The Siege (4 page)

     And he wanted his mama.

     “So, why are the men who are digging brighter and more visible than the men who are laying there? Is that because they’re working and sweating?”

     “Exactly. They’re putting out way more body heat because they’re exerting thems
elves. The other men are at rest or already dead. They’re not physically active, so their bodies are putting out very little heat. Heat is the only thing the cameras key on in this mode.”

     “So how do you tell if the ones on the floor are dead or just sitting there?”

     At that moment, one of the men on the floor stumbled to his feet and started feeling his way toward the back of the tunnel.

     “Well, I’m pretty sure that one is still alive.”

     He turned to Hannah and grinned.

     “No shit, Sherlock. Seriously, how do we know that the other four aren’t dead?”

     “Well, truth is, we don’t, until we see them move. What we’ll do is watch them over the next few hours. If they never move, and if their heat signature starts to dim, then we’ll be able to assume they’re probably dead. When their heat signature disappears completely, and we can’t see them at all, then we’ll know for sure.

     “The ultimate goal is for all of their heat signatures to fade away to black. That’ll mean all of them are dead.”

     Mark turned again to look at Hannah, and saw a look of concern on her face.

     “What’s the matter, honey?”

     She hesitated.

     Then she said, “Mark, I don’t feel right about this at all. I know those are bad men in there. I know they tried to hurt us, and they shot Sami. But they’re human beings. What kind of animals are we if we just stand here and watch them die a slow and miserable death?”

     John spoke up.

     “I know how you feel, Hannah. But the sad fact is that those men have no morals or empathy. They shot
my daughter, and they could just have easily have shot you or your son.

     “The fact that they chased us over here means that they weren’t content to just take over our compound. They could have settled for that, but they chose not to. And God only knows what they wanted when they decided to pursue us, but I can venture a guess.

     “My guess is that they were going to kill most of us and use the rest for their pleasure or convenience.”

     “How so?”

     “Hannah, I was a policeman for a lot of years. I’ve seen the evil that men like that are capable of. You are a beautiful woman. So is my Sami. I cannot bear to think what would happen to the two of you if you were taken alive by that bunch. It’s my hunch that you’d spend the rest of your lives being brutalized, passed from one barbarian to the next, until they just wore you out. Then they’d dispose of you like last week’s garbage.”

     “But…”

     “Let me finish. You need to hear this. We’re assuming that these men came from that prison in Eden. If that’s the case, then they were locked up for a reason. There are some bad sons of bitches in our prison systems, Hannah. Some of them did some very ugly things to get put there. And not all of them like women. Sadly, many of them prefer young girls, like your nieces.”

     He put emphasis on his last sentence.

     “Or little boys, like your Markie.”

     Hannah teared up at the thought
. She was convinced. But she still didn’t like the idea of watching helpless men die.

     Mark took over again.

     “There’s another reason too, honey. These men were bad before. They’re still just as bad, only now they’re surely pissed off and desperate. We could dig from our end to help them. And as soon as we broke them free we would probably be rewarded for our kindness with a bullet to the head. And what would that solve?

     “And even if we did rescue them, then what? We couldn’t just let them go. They’ve seen what we have and they want it. And they’re probably the type of me
n who’d try to exact revenge upon us. If we let them go, they’d just rebuild, find more men. And then they’d come back at us even stronger. Only this time they’d know the layout of the compound, and know not to go into any tunnels.”

     Hannah gave up.

     “I know all that. And I know we couldn’t keep them prisoner for the rest of their lives. It’s just that… well, I don’t feel it’s our place to act as their executioners. That’s all.”

     She started to cry, and Mark wrapped his arms around her.

     “Honey, don’t you worry about those men. They signed their own death warrants when they stepped into that tunnel with the intent of killing us. We have the upper hand now, and we’re going to use it to reduce their numbers. Whenever you feel pangs of guilt, just remember John’s words. He was a cop for a very long time. He knows what he’s talking about.”

     He wiped her tears.

     “Honey, our son survived what could have been a terrible confrontation. He will live to see another day. And I’m sure he’s worried about you. And me. Why don’t you go get the children and the rest of the adults and tell them it’s safe to come out of hiding now. And tell Markie his Daddy loves him, okay?”

     Hannah’s tears kept flowing, but she didn’t argue. She nodded her head and headed to the back recesses of the mine.

     “Is she going to be okay?” Sami asked.

     “Yes. I knew from the beginning that she’d struggle with this. But she’ll be okay. It would help if you and Sarah spent some time with her. I sense that she needs to talk it out with someone who will listen to her arguments, and she knows my
mind is made up.”

     “Well, my mind is made up as well, but I’ll let her cry on my shoulder. She’s like a flower when she’s stressed. So delicate, so sensitive. But she’s got a good head on her shoulders. She’ll agree with us in the end.”

     John said to Sami, “Go ahead, sweetie. Go find her and be there for her. I’ll have somebody relieve Sarah so she can join you.

     “And I think we need to keep her away from thes
e monitors for the next day or two. It should be a moot point after that.”

Chapter 6

     On
Buena Vista Drive in north San Antonio, Frank Woodard had no idea of the troubles his friend John faced at the mine.

     Frank had met John while on a hunting trip near
Salt Mountain. John had watched that day on his security monitor, as Frank drew a bead on a majestic white tailed buck just outside the compound’s walls.

     But Frank didn’t fire. As John watched him lower his weapon, he wondered why.

     And John, being a retired police detective and a curious man by nature, went outside the gates to ask him.

     “As desperate as my people are for protein, this is the only surviving buck I’ve seen. I’m afraid it may be the last one in the area. If I shoot it, I may doom the deer population in these parts to extinction. It was a
beautiful animal, and it pained me to let it go. But I felt I had to.”

     The men became fast friends. Frank was also a retired lawman, and they had much in common.

     John made sure that Frank didn’t go back to San Antonio empty handed that day. To compensate him for the protein he’d given up when he lowered his rifle, he was given several chickens to take back with him.

     Later, they also shared some of their cattle, with the agreement that Frank would grow a small herd and then share a small number with another group of survivors.

     “Resist the urge to eat them all,” John had said. “Instead, let them grow, so that in a generation there will be small pockets of cattle all over the area.”

     The survivors on
Buena Vista Drive now had a steady supply of milk and eggs, and a bit of fresh meat on occasion. Only Frank had ever met John personally, but to Frank’s people John was a saint.

     Frank still stayed in touch with John by ham radio, but hadn’t been able to reach him for several days. He was becoming worried.

     “Johnny Bravo, this is Frank Furter. Haven’t heard from you for awhile, just doing a check-up call.”

     He got no response, but
he didn’t expect one. He and John never talked on the radio real time. They just left short messages, several hours apart. It was John’s idea, and the intent was to keep the government or anyone else with the ability to track radio signals to get a bead on their location. By talking only in short bursts, they’d hoped that outside tracking equipment wouldn’t have time to work.

     Normally, Frank would have expected to hear a short message from John a couple of hours
after his own call went out. Usually, John’s message would sound something like, “Johnny Bravo to Frank Furter, all is well on this end, hope same is true for you.” The two were careful never to mention livestock, or crops, or anything else that marauders or looters might be interested in.

     Frank turned to his wife Eva and said, “I’m getting concerned, hon. This is the fifth time I’ve called in the past few days, and they still haven’t responded.”

     “Oh, don’t fret, Frank. This is about the time of year that farmers plant their crops. You said they had big fields to plant corn and wheat in. This is probably one of the busiest times of their year. I’m sure he just hasn’t had time to turn on his radio lately.”

     “But he said that his ham radio was on twenty four seven. And that it was in his security control center, which was always manned. Surely someone would have heard my messages and let him know I was calling.”

     “Honey, don’t be an old mother hen. If something was wrong with your friend, I’m sure someone would have let you know by now. Just keep trying. They’ll eventually answer, I’m sure.”

     “Maybe I’ll take another hunting trip up that way. Maybe check on the deer population and see if it’s growing.”

     Eva laughed.

     “The last time you went hunting for deer up there you came back with chickens instead. Why would this trip be any different?”

     “Because this time I could check on my friends.”

     It turned out that Frank’s words were being heard at the compound. But not by the good guys.

     Davey Douglas, a three time felon who was serving forty to life before the meteorite hit the earth and gave him his freedom, heard them. He was sitting in an easy chair adjacent to the security console and eating a sandwich when Frank’s concerned voice came across the airwaves.

     But they meant nothing to Davey Douglas. He was much more interested in his sandwich.

Chapter 7

     Little Markie looked at Hannah with the saddest of eyes.

     “Mommy, how long are we gonna have to stay here this time?”

     “I don’t know, little sailor. Why?”

     “I used to like it here. But now I don’t. I like the other place better. I like the grass. It was cool. Especially when you took me out to play with the Frisbee or Daddy played football with me. And I liked the swing that Uncle Bryan hung in the tree for me. There’s not much to do here.”

     “Oh, that’s not true. Everything you used to do before we left this place is still here. You can watch movies or read your books or play your video games. You can still play basketball.

     “I know how cool it is for you to run and play outside, because you weren’t able to do it for so long. But you’ll get to do those things again, I promise. Just as soon as it’s safe again.”

     “Safe from what, Mommy?”

     They’d been careful to shelter little Markie from the ugliness of the situation. He knew the basics, of course – that bad men had chased them out of their new compound. But he didn’t understand the whys and hows.

     Maybe it was time he did.

     “Well, honey, we’ve always taught you that you have to be careful in life, because not all people are friendly and good, right?”

     “Right.”

     “Well, some of the people who aren’t friendly and good saw that we had a nice place to stay at the compound. They saw that we had chickens to chase, and cows to look at, and that we grew lots of yummy things to eat.