January Dawn (24 page)

“Oh my gawd, Colt, that’s infected,” she said.

“Is it?”

Tess put her hand up to my forehead.

“And you’re burning up. This isn’t good.”

She forced me to swallow a few pain relievers and then poked and prodded me with cotton swabs lathered with antibiotic cream. She covered it all up with a gauze bandage.

“Hey,” I whispered as she finished cleaning me up.

“What?” She said, running her hand through my hair.

I looked up at the gorgeous face and nearly broke down crying.
How do I tell her? How do I explain what I’ve been through?

For weeks I dealt with the unimaginable horrors of war. The constant fear, all the death, the blood, the torn limbs, the relentless exposure to the elements, the earth-rattling gunfire, everything. All of it amounting to a paralyzing and unnerving pressure that dragged me down to the lowest possible depths of mental integrity.

And now here I was, suddenly thrown back into normality. For a moment, the war was a million miles away and I was at peace. I was in the home I loved, I had a roof over my head, a full stomach, and I was sitting on an actual mattress.

On top of all that, I was staring the girl of my dreams in the eye and feeling the warm smoothness of her skin. Could we pick up where we left off,
even after all we’d been through?

I wanted to explain all this to her, but I couldn’t. It was too deep and too personal to explain it fully.

“Colt, what’s wrong?” she asked.

My hands started to shake. I felt like I was crying, but there were no tears.

“Hey, look at me,” she said, cupping my face with her hands. “I’m right here. What’s the matter?”

“You don’t know how much you mean to me,” I said. Tess was my beacon of hope. It was her that kept me going. It was her that kept my heart beating. It was her that helped me keep my sanity.

I reached into my pocket. My flag was a pale comparison to what it once was, beaten and battered like I was for so many years. Now it meant nothing to me. It was just a piece of tattered cloth. I had something new to hold on to now.

The crumpled flag slid from my hand and fluttered to the floor at my feet.

“Shhh, lay back,” she said.

I laid back in the soft puff of her baby blue comforter as she crawled on top of me. She kissed me and wrapped her arms around my body, nuzzling her face into the crook of my neck. Her hair cascaded over her shoulders and tickled at my bare chest.

I had been away for so long. How I longed to be close to her. Now, with her laying on top of me and her heart beating in sync with mine, I was happy.

“I never stopped thinking about you,” she said.

*

Alex barged into the room.

“Colton, get up! We got incoming at the front gate. We’ve got two minutes tops.” He was gone just as quick as he appeared.

I sprung out of bed, slipped on my shirt and raced to gear up.
Dammit.
I didn’t mean to fall asleep. Tess and I were so comfortable, we must have drifted off without knowing.

As I clipped on my belt, I said, “Tess grab the kids and bring them up upstairs, hide in Alex’s closet and don’t come out for anything.”

“Is this really happening right now?”

I grabbed her hand before she broke out in a panic.

“You’ve got to keep it together right now. I need you, alright? Grab the boys and keep them safe.” I kissed her on the forehead. “I’ll come for you when it’s all over.”

“You promise?”

“I kept my last promise, didn’t I?”

She squeezed my hand tight, raising it up, so that she could kiss it.

“I love you,” she said.

“I love you, too.”

I grabbed my rifle and took one last longing look at her before I rushed downstairs.

I went out the back door and skidded to one knee behind an oak tree a hundred feet off to the side of the house. From this point, I could oversee the entire field from the far tree line all the way up to the driveway.

Alex was in position behind the slate wall in the parking lot. I couldn’t see the others, but I assumed they too were already in position.

My heart pounded wildly as I tried to shake my grogginess. Up above, the almost full moon stood sentinel in the clear sky over thousands of stars. A slight ocean breeze picked up and rustled the Spanish moss dangling from the limbs above me. Animal life slithered and sighed from the unknown.

“Heads up. Here they come,” Alex said over the comms.

A pair of headlights casted a pale glow on the edge of the woods at the far end of the driveway. That pale glow turned into two radiant eyes as the vehicle came around the bend and faced us. Another vehicle followed close behind.

“We got two vehicles inbound. Shit, scratch that, make it three.”

The three cars approached cautiously, inching their way forward.

Alex peeked over the wall. I could see a detonator in his hands. The silent intensity of the moment choked my breathing.

This is it, Colton. This is your moment.

When the lead vehicle reached the sixth pair of trees, Alex had his mark. There was no way they could see they the blocks of C4 hidden under the dirt on the side of the road.

When Alex hit the detonator, the lead vehicle was instantly engulfed in yellow flames. The sheer force of the explosion flipped the vehicle on its side. The truck teetered for a moment before tilting over on its back like a stranded turtle.

Men poured from the other two vehicles, starting a maelstrom of small arms fire. Alex open fired with his rifle. The glow from the burning vehicle made the blue clad soldiers look like featureless shadows, demons in the night.

Alex ducked as the hit squad zeroed in on his position. I could see at least a dozen muzzle flashes. Alex returned fire. This time he had a little help from Mr. Redman and Sam, who posted up on the second story balcony with a couple hunting rifles. I heard the shrill resonance of a bolt action rifle followed by the screams of its victim.

Our initial show of force worked. The Legionnaires scrambled behind the cover of the trees, outright confused as to why they were encountering such fierce resistance. By pinning down their front avenue of approach, they had no choice but to try to flank on either side. That’s where I came in.

“They’re moving left,” Alex said.

Four soldiers sprinted out into the open field and crouched forward through the waist high grass as the others continued their direct assault.

“I see’em.”

I leveled my rifle and aimed at the shadowy scarecrows moving through the field. My first shots sent them dropping to the dirt.

They quickly rebounded and returned fire. As I reloaded, bullets ripped shreds of bark off the trunk of the tree and chewed up puffs of grass and dirt around me. One bullet hit the ground inches from of my foot as I popped out and returned fire. One of the soldiers fell dead as I emptied the last few rounds of my magazine. I patted my ammo pouches. Only one magazine left.

“They’re moving right,” Alex said.

“I got’em.”

I heard the sharp piercing boom of Carrigan’s sniper rifle.

We stopped their center advance, so they flanked left, where I was there to stop them. Failing there, they moved right, through the horse pasture. Only, Carrigan was perched in the window of the hayloft in the barn waiting for them to make that mistake.

The enemy was pushing strong. They were within fifty yards now.

“I’m out of ammo. I’m falling back inside the house,” Alex said.

“I’ve got you covered Alex.” I stepped out in the open and fired several bursts at every target I could see. When my rifle sounded the familiar click of an empty magazine, I instinctually pressed the release button and reached for a replacement. Empty.

I dropped my rifle, pulled the pin off of a grenade, lobbed it as far as I could throw and retreated to the backside of the house. The blast shook the ground beneath my feet.

“Colton, watch your left, coming around the corner,” Carrigan radioed.

One of the soldiers came running around the corner of the house with a submachine gun. I drew my pistol and put three rounds into him. He dropped dead.

Carrigan came running out of the dark from the direction of the barn. “Sorry, I didn’t have a shot on him.”

“Colton, where the hell are you? I need help up front,” Alex’s voice chimed in my ear.

“On my w---.”

A soldier peeked around the corner and sprayed us with rifle fire. Carrigan and I crashed through the French doors into the safety of the house to avoid the gunfire.

I needed a gun, and quickly.
The shotgun in the kitchen.
I reached it as two shadows fluttered outside the window above the sink. I fired a shot into the window, ejecting a blast so powerful it sent bits of glass and curtain fabric twenty feet out into the yard. The shot pummeled its intended victim off his feet and off the porch all together.

Carrigan backpedaled her way into the kitchen firing her rifle out the backdoor.

“I’ve got this. Go help Alex.”

I found Alex in the living room firing his pistol out the window. He couldn’t get two shots off before he was swarmed with return fire that shattered every last remnant of glass in the window frame.

I dropped to the floor and crawled forward toward him under overwhelming fire. Bullets ripped through the wooden framed house and continued on inside tearing into furniture and shattering anything that stood in its way. The couch and pillows spewed their feathery innards. Lamps exploded, sending their shades up in the air like miniature rockets. Picture frames splintered and hopped off their mantle.

“I’m almost out,” Mr. Redman yelled from the dining room across from us. We were running out of ammunition and fast losing control of this battle.
They just keep coming
.

I managed a quick peek out the window and saw four men approaching the front door.

“They’re going to breach,” I yelled, a second before a terrific explosion rocked the house and the smoky back blast smothered the foyer.

A smoke grenade followed soon after, rolling to a stop at the bottom step of the stairs, spewing its white fog. Typical breaching procedure. The next thing would most surely be…

“Flashbang!”

A flashbang grenade soared through the window between Alex and me and skidded across the living room floor. I ducked, closed my eyes, covered my ears and opened my mouth like I was trained.

The grenade erupted in a violent flash. The light still found a way to temporary blind me with a flash of white light even with my head ducked. The concussion raked my head, momentarily blowing my eardrums and throwing me off balance. The effects dissipated after a few seconds.

I reached for my shotgun, knowing that after the breach comes the clearing. A man in blue spawned from the wall of white smoke. I fired a blast into him and sent him sprawling back into the fog before he had a chance to shoot. The cloud flashed yellow as more shots rang out across the hall.

When the smoke cleared, Mr. Redman appeared. A body lay at his feet.

“Is that it?” I asked. He looked about unsurely.

A quick exchange of gunfire echoed from upstairs, followed by screams.

“The kids.” Mr. Redman started up the stairs.

I grabbed him and said, “No. It’s you that they want. I’ll go.”

“They’re my kids,” he said.

“I know. What good will you be to them, if you’re dead? Let me do this.” He reluctantly agreed.

A body was lying face down at the top of the stairs. A pool of blood already spilling its way down the steps. I stepped around the mess quietly. There was a commotion coming from the master bedroom.

A quick peek inside showed two soldiers standing over Sam. They had him cuffed on the floor.

“Lieutenant, second floor is all clear,” one of the soldiers radioed, before I burst in planting two .45 caliber rounds into his chest. I shot the other three times, the last shot striking him between the eyes and paralyzing his body permanently.

I cut Sam free. “How many more?”

“I don’t know. I think three.”

“Head downstairs. Your brother and your dad are waiting,” I said to him, and to the radio, “Alex, I’m sending Sam down. Heading up to the third floor now.”

I cautiously mounted the steps to the third floor. I had my eyes trained down my sights, ready to put down anything that posed a threat. At the top of the stairs, I could hear whimpering coming from Alex’s room.

I crept forward and gingerly pushed the door open, ready to fight.

“Welcome to the party, Tennpenny.”

Teague.
I should have known
.

Teague and two of his masked raiders had the kids and Mrs. Redman on their knees with their hands handcuffed behind their backs. Their mouths were taped shut. A great rage bellowed up inside me like never before.

“You son of a bitch.”