“It’s not that easy because we also have four other suspects but GA is the primary one. We can’t go around arresting people who haven’t committed a crime. The citizens of Tocabaga wouldn’t like that. It would create a lot of tension between us.”
“Yes I agree. That’s a good point. We don’t want any hard feelings with our friends on Tocabaga.”
“If nothing else, Captain, let us get to work and find out who’s the spy. I don’t know if we can find out who it is before we do the recon tonight but we’ll try our best.”
Looking at my watch it was 0900 hours and I already had a headache from the meeting and needed a drink. Ron took up his post near the dock where GA would come back after fishing. After GA leaves his boat Ron would search it for a CB radio.
Tommy and Jim Bo hurried down to search his house and car. GA could be coming back at any time depending on how good the fishing was. I went home to replay the message a few more times in hopes I would hear something that I missed. I wanted to write the code down to see if I could break it.
It was 1300 hours when Tommy, Jim Bo, and Ron came to my house.
“Well did you find anything?” I asked.
“Negative. No radio,” replied Tommy.
“I checked his boat which has a standard marine radio but no CB radio,” Ron replied.
I told them, “I listened to the message at least twenty times but I still don’t know who it is.”
Just then little Johnny, my ten year-old adopted grandson, ran into the room and asked, “Hey what are you guys doing?” I handed him the piece of paper with the code written on it and played the message for him to hear.
I told him, “That’s a code and we are trying to find out what it means.”
Johnny said, “My Dad did codes when he worked for the government. Sometimes I would help him write the codes. I know a lot about them. I think this is an alphabet number code or similar to a ROT 1 code. There’re many types of codes; Morse, number, and transposition codes.”
Johnny rescued Captain Sessions from al-Qaida and saved his little brother Jimmy from being killed. His full name is Johnny Evans. I never asked Johnny what his father did for a living. I never discussed it with him because his Mom and Dad were murdered by al-Qaida. I didn’t want to bring up the past since Johnny and his brother had seen a lot of terrible things that little kids should never see. It seems that his Father was in the Military or did some kind of spy work for the DOD or DIA (Defense Intelligence Agency).
We all just sat there in amazement that little ten year old Johnny knew so much about codes. I knew he was smart but not this smart. I asked him, “Johnny can you tell us what it says?”
“Sure, Grandpa, give me some time. I’ll be right back.”
Johnny got up, leaving the room with the paper that had the code written on it and went to his bedroom. We ate lunch and had just finished when he came back declaring, “I think I got it. I am sure it’s a number alphabet code. This was easy to break. You assign a number to each letter in the alphabet. In this case they just numbered it backwards. I think number 26 is letter A and number 25 is letter B and so forth. Spaces between words are a zero.”
Johnny handed us the paper. Our mouths dropped as I read it out loud, “FPF TRUCKS LEFT TOC AT EIGHT PM GOING TO SOCOM BIG TUNA”
I replied, “Johnny, good job. You solved a big problem and for helping us I am going to teach you how to shoot. I know you want to learn so in a few days we’ll go shooting.”
“Great, Grandpa. That sounds awesome.”
Johnny ran out of the room yelling, “Mom … Dad and Grandpa are going to teach me how to shoot a gun!”
Just then my granddaughters, Kendra and Shanda, came in the room and they both said, “We want to learn how to shoot, Grandpa.”
“Ok girls I’ll think about it.”
Tommy told me, “Now you did it. Everyone wants to learn how to shoot. They’re too young.”
I reminded Tommy, “You were 10 years old when I took you shooting for the first time.” Tommy didn’t say a word after I refreshed his memory.
“Ok we have to find out who’s BIG TUNA. Let’s go around and ask people we can trust if they ever heard of anyone called BIG TUNA.”
I called Captain Sessions and told him that little Johnny broke the coded message and Sessions said, “That kid is very special. He’s Army Ranger material.” I read Sessions the message and advised him we don’t know who the BIG TUNA is.
Then Kendra said, “We know where a Big Tuna is.”
Shanda spoke up, “Yep we know a Big Tuna.”
I asked, “Ok, who do you think is Big Tuna?”
Kendra replied, “It’s not a person silly. It’s a boat.”
Shanda butted in, “Yep it’s a big white fishing boat.” That blew my mind; the kids knew more than I did. Leave it to the kids to figure things out.
“Ok, tell me where the boat is.” They both giggled.
“It’s at the High and Dry lot near the bridge. We saw it one day while walking with Mom,” Kendra said.
“It’s not in the water. It’s an old boat sitting way in the back. It has the name Big Tuna on it,” Shanda told me.
Kendra is my Son’s daughter and she is 10 years old. Kendra is very active climbing trees and running all over the place. She’s a real tomboy. Shanda is my adopted granddaughter. Actually my daughter Amy adopted her after her Mother was murdered by gang members. Shanda will never know this but her father was a bully and gang member that I killed in a gun fight. Shanda and Kendra play together all the time since they’re the same age.
I told my spy hunters, “Let’s go see the Big Tuna.”
The girls asked, “Can we go too?”
“No I want you both to stay here because we don’t know who owns that boat and there could be trouble. Thank you for your help girls, we’ll be back soon.”
We all jumped up and made a dash into the garage to obtain our guns from my Liberty safe. I have three big Liberty safes that I purchased years ago. One safe is for guns and two are used for ammunition. We always store our guns in the safe to keep them away from the kids. The kids have been schooled never to touch any gun otherwise they’d be in big trouble. I put the fear of God in them.
The four of us picked up our M4 carbines given to us by the Rangers and holstered our Glock 9 mm handguns. We put on our bullet proof vests and got into Jim’s pickup truck. It’s a short three minute drive to the High and Dry lot located near the main Tocabaga Bridge. As we pulled in the lot we could see the boat back in the corner near a fence.
A High and Dry is a storage building for boats so boats can be stored inside out of the weather. There is also a large lot where boats can be stored outside. This one has about ten boats stored outside and twenty inside.
We were a good 50 yards away and I told Jim, “Stop here. Let’s sit here a minute to see if anyone is on the boat.” We waited five minutes and didn’t see anyone so we proceeded to the boat.
Pulling up next to it the first thing I saw was a radio antenna. We dismounted and I advised my crew, “You guys stay here and keep a look out. I’m going on the boat to see if there’s a CB radio.”
It was an old fishing boat about 35 feet long. I climbed over the transom and looked around in the cockpit. There was no radio so I decided to go into the cabin. The cabin door was locked so I kicked it open. Old clothes and papers were scattered all over the cabin. Searching through the junk I found a CB radio, covered with a cloth, sitting on a shelf next to the sink. Yes, it was a CB radio all right. I turned it on … it worked and it was tuned to channel 19. I took a bandana out of my pocket, unplugged the radio, and carefully wrapped it up to preserve any fingerprints.
Leaving the cabin I told my men, “I found a CB radio and it was hooked up. Tommy, take this and put it in the truck. Be careful not to touch it because I want Sessions to check it for fingerprints.” I handed the radio down to him over the transom where the words BIG TUNA were painted.
Ron asked me, “Who
owns this boat anyway?”
“I have no idea who owns it but the main point is who owns this CB radio. Let’s get out of here before someone sees us.”
Just as we were leaving GA and his men were driving right towards us in his old white pickup truck. They had spotted us so we all racked our guns and I told my group, “Take it easy and act friendly. Don’t let on that we think they’re spies.”
GA pulled up next to us and asked, “Hey. Y’all lost over here? What are you doing here?” His friends were glaring at us. I could sense they had their handguns at the ready.
I replied, “Hi GA how you doing? We’re just looking around checking things out. How about you guys, what y’all doing?”
“Not much, just out here trying to fix a boat motor.”
“Ok we gotta go, see ya later.” As we pulled out of the lot GA sat there watching us. He had no clue that we knew he was a spy.
I told Jim Bo, “Park by the bridge and we’ll watch them. Pretend to be doing something, maybe check your oil. I’m calling Sessions to send over backup.”
Ron, Tommy, and I walked up the bridge while glancing around to see what GA was doing. GA drove towards the boat. He got out of the truck and climbed into the boat. I told my family to get ready for trouble.
I called Sessions telling him we found the CB radio and Big Tuna. We knew the spy was GA along with his three buddies because they just climbed into the BIG TUNA. I asked him to send a couple of Rangers to help arrest them. Sessions advised me Willis and Hammer will be there ASAP.
I had just hung up and looked up to see what GA was doing but it was too late. GA and his men were speeding towards us in his truck. He slammed on the brakes skidding to a stop next to Jim Bo as Tommy, Ron, and I ran down from the bridge to meet them with our guns at the ready.
GA and his men jumped out of their truck. GA yelled in Jim Bo’s face, “Did you guys take my radio? If so hand it over now!” The fool just admitted it’s his CB radio. That admission and the boat named BIG TUNA was proof enough they were the spies.
Approaching them I replied, “What radio you talking about?” I had my M4 pointed towards him but the barrel pointed down, aiming more at the ground, in a low ready position. His men had their hands on their pistols as if getting ready to draw.
“I had a CB radio on the boat and now it’s gone.”
I flicked off the safety putting my finger on the M4 trigger and was ready to rock and roll.
“Jack, I’m warning you don’t point that gun at me!” Ron and Tommy were flanking his men and had their M4s in the low ready position.
“I’m not pointing my gun directly at you.”
“I’m not going to tell you again sling your M4 or there is going to be trouble!” I watched GA put his hand on the grip of his Colt 45 Commander. If he started to draw I would kill him on the spot.
Looking out of the corner of my eye, I saw that Ron and Tommy were covering the other three men in low ready position. Jim Bo was standing there but his carbine was in the truck and his Glock was in its holster.
We were standing about 15 feet apart and I had enough of the bull shit. I told GA, “Ok cut the crap. We know you’re a spy and we have your radio to prove it! Raise your hands! You’re all under arrest!” Now my M4 was pointed directly at him.
“What are you going to do Jack shoot us in cold blood?” Guy still had his hand on his gun.
“Raise your hands GA. Don’t make me shoot you.” GA started to draw his gun and so did his men.
At fifteen feet away I opened fire with 3 quick shots … Bam … Bam … Bam. Ron and Tommy fired at all most the same time. I saw all four spies fall to the ground. Never, ever try to beat a rifle to the draw especially when the barrel is pointed directly at you. Guy’s gun cleared the holster and as he was going down he managed to fire one shot.
Three bullets hit him in the chest knocking him down, but he was still alive. I walked up to him and took the gun out of his hand. He uttered, “This isn’t over … Jack,” as blood flowed out of his mouth he went limp with his last breath.
Those were the last words out of his big mouth. One more dead Commie didn’t bother me. Tommy and Ron had shot his three buddies peppering them full of holes. Tommy called out, “Zack and Barry are still alive, but Drew is dead.”
I walked over to Zack and kicked his gun away. He only had one bullet wound in his left upper torso below the collar bone. He was very lucky to be alive. I bent down and asked him, “Who else is a spy?”
“Fuck you asshole,” he replied.
I didn’t like that smart answer so I took the end of my rifle barrel and shoved it into the bullet hole in his shoulder, blood squirted out, which caused him to scream out in pain. I asked him again while keeping pressure on his wound, “Who else is a spy?”
“Eat shit and die Jack.”
“No Zack you eat shit and die.” I accidently pulled the trigger; at least I thought it was an accident. I think he flinched and made me pull the trigger. The poor fool died on the spot.
Tommy was pointing his gun at Barry. I saw Barry was bleeding a lot. He had three critical bullet wounds, one in the leg, and two in the gut. Barry winced in pain and blurted out, “I’ll tell you who’s a spy. Just don’t let me die. Please … don’t kill me.”
“Ok Barry who else is a spy?”
Barry softly breathed out, “Jo …,” as he coughed up blood. That was the end for Barry. Damn it I didn’t get a full name out of him. It sounded like he said Joe, John, or Johnny but I wasn’t sure what he said.
I told Tommy, “Dispose of the bodies.”
Tommy asked me, “Do you think Barry was saying Johnny?”
“I don’t know for sure but it does mean we have more spies. We killed the main trouble-makers so maybe the rest of them will fall in line now that the leaders are fish food.”
I turned around and saw Jim Bo was down so I ran over to him. He was holding his arm in pain and he commented, “I’m hit.”
I could see the blood so I pulled out my Black Bear knife and cut his sleeve open. A 45 caliber bullet makes a nasty big ass hole in your body. He was bleeding but he was lucky as it appeared the bullet didn’t hit anything major. It was an ugly looking flesh wound to his shoulder. Ron came over and tied a cloth around the wound putting pressure on it to help stop the bleeding.
Willis and Hammer finally arrived and saw the four dead bodies. Willis commented, “I guess we’re a little too late. Did you have to kill them, Jack?”
“They drew down on us. You gotta be a stupid fool to draw down on someone with a carbine aimed at you. I’ll write a report to Sessions telling him what happened. Right now I have to take Jim Bo to the clinic and I need some rest before our recon tonight.”
Our security guards walked down from the bridge and asked what was going on? Tommy filled them in on details that Guy and his friends where spies for the FPF. Everyone was surprised to hear we had spies on Tocabaga. They pitched in and helped Tommy drag the bodies over to the seawall. After throwing them into the dark blue water it didn’t take long for the sharks to start feeding. We don’t give funerals to traitors and scum bags.
I drove Jim Bo to the Clinic where Doc. Scott patched him up. He lost a piece of meat about the size of a silver dollar off his shoulder but otherwise he’ll be fine in a few weeks. Doc gave Jim some antibiotics and pain killers for later. We went to the bar next door and had a couple shots of Jim Beam. After that we headed home for some much needed rest and food.
Tommy woke me up at 2200 hours for the recon patrol. I could barely move my old bones out of bed. I told my wife earlier I was going on a sneak and peek along with Tommy looking for the Rangers who were MIA. Needless to say she wasn’t happy about it.
I needed a smoke and a strong cup of java to wake up. I was taking my first sip of coffee when Sessions phoned me and advised, “The Black Hawk recon flight showed nothing unusual at the Dome or Dali areas. Good luck tonight.”
“Thanks Captain, I just hope we find your missing me
n.”
Tommy and I checked our gear making sure everything was secure and nothing would rattle or make noise while we were stalking around. We waited outside for Willis and Hammer while having a smoke. They pulled up and without saying a word to each other we rolled out of Tocabaga exactly at 2330 hours.
GA and his dirt balls were trying to cause an insurrection or rebellion. They were working with the FPF who wanted to take over Tocabaga. I wondered who else on Tocabaga is a spy. I’ll really have to watch my back from now on because this thing is far from over.
JUNE 28, 2025
We drove to the insertion point in two Humvees. It was midnight when we dismounted from the trucks and watched them drive away as we hid on the side of the road in high weeds. There was a half moon shining which seemed to light up the dark night. We scanned the area for people or vehicles and found it was all clear.
Years ago, before the collapse, Route 275 was a busy highway. Now in the day time a car or two will roll down 275 carrying desperate people. People are trying to escape the madness and dangers of the city. If you are lucky enough to have a car it won’t get you far because there’s a gas shortage. At night there is no traffic because everyone is afraid of gang attacks. Make no mistake, if you run into a gang they’ll kill you and your family, stealing everything from your dead bodies for the fun of it.
We took a minute to put on our tactical radio headsets and test them out. Using these we could whisper to each other and no one else could hear us unless they were standing right next to you.
The team moved single file down the 22nd Ave. entrance ramp with Tommy in the lead followed by Willis, then Hammer, and I was last in line. We moved along stealth like, slightly bent over, keeping low next to the guard rail to provide cover. Lucky for us the street lights weren’t working due to power shortages. We stopped and scanned the area for a few minutes before proceeding down into the danger zone, which was 22nd Avenue.
Our team headed east along 22nd Ave. for about six blocks until we reached 16th Street south. Then we turned north on 16th Street which would take us straight to the Dome. There’re many homes along this street so we needed to be alert. Some homes have people living in them and some are vacant. It’s dark and since there aren’t any street lights or house lights you can’t tell which house is occupied. Some of these people own guns and have guard dogs. The FPF doesn’t patrol here at night. They won’t risk going outside of their patrol zones for fear of being attacked.
THE TOCABAGA CHRONICLES: (BOX SET - PART I - BOOKS #1-5) Page 35
