Feral Nation - Convergence (Feral Nation Series Book 6) Read online

  By the morning of the third day of confinement in that isolated room, Shauna was kicking the walls and dumping parts and supplies out of their boxes in her rage. She pulled herself up to the sill of the tiny window and screamed out into the compound for the chief, but if anyone heard her, they ignored it. The only thing that broke the monotony and finally brought the man in charge out where she could hear his voice again was the arrival of vehicles later that afternoon, just before dark. Shauna heard them pulling into the compound, and then the slamming doors and greetings and introductions among the men. She heard a voice she thought was the chief’s speaking to whoever had arrived in English, and then switching to Spanish. Shauna couldn’t follow all of it, but it sounded like one of the guests was speaking congratulatory words regarding the success of some operation, and from the direction the conversation was going, everyone seemed to be in good cheer.

  Shauna yelled through the window to the chief while she knew he could hear her, and the voices stopped for a few seconds before the men began laughing and then talking about her in Spanish. She could hear the chief describing her in terms that were completely inappropriate, and she decided she’d best stay quiet and hope their attention would revert back to whatever they’d been talking about before. Later that evening, after dark, the compound came alive with music and laughter, and Shauna could tell the chief’s men were drinking and partying with their guests. She backed against the opposite wall when she heard the padlock click open on the outside of her door, but the man that entered was the same guy that had been bringing her food since they brought her there.

  “Enjoy your dinner! You’re getting out of here tomorrow, so it’ll be the last time you’ll get our chow!” He put her plate down and backed out to close the door.

  “Wait! What’s going on? Am I going to be taken to a military post like the chief said?”

  “No idea! You’ll have to ask him in the morning,” The man said, before slamming the door behind him.

  The noise outside grew louder later into the night, and Shauna was afraid to even try to sleep for fear someone else would unlock her door. She paced the floor and waited, shivering against the wall in her blanket until well after midnight, when the ruckus finally died down. Morning came, and she dozed off a little, until they came for her about an hour and a half after sunrise. Two of the men from the team that had raided the cabin entered the room and took her by the arm on either side before leading her out into the gravel yard in the middle of the compound. Shauna saw the chief standing there with some of his other men and five hard-looking Hispanic guys who appeared to be as combat ready as the contractors. Behind them were two black GMC SUVs, and two of the same crew cab pickups that had been waiting at the place where the men had switched from horses to trucks the day they captured her.

  “Your ride is here,” Chief said. “Sorry we couldn’t offer you better accommodations while you were with us, but I’m sure there’ll be better days ahead for you.”

  “What is this? You said you were taking me to a military base. I’m not going anywhere with those men!”

  “It’s the best I can do, given the circumstances. We’ve had issues come up that we have to attend to. My friend, Pascual, will see to it that you are taken to a safer place, and I’ll bet the food will be a lot better than here too.”

  “No wait! I’ll stay here! I don’t mind! I’ll wait until you have contact again with a regular Army patrol or whatever. I have to talk to someone that can help me find my husband and daughter!”

  “I’m sorry, lady, but I can’t keep you here any longer. Please, just get in the vehicle. You’ll be okay.”

  Shauna tried to pull away from the two that were holding her, but they were both strong men with grips like iron. They lifted her bodily from the ground by the arms and carried her to the second SUV, where one of the Hispanic men was standing with the back door open. Shauna kicked at that man and the legs of the two that were holding her, but the three of them forced her into the back seat and then one of the two contractors holding her passed the Hispanic man a zip tie that he used to secure her right wrist to the grab handle above the inside of the door. This done, he slammed the door shut. Shauna twisted around on the seat to get into position where she could use her feet to kick at the window on the opposite side, but before she could break the glass, the same man opened that side and got in, forcing her back into her seat.

  “Tranquillo! Tranquillo, Señora! We aren’t going to hurt you. We are only giving you a ride.”

  “Where are you taking me? I have to get to an Army base or a refugee facility, so I can talk to someone that can help me!”

  “It’s okay! El jefe has told us everything. Just relax.”

  Shauna didn’t believe this for a minute, but she knew it was a waste of energy to keep struggling right now. All she could do was wait for a better opportunity to escape, if such an opportunity ever came. Two more of the Hispanic men got into the front seat and the other two got into the other Yukon. The two pickups were apparently there to escort them out, and when they cleared the gates of the compound, the gray one was in the lead of the convoy, while the silver one brought up the rear, three men in each truck. Shauna had no idea where they were taking her, whether to another operating base they had in the region or somewhere beyond. As she pondered this, it suddenly occurred to her that they might even be headed to Mexico! Shauna had felt helpless many times since the events that started with the beginning of summer, but never so helpless as this.

  She tried asking questions of the man in the seat beside her, but now he pretended not to understand English, and when she switched to her limited Spanish, he simply ignored her. Shauna gave up and resigned herself to the fact that she was going to have to wait until they reached wherever they were going and hope there would be someone there with whom she could reason. In the meantime, she resolved to take careful note of the route they were driving, as she had no idea how far they would travel. There was only one way out of the compound at the end of the gravel road, so that part was easy. But when they reached the pavement, the trucks didn’t turn left and head back to the east the way she’d been brought here. Instead they took a right and headed west. Shauna also noted that while the pickup truck in front continued to lead the way, the one following them turned around in the intersection and headed back in the direction of the compound.

  Now that they were on the pavement and traveling faster, Shauna turned again to the man beside her, pointing to her wrist that was zip tied to the grab handle as she tried to find the right words in Spanish to explain that it was too tight. She had deliberately twisted and pulled against the restraint in advance, so that her fingers were turning blue and it appeared that her circulation was being cut off. “Por favor!” she pleaded.

  There was a rapid-fire exchange in Spanish between the man beside her and the others up front. Shauna understood enough of it to know that one was against the idea of cutting her loose, but the guy in the back said he would watch her, and besides, she wouldn’t jump out now because they were going too fast. After a couple more expletives that Shauna understood perfectly, the one up front in the passenger seat relented, and her seat mate pulled out a big folding knife and snapped the blade open with a flick of his wrist. Then he leaned forward and held the stiletto-like tip close in front of her eyes, whispering a warning that was easy to translate, regardless of the language barrier. Shauna nodded that she understood, and then thanked him when he slipped the blade into the tight space between her wrist and the grab handle and sliced away the thick plastic tie.

  She certainly had no intention of jumping out of a moving vehicle but having both hands free made Shauna feel a lot better about her situation, even if there was little hope of escape. She couldn’t just hop out and run, even when the vehicles came to a stop, because like the contractors, these men in the two SUVs were heavily armed. Shauna couldn’t miss the two AK-47s leaning against the front seat by the console when they put her into the vehicle, and the man sitti
ng next to her wore a pistol in a shoulder holster that was in plain sight under his unbuttoned coat. She figured the other two were carrying pistols as well, and then there were the three contractors in front of them and the two Mexicans in the other SUV bringing up the rear. No, running wouldn’t work, unless something changed, and sometime about an hour after they’d first turned onto the pavement, it did.

  The first indication she got that something was up came when the driver suddenly slowed and then stopped in the middle of the road. Shauna looked out the windows to see why but didn’t think it was because they had arrived anywhere. The terrain here was much lower in elevation and she’d noticed the changing landscape and vegetation along the way after they’d slowly made their way out of the mountains on a steep, winding road. Here it looked almost like semi-desert, the low, rolling hills covered in dry brush and grasses. It seemed like an unusual place to stop, and from what she could understand of the conversation in her vehicle, the Mexicans were as confused as she.

  She saw two of the contractors get out of the pickup truck with their rifles in their hands. One of the two remained in place next to their vehicle while the other approached the driver of hers. A conversation ensued that quickly turned into a heated argument. There was something said about having to wait there because the chief had forgotten something, and it would only be an hour or so. Shauna could tell the Mexicans didn’t like this new development. The guy in the passenger’s seat in front of her got out with one of the AKs in hand, yelling back at the two contractors, who insisted that they had to do this. Shauna then saw the third man exit the pickup with his rifle, and it was clear that it was becoming a standoff. She’d momentarily forgotten about the other SUV behind her when gunfire suddenly erupted, and all hell broke loose.

  Shauna saw the contractors up front retreating for the cover of their truck as they brought their own weapons up to fire. The man who’d gotten out of the seat in front of her with the AK went down, and when the one beside her exited the vehicle with his pistol, Shauna saw him get hit and fall too. Bullets shattered the windshield on the driver’s side as the last man inside dove to the floorboards for cover, and Shauna opened her door, deciding it was more dangerous to stay inside than to get out. The other two Mexicans in the rear SUV were still firing, so the battle wasn’t over. Shauna knew it was now or never, so she dropped low into a crouch beside the door as she climbed out. She spotted the fallen AK where it lay on the shoulder of the road near the twitching body of the man who’d carried it and scooped it up as she broke into a sprint for the brush. Keeping as low as she possibly could, she busted through thorny branches that ripped at her hands and clothing, but she never looked back. It didn’t matter to her who won and who lost the unexpected firefight, she knew her only chance was to get away from both parties, so she didn’t pause until she was completely out of sight of the road. She checked the chamber of the AK and pulled the magazine out to verify that it was full. The weapon was the real deal, and not a civilian clone, and the selector switch was in the full auto position when she’d grabbed it. Shauna switched it to safe and kept going, keeping her finger near the lever and ready if she needed to fire.

  The shooting behind her stopped as suddenly as it had begun though, and Shauna heard cursing in English that told her it was the chief’s men that had prevailed. Why this had happened, she had no idea, but now one of the men was calling out to her, saying that it was safe to come back and that the danger was over. She heard him yell to her that they were in the middle of nowhere, and that she would die out here if left alone, but Shauna ignored him and kept going. She didn’t know if they would come after her or not, but if they did, she was determined they weren’t going to take her captive again. She set out at a run, working her way around the worst of the thickets and among the rocks as the terrain climbed the farther she got from the road. It was almost like Déjà vu from just a few days ago, but in a different setting. This wasn’t going to be like the last time she ran from these men though. She wasn’t trying to create a diversion today; she was running for her life. This time she knew for sure that they weren’t U.S. soldiers, she knew what they were capable of, and she was armed with an AK-47 rifle and she had a good head start. But when their calls for her to stop didn’t seem to be receding into the distance as she ran, Shauna knew the contractors were coming after her. She scanned the terrain above her looking for cover that would give her an advantage, and when she found it among a jumble of large boulders, Shauna took up position there and switched the selector on her weapon back to full auto. It was several more minutes before the first man came into view 150 yards below, and Shauna didn’t know if all three of them had survived the firefight with the Mexicans or not and didn’t care. If she could eliminate one of them now it would improve her odds regardless. She squeezed the trigger without hesitation, easing her finger off only when the muzzle began to climb. It was maybe a five or six round burst, but it was enough. She saw the man go down, and it wasn’t an intentional dive for cover either. He folded up at the waist and dropped, either dead or wounded. Shauna waited a few minutes to see if the other two would appear, but when they didn’t, she got to her feet and took off running again, thinking that maybe the others had decided she wasn’t worth it. Perhaps they didn’t see her grab the AK and had no idea she was armed until she fired.

  She ran fast, driven by adrenalin and the pent-up energy from all that time confined in the little supply room. The afternoon air was already chilly, and she knew the night would bring real cold, but right now the important thing was putting distance between herself and the road. She had no idea where she was or how big this tract of desolate land into which she was fleeing might be, but she thought that if she could just elude them until dark and find a place to survive the night, she would figure out the rest tomorrow.

  Fifteen

  ERIC, NANTAN AND LUKE stood around the desk where the base station radio unit was set up and watched as the chief attempted to make the call to his men in the escort truck. He repeated his contact attempt several times before he got a reply.

  “Yes, Reece, you heard me right. Stop the trucks! I don’t care what you tell the Mexicans. Tell them I forgot something else I had for them, and that I’m bringing it to them. Just make sure the woman doesn’t go anywhere and give me a call back as soon as you have it all under control.”

  The chief turned to Eric, “They’ll get it done. Juan Lopez isn’t going to like it, but Reece knows how to bullshit him into waiting. We don’t need to keep them waiting too long though, or they’ll start getting nervous.”

  Eric looked at the map the chief had sketched on a piece of paper, showing the route the convoy took and the approximate location of where they were when his man answered the call. Despite the amount of time that had passed, much of the route was slow and tedious on mountain roads, so they weren’t that far away. “I’ve changed my mind about taking you with us, Chief.” Eric turned to Tommy and Luke. “We’ll go in two vehicles. Check the fuel levels and get them out to the gate. Get that other guy, Wilson, off the horse and bring him in the compound.”

  “If you say so, but why not just shoot him? We don’t need him.”

  “Because I told him I wouldn’t if he gave me the correct information about his boss here, so I won’t.”

  “Wilson?” The chief spat. “That son of a bitch gave you all that? No wonder you took us down as easy as you did. You ought to kill him, because if you don’t and you don’t kill me, I’ll damned sure do it myself!”

  “That’s between you and him, and you’ll get your chance, but I would have taken you down with or without him.”

  “So that woman really is your wife, huh? I guess what she told me was true; that she had a real badass for a husband and that you were in the soldier-for-hire business too, but you came back here looking for your daughter. Good luck with that, man! I mean, I’d hate to know I had a daughter missing out here, the way things are going in this country.”

  “She’s not mis
sing anymore, but even if she was, I wouldn’t stop until I found her, just like I won’t stop until I take her mother back to her.”

  “And what about after that? Who are you working for? A guy like you has got to be working for somebody. What about your buddies here? They’re not Mexican, but they’re not white either. Indian?”