by Robert Boren
Lita ended the call. “Want to leave the phone on the console?”
“Sure,” Richardson said. “Well, you guys heard that. Looks like we’re getting back into it.”
“Where are we gonna stay?” Madison asked.
“Oh, I’m sure they’ll have someplace set up for us,” Richardson said. “Let’s turn on the radio for a while, okay? I’d like to hear what’s been happening.”
“Me too,” Lita said. She reached over and turned on the radio, then searched for a news channel.
“I’m scared,” Madison whispered to Juan Carlos. “What if you guys get killed?”
“Shhhh,” Hannah said. “Don’t even talk about it.”
“Oh, so you do care,” Brendan said.
Hannah looked at his face, tears forming in her eyes. “Shut up.”
“Quiet, here’s a report about Austin,” Lita said.
“We finally have good news at this hour. The enemy fighters are beginning to leave the Austin area. Their supply depot in Mountain City was discovered early this morning. Their fuel and ammunition stocks were destroyed, and all of their technical support staff were killed.”
“Yes!” Juan Carlos said.
“Sshhh.” Lita put her finger to her lips, looking at him.
“The enemy fighters are leaving on foot, trying to regroup south of the city. Citizen militias are following them, picking off as many as they can.”
“They aren’t saying who found the depot,” Brendan said. “Wonder if it was the military or some citizens?”
“Good question,” Richardson said. “I heard that the military in the Austin area was being moved to protect Dallas.”
“Oops,” Lita said.
“I thought we were gonna get sent to Dallas,” Richardson said.
“Why?” Juan Carlos asked.
“Those big lakes up there,” he said. “The brass was afraid of a device like the one that destroyed Falcon Lake.”
“Don’t blame them,” Brendan said. “Lot of people would be killed if the dams got blown up there.”
“Yep,” Richardson said. “Maybe they figured out another way to protect against them.”
“Did they ever tell you what they used?” Juan Carlos asked.
“Nope,” Richardson said. “It’s classified. I did some research, though. The Russians have an anti-submarine weapon which could cause what happened in Falcon Lake.”
“I thought Russia was on our side,” Madison said.
“They are, but they haven’t always had good control over their military assets,” Richardson said. “If one of those devices got used, it’s because somebody stole it.”
“This just in. Houston is under attack, similar to the attack in Austin. A large number of M-1 tanks and at least fifty thousand men have arrived. Houston still has numerous military personnel, so a large battle is expected. Citizens are fleeing to the east as the enemy enters the western side of the city.”
“Dammit, where are all these men and tanks coming from?” Brendan asked.
“They must have another source,” Richardson said. “We locked down Fort Bliss tight.”
They rode silently for a half hour, listening to the radio. There was news of more nukes going off in small harbors, and of the beginning of martial law in California. Hannah was getting more and more agitated. Brendan tried to comfort her, but she stiffened when he touched her.
“What’s wrong?” Brendan asked.
She looked at him, tears in her eyes. “You’re going to get killed. I don’t want to get too close. It’ll be hard enough as it is.”
“Don’t count me out yet,” Brendan said.
“Yeah, quit talking about that,” Madison said. “It scares me.”
“It ought to,” Hannah said. “You went and fell in love already.”
“So did you,” Madison said. “You just aren’t admitting it to yourself yet.”
“Shut up,” she said quietly. Brendan brushed her hair out of her eyes, looking at her face.
“Is it true?”
“I’m not talking about that now,” she said. “Survive this and we’ll talk.”
Brendan smiled. “You don’t have to tell me. Just don’t leave me.”
Lita turned off the radio.
“Had enough?” Richardson asked.
“The world is going nuts,” she said. “I don’t want to wait so long.”
“For what?” Richardson asked.
She rolled her eyes. “Marriage, dummy.”
Richardson shot her a glance and smiled. “You’re the one who wouldn’t go for it, remember?”
“Yes,” she whispered. “I’m sorry.”
“Nothing to be sorry about,” he said. “I’d pull over to a Justice of the Peace right now if I saw one.”
She laughed. “They still have those?”
“Probably,” he said. “Maybe there’s a courthouse in Riviera Beach. Unless you want to wait for a big wedding.”
“Oh, please,” she said. “None of our families are close by, and it’s not exactly a good time to travel.”
“So why rush it, then?” Richardson asked. “We can wait until things settle down and do it proper, you know.”
“I’d rather have kids after we get married,” she said. “I’ve got the urge bad. Right now.”
Richardson chuckled. “Oh, really now?”
“You don’t want to?”
“I didn’t say that,” Richardson said. “Doesn’t it scare you with the war going on?”
“It scares the hell out of me, but the fear isn’t as strong as the desire,” Lita said.
“You know we can hear you back here, right?” Hannah asked.
Lita put her hand over her mouth. “Oops.”
Hannah laughed and looked at Madison, who had a serious, thoughtful expression on her face. “Oh, shit. No way.”
Madison glanced at her, a soft smile coming onto her face.
“You too?” Hannah asked.
“No comment,” Madison said. Juan Carlos smiled and pulled her closer.
“You two better be careful,” Hannah said.
“So should you,” Madison said. “I know you want it. I could hear it this morning.”
“What? No way,” Hannah said.
“I don’t know,” Brendan said. “Sounds kinda nice to me.”
Hannah rolled her eyes and turned to look out the side window. Madison started to say something but Brendan shook his head no at her.
They settled in for the ride.
Chapter 7 - Sydney
Jason lead the way to the homestead in Fredericksburg, Kyle’s truck following with Kelly and Junior in the cab, Eric behind him, and Gray’s motorcycles at the rear.
“You gonna call your boss?” Curt asked.
“Yeah,” Jason said. “As soon as we get on a straighter piece of road.”
“You’re almost on that,” Curt said.
“Pretty country,” Dirk said.
“Yeah,” Chance said. “Miss East Texas, though.”
“Been to Deadwood a couple times on hunting trips,” Jason said. “Eric too. He probably found his way around okay back there.”
“He did,” Chance said. “Took dirt roads into Texas. We met up with him on one of them. Ran into a group of Islamists as they were murdering citizens.”
“Yeah, Eric told me about that,” Jason said. “You guys had quite an adventure. Hope you didn’t lose too many people.”
“We did lose too many,” Dirk said. “Good people. Some of our women are still missing. Scares me to think about that. Wish there was something we could do.”
“There is,” Curt said, “and you guys just took part in the opening battle.”
Chance smiled. “Yeah, I guess we did. We have the makings of a kick-ass team here.”
“You got that right,” Curt said. “Wait till we get the other grenade launchers set up.”
“The road is straight enough now,” Justin said, pulling out his phone. He hit the contact for the Austin PD la
nd line.
“Austin PD. How may I direct your call?” the operator said.
“This is Jason Finley, for Chief Ramsey.”
“One moment please,” she said. “I’ll see if he’s available. Is he expecting your call?”
“Yes,” Jason said. He held the line for a moment. Then there was a click.
“Jason,” Ramsey said. “Everything okay?”
“Better than okay,” Jason said. “We just blew up the enemy ammo and fuel depot in Mountain City. Killed all their technical folks. Blew up a few of their tanks and several other vehicles, too.”
“That was you guys?” he asked. “I just got a report on that a few minutes ago from one of our scouts.”
“Yeah, it was us.”
“How’d you find that location? We’ve been looking for the last twenty-four hours.”
“Curt figured out how to track their cell phones. He found them.”
“Curt. Figures. What now? You still in the area?”
“Yeah, but I won’t say where we’re going over the phone. You guys should give those tanks a hard time, now that their fuel and ammo are destroyed.”
“Some of them are already stranded south of town,” Ramsey said. “You hear what’s going on in Houston?”
“No,” Jason said.
“Twenty tanks and about fifty-thousand men are hitting the west side of the city now. At least Houston is better prepared for them than Austin was.”
“Holy shit,” Jason said. “Think that’s where that missing eighty-thousand men ended up?”
“Part of them,” Ramsey said. “I take it you didn’t see a large group of men at the depot?”
“Nope, there were fifty men there at most.”
“Okay, thanks for the info,” Ramsey said, “and nice job on that depot. With folks like you out there, we might just win this war.”
“You can bet on that,” Jason said. “Talk to you later, Chief.” He ended the call.
“Well, sounds like he was happy about that,” Curt said.
“Of course,” Jason said. “He told me that Houston is under attack.”
“Dammit,” Curt said. “Anything about San Antonio?”
“Not that he mentioned,” Jason said. “How close to town is your stockpile?”
“It’s a little west of Lackland Air Force Base,” Curt said. “Just off of route 90. It’s kinda in the boonies.”
“That’s not that far from Fredericksburg,” Jason said.
“A little under two hours,” Curt said. “Depending on traffic and other problems.”
Dick snorted. “Other problems as in enemy fighters?”
“Yeah,” Curt said. “After we get settled, I’d like to crank on down there.”
“Well, you’re welcome to take my Jeep,” Jason said. “It’s a little lower profile than Kyle’s truck.”
“If you need more cargo space, we have a pickup at the house,” Dirk said. “It doesn’t have any modifications. Looks like every other well-used redneck truck in Texas.”
“We probably should avoid 290 now that it’s light,” Jason said. “We might get some questions otherwise, with these weapons showing.”
“Yeah,” Curt said. “Take Ranch-to-Market 32. That way we’ll avoid the big towns.”
“Way ahead of you,” Jason said. “Gonna take about an hour and a half.”
Jason’s phone rang. He answered it.
“What’s up, Kyle?” Jason asked.
“We aren’t taking 290, I hope.”
Jason laughed. “We were just talking about it. We’re taking Ranch-to-Market 32.”
“Good, that’ll work,” Kyle said. “You call the girls yet?”
“Figured I’d wait until we got back to dad’s place,” Jason said. “As far as I’m concerned, we’re still in this. We could run into another fight on the way to the homestead.”
“Maybe I ought to get in the lead. My truck has the machine gun.”
“Sounds good,” Jason said. “I’ll pull over the next time I see a wide spot.”
“Roger that,” Kyle said. “If you hear me start firing, stop and let Curt get into his Barracuda.”
“You sound a little worried,” Jason said.
“We got off too easy earlier. I’m waiting for the other shoe to drop.”
“Well don’t get all jittery. Especially near the trigger of that .50 cal.”
“Understand,” Kyle said. “Talk to you later.”
Jason ended the call.
“Kyle got the jitters?” Curt asked. “Pencil neck.”
“He’s right,” Jason said. “We aren’t out of this yet. He’s gonna pass me as soon as I can move over a little bit. That way if we run into anybody, he can fire on them.”
“Good idea,” Curt said. “If anything starts up, I’ll get into the Barracuda.”
Jason laughed. “Yeah, he brought that up too.”
“How long will it take to get back?” Dirk asked.
“A little over an hour,” Jason said. “Not so bad. All backroads.”
Chance snickered. “These aren’t backroads to us. Where we come from, the backroads are dirt or gravel.”
Kyle passed them after a couple miles. They rode silently for most of the way, holding their breaths as they rolled through the small towns. Nobody was out and around until they got to Luckenbach. Kyle slowed to a stop just inside town.
“Dammit,” Curt said. “That a cop walking up to Kyle’s window?”
“Doesn’t look like a cop to me,” Jason said.
“Get your guns ready,” Dirk said.
“Wait, he’s walking away. Kyle’s driving off.”
“What the hell?” Dirk asked. Then Jason’s phone rang.
“Hey, Kyle, who was that guy?”
Kyle snickered. “Some old coot who hangs around the saloon in Luckenbach. I’ve met him before, believe it or not.”
“What’d he want?” Jason asked.
“He offered me fifty bucks if I’d let him fire off a few rounds with the .50 cal. I told him I needed to save the ammo for the Islamists. He gave me a thumbs up and walked away.”
Jason cracked up. “All right. Talk to you later.”
“What’s so funny?” Chance asked.
“That old man offered Kyle money to fire the .50 cal.”
Curt laughed hard. “Man after my own heart.”
“Seriously,” Jason said.
“There any more towns to go through?” Chance asked.
“No, that was it. It’s all back country roads now,” Jason said, “and by the way, there’s a real scary stretch of dirt switchbacks right before we get there. Don’t piss yourself in my car, okay?”
Dirk laughed. “You should see some of the roads where we come from.”
They made it to the homestead turnoff without incident, and took the dirt road back, handling the switchbacks with no problem. Right after they got back onto the valley floor somebody fired a weapon.
“Dammit!” Curt said as Kyle slammed on the brakes in front of them.
Jason laughed when he saw a raven-haired woman walking up, gun pointing at Kyle’s truck, long hair blowing a little in the breeze.
“You know her?” Curt asked. “She’s hot.”
“Sydney Merchant,” Jason said. “One of the three Merchant sisters. They’re all hot.” He rolled down his window and stuck his head out. “Hey, Sydney!”
She whirled around, gun pointing at him for a second, and then a smile washed over her face. “Jason Finley, is that you?”
“Yeah,” he said. “These are my friends.”
She lowered her gun and trotted over to Jason’s Jeep.
“Sorry about that,” she said, her steel-blue eyes piercing everybody in the vehicle. “Can’t be too careful, especially after what happened.” She paused, brow furrowed. “So sorry about your dad.”
“Thanks,” Jason said. “We have some others at the house. Eric brought them.”
“Eric?” she asked, face lighting up. “Is he here? R
eally?”
“Yeah, he’s behind us. He’s got a girlfriend, though.”
“He does?” she asked, her face disappointed.
“Hey, I don’t have a girlfriend,” Curt said.
Jason cracked up.
“Who’s he?” Sydney asked.
“Our resident genius,” Jason said. “Oh, and in the back are Dirk and Chance. From Deadwood.”
“Deadwood?” she asked, eyes getting big. “There was a bloodbath there.”
“Yeah, Eric helped us in one of the battles,” Dirk said. “We followed him here after the town got overrun.”
“Well, I’ll let you go,” she said. “Maybe I’ll come over for a visit later, if that’s okay.”
“It’s more than okay,” Curt said. Sydney looked at him and rolled her eyes.
“He always like this?” she asked, shy smile on her face.
“Pretty much,” Jason said. “How about your family?”
“Dad and Haley got caught outside of Texas when this mess started. They’re staying put with my cousins in Montana for now. Amanda is here, though. I’ll bring her over.”
“You two are here all alone?” Curt asked.
“Somebody has to keep the family business running.”
Jason laughed as Curt gave her a quizzical look.
“What?” Curt asked.
“Never mind,” Jason said. “They can tell you when they visit, if they want to. I’ll catch you later, Sydney. Nice to see you again.”
“Likewise,” she said. “See you later.”
Jason tooted the horn. Kyle got the message and drove forward, down the long dirt road, then into the gate of the homestead. Jason pulled in next to him, then Eric’s Bronco and the motorcycles.
Paco ran ahead of Eric and Kim as they walked towards the house. Don and his daughters rushed out, then Francis and Sherry. Eric introduced them to Jason, Kyle, Kelly, Junior, Curt, Gray, and the other bikers.
“Saw what you guys did on the news,” Don said. “Nice work.”
“Think we need to keep watch at the narrow part of the road for a few hours?” Francis asked.
“Might not be a bad idea,” Eric said, “but we used back roads to get here, so I think we kept a pretty low profile. We weren’t followed.”
“We hung back pretty far every so often,” Gray said. “Never saw anybody back there.”
“Yeah,” Kim said. “I spent some time looking out the back of the Bronco too. Never saw anybody. There weren’t many cars on the road.”