“Otaku is Japanese slang for a super nerd, and you can guess what a carpet muncher is,” Gerald said, shaking his head.
“Nelson,” Michelle said, keying the radio.
“Damn it, Nancy, you can’t screw his nut to a metal chair using a wood screw!” Nelson’s voice bellowed over the radio then went silent.
Bernard sat back in his chair. “On second thought, I’m just going to wait on them.”
“Why is Nancy trying to screw nuts to a metal chair?” Olivia asked in a hoarse, weak voice.
Michelle yanked her head up. “Uh, I don’t know, baby. Maybe she can’t crack them,” Michelle said, keying the radio. “Nelson, I’m turning the radio off. You and Nancy need to come and eat.” Turning the radio off, Michelle put it back on the counter.
“The kids need to learn to share their toys,” Nellie chuckled.
Matt shifted in his chair, making uncomfortable faces. “Man, the jewels,” he moaned.
Everyone started eating and talking about what was said over the radio. It was dark when the front door banged open. “I can’t believe you carried me out of the barn over your shoulder!” Nancy screeched.
“I can’t believe you drove a five-inch wood screw through Jakowski’s nut and through a metal chair using a blow torch to make him stay still!” Nelson bellowed as they walked in the kitchen.
Nellie jumped out of her chair. “That’s enough, you two, or I’m going to get a belt,” she snapped.
“He already spanked me. Twice!” Nancy yelled, pointing at Nelson.
Nellie put her hand on her hips. “I promise mine hurt much worse.” Nancy cast her eyes on the floor and walked around the table, dropping down in her chair.
Walking over, Nelson sat down beside Michelle, who was laughing silently. “I don’t think it’s that funny. She was almost worse than you were,” Nelson said, fixing a plate.
“So what did you find out?” Michelle snorted, trying not to laugh.
“The government has active extermination sites set up. They have emptied the prisons and told the prisoners to stay out of the cities, but they could have free reign in the country as long as they don’t attack any government sites,” Nelson said, grabbing a glass of tea. “I would really like to talk about this without little ears around.”
Nellie got up. “Kids, let’s go to the den so I can put on a movie for you.” Gavin sighed and got up, leaving with the others.
Hearing what Nelson said, Michelle’s mouth was hanging open. “How could they?” Michelle gasped.
Swallowing a mouthful, Nelson nodded. “Yeah, I knew if those at the top made a play, it would be bad, but I never would’ve dreamed they would move this fast.”
Leaning back in his chair, Gerald said, “Why do you think government departments ordered ammunition by the billions? Excluding the Army, Homeland alone has more ammo stockpiled than all the other branches combined, but even they have more ammo than the Army does. They have more drones than all the services and the CIA. Before this, Homeland and the State Department had a standing army of two hundred thousand military contractors. That is two corps or ten divisions in military terms.”
Shaking his head Matt looked at Gerald, “Counting the reserves, the U.S. military is around two million.”
“True,” Gerald said, leaning over the table. “But what you don’t realize is in military terms, a division is ten thousand, but only a third of that is an actual fighting force. It takes three people in the rear to keep one soldier on the front. Homeland and the State Department just buy and throw money to supply their troops. All two hundred thousand of their army is fighters. They use their own organizations to supply, feed, transport, and provide care. They had as many warfighters as the military before this.”
Nelson set his glass down. “Yeah and now, they have almost three hundred thousand more, and over three quarters are from foreign militaries. Ivan was SPETSNAZ, more appropriately Alpha Group, Russian Special Forces. Jakowski was Wojska Specjaine or WS, Polish Special Forces. They admitted to meeting thousands from foreign countries’ Special Forces or advanced combat troops. I mean, I heard everything from Jægerkorpset, or The Hunter Group, Denmark’s Special Forces, and from the last, I heard in forty years, they have only trained less than four hundred people. France’s Foreign Legion, South African special forces known as Recces, Einsatzkommando Cobra or EKO-Cobra, Austrian special forces, hell, they even talked about Kenyan special forces, I didn’t even know they had an army,” Nelson said, leaning back. “The only one they haven’t heard of in this contractor army was Sayeret Matkal or any of the other Israeli Special Forces.”
“Shit,” Bernard mumbled. “How could we let that happen?”
“Easy,” Gerald chuckled. “They didn’t tell us, and when we found out, someone in Hollywood suddenly had a scandal to take up the headlines.”
Michelle shook her head. “Okay, that sucks, but how does that change our position?”
“Quite a lot actually,” Nelson said. “We have to make sure they can’t get close to us. These boys specialize in close combat. I can’t believe I got past a member of Alpha Group in hand-to-hand.”
Gerald laughed as he slapped the table. “Nelson, you had everyone so off guard trying to use the Force you could’ve taken out a full team of any group. You aren’t slow by any stretch of the imagination.”
“Don’t try to use the Force again,” Michelle growled. “If you do, I’ll shoot you in the knees.”
Nelson held up his hands. “Point taken,” he said. “We need to get ready and haul ass to this safe house.”
“You’re still going?” Michelle asked. “How do you know others aren’t already there?”
“No one but Palmer can unlock the house. It has a palm scanner, numeric punch pad, and a digital card lock. Team members can get in the supply area. It looks like a large shop with roll up doors beside the house, but when they try, Ivan has to approve them before the doors open. He’s the team leader for this area,” Nelson said, grinning.
“So you have to take Palmer to get in?” Michelle asked.
“No,” Nelson said, reaching in his tactical vest. He pulled out a zip lock bag and held it up. “I took his right hand. I have the code and his card.”
Staring at the severed hand in the bag, Michelle asked, “You’re keeping it next to you?”
“Well yeah,” Nelson scoffed, stuffing the gruesome prize under his vest. “The scanner won’t work if the hand is less than eighty degrees.”
“I will need at least three hours when we get there,” Nancy said, pushing her plate back. “Those that go need to keep your face covered at all times, and don’t take your gloves off. I assure you, they have your prints. Don’t use names either. These houses are recorded and memory dumped every hour. No one is watching them, but if something happens, they like to pull up video. Nelson and I are going to say things, but don’t act alarmed or ask questions. Just let us do it and get what we need.”
“Says the super spook,” Nelson mumbled.
Nancy narrowed her eyes at him. “You used the damn torch, so that meant I got a turn.”
Tapping his vest, Nelson said, “Hello, I chopped a guy’s hand off. He was bleeding everywhere.”
“It was my turn,” Nancy growled.
Leaning back and crossing his arms over his chest, he asked, “You know that’s not what the song ‘Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire’ means. It’s not even close to Christmas, so why did you have to sing it while torching Jakowski’s nuts?” Nelson asked.
“Seemed like the thing to do,” Nancy said, crossing her arms.
“Nelson, enough,” Michelle grinned.
“Oh yeah, you take her side. You’re still mad at me,” Nelson snapped, waving a hand at Nancy. “I can’t keep the tempo going when someone brings in bolt cutters and a cheese grater when I take a break.”
Michelle shook her head. “You said I could ask them questions. I wanted Alice back before they hurt her.”
“You almost took th
at guy’s arm off with a fucking cheese grater!”
Jumping up, Michelle squared off with Nelson and shouted, “He wouldn’t be fucking still!”
Matt leaned over the table, looking at Gerald, who was trying not to laugh. “Gerald, I nominate them to question anyone we get.”
“That’s enough,” Nellie said, walking back in. “The kids can hear that.”
Wiping his eyes, Bernard asked, “So when do you want to leave?”
“In an hour,” Nelson said. “So you know Adam and Alex?”
The smile fell off Bernard’s face as he nodded. “Yes,” Nellie said, sitting down. “The guns Bernard didn’t buy from you, he bought from Tim, their father. Tim and Carla adopted the boys when they were infants. They will be eleven next month.”
Nelson nodded and looked at Bernard. “Just to let you know, Jakowski is the one that killed them. Not before he raped Carla with Tim tied up beside her.”
Bernard jumped up so fast his chair hit the floor. He spun around and stomped out of the house. “Bernard!” Nellie shouted, running after him.
“Don’t stop me, woman! I need to check the wood chipper!”
“Stop you? I’m helping, you ass!”
Nelson stood up. “Ashley, will you keep an eye on the little ones till they finish with the wood chipper?”
“Sure, but I just want to say I’m getting tired of being left behind,” she said, crossing her arms.
“It can’t be helped this time. We need people who’ve been under fire, and Nancy is going to do evil shit to a computer,” Nelson said.
Ashley let out a sigh. “I know.”
“Think Olivia will be okay?” Nelson asked, looking at Michelle.
“She’ll be fine; she just needs rest.”
“We leave in one hour. Michelle and I will be in the Suburban from Hell with Matt, and Gerald and Nancy will take his Bronco,” Nelson said, getting up.
“I’m taking my trailer,” Gerald said, getting up, and Michelle cut her eyes at him. “Hey, don’t start. You’ve nagged me enough for one day, and I don’t get fringe benefits.”
Startled, Michelle jumped back. “What?”
“You heard me; nag Nelson,” Gerald said, heading for the door. “You can start on me again tomorrow, but you can only nag me so much in one day without benefits.”
As Gerald walked out the door, Michelle, in shock, turned to Nelson. “What the hell was that about?”
“Don’t know,” Nelson shrugged. “Let’s get ready,” he said, moving to the back door.
After getting more ammo and checking gear, the group met in front of the house. Nancy was the last to show and carried a large gym bag. She opened the passenger door of the Bronco and tossed it in. “I’m ready,” she said, taking her AR off her shoulder as she climbed in.
A scream split the night as they loaded up. Nelson was driving with Matt beside him and Michelle in the back with the mini gun. She had refused to let Nelson ride as the gunner. Nelson followed Gerald to the barn to get his trailer.
Nelson was shocked when Gerald backed up to his covered trailer. Matt jumped out and waved Gerald back as Nelson got out, and another scream split the air. “Why I like duct tape,” Nelson mumbled as Matt told Gerald to stop. Gerald got out of the Bronco, and as he helped Matt hook the trailer up, Nelson said, “Gerald, you can haul more stuff on your open trailer.”
“I know,” Gerald said, hooking up the lights. “They’re both twenty feet, but nobody can tell what I’m hauling in this one unless they look inside.”
“Your Bronco can haul that thing loaded down? The trailer you came out with wasn’t that long, and it looked like your Bronco was getting yanked everywhere. Fully loaded, I’m betting this thing will weigh close to eight thousand pounds. That’s almost twice what you weigh.”
“Never thought about that,” Gerald said, taking the wheel chocks out. “It handled full loads of pallet and crated ammo. I could only manage sixty but did just fine.”
Nelson just shook his head. “You have more ammo than I do, don’t you?”
Gerald grinned. “I can double you easy.” Turning away, Gerald opened the door of his Bronco as another scream split the night. “Now you have me beat with guns, but you cheated ripping off your store.”
“I didn’t cheat,” Nelson said, stomping.
Gerald laughed. “Hey, if I would’ve been you, I would’ve found a semi somewhere and probably got caught. You took what you figured you could get away with. I’m greedy, and you’re not.”
“Like hell,” Nelson mumbled. “I should’ve found a semi. I never thought about that.”
“We are driving blacked out, right?” Gerald asked, holding up his night vision goggles.
Nelson’s head snapped up. “Hell yes. I’m not telling everyone where I’m at,” he said, spinning around. “I could’ve gotten a semi, shit!”
As they climbed in, Nelson heard the big engine on Bernard’s wood chipper crank up. “Chicken feed time,” Nelson said, jumping in the Suburban.
Michelle looked at Nelson in the rearview mirror as he started the engine. “Nelson, we couldn’t have gotten a semi here, so let it go.”
“Shit, you don’t know that! You know how much shit we could’ve gotten?” Nelson snapped, pulling out on the dirt road. He pulled out his goggles and put them on. “I could’ve gotten a semi!” he shouted, hitting the steering wheel.
“I’m punching Gerald when we stop,” Michelle groaned.
Chapter Six
It was slow going on the back roads as they drove well south of Eminence, and they had to go almost ten miles past Eminence to get a back road that went north. This road led into Highway 106, and they headed west toward Eminence. The safe house was the last house on a dead end road.
When Nelson pulled on the highway, he stomped the gas, speeding the five miles to the dirt road the safe house was on. Turning on it, he noticed the one other house on this road was dark. “Feels weird not seeing people,” he mumbled.
“If we don’t see anyone, that will be fine with me,” Matt said, gripping his AR and looking out his window.
“Baby, you’re leaving the hand here; it’s starting to smell,” Michelle said from the back.
Glancing over his shoulder, he sassed, “Well I wasn’t planning on keeping it.”
“Just making sure.”
When he neared the end of the road, Nelson saw the mailbox and pointed. “No one is here. The flag is down. Cover your face from here on out,” he said, stopping beside the mailbox. Rolling down his window, Nelson reached out and raised the flag.
“You are telling them we are here?” Matt gasped.
Rolling his window up, Nelson said, “Well yeah, if they don’t see the safe sign and roll up seeing people, they know they are hostile.” He pulled off the road and onto the driveway. The house was large with a two-car garage and much larger metal shop beside it. “Six, ten-foot, roll-up doors, and I bet those last two are close to eighteen feet,” Nelson said, staring at the dark house and shop.
“Nelson, if that building isn’t ten thousand square feet, I’ll kiss your ass. Bernard’s barn is eight thousand square feet, and I know that’s bigger,” Matt said in awe.
As Nelson stopped in front of the house, Gerald drove over to the shop. As they climbed out, Michelle looked at the house. “Fuck the shop; I want the house,” she said.
“It’s not really wood,” Nelson said, pointing at the house. “The walls are reinforced concrete six inches thick. None of the windows open; they are all eight-inch-thick Lexan.”
Looking up at the house in her goggles, Michelle asked, “They use both floors?”
“And the basement,” Nelson said, pulling out the zip lock bag. Walking on the porch, he moved a brass Welcome sign beside the door, exposing a touch screen. Nelson pulled out the hand and laid it on the screen. Everyone jumped as a light bar ran up and down the screen, almost making their goggles shut off.
Nelson took the severed hand off, and they saw the outline of
the hand light up on the screen. A soft buzzer sounded, and a small, letter-size mailbox popped open with a backlit key pad. Nelson dropped the hand and pulled up an index card, punching in numbers.
When the buzzer sounded again, Nelson ran a card along the door frame, and the door popped open. “Welcome, Agent Palmer. You have two private messages, one message from command, none urgent,” a female computer voice said from inside.
“A talking house,” Nelson said, taking off his goggles. “Take the goggles off because when we walk in, the lights turn on.” He turned to make sure everyone had their goggles off and faces covered with a balaclava.
“No names,” Nancy said, walking past Nelson and pointing at the decorative brass porch light. “There is a camera in there and microphone.” When Nancy walked in, the lights inside came on. Nelson stepped back off the porch, looking at the lit up windows. “Close curtains,” Nancy said, walking further into the house. They watched all the windows slowly get covered by curtains, blocking all the light.
“She acts like she’s been in a house like this,” Matt whispered.
They all went inside to a spacious living room, and Michelle stopped from closing the door. “You can close it,” Nancy said. “All locks are off now and can only be turned on by Palmer. He’s helped us a lot with the latex mold of his hand filled with hot water. With him and the others in the upper levels, we’ll win this yet.”
“Yep,” Nelson said, moving out of the living room. “Ivan loves the money he gets to keep.”
Michelle shook her head. “Great, I’m in a play and don’t know my lines,” she said under her breath.
They walked around the house and soon realized it was made for lots of people. With the exception of the living room and den, the rest of the downstairs looked like offices. They went upstairs, and all the rooms had bunk beds with wall lockers except the master bedroom.
Nelson walked over to a bedside table, grabbing a photo of Palmer with a woman and two kids. “Palmer only wanted us to grab this,” Nelson said. “We should have his family safely tucked away tomorrow.”
Oh shit, Michelle thought, realizing what game Nancy and Nelson were playing.
Forgotten Forbidden America:: Patriots Reborn Page 10
