“Even though there were very few people up there,” Paul said, “we knew enough to keep watch. The kids freaked; because they knew their Moms, and the rest of their family were probably dead. They were anxious to at least see for sure. Hell, my wife and I fought the day I left, and I never even got to say goodbye. Our sister Janet survived like Jack did, but got killed in the first days of fighting. We looked for everyone, taking it slow and easy, but they were all dead. Mitch and I kept everyone boarded up at my house, and took turns looking for people.”
“We never had the street to street stuff you guys did, because the infiltration of our area had been low,” Mitch said. “Joyce’s sister Marilyn was still alive. She lasted only long enough to say Jack had gotten through on the phone, after the worst of the plague was coursing through. She started crying, because she had told him Sarah and Jake had died. I guess the Mother called her, after the Father died, and told her everyone was dead. Over the next two months, we gathered all the supplies we could carry, and armed ourselves properly. Winter was on its way, and we wanted no part of that. We headed out here to look for Jack, and to find a place warm to winter in.”
“Oh yeah!” Steve laughed. “You sure found a nice place to hole up out of the cold.”
Mitch and Paul laughed too. Paul said, “we at least found Jack. People in charge in Oakland knew Jack, and we got in touch through them. He nearly blew the shit out of the Special Forces guys they sent to contact him. You guys called it right getting away from him. He looked like a wild dog, when we finally caught up with him. When he saw the kids, he broke down and simply hugged them to him. We had to intervene or he’d still be attached. I can’t believe he had been giving any useful information to anyone, let alone the military.”
“He wanted these assholes dead,” Steve answered. “He did work towards that end with gusto. I know he made his reports when we were with him. I’m surprised they sent some guys up there in person. They knew he had gone over the edge.”
“They sent people up because, at the time, he only gave reports of things he destroyed,” Mitch answered, “and body counts. He took no orders, and no communication. We told them we could get him back to normal, and they agreed to help us contact him. He had enough stuff to outfit an army, so he really didn’t need any material help, even with all of us.”
__
Jack hugged Sarah to him for a long time, as he tried in vain to listen to what they were saying by the fire. He looked down at his daughter, and cupped her face in his hands. “I’m glad to see you girl. I guess I look a little the worse for wear, huh?”
“I don’t think you’ll be getting any hair where that bullet grazed you Dad,” Sarah said. “You’re beginning to look like the Terminator, when he started losing pieces.”
Jack laughed. “Well… I won’t need to win any beauty contests, once we get this crap over with. You and Jake did well. I bet it was tough getting here in the dark.”
“If we wouldn’t have had Wolf, I would have really been scared. He had a great time. He circled us all the while, and we never had to worry about an ambush. Uncle Mitch was getting worried about you and Uncle Paul. Then when the soldiers came, we didn’t have time to worry. I remember your friend Steve, from when you used to watch us at the shop, when we were little. I bet you were glad to see him and Peter.”
“It sounds like I owe those two big time. They’ll be with us from now on, so we’ll have two more experienced guns,” Jack agreed. “Do you really remember Steve from back then?”
“He’s a lot thinner, but I recognized his face right away,” Sarah answered. “I remember when he used to come back to our room at the shop to say hi, whenever he stopped over with his car. Jake even remembers Peter. He said he used to do his Beavis and Butthead imitation for them both. I think he said he did Cornholeo’, where he put his tee-shirt over his head.”
Jack laughed. “I remember when he did it for them. They laughed like hell over it. He sounded exactly like the character.” Jack hugged his daughter to him and flinched at the pain in his ribs. “I love you. I’m going to say hi to Jake.” He straightened up and used his Terminator voice. “I’ll be back.”
Sarah laughed and then sighed at his Arnold Swartzenegger imitation, and turned to the window she had watch by. “You didn’t mix the Terminator up with Star Wars this time, Dad. I guess you must be okay.”
Jack said hello to his nephews, and niece. He then headed towards his son, who stood watch before the window on the other side of the cabin. Jack stood next to him, and put his arm around his son. They stood watching the snow continue to cover the landscape before them.
“I never thought I’d see you again Dad,” Jake said, as he continued his watch without turning.
“No such luck, big boy,” Jack said jokingly.
Jake turned quickly to face him. “Don’t ever say that Dad, not even as a joke.”
Jack looked seriously into his eyes for a moment without speaking. The kid stood nearly as tall as Jack’s six feet. He had begun to bulk up in the shoulders, and chest, from all the work associated with soldiering. Jack knew he could kill without question, and had acquitted himself in a pitched battle as well or better than any trained soldier. Sometimes he forgot he still had not reached sixteen yet. Jack nodded at the boy. “Sorry Jake, bad timing for a joke. Still, better to make fun of it, son. I don’t believe in jinxes. I believe we make our own luck, but thanks for caring. Your Uncle Paul and I worried the whole way about all of you. You remember when I used to slick back my hair, and sing to you and Sarah, and tell you I was Bobby Rydell?”
“Yeah,” Jake responded. “You used to sing ‘Venus’, and say that.”
“Well, the good news is I can still sing,” Jack said. “The bad news is I don’t look like Bobby Rydell anymore.”
Jake chuckled. “First off, Wolf sings better than you. Secondly, I saw a picture of Bobby Rydell. You Dad, were no Bobby Rydell.”
“Why you little butthead,” Jack feigned outrage. “I thought you and Sarah loved my singing to you. I am shocked I tell you.”
“I liked when you sang ‘Little Red Riding Hood’ by Sam the Sham and the Pharos, Jake admitted, and your ‘America the Beautiful’ was pretty good.”
“How about ‘Sixteen Tons’,” Jack asked. “You and Sarah used to sing along with me whenever I did that one for you.”
“Oh yeah.” Jake smiled. “I remember singing it with you in the car on the way to the shop every day. We did like that one… even with you singing it.”
“See, you didn’t forget everything,” Jack stated. “Do you remember the day you went out street skating with that older friend of yours, and you fell, and broke your ankle? Your friend never believed you broke it; because when he broke his, he cried and screamed in pain. When you never let out a sound, even when I carried you to the car, he thought you were faking it. You and your sister are tough. You were then, and you’re far tougher now. I sang to you both, and read bedtime stories to you both, and none of it made either of you into wussies. My point being: don’t be afraid to laugh, even at my not coming back. Might as well laugh at the bad things, Jake, because crying over them sure won’t do any good.”
“Did you laugh when you thought Sarah and I had died,” Jake asked shrewdly.
“Your Uncle Paul is right. You are a little smartass.”
“Because I’m right?”
“Yep… I am a parental hypocrite. For a short period of time, when I thought you and Sarah were dead, I was fearless. My life meant nothing to me. I almost got Steve and Peter killed. Because of my recklessness, I almost lost Wolf too. When my bosses brought all of you to me, the fear returned. When you become a parent, you will really learn what fear means. Your fear of death retreats completely, only to multiply a hundred times over concerning your children’s death. So I make light of my own death, and I officially apologize for it. You deserve better.”
“On the other hand,” Jake replied, “if you hadn’t returned, I would never have had to list
en to another one of these funky life lectures.”
“Why you stinking… little…” Jack choked back the rest as Jake laughed at the look on his Father’s face. “See if I give you the value of my wisdom again, you impudent piece of yuppie larvae.”
Jake straightened out, and gave his Dad a push. “I was kidding. I know what you meant, but losing you would be bad. Sure, I know we would go on, but never in the same way. We need you like you need us, and you know it. Tell the truth, Dad. Do you see any end in sight?”
“Don’t look so far down the road, boy. You need to keep it on a day to day in your head. The big picture will drive you crazy. You might be fifteen when this ends, or you might be thirty-five. I hope it will be fifteen. If at thirty-five, you are still traipsing around in these woods, you will be one mean, cranky, son-of-a-bitch.”
“That gives me a head ache just thinking about it,” Jake agreed. “If it does end when I get to be fifteen, can I drive a car early?”
“After all this. Hell yeah. Who’s going to stop you?”
Jake pumped his fist. “All right. Let's attack right now. We can catch them by surprise.”
Jack grinned appreciatively at Jake’s instant solution to achieve his car dream. Nick came over to relieve Jake on watch. “I guess you better get some sleep. We may need to walk out of here come morning.”
Jake motioned to the window. “Take another look out the window, Dad, we ain’t going anywhere.”
Jack watched the snow swirling violently around the cabin in the darkness. He nodded his head slowly in agreement. “Maybe all of us can’t go, but someone will have to go far enough to send what we have to the base. Stay awake, Nick. No telling if those assholes will follow up, even now.”
“I got it Uncle Jack. I slept at the same time you were out.”
“Any kind of flash in the sky you let us know. I don’t care how many false alarms we go through tonight. At least we have the perimeter stuff reset.”
“I saw your friends setting things up on their way back from patrol,” Nick replied, as he peered earnestly into the snow blown darkness beyond the window.
Jack patted his nephew’s back. He turned silently and walked towards the fire with Jake. Jake returned his night vision goggles onto the hook, with the rest of his gear. Sarah sat listening to the others talk, as she warmed up after her watch. She saw her father and brother walking over, and went to grab two more chairs for them. She placed the chairs next to her on either side. Jack kissed her on the top of the head before sitting down, grateful he could be with them another night.
Chapter 8
The Strategy
“The pain killers wearing off, old man,” Mitch asked, watching Jack as he sat down gingerly.
“Not too bad yet,” Jack answered. “I think I’ll stay put for the time being.”
“We have a plan we want to run by you, Jack,” Steve said seriously. “I figured Peter, Mitch, and I would head out tomorrow morning no matter what. We can make our way to a high spot east of here, and transmit what we have out to the base. You and Paul can keep watch here with the kids and Wolf until we get back.”
“I think we’re running out of time too,” Jack agreed. “Maybe you could get them to chance flying a helicopter in, drop a line down, and take a sample of the antidote you and Peter grabbed.”
“Great minds think alike,” Steve replied. “Did you ever piece together where the hell these guys get their helicopters? I was hell a surprised to see one of ours once in a while, let alone these clowns landing troops with pinpoint accuracy.”
“Paul and Mitch probably told you. We never saw a single thing in the air that wasn’t one of ours until we were attacked. They’ve been holding out on us. Somewhere within a radius of about a hundred and fifty miles, they managed to set up a base we didn’t know existed. I thought about the time it took them to get to our other base, and they must have been close.” Jack paused for a second. “They knew they would only have one opportunity to use it; because no matter what they had, we would have better. I should have thought of this the moment I heard those helicopters. Paul can tell you how fast they attacked the second time, while Mitch and the kids were on their way here. There’s no way they could have been on us with a follow up raid, in that space of time, without a base right under our noses.”
Steve leaned forward with an intense look. “I think you’re right, Jack. I bet these bastards have to make their play right now. They figure they have a small window of time left to really deal us a blow. Maybe they overplayed their hand. Think how valuable this base must be to them, and the risk they took. They can launch attack helos, to deliver bio weapons over a huge area. I bet they have other aircraft there, to reach even further East. The Sierras act as a perfect screen, as long as they kept everything out of the air, especially since winter set in.”
“It’s possible they have the bio weapons here in the area on their base then,” Paul added. “Maybe it’s the antidote they didn’t have enough of. What if they needed the base to stockpile the bio weapons until they distributed the antidote? Damn, this all begins to make some sense now. I can see them getting a helicopter force built in, but anything with distance capability would never make it through without detection. You can’t just throw a blanket over them either. They would need to have some kind of hangar.”
“What about those UN bases they said were for environmental purposes, where we always heard people say they spotted troops training in them, and barbed wire up everywhere,” Peter said. “Maybe they put some people into place to take it over when the time came. They could have anything there, because they used the almighty UN to mask it.”
“That would tie up a few loose ends, Peter. I heard of a base in the Sierras, people stumbled across while camping. There were roads, but everything led in to it through guarded gates, and no access for the public. I believe there were other bases, throughout the west, at our supposed environmental sites like the national parks.” Paul shook his head. “How many of our representatives have ignorantly signed over the sovereignty of our fucking country, to anyone mentioning the word environment?”
“It still sounds pretty wild,” Mitch responded. “When the hell have these guys ever cared about losing a few of their people? Why not just launch the things now?”
“Think Mitch,” Jack said. “They want troops in place when the virus does its work, like they did at the beginning. They have weapons stockpiles now, and a hell of a lot more real soldiers on the ground then they had back then. If they get the antidote distributed in time, they could walk right over us.”
“We need a new plan then,” Mitch replied, “because they are way ahead of us. What good would it do to warn anyone? What the hell could they do to stop it? Jesus Jack, how many traitors do you think would have to be in place to let something like this happen?”
“Remember Charlie Tree and John Huang, and the whole Clinton Red Chinese support group. Those guys were in place all the way from Arkansas, and up the ladder right to the Presidency. They cashed in with super computer technology, missile guidance systems, and neutron bomb secrets. All it takes to compromise a country’s security can be manufactured with a combination of greed, stupidity, and cultural diversity. Once people lose the pride in being an American, greed and ignorance take over in places of power. Add to it the fact you can sell out your country without fear of being put to death; like the Chinese agent at Los Alamos, who still hasn’t paid the price for treason. When the Rosenberg’s sold us out to the Soviet Union, they paid with their lives, and people cheered their deaths, because they recognized the danger of giving secrets to deadly enemies.” Jack paused for a moment and looked around. “Anybody have any ideas how we can find the base, and should we still try and contact our people?”
“We could do both at once,” Sarah chimed in.
“She’s right, Jack,” Steve said quickly. “We could get away from here, and signal we have the antidote, and to come collect samples. We can lay a trap for the ones who try to
stop us; because they know they’re closer than our side, and can take care of us before we blow the whistle on them.”
“How about going to where we blew the helicopters up, and signaling for help,” Peter asked. “They might even send someone to the area to check on what happened. With this storm, they can’t move until we do, and we’re a hell of a lot closer.”
“How many damn helicopters can these guys have,” Mitch asked.
“Paul and I took out three,” Jack answered. “How many did you and Peter get Steve?”
“Three,” Steve replied, and then grinned from ear to ear.
“What the hell are you smiling about,” Jack asked.
“These fucks ain’t so good at guerrilla warfare, as they may have thought,” Steve stated, to quiet murmurs of agreement in the background. “I just thought no matter how this all works out, we kicked commie ass, and no one can take that away.”
“We ain’t done yet partner,” Paul said.
“I know we have at least one more good ambush in us,” Jack stated. “We need to decide on the when and where. I like the idea of going in amongst the wreckage, and setting some traps for our friends. If they have some communication gear still in working order, we could send out a distress signal. We need them to land, so we can take one of their pilots along with a helicopter. We’ll only have one shot at it, so we need on site intel before calling in an air strike on their base. I packed the laser guidance gear they gave me for pinpointing a target. I just never got to use it before.”
American Survival (DeLeo's Action Thriller Singles Book 5) Page 8