John stood and spoke to the Colonel, “Mam, from what we understand, Dallas is just one of the many cities where the Network is taking over. Even if we defeat or cripple the organization here, what about their other armies?”
“And what about these super soldiers of Dr. Pendelton's?” said Bud.
“Those are legitimate concerns. We do have other alliances, spies in the other big cities where we have discovered the Network. We believe that Luciano and Pendelton are very important leaders of the organization. Most likely, Luciano would become president of the Network controlled country.” said the Colonel. “If we could take out the organization here it would have a huge destructive impact. We would co-ordinate the attacks in the other cities in as short a time span as possible. As far as the super soldiers, so far they are not as numerous as they will eventually be. However, more of them are maturing every month that goes by. From intel, we believe the greatest number of them exist here in Dallas. Our force will have to be well prepared to deal with their excessive abilities.”
Driver, from his tall perch said, “Two things that I can think of that we really need intel on. We need to have some idea of how many super soldiers exist and we need to know which cities have organized Network structures.”
It was quiet for a moment. Mamie pulled out an old thermos and some small paper cups. She poured up some of the coffee and Brewer's bourbon concoction and passed it around. The Colonel said, “Damn, that'll warm the pipes. Thanks, Mamie.”
Mamie said, “My pleasure,” and took a big sip, the steam floating up across her face.
Anissa spoke, “I don't know about how to find out the numbers on the soldiers. I'll think about it though. I do have a friend, one of the working girls. She is a favorite of the Sheriff. I know the Sheriff is always at those big meetings. She might could figure a way to get some information about the cities that are represented in the meetings.”
“Can you trust her?”
“Yes, mam, definitely,” said Anissa.
The Colonel looked around at the shadowed faces, some of them so young. “Listen, make sure she understands the danger.” She took another sip of the warm drink, “And, when we are in private, don't call me mam, makes me feel about a hundred years old. My name is Sharon.” Driver flashed her an amused look and she ignored it. She looked to Rose and Eric, neither had really said anything the whole time.
“Rose, do you have anything to ask? Eric has told me that you and Mamie have been training with the young men.”
“Yes, I'm feeling much more confident.”
Mamie added her agreement.
“Mam---I mean Sharon,” Rose said, “Do you have any idea when this battle will happen?”
“Not yet. Winter is never a good time for confrontations, when there is a choice. Perhaps in the early summer. We'll just have to see what picture the intel continues to paint.”
They had talked of many things and it was time to get out before dawn. The Colonel thanked them all, she and Driver made their way out first. After a few minutes, Rose and Eric slipped down the narrow alley, followed shortly by John and Mamie. The candles had nearly burned away, Jackson wrapped the blanket around Anissa and pulled her in close. His kiss was dampened by a tear that slid down her cheek.
“Are you okay? Someday this will be behind us, I promise.”
“When Rose and Mamie talked about training, I realized how stupid and unskilled I am. How will I keep Lee and father safe when this war comes?”
He kissed her again, “Do you have a gun?”
“Yes, I know how to use it. It's always seemed pointless because unless I knew Lee was safe, I couldn't do anything.”
He took her face in his hands, “I swear, I am going to take care of you and Lee, your father and your friend.I will not let anything happen to you. When this all goes down, I'll be there beside you.” He rubbed his finger gently across the scar on top of her hand, “I'm not going to let anyone hurt you again. You trust me?”
“Yes.” The scar was a permanent reminder of the thug. “Funny,” she said, “I haven't seen that slime in weeks.”
“You won't be seeing him---ever again.” He had never told her about the encounter with the thug. He wasn't really proud of it, just glad that he was gone.
He started to say more and she put her fingers to his lips. The candle burned out, the flame drowned in the last of the wax. “We have to go,” she whispered.
***
The cold finally waned, Spring crept in slowly. In these times, never bright spring days but warmer. On the streets, sprouts in an occasional pot of flowers struggled to emerge. The spies and their secrets continued, with each day increasing the peril of their discovery. One dark early morning, Anissa opened the door of the secret closet right into the nose of a guard. Gasping in surprise and still cold from the outside, she had to think fast.
“What the hell!” The guards looked at her, rubbed his nose, “What're doing?”
“Oh-h, it's an old storage closet. I thought I remembered a chair stored in here.” She closed the door behind her.
He looked suspiciously at her, “I didn't even know there was a closet here. Damn, girl! You're cold. Must be a refrigerator in there.”
She threw him a smile, “Guess it's not used anymore, I didn't find a thing. Well, gotta run.” She moved away with her heart in her throat. Not good, she didn't want anyone to know about the closet and certainly not that it opened to the outside.
They still hadn't figured how to get a handle on the number of super soldiers. Doctor Pendelton was very secretive and dangerous, no easy way to get into his activities. The doctor never failed to call Anissa into his lab on occasion, always reinforced that he was in control and held the welfare of her son in his hands and that she didn't forget it. On one such day, she stood before him, refusing to sit and answered his probing questions. The heavy door swung open and the soldier that she knew still followed her constantly, loomed over her.
“Sorry, sir. Didn't know you had company. You are needed down in the examination room, shouldn't take long,” said the soldier.
Anissa didn't like the way the over muscled young man looked her up and down.
The doctor looked at her, “You stay here. I'm not done yet.”
She wandered around the lab, got a bottle of water from the kitchen area. On one of the stainless steel tables she noticed a folder that was labeled Roster. Hesitating, making sure that she heard no one coming, she opened the folder. She couldn't believe her eyes, it seemed to be a list of soldiers---the super soldiers. They were numbered, soldier 1, soldier 2, beside the numbers, the name of a city. She quickly scanned down and onto a next page, forty two soldiers were listed. Going to the heavy lab door, she listened, trying to hear any signs of the doctor returning above the loud beating of her heart in her ears. She returned to the roster and counted the times that Dallas was written beside a soldier. Six, it appeared that only six super soldiers were here in the city, others spread across the country in the big Network cities.
She had just closed the file as the door slid open, she dropped the bottle of water. The doctor took in the spilled water and she hustled to the kitchen to get some towels. “See that you helped yourself to some water. Come on, hurry up---get this mess cleaned up. I need you out of here. I'm going to have to leave and take care of some business. We'll talk another day.”
She mopped up the water, the old man tapped his foot, turned toward the door.
“Don't you forget woman. I'm very close to your son. You keep yourself in line.”
She closed the door behind her and exhaled.
Purely by accident, she had acquired for the alliance an idea about the number of super soldiers. Anissa had also snooped and searched, observed the comings and goings on the second floor of Luciano's. She thought she knew the rooms where weapons were kept.
Anissa's friend, with the help of liquor and lots of pillow talk managed to get a good bit of information from the Sheriff. He was a braggart anyway, thought
she would be impressed with the scope of the Network. Boasting about the many cities that were represented at the meetings and how widespread the Network was. He even named cities, there was Las Vegas, Houston, Miami.
The bits and pieces of very important information continued to be gathered and reported to the Colonel. The members of the covert alliance continued to train. The strategy and time line for the battle with the Network was coming together. The hot summer sizzled ahead and preparations for war in the Metro Villages simmered slowly to a boiling point.
Chapter Eight
The Battle of Dallas
Anissa heard the slamming of doors, running feet and the explosion of a gun. Without panic she walked through the living area and crossed the hall, opened the door to the room and said loudly “Shelly, come with me now.”
Her friend gave no argument, jumped from the bed and pulled on clothes and shoes. An opened mouthed man, his hands on pants at about his knees, began to sputter out words, “Wait a minute---what the heck you think you're doing? Hey, bitch. Where ya think you're going?!”
With her friend already ahead of her, Anissa slammed the door on the man as he hopped around and tried to find his shoes. They quickly moved to the stairway. She looked to the ground floor and saw an armed man in camouflage easing up the stairs. She froze, her friend already moved upward. The government soldier quickly checked her out and motioned for her to follow Shelly. On the fourth floor, the two women entered the apartment where the worried face of Anissa's father greeted them, her son played happily on the floor. She locked the door and went to pick him up, hugging him to her. A high pitched siren blasted out from the top of the Luciano Villages.
***
Sharon bounced along on the seat of the old dark green truck. Dressed in the same camo as Driver who maneuvered the vehicle over the rough pitted road, rifle on her shoulder, she checked her sidearms one more time. In the back of the truck, twenty more soldiers of her army lined the bench seats. There was no conversation among the armed soldiers that swayed with the truck movements or between the Colonel and her driver. The plans and preparations had been made, now was the time to implement the confrontation with the Network. A well trained and dedicated soldier, the military leader knew that total focus and intensity was necessary to insure the victory.
She stole one glance over at the man behind the wheel. Driver had been a good friend to her and he was on target that she had refused to allow herself to think of him as any more than that. What he didn't know is that she had made herself a promise these last few weeks as the plans for battle progressed. If they both survived this battle and if they accomplished the goal of securing the control of America to friendly forces, she was going to open herself up to more than just a friendship. A cigarette hung from the corner of his mouth, his eyes squinted in the smoke. She pulled the cancer stick from his mouth and took a deep inhale, turned it back to him.
Driver laughed, “You good?”
“Sure. Gung ho and ready to go,” she said.
He looked at her without a smile now, “I got your back.”
The truck swung into the area with dry scorched grass near a stand of scrubby trees. Thirty additional soldiers awaited the arrival of their commander. As Sharon jumped down from the truck, all stood at attention, the men from the back of the truck, streamed down to join. The six members of the alliance, the spies stood in the line. Jackson, Bud, John and Mamie, Eric and Rose all stood in the military camo, armed, respectfully silent and straight backed.
“Morning,” said the Colonel. “I want to know if everyone is all clear as to what your positions will be and the plan of attack?”
“Yes Colonel,” was the unified response.
“Good, good. The city will already be busy and moving this morning, I want to move out immediately.” She gave one last scan to her valued spies, “Are all of you squared away, ready for this?”
Jackson said “Yes, ma'am,” and the others nodded affirmative.
***
John, Mamie and ten of the alliance soldiers followed their orders to disperse through the pedestrians on the streets of Dallas and move towards the city jail and the Sheriff. With the usual indifference the walkers paid little attention, although a few began to stop and stare as the armed soldiers weaved in and out past the robot like citizens.
It had been impossible to get any accurate count of how many of the metro inhabitants were members or supporters of the Network. The strategy was to hit the Network at it's head, attack the leaders and deal with those that came to join in their defense as it went down. A few people scattered away, possibly to raise an alarm and possibly to find a place to hide.
Two of the alliance soldiers burst through the doors of the jail office with John and Mamie right behind them. The others fanned out around the entrance in a defensive stance. The startled Sheriff stood and reached for his holstered gun. A shot blew through his hand and into the wall behind him. Two street thugs lounged in nearby chairs and two prisoners were locked in one of the holding cells.
One of the thugs reached the door but didn't survive the door defenses. The other lunged toward Mamie, she raised her rifle and took his leg out from under him. At that moment, a hulking form rounded the corner from the hallway. One of Pendelton's super soldiers sent Mamie flying across the floor, her head banged hard against the desk. John shot the soldier in the leg and the shoulder, it barely made the monster flinch. He reached out, jerked John's gun from him and slammed him with it across the face.
The warning siren from the top of Luciano Village began to blare out through the corridor between the tall buildings. The prisoners were shouting, in a panic, “Hey! hey! Let us outta here.”
A gun right at the moaning lawman's head, one of the soldiers growled Key, Now!
The Sheriff opened the desk drawer with his good hand, blood dripped from the other. The soldier moved him toward the holding cell. As soon as the door was open, the two prisoners pushed past, ducked and avoided the advancing tower of man, ran down the hall toward the back exit. The second alliance soldier sent a well aimed shot into the attacker. He wasn't down but took a couple of steps backwards. He turned and reached the entrance of the office in three long strides. As soon as his form filled the open doorway, volleys of shots ripped him. Finally, he was down.
The Sheriff was barely conscious now, loosing blood, “You som-bitches going to leave me here to bleed to death?” There was no response.
John pushed himself to standing, his face bloodied and one eye swollen shut, he thought probably his cheekbone was chipped. He moved to Mamie, she sat on the floor and rubbed her head. “You okay, girl?”
She looked up at him, “Oh god, sweetie, you look like hell.”
“I'll live.” He reached down to help her up.
The soldier said, “We better move to the lab. If there are more of these super soldiers there, the third team is going to need all the help they can get.” The soldier looked at John, “You might need some first aid, mister.”
He and Mamie were on their feet now. “No time. I'll make it.” The Sheriff cursed and moaned in the cell. They stepped over the bloody mass in the doorway, one of Pendeltons soldiers down and five to go. They moved down the street toward the Downtown Medical Village. The cars still buzzed along the streets and a wide path was being given to the quickly moving dozen armed and uniformed soldiers. No alliance soldiers had been lost in this confrontation. The alarm had been raised and a few loyals to the Network sniped at the small group as they hustled along the cleared sidewalk. One soldier dropped, another threw him over his shoulder and they kept moving. More shots from a building's second story window rang out and the sound of Mamie's scream erupted from the tightly grouped team.
***
Jackson hadn't found any peace or rest the night before. As he moved with his team, Eric and Rose, the Colonel and twenty five of the soldiers into the Luciano Village, he knew he had to completely clear his head and focus. All the disturbing thoughts of the previous night
; Anissa's safety, her family and friend, thoughts of his own family back home and how they didn't even know the danger that he was about to move into---all these worries had to be pushed away. If the U.S. alliance that he had willingly became a part of was not victorious here, if they didn't severely cripple the Network, at a minimum, America wasn't going to be a good place to live.
Two soldiers proceeded the Colonel into the small closet that opened into the alley beside the Luciano Village. Jackson was right behind her, he gave one look behind him and past two more soldiers, sent a wink to Eric and Rose. The door of the obscure exit opened and the first guard was taken down just a few feet inside the Luciano. At the back door of the Pizza place, the soldier motioned with his M-16 rifle and the three employees hustled out the front door into the street. Six of the alliance soldiers and Rose began to disperse into the various work and commerce areas of the lower floor to secure the floor. Other than Anissa and her family, who Jackson had told to stay locked in their rooms until he came to get them, the employees that resided on the fourth floor were all at their jobs on this ground floor.
About half a dozen soldiers and Eric eased up the stairwells to the third level where the real henchmen and members of the Network resided. It was thought that the majority of these people would be found at this time of morning on the second floor. That level was where the majority of the Network's seditious activities took place. This was where Anissa's “girls” entertained, this was where the drugs were trafficked, the weapon caches were stored, the place where the important meetings were held and the plans of the Network to take over America were formulated. Luciano, the big boss, the would be president of the United States would be on the second floor. Ground zero of the battle of Dallas would take place here and an undetermined number of super soldiers would meet the alliance.
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