THE COLLAPSE: Swantown Road (24 page)

*****

On the third day after Connie’s return, Fish asked Tarra once again if Connie could finally join the rest of the family upstairs, and she reluctantly agreed, if only to get Fish to shut the hell up and quit begging her!  The Kays immediately invited their ‘new friend’ to card games and book readings.  Connie delightfully played along with all their requests perfectly.  Tarra had watched her interact with the happy little Kays throughout the day, and right before supper was served, she decided to apologize to Connie for keeping her cooped up in the basement for so long.  Connie didn’t seem like it had even bothered her, though.  She was just glad to finally be accepted by
all
of the Alexanders.  Additionally, she told Tarra that she wanted to continue sleeping in the basement at night.  She liked the basement because it was cooler down there, since the woodstove put out a significant amount of heat upstairs.  She also said that her and Fish could have better privacy that way.  Tarra had nodded with womanly understanding.

Stephen, Fish and Tarra had a meeting earlier in the day while Connie had played with the Kays.  Stephen wanted Connie to ‘pitch in’ with the nightly security patrols.  Tarra was fervently against it, as she still didn’t completely trust the troubled little girl.  Not yet, anyway.  As the queen of the castle, Tarra’s wishes were always granted.  Fish didn’t even try to speak on Connie’s behalf. He knew better.

*****

That evening, Tarra volunteered for the first watch.  Fish was assigned the second watch, and Stephen would round off the patrols until the sun came up and everyone was awake.

Around ten o’clock, Fish went out the basement door to take a piss outside before he went to sleep.  He was startled by Tarra, who had been making her nightly rounds and had snuck up on him.

“Boo!”  Tarra said, and Fish jumped.

“Damnit, Tarra!  I just got pee on myself!”  Fish declared as he hunched over to hide his business.

“Awww, poor baby.”  She laughed.  Then she asked a serious question while he recovered, “So, has ol’ Connie given up the booty yet?”

“No, she passed out already, too.”  Fish said as he zipped up his jeans.  “I didn’t even get a chance to try anything!” 

“I’m sorry to hear that.”

“Yeah, me too, ‘LOL’.”  Fish said.  Tarra did a double take on him.

“Did you just ‘LOL’ at me without a computer or a phone?  Jackass!  ‘LMAO, JK, JK.’”  She laughed.

“It just kinda slipped out.”  He replied.

Tarra pushed him toward the door and said, “Go.  Get some sleep.  I don’t wanna hear any bullshit out of your mouth when I wake you up for your watch later tonight.”

Chapter 22 – The Assault

Connie had pretended to fall asleep that night, so Fish would leave her alone and then pass out himself.  Part of the orders she had received from her husband were
‘no sexual activity with that tall piece of shit, whatsoever’
.  The rest of her orders seemed simple enough.  Wait until the third night at midnight, then assassinate Fish quietly in his sleep.  Since he was the biggest threat, with him gone, the attack would be a lot easier.  She was told to take his guns and sneak out the basement door, where TC and his assault party would be waiting for her behind the thick line of dead blackberries that skirted the Alexanders property to the rear.  The blackberries ended at Mickey’s property line where a short line of six pines started, and they would attack the Alexander residence from there.  Their plan was to take a few shots at the house to keep Stephen and Tarra distracted and occupied while they defended themselves from the garage, during which the second half of the assault party would enter the house through the front and ambush them from behind.  Boom, boom, dead.  Easy day.

Connie thought that it was such a perfect plan!  Her husband was the smartest man in the whole entire world!  He was a genius! 

Earlier that same day, Connie had eagerly taken the opportunity to pilfer a large knife from the kitchen while Stephen, Fish and Tarra had their little ‘meeting’ in the garage.  She had stashed the knife under the bed in the basement, and was planning on slitting Fish’s throat while he slept.  Even as gruesome as that sounded, she couldn’t wait for the opportunity.  She hated Fish for what he had done to her husband at AWOL.

Fish snored loudly while Connie flipped onto her stomach, and then reached down into her jacket on the floor next to bed and withdrew the digital wristwatch that TC had given her.  She had kept the timepiece in her jacket, as not to raise any suspicion of her having an obviously male style watch on her wrist.  It was 11:25 PM.  Close enough.  She couldn’t wait any longer, she was about to be reunited with her husband!  He was going to be sooooo proud of her!

Connie very slowly uncovered herself and got off the bed.  Fish stirred slightly, but continued to saw logs as he slept.  Connie grinned, she was good to go.  Nothing could go wrong now!  Everything was moving along perfectly as planned.  Connie retrieved the knife from under the bed and grasped it tightly.  The moment of truth was finally at hand. 

This is for TC, you bastard
.  She thought to herself as she leaned in to deliver the slice that would terminate the mighty Fish’s life.

“Stop right there, you piece of shit.” 

Connie froze, startled and surprised.  It was Tarra’s voice.  In the dark shadows of the basement, Connie made out Tarra’s outline at the basement door, pointing the devastating shotgun at her.  She had been watching Connie the whole time.  Tarra had her suspicions, but when Fish confided with her about the lack of sexual activity with Constantine, she knew that
something
was up.  She just needed to confirm it.  And she did.

“Drop the knife now, Connie, or I’ll fucking splatter you!”  Tarra demanded.  Connie obeyed and reluctantly tossed the knife onto the floor near the foot of the bed.  Tarra continued, “Let me guess, third night at midnight?  How predictable.  What idiot came up with that plan?”

Connie looked fierce.  She sneered at Tarra and said, “You have no idea, bitch.  My husband is coming to get me, and you’re all going to die.”

“Not anymore.”  Tarra laughed.  She sidestepped over to the still-snoring Fish.  She kept the shotgun pointed at Connie while she kicked the bed, repeatedly.  “Fish, honey, wake up.  C’mon, wake up!  Now, Fish!”

Fish tried to pull the blanket over his face, and said, “Give me another ten minutes.”

“No, you need to get up, now!”  Tarra shouted.  Connie suddenly darted toward the basement door, and Tarra whacked her between the shoulder blades with the butt of the shotgun.  Connie went down with a horrible sounding groan.  Fish saw it.

“What the hell are you doing!”  he shouted and sat up, stupefied.

“Fish, get up.  Connie just confessed to me that her husband is still alive, and they are going to be attacking us in thirty minutes.  I’m not joking around, Fish, get up!”

“What?  Seriously?”  Fish said, confused.  He was still groggy.

Tarra had her foot on Connie’s back, and was pressing down hard.  She could easily overpower the little woman.  She ordered Fish to get a roll of duct tape from the garage, and they secured her hands with it.  Connie tried to tell Fish that Tarra was lying, and that she just making it all up in an attempt to get rid of her.  Fish huffed and laughed in Connie’s face with meaty sleep breath as he referred to Tarra, “Do you know how long I’ve know this woman?  Nice try, but you’re an idiot.”

Tarra took Connie into the dark garage, and sent Fish to wake up Stephen.  She didn’t want Fish to see what she was about to do next.  She was going to ascertain TC’s attack plan from Connie, and there was a good possibility that it wasn’t going to be pretty. 

“I don’t have a lot of time, so here’s what’s going to happen.”  Tarra told Connie while brandishing the same kitchen knife that she had tried to assassinate Fish with. “Tell me what TC is planning to do, and I won’t hack your face apart and slice open your vagina.”

“You wouldn’t.”  Connie hissed at Tarra. “You don’t understand.  My husband is going to be a great and powerful man some day.  He was already an important man at AWOL, until Fish embarrassed him in front of everybody.  Now he has to make up for it, and getting this house will make him important again.”

Tarra sighed with frustration, and then calmly said to Connie, “Okay then, your loss.  I don’t know how much your husband is going to want you when you look like Freddy Krueger and he can’t even bang you anymore.” 

Without wasting another second, Tarra violently grabbed a handful of Connie’s hair and threw her to the ground.  She jumped on Connie’s chest and straddled her face with her knees as Connie frightfully tried to wriggle out of it.  Her duct-taped hands had prevented her from any type of resistance.  Besides, Tarra could have easily overpowered her anyway, even if Connie’s hands weren’t bound. 

Tarra menacingly held the sharp knife to Connie’s nose, and gleefully exclaimed, “Here we go!”  Connie’s eyes went wide open with fear and shock, and that was as far as Tarra had needed to go before Connie told her everything.

*****

The time was 11:38 PM, when Stephen was awakened by Fish with the news.  They had just over twenty minutes to formulate a defense.  Stephen’s mind went into overdrive, and he quickly laid out the plan to his wife and his best friend.

Stephen had the Kays lay down in the bathtub, and gave them strict orders not to leave or get up, for any reason, until one of the adults told them it was okay.  He also had Pharoah stay in the bathroom with them as security.  Before closing the door, one of the Kays spoke up.

“Daddy, can we have a light and a book at least?  It’s boring and dark in here!”

“Um, hold on.  Cripes!”  Stephen said, frustrated.  He was pressed for time, but he still ran to their room and quickly snatched up four or five of their books and sped back to the bathroom.  He handed over the reading material and Eddie’s little flashlight.  Once again he quickly reiterated to the girls how important it was for them to stay in the bathtub at all costs.  The small window in the bathroom was already darkened with cardboard and linen, so there would be no harm in them using the light.  Pharoah anxiously sat on his haunches next to the tub, as if he already knew the plan.  Hell, maybe he did!

*****

TC was positive that his loyal wife would be able to pull off the assassination, and provide him with Fish’s M-4 and 9mm.  Oh, how he wanted to hear the details of that sonofabitch’s death!  He couldn’t wait for that! 

His plan was to acquire everything in the Alexander house and take their vehicles as well. (especially Fish’s truck).  After accomplishing that and providing some of those assets to AWOL, he would obtain significant credibility at the compound, where he strived to become a leader.

TC had recruited four hungry fellow AWOLers that volunteered to participate in the Alexander assault.  They would evenly split up all the capital acquired in the attack, but TC would assume credit for everything, since it was his idea and his own wife that had infiltrated the family.  He wanted the current AWOL leadership to know that it was his genius behind the entire criminalistic endeavor.  That was the deal.

TC also made sure that all four of his henchmen knew to keep silent about who they were attacking.  If Smitty had found out that they were planning an assault on fellow sailors, especially two of them that he knew personally, he might not have approved.  TC couldn’t take that chance.  He wasn’t a sailor himself, and only advanced within the AWOL ranks due to his affiliation and ‘usage’ of Petty Officer Third Class Vanessa Constantine.

So, on the night of the assault, TC had two of his people wait two blocks up Loerland Drive, and the other two accompanied him while they quietly journeyed across the long, cold, wet, horse pasture field that led up to the Alexander property line.  TC had given specific instructions to his two men positioned on Loerland Drive to wait until they had heard gunfire, then advance to the house and either bust out a window or the front door and enter the premises.  Once inside, they would sneak to the garage and ambush the unwitting Alexanders while they took pot shots at TC and his boys at the rear of the long yard.  What could possibly go wrong?  It was a perfect plan!

Everything had moved along wonderfully, and all shooters were in position.  There was only one problem.  TC checked the time at 11:58 PM, and his wife still had not come out of the Alexander home.  What had happened to her? 

TC and his gang waited another two minutes, crouched next to the short line of six slender pine trees that straddled the Kessler-Alexander property line along Stephen’s fence.  It wasn’t much cover, but it was all they needed.  His men assigned to infiltrating the house would be doing most of the killing, anyway.  Two minutes left. 

Connie still had not left the Alexander home.  TC assumed one of two things, either Fish didn’t go to sleep that night and Vanessa was unable to execute him, or she was somehow compromised.  It was very unlikely that she was compromised, since her loyalty to him was absolute, and she would have died before exposing his mission.  So he decided that she was still in the house, and that they would have to execute the plan as rendered.  Maybe she could do some damage from within once the assault began.

At exactly one minute after midnight, TC had his men fire a few shots into the dark house to begin the distraction, and waited for the response with heavy anticipation. 

Nothing had happened.  Nobody returned fire, no lights were flicked on, nothing.  What was going on?  It was so dark that evening that TC couldn’t see much more than the simple outline of the house, but he could tell that the garage door was open, because it was darker than the rest of the home.  Why weren’t they defending themselves? 

TC and his boys fired another round of shots into the house, and still nothing.  Did they already abandon the home?  Did Vanessa tell them about the attack and she left with them?  No way.  Couldn’t be.  If they had already left, then why were all three vehicles still behind the house?  Did they flee on foot?  TC thought that it would have been nice if they left.  No fighting means nobody dies, easy day!  But he wanted Fish dead, at least.  

Suddenly, out of nowhere, TC and his boys heard a voice yell, “Light em’ up, Fish!” 

For whatever reason, it was the worst sound in the world to TC.  His heart skipped a beat in his chest, and his jaw dropped.  It came from an organized, well-in-control voice.  Like a director on a movie set.  ‘Light em up’ is never anything you want to hear when it refers to you.  TC slid further behind his pine tree in fear.  Those motherfuckers must have
known
that he was coming.

*****

The two men that TC had stationed on Loerland Drive had heard the gunshots.  One had looked at the other and nervously said, “Should we go now?”

“Yeah, I mean, that’s what TC said.  As soon as we hear the first shots, we get inside the house, right?”

“Okay, let’s do this, then!”  The first man said.  They were both armed with pistols as they ran at their fullest toward the house on Swantown Road.  They were carrying pistols because they were much better for close quarter combat.  The two had decided earlier while waiting on Loerland Drive that they were going to bust through the front door instead of going through the windows.  Windows, they thought, could likely be barricaded or booby trapped. 

Upon reaching the house, one of them was about to kick in the front door when they heard a voice behind them quietly say, “Drop the guns.”

A man with an M-4 and a woman with a shotgun were standing in the yard.  They must have been hiding around the corners of the house, waiting for them.  It was an “Oh, shit” moment for both of the men.  They immediately recognized the tall man from the encounter with TC at AWOL.  They slowly turned around and tossed their guns into the wet dead grass.  The woman picked up the pistols and stood back up.  Wow, she was fast!