With the remaining time until nightfall, Jack glassed the town methodically, going over every detail of his plan in his plan. If he could cover the distance between the woods and the town, making it through the open fields, and then sneak past the sentries at the edge of town, he should have a shot at pulling this off. Get in, get Kenny, and get out.
Chapter 10
At the outskirts of Wheeler, the reserve group of men waiting for direction from Shane got to their feet. Sixteen pairs of eyes watched him with some mixture of curiosity and concern, and he could hear them talking amongst themselves in hushed whispers. Out of the five men that set out with him, only three of them were left. The group would have questions for him, and he didn't even have Jack Miller's head to show for it.
"Come on. We're going back to Long Branch. Miller isn't here. He's in Long Branch trying to get his son back," Shane said.
"What happened? We heard shooting. Where are the other guys at?" a man asked.
Shane gave the man a hard stare and ignored the question.
"Let's go. Get your stuff and move. I said we're going back to Long Branch," Shane said in a tone that brooked no argument.
"You... You shouldn't have shot that man. He wasn't the one who killed your son. He didn't do anything to you," a stammering voice said behind him.
He spun around, filled with anger. David. He was a weakling member of the scavenging team. One of the pathetic group that got his son killed in the first place. What place did he have to criticize him?
"How can you call yourself a friend of my son? Where were you when Todd was shot? Did you do anything to help him, or did you tuck your tail and hide?" Shane asked.
"Why’d you shoot him? He didn't deserve to be shot," David said, his body visibly shaking.
"Did you really think they would just turn Jack over to us? Do you think they would have told us where he was? I did what I had to do. You saw what that town was like. Those bikers had the run of the place. Animals. They wouldn't have told us anything if I hadn't done what needed to be done," Shane said. His frustration at the waste of time spent looking for Jack was about to boil over.
"Tell us what happened in town, Shane," another man demanded.
"They wouldn't turn over Miller and then one of them stepped forward giving me some attitude. I asked him if he was Jack Miller and he said he was. So I shot him. It turns out it wasn't Jack. But while we're out here wasting our time arguing with each other over those assholes, Jack is headed to Long Branch to get his son. That man is a killer and deserves what’s coming to him. Don't waste any more of my time. I will have justice for my son. Let's go," Shane said.
An older man stepped out from the group of men. "You shot one of their people? Is that what started all of the shooting in Wheeler? Listen to that," the old man said, pointing to the town below. "It sounds like a damn war zone down there. Where are the five men that went into town with you all?"
"Two of them were shot. We were outnumbered and outgunned. The other three volunteered to cover us while we left," Shane said.
David shook his head wildly. "That's not how it happened! You can't do this. Just because your son is dead it doesn't give you the right to--"
"Enough!" Shane yelled. "What would you have done if it was your son? Or yours? Or yours?" he asked, pointing to the men who he knew had children. "Would you let it go? Would you let your son's murderer walk free? I want justice. I want to see Jack Miller beg for mercy at my feet, and then I want him dead. I would be out here doing the same thing I'm doing right now if it were one of your children. We’re all in this together. Make no mistake: what I did was a hard thing, but this is a hard world now. You've got to grow up. We're going to have conflicts with this town eventually anyway. There's not enough food to go around. It was bound to happen sooner or later. Do you want your children to starve this winter while that town full of murderous animals gets to eat?"
"You mean revenge? What you are talking about isn't justice. It's revenge," the old timer said calmly.
"Revenge, justice, they're both the same thing now. It's us versus them. They started this by killing my son," Shane said.
Some of the men nodded in agreement, their fears and anger stoked by the fury in his voice. Others stood with furrowed brows, staring at the ground while they silently weighed their decision. The group was divided against him. If they weren't capable of making hard decisions then the weaklings would just drag the rest of them down with their old ways of thinking. He didn't want or need them to come along with him. They would only serve to frustrate his purpose.
"We need to go back to Long Branch and ask Judge Ramsey what to do. We signed up to find Jack, not to start a war with Wheeler. She will want to know about this," a man in the group said.
"Fine. That's just fine. Some of you don't like the way I'm going about this. I can understand that. But understand something else. It doesn't matter now who started it. There's a town full of angry bikers down there that will be out for blood now. Do you think they're going to forgive and forget? Do you want them following you back to Long Branch? How would you like to unleash those savages on your family? On your neighbors?
"Besides, if we back down now we'll look weak and they'll think they can push us around. It will only lead to more killing in the future. We have to contain the problem until this is all over. If you have a problem with the way I do things, stay here and keep those people in town busy. Give me the chance to catch Miller and bring him to justice. You don't want me to kill him? Fine, I'll bring him to Judge Ramsey and let her pass sentence on him.
"I won't force anyone here to go with me, but if you aren't coming with me you'd better be damned good and ready to keep these bikers in Wheeler until I can send back some reinforcements from Long Branch. Once Miller is caught we can end all of this. Until then, we need to make a show of strength. If we don't catch Jack, then we'll negotiate some kind of agreement if that’s what you want. But we'll do it from a position of strength," Shane said.
The old timer that had become the de facto spokesperson for those opposed to him nodded in agreement. "That sounds fair and reasonable. I grant that you've got a right to justice. God only knows I sympathize with how you feel, but you've stirred up one hell of a mess down there, Shane."
"Listen up. Those of you who are willing to help me find justice for my son come with me. The rest of you split up into two groups. There aren't that many people in Wheeler. Just a couple of cops and that biker gang. We need to send a message to these people. We are a force to be reckoned with. They aren't welcome in our territory anymore, and they can't kill our people and get away with it. Send a few men up the highway in the passes on each side of the valley. The rest of you find positions closer around town. Keep them pinned down until we can finish this."
Of the original reserve group, only three men stepped forward to come with him: Ben and two other men who he didn't know by name. Whoever they were, he would find out what they were made of shortly enough. These three looked like they had a hard edge to them, men who would do what needed to be done without whining about the niceties.
"We've got to move fast if we're going to get back to town first. Jack is heading towards Long Branch. We've got something he wants. He'll be trying to get his son back. I've got to catch him before he does that," Shane said.
Chapter 11
As soon as it was fully dark, Jack descended from the woods and into Long Branch like a black shadow slowly creeping along the ground. He moved quickly and quietly across the dark field without disturbing so much as a leaf. While he was confident there were no lookouts near the garbage dump, he was still a little worried that someone in town might have a night vision scope. He didn't know if night scopes were EMP proof or not, but if somebody did happen to have one his whole plan of sneaking into town was a bust. There could be a sentry out there right now with a night scope trained on him, ready to pull the trigger that would send a large caliber rifle shell clean through his heart. The idea sent a shiver down h
is spine.
He admonished himself for worrying. He didn't have time to think about things he couldn't change or unlikely scenarios. Sneaking into a heavily armed and highly populated town in the middle of the night to recapture his son was challenge enough for him without letting his train of thought run wild.
After a few more yards, Jack was finally through the field and came to the back of a building along one of the town's outer streets. He slipped in between two homes and looked around, gauging his whereabouts and listening for signs that he had been discovered. No alarms had been raised and there was no gunfire to signal his detection, much to his relief.
He ran through the yards behind the unoccupied homes at the edge of town until he arrived at the building he had targeted for his diversion. The cinderblock building was low, only one story high, with a flat roof and only two windows at the front on either side of the entrance. Earlier in the day he'd watched foraging and scavenging teams as they returned to town and came to this building to drop off their newfound loot. Given that the town had allocated two armed guards to watch the building throughout the day, he made the reasonable assumption that the building was their central food storage facility.
He crept along the edge of the building until he rounded the back. There he found a single door without a knob – exit only. Alongside the door were several cords of wood lining the back wall. The wood was covered with tarps, presumably in an effort to keep them dry. A chopping block sat nearby, as did a wheelbarrow, a few lengths of rope, and a small pile of discarded tires.
Jack had considered setting the firewood ablaze as a distraction. It would likely burn the building to the ground and draw everyone's attention, but he quickly dismissed the thought. There were a lot of innocent people in this town who had nothing to do with his son's capture. There were also children here. They didn't deserve to have their food stores taken from them. Once he had seen this cache of material behind the building while scouting, he instantly knew of a better approach.
Peering around to make sure the coast was clear, he grabbed one of the tires and used the chopping block as a boost to shove the tire over the edge of the back wall and onto the roof. He did the same with a section of rope, tossing it as quietly as possible. After that, he climbed on top of the wood and swung himself over the wall as well. He inched along until he came to a large metal air conditioner. It was here that he emptied his backpack and set out everything he brought with him in a pile in front of him.
The moon cast a shadow to the side of the air conditioner, and Jack stayed within it to keep from being seen. Crouching, he slowly assembled a large pile of dry tinder and sticks on top of the air conditioner's metal casing. He then laid several sheets of cardboard on top of the tinder bundle and put the rubber tire on top of it all.
From a small cloth bag among his things, he removed a handful of hardened pine resin bits – a quick way to start a fire if you ever got lost - and stuck one end of the rope deep in the center of the tinder bundle, the other end trailing out the top. He smeared chunks of the resin into the rope along its length, and along the edges of the tire. Once he set the rope alight it would burn like a fuse with the help of the resin, and a short delay ignite the bundle of tinder. Also spotted with the resin, the rubber tire would produce a large amount of thick acrid smoke and a bright flame visible from a long ways away. If there was one thing that was certain to capture the attention of the entire town, giving the appearance that their food stores were on fire was bound to do the trick. Of course, building the fire atop the metal air conditioning unit should protect the building from catching fire, but by the time they realized that, Jack would have already made his move.
He took his pocketknife, along with his flint and steel set, from his backpack. He pulled up his pant leg, and using the knife, scraped away a large fluffy piece of cotton from his sock. He put the ball of cotton next to the makeshift fuse and struck his flint and steel together. The spark ignited the cotton ball on the first strike, which in turn lit the fuse. It burned more slowly than he thought it would, so he stuck it further into the tinder pile, giving himself plenty of time to reach the other end of town before it was set ablaze.
He scurried across the roof and climbed back down using the cord of firewood stacked against the back wall. The moment his feet hit the ground he started off for the far side of town, hugging close to the deep shadows next to the buildings.
He reached the far side within a few minutes, just in time to avoid a sentry with a kerosene lamp walking by on his rounds. The lamp produced a wide swath of light for several yards in every direction. Thankfully there weren't more people with lanterns or he would have a hard time of staying concealed.
After the sentry walked by, Jack located the building where Kenny was being held. The building looked to be an old schoolhouse, probably more than a century old. The building was dark inside and he couldn't see a thing. Jack snuck around the side and peered out front where the two guards had been earlier. Two new men sat in nearly the same location as the previous two, looking just as disinterested in their duty. Jack crouched down in the shadows next to the building and patiently waited, praying that his diversion would work.
Soon enough, a bell rang out in the night, and cries of alarm could be heard.
"The food storage building is on fire! Hurry up or we'll lose it all," a voice yelled. People ran down the street banging pots and pans with wooden spoons, raising the alarm.
Jack watched them run by, tugging their boots and coats on as they scurried towards the sound of the bell. The guards at the front of the building were thoroughly enraptured by the commotion.
Jack took this as his opportunity and slipped around the backside of the schoolhouse just underneath a window. He then removed his overcoat and pressed it over the window, and punched clean through the window pane, creating a muffled crunching sound beneath his coat.
He pulled his jacket away and cleaned the remnants of glass from the window pane, then reached inside and unlocked and opened the window. He slid the window open and pulled himself through, listening intently for noise inside the pitch black room as his eyes adjusted to the darkness.
"Who's there?" a voice whispered. He recognized it as Kenny's voice, and a wave of relief went through him.
"Kenny, it's me, Dad. Are you ok?"
"Dad! I'm all right. How’d you find me here?"
Now that his eyes had adjusted to the darkness he could make out Kenny across the room, sitting tied to what was left of the chair. He rushed over, tugging at the knots binding him. The knots wouldn't easily come undone so he used his pocket knife to cut through the ropes.
"What happened, Dad? They said you killed somebody," Kenny asked, rubbing at his wrists where the ropes had cut into his skin.
"We can talk about that later. First let's get out of here. Follow me," Jack said.
Jack led Kenny to the window and helped him down, and then climbed through after him. He crept to the side of the building and watched for a break in the foot traffic. Seeing an opening, he dashed across the main street and down a quiet side street, walking swiftly away from the old schoolhouse where Kenny had been held.
"Just act normal and keep walking until we hit the woods at the edge of town," Jack said.
They went unchallenged as they made their way across town to the edge of the field bordering the garbage dump. From here it was just a short walk across the field, and then they would be in the woods where it would be much easier to lose any pursuers. The weight of this nightmare was finally almost lifted from his shoulders.
As he stepped out between the last two buildings, a voice called out behind him.
"Hey! Where are you going? It's past curfew," a voice demanded. A kerosene lantern was lit, casting a bright circle of light in the darkness.
"Keep going Kenny. Don't stop moving until you’re in the woods. I'll stall them," Jack whispered.
"Dad, no. I'm not leaving--"
"Just go, Kenny," Jack said. He gave Kenny a
shove from behind to keep him moving and then spun around, stepping in front of Kenny's path as he walked away to cover his retreat.
"Sorry, guys. I forgot all about the curfew. I'm just dropping off my mud bucket off at the dump. Kind of stinks real bad, you know? I had beans for lunch and the wife couldn't sleep with it in the house," Jack said.
The lantern drew closer, and the man holding it lifted it higher, illuminating Jack's face. The second guard, a taller man missing several teeth, stood there with his mouth hanging open squinting suspiciously at Jack.
"What's all that black stuff on your face? Is that coal all over you?" the man with the lantern asked. Suddenly he looked over Jack's shoulder and spotted Kenny, pointing his finger with agitation.
"Where's he going? Hey Bill, there's two of them! One of them is getting away. Grab him," the man with the lantern ordered, pointing at Kenny.
The toothless guard’s eyes widened with surprise as he spotted Kenny beating a hasty retreat and heading towards the woods. Casting a nasty look at Jack, the guard started off in Kenny’s direction.
Jack held his arms up with his palms open and stepped in the path of the toothless guard. "Hold up a second. He's just dropping off the mud bucket, just like I said. Don't get jumpy now."
The man with the missing teeth was having none of it, unconvinced by Jack's ruse. He scowled and pushed past Jack to give chase to Kenny.
Jack balled up his right fist and punched the toothless man in the jaw.
He fell to the ground, his eyes as big as saucers, reeling from the blow.
The guard with the lantern fumbled with the rifle slung over his shoulder, and dropped the kerosene lantern to the ground in the process. He pulled the strap over his shoulder and nearly had the weapon in his hands.
EMP Aftermath Series (Book 2): Desperate Measures Page 7
