by Robert Boren
“No way,” Hannah said. “I’m not letting Brendan go up there by himself. Who knows what he’ll buy.”
Madison chuckled. “You have a point.”
“Okay, just trying to save some time,” Richardson said.
The women looked through clothes, picking out items to try on, while Richardson, Brendan, and Juan Carlos watched.
“Shit,” Brendan said, pulling his phone out. “Buzzed. Just had another attempt.”
“Track them,” Richardson whispered.
“On it,” he said. “Whoa. I got somebody.”
“Where?” Richardson asked.
“Riviera Beach,” he said. “Dammit, they’re poking around by the hospital.”
“They’re looking for bodies,” Juan Carlos whispered.
“What are you guys talking about?” Lita said, glancing over at them from a rack of dresses.
“Brendan got pinged. We’re tracking the enemy right now.”
Lita rushed over, brow furrowed. “They aren’t close by, are they?” she whispered.
Brendan shook his head no. “They’re at the hospital.”
“Maybe I ought to call Jefferson,” Richardson said.
“Yeah,” Brendan said. “Do that.”
Richardson nodded, pulling out his phone.
“I’m going to kick this into gear,” Lita whispered. “I won’t tell them yet. Mind?”
“No,” Brendan said.
“Juan Carlos,” Madison said. “You want to help me or what?”
“Be right there, honey.” He turned to Brendan. “Call me if it looks like they’re getting on the road towards us.”
“They can’t track us,” Brendan said.
“We don’t think they can track us,” he said, eyes on Richardson, who had his phone to his ear. “I don’t like things I can’t verify.”
“Juan Carlos,” Madison said.
“I’m not going to hold back on her if she asks,” Juan Carlos said. He rushed over, taking the clothes from her hand and helping her to the changing room.
“He’s so much in love with her,” Lita said, watching them disappear into the changing area.
“Jefferson’s sending a detail to the hospital,” Richardson said, walking up with the phone still to his ear. “What’s that phone number?”
Brendan looked at his phone. “555-468-8847”
Richardson read it back to Jefferson, said yes sir a couple of times, and ended the call.
“They better be careful how they approach, if we want to preserve our capability to track.”
“I mentioned that to him,” Richardson said. “You’d better go back to looking at clothes, sweetie.”
“Okay,” Lita said, walking back to where Hannah was looking. They had a hushed conversation.
“She told her,” Brendan said.
“How can you tell?” Richardson asked.
“The worried glance that Hannah just gave me,” Brendan said. “Glad Lita told her. I don’t think we should be holding back info.”
Richardson sighed. “It messes with my protective instinct, but you’re right. We need to tell them. Treat them as partners. We also should get them guns and teach them how to shoot. We were very lucky when the trailer park got hit.”
“They can all shoot a little,” Brendan said.
“They need to be better,” Richardson said. “We’ll work on that when we get to Houston.”
“You think we’re going to make it?” he asked.
“What do you mean make it?”
“Survive the war,” Brendan said.
“Oh,” he said. “We don’t talk about that. Bad luck.”
Brendan watched Hannah, who glanced at him every so often. Don’t take this away from me.
“Looks like Juan Carlos and Madison are finished,” Richardson said, watching them come out of the changing rooms together. “They’re being serious.”
“He told her,” Brendan said, watching them. “Look at her expression. She’s worried.”
“I don’t blame her a bit,” Richardson said. “Hobbling around on crutches in this world isn’t the greatest.”
“No,” Brendan said. “Hannah’s calling me over.”
He rushed over to her.
“Want to help me try this stuff on?” she asked.
“Is that a trick question?” Brendan asked, following her to the changing area.
“Calm down, I just want to make sure you like them on me,” she said.
He chuckled as they went inside.
“Hey,” Lita said as Richardson walked up. “I told her. Juan Carlos was right.”
“Anything else happen?” Madison asked, walking towards them with Juan Carlos.
“No,” Richardson said. “Don’t worry, we’re safe. They’re miles away, and they don’t have a way to track us.”
“We hope,” Madison said. “Let’s go to the elevator, honey. I don’t want to go on the escalators with these crutches. I’m not that used to them yet.”
“You two go ahead,” Lita said. “We’ll catch up in a few minutes. I’m almost done.”
Richardson watched as the young couple walked away, then turned to Lita. “Do I get to help you try anything on?”
“Don’t be naughty,” she said. “I know this stuff will fit. No need to try them on.”
“We’re done,” Hannah said, walking out with Brendan. Her face was flushed.
“Ahem,” Lita said.
“We just kissed,” Hannah said. “For a second.”
“Yeah, unfortunately,” Brendan said, phony sad look on his face.
Hannah rolled her eyes. “Yeah, whatever, lover boy. Where’s Madison?”
“She and Juan Carlos went to the elevator,” Lita said. “We’ll meet them up there.”
“Okay,” Brendan said. They started for the escalators when Richardson’s phone rang.
“Probably Jefferson,” he said as they rode the escalators up. He answered it.
“I don’t like this one bit,” Hannah said.
“It’ll be okay,” Lita said. “Better than being blind as a bat.”
“We hope,” Brendan said. Richardson ended the call.
“They find the person?” Lita asked.
“Yeah,” Richardson said, worry on his face.
“Uh oh,” Brendan said. “Who?”
“Gunner from Patrol Boat 26,” he said. “They stood down so’s not to tip him off. You guys didn’t tell anybody at the hospital where we were going, did you?”
“I didn’t,” Hannah said.
“Me neither,” Brendan said, “but we need to ask Madison and Juan Carlos. They were there longer than we were, and they interacted with staff.”
“The nurse is dead, so if they told her, it’s not a problem,” Lita said.
“Hope Madison remembers everything she said,” Richardson said.
Chapter 24 – Assault Plans
“They almost have the wall finished already,” Maria said, watching the activities on the video surveillance system.
Hendrix walked over from where he was standing with Nelson. “Wow!”
“What’s that thing?” she asked, pointing to a crane hanging a large box-shaped structure.
“That’s a porch to go over the entrance to the bunker,” Nelson said, following Hendrix over. “Once they get it in place and attach everything, it’ll be bomb and bullet proof.”
“So we can get in and out easier?” Maria asked.
“Yeah,” he said. “They’ll be working on the first floor structure for the house in a few days, believe it or not.”
The console beeped. Maria clicked on the request box which showed up on the screen.
“It’s Ramsey and Wallis,” Maria said. “I’ll click on it and turn on the loudspeakers.”
“Thanks,” Nelson said.
“Hello, can you hear us?” Maria asked.
“Yes, Maria,” Ramsey said. “Thanks.”
“You have news?” Nelson asked.
“Yes, it’s been a bu
sy few hours,” Ramsey said.
“What’s up?” Hendrix asked.
“First on Fort Stockton,” Ramsey said. “I told you the factory was booby-trapped in the text.”
“Yeah,” Nelson said. “What else?”
“We lost four people in the blast,” Ramsey said. “All part of Kelly and Junior’s group.”
“So that hasn’t changed from the text,” Hendrix said.
“Nope,” Ramsey said. “As they were getting ready to leave, some remnants of Simon Orr’s group sniped at them from the ridge. They killed the leader of the biker group. A man named Gray.”
“Dammit,” Nelson said. “Nobody else? Anybody wounded?”
“No,” Ramsey said. “We were lucky.”
“How’d you deal with the snipers?” Hendrix asked.
“They brought a mortar. Jason’s brother used it to kill most of the bad guys, but we followed up with a run of napalm from one of our jets.”
“Good,” Nelson said. “Your forensics team get there yet?”
“First thing tomorrow morning,” Wallis said. “We don’t expect to find much after the explosion and fire.”
“Any luck tracking Simon Orr?” Nelson asked.
“One of our agents talked to a gas station attendant who recognized him from a picture,” Ramsey said.
“Where?” Nelson asked.
“A little town called Orla, on route 285,” Ramsey said.
“Isn’t that just a ghost town?” Hendrix asked.
“Mainly,” Ramsey said, “but there is a gas station and a couple other small businesses.”
“Well, that tells us he’s making for New Mexico,” Hendrix said.
“He’s probably made it across the border already,” Ramsey said. “I doubt if we’ll see him again. Now he’s gonna be General Walker’s problem.”
“Good riddance,” Nelson said. “What else?”
“We had to change plans for the patrol boats down in the gulf,” Wallis said.
“Uh oh,” Nelson said. “What happened?”
“We captured that clerk,” Wallis said. “Got her to talk a little bit before we lost her.”
“Lost her?” Hendrix asked.
“She had poison on her person that we missed,” Wallis said. “She took it when the interrogator left the room for a moment. She was lying on the floor when he came back, mouth full of foam, deader than a doornail.”
“Wonderful,” Nelson said. “What’d we get out of her?”
“Dirty patrol boat crew member,” Wallis said. “We verified it later.”
“How did you verify it?” Hendrix asked.
“This idiot tried to take over one of the phones of our baseline team,” Wallis said. “Brendan, the gunner. Brendan used the trace program, found that he was poking around at the hospital that got attacked yesterday in Riviera Beach.”
“You pick him up?” Hendrix asked.
“Nope, we sent a few agents down there to see who it was, and then we left,” Wallis said. “Since we can track him, we thought it wise to let him contact others.”
“Smart,” Nelson said. “He can’t find our people, I hope.”
“Not a chance,” Ramsey said.
“How are you so sure?” Hendrix asked.
“We’ve put operatives into places to attempt a trap,” Ramsey said. “The enemy never bites. They can’t see them.”
“I hope you’re right,” Nelson said. “These folks are tricky as hell. It was a pretty tough job to infiltrate so many of our institutions, but they pulled it off. We can’t underestimate them.”
“Understand, boss,” Wallis said. “Anyway, back to the patrol boat issue. We’re not letting the crews take them to the new location as we originally planned. We hand-picked some people we know are iron-clad, and we’re having them do the transfer, with air support. Expecting an attack.”
“The boats might get destroyed, then?” Nelson asked, brow furrowed.
“They are at risk. Truth be told, we got that second shipment of boats, and they’re already in the Galveston area.”
Nelson chuckled. “Really?”
“Really,” Wallis said. “They’re being watched now. We’re hoping somebody shows up to mess with them. We’ll capture them if they do.”
“Wow,” Nelson said. “Sounds like Curt’s cellphone app has these guys on the ropes.”
“So it would appear,” Hendrix said. “Whatever happened to all those chopper pilots?”
“We’ve got them on ice,” Wallis said. “We’ll start interrogations in the next couple of days.”
“What are you doing about the chopper assets?” Nelson asked. “They aren’t in the air doing their jobs.”
“Actually, they are,” Wallis said. Gallagher chuckled in the background.
“How? Who can you trust?” Nelson asked.
“We called up some retired national guard members,” Wallis said. “People we know we can trust. They’re out there doing patrols now.”
Hendrix laughed. “Brilliant, as long as you didn’t bring any bad apples in.”
“We didn’t,” Wallis said. “We were very selective.”
“I don’t want to know any more about that,” Nelson said. Hendrix shook his head, half a grin on his face.
“That’s all we have at the moment, Governor,” Wallis said.
“What’s the next step?” Nelson asked.
“We’ve got agents scoping out southeastern New Mexico,” Gallagher said. “Lost a few already. Dangerous work.”
“Is it worth it?” Nelson asked.
“We’re dead in the water if we don’t do it,” Gallagher said. “I think we’ll have a good mission for the Fort Stockton people to take on within the next week.”
“We need to do some more prep first, though, don’t we?” Nelson asked.
“Yes,” Gallagher said. “Step one is going on now; ramping up production of weapons sets in Fort Stockton.”
“What’s step two?” Hendrix asked.
“Integration of the Fort Stockton group with the El Paso group,” Gallagher said. “That is going to be a little dicey. The first operation will take place before we get that done. Fort Stockton will do that on their own.”
“Why’s it dicey with the El Paso crew?” Nelson asked.
“We have reason to believe the group has a mole or two,” Wallis said.
“Dammit,” Nelson said. “It never ends.”
“We’re working it,” Wallis said. “Should be able to lock down the situation before we need to bring the two groups together.”
“Good,” Nelson said. “What’s the first target for the Fort Stockton folks?”
“There’s a supply depot in Jal, New Mexico,” Gallagher said. “We need to blow it. The Fort Stockton team has experience with that kind of operation. We’re gathering intelligence on the mission now, although that’s where we lost a couple of people, like I mentioned earlier.”
“We might be tipping them off, then,” Hendrix said. “They might already know we’re targeting that depot.”
“It’s possible,” Gallagher said. “That’s why the intelligence gathering is taking longer. If not for this issue, I would’ve already asked for the mission.”
“Why aren’t we using our air power to bomb the facility?” Hendrix asked.
“We’ve seen evidence of enemy aircraft in that area,” Wallis said. “Migs.”
“Migs?” Hendrix asked. Nelson shot him a glance. “What, you knew about that?”
“I knew there was that possibility,” Nelson said.
“Where did they come from?” Hendrix asked.
“Venezuela,” Wallis said.
“I’m not getting this,” Hendrix said.
“It’s simple,” Wallis said. “If we send our planes to hit that depot, the Migs will stay home. They’re no match for our jets and they know it. They’ve been hiding, waiting for action west of New Mexico.”
“You want to use the Fort Stockton people for bait,” Nelson said. “You’d bet
ter not get those guys killed.”
“We won’t,” Wallis said. “Our jets will be ready to attack. When the Migs show themselves, we’ll be there to blow them up.”
“We also gave Stinger missiles to the Fort Stockton group,” Gallagher said. “They won’t be totally without protection.”
“I’m not sending them until they know exactly what we’re thinking,” Nelson said. “If they think it’s too risky, we change plans.”
“Understand, sir,” Wallis said.
“Gallagher?” Nelson asked.
“Yes sir,” Gallagher said.
“You don’t agree?” Nelson asked.
“Well, yes and no,” Gallagher said. “We’re in a war that could lead to the destruction of our way of life, and if we’re defeated, the rest of the world will follow us into the darkness.”
“I understand,” Nelson said.
“We can’t fight this battle half-way,” Gallagher said. “If we try to do that, we will lose.”
Nelson was silent for a moment. “This will take some thought on my part. I want you guys to think about it as well. Consider this. Even if we tell these folks, they will agree to the mission, anyway. These are strong, brave people.”
“Okay, I understand,” Gallagher said.
“Anything else?” Nelson asked.
“I don’t know how much longer we’ll be able to use Landry,” Wallis said. “He’s getting pretty suspicious. He hasn’t attempted to make contact with anybody since he talked with Simon Orr.”
“So you’re thinking Orr told him what we’re up to, Wallis?”
“We have the whole conversation recorded, so we know he didn’t come right out and say it, but the argument they had might have gotten Landry thinking.”
“What are we going to do about him?” Nelson asked.
“My vote is to execute him,” Gallagher said.
Maria looked at Hendrix, horrified. He shut his eyes.
“That’s a little tough, isn’t it?” Nelson asked.
“No, not even a little bit,” Gallagher said. “This man is a traitor responsible for the deaths of quite a few citizens and a number of our patrol boat men.”
“We could just dump him in prison somewhere,” Hendrix said. “Throw away the key.”
“We don’t have a prison secure enough to hold him, given the level of infiltration we’ve seen,” Gallagher said. “We can’t have him escape. He knows way too much.”