“Now what would your footwork and attack be if your target was moving forward, like this?” Bennet asked, challenging her to think outside the box.
“Well,” she mocked him, “depending on what type of mood I was in, I could either step right and side kick or move past my opponent and back kick.”
“Okay, let’s try that, cupcake,” he responded.
She was ready for him to move the target out, so she could kick it, and he smacked her across the head with it.
“Boom, now you’re in knocked-the-fuck-out mood,” he laughed.
“You’re such a dick,” she laughed with him.
He pointed at her with that smirk, but quickly stopped and snapped to attention along with the other soldiers in the room. Col. Emma Payne entered the room with Lt. Col. Virgis and walked toward MGySgt Nickleton
“1st Sgt Bennet, can you please join us?” Col. Payne commanded. “The rest of you, as you were.”
“Yes ma’am,” he replied crisply to the colonel. “Continue on, guys,” he told them as he left.
The four officers chatted quietly by the door. Erika formed a group with Vince and Star, but no one could focus. Finally, the conversation ended and MGySgt Nickleton returned with Bennet.
“Our time is up. You all know your jobs. You will report at 05:00 to head out toward Vegas. Head home and do what you gotta do,” Nickleton said.
He looked really worried and Erika was concerned. Why did the time move up, she wondered? Looking at Bennet, he had the same deep concern in his eyes. They stored the training gear and showered before heading out. Erika saw Bennet in his office and told Vince she would catch up.
“You got a minute?” she asked, poking her head in the office.
“Sure, what’s up?” Bennet responded out of habit.
“How come they moved up the timeline?” Erika wondered.
“Shut the door,” he ordered.
She did as he asked.
“The Federal Forces decimated Albuquerque,” he confided in her. “There’s radio silence from Cassidy’s force right now. The feds bombed it and the ground troops are advancing. We need to finish eradicating them out of the badlands, so we only have one front. The planes are still at the base in Vegas. We’ll have a chance to take them. All we have to do is secure our people and those gardens.”
Erika was horrified by the words and hoped she hadn’t brought the doom upon them.
“I hope they are okay,” she verbalized her concern for Cassidy and her team. “But, we’re ready to go, sir.”
Erika couldn’t wait to get her mom out of there. She was desperate to see her again. As an added bonus, she would also have two of her closest friends back.
She weaved back through the rows of tents and found theirs. Inside, her beautiful family waited. Fighting for their future could have such a horrific cost. Any one of them might not make it home, and Erika tried to remember every moment of the precious time they had together.
In the morning, the entire camp was a buzz of activity. The refugees were packing up, filling up water trucks and getting ready to move. Daniel was angry and cried over them leaving. He wanted his friends back, but he didn’t want to have to sleep alone again and he didn’t want to miss them anymore. There was no easy way to walk away. Erika hugged him tightly and told him how much she loved him. She shed tears as she turned to leave, but there was no going back. The world wouldn’t magically fix itself, and she had to get her mother away from Mathew Tweed.
They piled into a truck and headed south. There would be a train waiting for them in Tonopah to take them to Vegas. A garbage car would be their chariot just like when they had left. They had to depend on their thermal cloaks to keep their heat signature hidden.
Erika sat close to Star on their way south. They hadn’t had a real mother-daughter moment since Erika had returned.
“I’m sorry about Sean, Star,” Erika told her quietly.
“So am I,” Star replied.
“What happened?” Erika wanted details.
“Jensen got word from Cole when he checked in that the feds had invaded, and they decided to reveal themselves to me. Like I didn’t know he was following me. Anyway, he told us we should head west immediately with him. Cole was worried that they would come for me. Then Sean started worrying too and freaking out because he would have to leave the band. He didn’t want to go back to life on the run. You know the drummer, Tod?” Star asked, looking at Erika with those beautiful blue eyes.
“Yeah,” Erika encouraged her.
“He has a sister, Bertie. She fell of the ugly tree and hit every branch all the way down but they’re landowners. He talked with another manager and the guy arranged the paperwork. He said he loves me still, but this was his big chance to be a superstar,” Star informed Erika.
“How do you feel about that?” Erika asked her, trying to get Star to rationalize her feelings.
“Well, obviously I’m pissed…and sad. I miss him. I got him all those gigs. I really thought he loved me, but I guess it was all a lie,” Star reflected.
“I don’t think it was, Star. Marrying you was a fast decision that we had to make. What else was he going to do? I think he did love you, but his head grew too big too fast once he started drawing crowds,” Erika consoled her.
“I think he’s an asshole, and if I ever see him again I’m going to rip off his balls,” Vince commented, eavesdropping on their conversation. “Nobody hurts my super Star.”
Star smiled at him and blushed. “Oh, Dad.”
“I’m serious,” Vince assured her.
“I never trusted that jerk-off anyway,” Dexter added.
“Stop it, guys,” Star pleaded. “He’s a good guy. He just loved his music more than me.”
“His loss,” Erika declared.
They finally reached the train. It was time for the final gear checks. The driver had intel for them about Greg and Penny. The feds that were loyal to the resistance had informed them that Vince and Erika were coming in to get Nancy and the mercs. When they asked for Greg and Penny’s help, they never hesitated to agree.
The team wrapped the thermal cloaks tightly over their bodies and tucked into the corners of the cart. Breathing in her hood, Erika sat waiting for the train to start moving. The adrenaline made her tingle and she took a deep breath to calm her nerves. The image of being in the cell in a hood wanted to flood her mind, but Erika took another deep breath and felt the gentle rocking of the train, click, clacking along the track.
It was the longest ride of her life. Squashed in the corner of the garbage cart, she wished she could turn herself invisible. She wanted her brain to shut off and the images of the past to quit flashing in her eyes. She opened them and could tell from the dancing lights overhead that they had entered the city. Then they made the U-turn located by the gates to the refugee housing center. It would only take moments to come to a halt in front of the gardens.
Chapter 35
The squeaking of the wheels was deafening as it echoed off the walls of the garbage cart. The train came to a stop… They waited. If their contact was alone he would let them know. Boom, boom, boom, someone knocked on the car. They used a series of footholds that had been welded onto the inside to climb out.
Once Erika’s feet hit the ground, she knew the way immediately. They ran to the gate with their hoods still pulled tightly, concealing them and their heat signatures. She looked up quickly, assessing the scene. Bennet was shaking hands with the contact.
Erika recognized him. His brother had been the leader of a camp that was established in California, before the tsunami. He stayed when Erika’s group left and was lost. Vince and Erika had formed a special relationship with his brother.
“Alex,” Erika declared, hugging him.
Bennet knew there was no time for catching up, “SSgt White, take your team and secure the gardens. Erika, Dex, Smith, let’s go,” Bennet commanded.
Erika kissed Vince softly and
he hugged her fiercely. Then he hugged his boy telling him, “Keep your mother safe.”
“I will, Dad,” Dex replied as he turned to follow Erika and Bennet.
They weaved in and out of the greenhouses until they were out of sight of the other team. Cautiously they crept forward until they saw the building where the refugees working in the gardens or warehouses ate. It was dark and void of life. They slowly moved around the building. There was a black Federal soldier standing there. The metal of his prosthetic leg glinted in the moon light, despite its frosted coloration.
Erika knew this soldier as well. She was just about to call out to him, but Bennet stopped her and whistled very softly.
Sgt Terrance Walker turned around and walked toward the corner of the building nonchalantly. He looked around carefully, as if he was completing a sweep of the area. He turned toward them but never looked at them. He said quietly to the air, “I’ll walk to the gate, open it, walk through, and do a quick search of the other side. That’s all the time you have to get through. The refugees are ready on the other side.”
He turned back around like his search was complete and headed back toward the gate. The darkness would hide them, but the cloaks had to do their job against the close-up, thermal lenses. They tucked in tight and crept behind Sgt Walker as he opened the gate and walked through like he didn’t have them tight on his heels. They scurried through the doorway as Sgt Walker turned back around. He went back through and locked the gate. Erika heard it click twice.
1st Sgt Bennet’s reflection glinted off the metal of the steel door to the prison facility as he approached it and knocked. A slide opened in the door and Bennet told him a password. The door opened and the team flooded in. Dexter threw a knife into one of the soldier’s neck and Erika jumped on him to muffle the sound as he died. Bennet was strangling the other guard with a rear naked choke while Smith ran to the door to make sure no one was coming.
“Dexter, Smith, you two hold this position. No one comes in,” Bennet ordered.
“Yes, sir,” they replied.
Erika looked in the tiny viewing windows, as they made their way down the hall. Her mom wasn’t in any so far. Bennet, familiar with this facility from his time working here, led her to a series of cells that held the captive Mercenary soldiers. After they were freed, Bennet led them to a small armory within the prison and tried to arm them all. There weren’t enough weapons to go around but they started improvising. Bennet instructed them to go and free the other prisoners and, if Nancy was found, to report back immediately.
Suddenly the alarm sounded. Erika’s heart pounded. It was too soon. She hadn’t had enough time.
“We have to find my mom,” Erika told Bennet.
Bennet led her out of the room and to an area where political prisoners were taken. As they ran down the hall, Erika heard the noise outside the building begin to roar. She remembered the sound from the last time she had left this place.
“They’re rioting already!” Erika worried. “Everything is happening too fast.”
“Don’t worry, we’ll find her,” Bennet assured her.
Erika heard gunfire from outside as they carefully made their way down the hall.
“Guess we’re going live,” she said, bringing her rifle to a ready position.
Entering the final hallway, they came upon a group of feds securing the exit. Their backs were to Bennet and Erika and their weapons were aimed at the door. Bennet and Erika’s silenced weapons flashed in the dimly lit building as they took the soldiers by surprise. Quickly they searched the remaining cells. Although there were many grateful prisoners here, none of them were Erika’s mother.
They returned to the entry where Johnny and Dexter waited. The building had been searched from top to bottom and all the refugees and prisoners had been released. There was no sign of Nancy.
“Tweed has her,” Erika told Bennett. “I have to go get her.”
“Erika, that base will be swarming right now,” Bennet cautioned.
“She’s my mom, Bennett. Don’t you understand?” Erika pleaded.
Bennet pulled one of the Mercenary soldiers to himself. “Who’s your commanding officer?”
The boy pointed to a man who was stepping forward, “I am sir, Gunnery Sergeant Christopher Crane, sir,” he said, extending his hand.
“GySgt Crane, I’m leaving Corporal Smith with you. He knows the details of this mission. I need you to rally these refugees and keep them pressing outside the gates. The Mercenary and Militia teams won’t be long. Just keep them alive,” he ordered. “Dex, Erika, let’s go.”
Outside the door the world was erupting with fury. Flames burned brightly along the fence line that separated the refugees from the landowners. Bennet led Dex and Erika back to the small gate they had come through. It was open.
“Thank you, Sgt Walker,” Bennet whispered as they crept along quietly behind the warehouses.
There were Federal soldiers rushing toward the confrontation with the refugees, but they didn’t notice the three infiltrators quietly slipping through the shadows. The Luxor shined brightly in the night and buzzed with activity.
“Come with me,” Bennet ordered them, leading them into a small building. There were guards inside the doors, but with the noise erupting outside, no one heard their muffled pistols ending the lives of the guards. Bennet led them to a tunnel that had connected the casinos at one time. They rushed along the tunnel, dispatching two more guards at the other end. The room they had entered had a stairwell that could access the management levels at the top.
They climbed the stairs cautiously to Mathew Tweed’s floor and opened the door into the hallway. There were guards, dead and slumped over on the floor.
Bennet looked curiously at Dexter and Erika. They shrugged back. Quietly they flooded into the hallway, posting up on either side of the door.
Bennet began counting down, “3-2-1,” with his hand on the door.
Chapter 36
Vince watched Erika leave with Bennet and Dex. He quickly turned his mind to the garden warehouse. Alex and SSgt White would hold their position while he and Star went to the garden control room. They entered a central greenhouse and approached the large room inside. Vince found the door unlocked when he turned the knob. Opening the door, he was snagged into the arms of a man waiting inside. He put Vince in a headlock, and Vince frantically reached to shoot his rifle backwards.
“Wait!” Star stressed. “Greg? Is that you?”
“Star?” he replied and let Vince go. “Vince! Buddy, am I glad to see you!”
They embraced in a giant bear hug and the rest of the family emerged from their hiding spaces. Penny was there holding Carmen, Mitchell and Jen were there with Crystal, and Roxy emerged as well. There were hugs all around.
“Where’s Erika?” Penny wondered.
“She’s with Bennet and Dex, headed to get her mom and the mercs out of the prison,” Vince explained quickly, checking the controls.
“It’s dialed in, Vince. What do you think I’ve been doing here?” Greg assured him.
“Vince,” Penny got his attention. “Nancy’s not in the prison. Tweed has her.”
Vince froze for a moment, his mind processing. The door swung open and SSgt White entered, coming to check on them.
“Erika’s going to freak! She’ll go to Tweed,” Vince said, thinking out loud.
“They’re going to trigger the alarm. This place will be swarming by then,” Star commented on his thoughts.
“We have to get there before the alarm sounds,” Vince concluded.
“Get where?” SSgt White wondered.
“To Mathew Tweed, in the Luxor,” Vince informed him.
“Now hold on, Vince. I’m the senior officer here and our top priority is to secure these gardens,” SSgt White declared.
“Sabastian, I’m sorry but I know my wife. I know what she’ll try to do. I can’t let her die,” Vince assured him.
“You’re under orders, Vince,” White fought
back.
“But, I’m not a merc,” he said flatly. “Greg knows this system better than I do at this point. Jen and Mitchell are both capable fighters.”
“I’ll stay, Dad,” Star concluded. “I’ll help the incoming refugees organize to load on the train with Alex.”
“Then with your permission, I’d like to go with Vince, sir,” Jensen declared. SSgt White threw his hands in the air. “Just go, get her, and get back here,” he said frustrated.
The dark of night shrouded them as they slunk along. The landowners slept peacefully, unaware of the danger already creeping along their streets. They were almost to the Luxor when the alarm sounded.
The compound lit up like a Christmas tree. Vince and Jensen waited in a dark corner with their eyes on the door of the Luxor. The lights turned on in the upper floors and guards moved everywhere. Remembering the hated refugee entrance, Vince led Jensen around to the other side of the building. There was one guard stationed by the door and a man could be seen inside. His legs looked shackled together as he scooted around with a broom, cleaning the floor.
“Let’s move,” Jensen whispered to Vince.
Vince strolled up to the guard while Jensen crept around behind him.
“Hello, nice night,” Vince said casually.
“Hold it right there,” the guard said but it was too late. A knife slid through his throat. Blood spurted out at Vince as the man groped at his neck and fell to the ground.
Then there was a click behind Vince’s head and Vince felt the hard steel of a gun.
“Now don’t you move a muscle either of you, or he’s dead,” the man said.
To Vince’s surprise the gun left his head and the man fell forward into him sputtering for air. Vince spun around and saw the guard with half of a broomstick protruding out of his body.
“Well, ain’t you a sight for sore eyes,” a voice that Vince recognized immediately declared. “Now we’s even, sir.”
The Changing Earth Series (Book 4): Battle for the South Page 18