After The Fall (Book 4): Undercover

by Nees, David

  He turned and walked back to the vehicles, shouting to one of his lieutenants.

  “I’ve decided to leave.”

  Jason had walked into the Abbot’s office unannounced. Father Gregory looked up. He studied Jason.

  “You want to control your decision, is that it? Not have me order you to leave?”

  “Maybe. But there’s no good in me staying here. I’ve done what I came to do and Ernie and those with him are safe for now. I should go.”

  “How will you get out without them seeing you?”

  Jason stepped further into the office.

  “I haven’t figured that out yet.”

  “I may be able to help in that matter. Sit down.”

  Jason took a seat and waited.

  “There is a tunnel that leads out to the stand of pines behind the monastery. You can elude any sentries they put out and be well on your way before they find out you’re missing.”

  “What will you do? They may storm the place before too long.”

  “When you’re gone, I’ll say I’ve reconsidered and invite them in to search for you.”

  “What about Ernie? If they find him, they’ll take him away along with the rest of his family.”

  “Don’t worry about Ernie. I can hide them where they won’t be found.”

  Jason paused to think for a moment.

  “If you can hide all those people, Roper may think you’re hiding me. He’s sure I came here. That could lead to violence to get the truth out. The mob is good at that.”

  “The solution is to show them the tunnel.”

  Jason shook his head. “Now I’m worried. They may take some revenge on you for aiding my escape.”

  The Abbot shrugged. “I can live with that. I’m not without cards to play.”

  “You know where you’re going…?”

  Father Gregory smiled. “That’s part of it. It gives one a certain amount of leverage as well as freedom from fear. But don’t do anything right away. One of the vehicles just left. Let’s see what develops over the next day.”

  Chapter 50

  ___________________________________

  T hat night Jason checked the perimeter walls of the monastery. He took a wooden ladder with him and climbed up as he worked his way around the enclosure. As he expected, the militia had placed sentries out to make sure their prey didn’t escape. He made note of where each sentry was stationed.

  After midnight, he put on his dark pants, sweater, jacket and watch cap. Then he made his way to the Abbot’s office. Thankfully the Abbot didn’t lock it. Jason retrieved his 9mm with its suppressor from a cabinet where the Abbot put the weapons. He also had his sheath knife, which the Abbot had not confiscated, on his belt.

  On his earlier reconnoiter, he had found a gap in the visual coverage of the sentries. If he could get over the wall undetected, there was some tall grass and thick plants in a garden bed on the other side that would shield him until he could crawl behind the surveillance perimeter. From there he could get to the militia camp undetected.

  He made his way over to one of the barns where he got a coil of rope. There was no watch put on by the monks except for the main gate. Father Gregory had explained that the sheep dogs they kept, ones Jason had purposely gotten familiar with, would sound an alarm if any stranger made their way over the wall.

  One of the dogs woke as Jason walked back to the wall. He came up sniffing around him and wagging his tail. Jason petted him and scratched his ears while whispering to him. After checking him out, the dog went back to the barn, not that interested in Jason’s midnight excursion.

  He found a large, rounded rock which he rolled to the base of the wall where he wanted to climb. He laid the rope on the ground and rolled the heavy stone over it. Then he tied the rope tight around the rock. The stone weighed over a hundred pounds. Jason figured the stone, with the friction of the rope going over the wall, would hold his weight when he had to climb back inside.

  He placed the ladder against the wall and climbed up to locate the sentries. They were in the same spot as before. From the top of the wall, he eased the rope down to the ground. Then he crawled over the top and, grabbing the rope, slid down as if in slow motion.

  Crouching in the tall grass next to the wall, he could barely make out the rope. The sentries won’t see it. After checking their location, one to his right and one, farther away, to his left, he began to crawl away from the wall.

  A half hour later, Jason was behind the lookouts. He was still in the cleared ground surrounding the monastery. There were fewer garden plots this far outside of the walls. He was crawling through an old hay field that had been mowed to provide feed for the livestock. Thankfully, it had regrown to some extent providing Jason with a small amount of cover as he crawled towards the parked vehicles.

  Earlier in the day he had located the Humvees that both Vincent and Roper were sleeping in. The two men had displaced the other passengers, leaving them alone in the vehicles to try to sleep for the night. The men had to fend for themselves with tarps out on the cold November ground. Their campfires were now well burned down, providing little heat and almost no light. Hope I don’t run into someone getting up looking for wood.

  He moved slowly and quietly. There were no heavy sleepers outside when there wasn’t enough shelter to get comfortable.

  It took another half hour to reach Roper’s Humvee. There was no one outside of it, the displaced men having moved to huddle themselves against the other Humvees that housed more fortunate militia members. Gathering en masse to conserve heat seemed to be their response to the cold.

  When Jason reached the Humvee, he unsheathed his knife and carefully opened the rear door. The gentle click didn’t disturb the peace of the night. Jason reached in and clamped his hand over Roper’s mouth as he put his knife to the man’s neck.

  Roper lurched out of sleep and his eyes opened to see Jason’s face close to his. Jason pressed his body down on him so he couldn’t move.

  “Don’t struggle. Don’t try to call out or I’ll slit your throat.” He said in a harsh whisper.

  Roper’s eyes opened wide as he finally realized what was going on.

  “You understand?”

  He nodded.

  “We’re going to have a talk. We can do it quietly here in the Humvee if you cooperate, or I can knock you out and drag your ass back to the woods. You’ll be more comfortable here, believe me. Want to do it the comfortable way?”

  Roper nodded.

  “Good. Now sit up slowly and put your hands under your butt. I want you to sit on them.”

  Roper began to adjust his position as directed while Jason kept the knife blade pressed against his throat.

  “One false move, I slice across your throat and through your carotid artery. It’ll be a race between drowning in your blood or bleeding out from the artery. Not sure which will happen first.”

  When Roper was sitting up, Jason moved the knife to the side of his neck and relaxed his hand from his mouth.

  “What do you want?” Roper’s voice was shaky with fear and fatigue.

  “We’re going to talk. You know you must live under a lucky star.”

  “What do you mean by that? I don’t feel so lucky right now.”

  “Maybe not but consider. Cameron and Gibbs let you live when I probably would have killed you. Now I’m in a position to end your life and I’m considering letting you live.”

  Roper tried to look over at Jason.

  “Just sit still. I’ll explain.”

  “I hope you know you’re in a box,” Roper said. “You can’t get away and the mob guys really want to make an example of you. I can save you from that. I can arrest you and hold you, keep the mob away from you, since I’m the commander of the militia.”

  “You can’t do a thing for me. If I were in a box, how did I get out to sit here with your life in my hands? Think about that.”

  Jason shifted his position so he could look directly at Roper.

  �
��I know what your end game was going to be when you were back in Hillsboro, collect enough loot to make it to South America and live like a king. It made sense. I guess you didn’t have faith the country would recover and your career could get back on track.

  “It seems like you still think that way since you resigned from the army to pursue another attempt through the Charlotte militia. I don’t know what you said to convince Big Al or Joe, but they bit on it. Your problem is that I’ve thrown your set-up into chaos.

  “But here’s where you get lucky,” Jason continued. “I’m going to give you the chance to go back to Charlotte, collect your winnings, and take off. You must have amassed enough by now to live pretty well. Maybe you can even get work helping to run things down south if you get bored.

  Jason could see Roper, now fully awake, was getting himself more under control.

  “You think you’re invincible?” Roper asked. “You can just run around the countryside killing whoever you want, whenever you want?”

  Jason stared at him. “That’s just what I’ve been doing. But if you think you’re safe from me and don’t have to do what I say, maybe I should kill you right now and be done with it.”

  “No, no. Let’s talk.” Roper’s face showed a hint of panic.

  Jason allowed himself a thin smile. “Let me lay it out for you. The mob didn’t put you in power without setting up some leverage over you. Some way to control you.”

  Jason could see on Roper’s face that he had hit on the truth.

  “You’re just a tool for them, like everyone else in their world who isn’t family. Right now I’ve thrown all that out of balance. What you don’t know is who in the mob will wind up in power and will they want to keep their arrangement with you? You could be out in the cold. I guarantee they’ve got the leverage to throw you out if they want.

  “It doesn’t serve my purposes to kill you now. I’d rather have you leave and try your luck somewhere else. Doing that creates more disruption than me just killing you. You wind up being more useful to me alive than dead. Like I said, you must live under a lucky star.”

  “So, you’ll just let me leave?”

  “I will. But I’ll be around to make sure of it. If you don’t, if you try something cute, something you think will turn the tables on me, I’ll just kill you.”

  He leaned close to Roper now, almost nose to nose. His knife pressed harder against Roper’s neck; his voice now cold and deadly.

  “I can snatch the life right out of you any time I choose. From a thousand yards away. One minute you’re standing around, the next your body is in a crumpled heap on the ground, your brains spattered on the pavement. I can kill you up close, like right now. Slit your throat and let you bleed out. You will not survive trying to be clever with me. You only survive by moving on, leaving, and forgetting about Hillsboro.”

  There was a long silence as Roper stared into Jason’s cold eyes.

  “What do you want me to do?” Roper asked.

  “What have you arranged with Vincent?”

  “I told him I was sending some men back to get supplies and camp gear so we can wait you out. He had one of his men along.”

  “That should tell you something. They’ll be back tomorrow?”

  Roper nodded.

  “Wait for your men to return. Vincent doesn’t want you to attack the monastery. Use that. Tomorrow night, when they’re back, tell him you’re taking your men back to Charlotte. Since its personal with him and he doesn’t want you to attack, you’re leaving the situation in his hands. Got it?”

  Roper nodded.

  “He’ll be suspicious but you’ll be doing the logical thing. Tell him you want to get ready for Hillsboro.”

  Jason leaned in close again.

  “When you get back, you pack up and go while your men are distracted with preparations.”

  “They may still attack Hillsboro, even if I’m gone and have nothing to do with it.”

  “Maybe, maybe not. The mob’s in disarray. Things are going to get messier, not cleaner. You head south. Where, I don’t care, but don’t come close to Hillsboro.

  “Do we have a deal? I let you live. You leave the area and forget all about Hillsboro.”

  “We got a deal.”

  “Good. Now remember, I’m not the trusting type so I’ll be watching. If you try to double cross me, you’ll die without warning, never know it’s coming.”

  Roper nodded again.

  “I’m going to leave now.”

  Jason took his suppressed 9mm out of its holster with his left hand and showed it to Roper.

  “I hear you call out, make a sound, I’ll kill you here and disappear into the woods before anyone can figure out what’s going on. Use the rest of the night to make your plans, not try to alert anyone.”

  With that Jason switched the knife out for the pistol and got out of the Humvee.

  “Do the right thing with the opportunity I’m giving you.”

  And then he was gone in the night.

  Larry Roper sat back in the Humvee breathing heavily, sweat soaking his clothes.

  Chapter 51

  ___________________________________

  D id you enjoy your midnight excursion?”

  Father Gregory was sitting next to Jason in the dining hall the next morning. Jason looked over at him with some surprise.

  “Not much goes on in the monastery that I don’t know about.”

  “I guess I should explain—”

  “Only if you think you need to.”

  “I’m working on a way to end this standoff without endangering the monastery more than I already have.”

  “I appreciate that. I would appreciate it more if you would keep me in the loop. I don’t like having you act unilaterally.”

  “I apologize for that.”

  Jason went on to explain his plan to the Abbot.

  “I’ll depart tomorrow night, after Roper leaves with his men. Vincent will have just one Humvee and probably only four to six men. He’ll wonder why Roper changed his mind, but his explanation makes enough sense to be believed.

  “Things are unstable back in Charlotte. Something Vincent is also aware of. After you let him in and he confirms I’m not here, he’ll head back to the city right away. He needs to make sure he’s not outmaneuvered by any of the other capos. It’ll be civil war in the family for a while.”

  “How does that help Charlotte?”

  “It doesn’t in the short run.”

  “Just Hillsboro, that it?”

  “No. Hopefully this opens up an opportunity for the civil leadership in Charlotte to regain the control they ceded to the mafia. That will help the city in the long run. They actually have a good start at getting things back to normal with the power plant being operational. If the civilian authorities can regain control, they might make more progress and shore themselves up against the criminal element.”

  “And the mafia will just step aside? That doesn’t sound realistic.”

  “The militia is key. The outcome of any revolution rests on which side the military supports.”

  “Power and guns always seem to go together,” Father Gregory said.

  The day went by without any interaction between the monastery and those outside. Jason took the time to talk with Ernie and Ruth. He gave them directions and a wrote a letter of introduction to present when they got to Hillsboro. Ernie and Ruth had decided to informally adopt Jack and Bobby.

  The boys seemed happy with the arrangement. Bobby and Tom, Ernie and Ruth’s son, were already best friends. Jack had a crush on Jennifer who was a year older than him, which at that age, was an almost unbridgeable gap. However, he seemed determined to impress her with his warrior abilities, emulating what he had seen from Jason.

  The family would stay until Ruth’s ankle was strong enough and then set out for Hillsboro. It would take them two or three days to reach their goal. They would have the luxury of supplies and gear to aid them courtesy of Father Gregory.

&nbs
p; “You are going back to Charlotte?” Father Gregory asked Jason.

  “I have to make sure Roper does the right thing and leaves on his own.”

  “Why didn’t you kill him? You’ve already killed others in your quest to sow disruption.”

  “Maybe I was trying to be kinder, not so much the killer you see me as. It also serves my purpose. Me killing Roper could make him a rallying point for the militia, which could coalesce and keep them together. Him leaving, running off, leaves them in more disarray. Makes it easier for the civilians to get involved and regain control.”

  “Sounds more like the manipulator rather than the compassionate man.”

  Jason just looked at the Abbot. He didn’t expect his approval, but hoped Father Gregory would see the necessity, the duty that drove him.

  “You’re playing a complicated game, one you can’t control, but one you’ve triggered with your violence. I hope it turns out as you plan. There seems to be so many ways this could go wrong and hurt you.”

  “I guess I’d be getting my just desserts. That’s what you would think, wouldn’t you?”

  “What I think is unimportant. What God thinks of your actions is.”

  Jason smiled. “I don’t know about that. I’m just doing my duty as I see it.”

  “And your conscience is clear?”

  “I don’t relish being a ‘man of violence’ as you describe me. I’m just trying to push back tyranny and oppression where it threatens my family and my community.”

  Father Gregory smiled. “We come from two different worlds so we approach events from different perspectives. Perhaps you do have a legitimate role to play. There have always been defenders of the faith, in the physical sense. Men and women who have fought back forces of chaos and evil…I’ll be keeping you in my prayers.”

  “Thank you, Father. I mean that.”

  That afternoon more vehicles arrived at the encampment. Jason watched from an upper window with his binoculars as an animated discussion went on between Vincent and Larry. It culminated with Roper ordering his troops to pack up and leave, giving Vincent two Humvees for his remaining six men.