by A J Newman
***
“Lucio, wake up!”
“Mita, what’s wrong?”
“Marta just knocked on the door and said that something bad is going on at Gail’s house and that a group of people are heading this way.”
Lucio dressed quickly and grabbed his M4 and 9mm from their hidden location.
“Lucio, what are you doing with those guns? You know that the Cabras will kill us all if they find them.”
“Mita just trust me. Get Seng up and both of you dress to travel. Put a small bag of food and water together. We may have to go into hiding. I’ll be back in a few minutes.”
“I trust you, but later tell me what the fuck is going on.”
“I love you; trust me for now.”
He snuck out the door and only got a block down the street when he saw the shadows approaching.
***
Scott knew that they had to get out of town before the guards changed shifts and traveled to and from their posts.
He turned back and said, “Come on and pick up the pace. I can carry a kid if we need to get them going faster.”
Just then, a man behind a truck in the shadows said, “Who are you and what are you doing with my friends? Let them go and I won’t shoot.”
Gail replied, “Lucio, is that you? We are okay.”
“Mrs. Smith, who is that with you? Tell them to put their guns down.”
“Lucio, it’s okay; they are here to help us. They are friends of my father.”
Lucio asked, “Scott Harris, is that you?”
Scott replied, “Lucio?”
“Yes, it’s me. I thought the extraction was two days from now.”
“We had a complication. I’ll fill you in later.”
“My family is a hundred yards up the road. We will escape with you.”
Scott replied, “The more the merrier, but we need to get out of town quickly.”
Mita and the boy joined in the march to safety and they arrived at the pickup just before 3:00 a.m. and drove to the LZ without being detected. Maria drove while Scott filled Lucio in on recent events and the plan for extraction.
Scott filled John in over the satellite phone.
“Dad, the Cabra is dead and Gus’ family is safe and with us. We also picked up Lucio and his family. Please send the extraction team.”
“You know that Gus is going to be pissed that you killed that SOB.”
“We didn’t kill him. Do you remember that little feisty red headed daughter of Gus? "
“Yes, the one he spoiled rotten and the same one that kicked your ass several times. Yeah, what about her?”
“She stabbed him about thirty times just as we arrived to capture him. He was a pedophile besides being a no good bastard.”
“Did he hurt one of the kids?”
“No, she put an end to it before it got started.”
“Thank the lord for that.”
“Get on back here safely.”
“The choppers will leave in 30 minutes. You know that Gus will have to tag along to see his family. Good luck.”
They were hiding in the farmhouse waiting on the chopper when Imelda yelled in to the house from an open window.
“Scott, we have company. Judging from the headlights, there are three or four vehicles heading this way.”
A shot rang out and Imelda fell to the ground. There were several shots and bullets started hitting the house on three sides. The house was actually an old log cabin that had been remodeled and had all of the modern conveniences. The good news was that the walls were 10-12 inch thick logs. They were excellent at stopping all small arms fire.
“Maria, take a SAW and Tony, take the other SAW to the living room and kill as many as you can.”
He passed out M4s to the rest and said, “Lucio will take the back bedroom; the others will defend us from the front bedroom. Hide the kids and anyone who can’t shoot in the bathroom. We only have to hold them off until the choppers get here. I’m going out to get Imelda.”
He ducked behind the couch and made a quick phone call to John.
“Dad, we are taking fire from about 10-15 troops. Tell those choppers to haul ass and expect the LZ to be hot.”
“Son, they are just over an hour out from your location. Make sure everyone is inside the cabin when the choppers arrive, they will kill every living thing outside.”
Scott opened the back door and crawled out on the porch with bullets striking all around him. He slid off the porch and saw Imelda lying on the ground. She was hidden by a short hedgerow from the attackers.
He also used the hedgerow for cover and crawled over to her and just as he got to her, she rolled over and said, “Now there are two of us stuck out here to save.”
“No, now we have them outnumbered. Are you okay? Where are you hit and can you move?”
“Just a nick in my thigh and I can move when the time is right.”
Scott sensed something was wrong and asked, “Then why did you stay out here and let me get my ass shot at coming to rescue you?”
“Because my nick starts gushing blood when I take my hand off of it. You get back in the cabin and I’ll hide right here until the Apaches arrive and blow their shit away.”
“Now you know that I can’t leave you out here. Our Apaches will blow the hell out of everything out here.”
“Scott, y’all have to stay alive until they get here.”
Bullets kept pounding the house and Scott was sure that the Cabras had support coming. He saw several tracer rounds strike the roof resulting in glowing embers and smoke. He noticed that at least three small caliber machineguns were pouring incendiary rounds into the house. Small fires were starting. In thirty minutes, the whole house would be on fire.
“Imelda, stay here and try to hide.”
Scott crawled back into the cabin and told the team, “Imelda is severely wounded and we can’t sit in the cabin until the choppers get here. The Cabra’s are firing incendiary rounds into the house and small fires are popping up everywhere. Tony, and Maria, I want you to go with me. We will sneak outside and try to flank them. The rest of you lay down suppressing fire so we get clear. With some luck, we can get them to think we all escaped and the rest of you can go back towards Corpus Christie to that last abandoned farm about a mile back. Get Imelda and haul ass in the pickup when we start the attack. Let’s go.”
They all started firing at the enemy and kept them pinned down long enough for Scott’s crew to slip out of the house. They ran into the woods and made a big circle around the enemy and came back towards them on their back left side. On the way, Scott called John and asked him to redirect the rescue chopper to the other farmhouse. Scott then directed them to take cover behind a low hill where they could see that most of the attackers were hiding behind logs and rocks with their backs in plain view.
Scott gave orders, “You two kill as many as you can while I take out their vehicles. I don’t want them following us to the other farmhouse. Fire!”
The Cabras were taken by surprise and died without firing a shot. Scott fired on the engines and fuel tanks on the vehicles and soon had them on fire. The Cabras from the other side came rushing to their comrade’s assistance, but were met with withering fire from the two SAWs. Scott heaved a couple of grenades at them and his team slipped back into the woods.
Just as they made it to the tree line, they were jumped by six Cabras with guns pointed at them. They had no choice, but to start shooting because surrender meant a slow and painful death. Everything was a blur, but in slow motion. Maria brought the SAW to bear on the closest Cabra and Tony hit a Cabra on the jaw with the butt end of his. A Cabra raised his pistol towards Tony. Both SAW’s barked and the Cabra’s began falling as they scrambled to return fire. One fired wildly with an AK and hit both Scott and Tony. Scott shot him in the head and Maria killed the last one. Tony shot each one of the enemy in the head with his pistol.
“I don’t want any of them recovering.”
“Tony, that is
a good thing, but your knife would have saved those bullets for later.”
“Oops, I’m out of practice. How are you Scott? I got one that grazed my side and may have hit a rib.”
“I’m one lucky SOB. He shot the handle on my knife. Ruined my knife and it hurts like hell, but I’ll add it to the items that saved my life. One shovel, a Colt .45 and now a knife have all given their lives to take a bullet for me. Maria, are you okay?”
“I thought you two had forgotten about me. I am okay and only have a flesh wound and I think I got shot in the butt.”
Both men volunteered to take a close look at her wound and she said, “Scott, make a cut in my pants and see how much damage there is to my pride.”
She bent over Scott’s lap and he used her knife to slice through her pants. There was a bullet fragment just below the surface. Scott dug it out, cut a piece of his t-shirt, wadded it up, placed it on the wound, and kept pressure on it while Tony tied it down securely.
Scott said, “You’ll be okay as soon as we get some antibiotics on the wound. Please don’t tell Joan that I had to remove a bullet from your ass.”
“I won’t, but you should tell her or she will think you are hiding something. This is too funny. You worry about nothing. Let’s hit the road.”
Maria got up and started walking with a pronounced limp. It took them 20 minutes to get to the farm and the helicopters were landing as they arrived.
The medics started working on the wounded as soon as they landed and Gus hugged each of his daughters, grandkids and son-in-laws at least three times before he could say a word.
“Angela, I am so sorry for what you had to go through. We should have come to Corpus Christie much sooner.”
“Dad, according to Scott you pushed everyone to try to find us, but were busy saving thousands of lives and starting a new country. I am proud of you and don’t blame yourself. Had the ISA or Navy attacked, we’d probably been killed as the cowards fled back to their holes. These are a bunch of perverted cowards.”
“Darling we will be killing a bunch of these bastards very soon.”
They loaded up and flew back to Mobile while two Apaches scouted the area for enemy survivors and killed all of them.
***
“Dad, these Cabra’s are not very professional and aren’t very good at fighting. They should have killed all of us and would have if they were trained professionals. They are great at intimidating and torturing, but there isn’t much fight in them. I almost forgot; see my knife. It joins the list of items that have saved my life. We stumbled on six Cabras who had the drop on us and all got wounded, but got out alive.”
Joan was holding onto Scott and asked, “How bad were Imelda’s, Maria’s and Tony’s wounds?”
Scott knew that Joan had visited Imelda and Maria at the hospital and wasn’t going to fall for any traps.
“Imelda had the only serious wound. Tony had a graze on his side and Maria got a ricochet in her butt. I removed the bullet fragment and Tony patched her up.”
“So she dropped her pants in front of both of you?”
“Darling, I cut a hole in her pants and we didn’t see anything. I pulled a piece of metal out of her butt.”
“But you enjoyed performing the surgery.”
Beth chimed in, “You had better stop picking on him. He’s getting nervous.”
“Scott, Maria told us that y’all were gentlemen and didn’t try to grope her. That means I don’t have to shoot either of you.”
Scott kissed her and said, “Thanks, I’ve been shot at enough for the week."
***
Gus’ family was taken to the Compound in Mobile and taken straight to their quarters. Gus told them to get some sleep and rest up from their ordeal. He then wanted to see his daughters alone to catch up on family news. They slept until late afternoon and then were taken to meet Gus.
Gus looked at his daughters and said, “I just can’t believe that you are all safe and back with me. I have been so worried about you and the kids.”
Angela spoke up, “Dad, where is Mom? When will we see her? Is she okay?”
“I hate to tell you, but your Mom was killed over a year ago during an attack on our bunker north of Mobile.”
All three girls broke into tears and Gus tried his best to console them. After about a half an hour, they started asking questions about her death.
Gus told them, “She was on patrol at the north end of the Bunker….”
Gail interrupted, “Mom on patrol?”
“Yes Gail, everyone had to pitch in to fight off the thugs, biker gangs and DHS. All women in the ISA are trained to fight and protect their fellow countrymen.”
“We heard that your buddy, John Harris, is the president of the ISA. Is that true?”
“Yes darling and believe it or not I am the Secretary of Defense and a guy by the name of George Washington is our VP. I’ll fill you in over time, but let’s get back to your Mom. She was on patrol when a biker gang ambushed her and killed her. The man teamed with her killed all but one of the attackers. We tried and convicted her of murder and I executed her.”
“A woman killed my Mom?”
“Yes and I shot her in the head myself. I placed my .45 against her head and blew her brains out. I hated her and still hate her for killing my wife.”
Angela spoke up and said, “We will all grieve for years over Mom, but Dad it’s been a year for you. Are you dating or seeing anyone?”
Gail interrupted, “Angela, that’s too personal. Dad will tell us what he wants us to know when he wants to tell us.”
“Well girls, I met a young girl and we plan to be married this fall.”
They all started speaking at one time and Gus had to calm them down. There was a mixture of happiness and confusion felt by his daughters.
“Girls, your Mom has been gone for over a year. The world was turned upside down when TSHTF. There are two women for every man in the ISA. One beautiful young lady thought that an old ugly man like me was worth pursuing. She chased me down until I caught her. She has two young kids and we are very happy. She is a Black woman and the daughter of our Vice president. I love her and as I said, we plan to marry in the fall. I am sorry to spring this on you, but we haven’t exactly been able to pick up the phone and chit chat.”
Gail spoke up and said, “Dad, how old is this young woman? You said young several times.”
“Ginny is older than Pat and younger than you.”
“Dad, you are marring a 22 year old woman?”
“Yep.”
Angela said, “You old dog. We don’t want to lose our Dad to a heart attack!”
Gail turned and gave Angela a stare that could melt steel, “That’s not funny.”
Gus said, “So the Black part doesn’t bother anyone?”
“Dad you raised us better than that. Still, I’m not calling a girl that young, Mom.”
“Deal.”
“Deal.”
“Dad, when do we get to meet Ginny and our stepbrother and sister?”
✼✼✼✼✼✼
✼
Chapter 12
Revenge in Mexico
Mexico
August, 2021
John was taking a shower when the secure satellite phone rang. He fumbled around, grabbed a towel, dried his hands and grabbed the phone.
“This is John Harris.”
“Sir, this is the Admiral’s Chief of Staff.”
“William, I know your voice by now. What can I do for the Admiral?”
“The Admiral requests that you and the First Lady bring your staff and their significant others to the Ford on Wednesday. We will pick you up in the courtyard at 1700 and serve dinner aboard ship at 1900. The Admiral has a brief meeting and some fireworks planned to kick off the new project.”
“Tell him thanks for the invitation and we will be ready on time. There will be ten total people to transport.”
“Thank you sir.”
John and his senior staff had been
briefed on the “New Project” and he liked the idea of a kick off meeting, but why bring the wives? He knew the brief meeting was to discuss the Corpus Christie battle plan, but wondered what the fireworks could consist of. He couldn’t imagine roman Candles and firecrackers being set off on the Ford.”
He finished dressing and went to the kitchen to find Beth nursing Jenn and Randy and Kristie reading. Kristie was still recovering from the attack on the Bunker and still hobbling around on crutches. Jenn stopped feeding and fell asleep in her mother’s arms.
“Beth, I believe that baby eats all day and night. She will be an Amazon Warrior when she grows up to be a woman. Men and beasts will fear her.”
“She will need to be strong in this post-apocalyptic world that we find ourselves in today. Seriously John, I want her to be highly educated and trained in all facets of survival, weapons and military tactics. We need to push more training on Little Gus, Lindsey, Randy and Kristie to help them cope when we are gone. I want my family to all be as strong as Scott and you are. Everyone has to be a soldier in our country. Those attacks on Port Arthur and the Bunker demonstrated that we all have to be able to defend ourselves at all times.”
She pulled her Ruger SR9 out of Jenn’s diaper bag to demonstrate that she was ready.
Kristie spoke up to say, “Mom, you act like we aren’t in the room. I’m 17 and Randy is 15. We both have been trained how to shoot pistols and M4s. We both start taking turns on guard duty for the Compound at 18. Our daily schoolwork includes courses on everything from first aid to survival in the woods. Service in the National Guard is now mandatory so we will get even more training.”
“Darling I know all of that, but these are difficult times and I know that all of us will see more combat in our lifetimes. I just want you to be able to take care of yourselves.”