The Patriot field commanders at the battle of Olympia wondered why one of their biggest problems, a tank in the middle of a key intersection, just exploded. Joe swelled with pride when Briggman got on the radio and told the Patriot commanders that they had taken it out.
The rest of the night, Joe’s men slowly went up the street and probed each intersection in the surrounding area. They encountered heavier and heavier fire as they did so. Finally, it was apparent that one armored car and fifty Marines wasn’t enough to push through the increasingly strong defenses ringing the immediate boundaries of the capitol. Besides, Joe’s men had captured so many Limas it was getting hard to keep moving with all of them in tow. Eventually, Joe’s men linked up with Patriot regular forces and started to run heavy patrols in the areas they’d secured, intercepting fleeing Limas. They captured even more of them, almost of all them were scared National Guard kids, but some nasty FCorps, too. They killed several of them who wouldn’t surrender, having learned from their prisoners that the hardcore Limas were shooting deserters. This might have explained some of the fire the Marines took when capturing enemy soldiers; the Marines had no choice but to fire back.
On the second day — although Joe’s memory was hazy because he hadn’t slept — his armored car was in high demand. It proved to be the perfect way to safely ferry high-value personnel. The armored car was the only armored vehicle the Patriots had; they couldn’t move tanks or armored personnel carriers up and down I-5 to Olympia.
Joe’s Marines were also highly valued; they were assigned to the Delta Company of the Second Battalion of the Washington State Guard. The Marines used their last remaining Javelin on a Lima tank parked at the entrance to the capitol building.
Blowing up the second tank was just about the end for the Limas. After a thunderous tirade of fire from the windows of the capitol buildings, Joe and the others felt and heard an earth-shaking explosion. Joe thought an exploding tank was loud, but this was a hundred times bigger. Later, they found out that this was the Lima’s ammunition bunker that they detonated to prevent the ammunition from falling into Patriot hands.
Joe was given the great honor of having his armored car used to bring the Patriot commanders into the capitol to receive the surrender of the last handful of Limas. Using his car was partially thanks for the fifty Marines and taking out two tanks, but was also because it was the only armored vehicle the Patriots had.
Joe started to cry when he saw a soldier bring the new Patriot flag out of his armored car and hoist it up the flagpole over the capitol. It was silent as the flag flew, except for some of the secondary explosions from the ammunition bunker. As he was looking up at the new flag on the old capitol, Joe noticed his Marines were slowly making their way to his armored car. Once they were there, he went into the vehicle and got out three wooden boxes of cigars they’d captured from pirates a few months ago. He motioned for Booth to come over and told him to hand a cigar to every man in the unit. Once they all had one, Joe lit his cigar and said, “Well done, gentlemen. Well done.”
Chapter 317
Prisoner Herself
It had been twenty-four hours since she was arrested. Nancy Ringman was remembering what happened.
It all started when Otter said to her back at Clover Park, “Nancy, I bet your arms are getting tired, right?”
She nodded. Her arms had been out at her sides for a few minutes and were starting to hurt. She was pleasantly surprised that Otter cared about her comfort. Maybe he wasn’t a teabagger; maybe he had been sent by Linda to rescue her.
“Go ahead and slowly put your arms behind your back, Nancy,” Otter said. “And for everyone’s safety, one of these guys is going to put something on your wrists.”
Nancy nodded slowly, still looking down at the ground. She realized that if they were handcuffing her, they probably hadn’t been sent by Linda. Now she was starting to get really scared, but Otter seemed so nice. Her expectation that all teabaggers were mean assholes was wrong and she felt like she could trust him, even if he was arresting her.
She started to put her arms behind her back, but she couldn’t because they were so sore. Her knees were hurting, too, she noticed. She struggled to get her hands back. They were wobbling.
“Tell you what, Nancy,” Otter said. “One of these guys is going to help you move your arms. First your left one, then your right one, okay?”
Nancy nodded. What a relief. She felt so helpless, not being able to move her arms. She was starting to realize that, on top of all of this, she was still half-drunk from the wine.
Someone came up behind her and gently moved her left arm behind her back and then her right arm. She felt a thin plastic strap go on her wrist. The man tightened it, but not so tight that it hurt.
“Okay, Nancy,” Otter said, “Now I need you to stand up.”
She nodded but started to cry. “I can’t,” she said softly. She was humiliated that she couldn’t even stand up, but she knew she’d be more humiliated if she tried and fell down.
“Okay,” Otter said, “we’ll help you.”
A man came up behind her and each one gently lifted one of her arms until she was standing.
“Can you walk?” Otter asked.
Nancy, now looking up at Otter, nodded. She looked in his eyes. He didn’t look like the monster she expected.
Seeing that she was having a hard time walking, one of the soldiers said, “I’ll have the truck brought over here.” He got on the radio and soon she heard the sound of an approaching truck.
“Now, Nancy,” Otter said, “I’ve been good to you, haven’t I?”
Still looking at him, she nodded.
“Nancy,” he said sincerely, “I need you to tell me if anyone else is here.”
She stared at him.
“Nancy,” he said very seriously, “I really need to know if anyone else is here, okay?”
That made sense to Nancy.
“I’m pretty sure I’m the only one.”
“Pretty sure?” he asked.
“Yes, I don’t know of anyone else who is here.”
“Okay, Nancy,” Otter said, “I believe you.” He actually did, but he wasn’t going to completely rely on it.
The truck came up to them and Otter motioned for her to get inside.
“Where are we going?” she asked.
“To jail, Nancy,” he said. “You did some horrible things.”
Chapter 318
Pancakes II
Grant couldn’t believe what he was seeing. Wes’ body was laid out, motionless, in the back of the truck. He ran over hoping to see that it was someone else, but as he ran toward Mark’s truck, he saw Ryan’s face. From his expression, Grant knew that it was Wes in the back of the truck.
Suddenly, Grant stopped running. He didn’t actually want to see Wes. He didn’t want to erase all the memories he had of an alive, active Wes. Of a warrior. Of a kind and gentle man to the innocent, and a skilled fighter to the guilty. Of a quiet man who did what needed to be done like when he announced “Lima down.” Of a strong Patriot.
Grant forced himself to go over to the truck. He didn’t give himself the luxury of closing his eyes. A weak man would close his eyes and run, and Grant was not a weak man, even though he wanted to be.
Grant slowly approached Wes and he noticed two things: the rope burn around his neck and that smile. Grant wondered how a man could be smiling after being hung. It was simultaneously eerie and joyous. That smile communicated perfectly that Wes was happy with his life, he died a happy man, having done as much as humanly possible in his short twenty-two years. He had been a husband and created a new life, even though he would never meet his child. He had fought for his country. More importantly, he had fought for his friends.