Dominatus (22 page)

Mac attempted to ignore the doctor’s request, but it was immediately followed up with support by the Old Man himself.

“Yes Mac!  Perhaps you could play that one from the Rolling Stones you do so well.  The…the Wild Horses one.  I haven’t heard you sing that for, well it’s been years now.”

Mac’s eyes looked to the ceiling as he pretended to be troubled by the suggestion he sing.

“Oh Christ, I haven’t been practicing.  Nobody wants to hear this old boy singing.”

Lucille was having none of it.

“Bullshit Mac!  Now you give these people what they want!  Go on now, you big show off!  You know you’ve been wanting to sing for them!”

Everyone inside the tavern began to chant Mac’s name in unison.

“Mac!  Mac!  Mac!”

Finally accepting the demands of his own audience, Mac produced a battered acoustic guitar from behind the bar and began to tune it, shaking his head as he did so while the chanting of his name was replaced by cheers.

Mac placed a bar stool against the wall facing the dance area, and plugged in a single microphone connected to small speaker.  He gave his guitar a few strums and then looked out at the faces of all those now looking back at him before slowly placing a cowboy hat atop his head – a signal he was now prepared to sing.

“As you all know, we owe our way of life up here to that man over there, Mr. Meyer.  We all call him the Old Man, with great affection.  He created this place for us to come and live out these years free from…from the goddamn tyranny of the New United Nations mandates.  It is my honor and privilege to take his request for this song, he has told me before how much he loved this band when he was a younger man.  Doesn’t exactly fit the Wall Street image, but he just flat out loves this song.  So I’ll try and do it some justice, for him and for all of you.  It’s a song by the way that the mandates banned nearly twenty years ago along with most other decent music.  But here in Dominatus, we say to hell with the mandates now don’t we?”

Freedom Tavern let out a roar of approval and then quickly grew quiet as Mac began the song, both his guitar and voice filling the room.  Dublin took the shaking hand of her grandfather and guided him to the dance area, where she slowly danced with him, as he whispered something into her ear.  Dublin smiled at the words, hugging the Old Man closer to her.

As before, the quality of Mac’s voice surprised me.  So too did his ability on the guitar. Again I caught Lucille staring over at Mac, her devotion to him even more apparent.  Other couples were now joining Dublin and her grandfather on the dance floor, moving together slowly to the long-ago narrative of a band that at one time, represented an era of  rebellion against authority, an act of rebellion that was now, so many years later, represented yet again in Dominatus, Alaska.

XVI.

Before Mac was able to complete his song, and Dublin and her grandfather their dance, Freedom Tavern’s door swung open, as the tall, bearded form of Afrim entered, accompanied by the sound of hard rainfall from outside.  The storm had arrived.  Afrim appeared out of breath, his eyes searching the room before finally locating Mac.

“Mac, we have no more than thirty minutes before they arrive.  There’s at least four vehicles.   Big vehicles.  Transport.   Possibly more.  Another surveillance drone flew over us about ten minutes ago.  We have a real situation here.”

Mac put his guitar down and removed the cowboy hat as all eyes in the room turned to him, including my own.  When his response came, it was calm, measured, and reassuring.

“Ok, everyone, we have done the drills on this exact scenario over and over.  Everyone here knows exactly how to proceed.  We will meet up at the operation center in ten minutes, and then proceed to the cave. Limit your personal items…everything else you will need is provided at the cave.  Afrim, who is manning the trail station?”

“Bill…Bill Crup.”

I recalled the name from just a few days earlier during the meeting at the operations center - the accountant holding the rifle outside the center’s entrance.

“Afrim, I want you to tell Bill he has the go ahead to light them up.  As many of those transport vehicles as he can…and then tell him to make his way back to the cave as quickly as possible.  I want you to position yourself between the trail station and here…if any of them get through…hold them up.  Buy us a little more time, and then we’ll see you back at the cave too.”

Afrim paused for a moment to digest what Mac had just told him, sensing the order to allow Bill and him to fire away at the New United Nations transport vehicles would place Dominatus into open conflict with the authorities.  From here there was no longer hope of turning back.  They would be at war.

Afrim turned to step outside when the sound of a military chopper broke over the trees that surrounded Freedom Tavern.  Mac’s voice broke over the noise to remind Afrim of his orders.

“Afrim!  Get on that fucking trail!  Relay the order to Bill…light them up!  Go! Now!”

Afrim sprinted outside and into the tree line, disappearing from view within seconds of his departure as the chopper began to descend directly in front of Freedom Tavern, its massive blades pushing up the remaining snow cover from the ground.  Clancy Tedlow hugged her children close to her as they began to cry, the massive frame of their father Bear standing between them and the entrance to the tavern.

Mac placed himself directly in front of the door, his demeanor remaining calm, his eyes betraying no emotion - the killing machine re-awakened.

“All of you, follow my lead.  This is my operation now…I ain’t gonna let them hurt you.  At least not without paying a price.  I need all of you to trust me here…remain calm.  I’m going to get us out of here and to the cave…I promise you all that.”

The chopper’s landing could be felt inside the tavern, causing Bear’s children to whimper in fear.  The Old Man coughed as Dublin placed a jacket around him and gently sat him down in a chair against a wall farthest from the entrance.  I took a count of how many were now inside Freedom Tavern – there were forty four of us.

Several minutes passed with no sound from outside.  A voice whispered from someone seated near Mac’s jukebox.

“What are they doing?  What if they just blow us all up inside here?”

Mac shook his head slowly, his eyes never leaving the door.

“No, if they wanted to do that they already would have.  No need to land.  They are messing with us…mind fucking us.  Trying to build up your fear…don’t let them do it.  Stay calm.  They’ll be walking through that door soon now.”

True to Mac’s word - that is what happened.  The door opened and four men dressed in all white winter clothing with a small baby blue New United Nations emblem on the right shoulder of each uniform, entered Freedom Tavern.  Two of the men carried a weapon similar in appearance to an old musket rifle, though the butt of the weapon had a small charge box attached.  I had seen those weapons used while watching footage of riots from years ago.  They shot out an electrified net meant to disable several people at once – a modern version of a riot gun.

“Well hello again!  And so many of you gathered here all in one place is going to make my job so much easier!”

August Hess had returned to Dominatus, his voice dripping menace as he addressed those of us inside Freedom Tavern.

“Ok then, let us get to it.  For those who don’t know, I am Special Operations Officer Hess.  I have been sent here on the direct orders of the New United Nations to clean up this little shit hole once and for all. Or to put it another way, I’m from the government, and I’m here to help.  What that means ladies and gentlemen, is that you do what I tell you to do or…you die.  There is no compromise here.  None.  This action is off the books people…meaning I have the ok to accomplish this mission by any means necessary.  And what that means is that for me and my men…there are no rules.  Whether any of you live or die does not concern me.  I have more men stationed outside this building…and I have many more due to arrive soon.  So don’t get any silly ideas about making some kind of stand…there’s no need for us to shed blood here.  Ok?”

Mac did not respond, so the rest of us remained silent as well.  The familiar wolf-grin of August Hess made a re-appearance as well as he motioned a hand toward the door.

“Oh…perhaps I should introduce you to the one who made this particular little moment possible for us today.  Told us when and where so many of you would be found sitting here all in one place.  Bring her in.”

The door opened and a woman was pushed inside as the door closed behind her.  She stepped forward and her face was immediately familiar to me – to everyone.  Stacy Carter, the woman who had voiced her anger at my arrival to Dominatus during the recent meeting at the operations center.

Stacy looked at the faces of those she had lived among for so many years before pointing a finger in my direction and turning to face August Hess.

“You said you would take him and leave the rest of us alone.  Give us time to get out safely.  That was the deal.  So there he is, take him.”

Special Operations Officer Hess glanced at me, looked at Mac, and then returned his attention back to Stacy.

“I did agree to that, Ms. Carter, and I am a man true to my word.  And thank you so much for letting us know of this gathering.  As I said, you made my job so much easier.

So here’s the deal, everyone!  I take Mr. Neeson with us today and we don’t return back here for another forty-eight hours after that.  Let me be clear though, when we do return, it will be to wipe this place off the face of the earth.  There will be nothing left of it…NOTHING.  I’m offering you the chance to get out, to return to regular society and quit this Dominatus nonsense.  Become a part of the New United Nations, or…choose to die here.”

Stacy Carter stepped forward, clearly sensing the angry glares of her former friends and neighbors who now considered her a traitor.

“I bought us time.  I don’t want anyone to get hurt.  Just…just let them have him, he’s not one of us.  He brought trouble here, so I just…I’m just trying to give us time to get out so nobody gets hurt.”

August Hess placed his hand atop Stacy’s head and smiled, patting her as if she was his pet dog.

“That’s right, Ms. Carter, you’re just doing what is right, now aren’t you?  You’re being a good girl.  So now, Mr. Neeson…how about you step over here with us so the rest of these fine people don’t have to sacrifice themselves all for you.  That just doesn’t seem right, now does it?”

From behind me I heard someone clearing their throat, and then saw the Old Man walking slowly without the aid of his granddaughter, toward August Hess. 

“Welcome once again to Dominatus, Officer Hess, I only wish your arrival was with far less…ill intent.  You must realize, of course, that Ms. Carter does not speak for the rest of us, certainly she does not speak for me or my personal guest, Mr. Neeson.  As such, your efforts to remove Mr. Neeson…or any of us…will not find acceptance.  I strongly suggest you remove yourself and your men from here as I am certain your superiors will not be pleased to have me…so dissatisfied with this operation.”

August Hess stared down at Alexander Meyer with simmering contempt, his mouth curled downward as the Old Man spoke to him.

“I have no interest in your fucking words old man – your threats are empty.  Do you understand?  So shut your mouth and go back to your seat.  Either your ‘guest’ comes with me NOW, or all of you give up any additional time to get out of this place alive.  And that includes you and your bitch granddaughter, Mr. Meyer.”

Stacy Carter spoke up angrily in defense of the Old Man.

“There’s no cause for that kind of talk, Officer Hess, or those kinds of threats.  No cause at all.”

August Hess’s right hand shot out with incredible speed and force across the face of Stacy Carter, snapping her head back as her body crumpled to the floor.

“Let that be a lesson to the rest of you – I’m in no mood to listen to your —”

Officer Hess’s words were interrupted by the Old Man’s own hand slapping across his face with surprising force, drawing a small amount of blood from the officer’s upper lip.

“You are nothing more than a government bully, a killer of freedom, a tool of tyrants…a coward who hides behind a uniform and the system’s precious mandates.  We here are not easily frightened, Officer Hess.  You would do well to know that now, and consider, carefully…your next action.  Mr. Neeson remains here with us.  He is one of us.”

August Hess put his fingers to his mouth and removed them, looking down at his own blood before staring back with shock and rage into the eyes of Alexander Meyer.  The Old Man returned that stare without fear, straightening his aged spine even further, a defiant smile deepening the lines of his face even as Officer Hess formed a fist.

Mac’s voice, like cold ice dropping into a glass of water, issued a warning.

“You touch him, you die.  You die today.  You die here.  You die now.”

Officer Hess hesitated, a small twitch at the corner of his mouth revealing how very much he wanted to strike out at the Old Man.  Instead, the moment passed and his wide grin returned.

“Ok then, so all of you are willing to give up yourselves for one person?  Is that it?”

Hess noted the Tedlow children huddling with their mother.