The Road Home Read online

  “They’re making the jog to Canyon Bend Road,” Lita said. “They’ll be at the water in no time.”

  “Okay,” Richardson said. “I’ll get this puppy moving.” He pushed all four throttles forward, the engines whining as they pushed the massive barge forward. “Wow, this sucker handles okay for a big-ass tub.”

  Brendan chuckled, hearing him while he was at the ammo box.

  “They’ll see us coming, right?” Harley asked.

  “Yep, and that might be enough. I don’t want them getting into the water with that device. They’ll have to place it facing the dam, and they’ll need to be close. We’re gonna play defense. Think goalie, like in a hockey game.”

  “It’ll be a little easier than that,” Harley said. “It’ll be enough for us to keep them from getting onto the ice.”

  “Enough with the hockey metaphors,” Lita said, shaking her head. “At least use soccer.”

  “That’s not a real sport,” Harley quipped, getting an eye roll from Lita. “Be right back.” He walked by the door a moment later with .50 cal ammo belts on each shoulder, Juan Carlos and Brendan following with more.

  “Where are they now, sweetie?” Richardson asked.

  “Still on Canyon Bend. That dumps off at the launching ramp. Not a good situation there. It’s protected from where we are by a small isthmus.”

  “Show me,” Richardson said. Lita rushed over and showed her phone. “Dammit, they don’t have to be very far beyond that isthmus to get a clear shot at the dam.”

  Hannah came into the bridge with two SMAWs in her hands, Madison following with an M60 and an M4.

  Harley was back for another load of ammo as the boat cruised along. Richardson saw the SMAWs and smiled at Hannah. “Good idea.”

  “We need all the edge we can get,” she said.

  Harley came back inside. “Okay, I think we’re set with enough ammo up there. Brendan and Juan Carlos are loading the guns.”

  “Good,” Richardson said.

  “I’ll watch the laptop,” Harley said, rushing over to it and opening the lid. “This is so much clearer than the phone version.”

  “Yep,” Richardson said.

  Lita looked up from her phone. “Look, honey, a few of them split off.”

  “Yeah, I see that too,” Harley said. “Looks like five. No, six.”

  “How many are in the group headed for the launching ramp?” Lita asked. “Hard to tell with the phone app.”

  “Fifteen,” Harley said. “In five vehicles, it looks like. I suspect the lead vehicle is towing a boat.”

  “Why do you think that?” Richardson asked.

  “There’s two people in the front, and the nearest one behind is more than two car-lengths back. Oh, and all the others are shorter and have most of the people.”

  “Makes sense,” Lita said.

  Richardson’s phone dinged with a text.

  “Wallis?” Lita asked.

  “No, Brendan. They’ve got all the guns loaded. He wants a pair of binoculars.”

  “I’ll get it for him,” Hannah said. “I know where they are.”

  She rushed out the back door and down the hall.

  “We’re half way across the lake already,” Richardson said. “This sucker moves around just fine.”

  “Yeah, seems like it,” Harley said. “The small group is on the beach now, setting up about ten yards apart.”

  “Son of a bitch,” Richardson said. “They’re gonna see us in a hurry.”

  Madison stuck her head out the door. “Dammit, Hannah, get inside. We’re getting close, and the enemy will see us in a second.”

  “I’m coming,” Hannah yelled, her footsteps going from the front to the back of the roof. She appeared at the rear door with one of the binoculars in her hands, getting up to the front windows with them and looking. “I see them. They have to see us by now, but they probably don’t realize what we are.”

  “If they’ve got binoculars, they’ll see the guns up there, or maybe the patrol boats in back.”

  “At a glance we do look like a big, ugly houseboat, though,” Harley said. “I think they’re launching their boat.”

  “Shit,” Richardson said. “We need an intercom to the roof, so we can talk with Juan Carlos and Brendan.”

  “Call one of them and put your phone on speaker,” Harley said.

  “Good idea,” Richardson said, pulling out his phone. He dialed Juan Carlos, who answered after a couple rings.

  “What’s up, dude?”

  “Put your phone on speaker and set it someplace where we can talk back and forth.”

  “Okay,” he said, hitting the speaker button. Richardson could hear him set the phone down on something metallic.

  “You hear us in there?” Juan Carlos asked.

  Richardson smiled. “Yeah, hear me?”

  “Yeah, dude,” he said. “Hey, Brendan, we got a live call on my phone here.”

  “Good,” he said. “I’ll call you. Conference me in.”

  “That’s a great idea,” Hannah said.

  They did that, both connected to the bridge now.

  “We’re ready for battle,” Harley said. “The boat’s in the water, but I don’t think it’s off the trailer yet.”

  “How many in the boat?” Richardson asked.

  “Looks like four, with a few in the water next to it,” Harley said. “The rest are heading towards the point of that isthmus on foot.”

  Richardson moved closer to the phone. “Brendan, light up that far cove with grenade fire.”

  “I’ll give it a shot,” he said, aiming the M19 high and pulling the trigger, letting five grenades fly. He waited for a second to see where they landed…not quite far enough, so he adjusted and fired some more. The sides of the barge got pelted by machine gun fire.

  “We got their attention, dude,” Juan Carlos said, turning his M19 towards the close beach and letting loose with a salvo, the explosions killing two men and forcing the others off the beach.

  “We’re gonna need to use the mini guns for the boat,” Richardson said. “What’s going on at the launching ramp?”

  “They’re still there,” Harley said. “Pelt that area with more grenades!”

  “On it,” Brendan said, firing six more grenades in rapid succession, making an adjustment, then firing again, Juan Carlos joining him.

  “I think you got their launch vehicle,” Harley said. “You blew up the one that had one person in it, which was backing down the ramp. Now the others are swarming into the water.”

  Richardson laughed. “Maybe the boat was still tied to the trailer and it’s rolling under water.”

  “No such luck, the vehicle didn’t roll down. I’d see it because of the dead driver.”

  “Hit them again,” Richardson shouted, just as both Brendan and Juan Carlos let off another salvo of grenades. That brought more machine gun fire, hitting the sides of the boat.

  “Watch out!” yelled Madison.

  “We’re okay,” Juan Carlos yelled back. “Good shielding up here. Better than the patrol boats.”

  “The boat’s moving,” Harley said. “This is it. Better get that damn thing.”

  “Moving to the mini-guns,” Brendan shouted, his footsteps heard over their heads. Then the air was filled with loud machine gun fire, causing Madison to cover her ears. The other mini gun fired up too, strafing the beach where most of the enemy fighters had moved, cutting down about half of them in one pass.

  “This thing is awesome!” shouted Juan Carlos.

  “Stay on the target,” Richardson shouted. “Get that damn boat.”

  “It’s rounding the isthmus!” Hannah shouted, looking through the binoculars. “There’s the weapon. It’s on the deck. That’s just a Zodiac boat.”

  “I have you now,” Brendan said as he fired, cutting down the men and blowing massive holes in the rubber side, sinking the boat almost immediately.

  “Get those guys rushing towards the water!” shouted Hannah. Juan Carlo
s fired his mini gun, sweeping back and forth, the air thick with lead, all the enemy fighters hit, some flying backwards several feet, others cut nearly in half.

  “Oh, God, wish I wouldn’t have watched that,” Hannah said, taking the binoculars away from her eyes.

  “We need to recover the weapon,” Richardson said. “Harley, think anybody is left alive?”

  “There’s a guy running towards the bank,” Hannah yelled. “He’s got a device in his hands.”

  “Kill him!” Richardson shouted. Juan Carlos fired, hitting him, knocking him down, but then there was an explosion under the water, raising a huge dome, a large rolling wave coming.

  “My God, are we gonna die?” Hannah shouted as the barge lifted way up in the water.

  “It was pointed the wrong way!” Richardson shouted, watching the huge wave roll away from the dam, heading for the isthmus and cove to the north of their position, the wall of water crashing into the Canyon Park campground like it didn’t even exist, flowing over that and washing the Hill Country Yacht Club away, the debris moving at a breakneck pace towards the small airport and the homes to the east of it.

  “Oh, geez, those poor people,” Hannah said, watching out the side window with binoculars as homes were pushed off their foundations like cardboard boxes.

  “Are you seeing this, dude?” Juan Carlos shouted from the roof. “Damn, that’s insane. I hope there aren’t a lot of full-time residents there.”

  “It just took out the hotels,” Brendan shouted. “Even the one we stayed at. I can just barely see it.”

  “Did it knock the buildings down?” Madison asked.

  “No, it doesn’t look like it,” Brendan said, “but a lot of them are under water.”

  “Honey, isn’t the wave gonna come back this way?” Lita asked.

  “Dammit, you’re right,” Richardson said. “Let’s make for the cove those guys launched out of, and beach this sucker.”

  “It won’t knock down the dam, will it?” Madison asked.

  “I doubt it,” Richardson said. “Might send some water through the spillway, though.”

  “I’ll call Wallis, so he can get on that,” Harley said.

  Richardson nodded and hit the throttles, pushing them full bore. “Everybody hold on!”

  The huge barge plowed through the choppy water, it’s hull creaking and banging as they made their way towards the cove.

  “The water’s receding already,” Hannah shouted. “It’s coming this way!”

  “Brendan and Juan Carlos, keep on those guns. Kill anybody there who moves. Hell, fire on them if they’re lying there without any noticeable injuries.”

  “You got it,” Brendan shouted.

  “Look, here comes the swell, straight at us,” Madison said, looking out the window.

  “Close those doors,” Richardson shouted, Madison getting over to the port side door and pulling it shut, Hannah doing the same with the starboard side.

  “I’ll close the back,” Madison shouted, running towards the stern through the long hallway, Hannah right on her tail.

  The boat lifted when the swell got under her, just as they made it past the isthmus, heading for the beach on the northwest side of the cove. The mini gun fired above, Brendan strafing bodies that looked untouched near the enemy vehicles, one man getting up to run, hit by a short blip from Juan Carlos’s gun. The barge was continuing up higher, Richardson struggling to keep control, and then they were over the rocky shore, heading higher, the pontoons scraping the rocks, then knocking over the small trees in its path, finally stopping, the water flowing half way up the windows of the cabin before slowly receding. The boat dropped onto the uneven ground and skidded to a stop.

  “Everybody okay?” Richardson yelled, shutting down the engines.

  “We’re okay up here,” Juan Carlos shouted. “Holy shit.”

  “We’re okay,” Madison said, rushing back to the bridge with Hannah on her heels.

  “Those patrol boats are pretty messed up,” Hannah said. “We’ve been dragging one of them upside down the whole way.”

  “This boats gonna need a ton of screen doors,” Harley quipped. Richardson laughed, shaking his head.

  “You get Wallis?”

  “Yeah,” Harley said, “he’s alerted the locals. He yelled at me a little bit.”

  Richardson snickered. “Well, as bad as this was, we did the right thing.”

  “I think I’d rather not live on board now,” Lita said.

  Madison and Hannah looked at her and laughed, Richardson and Harley joining in.

  “What’s so funny?” Juan Carlos asked, coming into the bridge.

  “Yeah, what’d we miss?” Brendan asked.

  “We’re about to become landlubbers again,” Madison said.

  Chapter 20 – Radio Talk

  “I said drop your guns, mister,” the Sheriff said, his pistol out, walking towards the edge of the destroyed bridge, Jason and the others frozen.

  “We will not,” Jason said.

  “Oh, really,” the sheriff said. “If we fire, we’ll get most of you before you can do anything. You’ll be the first person shot, since you seem to be the leader.”

  “We don’t want to fight you,” Jason said. “Stand down. We’re working under orders from General Hogan.”

  “Oh, that asshole,” the sheriff said. A few of the men around him snickered. “That don’t fly here, boy.”

  “You really don’t want to tangle with us,” Stanton Hunt said. “Trust me.”

  “Oh, goody, an injun,” the sheriff said. “Maybe you’ll be the first one shot instead.”

  There was small engine noise, then a whir of electric motors, and an off-roader rolled into view, Junior at the controls, the big gun pointed right at the sheriff and his men.

  “Shit, James, I’m done with this,” said one of the men, dropping his shotgun and backing away.

  “What in tarnation is that?” the sheriff asked.

  “Please drop your guns,” Jason said. “We don’t want to hurt Americans. We’re here to fight the invaders, not folks like you.”

  The rest of the sheriff’s men dropped their guns. “Sheriff, you know who these guys are, right? They’re on our side. I’m not shooting at them.”

  “You frigging cowards,” he said.

  “C’mon, man,” another of his men said.

  The sheriff sighed, and holstered his weapon. “All right. Why the hell did you guys blow this bridge? Our town gets deliveries over that, since everything west of here is dangerous.”

  “We did that to stop the Islamists from getting to I-25, past where we took out bridges there,” Jason said.

  “Who’s gonna pay for this?” the sheriff asked.

  “The state, I reckon,” White Eagle said.

  The sheriff shrugged, starting to lose his menace. “Look, I’m sorry I called your friend an injun.”

  “Don’t worry about it,” Stanton Hunt said. “I’d be pissed if somebody blew a bridge I was using too. It’s just war, man.”

  “Let’s go home,” one of the men said. “We’ll figure out how we get supplies through here tomorrow. Damn war is almost over now anyway. You know what happened today.”

  “Yeah, we have no Federal Government anymore,” the Sheriff said. “Don’t be expecting quick work on stuff like this.”

  “It’s a state road, James,” said another man.

  “So it is,” the Sheriff said. “You just became head of the town re-supply team. Enjoy the complaints we’re gonna get.”

  Curt snickered. Jason shot him a glance, and he shut up.

  “Okay, we’ll be going,” the Sheriff said. “You aren’t planning on any more demolition, are you?”

  Jason smiled. “No sir, we’re on our way back to Texas tonight.”

  “Texas, huh? Figures.” The group of men walked back to their vehicles, one man turning around and walking back, waiting a moment.

  “You want something?” Jason asked.

  “I know what
you guys have been doing,” the man said. “Right frigging on.”

  With that, he turned and left.

  Curt laughed again, walking over to Jason. “Sorry, man.”

  Jason smiled. “That was a little weird. Oh, and thanks, Junior.”

  He grinned back from the seat of his off-roader. “Don’t mention it.”

  “Let’s get the hell out of here,” Jason said in a loud voice. The group got back into their vehicles, Junior taking a few moments to hitch up the off-roader with some help from Kelly.

  “You know, Junior, one of these days you’re gonna pull a stunt like that and get yourself killed,” Kelly said. “I’d really rather you didn’t.”

  “I knew that guy wasn’t gonna shoot us,” Junior said. “Otherwise I would’ve left Rachel behind.

  “You would’ve tried,” she said. “Let’s get going. I’ll drive your baby for a while.”

  “Yeah, and I’m driving your rig, honey,” Brenda said from inside Kelly’s truck.

  “No problem,” he said.

  Junior opened the door of the Brave, letting Rachel go in first, following her inside. “I can drive for a while longer, you know.”

  “We’ll trade off again later,” Rachel said. “I can tell when you’re tired. Don’t worry, I won’t break your baby.”

  “I’m not worried about that,” he said.

  Rachel started the engine and followed Kelly and Brenda onto the road.

  “Those two are acting more and more like an old married couple,” Junior said.

  “I think it’s nice,” Rachel said, shooting him a glance. “People probably say the same thing about us.”

  “I kinda hope so,” Junior said. “I wish things would settle down a little bit. The war is wearing on me a tad.”

  She chuckled. “I’ve had enough of it, but it did bring us together.”

  “It did,” Junior said.

  “Mind if we turn on the radio?” she asked. “It’ll help me stay sharp.”

  “Sure, no problem,” Junior said. “Heard rumors that things went pretty crazy after the apps went wide.” He reached forward and switched it on, hit the seek button, and they heard static, with an occasional music station.

  “What the hell?” Rachel said. “There are always a lot of news stations. We listened to one on the way here, remember?”