The Blood of Patriots

Chapter 5: The Anarchist

My toes tingle. My entire body from my chest on down has that numb pins-and-needles feeling like your leg gets when it falls asleep. When my vision returns I see that stupid green hat lying in the grass just beyond the edge the underside of a moldy piece of canvas tarp which covers me.

I can't move. I can barely breathe.

"Agent Compost," I hear a man growl, "we'll have you up on murder for this Taylor fella. He'll be your downfall."

"Campostela," Joe says.

His voice is icy cold, as if he would kill whoever spoke just because he got Oz's name wrong.

"He belongs to God, now," she says. "Bobby, put this trash in the mine and seal it."

"Yes, ma'am," Bob says.

I try to determine the extent of my physical damage. Feeling slowly comes back to me and I wiggle my toes. I can feel them in my boots. That's a start. I'm not dead, and don't appear to be seriously injured. The vest did its job. This was all planned out and I was set up to take the fall. Now that pisses me off.

I hear something heavy being dragged through the gravel toward the mine entrance.

"Get up," Joe says. "Follow."

I move my hips slightly. I hear the scuffling of shoes through the gravel. He's not talking to me. That's good. I don't have time to deal with him. Oz is behind this. She played me like a fool.

"Move!" Joe commands.

As the feeling returns to my back it brings with it an intense pain. I pull my hands under my chest and try to push against the grass. My back muscles spasm. I let my rage build and push the pain aside as I move my knees. Someone kicks my left boot and the tarp is yanked off of me.

"Let's go," Maggie says.

I bunch my muscles under me and attempt to leap off the ground. It's more like a slow unsteady rise. My legs are weak. Maggie puts a cell phone in her pocket and helps me. Two smashed bullets fall out of my coat. She bends to retrieve them.

I turn and search for Oz. She's near the entrance to the mine talking to the other four guys. I waver unsteadily on my feet and stumble toward her, quickening my pace as the last of the tingling fades.

"Great job," she says to the men. "Very smooth, and an excellent start. Enjoy the moment, but keep your focus."

"Yes, ma'am," they all say.

They look at me with a mixture of curiosity and what I can only describe as humor.

"What the hell was that?!" I yell at her.

She turns and looks up at me with a smile.

"Drama," she says.

The John Deere hat is smashed in my fist. I don't remember picking it up. My face feels like it's on fire. I toss the hat aside.

She walks past me with that damn crooked smile on her face. One of the men chuckles and I glare at him.

"We got it all on video," she says. "Connect that with the dashboard cams and you'll be an internet superstar by the end of the day."

I take a deep breath and stomp after her.

"It would have helped if you had told me what was going on!"