by Robert Boren
“Yeah, already been thinking about that,” Frank said. “They haven’t yet. I see chips moving all over that damn park.”
“They figured out they’d better not move that semi-truck,” Jerry said. “Look, they’re driving it further back into the park.”
“Biding their time,” General Hogan said. “You still see Saladin?”
“Yeah, he’s still around that outcropping. A bunch of people are gathered around him.”
“How many are moving around?” the General asked.
“Enough,” Frank said. “Saladin is moving around quite a bit himself. He’s probably scared to death, trying to plan a way to get outta Dodge.”
“Let’s get loaded up now,” George said. “We might be chasing him across the desert instead of hitting him with missiles now. The jig’s up, and he knows it.”
“Yeah,” Jerry said. “Let’s go.”
***
Scott and Howard looked at each other, hearts racing as the siren sounded for a moment, then stopped.
“What do we do?” Howard asked. The siren sounded again. A short blip this time.
“They see those two bikers,” Scott said.
The crack of a rifle shot split the silence. Howard and Scott looked at each other.
“The twins!” Scott cried, as a pistol shot rang out. The two men broke into a run, shotguns in hand. Then there was another rifle shot. As they got near they could hear one of the twins crying.
“Dammit,” Scott said. They went through the hole in the barn and approached slowly.
“Dead cop,” Howard whispered, nodding towards the drive. The boots were visible.
“Blake, wake up,” cried Kerry from inside the rig.
“Blake got hit,” Scott whispered, tears running down his cheeks. They peeked around the door of the barn. Both cops were lying in the driveway.
“Kerry, what happened?” Scott asked.
“The police man was yelling at us to move the motor home. He had his pistol pointed at us. Blake had the rifle in his lap, in the front seat. He pulled the trigger and the bullet went through the wall.”
“Did the other cop get on the radio after that?” Howard asked.
“No,” Kerry said, crying. He ran over and shot Blake. Then I picked up the rifle and shot him. I’m sorry, Scotty.”
Scott looked at Blake. He got shot in the chest, right below the neck.
“He’s gone?” Howard asked.
“Yeah,” Scott said, wiping the tears away.
“They made this rig,” Howard said. “They’ll be looking for it.”
“Actually, they probably didn’t,” Scott said. “They didn’t get into the barn, and they can’t see the license plate in the front. They might have given a description, but there’s a million of these cheap Class Cs out there, especially now.”
“Well, we’d better get the hell out of here fast,” Howard said. “Their friends will be along shortly.”
“Yeah,” Scott said. “Help me with Blake.”
The two men lifted Blake and gently carried him into the barn, laying him down against the wall.
“I’ll go move the cop car out of the way,” Scott said. “You and Kerry get the bikers out of the driveway, and wheel those hogs into the ditch.”
“Okay, Scotty,” Howard said. “C’mon, Kerry, I need your help.”
“Okay, Howard,” he said.
Scott backed the cop car up and parked it in the ditch along the side of the road. He walked over to the first cop, furthest from the motor home. The cop moaned.
“That one’s still alive,” Howard said.
“Not for long,” Scotty said. He dragged the body over next to the cop car and shot him in the face with his shotgun, causing Kerry to jerk around, terrified.
“Don’t worry, I just put him out of his misery,” Scott said, putting the shotgun in a dead biker’s hands and closing his fingers around it. Then he grabbed the cop’s handgun and shot several times into the dead biker.
“No way are they going to believe that,” Howard said as Scott wiped off his fingerprints with his shirt and placed the gun in the dead cop’s hand.
“Worth a try,” Scott said. “Might be Barneys looking at the place. C’mon, let’s get out of here.”
The driveway was clear enough for them to squeeze by, so Howard got behind the wheel, backed up into the barn a ways, and then turned onto the driveway, hitting the road and getting up to highway speed.
“What now?” Howard asked.
“I need to think,” Scott said. “Head for Indianapolis. Got enough gas to get there?”
“Almost,” Howard said.
“I gotta go to the bathroom,” Kerry said.
“That’s okay, we’ve got one in the back. I’ll show you how.” Scott got up and walked him into the bathroom as the coach roared along.
Howard’s mind was going a mile a minute. He was full of worry, but then a calm settled over him, and he laughed. Scott heard it as he was coming back with Kerry.
“What’s so funny?” Scott asked.
“That was the most fun I’ve had in years,” Howard said, looking over at him with a wicked grin. “Can’t wait to see what the news shows about this.”
“Looks to me like you’re back, old friend,” Scott said.
“What’s the matter?” Howard asked.
“I just lost my brother,” he said, eyes misting up.
“Oh,” Howard said. “I know, I wish that wouldn’t have happened. I liked the little bugger.”
“Kerry, you tired?” Scott asked, seeing him start to nod off on the couch.
“Yeah,” he said.
“Go to the bedroom and lay down,” Howard said.
“Okay, Howard.” He walked back there, having to grab onto things on the way back as the coach rocked down the road.
“Think he’s trainable?” Scott whispered.
“I don’t know, Scotty. He’s pretty slow.”
“He takes orders well,” Scott said. “They did a good job back there.”
“Luck,” Howard said, “and one of them didn’t live through it.”
“Yeah,” Scott said, “but that was with no training at all.”
They rode silently for a while, Howard flashing his eyes towards the mirrors every few minutes.
“You see anybody back there?” Scott asked.
“Nope, not so far. We’re pretty far away now. I doubt they’ll get us at this point.”
“If we get past the Indiana border we’ll be good,” Scott said. “You really liked that party, didn’t you?”
“Yeah,” Howard said. “I’ll admit it.”
“We’ll probably have that kind of fun at my RV Park, you know,” Scott said.
“It won’t be as easy,” Howard said. “Those folks saw action, unlike the posers we took out back there.”
“Please, a bunch of retired folks in their Class As? Seriously?”
“Oh, I think we can probably take them if we can surprise them,” Howard said. “Maybe grab a couple of the women before they know what happened and use them to disarm the group. Wish we had more people though. Wonder if Sherry would be interested?”
“She’s getting a little old,” Scott said.
“No older than I am,” he said. “I’m still plenty able.”
“What if she refuses?”
“Then we’ll have to punch her ticket, Scotty,” Howard said.
“I’ll think about it,” Scott said. “Don’t forget Kerry. We have some time to work with him.”
“That might just add a bunch of unpredictability,” Howard said.
“Well, maybe,” Scott said. “But don’t sell him short too fast.”
“Alright,” Howard said. They settled into the drive. Scott drifted off to sleep. Howard continued to nervously eye the mirrors every few minutes.
***
The three Jeeps and the Humvee were loaded. Trish ran up to Terry and threw her arms around him.
“You’d better come back,” she said,
trying to smile through her tears.
“I will,” he said. “You keep your eyes open, too. I don’t like the fact that there are icons showing up in this state.”
“We’ll be okay,” she said. “Lots of good people still here.”
Terry got into the Jeep with Jeb and the Sheriff. Jeb started the engine.
“Where’s Jerry?” Jeb asked.
“Here he comes, with Jasmine,” Terry said, pointing. They were embracing and kissing, and then Jerry left her and trotted over, climbing into the back.
“You said goodbye to Rosie, I hope,” Jerry asked.
“Yeah,” Jeb said. “By the porch.”
Malcolm’s Jeep was behind them. Mary was standing at the door, kissing Kurt through the open window. “You take care of yourself,” she said, tears running down her cheeks. “I don’t want to stitch you up again.”
“I’ll do my best, honey,” he said. “Love you.”
“I know,” she said “I love you too, sweetheart.”
Earl and Jackson got in with them, and Malcolm pulled forward behind Jeb.
George was behind the wheel of his Jeep, at the end of the line. Heidi got in next to him, putting her guns in the seat behind.
“You decided to come along, I see,” George said. “You sure?”
“Yeah, I’m sure,” she said. “I can see why you don’t have anybody riding with you.” She looked at the barrel of the M107, between the seats.
“Yeah, this sucker takes up some room,” he said.
The Humvee pulled out in front of the Jeeps and got onto the park road. The group snaked their way out to the highway and took off.
Hilda, Mary, Trish, and Rosie silently watched the vehicles disappearing into the dusk. When they were out of sight, the women came into the clubhouse, and saw Frank, Charlie, Gabe, Jake, and Dobie huddled around the PC screen, talking, looking worried.
“See something scary?” Hilda asked.
“Maybe,” Frank said. “The five icons which were in northern Kansas just fell off the map,” he said.
“It could be that they’re out of cell range, right?” Mary asked.
“I’d bet on it,” Frank said.
“Then why the worry?” she asked.
“I don’t know how far they’ll get before I can see them again.”
“Where did they come in?” Hilda asked.
“Highway 81, from what I can tell,” Charlie said. “They disappeared somewhere along the Solomon River.”
“That’s half a state away from us,” Mary said, looking at the map display. “They aren’t after us, are they?”
“I don’t think so,” Frank said. “They’re up to something else.”
“They’re scouting a place again,” Gabe said. “Remember that first ambush we did? They were trying to set something up there, too. I don’t think it was just to blow that bridge.”
“Think they’re looking for a safe base that’s away from cell coverage?” Dobie asked. “They think we can’t see them now, but they might be afraid we’ll fix that. Maybe they’re finding a defensible place east of Denver.”
“What good would that do them?” Mary asked.
“Say they can get that semi-truck out of Utah,” Jake said. “They could hide it there and be a short drive away from Kansas City. If they lit that sucker off there, it’d be really demoralizing to the country, and we wouldn’t see them in time to stop it.”
“Hey, General,” Frank said. General Hogan was on his phone, over by the windows. He put up his hand and nodded.
“You want to ask him something, Frank?” Jake asked.
“Yeah,” Frank said.
“Here he comes,” Gabe said.
“What’s up, Frank?”
“How are we handling commercial truck traffic across the border into Kansas?”
“You must be a mind reader,” he said, chuckling. “I was just talking to Midwest Command. I told them to be on the lookout for that truck we saw at Capitol Reef.”
“Do they clear by the truck line, or by individual drivers?” Dobie asked.
“Both,” the General said.
“Those five icons disappeared,” Frank said. “They’re out of cell range. If they could get that semi-truck past the border, they could easily stage an attack on Kansas City from a location like that, especially if they’re afraid we’ll lock onto them again.”
“True, but I’m not that worried,” the General said. “I think they’ll have a pretty tough time getting that device out of the Capitol Reef area.”
“The target for the device in Capitol Reef is probably elsewhere,” Gabe said. “Look at the map. Straight shot into the LA area. That’s a whole lot closer to Capitol Reef than Kansas City is.”
“Yeah, and you know what else?” Charlie asked. “That might not be the only device. This big meeting is happening at Capitol Reef, and a nuke shows up at that park. Now we see their people sneaking around in Kansas, looking for somewhere to hide. That’s a little fishy.”
General Hogan was deep in thought, his brow furrowed, sweat breaking out.
Chapter 6 – Massacre Aftermath
“Makin’ good time,” Jeb said, behind the wheel of his Jeep.
“Sure are,” the Sheriff said, sitting in the front passenger seat. “Hope we have enough daylight to get off the highway.”
“We will,” Jerry said. “No problem.”
“Yeah,” Jeb said. “I’m feeling the excitement.”
“Excitement?” Terry asked.
“Yeah, the hunt,” he said. “I’m ready.”
“You aren’t scared?” Terry asked.
“Sure, I’m scared,” Jeb said. “Not a problem. I’ve had one eye looking behind me since we were at Charlie’s place. I’ve had enough of these creeps.”
“Well, can’t blame you there,” Jerry said. “But it has been nice being out of the battlefront area for a while.”
“Rosie okay with you doing this?” Terry asked.
“Yeah, she’d think less of me if I didn’t,” Jeb said. “How about Trish?”
“She knows we have to do this,” Terry said. He sighed. “You know, I want so badly to live through this, but even if it doesn’t go that way, I’m glad I got to have her for a little while.”
“You’ll live through it,” Jerry said. “We’ve got a good team, and they have a lot of idiots in their ranks.”
“George and Malcolm do give us a little edge,” Jeb said. “George will cause all kinds of havoc with that sniper rifle. Remember the ambush.”
“Yeah,” Jerry said.
“You don’t think they’ll light off that nuke if they think they’ll lose?” Terry asked.
“Not if we take out the leadership in a hurry,” Jerry said.
The Sheriff was sitting quietly, listening. Then he turned back to Jerry. “In war, things always happen that you don’t expect,” the Sheriff said. “I definitely think it’s good we took off early. They already know they’re in trouble there. We’ll be lucky if Saladin isn’t gone by the time we attack.”
“Where’s he gonna go?” Jerry asked.
“I don’t know, but I doubt if he’s stupid,” the Sheriff said. “He created a lot of havoc in the Middle East, and now he’s been given command of a huge force here. He’s not dumb, and if we have it in our minds that he is, we’re gonna die.”
That ended the conversation for a little while. They rode along silently, as the sun got closer to the horizon.
***
Sheriff Branson and Deputy Lawrence parked their patrol car down the road from the barn, and got out of their car in a crouch, weapons out, scanning the area. Sheriff Branson was a large, burly man with a shaved head and a big Wyatt Earp style mustache. Deputy Lawrence was a slightly chubby kid, who looked like he just got out of high school, with black hair combed straight back. Sweat was breaking out on his forehead, but it was a couple hours before dusk and cooling off.
“There’s our unit,” Sheriff Branson said. “Don’t touch anything, and
keep your eyes open.”
“Okay,” Deputy Lawrence said. He saw the first deputy laying in the ditch, his face a bloody mess. He ran back to the road and threw up, then came back alongside Branson.
“You okay?” he asked.
“Yeah, sorry,” Deputy Lawrence said. “Ricky and I were going on a double date tonight. Now he’s in a ditch.”
Sheriff Branson put his gun away. “Whatever happened here is over,” he said.
Deputy Lawrence put his gun in the holster. “Two of our guys, plus two bikers out here.”
“What do you notice?” Sheriff Branson asked.
Deputy Lawrence looked around. “Looks like the biker shot Ricky and he shot back.”
“No, that’s what they want us to think,” Sheriff Branson said. “Pistol wounds in the biker’s torso, and a shotgun blast in the Deputy’s face. Not much chance that they both fired like that at the same split second.”
“Oh,” Deputy Lawrence said sheepishly. He looked around some more.
“License plates!” he said. “Bikers are from Michigan. A long way from home.”
“Good,” Sheriff Branson said, smiling. “We need to call the FBI, but let’s look around a little first. What else do you notice?”
“These guys look too clean cut to be real bikers,” Deputy Lawrence said. “Oh, crap, is that a Bluetooth headset on that one?”
“You’re making progress, Deputy,” Sheriff Branson said. “This looks like yuppies on a road trip to me. This wasn’t some drug deal gone bad. These folks weren’t expecting a fight. Neither of these bikers are armed. It’s pretty obvious that the shotgun didn’t belong to this guy.”
“Why?” asked the deputy.
“See anything on his bike that would hold a shotgun?”
“Oh,” he said. “You’re right.”
They walked down the driveway, and the Deputy noticed a body laying against the wall of the barn, just inside the door. “Sheriff, body over there.”
Sheriff Branson walked over to it. “Just a kid. Looks about seventeen or eighteen.”
“Should we be taking pictures?” Deputy Lawrence asked.
