by Robert Boren
Maria ended the call.
Chapter 15 – Corpus Christi
Richardson looked out over the city of Corpus Christi from his seventh floor hotel window, tired from the marathon debriefing that their group had just finished.
“I could use a drink,” he said to Lita, who was stripping her clothes off.
“I need a shower. That water at the base wasn’t exactly clean by the time we jumped into it.”
Richardson chuckled. “Good point. Want company?”
“As long as we can get clean before we get sidetracked,” she said as the last of her clothes came off. She turned and walked towards the bathroom, swaying her hips.
“You’re doing that on purpose,” Richardson said as he stripped, following her. The water was running by the time he got through the door.
“I like them hot when I’m this dirty,” Lita said, her dark eyes locked on his.
“I could go several places with that comment.”
“Well, for right now, come in here with me and get clean,” she said.
“I’ll just get you dirty again.”
“Yeah, but that’s a good dirty,” she said.
They took their shower, getting tired half way through it, agreeing to dry off and sleep. They were out shortly after their heads hit the pillows.
Richardson woke from a nightmare, his face and neck sweaty, sitting up. Lita woke, touching his arm as he struggled to shake off the sleep. He checked the clock on the nightstand. It read 3:30 AM.
“You had a bad dream,” Lita said softly.
He looked at her and shook his head yes. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to wake you.”
“You want to talk about it?”
“Not much to say. It was about our friends. Roberto and Kris and the others.”
“That wasn’t your fault,” she said, sitting up next to him.
“I shouldn’t have recruited them.”
“They decided to follow us there,” Lita said. “They didn’t have much choice.”
“We got them involved,” Richardson said.
“They would’ve been involved anyway. The girls, remember? They probably would have died trying to save them.”
Richardson got out of bed and went to the bathroom, filling a glass of water and drinking it. “Want some water?”
“Sure,” Lita said, getting out of bed. She joined him, taking the full glass from him and drinking. “Don’t beat yourself up about this, honey. War is war.”
“I know,” he said, leaning against the bathroom counter. “Wonder what happened with Harley?”
“They said they’d let us know in the morning,” Lita said, setting the glass down on the counter. “Think you can fall back to sleep?”
“I don’t know,” Richardson said. “Maybe I should try.”
“Turn on the TV for a while if you want to,” Lita said, turning to head back into the bedroom. He followed, both of them climbing into bed.
“No TV?” she asked.
“Nope, I just want to escape this world for a while,” he said.
“Well I can help you with that,” she said, moving closer to him.
“I don’t know if I can right now.”
“We’ll see,” she said. Their passion rose, and soon there was only the two of them, moving against each other urgently, crying out as they hit their peak, then sleeping again.
A knock on the door woke them. Richardson bounded out of bed and checked the peephole.
“Who is it?” Lita asked, rubbing her eyes.
“Hannah,” he said. “I’ll have to throw something on.”
“I’ll talk to her,” Lita said, rushing over, putting on the robe which was hanging on one of the chairs. Richardson grabbed his clothes and slipped into the bathroom, closing the door behind himself.
“What’s up?” Lita asked as she opened the door, letting Hannah inside. She looked concerned. “What’s the matter?”
“Brendan,” she whispered. “He’s having a rough time.”
“So is Richardson,” Lita whispered back. “He woke with a nightmare last night.”
“About what just happened?”
“No, about Roberto and Kris,” she whispered. “He feels really guilty.”
“It wasn’t his… our fault,” Hannah said.
“How are you holding up?”
“I want to take off with Brendan,” she said. “Is that bad?”
“No, not really. I’ve thought the same thing, but I’m not going to do that,” Lita said. “Texas needs us. I can’t turn my back.”
Hannah sat in one of the chairs at the small round table, looking down silently.
“Don’t feel guilty,” Lita said, taking one of the other chairs. “It’s a normal reaction.”
“My head tells me that’s true,” she said, tears coming. “It’s hard.”
“Where is he now?”
“I left him sleeping in the room,” Hannah said. “With a note, so he won’t go nuts if he wakes up. He put in such a bad night. I expect him to sleep for a while at least.”
Richardson came out of the bathroom with his clothes on. “Good morning. I’ll just clear out of here for a while.”
“You don’t have to,” Lita said.
“I want to,” Richardson said. “Need to clear my head a little bit anyway.”
“Go ahead, sweetie, but take that new phone with you, and keep an eye on the apps.”
“Glad they gave it back,” Hannah said. “Glad they gave it to all of us too.”
“Seriously,” Lita said.
“Talk to you later,” Richardson said as he left.
“He’s trying really hard to maintain,” Hannah said.
“He is, but he’s strong, and so is Brendan,” Lita said. “We need to snap out of this. We’ve been attacked over and over. I want to get some of our own back.”
“Wow, that look in your eyes,” Hannah said. “I wish I could go there.”
“You will,” Lita said. “Trust me.”
There was a knock at the door. They looked at each other with fear in their eyes, Lita getting up to check the door. “Madison.”
Hannah chuckled. “Surprise surprise. Let her in.”
Lita opened the door, Madison slipping in, seeing Hannah sitting at the table.
“Figured you were here,” she said. “Mind if I join you guys?”
“Of course not,” Lita said. “Sit.”
Madison took a chair next to Hannah, and Lita sat back down. “Well here we are, one big happy family,” Madison said.
“Where’s Juan Carlos?”
“In the room,” she said. “I snuck out.”
“What if he wakes up?” Hannah asked.
“I sent him a text message,” Madison said. “He’ll see it. He can text me.”
“Is he having a hard time?” Hannah asked.
“He says he’s not, but he could use some rest,” Madison said. “So could I.”
“Brendan’s having a hard time,” Hannah said.
“And Richardson,” Lita said, “but we shouldn’t make so much of it. Look at what we’ve just been through. It’s been nonstop for a while.”
“Seriously, girl,” Madison said. “At least they don’t have a mission for us right away.”
“Sounds like it’s going to be training first anyway,” Lita said. “Not fighting right away.”
“You played around with these apps yet?” Madison asked.
“Yeah, I have,” Lita said, “but I ran them for Richardson before I got them, too.”
“I’ve been too scared to mess with them,” Hannah said.
“Scared?” Madison asked.
“I’ve heard how much trouble Texas is in already. I don’t need to see it in detail, at least when there’s nothing I can do about it.”
Lita and Madison eyed Hannah. “You’re really having problems,” Lita said.
“Seeing Brendan that way scared me,” she said, on the verge of tears. “It’ll be okay, though. He’ll get himself together and so will I.”
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“We all will,” Lita said. “Maybe we ought to go down to the pool and lounge for a while.”
“I wish they’d move us away from the coast,” Madison said. “There are still enemy ships out there. They might come here and land some creeps at any minute.”
“Those apps are telling you that?” Hannah asked.
“You need to see how these work,” Lita said. “You’re getting a crash course right now.” She picked up her phone and loaded the short-range app. “You know about this one, right?”
“That’s the one that’s peer-to-peer,” Hannah said, looking at it. “It tells you when there’s somebody within half a mile.”
“Yes, and as you can see, there’s nobody close by,” Madison said. “So relax.”
“There could be somebody a couple miles away,” Hannah said.
Lita loaded the long-range app and showed it to her. “There, see. Nobody within quite a few miles.”
“There’s icons out in the gulf,” Hannah said. “That’s what those are, right?
“Yes, that’s what those are,” Lita said. “Remember that these might just be dead bodies. Our Air National Guard sunk a bunch of ships. All these icons could be dead people.”
“How can we tell?” Hannah asked.
Madison laughed. “If they’re floating on something, they’ll look like they’re alive, just like those traitors that we moved around on the docks.”
“Oh, yeah,” Hannah said, cracking a smile. “Too bad we didn’t just leave those bodies floating in that boat.”
Lita froze, thinking for a moment. “Hey, maybe we ought to be doing that.”
“Doing what?” Hannah asked.
“Using enemy bodies for bait,” Lita said. “We could booby-trap boats and put their bodies on them. Shove them out into the gulf. They come to check it out, and kaboom.”
Madison laughed. “That would be fun, but it would only work once, I suspect.”
“Oh, I don’t know, these folks are pretty stupid,” Lita said. “I’ll mention that to Richardson. He’ll get a good laugh out of it, if nothing else.”
Madison’s phone dinged. She looked at it. “Juan Carlos woke up.”
“Tell him to go down to the lobby,” Lita said. “Richardson is down there. Maybe we can join them for some lunch a little later.”
Madison nodded and texted Juan Carlos. He replied after a moment. “He likes that idea. Maybe you should text Richardson to look out for him.”
Lita nodded and sent a text to Richardson.
“I should send a text to Brendan too,” Hannah said.
“How close is the phone to where he’s sleeping?” Lita asked.
“It’s right on his bedside table,” Hannah said.
“I’d hold off, then,” Lita said. “Let him sleep. A text might wake him up.”
“Okay,” Hannah said. Lita kept looking at her phone.
“Something wrong?” Madison asked.
“Take a look at the gulf,” Lita said.
“Oh, God, not again,” Hannah said.
Lita’s phone rang, making her jump. “Dammit.” She answered the it. “Yes, honey, I see it. Large group. Headed right for us.”
Madison looked at her phone. “They can’t get past Mustang Island, can they?”
Lita put her phone down. “Richardson’s getting the guns with Juan Carlos, and heading for the roof.”
“Why?” Hannah asked. “All we have is a few M-16s and one M60.”
There was a whistling noise, and then an explosion in the distance.
“Dammit, they’re shelling the city,” Hannah said. “We should split. Right now.” Her phone rang. “Brendan.” She put it to her ear and walked towards the window, looking out, seeing smoke and fire near the harbor.
The door burst open, Richardson and Juan Carlos rushing in with the M-16s and the M60 they took after being rescued.
“Brendan’s on his way down,” Hannah said. “He’s packed our stuff.”
“Wish we would’ve taken more of those M60s,” Juan Carlos said.
“Even they wouldn’t help,” Richardson said. “We’d need artillery to help.” The sound of another shell came at them. It exploded, shaking the foundation of the hotel.
“That’s too close,” Lita said.
Brendan rushed in the door. “Hey, boss, we need to get the hell out of here.”
“Give it a few minutes,” he said. “We should have air power showing up any second.”
“Maybe we should call Wallis, dude,” Juan Carlos said.
“I just sent him a text. He’s on it.”
“What happened to our US Navy support?” Brendan asked as another shell came in. It blew up, a little further away this time.
“The EU is attacking them,” Richardson said.
“Son of a bitch,” Brendan said. “We should split.”
“We don’t have a car, remember?” Richardson said.
Juan Carlos laughed. “I still remember how to hotwire.”
Madison laughed. “Oh my God, I married a gang-banger.”
Brendan and Hannah laughed loud, then Hannah covered her mouth, looking embarrassed.
“It’s not that funny, dude,” Juan Carlos said.
“Yeah it is, bro,” Brendan said as another round flew at the city, blowing up on the airport runway, visible from their window.
“Well, nobody’s flying out now,” Richardson said.
Then they heard the sound of fighter jets, zooming past them, flying low and fast.
“About frigging time,” Juan Carlos said. “Let’s get on the roof so we can watch.”
“You got it,” Richardson said. “Coming, girls?”
“Think we’re staying here by ourselves?” Hannah asked.
“Take the guns,” Brendan said. “All of us.”
“Hell yeah,” Madison said, grabbing one. They all raced out the door, headed for the stairs. They were only three stories from the roof, so they made it up there quickly.
“Surprised it’s not locked, dude,” Juan Carlos said as he opened the door.
“The jogging track is up here, and some lounges and stuff,” Hannah said. They rushed over to the sea side of the roof, watching as the jet fighters pounded several old battleships that were trying to fire back with antique anti-aircraft batteries.
“Look, AC-130s,” Brendan said, pointing as they flew in, unloading on the boats, one of which was already on fire.
“Fighters getting into shore boats, see?” Juan Carlos said. “On the far side of that big boat. Shit, that’s a lot of guys.”
Richardson looked at his app. “Not close enough for the short-range app yet.”
“We have to go fight them, don’t we?” Hannah asked.
“No, those AC-130s will end their day in a bad way,” Richardson said. “Here they come.”
“There’s about forty dudes on that boat,” Juan Carlos said.
“Yep,” Hannah said, looking at her app. “What if they swim in?”
“Then folks like us will waste them,” Brendan said.
There was a huge explosion, and the largest of the ships came apart, pieces flying everywhere.
“My God,” Lita said, watching as the debris fell just off-shore. “Look, that boat with the fighters is making a run for it.”
The launch picked up speed, heading for shore as quickly as it could, and then an AC-130 noticed, making a banked turn, coming over them with mini-guns blazing, the boat coming apart, mixing in the water with pieces of men.
“A few swam away,” Hannah said, watching. “We’d better watch where they get on shore.”
The last of the boats blew up after another run from the fighter jets, men jumping off the deck as it sank quickly.
“We’ve got to watch for men there, too,” Richardson said. “Some of them had backpacks and weapons when they jumped off.”
“Saw that,” Brendan said.
“There,” Madison said. “Three guys from that landing boat made it to shore. They ran up the beac
h, then staggered and fell in a hail of machinegun fire.
“Wow, is that local law enforcement?” Lita asked.
“Probably. Don’t go near that guy!” Richardson shouted as one of the cops rushed over to the bodies. Then there was a big explosion, all the cops nearby falling, hit with ball bearings as suicide vests blew up.
“You could see the vests?” Hannah asked.
“The men looked way too bulky,” Richardson said. “Where’s those other guys?”
“Dogpaddling,” Brendan said, eyes focused. “I don’t think anybody sees them.”
“Guys, there’s more boats coming in,” Madison said, focused on her apps. “Can’t tell how many boats, but there’s several hundred men showing up.”
“We need to get better armed or get the hell out of here,” Lita said.
“Yeah, I think you’re right,” Richardson said. He sent a text to Wallis. After a moment his phone rang. He put it on speaker.
“Richardson, thanks for texting me. I think you need to get out of town. Now. You’re too important to lose at this point.”
“We have no vehicle,” Richardson said.
“Use your DPS code. There’s a car rental place right by the hotel that we contract with. I’ve already called them. Get vehicles and get out of there now. That’s an order.”
“Thanks,” Richardson said. He ended the call. “You heard the man. Downstairs. Don’t take the elevator just in case the power goes down.”
“Yeah, let’s go,” Juan Carlos said. “Those planes disappeared.”
“They probably need more ordinance,” Brendan said as they ran to the door. “You see how much they dropped?”
They ran down the stairs, weapons in hand, bursting into the lobby which was thick with people and suitcases, cars queued up outside as the valet staff was rushing them out of the underground lot.
“Geez, this reminds me of pictures from world war two,” Brendan said as they rushed out the door. “Know where the rental place is?”
“I know where it is,” Lita said. “One block down, across the street. Follow me.”
The group trotted down the street, people not seeming phased by their weapons.
“Look, dude. There,” Juan Carlos said. They ran to the door and slipped inside quickly.
“Are you Richardson?” the man behind the counter asked.
“Yep,” he said. “Director Wallis called you, right?”