by Robert Boren
“We’re good,” Sid said. “How are you?”
“Feeling a lot better,” he said. “Heard about what you did to the UN creeps. Nice frigging job.”
“Language,” Nancy said.
“Settle down, woman,” Harry said.
Nancy shook her head while Sid and John laughed.
“You try nursing a cantankerous old fool for a few days and see how your patience holds up.”
Harry chuckled.
“Hey, guys, what’s up?” Sam asked, rushing over with Clem. “Start the fire yet?”
“We want to show you guys something first,” John said.
“Where?” Sam asked.
“The big fire pit,” John said.
“Okay, be there in a sec,” he said.
Sid and John drove back to the fire pit, Harry watching them leave. Sam drove himself and Clem back there.
“What?” Sam asked as they walked over.
“Look at this arm,” Sid said, pointing to the first one he found. “See that capsule there?”
“Crap, what is that?” Sam asked.
“You find any others?” Clem asked.
“Yeah, every right arm with dark skin has one,” John said. “Or at least we think they do. They all have scars in the same place. I cut open one of them and found another capsule.”
“Let’s take a closer look at the one sticking out there,” Clem said. He reached in and grabbed it, then set it on the cement ring around the fire pit and looked closer. “Who’s got a pocket knife?”
John pulled his out and handed it to Clem, who cut the plastic. “Thought so. This is a transmitter. Looks similar to RFID chips that they put into dogs.”
“Maybe we shouldn’t burn these,” Sid said.
“No, burn them,” Sam said. “All of them. They might be leading the bad guys right to us.”
“I thought you said they already knew where we were,” Sid said.
“I know I said that,” Sam said, “but why give them a homing beacon? They might not be as tight as we think.”
“Burning them will do the trick?” Sid asked.
“Yeah,” Clem said, tossing the chip back in with the bodies. “It’ll melt the plastic. I’d pour some gasoline on this and make a really hot fire, just in case.”
“Got it,” Sid said. He went to the Jeep and pulled a jerry can off the back. He shook it on the way over. “About half full. Ought to be enough.”
The others watched as he poured gasoline on the boxes of body parts.
“Stand back,” John said. He struck a match and tossed it in, the fire starting as soon as it hit the vapors. The men stood watching as the fire got larger.
“Good, the smoke is going the way I expected,” Sam said.
“Two of the six bodies were northern European,” Sid said. “The rest were olive skinned with black hair. They looked middle-eastern to me. Oh, and as we just showed you, the dark skinned ones have RFID chips or scars.”
“They could’ve been Italian or Greek,” Clem said. “Or even Turkish or low German.”
“True,” Sid said. “Can’t argue with that, but it makes sense that they were middle-eastern.”
“So you’re thinking the UN is working with the Islamists,” Clem said. “I can believe that.”
“Me too,” Sam said. “Let’s go back to the clubhouse and see if Ryan is awake yet.”
“We need to clean up first,” Sid said.
“Yeah, seriously,” John said.
“Okay, meet us at the clubhouse in half an hour,” Sam said. “That enough time?”
“Should be,” Sid said.
The men left as the fire continued to burn.
***
Sid walked into his rig.
“Oh no you don’t,” Yvonne said, smelling him as soon as he walked in the door. “You’re going to the park showers.”
“I know,” Sid said. “Got to hurry, though. There’s gonna be a meeting with the others in half an hour.”
“Don’t go in the back of the rig,” Yvonne said. “Stay here. I’ll bring your shower bag and your towel.”
“Thanks, sweetie,” he said.
She was back with the stuff in a moment. “What did you guys find back there?”
“RFID chips planted in the olive-skinned bodies,” Sid said. He left the rig and hurried to the shower building, leaving Yvonne with her mouth open. Sarah saw her and rushed over.
“You know what’s going on?” she asked. “John’s acting funny.”
“They found RFID chips in some of the bodies,” Yvonne said. “Have any idea what that means?”
“So that’s what it is,” Sarah said. “Damn that John. He’d rather withhold info from me than have me be worried.”
Yvonne chuckled. “Yeah, Sid tried that early in our marriage. I put a stop to it.”
“Wish I would have,” Sarah said. “We’d better go to this meeting.”
“I think you’re right,” Yvonne said. “You send John to the park showers?”
“Hell yes,” she said. “No way was I letting him into the rig smelling like that.”
Yvonne laughed. “Great minds think alike.”
“Did you see Harry up and around?” Sarah asked.
“No,” Yvonne said. “Isn’t it a little early for that? He’s no spring chicken, and he’s pretty overweight to boot.”
“He’s one of these guys who’s strong as an ox, even though he won’t take care of himself.”
Yvonne shook her head. “Yeah, until he just drops dead.”
“Nancy looked pretty harried,” Sarah said. “Wow, here comes John already. He’s never this quick. Something big must be up.”
“Oh boy,” Yvonne said. “Sid’s done already too. I’d better get dressed for the meeting.”
“You look fine,” Sarah said. “You always look fine.”
Yvonne laughed. “I’m wearing a shift with no underwear on. No way. See you in a few minutes.”
Sarah snickered and greeted John as he came up the steps.
Sid came into the rig and went to the back to get dressed. He saw Yvonne getting dressed up. “You’re going to the meeting with me, aren’t you?”
“Damn straight,” she said.
“Good,” Sid said, leaning over to kiss her.
“Sarah said John didn’t tell her about the RFID chips.”
Sid chuckled. “He’s so protective of Sarah.”
“She’s not looking at it that way,” Yvonne said.
“Oh, probably not,” Sid said. He pulled on his t-shirt. “He worships the ground she walks on, you know.”
“I know,” Yvonne said. “You never try to hold back on me.”
“You’d just figure it out, so why try?”
“But you want to sometimes?” she asked.
“I’ve got a protective instinct too,” he said. “You look so nice. Ready to go?”
“Yeah,” she said. They left their rig, meeting John and Sarah on the way.
“Is Ryan awake?” John asked.
“Don’t know,” Yvonne said.
“There’s Sam on the veranda,” Sid said. They joined him.
“Ryan able to talk?” John asked.
“In about ten minutes,” Sam said. “Dr. Grace is with him at the moment. Said he’s doing better.”
“Good,” Sid said.
Connie walked over from the office. “Just about ready for the meeting?”
“Yeah,” Sam said. “What have you been doing?”
“I just finished skimming through that binder from the UN vehicle,” she said. “My God.”
“Bad?” Sid asked.
“What binder?” Yvonne asked.
“Shoot, I forgot to tell you about what we found in the UN vehicle,” Sid said.
“Sid…”
He looked at her, worried expression on his face. “Look, sweetie, I wasn’t trying to hide anything. It’s just that other stuff happened since then.”
“I want to hear about this too,” Sarah said.
> Yvonne softened her look, reading Sid’s eyes. “Okay, I believe you. What did you guys find?”
“Claymore mines,” Sid said.
“They didn’t blow up when you hit the vehicle?” Yvonne asked.
“They were in the shielded compartments under the sub-floor,” Sam said.
“Okay,” she said. “What else?”
“Anti-tank mines,” Sid said. “Mortars with some very nasty ammo, and the books.”
“What do you mean by nasty ammo?” Sarah asked, shooting a sidelong glance at John.
“White phosphorus,” Sid said.
“What’s that?” Sarah asked.
“It’s kinda like napalm,” John said. “It’s designed to burn people up.”
“My God, the UN had that?” Yvonne asked.
“That’s why we want to talk to Ryan,” Sam said. “We need to become more active.”
“Blowing up a mountain pass and shutting down a major road isn’t active?” Sarah asked.
“That was a defensive move,” Sam said. “Based on what we found in that UN vehicle, we need to think about joining the fight in an offensive way.”
“Sounds like a good way to get ourselves killed,” Sarah said.
“I don’t agree,” Connie said. “If we play defense, they’ll get us eventually. Kill us all. We need them to fear us, and we need to hurt them.
“They’ll kill us if we fight them,” Sarah said.
“Some of us will probably get killed either way we go,” Connie said. “I’d rather go out hurting them and helping our cause.”
“What’s our cause?” Sarah asked. “I thought it was staying alive.”
“Our cause is our country,” Sam said.
“All right, you guys have me convinced,” Yvonne said. “I’m in. Don’t let me catch any of you candy-coating things. Agreed?”
“I agree,” Sid said.
“Me too,” Sam said.
“Sarah, you need to open your mind,” John said. “Our forefathers fought in times like these to ensure that the country would be there for later generations. How can we not do the same?”
Sarah sat quietly, tears forming around her eyes. She looked down and nodded yes. “Sorry. I’m just scared. Now I’m ashamed too.”
“Don’t be ashamed,” Connie said. “This isn’t easy. When this meeting is over, come get the book. You need to read it.”
Sarah nodded again. Dr. Grace came out the door.
“He able to talk, Doc?” Sam asked.
“Yeah, but not for too long, and don’t get him too riled up, either. He could still die from his wounds.”
“Thanks,” Sam said. The group filed into the clubhouse.
Ryan was lying on a cot near the far side of the room, in front of the TV. He smiled and turned towards them, on his side, gritting his teeth from the pain.
“You aren’t on pain meds?” Connie asked.
“I’m on as little as possible,” Ryan said. “I need to have a clear head. This ain’t over yet.”
“You need to sleep so you can recover faster,” Connie said.
“I’m sleeping okay,” he said. “Something obviously happened. What’s going on?”
“We opened the sub-floor storage compartments in that UN personnel carrier,” Sam said. “Found some interesting stuff. Wanted to pick your brain.”
“I don’t know much about what the UN is doing,” Ryan said. “I can tell you a few things about what’s going on with the State government and the CHP, though.”
“Go ahead,” Sam said.
“You guys go first,” Ryan said.
“All right,” Sam said. “We found occupation instructions in one of the storage compartments of that vehicle. They have some really nasty stuff in them. Instructions on how to find gun owners. Instructions to confiscate their weapons and kill them so word doesn’t spread.”
“Son of a bitch,” Ryan said. “I’m not surprised. What else?”
“We found some stuff we can use,” Clem said. “Claymore mines. Anti-tank mines. Mortars.”
“Wow,” Ryan said. “Surprised none of that stuff got destroyed in the attack.”
“They had willie pete rounds for the mortars,” Sam said, a grim look on his face.
“Holy shit,” Ryan said. “They’re going to massacre a lot of people. No other reason to have that stuff.”
“That’s what I thought as soon as I saw it,” Sam said. “We also found some interesting things about the bodies.”
“What’s that?”
“Some had RFID chips planted in them,” Sid said. “The bodies that had olive skin.”
“Do tell,” Ryan said. “Wonder why? Command and control, maybe?”
“Probably,” Sam said. “We burned the bodies with the chips in them. Otherwise the location might be available to the enemy.”
“Don’t matter, they know where you are,” Ryan said. “I’m afraid they’re going to make an example out of you guys after the martial law takes hold.”
“That was what I was thinking,” Sam said. “What can you tell us?”
“The Governor’s office kidnapped the CHP Commissioners and threw them in an abandoned jail a couple of days ago. Near Sacramento.”
“Really?” John asked. “So who’s in charge?”
“Some piss-ant relative of Governor Sable,” Ryan said. “Chief Smith. There’s some jihadist idiot holding their chain. Goes by the name of Saladin.”
Sam froze. “Saladin?”
“You heard of him?” Ryan asked.
“Hell, he almost killed me,” Sam said. “Back when I was on a mission with some other special forces people and the CIA. Wonder if George Franklin knows about this.”
“Who’s George Franklin?” Ryan asked.
“Bad-ass spook who was on that mission with me. Former special forces, CIA by the time I knew him. Good man.”
“Saladin has close ties to the President and Governor Sable,” Ryan said. “They’re all dirty as hell.”
“How do you know about all of this?” John asked.
“That’s the reason the CHP leadership went rogue,” Ryan said. “They briefed us before they were taken. We have to do something about this, or a whole lot of people are gonna get killed.”
“What are they planning?” Sarah asked.
“They’re gonna start a whole bunch of crap in the state. Terror attacks, mainly in the suburbs. They need a way to justify martial law outside of the cities where the gang problems were happening.”
“From what I heard, those gang problems were whipped up by Islamists in the first place,” Clem said. “There’s video of them being involved all over the net.”
“Yep, that’s what Commissioner Frawley thought too,” Ryan said.
Sam laughed. “I’ll bet Saladin is really pissed at us. We screwed up his operations for the whole southern third of the state, didn’t we?”
“Pretty much,” Ryan said. “You’ll have to figure out where his supplies and people are, and then you’ll have to go on the attack.”
“We figured that out before we came to talk to you,” Sid said.
“What got you to that idea?” Ryan asked.
“The books and the willie pete,” Sam said. “They ain’t doing this crap here. No frigging way. We need to organize and start gathering intel.”
“Yep,” Ryan said. “Count me in.”
“What can you do in your condition?” Connie asked.
“Bring me a laptop,” he said. “I still have several ways to get into the CHP computer systems.”
Chapter 5 – Check Point
Friday morning. Robbie woke up next to Morgan, who was still snoring softly next to him. He spooned tighter, feeling her stir.
“Good morning,” she said sleepily, pushing back on him.
“Good morning to you,” he said, kissing her neck. She swooned, turning towards him. They made love, passion rising quickly. When they were done, Morgan took his head in her hands and stared into his eyes.
“
I’m so in love with you,” she said.
“I feel the same way,” Robbie said. He sat up. “What time do you have to go to work?”
“I’ve got a few hours. I need a shower.”
“Towels are in the cabinet under the far sink,” Robbie said. “Help yourself.”
She got out of bed. “Maybe you should join me.”
“If I do that, we’ll start up again.”
“You don’t want to?” she asked.
“Not right now,” he said. “I need to write. It’s bugging me.”
“Another article?”
“No, my fiction,” Robbie said. “I’ve been away from it for more than a week. Time to get back into my normal rhythm.”
“You have to go to work too, don’t you?”
“Yeah, but not until evening,” he said.
“Okay, I’ll leave you alone. You gonna write in the kitchen again?”
“Yeah,” Robbie said. He threw on a t-shirt and shorts.
“Won’t it be too noisy out there?”
“I’ll put on my headphones and listen to music if I need to. That drowns everything out.”
“Okay, sweetie, I’ll see you in a little while.” She went into the bathroom as he left the bedroom.
“Morning,” Steve said, standing by to the coffee machine. Colleen was next to him. She glanced over, pulling her robe tighter around herself.
“Hi,” she said.
“Good morning,” Robbie said.
“You going to work today?” Steve asked.
“Yeah, but not until the evening,” Robbie said. “I’m gonna get back to my novel.”
“You’re a writer?” Colleen asked.
“Yeah,” Robbie said. He sat at the kitchen table and turned on his computer.
“Want coffee?” Steve asked.
“I’ll get some in a few minutes,” he said.
“Okay,” Steve said.
“You working today too, Colleen?” Robbie asked.
“I don’t have a job right now,” Colleen said. “Mind if I stay here while Steve is gone?”
“Not at all,” Robbie said. “What time you working, Steve?”
“Couple hours,” he said. “Gonna be interesting.”
“I’m scared about it,” Colleen said.
“Anybody had the news on yet?” Robbie asked.
“Not us,” Steve said. “Justin left last night, you know.”