First Activation

The first signs of dawn appeared in the sky as we approached our designated point, and I slowed to a crawl along the tree line. To our right was a break in the trees to accommodate overhead wires, and the house was somewhere beyond, out of sight. The highway around us was quiet.

“Let’s get some fuel into us before heading over,” I said, the others nodded agreement and we slid out of the car.

Jack grabbed three cans of baked beans and spoons from the back of the Chevy. The ring pull made the cans easy to open, and as I chewed the first mouthfuls, I thought of Bernie and his apartment. I imagined getting some revenge for his death and all the others we had seen by destroying Genesis Alliance. From what we had seen of them so far, I was confident, but was also now concerned that we might be caught up in another activation. My mind switched from Hermitage to Monroe, and I walked round to the front of the Chevy to speak to Lea. She was staring off towards the opening in the trees, apparently lost in thought.

“Do you have any idea what we might face if we go to Ron’s?”

“No, not really, are we going there next?”

Jack had followed me. “It depends what we find here. This guy might have all the answers. If there’s a way of stopping it all and getting away now, then fine, but I think we are on a collision course.”

“Do you want to go back?” I asked Lea.

“I want to see Martina again. But if it means getting you guys in trouble…”

“Don’t worry about that. Do you remember seeing any people around Ron that could be dangerous?”

“It’s hard to say, maybe one or two, but none of them really stood out that way.”

“I reckon there will be a few armed guards,” Jack said. “Ron isn’t going to leave himself exposed is he?”

“Are you going to try and kill Ron?” Lea said, with a wide-eyed expression.

I wanted to avoid having a hypothetical discussion over the future of Ron. Firstly, we didn’t know if we were going to Monroe, secondly, I thought it might start Lea thinking about what the consequences of such an action would be for her.

“Forget about that for now. We can’t afford to get into a long firefight here. It’s reasonably safe to assume that Anthony will be armed if he’s at home, if he has plenty of ammo, then we might not take him from a distance. He could call for back-up, so we need to be quick once we get there,” I said.

“How shall we take the house? A pincer movement? He might be expecting something if Ron’s told him about Orange County,” Jack said.

“Let’s have a look at the place first. If there are trees to one side, then we can feint at the front, and take him out with a flanking manoeuvre.”

“You’re going to have to explain that to me in English,” Lea said.

“You and I will approach the front of the house; we’ll keep a reasonably safe distance and act like we’re survivors, just having a look around. Hopefully, we can flush out whoever is in there. Once we get attention, Jack can move in from the side.”

“He might recognise me, I’ll go with Jack.”

“Good point, you take my rifle. I’ll go to the front of the property with your Beretta.”

“On show? That might set off alarm bells, what if he just shoots you?”

“No, he won’t shoot first, as he doesn’t know who I am or if there’s anyone else around. If I make him think I’m alone, it will make me his main focus. That’s when we execute the move. I’ll make the Beretta ready and carry it in one of the bags you took from the garage; it will look like I’m just carrying supplies.”

“Then what?” Lea said.

“Then we take whoever is there, dead or alive. It depends on the situation,” Jack replied.

As I finished my can of beans and threw it down onto the side of the highway, I felt a speck of rain hit my cheek and looked up at the light grey sky above us. It didn’t look particularly threatening, but the distant sky was much darker. I pointed towards it.

“I don’t want to carry out this assault in the rain, let’s get going.”

“Should we go now? It’s still pretty early,” Lea said.

“Even better, if we catch Anthony in bed, I’ll bring some rope. Just remember, Jerry told us about this place, be ready for a nasty surprise,” Jack replied.

I took Lea’s Beretta; slipped off the mag, and thumbed out four rounds, I was sure it would be enough with the cover of two fully loaded rifles. I reloaded the magazine, cocked the Beretta, and then placed it in a plastic bag amongst three packets of nachos. Jack gave Lea a quick lesson on how to use the AR-15, and then they slung the weapons, ready to move.

“We’ll follow the wires until we can see Hogback Road, from there, we can creep up through the trees and have a look. Ready?”

Jack and Lea nodded.

We walked off the highway, crossed another minor road, and started hiking through the long clearing, below the overhead wires. I heard a rumble of thunder in the distance.

As we reached a bend, I paused and raised my hand, Jack and Lea stopped behind me. I edged forward and could see the road about half a mile ahead of us.

“Through the trees from here guys.”