The Beginning of the End (23 page)

“We’ll head back to
Cornelia Street and watch. Keep your eyes out for a big black Chevy
truck!”

Cowboy leaned back and
pulled his hat down over his eyes again, “Wake me if you guys see
anything.” He didn’t have his eyes closed for fifteen minutes
when, he was awoken by Luther’s, “Uh-oh!” Cowboy asked without
moving a muscle, “What is it?”

He heard Luther tapping
the gauges on the dashboard, “We’re almost out of diesel!”
Cowboy sat up straight and pushed his hat back on his head, “We’re
what? Didn’t you fools fill up after you fixed the leak?” Tommy
dropped down from the turret again, “Yeah, I topped it off myself.”
Luther pointed to the gauge, “Look it’s on E!” Tommy reached
over Luther and tapped the gauge himself, “How can that be?”
Luther pulled the Humvee over to the side of the road. “Tommy, find
a flashlight.” Cowboy ordered as he opened his door. Tommy hopped
out right behind him and shined the light under the vehicle. Diesel
was pouring out of the bottom of the rig. “Impossible!” Tommy
screamed. Cowboy mocked Tommy, “Impossible? Really? Look at it
pouring out of there! Didn’t you have your dumb ass under there
this morning fixing it?” Tommy lifted his hands in disbelief, “I
fixed it!” Cowboy latched onto the back of Tommy’s neck and
helped him bend over pointing at the steady stream of fuel, “What’s
that coming out of the bottom of my Humvee?” Tommy looked again
just to confirm, “It’s diesel!”

“God dammit!”
Cowboy screamed.

“Then stop saying
it’s impossible! Get back in the rig, we need to get back home,
before this thing runs dry. And when Kane asks why we're back… I’m
telling him it’s both of your faults!” The three men sat in
silence for the next few minutes. Cowboy was still steaming over the
half-ass patch job on the Humvee, “You know damn well. I'm going to
take shit for this one too.” Cowboy punched the dashboard,
“Sometimes, I think I’d do better on my own!” Tommy dropped
down from the turret again, “I don’t want to seem out of place
here, but with Kane being in such a pissed-off mood, why don’t we
just fix the problem ourselves?” Cowboy had been with Tommy long
enough now to know what he was thinking, “The Army Reserve Center
impound?” Tommy jumped up between the two seats. He was bouncing on
his toes, “Yeah, why not? There are four more Humvees over there.
It would only take us a few minutes to move everything from this
Humvee to one of the spares.” Cowboy used his index finger to push
his hat up as far as it would go without falling off, “Well Tommy,
I reckon we’ll just do that! You know what, Tommy? You’re not as
dumb as you look!”

October 14th 7:20am

Sophie woke up with the
sun in her face two days later. The night had been cold, and now she
could see every breath inside of the clinic. She wanted to roll over
and go back to sleep, but she had made a promise to Bob. Sophie made
her way to the bathroom and washed her face. The M4 hung at her side.
It was a permanent fixture now. This was her new life, and she’d
never be without it again. Bob lost his life giving her this final
gift. She dried her face and headed back out to the lobby, where she
had stashed the food two days before. One final look around the
procedure room. Bob’s blood, now brown and coagulated, coated the
floor. Sophie walked out the side door and stared at Bob’s grave.
It made her feel weak in the knees. She thought of the promise she
made, and it gave her the strength to visit him one last time. Sophie
sat on the ground and watched the sun rising while she rubbed her
fingers across his name plate. Lost in a daze, she looked up to see
the sun over her head. She had been sitting there for hours. She set
Bob’s name plate back on top of the marker stone, gave it a kiss,
and stood up. Her body casted a shadow over the disturbed dirt, the
rifle, making her silhouette appear lean and strong. This is who she
was now. Sophie took a minute to admire her work and turned away
without shedding a tear.

One last, “I love
you,” without looking back, and she was in the jeep headed to
Atlanta.

Alone.

October 13th 9:00pm

Chevy and I armed up
with everything we had, “Are you going to be able to do this?”
Chevy asked. “What do you mean?”

“Well, until now,
they’ve all been dead. So it’s not like hurting a real person.
Those two guys in that building aren’t dead. They’re walkin’
and talkin’, just like us.” I took a swig of soda, “If you’re
asking me if I can shoot someone, the answer is yes! Those scum bags
kidnapped Sidara, most likely my mom too. I don’t just want to kill
them, Chevy. I want to torture them. I don’t care how horrible that
sounds. That’s my mom in there, and those fucks are going to pay
for it!” Chevy walked over and gave me a one-armed hug, “I just
want to let you know buddy. She's my mom too, and I feel the same
way. I’ve got your back all the way on this one.” I gave Chevy a
hug back and walked toward the rock face.

“Where are you
going?”

I looked over my
shoulder, “I’m going to grab your fifty-caliber. I’ve got the
perfect task for it if those guys show back up in the Humvee.

With the extra weight
of the guns, we took almost half an hour to cross the field.

“What’s the plan?”
Chevy asked.

I didn’t have an
answer this time, “Let’s wait here, until just before dawn. I
want to make sure they’re sleeping in there. We’ll play the rest
by ear.”

We laid there in the
grass for hours. The sun hadn’t broken the horizon yet, but it
wouldn’t be long. I gave Chevy a tap on the arm. He didn't take his
eye from the fifty-caliber scope for hours. “Are you ready?” I
asked.

“Yup, lead the way.”
Chevy said while he folded the bi-pod legs on his rifle.

We crawled back to the
building, I told Chevy to hang behind while I went for the same
window. I inched ahead and looked inside. I didn’t see anyone. Wife
Beater was gone, and the guy wasn’t sitting at the desk any longer.
I turned back to Chevy and gave him the, I don’t know, shrug. I
dropped down to my knees and crawled around to the back of the
building. There was a small window covered with bars. I stood up and
tried to look in, but the glass was frosted. I listened, but couldn’t
hear anything. I kept working my way around the building. Up ahead
was the door that the man having the tantrum had come out of. I stood
up and jogged over to the door. Light coming out of the key hole
caught my attention. I bent over and looked through. The place looked
empty. If I hadn’t known any better, I’d swear there was no one
inside. I was sick of crawling on my belly so I made a quick jog over
to Chevy and hit the deck next to him. “What’d you see?” he
asked.

“I didn’t see
anything! There’s no one in the office and no one walking around
inside. Do you think they might have left when we went back to the
truck?” Chevy looked at the distance from the truck to the
building, “I suppose it’s possible, but I kept looking back to
make sure no one was following us. I think the time is now.” I
could hear the fear in Chevy’s voice when he spoke, “Let’s try
the back door, if it’s locked I can pop it with your tomahawk.”
Chevy pulled the tomahawk out from his belt loop and handed it to me.
I guess I was going in first. I inched back toward the door and tried
the handle again, hoping someone would have unlocked it since I had
last tried. I motioned for Chevy to come over with an arm wave. He
crawled up, stopping just behind me. “Okay, here’s the plan. Get
your gun out, safety off. I’m going to pry this door open, and I
want you to be ready, in case there is someone standing on the other
side. Remember everything they’ve done. They may have killed mom
and Sidara both. I don’t care if they beg and plead. If there is
someone standing there, when the door opens, blast them. Got it?”

Chevy nodded, gripped
his pistol with both hands, and held it up to the center of the door.
I stuck the awe side of the tomahawk into the door mechanism. I gave
the tomahawk a gentle pull. The wooden door casing was old and
rotted. It probably should have been replaced years ago.

It started to open.
Just a hair more and the latch would be free. I pushed a little
harder on the tomahawk, and the door released a squeak showing its
age. I froze! Chevy was staring at me, his eyes were as big as golf
balls. I clenched my teeth together and opened my lips. Chevy knew
that as my, “Oops,” look. I didn’t move, expecting the door to
swing open at any second with Wife Beater standing there with my
Glocks pointed at my face. The seconds ticked away, the anticipation
of being found out was terrifying. For the next two minutes, I don’t
think I even blinked once, fixated on the door. After I was sure, the
clamor hadn’t given us away, I resumed my task. A little push and
the latch broke free of the casing. I opened the door, ever so
slightly and peered inside. I watched and waited. My mind told me
that everyone was asleep inside, but making my body move was proving
to be a difficult task. My body finally gave way when I was nudged on
the arm. Chevy was pointing his chin at the door. His lips moved, and
I heard, “It’s gonna be daylight soon, go!” but I don’t think
he actually made a sound. I may have just read them. The lighted
building was clear all the way to the garage door on the opposite
side. I pushed the door open further, praying for well lubricated
hinges. It stopped just short of the wall without making a sound. I
lifted my HK416 and flipped off the safety. My foot left the grass of
the fairgrounds and stepped onto the concrete floor that supported
the steel building. We were in! I crept down a short hall and passed
a bathroom on my left. Oh, how I had to use that now. As I approached
the end of the hall, I could see the office door was open, but the
lights were off. Straight ahead was a large open space. There were
shelves full of tools, it looked like a service area with a puddle on
the floor. That’s where they must have been parking the Humvee. To
my right were three doors. The one farthest away was where I had seen
Wife Beater yelling at someone. The girls had to be in there. My
guess is that one of those two doors was some sort of kitchenette,
and the other had to be full of bunks. But which was which? I gave
Chevy my version of hand signals, which probably sounded like. There?
Or there? Chevy put out his hand and made an opening motion, pointing
to the first door with the barrel of his gun. I reached out wrapping
my fingers around the knob of the first room. I was met by an
unexpected chill from the thought of preparing to kill a man. I
turned the handle and gave the door a push. The lights were off! I
couldn’t see anything. I reached for the Tac light on my HK and
flipped it on, expecting to be met by a hail of gunfire. With the
light on, I panned across the room almost shooting the refrigerator.
Chevy looked over my shoulder, shook his head and pointed to the next
door with his rifle barrel again. Standing in the doorway of the
kitchen, I thought of everything my dad had taught me. Standing in
the doorway like this gave Chevy and I no tactical advantage. He
couldn’t fire without hitting me, and if I jumped out of the way,
he’d be hit. I’d bet my life the girls were in the third door. I
directed Chevy to move back about ten feet and off to the side. I
would swing the door open and move toward the wall. Chevy and I could
both fire on our targets without having to worry about each other’s
fire. I grabbed the knob and looked back at Chevy. He gave me the go
ahead. I twisted the handle and swung the door open. I jumped back
and acquired our V formation. The room was dark and I could see bunks
on the right side, but they were empty. I glanced over at Chevy, “Do
you see anything?” Chevy didn’t have a light on his weapon. He
squinted his eyes and took a step to the right. My dad liked to call
that slicing the pie! A quick look back at me and a head shake, no. I
was about to take a step toward the room, when I heard someone
chamber a round in a rifle, followed by the sound of bare feet
slapping against cement coming toward us. A man’s silhouette
materialized as orange flame spewed from the room. The silence was
broken by the banging of an AK-47. I pulled the trigger on my HK
again and again until the shadow transformed into a man laying at our
feet. It was Wife Beater! He laid on the floor motionless. Blood
drained from his chest, and I watched as his sockless toes wiggled
before finally stopping. “Are you okay Chevy?” I asked. Just like
in the movies, he looked his body up and down checking for bullet
holes. With a big shit-eating grin, he said, “I guess he missed
me.” Chevy started to lower his gun, “Keep it up! There’s still
another one in there.” I had the Tac light on my rifle, so I inched
my way toward the bunk room. I was startled by a loud yelling coming
from inside the third door. “Two-gun! We're in here!” It was
Sidara, and she said we. That meant my mom was in there too, “Hang
on!” Back on the task, I started toward the bunk room again, “If
you want to live, say something and come out with your hands up!”
There was no response from within the room, “I know you’re in
there. I saw you through the window!” There was still no response.
I panned the door from each side looking in. I couldn’t see anyone,
and it looked as though only one bunk had been disturbed.

I worked my way into
the room and flipped on the light, ready to fire, “It’s empty!”
I said.

From behind Chevy, I
saw someone dart out of the office. He had something in his hand.
Without even looking, he lifted and pointed in Chevy’s direction.
“Look out!” I screamed. Chevy turned in time to see a hail of
gunfire coming toward him. Chevy pulled his trigger, firing back. I
lifted my HK but couldn’t take a shot without hitting Chevy. I ran
forward and felt a red mist hit my face. Chevy spun around and fell
to the floor clutching his chest. The second shooter slowed for a
second to open the door to his escape. When he did, I could see he
had shot Chevy with his own MP9. The man disappeared out the door as
it slammed closed behind him. I dropped to my knees holding Chevy.
“He got me!” Chevy screamed.