The Army Comes Calling (11 page)

     “I so much appreciate your hospitality, and I hate to dampen the occasion with a request for your help. But I really have nowhere else to turn.

     “The city of Eden is under siege. It has been for awhile now. I think you already knew that the prison was opened up just before Saris 7 hit the earth, by a soft hearted warden who didn’t want to see the prisoners starve to death while locked in their cells.

     “If the warden had known what would become of the city of Eden he might have had second thoughts.

     “We’ve had several visitors to the truck stop over the last few weeks who have told us that a couple of dozen of the prisoners are still in the town, and have taken very effective control of it.

     “Many of the city’s residents have already been murdered. Many others have fled to neighboring towns.

     “Those who are left are being controlled by a madman with an iron fist. His name is Willaker. He was the baddest of the bad when he was incarcerated, and from the accounts we’ve heard, he’s gotten even more brutal since the freeze.”

     Steve stood up at the back of the room and asked, “Pardon me, sir, but how exactly does all of this affect us?”

     Mark interjected.

     “Please, let our guest finish. There will be plenty of time for questions afterwards.”

     Marty went on.

     “The situation is dire. As I said, many of the residents have already been murdered. The men that are left are forced to gather food for the gang, and are under constant threat that their loved ones will be murdered if they don’t do so.

     “The women and the children are confined to their homes, never allowed outside, for fear they’ll try to run away.

     “The women are made to cook and clean for the men, and to take care of their sexual needs. The gang seems to take great delight in gang raping the women in front of their husbands and children. And, I’m sorry to say, some of the children have been abused as well.”

     He choked up, unable to go any farther.

     David asked the most obvious question.

     “Why haven’t the men fought back?”

     It took Marty half a minute to regain his composure. Then he said, “In the beginning, some of them did. They were shot dead. Then the gangs were able to confiscate all the town’s weapons. House by house, they demanded the guns and ammunition. Then they searched each home to make sure nothing was held back. If they found something, they murdered the entire family as punishment. Word got around quickly, and after that happened a couple of times, the others complied.

     “Some were lucky enough to have escaped early on. Then Willaker’s men started patrolling the roads. They turned people back and said they weren’t going anywhere. That the penalty for trying to escape was death.

     “I’m told that north of Eden, on Highway 87, there’s a car with five dead bodies in it, blocking the center lane. They pulled alongside it one night and opened fire. Killed an entire family inside of it. Then left them there to rot, and as a warning to others to head back while they still could.”

     Sarah asked, “Pardon me for asking, Marty. But you seem to be taking this particularly hard. Do you have any friends or relatives in Eden?”

     “Honestly, no. I’ve learned what I know from some who were lucky enough to have escaped alive, or from a couple of men who Willaker’s gang allows to come to the truck stop for supplies. My main goal is freeing these people and administering some manner of justice to those who have wronged them. After all, we are all human beings. Human beings who have been through so much already. These people have already been through hell, only to survive and have to go through something like this. It just isn’t right.”

     Karen stood. She had a good heart, and she was touched. Not only by the plight of Eden’s citizenry, but also the genuine concern Marty had for total strangers.

     “Isn’t there any law in Eden?”

     “No. The law scattered just like everybody else just before the meteorite hit. Scattered or committed suicide or lit out for Mexico. A few of the men in town tried to form a new police force and were gunned down in cold blood for their efforts.”

     “What about the Army? They’re still active. We’ve had first hand dealings with them, not long ago.”

     “I’ve already been to San Antonio, and met with a general named Baker. He said he’d like to help, but the Army only has one battalion of about twelve hundred men to cover the whole state of Texas. And that they’re not in a security role. Their orders are to avoid disputes with the civilian populace and let them provide their own law and order. They are prohibited from being involved.

     Brad asked, “Just what are you proposing, Marty?”

     “I’m not really proposing anything, Brad. I know you folks have been through hell yourselves, a couple of times. It wouldn’t be fair to ask you to go rescue people you don’t even know, at risk to yourselves.

     “All I’m doing is telling you that I’m building a posse to go in and clean up Eden. I’m looking for volunteers. I’m not just telling you folks. In telling others I know in Kerrville and Junction too.

     “And I want you to know that I wouldn’t blame any of you if you told me to go straight to hell. Like I said, I know you’ve fought long and hard to get to the place you are now. You deserve the chance to relax.”

     “When are you going in?”

     “We’re going to meet at the truck stop west of Eden at oh six hundred on Thursday. We know where most of the gang lives, and our plan is to hit as many of them as possible, and disable as many of their vehicles as we can. We want to send them a message that they can no longer ride roughshod over the town. Maybe strike the same fear into their hearts as they’ve put into others.”

     “Is it okay if we discuss this among ourselves after you leave? I think some of us would be more comfortable debating this thing outside your presence.”

     “Of course. And I certainly understand.”

     “When we make our decision, we’ll send someone up to the Trucker’s Paradise and let you know.”

     “Don’t bother doing that. Just tell everyone who wants to help to meet up at the rendezvous point on Thursday morning. We’ll break everybody up into teams and give each of them an assignment. We already have photos of the culprits, taken by a very brave man with a small digital camera. We’ll also have maps to get our teams to their last known locations.

     Hannah stood and asked, “Marty, is your intent to kill or capture these animals? And if you capture them, exactly what do you plan to do with them?”

     “Our plan is to capture them alive unless they resist, and then to tear them to pieces. If they surrender, we’ll drive them to San Angelo and turn them over to the authorities there. The mayor has promised to support us.”

     “What happens if nobody shows up to help you on Thursday morning?”

     “Then I’ll go it alone.”

Chapter 19

     It was fairly predictable, of course, which men would volunteer to help out the people of Eden.

     After Marty said his goodbyes and left the compound, the group got back together again a second time to debate the merits of his proposal.

     They were barely assembled when John said in a loud and clear voice, “I’m in. Who’s with me?”

     Frank Woodard, the other former lawman in the group said, “Me too. Count me in.”

     It so happened that Frank’s wife Eva, and John’s daughter Sami, were sitting at the same table. Eva saw the fear in Sami’s eyes. She took the younger woman’s hand.

     Sami had been through two gun battles, and had been shot in the shoulder and could have died. Moreover, she’d seen her father place his own life on the line too many times. She just wanted to live the rest of her life in peace. With her father by her side.

     “But Dad, why? This isn’t our fight. At some point we’ve got to just live our own lives and let others fend for themselves.”

     Her father looked at her with sadness in his eyes.

     “Honey, I understand your concern. But if we don’t help these people, who will?”

     Sami was normally a woman who kept family matters within the family. But enough was enough.

     “That’s just it, Dad. I don’t think you do understand my concern. You may think you do. But you’ve never been a cop’s daughter.”

     She looked at Eva and squeezed her hand, drawing strength from the older woman.

     “And you’ve never been a cop’s wife either. All through my childhood I had to watch my mother worry herself to death every time you went undercover, or on a dangerous assignment. To you it was great fun, a great adventure. You never had to see Mom cry herself to sleep at night, and then get up to vomit any time you were more than an hour late. She literally worried herself sick many times. If you never knew that, it’s because she was ‘a good little cop’s wife’ and hid it from you.

     “I used to crawl into bed with her at night and hold her. Here I was, a little girl, trying to console a trembling mother. And to this day, I wonder how great a role that stress played in her early death. People aren’t supposed to die when they’re forty years old, Dad.

     “And men aren’t supposed to place others over their own families.”

     Sami was unable to go on. She had more words, but she just couldn’t get them out.

     John went to her and held her. The rest of the room looked on in stunned silence.

     He took her to the back of the room, where they could speak privately, while the rest of the group debated the merits of Marty’s plan.

     John wiped the tears from his daughter’s face.

     “I’m sorry, honey. The truth is, I did know. I used to come home and see your mom’s puffy face, and her red eyes, and I’d feel like dirt from putting her through that. But it was my job, honey. I swore to protect and serve those who
couldn’t
fend for themselves. It’s something I was good at, and I know I made a difference. I saved some lives. And yes, maybe my job hastened your mom’s death. I’ve had nightmares about that for years. If I could go back to the beginning and be an accountant, or a restaurant manager, or anything other than a cop, I would. But I can’t go back. None of us can. All we can do is move forward.”

     “Dad, if Mom were still alive, do you think she would approve of you going of to help people you’ve never even met? People you never swore to
serve and protect?
”

     It was a bitter and sarcastic tone that Sami seldom took with her father. She saw the pained look on his face and instantly regretted the rebuke.

     Before he answered, she said, “Never mind. Please forget I said that. It wasn’t a fair question, and I’m sorry I asked it.

     John felt like dirt.

     “Honey, I don’t know what to say.”

     She put a finger to his lips to shush him.

     “Dad, listen carefully. You make your own decision, and forget what I said. I trust you to do what’s right. But here’s one more thing I want you to consider before you strap on that weapon and go off to Eden to save strangers.

     “Brad and I were going to tell you in a couple of days. He made me promise not to spill the beans until the three of us had a chance to be together, with no one else around.

     “I’m going to do something I’ve never done to Brad before. I’m going to break a promise to him. Because before you make this decision, you need to know that you’re finally going to be a grandfather.”

     He suddenly held her at arm’s length and looked into her eyes. They were moist. So were his.

     He uncharacteristically stammered.

     “My… my baby is having a baby?”

     She was out of words. She nodded her head yes.

     He held her and they both cried, unashamedly.

     Sami looked over to Brad, still sitting at a table with Eva Woodard, and held out her hand to him.

     He sensed that she told her father about the baby. He came to her and the three held each other.

     Finally, John held Sami’s chin in his hand and lifted her face.

     “You win, honey. I’ll sit this one out.”

     He looked at Brad and said, “You will too.”

     It wasn’t a request. It was an order, and Brad knew better than to argue.

     “Yes, sir.”

     John went on.

     “After I have a chance to absorb all of this, I want you two to explain to me exactly how this happened.”