”

  He swallowed and keyed the radio. “General Troutman here.” He looked up at me and, for a moment, I thought he was going to resist. “Release the prisoners.”

  I snatched the radio from his hand before he could say anything else. “Now, as soon as I see our people back on this side of the bridge, we can settle things between ourselves.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean, I want to see people moving over here in thirty seconds, or I swear I’m going to ruin your day!” I shoved the barrel of my pistol down the front of his pants. “One. Two. Three-”

  Larry snatched the radio back. “Get those prisoners over here! Get them over here now!”

  “Seven, eight, nine…” I had reached seventeen when I saw the first of them running across the bridge. Amber was the tenth.

  When the last one had filtered through the crowd on our side of the reservoir, I turned back to Larry. Pulling the pistol out of his pants, I shoved it back into his ribs. “We did have an understanding about this meeting, didn’t we, Larry? The next time we met?”

  “Leeland, no!”

  “This is between me and Larry, Mayor. You can go back to the factory now. This will all be over in a few minutes. I’ll kill him, his thugs will kill me, and everyone else gets to go home happy.”

  Jim looked at me with wonder in his expression. “You’re just as crazy as he is.”

  “Maybe so,” I acknowledged. “But in a couple of minutes, I don’t think that’ll matter anymore. Now, get back to the factory, or you’re going to get caught here when the bullets start flying.”

  The mayor lowered his eyes, apparently defeated, and stepped away from Han and Larry. Then, as he drew alongside me, he grabbed my arm and pulled it away from Larry. “This ain’t right!”

  The two of us struggled for the pistol for a moment before Jim suddenly snatched the s
econd pistol from my jacket and pointed it at my belly. The other was still held aloft, pointing at the sky, where he held my arm locked with his. Turning me to where he could see Larry over my shoulder, he said, “None of this was supposed to happen. We was comin’ out here ta negotiate with you. I wasn’t gonna let you take Leeland, but I figured I could trade my people for some more of the explosives we used to get your tanks.”

  He panted a bit from our struggle and looked at me. “You went and ruined it! Damn it, Leeland, none of this had to happen! You’ve committed us to a war we can’t win!”

  I looked around. Guns from all sides were trained on the bridge, but everyone hesitated to fire the shot that would no doubt begin a raging battle. “So now what?”

  “You two.” He jerked his chin at Larry and Han. “Get back to your people and pull back. We’ll talk this out later.”

  “You think they’re going to just walk away and let you alone?” I demanded.

  “Go!” he yelled, and I heard their footsteps rapidly retreating.

  The two of us remained locked together for a moment. I saw Jim’s eyes following their progress over my shoulder.

  He nodded. “Far enough.”

  I took a deep breath, then screamed at the top of my lungs, “No, you can’t let them go!” I yanked my pistol down from Jim’s grip and whirled around, aiming at Larry’s back. “Come back here, you son of a bitch!”

  Larry turned to see me aiming right at him. Then Jim fired twice. I heard the report and felt the stinging in my back that told me I’d been hit. I turned, “Wha…?”

  “I can’t let you do that, Lee.” He fired twice more at my chest, just as I fired back at him. Screams of disbelief erupted from the townspeople as Jim and I both fell to our knees.

  There are so many holes in this plan that it isn’t funny…

  I dropped my pistol and clutched at the stinging in my chest.

  …and if anything goes wrong, I’m dead.