Patriots United

by Robert Boren

  “You coming to bed, honey?” Shelly asked from the bathroom.

  “Soon, must call Ivan,” he said. “New development.”

  “Good or bad development?”

  “Not sure,” Jules said, sitting on the couch. He pulled out his phone and hit Ivan’s contact, then put it on speaker. It rang twice, and Ivan picked up.

  “Jules, nice job at the CHP headquarters,” Ivan said.

  “Thanks, boss. Robbie see something. We should talk.”

  “Uh oh,” Ivan said. “What?”

  “Large group of Islamists heading west on I-80,” Jules said. “Coming from Salt Lake City.”

  “We’ve been watching,” Ivan said. “They haven’t left Utah yet.”

  “Yes, that what Robbie say. What you think? Should we stick around up here?”

  “I need more information,” Ivan said. “We’re working that now. We saw a mass of fighters rush into Salt Lake City; we thought they’d be heading to Oregon after what happened there.”

  “Oregon not worth squat,” Jules said. “Only reason UN Peacekeepers go there is we shut down landing spot in Bay Area.”

  Ivan was silent for a moment. “We’re starting to think the same thing. It’s not a good development. We need you guys in the south. Ji-Ho and Sam have a firestorm coming their way, and they haven’t the resources to handle it yet.”

  “You work recruitment, no?”

  “Ben Dover’s got a sub-team on it, but it’s just getting started, and we’ll have a harder time with weapons distribution than we had up north.”

  “Why?” Jules asked.

  “Can’t use San Diego port. It’s controlled by the US Navy.”

  “They’re on our side, no?”

  “Yes, Jules, but they aren’t advertising it, and their attitude is that any increase in distribution of weapons down there is likely to bite them in the ass. And by the way, they’re right to worry. If Ji-Ho’s team is destroyed, the weapons will be used to attack eastern San Diego county, and they’ll work their way west quickly. Remember what the US Navy is dealing with now.”

  “EU Navy,” Jules said. “Dammit.”

  “Don’t worry, it’s not all bad,” Ivan said. “They’ve lost Oregon for good, provided they don’t win the larger war in Texas, the southwest, and California.”

  “They have to win all three?” Jules asked.

  “Yeah, and they’d have to get it done before the people in the mid-Atlantic, New England, and the upper Midwest throw off the yoke of martial law. The clock is running on that.”

  Jules chuckled. “Okay, when you put like that, not so bad.”

  “There’s one other issue going on,” Ivan said. “I’ve got only a sketchy account of this. I’m trying to get more info but we don’t have much intelligence on the EU.”

  “You want me to put feelers out?”

  “No, Jules, leave it alone for now. In a nutshell, the UN is pushing for more money to stay in the battle, in places like California, New England, and the Mid-Atlantic. The EU isn’t budging on funding. They’re already picking up the UN funding slack since the USA has pulled back.”

  “Daan is having nightmare over this, I bet.”

  “That’s what we think,” Ivan said. “We’ll see what happens.”

  “Wish UN would pull back. No RFID makes them harder to deal with, even though they don’t fight as well as the Islamists.”

  “One more thing, Jules, then I’ve got to go.”

  “Go ahead, boss.”

  “Ji-Ho’s group got attacked by enemy troops using a shielded vehicle like you found in that parking garage next to the CHP headquarters.”

  “Really? How many snuck in?”

  “Very few, in only one van, with UN Peacekeepers driving in the unshielded part of the cabin. Ji-Ho has a person looking for lead dealers in California who are making a lot of sales. We may want to have your data person chat with their data person. His name is Seth.”

  “You want Robbie to chat with him? Okay, we can make that happen. I send message to Ji-Ho to set up.”

  “You do that, Jules. Now rest a while, but have somebody watching the long-range app. Don’t let the Islamists from Utah catch you with your pants down.”

  “Understand,” Jules said. “Good bye.”

  The call ended. Shelly stuck her head out of the bathroom. “Interesting conversation.”

  “I turn up loud so you can hear,” Jules said. “What doing in there so long?”

  “Primping a little,” she said. “Can we go to bed now?”

  “Why rush?”

  “I’m still in my fertile period, remember?” She came out of the bathroom wearing nothing but a smile.

  “You don’t have to ask twice,” Jules said, following her into the bedroom.

  ***

  It was quiet at Dodge City. Sam stepped out of the tiny shower in the battle wagon, reaching for a towel. It was quiet in the coach. Erica tip-toed to the bathroom and put her finger to her lips.

  “Mia’s asleep?” he whispered.

  “Yes, and I don’t want to wake her up,” she said. “You want anything to eat from the fridge or the pantry? I’ll bring it into the bedroom if you want.”

  “Any of those Greek yogurts left?” he whispered.

  “Yeah,” she said softly. “I’ll grab what’s left of the pita chips too, and a couple of water bottles.”

  “Perfect,” Sam whispered. She snuck away. He finished drying off and slipped quickly into the bedroom.

  “Well, I’m glad she fell asleep,” Sam said. “That attack last night shattered her feeling of safety here. Hope she can get it back soon.”

  Erica nodded, taking off her robe and sitting on the bed in her nightgown. “I think she’s gonna be fine. The times she’s had with us aren’t nearly as bad as the times she had before we got her.”

  “You’re right about that. I’ll never forget her face when she was tied up in that grocery store. Hope those experiences won’t impact her life later on.”

  “She’s got a lot of strength,” Erica said. “Do you think we’ll be able to stay here?”

  “For the duration of the war? I doubt it.”

  “You think it’ll be destroyed?”

  He looked at the worry in her eyes. “No, but I don’t think we can finish the fight from this location. We need to stop the enemy from opening that new route from Mexico. We screwed up this area for them already, with our destruction of the pass on Highway 94.”

  “Where will we have to be?”

  “Look at the spots on the map where I-8 is close to the border, and the area around Calexico. Those are going to be battle zones. Same with the area near Yuma.”

  Erica picked up her phone and navigated the map program to those areas. “Okay, I see what you mean. You don’t think they’ll continue to hit us here just for revenge?”

  “They’re in enough trouble that they can’t afford the luxury of revenge,” Sam said. “I don’t know this Daan Mertins, but I do know Saladin. He’s a strategic thinker. He’ll get pissed enough to throw a small number of men into a vendetta, but only if it won’t hurt the larger mission. He figures if he can meet his goal of getting another six or seven hundred thousand enemy fighters over the border, he’ll be able to take over this whole end of California, and be ready to attack the US Navy stronghold in San Diego.”

  “And if he knocks the US Navy out of San Diego, he can use the port to bring in even more Islamist fighters.”

  “Yeah,” Sam said while he pulled the foil top off his yogurt. “Moving men in by ship is a whole lot easier than moving them through the desert.”

  “So how long do you think we’ll stay here, then?”

  “We need to watch the apps,” Sam said. “Watch the area around Julian, for example. If they build up a lot of troops there, we’ll get hit here.”

  “I thought you said he didn’t care about revenge.”

  “If he can take us out, either by driving us north or killing us, he’ll have a free han
d to set up his supply routes. If he doesn’t bring a bunch of his folks into Julian, it’ll be because he wants to avoid fighting us until he has more men.”

  “You know where his men are now?” Erica asked.

  “Spread out over hundreds of miles, but the furthest I’ve seen is Warner Springs.”

  “Crap, that’s really close to Julian,” Erica said.

  “They’ve been there since this afternoon, sweetie. They might take Highway 78 east to Highway 86, which leads down to I-8 near El Centro. From there he could go east or west on I-8 to one of the two southern most spots, or go straight down to Calexico, as I just mentioned.”

  “What would you do?” Erica asked.

  “Tough call, but I’d probably take Highway 78 east and avoid fighting us for now.”

  She grabbed the bag of pita chips and took out a few, then handed the bag to him. “I hope you’re right. I’d rather chase him down someplace else than have him attack here.”

  Sam ate a few pita chips, then handed the bag back to her.

  “Do you agree?” she asked.

  “I want him to do whatever is most likely a mistake,” Sam said. “To me, that would be gathering everybody up in Julian and trying to hit us.”

  “Dammit, I really don’t want to be on the run again, especially with Mia.”

  “We might be able to fight them and win,” Sam said.

  “Not if they have two hundred thousand fighters.”

  Sam chuckled. “Ivan’s recruitment team is focused on our area now, after pulling off a genius play up north. Twice. No, actually three times, although he wasn’t solely responsible for the third.”

  “Not sure I get it.”

  “They recruited all those citizens for the battles in the Bay Area and Sacramento.”

  “What was the third one?”

  “Portland,” Sam said, “although there was a lot of local help in Oregon for that effort.”

  “Heard Karen and Dana talking about Portland. Still, two hundred thousand people? Could we really get that many?”

  “Oregon is less populated than southern California, and they were able to get nearly two hundred thousand to join in the battles there.”

  “When will we know?” Erica asked.

  “We’ll just have to keep watching the apps. See if they continue south or head east. It’s possible that they hang out for a while and do nothing, you know. Been watching the enemy troop movements in Mexico?”

  “No, not much,” Erica said. “What’s going on?”

  “About half of the original force has taken off, moving pretty quickly to the southeast. I think they’re headed for Texas.”

  “That’s good, isn’t it?” Erica asked.

  “For Texas, not so much. It was good for us.”

  “Was?”

  “Yeah, Seth talked to us a few minutes before we left the Saloon.”

  “You didn’t say anything to me?”

  “Mia was with you the whole time, remember?”

  “Oh, yeah,” Erica said. “So?”

  “Seth and Kaitlyn expanded the range of that history program. There’s been new troops arriving at the port at Mazatlán. They appear to be heading north-west, towards the California border.”

  “How close are they?”

  “Not very, but they’re in a country where there’s nobody to stop them. They’ll be to the border in three or four days. I’m sure Saladin would like to lay out the welcome mat for them. It’s more important for him than dealing with Dodge City.”

  She leaned back, laying her head on her pillow. “How am I supposed to sleep now?”

  He looked into her eyes, rolling towards her, kissing her tenderly.

  “Oh, God,” she whispered.

  “Think you can be quiet?” She nodded yes, her arms going around him.

  {4}

  Two Fronts

  B en Dover was in his social media control room, pacing, waiting for Ivan’s call. His friends, many with him since his days at UC Santa Cruz, were watching him, worried. The phone rang. Ben leapt at it and hit the answer button on the speaker.

  “Ivan?”

  “Yes, Ben, sorry for the delay. Is there a problem?”

  “We’re not getting enough response in Eastern San Diego or Imperial counties.”

  “How many commitments so far?” Ivan asked.

  “Just barely sixty thousand. It’s not that the people aren’t willing, it’s just that the population is low, and there are a lot of retired folks who don’t use the internet much. Word of mouth helps with that somewhat, but it takes time.”

  “I see,” Ivan said. “I thought San Diego County had a large population.”

  “It’s huge, but most of the people are in the area near the city, and the US Navy and Marines have that locked up pretty tight.”

  “You have a proposal, don’t you?” Ivan asked.

  “I want to expand our operation to LA, Orange, Riverside, and San Bernardino Counties,” he said. “I think I can make a case that it’s in their interest to join the battle.”

  “You want to tell them that if Saladin brings in more people through the southern border, they’ll eventually be attacked,” Ivan said, “and that’s true. They’re going to see it. Go ahead.”

  “You know there’s a mix of folks in LA county, right? There are people there who prefer the stability of martial law. Crime is up there because the state government fell apart. Some parts of Orange, Riverside, and San Bernardino counties have a similar issue.”

  “Look at the Bay Area and Sacramento. You did well there.”

  “I know, Ivan, but that was right after the women told everyone about the UN Peacekeepers and their rape operation. It’s been a while. People have short attention spans.”

  “What do you want from me?” Ivan asked. “There’s something. I can tell by the tone of your voice.”

  “The optimum place to recruit is western San Diego County.”

  “Oh,” Ivan said, silent for a moment. “I’ll need to open a line of communications with the US Navy for that to work. They’re avoiding direct contact with the resistance.”

  “I’m asking that you work that. Meanwhile I’ll work those other counties.”

  “How many people do you think we need down there?” Ivan asked. “Saladin only has two hundred thousand on the way.”

  “Have you been watching Mazatlán?” Ben asked, shooting a glance at his friends, who were hanging on every word.

  “Haven’t been paying much attention since that’s so far south. What are you seeing?”

  “The enemy is pumping Islamists into that port like crazy,” Ben said. “If it keeps up, we’ll be back to the seven-hundred thousand level like we were before half of them headed southeast.”

  “You don’t think our people down there can stop them, do you?”

  “Two of my guys came from that area, and know the terrain. If the enemy lines up that many fighters along the border just about anywhere, they’ll walk right in. Bottling up I-8 will stop them from moving trucks up north, but they can go through this area on foot like a frigging hurricane, take over, and then choose any road they like to go north.”

  Ivan was silent for more than a minute.

  “You still there?” Ben asked.

  “Yes, I’m thinking,” Ivan said, silent again for a few minutes. Ben’s team eyed him. You could hear a pin drop in the room.

  “Okay, you’ve got me convinced that we have a problem,” Ivan said. “I need to get on the horn with some folks. Start working everywhere except western San Diego county. I’ll see if I can start up some dialog with the US Navy. Good enough?”

  “Perfect, boss, thanks!” Ben said, smiling at his crew.

  “Thanks for bringing this to my attention. You’ve got talents I didn’t realize. Talk to you soon.” The call ended. Ben’s team cheered, rushing to him and patting him on the back.

  ***

  Robbie woke up before the sun rose over the quarry lot, Morgan still snoring softly next
to him. He snuck out of bed, dressed, and went to the dinette, sitting in front of his laptop, moving the mouse and waiting for the screen to wake up. When it did, he looked at the high-res app. His eyes got wide as he scrolled east on I-80.

  “Dammit,” he said, pulling his phone out and sending a text to the leadership. Then he switched on the coffee maker and went into the bedroom. “Morgan. We’re about to have company. Better get dressed.”

  She rolled towards him, half asleep. “What?”

  “The enemy is coming this way. I just sent a message to Jules and the others. They’ll be here any minute.”

  “Oh,” she said, sitting up quickly. “I’ll get dressed. Did you turn on the coffee?”

  “Yeah,” he said, turning to leave. Somebody knocked on the door. “They’re here.” He rushed out to open it. Jules, Ted, and Sparky came in. Before they all got inside, Tex trotted over.

  “Enemy move west on I-80?” Jules asked, leaning against the kitchen counter.

  “You got it,” Robbie said.

  “How far, partner?” Tex asked.

  “They’re almost to Elko. That’s about a third of the way.”

  “I was afraid of this,” Sparky said.

  “We need to hit them in the mountains,” Ted said, “and we need help from the locals. There still two hundred thousand?”

  “Less came across the border than that,” Robbie said. “Looks like it’s closer to a hundred and fifty thousand.”

  “What happened to the others?”

  “Not sure,” Robbie said. “They aren’t on the road, so they’re probably back in Salt Lake City.”

  “We have to leave now and attack,” Ted said. “We’d better wake everybody up.”

  “Kid, start looking for good spot on I-80 where we can hit from side-roads,” Jules said.

  “Yeah, and see if you can find one where there’s a bridge we could blow,” Ted said. “So we can get them bottled up.”

  “I’ll get on that right now,” Robbie said.

  “Okay, guys, let’s get everybody going,” Tex said. “We better leave in a half hour. No longer.”

  “I agree,” Jules said. The men left the rig. Morgan came out of the bedroom.