by Robert Boren
“I agree with that,” Ivan said, “the Navy leadership is trying to prevent outside forces from joining the fight on the enemy side. They’d been warned against taking unilateral action outside of the United States.”
“Yeah, but we’re shelling the enemy while they’re in Mexico,” Seth said.
“True, and I must admit I was surprised about that,” Ivan said. “Might just come down to explicit warnings.”
Ed laughed. “This limited warfare crap is maddening. Reminds me of Nam. Is there anything we can do to change their minds?”
“I tried early on,” Ivan said. “Since I’ve heard that some of the brass is upset with the shelling, I decided to avoid further comment for now. The shelling might be more effective anyway.”
“We know there’s still around three-hundred thousand Islamist spread out over the state,” Seth said. “Our history program is showing their movements fairly well now. We can’t see the UN Peacekeepers. Is there a similar number?”
“Ah, you must be Seth,” Ivan said. “Heard good things about you and your partner Kaitlyn. Let’s talk after this meeting. I’d like to get you, Robbie, and Ben together. There can be some synergy there, I think.”
Seth smiled. “I’d love it. We’ve heard great things about both.”
“Good,” Ivan said. “Now, to your question. The UN’s forces have been hit hard, but as you know, they have not been destroyed. I heard about the attack just yesterday on this facility. The good news is that we have them on the run, and we estimate there are less than fifty thousand UN Peacekeepers left on California soil.”
“The way you said that, I’m expecting some bad news to counter it,” Ed said.
“The EU and the UN were having a spat over funding and personnel losses,” Ivan said. “That’s the main reason they were unable to re-supply their forces in the last couple weeks. They’ve set their differences aside for now. As I mentioned, there are troop transport ships cruising to the USA as we speak.”
“Just California?” Trevor asked.
“Our sources tell us they’re also attempting to bring forces and supplies to the Eastern seaboard, to shore up martial law in the Mid-Atlantic and New England.”
“Our Navy will be spread thin,” Ed said.
“They will, but our Navy is many times larger than the EU Navy, and what’s left of the Royal Navy has joined us. We stand a good chance of being victorious. I won’t candy-coat this and say there’s no danger, though. We’re still in this war, and there are a lot of moving parts. The US Navy is one big one.”
“What about the US Airforce?” Cody asked. “And the US Army?”
“The US Army is tied up in Mexico, for the most part, but we expect that situation to come to an end soon. The US Airforce is beginning to get involved now, thanks to certain treasonous Pentagon leaders leaving the country over the last several days.”
“So, it sounds like our main job in the immediate future is helping with staging and supply, and being ready to back up the forces to the south,” Tyler said.
“Yes,” Ivan said.
Garrett stood up. “We’ve got another concern, as most of you know.”
“Please, come take the mic,” Ivan said. “I’ve said what I wanted to say. I’ll be here if there are more questions.”
Garrett nodded and walked to the front. “Even though the UN Peacekeeper force has been weakened, they’re still around, and still causing us problems. Add to that the fact that they’ve tried to bring Islamists in lead-shielded vehicles once already, and that makes us somewhat vulnerable.”
Murmurs rose from the crowd.
“On the good side, we have a lot more fighters now, and we have a lot more firepower too,” Garrett said. “It would take an extremely large force to overrun us in a battle. A small number of enemy fighters could sneak in with mortars again and shell the town. We need to focus on that. I’m getting together with Sid after we’re done here, to use his excellent tracking ability yet again. We need to find out how the UN Peacekeepers got in here. Anybody who’d like to help would be welcome.”
Sam stood up and walked to the podium. “We have many upgraded off-roaders. I think we should add them to the patrols until we lock this down.”
“What kind of upgrades did they get?” Trevor asked.
Ji-Ho smiled and came up, joining the others around the mic. “XM214 microguns, mounted on top of existing M19s.”
Trevor laughed. “Those never made it to production. How’d we manage that?”
Ivan smiled and turned back to the mic. “We got GE’s original plans and used our 3D printing capability to create them, with a little help from our machine shop.”
“What’s an XM214?” Robbie asked.
“It’s a small mini gun which fires .223 ammo,” Sam said. “Nice little unit.”
“They work well,” shouted one of the off-roaders from the back. “I’d say they expanded our capability by more than a hundred percent.”
“Let’s get some of your team set up to start patrols, then, provided Garrett has no objection.”
Garrett smiled, walking back to the mic. “I think it’s a great idea, but we will keep the mounted patrols running as well, in areas where it’s difficult for off-roaders to operate.”
“Sounds great,” Ivan said. “Does anybody have any questions?”
Seth stood up. “We heard a rumor that Ben lost his team last night. Is that true?”
Ben nodded, walking up to the mic. “I’m afraid so. We had a plant in our ranks, and he led a UN commando team right to us, as we were getting ready to leave our Sacramento location.”
“You lost friends,” Seth said. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s hard, but we’re in a war,” Ben said. “We’ve got replacement equipment. How’d you like to help us set it up?”
“Love to,” Seth said. “Kaitlyn can help too. She’s good with that stuff as well.”
Jules made eye contact with Robbie, who stood up. “I’ll help out too, if you’d like. This is right up my alley.”
“Then let’s do it,” Ben said.
“I’ve got a good place, if this operation needs to be protected,” Elmer said.
“You aren’t thinking of giving them the reloading facility, are ya?” Susanne asked.
“Yes, as a matter of fact,” Elmer said.
“Susanne, we’re flush with guns and ammo now,” Willard said, “and we’ve still got massive reserves of black powder ammo in the storage room. There’s more important things you can do.”
“You guys are taking my job away,” Susanne said.
“We’ve got better job for you,” Ji-Ho said. “Load .223 rounds onto belts. Labor intensive. Perfect.”
“There’s a great idea,” Garrett said. “Just as important, and a far cry safer too. You won’t run the risk of blowing yourself up doing that.”
Several people in the audience cracked up.
“Oh, all right,” she said. “I think we ought to get all of the percussion caps and primers out of the mine, then. No use risking an explosion.”
“I’ll help you, honey,” Elmer said.
“Actually, we’ll need you to work on the electrical for the PCs, and some lighting,” Garrett said.
Suzanne nodded. “Okay, I’ll have my ladies help me cart the primers away. There’s another room down there we can use to do the belt stuffing. We’ll need lights down there too.”
“You could do it on the surface,” Elmer said.
Susanne shook her head no. “Cooler in the mine.”
“Wait, you’re talking about us setting up underground?” Ben asked.
“Yep,” Willard said. “You ain’t claustrophobic, are ya?”
Ben laughed. “No, it’ll be fine, as long as it’s not too damp for the equipment down there.”
“It’s not,” Susanne said. “Couldn’t have used it for black powder reloading if it was. That stuff soaks up moisture like a sponge.”
“Okay, then I say we break into teams and get
to work,” Garrett said.
“Let’s meet someplace for a while, gentlemen,” Ivan said, looking at Sam, Ji-Ho, Garrett, and the others in the leadership team.
“We can use the saloon,” Willard said. “I’ll open her up.”
“Perfect,” Sam said, looking at Ivan. “You’re gonna love this place.”
“I’m sure,” Ivan said.
The group finished up and left the barn.
{15}
Underground
T he artillery barrage continued, guns firing into the Mexican desert, the gunners watching the apps and adjusting on the fly.
Conrad walked over to Lieutenant Colonel Meyers. “You see what the enemy is doing?”
“Yeah,” Meyers said. “They’re fanning out wide.”
“Won’t that mean we lose our funnel? Our kill zone with the Claymore mines?”
Meyers shook his head no. “They’ll try to re-funnel once they get too close for our artillery to be effective. This is the point closest to the road. They’ll try to steal vehicles if we’re defeated. Wish they were further away.”
“You’re saying we shouldn’t fan our men out wider?” Conrad asked.
Meyers thought silently for a moment. “Let’s look at the map. You have a good handle on where the citizens are?”
“Fairly good.”
Meyers walked to his tent with Conrad, reaching in to get his tablet. He pulled up the map program and they looked at it.
“What are you guys up to?” Doug asked, walking over with Jorge.
“Trying to figure out strategy now that the enemy is fanning out so wide,” Conrad said.
“You know where the backup in traffic is, right?” Meyers asked.
Doug shook his head yes. “Some of our people took their motorcycles up to the blockage points. It’s still Ocotillo to the east and Boulder Oaks to the west.”
They all gathered close, looking at the table, trying to block the glare of the sun.
“The enemy must have some intelligence on Highway 94,” Jorge said. “Look how many are going to that side.”
“Let me see that,” Meyers asked, taking Jorge’s phone. “Dammit, that isn’t good.”
“How close are we to having that route open?” Conrad asked.
“We have one of the motorcycle teams heading in that direction,” Doug said. “I’ll text them. Might be a while. Takes two hands to ride.”
“Please do,” Meyers said. “I better make some calls.”
“Wait, let’s chat a minute longer,” Conrad said.
“What’s on your mind?” Meyers asked.
“We don’t have enough room for everybody who’s coming, even if we didn’t have the traffic tie-up,” he said. “I say we get people coming down Buckman Springs Road and the other smaller roads going south from I-8. Get them to the border. If they need to come east to help us right here, they can do that easy enough, but if the enemy is going to try for Highway 94, they’ll be there to stop it.”
“Will they have the numbers and firepower to make any difference?” Jorge asked.
Conrad smiled. “Ivan’s forces arrived at Dodge City last night, along with all of those crazy battle wagons and off-roaders. I say we ask them to get on Highway 94 as soon as they can get through the pass.”
“We should do the same thing on the east side,” Jorge said. “Let’s start running them south from Ocotillo on the small roads through the Jacumba Wilderness. They won’t make it here in time anyway, and once they’re to the border, they can use the road along the fence to come in this direction if we need them.”
“I like it,” Meyers said. “It will keep the enemy from being able to encircle our position here.”
“We’re liable to lose a lot of civilians doing this,” Doug said.
“We’re gonna lose a lot of civilians no matter what we do,” Conrad said. “Knew the gig when we took it.”
“Some of the enemy fighters are gonna get through,” Jorge said.
“Yep, right into the multitude of citizens who are still on the way,” Conrad said.
“And they’ll have to contend with our air power then,” Meyers said. “Okay, I’m gonna make some calls. Conrad, you got some inroads with Ivan’s folks?”
“Yes sir,” Conrad said. “I’ll get them on the horn.”
Doug pulled his phone out, looking at it with a wide grin. “That pass on Highway 94 is open.”
***
Elmer led Robbie, Seth, Kaitlyn, and Ben into the mine, all of them with heavy backpacks on. It got cooler as they got deeper, the dim LED lights along the ceiling putting off an eerie glow.
“Find many artifacts down here?” Robbie asked, “other than the whiskey, that is?”
Elmer chuckled. “There’s stuff all over the place, but we’ve just left it.”
“You guys found whiskey down here?” Ben asked.
“Lots,” Elmer said. “We haven’t even brought all of it out yet.”
“It’s good stuff,” Seth said. “Real good.” Kaitlyn nodded in agreement.
“Those buildings aren’t old, are they?” Ben asked.
Elmer turned to him, slowing down. “When we bought this land, all that was here were ruins along main street, and the mine, which had been closed up with dynamite somewhere along the line.”
“So, you built the western town right on top of the ruins?” Ben asked.
“Pretty much,” Elmer said. “Here’s the place I had in mind.” They entered a room, carved out with a higher ceiling than the tunnel they’d come out of. There were metal folding tables along the wall, more in the center. Reloading presses and boxes of lead bullets sat near the door. “Looks like Susanne still has some stuff to move, but it won’t get in our way.”
“Did you make the town look like the original?” Seth asked.
“I was wondering that too,” Kaitlyn said.
“We found a few old pictures, and used them as a guide,” Elmer said. “Parts of the original rebuild got torn down, though. Garrett and the others didn’t know anything about permits.’
Ben cracked up. “Dangerous thing in nanny-state California.”
“You got that right,” Elmer said. “That’s how I hooked up with these folks originally. Knew a few of them. I’m a contractor. I helped them fix what was fixable and build new structures where the original wasn’t salvageable.”
“Why did they build the town?” Ben asked.
“Originally? Reenactments, mainly. These folks are kinda like Civil War reenactors. That’s why they got so deep into the black powder guns and such.”
“Did they plan to live here originally?” Kaitlyn asked. “I remember reading about this place. There didn’t used to be many full-time residents.”
“No, that happened when things started to go sideways. Garrett lived here before we bought the rest of the land, on his ranch outside of town. That’s been in the family for over a hundred years. When the rest of the land came on the market, he got together his group and made a pitch to pool resources and buy it, but it was mainly for recreation. The land was cheap.”
“Who owned it?” Robbie asked.
“Mining company,” Elmer said, “actually, a holding company that received the land after the mining company went out of business. The family that owned the original company died off. Mines around here been played out for years, of course. There was some question if anybody from the twentieth century even knew the company held this land.”
“Interesting,” Robbie said. “Good fodder for a novel.”
“You’re a writer, huh?” Ben asked.
“Yeah, but haven’t had much time for it lately.”
Ben laughed. “I’m a political writer. Haven’t been able to pursue that lately either.”
“We’ll get back to it,” Robbie said.
“What do you think, guys?” Elmer asked. “Can you work down here?”
“What about cellphone reception?” Ben asked.
“We put a repeater out there, so we could communicate w
ith Susanne when she was running her operation down here. We might want to expand it a little bit. Got internet lines running down here already, too.”
“Why’d you do that?” Kaitlyn asked.
“Early on, we thought it better to have a place to hole up. Didn’t think we’d have the resources to fight back. Californians stepped up.”
“You haven’t been eight hundred people for long, then?” Seth asked.
“Nah. The core group was about a hundred and twenty. Hell, I wasn’t even a part of the original group.”
“Who was?” Kaitlyn asked.
“Garrett and his family, which includes Susanne, of course. Willard, and a bunch of reenacting weekend warriors, mainly. We have a group of theater folks here–that’s how we were able to do the shows.”
“Shows?” Ben asked.
“They had an old-west opera house going,” Kaitlyn said. “We sent business their way from our casino. I went once. It was fun.”
“Those people still here?” Robbie asked.
“Most of them, but we don’t encourage strangers to come here right now,” Elmer said. “No more shows for a while. I hope we get back to it. Susanne was big-time into that. I think she’s cranky because she can’t do it now.”
“You’ll get back to it someday,” Kaitlyn said, “and we’ll get our casino business back too.”
Elmer smiled. “Hope so.”
There were footsteps approaching. Clem and Sarah appeared at the door way, Morgan with them, a backpack slung over one shoulder. She rushed over to Robbie’s side.
“Figured you guys might want some wiring done,” Clem said. “Need any help, Elmer?”
“Hell yeah,” Elmer said. “You know more about that than me, I suspect.”
“Who wired this place with the cell repeater and Wi-Fi originally?” Seth asked.
“Contractors from town,” Elmer said. “Murdered by the enemy during their first wave through here.”
“Bastards,” Clem said. “I’m ready to dig in any time.”
Sarah smiled. “Yeah, I’d rather have you doing this than stomping around in the back country with Sid and the others.”
Clem chuckled. “I knew why you suggested it, but I’m glad you did. I’m more good here anyway.”
