by A J Newman
“Make it thorough and quick, Field Marshall Anderson!”
***
Gus had set up several rooms for the interviews in the building south of the Bunker’s open area. The interviews had started a couple of hours ago. Gus was looking out the window at the crew removing the burned out vehicles and bulldozing a couple of buildings that were not salvageable.
Steve said, “Damn it Gus can you get them to cut out the racket out there or move us to another building further away from this noise?”
“The noise will continue most of the morning and there is nothing I can do about that. I want y’all here so you can be close to where they disappeared. What have y’all learned so far?”
“Well not much. She was with her daughter Kristie and the baby in front of the playground on the opposite side of the town square. Kristie is in the hospital unconscious so we can’t interview her until she comes out of the coma. The rest of the witnesses say that Beth took the baby into the bathroom that used to be right there.”
Gus looked and said, “You are pointing at a blown up Humvee and a pile of rubble.”
“That’s right. The bathroom is probably under the Humvee and all of that rubble beside it.”
“And they say that Beth went into the bathroom? Did anyone see her come out?”
“No, they said that the shit hit the fan and they were ducking for cover and returning fire.”
“So, did any of you knuckleheads think that she might still be in the bathroom?”
“Crap!”
“Go get John and the others!”
Gus ran out of the building and headed to the Humvee while yelling and waving at the workers to join him.
“Guys, I think Beth and the baby are in this rubble. Let’s clear the Humvee and begin removing the rubble until we find them.”
A bulldozer pulled the Humvee skeleton away while the team removed the rubble board by board. The bathroom had been totally destroyed and Gus knew that they would only find bodies if they found anything. He heard a commotion and saw John running to the site.
Gus ran over to John and said, “John, I think they are in this rubble. You should be prepared for the worst.”
One of the women moved a couple of boards and yelled, “Be quiet! I hear something!
Several of the team frantically tore board after board away from the pile until the floor of the bathroom could be seen. Everyone could hear muffled screaming below the floor.
Suddenly the clean out hatch in the floor flew open and an unrecognizable woman rose up out of the floor with a crying baby in her hands. John and Gus ran up to Beth. Gus took Jenn and John picked Beth out of the crud. She started thanking the Lord for Jenn and her being found. She kissed John several times. He did not even care that she was covered in crap from head to toe.
“Beth, they thought that you were dead, but I somehow knew that you would protect Jenn and come back to me. Thank God for your safety.”
The medics placed both on a stretcher and started on their way to the hospital.
Beth said, “We were in the outhouse when the bullets started flying. I saw the clean out hatch and jumped in to protect Jenn. Oh God, we are covered in shit. Don’t take any pictures, or I will kill the person with the camera. And no shitty jokes.”
“Beth, we will clean you up and take care of Jenn and you. You saved Jenn’s and your lives by jumping in that crap. I love you so much.”
✺ ✺ ✺ ✺ ✺ ✺
Chapter 16
South Texas
Victoria, Texas
April, 2021
Charlie and Jack were walking down by the docks and noticed a navy cargo ship offloading Humvees and pallet after pallet of cargo. This had been going on for over a week with ship after ship arriving and disgorging load after load.
“Bob kept his word on delivering equipment, supplies and soldiers to train our people. I don’t want to disappoint him or the new ISA.”
“Charlie, how many men and women can you get to join our little army?
“Counting the surrounding cities and country folk, I’d guess about five thousand. That will bring us up to about seventy five hundred armed men and women. The single women are just as eager to join as the men.”
“John asked me how many trained soldiers can we field to take Houston and Corpus Christi back and leave enough men in Austin to guard it until their people can be trained."
“Jack, I can send twenty-one hundred to fight and still leave us protected. In two months, we will be able to field six thousand soldiers and still protect Port Arthur. I will never strip us of protection. Not even for our friends.”
***
“Good to see you boys still alive and kicking,” said Jack. We heard about the attack on the Bunker and hostages. I hope Beth and Jenn are recovering.”
“They are doing very well in spite of the President’s attempt to kill everyone and kidnap me. Beth was able to hide with the baby during the attack and was later found under a pile of rubble. Jenn and Beth are recovering remarkably well considering what they went through. You need to take this as a warning. The USA will try to attack you in Port Arthur to take out you and your leadership team.”
Then Jack saw Maria and said, “Welcome, young lady.”
“Jack and Charlie, this is Maria Sanchez. She has extensive law enforcement experience and speaks fluent Spanish. We plan to use her to help communicate with and interrogate the drug gangs and Mexican bikers who have taken control of most of Houston.”
Maria smiled and said, “I hope that I can be of assistance in the fight against the Chupacabras. They are the ones that worry me the most in our struggle to get the ISA safe and prosperous.”
Jack thanked her and asked, “John, do you have any intelligence from Houston or Corpus Christi?”
“Yes, but not much. Houston will be easy to take back, but difficult to defend from the Chupracabras when they attack. Taking Corpus Christi back from the Chupracabras will be bloody and painful. The Houston bunch is just a bunch of street gangs. We can route them quickly. There are not many of them, but they use fear very well to keep the people in line. Our infiltration teams will take out the leaders and the rest will panic. Bob will have his Intel team bring you up to speed.”
Charlie spoke up, “The Cabras have some real military men leading their men. Most are ex-Mexican marines that we trained to fight the drug lords. They are damn good at killing and fighting, but lack tactical training.”
John replied, “That agrees with what the military is telling us. We have several Mexican citizens who are sending information on troop movements and what they can learn in bars and restaurants. Bob, I guess we should show them the plans for Houston and Corpus Christi.”
They met for several hours and broke up for the evening. Jack took them to his favorite BBQ restaurant and fed them well. Then Gus and John went to Charlie’s house to spend the night.
“Gus and John, this is my wife, Betty, my daughter, Jenny and her fiancé, Joe. Joe is a Staff Sergeant in my group. Let’s have a couple of drinks while I ask a couple of questions about the Houston operation.”
Charlie’s wife fixed the drinks and served them, and then Jenny and she left the room. Charlie started to ask some questions and paused.
“I trust Joe to hear what is said. Are you two okay with him in the room?”
“Good question. We have had a recent experience with a traitor and are a bit leery, but if you trust him we trust him.”
“I do trust him. Now my understanding of the Houston operation is that we march in to town as a big show of force and the bad guys run out the other side with their tails tucked between their legs. Is that what you want me to believe?”
“Yes, that is exactly what is going to happen. Now I have a question for Joe. Will the men and women soldiers shoot every one of the SOBs as they flee the town? We are splitting you up into a team that marches in and a smaller one that mows them down as they try to escape.”
“If they put up a fight, we wil
l gladly shoot every last one of them.”
Gus replied, “Son, your orders are to execute the rotten bastards for raping, pillaging and stealing. None is to escape alive, even if they fly a white flag. We do not want prisons full of thugs and rapists. Well, what is your answer?”
“Sir, we will do what it takes to eradicate the vermin, but will we like ourselves afterwards?”
“No, you won’t, but your children and grandchildren will be very thankful that they don’t have to deal with the depravity that was on the news every day before TSHTF. We are giving the world a do over.”
Charlie spoke up and said, “We have to make sure that all of our troops know what is at stake. But for the grace of God, go us. Those thugs could have taken over Port Arthur instead of Houston. Gus, don’t worry. Our people know that everyone was not prepared like we were and these bad guys can regroup and attack us. They must be wiped off the face of the earth."
***
Two days later sixteen hundred Port Arthur soldiers arrived within five miles of Houston’s east side and set up camp. John was in charge with Scott, Sonny and Sammy assisting. Gus brought five hundred troops from Mobile who came into Houston from the south along with another five hundred of the Port Arthur force. Marvin and Jill were assisting Gus and knew that they were about to massacre hundreds, if not thousands, of scumbag biker trash.
***
Ensign Teller’s teams performed a Halo jump just after midnight and landed just south of the Club House at Memorial Park Golf Course. The LZ and targets were southeast of the Highway 10 - 610 junction just south of Memorial Park. Teller gathered his team and headed southeast. The other two teams were to attack the gang leaders two right hand men’s homes that were a few blocks south of the gang leader’s headquarters. The teams headed out on three separate paths to help avoid detection. Teller’s target was just about a mile southeast of their landing zone. The gang leader had taken over Lake Oaks Country Club as his headquarters. Teller’s men thought it was funny to land at one golf course to attack another, but were glad to land on the fairways instead of taking chances being hung up in a tree.
They travelled slowly and made no noise as they made their way to their targets. The only major obstacles were Memorial Drive and Buffalo Bayou. Teller had his team stopped just short of Memorial Drive and sent two scouts to check their path. One scout came back in just a few minutes and reported that there was a patrol just east of their crossing path. The scout told him that the patrol consisted of an old man and a young boy. Both were armed and were not in much of a hurry.
“Boss, let’s move on down and cross this stream a couple hundred yards west of here.”
Teller replied, “There might be more patrols that way so I’d rather deal with these two than experienced soldiers. Sergeant, take them out as quickly as possible and let’s get on to the target.”
“Yes, sir.”
The Sergeant and two men moved up close to the guards and shot them in the back of the head from behind, drug them into the bushes and hid them and their weapons.
The men did not like killing teenage boys, but they had seen younger kids kill soldiers in Iraq and even in the USA since TSHTF.
They crossed Buffalo Bayou just west of Crestwood Drive without any problems. Most of the houses on the golf course were empty and only a few had lights. A couple of dogs barked, but none came to investigate these intruders. Teller’s team followed the tree line to within a hundred yards of the clubhouse, noticed that people were still awake and appeared to be dancing on the back deck. It was two in the morning and they had to wipe out the leadership before sunrise.
“Sergeant, place the men around the clubhouse so we can find all of the guards and be prepared to eliminate them before we attack the clubhouse.”
***
Scott’s scout teams slid in the city at 1:00 a.m. and quickly saw poorly manned checkpoints and almost no one actually guarding the city. They were able to move around the city at will. They were all wearing night vision gear and could see without being seen.
“Sammy, have the scouts reported back on these scumbag’s positions, strength and weapons?”
“All, but one, have reported in and Lieutenant Ryan is analyzing the data. It should be ready in about ten minutes.”
The last scout radioed into headquarters and said, “Sir, most of the enemy is drunk or stoned, but they are keeping a large well-armed force on guard. This won’t be a cakewalk. John, they have hundreds of prisoners. They are mostly women and young girls who are treated like sex slaves. They keep the best separate and trade them to the Mexicans for guns, ammo and supplies.”
“How did you get that information?”
“I actually got too close to the clubhouse and had to hide on the other side of a hedge while three of the slugs raped several young women. They chatted casually about their business trading partners on our side. We need to capture some of these guys and interrogate them. They mentioned trading with a Jake Daniels of Port Arthur for ignition parts to get some cars running.”
“Scott, have your men use silenced weapons and improve our odds. Kill any enemy they see. Drunk, sober or awake; kill them all.”
“Dad, I should have thought of that. We are depending on them running for their lives. We will kill as many as possible in the next few hours. Signal us before you come barreling in please. Give us until 4:00 a.m. to get as many killed as possible.”
“We will start playing the William Tell Overture on the loud speakers about half an hour before we come crashing into the city.”
John thanked the scout and sent for his staff to set the final battle plan.
“Team, we have all the info we are going to get and as far as our battle plan there are no major issues, but as usual these bastards have prisoners which make it hard to eliminate this trash. The Infiltration teams are busy eliminating the leaders and will then switch to killing any gang member that they can without being seen. We don’t want these scumbags alerted until just about 3:00 a.m. when we drop the hammer on them.”
“John, you know some of the prisoners will be hit by friendly fire. We need to get them behind the lines and back to the MASH unit.
“I agree, but our first duty is to wipe out these gangs so we can free these people.”
***
The scouts began to systematically kill every gang member they encountered. Many were asleep at their guard posts. There were five manning every checkpoint and four were asleep. One man dispatched the guard who was awake, and then the other scouts walked up on the others and shot them in their sleep. The standing order was that there would be no prisoners taken. Hundreds of thugs were killed
“Scott, this is Greg, I need you to come over to my position. We have something that you will be very interested in seeing. Please come now.”
“I’ll be there in fifteen minutes.”
“Good, you won’t believe this. We are very lucky or these people are very stupid.”
It took Scott ten minutes to cover the ground between his position and Greg’s group. There wasn’t much cover and his team did their best to keep from being detected.
“Okay Greg, what was so important to get my tired ass over here so quickly.”
Greg handed Scott his field glasses and said, “Sir, take a look at the third mansion on the right.”
Scott scanned the houses until he arrived at the third house. He saw guards and heavy arms including several Humvees with twin .50s.
“What the hell do we have here? There has to be some pretty important people in that mansion or something very valuable that they are protecting.”
“That’s what we thought. We have twenty men; let’s capture whatever they are guarding.”
“I agree, but let’s finish our mission to kill as many of the thugs first. Have your team back here at 3:30 a.m. so we can finish these guys off on the outside and attack the house and see what’s inside.”
The scouts kept neutralizing gang members and thugs the rest of the night. They r
an into thousands of innocent citizens along the way and warned them to hide out until after the battle was over. They talked most into hiding underground in sewers and rain drainage pipes. The silencers worked much better than Scott hoped or most of the gang members were drunker than originally thought. Apparently, the gang leaders were still not concerned about the massed forces around their city.
***
“Sergeant, begin neutralizing the guards and capture the gang's headquarters. Do not kill the leaders before they are interrogated.”
“Yes sir.”
"Men take out the guards and get ready for the assault on my command.”
As usual, the silenced weapons took out the guards until one guard started firing his AK47 as he fell from atop the house. The lights on the headquarters and lights up and down the street came on.
Teller knew that they had lost the element of surprise and yelled to his men, “Attack before they wake up and grab their weapons.”
His team stormed the headquarters breaking down doors and jumping through windows firing as they progressed. Teller’s men were taking hits, but all had body armor. The slugs hurt like hell and some men were knocked down. The enemy was being shot down as they came out of their quarters. The thugs were street fighters and had no military training. They ran out blasting instead of taking cover and aiming before shooting.