He takes the Kabar and grabs the guy’s hands and moves the edge toward the man’s nail on his left ring finger. The man’s eyes grow huge and he squeaks something out looking at the other two, I can tell he is pleading them for help or to talk. The other two men finally break. Kuppers stands, comes back, hands me the Kabar, and winks at me. I keep my face emotionless and slide the Kabar back into its holster.

  “Ok, so one at a time, boys.” He takes a small notepad from his breast pocket and starts writing their story down.

  I slink away back toward where Doc is holding position.

  “What are those lights shining over there?” I ask him. The lights are strong and come up from down below us.

  “There’s a little compound like looking place down there. I wouldn’t worry about it yet. I’m sure Kuppers will let us know soon.” Doc spits a big wad of gum out of his mouth and into the darkness.

  Just then Kuppers comes over. “Apache and Senshi are going to take care of those guys. Why don’t we move back to the Beast so we can inform them on the nice story those boys just gave me.” He looks at me and smiles.

  Chapter 29

  Doc and I follow Kuppers back up the road and to the Beast. I can see they closed the rear hatch, I just hope Angel is in there safe. Kuppers make a motion and the rest of the team waiting at the Beast come and form a ring around him.

  “So we have four guards back there armed with some pretty nice H&K MP5s and some other nice toys. I had to ask nicely but they finally told me their story. Seems they work for a private security group, called the Ridder Group. They have contracts with worldwide corporations and with some of the foreign governments out there also.

  Brian interrupts. “I remember running into those guys in Afghanistan. They are pricks, worse than Blackwater. Rumors over there are that if you interrupted one of their ops they would light you up without even alerting you.”

  “Yeah they are bad news. They hire only the worse, and the best part is they hire from any country. They don’t care if your Russian, Iranian, French, American or whatever. If you are good at killing and marauding, they’d hire you. Well it seems they are working for a private firm, which one? They didn’t know, and trust me I asked real nice, but honestly I think these guys are the lowest on the rung of soldiers, pretty much glorified security guards. The tier one teams must be somewhere else. They have a base that they moved into about the same time that the flu took over the East Coast. According to these guys they are not allowed in the buildings, they work out of an office in the cafeteria building. They do say that they send patrols out and round up healthy unaffected people as well as the infected. They bring them back here and hand them over to the people in the labs. The guards never see the infected or other people ever again. But they do say big Blackhawks show up twice a week and deliver supplies. The trash, in the form of big black plastic bags, are just tossed over the cliff into the ocean below. Another helicopter is scheduled to come in tomorrow, and the guards were notified that they didn’t need any more people rounded up tonight, so they have some down time. They figure there must be about 50 personnel down there in that makeshift base, that includes about 11 more guards.” He informed us.

  “So what do we do? Should we find another place to move to?” Cupcake asks.

  “What worries me is that they are taking in infected and non-infected and yet no one comes out of there. My suggestion is that we send in Apache and Senshi to do a little sneak and peak, information is key here, before we make any other decisions.” Vic points out.

  “Do we all agree?” Kuppers asks.

  We all nod yes, Kuppers clicks on his radio. “Bravo, have you taken care of that little problem?”

  “Alpha, we took care of the problem.” Apache answers back.

  “Bravo, listen, we need some more information on what’s going on down there. I want you two to do some sneak and peak. Doc, provide over watch and back them up.” Kuppers orders.

  “Alpha, roger that. We will keep it low and slow. Be back with some gossip.” Apache radios back.

  Cupcake looks around and then gets our attention. “We need to get the Beast under wraps or at least off the road. I feel naked out here.”

  “No one wants to see you naked Cupcake. Ok let’s move down the road there and park where we found the guards.” Vic suggests.

  “No good, that road is narrow and I don’t think I could turn the Beast around very easily down there. There is a hill to our left and a pretty big drop off on the other side.” Cupcake counters.

  I stop and think for a bit. “Why don’t you back up the Beast and park her around the first bend? No one from the road will be able to see us, plus we will be able to boogie if we need to. Plus, we can support Bravo.”

  “I can do that.” He climbs into the Beast as we move away to give him some room. He fires up the powerful diesel and turns her around. He slowly backs her up as though he does this a thousand times a day. Soon he is around the bend and we cannot see him anymore. Well that has been taken care of I think to myself.

  We make our way to the beast and I give Cupcake a thumbs up. “That is some awesome driving my man.” He smiles, does a little exaggerated bow and shuts down the engines.

  “Brian, set up guard at the head of the bend just off the road. Alert us if anyone comes looking. You will also be our first level in defense so be prepared.” Vic orders. Brian garbs his Zomgo bag, gives me a mock salute and disappears around the bend.

  I climb into the back with Angel and we open some MREs and warm up our food. I knew she must be hungry, last time we ate, felt like yesterday. She has raviolis again and I chow down on some chili. But this time I find the plates Apache has secured under her seat and we eat cleanly and happily. Afterward I take out my dessert and give it over to her. She giggles and thanks me. While she devours that, I use some water to wash our plates, and stow them back so Apache wouldn’t kill me.

  “We need to find you some real clothes kiddo. That dress doesn’t seem to be holding up to well. And if we have to run, those shoes, which are very pretty, will fall apart within minutes.” I point to her wardrobe as I talk.

  “Yeah some pants and some running shoes would be nice.” She runs her hand down her dress trying to smooth the wrinkles out of it. “Uhm I need to use the restroom.” She asks with a red face full of embarrassment.”

  “Oh yeah, hold on.” I open my Zomgo pack and root around till I find some toilet paper. I pull it out and hand it to her. I open the back of the Beast and she jumps out. We walk over to an area surrounded by boulders. I turn my back to her to give her some privacy.

  A couple of minutes later I hear her come up on me. I reach into my pocket and take out some hand sanitizer. I turn to her and she hands me the left over toilet paper. I take it and put it in one of my vest pockets, squirt some sanitizer on her hands allowing her to clean them. We walk back together to the Beast and climb inside to relax and wait.

  I look through some of the hatches and drawers in the Beast and find a pack of cards and a small sweater, that has the words SWAT emblazoned on the front. I give the sweater to Angel and she slips it on over her dress and rolls up the sleeves to gain access to her hands. We end up playing fish, crazy eights and my favorite, war, from when I was a kid. Two hours go by as we wait for bravo to return or report in.

  The back door of the beast opens and Vic motions me to come out and follow him. “I’ll be right back Angel; I want you to stay here, got it?”

  She sticks her tongue out at me and giggles. “Ok I’ll wait for you to come back so I can beat you some more at war.” I stick my tongue back at her and secure the Beast’s door.

  I jog to catch up to Vic. We walk up to the full team minus Brian and Doc. Kuppers looks up at me and nods at my presence. “Team we have some decisions to make. I have Brian and Doc on the radio so they can hear us and chime in.” Kuppers looks to Apache and hands off the discussion to her.

  “Senshi and I made it down to the facility unseen. We discovered 13 permanent buildings, mostly small looking cabins, but two others are much bigger. We gained access to one of the cabins and found it to be a bunk room holding enough beds to sleep 8. We checked them and found half occupied by what we think are scientists, we came to that conclusion after listening to a couple of conversations and reading through some notebooks. Unfortunately, we have no idea what it said, it seemed to be outlining some kind of bacteria, or biological, we can’t be sure though since neither of us have ever been exposed to that subject. We then made our way to the 2 larger buildings and gained access, these are being used as locker rooms and showers in the smaller of the two and the biggest is a cafeteria. We kept the big prefab tent in the middle for last.”

  Apache pulled out her smart phone and passed it around to show pictures she had taken on her mission. “That place is scary, seems they are experimenting on the infected, on one picture you will see that they are doing dissections on them while they are still alive. You will also see that they are experimenting on the healthy also. From what I saw I have to say it looks like they are infecting the healthy in different ways. I actually saw them force feed dead flesh to a healthy young woman and inject fluid from an infected into a middle aged man. Senshi counted 20 healthy prisoners being held for their turn in the experimentation rooms. I gotta say it took a lot out of me to not just go in killing everyone, I know Senshi feels the same.”

  “Thanks for the briefing, so now we need to decide what we should do. We could just pack up and move on, this isn’t our problem anymore, we are no longer police officers.” Vic explains.

  “Bullshit, we made and oath to protect those who couldn’t protect themselves. All of us, whether we are paid or not, we have a duty. I say we go in there and kill everyone and release those poor people.” Apache answers him.

  Kuppers looks at everyone and each person nods affirmative. Over the radio Brian and Doc throw in their agreements. “Ok, let’s start working on a plan. The first problem I see is what to do with the healthy people once we liberate them. We have a new mission and destination. We also have very tight resources, and none to share.”

  “I have a great answer to all those questions. Call Captain Phillips from the 129th. Advise him of what we found and what we are planning to do. See if he can send some helicopters over to pick these people up. His job is to protect California citizens and he did offer to help.” I lay out.

  “You know I keep saying it but I’m really happy we kept you around. So far you have done a good job pulling your own weight. Does everyone agree on Dan’s plan?” Kuppers looks around and sees everyone agreeing. “Alright, I’ll make the call.” The team gathers around the Beast going through their equipment and making sure they have what they need to do the job. Apache removes her M4 and lies it in the Beast along with the ammo in her pouches. She catches my inquisitive looks. “I’ve already been down there. All I need is a pistol, and one of your batons and lots of zip ties.” I hand her one of my batons and she opens a small door on the side of the Beast, reaches in and removes a bag of zip ties, and hands them out to everyone.

  Kuppers comes walking back up with a smile on his face. “The Captain is pissed over what we found. He says he will fly in a small force of MPs to hold the area after we have liberated the captives. He will be on his way in 30 minutes with a flight time of fifteen. Listen close this is what I want to happen.” He opens another hatch on the Beast and removes a small white board and dry erase marker. He draws a section of small cabins, the 2 bigger buildings and the prefab tent. Our first objective needs to be the individual cabins, showers, and cafeteria, then we can move onto the prefab tent. Do not fire unless fired upon, I want these people trussed up and waiting for the MPs when they get here. After we have secured the captives just leave them where they are. You know how to handle the infected.”

  “Brian at first I was going to leave you here but I need someone on over watch, this place is way too big to handle without everyone on the team down there.” He reaches out and takes Senshi’s M14 and hands it to Brian. “You are also going to take Angel with you so make sure you pick a defendable position. Dan will be coming with us, I need an extra person to even out the Team. But you will be there as a mule only. Apache, show him how to use his sidearm, just in case all hell breaks loose while we are down there.”

  Apache breaks off from the group, takes my arm and walks me down the road a little. She pulls my handgun from my leg holster, “Guns are easy to use but dangerous as hell if you are not paying attention to them. What you need to know first, is where the safety is.” She turns it over in her hand and shows me a little thumb switch near the trigger. “When you are ready to use it thumb off the safety, then just point and pull the trigger, it’s that easy, but remember you only have eight shots. One in the barrel and 7 in the magazine. If you run dry, the slide here on top slides back and does not go forward, then hit this button on the side which will eject the magazine, take a new one and slam it home. Then take the slide, pull it back and let go. Then you are ready to fire again. Got it? Any questions?”

  “No, I think I got it, but I am pretty sure I won’t need to use it, I’m going to be with you guys.” I say enthusiastically.

  Apache shakes her head in disbelief, grabs my lapels and pulls me in closer to her. “If you are coming with us, you better be prepared to pull that thing and get our backs. We need to be able to trust you, and know you won’t let us down. Now be prepared, don’t panic and shoot straight.” She releases me and walks back toward the team.

  I stand there, watching her as she inserts herself back into the team conversation. I look at the gun in my hand and really feel unsure. I have never been a gun person, let me explain what I mean. I live in San Francisco, where Cops and bad guys are the only people allowed to have guns. So I never felt like I needed one, or really ever formed an opinion about them. I have never shot one, hell I have never even held one before. So I am uncomfortable with them. I carry that shot gun on my back, but to be honest except for moving it when I sit down, I never even think of it. The gun on my leg holster has also never entered my mind, till Apache took it out and showed me how to use it. Not sure if I explained myself or not, short story I don’t think of guns as I have never wanted one or needed one. Till now that is, I guess I do need it now. I hope I never have to use these things, but if my friends are threatened, I guess I will find out if I can. I holster the gun, then drop my head in resignation.

  I slowly make my way back to the team and listen in on the rest of the planning, Kuppers is leading. “Brian go ahead and take Angel and go get settled in on the rocks above the camp.” Brian takes Angel’s hand and they walk away down the street toward a rock formation just above the camp. “Dan you are with me, Vic and Apache, Senshi and Cupcake, and Doc, you will be our back up. If someone runs into a problem, you will foot it over to their position and back them up. Load up and be prepared to move out in five minutes.” Kuppers looks me over as the rest of the team disappears to do what they need to do to prepare.

  “You ok? You look a little green?” Kuppers asks.

  “I am a middle manager, I have never done anything like this before and I am finding it hard to relax. I feel out of my league.” I remove my helmet and wipe my head, holy shit it’s only been a week or so since I have shaven but I feel really fuzzy now. The most in years.

  “Stay by my side, listen to what I say, and you will be fine. Be prepared to move and remember the most important thing, we need to stay as silent as can be.” Kuppers is trying to get me to calm down and does his best to deliver a pep talk of sorts.

  Chapter 30

  The rest of the team forms up, Apache and Vic take point leading the rest of us off the road and down a hill, quiet as ghosts. Each smaller team of two, spread apart, away from the rest, staying in a close formation, but far enough away so as not to be clumped up, in case we come under attack. We come to a crease in the mountain side and each team proceeds slowly waiting for the team in front to make it halfway before the next follows. It comes to our turn, Kuppers turns and shows me how to climb down the crease safely. He crab walks, shoving his feet onto the creases side and using his hands to slow him down by tightening or loosening their grip on the rocks on each side. He moves pretty quickly and is half way down, before I can even start. I slowly make my way over to the crease and mimic his moves. It’s much harder then I realize but I do much better than I thought I’d be able to. Hiking is about the only exercise I ever really do, and I don’t do much off trail stuff like this. I make it to the bottom in one piece, although my hands are cramped beyond belief. Kuppers pats me on the back and then trots off toward the team’s position. I jog after him, while rubbing my hands together, trying to get them to loosen up.

  He whips around as silent as if he was a ghost. I on the other hand sound like a herd of elephants compared to him. He puts his finger to his lips and motions for me to hunch down. I bend my knees, hunch my body over, and follow him around to the far end of the camp and we hug the cliff, making our way to the last cabins in the group. I can tell Kuppers is going slow for me because the rest of the team is nowhere to be seen. We make it around the last cabin and everyone can be seen down on one knee in a group; waiting for us.

 

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24