Patriots & Tyrants (Rebels & Lies Trilogy Book 2) (21 page)

Sullivan breathed in
deep as he pulled his car along the sidewalk in front of his house. Even though
he really wanted to see Davie tonight, he knew that was impossible. It was far
too late to go see his boy tonight. Especially since Davie had school tomorrow.
He had just gotten done with another dead end meeting with Reed, this time in
an old picnic shed at a local park. Reed filled him in on the current situation
with their mission. Even though Sullivan was dying to know, Reed still refused
to tell him what they did in that factory.

Reed also confided in
Sullivan, letting him know that their continuing partnership had caused rifts
from within. The Agent tried his best to comfort the rebel leader, but Sullivan
knew that there was little he could do to make the rest of those boys trust
him. He was, after all, involved with the enemy. During his time as an Agent, he
led the charge to bring them down. He couldn’t expect them to trust him now.

“I’m telling you,”
Sullivan told Reed near the end of their meeting. “I’m done with the USR. I’ve
done some thinking about it today and I’m through.”

“I want to believe
you…in fact, the greater part of me does believe you.” Reed replied. “But, I
just can’t convince my men to take that chance. It’s not fair to them, as
they’ve been with me for the long haul.”

Sullivan nodded.
“Again, I understand that, but you keep that cell phone on you. I’ll let you
know if I find out anything, okay?”

“Sure thing. I
appreciate it.”

“Well, good luck to
you. Take care of yourselves, you hear? If you ever need another soldier in
your war, just give me a ring.”

“Will do.”

And, with that, Sullivan
turned his back on Reed and walked out of the park still with very little
answers. It was during the drive home that he began to feel a sense of
contentment inside that if he never found out exactly what happened to Julie,
then that was okay. As hard as it was for him, his relationship and time with
her had passed, he needed to move forward, somehow, with Davie.

With the car put in
park, Sullivan got out of the vehicle and started his short walk to the front
door. The neighborhood was quiet tonight. Then again, it was always quiet every
night once curfew hit. He was still feeling blessed that he had not been
stopped by anyone. If he did, all he had to do was flash his credentials and
the rest would take care of itself, even if he was under suspension, having
anything Agent in the title went a long way.

He inserted the key in
the lock and moved in. Once inside, he reset the security system by the front
door and hung his jacket on the coat hanger to his right. Something felt out of
place. Nothing obvious to the naked eye, it was more of a gut feeling felt
within. Sullivan became cautious with his movements. It was right up the USR’s
alley to kill an Agent they felt was beyond salvage. Given Sullivan’s dealings
with Reed, if anyone knew about them, that term fit Sullivan like a glove.

Like all of the gut
feelings Sullivan had in his life, this one turned out to be true, as well.
When he reached the dining room, he saw a man in aviator sunglasses and an
expensive black suit sitting at his table. When Sullivan’s movements could be
heard, the man in the black suit flipped on the light switch behind him. His
silenced PPK-S pointed straight forward in Sullivan’s direction.

“Have a seat,” a
familiar voice said.

“Little?” Sullivan
cried. “What the hell are you doing here? Did Fitzpatrick send you here?”

“Not exactly,” Little
repeated. He made a motion with the gun for Sullivan to have a seat. As
Sullivan obeyed the silent order, Little reached up with his free hand and
removed the sunglasses. “You’ve been snooping around in places you shouldn’t,
Agent…or is it ex-Agent at this point?”

“Ex.” Sullivan
replied.

Little chuckled, “I
see.”

“Who the hell are you,
anyway?”

“I’m with the
USR...not from your department or anything. I’m something of a chameleon. The
USR gives me jobs all over the country and I carry them out. Sometimes, its
things like surveillance, intelligence gathering, really boring shit.”

“And, other times?”

“Well, let’s just say
that at other times, I’m ordered to take out the trash. This is one of those
cases.”

Instincts started to
kick in within Sullivan. He doubted that this man would have a change of heart,
unlike that one rebel who broke into his home. Both situations were the same,
however. He had a gun pointed at him with no easy escape. Little was obviously
a trained killer, something that Sullivan wouldn’t have expected, but the boy
was a damn good actor.

“How long have you
been watching me?” Sullivan demanded.

“You’ve been trying to
access files on your work computer. Files which contain highly sensitive and
classified information.” Little paused for a moment when Sullivan’s facial
expressions began to change. “You look surprised, my friend. Did you not think
we keep a log of every time you tried to access those files?”

“Of course I knew that,”
Sullivan replied. “I’m just surprised that you people would go to this much
trouble over some curiosity.”

Little chuckled, “We
know that you’re…fascination with our little experiments go way beyond just
curiosity. You lost a loved one to that experiment, didn’t you?”

Sullivan nodded.

“You would love
nothing more than to get answers to her death. What you fail to realize is that
there are things in this life which don’t need answering. You just have to
trust that the USR, in all her dealings with citizens, has humanity’s best
interest in mind. If you trust that, then you can live a much easier life, free
from worry.”

Sullivan smirked, “How
am I not supposed to worry when you’re killing innocent civilians?”

“You’re starting to
think like them,” Little replied with a smirk of his own, his handgun still
aimed for a perfect kill shot at Sullivan’s head. “Don’t do that, you’re not.
You’ve let your little tragedy cloud your thinking. Ever since your wife’s
passing, your performance has gone way down. We could just fire you, but now
you’re dealing with the enemy. You’ve been having secret meetings with Travis
Reed, have you not?”

“What if I have?”

“We know you have,
because I know you have. Do you know how hard it is to sit back and pretend
like I have no clue what’s going on when I knew exactly what you were up to?”

“Excellent job, Kevin.
You played a good pussy…right down to the smell.”

Little let out a small
laugh. At that exact moment, Sullivan forced the folding edge of the table
upward with his left shoulder. He shoved it so hard that the edge almost came
right back down on him. Little fired his gun at the movement. The bullets
splintered through the edge of the table. Sullivan moved fast. He pulled the
little six shooter from his ankle holster, flicked the safety off, and then
fired twice at Little. Each round shattered the spy’s knee caps one at a time.

The spy cried out in
pain. As he fell to the ground, he squeezed off two more rounds from the PPK-S.
The bullets flew through the dining room and shattered some of Julie’s old pieces
of china. When Little hit the ground the gun flew from his hand. Sullivan
approached, now with the upper hand. He bent over and picked up the silenced
handgun that was now well out of Little’s reach. The spy tried to reach for it
anyway, but it was all for naught. With both guns pointed between his eyes,
gone was the arrogance in them, only fear remained.

“It’s over,” Sullivan
said. “Tell me what your next move is.”

“I’m a patriot,”
Little said, almost unable to get the words out because of the pain. He
continued to writhe around on the floor. “I will serve the USR until the very
end. Just do what you gotta do.”

“What do you mean by
that?” Sullivan demanded once more.

“There’s going to be a
whole new ballgame out there. One with a new set of rules. You think that we’ve
got guys on every corner now? Just wait until the military takes over the
streets.”

“They are going to
declare martial law?”

“That’s right. Once we
take care of your boys, that is.”

“What?”

“Your friends you’ve
been talking to…they will be the first to go and it will signal the start of a
new kind of USR. One in which the military and the police forces work in
harmony to root out the resistance. It’s going to be hell…for citizens such as
yourself. Their plan to take out the resistance members should be starting
right about…”

Little reached behind
him for another gun that he kept at his back side. Sullivan saw the sudden move
and pulled the triggers from each gun twice. The four rounds shattered through
Little’s skull, killing the spy instantly. The instant death was not poetic.
That man on the ground deserved a far worse fate.

There was no time to
stand around and think about punishments, though. Sullivan reached for his
black phone and dialed Reed’s number. His heart raced through all four of the
rings.

“Travis,” Reed said
over the receiver.

“Travis, its Will.
Listen, the USR has been onto to me.”

“What?”

“They sent in a spy to
shadow me. He knew everything. He said that the USR was about to initiate
Martial Law. They are going to use your deaths to justify the need for it.”

“Shit!”

“You need to get lost
now. Get your family safe, if you can. Just get the hell out of wherever you
are.”

“What about you?” Reed
asked. Sounds of his family could be heard in the background.

“Call your people.
Tell them to meet at the bridge where we met in two hours. We’ll go from there.
I’m going to join you guys. I’ve nothing left for the USR. I’m nothing but
expendable now.”

“Okay, I’ll relay the
message.”

“Be careful.” Sullivan
said.

“You, too.”

Sullivan ended the
call and ran straight for his car.

Just as Reed ended the
call with the last of his comrades there was a banging noise outside his door.
The door was already barricaded with a strong piece of wood, but that wouldn’t
hold out for long. There was no escape from here. Being in the basement level,
they didn’t have any back windows that could be used. Unless there was some
kind of miracle, like Reed being able to fight them off on his own, there was no
hope for them now.

“You all stay back
here,” Reed said. “Stay close to your mama okay.”

The children all moved
in on Belle. Tears were welling up in her eyes. Reed couldn’t stand the sight
of it, but he couldn’t worry about that right now. He fucked up big time and
his family was about to pay the price for it. As he moved to the kitchen, the
pounding on the door grew louder and more aggressive. The wood was starting to
break in half. Reed grabbed the AK-47 he had stashed behind the stove and
clicked the safety off. Down on one knee, he kept the weapon trained on the
door.

He wondered if all
that he had done was worth it.

***

Masters waited
patiently outside the door to the apartment. His men would breach the door
soon. All he wanted at this point was to get in there, deal with the maggots
inside, and be done with it. It was on to greener pastures from here and he
knew it. The dogs inside needed putting down and he was the perfect man to do
it. He personally requested with Blackman to take out the leader of the group.
Masters would take no joy in killing off the others. He wanted the leader. He
had to let that leader know who was really in charge.

One more hard lunge by
his men and the framework around the door started to splinter. Masters trained
his G36 towards the door and spit out the toothpick he had been chewing on.
While the others in his squad carried the standard issue M4 Carbines, each
customized to their own individual tastes, Masters liked the G36. It was light
weight, so he could move it around better. It might not have packed the power
of the heavier duty Carbines his squad used, but a head shot was a head shot.
It didn’t matter what size round did the killing, so long as the killing got
done.

Just the thought of
putting a bullet in Reed’s head brought about a smile.

***

Reed never found room
in his life to be a religious man. He was always too busy working and trying to
reconcile however he could a relationship with his family. It was at this point
in his life, however, that he found himself praying even if he didn’t know how
to. One more shove, and the door would give way, and that would be the end of
his life.

The sweat that beaded
around his forehead started to flow free down his face. His aim, which had once
been steady, now trembled along with his hands. This would be impossible. He
didn’t know the size of the squad on the outside, but any numbers that they
would bring in would instantly beat one.

When the breach first
started, Reed didn’t want them to break through the door. He wanted to savor
the last moments of his life as best he could. The wait was almost too much to
bear now, though. Reed was half tempted to walk to the door and open it for
them. No need to make it easy, though, he reasoned. He might as well give them
a little hell before they subdued him.

That last lunge
forward by the assault team outside finally breached the door. As soon as the
door came crashing in, Reed held down the trigger of the AK and the automatic
rounds flew through the air. He managed to take out the first man, the bulky
guy who was leading the charge on the door, with several bursts to the
mid-section. The other men tried to climb over him and Reed took out a second
one.

It was no time to get
cocky, but the adrenaline was now flowing free through Reed’s veins. His once
shaky aim was straight again. He felt a sense of calm as he got up from his
kneeled position to take cover in the hallway. As he back peddled towards the
cover, his finger remained on the trigger, sending out bursts of five at a
time. The assault team grew more cautious. He managed to get a rough count of
how many were left when he saw a flash bang being tossed into the apartment.
Reed shielded his eyes with his lids squeezed shut. The screams from his family
members in the bedroom soon became drowned out with a deafening bang which
ringed at his ears.

On the outside of the
apartment, anger filled Masters’s insides. How could the two men who lay dead
on the ground allow some heathen to put them down? No matter, his team still
had the upper hand. When the flash bang went off, the assault team finished
their breach inside the apartment. Masters entered in last, bring up the rear.
He heard screams from all over the basement level of the apartment building.
The screams of the “innocent” brought another smile to his face. They would all
have something to really scream about in due time.

Back inside, the
ringing in Reed’s ears started to ease up a little bit. His family’s cries from
inside the bedroom were audible once more. The sounds of the assault team
moving in could be heard, too. Reed moved the barrel of his AK over the side of
the wall. He let out an automatic burst.

This is no good,
Reed thought.

He made a break for
the bedroom. With a strong dive towards the door it was forced open. Belle
screamed the loudest, but everyone inside shared in the cries. Reed mouthed the
words “I’m sorry” before he turned his attention back to the hallway. The
assault team started to move in. Reed could feel his family behind him huddle
against his back.

Covering his family,
Reed held his finger down on the trigger and cried incoherent words.