The Guardians (31 page)

After dinner, Evan and Griff removed the prisoner from his basement confinement and brought him before the group.  They decided that the best way to transport him would be on the back of Daryl's horse.  They were taking an off road route through the woods to avoid detection, and the horse would be packing the prisoner, a folding chair,
and Daryl's special supplies.

They lifted the man up onto the saddle a
nd tied a noose around his neck.  They then attached the noose to the saddle.  Evan then tied a rope around the man's hands and held that rope like a leash.  "If you make one peep, or do anything at all to try to get away or signal your friends, I'll yank you off of that saddle and send the horse running," Evan said in a stern and serious tone. "Do you understand me?"

The man shook his head yes in response.

Once everyone was set and ready to go, Griff took the point position and Evan the rear.  That way there was a hand held radio at each end of the group, which was important, as they would be traveling in a widely spaced apart manner in order to lessen the impact of an ambush.  The trek through the woods was mostly uneventful, with the occasional coaxing of the horse being necessary at times in the tighter spots of the vegetation.

After the long hike through the mountains and woods, they finally neared
the Muncie place. Griff brought the group to a halt and rallied everyone together.  He quietly said, "Let's hunker down here until night fall.  That's when we will deliver our friend here," he said as he pointed to the prisoner on the horse.

They set up a perimeter security and settled in for a much-needed rest after the long hike over rough terrain.  They removed the prisoner from the horse and tied him up to a tree with the rope of the noose that was around his neck.  They then gagged him and again threatened him with his life if he made even the slightest sound.

After nightfall, a few of the men had fallen asleep.  The previous night had been a sleepless one for them, as the worry and anxiety of what was to come had eaten away at their night.  Evan gently nudged them awake and quietly whispered, "Griff and I are going to go scout the place out and make our final plans.  Keep an eye on our friend there, and keep your heads and wits about you.  I'll use this turkey call to let you know it's us when we return."

"You two be careful," said Charlie Blanchard.

"Daryl, while we are gone, be getting your toys together," Evan said.  "It's almost time for your pyrotechnic debut."

Daryl just laughed and said, "Will do Sir."

With that, Evan and Griff slipped off into the darkness.  They used a very slow and methodical tactical bound to approach the property.  Now was not the time to get sloppy.  They considered their adversaries to be your average gang/thug type, but did not want to underestimate the possibility that one or more of them may have had prior military experience and knew how to set up a proper security perimeter.  They could hear music in the distance and a large bon-fire was burning behind the house.  It appeared as if a small generator was running in a shed to provide them with the power for the stereo and a few lights.

"Wow," Griff said.  "Not only are they careless and reckless, but they are wasteful too.  Burning fuel just t
o play music...what the hell?"

"Why conserve fuel when you can just take what you need by force?" Evan replied.  "They probably see the world as having an unlimited supply of everything, for those who are willing to take it that is."

"True," replied Griff.  "Well, the bonfire is a jackpot for us.  All of those idiots drinking and hanging out around the fire won't have jack for night vision.  That'll help us put our friend into position to get the party started in the morning."

"Not to mention the fact that come morning
, they will be worn out and hung over, and we will be ready and raring to go," added Evan.

"How many can you see?" asked Griff.

"Looks like about twelve around back by the fire," said Evan.  "I can't tell what's in the house of course.  Probably at least a few more in there and then there is the guy on the front porch with a rifle that must be their watch.  That's a minimum of thirteen, but one has to assume there are more."

"It must take a lot a food to feed all of those people," added Griff.

"Hence the stolen cattle," replied Evan.  "One cow goes a long way."

"True...Well, let's get back to the guys and get everything together.  We need the cover of darkness to set up," replied Griff.

Evan and Griff returned to the group and they gave a final briefing as to what everyone's job was and what to expect.  Evan explained, "Daryl will be the closest to the house to operate his contraption, so Griff will be with him with the bump fire AK to give him a suppressive fire to initiate a retreat if need be.  If their fall back is successful after the blast, Daryl will set up with his Savage model 12 and join in on the long range harassing fire with the rest.  I'll be on the lower west corner of the tree line, Daryl will move to the lower east corner, Jimmy you take the upper west, and Charlie you take the upper east end, and Billy, you be a floater."

"A floater?" Billy i
nquired.

"Yea, basically don't be tied down to one position." Evan clarified.  "Move around and direct fire where it seems needed the most, then move around some more.  The four corners will keep them pinned down from all directions, keeping them confused at size and strength, and the
floater will only magnify that.  They won't know it's the same guy moving around.  Also, Griff will do the same once Daryl is in his secondary position.  A little full auto AK fire will rattle their cages and definitely make them second-guess our force strength.  One more thing, being on the move, Griff will be the commander of the operation.  He's got a flare gun with two different colors.  If he pops green, it's time to pull out and rally at the Farm for a head count and debrief.  If he pops red, it's an emergency mission abort.  If you see a red flare, bug out and split up.  In either case, don't go home.  You don't want to be followed back to your family.  Rally at the Farm on green, and every man for himself on red.  Just make sure you if things go red to give it a few days before you go home, and make sure you aren't being followed if that is the case."

"Any questions?" asked Griff. 

"What are our targets exactly?" Asked Charlie.  "Are we shooting to kill?" he asked in a nervous manner.

"Unfortunately, yes," Griff responded.  "There is no civil way to play this out.  Think of your families, and think of Ollie, Isaac, and all of those you are saving by getting rid of this problem."

"I know, I know, I'm sorry.  I'm just having a hard time believing this is all real," replied Charlie.  "Don't worry, I'll be fine."

"Well guys," Griff said wrapping things up, "If there are no more questions, Evan, Daryl, and I will deal with our friend.  You all get into position, and when the sun comes up, you will get your signal to open fire."

With that they all did as instructed.  Evan, Daryl, and Griff untied the prisoner from the tree and Griff said, "OK, time to get you back to your buddies, but one peep or one sketchy move from you on the way there and I'll slit your throat, do you understand?" Griff asked with his hand on his knife.

The man nodded in the affirmative and off they went.  While the others proceeded to their assigned positions, Evan, Daryl, and Griff took the prisoner, the chair, and Daryl's flint bomb to the center of the property, at the bottom of a long and sloping hill that served as a l
arge front yard.  It was approximately one hundred and fifty yards of cleared area to the tree line with a gravel driveway running up the center of the property to the house.  As the party seemed to die down and the Muncie gang began to settle in for the night, Evan and Daryl snuck up the driveway with the man, covered by the darkness of the pre-dawn morning.  At about half way, approximately seventy five yards from the house, they unfolded the chair and sat the man down on it, tying his legs to the chair legs and tying his neck, via the noose, to his hands around the back of the chair.  The man was secure and was unable to get up and run away.  While Griff and Evan were tying him in place, Daryl placed his flint bomb inside a small backpack and hung it over the man's shoulders and over the back of the chair.  The man started to squirm trying to figure out what the pack was all about, but Evan quickly ended his curiosity with a knife to the throat saying quietly, "One more move and all they will find is a bled out corpse in the morning."

As the final step, Daryl rigged a pieced of fishing line to the flint lock mechanism main trigger, cocked the hammer, and tied the other end to the man's belt.  There was only a few inches of slack from the line to the pack, as was Daryl's design.  Griff hung a sign around the man's neck, visible from the front that read, "A peace offering from The Guardians."

As they began to walk away, Evan turned to the man and whispered in his ear, "Move before they come out to get you and we will shoot you dead where you sit.  There will be several sets of crosshairs on you at all times.  While you sit here waiting for your friends to rescue you, I recommend you look back over your worthless life, remember all of those you have harmed, and beg God for forgiveness."

Evan then went to his corner, and Daryl and Griff set up in the middle directly behind the chair, just over a hill behind some bushes.  This position was chosen as a back up to the trigger mechanism.  Daryl had strung out a fishing line to this location from which he could activate the trigger if the primary triggering mechanism did not present the opportunity.

As the sunrise began to appear over the hills from the east, Evan could not help but think about just how beautiful life was.  Just how wonderful everything that God had given us could be, yet our fellow humans keep messing it up, over and over again.  He resented that he had to take this action.  He resented that bad people force good people into these sort of situations, bringing them somewhat down to their level.  Oh well he thought, what must be done, must be done.

As the sunlight reached the prisoner in the chair, the man who was on duty to watch the front of the property began to yell for the others.  "Frank, get Frank!  It's that dumb ass Pete
we sent to watch the rancher!"

Several other men appeared with an assortment of weaponry, all pointing their rifles in random directions as if they felt they were being watched by whoever left their cohort tied up in the chair in the dead center of the lawn.  When Frank Muncie Jr. appeared
, it looked as if he was giving orders to a few of the other men, there was some argument, and then two of them, both armed with shotguns, began to work their way out to the prisoner.

"Well, I guess we know our prisoner's name now," said Daryl.  "I personally would have rather not known that.  It makes it a little more personal now."

Griff just patted him on the back and turned his attention back to the two men approaching the chair.  As they got a little closer, they read the sign around his neck.  One of them chuckled, and removed the sign while the other started removing the gag from Pete's mouth.  As he worked to untie the gag, the man said, "Pete, you sorry piece of shit you've always been a liability.  You had to go and get yourself caught and led them right to us didn't you.  Frank's gonna have fun teaching you a lesson.  You're screwed."

As the gag came off Pete said, "No, we are screwed," as Daryl pulled the line, dropping the flint lock hammer against the frizzen, igniting the charge sending Pete and the other two men straight to hell in a devastating explosion that shook the entire home.  Nothing but a crater remained in the yard, as bits of debris and body parts ca
me falling down to the ground.

Before Frank Jr. even knew what had happened
, The Guardians opened fire on the house.  Griff laid down a suppressing fire with the AK, while Daryl fell back to his secondary position.  The sound of fully automatic fire from the bump fire AK sent the men at the house scurrying in all directions.  Evan began firing the big fifty at the front door of the house.  He wanted to take it off of its hinges to make them feel vulnerable that they no longer had the simple ability to even shut the door.  One shot to the upper hinge, reload, and a second shot to the lower hinge, and the door fell violently off of its frame.  He then turned his attention to the structure of the home itself.  He felt if he could get some of the large bullets through the wooden walls, the feeling of safety behind cover would be a thing of the past for them.  As his shot's hit the walls, the air inside of the home was filled with splinters and shards of wood as the walls just seemed to rip themselves apart.  The other three, with much less firepower, focused on soft targets.  Two of the Muncie gang were cut down before they got inside.  One took a gut shot on the front porch and laid in plain view shivering and convulsing with pain, as he died a slow and painful death.  Another was shot in the back from Jimmy's position, while Charlie focused on the back door, shredding it into jagged pieces with the rapid fire of his AR-10.

Once the remaining Muncie gang members had all retreated into the house, The Guardians focused their fire on non-human soft targets such as windows, rainwater barrels, ATV's, vehicles, and anything else that looked to be of use to them, including the stereo they were using the previous night.  After a few moments, return fire began coming from the house.  It seemed random and sporadic, as if they had no idea where the incoming shots were coming from.  The Guardians then returned their focus to the windows.  They were not sure if they hit anyone inside the home, but they did notice that the rate of return
fire was reduced dramatically.