Bug Out! Texas Book 4: Texas Battle Cry

by Robert Boren

  “We need to leave as soon as those flatbeds are ready,” Brenda said. “Clancy thought he’d have them done by about noon tomorrow. We should get some sleep. Tomorrow’s going to be a long day.”

  “Did Simon Orr show up yet?” Kelly asked.

  “No, and now we can’t raise Chris, Earl, or Jasper,” Brenda said. “I’m worried sick.”

  “Mommy, is daddy home?” Chelsea asked, standing in the doorway of the motor home.

  Carrie chuckled. “Knew she’d figure it out.”

  “I’ll go see her,” Jason said.

  “I’m going too,” Carrie said. “We need to sleep.”

  “Okay,” Jason said, taking her hand and walking towards their rig.

  “Let’s all hit the sack,” Brenda said. “Big day tomorrow.”

  Chapter 11 – Fear and Bliss

  Rachel took Junior’s hand and led him quickly to the Brave. “I thought they’d never get done talking.”

  “You okay?” he asked, trying to keep up.

  She turned to face him when they got to the door. “We need to talk. You able to do that tonight, or are you too tired?”

  Junior watched as she pulled the door open and climbed the steps, his heartbeat quickening. He followed her up and sat next to her on the couch.

  “Well?” she asked.

  Junior looked into her eyes, in the light of the led shining from above them. “Your eyes are red. Have you been crying?”

  She nodded yes, looking down.

  “We don’t have to do anything,” Junior said. “I told you that before we left, remember?”

  “Stop,” she said, looking at him with an expression he hadn’t seen on her face before. “Let me finish. Don’t stop me, okay?” She moved towards him and kissed him lightly on the lips.

  “Okay, sorry,” he said, eyes focused on her, waiting for her to deliver the news he expected but dreaded. A smile crept onto her face.

  “You have the wrong idea about this.” She moved in and kissed him again, with more passion this time. Then she hugged him tight. “You’re trembling.”

  He started to say something, but she put her finger on his lips. He nodded, moving his eyes from hers, looking down at his lap, hunkering down.

  “I have been crying,” she said. “I didn’t stop until you called me from the road.”

  “Why?”

  “Because I can’t imagine life without you,” she said. He looked at her, not knowing what to say.

  “We can…”

  “Hush,” she said. “I was afraid you were going to get yourself killed. Don’t think I could’ve taken that.”

  “I worried about you the whole time I was gone too,” Junior told her.

  “Hush up,” she said.

  “Sorry,” he said, looking down again. She put her hand below his bearded chin and tilted his head back up at her face. “You think I’m about to give you a Dear John talk. That’s not what this is about.”

  “You don’t have…”

  “Stop,” she said softly, almost in a whisper.

  He nodded, and she smiled at him.

  “The way I feel about you has changed since you’ve been gone,” Rachel said. “I was gonna give myself to you when you got back, out of respect and a kind of love. I wasn’t planning on that before I said it. It just popped into my head as you were leaving, and I blurted it out before I had a chance to think about it.”

  “That’s what I thought,” Junior said. “That’s why I told you I wouldn’t.”

  “You’re interrupting me again,” she said, half a grin on her face. “This is like pulling teeth.”

  “Sorry,” he said. “Go ahead.”

  I began to have different feelings about you when you were gone,” she said. “I didn’t understand them until talking to the girls. They saw it all over my face; they realized it before I did.”

  “Realized what?”

  “Realized that I was falling for you,” she said. “Not love like a brother or an uncle, either.”

  A tear rolled down Junior’s check. Rachel reached up and wiped it off with her fingers.

  “I don’t know what to say,” he said.

  “Your eyes are telling me,” she said, looking into them. She snaked her arms around his neck and pulled him in for a deep kiss, Junior’s arms going around her quickly. They kissed for more than a minute, then broke it and stared at each other.

  “So what do you want?” Junior asked.

  “In a minute,” she said. “How do you feel about me?”

  “I’m in love with you,” he said. “Have been since we rode together and talked in the motor home. I never imagined that I’d have any chance with you.”

  “That’s what I thought,” she said. “Even before I realized how I felt. That’s part of the reason I wanted to give myself to you. I knew you wanted it more than anything. I just couldn’t lose you.”

  “Okay, so I put my cards on the table,” Junior said. “What do you want?”

  She took a deep breath, looking at him nervously. “I want to be your woman. I want to live with you that way. I want you to take me whenever you want.” She paused.

  “What else? Is there a but coming?”

  She smiled, looking embarrassed, face red. She got closer, like she was ready to kiss him again, and then whispered. “I want to have your babies. I want to start working on that now. This minute.”

  They kissed again, their passion rising quickly. Junior’s heart was pounding in his chest as his hands roamed over her back. Rachel broke the kiss and stood up, unbuttoning her blouse. Junior watched in awe, trembling with excitement. She pulled off her shirt and then reached behind her back to undo her bra, taking it off, revealing herself to him.

  “Oh, God,” Junior said, standing next to her, his hands on her. “You’re so beautiful.”

  “C’mon.” She took his hand and dragged him into the bedroom, then undressed him frantically. She pushed him back on the bed, then removed her shorts and climbed on top of him, reveling in the feeling of their bare skin touching.

  “Is this really happening?” Junior asked as he looked at her face. She stopped him with another kiss, then rose upright and positioned herself.

  “I can’t wait anymore,” she said as she lowered herself onto him. They both moaned, moving against each other slowly, then faster, crying out with each other. It was over in a couple minutes. She collapsed on top of him, caressing his face as he sought her mouth to kiss her again.

  “That was unbelievable,” Junior said between breaths.

  “We aren’t done yet,” she said, rolling off of him and pulling him over her. They were back into passion quickly, longer and more urgently than before.

  They finally fell asleep, spent and exhausted.

  The sun woke Junior with a start. He was on his side, spooned against Rachel, her soft warmth stirring him. The night came rushing back at him. She woke and turned towards him.

  “Is it time to get up already?” she asked.

  “No, it’s early,” Junior said. “You sleep okay?”

  “Best I have in weeks,” she said, her hands roaming over his body. “I want you again. Can we?”

  Junior moved over her, taking her forcefully, making her lose control time and again. They fell back to sleep afterwards, not waking up until Kelly banged on the door.

  “Hey, Junior, you up yet?”

  Rachel giggled. “Wonder if they heard us? That last time was pretty intense.”

  Junior smiled and kissed her forehead.

  “We’ll be up in a few minutes,” he shouted.

  Chapter 12 – Hardware Run

  “How much further?” Dirk asked, hands on the wheels of his truck. It was pitch black on the small dirt road. Curt was next to him, Chance against the passenger side door.

  “Another couple of miles,” Curt said. His phone rang. He looked at the number before he put the phone to his ear. “This is the land line at the Finley place.”

  “Curt?” Eric asked.
<
br />   “Yeah, Eric, what’s up?”

  “Just got a call from Jason. The cell phones might be hacked again. The Austin PD cell phones got infected again, and Chief Ramsey hasn’t figured out how that happened yet.”

  Curt smiled. “I’m on it. They can’t hack this phone. I made a couple of modifications.”

  “Can you still use it to find the enemy?”

  “Yeah,” Curt said. “I’ll check for cretins around the homestead and around the Fort Stockton RV Park.”

  “There was an attempted hit at the RV Park already,” Eric said.

  “Oh, shit,” Curt said.

  “Don’t worry, our folks won,” Eric said. “They had one of the tanks over by the flatbeds, protecting the team that was working on them.”

  “Good,” Curt said. “I’ll do some checking and get back to you. Don’t disable your cellphones yet. We don’t want them to know we’re onto them.”

  “Fair enough, thanks,” Eric said. Curt ended the call.

  “Something wrong?” Chance asked.

  “The cell phones might be hacked again,” Curt said. “I’ll check it out.”

  “Uh oh,” Dirk said. “They hurt any of our people?”

  “Not yet,” Curt said, looking at his phone as he moved his finger around on its screen. “They’re right. Numerous attempts to get onto this phone. My modifications blocked them.”

  “Should we yank our batteries?” Chance asked.

  “Not yet,” Curt said. “Let me see if they’re following us. If they are, we’ll surprise them.”

  He worked silently for a few minutes, then looked out the windshield. “Take that road to the left. My cabin is about a mile down. You can’t miss it. Only place around.”

  “Got it,” Dirk said. Curt went back to work on his phone.

  Dirk made the turn as Chance looked out the window nervously.

  “We don’t have much in the way of firepower,” Chance said.

  “Wanna bet?” Curt said, not looking up from his phone. “Wait till you see what I’ve got at the cabin.”

  Dirk snickered. “Hell, I almost hope they are following us.”

  “They are,” Curt said. “We’ve got time. They’re about four miles behind us.”

  “What about the homestead?” Dirk asked.

  “Checking now,” he said.

  “Is that the cabin up ahead?” Chance asked.

  Curt looked up. “Yeah, that’s it. Pull around back, out of sight of the road.”

  Dirk made the turn, pulling up on the dirt behind the house. The garage door was in back. Curt pulled his keys out of his pocket and handed them to Dirk. “The round key opens the padlock on the garage door. Go ahead and open it while I finish here.”

  Dirk took the keys and got out. Chance joined him in front of the garage door. They got it open.

  “Holy crap,” Chance said as he looked at the hardware. There was a row of six M-19 Grenade launchers, several RPGs and AR-15s, and three mortars. Lots of ammo for all of the devices sat in crates against the wall.

  “The mother lode,” Dirk said. “Let’s start putting this stuff in the truck.”

  “Keep the RPGs and AR-15s out,” Curt said. “We’ll need them in about five minutes.”

  “Roger that,” Dirk said.

  Curt hit Eric’s contact and put the phone to his ear.

  “Curt, what’s up?” Eric asked.

  “You’re gonna have company in about half an hour. Better be ready. Keep your phones on. You’ll get the drop on them. Use my Barracuda.”

  “Will do,” Eric said. “Thanks.”

  Curt ended the call and got out to help Dirk and Chance.

  “The homestead in danger?” Chance asked.

  “Yeah, but they’ll handle it,” Curt said. “Eric’s gonna use the Barracuda, and they’ve got surprise on their side.”

  “How about Fort Stockton?” Dirk asked.

  “Ran out of time. I’ll check after we’ve nailed these creeps. Let’s take the RPGs in front of the house.”

  The men gathered up the launchers, a crate of rockets, and the AR-15s. They rushed around to the front of the house.

  “There’s bushes up there on either side of the road,” Curt said. “Let’s set up behind them.”

  “Yeah,” Dirk said. They rushed into position.

  “You guys know how to fire the RPGs, right?” Curt asked.

  Dirk gave a thumbs up. “I’ll help Chance,” he said in a loud whisper.

  They loaded rockets, then got prone behind the cover and watched.

  “They just hit the last dirt road,” Curt said. “Get ready.”

  They watched in silence for a few minutes. Then the rumble was coming towards them. Pickup trucks with their lights turned off.

  “That’s a hit squad,” Curt said in a loud whisper. “We’ll take them easy. Let them get closer. One rocket per truck if we can. I see three.”

  “Okay,” Dirk said.

  Curt took aim at the first truck, firing the RPG when it was forty yards out. The rocket flew out of the launcher, hitting the front of the truck, blowing it sky high, the busted hulk coming down fully engulfed in flames.

  “The second one is trying to turn around,” Chance said.

  “Got him,” Dirk shouted. He fired, the rocket hitting the second truck broadside. It exploded and rolled.

  “The last truck got turned around!” Curt said.

  Chance stood up and took aim, firing, hitting the truck in the back of the cab.

  “Bullseye!” Dirk shouted. “Any more, Curt?”

  Curt was already looking at his phone. “I don’t see any. We’d better get out of here in a hurry, though. Those fires are gonna draw the authorities, and they’ll try to take our hardware.”

  “Yeah,” Chance said. They rushed to the burning hulks. “Nobody alive that I can see.”

  “Hope nobody bailed out of the truck beds while the last two were trying to turn around.”

  “There weren’t men in the beds,” Curt said. “I got a good look before I fired at the first one.”

  “We can drive past this mess,” Dirk said. “See, right through there.”

  “Yeah,” Curt said. “Let’s finish loading the truck and get the hell out of here.”

  The men sprinted to the garage and finished loading. Curt unlocked the door into the house and went inside, coming out with a crate.

  “What’s that?” Chance asked.

  “Some moonshine I cooked up last time I stayed here,” Curt said. “Rather not have it found.”

  “Well, we could always make use of that,” Dirk said. Chance snickered.

  “Maybe when things die down,” Curt said. “This stuff will peel paint.” He locked the door from the garage to the house, and then pulled the garage door shut and locked it. “Let’s go.”

  The three men jumped into the cab and drove off, Curt watching his phone again.

  “Still nobody?” Chance asked.

  “Nobody with a cell phone,” Curt said. “Maybe it’s time to shut yours down.”

  Dirk fished his out of his pants pocket and gave it to Chance. “Yank the battery, okay?”

  Chance nodded and did that, then did the same with his phone. “What about yours, Curt?”

  “They can’t hack mine,” he said. “And I need it to watch for them.”

  “How about the homestead?” Dirk asked.

  “Checking now,” Curt said. “The enemy turned around. They’re fleeing the scene. I’ll bet the folks who tried to attack us warned them that they were visible.”

  “You’re probably right,” Chance said. “How about Fort Stockton?”

  “Checking that area now,” he said.

  Dirk made the turn off of the first dirt road and sped up, heading for the highway.

  “Nobody showing up around Fort Stockton,” he said. “They might be getting wise, though. They might be disabling their phones. Knew it would happen eventually.”

  “Yeah, that thought crossed my mind,” Di
rk said. “You see any of them anywhere?”

  “Yeah, San Antonio and Houston,” Curt said, “but we already knew about that.”

  “Good, there’s the highway,” Dirk said. He turned onto it and floored the truck, getting up to about eighty.

  “I wouldn’t go too fast,” Chance said. “Bad time to get pulled over.”

  “Oh, yeah,” Dirk said, slowing down. “Sorry, I’m still buzzing from the battle.”

  “Dammit,” Curt said, looking out the passenger side window. “See that truck behind the bushes on the right side.”

  “Yeah,” Dirk said. “It just pulled out onto the highway.”

  Chance pulled the AR-15 off the floor and handed it to Curt. “The rear window opens.”

  “Good,” Curt said. “Watch for more. I’ll take this cretin out before he gets too close.”

  “You sure it ain’t just some hunters?” Dirk asked. Chance was looking through the back window.

  “I’m sure,” Chance said. “Texans don’t dress like that.”

  “Yeah, those are frigging Islamists all right,” Curt said, turning sideways while Chance slid one side of the rear window open. Curt shoved the other side over and aimed the rifle, firing several times, hitting all three men in the cab. The truck careened into a ditch.

  “Got them,” Chance said.

  “Good,” Dirk said. “Keep your eyes open.”

  They blasted down the highway for several more miles before they started to relax.

  Chapter 13 – Conference Room

  “Where’s the meeting?” Maria asked.

  Hendrix looked up from the papers he was looking at on his desk. “In the big meeting room upstairs.”

  “Surprised they aren’t holding it at the Governor’s Mansion.”

  “Must be too many people coming,” Hendrix said. “This one is going to be interesting. I chatted with Governor Nelson a couple hours ago. He sounded nervous.”

  “Maybe it’s about San Antonio,” she said.

  “Doubt it,” Hendrix said. “The police and citizens already turned the tide of that battle.”

  “Really? Still sounded pretty bad the last time I checked the internet.”

  Hendrix smiled. “We don’t want to say anything that can be used against us by the enemy.”