The drive through Cartel country wasn’t any more dangerous than anywhere else, it was a sparsely populated area due in part because of the Sonoran desert. After the war and the collapse of the grid, the once populated smaller cities emptied out, their population migrating northward towards what they hoped was abundant food and water. With no law and order, the Sinaloa Cartel moved in and quickly occupied, killing or enslaving those who remained. Conflict between the Republic and Cartel soon followed with both sides calling a truce and creating a barrier between their lands called the Neutral Zone. It was a band of land, twenty-miles wide that stretched along what had been the borders of California, Arizona, Nevada, Utah and parts of New Mexico. The Cartel attempted to push east into New Mexico but ran up against a sizable force from the newly formed New Texas.
New Texas was a force to reckon with, they kept to themselves, but anyone who wished to compromise their sovereignty were quickly dispatched. New Texas was huge, spanning the former states of Texas, most of New Mexico, Oklahoma, southern parts of Arkansas and western Louisiana with their capital in Baytown, a port city in east Texas.
During the height of Jacob’s tenure with Leviathan, he and his team had operated in the southern part of the Republic, Sinaloa Cartel territory, and New Texas; they avoided The Collective and never entered California, unless the job would pay heavily. The once populace state suffered dearly from the war with dozens of high yield nuclear warheads hitting cities all along the coast and inland. From San Diego, Los Angeles, Riverside, Sacramento, San Francisco, San Jose and many of the military installations, the state had turned into one large wasteland west of the Sierra, Laguna and San Bernardino mountains. With civilization destroyed, roving tribes of Generates took control years back and had pushed east past the mountains, threatening the other nations.
The Generate problem was the real issue plaguing the land. However, like the leadership in The Collective, everyone was choosing to ignore it despite pleas from small towns and hamlets. Instead, the powers that be targeted a greater threat to their bottom line, Leviathan. With Leviathan in the cross hairs of every government, leader or warlord it put them all in a situation; stay and fight or leave. At the moment, Jacob was still on the path to leave but with his team now dead his decision wasn’t set in stone.
Kyle approached Conrad and stopped a foot from him.
Conrad barely gave him a glance before going back to whittling a chunk of wood. “You’re back. What’s your payment?”
“A group of slaves came in from The Collective, any of them named Portia?” Kyle asked.
Conrad peered over the reading glasses he’d gotten from Kyle before and asked, “Who wants to know?”
“I do,” Kyle said firmly.
Conrad looked at Kyle and saw he was holding a pistol in his right hand. “Don’t you look like Mr. Tough Guy? Um, any information will cost you.”
“How about your miserable life?” Kyle asked and put the pistol under Conrad’s chin. “Tell me if a woman by the name of Portia came here?”
“Listen, I don’t know shit, I just sit here and watch the parking lot,” Conrad begged dropping his knife and the carved piece of wood.
“You’re not helping yourself. This Glock has a five pound trigger pull. Being that I’m angry, it feels more like a two pound pull, and I’m squeezing it right now. I’d say you have half a trigger pull left to tell me what you know before your fucking brains end up all over the wall.”
“A truck came the other day, brought a bunch of them.”
“How many?” Kyle asked pushing the muzzle deeper into his chin.
“I didn’t count.”
“Guess then.”
“Oh, I don’t know, fifteen maybe,” Conrad stammered.
“Did they all stay?”
“No, some left, about nine or ten, but I swear I don’t know who or their names, I swear,” Conrad pleaded.
“How many men does Frank have in there?”
“Ten, he has ten.”
“Where are they usually?”
“Some hang in the bar, some are back with the girls and others have a break room near the back, for the most part everyone in there now is one of Frank’s men on the account it’s early in the morning.”
“Thank you,” Kyle said pulling the trigger.
The top of Conrad’s head exploded. The old man toppled off his stool and smashed into the ground.
“One down, eleven to go,” Kyle said, the eleventh being Frank by Kyle’s count. He shoved the pistol into his waistband, tossed open the door and entered the bar.
“Hey, no guns, read the fucking sign!” a large fat man hollered from the back of the bar. He was sitting at a table with three others playing cards.
Kyle brought his rifle into play. He raised it, flicked the selector switch to SEMI and began to fire. His first two shots struck the fat man, he made a subtle turn and shot the man to his right and another next to him. He pivoted to the left and shot that man. The men fell over or lay face down on the table, all were dead.
Screaming ensued as the few patrons and girls began to flee for cover.
Kyle wasn’t going to let anyone off the hook though, he leveled his rifle at a patron and squeezed two shots off striking the man in the back. He turned and engaged two more men, driving bullets deep into their chest. Clearly he’d changed the targets but after seeing these men preying on the girls, he decided to add them to the kill list.
The break room door flew open and three of Frank’s men came running out, weapons in hand.
Kyle turned and unloaded on them. All of his shots hitting.
The men didn’t have a chance and tumbled to the ground dead.
Kyle’s next destination was through the green door, he threw the door open and entered to find one of Frank’s men coming towards him. He was zipping up his pants and had his weapon under his arm. This was too easy, Kyle raised his rifle and fired, the first shot struck the man in the upper chest but no second shot came as the bolt locked to the rear. The man dropped to his knees and cried out in pain.
Kyle hit the magazine release. The empty magazine fell to the floor with a clang. He loaded a fresh magazine, hit the bolt release and squeezed two more shots off. The man fell backwards.
At the far end of the hall, a woman stuck her head out, looked at Kyle and screamed in terror before slamming the door shut.
“Portia are you here? Portia!” Kyle yelled. He walked to the first door on the right, kicked it open but found the room empty. He proceeded to the door opposite, this time he found a man in bed with a young girl. He leveled the rifle and drilled the man with two well placed shots to the chest. The young girl sprang out of bed, tripped and lay in the corner crying. Kyle said, “You’re safe now. Do you know a woman named Portia?”
The girl shook her head vigorously indicating she didn’t know anyone by that name, fear gripped her as she lay huddled on the floor.
“Put your clothes on and just wait for me to return.” Kyle exited the room, stepped over the first man he’d shot and went to the second set of doors. He stepped back to kick it open when a volley of bullets burst out of the door, two striking him in the chest. He stumbled back and grimaced in pain. His armor plates had saved him. He stepped forward, kicked the door open and stepped back. “Portia, are you in there?”
The man inside opened up again with a nine millimeter pistol, the bullets hitting the far hallway wall and door jam.
Kyle waited patiently for the pistol to empty. When he heard the distinct metal click of the slide locking back, he stepped into the open doorway and fired a burst of fire at the man who was hiding behind the bed. Kyle’s shots were true and the man fell over. Like before, Kyle told the girl in the room to get dressed and just wait.