David Golemon - Ripper

“Right,” Everett said as he raised his M-14 at the gap between the planks above. “Jack, what about the girls in the cell?”

“Everyone goes home tonight.”

Carl nodded his head and then took up his station as Jack moved to the closest spot he could get, standing right over the hundred-year-old corpses. He looked down at the strange malformed shape of the white-coated man, and he too took his breaths and then aimed as best he could, knowing it would take more than one shot to douse the light above. Just as he aimed he heard more screams from above.

Collins gave Everett the nod he was waiting for, and a moment later all hell broke loose at Perdition Hacienda.

The brother of Juan Guzman kicked Farbeaux as hard as he could when the Frenchman had once more tried to trip him up. Sarah lashed out with her hand and that was when the man hit her across the bridge of the nose with his automatic, eliciting a round of screams from the teenage girls cowering against the wall inside the cell. The man smiled and then easily reached out and plucked a young Mexican girl up by her black hair. Sarah swiped blood away from her broken nose and tried to clear her eyes of the tears that had formed. Farbeaux was actually trying to stand and had made it to one knee when the dark eyes of his soon-to-be killer turned and smiled at his feeble attempt. He aimed the automatic at Henri as the struggling girl in his other hand kicked and screamed.

“Goodbye señor,” he said just as the flooring beneath their feet erupted in a loud splintering sound. Wood chips flew in all directions as six rounds penetrated the floor beneath them. The light only a few feet away exploded as the heavy rounds found their mark at just the same moment the light farther down the corridor was hit from below.

As the man’s eyes widened, he saw Sarah out of the corner of his peripheral vision dive on top of Farbeaux, shielding him with her own body. The man quickly took aim as the third and middle light blew up as more than fifteen high-velocity rounds smashed through the wood. The cell area went completely black with the exception of the weak lighting farther down the long corridor.

As Guzman’s brother aimed his weapon just as the lights were extinguished, Sarah just knew she was about to feel several of the animal’s bullets slam into her back as she covered the Frenchman. Instead, she felt and heard a whizzing sound and at the same moment a loud clacking noise. She felt the wetness strike her body from above and she heard the girl her would-be killer was holding scream again. There was a loud thump and as Sarah’s eyes adjusted to the dim lighting emanating from down the hallway, she saw the body of Guzman’s brother fall in front of her and Farbeaux. He still had the girl’s hair gripped in his right hand. Sarah saw the top of the man’s head was now gone.

She heard a noise not far from the cell and then the hastily whispered words. “Clear!” Sarah felt like yelling when she saw the dark shape take form as the man advanced toward the cell. She could see the outline of the shape and a reflection of light on glass and then she knew who it was.

“Will,” she said as she unceremoniously pushed Henri aside and ran to the cell door.

“Hey, what’s up?” Mendenhall said as she started working the key that was still dangling from the lock. “Uh, would you mind telling your young friend there she can stop screaming for the moment? There’s still plenty to do tonight, so she’ll probably have chances to scream all she wants,” Mendenhall said as the cell door creaked open.

“God,” she said as she took Will into her arms and hugged him tightly. “It’s good to see you. How in the hell did you find me, and how did you get in?”

Mendenhall pushed her back a step and raised the ambient-light goggles. “Well, the colonel was so pissed that you stood him and his mother up, he came personally to kick your ass.”

That was when Sarah saw the two figures standing twenty feet away from the cell. Everett raised his goggles up and then started brushing wood chips from his shoulders. The man standing to her direct front also removed his night vision equipment.

“Strange company you’re keeping these days,” Collins said as his eyes moved from Sarah to the man trying to pick himself up off the floor.

Sarah ran through the cell door and hugged Jack as if she had never hugged anyone before.

“Hey, hey, there’s not a lot of time here; gather these girls up.”

Sarah pushed back from Collins and looked into his eyes. “Don’t tell me you guys are alone?”

“Yes, please don’t tell us that, Colonel.”

Jack looked from Sarah to the man using the bars as a brace to stand.

“He came here specifically to get me out, Jack,” Sarah said, taking his arm before he could enter the cell.

“I bet he did,” he answered as he shook Sarah’s hand from his, stepped inside the cell, and assisted the Frenchman to his feet.

On his way past McIntire, Everett shoved a white handkerchief into her hand. “In case you didn’t notice, your nose is broken.” Sarah took it and swiped at her painful break. Everett and Mendenhall stepped in behind Jack and hurriedly gestured for the young girls to be quiet and get the hell out of there. They were young, but they also knew it was time to go. Sixteen girls ran for the cell door all at once, pushing Jack and Farbeaux out of the way as they scrambled into the corridor.

“Jack, you didn’t answer me. Are you guys the cavalry?”

“Honey, I’m afraid the only cavalry here tonight has been dead for close to a hundred years.”

Everett walked past her and a stunned Farbeaux who had his arm around Jack’s shoulder as he too was removed from the cell.

“We are what you would call shorthanded, and probably out of work.”

Sarah sighed as she followed the men and young girls.

“Again, Jack?”

The girls were lowered one at a time through the missing floorboards. It was painstakingly slow. Farbeaux came to as he was held upright by Collins and looked around quizzically. He tried to focus on Jack’s face and then saw Mendenhall as he lowered Sarah through the small space.

“I thought you had more friends than this Colonel,” Henri said as he winced at the attempt at humor.

“Yeah, but with the three I have here, it still makes three more than you have, Henri.”

“Touché, Colonel,” Henri said and then hung his head again as his arm relaxed around Jack’s shoulder.

Everett, who was watching the cell area, poked his head around the corner. “We have company coming down the stairs, and it sounds like whoever it is has more than just three friends with him, Jack.”

“The gentleman who is coming … is not a particularly nice person, Colonel,” Farbeaux said as he again tried to clear his head.

Collins adjusted the Frenchman’s weight and then looked back and nodded at Everett.

“Is that your expert opinion?”

“Indeed. Perhaps you better give me one of those weapons you’re … so fond of … carrying.”

“Give it a rest Henri. Right now you couldn’t see what it was I handed you. In case you didn’t know it, you’ve got one hell of a concussion.”

Farbeaux finally managed to get his head up and then looked at Collins. “And that is … your expert … medical opinion?”

Jack shook his head. “When one bleeds out of his ears, Colonel, the diagnosis is pretty damn plain,” Collins answered as he placed Henri behind one of the large barrels lining the wall. He removed his nine millimeter and handed it to the Frenchman. “What the hell, when Mr. Everett opens up, at least add some noise with that thing and make people duck … make them duck.”