by Joe Nobody
“In Alpha. They are showing up in significant numbers – seeking freedom and a better life.”
“And how did they get there? Do they claim to have escaped? Did they sneak off in the middle of the night? I’m not a very good slave master if I’m letting my property run free. No one is forced to stay in those camps. The inhabitants can leave anytime they want. They receive the same rations of food as everyone else, which isn’t much, but it is all we have.”
Terri paused her interrogation, the conversation not going the direction she had anticipated. While she was considering the woman’s answers, Deke spoke up from behind her. “Miss Terri, we’re drawing a lot of attention.”
Looking around, Terri could see several people had gathered nearby, the throng appeared to be comprised of ordinary folks that just discovered a celebrity in their town square. She started to step toward the crowd, her instincts wanting to hear what they had to say, but she paused and looked at the DA, trying to judge her reaction.
“Go on,” motioned the woman on trial. “Go on, and talk to them. Talk to as many as you want. If I’m the horrible monster you make me out to be, they’ll tell you.”
“Come with me,” answered Terri.
The two women made for the crowd, their first stop an elderly couple. Smiling, DA Gibson said, “Mr. and Mrs. Reynolds, did we get that leak fixed?”
The wife took Gibson’s hand warmly, patting it with affection. “Yes, and thank you Pat for sending those men over.”
Mr. Reynolds looked over Pat’s shoulder at the armed men, and then suspiciously at Terri. “Is everything all right, Pat?”
Terri extended her hand, “My name is Terri, and I brought these men with me from Alpha. We heard that things weren’t going very well here, and we thought we might be able to help.”
“Why are the enforcers on their knees?”
“We thought they might be part of the problem,” Terri said honestly.
The old man nodded, finally understanding. “They get a little rough now and then. I’ve watched them out my window. If they do, I let Pat know, and she tones them down. The world’s a dangerous place now, Terri. Sometimes it takes rough men to keep peace and order.”
Terri and Pat spent the next 15 minutes talking to random strangers in the crowd. After several interviews, Terri motioned for the DA to walk with her.
“I’ve made a horrible mistake,” admitted Terri. “I let rumors, incomplete information, and circumstances cloud my judgment. Please accept my apology.”
Pat nodded, relaxing just a bit. “Apology accepted.”
Terri turned to Deke and said, “Let DA Gibson’s men go. Give them their weapons back.”
Deke started to question the wisdom of Terri’s instructions, but shrugged his shoulders and nodded to his men.
“Terri, tell me about Alpha. I’ve heard rumors and stories myself, but haven’t really believed any of it.”
The two women continued their stroll, exchanging information and becoming fast friends. An hour later, they returned to the courthouse, smiling and laughing together. Deke couldn’t believe his eyes, but was in fact relieved that there wasn’t going to be any large-scale confrontation.
Lou and his team approached the substation on foot, their pickup trucks parked behind a slight rise a few hundred yards away.
It had been easy to follow the high-voltage power lines to the small, concrete-block building – just as Mr. Cameron Lewis had predicted. They had scouted the area with binoculars for 15 minutes, and not seeing any sign of people, were advancing carefully toward the structure.
Watching the LBO team deploy and surround the station, Cameron’s words echoed in Lou’s head. “If we cut off the electricity, Alpha won’t be such an attractive place. We can then approach their leaders with our gasoline and get a better exchange rate of food for our fuel. If we can reroute the power here to Midland Station, it’s a double bonus for us.”
An LBO engineer stood next to Lou, the man clearly nervous about their mission. “What if they start shooting at us?” the man asked, wiping the sweat from his brow.
“Don’t worry, I brought 25 of my best men. There’s more than enough of us to handle the locals. We’ve heard from stragglers that there’s only about 15 guys with guns in the whole town.”
“Sure seems like a bigger place than that,” responded the engineer.
“We’ll be fine. You just do your job when we get that building secured – leave the security to me.”
Right on cue, one of Lou’s lieutenants signaled the coast was clear.
It took two of Lou’s men working a long crowbar to open the steel door. Once the portal was clear, the engineer entered the building and began to study the equipment inside.
Terri was still engaged with Pat, the two women discussing everything from health care to gardens. The ambassador, realizing the meeting was going to last a while, stuck her head outside and said, “Deke, you and the guys can tour the town or just hang out if you feel like it, we are going to be a while.”
Deke nodded, his response interrupted by shouting from across the street. All eyes turned to see a man wearing a suit and carrying a Bible come running into the square, yelling for one of the enforcers.
“There are dozens of armed men down by my church,” the breathless man declared. “They’re all standing around that power-building-thing. Lots of them!”
“Settle down now, padre,” the enforcer soothed. “Tell me again what you saw.”
“There are bunches of armed men I’ve never seen before…. I was walking out of the church to visit Mrs. Hutchinson, and they were all over the place.”
Pat appeared at Terri’s side, a questioning look on her face. “There’s nothing down at that end of town but a church, some empty houses, and that utility building. Yet, this is the second time something weird has been going on. A few weeks ago, someone started shooting at a funeral.”
Terri flushed red, looking down she commented, “That was my husband… sorry….” Terri realized now wasn’t the time for a confession. She continued, “That’s the power grid substation for the windmill farm I was telling you about. That building controls the entire gird.”
A puzzled look crossed Pat’s face, but before she could ask another question, Terri was giving Deke instructions.
“Deke, if the equipment in that building gets hurt, or someone switches things around, Alpha could lose its electricity. We can’t let that happen – do you understand?”
The Darkwater contractor nodded.
Terri’s voice went low. “Keep that building under our control and use any means necessary.” The ambassador then turned to Pat and said, “I don’t know who’s messing around down there, but if your people could help, it would benefit everyone.”
DA Gibson didn’t waste any time. “Go help these men,” she ordered the closest enforcer.
Terri ducked inside Gibson’s office, returning a moment later with her rifle.
“Where are you going?” Pat asked.
“They might need help,” was Terri’s reply.
Lou’s earpiece sounded, “I’ve got armed men moving this direction – lots of them. It looks like the welcoming committee knows we’re here.”
“Shit! So much for a quick in and out,” Lou said to himself.
Pulling out a white handkerchief and wrapping it around the end of his rifle, Lou began walking toward the advancing force, praying they would honor a white flag. He had zero intent of negotiating much of anything, the entire effort a ruse to buy his engineer more time.
He walked 100 yards past his lookout’s position and waited, watching with mild interest as the men of Fort Stockdale approached.
Nick stayed with Terri and Pat, the big man very uncomfortable with the 50-yard gap between the women and the advancing line of men ahead. The distance had been a hastily negotiated compromise with Terri – the woman in his charge insistent on keeping close to the men.
A runner appeared, the breathless man reporting, “There�
��s some dude with a white flag standing in the road like he’s waiting on us.”
Looking back at the ambassador, Nick asked, “How do you want to play it?”
“Sounds too easy to me,” replied Terri while glancing at Pat. “I want Deke to take his guys and quietly work their way around to their back. Pat and I will go see what this guy wants, but if I take off my hat, I want Deke and his crew to knock the shit out of those guys. We’ll let Pat’s enforcers be visible – maybe hold their attention.”
Nick smirked, “I love it,” and turned to the runner, snapping out instructions for the Alpha contractors. He then turned and said, “I’m staying with you two. Let’s go see what this guy wants.”
The trio approached to within ten feet. Pat spoke first, “Who are you, and why have you brought armed men into my town?”
The question had been anticipated, Lou’s response immediate. “My name is Lou, and I’m from Midland Station. I’m here because someone has hijacked our electrical power. It is controlled from that building behind me, and our city leaders sent me to get it back.”
“You’re a liar,” Terri announced. “That electrical power had been turned off for months before we fixed the controls and routed it back to Alpha. We solved the problem, we own the juice.”
Lou grinned at the pregnant woman’s tenacity. “Claim what you want, lady. From my point-of-view, possession is nine-tenths of the law, and right now, I’m in possession of the control station.”
Terri didn’t like Lou’s attitude, but that wasn’t her primary focus. Alpha had to keep its electrical power – there was no other option. “I’m going to give you one chance to back down, mister. Round up your people and head on back to Midland Station. If you don’t, a lot of folks are going to get hurt.”
Lou shrugged. “The men I have with me are professionals. I outnumber your forces. We are going to reroute the power back to where it belongs and then sabotage the equipment so it can’t be switched back. From where I’m standing, I don’t think there’s shit you can do about it.”
Terri reached for her hat and paused, trying to think of any other way around the situation. She wondered how many times this same scene had been played out in the old American West. She had read the history of range wars – many of those long, bloody fights lasting years and killing dozens of people. Were the next range wars going to be fought over electricity? Was this going to be an ongoing problem?
Refocusing on the problem at hand, Terri lowered her hand and said, “I guess we don’t have anything else to talk about. This powwow is over. We’re coming in to take our property back in two minutes. I suggest you return to your men, or this big guy next to me is going to shoot your ass.”
Lou shrugged and turned away, walking nonchalantly back toward the substation and his team.
Nick cleared his throat and looked at his watch, “I suggest you ladies take cover in that ditch. I don’t think our new friend is going to wait two minutes.”
“Neither am I,” replied Terri and after three steps toward the ditch, she took off her hat.
Deke had been watching the exchange through his scope and knew from the body language that the meeting hadn’t gone well. He and his men were perfectly positioned to hit the flank of the 20 or so men he could see spread around the substation.
He had ordered his team to use a tactic they called “concentrated ordnance,” a method where all of the contractors engaged a single target rather than each man selecting an individual foe. All rifles would pour lead onto a single man and then move on after that enemy was down.
When Terri took off her hat, Deke turned to his group and simply ordered, “Fire.”
Eight rifles exploded in unison, all of them focused on one man 100 meters directly in front of the contractors. When the first salvo impacted the unfortunate fellow, his body began dancing like it had been exposed to high voltage current.
The next three men suffered similar fates within seconds.
After eliminating those four, Deke’s people began to receive haphazard, light, incoming fire. Compared to what the contractors were accustomed to, it was nothing more than a mild annoyance.
Deke’s team split into three, three-man groups and began their advance. The men from Midland Station had never seen anything like it.
It wasn’t a fair fight. Bullying the cowed, starving citizens of Midland Station was one thing, taking on well-armed, professional warriors completely another. Like a pro football team would roll over a squad from a junior high school, the Darkwater men cut the opposition to ribbons in a mere minutes.
Pat’s enforcers didn’t stand idly by and watch. As soon as Deke’s fire attracted the attention of the defenders to their front, the men from Fort Stockdale began their advance, squeezing Lou’s team from two different directions.
Nick led the group, the ex-Special Forces operator leveling devastating fire while shouting orders and pushing the attackers forward. While no cowards, the enforcers had never seen a man fight like Nick, his leadership skills taking control without anyone having declared him to be in command. The Fort Stockdale shooters just naturally fell into following his lead.
Nick moved, laid down fire and shouted commands in a whirlwind of efficiency and control. The results were obvious – the defenders to their front were completely ineffective, soon falling into absolute chaos.
Lou was surprised when the gunfire erupted to the north. He had 25 of his best men spread around the substation, but the majority were facing the known foes approaching from town. He tried to adjust his forces, but communication was next to impossible with weapons discharging all around. The screams of dying men, combined with the panicked shouting of the living, didn’t help facilitate Lou’s wishes.
It became all too clear that the threat from the north was the more serious. Every man he did manage to move to that side of the compound was cut down before he could take more than a few steps. When his last two remaining shooters suddenly stood up and turned to retreat, he watched in horror as their bodies jerked wildly from the impact of dozens of bullets, then fell lifeless to the ground.
Glancing around the corner of the control station, he was stunned to see what appeared to be combat troops at the edge of the grounds. Lou started shouting, “Fall back! Fall back!”
The leader of the Midland Station invaders began running.
The men facing the enforcers faired only marginally better. Nick’s people driving them back, yard by yard – the onslaught relentless and brutal. It was too late when the Midland men realized they had been flanked. Deke’s team was behind them before they could pull back. Most of the LBO men threw down their weapons and raised their hands – a foolhardy few tried to fight their way out. They fell quickly.
One of Deke’s teams entered the substation and found a single man inside. Unarmed and standing in a pool of urine, the terrified man kept pleading, “I’m an engineer… I’m an engineer.”
Lou made it back to the trucks, shocked when he realized only four of his force had made it out alive. Worried they would be pursued, each man jumped into a truck and began spinning the wheels to escape across the desert.
Terri and Pat rushed up as soon as the shooting ended. Both women ignored the carnage and made for the substation where a man was on his knees, one of the enforcers keeping guard.
“Did you turn off the power to Alpha?” Terri asked.
“No, I didn’t have time. The circuit is still routed west.”
Exhaling, Terri turned to Pat and said, “That was close.”
Nick walked up carrying an extra rifle. Showing the weapon to Terri, he pointed to the Lewis Brothers Oil inventory tag. “This is just like the ones we found in Alpha – the guys who tried to ambush Bishop carried identical weapons. This asshole in Midland Station is becoming a real pain in the backside.”
Terri nodded, “He sent men to steal our food, tried to kill my husband, and now they tried to take the electricity. I’m beginning to dislike whoever is calling the shots over there.�
�
The man on his knees spoke up, “You would be referring to one Mr. Cameron Lewis. He’s the one in charge of things over in Midland Station.”
Nick sighed, “I’ve heard that name before,” and then the big man stepped menacingly close to the prisoner. “Are you sure he’s the only guy causing all this bullshit?”
Pushing his glasses up his nose, the engineer nodded rapidly, his frightened eyes never leaving Nick. “Oh, yes. There’s no doubt – he’s the man who runs the whole town.”
Nick looked at Terri, “Well, Madam Ambassador, what next?”
Terri’s finger found her chin. After thinking for a bit, she looked down at the man on his knees and motioned for him to stand up. Ignoring the smell of urine, she calmly asked, “Is there any way you can go back inside that little building and route some of that precious electricity to Fort Stockdale?”
The engineer didn’t hesitate long. “Sure, this town is a sub-relay off the main grid. All you would have to do is reset that equipment, and it should come on.”
Pat smiled, “Oh my gawd, Terri – that would be a miracle.”
“Let’s see if we can reroute some juice to Fort Stockdale right away.” Terri further advised the engineer to prepare DA Gibson’s people for the potential complications of restarting the electricity in hopes of avoiding the fires that plagued the other towns when current began to flow again.
“I have just one request, Pat, before we head back to Alpha,” the ambassador-negotiator postulated. “Do you think you can spare a little bath water for my friend Nick here? I need to return him to Alpha with a better scent than that ‘Eau de Lack of Personal Hygiene’ he is sporting right now. I can guarantee you will have the mayor of Alpha in your debt for that small act of kindness. It is Valentine’s Day, after all.”
Two of Deke’s men were assigned to retrieve their transport, the pickups hidden on the outskirts of town before their infiltration that morning.
