by Steven Bird
Upon reaching the mausoleum where he had left Jack and Rosa, he whispered softly, “It’s me, Jessie,” but heard no reply. Peeking in the front door, Jessie pushed it open to find no trace of them, other than footprints on the dusty old granite floor. With mixed emotions, he slipped out of the mausoleum and worked his way slowly to Leina’s position. As he neared the truck, he signaled for her to exit and join him and led her away from the cemetery, south toward the Rodeo Grill restaurant, which appeared to have long since been abandoned.
Stopping just short of Sumner Avenue, Jessie said, “I’ll cover you while you cross. Once you get on the other side, check the area, then wave me over while covering me. This wide open street will be one heck of a kill zone if anyone is watching.”
Nodding in the affirmative that she understood, Leina ran across Sumner Avenue, taking a position of both visual and physical cover behind an old, steel barbecue smoker built onto a pull-behind trailer that was located within the restaurant’s parking lot. Waiting a moment while scanning for threats, Leina waved Jessie across, where he joined her behind the smoker.
“Well, what did you find? Are they gone?” she asked.
“They aren’t there. There’s no sign of them. But on the bright side, there is also no indication of a struggle. There are no spent shell casings on the ground or anything else to indicate that they were taken by force. I’m just gonna stay positive for now and assume they slipped away to get Jack the medical attention he so desperately needed.”
Looking around, Leina asked, “Now what? We can’t just keep creeping around in broad daylight.”
“Let’s try to find a way inside this old restaurant. It looks like it’s been vacant for some time.”
“Yeah, I would imagine it became hard to get the Sysco truck to bring supplies after it all started falling apart,” Leina added.
“Is that a sense of humor, or sarcasm?” Jessie asked. “Either way, it’s good to see you coming out of your shell.”
“I’m just trying to keep my mind occupied to avoid thinking about unwanted things. You can call that whatever you want,” she said, leaving Jessie’s position while slipping in between the building and two rusty, old fly-infested commercial trash receptacles.
Joining her alongside the building, Jessie noticed that the back door by the dumpsters had been pried open, and the lock busted. “I’d say this place was ransacked for food quite some time ago, which sucks because I’m getting pretty dang hungry.”
“Me, too. I could eat a horse,” she replied as she held the door open while Jessie slipped inside with his rifle at the low ready, prepared to engage any possible threats that might lie in wait.
Nodding for her to follow, he said, “I just happen to know where one is. His name is Eli. He’d probably be tough and gristly, though.”
“What?” she asked with a confused expression on her face.
“A horse. I know where one is if you’re that hungry.”
“Oh, shut up,” she replied. “I could never do that.”
“Then you’ve simply yet to get that hungry,” Jessie said as he leaned his rifle against the wall and slipped behind the counter.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
“Like you, I’m sure this place has been cleaned out. But I’d be a fool to not at least try to find something,” Jessie said as he rummaged through each of the drawers, cabinets, and underneath the counter. “Just keep an eye out while I look.”
Walking over to the heavily tinted and dust covered window, Leina patiently watched the street for any signs of activity when she heard Jessie say, “Jackpot!”
Turning to see what the excitement was all about, she asked, “What? Did you find food?”
“Yep. They’re like mini MREs. There are dozens of them. Do you prefer ketchup or mustard?” he said as he tossed her a small packet of ketchup.
Seeing the disappointed look on her face, Jessie added, “Hey, don’t knock it. Ketchup is basically tomatoes, sugar, and salt. That’ll help keep you alive until something better comes along. If nothing else, it’ll give your taste buds something to do.”
Tearing the packet open and sucking out the contents, Leina nodded in agreement and turned her attentions back to her view of Sumner Avenue, which passed just in front of the building.
Walking back around from behind the counter, Jessie joined Leina and said, “We’re kind of in a hotspot, here. We should see some activity that gives us an idea of what move to make next. The county courthouse is in view from here. That’s where they were keeping Rosa. And city hall is just a few blocks over that way,” he said, pointing toward the northeast. “One way or another, we should be able to get a good view of Peronne’s activity from here while we rest up.”
“I’ll take the first watch this time,” Leina said. “I’ve got a lot on my mind and probably couldn’t sleep, anyway.”
“I’ll take you up on that,” Jessie said. “Dozing off for a few moments last night was the first sleep I’ve gotten in days.”
Walking to the pantry area, Jessie looked around for a suitable place to take a nap. Finding a shelf that was previously used to store bread, Jessie said, “This will work. Wake me when it’s my turn to take the watch.”
“Will do,” replied Leina as she gazed out the window, taking a seat in a corner booth in the restaurant’s seating area.
Chapter Thirty-One
As he sat high on the hill, feeling the breeze blow across his face as he looked his rifle over, he thought, This old girl is starting to show some saddle wear. It’s time to clean her up a bit.
His thoughts interrupted by a distress-filled baaa, Jessie looked down the hill to see his sheep begin to scatter—all except for one. A lone mother ewe and her lambs were cornered by a pack of hungry wolves that circled them, slowly inching their way closer to her as her lambs cowered beneath her.
Immediately bringing his rifle to bear, Jessie placed the crosshairs of his scope on what he assumed to be the alpha-male, clicked off the safety, and...
“Jessie. Jessie, wake up,” Leina said as she shook his arm. “Peronne is up to something.”
Sitting up quickly, hitting his head on the empty bread storage shelf just above him, Jessie shouted, “Damn it! Ah, man,” as he rubbed his head. “What? What is it?”
“Peronne is up to something. It sounds like he’s taunting you over the radio. He keeps making sheep noises. It’s quite creepy.”
“He’s probably just trying to goad me into replying so he can DF our position,” Jessie said as he climbed down off the shelf and stretched.
“No, it’s more than that, I’m afraid. I heard what sounded like a little girl crying in the background.”
“Son-of-a-bitch,” Jessie responded with defeat in his voice as he began to pace around the room anxiously.
“What do you want to do?” she asked.
“I want to kill him. I want to kill them all. The only problem is we have no advantage when we do things on his terms. Our victories have defied their numbers by hitting them when they don’t see it coming. If we walk into a scenario of their design, well, things would be different.”
“Have you ever wondered if we, and you in your travels before you met me, have had victories because what we’re doing is right?”
Sluffing off her comment, Jessie replied, “Being right doesn’t give you an advantage. You and I have both seen plenty examples where doing what is right just gets you and your loved ones killed. No, I don’t think God is intervening here. I believe he watched as humanity made our bed, now he’s letting us sleep in it for a while. I know he’s there, but I don’t feel as if he’s going to intervene. I’ve seen enough to know that’s the case, and like I said, so have you.”
“Being right might not get you anywhere, but being a pessimist doesn’t either,” she replied tersely.
“I’m not being a pessimist. I’m being a realist. Some people see their glass as half empty; others see their glass as half full. I see mine as being half-full
of piss. And right now, Peronne is the one pissing in it. And that, I intend to stop.”
“What do you propose?”
“Well, they’ve suffered numerous losses over the past few days, which we know for a fact. We know their morale has to be at an all-time low. That’s our only advantage at this point. We have to continue to disrupt their freedom of movement and their perceived dominance of the battle space in order to undermine their only advantage, which is their unity of command.”
Pausing to search for his words, Jessie concluded, saying, “As much as I hate to say it, as much as I hate to even propose it, I think we need to split up and divide their attention across the town. If we give them only one target to hit, both of us being together, they’ll be able to focus and coordinate their strength accordingly. If we hit them from different places at different times, we will keep them reacting instead of advancing. As long as they are in a defensive mode, we may stumble across an opportunity to act. Without greater numbers, and without any real intelligence to go on, that’s our only option as I see it.”
“If you’re hesitant to propose it because you don’t think I can handle myself out there alone, you are sorely mistaken,” Leina said with a stern voice and a serious, almost offended expression.
With a chuckle, Jessie replied, “No. No, that’s not it at all. Trust me. I’m a little scared of you myself. I just think we make a good team. That, and as much as I’ve become used to being a lost soul in the world, it’s nice to have a little humanity around at times. But you’re right. We can both handle ourselves out there, so that’s the best thing we can do right now, I think.”
“It’s all we have,” she said as she gathered her things, placing a handful of ketchup packets into a bag. “I’m taking a few of your mini-MRE’s,” she said with a smile.
“Help yourself,” he replied. “You tell me where you plan on going, and I’ll work myself around the other way.”
“I was thinking I will head a few blocks south and circle around town to the west. I’ll find some havoc to wreak somewhere along the way to draw their attention. Once you see them reacting, you do the same on the northeast side of town. They won’t know which direction to focus on. If we’re lucky, at least one of us will survive this battle of attrition and make it to Peronne.”
With a smile, Jessie chuckled, earning him a look of disdain from Leina. “No. No, I’m not laughing at you,” he said with his hands up. “I’m laughing because you’re basically a much better-looking version of me.”
Returning the smile, she replied, “You’re not so bad to look at yourself. Except for that dirty old beard. It looks like something scraggly with the mange died on your face.”
“Oh, low blow. Well, you can’t exactly receive your Dollar Shave Club razor supply in the mail once a month these days, you know.”
“I was only messing with you,” she replied.
“Finally, a sense of humor,” Jessie said, warmly. “Now, don’t go getting yourself killed. You’re starting to grow on me.”
“You do the same,” she replied as she slipped out the door with her rifle in hand and a small sling-style bag over her shoulder.
As he watched her slip off into the surrounding area, quickly disappearing behind a small storage shed, Jessie said aloud to himself, “Please don’t get yourself killed today.”
Chapter Thirty-Two
With his gear slung over his shoulder and his rifle in hand, Jessie left the relative safety of the Rodeo Grill and worked his way east down Sumner Avenue, doing his best to avoid being seen, before turning north to make his way around the city opposite of Leina’s intended route. Slipping through the alley between the old Dollar store and the movie theater, Jessie stealthily crossed Main Street and slipped off into the brush to follow the Fort Sumner Main Canal back around to the west. He hoped to arrive on the north edge of town at the center of the city’s geographic area before beginning his campaign of harassment and intimidation.
Pausing for a moment to sit and observe in a large stand of brush and weeds along the canal, Jessie began to sorely miss his AR-10 and its magnified optic. The Aimpoint CompM4 red dot optic on the rifle he had acquired from one of Peronne’s men was fine for close quarters battle where rapid sight acquisition was critical, but he greatly missed the enhanced reconnaissance his magnified rifle scope provided him. One of those bastards probably has my rifle, now. Hell, I’ll probably get shot with it today. Whoever has it is far better off than I am with this puny little 5.56mm AR-15.
After half an hour of seemingly calm silence, Jessie worked his way further west, still following the cover provided by the brush and trees along the banks of the canal, until reaching what he felt was the geographic midpoint of town. Scanning the area to look for threats and opportunities, Jessie saw a funeral home that appeared to still be in operation.
“That figures,” he said to himself aloud. “Of all the businesses that closed, Lord knows a funeral home is probably still in high demand these days. Business will be booming after today if I can help it. The thing is, I hope I get to choose their customers for them.”
Remaining in place and observing for another half an hour, Jessie heard a faint radio transmission through the police radio he carried. Turning up the volume slightly, he heard Peronne’s voice saying:
Hey, Shepherd! We had a little lamb to slaughter, but we found something better. Something you might have an interest in. She’s a fine young thing. Dark hair, brown eyes, and curves that any man, including myself, just can’t look away from. If I’m not mistaken, she knows you, too.
As Jessie’s thoughts raced through his mind, he wondered, Is it Leina or Angela? Hell, they could both fit that description. Maintaining his radio discipline, fighting off the urge to respond to Peronne’s taunts, Jessie patiently waited for more information to be presented.
After a few moments, Peronne’s voice came over the radio once again, saying:
I’m disappointed in you, Shepherd. I thought Leina might have meant something to you, but I guess she’s not a member of your flock. Oh well, we will have fun with her while she lasts, which may not be long with what we have in mind. You just keep hiding out there like the coward you are while we have our fun.
Unsure if Peronne was trying to con him, Jessie held his silence, until hearing a struggle in the background, followed by Leina’s voice, screaming:
Kill these sons-of-bitch! Kill them all. Send them all to hell to meet their friends! Don’t worry about me, I’ll...
As her pleas were silenced, Peronne’s voice came back over the radio, saying:
I have to admit. The fire in this one is quite the turn-on. You’d better hurry if you want whatever’s left.
Disregarding his own better judgment, no longer caring if he gave his own position away, Jessie held the radio up to his face, and with a clenched jaw, said:
If you harm her, I won’t just kill you, I’ll torture you. I’ll send you to hell screaming for mercy. I will do things that even an evil, sadistic son-of-a-bitch like yourself could never imagine.
Keying up the microphone, Peronne replied in a flat, even voice:
Here’s the deal: we’re not going to negotiate. This is my offer, and you can take it or leave it. As a matter of fact, I kind of hope you turn me down so that I can have my fun with her, and then hunt you down and kill you. That’s a win-win. But because I’m a gentleman, I’ll let you have some say in the matter, if you choose to accept. I’ll trade you her, for you. Show yourself and turn yourself in to any of my officers, and I will let her go. You have my word on that.
In reply, Jessie pressed the push-to-talk button, and said:
“Bullshit! Your word? How can anyone take you at your word? You’ve betrayed everyone around you every single day. You lie, you cheat, you steal from those who don’t have the strength to fight back. You’ve aligned yourself not with your fellow citizens, but with the cartels and organized crime figures that helped to topple what was once a great nation. Your word isn’t wo
rth the spit that flies out of your fat, piggish mouth when you give it. I will gladly give myself to you in exchange for her freedom and safety, but you’ll do it on my terms. You’re not so powerful as you let on or you wouldn’t be trying to strike a deal to save your own ass right now, so you had better listen up, because I’m only going to say this once. I will show myself from a semi-secure location, but only after one, and only one, of your men escorts Leina safely outside of town. Once I show myself, your man will leave her with the vehicle and a full tank of gas, and he will begin to walk back to town while she drives away. She will not be followed. Once she is on her way, I will lay down my rifle, and I will walk to you of my own accord and surrender myself as a trade for her. You have my word, and my word is worth something.”
After a momentary pause, Peronne answered over the radio with a perturbed voice:
So be it! You’ve got one hour to get yourself to the east end of town for the trade. If you don’t show up exactly on time and make contact, I’ll kill her right there for the world to see. Do you understand me?
Keying the microphone once again, Jessie replied:
Southwest end of town. You be on Sumner Avenue short of the Pecos River. I had better not see any of your men, other than her escort, on the other side of the river. No negotiations. You’re not in charge here. It will be the southwest end of town. I’ll see you in four hours. Don’t double cross me, Peronne. You know I have the means to kill you. You know that, or you wouldn’t be open to negotiations. Now, don’t you dare say another word. Just shut your mouth and meet me at the west end of town in four hours. Leina better be unharmed, or there will be hell to pay.
