by A. American
We all climbed into the Hummer with Ted at the wheel. Mike wanted to drive, but Sarge put the kibosh on that idea. Saying he wanted to enjoy his coffee, not wear it. We rode in silence as rain beat down. Apparently, windshield wipers were an afterthought in these military trucks. While they technically functioned, they did little to keep the windshield clean.
The markets in both Altoona and Umatilla were deserted. The roads were totally empty, except for us. Since the roads saw so little traffic, usually just one of our vehicles and the occasional bicycle, the water was pooling up heavily in places. In others, heavy streams of water flowed along the edge. At times, depending on the grade of the road, these flows would cross the road to the other side. The Hummer splashed through these, sending sheets of water into the air.
We pulled through the barricade at the edge of town. The men standing watch there had no appreciable shelter and simply stood in the rain, wearing ponchos or Gortex jackets. They looked miserable.
“Why haven’t they built something to shelter them up here? They stand in the sun and they stand there in the rain.” Mike commented.
“Conditions are what you make them,” I replied as I watched one of the guardsmen watch us pass, a rivulet of rainwater running off the front of his Kevlar helmet.
“That’s exactly what I’m talking about!” Mike acknowledged.
“Their leadership lacks creativity,” Sarge said. “As a result, they do too. Poor bastards.” Sarge looked over his shoulder at me and asked, “What are you going to tell him?”
I shrugged. “Haven’t really thought of it yet.”
“You better well hurry up and figure it out!”
“Quit yer bitchin’. I’ll figure it out.”
We pulled through the back gate of a nearly vacant armory. Sarge turned in his seat and looked at Mike. “Go find the best trucks. We’re not taking any broke down shit and I ain’t letting him decide what we’re taking.”
Mike nodded and Ted said he’d help. Jamie also volunteered for the job and the three of them got out and headed to where the trucks were parked. Sarge and I went inside. We found Sheffield and Livingston leaned over a radio in their comm shack. Someone was giving a report.
Just seems odd for these civilians to be moving in this weather. Something is pushing them out.
Sheffield keyed his mic and asked, “Have you made contact with any of them?”
Negative. We’ve just been observing.
“Alright. Don’t contact them. Wait and see what’s behind them.”
Roger that.
Sheffield laid the mic on the table and turned around. “What’s that all about?” Sarge asked.
“Our pickets are seeing a bunch of folks on the road. Kind of weird for them to be moving in this weather,” Sheffield replied.
“Where at?” Sarge asked.
“Up on the 441, just east of Mount Dora,” Livingston replied. “We moved them out there to give us some warning if something were headed this way.”
“Well, let us know if something comes up.”
“What are you guys doing up here on a day like this?” Sheffield asked.
“The Sheriff here needs something,” Sarge replied and looked over his shoulder at me. Sheffield looked at me expectantly.
“I need a couple of trucks and trailers and a few of your people for a few days. We’ve got a little issue I want to address up our way,” I said.
“What is it?” Livingston asked.
“This may be a good thing for all of us. There’s a group of bandits holed up out in the woods. They’ve got vehicles and a rather large stash of fuel from what I understand. They raid people’s houses and waylay them on the road. I want to take them out. Whatever supplies they have, I’ll bring up here for the folks in town. The fuel too.” It was a total lie, but it sounded good.
“What do you need?” Livingston asked.
“I need one MRAP, one five-ton truck and a trailer for each. We’re going to haul our small buggies in the trailers to the AO to save on fuel and such. The MRAP will be used in the assault and the trailers are for whatever we find.”
“Wouldn’t just the truck be enough?” Sheffield asked.
I lied some more, telling him we’d already done a recon on the place and saw large fuel tanks. Sarge helped me embellish the details to the point Sheffield and Livingston were excited at the possibility of all the loot they’d get. When we were done, they were offering to go on the raid with us.
“No, this is just a law enforcement issue. Wouldn’t be right for you guys to be involved.”
“I’ll go get you a couple of trucks,” Livingston said.
“Just round up a half dozen of your people. We’re going to use them for security for the trucks, since they are yours,” Sarge said. Laying on the ass-kissing pretty heavy. I was happy he did it with a straight face.
“Alright. You know which trucks to get?”
Sarge nodded and waved him off. “Oh yeah. We’ll get with your motor pool NCO and get it sorted.”
Livingston nodded and headed off to volunteer some of their people. Sarge and I left the building and went to find the guys. They already had the trucks ready to go, with the trailers connected. The two big vehicles sat idling with Mike behind the wheel of one and Jamie in the other. Some of the Guardsmen were busy filling three fifty-five-gallon drums in one of the trailers with fuel. The transfer pump was manual and it was taking some time to get them topped off.
“How much longer to get those drums filled?” Sarge asked Ted.
“They’re filling the last one now. Won’t take long.”
As they were talking, a group of men walked up. Each either wore or carried a large pack as well as their weapon. Sarge told them to hop into the back of the MRAP, that we’d be leaving soon. When the last drum was full, Ted grabbed the pump and tossed it into the trailer, telling the motor pool folks we’d bring it back with the trucks. We quickly got back into the Hummer before anyone could say anything and were out of the yard and headed back towards the ranch.
Once again, Ted drove the Hummer, leading the three-truck convoy. I sat in the backseat, looking out the window at the rain. I leaned forward and said, “We need to go see Mitch. I want to check the weather before we head off on this little adventure.”
“That’s a good idea,” Sarge replied and picked up his radio to tell the other trucks to head on to the ranch while we took care of this side mission.
Mitch wasn’t at the courthouse, so we drove out to his place. I could have just called him on the radio, but I wanted to see the most recent SAT image myself. There was a storm out there that had the potential to cause us real trouble. Mitch was standing in the backdoor with a steaming mug in his hand when we stopped.
He saluted us with it as we got out. “Morning, guys.” We replied in kind and he shook everyone’s hand as he invited us in.
We wiped our feet at the door and followed him into the kitchen where he set out mugs for everyone. “Coffee?” He asked as he poured one for Sarge, knowing his answer before he asked.
Ted and I both nodded in the affirmative and he filled our cups as well. Then he set out a tub of sugar and, to my surprise, a canister of powdered creamer. “Oh wow. Where’d you find this?” I asked as I shook it into my cup.
“I had a bunch put away. It’s a luxury now,” he replied.
Stirring my coffee, I replied, “Well, I appreciate the hospitality.”
“If you drank it like a grownup, you wouldn’t need that crap,” Sarge admonished with a scowl on his face. Then he added, “Ruining a perfectly good cup of coffee.”
“Yeah. Sucking dick is an acquired taste too. But I prefer not to acquire it,” I replied. Then realizing what I’d said, looked around for Michelle.
Mitch laughed at me. “She’s upsta
irs.”
“Whew,” I replied. “Sorry about that.”
“Don’t worry about it.”
“Mind your manners,” Sarge barked. “I can’t take you nowhere.”
“So, to what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?” Mitch asked.
“I wanted to see the latest SAT image. We need to take a little trip. But I wanted to see what that storm looks like first,” I replied.
“I have one that’s a couple hours old,” he replied as he got up. “Looks like it fell apart. It’s not nearly as well formed as it was.” He returned with a stack of images and started laying them out in chronological order. Pointing to one of the older ones, he said, “You can see here it looked like an eye was about to form. But it hit this black area here that’s high pressure, dry air. That really put a damper on it.”
“That’s good,” Sarge said as he inspected the images.
Pointing at the newest one, I said, “Maybe. But look at this mess coming off the coast of Africa.”
Mitch nodded. “Yeah that one’s pretty nasty. But it’s ten days or so away.”
“Maybe that high pressure will stick around and turn it,” Ted said.
“No,” Mitch replied, pointing at the image again. “The high pressure is moving to the west, pulling this storm with it. We’re going to have this rain for about three days, I’m thinking. If this ridge moves on off further to the west, it’ll open the door for the next one.”
Sarge looked at him, “You some kind of meteorologist?”
Mitch smiled, “It’s a hobby.”
“He’s the only weatherman we have,” I added.
“So, aside from the rain, we should be good for at least the next week?” Sarge asked.
Mitch nodded in agreement. “Looks that way.”
The old man got to his feet. “We appreciate the hospitality. Tell your lovely wife hello for us. But we’ve got work to do and need to get going.”
Mitch asked what we were doing and we shared it with him, making sure he understood not to share the info with Sheffield.
“Oh, I never talk to him. I usually work with Shane and Shawn. He stays out of our business,” Mitch replied.
“As it should be,” Sarge replied with a nod.
Mitch walked us out to the truck where we said our goodbyes, with handshakes all around. He told us that if anyone up our way needed anything to please let him know. I thanked him for the offer and told him I’d pass it on. Then we were back in the truck and headed home.
“We’ll drop you off at your place, Morgan,” Sarge said. “I’ll get those Guardsmen sorted and we’ll get loaded. You pack a bag and we’ll come pick you up.”
“Be sure and let those guys know where to go to eat. Tell them if they need anything to get with Thad. He’s jefe as far as they’re concerned”
“Leave the Army shit to me,” he replied dismissively.
I snorted and shook my head, turning my attention back to the rain outside. It was a miserable day, though it was a reprieve from the heat. But that would be compensated for when the sun came back out and began to burn the water off. It’d be like living in a sauna.
We rolled into the neighborhood and Ted took me to my house. Pulling into my driveway, Sarge turned his head and said, “Get your shit together. We’ll be back in a little while.”
As I opened the door, before the truck even stopped, I replied, “I’ll be ready.”
I pulled my poncho off on the porch before going in. No sense in making a mess inside. Mel was lying on the couch. Little Bit was on the floor with paints spread out in front of her and papers scattered around her. Taylor and Lee Ann were on the floor in front of the fireplace watching a movie on the iPad. They were sharing a set of earbuds, each having one stuck in an ear.
I leaned over the back of the couch and kissed Mel on the head. “I have to go pack. They’ll be ready to go soon.”
She scrunched into the pillow she was lying on and replied, “I already packed you a bag. It’s on the bed.”
I looked into the bedroom to see my bag sitting at the foot of the bed. “Thanks. Then I can just chill out with you guys for a little while.”
“Where you going?” Little Bit asked.
“To see some Army people.”
“How long you going to be gone?”
I got down on the floor beside her. “Not long. What’cha painting?”
“A school. That’s the teacher and that’s the blackboard.”
“It’s a nice-looking school.” I looked at her and asked, “You miss school?”
She shrugged. “A little, I guess. I miss my friends. I miss having kids to play with.”
I roughed her hair. “You will again, someday.”
“Hey!” She shouted as she patted her hair back down.
I sat up and leaned against the couch. Mel put her arm around me and I rested my head on it. I fell asleep there and woke up when I heard a horn. Little Bit was patting my leg saying, “Daddy. Mister Sarge is here.”
I smiled at her and pulled her into my lap. “I guess I have to go.” I hugged her tight. “I love you.”
She wrapped her arms around my neck and squeezed as tight as she could, grunting as she strained. “I love you too!”
“Aahg, you’re going to pop my head off!” I cried. She laughed and I tickled her. “Be good for mommy.”
“I will,” she replied and kissed me on the cheek.
I crawled over to the girls and lay in front of them, putting my hand on the iPad. When they looked up, I said, “See you two later.”
“Can we come?” Lee Ann asked.
“No. You’re going to have to help out here.”
“We never get to do anything fun,” Taylor replied.
“Be good for mom and help out.”
“We will,” Lee Ann replied.
Mel was waiting by the door with my bag. She handed it to me and said, “Get back home in one piece.”
I kissed her and replied, “I will. Promise.”
“I put a bunch of that jerky in there for you.”
I leaned in and hugged her, giving her another kiss. “Thanks, babe.”
Chapter 4
Sarge was standing on the porch when I came out. “I was about to knock on the door.”
“I was coming. Calm down.”
He pointed to the Hummer and said, “You drive.”
Grunting, I replied, “What happened to sleep on the way?”
“Improvise, adapt, overcome.”
“What? You a Marine now?”
As I got in on the driver’s side, he replied, “Question my heritage like that again and this’ll get ugly.”
Dalton was sitting in the back seat and in his famous cockney accent, shouted, “Top of the mornin’ to ya guvna!”
I looked over my shoulder at him and asked, “What the hell are you so chipper about?”
“Just glad to be alive.”
I asked Sarge, “Which way are we going?”
“Let’s try and take I-75. It’ll be a lot faster; and with this weather, maybe it’ll keep the slow thinking types from trying anything.”
“That just means any we do come up against are committed to their endeavors,” Dalton added.
Sarge pointed and I put the truck in gear and pulled out as he replied, “We’ll just have to show them the flaw in their logic then.”
As we passed the bunker, I saw it was manned by the Guardsmen we had picked up yesterday. At least here they had a tarp to get under out of the rain. They waved as we passed and it made me wonder if they were unhappy at not getting to go, or relieved they got to stay behind. Or if they even knew what we were up to for that matter.
“You tell those guys what we’re doing?” I asked.
> Sarge shook his head. “Nope. They don’t need to know.”
I drove down 19 and hung a right onto 42. It was a straight shot to highway 441 in Summerfield. Just like 19 that we drove often, this one was clogged with debris. Nothing the trucks couldn’t handle, but the absence of traffic and maintenance was obvious. Tree debris littered the road. Piles of leaves, twigs, sticks and some large limbs were everywhere. Dirt was also piled in places where it had been washed in by the rains. This was magnified by the rain we were currently experiencing, as rivers of water ran along the sides and crossed anywhere the pitch of the road changed.
But it was an easy drive and I wasn’t particularly worried about being waylaid. The rain, this volume of rain anyway, would surely keep people inside. It’d rained all night and only the most dedicated would be watching the roads. And it wouldn’t be particularly profitable for them either as their potential victims would also be seeking shelter. So, I relaxed and settled into the drive. The fact the Hummer was up-armored certainly helped.
We made it to Summerfield without seeing anyone on the road. I spotted a couple of faces watching us from porches as we passed by, but that was the entire sum of people, and they made no effort at action of any sort. It was an odd sensation to turn out onto highway 441 with no traffic. It was a major artery and had always been busy. But today, it was empty, save the abandoned cars lining the sides of the road.
“Wonder who pushed all the cars out of the road,” I asked no one in particular.
Sarge was looking out his window and dismissively replied, “Who cares. But I’m glad they did.”
As we passed the Camping World on the left side of the road, I noticed something. “There isn’t a single towable camper over there,” I said.