Treasonous Behavior- in the Beginning

by Robert Johnson

  “What the hell happened back there?” Raz asked after watching Cody tend to his buddy. “I heard some gunfire from inside and thought ya guys was goners.”

  Nick bit his lip against the pain. “Then why did you hang around, old timer?”

  Raz grunted. “Knew ya’d make it.”

  “We saw them, Raz. We were so close. But they were being moved out. Then the shooting started,” Cody explained.

  “Yup, thought it might be a long shot.”

  “It’s impossible to get our families out this way. They’re heavily guarded inside. Thought I heard a foreign language. Could have been Russian,” Cody said.

  Raz nodded. “Makes sense. Russian guard, I mean. They’ve been known ta use foreign troops for the dirty work. Word is, there’s lots of ‘em throughout the country. ‘Em and others. Gettin’ harder ta find true blue Americans ta fight against their own kind.”

  “We need to find another way, Raz,” Cody said, hoping the old man had a Plan B.

  “Workin’ on it now, sonny.” He turned to Cody. “Damn good job ya done with Nick’s leg, kid. Damn good.”

  Cody cracked a small smile. All he wanted to do was to get his family back.

  “Appears things are movin’ faster than I thought,” Raz began. “I saw a row of buses back there preparin’ ta leave. Not school buses, neither. Army buses for long distances. I reckon they’re fixin’ ta relocate the whole lot. Take some doin’, but like I said before, they can’t keep ‘em all locked up here.”

  Cody thought for a moment. “Maybe Robin and the kids, along with your family, Nick,” he turned to his friend, “were being loaded into those buses. Makes sense.”

  Nick grabbed his leg, loosened the belt tourniquet for a second and re-tightened it. “The big question is, where are they being taken?”

  “We should pull to the side of the road and wait for the buses. Then we can follow them,” Cody suggested.

  “Good idea,” Nick seconded.

  Raz shook his hairy head and snarled. “Bad idea, boys. Those guards are pissed off at ya for what ya done. They might send out a search crew lookin’ for ya. Don’t want ta take the chance. They know what we’re drivin’. We’d be easy pickins’ if we stay too close.”

  “But we don’t want to lose them,” Nick said.

  “And we have no idea where they’re going,” Cody added. “Let’s chase them.”

  “Yup. And we catch up ta ‘em. What we gonna do? Ask ‘em ta pull over? Think boys, think. They’ll have guards in the buses. Maybe in jeeps or somethin’ escortin’ the caravan. And what do we have? Two pea shooters, an old rifle, one guy with a bad leg, ‘nother who don’t have a clue. Ya want ta stick ‘em up with ya little pistol?”

  Cody shut his mouth. He felt frustrated and insulted.

  Raz kept driving farther away from the school. He was staying off the main streets as best he could by using the back roads. The guards could have radioed ahead to other crews around the city to keep a look out for his Chevy truck. There were no other civilian vehicles on the road, as far as he knew, so it would be easy to spot.

  He glanced over and saw Cody’s bloody hand. “Looks like ya’re bleedin’.”

  Cody stuffed his hand with the cut finger into this jacket. “It’s from Nick’s leg,” he lied.

  Raz knew better. “Seems ya got cut.”

  “It’s nothing,” Cody answered, ready to drop the issue.

  “Yeah, right,” Raz scoffed. “Can I have my knife back?”

  Cody dug into his pocket for the knife and without a word returned it to Raz.

  “Told ya it was sharp,” Raz said, just to get in the last word.

  “I have a pretty good idea where they’re headed,” Raz mentioned. His bearded face showed wrinkles of deep thought running through his calculating brain. He scratched his wiry whiskers and looked straight ahead. A few seconds later he spoke again. “Here’s how I see it, boys. The Army buses are goin’ ta one of ‘em FEMA camps. The people need ta be moved. What else would they do ta ‘em? I mean. It’s unthinkable and it could happen. But…I believe it’s too early in the game ta…ah…eliminate ‘em.”

  “Are you suggesting that whoever is conducting this…this fiasco,” Cody said, outraged at the extreme possibility, “that these guards would stoop to killing innocent people? Women and children?”

  “Just thinkin’ out loud, sonny. Seen it before. Not here in this country, mind ya. But lots of other places.”

  Cody looked at the old man with utter disbelief in his eyes. “How could all this be happening, Raz? I mean, this is America. This kind of thing doesn’t go on here.”

  Raz had a serious frown. “Not ‘til now.”

  “But…,” Cody said, before being cut off by Raz.

  “Wake up boys. This ain’t no movie. This is real and sometimes real ain’t good. Ya think ya live in a Johnny-be-good world? Ya and ya nine-to-five jobs with weekends off and four weeks vacation. Goin’ out ta eat five times a week, orderin’ in the rest of the time. Watchin’ the idiot tube six hours a day, ya faces buried in Facebook, ya ears smothered with ya cell phone. Ya spend more time on the damn computers than ya do with ya own families. Everything is hunky-dory. La-de-da! ‘Til one day somethin’ goes

  wrong. The cable goes out, ya lose phone service, price of gas goes up. Ya paycheck is one day late, ya credit cards git maxed out, ya car needs fixin’. All hell breaks loose. Life ain’t worth living. Oh, whoa is me!” Raz stopped to wet his lips.

  “But all that shit ain’t nothin’ compared ta the real thing. I’m tellin’ ya boys, there’re bad people out there tryin’ ta do ya everyday. Every large business, every country, every government. They want what they want and they’ll do whatever they have ta in order ta git it. Our government is the same. Fact is, it’s probably worse, ‘cause people, the fools that they are, tend ta believe what they’re told. They forgot what self-reliance is, so they let the government slowly take away what is rightfully theirs in order ta feel safe and secure.

  “Well, safety and security are out the window, boys. Ya got what ya got, ‘cause we let it happen right under our noses. Mark my words. Things are gonna git much worse before they git better. If they git better. There’s treachery and deception and subversion and betrayal everywhere ya turn. And if ya ain’t part of the solution ta end this…this treasonous behavior, then ya part of the problem.”

  Raz shook his head. That was the most he had ever said about this whole event. He wondered to himself if it was too late to stop the madness. Then he blew the thought away. Hell no, it wasn’t.

  “Give me one of ‘em damn beers from behind the seat there, kid,” he motioned to Nick.

  Cody gazed out the windshield, his breathing short and rapid. His heart beat racing. Despite the cold, his hands were clammy, his mouth dry. Still staring out the window he said, “Somebody needs to do something about this.”

  Raz let loose a rasping chuckle.

  “What?” Cody said.

  “Somebody always needs ta do somethin’ about it,” Raz said with

  conviction. “The damn question is always, who?”

  They drove through small neighborhood roads until they came to Buffalo Soldier Trail, the major bypass which ran from Fort Huachuca’s main entrance down to the southern edge of the city. Raz intentionally detoured around Nick’s and Cody’s houses. No need to drive through trouble. Raz suspected there might be clean up teams working their way through the rescued areas.

  Cody recognized the fact that old Raz had purposely avoided his street. He thought to himself. He might never see his house again. He might never get to drive his truck or the car again. All the things he owned meant nothing to him at this point. He simply wanted to be with Robin and the children.

  Their three TVs, the expensive stainless steel refrigerator and the matching stove, dishwasher, and microwave. The California king size bed, his desk computer and laptop. The small motorboat parked in the driveway, the ATV in the garage, the four-burner BBQ grill
out back. None of those things meant anything now. He’d give up everything he owned just to save the people he most cared for. At that moment he vowed he would, no matter what it took.

  Raz’s truck screamed down Buffalo Soldier to the tail end of the Huachuca Mountains. At upwards of seventy miles an hour he weaved and swerved around damaged vehicles heading toward his destination. There was no other moving traffic on the road.

  Cody snapped out of his trance. “Where’re we going, Raz? What about the buses?”

  “There’re a few things we need ta pick up first. Have ta be prepared ta go after those bastards. Can’t go half-cocked.”

  Nick was bobbing back and forth in the middle of the seat. His leg was throbbing. He stayed quiet in an attempt to stem the pain, but it wasn’t really working.

  A few miles farther Nick shook out of it. “I’m dying of thirst. Need something to drink.”

  Cody realized Nick was right. It was nearly four in the afternoon. The skies were getting darker as the storm clouds hung low. “I haven’t eaten all day,” Cody said. Then he thought about his family. Most likely they haven’t eaten today either.

  “Should take us less than half an hour ta get ta where we’re goin’.” Raz grumbled. “Let’s make a quick stop for a few things.”

  Both Cody and Nick were relieved. They could get some real bandages for Nick’s leg too.

  “Ah…Raz?” Nick said.

  “Yeah.”

  “Back there at the school. You weren’t really going to shoot me. Were you?”

  Raz took his sweet time answering. “Hadn’t thought that far ahead at the time.”

  Nick’s eyes widened. “You didn’t have bullets in your gun. Did you?”

  “Only a damn fool would point an unloaded gun at someone,” Raz commented, like anyone should know that.

  Nick slumped into the seat. He reminded himself not to piss off the old guy again.

  Shortly after turning off BST onto the Highway 92 leading south, Raz noticed a Circle K convenience store to the left. He drove into the empty parking lot a little too fast and hit the concrete stops a bit too hard. The sudden stop jolted Nick, causing him to scream. The store was closed, which was no surprise. The shocking thing was there wasn’t a crowd trying to break in. Not a single person was around nor any car drove past the store.

  Cody suddenly burst out. “I have no money with me.” Then he remembered he had a ton of silver coins.

  “Don’t worry ‘bout it,” Raz mentioned. “Save ya money.” He flashed a menacing look. “We have these.” He held up his pistol and grinned ear to ear.

  Cody looked at the crazed man. “Are you serious?”

  “Why the hell not? Ain’t nobody here and this store ain’t never gonna’ open again. Besides, it’s time for ya ta practice with ya piece.”

  At first Cody didn’t get it. Then he realized Raz wanted him to use his gun. Sort of a mock robbery where there were no consequences. And they did need a few things. Before he knew it Cody saw Raz standing in front of the locked store door firing his pistol at the glass panels.

  “Try it. It’s fun,” Raz said to Cody.

  From inside the truck Nick thought to himself. Oh shit! The crazy old bastard’s gun was loaded.

  Cody stepped out of the truck and moved closer to Raz. He pointed the pistol at the store and pulled the trigger. Nothing happened.

  “Release the safety first,” Raz commented, barely shaking his head.

  “Oh…okay.” Cody flipped the lever and the gun went off, shattering a window above the door. “Touchy trigger,” he said.

  Raz bent over and laughed like a fool. “Oh, ya’ll do just fine.”

  Cody tried it again and shot twice fairly close to where he was aiming. Still in the truck holding his leg, Nick was enjoying the bizarre show.

  “Okay, ‘nough fun. Let’s git what we came here for.”

  Raz and Cody slipped through the glassless door. It was dark inside. Cody went one way while Raz went another. Cody gathered packs of gauze and bandages, some antiseptic creams and alcohol. He

  then picked up several plastic bottles of water from the refrigerated section. They were still cold.

  Raz ambled to the back of the store and grabbed several pre-made sandwiches wrapped in plastic. He picked up a few Sara-Lee snacks and two bags of potato chips. He found plastic bags behind the cashier counter and dumped his shopping into one of them. On the way out of the store he lifted a six-pack of Bud Light beer. “For my troubles,” he said to nobody in particular.

  He threw the bag on Nick’s lap. Where the hell was Cody? He asked himself. Back in the store he saw Cody loading up the counter as if he was going to pay for his purchases.

  “Put a fire under ya ass, boy,” Raz growled. “Time ta git.”

  Cody snapped out of it and figured out this was a free shopping spree. He stuffed his take into bags, gathered them up and went to the truck. He tossed the bags on the floor leaving little room for his and Nick’s feet. Then he ran back into the store.

  “Jesus H. Christ,” Raz yelled. “Now what?”

  Cody returned to the truck. He had three Baby Ruth candy bars in his hand, tossed one each to Nick and Raz, keeping one for him. “I love these things,” he commented.

  They drove away to the south. “We’ll git ya leg fixed up as soon as we git there,” Raz said to Nick. The boys had no idea where they were going. But for the moment they didn’t care. They were content with their water and candy bars.

  Chapter 19

  Hordes of people from the gymnasium were being forced to board the large Army buses waiting in the back of the high school. The guards were in an irritable mood after the break in by two would-be intruders. Three of them had exited the building firing on the escaping truck as it bounced out of range. Lt. Col. Fielding was told about the incident and with his walkie-talkie radio alerted all patrols within range to keep a lookout for the Chevy pickup. Their escape didn’t really matter much to him.

  Just a fly in the soup.

  Everything else was going as planned.

  The guards rushed the detainees into the overloaded buses. Orders were barked at them in Chinese and Russian and Spanish. The soldiers kicked the slow movers and butted several heads as an example of their authority. The moaning and groaning, mixed with constant crying, filled the buses. The transports were originally fitted to carry sixty people. Close to one hundred were jammed into each one. Three to most bench seats. Mothers carried their children in their arms. Some dropped on the floor near the back door. Many had to stand.

  Robin quickly scanned the passengers. They had been diverted to the last of the buses. Nick’s wife Lisa and their two young daughters were about ten seats back. The women silently acknowledged one another. Their eyes and curt smiles indicated they were all unhurt. But just minutes earlier, Robin knew she had seen Cody at that open door.

  He was trying to rescue them. She worried for his safety, hoping he had escaped the shooting. How did he get this far out of town? She

  wondered. And where would he go now? For that matter, where were these buses taking them?

  The transports, fully loaded, each one with a driver and an armed guard sitting in front, slowly pulled away from the school grounds. As they made the first turn Robin could see there were four buses, with an escort vehicle that appeared to be an Army Humvee leading the way. There were no other vehicles behind them. She paid attention to every stop, every turn. She wanted to know which way they were headed.

  On the straight away along the northern by-pass, she glanced around the inside of the bus. She was searching for possible ways out, weak points, maybe. Not that she and her kids could escape a fast moving bus. But nevertheless, she wanted to be aware of any potential exits. She saw two men, strangers, looking her way. They made eye contact and there was a sense of unity among them. Each nodded slightly like they were ready too, if a chance arose to jump off the bus.

  The release handle to the rear door emergency exit had been removed
. Robin had no idea whether the door was locked from the outside, though most likely it was. The windows on both sides were tinted to stop the harsh summer desert sun. Today there was no sun. Cross bars covered the windows also, like those seen on county prison buses. There was also very little heat in the bus. The front was warm from the blowing heater in the dash, but not much of the warmth seeped toward the rear.

  Robin sat next to a window. She looked at the release latches. They were screwed in place to prevent the windows from being opened. She looked up, but there were no roof vents which could be possible escape routes. This was crazy thinking, she thought. No way could they leave the bus unless they were allowed to. She prayed that her husband and Nick would somehow find them and save them.

  That was if their husbands were still alive.

  The convoy of buses roared past Fort Huachuca’s east gate and turned north on Highway 90. It was twenty-eight miles straight to Interstate 10 which stretched from coast to coast, east to west. At that

  point Robin would have a better idea which way they were going. Before then, though, they would stop at the U.S. Border Patrol check-

  point ten miles north. And they may stop at the intersection of Hwy. 90 and I-10. Both places were possible opportunities for escape.

  From the outside landmarks she knew they were getting close to the check-point. It was one of many similar stations in southern Arizona established close to the international border. They had been an issue of much controversy when the Border Patrol converted temporary check-points for vehicles going north into well-manned, permanent highway pull offs. This particular BP check-point was a full thirty miles north of the Mexican-American border.

  Why in the world, it was argued, did the BP need another inspection station so far in country? Did they expect to apprehend illegal immigrants or drug runners from the south? Everyone knew of the check-points. Those who didn’t want to get caught found other unmonitored routes.

  Most people driving from the Sierra Vista-Fort Huachuca area toward Tucson and beyond saw it as a method to harass American citizens, a means to intimidate the average law-abiding resident. Some claimed it was a long term scheme to display the presence of law enforcement and get the citizens accustomed to routine interference in their daily lives. At any rate, all traffic traveling through the check point was casually inspected.