by Robert Boren
“Oh no,” Eric said.
“Those weapons we captured in the battle with you guys helped a lot,” Don said. “Can’t fight folks like this with hunting guns. Not in the streets, anyway.”
“We’re so glad you made it,” Kim said. “Where you going?”
“West,” Dirk said. “You still going that direction?”
“Yeah, Fort Stockton,” Eric said. “We’re staying in Hearne tonight, though. We didn’t get much sleep last night.”
“Where’d you overnight it?” Francis asked.
“Just past Carthage,” Kim said. “Woke up by artillery. We left early.”
“You guys are really lucky,” Dirk said. “If you would’ve hit the Texas border just a few hours later…”
“That keeps playing out in my mind over and over,” Eric said. “You heard about what Governor Nelson did?”
“Yeah, got caught up in the celebration in Palestine,” Dirk said. “I’m happy about it.”
“Me too,” Francis said.
“It had to happen,” Eric said. “Things are gonna get crazy, though. You know that, right?”
“Your group gonna be part of the resistance?” Don asked. “You gonna fight the invaders?”
“Yeah,” Eric said.
“Mind if we join you?” Dirk asked.
“I was hoping you’d want to,” Eric said.
“Me too,” Kim said. “Better call ahead to the Hearne RV Park, though. We talked to them a little while ago. They were almost out of spaces.”
“Good, we’ll do that. We could use sleep too. Only got about a few hours since we saw you guys.”
“You got anybody else with you?”
“My wife,” Francis said. “Don’s daughter and her friend. They’re sleeping.”
“Good,” Eric said. “Let’s get going.”
“Yeah,” Dirk said, shaking Eric’s hand. “Thanks.”
Eric and Kim nodded, and they got back into their vehicles and took off.
Chapter 20 – Rules of Engagement
“It must have happened,” Brendan said as he walked to the meeting room with Juan Carlos and Lieutenant Richardson.
“Captain Jefferson was mum when I talked to him,” Richardson said. “Haven’t listened to the news yet today.”
They walked into the room. Lieutenant General Gallagher and Lieutenant General Landry were both in the conference room.
“Hi, men,” Landry said. “Nice shooting yesterday.”
“Thanks,” Richardson said. “Would’ve turned out differently if we didn’t get the air support.”
“Glad to be of help,” Landry said. “The others will be here in a couple minutes.
“Did the announcement come?” Richardson asked.
“Yeah,” Gallagher said. “And none too soon. You guys didn’t hear yet?”
“We just got up,” Juan Carlos said.
“Hard to break that night-shift schedule,” Brendan said.
“True,” Landry said. “Been there.”
There were footsteps coming up the hall. Jefferson entered, followed by Director Wallis.
Juan Carlos and Brendan looked at each other and smiled.
“Glad to see you, Director Wallis,” Juan Carlos said.
“Me too,” Brendan said.
“Thanks, men,” Wallis said. He and Jefferson sat. “The other crews are on their way.”
After a couple moments, the other boat crews filed in, taking seats at the big table and the row of chairs around the wall of the room.
“That everybody?” Wallis asked.
“Looks like it,” Jefferson said.
“Okay, then let’s get started. For those of you who haven’t heard, Texas is a Republic as of an hour ago.”
“Yes!” Brendan said. Others clapped.
“Sorry I’ve been gone for a while. I was indicted by the Feds, and they were trying to nab me.”
“They’re still after you, though, aren’t they?” Jefferson asked.
“Oh, yeah, but we’re a foreign country now. We shut down all of their operations inside the Texas border. There is no power of extradition.”
“Well, it’s good to have you back,” Landry said.
“Here here,” Gallagher said.
“I trust you men enjoyed the new hardware we’ve put on your boats,” Wallis said.
“Hell yes,” Juan Carlos said. Several other men spoke up too.
“Good,” he said. “We put those on partly to sink boats, and partly to take out shore installations. You’ll be doing both.”
“Does the M-19 have enough range?” Richardson asked.
“Effective range is 1600 yards,” Gallagher said.
“Damn, that’s sixteen football fields,” Juan Carlos said. “We can do a lot of damage with that. Yesterday none of my shots were more than hundred and fifty yards.”
“Yes,” Wallis said. “These weapons are extremely powerful. We got them from the US Navy. They’ve been using them for years. Proven technology.”
“They work well on vehicles too,” Gallagher said. “We’ve got a source inside Texas. They’re cranking them out like hotcakes. Pretty soon most of our Humvees will be equipped. That’s gonna give these sixth-century slugs a big headache.”
“Yes,” Wallis said. “Now for the changes.”
“Changes?” Richardson asked.
“Governor Nelson released several war-related executive actions yesterday. He’s put a temporary lockdown on civilian access to Falcon Lake and the river on either side. Same goes for the gulf coast.”
“All the southern points of entry,” Gallagher said.
“Yes,” Wallis said. “As of six am tomorrow morning, any boat seen in those areas which aren’t part of the Texas military will be sunk on sight. Do all of you understand? No exceptions. The enemy has captured numerous civilian craft, especially on the gulf coast. They’re using them to smuggle in men and supplies. That stops now.”
“What if the US Navy shows up?” Jefferson asked.
“They won’t bother us,” Gallagher said. “The US Navy and Air Force no longer report to Washington DC.”
“What?” Richardson asked. “Was there a coup?”
“No, not exactly,” Wallis said. “This doesn’t leave the room. Understand?”
The men nodded affirmative.
“Okay,” Wallis said. “The administration doesn’t know they’ve lost control. They think there are only a few renegades in those branches that have broken away.”
“Oh, I get it,” Jefferson said. “That’s why Nelson could take Texas out of the Union. If they can’t use those two services, they can’t do much about us.”
“Correct,” Wallis said.
“What about the Army?” Richardson asked.
“The administration still controls parts of the Army, but that is changing fast. We now have several of their most important generals on our side.”
“General Walker?” Jefferson asked.
“And General Hogan, and General Stanford,” Gallagher said. “There are others.”
“But they still must have enough to fight us,” Brendan said.
“They rushed about forty percent of the army to southern California to put down the incursion along the border there. The rest of the army is spread all over place. After the cutbacks made over the last ten years, there’s just not much left. They’d have to bring troops home from South Korea, Europe, and the Middle East to make any kind of difference.”
“So we don’t have to worry about the US Army?” Richardson asked.
“I didn’t say that,” Wallis said. “The Army is where most of the enemy infiltration happened. What we have left stateside isn’t trustworthy.”
“So they could just waltz into Texas, led by dirty officers and men?” Juan Carlos asked.
“Yes, but they’d have to fight us to get past the border,” Wallis said. “They know it, so they’re concentrating on California, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, and Colorado.”
“What about New
Mexico?” Brendan asked.
“New Mexico is a big problem,” Gallagher said. “As soon as we lock down Texas, we must go in there. Same with Louisiana. The leadership of those states are clueless.”
Wallis looked at his watch. “We’ve have to wrap this up, men. I’ve got to get down to Brownsville by tonight. We have a bigger problem in the Gulf than we do on Falcon Lake. And by the way, some of you will end up in the gulf after we get a handle on this area.”
There were murmurs amongst the men.
“So,” Wallis said. “This is what’s going to happen. We’re switching from nighttime to daylight operations starting tomorrow morning. We will concentrate on taking out all enemy craft operating up in the north part of the lake, above Arroyo Chapote. That will stop the flow of enemy men and materiel into Texas.”
“Good,” Jefferson said. “We’re gonna have air support, right?”
“Yes,” Landry said. “This will be a coordinated operation. There is nothing to stop us now.”
“What happens after that?” Richardson asked.
“We soften up all the bases in Mexico with air power and the boats,” Wallis said. “We occupy each of them, and run patrols into Mexico to root out any resurgence.”
“How long do we expect this part of the operation to last?”
“Week or two,” Wallis said. “Then we’ll add most of you to the forces in the Gulf.”
“How do these boats handle out there?” Brendan asked.
“Like a dream,” Wallis said. “The biggest problem we have is bigger targets. The patrol boats will hug the coast and take out smaller vessels which can get into the shallows. We’ve acquired some larger ships to patrol further out. Eventually we’ll get help from the US Airforce and US Navy, but we’re not ready to tip our hand to the administration yet.”
“Things are finally gonna go our way,” Gallagher said.
“Anybody got questions?” Wallis asked.
Nobody raised their hand.
“Good,” Wallis said. “We’ve got to get going. Good hunting, men.”
The brass left the room.
“Wow,” Juan Carlos said. “It’s on.”
“Yes, it is,” Jefferson said. “Relax for the rest of today, and get to bed early. Be back here at 5:30 tomorrow morning.”
Chapter 21 – Sheffield
Jason was driving, the miles and miles of arid desert getting to him.
“You okay?” Carrie asked.
“Missing my trees,” Jason said.
“Oh. Yeah, it’s prettier where we live. We’re coming up on Sheffield. Need gas?”
“I’d rather gas up in Fort Stockton,” Jason said. “We have more than enough to get there. Sheffield is too far off I-10, especially from this direction.”
Carrie looked at her phone’s map app. “Yeah, you’re right. You have to get off on 349. No, wait, you can take the River Road all the way down to 290 and take that into the town.”
Jason laughed. “Take a closer look, sweetie. River Road is dirt most of the way. Long haul in a rig like this.”
“Oh, you’re right,” she said. “If you could cross the Pecos River it wouldn’t be that bad, but I don’t see any bridges until you get to 290.”
Jason’s phone rang. He pulled it out of his pocket and looked at the number. “Curt.” He put it to his ear.
“Yeah, Curt, what’s up?”
“Two of Gray’s guys on Harleys had to stop for gas back at Ozona. They saw four truckloads of Islamists there, at a truck stop.”
“Crap,” Jason said. “Nobody in the town did anything?”
“They were being very discreet. They were in canvas-covered troop trucks again. Those look a lot like Texas National Guard trucks. Nobody showed any Islamic garb.”
“They coming this way?”
“Yeah. I think we ought to ambush them.”
“How?” Jason asked.
“We can lure them onto the road to Sheffield,” Curt said. “I need to get ahead of you guys so I can get off and deploy the Barracuda.”
Jason chuckled. “You sure this is a good idea?”
“Yeah. Already talked to Gray. I’ll pass you up, get off on River Road, and go down far enough so I can pull the Barracuda out without being seen. You guys park on the big dirt spot off I-10 and wait for them to see you.”
“You think they’ll come after us?”
“Yeah,” he said. “You guys can set up with the BARs, Thompsons, and AKs.”
“This sounds dangerous, Curt.”
“Oh, it is, but with a big payoff. More dead Islamists, and more guns and ammo for us.”
“All right,” Jason said.
“Good, I’ll be passing you guys up in a few minutes. Slow down a little, okay?”
“You pass the word to everybody?”
“Everybody but Kyle.”
“I’ll call him. Be careful, dammit.”
“I will,” Curt said. “You too. Oh, and send Carrie and Chelsea to the back of my rig again.”
“Okay.” Jason ended the call and took the phone away from his ear.
“I didn’t like the sound of that,” Carrie said.
“I didn’t either at first, but it’s a good idea,” Jason said.
“He wants to ambush some Islamists?”
“Yes. He’s going to pass us and get off on River Road. He’ll go down a ways and get out the Barracuda. We’ll get off and set up a fake camp nearby, on the flat land just off I-10. Hide with our weapons. When they show up, Curt will fly in there and blast them with the M-19.”
“So he’s using us for bait. Great. We’re gonna have to fight them with our machine guns too, aren’t we?”
“Yeah,” Jason said. “But you and Chelsea will be in the back of Curt’s toy hauler again.”
“There’s no talking you out of this, is there?”
“No,” Jason said. “We have to hit these guys. There might be important people in their caravan. Lots more AKs and ammo too. Anything we can do is going to help us in the long run.”
“Okay,” she said. “Call Kyle.”
Jason nodded and called Kyle. He told him about the plan. As he was talking, Curt flew by them in his toy hauler. The River Road ramp was only five miles away.
“Should I get the guns loaded?” Carrie asked.
“Yeah,” Jason said.
She went to the back.
“What are you doing back here, mommy?” Chelsea asked, looking up from her coloring book.
“We’re getting ready to stop for a few minutes.”
“Good, I have to go potty.”
Carrie nodded and went to the closet, pulling out the two of the BARs, the mini-14, and the Thompsons. She loaded them all, getting more nervous by the minute. She left them laying on the floor next to the bed.
“How soon are we stopping?” Chelsea asked.
“In a few minutes, honey,” Carrie said.
Jason slowed as he approached the off-ramp, taking it down. The other vehicles followed. They went down about half a mile and parked neatly beside each other on the flat, hard ground. Curt’s rig was about twenty yards further down the road. He drove the Barracuda to the far side of it, hidden from I-10.
Carrie rushed over to the toy hauler with Chelsea, passing Curt. “The bathroom is inside the salon, right?”
“Yeah, right inside the door from the garage,” Curt said. “Don’t be there when this starts up though, okay?”
“Believe me, that’s the last place I want to be. You sure about this?”
“I’m sure,” Curt said. “Don’t worry.”
Carrie laughed. “Yeah, like that’s a possibility.”
“Do me a favor and watch out the window in the door for the troop transport trucks. Then bang on the far wall here.”
“No problem,” Carrie said. “After I take Chelsea into the bathroom.”
“We’ve got at least fifteen minutes,” Curt said.
Jason, Kyle, and Kate got their guns ready. Jason and Kyle set up the BAR
s behind a small mound on the west side of the flat area, using the bipods. Kate got next to Kyle with one of the Thompsons. The other Thompson was next to Jason.
“Carrie didn’t want that?” Kyle asked.
“She likes the mini-14 a lot better, and she’s a crack shot with that thing,” Jason said. “It’ll be okay. I was gonna hand this off to Curt again. It fits next to him in that Barracuda. Remember what he did at Brushy’s place?”
“Oh, yeah,” Kyle said.
“I hope these guys didn’t pay Brushy a visit on the way here,” Kate said.
Kyle and Jason looked at each other for a moment.
“Dammit,” Kyle said. “Better than even chance that they did. I hope the old coot lived through it.”
“You and me both,” Jason said. “Loved that old guy.”
Gray trotted over, carrying an AK. “You guys ready?”
“Yeah,” Jason said. “You?”
“We’re ready,” Gray said. “We got our two guys on bikes following the trucks. Just heard from them. We’ve got just under ten minutes.”
“They armed?”
“Yeah, they got shotgun scabbards on their bikes,” he said, grinning.
“Aren’t those kinda hard to use from a bike?” Kyle asked.
Gray laughed. “Remember the movie? The one where the robot had a lever action shotgun?”
“No way,” Kyle said. Jason laughed.
“Took them a lot of practice, but they can cock and fire those things with one hand.”
“What movie are you talking about?” Kate asked.
“The first Terminator sequel,” Jason said.
“Oh,” she said. “Never saw it. That’s a guy flick.”
“Yes, it is.” Kyle chuckled. “I’ve watched that thing dozens of times.”
“Men,” Kate said, shaking her head.
“We’re set up over on the other side of our rigs,” Gray said. “I don’t think they can see us from the road.”
“Good,” Jason said. “That’ll give us crossfire.”
“We’ll have to be careful so Curt doesn’t get hit,” Kyle said.
“Roger that,” Gray said. “See you guys.”
He trotted back over to their spot.
“I hope this doesn’t get any of us killed,” Kate said.
“We’ll be okay,” Kyle said. “If things get bad, though, you run.”