by David Nees
She was not thinking, only feeling the anger coursing through her body. With no plan, her steps took her towards her home farther down the road. She heard engines ahead and looked up to see a convoy of military vehicles approaching. The sun was high in the sky and heat ripples were rising from the dark macadam.
When the trucks were close, they stopped in the middle of the road. Kevin jumped out of the lead Humvee. “Catherine!” he shouted as he started towards her.
“You’re too late,” she yelled.
He stopped five paces in front of her. She saw Gibbs exit the other door of the Humvee and stare at her with a concerned look on his hard face.
“Catherine?” Kevin said again.
She looked away and started to walk past the Humvee. The other vehicles were stopped in a long line, and everyone was staring.
Kevin reached out to her, but she brushed his arm away. “Where were you?” she said.
“I—”
“We had to fight them by ourselves! Bird and I had to try to hold them off when they came over the west ridge.”
“I came as soon as I could. It took some time to deal with Roper. Catherine, are you—”
“You were too late. We had to fight without you and a friend got killed”
Kevin’s face was filled with concern.
“Are you wounded?” he asked.
She shook her head.
“Tell me what happened.”
“Ask Jason.” She jerked her thumb over her shoulder. “I don’t want to talk now.” She turned away from Kevin and started walking. He didn’t follow. The men in the other vehicles stared wide-eyed at her as she marched past them.
A few moments later she heard the engines start. The convoy moved ahead and the sound diminished away with distance.
She walked towards home, alone with her thoughts and the sound of her boots thumping on the pavement.
She crunched up the gravel drive to the farmhouse and when she got to the front yard the front door burst open and her mother came running out.
“Catherine!” she screamed. “Oh God Catherine, are you hurt? How bad is it—”
“Mom!”
And then her mother’s arms wrapped around her. “Oh baby, you’re all bloody! What happened? Where are you hurt?”
“Mom, I’m fine,” she said, pulling away. “I’m fine. It’s not my blood. It’s Bird’s blood.”
“Oh, Catherine!” Anne tried to pull Catherine back into her arms, but Catherine’s body was hard and unyielding. She heard running footsteps from the house, and this time her sister screamed her name.
They were in the kitchen. Anne had taken Catherine’s coat off and was washing the blood and dirt from her body. She related what had happened. Telling the story only increased her anger and grief; someone had to pay for Bird’s death.
“Everyone did the best they could,” Anne was saying. Her voice was patient and gentle. “That mortar could just as easily have hit you as Bird.”
“If Kevin had come earlier, it wouldn’t have happened,” Catherine said. Her voice was still agitated. “He would have attacked them and they wouldn’t have been able to fire mortar rounds at me and Bird.” Her whole body shuddered. “He didn’t have to die.”
“What’s going to happen now?” Sarah asked. She was sitting across the table, watching them both. Catherine could see not only her sister’s concern, but puzzlement as well. She didn’t understand. “Will they attack us again? Over some seeds?”
“I don’t know. But I know what I’m going to do.” Catherine stood abruptly and pushed her mother’s arm away. Grabbing her backpack, she ran out of the kitchen and up the stairs to her room.
She threw her backpack on the bed, rummaged quickly in the closet and her chest of drawers for some clothes, put a shirt on, and stuffed more into the pack. She carried it back downstairs.
“What are you doing?” Anne asked in the kitchen doorway. Catherine didn’t answer. She went to the corner of the living room and grabbed her Bushmaster and some boxes of ammunition. “Catherine,” Anne asked again. “What’s going on? Tell me.”
“I’m going to get the man who’s responsible for Bird’s death.”
Sarah pushed out past her mother. “You’re not going to town, are you?”
Catherine looked at Sarah, her anger and grief, still in a mixed-up swirl, radiating through her body. “He’s not going to get away with this,” she said. “He had to be with them. I’m betting he led the attack. He’s hands-on. But nobody found him after the ambush. I think he ran when the fight turned against him. I heard a truck drive up the ridge after the battle. I’m going to find him and kill him.”
“Who do you mean?” Sarah asked.
“Leo.”
“No you’re not,” Anne said in alarm.
Catherine looked at her mother. “He killed my friend. Bird didn’t deserve to die…none of us deserve to be attacked like this.”
“Why won’t they leave us alone?” Sarah asked. Her voice sounded plaintive and irritating to Catherine. “We could get along with everyone in town, if they would just leave us alone.”
A wave of fatigue passed over Catherine. She let out a sigh. Tears threatened again. She set down her backpack and rifle on the floor and stumbled past Anne and Sarah to her seat.
“They want power over us,” she heard her mother say. “At least the ones in charge do. That guy Stansky, and Frank Mason. Somehow we represent an example they don’t want the rest of the town to see. They are so afraid of losing power that they can’t have anyone see how we live. On our own, independent…free.”
“That’s so stupid,” Sarah declared. “What do they get out of it all? How does that make anything better?”
“I don’t know that it does,” Anne replied. “I just know that people in power seem to want to hold on to power and grab more for themselves. Getting more power and control becomes the goal, not helping others with their power.”
“Well, I’m going to do something about it,” Catherine said. “I’m going to end it. Cut the head off the snake and the body will die.”
Chapter 51
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T here was a roar of many engines piling into the yard outside and coming to a halt. Catherine tensed. Anne and Sarah ran out of the kitchen. She was alone. She took a deep breath and got to her feet. She went into the pantry and grabbed some dried venison and fruit. She was putting the food into her backpack when the men came into the house. Kevin was there, and Jason, with Clayton and Gibbs close behind them. Kevin looked at her warily.
“Where are you going?” Jason asked her.
“You know,” she replied. “To town.”
“You can’t go off by yourself, half-cocked—”
“I’m not going off half-cocked. I’m going to kill Leo. He’s the one responsible for Bird’s death.”
Jason took a deep breath. “We have to plan this out as a team. I can’t have you doing something on your own.”
His answer only fed her anger. She glared back at him.
Clayton’s calm voice cut in. “We all upset over Bird’s death, but others got killed today,” He stepped past Jason. His eyes bore into her, calm but completely unrelenting. “More of my kin, my folk. You don’t know them, but they all have families, same as Bird. All their families, and Bird’s mother, how do you think they’ll feel?”
Catherine scowled angrily at him, but he never wavered. She finally dropped her eyes. What he had said began to penetrate. How many had he lost?
“Point is you ain’t the only one upset.” Clayton looked beyond her. His face remained placid, but his eyes had a fierce and dangerous look. He stepped past Catherine and turned, crossing his arms. He looked at the others. “What we do now?” he said in the same calm voice.
There was a thoughtful silence. Catherine digested Clayton’s words. Bird had been kind and thoughtful. He had liked and appreciated her. In their short time together, they had bonded, whether because of their similariti
es or their mission. Now she realized others had been affected as well. Others had died as well. Suddenly she felt the selfishness of her actions, wanting to act out on her own to salve her own private hurt.
She still wanted revenge, to make Leo pay, and certainly Clayton felt the same way. But maybe the best path to that lay in sticking together.
“We attack,” Jason said. His voice came out crisp and resolute. “The sooner the better. Giving them time will only let them get their defenses organized.”
Catherine and her mother looked at him.
“He’s right,” Gibbs said. “Don’t let them regroup. You’ve dealt them a big blow. Let’s follow it up while they’re in some confusion.”
“What about their numbers?” Anne asked. Everyone could hear her uncertainty.
“Their numbers are reduced after today,” Gibbs said.
“But you’re taking on a city,” Anne said.
“Most in the town are non-combatants. It’s only the militia we have to go against,” Gibbs replied.
“Don’t they still outnumber us? Badly?”
“Ma’am, they may outnumber us, but can they outfight us?” Gibbs replied. “I’m betting Leo used his best on this raid, seeing as he knew about your battle with Big Jacks and his gang.”
“The militia is not well trained,” Kevin said. “Adequate for the action they’ve seen, dealing with civilians and disorganized bandits, usually not in large numbers. They can all handle weapons, they’re all capable of killing, but they’re not disciplined, and they don’t have any idea of battle tactics.”
The others were nodding.
“We move quickly, and get the locals involved, we could finish this quickly,” Kevin said quietly. Catherine heard a professional certainty in his tone.
“Are your men in?” Jason asked Clayton.
Clayton’s face remained calm, but his eyes were burning. “We in,” he said. “We got to make them pay for killing Bird and the others. Make ‘em fear us.”
Jason exhaled. His face showed fatigue but his eyes were dark—warrior’s eyes. Catherine had seen it before. “So we do this, and we do it fast.”
The sun was nearing the west ridge when the valley defenders set out for Hillsboro.
Tom Walsh was not with them. He had agreed to stay behind and guard the prisoners. Assisting him in this were Anne, Sarah, and his wife, Betty. They would be taking no chances until the others returned. The men were kept separated in Tom’s barn, and constantly tied up. They would be fed by their captors; their hands were tied behind their backs, and the bonds would not be loosened. They would have an uncomfortable few days.
The valley’s attack force numbered thirty-five. There were fifteen soldiers, plus Lieutenant Cameron and Sergeant Gibbs. Clayton also had fifteen men from his two clans, for a total of sixteen, and Jason and Catherine were the only fighters from the valley itself. No one questioned Catherine coming along. She had proven herself in battle, and, in any case, she was not going to be denied her opportunity to avenge Bird’s death.
She rode silently with Jason in one of the pickup trucks with Clayton in the cab.
They raced over the back roads in the gathering dark.
Finally Jason spoke up. “We’ll have to find a way to get into town. We can’t just show up at a gate.”
“We sneak in some way. Got to meet up with the town folk,” Clayton said.
It took a moment for Catherine to bring her mind back to the present. She didn’t want to talk, but things had to be dealt with; their lives depended on it. She said, “Maybe a small group can get through the wall and connect up with Chief Cook and the civilians. Then get the rest in? According to Kevin, the town’s barrier walls are porous. Both he and the militia had to keep dealing with refugees and bandits who’d gotten in. Not a rush but it kept happening. There’s got to be a way through.”
“If we do it this way, who do we send?” Clayton asked.
Catherine responded, “I can go with Sergeant Gibbs and maybe another soldier.”
Jason turned to look at her. “Why you?” he said. “That’s too dangerous.”
She looked at him: a man she admired. She had looked up to him from the beginning. At one time she had even thought she was in love with him. He had saved her life and had taught her how to fight and defend herself. It was Jason who had given her the freedom of self-confidence. And she had given back to him; she had saved his life, twice.
Yet now what he said didn’t make sense to her. He was trying to be the protective father, sheltering her from danger. Even in the face of convincing evidence that she could take care of herself, that she was as capable a warrior.
“I suppose sniping the attackers who were firing machine guns and mortars at us wasn’t dangerous?”
“That was different,” he said. “Now you’re going into the nest, into the lair of the enemy. Your shooting skills may not help you there—”
“They won’t?”
“Catherine, I love you. You know that. I think of you and Sarah as my own daughters. I know you can take care of yourself, but I can’t help worrying about you.”
“I’m trying to understand,” she told him. “But it doesn’t make much sense when you consider what I can do, and what I’ve…what we’ve…been through.”
He looked back at the road, and she saw his jaw muscles clench. She wasn’t sure if he was angry or frustrated. “I’ll try to keep my protective instincts in check, but it’s hard to think of you as just a member of our fighting team. Having you in harm’s way scares me, somehow more than before. Maybe it’s because we didn’t have any choice in the matter before.”
Then his expression hardened, and he turned it back to her. “But here’s what’s important. We have to fight with a plan. That means you can’t be a rogue actor. You’ve got to go along with whatever plan we come up with. Can you do that?”
Catherine thought about that for a moment. “I can do that as long as you allow me to be in the fight, to use my skills.” She paused to sort out her thoughts. There was one thing that really mattered. “And I want to kill Leo. That’s personal for me.”
Jason sighed.
They drove on, each lost in their thoughts about what was to come.
Chapter 52
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L eo? He’s got something going on,” the bartender said, polishing the bar. “Something special. He’s not even in town right now.”
“What?” Lori Sue blurted. She covered quickly. “No one’s ever not in town anymore, Hank. It’s not like anyone goes to Vegas. Where would he even go?”
“Out with some kinda task force. Bigger than a patrol. Don’t know what the deal is, but there’s talk that maybe those farmers who came for the trade visit are gonna get a visit of their own. Maybe the goods weren’t as advertised or something.” Hank shrugged.
“When’d everyone find out about this?” she asked.
“Word got around during the day. People didn’t see Leo around and noticed some of the men gone. Seems to have been kept pretty quiet. What’s it to you anyway?”
Lori Sue gave him a big smile. “A girl in my line of work needs to know what’s going on.”
“A girl in your line of work needs a strong back…amount of time you spend on it.” The bartender gave her a nasty grin.
“Shove it up yours,” Lori Sue retorted and gave him the finger. “You’re just jealous ‘cause I don’t give you a tumble.”
“Don’t worry about that, dear. I ain’t looking to catch a disease.”
“You don’t have any worries there. Since you probably aren’t getting any action.” She smiled at him.
“Go to hell,” he said, his smile turning to a scowl.
“See you later, Hank. Stay out of trouble.” She turned and left the bar.
Outside she stopped to think. Leo was gone. She’d already lost a day. Her biggest problem was that she didn’t have a hacksaw or bolt cutters. She’d need those to do anything anyway. Lori Sue cursed. Th
ere was nothing to do but head back to her apartment, find Billy, and make him get the tool she needed. Leo was probably going to be gone for two or three days, so she could spring Donna tomorrow. She put her frustration aside and started walking.
Well before the deserted houses thinned out, Jason pulled his pickup to the middle to block the street and stop the convoy behind him. He, Clayton, and Catherine got out and went over to the Humvee with Kevin and Rodney in it. The night was dark and overcast, a cool wind blowing from the north. They spoke in whispers, even though they guessed that they were still quite a way from the barricades.
“We can’t go any closer. They’ll have men at the barricade,” Kevin said.
“And they’ll know we’re coming,” Jason said. “Remember that pickup that got away? Whoever was in it had most of a day’s head start on us. Whether it was Leo or not, I think we have to assume the town is alerted.”
Rodney spoke up. “Since there are only two main gates, it wouldn’t be hard for them to really be ready for us.”
“They’ve got a .50 cal machine gun.” Catherine said. “I heard it when they fired on me and Bird.”
She could barely see Rodney’s head nod in the darkness. “You don’t forget that sound,” he said. “And who knows how many M60s. A .50 cal would stop the whole convoy and scatter it.”
“I think we have a small group head off to the barricade,” Kevin said. “Climb over it like other refugees do, away from the guarded entrances.”
“What about the rest of the group?” Clayton asked.
“We’ve got working radios,” Rodney said. “We can join up with Chief Cook. He’s probably at Lori Sue’s place, or she knows how to get hold of him. He’ll know how we can get our main force in.”
“That’s going to take time,” Jason said.
“Yeah,” Kevin replied, “but if we take that time, I’ll bet we’ll get all our men in without any losses, along with our gear. And they won’t know we’re inside until we attack. If we just go at the main entrance with the whole group, we’ll probably be engaged while we’re still outside. We don’t want that.”
