by N. C. Reed
“I see,” she said yet again. Lainie once more reminded herself to never underestimate these two kids.
Ever.
It took a cursing Mack ten minutes to lever the heavy water pump into the back of Clay's truck, scratching the inside of the tailgate in the process. The twins knew he wouldn't care, it was a farm truck after all and a farm truck wasn't meant to be glamorous. Still, they knew it would probably never be fixed, either.
“Thank you,” Leanne smiled at Mack as Leon slammed the gate shut. “Have a good day!”
“Ain't you heard, Pipsqueak?” Mack called back. “Sky's falling. Day ain't getting any better.”
“Don't call me that!” Leanne hissed as she stomped around to get in the truck. “I was trying to be nice to that jackass,” she muttered as she got inside and slammed the door.
“Truck didn't do it,” Leon told her.
“Shut up!” she stormed.
“All right, that's enough,” Lainie said gently. “We need to get out of here. Look at that,” she pointed to the highway out front. “Is there a way around all that? A back road or a side street we can take to get where we need to be?”
“Go this way,” Leon pointed down the side street next to the lumber yard. “It will bring us up to a red light intersection that will put us on the road home. Still have to be careful, but it's better than fighting that.”
“Sounds good to me.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
-
“Now who are these people again?” Angela asked as Clay took a seat at the table.
“Six of them are former teammates of mine from my time in Africa,” he told her. “The rest are dependents of theirs. Initially we thought we were facing a nuclear war, which would mean a total breakdown of everything. No reason to go through all that but suffice it to say we agreed that we would try to assemble again if the worst happened.”
“When I got here I saw the Troy place for sale and it was sort of an omen. I bought it and sent all of them a message that I had secured the best possible place for us to weather whatever storm we ended up facing.”
“Once we discovered it might not be all out war, four of them decided to opt out and ride things out where they were, or at least somewhere else of their choosing. These six decided to join me here. And remember I said one stayed in Africa.”
“Your sister is going to have a fit,” Angela almost snorted, half in amusement and half in resignation.
“It's not costing her anything,” Clay shrugged. “She 'll just have to get over it. They have their own supplies, their own everything in fact. More to the point, them being here makes us all safer. Sooner or later we will have trouble. You can bet on it. Someone will have the idea that we 'have' to surrender our cows or our stores and when we don't you can rest assured there will be an attempt to take them. By force.”
“Clay, I really don't think that's something the people around here would do,” she shook her head.
“I hope you're right,” Clay nodded. “I really do. I'm afraid history is on my side, though. We 'll see what happens. Meanwhile, I need to get back over there and make sure they get settled-” he broke off as the sound of his truck in the drive accompanied by the honking of a horn came to them.
“Well that will be trouble,” he sighed, getting to his feet.
-
“Look at all that,” Leanne gasped, seeing the trailers now sitting at the Troy farm, and perhaps a dozen people moving around. “What's going on here?”
“I don't know but we gotta get home,” Leon shook his head. “We can't do nothing about that and we gotta let Uncle Clay know what's happening.”
Leanne nodded her agreement as the truck continued past, turning up their own drive. Lainie started honking the horn, not knowing just where Clay might be.
“There he is!” Leon pointed as he saw Clay emerge from Gordon and Angela's home. “Holy crap!”
“Wow,” Leanne noted as she saw how Clay was outfitted.
“Yeah,” Lainie agreed. Clay looked completely different from the Cowboy she had fallen for. She pulled in as he waved.
“What's wrong?” he asked
“Big announcement on the radio!” Leon said at once.
“There's a bunch of trucks and people at the other farm!” Leanne said at the same time.
“Okay,” Clay held up a hand. “I know about the trucks and people, they're friends of mine,” he told Leanne. “No worries there. Now what about the radio?”
“The story broke on the news maybe an hour ago,” Lainie said as she got out behind the scrambling teens. “We were getting something to eat for all of us when it was announced. Apparently, someone inside the government went to the press. You can imagine the results.”
“Don't have to,” Clay sighed. “Seen similar things before. Well, I'm glad you're all safe,” he said, kissing Lainie lightly. “I have to get back over to the farm, and we may as well take the trucks over too, I guess.”
“There's a water pump in the back of yours,” Lainie noted.
“What for?”
“Fire,” Leon and Leanne replied in unison, back in sync once again. “For fighting fire if we need it,” Leon nodded. “Best thing we could think of in the time we had left.”
“Good idea,” Clay agreed. “Okay, just leave it on there. Kids, get anything you want to keep here out of the truck. It won't be back out until this is over.” They scrambled to get their things, Leon thrusting a sack at his Uncle Clay along with a bottled drink.
“Thanks,” he grinned, taking the food with him to Gordon's truck. “Dad, I'll take your truck and put it in storage unless you need it.”
“No, we've got the farm truck tucked into the tractor shed if we need it. And we 'll have Ronny's truck and Patricia's Expedition in the barn, too.”
“Then we 'll be back.”
-
Lainie was shocked at the amount of equipment now buzzing around as two side-by-side ATVs roared into the storage building just as they arrived. But what really caught the eye-
“What in the world is that?” she asked Clay as they got out, pointing to the massive vehicle now pulling off the trailer.
“That is a Cougar six-by-six MRAP,” Clay sounded shocked. “Where in the hell-”
“Told you you'd be surprised,” Barnes came strolling up, smiling. “How 'bout that, huh?”
“Where in the world did you get that?” Clay asked.
“It was surplussed out,” Barnes said innocently. “Just like the other one,” he added as a second vehicle came roaring around the side of the building and steered into the door.
“Seriously?” Clay looked dubious.
“Well, I can't say there wasn't some bribery involved,” Barnes shrugged easily. “But we had to bribe the guy for the guns and stuff anyway, so what's one more felony among friends, right?”
“Felony?” Lainie blurted. Barnes looked at her, then did a double take, eyebrows raised.
“Please tell me this is your sister,” he told Clay. “Your single and looking for a handsome black man sister,” he added.
“This is my girlfriend you ape,” Clay laughed. “Sorry. Lainie, this is John Barnes. An uncouth Texas barbarian. Bear, this is Lainie Harper. And you would not want to meet my sister, though you 'll have to eventually.”
“Oh,” Barnes sighed. “Well, it was just a thought,” he shrugged, then grinned. “It's a pleasure to meet you Miss Harper,” he offered his hand and Lainie was surprised by the gentle grip when the giant shook hers.
“Pleasure to meet you too, John Barnes,” she smiled.
“Anyway, like I was saying, we figured we'd just go all in,” Barnes got back to the conversation. “Mind you we were still thinking nuclear exchange when we got 'em, so there's that.”
“What guns?” Clay asked carefully.
“Ah, yeah, well,” Barnes looked a bit shy suddenly. “There again, we were thinking we'd be facing all out war, so we thought, that being the case and all, well, that we might ought to
have, just in case mind you, not with any thought of-”
“Bear, what guns?” Clay cut him off. “You're talking too much to be saying nothing.”
“We might have gotten hold of some ordnance that is not, strictly speaking, legal to own in the States or any where else for that matter,” Barnes said, the last few words being mumbled.
“Such as?” Clay pressed.
“Well, nothing serious,” Barnes continued to hedge. “Just. . .more like insurance, you know? Just to have, just in case, like.”
“John,” Clay sighed.
“There might be a Mk 19 in there, somewhere,” Barnes finally admitted. “And a pair of Ma Deuce, maybe. And there could also be maybe a dozen or so LAWs. And there might be a crate or so of Clay-mores and another couple things. You know. Grenades and stuff,” he waved the word away like a fly.
“How in the hell did you get all that shit!?!” Clay almost screamed.
“I found a man who was unhappy with Uncle Sam's retirement plan and wanted a supplementary income source,” Barnes sounded like an attorney. “Completely legitimate business deal if you overlook the fact that-”
“Legitimate?” Lainie snorted.
“See?” Clay pointed to her. “Even civilians know that's bullshit!”
“Pot and kettle, Cowboy,” Lainie said with a smirk.
“Yeah, I been aiming to ask about that hat,” Barnes mentioned. “Where did you-”
“You brought all that shit all the way here from Texas?” Clay asked.
“Uh, yeah,” Barnes nodded. “We did. All you had to do was find a few willing people to help you get the electronic systems to bypass the weight scales in Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, and there ya are!” he smiled as if he had just announced the birth of his first child.
“You jacked the system?” Clay looked stunned.
“No!” Barnes looked offended. “We paid our way. We just did it by getting the codes and inspections we needed from men who didn't care for their current retirement plans either. That let us use the automated systems in each state and stay on the road. No sweat. We paid every toll we owed all the way over here,” he looked and sounded like a virtuous school boy.
“Well, as long as you paid the tolls that's fine then,” Clay nodded.
“Really?” Barnes looked shocked. Happy, but shocked.
“No!” Clay shot back.
“Oh,” Barnes deflated slightly. “Well, it's too late now, anyway. Even if we could get back in time, I think that guy has a no return policy.”
“I'm sure he does,” Clay snorted. “Ah well. If this doesn't happen I suppose we can always take over a small Latin American country and retire,” he sighed.
“Well, since you brought that up, we were thi-”
“I'm joking, Bear,” Clay cut him off. “How close are you to being done?” he turned more serious.
“I figure another half hour, give or take,” Barnes replied.
“All right. We're going to store these in that one,” he indicated the middle building. “Then I'm going to eat. You guys should try and get done before dark. We had a great light show last night. I imagine it will be even more awesome tonight. Remember, no electronics on rifles until we unseal the buildings,” he reminded him.
“We got it.”
-
“Sir, I think you had better see this,” yet a third aide said cautiously as he picked up the remote and turned the television in the office to the right channel.
“Who are you?” the President said.
“I'm Harvey, sir, the replacement,” the man said without looking.
“What happened to whats-her-name?” the President demanded. “I asked her to get me a report this morning and she disappeared.”
“I think I can tell you where she went, sir,” the aide turned up the volume in time for the President to hear 'Whats-her-name' spilling her guts into a digital voice altering machine. As he listened his phone began ringing.
“Get that off the air!” he yelled as the interview completed. “I want whoever put that out to be arrested right now!”
“Had you declared a state of emergency when we were first warned about this you could do that, sir,” another aide nodded from where he was standing, having come into the room while the interview was playing. “The best we can do now is prosecute the woman for violating her non-disclosure. And I doubt we have the time for that,” he admitted.
“Are you telling me you buy this crap?” the President demanded.
“Crap?” the man looked at him. “Sir, that 'crap' is the absolute way it is,” he replied carefully. “In a few hours, we will for the most part be a third world nation in terms of technology.”
“Either get someone to tell me what the real truth here is or stop telling me about it,” the President demanded. “I know good and well that no…solar flare, is going to destroy the world, or the United States!”
“Sir, this isn't a solar flare,” the first aide replied to that. “It's a solar storm.”
“What's the difference?” the President waved away the irrelevancy. “It's something that's a result of our man-made climate change, that's all. We can fix it. We have to cut back on emissions and-”
“Sir, this has nothing to do with climate change!” the second aide cut him off. “It's not weather unless you consider it solar weather. This is an explosion of super-heated particles that are magnetized and at least somewhat radioactive that are about to bombard our atmosphere in a matter of hours!”
“So now you're telling me the sun exploded,” the President raised an eyebrow. “I still see the sun,” he pointed out his window.
“I'm gone,” the second aide looked at the first. “Probably waited too late already. Good luck.”
“Wait for me,” the first aide said as he flipped the remote to the desk on his way out.
“Come back here!”
-
Patricia and Robert managed to make it from Jordan in about three times the amount of time it would normally have taken, but at least they were able to get home. They had seen a couple of major accidents on the way and evidence of a third on the interstate as they passed over it. People were driving like maniacs.
“Who are all those people at the Troy house?” Robert asked his father when they got there.
“Friends of Clay's” Angela replied.
“So, he did warn his friends then,” Robert's eyes narrowed. “But we couldn't warn ours.”
“They aren't friends exactly,” Gordon glanced at Angela disapprovingly. “It's some of the soldiers he served with in Africa. Part of a pact they all made when they came home. To gather together for protection.”
“From what?” Patricia asked.
“I guess from whatever they expect to happen,” Gordon shrugged. He was too tired to get into an argument with these two.
“Who are all those people at the old Troy place?” Alicia demanded just then, stomping into the back door. “If those are Clay's friends after he didn't let us warn our own people-”
“They're soldiers,” Gordon told her flatly. “Served with Clay in Africa. This was their agreement. To band together if this turned out to be real. So once he bought that place, they decided that would be their place to hunker down.”
“We're not feeding his friends,” Alicia crossed her arms in defiance.
“You aren't feeding anyone as I recall,” Gordon raised an eyebrow and his daughter had the grace to look embarrassed. “And they brought their own.”
“Their own what?” she asked.
“Everything.”
-
By six o'clock the work was done. Vehicles stored, houses buttoned up save for doors, storage buildings closed off completely and grounded in a dozen places, supplies secured against theft or destruction. There was nothing left to do now but watch and wait.
Slowly everyone gathered together in the open, chairs, jackets, food items and so forth. The new group joined them as one at Clay's invitation so he could make introductio
ns. He introduced his family first, including Leon, Brick and Janice, then turned to his comrades.
“I'll introduce each one of my former teammates and let them introduce those who came with them,” he said. “Starting with Big Bear, John Barnes.”
“I just brought myself,” the big man smiled in the faint light. “It's a pleasure to meet all of you, though I do wish it was under better circumstances.” He stepped back and Clay next introduced Tandi Maseo.
“He's a medic and a good one,” he looked at Patricia, who nodded gratefully.
“This is Ellen Kargay,” he introduced the heavily muscled woman holding his hand. “If she looks familiar, she was runner up in the Miss World of Fitness Magazine competition last year,” he beamed.
“Shut up,” she murmured, her face going beet red. “Nice to meet you,” she nodded almost shyly, trying to hide her bulk behind Maseo's diminutive form.
“This is Mitchell Nolan,” Clay said next. “If he looks familiar it's probably from America's Most Wanted,” he snorted and Nolan was on the verge of flipping him off when he thought better of it as the striking young black woman at his side cleared her throat dramatically, raising a finely sculpted eyebrow at the same time.
“Isn't he a card?” he said instead. “The Joker in fact,” he added with a smirk as Clay's family chuckled.
“This lovely lady is Beverly Jackson, who I hope to one day make Mrs Nolan, and this young lad is her son, Johnathon. Thirteen going on thirty and smart as a whip to boot.”
“Hello,” Beverly nodded and her son raised a tentative hand in greeting. “Nice to meet you all,” she added before they stepped back.
“And here we have Jose Juarez,” Clay continued, going to the next man in line. Jose turned to the small woman next to him and smiled.
“This is Martina Sanchez, who took my ring but not my name,” he laughed. “Her kids are Roberto, who is eight, and Rae, who is almost seven.”
“Please try and ignore him,” Martina told them. “I have taken his ring, but as he gave it to me on the way here, there has been no opportunity to take his name. Though if he keeps on this way, there may not be a need,” she glared at him and he winced comically, causing Martina to laugh as she punched him on the arm. Everyone else laughed at that as well.
