by Robert Boren
“They do,” Junior said. “Simon Orr had a chip, remember? Ramsey told us.”
“I remember,” Jason said. “Let’s get this meeting done and get the hell out of here.”
“Yeah,” Kyle said.
The group gathered around. Jason jumped into the back of Kyle’s pickup truck. “Everybody hear me?”
“Yeah,” Junior said. Several others nodded yes.
“What was up with those cops?” Don asked, arm around Sydney.
“He thought we were scavengers,” Jason said. “We learned something from that encounter that we need to keep in mind.”
“What’s that?” Dirk asked.
“New Mexico has been abandoned by the authorities,” Jason said. “Some of the locals aren’t happy about it. We don’t want to get into fights with these folks, but we can’t let them stop our mission either.”
“So be wary, but treat them with kid-gloves like you just did, right?” Kelly asked.
“Exactly,” Jason said. “Don’t go off half-cocked, that’s for sure. Trust your apps. If they aren’t the enemy, try not to harm them, even if they get aggressive. Everybody got it?”
“Yeah, we got it,” Francis said. “Where are we going tonight? Still trying for Alamogordo?”
“Yes, but it’s about three hours away, at the speed we’re traveling. Anybody going to have problems going that far? I know some of us don’t have relief drivers.”
“Is there a realistic place we could overnight if we need to?” Cindy asked.
Carrie raised her hand. “There’s a place called Ruidoso about half-way there. Want me to scout some places just in case?”
“I don’t know,” Jason said. “What do you guys think?”
“I say scope it out as a back-up plan, and then we’ll use text messages to say yea or nay when we get near it,” Moe said.
“Yeah, I can go along with that,” Don said.
“Me too,” Junior said.
“Okay, we’ll do that. Everybody get gassed up?”
Nobody raised their hands.
“Okay, I take that as a yes,” Jason said. “There’s just one more thing. Officer Gaylord warned against taking Highway 70 through the White Sands area. He says it’s dangerous. He’s suggesting that we take Highway 54 from Alamogordo instead.”
“That means we’ll have to mess with the border around El Paso,” Chance said.
“Yes, we know,” Jason said. “I’m not saying that I think that route is best. I just wanted to get you guys thinking about it. Research it on the way, those of you who aren’t driving.”
Curt chuckled. “There’s an enemy base in White Sands.”
“You see it on the app?” Junior asked.
“Yep,” Curt said. “Looks sizeable. Somebody ought to be looking at this in more detail. I can’t. Don’t have a relief driver.”
“I’ll look at it,” Rachel said.
“Yeah, me too,” Brenda said.
“And me, after I get done checking out Ruidoso,” Carrie said.
“That’s all I wanted to talk about,” Jason said. “Anybody else have anything?”
“You trust that police officer?” Kelly asked. “He seemed awful squirrely to me.”
“Not sure,” Jason said. “Doesn’t matter. We’re leaving his area right now.”
“He was calling ahead to Alamogordo, right?” Junior asked. “Maybe that’s a good reason to bed down in Ruidoso instead.”
“There you go thinking again, Junior,” Kelly said.
“He makes a good point,” Don said. “We’ll have some of the team gather info about Alamogordo. It’d be nice to have some info on the place. We’ve got plenty of people who can do that, and the LTE seems to be pretty strong around here.”
“Okay, check it out,” Jason said. “Anything else?”
Nobody said anything.
“Let’s move out,” Jason said. He leaped off Kyle’s truck, as the group hurried back to their vehicles and got on the road.
Chapter 5 – Capture
Governor Nelson and Kip Hendrix were sitting in the console room. Ramsey rushed in from the bedroom area.
“What’s up?” Hendrix asked.
“Encounter in New Mexico,” Ramsey said as he sat down. “Some local cop in Roswell attempted to disarm our folks and hold them up.”
“What?” Nelson asked. “Why?”
“They thought our folks looked like scavengers,” Ramsey said. “Sounds like Jason diffused the situation.”
“Good,” Nelson said.
“Some of the New Mexico locals are pissed.”
“At who?” Hendrix asked.
“At General Hogan and Texas,” Ramsey said.
“Is that why the cop tried to stop us?” Nelson asked.
“Sounds like it,” Ramsey said.
“Why would they be pissed at General Hogan?” Hendrix asked.
“They feel abandoned,” Ramsey said.
“And they’ve got a point,” Nelson said. “We should’ve expected this. Our folks are liable to run into garden-variety scavengers too, you know.”
“Jason is aware of that,” Ramsey said.
“How far are they going tonight?” Hendrix asked.
“Originally they planned on making it to Alamogordo,” Ramsey said. “Now they’re thinking they’ll stop a little earlier. Oh, and they’ve been warned against driving through White Sands.”
“By this cop?” Nelson asked.
“Yep,” Ramsey said.
“Don’t tell me, let me guess,” Hendrix said, looking at his phone. “They want them to go all the way south to El Paso and then come up.”
“Yep,” Ramsey said. “I don’t like that idea.”
“Me neither,” Nelson said. “I’ll check with General Hogan. Maybe we can get some air support when they’re going through the White Sands area, just in case.”
“I think that’s wise,” Hendrix said.
“What have you guys been up to?” Ramsey asked.
“Watching the Capitol area,” Hendrix said. “If there’s really as many enemy fighters around there as we’re seeing on the apps, they’re doing a good job of hiding themselves. We’ve been watching the video camera feeds from around there. Haven’t seen anybody hanging around who doesn’t look right.”
“How’s the evacuation going?” Ramsey asked.
“Most of our people are out of there already,” Nelson said. “They simply won’t come in tomorrow.”
“Won’t it look a little suspicious when no cars show up there in the morning?” Ramsey asked.
“Crap, that’s a good point,” Hendrix said. “Maybe we should have the security folks drive cars in there tomorrow.”
“That’s a good idea,” Nelson said. He picked up his phone and sent a text.
“What’d you do?” Hendrix asked.
“I asked Gallagher to send in a bunch of National Guard folks without uniforms, using civilian cars.”
“That ought to help,” Hendrix said. “We left Sutton and Holly down there.”
“I know,” Nelson said. “They’ll be well taken care of.”
“If the place gets overrun, it won’t be good for them.”
“True,” Nelson said. “Not much we can do about that.”
“What else is going on?” Ramsey asked.
“Nothing, really,” Nelson said. “This waiting is driving me nuts.”
“Being cooped up in here again isn’t helping either,” Ramsey said. “Thought we were coming out of this.”
“I know,” Nelson said.
The console buzzer went off.
“Uh oh,” Maria said, rushing in from the living room. “Emergency?”
“I’ve got no idea,” Nelson said. “I wasn’t expecting a call this afternoon.”
Maria sat in front of the console and logged in. The screen came up, Wallis and Gallagher’s faces staring back at them with grim expressions.
“Oh, crap, what happened?” Nelson asked. “Something break in Austin?”
“Worse,” Wallis said. “General Hogan’s been captured by the enemy.”
“Dammit,” Nelson said, leaning back in his chair. “You know where he’s being held?”
“Only rumors,” Wallis said. “Schriever Air Force Base in Colorado Springs. One of the privates he was working with got word out.”
“This is bad,” Hendrix said. “Maybe we ought to pull our team back from New Mexico.”
“They still have the apps, and they’re well-armed,” Gallagher said. “I say we stay on target and finish the mission.”
“Yeah, I have to agree,” Wallis said.
“We need to tell them, though, right?” Ramsey asked.
“Maybe we should hold off on that until we know more,” Gallagher said.
Ramsey rolled his chair away from the console, resting his head in his hands for a moment. “One step forward, two steps back.”
“Any word on the team in Utah?”
“They’re in Colorado now,” Wallis said. “General Hogan saw to that before he got nabbed.”
Nelson sat silently, thoughts racing through his head at a fever pitch.
“You okay, boss?” Ramsey asked.
“I’m fine,” Nelson said, “but I need to think. I’m going into one of the bunk rooms for a while.”
He got up and walked out of the console room.
“I’m worried about him,” Hendrix said softly. “The stress is getting to him too much.”
“I know, I’ve noticed that too,” Ramsey said. “Anything we can do to help General Hogan?”
“Nope,” Gallagher said. “Other than completing our mission. He’s working with good people. Chances are he’ll be rescued.”
“If they haven’t killed him already,” Hendrix said.
“Oh, God, do you think they’d do that?” Maria asked.
“I wouldn’t put anything past these nuts,” Wallis said. “We’ve got operation Drive in set up, by the way. The capitol parking lot will be full of cars in the morning.”
“Okay, we’ll pass that on to Nelson when he comes back,” Hendrix said. “How many important people still there?”
“No civilian employees,” Wallis said. “It’s all police and National Guard folks, disguised as workers.”
Ramsey chuckled. “The enemy is gonna get a surprise if they show up, then.”
“The enemy is liable to just blow up everything around there and call it a day,” Hendrix said, a grim look on his face. “We might lose everybody we have there.”
“I hope that doesn’t happen,” Maria said. “Why are things going wrong all of a sudden?”
“It’s going to be an ebb and flow,” Gallagher said. “It’s war. We’ve got operations in place that will give the enemy a really hard time. We need to stay confident, and stay on target.”
“I concur,” Wallis said. “I’ll be beating the bushes for anything we can do to help General Hogan.”
“Be careful about that,” Gallagher said.
“Understood,” Wallis said.
“How does this impact our access to the apps?” Hendrix asked. “For our people, that is?”
“Nothing changes on our end,” Wallis said. “I don’t think the enemy can shut that off.”
“I hope you’re right,” Gallagher said. “It’ll be interesting to see if any parts of the Army or Air Force get involved.”
“The Feds?” Hendrix asked.
“Yeah,” Gallagher said. “Hogan has a lot of close ties. That’s why we’ve gotten the satellite information.”
There was a crash of metal against cement, coming from outside the console room.
“What the hell was that?” Ramsey asked.
“Shit, the bedrooms,” Maria said.
“What’s happening?” Wallis asked as they hurried from the room, Hendrix in the lead, sprinting through the living room and into the hallway for the bunk rooms. A door was ajar in the back. He stopped, looking through the crack, then pushed the door open.
“Call for a doctor,” Hendrix shouted from the bunk room. “I think the Governor is having a heart attack.”
Chapter 6 - Donuts
Madison flopped onto her back, panting, the sweat on her face matting her hair to her forehead.
“Wow,” Juan Carlos said. “This is getting better and better.”
“Oh, you enjoyed that, did you?” she asked, staring at the ceiling. She looked over at him, her beautiful face only inches from his.
“They’ll want us to get moving pretty soon,” Juan Carlos said. “It’s almost eight.”
“Bright morning, too,” she said, turning towards him, her head resting on her hand, arm bent at the elbow. “I wish we could just stay in bed all day long.”
“Seriously,” he said, taking her in.
“Stop,” she said when he moved towards her. “We need to get cleaned up and ready to go. They’re probably on their way here now.”
“Hope they weren’t too close to the door just now.”
“Shut up,” Madison said. “You’re trying to embarrass me again.”
“I love how you get out of control,” Juan Carlos said.
“Yeah, well enough of that,” she said, getting out of bed. “Think we’ll make it all the way to Brownsville today?”
“I hope so. I don’t like being on the road without the big guns.”
There was a soft knock at the door.
“Yeah,” Juan Carlos said.
“You guys up?” Lita asked. “Richardson wants to leave in about twenty minutes. We’ll get some breakfast.”
“Yeah, we just need to get dressed,” Madison said.
“Okay, meet us down by the cars,” Lita said. “Ten minutes.”
“Well, there you go,” Madison said. “Let’s get dressed.”
Juan Carlos nodded and got up, reaching for his clothes.
“You’re wearing the same ones today?” Madison asked.
“Left my other clothes in the car, remember? These aren’t that bad, though. I put them on right before we left Roberto’s house.”
The couple dressed and left the room, getting to the cars at the same time Brendan and Hannah did.
“Good morning, you two,” Hannah said. “Sleep well?”
“Never mind,” Madison said. The girls giggled at each other.
“Isn’t this grand?” Hannah asked.
“What?” Madison asked.
“Being newlyweds, silly.”
“I kinda like it,” Brendan said.
“Oh, really?” Juan Carlos asked. “Details?”
Both the women said shut up at the same time, causing Juan Carlos and Brendan to double-over laughing.
Gerald walked up with Hector and Roberto, Kris hurrying to keep up.
“Good morning,” Juan Carlos said.
“Good morning to you,” Roberto said. “Where’s your boss?”
“Ought to be along in a minute,” Brendan said.
“Look, here they come,” Madison said. “Looks like they got a box of donuts.”
“Something’s wrong,” Juan Carlos said. “Look at Richardson.”
“You guys ready to go?” Richardson asked.
“Yeah, boss,” Juan Carlos said. “What’s wrong?”
“General Hogan got captured last night.”
“Shit, really?” Brendan asked.
“Oh no,” Hannah said. “I was waiting for the other shoe to drop.”
“We still have access to the app?” Juan Carlos asked.
“Far as I know,” Richardson said. “I was just about to check, before we went on the road.”
“When was the last time you checked?” Madison asked.
“Couple hours ago,” he said. “No change. Still folks at that gas station.” He looked at his phone as Lita took a bag to the truck, throwing it in the cab, then came back, lowered the truck tail-gate, and set down the donut box.
“Help yourselves,” Lita said as she folded the top back.
Kris nodded, grabbing one for herself and
one for Roberto. “Thanks.”
“I need to walk the dogs and feed them,” Roberto said. He walked towards the camper, Kris following him.
“Well this is strange,” Richardson said. “The icons are still in the same place. Exactly the same place.” He took a bite out of his donut.
“What does that mean?” Madison asked.
“Could mean a couple things,” Gerald said, mouth half full of donut. “Could mean that they’re dead. Could also mean they’ve cut out their chips and left them there.”
“No way,” Richardson said. “Taking them out is not an easy matter, and they don’t know we know about them. Hell, the rank and file might not even know they’re being used for long range tracking, you know.”
“Or they just figured it out,” Juan Carlos said, “because General Hogan might have been tortured. He might have spilled the beans about what’s going on here.”
“That’s a little thin,” Richardson said. “Think about it. The enemy probably isn’t worried about what’s going on inside Texas. They’ll want to know about that guy who’s working these apps.”
“Does the enemy even know about this guy?” Hector asked.
“They’ve been chasing him and his group all over the place,” Brendan said.
“That’s true, but it might not have anything to do with their resident genius,” Richardson said.
“Then why are they getting hounded?” Brendan asked.
“Maybe because they’ve been in close contact with General Hogan,” Juan Carlos said.
“Yeah,” Brendan said, “and General Walker before him. They got Walker.”
“This is getting too damn confusing,” Lita said. “Roberto’s done. We ought to get moving.”
“Yeah, you’re right,” Richardson said. “Let’s saddle up. There’s a drive-through not far from here if you want coffee.”
“I’ll drive so you can keep an eye on the app,” Lita said.
“Sounds like a plan,” Richardson said.
“Okay, let’s go then,” Hector said.
Everybody got in their vehicles and fired up their engines.
Gerald pulled up next to the passenger side of the rental truck and rolled down his window. “We trying to get all the way to Brownsville today?”
“Yeah,” Richardson said. “It’s only about three hours.”
“Okay, see you guys,” he said, pulling away.
