December's Soldiers

by Marvin Tyson

  “We gotta find out who’s in that car,” De said, instinct telling him they needed to be sure who was in the SUV. They followed it until it turned in at the Chinese Embassy. That told them all they needed to know.

  The bait had been taken; it was just a matter of setting the hook and reeling the crooks in.

  Chapter 44

  When Marty arrived in Washington, he expected to be able to tell President Barker about their well-laid trap and how they were going to spring it. But President Barker had other plans. They met in a private meeting room down the hall from the Oval Office. The president led the way in and closed the door behind them.

  “This room is secure, Marty. Grab a cup of coffee, and let’s get down to business.”

  He took his own advice, preparing himself a cup of hot tea, then he sat. Marty followed suit.

  “We have major problems with the scheduling of secession,” Barker said. “Our people are in a blind panic because of the public announcement by the seven Heartland states, and this all ties in to our agreement on Texas secession. We must at least delay your separation until this cools down.”

  Marty felt a slow burn roll up toward his face, but he replied, with as much calm as he could muster, “President Barker, we have both made promises to the people of Texas and the U.S. Those promises included a timeline, and that timeline must be honored.”

  “I understand, Marty; however, circumstances have changed in a way that will not allow us to stick to that schedule, and may not allow it to happen at all,” Barker said firmly. “We’re working on everything from this end, and we may find a solution.”

  He took a swig of tea, then raised his arms in a placating gesture as he saw that Marty was getting angry. “Marty, I understand how difficult this will be for you politically, but I hope you can understand my political situation as well. You do understand where I’m coming from, don’t you?”

  “Mr. President, I am the president of an independent and sovereign nation. Can you think of another independent sovereign nation that you would try to dictate to like you’re trying to dictate to Texas? I’m sorry, but Texas will stick to the schedule we agreed to.”

  He shoved back his chair and walked out.

  Chapter 45

  On the way back to Austin, Marty set up a meeting with several of the leaseholders in the Eagle Ford Shale. Now, he thought, sitting back and watching the clouds fly by beneath him, all we can do is wait for the Chinese and President Jackson to step in it.

  He didn’t have to wait long. Several hours later, he agreed to meet with a “group of investors” that contacted his office, a group he was certain represented the interests of the Chinese players as well as former President Jackson.

  He still had to deal with the situation on the border, and he had no choice but to mobilize all the military and civilian police forces available to him and station them on the Texas borders with Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and New Mexico. It was only a show of force; his military was stretched too thin to be an effective deterrent if President Barker decided to send the U.S. Army into Texas. Marty’s hope was that the prospect of a military conflict would be deterrent enough.

  * * *

  At the same time, President Barker was holding his own military in place, but events around the world, both political and economic, made him hesitant to take any further action. Military action at home would certainly preclude either the U.S. or Texas from helping with the European economic situation. And there was grumbling from the Russians about the U.S. “returning to the old ways” of forcing sovereign nations to bow to its will. Military units stationed along the borders put a severe damper on travel and trade. The volatile situation didn’t help the U.S. or Texas. An agreement had to be reached soon. It had become a waiting game with consequences.

  All Marty had to do with the Eagle Ford leaseholders was to let them know they would soon be getting huge offers from a group of investors for those reserves and leases, and that the Texas government would have no objection to whatever action they decided was in their best interests.

  He set up his meeting with the potential buyers. He knew the Chinese were already suspicious, and that one wrong move would send the whole plan up in smoke. It was hard to tell who was working with whom, especially since there were operators both inside and outside the Chinese government, not to mention President Jackson and his band of crooks.

  Chapter 46

  President Barker was under enormous pressure to cancel Texas secession plans, at least for the time being. The military build-up along the Texas border continued.

  The investor group Marty met with turned out to be a bunch of Yankee lawyers he was sure didn’t know anything at all about the involvement of the former U.S. president or the Chinese. They were simply paid shills. Nevertheless, he proceeded to tell them exactly what he thought they wanted to know, that they were free to conduct business with any of the leaseholders in Texas that cared to do business with them. After that came more waiting.

  Late the following afternoon, he got a phone call that sent shivers down his spine. Raymond’s sister called. She said Raymond and Sheila never came home the night before and she couldn’t reach either of them on their cellphones.

  Marty contacted Pat and Rick just to keep them informed, and to warn them to be careful. After all, they had a brand-new baby to worry about. He then called Sammy and De and asked them to come to Austin right away.

  Knowing what he did about the Chinese they were dealing with, Marty knew his two friends didn’t have much chance if the foreigners had them. He also knew that, in the case of a kidnapping, Sheila and Raymond had to be found quickly if they were to have any chance at all.

  After talking it over with Sammy and De, Marty instructed his secretary to call Raymond and Sheila’s cellphones every fifteen minutes until they were found. His thinking was that if the capitol switchboard phone number showed up on caller ID, one of the captors might get cold feet. They had nothing to lose with this strategy.

  * * *

  “So, you’ve decided to go ahead with the plan to take the tall Texan, Mr. President?” asked AG Smart.

  “Yes, I have,” Jackson said. “Do you know people who can capture him without getting caught?”

  “We have people on their way to the Ramos ranch now, sir.” Smart sat on the corner of Jackson’s desk. “There’s an abandoned mine office building south of the small town of Sanderson. We have access to it, and we can keep him there as long as needed. We can dispose of him any way you want to without anyone ever knowing a thing.”

  “Yeah, ‘best laid plans’ and all that,” Jackson sneered. “You just hold him until we find out what Texas government and law enforcement knows. See that nothing happens to him until I tell you different, do you understand, Smart?”

  “Yes, sir.” The AG flashed a smirk that belied his words. “I understand. I’ll let my guys know that.”

  “Nothing better happen to Ramos without my knowledge and approval,” the former president stated. “And I do mean nothing!”

  Chapter 47

  A bright light flashed on, and Sheila Littlefeather shaded her eyes with her hands. The room she was held in was totally dark except for that one lightbulb, and it only got turned on at mealtime.

  A hulking man in a black jumpsuit placed a tray of food on the floor in front of her. There was no chair, table or anything else in the room, just four concrete walls and a steel door. “Where’s Raymond?” she asked.

  The man made no comment, just walked out and locked the door behind him.

  The same routine had repeated itself three times a day since she had been imprisoned. One of her captors took her to the bathroom twice a day and stood facing the wall while she went. Then she was led back to her cell and into darkness once again.

  Something was different today, though; she heard different movements outside the door and different feet shuffling down the hallway.

  While she finished her meal, she heard two men talking on the other sid
e of the door, and they were not the familiar voices of the guards. She was sure she had heard both voices before.

  As she was racking her brain trying to figure out where she’d heard the voices, she heard another door open across from her room. A moment later, she was sure she heard Raymond’s voice. Just hearing his voice gave her comfort. Although she couldn’t make out what he said, she heard her own name and knew that he had asked about her, but she heard no reply.

  The three guys who grabbed her at the ranch had tased her when she walked through the door, coming home from the grocery store. She assumed they had done the same thing to Raymond before she got home. They had been brought to this place in an old van, and dark cloth bags were pulled over their faces. They had been put in separate rooms. Nobody had roughed her up since they got here, and she hadn’t heard any commotion that indicated Raymond had been abused either, but these new voices and the changes of pace outside made her think something was up. She felt the urgent need to find a way for them to escape.

  Sheila had taken a self-defense class when she was a teenager, and her instructor taught her to use anything at hand to gain an advantage over her adversary. Although there was nothing in the room, she still had the clothes on her back and her high-top, lace-up boots.

  The guys that brought the food always came back and took away the small plastic tray, then turned the light off again on the way out. Sheila made her plan.

  She unlaced her boots, tying the laces together to make one long piece of stout leather. Then she took one of the boots and, as quietly as she could, broke the exposed lightbulb hanging from the ceiling. She waited.

  A few hours later, when her keeper brought more food, she was waiting by the door. When he opened the door and reached for the light switch, his eyes were not yet accustomed to the darkness. Hers were. She slipped her bootlace garrote around his neck and hung on for dear life, using the new muscles she’d built up working on the ranch. In a matter of seconds, the ruffian was unconscious by the open door. She searched his body and clothes for any kind of weapon. He only had a small pocketknife but, more important, he had a set of keys.

  She dragged him farther into the room, then slipped into the hallway and quickly unlocked the door across from her. Raymond sat in the darkened room. He was astounded when he saw her, but he wasted no time in getting out the door. They heard footsteps coming from the other direction as they stepped through a glass door into a gravel parking lot. All they knew to do was run. They set off at a sprint.

  They ran down an arroyo that ran east to west. On a hunch, Raymond chose west, and they ran until they were sure no one was following.

  Chapter 48

  At the mine office, pandemonium reigned. Within an hour of the arrival of Attorney General Smart and Senator Mitchell, the captives had throttled a guard and vanished into the night.

  “Senator, can we get a military or law enforcement helicopter out here with infrared capability? That’s the only surefire way that I know to find these two,” a guard asked.

  “And what would you tell them we were looking for?” Mitchell hissed. “Two fugitives? Fugitives from what? Why are we holding two U.S. citizens in an abandoned mine office a gazillion miles from nowhere? Use your head for something besides a hat rack!”

  The senator turned his wrath on the remaining two able-bodied guards. “Do either of you know where we can get good dogs nearby? That’s the only way I know to track these two without going to prison ourselves before sun-up.”

  The first guard, despite having just been castigated roundly by the senator, spoke up, “I have a cousin over in Alpine that raises bloodhounds. I can get him to bring three or four out here. If I call him now, he can be here in several hours, sir.”

  “Get him started,” Mitchell snapped. “It’s a long shot, but it’s the only one we have. If those two get back to civilization, we’re all dead meat.”

  * * *

  Raymond and Sheila stopped to rest on the rim of the arroyo.

  Raymond took a long look at Sheila and said, “I need to go back. We need to know who grabbed us if we intend to do anything about it. I’ll get you to a safe place, then go back to find out what I can.”

  “Oh, sure, you’re going to find ‘a safe place’ for me while you go back alone?” Sheila was defiant. “Who’s doing the rescuing here? You’re not going back there without me!”

  Raymond laughed. He knew he wouldn’t win this one. And she was right; she had pulled his fat out of the fire this time. After a short rest, they began to make their way back the same way they had come.

  Because they were exhausted from the breakneck flight in their escape, it took more than two hours to get back to the edge of the parking lot behind the building they escaped from. They waited patiently to see if there was anything going on there before walking back across the open ground to the building. They saw silhouettes passing back and forth behind the glass windows so they felt sure everyone was still inside. Besides, their captors would have no reason to think their captives would return.

  Just as they stepped out onto the gravel of the parking lot, they spotted the headlights of an approaching truck and darted back into the shadows. The truck slid to a stop in the gravel and a big man got out and opened the camper shell. The baying of hounds was loud and clear. Raymond knew immediately what was going on; he also knew they couldn’t outrun or outlast those dogs.

  Remembering a story told by one of the K9 handlers assigned to his platoon years ago, Raymond quickly yanked off his boots and socks while the dogs and handlers went inside to pick up the captives’ scent. He cut the bark off a cedar tree nearby and rubbed the socks all over the exposed cedar sap. He slipped his boots back on minus socks, picked Sheila up and strode across the parking lot, being careful to take the same path they left on. When he got to the back door, he lifted Sheila up to the roof, slipped his cedar-scented socks over his boots and followed her up.

  Sure enough, when the dogs came out, they stopped quickly at the door, ran in circles briefly, then took off like a shot down the arroyo, with the two guards struggling to keep up.

  When the dogs and guards were well away, Raymond and Sheila climbed back down on the other end of the building. Sneaking a look through an uncovered window, they recognized the AG and Senator Mitchell sitting at a table, drinking from coffee mugs.

  Raymond looked around for anything he could use as a weapon. He found only a short piece of rusted three-quarter inch pipe and an old rope, but he thought that might be enough. He outlined his plan to Sheila, then kicked open the door closest to the two men.

  Pointing the piece of pipe out of the darkness at them, he shouted, “Get on the floor now!”

  It worked. The two men immediately hit the floor.

  “Put your hands behind your backs or I’ll blow your brains all the way to El Paso!” Raymond yelled.

  After they complied, Sheila slipped in to tie their hands and feet with the old rope. Then she cut the collars off their shirts and snipped a few hairs off each of them, putting them in separate pockets of her jeans. Raymond looked at her with a question in his eyes.

  “DNA samples,” she told him. “It will at least tie them to this place, even if it doesn’t prove they personally took part in the abduction.”

  “Ah,” he said, “good thinking. It might give us some leverage to coerce a confession from one of the bit players who did the ‘leg work’ in exchange for leniency. Take their wallets, too. We’ll let them pay for gas and food on the way home.”

  They backed out the door, killing the light and closing the door behind them. Raymond couldn’t find keys, so he leaned down and hotwired the dog truck. As it roared to life, they heard the baying hounds coming in the distance. Raymond used the little pocket knife taken from the guard to flatten the tires on the only other car in the parking lot. They then drove off into the night.

  “Keep your eyes open, Sheila,” Raymond told her. “If you see any kind of light, let me know. We need to call home as soon as po
ssible.”

  “Or,” she said, “we can use the good senator’s phone if you like.” She produced a cellphone from her pocket.

  “I’m surprised at you, Sheila Littlefeather,” Raymond grinned. “I would never have believed you would steal a phone!”

  “I didn’t ‘steal’ anything. I traded a perfectly good pair of fancy leather bootlaces for it,” she said, handing it to him.

  The sun was just rising in Austin when Marty’s phone rang. Overjoyed to hear Raymond’s voice, he dispatched Texas Rangers to meet the pair and bring them back to Austin safe and sound.

  Chapter 49

  All his team members were back home in Austin, but Marty’s troubles were far from over. His worst fears about the close proximity of Texas and U.S. military personnel was realized as a frantic phone call came in from just north of Gainesville near Lake Texoma.

  “Mr. President, I have to tell you that tension and tempers flared a few minutes ago when U.S. Army MPs crossed the lake by boat and tried to ‘arrest’ a Texas Ranger,” said Texas Army Major Ken Burns. “This was well inside Texas territory, on land that the U.S. BLM has claimed for the last few years. Shots were fired, sir, but I don’t think anyone was hurt. Let me confirm that.” The line was quiet as the major apparently checked out the situation.

  He came back on the line. “I think our people only fired warning shots, and the MPs hauled ass back across the Oklahoma border as fast as that boat would run.” Major Burns chuckled.

  “Major, I’m sure you understand the importance of preventing anything like this from happening again,” Marty said seriously. “I know you don’t have command of the Rangers there, but pass that along to the officer in charge. Meanwhile, I’ll call President Barker and try to prevent this from escalating any further.”

  “Yes, sir, I’ll do that, but you should be aware that U.S. tanks and mobile artillery are moving toward the border as we speak,” the major stated.