Indivisible (Overlooked by Liberty) (35 page)

       
"He said
a
ray did it," Helen answered.

      
"Did he say a ray, or Ray did it?"  Wolf questioned.

      
"I'm not sure.  I presumed he was talking about a laser sight."

      
"Ray is Tumult, that's his real name," Wolfenstein stated.  Now Helen understood.  Wolfenstein continued sternly, "We don't want Tumult in charge.  He started the whole movement in the Carolinas; the Tobacco Boys who came up with us won't forget that.  They might go with him instead of me.  We're in no position to fight Tumult's attack packs.  They only came into this thing near the end.  They're fresh and we're in bad shape."

      
"What do you want me to do, Wolf?"

      
"You're the Akela, Pack 220's leader."

      
"The what?"  Helen put both hands on her head in dismay.

      
"You heard me.  A lot of the men in Tumult and Chaos' forces are from the North Country.  The all know who you are.  I'm just another pack leader to some of them.  They also take the Ghost Pack Oath seriou--"

      
"Did Butch run around cutting everyone?  You men are like a bunch of little boys.  God!"  When Helen had decided to get involve with the Colebrook Covenant, she had never sought a position of authority.  Leadership had found her.  The responsibility Chaos had had of sending rebels in to battle and possibly to their death was unthinkable for Helen at the time.  This was different.  It was personal now.  Tumult had shot her lover.  "I'll talk to him!"  She reached into Wolf's belt and pulled out his Glock.  "I'll talk to him," she repeated with more conviction and headed out the exit. 

      
"Hold on, Helen," Wolf caught movement out of the corner of his eye.  Thad and Billy had been listening in behind them in the tunnel.  "You boys get your asses back in that bunker and stay there!"  He turned and went after Helen.

Chapter 19

      
It was nearly dark, the gray light made steely shadows of everyone.  Odors from the damp forest lingered.  Much of the mud had dried except in pockets where water once stood.  Milder, dank air brought out mosquitoes; they chased warm flesh, or gorged in the open wounds of the dead.

      
Helen stuck the gun in the back of her belt as she walked through the clusters of attack packs.  The Virginians noticed her moving through the groups and joined in.  They found Tumult with his back to them, talking to Glitch and several pack leaders.  Junco Willis knelt off to the side; one of Tumult's men held an autopistol to the back of his head.  Though Junco fought bravely for the covenants, he was still an African-American.  Tumult would tolerate none of that.

      
"Let him go!"  Helen ordered the rebel guarding Junco.  The man didn't respond.  He just looked to Tumult.

      
Tumult turned around on hearing her.  At first he just stared, his stub of a nose the focal point on his face.  Wolfenstein caught up and stood beside her. 

      
"Wolf, you ran off to find a skirt to hide behind?" Tumult razzed.  "That slut gets around."  He looked about, "Where's the mutt?  I'll put a bullet in that dog's head if you don't control it."

      
Helen and Tumult stared at one another.  Tater's death--another reminder of why she hated him.  "We won't be needing your help, thank you," she spat out, "so get out."

      
"Is that the gratitude I get?  Snake and me were shooting the Feds up from behind.  That's the reason they didn't overrun this bunch of queer, afro lovers.  Piss, the Feds had a pit bull on their ass."

      
"So, you're not leaving?"

      
"Let's say, I have some unfinished business," Tumult grinned lecherously.

      
Helen looked at Junco, then to Wolf.  She turned back to Tumult and spoke in a low, possessed voice, articulating every syllable for all to hear: "You shouldn't have shot Chaos.  And you shouldn't have killed the President's boy."

      
"I have no idea what you're talkin' about, bitch," Tumult sneered.

       
"You know what I'm talking about,
Ray
.  Chaos told me himself," Helen accused.  "You killed the President's boy at the Balsams, and you shot your brother."  Attack pack leaders began looking at one another.  They knew that only those closest to Tumult knew his real name.

      
"The Balsams blast?  I wish I had."  Tumult struggled to turn the subject away from Chaos.  "The fact is, I had nothin' to do with the bombing."  Gesturing around him, "These boys can back me up on that one."

      
Wolfenstein saw her hand move to the butt of the gun in her belt.  "Be careful, Helen," he whispered. 

      
"It doesn't change the fact that you're not welcome here," Helen stated resolutely.  "Now please, leave!"

      
Tumult put his hand on the grip of his Glock autopistol holstered on his side.  "You can go back to changing bedpans, bitch."  He looked around himself at his pack leaders; "I'm in charge.  My will decides."

      
Ferman stood beside Tumult.  He was one of Tumult's most loyal pack leaders but he could tell that not everyone was in favor of going with Tumult.  A large group stood beside and around Helen, some of them with their hands on their guns.  Glitch even moved around closer to Helen's side.  Ferman whispered to Tumult, "Look around you, boss.  Don't pull that gun, boss." 

      
Glitch, the old and weathered techie for Tumult's triad considered his stand as he rubbed his scarred thumb on his forefinger.  He relocated to Helen's side.  "Tumult shot Chaos," Glitch spoke out.

      
"Oh, come on, Glitch" Ferman retorted "a satel--"

       
"No!  I was there.  He
told
everybody it was a satellite, but I was there.  He was talking to Chaos through the laser when he pushed the button.  I saw it, Ferman.  Snake will believe me."

      
"Piss, Glitch.  You old fart," Tumult scoffed.  "You don't know when your tellin' the truth."

      
The pack leaders loyal to Helen began to slowly spread out to the sides for better position.  Both Virginian rebels stepped up the hill to higher ground.  Everyone held a rifle or had their hand on an autopistol butt.  Wolfenstein placed his hand over Helen's, which she now had on the gun grip behind her.  "Hold it, Helen," he whispered.  "Don't start it."

      
"We got to let them go, boss, or there's going to be a shoot-out," Ferman whispered to Tumult in a nasal voice.

      
"My will decides!" Tumult boomed.  The adrenaline was flowing.  He could see it might come to a gunfight.

      
"Tumult won't back down," Wolf murmured to Helen.  "I know him.  You've got to give him a way out.  He won't."

      
"Jesus, Boss!  I don't want to get shot over this," Ferman whined softly.  "The rest of our attack packs are over the hill.  Let's back off  'til we get the rest of them.  We can come back here later."

      
Tumult grew tired of Ferman's whimpering, "Ferman, this is why I'm the leader.  You never understood the teachings of the master race: 'Strength lies in attack.'  My will decides."  Tumult pulled his gun and leveled it at Helen, pulling off two rounds as he was bombarded by bullets from all directions.  One of Tumult's bullets went wide and hit a Colebrook Mountain Boy in the ribs.  The second bullet skimmed Wolfenstein's shoulder and struck a rebel standing behind them squarely in the chest.

      
Ferman and the pack leaders surrounding Tumult tried to back away in retreat.  Some of them were struck by the swarm of bullets shot at Tumult; he died before he hit the ground.

      
"Hold it!  Hold it!  Hold it!"  A number of them yelled.  The Virginians stepped in front of Tumult's pack leaders, "No more shooting!"  They yelled repeatedly.

      
Helen pointed her gun at Junco's guard.  "Now, let him go," she ordered.  The man guarding Junco backed off into the crowd. 

      
"I don't understand this.  You guys are pointin' guns at us?"  Ferman spoke out in his high nasal voice.  When Snake finds out, he's going to be pissed.  Covenant leader or not, he'll shoot her ass for this.  And you, Glitch, what's with you?  You're on the wrong side, buddy.  You can take care of this with Snake.  I'm not tellin' him.  You're going to have to talk him down."

      
Before leaving, Ferman approached Helen, "Ma'am, I just want to clear something up.  I don't know about Chaos getting shot but we had nothing to do with that Balsams bombing that killed the President's kid.  We were in Vermont at the time.  You gotta believe that."

      
Helen stared him off as the packs collected their gear to head north.  Junco got up and thanked her before heading to his bunker.  Wolfenstein stuffed gauze under his shirt to stop the bleeding; it wasn't serious.  What was serious was the direction they chose from here.  Helen looked around herself at the rebels, a force that had held off an advance of the United States Army.  Somehow through Butch and Thad's Ghost Pack activity they had vowed an allegiance to her.  From the surrounding slopes,  her ragtag Mountain Boys looked to her to say something.

      
Without the clamor of battle, breezes could be heard stirring the trees, catching the fragrance of pine, and casting it to the wind.  The vapors that had ebbed and flowed in still air so freely throughout the day, had been pushed away.  And the sparrow near Helen's bunker that had ridden out the shelling of day, now slept.

The White House (later the next day)

      
Billy Winifred walked into the room.  "Say, Champ!" said the President  "No, I'm sorry.  Now I should call you 'the rugged one,'" Clifford Winifred hugged his boy.  Ever since his son had returned, that urge to hug Billy was always there. 

      
When the Colebrook Covenant realized that the President's son was in their midst, they reserved seats on a flight out of Montreal and delivered the boy the next day.  Not only did the Covenants want to demonstrate good will by bringing back Billy Winifred unconditionally, they also wanted to discuss a more permanent solution to the crisis.

      
The Feds were in an awkward position:  The Covenants controlled northern Vermont and New Hampshire.  When the fight began for Dixville Mountain, the newly formed Boston Covenant launched raids on the Guard Armories in eastern Massachusetts.  The Wizard's Ghost Packs now controlled the city; the gangs had been driven out.  Winifred feared that other cities would form covenants, the White House scheme of controlling the population hubs to stay in power was fading.

      
Billy smiled, "Did you meet The Wizard yet?  He's slick.  Butch used to say he can do just about anything."

      
His father looked puzzled.  "So you and Butch think The Wizard is slick."

      
The President's physician entered the room: "He's fine.  He was singed pretty good and there was a cut on his thumb; that's healed up.  But other than the scratches and bruises of being a boy, he's fine."

      
Lucas joined the group around Billy.  "So how did you survive the blast?" Lucas asked.

      
"That's how I met my friends Butch and Thad.  See, the blast blew me off the rock into the water.  They were in the gully nearby and came and pulled me out.  I thought I died.  See, they kept me in their hideout and fed me and everything."

      
The President turned and smiled at the others with unrestrained pride, "We'll have to give those boys a special award for bravery.  Maybe we can get them out of there, too."

      
"Can't do that, Dad.  Butch was murdered."  Billy's comment startled the men.  "See, we tried to take a tank and Butch got shot.  Two others in our attack pack got shot and died too.  Thad is the last survivor from the Dixville Massacre."

      
They all looked at one another confused.  The note they had read from Thad mentioned the Massacre and Ghost Packs; they assumed the boys were being held captive.  President Winifred was compelled to clarify, "Attack packs?  Tanks?  Who were you boys fighting?"

      
"The Feds."  Billy's voice lowered, "We hate the Feds.  They captured us, but Thad escaped; he's the fastest runner in the Pack, you know.  Thad rounded up the town, and we got those tanks in the end.  Thad and me rode up in it to show them where to go.  Thad's rugged."  Excitement beamed from Billy.  "The Feds got their asses wiped that day."   The statement widened the onlooker's eyes.  Some Rousell lingo had invaded his speech.

       
Lucas Bennett said it without thinking: "Billy, we
are
the Feds."