The Army Comes Calling Read online

  Hannah stood and asked, “Marty, is your intent to kill or capture these animals? And if you capture them, exactly what do you plan to do with them?”

  “Our plan is to capture them alive unless they resist, and then to tear them to pieces. If they surrender, we’ll drive them to San Angelo and turn them over to the authorities there. The mayor has promised to support us.”

  “What happens if nobody shows up to help you on Thursday morning?”

  “Then I’ll go it alone.”

  Chapter 19

  It was fairly predictable, of course, which men would volunteer to help out the people of Eden.

  After Marty said his goodbyes and left the compound, the group got back together again a second time to debate the merits of his proposal.

  They were barely assembled when John said in a loud and clear voice, “I’m in. Who’s with me?”

  Frank Woodard, the other former lawman in the group said, “Me too. Count me in.”

  It so happened that Frank’s wife Eva, and John’s daughter Sami, were sitting at the same table. Eva saw the fear in Sami’s eyes. She took the younger woman’s hand.

  Sami had been through two gun battles, and had been shot in the shoulder and could have died. Moreover, she’d seen her father place his own life on the line too many times. She just wanted to live the rest of her life in peace. With her father by her side.

  “But Dad, why? This isn’t our fight. At some point we’ve got to just live our own lives and let others fend for themselves.”

  Her father looked at her with sadness in his eyes.

  “Honey, I understand your concern. But if we don’t help these people, who will?”

  Sami was normally a woman who kept family matters within the family. But enough was enough.

  “That’s just it, Dad. I don’t think you do understand my concern. You may think you do. But you’ve never been a cop’s daughter.”

  She looked at Eva and squeezed her hand, drawing strength from the older woman.

  “And you’ve never been a cop’s wife either. All through my childhood I had to watch my mother worry herself to death every time you went undercover, or on a dangerous assignment. To you it was great fun, a great adventure. You never had to see Mom cry herself to sleep at night, and then get up to vomit any time you were more than an hour late. She literally worried herself sick many times. If you never knew that, it’s because she was ‘a good little cop’s wife’ and hid it from you.

  “I used to crawl into bed with her at night and hold her. Here I was, a little girl, trying to console a trembling mother. And to this day, I wonder how great a role that stress played in her early death. People aren’t supposed to die when they’re forty years old, Dad.

  “And men aren’t supposed to place others over their own families.”

  Sami was unable to go on. She had more words, but she just couldn’t get them out.

  John went to her and held her. The rest of the room looked on in stunned silence.

  He took her to the back of the room, where they could speak privately, while the rest of the group debated the merits of Marty’s plan.

  John wiped the tears from his daughter’s face.

  “I’m sorry, honey. The truth is, I did know. I used to come home and see your mom’s puffy face, and her red eyes, and I’d feel like dirt from putting her through that. But it was my job, honey. I swore to protect and serve those who couldn’t fend for themselves. It’s something I was good at, and I know I made a difference. I saved some lives. And yes, maybe my job hastened your mom’s death. I’ve had nightmares about that for years. If I could go back to the beginning and be an accountant, or a restaurant manager, or anything other than a cop, I would. But I can’t go back. None of us can. All we can do is move forward.”

  “Dad, if Mom were still alive, do you think she would approve of you going of to help people you’ve never even met? People you never swore to serve and protect?”

  It was a bitter and sarcastic tone that Sami seldom took with her father. She saw the pained look on his face and instantly regretted the rebuke.

  Before he answered, she said, “Never mind. Please forget I said that. It wasn’t a fair question, and I’m sorry I asked it.

  John felt like dirt.

  “Honey, I don’t know what to say.”

  She put a finger to his lips to shush him.

  “Dad, listen carefully. You make your own decision, and forget what I said. I trust you to do what’s right. But here’s one more thing I want you to consider before you strap on that weapon and go off to Eden to save strangers.

  “Brad and I were going to tell you in a couple of days. He made me promise not to spill the beans until the three of us had a chance to be together, with no one else around.

  “I’m going to do something I’ve never done to Brad before. I’m going to break a promise to him. Because before you make this decision, you need to know that you’re finally going to be a grandfather.”

  He suddenly held her at arm’s length and looked into her eyes. They were moist. So were his.

  He uncharacteristically stammered.

  “My… my baby is having a baby?”

  She was out of words. She nodded her head yes.

  He held her and they both cried, unashamedly.

  Sami looked over to Brad, still sitting at a table with Eva Woodard, and held out her hand to him.

  He sensed that she told her father about the baby. He came to her and the three held each other.

  Finally, John held Sami’s chin in his hand and lifted her face.

  “You win, honey. I’ll sit this one out.”

  He looked at Brad and said, “You will too.”

  It wasn’t a request. It was an order, and Brad knew better than to argue.

  “Yes, sir.”

  John went on.

  “After I have a chance to absorb all of this, I want you two to explain to me exactly how this happened.”

  “Dad! Seriously? I’m pretty sure you know how this happened.”

  “No, I don’t. You see, in our family, things happen in a certain order. First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes baby in a baby carriage. You know, just like the lullaby goes.”

  Brad said, “Yeah, well, that… you see…”

  “Oh, Dad, we were going to ask Bryan to marry us. We just never got around to it.”

  “Well, obviously you had no trouble getting around to other things.”

  “Okay. Point taken.”

  Brad tried to take the blame.

  “It’s all my fault, John. I was looking for just the perfect moment to ask her.”

  “In any event, Dad, we’ll fix it. We’ll talk to Bryan today, and we’ll be married before the baby is born.”

  “I’m old fashioned, honey. I’m still of the mindset that being pregnant and single is still shameful.”

  “I know, Dad. You’re an old fuddy duddy, and I wouldn’t have you any other way. Don’t worry. We’ll be married before I start to show. There will probably be some of the women who look at the calendar and count the weeks, and maybe they’ll gossip a bit, but they can’t prove anything.”

  “They won’t have to, honey.”

  “Meaning what, Dad?”

  Instead of answering, John took each of their hands and led them back into the dining room.

  He cleared his throat and addressed the group.

  “May I have everyone’s attention?”

  Every face in the room turned.

  “I’m sorry, Frank, and whoever else is going. You’ll have to count me out this time. I will help with any tactical training any of you want, and will give you some pointers in special ops. But I’m going to stay here with my daughter and my almost son in law.

  “I also want to announce their wedding on Wednesday, and to thank you, Bryan, for volunteering to preside over the ceremony.”

  He looked directly at Bryan, who swallowed hard and said, “Um… sure. No problem, John.”

  John
went on.

  “I’d also like to announce that my baby girl, my sweet Sami, is expecting a baby on a date to be determined later.”

  The tears returned to his eyes.

  “I’m gonna be a grandpa.”

  Chapter 20

  After the meeting was over and the dust settled, six men and one woman were on board to join Marty’s cause.

  Sarah would not let Bryan volunteer unless she was allowed to participate as well. When several of the others objected to having a woman involved in the operation, she stubbornly refused to back down.

  Bryan was steadfastly against the idea.

  “You’ve heard about how they treat the other women. If they happen to capture you, they’ll treat you the same way. Or worse, maybe they’ll just kill you outright.”

  The other volunteers supported Bryan’s concerns.

  But Sarah was as stubborn as anyone else in the group. She finally offered one concession. She would fill a support role by staying back and coordinating operations, instead of actually raiding the town hunting down the bad guys.

  It was still dangerous. And Bryan still didn’t like it.

  Neither did Hannah. She only agreed to let Mark go along with the understanding that he’d watch out for her best friend.

  John and Frank took each of the volunteers into the woods for target practice and weapons familiarization, and way before sunrise on Thursday morning, the group of seven set out for the rendezvous point in three two-seater Gators.

  Sarah sat in the back of one of them.

  Next to Sarah, in a brown cardboard box that once held twelve boxes of Cheerios, were a dozen two way radios.

  Just in case Marty didn’t have any.

  And he didn’t.

  “Hey, this will make things a lot easier,” he said when he saw the radios. “And thank you guys for coming.”

  The seven joined six other volunteers Marty had been able to recruit from the nearby city of Kerrville.

  “I’m sorry. I don’t have any military experience myself. I don’t know much about how to coordinate an operation like this. I just know that those poor people need help. And in the absence of any law enforcement or military support, we seem to be the only ones who can give it to them.”

  Frank Woodard stepped up to the plate.

  “Marty, you don’t know me. My name is Frank. I’ve been a cop and then a deputy sheriff for many years. Before then I was in the Army. I might be able to help you with some of the tactical planning.”

  “Thank you, Frank. I was hoping somebody would be able to do that.”

  “Show me what you’ve got,” Frank said.

  Marty produced several pieces of paper he’d printed from the copier at the Trucker’s Paradise manager’s office.

  Each sheet provided a photo of one of the men they were looking for in the upper left corner. On the rest of each sheet were crudely drawn street maps of Eden. An “X” marked the spot where each man was believed to be.

  “One of the Eden residents took the photos over the last month or so, so they’re fairly current. I know they’re not the best quality, but should be good enough to identify the people we’re after.”

  Frank looked over the maps.

  “Are we as confident about the accuracy of the maps?”

  “Yes. The maps were drawn by the same man who took the photos. He’s a lifetime resident of Eden. He said he knows the streets like the back of his hand.”

  “Pardon me for asking, but how is it he was able to take photos and then share this information with you?”

  “He’s one of the people they trust. He comes to the Trucker’s Paradise to get their tobacco and liquor.”

  “Can we trust him?”

  “I do. He used to be the mayor of Eden. Now the gang makes him live in a tent in his front yard, while three of them share the house with his wife and young daughters. This is the reason I felt I had to do something to help. One of the daughters is only eleven, and he fears she is being raped along with her mom and older sister.”

  Frank let out a low whistle.

  “Okay, I’m going to make a series of suggestions. It’s your operation, and you don’t have to take my advice. But I’ll tell you how I’d do this operation if it were mine. Okay?”

  “Okay. I’m all ears.”

  “We’re approaching from the west side of the city. Go through the maps, pick out the ones on the easternmost part of town. Those teams need to depart first. It’ll take them longer to get into position. The teams hitting the center part of town will go next. The teams whose targets are on the western part of town will leave last. The idea is to get everyone into position at about the same time so we can all hit our targets at one time.”

  Okay. Understood.

  Then estimate how long it’ll take the teams to get into position. Bear in mind they may have to hide behind cars or other barriers to prevent their being seen. So it’ll take them longer to get into position than, say, if they were just taking an afternoon stroll.”

  “Okay. Got it.”

  “Pick a ‘go’ time when everyone will be in position. Say, ten hundred hours. Make sure every team has a watch and that all watches are synchronized. At the ‘go’ time, all teams will execute their assault. I’d have Sarah stay back here to coordinate rescue efforts if anybody gets pinned down. She can give a ‘go’ command at the designated time, but all the teams need to be able to execute without her go in case they’re out of range.”

  “Okay. Got it. How would you take these guys down?”

  “Well, assuming there are civilians in the houses, you can’t just go in with guns blazing. People will get hurt, and the people you’re trying to help may get killed for your efforts.

  “You’ve got to draw them outside.”

  “Okay, but how?”

  Frank thought for a minute.

  “Didn’t you say these guys barter with locals for liquor and food and such?”

  “Yes, and for cigarettes too.”

  “Okay. Let’s split into teams of three. Each team will try to plan their arrival for right before the ‘go’ hour, so we all hit our targets at the same time.

  “Once at the location, one man will take cover on each side of the house. Whoever feels brave enough can stand in the yard and yell that he has a truck full of whisky and cigarettes he wants to trade.”

  “What does he say he wants to trade for?”

  “Favors from the women inside the building.”

  “Okay. What if the bad guy wants our man to come in?”

  “Our man will refuse. He’ll say he’s more comfortable in a neutral place. The idea is to get the man to come into the yard to talk to our guy. If he does, the two men will come out of nowhere. One will cover the bad guy and the other will cover the house.”

  “What if the bad guy says he’s not interested?”

  “Then our man will walk away, but our other two guys will stay under cover. The bad guy will probably try to tail our man to try to take the truckload of goods by force. As soon as he slips out of the house to follow him, we’ve got him.”

  “What if he really isn’t interested and never comes out of the house?”

  “Then we’ll consider that part of the operation a bust and we’ll wrap it. We’ll try something different the next time.”

  There were no more questions from the group, but Frank had a few of his own.

  He looked around at the sea of faces, each one looking to him intently for his wisdom.

  “Have any of you killed a man before?”

  Only the men from the compound raised their hands.

  Frank addressed the volunteers from Kerrville.

  “You’ll spend the rest of your lives second guessing yourselves. You’ll wonder if it really had to be that way. Whether you should have done something differently, so a man didn’t have to die.

  “And you’ll wonder whether you’ve forfeited your place in heaven because of your deed.

  “And I’m here to tell you, you�
�ll suffer some sleepless nights if you take a life today, even if you know that life was worthless.

  “It’s important that you know that. But here’s something else you need to know. Even knowing all of that, you cannot, must not hesitate to pull that trigger if it looks like your target is going for a weapon. Because you can damn sure bet he’ll have no qualms about killing you, even if you might have some for killing him.

  “To hesitate is to die. And you’re a better man than he is, so if a man has to die today, make sure it’s your target and not you.”

  He looked from one face to the next to make sure each man understood.

  “Okay. Does each of you have handcuffs or zip ties?”

  They produced heavy duty white zip ties that Marty had taken from the trunk of a stalled Kerr County Sheriff’s cruiser.

  “Okay. Put those things on tight enough to cut off the circulation. It’s better to listen to ‘em whine that they’re too tight than to let one of them slip out. And be sure your partner has a gun pointed to their head while you apply them. If he twitches, blow him away. Are all of you willing to take a life today?”

  He looked around again. Each man nodded.

  “Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that. But these are hardened criminals, and they may think they can overpower you. There’s a good chance they’ll resist. Do not… I repeat, do not… cut them any slack. If they give you any trouble put a bullet in their head. Anything less and you’ll be putting your own life at risk.

  “Now then, after you’ve captured your target, march him back here at gunpoint. If you come under fire from his gang, take your prisoner out first. Then return fire. That’s important, because otherwise he’ll run and you’ll not only be under fire, but your day’s efforts will be lost. Does everyone understand?”

  Again, the heads nodded in affirmation.

  “Okay. We have more photos than we have teams. Marty, pick the worst of the bunch and the leaders. We’ll get them first. Most times, gangs fall apart when their leaders are killed or captured. It’ll be a lot easier to kill the snake after we’ve cut off its head.