A long Lonely Road Box Set 3

by T J Reeder

  So someplace ahead of us might be a black ship with girls and young women being bought to haul south, if we had it right. I yelled for Ralph, told him to get the bird dog in the air and to scout the coast looking for the black ship. I told him we would be rolling right away and weren’t stopping for anything- we would refuel him on the road. I wanted this black ship very bad. I wanted the bastards running this operation very bad, but even more I wanted the scum at the end of this pipeline.

  One thing I know for sure is the stuff I don’t know for sure. Ships ain’t my gig, but knowing my people is my gig so I sent for a man named Fox; he was a former SEAL from the bad old days when we were both young. Fox knows ships and how to take them over. When in doubt, delegate!

  Fox showed up, and after hearing what I needed said, “No problem” and set off to gather a team of people he knew could be of use- not SEALs but former Navy people who had a clue how to drive a ship. He also gathered together a team of shooters to carry off the plan.

  I had no idea what his plan would be, but it would be the right one I had no doubt. One of my problems would be keeping Sandy from sneaking off as a shooter. Fox wasn’t afraid of her, which helped. I smiled at the thought.

  It took a week of rolling north with poor Ralph flying his ass off (Note... we need more pilots) before he spotted the ship. It was at anchor in a protected cove about fifty miles from where we were at the moment.

  Charley sent his scouts in with orders to move in the last couple of miles on foot. He wasn’t taking any chances with another ambush. I told Fox to get his pirate crew together and meet with me and the other leadership members. I had gotten with them beforehand and explained what I had in mind. Joe and Willy smiled, Charley’s lips may have moved a tiny bit, Sandy and May laughed right out loud. What a crew, ready to charge hell with a snowball.

  Fox and crew joined us and I told him what we knew, what we thought and what we hoped. He told us his plan for taking the ship. It sounded like a very doable plan provided all the parts clicked together.

  But that’s what all plans require.

  It was up to us to make sure the clicking happened.

  About midnight one of the scout teams returned to tell us the ship was still there and it looked like they had gotten complacent. Only one sentry could be seen and he spent most of his time smoking and leaning on the railing facing the shore.

  Now one of the things we haul with us everywhere we go is an inflatable Avon boat we got along with all the other stuff we picked up in Barstow.

  It came complete with a motor and must have been set up for Force Recon use since I never saw one in my time, but of course all the attacks boats back then were rowed by the raiding party and had dragon heads on the bow. I’m old.

  Fox and his merry band of throat-cutters would attack from the open water side. The rest of us would be as close as we could get with some snipers ready to back up the play. The range (according to the scouts) was about 400 yards from the shore. If our boarding party went aboard just at daylight we would be able to offer support fire, but to hold down the risk of a friendly fire issue only four of us would be shooting. I planned to be one of the four.

  We were settled into place well before raid time. The ship was blacked out, but the sentry was a chain smoker and the flare of his lighter came like clockwork followed by the glow of his cigarette every time he took a drag. Smoking kills- a lesson well learned in my youth. In the jungles of Southeast Asia a smoker could be smelled a good distance away. It can get you killed.

  I knew each of us backup shooters were zeroed in on the glow of the cigarette; it was something to do while we waited. We were all belly-down with the rifles resting on sand bags just like at the range. I had the suppresser on my bolt gun and if need be I could take down the guard but would rather not.

  Right on time I watched the guard simply drop out of sight, not a sound was heard. We waited for what seemed forever before we saw a light flash three times from the ship.

  We headed down to the beach where we soon saw the Avon coming in to get us. We went aboard the ship and found the entire crew except the dead guard kneeling on the deck, every one accounted for.

  After we had them secured with plastic restraints the raid team spread out to search the ship. Shortly after that they returned with the captives who were clinging to one another thinking they were simply being transferred to another group; which in a way they were.

  The boat returned with my girls and several of our ladies who took over with the captives, who were soon crying in joy when they realized they were really being rescued.

  There were 45 captives and they were slowly transported from the ship to our convoy which had moved forward and set up a base camp. The captives were all checked over by the medical staff (all women for their ease of mind).

  Now we got down to the fun part, finding out what all these critters knew. We separated them as par for the course and questioned them with the same set of questions; we found that most didn’t know more than what their job was aboard ship and of course what they were doing.

  The Captain and First Officer were much more forthcoming with information. They picked up the ‘cargo’ and transported it south to a place in Baja where they were paid in gold and silver and fuel for the ship. They then made the return trip stopping in places just like this to pick up more captives.

  This was their second stop this far north. The first one was a dud because nobody showed up, and I think we knew why. They had taken aboard this bunch several days back along the California coast before we found them.

  They gave us good descriptions of the raiders we missed by a few hours. I figured we would meet them someplace down the road; we knew what they looked like, what names they used and what they drove.

  So far we were doing very well and with luck we could stop this whole mess.

  We spent the rest of the day and night camped in the cove while deciding how to handle this mess. Fox came to see me and said the Captain had offered to take them on up the coast to the other pickup spots where they could rescue the girls being sold, plus wipe out the slavers who had them.

  I liked that idea a lot; we could shadow them plus send scouts ahead to check out the meeting spots.

  I figured we could effect the rescues on shore easier but the ship needed to appear and signal to the raiders.

  So far this trip wasn’t going as planned. We were doing a great amount of good but we hadn’t found the trade ship, so on a hunch I had Fox ask the ship’s Captain about the trade ship. He was well aware of it and said he usually met up with them in one port or another and bought supplies from them. He said they had no idea what his ship was being used for but nobody asked questions either.

  So all we had to do was keep moving up the coastline saving girls from a real fate worse than death, kill a bunch of scum and find a ship selling coffee. This we can handle, but I decided it was better to leave the main convoy in a set location and use a roving patrol to handle business. We found a state park near the route we were taking and there we set up a small city with all the comforts of home.

  Sandy and May had been spending a lot of time with the rescued girls and were a great help in settling them down. A lot of them had come from areas close to the coast and could be returned to their families. Others were all that survived the raid that took them. I left it to the women of our group to sort it out and make it easier for them.

  On the third day after the raid the ship moved out of the cove and headed north with five Hummers shadowing it. We knew the next pickup was about a day north and had it pinpointed on our maps. When we were close, we parked out of sight of the road and sent a scout team ahead in an old pickup we kept for that reason. They returned to report the slavers were already in the small cove and were lying around by their fire drinking; their captives were out of sight in a tent. There were five in this gang and come dark they were getting a long nap- a dirt nap.

  Charley asked that his people be allowed to handle the issue thems
elves and I agreed; payback is something we all understood. Slavers were going to be on the menu for the people for a long time.

  I will admit that I felt lost sitting in our small camp waiting to see the results of the raid on the raiders. I’m not used to sitting back and waiting. The girls seemed fine with it but I noticed they were quiet and that worried me…a lot!

  I finally took them for a drive and found a nice shady place to spend some alone time where we could talk. When I asked what was wrong, May said she hated the coastal area- it was usually raining or getting ready to rain or had just finished raining and she wanted to get this thing done and head inland. Sandy just nodded and said, “Ditto!” and they missed the babies and Beth.

  I had to agree with them. This wasn’t the Rockies and it sure wasn’t home! I wanted this mess over with as soon as possible, I wanted that trade ship located and after that we were heading due east like our tails were on fire.

  We spent a quiet day just relaxing away from the group, napping and talking about the fun we had in the high country and the hot springs.

  That perked them both up a lot and a plan started forming, but we agreed that we weren’t ever leaving Beth and the kids again. When we took another trip we were going as a family. If the American Indians lived and traveled in the wilds with their kids there was no reason we couldn’t.

  We headed back to the main camp and found the raid had gone off just fine without me; I will admit I was a bit let down at this.

  They brought back three very young girls and two older teens. None of the slavers survived the event. I did ask Charley if they might try taking a few prisoners to question. He said they did and they knew nothing. I didn’t ask for more details.

  We went over the plan that wasn’t really a plan. It was just rolling out of my head and I said it out loud and the others picked it apart until it actually looked like a plan. Whatever, it works for us.

  The main part of it was to keep saving captives and killing slavers. Also I wanted the trade ship and in fact I needed to find it to make my plan work… or at least have a better than 50-50 chance.

  Charley’s lads took out two more groups of slavers and saved a total of nine girls. Some we were able to return to family, some to friends and some just wanted to remain with us.

  We spent two weeks slowly rolling up the coastline and I will say right now that while it was pretty country, it don’t have the majesty of the Rockies nor the silent beauty of the desert. I really miss home and my babies “OUR babies, John! Stop with the proprietary bullshit!” Shit! “Stop cussing! We have young children here.” Fu…..fine, OUR babies! “Good boy, John.”

  I hate them for this shit…err…stuff- it’s not fair.

  Charley, who has been quietly sitting with his hat down over his eyes sighed real big. I told him to mind his own business. I think he may have laughed a bit, or coughed.

  Ralph has been flying every day looking for the trade ship which is painted red and white and flies a big white flag with a red cross on it- sort of a ‘We come in peace’ statement.

  And Ralph found her; she had been sitting at dockside in a harbor with a fairly large town that seemed to be ‘bustling’ as Ralph put it. It was about three driving hours from where we were.

  He flew down low and wiggled his wings and the folks on the ground were waving. He had a note in a weighted sock with a red streamer which he dropped. It explained who we were and where we were from and that we come in peace.

  We also had three girls who were taken near the town so we added their names to the note. After they read it they really started waving. Ralph did the wing wiggle again and returned to us where he landed on the roadway.

  After Ralph reported the news he refueled, and taking Sandy as his eyes flew cover over us as we rolled forward. There was probably no real reason to worry but it pays to stay alert. Charley’s scouts were well out in front.

  Not twenty miles down the road I heard Sandy’s voice come over the head set; she had spotted what looked like an ambush in a low spot in the highway- right where we would place one.

  I really didn’t think it was people from the town since it would have taken them longer to get it organized and set up, unless it was an everyday thing.

  On a hunch I called Fox on another channel and had him to ask the former ship’s captain if he had expected any more pickups along the way. He returned shortly with an affirmative. This had to be the last bunch of raiders with their catch.

  I let Charley take over and soon the air waves were burning with Navajo spoken so fast a non-tribe member would never follow it. He sat back and smiled a smile that would have froze Custer’s heart if the Sioux hadn’t removed it.

  Sandy and Ralph had motored on as if they saw nothing and after several miles made a wide turn and loitered inland from the place where the raiders were camped. Charley said he left it to the scouts how they wanted to do it, but to keep some alive to talk to us. He was concerned about something but in his way wouldn’t talk about it until he knew all the answers.

  About an hour later we got the call that the raiders were pinned down but that two of the scouts had slipped into their camp and led the prisoners out. Now it was a fire fight among the boulders by the shore.

  I could see it coming, and before I could say a word Sandy called out that they were heading in on a bombing run, Cussing does little good with her- in fact it does no good at all. It just makes her dig in harder, so I said, “Be careful.”

  She replied that Ralph was flying so high that they needed oxygen. Ralph shouted, “Bullshit!” that she had him clipping tree tops. I expect both were exaggerating.

  But Charley was already telling the scouts to haul ass. They had heard the exchange and were long gone- they too know ‘Her’. I think they are half scared of her too. I was just scared for her…well and Ralph.

  We had almost closed the gap and rolled up to the scouts, who had front row seats to the show. And here came the plane- I could see things flying out the side window and then Ralph stood her on her tail and headed for the clouds.

  Sharp cracks from grenades (lots of cracks!) followed a short time later. The scouts headed back in and called ‘all clear’. Now I was curious as to why the ‘all clear’, so we rolled right in.

  It was a mess. The little shit had dropped about a dozen of her toys right in the middle of the boulder cluster and it really wasn’t pretty. I know she had worked at it but this was something else. I heard the plane coming to land on the roadway and here she came at a run.

  She slammed on the breaks and gulped and said, “OH, OH, OH Shit! I didn’t know it was gonna work that good!” I just shook my head. Everybody was standing there kind of in awe and she was surprised it worked so ‘GOOD’? Charley said something to her and she got her ‘oops’ look on her face, then looked at me.

  I looked at Charley who actually smiled and said he had reminded her we planned to take some alive. Her look didn’t last more than 2 seconds before she smiled again and said, “Next time John- Promise!” Everybody else laughed while I kept shaking my head.

  I looked at Ralph, who put his hands in the air and said, “Hey. I just fly the fuckin plane, ‘SHE’ runs shit up there.” I called him a coward to which he replied,“Yeah? So what’s yer point?”

  “My point, Ralph” I said, “Is that you’re the adult in the team…remember?” By now everybody was standing there amid a bloody mess laughing so hard they had tears running down their cheeks. The scouts just looked at us and one said something. Sandy laughed and flipped him off, now they both laugh.

  I gave up and headed for the road, telling all the clowns they could collect the weapons and anything the dead had on their persons. This wasn’t greeted well; in fact I think I heard several ‘fuck you’s’ but being the real adult I kept walking. Sandy came trotting up and took my arm and had to skip to keep up. She said she was sorry- that she never thought more than one or two would land in the right place. I looked at her and could see she was serious. I asked how
many she used. This brought a long silence then a mumbled, “…..” I said, “Excuse me, my love, but my ears still don’t work from all the explosions. How many did you say?”

  She kept her head down and said, “All of them.” Now I had to stop and look at her. “All of them?” She nodded. “And that was how many?”

  She took a deep breath and said, “Two cases.” Hell, even I know there are 12 pint jars in a case. The little imp just dumped 24 grenades on a bunch of shitheads in a boulder pile! And was worried she might miss. I swear to God I had nothing to do with raising her, really. Well, OK, maybe I helped her learn to shoot, but there it ends. The rest of this she got on her own.

  May trotted up and said, “Way to go Sis!” And they did a high five, low five and some kind of knuckle knocking. They been hanging with the troops too much. I miss Beth and my babies! “Our babies, damn it!” “Fine”, I said and kept walking. They came right along knowing I wasn’t gonna stay mad. Hell, I wasn’t mad. I worry about Sandy and the wild-assed shit she comes up with. Grenade fire bombs being one. “Shit.” she said. “I forgot to load any of the fire bombs!” I rest my case.