“Where do I go?”
“Look,” Clark pointed through the back opening of the church, there’s a dirt road. Just go for that. You see it?”
Jack nodded.
“On the count of three, I’m going to lift him.”
“Wait,” Jack said. Let me sneak out. I can back it up to you three.”
Clark and Shaw looked at each other.
“I think he can do it, and that might give us a few seconds before hell drops on us again,” Shaw agreed.
“Okay. Cover him. Your dad will kill me if he knew I let you do this. Don’t get shot! Hear me, kid?”
“Got it,” he said, crouching down and moving to the hole in the back. Shaw edged alongside of him. There were at least two soldiers still milling around the back of the church; they were preoccupied with the sheriff’s car. The rest of the Chinese soldiers seemed to be in recovery mode in the front of the church.
Clark picked Dukes up and flung him over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. There was every reason to believe that something was going to go terribly wrong with this plan. He saw Jack move low and quick; just as both soldiers in the back opened the door to the bullet riddled police car and looked inside.
Jack made it to the driver’s door, and gently pulled on the handle. And that is when the warning signal from the truck started chiming that the door was open and the key was still in the ignition.
Perez feverishly worked the intelligence being gathered as American troops flooded onto the docks of the New Orleans shipping terminal. This was a major pushback by America, and one that had come together at lighting speed. The Naval and Marine taskforce had been strung together from a joint training mission with Brazil when the war began.
With all hands on deck focused on the unfolding events, Perez checked her surroundings, and paused long enough to pull up the chat window to Homeland Security. She paused, her fingers hovering above the keyboard, and then typed the coded message.
Location confirmed. Instructions?
CHAPTER 42
Penny eased the gas off of the vehicle as they crested the hill; the Talladega racetrack filled their windshield. She let the vehicle roll to a stop, but stayed ready to move at any second.
“What are you doing?” Tasha asked. “That’s got to be where they are.”
“Yeah, yeah, I get that, but, there’s like a crap ton of people down there,” Penny expressed.
“Do you think we can call someone on the radio or something?” Emma asked from the back. “I’m just saying, because David could really use medical support.”
“I thought you were an ER nurse?” Penny said, noting that Lucy opened her mouth and then shut it.
“I am, Penny,” terseness refracting in her voice. “I’m just out of supplies, and could use a little help; you know, I think we all could.”
“Penny.” It was David, and he didn’t look good.
Penny looked in the rearview mirror.
“I know I need help, and we all need support. I trust you, see if you, Tasha and Lucy can locate a safe place, I just don't know how much longer I can hang on. Okay?” David said all of that with very little movement, his head leaning on Emma’s shoulder. Lucy turned to look at her father; an expression of worry stitched on her face.
Penny looked at Lucy and then back at Tasha, and nodded. “Hey, see what you can see down there,” Penny nodded to Lucy, and a pair of binoculars mounted to the dash.
Lucy pulled the binoculars out of their cradle, and to her eyes. She took a minute to fit the optics to her face and focused the lenses.
“What do you see?” Penny asked.
“Ahh, people.”
“What kind of people?”
“Men with guns,” she said, her voice flat.
“That’s not good,” Dan said, uncomfortably still wedged into the front seat with the three girls. His leg had been right up against Penny’s the entire time.
“Right,” his sister agreed.
“Oh! I also see a military tent with a red cross on it,” Lucy reported, her voice rising with hope. “That’s a medical tent. Right?”
“Yeah, it is. Usually,” Penny answered, still not sure.
“I think we should go there,” Tasha chipped in. “The medical tent is the only place that can help Mr. David.”
“I agree,” Lucy nodded.
Penny simply applied the accelerator and made her way towards the tent, and the unknown of the mass of people.
***
Doctor Tabby Cadet and her husband Doctor Seth Cadet had established a medical tent at the outskirts, of the highway side of the fields, surrounding the Talladega Super Speedway. The Cadets were on a mission, not only to help their fellow human, but also to find Anna, their daughter.
Caught up in the outer extremities of the nuclear explosion that destroyed Atlanta, the two surgeons had been pressed into service by Colonel Horn, the commander of the Georgia National Guard. They found themselves torn between their hypocritical oaths to help those in need, a desire to help the country and a need to reunite their family. But, it was the latter that forced them to leave Colonel Horn’s leadership, and strike out to find their daughter.
As doctors, the Cadets knew that in order for them to morally forge the path to their daughter that they would need to help others along the way. That decision coupled with the news that the Chinese now controlled Birmingham, had halted their search for Anna, and planted them at the Talladega Super Speedway.
The two doctors relied on the help of two key soldiers to provide support and protection during their quest. Raven Horn, the daughter of Colonel Horn, and her boyfriend, Specialist Reed. The luxury of having the Colonel’s daughter as their advocate, had afforded the two doctors a tent, medical supplies and armed protection as they tried to help those impacted by the attack.
Tabby and Seth had been working for nearly ten hours straight when they heard the sound of the diesel engine outside of their medical tent. The sound made both professionals stop what they were doing and look at each other across the confined space.
“In coming. It’s military,” Raven Horn said, poking her head in the front flap of the tent.
“Who is it? Is it the Colonel?”
“No, I don't recognize the truck,” she said, disappearing back out of the flap, and bringing her 7.62 rifle up, and ready to fire. Specialist Reed had done the same thing. He was positioned ten yards away, leaning on a stack of tires that served as a barrier. He nodded at her to take the lead.
Penny left the vehicle running; in reality, she had no idea how to turn it off after Perez’s remote hotwire. She looked through the window, noting that there was one American woman soldier positioned just outside the medical tent. Penny was very aware that the soldier was pointing her rifle at them.
“Do you see the guy on the right?” Dan said, his voice a whisper, for no reason.
She let her eyes look right, never moving her head from looking at the female soldier. “Yeah, I got him, now.”
“What do we do?”
Penny reached over and patted Dan on the leg. “I’ve got this.” With her left hand, she opened the door and stepped out, holding up her hands.
Raven shifted the sight of her rifle from the windshield of the Humvee to the woman that had just stepped out from the driver side.
“Hey!” Penny said, taking a step around the side of the door, exposing herself to the whims of the armed soldier. “I’ve got injured in here, and I need help.”
Raven looked over at Reed, and he nodded, giving her support that he had her six.
Tabby pushed open the flap, hearing the voice of the woman and the plea for medical help. Quickly, she assessed the situation from the perspective of a doctor, and more importantly, a mother, she decided to put an end to the standoff. She walked past Horn, letting her hand touch the soldier’s shoulder lightly, and walked towards the woman next to the Humvee.
“I’m Doctor Cadet. What’s wrong?” Tabby asked, approaching the woman; whom she now
suspected was an older teenager.
Penny stepped back and opened the back door. “He was attacked by the Chinese helicopters,” she said, stepping out of the way so the doctor could see into the back.
Tabby looked into the vehicle, there was a collection of young adults and teenagers, as well as a woman and a man that was clearly injured.
Emma held David’s head in her lap; she looked up at the other woman ready to accept the help.
“You’re a doctor?”
Tabby nodded, her eyes already taking in the injuries she suspected that existed underneath the bandages.
“I’m a nurse. His pulse is light and his breathing is ragged. I suspect that he has fluid on his lungs. He has severe trauma to his lower right thigh, and…” she continued to present the case to the doctor as she moved out of the way for David to be checked over.
Tabby listened to the woman sitting in the backseat of the vehicle while she drew her stethoscope and listened to the sounds of the man’s breathing and heartbeat. Once finished she lifted her head out of the vehicle and yelled.
“Seth, get a stretcher, stat! Raven, Reed, help me lift him out of the car,” she ordered.
Dan pushed his way out of the car to slide by Penny. “I’ll give you a hand, too.”
Deb was right behind him. “Me, too,” she volunteered, not wanting any sort of separation to come between her and her brother.
Between them all, they successfully moved David to the stretcher and into the medical tent, with Lucy, Tasha and Emma in tow. That left Raven and Penny standing next to the Humvee.
“You guys look like you’ve been in the shit,” Raven said, noting Penny’s rifle on the seat and the fact that the Humvee looked like it had been through the puree setting on a blender.”
“We’ve all been part of a couple different things,” she answered, not knowing what to call it.
“Huh. So, just to confirm, you guys aren’t military. Right?”
“I’m not, two guys that were with us were, I mean are. This is their ride; they’re trying to help my dad. They should be catching up with us soon.” Penny felt awkward verbalizing their story. She deflected it back onto the soldier. “What about you? How’d you wind up here?”
“Ah, well, I was working at Starbucks like a little over a week ago. You know, serving an iced mocha one minute, and then the bomb in Atlanta went off the next.”
“No shit!”
“No shit.” Raven looked up at the sky, pausing for a second, or perhaps just affirming a prayer. “Anyway, I got lucky.”
“How so?”
“We were at the very outskirts of the blast, which was still pretty violent and,” Raven tossed her thumb back towards the tent. “The two doctors, husband and wife, just happened to be in the same Starbucks when it went off. The building crumpled in on itself, and I was trapped. They saved my life, and well, I owed them one, so, I helped them get out here so they can hopefully find their daughter.”
“Oh, wow.
“Anyway, that’s not all of it, but it gets me here,” Raven said, nipping their background discussion in the bud. “So, it looks like you’ve started drawing a crowd,” Raven noted, with a nod for Penny to look on the other side of the vehicle.
Dozens of stranded, abandoned or injured people, with no home, and no hope in sight, slowly moved towards the rattling sound of the diesel engine.
“Okay, that’s weird. What do they want?” Penny asked, walking around to close the open doors of the running vehicle.
“Water, food, shelter, answers to just what the hell is going on or where they can find their love ones, and the list goes on,” Raven said, already used to hearing the heart wrenching stories of the survivors. “You’re new, and in a military vehicle, so, obviously, you’ll have the answers,” there was a tired sarcasm to her voice.
“What do you want to do?”
“You can start by turning it off.”
“Ah, I don’t know if I can,” Penny said, sliding back into the driver’s seat. “Hey, Perez, are you there?”
“I’m, Horn, Raven Horn,” Raven said, thinking Penny was talking to her.
“No, that’s not what I mean, sorry, I’m Penny, and Perez is at the Pentagon.”
“Penny, I only have 30 seconds,” the female voice came thought the vehicle’s speakers. Raven ducked to look into the vehicle, and unknowingly putting herself into the view of the interior camera.
“We’re here and I need to turn the truck off. How do I do that?”
“You don’t have keys?” Raven asked, still looking around the vehicle; this wasn't a typical Humvee.
“No.”
“Reach under the left side of the steering column and pull out the square relay,” Perez instructed, she had anticipated the question.
Penny did as she was instructed, and the diesel engine clanked to a stop.
“It should restart when you put it back in,” Perez said. “I can pause the link from here. Anything else?”
“Yeah, what do you know about my dad?”
Perez breathed deeply, prepping to give an answer she didn’t want to give. “I’ve lost contact with Clark, and all of my satellite bandwidth is concentrated on New Orleans. Once I can break away, I will. Okay?”
“No, but, whatever,” Penny said, with a huff.
“How’s David?” Perez asked, feeling guilty.
“There’s two doctors here, and they took him into a medical tent, so, I don't really know for sure.”
“He’s in good hands with the Cadets,” Raven spoke up. “Those doctors are the best.”
“And, who are you?” Perez asked.
“Sergeant Raven Horn. Who are you?” She threw the question back to the faceless voice.
“Airman Nina Perez” she answered, waiting for her computer to crunch the name Sergeant Raven Horn; and then it came up with more information than she anticipated. “Oh,” her voice a little too surprised. “You’re Colonel Horn’s daughter, from the Georgia National Guard, right?”
Raven raised her eyebrow and looked at Penny. “That’s right, and who are you, again?”
“Sorry, I work at the Joint Chief’s, I’m paid to know everything. You know, the more info we have, the better we can support troops like yourself.”
“Understood,” Raven said, looking past Penny and at the crowd grouping around the new vehicle. “It looks like we have a little situation,” she said, directing the sentence towards Penny.
“Okay, look Perez, I’ll check in about an hour. I’ve got to go.”
“Copy, that. Be safe. Over,” Perez said, pausing the link to the Humvee and cross referencing everything she knew about Horn, the two doctors and then it hit her. She opened her personnel file on Ian and Leah Burrows and typed in the name Cadet. She was instantly rewarded with a hit.
“Get your weapon and get out of the vehicle,” Horn ordered.
Penny grabbed the rifle on the seat and shut the driver’s door.
“Listen,” Horn said, her voice loud and forceful as she addressed the forming crowd.
“Who are they? Do they have answers?” someone shouted from the crowd.
“No, they just came for medical help, and…”
“Yeah, we do have some answers,” Penny cut her off, her voice just as demanding as Raven’s.
Raven looked at her. “What the shit?”
“These people deserve to know what’s going on, just like we do,” she said, turning away from Horn, and not waiting for an answer. “The Chinese are on the move. It is a full-fledged invasion. My home was attacked near the lake on the Georgia, Alabama line, and we were just in a hell of a fire fight with them over in the Wolf Creek area.”
“What about Birmingham, and Atlanta, is it all true? Is the military coming in to help?” a lady asked from the crowd.
The women looked at each other. “Go ahead news anchor, you seem to have all the headlines,” Raven said, leaning back on her heels.
“Yes, Atlanta is gone, I saw the mushroom cloud myse
lf, and I know people that escaped from the blast. They say there’s nothing left. I’ve heard that Birmingham is under Chinese control.” That got the crowd buzzing.
“Who told you that?” Raven asked, her voice low so she couldn’t be heard.
“Your father, a few days ago; he was standing in my house.”
Raven narrowed her eyes at the girl, and then looked more closely at the battle-damaged hummer for clues to who these people were.
“As far as the military response goes,” Penny continued, climbing onto he back bumper of the vehicle so her voice would project over the small mass of people. “They are on the move. We have friends at the Pentagon that just told me there is a counter invasion by our forces, right now, coming up through New Orleans,” she hated giving information away, but under the circumstances felt she had no choice.
“Is there help coming for us?” the same woman in the crowd asked.
Penny paused before answering, and took the briefest of seconds to look back at Raven. “Yes, but I don't know exactly when. Just hold tight for now, I’ll see what we can do,” she promised, leaping down off the bumper. She hoped the move would end the conversation, and it did. The group seemed to gobble up the news and then dissipate; that is except for two men standing at the fringes of the group. They were both armed, and turned to walk towards the racetrack after they crowd dispersed.
“You’ve got some balls,” Raven said, nodding at the other woman. “So, just to throw a wrench in your public display of leadership, did you happen to notice the two dudes at the back of the crowd? The ones sporting the AKs.”
Penny looked around, but was too late to see what she was talking about. “No.”
“Come on in the tent, let me catch you up before you have to meet them,” Raven said, leading Penny into the medical tent.
CHAPTER 43
In Clark’s field of vision, everything happened at a very slow speed. He had heard of this phenomenon while serving overseas, but he had never experienced it himself. Usually associated with fear, or intensity of a situation, the feeling had a few different names, depending on who was telling the story. Experts call it Time Dilation, but the soldiers that experienced it first hand, called it warping, as if entering a time warp. Regardless of what it was called, Clark knew it was happening.
Collapsing World_Stolen Treasure_Book 3 Page 22
