“I got a bunch of stuff. It’ll take me an hour to pack.”
“Come on we’ll help you pack.” We went to her room and filled up one large suit case and three Army duffle bags. The three of us carried her gear down to the waiting trucks.
Rico shook hands with Tommy and Ron as we loaded her bags. Tommy asked, “Who is this?”
“Hi, I’m Lisa a friend of Jack’s.”
“She’s coming to Tocabaga to live with us,” I stated.
Tommy looked at her and I knew what he was thinking. I punched him lightly in the arm and said, “Let’s get going.”
Lisa gave Rico a big kiss and I yelled, “I’ll be back by noon tomorrow with your wife.” We pulled away with Rico standing there broken hearted.
Riding back to Tocabaga Maggie was in the truck with Lisa. They looked at each other in a curious way and I introduced them.
I commented, “Maggie, would you take Lisa under your wing and get her settled on Tocabaga?”
“Sure Jack, no problem.”
Lisa said, “It’s great to meet you. I love your Army outfit. Are you in the Army?”
“No I’m an Amazon Warrior. There are twenty of us on the island and we’re an all-woman Police force.”
“Wow, that’s cool.”
I butted in, “Lisa knows how to fight, and has a lot of experience using guns. I think she’d make a great Amazon.”
“Good, we have an opening.”
“Ok, show her the ropes and discuss it with Amy and Trini.”
Maggie looked at her, “You can stay with me. I have two spare bedrooms. Each one has its own bath. We can be roommates until we find you a place to live.”
“That’s really nice of you. Thank you,” Lisa responded.
By the time we arrived on Tocabaga it was late. I walked into the house and Hemmi was sitting there waiting for me. I sat down next to her and told her the whole story. I was dead tried and just wanted to have a shot of JD and go to sleep.
JULY 4, 2025
I woke up feeling pretty good. I could hear the birds singing outside my window. It’s Fourth of July, one of my favorite days. It was 7 a.m. so I went down stairs for some breakfast. My whole family was already up.
As I walked into the room, everyone yelled, “Happy Fourth! Welcome home!” I hugged everyone and responded, “It’s good to be home.”
Tommy asked, “Ok tell us what happen. How did you escape from the Marshals?”
“Didn’t Hemmi or Johnny tell you?”
“No they didn’t. We asked but they told us to ask Grandpa.”
“Well, the truck ran out of gas. Then a gang came along and captured us. They took us to meet their leader, BIG BOSS, who lucky for us turned out to be Rico. That’s what happened in a nut shell.”
“Who’s the hot chick?”
“Her name is Lisa. She was Rico’s girl friend and wanted to come to Tocabaga. She’s one tough cookie. Rico trained her how to fight. Amy needs to make her an Amazon.” Amy nodded her head in agreement.
“Today we need to reunite Rico with his wife and son. Tommy, advise Maria and her son we found Rico and to get ready to move out ASAP. We should leave early before the dirtbags are up and roaming around the streets looking for food. I promised Rico we’d be there by noon.”
Late in the afternoon derelicts start roaming around looking for food, guns, or anything they can steal. I call these people Free Roamers. They aren’t part of a large clan or gang. They’re usually small groups of people consisting of three to ten people. These are tough, dangerous people who will kill you without a second thought. It’s the Wild West all over again. Kill or be killed is the motto one needs to go by. Shoot first ask questions later is what I always say. The Free Roamers pick on the weak and helpless. They live on the streets and die on the streets.
Tommy asked, “How many trucks should we bring?”
“Bring two Hummers, the SUV and one pickup truck. We’ll need two men in each vehicle. Be sure the lead Hummer has an American Flag flying from the antenna,” I advised.
We usually have the lead truck fly the Stars and Stripes from the antenna. That makes people stop and think twice before shooting at us because they assume it’s a military truck.
It was 10 a.m. and the trucks were lined up at the bridge ready to leave. Maria Martin walked up to me with her son. She gave me a hug and a kiss on the cheek. “Jack, it’s great to see you again.”
“It’s good to see you, Maria. You look really good.”
“This is my son Rico, Junior.” He held out his hand, which I shook, and said, “It’s a pleasure to me you. We’re taking you to meet your Dad. He’s waiting for us at his compound on 54th Avenue.”
Little Rico was not so little. Standing around six feet tall at an estimated 160 pounds, he was a fine looking young man.
Maria asked, “Why doesn’t he come here to live?”
“He has his own compound and soldiers. Don’t worry. You’ll be safe there. Ok if everyone is ready let’s go.”
Tommy inquired, “What route do you want to take.”
“Let’s take I-275 there and come back on Route 19.”
It’s always a good idea not to retrace a route because the Feds or gangs could be waiting your return and ambush the convoy on the way back.
We pulled out across the Tocabaga Bridge with Tommy and Tony in the first Humvee. I was driving the black Fed SUV with Ron riding shot gun. Maria and Rico, Jr. sat in the back.
Rico said, “I can’t wait to see my Dad. Is he doing ok?”
“He’s doing fine. I just spent two days with him,” I answered back.
We drove by the destroyed condos which where shelled by the Rangers in three major battles. One battle was with a large gang, one with the Federal Police and another with al-Qaida. All of them tried to take over our island. The ruins included the old Eckerd College. It was a shame to see these once wonderful structures sitting there with exposed beams, no roofs and broken windows. Large holes were blown in the walls of every building by the Iron Maiden’s 120 mm cannon.
The Iron Maiden is an Abrams Tank based at Tocabaga for security. The M1 Abrams Tank, named after General Abrams, fires a whopping 120mm laser-aimed cannon and never misses its target. The cannon can blow up buildings. It has one M2 50 Caliber Heavy Machine Gun, and two 7.62 M240 machine guns. Bullets and other large projectiles just bounce off the sides of this big boy.
As we approached the Dome we could see a Federal road block, on the Interstate, about a half mile away. We stopped to discuss the situation.
“It looks like four trucks and about ten men. What you wanna do?” Tommy asked me.
“I wonder what they’re doing.”
Ron suggested, “Let’s get off the interstate and take Route Nineteen to 54th. There’s no sense in taking any risks.”
I agreed so we took the 22nd Avenue exit ramp. As we sped down the exit ramp we were surprised to find two more Federal trucks blocking the road. They spotted us and we didn’t have time to turn around. Tony started to fire his fifty caliber M2 machine gun.
Tommy shouted over the radio, “Pedal to the metal!”
All our vehicles skirted around the Fed trucks and we fired at them as we drove past in a speedy fashion. The agents were surprised by our convoy and didn’t have any time to return fire.
Jim Bo, driving the last Hummer, radioed, “They’re coming after us!” Chris, his gunner, turned the machine gun and started to pepper the vehicles with big fifty rounds. Since their trucks were more or less normal pickups, with no armor, they stopped after a few rounds pierced the front of their vehicles, bringing them to a stop.
“They stopped chasing us,” Jim Bo radioed.
Tommy, in the lead truck kept the speed up at fifty miles per hour. We saw a few people every now and then walking around the streets but no one shot at us. Most waved as we passed by and we waved back, but a few gave us the finger.
Every now and then we saw a beat up car sitting on the side of the road. We pass
ed a few slow moving vehicles. They didn’t pose any danger to us. Since red lights haven’t worked in years we didn’t stop for anything. No one stops for them anyway. If you stop you’re a sitting target for some sniper or a car jacker.
We arrived at the 54th Avenue with no further incidents. We crossed the bridge which goes over Interstate 275. I radioed Tommy to stop on the east side of the bridge. I didn’t want the convoy to pull up near Rico’s compound for fear of being shot at by mistake.
Maria, little Rico, and I dismounted and walked about a hundred yards to the old school. The guards yelled, “Hey Jack, what’s up!”
“Tell Rico, his wife and son are here!” We waited outside the main door and in a few minutes Rico appeared in the door way. He had on a clean shirt and I noticed he shaved his head getting rid of the Mohawk. He looked half way normal.
He just stood there, in a daze, checking out his family. Maria ran to him and they hugged each other. Little Rico shook his Father’s hand. All of them started to weep. I stood back giving them room. After a few minutes Rico looked over at me and smiled.
Rico wiped the tears from his eyes as he approached me. I looked at the ground and kicked a rock making it seem like I didn’t notice his tears. He said, “Jack, you’re the best friend I have. Thanks for bringing us back together.”
“No problem. We gotta go, but I’ll be back next week. Take this phone so we can stay in touch. You need anything let me know.” We gave each other a high five and I jogged back to the truck.
My men were standing in the street waiting for me and I told them, “Mission accomplished. Let’s go home and party. It’s Fourth of July!”
As we mounted up, Tommy asked, “Which way back?”
I replied, “Let’s take nineteen back home.”
Ron reminded us, “We’ll need to be on the lookout for the FPF on the way back. They could be hanging around 22nd Avenue waiting for us.”
“You’re right. By the way what do we have in the way of weapons other than the big machine guns?”
“We have our M4’s, two SAWS, one MK153 with two reloads, and five hand grenades,” Tommy advised.
We were just getting ready to leave when my phone rang. It was Captain Sessions. “Hello Jack, I’m calling you to advise we’re delayed and won’t be back to Camp Tocabaga for another two days. I wanted to warn you about the new warlord in your area. His name is BOKO KANG, also called THE DRAGON.”
“I read an Intel report about him. What else can you tell me?”
“These guys are the worst. They’re radicals who take no prisoners except for teenage kids. Male kids become converts and soldiers. Females are forced to work for the soldiers doing whatever they want them to. They get them hooked on meth and then dope them up before they go into battle. KANG gets his nick name, THE DRAGON, because he uses flame throwers to burn everything, including people.”
“Captain, he sounds just like the kind of dirtbag I’d like to terminate.”
“His body guards are all young kids and they are dangerous. His troops consist of about two hundred grown men and one hundred young kids.”
“Ok Captain, thanks for the warning. Stay safe out there.”
“I’ll email you Kang’s picture to your Tocabaga.Jack gmail account. See y’all later.”
I advised my men on the arrival of the DRAGON into our area. All we can do is hope they don’t come to Tocabaga. I fear sooner or later we’ll have a run in with the warlord BOKO KANG.
I define a warlord as a leader of a ragtag military group who fights against other leaders, groups, or governments for territory and/or monetary reasons. The warlord usually maintains control of his men by the use of violence or bribes. Because of this the entire group was prone to being a band of blood thirsty cut throats.
As we were mounting up I commented to my men, “Maybe that’s why the Federal Police were on Route 275. They were looking for the DRAGON.”
“Yeah, they’re probably worried about what that group could do to the Green Zone,” Jim Bo stated.
“I just wanna get back to the island and get our defenses ready in case they show up.”
We drove to Route 19 and headed south toward home. Off in the distance we could see black smoke billowing into the sky a few miles away. We stopped to observe it.
“Maybe one of the Fed trucks Chris shot caught on fire,” Tommy suggested.
I responded, “Yeah, it’s probably the tires burning. Let’s keep going and find out.”
When we reached 22nd Avenue South we found the two Federal Police trucks that chased us earlier. They were burning in the middle of the street along with four bodies that were charred into a black jell. The burnt bodies were a disgusting smelly sight. The legs and arms had been hacked off their bodies.
Ron commented, “It looks like the DRAGON has been here.”
We started scanning around the area. I told Tommy, “Drive west down 22nd Avenue for a few miles and see if you can spot anyone.” In the meantime Ron went east looking for the KANG boys. Everyone else was keeping a sharp look out with guns at the ready.
Tommy radioed, “I found them. They’re at the old Twin Brooks golf course. I only see three trucks with about twenty men. Maybe there are more of them but I can’t tell from here.”
I replied, “Ok, get the hell out of there before they spot you. Let’s get back to the island.”
We arrived back on Tocabaga with no further problems. I called a security meeting to put our personnel on full alert. I filled everyone in on what we were up against which was some of the most dangerous scumbags on the planet.
We had already set Claymore mines along the Tocabaga entrance road. They were mounted in the metal guard rails along the road and were painted to match the rails. We called this the Road of Death because if these mines were exploded anyone driving or walking down the road would be killed.
We had our full security team of ninety six men plus twenty Amazon Warriors on full alert. It was decided to cancel any Fourth of July celebration. We would celebrate when the Rangers returned in a few days.
I held a meeting with my key people to discuss the possibility of taking some kind of offensive action. Tommy suggested we should try and assassinate BOKO KANG and his Generals. He suggested we send a sniper team tonight making a preemptive strike. The logic was if we cut off the head of the DRAGON then the little Dragons may fade away. With no one to lead them the group would fall apart.
This made a lot of sense to me so I asked Tommy, “How many men do you need?”
“I’ll need one man for spotting and one to be our rear guard.”
“I’ll be your spotter so we need a volunteer to be our rear guard. Before anyone steps forward think about it because this is gonna be dangerous.”
Brogan stepped forward, “Count me in.”
Brogan has been here since the beginning. Everyone likes Brogan he is a friendly person who would help anyone out. Before the collapse he ran a car parts store. He knows every part on most cars.
Brogan trained hard to be a member of the security team. He takes his security job very seriously and is an excellent shot. He has good reflexes and is light on his feet and fast. Brogan is pretty much fearless and he won’t crack in the heat of combat. He’s not a big guy, but he’s tough as nails.
No one knows Brogan’s first name. Everyone just calls him Brogan. I was pleased he stepped forward because I knew we could count on him. He was perfect for the sniper work we had to do.
Tommy advised, “Great. We got our team. We’ll leave as soon as it gets dark. We need two Humvees to drop us off at the old National Guard Armory on 37th Street. Each truck will have a driver and gunner. They’ll wait there for our return or radio call to be picked up. Tony and Ron will be in one Hummer and Jim Bo and Chris in the other.
“I’ll recon the perimeter of the golf course first looking for the best location to set up our snipers’ nest. I’ll have my .308 with a silencer, but all our weapons should have sound suppression.”
�
��How close are we going to get to them?” Brogan asked.
“I don’t know, but we need to get within six hundred yards,” Tommy replied.
I butted in, “The main objective is to kill KANG and if possible a few other bastards. Then we leave and do it the next day. My plan is to keep them wondering who is going to get killed next. Then maybe they’ll move on or disperse.”
“What about the kid soldiers? Will we shoot them?” Tony asked.
“Yeah the kid soldiers are a big problem. If they shoot at us we have no choice but to terminate them. If they surrender we’ll take them in. If they run away we let them go.”
Tommy said, “Here’s the plan. We’ll go north on 37th Street to the Armory. I want to leave here at 2100 hours. Since there’s no moon tonight it’ll be pitch black by the time we hump to the golf course. Maintain radio silence unless it’s urgent. If there aren’t any more questions then we meet at the bridge at 2100 hours.”
It was 1700 hours so we had some time to get our gear ready. Since this was Brogan’s first sniper hunt I pulled him aside and advised him to duct tape all his gear down so nothing rattles. I told him to bring three hundred rounds of ammo and to put some camo paint on his face and hands.
Three hundred rounds of ammunition means you need to carry ten thirty round magazines. Each mag is about one pound, so you have to carrying ten pounds of ammo. Then you have water, a bullet proof vest, tactical vest, boots, and your gun. So you have to be in pretty good shape to run around with about fifty pounds of gear hanging on your body.
It was 2100 hours and everyone was at the bridge. Tommy checked out Brogan and me for loose gear and rattles. Then I checked him out. He ran through a check list making sure we had all our gear and supplies. The three of us huddled together and I said, “God give us the strength and courage to complete this mission. Protect us from evil. Amen.” We all bumped knuckles and jumped into the Humvee.
The Humvees dropped us off at the Armory which was now just a burned out shell of a building. They parked off the street, across from each other, hidden in the over-grown bushes.
THE TOCABAGA CHRONICELS: (BOX SET PART II - BOOKS #6-8) Page 7