by Robert Boren
“Thanks, dude,” Juan Carlos said. “Richardson isn’t bad, though.”
“Only a few more curves, and then we’re in the delta,” Madison said.
“Wonder how close this base is to Port Isabel?” Hannah asked.
“Good question,” Brendan said. “We don’t know exactly where the base is yet, do we?”
“No,” Juan Carlos said. “Richardson will figure that out for us.” The engine RPM slowed. “Shit, we hit sand. It’s shallow here.”
“Are we gonna get stuck?” Hannah asked.
“No, I’ll just tilt the engines up a little and slow down,” Juan Carlos said. “One of you text Lita and let them know, all right?”
“On it,” Hannah said.
“We’re definitely in the delta now,” Madison said. “Is the water going to be rough in the gulf? We have to go up a ways to get into the bay.”
“Doubt it,” Juan Carlos said. “The weather is beautiful. Not much wind, right here, anyway.”
“The wetlands are pretty,” Hannah said, looking around her. “Lita said she used to come out here to fish and party with her friends when she was younger.”
“Probably more partying than fishing going on,” Brendan said. He looked at Juan Carlos and chuckled.
“Hey, you can do both at the same time, dude,” Juan Carlos said.
“True that,” Brendan said. “Look, there’s the gulf up ahead. See it?”
“Looks a little rough,” Madison said. “Those are whitecaps. See?”
“It’s gonna be a little bumpy,” Juan Carlos said. “Probably a bit of weather someplace south. I’m surprised.”
“Here we go,” Madison said as they cleared the delta, heading into the open gulf. The boat rocked as they got into the soupy water.
“Tell me when Richardson and Lita clear the delta, then I’ll speed up,” Juan Carlos said.
“Got it,” Brendan said, watching behind, hands still on his gun.
“Can you go fast in this stuff?” Madison asked.
“Yeah, this isn’t bad,” Juan Carlos said. “Went through worse than this on Falcon Lake sometimes.
“For sure,” Brendan said. “That damn lake got pretty wild sometimes.”
“They out yet?” Juan Carlos asked. He trimmed the outboards back down, getting ready to speed up.
“Yep, they’re out,” Brendan said.
“Good,” Juan Carlos said, pushing the throttle levers forward. The boat jumped up on a plane, crashing on the chop, taking it easily. They were up to twenty knots in a few seconds.
“I don’t like this much,” Madison said, listening to the hull smacking the chop beneath them.
“Don’t worry, this boat can handle a lot worse,” Juan Carlos said. “They keeping up back there?”
“Yeah, man,” Brendan said. “We just hug the coastline of the island until we get to the opening, right?”
“Yep,” Juan Carlos said. “Can’t miss it. Remember those jetties that come out on either side?”
“I do,” Madison said.
Brendan pulled out his phone. “Text from Richardson. The base is in the marina close to where the water park was.”
“Some of that survived?” Hannah asked. “I’m surprised. They took out the bridge, remember?”
“I remember,” Brendan said. “I guess the Coast Guard base must be toast. It was just south of the water park.”
“It’s a nice little marina,” Madison said. “I used to eat at a place overlooking it.”
“Sea Ranch or Dirty Al’s?” Hannah asked.
“Both, actually,” she said. They snickered at each other.
“Uh oh, what went on there?” Juan Carlos asked.
“None of your business,” Madison said. “That was before you met me.”
“We did have a wild side, you know,” Hannah said.
“Probably why you’re so much fun now,” Juan Carlos said, glancing at Madison.
“No comment,” she said.
“We’re making good time,” Brendan said.
“Yeah, we’ll see the jetties any minute now,” Juan Carlos said. “Nice to get this thing moving for a while.”
“They’re gonna put us right back into the river though, I suspect,” Hannah said.
“Probably,” Brendan said. “That’s where the hot spot is.”
“There’s the jetties,” Juan Carlos said, pointing. “Look, there’s one of our boats, coming this way.”
“Good, they got the inboards,” Brendan said, watching as the boat approached them at a good clip. It slowed when it got close, the pilot waving to them.
“They’re gonna approach,” Juan Carlos said.
Richardson caught up with them, the three boats now within shouting distance.
“Which one of you is Richardson?” shouted the pilot of the inboard.
“Me,” Richardson shouted.
“Good, glad you guys made it,” the man yelled. “I’m Harley. Follow me in. We got slips set up for you guys.”
“Sounds good,” Richardson said. Harley turned his boat around and headed back to the jetties, Juan Carlos and Richardson following.
“Harley?” Hannah asked. “Kinda strange for a boy’s name.”
“His dad’s probably a biker,” Juan Carlos shrugged. “Wonder how many boats are there?”
“We’ll find out in a minute,” Brendan said.
Juan Carlos made the turn, following the inboard through the opening into the bay, then north along the island.
“Geez, look at the coast guard facility,” Brendan said. “What a mess.”
“Direct hit, dude,” Juan Carlos said as they cruised by the ruins. “I’m surprised they didn’t take out the other marina too.”
“Slowing,” Brendan said, watching the boat ahead of them. It turned into the small harbor.
“Look, there’s an RV park right next to this place,” Hannah said, pointing. “Forgot about that. Wonder if they’re putting us up there.”
“I’d feel better if you guys were elsewhere,” Brendan said. “That’s too close.”
“Not if we’re still on the boat with you guys,” Madison said.
“With the bridge out, how could they get RVs over here?” Hannah asked.
They slowed way down as they entered the inner part of the harbor. Harley stood up and pointed to a row of four slips against the north side of the marina. Juan Carlos and Richardson drove their boats into slips next to each other. Lita jumped out with a rope, Brendan doing the same.
“We’re here,” Juan Carlos said.
“Kinda choppy out there,” Richardson said, walking up with Lita.
“Piece of cake, dude,” Juan Carlos said. “These boats can take a lot worse.”
“I know,” Richardson said.
“Welcome,” Harley said, walking up. He was a tall skinny man with blonde hair, cut in a military style. “You’re the ranking officer here now, Richardson.”
“I’m not looking to take over,” Richardson said.
“I think Director Wallis will give us some guidance there. Sorry to hear about Jefferson. He was a great man. Terrible loss.”
Richardson felt himself tearing up, and tried to push it back. Lita noticed and got next to him, petting his back.
“They were like best friends,” Lita said softly. “We haven’t had time to process what happened yet.”
“Understand,” Harley said. “Follow me. We’ve set up in that big bar over there. Leasing the space from the guy who owns it.”
“Must be expensive,” Richardson said.
“Actually, the expensive part was getting the yachts moved out of here,” Harley said.
“Still have four of them,” Juan Carlos said. “Nice.”
“Those are the ones that won’t run, and the owners are missing,” Harley said. “We think they were killed at Port Isabel, but they might have just split. We can’t raise them. When we get enough boats, we’ll probably get them towed someplace else.”
They followed Harley
up the ramp and onto the cement walkway leading to the bar. He held the door as they all went through. There were a couple of tech guys working on a communications system in the back of the bar, near the stage.
“Who’s in command?” Richardson said.
“It was Jefferson,” Harley said. “That’s why I said you were in command. You were his second.”
“Oh,” Richardson said sheepishly. “Sorry, I get it.”
“Hey, Harry, you almost done with that telecom equipment?” Harley asked.
“Yeah, man,” said the small man with glasses and short black hair. “Be done in about five minutes. Need to make a call?”
“Yeah, the Director asked that I get a video conference going as soon as these folks arrived.”
“Okay, we’ll step it up,” he said, getting back to work.
“There a place to live around here?”
“There’s only a few of us here so far, so we’ve been living in some of the surrounding buildings. There’s a few RVs abandoned in the park next door that could be used, but we’ll have to break the locks. Since that bridge is out, we’re a little limited, unfortunately.”
“Maybe we could use those yachts there,” Juan Carlos said.
Harley laughed. “Thought about that, but with the engines not working, there’s no way to power the systems.”
“The dockside power doesn’t work?” Richardson asked.
“Not yet,” Harley said. “Been too busy to mess with that. We’ve only been here for a week.”
“Who else is here?” Brendan asked.
“Just my boat crew,” Harley said. “Nick and Pat are sleeping. They patrolled last night. Oh, and the tech guys. We’ve got a contract with them. Harry and four others. They’ll stick around for a while and help us get up a working base. Jefferson was supposed to be here tomorrow. Got hung up setting up a mini-gun on a turret.”
“We saw that in action,” Richardson said.
“We have three of them in crates behind the building, with stands,” Harley said. “Haven’t messed with them yet. Another team was supposed to come here with Jefferson. They probably got killed with him.”
“How did he get killed, exactly?” Richardson asked.
“We aren’t sure,” Harley said. “There’s a team processing the scene. The Director might tell us in the meeting.”
“I say we take the yachts, boss,” Juan Carlos said. “Brendan and I can take a look at the dockside power and the engines.”
“I’ve worked on boats like those before,” Brendan said. “Probably something simple. None of them look old enough to have too many hours on the power plants.”
“We were supposed to get enough boats here to fill the whole marina, but they’ve knocked the total number down, and the shipment has been delayed three times already.”
“Where are they now?” Richardson asked.
“They were delivered to Corpus Christi,” Harley said.
“Inboards or outboards?” Brendan asked.
“Three inboards and ten outboards.”
“We’re going to focus on the river,” Brendan said. “Knew it. There crews coming with these boats?”
“Supposed to be,” Harley said. “Hey, Harry, you done?”
“In a second,” he said. “Having trouble with this damn connector.”
“Where’s the rest of your guys?”
“Wiring the other two buildings,” Harley said. “Don’t worry, I can handle this.”
“Do you know where those mini guns were gonna be placed?” Brendan asked.
“Jefferson didn’t tell us that yet,” Harley said. “I don’t think he was sure. Heard he had it mounted on the roof of the Customs building.”
“He did,” Juan Carlos said, “and by the way, the damn thing saved our lives.”
“How so?”
“There were several Gaz Tigrs on the Mexican bank, firing at us,” Richardson said. “We were having trouble getting through their armor. That damn mini gun cut through them like a hot knife through butter.”
“Well, full auto fifty cals have been known to do that,” Harley said. “It’ll probably be your choice where those go now, Richardson.”
“We ought to fix those yachts and mount them on the deck,” Juan Carlos said, laughing. “That would be awesome.”
“Hold that thought,” Richardson said. “Let’s see if you can really get them running again.”
“I’d run a crazy idea like that by the Director if I were you,” Harley said, grinning. “That would be cool, but remember that there’s no armor on those yachts.”
“Good point,” Juan Carlos said.
“It’s ready,” Harry said. “We can do a secure call to the Director’s system now.”
“Send the ping,” Harley said. “Let’s see if he picks up.”
“You got it,” Harry said. “Gather around.”
The monitor next to the keyboard lit up as Harry typed in commands. An hourglass came up, spinning as the connection and encryption were set up. The screen showed the message Accepted.
“Looks like he’s getting on,” Harley said.
Richardson nodded. “Nice setup.”
The screen changed, showing Wallis and Gallagher’s faces.
“Good, you’ve got it working,” Wallis said. “Richardson, you made it. No worse for the wear, I hope.”
“We’re all fine,” Richardson said. “Figure out what happened to Jefferson yet?”
“Appears to be an inside job,” Wallis said. “He was shot in the back with a .40 Smith and Wesson as he was firing the mini-gun.”
“Dammit, not again,” Richardson said. “Another one of ours?”
“Contractor who helped set up the new base,” Wallis said. “Somebody stopped his clock after he did the deed.”
“Did he have a chip?” Juan Carlos asked.
Wallis paused for a moment.
“Sorry, maybe I shouldn’t have mentioned that.”
“No, it’s fine, Juan Carlos,” Wallis said. “I forgot to ask. Just a second. I need to make a call.”
He left the screen for a moment.
“Did you see any enemy fighters on the trip south?” Gallagher asked.
“Nope,” Richardson said. “Large concentration up by the old base, though. Looks like they’re planning for a big move.”
“We got that info,” Gallagher said.
“Really? How?”
“Same as you - the drones,” he said. “That’s all we have at the moment.”
Richardson felt himself flush, trying to hide it from the others. He shot a glance at Brendan and Juan Carlos. They nodded discreetly.
Wallis sat back down, a grim look on his face. He shook his head yes.
Richardson nodded back at him. “We hear there are some boats on their way here.”
“We’re having some problems,” Wallis said. “Lost two of the crews. They were on their way to the base down there, but got ambushed on the road. Now we’re afraid that the enemy knows where that base is. Not sure what we’re going to do about it yet.”
“Dammit,” Juan Carlos said.
“Hey, it’ll give us a day or two to rest,” Lita said. “That’s not so bad.”
“It’s not so bad if we don’t get attacked,” Madison said.
“I wouldn’t worry too much about that,” Wallis said. “There’s no way to get to you guys other than by water with the bridge out, and we’ve already notified the US Navy. They’re patrolling the area. That with the drones should keep you guys safe in the short term.”
“I’d stay alert all the time just in case,” Gallagher said.
“Of course,” Wallis said. “Take a few days from fighting. Help with the setup of the base. Richardson, until further notice you’re in command.”
“Thank you, sir,” Richardson said.
“How about the mini-guns?” Juan Carlos asked.
“Those damn things,” Wallis said. “We’ve lost six people because of those.”
“Six people?�
�
“Five at the Capitol in Austin, and now Jefferson,” Wallis said.
“That wasn’t the fault of the guns,” Gallagher said.
“Jefferson saved our lives with the mini-gun on the river,” Brendan said. “They stop Gaz Tigrs better than anything we have, even the main gun. They’re armor is tough to punch through.”
“Okay, I withdraw my comments,” Wallis said.
“You mind where we mount them?” Richardson asked.
“That was going to be up to Jefferson,” Wallis said. “Now it’s up to you. Use them as you see fit.”
“Okay, thanks,” Richardson said. “Anything else?”
“Nope,” Wallis said. “I’ll ping you guys as soon as I know when the additional boats are coming. Don’t patrol the river. Save those two boats, but keep their weapons loaded. Just sit tight for now. Got it?”
“Yes sir,” Richardson said.
“Okay, talk to you soon.”
The call ended.
“There,” Harry said. “Works real nice, don’t it?”
“Yeah, it works well,” Harley said. “What now, sir?”
“Let’s go talk in private,” Richardson said.
“You mind if we go check out those yachts?” Juan Carlos asked.
“Do it,” Richardson said. “And if you can get them working, look for a good place to mount the mini-guns.”
“You’re really going to do that?” Harley asked.
“If we get chased out of this location, I’d like to retain that hardware,” Richardson said. “Let’s go chat. Have a good place?”
“There’s an office upstairs,” Harley said.
“What do you want me doing?” Harry asked.
“Check on the crews in the other buildings, and then work on the dockside power. That okay, Richardson?”
“Perfect,” he said. “Lead the way to the office.”
Harley nodded and got up, heading towards the staircase in the back. Richardson followed him up, and they went into the first door on the right side.
“Here it is,” Harley said.
Richardson got close to him and whispered. “Has any work been done in here? Electronics work?”
“Phones,” Harley whispered back. “Why?”
“Where does that spiral staircase lead to?” He pointed to it, in the far corner of the room.
“Roof-top deck,” Harley whispered. “What’s going on?”
“Any work done up there?”
