A few days after that, for no reason, people with him started killing each other. He owed Joe dearly for that one. He tested the drug that he gave his people to keep them calm, but he found it to be ineffectual. Someone had put a worthless powder in its place. Without the drug to calm them, his peo-ple turned aggressive and started killing randomly. He ended up killing three dozen of them before control was established. The next few days were hectic. Things settled down when they found a fresh supply of the drug a hundred miles away, but it took four days to settle his people.

He decided to move his headquarters to a city that had a large supply of the drug. That was when all hell broke loose. Something happened when his men tried to move the high ex-plosives out of the storage building.

Todd was standing on the other end of town when a tre-mendous explosion lifted him off his feet and slammed him to the ground. A jagged piece of falling board hit him on the head, cutting a gash from his ear to his chin. Now he had an ugly scar on what was once an unblemished face. This was an-other thing that he owed Joe. He didn’t know how, but he was sure Joe had a hand in the explosion.

Todd’s people had trapped Ben in a small town. He told them to let Ben escape, hoping it would lead him to Joe. The only problem was Ben disappeared after escaping the town. There hadn’t been a sign of any of them until yesterday. One of Todd’s men, out rabbit hunting, stumbled across a small, concealed valley. He noticed smoke coming from the chimney of a house sitting in a small grove of trees. Deciding to investi-gate, he watched as three men and a large wolf came out of the house and took off in separate directions. Instantly, he knew these were the people Todd was looking for. He had heard horror stories about the wolf and became terrified that it might smell him, so he crawled back over the side of the hill. He coasted his truck to the bottom before starting it, but even then, the noise seemed terribly loud. Forcing himself to be calm, he slowly drove away on the dirt road to keep from rais-ing a lot of dust.

He almost killed three people when he roared into town and slammed on the brakes babbling that he had found them. Now we have you, Joe, Todd thought. Joe had escaped once, and given half a chance he would do so again. Todd made sure his people stayed back far enough to keep from alerting Joe. He had been on the phone all morning calling in people from up to three hundred miles away. By the next morning he would have hundreds of people surrounding the cabin. With a bitter smile, he thought that if it hadn’t been for the explosion there would have been four times as many people. The people he had would just have to do the job.

He looked across the table at Mickey and said, “You’re positive the men you sent out won’t be seen?”

“Yes, the closest one is two miles away. They all use long range glasses from the highest vantage points around.”

“Go back, and tell them I don’t want them any closer than five miles. We have to allow room for that goddamn wolf to roam around. As it is, it will be hard to sneak up close enough to surprise them.”

“Greg, has Mickey told you how the valley is set up?” Todd asked the heavy set man with a military haircut, who sat across from him.

“From the description he gave me, this valley will be hard to take if they know we’re coming. If I were Joe, I would plan my defense so there would be two choke points where I could funnel the attackers. Once I got the attackers where I wanted them, I would set up a killing zone. I would take out as many of the enemy as possible in there. He is bound to know we have overwhelming numbers on him. His only choice will be to try and whittle us down. Todd, you know him. Do you think he would avoid a fight if he could?” Greg asked.

“He sure as hell has avoided us until now.”

“Which means he’s smart and will only fight on his own terms, if he fights at all. Going into that valley after him will be like bearding the proverbial lion in its den. Our causalities will be heavy, and I doubt we will take them alive.”

“Causalities don’t concern me. You are to use these peo-ple to our best advantage. I want Ben and Joe taken alive. I want that understood by everyone,” Todd said looking at each one.

“Damn it, Todd! That’s like tying our hands behind our backs and sending us into the fight,” Mickey said.

Todd leaned across the table and looked down at Mickey. “Understand this, if either of them dies, I’ll put out a perma-nent death warrant on you. Do you understand what I want?”

“Yeah, we understand. We also know that in the heat of battle things happen over which we have no control,” Mickey said.

“You had better damn well control your people. I don’t care what happens to the rest of Joe’s people, but Ben and Joe are to be unharmed.”

He watched them knowing what he wanted was almost impossible for them to accomplish but he couldn’t think of any other way. He let them talk among themselves for a few min-utes as he rubbed the scar on his cheek, then he tapped on the table to get their attention. “If everyone is clear on what they have to do, I want you to get your people in place. We strike tomorrow morning at first light.” He listened to them grum-ble as they filed out of the room to get ready for the next day. If things went right, tomorrow morning he would have Ben and Joe under his control. Ben, he would take to his master, but Joe, he would keep for himself. He smiled thinking of how much pain and suffering he was going to put Joe through be-fore he killed him.

Yvonne, his current lover, came out of the bedroom dressed in a sheer negligee. Her blond hair flowed down to the small of her back. He saw the bluish-black splotches on her breasts where he had mauled them last night during their lovemaking. “Jesus, my tits are sore. Did you have to be so rough last night, Todd?” she said as she rubbed her left breast.

“The way you were screaming last night told me how much you liked the pain, so shut up and fix me something to eat, bitch.”

“Is that all I am, Todd, a maid and someone you can fuck anytime you feel horny?” she whined.

Whirling around, he slapped her face. “Listen, you stupid bitch, I can replace you the same way I replaced the nagging bitch before you.”

“What do you mean, Todd?” she said in a coy voice. Reaching down, she rubbed his crotch.

Grabbing her by the neck, he put his face next to hers. “Well, love, her bones are lying on the street of the town we left. Is that what you want?” he said, squeezing her neck.

Frightened, she said, “No, Todd, I won’t complain any-more. You can do what you want with me. All right, honey?”

“That’s better. Now get me something to eat,” he said, flinging her away from him. “Tell whoever is outside to get Mickey for me,” he yelled at her as she opened the door. He heard her talking to someone outside. She stuck her head back in the door, “Mickey’ll be here in a minute,” she said.

He looked at the crudely drawn map lying on the table and tried to think of anything he had missed. It looked straightforward and simple, but he knew it wasn’t going to be that easy.

Joe was a formidable opponent, and he wouldn’t leave anything to chance. Mickey came in and sat down at the table. “Will the tank be fixed in time to use it tomorrow, Mickey?”

“I sent two men to the armory in the next town for the pin we need to connect the track. Once they get it, it’ll take an hour to have it on the road.”

“Do we have any bazookas or rocket launchers yet?”

Mickey took off his hat and scratched his head. “No, that’s something I wanted to talk to you about. If you let me send men to look for where they stashed the military hardware, our job would be a lot easier. Damn the military anyway. Who knew they would gather all the weapons and ship them to one location? If we found this place, we would have more than enough arms.”

“After we get Ben and Joe, you can have all the men you need. Until then, we need every man we have. Has Greg fig-ured out what their defenses might be?”

“Without having someone there, he can only guess at the locations Joe has set up for defense. Greg doesn’t like going in blind like this, and I can’t say that I blame him.”

“I know, but we can’t tip off Joe we have located him. Greg will have to make do with a difficult situation. Are there men you can trust leading each of the groups you send in?”

“Some of them I don’t know about. If they come under heavy fire, they may break and run. That explosion a few months ago killed most of the men we could trust. I would say we’re in good shape. If you hadn’t blown up all the crazies we had in the last town, this would be the perfect time to use them. Now, I just don’t know,” Mickey said, leaning back in his chair.

Sighing, Todd said, “I’d have kept the crazies, but we did-n’t have enough people to control them after the explosion. I’d like to know how the crazies not under our control found out we are treating them like the animals they are. You may have noticed there are fewer and fewer of them coming in to join us. Piecing together what we learned from the ones still coming in, we found they are avoiding us like the plague. Make sure you treat the ones we have with kid gloves. Per-haps, we can get them to trust us again.”

“I get the willies just being around them. You can’t trust them. They’re unpredictable and you can’t tell what they’re going to do from one minute to the next. I agree we need them, but guarding them takes away men we could use else-where.”

“Don’t start again on how we should bring the men we have at the ranch down here. I want a safe haven to go to if things turn bad. No, we leave the men there to guard the ranch in case we need some place safe to fall back to,” Todd said.

“I would feel better if we had a couple of hundred more people to throw against Joe,” Mickey said.

“Christ, we have three hundred people now. There are only seven of them. I don’t care how good they are; we’ll run over them like a steamroller. By the way, make sure the drug is in a safe place where our people can’t get to it. I noticed some of them are itching for a fight. By tomorrow, they’ll be ready and willing to tackle Joe and his bunch.”

“I’ll bring it over, so you can put it in the safe. We might have a few killings before the night is over. I doubt my men can keep them separated until tomorrow; especially, with the crazies egging them on,” Mickey said.

“Would you like to have Yvonne, Mickey? She is begin-ning to bother me. The dumb bitch is getting much too lippy to suit me. She’s a fine piece of ass, and she really enjoys her sex. If you don’t want her, I’m going to kill her and get me another girl. I like that cute little redhead who works in the kitchen.”

“No thanks, Todd. I’ll stick with the woman I have. After the way you abuse them, they aren’t worth a shit.” Mickey said, holding up his hand to still Todd’s protest.

“If you don’t use them, you lose them. I ride my girls hard. Anyway, all the bitches like to be treated rough. Pamper them, and they’ll get the idea they can take charge.”

“Whatever you say, Todd. I better go check and make sure everything is under control,” Mickey said. Draining the last of his coffee, he got up and went out the door.

Yvonne entered balancing a tray of food in one hand and a bottle of wine in the other. Sitting the food on the table, she turned to Todd. “After you eat, lover, can we go down and tease the crazies?”

“Damn it, I told you not to do that any more. We need them, and the ones they’ll get to join us. Besides, after I eat, I have a surprise for you.”

“Oh goodie, what is it? Don’t make me wait.” Todd shook his head no. “Ah, come on; give me a little hint, please?”
“Let’s say it will blow you away when you get it.”

“All right, I’ll wait if I have to, but it isn’t fair,” she pouted. Placing a plate loaded with meat and potatoes in front of him, she opened the bottle of wine. Pouring herself a glass, she sat down across from him. Todd drank water with his meal, having given up alcohol two months ago.

Todd dragged out the meal, enjoying her impatience. As he ate the last bite on his plate, she snatched up the plate and took it to the sink. Returning, she asked, “Please, Todd, can I have my gift now? Pretty please.”

Patting his full stomach, Todd belched. “Before you get your present, I want some of that good pussy of yours.” Todd grabbed her and tore her dress down the front. Pressing his mouth against her right breast, he bit down hard. A gush of warm blood filled his mouth and she screamed. She tried to push his head away. The blood in his mouth had a coarse tex-ture to it, yet was sweet at the same time. He moved his blood smeared lips to her left breast and bit the nipple, which caused her to scream louder. Stepping back, he looked at her. A thin stream of blood flowed from her right breast. He reached for a napkin and wiped the blood away.

Tilting her head back, he said, “Forgive me. I didn’t mean to hurt you. You know how you turn me on, Baby. Here, dry your eyes, and let’s go into the bedroom.” Her sobs turned to cries of joy as he caressed her body. Starting at her foot, he licked his way up her leg, nipping her skin every few inches. Gently, he caressed her body with his hands bringing cries of pleasure from her. Shifting his position, Todd reached over the side of the bed and picked up a gun lying there. He took his finger out of her, and stuck the barrel of the revolver in her vagina. Todd watched as she whipped her head back and forth clutching at the sheets with her hands. Easing the barrel in and out, matching the rhythm of her bucking body, Todd watched her face. As she went into her climax, he shoved the barrel all the way in her and pulled the trigger. Her face showed intense pleasure, then shock. Her eyes flew open and then glazed over. A soft sigh escaped her as her head fell to the side.

Todd climbed off the bed and went to the front door. Opening the door, he yelled for Mickey and watched as the man ran toward him from across the street.

“You wanted me, Todd?”

“Have someone drag that bag of shit out of the bedroom. Bring me a new mattress and throw the old one away. After you do that, bring me the redhead from the kitchen.” He went into the bedroom and got a clean pair of pants out of the closet. While he changed clothes, two men carried Yvonne’s body from the room. Another two carried out the blood stained mattress. Stepping outside, he looked out at the over-cast sky. “Soon, Joe. Soon I’ll have you in my grasp.”