by Bruno Miller
They had to pass through a small stand of hardwoods and bushes to get a good look at the next place, and once they cleared the trees, they knew they had found the looters. There was an assortment of four-wheelers, motorcycles, cars, and trucks parked around the property. The farm itself consisted of two houses and a barn. The older home sat near the front of the property and was completely dark. Only a half dozen vehicles were parked there.
The house nearest to them was much newer and larger. Moonlight reflected off the solar panels on the roof, more proof that solar electric systems had saved the homes and businesses that remained. A faint light also emanated from a small porch on the back side of the house. The barn was located a couple hundred yards from the house and was at the back of the property. It was the closest building to Vince and his group and not too far from the tree line.
There was no activity, but Vince didn’t expect any at this hour of the morning. From where he was, he couldn’t see the front of the barn, and no windows on the back or the side were visible from the woods.
“All right. We’re going to have to do this quietly. Shooting is our last resort,” Vince whispered and looked at Tom to make sure he was paying attention.
“If Ryan’s in the barn, I’m sure they’ve got somebody watching him. Maybe more around the main house,” John whispered back.
“Nice and easy. Let’s go.” Vince led the way and crept toward the barn, doing his best to keep a low profile. With Tom bringing up the rear, they approached in a single-file line until they reached the back corner of the building. They paused there for a minute and listened while they peered around the side of the barn and scanned their surroundings. John scurried to the opposite corner and took a peek before returning and reporting that he had seen nothing from there, either.
At this distance, Vince could tell the light they saw from the woods was a small yellowish-colored porch light. Had it most likely been left on by mistake? There was nobody on the porch, and if there was a man on guard, he was nowhere to be seen or he was off making his rounds; the thought of that was concerning, but they had to keep moving.
They crept along the far side of the barn, which wasn’t visible from the house, until they reached the front corner. Vince very carefully peeked around. The barn was typical and had a large rolling door on the front side and a smaller man door next to it. The large door was cracked open a few feet, and a dim sliver of light spilled out onto the gravel driveway. Vince could hear voices coming from inside. He leaned back around the corner and faced the others.
“I hear a couple people in the barn,” Vince whispered. “I’m gonna take a look.” He gently leaned his shotgun against the building. He didn’t want to attempt this while holding the large weapon and wasn’t planning on making a move yet; he just wanted to do a little recon and see what they were dealing with. He had his .45 on him if things went south.
He went low to the ground and crawled on all fours to the smaller man door. The upper half of the door was glass, and as he straightened up on two knees, he could see inside the barn. Two men sat on bales of hay and were using another bale between them as a card table. The lantern hanging off a support post above them wasn’t very bright, but it produced enough light for Vince to see the two rifles leaning on the post beneath it and a partially empty bottle of whiskey on the ground. He leaned left and right, trying to get a better angle and see more of the interior layout of the barn, but he still couldn’t locate Ryan. He was going to have to move in a little closer and take a look from the partially open door.
Vince went prone again, this time on his hands and knees, and crawled to the corner of the main barn door. From here, he could see the rest of the interior and spotted Ryan immediately. The poor kid had a handcuff around one of his ankles. The other end was attached to a chain that was wrapped around another support column. A padlock held it all together.
Ryan was sitting on the floor with his back to the post, arms wrapped around his knees tightly and his face hidden from sight. Vince couldn’t tell if he was sleeping or not, but with the two men playing cards and talking loudly, he doubted it.
Vince felt his blood pressure rising as he tried to push down the feelings of anger and hatred for these people. What kind of animals would keep a kid Ryan’s age—or anyone for that matter—chained up in a barn? Suddenly, one of the men stood up and stretched. He mumbled something about taking care of business. He grabbed his rifle and slung it over his shoulder. After taking a quick shot from the bottle, he headed toward the door and straight toward Vince.
Vince yanked his head back from the doorway and shot up to his feet. Then he hurried back to the corner of the building, careful to duck below the half glass door on his way.
“Back, back, back,” Vince whispered, motioning with his hands for John and Tom to retreat to the back corner of the building. They reacted quickly, retreated to their original hiding spot, and were hidden in a matter of seconds.
“Do they have Ryan?” Tom asked before Vince could say anything.
“Yes, and there’s two guys watching him. One of them is coming out to go to the bathroom, I think.” Vince leaned around the corner just in time to see the man walking toward the woods, whistling as he went. Now was their chance to do something.
Chapter Ten
As the man continued out to the edge of the woods, Vince turned and quickly laid out his plan to John and Tom.
Vince would take the whistler out while the other two moved up to the corner of the barn closest to the door. After Vince had dealt with his guy, he would do his best to impersonate him and call the other man out. Hopefully, the remaining guard wouldn’t be able to see well enough to tell the difference between Vince and his friend. Once he was within reach, John and Tom could take care of him.
The man continued to whistle to himself as he made his way over to an old horse trailer parked at the edge of the woods. Considering what disgusting slobs they were, Vince was surprised that he had walked so far to relieve himself, but he was glad he did. The whistling helped mask any noise Vince made during his approach, and as he crept up behind him, the man was blissfully unaware of what was about to happen.
Vince covered the last couple of feet swiftly and placed a hand over the man’s mouth while bringing his right arm around the neck. Then he squeezed with all his strength. The man struggled and flailed his arms, but it was in vain and only made Vince more determined to hang on and finish the job quickly. He stopped trying to grab Vince and reached for some imaginary salvation out in front of him. A few seconds later, the man’s arms dropped to his side and went limp. Vince was about to lower the guy to the ground, but something came over him and he hung on. He continued to apply pressure for a while longer until he felt the legs give out. Only then did he relax his grip, step backward, and lower the body to the ground.
He grabbed the rifle and leaned it against the trailer while he searched the man’s pockets for the key to Ryan’s handcuffs or the padlock. All he found was a pack of cigarettes, a lighter, and a pocket knife. Vince gave up his search and dragged the body several feet into the woods until it was out of sight.
When he was done hiding the guard’s body, he took the rifle and slung it over his shoulder. Looking back, he made sure that John and Tom were in position. He could barely make them out, even though they were no more than twenty yards away. He could see their dark figures crouched at the corner of the barn, and he knew it was time to draw the other guard outside.
“Hey, come look at this!” Vince called out to the other guard as loud as he dared without risking someone hearing him from the house. He waited, but there was no reply. Then he tried a low-pitched whistle. A few seconds later, he saw a head pop out from the doorway.
“What?” an irritated voice asked.
Vince motioned with his hand for the man to come to him. It worked, and the man started walking toward Vince.
“What is it, man?” He sounded more irritated this time, and as he passed the corner of the barn, he didn�
��t notice the two men waiting for him.
“Hey!” John whispered. The guard was startled by the voice and spun around to meet the butt end of an AR-15 face-first. The crack of the gun against his face made Vince flinch a little. The body fell to the ground with a heavy thud.
Vince jogged over to where John and Tom were standing, and they all stared at the man for a second—only it wasn’t a man at all. Now that they were close, Vince could see that he was no more than a kid who couldn’t have been more than sixteen or seventeen years old. His nose was badly broken, and his face and shirt were covered in blood.
Vince looked to see if the kid was still breathing, but he didn’t see any movement. John was visibly shocked and clearly wasn’t expecting his target to be so young.
Vince tried to move things along. “Check his pockets for a key.”
John rummaged through his pockets, occasionally glancing at the kid’s face. “Nothing.”
“I’ll deal with this. Go get Ryan.” Vince barely had the words out of his mouth before Tom was off and into the barn with John right behind him. If they couldn’t find the key, John would be the one who could get the cuffs off Ryan. Meanwhile, Vince wanted to hide this body as well. If they made it out of here tonight without being seen, it might buy them some time.
When the looters discovered that Ryan was gone, they would know what happened immediately. But if the two guards were missing as well, maybe the rest of the looters would think they had taken Ryan for themselves and tried to work out their own deal for the supplies. It was worth a try and the few extra minutes it took Vince to drag the body into the woods.
By the time Vince returned, John and Tom were coming out of the barn with Ryan. John was carrying their rifles and Tom was carrying Ryan with his good arm.
“Found the key inside.” John had his hands full with three rifles, and Vince had his shotgun and the other guard’s gun. It would be helpful if Ryan could travel on his own, but Vince didn’t have the heart to ask Tom to put his son down and carry his weapon just yet.
“How is he?” Vince asked.
“Fine, I think. Just scared and tired,” Tom answered.
“Can you sling one of these rifles over your bad arm?” John held out one of the newly acquired weapons, a wooden-stocked hunting rifle with a leather sling.
“Yeah, I guess so.” Tom took the gun and gently slid it over his left shoulder with John’s help.
“All right, you guys, get a head start,” John said. “I’ll be right behind you. I just need a couple minutes.” He turned to look at the house.
“What are you talking about?” Vince asked. “We’re all leaving together, now.” For the first time, Ryan lifted his head from his dad’s shoulder, and Vince could see that he had been crying.
“We might not get another chance like this. I want to try and disable some of their vehicles, even if it’s temporary, like slashing their tires.”
“What if someone hears you or they have someone on lookout and you get caught?” Tom asked.
“It’s a chance I’m willing to take. If we do this right, it could buy us a few days of peace and quiet. It would give us a chance to get on our feet. Besides, I’m pretty sure the other guy in the barn was supposed to be on lookout. You don’t assign two guys to watch a child in handcuffs.” John leaned the ARs against the back side of the barn.
He clearly intended on doing this with or without Vince and Tom’s blessing. As appealing as it was to make a clean getaway right then and there, Vince had to admit that sabotaging the vehicles was a good idea. It made a lot of sense and wouldn’t necessarily ruin his plan. The other looters might think the two men on watch had done it. John also made a good point about one of the guards most likely being the house lookout.
“I’m in.” Vince leaned his two weapons next to John’s.
“You don’t have to do this, Vince. I can handle it,” John offered.
“No way I’m letting you have all the fun.”
John nodded. “All right, then. Tom, we’ll see you at the car in a little bit.”
“Be careful, guys.” Tom paused long enough to look them both in the eyes before turning and heading off toward the woods and into the shadows with Ryan.
Vince checked his watch. It was close to four in the morning, and the thought crossed his mind that the looters might be changing out guard duty, but he had no way of knowing for sure.
“Hopefully neither one of these guys is getting relieved anytime soon,” Vince said.
“Yeah, I thought about that, too. We’ll just have to be quick.”
They made their way off the gravel lane that led to the barn and traveled over the grass to minimize the noise they made. They went as fast as they could while keeping an eye out for any movement in and around the house. John pulled out his pocket knife when they reached the first car.
“Let’s split up. We’ll get this done a lot quicker.” Without warning, John sank his knife into the rear tire of the car. It let out a loud hiss as Vince peered over the hood and watched the house. He hated how much noise it made and was worried that someone would eventually hear them if they kept it up. John’s idea was well-intentioned but too noisy. Vince had something much more sinister in mind, not to mention quieter.
“I think that’s going to get their attention. Let’s go for the brakes.” Vince would have liked to do more damage to the vehicles rather than just tamper with the brakes, but there was no way they’d be able to get under the hoods without waking up someone in the house. Taking out the brakes was a good alternative.
The looters would notice the deflated tires right away, and if any of them were handy, they could eventually fix them and resume their nefarious activities. But the lack of brakes could cause some serious trouble and, with any luck, some major accidents—maybe even permanently take out some of these vehicles, along with whoever was unfortunate enough to be driving. Anything they could do to even the odds would be worth the effort, and thanks to what the looters had already done to Vince and the others, he could do what was needed without having a guilty conscience.
Chapter Eleven
“Keep an eye out for me.” Vince lay on his back and shimmied under the car they were hiding behind.
John looked under the car at him. “What are you doing?”
“Brakes,” Vince replied as he found the brake lines and grabbed hold of the thin metal tubing. He worked it back and forth until there was a substantial split between the tube and the fitting. He checked the damage out with his headlamp and made sure the brake fluid was leaking out at a good pace.
Vince wished he could break the lines off completely, but it was too much work. If they wanted to disable all the vehicles parked here, there wasn’t enough time—not to mention that he really didn’t want to get covered in brake fluid. Besides, it might work out for the best if the lines bled slowly. When the looters took the cars out, they would finish the job themselves by applying pressure to the brakes and blowing the rest of the fluid out. Hopefully they would do this while driving at a decent speed.
Even if the looters figured out that the vehicles had been tampered with and didn’t have any accidents, the brake lines would be hard to fix. There might be a decent mechanic who could patch the lines, but without total replacement, they would never be as good as new. With handicapped vehicles, the looters would be at a serious disadvantage.
At the very least, doing this would buy them time, like John said, and that was something that Vince and the others desperately needed if they were ever going to accomplish anything back in town. Even a couple of days without having to worry about the looters would be huge. It would give them time to build up their defenses and complete some of the bigger tasks—or at least get them well underway.
Vince and John made their way from one vehicle to the next, careful to keep a watchful eye on the house as they moved. Vince was at a loss with the ATVs and motorcycles, and other than removing the spark plug wires, he wasn’t sure how to cause the most damage. It
would have been nice to have Cy there with them. He would have known exactly how to do some type of permanent damage. Instead, Vince guessed and randomly pulled at any exposed wires or tubing, hoping for the best.
He glanced at his watch and saw that they had been at it for nearly thirty minutes. Cy and the others back at the car were probably starting to worry, so they needed to wrap it up and head back soon. Only one pickup truck remained, and as they made their way over to it, a light came on inside the house.
“Hey!” John whispered.
“I see it.” Vince and John crouched behind the pickup. Determined to finish what they had started, Vince wasted no time shimmying under the old Chevy and locating the brake lines. It didn’t take long, and Vince was able to work quickly. There was more room under the pickup thanks to a lift kit and oversized tires.
He finished up and rolled out from under the truck just in time to hear a screen door slam. His heart raced as he looked at John, who was peering over the truck bed and staring intently at the house. John quickly crouched down and joined Vince on the ground. He put his finger to his lips and pointed toward the house, then put one finger in the air and mouthed the word “one.”
Vince smelled cigarette smoke almost instantly, and he hoped the guy had just stepped outside for a quick smoke and would head back in soon. He glanced at his watch impatiently; this was costing them time. They had already been here too long, and it probably felt much longer to Cy and the others waiting at the car.
“Where is he?” they heard the man on the porch say to himself. No doubt he was looking for one of the men he and John had taken out. This guy was probably supposed to take over for one of them, which meant he wasn’t going back inside after his smoke.
