Survivors (29 page)

I was looking for patterns. Who was the
leader of this group of several hundred misfits?
Was it the guy in the army Hummer? The people
gathered in the parking lot seemed organized into
cliques, small groups of mostly men and some
women. A building just north of the parking lot
must have held the group’s food supply, because
from time to time people would enter and then
leave eating some type of food.

There was a lot of drinking going on. I
thought about the endless supply of liquor available for the taking. The supply of hard drugs was no
longer available; but liquor would be plentiful, at
least for a couple of years. Suddenly, a woman
emerged from a building near the food place and
rang a bell. Like pavlovian dogs, people began moving to the building. Within an hour more than two
hundred people had passed through the entrance
and emerged a few minutes later with their food
and drinks.

They all ate in small groups and then threw
away their disposable plates near several overflowing trash cans.

Just as the sun was dipping below the horizon, the lady with the bell rang it again, and all the
misfits gathered in front of the door to the food
pantry. A man wearing army fatigues and a black
cowboy hat emerged from the building and addressed the crowd.

I couldn’t hear what he was saying; he was
just too far away, but his people seemed to be listening intently and periodically shouting their approval.

My phone suddenly rang. It was Arnie. They
had just landed at the meeting point and were
heading over to Fort Gordon in our U-Haul. I explained the situation and suggested Elizabeth park
along Range Road in the woods near the facility’s
fence. When I explained I had moved to the roof of
a tall building near the parking lot, there was silence for a moment, and then Arnie asked if the
team should meet at the building. “That’s what I’m
suggesting Arnie. Private Duncan can guide you to
the place where I’m located.”

“Private Duncan gave me satellite maps of
the whole complex before we left. I think I know
where you’re hiding, but we’ll talk more when we
get there. And Jim, whatever you do, stay put and
just keep observing what the hell’s going on.”

Why was everyone trying to get me to do
nothing? By moving to this building I had learned
much more about what was going on instead of
staying on the edge of the woods spinning my
wheels. I know they just wanted me to stay safe,
but I kept thinking of Jessie, and I wondered what
evil things she was being exposed to.

I kept looking at my watch waiting for a call
from Arnie. It was dark now, and a gentle breeze
out of the west had blown away the high humidity
following the rain. My clothes had all dried out,
and most of the social misfits had moved into the
barracks surrounding the parking lot for the night.

The call from Arnie finally came in. The
team was at the fence about a mile southwest of
the parking lot. The flyover of the next satellite was
scheduled to begin in three minutes, and Private
Duncan was going to provide real-time eyes for the
team as they made their approach to my building.

I moved to the west side of the roof and
tried to observe their approach, but it was really
too dark to see anything, so I decided to walk down
to the ground floor and meet them at the lobby
door.

I figured a normal walk would take about
twenty minutes, but this was not a normal walk,
and even with Private Duncan guiding them, it
would still probably take them almost forty
minutes to arrive.

I finally saw the group of five plus Elizabeth
moving cautiously between two buildings across
the street to the west. They were walking slowly in
single file and then crossed the street one at a
time. I gave Arnie the bear hug thing. I high-fived
Sammy Lafayette, and then Arnie introduced me to
the rest of the rescue team: Brenda, Billy Joe, and
Eddie. Arnie handed me an armor vest and an M16
rifle.

I led the group up to the roof, and the seven
of us looked east at the building where I thought
Jessie was being held. Arnie said, “We’ve been
studying pictures of the building, and Private Duncan says there’re always two guards in the front
and they’re always sitting in chairs. They seem to
check inside the building every hour or so, and the
guards are changed every four hours. The guards
each have a single rifle. I’m thinking Eddie and I
will position ourselves on both their flanks and try
to take them out simultaneously with our silenced
sniper rifles.”

Elizabeth interrupted, “That may make too
much noise. I’ve got a better idea. I saw an empty
bottle of whiskey in front of the building. I’m going
to walk up the street in plain sight with the bottle
in my hand. I’ll pretend I just arrived and I’m
drunk. I’ll ask one of them if they want to have sex,
and I’ll lead them to the back of the building. You
can take him out with a knife when his back is
turned.”

I was shocked to hear Elizabeth explain her
plan, but I wasn’t the only one. Arnie said, “It’s too
dangerous.”

Elizabeth was pissed. “It’s less dangerous
than your plan. You just don’t want me to do it because I’m a woman. But here’s the thing; Rich was
a good friend of mine, and these guys killed him for
no good reason. This is personal for me now, very
personal.”

Arnie considered things carefully. “Okay,
we’ll go with Elizabeth’s plan. I’m the best with a
knife, so I’ll hide behind the air-conditioning compressor on the side of the building. Elizabeth, you
bring the guy to the side of the building, and stop
just before the compressor. Get him to face the
wall, and then I’ll take him out.”

“Eddie, you position yourself in front of the
building and to the right. If things go bad, then
take them out as we had planned. The rest of the
team will wait behind the barrack to the right. Any
questions?”

Elizabeth took off her body armor and
picked up an empty bottle of scotch in front of our
building. She had plenty to choose from. We moved
east across the street, and then Eddie and Elizabeth left us as they walked slowly off to the right
staying close to buildings and other ground cover.

The rest of us split up as we reached the
rear of Jessie’s prison. Arnie hid behind the large
air-conditioning unit on the right side of the building. I moved behind the barracks to the right. I
crept to the corner and knelt down on one knee
with my gun ready.

We were all in position for a good ten
minutes before I saw Elizabeth weaving unsteadily
down the street. In the moonlight, her blouse
looked unbuttoned down to her waist, and she
waved the empty bottle in her hand as she staggered up to the two guards. I could hear her say,
“Are either of you two ready to satisfy a really
horny woman?”

I could hear an argument between the two
guards. Finally Elizabeth said, “Not here, let’s go
behind the building; I don’t want your friend to
watch.”

She led the unlucky guy by the hand to the
side of the building, and she stopped just in front
of the air-conditioning unit. She leaned back
against the building and opened her blouse. She
had already taken off her bra, and the guy seemed
to stare in anticipation at her breasts.

While his eyes were fully engaged, Arnie
snuck up behind him. I saw his knife reach around
the man’s head and slit his throat. Arnie then
whispered to Elizabeth and she ran to the front of
the barracks. I heard her say to the other guard,
“Help, I think your friend just had a heart attack.
He collapsed just as soon as I took off my blouse.”

The man and Elizabeth ran back to the
dead guard. Elizabeth stood at the fallen man’s
head so the second guard had to stand with his
back to the air-conditioning system. As he knelt
down to check on his friend, Arnie once again covered the guard’s mouth and slit his throat with his
commando knife.

The rest of us reached the dead guards just
as Elizabeth finished buttoning her blouse. She
was shaking, just staring at the two dead thugs
lying on the ground with their throats slit open.
Brenda surrounded her in her arms providing comfort, and suddenly she was okay.

We moved to the front of the barrack, and
as previously agreed, Eddie stayed hidden in some
bushes near the building providing cover. I was
almost afraid to open the door to Jessie’s prison.

I think Arnie sensed my fear and pushed
me gently aside. He opened the door and stepped
inside the dark room. He took out a flashlight and
turned it on. “Holy shit,” was all I heard him say.
I stepped inside the prison and couldn’t believe what I was seeing. There were over a dozen
women sleeping in beds. Jessie was in the fourth
bed on the left and was looking into the bright light
shining in her eyes. All of the women were handcuffed to their beds. I called out Jessie’s name and
she was suddenly wide awake.

I ran to her side and hugged her with an intensity I never knew I possessed. I kissed her on
the lips and then asked, “Where’s the key to the
handcuffs?”

Sammy immediately left the building and
returned a minute later with the keys. He moved
from bed to bed and freed the women. I suddenly
noticed the vile smell of urine and feces, and then I
saw the buckets beside each bed. I had a thousand
questions, but the priority of the moment was to
leave this place as quickly as we could.

Arnie whispered to the women. “Follow me
and be very quiet. We’re going to take you to a UHaul truck about a mile from here. Then, we’re going to drive out of this hell-hole.”

I suddenly realized one of the women was
very pregnant and from the looks of her, she must
have been pretty close to full term. She wasn’t
wearing maternity clothes, so her belly had burst
through the buttons on the front of her dress.

Arnie, with four of his soldiers, led the way,
followed by the sixteen female prisoners. The rest
of us formed the backend of the freedom march.
Eddie, using his night vison equipment, saw we
were leaving the barrack and left the cover of his
hiding place and rushed out front as an advanced
scout. I heard Arnie talking to Private Duncan as
we walked quickly east. We passed the tall building
and after a twenty minute walk, we passed through
a break in the base’s perimeter fence and found
the U-Haul truck hidden in the woods.

Sammy and I helped the women climb into
the back of the truck. Francis, the pregnant lady,
needed some extra help. I wasn’t a doctor, but it
seemed like she might give birth right in the truck.
Elizabeth drove the truck with Arnie riding shotgun. The rest of us were crammed into the back of
the small U-Haul.

Jessie was resting in my arms. I had my
back leaning against the corner of the cab, and I
looked out at this motley band of soldiers and unfortunate women. Some of the women were crying,
but most had smiles on their faces. They knew
they were free from ever having to provide sexual
favors for these scumbags.

Some of these women looked like they had
been living in the same clothes for months, and I
wondered if Francis had become pregnant from one
of these men. If she had, it meant she had been
held prisoner for at least eight months. What was
she thinking about?

It took us almost an hour to reach the helicopter. Arnie wanted Francis to be flown directly to
the campus. He had already called Mary, and she
was taking steps to deliver the baby.

We watched the chopper take off and head
south. Then the rest of us got back in the truck
and sped south toward Florida. As we rode down
the highway, I thought about the last twenty-four
hours. We had found enough of the specialty drug
to keep Margaret alive for several years, but at a
cost. Rich was dead, and his body was still inside
the warehouse never to be buried with the honors
befitting his efforts. Then I looked at the sixteen
women we had saved. That was an unexpected bonus. As I fell asleep with Jessie in my arms I wondered what this group of terrorists would do when
they found out their captives had all been set free.

We reached the campus a little before noon.
We had stopped once for gas and bio-breaks in the
bushes. I immediately took the life-saving drug to
our makeshift hospital. I bumped into Mary, Paul,
and Phyllis who were sitting outside the operating
room with smiles on their faces.

I handed Mary the drugs. She smiled again,
and I followed her down the hallway to an engineering lab where Margaret lay asleep in a hospital
bed. Mary gently stroked her arm until she opened
her eyes. “Jim brought you the pills Margaret. I
want you to take two to start off, then one each
day.”

Mary helped her patient swallow two of the
white capsules and Margaret mouthed the words
thank you. She reached out to me, and I kissed her
hand. I left the room with tears in my eyes, but
they were good tears, the kind you get when something extraordinary happens.

Next I visited Francis, who was resting comfortably in the operating room holding onto her
newborn son. I kissed her on the forehead and she
started to cry. “I don’t know how to thank you
enough. I’ve been held captive for over nine
months. I had lost all hope, and then you guys
swooped down like angles from the sky.”

“Have you picked out a name yet?” I asked.
“Jessie told me one of your people was
killed, a man named Richard. I think I’ll name my
son Richard in honor of the young man.”