The Standoff Read online

“Cousin Jack, my name’s Agent Adonis. I’m with the ATF.”

  Adonis didn’t introduce Shep and she didn’t go into the whole story again.

  “Widow. Jack Widow.”

  “Right.”

  “Most people just call me, Widow. Except the family here. Pleasure to meet you. So, what the hell’s going on?”

  Adonis pulled her hand away, which was much easier than she had thought it would be. Her first impression of Widow was that he was one of those guys who held onto a handshake long enough to be considered harassment. She had faced those kinds of hand-shakers before. Widow wasn’t one of them. His handshake was firm, but gentle. It seemed almost like he had practiced it to get it that way.

  Maggie spoke first, still holding onto Dylan’s wrist.

  “It’s Walter. They think he’s with some of the men from last night.”

  Foster said, “The Athenian explosion thing. You know?”

  “What about it?”

  Abe answered first. He held Abby in one arm, comforting her. Widow could see that all this talk about it was making her uneasy.

  “According to Adonis, several of the leaders went missing.”

  “They escaped after the explosion?”

  Adonis said, “They may have escaped before. The explosion might’ve been a diversion.”

  Abe said, “There was a guy who came by. You were napping. He said he and his business partner broke down on the road…”

  Suddenly, Widow knew the rest of the story before they explained it. To save time, and perhaps because he may have been lacking in some manners, he interrupted.

  “Walter took him back to his car?”

  “Yes.”

  Adonis asked Widow a question.

  “You rode in with him last night?”

  “Yes.”

  “Before the explosion?”

  “After. It was on the radio.”

  “Did you see these squatters Walter called the sheriff about?”

  “No. Neither of us saw anyone. Just lights on in what’s supposed to be an abandoned farm.”

  Adonis nodded right as her phone was buzzing. There was an incoming text message. She looked at her phone, which she had kept in her hand the whole time. She saw the message, read it, and turned back to Shep.

  “Come on. Let’s go.”

  Shep nodded and started back to the police cruiser they came in. He stopped halfway and called back to Adonis. She looked and he showed her that he was still holding Maggie’s phone. He tossed it to her. She caught it and walked to Abe and handed it to him with one final order.

  “Keep your family off the phone. Stay here. We’ll be back.”

  “Is it them? Did your guy see Walter?” Abe asked, desperate for information.

  Adonis was already running back to the car. She shouted back to him over her shoulder.

  “Just stay here. Stay off the phone. Lock your doors. We’ll be back. Everything’ll be fine.”

  Adonis hopped into the cruiser and Shep kicked it into drive and they were off a lot faster than they had arrived. Snow kicked up behind the tires, gusting into the air, and the cruiser vanished back down the drive.

  Widow stepped farther down the porch, away from the family. He reached out two hands and leaned on the hand railing. He looked up at the sky for the helicopter. It wasn’t there. All he saw were blackbirds and gray clouds.

  Behind him he heard Maggie trying to keep it together. He heard concern in Abby’s voice that was quickly receding into motherly worry. Foster comforted her mother and then Maggie, staying strong. Abe stared at his family and stayed quiet. But it was Dylan who spoke the most sense.

  “Don’t worry, Mom. They’ll bring Dad back. They got a helicopter.”

  Abe looked back at Widow, who stayed leaning against the porch handrails with no coat on. He looked deep in thought.

  “Fossie, take Mom and everyone back into the house like Adonis told us.”

  Foster said, “Dad, what about you?”

  “I’ll be right in.”

  Everyone had disappeared back into the family home except for Abe and Widow. Abe walked over and leaned next to Widow, but then he returned to a full stance because he felt Widow towering over him.

  Abe said, “What do you think, Widow?”

  Widow breathed in.

  “I wish I would’ve heard this other guy ring the doorbell. I could’ve gone in Walter’s place.”

  “He didn’t ring the doorbell. He knocked.”

  “Why?”

  Abe shrugged.

  “Some people aren’t doorbell ringers. Some people are just knockers. I guess.”

  Widow said, “Maybe. Tell me about him.”

  “He was a tall black guy. He was big. Not as big as you, but big, like he had a lot of brawn.”

  “He look dangerous?”

  “He was very pleasant, but sure. He looked like he could handle himself.”

  Widow stayed quiet.

  Abe asked, “What’re you thinking?”

  Widow returned to a full stance and pointed down at the phone in Abe’s hand.

  “You got internet on that phone?”

  “Of course. They all come with it.”

  “Does it got a passcode?”

  Abe looked at the screen and touched it.

  “I don’t think so.”

  “May I use it?”

  “Sure.”

  Abe handed him the phone. Widow took it and looked at Abe.

  Abe asked, “What?”

  “There any coffee left?”

  “I can make some.”

  “Okay. Let’s go inside.”

  Chapter 34

  T HE TEXT MESSAGE on Adonis’s phone read out the vehicle descriptions that Ramirez saw from the sky, parked in the Pine Farms driveway. It was followed by the suggestion that they should call it in.

  Adonis replied only to the second message with a firm NO!

  “What now?” a second message on her phone read.

  She replied, “See anyone at all?”

  Ramirez replied, “No. But lots of hiding places.”

  “What about a place to land?”

  “On the farm? I can land about fifty yards away from the driveway.”

  “No. For a raid?”

  There was a pause. Shep drove out down the Cherokee Hills Farm driveway and stopped at the end by the mailbox. He paused there for her to give him instructions on what next.

  Adonis said nothing to him. She just waited and stared at her phone. Then Ramirez texted back.

  “There’s an open field near some broken fence. By the road. To the south. Not far.”

  She replied, “Good. Meet us there.”

  She slipped the phone in her pocket before he replied. It vibrated once, but she ignored it.

  “Turn left. Drive slow.”

  Shep nodded and turned the wheel. The road was still empty, which was normal because not much traffic went through it to begin with—not anymore.

  Shep parked the cruiser on the shoulder just shy of a snow-filled ditch, and they killed the engine. They stayed put in the cabin of the car. They both looked up at the Bell 205. They watched it descend and then hover in a circle until Ramirez saw the right spot. Then the Bell started coming down in the field near the broken section of fence, just as Ramirez had texted. The rotor wash swept up snow and revealed long blades of centipede grass that had survived the polar vortex, so far.

  The Bell 205’s landing skid tapped down on the field once and then twice, softly, before settling down. Shep and Adonis stayed in the car until the Bell’s rotors started to slow.

  Adonis was the first out. She slammed her door behind her. Shep followed suit; only he popped the trunk open before exiting the vehicle. He went around to the rear of the car and opened the trunk. Adonis stopped near the ditch and waited for him.

  Shep disappeared behind the lid for several seconds. Then he came back out and shut the lid. He took off his coat and shivered in the wind. He set the coat over the trunk. He
took a bulky police radio out of his belt and the receiver and wire that coiled up around his back and over his shoulder and clipped to the front of his shirt for fast, easy access. He set all of it down on the trunk lid. He picked up a department-issued brown bulletproof vest with Department of Highway Patrol etched across the chest. He slipped it on and then pulled his coat back on over it. He scooped up the radio and was going to clip it back on, but it was so bulky against the vest, he decided to leave it in the cruiser. Besides, Adonis inferred they were off the grid here. The radio was temptation to call it in.

  He hesitated before leaving it in the car, but he did.

  He leaned back out and closed the car door.

  Shep returned to the trunk lid and picked up a Mossberg 590 shotgun and a box of shells he had set down as well. He walked over to Adonis, digging his fingers into the box, which seemed not to be full. He loaded six shells into the riot gun. Once it was full, he shoved four more into his coat pocket. He pumped the gun and carried it by his side.

  Adonis arched an eyebrow.

  “Got another one of those?”

  “Sorry. Just the one. Your boys got an extra rifle in that bird?”

  “Guess we’re going to find out.”

  They turned and headed to meet the Bell 205.

  Ramirez left the Bell’s engine on and waited for the rotors to slow to a soft spin. Then he took off his radio headset and helmet and hopped out. James and Swan got out the back. The three men walked toward Adonis and Shep. They all converged fifty feet from the helicopter and met in the field closer to the broken fence than the Bell.

  Adonis asked the question, but she already knew the answer because Ramirez hadn’t bothered to get a rifle out of the back for himself.

  “Any firepower stacked in the rear?”

  Swan answered.

  “No. Sorry.”

  James said, “Nothing back there but us. Is this where they’re located?”

  He turned and raised a hand and pointed at the top of the barn, which was the only visible part of Pine Farms over the trees from their position.

  Adonis said, “We think so. Did you see anything else up there?”

  “Just two vehicles.”

  Shep thought back to the video he’d watched from Trooper Brant’s dashcam. He remembered the brutal murder of his friend. He remembered the vehicle he saw them driving in.

  He asked, “Is one of them a black panel van?”

  Swan said, “No van.”

  Ramirez said, “Not that we saw. But there’s a Toyota Tundra—white, and a truck. And it’s got badge decals on the door and a light bar on the roof.”

  Adonis said, “That’s the sheriff’s truck. He came by here to check out the supposed squatters that White had called in.”

  Swan and James looked at each other and then at Adonis dumbfounded. They had been left out of the loop.

  Adonis ignored the questions in their eyes, and they didn’t ask them. They didn’t care about answers. They only wanted to shoot the Athenians.

  She said, “Okay. Let’s assume that they’re there. This is what we know. There could be as many as seven hostiles. They’re heavily armed. Probably have body armor. They’re highly skilled. And they murdered or injured dozens of our brothers.”

  She looked at their faces. James and Swan were brute force types. Not much thought behind their eyes, but they were well trained and deadly. She had no doubt about that. Ramirez was more of a thinker, but he could shoot straight and was probably reliable in a firefight. Otherwise, he would never have been given an ATF badge in the first place. Shep was the wildcard here, but she figured he might’ve been the best of all of them. She was glad he was there. He had the right motivation and probably knew exactly how to use that shotgun.

  Shep said, “So, we’re probably outnumbered?”

  Adonis said, “Possibly outgunned.”

  The others stayed quiet.

  Adonis added, “Joseph Abel is a crackpot who killed innocent cops today. We could call the FBI right now. But I want this bastard myself. Any of you got a problem with that?”

  She looked over their faces. Swan and James answered immediately with no words, but actions. They both raised their assault rifles up to their chest like they were soldiers ordered to fall in.

  Ramirez hesitated but said nothing. No objection. He reached down and pulled a Glock 22 out of a hip holster. It looked identical to Adonis’s. They were standard issue by the ATF. He held it down by his side.

  She looked at it and nodded.

  “Okay, then.”

  She didn’t need to ask Shep. She knew his answer. He was in.

  She said, “You guys know what this is? I’m not here to take prisoners.”

  Shep said, “Shoot to kill.”

  “Okay. Let’s go.”

  James asked, “What’s the plan?”

  Swan asked, “Where do you want us?”

  “They probably know we’re here. So, stealth is out the window. I say let’s just go in hot right here.”

  She pointed up the line through the trees to the tail of the sheriff’s pickup truck.

  Shep said, “Guns blazing. That’s the right way to go.”

  Adonis said, “If you see Abel, try not to shoot him unless you have to. He’s mine.”

  Ramirez said, “We got two hostages in there. Let’s not forget.”

  Shep said, “One’s a South Carolina sheriff.”

  Adonis said, “I know. If they’re still alive, the hostages are our top priority. But that’s a smidge above killing these Athenian bastards. Got it?”

  James asked, “How’ll we know the hostages?”

  Adonis said, “They’ll be the ones unarmed.”

  Shep said, “The sheriff here is an old coot. You can’t miss him. Plus, he’ll be in uniform.”

  Swan asked, “What about the civilian?”

  Adonis said, “I imagine he’ll stick out like a sore thumb.”

  James and Swan nodded almost in unison.

  Adonis said, “Let’s go. No warning. Guns blazing.”

  Chapter 35

  W IDOW AND ABE sat at the kitchen table. A half-empty coffee mug rested next to Widow’s hand on the table and a steaming coffee pot was in front of Abe. He sat next to Widow, while they both stared at Maggie’s phone screen.

  Widow googled the Athenians. There were lots of news articles and videos about the explosions, the dead and injured, and official statements from the governor’s office and the White House, and the FBI. There was nothing official from the ATF, just a lot of speculation on the part of news outlets.

  There was also a lot of coverage of a man named Joseph Abel.

  Abe said, “Who the hell is Joseph Abel?”

  Widow didn’t answer that.

  Both Abe and Widow stared at the man’s face. There was no video of him, just a recent photo of the guy wearing all white. It looked like it was taken without his knowledge from a cell phone camera. The image was a little tilted and out of focus, but his face was visible enough.

  Abe said, “He’s all skin and bones.”

  Widow scrolled down the page they were on and read some of the article. His eyes skimmed to key points and he was done.

  “It says he’s the leader and founder of a militant religious group called the Athenians.”

  “But who is he? Where did he come from?”

  “Where do these wackos always come from?”

  Abe shrugged.

  Widow said, “Out of nowhere. It seems. Only normally, they’ve always been the way they are. Hiding in plain sight.”

  “Google him.”

  Widow clicked on the screen and a keyboard came up. He started to type, but Abe reached over him.

  “Hold up,” he said, and he clicked a little microphone button on the screen, and the keyboard vanished. It was quickly replaced by a blank screen with some sort of audio monitoring app and a bell sound that indicated the phone was recording or listening.

  Widow didn’t know what to cal
l it.

  Abe spoke.

  “Show me: Joseph Abel.”

  The phone screen changed again to the internet and started showing results from the search.

  Widow said, “That’s neat.”

  Abe looked at him.

  “You really do live off the grid, don’t you?”

  Widow shrugged.

  Abe said, “I’m an old fart and I know how to operate a cell phone.”

  “I know how to operate a phone. I just haven’t owned one.”

  “You’ve not owned one in years or something?”

  “Nope. I haven’t owned one ever.”

  “Ever?”

  “Not really.”

  Abe smirked, and they both looked at the results on the screen.

  Abe said, “Scroll down.”

  Widow did until Abe spoke again.

  “There. Click on that link.”

  The link he was talking about came with a photograph of Abel. Widow clicked it, and they both looked it over. It was some sort of profile on the guy.

  Widow skimmed it like he had the previous articles.

  “This one’s some sort of fluff piece on him like he wrote it himself.”

  Abe was squinting trying to see it.

  He said, “I don’t have my glasses. What does it say?”

  “Not much. Just about how great he is and how the Athenians offer a different way of life. It’s like a human-interest piece full of propaganda and spin. But…”

  Widow trailed off.

  “What?”

  Widow leaned back in the chair.

  “It says he was a one-star.”

  “A one-star what?”

  “A one-star general.”

  “In the Army?”

  “That’s the only place that has generals.”

  “What does that mean?”

  Widow stayed quiet and clicked out of the page they were on. He returned to Google and typed General Joseph Abel .

  Abe asked, “Now what are you doing?”

  “Reconning.”

  Google came up with several articles related to the term: General Joseph Abel . He clicked on one and read. He read about Abel’s time at Fort Polk in Louisiana and as much as he could about the guy’s mentions in Iraq.

  After several minutes of silence and the rest of the cup of coffee had vanished, Widow put the phone down.