Reckoning ~ Indian Hill 2 ~ A Michael Talbot Adventure (25 page)

He contemplated emerging from the woods with his hands raised above his head. Maybe they would show leniency. They might even let him join his unit if he told them that the top forced him to go along. But what about Karen? She was going to tell everyone that I tried to kill her.

“Bitch!” Bennett said angrily, as if Karen had willed Bennett to crush her skull with a can of corn. Even if she were dead, they’d find the body eventually, ‘cause of the baby, Bennett thought. He continued to weigh his options. Could he get back to his original hiding area and dispose of Karen and the kid before the Marines arrived?

“Dammit!” he screamed. Rage and frustration coursed through him. The top had started the slice along his neck and Bennett had finished making the cut. I cut my own damn throat! He turned and ran; there was no other way out for him. Alone and without enough food to make it any longer than through the night, Bennett was filled with remorse. He had eaten most of the food he was carrying, and figured he’d live off what the others had hauled until they found more. “Fucking top! I’d kill you myself if they hadn’t already done it for me,” he grumbled. It was false bravado, and Bennett knew that even as he said it, but it still made him feel good nonetheless.

***

“Major Salazar, you’re going to want to come over here and see this,” the corporal said as he looked down on the body of Karen Fogarty. The baby was huddled around the woman, as if trying to make her get up, but nothing short of the hand of God was going to do that now. And God seemed to be on short supply right now. The major walked over to where the corporal was and noticed immediately that the woman was dead.

“Corporal! You and your team get the baby safely back to base.” The corporal leaned over to scoop up the kid closest to him and literally had to pry the kid’s fingers from the woman's lifeless body.

“Sir I'm no good with babies.” The corporal held the kid out in front of him like somebody might hold a skunk, unsure of its intentions.

“Bring him back to base camp. Get him cleaned up and fed, Corporal.” The corporal and his detachment left the major to his own devices. The major really wasn’t sure what the Bennett fellow looked like, but he was a monster all the same. Frank knew what had happened there. The top had set up a diversion so that the three could get away; Bennett figured his chances were a lot better if he loosened the load.

“What kind of monster kills a mother in front of a baby? Corporal Hanraddy, get over here with that radio.” The major got on the horn to relay his orders.

“Alright, gold, silver, red and blue teams: we have one fugitive left. I want no warning shots, I repeat, NO warning shots. This man is to be considered armed and dangerous. If you have a clear shot, take it and ask questions later.” He might only be armed with canned goods, but the result was still the same, the major thought.

***

“Sir, there’s a Corporal to see you, sir, and he has some guests, sir.”

“Send them in,” Paul said. Guests? He wondered.

“Sir, we found Mrs. Fogarty dead. The baby was with her.”

“Dead, Corporal? How?” Paul prayed it wasn’t by the hand of any of the platoon he sent out.

“Sir, by a can of corn.” Paul looked perplexed and the corporal plowed on. “Sir, it looks like that Bennett fellow killed her and then took off.”

“Has he been found yet, Corporal?”

“Not yet, sir. We’ve been monitoring radio traffic and we’ve heard no word yet.”

“Where was the top during all of this?”

“Sir, the top was spotted about a click away from the woman.

He seemed to be leading us away from their location.”

“Where is he now?”

“Sir, he refused to surrender, and was shot attempting to escape.”

“What am I going to do with this baby?”

“Sir?”

“I can’t give him back to the National Guard’s families. They’ll never believe that we had nothing to do with their mother’s death. I really hoped she would be alive and could take care of them. This could start an uprising among them. Corporal, get on the horn and tell the major that I want Bennett alive. I’m going to let that man stand trial for her murder. That’s the only chance we have to appease the Guardsmen and their families.”

“Yes, sir; right away, sir.”

***

“Paul, I’ve had my team out for ten hours. We can’t find a trace of Bennett,” a bone-tired looking Major Salazar said from right inside Paul’s office.

“Come on in, Frank. Have a seat,” Paul said as he stood up and reached over to his file cabinet, pulling out a brandy snifter. “I always thought this stuff was for people my grandfather’s age and now I find myself looking forward to the end of the day when I can have a glass,” the colonel said as he handed Frank a snifter.

“Thank you, sir, but I don’t think that the day is quite over yet. I have sent out another team to replace my men, but with Bennett having such a great lead now, I don’t see how they could have any luck finding him. And there is the other thing.”

“The other thing?” Paul asked as he looked up from his glass of brandy.

“Sir, we’ve had two skirmishes with gang elements in Norwood.”

“Any casualties, Frank?” Paul asked with genuine concern.

“Only on their side, sir. But I’m concerned with how much attention we may be drawing towards ourselves. We made short order of the gang members, but there’s no telling how many eyewitnesses saw the whole thing.”

“I understand, Frank. I’ve been weighing out the lesser of the two evils, myself. Bennett knows we’re up here but whether that information is of any use to him remains to be seen. Hopefully, most of the people that saw us today will think that we are some sort of rogue unit. I don’t want any more active pursuit for Bennett. I want your men to set up listening posts. Chances are, we passed right over him while he was in some hidey-hole. With any luck, he’ll come to us.”

“Alright, sir. I’ll let my men know immediately,” the major said as he rose to his feet. “Thank you for the drink, sir.”

“Major.”

“Yes, sir.”

“You didn’t drink any of it.”

“Sorry, sir. I’m more of a Corona type of guy.”

***

Bennett couldn’t believe his luck when he saw the patrol that had been on a course straight for him suddenly stop. Sure, they were still a hundred yards off, but from Bennett’s position, there was nowhere to go. He decided to hide in a small thicket with one large oak that dominated the center. The thicket, however, was smack dab in the middle of a clearing. Bennett hadn’t fully realized the stupidity of his hiding choice until he spotted the patrol. If he got up to run, they would see him before he ran ten feet. But none of that mattered now; he saw them stop.

Were they taking a break? That would be no good. It would just delay his capture or, worse yet, his demise. Bennett’s heart was racing. A huge smile spread across his face. He saw one of the men standing watch while the other dug a foxhole. They’re setting up a listening post. I’ve got the whole night to get out of here, he thought. Bennett couldn’t believe his luck; he even planned on getting a couple of hours of shuteye before he made his great escape.

Chapter 30

“Wake up!” Beth said as she lightly shook Deb.

“Where exactly are we?” Deb mumbled, stretching and wiping her mouth with the back of her hand.

“Well, while you were asleep, my princess, we entered Pennsylvania,” Beth said with a smile on her face.

“How long was I asleep?”

“At least five, maybe six hours; I can’t really remember. I’m so tired I can’t even see the instrument panel clearly.”

“Why don’t we stop for a while and take a break?” Deb said.

“Are you not awake yet? Do you not remember what happened the last time we tried to catch some sleep?” Deb hadn’t forgotten but she wished she had. The girls had stopped to get some sleep at a rest area outside of Nebraska. They both dozed off only to be awakened by two guys who had been quietly attempting to snake their hands through the partially open windows to unlock the doors.

It was Deb who woke up first, when the man on the passenger side accidentally brushed against her hair. Deb thought that a fly had entered the truck and absently attempted to wave it away. When her hand came in contact with the stranger’s arm, she nearly froze. Her leg had kicked out in convulsion, waking Beth.

“Deb, I’m trying to sleep,” Beth murmured, her eyes half opening. When suddenly, her eyes grew as big as saucers as she realized what was going on. Deb thanked Beth every moment she could for Beth’s fast action. Without blinking, Beth hit the power windows, pinning the would-be intruders’ arms inside. Deb couldn’t believe the howling that ensued; it was purely animalistic.

They began to beat on the windows in rage, but that quickly turned to fright as Beth immediately started the car and took off, with each of them hanging by their arms. At first, they were calling the girls every imaginable word that they could think of; then they began to plead for their lives.

“Come on, we weren’t going to hurt you. We just wanted to have a little fun.” Beth sped up as cold shivers chilled her body.

“Their idea of fun, I’m sure, is a lot different from ours,” Beth said as she turned to Deb with a sick smile. Deb noticed that Beth increased the acceleration.

“Are you going to let them go?” Deb asked. She was scared and just wanted them gone. The idea of removing a bloody stump from her window was making her feel a little queasy inside.

“Screw them, Deb. What do you think they planned to do once they got inside? Play dominos? I don’t think so,” Beth stated as sweat poured off her body; her adrenaline was surging. “If we let them go now, they’ll be on our ass in five minutes.”

That was true, Deb figured. They would come after them for revenge and then what?

“Deb, get me the gun.”

“The gun? What do you want the gun for?”

“I want to do my nails; what do you think?! Get the gun, please,” Beth snapped.

“I don’t like this, Beth. We can’t just kill them. We don’t know for sure what they were going to do,” Deb pleaded.

“I can’t believe you, Deb! After all we’ve seen and all we’ve been through? You still have faith that these two fine gentlemen are upstanding citizens?’ Beth said sarcastically.

“I’m just saying that they haven’t done anything, yet. They don’t deserve to die.”

“Okay, Deb, what did Gary and his friend do when we killed them? Break a little furniture? Did that deserve the death penalty?”

“That’s not fair, Beth. We both knew what their intentions were.”

“My point exactly, Deb.”

“We can’t just shoot them! I don’t want anything to do with this.”

“Little late now, my friend,” Beth said as she punched the accelerator again. The two men were desperately trying to cling to anything they could get a hand or foothold on, with little success. The men’s legs began to drag on the pavement. Their begging turned to screams of pain.

“Well, then shoot them! You can’t just drag them to their deaths!" Deb screamed. Beth picked up the gun and pointed it right at the man on the driver’s side. He could do little more than flinch; there was nowhere for him to go. Beth’s arm began to shake from fear. She wasn’t sure if she could pull the trigger looking straight into someone’s eyes.

“Is your seatbelt on, Deb?”

“Yes, but wh…” Deb never finished her question as she felt herself being flung towards the front of the car while the seatbelt dug deep into her shoulder and waist. She was about to complain of the pain to Beth when she heard the splintering of bones from both sides of the truck.

At first, Deb thought Beth had pulled the trigger, so loud was the snapping of bone and the tearing of cartilage. Deb thought it sounded like dry twigs being broken to start a campfire. The men had no restraints as the girls did, and were quickly thrown towards the front of the vehicle. Their arms had been wrenched free but at a savage price. Both men’s arms had been torn completely from their sockets. Smashing onto the front quarter panels hadn’t done them any good either.

“Well, I didn’t kill them but they’ll be out of commission for a while,” Beth whispered. Deb wasn’t sure if she should respond, she really didn’t know what to say anyway. Beth lingered for a few more seconds to make sure that neither one of the men were faking before she took off. Deb couldn’t figure out how they could possibly be. They looked like a pair of mismatched freaks. The man on the driver’s sides shoulder, or what was left of it, appeared to be hanging down somewhere in the middle of his chest.