Endurance: A Post-Apocalyptic Thriller (Highway Book 2)

by ML Banner

  Abdul then guessed that Stanley was going to someday disappear with his kids to this home in Florida, and he didn’t want that to happen. So Abdul asked Imran to help him.

  “You’ve done so much for me and the cause, Imran. You took the home next door to my brother’s, killing the occupant and taking over his identity. You found the warehouse where we could store the supplies we needed for Phase Three, coordinating with Ramadi. Then you’ve patiently waited for your next orders.”

  “I am ready to serve you, my Mahdi. Just say the word and I’ll join the fight. I’ve been waiting so long for this.”

  Imran was about to fall to his belly in supplication, but Abdul thrust out his palms to keep him seated.

  “My brother, I have one more favor to ask before you join in the fight. This is a personal favor to me.”

  “Anything,” Imran said, but he felt burdened, afraid that he would lose his Mahdi’s respect by disappointing him.

  “I want you to return immediately. I’m expecting my brother and his two children to arrive any time now either here or at their own home in Florida. I want you to wait for them, and when you see them, I want you to take his children, a young woman and her younger brother, and bring them to me.”

  “But, Mahdi, what if your brother disagrees with this?”

  “Kill him. He is lost to me and to Allah. But I want you to protect the young woman and her brother with your life. She will become my wife when you bring her to me and he, my son. Once you have confirmed Stanley and the woman and boy are there, call me on your radio at our normal frequency and I will give you further directions. Until then, protect the woman and the boy.”

  Mahdi,” Imran exclaimed. He was going to ask him why and ask him to reconsider, but if this is what he wanted, he would do as he was asked. His shoulders sank with acceptance, already feeling the weight of this burden. “Yes, Mahdi, I would be honored to do this personal favor for you.” He rose, feeling his Mahdi’s sense of urgency.

  Abdul rose with him, restraining his urge to grin. “Thank you, Imran, for your loyalty. You have earned a place in Paradise for sure. But, please call me Abdul.” He raised his hand to shake his friend’s.

  “Okay, Abdul. Then you’d better continue to call me by my current name until I am finished with this mission for you.”

  “Very well. Thank you, Jasper.”

  ~~~

  July 9th

  Jasper watched from the bushes as the man, who he was sure wasn’t Stanley Broadmoor, was teaching the very attractive young woman how to fight like a man.

  He knew he shouldn’t look at her with longing, but it had been a long time since he had been with a woman, and this one was beautiful. He understood his Mahdi’s interest in her.

  With a great effort, Jasper shook away his own lust. He was charged to protect her and her brother, and he would do as he was asked. He would need to get to know this man, who seemed to be their protector. He would earn their trust and when he received word from his Mahdi, he would kill the man and take the woman and the boy from this place. He just wished he could reach his Mahdi on the radio, but he had been silent.

  He was startled when she ran by. Her pretty face seemed determined and her gait set to go somewhere.

  He would wait for her and his moment.

  Chapter 38

  Endurance, Florida

  July 11th

  Jasper

  He squeegeed away another sheet of sweat with his palm, wiping the moisture on his back, and focused his peep sight on Jonah.

  Jasper watched his eyes. When they flitted to Lexi, Jasper’s finger curled around the trigger and he squeezed it slightly. But then Jonah’s eyes moved decisively to Cain’s head, and Jasper knew both their decisions.

  Ramadi had been counting down from ten.

  “Three … two … one,” he bellowed over the loudspeaker.

  Jonah squeezed his trigger and so did Jasper.

  The sound from Jonah’s gun seemed to reverberate from far away as both Cain and Ramadi fell.

  Then multiple shots rang out from some distance, and several of the guards fell while Jonah stood transfixed by his dead son.

  Lexi jumped through her bound wrists so that they were in front of her. Then she leapt toward the fallen Ramadi. She kneeled beside him and pulled her arms hard toward her trunk and the zip tie broke from her wrists. She picked up Ramadi’s gun and fired at the guards coming up the stairs. “Come on, Jonah, we need to get out of the open.”

  Jonah sprang to life and followed her up the stairs and into city hall.

  Two of the Army trucks exploded, and the townspeople, who were transfixed only moments ago, scrambled for cover.

  The prisoners moved as a group from the open to the safety behind the building, led by Frank and Reynolds. Frank used the brick corner to saw his bindings free and raced back to the front of city hall to help Lexi.

  Two groups of men and women, one led by O’Malley and the other by Randall White, raced to the city center, firing their weapons at the remnants of Ramadi’s army. Endurance’s newly expanded militia, now made up of its townspeople and many of its newest immigrants swarmed the city center with overwhelming force. Some of Ramadi’s warriors ran, but most were cut down.

  Several of the Islamic soldiers scurried away from one of the burning trucks to the city hall’s front entrance. Two fell, taken out by Jasper’s rifle. But the rest slunk inside, took cover, and hid.

  Four or five shots came from inside the building, and after a few long moments, Lexi strode out carrying two rifles.

  Jasper could see she fought better than many of the men he had fought with. She was a natural warrior, even if that was not her proper place in this life. He couldn’t help but admire the woman.

  He was tired of watching all of this from a distance and thought that he might perish if he spent any more time on this roof. He left the building and walked out into the city center. It had quieted down and there was only an occasional gunshot. The battle seemed to be over.

  ~~~

  Frank

  Frank was in awe of his goddaughter. He knew she had it in her, but he was amazed at how she handled herself. She was completely calm, even though her fate was being decided by Jonah and Ramadi’s guards. And then she had complete poise in taking cover behind Ramadi and breaking free, then shooting the guards. He so wanted to help her, but she didn’t need his help any longer.

  Frank marched up the steps of Endurance’s city hall. And although he felt the battle was done, he had one of the dead guards’ rifles in hand.

  He stepped beside Jonah, who had his arms draped around his dead boy, sobbing. Dr. Scott, also toting a rifle, brushed past Frank and stopped near Jonah. She hesitated and then wrapped her arms around them.

  Frank took the final steps up to the level area on which Lexi was standing. She looked wired, almost high, with her eyes darting around. She hadn’t settled down yet, afraid the fight was still on. But he knew it was done.

  She quickly raised her rifle, pointing it at something or someone.

  Frank spun around and saw it was Jasper. He was finally joining them. Although he missed all the action, Frank thought.

  He turned back to Lexi, pushing her rifle down. “It’s all over, Lex.”

  Frank swung his own rifle around to his back and offered his arms. “You did an amazing job. I’m so proud of you.”

  She gazed at him, and then her shoulders sank and her lower lip started to quiver.

  She collapsed into his arms and wept.

  Chapter 39

  Sunbay Cove, Florida

  Lexi & Frank

  They were euphoric over crushing the Islamic invaders, and they looked forward to telling Travis.

  They hadn’t heard from him since just before the battle. They had heard from several of Jonah’s men that Travis was on the radio, parroting Grimes’s message about the Islamic invaders dressing up like the US Army. Travis was part of the reason why they won.

  It also told them tha
t Grimes was safe and that he made it through the explosion they heard and was back up. That also meant the American Freedom Network was back in operation. He couldn’t wait to tell Grimes and then make sure that the word was spread. They now knew the invaders’ plans and how to defeat them, and the quicker they got that information out there, the quicker America’s towns and cities would be able to extinguish the threat.

  Frank had always believed that they would prevail. He knew the answer rested with America’s militia, especially since the military was so hurt by the enemy.

  They still had many battles in front of them as Peter and some of Cain’s people went into hiding, and he understood the town of Crystal Waters was an Islamic jihadi enclave. But he had hope that with Jonah and the rest of Endurance, they would be able to hold off any future threats.

  “Do you think Travis is all right?” Lexi asked as Frank swerved around new debris in the road. They had borrowed one of Jonah’s trucks to get home. She turned on the handheld radio and it squealed an earsplitting tone that she immediately switched off.

  “Yes. As you can hear, no one is getting through those frequencies.”

  “What is that anyway?”

  He wished he knew. But technology was his Achilles’ heel. All he knew was that some strange interference had popped up on several of the frequencies. Hopefully Travis would know, or Grimes.

  When they arrived at home, they walked to the back, as this was really entrance they used. Frank and Lexi smiled at each other, but Frank’s smile slipped away instantly.

  The back door was propped open. That was strange; a tension spring automatically closed it unless there was something blocking the door. But why would Travis do that?

  Frank automatically drew his gun and approached the door quietly. Lexi had hers drawn as well.

  This all felt way too familiar.

  Instantly, Frank saw the problem: a dead man lay on the floor. His feet were inside the doorway, propping the door open, a sort of human door stopper. As Frank bounded up the stairs, he trained his eyes around the house before lowering them again to the dead man. The man had been shot in the head by a small-caliber weapon.

  Travis’s .22.

  Frank stepped over the body and into the house, staring into the combo radio room and storage area, where he expected or rather hoped to see Travis. But he wasn’t there, and the chair he sat in was overturned.

  “Travis, are you here?” Lexi screeched right behind him. She ran past Frank, hollering Travis’s name. He knew it would do no good, but he let her be.

  As she called out, stopping in each room, Frank’s eyes found an object on the kitchen counter.

  He approached it carefully, seeing it was something with a handwritten note wrapped around it. He twirled it so the writing was facing him. He caught the word Travis in the letter.

  Lexi ran up from behind him. “He’s not anywhere. Did you check in the storage room? What’s that?” Her words falling over one another.

  He reached out and picked up the note-wrapped package and undid the rubber-band tether that held the note to a wooden box that looked familiar.

  Frank unfolded the note and laid the box down. Lexi snatched it up. “It’s… Daddy’s medal box. It had military medals in it. Travis kept this in his pack.” They both searched the house with their eyes, both realizing the pack was gone as well.

  “Oh shit. Oh shit … what does it say?” she begged.

  He held the note down so that they both could read it.

  The first sentence took their breath away.

  I have taken Travis for two reasons.

  First I wanted you to know that there is no place that you can hide from me. And I wanted to make sure that you came to me. I want you and not Travis, although I would rather have both of you. I will kill Travis if you do not come to me. But my preference is not to kill him.

  I promise you that if you come to me, I will protect you and Travis. I will also offer protection to anyone who accompanies you.

  I have drawn a map with coordinates so that you can find me.

  Finally, I have provided you with proof of my intentions. In the box, you will see what I am willing to do to get what I want.

  I will see you soon, Suhaimah.

  Abdul Raheem Farook

  Lexi shrieked.

  “What’s in the box?” Frank asked Lexi.

  She hesitated, her hands shaking violently.

  She slid open the drawer and dropped the box and its contents onto the counter.

  They watched the box bounce up once and off the counter, but the object it held landed on the counter in front of them: a shocking proof of Abdul’s cruelty.

  Travis’s pinky finger.

  Lexi fainted.

  Chapter 40

  Sunbay Cove, Florida

  July 12th

  Frank and Lexi stared at their well-wishers, showing no emotion.

  Jonah saluted Frank and promised to make sure their home would be looked after, as well as taking care of Endurance and its people. He smiled at Emily and squeezed her hand as she walked around to the other side of the vehicle to talk to Lexi.

  Frank knew that the pain of shooting his son, in spite of all Jonah said would one day slam into him like a freight train. He understood how emotional pain worked; he’d bottled his up for years.

  “Do you have any idea how long you’ll be?” Emily asked through the passenger window and then regretted it the moment it left her lips.

  “As soon as we get Travis back,” Lexi said, feigning a smile; smiling hurt too much physically and emotionally.

  Emily reached out to her hand and squeezed it.

  “I almost forgot, Em?” Jonah looked through the side windows at her. “In your purse …” Emily nodded and pulled out Lexi’s Rossi revolver. “As you probably can guess, I don’t want anything to do with that gun. Besides, it’s yours.”

  She accepted with a slight beam. “Thanks,” she said softly, laying it on the seat beside her.

  “How far is it, anyway?” asked Jonah.

  “Mount Weather? Oh, about eight hundred miles.”

  “Well, take care of each other, and we’ll expect to see you both … oops, sorry, Jasper, you too, of course,” Emily said, bending down on seeing Jasper in the backseat.

  He nodded once as his acknowledgement.

  “We’ll be fine and we’ll take care of each other.” Frank laid his arm over Lexi’s shoulder and softly squeezed to show he meant it.

  Jasper glared at the back of Frank’s head and strangled the neck of his rifle, only letting loose when Frank removed his arm from around Lexi.

  “Bye, guys,” Emily said, waving.

  Frank and Lexi waved back, watching them fade in their mirrors and both wondering if they’d ever return again.

  Epilogue

  Stowell, Texas

  “This is the American Freedom Network.

  “I’m happy to announce that America’s militias are taking up the mantle of defending our country against all enemies, foreign and domestic.

  “There was a reason why the framers put this into the Constitution and in spite of political motivations to change this, we can be thankful that our country has private militias.

  “Our US military has been decimated by the Islamic invaders, and their latest ploy is to pretend to be the US Army, arriving in old US Army trucks and uniforms. Then they ask those who would defend the town to come forward with their guns. If you see this in your town, beware! They are doing this as a means to take your town’s weapons and potential militia members by executing each potential militia member and taking their weapons.

  “I repeat, if you—”

  A loud pulsating tone shot through the speakers, cutting off his broadcast.

  Grimes twisted the dial up a few kilohertz and then back down, but the tone was still just as deafening.

  “What is that?” Aimes said.

  “What the hell are you doing up? You should be resting after being shot three times.” Gri
mes glared at his friend, but then turned back to the transceiver. Grimes knew Aimes would do whatever he wanted, regardless of what ribbing he took. He was far more concerned with what this new problem.

  “Actually I was shot twice; the third just grazed my head. I’m fine. Now tell me what the hell that tone was.”

  He punched in the next preset frequency. It was also where Grimes most typically broadcast the AFN signal.

  The same pulsating tone blared through the speakers.

  “Shit!” Grimes huffed to himself and punched in the next one.

  It didn’t matter whether he went to a frequency that was a common broadcast frequency for AFN or one of the often-used communication frequencies from some of their sources on the ground. In every case, that pulsating tone burst through the speakers, bleeding out every broadcast on or around that frequency.

  “What does this mean?” Aimes asked again.

  “We’re being jammed.”

  “Jammed? But how? Who?”

  “There’s only one place with the capabilities to do this. And our enemy must have taken it over.”

  “Where?”

  “Mount Weather, Virginia.”

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