The McClane Apocalypse Book Five (63 page)

Chapter Twenty-six

Cory

They make it to the Blue’s bar and sack out
to wait for the Mechanic’s group. Cory is hoping they are able to
work well together. They immediately unpack their gear and spread
it out on the tables to take inventory and prepare for the coming
night. Simon even takes their food out of the packs and sets the
containers and bags on another table. Cory digs around until he
finds a candle to light. All they’ll need is the single candle.
Anything more could draw attention to themselves, something they
don’t need.

Without preamble or circumstance, they sit
down and Cory digs in. It’s going to be a long night, and they’ll
need their energy. That’s when Cory notices that Simon isn’t eating
much.

“You need to eat, bro,” he comments toward
his friend.

Simon just gives a lopsided frown.

“She’ll be ok now,” Cory verbalizes what his
friend is stressed out about. “Paige is with her. Don’t worry.
They’re safe.”

“I can’t believe we let that happen,” Simon
complains.

“We didn’t let it happen. It just happened.
That shit’s always gonna’ happen, man. There will always be
dangers. Some of them we’ll anticipate; some we won’t. We just have
to be more diligent when the girls are with us,” he explains
patiently.

“It just pisses me off,” Simon swears.

Cory nods as he bites into his bread and
slurps up some cold potted pork.

“I think those
fuck-heads
at the college may have been in on this,
too,” he confesses what he’s been thinking.

“What do you mean?” Simon asks as he finally
begins eating his equally cold food.

Cory sets his canning jar of potted meat and
vegetables aside and says, “You see, I figure they set that trap on
purpose for people at the college. If they eliminate the potential
threat in a group and can get the women isolated, then they would
have women to trade for shit at this barter camp we’re about to
blow open. Kill off extras, especially men, they get to keep the
women for trade. They probably didn’t figure on a woman falling
through.”

“I don’t even want to think that could be
true,” Simon comments drearily.

“Me neither, brother, but I don’t know if we
can discount it. If those assholes were also bringing girls to this
camp, we need to take care of them before we leave this shithole
city,” Cory explains.

“It’s not a shithole
city
. Nashville used to be
a
nice
city
,” Simon corrects
him.

“Yeah, man, whatever. They’re all shitholes
now.”

Simon nods solemnly and says, “You’re
probably right, though. We should check out that college before we
leave.”

“I don’t want to leave that problem to
someone else. Not if we can help to prevent it from happening to
other people, especially women,” Cory tells his friend.

“Careful,” Simon warns with a grin. “People
might start thinking you’re a nice guy.”

Cory snorts and says, “I don’t
think we have
to worry about
that.”

“Well, my sister didn’t seem like she wanted
to tear your throat out today. That’s an improvement right
there.”

Cory looks away quickly before his friend can
see his guilt.

“Do you want to go over there or not?” Cory
asks and tears into his food again.

“Yeah, sure. Of course we should,” Simon
agrees. “It’s the right thing to do. Maybe we’ll head over there
tonight when we’re done with Dave’s group. Think we can handle them
alone?”

Cory scoffs cockily. “Yeah, I’m about a
hundred percent sure we’ve got this on our own. We’ll recon it, but
it didn’t seem like that many dudes. Maybe a dozen or less.”

“Good, I’m anxious to get back to the cabin,”
Simon admits as he stuffs a piece of thick bread into his
mouth.

His friend is wearing his glasses, but Cory
knows he’ll remove them when it’s time to go on their raid. They
don’t fit comfortably under his night-vision gear. He’s plenty
deadly enough without them.

“I know you are,” Cory says. “Your girl’s
hurt. It’s understandable.”

Simon shoots him an impatient look and says,
“She’s not my girl. She’s like my little sister.”

Cory just grins and grunts at him. “I
don’t think you quite get the meaning of the brother-sister bond. I
never looked at Em like that, and you don’t
look
at Paige like that. Samantha is my little
sister, too.”

“I don’t look at Samantha like anything,”
Simon argues with mounting irritation.

“Sure you don’t,” Cory counters.

“Let’s just start going over contingency
plans for tonight if it goes sour with Dave’s group,” Simon
redirects.

Cory looks at him a moment longer,
grins
again,
and grabs a scrap of
paper and pencil from his pack. They finally agree to meet back at
the Belmont Mansion if it goes south.

About an hour later, Dave’s group shows
up. It quickly becomes
obvious
that they’ll mesh well with Cory and Simon. He’s brought nine
men and the woman that had been driving the minivan yesterday as a
decoy. She’s wearing all black and seems comfortable with the M4
she’s holding. They all look high speed, low drag just like Simon
and
Cory,
as if they are equipped
for an intense mission and have done this many times. They all
appear to be ex-Special Forces as they are squared away and
intense. Cory feels better seeing men that remind him of
Derek,
John
and Kelly. Dave
greets them both by shaking their hands and introducing them to his
men and the girl, whose name is Annie.

“We did a
lil
’ recon on the way in,” Dave tells them.
“They’re set up about two clicks from here give or take. Up north
on the river is just a bunch of people living there in temp tents.
We’ve seen groups of them before. I think they’re nomads, though.
This other place is more permanent, the one you guys wanna’
hit.
There’s
even some shacks
built. Can’t believe we haven’t heard of it till now.”

Cory and Simon nod.

“Are you guys familiar with hand signals?”
Dave asks. “Have you been in a fight before?”

“Yes, sir,” Simon answers for them. “John and
Kelly trained us, sir. We’ve been in quite a few with them, and… a
few on our own, too.”

Dave turns to his men and explains, “John and
Kelly were D-boys with me. These guys are good to go.”

“What’s the plan?” one of Dave’s men asks
Cory.

“We’ve got some ideas, but would like to hear
what Dave has to say,” Simon offers.

“What’s up with this camp? John just said to
get down here and lend a hand. Who’s in there? Is this a snatch and
grab, or are we just blowin’ the fuck out of it?” Dave asks.

“No, sir,” Simon says. “They’ve got a sex
slave trade going on in there. They’re selling women, prostituting
them, trading them. At least that’s how we’ve heard it.”

“Really?” Dave asks as if he can’t believe
him. “Are you sure?”

Cory answers, “Yes, sir. We are.”

Annie looks like she’s going to be sick.
Dave’s a loyal friend to John and Kelly to agree to help, put his
life and the lives of his men in danger to join a fight without
knowing what they’re walking into.

Dave says, “Fuck. That is bad. Is your source
good?”

Cory chuckles and says, “Yeah, the
source
was
good
. He was also one of the turds kidnapping girls
and delivering them to the camp. Tried to take one of
ours.”

Dave nods with the
understanding
that they’ve killed the source. If
only they
knew
it was tiny Sam
who did the killing.

He asks, “So, Cory, what’s the plan you two
have been working on?”

“Kill them?” Cory says
simply
.

They all laugh. Dave says, “Good fucking
plan.”

The woman says, “I think we need more than
that, boys.”

The men chuckle again. “Got it, Annie,” one
of them says to her. The young woman looks at Cory and grins. There
is a spark of attraction in her eyes.

“Let’s get to work, people,” Dave
orders. “We need to hash this out. I’ve drawn out the basics of
this place. Looks like we’re outnumbered, but that’s never been a
problem before, right, boys?” His men call out a collective
“
hooah
” in response. “My old lady
advised me not to get my dick shot off, so we need to go at this
carefully.”

“Good advice,” Cory jokes with a nod as Dave
places his sketch on the table in front of them.

Dave laughs and says, “She’s a smart
woman.”

One of his men says, “Not too smart; she’s
with you!”

Simon joins in and says, “Well, as the only
surgeon on the team, I’m not sewing anyone’s dick back on, so let’s
get a good plan going.”

“All right then,” Dave concedes on a
laugh.

Annie mutters, “I doubt these creeps are good
enough shots to shoot any of your little peckers, but let’s figure
this out, boys.”

The men all laugh, Dave slaps her back and
says, “Sounds good, little sister. What’s your specialties,
Cory?”

“Simon’s our sniper. I’m just a grunt,” Cory
tells the leader of the group.

“We’re all just grunts, brother,” Dave says
with a smirk.

“He’s deadlier than he’s letting on,”
Simon corrects. “He was out there alone for eight months and
he’s
good
with
demolitions.”

Some of the men in Dave’s group regard each
other with raised eyebrows.

Dave chuckles and says, “Oh, so
you
have
been spending time
with Harrison.”

He’s referring to John. Cory grins and nods.
“A little.”

“Good. Well, they’ve got shacks and tents set
up in rows,” Dave says, pointing to his surprisingly detailed
drawing. “The river lays beyond the camp to the east, over here.
There’s a lot of activity going on in there. I saw guards, too. A
gate here,” he says, pointing. “More guards along the length of the
fence. I did see women, too. Didn’t know at the time what I was
lookin’ at.”

“Have any numbers?” Cory asks.

Dave shakes his head and says, “Not
really. Looked like at least a few dozen guards. Other men moving
around that looked unarmed. Probably customers.
Lot
of confusion once we get in there. Shoot any
men you see. If they’re customers, then fuck ‘em. They deserve it,
too. Could be a challenge. Once we get
in
that gate, we need to keep the
pressure
on ‘em. Don’t let the guards or
the men running the place regroup. Push hard. Push forward. Try to
get those fuckers corralled into the center. Take ‘em out. No
prisoners.”

Simon holds up his hand and asks, “Wait. How
do you propose we get through the front gate?”

“Walk up and ask for admittance,” Dave says
with a grin. “Annie’s gonna be the decoy.”

Annie says, “Sweet! That means I get the
first shot.”

Cory and Simon smile with uncertainty at her.
She seems way too excited about that prospect.

“Cory, you can pair up with Annie. You look…
well, you pair up with Annie. Try to sell her to them. Get us in
the gate. Once we’re in, you two stick together. Everyone pair up
with your battle buddy. Don’t get separated. That’ll help our
snipers.”

“We’re gonna need to clear each row,” Annie
observes, pointing at the extensive camp.

“Right, Rick and Lil Joey will take the
rear corner gate in the northeast as a blocking force, prevent them
from sneakin’ out the back like rats. At the go-time, they’ll
get
a nice
fireworks display
burnin’ back there for a distraction. The remainder of you will
push in
through
the front with
us. Snipers, you can perch over here on this building,” he says,
jabbing his finger at a roughly sketched building across the street
from the park. “It’s got the best angles for taking those fuckers
out from high. It’ll be long range, tough shots. Think you can
handle that?”

Simon nods with certainty. Another man
does, as well. Apparently he is Dave’s sniper. He’s carrying a
Lapua rifle with a monster scope. He looks capable
with
it. He’s a big dude, formidable,
and he nods to Simon with camaraderie.

His commander bumps his fist before going
back to the map.

Then Dave addresses the snipers,
“Simon, you’ll work with my sniper. We’re gonna need anyone that
comes out of there without their battle buddy taken out. Watch for
us to be moving in pairs. Take out everyone else. Not the women.
That would kinda’ defeat the
fuckin’
point.”

They go over the plan numerous times until
everyone is on the same page before preparing to roll out.

“Everyone synch up,” Dave orders. “Set your
go time.”

All of the men including Simon and Cory
synchronize their watches to the same countdown.

They will jog in from their position at
the Blue’s club and leave Dave’s
pick-up
truck at the restaurant in the back alley
so it won’t be stolen while they are gone. Simon and Cory stick
together on the run to the camp since they
normally
work together. Once Simon’s position is
forsaken on the rooftop or if he can’t make any more shots, he’ll
join the fight on the ground with them, paired up with Lucky, the
other sniper. Two of the team are taking Third Street
south
and will flank the park where the
camp is located. Everyone wears a headset for communication. When
they close in on the park, they pause behind a building. The area
is protected by guards and some half-assed, rigged together
fencing.