Chapter 13
“Put the gun down,” the man from the terrorist cell said.
“You first,” I replied.
Neither of us moved. Instead, we both kept our guns trained on one another.
It saddened me when I realized how young the guy was. He couldn’t have been older than twenty-three, judging by the peach fuzz on his chin and the naivety in his eyes. He wore a camouflaged helmet on his head, a matching jacket, and a dark green vest that held a couple of spare clips of ammo. He completed his tough guy look with a pair of dark green cargo pants and some tough walking boots, both of which were black and muddy from his time in the forest. He held his rifle confidently, and it was a sorry sight to watch this young, indoctrinated man so ready to kill for such a disgusting cause.
Still, he had a lethal weapon in his hands, so I had to take him seriously while I considered the best way to deal with this. He was a kid, really, and he clearly wasn’t one of the more senior members of his cell since he was out in the woods manning the perimeter. That meant that he probably didn’t know many details about the plan or all of the people involved, which planted the seed of an idea in my mind.
“I am scanning for devices nearby,” Francine said.
“Who are you?” the boy demanded.
“I could ask you the same thing, son,” I replied.
“Well… I asked first,” he said with a smirk.
“Alright, good point,” I replied. “I’m Mack.”
“Mack?” he repeated.
“That’s right,” I said.
“Right,” he replied in a tone that told me he didn’t believe me. “And what’re you doing here, Mack?”
“I--” I began.
“And don’t say that you could ask me the same thing,” he said.
“Fine,” I said. “I’m the new guy.”
“The new guy?” he asked.
“Yeah,” I replied. “Didn’t you know I was coming?”
“I have the name of someone on the encrypted message chain,” Francine said. “Kurt Keller.”
“Kurt knows I’m arriving today,” I added.
“Kurt?” he asked, and for a moment, I wondered if Francine had gotten the name wrong.
“Yeah, Kurt,” I replied. “Kurt Keller.”
“How do you know Kurt?” he asked, which confirmed that Kurt was a real person.
“I just told you, he recruited me and told me to come here,” I said.
“He said we didn’t need any other people joining,” the kid said.
“Well, for a project like the one you’re working on, you need all the help you can get,” I said. “An extra pair of hands can’t hurt, right?”
“I don’t know if I believe you,” he protested, but he didn’t let his gun drop an inch. “What the hell are you doing up here? Why didn’t you use the gate?”
“I just can’t believe they forgot to tell you I was coming,” I sighed. “And honestly, I got lost on the road. But I remembered Kurt said it was just a short hike in from the trail, so I decided to try that.”
The boy was insecure about his place in the cell, that much was clear to me. So, I decided to use that to my advantage to get him on my side, at least long enough for me to knock him out before he could alert the rest of the group to my presence. It seemed harsh, but it was necessary.
“They didn’t forget,” he huffed after a moment’s consideration.
“So, you did know I was coming?” I asked.
“Of course, I did,” he said. “I just forgot.”
“I guess with that scientist guy arriving today, it must have slipped your mind,” I said as I began to lower my gun.
“Yeah,” he replied as he started to lower his.
He wasn’t the brightest bulb in the pack, but he was also still unsure about me. He gnawed at his lip as he tried to decide whether he trusted me or not, so I lowered my gun another inch, and he did the same. We stared at one another for a moment, and then he looked over toward the base he was meant to be protecting.
“Sorry for startling you,” I said.
“I still don’t understand why you’re back here,” he replied. “Even the trail takes you to the gate.”
“I don’t really know what happened,” I chuckled. “My sense of direction isn’t too good. I’m not much of an outdoorsman.”
“Right,” he said as he looked intently at me.
“What?” I asked.
“Nothing,” he replied.
“Should we head over?” I asked. “Or do you have to stay here and keep watch?”
“I’ll take you there,” he said. “We don’t want someone else shooting you before you have a chance to check in.”
We took a couple of steps toward the camp before he paused. He looked back at me, and then he looked past me to my spy nest. We both saw my rucksack and my binoculars at the same time, and I saw the look cross his face when he realized he’d been played.
“Shit,” he said as he started to raise his gun again.
But I was faster. I pointed my gun and fired in one smooth, silent motion, but his gun went off a heartbeat later. He missed by a mile since he’d pulled the trigger as he was collapsing unconscious to the forest floor, but the sound of the rifle seemed to echo across the valley.
I didn’t need to check the base to know that they’d heard the crack of the rifle, but the kid in front of me was roughly the same size and build as me. We even had on similar pants and boots, so all I really needed was the jacket, vest, and helmet.
There were a few shouts from the compound, so I quickly removed the kid’s jacket and vest and slipped those on. I found a pair of sunglasses in one of the pockets as well as one of those green neck gaiters that I could use to cover my nose and mouth. I pulled the gaiter up, replaced the cap on my head, which I put in my backpack, with his helmet, and then grabbed the guy by his ankles. I started to drag him behind into some brush, but I could hear footsteps approaching my spot.
“Shit,” I muttered as I grabbed up my rucksack as well.
There was an old log buried beneath the brambles, so I unceremoniously chucked the unconscious neo-Nazi behind it and then dove in next to him. It was a thick, long trunk that laid across the forest floor, but it wasn’t big enough to hide two adults behind it.
“Shit,” I hissed again.
I peeked over the tree and saw another man step onto the ridgeline. He was older, and by the way he studied the scene, I guessed he was probably a hunter.
“Yo,” the man called out.
I didn’t answer or even move a muscle.
“Whatever your name is?” he shouted. “New dude. Was that you?”
I looked down at the boy. Was he the ‘new dude’? This man clearly didn’t know who the boy was, let alone what he looked like, probably. Well, I didn’t know that for sure, but I had to believe it. This just might be my way out. It was time to put the uniform to the test.
I got up from behind the tree and began to walk toward the other man.
“Will, what are you doing?” Francine asked. “This is dangerous!”
“Don’t worry,” I whispered. “I know what I’m doing.”
“I hope you do,” it replied.
The man spun around, gun raised, the second he sensed me coming. I immediately raised both hands in surrender, although I still had the boy’s gun in one hand. My palms were sweaty, and my heart beat against my ribs like a caged animal. Walking toward someone holding a gun was never recommended, and even with my suit on, it was still an unnatural thing to do. However, I needed to convince him that I was one of the neo-Nazis, so I only stopped walking once I was a couple of yards away from him.
He looked at me for a moment, and then he lowered his gun. I let my hands drop as well, and then I watched as he swaggered over to me.
“Don’t sneak up on people like that, dude,” he said and gave me a friendly smack on the back of the helmet.
“Sorry,” I said. “I needed to take a leak.”
“Right,” he sighed. “Did you hear a shot go off?”
“Oh, yeah, that was me,” I said.
“What the hell did you do that for?” he asked.
“I saw a nice buck,” I said with a shrug.
“Shit, dude,” he sighed. “Do that on your own time. Not on patrol. People will complain to the rangers, and then they’ll come nosing around.”
“Sorry,” I replied. “It won’t happen again.”
“Damn right, it won’t,” he said. “Or I’ll wring your neck myself.”
“I’d like to see you try,” I replied.
He looked at me for a moment intensely, and I wondered if I’d fucked up, but then he punched me on the arm and laughed. I laughed as well.
“I like you, man,” he said. “What was your name again? It totally slipped my mind.”
“Oh, uh…” I said.
“Hunter Peck,” Francine said.
“Hunter,” I said.
“Forget your name for a second?” he chuckled as he punched me on the other arm.
Why did this guy like hitting me so much?
“I didn’t get much sleep last night,” I said.
“You and me, both,” he sighed. “That damn tent is freezing, and I’m pretty sure I heard Harry out there on watch last night. That dude’s louder than my grandma’s neon curtains, and he doesn’t shut up.”
“Yeah,” I laughed. “At least we aren’t here for too much longer.”
“Right,” he said. “Although I think I’ll give Harry a smack if he’s as loud tonight as he was last night.”
“I’ll be right there with you,” I said.
“I’ll hold you to that,” he said as he went to nudge me again, but I stepped out of his range. “Well, we’d better get back to our positions. I’ll talk to you later, I’m sure. And remember, no shooting unless it’s a human.”
“Yeah,” I said.
And just like that, the friendliness of the conversation was overruled by the darkness of the situation. This man was a white supremacist, a racist, and a neo-Nazi intent on hurting innocent civilians with a bomb. And there he was, laughing and joking around like he was one of the good guys. There was no remorse or guilt in his eyes about what was going on in the base, no question of whether any of it was wrong, just an irritating complaint about a cold tent.
I felt my anger start to rise as I watched him walk away, but I let my rage slowly dissipate with a few deep breaths. I reminded myself that I needed to be focused, logical, and almost surgical about how I was going to do this. I needed to get into the base, and though the uniform seemed to have worked on the other perimeter guard, that didn’t guarantee that no one else wouldn’t realize I was an intruder as well.
“I did not enjoy that,” Francine said.
“You think I did?” I asked.
“I did not know you were such a talented actor, Will,” it said.
“Neither did I,” I admitted. “I think the uniform helped.”
“Yes, probably,” it said. “You need to find a way to get inside.”
“I’m working on it,” I replied.
I looked over at the base, which was still a good distance away from where I was. The sound of the rifle had brought more guards to the fenceline, and although they were slowly returning to whatever they’d been doing, there were still a lot of people around.
I checked the time and saw that I still had ten minutes to go before the next group of guards came on duty. That was enough time to find a good way in with the least amount of people around.
I checked to make sure the other guard wasn’t watching me, and then I started to move toward the base. Despite my new disguise, I tried to stay out of sight for as long as I could, though the slope made that difficult.
My best bet was the old farmhouse. I knew from my surveillance that there were two guards near the small gate that gave access to that part of the property, but they’d been sitting on a pair of old barrels and sipping from their mugs since they came on duty. Even through the binoculars, I could tell that they spent most of their time telling stories and swapping jokes, and they never once looked toward the forest. That was understandable, since they had the guys on the perimeter to ward off any unwanted visitors, but it was also a lapse in security that I could take advantage of.
But then I had to duck behind a tree when I saw a third man approach the pair. He oozed authority, and his tall frame gave him a certain power as he loomed over everyone. He looked around the same age as me, or the same age I had looked before Francine had interfered. He had a mean face with beady eyes and a dark, furrowed brow, which was almost as hairy as the caterpillar that sat above his top lip. He also wore camouflage clothing, but he had a red patch on his vest that seemed to indicate some sort of high rank.
My targets didn’t even notice him until he rounded the corner of the old house and descended on the unlucky pair like a storm cloud. The two hapless guards sprang to attention when they finally noticed the leader, which sent their mugs tumbling to the ground.
“What the hell do you boys think you’re doing?” Captain Mustache asked them.
“We were, just, uh…” one of them said.
“I can tell you what you weren’t doing,” he said. “Guarding this base.”
“We were, sir,” the other one said.
“Don’t argue with me, son,” the leader hissed. “I saw what I saw. You two slacking, having a chat and a cup of coffee, rather than making sure this property is secure. Didn’t you hear that gunshot go off?”
Shit, he had heard it.
“Yeah…” the first guard said in the least convincing tone I had ever heard.
“You two are useless,” Mustache sighed. “Go and get Hopper and Trahan and tell them their shift is starting early because of you two idiots.”
“Yes, sir,” they said in unison before they scurried off as fast as their legs would carry them.
Mustache looked out into the woods for a moment, fortunately not in my direction, and then he shook his head and trudged back into the base.
This was my chance. The entrance was unmanned for the moment while the slackers went to find their replacements, but two more were on their way, and I couldn’t count on the new guards being as lax as the first pair. I had to move now.
I came out from behind the tree and sprinted down the rest of the gentle slope that led to the base. I kept my eyes peeled for any reaction to my run, but most of the activity was focused around the barn and the main gate.
I made it to the fence without being seen and flattened myself against it. I took a second to catch my breath, and then I peered around the corner of the gate to see what I was up against.
My immediate path was clear since no one was using the old house, but there were plenty of neo-Nazis milling around the stretch of land between the house and the barn. Could I make it through the crowd without someone stopping me, or would I be better off trying to find another way to the barn?
I glanced toward the large tent and saw the two original guards at the house standing just outside the flaps while they talked to two other men. The other men looked royally pissed off about something, probably because their shift was being extended by an extra ten minutes. It was an intense discussion, but the new guards moved toward a garbage can with their trays, which meant I was running out of time.
There was a chain and padlock on the gate, but the chain was too long. I could move the gate just enough to slip inside, though there was a moment when I thought I might get stuck.
Once I was through, I did a quick check of the area, but no one was pointing in my direction or yelling at me to stop, so I must have made it in without being noticed. But Trahan and Hopper were moving toward the house, so I had to get out of sight. I could hear voices in the old shed, so that was out, and I suddenly realized just how little cover there was inside the fence.
“Damn,” I said as I looked back over at the two guards.
Suddenly, the man with the mustache reappeared and stormed over to Hopper and Trahan. He was yelling, and though I couldn’t hear everything he said, I did hear ‘get your slow asses in gear’.
There was more shouting from the leader, so I took advantage of the distraction to dart toward the old house and dove through the doorway. I landed with a thud, but I hadn’t felt a thing thanks to my superhero suit. I scrambled to my feet and pressed myself against one of the few walls that was still standing in the charred hulk.
A few moments later, I heard footsteps outside. I risked a peek through an old windowframe, and I saw Hopper and Trahan walk past the house to the gate. Before I could breathe a sigh of relief, I heard a third set of footsteps approach the house, and then a gray-haired head appeared. But the older man didn’t follow Hopper and Trahan to the gate. Instead, he stopped by the old windowframe and looked around.
And then he started to turn toward the old window.