Dominatus (36 page)

“That sounded a whole lot like you boys are fucked.”

I watched as Hess tapped his transmitter device three times.  A few seconds later, it sounded three short beeps.

“Oh, I don’t think so Mr. Tedlow.  You thought we weren’t aware of this activity?  Those people gathering across the state and heading this way?  I’m thrilled they arrived…and so many of them!  Thousands all gathered in that little valley below us? How wonderful for the New United Nations!”

I looked over at Mac, whose eyes narrowed at Hess’s odd enthusiasm at what I would have considered the tables having been turned against him. Then a creeping awareness revealed itself to me…and left me cold.

“Mac, he just signaled for more drones.”

August Hess pointed a finger at me, his unnaturally white teeth again flashing in the dim light of the cave’s main room.

“Very good Mr. Neeson!  Very good indeed!  Look what your words have done for us!  You gave a call out to all those troublesome anti-government scum, and here they march all together now, right out in the open for us.  And I have not signaled for just a few more drones…no…I have made certain ALL the drones I have been given at my disposal are now making their way here.  That valley is going to be lit up in its entirety.  We will not hide this moment, Mr. Neeson – the entire world will be witness to the power of the New United Nations.  There will be NO survivors down there, not a one.  Thank you, Mr. Neeson for making this great victory possible.  I am sure a promotion is in my near future and perhaps, some day soon, I shall be invited to join the Consul itself.”

Bear stepped toward Mac, his eyes burning a hatred that appeared in danger of overtaking him completely.

“You got your own men down there too!  You just going to blow them to shit as well?”

Hess folded his arms across his chest and rolled his eyes.

“We are all expendable, and resistance of any kind will not be tolerated.  My men serve the New United Nations.  Their deaths are but necessary sacrifice for the protection of the government.  So Mr. Tedlow, to answer your question…yes, I AM going to blow them to shit as well and sleep like a baby after it is done, for I am the power and the glory AMEN!”

The sound of Mac putting a round in the chamber of his gun echoed inside the cave.

“You’ve made one hell of a mistake Officer Hess.  Now this here weapon, I used the very same make and model back in my SEAL days.  I always tweaked these things just a bit…some simple rapid fire modifications.  Allow someone with my particular talents to shoot fast – real fast.  Now I suppose this kind of talk ain’t making all that much sense to you, what with your devotion to those electrified toy guns of yours. 

“See now, here’s the thing Officer Hess.  Including yourself, you came up here with twelve men.  Twelve.  Now this little MK25 of mine, the stock version holds just ten rounds.  You can upgrade that though to fifteen rounds Officer Hess. 

“Now you might want to start a conversation with yourself, and I’d start that conversation real quick, on how many rounds you think this here weapon holds.  Do you think somebody like me would be ok with the basic ten round version, or…do you think I might be the kind of man who appreciates the added comfort and security of knowing I could have five more rounds at my disposal to carry out whatever needed to be done?

“There’s thirteen of you.  So do I have ten shots Officer Hess?  Or fifteen?”

Hess attempted to appear unconcerned – though I noted his eyes glancing back toward the doorway leading outside.

“I don’t give a fuck how many bullets you have.  You, this place, it’s all shit.  Nothing but shit.  When it’s buried away, nobody will remember it. None of it, and the world, my world, the real world…will continue.”

Mac took a step forward, a small smile on his face.

“That may be so Officer Hess, but you won’t be a part of that world.  I promised my people that today…today you die.  The question I have now is for those men behind you.  Do they want to join you in that dyin’, or do they want to pack it in and leave this place.  Go on outside – see if all those people out there are willing to let you move on.  Out there you might have a chance.  In here, once I start pulling this trigger. I’m killing Hess and I’m killing any of you standing with him.”

Hess turned his head to the side to speak to the other twelve special operations officers who remained standing behind him.

“None of you move one fucking inch from this place, or I will bring a shit-storm down on you.  And don’t doubt me on that…you know who I am.”

Mac held up his left hand as his right hand continued pointing his weapon at August Hess.

“You have my word.  Every one of you can leave this cave.  Make your way outside and from there, you’re on your own.  Free to go.  No harm will come to you from any of us inside here.  If you stay…all of you will die.  If you’ve read my file you know how capable I am with this weapon.  A few of you may be left to fire off your charge guns, but then the rest of my people will kill you.  You see the gentleman in the kitchen area?  With the pony tail?  His name is Keith.  Right now he is likely holding a shotgun in his hands.  Even if you manage to stop me after I fire off several rounds, he’ll be right behind me to finish the rest of you off. 

“So, I will ask you one more time, leave now…or die.”

One of the twelve officers, the shortest of the twelve, looked to the others and then whispered something to another officer standing to his right.

Hess, sensing uncertainty among his own men, moved quickly to fire his charge gun at Mac.

He was too late.

Mac released a single shot into Hess’s left knee, which exploded into fragments of bone and blood.  The special operations commander fell to the floor screaming.

Mac now raised his weapon at the remaining twelve officers while at the same time Keith moved from the kitchen area with a shotgun held out in front of him pointed at the special operations officers as well.

‘Got your back Mac – ready to blow them to hell.”

Mac took another step toward the officers.  The one who had whispered something earlier slowly holstered his charge gun and took a step forward.

“Mr. Walker, my name is Special Operations Officer Martinez.  I am the second in command here.  My men are prepared to leave this place.  Now.  Please know though, that the report of these events will reflect your action taken against Special Operations Commander Hess, who you wounded, and then killed.  This will certainly result in more resources being devoted to your capture and prosecution Mr. Walker – you and all those here with you.  Do you understand?”

Hess had managed to get back onto his feet, balancing most of his weight on his uninjured right leg.

“Martinez!  You stupid fuck!  These people have no leverage here!  This place will be a pile of rubble in minutes.  Just minutes more!  Any of you move and you will be destroyed!  We’re going to walk out of here TOGETHER.  I leave with you.  That’s an order, Officer Martinez.  A direct fucking order!”

Hess began to hobble his way back toward his men without putting weight onto his eliminated left knee.

Mac fired another round into his right knee, dropping Officer Hess to the ground again.

“Bear, can you please remove any weapons being carried by Commander Hess and keep him right there on that floor?”

Mac then looked up at the twelve officers who were all glancing at the cave’s exit.

“Gentlemen, you are free to go.  Thank you for your willingness to negotiate.  You prevented more bloodshed.  Keith, please escort these men out, but keep your distance and your weapon on them until they are well away.”

Bear had removed August Hess’s charge gun from him and then slammed his foot down into the officer’s back, easily pinning him to the floor.

Dr. Miller and Dublin were helping the Old Man back to his feet, the doctor placing an oxygen mask onto his face as he did so.

Mac brought over a chair and set it next to August Hess and had Bear place him into it.  Bear was not gentle in doing so, slamming the operations officer into the seat with a loud thud which elicited a cry from Hess who was holding his hands over the space where his knees used to be.

“You think this changes anything, Mr. Walker?  This…changes…NOTHING.  Not a fucking thing.  This place is finished.  All of it.  All those people down there in that valley, this fucking cave, it’s all gone.  The drones are leveling all of it.  All of you are DEAD.  You hear me?  You’re all fucking dead!”

Mac nodded toward Keith as he returned from outside the cave.

“They gone?”

Keith nodded back.

“Moving out of here as fast as they can.  You got to see the people down there Mac, it’s unbelievable.  They were right…thousands of them.”

August Hess struggled in his seat as Bear jerked him back down and held him still.

“And they’re all gonna die.  BOOM.  Gone.  And then it’ll be your turn, all of you in here.”

Lucille’s voice shot a question at the operations officer.

“So you ready to die then too Officer Hess?  Because that sounds like what you have in mind.  If we are gonna be dying in here, so are you.”

Hess glared back at Lucille and then smiled.

“I’m ready to die for the New United Nations.  So be it!  As long as I get to take a bunch of you pathetic fuckers with me.”

Hess turned his head toward Bear’s kids.

“As long as I get to watch your children buried in here with me.  You like that, kids?  You’re going to die today!  Very, very soon!  And it’s all you father and mother’s fault!  They killed you!  Dead!  Dead!  Dead!”

August Hess was now openly revealing the insanity that had likely resided just under the surface of his being. 

Bear’s wife Clancy walked slowly toward Hess until she stood directly in front of him, looking at his face as if she was trying to determine if anything human could be found in this man who so enthusiastically threatened her children, and brutally took the life of her friend Loren Simms not more than an hour ago.

Clancy then spit into the face of Officer Hess, who slowly licked her saliva from his upper lip, his face contorted in that now seemingly permanent wolf-grin.

Mac now stood next to Clancy, his eyes narrowing as he took in the sight of the special operations officer.

“I’m sure death and me are gonna meet up sooner or later, Officer Hess…but not today.  Not yet.  Not me, or anyone else inside this place, or any of those people outside.  Death isn’t for any of us just yet…except you.  I made a promise that on this day, you’d be dead.  And I intend to keep that promise, and see it done.  But I want you to know something first, all those drones you’re sending up here.  I’m gonna knock them right out of the sky.  Every…single…one.”

Hess began laughing, his eyes darting wildly to the faces of all those staring back at him.

“There’s too many!  I’m sending ALL OF THEM Mr. Walker.  That gun of yours won’t protect you, or those people.  You’re all fucking dead already.  Just a bunch of talking corpses right now.  The hand of the New United Nations is almost here, and it’s gonna kill every single one of you!”

Mac returned Hess’s rant with his own nonchalant smile.

“Is that so?  Hey Keith, how about we head back into the defense room and fire up the E1.  Let’s give all those drones Officer Hess is so proud of a nice welcome.”

Keith was already making his way to the hallway.

“With pleasure.  With pleasure.”

Finally the smile left Hess’s face.

“Bullshit!  You don’t have a pulse unit big enough to take the drones down.  They are pulse protected you fucking idiot.”

The Old Man, with the help of Dublin and the doctor, was making his way slowly toward August Hess.  With a shaking hand he removed the oxygen mask from his face and looked down with sadness at the man who had brought such destruction to his beloved Dominatus.

“I assure you, Officer Hess, the E1 installed inside this place will be more than sufficient to incapacitate any drone, any electronics based weapon, within a mile of this location.  It is but a matter of timing.  Mr. Walker, will you please ensure that timing…is at its most efficient please?”

Mac paused, instructing Bear to not allow Hess to move an inch, then nodded to me to follow him into the defense room.

Keith was viewing the image of the small valley below the cave – an image that caused both Mac and I to gasp.  The thousands of people described earlier by the New United Nations officer were indeed down there, and it appeared as if yet more were arriving.  Large American flags were being carried by several of the people, as well as a massive “Don’t Tread On Me” flag that rose from the middle of the throng.

Our amazement at seeing so many people gathering below us was cut short by a sense of foreboding as several unmistakable drone signatures were detected approximately ten miles away from Dominatus.  The numbers of these signatures began to multiply quickly.

Keith inhaled sharply at the sight.

“My god Mac, all those people have no idea what’s coming at them.”

Mac was again abnormally calm as he attempted to count the number of drone signatures.

“There’s at least twenty of them.  Twenty drones to target a location no more than a couple square miles?  That’s got to be every armed drone available in all of Alaska…maybe Washington State too.  Boys, we’re about to deliver one hell of a fuck you to the New United Nations.”