Captain – Brothers At Arms #6

Captain snorted at her then he looked over at Zeus, “What do you think, boss? Should we try her hairbrained idea?”

Zeus shrugged. “What do we have to lose? Give it a try. Beats just sitting here waiting, cuz you know damn well, we don’t play that game very well and it’s always better not to give the opposition any advantage.”

Captain nodded his head. “In other words, waiting is good for them and bad for us.”

 ”Same thing, brother,” Zeus replied. “So like she said, Cap. Whatcha got?”

He smiled at his Prez. “I got a huge rubber band that’s tougher than steel and should have enough give to make Delaney’s flash bombs travel far enough.” He shook his head, “Actually it’s an exercise band that I got by mistake. It’s a very strong band that wasn’t made right. An actual rubber band in fact. But I think it has enough give to do the lift she needs to scramble the men on the other side of the fence.”

Gina listened to him then turned to Delaney again. “So exactly how many devices do you have available?”

“Like I said…Maybe a dozen or so,” Delaney told her.

Gina nodded and looked over at Captain. “That should do.” Rubbing her hands together, she smiled. “Let’s get this party started.” Then she glanced over at Click. “Ok, so where are they?”

Click checked his cameras and pointed them all out to her.

Gina and Desi went up to the roof while Delaney and Captain went to get their stuff.

Gina looked over the edge of the roof and tried to locate the group of men on the other side.

When Captain got there, opened the heat seeking laptop, and tapped a few keys. Then he set up his rubber band sling.

Gina tried it out and she smiled. “Oh yeah, this will work great. She picked up a rock from the rooftop and laid it in the strong rubber band then pulled back and let it fly. The rock sailed over the top of the fence line and hit just inside the trees. “Perfect. Now all we need are the flash bangs and a position to put them in.” She looked over at Desi and gave her a thumbs up. “This is gonna be a show you don’t want to miss, girlfriend.”

Desi shook her head and looked at Memphis. “Lord help us all.”

Delaney finally arrived and set the duffle bag down gently on the roof. She took one of her flash bangs out and carefully unwrapped the device. They could all see the wick sticking out of the top of the device as she explained, “This will give you one minute to get it to the target before it explodes. Now this isn’t a regular explosive, it’s just a flash bang but it is loud and messy.”

“But if I put it just where it needs to be then it could cause some panic and it might even take one or two of the bastards out right?” Gina asked.

“The flash is strong enough to take the eyes of someone out if they are close enough,” Delaney admitted. “But the two men in that tunnel who died was because they were underground and the shock of the explosion rattled their brains inside their heads.”

Gina nodded. “That’s all I need to know.” She gazed around. “I need a couple of shooters up here with me but I think the rest of you should go back downstairs. I don’t want anyone to get hurt. The shooters should have head gear on to muffle the sound.”

 ”We need Marty and Lindy then,” Delaney spoke up. “They are the best snipers here.” She looked over at Zeus.

He narrowed his eyes at her, but he did give her a nod. Taking out his phone, he typed a text to Marty.

Gina stared at her. “Awesome, female snipers, I gotta meet these two.” She leaned in close to Delaney and whispered, “You sure these guys will go along with… like females taking over the show?”

Delaney shrugged. “They all know these two are the best, already. We need the sharpest here.”

Captain heard their conversation and said, “We all got our own talents. And someone needs to tell you where the men are, so I can do that.”

Gina nodded then watched as the others all filed down the stairs and back inside.

After a few minutes, the two sharpshooters came up to the roof, holding their rifles.

Gina stared at Marty. “Well, fuck.”

Marty paused to stare back at her.

Gina slowly shook her head. “Fucking Martine Shaw? I don’t believe it!”

Marty cocked her head at her in confusion. “Do I know you?”

Gina laughed-snorted. “Hell no. But I know you. Top rifle shot in the nation. I watched that video so many times. I especially loved the looks on the men’s faces there as you out shot them 10 to fucking one!”

Lindy laughed. “Best day ever!” She stepped forward with her hand extended. “I’m Marty’s cheering squad. And her cousin.”

Gina shook her hand. “This is an honor.”

Marty shook her hand as well.

Desi looked back and forth at the women. “This is Gina, my partner at the Marshal’s Office.”

“Of course she is,” Lindy quipped. Then she looked at Gina, Delaney, and Desi. “Let’s show these cowards how we roll.”

Gina grinned at her and nodded. “Let’s.”

The women all chuckled.

Captain watched them all and shook his head as he too smiled.

 Marty and Lindy took their positions along the walls and they both covered their ears with shooter’s headphones then picked up their rifles.

 Captain sat at Gina’s feet while holding the laptop with the heat signatures on the screen. He told her where to aim the first flash bang.

Gina carefully pulled the rubber band back and placed the device in the cradle of it. She looked at him and said, “Wish me luck, Capn’.” Then she nodded that he should light the device. He did and she let it go.

They all watched the device as it sailed over the wall and hit right where they needed it. When the flash went off, they could all hear the men scream as they ran away. When everything settled down, they saw four men down but they couldn’t be sure they were dead.

Desi handed Captain another flash as Gina got another bang ready to go. When she let go, it exploded in a fiery mix. Men screamed as Marty and Lindy got a few shots off.

As Captain pointed men out, Gina sent four more devices out with him setting the flashes into the cradles. Marty and Lindy sent shots out to positions where they believed men were hiding to flush them out into the open. This went on until all the flashbangs were gone.

 Now, they all studied the area as nothing moved outside the fence.

Captain looked up at Gina. “I can see a lot of bodies out there but we don’t know if they’re just down or if they’re dead.”

Desi shook her head. “Doesn’t matter. I guess they figured we were pushovers and now they know we’re not. Together, we can and will defend this place and it isn’t going to be easy to break in here. They learned that the hard way but they did learn it.”

Marty nodded. “She’s right, you know. Vincent never expected any resistance either but he found out the hard way we weren’t just going to run away at the first sign of trouble.”

 Lindy grinned then looked over the fence line. “Guess those boys found out the hard way as well.”

Just then, they all heard a terrible sound like a huge ball of air had just popped from underneath their feet and the roof shook as part of the wall beneath them gave way.

Captain grabbed Gina, hauling her down to the rooftop, away from the edge of the building.

Desi grabbed Marty and slammed her down to the roof, as Lindy dropped too. Delaney had been over by the door, so she slid down the wall to land on her butt.

Finally, the shaking stopped.

Gina looked around at the others and whispered, “What the hell was that?”

“I don’t know.” Captain growled. “But it did some fucking damage.”

Marty shook her head. “I have been worried about all those tunnels. We got some full of cement, but not all of them. Shit, I hope it wasn’t the fireplace.” Her, Desi and Lindy went toward the staircase as Delaney had already gone down the stairs. Captain and Gina followed them all closely.

When they all hit the ground floor, they could all see a cloud of dust in the main room. They carefully made their way forward and when they got there, they could see the fireplace had separated from the rest of the wall and now lay in a pile on the floor.

Dust and debris were everywhere.

Delaney gazed around and called out, “Grandpa?”

He coughed as he still sat on a chair. “Here. I’m fine.”

Marty looked around. “The girls weren’t in here were they?”

“No,” Zeus called back. “Grave Digger has them in the infirmary. Are you all okay?”

“Yes,” Marty told him.

Leon coughed as he stood. “Che diavolo era quello! Calderone, where are you?”

“I’m here, Dad.” He popped up from under the table. “I’m okay. I don’t think anyone down here got hurt.”

Captain looked around the room and shook his head. “Boss, what the hell happened in here?”

Leon was busy dusting off his once immaculate clothing and growled as he glared at the men. “I think I can answer that.” He looked around the room. “When the flash bangs started going off, we could all feel the percussion of the blasts. At first, it wasn’t bad but then they started coming closer and closer and then suddenly the fireplace began to shimmer and shake and it tipped over. I guess without the weight of the gold keeping it in place the wall just crumbled.”

Marty nodded. “I have worried about that. You can’t take away heavy foundation from an old wall like that and not have it come down someday.”

Gina shook her head and stepped closer to where the wall dropout happened. She coughed as she brushed the dust and debris away. Squatting down, she studied the now missing fireplace. Then she frowned as the dust began to clear and she saw something in the open gap of the wall that shouldn’t be there. Moving closer, she saw the raggedy edges of a burlap bag sticking out of the newly exposed wall. She reached out for the edges of the burlap and it desegregated in her hand. A shower of gold coins fell from the hole in the wall. Gina gasped as she was pulled back from the waterfall of coins by Captain. “What the hell?” she exclaimed as the coins began to build up on the broken wall.

 They all watched in shock while the gold coins pinged like pinballs in an arcade game as they pooled into a shimmering pile on top of the debris on the floor.

Finally, the coins stopped falling.

Leon and Zeus stepped over searching the area for whatever else they could see.

Reaching out, Leon grabbed some of the gold coins and held them in his hand. Then he picked one up with his finger to carefully study it. Looking up at Zeus, he shook his head. “I wonder where the hell he got these?”

Exasperated, Zeus stared at the broken wall and shook his head. “What other secrets does this old house hold? I can’t help but wonder if Barrett and his brats knew about this little wrinkle?” He moved in front of Gina to the old burlap bag and wrestled it out of the wall. Smoothing the bag out, he saw a stamp obscured by age and mold, which had eroded the material. He peered down at it then handed the bag to Leon. Stepping closer, he peeked down into the hole in the wall. Glancing over his shoulder, he called out for a flashlight. “I need some light over here. There might be more still in there.”

Captain brought over a flashlight, handing it to him.

 Zeus angled it down into the hole. Then he swore, “Son of a bitch, there’s another fucking bag down there.”

Captain knelt down and began scooping up the already spilled coins. Memphis handed him a bowl from the kitchen. Captain then transferred the coins into the bowl. By the time he was finished, the bowl was overflowing. Memphis strained to pick it up as he carried it over to the table and the coins spilled down out of it.

Alfredo frowned at the shiny gold and reached out to pick one up. He studied it carefully then shook his head. He gazed up at Zeus and Memphis, watching them in silence, as they broke more stone away from the wall to reveal the second bag of coins.

Zeus carefully lifted the second bag out of the wall and carried it to the table. He sat it down and turned it to face Alfredo. “Does this look familiar to you?” He growled.

“Si, it does.” Alfredo sighed. “I haven’t seen it though in many, many years.”

Leon turned his head and glared at him. “How long is many, many years?”

“I think I was all of about five when my father had these bags delivered to our home in Chicago. I saw him pay the courier well for what was in them. After the courier left the house, my father smiled and told me this was the beginning of his love affair with gold. I remembered he told me one day the gold would be worth a lot of money and he was getting in on the ground floor.” Alfredo shook his head and said, “He was my papa and I knew right then, that no matter what else he ever did in his life, that one moment began his downfall. I saw a look in his eyes that almost bordered on insanity.”

“So your father bought these coins? Legally, I mean?” Leon stared at him.

“Si, he bought them legally,” Alfredo replied. “I saw him take the money out of his wall safe, myself.”

“Then these coins belong to you and yours.” Leon pushed the bag toward Alfredo.

Alfredo shook his head. “I’m not sure I really want them, senor.”

“Why?” Leon wanted to know. “If they were legally his, they now belong to you.”

“My father was never a good man,” Alfredo explained. “You all know this already. He thought the world owed him riches and fame and nothing I could tell him made any difference. I begged him to go straight and not steal anymore, but what did he do instead? He caught my sons up in his foolish talk, then he went to the next generation and corrupted my grandsons. Si, Barrett embellished his stories I’m sure but over the years, I began to hate my father and his stories. I hated what he did to my sons and then my grandsons. They grew up thinking the world owed them and that whatever they wanted they could just take. What they didn’t realize was that those days were long gone. Bugsy Malone, Bonnie and Clyde, Capone. Those were the days my father brought back to life with his stories and his head games. Now when I think back to the time just before my old man died, I knew his mind was gone. He was locked inside his own world. Barrett and his sons were just waiting to put him in the ground, so they could come here and find his treasures. Lord help them all now. Reality has a way of showing you the errors of your ways sometimes, when you least expect it. Now finally, the world is crashing down on them.”