Dark Coup (10 page)

…

“So, seriously,” Kyle asked as they were pitching the tent, “what are our long-term plans?”

Eric snorted.  “Your timing stinks, Kyle.  Most people would have wanted to know that before we left.”

“Fine, whatever,” Kyle continued, ignoring the jibe.  “Do you plan to hook up with a farmer at some point?  We aren’t going to be able to forage forever. We’re really not all that far from Redemption, or from camp–probably less than fifteen miles from either.  Not that we’re encroaching on anybody’s space out here, but we really haven’t even gone that far.”

Eric finished the peg he was working on and stopped for a second, looking down at what he’d just done but not really seeing it.  “One day at a time for a little while, Kyle,” he said after a few more seconds.  “I know I’m not the world’s greatest woodsman but I’ve seen signs of at least some game.

“We won’t have to survive on MREs forever,” Eric said.  “We’re not going to be self-sufficient because we can’t be, but we also just left, so give me a little time, okay?”

Kyle nodded.  “Okay, I was just wondering.”

Eric sighed.  “We aren’t going to be here permanently, but we’ll scout the area tomorrow,” Eric said, “see what’s around and go from there.”

“Seriously,” Kyle said, “it’s okay.  You don’t have to solve it right away just because I asked the question.”

“Tomorrow, then,” Eric said and went back to his half of putting their tent up.

Chapter Ten

Since Eric and Kyle were sharing guard duty, one or the other took a nap in the afternoon to try to stay caught up on sleep.  Eric had just sat down by the fire-pit, across from the tent, when he had to stifle a laugh.  The first few bars of the song ‘All the Single Ladies’ drifted from the tent and he couldn’t help but smile.

“Not a word, Tripp,” Kyle said.

“Nope,” Eric said.  A few minutes later, Kyle came out looking more than a bit sheepish.

“I can’t believe I left the alarm on and the volume up so high,” Kyle said.

“Could have been worse,” Eric said with a grin.  “You could have been sneaking up on someone and gotten a call.”

Kyle shook his head.  “So, how do we want to scout and who wants to go first?”

“It’s going to take forever with just one of us scouting the area,” Eric said, “but I don’t feel comfortable leaving camp unattended.  I’ll go first, and we can trade off every two or three hours.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Kyle said.

…

Kyle had been gone for about an hour on his second trip on the third day when Eric’s radio came to life.

“E.T., do not respond,” Kyle said.  “I don’t want the noise at my end, but alpha whiskey.  Come to the following coordinates and bring your ruck, rifle, and sidearm, now!”  Kyle gave some coordinates and then signed off.

Alpha whiskey meant all’s well, instead of something else.  A-Okay, or all good, meant he was in trouble.  Eric really didn’t want to leave the camp unguarded, but whatever it was, Kyle felt it was important enough to call him away.  Eric grabbed his day ruck (which was packed with enough to survive for three days), his rifle, double-checked the sidearm that was always on his hip, and took off at a quick trot so he could come at Kyle’s position from the opposite side–just in case.

Ten minutes later, he was slowly advancing on the coordinates that Kyle had given him, which overlooked some farmland.  He saw Kyle about ten seconds before Kyle heard him, and crawled to where Kyle was observing the field.  Kyle handed him a pair of 10x42 binoculars and pointed at the field.

Eric scanned the field and noticed that almost all of the workers were women.  There was obviously one–supervisor was the only word that came to mind–but it was immediately replaced by the word bully when one of the women stopped for a few seconds to stretch her back and was slapped hard enough to knock her down.

Eric felt Kyle tense next to him and was glad he didn’t have the binoculars.  At ten-times magnification he was pretty sure he saw the strike draw blood, and Kyle was death on abuse…of any kind.

Eric put the binoculars down and pointed behind them to get out of sight of the field.

“Talk to me,” Eric said.

“I could take him out at this range with a single shot,” Kyle said, “guaranteed.  I’ve been watching long enough to know that he’s the only guard.”

“That’s not what I meant, Ramirez, and you know it,” Eric said.

Kyle clenched his jaw, but nodded his head.  “I swear I recognize that guy but I have no idea where from,” he said, looking off into the distance while trying to concentrate.  “It’s been driving me nuts for the last twenty minutes.”

“How about eight or nine months ago,” Eric prompted.

Kyle snapped his head back to Eric and then almost went back to his perch overlooking the field.  “Clint,” he said.

“Well, no, not Clint, himself,” Eric said, “but one of the people from the raid.  I didn’t get any of their names, but I remember him being in camp for a day.  The only reason I think I remember his face, though, is I recall seeing him on the side of the road when we ran into Clint the very first time.  He looked up from changing the tire as we drove by.”

“Eric,” Kyle started.

Eric shook his head.

“We can’t,
I
can’t, just let this kind of thing go,” Kyle said.  “I won’t be able to sleep at night.  Okay, I’ve been pretty sure there were people who would set up their own little kingdoms out there, but knowing there was one right in my back yard where this kind of thing is going on and then not doing something about it?”  Kyle shook his head.  “I can’t let this slide.”

“And the fact that she was pretty had nothing to do with it,” Eric asked.

Kyle had murder in his eyes when he reacted, and Eric scooted back.

“Don’t you ever question my motives,” Kyle said, “especially when it comes to something like this.  You know how I feel about abuse, especially towards women.  I know I said don’t bring it up again, but that’s one of the things that set me off about the Major’s ex.”

Kyle backed off a little physically, but the heat was still there.  “He threatened to go after her, and that’s when I made it my life’s mission to make it abundantly clear to him that it would be his last official act on this planet.  It took a little convincing–it turned out he was a bit stubborn–but I can be very persuasive.”  Kyle made a fist which cracked all the knuckles in his hand.

“And no, it has nothing to do with the fact that she’s pretty,” Kyle said.  “Although, I will admit I did notice that first.”  Kyle blushed.  “It’s why I was watching her when she stopped and got slapped the first time.  And what are
you
doing noticing pretty women?”

“I’m not,” Eric said, but didn’t even bat an eye.  “Situational awareness.  Just making sure your judgment isn’t impaired.”

Kyle blushed again.  “Yes, Sir.”

Eric nodded.  “Let’s get back to camp,” he said, and continued before Kyle could protest.  “I don’t want to leave it unattended for too long and you need to cool down before we do anything.  I’m not saying we
are
going to do anything, but even if we do, we can’t plan with you in this state.”

Kyle nodded and took point for the trek back to camp.

…

“Mr. Mayor,” Mallory said as she approached Joel in the roadway.  “A minute if you would.”

“A minute is about all I can spare,” Joel said, guessing what Mallory wanted, but determined to stonewall her.  “I haven’t been able to leave Promised Land for almost a month.  I haven’t seen my wife, or baby daughter, since the quarantine began, and I’m doing everything from the ‘healthy’ side of camp and without my assistant.”

Mallory nodded and Joel knew that even though an apology wouldn’t be forthcoming, she felt for him.  “Speaking of seeing people,” she said, “I seem to have misplaced two of my men and apparently you were among the last to have seen them.”

“Really,” Joel said, “who?”

“Captain Tripp and Sergeant Ramirez,” Mallory said.  “Together, no less.”

“I did see them, both individually and together, the day before Ben showed up,” Joel said.  “I’d been worried about Eric and started out by talking to Kyle first.  I’d noticed that Eric had been grieving, which was to be expected, but was starting to…” Joel paused for a second to look for the right words.  “He was acting engaged again, so I wanted to see how he was doing.”

“So you don’t have any idea where they are,” Mallory asked, “where they may be headed?”

“I’m afraid I don’t,” Joel said, honestly.  Eric hadn’t given him any specifics and Mallory’s questions hadn’t taken the right turn for him to have to start lying yet.  She was eyeing him like she wasn’t quite sure what to think of his story.

“If you hear anything,” Mallory said, “please let me know.”

“Will do,” Joel said and then continued on his way to his next appointment.

…

“Wedding Crashers calling Proud Papa,” Eric said into the radio.

“This is Proud Papa,” Joel answered.  “Do not tell me where you are or where you’re headed.  The Major finally made a point of asking me about you two and I don’t want to have to lie.”

“Fair enough,” Eric said, “any word on the sandbags?”

“I already have them set aside and can get them ready for you to pick up whenever you are ready,” Joel said.  “Will fifteen hundred be enough?”

“For the size we’re looking at, it should.  We’re going to need to make multiple trips though,” Eric said.  “We do have a bit of intel, but now might not be the best time.”

“Better now than never,” Joel said, “just in case there’s a problem in the future.”

“Point,” Eric said.  “Our old friend Clint seems to be growing his group and it looks like he’s settled permanently enough to be doing some farming.”

“Ok,” Joel said.

“The problem is,” Eric continued, “we’ve observed a number of fields, and the majority of the work is being done by women, and the supervising is being handled by abusive men.  While I have a problem with that…Kyle has a
real
problem with that.  We haven’t decided how we’re going to handle it yet.”

“Wait; come again, how
you’re
going to handle it?”  Joel said.

…

“So now we’re going to take care of…what?”  Kyle asked.

“A problem,” Eric said.

“No,” Kyle said.  “Pete was a problem.  A blister is a problem.  Clint and his entire band of hoodlums is a collection of problems, a gang of thugs…with guns…who already attacked an entire Army base.  On that first hill I was thinking one shot, one kill.  What are you thinking?”

…

Kyle had spent four hours getting into position near the end of the first field he’d been watching a couple of days before.  His face was camouflaged with grease paint and he was almost certain he was hidden from view from both the front and back.  The low crawl from over the hill had taken so long because Kyle had tried to follow the land and crush as few plants as possible during his passage.  The grass, weeds, and bushes that surrounded the field were at least two feet tall and had allowed him to get within a couple of feet of the field.

The young woman was working her way towards him, and was maybe fifteen feet away when Kyle decided to try to get her attention.

“Don’t look up,” Kyle said softly, “but try not to freak out or yell.”

“I won’t,” she said under her breath.  “I saw you a couple of minutes ago when you moved your left foot.”

“And this is why I could never be a sniper,”
Kyle thought.

“And you didn’t call out,” Kyle said, as she continued to work closer to him.  “Why?”

“Because you’re in what looks like Army camouflage,” she said.  “We had a run-in with the Army a while back because of …something stupid.  I heard that the people at that base, even after getting attacked, treated everyone pretty well.  If you’re with the Army then you’re probably one of the ‘good guys’.”

Her eyes darted left and right while she continued to hoe the ground, and then she bent down as though to pick up a weed or a rock and Kyle could see the bruise on her face where she’d been hit.  “Because someone made some stupid decisions,” she said.  “They’re still making stupid decisions.”  She picked up a rock and threw it into the woods behind Kyle.

“What’s your name,” Kyle asked.

She pursed her lips while she kept hoeing for several seconds without saying anything.

“My name is Kyle,” Kyle said.  “Kyle Ramirez.”

She was less than ten feet away from Kyle now and had slowed down so she wouldn’t have to turn around too soon.  “Amanda,” she said.  “Amanda Saint James.”

“Do you have any family back with Clint’s group,” Kyle asked.

Amanda shook her head but then said, “I’ve kind of adopted someone.  He was an orphan and nobody else was going to look out for him.”  Amanda had to turn around and start the other direction.

 “I saw what happened a few days ago,” Kyle said, “when he hit you.”

“Let’s just say that was nothing,” Amanda said bitterly.

“How can I help,” Kyle asked.

“You can get me and a bunch of other people out of here,” Amanda said.  Her voice rose just enough that she realized she needed to keep it down and be more careful.

Kyle could hear the desperation in her voice.  There was something else there too, though.  Amanda wasn’t broken and waiting for rescue, which was what Eric and Kyle had been hoping for when they had decided to risk talking to her.

“How many people want out,” Kyle asked.

“I don’t know,” Amanda sighed.  “A third, maybe half.”  She shook her head when she realized that meant nothing to Kyle.  “Maybe three-hundred people, total.  Some just want things to change.  I can’t talk anymore.”

Kyle glanced up and saw what Amanda meant.  The guard was evidently making rounds and would be able to hear them talking.  Amanda sped up just a bit to put some distance between her and Kyle and soon enough any chance of communication was gone.

…

“If she can be believed,” Kyle said, “and I think she can, we have at least one ally in Clint’s group.”

“How do we use that,” Eric asked, careful not to imply that he wanted to use Amanda or put her in any jeopardy.