“How do you know? His name was Alphonz...”
“I know because I have only killed men who are shooting in my direction. I don’t know who did, and that game they play with the dogs is enough to make me want to kill them all,” replied Sergio.
With that, he pulled out his notebook and tossed it to a nervous Max.
“Go ahead. See if he’s in there.”
Max turned the notebook face-up with trembling hands and lifted the cover halfway before closing it, and tossing it back.
“I believe you, sir,” said Max, “and you can trust me too.”
With the truck’s solid back window, Mike had missed the cab conversation but got the basic idea.
“I showed you both my cards when we were at Ronna’s camp. Now it’s time to show me yours. You first, Max.”
“Okay. What have I got to lose? I aim to kill Baker and the man who killed my father.”
“You have a plan?” asked Sergio.
“Not really, but I thought maybe I could get close to him if he needed any medical attention at some point.”
“How about you, Mike?”
Mike paused and would never have revealed his plans if he hadn’t seen Ronna with his own eyes.
“My plan is to protect the Valley by any means necessary,” Mike replied. “What’s yours, Sergio?”
“Fair enough. I can’t tell you everything. I don’t even know it all yet, but I take orders from Ronna, who takes orders from the Colonel, who saved your asses back on Raton Pass.”
“I thought we put up a great fight,” said Mike.
“I’ll give you that. You should have seen how pissed off Baker was. I’ve never seen him like that before or since. I am in as good as can be expected with Baker’s group and the number four guy from the top. I don’t think anyone suspects me to be a spy, but who knows. When I come back with only you two, he’s going to be suspicious. We need to make his first impression solid.”
“How do we do that?” asked Max.
“With pain,” he replied, brandishing his concealed pistol and pointing it at Max.
“Left, or right?”
“What? Wait a minute… I thought we were...”
“Left it is,” Sergio said, firing a single shot through the upper part of Max’s shoulder.
Max fell onto the ground, holding his arm through the burning pain. The shocked look on his face amplified when Sergio said, “I’ll take right,” using his left hand to fire a bullet through his own right arm, just inside the elbow.
“Through and through on both accounts,” remarked Mike, not at all surprised with the happenings. “What about me?”
“You’re good,” said Sergio through grit teeth. “I forgot how much it burns,” he admitted, laughing.
“Are you going to be okay, Max?” asked Mike.
“Yeah, I wasn’t expecting that…but it’s better than dying.”
“It’s like ripping off a Band-Aid,” added in Mike. “You have to get it done before you think too much about what’s coming. Will they buy it?”
“I think so. Ronna or the real Colonel would never buy two flesh wounds to extremities only, but that ragtag crew Baker’s got won’t know the difference. So, Max, stand up for me and get us cleaned up a bit.”
He did as he was told, breathing heavily. “Did you really have to do that?”
“Yes, he did,” chimed in Mike.
They spent 25 minutes on the side of the road, with only temporary dressings applied.
Sergio discussed what he could about his orders, refusing to answer a few questions from Max and Mike about what was going on with the country.
Sergio finally commented. “The whole thing is a chess match, and there are a lot of high-stakes players, with most running other countries.”
“Why would another country want to do harm to ours?” asked Max.
“Land. But not just any land—usable land, with resources in farming, forestry, minerals and petroleum,” replied Sergio.
“Don’t they have enough land already?” asked Max, as he wrapped Sergio’s arm.
“There’s never enough. Have you seen how many people live in China and India?”
“I have one question you probably won’t answer,” said Mike.
“Shoot!”
“I met with the Colonel several times and saw an old friend from my younger days setting up boxing rings across the country in FEMA camps.”
“Okay,” replied Sergio. “Is that the question?”
“No. The question is why were they hired, paid, and everything a full two weeks before the EMP hit?”
Sergio smiled. “You’re right, Mike. That one I won’t be answering today. Let’s keep this focus on the Valley for now. As you know already, the Colonel has a good friend and mentor named Samuel there that he will bring hell from the skies if he has to in order to protect him.
“Follow my lead when we get to camp. Don’t talk to anyone else about this, and Max, reign it in. If you kill Baker or anyone else before I give the word, you will be a liability and no longer an asset. The Great Battle for the Valley is only the beginning of their plans, not the end.”
* * * *
They pulled in to the compound early in the afternoon.
Mike had a guesstimate of how many people might be here, but he only calculated those marching with Baker across Raton Pass. He would come to learn quickly that the daily radio broadcasts Baker had done from the beginning, never missing a day, were working like gangbusters.
Throngs of people came from all four directions, packing in like cattle waiting for the slaughter. No wonder the President said only twenty-something percent of people had reported to the FEMA camps so far, Mike thought.
Tents filled the wide-open camp, with ponds scattered haphazardly throughout the area. At first look, it appeared to be a random shuffle of people, like Times Square at noon on a Monday, but over the next few minutes a pattern formed. Not as choreographed as the FEMA camps but a pattern, just the same. Walk-in checks were all done from the east side, and vehicle check-ins—or forfeitures, as they should be called—were recorded on the north end of the camp.
Any citizen entering the camp
