John O'Brien - Conspiracy

Greg hears a cricket begin chirping somewhere higher up in the ravine. He remembers an old trick his grandmother taught him. To pass the time, he looks at his watch, marks the second hand, and begins counting the chirps. The second hand passes the fourteen second mark as he counts his fifteenth chirp. He adds forty to the count.

Fifty five degrees out. For all the good that does , he thinks, wondering who came up with that formula. Someone had a lot of time on their hands .

Entering the Stryker and sealing it up for the night, Greg sees that Diane looks stronger. Her eyes still betray weariness, but she doesn’t need the back rest for support. Kyle puts away his meal and tenderly wipes a spot of food away from Diane’s mouth. Nourishment has helped her recover a more of her strength. Between long pauses and sips of water, Diane tells some of her story. She has difficulties speaking at times, and she has a hard time enunciating some of her words, but she struggles through it.

She, her mom, and her younger brother held up in their home as long as they could. Her mom was a strong believer in keeping a pantry full of her canning endeavors, so they were able to eat for some time. Their well supplied water. Living in the hills outside of the city limited any run-ins with the creatures who roamed the night. They could hear the shrieks at night and huddled the evening away in their basement. During this time, they met only one other person who they invited to stay with them. The man told them of the terrors that roamed the night and supplied them with information about what happened.

Eventually, they were forced to forage for supplies. At first they raided nearby houses, but then had to venture into town. It was during one of these outings that they ran into trouble. A group of men found them and took them captive. They remained in captivity for some time with other prisoners. Most days, one of the guards would select someone and they would disappear. Others were brought in periodically to replace those taken. On occasion, their captors would take and beat one of them in front of the main group. A man would orate for a while and then the beatings would start.

“Did they… did they…?” Kyle asks, hesitantly.

“No, they never violated me in that way,” Diane answers.

“Where did they take you?” Kyle asks.

“To the cave… Kyle, they still have Chris there,” Diane answers.

“And mom?” Kyle asks, fearful of the answer.

Diane shakes her head and begins sobbing.

Tears fill Kyle’s eyes. He wipes them away and holds his sister carefully to his chest, caressing her head. “Shhh…Shhh, sis…it’ll be alright. You’re safe and we’ll get Chris.”

Kyle looks to Greg for affirmation of his statement. Greg nods, “If there’s any way we can get him, we’ll do so.”

Diane’s sobbing comes to an end and she pulls out of Kyle’s embrace, wincing from her injuries.

“Diane, my name is Greg. I know it’s difficult, but I need to ask you some questions if we’re to get your brother.”

She takes a deep breath to steady herself and looks into Greg’s eyes. “If I can. Were you…are you Kyle’s commander?”

“That’s not really an easy question to answer so, for the sake of simplicity, let’s just say yes.”

She nods, “Are you really going to get Chris?”

“If it’s within our means to do so, we will. I make no promises, though. The most I can say at the moment is that we’ll try if it’s possible. To be perfectly honest, that will depend on your answers.”

“I’ll answer as best as I can,” Diane replies, still struggling to speak.

“First of all, where is this cave?”

“It’s the Cave of Winds. On the other side of the city,” Diane answers.

“I know it well,” Kyle chimes in.

“Okay, we’ll talk about those details later. How many men are in this group?”

“I don’t know…a lot,” Diane responds.

“By a lot, do you mean ten? Or forty?”

“I don’t really know how many. When I was taken in front of the group and beaten, there were a lot in the cavern. I’d say…thirty…forty…I really don’t know.”

“How many were guarding you at any given time?”

“I think there were four. We were held near the Canopy Hall…I think. I’ve only been in the caves a few times, but I think that’s right,” Diane says.

Greg looks to Kyle to see if he knows of this place; Kyle nods his affirmative.

“The man that was with you, what happened to him?” Greg asks.

“He was taken away shortly after we were captured. I don’t know what happened to him. Well…before today that is,” Diane answers.

“And they take someone every day?”

“As near as I can tell. It’s hard to know night from day down there. I don’t know how much time passes between.”

“How many other prisoners are there?”

“That varies from day to day, but I think there are only about six right now. At least that was how many were there when they took me and tied me up,” Diane replies.

“How were you held?”

“There are chains mounted on the walls. They keep us there.”

“I know this is difficult, and I’m sorry to grill you like this, but do you know where the men stay at night,”

“No. I’m sorry. I heard voices from farther into the caverns, but I really don’t know,” Diane states.

“Sorry to bring up a horrible memory, but you mentioned a man orated when you were taken and…treated badly. What did he say?” Greg asks.

“I don’t know. I was so frightened that I really didn’t hear him. I only remember something about sacrifice and appeasing demons…or something like that.”

“I see. How many men brought you to be tied up?”

“Six I think…it could have been four or five. I’m sorry, I was terrified and didn’t count. I’m sorry I’m not much help.”

“You’ve been great help. You get some rest and we’ll see what we see in the morning,” Greg says.

Kyle comforts his sister and, as night sets fully in, all noise in the Stryker ceases.

Greg works his way through a sea of legs to the front. He sits on the hard floor looking at a map of the area with a red-lensed flashlight. The map is unseen though as he wrestles with his thoughts. It’s the usual dilemma of team safety versus putting them in danger to rescue others. If it were easy, then the answer would be as well. But there are forty armed men situated across the valley. They have but seven; and only five if he keeps two with the Stryker. They have rescued one family member which is more than he thought they would find. Should they count this a victory and move on? In his mind, the right thing to do would be to attempt to rescue those being held, but the right thing is also to protect the team.

Delving further, he ponders whether they should put an end to this abomination or just rescue the hostages. Taking out forty men would be difficult unless they could get them in the open and unleash the firepower of the Stryker upon them. If they just rescued the prisoners, the group would merely branch out and capture others. The atrocity would continue. Wracking his mind for the “right” answer doesn’t bring any clarity. He knows what he’d like to do but doesn’t know if their capabilities can meet that desire.

In his years of service, he’s encountered these situations before, but not to this degree. They had orders and they saw them through. Sure he protected the team as best he could, but the mission had priority. If a situation became untenable, he radioed his command and they made the decision to pull out or continue. He now has an inkling of what Jack goes through. Delaying an answer, he makes a deal with himself to see the situation firsthand before making a final decision.