Operation SERF
Part 9
By Chris Sullins (February 3, 2009)
Daniel Shroud
startled from sleep and into a sitting position in bed. For a moment in the darkness a few more
images raced through his mind. He saw the
eyes and moving jaw of the man who looked up at him in the tavern, the man
beside the vehicle whose face disappeared, and the other man who also stared
directly into his crosshairs. The
abstract gray images of the nightmare faded but were quickly replaced by the
fresh and accurate memories of walking up to the each of the bodies in the snow
outside of Browning’s home.
Bright blood
contrasted sharply against the neutral white background of the snow. It remained red in the center, but discolored
at the edges where it seemed to be lost among the individual ice crystals. More blood was painted haphazardly as darker
patches which were out of place on the men’s gray clothing. Smaller amounts of blood were flicked across
glass, vehicle panels, and weapons. Each
droplet sticking to these man-made surfaces glistened like an uncut ruby that
seemed to have been worn smooth by the water of a river.
Daniel remembered
how he had used his thumbnail and scratched off a larger frozen bead of crimson
from the grip of one of the rifles. He
had thought for a moment about how quickly the smaller amounts of fluid had
frozen compare to the residual pliability of the bodies as he turned them over
and searched for more gear. It hadn’t
bothered him at the time to touch them.
Daniel recalled
how he had effortlessly shifted in his thoughts and feelings yesterday. He did not recall any particular difficulty
as he seemed to cycle through each stage.
He had gone from a calm placid focus during the actual engagement, to a
short adrenaline rush as he approached and searched the bodies which lasted
only a few minutes, to a final flat detachment for the rest of the day. He hadn’t felt physically nauseous like he
had during the previous encounter after he killed his first man and watched the
other one drown not long after.
His wife Tara and
his son Isaac who slept between them on the same bed hadn’t stirred despite
Daniel rousing from sleep. He could hear
their breathing had not changed. Daniel
glanced at the night winter sky through the window and given the stillness both
indoors and out, he guessed it was still the very early morning. He slid out from under the covers and was
immediately met by the chill air of the room.
Daniel quietly slipped on some pants and a pair of moccasins to add to
the shirt and knit cap he had already worn to bed earlier.
Daniel stepped
out the bedroom door into the hallway which was across from his father’s bedroom. Both rooms were on the second floor loft area
and behind a landing and balcony that looked over the great room below. He walked down the stairs and looked at the
woodstove. He could see through the
glass that some bright orange coals had still survived from the last log of the
night. Daniel felt quite a bit of heat
as he opened the door and carefully put another log at the edge of one large
coal and closed the door.
He guessed the
Frenchmen were still asleep in the guest bedroom adjacent to the kitchen,
storage, and mud rooms at the back of the first floor. There was enough split wood left next to the woodstove
that he wouldn’t have to go to the back for more and possibly disturb
them. Daniel rested sideways across the
couch and a few minutes later he watched a new flame move along the log inside
the woodstove. He hoped he might get
some more rest before sunup.
It had seemed to
Daniel that he had no more than closed his eyes before his father woke him and
sat down on the chair next to the couch.
The morning light was illuminating the room through the windows. His father had a coffee mug in his one hand
and rested it on the arm of his chair.
“I already made
some coffee on the back stove if you want some,” Josiah said before he took a
sip. “The Frenchmen got theirs, some
bacon, and left already with Kevin.
They’re all going ice-fishing this morning so we can have a meeting
before the funeral today. I didn’t
really want the two of them around for that.”
Daniel sat up and
rubbed his eyes. He had probably dozed
off a couple more hours before he awoke, but he didn’t feel any more rested. The room was quite a bit warmer and he saw a
couple more logs had been added inside the stove and were at full flame.
“So other than
Browning leaving for Grayling,” began Josiah, “you’re sure the other officers
are in?”
“Yes,” replied
Daniel. “They’ll be out of uniform at
the meeting, but back in uniform at the post.
Everyone there will still know it’s them, of course. I don’t know why they’re even bothering to go
through the motions now.”
“We still need a law
enforcement presence here as a symbol and for its use as its intended tool in
our community,” stated Josiah. “At the
same time, people here need to know that those officers stand with them when outsiders
come in and disregard our basic human rights.
Those officers may also be the first ones any outsiders –good, bad, or
neutral— are going to want to deal with first when they come to visit. At least, I hope their uniform still means
something when it comes to possible negotiations in the future.”
“Do you seriously
think the next group of grays who come here are going
to want to negotiate with anyone living here?” asked Daniel.
“No, not them,
not in the slightest,” answered Josiah.
“But, we need a semblance of civil order when it comes to the state
government and even our neighbors in the surrounding counties. If we’re perceived to be nothing more than a
bunch of bandits on snowmobiles, then we won’t have much legitimacy with
anyone. We’ll be seen by all outsiders
as being the same as Somali pirates. We’ve
had thirty years of propaganda where armed local citizens who get together for even
a just cause and call themselves a militia would still been branded in the
media as a terrorist cell. However, we
still have to prepare for this like it’s going to be a war to defend our homes
and property.”
“Dad, what are
you suggesting?” questioned Daniel.
“Because it still sounds like you’re looking for a militia without
saying we are one. A handful of state
troopers aren’t going to be able to stop anyone from the outside either. They didn’t even have their gate closed
yesterday. We’re the ones who’ve been
protecting the people here.”
“I think the
troopers and everyone else around here are beginning to awaken,” said
Josiah. “The reality has been that there
is a plan to remove us. Until recently this
plan has used mostly passive and indirect means to push us out. Those of us who remained here have felt its
effects. Up till now this effort on the
part of the planners was mostly symbolic and without real force –without the
possibility of shedding blood— and used our own perceived lack of control
against us.
“In the past when
the federal and state government was really unwilling or incapable of following
through on using physical violence as a consequence, it was the conditioned and
residual fear of such consequences from an authority figure that acted as a
powerful force alone in the minds of most people. But just like the story of the people in
Plato’s cave, these things were just shadow and illusion. We, too, were prisoners in our own minds
until we freed ourselves over the past decade.
We can’t return to that place.”
“Yes, I remember
Plato’s allegory of the cave,” said Daniel.
“The powers that
be know this. They have always been the
ones behind the backs of the people, maintaining the fire and directing the
line of objects casting the shadows on the wall. They know that they’ve already lost the
capability to completely control things like they use to. The fuel for the biggest fire for controlling
the largest number of people in human history is running out. The powers have known this for many
years. When those powers saw that the
illusion had the potential of breaking for too many people all at once, then
those same powers tried to change the peoples’ sense of what is reality
again.
“In order for
them to retain and control the people who’ve already entered into the new false
construct, they can’t leave even the smallest sliver of separate consciousness operating
outside of it. Such a contrast in
perception would always present potential competition to their worldview and possibly
break the mass illusion again in the future.
We have left that cave. But, we
are a small number and most people have not.”
“What can we do
about the people who haven’t left?” asked Daniel.
“I don’t know how
much we can do for them,” said Josiah. “Many
of them want to live in darkness and they’d rather have the illusion. I had hoped that the ones in power would be
content in controlling those easily fooled people, but the nature of those who
seek power in the first place is that they are never satisfied with what they
have –they always want more. At some
point when it is resource-effective for them to expand, then those with power
will use force. They always do.
“We’ve entered
that stage now where there will be more people sent here to use deadly force
against us. They have superior force multiplication
compared to us even though they, too, are few in living number. They will seek to divide and conquer us and
eliminate us in smaller numbers –preferably one at a time. As human beings we have the right to resist
them. This is our home. Besides, there really is nowhere left for us
to go.
“I know this might
sound bad at first, but if we dig in now and make it too tough a fight for them
here, then they will move on to someplace else that’s easier for them to
oppress. But, if other people in many places
learn a lesson from our struggle and give them the same kind of fight at the
same time, then those men in gray, and more importantly the people in power who
sent them here in the first place will not prevail anywhere. If their grip cracks in too many places at
once, then their hold on power will fail.
Their entire paradigm will fall to earth and shatter into a million
pieces.”
“I understand
your philosophy and I agree with it,” Said Daniel, “but I’m interested in the
actual methods on how we’re supposed to accomplish this. We don’t have enough people here to fight a
war. How do we do this?”
“We don’t fight a
war,” answered Josiah. “We outlast
them. We just have to survive and advance
farther down the timeline than they can.
I know we can’t go head to head with a larger group which possesses
modern weapons. I know we can’t take
shots with a rifle at a tank or a helicopter gunship and make any real
difference. Guns aren’t going to solve
this for us. No weapon in the world is
going to fix this situation over the long run.
It’s too big now for all of that.”
“Well now I’m
confused,” said Daniel,”since you’re the one who led me into the tavern and
prepared us for an execution. You didn’t
have a problem with me shooting more of them again on my own.”
“So far
everything has been within our capability,” said Josiah. “The symbolism of those things was also
necessary both for the people here and to the outsiders, both to enemies and potential
allies alike. However, that would be
getting philosophical again.”
“Yes, thanks for
sparing me that,” said Daniel who was still exhausted and his tone hinted he
was tiring of the lecture. “You
mentioned survival. I really am more
interested in things like food and fuel, beans and bullets, and all that. I have a wife and child I’m responsible
for. We still need concrete things to
live and words aren’t going to plant crops and feed us.
“The first thing
that happened after the shooting at Browning’s was
all the people at the market got word about it, ran across the road and bought
all the fuel they could. It didn’t take
long before it got relayed out by radio net and some people were driving in for
some more. The troopers put the ration
flag up for a while before they closed the gate and the station completely. The troopers cited a state emergency order
and kept the remaining fuel in reserve for themselves.”
“We weren’t going
to get another fuel truck up here,” said Josiah. “That was a given sooner rather than later
even if the shootings had never happened.”
“We could still
use more gasoline,” said Daniel,” especially for the snow mobiles now and the
four wheelers come spring. Especially if
we’re talking about hit and run guerilla stuff or just fleeing and moving
people deeper into the woods in a hurry.”
“We’ll buy the
gasoline from the people at the market,” said Josiah. “Most of them don’t even have reliable
vehicles anymore. They’re really looking
to make a buck and they’ll resell at higher prices. However, gasoline should never be something
we rely upon for the long-term.”
“We’re going to
get gouged,” said Daniel. “Unless you’ve
got a ton of gold hidden somewhere I don’t know about.”
“I don’t have any
left,” said Josiah. “None. Don’t believe the rumors. It’s been gone for years. The gold really is in the ground now. Danny, we’re going to do what other people
have done for centuries when they don’t have oil or gold and need one or the
other, or both.”
After Josiah was purposely
silent for a few seconds Daniel asked “Ok, what? Steal it? You’re keeping me in suspense, what?”
“We’re going to
sell weapons and ammunition to the people who have the gasoline,” replied
Josiah.
“Are you kidding
me?” asked Daniel.
“Not at all,” answered
Josiah. “Think about this. There’s a bunch of scared people sitting on
gasoline who can’t use all of it for themselves. Most of the people with vehicles who show up
will have nothing of real value to trade other than their own food. They’re not stupid and will really hold onto
their food rather than burn it up. But
like us, both of those groups either have nowhere to go or really do feel this
is their home.
“While you were
sleeping last night your cousins were already back over there making deals. By the way, smart thinking on your part by having
the Frenchmen take the snowmobiles back while you and Jeremiah scavenged off
the gray men. I only wish they had
filled up their gas tanks at the station first.
It would’ve saved us a step.”
“Browning also siphoned
first for what he needed for his patrol vehicle,” said Daniel. “I can’t blame him. He rushed his wife out of the house and they
left for Grayling. He only took a rifle
and handgun with him. But, if you’re
looking at more fighting around here, why should we get rid of some of the guns
and ammo that we already have? We might
need them all later.”
“Take a lesson
from Browning,” stated Josiah. “We have many
more guns than family members here and more ammo than we could all carry
together. We may not want to leave the
larger land, but we can’t stay in one small fixed spot either. Likewise, although this may be a long
struggle, we will not engage in any long battles. But, this is the most important thing that
history has shown me: when there is war and in the places where the fighting
happens, there is never a shortage of weapons and ammunition. Right now most of the people at the market
don’t know that this will become the place of fighting. We will all be swimming in guns, ammo, and blood. There will be more than enough of that for
everyone after a while. On the other
hand the fuel we need in the short-term will always be in short supply.”
* * *
“Everyone here
should have had a chance to see the video by now. Is there anyone here who hasn’t seen
it?” Asked the Chairman as he looked
around the conference room and didn’t see any hands go up. “When we adjourned yesterday I asked all of
you to do some creative thinking outside of the box in order to address this problem. I know the images we saw were quite
disturbing for everyone, but I don’t want us to overreact either. Our grip on things is very tenuous right
now. The last thing I want to do is
escalate a situation and have it expand outside our manageable boundaries. We can’t let this spin out of our control. Ok, so how about some initial thoughts,
anyone?”
“I know no one
else here wanted to hear this yesterday,” began Gilbert, “but we need to go in
with enough force now in order to completely overwhelm these terrorists. Right now they’re a small group. Letting them sit there for any length of time
is going to give them a chance for momentum and allow for their potential
support to spread.”
“You’re making it
sound like this was some sort of organized group with support across a wide
community,” said David. “It looked like
a few angry peons armed with little more than pitchforks doing a lynching
rather than a popular mass uprising to me.
All that was missing in the video was nighttime and torches.”
“Do we know who
these people are?” asked the Chairman.
“Who were the ringleaders? What
kind of information did the French give us?”
“Nothing from the
French directly,” said the frail man.
“We did our own translation of the entire news report and the additional
online content that was posted on their website. It appears to be mainly one family that was
involved –the ringleader was Josiah Shroud.
He’s no one of past virtual, media, or government significance. He has no outside electronic connections that
we know of. Most of the people onsite
when it happened were named as part of the extended Shroud family and none of
them have an electronic presence either.
It was alleged this incident was a local reaction to a mod op gone bad. People killed during the mod op were family
members of the Shrouds. Local law
enforcement appeared unable or unwilling to assist the first team or otherwise
control this one family’s reaction. I
need to note that we lost contact with three of our other teams that went to
the same area after they lost contact with the first team in the video.”
“We’ve lost four
teams there already…” began Gilbert before the Chairman quickly raised a hand
to silence him.
“Who are these
Shrouds?” asked the Chairman. “I need to
know more about them. Who has their profiles?”
“They’re a bit of
a mystery,” said Cass. “Josiah Shroud
has some kind of long ongoing property tax problem with the state. We also found him and some other family
members in a file from the Citizens Energy Security program when they tried to
apply as a citizen’s union. They’re
farmers so the pitchfork and torch analogy isn’t too far off. They were rejected by the feds in the hope of
quickly assigning their property to the wildlife habitat zone. I have addresses and GPS’s on Josiah Shroud’s
home and many of the others in the area from the original file. The satellite maps in it are about a decade
old, though. We’re still working on complete
psychological and social profiles on all of them. It’s taking time to go through the back-up
archives.”
“I can email a
current map,” said the frail man. “The
whole area is blanketed in snow and it’s fairly easy to see homes and people
moving around outside this time of year.”
“That makes my
point,” interjected Gilbert. “If we get
our people up there now in sufficient numbers, we can track down every last one
of them. There would be no escape.”
“Fine,” said the
Chairman loudly. “I’ll entertain this
line of thinking again even though I thought the group had broadly ruled
against it yesterday. Go ahead. I’ll give you another chance to make your
case.”
“We’re looking at
less than ten households scattered across a few miles,” said Gilbert as he
looked at the other people on the Committee sitting around the large box of
tables. “All we need to do is send in twenty armored security vehicles plus support
vehicles and smash this resistance now.
We could easily drop all the ASVs and humvees by C-17s up in that part of the state. We could have the entire force fully massed
and rolling on their homes within hours today.
If they’re forced from their homes in winter, they’ll have no where to
go. They’ll freeze or starve. The weather can be our ally and their enemy.”
“That’s too many ASVs,” said David. “I
know we agreed those ASVs were going to be equal
assets for both internal and external force, and although I thank you for your
support on this internal security matter, we might have more internal or
external concerns elsewhere in the future.”
“With what’s
still going on out on the East Coast,” began Cass, “I don’t think I could get
the Air Force to comply with dropping that much military equipment in northern
Michigan anyway. They’re going to wonder
why we want them to do that rather than continue running humanitarian aid and
evacuation flights. That’s too many
questions. I don’t need a general asking
to speak directly with the President.”
“I agree,” added
the Chairman. “The last thing we need
right now are too many questions from outsiders.”
“Then we just tell
them there are terrorists who’ve taken advantage of the situation out on the
East Coast,” countered Gilbert. “We’ve
got these people on video. I don’t
understand why we’re not using that video right now to our advantage. We can put any story we want with it and feed
it back to the people as pabulum. Give
the President one more sound bite to spoon feed it to them.”
“We need to keep
this situation and the President out of the media,” said the Chairman. “There have been some other isolated areas
where people resisted the mod teams –less than this one, of course— but I
really think this would only add to that escalation of resistance elsewhere. We can’t afford that right now. On a positive note the way things are playing
out now about the East Coast, the President is really losing all credibility. I don’t want to do anything which gives him
back a bounce.”
“Although we
didn’t lose significant material assets,” said Stacey, “in this one place
alone, we did lose some significant assets in personnel. None of these guys were cannon fodder. I’ve look at the files and they were
experienced operators. They were to take
lead until David’s new recruits arrived and enforced the no-go zone.”
“They were also
joint assets I might add,” said Gilbert.
“That’s what I tried to point out yesterday about how they were wasted. While people are belittling me about the troubles
along the edges of our territory, I lose valuable tools on temporary assignment
to manage internal trailer trash. They
were to be part of the spear point in our coming battles on two different fronts;
one with the nationalists and the other with the states west of the
“No one here is getting
f-cked,” said the Chairman loudly.
“Are you sure,”
stated Gilbert just as loudly while looking straight at the Chairman and the usually
constant typing by the frail man came to a stop.
“Thanks for your
opinion, Gilbert,” said David as he broke the moment of silence in the room as
the spark of anger began to publicly smolder between the two other men. “But, internal security really is my
responsibility. I also have to agree
with Stacey that we all have to be careful about how valuable assets are
used. Gilbert, it was a loss for both of
us yesterday. That’s why I don’t want to
commit too many ASVs to this. I think we can all agree that we need to be
careful right now. I think the job can
be done with less than what you’re recommending. I’m seeing some really good things with the
new volunteers and I’m getting good reports from their trainers.”
“We had the
officer cadre show some select closed groups the video yesterday as well,”
stated Cass. “The follow-up focus groups
showed some really good motivation had been generated.”
“I wasn’t aware
that this was done,” said Gilbert as he looked back over at the Chairman.
“It was just some
red tab guys,” said the Chairman without looking at Gilbert. “None of yours. Remember this is an internal security
matter.”
“I think this
would be a great opportunity for the new volunteers to show what they can do,”
said David. “I know we can keep the ASVs and the experienced operators on this mission to the
minimum. This matter is in our backyard
and they don’t have that far to go to take care of it.”
“I’ve seen some of
those ASVs out in front of our building,” said the
Chairman. “It looks like they have a lot
of firepower and can haul a lot of people around. We’re really just looking at a handful of
civilians in the woods with some shotguns, right? I’ll bet four of those ASVs
could get the job done.”
“Um…” began
Gilbert.
“Yes,” said
David. “I’m sure four ASVs will be fine.
We’ll add a few support vehicles. Some humvees and a
fuel truck will also be needed for a ground convoy. I can tell you a few rounds from just one ASV’s grenade launcher can level an entire house.”
“I’d bet that
would look pretty cool on video,” said the Chairman with a smile. “Make sure someone takes video of this little
hunting expedition in the woods. There
will be a time when such a televised victory on the news or even quietly leaked
to send a message elsewhere could be very helpful. But, I’d just like to see some action like
that anyway.”
“Boys and their
guns,” Stacey said. ”Even if we had the
local capability to produce more of those grenades, which we don’t, those
rounds would still cost a hundred times more than bullets.”
“I’d just rather
we not use the grenade launchers at all,” said the frail man as he typed. “That kind of thing is going to show up on
the screens of third parties.”
“How?” asked the
Chairman. “Who?”
“I’d rather not
say here,” answered the frail man. “Not everyone
here has the clearance to know either the how or who part.”
“When did that
happen?” said a man at the far corner of the box who was usually silent during
the meetings.
“I’m sorry I
didn’t get a chance to go over this with everyone here yesterday,” said the
Chairman as some murmuring arose among the far side of the box. “Given the circumstances in
“Is this why I
can’t logon to the red system?” asked a female who was also usually silent in
the meetings, but had often expressed herself through emails to the entire
group for years.
“I’m sorry,” said
the Chairman in his most personable tone.
“I thought I had CCed everyone in advance regarding
some of these temporary adjustments.”
“I never got any
notice of this,” said the same female before asking “Did you click your email
as local or encrypted?”
“It was sensitive,”
answered the frail man before the Chairman could speak,”therefore, I re-routed
it as encrypted which automatically dropped it into the red system.”
“I can’t get that
email if I can’t logon to that system in the first place,” stated the
female. “How can I do my job if my
access is restricted from the entire red system?”
“We can adjust
this on a case by case basis so it doesn’t hinder jobs or impede our overall
goals as a group,” said the Chairman as he looked around the room and then made
eye contact with the woman who asked the questions. “Meet me afterwards and I can look into this
for you.”
* * *
“I want to thank
everyone in advance for coming today,” stated Josiah to the group which had
gathered and packed the inside of the pole barn. “In a little while some of us are going to go
over and bring Judy and the others back this way for the funeral. The rest of the day we all need to focus on
that. We need to have our time to
mourn. However, right now, I need to say
some things of concern to the living.
You need to hear this now because the future is coming fast at all of us.”
Josiah paused and
looked around the large single room. His
wide gaze caught everyone including people at the back. In the passive interior light provided by
semi-transparent vinyl sheets spaced apart along the upper walls between
sections of sheet metal, he saw a teenage boy sitting on a tractor and some
other young men and women standing on the tractor’s dismounted implements along
the far wall which included a brush hog mower and front loading bucket. He cleared his throat.
“I know you guys
will think this is funny coming from me, but I’ll try to keep this short and to
the point today,” Josiah began hoping the stated contrast to his common lengthy
speeches would have added a moment of lightness to a room of family, friends,
and acquaintances from around the area who had known him for many years. Although he felt more awkward when his
opening was met by continued heavy silence, he didn’t show it outwardly and
stated “There is a war that has been brought to us. We didn’t ask for it and none of us here
wanted it. But we should make no mistake
about the intentions of those who have shed first blood. More men like those who killed Frank, Jim,
Beth, and Lilly will be coming. They’ve
already shown us how they would treat unarmed men, women and children. If you choose to stay here, then expect no
mercy from them when they come. This
should already be clear to you.
“Some of you
might want to leave the area. Your
feeling of fear is normal and human. You
might even think that by leaving now you’ll be avoiding more risk. However, I doubt you will escape things for
long. It will catch up to you again in a
new place elsewhere. You will be alone there
when that happens. Others here might already
be determined to stay, but think they will just lay low with just their own
family. Well, I say again that we have already
seen what will happen to them when they are isolated and just trying to go
about their own lives. But, I know there
are always people willing to stand and fight and there is always more strength
in numbers rather than going it alone. I
know such people live here. So I would
ask if you intend to stay here and take a stand against these outsiders that we
stand together. That’s all I have to say
about this for now. Those of you who
would like to talk with me more, can come by later and see me. My door is always open to you. Thanks again to everyone for listening.”
* * *
John stood with a
handful of other camo men outside of a small house
set in the side of a hill. The treed
ridgelines of taller mountains rose and stretched from one end of the horizon
to the other across the lower field in front of them. Two of the men smoked cigarettes as the
others stood with their hands in their pockets to keep warm.
“We’re not
getting anywhere with these guys,” said one of the men referencing the two
tan-clad prisoners separated in different rooms back inside the house. “They’re still play-acting like we’re local
militia and trying to maintain the cover that they’re feds. I’ve already confronted them about their ID
dates and their lack of history in the system.
They’ve received some formal training, but they don’t smell military to
me.”
“Are they
foreign?” asked one of the men.
“No,” answered
another man wearing glasses as John listened with his arms crossed. “I haven’t received the DNA tests back yet,
but I’m not seeing anything behaviorally or linguistically from them to
indicate that. I’m fairly certain
they’re both Americans.”
“They’ve been
zip-tied most of the time,” said one man with a cigarette still in his mouth
which wiggled up and down as he talked.
“I’d like to know what kind of behavioral clues you can gather from
that. Did you closely analyze how they
held their d-cks when they p-ssed?”
There was some
laughter from the group except for John who looked back towards the
mountains. The first man who spoke began
again “I’d like to move them somewhere brick and mortar and more official
looking. I have a feeling they’ve
trained on this very scenario and they’re still in game mode. I need that removed and then see how they
adapt. I want to test their comfort
level. These guys might have grown up in
the Governor’s youth camp.”
“Let’s not assume
things,” said John. “I know things were
exciting for everyone yesterday, but let’s not build this into a big catch too
early. You can continue working these
guys, but we can’t lose focus on the bigger fish. Mond and his people
got away from us. We don’t know where he
is right now and we have no leads. We
were just lucky enough to capture these guys.
Murphy’s team did take some casualties when we tightened the vice. We’ll take these two back to Scott. He’ll want some answers from them.”
“They’re useless
f-cking weight,” said the same man with the cigarette
after he removed it and tapped off some ash.
“They have nothing useful to give us just like we’d have nothing really useful
to say to them if things were reversed. You
have some more bullets in that first pistol mag. Why don’t you use a couple more on them?”
“I guess I’m
saving those for someone special,” said John.
“No use saving it
for someone special now,” said the man,”your cherry’s been broken.”
“Why is it you
always have to out goatee everyone?” asked John.
“This is already
a great f-cking party and it’s not even midnight
yet,” answered the man. “This sh-t is just beginning.”
Before John could
say anything else, his satellite phone rang in his jacket and he immediately
put it to his ear.
“Hello, Scott”
answered John who then listened without saying a word for nearly two minutes as
the other men had side conversations.
John then returned the phone to his pocket.
“Gentlemen…”
began John.
“Gentlemen?”
parroted the cigarette man in a humorous tone which the group ignored. “Who’s that?”
“Gentleman,”
reiterated John as he glanced at the man and continued “We have a new mission.”
End of Part 9
Previous Parts:
http://www.oftwominds.com/opSERF/OP-serf.html
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