Jeff Brackett - Half Past Midnight

“Your Dad isn’t the one that’s put us in this situation, Megan,” Debra said. “Eric’s done this on his own. Don’t lose sight of that.”

Megan stalked out without another word. The echo of the door slamming was the only sound in the house for several seconds. I turned back to the others. “Did I overdo it? Am I wrong?”

No one spoke at first. Finally, Ken shook his head. “That’s not a question any of the rest of us can really answer, Lee.” He pursed his lips as if considering his next words carefully. “Cindy and I love you guys like family, just like you said a minute ago, but the truth is, as much as we may care for Zachary, he isn’t our son. So I can’t presume to think I know what you’re going through. We’ve never had a child kidnapped.”

He looked like he wanted to say more, but wasn’t sure how. Finally, he took Cindy’s hand, and the two of them started for the front door. As they started to step outside, Cindy stopped and turned around. For the first time since she and Ken had walked in the house, she spoke to me. “Leeland? We may not have ever had a child kidnapped before, but we’ve never had a child murdered like Eric has, either.” She turned, and the two of them left.

Damn, I hated it when they did that.

The crowd I had seen when I let Ken and Cindy in still milled out front. In fact, when Debra and I stepped out, I saw that it had grown from the dozen or so I had seen earlier to more than twice that number. Sarah Graham stepped forward.

“Heya, Sensei.” She turned to indicate the group gathered in the yard. A lump formed in my throat as I regarded the faces gathered there-Billy, Mark, Rene, and others that I had grown to know well over the last few months. At the back of the group, Jim waved to me. I returned the gesture as Sarah, who had somehow become the unofficial spokesperson, continued, “We all decided it might be better if we finished things with Larry. We don’t feel he really understood how unwelcome he is in these parts.”

She asked in all seriousness, “You want to come with us? We could use your help.”

For the first time, I understood how much it frustrated people to have to listen to me as I tried to joke off a serious matter. Still, I appreciated what Sarah was trying to do, meet me on my own terms, so to speak. Too choked up to reply immediately, I could only nod. Then, after I swallowed the lump in my throat, I answered as simply as I could. “Yeah, I would. I’d like to come.”

Debra stepped forward and hugged Sarah tightly. “Thanks.” She turned to the rest of the group. “Thank you all.”

As we walked through, our friends parted before us, and I again saw Jim leaning alone against one of the captured Humvees. I walked over to him.

The mayor seemed uncomfortable as he cleared his throat, not wanting to meet my eyes. “I can’t go with you, Lee. Too many folks here lookin’ to me, now.”

“I understand. I didn’t expect you to pack up and leave. It’s not your responsibility.”

The mayor examined his boots for a moment. “Yeah. Still…” He tossed me a set of keys and patted the side of the vehicle he leaned against. “Roads bein’ what they are these days, it’ll probably take you a day or two to get to Bixby. There’s enough supplies in the back to last you for a week. Extra gas in the jerry cans on back. Also, I kinda spread the word around town that anybody that didn’t have nothin’ better to do might consider takin’ a road trip with y’all. ’Course with what these folk have all been through, I don’t know if it’ll do much good. Still, it might scrounge up a few more hands for you.”

“Thanks, Jim. I appreciate it.”

Then, James Kelland did something that caught me completely by surprise, something I would never have suspected him capable of doing. He buried his machismo, leaned forward, and hugged me tight. “You come back to us, you sumbitch. You hear?”

“I hear you. And I promise not to scratch up your fancy new car, either.”

“Yeah.” He slapped the hood of the banged-up vehicle. “Well, just make sure you don’t.” He turned and walked away.

Simply as that, it was time for us to go. Our clan climbed into Jim’s Humvee, all of us but Megan, who pointedly took a seat elsewhere. The others boarded whatever vehicles they had. I surveyed the pitifully small group and shook my head.

Ken noticed. “Less than thirty people, armed with less than a dozen firearms and an assortment of hand weapons, chasing after three times as many men armed with machine guns and who knows what other hardware.”

He inspected the group and shrugged. “Hell. It isn’t the first time the odds have been stacked against us, is it?” He was right, of course.

But as we drove through town, our odds grew increasingly better. We picked up additions to our convoy at nearly every other street. By the time we left the Rejas city limits, we had more than tripled our number.

It reminded me of a scaled-down version of the battle we had recently won. Superior numbers, inferior firepower, and though we had won that one, it had cost us tremendously.

So began our last great confrontation with Larry’s army. It wasn’t the short two- or three-day trip I expected. I was off my game-no planning, no strategy, nothing but simple reaction.

We had to stop for the night about halfway to Bixby. As much as I hated to do so, it would have been foolish to try heading into a town where Larry’s troops might be camped with our headlights announcing us from miles away.

“I’m gonna see what all we’ve got in this sorry excuse for an army.” Ken climbed out of the Humvee. “Why don’t you guys just kick back and take it easy. You’ve all had a rough day.”

“Thanks, Ken,” Debra said. “I could use some sleep.” She grabbed my hand. “Coming?”

“Sure.” I knew I’d never get to sleep. There was just too much going on in my head, but Debra seemed to want the company.

We lay wrapped up in a blanket, my wife tucked in close beside me. Before long, her soft and steady breathing told me she was asleep. I waited a few more minutes, then slipped away to a campfire someone had started nearby.

Ken found me there a bit later and sat beside me as I stared at the fire. “Ninety-three people with twenty-two handguns, nineteen rifles, forty bows, and an assortment of blades. Every one of them here to help you get Zachary back, Leeland.” I nodded absently. “So what’s the plan?” I shrugged.

Ken slapped me on the shoulder. “Come on. You can tell me. What do you have in mind?”

“What do you mean?” Wasn’t it obvious? I was going to get my son. If anyone got in my way, I would do whatever was necessary to get him out of my way.

“I mean, how do you plan to get Zachary back? You know you can’t just walk in and grab him. So what’s the game plan?” He grunted when I hesitated. “That’s what I thought. You haven’t got a clue, do you?”

“Not really.” I admitted. “Before everyone else joined the party, I figured on some kind of sneak attack.”

“You mean something like Megan had in mind with Eric?”

I shrugged. “It was all I could come up with on short notice.”

“And now?”