Bug Out! Texas Book 7: Flood of Patriots

by Robert Boren

  “The US Navy has gotten involved in the Gulf,” Wallis said. “Long story, but we no longer have to worry about that area.”

  “You want us in South Padre Island to keep terrorists from entering Texas,” Juan Carlos said.

  “Exactly,” Wallis said. “You’ll be back at the job you were doing originally at Falcon Lake. Protecting our border.”

  “Excuse me for asking, but why are you on this call?” Richardson asked. “We could’ve been given these instructions by Jefferson.”

  Wallis chuckled. “Your jobs are going to change a little bit. Richardson, you’re being promoted to Captain, and you’ll be running the base in that area. Juan Carlos and Brendan, you’re both being promoted to Lieutenant, and you’ll be tasked with developing new crews to work the area.”

  “Whoa, dude,” Juan Carlos said.

  Wallis chuckled. “You folks have more than proven yourselves. Congratulations. You earned this.”

  “Yes, congratulations,” Jefferson said.

  “How about you?” Richardson asked.

  “Oh, I’m going up a notch too, and I’ll still be your CO. Hope that isn’t a disappointment.”

  “Not at all,” Richardson said. “I’m relieved, actually.”

  “Good,” Wallis said. “Is the leader of the civilian group with you?”

  “Yes,” Richardson said. “His name is Roberto.”

  “Hello, sir,” Roberto said.

  “Thank you for saving my people,” Wallis said.

  Roberto laughed. “They saved me as much as I saved them.”

  “Be that as it may, thanks very much. I’d like you to gather up the cost of any damage to your property and vehicles, and send them to me. Include data for all the people involved with your actions. The DPS will compensate you fully.”

  “Well thank you for that,” Roberto said. “There wasn’t much, and it was in our interest to do it.”

  “You guys got kinda forced into this when we arrived,” Richardson said.

  “I don’t look at it that way,” Roberto said. “The enemy was taking our women. Even our girls. We had to try to save them. We would’ve done that even if you weren’t here, but our chances of success went way up thanks to you guys and that crazy boat of yours.”

  “Boat?” Wallis asked.

  Richardson chuckled. “You haven’t been briefed on this one, I guess. We towed the boat to the scene and used the guns on her.”

  Wallis laughed. “I should’ve guessed. Nice job.”

  “You want us to tow the boat to South Padre Island, I hope,” Brendan asked.

  “Not necessary,” Wallis said. “Up to you.”

  “I think it’s prudent,” Jefferson said. “In case they get attacked on the road.”

  “Yeah, we’ll put Brendan and Juan Carlos back there again,” Richardson said. “The boat is still serviceable, except for one of the outboards. Easy to fix.”

  “Okay,” Wallis said. “We’ll have the new inboard versions down there waiting for your team, though.”

  “We ought to consider keeping a few of the old boats on hand,” Jefferson said.

  “I agree,” Richardson said.

  “You think they’re better?” Wallis asked.

  “No, but they draw less water, so you can take them places where we can’t take the new boats.”

  “Oh, I see,” Wallis said. “We’ve got half a dozen of them still at the factory. We were going to take the guns off them and put them on the new versions. I’ll tell them to go ahead and finish the ones they’ve got.”

  “Great,” Richardson said.

  “Okay, gentlemen, that’s all I’ve got,” Wallis said. “Congratulations, and keep up the good work.”

  “Thank you, sir,” Jefferson said.

  “Yeah, thanks,” Richardson said.

  Wallis got off the line.

  “Well, guys, what do you think?” Jefferson asked.

  “Wow,” Richardson said. “Didn’t expect that. I was afraid we were going to get an ass-chewing for the posting.”

  “You heard what Nelson said about it in the press conference,” Jefferson said.

  “True, but that was for public consumption,” Richardson said.

  “Do these new jobs mean that our men won’t be out on the water fighting as much?” Madison asked.

  “Eventually,” Jefferson said. “After we have the training done and the new teams in place.”

  “Good, then there’s light at the end of the tunnel, at least,” Hannah said.

  “Your men have good careers in front of them,” Jefferson said. “There’s pretty nice pay raises involved, too, you know.”

  “Yeah, you raised us more than one level,” Juan Carlos said. “Thanks, but why?”

  “You guys have proved your worth,” Jefferson said, “and remember that we’ve lost a lot of people too. You were in the right place at the right time with the right stuff.”

  “When should we leave?” Richardson asked.

  “Can you stick around there for a day or two?” Jefferson asked.

  “Yes, they’re welcome to,” Roberto said. “It would be our pleasure.”

  “Thanks,” Jefferson said. “I’ll talk to you in a few hours. Got a few things to work out.”

  “Thanks, boss,” Richardson said.

  “Keep your eyes open,” he said. “Take care of yourselves. See you in a few days.”

  The call ended.

  “So how much of a raise do we get?” Hannah asked.

  Madison chuckled. “Is that the main thing you’re worried about? I want to know where the safe place is to live. We almost didn’t survive down there, remember?”

  “I’ll bet they put us in Brownsville,” Lita said. “It’s the nearest city, and it’s pretty good sized. Not like Houston, but definitely big enough to get lost in.”

  “You guys were at South Padre Island when the enemy bombed the place?” Kris asked.

  “Yep,” Lita said. “Both my parent’s restaurant and their house in Port Isabel got destroyed.”

  “We got out just in the nick of time,” Madison said. “I loved it there, before all of this crap started.”

  “Yes, it was nice,” Lita said. “When the war is over, I’m sure my folks will want to rebuild.”

  “The restaurant or the house?” Hannah asked.

  “Both, probably,” Lita said. “Wonder how badly the house was damaged? Never got a good look.”

  “We’ll find out soon enough,” Richardson said.

  “I wish you guys were staying around here,” Kris said.

  “Me too,” Roberto said. “You’re good people.”

  “Thanks, we feel the same way about you,” Richardson said. “When this settles down, we’ll have you over for a little R & R.”

  “I’d love that,” Kris said. “I’ve been down there, but it’s been years.”

  “What are we doing today?” Juan Carlos asked.

  “Can I make a suggestion?” Madison asked.

  “Shoot,” Lita said.

  “It’d be nice to order up new Driver’s licenses, and buy some clothes.”

  “You don’t have any other clothes?” Kris asked. “Wondered why you were wearing the same thing this morning.

  “Our stuff got blown up in the Omni Hotel on the Riverwalk,” Lita said. “We need duplicate marriage licenses too.”

  “Is there a good place around here to do all of that?” Richardson asked.

  “The DMV is right off I-35,” Roberto said.

  “Plenty of clothes stores around too,” Kris said. “Not sure where you’d go to get duplicate marriage licenses.”

  “Oh, I was just kidding about that,” Lita said. “We’ll get it done eventually, of course.”

  “Hey, now that we’re getting raises, we ought to look at rings,” Hannah said.

  “Now there’s an idea,” Madison said.

  “Yep,” Lita said. “When should we leave?”

  “Why don’t we all go into town?” Richardson asked.
“We’ll buy breakfast.”

  “Sounds good,” Kris said. “We know some good places.”

  “Let’s go,” Lita said.

  “What about the boat?” Brendan asked.

  “Don’t worry, I’ll tie my dogs up to the trailer. Nobody will mess with it.”

  “That’s for sure, dude,” Juan Carlos said.

  Chapter 18 – Boxcars and Briefings

  Junior and Kelly watched as the massive freight train slowed by the prisoner of war encampment. It was dusty and desolate, outside of Adrian.

  “There they be,” Junior said. “Getting hot out here. Hopefully those boxcars have no air conditioning.”

  “Now be nice, Junior,” Kelly said.

  “I still think we should shoot all of them,” Junior said.

  “Here come the girls,” Kelly said, nodding towards the Jeep Unlimited rolling up and parking. The doors opened.

  “I’m telling you, man, we ought to blow them all away,” Junior said. “Somebody will spring them. Just wait and see.”

  “You heard what Ramsey said. No dice.”

  “What are you two yapping about?” Brenda asked, walking up with Rachel.

  “Junior here doesn’t favor being kind to our prisoners,” Kelly said.

  “That makes two of us,” Brenda said.

  “Hell, that probably makes all of us,” Rachel said.

  “Where’s Jason and Kyle?” Junior asked.

  “Helping Curt reload all the guns,” Brenda said.

  “Maybe we ought to go help,” Kelly said.

  “Yeah,” Junior said.

  “Wait, we’ve got a question,” Rachel said.

  “What?” Junior asked.

  “Where are we going next?”

  Junior chuckled. “That’s a good question. We’re supposed to have a call with Ramsey in a little while.”

  “We’re not that far from Amarillo,” Rachel said. “We should go back to our rigs.”

  “Maybe they want us taking off right away for the Santa Fe depot,” Junior said. “Strike while the iron is hot.”

  “Look, the National Guard guys are loading the prisoners,” Rachel said, pointing.

  “Maybe we ought to go give them a hand,” Junior said. “Some of them might resist.”

  Rachel laughed. “Yeah, if they don’t on their own, you’d probably push them, just so you could shoot them.”

  “Okay, you found me out,” Junior said.

  “I think we ought to go help Curt and the others,” Kelly said.

  “We should go back to Adrian anyway,” Brenda said. “That’s why we’re out here – to round you guys up before it gets too late. I want to be in on this conference call. Where we doing it?”

  “High School Gym,” Kelly said. “We’ll follow you back.”

  “Okay,” Brenda said. She and Rachel went back to their Jeep. Kelly and Junior went to their truck. They made the dusty run back to town, parking near the Adrian High School.

  “There’s so many people here,” Junior said.

  “You ain’t kidding,” Kelly said. They joined Rachel and Brenda, walking towards the gym. Jason, Kyle, Eric, and Curt were on their way too, and they met about fifty yards from the building.

  “Where’s Kate, Amanda, and Kim?” Rachel asked.

  “In the gym already,” Jason said. “It’s air conditioned.”

  “Oh, thank God,” Brenda said.

  “We were gonna help you guys reload,” Kelly said. “You still have some to do?”

  “Nah, we’re done,” Kyle said. “Most of the folks had done that themselves.”

  “Told you, pencil neck,” Curt said. “I taught all of them how when they checked out on the weapons.”

  “Did you remember to lock up Amanda’s truck?” Jason asked. “Still a lot of ammo in there.”

  “Of course,” Curt said.

  They went through the doors into the gym. It was filling up quickly.

  “We’re not all going to fit in here,” Junior said.

  “Yeah,” Jason said. “Not everybody wants to come anyway.”

  “You have any idea what’s going on?” Junior asked.

  “Not really,” Jason said.

  Moe and Clancy were down in the center of the room, helping some school officials set up the audio system.

  Dirk, Chance, and Brushy walked over to Junior and Kelly.

  “What’s cooking, guys?” Chance asked.

  “Yeah, we going to hit the depot pretty soon?” Brushy asked. “I’d love to go nail some more of these heathens.”

  “We’ll find out soon,” Jason said. “The meeting ought to be starting any minute now.”

  “Look, Moe’s trying to get your attention,” Kyle said.

  “Oh,” Jason said. “Okay, I’ll go down there.”

  “I’ll go too,” Kyle said.

  They headed to the center of the room. Kim and Kate walked over to Junior and Kelly, Eric following them.

  “What’s going on?” Kate asked. “It about to get started? I see Jason and Kyle down there.”

  “Moe called them over,” Junior said. “We’ll see.”

  Jason and Kyle got to Moe.

  “What’s up?” Jason asked.

  “We got Ramsey on the line. He wants to chat with you for a second before we start the briefing.”

  “Okay,” Jason said. “How?”

  “He’s just on my cellphone now. Gather close and I’ll put it on speaker.” He pushed the button. “Hear us, chief? Sorry about the background noise.”

  “Yeah, I hear you,” Ramsey said. “You get Jason?”

  “Yeah, and Kyle’s with him,” Moe said.

  “Perfect,” Ramsey said.

  “What’s going on, boss?” Jason asked.

  “Big change of plans. Just wanted to let you know, since this won’t be an interactive meeting.”

  “Okay, go ahead,” Jason said.

  “We aren’t sending you guys to that depot. It’s being destroyed as we speak, by the US Airforce.”

  “Really,” Jason said. “We still going into New Mexico?”

  “Yep,” Ramsey said. “We won’t need quite as large of a group, though. We’re gonna suggest that the core group go back to Amarillo to pick up their rigs. Then we’ll send you down to the El Paso area.”

  “I thought we had a group in El Paso,” Kyle said.

  “We did, son, but they got attacked. What’s left of them aren’t in that area anymore.”

  “Dammit,” Jason said. “So what are we gonna do?”

  “You’re going to follow I-25 up, blowing a number of key bridges, so the enemy can’t use that road as a pipeline anymore,” Ramsey said. “You’re also going to pilot a new capability for Texas. General Hogan will meet you in Las Cruces to tell you more. That part won’t be mentioned in the larger meeting.”

  Kyle and Jason glanced at each other.

  “You guys okay?” Ramsey asked.

  “Yeah,” Jason said. “We aren’t working for Texas then, are we?”

  “You’re working for both Texas and for the USA, which we plan to rejoin as soon as we can,” Ramsey said. “We’re sending the bulk of the forces that joined you to El Paso as well, but then they’ll fan out south along the Mexican border to stop the enemy from trying that as an alternate route. There are other groups that will be added as well. Our main objective is to stop the re-supply of men and materiel to the main enemy groups.”

  “What about all of the bad guys hiding in Texas?” Kyle asked.

  “We’ll deal with them soon enough. It’ll be easier than you think, but I can’t talk about that any more at this point. General Hogan will fill you in.”

  “Okay, sounds good,” Jason said.

  “That’s all I’ve got for you at the moment. You can put me on the loud speakers now. I’ll be brief.”

  Jason nodded to Moe, who plugged his phone into the audio equipment and turned on the power. He picked up a microphone and switched it on.

  “Can I have ev
erybody’s attention please?”

  The noise in the room came down quickly, people turning their attention towards the center of the room.

  “This is going to be a short briefing, given by Chief Ramsey of Austin PD, who’s acting as a top adviser to Governor Nelson. Go ahead, Chief.”

  “Hi, everybody. Thanks for coming, and thanks so much for your support and participation in the great victory along I-40. Texas will remember you all.”

  People in the room cheered for close to a minute, then settled down.

  “We’ve had a change of plans. Circumstances are going our way, and we now have connections in the US Airforce, as you saw in the battle. The Santa Fe Depot is being destroyed by a large air strike as we speak. We will still ask for your help.”

  The room quieted down even more.

  “Here’s the plan. We’re putting together two teams. The first one will go into New Mexico from El Paso in the south, and will concentrate on destroying bridges and other road infrastructure along I-25, which is currently the main supply route for the enemy in Colorado and Utah. This will help General Hogan to defeat the enemy in the Southwest.”

  There were murmurs in the room.

  “We still fighting for Texas or not?” one person yelled.

  “Yes, we are still fighting for Texas, and for the USA which we plan to re-join when this is over, as Governor Nelson said in his press conference. The second team will also head for El Paso, but they will go south from there to protect the border with Mexico. This is crucial, because once we cut off the supply line on I-25, the enemy will attempt to come that way. This will be the large team, and you will be supplied with weapons, ammo, food, and vehicles to pursue this mission. It’s voluntary, but we’d sure like your help.”

  There were cheers in the room, and shouts of “We’ll do it” and the like.

  “Sounds like we have a lot of people willing to help,” Ramsey said. “We’ll use El Paso as a rendezvous point for the second, larger group. That’s where you’ll pick up the supplies and further instructions.”

  “When do we leave?” somebody shouted.

  “Tomorrow morning, but you don’t have to leave all in one giant clump. It’ll take a while for the first team to get into place. I suggest that the large group go south on I-27, then take I-20 to I-10. That’ll put you in El Paso. The first group will take I-40 into New Mexico and then go south on Route 54 from Santa Rosa.”