by Robert Boren
“Look, Humvee behind those two semis,” Carrie said, pointing.
Jason drove their rig next to the Humvee and shut down the engine. The other vehicles stopped around them, filling the large area in a few minutes. There were two privates setting up a folding table next to the Humvee. Jason left the coach and walked over to them.
“Private Brown? Private Sanchez?”
“Yes sir,” the black private said, smiling. He walked over to shake hands.
“Hey, you look a whole lot like General Hogan,” Jason said. The other private cracked up.
“Shut up, Sanchez,” Private Brown said.
“Hogan is his daddy,” Sanchez said.
“I said shut up,” Brown said.
“They didn’t tell us we couldn’t say anything, and we know we can trust these guys.”
Brown smiled and shrugged his shoulders. “Okay, okay, you’re right. Yes, I’m General Hogan’s son. You Jason?”
“Yep. What are you setting the table up for?”
“We’re going to install apps onto your cellphones. Have your people form a line. It takes about two minutes per phone. We’ll use one machine for iPhones and one for Androids to start with.”
“Okay,” Jason said. “I’ll get the word out. What are you putting on, exactly?”
“Two apps that will allow you to see enemy RFID chips,” Brown said. “One is short-range, peer to peer. The other one is long range, and works with GPS.”
“Oh, so that will tell us where the enemy is,” Jason said, “Any of them nearby here?”
“Not within a half a mile,” Brown said.
“Yeah, we’d get buzzed,” Sanchez said. “And not in a good way.”
“Sanchez,” Brown said, shaking his head. “You set up for iPhones. I’ll set up for Androids. That way I can talk more.
Curt and Amanda walked up. “Hey pencil neck, what’s with the table?”
“Guys, this is Curt,” Jason said. “Curt, this is Brown and Sanchez. They’re going to load apps on our phones. Want to spread the word? Tell everybody to line up here with their phones. Androids on the right, iPhones on the left.”
“Okay,” Curt said. He and Amanda turned to meet the gang of people who were approaching.
“He the guy who came up with those gimbal designs?” Sanchez asked.
“Yeah,” Jason said. “You’ve heard of him?”
“The General has spoken highly of him,” Brown said.
“Well whatever you do, don’t tell him. His head is big enough as it is.”
Sanchez and Brown chuckled.
People lined up in two lines as requested. Carrie came out with Chelsea.
“Is it what you thought?” she asked.
“Yep,” Jason said.
“You expected this?” Brown asked.
“We know about the RFID chips,” Jason said. “We also know that your dad has a person working on these apps.”
“Really?” Brown said. “Interesting. We didn’t know who else even knew about the chips.”
“My brother Eric noticed the scars on the bodies, and dug some of them out.”
“How do we know a huge force of Islamists won’t roll right in here?” Carrie asked, eyes darting around nervously.
Brown took his phone out and pulled up his long-range app. “I can show you where they are. Look. See those icons?”
“Wow,” Carrie said. “Is that I-25?”
“Yep,” Brown said. “Heard you guys will be working the southern part of their route.”
“Yeah,” Jason said.
“You have an iPhone or an Android?” Brown asked.
“We’ve both got iPhones,” Jason said. “You got yours, honey?”
“Yeah,” she said, pulling it out of her pocket. Jason handed both phones to Brown and watched as he hooked the first one up to a black box sitting on the table. He pushed a button and a flashing red light came on.
“That bad?” Jason asked.
“No, that means it’s loading. That’ll stop, and a green light will come on. Then we reboot your phone, and you’re done.”
“You going to give us some training on these?”
“Yep, but lets get them loaded up first,” Sanchez said. “Then we’ll talk to everybody.”
“Okay,” Jason said.
“Here’s the first one,” Brown said, handing it to Jason, who in turn handed it to Carrie.
“Go ahead and restart it,” Brown said.
“You mean shut it down and start it again?” Carrie asked.
“Yep,” Brown said. He watched as Jason’s phone was loaded. When the green light came on, he unplugged it and handed it to Jason. “There you go. Next!”
Jason and Carrie backed away and watched the line move.
“Hear that?” Jason asked. “Sounds like the tank flat-beds are here.”
Carrie turned and looked. “Yep, they’re here. They’ve been keeping up pretty well this time.”
“You guys have tanks?” Sanchez asked when he saw them. “Nice.”
“Used to have four,” Junior said, in line on the Android side. “Lost one in the Battle of Fort Stockton.”
Kelly laughed from behind him. “You gonna name the battles now, Junior?”
“Sure, why not? There’s been so many. Hard to keep them straight in my mind.”
Rachel rolled her eyes and looked over at Brenda. “These two are like little kids.”
“And yet we follow them around,” Brenda said.
“True,” Rachel said.
People gathered around Jason and Carrie as their phones were finished. The line was moving, but it was long. It took over an hour to get everybody’s phones done.
“Okay, is there anybody out there that we missed?” Brown shouted.
Nobody said anything.
“Okay, let’s go over a few things. Can everybody hear me okay?”
“Yep,” Eric said, leaning against Jason’s rig, holding Chelsea.
“There are two applications on your phones. One is always on. It’s called the Short-Range App. It will buzz you if enemy RFID chips are within about a half mile of your position. It’s peer to peer, and works even if you have no cell coverage. This is your first line of defense.”
Sanchez walked to the Humvee and picked up a small lead box. He set it down on the table. “Everybody please look at your phones.” He lifted the lid of the box, and everybody got buzzed.
“Whoa crap!” Dirk said. Others made comments too, and there was murmuring in the crowd.
“What’d you just do?” Chance asked.
“There’s an enemy RFID chip in this box,” Sanchez said. “Its signal can’t go through lead. When I opened the box, you all got a hit. Click the location button and you’ll see a map with the location of the chip on it.”
“Wow,” Kim said, looking at her phone.
“When I stop running, push the refresh button on your app.” Sanchez picked up the open box and trotted about fifty yards away, then stopped.
Everybody pushed refresh, and they got buzzed again. The hit moved on the map display.
“You see that if there’s a chip nearby, the app will find it again if you refresh?” Sanchez asked as he trotted back.
People said yes or nodded their heads.
“Okay,” Sanchez said. He put the lid back on the box. “Hit refresh again.”
“No buzz,” several people said.
“You see how that works?” Brown asked. “You can use refresh to track movement. If you’re in an area and you get a hit, you can bring up the map and see the exact location for that moment. Then you can refresh again and see them moving on the map. This has proven to be very valuable already. Its saved lives.”
“Wow,” Curt said. “Nice.”
“The other application is the Long-Range App. You and your targets must be within LTE range for this one to work. Find the tile that says LR and push it.”
Everybody did this, and it brought up a map of roughly five miles around their current locat
ion.
“Does anybody see any hits?” Brown asked.
“Nope,” Curt said. Others around them nodded affirmative.
“Okay, now zoom out, just like you would with your normal map application. Expand until you can see most of New Mexico.”
“Holy crap,” Dirk said, showing his phone to Cindy. “Look at I-25”
“That’s our mission,” Don said.
“Yes, it is,” Brown said. “Now we have to go over some guidelines. You folks are getting these apps ahead of the release, and you will see an upgrade coming. Hopefully soon.”
“What kind of upgrade?” Curt asked.
“The upgrade will allow you to see the name, rank, and country of origin of each RFID chip,” Sanchez said. “We don’t want the enemy to know about these applications until we have that functionality in place, and can use it to target their leadership.”
“Why’s that so important?” asked Moe.
“All enemy ranks have RFID chips implanted,” Brown said. “This includes Federal and State Government officials, and traitors in the Armed Forces at State and Federal levels.”
“Oh, crap, I get it,” Curt said. “You want to lower the boom before the enemy knows we have the capability.”
“Yes, so here are the rules,” Brown said. “No using this to coordinate attacks anywhere outside of New Mexico. Does everybody understand?”
“What about the enemy we engage here?” Eric asked. “We can use it against them, correct?”
“Yes,” Brown said, “but always guard your phones with your lives. We need to hide this capability. The main reason we gave these to you is to protect you from ambush while you destroy the enemy supply lines.”
“All enemy fighters found in New Mexico are to be killed,” Sanchez said. “No exceptions. Does everybody understand?”
“Well that makes things simple,” Curt said. “I like simple.”
“You like to kill enemy fighters,” Junior quipped, grin on his face.
“Shut up, pencil neck,” Curt said. Brown and Sanchez glanced at each other, trying not to crack up.
“One last thing,” Sanchez said. “If any of you break the rules, or if you are captured, the apps will be erased remotely. You’ll have to check in every twelve hours. I’ll give Jason several phone numbers. If we don’t hear from you, we’ll zap all of these apps. Does everybody understand?”
“Yeah, we understand,” Curt said. “Don’t worry, we’ll play ball. We appreciate the help. We might just survive this crazy mission with these tools.”
A few people laughed. Carrie looked at Jason and saw a terrified look on his face.
“What are you seeing?” Carrie whispered. He showed her his phone screen.
“Is that Austin?” she asked, eyes wide.
He nodded yes, then got Brown’s attention. He came over, Sanchez following him.
“Look at this,” Jason said, holding his phone up to them.
“Son of a bitch,” Sanchez said.
“That’s the state capitol area,” Brown said. “Zoom in closer. It just looks like a blob at this distance.”
Jason nodded and zoomed in.
“Shit, man,” Brown said. “There’s at least twenty thousand enemy fighters there.”
“I’d say more like fifty thousand,” Sanchez said. “Remember the rules.”
“Nelson’s about to get hit,” Jason said. “The entire Government of Texas is right there. Even Commissioner Wallis is back there now.”
“Dammit,” Sanchez said. “Forget it. We can’t lose the war just to save a handful of people.”
“Seriously?” Jason asked.
“Stop,” Brown said. “Don’t do anything yet. I’m calling my dad.”
To be continued in Bug Out! Texas Book 8, coming soon.
Cast Of Characters
Texas Hill Country Group
Jason – Austin PD. Young man with family. Brave, trustworthy, great in a fight, loyal. Six foot four and handsome with thick sable hair. Considered to be a high-potential employee by Austin PD. Responsible. Mid 30s.
Carrie – Jason’s wife. Strong, brave, witty, smart. Short dark hair and delicate, pretty face. Girl next-door type. Has calming effect on Jason and others. Good in a fight, brave to a fault. Pregnant. Mid 30s.
Chelsea – toddler, daughter of Jason and Carrie. Cute, rambunctious.
Kyle – Austin PD. Partner of Jason. Large man, built like a linebacker, with sandy blonde hair and a sly grin. Cheerful, funny, great in a fight, puts on front of being player, but really a romantic. Worships girlfriend Kate. Mid 30s.
Kate – strong, beautiful, emotional, witty. Former news reporter for a local Texas TV station. Fell hard for Kyle, carrying his baby. Temper. Early 30s.
Kelly – leader of Rednecks. Huge man with long brown hair and a beard. Tough, gruff, smart, great judge of character. Strategic thinker. Man’s man. In love with Brenda. Mid 50s
Brenda – half-owner of Texas Mary’s Bar and Grill in Dripping Springs. Voluptuous with bleach blonde hair and a slightly wild look. Deeply in love with Kelly. Extremely intelligent. Runs business side of Texas Mary’s. Strong but worries about Kelly constantly. Good in a fight. Mid 50s.
Junior – Kelly’s best friend. A tall rail of a man with a thick beard, usually wearing a battered cowboy hat. Funny, crazy, smarter than most people realize, good in a fight, strong, loyal to the death. In love with Rachel. Early 50s.
Rachel – picked up on the road. Black hair and brown eyes, short and thin, with a face of delicate beauty. Former drug abuser with difficult past. Lost only child to SIDS, which broke up her first marriage and led to the drug abuse. Leans on Junior, needs strong man in her life. Late 30s.
Nate – co-leader of Rednecks. A small man with hawkish eyes. Shrewd, brave, temper, known to get into trouble, extremely loyal to friends. Always thinking. Mid 50s.
Fritz – member of Rednecks. Tall and thin, long hair. Questionable past, can be cruel, loyal to his friends. Not as smart as Kelly, Junior, or Nate, but brave in a fight with good skills. Not one to tangle with. In trouble with the law more often than the other Rednecks due to temper. Early 60s.
Chris – Brenda’s ex-husband and co-owner of Texas Mary’s. A large, heavyset man with a shaved head and goatee, giving him the look of a biker. Still loves Brenda, but the relationship has been over for years. Brave, careful, measured, good at business, good host, liked by everybody. Not as smart as Brenda or Kelly. Mid 50s.
Curt – former police officer in Austin, and most recently San Antonio. Large man with a military haircut, clean shaven. Punched superior officer in San Antonio. Genius. Renaissance man. Understands many technical disciplines, creative, skilled. Has temper but with heart of gold. Likes to tease his friends. Would die for them. Skilled fighter who can turn the tide of a battle on his own. Sense of humor can be very crude but funny. Mid 40s.
Simon Orr – dangerous leader of militia movement, trying to take over Kelly’s group. Large man wearing cowboy garb. Shadowy, cruel. Crossover character from original Bug Out! Series. Wants to become warlord. Playing against every side except his own. Mid 40s.
Sydney – one of the Merchant girls living outside of Fredericksburg, next to Jason’s family homestead. Grew up with Jason and his brother Eric. Former teenage girlfriend of Eric. Beautiful, smart, funny, avid hunter and tracker, runs family moonshine business with her sister Amanda. Raven hair and stunning bright blue eyes. Mid 30s.
Amanda – Sydney’s older sister. Raunchy, wild, aggressive, knows what she wants and goes for it hard. Beautiful, deep blue eyes like Sydney, hair bleached blond, contrasts with jet-black eyebrows. Tattoos. Smart, good negotiator, runs family moonshine business with Sydney, more technically savvy. Early 40s.
Gray – leader of the bikers, originally from southwest Texas. A large man with black hair and a black beard. Brave and resourceful, suspicious of strangers, but loyal once he’s gained respect. Late 40s.
Cindy – Gray’s wife. Nervous, small dainty blonde
with tattoos and piercings. Pretty face ravaged by a hard life. Early 40s.
Moe – owner of the Fort Stockton RV Park. Overweight and balding with a gray and brown beard, shrewd and strong, strategic thinker, protective, kind. Mid 60s.
Clancy – Moe’s nephew. Scraggly thin man with a wicked grin and long stringy brown hair. Works at the Fort Stockton RV Park. Smart as a whip with good intuition. Outdoorsman. Protective of the group, good with technology, good at organizing and getting things done. Mid-30s.
Brushy – owner of an RV Park overrun early in the story. He’s been missing for a while. Small man with a huge beard and long hair, about sixty years old. Good in a fight, fearless, crazy, funny.
Pat – Brushy’s sister, owner of the Amarillo Oasis RV Park. She’s a couple years younger than Brushy, with a similar look. Short, robust, friendly, smart. Brave, angry at the invaders.
Jake – owner of a farm house north of Lamesa. Joins the group at that point. Small thin man with a folksy way and a lot of heart.
Jax – huge man with a blonde beard and a shaved head. Joined the group with a huge group of citizens. Gung ho, brave to a fault, cunning and loyal.
East Texas/Florida Group
Eric – Jason’s brother. Over six feet tall with a trim but massive build. Was living in Florida before the war started. Private Investigator working elder fraud cases in retirement areas of central Florida. Brave, very athletic. Fast, good with guns and other weapons. Smart, charismatic. Loved by everybody. Loyal to a fault. Mid 30s.
Kim – Eric’s girlfriend. Red-haired, freckled beauty with a slim build. Tough as nails but gentle, head over heels in love with Eric. Mid 30s.
Dirk – leader of Deadwood, Texas group. Medium sized man with a muscular build. Gruff, shrewd, brave, sentimental. Loves family and friends. Large man, muscular build. Late 50s, but a young late 50s.