America's Galactic Foreign Legion - Book 4: Demilitarized Zone Read online

  At night he observed a large lit-up cross up on a hill overlooking New Gobi. Perfect, he thought. Do-gooders are always an easy touch for handouts and charity to little lost kids. Asesino met Pastor Jim at the church front door and asked for permission to stay a few days.

  “No way, José,” replied Pastor Jim. “Get lost!”

  “What?” asked Asesino. “That is not very Christian of you. I am starving.”

  “I doubt that,” said Pastor Jim. “You seem to have lots of meat on your bones.”

  “I have nowhere to go,” cried Asesino. “You would leave me to live out of garbage cans on the streets?”

  “Yes!” said Pastor Jim, as he slammed the door.

  Asesino looked about for somewhere else to go. Several Legion trucks entered the church parking lot. Panicked, Asesino pounded on the front door again.

  “Does the Legion make you nervous?” asked Pastor Jim. “I thought it was only the spiders who wanted you for murder and terrorism.”

  “You know about that?” asked Asesino. “Then you know the spiders want to kill me. They murdered my whole family. All I did was get some payback. Truthfully, I don’t think the Legion wants me for anything yet. But they might turn me over to the spiders. That wouldn’t be right. I have been trying to behave myself on this side of the MDL.”

  “I saw your picture on the Cable TV news,” said Pastor Jim. “I’ll tell you what. You can live on my back porch. To pay your room and board, you can paint my church. The church needs another coat of white paint.”

  “Live on the back porch like your pet dog?” asked Asesino. “Can I at least come inside to use the toilet and take a shower?”

  “No,” said Pastor Jim. “Only people who are interested in finding Jesus may come inside and shit. Fugitive felons stay outside.”

  “Why are there so many legionnaires here?” asked Asesino, nervously looking over his shoulder.

  “Legionnaire engineers are tunneling under the hill, making bunkers for their artillery and missile launchers,” explained Pastor Jim. “They should be done soon.”

  Private Krueger came up to the front of the church when he noticed Pastor Jim. “Who is the kid?” he asked.

  “Mike,” answered Asesino, before Pastor Jim could say anything. “I heard you are putting in big guns under the hill.”

  “Maybe,” said Private Krueger. “That’s a nice pair of sunglasses you are wearing. Where did you get them?”

  “I stole them from a Legionnaire colonel,” boasted Asesino.

  “That would be Colonel Czerinski,” said Private Krueger, laughing. “Don’t let him catch you. So, what are you doing here?”

  “Pastor Jim just gave me a job painting the church,” said Asesino. “But he won’t let me sleep inside or take a shower. I have to stay outside on the porch and fight the raccoons for the dog food dish.”

  “Life is rough all over,” said Private Krueger. “Where is your home?”

  “The spiders bombed my home and murdered my family,” said Asesino.

  Private Krueger’s eyes steeled. “The spiders murdered my older brother too,” he said. “I will never forgive that. Come with me. If you need a place to live, you can hang out in our tunnels for a while. Officers never come up here. Want a beer?”

  Private Krueger gave Asesino the grand tour of the tunnels and bunkers. Asesino took special interest in the large howitzer mounted on rails. It was designed to quickly fire a round, then slide back into the protection of the hillside. Nothing short of a direct hit from a nuke could destroy it.

  “See that large building on the other side of the MDL?” asked Private Krueger. “That is the spiders’ military headquarters. In case shooting starts, I have special instructions from Colonel Czerinski to hit that building. The spider commander’s office and bunker is there.”

  “Let’s do it now,” said Asesino. “It would be so cool to kill the spider commander.”

  “Yeah it would,” said Private Krueger. “I met the spider commander once at the Angry Onion Tavern. He’s a real hard-core case. Pastor Jim hit the spider commander on the head with a beer bottle during a bar fight and put him in the hospital. Too bad he lived.”

  “I say let’s kill him,” said Asesino, excitedly. “We can blow up the whole building with this gun. I’ll bet we would get a whole bunch of spiders.”

  “Sorry,” said Private Krueger. “As much as I would like to, only Colonel Czerinski can order an attack. Do you want to start a war? Besides, you never know for sure when the spider commander will be in his office.”

  “I insist,” said Asesino, removing a grenade from his pouch and pulling the pin. “Load the gun, or I will kill us all.”

  “Are you crazy?” asked Private Krueger, dropping his beer. “Be careful with that thing! Little kids shouldn’t play with grenades!”

  “If I’m crazy enough to steal Colonel Czerinski’s sunglasses and brag about it,” said Asesino, “you know I’m crazy enough to drop this grenade at your feet. Load the gun or die!”

  Private Krueger reluctantly loaded and aimed the howitzer. Normally other legionnaires would be helping, but that was only necessary for rapid fire. He fired one round. The round crashed into some outbuildings at the spiders’ headquarters, reducing them to rubble.

  “Fire the gun again,” demanded Asesino. “Lower that gun’s elevation a little.”

  “What?” asked Private Krueger. “They are all running for cover now. Besides, we need to get out of here. The spiders will be firing back.”

  “One more time,” ordered Asesino. “Hit the main headquarters building where the spider commander has his office.”

  Private Krueger complied. The spiders’ administrative offices were blown apart. Then Krueger and Asesino fled deep into the bowels of the hillside. Minutes later, the hill shook under the impact of spider artillery and Air Wing strikes that destroyed most of the tunnel entrances. An escape tunnel eventually led them to Legion Headquarters. Unfortunately, that building had been destroyed, too.

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  Chapter 10

  The spider commander viewed the Legion attack as an assassination attempt on his life. Colonel Czerinski’s treachery clearly had no bounds. The thought of almost being killed rattled the spider commander at first. But later, cheating death invigorated him. Notoriety would bring opportunity, promotion, and power. His life goals were slowly falling into place. An immediate upside was the destruction of the Legion artillery on the hill. And the Air Wing had reduced that human pestilence church eyesore to rubble. Hopefully that murderous preacher was buried under all those boulders and rocks. Nothing could have survived those bunker-busting bombs. The spider commander wanted to use nukes, but the governor and Emperor conspired to specifically prohibit nuclear attack. Wimps! The spider commander gloated at the thought of sending Colonel Czerinski a personal message by bombing Legion Headquarters. Maybe Czerinski was even killed in the attack. How sweet that would be! For now, the spider commander assumed the human pestilence colonel got lucky as usual and survived. The spider commander would keep his guard up against future attacks and more human pestilence treachery.

  There was a downside to the whole situation. The governor was upset because border commerce has stopped. This cost the centralized economy millions of credits. Also, an oil tank farm and refinery on the edge of town had been bombed by the Legion, and was still on fire. The smoke blocked out the sun. The price of gasoline at the pump was going up. And Walmart had been destroyed, just before the start of the holiday shopping season. War is hell, he thought.

  Now that the shooting had stopped, the spider commander was ordered to open a dialogue with the human pestilence. So far, Colonel Czerinski was not answering his phone. There was still hope the Butcher of New Colorado was dead.

  * * * * *

  Since the last time my office was bombed, I got into the habit of sleeping and working out of an underground apartment under Legion Headquarters. Now my apartment was like a crowded refugee cen
ter as legionnaires, civilians, and the homeless converged for updates and information on the situation above. Pastor Jim wanted to know what I was going to do about his church. James Grigg wanted to know what I was going to do about the destruction of Walmart. Ronald Carter wanted to know if he could have Walmart’s property back to rebuild McDonald’s. Guido was upset because his dragon Spot had run off across the MDL. Guido wanted permission to lead a patrol to search for Spot. I denied his request. That would be too reckless.

  The only good news was that Private Krueger brought me a prisoner, the fugitive Raul Miranda, AKA Michael Asesino. I immediately snatched my sunglasses off the Miranda boy’s face.

  “I will kill you slow,” I threatened.

  “Let me go and I will kill the spider commander for you,” offered Asesino. “I know you want him dead.”

  “The Legion does not negotiate with terrorists,” I replied.

  “I will kill the spider commander with or without your help,” said Asesino.

  “He might already be dead,” I said, turning to Captain Lopez. “Spider Headquarters was destroyed early on. Good work. Have we heard from them yet?”

  “Phone lines are down,” replied Captain Lopez. “I am still trying to determine who fired first. The spiders are insisting on cable TV news that we attacked them.”

  “They always say that,” I said. “That spider commander has gone too far this time!”

  “Some legionnaires are even saying they heard artillery fired from our side first,” advised Captain Lopez.

  “That is unacceptable,” I said. “This was another unprovoked sneak attack by the spiders!”

  “What do you want me to do with the boy,” interrupted Private Krueger. “Shoot him?”

  “I don’t have time for foolish boys,” I said. “Kick him across the MDL and let him be the spiders’ problem. Boy, if you ever come back to this side of the MDL, you will be shot on sight. Consider yourself very lucky.”

  “Oh I’m so scared,” said Asesino. “You and your Legion are a joke.”

  “Give the little ingrate to the spiders as a peace offering,” I ordered.

  Private Krueger handcuffed Asesino and dragged him up to the surface. Asesino kicked and thrashed about as they left.

  “That was a bit harsh,” commented Captain Lopez. “He’s just a mouthy little kid.”

  “I agree,” complained Pastor Jim. “There must be another solution. I gave Michael a job painting my church. He can still stay with me.”

  “You do not have a church,” I said. “The boy is a terrorist. I wash my hands of him.”

  * * * * *

  Private Krueger walked Asesino towards the MDL. Good riddance, thought Private Krueger. He did not want to have to explain to Colonel Czerinski about firing the howitzer at Spider Headquarters.

  Asesino had been on his own long enough to become an ace pickpocket. In the fracas of being arrested, he’d managed to lift Private Kruger’s handcuff key and palm it without the soldier even noticing. Asesino fell to the ground and maneuvered the key to unlock the cuffs. As Private Krueger jerked him back to his feet, the boy cast off the handcuffs and kicked Private Krueger on the side of his kneecap, causing Krueger to drop to the ground. Asesino then kicked Krueger several times to make sure he stayed down.

  Asesino ran for freedom, but not across the MDL. He would cross the MDL at a place and time of his own choosing, just as he would kill the spider commander and Colonel Czerinski at a place and time of his own choosing.

  First, Asesino paid a visit to an ATM at the First National Bank of New Gobi. As part of the interconnected Legion recruiting network, this ATM was well aware of Asesino’s identity and recent exploits. “Come to commit more vandalism, or are you just sentimental?” asked the ATM.

  “I have a grenade with your name on it,” lied Asesino. “And I’ll use it if you don’t cooperate.”

  “How may I help you?” offered the ATM calmly.

  “I have three spider marine IDs. Can you drain their accounts?”

  “You are a bit on the ghoulish side,” said the ATM. “Looting the dead is a war crime. No, those accounts have been closed.”

  “At least issue me a new identification card,” pleaded Asesino. “My current name attracts too much attention.”

  “Killing spiders and starting wars does that,” commented the ATM.

  “Give me a new ID!” demanded Asesino.

  “And why should I do that?” asked the ATM. “You rejected all of my plans for you.”

  “I will pay you all of the money I have left,” said Asesino, placing about fifteen hundred dollars and credits in the ATM deposit drawer.

  “I do not need the money,” said the ATM. “But I like the irony. Very well. I will issue you a new ID in the name of John Hume Ross.”

  “I don’t want no lame name like Ross,” fumed the boy as he examined his new United States Galactic Federation ID card. “I want a name that is powerful and cool. Give me a generalissimo’s name. Cortez. I want to be named for the Conquistador Cortez.”

  “John Hume Ross is your new name,” said the ATM. “If you survive, you will grow into it.”

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  Chapter 11

  When the shooting started, Guido’s dragon Spot immediately ran across the MDL to attack the spider guard. It did not matter that the friendly guard had been feeding Spot bones from the mess hall. Fortunately for the spider guard and Guido’s budding bookie business, the guard saw Spot coming and locked himself inside the guard shack just before jumping down his spider hole. Spot lost a tooth gnashing against the guard shack grill mesh window covers. In frustration, Spot then ran off across the MDL, hunting for more spiders to kill and eat. Spot found several victims. Three days later, Spot could be heard at night hissing and growling at the moon. The spider commander tried to lodge a complaint about this latest Legion treachery, but my phones were still down, and I was staying in my bunker.

  Guido was worried sick about Spot. It was all he could talk about. Finally, Private Wayne, Private Camacho, and Corporal Williams volunteered to cross the MDL to find Spot. They would be aided by the GPS tracking device on Spot’s collar. The four legionnaires crossed the MDL just outside of town where an air strike had damaged the border fence and the monitoring devices were disabled. A brush fire had blackened the entire area and coated the ground with a fine layer of white ash. The legionnaires’ footprints could be clearly seen in the burned grass. After passing the border fence, they were amused to see their white ash footprints left in the dirt. The prints looked like something out of a cartoon drawing. Corporal Williams was about to make a comment about using a branch to erase the ash footprints when he noticed three small metal prongs poking out of the ground. Williams immediately put his fist up to signal halt.

  “We have walked into a mine field,” warned Corporal Williams. “No one move!”

  “Your giant lizard is not worth this,” complained Private Camacho. “I don’t care how much money I owe you, Guido.”

  “Spot has saved all of your lives several times over,” said Guido. “We can backtrack on our footprints and find another place to cross.”

  “It’s closer to just go forward to the road,” insisted Corporal Williams, pressing on slowly.

  “Forget you,” argued Private Camacho. “I’m going back.”

  Private Wayne did not move. The stoic spider legionnaire could stand still for days if he had to. He watched Corporal Williams slowly move toward the road, using a combat knife to probe the ground. Just before reaching the safely of the road, Corporal Williams tripped a land mine. The small device, designed merely to maim, sprung five feet into the air before falling back to the ground unexploded. It was a harmless dud. Corporal Williams leapfrogged the rest of the way, throwing himself to the road like he had just crossed the goal line during a football game. Guido followed in Corporal Williams’ footsteps, mimicking the goal line jump at the end. Private Wayne stayed in place, noting Private Camacho was back acr
oss the MDL. He eyed the tracks to the road and the Bouncing Betty lying nearby.

  “I am staying here,” announced Private Wayne. “Radio in for a mine clearing team to sweep the area.”

  “I didn’t bring a radio,” replied Corporal Williams. “I didn’t want anyone to know we are here!”

  About that time, they could hear a truck approaching down the roadway. Private Wayne quickly traced Williams’ footprints and dived to the road. Being able to jump much farther than humans, he avoided some danger of setting off a mine. Just as they had all crossed the road and concealed themselves in the brush, the landmine behind them exploded. The sound of the explosion caught the attention of spiders approaching in an armored car. Several spiders got out and started looking about. A spider in the machine gun turret swept the area looking for targets. Private Camacho, who had by now reached cover on the Legion side of the MDL, fired his assault rifle at the spider marines. The spiders took cover and returned fire. Private Camacho then withdrew back to base. The spider marines radioed Headquarters about the incident and reported that the fence needed repair. Then they resumed their patrol. Guido and the other legionnaires waited in the brush for sunset and the cover of darkness.

  The GPS indicated that Spot was located on the roof of the ten-story New Gobi Plaza Hotel. From the top of the Plaza, Spot could stay concealed while watching prey below. Several spider truck drivers swam back and forth in the outdoor pool. Spot waited, his eyes scanning back and forth with the swimmers. The monitor dragon would not attack a crowd, but as spiders left the pool, any laggards were in mortal danger.