by Leo Nix
Homeland Defense
Sundown Apocalypse Book 3
Leo Nix
Copyright (C) 2017 Leo Nix
Layout design and Copyright (C) 2018 by Creativia
Published 2018 by Creativia
Cover art by Stephen Kingston
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the author's permission.
Contact the author, Leo Nix: http://www.leo-nix.com/
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/LeoNixSundown/
Web: http://www.wingtipdesign.com.au/
A special thank you to Marja for her generous support and the difficult task of proof reading; to Peter for his ongoing technical assistance in all things military and Bruce for his ongoing support of everything I get up to.
Dedication: To my wife Marja, see, I told you I could write.
I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge and show respect, to the first Australians, our land's traditional custodians, the aboriginal people.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1 - Sundown - Pedro
Chapter 2 - Sundown - Prospector's Hideaway
Chapter 3 - Nulla - Out Of The Frying Pan
Chapter 4 - Sundown - Wilson's War - Arkaroola
Chapter 5 - Sundown - Blondie's Revenge
Chapter 6 - Blood Brothers
Chapter 7 - Cain and Abel
Chapter 8 - Arkaroola Wilderness
Chapter 9 - Blondie's Secret
Chapter 10 - Crossing the Simpson Desert
Chapter 11 - Sundown Dreamer
Chapter 12 - Alice Springs Demon
Chapter 13 - To Sanctuary
Chapter 14 - Stosstruppen Storm Troopers
Chapter 15 - Patrol One
Chapter 16 - Prepare and Retaliate
Chapter 17 - Ancient Sparta
Chapter 18 - Lovers Fantasy
Chapter 19 - Coup
Chapter 20 - Relief and Rescue
Chapter 21 - Sundown's Command
Chapter 22 - The Christian Palace
Chapter 23 - The Push
Chapter 24 - Sundown's Challenge
Chapter 25 - Epilogue
Glossary of Australian Words
Characters in Book 3 - Sundown Apocalypse: Homeland Defense
Chapter 1 - Sundown - Pedro
Shadow held Pedro's limp, moist hand in both of hers and looked up at Lorraine.
“Is he going to die?” she asked softly.
Lorraine was sitting beside them both and nodded. “If we don't get some antibiotics or penicillin into him soon, he won't last the week.”
McFly entered to find his wife and Lorraine crying at Pedro's bedside. “What? Is he dead already?” he blurted out when he saw the two girls in tears.
“Darn it, McFly, not so loud, he'll hear you!” whispered Lorraine. “Can you please sit with Shadow and Pedro for a while? I've got to check with Sundown about that drug order he's sending Fat Boy to collect.”
“I'm not bloody dead yet, you boofheads,” croaked Pedro, his eyes still shut, “and I can hear every damn word, McFly.”
Shadow almost leaped out of her chair when she heard him, “Pedro,” she yelped as she hugged his emasculated body, “you scared the living daylights out of us.”
“Just keepin' you's on yer toes, me little missie,” he whispered.
“Pedro, it's me, McFly.” He leaned over almost touching Pedro's ear with his lips. “Do you need anything? A drink, a beer, a smoke or something?”
“Get out'a me ear'ol, yer damn boofhead! And yes to all of those. I'm bloody parched, I need a beer.” He moved a little as he tried to sit up. “Not one of that bludger Andy's warm, fruity piss he passes off as beer, I need a real beer. Get me a cold one from Harry's secret stash.” The old man had a bit more force to his voice now as he slowly forced open his eyes. His skin was hot to the touch and yellowish, his eyes bloodshot, he was bathed in sweat.
“On my way old man,” said McFly with a grin. “And boofhead yourself, you old bastard, I thought you were dead.”
“I'll bloody go when I want to bloody go! The old scythe-master ain't tapped me on the shoulder yet.” Pedro lay back panting as Shadow propped him up with some pillows. “Shadow, me little girlie is it? Can ya push me up a bit more? I need to get into action when McFly brings me that cold beer. You can't drink beer through a straw ya know.”
McFly informed everyone in the kitchen that Pedro was awake. When Billie heard he ambled himself in like he owned the place.
“Hey, me ol' son, Pedro, how's it goin'?” he said sitting on Pedro's bed, his skinny legs swinging back and forth like pantihose on a clothes line.
“Hi Billie, got that hip flask on ya, mate? I could do with a drop of the ol' mountin' dew.” Pedro smiled for the first time in quite a few days.
Lorraine was just on her way to Andrew's office when she spied Billie entering Pedro's room. She suspected what he might be up to, so she followed him.
“Billie!” she called through the open door in her proper British nurses voice, reserved for troublesome patients. “I can see you, and put that rum flask back in your pocket, or I'll tell Tricia. She'll cut your rum ration, and you know she will.”
Billie stopped, with flask in hand, half way to Pedro's lips. “I'll be damned! That woman has eyes in 'er backside I'm sure of it,” he said as he eased his flask back into his pocket. “Sorry, Pedro me ol' son, that woman scares me, her and that damn Tricia. They remind me of me childhood in the convent school. Bloody, damn nun's tortured the living daylights out of us kids, and I was one of them goody two-shoes too.”
Pedro pushed himself up into an awkward sitting position. He tried to yell but he only made a faint whisper in retaliation. “Look wot ya done, Lorraine, ya big bully! Ya frightened me ol' mate, Billie. It's damn unfair scaring that nice old man.” He paused for a second then called, “Ya boofhead!” Then he eased back into the fluffed-up pillows.
“Darn it, Pedro,” said Shadow as she settled him in again, “just ease up a bit will you. McFly's going to find a way through that incoming fire with your beer then you'll be all right. So just relax.” She wiped his sweaty face with the wet cloth.
Lulu and Donna came in with some soup and another tub of water. Pedro groaned, “Shit, not another bloody bucket of water. I'm up to me back teeth in damn water. Now ya's have to add soup to it. I'm already farting like Niagara Falls,” he complained.
“Pedro, Lorraine said you have to have it, it flushes the shit out of ya system she said. Come on, sit up and let us pretty, young girlie's feed yer proper,” said the ever bright Lulu. For once she was almost serious. Like all of them she was afraid Pedro would pass away soon. “You're sick Pedro so just let us help you.” She turned away and a tear dropped onto her t-shirt.
“OK, but only if ya help McFly bring me a cold beer, or I won't drink a drop o' that butt fountain-water.” Pedro was slowly coming back to his old cantankerous self.
“Lorraine, for the tenth time we've got the list of medications ready for Fat Boy and Blondie. We've got Bill's parts he needs to collect too. They'll be heading off soon, in just a few minutes.” Andrew was sitting in his office with Sundown studying the maps for the two biker's rescue trek. It was just on dawn and the place was starting to crawl with soldiers and Sundown's commando
s.
A head poked in through the office door. “Sundown, ah, Andrew, you don't mind me joining you for minute?” It was Captain Lewis' smiling face. “We'll soon be heading back to Alice Springs, but we heard there's a bit of a crisis happening. Do you need some help?”
Sundown looked across at him and nodded. “We sure could do with some extra fire support captain, come on in. Where's the major?”
“He's just checking the vehicles, he said he'll be here in a minute. What's this about? We heard Pedro was dying or something.” The captain's face was now serious.
“Yeah, he took a turn during the night. Lorraine and Tricia have ordered us to get some penicillin or antibiotics from somewhere. But we've got nothing like that here so we're sending Fat Boy to Mt Isa for it. It's the closest large town and it should have what they need,” replied Sundown. “I was just wondering, would your boys want to go along? It means setting up an ambush just outside Mount Isa. You might need to set it on the edge of the township to collect Fat Boy when he leaves, just in case he has to leave in a hurry.”
The captain's face lit up in a smile that threatened to break his face in two.
“You bloody betchya we would!” he almost yelled, “I was waiting for something like this. We've not had a proper stand up stoush ever! Me and the boys were hoping that meeting you lot would give us somewhere to point our 25 mm guns.” He let out a little 'whoop!' and then stopped, calmed his face and continued. “Sorry, Sundown, I got a little carried away with myself. Right, what do you have planned? I'm sure the major will permit you to advise us.”
“Thanks, Captain Lewis, we certainly do appreciate this,” said Sundown smoothly. “OK, we've got Fat Boy and Blondie heading into Mt Isa in about five minutes. They'll be riding their Harley-Davidson. I was planning to send Wiram and an armed squad with our two machine guns to set up an ambush about three hundred k's from here and another just outside Mount Isa itself. But if you can take your ASLAV, and we include one of our commandos, that should be enough. What do you think?”
“They've got, what, six hundred kilometres to Mt Isa? Fat Boy should be able to do that in a day, even though it's mostly dirt. It's dangerous at speed though, hmm.” The captain rubbed his chin, thinking. “Our intelligence tell us the terrorists have multiple road blocks, and the township's controlled by them and the local bikie gang. We've had the town under surveillance for months and every exit and entry point is covered. They've started preparations to move against you lot too.” The captain nodded at Andrew and Sundown when he said that. He continued quickly. “We weren't going to tell you until we knew for certain you were with us, but you might as well know now.”
“Thanks for telling us, Captain,” said Andrew dryly. “We need your ASLAV to run up there in about an hour, do you think you could manage that?”
“Better than that, we'll send two bushmasters and the ASLAV, and hit them up the arse once we get Fat Boy out of there.” The captain was almost salivating. “Leave it to me, I'll get it sorted out right now. Who did you want to send with us?”
Andrew looked at Sundown and said, “Assassin hasn't had much time on patrol and he's been pestering to get away from the CB listening post again. Not McFly, he's asked to have a break from patrolling to spend more time with his missus. Not Wiram, I want him here to run the Birdsville Track and Marree patrols. What about Cambra and Donna?”
Sundown ran his fingers through his hair thinking. He wanted to go himself. A ride in the Bushmasters at one hundred kph would be fun, he thought. “Yeah, OK, send Cambra and Donna, she deserves a break. Oh, hang on, Lulu and Danni might get upset. Hmm, OK, Cambra and his girls, Lulu and Danni, they work well together. I know the girl's are busy fussing over Pedro, and might not be able to focus, but I'll offer it to them anyway.” He was thinking out loud, something he did a lot these days. “OK, I'll get them here and ask them.”
The captain headed out to his crews while Sundown went to find Cambra and his fan club. He knew Cambra looked after the two teenagers like they were his daughters. The problem, he realised, could be those hot blooded soldiers all crammed into the vehicles for several days. But then again, he was sure the girls could handle them well enough, he'd seen the girls in action enough times to know that. Besides, he thought, if they could handle the terrorists at the mines they can handle our own soldiers, he thought.
Sundown knocked and entered Pedro's room. McFly was trying to hide the beer he'd just brought in for his old mate.
Shadow said, “Hi,” as she looked around nervously to see if Lorraine was behind him, while Lulu and Donna flushed a bright red.
“It's OK everybody, it's only me, for crying-out-loud.” Sundown nodded at McFly to continue. McFly quickly brought the bottle out from behind his back and handed it to Pedro.
“Ahhhhh,” sighed Pedro, “give me that any day! Sundown, me ol' matey, what's happening? I can hear footsteps racing everywhere. Are we in trouble?”
“Nope, not that I know of, except for your damn legs and blood poisoning, we're just dandy.” He smiled brightly and shook Pedro's extended hand. Pedro didn't let go but pulled his friend closer to him.
“I'm not well, boyo, when I fart me butt squirts and it's damn embarrassing. Tell the girls to leave off with the water and just give me beer will you?” He winked at his friends around him. Just then he passed wind, loudly. “Damn, can someone get that for me?” he chuckled and there were tears dripping down his face. “I never knew what a relief it would be to let someone else clean me arse for me,” he chuckled again. Sundown, and everyone else, knew those tears weren't necessarily happy ones, the poor old warrior was in a lot of pain.
“OK, everyone out,” said Lorraine as she and Tricia entered. They could smell Pedro's latest production from the other room. “We'll look after this, we've done it a million times before. Just give us some room and then we'll leave you lot to get back to having your fun.”
“Thanks ladies, be gentle with him. I need him back on deck by the weekend. And Lorraine, don't wipe his smile away, OK?” Sundown tried a joke but not even Pedro smiled back. “That went down like a lead balloon didn't it,” he said as he walked out with the others.
The break gave Sundown the opportunity to sort out what he was really there for. “Lulu, go and get Danni and Cambra, please. Bring them to Andy's office, pronto. I need you all there five minutes ago,” he said.
Lulu looked up realising something exciting was in the air. She leaped away to find her friends, her wide smile shone bright against her dark complexion.
“Shadow, I want you, McFly and Pinkie ready to go on a patrol with me to Alice Springs Command. Your reward for good behaviour.” He smiled at her and McFly who were standing in shock at the news. “Don't fall over, consider it a wedding present. We'll head out as soon as we can if all goes well with Fat Boy's visit to Mt Isa. Right, get a move on, Andy's waiting to talk to you about preparations for the trip.”
Turning to Donna he said, “Donna, Wiram and I think it's time you took responsibility to run your own patrols. From now on you'll be Wiram's second in command to help him run the Birdsville Track patrols - you're now his adjutant, his 2IC. You'll make sure what he says happens. You might not see a whole lot of action but you'll be organising and running things from behind the scenes.” Donna shook all over then reached up and kissed him on the cheek.
“Boss, you've got a deal, wait till I tell mum and dad!” She raced off to tell everyone the grand news.
“Sundown,” said Captain Lewis, “Major Thomson has requested we meet with Fat Boy before he leaves to make sure our plans are water tight.”
“Fine,” said Sundown, “tell the major I'll meet him and his crew leaders in two minutes.” He turned and walked back to Pedro's room where he could hear Fat Boy and Blondie talking.
As he entered he saw Pedro patting Fat Boy on the back as the giant of a man leaned over his bed hugging the withered old warrior. Pedro looked up at Sundown with worried eyes.
“Boyo, me big boofheaded
matey here won't stop crying.” He turned back to Fat Boy, “Now stop that and let me up, yer squashing me.” He patted Fat Boy on the back some more. Blondie stepped over and pulled Fat Boy off him.
“Hell, you'd think I was already dead the amount of people who've come in here crying. Now stop it, it's upsetting me.” He turned to Sundown. “Fat Boy says he's on a 'Mission from God' to get some drugs for me. Mount Isa is it? I know I'm crook but that's a long ride to fetch a bottle of pills for someone old and decrepit like me. I'd not even bother if I had the choice.” He chuckled and Sundown noted that his voice was stronger than it was earlier.
Fat Boy stopped crying, “You're worth it mini-me, me skinny little brother. I might not come back though, that's what's worrying me and Blondie. We, ah, we don't really have a good reputation in Mount Isa, but if anyone can pull it off, it's Blondie. I'm just the driver this time.” Fat Boy wiped his tears with his bandanna.
“Pedro, say your good-byes, I've got to get these two on their way. I'll be back in a half hour.” Sundown turned and led the two adventurers off to Andrew's office. He saw Jenny heading towards Pedro's room, “Jenny, can you sit with him for a while, please, until I finish sending this lot off?”
Jenny nodded, “Sure, Sundown, I was just dropping in for a yarn anyway. I'll wait for you.”
The bike took off in a cloud of dust and was well on it's six hundred kilometre journey of salvation, not long after the sun had risen above the horizon.
It was a crazy morning. Everyone was awake and ready to say farewell to Fat Boy and Blondie, and now they were ready to wave good luck to the armoured patrol.
The three vehicles were being checked over by their crews while the crew chiefs busily sorted out supplies. With three extra crew members, Cambra elected to go with the ASLAV, and Lulu and Danni happily put their kits in with the soldiers of Bushmaster One One Bravo, with Sergeant Ahmet.