Dominatus (35 page)

A moment later a loud mechanical shriek was heard as the blast door attempted to open after having been so damaged by the drone bombings.  Bear returned to the main room, walking backward toward his family to ensure he remained between them and the New United Nations officers.

“The door moved just a few feet…it’s jammed up.  But it’s enough to let them through.  They’re on their way.”

Two special operations officers walked through the entrance to the cave’s main room, their charge guns pointed in front of them.   One began quickly searching each of us for any signs of weapons. They were followed by ten more officers – all armed, and finally, August Hess himself. 

Hess smiled broadly, raising his arms from his sides like some messianic demon.

“My goodness!  Just look at this place!  Very impressive.  Very, very impressive.  And it comes with that big gun you’ve been using to shoot our drones down.  One after the other…you’ve managed to get the attention of some very powerful and very upset administrators.

“Now…how many of you do we have in here? Mr. Walker…how many?”

Mac stepped forward, again appearing unnaturally calm.  Almost bored.

“There’s seventy four inside here, Officer Hess.”

August Hess nodded slightly in Mac’s direction.

“I appreciate the good manners, Mr. Walker…and do hope you are telling the truth.  And it appears none of you are armed.  Thank you again.  Where…where is the…what do you all call him…the Old Man?  And his…quite attractive granddaughter.?  Where might they be?”

“They’re in our medical room Officer Hess, Mr. Meyer is incapacitated with pneumonia.”

August Hess frowned in mock concern.

“Oh, that’s unfortunate.  I know how much that old man means to all of you here.  That said…I’m going to have to have some of my men check in and make certain you’re not lying to me, Mr. Walker.  Fair enough?  Wouldn’t want some of you…sneaking up on us now would we?  You’ve all become so fond of those dirty, noisy, disgusting guns of yours.  Can’t have that.  So, where’s this medical room of yours?”

“Down the hall…all the way at the end and to your left.”

Hess motioned for two of his officers to check the medical room.  Mac in turn had Keith accompany them as well.

August Hess then scanned those of us who remained in the main room.

“And where is Mr. Reese Neeson?  The one who, in direct violation of New United Nations’ mandates…transmitted a…a pile of shit opinion that all but declared war on our government?  Mr. Neeson?  Are you here?”

I stepped forward, standing beside Mac.

“So then, Mr. Neeson, what are we to do with you now?  I’ll get back to you after I’m done with Mr. Walker here, at the conclusion of our…unfinished business.”

Keith and the two N.U.N. officers were returning from the hallway.  One of the officers indicated there were three individuals in the medical room – including an elderly man who appeared unconscious. 

Hess smiled back at Mac.

“Thank you for your honesty Mr. Walker.  It’s good to see there is at least that between us…between two gentlemen.”

Bear’s voice bellowed from his place at the back of the room.

“You ain’t no fucking gentleman Hess.  You’re a scumbag, a killer of defenseless women.  An errand boy for the government.”

August Hess’s eyes grew wide and his smile yet wider.

“Oh!  And who do we have standing back there?  Well hello big fella!  You must be, let’s see now…I’ve reviewed all of you files.  You must be the football player.  Yes, a Mr. Walter Tedlow.  And there’s your two children, and your beautiful wife Clancy. Mmmmm…a lovely woman as well!”

Hess walked slowly toward Bear and his family, stopping directly in front of them, the wide smile still fixed upon his face.  He leaned down to look at the two young Tedlow children.

“Hello there, little ones.  I’m Special Operations Commander August Hess.  I just killed someone’s mommy not more than an hour ago.  Would you like me to kill your mommy and daddy today too?”

The Tedlow children began to cry.  Officer Hess stood up and stared into the eyes of Bear.

“Oh my, look at you!  All ready to protect that little family of yours.   I do believe you want to kill me Mr. Tedlow.  I would love for you to try to do so.  Go ahead now, make that move, Mr. Tedlow.  Please, let’s see what you got.  And after I’m done here today, this wife of yours, well…my men have been up in this God-forsaken place for some time now.  Men have needs you know, so how about you imagine the very worst things happening to Mrs. Tedlow there.  All of us having our turn with her.  One after the other until finally, well…she’s just all used up.”

Hess then leaned up to the side of Bear’s ear, pretending to whisper to him, but allowing his voice to carry across the room so everyone could hear.

“Of course, there’s always your daughter to pick up the slack, and maybe your little boy too…right Mr. Tedlow?”

Bear moved quickly to grab the neck of August Hess.

Hess moved more quickly – much more quickly.  His right thumb shot out and snapped into the middle of Bear’s throat, immediately causing the larger man to collapse to his knees choking for breath.  Hess then, almost casually, kicked Bear onto his side as the big man continued to struggle to put air into his lungs.

“Enough!  That is quite enough of this!”

Everyone in the room, including August Hess, turned to see who had issued the command.

In the hallway, supported on one side by his granddaughter, and on the other side by Dr. Miller, stood Alexander David Meyer – the Old Man of Dominatus, Alaska.  The doctor was pulling a small oxygen tank behind him, connected by a tube attached just under the nose of the Old Man who himself was, amazingly, also smoking a large cigar that jutted out defiantly from his mouth.

Even Hess appeared genuinely surprised to see the Old Man shuffling his way toward the center of the room.

“Well, this is rather an unexpected surprise indeed, Mr. Meyer.  And I do appreciate your flair for the dramatic.  Quite an entrance you just made here.  But, all things considered, I’ll just place this as a two birds with one stone opportunity.  First Mr. Walker there…and now you.  Although by the looks of it, you might not even make it that long.”

Alexander Meyer’s labored breathing was easily heard by all, but he despite his difficulties, he raised his head upward to look directly at Officer Hess, cigar smoke circling his ancient head as he did so.

“Officer Hess, your actions have created a most…unfortunate circumstance.  You…your men, are all in great danger here. None of us intend to give in to the injustice of your government.  We here, are free people.  And we shall die…as free people.  You on the other hand, will not be so fortunate.”

Hess clapped his hands together, the gesture drenched in sarcasm.

“Oh what a wonderful speech, Mr. Meyer.  I fear your fellow patriots here, have failed to inform you of the others from this place we have in custody outside, including a child.  If any of you attempt to harm us in here, we shall take their lives out there.  So then, if you wish to have that happen Mr. Meyer, well by all means…proceed.”

The Old Man attempted to respond, but was overtaken by a bout of coughing.  When the coughing finally passed, he once again addressed Officer Hess.

“Your threats mean nothing to us Officer Hess.  Do you understand that?  We are done accommodating any of your requests.  DONE.”

August Hess slowly stepped closer to the Old Man.

“You shouldn’t speak for everyone here, Mr. Meyer.  There are women, children. those physically unable to fight.  Those emotionally hesitant to do so.  Who are you, to decide for them Mr. Meyer?”

Hess’s right hand brushed the side of his face lightly, recalling his last conversation with the Old Man.

“The last time we spoke, you dared to strike my face Mr. Meyer.  I believe the same deal I have with Mr. Walker goes for you as well - I owe you one.”

“Then pay your debt with me Officer Hess, and leave this place, and those in it…alone.”

August Hess’s hand shot from his side – the motion of a striking snake.  The electrified arc of the charge gun impacted the Old Man’s chest, the current also entering both Dublin and Dr. Meyer who were both still grasping one of Alexander Meyer’s arms, causing all three to collapse to the floor.

Mac pointed a gun at August Hess as the other eleven special operations officers were in turn pointing each of their charge guns back at him.

Hess held his hands up in a mocking gesture of surrender.

“It would appear, Mr. Walker, you chose not to comply with my request that all of you disarm.  Oh!  Please…don’t shoot!  Need I remind you little pigs, you take action against us, those people of yours die outside.  And they die painfully.  I’ll have that little girl’s fucking limbs torn off…one…by one…by one…by one.  Am I making myself absolutely clear to you?”

Mac held his gun to the back of Hess’s skull. 

“I might take you up on that offer, Hess, just kill you now, and let the chips fall where they will.”

August Hess turned himself slowly around to face Mac – whose gun was then pinned against Hess’s forehead.

“There was a time, Mr. Walker, when you would have done just that.  You were a good soldier then, followed orders and got the job done.  I’ve been all through the file on you and the many people you killed.  And you did it for money too!  But then…well you’ve gotten old and gone soft Mr. Walker.  And frankly, that’s just a terrible shame.  A poor waste of good talent is what you became.  Pathetic.”

Mac returned Hess’s remarks with a thin smile.

“Yeah…suppose so.  And yet, despite being so…pathetic, I did manage to kick your ass the last time. Rather easily too I might add.  And here I am, just this pathetic old timer, way past his prime.  Now what’s that say about you, Hess?  You ain’t a has-been.  You’re a never-was.”

Officer Hess snarled back at Mac.

“That says you were lucky, Mr. Walker.  I admit…I underestimated you.  It seems you’ve managed to keep at least a bit of yourself available over the years. I won’t make that mistake again though.  I assure you of that.”

With the barrel of his handgun still pressed against Hess’s skull, Mac continued.

“Ok then, how about I drop my gun here, and you get rid of those silly little sparklers you New United Nations faggots like to carry around, and we pick up where we left off?  I win, you and your men leave.  I lose, well…you just go on with what you planned on doing here in the first place.”

Hess shook his head.

“I’m going to be doing what I came here to do regardless, Mr. Walker, and will take an extreme amount of pleasure in doing it. I intend to kill you, and then kill all of them.  Your willingness to play along with me is just buying your people a little more time.  Very little.”

Dr. Miller was already recovering from the secondary shock of Hess’s charge gun, as was Dublin, who I gently helped back to her feet. The doctor was leaning over the Old Man, frantically attempting to revive him.

August Hess tipped his face downward to speak into his own transmitter.

“Do you have the little girl?”

A voice replied – one of the officers who had remained across the valley holding the other surviving residents of Dominatus hostage.

“Yes sir—she’s right here sir.”

Hess smiled back at Mac as he issued his next order.

“Good, now cut her tongue out.”

Several voices rose in protest as the operations officer Hess had issued the order to, attempted to clarify.

“Sir?  Did you say…to cut her tongue out sir?”

The screams of Stephanie Simms carried from Officer Hess’s transmitter and echoed throughout the cave’s main room.

“Yes I did, and that is a direct order,
unless
Mr. Walker here wishes to give that child a momentary reprieve and take me up on my generous offer in allowing me to redeem myself.

So, what say you, Mr. Walker?  Will you allow me the pleasure of killing you with my own hands?”

Mac began to lower his weapon onto the floor to accept Hess’s challenge, but was then interrupted by a voice from Hess’s transmitter.

“Sir!  Uh…there’s people.  There’s lots of people sir.  My god, there’s thousands of people coming.  Sir?  What do…what do we do sir?”

August Hess kept his eyes on Mac, who at that moment raised his gun back up to point it at Hess’s head.

“What are you talking about?  Who?  How many…what people?”

“Sir, there’s thousands of people sir.  Some of them are armed, some of them are carrying flags.  The old American flag…Don’t Tread On Me flags.  They’re on snow machines, transport vehicles, horses, some are walking.  Sir, there must be thousands, maybe ten thousand of them down here.  They have us surrounded.  Sir…what---“

The communication was cut off.

August Hess scanned the room, walking slowly back toward his men who continued to point their charge guns at the rest of us.  Bear, who had recovered from the blow Hess had delivered to his neck, stepped toward the group of New United Nations officers, a smile having replaced his almost constant scowl.