FORSAKEN: THE SYSTEMIC SERIES (22 page)

Under the cover of darkness, they slipped their precious armor from the shelter of the nearby shed to a location where they could be hidden in several abandoned garages about a half mile behind the pump station.  It was a risk not having them immediately on site as part of their frontline defenses, but Ava was afraid having them there would open them up to the immediate and full force of any attack and the potential for them to be captured and then used against them.  It would only take the Strykers two or three minutes to reach them from their new location when called, and they would act as a sort of mobile reserve.  It fell to Fallback Man and Steel Will – along with two other men assigned to them – to secure and maintain the vehicles in states of readiness until they were needed.  They bunked down inside the armored vehicles themselves and were told to be ready to move at a moment’s notice.  They could be reached via radio communication when the situation called for it.  Ava had made sure that the Strykers were stocked with enough food, water, guns and ammo for the men to hold out for at least a week without returning to the pump station.

Meanwhile, Jake was working to improve the defensive perimeter around the outside of the station.  He set his men to work on a variety of projects, most of which had been devised by Ava.  Several men worked on filling cloth bags and pillow cases full of dirt and sand to be stacked around the machine gun emplacements atop the roof and inside the front entrance, making for increased protection against gunfire.  They made a similar sandbag emplacement – also atop the roof – from which the Kill King could operate both as sniper and long-range spotter.

Other men worked at opening up small holes in the pump station’s lower exterior walls, knocking out one or two bricks in various spots around the front and sides of the first and second floors.  These would serve as protective viewing and firing ports.  A hole, two bricks high and one brick wide, was just the right size from which to see and to shoot, yet still remain fairly well hidden and protected.

They also had men – headed by Rambo – set up explosive charges around the pump station’s perimeter.  Both Jake and Ava realized that these booby-traps wouldn’t deter an assault by the families, but they’d at least slow one down, hopefully taking out a few of their men in the process and rattling the cages of the rest. 

After the men were done with the majority of these preparations, Jake and Ava decided to make another move, which while dangerous, they hoped would pay off.  They decided to break up their already small army even further.  Jake in particular didn’t like this decision, as he had become used to maintaining the upper hand in a firefight and enjoyed having the odds stacked in his favor.  Ava quickly realized though, that if he was insistent on staying in Atlanta and taking on the families, numbers and firepower weren’t going to be in their favor no matter what they did.  Therefore, the best they could hope for was harnessing the element of surprise.

Therefore, Rambo was given three men and two armored pickup trucks to take to a nearby house on their left flank about a half mile away.  Meanwhile, Mad Dog was given two men and an armored SUV to take to a house on their right flank about 100 yards down the street.  Both were to conceal their vehicles in the homes’ garages, and both were reachable by radio.  They would stay put until contacted by Jake or Ava.

This left Jake and Ava with a handful of men and the druggies with which to defend the pump station.  Johnny Switchblade was placed in charge of the “addict squad.” He wasn’t thrilled with this assigned duty but he did his best to ensure all of them were at least trained on the weapons they were given and how to reload them.

There were also six newer recruits, three of whom Ava took to man heavy machineguns upstairs.  One would man a rooftop machinegun alongside Kill King.  Ava instructed Kill King and the machine gunner not to fire at any approaching men or vehicles until she or Jake instructed them to do so, even if they began taking heavy fire themselves.  She positioned the other two men on the second floor and had them set up machineguns in opposite ends of the building.  At each of the pump station’s two wings were rooms that had windows facing out three sides of the building.  This gave the gunners a 180-degree view of their surroundings and allowed them to fire out across the front, rear, and side of the building.

Jake took the other three men to help out covering the downstairs and manage the junkies. 

An SUV and two pickup trucks were parked out back as getaway vehicles if things got too hot or the Strykers couldn’t reach them in time.  They were also loaded with supplies just in case.

Once the majority of the exterior surroundings were prepared, Ava had some of the men pull anything flammable or explosive inside the building away from the walls and stash it securely in closets or in interior rooms.  They also issued gas masks – taken from their raid on the National Guard armory – to all the men.  Extra clips were handed out and canisters of extra magazines and bullets were strategically placed around the building near defensive positions to enable the quick and easy reloading of weapons.

Since there was only the one main entry at the front of the pump station, in an effort to avoid being trapped inside the building, Ava had several of the men knock a “bug out” hole in the building’s rear exterior wall.  The bricks were then replaced so that the weakened point would be unnoticeable to the unsuspecting eye and clasps were drilled into the bricks on either side of the hole into which a large steel plate could be slid.  This would provide a secured escape hatch that to be used only required the steel plate to be removed from its position against the inside wall and the bricks to be pushed outward allowing those inside to escape to the waiting vehicles out back.  And in a worst-case scenario, one of the Strykers could be backed up to the pump station wall allowing those inside to climb directly into its armored safety through the tiny escape hatch.

And after all this was done, there was little else to do but to wait and to worry.  Ava had heard that the Three Families reportedly had a nearly 300-man combined regular security force between them that they could bolster to well over 500 should the situation call for it.

Considering that she and Jake had about two dozen men – including the junkies – Ava definitely didn’t consider the odds in their favor.  Even with the armor and all their defensive preparations, things were looking bleak in Ava’s eyes, but not in Jakes.  He marched around, sucking a bottle of tequila, chest out, barking orders – the little general.  He seemed to be reveling in his position and enjoyed watching all the preparations being made.

As darkness descended upon their fortress, and Jake settled down to watch out the window and drink from his second bottle of tequila of the day, Ava quietly slipped away unnoticed by anyone but Johnny Switchblade who was on guard duty at the front door, and he knew better than to ask questions. 

Ava knew that she likely wouldn’t have much time since Jake would probably come up with something to have her do or prepare.  But she needed to take care of something before the shooting started, and she didn’t trust anyone else to do it.

Ava was tough, but she didn’t consider herself particularly athletic.  On this particular trip though, she literally ran the brief distance from the pump station to Brownie and Blondie’s house.  Upon arriving, she took a moment to catch her breath and peek inside the garage.  She saw their covered vehicle and knew that they were back from their mission.  She quickly took another couple deep breaths, wiped the sweat from her brow, walked over, and knocked on the back door. 

Moments later, Blondie answered.

“Hey,” he greeted her with a big grin.  “Good to see you.”  Then he frowned, “You haven’t seen Bushy have you?” he asked.

She pushed past him and down the stairs to the basement.  He followed close behind. 

Brownie was there lounging on the sofa.  “Howdy,” he waved.  “We got the…”

“Listen,” Ava interrupted. “I don’t have much time.  The Three Families are preparing to attack the pump station.  The attack could come at any moment.  Jake wants you to help with the defense.  I covered for you and said you were at one of the brothels, so that’s where he
thinks
you’ve been.  So if he mentions it, just play along.”  She took a deep breath, her lungs still oxygen-starved from the run.  “You get the information I needed?” she switched topics once she’d recovered.

“Yeah,” said Brownie, standing and grabbing an envelope from a nearby table.  “It’s all right here,” he handed it to her.

“Good,” she said, folding the envelope in half and sliding it into her back pocket.  “Now here’s what I need you to do.  You need to go find Bushy.”

“
Now?
” Blondie said, looking at her tiredly.  “We just got back,” he moaned.  “It was a fuck of a long drive.”

She handed him a baggie of white powder.  “Here’s a little pick-me-up,” she said.

He looked at it.  “Not much,” he said, sounding dejected.

“Enough, but not too much,” Ava said.  “Anyway, find Bushy…he’s probably at the gas station I sent him to work at, here’s the address,” she handed Blondie a slip of paper.  “You still have the direction’s I gave you to get down south?”

They nodded that they did. 

“Tell Bushy to find a vehicle, follow those directions back down there and link up with my contacts,” Ava went on.  “I know it’s short notice, and he’ll probably have to steal a car and some gas.”  She fished an envelope out of her pocket and gave it to Blondie.  “Give him this.  It’s a letter of introduction like I gave you two.  My people there will take good care of him until I arrive.”  She wanted to add, “
If
I arrive,” but didn’t want to give the men any reason to doubt her.  “Once you’re done, beat it back to the pump station as quick as you can.  And remember, you’ve been at one of the Z Family brothels if anyone asks.”  She paused, taking another deep breath as she eyed the two men.  “You got all that?”

They nodded.  “Got it,” said Blondie.  “Find Bushy and send him south with the letter of introduction.  Then beat it back to you and Jake at the pump station.  And we’ve been at one of the Z Family brothels.  Right?”

“Yes,” said Ava.  “Just remember, you guys get this done, and there will be rewards down the road,” she smiled at them.  “BIG rewards.”    

“Alright,” Blondie shrugged.  “You’re the boss.”

“Okay, I’ve gotta go,” Ava said.  “And so do you.”

And with that, she hustled back upstairs and made her way quickly back to the pump station. She stopped running about 100 yards from the building to allow her enough time to compose herself. 

Upon reentering the station, Jake was standing there waiting for her.

“Where the
fuck
did you go!” he yelled angrily.

“Christ, I need to get out of this fucking dungeon once in a while,” she said defensively.  “I wanted a smoke so I decided to take a walk.  I get tired of being locked away in here.”

“Jesus, I don’t know about you,” he shook his head and then looked over at Johnny who stared on passively.  “Women!  Are you fucking stupid or what?  All those explosives we put out today, the families waiting to attack us at any minute, and you decide you want to go for a walk.  I fuckin’ swear; if you weren’t so fuckin’ smart, sometimes I’d think you were fuckin’ stupid.” He walked up behind her.  “I don’t want to have to worry about you getting your pretty little ass blown off because you’ve wandered outside like an idiot.  From now on, you don’t leave this place without telling me first.  You got that?”

She nodded, giving him her cutest little smile, “Jake…” she said eyeing him sweetly, “…you worried about me?”

“Aw fuck,” he said, embarrassed.  “Don’t pull that shit in front of Johnny here.” He wacked her on the ass, his hand smacking hard against her taut behind so that it echoed through the pump station’s hallways.  Then he pushed her ahead of him, “You just get that sweet little ass back upstairs where it belongs.”

After she was gone, Jake turned back around and walked over to where Johnny Switchblade sat in a folding chair near the door, his booted feet propped up on a small wood table.  He was fiddling with one of his knives. 

Jake violently kicked Switchblade’s feet off the table.  “What the fuck’s wrong with you?” he spat.

“What do you mean, boss?” Johnny looked at him, surprised.

“Don’t you ever let her walk outside by herself again without letting me know first.  You got that?”

“Yes, boss,” Johnny said, eyeing him but staying seated.

“You’d better,” Jake said, turning around and stalking back upstairs.

Johnny watched him go with a steely-eyed glare.  He took his knife and jammed it down hard, blade first, into the wood tabletop where it stuck fast.

* * *

The next day passed uneventfully.  Brownie and Blondie arrived in the afternoon.  Jake was pissed at them and gave them a verbal thrashing, but they stuck to Ava and Mad Dog’s story about spending the last few days in a brothel, so Jake quickly got over it.  He needed every warm body he could get, so he looked the other way.  He ended up assigning the two men to Ava to help out on the defense of the second floor.  She positioned one on each side of the building in rooms near where she’d set up her heavy machineguns.

The first shots from the Three Families were fired the next morning at dawn.  The families likely thought this the best time for an attack in hopes of catching Jake’s men half asleep, half drunk or both.  And in fact, some of them were, but that didn’t mean they weren’t ready for a fight.  Within seconds, almost all of them were up, ready, and returning fire.  And the ones who weren’t were quickly roused by a rampaging Jake who stormed through the pump station, shouting and administering swift kicks to sluggish asses.