Amid the Shadows (19 page)

36

Avery’s silhouette ran
to the wall and opened the panel, revealing the security system and all of the
sensors around the perimeter of the cabin.
 
All the lights were red.

“We have company.”

In the darkness, Rand
reached under a bookshelf near the television, pulled out several magazines,
and stuffed them into his pocket.

“Get them in the back,”
his voice said in the darkness.
 
Avery
had already grabbed both Sarah and Christine and was rushing them down the dark
hallway.

Outside, over two dozen
dark figures spread out in a perfect circle, were closing in on the cabin.
 
Their progress was slow and methodical as
they took small, quiet steps through the grass.

Murad Sarat led the
team forward.
 
Unfortunately, cutting the
power and warning whoever was inside was unavoidable.
 
They needed to sever all forms of
communication, including what might be powering any transmissions.
 
He held up his hand and gave the signal to
lower their night vision goggles, a signal that was passed around the circle to
everyone almost simultaneously.
 

Rand waited
quietly.
 
He needed them closer, a lot
closer, or they would see him.
 
He felt
the familiar surge of warm blood course through him.
 
He waited, eyes closed, listening to the soft
steps through the grass.

Murad and his team
slowed even more as they neared the structure.
 
He was near the front and gave a ‘stop’ signal as he and another of his
men approached the first step of the wooden porch.
 
They both aimed their rifles and scanned the
entire porch carefully.
 
They couldn’t
hear anything moving inside, just the warm breeze behind them.
 

He unclenched his fist
and gave the signal to move in just as Rand’s feet left the roof, near the back
of the cabin.
 
He came down hard,
crushing one of the dark figures below him into the ground.
 
In a flash he was up, pulling the unconscious
figure back onto his feet as a shield to block the gunfire that immediately
erupted from the side.

Rand turned to his
right and simultaneously fired his Springfield, dropping three men
immediately.
 
Without any hesitation, he
wrapped his right hand around his dead shield and fired, killing two more
attackers with two shots each to their neck and face, the only vital areas not
protected by armor.

Even through the
gunfire, Murad’s men did not scatter or break position.
 
Instead, they all flattened themselves
against the outside walls of the house.
 
The two nearest to the shots on each side instantly teamed up and inched
themselves slowly toward the back, while Murad and the others held their
position.
 

The four men quietly
approached the back and spotted bodies on the ground, but all were
motionless.
 
Each two man team scanned up
the exterior wall and along the roofline. Finding nothing, they turned back to
the bodies.
 
Still no movement.

The four men then
turned their attention to the small back porch and closed in.
 
The old door had been boarded up.
 
What they hadn’t examined closely enough,
however, was that one of the bodies on the ground was not bleeding.

Murad heard several
more shots and froze again.
 
What the
hell was happening?
 
He wasn’t going to
wait outside forever while someone picked them all off.
 
He quickly gave the signal and all of his
men rushed into the house.
 
He and two
others stormed the front porch firing several shots into the front door as they
barreled inside.
 
On the sides of the
house, three windows were smashed as the rest of Murad’s team hurled themselves
inside.

Rand heard the smashing
windows from the rear of the house.
 
He
replaced his magazine and stepped over one of the bodies.
 
He heard movement behind him and turned back
toward the trees to see seven more muzzle flashes appear from the
darkness.
 
Dirt and wood exploded around
him as the bullets tore through the ground and into the wood planking of the
house.
  
Already running, Rand fired
several shots into the trees and bolted up the steps, smashing through the old
boarded door.

He stumbled inside,
past the door now hanging from one remaining hinge and around a corner just as
hundreds of rounds destroyed the porch and door frame behind him.
  
Rand unslung his rifle in one smooth motion
and, in complete darkness, fired a volley down the long hallway heading forward
to the living room.
 
He ducked back out
of the way and slammed his fist several times against a large, blank wall.
 
A moment later, a thick, hidden door opened
with Avery behind it.
 
He grabbed Rand,
yanked him inside, and pulled the door closed behind him.
 
Once the thick door was closed, Avery slid a
giant bolt lock back into place.

Through the dim light
inside, Rand could see Christine and Sarah huddled in the middle of the empty
room.

“There’s too many,” he
whispered to Avery.
 
“We can’t get out.”

Christine stared at him
with a look of determination.
 
“We have
to do something!”

“Well, I’m fairly
certain negotiating is out,” Rand said, withdrawing another magazine from his
pocket and slapping it into the bottom of the rifle.
 
The movement was so fluid that Christine was
not entirely sure what he had done.

“Is there another way
out?” she asked, trying to keep her voice down.

“No.”

“So we’re screwed?” she
yelled under her breath.

They could hear someone
on the outside tapping their rifles along the wall, looking for the latch.
 
A moment later it was joined by what sounded
like two more rifles.

They all sat silently
as the men outside found the hidden latch and began trying to pry it open.

“Oh god!” Christine
whispered, as she watched the large bolt on the door begin to wiggle.

“They won’t get in,”
Avery replied calmly.
 
“This room is lined
with two inches of solid steel.”

Christine rolled her
eyes.
 
“Wonderful, but unless you have a
bathroom and a hell of a lot of food, we eventually have to come out.”

She pulled Sarah in
tight and watched both men in frustration as they sat listening to the sounds
outside.
 
The giant bolt had stopped
moving and now the sounds were spreading around the room while Murad’s men
examined all sides, looking for a sound of weakness in the wall and a way in.
 
Then, all at once the tapping stopped, and
some shuffling could be heard on the other side of the door.
 

Christine jumped when
she heard three shots hit the other side of the wall with a loud
thunk thunk
thunk
.

She looked worriedly at
Rand.
 
“They’re going to shoot their way
in!”

Rand looked at
Avery.
 
“Checkmate.”

Avery nodded.
 
“They’re on all sides now.”

Rand slowly stood up
and looked down at Christine and Sarah.
 
“Both of you lay down on your stomachs.”

Oh my god!
 
They going to try to shoot their way out!
 
Christine thought to herself as she let Sarah
pull away and slide down onto the floor.
 
Nervously, Christine lowered herself down next to her, while Sarah
watched both men curiously.

Rand nodded silently to
Avery who nodded back.
 
With that, Rand
turned and pushed on a small area of the wall causing a door to pop open.
 
He pulled the small door all the way back
revealing a single, large button.
 
He
looked down at the girls and, without pausing, he smashed his palm against it.

Murad lined up several
of his men and instructed them to fire at the door where he believed the lock
to be located on the other side.
 
He
wanted them to fire into the same spot, from the same angle, and to use a hail
of bullets to drive a hole through the door.

What he did not hear,
however, was the strange sound coming from out in front of the house, as the
old bird bath tipped over and fell to the ground.
 
Nor did he realize, a second bird bath was
located behind the house which fell over at the same time.

Below the ground and
from where the broken statues had stood, something large and black rose up from
below.
 
The two objects were both M134
Miniguns, each electrically driven with six Gatling-style barrels that were
capable of firing 4,000 rounds per minute.
 
Both were connected to a large belt of ammo and sat atop an auto rotating
platform.

Inside the small room,
Rand and Avery fell to the floor and covered both Sarah and Christine with
their bodies.
 
Rand above Sarah, and
Avery covering Christine.

In less than a second,
a small, red light on each gun changed to green, and the miniguns opened fire
directly at the cabin from both ends.
 
Instantly, the powerful 7.62mm bullets ripped through and began
shredding everything in the house like tissue paper.
 
As the screaming barrels spun, both guns
rotated back and forth within a thirty degree angle, covering the entire
structure.

Rand brought his arms
and legs in tight, protecting every inch of Sarah’s small body.
 
All around them, the bullets tore through
Murad’s men and slammed into the thick steel walls, causing large dents to appear
on the inside.
 
Some dents grew larger as
bullets hit the same spot, but Rand and Avery kept their heads down and
remained motionless.

In the front of the
cabin, the support beams gave way and the roof collapsed onto the porch.
 
The weight and impact pulled down even more
of the roof, exposing what was left of the front living room and kitchen areas.

The noise inside their
tiny room was deafening as the giant dents continued appearing on the walls
inside, but no one moved.
 
The men held
them both tight until, after an agonizingly long two minutes, the guns ran
through their ammo belts and spun to a stop with smoke rising from the black
gun barrels.
 

The terrible noise
ended as quickly as it began.
 
Rand and
Avery did not move immediately.
 
Instead,
they waited and then slowly looked up around them.
 
The walls held.

“Stay down,” Rand
whispered as he got to his feet.
 
He
grabbed the AR-15 and checked the chamber.
 
Behind him, Avery picked up a second rifle and knelt down on one knee in
front of the girls.
 
He held his gun
ready and pointed at the door.

Rand slowly slid the
bolt lock open, surprised that it still moved smoothly.
 
He gently pushed the door open and peered
through the open crack.
 
After a moment,
he turned to Avery.
 
“I’ll be right
back.”

Several minutes went by
before three shots were heard in the distance, followed by silence.
 
It was another ten minutes before Rand
stepped over Murad’s men and poked his head back in.

Avery stood as Rand
stepped into the room and put his hand on Christine’s back.
 
“You can both get up.
 
It’s safe.”

Christine and Sarah
looked up and around the room, and then gradually got to their feet.
 
“Okay,” Christine quietly.
 
“I wasn’t expecting
that
.”

“We have to go.”
 
Rand looked down.
 
“Will you come with me, Sarah?”

Without any hesitation,
Sarah walked into his arms and he picked her up.
 
She wrapped her arms around his thick
neck.
 
“I’m not scared with you,” she
said.

Rand smiled at
her.
 
“Good.”
 
He gave her a gentle pat on her head.
 
“Now, I need you to close your eyes, okay?”

Rand looked at
Christine.
 
“You might want to do the
same.”

37

Their
eyes were closed tight, and Christine tried not to think about what they might
be stepping over as Rand and Avery led them out.
 
After they stepped over the last obstacle,
she could feel the chill of the evening on her face followed by the tall, soft
grass brushing against her shins and knees.
 

After
a long pause, Rand gave the okay and she and Sarah both opened their eyes and
looked around.
 
With a little moonlight
through the clouds, they could just make out the shape of the dark and eerily
shaped cabin they had left behind.

Rand
lowered Sarah to the ground and unslung the Bushmaster rifle.
 
He held it in both hands and scanned behind
them, while Avery walked to a nearby tree and rolled a large boulder to the
side.
 
He reached down and silently
pulled up a handle to a door hidden underneath the thick layer of pine needles,
then reached further down and retrieved a large dark object.
 
When he returned, Christine could see it was
a giant duffle bag and, judging from Avery’s posture, a heavy one.

They
walked over a half mile to reach the car, kept in a small building painted a
combination of earth tones, which Christine assumed was a mountain version of
‘camouflage’.

The 1969 Dodge Charger
R/T was considered by many one of the toughest cars ever made.
 
Cranking out an astounding 425 horses, the
426 Hemi engine weighed nearly half a ton.
 
Furthermore, unlike modern cars, the R/T was made of strong steel and
could take a real beating if it had to, especially with some modifications.

Christine rested her
head against the copper colored vinyl in the back seat with Sarah asleep in her
lap.
 
An hour after they left, Rand
killed the headlights and pulled off the empty road onto a smaller dirt
one.
 
He slowly rolled beneath the
outskirts of a small forest, coming to rest under a thick canopy.

When he turned off the
car, the sudden silence from the engine’s absence was almost deafening.

Avery opened the
passenger door and stepped out.
 
“I’m
going to scout.”
 
He grabbed the 12 gauge
tactical shotgun from off the floor and carefully shut the door as quietly as
possible.
 
As he walked away, Christine
heard him work the slide action of the shotgun to chamber a shell.

Rand remained in the front
seat, keys still in the ignition, watching the darkness around them.

After several long
minutes, Christine broke the silence with a whisper.
 

“Rand?”

He turned his head
sideways, viewing her from the corner of his eye.

“Can I ask you a
question?”

“Yes.”

“Where did you grow
up?”

He furrowed his
brow.
 
“Why do you ask?”

“I was just wondering
what your life was like,” she said softly.
 
“Are your parents still alive?”

Rand took a deep breath
and exhaled, turning his head forward again.
 
“No.
 
I was an orphan.”

Christine’s eyes
saddened in the back seat.

“We’re always orphans,”
he added.

“Always?”

He nodded.
 
“It makes it easier to focus.
 
Emotionally.”

“Did you have parents?”

“Foster parents,
yes.”
 
Rand could still see the image of
his foster mother’s gentle, round face in his mind.
 
She was older, in her late fifties by the
time he left.
 
She was kind and gentle,
as was the father, and their relationship was caring and…polite.

“Did they know?” asked
Christine.
 
“You know, about you?”

Rand almost chuckled.
 
“Yes, they knew.
 
Not many kids have scratches that begin to
heal before they even get the band-aid out.”

Christine watched him
as his thoughts turned inward.
 

“And school was a
distraction,” he continued.
 
“I did it
primarily to blend in.”

“Did you ever
tell
them
, your parents?”

“I did.
 
When I was a teenager.”
 
He still remembered it vividly.
 
“They were devout Christians which helped.
 
In the end, I think they were secretly
relieved.
 
It explained why all I ever
asked for was more exercise equipment.”

Christine nodded but
couldn’t quite bring herself to smile.
 
“Did you ever have fun?”

“There were times of
happiness, but probably not what you would consider fun.
 
I’m not here to have fun.”

Christine rolled her
head to the side and looked out her small triangular window.
 
She felt a pang in her heart when he said
that.
 
What a lonely life he must have
had.
 
After a while she looked back.
 
“Can I ask you something else?”

As Rand turned his head
sideways again, she could see some of his eyelashes highlighted by the
moonlight reflecting off the hood.

“If we’ve really lost
our way, like you said, why would you want to become one of us?”

He thought about the
question.
 
“I can see why he loves you so
much.
 
You are capable of so much, more
than you even know.
 
Your connection to
the world around you is almost limitless.
 
Just look at your artists and your musicians.
 
So many of you can connect with the world in
ways that we never will.
 
You are so much
more like him than you know.”
 
He
paused.
 
“There is nothing you cannot do,
if you can just get beyond your weaknesses.”

She stared at him
quietly.
 
“What kind of weaknesses?”

“You’re drawn too much
to pleasure.
 
It’s what they use against
you.”

“They?”

“Those from the
darkness.
 
The Evil.”
 

She was quiet again,
thinking about everything that had happened.
 
“Do you think Danny and the other officers are okay?”

His gaze dropped.
 
He couldn’t lie to her.
 
“No, Christine, I don’t.
 
I’m sorry.”

In the back seat, she
nodded and looked back out the window.
 
Through the rearview mirror, Rand could see the tears glistening in her
eyes.

“Rand?” she asked with
a shaking voice.

“Yes?”

Christine spoke before
the lump in her throat stopped her.
 
“Is
there a heaven?”

This time he turned and
looked back at her.
 
“Yes.
 
There is a heaven.”

She wiped the tears
away and tried to grin.

“It’s not what most
people think, but it’s a good place.”

“What do you mean?”

This time he smiled at
her.
 
“Well, you don’t fly around and eat
whatever you want.”

She saw his smile and
couldn’t help but chuckle.
 
“I guess
that’s a bit much to ask, isn’t it?”

As he turned to watch
out the front window again, the smile slowly faded from his face.

Behind him, Christine
nestled against the door trying not to wake up Sarah.
 
They were both quiet for a long time before
she broke the silence yet again.

“One more question?”

She asked a lot of
questions.
 
Rand turned back again.
 
“You should really try to get some sleep.”

“I will,” she
promised.
 
“After this.”

“Okay, what?”

“Avery.”
 
She turned her head back to the window,
looking out and in the direction he had left.
 
“He’s one of you isn’t he?”

Rand didn’t answer
immediately.
 
“Yes.”

“He was a soldier too?”

“Yes.”
 
Rand turned his head toward her again.
 
“Each soldier helps the next.
 
If he can.”

“What was he here to
do?”
 
Christine asked.

Rand let the side of
his head fall gently against the headrest.
 
“It was during World War II.
 
The
Germans were trying to build a nuclear weapon, but they needed an important element,
something called “heavy water”.
 
It’s
required to produce Plutonium.
 
There was
a fertilizer plant in Norway that produced heavy water, and the Germans
eventually captured it.
 
They extracted
enough to ship back to Germany.
 
On the
way back, a single commando was able to fight through the German occupation,
reach the boat, and sink it.”
 
He
paused.
 
“Avery was that man.”

Christine was
stunned.
 
“What would have happened?”

“If he hadn’t destroyed
it?”
 
Rand finished her question.
 
“The Germans would have developed the first
atomic bomb, in time to avoid Berlin being taken.
 
They would have vaporized much of the British
and American alliance and scared the Russians enough to withdraw
temporarily.
 
Germany’s second and third atomic
bombs would have achieved a surrender by enough countries to break the back of
the Allies, and Hitler would have won.”

“Oh my god.”
 

“They thought they were
going to win.”
 
Rand said and looked
outside.
 
“But God sent Avery.”