37 Days In A Strange World

by Dave Hazel

  “PK’s? What’s that?” Roy asked.

  “Peacekeeper. It’s an Air Force vehicle. An armor plated piece of shit,” Kurt replied, revealing his dislike of the Air Force security vehicle. “It’s a great investment if all the enemy is going to do is throw rocks at you.”

  “Well at least we know there’s some military people down there,” Larry said, squinting his eyes trying to make out what Mykal saw. “C’mon, let’s go. They can get us out of here.”

  “There’s something else there that I can’t make out what it is,” Mykal explained, studying the objects with the scope.

  “Here, let me have a look Myk,” Roy Jr. stepped forward. “Hmmmm, a truck? Like a big tractor trailer truck?”

  “Could be. Oh no,” Mykal snapped his fingers. “Do you remember the convoy we were talking to yesterday? Damn, if it’s them they’re just as lost as we are.”

  “That sucks,” Larry said. “Then that helicopter musta been part of their escort. But why would they just sit out there in the middle of nowhere?”

  “If it’s the same people from yesterday, remember he said they were waiting for help?” Denny reminded them.

  “Okay, if that was their helicopter, how did it crash? Did it get shot down like we thought?” Larry asked. “If so, who did it? And if someone shot it down could they have taken over the convoy? How do we even know if they’re good guys or not?”

  “Hold it, hold it,” Denny said and waved his hand to stop Larry from starting a panic. The air of excitement vanished. “It is possible the convoy has been hit and overrun by terrorists, but we gotta go check it out. It’s the only damn thing we’ve come across so far. But to play it safe, let’s keep our vehicles separated as we approach them,” he looked to both Kurt and Roy Jr. “And if they start shooting on us, haul ass outta there. Make sure all weapons are loaded and we’ll just be ready.”

  “What the hell are we doing?” Mykal laughed at the fear that swallowed them up. “Listen to us. If we really don’t trust them, why don’t we try to call them on the radio? We’re a lot closer than we were yesterday. If we make contact with them just use the Sign Countersign to identify the convoy commander.”

  “What’s the Sign Countersign?” Roy Jr. asked.

  “We have a code we have to memorize every month so if we ever need to identify someone, like in this situation, we give them the Sign and they come back with the correct Countersign. If he doesn’t know what we’re talking about or if he’s wrong we’ll know he’s bad or under duress and we’ll stay away.”

  They all gathered around to listen when Denny spoke on the radio. “Go ahead last calling unit,” the voice through the speaker responded loud and clear and with great excitement.

  “This is trip 13, please identify yourself.” Denny said.

  “Trip 13, this is trip 104, please stand by one, while I get the convoy commander.”

  Mykal shook his head. “Man, these are the same lost guys we spoke to yesterday.”

  “This really sucks,” Larry said. “They can’t help us.”

  “There is a bright side to this,” Roy offered. “There is safety in numbers.”

  “Agreed,” Larry replied. “But more mouths to feed too.”

  “Trip 13 this is Zulu One, Convoy Commander, Lieutenant Light. How do you read me?”

  “Loud and crystal clear Sir. What can we do for you?”

  “What can we do for you?” Franklin asked in a mocking tone. “That’s a dumb ass question. We need them to help us.”

  “Shut up idiot,” Larry made a fist and shoved it in Franklin’s face so Denny wouldn’t have to respond to him.

  “We could sure use some help 13,” Light said. By his tone he seemed to be smiling with relief. “We’re lost. What is your present location? You sound much closer than you did yesterday.”

  “We think we have you in sight, Sir.”

  “You can see us?”

  “Turn on some reds Sir.” Denny requested referring to the red police lights that are mounted on the Peacekeepers. “And we’ll let you know if we can see you.”

  “Stand by,” Light paused. “Can you see our reds?”

  “Yes Sir, we can,” Denny replied when he received an approving nod from Roy Jr. who still had the scope to his eye. “But before anything else Sir, I give you 43,” Denny said giving his half of the Sign Countersign. He turned to those circled around him. “I deliberately didn’t give him warning of what I’m doing to see if he knows.”

  “I pass back 77. Do you copy?” Light requested.

  “Yes Sir, that’s a good one,” Denny replied. “We’ll be at your location in a few. Be advised there are eleven of us. Four are civilians in a yellow station wagon.”

  “Roger. We copy and we’ll have the red carpet out for you.”

  Kurt quickly grabbed the radio as he got behind the wheel. “Go ahead and get the coffee warmed up Sir.”

  “Yeah, I wish I had some. I’d surely put it on for you.”

  Nearing the convoy, they saw the payload transporter, the large tractor trailer containing a Minuteman Missile, turned over on its side. Lieutenant Light established a National Defense Area. The NDA consisted of the immobile truck encircled by rope and orange pylon cones. Signs were posted every one hundred feet around the rope cordon warning that entry was prohibited and the use of deadly force was authorized. The Peacekeepers, the four armored vehicles were positioned on each side of the truck.

  Each Peacekeeper carried a four man fire team. The teams consisted of two rifle men armed with an M-16, a grenadier armed with an M-16 with an M-203 grenade launcher attached to the rifle and the fourth person, a machine gunner armed with an M-60 machine gun. The machine guns were attached to the turret atop the armor plated vehicle.

  Another Air Force vehicle, the maintenance van sat parked on the other side of the upturned truck. The four Peacekeepers moved to a defensive position with all four machine guns pointing at the two approaching vehicles. Their number one priority was to protect their resource at all costs.

  “Damn, I hope there ain’t gonna be no trouble,” Kurt said as he slowed down. He pointed to the machineguns trained on them. “They’d rip us apart with those 60s.”

  As they neared the secured area the maintenance van pulled around the roped off area to meet them. Four people exited the van. Lt Light wore a dark blue beret and his camouflage trousers were bloused around his boots whereas the three maintenance personal looked sloppy with straight trouser legs and they wore the older plain olive drab green uniforms. Lt Light carried a GAU, the Air Force version of the XM177, a smaller version of the M-16 rifle. The maintenance personal were armed with a .38 caliber revolver tucked inside a brown leather holster that clashed with their olive drab uniforms.

  Denny’s squad and the Dosch family went to greet Lt Light, but moved with caution. They didn’t want to make any sudden movements with four M-60 machine guns pointing at them. Light looked like a young officer and though overjoyed to finally see other people, he looked tired and taxed with stress.

  Denny rendered the required salute for his team and Lt Light quickly threw his hand to his head, just barely going through the motions. “Sir, I’m Sergeant Felps, and these are…,” he said and introduced everyone.

  “This is Master Sergeant Flemour, the maintenance team chief,” Light introduced the gray haired man at his side.

  “What happened here Sir?” Denny asked while staring at the truck turned on its side. “There wasn’t a fire here, was there?”

  “No, and thank God we didn’t have a fire,” Light replied and rolled his eyes. “That’s all I’d need.”

  “It just tipped over,” Flemour replied.

  “We’re not sure what’s happened. We’ve been stuck here for a day now,” Light answered. “We were en route to Golf Flight area. One minute we’re on pavement. The next we’re here.”

  “Our entire convoy was scattered all over the area,” Flemour added. He stood there with both hands on his hips.

&n
bsp; “We traveled in a straight line,” Light continued. “But we were dispersed all over the landscape,” he pointed in the directions where his men found themselves. “Two of our fire teams were more than two miles away. The strangest part is we can’t locate the road, or any pavement for that matter.”

  “And the very first thing we did was set up our NDA,” Flemour said, obviously covering for the young lieutenant.

  “There’s no need for me to tell you how concerned I am. This thing is not a toy,” Light nodded to the precious truck.

  “Maybe everyone thinks you guys left town with the missile to sell it to the Russians,” Kurt said as a joke.

  Mykal, Larry and Boris started to laugh but tried to make it look like they were laughing about something else. “Leave it to Kurt to say something stupid,” Mykal whispered. Mykal wished Kurt would have kept quiet. Mykal perceived that Light and Flemour had no sense of humor concerning the missile. Mykal knew their careers were on the line.

  Denny explained their situation and how they discovered the crashed helicopter. He left out the gory details because the four-man fire team was under Light’s command. Denny talked with Light and Flemour while the others went around and introduced themselves to some of Light’s men. They all knew some of the convoy security personnel.

  Mykal and Larry returned to join Denny who still answered Light’s questions concerning the helicopter. Light looked stunned eyeing the metal dog tags Denny retrieved from the crash site. The lieutenant seemed to suddenly age before them.

  “Sir, don’t you guys normally have a U.S. Marshall leading the convoy with you?” Larry asked. “I don’t see one around.”

  “Yes, we do have a US Marshall with us.” Lt Light paused and gave a heavy sigh. “That’s another problem I have to deal with on top of everything else,” he added and put the dog tags back in the brown paper bag.

  “But we sent him off to look for help,” Flemour cut in.

  “After we determined we were lost and couldn’t make radio contact with anyone, the Marshall decided to go look for help. We couldn’t leave our resource behind,” Light nodded to the truck. “And there was no way to right the transporter, so I gave him permission to find help. I also allowed him to take two men with him. They went off in that direction,” he pointed toward the east where tire tracks creased the grass.

  “Not much later,” Flemour picked up for Light. “The Marshall called back to say they were driving into some valley or some opening between trees and hills. If you look,” he pointed. “You can barely make out the hills he was referring to. And at the time our radio contact with him started to break up. For a period of time we had no contact.”

  “A short time later they transmitted something to the effect that they found some people and they were going to try to get some help,” Light expressed with excitement. “But that was the last we heard of them. That was yesterday. When they left we made an agreement that they would return by 19 hundred hours yesterday whether they found help or not--”

  “19 hundred hours?” Randy asked his father quietly.

  “Military time for 7:00 PM,” Roy replied softly.

  “--and it’s been almost twenty-four hours since they left,” Light added looking at his watch. “We are still hopeful they will return soon or at least call. My problem is we have to stand guard until we’re relieved of this item,” he nodded toward the truck once again.

  “They saw some people?” Mykal asked, filled with a new sense of hope. “So they’re probably getting help then, right?”

  “That was yesterday,” MSgt Flemour replied wiping sweat from his head. “It’s been almost twenty-four hours since they called saying they saw people. There hasn’t been one attempt to contact us. Now we must assume something is wrong. Mr. Sommer, the US Marshal, knows what a stickler the lieutenant is about punctuality. We’ve worked together several times. I’m sure he would’ve made some attempt to contact us.”

  “I can’t afford to split up my security forces to go looking for them,” Lt Light explained. “Legally, I should never have allowed the two airmen to go with the Marshal. I’m worried that something may have happened. Sir,” Light turned to Roy, “may I ask you and your sons to step away briefly so I can brief them.”

  “Not a problem. I’m a Marine and I understand not having ‘the need to know’,” Roy chuckled and pulled his sons back.

  “Thank you. Listen,” Light spoke firmly to Denny, Mykal and Larry. “What I’m about to share is top secret info. This goes no further,” Light continued when they agreed. “Yesterday was the first time we traveled with the missile and warhead together.”

  Denny gasped. “Both the missile and warhead are together?” He and the others gazed at the truck.

  “An experiment on time and cost savings,” Flemour answered.

  “We can go look for them, Sir,” Mykal suggested raising his eyebrows to Denny. He hoped Denny would see he had good reason. “That’s if Sergeant Felps doesn’t mind.” He raised his eyebrows higher.

  “You don’t know how much that would mean to me. I would feel so much better,” Light said, his expression begged Denny.

  “I don’t mind,” Denny replied but looked like he would explode. “Just give us a little bit Sir, I need to get our vehicle rearranged,” he lied. “Myk and Larry come with me.”

  The three of them walked to the back of the Suburban to act as if they were doing something. “You look a little ticked off boss man,” Larry said.

  “What the hell was that Myk? I don’t wanna leave here.”

  “Denny, if we stay here, he’s gonna put our asses on guard duty,” Mykal defended his motive. “His people are complaining that he won’t let them take breaks. They gotta stay inside them stinking Peacekeepers without running the air conditioner. I don’t wanna sit here guarding that stupid truck. And now that we know the friggin missile has a nuke on it, you know he’s gonna pull rank and make us join them in guard duty.”

  “He’s right Denny,” Larry added. “One of my friends told me their senior security guy is a staff sergeant like you and he’s pulling guard duty non-stop. He said Light is so paranoid about something happening to the missile that he’s only allowing them to take thirty minute naps one at a time. Myk’s right. If we stay here, he’ll force us to help so his guys will get a break.”

  “That’d be much worse than driving,” Denny agreed. “And who knows when help will get here. Whew! Good thinking, Myk.”

  3.

  Lt Light and MSgt Flemour walked them to their vehicle to see them off. “I really appreciate this SSgt Felps,” Light said.

  “No problem Sir. I understand.”

  “Myk, watch how pissed they get,” Larry whispered. “Maybe we should leave Franklin and Nelson with the lieutenant to help pull guard duty,” Larry offered with a smirk.

  “No!” Denny replied before Light could respond. “I’m not splitting up my squad.” Denny glared at Larry as if he wanted to punch him in the head.

  “I was just kidding,” Larry laughed with Mykal at the pouts and whining of Franklin and Nelson.

  Light seemed oblivious to Larry’s comment. “When you find them, Adam Sommer, the Marshal weighs over three hundred pounds and has the biggest handle bar mustache I’ve ever seen.”

  “And what’s the name of the two airmen with him?” Denny asked while writing on a piece of paper.

  “The security troop is A1C Taylor and the maintenance troop is A1C Coon. As I explained earlier, the last message received had to do with them making contact with people. Don’t be surprised if we lose radio contact when you get in that general area,” he pointed toward the distant hills.

  “What we’ll do Sir, is we’ll check in every ten minutes and give you a status report,” Denny suggested.

  “Hey Denny,” Roy interrupted as he came up from behind. “Would you mind if me and my boys come along with you?”

  “Not at all. We’d love to have the company.”

  “Good, I’ll go get my sons and com
e right back.”

  “Kurt, just follow those tire tracks to those hills over there,” Denny explained as they started to load up. “Franklin, I want you in the middle up front. You’re the radio man, you’re gonna call in every ten minutes and give a status report.”

  “Aw man, why do I have to do it?” He whined like a child.

  “Shut the hell up,” Larry barked before Denny could reply. “And get your pimply ass in the middle. This ain’t Romper Room. Do what you’re friggin told.” Larry barked again. “And you, get this friggin piece of shit moving,” he screeched into Kurt’s ear.

  “Hey Sarge, that was my damn ear drum you just broke,” Kurt complained while using his pinky to stop the ringing.

  “Well get this piece of junk moving or I’m gonna break your ugly mug too,” he responded with a playful anger. “I’m real sick and tired of sitting around and I wanna go.”

  “What a nice guy,” Kurt mumbled as he drove off with his pinky still in his ear, “One hell of a nice guy.”

  “He’s the kind of guy you’d like your sister to meet,” Mykal commented while looking to see if the Dosch station wagon followed behind them.

  “His sister?” Boris laughed playfully. “I’ve seen pictures of Kurt’s sister. She looks exactly like him but she’s got boobs and a little more of a mustache.”

  “Hey tubby, you said you wanted to meet her. And yes she does look just like me so that makes her a fine looking gal. She’s a sweet little hammer. One hot little ticket.”

  “She’s a hot ticket in the gay bars,” Larry laughed.

  “Enough, enough,” Denny cut them off or they would go on for hours. “You guys are giving me a headache.”

  “Denny, I’m glad we got out of there, cuz we woulda ended up pulling guard duty non-stop with his people,” Mykal said.

  “Yeah I talked to a couple of friends of mine--” Franklin started but Larry cut him off.

  “You ain’t got no friends, don’t lie to us.”

  “He’s got friends Larry,” Kurt said and lifted his hands. “He’s got his right hand and his left hand. The right hand is his girlfriend and the left is his boyfriend.”