by Robert Boren
Madison chuckled.
“What?” Juan Carlos asked.
“Hannah and I used to do this for fun, at about this time of the day,” she said. “Seems like years ago.”
“Yeah, that’s right, we did,” Hannah said.
“Hey, check this out,” Brendan said. “Most of the windows in the shops are still broken, but somebody swept the streets.”
“Dude, you’re right,” Juan Carlos said. “Smell that? Food.”
“There’s still people living on this end of the island,” Lita said. “Hope they’re good guys.”
“Look up ahead,” Richardson said. “Where the Holiday Inn and those condos are. They’ve fortified them.”
“Yeah, looks like it,” Juan Carlos said. “Not much of the city left past that.”
“Yep, the Convention Center and a few houses,” Lita said. “Should we try to find somebody, or keep going on the highway?”
“There’s not much up ahead,” Richardson said. “The nearest settlement that we can get to is Corpus Christi, and that’s a long ride.”
“That might be better than waiting for enemy fighters to push their way through the barricades these folks have set up,” Juan Carlos said. “We can make it. Might have to camp out on the way.”
“The road doesn’t go all the way,” Lita said. “It ends right past the adventure park.”
“She’s right, man,” Brendan said. “Been there before. If you’ve got a sand rail or a Jeep, no problema, but these bikes aren’t gonna do us any good at all past the road.”
“Looks like the decision has been made for us,” Richardson said, nodding off to the right side of the road. A group of about twenty men were flooding onto the street from the Holiday Inn buildings, most of them holding hunting rifles.
“Halt!” shouted a big man with a black beard, holding a shotgun. “Off the bikes. Walk them over here.”
“We’d better do what they say,” Juan Carlos said.
“Yeah,” Richardson said. They stopped and got off the bikes, walking them over to the men.
“Who are you guys?” asked a second man, smaller, with delicate features and long gray hair.
“DPS,” Richardson said. “Who are you guys?”
The small man whispered something to the large man, then looked at them. “This here is Daniel. I’m Jimmy.”
“Wait, I know you,” Lita said. “You used to come into the bar a lot.”
Jimmy broke into a grin. “That’s where I’ve seen you before. Bucket of Blood, right?”
“Yep,” Lita said. “My parents owned it.”
“Hold it,” Daniel said, looking serious. “This isn’t a social gathering. Tell us what you’re doing here. You stole those bikes. That’s looting.”
“Yep, we took the bikes,” Richardson said. “There’s a landing party heading to the beach right now. Three inflatables; we were trying to outrun them and find a place to hide until our people show up.”
Daniel got a worried look on his face, looking back down the road towards the south. “How far?”
“Martin Street,” Lita said.
“Son of a bitch,” Daniel said. “Everybody inside.” He turned to leave.
“What about them?” Jimmy asked.
“What about them?” Daniel asked. “They can go wherever they want.”
“The bartender is okay, trust me,” Jimmy said, “and these guys are DPS.”
“Yeah, lot of help they’ve been,” Daniel said. “What was that big explosion down south? Were you guys responsible for that?”
“No, that was the enemy’s attempt to kill us, dude,” Juan Carlos said. “We barely got out alive, and all of our boats and weapons got destroyed… except for a few handguns.”
“We’re barely catching enough fish to feed ourselves,” Daniel said. “We can’t take these folks on.”
“Let’s discuss this later,” Richardson said. “Do you guys have a working phone? The only way we’re gonna survive is if I can get Director Wallis on the phone and get an airstrike going.”
“He’s right, Daniel,” Jimmy said. “Yeah, we’ve got a working phone.”
“You guys don’t have phones?” Daniel asked, eyeing them.
“We all had to jump into the water as the docks were blowing up,” Lita said.
“The clock is ticking,” Richardson said. “Get me to the phone. Seriously. Those guys have AK-47s and who knows what else. We can’t beat them in a battle unless you have better weapons than I’m seeing… and a lot of them.”
“All right,” Daniel said. “C’mon, let’s go. Don’t try anything.”
Jimmy smiled, shaking his head. “I’ll show you where the phones are. We only have three that still work.”
They rushed up the walkway, past a makeshift gate and into the lobby of the hotel.
“I’m gonna get some people up on the roofs with the long rifles,” Daniel said, heading deeper into the building.
“Don’t show yourselves,” Richardson said. “They might not know you’re here. And shut down the cooking. We smelled it pretty far south.”
Daniel nodded, raising one hand as he rushed away.
“The phones are in here,” Jimmy said, leading Richardson into the business center. “They’re land lines. We don’t have electricity anymore.”
“Land lines are perfect,” Richardson said, sitting down in front of one. He punched in Wallis’s number, then pushed the speaker button on the phone. It rang three times.
“Director Wallis speaking.”
“It’s Richardson.”
“Thank God,” Wallis said. “Where are you? We feared the worst after we saw the base in the drone video.”
“We’re on the north end of town, on the island. There’s a landing party coming, about midway in the city. They’re coming from the gulf. What happened to our US Navy support?”
“Long story,” Wallis said. “We’ve got jets nearby. We’ll send them over. How many ships?”
“I counted five. All obsolete crap, but we have no weapons other than a few handguns. The people we’re with have civilian hunting guns and shot guns, from what I’ve seen, and not very many. Not enough to defend against the landing party for long.”
“I’ll send in attack choppers too. Where are you guys?”
“The Holiday Inn on the north side of the Island,” Richardson said.
“Okay, I’m getting off. Stay by this phone. What’s the number?”
Richardson read it off.
“Thanks. Be careful.”
“Thanks, boss,” Richardson said. He hung up the phone.
“How high a rank are you?” Jimmy asked.
“High enough,” Richardson said. “They killed most of the patrol boat staff at levels between myself and the director.”
“Damn,” Jimmy said. “Should I go get ready to fight?”
“How many guns do you guys have?” Juan Carlos asked, “and how much ammo?”
“You saw most of what we have,” Jimmy said. “We’ve got a few hundred rounds. What’s that about the US Navy?”
“I don’t know,” Richardson said, brow furrowed. “They were helping us down here.”
“That’s why we quit getting raided,” Jimmy said. “The enemy killed most of us before the US Navy got interested.”
“Not surprised,” Lita said. “Those people are animals.”
“I’ll say,” Jimmy said. “They beheaded some of my friends.”
The phone rang. Richardson answered it, putting it back on speaker.
“We’ve got choppers in the air,” Wallis said, “and jet fighters, to take out the larger ships. They should be hitting any second. Hopefully that will slow down the landing party. The choppers will come in and fry them, but they’re about fifteen minutes away.”
“Roger that,” Richardson said.
“We’ll be picking you guys up after this is over,” he said. “Don’t get killed. We need you.”
“We’ll do our best,” Richardson said. “Thanks.�
�
Wallis hung up. A few seconds later there were explosions out in the gulf. Richardson looked at Jimmy and grinned. “Where can we watch from?”
“Follow me,” Jimmy said.
“One of us better stay by this phone,” Juan Carlos said. “I’ll do it.”
“I’m staying where you are,” Madison said.
“No problem, but I need to follow these guys, so I can go get them if I need to,” Juan Carlos said. “I’ll be right back. You stay with the phone in case Wallis calls back.”
“Okay, but hurry,” Madison said.
Everybody but Madison left the business center, heading for the stairs, rushing up three flights to a set of balconies off a large conference center.
“Some jets just blew up those big ships out there,” Daniel said, smiling. “Your work?”
“I called DPS Director Wallis,” Richardson said. “Can you see the landing party?”
“I can see three boats on the sand,” Daniel said. “No sign of the men. How many on each boat?”
“I saw at least five on each,” Richardson said.
“Shit, so we could have as many as fifteen armed men on their way here?”
“They might not know about this place,” Juan Carlos said. “I’m going back to the phones. See you soon.”
“Have your pistol handy just in case.”
“I’m going down there too,” Brendan said. “They’re on street level, and that homemade barricade won’t stop professionals for more than a few minutes.”
“Don’t think you’re leaving me behind,” Hannah said. They scurried back towards the stairs.
“Sorry I was an asshole,” Daniel said to Richardson.
“Don’t mention it,” Richardson said. “You folks have been through the ringer. We know what it’s like.”
“Why’d this area get abandoned?” Daniel asked.
“We had the US Navy helping us protect the gulf coast for a while,” Richardson said. “Even with that, we were setting up a new base down on the south end of the island. Our team was going to run the place, and expand it to a few hundred men and about fifty patrol boats.”
“So what happened?” Jimmy asked as he watched over the balcony.
“There were enemy plants inside our contracting company,” Richardson said. “We figured that out and killed them. Didn’t know they’d booby-trapped some of the boats and the docks. When the enemy realized their men were dead, they blew everything up remotely.”
“How’d they find out?” Daniel asked.
“Later… look,” Richardson said, pointing at the enemy fighters picking their way down the street, checking each building.
“Get down,” Daniel said. “They haven’t seen us yet, or they’d be heading here faster.”
“Agreed,” Richardson said as he crouched, taking a fast glimpse every so often. Then the sound of choppers approached. “Hear that? Coming from the mainland.”
“Wow, they sent six,” Jimmy said.
“Sure they’re ours?” Daniel asked. “I’ve seen Russian choppers fly by a couple of times.
Richardson used his binoculars. “Yeah, those are ours. Four gunships and two transports.”
“Thank God,” somebody said. A rifle shot cracked, hitting the side of the building above where they were standing.
“They’ve seen us,” Daniel said, aiming his hunting rifle.
“Don’t fire, and keep your guns out of sight,” Richardson said. “We don’t want them to take cover just yet.”
Jimmy chuckled. “Good point.”
“You’re right,” Daniel said, backing up as more shots came their way. Then the first chopper came in, and they turned their attention to it, firing their small arms, only to be blown up by a missile. The chopper’s machine guns opened up, hitting more of the enemy as they dove for cover.
“What’s that gunship coming this way for?” Daniel asked, watching as it approached. “They know we’re good guys, right?”
“Don’t worry, I told them where we are. They won’t attack.”
The chopper flew right over their heads, coming close to the roof and hovering for a moment, two large composite crates being pushed out of the side door. Then the chopper took off, the co-pilot flashing a thumb up at the group.
“Supplies,” Richardson said, rushing to the crates. He put them right side up with help from some of the others and cracked them open.
“Wow,” Daniel said, eyes wide. “Those what I think they are?”
“M60s and lots of ammo in this one,” Richardson said. “Open the other one.”
Jimmy helped some others open it. “Damn. A shitload of M-16s and a whole bunch of ammo.”
“Hey, honey, bring one of those M60s over here,” Lita said. “I can see where some of the enemy escaped to. The choppers don’t see them from where they are.”
Richardson nodded, grabbing the top one and a belt of ammo, rushing over, feeding the belt in. “Where?”
“They just ducked inside that building,” Lita said, motioning to a small frame structure just off the street.
“Somebody shoot at that building a few times with hunting rifles,” Richardson said. “I want them next to the windows. Then they’re gonna get a nasty surprise.”
“I like how you think, brother,” Daniel said, rushing over with his hunting rifle. He shot about three times at the building. Then there was return fire coming out of two windows. Richardson grinned and opened fire with the M60, bullets ripping into the windows and through the walls, screams drifting out in Arabic.
“Nailed those bastards,” Jimmy said. “Look, there’s about four leaving the building. The choppers see them.”
The mini guns on the closest chopper fired, practically cutting the men in half as they ran for cover.
Brendan ran up the stairs. “Music to my ears. They made a drop, didn’t they?”
“Yeah,” Richardson said. “I think we’ve killed most of the bad guys, and their ships are toast.”
“Some of the choppers are leaving,” Daniel said. “Wait, one of them is dropping more stuff onto the beach. Several crates bigger than this one. And look at that transport chopper. It’s coming this way!”
“Hopefully that’s our ride,” Richardson said. “Looks like you guys just got a weapons upgrade.”
“You aren’t taking all of this stuff with you?”
“Hell no,” Richardson said. “We’ll get re-supplied.”
“We’d better take an M-16 each,” Brendan said. “They’ve got enough. What if we get shot down?”
“Good point,” Lita said.
Juan Carlos and Madison rushed up the stairs. “Hey, guys, Wallis just called. They’re picking us up off the roof.”
“I figured,” Richardson said. “Let’s go. Grab an M-16 and some ammo. The rest stays here.”
“I want to take one M60 with us,” Juan Carlos said.
“Okay, that still leaves them with a lot,” Richardson said.
“Thank you kindly,” Daniel said.
The chopper settled down onto the roof, the man at the door motioning for them to get in.
“C’mon, let’s go,” Richardson said. “Good luck, you guys. I suspect there’s some inflatables in those big crates down there.”
“That would be nice,” Jimmy said. “Thanks.”
Richardson helped everybody into the chopper and then got in himself, grabbing a seat next to Lita. The chopper rose into the air and headed towards Corpus Christi. Jimmy and Daniel watched it leaving.
“Well, this was the best day we’ve had in a while,” Jimmy said.
“Seriously,” Daniel said. “Let’s get checked out on these weapons, and then go look for enemy fighters that are still breathing.”
Chapter 13 – Arizona
Kim woke up in the Class C motor home, Paco next to her. She reached for Eric, but he wasn’t in bed. She heard the ticking of the laptop keyboard and got up, Paco following her into the salon.
“Up already?” Kim asked. “It’s
just past six.”
“Yeah, couldn’t sleep,” Eric said, watching his laptop screen.
“We’ve got Wi-Fi?”
“No, I’m using the LTE on my phone,” he said. “This laptop is almost out of battery though. I’ll have to run the generator to charge her up again. Too early for that.”
“Is the enemy still coming?” She sat down across from him in the dinette.
“They’re going west on I-40,” he said. “I was afraid they were gonna do that.”
“They’re protecting their route out of Arizona,” she said. “Dammit.”
“Yeah, it’s not the best, but look at this.” He turned the laptop around and came onto her side of the dinette. “What if we took this road into Arizona, then went north on Hwy 191? We could go all the way up to I-40 and destroy it, then head east again on Hwy 60, blowing that too.”
“Why can’t they just travel up Hwy 191 to move their troops?” Kim asked, her red hair swaying as she looked closer at the screen.
“I think we have too many people along there.”
“We?”
“General Hogan’s folks,” Eric said.
“Oh, yeah,” she said. “You gonna present this to the group in the meeting this morning?”
“That’s what I was thinking,” he said. “I’d better shut this down. Got just enough battery left to show them.” He closed the lid.
“Where’re we doing the meeting?”
“The Parks and Rec building at the end of this field,” Eric said.
“Know what time?”
“It’ll be after nine,” he said, glancing down at Paco, who was sitting on the floor staring at the two of them. “Somebody wants to go out.”
“Yep,” Kim said. “I’ll go with you.”
“Good,” Eric said, getting up and grabbing the leash.
They followed Paco down the steps of their rig, into the dim morning, sun just barely up. The air was crisp and cool.
“I’ve always kinda liked New Mexico,” Kim said.
“Yeah, it’s nice if you like desert,” Eric said. “People are waking up.”
“A lot of us got to bed earlier than normal,” Kim said. “Memorial services can take a lot out of you.”
“True. Paco misses grass. He doesn’t like the dirt and rocks around here.”