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  After his brief meeting with her and CC, Green had left the restaurant and immediately went to go see his boss. Thankfully, Cara had been stupid enough to bring her friend, CC. Otherwise, he’d be a dead man walking right now.

  Pleasure had flooded his mind watching the disappointment grow on Reed’s face. Green had watched him intently and learned about the old man’s poker tells as he tried to act surprised that Cara was in town asking for help, which gave him the idea to suggest that they should bring her in for questioning. With one excuse after another, Green had learned that Reed lied with the best of them, but his voice rose higher and he cocked his head slightly. Green had made a mental note to remember those poker tells, thinking they’d come in handy down the road.

  For now, Reed no longer had reason to suspect him, which would allow Green to try to get closer to him. He hoped to be more of a confidant to him before they sent the audio recordings of him discussing the bombings. This way he could gauge the reaction and see how he responded. He’d have to be careful not to change his habits as Reed might start suspecting him again. He promised himself he’d be more careful because he remembered his mother describing Reed as a paranoid son-of-a-bitch and if backed into a corner, he’d kill without thinking twice about the consequences even if there were innocent involved.

  Green walked into the empty sports bar and didn’t see anyone but the owner and his friends sitting at a table up front. A waitress with short blonde hair met him as he got to a table by the dartboards. He ordered a bucket of beers and sat down. His arriving early usually wasn’t the case as Sam typically showed up first and had to wait for him. He looked up at the big screens and watched a soccer game that was playing somewhere in Europe. He wasn’t sure where and didn’t really care. He missed American sports, especially football and wondered how long, if ever, they’d be able to put teams back together again. Some of the players were fighting in the war and had made a big deal about signing up and doing their patriotic duty. The government played that up when they were encouraging Americans to enlist. In the early days of the war, recruits flooded in by the thousands and they were winning. Then things took a turn for the worse and they were losing men in devastating numbers. Green shook his head because he now knew the truth, that the government, or Reed and Perozzi to be more precise, had orchestrated the whole thing, including the losses. They used the big sports names to encourage more Americans to go marching to their deaths. These thoughts began to make him angry and he looked across the bar for his waitress.

  She came back with his bucket of beers and lingered for a moment trying to work him for a bigger tip. Green didn’t have a problem with it and tipped her accordingly, thinking she earned it. He certainly didn’t mind the attention from a pretty girl anyhow. She sauntered away and Green took out a beer, beads of water dripped down the side of the bottle, as he took a big gulp. The cold liquid felt good going down. He set the beer down and looked up again at the boring soccer game.

  Chapter 11

  Jackson Michigan

  Winters left the two giggling girls and headed back to the cafeteria to find his men. He needed to get an update on what the Jijis were doing. On the way there, he thought about the fact that Reese knew Thomas, which excited him while considering the possibilities. After they verified him, they’d have to figure a way to communicate. Also, figure out what kind of information they wanted coming out and the kind of false information they wanted to feed into Mordulfah. Having a spy would even the playing field as far as spies were concerned. Last night’s battle would never have happened if it hadn’t been for Mordulfah’s spy and they would have been better prepared for the eventual assault on the town.

  The only way their situation had improved since yesterday was Mordulfah lost a considerable number of his men. Between the assault Nate had instigated in Chelsea, the raid in the town of Leslie, and last night’s battle, they must have killed close to a thousand Jijis, which was amazing for a small band of patriots.

  Winters rounded the corner to the cafeteria and found Scar grabbing a bite to eat.

  “Hey, get any sleep?”

  “Just got up. You?”

  “Five hours,” smiled Winters.

  “Four for me, but that’s good enough.”

  Scar briefed him on Thomas and how cooperative he had been. They allowed him to eat and found him a place to get some sleep. The other prisoners all turned out to be useless, except now they were useless prisoners that needed to be fed and watched over. Having prisoners was not something Winters wanted to deal with, but they couldn’t let them go and take the chance they’d kill even one of his men. Executing them wasn’t something that appealed to him even though they deserved it. He wasn’t sure about the rules of war, but killing them didn’t seem like the right thing to do.

  “This guy, Thomas, seems too good to be true,” said Winters.

  “He seems pretty legit.”

  Winters cocked his head slightly. “I’ll have Reese verify him tomorrow and then I guess we’ll need to figure out a way to communicate with him.”

  “That shouldn’t be a problem. Turns out this guy is one of the couriers that Mordulfah uses. The reason he was here last night was to deliver messages between Mordulfah and his field commander.”

  Winters raised an eyebrow.

  “I know what you’re thinking, does he know who the spy is and the answer is no. He’s never met him. There’s usually another guy who meets with him, but he was gone when the info came in, so Thomas came instead.”

  “This is very interesting,” said Winters, running his hand through his hair. It still sounded too good to be true. He wanted to believe it but would watch how things unfolded.

  Scar sensed his hesitation. “I think this guy is solid, Captain.”

  “Okay, but we’ll still need to test him.”

  “Goes without saying.”

  “Have you talked to anyone?”

  “Not yet. I know Eddie is up on the interstate.”

  Eddie Perlee was from Minnesota and had been the one who first spotted the terrorists walking along the highway toward Brainerd, Minnesota. He volunteered to guard the overpass.

  “Have you seen Elliott?”

  Scar shook his head.

  “Alright, we need to go and get some updates,” said Winters.

  They finally found Elliott sleeping in a room across from Nate. He’d been keeping an eye on his lifelong friend through the morning and finally succumbed to fatigue. Winters thought about waking him but decided to let him sleep. So far, the town hadn’t been attacked today, which meant the Jijis were still licking their wounds. And, because they don’t like fighting in the dark, he didn’t think they’d attack tonight either. Besides, the Jijis were more than likely demoralized knowing that a much smaller force had eviscerated their much larger army. Still, he couldn’t be certain, which was why they needed to be ready.

  Scar found a radio and contacted Eddie who stood guard up on the Lansing Avenue overpass, which crossed over Interstate 94. Eddie reported the Jijis still manned the interstate but hadn’t moved. A few vehicles came and went throughout the day to bring food or to rotate the men, but they didn’t seem like they were ready to mount another assault. Winters got the same report from the rest of the men posted around the perimeter of Jackson.

  Winters wanted to see the situation for himself, so he and Scar grabbed an old Chevy pickup and headed up to Lansing Avenue. The road sat high over the interstate where thick underbrush made it difficult to approach from the interstate below. Because the overpass couldn’t be accessed from the interstate, it was an ideal place to set up a lookout. There were a few houses on the street where the men took turns sleeping and eating.

  Winters pulled the truck into a parking lot behind a small house on the east side. They got out and waved at Eddie who walked toward them.

  “Captain,” said Eddie stretching his hand out. “Scar.”

  “How goes it?” asked Winters.

  “Like I said before, n
ot a whole lot of movement. C’mon I’ll show ya.”

  Eddie led them up to the overpass where thick vines grew on the wire fence that bordered both sides of the bridge. Winters acknowledged the other men stationed there and thanked them for keeping watch. They crouched down on all fours and crawled on the pavement to peek over the cement barrier and through the vine covered fence. Jijis stood around in small clusters and chatted in what looked like a relaxed mood. They were definitely not at the ready, which surprised Winters. The amounts of vehicles on the road surprised him as well, but upon closer inspection, he noticed many of them were empty. Winters looked at the other side and found the same thing.

  He looked over at Scar who gave him a big smile. “What do ya think?”

  “I think we should have some fun tonight.”

  “Yep, I’m thinking the same thing.”

  “Okay, I think we’ve seen enough,” said Winters. They crawled backward for ten yards before getting up and walking back to their vehicle. He turned to Eddie. “Do they know you’ve been watching them?”

  “Don’t think so. We’ve been pretty sly about keeping out of sight.”

  “Hmph. These guys must really be beat up. Eddie, I’ll get some replacements up here for ya.”

  “We’re actually good. We’ve been taking turns getting rest.”

  Winters liked what he’d learned and decided to send out a recon team to see if it was feasible to move some of the citizens tonight. If they couldn’t, then they’d attack and kill as many Jijis as possible before they decided to attack the town. It didn’t matter to him because either way they were going to be busy tonight. He thought about the logistics of moving the citizens and hoped Mayor Simpson had prepared a group to be ready to go at a moment’s notice. He needed to know and decided to go see for himself. If they were ready, then he’d have Nordell take command of an evacuation. He hadn’t seen the old Marine since last night’s battle and wondered if Nordell would still show him the same kind of respect, he showed him after the battle. Their interaction seemed surreal, but knew it did happen. It really threw him off guard, but he wouldn’t believe he meant it until they met again.

  Chapter 12

  Winters radioed Bassett asking him to meet him downtown for a strategy meeting with Nordell. He thought it would be a good idea to have Bassett there, as he would be in charge of the mission tonight. Besides his youth, his experience in the Middle East was invaluable to the Shadow Patriots. It would be a tricky thing to get vehicles across enemy lines but there was no way the evacuees could walk out. Running through empty fields in the middle of the night was one thing, but bringing vehicles of any size was another. Many of the citizens were too old or too young and would have to be driven.

  They pulled into the parking lot of the courthouse and saw Bassett standing next to Nordell. Winters took in a deep breath at the thought of seeing Nordell. He exited the truck and gave Bassett a nod.

  “Captain,” said Nordell extending his hand to Winters.

  Winters grabbed it and gave him a firm handshake. He looked into Nordell’s steadfast eyes and didn’t see any signs of resentment. “Gunny.”

  “Corporal Bassett was just filling me in on the injured. Sounds like they’re all doing well,” said Nordell.

  “Yes. A couple of them are done for and will have to be moved.”

  “Well, even though we’re a small town, we’ve got an outstanding medical staff.”

  Winters nodded in agreement.

  “Where will you take them?”

  “Canada. It’s sort of our base of operations.”

  “They’re the ones who have been supplying you?”

  Winters nodded again.

  “Glad to hear they’re helping.”

  Winters looked around and didn’t see anyone walking around and decided to go ahead and hold their meeting right there.

  “I wanted to meet with you guys to make plans for tonight. Scar and I went up to Jackson Crossing and looked at the Jijis on the interstate. To say they’re beat up and not ready to attack is an understatement. It doesn’t look like they’re ready to even defend themselves.”

  “You thinking of attacking tonight?” asked Nordell.

  “I am, and maybe even moving some of the citizens out tonight.”

  “We’ll need to recon first,” said Bassett.

  “Yes, which is why I wanted you here. Do you think you can go out and give me your assessment?”

  Bassett broke out into a sly grin. “Not a problem, Captain. Burns and I will get on that as soon as it gets dark.”

  Winters turned to Nordell. “Are the citizens ready to leave?”

  Nordell hesitated before answering. “Some are. Mayor Simpson has been doing his best to organize them.”

  “But, you don’t think it’s enough?”

  “No. I don’t.”

  Winters didn’t want to insult Simpson and could see Nordell didn’t either. Despite being a hardcore retired Marine, he seemed to respect the mayor and didn’t want to step on his toes. Winters figured it was difficult for a man like Nordell to show such deference to a civilian as had been the case between them, but then he didn’t know the history between the two men. Perhaps, he was a relative or a former teacher or coach.

  “I’ll hurry the mayor up,” said Nordell. “At the very least, we can have a small group ready to go.”

  “Okay, I’ll leave all of that to you then. Oh, one more thing, have you any idea as to who the spy is?”

  “Been giving it a lot of thought and we’ve come up with nothing. I’ve been keeping our plans close to the vest so no one knows anything, which will include tonight’s actions.”

  Winters nodded his head knowing the old Marine was as good as his word and would have a group ready. He waited for Nordell to leave before asking Bassett about the prisoners. Winters still wanted to keep the prisoners a secret from everyone, as it was too important to let it accidentally slip out.

  “Everything’s going well over there,” said Bassett.

  “What about Thomas? You think he’s solid?”

  Bassett nodded. “I think this guy will deliver.”

  “We’ll need to test him first. Got any ideas?”

  Scar spoke up. “Find out who their spy is.”

  Winters glanced at Scar and nodded.

  “That’d be a good test,” said Bassett.

  “If she’s up for it, I’ll bring Reese by in the morning to verify him.”

  “You spoke to her?” asked Bassett. “She’s doing okay?”

  Winters let out a scoff. “You could say that.”

  Bassett gave him a confused look

  “She’s high as a kite but yet somehow lucid, at least I think she is.”

  Bassett let out a chuckle. “Good meds will do that.”

  “No kidding. She did verify Thomas’s story. So that much we know.”

  “Good. I’ll tell Taylor to have him ready. Once Reese checks him out, we should cut him loose right away. No sense in having him gone longer than he already is. He’ll have to come up with a story to tell Mordulfah about his absence.”

  With that, the meeting broke up. Winters and Scar headed back to the hospital to check on with their friends, while Bassett went to get ready for tonight’s recon.

  Chapter 13

  Washington D.C.

  Green took a swig from his beer and finished it off just as the waitress bounced back to offer something from the menu. He declined and watched her walk off thinking how he should try to get to know her, but wasn’t in the mood to flirt. He had gotten to know some of the girls here and even though a couple might be interested in him. He wasn’t always sure because they were constantly hustling for tips, which meant most of the flirting wasn’t genuine. He leaned back in his chair thinking how long it’d been since his last date and was surprised to remember it had been over a year. The Army sent him to the Midwest close to a year ago and he hadn’t been back to D.C. that long. He’d have to get back into the game once he completed hi
s mission of taking down Reed and Perozzi. For now, there was no sense in getting close to someone when he wasn’t sure if he’d even survive the coming days. Still, it would be nice to be with someone. He let out a long sigh and took another sip when Sam came through the door.

  “Hey, sorry I’m late, had something come up.”

  “No problem, just watching the big game here.”

  Sam looked up at the soccer game and laughed. He grabbed a beer and clinked it to Green’s before taking a sip.

  Green then spent the next few minutes telling Sam all about what happened with the meeting with Cara and her friend CC.

  Sam’s jaw dropped at learning how close his friend was to being caught.

  “John, you’re one lucky son-of-a-bitch.”

  “Oh, I know. Thank God you found those mug shots; otherwise, it would have been over.”

  Sam grabbed his beer and finished it off. He reached for another and started in on it. “Okay, so we should have known better. So, what happened when you went to Reed with this?”

  Green told him about Reed’s obvious disappointment, but more importantly, how to read his poker tells when the old man lied.

  “You think Reed trusts you now?”

  “I don’t think he trusts anyone, but I don’t think he’s suspicious of me anymore.”

  “You sure?”

  “Nothing’s for sure with this guy, but he can’t be as suspicious. I’ll find some excuse to go see him over the next few days and check his interaction with me.”

  “Just be careful.”

  “It brings me to the next topic.”

  Sam stopped mid-stride from taking another sip.

  “When should we send the recording? Should I see about getting closer to him first?”

  Sam gave it some thought before answering. “Go see him in the next day or two and see how it goes. If you don’t see an opening with him, then to hell with it, we’ll send it to him Monday.”