Citizens Awake Read online

  Bug Out! California Book 7

  Citizens Awake

  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.

  Author/Publishing South Bay Press

  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 7 – Citizens Awake/ Robert Boren. – 1st ed.

  For Jeff T.

  Timid men prefer the calm of despotism to the tempestuous sea of liberty.

  ―Thomas Jefferson

  Contents

  Previously, in Bug Out! California Book 6

  Hit the Trail

  Pronouns

  Santa Cruz

  Merrill

  Job Offer

  Higher Education

  Children

  Rear Fire

  Re-Plan

  Captives

  Boarding House

  Starvation

  Country Club

  Red Resistance

  Foster

  Mechanic

  Black Smoke

  Cast Of Characters

  Previously, in Bug Out! California Book 6

  As Book 6 opened, all factions in the south merged into one fighting unit under the umbrella of the Dulzura Group, part of them taking up residence at the Williams ranch, and part of them a few miles away at Garrett’s headquarters called Dodge City. Ivan provided them with new generation Battle Wagons and plenty of weapons and ammo. Part of the tribe, with Ed, Sam and Erica were still on the way to Dulzura from the wilderness. Ivan got access to the new RFID apps, provided to him by General Hogan’s team. He saw a large force of Islamists following the tribe on the wilderness trail, and another large force heading into Dulzura from the north. He got word to Jules, who called Ji-Ho. The Dulzura Group had to battle both forces of enemy fighters at the same time. They won, but just barely. The tribe made it safely to the Williams ranch, but they knew another battle would happen soon.

  Jules’s team was still heading north to take on the enemy in the Bay Area and Sacramento, hiding out at a winery owned by one of Ivan’s associates. Their focus was team building ahead of the attacks, the first of which was to be the Mertins Electronics plant in San Jose.

  Ji-Ho passed out at the William’s place, his cancer getting to the point where he couldn’t hide it any longer. He confessed to his niece Kaylee, telling her he would have problems periodically, and they’d get more frequent as time went on. Ji-Ho also told Kaylee that her parents had been killed trying to escape the UN.

  Ivan provided his leadership teams with the RFID apps, courtesy of General Hogan. For the Dulzura Group it was just in time, because three Islamists stumbled into the Williams place. They’d survived the battle in the wilderness and were looking for food and a vehicle. A small firefight ensued, and one of the Islamists was taken prisoner. His name was Hassan, and he agreed to talk to the Dulzura team, provided they agreed to remove his RFID chip. The chip was removed surgically by Kaitlyn’s mom Anna, who was a nurse. Hassan passed along a wealth of good intel, but he was assassinated after a couple days by commandos, during an attack by a large force of Islamists and UN Peacekeepers. In the aftermath of the battle, the team discovered that a traitor had set up the attack and the assassination. It was a tribal person called Black Crow, who was against his people joining with the white people of the Dulzura Group. Ed decided to go after him in the hovercraft. After some time had passed, nobody could reach him. Then Trevor and Kaylee noticed movement of a small enemy force with the apps, heading for Ed’s likely location. They notified Sam and the others, who put together a posse with help from Garrett and his men.

  Jules and Shelly held a meeting to plan for the Mertins Electronics attack. During that meeting Jules revealed that there were three locations nearby where the UN and Islamists were holding women, similar to the operation at the Torrance Civic Center. He said they would mount a rescue mission, but it would be voluntary since it was so dangerous. Everybody agreed to participate, and Justin made a comment about the rescues being a good recruiting tool. He was lambasted for the comment, but it got Morgan thinking. She met with the other women who were captives in Torrance and suggested they go on TV with Ivan to tell their stories. The women agreed, and called a meeting with Jules and the other men. Along with their testimony on TV, they pushed for all three hostage locations to be liberated at once, fearing that once the first rescue operation happened, the women at the other two locations would be killed or moved elsewhere. The men agreed, and Jules set up a meeting with Ivan to discuss it…

  {1}

  Hit the Trail

  J ules and Tex messed with the laptop, getting ready for their conference call with Ivan.

  “You hear back from him yet, partner?” Tex asked.

  “No, but will soon,” Jules said.

  Bryan came up to them. “Want to feed that into the TV? I know how.”

  “Yes, that good,” Jules said. “Be my guest.”

  Bryan smiled proudly and got to work on that, Jules and Tex standing back to watch. Jules felt his phone buzz and pulled it out of his pocket.

  “He’s good,” Jules said. “Will be on.”

  “Great,” Tex said. “How do you think he’ll react?”

  “He won’t tell answer tonight, but he’ll think about and let us know soon.”

  “Hope you’re right,” Tex said.

  “Okay, this is set up, but we’ll still have to use the camera in the laptop for Ivan to see us,” Bryan said.

  “Great, thanks much,” Jules said. “I grab barstool and bring out. Higher, give better look to Ivan.”

  “I’ve got it,” Bryan said, rushing into the other room.

  “That kid’s trying to make points,” Tex said.

  Jules grinned. “He’s solid. I know. Watching.”

  Ted walked over. “Looks like we’re almost ready.”

  “Yes,” Jules said.

  “Everything okay, partner?” Tex asked.

  Ted looked at him and shrugged.

  “What?” Jules said.

  “I’ll tell you later, boss,” Ted said.

  Jules chuckled. “Woman problem.”

  “Later,” Ted said, glancing around to see where Haley was.

  “Don’t worry, I zip it,” Jules said. His phone buzzed again. “Ivan ready.”

  Bryan was back with the bar stool. He placed it next to the TV and set the laptop on it.

  “Shelly, ready,” Jules said. She rushed over and got onto the laptop, loading the video conference software and then sending the request to Ivan’s number. His face showed up on the screen, smiling under his fedora, a flashy tie with a diamond stick-pin on his chest.

  “Milk maid?” he asked. “I see why Jules is smitten.”

  “Thanks, I think,” Shelly said, smiling. She backed away from the laptop so he could see the whole room. “Sorry we don’t have a better camera.”

 
; Ivan laughed. “It’s better than mine. Good evening to all. Pleasure to see you. My, so many beautiful women.”

  Jules chuckled. “No flirting.”

  “Don’t worry,” Ivan said. “What’s on your mind?”

  “Morgan, would you explain?” Jules asked.

  She flashed him a nervous smile and nodded, then approached the front of the room. Robbie came up with her, and sat as she stood.

  “Don’t be nervous,” Ivan said. “Take your time.”

  “I’m okay,” Morgan said.

  “Is that Robbie next to you?” he asked.

  “Yes,” she said proudly.

  “Your father,” Ivan said, starting to choke up.

  “Oh, no, did something bad happen to him?” Robbie asked.

  “No, no, I’m just emotional,” Ivan said. “He’s an inspiration. A great man, who will be remembered for what he’s done.”

  “Thank you,” Robbie said, feeling himself tear up.

  “Go ahead, Morgan,” Ivan said. “Sorry.”

  “Okay,” Morgan said, taking a deep breath. “We have two proposals for you, which go together.”

  “I’m all ears,” he said.

  “Good,” Morgan said, fidgeting. Robbie put his hand on her back, encouraging her. She looked at him and smiled, then looked back at the laptop. “After we do the rescues, we’d like to come on the air with you and tell our story.”

  “Your story? Of the captivity? Won’t that be very difficult?”

  “Of course it will be, but people need to know what the UN is doing. It should help us win the war.”

  Ivan was silent for a moment, thinking, wiping his eyes. “Your bravery. All of you. Wow. Yes, I’ll do that with you.”

  “Thank you,” Morgan said.

  “What’s the second part?”

  “We’d like to hit all three hostage locations at once,” Morgan said.

  Ivan was quiet for moment, his eyes reading the room. “You think after the first rescue is done, the enemy will kill the women in the other two locations, or move them somewhere else,” Ivan muttered.

  “Or fortify their other locations,” Morgan said. “Make a play for killing us all.”

  “This will be difficult,” Ivan said, looking down, the top of his fedora hiding his face for a moment. He looked back up. “Difficult, but not impossible, and it might win the war for us. It should at least shorten it.”

  “Then you’ll help us?” Morgan asked.

  “I’ll confer with my team,” Ivan said. “It’ll take a few days to work out the plan details and logistics. Fair enough?”

  “Yes,” Morgan said. “Thank you.”

  “Did you lead this effort?” Ivan asked.

  “I pushed the idea, and brought it to the other women,” Morgan said. “I got the idea from a comment that Justin made, about using the rescues for recruitment of citizens.”

  “Where’s Justin?” Ivan asked.

  “Right here,” Justin said, standing up.

  “Kudos to you,” Ivan said. “Must have taken a lot of courage to bring that up.”

  “I blurted it out, then wished I could take it back right away,” Justin said with a sheepish grin.

  Ivan chuckled. “You sound like me. You can’t make that choice for the victims at these three locations… although I suspect some of them might want to join in with their comments.”

  “That thought crossed mind,” Jules said. “Would not pressure them, but perhaps they pressure us.”

  “Okay, I understand what you want and agree with you in principal,” Ivan said. “I’ll get back to you. Thanks very much for bringing these proposals to me. I’m impressed, and proud to have people with so much courage on our side.”

  “Thank you, boss,” Jules said.

  “Talk to you soon,” Ivan said. His video stopped.

  “Wow,” Robbie said. “He’s so personable. Not at all what I expected.”

  “Well, he is that, but he’s also a dangerous person,” Ted said. “Good to remember that.”

  “Yes, Ted, he dangerous, but war affect him,” Jules said. “I see change. Slowly at first. He great General now. Probably never mobster again.”

  “I still wouldn’t want to work for him,” Morgan said.

  Sparky and Tex laughed.

  “What’s so funny?” Morgan asked.

  “He’s your senior management,” Sparky said. “The card club. That’s his operation. You know that, right?”

  She looked shocked for a moment. “I thought he was just using it to help with money laundering. You know, as a third party.”

  “He owns it,” Sparky said. “Yeah, he’s used it to launder money, but he owns it because he likes poker, and he’s making a tidy profit beyond the other benefits.”

  Robbie laughed. “Oh my God, you’ve been working for the mob!”

  Morgan punched him in the arm, laughing. “Be nice.”

  “I think we should get shut eye now,” Jules said. “Late. It’s possible Mertins Plant attack happen tomorrow.”

  Morgan nodded and stood, facing the others. “Thanks for this.”

  The crowd gave her a round of applause, turning her face red.

  ***

  Sparky watched as the crowd dispersed, looking for Dana. She was chatting with Karen and Allison.

  “Hey, Sparky,” Dana said as he walked up. “What do you think?”

  “I think it’s noble and brave,” Sparky said. “Want to take a walk?”

  She looked him up and down, brow furrowed.

  “Go ahead,” Karen said. “Be with your man. We’ll chat later.”

  She shrugged, her face showing hurt for a split second, then forming a smile. “Yes, we’ll talk more tomorrow.”

  Sparky walked toward the door, Dana following behind. He looked back, stopping until she caught up.

  “We can just go into the bedroom, you know,” she said. “I’ll treat you right.”

  “We need to talk,” Sparky said, not looking at her when he said it. They went out the door and walked silently to the path, near the border of the property.

  “It’s okay,” Dana said, hurrying to catch up. “Can we slow down a little?”

  “Oh, sorry. I tend to walk fast when I’m nervous.”

  They went a little further from the house, the conversation of the crowd fading into the background.

  “It’s okay,” she said. “I understand. I can probably bunk with Cody and Allison.”

  Sparky stopped. She kept walking a few steps, and then stopped, turning back to him.

  “You’ve got the wrong idea,” Sparky said softly. “Hell, it’s probably my fault, and for that I’m sorry.”

  “I have those episodes. I might have them forever. People get tired. People leave. There’s no shame in it. We aren’t married.”

  “How do you feel about me?” Sparky asked, trying to read her eyes. “Really?”

  “It doesn’t matter,” she said. “Why prolong this? I’ll get my stuff.” She walked back towards the house, Sparky grabbing her hand and pulling her back.

  “Where are you going?” he asked.

  “Let go.”

  “No, we need to talk. Now. I’ve put it off for far too long.”

  She sighed, looking at him, tears running down her cheeks. “So talk.”

  Sparky looked at her, his heart speeding up as her soft eyes studied him.

  “You look like a schoolboy who is about to get a whipping,” she said softly. “I told you that I understand. I won’t make a fuss. Really.”

  “Will you stop that,” Sparky said. “I’m in love with you.”

  She froze, staring at him in shock. “That’s what you wanted to say?”

  “How can you be surprised?”

  “You’ve never said it,” she said.

  “Neither have you,” he said softly, approaching her.

  She trembled. “Oh, God. Really? Are you sure?”

  “Oh yeah, I’m sure,” Sparky said, moving closer to her. “If you don�
��t feel that way about me, I need to know.”

  “Yes,” she said quickly, staring into his eyes as she moved into his arms. “Yes, I love you. So much that I can hardly stand it.”

  “Good,” he said, hugging her tight. “I was afraid you didn’t.”

  “Neither one of us are good at non-verbal communication, I guess,” she said, a soft smile on her face. “Is this going to change anything?”

  His face got serious again. “Only one thing. Don’t feel like you have to please me to keep me around. I’m not going anywhere. We’ll deal with your problems when things get back to normal.” They started walking again.

  “You think I was making love with you to hold onto you?”

  “No, not totally,” he said. “That probably sounded terrible, but I’ve got to muddle through this conversation, so hear me out, okay?”

  “Okay.”

  “I know we enjoy each other,” he said, “and it’s heaven when it goes well. I don’t want it to end, but I want you to understand that I’ll love you even if we back off for now. Do you understand me?”

  “Do you feel the urge to leave me when I have an episode?” she asked.

  “No, never,” he said. “I feel guilty. Ashamed, even.”

  “Why would you feel that way?”

  “You’re doing it to make me happy, and it can be so hard on you.”

  Dana stopped walking. Sparky stopped after a couple steps and turned back towards her.

  “Sweetie, you don’t understand this,” Dana said. “I’m making love with you because I want to. I need it, just like you do.”

  “And yet you thought I didn’t love you, and was ready to leave,” Sparky said.

  “Men are different about sex than women are sometimes,” Dana said. “It doesn’t always mean the same thing.”

  “That’s never been true for me,” Sparky said.

  “So, you’ve been in love with me all along?”

  “Well, almost,” he said.

  “You’ve been standoffish sometimes. I picked up on that.”

  “I didn’t want to take advantage after what you’ve been through,” Sparky said. “Sorry. Seems pretty stupid now.”