Chapter 7

We had been in position for a couple of hours when I heard a double click. I had the volume down but held the HT to my ear. Janice said, "They are coming up this road. They have to help Jeremy. Be careful in case there are more from somewhere." That was my sister. She was suspicious of a trap.

Jen's position was such that she could support my lane and Janice's lane. I was trying to watch as much country as possible. I couldn't see Janice's road well and knew I wasn't a good enough shooter to hit something at that distance like a man. I continued to watch my road. I'm glad I did as there were three more trying to walk up my road and not be seen. "Janice, we have three on a lane that I'm covering."

"Roger," came her voice.

Joe said, "We found a road, too. It's clear but we will watch it carefully."

Janice said, "Okay, quiet now and get ready. Mike, shoot when you need to. Either you or I will be the signal. Ed, Joe, maintain your positions."

The guys coming up my road were more ready for trouble so I waited for one to come into view well and shot him dead. The other two scattered and dropped. I heard Janice and Bennie shoot. I waited and one of my guys crawled into view. Jen could see him and shot him as he crawled. He collapsed and lay still. I could barely see the third. He raised his hands in the air so I didn't try to shoot him. He rolled onto his back keeping his hands up. We stayed in position waiting.

Five minutes of silence passed and nothing seemed to be happening.

Janice and I had done this with animals and we waited some more. Way off to my right, I heard noise and then a shot. The radio came on with Joe's voice, "Ed's wounded!"

Janice responded, "Stay down. There's more of them somewhere. Is Ed bleeding badly?"

Ed came on, "No, it's just a crease. I stood but they almost missed. I dropped like I was dead though. I have the radio and Joe is watching."

"Okay, Bennie will head your way and give you support."

"Thanks."

We waited some more. Shots rang out from my right again. Silence, then Ed said, "Bennie got 'em. Joe and I never did see him or them."

Bennie said, "Stay down, everyone. Mike, is yours able to crawl toward you?"

"Yes, I'll get him over and question him."

I silently moved over closer to the road so the guy with his hands up could hear a loud whisper. "On your hands and knees, come toward my voice slowly. Try anything at all and you'll die right there." He nodded and crawled forward leaving his rifle behind. "That's close enough. Toss your pistol and any knives away from you. If I find a weapon later, I will kill you. He pulled his pistol and tossed it away. He pulled two knives and tossed them, too.

"That's it." He said.

"Okay, how many were in your group?"

"Three on my side, three in the middle with Jeremy, and four on the other side."

I keyed the radio. "He reports three on my road. Janice, there were three with Jeremy and four over where Bennie went to help Ed and Joe."

"I haven't seen the third one yet. Two are dead and Jeremy is staying down."

"I shot all four on this side." Bennie said. "Let's be careful. We seem to still have one loose."

Jen said, "Damn!" and shot. "That takes care of the one left on Janice's road."

"Okay, Jen got the last one. Stay down for a while, just in case."

We let another five minutes pass. I slowly came out from behind my tree and approached my prisoner. "Okay, fool. Stand up," He stood. "Now, drop your pants around your ankles.'

"I'm not wearing anything under them," he lamented.

"I don't care. Dying is worse than being embarrassed. Drop 'em."

He unfastened the waist and let his pants fall to his ankles. "Now, walk slowly toward me." He took a few more hobbling paces. "Close enough." He stopped. "Now, tell me about your people."

He was shaking with fear. "Please don't kill me. I live in Gleeas." That's what it sounded like to me. He continued, "Six of us live there with our women. Well, four now, Donald and Gerald are dead." He swallowed convulsively. "We came to help after Abbott and Charles found Jeremy and heard his story. They were afraid you would come back. We came to help them if they needed it."

"Who's back at your place?"

"My brother, Alfred, and Chauncey, and Stephan. They needed to stay and watch the women and do chores."

"When will they start looking for you?"

"Late this afternoon."

"Okay, who were the four on the other side of Jeremy and his people?"

"They live in Cadle. They just left one man to watch their women. They work their women hard. Harder than we do."

That meant we had two more rescue stops to make, probably. "Okay. Back up against that tree." He did and I came forward. "You are still being watched so don't try anything. I took one hand and tied it. I walked around the tree and pulled the other hand back and tied him tightly to the tree. I then threw a rope over a tree limb and pulled it down. I tied one end around his neck tight enough to be uncomfortable. I took the other end and looped it around his privates pulling the rope just tight enough to be sure I had his attention. "Why don't you stay put for a while?" I asked rhetorically.

I returned to Jen who was giggling at his bulging eyes and he realized that moving at all could choke him and emasculate him. "I think he will wait for us there," she giggled some more. We waked over to Janice who was standing in the road with Jeremy. He had not fared well being left overnight at the pier. Something had gnawed on his leg and he had bite marks all over his arms and face.

"Didn't you have a prisoner?" she asked.

"Yes, I left him tied up like Dad described one time. He wants to stay real still."

Janice chuckled. "I'm thinking about doing the same with our little lost lamb here." She kicked his hurt leg and he groaned.

Joe came up and said, "Bennie sent me. He said all of his are dead. He will bring Ed directly to the camp."

Janice and I both nodded. Janice said, "Let's take this one into the camp. What about yours?"

"I guess we shouldn't leave him there. I doubt it but someone might come by." She nodded and Jen and I moved back to where we were. Jen went to him and untied the rope around his neck and pulled it off the tree limb. I went behind the tree and untied one wrist. He let his hands drop. Jen pulled him forward by the rope still attached at his groin. He squeaked and stumbled forward. I came behind him and tied his hands together.

"Come along, little boy," Jen said. He moaned and walked stumbling since his pants were still around his ankles. We went slowly along the road with me keeping watch on either side and the back. It took awhile but we eventually made it to camp. You could tell he was in some pain from the rope pulling him forward.

We called George and told him everything. He was to stay out in the bay for now. We had plenty of people. Jen patched Ed's arm verifying that it was only a crease. Our prisoner's name was Eddie. She made Eddie sit down and gave the rope to one of the older women. He was in some pain because she kept tension on the line.

We held a council of war. "I have found that there are two more communities that hold women. That's where the other men came from." I said.

Janice said, "Then the question is, do we attempt anything to help them?"

"Right, I don't think these women can handle that chore and I hate to leave someone in this situation." Jen said.

"We need more information but Eddie will be glad to tell everything he knows." I said and grinned. I continued, "I'm sure Jeremy will be glad to assist us, also."

"Okay, we need to talk to them to get an idea of the locations, who's there, and what they're likely to be doing." Jen said. "Annie, would you bring Eddie over here, please." Annie, the older woman, grinned and pulled Eddie toward us by the rope. He squeaked some more but he followed her dragging his pants from his ankles, his hands still tied behind him.