“We need a plan,” Gabriel said. “The FGN is going to be a lot harder than the Fortress. There are innocent people inside.”
“I say we knock on the gates and asked to be let inside,” Malachi suggested. Everyone looked at him. “Paramilitary types have an agenda. With the Fortress destruction somewhat incomplete, they have to have something they want.”
“What about the people that hit the other FGNs?” I asked Xavier. “Do we know anything about them?”
“Mostly anti-government types. The one in LA included members of a hate group that has been vocal about the sullying of the police force. However, we are finding a few serial killers among them. Since they are still trying to get IDs on everyone alive or dead, it’s hard to tell for sure.”
“Our hate groups aren’t that organized,” Malachi said, “mostly because of the Russian mob’s presence in Kansas City. They aren’t going to take part. They have other matters to deal with and do not want the kind of problems this would bring. So, anarchists and serial killers.”
“Mostly more of what we have been dealing with all day,” I said. “I do not think knocking is going to work.”
“No, but armored vehicles might,” Malachi looked at the SUVs. “They are going to have a lot of guns, some of them very powerful and they are going to use people as hostages.”
“So, we need people with a good eye and steady hand.” Gabriel stubbed out his cigarette. “Eric, if we get you inside, there is an old square building in the middle of the neighborhood in our park. It is some kind of strange hotel or something, but it is six stories, making it the tallest building we have. We will give you a rifle and a handgun. I want you on the roof. You will have a 360 view from up there. I imagine they have guys up there already though, so you might have to fight your way up. Xavier, go with him, you have got sniper training.”
“Lucas is better,” Xavier said.
“Yes, but I do not have Lucas at the moment, I have you.” Gabriel gave him a look.
“I can hold my own on the ground,” Xavier argued.
“I didn’t say you couldn’t,” Gabriel glared at him. “But I need an unbreakable front line to get Eric up to the roof and he’s going to need help once inside. I can’t send Malachi or Caleb, I don’t have the training, and neither does Fiona. That leaves you to go with Eric.”
“Once there, we’ll pick up the mercs that Daniels has. They’ll be good on the ground. I’d say the Daniels men themselves are going to be there, considering Ivan Daniels lives in the FGN. We can use them too,” Malachi offered.
“Good plan,” Gabriel looked at me. “How about Apex?”
“He is supposedly there already. However, there is not a sniper’s perch on the outside for quite a distance, so I don’t know where,” I said.
“Get hold of him and find out. Tell him not to shoot Eric or Patterson. We are going to need a really tight front line with folks that aren’t going to go down without a fight.” Gabriel gave me a very pointed look.
“I already knew I was going in first,” I told him, taking Malachi’s cell phone. I dialed the number Patterson gave me. It rang twice.
“What?” The voice snapped at me in a hushed tone.
“Cain, where are you? We are preparing to head that way. We have Eric and Patterson with us.”
“I’m in the best place I can be,” he answered.
“We are sending you company,” I told him.
“Eric and…”
“Xavier, he has got experience. What does it look like?”
“Hell broke loose in everyone’s front yard,” he hung up.
“Fight for the roof should be easier. Apex is up there. No arresting him,” I looked at Xavier. “He is sort of an undercover cop who has been undercover too long.”
“I swear, you people go looking for the most insane people you can find,” Demetrius Lazar said.
“Pretty much,” Malachi looked at him. “You’ll be part of the rear, you and Dominic. You’re both good shots, but you aren’t getting out of there alive with a bullet proof vest and even then.” Malachi shrugged. Both Lazars nodded to him.
“Caleb, Malachi, Patterson, and Aislinn will make sure Xavier and Eric reach the building. They’ll go through the front gates. We’ll go in on foot behind them. With the assistance of Daniels’ Security, we should have plenty of guns.” Gabriel looked at me again. “Once Xavier and Eric are out, you turn the vehicle around and come back to us.”
“You got it,” I told him. “Then we hop out and someone else gets to drive because I intend to get a little up close and personal with a few of these gentlemen.”
“I think everyone will look the other way,” Gabriel surveyed the group. They were all nodding. We had all just gotten permission to play serial killer for a few minutes. I practically wanted to jump for joy. Inside, the darkness reared its head and let out a bellow that only I could feel. It was going to be interesting.
Thirty-three
Whoever decided to let me drive an armored vehicle had lost their mind. Normally, I drove a Charger with too much motor that made a ton of noise. Giving me something that was practically a tank was enough to intoxicate me. The fact that it had guns mounted on the sides and front that were being manned by computers run by poor Fiona was even better.
Theoretically, it would not take down the gates of the FGN. However, I had no intention of going through the gates. The gatehouse had been damaged heavily by the initial conflict. I revved it up and took off at an astoundingly slow twenty-five miles an hour. Black smoke chugged out a smokestack. The treads tore up the asphalt underneath of them. Fiona was at the ready in case we needed the guns to damage the gatehouse a little more.
As the armored transporter hit the cinder blocks, two men jumped from inside the building. Gunshots rang out, but were almost lost behind the sound of the engine purring as the vehicle began to force its way into the building. The treads now tore at the cinder blocks as well as the asphalt. The building began to list to one side. Malachi pointed at it and Fiona fired the guns on that side. The bullets were armor piercing and ripped through the cinder blocks and metal.
“Do not do that again,” I told them. “We could hit houses and gas mains with those things.”
“Fair enough.” Malachi looked out the side window as the building gave way around us. It tumbled onto its side, taking down a gate with it. A SWAT team was already filling the hole with their own vehicle. A second machine, similar to this one, was going to be behind us to block the hole we made. We intended to round people up or kill them. There was no one escaping.
Bullets began to hit the machine as we exited the gatehouse and entered the neighborhood.
“So, are we supposed to hang out the windows to return fire?” Malachi asked.
“Sure,” I told him, turning the beast and picking up another five miles an hour.
“You realize there is a man in front of us right?” Fiona asked.
“He will move,” I told her, trying to get even more speed.
“What are you doing?” Malachi asked.
“Hoping to build up enough speed that he cannot get out of the way,” I admitted.
“I think it tops out at forty,” Xavier told me.
“That should be fast enough,” I said, pressing the accelerator down to the floor. It maneuvered like a dead whale and chugged along like a tank. The man jumped out of the way in plenty of time. I frowned, feeling disheartened by it. However, we did have a lot of attention. Men were running out of houses, filling the streets. I counted about fifty attempting to surround us. One fired an RPG. It exploded against the rear. The machine jostled, but continued forward.
“Are you sure we can’t shoot them?” Malachi asked again.
“Yes, I do not know what sort of bullets those are, but they would rip through safe rooms and Lord only knows what else. If they have hostages, we would kill them. I’m not going to be the one explaining that.”
“Safe rooms are concrete. It’s stronger than cinder block
,” Caleb informed me.
“It went through metal,” I reminded him.
“Yes, but the safe rooms are metal and concrete. They are like nuclear bunkers. They shouldn’t be pierced by these bullets.”
“Should not be, not cannot be,” I said.
“Point taken,” Malachi huffed, moving out of the second front seat. Caleb moved into it. Malachi found something that made a squeaky noise.
“What is he doing?” I asked, unable to see him.
“Opening a flap,” Xavier said.
“What if they hit us with another rocket launcher? Where did they even get a rocket launcher?” I asked.
“I have one,” Malachi chimed in and started firing.
“How are we going to get out of this vehicle and into the building?” Xavier asked.
“It’s a riot vehicle,” Fiona said, her voice a little shaky. “It has all sorts of things on it.” To demonstrate, she did something and smoke fluttered up in front of the vehicle.
“What is that?” I asked, trying to steer through the cloud.
“Tear gas,” she answered. Someone handed me earplugs. Caleb took them out of their packaging and shoved them in my ears. I protested but his answer was lost. I couldn’t even hear the treads tearing up the road or the engine humming anymore. We were within a block of the building. A head exploded outside the vehicle and I didn’t know if it was Apex or Malachi. Considering the damage, I didn’t think a handgun was going to do it, but I couldn’t guarantee that Malachi was using a handgun anymore.
I maneuvered the beast turning it around and began backing up to the building. Caleb was using hand gestures to tell me where I was. I stopped when I felt the machine hit the building. Caleb made a face at me.
Sound suddenly pierced the earplugs. The men outside were holding their hands to their ears. I considered doing the same. I had no idea what that was, but it was awful. My eardrums were protesting and my head suddenly began to throb. Question answered, I could get a migraine even when I couldn’t feel a broken foot. The darkness couldn’t drive the pain of that away. It stopped suddenly. My eyes had teared up. My throat burned. This could not be happening. There was movement and Caleb roughly moved me out of the driver’s seat. Fiona was rubbing my temples. I wanted to shoot her, but it would have been a waste of a bullet. Instead, I smacked her hands away.
“You could hear that?” She asked, yanking my earplugs out.
“Yes!” I shouted at her, my ears were still ringing.
“Me too,” Malachi told her. He looked a little ill. “I don’t know whether to shoot you or myself. What the fuck is wrong with my head?”
“It is a migraine,” I told him.
“Whoa,” Fiona answered. She looked at Patterson. He looked a little green. “You could all hear that?”
“How could you not?” Caleb screamed at her.
“I feel very sorry for Eric and Apex,” she said. “The sound is super deep. It’s more something you feel than hear. It isn’t supposed to be audible. The pressure waves caused by the sound are supposed to cause ear drum damage, but ear plugs stop the damage because they stop the pressure waves.”
“They don’t stop them all,” Patterson told her with a weak smile. “Psychopaths have terrible senses of smell and taste, but we have great hearing.”
“Yes, we do,” Caleb looked at me.
“I have a perfect sense of smell,” I responded.
“And good hearing,” he sighed and leaned against the steering wheel. “Fiona, you are going to have to drive.”
“Um, we should do something,” she pointed out the window. There was a whole bunch of guys coming towards us. They looked pissed. I reached over and stomped on Caleb’s foot. The massive machine lurched forward. Everyone began to move away.
“You realize if we leave, they are going to try to take that building,” Patterson said.
“Oh, that is a problem,” I said. “My head still hurts, but it is subsiding. I say we mow this lot down, and leave Fiona in here to do terrible things to people who get close. Malachi can stay too. The rest of us will head back to the front entrance on foot.”
“That’s a horrible plan,” Fiona said.
“Why? Malachi will not really shoot you,” I told her.
“We’ll be overrun,” Malachi told us.
“Fine, Fiona, collapse the doorway of that building so no one can go up the steps,” I said. Fiona stared at me for a moment, as if she wondered if I was firing on all cylinders. I probably wasn’t, but it seemed like a good enough plan.
“How do our guys get out?” She asked.
“Rescue chopper,” I said as if I had to think of everything.
“Rescue chopper, right.” She frowned. “Gabriel?”
“Collapse it,” the radio in the vehicle buzzed.
“You’ll bring the entire building down,” the radio buzzed again with Xavier’s voice. “We’ve got the door covered. They won’t get in.”
“Do I want to know?” Gabriel’s voice echoed in the vehicle.
“No,” Apex’s voice sounded tinny and commanding. We began to pull away. Malachi found the flap again and began firing. There was a bump.
“Did you really manage to run over one of them?” Malachi asked.
“Should have moved. It isn’t like this thing is inconspicuous and stealthy,” Caleb said. I agreed with Caleb, but I didn’t say anything. Fiona looked like she might throw up if it was mentioned again.
Fiona stayed in the vehicle when we returned to the main gate. The gunfire came with us, but there was a line of cops shooting back at them. The rest of us climbed out the back. A couple of guys in tactical gear climbed in the front. I wanted to tell them not to do anything stupid, but they were SWAT. They weren’t supposed to do stupid things.
“We’ll have to sweep houses as we go along the blocks,” Gabriel told us. “We are going to move as large groups and clear houses in smaller groups. If you get ambushed, send up a flare.”
“Who has time to send up a flare when you have been ambushed?” I asked Caleb. He shrugged. Gabriel either didn’t hear me or ignored me.
Thirty-four
We weren’t moving as large groups. We were moving as a large group. No one seemed to want to peel off from the main party. I was pretty sure it had something to do with ambushes and flares. Of course, it might also have had something to do with the fact that every psychopath and sociopath at our disposal was walking out front. I had already reloaded twice and we hadn’t even gotten to the first house. Malachi, Caleb, Patterson, and a surprising number of mercenaries from Daniels’ Security were with us. In addition, several were regular officers. The number of high functioning sociopaths and psychopaths that worked on the side of justice surprised me.
It would take us days to get this done at the rate we were moving. I wasn’t a fan of herds, which was exactly what I was leading. I’d done this inside the Fortress, it had sucked. I motioned Gabriel over as we got to the split for the first street.
“This is not going to work. We are too slow,” I told him.
“That’s why we are going to start peeling off at each street,” he answered. “Did you completely ignore me or just after the flare comment?”
“There was more after the flare comment?” I asked sheepishly.
“Yes,” he said.
“Did you know psychopaths can hear that riot sound cannon?” I asked him.
“No,” he frowned at me, but didn’t push it. “So, now you are going to lead a group down this street. Check the houses.”
“Fun.” I hated being in charge. For a predator and sociopath, I had some hang-ups. Leading was one of them. Nyleena and my mother had drummed into me from an early age that power was corrupting and I didn’t feel I needed that kind of temptation.
I turned with a group of about thirty people. Some were mercs from Daniels’ Security, some were police officers from KC Metro on both sides of the border, some were sheriffs, some were highway patrol, some were FBI, some were Marshals, s
ome were Secret Service, and one was Patterson, which I shouldn’t have found surprising, but did. Not only were we cooperating across agencies like never before, but we also had a serial killer among us and no one seemed to mind.
On this block, there were a handful of houses on fire. One was disintegrating into nothing but greyish ash. However, the floor over the panic room was exposed and seemed to be holding up just fine under the heat and destruction. Drapes moved in a house near us. They fluttered, revealing a touch of light and something black in the window. I fired two shots, one through the window and the other through the wall under the window. It caused screaming to come from inside, a man’s voice. Four of the group broke off and went towards it. Another four split and headed to the house across the street from it. There was no visible light from any of its windows. I wasn’t sure which was more dangerous. I turned a slow circle in the road. Several others were looking behind us, their backs to ours.
From the house with the fluttering curtain, an officer emerged dragging a handcuffed man. The man was bleeding, but that didn’t stop him from swearing or fighting with the officer. I had gotten him just below his ribcage and just above the knee. The officer was reading him his rights. I was pretty sure he didn’t have any rights, but I wasn’t going to argue with sane people. The handcuffed man lashed out, latching his teeth onto the officer’s leg. Patterson very calmly walked over to him.
“I’m not a cop. I’m a serial killer. My name is Patterson Clachan, but you may know me better as the Butcher. I’m already serving a life sentence. If you do not let go of the officer, I will put a bullet into your skull. Do you understand?” Patterson’s voice never changed. It kept a flat, easy cadence. To prove he was serious, he pressed the barrel of the Glock he’d been given up to the man’s head, just behind the ear. There was a moment of hesitation and then he released his teeth from the officer’s leg. “Good choice.” Patterson moved back.
“Cain to the gatehouse,” I said, hitting my coms button in my ear.
Fortified Dreams Page 23
