by Robert Boren
“Good to know ya,” Junior said, shaking hands with each. “The enemy been giving you a hard time?”
“Well, they don’t want us going west,” Vincent said. “Put that barricade there. Told us they’d kill us all if we took it down.”
“I wouldn’t worry too much about them anymore,” Junior said. “The Injuns shut them down real good, and we screwed up their supply depot too.”
“Now, Junior, cut it with the Injun stuff,” Kelly said. “They’re our friends.”
“Sorry,” Junior said. “You know I didn’t mean anything by it.”
“People take it the wrong way,” Rachel said. “Mind if I head for the trailer for a few minutes? I need to freshen up.”
“Sure, I’ll go with you. Hop on. We need to hook this puppy up to tow it anyway.”
“Nice to meet you both,” Rachel said to the officers as they got into their off-roader.
“You guys fight with your women?” Salazar asked.
“Yep,” Kelly said. “Brenda is getting good with the gun on my truck.”
“Damn straight, baby,” she said. “It’d be fun if we weren’t getting shot at.”
Vincent chuckled. “My wife would get off on it.”
“Yeah, she probably would,” Salazar smirked. “My wife not so much.”
“Fire in the hole!” shouted Jason from ahead of them. Then the tank cannon fired, and pieces of metal flew high into the air, coming down all over the road about fifty yards ahead of them.
“Holy shit,” Salazar said, eyes wide.
“Dammit, should have gone over to watch,” Kelly said.
“We can go see the aftermath,” Brenda said. “They’re gonna need help clearing that crap off the road. Let’s go over there.”
“Yeah,” Don said. “Coming?”
Sydney nodded at him, and the two couples walked off.
“I’ve got to check that out too,” Curt said.
“I figured,” Amanda said. They took off too.
“Kinda looks like we might have two sizeable groups on our side now,” Sydney said as they walked.
“Still need to get on social media, though,” Don said.
“Of course,” she said. “Where’s your daughter and Chloe?”
“With their boyfriends, back at Francis and Sherry’s trailer,” Don said. “Got a text earlier.”
“We should check the apps again,” Sydney said, pulling out her phone.
“They still standing still at the reservation?”
“Yep,” Sydney said. “More coming towards the reservation, though.”
“How many?”
“I see close to a hundred,” she said. “The first group didn’t get there yet. They’re still a few miles away.”
“Hope the tribe can handle them,” Don said.
“Whoa, that cannon did a number on the barricade,” Kelly said.
“Yep,” Brenda said. “Cleanup on aisle three.”
Don and Kelly cracked up.
There was the sound of diesels rolling towards them. Don turned and looked. “Here come those bulldozers.”
Chapter 26 – Army of Sleepers
“What the hell happened down there?” Nelson asked, staring at the console screen. Maria was sitting at the keyboard. The others gathered around behind her.
“The enemy must have moved their forces to that area after we cut off the other routes,” Wallis said, visibly shaken. “Jefferson is a tough loss. Very tough.”
“That’s an understatement,” Nelson said, sweat on his brow.
“We’re going to have incidents like this,” Gallagher said. “They’re hard, but not much we can do until we have access to those apps.”
“Anything on General Hogan?” Hendrix asked.
“His technical staff is cooking up something to pinpoint his exact location,” Gallagher said.
“You got any details?” Hendrix asked.
“Nope,” Gallagher said. “They’re still keeping everything close to the vest.”
“I don’t blame them,” Nelson said. “The enemy gets information somehow. They obviously knew exactly where and how to hit us in Brownsville.”
“They did,” Wallis said. “We didn’t lose everybody down there.”
“Who’s left? How many boats and crews?”
“Two boats,” Wallis said. “Richardson, Juan Carlos, and Brendan, with their women.”
“They had some people from Purgatory Creek, didn’t they?” Hendrix asked.
“Yep,” Wallis said. “All dead.”
“Dammit, really?” Nelson asked. “I was nervous about letting civilians in on this.”
“They’d be dead now anyway if they’d stayed home,” Gallagher said.
“We don’t know that,” Nelson said.
“Yeah, we do,” Wallis said. “Their homes got attacked. Nothing left at any of them. That reminds me, we need to get some operations going around that area. San Marcos is in danger, and there’s quite a few people living there.”
“We’ve got bad guys coming out of the woodwork,” Hendrix said. “I thought we were getting past the worst of this.”
“It won’t be long until we have access to the apps,” Wallis said. “Let’s not forget that.”
“Yeah, but what if General Hogan isn’t around to release them?” Maria asked.
“It’s not under his control,” Wallis said. “Their tech guy has it set up for auto-distribution at a specific time, even if he’s dead by then.”
“That’s right,” Hendrix said. “Forgot about that.”
“What’s happening with Richardson and his men?” Hendrix asked.
“I told them to take the Rio Grande down to the gulf, and report to the base at South Padre Island.”
“Wasn’t that where they were from?” Hendrix asked.
“No, they were one of the few survivors in the Falcon Lake disaster,” Wallis said.
“Falcon lake,” Nelson said. “Seems like a long time ago.”
“We need to build up a force of boats at South Padre Island and take them back onto the Rio Grande,” Gallagher said. “We can’t allow unfettered crossing of enemy fighters through that area. We need the patrols.”
“I wish we knew how much longer we have until the apps are released,” Hendrix said.
“Yep, that’s the most important thing now,” Gallagher said. “If we had those, we could pinpoint where the enemy are along the Rio Grande, and the routes they’re using to get to that location.”
“That would have us attacking inside Mexico,” Hendrix said.
“It would,” Nelson said, “but by that time it won’t matter. The release of the apps is going to expose all the bad folks in the Federal Government. The people will get control again.”
“That would be nice,” Maria said.
“Seriously,” Gallagher said. “If we could bring a cleaned up Federal military to bear, this battle will be over in a hurry.”
“Won’t the bad guys start removing the chips when the apps get released?” Maria asked.
“They’re buried deep,” Gallagher said. “Remember what Eric Finley told us.”
“How deep?” Dr. Schultz asked.
“More than an inch,” Gallagher said.
“If they are that deep, it’ll be tough,” Dr. Schultz said. “It would require a hospital visit.”
“Some might take them out and survive, though, right?” Wallis asked.
“Depends,” Dr. Schultz said. “If they have a staff of qualified doctors and a clean place to do it, with equipment and drugs, they could get them out without harming the patients, but that’s not what they’re going to have. Especially since we can see their movements.”
“Why would they put them in so deep?” Nelson asked.
“Probably to prevent desertions,” Gallagher said. “This war can’t be any more fun for the Islamists that it is for our guys.”
“Good point,” Hendrix said. “We know anything more about the situation down by the capitol?”
/> “Still mopping up, and disposing of bodies,” Gallagher said. “It’s a mess. Think we could get one of our people with the apps to give us a quick reading?”
Nelson thought about it for a moment. “Go ahead and ask the Fort Stockton team, but report to me. I want direct control over what information we use. Understand?”
“Yes sir,” Gallagher said.
“I’ll contact Jason right now,” Ramsey said, walking away with his phone out.
“Good, then we can get a report on their progress,” Nelson said.
Ramsey came back in. “I told him to call into the conference. Hope that’s okay.”
“Perfect,” Nelson said. They watched the console. It beeped with an incoming join, so Maria approved it. Jason’s face showed up alongside Gallagher and Wallis.
“How are you doing that?” Nelson asked.
“FaceTime,” Jason said. “Wanted to be able to show you something.” He reversed the picture to the main phone camera and panned it over the debris on the road. There were three bulldozers working the giant pile of metal, moving it to the side.
“What the hell is that?” Gallagher asked. “You get into another battle?”
“The enemy put a barricade across Highway 380,” Jason said. “We softened it up with a couple of tank cannon rounds. Now we’re just cleaning up the mess.”
“Where’d you get the dozers?” Gallagher asked.
“We have locals who are friendly. We’ll recruit them, along with the Mescalero Indians.”
“You get your recon team back safe and sound?” Nelson asked.
“Yep,” Jason said. “They’re all here with us. We’ll be on our way as soon as this mess is cleaned up.”
“The tribe handled the enemy attack okay, I take it,” Gallagher said.
“Yep, but the enemy is mounting another assault as we speak. There’s a couple hundred of them on the way to the reservation. Stanton Hunt and his warriors are waiting for them.”
“Good,” Nelson said. “We need a favor. Could you take a look at Texas with the apps. Look for hot spots?”
“Sure,” Jason said. “I’ll call Kyle over here, so I don’t have to use this phone.”
“Fine,” Ramsey said.
“Hey, Kyle, load the long range app and come over here,” Jason shouted over the noise in the background.”
“What’s up, bro?” Kyle asked.
“Take a look at the long range app over Texas. Look for big concentrations. Governor Nelson is asking.”
“Okay,” Kyle said.
“He’s checking,” Jason said.
“We can hear,” Ramsey said. “Lot of background noise from the cleanup effort.”
“Why didn’t we see that barrier in the Satellite or Drone pictures?” Hendrix asked.
“Yeah, that’s a good question,” Gallagher asked.
“These damn Islamists aren’t stupid,” Jason said. “They welded a bunch of scrap metal together. It looked kind of like a bridge. Bet it really looked like a bridge from the air. I think they did that on purpose, to hide it.”
“Shit,” Gallagher said. “You’re probably right.”
“Ready,” Kyle said in the background, handing the phone to Jason. He looked at it.
“What the hell is going on down by Brownsville?” Jason asked. “Huge number of hits just over the river, in Mexico.”
“We have a big problem there,” Ramsey said. “Just lost some DPS Patrol Boaters earlier today.”
“Geez,” Jason said. “Sorry to hear that. Looks like you cleared out Austin pretty well. Very few hits there. Something’s going on in Dallas, though. Lots of hits surrounding the Dallas/Fort Worth area. Some around Waco too.”
“They’ve been there a while,” Wallis said. “How about San Antonio and Houston?”
“Very little around San Antonio. There are some to the east of Houston. Shit, and a stream coming in from the east. Better get ready there. Huge group in Lake Charles, Louisiana. Better shore up I-10 along there.”
“Anything else of note?” Nelson asked.
“You’ve got dribs and drabs all over the damn state,” Jason said, “but I don’t see any big groups other than the ones I mentioned.”
“How about the rest of the Southwest?” Ramsey asked.
“I’ll check,” Jason said. “Whoa. Huge group around Capitol Reef in Utah. Huge group around the Grand Canyon in Arizona. Huge group along I-70 in Colorado, especially surrounding the Denver area. Shit.”
“Uh oh, what?” Nelson asked.
“We’ve got a big group heading up I-25 now. They weren’t there an hour ago.”
“In New Mexico?” Nelson asked.
“Yeah,” Jason said. “Looks like they’re building up right where we wanted to make our first attack.”
“Where’s that?” Nelson asked.
“Should we talk about that over the line?” Dr. Schultz asked.
“We’ve secured this line, and it’s encrypted,” Wallis said. “Should be fine.”
“Go ahead, Jason,” Ramsey said.
“South of Truth or Consequences,” Jason said. “There’s a crossing over the Rio Grande right there, and no good way around it if we blow the bridges.”
“They’re going there to protect the area,” Gallagher said. “Dammit. How many you see?”
“Less than a hundred, but lots still on the road up.”
“Think you can handle it?” Nelson asked.
“We planned to bring the tanks up and hammer away at the bridges with the cannons,” Jason said. “If that 120 mm cannon is up to the job, they’ll have a real hard time stopping us.”
“You got enough folks?” Gallagher asked.
“Probably,” Jason said, “with the tribe and folks from around here helping out. Don’s planning another Twitter storm too.”
“Okay, thanks,” Ramsey said. “We need Jason for anything else?”
“No, I don’t think so,” Nelson said. “Thanks, Jason. Take care. Good luck with that bridge.”
“Thank you, sir. Talk to you all later.”
Jason’s image left the console.
Nelson sighed. “This is worse than I expected.”
“We’ve been building up National Guard troops around Dallas for a while now,” Gallagher said. “We can put up a good battle there, not even counting all of the citizens who will get involved.”
“Wish the Fort Stockton folks were here instead of New Mexico,” Hendrix said.
“You and me both, but they’re doing an important job over there,” Nelson said. “I hope they survive.”
“Me too,” Ramsey said.
“So, plan of action,” Wallis said. “First, get the National Guard ready in Dallas, and start the social media effort to rally the people.”
“Check,” Gallagher said, “but remember our prime directive when we do the social media effort. We don’t want to make it obvious that we know where the enemy is.”
“Yes, although we might have blown that at the capitol,” Nelson said. “Next?”
“Bust I-10 east of the Louisiana border to cut off the flow of cretins,” Ramsey said.
“We’ve already got a roadblock there,” Wallis said. “They’re getting past it somehow.”
“We need to look at the secondary roads around it, then,” Ramsey said. “we could take out a bridge in a bad spot, like what Jason’s planning in Truth or Consequences.”
“Work that,” Nelson said. “Next?”
Wallis sighed. “The Rio Grande. We have to get a potent force into that area. Maybe we can’t do it with patrol boats only. Maybe we need tanks and infantry.”
“And choppers,” Gallagher said.
“Yeah,” Nelson said. “We’ve been lucky to have support from the Air Force along there, but we can’t always count on that, and it hasn’t solved the problem.”
“When Richardson and his crew get to the South Padre Island base I’ll have a meeting with them,” Wallis said.
“If they get there,” Hendrix
said. “Those people have been hounded all along. How does the enemy keep on their tails like that?”
“Good question.” Wallis said. “Part of it is coincidence.”
“That’s possible,” Ramsey said. “Something doesn’t smell right, though. They have a vehicle they’ve been using for a while?”
“I’ll check on that,” Wallis said, “but it doesn’t matter now. They’re on boats they just got when they arrived in Brownsville.”
“Check on the boat contractors,” Gallagher said. “They’ve screwed us before, remember?”
“Yes, I remember,” Wallis said.
“Okay, I think we’re done for now,” Nelson said. “Talk to you folks later. You know what to do. Call me if you have problems.”
Chapter 27 – Yachts
“How many more miles?” Juan Carlos asked from the pilot’s chair.
“Not many,” Madison said, looking at her phone. “We’re just passing the Palmito Hill Monument. Just a few more turns and we’ll see the wetlands on the Mexican side. A few minutes later it’ll be on the American side too.”
“I can’t believe how curvy this stretch is,” Hannah said, watching with the SMAW in her hand. “Hope Richardson is keeping a close eye on the app. There’s lots of brush that could hide the enemy, and we can’t go very fast.”
“You’re not kidding, baby,” Brendan said.
“Just stay sharp and keep your eyes open,” Juan Carlos said.
“At least we shouldn’t have any of those Gaz Tigrs targeting us when we get to the wetlands,” Brendan said.
“We’d see them on the long range app already,” Juan Carlos said. “Don’t worry. We’ll be out of here soon.”
“That was a big curve,” Madison said. “The last huge one.”
“I’m tired,” Hannah said. “Wish we were going home to a nice warm bed.”
“You and me both,” Madison said.
“There’s the American wetlands,” Juan Carlos said. “Won’t be long now.”
“Think the delta will get too shallow to navigate through?” Hannah asked.
“We’ll find out,” Juan Carlos said. “I think I’ll be able to get us through.”
“Glad Richardson let us take the lead,” Brendan said. “You’re a better pilot.”
