black friday
DESCRIPTION
The war on terrorism comes home to America, once againTRANSCRIPT
Black Friday
A
Short Story
By
B Y Rogers
Published by B Y Rogers at Smashwords
Copyright 2011 B Y RogersAll Rights reserved
http://byrogers.blogspot.com
by_rogers (Twitter)
Cover Design by
Todd Hebertson
Black Friday
November 23, 2012
Midnight
He parked the used Chevrolet Colorado precisely where he had
been told, near the street, with the bed of the truck pointing towards
the curb. There was a large, narrow cardboard box strapped in the bed
of the small truck, about the size and shape of a bicycle box. The
young man tried to move the box when he had gotten out of the
vehicle, testing its weight, curious about its contents but it wouldn't
budge. He was told not to touch it, so he didn't press his luck. He
checked the time on his cell phone then grabbed the backpack from
the passenger seat as quick as he could. The truck keys at the bottom
of his pocket jingling like tiny Christmas bells as he walked across the
parking lot toward the megastore. He wore a dirty, faded Red Sox
baseball cap underneath his unwashed gray hoodie that he left
unzipped around his torso. He quickly moved toward the store,
weaving his way between other doomed shoppers who were rushing in
the same direction.
"There he is."
"I see him. So far so good."
The short, skinny, white kid really wasn't much more than a child in
a seventeen-year-old body but his heart and mind raged with an
uncontrollable anger. It had burned for most of a decade. Yet, if you
were to ask him, he would tell he was smart, smarter than most kids
his age. And tonight he was feeling smart, very smart indeed. His
handlers had told him many times over the past few weeks they had
great plans for him. They had played on his ego, telling him how much
he was needed. They had fed him pizza and beer, gave him cigarettes
and a new game console along with some cash to buy his favorite
games, all the while reassuring him that he and he alone possessed
the skills, the brains and the courage, to do what needed to be done.
They promised him that one day he would be a great leader in the new
world army, with soldiers of his own to command. But first there was
this mission, this very, very important mission.
He hadn't felt this wanted in his entire life, not in the endless string
of foster homes that had held him captive for as long as he could
remember. Not even his adoptive, materialistic parents and their
worthless, spoiled brats they were selfishly proud of. Nothing and no
one had ever made him feel the way he was feeling except the men
who had found him just a few weeks ago. They told him that very soon
all of America would know his name. He believed them.
"I can't see the backpack, my angle isn't right," the less
experienced handler said from behind the steering wheel.
"He's carrying it, low, in his left hand, just as he was told." The older
of the two handlers was sitting in the passenger seat of the car. He
kept his night vision binoculars on the young man with the pimpled
face until he disappeared inside the store across the four-lane street. It
was just a few minutes after midnight.
A huge clot of people were serried together next to the rows of
shopping carts, making the boy's progress to the drop point seemingly
impossible. Not twenty feet in front of him, two stacks of large, gaily-
wrapped boxes rose nearly ten feet from the floor. Two long tables had
been set up between the cardboard pillars, where a heaving mound of
candy was displayed. The entire affair intruded into the entryway,
narrowing the access into the store. To complicate the scene, over a
dozen sugar starved, border line obese customers were ransacking the
treasure, pushing and shoving each other aside with reckless abandon.
The sale hadn't been on for ten minutes and he has seen enough.
"He's inside. What time is it?"
"Eight minutes after."
The teenager had been told precisely what his purpose was, what to
do and how much time he had to accomplish it. There was no margin
of error if he wanted to escape, if he wanted to live to fight another, if
he wanted to live his dream. There could be no delay.
He reached out with his free hand, knifing his way through the mass
of humanity colliding from all directions while clutching the heavy
backpack close to his chest with his left arm. It was bulky with all of
the weight at the bottom but easy to grasp. He was careful with it. He
knew its contents. He fought his way around the confection mob to find
hundreds of early bird patrons jostling their shopping carts against
each other, searching for the quickest, shortest route to the checkout.
They seemed to constantly change lanes as carelessly as they did on
the freeways during rush hour every Friday evening.
He pulled his hood tight around his ball cap and walked to the rear
of the first row of consumers, hoping to circumnavigate around the
traffic. But the line, in fact all of the lines bent and curved haphazardly,
stretching deeper into the store. He began pushing he way through the
sea of shoppers. "Sorry, that's my mom," he said to the nearest
person, pointing randomly at a woman a row or two from where he
was. He repeated the lie several more times as he inched his way
forward, row-by-row. Eventually he was at the middle cash register,
next to a small, human sized cooler offering cold soda to the
compulsive buyer. He maneuvered a shopper and her cart out of the
way, offering his smiling apology once more. When he was behind the
woman he claimed to be his mother, he furtively let the backpack slip
from his grip to the floor. He slid it with his foot behind the cooler,
squeezing it out of sight. In the frenzied atmosphere for unneeded
products that they could not afford, no one noticed. Empty handed, he
slipped past the woman with a nod and raced to the exit doors on the
north side of the building.
"What time is it?"
"12:11. He has four minutes."
"If he doesn't get out now, he is going to be in there when it
happens."
"So long as he is out of the building before I call, everything will be
alright. He can be a little late getting to the corner. In the end, it
doesn't matter either way."
"What does that mean?"
The older man did not reply.
A minute later the homegrown terrorist exited the 200,000 square
foot store and, as he had been instructed. He sidled along the building
until the incoming crowd thinned. When he was near the corner of the
building, he picked up his gait and put his hands in his jacket pockets,
again as he had been instructed.
"He's remembering his cues. All clear," said the first handler as he
lowered the binoculars to his lap.
"He'll make it. Patience."
The anarchists had parked near the back of a plumbing business
across the street where their line of sight to the front doors to the
superstore was almost perfect. The man in the driver's seat lightly
strummed his fingers on his leg, while the other calmly watched the
seconds tick away on his cell phone, as if he were listening to the echo
his own heartbeat.
Perhaps a mile or two to the south, near the mall, the night sky
suddenly erupted like a fireball, a brilliant yellow orange glow
permeating the darkness. The trees and buildings between the
explosion and the store were highlighted as the glare rimmed the
horizon like a sunset. A millisecond later a shock wave blew across the
treetops, rattling windows and shaking the cars in its path. The boy in
the gray hoodie barely stopped to look up.
The calm man in the car, the one in the passenger seat, raised his
eyebrows. He looked at his cell phone as it continued to read 12:14,
the colon mark between the hour and minutes blinking away the
seconds. "Whoever was given that target was a little impatient," he
said. "I will have to speak to him later." The man sitting in the driver's
seat did not reply. He felt strange but could not figure out why.
Less than one minute later, at precisely 12:15, the handler pushed
the number five in the middle of his dialer. The speed dial took over. It
was just a matter of seconds now. The driver licked his lips and looked
out the windshield at the store as his fingers clenched the steering
wheel.
The young man was almost speed walking now, wanting to get as
far away as he could without being noticed. He kept his head down,
ignoring the glowing light in the distance as best he could. He pulled
his cell phone out as he rushed along, checking the time. He looked up,
to see where he was going, estimating how much time he had. It was
down to seconds, if he wasn't late already.
Far in the distance, police and fire sirens could be heard wailing in
the night air, as if to wake the faint, sleeping stars overhead. As
several people in the parking lot stopped and turned toward the south,
looking at the glowing atmosphere.
The cell phone hidden in the backpack stuffed behind the cooler
inside the discount store received its signal. The altered power supply,
enhanced by a nine-volt battery, sent its electricity out, charging into
the detonator not two inches away, which was imbedded inside five
pounds of plastic explosive.
The blast shook everything within a half-mile radius of the super
store. Cars on the freeway behind the store were shoved into the next
lane from the concussion, banging into each other like bumper cars at
the amusement park. It was worse in the parking lot, where those
parked closest to the store where tossed on top of each other like logs
ready to be burned. Trees around the block shivered in the shockwave
while windows in the line of fire shattered and disappeared.
Inside the store, hundreds of greedy, decadent holiday discount
hunters had just been hunted. The fireball consumed everyone and
everything near the front of the store, carving a large lacuna in the
store front, which was then covered by the collapsed ceiling. Those
along the far edges inside the store who were not killed, or maimed
and burned beyond the ability to move, panicked after being thrust to
the floor. Their senses disconnected, primal instinct took over as they
clamored for the exits. Inside the store and out in the parking lot,
victims scrambled over the dead and dying in whatever direction their
blinded eyes led through the burning inventory. Some raced out the
back of the store into the narrow shipping dock. Others found their way
through the smoking carnage to the front, exiting out the gaping hole
where the doors once stood. Wave after wave of the bleeding and
burned innocents stumbled, unable to hear, unwilling to speak, barely
able to see, their skulls void of rational thought. A lucky few
instinctively tried to help those they could, but there were more
needing help than there were helpers.
Thirty minutes earlier, long before the young man or the handlers
had arrived, a soon to be retired couple had retired for the night. Black
Friday was a baffling event better left to others, they thought. They
were long asleep before the superstore began filling up. Had they been
awake, and owned an effective set of binoculars, they would have
shaken their heads in horror as they watched from the patio deck in
their backyard. But they were much too old for such foolishness so
they went to bed as they did every night, right after the news, when
the sleeping aid began to take effect. As such, they were not awake
when their front door was easily compromised shortly before midnight.
A very lean, strong middle-aged man entered their home, deftly
walked to their bedroom in the dark as if he had been born blind in the
same house. He gently put a silent bullet squarely into each of their
dreamless heads. By the time both hands on the kitchen clock seemed
to be old mating lovers, the killer had taken up his position on the
patio, sitting behind his rifle that was mounted on a tripod, the night
scope already in place. He was simply waiting for his cue.
Despite the explosion, the young man didn't stop until he was under
the canopy at the gas station, taking up his position exactly as he was
told, next to the garbage can by the gas pumps nearest the store, so
he could be recognized in his baseball cap and gray hoodie when he
was picked up. By now, he could hear sirens all around him. First
responders seemed to be coming and going in every direction, their
emergency lights crisscrossing like falling stars. He could see the
wounded men and women staggering side-to-side, delirious and
incoherent, like in the zombie apocalypse games he played endlessly
on his game console. It was just as he had imagined.
The sniper on the deck had taken his position after the explosion,
the butt of his rifle snug against his shoulder. Through his scope, he
could see a man with a beer belly helping another man. They were
attempting to get to the sidewalk, with a befuddled string of humanity
struggling to follow, all limping past the Chevrolet Colorado. When he
thought they were enough of them near the street, he put the
crosshairs of his scope on the cardboard box in the back of a small
truck behind them and calmly squeezed the trigger. The bullet passed
unheard overhead of the two men, piercing the bicycle box. The old
truck exploded in less than a twinkle of an overhead star. Everybody
within thirty feet, including the man who foolishly wanted to help, died
in an explosion he never heard nor felt.
The soon to be Captain in the new world army was leaning against a
gas pump, his knees shaking but his heart singing songs of his
newfound freedom. He was practically jumping with glee as he
surveyed the scene before him. People were screaming in pain as they
ran or stumbled away from the store and the burning truck. There was
body lying prone in flames next to the building where he had walked
just moments before. He couldn't tell if it was male or female. He
smiled. It was only the beginning and he couldn't be happier. He could
see himself, years from now in a Colonel's uniform, with many such
bombings credited to his name, and countless, unnamed victims
virtually writhing in agony on the ground before him. He could smell
victory and retribution in the air.
The police were moving around the parking lot preventing any
volunteers from coming to the rescue. The gas stations at both ends of
the street were filling up with spectators. The young man standing at
the gas station had to fight the urge to move closer to the mayhem,
where he could get a better view, perhaps to laugh in their faces. But
like the dutiful recruit he was, he stood his post, unable to see as much
as he desired because of all the taller gawkers that were now joining
him. Frustrated, he chose instead to simply sit on top of the trash bin.
From his position on the deck, the sniper could count four separate
fires spread out before him. Something sparked on his left, catching his
attention. He squinted to see flashing emergency lights on top of a
moving vehicle, whirling red and blue before fusing into flashing pink
blur. He watched a fire engine lean heavily to the right as it careened
into the parking lot, jarring itself over the curb. The gunman looked
through his scope as the fire truck coasted to a stop. Well-trained
firemen scrambled out in various directions, each with their
assignments as the engine came within reach of the burning truck. A
square jawed muscular looking fireman stepped off the back with a fire
hose in hand, dragging his end toward a hydrant. One man, older,
taller and leaner than the first, yanked a wrench out of the side panel
and rushed to the hydrant as the first secured the hose to the nozzle.
As the hose was being attached, he slapped the wrench over the valve
and he held his position, ready to release the water. When the hose
was fastened, the fireman stood up then promptly collapsed.
"What was that?"
"What?" the older man replied. He was looking at his cell phone,
getting ready to make another call.
"Did you see that? Someone shot him... his head..."
"Shot who?"
"Look at that fireman," the revolutionary said, pointing out the
windshield. "On the ground next to the fire hydrant. I was looking at
him when his helmet exploded."
The older fireman, the one with the wrench, stood dumbfounded
before the square jawed fireman who was laying on the ground, his
legs were still twitching. Suddenly the taller, leaner fireman's helmet
jerked sideways, twisting off and flying away. The front of the man's
head seemed to follow.
"You want to tell me what is going on? I wasn't told about this."
"Don't concern yourself with it."
"Does D.C. know?"
"No. No need to tell them."
"Did Geneva sanction it?"
"Geneva is just the money."
"Zurich?"
"I would strongly advise you to not concern yourself."
Frustrated, the junior handler turned back around, looking at the
flock of firemen now surrounding their dead comrades. A cop had
arrived, carrying a roll of yellow security tape. He looked at the bodies,
dropped the tape and put his hand on his gun, slowly pulling it out as
he began to look around.
"Don't move, don't even slump down in your seat," the senior
handler said.
"Stupid," the sniper said.
As silently as the first two firemen were struck, the policeman's
head jerked backwards violently as most of his skull peppered the
coats behind him like malevolent gravel. His body fell, striking the
nearest fireman in the chest. Panic reigned as the firemen competed
for protection behind the fire engine, leaving the three bodies as they
were, their life draining out in the dark. One fireman, a military veteran
ducked as he ran to the nearest body. He grabbed the back of the
man's coat, dragging him toward the fire engine. He never made it.
Ambulances streamed in from all directions, each taking the
shortest, quickest way into the parking lot, oblivious to the secondary
event that was unfolding near the fire hydrant. When no progress was
made towards suppressing the fire, another policeman began walking
towards the fire truck when a 50-caliber bullet struck him, the bullet
piercing his vest before splitting his chest. He went down unnoticed.
The man on the patio of the now semi-lifeless house four blocks away,
blithely continued his hunt, patiently bringing down as many people as
he could, all of them falling to the ground, forgotten in the mayhem.
"Who you calling now?"
"Is there anything more I haven't been told about?"
"No. That is all the surprises."
"You could have told me."
"Get ready to make your call. Then we are done for the night."
The second handler tried to calm his growing anxiety. He was not
happy that the battle had not unfolded as he had been told. He did not
like being uninformed; it made him feel misinformed, like he couldn't
be trusted. Annoyed and confused, he hoped his superior in the other
seat did not notice his trembling fingers. He looked at his cell phone,
preparing to make his last call. He looked up at the man for
permission.
The terrorist in the passenger seat nodded his head then looked at
his own phone. As he pressed the seven key on his dialer, his trainee
pressed the four key. Seconds later, two explosions, one at each end of
the block, rocked the area as the tiny food mart sandwiched between
the surrounding fuel pumps disappeared. Dozens of new victims
vanished, including the young hero who was sitting on top of his trash
heap, evaporating into the night like a meteor shower. The station on
the north, a quarter mile away from the handlers, lost its underground
fuel tanks moments later, the concussion from the blast violently
tossing the barricades in the street aside.
The second handler was mesmerized by what he saw while his
director was all business. The bystanders who had drifted in front of
their car stood on their toes in a terror they would never forget. War
had been declared as far as they knew and they were the enemy. It
was 9/11, brought home.
As the man behind the steering wheel strained to see through the
audience in front of him, his controller quickly drew his pistol with the
silencer attached, out of his shoulder holster beneath his jacket,
putting a bullet into the temple of his partner. He let the dead man
slump over against the driver side window where he would be found in
the morning.
The mercenary reached up and with the butt of his pistol, smashed
the overhead light before carefully, quietly stepping out of the
darkened car. No one noticed. He walked around the back of the
building and up the slight incline of the hill to where the sniper was
waiting. As he did, he pressed the number one key on this phone. It
would take more than a few seconds for his call to be answered.
Six hours and a quarter of the world away, a phone rang on the
desk of a man already very much awake despite such an early hour. It
was just one of many calls he would receive in a very short period of
time.
"Ja?"
"B-four. Done."
"Danke."
At 1 AM, a black semi-tractor with red stripes was pulling a double
trailer south on I-95. The trailers were completely filled with the
dreams of every boy and girl for the upcoming holiday, all scheduled
for delivery in time for Christmas.
The driver was a divorced man. He had missed Thanksgiving. If you
asked him, he would tell you that he didn't mind, he had no family to
be with, no wife nor children. He didn't mind working holidays so at
least one other driver could be with their family. But he did care. He
just wouldn't say so.
At that moment, being home was far from his mind. Every radio
station on the dial was blaring with the same news. All up and down
the east coast, a hundred attacks had killed untold thousands of
civilians. He couldn't believe it.
Several minutes later as he plodded along in the night in his truck in
a heavily wooded area, another freedom fighter pointed his RPG
towards the approaching semi. It was so easy.
*****