The American Terrorist: The Revenge Continues

  Chapter Five

  Doug had gotten to know JoAnne, from the local restaurant, and he liked her. Not as a girlfriend, but as a good friend. She was attractive and she had a real up-beat and likable personality. He liked the fact that she was always happy. Her kids were grown and she lived alone most of the time, except when her kids came to visit her for an extended period of time. She had a crush on him and always tried to wait on him when he came into the restaurant.

  The next time he went into town and stopped at the restaurant, JoAnne seemed to be extra happy as she went up to Doug's table. After she brought him his coffee she told him that Cummings was going to be having their annual fall harvest festival soon. Doug was baiting her when he asked, "Ok, what is a fall harvest festival? She was more than willing to tell him all about it. "It's going to be held in the local park that’s located in the middle of town. It's perfect for the event and every year thousands of people from all over Georgia and the other surrounding states come out to take part in it. The harvest festival is the biggest event of the year for the entire town. It’s a family event, with lots of booths, locally hand-made crafts, food vendors, and tons of entertainment. The major draw this year is going to be a popular Blue Grass Band from Atlanta, "Hickory Wood." They’re coming in for the big Saturday night main attraction.” When she talked about it she was so excited that she didn't give him a chance to say anything as she continued talking, “You should come, Blake, we could hang out together and have lots of fun.” Doug smiled, “I don’t think so. I’m not much into socializing. I like to keep to myself. You know that.” She ignored what he just said as she laughed and continued, “You’ll have fun. I promise you. I’ll remind you about it again before that week-end comes around.” He just raised his eyebrows and replied, “Yeah, okay, you do that. I can hardly wait.” As he sat there he pretended that he wasn't interested in the event, but his mind was deep in thought about it and Fish Camp.

  When the week-end of the festival came around Doug had become a little more interested in finding out everything he could about what was going on in town. He was a little worried and concerned that someone from Fish Camp might try and do something real dumb, like wear a suicide vest, or drop off a back pack full of explosives in the middle of a crowd. Then detonate it, like what happened in Boston. He decided he would go into town just to check things out for himself.

  He waited until it was dark before he made his way to the park. The town was already packed with people scurrying from place to place. A few of the vendors were already starting to close things up for the night by the time he had gotten there. The band was in full swing in the park and a lot people had gathered around the outdoor stage listening to them perform. He enjoyed that type of music so he decided he would get a little closer to the stage so he could hear it better. He slowly made his way along the tree line on the outskirts of the crowd and around to the other side. When he found a place where there weren’t too many people around him, he leaned up against one of the trees just so he could relax and enjoy the music.

  He’d only been there a little while when JoAnne came bouncing up to him smiling and saying, “So Blake, you made it. You decided to come after all!! Why didn’t you let me know you were coming and I could’ve met you here?” Not waiting for an answer, she eased up close to him and said, “I thought you didn’t like these sort of things.” Doug could tell she’d already had a couple of glasses of wine. She was a little tipsy and flirtatious. Feeling brave, she moved in even closer to him. He would always joke around with her at the restaurant, but thought they were just close friends and that was the way he wanted to keep it. As she came in close to him she suddenly reached up and kissed him on the cheek. At first, it startled him because he hadn’t expected her to do something like that. He was attracted to her, but didn't want their friendship to go any further. The bad history he was carrying with him and the fact that he was a wanted man was not something he wanted to share with her or anyone else. Shirley had also been the only woman he’d ever loved and nothing would ever change the way he felt about her. Especially, not another woman.

  When JoAnne kissed him, Doug reached over and pulled her close to him and put his right arm around her shoulder. He said, “Come on, let’s take a walk so you can sober up a little.” She didn’t say anything, she just happily cuddled up close to him and went along with what he said. They walked around the park for a while and went from booth to booth as they looked at crafts still out on display. During their walk, he told her that he liked her a lot, but didn’t want to mislead her into thinking that they would ever be a couple. He told her that he still hadn’t gotten over losing his wife. He still missed her and thought of her all the time and didn't think it would be fair to her to not be honest with her. JoAnne didn’t even know his real name. She just knew him as Blake Swanson. He knew that if she would’ve know he was Douglas Cotton, "The American Terrorist," she would’ve run like a scared rabbit. She definitely wouldn't have wanted to date him.

  After a few more minutes, JoAnne stopped walking and leaned up toward Doug and said, “I can help you forget your wife, if you’d just let me.” He laughed when she said that, and replied, “I bet you could give it one heck of a try. That's for sure.” He tried not to hurt her feelings as he hugged her and thanked her for the offer and told her he was going to head back home. "I'll catch up with you next week at the restaurant." She seemed disappointed as she looked at him with a pouty face, “Are you sure you don’t want to come home with me Blake? We could have a lot of fun together.” Doug smiled and shrugged his shoulders, “It sounds very tempting and inviting JoAnne, but I can’t, I’m sorry. It's not you, it's me." He turned and headed toward his car. She watched as he left her standing there and started walking away. He didn’t look back because he didn’t want to have a weak moment and change his mind.

  Just as he got back to his car, he noticed two black SUV’s and a black limousine that had turned and headed up the dirt road toward Fish Camp. Now he wasn't thinking of JoAnne or anyone else. He figured someone important was heading up to the camp if they had him in a Limousine and with that kind of an escort. At first, he thought they might be government vehicles and he wondered what they were doing up that way. When he was able to get a closer look at the license plates he realized they weren’t government vehicles at all. Doug quickly got in his car and started to follow them until they got to the entrance of the camp. Once he saw them approach the guard building, slow down, and then continue on into the camp, he knew something was up. He stopped his car, turned around and headed back to his house. He had already knew that they were up to no good.

  One thing was for sure, they had gotten Doug's attention and he was going to find out who was so important that they had to have a Limo with two escort vehicles tagging along with them for protection. Judging from his past experience, he figured the guards in the two vehicles following the Limo, were heavily armed with AK-67 semi-automatic rifles.

  Once he was home, it started driving him crazy, as he wondered who the guy in the Limo might possibly be. He paced back and forth inside the house, until he decided he was going to find out for himself. He waited until around ten and then put on his black clothing and darkened his face with charcoal. He headed up to the camp on foot. As he got close to the guard gate and the perimeter of the camp, he went north and followed the edge of the river. He was familiar with this path because he'd done the same thing on his last trip to the camp when he blew up one of the main buildings. He could see they had a new guard building at the entrance to the camp because he'd blown it up the last one when he blew up the main building. There were a couple of armed guards standing around keeping an eye out for anyone approaching the camp. He stayed just far enough away so that they couldn't see him.

  There weren't any guards along the perimeter of the camp next to the river so he crept slowly into the compound. He moved along close to the ground fro
m one hiding place to another as he made his way deep into the camp. There were a few buildings with lights on, but the main building had all the lights inside turned on. There were a couple of guards with rifles, that were walking around in front of the building with large dogs they had on leashes. Doug made his way close to the building by quietly low-crawling the rest of the way there. He was slow and deliberate, trying not to draw any attention from the guards or the dogs. Once he was near the back of the building he carefully made his way up to one of the windows. It was pitch black, except for the light coming from inside the building. He looked around for a few minutes and then peaked inside. There were several men having a meeting and one of the men was getting all the attention. He was nicely dressed and Doug believed he was the one that had arrived in the Limo. They were talking loud and he could tell they were planning something big. When the main guy spoke, everyone stopped talking and listened intently to what he had to say.

  He knew he had to find out who this guy was and why they were so interested in what he was saying. Wanting desperately to hear their conversation he slowly inched the window open. He raised it just enough so he could listen in on their conversation. It sounded to him, like they were talking about financing something big. He finally heard the main guy say to the rest of the men, “You’ll have the money you need to carry out the attack. I promise you. Just be patient.” Doug listened long enough to realize he was financing a large attack they had planned in New York. He tried, but couldn't hear what or when the attack was going to take place but he heard all he needed to hear.

  Once he found out what they were planning, he decided he better not press his luck by hanging around the building. He began to low-crawl back to an area where he was away from the guards and dogs. Just as he made it to the tree line one of the guard dogs spotted him before he disappeared back into the woods. He was about a hundred yards from the dog when it first saw him. The dog was soon joined by another and they were headed in Doug’s direction. At first they were just barking and growling loudly and trotting toward him. The only way to avoid an attack from the dogs was to head for the river, but he didn't have a weapon on him and he knew he couldn’t out run them. He was only about fifty yards from the edge of the river when the dogs started at him in a full run. When they did, he immediately stood up and started to run for the river. He could tell the dogs meant business as they charged toward him. He knew he couldn’t let them sink their teeth in him or they would’ve ripped him apart before someone could've pulled them off of him.

  While he was running toward the river he was able to grab a thick dead limb from one of the trees and break it off. When he got to the bank of the river he went over the hill toward the edge of the water. By then the dogs were right on his heels. He stopped just before the river, turned around, and starting swinging the limb at the dogs. He hit each of them a few times and they momentarily backed away. Doug took that small window of opportunity to run and dive head first into the water. He dove down deep and swam underwater and downstream for as long as he dared to hold his breath. Once he came up for air he looked around to see if the dogs were in the water and following after him. They were in the water searching for him, but he was already about sixty yards downstream. He began to float and let the current carry him down the river for about another three quarters of a mile. He soon recognized places along the river where he had been fishing a few times.

  When he was sure he was safe from the dogs and guards, he climbed out of the river and headed in the direction of his house. The water was cold and now he was freezing and miserable from his wet clothes and the cold air. By the time he made it home, he was shaking from head to foot. He quickly pulled off all his wet clothing and dried himself off with a towel. He put on some dry clothes and sat down on the bed to try and warm up. That's when he said, “You dummy, you didn’t even take anything with you to protect yourself. What were you thinking, you could’ve been killed by those dogs because you didn't use your head? I won’t do something like that again. That was just plain stupid.”

  While he was sitting there talking to himself, he heard a dog barking off in the distance. He suddenly realized one of the dogs had not given up the hunt for him. He rapidly threw on some dry clothes, socks and dry shoes. By that time the sound of the dog was getting closer to his house as it headed directly toward him. Doug knew there were probably a few men following the dog and only a short distance behind. He quickly threw on a black coat and grabbed the cross bow and arrows. He turned off all the lights to the house and went out the back door. He reached behind him and pulled the door shut as he stood outside the door for a few seconds looking in the direction of the barking dog.

  He could tell the dog was not too far away as he moved closer to the tree line and near one of the holes he’d dug. When the dog came out of the woods it saw Doug and was heading straight for him. When it got close enough, he coaxed it toward one of the holes. It was now between him and the hole and moving rapidly. He was standing on the other side of the hole when he challenged the dog to come and get him. The dog was already angry as it went straight for him. When he stepped on the cover of the hole its weight caused him to fall through and down to the bottom of the hole he went. He landed with a hard thud and let out a huge yelp of pain. He was momentarily startled but soon realized what had happened to him and started jumping up and down inside the hole. He was barking and growling and trying desperately to get out.

  Doug figured that a guard from Fish Camp would not be too far behind his dog. Since it was barking and growling and making all kinds of noise he knew the guard would be looking to see what happened to him. He took cover in the tree line once again to wait and see if a guard would show up. He didn’t have to wait long when two guards carrying AK- 47 rifles slowly came creeping up toward the sound of the dog. When they got within a short distance of the hole Doug was standing hidden about twenty feet away from them. He took careful aim at one of the guards and fired the cross bow. The arrow caught his target and went deep into the middle of the guards chest. He immediately let out a scream and fell to the ground. He struggled around as he fought for his last breath. The other guard wasn’t sure what had just happened to his friend because he didn't hear a gunshot or see anything. He started waiving his rifle in a circular motion toward the cabin and then back around toward the tree line. By then he had re-loaded the cross bow and took another shot at the second guard. The arrow caught him in the upper left part of his chest, right below his collar bone. He immediately let out a yell and dropped his weapon to the ground.

  Doug immediately reloaded the cross bow once again and then stepped out into the open where the guard could see him. He had the cross bow aimed at him as he ordered the guard to get down on his knees on the ground. The guard was a little reluctant to do what Doug ordered because all he had as a weapon was the cross bow. The guard started to go for his gun and Doug said, "I wouldn't do that if I were you, unless you want another arrow in you." He stopped and just stood there looking at Doug when Doug said, “If you don’t get down on the ground right now, I’m going to put an arrow directly into your heart, just like your dead friend lying over there. You can do what I say or not, it doesn’t make any difference to me.” The man never said a word, he just very slowly got down on his knees. He still had the arrow sticking out of his upper chest and the wound was bleeding streams of blood. Doug grabbed the guards weapon and threw it over his left shoulder. He reached down and quickly pulled the arrow out of the guards chest and he fell to the ground screaming in pain. He then went over and grabbed the weapon the dead guard had been carrying and pulled the arrow out of his chest.

  Doug knew that he didn’t want to fire the rifles or the sound of the gunfire might alert other guards from Fish camp and they would come searching for their friends. He thought about his options for a minute and decided he had to march the wounded guard to the river. “Get to your feet,
we're heading for the river.” He pointed the loaded cross bow in the direction of the river. When they got to the river's edge, he ordered the guard to stop and get back down on his knees once again.

  Just as he had gotten to both knees on the ground Doug hit the guard in the back of the head with the butt of one of the rifles. The guard immediately fell face forward and unconscious to the ground. He hit him a couple more times in the back of the head, just to make sure he was out. He drug his limp body into about two feet of water and straddled his back. He forced the guards head and shoulder down into the water as he held onto him tight. The guard momentarily came to for a second and tried to fight to get away. He just held on tighter and waited a few minutes for the man to stop struggling. When he was sure he was dead, he pushed the guards lifeless body out into the current of the river. He watched for a minute as his body slowly disappeared under the dark black water.

  After Doug disposed of the guards body, he grabbed his cross bow and two rifles and headed back toward the cabin. Once at the cabin, he leaned the two weapons and the cross bow up against the back door. He rested a few minutes before he went over to the body of the first dead guard and searched him for extra ammo clips. Once he had them, he took the clips and laid them next to the two guns by the back door.

  He went to the tool shed and got his wheelbarrow. He then went back to the dead guard and lifted his heavy limp body up and into the wheelbarrow. After he was loaded up, Doug headed toward the river once again. When he got to the water he lifted the handles up and dumped the guards body into the edge of the river. He held his head under water for a few minutes, just to make sure he was dead. Satisfied that he was, he pushed him further out into the dark water, just like he'd done with the other guard. He watched for a minute as the body disappeared into the darkness and under the water.

  Now he only had one problem left and that was the big barking dog at the bottom of the hole. He didn’t really want to kill the dog, but he had to figure out what to do with it because it was still making all kinds of noise at the bottom of the hole. He kneeled down next to the hole and contemplated what to do to get the dog out. He thought, “Maybe if I can get him out of there he’ll just go back to the camp and I won’t have to kill him. I wonder if I can get him out of there without him attacking me."

  After thinking about it for a few minutes, Doug went into the house and got a thick rope and a large piece of meat and took it back to the hole. He threw the meat into the hole, hoping it would distract the dog for a few minutes. He waited for the dog to calm down a little and eat the meat. After several minutes of waiting, the dog cautiously decided to take a bite out of the meat. While he was eating, he tried to lasso him around the neck with the rope. After making several failed attempts, he was finally able to get him around the next with it. Once he had it firmly around the dog’s neck, he tightened it and began to pull the struggling dog up and out of the hole. The large dog started fighting for it life as it fought against the rope. It was trying everything it could to get free and it became a huge struggle for Doug to get him to the top.

  It took some time of struggling before the dog started to go limp from being choked. At that point Doug was able to pull him the rest of the way out of the hole. The dog was choked out just enough so that he didn’t have any fight left in him once he was on solid ground again. Seeing that the dog was somewhat helpless, he quickly went over and loosened the rope from around his neck and set him free. When the dog started getting its senses back it stumbled up to its feet and looked around as if dazed and bewildered. He acted like he didn’t know quite what had just happened to him as he shook his body like he had water all over him. He wasn’t sure whether to attack Doug or run, but he didn't really have enough strength left in him to attack. After he gained some of his strength back, he just stood there looking at him. Doug quickly grabbed a large tree limb and made an aggressive move toward the dog. He began yelling loudly, “Go home boy, get out of here, go back home, get.” Choosing not to be in the hole again or continuing the fight with Doug, the dog finally turned and started trotting off in the direction of Fish Camp. Once the dog was out of sight, Doug let out a large sigh of relief.

  After everything was over, he took the bow and arrows, the two rifles, and ammo clips into the house with him and sat them in the extra bedroom. He sat down on the couch to try and gain his composure as he said, “Those idiots, they should’ve stayed back at their camp. They shouldn’t have come after me, and especially not at night. That was a foolish thing for them to do out here in these woods.”

  He was finally calmed down enough to go to bed but he lay there tossing and turning and thinking about everything that had happened with the dog and two guards. It was like a record that kept repeating itself over and over again in his head. He shivered at the thought of what could’ve happened to him if the dogs had gotten a hold on him or the guards would’ve captured him. While he was lying there, he formulated another plan on what he was going to do to the "important finance guy" from the limo. He felt compelled that he had to do something to stop whatever attack these terrorists had planned for New York.

  Doug was soon thinking straight again and he knew exactly what he had to do to stop the Fish Camp terrorists. He couldn't sleep, so he got up and placed some of the dynamite bombs he'd taped together earlier, in his backpack. He made sure he had a working lighter and stuck it in his pocket. He tied the detonator box firmly to the outside of his backpack and had his rifle and a shovel strapped over his shoulder. The rifle was loaded and ready to go. Once he had everything ready, he headed on foot toward town but along the tree line of Old Creek Road. He was actually headed in the opposite direction of Fish Camp.

  He made his way to a spot in the road where cars had to slow down so they could cross a small rocky stream. It ran over the dirt road and was just deep enough that a car couldn’t cross it without slowing to almost a stop. There were lots of trees and brush on both sides of the road that would give him the cover he needed to hide and blow up the vehicles. He took the shovel and dug a shallow hole in the middle of the road where he thought the lead SUV would have to slow down before it crossed the stream. He put one bundle of the Dynamite in the hole and attached a wire from it to the detonator box. He did the same with one of the other bundles of dynamite, where he thought the trailing Limo would come to a stop. He covered the dynamite and wire so it couldn’t be seen. Once he was finished, he just sat there hidden while waiting for the Limo and the SUV’s to come back out of the camp. His plan was to blow them up before they had a chance to leave Cummings. He wanted desperately to ruin their attack on New York.

  Doug waited all day for them to come out of the camp and wasn't having much luck. He was beginning to get a little discouraged because he thought the group might be planning on spending another night or two before they left. He also wondered if they might have left while he lying on the bed, tossing and turning. He kept telling himself he had to be patient, he’d gone through this type of anticipation and waiting before during some of his other attacks.

  It was just about to get dark when he spotted the Limo and the two SUV’s coming down the road in his direction. There was a lead SUV followed by the Limo and another SUV. He was relieved as his heart began to pound and he instantly became excited that his plan was soon going to be coming together. He double checked to make sure the wires were attached to the detonator box and lifted the handle. He was anxiously getting ready to push it down when the Limo and the SUV’s were in place. He had to tell himself not to get too excited and push the handle down before it was time. He knew he had to wait for just the right moment or they would escape what he had planned for them.

  As the vehicles made their way closer to his position, Doug could hear every thump of his heart as it pounded heavy in his chest. He was filled with adrenaline, as he anticipated the explosions. When they were almost in position, he started saying to himself
, “Come on! Come on! You terrorists! Just a little bit further!” Just when the Limo and the SUV’s were over the dynamite he pushed the lever down. The Limo and one of the SUV’s instantly blew up in a huge explosion. Pieces of the Limo and SUV were flying everywhere as flames and smoke flew about a hundred feet up in the sky. The two massive explosions shook the ground all the way up to where he was sitting in his crouched position. The explosions were so loud that he knew they could hear them in town. He watched for a second as the fire and smoke continued to shoot up into the sky. He then ducked behind a tree as debris from the vehicles started falling all around him.

  The second trailing SUV driver was stunned by the explosion, but his vehicle was far enough back that it didn’t blow it up. It didn't take long before two gunmen jumped out of the SUV with their weapons drawn. They were looking in all directions to see if they could find or see anyone. Doug put his rifle to his cheek, took careful aim and squeezed off a round as the sound echoed through the woods . He took out the first guard when the bullet hit his target in the head. The other guard saw where the flash of the shot had come from and starting firing his automatic rifle wildly in his direction. Bullets were flying all around his position. Fearing he may get hit by one of the bullets, he stayed hidden and low-crawled about thirty yards away to a safer location. From that spot he was able to take careful aim at the second guard. When he pulled the trigger the shot rang out and the bullet hit its target in the middle of the chest. He was squirming around on his back next to the SUV, firing his weapon toward the sky. Doug then took out his lighter and lit the other bundle of dynamite that he had in his back pack. He threw it under the SUV and close to the dying guard. He ran and ducked for cover as the vehicle was also blown to pieces.

  Doug knew he had to get out of there as fast as he could because it would be crawling with people soon. He knew that people from town would soon be there with fire trucks, ambulances and the police. He also figured that people from Fish Camp would be trying to find out what happened. He stayed out of sight as he followed the path along the tree line back to his house. Once he got home, he poured himself a glass of wine, went outside and leaned against one of the posts that held up the porch. He stood and watched for a few hours, as the vehicles came out of Fish Camp and headed toward the direction of their fallen comrades. He heard the sirens of the fire trucks, ambulances and police as they made their way from town to the scene of the explosions.

  After a few hours of watching and listening to all the commotion, he went into his house and sat down at the table and poured himself another glass of wine. He lifted his glass in the air, as if to toast to someone, and said, “We got them again Michael. They won’t kill any Americans on my watch, I promise you that and they won't kill anyone in New York.” Doug was very pleased with himself and what he'd done. He just smiled and then took a big gulp of the wine.

  Doug had killed the two guards and carried out this attack at the spur of the moment and hadn’t thought too much about the consequences of his actions. He didn't think about the possibility of bringing law enforcement agencies into his own back yard. Now he was going to have to wait and see if they sent someone snooping around his place.

  The next day it was on the news that someone had blown up three vehicles as they came out of Fish Camp and it had killed a total of seven Muslim men during the attack, (five were blown up and two were killed with a rifle). It also said that two bodies of men from Fish Camp were found floating in the river down-stream from the camp. The news also said the type of attack that took place sort of resembled the method of attacks "The American Terrorist" had used, but he was dead so it couldn't have been him. The newscasters were saying they believed this attack may be the work of a copy-cat "American Terrorist" bomber. Doug laughed out loud when he heard that news and said, "You people just keep believing that and leave me alone."

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