by Robert Boren
“They’re still sifting through the DNA, but that will only help if Scotland Yard or MI6 had a match on file. I’d say that’s a crap shoot.”
“Any more fallout in the states?”
“General Hogan’s team probably knows that the Islamists didn’t set the bombs at the reservation,” Sebastian said, “and a principal got killed.”
“That’s good, isn’t it?”
“The person killed wasn’t a danger to us, but he was beloved in the Dulzura group. He was close to Sam. Sam is a very big danger to us, and he’s close to George Franklin. Very close.”
“So you’re saying it probably backfired?”
Sebastian chuckled. “The operation was foolhardy at best. We should string up Mateo by his thumbs for pushing it.”
“I’ll probably want to hit him, but not yet. Not until we’re out of danger.”
“Why’d he push so hard for that, anyway?” Sebastian asked. “He’s been around long enough to know a bad idea.”
“Lots of his Peacekeepers got killed by that group, plus he has a real problem with indigenous peoples who promote nationalist causes. He thinks they’re too dangerous to live.”
Charles shook his head. “I never liked that moron. He’s a horrible manager, for one thing. The use of rape in California had as much to do with our defeat as anything I can think of. Remember when those women went on TV? That probably lost us California right there. He should’ve put a lid on that garbage right away, but he promoted it instead.”
“Yes, he thinks the tactics used in third-world countries will work in first-world countries.”
“We were all somewhat guilty of that,” Charles said. “How much longer till we get there?”
“Couple more hours.” He got up. “Talk to you soon.”
Charles watched him leave, and then rested his head in his hands.
{ 5 }
Forrest Hunt
J ustin was driving the Jeep, following the sheriff’s deputies in the beat-up old truck.
“I see the end of the pavement up ahead,” Katie said. “Hope that truck can handle it.”
“Me too,” Justin said. “Pull those M4s up here, sweetie.”
“Good idea,” she said, turning around in her seat and pulling them out of the back, Colleen helping her. “Hope we don’t have to use them.”
“Me too, but I’ve got a bad feeling. If I hear shooting, I’ll pull off and we’ll get on foot. We’ve gotten pretty good at that.”
“Yep. Too bad Trevor and Kaitlyn aren’t with us.”
“It is what it is,” Justin said.
They rolled onto the dirt, only slightly rougher than the battered pavement they’d been on.
“Getting colder,” Katie said.
Justin nodded. “Glad we’re not in the back of that truck.”
The dirt road snaked its way between trees, down into dry creek beds, and up some serious inclines, the truck ahead of them having trouble in one spot, the men in the bed getting behind it to push.
“Geez,” Katie said. “Can we make it up that?”
Justin chuckled. “We don’t even have this baby in four-wheel-drive yet.”
“Better drop it in, then.”
Justin shot her a glance and moved the transaxle lever to 4H. The Jeep cruised up the nasty short grade easily, getting to the crest right as the deputies were climbing back into the truck bed. They moved along at a slower speed now.
“Check your phone,” Justin said. “See if you’ve got service, then try to call Steve.”
Katie pulled her phone out. “No bars. Shit.”
“Don’t worry, that’s actually a good sign. It explains why they aren’t answering.”
“It might, anyway,” she said, shooting him a worried glance.
“The truck is slowing down. Can’t see around them.”
“I can see on my side. There’s an old Jeep stopped on the side of the road ahead.”
They rolled up to it.
“Bullet holes in the front hood,” Justin said. “Probably wasted the engine.”
“Oh God,” Colleen said. “Bodies. See them?”
Justine nodded. The deputies were out of the bed again, swarming over them. Justin parked, he and Katie getting out with their M4s.
“Your guys?” Justin asked.
“One of them is,” Skip said with a grim expression. “The four others over there aren’t. Never saw them before.”
“How many vehicles came out here?” Katie asked.
“Three, originally,” Skip said, “and we sent an additional two on the search.”
“Let’s get back on the road,” Justin said. “We might run out of daylight.”
“Yeah, he’s right, boss,” Brett said.
“All right, let’s move on,” Skip said, getting back behind the wheel. The two vehicles took off again, going less than ten miles per hour.
“Another vehicle,” Katie said. “I can just make it out up ahead.”
“Shit,” Justin said. “There’s still bad guys around. I can feel it. Have that M4 handy.”
“Will do. They’re stopping again next to it.”
“Wish we would’ve brought a couple M60s,” Justin said.
“Now that you mention it, me too.”
Skip motioned everybody back into the truck, glancing at Justin and pointing forward. The truck got rolling again, moving a little faster this time.
“No bullet holes in that one, but two of the tires were flat,” Katie said.
“Dammit, wonder if that was the original posse or the second team?”
“I’ve got the number,” Colleen said. “Want me to call?”
“No, I want them to concentrate on the road and the surroundings,” Justin said.
They traveled a while longer, getting deeper into the forest, the road straighter and less hilly now.
“This goes back a ways,” Katie said.
“I’ve been back at least ten miles from here,” Colleen said. “It ends up at a large creek that has good trout fishing.”
There was the crack of a rifle shot.
“Oh, shit,” Justin said, pulling the Jeep behind a tree, getting out with his M4, Katie with hers, Colleen following.
“You might want to stay here and get under cover,” Katie said to Colleen.
“Not on your life. Got any more guns? I’m a good shot.”
“Only an extra pistol,” Justin said. “It’s in the glove box.”
Colleen nodded and ran back to get it as another rifle shot went off, somebody ahead of them screaming in pain.
“Dammit,” Justin said. “C’mon, but stay behind this line of trees.”
They rushed forward, seeing Skip and another man tending to the person hit, while the others were looking up at the trees surrounding them.
“See where that came from?” Justin asked a deputy.
“What the hell are you folks doing out here, anyway?” the gruff old man asked, eyeing him.
Justin ignored him, looking around, when another shot rang out, hitting the front of the truck,
“I saw where that came from,” Katie said, firing full auto at the tree, a man falling out of it, another man yelling.
“I see the other one,” Justin said, getting up and running into a better position, firing, knocking him off a branch. He tried to get up, but Skip nailed him with his rifle.
“Where the hell did you get that machine gun?” the gruff old man asked Justin, rushing to his side.
“I was with Ivan,” Justin said, not turning around to look at him, eyes peeled looking for more targets.
“Ivan? Sorry about what I said. Don’t have the words.”
“Don’t worry about it. Let’s get these guys.”
“Fan out, and keep your eyes open,” Skip said. He turned towards Katie and Justin. “Nice shooting.”
They moved forward quickly through the trees. Another vehicle was there, an old Toyota FJ, all shot up, a few bodies laying next to it.
“Not our guys,” S
kip said as he got closer. “The posse put up a good fight at least.”
“Look,” Colleen said, seeing Steve’s Jeep ahead, the front windshield shattered, two tires blown out. “That’s our Jeep.”
“Oh no,” Justin said, rushing over to it. “Nobody inside.”
Colleen made it next to him in seconds. “That’s Steve’s charging cord in the passenger seat, see it?”
“Yeah,” Justin said. “Let’s go.”
They moved further up the road, still keeping behind cover as much as they could, in trees next to fallen logs and boulders, eyes peeled.
“Where are they?” Colleen whispered.
“Probably out of ammo and hiding,” Brett whispered back. “Look, blood all over the ground, by the road shoulder.”
“Maybe I should call out to Steve,” Colleen said. “Maybe he’s wounded, but can reply.”
Skip thought about it for a moment as they walked. “Dammit. Yeah, do it. Can’t hurt. If they’re worth their salt they already see us.”
“That might have been all of them,” the gruff man said. “You saw that FJ. It wasn’t going anywhere.”
“Steve!” Colleen shouted. They all listened. Silence. She yelled again, and then a dirty laugh came from the forest ahead of them.
“Drop your guns now and maybe we’ll let you live,” shouted a man in a French accent. “All we want are the traitors. Send them out and you’re free to go.”
“What traitors?” Skip yelled back.
“The little boy and girl from Ivan’s team. Our beef is with them.”
Justin listened carefully, sneaking up towards the front of the group.
“Hey, Eurotrash, I’d be glad to kill a few more of you punks. It’s been almost a week since I smeared your friends all over the battle field.” Justin looked back at Skip, nodding ahead. Skip nodded back. Justin went forward a little more.
“Cat got your tongue, Eurotrash?”
A rifle shot went off, pinging a boulder close to him.
“See him,” Katie said, spraying machine gun fire at the spot, the man crying out in pain. They heard the sound of his body dropping to the ground, Justin up and running now, somebody firing at him from the side but missing, Justin diving to the ground, rolling toward him and hitting the enemy fighter as he rushed in. Then Katie was running and firing again, tagging another who was trying to flee.
“There’s Steve!” Justin shouted, rushing to his side. He was tied up with a gag in his mouth, blood all over his right thigh. Justin yanked the gag out.
“There’s two more of them nearby,” he whispered. “I think they’re out of ammo, but watch it.”
Justin nodded, moving forward, Katie a few yards to his right, as Colleen rushed over to Steve and finished untying him.
“Look, they’re trying to escape,” Justin said, pouring on the speed, Katie on his heels.
“Freeze!” Justin yelled when he got into a good firing position.
“Don’t shoot, mate,” yelled one of the men in an English accent. “We’re out of ammo. We surrender.”
Skip ran up behind him with several deputies. “We’ll take it from here. Cover us, please.”
“You got it,” Justin said, watching with his M4 aimed at the two men, both of them laying face down on the ground now. Skip and his men had them frisked and cuffed in a couple minutes, and dragged them back to the other deputies, Justin and Katie following them.
“What happened to the rest of the posse?” Skip asked Steve.
“James and Fred took off on foot to get help. You didn’t see them on the way?”
“Nope,” Skip said. “We saw Cory by the first vehicle.”
“He was the first one shot,” Steve said, his lower lip starting to tremble.
“How about the rescue team?” Brett asked.
Steve looked up. “What rescue team?”
Skip and Justin shot each other a worried glance.
“We might not be done,” Justin whispered.
“Yeah, they might have let us through, so we’d be caught by the Frenchman,” Katie said.
“That means they’re waiting for us,” Colleen said, her eyes wide with terror.
“That meadow we picked these losers up from is big enough for a chopper to land,” Brett said. “Let’s get one out here.”
“We can’t call from here,” Justin said.
Skip nodded. “We’re gonna have to go back over the road, but there’s a lot of us.”
“They probably know we won,” the gruff man said. “Might have fled already.”
“Hey, watch it, here comes somebody,” Katie said, pointing at several Humvees rolling towards them.
“Should we take cover?” Justin asked.
Skip looked over, squinting, a broad smile coming over his face. “That’s the Phelan Sheriff’s rescue team.”
The vehicles rolled up close, a big man getting out. “What kind of trouble did you get yourselves into now, Skippy?”
“Jonathan!” Skip said, rushing over to him as the other men came out. “Who called you?”
“Kaye bullied John into calling us,” Jonathan said. “She’s hopping mad that you didn’t call me before you left.”
Skip chuckled. “Coming out here was a last-minute decision. Meet Steve and Katie. They were part of Ivan’s group.”
“Do tell,” Jonathan said, shaking hands with them.
“Did you see anybody on the way in here?” Katie asked. “We think there might be some more of these creeps waiting for us.”
“There were two Toyota FJs leaving the dirt road as we were turning onto it,” Jonathan said, “but that’s it.”
“That was them,” Steve said. “Shit.”
“We’ve got a big problem, you know,” Justin said. “Steve and Colleen can’t stay here.”
“Come back home with us,” Katie said.
“Is it safe there?” Colleen asked.
“Safer than here,” Justin said.
Skip nodded. “Let’s get out of here before it gets dark, folks. We can talk at the sheriff’s station. We’ll be back with another search team in the morning, to see if we can find the others.”
“Hope they weren’t being held in those FJs that went by,” Steve said.
“You need to get to the hospital,” Colleen said.
“It’s just a scratch.”
“Scratches don’t bleed like that.”
“She’s right,” Skip said. “Let’s move it out.”
“We need to get a message into the drop box as soon as we’ve got cell coverage,” Justin said.
“You know how to do that?” Katie asked as they got to the Jeep, letting Colleen and Steve into the back seats.
“Yeah.”
The caravan of Humvees, the Jeep, and the truck headed back to town.
***
George, Sam, and General Hogan were chatting in the intel room when Ivan rushed in.
“I don’t like that look,” Sam said. “What’s wrong?”
“The enemy tried to take out Justin and Katie in Wrightwood. Laid a trap for them.”
“Oh no,” Morgan said, turning towards them. She sent a text to Robbie, who rushed in a moment later.
“What are the details?” Robbie asked, visibly shaken.
“They left Dodge City in one of the Jeeps to visit Katie’s brother,” Ivan said. “While they were on the way, the sheriff’s office got attacked. Apparently Katie’s brother was working there.”
“Crap, he’s not hurt, is he?” Robbie asked.
“He wasn’t there,” Ivan said. “He was part of a posse that chased the shooters. There was a battle in the woods, about twelve miles out of town. Justin and Katie joined some deputies, who went out there to look for them, after they didn’t come back overnight.”
“Oh God,” Morgan said.
Ivan’s face was grim. “It gets worse. The bad guys were holding the brother, and said they wanted Justin and Katie because they were on my team.”
“That means they’ve
got detailed info on our friends and family,” Robbie said. “Neither Steve nor Colleen were participants. They left Redondo Beach before I joined up with Jules.”
“They’re watching Dodge City,” Sam said, “and they have a scary amount of information.”
“There might be a plant,” George said.
Malcolm walked into the intel room with Heidi, Dick, Ned, Erica, and Clara.
“Uh oh, what’d we miss?” Malcolm asked.
“Second hit attempt on the Dodge City team,” Ivan said. He filled them in on what happened.
Malcolm got a scary grin on his face. “We can put a stop to this.”
“Uh oh, here it comes,” George said.
“We need to find out if there’s a plant, right?” Malcolm asked.
“That would be good,” General Hogan said. “What do you have in mind?”
“We need somebody else to go on a visit someplace. Have them spread their plans around the base. They take off but stop someplace closer by.”
“Oh, I get it,” Robbie said. “We have a team placed where they say they’re going, and another team placed where they actually stop. We see which place the enemy shows up.”
“Well, that will tell us if they’re just watching and following, or if there’s a spy at the base,” General Hogan said.
“Yes, and then we waste them Ivan-style,” Malcolm said. “We need to send a message to the Merc community. Not sure I want to go as far as flaying them alive, but I’m sure we can come up with something quite effective.”
“Might get some innocents killed,” Morgan said. “I’m looking at the news reports about Wrightwood now. The sheriff is in critical condition, four of his deputies are dead, and another four deputies are missing.”
“We’ll manage that,” George said. “We can do it. I wish we could call them and chat, though.”
“Out of the question,” General Hogan said. “They’re watching the phones. I can guarantee you that. Even if the Dodge City team switches to burners it won’t matter, because the enemy knows which cell tower they’re using in Dodge City.”
“The drop box will work,” Ivan said. “Let’s send the proposal. Sam, who should we use as bait?”
“Sid and Yvonne,” Sam said, “and I’m going to be in on this.”
“Me too, of course,” Erica said.