South Border Mayhem Read online

  Bug Out!

  California

  Book 10

  South Border Mayhem

  Robert Boren

  South Bay Press

  Copyright © 2018 by Robert Boren.

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher, addressed “Attention: Permissions Coordinator,” at the address below.

  Publisher’s Note: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are a product of the author’s imagination. Locales and public names are sometimes used for atmospheric purposes. Any resemblance to actual people, living or dead, or to businesses, companies, events, institutions, or locales is completely coincidental.

  Book Layout ©2017 BookDesignTemplates.com

  Cover Design: SelfPubBookCovers.com/Acapellabookcoverdesign

  Bug Out! California Book 10/ Robert Boren. – 2nd ed.

  For W. Bower

  “What counts is not necessarily the size of the dog in the fight- it's the size of the fight in the dog.”

  ―Dwight D. Eisenhower

  Contents

  Previously – in Bug Out! California Book 9

  Swarm of Bees

  Lessons Learned

  Clean Up

  For the Fallen

  The Pen

  The Kiln

  Dirty Trucks

  Military Vehicles

  Death from Above

  The Burning Desert

  Trains and Cranes

  Federal Highway 2D

  Line of Trucks

  Empty Ice Chests

  Generators

  L-ATV

  BFV Training

  Cast of Characters

  Previously – in Bug Out! California Book 9

  As book 9 opened, a small group of patriots in Bend, Oregon organized a response to the EU Navy ship approaching Portland, loaded with UN Peacekeepers. The corrupt city government of Portland was preparing to welcome the UN, and leftist demonstrators were planning a big, violent demonstration. Jonathan and his band of Bend Patriots used the internet to recruit for the event, and it went viral. The corrupted Oregon State Police tried to arrest members of Jonathan’s group, and a battle ensued between the State Troopers and the Local Bend Police. The locals were victorious, but some patriots were killed in the battle. The Bend Police deputized the surviving patriots and set about freeing Bend of globalist thugs.

  In Portland, the EU ship approached. Thanks to the work of the Bend Patriots, armed citizens converged on the docks in enormous numbers. The violent leftists started an attack as the corrupted Portland PD stood by and watched, only getting involved when the patriots fought back. The EU ship arrived at the dock, Peacekeepers flooding the decks and opening fire on the crowd, killing leftists and patriots alike. Then more patriots arrived with heavier weapons: M4s, M60s, and other military weapons, opening fire on the ship, as the captain prepared to use the ship’s weapons on the crowd. Suddenly a US Navy ship appeared, firing several missiles at the EU destroyer, blowing it up. The patriots took over the city, dragging the corrupt Portland leaders out of their hiding places and executing them on the streets.

  Jules’s team was hiding out at a quarry, after a successful mission at the CHP headquarters in Sacramento. The Intel team saw RFID hits coming west on I-80 from Salt Lake City. Jules contacted Ivan and got permission to plan an operation to attack them.

  In Dodge City, Sam’s team was watching enemy activity. The Islamists needed more fighters in California, and the Intel team saw a massive buildup in Mexico. Ivan’s Intel team saw the same thing, and the two groups held a teleconference where plans were made for better recruitment. Ivan pledged supplies to help out… more battle wagons, military weapons, and ammo.

  Jules’s team headed for I-80 to lay a trap for the approaching Islamists. They blew up a bridge in the Sierras, stopped up all the alternate routes, and laid in wait with battle wagons and armed off-roaders as the enemy approached. The trap was sprung when the Islamists ran into the downed bridge, their convoy attacked without mercy. The battle was a total rout. Saladin was in hot water for this move, because he wasted many troops that were supposed to be fighting General Hogan’s forces to the east. He was sent to his base in Utah.

  At the small border town called Jacumba Hot Springs, patriots Doug and Jorge joined a growing number of citizens who were massing there to repel the approaching Islamists. They met a resistance leader named Conrad. He had the RFID apps on his phone, and showed Doug and Jorge the half million Islamists camped out sixty-five miles south of the border. Ben Dover’s recruitment efforts were bearing fruit there, armed citizens arriving so fast that the roads could barely handle the traffic. They dug in and fortified their positions, getting ready for the onslaught.

  Ivan called a meeting with Jules’s and Sam’s teams, revealing a plan for the two teams to merge at Dodge City and set it up as a supply depot and staging area to take on the coming invasion of Islamists from the south, now three-quarters of a million strong. The two sides agreed, and they started on detailed planning for the merger. Jules’s team started south towards Dodge City in their battle wagons, bringing the off-roaders along.

  Ben Dover’s recruitment team was loading up their equipment, getting ready for the trip to Dodge City. He discovered a mole in his team, and just as he did, the team was attacked by UN Commandos. Ben escaped after killing the mole, but the rest of his team was slaughtered. He blew charges they had in their truck to destroy the computer equipment, and fled into the night, being rescued by Mr. Black and Mr. White within the hour.

  At Jacumba Hot Springs, Doug, Jorge, and Conrad watched the enemy build-up as more and more recruits arrived. They realized they’d probably be killed once the enemy moved across the border, all of them having the resolve to stay in the fight. Then a train approached, bringing artillery and Marines, led by Lieutenant Colonel Meyers. This gave the men new hope, but the odds were still against them, unless air support and a lot more men were coming. Conrad and the others pitched in to get the artillery placed, and they bombarded the enemy line in Mexico.

  Ji-Ho confessed to his niece Kaylee that he had terminal cancer, and that her parents had been murdered by the UN before they could escape.

  Jules’s team arrived in Dodge City late at night. The next morning Ivan and Ben Dover arrived, and they held a big meeting in the livery stable to talk strategy. A new Intel center was set up in the mine, Seth and Kaitlyn teaming with Robbie and Morgan and Ben Dover. The off-roaders arrived, freshly updated with the addition of Kevlar armor and microguns. Armed citizens began to arrive as well.

  Sam, Ed, Tyler, Garrett, and a few others went to the back part of the Dodge City property in their Jeeps, trying to find out how a UN van had entered the day before, where Sid, Yvonne, and Clem were almost killed by snipers. Sid was their tracker during the operation, and he noticed traces of road gravel here and there.

  Seth and Kaitlyn’s history program showed seven-hundred RFID hits disappearing around Julian. They got with the leadership team and let them know that Dodge City was likely to be hit by Islamists in shielded trucks. Jules got Sam on the line, and he let them know about the road gravel. Dodge City was about to be attacked, by upwards of a thousand enemy fighters. They got ready. All of the new off-roaders and most of the mounted cavalry were sent to aid Sam’s team. The battle wagons, cannon, and infantry were sent to the front of the property to get ready for an attack. Women and children were taken into the mine.

  Sam’s team continued down the dirt road in back of Dodge City, and saw a gravel truck filling in a dry creek bed. They backed up and took covered positions, laying a trap for the lead-shielded semi-trucks they knew were coming. They got mortars set up, and the off-roaders were at the ready.

  The attack started in the front of the property, the battle wagons, cannon, and infantry taking on the enemy. There were more than the seven-hundred expected. The battle raged, with casualties on both sides. Several of the battle wagons got disabled, having to move and expose their tires. As the onslaught continued, the patriots were running out of ammo, and about to be overrun.

  In the back, Sam’s team could hear the action near the front of Dodge City, sick with worry as they waited for the semi-trucks…

  { 1 }

  Swarm of Bees

  S am and his team were in the back of Garrett’s property, waiting for the enemy. There were booms in the distance.

  “Hear that?” Sid asked.

  “Sounds like mortar fire,” Sam said.

  Tyler laughed. “Sounds like those cannons to me.”

  Just then they saw a semi-rig come over the hill, heading straight for them.

  “I see hits from the front of the property,” Ed said, checking his phone.

  “Let these guys get a little closer,” Sam said.

  “Roger that,” Garrett said. They watched as the semi-truck slowed.

  “I think they’re gonna park right there,” Sid said, watching them through his rifle scope. “I can take out the driver and passenger. Got them in my crosshairs.”

  “Go,” Sam said. Sid pulled the trigger, the driver’s head exploding in the cab, tagging the passenger as he screamed with panic.

  “
Nail that trailer,” Garrett shouted into his phone, and the large plains rifles fired from the ridges around the truck, shredding the trailer, releasing the RFID signals, all the men’s phones buzzing.

  “Let’s get them!” Sam shouted, as panicked Islamists poured out, gunfire from the plains rifles still hitting the trailer and picking off running men. Then the off-roaders roared in, firing grenades, hitting the broken trailer so many times at once that it lifted and fell on its side, breaking free of the truck cab. The microguns fired, off-roaders chasing down fleeing Islamists, most of whom had dropped their weapons.

  “Those microguns sound like a swarm of bees,” Ed shouted between shots.

  “My God,” Sid said, watching as men were cut down, some stopping with their hands up, killed where they stood. The slaughter took only a few seconds.

  “Geez, that was about three hundred men, dead in an instant,” Ryan said, watching the off-roaders circling.

  “Hey, you hear that?” Sid asked.

  “Hear what?” Tyler asked.

  “Quiet,” Garrett said. “I hear it too. Crap, it’s a drone. Small one. Look!”

  They saw the drone coming down, circling over the ruined semi-truck.

  “I can hit it,” Ryan said, aiming his sniper rifle, following it with the scope.

  “Do it,” Sam said. Ryan fired, the drone coming apart in the air, falling in pieces.

  “There’s another truck back there, or worse,” Ed said.

  “Yeah, I think you’re right,” Garrett said, sending a text to his cavalry. “I’m sending them over the ridge to look.”

  “The off-roaders are gonna beat them to it,” Sid said, pointing as they raced up the hill, stopping just shy of the ridge, getting off to peek over. They ran back to their machines, one of them stopping to send a text, which hit Sam’s phone.

  “Dammit,” Sam said.

  “I’m afraid to ask,” Ed said.

  “Another semi-truck was back there. It’s turning tail and running the other way.”

  “Should we go after it?” Garrett asked.

  Sam thought for a moment. “No, feels like a trap. Is there any other way here from that stagecoach road?”

  “Not that they could get over with those semi-trucks.”

  “Powerful lot of noise coming from town,” Sid said. “Cannon fire, and battle wagons too. Checking the apps.”

  Sam nodded.

  “We can send the off-roaders after that fleeing semi,” Garrett said.

  Sam’s brow furrowed. “Dammit, we need a better picture of what we’re dealing with.”

  “Uh oh,” Sid said. “There’s more enemy fighters in front of town than we were supposed to see.”

  Sam glanced at him. “I was afraid of that. How many?”

  “Seven hundred,” Sid said. “That, with the three hundred that we just killed makes a thousand, and there’s another truck back there.”

  “At least one more,” Ed said. “I agree with Sam. This is a trap.”

  Sam typed a text. “I’m checking with Seth. We need to know where those other Islamists came from.”

  “There’s more mortar fire coming from town than we should be hearing,” Sid said. “Maybe we should gather up the off-roaders and hi-tail it back there.”

  “Yeah, I think you’re right,” Ed said, “even if the fleeing semi turns around, they’ll be on foot long before they get to town, and we’ll see them on the apps.”

  Sam’s phone dinged. He read his screen. “They think a bunch of Islamists came all the way from Colorado, and that’s beyond the range of Seth’s history program.”

  “How do they know that?” Garrett asked.

  “Ivan got the info from General Hogan’s team,” Sam said. “Let’s get everybody headed towards town right now. Ivan’s got jets from San Diego on the way to wipe out any semi-trucks they see behind the property.”

  “Good,” Garrett said, sending a text to his men. Sam texted the off-roaders, and they left, racing back to town.

  ***

  Ivan had the phone to his ear, standing in a corner of the large mine room, the others working their computers on tables ringing the walls.

  “You almost done?” Kaitlyn asked Seth gently. Her hand touched his shoulder, and he turned towards her, nodding yes.

  “How far did you extend the range?” Ivan asked.

  “I doubled it, to two thousand square miles,” Seth said. “We don’t have the processing power to expand it further than that.”

  Ivan nodded. “That will be enough. I see the hurt on your face. This was not your fault. Understand?”

  He nodded, then turned back to his screen, as Kaitlyn shot Ivan a worried glance. Ivan’s phone rang. He smiled and answered it, walking back to the corner again.

  “Okay, it’s running,” Seth said.

  “Hey, Ben, go to this URL,” Ivan said, rushing over to his side. Ben looked at it, typing at his keyboard.

  “What is this?” he asked.

  “Satellite feed,” Ivan said. “Should give us a view of the whole area.”

  “Need a password?”

  “No,” Ivan said, “it’s in the URL.”

  Ben’s eyes opened wide as he saw the picture. “Holy crap, look at this.”

  “Wow, they’ve gotten better with image quality,” Robbie said, looking over his shoulder with Morgan.

  “That’s live?” Morgan asked.

  “Yep, and we can move it around,” Ben said. “See the two semis on the road in front of the property? One on the driveway and one on the highway.”

  “How about the back?” Ivan asked, looking closer.

  Ben moved the view over. “Another two. They’re trying to escape.”

  Ivan looked at the clock on his phone. “They don’t have long to live. The jets should be here in about three minutes.”

  Suddenly there was a flash on the screen.

  “Whoa, they’re early,” Morgan said. As the flash died down they could see the broken semis, laying mangled on the ground, engulfed in fire.

  “Check the apps,” Seth said. “Let’s see how many were there.”

  Kaitlyn looked at her phone. “Only two hundred and change.”

  “The explosion and fire probably took out a lot of the RFID chips,” Ivan said.

  “Going back to the front of the property,” Ben said, refocusing the view. “That second semi is coming onto the driveway now. Surprised the first one hasn’t opened up yet.”

  “Seriously,” Seth said, watching the screen. “What’s that coming in from the east?”

  “Cavalry,” Robbie said. “Hate to see them attack first. Where are those off-roaders?”

  “They’ll be along,” Ivan said.

  “Why aren’t the battle wagons hitting these semis?” Robbie asked.

  Seth glanced at him. “Trevor texted me, said they were out of ammo, and most of them have their tires shot up. He’ll probably be down here in a few minutes to grab more ammo. He’s gonna bring up one of the new battle wagons and ferry ammo to the others.”

  “How many battle wagons do we have that aren’t being manned?” Morgan asked.

  “Trevor said five,” Kaitlyn said.

  “Crap, we can man one of them,” Morgan said. “Seth and Kaitlyn know how too, you know.”

  “Out of the question,” Ivan said. “The battle wagons are of limited use. Great for certain kinds of assault. Not so great in a target-rich environment. They’re too easy to overrun. This is why I didn’t want to take them to the border.”

  “Yeah, that was a good call,” Ben said.

  Ivan smiled. “Speaking of that, see if you can view the border. I want to see if the enemy is getting close.”

  “What about what’s going on outside?” Morgan asked. “Aren’t those semis gonna unload and kill our people?”

  “Don’t worry about it,” Ivan said. “Those off-roaders are perfect for this situation, and there’s about four hundred of Garrett’s people coming too, half of them mounted. Sam told me how they took care of the semi in the back. We’ll be fine, and now we know there’s no more semis coming.”

  Ben moved the picture. “It moves pretty slow when you’re going further.”

  “No problem,” Ivan said, watching over his shoulder.