Bug Out! Part 10: RV Race to Battle Read online

  “Hi, ladies,” Rosie said. “Come to have drink?”

  “No, we wanted to see how you’re holding up.”

  “I fine,” she said. “I worry, but time come to be strong.”

  “You guys don’t want to be in the planning meeting?” Mary asked.

  “Nah,” Gabe said. “We won’t be on the away team. Neither of us have the skills. I suspect we’ll be here to protect the park.”

  “You sure?” Hilda asked. “I remember some demolition you were in on.”

  “Yeah, that’s true, I guess, but Jerry knows that better than I do. Too bad we can’t use explosives where they’re going. I still have lots of dynamite.”

  “We should get the video cameras and Wi-Fi up and running, and sooner, rather than later,” Jake said. “I don’t care if we have to take it all down in a few days.”

  “Well, then let’s quit drinking and get to it,” Gabe said. “We’ve still got daylight left.”

  “Why do you think we need the video cameras?” Mary asked. “The enemy can’t get past the border.”

  Gabe pointed at the trap door to the dungeon.

  “Oh,” Mary said with a slight shudder.

  Jake chugged the rest of his drink and put the glass down on the bar firmly. “Okay, ladies, we’ll see you later.”

  “Let us know if you need any help,” Hilda said.

  They nodded and smiled as they climbed the steps.

  “Belly up, girls,” Rosie said.

  They climbed up on the stools, facing Rosie, who was sitting behind the bar.

  “What do you think, Rosie?” Mary asked.

  “I think our men brave. Do best can. Maybe win. Maybe live. Maybe die. I believe live.” She put two more glasses on the bar and poured whiskey into them.

  “I’m scared to death,” Mary said. “But I’m also proud of our men.”

  “I proud of men, but also proud of us,” Rosie said. “We good team.”

  “Yes, we are,” Hilda said. “A damn good team.” She took a sip and shook her head. “How can you drink this stuff?”

  “It like mother milk to me,” Rosie said, laughing. She got a serious look on her face. “I need. Calms. Been here before.”

  “In the islands?” Mary asked, taking a smaller sip of hers.

  “Yes, Philippines,” she said. “Grandpa and dad fought, and brothers, and fiancé.”

  “Did you lose anybody?” asked Hilda.

  “All but dad and one brother,” Rosie said, her eyes glassing over. “Still hurt.”

  “When did you leave there?” Mary asked.

  “You never leave Philippines,” she said, “but I move here part time after war, with GI husband.”

  “You went back and forth?” Mary asked.

  “For many years yes,” she said. “No more. It bad there. People don’t learn from mistakes.”

  “It’s better now, though, isn’t it?” Hilda asked.

  “Some, but here better,” Rosie said.

  “What happened to your GI husband?” Mary asked.

  “He pig, I know before we marry, but I know he get me here,” she said. “He beat me. I got citizen papers and leave. He get drunk and die in car.”

  “You didn’t love him?” Hilda asked.

  “No, only love three men in life,” she said. “Fiancé who die, and Jasmine’s father, and Jeb.”

  “What happened to Jasmine’s father?” Mary asked.

  “His name Anthony. Heart attack,” she said. “He older man. Loved very much. Kind and gentle. Good father too.” She paused, and started to cry.

  “I’m so sorry,” Hilda said. She started to tear up herself.

  “It still hurts after all those years,” Mary said. “Life is hard.”

  “I cry for Jeb,” Rosie said. “I fall for him because he like Anthony in so many way.”

  “You’ll have me bawling, you two,” Mary said.

  “It okay,” Rosie said. “Won’t lose Jeb. I can feel.”

  “I hope you’re right,” Hilda said.

  “You don’t know if Charlie’s going yet, do you?” Mary asked.

  “No, I don’t,” Hilda said. “He’s a good sharpshooter. I wouldn’t be surprised.”

  “How come you didn’t stick around for the meeting?” Mary asked.

  “I don’t want him to hold back in the meeting because I’m there,” she said, pausing for a moment. “That’s not all of it. When I know a lot of details, I fret about each one of them. It’s selfish, I know, but it’s easier for me if I don’t know everything.”

  “That’s why I’m not there,” Mary said. “I already know the archers are going in first. That alone scares me enough.”

  “Kurt make it too,” Rosie said. “Had feeling about grandpa and brothers and fiancé, but not about dad. I don’t have feeling about our men.”

  “I’ll drink to that,” Hilda said. “Even this nasty stuff.”

  They clinked their glasses together and sat silently for a while.

  Chapter 3 – Ride in the Motor Home

  The meeting was still going on in the clubhouse.

  “Okay, who’s going to be on the away team?” Jerry asked.

  The General stood up. “I’m going to make a few suggestions.”

  “Go ahead, General,” Charlie said.

  “First, our technical support team should stay here, where they have good reliable internet. If they end up going dark in the field, it will be a much worse problem than lack of proximity.”

  “I agree,” George said. “Like I said before, having Jane and Jasmine as our eyes in the sky was invaluable during the last two actions.”

  “Frank, we need a way to connect you to the force,” General Hogan said. “Any idea how to do that? You’re the IT expert.”

  Frank sat silently for a moment. “Everybody has a smart phone, right? Even the privates?”

  There was a murmur in the room, people nodding yes.

  “Looks like it, Frank,” the General said.

  “How many of you have blue tooth headsets in good working order?” Frank asked.

  “I’ve got one for driving,” Jeb said.

  A couple other people agreed.

  “How many of you don’t have them?” Jerry asked.

  Earl raised his hand.

  “Really, only one?” Frank asked. “That’s pretty good. I’ll bet we have some people here with extras who’ll cover that.”

  “Hell, Jake probably has some in his warehouse,” Jeb said, chuckling.

  “Okay, good. How about the privates?”

  “Their helmets have that capability built in,” the General said.

  “Good,” Frank said. “General, can your phone access a protected line?”

  “Yes,” he said.

  “What number?”

  The General read it off to him, and he put it into his contact list. “What are you thinking?”

  “I need to chat with the person who took my job over,” Frank said. “I’m going to call him on my cell and have him call your phone on the secure line.”

  “Oh, okay,” the General said.

  Frank pulled out his phone and pushed a contact, then put it to his ear.

  “Rami?”

  “Frank?”

  “Yeah. How are you?”

  “I’m great, Frank. How are you?”

  “Good. I need some help. Can you call me on a secure line? I’ll give you a secure number to call.”

  “You have a secure number? How secure?”

  “It’s General Hogan’s number.”

  “Oh, I know who he is. Shoot.”

  Frank read the number off to him.

  “Okay, call you back in a minute.”

  Frank put his phone back in his pocket. “He’ll be calling any second.”

  The General’s phone rang, and he answered it.

  “General Hogan?”

  “Yes, here’s Frank.”

  He handed the phone over.

  “Thanks, Rami. Did you guys get the clas
sified web meeting tool working with mobile devices?”

  “Yeah. Works well. You want to use it?”

  “Yes. We’re getting ready for a major action.”

  “What?”

  “Well, we’re on a secure line, so I can tell you. We’re going to hit Saladin in his hiding place.”

  “Really? Good. Got a pencil and paper? I’ll read off the connect info.”

  “Yeah, just a sec.”

  Frank reached around the side of the PC and grabbed his pad of paper and a pen.

  “Okay, go ahead, Rami.”

  Rami read codes off to Frank, which he wrote down, and then read back.

  “Okay, Frank, you’ve got it. This will have to be temporary. How long do you need it?”

  “Can we have the account for a week?”

  “Yes, Frank, I’ll be able to cover it for that long.”

  “Great, thanks so much, Rami.”

  “Don’t mention it. Take care of yourselves. Good luck.”

  “Thanks, you too.”

  Frank handed the phone back to General Hogan.

  “All set,” Frank said.

  “What did you set up, exactly?” Jerry asked.

  “Before I left work, we were working on an ultra-secure web meeting tool which we could use for communication between satellite launch sites and the factory,” Frank said. “We were using the commercial product for our non-classified satellite launches, and had such good luck with it that we wanted to duplicate it for the classified side.”

  “The commercial one was WebEx, right?”

  “Originally, but we eventually went with a similar tool from another vendor who was giving us a deal,” Frank said.

  “So the away team will go in with Bluetooth headsets on, and have constant contact with the technical team?” the General asked.

  “Yep,” Frank said. “We’ll give you real time info on movement, and real time coordination.”

  “That’ll be perfect,” George said.

  “Yeah,” General Hogan said. “We can talk to each other in the field, too, right?”

  “Yep, we’ll all be in one big meeting, and anybody can talk. My only caution is that we must keep down the chatter, or it’ll get confusing.”

  “Okay, so here’s what I propose,” General Hogan said. “Frank, Jane, Jasmine, and I will be the command post here, serving up information and communicating using this tool.”

  “If Jerry’s on the away team, I don’t like that idea,” Jasmine said.

  “I know, Jasmine,” the General said softly. “Look at it this way. We’re a team. We each have a valuable role to play. You’ve already proven yourself quite well in the role I’m suggesting. Having you in that job will make a successful mission much more likely. You’d be protecting the away team. That will improve the chances that Jerry comes back alive much more than you going with him.”

  Jasmine sat silently for a minute.

  “You know he’s right, honey,” Jerry said.

  “I know, I know,” she looked away. “Don’t have to like it, but I’ll do what the team needs.”

  “Good, thank you,” General Hogan said. “Let’s move on, then. We know we need the archers, and they’ll be right up front. Jeb, Kurt, and Malcolm, you okay with that?”

  “Yes sir,” Malcolm said.

  “I’m ready,” Kurt said.

  “Me too,” Jeb said.

  “Good, thank you,” the General said. “Sharp shooters?”

  “The Sheriff, Earl, Jackson, Kurt, Terry, Charlie, and Jeb are all good,” Jerry said. “Oh, and George with that .50 cal, of course.”

  “Mortars?” the General asked.

  “Earl and Jackson have the most experience,” Jerry said. “I’m checked out on them too.”

  “Technical support?” the General asked.

  “That would be me,” Jerry said. “Since Frank and Jasmine aren’t going.”

  “Who’s going to protect the park?” Jane asked.

  “Well, we already know that Dobie is staying here with his dogs,” Malcolm said. “How good are Jake and Gabe?”

  “Don’t know about Jake’s fighting ability,” Jerry said. “But he’s a good tech guy. If something breaks here, he’d be able to fix it. Gabe’s pretty good with a rifle and a scatter gun, but his best strength is his ability to improvise. He appears a little nutty, but he’s brilliant.”

  “Okay, let’s start paring this down,” the General said. “I’m going to suggest that the oldest sharp shooters who aren’t bow experts stay home and guard this place. There might be a lot of climbing around.”

  “The two that fit that bill are the Sheriff and Charlie,” Jerry said. “You guys okay with that?”

  “Well, Hilda will be happy,” Charlie said.

  “Are you guys going to send Terry?” the Sheriff asked.

  “I’d say yes,” Jerry said. “He’s a crack shot, and he’s fast.”

  “If there’s a way I can fit, I’d like to go,” the Sheriff said.

  “Okay, I’m good with that,” General Hogan said.

  “Trish is going to have a fit,” Jane said.

  “Nobody is going to be forced into this,” General Hogan said. “If Terry doesn’t want to go, that’s that.”

  “Agreed,” Charlie said. “Terry will opt to go. Trust me.”

  “Okay, we have three jeeps and a Humvee,” the General said. With equipment we’ll be taking, we must keep the Humvee at four men. Jeeps?”

  “We have a couple two-door Wranglers, and one four-door Wrangler Ultimate,” Jeb said. “Four men in each would be the limit, especially since we’re taking mortars and that .50 cal sniper rifle. The Ultimate has a little more storage in the back.”

  “So we have sixteen seats,” General Hogan said, “and only thirteen men. Perfect. Room to spare.”

  “Oh, by the way, I did check the terrain,” Jasmine said. “I wouldn’t take anything but the Jeeps and the Humvee. It looks pretty rough, especially as you near the target area. Plan on taking some time to get back there.”

  “Okay, then we’re set,” Charlie said. “Since we know the bad guys are looking for us via satellite, I want to meet with the people who are staying here. We must be ready to defend this place, because if we get taken out, the eyes and ears of the away team will be gone.”

  “That’s a good thought,” Frank said. “Better re-check the generator too, just in case.”

  “Right,” Charlie said. “We’ve also got to worry about the serial killers, right?”

  “Well, yes and no,” Malcolm said. “I think we have at least a week before they arrive. They’re still playing games on the eastbound road.”

  “Uh oh, you see something else?” George asked.

  “Yeah, another girl found on a dirt road. They had time to play with her,” Malcolm said, a grim look on his face. “They found fluid from two different men in her. A pretty young lady named Amanda Smith. She was only nineteen. Disappeared from a street right next to a university in St. Louis.”

  “Oh, no,” Jane said. “That’s so sad.”

  “They’re only one state over,” Jasmine said.

  “True,” Malcolm said, “but they’re on the far side of Missouri, and I have a pretty good idea where they’re going. Remember the home base in Columbus, Ohio that I was talking about?”

  “Oh, yeah,” Jane said.

  “I’d worry more about the enemy than those guys,” Frank said. “Seriously.”

  “Yeah,” Charlie said. “We know what to do. I’ll lead the home team. We’ll have our defenses ready.”

  “It’s still unlikely that they can get past the border,” General Hogan said. “General Kincaid set nothing up. I confirmed that earlier.”

  “Can you check for all authorizations, regardless of who signed them?” Jerry asked.

  “Yeah, I can,” the General said. “Good idea. I’ll get on that now.”

  “When do we expect to kick this off?” Jeb asked.

  “I can get the satellite access
shut off tomorrow,” the General said. “Think you guys can be ready to go by mid-morning?”

  “Yeah,” Jeb said. The others nodded in approval.

  “Okay, we’ll activate the plan tomorrow morning,” the General said.

  “I think I’d better go talk to Terry,” the Sheriff said.

  “Home team, meet me up by the front of the room,” Charlie said. “Dobie, could you go get Gabe and Jake, please? And find Hilda and Mary?”

  “On it,” Dobie said, leaving the clubhouse.

  George walked out on the porch. Heidi was leaned against the rail, looking out. She turned and smiled when she saw him. “Plans made?”

  “Yeah,” George said, taking her into his arms.

  “When?”

  “We leave tomorrow morning. Probably be back the next day.”

  “How dangerous is this going to be?” she asked.

  “We have a pretty good chance of pulling it off with minimal casualties,” he said.

  “Can I go too?” she asked.

  “I’d feel better if you didn’t,” George said. “But I won’t stop you. You’re valuable. You’ve proven that more than once.”

  “Let’s sleep on it,” she said.

  ***

  Howard helped Scott up the stairs, and onto the couch in the living room. Blake and Kerry heard them and rushed over.

  “You feeling better, Scotty?” Blake asked.

  “Yes, much better, thanks to you two,” he said, smiling. “As long as I’m around, you won’t have to be afraid of anybody.”

  “Howard let us out,” Kerry said. “Where’s mom?”

  “She’s in the basement. She won’t hurt you anymore.”

  “Is she dead?” Blake asked.

  “No,” Scott said. “But she’s tied up. She’s getting a time out.”

  Howard chuckled. “Yeah, a time out. Do you boys know her boyfriend?”

  “Bobby Joe,” Blake said, a terrified look on his face. “They aren’t coming here, are they?”

  “They might, but we’ll take care of them if they do,” Scott said. “Did they hurt you guys?”

  “Yes,” Kerry said, “Mom told them to.”

  “Where do they live?” Howard asked.

  “Back home,” Blake said.

  Scotty looked at Howard. “Michigan.”

  “That’s a ways. How do we tip them off?” Howard asked. “They might not know where she is.”