by Robert Boren
“I’m surprised some of the girls chose not to get involved,” Gil said.
“I’m not,” Katie said. “Not everybody has the strength to fight like this. Can’t blame them.”
“I wonder if any changed their minds after the fracas at the Volvo dealership?” Karen asked.
“Why did you decide to join, Karen?” Gil asked.
“They killed my father,” she said, eyes tearing up.
“That’s a good reason,” Katie said. “I just want revenge for what they did to me.”
“That’s part of it too, of course,” Karen said. “My mind is already blocking what happened. Have to force myself to remember it. I’m thankful for that.”
“Well, I won’t let that happen,” Katie said. “I’m remembering it on purpose.”
“Me too,” Morgan said. “I’ll remember it when I’m killing them.”
Justin and Robbie glanced at each other.
“You should let your memories bury themselves,” Gil said. “It’s self-protection. There’s plenty of reasons for joining the fight that aren’t potentially self-destructive.”
“You didn’t get raped,” Karen spat. Then she covered her mouth with her hand. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry,” Gil said. “What happened to you guys is the main reason I’m joining. I just don’t want this to hurt you long term. My cousin got gang-raped at a party in Lomita years ago. She’s still messed up because of that. It’s tough. You need to heal. It’s not good to keep ripping the scab off. There’s enough reason to fight without doing that to yourselves.”
“He’s right,” Katie said softly.
“Look, here comes Jules,” Robbie said.
Justin chuckled. “Jules and five women.”
“Interesting,” Morgan said. “Those are the women who didn’t want to join.”
“All of them?” Robbie asked.
“No, there’s two more,” Morgan said. “Don’t know where they ended up.”
“Who took the under aged girls?” Karen asked.
“Ted,” Robbie said. “He’s like a father. Always looking out for people. Nice to a fault.”
“Here comes Tex and Cody,” Justin said. “With women in the car, of course.”
“There’s the other two who weren’t going to join,” Katie said. “Wonder if they got placed with the most persuasive guys?”
Justin snickered. “You think Jules, Tex, and Cody can sweet-talk them into fighting?”
“I wouldn’t be surprised, frankly,” Morgan said.
“Bryan and Jordan are right behind them,” Robbie said. “With more women.”
“Those women are all joining,” Morgan said. “Tisha is crazy. She was giving the other girls a hard time for not joining.”
“I told her to shut up,” Katie said. “Didn’t go over well. Watch your back around her.”
“Which one are you talking about?” Gil asked.
“Long light brown hair, straight,” Karen said. “Piercing eyes. She’s got too many tattoos and piercings for my taste, but she’s pretty enough. She gets a little emotional, but she can be nice.”
Gil stared at her for a long moment.
“Uh oh,” Robbie whispered.
Karen noticed, face turning red. She took Gil’s arm. “Let’s go wait by the door. It’s in the shade.” They walked away.
“Holy shit, Gil’s gonna have two women fighting over him,” Justin whispered.
Robbie laughed, shaking his head.
“Tisha hasn’t made any moves on him,” Katie said.
Morgan chuckled. “She hasn’t noticed him looking yet. Is that the kind of girl he usually goes after?”
“Pretty much,” Robbie said. “Karen would be unusual.”
“Hey, everybody, time to go inside,” Jules said, walking towards the door of the massive building.
“Here we go,” Robbie said, taking Morgan’s hand.
“Hey, there’s Ted,” Justin said, pointing.
“The young girls aren’t with him anymore,” Morgan said.
Robbie looked at his car and nodded. “He probably found someplace to leave them for their families to pick up.”
“Hope so,” Katie said.
They met at the door as Jules fumbled with the lock.
“Damn. I tell them fix this. I kick some ass.”
“Here, partner, let me try it,” Tex said, moving to the door. Jules nodded and let go of the key. Tex wiggled it and turned, the cylinder moving. “That’s got it. Your key isn’t so hot. That’s probably all it is.”
“Push door open,” Jules said. “We get out of sight.”
“Yeah, somebody might think we’re running a white slavery outfit with all these beautiful women out here,” Tex said.
“Oh, please,” Tisha said. “Like to see somebody try to make a slave out of me.”
They moved into the cool, dark warehouse. Jules hit the lights.
“Holy crap, look at these things,” Justin said. “Eight. And look at all the Jeeps.”
“Betcha we’re towing those,” Gil said.
“These things are expensive,” Robbie said. “These are Prevost. Big diesels. Look at the tag axles.”
“You like, my friend?” Jules asked.
“Yeah,” Robbie said. “This cost somebody a few bucks. We pulling the Jeeps?”
“Yes, all set up. We have to go over systems. Complex. Designed by associate of Ivan’s.”
“Oh, you mean these aren’t just normal RVs?” Justin asked.
Jules chuckled. “You’ll see.”
“Ted, what happened to the young girls?” Robbie asked as he walked up.
“I was able to get family members for each of them on the phone,” Ted said.
“Where you drop?” Jules asked.
“Magic Mountain,” Ted said. “We set up a meeting spot.”
“That’s convenient,” Morgan said.
“They didn’t want to leave,” Ted said. “They really wanted to join.”
“Maybe you should let?” Jules said.
“No way, man,” Ted said. “C’mon. We couldn’t do something like that. You know how rough this might turn out to be.”
“Okay,” Jules said. “You right. Like our units?”
Ted walked closer and looked at them. “Son of a bitch, these are Ji-Ho’s design, aren’t they? That crazy dude showed me his a while back.”
“Who’s Ji-Ho?” Robbie asked.
“Crazy millionaire,” Ted said. “Former Korean special forces, then merc.”
“South Korean, I hope,” Gil said.
Jules laughed. “Ji-Ho’d probably gut you for comment like that.”
“Sorry,” Gil said.
“Hey, joke,” Jules said. “Ji-Ho good man. He fight in La Quinta last night. Destroy huge enemy depot and checkpoint. Screw them good.”
“Is he handling Southern California while we go up north?” Justin asked.
“He handle area between San Diego and Imperial County, to stop flow of fighters over border,” Jules said. “Come, I give tour of coaches. They all same, except exterior color.”
“What should we be doing?” one of the women asked. She was a perky beauty with short blonde hair, about five feet tall.
“Ah, Shelly,” Jules said. “You want look at units, or want relax? Food in office area to right, also coffee maker.”
“You can show me later,” Shelly said. “I’ll check out the kitchen.” She walked towards the door, several of the women following her, the rest walking over to where Jules was.
“She wasn’t going to join,” Katie said.
“She may change mind,” Jules said. “Hope so. I like.”
“You were working on them,” Ted said. “Thought so. How about the others?”
“Time tell, my friend,” Jules said. “How you do, Tex?”
“All but one, and she’s leaning,” Tex said.
“I knew it,” Morgan said under her breath.
Jules shot her a sly grin, and then op
ened the door on the first motor home. “Come on in.”
Half of the people who were bunched up outside followed Jules in. The rest stayed by the door, watching and listening.
“Each sleep six, eight in pinch,” Jules said. “Inside basic stuff. Bedroom in back with small bathroom. Main bathroom in hall. Kitchen, dinette, couch, two swivel chair, plus front seats swivel too.”
“How much does a rig like this set you back, partner?” Tex asked.
“Basic rig close to eight hundred grand,” Jules said. “Add two million more for upgrades.”
“What?” Bryan asked, eyes wide. Cody and Ted snickered.
“This is gonna be good,” Ted said. “Frigging Ji-Ho.”
“Okay, first of all, this coach is bullet-proof.”
“How bullet proof?” Ted asked.
“Small arms fire up to .50 cal on sides and back. Less on windshield without plate up.”
“Plate?” Robbie asked.
“Yes, in siege mode, plate come in front of windshield. Tell people outside to back away from wheels. I show.”
“We heard you,” Dana said from outside.
“Good,” Jules said. He sat in the driver’s seat and flipped open a panel. Then he pushed a button called Siege Mode. Electric motors whirred into motion.
“What the hell?” Karen said from outside, looking at the metal plates coming down around the wheels.
“Look at that,” Robbie said, watching the metal plate come up in front of the windshield, covering it. A panel with a small LED screen came up from the dash.
“You gotta be kidding me,” Gil said, looking around. “What’s with the slits in the walls here?”
“Can shoot rifle out there, or slide closed,” Jules said.
“So, you’ve got a motorized pill-box,” Jordan said. “Firing rifles out slits in the side won’t help much. They’ll just bring something up that can punch a hole in this.”
Jules chuckled. “Watch.” He pushed another button on the console. The sound of an electric motor came out of the back end of the coach, and a sight reticle appeared on the dash LED screen, the picture changing to a narrower view. Jules used buttons on the back surface of the steering wheel to move the view of the sight camera around.
“What’s that you’re controlling?” Sparky asked.
“Look at roof on back of coach,” Jules said.
Ted laughed as the others went outside to look. Jordan walked up to Jules, looking over his shoulder, eyes getting wide.
“That’s not really a mini-gun, is it?”
Jules turned to him and grinned.
“Holy crap,” Gil said, standing next to Robbie and Justin. They looked at the mini-gun swinging around on the rear of the roof. “You know what one of those will do?”
Tex chuckled. “I should’ve guessed.”
They came back inside.
“What else does this thing do?” Robbie asked.
“Forward and rear machine guns,” Ted said. “They have a pretty limited range of motion. They’re designed for shooting at vehicles coming at you from the front or back while this baby is rolling.”
“Yes,” Jules said. “Also night vision, motion sensors, enhance communications capability. Battle station.”
“You’ve seen this before, I take it,” Tex asked, walking up to Ted.
“Ji-Ho took me out in his about eight months ago,” Ted said. “We were someplace where we could play with the mini-gun. Cut an old car nearly in half with that thing. They use ammo kinda quick.”
“Much ammo on board,” Jules said. “Also other supplies in storage compartments. Mortars, RPGs, grenades, M60s, M-16s, ammo, mines.”
“Geez,” Tex said. “Why didn’t we use these in SoCal?”
“Not ready in time,” Jules said. “Ji-Ho has prototype.”
“This is pretty amazing,” Justin said. “We could roll up to a checkpoint and splatter it all over the place.”
“That the idea, kid,” Jules said. “Stand back, I put back to normal. We go over loading guns and other stuff later. Now rest, eat, relax. Food in fridge. We cook.”
“We’re staying in here overnight?” Tex asked.
“Yes,” Jules said. “We safe here.”
“If nobody followed that long line of Volvos,” Sparky said.
Chapter 7 – Coaches
“Glad we’re riding by ourselves,” Kaitlyn said, glancing at Seth from the driver’s seat. They were leaving the wilderness, heading for Julian.
“I like this better than the trip to the motorhomes,” Seth said.
“Why?”
“Because I can look at you more,” he said.
“Oh, brother,” she said
“We’re getting close to the road already.”
“What is it again?”
“Route 78,” Seth said. “Not sure if you guys came that way or not.”
“I think we did. It goes through Scissors Crossing, right?”
“Yep,” Seth said. “Hope we don’t get followed.
“Me too. I just want a little time to relax. Maybe a little us time.”
“We’ve got another battle coming,” Seth said, “but maybe we’ll get a little break after that. At least we’re having time like this.”
“True. It does help us get to know each other a little bit.”
“Has so far,” Seth said. “We’ve been together for quite a few hours now.”
“Not counting sleep time,” Kaitlyn said, shooting him a smirk.
“Yeah, I was dead to the world during that.”
“I was awake for a while,” Kaitlyn said. “I watched you sleep.”
“No, really?”
“Really,” she said. “You can tell a lot about a person when you watch them sleep.”
“How? I just laid there with my eyes closed. Hopefully I didn’t snore and drool too much.”
She giggled. “Nothing out of the ordinary.”
“So what do you mean?”
“You were calm, and hardly moved at all, except to snuggle against me tighter. Not much restless time. That’s saying something, given the crapola we’re going through right now.”
Seth chuckled. “I’ve always been a heavy sleeper, but I’m not always calm. I can get worked up.”
“Did you watch me?”
“Only right at the end, when people started moving around. I’ll never forget how your naked back looked.”
“You didn’t seem to mind my naked front much, either.”
“Oh, God,” Seth said. “You’re perfect. Exactly my type, from a looks perspective, anyway.”
“I’m too thick.”
Seth chuckled. “You women think we just like skinny girls. I don’t.”
“Are you saying I’m fat?”
Seth laughed. “I’m not answering that one. It’s a no-win question.”
“C’mon, I’m not letting you off that easy.”
“You’re putting me on the spot,” Seth said, “and enjoying it way too much.”
“Well?”
“Oh, please. You aren’t fat. You’re curvy, and you have nice hips and a nice chest. If I saw you in a bar I’d be interested in an instant.”
“In a bar?” she asked.
“See what I mean?” Seth snickered. “You know what I meant.”
“No, please enlighten me,” she said, shooting him a wicked glare.
He sighed. “If I was in a place where you normally look for women and I saw you there, I would’ve gone after you. Maybe I should have said the supermarket instead of a bar. Or a college class. Or a coffee house.”
She laughed. “This is fun.”
“For you, maybe.”
“Oh, you don’t like talking to me?”
“Is this what the tribe men were talking about?”
“Now that’s not fair,” Kaitlyn said, glancing at him with a smirk on her face.
“You’re teasing me, aren’t you?”
“Kinda, but that’s not the main thing,” she said. “I’m trying
to break past the point where you go out of your way to be nice to me.”
“Oh, that’s what you’re doing, huh?” Seth asked. “Maybe I should do the same thing.”
“Maybe you should, but you won’t.”
“Why not?”
“You have a romantic thing built up around me,” Kaitlyn said. “You’re in full-on pursuit mode.”
He stared at her in the dark Jeep. She glanced at him too long, hitting a bump in the road hard.
“Better watch it,” he said.
“Sorry. You agree, though, don’t you?”
He took a deep breath. “Okay, I’m infatuated with you. I’ll admit it. It’s not the same as love, but it’s strong, and I want to pursue it. So yeah, I guess I am in pursuit mode. Deal with it.”
“I got to you a little,” she said. “You’ve got a pretty high threshold. That’s good. We might just work.”
He laughed. “Okay, Doctor… hey, what is your last name, anyway?”
“Roybal,” she said. “I like that. Doctor Roybal at your service.”
“At my service, huh,” Seth said. “Now there’s something I’m interested in.”
“Don’t be naughty,” she said, shooting him a prim and proper expression. They both laughed.
“Look, there’s the road up ahead. I see people turning onto it. Right turn.”
“Thank God,” Kaitlyn said. “You’re still staring at me.”
“Does it bother you?”
“It does when I can’t pull over,” she said, making the turn onto highway 78. She sped up to about sixty, following the long caravan, as others got onto the road behind her.
“And what would you do if you could pull over?”
“You’re trying to take this conversation in a naughty direction again,” she said.
“No, it was just a question,” he said. “Do you want kids?”
“Didn’t we already talk about this?”
“I didn’t know you as well then,” he said. “That was hours ago.”
She laughed. “Oh, please. You trying to turn the tables on me so quickly?”
“I wouldn’t do anything like that. Trust me.”
“I’ve heard that before.”
“Answer the question,” Seth said.
She grinned at him. “Two can play that game.”
“I’m waiting.”
“Well, then we need to clarify. Are you talking about kids in general, or your kids?”