Reckoning Read online

  “Bennett! You fuck this up and I’ll fillet you! Do you understand? For once in your life, I want you to think about somebody besides yourself, understand soldier?” Bennett nodded in agreement, internally, he was already trying to figure out how he could save his own skin.

  “Karen, Bennett, good luck. I will meet up with you two later tonight at the rendezvous point. Wait until I am spotted before you begin to move. That will focus all their attention on me and you should have pretty fair sailing from that point on.”

  “What about you, Red? You’re really not intending on meeting us tonight,” Karen said solemnly. The top never answered. He started to move away from them at a fairly good clip, he wanted to be at least a few hundred or so yards away before he began the ruse. Karen turned to Bennett.

  “You’re going to have to carry the baby or the food, Bennett. I can’t do it on my own. And don’t pull that injured back crap with me. Remember! I was a nurse on the base; I saw your chart. You had more than twice the sick calls logged than your nearest competitor. Why they didn’t just kick you out, I’ll never know.”

  Bennett wanted to tell her to fuck off, but he figured that the top was still too close and, although he might not be afraid of Karen, the top scared him. “Oh, and don’t think I don’t know what’s going on in that shifty little head of yours. If you try to leave me here, I’ll scream my bloody head off until those Marines find us.” She watched as the sneer on Bennett’s face disappeared. She nailed that one. “Spineless little bitch,” she mumbled under her breath.

  Bennett’s options began to run out on him. Damn top, he thought to himself. If I hadn’t been so scared of him, I would have just stayed there at the Stop and Shop. At least, then I’d be safe. What do I give a care who’s in charge? They’re all assholes to me. “Go ahead, scream. I’d rather give up anyway. I’ll go back to the Stop and Shop and let them guard me and I won’t have to listen to the top anymore.”

  “What makes you think they are looking for prisoners, dumbass? They’re here to finish off what that Sergeant Bolito couldn’t.”

  “Do you think so?” Bennett was scrambling; he hadn’t thought about that. There was no way they’d be able to get away with the baby. “Damn top.”

  “What? That man’s out there risking his life for us.”

  “Well, if he hadn’t cornered us into leaving in the first place, he wouldn’t have to try to save us now, would he?”

  “I don’t know about you, Bennett, but nobody cajoled me into leaving. I have principles, I wasn’t going to let some gang leader make us call him ‘boss.’ He’s just a thug with a uniform.”

  “Yeah? Well, I’d rather be alive and well, calling him whatever he wanted to be called, then dead and full of principles.”

  “Well, I guess that’s the difference between you and me then, isn’t it?”

  “What about the baby, Karen? What does he have to say about your principles?” Bennett spat. Karen looked away, tears welling up in her eyes. Her upright principles had gotten her into jams before but never had the lives of those around her been jeopardized because of it.

  “We’ll be fine. The top won’t let anything happen to us.”

  “Yep, I’m sure that’s exactly what Garrity, Dobbs, McHenry and his wife were thinking too.”

  “You bastard, Bennett! Why are you doing this?”

  Bennett knew a better man would not torment a woman like this, in their darkest hour, but he wasn’t that man. He wholly believed in the old axiom “misery loves company” and he was taking her with him. Bennett was about to reply when they heard the alarm being sounded. They could see the patrol looking in the direction the top had gone.

  One of the Marines was on the radio, more than likely identifying their position; the other two were yelling. It appeared like they were ordering the top to halt, from their viewpoint, it was impossible to tell. The warning shots, however, sent shudders down Bennett’s spine.

  He could tell from the way the Marines were aiming that these were only warning shots, he didn’t figure that it would be too long before they lowered their muzzles. And, even from this distance, he could tell that they meant business. Bennett and Karen both squatted down, adrenaline racing through their veins. The movement made Bennett acutely aware of a lump in his pocket that made it extremely uncomfortable to remain in that position. Bennett reached into his pocket and pulled out the annoying culprit, a sixteen ounce can of creamed corn.

  What made me grab this? Bennett wondered, I hate corn. Bennett hefted it in his hand. This sucker’s pretty heavy; maybe I should just get rid of the damn thing. And then, there it was--the back of Karen’s head. Maybe some options were still open, Bennett thought.

  The top’s plan was nearly working to perfection. The three Marines on the ridge were quickly advancing to his position. They weren’t looking left or right, just straight ahead. They’d catch that bastard in the next twenty minutes or so. How far could the three of us really get? They’d have us half an hour after that.

  “Fuck that!” Bennett said out loud, though he hadn’t meant to. Karen started to turn around to see what Bennett was bitching about now, when her world suddenly went black. Bennett had slammed the can so hard into the back of Karen’s head, that the can split in two.

  Blood poured from her skull, bone shards mingled with the creamed corn. Bennett stared in fascination as the dark red mixed with the yellow which ran down her neck in a pinkish mixture. It seemed much more Hollywood-driven than real life. Bennett still held onto the can as Karen’s body fell away into the scrub brush. He was frozen for only a moment as the baby shrieked out in protest.

  “Brat!” Bennett was going to brain the kid also when he realized that his weapon of choice had been reduced to a useless, bent piece of tin. Bennett turned and ran, not really sure in which direction he was heading, nor caring. He made sure he wasn’t headed back to the Stop and Shop, nor forward to the cannery. It would be just his luck if the top made it through and found him there alone. No sir, he’d have none of that. He’d do just fine though, he figured. Rats always found a way to survive.

  Bennett heard a three round burst. He thought they were shooting his way, but when he didn’t fall over bleeding, he deduced the top must’ve been found. He finally crossed through the scrub brush and into some thicker woods and felt it was safe enough to stop and take a look. He peered out from the trees and saw five or six Marines standing over something. He wasn’t a hundred percent sure what it was, but it didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that the top was in that general area.

  “About time somebody put that bastard out of my misery,” Bennett half smiled. He wanted to do a dance, he was so excited. He probably would have if he hadn’t noticed a dozen or so more Marines rising over the crest. Apparently, the ruse hadn’t worked as well as the top expected. It had delayed the Marines, but definitely not stopped them. They were still fanned out and the ones that weren’t looking down at the top were most assuredly looking for the rest of the party.

  Bennett quickly glanced over to where Karen was. If the bitch got up now, he was as good as dead. Sure, he was in the National Guard, but every time it was physical fitness time, Bennett had his ass parked down at the hospital. He had about spent all of his energy running into the woods. He could see that someone was stirring where he had left Karen. His heart started hammering in his chest. He didn’t want to go out like this, especially not running.

  He contemplated emerging from the woods with his hands raised above his head. Maybe they would show leniency. They might even let him join his unit if he told them that the top forced him to go along. But what about Karen? She was going to tell everyone that I tried to kill her.

  “Bitch!” Bennett said angrily, as if Karen had willed Bennett to crush her skull with a can of corn. Even if she were dead, they’d find the body eventually, ‘cause of the baby, Bennett thought. He continued to weigh his options. Could he get back to his original hiding area and dispose of Karen and the kid before
the Marines arrived?

  “Dammit!” he screamed. Rage and frustration coursed through him. The top had started the slice along his neck and Bennett had finished making the cut. I cut my own damn throat! He turned and ran; there was no other way out for him. Alone and without enough food to make it any longer than through the night, Bennett was filled with remorse. He had eaten most of the food he was carrying, and figured he’d live off what the others had hauled until they found more. “Fucking top! I’d kill you myself if they hadn’t already done it for me,” he grumbled. It was false bravado, and Bennett knew that even as he said it, but it still made him feel good nonetheless.

  ***

  “Major Salazar, you’re going to want to come over here and see this,” the corporal said as he looked down on the body of Karen Fogarty. The baby was huddled around the woman, as if trying to make her get up, but nothing short of the hand of God was going to do that now. And God seemed to be on short supply right now. The major walked over to where the corporal was and noticed immediately that the woman was dead.

  “Corporal! You and your team get the baby safely back to base.” The corporal leaned over to scoop up the kid closest to him and literally had to pry the kid’s fingers from the woman's lifeless body.

  “Sir I'm no good with babies.” The corporal held the kid out in front of him like somebody might hold a skunk, unsure of its intentions.

  “Bring him back to base camp. Get him cleaned up and fed, Corporal.” The corporal and his detachment left the major to his own devices. The major really wasn’t sure what the Bennett fellow looked like, but he was a monster all the same. Frank knew what had happened there. The top had set up a diversion so that the three could get away; Bennett figured his chances were a lot better if he loosened the load.

  “What kind of monster kills a mother in front of a baby? Corporal Hanraddy, get over here with that radio.” The major got on the horn to relay his orders.

  “Alright, gold, silver, red and blue teams: we have one fugitive left. I want no warning shots, I repeat, NO warning shots. This man is to be considered armed and dangerous. If you have a clear shot, take it and ask questions later.” He might only be armed with canned goods, but the result was still the same, the major thought.

  ***

  “Sir, there’s a Corporal to see you, sir, and he has some guests, sir.”

  “Send them in,” Paul said. Guests? He wondered.

  “Sir, we found Mrs. Fogarty dead. The baby was with her.”

  “Dead, Corporal? How?” Paul prayed it wasn’t by the hand of any of the platoon he sent out.

  “Sir, by a can of corn.” Paul looked perplexed and the corporal plowed on. “Sir, it looks like that Bennett fellow killed her and then took off.”

  “Has he been found yet, Corporal?”

  “Not yet, sir. We’ve been monitoring radio traffic and we’ve heard no word yet.”

  “Where was the top during all of this?”

  “Sir, the top was spotted about a click away from the woman.

  He seemed to be leading us away from their location.”

  “Where is he now?”

  “Sir, he refused to surrender, and was shot attempting to escape.”

  “What am I going to do with this baby?”

  “Sir?”

  “I can’t give him back to the National Guard’s families. They’ll never believe that we had nothing to do with their mother’s death. I really hoped she would be alive and could take care of them. This could start an uprising among them. Corporal, get on the horn and tell the major that I want Bennett alive. I’m going to let that man stand trial for her murder. That’s the only chance we have to appease the Guardsmen and their families.”

  “Yes, sir; right away, sir.”

  ***

  “Paul, I’ve had my team out for ten hours. We can’t find a trace of Bennett,” a bone-tired looking Major Salazar said from right inside Paul’s office.

  “Come on in, Frank. Have a seat,” Paul said as he stood up and reached over to his file cabinet, pulling out a brandy snifter. “I always thought this stuff was for people my grandfather’s age and now I find myself looking forward to the end of the day when I can have a glass,” the colonel said as he handed Frank a snifter.

  “Thank you, sir, but I don’t think that the day is quite over yet. I have sent out another team to replace my men, but with Bennett having such a great lead now, I don’t see how they could have any luck finding him. And there is the other thing.”

  “The other thing?” Paul asked as he looked up from his glass of brandy.

  “Sir, we’ve had two skirmishes with gang elements in Norwood.”

  “Any casualties, Frank?” Paul asked with genuine concern.

  “Only on their side, sir. But I’m concerned with how much attention we may be drawing towards ourselves. We made short order of the gang members, but there’s no telling how many eyewitnesses saw the whole thing.”

  “I understand, Frank. I’ve been weighing out the lesser of the two evils, myself. Bennett knows we’re up here but whether that information is of any use to him remains to be seen. Hopefully, most of the people that saw us today will think that we are some sort of rogue unit. I don’t want any more active pursuit for Bennett. I want your men to set up listening posts. Chances are, we passed right over him while he was in some hidey-hole. With any luck, he’ll come to us.”

  “Alright, sir. I’ll let my men know immediately,” the major said as he rose to his feet. “Thank you for the drink, sir.”

  “Major.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “You didn’t drink any of it.”

  “Sorry, sir. I’m more of a Corona type of guy.”

  ***

  Bennett couldn’t believe his luck when he saw the patrol that had been on a course straight for him suddenly stop. Sure, they were still a hundred yards off, but from Bennett’s position, there was nowhere to go. He decided to hide in a small thicket with one large oak that dominated the center. The thicket, however, was smack dab in the middle of a clearing. Bennett hadn’t fully realized the stupidity of his hiding choice until he spotted the patrol. If he got up to run, they would see him before he ran ten feet. But none of that mattered now; he saw them stop.

  Were they taking a break? That would be no good. It would just delay his capture or, worse yet, his demise. Bennett’s heart was racing. A huge smile spread across his face. He saw one of the men standing watch while the other dug a foxhole. They’re setting up a listening post. I’ve got the whole night to get out of here, he thought. Bennett couldn’t believe his luck; he even planned on getting a couple of hours of shuteye before he made his great escape.

  Chapter 30

  “Wake up!” Beth said as she lightly shook Deb.

  “Where exactly are we?” Deb mumbled, stretching and wiping her mouth with the back of her hand.

  “Well, while you were asleep, my princess, we entered Pennsylvania,” Beth said with a smile on her face.

  “How long was I asleep?”

  “At least five, maybe six hours; I can’t really remember. I’m so tired I can’t even see the instrument panel clearly.”

  “Why don’t we stop for a while and take a break?” Deb said.

  “Are you not awake yet? Do you not remember what happened the last time we tried to catch some sleep?” Deb hadn’t forgotten but she wished she had. The girls had stopped to get some sleep at a rest area outside of Nebraska. They both dozed off only to be awakened by two guys who had been quietly attempting to snake their hands through the partially open windows to unlock the doors.

  It was Deb who woke up first, when the man on the passenger side accidentally brushed against her hair. Deb thought that a fly had entered the truck and absently attempted to wave it away. When her hand came in contact with the stranger’s arm, she nearly froze. Her leg had kicked out in convulsion, waking Beth.

  “Deb, I’m trying to sleep,” Beth murmured, her eyes half opening. When suddenly, her eyes
grew as big as saucers as she realized what was going on. Deb thanked Beth every moment she could for Beth’s fast action. Without blinking, Beth hit the power windows, pinning the would-be intruders’ arms inside. Deb couldn’t believe the howling that ensued; it was purely animalistic.

  They began to beat on the windows in rage, but that quickly turned to fright as Beth immediately started the car and took off, with each of them hanging by their arms. At first, they were calling the girls every imaginable word that they could think of; then they began to plead for their lives.

  “Come on, we weren’t going to hurt you. We just wanted to have a little fun.” Beth sped up as cold shivers chilled her body.

  “Their idea of fun, I’m sure, is a lot different from ours,” Beth said as she turned to Deb with a sick smile. Deb noticed that Beth increased the acceleration.

  “Are you going to let them go?” Deb asked. She was scared and just wanted them gone. The idea of removing a bloody stump from her window was making her feel a little queasy inside.

  “Screw them, Deb. What do you think they planned to do once they got inside? Play dominos? I don’t think so,” Beth stated as sweat poured off her body; her adrenaline was surging. “If we let them go now, they’ll be on our ass in five minutes.”

  That was true, Deb figured. They would come after them for revenge and then what?

  “Deb, get me the gun.”

  “The gun? What do you want the gun for?”

  “I want to do my nails; what do you think?! Get the gun, please,” Beth snapped.

  “I don’t like this, Beth. We can’t just kill them. We don’t know for sure what they were going to do,” Deb pleaded.

  “I can’t believe you, Deb! After all we’ve seen and all we’ve been through? You still have faith that these two fine gentlemen are upstanding citizens?’ Beth said sarcastically.

  “I’m just saying that they haven’t done anything, yet. They don’t deserve to die.”

  “Okay, Deb, what did Gary and his friend do when we killed them? Break a little furniture? Did that deserve the death penalty?”