The Storm Maker (16 page)

       “What
time is our flight?” she asked. “Are we taking a SPASI airplane?”

       “Not
‘ours’, just mine,” Sayett said. “I am not taking any detectives with me. I
want our role to be low key. Bank robberies are not typically our jurisdiction,
but by calling it a syndicate scheme, we have made it ours and stretched the
law. For the raid I want the Coldwoods town police to carry it out. Let them
take the credit and fill the newspaper pages. We will portray ourselves as
having played behind the scenes helping role. “

       “But
I am coming, aren’t I?” she asked.

       “Constellation
would flip out if I risked taking you on a field operation,” Sayett said. “But
that would be nothing compared to Colonel Sthykar’s wrath.”

       “Last
you told me I was the political boss,” Slyntya said. “So I am just ordering
myself into going.”

       “Slyntya,
forget that. What would I tell Sthykar?” he said. “He is a great friend and I
can’t expose his wife to any dangers.”

       “You
know Sthykar goes around running everywhere having these great adventures,” she
laughed. “It is about time I go on an adventure of my own as well. I will tell
him that it was my desire.”

       “Alright,”
Sayett said. “I can’t say no to you. But you have to stay at the town’s police
station and follow the raid on the radio. I will absolutely not take you on the
actual raid. I doubt they will fire on the police when their headquarters is
exposed. But if a shootout occurs, there will be stray bullets hitting
everywhere.”

       “Alright,
I will stay at the police station,” she said and sighed.

       “I
am going to drop you off then go back to the headquarters to tell my team about
my plans and get an airplane prepared.” he said,

       He
dropped her off at her home and then went back to the SPASI headquarters where
he told the team about the raid he had planned, ordered himself an airplane and
four SPASI guards and called ahead to the Southstar office to let them know
about his expected arrival. After wrapping it up he went off home and quickly
went to the bed to get up in time for the early morning flight.

“Look
who it is? It’s the Colonel,” Relkyett Wuryt said with a big grin as a car
pulled up on the grass in front of his wooden cabin. Land salesman Belvyk was
driving the car and Sthykar was sitting beside him.

       “Howdy,
friends,” Sthykar said. He got out as the car slowed down and then took out his
bag and suitcase when it had stopped. “Grateful to you, Mr. Belvyk for giving
me a ride.”

       “Glad
to do so,” Belvyk said. “You gave me a big sale today.”

       “Mr.
Belvyk, would you like some ale and meat now that you have come along?”
Relkyett asked.

       “Thank
you, but not now; I will get going.” Belvyk put his car in reverse, turned
around and drove off.

       Sthykar
saw a large piece of meat roasting on the open pit fire outside of the cabin.       “What
do you have cooking there?” he asked. “You fellas started hunting before I
arrived?”

       “That’s
an antelope I shot a couple days ago,” Relkyett said as he went to the pit, “I
figure nobody wants to go hunting on an empty stomach.”

       “You
figure right,” a short, stout man standing near the pit said. “I drove all
night yesterday and haven’t had dinner either.”

       “How
are you doing, Carvyk?” Sthykar asked.

       “Great,
Colonel,” he said.

       Two
others walked over to the pit from the cabin door, holding bottles of ale. One
of them was Dentar, an ex-capitan in the Mountain Army—a tall man with large
whiskers; the other  was Evyk, a balding man of medium height and stature.

       “Who
else has arrived?” Sthykar asked Relkyett as the man was sticking a poker into
the meat to gauge its tenderness.

       “There
is Felptar, Hayett, Colonel Jontvyk and Karyett inside the house,” Relkyett
said. “They are playing a game of cards.”

        “What’s
wrong with your cabin?” Sthykar looked at the cabin. He saw two rooms that had
been made with wood and were fully finished. However a smaller room to the side
had only been half completed, while an even smaller room to the far left just
had logs and tools lying around. Work had barely begun on that.

       “He
has left it unfinished deliberately,” Carvyk said, “so he can get us to work on
it.”

       “We
aren’t going to be hunting the whole day after all,” Relkyett chuckled. “You
folks might as well give me a hand. Right, Evyk? You are practically a
carpenter.”

       “Practically!”
Evyk laughed. “I am an accountant at a furniture company, not a carpenter. I
know no more about carpentry than picking up a saw and cutting a log.”

       “Howdy,
Colonel?” A man walked out of the house. He was completely bald, holding a
small whiskey bottle in his hand.

       “Colonel
Jontvyk,” Sthykar nodded his head.

       “I
just lost the damn game,” he said after taking a swill from his whiskey. “First
one out, bad luck in every hand.”

       “Relkyett,
who else is coming?” Sthykar asked.

       “There
will be fifteen of us, counting me,” Relkyett said. “Kartar, Muftar, Nyk and
Pelyett are driving together; and so are Symptar and Tulkar. They should reach
here by the time this antelope is ready.”

       “Hope
so,” Jontvyk said. “I want to get in at least one hunt today. Those of us still
in the army don’t get long vacations, right, Colonel?” he looked at Sthykar.

       “Definitely
want to get in one hunt before tonight,” Sthykar said.

       They
talked over the roasting meat while Relkyett poked it with the poker a few
times. After half an hour he announced that it was sufficiently cooked. He
picked up a big hunting knife and carved off pieces for each of them. As they
were chomping down on the succulent meat, Relkyett put a few pieces on a plate
and took them inside the house for the three friends playing cards.

       He
and Karyett walked out carrying their hunting rifles. Karyett was a capitan in
the Regular Army, under Colonel Jontvyk’s command. He was a man with a rough
shaven beard and a natural smile that seemed to always hang on his face.

       “You
got cut, too ?” Jontvyk asked.

       “Almost,”
Karyett replied biting on a bone. “I called it quits; been getting nothing but
bad hands; wouldn’t have lasted more than ten minutes.”

       They
finished their food. Relkyett wrapped the remaining antelope in an old
newspaper and took it inside.

       “Where
did these people get lost?” Sthykar asked about the six of their friends who
still had not arrived.

       “I
say let’s get on with the hunting ourselves,” Dentar said. “If they miss one
hunt, so what, didn’t miss much.”

       “Agreed,”
Jontvyk said. “I have been holed up on the army base too long signing off on
soldiers’ papers like a clerk. Can’t wait to get out there and fire off.”

       “Felptar
and Hayett are going to finish their card game,” Relkyett said as he came out
of the house. “They said they rather go when everyone is here, and we need
someone to wait on the arrival of the others.”

       “Leave
them,” Carvyk said. “They will be playing cards even when we return.”

       “Alright,
let’s go,” Sthykar said, “Relkyett lead the way.”

       Relkyett
slung his rifle over his shoulder and started walking away from the house and
Sthykar, Jontvyk, Karyett, Carvyk, Dentar and Evyk followed him, each with his
own rifle.

* * *

       Sthykar
knelt down over the dead carcass of the deer he had shot just a minute ago. He
put his rifle besides the dead deer and then took out his long hunting knife.
The rest of his friends were walking nearby trying to find their own hunt.
Jontvyk had shot a rabbit earlier, which he had bagged; Carvyk managed to get a
raccoon, which he was carrying in his hand. Now Sthykar had his game, but the
rest were still wandering around looking. This place was wonderful for hunting,
Sthykar thought. He started carving the deer body into pieces to transport back
to the cabin.
This will be the feast tonight
. There was so much game
present here, Sthykar was delighted. His own land plot was five times larger
than Relkyett’s and would be bristling with even more game.

       Sthykar
was an avid hunter, but he was a decent cook as well. He thought about making
some dish out of this deer for his friends tonight. Perhaps a stew? He took out
a thick plastic sheet from his bag and a cigarette from his pocket. While
puffing on his cigarette, he neatly wrapped the deer meat and placed it in his
hunting bag. He walked over to his friends; Jontvyk was sitting under a tree taking
another gulp from his whiskey bottle. The rest of them arrived within a few
minutes.

       “Sthykar
got a deer,” Relkyett said. “That could do for us tonight.”

       “Might
be enough for stomach, but I would prefer more variety,” Carvyk said.

       “Let’s
go further on, mayhaps we come upon another animal,” Karyett said.

       Relkyett
led the way and all of them walked together behind him with their rifles on
their shoulders or carried across their hands.

       “I
have to admit,” Relkyett said, “I have been here for a while, but haven’t
really explored my property. Don’t really know where the game animals are.”

       “More
fun this way,” Jontvyk said, “searching them out, rather than just going to a
place with a big herd and taking can’t-miss shots.”

       Relkyett
had spent much of his time while here mostly working on constructing his cabin
and he had hunted only a few acres around that. He hadn’t had any chance to
explore his larger surroundings or to make himself familiar with this area. His
own property now seemed like a strange and foreign land to him. As they walked
further on they found themselves standing at the foot of a densely wooded hill.

       They
heard a loud thunder crack across the sky. Dark clouds had started to gather
and it started drizzling.

       “Looks
like it’s going to pour.” Evyk said. “You want to turn back?”

       “Regardless,
we are going to get soaked,” Dentar said, “even if we turn back now, it will be
a long walk back to the cabin.”

       “Hope
that cabin doesn’t leak,” Carvyk said and everyone laughed.

       “Let’s
get at least one more big one,” Jontvyk said and they continued walking along
the path.

       Sthykar
flicked away his cigarette butt and took out another one. He liked hiking along
as they were on lush grass now with a few occasional brushes, a sharp contrast
to a hill some distance in front of them that was like a carpet of trees. They
walked through the trees, their boots crushing the weeds; they parted branches
with their rifles. They climbed the hill and stopped to take in the view from
the top.

       Majestic
scenery opened up right before their eyes. From where they had come from was a
lush carpet of grass and bushes interspersed with random trees, but in front of
them lay a thick forest. There was a creek behind them, albeit to the side,
that they had missed on their way here.

       “Let’s
rest for a while,” Dentar said. “We have walked a lot today and some of us
drove long distances before that.”

       They
agreed on that and sat down on the top of the hill. Some lay back and looked up
at the sky. Relaxing themselves, puffing cigarettes and cigars, taking gulps
from whiskey bottles they looked at the darkening sky, occasionally wiping away
the drizzle bouncing off their faces.

       This
day of peace and serenity and even a type of solitude—although there were a
handful of them—was in sharp contrast to the regular life they led. Most of
them were army men—current and retired—and had been through combat and partaken
in bloody battles. Even those who weren’t soldiers had regular work schedules.
However today that was whole another world and this vacation was the crisp
refreshment that would drain their accumulated worries and send them back out
with a new fervor.

       Sthykar
was gazing out in no particular direction and thinking about his wife and less
about his surroundings. But a sight kept irritating him as he looked southward.
There was something in the distant forest that he subconsciously kept returning
to for a glance. He squinted and looked at the object in the distance. It was a
small speck or rather a thin line rising over the trees. This was odd. It
looked like a wall. He had seen similar sights before when looking at garrisons
in the jungles. He took out his binoculars and looked through them. The
distance was still a lot, but now the line rising over the trees appeared much
thicker.

       “What
are you looking at, Colonel?” Jontvyk asked.

       “Take
a look in that direction,” Sthykar said, pointing where he was looking. “Tell
me what you see?”

       Colonel
Jontvyk looked at it with his own binoculars as did a couple of others.

       “A
garrison?” Jontvyk blurted. “That’s strange.”

       “I
myself don’t know,” Relkyett said who was also looking with his binoculars.,
“Could be that lumber company’s building. Want to see what it is?”

       “While
we are at it,” Sthykar said. “Let’s mark this point as our end for the day. If
we find big game on the way there, then great; but if we don’t, its deer stew
for the main course and rabbit and raccoon for starters.”

       “I
can live with that,” Dentar said.

       “I
have some old meat in the refrigerator,” Relkyett said. “But I assume all of
you want to eat fresh game.”

       They
nodded and began their descent down the hill through thick stands of trees and
denser vegetation. They trotted down the hill and then walked slower towards
the ‘line’ they were seeing just at the horizon. It was a long distance to walk
after a day of stalking and hunting, but their curiosity had been roused and
this was too odd a fact to leave uninvestigated. They kept walking through the
forest.

       When
they were about a hundred feet away and a gap appeared between the trees,
Sthykar looked at it with his binoculars and was startled. He raised his hand
for everyone to stop and handed the binoculars to Relkyett.

       “Strange,”
Relkyett said. “That’s a tall concrete wall with wire on top. Lot of trouble
for a lumber company to go through just to keep animals out.”

       “A
fence would have done just fine,” Sthykar said. “This is something else.”

       “Let’s
find out,” Jontvyk said.

       “Alright,”
Sthykar said. “This is most likely nothing much, but just to be sure, we will
be in the scouting role now.”

       “Care
to explain that to those of us not in the army?” Carvyk asked.

       “That’s
just you and me Carvyk,” Evyk said, “We will just do what they do.”

       “Do
that,” Sthykar said. “We walk slowly, avoid stepping on leaves or twigs, don’t
move branches unless you have to and keep talking down to a whisper.”