52
“He’s awake, good. I’ll have Myers escort him to my office shortly”, Mr. Baily told one of the many Doctor’s he has on staff here at the compound. He quickly punched in another number and it was answered immediately. “Catrell here sir”, the voice on the other end started.
“Do you think you could make your way to my office in a few minutes Jim”? “Sure thing Armond, I’ll be right down”, Jim replied. Jim was aware of Mr. Baily’s condition as he was in charge of making sure the compound was running as planned, during Mr. Baily’s bad days, which were increasing in frequency. What he was unaware of that Mr. Baily had a plan going and was turning full power
over to him.
A soft knock came from outside Mr. Baily’s office. Mr. Baily didn’t have to look at the Camera monitor, he knew who it was. “Come in Jim”, a hoarse weak voice uttered. “What’s on your mind chief”, Jim inquired? “A couple of things
actually, first off when we are done here, have Myers bring Vargas to my office”, as Jim acknowledged with a nod. Secondly, at midnight tonight, you will be in charge of the compound, once we get done signing the transfer over to you”.
Mr. Catrell looked in disbelief after hearing that. “You want that I take over the operations at the compound sir. Is there something you have planned that I’m unaware of”? Mr. Baily smiled and offered a seat to Mr. Catrell and pulled a folder from his upper right desk drawer and handed it to him. “I’ve already highlighted what needs to be signed so just have a seat and listen carefully”.
Mr. Catrell was not surprised that Mr. Baily was dying, he knew of that quite a while back, but the manner he has chosen threw him for a loop. “So when your son, Vargas comes into the room you’re going to”………………….. “Yes Jim, we’ve
been over that, it needs to be done and I have little time left to argue the point”, Mr. Baily barked. “Now, for what you need to know, I’ll show you”, as the bookcases behind Mr. Baily slid into the wall a large TV monitor was all that
remained. Jim had seen the screen before but not with the urgency that Mr. Baily
displayed.
There was a small control box on Mr. Baily’s desk that operated the oversized
monitor. He brought up camera views from outside and was changing the layout of the monitor to display all eight exterior cameras. Mr. Baily struggled to get up but managed as Mr. Catrell was finishing signing the paperwork.
“There Jim, you see that”, offered an excited Mr. Baily. Jim got up from his chair and joined Mr. Baily behind his desk for an up close look. “See that reflection coming from sun”? Jim muttered, “Yes, but what is it”? “That my boy is coming from a high powered camera spying on us. You see there is nothing out there that could possibly give off that type of glare”.
“But we have the guards at all of the towers, and since the towers were constructed within the rocky structures of the mountain, they should remain invisible, even to a nosey intruder”, Jim replied. “True enough, but they have been out there for two days and according to my calculations we should be expecting some visitors Monday morning”. Jim scratched his head, “Is this in conjunction with Billy’s party that is now close by”?
“It is, and were you able to pinpoint their location Jim”, Mr. Baily wondered? “We’ve picked up on some communication, but the signals have been bouncing from tower to tower all over the map”, Jim sighed.
“Whoever is in charge of this group is very good at covering tracks. I’ve only
had one decent lead and that is our tow truck driver located in town. He said
about two hours ago, a group came into the El Marques restaurant, that to him didn’t live here and secondly there where two older policemen, or sheriffs traveling with them. That would put them about sixty miles from us if that’s who we’re looking for”, Jim concluded.
“Did he mention anything about seeing a young man with the group”, Mr. Baily wondered? “He didn’t say he was getting a call for a tow when he saw the group go in”. Mr. Baily stood there for a moment with his finger at the corner of his mouth pondering, “Was he able to determine their location”?
“No, he wasn’t but he called in his partner who followed the group from the restaurant and said they went on a gravel road just outside of Tanopah. He was driving a tow truck as well, so they wouldn’t have paid him any attention”, Jim
finished. “Interesting, does this driver think he could find the location again”?
“I’m sure he could. What do have cooking up there”, Jim asked while pointing to
Mr. Baily’s head?
“How about we change our plans a bit since they believe that they have the element of surprise on their side, and h ow about we contact the driver and have him come up here and pick up Myers and drop him off at their location. I know that they won’t be expecting that”, Mr. Baily said with a satisfying grin. “What about his orders”, Jim asked? “He’s quite aware of his mission, he is to bring no harm to Billy Speer, unless we say otherwise, and all others, well, t hey shall perish at the hands of the perfect killing machine”, Mr. Baily added with a grin followed by another coughing attack.
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“I’ll make contact and set it up, and you need to use that inhaler for that cough sir”, Jim stated as he noticed M r. Baily taking his hand away from his mouth and his hand was covered in blood. “Very well, and have Vargas brought to my
office”, Mr. Baily barely uttered.
53
Jenny was so happy to hear from me as I was just to talk to her. I gave her our update and the final plans would be coming shortly. She insisted that I be careful. If she could be here right now and feel how tight I would be hugging her, she
would realize how much she means to me and that I would be extra careful. I
doubted that she bought that but I was going to at least try.
The Sheriff was hollering for me to come back out so we could go over the plans. I was ready now, just had some Pepsi, a smoke and I got to talk to my sweetie; bring it on!
As I came back into strategy room, Thomas had just placed three backpacks on the floor against the wall next to the hallway. “What are these for”, my curiosity
returned? I was next to Cory at the table who replied, “Let’s just say, enough C-4 explosives to level a mountain”. That was heavy duty news, and the matter of fact way he said it led me to believe that he must have had some experience with
C-4 on more than one occasion.
The She riff was finishing off a beer and added, “So just how do we plan to get in there and how long will it take to plant all of that C-4”? Thomas just smiled as he motioned for all of us to gather closer around the table. He pointed to the security fence and the half-moon shaped door, “This will be point of entry as they have a delivery scheduled for nine a.m. The truck can go no more perhaps five miles per hour around these corners and that’s where our three men here will hop on underneath the trailer”, Thomas stated pointing at Hank, Cory and
Bonner.
So far so good since I hadn’t heard my name yet, fearfully I knew it was coming soon. Thomas’s phone rang again. Charles, the fourth member of the group was partnered up with someone that Thomas hasn’t told us about yet, had just given Thomas another update from a secure spot to monitor activity from the compound. “The Chevy van is a goner, as I’m sure it’s driver is as well”.
Thomas shook his head and continued his plan. It seemed likely to be able to hop under a slow moving truck, but what to do once we get inside was the question. “Billy, this is where you come in”, Thomas added. Damn, I was hoping not to hear my name for a while. Okay, get it over with. “What do you need me to do”, I hesitantly asked? “I was told that with a little effort you can see through things; is that true”, Thomas inquired?
I nodded
and added, “So far I haven’t found anything yet that I can’t see through”. “Good because that will be your first point of order. Once they hop on the truck then you start telling us what you can see through that strange shaped
door. If we know what’s inside and who might be waiting for us, than this mission
will go along smoothly”.
I was afraid to ask but I did anyway, “After the door, what do you have planned”? “Once you tell us what’s waiting behind door number 1, then when the truck stops and the door starts to open, I’ll have given our hitchhikers what to watch out for and then they will wait for twenty seconds for the door to finish opening and that’s when we’ll need you to do whatever you do to make a large cloud of dust and gravel invade the opening of the door”.
A strange request but okay, “With the dust and all, won’t they have trouble seeing to get in”? “Not really, you see when you create the cloud of distraction our brave bomb planters will have the edge since no one will be able to see what’s coming at them. That’s why if you can accurately tell us what’s behind the door, we can start our elimination process and get the C-4 in place”, Thomas
explained.
Sounded plausible I suppose but I was still a bit confused. “What else do you need from me when this gets started”, not really wanting to know? “You will be our entry eyes so to speak and if you see anything or anybody that might become a threat to our mission, use your powers to pull them outside and the good Sheriff and capable Captain will cuff them and keep them quiet”.
Walt looked at Bill and stuck out his hand for Bill to shake, “Howdy Capable,
they call me Good round’ these parts”, The Sheriff chuckled. Bill answered with a
combination chuckle snort. “Gentlemen please, I would like to get through this so we can rest up, so if you can restrain yourselves for a few more minutes, I would appreciate it”, Thomas pleaded. Silence followed. “Very well then, once inside they will each place four blocks of C-4 for a total of twelve and they will detonate once I activate this”, as Thomas held up his cell phone.
“Any questions”, Thomas offered? “Well a couple of them if you don’t mind. What if they know we’re coming, do they have any type of guard towers or anything like that”, The Sheriff wondered? “They have three towers”. That caught my attention since I didn’t see any on the model. “They are well hidden and were built directly into the mountain, as not to be seen by anyone approaching. To answer your other question, they already know we’re coming”, Thomas proclaimed with confidence.
“With my su rveillance we know where the towers are located at and Charles and his sniper buddy Dumar will be keeping the towers covered”. I didn’t mind so much getting shot at if I was fully charged and then the bullets would just bounce right off of me. Now I was going to have to figure out how to approach the fence area before we blow the top off of Round Mountain.
I continued to study the model asking Thomas a lot of questions. I wanted to find out where Cory, Hank, and Bonner were going to hop on the truck and where Thomas wanted me in position in conjunction with the fence, so I could maybe fudge my way a bit closer than Thomas had me located.
Thomas was about to say something when he stood straight up turned his
head back and forth as if he heard something and proceeded to look like he was
throwing up, but nothing came out. That came out of nowhere, and then it hit
me. My god, that had to have been the worst fart ever. The combination of rotten egg, sulfur and onions would have smelt like roses compared to this. I did what I though best; I broke out in hysterical laughter.
Others were not as amused as the Sheriff turned to the Captain and smacked him on the arm, “Damn Bill, you been eating walrus turds again”, a nd then broke out and laughed. “Hey, you know how I am with Mexican food”, Bill pleaded. “That’s how you are with all food Bill, and did you happen to notice that there are no windows to open up”, The Sheriff scolded while laughing? The Captain did a
quick scan of his surroundings as if a magic window was going to appear through
three feet of solid rock.
Bonner came out of the hallway and announced to the delight of all that he
had turned on the exhaust fan. The laughter subsided and a small grin could be found on Hank’s face, much to the disapproval of Thomas. I knew that I was tired, somewhat hungry again and wanting to go to sleep but apprehensive to do so with our plan of attack just hours away.
To think that last year at this time I was getting ready for school to start and
now I am preparing to go to war with people who want to turn me into a
monster. A monster they will not see in the morning, only someone who could
snap their neck with a wave of my hand.
Okay, that thou ght just smacked some reality into me. I need to remember what Jenny keeps telling me and that’s to get ahold of my anger. I suppose if I lose my temper I wouldn’t need for them to get ahold of me to turn me into a
monster. It’s ironic that before I was struck by lightning, I never got angry. It took
an event like that to turn me into a pissy teenager.
I went down the hall to the exhaust room to have a smoke and relax which
was getting harder to do each day. Being exhausted was not enough lately for me to sleep. After getting hit by that dart was the most restful sleep I’ve had and that was starting to scare me.
Thomas came down to the exhaust room, which in all reality had a shower
and a washer and dryer. He suggested that we get some sleep and he was going
to wake us at six a.m. “By the way, you’ll be rooming with Bonner. It’s the last
room on the left, but a fair warning, he snores like a wounded bear”, Thomas
snickered. Fine get back at me for laughing at Bill’s toxic fart by room ing me with
Bonner the Bear. Oh well it could be worse, I could be sharing a room with the
Captain.
54
A loud knock startled Mr. Baily as he barely managed, “come in”. One of Mr. Baily’s orderly’s was wheeling Vargas into his office and placed the wheel chair carefully straight across from Mr. Baily. Vargas barely raised his head with a dazed look in his eyes. He tried to focus and finally said, “Dad I must say, you look
like shit”.
Mr. Baily smiled at that remark as he pulled himself closer to his customized mahogany desk. In a weak voice Mr. Baily began, “You know that it would have gone much better for you had you not gone rogue and forge my signature to have the implants put in. I had known for years that you had a weak heart and the medicine you take would’ve given you almost the standard life span. Why you wanted to become one of my killing machines instead of being a wealthy partner is beyond me”, as he gave in to another coughing spell.
Vargas peered into his dad’s sunken eye’s and replied, “As I recall, our agreement was If I bring Billy in, that I would receive five million dollars and though he isn’t here………….yet, he will be, and soon from what I understand.
That is by far closer than anyone else has been able to do, so what do you say to a compromise, say two million”, as he managed a tired and drug induced smile.
Mr. Baily returned the smile and offered, “Before I respond to your request
just know that you have caused the loss of at least two dozen good men that died
in vain and had you done what I had asked and followed direction then all of that
bloodshed could’ve been avoided”. His smile diminished at first and then
returned, “If nothing I have always been a fair man and I believe that two million
is a fair compromise”, as he continued to smile while grabbing ahold of his
revolver that’s attached to the bottom of his middle desk drawer.
Vargas didn’t return his father’s smile; instead he seemed to stare at the
desktop.
Mr. Baily noticed
his son’s dazed look and contributed that to the drugs that were administered upon his arrival. He carefully put his hand around the grip of the revolver and started to slowly squeeze the trigger. Mr. Baily knew that he
was weak but figured that he could still muster up enough strength to squeeze off one shot which was all that it would take considering the orderly that brought Vargas in his office was carefully placed exactly where Mr. Baily had told him to.
He was still looking at his son, when Vargas lifted his head and smiled at his
dad. “Don’t think for a minute that I’m going to let you shoot me with that old
revolver you have strapped under your desk”?
So it was Vargas stopping him from pulling the trigger. His mind must be clearer than he thought. Plan B it is then. It was true that Vargas was a genius but not smart enough to stop what was about to happen. Mr. Baily pulled his right hand out from under the desk and joined his left hand on top of the des k. “So, do you mind if I reach in my top desk drawer and pull out my check book, since you insist on being paid for work not completed”? “Not at all , just make sure you put in the right amount of zero’s”, Vargas insisted.
Mr. Baily opened his top right hand drawer and appeared to reaching for his
checkbook but instead he pressed a button located just underneath the lip of the
desk. He just sat back in his high back leather chair and smiled. “So, are you going to give it to me or not”, Vargas demanded? “My dear boy, I already did”, Mr. Baily continued his smile as the first effects of the gas being released into the room were taking effect.
The Road to Round Mountain II - The Alliance: By C.G Roberts Page 19
