by Robert Boren
“Yeah,” Lita said. “I kinda wish this was more like a skyscraper. It’s only four stories.”
“We’ve been in a tall building, remember?” Richardson said. “Didn’t work out so well.”
“I’m going inside,” Hannah said. “Should we meet for dinner?”
“Let’s see how it goes,” Lita said. “I might just want to lounge around with my man while I can.”
“I like the sound of that,” Richardson said as he put the key card into the slot. He opened the door, holding it for Lita. “See you guys.”
Madison giggled. “Glad we’re not right next to them.”
Juan Carlos shot her a sidelong glance. “I’m glad they’re not right next to us.”
Madison rolled her eyes and glanced at Hannah, who was trying not to bust up. She and Juan Carlos disappeared into their room.
“Alone at last,” Brendan said.
“Can we at least get out of the hallway?”
Brendan opened the door and held it for her. “Here you go.”
She breezed past him. “Ah, the air conditioner is on. It feels heavenly.”
“It does,” Brendan said, locking the door. He walked into the room and started pulling his clothes off.
“What are you doing?” she asked, watching him.
“I need a shower, or a bath. Want to join me?”
“Thought you’d never ask,” she said, stripping off her clothes in a few seconds. Brendan sucked in air as he saw her trim figure. “Seems like forever since I’ve been able to look at you.”
“Shut up,” she said, walking past him into the bathroom. “Clean first.”
“Oh all right,” Brendan said.
“Nice jetted tub,” Hannah said.
“Shall we?”
“Let’s get in the shower and break some of this sod off first,” she said.
Brendan nodded and reached into the shower to turn on the water.
They both got in when the water was warm enough, barely able to keep their hands off each other.
“I think we should do the bath later,” Hannah said. “After.”
“After what?”
“Guess,” she said, shutting off the water. She took him by the hand, walking him to the bed, pulling back the covers. They got in, Brendan laying against her, covering half her body. She searched out his mouth and they kissed, slow and tender at first, escalating quickly.
“Wow,” Brendan said, trembling as he looked at her face, framed by her dark wet hair.
“Now,” she said, pulling him on top of her. “We can take our time later. I want you now. Hard and fast.”
He moved over her, both of them crying out as they joined, forgetting everything now, rising and falling through their passion, finally stopping.
“I needed that,” Brendan said, getting off and laying on his side facing her.
“Tell me about it, husband,” she said. “A week is too long.”
“Yep,” Brendan said, kissing her tenderly.
“It’s not even just that,” she said. “Remember last time? We had to sneak off and do it standing up, behind the buildings at the base. This was a lot nicer.”
“Oh, I don’t know,” Brendan said. “Those docks could’ve blown up then and I probably wouldn’t have cared.”
She giggled. “You men are so mushy.”
“So sue me,” Brendan said. “You want to relax for a while before we get in the tub?”
“No, I want to make love till I can’t anymore,” she said, pushing him onto his back and climbing on.
“Yes ma’am,” Brendan said, watching her, his expression changing from light to wanton as she moved.
They were done half an hour later, lying next to each other, still panting, faces flushed.
“Happy?” Brendan asked.
“More than you know,” she said. “This was a little risky. We probably should get something.”
“Oh,” Brendan said. “I didn’t even think about that.”
“It’s a biological trick.” Hannah smiled. “I knew but I didn’t care.”
“You’re something,” he said. “I don’t think we should get pregnant before the war is over.”
“I don’t either,” Hannah said, “but if it happens, it happens. I’m keeping it if something does.”
He sat up in bed, stretching his arms. “Good. Wouldn’t have it any other way.”
“I’m hungry,” she said.
Brendan reached for the bedside table, grabbing the room service menu and passing it to her. “Here. Order whatever you want.”
“Okay,” she said, picking it up. “Maybe you should check the apps. Been a while.”
“Good idea,” Brendan said, leaving the bed to get his phone off the dresser. He watched while Hannah looked at the menu.
“They have burgers and fries.”
“I’m game,” Brendan said, watching the phone screen. “There’s about ten enemy hits by the car that Juan Carlos blasted on the way here.”
“Uh oh, you don’t think they’ll show up here, do you?”
“I doubt it,” Brendan said. “Why would they?”
Hannah picked up the phone receiver. “I’m ordering a couple burgers and some diet coke. That okay?”
“They got cheesecake?”
“Oh, brother, are you trying to fatten me up?”
“Only in one way,” Brendan said.
“Shut up,” Hannah said. “Okay, I guess some cheesecake would be okay.” She got on the phone and made the order, then hung up. “Forty-five minutes.”
“Sounds about right,” Brendan said. “That means they’ll be here in about twenty minutes, if this is like most places.” He came back to the bed and sat down with his phone in his hand. It dinged.
“Who’s that?” Hannah asked.
“Juan Carlos,” Brendan said. “Shit.”
“What?”
“He saw the hits by the enemy car too,” Brendan said. “He just remembered that those girls were in a band playing at the main hotel at Canyon Lake.”
“What? This hotel?”
“Relax, they probably don’t know where the girls were going… hell, the bad guys who saw them are all dead, remember?”
Hannah got up quickly, brow furrowed, and found the room binder on the small table near the window. She flipped through it, to the entertainment section. “Dammit.”
“What?”
“Here they are,” she said, holding up the picture. “Hope the guys after them didn’t know who these girls were.”
Chapter 27 – The Deal
Stanton Hunt watched as the final group of his people arrived at the Pie Town RV Park, along with most of the bikers. It was nearing dusk. The owner was worried about their group showing up at first, but changed his mind as White Eagle told them tales of what had happened over the last few days.
“See the broadcast text from Junior?” White Eagle asked as he walked up.
“No. Good news, I hope?”
“The first few RVs will be here in about ten minutes,” he said. “They’ll keep arriving into the night, since we spaced everybody out.”
“When do the tanks get here?”
“Junior said his group passed them up,” White Eagle said. “They’ll probably be near the end before all is said and done.”
“I looked at the apps a few minutes ago. I think the civilian actions along Highway 191 will help our mission.”
“Let’s hope so,” White Eagle said. “A few of our warriors and several of the bikers took off east on Highway 60 to find a good place to blow up. They’ll probably be back soon. Almost dark.”
“Good. At least I didn’t see enemy fighters anywhere near this area.”
“Me neither,” White Eagle said. “I think most of the warriors who were a little skeptical of this mission have changed their minds.”
“Let’s hope it stays that way. You know what the turn of battle can do.”
“Hopefully there won’t be any battles here. Hopefully it will just
be demolition.”
Stanton nodded yes, looking out at the road. “This place isn’t defendable.”
“That worries you?”
“Everything worries me,” Stanton said.
White Eagle chuckled. “Okay. Look, here comes somebody.”
“That’s Dirk and Cindy,” Stanton said. “Figures. Cindy is really part of the biker group, from what I’ve been told. Was married to their leader.”
“Dirk’s not their leader, though, right?”
“Nope, her husband was killed in Texas,” Stanton said. “Dirk took up with Cindy later.”
The pickup truck pulling a small trailer drove onto the driveway and stopped in front of the office. Dirk got out with Cindy, and they walked over to Stanton and White Eagle.
“How’s it going?” Dirk asked.
“We greased the skids with the park owner,” Stanton said. “Some of my folks and a few bikers are scouting Highway 60 for a good place to blow up.”
“Which bikers?” Cindy asked.
“Corey, Herman, and Jose,” White Eagle said.
“Perfect,” Cindy said. “They’ve had experience. Hope there are some bridges nearby.”
“Me too,” Dirk said, wiping the sweat off his brow. “Tad warm.”
“Wait till the middle of the afternoon tomorrow,” White Eagle said. “It’s pretty nice now.”
Dirk chuckled. “I’ll go get us registered.”
“I’ll go too,” Cindy said, following him to the office.
“Here comes Junior,” Stanton said, grinning. “I’d know that old Brave anywhere. They’re getting scarce now.”
“I like that thing,” White Eagle said. “Went inside and had a drink with Junior and Kelly at the last place. It’s just the right size. Not too big, not too small.”
“We probably should invest in some RVs,” Stanton said. “Tents are getting a little old.”
“You’ve decided against using one of the park models?”
“No, not yet,” he said. “We’ll see how many are left once more people are here.”
Junior smiled at them from behind his windshield as he pulled up behind Dirk and Cindy’s rig. He came out the door, Rachel following him.
“Wow, we might even get hookups?” Junior asked as he strode over, grabbing his cowboy hat before it could blow off his head in a gust.
“This place is primo,” Stanton said.
“Any others living here?” Rachel asked.
“Our folks?” White Eagle asked.
“No, already here at the park,” Rachel said.
“Oh,” White Eagle said. “Just a few retired people. As usual, the war didn’t do the park’s trade much good.”
“It’ll come back,” Junior said. “Glad there aren’t enemy fighters around. We need to get the demolitions done quickly and get our butts back to Texas. They’ve got some big problems.”
“What about all those people you guys recruited back there?” White Eagle asked.
“They’re still in the fight, for the most part, but they need leadership. We need to get back to them.”
“Let’s check in, honey,” Rachel said. “Mind? I’m tired.”
“Not at all,” Junior said. “See you two later.”
Stanton and White Eagle nodded as he walked away.
“That man is a walking paradox,” Stanton said.
“Tell me about it,” White Eagle said. “I hear motorcycles. Maybe the scouting team is back.”
“Sounds like it.” Stanton stood and walked over towards the gate. “Yep, here they come.”
They rolled inside the gate and parked where Stanton and White Eagle were hanging out. Herman got off his bike, ripping off his helmet and setting it on the seat, Corey and Jose following him.
“Any luck?” Stanton asked.
Herman shook his head no, his shaved head shining in what was left of the sunlight. “Nothing to the west, dammit. Flat as a pancake and dry, not even big river beds anywhere.”
Jose shook his head, his black hair wet with sweat from being in the helmet. He pulled a Swisher Sweet out of his pocket, removed the cellophane, and lit it up.
“How can you smoke those things, man?” Corey asked, shaking his head, long blonde hair matted and damp like Jose’s. He was a large man with tatoos all over his forearms and neck.
“Worried about second hand smoke?” Jose asked, blowing smoke at him. Herman laughed.
“There is one spot that might work, but it’s about ten miles inside Arizona,” Corey said.
“You didn’t go that far, did you?” White Eagle asked.
“No, but I saw it on Google Earth,” he replied. “Might be worth going there. It’s about a quarter of the way from the border to Highway 191. Might be far enough away from the action to get away with.”
“We should chat with the others before deciding on that,” Stanton said. “Maybe there’s something to the east. The main objective is to cut off the road to I-25, remember.”
“There is a bridge,’ Corey said. “Not that far from here, but it’d sure be nice to keep the cretins from getting into New Mexico that far.”
“Wish we had more daylight left,” Jose said. “I’d ride out there today.”
“Tomorrow will be fine,” Stanton said. “It gets hilly to the east. Might be a better place to blow anyway. Might be harder to get around.”
“I’m pretty sure it is,” Corey said. He pulled out his phone and looked at the spot again, then held it up for Stanton and White Eagle to see.
“That’s a good place,” White Eagle said. “Look at the terrain on either side of the road. They’ll have to cut a new road to connect, if they want to run street vehicles there.”
“Don’t trust the pictures, man,” Corey said. “We need to see it. Sometimes these satellite shots don’t tell us everything.”
“Here comes another group of RVs,” Stanton said, eyes squinting to see in the near darkness.
“Curt,” White Eagle said. “Looks like Francis and Sherry, too.”
“Wonder if Jason is with that group?” Stanton asked.
“Doubt it,” White Eagle said. “He was metering the departures, remember?”
“Oh, yeah,” Stanton said.
“You’re worried about him?” Corey asked. “That SOB is a smart cookie. He’ll get here. Trust me.”
The RVs streamed through the gate, lining up at the office.
“Love those guns mounted,” Herman said. “Reminds me of Mad Max.”
Corey laughed. “It does. Wish I could mount machine guns on my chopper.”
Stanton shook his head, laughing. “You guys are too much.”
Eric strode over to them with Paco and Kim. “Hey, guys, who’s here?”
“All of our folks,” Corey said.
“All of the tribe, too,” White Eagle said.
“Junior and Rachel made it,” Stanton said. “Dirk and Cindy too.”
“Hey, pencil neck,” Curt said. “How goes it?”
“Okay,” Stanton said.
“Got the scouting done on Highway 60?”
“We went west until it got too dark,” Corey said. “Nada.”
“Bummer,” Curt said, turning to see Amanda walking towards him.
“Hey, let’s check in and get hooked up,” she said. “I’m tired.”
“Coming,” Curt said. “Talk to you guys later.”
He met her and they went to the office.
“I’m gonna go relax,” Corey said. “Try to get up with the roosters tomorrow.”
“Yeah, good idea,” Herman said. Jose nodded in agreement. They mounted their bikes and rode towards their camp.
“How far out is Jason?” Stanton asked.
“I was just gonna text him,” Eric said, looking at his phone. He sent the text, his phone dinging at him a few seconds later.
“That was fast,” Kim said.
“He’s behind the tanks,” Eric said. “He thinks he’ll be here in about forty-five minutes.”
“
Good,” Stanton said.
“Let’s go get set up, honey,” Kim said. They walked to the office, getting there just as Curt and Amanda were leaving with their tags.
“We really going to stand out here waiting?” White Eagle asked.
“I am,” Stanton Hunt said. “You go ahead.”
“I’ll stick around for a little while. Look, here comes Kelly and Brenda.”
“And Don and Sydney,” Stanton Hunt said.
They waited as others showed up, Stanton getting more and more worried as the forty-five minutes passed.
“That was an estimate,” White Eagle said. “Don’t worry, they’ll be here.”
“Everybody’s here except for the tanks, Jason’s rig, and Kyle’s rig,” Stanton said.
“Maybe they’re having problems with one of those damn flatbeds,” White Eagle said.
“We’ll wait a little longer,” Stanton Hunt said.
“Then what? We bed down for the night?”
“No, then I go out after them,” Stanton said.
***
Eric was sitting in his Class C next to Paco.
“Text him,” Kim said. “See what’s up.”
“I just tried a few minutes ago. Nothing.”
“He might be out of cell range,” Kim said.
“He might,” Eric said. “If so, we’ll have a problem seeing anybody with the long-range app.”
“We haven’t seen any enemy hits nearby. I’ve been checking often. They would’ve shown up someplace. We’ve gotten some texts from him, remember?”
“I know,” he said, getting up.
“What are you doing?”
“Thought I’d unhitch the Bronco. Take a ride out there.”
“I’m going too,” she said.
“Fine with me. We can even take Paco.” His phone dinged. “Kelly.”
“He’s worried too?” Kim asked.
“Yeah,” Eric said. “Let’s get going.” His phone dinged again, and he looked at the message. “Curt’s coming too.”
***
The tank flatbeds slowed down, then stopped. Jason slammed on the brakes, checking his rear-view mirror, making sure that Kyle noticed. He had, and slowed to a stop behind him.
“Wonder what’s wrong?” Carrie asked.
