Bishop's Song (40 page)

The crowd interrupted the speech, murmurs, side conversations
, and rumblings sounding throughout the room. The general was patient, remaining statuesque and expressionless.

Diana’s gavel was required to restore quiet, her voice sounding above the din. “Order, please! Order in these chambers!”

The general nodded his thanks to the chairperson, and then returned to address his audience. “Tomorrow, I’m going to arrive here at zero-eight-hundred with four busses. I will take anyone who still has doubts to the scene. After that, if this situation doesn’t come to resolution, the next time any of you see me, I will be riding on a tank, and I won’t be alone. I will now leave you all to decide your future. I don’t want to use critical assets to take more American lives, but I will do so if ordered. As I stated earlier, I’ve done it before. God help us all if it comes to that.”

And then the army officer
turned to his comrades and said, “Let’s go.” After a quick gathering of their paper and equipment, the four-man procession filed down the center aisle and exited the building.

The place erupted. Voices rang out and fists shook in the air, some pointed at Terri, others
gesturing where the general had just passed. Everyone seemed to want to voice an opinion at once, some at the top of their lungs.

A few people, trying to be heard above the throng, tried to approach the council’s table, but Nick and three of the
Darkwater contractors were there, keeping the agitated citizens back.

Diana, her hammering gavel doing little more than adding to the dismay, slammed the device
down so hard the handle broke.

It was a single gunshot that
broke through the chaos, producing immediate silence. All eyes turned to look at Terri, standing on her chair. One of her arms was pointed to the ceiling, smoke still rolling out the pistol in her hand, the other hand covering Hunter’s ears. “Enough!” she screamed at the top of her lungs. “You can run us all out of town later if you want, but we will have order right here, right now. Take a seat. Everyone will get a turn.”

And they did.

The meeting lasted into the wee hours of the morning, with three intermissions. Two of the breaks were to feed Hunter, the third for bathroom necessities.

As the sleepy team of Diana, Nick
, and Terri walked home, the new mother summed it up best. “Our people are divided into three camps,” she stated. “One group believes my husband is a villain and that the entire council ordered the attack so we could keep our jobs. The second group thinks the government is lying and wants us to hold our ground, even if it means war. The third group is undecided. I bet we’ll see a lot of the third group on the busses tomorrow.”

Nick had been practically silent most of the evening, as if something was on his mind. Without warning, his head popped up, “Terri, how many rifles did Bishop take with him?”

“Oh… I don’t know, Nick. It seems like so long since he left. Two, I think.”

The big man seemed to ponder th
e answer for a moment, Diana interrupting his thoughts. “What are you thinking?”

“I don’t know… it
’s probably nothing, but, those videos the general showed… something just wasn’t right about them. I can’t put my thumb on it, but something was strange.”

The trio continued to
trek toward Terri’s home, Hunter fast asleep in his papoose. As they got closer to the bungalow, Nick’s frame went stiff, his hand reaching for the rifle strapped across his back.

“What’s wrong?” Diana asked, her h
ead scanning all around.

Nick nodded toward Terri’s front porch. There, along the front
wall, someone had written “Killers!” in red.

The two women stayed back while Nick cleared the premises. The graffiti was still wet. Nick poked his finger in the runny substance and then held it up to his nose.

“Chicken or pig blood,” he announced. He then turned to the girls and said, “Terri, I think you and Hunter should sleep over at our place tonight. I’ll send someone over to wash this off tomorrow.”

Terri
seemed in shock, the cumulative effects of the day finally catching up with her.

Diana took her friend by the arm and said, “Come on, girlfriend, I’ve been hoarding some hot coc
oa. I’ll make you a cup while Nick gathers up some things for you.”

Alpha, Texas

July 17, 2016

Bishop’s knees and back were singing a song of pain with every step, the blisters on his feet adding to the chorus. The tune kept repeating over and over again, a seemingly permanent fixture of the morning.

He was so focused on putting one foot in front of the other, he almost didn’t notice Alpha’s small airport, only a few miles north of town. It was the first sign of civilization he’d seen in two days. The song of punishment faded, its
jingle replaced by an upbeat rhythm inspired by almost being home.

He managed another half a mile when the sound of a car engine caused him to turn. There, sure enough, was a citizen of the Alliance rolling into town. Bishop stuck out his thumb, more as a joke than an actual signal that he wanted a ride. Normally, passersby would stop and offer him a
lift, even if he were on a short stroll around Alpha.

The driver, who he recognized as one of the church volunteers, slowed as if preparing to stop and offer a lift. When she was close enough to identify the pedestrian, she looked straight ahead and sped on by.

Bishop was initially shocked, but then justified the woman’s reaction by his appearance. He knew he would not be making new friends with three days of beard, two rifles, and clothes that were soiled, to put it mildly.
Maybe she got a whiff of me
, he thought.
I probably smell so bad a pig farmer wouldn’t stop. He wouldn’t want to offend the swine.

He had forgotten about the incident by the time he reached the outskirts of town. The hour was still reasonably early, not many folks up and about just yet. He encountered the first pedestrian
s a few blocks north of the courthouse.

“Good morning, Mr. and Mrs. James,” he greeted with a cheery voice. “A fine morning, isn’t it
?”

The older couple stopped, turning to see who had spoken to them.
The husband’s eyes betrayed a flicker of recognition, and then something totally unexpected happened.

Rather than a greeting, a frown flashed across Mr. James’s face. Pivoting without a word, he pulled his spouse closer and then began walking off at a brisk pace, almost as if Bishop were some sort of criminal eyeing his wife’s purse.

“Odd,” he whispered to himself. “I wonder if they’re mad at Terri over something the council did while I was gone.”

As he turned to continue home, his question was partially answered. There,
tied to the pole of a stop sign, was his picture. Above the black and white photograph were the bold letters, “WANTED.” Beneath the image was the statement, “By the US government for murder. Please contact any US representative. This man is responsible for the massacre at Chamber’s Valley. He should be considered armed and dangerous.”

At first, Bishop just stood and stared at the poster.
It has to be a joke
, he told himself.
Nick’s really getting sophisticated with his stunts.
He even looked around, expecting to see a couple of guys with a video camera filming his reaction.

But then, it began to tie in with the morning’s unusual events. The volunteer who wouldn’t give him a ride. Mr. James’s reaction.

He turned back to study the photograph, trying to determine where the picture had been taken. “Chamber’s Valley?” he questioned to no one. “I just left Chamber’s Valley. Oh, shit… Nick would have no way of knowing I was there… nobody would.”

Not wasting any more time trying to dissect the
“Wanted” poster, Bishop hurried the remaining few blocks to the bungalow. He noticed the truck was gone before entering the house. Another weird thing… Terri rarely drove anywhere, and he’d just passed the courthouse, checking the parking lot to see if anyone was at work just yet. No Terri and no truck.

Bishop entered, finding an empty nest. Most of their possessions were still there, but the bed wasn’t made.
She must have been in a hurry to get somewhere
, he reasoned.

He tried to
make the best of it, convincing himself it was actually a positive thing. He would have time to take a shower and change clothes before seeing his wife for the first time in days.

He had just finished dressing in clean
duds when the squeaky brake of an electric golf cart sounded from the driveway. Poking his head out the front screen door, Bishop smiled to see Nick and Diana exiting their ride.

“Good morning,” he greeted. “Would you folks know where my wife is?”

“Bishop,” Diana said sharply, “What the hell is going on? What happened out at Chamber’s Valley?”

Puzzled, still trying to fill in the blanks, he responded honestly. “Nothing happened up there. I left two days ago, and everything was just fine.”

“So you were there?” Nick asked, his voice more worried than accusing.

Bishop shrugged his shoulders, “Yeah, I was there. What the fuck is going on, Nick? Where’s Terri?”

Diana pointed south, “Terri left yesterday for the ranch. Things were getting a little testy around here… there was even a protest of sorts. She and Nick thought it would be safer if she stayed out there.”

The look on Bishop’s face was helpless.
“Testy? Safer? Protest? What the hell is going on, guys?”

Diana replayed the story of the military arriving two days ago. She repeated their claim that Bishop had butchered a bunch of military doctors, killed them in cold blood.

“No one believed it at first, Bishop,” Diana continued, “We all thought it was preposterous. Then they showed us the video of you going into the camp with your rifle.”

“I still didn’t buy it,” Nick chimed in. “So they took a bunch of us up there in a bus. I saw the dead with my own eyes. The pictures they had matched the background and landmarks.”

Bishop was in shock. Turning away, he started blurting out unrelated statements, his arms waving in wild gestures. “I was there, but I didn’t shoot anyone. The guy at the Circus… he told Grim… they were going to assassinate the council and Terri. They were going to take over the electrical sub-station. But all I found were medical supplies… not a Special Forces Team. I just assumed something had changed… that they had called off the mission after you guys had reached a deal. So I just left and walked home.”

“Slow down, partner. Take it easy. Start from the beginning,” Nick soothed.

For the next 20 minutes, Bishop paced the living room floor, recounting the events of the rescue mission. He told the story of Deke’s death in the graveyard, details about the Circus and the information provided by the former army officer.

After he had finished, Nick looked at Diana and said, “I thought as much. A setup. They killed all those men out at Chamber’s Valley to set Bishop up.”

“Why
me
?” a confused Bishop asked. “Why go to all that trouble to make
me
look bad?”

Diana stared at the floor, her voice cold and monotone. “It wasn’t you, Bishop. It was our government. After the US delegation showed the evidence of your crime, the news spread
around the Alliance like wildfire. The people had been so relieved to avoid war… so upbeat that we were going to have a new trading partner. When Washington announced that the deal was off until you were apprehended and turned over to them, people felt like the rug had been pulled out from under them.”

Nick cleared his throat, adding to the story. “Terri supported you 100%, but their proof was very convincing. People started gathering in the square, demanding that she be arrested and held until you were captured. Rumors spread
; stories were exaggerated. That’s when we decided it was best if she head for the ranch. I’m sure she and Hunter are okay. I escorted them there myself.”

“I had people demanding we do something… anything to restore Washington’s faith in us. The whole thing began to spiral out of control. We even had a bunch of folks form a committee and drive toward
Fort Hood, probably trying to cut a side deal. The council members all traveled back to their hometowns, trying to get everyone to calm down. There’s even been a call for new elections.”