Bug Out! Texas Book 6: Citizen Vengeance Read online

  “Do you think this makes us safe?” Sydney asked.

  “Safer, maybe,” Don said. “This is a long way from over. I keep hearing that there are half a million enemy fighters in the southwest. If that’s really true, we’ll need to get better at recruiting. Thirty thousand won’t be enough if they mount an attack with anywhere near that many people.”

  “Comforting thought,” Sydney said, taking the rinsed coffee basket from Don. She dried it with a paper towel and loaded it with scoops of coffee.

  “Wonder how late it’s gonna be when our people get home?” Don asked. He filled the coffee pot with water and set it on the counter as Sydney thought about it.

  “Late,” Sydney said. “We’ve probably got another wake coming. People got killed.”

  “I know,” Don said. “The last one was hard.”

  “It was,” Sydney said. She set the coffee basket into the pot and put on the top. “Ready.”

  Don plugged it in, then looked at her. “You decide yet?”

  “Decide what?”

  Don rolled his eyes, and she giggled. “Oh, that.”

  “Yeah, that,” Don said. “I want you with me.”

  “Are you sure?” she asked. “What about your daughter and Chloe?”

  “I talked to Sherry. She wants them to stay in their trailer. Francis agreed.”

  “You sure they aren’t just being polite?”

  “Pretty sure,” Don said.

  “Okay, then I’ll give you my answer tonight,” she said.

  Chapter 3 – X-Rays

  Kip Hendrix and Governor Nelson were in the bunker living room, watching TV coverage of the attacks in San Antonio.

  “The terrorists did worse against the citizens than they did against the police,” Hendrix said.

  “The citizens are unpredictable,” Nelson said. “I’ll bet the terrorists didn’t expect the resistance they got at the Riverwalk.”

  Maria walked in and sat next to Hendrix. “Did we get more news about Fort Stockton?”

  “Not yet, and it scares me,” Nelson said. “I hope Junior’s plan worked.”

  “You and me both,” Hendrix said.

  “I wish we would’ve been able to keep Landry alive longer,” Nelson said. “Somebody might have called him over this.”

  “Maybe,” Hendrix said.

  There was a beep from the console. “That’s probably Gallagher,” Maria said, getting up. She rushed into the console room, Hendrix and Nelson hot on her heels.

  “It’s Gallagher all right,” Maria said, clicking accept. She turned up the sound volume.

  “Hello, Major General Gallagher,” she said.

  Gallagher chuckled. “Always so businesslike. Hi, Maria.”

  “Hi,” she said. “Got news for us?”

  “Yeah, and I just sent the satellite picture.”

  “Did our people survive?” Nelson asked.

  Gallagher chuckled. “Remember when I said this could be a Little Big Horn event?”

  “It went that well?” Nelson asked.

  “Yeah, it went that well,” Gallagher said. “We got nearly twenty thousand people on the northern front, and another ten thousand down south.”

  “Casualties?” Hendrix asked.

  “We won’t know that for hours,” Gallagher said. “Not good numbers, anyway.”

  “We talk to anybody on the scene?” Hendrix asked.

  “Second hand, from a woman whose sister is at the battle. Sounds like they lost one of the M-1 tanks and one of their off roaders.”

  “There has to be more than that,” Nelson said.

  “Probably,” Gallagher said. “We pounded the group down south with air power. They fled across the river into Mexico. I told Fort Stockton to pass the word not to follow them down there.”

  “Good,” Nelson said.

  “Gotta run,” Gallagher said. “We’re still chasing down what happened to the police in San Antonio. Talk to you later.”

  “Thanks,” Nelson said.

  Maria shut down the call and printed the satellite picture.

  “I’ll get it,” Hendrix said, rushing to the printer as it came out. He handed it to Nelson.

  “Good Lord,” he said, looking closely at it. “All those people.”

  “Is this going to be a turning point?” Maria asked.

  “We need to remember Little Big Horn,” Hendrix said. “They won a battle but lost the war. We don’t want to have the same problem. There are a lot of enemy fighters in the southwest. We’ve got a long, nasty fight ahead of us, and we still can’t trust our Army National Guard.”

  “We might have another problem,” Nelson said.

  “What’s that?” Hendrix asked.

  “They may figure out that we have satellite imagery now. It’ll make them more careful with their troop buildups.”

  “Oh,” Hendrix said. “Shit.”

  “How could they be more careful?” Maria asked.

  “I’d be surprised if they build up a large force on open ground again like they did,” Nelson said. “They might infiltrate a target area slowly instead.”

  “That’s easier said than done,” Hendrix said. “We give up a little in the way of surprise if they know we can watch, but it also restricts their movement. That in itself is a big advantage for us.”

  “That’s a good point,” Nelson said.

  “So what’s next?” Maria asked.

  “Assess what happened on the battle field, discuss it, meet with the people involved, and try to motivate the citizen participants into organizing,” Hendrix said. “I miss anything?”

  “Redouble our efforts to weed out the bad guys in our state military,” Nelson said.

  “We’ve done pretty well in the Air National Guard,” Hendrix said.

  “True, but we’re only using about a third of our available choppers because of the shortage of pilots,” Nelson said. “We have work to do there.”

  “Check the chopper pilots for RFID chips,” Hendrix said.

  Nelson froze, then grinned at him. “There you go again. Maria, get Wallis on the line, please.”

  “Yes sir,” she said, going back to the console. She had Wallis on the line in a few seconds.

  “Hello, Governor,” Wallis said. “Great news about the battle today.”

  “Yeah, and nasty news about San Antonio,” Nelson said. “You see that?”

  “Yes,” he said. “We’ve got Dallas and Fort Worth locked down tighter than a drum. All the major civilian gathering spots are under surveillance.”

  “Good,” Nelson said. “Don’t keep armed civilians out. That’s counter-productive.”

  “How do we know which are the good civilians and which are the bad?” Wallis asked.

  “Profile,” Nelson said. “You know what I mean.”

  Wallis chuckled. “Well, it is wartime, isn’t it? What else is on your mind?”

  “Another good idea from Kip. We need to x-ray all of those chopper pilots for RFID chips.”

  There was silence on the line for a moment. “Dammit. Want a job, Kip?”

  “Busy with the one I have,” Hendrix said. “C’mon, one of us would’ve figured that out.”

  “I suggest doing this carefully,” Nelson said. “Bring in a few at a time, and tell them not to pass it along. Arrest anybody with a chip, of course.”

  “Okay, we can do that,” Wallis said. “I’ll get that started in the morning.”

  “Oh, and nice job down by Big Bend National Park,” Nelson said.

  “Nice to be in the fight,” Wallis said. “One of the officers that I do trust made a suggestion.”

  “What’s that?”

  “Contact the Israelis and see if they’ll sell us some drones on the QT. They manufacture them, you know. We could use the tactical reconnaissance.”

  “That’s a good idea,” Nelson said. “I’ll get on that personally. I have a relationship with the Prime Minister, and he knows what President Simpson is up to. He’ll probably go for it.”
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  “Good,” Wallis said. “Anything else?”

  “Let me know right away if you find any RFID chips,” Nelson said. “If this works, we need to use it with the Army National Guard.”

  “Roger that,” Wallis said. “Talk to you guys later.”

  Maria ended the call.

  “This calls for a drink,” Nelson said.

  “And some ice cream?” Maria asked.

  Nelson grinned. “Don’t tempt me.”

  Chapter 4 – Aftermath

  Amanda watched as several vehicles approached her bobtail, Curt leading.

  “More ammo already?” she asked as Curt pulled up.

  “It’s over,” Curt said, getting out of his Barracuda.

  Junior and Rachel pulled up in their off-roader, followed by Cindy in hers, then Jason and Francis in the Jeep.

  “We lose anybody else?” Amanda asked.

  “Not since the citizens arrived,” Curt said. “Not that I saw anyway.”

  “Where are the citizens?” Amanda asked.

  “Burning bodies,” Junior said.

  “No prisoners?” Amanda asked.

  “Nope, we killed all the bad guys,” Jason said. “I was against it for about two seconds.”

  “I wasn’t,” Curt said. “We need to be a terror to these guys. It’s what they understand. We ought to put the bodies on display.”

  There was a whoosh about five hundred yards away, and a bright glow as the bonfire started.

  “Wow,” Cindy said, still sitting in her off-roader. “Glad the wind isn’t blowing this way.”

  Kelly drove up with Brenda in their truck. “Looks like the barbeque is starting.”

  “Sick, man,” Junior said. Brenda rolled her eyes.

  Kyle and Kate rolled up in their truck, followed by Moe in his Jeep and Clancy in his truck.

  “Seen Eric and Kim?” Jason asked.

  “They’ll be along,” Kelly said. “They were chasing down stragglers. Eric was looking at some of the bodies before we burned them.”

  “I’ll bet he wants to see if they have RFID chips,” Jason said.

  “Yeah,” Curt said. “I was thinking the same thing.”

  “What’s that going to tell us?” Rachel asked.

  “It’ll tell us if they’ve put these chips in all of their forces,” Curt said.

  “Oh,” Rachel said.

  “We need to crack those,” Junior said. “Think you can do that, Curt?”

  “I have no idea,” Curt said. “Not really my cup of tea. The phones weren’t too difficult because I could use the phone’s operating system to figure it out. RFID chips don’t run programs. They just transmit codes.”

  “Do we need to stick around?” Amanda asked.

  “Let’s wait until the rest of our folks show up,” Curt said.

  “Here come the tanks,” Clancy said.

  “Wonder if they’re low on fuel yet?” Amanda asked. “I’m at least a week from real production of fuel for them. We need to buy some holding tanks.”

  “We should talk to Ramsey about that,” Jason said. “I’ll ask him if they can send fuel tankers for now. Maybe he can help us with holding tanks too.”

  “Him or Gallagher,” Kyle said.

  “Can we go?” Kate asked. “I don’t feel so hot.”

  “She’s pregnant,” Brenda said. “Take her home.”

  “Okay, sweetie,” Kyle said, worried look on his face. “We’ll go home right now. See you guys back at camp.”

  They drove away in their truck.

  “I hope she doesn’t have a problem,” Brenda said. “Too much stress early in a pregnancy can be bad.”

  Rachel shot a glance at Junior. “Maybe we ought to go back too.”

  “Wait, you aren’t, are you?” Amanda asked.

  “Probably not,” Rachel said.

  “You’re late,” Brenda said. “Yeah, let’s get you back home.”

  Junior nodded. “Let’s hook this thing up to your truck, okay?”

  “Yeah,” Kelly said, walking over to it. Junior pulled the off-roader up against the back and helped Kelly hitch it up. They were done in a couple of minutes, and took off for home.

  Eric and Kim rode up in their Bronco. “Everybody survive?”

  “We lost a few people,” Jason said. “Plus one tank and one off-roader.”

  “Could’ve been worse,” Francis said. “A whole lot worse.”

  Dirk and Chance drove up, parking the truck and trotting over.

  “We kicked their ass,” Dirk said.

  “Yeah, seriously,” Chance said. “What were you doing with the bodies, Eric?”

  “Checking on something,” Eric said.

  “The RFID chips,” Jason said. “Right?”

  Eric nodded yes.

  “Any have them?”

  “Yeah, brother,” Eric said. “All of them. He picked up a white cloth on his dashboard and held it up. “I’ve got six of them right here.”

  “Wonder if they’re still transmitting?” Chance asked.

  “That’s a good question,” Jason said. “Maybe we shouldn’t take them back home.”

  “Yeah, might not be a good idea,” Kim said.

  “I’d take them. Possible that we can use them to our advantage,” Curt said.

  “I suggest we stash them someplace,” Jason said. “Use them for a trap.”

  “Should have brought some mines,” Chance said. “We could bury them on top of one. The enemy comes to investigate and boom.”

  “I think it’s wise to hide the fact that we know about them,” Dirk said. “At least for now.”

  “I’ve got an idea,” Eric said. “I’ll hide these off the road a ways. Take the GPS coordinates. We’ll come back and look for them later.”

  “What will that tell us?” Kim asked.

  “It’ll tell us if they’re using this to track their people on the run, or if they just use them to check people in and out of their bases,” Eric said.

  “You think the enemy will come for them?” Jason asked. “With all of the dead they have here, they’re going to check out six signals?”

  “You’re forgetting something, pencil neck,” Curt said. “We’re burning all of the bodies. That destroys the chips. They’ll see only six and wonder if they’ve got a few fighters who escaped. If they’re really using them the way we suspect, anyway.”

  “If the chips are just sitting stationary, won’t the enemy figure out they’re no longer in living people?” Jason asked.

  Moe laughed. “Let me see one of those.”

  Eric opened the white cloth and pulled one out as Moe walked over.

  “Ewww, gross,” Kim said. “Bloody with pieces of flesh.”

  “I cut them out kinda fast,” Eric said.

  “Hell, these are small,” Moe said. “We’ve got those goats, in a pen behind the RV park about sixty yards. Maybe we ought to let the goats be stand-in Islamists.”

  “That works on so many levels,” Chance said.

  Clancy cracked up. “Yeah, let’s do that and watch. See if a rescue squad shows up. Nab them.”

  “What if they send a larger force and attack the park?” Kim asked.

  “We’ll see that coming in the satellite pictures,” Dirk said.

  “Maybe we would,” Curt said. “The enemy leaders aren’t stupid. They have to know we saw their forces coming into the area. They’ll trickle in next time if they can get away with it. Hide their numbers.”

  “Or they’ll have enough vehicles to drive in fast,” Dirk said. “If they would’ve done that this time, we’d be dead right now.”

  “He’s right,” Eric said. “If we don’t consider that they’ll learn from their mistakes, they’ll nail us good.”

  “Need I remind you guys that none of us got buzzed by any cell phones?” Curt asked. “Or that none of us saw them coming using the tracking app? They figured out what we knew and adjusted.”

  “Yep. I checked my phone more than once,” Jason said. “They
learned that we could track those.”

  “Damn straight,” Curt said.

  “So what are we gonna do?” Dirk asked. “Enlist the goats?”

  “I think it’s a good idea,” Curt said. “We could use a chance to interrogate some of these guys.”

  “We need to tell Ramsey what we’re doing first,” Jason said. “Agreed?”

  “Yeah,” Curt said. “Call him up.”

  “I’ll call on the way to camp,” Jason said. “We should go.”

  “Yeah, let’s,” Amanda said.

  Chapter 5 – Casualty

  “Francis, can you drive, so I can make the call to Ramsey?” Jason asked.

  “Yeah,” Francis said, as they finished hitching up Curt’s Barracuda to the back of the truck.

  “You pencil necks ready?” Curt asked.

  “Hey, do you have to ride back on that thing?” Amanda asked. “I’d rather have you in the bobtail with me.”

  “Sure, I can ride with you,” Curt said.

  “Good, then let’s go, honey,” Amanda said.

  “Honey?” Francis asked, grinning.

  Curt chuckled. “Not you too.” Amanda took his hand and they went back to her truck.

  “He’s in for a wild night, I suspect,” Jason said.

  “Seriously,” Francis said. “You ready to go?”

  “Yeah.” They got in, and Francis drove them towards camp. The others followed.

  Jason hit Ramsey’s contact. It rang twice.

  “Jason! So good to hear from you. I heard the battle went well.”

  “We slaughtered them,” Jason said. “Thanks to all those citizens who showed up. If not for that, we’d all be dead right now.”

  “What’s on your mind?”

  “Eric looked at some of the enemy bodies before they got burned,” Jason said. “They all had those RFID chips in them.”

  “Where?”

  “Shoot, I didn’t ask,” Jason said. “I’ll get back to you on that.”

  “I’ll need to chat with Wallis and Gallagher on this,” Ramsey said. “We were just discussing it a little while ago.”

  “We had an idea,” Jason said.

  “Go ahead.”

  “We want to attach the RFID chips to a herd of goats that Moe has in a corral about sixty yards behind the RV Park.”