Fifteen minutes later, Junior joined my team and took his customized AK47 from Jeff Tanka. We cautiously continued. We maintained radio silence for the remote chance the kidnappers might have electrical power and were running a radio scanner. We assumed we were close to them, and we didn't want to lose the surprise advantage we had. My crew spread out to the right and left of me, and we progressed slowly looking for sentries. I heard three quick clicks from a transmit button that were loud and clear in my earpiece. I raised my hand and whistled sharply for everyone to stop. Shane had used the agreed signal to indicate his crew had found the enemy. We waited for five tense minutes. All of us peered into the brush and ahead at the mature old growth trees looking for kidnappers on our side of the blacktop road. I smiled as two radio clicks were followed by three more. Shane's crew had found two sentries, and both were terminated.
Ours is a harsh new world and we live by vigilante protocols. Enemies who attempt to harm or murder us are dealt with severely because we don't have the luxury of confining and feeding them for years of extended punishment.
We continued for a short distance through a line of trees between the road and a field on our right. We soon reached the gravel road our truck and trailer had traversed less than an hour ago. A light breeze blew, and the air felt sharp and crisp. My crew crossed the highway quickly in single file. We huddled amongst the trees expectantly.
Shane stood in the middle of our group. "There are nine more men besides the guy who drove our truck. They're holed up in a two-story solid-stone building about a quarter of a mile down this gravel road. It's approximately thirty or thirty-five feet square, and there are windows on all four sides. It's their main facility. To the left of it are three old wooden sheds and a large metal pole-barn. The barn is where they store all their supplies."
I knew Shane's interrogation methods from having spent five years in Delta Force with him. Before dying the enemy had likely been 'strongly encouraged' to cooperate.
"This could be bad," I said. "We don't have anything with us to breach stone walls. When we get there lay and wait. Remember our people are captive in there. If we attack while the kidnappers are inside that stone building, they'll likely threaten to kill our friends if we don't surrender. Once we learn what the situation is, we'll regroup if necessary.
"Stay in the two groups we have. My crew crosses to the right side of the gravel road and Shane's crew works the left. It's still light enough for them to be unloading the trailer into their pole-barn. Maybe we can catch the whole group outside. Watch for our people because they might be forced to help unload."
My crew moved across the gravel road and had gone two hundred feet when we heard gunfire in the distance. A barrage of gunshots came from the direction where the buildings lay. In a single line, we started a fast jog through the undergrowth staying twenty feet from the roadway. Only minutes after starting to jog, our nostrils were assailed by the stench of zombies. I assumed that must be what the kidnappers were firing at. If we had to fight zombies too, that would alert the kidnappers we were near. I didn't like the new development, but there was no choice but to continue. We maintained our pace but were on high alert for the undead we knew stalked close by. Less than three minutes later we left the smell behind us and could breathe without wanting to vomit. We stopped when a woman from Shane's crew crossed the road to us. "There's a bunch of dead zombies in a ravine off to our left. That's where the smell came from. It's a dumping ground in lieu of burial. We haven't seen any walking ones, so Shane wants to continue on." I nodded, and she zipped back across the road.
In five minutes, Shane's crew circled to the left of a clearing. My crew went right. Sporadic gunfire continued. The building layout was like the kidnapper's sentries had described it. One man stood outside at the corner of the middle shed firing at the stone building. Weapons were being fired back at the kidnappers. I counted three people shooting through windows from inside the stone building. Those had to be our people. I wondered how the hell they had accomplished that.
We continued to encircle the site. I saw one body lying beside our truck and another behind the trailer. The second body was the man who'd driven our truck. John Alton tapped my arm and pointed. A tall, thin stranger in military camouflage sneaked along the side of the stone building. The man rose outside a window to look inside the building. John leaned forward as he aimed and blasted two holes in the left side of the sneak’s chest. Seven kidnappers left.
The heaviest gunfire toward the stone building came from the pole-barn. Apparently, several people had taken shelter inside it when our people started firing from the building. They were learning the thin metal siding on pole-barns is not good protection from hi-powered rifles.
Shooting erupted from multiple guns, and we watched a kidnapper fall as Shane's crew shot him when he changed position outside the middle shed. Another man ran from the metal pole-barn toward the
