Attack and Response - 7. F With The Bull And You Get The Horns

Day Fourteen

Jacky groaned as he swam his way through the dark mist that ensnared his mind and body. He tried to move his head, but the sharp stabbing pain in his neck stopped him. Groaning again, he opened his eyes, the overhead lights sending spears of pain lancing into his brain, and causing him to scrunch his eyes closed. He heard footsteps moving quickly from his side and when he heard a click, he knew that someone had turned the overhead lights off. Slowly, tentatively, he opened his left eye, ready to close it immediately should it be necessary. Upon opening his eye he found only enough light to know that what there was of it, came from a night-light on the other side of the room. Jacky heard the footsteps coming toward him and gingerly opened his other eye, next thing he knew Jesse Stevens was standing over him. "How you doing buddy?" Jesse asked in his soft voiced manner, Jesse was very masculine, but when he went into his 'Medic mode', he turned into a little old Jewish grandmother, only thinking about his patient’s well being. "You want some water; you must be kind of parched?" asked the good looking medic.

Jacky started to nod his head, thought better of it as he remembered what happened when he first resumed consciousness and croaked out;"God yes."

Jesse smiled at the big teenager and picked up a pitcher from the bedside table and fed several pieces of ice chips into the boy’s mouth saying;"Just suck on them buddy, let them melt in your mouth."

Jacky followed the Medic's instructions and having several more small batches of ice placed in his mouth, drifted off to sleep again.

Jacky was awakened a little while later by the sound of his boyfriend and lover's voice. As he was coming back through the fog he heard Jap say;"Jacky, come on Jacky talk to me wfaiwf, pleasth say something; God, pleasth let him hear me."

Jacky opened his eyes and heard a low level whirring and hissing sound off to his left and the continuing sound of Jap calling to him. Slowly he turned his head to look for the source of mechanical sounds, what he saw was a machine that looked like a cross between a laptop computer and a seismograph. Except the seismograph had several more scribes than any he'd ever seen before, each scribe was busy tracing a squiggly line on heat-sensitive paper.

Jap's voice kept asking him to wake up, Jacky turned his head the other way and tried to find his lover, he was the only one in the room. He thought to himself;"Was he hearing things, was that why he was in the dispensary?" Not understanding what was happening, he made the first sound since awakening, a long, protracted groan of fear and pain. Japs voice returned, only louder this time;"Thoc, Thoc, hesth in pain, I hear him groaning, pleasth go helf him, I'm okay I theh ya, justh go thoo him and helf him fleasth?" Jacky stopped groaning as he listened to what Jap was saying;"Jacky, justh relath, Jessthee's on histh way . . . . . ." As Jap was saying that, the door to the room opened and Jesse hurried to the side of his bed. Seeing that Jacky was awake, Jesse smiled and spoke softly to him;"How's the pain buddy, you feeling any better than you did this morning?"

Jacky tried to smile back at Jess, but even that hurt, Jacky knew better from earlier attempts to not even think about trying to nod or shake his head so he spoke in his dried out voice;"Doc, I think I'm going crazy, I keep hearing Jap talking to me but he's not even in the room."

Jesse chuckled a little before saying;"Watch what I do Jacky." Jesse then clacked his teeth together once and said: "Go ahead do that."

Jacky not knowing what was going on followed Jesse's directions, then asked;"Okay, what'd I just do and why?"

While you were out, we activated your implant, after taking 75,000 volts from the cops' Taser last night, we didn't know if your unit got fried or not. We activated it when we got you back here to run a diagnostic on it. The tech rep from the company that made them was kind of worried about it; he thought we may have had to replace it because of you getting zapped by the Taser. The MI's are supposed to be hardened against EMP (Electro Magnetic Pulse), but they never considered the possibility of someone getting hit with 75,000 volts and 18 watts of direct current, or what it would do to their implant."

Jacky closed his eyes and puffed out a breath of air he'd been holding in his lungs during Jesse's explanation. Suddenly his eyes shot open;"JAP, is Jap okay, the last thing I remember was that fat son of a bitch backhanding him." Jacky sat up and was trying to get off the bed, all the time groaning in pain, his whole body felt like a giant had hit him with a flyswatter, not once, but many, many times.

Jesse took hold of both of his shoulders and as gently as possible pushed him back in his bed, while saying;"Calm down buddy, you can't get up now, you gotta stay in bed until Doc Davidson says different. Jap's fine, just a little worse for wear." Jesse looked at him while he picked up a small paper cup off the bedside table and handed it to him with a glass of water;"Here, take this, its Percoset and it'll help ease the pain you're feeling."

Jacky realized that Jesse must be right; otherwise he wouldn't have heard him talking to him over his implant. As he settled back in his bed and downed his medication he looked up at Doc and asked;"How do I talk to him on the implant, you told me how to turn it off, now how do I turn it back on?"

The same way you closed it down, clack your teeth one time and it opens the base channel, the tech rep said he was going to give a class to everyone on how to use the other ones and how to finesse them."

Jacky clacked his teeth together once and said;"Jap, you there?"

Almost immediately he heard;"Jacky? Is thath you Jacky, Goth I wath so worried abouth you, are you okay?"

Jacky smiled for the first time since before he was ‘tasered’ the previous day;"I'm fine, I hurt all over, but Jesse says the pain will start getting less and less as the day goes on. How are you doing buddy, the last time I saw you, you'd just hit a brick wall. God, that scared the shit out of me, all I could think about was trying to kill that fat fuck that hit you. Are you sure you're okay?"

Jacky heard a sigh;"Yeth, ahm phine, I justh hurt a withle bith from where tha cock-thucker hith me." Jap stopped talking for a few seconds, then continued;"Dhamn, I feel like I justh got my brathes on."

Jacky started to laugh, then stopped just as quickly when his whole body screamed with pain. Jesse was next to his bed and looked on impotently as his friend moaned, his normally ruddy complexion going pale. Jesse gently brushed the side of Jacky's face with the back of his left hand;"Take it easy buddy, its going to take awhile for the pain to go away, but it will. Jap's okay, don't worry about him, the Doc's gonna release him later on today and he'll be able to visit with you, so just relax."

Jesse left Jacky for a few minutes, ostensibly to refill his water pitcher with ice, but in actuality, he stepped into Jap's room to tell him to close his implant down and let Jacky rest. When he returned to Jacky's room, Jacky had fallen asleep again, probably from the effects of the Percoset. Jesse placed the pitcher on the bedside table and quietly left the room, closing the door softly.

When Jacky awoke again, he saw Jap sprawled in the large EZ-Boy recliner, head back, mouth open and snoring softly. Jacky smiled at the string of drool hanging from the left side of his mouth, his badly bruised mouth. Jacky saw what had to be stitches starting at his bottom lip and running about three quarters of an inch down towards his chin. He then noticed his swollen nose, both nostrils had blood clots readily visible inside them, then he saw the major bruising around both eyes. He felt fury growing inside of him, he hadn't felt such a fury since the time he'd tried to kill Launy Prince with Keeners Glock. Sitting up, a groan was force from his lips, the pain was much less than when he'd first awakened, but it was still there. Slowly he got his feet on the floor and stood up and a sudden wave of dizziness overcame him. He had to brace himself on the edge of the bed for over a minute before it faded. Slowly he straightened his body and with small steps, made his way over to the recliner holding his small, damaged lover. He fixated on Jap as he walked toward him not even realizing when the leads from the electronic monitors pulled free from his body or the tube from the I.V. bag jerked out of the shunt in his elbow. As he approached the recliner, he was hit by another wave of dizziness and stumbled into the arm of the chair, jarring it. As he stood there trying to recover from the dizziness, Japs' eyes opened. Seeing Jacky standing alongside him Jap gasped at the pale features of his boyfriend. He leaped up from the chair and grabbed Jacky around the waist to steady him, before he could say anything the door burst open and Doctor Davidson followed closely by Jesse rushed into the room. Between the three of them, they were able to get Jacky back in his bed. While the Doctor was chewing Jacky's ass out, Jesse went about the business of replacing the I.V. in Jacky's arm and reattaching the leads for the monitors. Jap stood as close to Jacky as he was able, while still keeping out of the Doctor and Jesse's way. While the medical types were going about the business of chewing Jacky's ass out and rehooking him up to the surveillance and I.V. equipment, the door to the room opened and James, Matt, Bucky Trenton, John Wilcox and Evan Falconberg entered the room. The newcomers stood quietly watching Jesse work and listening to Doctor Davidson chew Jacky's ass out. When the Doctor paused for a breath James asked;"Hey Doc, do ya think it's really good for his physiological well being for you to jump in his shit like that?"

Doctor Davidson turned to face James before saying;"Damn it Jim, I'm a doctor, not a babysitter."

The adults started laughing, as soon as James could catch his breath, he said;"Anything you say 'Bones.'"

The doctor got a strange look on his face, but said nothing. If looks could kill, James would be lying on the floor, a shriveled husk.

Jap and Jacky knew exactly what James meant when he had called Doctor Davidson ‘Bones’; both watched and enjoyed the original 'Star Trek' TV show. So they both started laughing because they could remember all the times Deforest Kelly said something like the Doctor had just said. Something like;"Damn it Jim, I'm a doctor, not a brick layer." Or;"Damn it Jim, I'm a doctor, not a pilot." Both started laughing, then both tried to stop because of the pain from their injuries the laughing caused.

With the exception of Doctor Davidson, all of the adults laughed at what he had said; finally the Doctor saw the humor in it and laughed too. Once the laughter was under control, Jacky asked;"So what happened after I got zapped last night, they must have let us go, otherwise we'd be in the local can?"

James was the first one to speak;"Bucky Trenton and John Wilcott have some very powerful and influential friends. The Police Officer that gave the Doc and Jesse so much shit about seeing to you two last night will be walking funny for the next month. When the Police Chief finally did show up, he was one pissed off individual, you know the old saying about 'shit rolling down hill' don't you? Well, let's just say that an avalanche done enveloped poor Officer Timmons and his buddy Officer Mercer.

Evan chuckled before saying;"Those two don't really know how close they came to going fishing from the well deck of the Sea Song. I thought for a second Herman and Hans were going to take them out right then and there last night." He thought for a second before continuing;"Maybe I shoulda let them have their way. . . No, there were way too many witnesses around and it woulda caused more trouble than they were worth."

John Wilcott smiled at Evan;"You're certainly right about that. If Hans and Herman had let lose on those two . . . ahh . . . 'gentlemen,' I don't think I could have gotten them off. No, you did the right thing holding them back, even if I, or should I say all of us would have enjoyed watching the 'Dobermans' take them apart."

Jacky looked at the doctor and asked;"How's Gerry, he looked like he was bleeding a lot when I last saw him?"

Doctor Davidson smiled back at the large teenager;"He's fine, he had a three inch cut in his side, but luckily it was very shallow. There's a lot of small blood vessels in the area he was cut and they bled enough to make it look worse than it was."

Jacky looked at the doctor and asked;"So how'd we end up here instead of the town jail or Juvie?"

Doc smiled once again and said;"You can thank Mr. Wilcott for that. When the Police Chief finally got there, the first thing he did was jump in the three officer's . . . uhmm . . .stuff, the fat one was still leaning against the wall after his collision with Jacky's head. When he was finished with them he came over to me and started yelling about civilians messing with his prisoners and for me and Jesse to get away from you two. Jesse had checked on you and had started an IV and was working on the kid with the broken hand by that time. I ignored him and I think that pissed him off more than anything else. Just as he was reaching out to pull me away from Jacky, Mr. Wilcott stepped between us and read him the 'Riot Act.' The Chief looked like he was going to punch him out when John said;"Go ahead, Chief, hit me, and I'll have you in one of your cells before you can fart once and shit twice." After everyone stopped laughing at Mr. Wilcott's statement, John pointed over to his son Mark who was busy video taping the whole thing." He paused for a few seconds before continuing;"There for a minute or two, I thought I was going to have to perform CPR on the ass . . . I mean the Chief after he had a coronary. The Chief ordered the two officers who were still mobile to confiscate Mark’s camera. As they went to do that, suddenly Hans, Herman, MacCarver, James, Matt and Keener got between them and Mark. James held out his hand like a traffic cop and told them to stop where they were or there'd be serious repercussions."

Jap looked at James and said; “Thewiousth wefercusthonsth?” Jap gaped at James for several seconds before continuing; “You acthuawy sthaith ‘wefercusthonsth' to thath wedneck asthho?”

James blushed before replying; “Well . . . yeah I did, I figured he’d pay closer attention to what I was saying if I used words of more than one syllable.”

The Doctor continued with his story; “Once again, the Chief was turning red in the face, I figured they were going to need a new chief of police if things kept going the way they were. Just as the Chief was about to start yelling again, a Florida State Police helicopter arrived and hovered overhead for about thirty seconds before it landed about a block away in an empty lot. Two uniformed State Troopers got out and helped two men in suits get down from the chopper. It only took them about twenty or thirty seconds to walk up to where we were. When the Chief recognized the two men in the suits, he lost all the color from his face; he looked like the belly of a dead fish by the time the four men arrived.”

Bucky laughed then; “Charlie ignored the Chief and stuck his hand out to me and asked me what was going on. I had called him when we arrived there and told him some of my people were being hassled by the local police for protecting themselves from some local criminals.” Bucky paused for a few seconds and smiled a very evil smile before continuing; “We go back a long way, we had met about fifteen or so years ago and found we had a lot of mutual friends and acquaintances, his family and mine were friends before I was born. Anyway, I explained what had gone on before he arrived and told him how displeased I was with the local law enforcement agency. Especially the way they had mistreated a thirteen and fifteen year old boy when they were both handcuffed.”

James chuckled and said; “Yeah, besides going red in the face, I thought the Chief was going to shit himself.” After everyone laughed, James continued his narrative; “The Chief started spiting and spluttering and calling us liars, Goddamn liars and Goddamn fucking liars. Well as you can imagine, Governor Crist got tired listening to the Chief’ foul mouth, he held up his hand much the same way James had earlier and told him to just stand there and be quiet while he and the Florida State Attorney General talked to his good friend Bucky.” After everyone finished laughing, James continued; “When we told the governor and the AG that we had both sound and video of the two police officers abusing you two, the Chief went pale again. The Chief turned around and pointed at the two guys who had done a number on you guys and told them they were both on suspension and to turn in their guns and shields.”

Jap and Jacky looked at each other and smiled, turning back to James and Bucky, Jacky asked; “So what happened next?”

Bucky answered the question with his meat-grinder smile and said; “The Governor jumped all over the Chief on how the whole situation was handled. Then the AG chipped in with his two cents about how the Blountstown Police department would undergo a State Police and Office of the Attorney General investigation as to how operations were conducted. Plus similar complaints or incidents over the past ten years would be re-opened to see if there was cause for indictments against the Chief in particular and the PD in general. One of the State Troopers, a Captain, took statements from all those who observed the situation after we arrived. Plus we made the video and telephone recordings available for them, and made copies that were certified as ‘True Copies’ by the State Police Captain, which we are keeping under lock and key for future litigation.”

Before anyone could say anything else, James’ cell phone rang; “This is James.” He listened for about thirty seconds before replying; “Keep him at the front gate, I’ll be there in five minutes.” Turning back to the group he said; “Looks like the ‘Chief’ has decided to play hardball, seems he has a restraining order he wants to serve on us.

Bucky, John Wilcott and Bill Henderson looked startled and then shook their heads in disbelief. Mr. Wilcott sighed and said; “Well let’s go on down there and tell him what he can do with his order.

James turned to the boys; “You guys stay put, we’ll be back and tell you what happens in a little while.”

The Five adults left the building and got into one of the HUMVEEs and were followed closely by Evan and the Dobermans in another HUMVEE that had been parked in front of the Dispensary. They drove off in a two vehicle convoy toward the distant main gate. Six minutes and thirty seconds later they arrived at the barricade of the gate. On the other side of the barricade, the red faced Chief of Police stood by the open door of his tricked out Cadillac police cruiser, obviously in a high state of agitation.

James and Matt walked up to the senior of the two guards on duty and asked; “What we got going on here Corporal Teagarden?”

The Wackenhout Corporation (wholly owned by Trenton International Corporation) used the basic rank structure as the military minus the private rankings. James smiled at the young guard as he told James and Matt how the Chief had come bombing up the access road and then demanded admittance to GhostRyder Base. The corporal had been briefed on this situation before going on duty and had asked the Chief if he had some sort of paperwork, such as a search warrant or some other document that allowed him entry. The Chief told the young corporal he was here to serve a restraining order and that he didn’t need any other paper work. The corporal had then told him he’d have to check with the Duty Officer before he could allow the Chief entry.

James nodded his head and clapped the corporal on the shoulder, smiled and said; “Good job Corporal Teagarden, how bout you and the other guard back us up while we’re talking to this guy. I don’t want either one of you to act in any way threatening, but both of you be ready in case we need you."

The two guards nodded and James and Matt, followed by the other adults, approached the Chief with a smile on their faces. Evan and the Dobermans waited near the guards, standing out of their line of fire just in case things went south on them.

Before James or Matt could speak the Chief said; “As the duly elected Chief of Police for Blountstown, I am hereby serving you with a restraining order. Said restraining order prohibits you, or any person or persons associated with you from entering the city limits of Blountstown. Any person violating this restraining order shall be arrested and placed in confinement until such time as a preliminary hearing can be held.” The Chief handed the order to Matt; Matt barely glanced at it before handing it to John Wilcott. John handed James four file folders, one relatively thin, the others were about four inches thick, each.

James shook his head and chuckled. Looking at the chief he said; “Well it looks like John was right. When he told me this would be the next step on your dance card I told him nobody was that dumb, John laughed at me and asked what I expected from someone who was ‘Dumber than a Box of Rocks’. Well I guess you were right, John, looks like I owe you twenty bucks.

Turning back to the Chief, the smile disappearing from his face he said; “Your restraining order will be scrupulously followed, that means we will not enter your town, that means that all transactions with anyone from your town are terminated as of now. No provisions of any sort will be bought from vendors residing within your town limits. In addition, no individuals will be allowed to enter the incorporated limits of the city of Martindale Florida. Any individuals trespassing in violation of this restraining order . . .” James handed him the thin file folder; “Will be arrested and confined until a Florida Circuit Court Judge can sit a trial.”

James looked at the label on the next file folder before saying; “This is the City of Martindale’s Incorporation paperwork theriousth .” He continued as he handed the Chief the next two thick files in sequence, “This is the Environmental Impact Statement, and this is the City Charter, it details the support infra-structure for the City of Martindale, you know the necessary stuff, like the police force, fire department and other necessary departments needed to run our fair city.

“Now I want you to get in your ‘Town Clownmobile’ and get your fat, redneck ass to fuck out of Martindale before I have YOU arrested for violating our restraining order.” James stated in a flat angry tone of voice.

First, the Chief turned red, then he reached for his sidearm, then he turned white as he heard the MP5’s the guards were holding lock and load. He stood there for about five seconds before getting in his cruiser, he then rolled the drivers side window down and said in a voice that could only be described as a croak; “This ain’t over. You fucking Yankees are gonna be sorry you was every born.”

The Chief started his car and did a three point turn and burned rubber accelerating away from the guard shack. James clacked his jaws together twice and immediately heard the Gunny; “McNaughton?”

James replied have the Unit go to Alpha Alert, full load out, Iive ammo. We can probably expect some intruders tonight; “I want an adult with the sniper teams and the deployed fire teams. Set up a rotation for GhostRyder Two five and Two Six to be in support, have an adult available as a supervisor for each of them,” James thought for a couple of seconds before continuing; “Put Matt and me in the adult supervisor rotation also, Matt for the armor and me for one of the sniper teams. Go ahead and set up their placement however you think is best.”

The Gunny waited a few seconds before replying; “Roger your last, I’ll get it set up immediately, McNaughton out.”

James responded; “James out.” Turning to the gate guards he said; “Thank you guys; you did a good job backing us up.”

Corporal Teagarden smiled at James before replying; “No problem sir, I grew up in southern Alabama and been around his sort all my life. Ass . . . I mean gentlemen like him get off on bein’ in charge and they don’t expect no trouble from your average city folk." Teagarden paused for a second before saying;"But then agin, all ya’ll ain’t your typical city folk now are ya?”

James smiled at the young corporal again, patted him on the shoulder and got back in the HUMVEE, followed by the others and drove off.

Day Fourteen, Blountstown Chief of Police Office, 10:00

Officers (suspended) Bert Timmons and Tom Mercer stood before the Chiefs’ desk at their best approximation of attention while the Chief ranted and raved at them. Mercer still had a headache from when that young punk had head butted him into the wall yesterday. Timmons was still sweating over the encounter with the governor, the State Attorney General and the head of the State Highway Patrol, plus the chewing out he’d already gotten from the Chief. When the Chief finally finished detailing their lack of legal parents, their sexual habits and the fact that their mothers did weird things with small furry animals, he just sat in his large leather-upholstered chair shaking his head before saying; If you wasn’t a cousin a’ mine, Bert and you wasn’t my best friend’s brother, Tom, I’d throw your dumb asses to the wolves.

Both Bert and Tom started whining about how it warn’t their fault and how that damn Yankee kid took them both by surprise. The Chief listened for about twenty seconds before he yelled; “Shut the Fuck up! I don’t care what happened, you assholes stirred up enough shit to last us a year. Now listen up, cause if you fuck things up this time, ain’t nobody ever gonna see your useless asses again, and that there is a promise.”

The Chief starred at the two of them until they broke eye contact and looked down at the floor in front of his desk. “Now that we understand each other, this is what I want you to do. . .”

Day Fourteen, GhostRyder Base, Alhpa Sniper Team Hide, 22:43 Hours

Jap and the other snipers had been in concealment going on four and a half hours now, Jap didn’t know what the others thought, but he thought it sucked. While it wasn’t that hot (only in the mid-eighties) the humidity was hovering in the mid to high nineties and that made things miserable. The damn mosquitoes and other small flying and crawling bugs didn’t help matters either. Jap was about to take a sip from his Camel Back when his mastoid implant sounded; All stations, this is CIC, motion detectors have sounded on the eastern perimeter indicating personnel intrusion. Stand by for further information as it becomes available. CIC out.”

Day Fourteen, GhostRyder Base, Eastern Perimeter Fence, 22:43 Hours

Bert Timmons, Tom Mercer, Billy Bob Jackson and David 'Bubba' Garson were using four foot long bolt cutters to cut a fifteen foot wide hole in the eastern perimeter fence. When the cyclone fencing fell forward into the grounds of Martindale, they moved back to the two vehicles they had driven up in, tossing the bolt cutters into the back of the pickups, they climbed in them and put them in gear slowly moving through the gap in the fence line. Both of the trucks were equipped with eight high wattage flood lights, four facing forward and four facing the rear, both had big high capacity Warn winches attached to the re-enforced front bumper. The bottoms of the cab doors were three or so feet off the ground, this was due to the heavy duty suspensions and the very large tires the trucks wore. Anyway you look at it; they were redneck through and through. The men in the trucks were armed with M4 rifles (the shorty version of the M16, configured to fire semi-auto, three shot bursts or fully auto) and Berretta 9mm pistols. Their weapons were stolen from the U.S. Army two years earlier by three locals who had hit a civilian truck transporting them to an Army fort in Alabama; the driver and the co-driver were never found.

Bert Timmons drove the first truck south, followed closely by Mercer's down the perimeter road that would eventually take them to airstrip and the trailer village being used by the 'Boy Scouts', 'Summer Interns', or whatever the fuck they were. The Chief had told Timmons and Mercer that he wanted them to raise as much hell as they could, shoot up the place, throw some Molotov Cocktails and even shoot some of the adults if they got in the way. He wanted to send a message to the Yankee cocksuckers; you don't fuck with the chief of police, at least not more than once without someone getting their ass kicked.

Billy Bob was in Timmons truck and Bubba was with Mercer's truck. Both were third or forth cousins once or twice, maybe seven or eight times removed. No One knew for sure, no one cared. Billy Bob and Bubba came along cause they were told they would get a chance to kick some Yankee ass. The fact that they were given a thousand dollars each and were told they could keep the guns they were supplied with was just a bonus. None of the four men were strangers to killing people – matter of fact, all four of them had hardons thinking about the possibility of them getting a chance blow someone away. Man or boy, it didn't mean a thing. On top of that, maybe they could grab a couple of them good looking boys for later use when they finished shooting the place up.

Day Fourteen, GhostRyder Base, Eastern Perimeter Road Alpha Sniper Team Hide, 22:46 Hours

Jap had been armed with an M14 that was chambered for the 7.62mm NATO round, Jacky was equipped with his Barrett .50 caliber (shoots the same round as the .50 caliber M2 Browning machine gun). Their hide was approximately 100 yards from the perimeter road, giving them a clear 800 yard field of fire that they shared with the Bravo Team Snipers. This allowed each sniper team to concentrate on specific targets, as all of the sniper teams were equipped with both the Barrett's and the M14's, they were able to successfully attack both personnel and lightly armored vehicles without causing much if any collateral damage.

As the two trucks moved in to the kill zone for the Alpha and Bravo sniper teams, the supervisor of Alpha team, James Bateman, spoke over the MI network;"All right people, get ready. Bravo take the second truck as Alpha takes the first, remember people, we want them alive if possible.” Clicking off his MI he spoke to Jap and Jacky;"Jap take out their tires, Jacky, if they don't stop blow their engine, unless they fire and get close to hitting anyone, don't shoot to kill, understand?" Both of the boys answered;"Affirmative."

When the vehicles were in the center of the kill zone James said;"Take em." Jap fired a second later and the front tire flattened, two seconds later the rear tire flattened. Through the night scopes of both rifles it was apparent that the driver was going to try and drive on, Jap and Jacky could see the driver fighting the wheel to keep the truck going straight. Matt lightly tapped Jacky on the head, two seconds later the Barrett spoke, then spoke again, the engine of Timmons’ truck exploded from the double tap of two 700 grain .50 caliber bullets, causing the truck’s hood fly in the air and land twenty feet away in the brush. As the engine seized up and the truck ground to a halt, the driver’s side door opened and the occupants de-assed the vehicle, both moved to the bed of the truck and took up shooting positions with long guns. By the time any of the Alpha team got a chance to look around, they found the second truck was stopped within a couple of feet of the first and the two men in it were out and in firing position just like the two from the first. From speakers hidden in the brush about twenty yards from the road, James's voice could be heard telling the men to lay down their arms and that if they did, they wouldn't be hurt. All four men opened fire with their M4's on full auto, they were able to take out one of the speakers.

Over the MI's James told the two sniper teams to show the men just how fucked up their tactical position was. Jap smiled to himself as he replied, "Roger your last." Using the powerful light gathering optics he sighted in on the flood light on the front passenger side of the cab and blew it away. Working methodically, he blasted the other seven lights on the cab. This caused the men to start shooting again, more in the hope of suppressing the incoming fire; you know, 'spray and pray'. While none of their fire came any where close to the sniper teams, it pissed James off something fierce. Turning to Jap he asked;"Jap, do you think you can kind of just graze one, you know, to kinda get their attention?" Jap looked over to Matt and smiled at him before replying;"No problem sir, you want a light graze or a heavy one?" James chuckled before replying;"Light as possible, I want these assholes to be able to talk to us afterward."

Jap nodded and resumed his shooting position; once he got his 'spot weld' he studied all four of the men and thought he had a better shot at one of the men behind the second truck. At first he thought about shooting for the one on his right and hitting him in the hand that held the fore stock of the 'M4' he was shooting. After thinking about it for a few seconds, he decided there was two much chance that the round would be deflected into the man's head. He realigned on the man's left ear and slowly took up the slack in the '14's' trigger, when the rifle fired, he quickly reacquired his target and saw that the man (Jap found out later that he had put a notch about an eighth of an inch deep in the edge of Billy Bob’s ear) had dropped his rifle and was turning in circles holding the left side of his head and screaming loud enough to be heard at their hide. James voice could be heard over the speakers saying;"That was a warning, the next time whoever is still holding a gun will have a third eye in the middle of their forehead."

The four men all dropped down behind their truck and started talking to each other; Bubba yelled the loudest;"Fuck this, I'ma givin’ up." He stood and held his rifle over his head and quickly dumped it in the back of the truck, raising his hands as high as he could he moved quickly around the back of the truck and started yelling;"I give, don't shoot, I gi . . .”

Timmons didn't even try to talk him out of it; he just stood up and started blasting at Bubba on full automatic. Just as Bubba went down, Timmons head blew up as the seven hundred grain .50 caliber round that caused his decapitation continued down range until it was finally stopped by a large mound of dirt. Mercer, and Jackson, who was still holding the side of his bloody head looked at each other for a long second and started yelling okay, okay, stop shooting, we give. Oh Lord God, please don’t shoot no more, we give, we give. Mercer threw his gun as hard as he could over the truck into the field to the West of the truck and kept pleading for them not to shoot.

James spoke again; “Stand up, move to the right side of the truck, stand three feet from the bed of the truck, spread your legs wide and lean forward placing your hands on the top of the sides of the bed. Don’t move, you’re still being tracked by our people and if you try to run or do anything else that we deem hostile, you’ll lose your right leg from the knee down.”

Just after James finished telling the two what would happen if they tried to escape, the sound of a big bore diesel at full rev could be heard heading to their location. The lights of a HUMVEE appeared as the vehicle came over a slight rise in the perimeter road, in less than thirty seconds it slid to a stop in a cloud of dust about ten yards in front of the lead redneck pick-up. All four doors opened and five people hurriedly exited the vehicle, two of which were armed with M4 carbines aimed at Mercer and Jackson. When Jackson saw the 4's pointed at him, he shit his pants, literally. John Wilcott, Gunny McNaughton and Gunnery Sergeant MacCarver moved from the HUMVEE, staying out of everyone's line of fire to the side of the pickup Jackson and Mercer were leaning against. The Gunny and Gunnery Sergeant MacCarver handcuffed the two and performed a search on them. They confiscated two M9 pistols, two five shot S&W hammerless revolvers, one four-inch Buck knife and a seven-inch Tanto blade Gerber knife.

After the search was completed, the Gunny spoke to the two rednecks;"You have the right to remain silent, if you give up that right, anything you say can be held against you in a court of law. You have the right to be represented by a lawyer. If you can not afford a lawyer, one will be provided to you at no cost. Do you understand these rights as they have been read to you?"

Mercer was the first to speak;"Yeah I do, I want my lawyer, Elmer Gantry, his office is in Blountstown."

Jackson, Said;"I ain’t got one, so yeah, I want me one appointed."

The Gunny, seemingly talking to no one said; “GhostRyder 25.” After pausing for several seconds he continued speaking; “This is the Gunny, proceed to my location for transport of the prisoners’.” Turning back to the men in custody, he told them; “You’ll be taken to our headquarters, the men guarding you have Tasers, if you give them any trouble you’ll be ‘tased’, many, many times, and I guarantee you won’t enjoy the experience.”

End of Chapter 7
Next, Chapter 8; Sound Boots and Saddles
By; Jamie Haze and GhostRyder15