by Robert Boren
“Let’s tell him there are more patrol boats coming through the eastern part of the gulf,” Gallagher said. “Galveston.”
Wallis chuckled. “Good idea. They might try to intercept them, and the US Navy will take care of the situation.”
“You okay, Kip?” Nelson asked, eyeing his furrowed brow.
“There’s so many things that might go wrong here,” he said. “We don’t want the plants at South Padre Island to get wise and cut their losses.”
“What do you mean?” Maria asked.
“He means we don’t want our DPS folks murdered there,” Wallis said. “After this operation, it might be time to take them out.”
“I agree,” Gallagher said.
Chapter 30 – Keep Them Alive
Richardson watched from the dock as his men worked on the mini gun stand. He had just pulled a cart over, full of ammo on belts.
“Almost tight, dude,” Juan Carlos shouted from below deck.
Brendan ran the electric torque wrench, tightening down the last bolt on the mini gun stand as Juan Carlos held a wrench on the nut below. The wrench ratcheted. “There, man, it’s torqued. Does it look beefy enough down there, or should we get some more wood?”
“This piece of three quarter inch ply should be enough, along with the deck itself,” Juan Carlos said, poking his head out of the engine compartment. “I think we’re good. It’s probably more sturdy than the mounts on the choppers.”
“Good, then help me lift this beast onto the stand.”
“Yeah,” Juan Carlos said, climbing back on the deck. “Then we can drill a hole for the electrical cable.”
“Why does that thing need electricity?” Madison asked, sitting next to Lita and Hannah near the pilot’s chair.
“It uses an electric motor to spin,” Brendan said. “That’s why the rate of fire on this thing is so insane.”
“It looks like those old Gatling guns I’ve seen on westerns,” Lita said.
“That’s basically what it is,” Juan Carlos said.
“Give me a hand with this ammo,” Richardson said.
They helped him hoist the heavy belts onto the deck.
“This thing is gonna be like having a PT boat,” Brendan said.
“That’s good and bad,” Richardson said. “A few shots from a small gun will sink this sucker.”
“Yeah, we know,” Juan Carlos said.
Richardson’s phone dinged. “Uh oh, meeting with the leadership team.”
“All of us?” Juan Carlos asked.
“Yeah,” Richardson said.
“We can hang around out here, though, right?” Madison asked.
“No,” Richardson said. “I was thinking about that. We don’t want you girls out of our sight with the enemy plants here. Understand?”
“Yeah, dude, I agree,” Juan Carlos said.
“Okay, let’s go,” Lita said.
“I’ll call Harley on the way,” Richardson said as he helped Lita off the boat, the others following.
“We can see the boat from that bar,” Brendan said. “We should keep our eyes on it all the time.”
“Yep,” Brendan said.
They walked to the bar, getting to the door just as Harley arrived.
“Should I call Harry?” he asked.
“No need, we know how to work this now, right?” Richardson asked.
“True,” Harley said. “I’ll give it a try.”
“Where are those guys?” Brendan asked.
“Taking a break,” Harley said.
“Where’s your men?” Lita asked.
“They ought to be along any minute. We were just having coffee when you called.”
“Okay,” Richardson said. They sat in front of the console as Harley turned it on. The picture came up, and he accepted the call. The screen broke into two sides, Wallis and Gallagher’s faces on one, Nelson, Ramsey, and Hendrix on the other.
“Howdy,” Harley said.
“How’s it going, gents?” Wallis asked.
“Not too shabby,” Richardson said. “What’s happening?”
“Good news and bad news,” Gallagher said.
“Uh oh,” Richardson said. “What’s the bad news?”
“The boat shipment is running late,” Wallis said. “Things are just too damn hot around Corpus Christi, so we’re gonna launch the boats out of Galveston instead. Probably be several days before you see them.”
“Maybe it was a mistake to call off that cleanup trip this morning, then,” Richardson said.
“The Texas National Guard troops got all of the valuable data out of the base in Brownsville,” Wallis said, “but we still want you back there patrolling as soon as possible.”
“You guys are on a call?” Harry asked, walking into the bar. His eyes darted around the room.
“Yeah, but we know how to run this now, remember?” Harley asked.
“I know,” Harry said. “I’m here if you need me.” He sat down on the far side of the bar. “Mind if I hang here?”
“No problem,” Richardson said. He turned back to the screen. “Sorry. What’s the good news?”
“We’ve got a big attack happening in a couple hours,” Wallis said.
“Yeah, it should shut down the flow of enemy troops into Colorado,” Gallagher said. “We wanted to make sure you knew about it. You’ll see more pressure in your quadrant due to this action, we suspect.”
“Where’s it happening?”
“We’re hitting the north-bound roads out of El Paso with air power. At the same time, our ground team from Fort Stockton will be hitting the roads just north of Las Cruces. We’ll shut down the enemy supply line completely. We need you guys to watch for alternate routes popping up.”
“We’re pretty far south of there,” Juan Carlos said.
“True, but they can’t go further east along the border, and they know we’re vulnerable on our south-western border. That’s why they were hitting Brownsville.”
“Okay, we’ll watch out,” Richardson said. “You want us to patrol again?”
“Yeah, tomorrow morning,” Wallis said, “but don’t go all the way to Brownsville. It’s too hot for your boats with no support. Understand?”
“Got it,” Richardson said.
“That’s all we’ve got,” Nelson said. “Sorry about the delay on the boats.”
“We’ll deal,” Richardson said. “Good luck with your attacks up north.”
“Thanks,” Wallis said. “Talk to you soon.”
The screen went dead. Harley shut down the system.
“Wow, that was Governor Nelson, wasn’t it?” Harry asked.
“Yeah,” Richardson said. His phone dinged. “Got to take this.” He read the screen. It was a simple message. Kill the plants. He replied Will do, then looked at Harley. “Come on out to the yacht. You’ve got to see what my guys did.”
“You want us out there, boss?” Juan Carlos asked.
“Yeah, let’s get back to the boat and button her up. It’ll be dark soon.”
“Sounds good,” Brendan said, taking Hannah by the hand.
Everybody left the bar except Harry, who sat in the window, watching the dock below.
“What’s going on?” Harley asked.
Richardson held up the text message on his phone. “Where are your guys?”
“In the other bar,” Harley said.
“Where are the other contractors?”
“Same building, first floor.”
Richardson thought for a moment, then turned to Juan Carlos and Brendan. “We’re taking out the plants.”
“When?” Brendan asked.
“Now,” he said. “Get the women in the boat.”
“The yacht?” Juan Carlos asked.
“No, your patrol boat,” he said.
Harley was texting, his brow furrowed.
“What?” Richardson asked.
“Something’s wrong. I sent a text to one of my guys asking where they are. The reply I got wasn’t from him, jus
t from his phone.”
“How can you tell?”
“When it didn’t look right, I sent an inside joke. My guy always responds the same way to me on that. He came back with a question mark.”
“Your men are already dead,” Richardson said. “Guys, get the M-16s. Women, on the patrol boat. Now.”
“Harry’s watching us out the window,” Harley said.
“See it,” he said, watching the women getting onto the patrol boat. A shot rang out.
“Hit the deck,” Juan Carlos shouted, pulling his pistol, Brendan and Richardson doing the same. Harry ran towards them, pistol blazing, his three men rushing from the far side of the dock. Richardson fired, hitting Harry square in the chest. The other traitors saw it and started to flee for cover, but then the port gun on the patrol boat fired, dropping the three of them in an instant, blood splattered on the wall of the bar behind them.
“Thanks, honey,” Juan Carlos said, seeing Madison behind the gun.
“No problema,” she said. “Be careful. They might not all be dead. They fell pretty fast.”
Richardson reached into the second patrol boat, grabbing two M-16s, handing one to Brendan and taking the other. “C’mon, let’s go check the bodies.”
They trotted forward, checking Harry, then rushing over to the other bodies.
“They’re all dead,” Brendan shouted.
“I’m gonna go check my guys,” Harley said.
“I’ll go with you,” Brendan said. They rushed into the bar together, coming out after a couple minutes, Harley crying.
“Those bastards,” Brendan said as they got back. “Check the app, boss.”
“Yeah, you’re right,” Richardson said. He refreshed the app, getting buzzed for four enemy fighters. “Nobody else.”
“This might screw up our little ruse,” Richardson said.
“What ruse?” Harley asked.
“We passed them false info about the Las Cruces and El Paso attacks,” Richardson said. “We did it to get the enemy fighters away from the bridges south of Truth or Consequences. Got a text from Wallis a few minutes after the call.”
Harley smiled. “Maybe we ought to make the enemy think that those guys killed us.”
“That would be good, but how?” Richardson asked.
“Let’s see if we can get onto Harry’s cell phone,” Harley said. They walked over to the body and went through pockets until they found the phone.
“Screen’s locked,” Richardson said, handing the phone to Harley.
“Figured it would be, but this guy was an idiot. I might be able to figure out his pass code. Got a couple ideas.” He typed on the phone screen. “Nope.”
“You’re just guessing?” Juan Carlos asked.
“Educated guesses,” Harley said. “Trust me.”
He tried again. “Nope.”
“What are you using?” Brendan asked.
“Harry went out of his way to get into conversations, to gain our trust,” Harley said. “He’s got a lot of hobbies. Talked about them in great detail. I’m thinking one of his hobbies holds the key to his phone.”
Richardson chuckled. “That could take a week to figure out. We’ll need to be back on in minutes if we’re going to make this work.”
Harley tried another one. “Nope.” Then he grinned, and typed again. “Bingo. We’re in.”
“What was it?” Richardson asked.
“His dog’s name,” Harley said. “Holy shit, look at this text message thread.”
Richardson got close and they read it together.
Sorry, we have to cut our losses, Harry. Kill the infidels, then leave the area in one of their boats. Develop a story. We need to preserve access for our contracting agency.
Harley got a wicked grin on his face. “Shall I?”
“Go for it,” Richardson said.
Harley typed a message. Done. Infidels wasted. Where would you like us to go?
Richardson chuckled. “Wonder if they’re going to buy this?”
“Here comes the reply now,” Harley said, watching the “typing” graphic in the thread.
Come to our base. The barge floating off Playa Bagdad.
“I’ve got an idea,” Juan Carlos said.
“Shoot,” Richardson said.
“We finish the yacht, then tow it behind a patrol boat. Toss the bodies in the yacht so the enemy sees them coming. When we get there, we sink the barge with the patrol boat and the mini gun.”
“I like how this kid thinks,” Harley said.
“Send a message. Tell them there’s some clean up to do first. We’ll get underway after dark.”
Harley gave a thumbs up and then typed on the phone. Roger that. We’ll clean up the area. They’ve just mounted a mini gun on one of the yachts. We’ll tow it over. Figure you might want it.
“Perfect,” Richardson said. “Juan Carlos and Brendan, go finish setting up that mini gun. Girls, come over here. You can help us with something.”
“Coming,” Lita said. They got off the patrol boat and trotted over to Richardson and Harley.
“What do you need?” Hannah asked.
“There’s several more of those carts over by the gas dock,” Richardson said. “Like the one that I used to move the ammo belts to the yacht. Let’s load a body on each of them, and move them around on the dock.”
Lita chuckled. “I get it. We’re giving life to the dead.”
“Yep,” Richardson said.
“This cracks me up,” Harley said.
They walked over to the gas dock, got the carts, and pulled the first three over to the bodies by the second bar. Harley and Richardson loaded them.
“Okay, these guys need to move some – like they’re loading things on the boats. Don’t get crazy, though. Have them resting next to each other, then moving. Vary it. You get the idea.”
“We got it, honey,” Lita said. “What are you gonna do?”
“I want to run my plan by Wallis before we do it.” He turned to Harley. “We got any offices that those guys didn’t bug?”
Harley chuckled. “Yeah, there’s one in the third bar, down towards the opening of the marina. We can go there.”
“Good, let’s go do a conference call.”
They walked on the dock, past the first two bars, going up the steps into the third one. Harley led the way to the paneled office with a big window overlooking the marina.
“Nice digs,” Richardson said.
“Yeah, we were hoping that this would become the officer’s club.” He snickered.
Richardson laughed, then pulled out his phone and hit a contact. He put it on speaker.
“Richardson?” Wallis asked. “Something wrong?”
Richardson told Wallis the plan.
Wallis was silent for a moment.
“You think this is too risky?” Richardson asked.
“Yes,” he said. “What if you get to this barge and they’ve got several boats protecting it?”
“Shit,” Richardson said. “This is why I called you.”
“Let me bring Gallagher on. We need more brain power.”
“Okay,” Richardson said.
The line went silent for a moment.
“Okay, we’re back,” Wallis said.
“Hi, guys,” Gallagher said.
“We had an idea while we were walking back,” Wallis said. “This spot that you mentioned, Playa Bagdad, is in the territorial waters of Mexico.”
“Why is that important?” Harley asked.
“Because we’re allowed to use the AC-130s there,” Gallagher said.
“Oh,” Richardson said, smiling. “So we’re getting air support, just in case.”
“No, we don’t want you going at all,” Wallis said. “Too risky. We know where the enemy is. We’ll just send the AC-130s over there to do the job themselves. Meanwhile, keep doing what you’re doing. Move the bodies around to simulate life. Then they won’t send anything at you. I’d have that mini gun up and running, though, and don�
��t be too far away from the patrol boats, either. They might know what we’re up to.”
“Keep track on the apps,” Gallagher said. “Watch for enemy approaching.”
“Okay, you got it,” Richardson said. “When are you going to hit them?”
“Right after we hit the roads north of El Paso,” Wallis said. “That will happen in about five minutes.”
“Excellent. Thanks.”
“Talk to you later,” Wallis said. “Keep your eyes open.”
“Will do,” Richardson said. The call ended.
“Good, that made me nervous,” Harley said. “You know those guys had a couple submarines.”
“We destroyed those,” Richardson said.
“You absolutely 100% sure those were all they had?”
Richardson shot him a sheepish grin. “No. Good thinking. Let’s go tell the others what’s going on.”
He nodded, and they went back down to the dock.
“Geez, look at that yacht,” Harley said. “Looks like one mean son of a gun with that mini gun on the back.”
“Yep,” Richardson said. “Hey, girls, come here a sec. Bring your friends in the carts.”
Lita nodded, and came over, Madison and Hannah following. “What’s up?”
“We aren’t taking the boat over to the enemy barge after all,” Richardson said. “Just talked to Wallis. He said to hang out here and keep an eye out for enemy boats coming at us. Oh, and he wants us to continue to pretend that our friends there are still alive, so keep up with that for now.”
“Who’s going to hit them?” Madison asked.
“Several AC-130 gunships,” Richardson said.
“Well, I’m glad,” Hannah said. “I didn’t trust that situation. They might have smaller boats protecting the barge.”
“Exactly,” Richardson said. “We could get attacked here, though, so stay armed at all times, okay?”
“Yep,” Lita said. The others nodded.
“We’re gonna go chat with Brendan and Juan Carlos. See you in a few minutes.”
“We haven’t been by the boat for a while,” Hannah said. “Let’s drag them over for a little pow-wow.”
Chapter 31 - Testing
Jason followed the other coaches off I-25, driving through the darkness on Cemetery Road. The only lights nearby were at the Denny’s, but it looked too far away to see the convoy. The vehicles rolled across the freeway, heading west, lining up off the road on a huge, flat clearing.
