The Guardians (9 page)

"Daryl, grab your horse and ride down and get Ollie.  I don't want to leave him down there just in case there is another unaccounted for dirt bag around there somewhere.  Jason, you clear the house while I keep watch over this guy."

Daryl ran out the back door to do as Evan had requested and Jason immediately began clearing the house with his sidearm.  He went through the laundry room, and two of the three bedrooms, yelling clear as he went.  He came upon the master bedroom and pushed the door open.  There was blood on the wall by the bed and what appeared to be a shotgun blast on the wall with the associated blood splatter, but there was no body.  The blood was dried and looked as if it had been there for a while.  He then crept over to the master bathroom and nudged the door open taking a step back to see inside.  To his horror, there was a young teenage girl, bound and gagged.  She was naked and shivering.  She had bruises all over her face and body and was chained to the back of the filthy toilet.  She was terrified to see Jason, but could not scream as she had been gagged by her kidnappers.

"It's OK, it's OK now, it's all over," he said.  "Those people can't hurt you anymore."  He looked at the chains and saw that there was a padlock on it.  He had no clue where the key might be so he just started kicking the toilet relentlessly until it broke free from the floor.  As water began to flow out of the bottom of the toilet, he pulled the chain out from underneath, holstered his pistol, and picked up the shivering and scared young girl.  He wrapped her in what was the cleanest looking towel in the room.  He carried her into one of the other bedrooms to get her away from the horror scene that she had been living in for who knows how long, laid her on the bed and covered her up.  "We are gonna get you help now.  No one is ever gonna hurt you again," he said.  "I'll be right back."

He walked back into the living room where Evan was standing over the bound man.  Jason walked over to him, pulled his pistol, put it to the back of his head, and fired, blasting his brains and bits of scull all over the floor.  Evan just stood there in shock of what Jason had just done.  Jason then just turned and walked back into the bedroom to get back to the young girl.

Evan followed Jason into the next room, trying to figure out what was going on.  Then he saw the young girl, she was maybe thirteen years old.  He saw the terrible condition she was in.  Jason was looking through the drawers for some clothes for her to wear.  He found a robe and an old nightgown.  He assumed it used to belong to Mrs. Murphy, but at the moment, none of that mattered.  He needed to get her covered up and treated with respect like the young girl that she was, rather than the toy those men had brutally used her for.

Evan began to look around in the other rooms.  They still needed to try to find out what happened to Isaac.  In the master bedroom, where the dried blood was splattered on the wall, everything that had previously been in the drawers was strewn about.  It looked as if the place had been ransacked.  He kicked some of the clothes around that was on the floor and found a wallet.  The wallet contained Isaac Murphy's driver's license, and some old photos of his dearly departed and beloved wife. 

Evan looked at the blood splatter on the wall again and had chills go up his spine realizing what had probably happened.  In the middle of the night, while Isaac was asleep in bed, they broke into the home and worked their way to the bedroom.  He could picture in his head Isaac awakening to find the intruders present, and when reaching for his gun next to the bed and blast from a shotgun tore him to shred.  That would certainly explain the dried blood splatter and its location in proximity to the bed.

Evan then heard Daryl and Ollie enter the home.  He walked back into the living room to meet them and found them standing there looking at the man that Jason had executed on the floor. 

"What the hell happened while I was gone?" Daryl asked.

"Jason took care of something that needed to be taken care of," Evan responded.  "It needed to be done."

"What, why?" asked Daryl.

"These scumbags were keeping a young girl chained to the toilet in the master bathroom.  She was naked and had been visibly abused.  Only her and God know what those evil monsters did to her.  It also looks as if they had taken over the home by force and murdered Isaac," Evan said as he reached out to Ollie to hand him his old friend's wallet.  As Ollie began to thumb through the wallet, Evan continued, "Looks like they killed him as he was getting out of bed.  They've pretty much tore this house apart.  My guess is they were just going to squat here, having their way with that little girl while using up all of Isaac's resources.  When the food and supplies were exhausted, I imagine they would have moved on and done the same thing to someone else.  Who knows which one of us would have been next on their list?  There is nothing else we could have done.  We don't have the resources to keep violent criminals like this locked
up forever ourselves, and there doesn't get much more of a threat to our loved ones than this.  Jason did what needed to be done, without question."

"Some might argue that he deserved a trial, but I'd have shot him my damn self if Jason hadn't already done it," Ollie said as rage filled tears welled up in his eyes.

****

Chapter 8: Wilson's Run

Nate had tried his best to get a nap in before the night's run.  He and the other guys found a dark hallway in the back of the building.  They each took a spot on the floor, propped their heads up on their packs, and racked out for a while.  Judging from the snores, several of the guys clearly didn't have a problem sleeping.  For Nate however, this wasn't just a normal supply run.  This was his moment of truth.  It was the culmination of the efforts of the past year all coming to fruition.  At a quarter till departure time, Sargent Wilson came into the hall, banged on an old out of service water fountain and said, "Rise and shine ladies!  Your chariots await.  Don't be late for the ball."

With a few grunts and moans the men gathered themselves, suited up, and headed on out to the front of the warehouse.  Sargent Wilson was leaning on the supply laden Humvee with a dip of Copenhagen snuff in his lip, occasionally spitting into an old canteen.  "Last chance to back out Hoskins," he said.

"Hell no!  I'm already there, I'm just waiting on you," Nate replied.

"Good then, here is the deal.  Hoskins and I are gonna mount up in the lead Humvee and pull out into the street.  Ponch and John here are gonna come out of the depot and form up behind us, then Shock and Chop will bring up the rear.  We all know that's where they like it anyway," Sargent Wilson said with a straight face as everyone else except the subject named individuals chuckled.

"You mean Parker and Clarke in the middle, right?" Parker said.

"Nope, tonight you're Ponch and John.  I always loved that show," said Sargent Wilson.  "Alright, let's get moving.  We'll see you guys out front," he said to Parker and Clarke as he and the others headed out of the building to the entrance of the depot.  The men boarded their respective Humvee's, fired them up, and Sargent Wilson pulled out into the street as planned.  The front gate to the depot was opened by two of the sentries at the entrance.  The supply Humvee entered the street and positioned itself behind Wilson and Hoskins as planned.  Shock and Chop formed up behind them in the rear, they gave the signal, and the convoy began it's journey.

"There are no doubt spotters that report movement in and out of the depot, so be on your toes for anything out of the ordinary.  Not that there is an ordinary these days," Sargent Wilson said to Nate.

"Roger that," replied Nate.

"We'll leave the lights on until we get clear of College Station. We don't want to run over a civilian in our own town because they couldn't see us in the dark.  With no street lights it gets pitch black out here," said Sargent Wilson.

Nate sat with his shotgun laying across his lap with the barrel pointed towards the passenger window.  He mentally went over what it would be like to engage a target on his side of the vehicle.  He would almost have to shoot left handed he thought.

As they left the city and entered Highway 21, Sargent Wilson said, "Lights out girls," over the radio.  He picked up his NVG's and put them in position ready to flip them down.  "Report," he then said. 

"Ponch and John ready," he heard over the radio.

"Shock and Chop ready," was said over the radio as well. 

"Hit it," he then said as he flipped down his NVG's and killed his headlights with the two Humvees in trail doing the same. 

Nate said, "Damn it's dark without headlights or street lights."

"Oh sorry, I forgot to tell you.  We're on a shoe string budget so there are only one set of NVG's per truck.  Without the headlights on, your eyes should adjust so that you can see a little," replied Sargent Wilson.

They were driving slow and cautious down the old rural roads.  Nate still didn't know where they were going.  All he knew was that his brother was supposed to be at or near their destination.  He hoped Sargent Wilson wouldn't hold out too long.  It was a very uncomfortable feeling for Nate to be completely dependent on others after having been living life on his own terms for the past year.

After about an hour of driving, they approached a small town.  Nate wasn't exactly sure where they were, and he didn't see any clear signs or markings at first, especially in their lights out configuration.  Sargent Wilson said over the radio, "OK boys, lights on for now."  He and the other two Humvees clicked their headlights on and illuminated the street. 

Nate saw that they were in a run-down little town.  There were windows broken out and several doors looked as if they had been kicked off of the hinges.  Many of the homes appeared to be abandoned.  "This town looks like they've had it rough," said Nate as he scanned the side roads for threats.

"Yes, yes it has," replied Sargent Wilson.  "The drug thugs tried to roll over it, but we fought them off.  There are a few good folks left here that refuse to be ran off.  I can't say I would blame them if they left though.  Personally though, I would rather die standing and fighting on my own two feet than running like a coward.  Where else would they go anyway?  Unless you're a thief or a swindler, you've pretty much got what you had, or less, when it all started.  The economy hasn't really been bristling with opportunity ya know."

Sargent Wilson took a left turn at a four-way intersection in the middle of town.  The other two Humvees followed behind at a tactical bound.  "Even though these supply runs are kept discrete, we stop off along the way at a few friendly points to act as a security patrol rather than just a supply convoy.  Doing this accomplishes two things.  First, it shows both our allies and our enemies that we are still around.  We don't want either of the two to think we've moved on or lost interest.  Second, it helps to mask are true intentions of our movements.  If we can get the cartel's informants to buy off on our ruse that we are a security patrol, they will transmit flawed reports.  That's why I wanted you in TSG gear, so you look like another one of us.  This may keep the cartels in the dark about the fact that we have a force in place that needs resupply.  If they can draw conclusions as to where they are, they would stand a better chance of cutting them off from us and then taking them out."

"There is our man now," Sargent Wilson said pointing up ahead at three men on horseback.  He pulled up alongside them and said, "¡Hola! Gentlemen."

"Buenos noches," one of the men said in return.

"Where is Carlos?  I expected him to be here," Sargent Wilson said as he shut the engine off to be able to hear the men better.

"They got him." said one of the men.  "They got his whole family.  They were on their way to church last Sunday and they mowed down Carlos, his wife, and their two little boys."

"Oh my God," Sargent Wilson said.  "Who did it?  Were there any town insiders that may have been involved."

"It was the cartel as far as we know.  One of the gunmen had been seen around town before.  He had been seen talking to Jose Gutiérrez a time or two.  Gutiérrez has sort of always looked down on us Citizen's Guard types.  He just calls us militia and says the town needs a mayor and a police chief instead of the Texas Citizen's Guard.  He and Carlos didn't see eye to eye on much.  Most of us think he wants to take over the town, then bow down to the cartels and get rich by selling out his own people." 

Sargent Wilson just sat there for a minute, visibly upset and holding back the rage.  "Do you boys want to pay that chicken shit a visit to night?" he asked the men.

"Hell yea!" the men replied.  "We were hoping you would say that."

"Sit tight, I'll be right back," Sargent Wilson said as he opened the door and got out of the Humvee.  He went back to the supply Humvee and motioned for Shock and Chop to join them.  Nate tried to see what was going on; he just could not get a good view from where he was seated.  Sargent Wilson then returned to the Humvee, looked at Nate, and said, "These ain't your monkies and this ain't your circus.  Just sit tight when we get there.  This won't take long."  He then looked at the TCG locals on horseback and said, "Lead the way my brothers."

The men on horseback led the convoy a few blocks over to a street that now had a sign on it that said Gutiérrez Way.  Well that's new, Sargent Wilson thought to himself.  They proceeded down the street until the men on horseback stopped and got off of their horses.  They were each wearing blue jeans, cowboy boots and hats, but had on TCG multi-cam blouses and were carrying AR15's, each customized to the owners liking.  Their guns showed a lot of wear, with multiple layers of camo paint that looked as if it had been worn off and reapplied several times over.  These guys have been in the mix for a while, Nate thought to himself.