American Survival (DeLeo's Action Thriller Singles Book 5)

by Bernard Lee DeLeo

  “You and the Doc are getting pretty tight there Jack,” Paul noted.

  “Yeah, Dad! Does this mean Jake and I should start calling Dr. Morrison Mommy,” Sarah asked.

  Jack choked on his coffee, and felt the hot fluid go into his nose, as he gagged. “Why you little disrespectful… no good rotten…” Jack spluttered as he tried to clean up. No one could hear him anyway, because they were convulsed in laughter. Many minutes later as Jack smilingly endured the ridiculed, he wondered about how much he could tell them.

  “Oh Jack,” Mitch howled. “I would suggest black coffee next cup. I hear cream and sugar clogs the nasal passages.

  This brought a fresh spasm of laughter, and Jack sighed as he wondered now if he could tell them anything.

  Paul pushed the unwounded side of Jack’s head. “She nailed you, but good. Now, are you going to tell us what’s going on, and quit grab-assing around?”

  “Yeah Jack,” Steve piled on, “we don’t have time for your adolescent crap.”

  “Okay, okay…” Jack waved his hands in mock surrender. “I’m not getting any younger here. Do you want to know what’s going on, or not?”

  Everyone settled down into their chairs, as Jack began a shortened version of his briefing. He left out the specifics, but everyone understood the essentials of how close to disaster the country had come. They were as blood-thirsty as he had expected them to be, when he explained the actions taken to ensure victory. When he told them of their options, and what part of any further operations they could have, and Dr. Morrison’s part, they became silent. Jack paused expectantly, but everyone was looking around the room, or at the table in front of them.

  “We’re here to discuss this,” Jack said. “None of this has been etched in stone. We are free to make our own choices.”

  “Didn’t we do our part Jack,” Paul asked, still looking down at the table in front of him. “I kind of thought we’d all do a Tequila Sunrise vacation, in Margarita-Ville, to celebrate. You know, just for a little while, like until we’re eighty.”

  “I know how you all feel,” Jack acknowledged. “If we can’t all be in this full bore, then I will tell Tom to forget it. One thing I do know; if we try to half-ass this, some, or all of us will end up dead. We would be home, and a lot more comfortable; but we would still be at war, and under war conditions. Dr. Morrison’s clinic, and all of her aids would be under my control too. This operation has an ending. We get the antidote to everyone, and we execute anyone who tries to stop us. We put the gangs out of business, and back to work being Americans, and the infiltrators die.”

  “You make it sound easy Jack,” Peter remarked. “Like jelly on rye toast. You know it won’t happen like that.”

  “I fixed cars in the world. You put them together, Mitch. Paul fixed phones. Steve and Peter fixed computers. We have talent and skills, but we need a civilization to work our skills in. We also need a place we can get the kids raised in safety. Our other option is head back into the hills. We can wait for better times, or we can try to bring around better times. My brothers can try going back to Ohio, while you and Peter head…”

  “We are not splitting up Jack,” Steve said firmly.

  “We all agree on that,” Mitch interjected. “What kind of support can we expect?”

  “We will have state of the art weapons, computers, and communications. I will make sure we have gold to barter for what we need. I will make sure we have everything we want, except for safety. We will not have that. I don’t even know what might be in store for us when we hit the Bay Area. My house, and business could be in rubble, for all I know. Of course if they hit the stash in the business, they’re probably not in enough pieces to enjoy it.”

  “I follow you, Dad,” Sarah stated.

  “I’m with you, whether I have a choice or not. I want to help with the clinic,” Jake added.

  “I’m in,” Mitch agreed as he saw nods from both of his children. “I want to be with you all for good now.”

  Paul looked at Nick for a moment, and got a smile in return. He looked at Jack finally, “Nick and I are in to the end. We want what’s right, and this feels right. Leaving things unfinished will just dump on what we’ve done so far.”

  “Peter speaks for himself.” Steve sighed. “I’m a sucker for a cause. I’m in. I’ve grown fond of you all over the past few days, and finding other people I could give a rat’s ass about might be more difficult than seeing this through.”

  “I’m in,” Peter said. “I want to believe again. I want what I thought lost forever. I want back what I am ashamed to say I laughed at once. Count me in.”

  “It will be hard work,” Jack warned, “but with care, we can get through the rest of this in one piece, and in comfort. On top of all that, we will be the ones to have done it. I hope none of you live to regret your decision, and if you do, I hope I’m already in the ground. I wish I could guarantee the days to come. I know you all don’t care one way or another, because until now we were at war. I guess it comes down to the fact we’re family, and that includes Steve and Peter. I can say one thing for sure: I am more frightened than any of you about this. We all go from here with more to lose than a few days ago.”

  “It’s in the past now,” Paul said. “We’re agreed, and that does it for me. We move on this until we win.”

  “Paul’s right,” Mitch agreed. “We have the plan. If things get goofy, we’ll change it as we go.”

  “One more thing,” Jack said. “I want to bring John Liang along with us. He speaks Spanish and Chinese, and God only knows what else. He can help us if Tom can get him freed into our custody, and his wound heals okay.”

  “You mean the soldier you blew part of his leg off, Dad,” Jake asked in amazement. “Why in the world would he help us, and what makes you think he won t kill you when he gets the chance?”

  “Nothing but instinct, Jake. He has nothing to go back to, and everything to gain here. He has lived under the Red Chinese, and he’s lived here in the US.”

  “That didn’t stop him from going through with the war on their side, Uncle Jack,” Debbie countered.

  “Yep, Debbie,” Paul agreed, “but he would have been dead if he had turned on them then. Just as we never questioned our duty, he went through with his. I have to agree with Jack. John could be very valuable. Not only was he a trained agent, who infiltrated our country for a long time, he has training as a soldier. I can attest to the fact he can take pain. Sometimes you just know people.”

  “Anymore objections as far as John goes,” Jack asked.

  “What about if he does hold a grudge Uncle Jack,” Nick said. “How will you know?”

  “I won’t know Nick. I have to consider the weight of having him on our side; against whatever danger he poses for me. How about you Luke? Are you okay with this?”

  “If I can stay out of the snow for a while, Uncle Jack, I don’t care if you adopt half the Red Chinese army.” This brought another bout of laughter, and a neck pinch for Luke from his father.

  “I know what you mean, Luke. We have some time to enjoy the good life here, and sharpen our skills. I want everyone hitting expert with the sniper rifles I plan on requisitioning. With being able to call in air-strikes, we never dealt with what we will be up against now. Steve, Peter and I fought in the city when we had a distinct enemy. This will be different. I have a plan to protect our every move, and it involves everyone being an expert with a rifle at long range.”

  “You don’t expect the kids to learn how to fire that bazooka of yours, do you,” Steve asked. “Hell, I would rather have my arm amputated than have to fire that thing again.”

  Jack laughed. “No, Steve, I have a much smaller caliber in mind, with a special armor piercing jacket. I will save Ol’ Betsy for anything serious, like going through buildings. I don’t care to have to fire her again myself, but she sure did a righteous job while I needed her.”

  “No doubt about that,” Mitch replied. “I’m surprised you never used it before
.”

  “I did use it when I was alone up there. When you all joined me, I could coordinate attacks with the base - then there was no need. Besides, without the silencer, it sounds like a bomb going off, and even the best silencers don’t last long. Anyway, I want you all firing expert before we leave here.”

  “How long do we have,” Nick asked.

  “I don’t know about Mitch and Paul, but I need some time. I’m not going to take any of you back there, until I get healed completely. You look better, Mitch. The swelling seems reduced anyway. How’s your back, Paul?”

  “I’m good,” Paul replied. “Your girlfriend said it looked good, when she examined me. I think we can go back whenever you stop looking like Frankenstein’s Monster.”

  “She’s not my girlfriend, you pecker-head,” Jack retorted.

  “Sure… Jack… sure,” Mitch said. “When’s your next date?”

  Jack started to speak, and then remembering the dinner date, he clamped his mouth shut, sensing doom in this conversation. His silence brought laughter again.

  “You dog,” Steve laughed. “Spill it. When’s the conjugal visit?”

  “We need to work out some details about the clinic,” Jack answered reluctantly.

  “When Jack,” Peter asked.

  “We’ll be going over a few things at dinner tonight, but…”

  “Just business of course,” Mitch cut him off.

  Jack stood up. “Okay… I’m too old to get the third degree from you bunch of perverts. Let me get back with Tom, so he knows we’re all on board with this, and then you can all rag me some more later. I’ll remember to ask if we can take Wolf out for a while too.”

  “Will Mommy be coming too, Dad,” Sarah asked innocently, again evoking laughter at Jack’s expense.

  Jack had her hair in his hand, held above her head like a noose in a split second. “You are enjoying this a bit too much, my dear. Perhaps you will need to be reintroduced to Mr. Kroger again. With that, Jack began making motor noises. Using his other hand, held in a closed pinching posture, he swung it slowly near his daughter’s arm, as he used to do when she was a child.

  She squealed, trying to fend it away, as she received no help from the rest. “Not Mr. Kroger, Dad! Jake, help me!” Jack’s hand swept in past her defenses to quickly grab a bit of skin in a quick pinch, before releasing her. Sarah grabbed her arm in mock pain.

  “That hurt! I’m telling Mommy you blew coffee through your nose and…” Sarah moved quickly to avoid her father’s grasp, and ran from the group, as they enjoyed Jack’s exasperated reaction.

  Jack pointed his finger at his daughter threateningly. “You know the old Klingon saying Sarah: revenge is a dish best served cold. I will settle up with you when you least expect it. Count on it.”

  Sarah raised her fists, and started dancing, much to the amusement of the group, waving her hand at Jack in a come hither motion. “Bring it on old man. I’ve got your…” She turned, and ran as Jack went for her, but he was held up by laughing sympathizers to his daughter’s plight. He smiled and gave it up.

  “You see before you a beaten and humbled man,” Jack stated. “Now, can I go, or do you all want to take another turn.”

  Paul made a negating hand gesture. “No, we’ll take this up later. You think you can handle taking the kids and Wolf out yourself. "I don’t know about the rest of you, but I need to stay out of the snow for a while. I like it just fine inside for now.”

  All but Jake, Sarah, Luke, and Mitch decided they didn’t need to get any fresh air yet. Jack promised to meet them later in the day. He left and went to Tom’s office, where he found the Captain going over computer files obtained from the Chinese helicopter.

  “Well, that was quick. I hope you bring good news.”

  “We all agreed to take it on. I will have a list of what we need later; but for now, we’ll just heal up, and if possible get some practice with a particular weapon. Also, my kids wondered if we could go outside with Wolf for a while today.”

  “Sure,” Tom replied. “I’ll alert security. We have the whole area for miles under video surveillance, with motion and infrared sensors.”

  “I still want our AK-47’s to take out with us. We don’t go anywhere unarmed.”

  “Understood, I’ll have someone get your weapons back to you right away.” Tom stuck out his hand and shook Jack’s firmly. “Thank you for taking this on. I will meet with you tomorrow morning, when you have put together a list of supplies. We’ll talk more then.”

  Jack walked out of the office, and found his room by himself for the first time. Jake and Sarah were surprised he made it without their help. He told them they would be returning most of their weapons right away, and then they could take Wolf out for a run. He called the rest of the group on the phone, and told them about the weapons return. Jack asked for each of them to supply him with a want list, for discussion, before his meeting with Captain Kardel in the morning. An hour later, Sergeant Rodriguez and a few of his men brought all of their equipment back, in first class working order. Jack gave him back his handgun, and thanked him for all of his help. The Sergeant stepped back and saluted, and then reached for Jack’s hand, which Jack gave him gladly.

  “If you ever need anything after you get out of here Sir, please contact me at this extension. The Sergeant handed Jack a card with his contact information on it. I will be your supply liaison for your continuing mission.”

  “That’s good to hear Sergeant. I’ll stay in touch. Take care of yourself.”

  “I will Sir. Good-bye for now." He waved at the kids and left the room.

  Sarah and Jake quickly checked the rifles as Jack went through the ammunition and packs. They loaded up the AK-47s, and donned their foul weather gear. Wolf jumped, and nipped at them in anticipation. They met Mitch, Luke, and Debbie out in the hallway.

  “Are we walking the dog, or ambushing an enemy division,” Mitch asked jokingly.

  “Actually Uncle Mitch,” Sarah replied, “it does feel good to be armed again.”

  “I feel the same way,” Debbie added. “Every sound I hear, I reach for a gun, which until now I didn’t have. I like carrying. I feel safe with it in my hands, or at least confident.”

  “Same for me,” Luke added. “We’ve been training too long to just forget.”

  “Let’s continue this outside, before we roast in these clothes,” Jack interrupted.

  It took them ten minutes to reach the surface, and get outside. By that time, they were happy to be out in the cold. Mitch and Jack took the lead, with Wolf racing ahead into the surrounding woods. Jack whistled him back, and signaled him into a perimeter check. When he got back, the kids took turns throwing him an old chewed up tennis ball they had packed from their old base. Jack and Mitch explored the perimeter of the base. The runways cut out of the wilderness were huge.

  “How the hell did they ever build a base like this,” Mitch wondered out loud.

  “One thing’s for sure,” Jack said, “without it, they could have moved supplies and weapons at will from Asia. We could have stopped some, and blown up some roads; but without the air-strikes, and supplies from here, we would have been spitting into the wind. Listen Mitch, remind me to get Steve to scan…”

  Mitch held up his hand for Jack to be quiet, and took out what looked to be some kind of small, portable electronic notepad. Mitch turned it on, and one-fingered a few of the keys on the pad. After a few minutes, he turned to his brother. “Okay Jack, you were saying?”

  “Where did you get that, and what did you just do?”

  “Steve gave it to me to scan for bugs, and listening devices. He said it would pick up anything in the area, listening in on our conversation; whether from something in our clothes, to anything pointed at us from around where we talked - pretty neat huh? When you mentioned Steve, it reminded me of this, and what he told me about not talking about serious stuff without checking.”

  Jack took the notepad from his brother, and Mitch showed him the keys
to press to get a real-time scan of the area.

  “Steve has it together. I’m too used to being in the middle of nowhere. How many of these things does he have? I was just going to ask you to get Steve to scan for bugs in the equipment they returned. As usual, he passed my paranoia by a mile.”

  “He told me he has three, and he already gave one to Paul.”

  “They’re already checking the gear even as we speak, right?”

  “You got it, brother,” Mitch answered. “We don’t trust anyone. Ain’t that how we stayed alive so far?”

  “That’s been our ticket to survival. I’m glad I have all of you to remind me of it, when I have a lapse of judgment.”

  “We’ll get this shit done, and then you and I will do some fishing.”

  “Sounds good, Mitch. I hope we can get some people on our side when we get to the Bay Area. The faster we recruit some helpers for the clinic, the faster we can concentrate on infiltrators and the gangs. I’m certain they will target the clinic.”

  “Why would they bother?”

  “The gang members who survived the virus are still the same sheep they were before the attack. They believe in nothing. You can bet if they’ve been infiltrated, they won’t be just causing the usual trouble. Like Tom told me, everyone out there carries a gun. Terrorizing regular citizens can no longer be done. If they stop a car or a person, they have to be ready to die. They can be led to do things, as long as it involves brainless destruction. Some just need to be taken out of the gene pool.”

  “This thing with the Doc… has us worried, Jack. Paul filled Steve and I in on what happened out there with that scientist. He had his own private assassin girlfriend, and if Paul hadn’t wasted her, she would have taken him out without a thought.”

  Jack chuckled. “You think I’m being fitted for my own private assassin? Why, how kind of you to think of my love life before I even see the woman alone.”

  Mitch shrugged. “I don’t discount anything. We live in the Twilight Zone, brother. Get used to it. Maybe they feel you need a watchdog to keep you on the right track, who can double as an attitude adjustment, or an assassin.”