by Robert Boren
“You were planning this all along, weren’t you?” Lita asked.
“Yeah,” Hannah said. “I was so disappointed when we didn’t get to the courthouse last time.”
“Are you serious?” Madison asked. “Even back then?”
“Tell me you weren’t planning on it,” Hannah said.
“She was,” Juan Carlos said. “She just didn’t admit it to herself yet.”
They worked silently on their forms for a few minutes. Richardson and Lita finished first, taking it to the man behind the desk.
“Very good,” he said. “Now all I’ll need is an ID from both of you.”
“Oh, crap,” Lita said. “Is that a strict requirement?”
“Afraid so,” the man said. “Is that a problem?”
“Our driver’s licenses got blown up in the Riviera Beach attack,” Lita said. Richardson shot her a glance.
“We can’t do it?” Madison asked, eyes tearing up.
“Not without ID,” the man said. “You can order replacement driver’s licenses. Might take a few days.”
“Shoot, that can take six to eight weeks,” Lita said.
“Not anymore,” the man said. “It’s all computerized now. You can go to the DMV and get one on the spot, but you usually have to wait in line.”
“Where’s the nearest DMV?” Brendan asked.
“Riviera Beach,” the man said.
Richardson, Brendan, and Juan Carlos shot each other a worried glance.
“Do we have to go there to order the replacements?”
“No, you can do it downstairs,” the man said. “Records department.”
“Okay, thank you,” Richardson said. “We’ll keep this until we get the ID.” He took the form back from the man, and the three couples left, heading for the elevators.
“So what now?” Lita asked, disappointment on her face.
“Where would we have replacement driver’s licenses sent?” Juan Carlos asked. “We don’t know our addresses yet.”
“Dammit,” Hannah said. She looked at Madison, who was on the verge of tears. “You really wanted this bad, didn’t you?”
Madison shook her head yes. Juan Carlos pulled her close. “Don’t worry, honey, we’ll get there.”
“Let’s go talk to the records department,” Richardson said. “Just in case they have a solution we don’t know about.”
“Yeah, let’s do that,” Hannah said.
They rode the elevator to the first floor, and went to the records window. A middle-aged woman came over. “Can I help you?”
“Hi,” Richardson said. “We need replacement driver’s licenses. How do we go about ordering them?”
“You fill out forms,” she said. “It’s easy.”
“What if we don’t have an address to send them to?” Lita asked.
The woman thought for a moment. “Had somebody with that situation a few weeks ago. What you do is designate a DMV office to have the license sent to. You can usually pick it up in a few days. I wouldn’t bother, though, unless your local DMV is small, like the one in Riviera Beach.”
“Why not?” Richardson asked.
“You can get new licenses made while you wait at most of the large DMV offices,” she said. “Since it only takes about half an hour, it doesn’t buy you much to order one ahead of time.”
Richardson turned to the others. “Looks like we need to wait until we’ve moved.”
“Then let’s be ready to leave first thing in the morning,” Lita said.
“Yeah,” Madison said.
Hannah chuckled. “My, but aren’t you anxious now.”
“As a matter of fact, I am,” Madison said.
“We might as well go home,” Lita said.
“Yes,” Richardson said. “Thank you, miss.”
“You’re quite welcome,” the woman said.
They got back in the SUV and Richardson drove back towards the Baffin.
“We need to find out which DMVs in Houston can make driver’s licenses on site,” Brendan said.
“Yep,” Juan Carlos said. “The web sites probably tell you that.”
“They do,” Lita said, looking at her phone. “Most of the offices in Houston do. We’ll be fine.”
“What are we gonna do now?” Brendan asked. “Go home?”
“Yeah, let’s go home and talk about the trip to Houston,” Richardson said. “Maybe order in some dinner.”
“I think I need to rest for a while first,” Madison said.
“We’ll give it a few hours,” Lita said. “It’s still early.”
They drove silently the rest of the way.
Chapter 28 – Evil Alliance
Nelson walked into the living room, stuffing his phone into his pocket.
“You don’t look very happy,” Maria said, looking at his face.
“Landry just killed himself,” Nelson said, dropping into the recliner.
“How?” Hendrix asked.
“Poison,” Nelson said. “Had it inside the heel of his shoe.”
“My God,” Maria said.
“He did it during a call from Simon Orr,” Nelson said. “He found Landry’s daughter at a school in Switzerland. Told Landry the girl would be killed if he didn’t take the pill. Then he told Landry she was raped and killed after he’d done it.”
“Oh, geez,” Hendrix said.
“Yeah, it was bad. Simon Orr knew exactly how many people of the Fort Stockton group were killed at their hideout. That probably means there were survivors on that side. Ramsey is calling Jason now.”
“Son of a bitch,” Hendrix said. “Not a good development.”
“No, it’s not,” Nelson said. “This is going to take some thought.”
“Things are starting to go badly,” Hendrix said.
“Don’t worry, we’re far from beat. Believe me.”
“They’ve got us hunkered down in bunkers,” Hendrix said. “We have moles in the DPS and moles in the Air National Guard. Hell, we’ve probably got moles in the Army National Guard still, too.”
“I know, we’ve had some setbacks,” Nelson said. “A couple of good breaks would be nice.”
“You guys want a drink?” Maria asked. “Sounds like you could use one.”
“Capital idea,” Nelson said. “Maybe some Jameson on the rocks.”
“Yeah, that sounds good,” Hendrix said, getting up.
“Oh, I’ll get them for you,” Maria said. “Sit.”
“Okay,” Hendrix said. “Thanks. You going to join us?”
“No, I think I’ll stay sober,” she said. “Just in case.”
“I’ll only have one, but it’ll take the edge off,” Nelson said. His phone rang. “Oh, boy, what now.” He answered it as he walked away.
“I hate to see him like this,” Hendrix said. “What happened with Landry really shook him up. He’s probably afraid for his family. Hope they’re better hidden than Landry’s daughter was.”
“I know,” Maria said. “Think I should still get the drinks?”
“Yeah, but I’ll go with you,” he said. Maria walked into the kitchen, Hendrix right behind her. When the door shut behind them, Hendrix took her into his arms and kissed her. She sighed, kissing him back hard.
“I want you so bad,” she said.
“I know,” Hendrix said. “Me too. Can’t wait to get our home back to ourselves again.”
“Think he’s moving out pretty soon?”
“Probably, now that Landry isn’t in the Capitol bunker anymore,” Hendrix said. “I hope to hell that he doesn’t go before it’s completely safe, though. If we lose him, I don’t know how we’ll survive.”
Maria broke the embrace and got the whiskey out of the cupboard, with two glasses. She poured the drinks as Hendrix watched her.
“You’re staring at me,” she said.
“I am,” Hendrix said, “and I’m enjoying it.”
She shot him a smirk. “C’mon, let’s take these out there.”
Nelson was stil
l having a hushed conversation on the phone by the console. Maria and Hendrix went back into the living room. Maria put Nelson’s drink on the table next to his chair. Nelson walked in and picked it up, still standing.
“Perfect, thanks,” Nelson said. “That was Gallagher. Big development.”
“A good one this time?” Hendrix asked.
“Yes,” Nelson said. “From General Walker and General Hogan.”
“Really,” Hendrix asked. “Can you tell us?”
“Of course,” Nelson said. “One of the civilians that Walker is working with has a way to access satellite imagery.”
“Wow, really?” Hendrix asked.
“Really,” Nelson said. “They offered to share it with us.”
“Good,” Hendrix said. “How’d they pull that off?”
“They wouldn’t tell Gallagher any details. They were really concerned about what happened with Landry.”
Hendrix took a sip of his whiskey. “Can’t say that I blame them for that.”
“There’s another thing developing,” Nelson said. “Thanks to the same guy.”
“What’s that?” Hendrix asked.
“Those RFID chips that we’ve found in the Islamist fighters,” Nelson said. “This guy thinks he can figure out a way to track them.”
“Whoa,” Hendrix said. “That would be good.”
“Yeah it would,” Nelson said. “Walker is hoping that all the traitors are using the RFID chips. They’ve found some in non-combat personnel.”
“Interesting,” Hendrix said.
“There’s more,” Nelson said. “The militia fighters they’ve killed have had these RFID chips in them too.”
Hendrix shot him a fast glance. “Shit. Simon Orr wasn’t going to sell weapons to the Islamists, then, was he?”
“Nope, he’s in bed with them.” Nelson said. “We don’t think Orr could get his militia to take hold here in Texas. Given this news, that’s a good thing.”
“They could come over the border, though, couldn’t they?” Maria asked.
“They could, but not in enough numbers to make a difference,” Nelson said. “Walker doesn’t expect any crossover. He thinks that the Islamists and the Feds are satisfied just keeping us inside the Texas border, so we can’t help out in the southwest and southeast.”
“Surely they aren’t gonna just leave us alone,” Hendrix said.
“No, Walker didn’t say that,” Nelson said. “He thinks they’ll keep up the pressure on Arizona, Utah, and Colorado. Once they’ve taken control of those areas, they’ll join forces with the Islamist army building up in New Mexico and try to take us down.”
“Does Walker think they have a chance of pulling that off?”
Nelson sighed, then took a big sip of his whiskey. “Walker puts their chances of success at about sixty percent.”
“That high?” Maria asked, eyes wide.
“He said it’d be higher if not for this genius they have working with them,” Nelson said.
“They aren’t saying who it is, are they?” Hendrix asked.
“Nope, and I don’t blame them for that. They’re doing everything they can to protect this group and help them out. They’ve got a small battalion at their location right now.”
“That’s three hundred men,” Hendrix said.
“Wow,” Maria said.
“He’s afraid it’s not enough,” Nelson said.
“Not enough?” Maria asked.
“How many enemy troops does he think he’s fighting?” Hendrix asked.
“Between the militias and the Islamists? Several hundred thousand.”
“What?” Hendrix asked. “My God, they could overrun just about any force we’ve got with that number.”
“Yeah,” Nelson said. “The only good news for us is that a significant number of that force came from here. Probably at least a quarter. Maybe more.”
“How’d they get out of Texas?” Hendrix asked.
“Through New Mexico,” Nelson said. “That’s why we’re so worried about the El Paso group. We think there’s some plants in that group who have been helping.”
“So maybe our problem is going to leave on their own,” Maria said.
“Here’s the hardest part,” Nelson said. “We can’t let them do that. We need to stop as many from leaving as possible.”
“Why?” Maria asked.
“I know why,” Hendrix said. “If we let them go, they’ll have a better chance of taking those other southwest states, and then they’ll be back, with greater numbers and probably better equipment.”
“Oh, God,” Maria said. “This is a long way from over.”
“Yes, it is,” Nelson said.
“We should see if Simon Orr’s folks have really left the state,” Hendrix said.
“You think they might still be here?” Maria asked.
“Yes,” Hendrix said, “and we know the situation is much worse than before.”
“I don’t follow,” Nelson said.
“We were worried about Simon Orr’s eighty men. What if he’s allied with the Islamists in Texas like he is in the other southwest states? They might hit Fort Stockton with hundreds of enemy fighters.”
Nelson froze, a grim look on his face. “Shit. Let’s get a call going with Wallis, Ramsey, and Gallagher. Right away.”
“I’ll go get it started,” Maria said, getting up. She rushed to the console room.
“Kip,” Nelson said.
“Yes?”
“Don’t ever tell me I shouldn’t listen to you about this stuff again. You’re the only one so far who has realized the danger. My hat is off to you.”
Hendrix smiled. “I hope I’m wrong.”
Nelson nodded in agreement. They went out into the console room.
“I’ve got it up, sir,” Maria said. “Buzzing Gallagher, Ramsey, and Wallis now using the last numbers we contacted them with.”
“Good,” Nelson said. “Don’t worry about video. We need to hurry.”
“Understood,” Maria said. “Looks like they all responded.” She clicked the accept buttons on each.
“You guys on?” Maria asked.
“Wallis is.”
“Ramsey here.”
“Gallagher too. What’s up?”
“Kip had a thought. What if Simon Orr is allied with the Islamists in Texas, and he hasn’t really left the state yet?”
There was silence on the line for a moment.
“Dammit,” Wallis said. “Why didn’t we consider that? We need to request some of that satellite imagery right now. One shot per hour of a hundred miles surrounding Fort Stockton.”
“We need to contact Fort Stockton and tell them to install as many of those M19s as they have ready,” Ramsey said. “I want them to work through the night on that. Getting off now. I’ll call them.”
“Why are you so sure that this threat is real?” Nelson asked.
“I can answer that,” Gallagher said. “Simon Orr said he’d left the state on a line he knew we were listening to.”
“Son of a bitch,” Nelson said. “How about air power? Can we use that to start looking?”
“We don’t have anything that flies high enough,” Wallis said. “No U-2s or SR-71s. We’ve just got fighters, transports, and choppers. They’ll see us. It might move the attack up if they know they’ve lost surprise. We need as much time as we can get.”
“We need to have Air National Guard assets ready at a moment’s notice,” Gallagher said. “If they’ve got several hundred men or more, we’ll need them in the air pronto.”
“Hell yes,” Wallis said. “You can count on that.”
“Good,” Nelson said. “Gallagher, think you can get ahold of General Walker or General Hogan?”
“Yes sir,” Gallagher said. “I’ll get off the line and do that right away.”
“Good, let me know,” Nelson said. “That’s all we have for now. Talk to you soon.”
Maria ended the conference, then turned to look at the two men.
“Think we’ll be ready in time?”
“We’d better be,” Nelson said.
Chapter 29 – Installations
The wake was winding down in Fort Stockton. People were going home for the night.
Jason and Carrie were sitting at a long table with Kyle and Kate, Curt and Amanda, Don and Sydney, Kelly and Brenda, and Junior and Rachel. Eric and Kim had retired for the night, along with Moe, Dirk, Chance, Francis, and Sherry. Clancy was back on the roof, keeping watch again.
“That was a good wake,” Kelly said, still slurring even though he’d been eating and quit drinking.
“You still sound kinda ripped, man,” Junior said to him. Brenda and Rachel snickered.
“He’ll feel it tomorrow,” Brenda said.
Jason and Kyle chuckled.
“Yeah, like you two have room to talk,” Carrie said.
Jason’s phone rang. “Crap, it’s Ramsey,” he said, putting it to his ear.
“Jason?” Ramsey asked.
“Yeah, boss,” Jason said.
“You okay?” Ramsey asked. “You sound like you’ve been drinking.”
“We had a wake for our fallen,” Jason said.
“How coherent are you?” Ramsey asked.
“I’ve been better, chief. Sorry.”
“No problem. Who’s there with you?”
“Most of the core group,” he said.
“Curt?” Ramsey asked.
“Yeah, he’s here. Want me to put it on speaker? We’re sitting at the same table.”
“Yeah, but put it in front of Curt, okay? He been drinking?”
“Nope, he was planning on working some more tonight,” Jason said.
“Thank God for that. Put me on speaker.”
Jason set the phone on the table in front of Curt and hit the speaker button.
“What’s going on?” Curt asked. Amanda froze, looking at the phone like it was a snake coiled to strike.
“You guys hear me?” Ramsey asked.
“I can hear you,” Curt said.
“Want a drink?” Kelly asked.
“Ssshhhh,” Brenda said.
“Curt, how many sets of M19 hardware do you have now?”
“We’ve been running full bore,” he said. “When we came to the wake I had nine finished. There were four running through the first part of the assembly when we left. They’ve got two more steps to go.”
