Sanctuary

FEBRUARY 26, 2015 ^{• • •}

The sky was clear with a luminous half-moon casting its light across the hills and valleys. The drive from their campsite to the hide position for the Humvee took almost three hours. Jones and McCamey had an excellent vista from their spot. When any of Rahab’s men moved, they’d have clear shooting to take them out.

“How are you doing?” Gordon asked Lexi.

“Between you and me, I’m a bit nervous.”

“It’s okay to be scared,” Gordon said.

Lexi interrupted. “I didn’t say scared, I said nervous. I’m nervous because I don’t know what I’ll do with myself once he’s dead.”

“I know what I’m going to do. I’m heading back to my family as fast as I can get there. You’ll figure it out,” he said, then turned to walk away.

“Gordon?” Lexi called out.

Gordon stopped and turned. “Yeah.”

“I don’t think I’ve ever said it, but I’m really sorry about your son. I know how it feels to lose someone close to you,” Lexi said softly as she gently touched his arm.

Gordon opened his mouth to say something, then stopped. He was going to tease her about showing a soft side, but he knew now wasn’t the time. He also knew her comments were heartfelt. With that in mind, he said, “Thanks, Lexi. You know something? Deep down I know you’re not this ballbuster you pretend to be.”

Lexi smiled and said, “Don’t tell everyone my secret, okay?”

Gordon returned her smile and said, “It’s safe with me,” then walked away from her. He approached Rubio and patted him on the back.

“I didn’t say it before, but thank you.”

“No worries, Van Zandt. You’re a Marine just like us. We’re brothers, and brothers help brothers. Simple as that.”

“I agree,” he said to Rubio, then walked over to Jones and McCamey. “All good with you two?”

“All good,” McCamey answered.

“Ready to do this,” Jones said.

“Let’s get this done, then,” Gordon said as he walked back to his gear and started getting dressed. After putting on his vest he took out the knife that Gunny had given him before he departed and fastened it to the outside. He just hoped he’d get the chance to use it.

“Let’s go green,” Rubio ordered.

Everyone turned on their night-vision goggles.

Rubio was in between Gordon and Lexi and signaled to move out.

They slowly walked down the hillside, careful not to trip over loose rocks. They traversed the hill and stopped at the edge of the road in front of the main building.

Gordon could see two men standing at the front doors. There were no other signs of movement. He looked to Rubio, who was squatting down, then in Lexi’s direction. She was gone. Gordon craned his neck and looked behind him—no sign of her. Then he caught a glimpse of her slinking across the road.

Rubio saw her too and quickly stood up and began across the road. Gordon followed.

They were now in the parking lot for the main building. Gordon got up and crossed over and took up a position behind a car. To his right, he could still see Rubio, who also was crouched down behind another car.

The front entrance was now only twenty feet away. Lexi had vanished completely from his field of view. Gordon was fuming. How could she be so stupid to deviate from the plan? She could jeopardize the entire mission and get them all killed.

Out of nowhere, movement at the front entrance caught his attention. Gordon looked over the car trunk and saw Lexi walking up to the two guards. He put the rifle to his shoulder and was about to engage when he noticed something he never expected to see: She didn’t have any clothes on except a T-shirt, panties, and a utility belt with two knives tucked in the small of her back.

The guards first reacted by raising their rifles, but they changed focus when all they saw was a partially naked, attractive young woman. What Gordon saw was the angel of death about to extract a pound of flesh.

Gordon readied himself and watched what he thought was the most unbelievable act he’d ever seen. Rubio could also see what was happening and was poised to move based upon her actions. He looked over at Gordon and raised his arms, his gesture saying everything that Gordon was thinking. This girl was crazy.

“Please help me,” Lexi said, just above a whisper. She stopped about ten feet away from the skeptical but intrigued men.

The men looked at each other, unsure what to do. They lowered their rifles and stepped away from the front door to approach her.

“Unbelievable,” Gordon muttered to himself. He steadied himself to leap from his position to assist when the time was right.

The men stepped toward her and couldn’t focus on anything else except the sight of Lexi’s nipples standing firm in the cold against the tight white T-shirt. Stepping up, they slung their rifles across their backs and reached for her. Lexi didn’t hesitate one second. Reaching back, each hand grasped a knife. With the speed of a viper she struck out. The knife in her right hand slammed into the temple of one man there and the other knife she inserted upward into the other man’s chin and into his brain. She turned both knives clockwise and removed them. Both men fell to the ground, dead.

Gordon couldn’t believe his eyes. She managed to use deception to achieve what he would have done with aggressive force. He and Rubio ran to the door. Rubio turned the knob but it was locked. As if she read his mind, Lexi walked up with a set of keys and unlocked it. She had an amused look in her eyes, as if she knew that she had just shocked two men who had thought they had seen it all.

“Wait here, I’ll be right back,” Lexi whispered to them both, then disappeared as fast as she had shown up.

“What the hell was that?” Rubio whispered.

“And they used to be against women in combat,” Gordon joked.

Lexi hustled back with her equipment and all her clothes on. “Let’s do this, boys.”

Gordon opened the door, and Lexi and Rubio followed behind him. Lexi peeled left and Rubio headed to the right. The layout of the building was unknown to them, but they assumed based upon the setup of the desert compound that Rahab would be located upstairs.

They found themselves in a large great room. On the right side of the room there was a long counter, and in the back, dozens of small tables and chairs were strewn everywhere. From the looks of it, this had once been a hotel, not exactly the “religious compound” that John the barkeep had mentioned.

A door to the left of the front desk opened. All three stopped, pivoted, and took aim.

From behind the door a little girl walked out rubbing her eyes, flashlight in hand. She headed to the back, behind the tables, and opened another door.

Lexi scurried toward the door that the girl had come from. The other two followed her instinct. They all stacked up against it, with Lexi next to the door. She grabbed and turned the handle, slowly opening it. Gordon stepped out from the wall and peeked his head around the corner. He entered a dark, empty hallway. To the left was a door with a sign above it that read STAIRS. Gordon made his way in that direction but froze when the door opened. A tall man dressed in pajamas stepped out and made a right out the door, walking briskly down the hallway. Gordon’s heartbeat quickened as he quietly crept up behind the man. He let his rifle drop to his side on the two-point sling and pulled out Gunny’s knife. Placing his hand across the man’s mouth, he swiftly thrust the knife into his neck and upward. Blood squirted out from the wound and sprayed all over the walls and all over Gordon’s face. Gordon could feel the life exit the man as he went limp. He steadied the man’s weight and lowered him to the ground. Gordon exhaled in relief.

Rubio came up behind Gordon and touched his shoulder to signal that he was going around him and into the stairwell. Lexi followed close behind, vanishing into the darkness of the stairwell.

Gordon wiped his face with his sleeve and spit a few times to get the metallic taste of the dead man’s blood out of his mouth. Gordon had a strong constitution, but he had to stop from gagging. The blood in his mouth was too much.

Suddenly the door behind him opened up and the little girl they had seen before stepped into the hallway with a glass in her hand. Gordon froze. He couldn’t run or hide quickly enough.

The girl stopped instantly when she saw him standing there. His presence startled her so much that she dropped the glass of water and beamed her flashlight into his eyes.

The light hit his night-vision goggles and blinded him for a moment. “Argh!” he yelled out as he ripped them off his face.

The girl, who was no more than eight, screamed.

Gordon spun around, ran into the stairwell, and began his ascent up the darkened stairs.

Lexi and Rubio both stopped once they heard the girl scream. Seconds later, Gordon sprinted past them on the stairs and reached the second floor. They ran up after him.

“Okay, Lexi, this is how Marines do it!” Rubio said excitedly as he pulled a grenade loose and held it up. The stalking was over; now it was time to smart smashing and blowing things up.

Gordon placed his hand on top of his and said, “Rubio, we can’t. There are kids here. We need a new plan. I’m going left, Rubio, you go right. Lexi, you’ll go… wherever you go, anyway.”

The girl was still screaming and crying down below. The sounds of people yelling and running made it clear that their fight was coming sooner than expected. Once they opened the door to the second floor, all bets were off. They didn’t know what to expect on the other side.

Gordon placed his hand on Lexi’s shoulder and said, “Let’s do this. Lexi, on three open the door. One, two…”

“Your damn uncle must have contacted all of these people on his ham radio chain,” Sebastian said bitterly as he crumpled up the paper that Samuel had given him. The first location they attempted to visit in Ogden had turned them away when they approached. Sebastian tried to reason with the group, but it was hard to have a conversation when a shotgun was being pointed at his face.

“You don’t know Uncle Samuel did that,” Annaliese challenged him.

“Then I guess it was purely a coincidence,” Sebastian mocked her. He rubbed his leg. It was healing, but all the activity was causing it to hurt.

Tensions were growing high between them. Though Annaliese had forgiven Sebastian, her exhaustion had made her snippy. And it didn’t help that Brandon was still acting up.

Failing to find a warm, safe place to sleep after the confrontation in Ogden, Sebastian had driven them off road to the north end of Willard Bay Reservoir, where they found an isolated spot to camp out. Sebastian was beyond frustrated with how this trip was progressing. It was not the simple, fast-paced journey he had had imagined. He knew that this was partly his fault, which only made him angrier. Had he not lashed out at Samuel, they at least would have a warm place to stay

“Brandon, Luke, break down your tent. We need to get on the road!” he commanded the boys. They were busy tossing rocks into the water.

Brandon grumbled, as expected. Luke got right up, brushing off his pants, and headed over to the tent.

“C’mon, Brandon, I need your help,” Luke said.

“One sec. I need to go to the bathroom. I’ll be right back.”

Luke rolled his eyes and continued breaking down the tent. Luke was growing weary of Brandon and his attitude. The temptation to say something often popped into his head but he would stop short because Brandon intimidated him.

Sebastian had loaded everything and saw that Luke was now in the truck.

“Where’s Brandon?” he asked Luke.

“I don’t know. He never came back to help me after he went to the bathroom,” Luke mumbled.

A look of irritation came over Sebastian’s face. “Why didn’t you say anything?” Sebastian scolded.

“Go look for him, Sebastian,” Annaliese ordered.

Sebastian shot her a look and said, “Remember what he did yesterday? We don’t have time for this.” With a huff, he jumped out of the car and headed in the direction that Brandon had wandered off.

The terrain was mostly flat and treeless, making it easy to spot anyone. He walked along the shoreline and saw a few buildings located on the state park.

“Where the hell is he?” Sebastian muttered.

A cry from someone that sounded like Brandon came from one of the buildings he had seen.

Sebastian didn’t know whether to be concerned or whether he should chalk this up to Brandon playing a trick on him again, but he didn’t want to take a chance just in case. Ignoring his leg, he took off in a sprint, pistol drawn, and kicked the door in. He heard a door in the rear exit of the building slam closed. There he saw Brandon on the floor with his pants down, with several cuts to his face. Sebastian ran over to him and asked, “Shit, Brandon, are you okay?”

Brandon sat up. His nose was bleeding and his lip was cut. “Yeah.”

Sebastian helped him to his feet and asked, “What happened?”

Brandon shrugged off his grip and said, “Nothing, don’t worry about it.” He pulled up his pants and wiped the blood from his face.

“Don’t tell me that. What happened?”

“I went to go take a shit and wanted some privacy so I came over here. All I know is some sick fuck came at me when I had my pants down, that’s it!”

“Are you hurt?” Sebastian asked, concerned.

“I’m fine. If you’re wondering if he raped me, no he didn’t. I fought him off. Now leave me alone!” Brandon yelled. He stormed out of the building.

Sebastian walked around the perimeter in search of whoever had approached Brandon, but he couldn’t find evidence of where this person had run to. Not wanting to stall their trip any longer, and knowing that Brandon was safe, he headed back to the car. It wasn’t even noon, and he was already exhausted. It was bad enough that he had to watch out for himself and for his wife, but the quasi-parental role that he was filling was taxing on him. In so many ways, his life was easier when he was a sniper in the Marines.

Neither Conner nor Baxter had done anything about the Cruz situation. He had been Barone’s prisoner for weeks, with no word on his condition.

This was all part of Conner’s strategy, the typical “we don’t negotiate with terrorists” doctrine used so often in the past. Conner had a hunch that Barone would treat Cruz with dignity and wouldn’t harm him or his people. He calculated that Barone’s intention was to leverage the U.S. in exchange for his release. Conner wanted Barone to sweat a bit thinking that his plan wouldn’t work. But now it was time to open up the lines of communication.

Everything was going smoothly in Cheyenne, so much so that Conner had ordered most of the reserve staff at Cheyenne Mountain to join him. Conner was very impressed with how the governor and command leadership from F. E. Warren had prevented a societal meltdown. Conner had reassimilated into the leadership role seamlessly, and now, with a full team at his command, he could focus some of his attention to Barone and to the Pan-American Empire. The report he received yesterday troubled him—it seemed that this was the first legitimate threat from the PAE, so he wanted to address it immediately.

Conner was fully aware of the limited military resources at his disposal. The Marine ARG that had been stationed on the East Coast was now in port in Houston. The alliance with the Republic of Texas was working well and he didn’t want to pull them out of there. Hawaii hadn’t been successful in keeping all the military assets stationed there loyal to them. He was disappointed, but there wasn’t enough time or resources to address this issue now. Meanwhile, the Third Marine Regiment stationed on Oahu had boarded ships and were in route to Portland when they were ordered to stop after Cruz’s capture. Since then, they had been floating around off the coast of Washington State.

The PAE’s force was sizeable, and Conner needed as many troops as possible to confront them. Even with a combined effort of the ARG and the Third Marine Regiment he needed more troops. As for a leveraging point, Barone could be the force that would tip the scales in their favor.

“Dylan, come in here please,” he ordered.

Dylan had re-established his role with Conner and had now taken over as his chief of staff. Though he was relatively young and inexperienced, Conner trusted him completely. What he lacked in experience he made up for in loyalty.

Dylan came in armed with a pad of paper and sat down.

Conner sat back in his chair and gave him a punch list of tasks that needed to be tackled. Dylan took notes diligently as Conner rattled off one item after another.

“That it’s. But before you go, I saved the last task as the most important. Touch base with General Baxter. Have him contact Barone in whatever little hole he’s hiding. I need to speak with him about Cruz. It’s time for us to negotiate.”

Dylan stopped writing and looked up.

“I got your attention, didn’t I?” Conner joked.

“Yes, it’s just that I was thinking about the vice president this morning, and it’s coincidental that now you mentioned him.”

“He’s been on my mind daily. I just couldn’t do anything about him until the entire situation was assessed and I determined the appropriate way to bargain with Barone. But now I think I have the deal that could set him free.”

“I hope so,” Dylan responded.

“That is it, hop to it. Oh, and please call General Vincent from Warren; we need to discuss the status of our nukes.” The mention of nuclear weapons made Dylan pause.

Conner noticed this and chuckled. “Don’t worry, I’m not about to push the button on anyone. I just haven’t had a full briefing on how the weapons are being maintained. We already have issues with some of our nuclear power plants. I don’t need a nuclear disaster in my own backyard.”

Dylan noticeably exhaled, satisfied with that answer. “Sounds good, sir,” Dylan said. He stood and left the room.

When the doors closed Conner spun around in his chair to look out the window. He began to strum his fingers on the armrest. The thud of his ring grabbed his attention. He looked at the gold band. This was the ring that Julia had bet her life on. If she had only waited a day, she’d be alive. Frustrated, he pried the ring off his swollen finger and held it in his hand. He didn’t want this grim reminder sitting on his hand any longer. “Good-bye, Julia,” he said as he placed the ring in a drawer and closed it.

A high-pressure system had been hanging over the region for days. It brought with it bitter cold but thankfully no new precipitation. This made it easy to track Raymond’s movements, which had remained etched into the ground like fossils. Nelson, Mack, and Scott had decided that they better track where they led so they could determine where the group came from.

Raymond’s frozen footprints led from the back deck and headed north. Just thirty feet from the deck, Nelson, Mack, and Scott came upon a startling discovery. A large area had been stamped down behind a pine tree.

“Look at that,” Mack commented, pointing at the area.

“Yeah, looks like our friend used this as a hiding spot,” Scott then said.

“That pervert was stalking Samantha, scoping out her bedroom window, I bet,” Nelson added with an edge to his voice. Just thinking about how this man had camped out just yards away from their home made him feel uneasy, even if he was dead.

The men moved on. They weren’t sure how far Raymond had come and they didn’t want to be gone when night fell. Their absence left the community vulnerable, but it was a risk Nelson thought was justified. He brought Scott and Mack along only because he thought they needed to see with their own eyes what they might be up against.

As they climbed and descended the hills, all the men began to complain.

“Holy shit, that drunk fuck went this far to get a glimpse of ass?” Mack panted as he bent over.

“I was in better shape before the apocalypse,” Nelson chimed in.

“Guys, this is a better workout than I ever got before the apocalypse. Woo!” Scott said as he blew out hard.

“Look at you, Scott, am I steaming too?” Nelson asked.

“Yes, sir, you are,” Scott answered.

Mack opened his mouth to make another crack, but stopped short when they crested over the top of the hill.

“Guys, this might be it,” Mack said, crouching down on the hard, frozen ground.

Scott and Nelson jogged the rest of the distance and crawled up alongside Mack.

Nelson pulled out his binoculars and began to survey a small group of buildings. About a half mile down the hill sat a large house with barns and one single-wide trailer.

“Is this it?” Scott asked.

Nelson found the tracks with his binoculars and followed them right up to the front door of the house. “I’d say yes. The tracks lead to the front door.”

Mack handed Scott his binos. “They don’t seem to have much. I wouldn’t be that concerned with these guys,” he commented.

“Maybe so. Let’s get a count for anything here that might tell us something,” Nelson said.

“Look, look. Someone’s coming out of the trailer,” Mack said.

The front door of the old trailer opened. One of the scraggly-haired men from the other day stepped out. From his swagger, it was clear that he was intoxicated. He slipped on the snowy ground and landed on his hip, yelling out something unintelligible. Picking himself off the ground, he raised his middle finger to the trailer.

The door opened again and a woman who was wearing nothing more than a towel tossed out his jacket. She too yelled something, then slammed the door.

The man walked back, picked up his jacket, then walked back over to the trailer, unzipped his pants, and began to urinate on the side of the trailer.

“Who needs TV? This looks like one of those reality shows you used to be able to watch,” Mack joked.

The woman opened the door again but this time she threw what appeared to be empty beer bottles at him. The two exchanged loud words, then she slammed the door shut. The man then stumbled up to the main house and knocked. Truman opened the door a crack. The two men talked for a second before Truman opened the door fully and allowed the other man to come in.

“Nelson, these guys don’t look like much of a threat. They look like a bunch of drunks,” Scott quipped.

“Maybe you’re right,” Nelson responded. He surveyed the property and saw several trucks, but they seemed like they hadn’t been driven in months, covered with garbage and snow. From the looks of it, these people didn’t have any form of transportation beyond their own two feet.

“Well, I’ve seen enough,” Scott said, then scooted away from the top of the hill.

Mack followed suit and asked Nelson, “You coming?”

“You guys go on ahead, I’m going to stay for a bit longer to see if we might have missed something.”

“Suit yourself, man,” Mack said. “Just watch your back.” He and Scott soon took off down the hill and were gone.

Nelson was shivering now. He disliked the Idaho winters, with their cold and very short days. The sun was already making its approach toward the western horizon, and it was only a little after three p.m. The frozen ground was sucking what warmth he had out of his body, and his damp clothes were starting to freeze over. But he had a gut feeling that there was something more to this group, something more insidious. Truman’s words sat uncomfortably with him—it seemed more like a promise for revenge than the hollow threat that Mack and Scott had assumed it was. He couldn’t sleep well at night knowing these guys were over here, and so he wanted to gather as much information as possible. Unfortunately, even with the extra time, nothing significant happened. He could see movement inside the house, but nothing telling. He stayed for as long as he could, but when he started to shake, he knew it was time to go. He inched his way down the hill, stood up, and made his way back.

On his long trek back to the community, Nelson dwelled some more on the situation. If they didn’t have operational vehicles, they soon would be limited by how far they could go and would run low on supplies. If he were Truman, he thought, he would look at Eagle’s Nest as a nice place to get resupplied and to steal a vehicle or two. Nelson thought that would be the way to convince the others that an attack would be necessary. It was better to be safe than sorry, in his eyes.

As he walked back, the chill in his body became increasingly worse and he feared he was experiencing the beginning stages of hypothermia. He tried to keep his mind occupied with thoughts about a potential attack.

At one point, deep in the thought about the logistics of his plan, he laughed aloud. It hit him just how strange everything was now. If he had a time machine and went back only a few months ago and told himself that he’d be living in Idaho, looking after his best friend’s wife and kid, and that he would soon be leading an assault with the intent of killing people, he’d tell himself to go fuck off. Hell, if he had a time machine, he’d even probably even punch his future self because he would have mistaken himself for a crazed bum, what with his shaggy hair and unshaved face.

He stopped at the hill where Raymond used to do his peeping-tom act and watch Samantha. It was a perfect view of their house, and the thought of this creep peering in filled him with a new rage. He thought of Gordon and how he would react if he knew some guy had been staring at his wife that way, and laughed at the thought. He knew Gordon, and, to put it mildly, he would not tolerate that sort of behavior.

The back door of the house opened, then closed, the sound echoing off the valley below. He saw little Haley running ahead of Samantha. It was time to feed Macintosh. He smiled, seeing the two of them together. It was clear that their relationship was slowly on the mend, as Samantha was much more affectionate and attentive. The attack had really jolted her to reality.

He wasn’t sure how Samantha would respond to his plan. Until he could get a good feel for how the others would react, he figured it was better not to say a word. He headed toward the warm house, mind swimming.

Gordon had progressed only a few feet down the hallway as he stopped to shoot any adults who presented themselves. By his rough count he had put down five people. From the sound of shooting behind him, Rubio had also entered a target-rich environment. Lexi had taken a knee across the hallway from him, but Gordon’s swift action with the rifle was not leaving her much to shoot at.

Gordon wasn’t sure who he’d shot so far. While the desire to take Rahab’s life with Gunny’s knife existed in his mind, the reality of their situation trumped that fantasy. If Rahab took a bullet, so be it. It was better to see him dead than to face enemy fire.

It took Gordon minutes before something clicked. No one was watching the stairwell door. “Shit,” he thought to himself. There was no room for those sort of messy errors, not with the type of manpower they had.

“I need you to watch the door to the stairs!” he ordered Lexi.

“No, you do it! Let me in on the action!” she yelled back.

“Goddamn it! Rubio, I need you back down here to watch the door!”

Rubio heard him and obliged. He stepped backward until he took up a position watching the door and hall.

“We need to go room to room!” Gordon barked.

Lexi listened, but took off without a plan. She walked up to the first door and kicked it. The door didn’t move, so she kicked it again. Still no give. She tried several more times but the door would not break open. She let out a frustrated yell.

Gordon walked up and was ready to kick it, but before he could, a shower of bullets flew out the door. One hit his cut through the fleshy portion of his left thigh. He yelled out in pain.

Lexi returned fire until she emptied a full thirty-round magazine into the room. The room fell quiet.

“Fuck, that hurts!” Gordon cried out. He could feel warm blood running down his leg. He knew that the hit wasn’t life-threatening, but it was painful.

“You good?” she asked.

“This isn’t going to work. There’s got to be three dozen rooms up here. His reinforcements have to be coming.”

“Suggestions?”

“We need someone to tell us where he is. I should’ve grabbed that girl. Fuck.”

Lexi didn’t hesitate; she walked away, opened the door to the stairs, and disappeared.

“Rubio, how’s your ammo?” Gordon asked.

“All good, eight more mags. You?”

“About the same,” Gordon said hoarsely. He grimaced from the pain.

“Are you okay, buddy?” Rubio asked.

“I’ll be fine,” Gordon answered.

The two stood alert in the hallway, but minutes passed without sight of anyone. “Where is everyone?” Rubio hissed.

The men were facing opposite directions, watching for anyone to step into their kill zones.

“Are you sure he’s up here?” Rubio asked.

“No, I don’t know for sure, but if past behavior is an indicator of future performance, then we can be sure he’s around here.”

“Oh, great!” Rubio said sarcastically.

“Corporal, do you have a better place to be?” Gordon joked.

“Ah, no,” Rubio cracked. “Plus, it’s always fun shooting bad people.”

The stairwell door flew open and Lexi walked in with the little girl.

She grabbed her by the collar. “Where is his room?”

The girl was having a difficult time controlling her breathing. She was completely petrified.

“Where is he?” Lexi yelled at her.

The girl flinched but finally answered. She pointed down the hall to the left and said barely above a whisper, “Th-th-the one at the end.”

Gordon stood, petted the girl on the head, and said, “Thank you.” He felt bad that they had to drag a child into this—particularly one who was around his own daughter’s age—but in this situation, they needed to do what they could to move forward with their mission.

Lexi let go of her with a jolt and the girl took off, disappearing into the stairwell.

“Let’s line up,” Gordon ordered.

Gordon took point, with Lexi right behind him, and Rubio bringing up the rear.

Automatic gunfire could be heard outside now. This could only mean that Rahab’s other forces were coming.

They moved swiftly down the hall and took position around the door.

Rubio knelt at the door handle and applied a small explosive charge around it. Once detonated, this would blow off the handle and dead bolt and open the door.

“Done,” Rubio whispered.

Gordon and Lexi put their backs against the wall, anxiously waiting for Rubio to call out that the blast was coming. The nightmares, the daily thoughts of their murdered loved ones, were about to culminate in this one final confrontation with the man who had brought them together. Rahab’s cabal had destroyed many lives and had altered the lives of Gordon and Lexi forever. Even when this was all over the impact that he had on them would carry forward for the rest of their lives.

In the moments before the blast, Gordon felt his blood pumping, but a sense of calm overtook him. He glanced over at Lexi, who was fiercely concentrating on the door handle, as if she could will it off by looking at it alone. For the first time, she was scared. This was a moment she had been waiting for, been dreaming of, really, but without knowing what was behind that door, anxiety overwhelmed her.

“One, two, three, fire in the hole!” Rubio finally called out. The blast tore a hole in the door where the handle and dead bolt had been.

Moved to action, Gordon stepped up and kicked the door in.

They entered what appeared to be a large suite. A living room was the first space they walked into. Sofas and upholstered chairs occupied the area.

“Left!” Gordon cried out as he entered, indicating he was heading off in that direction. Rubio had gone right.

A wide-eyed woman ran out of an adjacent room and rushed toward Gordon with a knife in her hands. Gordon put the laser sight on her chest and squeezed off two rounds. She crashed into a glass coffee table.

The large square room had adjacent rooms coming from the right and left. They could hear children crying and whimpering in the room to the left.

“Room left, going in!” Gordon cried out.

“Room right!” Rubio then responded.

Gordon turned the corner and when the room came into view, there he was.

“He’s here! I got him!” Gordon yelled. At those words, Lexi rushed behind him.

Rahab stood with his arms wide open. About a dozen children were hovered around him at his feet. He was looking up, murmuring something. Rahab didn’t even seem to notice them; it was as if he was in a trance.

Gordon saw that Rahab didn’t have a weapon. Letting his two-point sling do its job, he let go of his rifle and pulled out Gunny’s knife.

Holding the knife tightly in his right hand, he shouted, “Rahab, you were right. Every time I looked in the mirror I thought of you and my son. After I kill you I’ll think about the moment I took your life!”

Startled, Rahab looked toward Gordon. “Who is that? Who are you?”

“It’s Gordon Van Zandt!”

Lexi stepped next to Gordon and placed the red dot from her sight on Rahab’s face.

“Gordon Van Zandt? I’m impressed.”

Gordon stepped in front of Lexi and farther into the sparsely lit and shadowy room where Rahab stood, but stopped when he saw the wire coming from his hand.

“Gordon, I am impressed that you found me. I applaud your persistence, but unless you want to die, you should leave now,” Rahab said, his thumb firmly pressed against the trigger of the device.

Gordon followed the wire from his hand as it traveled down his arm to his chest, then down to other smaller packages around the room.

“Lexi, you and Rubio need to clear out! He’s packed with explosives!”

“Fuck him!” she yelled out, ready to shoot.

“Don’t shoot, don’t shoot!”

Lexi stepped out from behind Gordon and placed the red dot of her sight again on Rahab’s face.

“Who did you bring along with you to die?” Rahab laughed out.

“Your nemesis, bitch!” Lexi screamed and began to squeeze the trigger.

“No, he’s got a dead man’s trigger!” Gordon yelled.

“I don’t give a fuck!” Lexi yelled.

Rubio came up behind her and said, “You better fucking care, I don’t want to die right now.”

“Rahab, we’ll leave. Let us take the children and we’ll go!” Gordon said, attempting to prevent him from detonating the bombs.

“Let him go? We came all this way and now we’ll let him go?” Lexi challenged.

“Once his thumb leaves that trigger it’ll detonate the bombs. We don’t have a choice, and I’m with Rubio. I didn’t come here to die.”

“Listen to Gordon, Lexi,” Rubio urged.

“Rahab, we will leave. Let us take the children with us,” Gordon said.

“These are my children, they stay!” Rahab barked.

Gordon stepped back and away from Rahab. He knew that at any moment, Rahab could release the trigger and blow them and half the building up.

“I can’t believe this, I can’t believe we’re going to leave this man alive. He murdered your son, he murdered my sister!” Lexi screamed at Gordon.

“Who was your sister?” Rahab asked with a smile.

“Fuck you! You piece of shit!” Lexi yelled back.

Gordon sheathed the knife and asked, “Can I take the children, please!”

Rahab aggressively thrust the hand that held the trigger toward Gordon. “Leave!”

Gordon slowly stepped backward till he walked into Lexi. He turned to her and whispered, “This isn’t over, I promise. But this here, we can’t win. We can try to find him again, I swear.”

“Argh! This is such bullshit!” Lexi hollered.

The whimpering children ate at Gordon’s conscience, but there was nothing he could do.

“C’mon,” Rubio said.

They all started to back slowly away from the bedroom and into the living room of the suite.

Lexi was mumbling something under her breath, then darted back toward the bedroom.

“No!” Gordon screamed after her. He reached and managed to grab her by the collar of her tactical vest but not before she had squeezed off a couple of shots, hitting Rahab squarely in the chest.

Gordon dragged her from the room and into the hallway. Rubio was ahead of them, running toward the stairwell.

The impact from the bullets caused Rahab to fall backward and trip over the children. He held the detonator firmly, but then looked up and yelled, “Praise be to God!” and lifted his thumb off the trigger. Then everything went black.