When we finished that, we headed over to the north tower and did the same thing to the gun over there. Before leaving both towers, we made sure the extra barrels and heavy thermal gloves were on a shelf beside the weapons. The enormous destruction the guns caused came at a price, and that was in the heat it produced. After a few belts of ammunition, the barrel had to be physically swapped out for a new one. The operation was pretty quick, but the gloves were needed to prevent severe burns to the person doing the swapping.
Jimmy and I took a last look out of the high windows, but we didn’t see anything to alarm us such as a column of tanks clanking their way up the side of our hill. We headed back down and separated at ground level. Jimmy went looking for Marie, and I figured it was my turn on the drones, so I went to relieve Pepper.
As I stepped out of the tower and into the compound, I heard a loud whining noise coming from the other side of the defense wall. Several people were standing on the benches looking over the barrier, and I spotted an empty spot, so I hopped up to see what everyone was watching.
Dwayne was standing there next to the Major. He was pointing at the fixed-wing drone, the source of the noise I’d heard, and shouting something that I couldn’t make out over the din. The Major listened intently then nodded and ran back to the other side of the wall with the rest of us.
Dwayne was already wearing the operator harness. It consisted of a control board and screen attached to straps which fit over his shoulders allowing him to hold the device more comfortably. The kid took another look at the flat surface upon which the drone had been placed then pushed something on the controls. The whine deepened to a low-throated buzz, and the winged device started to inch its way forward. It was on three sets of two wheels each. The drone gathered speed, and the sound deepened even more. It reached a point about thirty yards from where it started moving then the flaps dropped, and it lifted gracefully into the air, climbing quickly and was out of sight within minutes.
I was dumbfounded. The power that the flying craft produced was phenomenal. I was still able to catch a glimpse of a reflection in the sky every now and again but, if one didn’t know what to look for, it would be almost invisible.
Dwayne slowly and carefully backed his way through the front gate and then sidestepped over to the table where we had been operating the helo-drones. He sat the operator control board on the desk and began punching buttons on one of the laptops. The Major followed the lad to the table, so I drifted on over as well.
I got there just in time to hear Dwayne talking.
“So you can see here,” the laptop screen’s display was split, and he pointed to the image on the left side, “this is the view of the downward facing camera.” He moved his finger to the other side. “This is the forward-facing bank of cameras. You wouldn’t want to fly into a tree or anything. The belly cams are the more powerful and are equipped with night vision, thermal imaging and a few other modes that I’ll explain later. Right now I want to get it over the motel and the hangar regions and see if there is any action taking place.”
I felt a hand on my waist and spun around to see Pepper. We exchanged kisses and, as I was turning back to watch the kid operate the drone, I glimpsed Dr. and Mrs. Johnson looking at us. I felt guilty even though we had never really done anything we shouldn’t have. Not yet, anyway. I shifted my gaze to Dwayne, then quickly back to the Johnsons. Kent Johnson was crooking a finger at us, indicating we should cross the yard to where they were standing.
I took a deep breath and whispered in Pepper’s ear. She smiled as if there was nothing to worry about, but I wasn’t so sure. The fact that Mona was still playing Pepper’s shadow didn’t help matters if I was going to get bawled out I didn’t want outside observers around. I took Pepper’s hand, and she took Mona’s, and we all three walked over to the Johnsons. We had almost reached them when they turned and went inside the front doors of the mansion. We followed, and they wound up in the recreation room, sitting on the big couch. I chose one of the four chairs which faced the sofa so I could look at them directly. The girls both sat on the floor by my seat.
Kent spoke first. “Today promises to be a stressful day, and I certainly don’t want to add to that, but we have noticed you two getting close lately.”
I didn’t know how to respond, so I kept quiet. Pepper, however, knew exactly what she wanted to say.
“Yes, we are close, and we haven’t done anything to hide our feelings from anyone, including you. I’m pretty sure I’m in love with Virgil, and I know he’s in love with me.”
“Wait. What?” I asked, confounded about her assessment of our emotions.
Kent and Toni shared a concerned look. Mr. Johnson cleared his throat, and his wife folded her hands in her lap. After an awkward moment or two, Toni spoke up.
“So…have you two, uh, done anything…?”
Pepper leaned forward on her knees. “No! Gosh, mother, how could you ask such a thing?”
Both parents looked directly into their daughter’s eyes.
“It’s a fair question, Pep,” Dr. Johnson said. “These are not normal times. Life is difficult and sometimes hard to hang on to. It isn’t beyond the realm of possibilities that you two might seek comfort with each other.”
Mona looked like she was trying to fall through the floor. She finally spotted an ottoman on the other side of the room and got up to go over and sit on it. I knew how she felt and fleetingly wondered if it would look too cowardly if I went and sat next to her. No, that wouldn’t work, so I piped up.
“Dr. and Mrs. Johnson, Pepper and I do seek comfort with each other, but we take care not to cross certain lines. I won’t deny there are feelings between us; I think everyone on the hill knows about us. We have no idea what is going to happen in the future. Heck, we don’t even know if we’ll have a future. I’m almost seventeen, and I’ve already been in more combat situations than a lot of career soldiers, and that’s only in the last four days. I’ve killed people, and I’ve been shot twice.” I unconsciously rubbed at my upper leg wound. “If we make it through these next few days in one piece, we will, in all likelihood, come to you sometime in the future and ask your blessing to move our relationship to another level. I will promise you here and now, however, that we will do nothing before that time.”
I took a deep breath and sat back, emptying my lungs in a forceful sigh. There! I said it, and I’m still alive.
Pepper got off the floor and moved to sit on the chair arm beside me. She kissed me and had a big smile on her face. “Proud of you,” she whispered.
Kent gave me a look of relief and patted his wife’s leg. “Virgil, I already know you well enough to trust your word. We were just worried that the conditions under which we’ve been living might drive you to do something before you know your own emotions. You’re both still so young. We do know, however, that the rules of the old world don’t all still apply now.”
Toni was staring at her daughter with brimming eyes. “Please just remember that we are your family, Pepper, and we love you, and we always want what’s best for you. Trust us to understand what we’re all going through, Sweetheart.”
Now Pepper was tearing up. “I will, Mama.” She wiped her eyes with her sleeve. “I love you, too.”
Then we were all standing, Kent was shaking my hand, Toni was hugging me, and Pepper was hugging them. The tension was mostly all drained from the room, and I realized that I was not going to be pounded into submission by Dr. Johnson or have a lamp tossed at me by his wife. They seemed eager to get out of the room, and suddenly it was just, Pepper, Mona and me.
“Sorry about the drama,” Pepper said, still dabbing at her eyes.
Mona made a waving away motion. “Hey, I’ve been locked in a storage room for two days; this was better than a movie and a bag of popcorn.” She looked at me. “You’re a cool one, Virgil. It took a lot of nerve to handle that so smoothly.”
“Yeah? Can I go check my underwear now?”
They both laughed. I could
see that the two girls were quickly becoming good friends and I was happy for them. Good friends were going to be hard to find in this new world. I was enjoying watching their interaction when the walkie on my belt crackled.
“Movement on the hillside. Everyone go to their assigned positions. Now, people!”
Chapter 21
Lobo was standing in the big parking lot outside of the closed down Sierra Mall with his arms outstretched and a big grin spread across his face. The objects of his pride were the five boxy vehicles behind him. Their white and blue paint schemes advertised ‘secure transportation.’
“Ya’ see?” The leader of the Mojados was almost jumping up and down with excitement as he addressed the three men who were listening to him. “We use these as moving cover for our people. They have four-wheel drive so they can handle going off road and their bullet-proof exteriors make them perfect for the task.”
Arlo was there with the young soldier named Barrett along with Arturo. All three were silent as Lobo continued to extol the virtues of his plan. Barrett was leaning against the grill of a Ford Excursion, barely able to conceal his skepticism.
Arlo interrupted Lobo’s rambling. “Okay, wait a minute.” He stepped closer to examine one of the vehicles, running a hand along the driver’s side quarter panel. “You’re saying these things will stop whatever those guys throw against them? Because they don’t look all that formidable.”
“Ha!” the little man slapped the hood of the vehicle next to him. “I read the manuals that the owners kept in the office. They are rated impervious to rifle fire up to and including .308 calibers.” He pointed to Arlo. “That’s the biggest rounds they’ve used against us, right? Those portable machine guns we’ve seen them using fire the .308 bullet.”
Barret crossed his arms over his chest. “How do you know that’s the biggest weapon they have?”
Lobo’s eyes squinted, and one of them almost closed as he examined the speaker. “Who the hell are you?”
“I’m the guy who just asked you how you know that our enemies have nothing larger than the M-240s.”
Arlo could see the fury rising in Lobo’s eyes, and he stepped in to quell any possible argument. “Sergeant Barret is now my second-in-command. He’s a combat veteran, and he knows a lot about the type of action we’re going into.”
Arlo had noted certain qualities in the young soldier which worried him. Most worrisome was the fact that he inspired respect and affection among the other soldiers. Arlo had studied this phenomenon in O.C.S. and the dangers that could result from it. Mutiny was always one bad decision away for any combat commander, and the strongest subordinate usually decided to lead the others down that road. In this group of ex-soldiers, Barrett was that person. Arlo had elected to keep tabs on this potential problem by tying the sergeant closer to himself. In doing so, he had elevated Barrett to the position of being his second-in-command.
Lobo took a moment to consider whether he should be insulted by being addressed by the lower-ranked person, then decided he would put the new-comer in his place. He took a few steps closer to Barrett.
“Because we have fought them several times and that is the largest caliber they’ve thrown at us.” He took another step until he was right in front of the sergeant, intentionally invading his personal space. “If they had anything larger they would’ve used it already.” Lobo leaned forward even more until his nose was no more than a few inches from that of the other man. He intentionally let his eyes go crazy.
Barrett was returning the man’s stare with equal intensity. Arturo and Arlo, both kind of, held their breath, suspecting that the uneasy alliance was about to crumble.
Barrett smiled, his eyes never leaving Lobo’s. “Sir, with all due respect, you need to find yourself a Tic-Tac.”
Arturo was ready. He quickly jumped on his boss, pulling him back away from the sergeant. Lobo was yelling and trying his best to get away from his big friend.
Barrett stopped the struggle between the two men when he spoke in a clear voice. “We have serious things to discuss here, and your theatrics are just taking up valuable time. No one cares about your Napoleon complex; we are concerned with achieving our objective with the least number of casualties. If you can’t keep yourself under control, we’ll pull out and let you deal with these guys by yourself.” He turned to look at Arlo. “Actually, that’s the course I would advise here.” He pointed at Lobo. “That man is unstable, LT. If it were up to me, I wouldn’t trust him. He’s going to get people killed.”
Arturo tightened his grip on his leader, but Lobo surprised him by relaxing his limbs and ceasing to struggle.
“Let me go, Turo,” he calmly instructed his friend. The bigger man released him, and he straightened his leather vest and patted his hair back into place. When he was composed, he looked back at the two ex-soldiers. “I apologize. The last week has been stressful to everyone, and I guess I’m not immune to it.” He inclined his head in Barrett’s direction. “Thank you. I needed to be reminded of what is most important here, and you did that. I’m ready to go forward if you two think my plan is workable; after all, you are the professionals.”
Arturo’s eyes widened as he listened to his boss. In the ten-plus years that he had known the man, he had never heard him talk like that.
Arlo clapped his hands in front of himself. “Well, to be honest, I would advise taking more time and gathering more intelligence before making our move. I don’t think we know enough about this place or how well it is defended.”
“That’s kind of the point,” Lobo said while taking a short step closer. “We’ll never know that information until we hit the place. This way our people can advance up the hill behind the protection of our new toys here and find out what we’re up against. Isn’t that what you Army types do? I think it’s called a probe?”
The former officer let out a long, agonizing sigh. He glanced at Barrett.
The sergeant just raised his eyebrows. “Your call, LT.”
“Well, one thing is certainly true,” Arlo admitted. “We won’t know exactly what it is we’re up against until we hit it. And right now, I’m not comfortable throwing my last remaining Stryker against it until I’m certain they don’t have any tank-killer capabilities.” He sighed again. “Okay, we’ll commit twenty soldiers, no more. The rest of the assault force will have to come from your people.”
Lobo clapped both hands together and smirked. “Now you’re talking. Let’s get this show on the road. My people are ready and waiting. We’ll meet your people at the gate in a half hour.”
Without waiting to hear more from their allies, Lobo led Arturo to their Humvee. Arturo climbed into the driver’s seat and slammed the door. He wasn’t as convinced about the plan as was his boss. If he was being candid with himself, he agreed with the army officer about taking more time and getting more information about their objective.
The big man decided to feel out his leader about delaying the planned attack. He felt this might be his last chance to save the lives of some of his friends.
“So, Jefe…can I ask a question?”
Lobo was tearing open a candy bar wrapper with his teeth and throwing the paper to the floor. “Shoot, Turo.”
The bigger man gritted his teeth. These conversations were never easy. Making suggestions that were contrary to opinions held by Lobo was not an easy thing to do, but he felt he had to try.
“This stuff we’re doing here? This is army stuff, boss. Military stuff. It’s kind of out of our wheelhouse, don’t you think?”
“Our wheelhouse?” Lobo grinned as he studied the face of his longtime friend. “Turo, you continue to surprise me. Sometimes I think you purposely pretend that you’re not as smart as you are.” He turned his eyes back to the road in front of them and took an enormous bite from the candy bar. “Those soldier boys had their chance, and they blew it. All their military tactics,” he made air quotes with his fingers, “just resulted in them getting their asses kicked again. By devising this pl
an, I show his people that I have what it takes to lead them.” He was talking around the wad of candy bar in his mouth. He finally swallowed and looked back at his Segundo. “See, when we finish here, Turo, neither me or this Arlo guy are going to hug it out and go our separate ways. I can’t leave a strong group like this out there, ready to turn on us whenever things get rough for them. If I feel that way, it’s a pretty safe bet that Arlo feels the same about us.”
He rolled down the thick, bullet-resistant window and tossed the remains of the candy bar outside.
“So, we have to kill them. Both of them. That new guy, Barrett, especially. If I kill Arlo, he’ll just step in and take over, and we can’t have that, because, my old and dear friend, I intend to take over the rest of those soldiers when this is all over. And this plan is all part of that.” He flashed Arturo a wide grin. “When they see me succeeding where their boss failed, that puts me in a strong position to take over as their leader. We’ll be unstoppable, Bro. All those weapons and people? We’ll rule, Turo. We’ll be kings.”
✽✽✽
I arrived at the wall a minute or two after getting the call. Pops was standing on a bench, looking out over the barricade through a pair of binoculars and I wedged myself in between him and one of Marcus’ people.
I put a hand on his shoulder. “What did you see?”
He lowered the glasses and pointed behind us to the table where Dwayne sat in front of one of the laptops. “I don’t see anything yet. The kid there is telling me some vehicles are gathering down near the main gate on Academy. I took a look; it seems like they’re getting ready for an assault of some kind. The Major is out back, making sure this isn’t a feint while they try to come up from a different direction.”
I nodded. Pops had carefully chosen the topography of the hill upon which Dragon’s Lair sat. The deep natural trenches and high swells to the north and south of us, along with many patches of land studded with big rocks and boulders made our hilltop location extremely difficult to reach unless a person used the long paved driveway. That was not to say that reaching it was impossible. I knew there were some vehicles which would be capable of getting around or over the natural barriers, specifically four-wheel drive trucks and Jeeps. Of course, a force of people on foot could eventually get to us. The Major had placed two sentry posts to guard against such a possibility. Both were on high hills which offered excellent views of the land south and north of us. The areas to the east were unlikely to be used because we were almost up against the mountain range. Never one to take a chance, the Major had placed a woman in a tree back there to keep watch and furnished her with a walkie so she could raise the alarm in the event of an attempted incursion.
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