The Excoms

by Brett Battles

  Carter scanned the area but didn’t see the others, so he crept inside the workshop to collect his insurance.

  39

  TESSA OPENED HER eyes and cocked her head.

  What’s that noise?

  It was like a hum, but growing louder and softer like a siren.

  She sat up.

  Around her, she could hear the snores and breathing of the others. Someone else was awake, though. She could hear the person stirring.

  “Hello?” she said.

  “Who is that?”

  “It’s me, Mrs. Wright,” Tessa said, recognizing the voice.

  “Are you okay? You need something?”

  Mrs. Wright had been the one who kept everyone calm and together. While Tessa had recognized that fact, she didn’t think the others had.

  “Do you hear that noise?” Tessa asked.

  “You hear it, too?”

  “Yeah, like a buzzer or something.”

  “I thought I was hearing things.”

  Tessa stood up and tried to figure out what the noise could be. A TV? Something on a radio?

  “You should try to get some sleep,” Mrs. Wright said.

  “I will,” Tessa said, but what she was thinking was, if she could get a little closer to the hatch, maybe she’d be able to figure out what was going on.

  She rose onto her tippy toes and turned her ear upward. Just as she reached her full extension, the noise stopped.

  She frowned, but remained there for another minute in case it started up again. Finally, she gave up and lay back down on the floor. But before she closed her eyes, she heard the familiar sound of metal scraping metal that always preceded the hatch opening.

  Some of the others stirred, woken by the noise.

  “What was that?” Renata asked.

  “Quiet,” Nicholas moaned.

  “Is that the hatch?” Mr. Jones asked, the panic in his voice as strong as ever.

  As if in answer to his question, the hatch moved upward.

  It was dark on the other side, though not as dark as it was in their cell, so Tessa could make out the silhouette of the man looking down at them. There was something in his hand. At first she thought maybe it was more food he was going to drop down, but then he shifted and the shape of the item became clear.

  A gun, one with a longer barrel than she’d ever seen on TV or in the movies.

  “Tessa Herrera!” the man barked in a harsh whisper.

  Tessa froze, her skin crawling.

  From off to the side, she could hear someone moving toward the hatch, and then Mrs. Wright saying, “What do you want?”

  “Are you deaf?” the man replied. “I said Tessa!”

  The end of the rope ladder they’d used to climb down dropped into the cell, nearly hitting Tessa on the head.

  “Send her up,” the man ordered.

  “Absolutely not,” Mrs. Wright said. “You can’t—”

  The metallic slide of a pistol echoed down into the cell. “Send her up or I start shooting.”

  “What do you want with her?”

  A pause. “She gets to go home.”

  “I don’t believe you. She stays with us.”

  Thup.

  The sound was powerful and yet muffled.

  Mrs. Wright cried out in pain.

  “Mrs. Wright?” Tessa said.

  Using the chaperone’s rapid stuttering breaths to guide her, Tessa stumbled over to Mrs. Wright.

  “Are you okay?” she asked.

  The woman’s shirt was sticky.

  “Tessa, get up here now,” the kidnapper ordered. “Or do you want me to shoot someone else?”

  “For God’s sake, kid, get up the ladder!” Mr. Jones snapped.

  Tessa didn’t want to go, but if she stayed she’d be responsible for anyone else who was shot.

  “I-I’m coming,” she said, then added in a whisper to the others, “Someone help Mrs. Wright.”

  Climbing a rope ladder was difficult enough in normal circumstances. With her body shaking in fear, it seemed near impossible. When she finally neared the top, the kidnapper grabbed the back of her shirt, hauled her over the lip, and dumped Tessa on the ground.

  “Don’t move,” the man ordered and then shut the hatch.

  It was Mr. Carter.

  Scared, confused, and furious at Mr. Carter’s deception, Tessa said, “What do you want with me?”

  “What I want is for you to do everything I say, starting with no talking unless I give you permission. If you disobey me even once, I’ll shoot you. Nod if you understand.”

  Tessa nodded.

  Mr. Carter grabbed Tessa’s shoulder and twisted her around.

  For the first time Tessa realized they were inside some kind of building. Before her was a large open doorway, and beyond it she could see a campfire but little else.

  “Nice and quiet,” Mr. Carter whispered as he shoved Tessa forward without letting go.

  When they reached the opening, Mr. Carter yanked Tessa against his chest. “Don’t forget I have this,” he whispered, shoving his gun into her ribs.

  He guided her outside and down to the corner of the building. The only light was the campfire to their left. Everywhere else was darkness. Too much for a city to be nearby.

  Mr. Carter leaned around the corner to look down the side, forcing Tessa to do the same. In the distance, she could see the shapes of mountains, not as tall as the Sierras but high enough to blot out some of the sky.

  Mr. Carter’s arm pressed against her tighter, causing Tessa to wince.

  “Not a sound,” he whispered so low she almost couldn’t hear him.

  At the other end of the building stood the shadow of a man. He had his back to them, and was looking around the far corner at something the same way they were looking around theirs at him.

  Mr. Carter clamped a hand on Tessa’s shoulder, and then they crept around the corner and down the building until they were only a few feet from the other man. The shadow remained unaware of their presence, until Mr. Carter moved up next to Tessa and tapped the man in the back with the long barrel of his gun.

  The man whipped around.

  Thup.

  Tessa had assumed the man was another one of the kidnappers, and that Mr. Carter was being silent because of whatever trouble the other man was anticipating. So the flash of the gun and that weird muffled sound caught her completely off guard.

  She sucked in a loud breath as the other man dropped to the ground, blood covering the front of his shirt.

  Mr. Carter glared at her, and for a moment Tessa thought she was about to be next, but then he shoved her forward again toward the wild open expanse of dirt and low bushes.

  “Move.”

  40

  FROM THEIR POSITION south of the camp, Ananke and Rosario watched the kidnappers spread out and noted where each went. Three of the men took up positions on or around the RV and the outbuilding, two others headed over to the water tower, while the last moved east to a pile of debris in front of the dilapidated house.

  The way they’d deployed led Ananke to conclude the men were amateurs compared to the adversaries she’d run up against in her world. An operative like her would have sent at least two men into the desert to circle around and get behind the unknown intruder. Then again, she would have never allowed them to hang out in the same place to begin with.

  If she had been running the operation, she would have had two dugout positions along the entrance road, an around-the-clock spotter on the roof of the RV, one guy watching the rear, and the last two at the camp.

  She reminded herself the kidnappers did have access to C4 and knew how to use it, so rookie league or not, caution was still dictated.

  She signaled for Rosario to follow her, but before they could move, a seventh man stepped out of the RV. He was carrying a bag of some kind and not moving nearly as fast as his colleagues. He crossed along the side of the vehicle and disappeared into the building.

  Figuring he was part of the c
ontingent staying close to the camp, Ananke decided to stay with her current plan and lead Rosario through the desert to the area behind the house.

  There they split, Rosario circling around the east end of the ruins, and Ananke working her way along the more exposed west side, gun at the small of her back, knife in hand.

  Every few steps she shot a glance back at the camp, but the men she could see were all focused on the desert to the north and weren’t paying attention to anything on their flank. When she reached the front edge of the house, she stopped and softly clicked her tongue once into her comm. Almost instantly, she received a click back, indicating Rosario was also in position.

  Ananke gave Rosario the signal to begin.

  All was silent for several seconds, then, from off to the east came the dull thud of something hitting the sand. It wasn’t loud enough for those back at the RV to hear, but what about the man in front of the house?

  Ananke peeked around the corner.

  As she’d hoped, her target’s attention had been drawn eastward by the noise Rosario created.

  Fast and quiet, Ananke skimmed along the front of the house, slipped in behind the man, and wrapped her arm around his neck before he even realized she was there. He tensed as she squeezed and tried to grab her, but his efforts were too late.

  After he was unconscious, she laid him on the ground, removed his shirt, and tied it around his head to gag him. She then zip-tied his ankles and wrists together.

  A quick body search came up with a cell phone, a wallet, and two hundred dollars in cash. She took it all, and his rifle, before retreating around the building to where Rosario was waiting.

  “Who’s next?” Rosario asked.

  __________

  WHEN RICKY SAW a shadow move on top of the RV, he dropped to his belly.

  It had to be a lookout, but one who wasn’t that good at his job, since no bullets were flying in Ricky’s directions.

  He weaved a path through the sagebrush toward the large shed, staying as low as possible to hide his movements. He figured if he didn’t hear from Ananke by the time he reached the building, he would sneak around the back of the structure and take the kidnappers by surprise. He wasn’t worried about the details of how. As he was fond of saying, Ricky Orbits always finds a way.

  A little more than halfway to his target destination, the ground in front of him suddenly dropped away. He halted just shy of the edge and peeked into the break. Another one of those damn flash-flood channels, he realized. This one much smaller than those he’d seen before but equally as deep, three feet across and about the same down.

  As he lowered himself into the miniature canyon, he had one of his brainstorms. Though he could climb out the other side and continue on his previous path, he sensed he could take this tributary, as long as it stayed deep enough, almost all the way to the RV unseen. He could then sneak under the vehicle and come at the men from a direction none of them would be expecting.

  Oh, he liked that idea. He liked it a whole lot.

  Grinning ear to ear, he set off on his path to glory.

  __________

  AS LIESEL AND Dylan neared the outbuilding, they spotted four of the kidnappers, one on the roof of the RV, another huddled against the vehicle’s front bumper, and the other two crouched next to a collapsed structure on the side of the building opposite the camper.

  Dylan thought it would be nice to know how many in total they were dealing with, but he kept it to himself since Liesel would probably slit his throat if he made any noise.

  They went wide to the west so they wouldn’t draw the attention of the men next to what now looked like an old water tank, but before they made it behind the outbuilding, Liesel raised a fist above her shoulder, telling Dylan to stop. She continued to the back corner on her own.

  As Dylan watched her progress, he noticed a lump on the ground sticking out from the back of the building. Rocks? Some trash? Whatever it was, it seemed to be what had caught Liesel’s attention. She lowered to a knee next to the shape and leaned over it. After a few seconds, she waved for Dylan to join her.

  The shape turned out to be a man, his shirt dark with blood from a bullet wound to the chest.

  “Dead?” Dylan whispered.

  Liesel nodded.

  They headed down the back of the building.

  Ten feet before they reached the other end, Liesel suddenly stopped and shot a look into the wilderness off to their right. Dylan turned just in time to see the two human silhouettes rise from among the sagebrush. One was holding a rifle, and for half a second Dylan wondered why Liesel hadn’t taken a shot at them. But when the two started walking toward them, he saw they were Ananke and Rosario.

  Perhaps it was a good thing he didn’t have a gun.

  As soon as Ananke and Rosario joined them, Dylan started to whisper, “Boy, are we glad to see you,” but the first word hadn’t even fully crossed his lips when Liesel jammed her hand over his mouth and raised an annoyed eyebrow.

  He knew it was unlikely anyone else would have heard, but the point was taken. He nodded that he understood and Liesel lowered her hand.

  She pointed back toward the other end of the building, and mimed to the other two about finding the dead man.

  Surprised, Ananke silently asked if Liesel or Dylan had killed him.

  Liesel shook her head and shrugged.

  After taking a moment to think, Ananke held up seven fingers, pointed toward the body, and lowered one. Next, she motioned in the other direction and lowered a second finger, leaving only five. She then crouched down and sketched out a plan in the dirt.

  When everyone indicated they understood, she mouthed, “Good luck,” and they moved out.

  __________

  RICKY WOULD HAVE been happier if the walls of the narrow tributary bed went on a bit longer before tapering off.

  The RV was right there. Sure, he could reach it in seconds, but that would mean crossing ten feet of open ground, where he’d be totally exposed to the lookout on the roof. If the guy was even barely competent, Ricky would be seen.

  What Ricky needed was a distraction. What he had was nothing. Not even a stupid rock he could throw at the side of the garage. Hell, there wasn’t even a pebble. Just sand, sand, and more sand.

  He considered radioing to get one of the others to make some noise for him, but he was too close. The moment he opened his mouth, he’d give himself away.

  He swore silently. A perfectly good ambush opportunity wast—

  Ricky froze.

  The lookout’s silhouette had risen a few inches.

  Had the man seen him?

  Oh, crap. That’s just what I need!

  Ricky put his palms on the sand to make his retreat, but paused.

  The guy wasn’t looking in Ricky’s direction. He was looking over his shoulder, toward the far side of the RV.

  After a few seconds, the lookout moved again, but instead of returning to his previous spot, he pulled back away from the edge and repositioned in a spot that took him out of Rickey’s sight.

  Well, wasn’t that nice of him.

  Grinning again, Ricky slipped out of the stream bed and crawled over to the RV.

  __________

  ANANKE SLID AROUND the corner of the outbuilding and crept to the open doorway. No matter what she did, the moment any part of her body crossed into the opening, it would be seen by the guy who’d gone inside. Better to go all in. She shouldered the rifle in favor of her sound-suppressed pistol, and then, keeping low, rushed inside.

  She swung the muzzle of her gun back and forth, looking for the target. But no one was there. What the hell? She’d seen the seventh guy enter the building, and had been sure he was still in there.

  She swung around again, in case she’d missed a spot he might have been hiding in.

  Nothing. He must have left when she and Rosario were over at the house.

  That was disappointing. She’d been hoping to cross a third kidnapper off the list.

  Even
more disappointing was that the kids weren’t inside, either. So the only other place they could be was inside the RV. Which meant there was probably at least an eighth kidnapper. They were like ants. Eliminate one and another appeared.

  The kidnappers had been using the outbuilding for storage. Along one wall were a few boxes of bottled water and some sort of prepackaged food. There was also a generator, and two floodlights on stands sitting near a mound of concrete in the center of the room. Both were off. She wasn’t sure what the men could be using them for, but until all threats were neutralized, there was no time to investigate.

  She clicked her tongue and Rosario joined her inside.

  Their remaining task was dealing with the two men at the RV—the one on top and the one crouched near the front. Liesel and Dylan had headed to a tipped-over water tank on the opposite side of the building, to handle the two men who’d hunkered down there.

  Ananke took a good look at the RV from the darkness of the shed. The man on top was stretched out so that his heels were a few feet above the RV’s side door. Taking care of him from behind would be child’s play. First, though, she needed to deal with the guy around the front of the RV.

  Ananke led the way past the campfire and along the RV, to just short of the front end. Easing forward, she leaned her head out only enough to see the man.

  Good. He was crouched in front of the far headlight, looking out toward the driveway. The not-so-good part was the M16 semiautomatic he held.

  Ananke pulled back and had a quick, silent confab with Rosario. Rosario moved to a position where she could aim her pistol at the man on the roof and take care of him if necessary.

  Ananke gently laid the her rifle on the ground so that it wouldn’t get in her way, gave Rosario a thumbs-up, and snuck around to the front of the RV.

  The man was gone.

  She swung her pistol in an arc and made sure he wasn’t anywhere in sight. The only other place he could have gone was around the corner of the vehicle to the driver’s side. She lowered to her hands and knees so she could look under the vehicle and see where he was.