by Robert Boren
“Yes,” Ramsey said. “This is Eric Finley and his girlfriend Kim.”
Eric nodded to the group. Kim looked at them, forcing a smile.
“Well, what did you see and where?” Gallagher asked.
Ramsey stood behind his desk. “Wait a minute. Let’s tell him who we are. That’s Major General Gallagher of the Texas Army National Guard. Next to him is Major General Landry of the Texas Air National Guard. The big gentleman across from them is DPS Director Wallis. I’m sure you recognize Governor Nelson.”
Eric nodded, still looking nervous. He cleared his throat. “Glad you’re all here. We’ve got a big problem.”
“Thanks for being here,” Nelson said.
“We didn’t exactly have a choice,” Kim said.
“Sorry,” Ramsey said. “We’re worried about a nuke being driven into Austin, after looking at the device we found in Kemah.”
“You found a nuke in Kemah?” Eric asked. “Shit.”
“It was small enough to slip into a truck,” Ramsey said. “That’s why we had the roadblock up. We were scanning vehicles as they went through.”
“That’s a worse problem than I’m going to tell you about,” Eric said.
“Understand,” Ramsey said. “Please go on. What have you seen?”
“We saw convoys of military flatbeds with tanks on them, going eastbound without any security escort,” Eric said.
“How many?” Gallagher asked.
Kim pulled her cellphone out and looked at her notes. “Twenty-three so far.”
“Holy shit,” Wallis said. “Why would they be heading east?”
“The enemy was coming across the border from Louisiana,” Eric said. “We encountered them and fought with them east of Carthage.”
“Know where they’re crossing over?” Wallis asked.
“West of Longstreet, Louisiana,” Eric said. “Small dirt roads, leading from there to Deadwood.”
“And how did you run into them?” Gallagher asked. “That’s a remote area.”
Eric glanced at Officer O’Reilly, and he nodded yes.
“Kim and I got stopped at the Texas border outside Houston,” Eric said. “We were coming to help my brother bury my dad and avenge him.”
“Avenge him?” Wallis said.
“Yeah,” Eric said. “Anyway, when we got turned away at the border, we went north until we could find a place to drive across.”
“You’re a Texan, though, aren’t you?” Nelson asked.
“I was born here, but I’d been living elsewhere for a few years. Last place was Florida. Didn’t matter at the border. They wanted proof that I was a resident. I didn’t have any.”
“Don’t worry, you’re in no trouble with us,” Nelson said. “Quite the contrary.”
“We’ve got a real problem around Carthage,” Gallagher said. “And Deadwood is a ghost town now. Lots of people got killed. Not many escaped.”
“Some of the Deadwood folks are with us,” Eric said. “Dirk, Chance, Don, Francis, and the others. In the holding cell.”
“You’ll be allowed to leave soon,” Ramsey said. “All of you.”
“How did you find out about the cellphone tracking?” Wallis asked.
“We noticed we were being followed east of Grand Cane, Louisiana,” Eric said. “Tried to lose them. No dice. I saw a chance to ambush them just west of Longstreet. After we killed them, I looked at a cellphone left in the cab of their truck. The tracking program was still running.”
Nelson looked at Ramsey. “This related to the Austin PD phone problems?”
“Yes,” Ramsey said.
“It fixed?” Wallis asked.
Ramsey sighed. “We aren’t sure, to be honest. We swapped out all the bad phones, but we don’t know who placed the virus, or how they did it. It’s possible that our new cellphones are already compromised.”
“Dammit,” Wallis said. “We should talk about what happened in San Antonio.”
“Go ahead,” Ramsey said.
“Let’s finish with the civilians first,” Wallis said.
“Don’t worry about them,” Nelson said. “What’s on your mind?”
Wallis sat silently for a moment. “Okay. The enemy fighters who took over the San Antonio City Hall used cellphones to find the mayor and city council members. All of them were hidden, using shelter-in-place procedures we had put into place just a week before.”
“So the phones there were compromised too,” Nelson said. “Crap. They could be listening in on our conversation right now, couldn’t they?”
“It’s possible,” Ramsey said.
Gallagher looked at Eric. “How’d your phone get compromised?”
“I talked to my brother,” Eric said. “The virus got onto my phone from his. And by the way, it only took one conversation. We hadn’t talked for months before that.”
“He called because of your father, didn’t he?” Ramsey said. “Sorry to hear about that.”
“Thanks,” Eric said.
“So where do we go from here?” Nelson asked.
“Put out an APB on the tank situation,” Ramsey said. “Stop any further tank convoys, and attempt to find the ones that went east.”
“I’ll be going to Fort Bliss as soon as this meeting is over,” Gallagher said. “Time to change my plans.”
“Want me to tag along?” Landry asked.
“Sure,” Gallagher said.
“Can we go now?” Eric asked. “I need to join my brother.”
“Of course,” Ramsey said. He looked at Officer O’Reilly. “Let the people from Deadwood leave with them, too, okay?”
“Got it,” O’Reilly said. He got up and headed for the door, Eric and Kim behind him. Gallagher and Landry left too. Nelson and Wallis stayed behind.
“You two got something else to discuss?” Ramsey asked.
“Yeah, and this one does have to stay in the room,” Wallis said.
“Go ahead,” Ramsey said.
“We know what knocked down the dam at Falcon Lake,” Nelson said, grim look on his face.
“What?” Ramsey asked.
“It was a new Russian anti-submarine weapon,” Wallis said. “Moscow contacted us as soon as they heard what happened. Somebody stole the prototype and engineering data a couple of years ago.”
“Son of a bitch,” Ramsey said. “Who did it?”
“Venezuelans, working with the North Koreans, from what I’ve been hearing,” Wallis said. “It’s all pretty hush-hush at the moment. Kinda good this happened. It helped us to open a back-channel with the CIA and FBI.”
“Why would the enemy do that?” Ramsey asked. “It wasn’t a strategic plus for them. It ruined one of their best border-crossing points.”
“The CIA thinks it was a warning to our subs,” Wallis said. “The North Koreans think that’s how we’ll hit them.”
“Maybe they forgot about our B-2s,” Ramsey said.
“They think that DC has lost control of the Air Force,” Wallis said.
“They’d be right, but they’ve also lost control of the Navy,” Ramsey said.
“Yes, all of that is true,” Wallis said. “The US Airforce will attack North Korea. It’s going to happen soon. That’s not why we’re telling you this.”
“Uh oh,” Ramsey said.
“We have reason to believe there are more of these devices in Texas,” Nelson said. “We need to start surveillance on all of our major reservoirs.”
Ramsey plopped back down in his chair. “Lake Travis. Walter E. Long Lake. Lady Bird Lake. Hell, Canyon Lake isn’t that far away. Lots of people around all of those.”
“Yeah, well I’m on my way to the Dallas-Fort Worth area next,” Wallis said. “You know the situation they have.”
“Lewisville Lake,” Ramsey said, looking down at his desk. “My God.”
“There are others in the Dallas area too,” Nelson said. “There are lakes all around the city.”
“I’ll get people on Lake Travis and Lady Bird Lake right
away,” Ramsey said. “Those two are the biggest threats to us. Lady Bird Lake might wash out the Airport if it’s hit.”
“Agreed,” Nelson said. “Let me know if you need additional resources.”
“You can bet on that,” Ramsey said. He stood and shook hands with Wallis and Nelson. They left the office, and Ramsey went back to his desk. He hit the button on his phone.
“Yes, sir?” Casey asked.
“Contact my leadership team,” he said. “Meeting in the big conference room in half an hour.”
Chapter 8 – Pasture
“Sorry we had to hold you up,” Officer O’Reilly said as he walked Eric and Kim down the long hallway to the holding area. “We’ll get you and your friends out of here right away.”
“Nobody messed with our vehicles, I hope,” Eric said.
O’Reilly chuckled. “We didn’t take your AKs or your grenades,” he said. “And by the way, I know Jason and Kyle. Tell them Sam says hi.”
“I was wondering,” Eric said. “What happens to the tanks?”
“They ones your brother and his friends captured?” Sam asked.
“Yeah.”
“Chief Ramsey told them to hold onto the tanks for now,” Sam said. “Here we are.” He unlocked the door and led the Eric and Kim inside. Dirk and Chance stood.
“Well?” Dirk asked.
“We’re out of here,” Eric said.
“Where’s Francis?” Kim asked.
“A couple of officers wanted to chat with him about Deadwood,” Don said.
Francis’s wife Sherry stood trembling, looking at Sam. “Go get him right now. Please.” She was a handsome woman of about fifty-five with gray hair. The two younger women got next to her, putting their hands on her shoulders.
“This is scary,” said Alyssa, a slim redhead with a face of delicate beauty, about nineteen.
“He’ll be okay, Alyssa,” Don said to her.
“You sure, dad?” she asked. “Seems like everybody wants to shoot at us or take us prisoner.”
“It’s getting old,” said Chloe, the other girl, who had short black hair and a pixie face.
Alyssa sighed. “Well, at least we didn’t disappear from town, Chloe. I hope Shelby is okay.”
“Francis will be here in a couple minutes,” Sam said. “You guys can gather up your stuff.”
“Where are our vehicles?” Chance asked.
“Impound yard, right next door,” Sam said. “I had somebody replace that broken window in the Class C.”
“Wow, really?” Eric asked. “Thanks for that.”
“Don’t mention it,” Sam said. “I knew we’d be letting you go pretty soon. We need you guys in the battle.”
“So why’d we have to be in that meeting?” Kim asked.
“The Chief thought he’d have trouble convincing everybody we had a problem with the tanks,” Sam said. He shook his head and chuckled. “I told him that wouldn’t be a problem.”
Francis walked in. “Hey, guys. We ready to hit the road?”
Sherry rushed over and hugged him, tears streaming down her face.
“It’s okay, sweetie,” he said. “I was just chatting with some fellow law-enforcement officers, that’s all.”
Eric smiled at him. “You look happy.”
“Just talked to one of my deputies. He and the other dozen people who escaped to the east survived,” he said. “I was afraid they were dead or captured.”
“That’s great!” Don said.
“Is Shelby with them?” Alyssa asked.
“She is,” Francis said. “She was lucky. Some of the other girls had a worse time.”
“They still in Louisiana?” Chance asked.
“For now, yeah,” Eric said. “The enemy attacked Longstreet. Did the same thing there that they did in Deadwood. Beheaded men, took women hostage. Our guys notified the Louisiana State Police, who found them pretty quick. Killed them with the help of some of our folks. Liberated a bunch of women they’d taken hostage, too. Some of them were from Deadwood. Lisa Sanders and Britney Howell, among others.”
“What were they doing with them?” Chloe asked.
Francis got a grim look on his face. “Sex slaves.”
“Ewww,” Alyssa said, looking up at Don with fear in her eyes. “Daddy.”
“We’ll protect you,” Don said, pulling his daughter into his arms.
“Let’s get out of here,” Eric said, trying to shake the disgusting images out of his head.
“Follow me.” Sam led them down the hall and out into the parking lot, crossing the side street into the impound yard. He used his key card to open the gate. Their vehicles were there, along with many other vehicles from the roadblock battle. Some of them were from the first row, shot up and bloody.
“My God,” Kim said, looking at them. “How many people died there?”
“Fifteen officers and about forty civilians,” Sam said. ‘We killed eight Islamists and two Venezuelans.”
“Geez,” Eric said, walking up to his rig. Paco was inside, jumping up and down. “Thanks for keeping the windows open.” He opened the side door and Kim went inside
“We had the air conditioning running earlier, and gave him some water,” Sam said. “I thought that little guy was going to attack me.”
Kim giggled. “He’s a killer.” She squatted just inside the door and patted her thighs. Paco ran up and jumped on, licking her arms and face.
“Hey, pal,” Eric said, reaching down to pet his head. Paco looked up at him, eyes alive, tail wagging. “I’d better feed him something before we leave.”
“We should take him out,” Kim said. “There might be an accident or two in here.”
“Maybe,” Eric said.
“Where should we go?” Dirk asked, standing outside his rig with Chance and Don.
“I don’t think we’ll make it to Fredericksburg,” Eric said as he put the leash on Paco. “Let’s check Dripping Springs. I know of a small park that usually has a few spaces open. It’s not nice, but it’s off the beaten path. Good place to rest.”
“Know their number?” Kim asked.
“No, but I know where it is. I’ll search for it and get the number, okay?”
“I’ll take the leash,” she said.
Dirk checked his rig, looking for bullet damage on the truck and the trailer behind it. Francis checked out his Suburban.
“We didn’t see any damage other than the window on the class C,” Sam said. “You guys were lucky.”
“Yeah, looks okay,” Dirk said. “How bad is the traffic between here and Dripping Springs?”
“I’d take Congress Avenue south and pick up 290 from there,” Sam said. “That way you’ll avoid the other roadblocks we have set up.”
Eric and Kim walked over with Paco.
“We’re in,” Eric said. “Dripping Springs RV Park. It’s to the north of 290. There’s a pretty nasty turn to get in there. After the right turn the access road takes another hard right. Then a tight left, and back about half a mile. Fort Stockton is about four and a half hours from there.”
“That’s a long drive,” Sherry said, looking at Francis.
“We can stop on the way. Ozona or Sonora.”
“Don’t go to Sonora,” Sam said. “Bad attack there a few days ago. The RV Park took the worst of it. Keep your eyes open and your guns handy the whole way.”
The caravan was rolling in a matter of minutes, taking the left from the impound yard and heading for Congress Avenue. It was flowing well for near rush-hour, the shadows getting long in the late afternoon.
“You’ve been to this RV Park?” Kim asked, watching Eric as he drove.
“Yeah,” he said. “Never camped there, but one of my buddies lived there for a spell while he was working a construction project. This isn’t a recreational park. It’s more of a residential place, and like I said, it ain’t pretty.”
“That’s okay,” she said. “Think we ought to sprint all the way to Fort Stockton tomorrow?”
&n
bsp; “I don’t know,” he said. “Maybe. That’s a long drive, but I’ll feel a lot better when we join the others. Might be worth it.”
“There’s 290,” Kim said. “Just up ahead.”
“See it,” Eric said. he took the right turn, the others following.
“I expected more traffic,” Kim said, looking at the long open road ahead of them.
“A lot of the population is hunkering down,” Eric said. “Could you imagine being one of the cars at the front of the line earlier? Nowhere to go. They were sitting ducks.”
“It’s scary to think about,” Kim said. “You think the Governor knows what he’s doing?”
“Nelson’s pretty sharp,” Eric said. “So is Chief Ramsey. We could do a lot worse.”
“We’re getting to the outskirts of town,” Kim said. “How much further?”
“We’re still in Austin,” Eric said. “We have to go past the main part of Dripping Springs. That’s where route 12 crosses 290. It’s another few miles past there. We’ve got about twenty minutes to go, give or take.”
“Okay,” she said. They rode silently for a while, as the houses thinned out. Then there were more houses all of a sudden.
“More people out and about in Dripping Springs,” Eric said. “People must feel safer out here.”
“I could see that,” she said. “It has a small-town feel.”
“Shopping center coming up,” Eric said. “There’s route 12. Won’t be long now.”
“Good,” she said. “I’m tired.”
“Me too. Gun battles and interrogations take a lot out of you.” He chuckled.
“You think the enemy is really getting the tanks?” Kim asked.
“I’d bet money on it,” Eric said. “I hope the National Guard can find them before a bunch of people get killed.”
“Now we’re out in the middle of nowhere again,” Kim said, looking at the rolling hills on either side of the road.
“Texas Hill Country,” Eric said. “I didn’t want to leave.”
“Why did you?”
“Job,” he said. “It wasn’t a bad move, all in all.” He gave her a sidelong glance.
“That’s true. You met me.”
Eric laughed. “Yeah, you’re right. Our road is coming up. I think after this bluff and the curve that follows it.”