The Blue Ridge Resistance (14 page)

Ed adjusted his hat on his head and said, “No, you’re right. I’m sorry, guys. That was just a lot to take in visually. I mean, I’ve shot people. I’ve had to, but this was up close and personal on a level I just hadn’t been to yet.”

As Evan wiped the blood from his hands with a cloth, he looked at Ed and said, “It doesn’t get any easier to deal with on the inside. We just get better at getting through it on the outside. If we act screwed up at times, it’s because we are screwed up on the inside and just need a way to get it out.”

Jason changed the subject by saying, “Well, guys, the scum up on the hill are gonna be expecting their cohorts here to return soon. We’ve got to regroup and get something going quick.”

“What do you propose?” asked Evan.

“Well, there were three of them in the truck,” Jason started to reply. “Were they all in the cab when they pulled up? We obviously couldn’t see from our position.”

“There were two up front and one in the bed,” replied Charlie.

“Well, then, I think we spilt back up into our two groups. My group will hump our way up to the house to do a little recon. Give us about an hour to get into position, and then drive right up to the place in their own truck. It’s dark, so they won’t notice it’s not them until you’re on them. Each group take a radio so we can adjust on the fly, but I anticipate you drawing them out front while we flank them or take them out from the inside. But, then again, you all know how plans go when it all hits the fan.”

Everyone agreed to the plan as Jason recommended. Ed handed Jason and Evan the tactical vests and gear they had removed before the ruse. They quickly donned their gear and grabbed their rifles as Jason said, “Let’s hit it.”

Chapter 22: Killing the Spider

Jason, Evan, and Ed quickly began their ascent of the hill. They knew it would take some time to reach the house quietly on foot, and wanted to be in position with a plan long before the truck was expected back. They had to jog just shy of a half mile down the road towards the bridge and then take a gravel road that led off to the left and up the side of the hill. The road was steep with many switchbacks as it wound its way up the side of the mountain. The moonlight that illuminated their way was quickly being replaced by darkness as a thin layer of clouds moved in, blocking out the night’s sky.

As their useful ambient light faded, Jason quietly said, “C’mon moon! Get back out here.”

“Tell me about it,” whispered Evan. “I really don’t want to have to flick on a flashlight at any point.”

They could see the house off in the distance as they rounded the next switchback. The house had a generator running somewhere in the background, keeping the lights on both inside and on the front porch.

“These guys must be cocky,” Jason remarked. “I’d have this place dark and quiet at night. If you light up your interior perimeter, your enemy can easily see you, but you can’t see them hiding off in the darkness.”

“Well, let’s be thankful that’s the case and use it to our advantage. Speaking of which, that noisy, old gas generator is providing good cover, as well.”

“Let’s not get too cocky like them, though, and assume it’s gonna be easy,” added Evan.

Once they got close, they ducked into the tree line to establish a plan. Jason said, “Okay, we need to try and get a look inside. We don’t want to be shooting directly into a part of the house where the women are being held and risk injuring them. Evan, you go around to the right. Ed, you go around through the woods to the left. I’ll cover you from here and keep an ear on the radio for the guys down below. Don’t shoot unless you have to. We don’t want to give up the initiative too soon. In about fifteen minutes, work your way back to me so we can nail this down.”

Evan and Ed both nodded in the affirmative and began to creep around the darkness of the wooded perimeter in their assigned directions. Evan, being on the downhill side of the house, had the clearest path, but also had the disadvantage of having to get elevation to see inside the first floor windows. Without leaving the security of the woods, he threw his VZ58 across his back and climbed a tree to try to get a better vantage point. He hoped to be able to see into what he assumed was a bedroom window on the side of the house.

Meanwhile, Ed crept around the uphill side of the house, being careful not to make a sound. An awning over the house’s back deck blocked his view inside from his elevated position. He decided he needed to get lower and closer to get any real intel on the situation. With that in mind, he carefully crept down the hill, using caution to avoid making too much noise in the dead leaves that still covered the ground from the previous fall and winter. As he crept slowly towards the unlit rear deck, he stumbled on something in the darkness along the edge of the tree line. Nearly tripping and falling onto the ground, he caught himself and knelt down on all fours, being still, making sure he didn’t inadvertently make a sound to give his position away.

What the hell is this?
he thought as he pulled back a plastic tarp covering the object. It was too dark to see, so he tried to feel inside with his bare hand. As he felt the cold, soft object, the smell from within the wrapped bundle hit him. He flinched and jumped back, falling to the ground as he realized, with horror, what he had just touched; it was a woman’s body, cast outside like the trash. The smell and the feel of the corpse sent chills up his spine, causing him to vomit, as he instantly felt nauseated. His stomach was already twisted into knots from the stress of the situation, and his morbid discovery sent him over the edge.

After he regained his composure and wiped the vomit from his mouth, spitting on the ground, Ed crept closer to the house, inching up to a window next to the deck. The light from inside the house illuminated his immediate area so he could get a good look around. He did not want to step onto the deck itself, as he was afraid a creaky or loose board would give him away. The deck looked a few years beyond some needed TLC, and he didn’t want to chance it.

As he peeked in the window, he saw that it looked into the laundry room, adjacent to a bathroom. Just then, the generator sputtered to a stop, followed immediately by the lights in the house going dark.

He heard a man yell inside the house, “Damn it! Did you forget to top off the gas in the generator?” followed by a muffled reply coming from further inside the house. He heard the first voice yell, “Then get your ass out there and get it going! And hurry the hell up before Dog gets back up here. He’ll ride you like one of them whores, if you don’t!”

The door leading off the deck, just a few feet away from Ed, swung open violently, causing him to flinch and raise his rifle. Out burst a scuzzy looking man, cussing under his breath while stomping his way over to the generator. “I’m getting so sick of this bullshit!” the man said aloud as he poured gasoline into the generator from a jug that was sitting on the ground. “I’m gonna pop some mother fuckers if they don’t chill the hell out and get off my back,” he said with rage and disgust.

Ed did his best to duck into the shadows below the window as the generator started back up and the lights came on. He knew he could engage and take the unsuspecting man out with little trouble but didn’t want to blow their cover and risk their chances of recovering the Jackson women.

~~~~

Evan saw the lights go off, followed by the man out back getting the generator going again. He wondered how far around Ed had made it. He then turned his attentions back to the interior of the house, as he could now see through the window on the side. He saw a door open inside the room; a man entered and then walked out of view. After a brief moment, the man passed back in front of the window and appeared to be yelling at someone in the corner, against the exterior wall. He then left the room, slamming the door behind him.
I wonder if that’s where the women are,
he thought to himself. He wanted to get a better look, but it was time to join back up with Jason and Ed. He slipped out of the tree and quietly backtracked to Jason’s position.

Once the three had regrouped, Ed and Evan both reported what they saw and heard. Ed explained, “The rear of the house has little to no security. When the generator shut down, I was within mere feet of the man who got it going again. He could have easily spotted me, but had his head so far up his own ass with his disdain for his fellow scumbags that he didn’t have the presence of mind to even look around.”

“That’s something that we can use to our advantage,” Jason said, taking all in.

Ed then continued saying, “Now to the bad news.”

“Bad news?” queried Jason.

“Well, I stumbled across something in the dark, out back in the tree line. I stopped to check it out and it was a dead female body, wrapped up like trash and just thrown outside.”

“Damn… Was it one of the Jacksons?” Evan asked.

“I dunno. I was kind of freaked out when I realized what it was. I didn’t use a light or look very close. In hindsight, I know I should have, but…”

“Don’t sweat it,” Jason interrupted getting them back on track. “We’ll figure it out soon enough. Here’s the plan: Ed, you stay on the high side in the woods, with your M1A, to be able to lay down a harassing fire at their flank wherever necessary to keep them from being able to focus on either of the advances. We’ll call in the truck from below, and when they arrive, the enemy’s attention will be focused on what they think are their returning comrades. Evan and I will make entry from the rear of the house and rush them from behind. We’ve operated in close quarters together quite a bit, so we should be up for the close and personal stuff. We’ll have Nate, Charlie, and Jimmy hold them down from the front. As loosely as they are organized, and hitting them from three points, we should be able to roll them pretty easy. Just don’t assume that, though, and we’ll be fine.”

“Sounds good to me,” affirmed Evan.

“Me too,” seconded Ed.

“Alrighty then. Ed, be making your way to your spot on the hill. I’ll call in the truck, and then Evan and I will get into position.”

Ed complied and began to move into position as Jason relayed the plan to the team waiting with the truck down on Highway 70. Once the plan was thoroughly briefed, he and Evan made their way to the back of the house.

Still in the tree line, but in the back yard, Evan said, “Let’s hold here until we see the truck getting close. Then once their attention is on the truck, we can make a move across the yard and position by the door for our entry.”

“Roger Roger,” Jason sharply replied in his typical fashion.

It wasn’t long before they heard the old pickup truck lumbering its way up the hill, slowing for the sharp switchback turns along the way. As the truck rounded the last corner and its lights shined on the front of the house, Evan made his move for the back door, followed by Jason once he was in position and providing cover.

As the truck pulled to a stop out front and shut off the engine, there was a moment of uneasy silence for Evan and Jason, not being able to see what was taking place from their position. Then, all of a sudden, gunfire erupted at the front of the house, giving Evan and Jason their cue. Jason patted Evan on the shoulder and Evan pulled open the door and rushed inside, with Jason following along behind. Evan took a knee on the floor a few feet inside and covered the hallway leading towards the front of the house. Jason went right, to check the first room on that side. He kicked the door open, scanned the room, and yelled, “Laundry… Clear!” He then moved into position with Evan and patted him on the shoulder to initiate the leapfrog.

Jason now covered the hallway while Evan kicked in the door on the left and scanned the room. As he started to yell clear, he noticed a young girl’s arm cuffed to the metal bed frame reaching up from behind. She appeared to be hiding behind the bed, but her restraints were keeping her partially in view. Just as Evan yelled, “Girl!” Jason began firing his Remington down the hallway, cycling the bolt and reengaging as fast as he could. It was times like this when the long-range advantage of his large, bolt-action rifle was lost in the tight confines of close-quarters battle. Evan partially reentered the hallway and laid down a rapid cover fire with his VZ58 as Jason’s next shot took down his assailant.

~~~~

At the front of the house, the man who appeared at the front door was quickly dispatched by Nate before he could figure out it wasn’t his friends returning, after all. Nate continued to fire from the bed of the truck while Charlie and Jimmy moved to positions of cover. Using the shots from Nate, Charlie, and Jimmy as his cue, Ed fired into the side of the house, near the windows, to confuse the occupants and force them to divide their attention. 

A second man appeared at a window and opened fire on them with a fully automatic machine gun, ripping into the truck and sending debris flying in all directions. Nate had left the tailgate of the truck down for ease of egress; he dove out of the back of the truck, taking cover underneath to avoid the barrage of bullets tearing the truck to shreds.

“SAW! He’s got a freaking SAW!” yelled Nate to Charlie and Jimmy as they took cover behind a group of oak trees.

Nate was pinned down by the machine gun fire and unable to move. Fearing for Nate’s predicament, Jimmy exposed himself to lay down cover fire for Nate. Not long after, he was hit by the incoming fire and knocked to the ground. He felt a searing heat in his left shoulder and a dull pain in his chest. He could barely breathe and was nearly hyperventilating. 

Nate had taken advantage of Jimmy’s momentary suppressing fire and leapt from the truck. He nearly dislocated his prosthetic leg upon hitting the ground. After re-securing it, he crawled on the ground and took cover in the trees with the other two men. Realizing that Jimmy was down, he dove behind Jimmy’s tree, pulling him out of the line of fire.

“Are you hit? Are you hit?” he asked.

Jimmy nodded yes, but didn’t reply verbally. That was when Nate saw blood seeping through the jacket sleeve of Jimmy’s left bicep. Knowing it wasn’t life threatening, he quickly began looking Jimmy over for other wounds. The rapid fire of the fully automatic M249 Squad Automatic Weapon (SAW) would most likely have made multiple hits. Amidst the continuing barrage of machine gun fire that ripped bark and splinters of wood from the surrounding trees, Nate aggressively unbuckled Jimmy’s load-bearing vest and opened his jacket, looking for other serious wounds while Charlie attempted to return fire at the house.

Jimmy began to catch his breath and said faintly, “I’m okay. I’m okay.”

It was then that Nate found a fully loaded magazine in Jimmy’s vest that had been penetrated by the high velocity 5.56mm NATO round from the SAW. He followed the path of the projectile into his jacket and found it mushroomed and distorted from the impact, in Jimmy’s Bible that he carried in his left inside pocket. As Nate looked at the Bible in amazement, he noticed the bullet had nearly completely penetrated the pages before coming to rest at Psalms 82:4, which reads,
Rescue the weak and the needy; rescue them out of the hand of the wicked.