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

by Bernard Lee DeLeo

  As if to put an exclamation point on the statement, Wolf shook his head slightly, and growled again. The man cried out at the movement. “I know of only one squad, who were to scout out, and try to steal weapons, at a new depot they have set up near Sacramento. They will probably not be back until the day after tomorrow.”

  “How many?”

  “There are ten men in the squad.”

  “Weapons?”

  “Small arms, grenades, and some C4 they were to use if they had the chance.”

  “What are they driving? I need a very good description.”

  “They are in a late 90’s, dark blue, full size Chevy Van. I do not know when they will hit the depot.”

  Jack patted Wolf, who released the man. Wolf stood over him as he lay on his side. Jack walked away a few feet. “Peter, you with me?”

  “I’m here, Jack, but it’s getting damn cold and windy up here.”

  “Just a little while longer. Can you patch me through to Kardel from there?”

  “I can try. It’s pretty late though. It may be tough to get him on line.”

  “Too bad. Let me know when you got him.”

  “Will do,” Peter acknowledged.

  “What do you have in mind,” Mitch asked, as Jack walked back with them.

  “I’m going to report in to our good friend at the main base, and see if he wants to take care of a little ten man problem for us. You can go ahead and load our buddy here back in the van.”

  Mitch nodded. He put the prisoner back in the van and came back. “Are you going to tell him anything?”

  “Only the things which will make him happy. I…”

  “Jack, go ahead. Kardel’s on the line. He was waiting for word,” Peter said.

  “Tom, we have the Medical Center set up, and in operation. The inoculations began today, thanks to the Doc.”

  “I wondered why I hadn’t heard from you. Any trouble so far?”

  “Only a little, but we handled it. I took a prisoner. He says they have a ten man squad hitting a new weapons, and supply depot in Sacramento anytime now. Can you get those guys ready, so they don’t get creamed?”

  “How did they know… never mind, I’ll take care of it right away. Good job. Did you meet with any of the leaders yet, or set anything up?”

  “As a matter of fact, we did get a meeting with them.”

  “Excellent, did you make any progress with them? You have authority to pay them if the price appears reasonable.”

  Jack looked around at Kevin, and the rest, who were smiling broadly as they listened in on the conversation. Peter had opened all channels, so they could listen. “Tom, I think we can deal with these people now. I am much more optimistic about our chances.”

  “Fantastic! Call me if you need anything else. I will let you know on the results of your warning. We don’t want any of those ten getting back and ruining things.”

  “No Sir, that would not be good.”

  “Consider it done. Talk to you tomorrow, Kardel out.”

  The laughter went on for quite a while, before the team began loading up to go. Jack called everyone down off of the roofs. It had been a very good night indeed. When they reached their living quarters, Dr. Morrison stood waiting for them to exit the van. She paced back and forth as they unloaded their equipment. Kevin’s men took charge of the prisoner. As they reached the doorway, Dr. Morrison strode up next to Jack.

  “Where were you,” she asked angrily.

  “Be careful there, Doc. I don’t like your tone, and I ain’t tired enough not to give you an attitude adjustment. Now what’s your problem, and keep it short.”

  The others walked by them, as Dr. Morrison hesitated for a moment. She gauged how far she wanted to go. “Your men in there wouldn’t tell me where you had gone.”

  “Then they did their jobs,” Jack replied. “I ordered them not to tell anyone where we had gone. It seems they followed orders.”

  “Why am I not in the loop? I thought I was part of this group.”

  “You are when I need you; otherwise, you are on a need to know basis, and tonight you did not need to know. Look, I need to put this equipment away, and clean my rifle. If you wish to speak anymore to me, come on in and take a load off.”

  With that said, Jack walked by her, and into the room beyond. The others were already sitting around, cleaning their weapons. Jack put away his excess ammunition in their storage locker, with the Doctor tagging along behind him silently. He hung up his coat, stripped out of his Kevlar, and then hung it up. He went to the refrigerator, and grabbed a beer. Jack turned and offered the Doctor one, which she took hesitantly. She followed him over to the table, where Jack sat down next to Sarah. Dr. Morrison sat down next to him. Between sips from his beer, Jack field stripped the rifle and cleaned it. He carefully wiped and sprayed away all residue of dust, dirt, and the byproducts of firing the weapon.

  “You’re all so quiet,” Dr. Morrison commented.

  “It’s called a comfortable silence,” Jack replied.

  “Not to mention our ears are ringing like the fire alarm at the circus,” Mitch added.

  “We heard the explosion,” She said. “It actually shook the building here.”

  “We were getting acquainted with our neighbors,” Paul joked.

  “I thought you had planned to gather recruits, and take this carefully.”

  “We had an opportunity to move a little faster,” Jack said, “and we took it.”

  “How much faster?”

  “It’s like this, Doc,” Steve explained “You know how sometimes you can’t wait to find out what happens in a book, so you skip all the way to the end? Tonight, we ended the story right after the first chapter.”

  “What about Kardel?”

  “Old Tom has decided to help us,” Jack replied, “albeit unknowingly. I reported to him what he wanted to hear, and then asked him to take care of an item for us. He obliged willingly, thereby making your Medical Center a much safer place to work, and our living quarters too.”

  “The gang is gone?”

  “Not exactly,” Mitch said, “but they are a lot quieter.”

  “They were in a building we demolished for public safety,” Jack added. “They didn’t get out in time.”

  This brought much laughter from the others, and some confusion to Dr. Morrison. “You blew up their building… you mean the whole building?”

  “Buildings get blown up in time of war. They planned on taking out your Medical Center tomorrow. Instead, after I fill in the local police, the rest of us will be over at the Center helping you with the inoculations tomorrow.”

  “How do you know they were going to attack the Center?”

  “We took a prisoner, and he told us.”

  “And you believed him? Why in the world would he tell you the truth?”

  “Jack used the Wolf Detector on him, Doctor,” John explained. “Very effective.”

  “Then everyone will be over at the Center to help me tomorrow? That…that’s amazing. Debbie did very well today. She stayed over to clean up, and prepare the labs for tomorrow, while I came back here to find out what happened.”

  “We’ll join her tomorrow, Doc,” Mitch said. “We just plan on winding down, having a couple of beers, and taking turns with the showers. What time do you open for business?”

  “I will start at 8AM, but all of you can come over whenever you want. It’s almost 1AM now, so you’ll need your rest. I’ll turn in now, if someone will show me where I can sleep tonight.”

  Jack put down his rifle, and stood up stiffly. “I’ll show you, Doc." He walked her upstairs, and down the hall to the room they had assigned for her.

  “This one will be yours from now on, Doc.”

  “You don’t sleep here?”

  “Not unless you want me to,” Jack replied.

  “Thank you,” Dr. Morrison said. She turned into the room, and closed the door.

  Jack sighed, and walked down to finish his cleaning. The others
looked up with what Jack recognized as ill intent, and he shrugged his indifference. He sat down, and took up cleaning his rifle again. Wolf came over, and laid his head on Jack’s lap. He petted the dog absently while he worked.

  “I take it we won’t have to close up any back and shoulder wounds in the morning, huh Dad,” Sarah asked, as she carefully continued her cleaning. Everyone laughed, as Jack continued his task, without gracing the perpetrator of the remark with any acknowledgment. “At least you will have Wolf to keep you company.”

  Jack ignored his daughter and his group’s continued amusement. “Steve, I want you and Peter to try hacking into the Base computer. See if you can get some names of people we can start working our way up the ladder with. You have the codes the Doc gave you to start with. There will never be a better time to try it.”

  “Gee,” Peter said, “you mean we have to stay here all day, while the rest of you work your butts off at the Center? Can we stand to do that Dad?”

  “It will be tough.” Steve sighed. “But someone has to do the dirty work. Seriously though Jack, you know they’ll detect anything we try to do.”

  “All the more reason to get on it, before Kardel finds out his little plan has ceased to exist. You can bet he has this goofy gang shit planned all around the country, and we can’t do this for the rest of our lives. We need to get someone in the upper levels involved, and then get the army in on it full force to wipe it out.”

  “How about going through the military at the airport,” Kevin suggested. “They must be in touch with someone other than Kardel.”

  Steve smacked his forehead. “Of course. We can hit the computers at the airport first, and see what the military has there for communication, before we put our ass in a sling with Kardel. Even if they can tell we’re trying to hack in, they won’t be as quick to discover whose doing the hacking. Thanks Kevin, we just needed a new look. Now, if you could just do something about the way you smell, I…”

  “Fuck you, Steve. This is the kind of thanks I get when I try to help this prick.”

  “I’ll get up early tomorrow morning, and prepare a draft of all the details for whoever you do get into contact with,” Jack said. “They will have to investigate it on their own, but we do need someone to at least want to try. Kardel and whoever runs him must have left a trail. These operations cost money.”

  Steve stood, and went up to his room. He came back down with what looked like a ten page report. He handed it to Jack. “I had this already made up at the base, just in case we needed to try something desperate, like having Wolf chew on Kardel’s balls until he told us who really ran his operation.”

  Jack took the papers, and looked them over gratefully. “Thanks Steve, I owe you, I… wait a minute, I have an idea.”

  As soon as the groans subsided, Jack continued. “Okay smartasses, listen up, how about we lure old Tom boy here, and conduct a little interrogation? We’ll have him, and we can get the name or names we need to blow the whistle on this whole operation.”

  “How in hell do you think you can get him to come here,” Paul asked.

  “I’ll tell him the gang leadership have agreed to a deal, but they will only talk to him to confirm it.”

  “If I know corrupt leaders,” John put in, “and I do, he will be susceptible to something like this, because it will establish him in direct control. The only problem will be the fact he will come with a small army."

  “We’ll need a reason to meet him at the airport,” Jack said. “We’ll also need the military there on our side. Maybe it’s time to lay our cards on the table with the Officers in charge at the airport, and see where their loyalties lie.”

  “I can vouch for most of them,” Kevin said. “I don’t believe they would have anything to do with Kardel’s plan. When I told Colonel Braithwait we had an operation planned against the gang headquarters, he didn’t even ask the details. They believe you were sent here to stop the gang, not recruit them, which you did. We need to make the rest of what you have on Kardel solid enough for him to want to find out if it’s true. You’ll still be taking a chance they won’t believe you, and then things can turn ugly.”

  “I’m willing to risk it if you can put me in touch with the Colonel. If I can convince him of what Kardel wants to do, he may be able to help us get Kardel here, and confirm it. With Kardel here, we might be able to get the names of the assholes he takes orders from. We have the Doc. She has credentials, and she can back up our recording of their conversation in his office.”

  “We do have a pretty good case with her testimony, and my tape,” Steve said.

  “I’ll set up a meeting tomorrow when we finish at the Center,” Kevin replied.

  “I’ll drive the Doc to the Center tomorrow morning. I’ll explain what we want to do and her part in it,” Jack said, as he finished wiping down the last part of the rifle. They finished their beer quietly, and turned in, with the feeling there might be an end finally ahead of them.

  Chapter 31

  The Reminder

  Jack woke at 6AM as planned. He had taken a shower the night before, and knew he would have time to get dressed, and have some coffee without any rush. Wolf lay next to him on top of the bed cover. Jack shaved, brushed his teeth, and dressed quickly. Wolf bolted to the door. Jack let him outside into the compound. By the time he had the coffee ready, Wolf was already scratching on the outer door to come in. Jack walked to the door and opened it.

  “Hey, you big baby. First you sleep on the bed, and now you can’t stand to stay outside for more than ten minutes. You’re getting to be a real pussy,” Jack informed the dog as he petted him. He turned to see Doctor Morrison pouring a cup of coffee.

  Jack walked into the pantry, and fixed a cup for himself. He sat down across from the Doctor, who smiled at him.

  “Good morning. You’re up early for someone who couldn’t have slept more than four hours. I half expected you to force your way into my room while I slept.”

  “Those days ended when we left the Base, Doc. You’ll have to beg me for it now,” Jack deadpanned.

  The Doctor started laughing, and Jack joined her. “You must feel pretty good this morning.”

  “Not as good as if I had forced my way into your room; but still, on a whole, not bad. I’m going to drive you over to the Center this morning. We have a plan to get the Military out at the Airport on our side, and entice Kardel here. I’ll need you to take a break sometime today, and go over with me to the Airport to confirm what Steve recorded of you and Kardel.”

  “Do you think they’ll really help you?”

  “Kevin knows them. He says we can get them on our side, because they never did want to hold back from exterminating the gang problem. They bought into the civilian fear of a Military Coupe.”

  “Will the others be at the Center to help today, so I can go with you?”

  “They’ll be there. Kevin and I will be taking a chance, but the military won’t have a reason to screw around with you. If the Colonel buys our story, we may be able to get Kardel here, and find out what he knows.”

  “How risky do you think it will be?”

  “Compared to last night, it will be a walk in the park. What kind of cases are you getting at the Medical Center?”

  “Mostly infections and broken bones, they need antibiotics and splints for. The inoculations will go fast once the word gets out.”

  “Are you taking a count, so we have some idea how many are left?”

  “Yes. I never realized how many we lost until now. If other cities across the country incurred the same losses, we won’t have to worry about population control.”

  One of Kevin’s men came in from guard duty to use the bathroom, and asked if he could have some coffee.

  “Fill up as many cups as you can carry and take them out, I’ll make some more,” Jack answered. “You guys can eat or drink anything in the house, as long as you do it one at a time.”

  “I heard we don’t have to worry anymore.”

 
“I don’t know who told you that, but you tell them to do guard like we have a thousand gangbangers waiting outside the gate.”

  “Don’t worry, Jack, we do not won’t take anything for granted.”

  “That’s what I want to hear, my friend.”

  The guard loaded three cups of coffee, and Jack held the door for him. He then started another pot of coffee. He sat again, taking another sip of his cooling coffee. Dr. Morrison reached across the table, and covered his hand with hers. Jack grinned at her, and put his cup down. He placed his other hand on hers. Desire swept through him at the touch of her skin.

  “How are your ribs holding up?”

  “I still can’t sleep on them directly; but other than a little ache, and pain when I hit them, they’re great. How are your ribs?”

  “There’s nothing wrong with my…” she started, but Jack had already come around the table, and put his hands up under her blouse.

  “I’ll be the judge of that.” He bent down, and began kissing her. Wolf came over, and stuck his nose up onto the Doctor’s bare skin, causing her to squeal at the touch. Jack laughed, and pushed the dog away roughly.

  “Thanks turd-face.” Jack filled their coffee cups and returned to the table. He stroked Wolf’s head, which now hung again over his lap.

  “I’ve missed you. I really did want you to come in last night, but I was tired and cranky.”

  “Really,” Jack exclaimed in mock surprise. “I never noticed.”

  “I guess you’ll have to punish me,” she replied coyly.

  “I will keep that appointment, little missy.”

  __

  On the way out to the van, Jack popped a fresh clip into his AK-47, and checked the clip of the 9mm at his side. “You drive, Doc. I’ll watch the neighborhood.”

  He handed her the keys, and entered the passenger side. He checked communication with the gate, and satisfied, he leaned back in the seat. He positioned the AK-47 pointed downwards, with the barrel between his legs.