He heard the scampering of feet behind him and smiled. All it took was decisiveness and people would follow. As soon as he judged that they'd passed out of view of the soldiers on the other side of the road, he headed for a back door on the far end. It had a glass panel and, after listening for a few moments, he pressed his face against it. He couldn't see anyone inside the small kitchen, so he inched the door open.
That was when he turned around and saw that only Brain and May had followed him. "Where the hell are the others?"
"I'm not sure, but I guess Kris is going ahead with her plan and Donnie's been following her around like a puppy dog, so he went with her."
Hick gazed past her but could see no sign of anyone across the flat, green-tinged parking lot to the road beyond. And then his doubts about Kris resurfaced. She'd been one of Crawford's soldiers. Had she faked being on their side so she could now betray them?
"What was that?" May said.
From the north came the crack of gunfire and the dull woomf of explosives.
Should they stay or should they go?
Hick plunged through the door, pulling it shut behind them as Brain and May followed. The only natural light came from the glass in the door, but a half-burned candle sat unlit on the countertop. They stood silently, listening for any signs of movement outside.
Then he heard it. Crawford's voice. He was barking orders into a walkie-talkie. "Do not withdraw! That is an order!"
There was a pause during which another voice spoke. Hick couldn't make out the words, but he knew panic when he heard it.
Crawford spoke again. "I know. They are a rogue element. You must hold them! Over and out."
Then, at a lower volume, he said. "We have to go, now. If he's come in force then there's nothing we can do to stop him. You go home and I'll follow. Quick! We only have minutes."
A female voice said something Hick couldn't make out, and then footsteps marched out.
"Come on," Hick said. "I don't know what's going on, but it's now or never. Weapons ready?"
They nodded. "And be careful, Brain. Last time I had my back to you, you tried to kill me, and that didn't work out for you, did it?"
"Oh, boss. I said I'm sorry. You can trust me now, honest."
But Hick was gone. He pulled open the door and plunged into the room beyond.
John Crawford was leaning over his desk, his hand plunging in and out of a canvas pack as he filled it. He spun around and let out a shriek of fear and rage. "Hickman!"
When Paul Hickman looked back on the finest moments of his life, that instant of recognition and the look on Crawford's face would certainly have made the podium.
"Put your hands where I can see them," Hick said, as Crawford's arm began to move toward his desk drawer. "Do it or I'll blow your head off!"
Crawford froze, then slowly raised his hands. "You're going to kill me anyway. That's what you came here to do, isn't it? Well, get in line."
"Your own people sick of you now, are they?" Hick said, sneering as he gestured for Crawford to sit. He pulled up a chair and took his place opposite his prisoner. "Brain, go watch the entrance. May, you cover the back."
Brain moved instantly to the farther door and opened it a crack. May hesitated for a moment, before retracing her steps and standing by the kitchen door.
"My own people?" Crawford said, as if considering the question. "You could say that. But if you mean my soldiers, then no, they have remained loyal, for the most part. At this moment, they are fighting a rearguard action to give me time to get away."
"Do they know that's why they're doing it?"
Crawford's face spread in a reptilian smile. "Ah, Hickman, you and I are so alike. I think, in other circumstances, we could have been friends."
"I'm nothing like you!" Hick said, even as he knew he was lying. They had much in common, save for one thing. "You don't care for nobody but yourself."
"Ah, yes. We sociopaths recognize each other, don't we? You, I suppose, are a community-hearted individual."
"I love my daughter. She's what I care about."
Crawford nodded as if conceding the point. "Yes, well you have the advantage over me there. I had a son, you know. He was a climate activist. Died in a boat, protesting alongside an oil rig owned by the company I worked for. Accidentally shot. Apparently, they thought he and his colleagues were pirates. Ridiculous, of course."
Hick sat and regarded the man as the mask seemed to slip just a little to reveal a little of the human that lay beneath.
"So, once I'd taken the court battle as far as I could, I decided to honor him by fighting for his cause. I joined the Sons when it was a very different organization from what it became."
"And you turned into a monster," Hick said. "I heard what you did to Mayor Hawkins."
Again, Crawford gave a little nod. "Yes. She made me angry. Very angry. But look, Hickman, pleasant though this is, I must warn you that unless you leave this office very quickly, you will be trapped in the same net as me."
Hickman raised his handgun. "Then why shouldn't I just blow your head off now?"
"Because that would bring my people running in here and you'd die alongside me. And your friends too, though I doubt that would trouble you too much."
"I can kill you quietly enough."
"But not quickly enough. And you wouldn't learn anything from me, then, would you?"
"What do I need to learn from you?"
"Sun Tzu said 'Know your enemy' didn't he?"
A muffled boom and the crackle of gunfire—much closer this time—caused Crawford to tense up momentarily before relaxing, as if his fate was no longer in his own hands. "It's too late, he is coming. Up there," he said, pointing at a trapdoor in the ceiling, "is a roof space. Conceal yourselves and listen. He might not look up there."
"Do I look stupid?" Hick said, getting out of the chair to go stand by Brain, looking out the entrance. The guard had disappeared and there were no soldiers in sight.
Crawford sighed. "I don't care what you do, frankly. He is coming for me and I know the man; he won't be able to resist gloating before he kills me. Perhaps I can coax him into revealing something of use to you. It's your choice. Run and be caught or hide and risk me betraying you. But choose quickly."
"Someone's coming, boss," Brain said as Hick caught the blur of vehicles speeding around the corner.
"Come on," Hick said. Crawford pointed at where the roof pole was stowed and Hick lowered the trapdoor, pulling the ladder down. Brain had only just scrambled inside when he heard shouting and then boots on the raised wooden floorboards below.
Hick lay with his ear to the dusty timbers. He could hear Crawford's chair squeaking as he stood to receive his visitors.
"Crawford, you should have gone before I arrived. Have you developed a backbone since I saw you last? Your men have surrendered to us; those who survived, that is." It was the deep, confident voice of a man who was enjoying the moment.
Crawford said one word. "Mendoza."
"I expected to encounter more resistance. Where is this force of hundreds you claimed to have gathered? No answer? Perhaps they have melted away like your ambitions. But then, you always were weak."
"And yet I'm here, waiting for you."
Footsteps moved on the floor below as Hick, May and Brain crouched in the roof space.
"Yes. Perhaps you thought standing up to me might persuade me to spare you. If that is the case, then you were mistaken. Ezra, such as it is, now belongs to me and it will be brought into line."
Hick heard Crawford sigh. "You will find that the community here works very effectively. There is no need to change anything."
Bang! A fist came down on the table. "No! I saw them! In the field. You know the policy!"
"But if they work alongside the others, surely we should use them? The more hands we have, the sooner we can achieve self-sufficiency and balance."
"Fool! But then, you never did believe in our mission, did you? You wanted your revenge on the ga
s companies, sure enough, and you were prepared to see billions die for it."
"So did you!"
Again the fist banged on the table. "But I did it for renewal! In one strike, we eliminated ninety-five percent of our enemies, but if we do not finish the task then, like weeds, they will spring up again and undermine our perfect society. A society of the fit; of the obedient; of the young."
"But it's genocide, Mendoza."
"No! It is merely a culling. A thinning of the herd."
"These are people, not animals."
"NO! They are the reason that the world fell into decadence and waste, war and inequity. You know this, John Crawford. You know it because you are one of them." More footsteps, and when Mendoza spoke again, his voice was calm and quiet. "Tell me, John, how old are you?"
There was a brief pause. "I am sixty-two," Crawford said, his voice trembling.
"Then you have been blessed with two extra years. I am sorry, but you know our law."
"It isn't our law, it's yours."
"Didn't you hear? It has now been dogmatized."
"What?"
"Oh yes. All communities are required to comply. My squads are only now rounding up the expired."
"Expired? Is that what you call them?"
"Would you prefer 'surplus'?"
"But … but it's inhuman!"
"Inhuman?! Shall I tell you of inhumanity? Do you know what they did to me, John Crawford?"
"Who?"
"THE OLD!"
Hick winced as the cry echoed into the rafters. It was the bellow of a man passing across the event horizon of insanity.
"My God, you can't kill them all," Crawford croaked.
"Your God will not stop me."
Hick heard a momentary shriek that was cut off by a single gunshot and the thump of something heavy falling to the floor.
Hick heard more footsteps as someone marched up the outside steps and into the office.
"Leader, we have completed our first sweep."
"Good, Fabio. How many?"
Hick heard the rustle of paper. "Seventy-seven. This place was crawling with them. Do you have enough men for the task?"
"Yes, sir. I have a squad of six."
"You can trust them completely?"
"Yes, sir. They are ready to do their duty."
"Good. Commence the cleanup."
Heels clicked together, and the footsteps marched away.
Mendoza moved a little, so he was standing almost directly below where Hick hid. "Well, Crawford, it seems it is my duty to do what you could not. I am cleaning out this rat's nest of vermin and in one hour I took the city you failed to capture. When I return there, I shall clean that place out also. It shall become a model of our philosophy.
"And when I have finished my mission and returned to Hope, the purge will begin."
LAST CITY Book 5
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Last Freedom: Book 4 in the Thrilling Post-Apocalyptic Survival Series: (The Last City - Book 4) Page 16
