Jake noticed a group of soldiers removing a tarp from a big military helicopter, and Sullivan followed his eyes.
“The wind is supposed to die down in the next couple of days just before a cold front moves in,” she said. “Captain Stern wants to start hunting crawlers as soon as we get air support behind us.”
“That’s great news,” Jake said. “What about the crawlers in the south? You say they hit you from the direction of Gatlinburg?”
“That’s right. The crawlers blew up the Douglas Dam, and local thugs tried to take control of the hospitals and urgent care centers. We worked with the local militias to restore some order, but we haven’t caught the crawlers who started it. The soldiers think they were hitting us and fading back into the mountains. And then they just fell off the radar a couple of days ago. Haven’t seen them since.”
Jake nodded.
“What made everything worse was the amount of rain and flooding that hit at the same time,” Sullivan went on as they came around one of the armored Humvees and pulled up to a row of temporary military buildings similar to the ones back in Providence. “People were washed right off the side of the mountain, entire sections of the Tennessee Valley flooded.”
Something fluttered in Jake’s stomach, and a seed of fear for Sara and the kids began to sprout and grow inside him. Images of those battle-scarred towns he’d driven through returned tenfold, and he imagined Sevierville in the same condition. People robbing and killing each other as they hoarded food and water. Vendettas occurring without the rule of law to keep people in check.
Had Sara and the kids gotten caught up in that?
“Oh, sorry, Jake,” Sullivan said. She must have seen the sick look that fell across Jake’s features. “I forgot your family was down there.” Her expression rose as she climbed out of the Jeep. “Look, I’m sure they’re okay. About two hundred Tennessee National Guard recently joined a group of militia called the Good Folk, and they’re digging out the criminal element slowly but surely.”
“That’s good to hear,” Jake said, but Sullivan’s words didn’t make him feel that much better.
“Wait here,” Sullivan said before she went up a short set of stairs to the center building and knocked on the door. She listened for a moment before pulling the door open and stepping inside.
Less than ten seconds later, Sullivan reappeared and waved Jake in. He climbed the stairs, handed his coffee to Sullivan, and entered Captain Stern’s office.
The space inside was clean and boasted a plain, fold-out desk as its centerpiece, minimally decorated with a single, framed picture and a lamp. A tall woman regarded Jake stiffly from a plain office chair. Her hands rested on the desk in front of her, an ultra-thin laptop near her fingertips.
“Come in, Mister Walton.” The captain gestured gracefully with a long arm toward a pair of simple chairs facing her desk.
“Just call me Jake,” he said, then he strode over and took one of the chairs. “Captain Stern, I presume.”
“That’s me.” She flashed him the barest hint of a smile before her expression turned serious. “Captain Sanchez notified me that you’d be coming. To be honest, we were a little worried when you didn’t come in with the convoy.”
“Yeah, um, I ran into a little trouble. Okay, maybe it was a lot of trouble. My Ford was so beat up and shot to pieces that I had to leave it back in Roanoke.”
“But you still made it in one piece.” The captain’s gray eyes studied him the way a scientist might study a microbe beneath a microscope. A little cold, but not without interest. “You’re a very resourceful man, Jake.”
“That’s what they tell me.”
“What do you know about the items you brought back with you from Providence?”
“Nothing,” Jake said, flatly. “And, honestly, I don’t want to know anything about them. I just want to get home to my family. They’re up on Pine Bluff Mountain. It’s just an hour from here.”
“Through dangerous territory.”
“I’ve seen worse. Trust me.”
The captain wore her hair short with curls that brushed her cheeks. She pushed some of the locks behind her ear and then touched her fingers to her chin in a curious way. “You helped a lot of people on your way here. Like the prisoners X-Gang was keeping in Boston.”
“I powered up a cell phone tower and sent a text or two,” Jake shrugged.
“Then you helped a woman named Marcy and two young children whom you pulled out of the floods.”
“Hey, they helped me way more than I helped them.”
“You fought a tiger,” Stern went on, jabbing her finger at Jake.
“Not really.” Jake shook his head, remembering how Marcy had also tried to give him way too much credit. “The tiger tried to kill me, and I just barely survived it.”
Captain Stern shifted in her chair, hurling another accusation at him. “You cleared a path through a debris field using an excavator, brought down a house on top of some very unsavory raiders, and helped get almost a dozen more people clear of the city.”
“That was pretty cool, to be honest.” Jake grinned, thinking about the time he’d spent driving the excavator. “But I just did what I had to do. It wasn’t anything special. Hey, how do you know all this anyway?”
“Captain Sanchez conducted in-depth interviews with your travel companions after you left. They seem to think you’re some kind of hero.”
“Okay, that’s really pushing it, Captain Stern. I—”
“After all that, you helped Captain Sanchez with his SATCOM terminal while simultaneously defending the camp.”
“If you’re trying to flatter me, it’s not working.”
In truth, it was partially working. In the few minutes Jake had been talking to Captain Stern, he liked her. She had the air of someone whose life consisted of long and dangerous days which she handled with perfect grace and dignity.
“I’m not trying to flatter you. I’m just trying to decide if I can trust you.”
“Let me guess. You want me to take a look at whatever I brought back from Providence.”
“I understand you’re a tech guy, and clearly a patriot.”
“I’ve been in the tech field almost half my life,” Jake confirmed. “I guess you could say I know a little bit about everything. And my family has a long history of military service. I almost joined up myself years ago.”
“I know. I’ve got it all right here.” Captain Stern tapped her laptop screen. “Will you have a look for me, Jake? I think you’d agree it’s some pretty interesting stuff.”
“Captain Stern.” Jake leaned forward and placed his palm firmly on the desk. “With all due respect, I’d like to go see my family now. They don’t even know I’m alive. And I have no idea what’s happened to them.”
“What if I said your help could change the tide of this war?” Captain Stern raised her hand and curled it into a fist as her eyes glinted dangerously. “What if I told you it could blow things wide open? Expose the countries responsible for everything that’s happened and kick the bastards out of here once and for all?”
Jake closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
“You’ve heard about the dirty bombs, right?”
Jake nodded.
“It’s a last-ditch, desperate effort to topple us, Jake, and it’s going to get worse before it gets better. The president is going to start threatening a nuclear solution soon, and our biggest allies, England and Australia, are willing to throw in. We’re talking a war that could expand across the world, and in a big way.”
“World War III,” Jake nodded with a gulp.
“But we can get in front of this, with your help. You can help us save a lot of lives.” Captain Stern’s tone grew tense and urgent, as if she was willing Jake to say yes. “Give me twenty-four hours of your time while I prepare a team to escort you home. If the winds are down like they’re supposed to be, I’ll even throw in a chopper ride.”
Jake opened his eyes and stared at Captain Ster
n for a long moment. It was a good deal. Sending him home with an armed escort was a much better idea than going alone. Troops would have the firepower to fend off any local punks and crawlers lurking around.
Still, the anxiety of delaying was hard. He was just an hour away from hearing his little girl’s laughter and his son’s deepening tenor. He could practically feel his arms wrapping around Sara’s shoulders, experience the smell of her hair and the taste of her lips. Jake’s heart was torn between his family and his country, although he doubted one could exist without the other in such troubling times.
Jake gave Captain Stern his answer.
Chapter 24
Somewhere in Tennessee
Yi jogged thirty yards down the trail and fell against a tree with a short expulsion of air. He kept his body snug against the rough bark, using it as cover. Glancing across the uneven forest ground, he spotted Ivan running parallel to him before he dove on his stomach behind a log. Chen and the other three dragon warriors brought up the right flank as they closed in on the shallow depression.
Glancing left at the tactical display on his helm, Yi noted Katrya and six of her soldiers closing in on the left. Soon all thirteen heavily armed group members encircled the coveted location.
“Bomb specialists, move in,” Katrya ordered.
“Go ahead,” Yi confirmed. He narrowed his eyes as his three dragon warriors advanced from the right, crunching through low brush and twigs on the forest floor. He knew Katrya wanted to use his soldiers as bait just as much as she needed them to hunt for hidden traps and mines, though he had full confidence they would find any dangers and remove them before getting their legs blown off.
The three men walked carefully around the area for a good thirty minutes, working their way in closer to the odd-shaped lump at the bottom of the depression that butted up against the side of a cliff. Completing their rounds, one of the men turned and signaled the all clear.
“Move in,” Katrya ordered, although Ivan and Chen were already moving.
Yi stayed back for a moment to allow some of Katrya’s forces to get ahead of him. He’d already agreed with Ivan and Chen that they would watch each other’s backs, although Yi had not let them in on the more nefarious thoughts running through his head.
Once Katrya and her soldiers moved in, Yi followed. It was only when he’d gotten halfway down the depression that he heard twigs crackle behind him, and he turned to see one of Katrya’s soldiers trailing behind him, her eyes glued to Yi’s back.
Yi nodded to the woman, and she nodded in return, the silent understanding being that Yi was also being watched. Wordlessly, they followed the others down to the depression, Yi’s stomach turning with annoyance and shame at being caught off guard.
Several of Katrya’s soldiers were already cutting through the vines and brush with machetes and ripping the tangle down with their hands. Soon, the green fell away to reveal a plain metal door set into the side of the cliff. Katrya stepped forward, flipped open the keypad cover, and typed in a passcode Yi did not see.
There was a clicking sound, and the door popped open half an inch. Katrya put her fingers into a depression at the edge of the door and pulled it open, releasing stale air and the scent of oil.
One by one, they filed into a large room carved out of the cliff. Several solar-powered lights were strung up on the ceiling, giving off a paltry glow that was quickly washed out when some of the soldiers began to set up their battery-powered lanterns and turn them on.
There were crates of every size stacked neatly around the room. Shelves full of moisture-proof boxes, which Yi knew must hold precious ammunition. Katrya ordered an inventory taken, and the team put down their rifles and got to work.
By the time they were done, Yi estimated they had dozens of rockets and mortars and thousands of rounds of ammunition. There were other crates with more nefarious markings, a sight that reinforced Yi’s confidence that their work here was just beginning.
“Well done, Victoro and Jacques,” Katrya murmured as her eyes scanned the weapons and gear. Then she stood and held her arms open to the group. “Comrades, consider us resupplied.”
The soldiers cheered and began opening the crates that held the Russian and Chinese rations, anxious to eat something from their homelands, even if it was a mockery of a home cooked meal.
Yi wiped the sweat off his brow and approached Katrya. “How long did it take Victoro and Jacques to put this here?”
“Several years,” Katrya said. “They used their gang affiliations to acquire some of the basics and smuggled in the rest. The radioactive material was the hardest to move, I suspect. It is almost impossible to mask such a signal from people who are really looking. Lucky for us, the Americans have gotten lazy. Speaking of Victoro and Jacques, have they radioed in yet?”
The soldier responsible for long-range radio communication shook his head.
“Idiots.” Katrya shook her head as she admired their riches. “Useful idiots.” The Ukrainian agent looked around at everyone, raising her voice to issue a command since they’d all removed their tactical helmets. “We enter a new phase of operations.” She flashed Yi a smile. “As Yi would say, the second breath of the dragon. It begins today. Let us praise our good fortune and rain hell upon our enemy. We will be the dagger in their hearts. The cold hand that grasps their throat. We will strike the killing blow.”
The soldiers cheered and Yi nodded obediently, the fiery woman reflected in his doubtful eyes like a fire that wouldn’t die.
WEATHERING THE STORM Book 6
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Weathering The Storm (Book 5): Downburst Page 15