Chapter 41
They were on to him. He knew it. Before he entered the house, he knew they were close. But he had to eliminate the threat. He had taken a calculated risk. But he had one flaw in his plan. By not accounting for the possibility that Harrison would act so aggressively, he lost his opportunity. It had cost him dearly. Although he got the advantage long enough to get away, Harrison had hurt him badly. Although he was in great shape for a man in his late sixties, his body had grown old. That meant he could not absorb the hard blows delivered by such a large man.
Lying in the underbrush under a large Douglas Fir, he did a quick inventory of his injuries. From experience, he knew he had fifty-fifty shot of evading his pursuers, but he was not capable of engaging them physically. Knowing the skill level of the men the company would send, he knew it was going to difficult. The only hope he had was to wait in place until darkness. That meant he had to take advantage of the concealment of the long grass and keep perfectly still. Which meant that he had to ignore the pain, bugs and critters.
Drawing on what he learn from his years in the rat-hole Soviet prison, Ian retreated into meditation. Knowing that he had to listen for the men hunting him, Ian did not allow himself to go into his full state of hibernation.
At about midday, he heard them. Ian’s eyes shot open. Instantly, he was aware that there were two of them. One was about thirty yards of to the right, the other was about forty yards way on the left and they were about fifty yards away from each other. Not very good positioning in his mind, he would have made sure they stayed closer together. In their desire to cover more ground quickly, they had gotten sloppy. If his ribs were throbbing or if he was twenty years younger, these two would not have to worry about their pensions. They would both be on the ground trying to suck air through their broken wind pipes. But that wasn’t the case, so he had to be content with evading them. From their position, there was no way they would spot him. They were simply moving to quickly. Suddenly, he had to force himself not to shake his head in disgust for their lack of discipline.
“How are they training these guys?” He thought to himself.
As he lay there, the man on his right passed within three yards of him. Fortunately for Ian, the concealment was enough to shield him from that distance. One foot closer, the man would have seen him. One of the reason he chose to hide under this particular tree was that it had thick low branches that would force anyone approaching to go wide of the tree on come in under the branches.
After they passed, Ian remained still, but he allowed himself to relax. Since they were moving so quickly, he correctly assumed that they would not do any back-tracking even though it was standard procedure. He waited another fifteen minutes. Then he let out the fart he had been holding for the last several hours. There was no way to keep it silent after holding it for that long. He hoped the sound of the wind through the trees would cover the noise. The tension in his stomach, told him that soon he was going to have to relieve his bowels. No small feat for an old man in the woods trying to conceal himself. Quickly, he scanned the landscape for good concealment to move to after he relieved himself.
Ian spotted another Douglas fir about fifty or sixty yards in the direction of where the men came. When he knew he couldn’t wait any longer, he crouched under the tree and began grunting out his feces. When he finished, he wiped himself with his hand. He turned and began to clean his hand on the trunk of the tree. As he exited the tree, he was surprised to see an agent standing, assault weapon pointing menacingly, twenty feet in front of him.
“Gotcha old man.” A man’s voice said. “You thought we were sloppy, turns out you got complacent.”
“Teaching you big words at Langley?” Ian queried.
“Funny.” The man replied. “My partner has you sighted, so let’s just do this and not have anyone get hurt.”
“Sure.” Ian replied resigned to the fact he had been taken. “I must be getting old.”
“Whatever. Let’s go.” The agent commanded.
Glancing over his shoulder, Ian saw the other agent speaking into a microphone. The communication would bring in the other teams. If they got here before Ian made a move, it was all over. Gauging his physical ability, he knew he had to get within six feet of the closest agent. If he could do that, he had slightly less than an even chance of immobilizing him long enough to get his weapon. Just then the agent turned slight to verify that his partner was calling in to announce they found him. That was all Ian needed. He shot in fast and low. Feeling the knee give as his body weight slammed into the agent’s exposed left leg.
The man let out a squeal as the ligaments gave way. It was loud enough to alert his partner. But the only thing it alerted him to was the fact he was about to die. Before he could react, Ian had the M4A in his hands and sent three rounds downrange. All three met their mark just below his left eye. Although it was risky to go for the head shot, Ian was supremely confident in his accuracy at this range.
Standing up, he turned the weapon on his would-be captor. The man was still writhing in pain clutching his ruined knee.
“You should pay a little closer attention to old guys.” Ian spat. “You’re lucky I don’t have time to introduce to real pain.
With that he pulled the trigger one more time. The shot was true. Quickly, Ian fled. He knew the others were aware that he had taken their fellow agents and they would be coming hard. Now that he was armed, he was doubly dangerous. No matter what orders they had been given, they wouldn’t give him a second chance to best them. If they saw him first, he knew he would be dead. He couldn’t die just yet. There was one last matter he had to settle.
Instead of making a break for it, Ian headed directly towards the house. Moving quickly, he determined it would take him about seven minutes to get back to the house of the rough terrain. It would take the other teams at least ten minutes to locate their fallen brethren. Then they would waste time looking for him. That would give him five minutes in the house. Much more time than he would need now that he was armed. Instintively, he checked the clip. There were still over twenty rounds in the clip.
“More than enough to do the job.” He said to himself confidently.
Moving quickly, he closed on the house. His head was pivoting from left to right as he scanned the house and the driveway for any potential threats. He was somewhat surprised to find the front door unlocked. But in his haste, he didn’t give it a second thought.
“Think.” He instructed himself as he crossed the threshold. “Where are they.”
It was an important decision. If he guessed right, he could kill the first one without anyone knowing he was in the house. That honor was going to Big Ron Harrison. Not just because of the beating he suffered at Big Ron’s hands. But more importantly, Harrison was the only person that could tie him to the crime. They had to be in the breakfast room. It only made sense. The agents would want to interview them as close to where the accident happened as possible. In this case, they could do it exactly where it happened.
Ian flew through the door, gun leveled, finger on the trigger. Only expecting to see five people in the room, he was completely stunned to see a room full of men with weapons trained on him. When his eyes trained on the closet figure, he realized it was the man he had shot in the face a little less than ten minutes ago. The man next to him was the one he shot three times. His eyes blurred and he felt himself gasping for air, Ian dropped his weapon, fell to his knees and then everything went dark.
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In less than ten minutes they would have the pleasure of meeting Eddie Vedder, Mike McCready, Stone Gossard and Jeff Ament. Their limo driver had called and said the band wanted to see Ratdick play. The excitement was electric. Ronnie felt the familiar feeling in his stomach. Although he had gotten over throwing up before each show, he wasn’t sure if he was going to be able to control it tonight. The combination of playing in such a big venue and getting to meet one of his idols was just too much. Quickly, Ronnie stood up, ran to the stall and emptied the contents of his stomach.
“Jesus Christ, Ronnie.” Pete chuckled. “Could you puke a little more?”
“Hey, at least I hit the bowl.” Ronnie replied as he bent over the sink to fill his mouth with water.
He swished the water around and spit it back into the sink. He did this three more times, to make sure he got it all out.
“Man, I wish I had a toothbrush.” Ronnie said.
“Maybe you can call the page.” Ben suggested.
Before anyone could move, they were all rocked by a tremendous explosion. The door flew off it’s hinges, slammed directly into Ben and pinned him against the wall. Ronnie flew forward, his face shattering the mirror. Instantly, he lost consciousness. Pete and Ass weren't as lucky. Both were standing in the middle of the room and although the force of the explosion threw them to the ground, their heads were not slammed against any hard surfaces. Ass watched in horror as Ben slid down the wall and the door bounced twice on his body before it slid partially off and came to a rest. Before Ass could regain his feet, the ceiling began to crumble. Two large metal cross beams fell from the ceiling and landed on both Ass an Pete.
The first fell across Ass’ legs, breaking both of them and pinning him to the ground. The other fell right on Pete’s exposed chest, breaking several of his ribs. Painfully, he tried to breath, but he was unable catch his breath. Each gasp brought excruciating pain. He tried to call out, but all the air had been forced from his lungs by the impact. Ass began wailing in pain as more debris fell from the upper levels of the Pepsi Center. Luckily for all of them, the structure above them remained relatively intact and for the moment shielded them from the giant shards of glass and chucks of steel that fell loudly on the partial ceiling above them. Still some of the pieces fell through, more than a few hit them as they lay exposed.
Since Ben was mostly covered by the door, the falling debris that fell though the gaping holes did little additional damage. Being close to the wall kept Ronnie shielded from the worst of the objects. It only took a few minutes for Ronnie to regain consciousness. When he did, he felt a throbbing pain in his head. Within moments, he realized that he was covered in his own blood. Most of which came from the nasty gash across his forehead. Some how he managed to gain his feet. He could hear the girders above straining from the weight of the debris. Ronnie had no idea what happened, but soon realized that the most important thing was to get out of this place as quickly as possible.
Looking around he saw Ass and Pete, but he could not see Ben. Ass was still screaming loudly. When he looked at Pete’s face his saw his mouth open and his face was contorted in pain It seemed no matter how desperately he tried, he could no get any air. Forcing himself into action, he thought he should get to Pete first.
“Ass.” He said forcefully. “Calm down, buddy.”
“Ah, fuck me.” Ass replied. “This fucking hurts. Ahhhh.”
“Come on, suck it up.” He encouraged. “What would the master do?”
Instinctively Ronnie knew that if he invoked the name of the master, Ass would calm down and he would be able to help Pete.
“Focus.” Ass replied.
Ass closed his eyes, drew in a breath and began to put all his training to work to put the pain aside. Slowly, his mind began to win the battle against the pain.
As this was happening, Ronnie had made his way over to Pete. He was comforted to see that Ass had closed his eyes and began to retreat into his head. That would work for a while.
“K Pete.” He said softly. “I’m going to try to get this off of you. Hang in there.”
Ronnie grabbed the beam and started to lift. It was surprisingly heavy and only moved a couple of inches. Knowing he misjudged the weight, he had to set it back down. He also realized that setting it back down was going to hurt Pete.
“Dude.” He said to Pete apologetically. “This is too heavy, I have to set it back down.”
“No.” Pete managed to gasp.
“Dude, I have too.” Ronnie said. “I’ll hold it like this for a few, try to breath.”
Pete drew in several painful breaths. Despite the pain, it did feel better to have air flowing into his lungs again.
“Get ready.” Ronnie cautioned. “I’m setting it back down. Try not to yell, it’ll use up your air.”
“Errrrrrrrrrr.” Pete growled as Ronnie gently lower the beam back on to him.
Instead of putting it back on his chest, Ronnie was able to move it lower on his abdomen.
“I am never going to be able to move this off you.” Ronnie said. “But I think I can lift it enough for you to slide out. Can you do that?”
“No.” Pete replied.
“Well you have to, dude.” Ronnie insisted. “Come on. One, two, three, go!”
Ronnie lifted using all the strength in his legs, back and arms. He managed to lift the beam seven or eight inches.
“Go, go, go.” He yelled.
Painfully, Pete struggled to freedom. As soon as Pete’s feet cleared the spot below the beam, Ronnie let go. The beam hit the ground with a loud thud. Fairly sure that he spent a good portion of his energy on getting Pete out, Ronnie scanned the room for something to use as a lever. Pete remained on the ground trying to fill his lungs. Ronnie spied a piece of pipe about twelve feet long. Retrieving it, he slid it under the beam covering Ass’ legs and moved a large piece under the piece of pipe creating a very crude levering system.
“Ass, Ass.” Ronnie said.
Ass’ eyes snapped open. He looked at Ronnie as if he was trying to determine who he was.
“Ass.” Ronnie repeated. “You ready to get this off of you.”
“Yes.” He said crisply, then added. “Ben?”
“Where is Ben?” Ronnie asked.
“Door.” Ass responded flatly. It was taking all of his concentration to fight the pain.
Taking a quick look, Ronnie saw Ben’s arm sticking out from under the door.
“I’ll get to him as soon as I have you out.” Ronnie responded.
“Ready?” Ronnie asked again.
“Yes.”
“One, two, three.”
Ronnie pushed down on the lever, lifting the beam. It moved much easier and Ronnie was able to use the lever to move the beam completely off of Ass’ legs. As soon as he had clearance, he let the beam drop and threw the pipe to the ground. Looking at Ass’ legs, he saw the blood. It looked bad and he wasn’t sure how he was going to get all his friends out. Then he felt a hand on his shoulder. Turning, he was surprised to see Pete standing behind him.
“Looks pretty bad.” Pete said softly.
“Yeah.” Ronnie agreed. “You can walk?”
“Yeah, dude.” Pete responded.
“Don’t know how we are going to get these two out.” Ronnie said solemnly.
“You get Ben.” Pete suggested. “Ass and I’ll get outta here. Right, dude?”
“Yes.” Ass responded weakly.
“You sure?” Ronnie questioned. “You’re pretty beat up, Pete and I don’t think Ass can walk.”
“I can do it.” Ass said confidently. “I will do it.”
Ronnie looked at both his friends and saw the determination.
“Okay, here’s what we’ll do.” Ronnie said as the idea flashed through his mind. “Turn around, Pete. I’ll get Ass up and Ass, you wrap your arms around Pete. Over his shoulders, you know. Then Pete, you can drag him.”
“Sounds good.” Pete replied.
“It’s going to hurt like hell.” Ronnie cautioned.
“We can handle it.” Ass said
“Use the master’s techniques, right dude?” Pete suggested.
Both Ass and Ronnie looked hard at Pete.
“What?” He asked. “You don’t think I listen when you talk about him?”
“Let’s go.” Ronnie said feeling the urgency of the situation. “Pete, stand about a foot in front of Ass’ feet and turn your back to him.
Ronnie got into position at Ass’ head. Reaching down, he placed his hands in Ass’ arm pits. Exhaling he lifted his band mate into a standing position behind Pete.
“Errrrrrr.” Ass moaned.
“Throw you arms over Pete’s shoulders.” Ronnie instructed. “And hang on tight.”
Despite the immense pain, Ass did as Ronnie instructed. When he was in position, Ronnie double checked to make sure he had a firm grip.
“Now, go.” He commanded.
As Pete began walking slowly, he grimaced in pain. The pain was like nothing he had ever experienced. For a brief moment, he thought he was going to pass out. By the time he got to the door, he felt he was winning the battle against the pain. Feeling more confident, he began to pick up the pace.
“Errrrrrr.” Ass exclaimed as the pain rocked his body.
“Hang on, dude.” Pete encouraged.
“Don’t worry about me.” Ass responded.
Ronnie made his way to Ben. Without pausing, he pulled the door of Ben and without checking his breathing, he used what seemed to be the last of his strength to lift his friend. Somehow, he managed to hoist Ben up in a fireman’s carry and followed the other guys out the door. Quickly, he caught up with them and the four walked towards a giant opening in the side of the Pepsi Center. As they walked, the three that conscious ones shared words of encouragement to each other. As a team, they made it to the parking lot. Seeing a vast array of fire trucks, police cars and ambulances, they walked towards the flash emergency lights and collapsed in front of an ambulance. Ron knew Ben was still alive, because he could feel him breathing as he carried him. But he decided to double check anyway. Thankfully, he felt a pulse as he saw Ben’s chest rising and falling in a normal rhythm.
Within a few minutes, an EMT came over and began to apply first aid. As badly as they were hurt, there were many other’s in much worse condition. Ass and Ben were suffering from the worst injuries. But they still had to wait almost two hours before being transported to a make shift emergency room in the parking lot of Denver General Hospital.
Ronnie and Pete were discussing what had just occurred when they heard a gun behind them.
“What the hell?” Pete said as the both spun in the direction of the sound.
“No idea.” Ronnie responded. “This is so fucked up, I can’t even image what that was.”
Then Pete saw the man with a gun. Within seconds, several police officers wrestled him to the ground.
“Holy shit, Ronnie.” Pete exclaimed. “Isn’t that …”
“Yeah, it’s my Dad.” He interrupted feeling more completely confused than had on this very bizarre day.
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