Sabotage (Powerless Nation Book 3) (15 page)

“We’ve already started doing a few things.”

“Like what?”
 

“Some of us have been going out at night and spying. In the book they called it ‘intelligence gathering’. We know where Downey has his headquarters, and we’ve been watching for patterns in how he moves troops and supplies.”

“We have a symbol too,” said Wynona. “It looks like a jagged lightning bolt, and it means
power
.”

“Adults underestimate what kids are capable of,” Harvey said. “They think we’re weak, but we’re not. We can make a difference. We’re going to take back our town.”

Dee was impressed despite herself. “Do you have a plan?” she asked.

Harvey nodded. “We are basing it on tactics they used in the 40’s. This book has a lot of good ideas. We’re going to do what the citizens in the European resistance movements did to fight back against the Nazis.”

“What did they do?”
 

“Sabotage,” said McKenna.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

D
EE
ADJUSTED
THE
STRAPS
on a backpack and tied someone’s shoes before straightening up and turning to Harvey. His voice hadn’t yet deepened, but when he spoke, everyone paid attention.
 

“All right, troops. It’s time. Does everyone remember the plan?”

“Work fast,” said Jeremy, “and stay hidden.”

“We stick with our buddies,” added Wynona.

“And if we get separated?” Harvey asked.

“Meet back here,” said Jamie. Wynona nodded and exchanged a glance with her twin.

“Do you think it will work?” asked Jamie. He and Wynona stood shoulder to shoulder. Dee had noticed they were never far from each other.

“They won’t know what hit them,” said Harvey. “Thanks to Dee, we know where Downey is keeping the rest of the kids. Tonight is the first step toward rescuing them and taking back our town. We’re going to teach him that small things can make a big difference.”

Dee joined the group in a hushed cheer, but she couldn’t stop her own misgivings that they could really pull it off. She was afraid for the children. They’d be going up against a fully trained force, and the kids would only be armed with household items from the shelves in the storage shed. Things like fertilizer, nails, candles, spray paint, and sand.

She was also worried Downey would discover their plans. They still weren’t sure how he’d found out they were hiding at the library. Harvey was convinced of the loyalty of everyone in the group. He said they must have given themselves away somehow, but Dee wasn’t sure. She studied the faces of the children. Had one of them betrayed Sena?

Jamie, Wynona, and two others had already left. They needed a head start because they were in charge of disabling the tank, and it was on a low hill outside of town, the most distant of the night’s targets.

They were going to use crowbars to wedge sticks and rocks between the wheels and the track. If the tank moved, the debris could cause a lot of damage, and possibly even throw the track off completely.

It was still a threat whether it could move or not, so they were also sending their most explosive weapon against it: Molotov cocktails. Almost everything they needed to make them was in the shed: gas siphoned from the lawnmower, strips torn from a t-shirt and soaked in rubbing alcohol from their first aid kit, and there was no shortage of bottles in the garbage-strewn street.

Once they got close to the tank, they’d light the homemade bombs and throw them into the air intake. When the glass shattered, the cloud of gasoline vapor would ignite and cause an explosion. At least that’s what they hoped would happen. They didn’t have enough supplies to do a trial run. If they were really lucky, something inside the tank, maybe ammo or fuel, would explode too.

McKenna and Kylie were going to the church to talk to the adults about joining the Resistance. Dee didn’t think that was a good idea. She was afraid the adults might betray them to Downey.

“We need them,” Harvey insisted.
“I read that
civil disruption is an important part of sabotage. Inefficiency, lost tools. The grownups can act confused or haggle over orders. They won’t be fighting back physically, but they can make life hard for the military and demoralize Downey’s guys.”

“
Won't Downey be mad?” asked Dee. 

Harvey’s face darkened. “I’m sure he will be. There could be repercussions.”

“
Then why are we doing this? Isn't it too risky?”

“
Even if it’s risky and some of us get hurt, we won't give up our freedom without a fight. This is
America
, Dee.”

A warm feeling of pride had rushed over her at his words, and it stayed with her until they reached the police station, when it was replaced by a strong sense of déjà vu. It wasn't that long ago she'd been involved in a raid on the same building. However, this time they were planning to go in through the front door.

The six kids hid in the parking lot of the medical center next to Downey’s headquarters. The captain and most of his men were out of town dealing with a situation so there would only be a small crew guarding the station. It was the perfect time for a strike.

Anxiously, they scanned the darkness in the direction of the tank. Everything hinged on creating a big enough distraction to draw the rest of the soldiers out of the building. Dee chewed her lip. Jamie and Wynona should have completed their mission by now. She hoped they were okay.

A bright flash of orange fire lit up the sky and the children gasped. Another burst followed and Dee clapped a hand over Jeremy's mouth to silence his cheer. 

A third explosion flared, this one much bigger. It climbed into the sky and reflected on their grimy faces. Moments later the shockwave rumbled the ground. 

“Whoa,” whispered Harvey, his jaw hanging open. Dee elbowed him and he ducked just in time. A lone soldier ran past them on the street and into the building, his shouts unintelligible. Soon, the massive door of the attached fire station rolled open and light spilled onto the driveway when an army truck drove out, filled with men.  

After it was out of sight they waited for a few minutes, and didn't see any guards. The interior of the station was so bright Dee was sure they were running a generator. She mentally added it to her list of targets.

“This is our chance,” said Harvey.  “Come on.”

The kids split into pairs and went to work. They all knew their tasks. Dee was the only one who was new to the Resistance. The rest of them had been planning and practicing, waiting for the right opportunity. Stephen and Becca went to find food supplies while Dee and a boy named Andrew worked to disable the large army trucks in the giant fire station bay. 

Andrew had volunteered for the duty because he used to help his dad work on cars at his shop. It was mainly detail work, but Andrew was the closest they had to an automotive expert. He showed Dee how to open a truck hood and identify key parts of the engine.

“You good now?” he asked.

“Got it,” said Dee, pulling off her backpack. She reached into a pocket and grimaced. Their supplies were limited so they’d had to be creative. Some of the kids had shaved each other’s heads, and now Dee had a backpack full of human hair. Supposedly, it would plug the lubrication system and cause the engine to seize up.
 

Dee unscrewed the oil cap and shoved two bunches of hair inside then put the cap back on. She dribbled uncooked rice into the radiator of the next truck. She hoped it worked, because otherwise they were wasting good food.

Andrew wiggled out from beneath the back end of a truck. “One down, four to go,” he said, scratching his cheek and leaving a greasy smear. His job was to put tiny holes in the fuel line just over the exhaust pipe and plug them with wax. When the truck got going, the wax would melt and fuel would drip onto the hot exhaust pipe and start a fire.

While Dee and Andrew disabled the trucks, Harvey and Jeremy ran off to start in the bathrooms.  Although the plumbing in town no longer worked, buckets of river water were kept in the bathrooms. Pouring water into the toilet tanks allowed them to flush.

Harvey had volunteered to do the bathrooms because he’d read about a new invention he was anxious to try. He called it the ‘other toilet torpedo’ which never failed to get a laugh from the boys. Hoping Sena would agree to their plans for a resistance, he’d made them before they left the library. He found large sponges in a supply closet and soaked them in the paste he’d made from water and shredded newsprint. Then he squeezed them tightly, tied them with a string, and put them in a sunny window to dry. Later, when he untied them, the sponges were tight, hard bundles, small enough to flush down the toilet.
 

They reminded Dee of capsules she had soaked overnight in a glass of water, waking up the next morning to find the capsule had transformed into a much bigger sponge, shaped like a dinosaur or some other animal. Harvey’s toilet torpedoes would expand to clog the pipes, putting an end to the semblance of indoor plumbing at the station.

The other two students, Stephen and Becca, ran off to where they hoped the food was being stored.  They would use twisted rolls of paper and the last of the gas from the lawnmower to start a fire and destroy the food supplies. 

Dee sat in the driver’s seat of an army vehicle, shoved a slender wooden stake into the ignition, and snapped it off. The shed had been full of the planting stakes, and she was breaking them in every door lock and ignition she could find.
 

From her high perch, she saw Harvey and Jeremy enter the truck bay. Jeremy began to spray paint the symbol of the Resistance on the wall while Harvey raised his fingers in a two minute warning. Then his eyes focused on something outside the doors, behind Dee.  She looked in the side view mirror and caught a glimpse of someone running down the street, straight for the station.
 

Someone small.

With her newly short hair, Dee almost didn’t recognize her, but then the child broke free of the shadows and into the light spilling out of the enormous bay doors and down the street. It was McKenna, running for all she was worth.
 

Dee looked for Kylie, McKenna’s partner, but didn't see her.

“Something’s wrong. We have to go, now!” Harvey shouted, dashing out of the building to get to the little girl. Andrew ran to the hallway to tell Stephen and Becca to abort. Dee made sure her gun was still in her pocket and reached for the handle of the door to let herself out of the truck.

She took a quick look in the mirror at the street and the sight filled her with dread.  Behind McKenna, a soldier had come into view. He stopped at the edge of the light and lifted a rifle to his shoulder.

“Don't shoot!” yelled Harvey.  He threw himself into McKenna just as a rifle blast shattered the night.

Dee leaped out of the truck and stumbled for the street where McKenna was frantically trying to extricate herself from beneath Harvey's limp form.

“
Hold your fire!” thundered a loud voice.  

Downey.

Dee had to get to Harvey. When she reached McKenna, the little girl was kneeling beside him, sobbing into his shoulder, inches from his ruined chest.
 

Harvey had one hand on McKenna’s back, patting her weakly and trying to soothe her. His eyes found Dee’s and she dropped to her knees beside him. One look at his wounds told Dee it was only a matter of minutes. The gunman had been too close, and too good a marksman.

“Dee,” he whispered. She clutched his other hand and leaned closer. He took several quick, shallow breaths. “Take care of her… for me?”

McKenna sat up and scrubbed at her eyes with mittened fists. When she lowered her hands, her expression was fierce. “Don’t you worry about me. I’m going to be fine. And I’m going to fight them until they’re dead or gone. I promise.”

“I’ll keep her safe,” said Dee, not knowing how she’d make it true, but meaning every word.

Harvey relaxed at their words. He took a last, shaky breath and then his hand fell from McKenna’s back. He was gone.

Dee checked for a pulse, and then tenderly closed the young man’s eyes. Her heart felt sick. How could everything have gone so wrong?

Downey had come to stand behind McKenna.
 

“Stay back,” Dee warned, reaching into her pocket for her gun.

“I wouldn’t do that,” said Downey. He gave a quick nod of his head and two soldiers stepped into sight, their guns pointing at Dee. “Slowly take out your weapon and set it on the ground.”

Dee did what he said, and Downey bent down to pick up the gun. When he did, McKenna leaped at the big man, hissing and scratching like a deranged kitten.

He glanced at the child, bemused, while a soldier yanked her away.

“You killed my friend!” McKenna screeched.

Downey straightened his uniform. “Technically, Andre killed him.” He glanced sideways at a soldier standing nearby, a muscle twitching in his jaw. “And who do we have here?” He moved closer to Dee. “Your family has been quite a thorn in my side.” He picked up a lock of her hair and rubbed it between his fingers. “Somehow I think everyone is going to be much more willing to cooperate after tonight.” He dropped the hair and Dee let go of a breath she didn’t realize she’d been holding.

Downey pointed to one of his men and then made a hitchhiker motion with his thumb at a vehicle idling on the street. “Get them out of here.” Then he walked away, his face a grim mask and added, “Andre, come with me.”

The children were all being herded together and marched away. Dee took one last look at Harvey, his crumpled form small in the center of the road. Then strong arms forced her into the dark interior of the truck.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

I
T
WAS
TOO
DARK
in the truck for Dee to see much, and a few of the other kids were whimpering. She knew she should say something to encourage them, but she kept remembering Harvey’s thin-framed body lying in the road, dark blood pooling around it.