by Robert Boren
“You better go, I see the other rigs moving onto the driveway,” Vicki said.
Dobie stood up, kissed her on the forehead, and walked away. Vicki stood watching him for several moments, then turned towards the coach.
“C’mon, you two, let’s go have breakfast,” she said.
“Why are you crying, mommy?” Derek asked.
“I’m just worried, that’s all,” she said.
“He’ll be back,” Jamie said. “Then he’ll be our new daddy.”
“How do you know that?” Vicki asked, watching her face.
“I don’t know, mommy,” she said.
***
General Hogan walked into the clubhouse. Charlie, Kurt, the Sheriff, and Hilda were still there, and Mary had joined them.
“Good morning,” he said to the group.
“Good morning to you,” Hilda said. “There’s coffee in the kitchen.”
“Thanks, sounds great,” he said, heading over for a cup.
Earl and Jackson walked in, followed by Jake, Terry, and Trish.
“Hey, guys, Frank and Jane’s group is leaving,” Earl said.
Everybody rushed out to the porch, watching as the two motor homes and the fifth wheel rig rolled through the gate. General Hogan walked up behind them. “Godspeed,” he said.
“Yes, Godspeed,” Charlie said.
Clint walked in with his boys. “There they go,” he said. “I hope they stay safe.”
“Good, I was hoping you would show up,” General Hogan said. “Seen George and Heidi yet this morning? Or Jerry and Jasmine?”
“Not yet,” Clint said. “Want us to go round them up?”
“Nah, not yet,” he said. “Let them sleep. They’ll have a busy few days coming up.”
“You really thinking about trying to recruit the militias?” Clint asked.
“I think it’s worth poking at,” General Hogan said. “That doesn’t mean I think it’s likely to work out. We need to go chat with our prisoners again, so we can find out who their leaders are, and how we can contact them.”
“Well, I’m game,” Charlie said. “Want the Sheriff and me to do the good cop-bad cop routine?”
“Not a bad idea,” General Hogan said. “You two are pretty good at that.”
“Can we tell them the apps weren’t created by Daan Mertins?” Charlie asked.
“I think so,” General Hogan said. “That’s probably the best chance we’ve got of getting them to spill anything.”
“They might not be smart enough to understand what the ramifications are,” the Sheriff said.
“Only one way to find out,” General Hogan said. “Want to go down there now?”
“Sure,” Charlie said.
“Wait a minute,” Hilda said. “I’ve got some cornbread in the oven. I’ll make up trays for them; that, coffee, and some fried spam. Can you wait a little bit?”
“That’s a great idea,” General Hogan said. “Sure, we can wait.”
“I’ll go help,” Charlie said.
“Me too,” Mary said, getting out of her seat.
George and Heidi walked in the door, followed by Jerry and Jasmine.
“Coffee!” Heidi said, looking groggy.
“You put in a rough night?” Jackson asked.
“That gun battle yesterday,” Heidi said. “Having the bad guys that close makes me nervous.”
“I didn’t sleep very well either,” Jasmine said. “Worried about my mom.”
The four of them went into the kitchen to get coffee.
“You think they’re gonna be alright?” Jake asked. “On a big mission, that is?”
“Yeah,” General Hogan said. “I didn’t sleep so well myself. Don’t really get why the militia is hitting us. I know we talked ourselves into some reasons last night, but there’s too many holes.”
Kurt laughed. “Yeah, we were doing the same thing this morning.”
George and Heidi came back out, coffee cups in hand. Jerry and Jasmine followed.
“When do we start planning with Ned?” George asked.
“Soon,” he said. “They want more time to work on the location.”
“They’ve got somebody inside, don’t they?” Jerry asked.
“They aren’t telling me,” General Hogan said. “But I’m guessing yes.”
“There’s no other way,” George said. “We can’t rely on chips or satellite for this. Has to be human intelligence.”
“They might be hacking,” Jasmine said.
“True, but I’ll bet the enemy isn’t putting detailed location data out on any electronic systems,” Jerry said. “We’ve screwed them that way more than once.”
“Yeah, remember how Frank broke in and got the lists of names,” George said. “Brilliant.”
Charlie called out of the kitchen. “Hey, guys, we got the trays ready. Going through the kitchen trap door.”
“Good, I’ll meet you down there,” the Sheriff said. “You coming, general?”
“Yeah,” he said.
They all met at the dungeon trap door.
“Plug your noses, folks,” Charlie said. They got around the edges of the door and lifted. The Sheriff went down first and pulled the light chain. The prisoners stared at him fear in their eyes.
“That food I smell?” Billy asked.
“Yeah,” the Sheriff said. “We aren’t barbarians, you know.”
Charlie carried the first tray down the stairs. Hilda handed the second tray to General Hogan and he carried it down. They slid the trays under the barred doors.
“Enjoy,” General Hogan said.
The men attacked the food.
“It’s good,” Jesse said.
Charlie, the general, and the Sheriff watched as the prisoners ate. When they were down to the coffee, Billy looked over. “Much obliged,” he said. “Good food.”
“We’ve been wondering what you thought was so funny about the apps,” Jesse said.
“That’s part of the reason we’re down here,” General Hogan said. “That and the food, of course.”
“We’re listening,” Billy said.
“Who told you that Daan Mertins created the apps?” General Hogan asked.
“Captured video, with him bragging about it,” Billy said. “I saw it.”
“How’d you find it?” Charlie asked.
“Well, that’s the strange part,” Jesse said. “It showed up on a watcher program we were using for surveillance. That watcher program came from Daan Mertin’s software company, just like the chips.”
Charlie, the Sheriff, and General Hogan glanced at each other and grinned.
“Your leadership believes this, then?” General Hogan asked.
“Most of them,” Billy said. “Field Marshal Hopper has been questioning it all along. He thinks it was planted.”
“Shouldn’t be using his name,” Jesse said.
“It don’t matter now,” Billy said.
“You guys want to know the truth?” General Hogan asked.
“Of course,” Billy said.
“One of our people developed and released the apps,” Charlie said.
“Bullshit,” Jesse said.
“No bullshit,” General Hogan said. “Frank Johnson developed the apps.”
Billy’s eyes got wide. “Shit, he was the reason we hit that park in Utah. None of us could figure out why Saladin wanted him so bad.”
“It wasn’t because of General Walker?” Charlie asked.
“We didn’t know he was still there,” Billy said.
“You’re telling them too much, Billy. Shut up.”
“Jesse, think about this,” Billy said. “Release of those apps hurt the Islamists a lot more than it hurt us, and Daan’s still working with those guys.”
“How did Frank figure it out?” Jesse asked. “Daan Mertins is a genius.”
Charlie laughed. “Daan Mertins stole the idea for that chip system from Frank. They knew each other before the war. I can prove that, if you have any technical knowl
edge. Frank published a White Paper about that design several years ago. It’s still out on the internet.”
General Hogan was silent, thinking.
“What’s on your mind, general?” the Sheriff asked.
“You guys said that the apps were a worse problem for the Islamists than they were for you. Why?”
“The Islamist leaders were afraid of deserters,” Billy said, “so they buried the chips so deep that it’s a major deal to dig them out. The militia leadership made sure that ours weren’t so deep. We can take them out with a frigging steak knife. We knew they’d be a danger after the war was over.”
“That doesn’t add up,” the Sheriff said. “We would have noticed the difference. We pulled chips out of Islamists and militia alike.”
“I’ll call Mary and ask her about that,” Charlie said, walking away, his phone to his ear.
“Who’s Mary?” Billy asked.
“She’s our doctor,” the Sheriff said.
“Where’s all this taking us?” Jesse asked, finishing his cup of coffee.
“I want to meet with your leadership,” General Hogan said.
“Why?” Jesse asked.
“I think we have a common enemy, and we can defeat them easier if we work together,” General Hogan said.
“Even after all that’s happened?” Billy asked. “We’ve killed each other wholesale.”
“This is true, gentlemen,” General Hogan said. “When you think it through, though, we have a lot in common, and neither of us wants the WTO and the UN running things. They’ll be like the Federal Government on steroids, with no constitutional protections to restrict them.”
“He’s right about that, Billy,” Jesse said.
“I know, I know,” Billy said. “Let me think. If we do this the wrong way, they’ll put us before a firing squad.”
“You don’t have to tell us where they are,” General Hogan said. “You got an email address or an IP address that we can use to send a message? Something that Mertins doesn’t know about?”
“Hey, guys,” Charlie said as he walked back over. “Mary just confirmed the story about the chips. Said she didn’t think much of it at the time.”
“See, told ya,” Billy said. “You still got my phone?”
“Yeah,” the Sheriff said.
“What if I get a conference call going with Field Marshall Hopper?”
“Billy, you sure?” Jesse asked.
“Won’t that let them know where we are?” the Sheriff asked.
“They already know,” General Hogan said.
The Sheriff walked over to the work table in the middle of the room and opened a drawer. “Which one is yours? The silver or the black one?”
“Silver,” Billy said. The Sheriff brought it to the cell and handed it to him. “Gather around, guys.”
The men got into a huddle as Billy hit the contact. Ringing came from the tinny speaker, then somebody picked up.
“Billy? You’re still alive?” Hopper asked, sounding surprised and relieved.
“Yeah,” Billy said. “I’m with General Hogan and a couple members of his group. We’re on speaker.”
“Dammit, what are you calling me for, you son of a bitch?”
“Calm down, Hopper. These guys just gave me some interesting information. You’re going to want to listen to this.”
There was silence on the line for a few moments.
“Okay, Billy,” Hopper said. “Sorry. Go ahead.”
Chapter 6 – Good Faith
Billy and Jesse glanced at each other nervously, then back at General Hogan.
“Don’t have all day,” Hopper said, his voice tinny over the phone speaker.
“That story about Daan Mertins creating the apps,” Bill said. “These guys say it’s bullshit. They say that Frank Johnson created the apps.”
“And you believe them?” Hopper asked.
“Remember when we hit that park in Utah? The big attack? All Saladin could talk about was Frank Johnson.”
“Yeah,” Hopper said. “I remember, but that’s thin. We need some proof.”
“They say that Frank Johnson put out a paper on the design of the chips a few years ago, and it’s available out on the internet. Daan Mertins stole the whole idea. He used to work with Frank Johnson.”
“Just a sec,” Hopper said. He talked to somebody else on his end for a moment. “Okay, my lead technical guy is checking that out now.”
“Good,” Billy said.
“Who survived yesterday?” Hopper asked.
“Jesse and me,” Billy said.
“Shit,” Hopper said. “More good men down the drain. Either of you wounded?”
“Dog bites, but nothing major,” Billy said.
There was hushed talking on Hopper’s side of the line.
“Son of a bitch,” Hopper said. “They ain’t lying.”
“I knew it,” Jesse said. “Mertins is a snake. Globalist piece of shit.”
“So, what’s the proposal?” Hopper asked.
“Field Marshall Hopper, this is General Hogan. We’d like to talk to you about joining forces to defeat the Globalists.”
Hopper laughed. When nobody else joined in, he stopped. “You’re serious, ain’t ya?”
“Deadly serious,” General Hogan said. “I know we’ve been at each other for a while. I know there’s been a lot of death on both sides. I propose that we work past that.”
“What’s in it for us?” Hopper asked.
“Our country,” General Hogan said. “Your group and ours have similar goals. Take back our Federal Government, and impose the Constitutional restraints on them again. Destroy the UN Peacekeeping force and the remaining Islamist Army. Kill or capture the rogue members of the WTO who are hiding in our country. Then put us back on a strong footing to defeat these idiots in the countries of our allies.”
There was silence for a moment.
“I agree with all but that last statement,” Hopper said. “We’ve spent enough blood and treasure helping all of these other countries.”
“We can talk about that,” General Hogan said. “I’m not talking about everybody. I’m talking about our true friends.”
“We have true friends?” Hopper asked.
“Yeah, we do,” General Hogan said. “England, France, Germany, the Scandinavian countries, Israel, Japan. Others. Their populations are fighting the Globalists now, but they don’t have our big advantage.”
“Our big advantage?” Hopper asked.
“An armed population, and a strong tradition of freedom,” General Hogan said.
“How do I know I can trust you guys?” Hopper said. “We’ve killed a lot of your people. Done a lot of things I wish we hadn’t, frankly. Can you really get your side to agree on this?”
“I think so,” General Hogan said. “How about your side?”
“Tough, but possible,” Hopper said.
“I can give you a gesture of good faith,” General Hogan said.
“I’m listening.”
“Want your men back? I’ll release them right now.”
The Sheriff and Charlie shot a nervous glance at each other.
“That would be a good gesture, General Hogan,” Hopper said. “It would help me to convince my side.”
General Hogan looked at the men. “You two willing to play nice if we let you go free?”
“Yes,” Billy said.
“Me too,” Jesse said.
“Good. Charlie, could you open their cells please.”
“Sure thing, general,” Charlie said. He unlocked them and swung the doors open. The men came out nervously.
“They’re out,” General Hogan said.
“Everything okay, Billy?” Hopper asked.
“Yes sir,” Billy said. “You want us to come back right away?”
“Let’s talk some more,” Hopper said. “I need to be able to answer questions to the other leadership, after I pry their mouths off the floor.” He laughed.
“You guys want mo
re coffee?” Charlie asked.
“Sure,” Jesse said.
Charlie nodded and pulled out his phone, spoke softly into it, then slipped it back in his pocket. “Hilda will bring it.”
“Okay, General Hogan, I’m going to fire some questions at you, if that’s okay,” Hopper said.
“Fire away,” General Hogan said.
“We’ve been using the apps ourselves, and we can’t see the Islamists around anymore. You sure they’re still a big factor?”
“We estimate there are several hundred thousand of them hidden in southeastern New Mexico.”
“How come we can’t see them, general?” Hopper asked.
“They’re shielding themselves in lead-lined vehicles and structures, and in Carlsbad Caverns.”
“Son of a bitch,” Hopper said. “How do you know that?”
“They’ve been using lead-shielded vans and semi-truck trailers to attack us,” General Hogan said. “Almost ruined us a few weeks ago with a semi. They were getting ready to use nerve gas on us.”
“Geez,” Hopper said. “You can see them somehow?”
“Frank has helped us to monitor them,” General Hogan said. “They can’t stay hidden every second. They have to rush between shielded environments. We’ve been recording their every move. We know where they are, and we can see them moving around, just not constantly like before.”
“Last I heard from Daan Mertins he was on his way to New Mexico,” Hopper said.
“We figured,” General Hogan said. “That’s where the big battle will be, but the UN is moving freely in much of the southwest now.”
“Yeah, we’ve been hitting them,” Hopper said. “Just started that. Mertins doesn’t know we’re doing it. Yet.”
“Why are you hitting us?” the Charlie asked. “Why not just concentrate on the UN and leave us be?”
“Who’s that?” Hopper asked.
“One of our key members,” General Hogan said. “Charlie.”
“I know who he is,” Hopper said.
“I’ve been wondering the same thing,” General Hogan said.
“Daan Mertins thinks our leadership is still on his side. He asked us to do it.”
Charlie laughed out loud. “You know how much of an advantage that is?”
“Didn’t seem like a big advantage to us,” Hopper said. “He wants to bleed us, because we don’t fit into the tidy little mold the Globalists have in mind. We’re doing the bare minimum, trying to keep his illusion alive while losing as few people as we can. We’ll report our losses from this last dust up. It’ll help.”