Excerpt From ‘To Private Ford Rayburn’ 2

The first thing Ray noticed loading into the convoy was he didn’t recognize anyone there. They must have pulled men from units all over. He knew this mission was top secret, he couldn’t even discuss it with Sidney, but he hadn’t realized it was this secretive, as to have no one from the same squad involved. He didn’t know why that made him feel uneasy.

He sat down in middle of the truck and swept his eyes over the group. There were about six of them total, all lower rank, except for the lieutenant standing outside. Like him, everyone was outfitted with their weapons and kits. All personal belongings he’d been told to leave behind, including his dog tags strangely enough. When he had asked about that he had been told something vague about they wouldn’t need to identify him that way. He didn’t want to know what that meant, but orders were orders. He was so close to being done his tour; he didn’t want to jeopardize his chances of getting home on time. Marnie would never forgive him.

But he had broken one rule, he had kept a few personal belongings. In place of his dog tags, he had the arrowhead on a leather thong that Marnie had given him on their first date hidden beneath his shirt. It had become his pseudo good luck charm; he hadn’t become a casualty of war yet. He also had the last letter she had sent, he would read it on the long trek to their destination, as well as her graduation photo and their wedding picture. Those where in his breast pocket close to his heart, to remind him of what he was fighting for.

One last soldier hopped on the convoy a few minutes after Ray. He looked about Ray’s age, with sandy blonde hair cut close to his head, a thin pocked face, and narrow, leafy green eyes. He did a quick sweep of his surroundings and his eyes alighted on Ray. He gave him a tentative smile, and Ray found himself smiling back; he instantly liked this guy. Encouraged, the sandy haired soldier plopped himself down next to Ray.

“Is this everyone?” the lieutenant was asking someone standing outside the vehicle.

“All six accounted for, sir,” the person outside said, saluting smartly.

The lieutenant nodded. “Right, let’s get going then.”

He hopped into the driver’s seat and turned to face the soldiers in the back. “I’m not going to say much yet. I know this must be very confusing for all of you, but the mission you are about to embark on is one of utmost importance to security of our country. You were each handpicked for certain attributes you all possess and individual talents that were deemed perfect for the purpose at hand. When we get to our destination I’ll explain further, but that won’t be for several hours yet. So, I recommend you get some rest. You’re going to need it.”

With that, he started up the convoy. The soldiers in the truck visibly relaxed, some closing their eyes, trying to get some extra sleep. Ray nodded at the sandy haired soldier next to him and took out his letter to read. He sighed contently when done, he couldn’t wait to see Marnie again, to hold her to, to kiss her, to…

“Who’s your girl?” the sandy haired soldier asked.

Ray snapped out of his reprieve. “My wife, Marnie,” he said politely.

“You got a picture?”

Ray hesitated, then nodded. He reached into his coat and pulled out the two photos. The sandy haired soldier whistled.

“You got yourself a good one there, that smile...This is my girl, Felicity.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a creased photo of a laughing girl, standing on the front porch of an old farmhouse, her wild red curls tossing in the wind.

“Red-head, nice,” Ray said appreciatively.

“We’re not married yet, but we will be, soon as I get back,” the sandy-haired soldier said putting his photo away. “Name’s Jack, by the way.” He held out his hand.

Ray shook it. “Ray.”

The lieutenant swiveled round again. “No names!” he barked. “Keep it down all of you.” He turned back to face the front.

Ray gave him a puzzled look. “What do you think that’s about?” he whispered.

Jack shrugged. “This whole thing is a little strange, but my commanding officer said it was a great honor to be chosen for this elite squad and an orphan from the hicks, like me, was lucky to be considered.”

“You’re an orphan?” Ray said, narrowing his eyes. “So am I…” He scanned the truck bed again. If he had to guess everyone here was probably parentless as well. He frowned.

“Who raised you?” he asked Jack.

“Felicity’s family, actually. My only living relatives are out on the west coast and they made it very clear they didn’t want me. My mom was kind of the black sheep.”

“Yeah, my closest relative is my great-aunt,” Ray confided. “You don’t think…”

The lieutenant was glaring at them through the rearview mirror and he clamped up. There was something decidedly odd going on, and he didn’t like the little voice in the back of his head that was telling him to run. He shoved it down and reread Marnie’s letter. Next to him, Jack had produced a small dog-eared book of poetry and proceeded to engross himself in it for the next few hours.

The sun was low in the sky when they finally stopped in an old dilapidated barn on the edge of an abandoned farm. The lieutenant ordered them out, and they all obeyed, by habit standing at attention in an orderly line. By some unspoken agreement, Jack and Ray stood together at the end of the line. The lieutenant walked up and down the line inspecting them.

“Gentleman, now that we are alone, I can tell you, this is your initiation into the Corpse Squad. The Corpse Squad is an elite division of the army. It is also the most highly kept secret, not even the president knows of our existence. We exist to perform the tasks that cannot be done by a regular squadron, and we can because we do not exist. You were all nominated and considered not only for certain talents you individually possess but because you all have no family, no one back home who will grieve your loss. No parents, no siblings, no wife.”

Jack raised his eyebrows at Ray, but Ray gave him a quelling look and then turned to stare straight ahead.

“The minute you stepped onto the convoy, your existence was erased and your army files put under a hold that can only be accessed by certain higher ups. You will serve the Squad for three years, at the end of which you will be paid handsomely for your service, assuming you survive. In that barn is a cache of weapons and specialized gear, as well as your objective. Complete your objective and return back here. I will come pick you up in twenty-four hours. If you don’t complete the objective, I will personally execute you. If you are not back within the time-frame, so be it. Good luck.”

With that, the lieutenant turned on his heels, got back in the convoy and drove off. The group stared after him.

“He can’t be serious,” a darker man toward the front of the line, muttered.

“What the fuck is going on?” a small, twitchy looking guy asked.

“Might as well check out the barn,” Ray said to Jack. Jack nodded and the two turned toward the dilapidated structure, hyper aware the others were staring after them.

Inside the barn, most of the interior had been stripped away but in the center was a large table piled high with various duffel bags, and underneath was a load of crates. Jack unzipped one of the duffels and whistled appreciatively. 

“Damn, nice! A Mk 13! They don’t usually let untrained soldiers get their hands on these.”

Ray gave him a look. “Sharp-shooter?” he guessed.

Jack nodded. “I was training for the sniper corps, and I thought I passed the test with flying colors, but for some reason I’m here.”

“Or perhaps you’re here because you passed the test with flying colors,” Ray noted. “Where’s the objective?”

The other four soldiers stood in the barn doorway, eyeing them suspiciously. Ray ignored them, looking all over the table until he found a file hidden in one of the duffel bags that was filled with emergency rations. He opened it up and read.

“What do we got to do?” Jack asked, putting together the rifle with careful reverence.

“Looks like we have to infiltrate a lab within walking distance of here and destroy a bunch of documents,” Ray said to the room at large.

“Lab?” Jack said quizzically.

“Let me see that.” A huge bulky man snatched the file out of Ray’s hands and scanned it. “That’s it?” he scoffed. “Childs play. Give me a gun and I’ll do it myself.”

“It says none of the scientists can be harmed. They’re civilians after all,” Ray pointed out.

“Then what are they doing in an active war-zone?” the bulky man sneered.

“Are we in ground zero?” Jack asked. Ray shook his head.

“Don’t care. I didn’t sign up for no suicide mission. If it’s their lives or mine, mine will always win out. Let’s just go and get this over with.”

“We really should plan carefully,” Ray said slowly.

The bulky man rolled his eyes. “Fine, what would you suggest?”

Ray glanced at the file again. “There’s a map of the facility, so let’s see…There seems to be a garbage chute. That could get us into the building. Maybe the smallest among us could fit through?” He glanced up at the twitchy guy who vehemently shook his head.

“I aint stupid,” he muttered.

Ray sighed. “Okay, maybe I can fit through and open a side door—here, that one leads closest to the records room. A couple of us can go in and get the documents and the rest can run cover just in case.”

“Just in case? In case the nerds are going to shoot at us?” the bulky man laughed.

Ray glared. “In case there are soldiers posted at this lab. In fact, tonight a couple of us should scout out the place and see if this will even work.”

“Why would there be soldiers?” the fourth soldier, a non-descript looking fellow, asked, puzzled.

Ray sighed. “I don’t know. This whole thing is very odd and we should proceed with caution.”

“No, this whole thing is unconstitutional,” the bulky man said. “Soon as that lieutenant gets back, he’s going to regret picking us up.”

“Were you not listening?” Ray asked, giving him an incredulous look. “They erased us. Unless you have someone back home to complain, I don’t think we have any rights.”

“What about you?” the dark man said, narrowing his eyes at Ray. “You said you have a wife. You should have said something when that guy was giving us the riot act.”

Ray stared back at him. “Do you have anyone?”

The dark man shook his head and stared defiantly at Ray. “No. Been in the foster system until I enlisted to avoid prison.”

“I don’t know what’s going on. But let’s do this mission and figure it out when the lieutenant gets back.”

“Then let’s go already!” The bulky guy snatched a duffel bag full of ammo off the table and grabbed the rifle Jack had finished putting together.

“Hey!” Jack growled.

“We need to scout the place out!” Ray insisted.

“No time, don’t care,” the bulky man said, moving towards the door. “You gonna help or am I gonna have to tell the lieutenant when he gets back that you’re dead weight?”

No one made a move.

The bulky man waited half a second then snorted. “Your funeral.”

He left. Jack sighed and unzipped another duffel bag, looking for another rifle to build. Ray glanced over at the dark man who stared at him expectantly.

“Names Ray, by the way,” Ray said.

“I heard. I’m Daniel.”

“Why didn’t you go with that guy?” Jack asked.

“You learn one thing in the foster system, the biggest kids are never the wisest. They just blow the most air. I don’t want to die today.”

Ray nodded. “I’m gonna try to not let that happen.” He looked over at the other two guys who were huddled in the far corner of the room watching everything.

“What are your names?” he asked.

“Jonathan Harding,” the twitchy man said.

“Peter Grange,” the non-descript fellow supplied.

 Ray nodded. “Glad to have you on board.” He spread the file out over the table and looked at it more closely. “Let’s see how much we can glean from this and then soon as it gets dark enough, head out to scout. Assuming the other guy doesn’t get back here first.”

“He probably won’t,” Daniel muttered.

Ray shrugged. “There has to be a reason he was picked. Why were you picked? What are you good at?”

 “Frankly? I don’t rightly know what they were expecting out of me, but I guess we’ll find out.”

Ray looked at the other guys who both gave him a half-hearted shrug. He sighed and leaned over the file. After a moment Daniel came over to look.

They studied the file together while Jack put together weapons and the other two sorted through the supplies until they heard shots in the distance. Everyone glanced up and held their breath. When no further sounds came their way, they returned to their tasks and Daniel noted; “Guess those nerds have guns.”

Jack snorted. “That asshole took the best gun!”

“He also cost us time. We’ll have to get in and out tonight,” Ray said bitterly.

“At least there isn’t a moon tonight,” Daniel said.

Ray paused. “There isn’t?”

“Just something I noticed last night. It’s going to be very dark tonight.”

“You always notice things like that?” Ray asked carefully.

Daniel shrugged. “One of my foster homes liked outdoorsy stuff, the real shit, not the mamby pamby crap people do nowadays. Hated that old coot’s guts, but he sure did teach me a few things. Once you learn it, you’re always noticing.”

Ray nodded thoughtfully. “I think I have a better idea.”

Ray had Daniel and Peter scout the place and they came back in a couple of hours just as the sun was setting.

“They’re on high alert,” Daniel warned. “At least seven guards patrolling the perimeter, and these guys look rough.”

“Why would a random lab be so well guarded?” Jack asked, frowning.

Ray shrugged. “Who knows? We can speculate on that later. Right now, all we need to know is that it is well guarded. Did you see any sign of that other guy?”

Daniel shook his head. “They must have moved the body.”

Ray nodded. “Right, well it’s now or never. We’ll have better luck during the cover of night. Did at least most of the scientists leave?”

“Yeah, parking lot emptied around eighteen hundred hours,” Peter piped up.

“One less thing to worry about,” Jack noted and started distributing weapons.

Armed to the teeth, they made their way out of the barn and toward the lab. As Daniel had predicted, it was a moonless night, and partially cloudy as well. It was hard to move through the woods, but Daniel led the way, stepping carefully to make no sounds and motioning for the others to follow exactly in his footsteps.

On the edge of the woods they stopped, for the first time getting a clear look at their target. The lab was an unassuming brick structure, two storeys tall, though Ray knew there were several sublevels from his careful study of the floorplan that afternoon. There was barbed wire around the perimeter, fifty feet from the building itself. In front of the building was a large parking area with one gate wide enough for a large vehicle to pass through that led out to the main road. The parking lot was well lit and Ray counted four well-armed guards monitoring the area.

“You said there were seven guards outside, Daniel?” Ray whispered.

Daniel nodded.

“Okay, so the minute we start shooting we have to expect them to come running.” He nodded to Peter and Johnathan. “You guys spread out, just like we discussed.”

Johnathan looked uneasy, but he followed Peter through the forest. They waited until they saw the signal, a quick flash of light on the other side of the woods, before Ray nodded to Jack.

“Alright, do your thing…”

He was cut short by the sound of gunfire in the distance followed by screams. They all froze, watching as Peter and Johnathan were dragged out of the forest kicking and screaming, blood seeping from gunshot wounds in their sides.

The front door burst open and a stern looking middle aged woman strode out of the building. She was wearing a stained lab coat and had greying dark hair pulled into a severe bun and eyes that looked like bottomless pits, they were so dark. She immediately started yelling at the guards.

“Vhat is going on?!” she shrieked in a thick German accent. “I told you be gentle with the patients! I need them alive!”

“Sorry, Doctor,” one of the guards muttered in broken English, dragging the limp form of Peter into the building.

The woman looked disdainfully at the prisoners. “There’s more, find them! And be careful!” She sniffed, and turned back to go inside.

“What the fuck?” Jack whispered horrified.

Ray’s mind was going a mile a minute. “They’re expecting us…”

“We need to do the objective,” Daniel said through gritted teeth.

“They’ll kill us!” Ray warned.

“No, the lieutenant will kill us, she wants us alive,” Daniel pointed out.

“Do you really want to find out why…” Jack started to say, when Ray grabbed his arm. He thought he had heard something.

“Be quiet…” he hissed. They all went still, listening and then the sound came again, a gun cocking.

“Run!” Daniel shouted and started running deep into the woods. Ray followed only vaguely aware that Jack had moved in the opposite direction. There was the sound of guns going off and a bullet whizzed by Ray’s ear. In front of him, he could dimly see Daniel had stopped and pulled out his gun. Ray tackled him.

“Don’t, you’ll give us away.”

“They’re shooting at as,” Daniel said.

“We don’t know how many there are. Just move!” Ray said and started sprinting deeper into the woods, trying desperately to think.

“We need to get back to the lab, we need to try,” Daniel said close at his heels.

“They were expecting us,” Ray murmured. “How…?”

“That idiot, he gave us away!”

“No, this is too much security for a lab…”

Someone grabbed Ray and he toppled to the ground. He rolled over, trying to get up and was forcefully pushed back down by the end of a gun.

“Ha, got you!” the guard said triumphantly. “Now, do as a say…”

He was cut off by Daniel grabbing him from behind and garroting him with a length of wire. The guard dropped his rifle, and clutched at his neck, clawing at the wire, trying to breathe. He kept throwing his head back, trying to headbutt Daniel, but Daniel held firm, tightening his grip as the guard started to go limp. Ray scrambled in the grass for the fallen rifle.

“Let him go!” a voice said from behind Daniel. Another guard had come up behind them and was pointing a gun at the back of Daniels head. Daniel’s grip slackened and the guard started wheezing, trying to catch his breath.

“Now, remove your weapons,” the guard holding the gun said calmly.

Ray shot him. His body slumped to the ground, just as Daniel tightened his grip on the other guard and choked the life out of him. There was more yelling, heading in their direction. Wordlessly, they both picked a corpse and started dragging it deeper into the woods. Ray stripped out of his fatigues and put on the dead man’s uniform; aware Daniel was doing the same.

“Let’s get into the building, get this over with,” Daniel muttered.

Ray frowned, every nerve in his body tense, and screaming at him to stay as far away from the lab as he could.

“Daniel…”

“Don’t crap out on me now, Ray!” Daniel hissed. “I need your help.”

Ray sighed and nodded. “We should help Jack first.”

“No, let’s get to the objective while they’re distracted out here.”

“But…”

There was the sound of gunshots in the distance and celebratory whooping.

“Too late anyway,” Daniel said dryly and started stealthily heading back to the lab. There were a couple of guards still monitoring the front, but it seemed like most were spread out in the woods, looking for their targets.

“Looks like we got one chance at this,” Daniel noted and ran toward the back of the building. Ray silently cursed and followed his companion. They miraculously weren’t spotted, though he could see a camera pointed directly at them as he ran around the side of the building toward the garbage chute.

“I don’t like this,” Ray muttered, flattening himself against the side of the building. “How’re we going to get out if we get in?”

“I’m assuming the same way,” Daniel shrugged and hurried toward the chute.

They did have one bit of luck, there was a large metal bin directly under the chute. Ray climbed up easily, trying hard not to think what the squishy dark forms in the bin were. He opened the heavy steel flap and wiggled his way inside. It was a tight fit, but it wasn’t steep. Ray inched his way upward, mindful not to make too much noise, with Daniel behind him, also carefully squirming his way through the chute.

At the top was another steel trapdoor, Ray pushed it open carefully and peeked out. The utility room was pitch black and silent. He eased himself out of the chute, and tumbled to the floor listening carefully. Daniel dropped down next to him and touched his shoulder lightly. Ray rose and tiptoed to the door. He opened it a crack and peered out into the dimly lit hallway on the first floor of the building. At the far end of the hall, he could see the front door of the building, two guards huddled next to it, guns trained on the door, their backs to Ray. On the other end of the hall was the stairs leading down.

Ray pulled back, nodding to Daniel and indicating the direction to go, then pushed the door open wide enough to get through and crept towards the stairs. The guards never checked backwards. Ray descended the stairs, breathing a small sigh of relief only when Daniel reached the bottom as well.

“Let’s get this over with,” Daniel muttered, leading the way to the file room. It was the third room on the right. The door squeaked alarmingly when Daniel pushed it open. They both froze, but when no one came to investigate they went inside.

The room was small and cramped, filled with filing cabinets and ancient computer terminals. Daniel stared around a slight frown on his face.

“How are we going to do this?”

“Electrical fire?” Ray suggested. “Can you do that?”

“Easily, but stupidly dangerous, and it won’t necessarily destroy the file cabinets,” Daniel pointed out. “Are they even locked?”

Ray went over and tested. Almost all of them were but he kept tugging at the drawers just to be sure.  The bottom drawer of one of the last cabinets wasn’t locked securely and opened after a little bit of pulling. It was filled with numbered manila folders. Ray pulled one out and glanced inside.

“Perfect,” Daniel said, grabbing a handful of folders and dumping them in middle of the room. “It’ll be so much easier just to make a bonfire.”

Ray frowned at the contents of the file. The first page was a title page bearing the name ‘Experiments 36-78’ with a list of medical professionals and on the top corner a watermark logo bearing the name Calliope Labs. “I don’t think this is wise…” he said slowly.

Daniel stared at him. “What do you mean?”

“If this is saying what I think it’s saying…” Alarm bells were going off in Ray’s head and he glanced around the room uncertainly. “Somethings really wrong here…”

Daniel looked at him askance. “Who cares? If we don’t destroy these files, the lieutenant will kill us. I don’t know about you, but I really don’t want to die today.”

“And how would he know if we do or do not fulfill the objective?”

“They must have their ways. This whole thing is weird, and I’m not going to speculate on it. Let’s just do our job and get out of here. Throw that folder on the pile.”

Ray shook his head. “No, we need this as evidence.”

“Evidence of what?”

“I don’t know. It’s just a feeling and these feelings are almost never wrong. Trust me, we shouldn’t burn these things.”

Daniel stared at him incredulously. “Feelings? Jesus, man, put the file down.”

“No!”

Daniel pulled out his gun, his hand trembling. “I don’t want to do this, but I’m not going to die because of a dumb feeling. That sort of shit is what gets you fucked up in the streets. Put the file down or I’ll…”

“Shoot?” Ray finished for him. “Don’t be stupid, Daniel. You’ll draw them right to us.”

Daniel cocked his gun and aimed. “Don’t be stupid, Ray,” he said desperately. “I need you to work with me! Put. The file. Down.”

Ray stared him in the eye. “Daniel…”

There was the deafening sound of a gun going off. Daniel fell to the ground, blood seeping out of a bullet wound in his back.

“Hands on head,” the guard in the doorway growled, pointing his gun directly at Ray’s chest. Ray stared at him, then slowly moved his arms upward.

“Put file down!”

Ray obliged, crouching down slowly and dropping the manila envelope on the pile of files, before rising and placing his hands on the back of his head.

“Turn around,” the guard commanded.

Ray hesitated.

“Turn around now!”

Slowly, Ray turned to face the filing cabinets, taking deep breaths, trying to slow down his beating heart. It was banging in his chest, going a mile a minute.

“Count to three,” the guard said nastily.

Ray closed his eyes and conjured up Marnie’s face, thinking of her secret smile, the one that she kept only for him. Who would tell her what happened here?

“I say count!” the guard yelled.

Ray sighed and started counting. “One.”

The gun cocked behind him.

“Two.”

He could imagine the guard aiming.

“Three.”

A gun shot rang out.