Resistance

by Robert Boren

  “I’m worried about it,” Sam said. “We might have to go help them out.”

  “I’d be up for it,” Clem said.

  “Wonder how all the other attacks went?” Connie asked.

  Sam turned on the radio and hit the seek button. The radio worked its way through the AM channels, stopping where there was some reception. Nothing was strong enough to listen to. “We’re gonna have to wait until we’re closer to town.”

  “I’m almost afraid to hear,” Connie said. “Hope nothing bad happened at the RV Park.”

  “Should be okay,” Clem said.

  “Good, we’re back on the road again,” Sam said as they settled onto the dirt fire road.

  “Seemed longer before,” Connie said.

  “Yeah,” Sam said.

  “You think the tribe is gonna get in trouble for the scalps?” Connie asked.

  Sam chuckled. “I doubt if it makes any difference. If anything, it’ll help them.”

  “Why?” Connie asked.

  “Fear,” Sam said.

  “I could see that,” Clem said. “Makes them look crazy enough to do almost anything. Not such a bad thing.”

  “But the authorities will see it,” Connie said.

  “What authorities?” Sam asked. “The UN? Screw them.”

  Connie sighed. “I understand. Think they’ll figure out that we were there?”

  “Hard to say,” Sam said.

  They were silent for a spell, bouncing around on the dirt road. Connie was grinding her teeth. “Try the radio again.”

  “You can reach it,” Sam said. “I should keep both hands on the wheel now that we’re going faster.”

  “Okay,” she said, switching it on. She used the seek button again, finding a weak radio station. “Good enough?”

  “Yeah,” Sam said.

  “Better than nothing,” Clem said.

  “…State authorities are expressing dismay at the number of enemy supply depots that have been found. The Governor’s office has announced that there will be state-wide martial law declared, probably early tomorrow morning.”

  “Idiots,” Clem said. “They probably haven’t even told people that Sable is dead yet.”

  “It’ll leak,” Sam said.

  “Ivan the Butcher was back on the air later in the evening, showing grainy video he purported to be the body of Governor Sable, and a shot of Sable talking with President Simpson and an Islamic Cleric on the tarmac next to Airforce One.”

  “Who the hell is Ivan the Butcher?” Connie asked.

  Sam was grinding his teeth, worry on his face.

  “What?” Connie asked. “Tell me.”

  “Russian mob,” Sam said. “Bad guy. Responsible for a lot of murders. Most people thought he was dead.”

  “I remember that name,” Clem said. “The EU was after him, and then he just fell off the face of the earth.”

  “Ivan the Butcher’s first transmission, which hijacked the airwaves in the LA area, announced a series of attacks on UN checkpoints earlier in the evening. There was brutal video shown of dead UN Peacekeepers hanging by their ankles from traffic lights at the checkpoints. He vowed to fight the UN and martial law. Law enforcement and the UN High Command have teams combing the LA area for this man, who is wanted in Russia and the EU.”

  “I’ll tell you what,” Clem said. “I’m on Ivan’s side.”

  “Afraid I am too,” Sam said, “but we may live to regret it.”

  “I don’t care about this guy,” Connie said. “You heard what they said about martial law? That was their plan from the beginning.”

  “Yeah, that’s the biggest worry at this point,” Clem said. “Wonder who’s running California?”

  “Should be the Lieutenant Governor,” Sam said.

  “I wouldn’t count on normal, honest succession at this point,” Clem said.

  “Neither would I,” Sam said. “For all we know it’s Saladin.”

  “No,” Connie said. “How could that happen?”

  “I was half joking,” Sam said. “It’s pretty obvious that Saladin was pulling a lot of strings around here, though.”

  “Look up ahead,” Connie said softly. “Is that a fire?”

  Sam squinted, just making out the glow, and shut off his lights as he slammed on the brakes. Sid and John got the message and did the same.

  “They’ve attacked the reservation,” Sam said.

  “My God,” Connie said. “What do we do now?”

  “We need to chat with the others,” Sam said. “Hopefully nobody noticed us coming.” He got out of the car, along with Connie and Clem, and they rushed back to the other vehicles.

  “That what I think it is up there?” Sid asked.

  “Yeah, looks like fire at the reservation,” Sam said.

  “Dammit,” Sarah said, clutching John’s arm. “What do we do?”

  “Change direction,” Sid said. “I know another way. Wish we could use our damn cellphones. We need to warn One Eye and his guys.”

  “Maybe I should pop the battery back into my android for a second and call him,” Sid said. “Might get away with it.”

  Sam thought about it for a minute. “They’d do it for us. Call him, then let’s take your alternate route. You can lead the way.”

  “We’ll have to backtrack about five miles,” Sid said.

  “Like that’s a problem,” Yvonne said. “Hurry and let’s get out of here. They might have seen us coming.”

  Sid nodded and rushed back to his Jeep to get the phone.

  Chapter 14 – Internet Lockdown

  “Let’s get going,” Sam said as Sid ran towards his Jeep. “Call One Eye on the way.”

  “Roger that,” Sid said. “You mind driving, honey?”

  Yvonne nodded yes. They got in and took off, Sam’s Jeep and John’s truck following.

  “You gonna be okay driving for a while?” Sid asked.

  “I’m as good at off-road driving as you are,” Yvonne said.

  “You’re right about that,” Sid said. “Leave the lights off until we get out of sight of the reservation.”

  “Duh,” she said. “Call One Eye.”

  Sid nodded and hit the contact, then put the phone to his ear.

  “One Eye?” he asked when the call connected.

  “Sid? What’s wrong?” One Eye asked.

  “Just wanted to let you know that the reservation is on fire. We’re taking an alternate route.”

  One Eye chuckled.

  “You think this is funny?” Sid asked.

  “We told our people to head for the hills, and they booby-trapped several of the buildings on the way out,” One Eye said. “Sounds like the enemy took the bait. They see you guys?”

  “Don’t think so,” Sid said. “What are you gonna do now?”

  “Finish mopping up, then meet the rest of the tribe,” he said. “I’ve got something to tell you. Would have called already, but I thought you had your phones disabled.”

  “Go ahead,” Sid said. “I’m going to yank my battery as soon as we’re off.”

  “Okay,” One Eye said. “There were video cameras up around the depot, and I have reason to believe they were feeding remote monitors.”

  “Oh, shit,” Sid said. “So the bad guys may know who hit them.”

  “Exactly,” One Eye said. “If I were you I’d stay away from that RV Park of yours. It might be under attack already.”

  Sid felt dizzy for a moment, breath coming fast. “Understand. I’d better call them.”

  “You do that, old friend,” One Eye said. “We’re going to the place where we hunted many moons ago. You know where. If you need a place to go, you and your friends are welcome. Don’t walk into a trap at your RV Park if you go there.”

  “Got it,” Sid said. “Thanks. Take care of yourselves.”

  Sid ended the call.

  “That didn’t sound good,” Yvonne said.

  “First the good news,” Sid said. “One Eye had told his tribe to split. Th
ey booby-trapped some of the buildings on the way out.”

  “Good,” Yvonne said. “What’s the bad news?”

  “There were video cameras all over that depot, and they were feeding someplace else. It’s very possible that the bad guys know who hit them.”

  “No,” Yvonne said. “They might have attacked the RV Park.”

  “Exactly,” Sid said. “As soon as we get over that bluff there, we need to stop a moment and chat with the others.”

  “Okay,” Yvonne said. “If they know we’re here, we’ll see them coming from there.”

  “Exactly what I had in mind,” Sid said.

  Yvonne pulled over and stopped. John and Sam stopped next to her, and they all got out.

  “What’s going on?” Sam asked.

  “The fires we saw were from booby-trapped buildings,” Sid said. “One Eye told the tribe to split and set up the booby-traps before they left.”

  Clem laughed. “Damn Injuns.”

  Sid chuckled. “Hey, watch that.”

  “I’m just joking,” Clem said. “What else? We didn’t stop so you could tell us about that. You want to turn around and go back that way?”

  “No,” Sid said. “There were video cameras all over the depot. They probably made us. We might not want to go home just yet.”

  “No,” Connie said.

  “You tried to call Harry yet?” John asked. “Or Nancy? Or Officer Ryan?”

  “No, not yet,” Sid said. “I’ll do that now. I’ll try Harry first.”

  Sid punched the contact and put the phone to his ear. His expression became more and more grim each time the bell rang. He finally ended the call.

  “Dammit,” Sam said. “No answer?”

  “Nope,” Sid said. “I’ll try Ryan.” He put the phone back to his ear for a moment, mouth tightening. “No answer there either.”

  “It is pretty late, you know,” Connie said.

  “We could connect to the main camera,” Sam said, “but not here. I need good LTE to do that from my phone.”

  “We got to turn off the phone anyway,” Clem said. “We’re being watched.”

  “Hear that?” Yvonne asked, glancing back towards the bluff. “Vehicles coming.”

  “Oh no,” Connie whispered.

  Sam wheeled around and rushed to the bluff, grabbing his AR-15 from the Jeep. He hit the dirt. Sid joined him with his rifle, Yvonne getting next to him with hers. Connie joined them seconds later.

  “Two UN vans,” Sam whispered.

  Sid chuckled. “They’re driving soccer mom minivans in terrain like this?”

  “What do we do?” Yvonne asked.

  “We’re going to ice them,” Sam said, aiming. He pulled the trigger, firing several shots into the front windshields of both vehicles. Sid, Yvonne, and Connie joined in. The two vans rolled to a stop.

  “Should we split or go check it out?” Sid asked.

  “Check it out?” Yvonne asked. “You sure that’s a good idea?”

  “I want to see if they’re using phones to track us, or if they saw us driving up,” Sam said. “Be back in a sec.”

  “I’ll cover you,” Sid said.

  “Me too,” John said, getting down next to Yvonne.

  “What took you so long?” she asked.

  “Sarah needed me,” John said. “Don’t worry, she’s gonna be okay. I figured you guys would handle this.”

  “She scared?” Connie asked.

  “She’s really upset about Nancy,” John said. “You know they go way back, right? They’re practically family.”

  “Geez,” Connie said. “I’ll go talk to her.”

  “Yeah, we’ve got this covered,” Yvonne said.

  Sam snuck up to the two vans in a crouch. Suddenly the light came on in one of them as the side door slid open. Sid, John, and Yvonne fired, hitting a person who was trying to get into position. Sam ran to the van, glancing inside with his rifle aimed. He fired twice, then went inside.

  “He’s in,” Sid whispered.

  “Look, that other van is rocking,” Yvonne said. “Somebody is trying to get out.”

  “Light them up,” Sid said, opening fire, bullets slamming through the front windshield again. Sam rolled out of the van he was in.

  “Hold your fire,” John said. “Don’t hit Sam.”

  “Yeah, I see him,” Sid said.

  “He’s inside the second van,” Yvonne said. “Dammit, I don’t like this.”

  “It’s okay, he’s getting out,” Sid said. “Look, he just tossed in a grenade.”

  Sam sprinted away from the van as it blew up, flashing brilliant light. He ran back over to the bluff.

  “What the hell?” Sid asked.

  “Sorry,” Sam said. “That second van was full of surveillance equipment. It was still sending info, even though the guys inside were both dead. Figured I’d better take care of that.”

  “Nothing in the other van?”

  “Nah,” he said. “Just a cellphone running a tracking program. He pulled it out of his pocket and showed it to Sid.

  “Son of a bitch,” Sid said, looking at it.

  “Yank your battery,” Sam said. He did the same with the enemy phone. “Let’s get out of here.”

  “Where are we going?” Connie asked. “We obviously can’t go home.”

  “Anza Borrego,” Sid said.

  “Why there?” Sam asked.

  “That’s where One Eye and his people are going,” Sid said. “We were invited.”

  “Then I say we high-tail it before we get more company,” Clem said.

  “Yeah,” John said.

  “When we get to someplace with LTE I’m gonna stop and check out the main camera,” Sam said.

  “We’ll have to go through Ramona,” Sid said. “We should be able to get something there.”

  “You know how to get where we’re going, Sid?” John asked.

  “Yeah,” he said. “There’s fire road most of the way, which will take us to San Vincente Road. There’s a big bedroom community nearby. Should be able to get your LTE there.”

  “Okay, let’s clear out,” Sam said.

  They got into their vehicles and drove on through the dark wilderness.

  ***

  “That must be the RV storage yard,” Emma said, looking out the front windshield of Seth’s 4Runner.

  “That place is huge,” Angel said.

  “Seriously,” Seth said. “Hope Trevor’s gonna be okay. Makes me nervous.”

  They watched as Ji-Ho punched the code into the keypad next to the gate. It rolled to one side, and he drove through, then motioned for Seth to follow. He made it through just as the gate was closing.

  “We in back,” Ji-Ho said. “Follow. Will take few minutes to warm up diesel.”

  Seth nodded from his vehicle. He watched Ji-Ho get back into his SUV and then followed him through the maze of RVs and boats.

  “He’s slowing down,” Emma said.

  “Wow, look at that sucker, dude,” Angel said from the back seat.

  “He said it’d be big,” Seth said.

  “Kaylee told me about it,” Emma said. “This thing is like those rock band buses.”

  Seth parked a few spaces away and shut down his engine. “Wonder if we should have somebody watching the gate?”

  “You don’t think we were followed here, do you?” Emma asked, eyes darting around.

  “You never know,” Seth said. “Let’s go check with Ji-Ho.”

  The three of them trotted over to Ji-Ho’s SUV. He was at the RV door, unlocking it. Kaylee, Matt, and Jamie were at the back of the SUV, tailgate open, getting ready to carry weapons and supplies over.

  “I start engine,” Ji-Ho said after he got the door open. After a few seconds the big diesel engine fired up, rocking the coach. He re-appeared at the door. “I open storage compartments.”

  He came out and unlocked several panels on the lower side of the rig, pulling the doors open and sliding out shelves. “Load here, but we need some gun
s inside too.”

  Seth trotted back to his 4Runner and backed it over to the big RV, then started unloading with Angel and Emma.

  “You heard from Trevor yet?” Seth asked as he was walking up to Ji-Ho with an armful of weapons.

  “I just about to call,” Ji-Ho said. “Worry.”

  “Me too,” Seth said. He watched as Ji-Ho reached into the driver’s window of the SUV and pulled out the walkie-talkie.

  “Trevor, you there?” Ji-Ho asked.

  There was static and then a click.

  “We’re here,” Trevor said. “Running the engine now while loading things up. Gus’s friend was here. They’re loading up his Class C, a couple of rows over.”

  “Nobody follow?” Ji-Ho asked.

  “Not that I can see,” Trevor said. “You?”

  “Same, don’t think so,” Ji-Ho said. “See you soon. Be careful.”

  “You too, Ji-Ho.”

  “See, he okay,” Ji-Ho said. “Let’s finish and blow joint.”

  “Yeah,” Matt said. “Being here gives me the willies.”

  “You’re not kidding,” Kaylee said.

  The group finished loading up the big motor home.

  “What about your SUV?” Jamie asked. “Need one of us to drive it?”

  “Usually I tow, but in this case, you drive. Take Matt and guns. Run block if we get attacked. You too, Seth.”

  “No problem,” Seth said.

  “Want me to ride with you, uncle?” Kaylee asked.

  “Yes, and Emma too. Safer in here. Heavy vehicle. Hard to stop.”

  Emma looked at Seth. “Is that what you want?”

  “Yes,” Seth told her. “Angel and I will be ready in case anybody attacks.”

  Emma nodded and walked over to Kaylee. They climbed up the steps of the coach.

  “You need help backing up?” Seth asked.

  “No, pull through,” Ji-Ho said. “I meet by front gate. Let’s go.”

  Ji-Ho got into the driver’s seat of his rig and revved the big diesel, then put it into gear and pulled away.

  “Off we go,” Matt said, getting behind the wheel of the Mercedes SUV. Seth got into his 4Runner with Angel and they watched as Jamie got into the SUV with Matt. He rolled forward, Seth following.

  The big RV pulled up to the front gate. Kaylee rushed out of the door and input the code, then rushed back into the coach. Ji-Ho motioned for the other vehicles to come through on the left side of the RV, and then he drove forward. They left the driveway, heading towards the 91 freeway.