Bad Manners

Part 4

Smith and I drive back to the estate with the other bosses behind us. Neither of us say much of anything after the events at the warehouse. Once at the estate, he leads everyone into a large room with a long table. Smith sits at the head of it and the others join him.

"That was very interesting, what do you plan to do next?" one man says. The others join in with a chorus of 'yeahs'.

"How do we fight men from space?" one man says. All the others start shouting at the same time after this statement.

"Quiet! Quiet!" Smith cries out and the shouting subsides.

"Look, I don't know exactly how we are going to do this, but right now we have the element of surprise. The aliens have several operations in the area, according to my sources. I want to hit them over the next few days. To do this I need your help."

"What!" several of them cry out and the shouting starts again.

"Quiet!" Smith shouts.

"If we hit them fast and hit them hard we can disrupt their supply chains. They need those chambers to rejuvenate themselves at regular intervals or else they die. Eliminate those chambers and they will start dying off. Hopefully, if we hit enough places we can make the government aware and help us. I must point out that some of these aliens are in government positions and will try to stop us."

"Christ Almighty. It just keeps getting better and better," one boss says.

"And what happens when they become aware of us and they start arming themselves?" another asks.

"I don't know. We're starting a war, a war for the survival of our race and planet. There will be casualties and set-backs. I won't deny that. But one thing I am certain of is that if we fail and the aliens win, there will be nothing for us to go back to."

The rest are silent after hearing that.

"Right now we have an army: the hit men, the enforcers and thugs that we use to conduct our business. We have weapons; guns, at least. These aliens are mortal, they bleed and they die just like we do. They are in an inherently hostile environment that they must adapt to to live in."

Smith looks over at me and I give him a list of places that are being used by the aliens, He then shows it to the other bosses.

"These are our targets for the next few nights. Are you with me or not?"

There is a murmur of 'yeahs' from the assembled men.

The next few days I showed the bosses the other places, with the plans I drew of them, showing loading bays and doors. Back at the estate, Smith assigns each boss a different place to attack. That night the warehouses were all hit at the same time.

Needless to say, it wasn't as easy as the first one. Two of the places had guards, and the attacking forces had several casualties. Unfortunately, some innocent workers were also killed when they refused to get down on the floor and tried to run away. One of the places had coffins, as I called them, that had aliens ready to go into chambers. We took one back to the estate so everyone could get a good look at what they were fighting. It had the intended effect.

I contact the Muffin Man the usual way, and he shows up at the estate. We show him the alien and the places we hit. He was very pleased with what we had achieved.

"Very impressive, very impressive. But you realize this is just the opening salvo. The other places will be well guarded from now on, and there are many of them, I fear. You must expand your forces."

"Great," Smith says, sitting back in his office chair.

"Any rumblings from the government?" I ask.

"None yet, but I fear that they will start retaliating to stop you."

"The Army?" I ask nervously.

"Not yet. At least I don't think so. More likely local police at first. How is your guest doing?"

"Okay, but not a great source of information. But we have some more under wraps that should be very helpful with some coercion," Smith says, smiling menacingly.

"Excellent," the Muffin Man says, smiling too.

The prediction about the police trying to shut us down came sooner than expected. Several bootlegging operations that previously had operated fairly openly were raided. Just to be safe, Smith had Cigarette Man and anything alien hidden at a safe location.

It proved to be a good idea when the police raided the estate. They searched everywhere and took everyone downtown for questioning. At the station, the police didn't ask so many questions about the bootlegging operations as they did about where everyone was the last few nights. They got nothing from Smith or his men, and after a few hours released everyone.

That evening Smith and I sat in his office planning our next move. He wanted to go to the city where we had nabbed Cigarette Man. He knew some of the bosses there, and he wanted to enlist them in our cause.

"That won't be easy," I say. "Telling them that aliens are trying to take over the world."

"That's why I'm counting on your powers of persuasion."

The next day we were on the train with several of his men. After arriving, I showed him the building I had cased before. Needless to say, things had changed. From the road we could see armed guards patrolling the grounds. Getting in would be almost impossible now.

Smith set up a meeting with the local boss he knew. He wanted me to join him, but I objected. He insisted, saying he needed my knowledge of these beings.. We also took some canisters and pictures that we had taken of the chambers with the aliens in them. Still, I knew it wouldn't be an easy sell.

"We're being invaded by aliens from space?" the local crime boss cries out loud. Smith just sits there, unperturbed by the outburst. I sit there quietly, looking at both of them.

"You've been drinking too much of your own hooch! Coming in here and telling me that little green men from Mars are trying to take over the world!"

"Look at these," Smith says, putting some pictures on the desk. "I couldn't believe it myself until I saw it with my own eyes."

He looks at the pictures of the chambers and the aliens in them. "Looks like one of those monster movies. I still don't believe you."

Smith then looks at me. "This is a private eye I've hired to get me information about these aliens. He led me to these places with the chambers and aliens in them. Plus, he has seen them unloading a landing craft of some kind out on a farm."

"Out on a farm? I still don't believe it."

I then handed him a canister that I had taken from one of the raids. "They hook these up to the chambers, it changes them from their alien form to one that looks like us. I must warn you, it's deadly poison like this. One place I was observing sprung a leak to a chamber and killed all the men working there. I barely escaped alive. I've had chemists analyze it, and they said that some of the elements in it don't exist on Earth."

The boss looked like he was about to open the canister, but then thought twice about it.

"I still want to see this with my own eyes," he demands.

"Of course," Smith replied coolly.

The next day we showed him the building from our vantage point across the street. I point out the guards that are patrolling the grounds.

The boss looks through the binoculars at the building for several minutes, studying it carefully. "I see men with rifles and shotguns. Lots of them. A lot more than should be there. What do you plan to do?"

"Word of the other places being raided must've reached here. It won't be easy. Our best bet is to hit them late at night. Come in fast with trucks and men armed with machine guns. Hit them at the loading docks," Smith says.

The boss looks through the binoculars at the building again for several minutes, studying it carefully.

"We come like any other truck, pull up to the dock and jump out at them. Catch them by surprise," Smith says. Then he looks at me. "Can we do that?"

"Yes, I need to watch them, determine when the trucks come and go. Figure out the best time to attack."

"Get on it."

I spent the next several nights watching the trucks arrive and leave the building, noting the times they do this. Later at a meeting, we set a time to attack. The plan seems simple enough. Come in with some of our trucks when the docks are empty and then have the men jump out of the back, surprising everyone there. At meetings we discussed strategies. I drew up plans of the loading dock as well as the inside rooms, the best I could remember, and gave them each one for their men to follow.

Finally the time arrives. Three trucks arrive and pull up to the gate. The bored guard lets them pass through with a wave. Just as the last truck drives by, a man jumps out and runs toward the guard. Before the guard can react, he has a gun pressed against his head to make sure he stays quiet. The rest of the trucks continue on.

The trucks back up to the loading bays and as soon as they stop the men inside come rushing out. They fire their guns into the air to frighten and startle everyone while shouting. One alien tries to fire his weapon and is quickly cut down.

Some men go to the doors of the closed-off room and throw them open. Fortunately this area is unguarded, and the people inside are quickly gathered together in a group, when suddenly the double doors burst open.

I see shotguns firing and two intense beams of light shoot out into the loading bay. I watch in horror as a man disintegrates before me. The other beam hits a worker trying to run away and cuts him down in mid stride. Another man falls from the shotgun blast to his chest.

I quickly fire shots at one alien firing the beam of light from a device in his hand. The first misses, but the second catches him squarely in the chest and he falls to the ground without firing another shot. The other one fires his strange weapon again and hits another man, disintegrating him, but is caught in a barrage of machine-gun fire before he can fire again. The remaining defender with the shotgun fires wildly and is quickly killed by our men.

I slowly look at the devastation around me. Ashes are all that remains of the men hit by the beams of light. The rest of the casualties are from gunshots. I look carefully at the device in the one alien's hand and pick it up. It doesn't look like anything I've ever seen before. I don't see anything that looks like a trigger or ammo. I leave it on the ground and direct our men to follow me inside the building.

Carefully, we search the interior. Inside, we find many rooms filled with mysterious equipment. I tell the men not to touch anything. We go through the corridor I had been in earlier, and together we round up more aliens. Apparently most of their guards were on the outside grounds. They only have conventional weapons and are quickly eliminated.

Finally, by early morning the building is secure. The terrified human workers are paid off to stay silent, and they disappear into the dawn. Smith and his friend show up later and I escort them through the building, showing them the chambers, many still in use. They stare in awe as one is opened and they see the gray alien inside it. Lastly, I show them the strange devices that shoot out beams of light that disintegrate whatever they hit.

"This," I say, "is what caused that," pointing to the ashes on the floor. "I've never seen it before. My guess is that they were expecting this and armed their men against an attack. Fortunately, they only had two."

"How does it work?" Smith asks.

I hold it very carefully before them. "I don't know. I can't find a trigger." I then put my hand around what looks like a handle to hold it by when a beam of light shoots out and hits a crate on the far wall that it instantly disintegrates. I drop it in shock while Smith and the other boss both recoil in surprise.

"Jesus Christ! What is that thing!" Smith cries out.

"I don't know!" I say, shaking in fear. "Some sort of strange, alien weapon. I didn't know it was loaded …" I reply weakly.

Smith just glares at me for a moment and then turns to the other boss.

"Satisfied now? Can I count on your support and the other bosses against these aliens?"

"Yes," says quietly. "But how can we fight these aliens if they have weapons like this?" he says, looking at the device on the floor.

They both look at me and once again I wonder what I've gotten myself into.

The trip back on the train was long and nerve-wracking, mostly because I had the disintegrating device carefully packed in a suitcase sitting next to me the whole way. Finally, we return to the estate and then go to the place where the alien is, with me gingerly holding the alien device in my lap. Two of Smith's men lead me into the room where Cigarette Man is being held. He is sitting on his cot, calmly smoking a cigarette when we enter, giving us a bored look until he spies the device I'm holding. He tries to mask his expression, but I can tell he is anxious.

"I see you have a new toy. You have no idea what you are holding in your hands."

"I have an idea. I saw it being used." I say dryly.

"Indeed," he replies calmly, taking a long drag of his cigarette. "You know these things," he says looking at his cigarette, "are one of the few things I like about this planet."

"Never mind the cigarette," I say. "How does this thing work?"

"It's very simple, you just grab it here and …" he says reaching for the device,

One of Smith's men grabs his arm and pushes him back just as he was about to get hold of it.

"Uh, uh. Not so fast. I grabbed it there and it accidentally fired."

"Did you kill someone?" he says, smiling at me.

"No. Now tell me how to hold this and fire it properly."

He looks at me and takes another drag from his cigarette. "If you have seen this in action you must realize that in a small room like this it can do a lot of damage."

I had to admit he was right. I motion the guards and we leave him sitting on the cot, smiling at us.

I later talked to Smith, telling him what I had found out. Needless to say, he wasn't thrilled by what I suggested.

"An outdoor space, large and remote with us and our guest showing us how to use this weapon of theirs. I don't like it. Too much can go wrong."

"I'm afraid we have no choice. It's too dangerous for us right now. We have to be careful."

"Okay, I'll make some arrangements and let you know when I'm ready."

A few days later I'm in a car with Smith, carefully holding the device in my lap, while we drive to a remote location in the country. Cigarette Man is in another car, guarded by several of Smith's men. Finally we reach an open field where the cars all stop. Smith and I get out and his guards bring our captive to us, his hands bound together.

"Much better, much better," he says smiling at us.

"Okay, now show us how to use this thing," Smith demands. He then nods at his men who point guns at the alien's head. "Try anything funny and they will shoot."

"That rod is where you hold it," he says.

"This one?" I say pointing at one.

"No, that one."

I walk away from the others and hold the device where he indicated. Nothing happens. So far so good, I think.

"You see that indentation in the back? You press that with your thumb and it fires. The beam comes out the other end."

I move further away from the others and hold it at arm's length while pointing it far away from everyone. I gently press the indentation with my thumb, half expecting it to blow up or something, killing all of us in the process.

Instead a beam of light shoots out, hitting several trees in the distance, disintegrating them instantly. Smith abruptly turns around to look at Cigarette Man, a look of shock on his face.

"What is that thing?" he cries out.

"Now do you see what you are up against?" Cigarette Man says calmly. "These guns of yours are toys compared to what we have. Give up now and I'll let you live."

I look at the weapon in my hand and aim it at a nearby large boulder. The beam shoots out and it disappears, leaving only ash behind.

"I've seen enough," Smith says nervously. "Let's get outta here."

"Just a moment, if you please," Cigarette Man says. "I have to perform one of this body's biological functions."

"That tree over there," Smith says impatiently while pointing. "And hurry it up!"

The captive goes over to the tree and returns a few minutes later. No one notices the small object left on the ground behind the tree.

"Okay, let's get going," Smith says.

Back at the estate, Smith goes into his office and shuts the door behind him. The guards escort our prisoner back to his room and I go see Sally.

"So, how did it go?" she asks.

"Good, and not so good. We now know how to handle and fire the weapon, but now we know what we're up against. Smith knows too, and he's not happy. Frankly, I can't blame him. We've been lucky so far, but I think that's going to change."

"What do we do?" she says fearfully.

"I don't know. I thought at first we had a chance, but these weapons of theirs changed everything."

"We could leave, go somewhere far from here."

"Sure but to what end? Go somewhere and wait for them to take over? I can't think of a place that would be safe."

Later that day Smith calls me into his office.

"I've been talking with the other bosses, telling them what we found and about this new weapon we've discovered. They don't like it. Some want to pull out, saying it's too much for them. Frankly, I can't blame them."

"Did you tell them the alternative, to just let these aliens take over?"

"Yeah, some think they can cut a deal with these aliens for themselves."

"What about the boss in the city we just left? He saw everything."

"He's still on board for now. I want you to get the Muffin Man, get him to that place. It's full of files. We need to find their main centers, supplies and stuff. Hit them where it hurts. If things are going to get tough I want to hit them hard. Maybe we can start to get the government on our side. They may be our only hope.

I go back to the restaurant and tell the maitre'd I need to contact the Muffin Man right away, and leave him with two c-notes.

A few days later he shows up at the estate. Smith and I explain to him what happened in our latest battle with the aliens and about the strange weapon they used against us. He didn't look happy.

"I agree with your assessment. They are fighting back with superior weapons now."

"We need to find their main sources and supply centers, places where we can hurt them," Smith says.

"That place may have been one of their larger centers. We found rooms full of files. Maybe you can tell us what we need to know," I say.

"Indeed," he replies.

"My men will escort and guard you while you're there," Smith says. Then he looks at me. "Plus, my private eye here will be with you."

I look at him to protest, but quickly realize it would be useless.

The Muffin Man sits quietly and thinks for several minutes before speaking up. "I can be ready tomorrow morning."

We arrived at the city after a long train trip. In the captured building, I show him the rooms with the desks and files and he gets to work.

The next week consists mainly of watching him while he pores over file after file, occasionally making notes. During dinner I ask him how the work is going. He just says that he is finding some very interesting things. That this is more involved than he thought. The alien infiltration here is just the first step. Plans are underway to set up bases in other countries. But the need to regenerate frequently and having limited places to do it is their weakness. I call Smith regularly from the hotel to keep him updated and ask how Sally is doing.

Finally, after two weeks the Muffin Man says he has gotten all he needs. He fills several suitcases with files and we head back. At the station, he gets into his limo and we go back to the estate where Smith is waiting for us.

I go to his office and give him the information we had gleaned from the files. He studies the sheets with locations of regeneration chambers, supply warehouses and delivery locations like the one at the farm.

"Impressive. Good work."

"The Muffin Man says if we hit them at the locations he marked, that will severely cripple them. There won't be enough chambers to sustain all of them and they will start dying off."

"What happens when they don't use a chamber?" Smith asks.

"Our guest tells me that if they don't regenerate they will start to return to their original form. They will find it harder and harder to breathe our air. Eventually it will become impossible and they will die then," I reply.

"I see." He then looks at the list again."These places are pretty well spaced out. It will be difficult for us to hit them all quickly to keep them off balance. We're going to need reinforcements."

Smith told me to get more information from our guest, so I went to the house where he is being kept. Once there, I showed him the locations we got from the files. We needed building layouts and possible guards so we could figure out the best places to hit them at.

Cigarette Man just sits there and calmly smokes his cigarettes while I ask him questions about the locations. He answered all my questions, but I couldn't shake the feeling that he was hiding something from me.

"If we hit all these places, you won't have enough chambers left to regenerate in, and the others will start to return to their original form and start dying."

"A minor setback at best," he replies calmly and takes another drag from his cigarette.

"You will no longer be a secret, people will know who you are."

"A few unsubstantiated rumors."

I take a good, long look at him. This was one tough cookie. Just then I noticed something odd about him holding his cigarette.

"Why does it do that, your little finger, stick out like that?"

He glances at it before replying," We only have three fingers on our hands. It's useless for us, we just ignore it."

Interesting, I think.

I return to the estate and report to Smith with the information I got from our captive. Together, we made plans to hit the locations in a few weeks. He and the other bosses were calling in favors, getting together the muscle we needed. I told him the feeling I had with Cigarette Man, and he agreed. I also told him what I noticed about his hand.

"So they can't use their little finger, it just sticks out."

"Right," I said, making a fist with the little finger sticking out.

"Best to remember that. It may come in useful later. We have a visitor coming here tomorrow, he's from one of the cities we have to hit. I want you to get all the stuff ready to show him, and bring our guest along too."

"We'll be ready."

The out-of-town crime lord showed up with his men all around him at the estate the next day. I watch them file in and go into the meeting room with Smith and his men. I follow behind them and stand in the back. Our captive is in another room, waiting for me to bring him out.

"Okay, what's this big deal to drag me all the way out here, giving me crazy stories about men from space wanting to take over the world? This had better be good. I heard about the hit you did a few weeks ago. Expanding your operations. huh?"

"That's right. We hit one of their main centers, just like the one in your city at this location." He then pushes a paper with a location on it across the table for the man to read.

"That's one of my places, and you want to hit it? You do that and it's war between us!" he cries out.

"It's a front for an alien operation! We got the information about it from the files of the place we hit. This and several others!" Smith shouts. "Look at these pictures we took of the chambers." He motions to me and I get out the pictures and put them on the table. One of his men grabs the pictures and hands them to his boss who looks at them.

Just then I noticed something unusual about the man who had just grabbed the pictures. Just to be sure I get one of the canisters and hand it to the same man who had taken the pictures. As he reaches for it I look carefully at his hands. The little finger is sticking out!

All of a sudden my heart leaps up into my throat. My first thought is, how many more are like him? This could be a trap, and we walked right into it! I had to get Smith out of here, but how to do it without tipping them off?

I look at Smith, who is in a heated argument with the other boss. I slowly move from the back towards the front of the room and bend over to whisper to Smith, "Perhaps we should show him our guest."

"Good idea. Go get him."

"I think it would be best if you came with me to inform him about the importance of him telling us everything he knows before we bring him in."

"No, you go ahead. Make sure he understands," he replies grinning.

"I think it would be more effective if you did it, SIR!" I emphasize.

He looks me in the eye and maybe some sort of gangster sixth sense kicks in and he realizes that something is up.

"I have to do everything myself around here. Just sit tight, this will only take a minute," Smith tells the group.

Once we're outside and the door is shut, Smith pushes me against the wall and pokes a finger in my chest.

"What the hell is going on?" he says quietly and menacingly.

"One of that guy's men is an alien! The one who handed the pictures to his boss. I saw his hand, the pinky is sticking out. Just to be sure I handed him the canister! I have no idea how many others are like him. This could be a trap!"

"What do we do?"

My head was spinning with the possibilities, most of them bad.

"Get your friend out of there, just him. Get him somewhere safe. Then we try to see if more of them are here."

Smith is silent for several moments and then looks back at the room. "Okay, I'll try to get him. It won't be easy. Come in with me, and play along."

Great, I think.

Together we walk into the room, me just behind Smith. We both survey the room, both of us thinking the same thing.

"My man here," looking at me, "has just informed me of a complication. If you could just follow me we can show you what we have."

"I don't go nowhere without my boys," the boss replies, his voice full of menace.

"I assure you, you will be perfectly safe."

"My boys and this," he says, patting the gun in his coat, "make me feel safe."

"Maybe the gentleman would feel better with one of his men with him. Like that one," I casually point to the man whose hands I had noticed earlier.

Smith looks at me and sees me nod slightly. Following my cue he turns back to the boss.

"Will that be all right?"

The man looks at Smith and then at the man I pointed out. After a few moments he gets up and tells the man to follow him. Together we walk out of the room with me behind the boss's thug and we go down the hall. Satisfied that we are far enough away, I grab the thug by his collar and throw him against the wall. At the same time I pull my gun out and point it at his head.

"What the hell is going on here. I swear I'll make you pay for this!" the crime boss cries out.

"Shaddup! You're safe! This guy here is one of the aliens I was talking about. Look at his hands!" Smith shouts.

I grab one of the man's hands and hold it in front of the boss's face. "Look at his little finger! They can't use that finger in this body!"

The boss stares at the hand before him with the little finger sticking out, immobile. I grab the other hand and show him that it's the same.

"What does this mean?" he cries out in dismay.

I look at him and Smith. "This is probably a trap. Is that right?" I say to the man I'm holding.

"Yes, you have no idea what you are up against. The one you are holding here left a tracking device that told us where he was being held. We were hoping to get the others here so we could wipe you all out at once. But no matter, we will get them soon enough."

"Are there more like you in the room? I say, pointing the gun at his head.

"No. Not that it matters. Already our forces are preparing to attack this place with orders to leave no one alive," he says, smiling at me.

I look at Smith who glares at this man for a moment. "Put him in with the other. Then meet me in my office." He then goes off to his office with the other boss. I take the alien to the room where Cigarette Man is. I push him inside and lock the door. Just then I remember Sally.

I run up to her room and see her sitting there, startled by my sudden appearance.

"Get out! Get out!" I shout at her. "This place is about to be attacked by the aliens!" I get out my wallet and put it in her trembling hands." Here! Take this, go out by the kitchen and run away. Take this and get as far away as you can!"

"But, but what about you?" she says, her voice almost a sob.

"Don't worry about me," I say, taking her arm and we run to the kitchen. I look out the back entrance and it looks clear. A line of trees hides the back road.

I point at the trees. "Go that way, get to the countryside and stay hidden. At dawn, go to the highway and get back to town!"

"What about you?" she whimpers.

"Don't worry, just go."

She gives me a quick kiss and heads out into the darkness.

I watch her disappear, and head to Smith's office.

Inside, I see him with the safe open and the two alien guns inside it.

"I figured we might need these," he says pointing to the guns.

"Where's your friend?" I ask.

"Back with his men. Mine are passing out shotguns and machine guns. How do you operate this thing?" he says, reaching for one of the alien guns.

I quickly grab it before he can handle it. "First you hold it here and then press here to fire. But be careful, it has a hair trigger."

"I know."

Just then we hear gunfire coming from the front of the estate. We run toward the sound and see a large section of the mansion missing. Another beam shoots out and another part disappears.

I see where the attacking beam came from and fire in that direction. I see something vaporize in the distance and no more beams appear. We scurried along the hedge to hide ourselves, and then rush behind some cars, which was a good thing, since the spot we had just occupied was hit by several beams. I see several figures in the distance. There are several shotgun blasts and I see one of them fall. They return fire with their weapons in the direction of the shotguns. I see this as a chance to get them while they are distracted. A few quick blasts and they are gone.

Fortunately for us, the attackers had no or little concept of tactics and strategy. Had they attacked us on all sides at once we wouldn't have had a chance. Instead they fought as a single group, firing from one point. I don't know how long the battle raged, but it was short and vicious. Lances of energy beams shot out in the darkness followed by sporadic flashes from machine guns and shotguns. Finally it ended. I don't know how many attacked us since there were so few bodies left. My own device ran out of energy after firing it several times, but luckily I was able to scavenge another from a dead alien and keep on fighting.

When dawn comes, we survey the damage. Large sections are missing out of the mansion where they simply disintegrated from the blasts. I try to find the room where we put our captives, but it looks like it is gone too. Good riddance, I think. I find Smith looking through the wreckage that was once his mansion.

"Sons of bitches." he mutters. "They'll pay for this. This means war ." He looks at me rummaging through the debris. "Sally?" he says.

"I got to her. Gave her money and told her to go before the firing started. Hopefully she's far away from here by now."

"The other boss?"

"Went crazy and started running. Was cut down."

"Now what?"

"We get outta here and regroup. I'm gonna meet with the other bosses and tell them what happened. This should convince them. We'd better clear outtta here before the police arrive."

The police arrive later at the estate, alerted by the neighbors. I don't know what they thought of it, but the newspapers called it a gangland hit among warring bosses, and no further mention was made of it.

Meanwhile we hid out in a secret location, where we figured out our next attack against the aliens. Smith sent me ahead with some of his men to scout out the locations. Things have definitely gotten worse. Trucks are now searched before entering the grounds. The buildings have more guards, and I see some of them carrying the disintegrator weapons.

When we return to the hide-out, I give Smith the bad news. Needless to say he didn't like it.

"From what you say, if we try doing what we did with the others, we'll never make it to the main building."

"That's right. If we can get past the inspection at the gate we have a chance. But I don't see how."

Smith just sits there for several minutes, pondering his next move. Then he speaks. "Get a truck."

"What?"

"Get a truck and put those chambers in them. Each one can hold a man, can't they?"

"Yes," I say slowly, not getting his point.

"They unload the chambers, our men pop out and start blasting. They will be completely caught by surprise. While they are off guard we hit them at the gate and other points."

"Okay, good plan. Like a Trojan Horse. But we don't know what it's like in a chamber. Remember they're made for aliens."

"True, but we have several chambers from the places we hit. I want them all checked out. If we can use them, we put them on a truck with our men inside them."

"It could work," I say, not entirely convinced.

"Good, get on it."

I go to one of the warehouses we captured, and look over the chambers in them. I open up one and nothing happens. I go to the next one and I immediately catch a whiff of the gas that almost killed me. I quickly slam the lid shut and run out of the room, coughing and gasping for breath. The others with me are doing the same thing and we wait several minutes before returning to the room.

I gingerly open the lid on another chamber and detect nothing. I slowly open another chamber and immediately smell the gas and slam the lid shut. After a few minutes of coughing, I carefully open the last chamber. It's clear. We have two chambers we can use. I hope the ones at the other locations are good; we're going to need a lot of them.

Later, I report to Smith and tell him we have ten chambers that we can use.

He doesn't say anything for several seconds and then speaks up. "Not good. I would've preferred more, but I guess it will have to do. Two trucks with three in the back, and two with two. This way we can hit four at once. I assume, of course, that we can rig them to open from the inside."

"Of course."

"How will they know when they are out of the trucks and inside the building?"

"I'm thinking of a peep hole in the side."

"Risky. We'll need them to come out and start firing together, keep the element of surprise. We'll only have a few seconds before they react."

"That won't be easy, coordinating attacks from the inside and outside."

"I have faith in you."

Needless to say, the preparation wasn't easy. We had to remove a lot of stuff from the chambers until they were just a hollow shell so we could lift them into the trucks. Plus, only two chambers would fit in a truck, so we would have to have two trucks at each site. I had peepholes drilled in an inconspicuous place so the men inside could see what was happening. My biggest problem was that I had no idea what the aliens would do when they saw chambers in the back of the trucks.

We tried different plans. The simplest one seemed the best: as soon as the trucks backed up to the loading dock, the men would throw open the chamber lids, jump out and start firing. When the truck driver hears the shooting, he then fires a flare gun into the air. This would be the signal to the rest around the building to start attacking. Also, each group had one person I hand picked to use the disintegrating devices I recovered from the aliens' attack on the estate. I showed each man how to use them, let them see how dangerous they were.

We tried this plan several times at one of the captured warehouses for a week until I felt everyone was ready. I met with Smith and the other bosses to make the final arrangements. The trucks with their fake chambers would travel to each target and wait for the signal to attack. Each group had layouts of the targets and would attack at the same time to make sure none of the others were alerted ahead.

Smith and I traveled together by train to one of the distant locations, me sitting next to him, nervously going over all the details again and again, wondering if I had forgotten something. I had never tried something like this before. I wondered again what I had gotten myself into. I thought about Sally, hoping she made it to safety that night.

Finally, our group and the others arrived at their separate locations. We set up the chambers in our trucks and went over the details of the attack one more time. Smith called the bosses at the other locations, each one saying they were ready. Finally the time arrived, and we all went out into the darkness.

My heart was in my throat the whole way there. When we approach the gate, the guard comes out and mumbles something in an alien language. My heart skips a few beats and I calmly point my thumb at the back of the truck. He looks in the back, and seemingly satisfied, waves us through. He looks in the back of the other truck and waves it through, too. I heave a sigh of relief as we drive toward the loading docks and back up to them. I purposely bump the back of the truck against the building. This was the sign for the men in the chambers to come out.

Seconds later I hear machine-gun fire erupt behind me. I look around and jump out of the cab. I see the men spraying the area with bullets. I then quickly remember to fire the flare gun to signal the others. The red flare shoots up into the sky and it is followed by the sound of gunfire in the distance. I jump up onto the dock and see the area is littered with bodies. I don't know if they are human or alien. One of our guys throws open the doors to the chambers and sprays the area with machine fire before I can stop him. The bullets tear into the chambers, puncturing some of the hoses, and green gas shoots out of them. I immediately see people near the chambers start gasping for breath and falling over.

I grab the man in the doorway and pull him out of the room, closing the doors behind us. Already I am starting to choke from the gas.

"Get outta here!" I scream, pushing him towards the double doors. I see the other one standing in the middle of the room and grab him, both of us coughing. We all run through the doors into a hallway. One man drops to the floor trying to catch his breath. I'm not much better, barely able to walk a few steps.

"We gotta get out of here before that gas kills us!" I cry out to them. "This way!" I shout, pointing down the hall.

Suddenly, two aliens come running around the corner. Surprised by us, one of them fires his disintegrator wildly down the hall. It misses us but hits the door and green gas starts flowing through the hole into the hallway. I fire my pistol at them and they take cover in an alcove. I then realize that we're pinned here and have only a few seconds to live before the green gas reaches us.

I grab the machine-gun from the man who is gasping on the floor next to me, and spray the alcove with bullets. I've never fired one before and it kicks like a mule, causing most of my shots to go wild. The aliens had probably figured out that the gas would reach us before them, killing us first. Still, the machine-gun fire causes them to hide deeper in the alcove.

Given a choice between a certain death in a few seconds from poison gas, or a probable one from the aliens, I choose the probable one. One of our men is on the floor, I can't tell if he is alive or dead. The other one is still gasping for breath. I tell him on the count of three to start firing his machine-gun at the alcove while I run out into the corridor. He nods weakly and I count down. At three he starts firing and I run down the hallway. When I reach the alcove, I just start firing at the aliens hiding from the machine-gun fire. Several shots miss, but some hit and they fall down on the floor. I quickly motion to my guy and he runs toward me. The other guy is a goner as green vapors move toward him on the floor.

Grabbing the disintegrator from the dead alien, my partner and I slowly move down the hallway, still coughing from the gas. Just as we come to another corridor, a beam of energy shoots across it and part of the wall disappears. We drop to the ground and carefully look around the corner. I see an alien hiding behind a wall down the hallway. Guessing where he is behind the wall, I fire a blast from my own weapon and the wall where he is hiding disappears along with him. We continue slowly down the hall and I see some of our men come out a door at the other end. They fire at us until I call out to them. When we join them I tell them about the green gas and together we get our people out of the area.

Even by noon it still wasn't safe to go back in because of the gas. Smith had contacted the other bosses about the raids in the other cities. The casualties were high; in one location most of the attackers and defenders were killed by leaking green gas before they could get out. But now, every location was in our hands, and not the aliens'.

The next day it is now safe to enter the building. Smith and I examine the interior. The chamber room still has faint traces of gas in it that makes us cough.

"I see what you mean about this stuff," Smith says. "I want you to get files and stuff, anything you can find that would be useful. Those ray-guns too."

"Right," I say. Suddenly I see a familiar face among the bodies. "Well, look who we got here! It's Cigarette Man!"

"So it is," Smith says, "Looks like he wasn't killed that night, like we thought. Now who has the last laugh, huh?"

Later, back in our city, I contacted The Muffin Man. We met at a safe location and I told him what we had accomplished.

"Very good, very good. This deals them a severe blow. They will still have some chambers left, but not enough for everyone."

"What do we do now?" I ask.

"We go public. Get the newspapers involved, show them the chambers. I have people I will contact with about this. Before, we were on the defensive, now we are on the offensive."

"We have to keep the bosses out of it, or else they'll deny everything."

"Of course. I think I should also tell you that we found Cigarette Man dead at one of the locations. He hadn't been killed earlier, like we thought."

"Indeed. And I have some news for you, from a Miss Sally," he says smiling.

I couldn't believe my ears." Sally! Sally is okay! How, what, where?" I cry out.

"She managed to contact me through the maitre'd at the restaurant where she met me. I have her at a safe location. She wants to see you, but I advised caution for now."

I was barely able to contain myself after hearing this. "Tell her I'm fine and I want to see her soon!"

"Indeed."

In the next few days every major newspaper was swarming over the alien warehouses that had been hit. They took pictures of the chambers with the alien beings inside them, and put them on the front page. Reporters wrote stories about how key people in the government were being replaced by these aliens. Some people were named, but they said that the whole thing was a hoax, dreamt up by some lunatics. The fact that many of these people then announced they were going on vacations and couldn't be reached wasn't lost on the reporters. The Army built fences around the alien warehouses and forbade anyone from entering without clearance.

Needless to say, there was a panic among the population. People were seeing aliens everywhere, but it quickly settled down after a few weeks. There was no more mention of aliens from outer space, and I was beginning to wonder if all we did was for nothing. That is, until the people started dropping in the streets. Aliens who couldn't regenerate started to return to their original form. The hospitals quickly filled with these strange cases and there could be no more denying it. Police chiefs, mayors, commissioners were changing before people's eyes across the country. Finally, the Army stepped in and started finding and attacking more alien establishments. They never let on how they knew where these places were.

A year later, when it appeared that the war was finally over, The Muffin Man treated me and Sally to dinner at a ritzy restaurant. Sally was ecstatic, mostly due to the large diamond ring she now had on her left hand that she displayed prominently to everyone.

"I'm very happy for both of you," he says. "What are your plans for the future?"

"Well," I say, "Mr. Smith has offered me a position as his personal investigator at a considerable salary, but I've had enough excitement to last a lifetime."

"Indeed," he says, smiling at us.

"We're going to take the money he paid me for my services and we're going to set up a little diner in the country and raise a family."

"That's right," Sally says, hugging me.

"Well, I'm very happy for both of you and I'm sure you'll be fine."

After the meal, I escorted Sally to our car and we left for our hotel. The Muffin Man lingers for a while and goes over to talk to the maitre'd.

"Does he know?" the man inquires.

"No," the Muffin Man replies."And he must never know. He was the one we were looking for. Because of him, the people of this world prevented an alien takeover and a war between our two forces for this planet. Their world is safe for now."

"When will they know?"

"A few centuries from now, when we meet them in space."

The End

Part 4

I have submitted other stories for Aphelion as well as Schlock! magazine. I have stories published in Of Poets, Spies and Unearthliness and A Dickensian Steamfantasy—A very different 1800's by Rogue Planet Press. I am now fully retired and I can now write in my new home.

E-mail: Randolph Stuart

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