by Robert Boren
“Why do you say that?” Kris asked.
“Hell, I know more women who are pregnant now than any time I can remember,” he said. “Must be something in the water.”
“Human nature,” Roberto said. “If I were you guys I’d wait a little, though. This war is a long way from over.”
“Don’t say that,” Kris said. “I want it to be over now.”
“Seriously,” Lita said. “We’ve had so many close calls. Our luck is liable to run out.”
“It’s not just luck,” Richardson said.
“Hey, listen up,” Gerald said, looking at his phone. “Jay and his guys are on 233, heading for Paso Del Robles. There’s a van on his tail. What do you want him to do?”
“Oh no, not again,” Kris said.
“How many guys does he have with him, and what are they packing?” Richardson asked.
“Just a sec,” Gerald said, typing on his cellphone. “Two four-wheel drive pickups, six men in each,”
“Weapons?” Richardson asked.
“Nothing like you guys have. Hunting rifles and shotguns, unless they got something new.”
“Tell him to lead them here,” Roberto said.
“What?” Kris asked.
“You heard me,” Roberto said. “Tell them to make a hard right as soon as they pass the row of trees at the front of the property. Got it?”
Richardson chuckled. “That’ll put the cretins smack dab in front of the guns on the boat. I agree. Hear that, Juan Carlos?”
“Yeah, dude,” he said. “I’ll help Madison get ready.”
“Want me up there?” Brendan asked.
“No, I want Lita up there. Okay, honey?”
“Sure, I know how to fire those,” she said. “All except the big one.”
“I want Juan Carlos on the big gun. You know you’ll be firing backwards, right?”
“Roger that,” Juan Carlos said. “No problema.”
“Good,” Richardson said.
“What about me?” Hannah asked.
“You’re pretty damn good with the SMAW,” he said. “Go with Brendan. Find some cover. We’ll nail these guys good.”
“I’ll find cover too,” Roberto said. “Want me to let the dogs loose again?”
“Not until the shooting is over,” Richardson said. “Hate to see either of them get hit.”
“Got it,” Roberto said.
“I want my Mini-14,” Kris said. She got up and sprinted into the house to fetch it.
“You tell Jay?” Roberto asked.
“Yep,” Gerald said. He checked his magazine, then checked his pocket for the extra rounds. “I’m ready.”
“We’ve probably got about five minutes,” Roberto said. “Stay sharp, folks.”
Lita climbed into the boat and took the starboard gun. Madison was ready at the port gun. Juan Carlos got on the main gun, swinging it around to point towards the rear. They waited silently. Brendan and Hannah hid in the bushes and trees on the left side of the driveway. Richardson got on the right side of the driveway, Roberto and Kris on the far-right side of the house, to make sure nobody walked in from their neighbor’s lot. The dogs growled, pulling against their chains. The sound of vehicles approached, then the two pickup trucks appeared, and made a hard right. The men jumped out, rifles in hand, and hid along the right side of the driveway. Another vehicle drove up, wheels crunching the gravel on the road. It stopped, and doors were opened quietly.
“The dogs are gonna bark if they get much closer,” Roberto whispered to Kris.
“Want me over there?” she whispered back.
“No, too late now. I hear somebody coming around this side. Get ready.”
A twig snapped, straight down the road. Brendan poked his head up and saw two Islamists sneaking in, their white outfits picking up what was left of the daylight. He watched as they approached, finger on the M60 trigger. Then one of the two men looked up and saw the boat. Madison aimed the port gun at him, and his eyes grew wide in panic. He tried to turn when Madison opened fire, the huge bullets throwing his body back several feet. The other man hit the dirt and tried to crawl away, but Brendan blasted him with the M60. Then there was gunfire to the right of the house, as Kris shot two men coming through the bushes. Richardson snuck out around the right side of the road with some of Jay’s men and opened fire on several men who were attempting to flee. They dropped all of them, then rushed back to the yard. Juan Carlos had the big gun aimed at the van.
“Stop, Juan Carlos!” yelled Richardson. “Don’t blow up the vehicle. I want to have a look.”
“I’m letting the dogs loose to clean up stragglers,” Roberto said. He rushed to the porch as the others covered him. The dogs shot off the steps, racing forward to the road, then turning left. An enemy fighter screamed for a moment, then gurgled as blood flooded into his windpipe. The dogs continued to growl, rushing through the dense underbrush on the other side of the road, finding another man and killing him. Then there was silence, and the two massive dogs trotted back to Roberto.
“Those dogs are amazing, dude,” Juan Carlos said. “You want to check the van, boss? We’ll cover you.”
“On my way,” Richardson said, sneaking forward. Both front doors and the sliding door on the side were open. He moved forward, rifle pointed in front of him, and poked his head through the sliding door. Nobody was there. “It’s empty. I’m going to check the inside for weapons. Stay sharp. We might have somebody else coming.”
“Roger that,” Juan Carlos said. Brendan and Hannah came out of the bushes and walked over, Brendan pulling out his cellphone and shining the light into the van.
“Thanks, man,” Richardson said. “There’s some good shit in here. Two RPGs, two mortars, a bunch of shells, and lots of ammo.”
“What kind of ammo?” Brendan asked.
“Looks like .223 and 7.62,” Richardson said. “We need to find the bodies and take their weapons. Hell of a lot better than hunting rifles.”
“Damn good idea,” said a lanky black-haired man of about fifty. “I’m Jay, by the way.”
“Richardson, DPS. That’s Brendan and Hannah.”
“Nice to meet you folks,” Jay said. “Hey, what’s in that box? Up front, on the center console.”
Richardson looked up there. “Grenades. Damn, a whole crate of them. They only took out a few. We can use these later tonight.”
“Hell yes,” Jay said. “Maybe we can use this van too.”
“Yeah, maybe,” Brendan said. “We need to get the hell out of here. It’s likely one of these guys called before they attacked.”
“I’ll bet they didn’t have cellphones,” Hannah said. “I tried to use that tracking app. Nada. I could still see a few when we were in San Antonio.”
“Tracking app?” Jay asked.
“Long story,” Richardson said. “We’ll fill you in later.”
One of Jay’s men walked up, a short, round Hispanic man of about forty. “I’m Hector. We got a box of dynamite in the back of my truck. Want to wire this thing up and ghost-ride it into the recycling center?”
“No, Hector,” Gerald said as he walked up. “You didn’t tell them about the girls, Jay?”
“What girls?” Hector asked.
“I was getting to it,” Jay said.
Gerald shook his head. “We saw a Yaris parked out in front. Looked like the one that Frenchie’s daughter drove.”
“Shit, she disappeared…wait a minute. This isn’t a simple assault. This is a rescue mission, isn’t it?”
“It’s both,” Richardson said. “Still want to participate?”
Hector shot an exasperated glance at Jay, and then looked back at Richardson. “Hell yes. Dammit, Jay, did you think we wouldn’t want to save Marissa? Really?”
“I said I was getting to it,” Jay said sheepishly.
“You tricked us, but that isn’t what pisses me off. No way would I wuss out on a rescue of Marissa or any of the other women these bastards have kidnapped.”
&nbs
p; “We actually might want to use the van with the explosives,” Brendan said. “This place got a front gate?”
Jay smiled. “Yep, and it’s not next to any of the buildings, either.”
“Okay, first things first. Let’s find the bodies and take their weapons. They have some M-16s, and maybe even some M60s, based on the ammo in the back. Those are better than hunting rifles. How many of your men know how to fire these?”
“Hell, most of us were in the service,” Hector said. “No problem.”
“Good,” Richardson said. “The clock is running. We need to get over that back road and take this place down, before they send more people here.”
“Or flee.” Gerald said.
“Let’s get on it, then,” Jay said. Hector and the others nodded in agreement, and they went off to find the bodies.
Everybody met at the front porch after about five minutes.
“Not a bad haul,” Roberto said, looking at the weapons leaned against the porch steps. “Five M-16s and four M60s.”
“They fit nine guys in that van,” Richardson said. “Must have been tight. Hope there wasn’t another vehicle back there.”
“We checked,” Hector said. “No dice.”
“We just going to leave the van and the bodies lying around?” Kris asked.
“We’re taking the van,” Hector said. “With the dynamite, remember? I already got it rigged up. Used one of the slug’s cellphones. People shouldn’t use 1234 as a pin.”
Gerald laughed. “Mongoloids.”
“Think that van will make it down the dirt roads?” Brendan asked.
“Should,” Roberto said, “but if it gets stuck I’ll pull it out with my Jeep. Got a winch.”
“There’s a winch on my truck, too,” Jay said.
“Okay, we’d better get going,” Roberto said.
“Yeah, we’ll follow you,” Richardson said. “How about lights?”
“We can run with them until we hit the Highway 12 bridge,” Gerald said. “After we go under that, we shut them down. Everybody get that?”
“Yeah, we got it,” Jay said.
“Yep,” Roberto said.
Roberto, Kris, and the dogs piled into the Jeep and pulled in front of the line, turning to the left before they got to the camping spot, following a road that looked like a cow trail. The patrol boat rig followed, Richardson and Lita in the cab of the truck, the two young couples in the boat. Behind them was Gerald’s Harvester, the two trucks, and the van.
Chapter 6 – Budget Cuts
Governor Nelson sat behind the desk in his office, going over some paperwork. Gallagher came in. “Got a few minutes?”
Nelson set down the document and looked up. “Go ahead.”
“Two of the B-1 bombers made it across the border into Mexico.”
“Dammit,” Nelson said. “What about the other two?”
“Destroyed, trying to make it to some base in New Mexico.”
“How?” Nelson asked.
“More F-22s. Smoked them over Clovis as they were trying to land at Cannon Air Force Base.”
“Was that still operating?” Nelson asked.
Gallagher chuckled. “Hell, hardly anything is still operating in New Mexico. The Airforce moved all their assets out of there close to a month ago.”
Nelson stared at him, not smiling. “So, you’re telling me that we still have two of those bombers to worry about, and they may have access to fuel someplace?”
“Afraid so,” he said with a serious tone. “What’s the matter?”
“I talked to Governor Weston of Colorado. He just spent over an hour talking with next-of-kin about their dead children,” he said, “and there were only a few of them still alive to talk to. This hasn’t been a good day.”
“Oh,” Gallagher said. “This is why our plans for Santa Fe are so important.”
“Yes, Colorado and Utah need our help here,” Nelson said. “Any word on how things are going?”
“I just passed the latest data from Wallis to Ramsey, so he could send it along to the Fort Stockton group.”
“New satellite pictures?”
“Yeah, boss,” Gallagher said. “No movement of the enemy forces in Glenrio, but they are still building up.”
“Numbers?”
“Hard to tell exactly, but in excess of ten thousand men,” Gallagher said, “and they have vehicles this time. When they decide to take off, a good portion of them will arrive quickly.”
“What kind of vehicles?”
“Mostly army transport trucks,” Gallagher said.
“Sitting ducks for our folk’s vehicles, then,” Nelson said.
“Yeah, pretty much,” Gallagher said. “The big group from the Dallas area is growing as it makes its way there too. It’s hard to tell them from normal traffic now, because of the instructions sent out over social media, but when you apply a little English, I think the number is more than twenty thousand.”
Nelson’s eyes got wide. “Really?”
“We saw a sharp spike after news of that nerve gas attack hit the airwaves.”
“Things like that always backfire,” Nelson said. “People draw lines, and that kind of attack is over everybody’s line.”
“Damn straight,” Gallagher said. “They’ll regret it.”
“How about the folks coming from the south?”
“Fifteen thousand or so, from what we can tell,” Gallagher said.
“We’ve got another rout coming, even if those two B-1s get involved.”
“If they get involved, F-22s will be there waiting for them,” Gallagher said. “The US Airforce brass wants those bombers shot down as badly as we do.”
“Can the F-22s catch them?”
“Oh, hell yes,” Gallagher said. “Those suckers cruise faster than the B-1s top speed, and that’s without after-burners. The Raptor’s top speed is well over Mach 2. B-1 bombers are great planes, but they can’t get away from an F-22.”
“Well, that’s something at least,” Nelson said.
“I did get some other good news,” Gallagher said. “We lost less men in San Antonio than first reported.”
“Really?”
“Yep,” Gallagher said. “Most of them were in the city center, helping to clean up after the flood. We only had about sixty people at the encampment, and not all of them were killed. We lost about forty.”
“That’s forty too many, but a lot better than I thought,” Nelson said. “You’re about to tell me something else. What is it?”
“Maria’s crazy sister showed up at Kip’s bunker,” he said.
“Uh oh,” Nelson said. “I read the work-up on her. We don’t want her anywhere near our systems.”
“Yep,” Gallagher said. “Kip sent a text about it to Ramsey.”
“He didn’t let her into the bunker, I hope.”
“No, Maria had the guards take her back to the nut house,” Gallagher said.
“Nut house?”
“Sorry, institution,” Gallagher said. “Anyway, Ramsey talked with the head of the mental health department. It didn’t go well.”
“Oh?” Nelson asked.
“He told Ramsey that they couldn’t beef up security to the level he was asking for.”
“So what do we do?” Nelson asked.
“You could lean on the guy a little.”
“Won’t help,” Nelson said. “He doesn’t like me much. I cut his department’s budget a couple of years ago, and audited some of their contractors. One of them had the appearance of a tie to the second-in-command of that department.”
“Ethical violation, huh? How come you didn’t lower the boom?”
“Not enough there to prosecute,” Nelson said. “And the head guy forced the second-in-command out.”
“Oh,” Gallagher said. “Maybe Kip ought to talk with him. They’re on the same side of the political fence, and he’s got the most to lose if this whacko gets loose again.”
Nelson chuckled. “It’s good that you’re in the mil
itary instead of in politics. Nut house and whacko? That’s not very enlightened.”
“So sue me,” Gallagher said. “Want me to talk to Kip, or should I have Ramsey do it?”
“I’ll do it,” Nelson said. “Anything else?”
“What’s going on with Sutton and Holly?”
“We’re letting them stew for a while,” Nelson said, “but I basically believe their story. Ramsey’s still working on saving their families.”
“You trust these guys more than I do,” Gallagher said. “I remember what they were like before all of this started.”
“I know, but now’s not the time to dwell on that,” Nelson said. “We need all factions of Texas society to work together now. I hold no grudge against these two. I just need to be sure that they can’t compromise us.”
“Understand. I’ll see you later, Governor.”
“Thanks for the info,” Nelson said. After Gallagher left, he pushed the button on his speakerphone. “Brian, get me Kip Hendrix please.”
“Yes, Governor,” Brian said.
After a few moments, the speaker phone beeped.
“Governor,” Hendrix said. “What’s up?”
“Maria’s sister. We’ve got a problem with the head of the Mental Health Services department.”
“Cole Stanton,” Hendrix said. “What’s the problem?”
“Ramsey told him how important it was to ensure that she stays at the institution. Stanton is refusing to beef up security on her.”
Hendrix chuckled. “Yeah, Cole can be kind of an asshole. You want me to talk with him, don’t you?”
“Please,” Nelson said. “And don’t let her into the bunker, no matter what. Make sure Maria understands.”
“Okay,” Hendrix said. “She does understand, by the way. She’s the one who sent her back to the center.”
“Good for her,” Nelson said.
“Anything else?” Hendrix asked.
“Ramsey’s men are still looking for Sutton and Holly’s families. It’s not going that well.”
“Based on what these cretins did to Landry’s daughter, they might already be dead.”
“I know, Kip, that fact has crossed my mind. I hope not.”
“Me too,” Hendrix said. “I’ll get with Cole.”
“Thanks,” Nelson said. “See you soon.”
