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Immediately upon their return from the meeting with the man from Kane and the lieutenant’s big revelation, Bruce sent Sammy to find Shifty. Colonel Harris paced around his office while Major Samuelsson sat in one of the chairs and Captain Whalen sat in the other. Colonel Harris was devising a very risky plan and Sammy was trying his best to talk him out of it.
"This is crazy, Bruce!" Major Samuelsson exclaimed. "How long have we known each other? How long have I worked for you? I know you're pissed and I'm just as angry. But in all our years together, you have never been reckless. This plan of yours is nuts! You have no idea what you're walking into and this isn't our problem anymore. This isn't our mission. HQ gets wind of this and you could lose your Command! I know Jenkins is an idiot, but you're letting him get to you and you’re just not thinking clearly."
"My thinking is perfectly clear, Sammy! Clearer than ever!" Bruce shot back. "I told you two weeks ago at the farmhouse that I am sick and tired of watching innocent people get killed. From what Derrick said, I don't believe the lieutenant’s back story on this platoon of Rangers. To be honest with you, I don't think I ever did. An entire platoon of our best soldiers flipping sides and joining a group of looters to terrorize their own countrymen, without one deserter.... That’s bull! I don't buy it. I don't know if Derrick is telling us the whole truth, but I know for a fact that the lieutenant is lying! Something big is going on here and I think it’s dirty as well. I don't care who signed off on this operation, I want more information before I sign the death warrant for innocent soldiers and civilians!"
"You’re not signing their death warrant, Colonel," Sammy countered. "It has already been signed...by the President of the United States himself. And they have recruited Lieutenant Jenkins to be the executioner. This is not on you. There are powers at play here that are way over our heads."
"It is on me, Sammy! If I sit back and do nothing, then it falls on me. It falls on my conscience, yours as well. Sammy, it’s wrong what's about to happen to those boys. This whole mission reeks. I don't know why those soldiers went AWOL, but I intend to find out before I give that psychopath any more of my men."
A knock at the door silenced them as Sergeant Timms stepped inside. "The men are ready, Sir."
"Thank you, Sergeant. We'll be right down," Bruce answered him. He walked over to the corner of his office and pulled his plate carrier back on over his head.
Major Samuelsson stood and walked over to the side of the desk, essentially blocking Bruce into the corner. "Let me go, then," he offered in a low, deliberate tone, taking Bruce off guard. "This is too risky, Bruce, and the men need you here. Let me do this."
Bruce smiled back at his friend warmly. "No, Sammy. This one is on me. I need you here. You're the only one I truly trust."
Major Samuelsson paused, thinking, and then stepped forward to give Bruce a friendly hug. "Don't do this, Bruce, please!" Sammy whispered in his ear pleadingly.
"It's done," Bruce said as he pulled back and clapped his friend on the shoulder. "Make sure you cover for me with the LT and put together three squads of our most trustworthy men for him. I'll see you later tonight and we'll finalize the plan for tomorrow morning." With that, Bruce walked out the door with Shifty tight on his heels.
It was a short, uneventful ride to Kane. The two MRAPs were packed with sixteen of Shifty's best men and enough gear to last them several days should things go south. They rounded a knoll and about one hundred yards in front of them was a school bus completely blocking the road. Bruce called them to a halt. With binoculars he could make out sandbags showing along the bottom of some of the windows, but it was too dark inside the bus to see anything else. "This is probably it, boys. Shifty, hang back like we discussed," Bruce said over the hand held.
"10-4," Shifty came back over the radio from the rear MRAP.
Bruce nodded to the driver who slowly moved forward until they were only twenty-five yards away from the bus. With the binoculars, Bruce could now see that the bus was occupied, but couldn't tell by how many. Colonel Harris opened the door and was just getting ready to disembark from the MRAP when a piece of webbing came flying over his head onto his lap. Before he could figure out what was going on, it was pulled tight, pinning him in his seat. "What the...," Colonel Harris exclaimed.
"Sorry about this, Colonel, but it's for your own good," Corporal Lopez said from directly behind him.
Sergeant Timms spoke up from the rear driver-side seat as he opened his door. "Sir, I'm going to take a quick walk forward and make contact with them. As soon as we can be sure they are from Kane and not some random road block, I'll call you forward. We can't risk losing you, Sir." Bruce started to protest, but Sergeant Timms ignored him and jumped out, shutting the door behind him.
Bruce watched as he walked forward towards the bus, waving a white hankie over his head. "Be ready on that 50!" Colonel Harris hollered out to the roof gunner. With his arms still pinned to his sides, he felt helpless. This was his idea and he was the one who should be out front. If Sergeant Timms was killed, Bruce would never forgive himself. He watched the sergeant as he spoke with someone through one of the bus's windows. A couple minutes later he turned and made his way back to the MRAP and climbed in.
Sergeant Timms nodded at Corporal Lopez who released the tension on the webbing. Bruce ripped it out of his hands angrily, throwing it on the floor at his feat. "If you two ever pull a stunt like that again, I'll chop your nuts off and use them for target practice! Are we clear?" Colonel Harris yelled at the two men.
"Yessir!" they responded in unison.
"I'll be having words with Captain Whalen about this later....” Bruce took a long drink from his canteen to give himself a few seconds to lower his heart rate and regain his composure. “So, what's going on over there?" Bruce nodded toward the bus.
"They told me they were townsmen from Kane, so I told them we need to speak with the mayor or whoever is in charge. They said that the mayor doesn't meet people at the perimeter and said whoever wanted to speak with him would have to disarm and be escorted into town. I told him that wasn't an option and we went round and round for a while. When I told him the purpose of our mission here, he finally agreed to send someone to fetch the mayor."
"What did you tell him our mission was?" Bruce asked darkly.
"That we are in charge of repairing the local grid and we were here to introduce ourselves and discuss options to help get their power restored," he smiled, obviously proud of himself. "That's why we're here, isn't it, Colonel?" Sergeant Timms asked sarcastically, regurgitating the talking points the men had been given earlier. With all the commotion earlier in the day with Derrick and the lieutenant, Sergeant Timms and Corporal Lopez surely knew what they were told in their briefing earlier with Shifty was a cover story.
"You're an ass," Colonel Harris said, trying to hide his smile as he turned forward in his chair to watch the bus again. These were good soldiers, willing to give their lives for their Commander. It was hard to be angry with them. It was a full twenty minutes before the mayor showed up, followed by an extra twenty or thirty men who immediately disappeared behind the bus. The man Bruce assumed to be the mayor positioned himself near the front of the bus with an entourage of four other men donning tactical vests, their M4's at the low ready.
"Okay, Sergeant Timms. Pick three men and follow my lead. Stay cool. Be sure your men are positioned off to my left, and don't get between the 50 and his entourage. The rest of the men stay out of site behind the MRAP unless shooting starts."
Sergeant Timms nodded and began giving his men instructions while Colonel Harris radioed Shifty, letting him know that the mayor had arrived and they were departing the MRAP. Bruce heard the rear loading gate being lowered and turned to the driver, "If things go south, you drive this thing right up their tail pipe and come get us. Understood? There is no way we are going to be able to make that twenty-five yard dash in the open with the amount of men they have."
"Roger that, Colonel," the man responded. When all eight men had disembarked through the rear door, Bruce hopped out and started his approach, flanked by Sergeant Timms, Corporal Lopez, and two others in the rear. When they were within ten yards, Colonel Harris halted the group.
"Mayor, if you would be so kind as to have your men lower their weapons, I'll be happy to do the same. There's no point in making this more dangerous than it already is."
"That wouldn't be very fair, now would it? You've got a machine gun pointed at my men," the mayor responded nodding towards the MRAP.
"And you outnumber us five to one, so I would say we are about even. If I intended to come up here shooting, do you think I would have left my entire regiment behind and only brought sixteen men?" Bruce said. He wasn't trying to threaten the mayor, but wanted to be sure the man knew what the end result would be if things went bad here today. The mayor nodded back at his entourage and they lowered their weapons, with Colonel Harris's men quickly following suit.
Bruce continued forward and shook the mayor's hand. "My name is Colonel Harris, Commander of the 31st Infantry, 10th Mountain Division. It's a pleasure to meet you."
"Likewise," the mayor responded dryly. "My name is Kendall Reese, acting mayor of Kane. So, my men tell me you are here to talk about the electric grid. That's really ironic because I sent a man three days ago to discuss that same subject with Warren's mayor."
"I spoke with Derrick this morning and felt that I should come down and introduce myself. How exactly did you hear that there was work being conducted on the electric grid in Warren?" Bruce asked.
"Where's Derrick?" the mayor asked suspiciously, ignoring Bruce's question.
"He's meeting with some of our engineers to go over what we are working on. They'll be bringing him back in the morning."
"So it's true, then, that you are restoring power in Warren," the mayor seemed pleased, though still distrustful.
"Not exactly. We were sent here to 'try' and repair the grid. After a team of the Army Corps of Engineers and some of the head engineers from Consolidated Edison reviewed the situation on the ground, it doesn't look like we will be able to restore power anytime in the near future," Colonel Harris lied. It was important that word didn't spread that power might soon be restored in Warren.
"Well, now, that doesn't make sense, Colonel. Why would Derrick be meeting with the engineers then? First off, Derrick is no engineer." The men behind the mayor chuckled. "And what would they be talking about if there is no hope of the power being restored? Also, why would you make the trip down here right now instead of just coming down with Derrick in the morning?"
Bruce was quickly feeling backed into a corner and needed to switch gears if he were to have any hope of gaining the mayor’s trust. "I rushed down here because of something else Derrick told me. I didn't come here to discuss electricity."
"Where's my man?" the mayor said with an edge, losing any semblance of civility.
"He's safe, Mayor...for the time being," Bruce answered.
"And what exactly does 'for the time being' mean?" the mayor demanded.
"It means that when I left Warren, he was perfectly safe, sitting on a couch, eating a plate of food. Unfortunately, Derrick let some things slip during our conversation. He is currently speaking with another individual that I don't entirely trust, and that individual is not under my command. I was able to speak with Derrick before this other individual came into the picture, and I instructed him to keep his mouth shut and be sure that he didn't let slip the same information he told me. Whether or not Derrick shows up tomorrow morning is entirely up to him at this point. Now I believe Derrick is an honorable man and a Marine, and I would sincerely like to help him out of his current predicament. But if I stick my neck out to save him, I risk losing my command, possibly being sent to prison, or worse. So, to be perfectly honest with you, his safe return rests in your hands more than mine at this point. I need more information about the subject matter we were discussing before being interrupted." Bruce paused to let the information sink in and see what the mayor might say.
"Go on. I'm listening," the mayor said warily.
"Tell me about this platoon of Army Rangers in the area," Bruce inquired.
"I don't have any information to tell you, Colonel. There are some soldiers that moved into the area a while ago. I don't know where they are now, though."
"Com' on, Mayor. I need more than that. I don't think you understand the gravity of the situation. I'm trying to help you, and possibly help them as well but it all hinges on this single conversation we have here today. Only a few people know that I left our base of operations. I have to get back before I am missed and I don't have much time.
"I am not asking you to betray these soldiers’ whereabouts, but I have been briefed that they are AWOL, have joined a group of looters nearby, and are terrorizing the area. That was before I spoke with Derrick. We only had a few minutes together, and he didn't say much. You have to understand that my mission in Warren has nothing to do with them. If I'm going to stick my neck out on this, I need reassurances. What is the back story on these Rangers?" Bruce insisted.
The mayor was silent for a moment. "What do you say we take a walk, Colonel?"