A Private War Read online

"Well, he is smaller then King Kong, but not by much!"

  The smile said it all, "that's him all right, and how is the old bastard these days? It's been a long time since I saw him, since before… you know." He said as he pointed his gun down to the ground. Peters and his men were all dressed in white coveralls that blended into the snow covered landscape perfectly. They looked well trained.

  "He's doing ok, but he's had better days."

  "Yeah, I know how it goes so grab your guns and I'll take you into town to see the boss. But I'll tell you ahead of time that it's a waste of time, better to squeeze blood out of a rock. People have been pouring in since the war and we just don't have the resources to feed them all. The standing order is to turn everyone away, except some doctors and the like. But we don't have too many of those, we've had to fight the pirates more times then I care to think about. And we'll be hard pressed if they really attack in force."

  Then Peters signaled to his men and the party made it's way across an open field at the edge of town and uncovered a concealed field telephone. Peters gave a coded password and then told the towers they were coming back in with two extra then put the phone back under cover. Gaylon was impressed with all the security and told Kate that was something they should set up at Redway. Looking up at the watchtower as they passed beside it, Gaylon could see it was well sand bagged and mounted a search light.

  "I like the way you set this up. Did you have much trouble from the war? I heard they dropped one not too far from here."

  "They hit the National Guard base about fifteen miles from here. The blast wasn't too bad, but we did take some fallout. Mostly from the west, the missile fields in the next state must being glowing in the dark. The pirates attacked not long after that. You'll see the damage when we get nearer to the center of town. But, they haven't been back for weeks now," Peters answered as they approached the town hall. Gaylon could see looted building and signs of fires and small explosions around many of the shops. Across the street he saw that the local police station was burned and gutted. Peters pointed out more damage as they walked up the steps into the Town Hall. Gaylon pushed open the doors and they headed inside and down the hall to the Mayor's office. After Peters stopped them outside a door marked Private, he walked in to talk to the Mayor and inform him about Gaylon and Kate’s official visit. Then opening the door, he motioned for them to come inside. Mayor Denton rose from his desk as Gaylon and Kate entered his office. The Mayor was short and pale, and he was dressed in a soiled business suit that didn't fit him anymore. His hair was thin and was combed over the bald spot on the top of his head. Sticking out his hand he smiled at Gaylon and Kate and asked them to take off their packs and to be seated.

  "Well, Mr. Masters, what can we do for you and the town of Redway?"

  "Mayor, it's what we can do for each other that is important. We've come here to make a deal with you and to help you with the pirates. Something I think we both want to do something about. What we want to propose is an exchange, we need men to help us defend our town and you need something that can destroy the pirates without endangering your people. I can show you how to do that."

  "Mr. Masters, I can't leave this town defenseless on just your word! The pirates have been massing just outside the town right this minute and we need every man that can carry a gun to fight them off. I'm sorry but the answer is no, I just can't take the chance that whatever you may have in mind will fail and the people that depend on us to protect them will be killed by those animals out there."

  "Can you at least listen to what I have to say. It won't cost you anything and you may change your mind. This town can't afford not to." Gaylon stated and getting up from his chair, walked over to this pack and pulled out a small red gas bottle. "We have a small technical college in Redway as you may have heard. Well, they came up with this, it's a form of gas that kills instantly, all that you have to do is breath it and you're dead. It breaks down in air after about three hours so you move your people back in after a few hours with no danger. Fill grenades and rockets with it and you can easily cover a large area in a matter of minutes. We have a large supply of the gas and gas masks to go with it which are ready to be moved from Redway to Austin. You help us, we help you. It's that simple."

  Later Kate walked down the main street of Austin and looked into the stores and shops that were still open even after the war. Several people were standing near one and looking at a butcher cutting up a side of beef. Kate didn't think anything of it until she noticed an armed guard standing just inside the door of the shop. She thought to herself, those people are hungry, they must be outsiders." And as if to confirm her guess the guard stepped out into the open air and pointed his gun at the people and motioned them away from the window. Turning her back Kate ran down the street toward the hotel where Peters had directed them after talking to the Mayor. Heavy tears ran down her face and deep sobs escaped from her lips. Even after all the killing and murder that she had seen, the open look of starvation on those peoples faces had touched her very soul and she cried out in rage that anyone could do such a thing. Stopping dead in her tracks Kate grabbed the HK hanging from her shoulder and walked back toward the butcher shop. As she neared it she could hear the people begging for food and the voice of the guard as he ordered them way before he fired on them. Kate pulled back the bolt on the HK MP5SK and popped off the safety as the guard turned toward the sound.

  "Drop the gun or I'll cut you in half, I mean it!" Kate shouted.

  "Lady, you can be shot for doing this, these people are from outside and the mayor has told them we can't afford to feed them. They have to move on." The guard stated as he laid his gun on the sidewalk and stepped back from it.

  "Tell the butcher to cut enough for these people for three days or he's dead meat too."

  Turning to the leader of the group, she told them to take the meat and to leave town for Redway and that the people there would take care of them. Watching the people run down the street after taking the food Kate turned back toward the guard and told him to go back inside the shop. Then reaching down pulled the magazine out of the weapon and put it in her pocket and resting the gun on her hip, ejected the round in the chamber, then placed the gun carefully back on the sidewalk. The guard looked Kate in the eye and winked, then picked up his gun and walked back into the shop. Kate carefully lowered the bolt on her HK MP5SK and put the safety back on, then with a little shake in her hip she walked back to the hotel with a smile on her lips. Gaylon sat in their hotel room, a soft drink in his hand, and talked to Peters about the war and what had been going on afterwards. Peters’ story was like so many others that he had talked to, home on leave the night of the bombing he had helped his family survive through the fallout and the first attacks of the pirates. But, on one his trips into town to get supplies, the pirates had attacked his father's farm, and burned it to the ground. Since that time Peters had made killing pirates his life work and he was very good at it. Gaylon smiled at Kate as she walked in the door and offered her a drink. Placing her guns in easy reach she took the drink and sat on the only spot left, Gaylon's lap.

  "I just love your town, the way they take care of the homeless, and starving," Kate told Peters, "why is that, why do these people have to starve when you have store rooms full of supplies like this!"

  "The Mayor has decided that there are too many people in the town, too many outsiders that had come in after the war. He decided that we can't afford to feed them all with winter just coming on." Peters answered. "I think something could have been worked out but some of the big shots in town put pressure on him and that was that."

  "But how can they do that, those people are human beings, they are Americans!"

  "I never said it was right!"

  Gaylon just sat and listened to Kate and Peters fight it out. Long ago he had decided that you can't save everyone, that they had to at least try to save themselves. The free ride was over, there was no more welfare for people who didn't want to work, who had too many kids they cou
ld never support. Now it was survival of the fittest. The time of the freeloader was over and Gaylon thought that when things were better that the people would be better for it. That hard Justice would also prevail in the end as the murdering bands of pirates were destroyed by the power of what was right and good. Things were very different now because now there would be no more soft hearted judges and courts to let the criminals free and the victims getting nothing. Now justice was swift and sure and there were no layers on the battlefield. Only the power of God could decide the fate of mankind in the coming years. And Gaylon thought that it was about time. Kate sat by the window of their hotel room after Peters left and thought of the trip to Austin. All the hopes that they had had and then only to find that self-centered Mayor was going to get a lot of people killed and Kate knew it. Even with the information on the Pirates that Gaylon and Kate had brought with them was for nothing. Mayor Denton would not let a single man loose to join them in Redway. Even with what they had to trade, the asshole would not change his mind. Gaylon had even talked to Peters about having some of his men just take over. But Peters wasn't ready for that just yet, he hoped that things would get better in the future but Gaylon didn't think so. Neither did Kate. Finally in the early hours of morning Kate slipped into bed and snuggled up next to Gaylon and tried to sleep. Things always looked brighter in the light of day and she hoped that this time it would be true. Gaylon got up in the night and looked out of the hotel window at the falling snow and thought that it would make it hard traveling back to Redway. With all their hopes smashed they had nothing to remain here for so they were going to leave the following morning back to Redway. Turning around he looked at Kate as she slept under the covers. He knew that she had been up late the night before and Gaylon though that she should get all the rest she could before the trip back tomorrow. Turning back to the window Gaylon noticed that there was a lot of movement on the streets for this hour of the morning. Checking the action on his guns Gaylon slung the M-4 over his shoulder and opened the door to the hall. Pausing in the door way and looked again on Kate's sleeping form Gaylon thought of everything that had happened since he had first met her. Holding the M-4 to his side he walked over to the door and out into the hallway, closing the door behind him. Pulling the hood of his parka over his head Gaylon walked toward the center of town in search of Peters. If anyone would know what was going on it would be Peters.

  As Gaylon got nearer the town hall he could hear shouting going on and the loud cry of many voices. Spying Peters, Gaylon ran toward him to find out what had happened to get all these people shaking in their boots.

  "Hey, Peters, wait up!" Gaylon shouted, "What the hell is going on here, what has happened?"

  "The pirates are here!"

  "Are they attacking, why are all these people here and not at the wire?" Gaylon asked, "Is there anything Kate and I can do to help?"

  "The pirates sent one of their men to the wire at the north side of town. They want us to surrender everything they want or they are going to destroy the town and everyone in it."

  "The Mayor is in there right now, talking to them. Trying to make some kind of deal with them. Personally I say stand and fight them, because once they have the upper hand they'll never leave. I tried to tell him that, but he wouldn't listen. I think he's running scared."

  "Do you have any idea how many men are out there?" Gaylon asked.

  "As near as we can tell, they have over five hundred and all of them are heavily armed. And I heard their leader is a guy named Murdock, isn't that the one you were telling me about the other night?"

  "Yeah, that's him. I bet he would love to know that we are here, too. So, what can Kate and I do to help?"

  "To tell you the truth, I think the best thing you can do is get the hell out of here. There is no way we can hold off that kind of force. Plus I have the feeling that His Honor, the Mayor, is going to let them in just to save his own ass," Peters spat out as he waved in some of his men, "Tell the ration officer to give you anything you need. I'm sorry we couldn't have worked together, but hopefully I'll see you again." Peters looked into my eyes for a second and then walked off into the crowd. He had the eyes of a dead man.

  Kate sat on the edge of the bed and carefully cleaned her HK MP5SK resting on her knees. Putting the action back together, she then threaded the Sonics suppressor onto the short barrel and turned it tight. Then after checking all her magazines, she lowered the bolt and then rammed a clip into the well. Pulling the silencer equipped Ruger from it holster she gave it a quick wipe with a rag and after pulling the magazine, checked it's action also. Reaching into her pack, she pulled out a box of subsonic .22 ammo and started to reload some of her magazines. Captain Samuels had told her that with the special ammo and the built-in suppressor on the Mark I, all that would be heard would be the action of the gun and a "spat" when it hit the target. Kate also had three boxes of special loads for the HK MP5SK, those were already loaded into thirty round clips. When Gaylon walked into the hotel room, Kate was already packed and had her guns ready for action. Smiling Kate handed Gaylon a white coverall to go over his parka and a pair of white snow pants. Kate was already wearing hers.

  "One of Peter’s men stopped by and told me the Mayor is trying make a deal with the pirates for food. He thinks there is about five hundred of them. And the mayor is shitting his pants." Kate said as he pulled on the snow pants. "There is a good chance he is going to let them into town. Is he crazy or something! The pirates will burn this place to the ground after they have stripped it bare. Doesn't he know that! God, they'll kill everyone!"

  "Peters has been trying to tell him that, but I don't think it will make any difference. Peters is going to fight, I can feel it. He told us to run for it." Gaylon said, then looking up at Kate, "I want to help him, ok?"

  "Lead on McDuff."

  Gaylon looked up and down the street then motioned Kate to follow him out the back of the hotel and down a dark alley. Picking their way between the buildings, Gaylon headed for the fence line that circled the town, hoping to find a place in the wire to get through. As he peeked around the last row of houses, Gaylon saw someone wave at them from the shadows behind the house ahead of them. "I thought it might be you," Gaylon said as the face of Peters appeared out of the darkness, "what's up?"

  "I had a feeling that you would head this way and I thought I would give you a hand getting out of town before it's too late. The mayor is going to open the gates to the pirates and let them in. If I had thought that it would have made a difference, I would have killed the bastard. But he had already given the order, Murdock is in the town right now!"

  "Doesn't he know what the pirates will do to this town! Can't they be stopped somehow?" Kate asked, "My God, the people!"

  “I tried, the town is terrified that if they put up any kind of resistance that the pirates will destroy the town. These people have no where else to go. I tried to make them understand the danger, but they believe the pirates will only take some of the food and then leave. The best I can do is to get some of my men ready for when the fun starts, because I won't see my town die without a fight."

  "What can we do to help?"

  For the first time that day, Gaylon saw Peters smile and in a low voice began to tell them the plan to retake the town. Smiling himself, Gaylon looked at Kate and winked. For the tenth time, Kate grumbled to herself as she brushed away a mass of cobwebs that hung in front of her face. Even as a little girl, she had hated spiders and to have them so close to her face was making her skin crawl. But Peters had said that the tunnel they were in now was the only way out of town that the mayor didn't know about. It had been part of the old sewer system that had been built over fifty years before and then abandoned as the town lost population to the bigger cities. Peters had found it while scouting the fence line a month before and had traced it to a small drain by the river a quarter of a mile outside the town limits. Glancing back, Gaylon smiled at Kate's pained expression and motioned her to take a break. Easing his
pack against the curved walls, he let the friction lower him to the ground. "I wish they had made the ceiling in these things a little higher. Oh, my aching back! I feel like Quasimodo from the Hunchback of Notre Dame. And did you see that big rat!"

  "Gaylon, if you don't have anything good to say, just shut the hell up! This place is giving me the creeps as it is and I don't need any of your smartass remarks to make it any worse."

  "Could be worse, could be raining!"

  "I can do without your Marty Feldman impressions, too!"

  Gaylon checked the time on his watch and then putting his hands behind his back, pushed himself back to his feet. Kate seeing his action, did the same and swearing under her breath, started after him into the darkness.

  Twenty minutes later they reached the end of the tunnel and after motioning for Kate to wait, Gaylon slipped out of the drain entrance and checked the surrounding area. All clear. He waved for Kate to follow. Taking a stick, Gaylon worked the mud out of the creases of his combat boots, then finished the job by wiping them clean with snow. Then checking the action on his M-4, he climbed up the river bank and slowly looked over the edge. The town was burning in two places and Gaylon could hear the sound of gunfire in the air as the sun cleared the distant hills. Just as Gaylon and Peters had said, the pirates were destroying the town. If Peters’ plans was to work, Gaylon and Kate had to wait until darkness had fallen and then make their way to the camp the pirates were setting up at the edge of town. The canister of deadly gas now sported a small block of C4 and a remote detonator. Gaylon was to place it as near as possible upwind from the pirate camp. While Peters lead his group to retake the guard towers close by, Kate's job was to use her Ruger pistol and try to take out as many of the pirates in the towers and gun emplacements as possible so that Peters job could be done as quietly as possible. Because inside each tower was a control box that fires a cluster of homemade claymore mines that Peters had placed around the gates and fence line. With Peters exploding the mines in front of them, the pirates would be forced back into the deadly gas behind them. Gaylon didn't want to be a pirate with those chances. But he knew that this would not help with the pirates who were already in the town. Their only hope was to kill as many as possible before they could rally and counter attack in force. And it was just possible that the blood that had already been shed would fire the hearts of the town's people to attack every pirate in sight. The town lay under the cover of darkness as Gaylon and Kate finally made their way toward the wire that surrounds the city limits of Austin. Pointing toward the nearer tower, Gaylon then pointed to his watch and raised five fingers. Kate nodded and giving Gaylon a quick kiss, moved into the night.