by Finley, Zack
"Yes," said James. "Do you need assistance?"
"My daughter, Emma, is running a fever, and we don't have any Tylenol left. My buddy says you have a doctor and maybe some drugs to help?" The man asked.
"Where is she?" James asked.
"I live over there," he said, pointing.
"Hop in back, direct us to where she is, and we'll take you and her back to Justice with us," James said.
I got out of the cab and climbed in the truck bed as the man attempted to get in. I hauled him up. The poor guy looked as scrawny as the Arkansas bunch.
His name was John, and he lived with a group in a nearby house. He was on his way to the Dollar General, hoping to find something useful there when he spotted us.
The moment I saw Emma, I radioed Justice. "We are coming in with a sick child. Contact Dr. Jerrod and ask her to meet us there. Possible pneumonia."
Emma's cough racked her body every few moments, followed by shallow rapid breathing. Her color was poor, and her skin burned to the touch with fever. She was younger than Melissa, about five or six years old, and thin as a rail.
We tucked them in the back seat of our truck beside James. I rode in the open bed back to Justice.
When we pulled up to the jail door, I jumped out of the truck. "Tank, have Emma and John stay in the heated cab until we have a place to treat her," I said.
Jake was on duty at the front desk, again. He directed me to what must have been an interrogation room in its prior life. "That is where Dr. Jerrod treats people who come in."
It was clean, but cold and unheated.
"Can someone warm up a blanket on the stove for the kid?" I asked Jake.
"I'll ask," Jake said.
I went back out and spoke with John. "Dr. Jerrod is on her way. The medical room is unheated, so you and your daughter are better off out here with the heater on. They are warming a blanket for her now. When that is ready, I'll come to get you."
John nodded, cradling the youngster inside his overcoat. The distress of her breathing was loud in the truck's cab. James and Grady joined me outside.
James offered to help get the blanket ready, and I sent him inside. Grady stood by my side, not speaking.
I was horrified when Dr. Jerrod pulled up alone on a ninja. This wasn't the right time to address the topic, but she was much too important to travel outside the Valley without an armed escort.
Tank helped John and Emma into the building with Dr. Jerrod already asking questions of the father.
Grady and I joined the logging crew, loading some of the thicker branches into the cart. Over the summer, Justice personnel would cut and split these for next winter's firewood. The sizeable stack of logs piled on the parking lot was another story. Some wanted to cut them into lumber with our portable logging mill. We didn't need the lumber right now, and it was labor-intensive. It was just as manpower intensive to buck and split the logs for firewood. The key difference was we needed firewood for next winter a lot more than we needed wooden planks.
We watched Tank and James tuck Emma and her father into the back of the truck along with a small cardboard box.
I jogged over to talk with Matt, keeping an eye on the jail entrance. "I don't like Dr. Jerrod driving around on a ninja without an escort. She won't carry a rifle and would be an easy mark for someone wanting her bike," I said.
"She won't listen to me about it," Matt said. "I agree with you, but she is one stubborn lady."
"Grady and I will escort her back to the Valley when she leaves. If it is before supper, we'll help out at the armory."
"I'll bring all our people to the Valley for supper at about 15:30. Then we'll reassemble at the armory at 17:00. That will give everyone time to shower and decompress before tonight," Matt said.
"The council meeting is set near sunset at 18:30. Zeke and Ben will have a detailed plan for our assault when we meet up."
"If you want to escort Dr. Jerrod, you'd better hop to it," Matt said, pointing toward the jail.
"Grady, let's go," I said, making a beeline for one of our trucks. We barely got the engine started before Dr. Jerrod peeled out of the parking lot.
I radioed to Bravo, "Dr. Jerrod coming in on a ninja, we are in a pickup right behind her."
"Roger."
Even though Dr. Jerrod would not listen to me, we couldn't let her drive around this way. The only one who might get through to her was my mom and maybe my dad. I suspected we would end up doing this the hard way, without her cooperation. Having one of the guards from Bravo escort her might work, she seldom came through without warning. Once at Justice, they could assign someone to accompany her on the trip back. One more complication, but still important.
The trip back to the Valley was routine. We parked at the armory to chat with Zeke. I wanted to brief him about my talk with Jerry Hill.
Zeke already had a plan of the barn, and its immediate surroundings sketched on a piece of butcher paper lying on his worktable.
The barn had a pair of wide sliding doors at each end for deliveries, and normal doors for people access. The table where the councilmembers were expected to sit was at the north end. The double-doors would be latched, limiting access to the people doors. One side of the barn was filled with horse stalls, but the other was open and had stacks of hay and straw bales. George planned to place the bales in rows for the audience to sit on.
"We should consider stationing some guys in the loft," Zeke said.
"The loft floorboards won't stop any bullets," I said. "I think we are better off just coming in behind them. I'm not opposed to having two Betas hiding behind the sandbags. They can either move the council to safety or defend them as necessary."
"Probably a safer plan, although there isn't anything preventing us from putting sandbags upstairs," Zeke said.
"Visibility is going to be crappy, so not sure splitting up is warranted," I said. "Especially if one of our grenades sparks a fire." That gave me another idea.
"Fire hoses," I said. "Talk to my Uncle Bob, he runs our fire department. Ask him to lay out hose and pre-position our pumpers, just in case. With George using hay bales for seats, it won't take much to start a fire."
"I'll go see him now," Ben said. "I knew something was worrying me about using those bales." Ben strolled off, favoring his side. Jogging was weeks away for him.
"Rebuilding the barn would be a major undertaking," Zeke admitted. "Good thinking."
"If Uncle George lectured you about barn fires as much as he did me, you'd have thought of it too. George just doesn't know enough about flashbangs and teargas, or he'd be having a major fit about now."
"Who is throwing the grenades?" Grady asked.
"Four of our guys will slip in the back. The council will call everyone to order. Once everyone's attention is upfront, we turn off the lights. That is the signal for our guys to toss the grenades and the council to hit the deck.
"After the flashbangs go off, an eight-man squad in gas masks will rush in through the main back door and secure the prisoners. The council puts on their gas masks and evacuates when safe," Zeke said. "We will have teams at each door to secure any escapees or reinforce as needed."
"Sounds like a solid plan," Grady said. "Do you need any of my people to help?"
"I think we have this one," I said. "Thanks for the offer, but...
"Who is taking the Humvees out for a spin?" radioed Joel, almost immediately punctuated by the sharp, brutal sounds of a .50 caliber machine gun on full auto.
It was hard to determine which of us hit the ground first, Grady, me, or Zeke.
"Humvees firing at..." came over the radio, followed by an ominous silence.
Now it was a race to the armory door, with Grady in the lead.
The Valley-wide alert siren began wailing.
"Medic, we need a medic and Dr. Jerrod to the river crossing guard shack, several wounded," radioed Sally.
"On my way," Tom radioed, with Mike, Allie, and Scott acknowledging close behind.
"Do not pursue th
e Humvees, they have hostages," Sally radioed.
"Sally, what do we know?" I radioed.
"Three Humvees, all with turrets, left the Valley. An unknown number of people. They claim they have hostages who they will kill if we pursue immediately. Each Humvee was pulling a trailer packed with gear. At least four casualties at the bridge. I warned Bravo to keep down," Sally responded.
"Matt, we have a breakout hostage scenario." I radioed. "We need to know where they are going without compromising the hostages or our people."
"I'll send the ninjas to the crossroads," Matt radioed from Justice. "Observation only."
"Bravo reports first of three Humvees cleared the roadblock," Sally radioed.
"Justice, take cover," radioed Matt, followed by a series of squelch clicks.
A few minutes later, I heard indistinct machine gun fire that seemed to go on forever. Then it stopped.
"Three Humvees took out our vehicles, then sped off. Ninjas were dispatched before we got hit," Matt radioed within minutes of the silence. "It will take time to mount a pursuit. Our vehicles are disabled."
"They claim to have hostages," I radioed. "We can't afford for the ninjas to be seen."
"Justice scouts for Matt."
"Go for Matt."
"Humvees turned south on US 27. Do we pursue?"
"Hostage situation, ghost protocol," Matt radioed.
"Roger, ghost protocol."
I couldn't tell who was riding the ninjas, but ghost protocol meant to follow but stay out of sight. Unfortunately, it would be difficult to do both. But at least we had a direction.
"Jeremy, do you have access to an FRS radio?" Sally asked.
"Negative," I said.
"I need you at the radio shack, stat," Sally radioed.
"On my way." I turned to Zeke and said, "Humvees, ninjas, and pickups. Load us heavy, heavy on ammo, heavy on everything." I left Zeke and Grady to form up our pursuit team, while I ran for the radio hut.
Zeke began rattling out orders over the radio.
I barely listened, there was a hollow in the pit of my stomach that scared me.
Sally put her hand on my chest when I arrived, out of breath, and pumped up with adrenaline. "Sit," she commanded. I sat.
"This guy says he is holding hostages in the Valley and won't speak to anyone but you. Take a breath. You can't let him get any read on you when you talk. You are now a hostage negotiator. Keep him talking. The more we can learn, the better this will turn out," Sally said. She waited a few moments, then handed me the radio. "It is on the proper channel, just click and speak."
"This is Jeremy," I radioed.
"Jeremy, who?"
"Jeremy Breckinridge, I'm told you wanted to talk with me."
"Ooooh, the big cheese himself. Well, Jeremy, we have a few people you will want to keep safe," a male voice crackled over the airwaves. "You send anyone after the first Humvees, and I guarantee people you care about will die. In fact, I'm still here with another group of hostages. I demand another Humvee and free passage out of here with them after dark."
"Why would we let you leave?" I asked.
"The people in those first three Humvees will be waiting for my group. They are an impatient bunch; we don't show up in time, the hostages die. If you follow us, the hostages die. We have people with radios watching, so if you follow them or me, we will know."
"How will we get our hostages back if we can't follow?"
"As long as you let us go, we will leave all the hostages in one group. Somewhere about an hour's drive from here. You follow us, or if my little group doesn't make it to the rendezvous, the hostages will die. Of course, some of my men haven't had much pussy since the crash, so I expect it won't be an easy death. Once they finish, the group will drive off to start a new life."
"How do I know the hostages will be safe if we do what you say?" I asked, my hands shaking with a level of rage I hoped my voice did not reflect.
"You don't. But I can guarantee they all die if you fuck with us," the voice on the radio said.
Sally touched my arm and pointed to a small slate that read, "What are your demands?"
I nodded, took another deep breath, and asked him the question.
"You are being mighty cooperative, I like that," the man said, before his voice turned cold, "We want the last Humvee with the machine gun, full of gas, and ammo to be parked in front of your house. I want the Humvee parked within a few feet of the door and for the doors on the house side to be left open."
"When do you want this?"
"I'm not supposed to leave until sunset, so before that. Better warn me about what you are doing, or my twitchy finger might accidentally shoot a hostage. Put a case of those MREs in the Humvee and a few jugs of water, so we don't get too hungry."
My body went stone cold when he mentioned my house. I looked at Sally, "Find my family."
"We are already on it. Keep him talking," Sally said, pointing at the radio.
"Why are you doing this?" I radioed.
"You arrogant assholes owe us. We moved up our plans when you started talking about charters and crap."
"What makes you think you will get by with this?" I asked.
"Well, we decided the only hostages worth taking are Breckinridges. You'd probably let anyone else die just to get your toys back. If you try anything, we will make you pay."
My heart tried to hammer out of my chest, and breathing became difficult as the reality of what this man said rippled through me.
"Zeke, we have hostages at Jeremy's home," I heard Sally say over the combat radios. "Unknown number of bad guys."
◆◆◆
Chapter 5
"Jeremy, get back on the radio and talk to this clown," Sally said, giving me a slight shake. "The more we learn about what they are up to, the better."
I nodded, taking a series of calming breaths, and dove back in, "Just to confirm, you want a Humvee, with machine gun, ammo, MREs, and water delivered to my house before dark. Is that correct?"
"Yeah, Jeremy, you got it in one. You try anything; I got enough hostages I don't mind killing one or two before we leave. Since you are some kinda green beret dude, I want to remind you, we have those lovely automatic rifles you trained us on. My people really appreciated that. We also learned a lesson from the jail, you don't care about most hostages, even little kids. We made sure all our hostages are grade A Breckinridge. We even ended up with a few extra, unexpectedly."
I couldn't imagine what he was talking about, but my worry and the fear in my gut intensified. I turned to Sally, "Have you found my family?"
"Your dad is on his way, but no one can find your mom, grandma, or kids," Sally said. "Workers at the food hut say they left together to help Steve's kids pack up to move."
"What hostages do you have?" I radioed to my nemesis.
"We never expected to catch so many in one basket," he radioed.
"Who are you holding?" I demanded.
"I think a little suspense will do you all good. Just remember they die if you follow the first group and die if you try to break in here. Thanks for the radios, sucker."
Roger stuck his head in the radio shack, "Jeremy come outside for a minute."
"I'll interrupt if something happens," Sally assured me.
"Jeremy, we can't find Claire, Esther, Jennifer, Melissa, Joe, Billy, or Ellie," Roger said. He gripped both my arms and looked me straight in the eye. "We need you to focus. We will bring them back, but your team is our best chance for that."
My knees shook, barely able to hold me up. My gut twisted, and an enormous weight squeezed my heart, compressing my chest. The act of sucking air in and pushing it out became laborious, making me lightheaded.
"Jeremy, Zeke thinks they got interrupted, that was the only reason they didn't take the whole group in the first wave. Jimmy, the new mechanic from Arkansas, spotted a group hooking trailers up to several Humvees. The way the group acted made him suspicious, and he asked Joel about them. When Joel ran out to see,
three Humvees sped toward the bridge. They left a golf cart nearby. We think being discovered made them take off, abandoning their friends at your house. We don't think they originally planned to split up."
"Where is my dad?"
"On his way here. Aaron doesn't have any details yet. He heard the siren and is aware of the attack. He does not know who we fear the hostages are. He knows why we shut down the radios. The only radios not compromised are your combat set."
I nodded and pulled a step away from Roger. My knees steadied, and my lungs were working again. My heart might never recover.
