by Ira Tabankin
Chapter 27
Captain Black looks up at his intelligence officer,
“You’re telling me there are two different groups operating in the South East? One the Cartel and one a terror organization?”
“Sir, that’s correct, there are scouts of both groups both in front and behind us. We could find ourselves boxed in between both groups. We don’t have the firepower to fight both groups at the same time. We could end up getting caught and made into chopped meat.”
“Show me again on the large map where these groups are. Does Washington know about them?”
“Sir, we and others have reported the groups’ existence to D.C., so far they haven’t responded. My gut says they’re focused on the Chinese in Hawaii.”
“2, the farms we left are in the path of both teams, they can also find themselves in a meat grinder, with them being the meat. Are we still in radio contact with them?”
“Sir, it depends on the atmospherics. Sometimes we’re able to reach them, other times we can’t.”
“Keep trying to send them a warning. I’d hate for them to get caught in the open without any warning. They could get wiped out before they realize who they’re fighting. I hope John gets the message and places them on alert. Do you think they have sufficient training on the M240 machine guns we left them?”
“Sir, they know how to use them. We installed the 240s in the positions in their trench. We left boxes of ammo in the trench. They have M4s and UZIs, plus a couple old Chicago Pianos.”
“I asked Jay where they got the Thompson’s, he wouldn’t say.”
“It’s been a very long time since I saw a fully auto version with the fifty round drum magazine. It reminded me of watching an episode of the ‘Untouchables.’ Those damn guns are deadly close in. The 45 moves slow but hits with a hell of an impact. I looked at one of their magazines, it was loaded FMJ/JHP, odd/even all the way around the drum. The FMJs rip holes, the JHP expand and tear up a body. The 45 carries a third of the foot pounds impact as a 5.56, in a close battle the 5.56 might go clear through. The 5.56 has to travel at least 2200 feet per second to break up inside the body. We’ve all seen people hit by FMJ 5.56 who continue to come towards us. I haven’t seen anyone hit with a 45 JHP keep coming.”
“One of the reasons, we gave the farm most of our FMJ ammo. We’re loaded with HPBT ammo which does a much better job of stopping someone.” Captain Black pauses. He looks at his intel officer,
“2, can you dispatch a couple of platoons to return to the farm as support in case they come under attack?”
“Sir, we’re operating with less than the number of people I’d like to have as it is.”
“I know. Let me see if I can get the ‘puzzle palace’ to send us more people and tanks. I’d love to have a platoon of MLRS.”
“Good luck. Every commander is screaming for tanks and MLRS. There aren’t enough to go around.”
“See what you can dig up.”
“Yes, sir.”
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Ricky surprises everyone in Jay’s house by being agreeable and not arguing with Jay over politics or financial policy. Jay thinks, shit if I’d known locking him up for few days would knock some sense into his head I would have done it a long time ago. I don’t know what happened, but I like it.
Every day Jay sits for an hour or two outside watching the progress on the fields and replacing the mines and traps the army removed. Every day Ricky brings Jay a large mug of coffee that’s been tainted with potassium. Ricky sits with him chatting for thirty to forty minutes. Jay’s beginning to look forward to Ricky’s daily visits. On the fourth day, an hour after Ricky leaves, Jay feels pressure in his chest. The pressure turns into pain which moves up into his jaw across his left shoulder and down his left arm. Jay pats his pockets looking for his small bottle of nitro pulls. He’s shaking from the pain and pressure by the time he finds the bottle, opening it, he spills most of the pills on the blanket covering his lap, he manages to get one under his tongue. He tries to call for Lacy, all he gets out is part of a yell. Ricky hears him try to scream. He closes the front door and turns on the surround sound which is connected to his iPod. Music drowns out Jay’s feeble calls for help. .
The pain in Jay’s chest slowly starts to decrease from the nitro, he places a second one under his tongue five minutes after the first. Lacy turns down the surround sound system, opening the door she decides to sit with Jay. Exiting the front door, she’s greeted by the image of Jay clutching his chest in pain. Lacy races to him,
“Honey, heart?”
Jay nods.
“Nitro?”
Jay holds up two fingers.
“Take a third, we don’t have 911 to call, I’ll stay with you. It’s been a very long time since you had any pain a single pill wouldn’t handle. Try to relax. I’m here. I love you.”
Jay places a third pill under his tongue, the press/pain in his chest begins to lessen. Lacy leans over saying, “I’ll be right back, I’m going to get you aspirin.”
Jay nods.
Lacy quickly returns with four aspirin, “Take these with your coffee.”
Jay nods washing the pills down with the rest of his lukewarm coffee.
“Is the pain gone?”
Jay weakly responds, “Most of it.”
“Let’s get you in bed to rest. I’ll talk to Doctor Basco.”
After getting Jay to lay down, she passes Ricky in the hall,
“Ricky, would you please make some tea and bring it to Jay? He’s in the guest room on the main level.”
“Sure, be happy to.”
Ricky smiles knowing the potassium must be working. He mixes most of what he has left into the tea he’s making for Jay.
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Todd is trying to hold a communications link with the Army, who is to the west of them over the mountains. “John/Todd, consider this an official warning. Two heavily armed groups are in your area they are movin…..”
“Todd to army. You’re breaking up. Please repeat.”
“John/Todd, consider th….Two….gro…area…”
“You’re getting worse. We’re losing your signal. Try changing frequencies.”
The message disappears, Todd decides they changed frequencies, he sets the receiver to auto scan he hears,
“Tango two, have target in sight…”
“Allah Akbar.”
“…many slaves, some will fetch a good price.”
“…gold, lots of it.”
“…HELP, we need HELP. Being overrun. Oh God, please help us.”
“…official warning…..groups in ….”
Todd hits the emergency button to call John. He answers on the second ring.
“Todd, what’s wrong?”
“I think you should come here, we could have a major problem. A code RED problem.”
“I’m on my way.”
“Want me to sound the alarm?”
“Wait till I’m there. I’m already on my way.”
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Lacy calls Doctor Basco,
“Please come ASAP, Jay had a serious heart issue.”
“I’m on my way. Is he breathing? How many nitros did he take?”
“He’s in bed resting, he took three pills, I gave him aspirin.”
“Lacy, stay with him, do NOT let him close his eyes. Don’t let him go to sleep, he might not wake.”
“Oh my God!”
“Stay calm. I’ll be there in five minutes.”
Lacy turned back to Jay, “Are you okay?”
“I’m okay, the pain is going away.”
“Drink some of this nice decaf tea Ricky made you.”
“Okay. I’m not thirsty, but I’ll drink it if it makes you feel better.”
“The doctor will be here in minutes. He’ll check you out. You know he’s going to draw blood, so drink.”
“Okay, okay. Ricky, give me the tea. See, I’m drinking.” Jay finishes the large mug of tea.
Doctor Basco arrives just as Jay f
eels the pain in his chest return.
“Doc, it’s coming back!”
“On a scale of one to ten, how bad?”
“Seven, and building.”
“Lacy, I need to get Jay to the hospital in the shelter.”
Ricky says, I’ll help, I’ll call Fred and Tony.”
“Good, time is critical. Tell them to hurry.”
With tears in Jay’s eyes, he cries “Doc, the pain is getting bad. I can’t breathe!”
Ricky walks outside covering the smile on his face.
Chapter 28
El Chapo’s scouts are hiding on the small hill behind the farm while Al Afi’s scouts are on a hill to the east of the farm. Both are flying small drones gathering intelligence information on the farm. Neither scout team knows the other is also watching the farm. Both have called their commanders to send troops to attack the farm. They see one thousand acres of crops in excellent condition, they see a row of new homes and a large castle which both scout teams assume holds an enormous amount of treasure.
The drones send video of someone being taken on a stretcher towards a hill located in the fields. The scouts continue to watch wondering why anyone would be running towards a hill unless there was something hidden under the hill.
The farm wasn’t under attack so John didn’t fire smoke to mask the location of the entrance of the shelter. The scouts watching the activity in real time are surprised to see the front of the hill open exposing a large metal hall. After the stretcher is carried inside the hill, they watch the front of the hill return. The leader of each scout team is amazed, they watch the recording of the hill opening and closing many times trying to see what’s inside the hill. The drone operator of El Chapo asks,
“What could be inside a small hill?”
“You are stupid. There must be an underground facility under that hill. Make sure you mark the hill’s location on our maps. If they hid something under that hill, it must be filled with treasure. I’m going to contact El Jefe to have him us send additional people. When they arrive we’ll attack in the middle of the night, we’ll pick a night with no moon, they won’t see us approaching their facility. We’ll blow the door with C4. I’ll lead us to victory and riches. El Chapo will reward us with women and gold. We’ll be allowed to retire, we might even be allowed to live in one of the homes below us. El Chapo will live in the Castle.”
“Sir, are you sure they have buried treasure in the hill?”
“Why else would anyone bury a facility if not to store treasure? We are going to be famous. I want you to keep a drone watching that hill. If people enter and exit it, track where they go. See if you can spot any sentries or other defenses.”
“Yes, sir.”
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On the other side of the farm, Al Afi’s scouts are thinking the same thing. They too call for additional troops so they can break into whatever is buried under the hill. Their leader says,
“I want to send a recon team to check out the farm. I have no idea why they carried someone on a stretcher to that hill. Something about this place bothers me. I want to know every detail about this place before we attack it. I don’t want to walk into a trap. We are short of people, this damn country is so large it’s going to take one hundred times the people we currently have here to bring it under control. I’m very concerned we’re missing something important with this farm. On one hand, it looks perfect. On the other, who builds a castle on a farm? What is that walkway that goes around the homes? What is hidden under that hill? How many people live here, are they armed? Why do they have a fence and wall around most of their farm, the others we’ve seen only had barbwire fences to keep their animals on their land. My skin is itching that something is happening here, something we’re not seeing. Al Afi will skin me alive if I walk into a trap that causes us to lose a large number of people. I need many more details. I need this area mapped to the millimeter.”
“Sir, do you think this small group of infidels can stop Allah’s holy warriors? Surely Allah will protect us. He has led us from victory to victory, surely he won’t forsake us now.”
“I hope you’re right. I can’t figure out what I’m feeling, but something here feels wrong.”
“Sir, how can something feel wrong?”
“I can’t explain it. I can only say, this farm isn’t what it appears to be. Nothing I’m seeing makes sense. A castle? A hidden underground facility? Why would they be carrying someone on a stretcher underground unless they have a medical treatment facility under the hill? What else do they have under the hill?”
“Sir, they can’t have a large facility buried under the hill because the hill isn’t large. We should have no problems over running it.”
“We might have problems getting into whatever they’ve buried. Ask Al Afi for digging equipment and lots of C4.”
“Yes, sir. What should I tell him when he asks what kind of digging equipment you want?”
“Something to dig a large hole into that hill. I’m afraid of hitting it head on. That door might be blast proof.”
“Sir, we were taught nothing is blast proof, everything can be blown open with enough explosive.”
“When you pile the explosives in front of the door, I want to be in another state. I think you’re going to learn a very painful lesson. One that will quicken your meeting with Allah.”
“Sir, have you no faith?”
“I have a lot of faith. My faith has allowed me to live long enough to win all of my battles, I don’t plan to get trapped by a trap.”
“Yes, sir. I’ll send your request. I hope Al Afi won’t replace you.”
“If he does, I may live to see another dawn. I’m not sure anyone who races to attack the farm below us will see the dawn with me.”
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Jay is slipping in and out of consciousness. Doctor Basco is pumping him full of drugs to try to keep his heart pumping and stop his heart from failing.
“Why the hell isn’t his pacemaker smoothing his heart beats? Damn it, what the hell is happening with his heart?”
Lacy slaps Jay’s face, “Stay awake. If you love me, you won’t close your eyes. Stay with me. Hold my hand.”
“I just need a quick nap, I’m so tired.”
Tony leans over slapping Jay’s face.
“Listen up asshole, you can sleep when you die, right now you stay with us. Too many fought hard to save you. We don’t want you leaving us now. Captain Black is going to be pissed he rebuilt your castle and you go and die on him. Jay, look at me. Keep looking at me. Talk to me. Tell me something.”
“Black, need black.”
“Jay, you want to talk with the Captain?”
“Need Black.”
Lacy hears Jay mumble something, “Tony, what’s he saying?”
“He’s saying, Black.”
“The Captain or the color?”
“I have no idea. He’s not making a lot of sense.”
“Tony, keep him talking.”
“Jay, you need to think about losing weight, carrying your fat ass through these fields is getting old. I want you healthy so you owe me.”
“Need Black, dad said Black.”
“What the hell is he talking about? His father’s been dead for over fifteen years. How can his father know anything about Captain Black?”
“Lacy, I have no idea. We’re almost to the shelter. I’m sure once he’s in the hospital everything will be okay.”
“I pray. I can’t face losing him after he just returned to us. It’s not fair. God, it’s not fair. You shouldn’t have sent him back, if you were going to take him so quickly, why are you playing with my feelings? Please God, please save him.”
Doctor Basco, holds Jay’s right wrist taking his pulse, “Hurry, we need to get him in the hospital. Watch your heads, it wouldn’t be good to drop him entering the shelter.” Three minutes later, Jay is rolled from the stretcher into the bed he’d recently spent time in after being shot. The EKG wires are quickly connected, Doctor Basco
looks at everyone, “Thanks, now I need you all out of here so I can care for him.”
Lacy shakes her head, “Not this time. I’m not leaving him.”
“Lacy, I need the room, drag a chair over to the doorway.”
“Okay.”
Tony bends down to tell Lacy, “Nancy and I will stay with you.”
