Project Terminus (17 page)

Grinning, Bill said, “Now
that
is devious, Boss.”

Bill made an obvious exit with the three men, and the cuffed black-hats watched as they disappeared from view. A few minutes later, three shots rang out, and the faces of the captured men showed what they thought happened.

Wade said to no one in particular, “I hope this doesn’t come back to bite us in the ass. Let’s get these guys prepped for the trip to the ORNL. Then let’s go overthrow a kingdom.”

“Have you decided how you want to do that,” asked Benjamin.

“Yeah, Stuart, I have.”

Wade took the mic and stood before the cuffed black-hats. “Leaving you alive is against my better judgment. For your family’s sakes, you are being given a second chance. What you do with that opportunity is up to you. There are over two hundred fifty former SPECOPS warriors under my command, and we intend to re-establish a new society based on the Constitution of the United States. Until that happens, I am the sole judge, jury, and if necessary, executioner. I suggest you take advantage of this opportunity. You will remain cuffed until we arrive at the ORNL. Prior to our departure, you will be allowed to use the head, hydrate yourselves, and eat if you have food. We leave in thirty.”

Randal grinned and said, “Two hundred fifty SPECOPS warriors, huh?”

Wade grinned back. “Sounds more formidable than twenty. I want that figure implanted in their minds.” Turning to Benjamin he said, “Stuart, give me the status of the men you left at the ORNL.”

“Ten of Jackson’s weakest men are maintaining palace security. The other thirty-seven are what would have been yellow-hats. They shouldn’t be a problem. How do you want to proceed?”

“The first order of business is to take the ORNL. Then we’ll take down Jackson. Randal, I’m taking Bill, Cole, Wilkerson, and two of the SEALS with me. We’ll return when the ORNL is secure. Call it a week to ten days.” Turning back to Sergeant Benjamin, he said, “Stuart, as of now, you are officially a captain. Let’s get this show on the road.”

The trip to the ORNL was an uneventful day and a half trip. They stopped one mile from the gates, and eight of Benjamin’s red-hats remained with the black-hats. Benjamin and seven of his men rode in front of the Humvee. Because they didn’t want the gate guards to be alerted by their military uniforms, Wade and the five Terminators rode in the Humvee. Securing the gate took five minutes. The guards were cuffed with plastic zip ties, placed inside the gatehouse, and left under guard of a red-hat.

After taking the command center, Stuart examined the roster and saw Jackson had guards on the palace entrance and reception hall doors.

The only thing left to do was depose Jackson, then arrest the off duty guards who were in their homes. Wade and the Terminators watched as Stuart disarmed the entry door guard, flex-cuffed him, and turned him over to a Seal who took him to the command center. The reception hall was on the first floor at the end of a long hallway, and Stuart repeated the process of disarming and cuffing the reception door guard. Another SEAL took the man to the side of the double doors. Stuart looked at Wade, and with a huge grin said, “Let’s pay our respects to the king, shall we?”

The door was unlocked and they entered the reception hall of the palace of King Jackson, self-proclaimed king of the United States of America.

Stuart nodded toward a door at the rear, which led to Jackson’s suite of rooms. It too was unlocked. Crouching, they entered the living room. Stuart led them to a door on the far wall and mouthed “bedroom.” The door was unlocked. The room was dark.

Wade turned on his weapon light. The beam fell on a small figure huddled in a corner. It was Susan Small, naked, sitting on a pallet. A spiked metal collar attached to a six foot chain anchored to a plate in the wall was around her neck.

Turning towards the light, she raised her hands as if to ward off a blow.

Stuart bent down and whispered, “Susan, it’s Stuart. You’re safe. Where is he?” Susan was groggy, and he suspected she was drugged. He gently shook her shoulder and asked again where Jackson was.

She turned her head toward him and in a slurred voice said, “Bathroom.” She pointed feebly to a door.

Stuart and Bill stood on either side of the bathroom door and waited.

A minute later, Jackson came out. He was nude.

Benjamin said, “Hello, asshole,” and punched him in the face, knocking him to his knees. Cole and Wilkerson picked him up and forced him to stand.

“Where’s the key to her collar?” said Benjamin.

“You’ll
hang
for this you treasonous
dogs
. Guards!
Guards!
”

Bill had heard enough. He grabbed Jackson by the throat and went nose to nose. “Listen up, you crazy bastard. If you don’t tell me where the key to that fuckin’ collar is
right now,
I will cut your nuts off and stuff them in your mouth. You have three seconds.”

“You can’t talk to me that way. I am your
king
and you—”

“
Time’s up,
” bellowed Bill. He put the blade of his Trail Master against Jackson’s scrotum. The response was immediate.

“It-it’s in-in the pocket of my t-t-trousers, in the closet.”

Benjamin retrieved the key, removed Susan’s collar, and covered her with a blanket.

Jackson said to no one in particular, “It’s not what you think.”

Bill grabbed him by the throat. “You have no idea what any of us think, you piece of shit. Shut your mouth, because if I hear one more word come out of it, those tiny little nuts of yours are comin’ off.”

Susan was beginning to comprehend what happened and hesitantly asked Stuart, “What are you going to do with him?”

“Sorry, Susan,” replied Benjamin. “There’s only one thing we can do with him.”

“Sorry? Don’t be sorry, Stuart.
I
want to do it. Can I? Please?”

Benjamin’s face softened. “Susan, I know you’re traumatized, and I really am sorry. I wish I could have done something sooner. And I do understand, but the answer is no. Let us handle this.”

Susan started crying. “Can I at least watch? You
can’t
deny me that.”

Stuart thought for a moment, then nodded yes.

Jackson was secured in a section of the command center. The remainder of the newly formed assault force secured the guards who were home, and the men from the Robbinsville mission were secured separately from the newly captured guards. The takedown was accomplished in less than an hour.

Stuart told Wade, “They’re all accounted for, Boss. Little Soldier has a team searching their homes for weapons. Couple more hours and it’ll be done. What now?”

At 1700 hours, on Wade’s order, Benjamin assembled the complex’s population, including the overthrown guards, in a parking lot. Their children were kept secluded and watched over by three of the SEALs.

Wade stood before the men and women of the ORNL. “My name is Captain Wade Coltrane, formally of the United States Navy Special Warfare unit, also known as SEALs. I command over two hundred fifty former Special Operations soldiers. We are going to build a new society based on the Constitution of the United States of America. Until that happens, we will operate under a version of martial law. Some of you people have taken advantage of your unique situation and turned away those who desperately needed your help. In the name of your faux king, you extorted food and supplies from survivors who could not afford the loss. That is a moral failure on your part. I understand most of you accepted Jackson’s authority in order to protect your children and your spouses. I will not stand in judgment of what you did or did not do. I hope you retain enough humanity to feel guilty for your actions.

“You men who were on the Robbinsville patrol know your fate, and you can explain it to your wives and children in any manner you see fit. For those of you who have just been disarmed, you are hereby relieved of all security duties with the FPS. Your homes have been searched and your weapons confiscated. We will soon be opening the ORNL to all who need our help. You will no longer receive food from those people. If you want to eat, you will be required to work. If you refuse to work, you will be banished. In other words, if you do not work, you do not eat. You former FPS men are being given a second chance. If you prove you can be trusted, you may be re-integrated into the security forces in the future. Captain Benjamin is in charge, and his word is law.

“Mr. Jackson is guilty of murder and crimes against humanity, and will be summarily executed. I do not think you are bad people. I
do
think the majority of you were put in a situation where you chose the easy path. Unfortunately, that is a common, human failing. It is my sincere hope that it never happens again. But rest assured, my men and I will be around to ensure the ORNL is the cornerstone for a new society.”

He turned to Benjamin and said, “Don’t make a spectacle out of Jackson’s execution. Just do it, and bury the crazy bastard. From my perspective, it looks like things are pretty much under control.”

Stuart said, “Captain, I never—not in a million years—dreamed it could end this well. And I’m pretty sure they accepted what you said. I think in a way, they’re glad Jackson’s reign is over. I don’t foresee any problems, but I’d appreciate it if you’d stick around for a few days just to make sure.”

Wade smiled. “Trust me, Stuart, I’d like nothing better than to be able to take a hot shower with genuine water pressure.”

Chapter Fourteen

Flickering Light

It took three trips to the elementary school to salvage their gear, and Nina was busy examining what was left. Because so many of her people were dead, there was an abundance of clothing and footwear for those who survived. The murderers had removed the firing pins from the majority of their weapons, but they found sixty still functioning, plus hundreds of rounds of ammo. Everything was inventoried, and they had more per person now than before. The important items they salvaged included thirteen functional headsets, seven night vision devices, five solar battery chargers, twenty-two micro-water filters, plus an assortment of knives and other valuable tools and gear. Heather found Nina’s leather outfit and sword, and also brought her personal items that survived the blast.

Deep in thought, she pondered her next move. If she was going to have her revenge, she could not afford to make a mistake. Realizing it was necessary to change the way they operated, she thought,
The first thing I need is a true right hand. Someone I can trust implicitly
. And she was pretty sure she knew who that person was. Rising from her reverie, she took one last look at her cache of gear and went searching for Heather.

Nina was elated. The night spent with Heather not only provided her with a new right hand, it produced the best lover she’d ever had. She spent the next three days reorganizing what was left of The Light. Heather became her second in command, and she promoted Cougar to head scout and advisor. Meetings were held every night, and she constantly reassured and motivated her people, hammering the idea of revenge into them.

They responded. Nina was, and always would be, their beloved queen. They worshipped her and would follow her blindly, never questioning what she said or did.

Certain things had to be changed immediately. She needed a plan that would work where-ever they were, and decided the past version of The Light was too big, too incompetent, and just too difficult to feed. The new version had to be a lean, mean machine, with a core group of people she could trust. They needed a diet that didn’t consist exclusively of meat and needed to be trained in military tactics. They needed better equipment and definitely needed to be more covert. She also realized it was the roasting ceremony that did them in. They had become too big and too visible. A totally new look was needed and she had to figure out how to utilize Saadeh’s juice to her advantage.

A knock on the door interrupted her reverie. It was Cougar. The scouting party brought back three people, and he wanted to know how she wanted to proceed.

“We aren’t going to assimilate anyone until we get our act together, Cougar. Put two on the menu for tonight, and save one for tomorrow. We’re stopping the roasting ceremonies for now. You know why. Cook them in the woods away from the school. I don’t want the smoke attracting attention.”

Cougar didn’t know a lot about military tactics, but he was smart and knew how to use concealment to his advantage. Prior to the collapse, he worked construction and spent his free time in the woods. Six days after he found the “murderer’s lair,” he was teaching two of his scout recruits how to select a position, blend in, how to move and watch, when one of them said “Cougar, look,” and pointed to the north. Coming down Tapoco Road was a column of horsemen. Cougar’s first thought was that they were coming back to finish off the rest of them.

Turning to his men, he said, “I have to alert Nina. You guys stay here and keep an eye on them. I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

Nina told Heather to get everyone into the woods and take everything of value with them. “Stay hidden until we find out what they’re going to do.”

Turning to Cougar, she said, “Show me.”

They watched as the horsemen passed the elementary school and continued down the highway. They were nearly out of sight when Cougar said, “Those guys are DHS. They’re not here for us, Nina. They’re going back to those military guys.”

Nina was incredulous. “They’re going to fight those guys with fifteen men on horseback. That isn’t very smart.”

“Maybe that’s not what this is about. Should I track them and find out?”

Nina said, “Yes. But, Cougar, don’t take any chances. Just observe and get back here.”

Cougar almost stumbled into the sight line of the EOP, but his instincts, and Lady Luck, saved him again. He was about three hundred yards behind the horsemen when they stopped to water their horses. When they left, they were flying a white flag, and he stayed where he was and watched as they entered the forest service road. He remembered how the track twisted and turned, so he entered the woods on the right hand side. His intent was to secure a better vantage point. Topping the small hill above the trail, he looked back at the blacktop and immediately crouched down. He could just make out a new OP. Pulling out his binoculars, he focused on the man inside. Sweating, he thought,
Whoa, that was close, again.

When he looked back at the trail, the column was stopped and the military guys were talking to them. He couldn’t hear, but watched them shake hands, and knew this meeting had nothing to do with The Light. Following them back to Robbinsville, he watched until they disappeared north of town.

“So what’s your best guess, Cougar?”

“That meeting had nothing to do with us, Nina. I’m absolutely positive about that. It’s like you said, they think they killed us all. I think the same guy I initially followed brought those horsemen back here. I don’t know what that meeting was about, but it wasn’t hostile.”

“Maybe it’s some sort of an alliance,” suggested Heather.

“That’s a good possibility. But if it’s an alliance, it’s not against us.”

Nina told Cougar to expedite the scout team’s training that now numbered four, and set three watches. One on the hill above the high school, one about a mile north of town adjacent to Tapoco Road, and one about two miles away, on a hill with a good view of the town and surrounding area. Under ideal conditions, their two-way radios had a range of about one mile, but ideal conditions almost never existed. The effective range was only about one-quarter mile. The watch above the school could maintain radio contact, but the two outliers had to run reports back. Nina wasn’t happy with that scenario, but realized until they could obtain better radios, it was the best they could do.

Two days after setting the new watches, the school lookout radioed in. “There’s a bunch of guys coming down the highway on horseback, led by a truck.”

Cougar, Nina, and Heather hustled to the lookout and watched the procession come down the highway.

Cougar’s jaw dropped and he said, “That’s a Hummer, Nina.”

“What’s a Hummer?”

“It’s a military vehicle. It replaced the old army Jeep. They’re badass, and this one has a fifty caliber machine gun mounted on it. I count fifty-one men, plus whoever’s in the Hummer.”

Nina’s face showed concern, and Cougar gingerly touched her shoulder. “They’re not here for us, Nina. Trust me. I know exactly where they’re going, and I know what route they’re going to take. I can take you to a spot where you can watch them until they’re four or five miles south of town.”

Nina took Heather aside and said, “I need to see this. Protect our people. I’ll be back soon.”

In case it was necessary to send someone back with a message, Cougar picked one of his men to use as a runner and turned to Nina. “Are you ready?”

Nina nodded.

Cougar led them at a trot through town to a hilltop two miles away. Twenty minutes later, they were ensconced on top of the hill and could see the column of men coming up Snowbird Road. They watched as it turned left onto Hwy 143, and just as the Hummer approached the sharp curve in the road, a figure appeared out of the brush, held up his hand, and they stopped.

“Son-of-a-bitch,” muttered Nina. “That’s one of the guys who killed our people.”

They were less than two hundred yards from the procession and could clearly hear the command given over the Hummers PA system.

“Well, well, well,” muttered Nina. “Isn’t this interesting?”

Although they couldn’t hear everything being said, the body language and actions of the men told the story. It looked like they were talking to them three at a time, and Cougar pointed out the DHS men with red on their helmets were a part of the takedown, since they hadn’t been disarmed and weren’t sitting with the other guys. There was a brief pause in the process, and the last three guys were taken to the interviewers. One of those men, a big blond haired guy, was obviously not a happy camper, but after one of the military guys got in his face, he shut up. As they watched, two soldiers escorted them around a bend in the road, out of sight of the others. Because of their elevated position, Nina could see what happened next. Three shots were fired into a tree, then they were escorted down the road, their handcuffs were cut off, they were each handed a knife, and—miraculously—they were released into the woods.

Nina said, “Can you track those guys, Cougar?”

“Yeah, no problem. What do you want me to do?”

Nina told the runner to get back to the school and get Cougar’s team. “I want them armed with night vision, rope, and radios. We’ll wait here. And hurry up.”

When the runner was gone, Nina told Cougar, “I want you to capture those men and bring them to me. Can you do that?”

“Yes, I can do that.”

“Good. Don’t hurt them. I want to talk to them.”

Turning her attention back to the highway spectacle, she watched the leader walk back to the hummer and grab the mic. What he said next put everything into perspective. She knew what the ORNL was, and where it was. If this bastard thought he could bring back the United States of America with a lousy two hundred fifty men, he was in for a rude awakening. There might ultimately be another country, but it wouldn’t be a republic.

It’s going to be a monarchy
,
and it’s going to be ruled by a queen.

She now knew who the enemy was. Fifteen minutes later, three of the SPECOPS guys, including their murderous leader, entered the Hummer while three more mounted the horses once belonging to the banished DHS men. The entire procession turned back toward Robbinsville.

They’re probably going to the ORNL
, she thought. When she looked back to where the takedown took place, everyone had disappeared.

Cougar heard them long before he saw them. They were sitting in a small clearing, talking. Positioning his men, he stepped from behind a tree and pointing his AK-47, said, “Don’t move. Put your hands up. Lay on the ground.” One of his men tied their hands behind their backs. Standing over them, he said, “Someone wants to talk to you.”

Nina was jubilant as she waited on Cougar to return with the captives. Heather had never seen her so happy or motivated. She smiled at Heather and explained, “We’re going to use these guys to get what we need. They have military experience and must know a lot about the ORNL.”

“What if they don’t want to help us, Nina? What do we do then?

Nina put her arm around her, and said, “Trust me. All men think with their little heads. These three won’t be any different. I promise you. Go put on your sexiest outfit and get back here.”

Heather grinned, and said, “I got it. And if it doesn’t work, we can always eat them.”

Nina smiled back and sat down to wait for Cougar to bring her prizes.

Minutes later, Cougar appeared with the three men. Nina, smiling, sat in a reclining chair and watched as Cougar pushed them to their knees in the center of the room. Rising, she struted to a position directly in front of them and stood, hands on hips, smiling down.

The three captives stared.

“What’s your name,” asked Nina.

“What’s yours,” asked Horst.

Dressed in her black leather roasting ceremony clothing, sword in the scabbard on her back, face framed by her coal black hair, Nina smiled. Heather, dressed in a similar red leather outfit that left little to the imagination, stood at her side.

Squatting in front of Horst, Nina said in a low, calm voice, “I will only say this one time, so I suggest you pay attention. I will ask the questions and you will answer. If you can’t control your mouth and it overloads your ass, or if your male ego can’t handle what’s happening, I can rectify both problems instantly.” She withdrew her sword and rested the point on his groin.

Horst stared at her.

In that instant, Nina instinctively knew he was not only a sadistic bully, but a coward as well.
Both traits that are easily managed
, she thought.

Horst was the first to break eye contact and Nina knew she’d won the first round.

“My name is Horst.”

“Excellent. Do you have a last name, Horst?”

“Of course. It’s Nagel.”

“Is that German?”

“Yes, it’s German.”

Turning to the man to Horsts’ left, she asked, “And what is your name?”

“My name is Dick Dunst.”

“Okay, thank you, Dick.”

Turning to the last man, she looked at him and raised her eyebrows.

“I’m Charlie Best.”

“Now, that wasn’t so hard was it?”

Charlie and Dick shook their heads, but Horst just looked at her.