Chapter 10

A number of small boats with lanterns clung to the dark surface of the lake as men fished through the night. Inside the house, John and Walt watched through windows of the darkened house seeking signs of movement around the property. In the bedroom, Ling and Ed napped fully clothed for immediate response to an alarm. In the soundproofed bedroom, George watched the security monitors with his full attention.

Reaching over to his cup of coffee, George noticed a slight flicker on one of the monitors. Halting his motion, he turned to examine the monitor again. His back muscles tightened due to tension. Staring at the monitor, he caught the movement once again. He relaxed as he recognized the outline of a doe. Watching the doe, he grabbed his cup and took a sip of his coffee grimacing at the taste of one too many coffees for the day.

Time passed slowly for the men waiting for something to happen. George checked the monitor for the house next door and saw Anita slipping through the front door covered by the dark. Earlier, she had shown her FBI credentials to Fred and told him to keep his door unlocked that night. It appeared that Fred had followed her instructions.

In the other room, John had noticed the movement around the house next door and tensed until he recognized the feminine figure of Anita. His tension had not gone unnoticed by Walt, who had turned to look at him with rifle in hand. Walt relaxed when John shook his head indicating that nothing was wrong.

George periodically checked on the doe as it moved slowly along the berm between the woods and the side of the property. When the doe suddenly raised its head and then bounded back into the woods, George gave his full attention to the screen. Within a minute, he saw several human figures moving through the woods towards the cabin. Opening the door, he snapped his fingers. The sharp noise was like a thunderbolt from the sky and immediately captured everyone’s attention. Ed and Ling moved out of the bedroom, Ling carrying her rifle. George returned to the computer and his fingers flew over the keyboard informing the FBI that events were starting.

Once he sent off the message, he went into the front room and tapped John on the shoulder. John nodded and returned to the computer as George picked up his rifle from the corner of the room. Those with guns knelt by the open windows ready to defend themselves on a moment’s notice. Unarmed, Ed stood in the center of the room ready for whatever action might be required on his part.

Outside, a man moved behind the house to cover the windows and back door. Another man moved to stand next to the house next door to cover that side of the house. Three men were on the side of the house next to the woods covering the windows from behind trees. Two men moved towards the front of the house.

The silence of the night was broken by a shout from the woods, “Ed Biggers. Come out of the house!”

Ed shouted out, “Now why would I want to do that?”

“We’ll burn you out if you don’t come out!”

Ling and George took aim at the two men outside the front of the house. They watched as they lit Molotov Cocktails. Frowning at the lack of imagination these guys possessed, Ed said, “On the count of three.”

“One ... Two ... Three...” On the third word, Ling and George fired at the flaming bottles. Both bottles exploded as the bullets ripped through the glass. Within seconds, both men were screaming in pain as they were engulfed in flames. They ran towards the lake, feeding the flames with fresh oxygen. After two loud splashes, the flames spread across the surface of the lake to go out fifteen seconds later.

The room filled with the acrid smell of modern gunpowder, tickling the nose and irritating the eyes. Ed shouted, “Why would I leave the house?”

The response to his shout was a burst of gunfire aimed at the house. Inside, everyone dove to the floor. John called out from the bedroom, “What was the rest of the plan?”

“We keep them busy until they are captured by the FBI,” replied Ed from the floor. He breathed in the air enjoying its smell before his nose became immune to it.

“So is it working?”

“Judging by how much they are shooting at us, I would say they are quite busy,” replied Ed trying to make himself smaller as the outsiders changed over to automatic fire.

“When this is over, I’m going to kill you both,” shouted Ling.

The shooting from the backside of the house stopped, suggesting that the FBI had taken the man that was positioned there. During a temporary slackening of the shooting, Walt rose up and took careful aim at one of the men in the woods. He squeezed the trigger and watched as the man staggered back away from the tree. He ducked back down under a furious barrage from the woods.

Heart racing in the heat of a battle, he called out to the others in the room, “It looks like there are only two of them left.”

Ling looked out her window and saw that one of the men that had run into the lake was coming to the shore. Through the night vision sight on the rifle, it was clear to her that the man was furious. Without a second of hesitation, she shot the man in the stomach and watched as he collapsed with most of his body still in the water. She searched the shoreline for the second man and found him moving away while keeping low in the water. A single shot later and the man was floating in the water with a portion of his skull missing. George had made the shot. It was clear that he shot to kill rather than wound.

At the shocked look from Ling, he said, “He didn’t surrender and that made him a combatant. I’ve lost too many men to injured enemy combatants that didn’t stop fighting.”

Hearing the truth in his words, Ed looked over at his head of security and realized that a soldier didn’t survive to retire without being able to take such actions. “It’s easy to be shocked by such actions.”

Adjusting the night vision goggle for her eyes, Ling tried to see if she could spot anyone else attacking the house. A man had slipped away from the others and was moving away from the area. A group of men were advancing on the man that was firing and the wounded man on the ground. The gunfire stopped with a suddenness that was shocking. She said, “It would appear that they have been caught, but one has fled.”

“Wait until the signal,” said John as he crawled, his belly tight to the floor, into the front room. Even as he finished speaking, a foghorn sounded from the woods, which was the all clear signal. As Ed stood, Ling ran out the front door to the woods while carrying her rifle. He heard a shout from the FBI agents as she sped past them. John and Ed walked out the door to see what was happening. After a quick survey of the area, they walked over where the FBI agents were gathered with their two prisoners.

Walt went to the shore to check out the man lying in the water. The man was still alive, but wounded in the stomach and covered with burns. Staring down at the man, he felt that it would be best to put him out of his misery. He faced a long battle with septicemia and third-degree burns. Pulling him out of the water, Walt used one of the plastic handcuffs to secure the prisoner. He left him on the ground after checking the wound. It was painful, but not immediately life threatening.

George had waded out into the water to retrieve the man that he had shot. Although the burns were not extensive, there was a major portion of the skull missing. He dragged the body to shore and dumped it on the ground. The odor of burnt flesh assaulted his nose. Squatting, he stared off into the distance as his hands trembled uncontrollably. Walt came over and put a hand on his shoulder. With a gentleness that was quite touching, he said, “You had to do it.”

“No I didn’t,” swore the older man as he glanced down at the body.

“Your training dictated your actions. I would have done the same.”

In response, George only grunted. From past experience, he knew he would be depressed for the next few days as his mind sought to come to grips with his actions. In this respect, he envied that Ling wouldn’t cross lines that made her doubt herself.

Walt knelt next to George and said, “Think about the kids next door. He’d have gone over there and used them to make his getaway.”

Fred and three other FBI agents were gathered just within the woods where two prisoners were on the ground with their hands handcuffed behind their backs. One was wounded with a gunshot in the side. The other was uninjured, but very angry.

As sirens sounded in the background, indicators that emergency vehicles were on the way, Ed asked, “There were only two?”

Fred nodded and said, “Yes, there were only two.”

“There were three over here.” Kneeling down, Ed lifted the head of the unwounded man and asked, “Where is Devin?”

“Why should I tell you anything, nigger lover?” The man tried to spit on Ed, but it fell far short. When Ed released his head, the man’s head fell into his own spittle. Ed wasn’t about to clean it off the man’s face.

Shaking his head, Ed said, “You just have to love these guys.”

John asked, “So tell us, where is Devin?”

The questioning was interrupted by the sound of a gun shot far into the woods. Everyone turned to look in the direction from which the shot had sounded. The agents pulled their guns concerned that someone was sneaking up behind them.

Trying to put them at ease, John said, “Sounds like Ling just found Devin.”

Wondering who had fired the shot, Ed said, “Those months in the woods with Leroy appear to have made a master tracker out of her.”

Walt came over and said, “Boats are coming over here. It seems that we had quite a few people that witnessed the battle here.”

Fred turned to the three agents in the woods with him and said, “Let’s get these guys out of the woods.”

Pairs of agents picked up the prisoners and carried them out of the woods. A little more gently than would have satisfied Ling, the agents set them down on the lawn behind the house. Another agent brought over the man from the woods while Anita showed up with the man that had been hiding by the Bender house. Walt returned to the shore and pulled the wounded man over to the others. George came over with the final body and laid it on the ground in front of the prisoners. The pair of men that were not wounded sat up with legs crossed tailor fashion. It was a very quiet group that stared at their fallen comrade.

Squatting to view all of the men, Ed recognized three of them from the time in Georgia. The wounded man looked a lot like Devin, but it wasn’t him. He asked, “Are you Devin’s brother?”

“I’m his cousin. You fuck with one of us and you fuck with all of us,” snarled the man as he stared at the dead man that George had brought over. Glaring up at Ed, he vowed, “I’m going to kill you one of these days. You killed my kin and for that you are going to pay.”

John turned to Fred and asked, “Do you think you can send two men into the woods to find Ling? I’m sure that she’s trying to carry a dead man back here.”

Even as he made the request, two of the agents walked to the woods searching for Ling. They turned on flashlights to light their way. They were gone for five minutes when her shout carried through the still air, “Turn those damn lights off.”

“Sounds like they found her,” remarked John. “Do you think she caught Devin?”

“I don’t know. I’m sure that he would have wanted to be here to see me die, but he’s a coward.”

The cousin shouted, “You’re the fucking coward, nigger lover.”

Irritated, Ed went into the house and grabbed a bar of soap. Coming outside, he knelt down in front of the cousin and said, “One more word out of you and I’ll shove this bar of soap in your mouth.”

The cousin started to say something, but when he saw the soap moving towards his mouth, he bit off the words. Glaring at Ed, he sulked at his inability to hurt the man in front of him.

Ed turned and watched as Ling, followed by the two FBI agents, emerged from the woods. The agents were carrying a body with them. They brought it over and set it on the ground next to the other. It was Devin Renzy, and the man was definitely dead. There was a single bullet hole in the center of his back just below the neck.

The cousin shouted, “I’m gonna kill that...”

A bar of soap getting inserted roughly into the man’s mouth cut off the shout. Ed bent down and said, “I told you that I’d shove the soap into your mouth if you said one more word.”

The man tried to spit out the soap, but Ed held it in place. The man struggled desperate to get the soap out of his mouth. John put his hand on Ed’s and said, “Enough.”

Straightening, Ed said, “His mother should have done that to him when he was a kid.”

“I agree,” replied Ling as she glared down at the man who had screamed at her. If Ed hadn’t moved as fast as he had, she would have broken the man’s jaw.

The police cars and ambulances arrived with lights flashing and sirens blaring. Within minutes, the police were asking questions until they realized they were dealing with the FBI and that their role was to carry the prisoners to jail or to the hospital as was appropriate. It took twenty minutes for the mess to get cleared up and the prisoners removed. Ling, John, and Ed sat on the porch watching as the FBI took care of the mess. George and Walt ran interference for them, keeping the police away from the porch and handling all questions about their role in the operation.

A line of boats was offshore watching the action, fishing forgotten for the time being as they watched the police and FBI agents walking around the area collecting evidence. From the house next door, the Benders were on the porch watching the action. Although the kids looked like they were up long past their normal bedtime, it was clear that they wouldn’t be sleeping for a long time.

Noticing the neighbors, Ed said, “I think we ought to go over there and let them know what happened.”

“I agree,” said John.

The three of them stood and walked the short distance to the porch of the house next door. On arriving, Ed said, “I’m sorry about all of this. We did everything we could to get the owner to break the lease, but they were very stubborn. Once we realized that we couldn’t get the house, we made sure that FBI knew their primary job was to protect you.”