Razor Burn

by O. J. Anderson

Table of Contents
Chapter 20
Chapters 22-23
appear in this issue.

Chapter 21

The loading area is deserted. Trucks have been left half-filled with the doors still open. Forklifts have been abandoned with pallets of boxes held aloft. Kate searches through the bays, not exactly sure of what she should be looking for. There are all sorts of BP products. She rifles through them all hoping that something will catch her eye. Tears open shrink wrapping and cardboard boxes, kicking them over, spilling their contents.

Her frustration increases as she heads to the next loading bay and tears into another pile of boxes. Freeing up a small white package, Kate is about to upend it onto the floor when she hears:

“Hello again, missy.”

Kate sees the pale, wiry frame of Thaddeus Bikharmer standing between two giant pallets of pharmaceuticals. Pointing a gun at her.

“There’s an airstrike on the way,” she tells him. “You’re dead if you don’t run for it.”

“You first, dear.” Thaddeus straightens his arms about to shoot her.

From across the loading docks: “Kate!” The pumped-up vocals of Razor blast throughout the docks.

“Damn,” Thaddeus says. “Him again?”

“Kate!”

The old man scurries up behind Kate and puts the gun to her neck. “Turn around,” he commands her. “And don’t try anything stupid.”

Soon enough Razor comes jogging into their bay and sees the gun and Thaddeus peeking over Kate shoulder. Looks at Kate and sighs. “That’s twice in one night,” he says to her.

“Sorry.”

“Excuse me,” Thaddeus says. “Excuse me. I’ll do all the talking here, thank you. Now put the gun down, big boy. Go ahead, put it down.”

Razor does.

Bikharmer motions him to the rear of the truck. “Now, kindly close those doors and I’ll be on my way.”

Razor swings the doors shut and latches them closed.

“You have really pooched things up for us haven’t you, caveman. Yes, you certainly have just about ruined everything.” Keeping Kate as a shield, Thaddeus backs toward the steps leading down to the pavement. “Guys like you have always been screwing things up for me. But not this time. Not this time, you...” Thaddeus works himself into such a frenzy that he accidentally fires a round into Razor’s right thigh.

Razor grunts and wobbles a bit.

Kate screams and covers her mouth.

The shot has shaken up Thaddeus too. He hurries down the steps with Kate and drags her to the cab of the truck. “Open the door!” She does, and Thaddeus pushes her away. He climbs into the cab and starts the engine. The transmission grinds. The engine revs. Grinds. Revs. Grinds. Then the truck suddenly lurches forward like a dry heave. Shimmies, then off it goes.

Kate runs back up onto the loading dock to check on Razor. He is fine. Just finished wrapping his T-shirt sleeve around the wound to stop the bleeding.

“Are you okay?”

“I’ll walk it off.”

* * *

Erskine is sitting on the grass leaning up against the storage facility. His cheeks are wet with tears. Runny nose. He has no idea where to go or what to do. The pistol he holds to his chest with both hands. Sees the truck coming in his direction.

* * *

Kate watches as Thaddeus Bikharmer drives away in the truck. “That is one bitter old man,” she says.

Razor loads a high explosive 40mm grenade round into the launcher mounted under the barrel of the MP5. Takes aim at the truck. Just before firing he says, “Don’t go away mad, go away dead.”

* * *

As the truck passes by, Erskine notices that it is his father driving it. He runs after it, waving his arms and screaming, “Father! Father! Wait for me. I want to go with you.”

Then comes a curious whistling sound through the dark sky.

The truck explodes. Red fireball. Smoke.

Erskine is knocked to the ground by the blast.

* * *

“We need to get to the roof,” Razor says. “Now!”

“I need a sample.”

“No time!”

He takes Kate’s arm and pulls her to the stairs.

* * *

Erskine shakes the concussion from his head and stumbles to his feet. Gazes at the burning truck, still rolling along slowly. A rolling coffin. His father. Knuckles turn white gripping the pistol. Rage from the ground up. He hears voices from behind him. There is a red light coming from the roof of the shipping facility. Erskine groans and takes off running.

* * *

The flare is lit, burning brightly a few feet away from Carl who is now able to treat Doug’s wounds in the relative safety of the rooftop. Hawk 1 circles overhead firing sporadically a the few remaining SF guards in preparation to land.

* * *

Razor lights off a few rounds at a two-man team in the woodline behind the building. He waves Kate on. “Go on. Get to the roof.”

She hurries up the external metal staircase on the east wall of the shipping building. The SF team is either put down or takes off through the woods. Contact stops. Razor heads up after Kate. When they reach the roof Kate runs over to help with Doug.

Taking another small explosive device from his vest, Razor sticks it to a large ventilation unit near the steps. He flips a switch on the device, arming it, and sending a lazer tripwire shooting across the rooftop covering the access route.

Hawk 1 hovers about twenty feet above, unable to set the skids down. He drops to five feet and waves them in. Razor lifts Kate in first, then he and Carl hoist Doug in. Carl is next, getting a boost from Razor. Last in is Razor. He tosses in the MP5 and gets a grip on the skid ready to jump in the chopper.

A bullet puckers the skid right next to Razor’s hand. Razor turns and sees Erskine Bikharmer standing on the top step with a nasty look on his face. Poor muzzle control. Erskine is waving the pistol all over the place and is barely able to stand up straight under the chopper’s rotor wash.

“You killed my father! You killed my father!” He fires again, and misses.

In the chopper, they don’t see him, being busy treating Doug.

“Now I’m going to kill you!”

Razor can’t hear a word he is saying.

Erskine takes a few steps forward, stopping briefly to fire another shot, but his am is terrible. Another step. Another shot. Miss.

Bikharmer’s luck runs out with his next step, when he trips the lazerwire. The explosion is not an enormous one, just large enough to separate Erskine into several big chunks and scatter them across the rooftop.

Pulling himself into the bird, Razor shouts, “Climb! Climb!”

The pilot jerks back on the collective and the gunship shoots up into the sky.

* * *

The missiles impact all over the compound turning the entire area into a giant mass of fireballs and billowing clouds off black smoke.

The concussion from the airstrike chases the gunship into the air. The airframe rattles and shakes like a wet dog. Kate grabs hold of Razor’s chest with both arms and closes her eyes tightly. Hawk 1 struggles to keep the helicopter steady and steers away from the blast in a hard bank.

* * *

The Tac-Op room turns red as the monitors flash brilliant red-black waves of fire. The Chief and the WBI crew watch the obliteration of the BP compound wondering if the friendlies got out in time. Couldn’t tell what was going on just before the missiles hit. Keep your fingers crossed, the Chief tells himself, but don’t get your hopes up. No one in the room says anything, although they’re all thinking the same thing. The room dims from red to black.

Chief Conrad jumps at the sound of the radio.

“Danger Base, this is Hawk 1, over.”

Agent Grimes takes the call. “Go, Hawk One.”

“Roger, I’ve got a full load. Two casualties. One priority, one ambulatory. Heading for GCGH, over.”

“Roger that, Hawk One. Good job. We’ll meet you there.”

Agent Cheeseman claps his hands together. “Okay. Good. That’s it then.”

* * *

Chief Conrad has a medical team standing by on the helipad at the hospital. They duck their heads and shield their eyes from the rotor wash as the gunship touches down. First one headed for the bird is the Chief. Then the medical team eases Doug out. He is wrapped in blood-stained bandages. The team puts him on the girney and hurries him inside to the ER.

Razor hops out favoring is wounded leg. Kate holds his massive arm, trying to assist him. She says, “I think I might be able to retrieve a sample from your clothes. Don’t worry. I’ll figure something out. I promise.”

“I’m sure you will,” Razor says. He plops down into the wheelchair being held forth by a nurse. The small female tugs and grunts at the chair but can’t budge it. She calls for help. Three nurses wheel Razor inside.

Kate walks next to Chief Conrad following the medical team into the hospital. “He’s carrying the virus,” she tells him.

Proceed to chapters 22 and 23...