The Alcatraz Coup by Patricia Loofbourrow

Author:Patricia Loofbourrow
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: dystopia, crime family, urban warfare, military coup, civil unrest, sci fi novella, palace guard, future culture, homeless camp
Publisher: Patricia Loofbourrow

November 27th

Xavier crouched behind the door. He pulled a lever, one of a hundred spread throughout the training building.

The lever turned on the buzzer outside. It buzzed for thirty seconds, then stopped. Xavier listened as men crept closer, burst into the room, moved ahead.

He threw a small beanbag at the back of Varkonyi's head. "You're dead."

Groans filled the room.

"You didn't even look behind the door! It's not just Varkonyi. You all need to do better than this. Once they figure out what's going on, they won't be shooting beanbags at you." Xavier paused. "Come on, let's try it again."

Ocho Malize was having much better luck with his five. "Those guys are scary good," Malize said after the exercise. "Too bad they're completely nuts. Totally amoral. I had them fire on boards with their mothers' portraits on them and not one even hesitated." He paused. "What are you going to do with these guys?"

Xavier had an idea but he didn't want to say it yet. "You're doing great, Ocho. Just keep working with them. You'll see."

Xavier fell into bed once he got home from training. Between training his men half the day and standing guard all night, he felt exhausted much of the time. Even though Kerr's men shadowed him constantly, Polansky Kerr refused to allow him to step down from his guard post, saying it would disturb the men. Because he had limited time to train them, most of his men were coming in on their time off to participate. We're all tired, and tired men make mistakes.

Perhaps Kerr intended it that way.

What was the man really planning? What did he hope to gain by this massacre?

***

When Acevedo got home from work, as usual, Papa sat at the kitchen table reading the paper. This time, though, Papa put the paper down. "Take a look at this."

Acevedo sat across from his father and read:

HOUSING PRICES FALL 5%

Southwest Quadrant Sell-Off

The Office of Housing reported today that housing prices fell 5% in the past month. On studying the data, the cause appears to be the large number of houses sold in the Southwest Quadrant.

When homeowners were questioned as to their reason for selling at this time, many cited the turmoil in the city. "I just don't feel safe here anymore," Sikelela Ikhadi Diamond told this reporter. "We're moving to the countryside."

A request for comment from the Office of the King was denied.

"Diamond," Acevedo said, remembering Jack's surgery apprenticeship. "I've heard that name before."

"One of the clans," Papa said. "They have very dark skin. Good looking, especially the women."

"Do they live in the Southwest Quadrant?"

"I think so." He paused. "Yeah. A big group of them live there. They're real quiet, stick to themselves."

This was very odd. Acevedo remembered the dark-skinned man at the meeting.

I don't trust you, Spadros.

"Is Uncle Vinny here?"

"I'm here," a voice came from way back in the house. A few minutes later, Uncle Vinny came in. "Whatcha need?"

"Who was the Diamond guy at the meeting?"

His uncle thought for a minute. "Name's Caesar, I think.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.