“Hey, I’m not a Rhodes scholar, but you and I have seen Fort Irwin. This ain’t it. This place is very small. I saw about two dozen different buildings. There’s a runway. It’s like a small forward operating base.”
“How many people are there?”
“A lot.”
“A lot like, how many?”
“I counted more than fifty. But you know what’s odd? Some were working, but each small group had at least one or two people watching over them with guns. Plus, the entire perimeter was being guarded.”
“Why didn’t you tell me about this last night?” asked Samantha.
“I came back late because I stayed as long as I could. I was able to get close, but not close enough to identify faces. When I got back to camp, my dad said you were in your trailer. I thought to knock, but I knew there wasn’t anything we could do about it then,” said Nelson. He was now concerned she might get upset.
“It’s okay, you’re right. I was tired last night. I snuggled up with Haley and went to bed early. So what do you recommend?” Samantha sensed he was being defensive, and after yesterday’s argument with Sandy, she didn’t want to upset one of the few close friends she had.
“Hey!” said Seneca loudly as she walked up on them both.
Samantha and Nelson greeted her. They carried on some small talk before Samantha subtly gave hints that they were busy.
“Um, listen. Sam, I appreciate you helping us out the other night. Thanks for smoothly things over. I, ah, also want to apologize again for Mack. You could say he’s a bit rough around the edges,” Seneca said.
“Rough is an understatement,” quipped Nelson.
Seneca shot him a slight flirtatious smile.
Samantha noticed the way they looked at each other. She could see the attraction they still had. She’d never understood why Seneca broke up with him. When Seneca left Nelson, she left all of their lives. It had been years since Samantha had seen her. At one time they were inseparable friends. They had done everything together, and if it hadn’t been for Seneca, Samantha wouldn’t have met Gordon. Then, without warning one day, Seneca broke up with Nelson and disappeared. Samantha once grilled Nelson over what had happened and even accused him of causing her to leave. But she finally just had to let her go. Now, out of nowhere and to everyone’s surprise, Seneca had shown up. On the outside she looked different, and Samantha wondered if that change was as pronounced on the inside. Maybe, after they settled down in Idaho, she’d be able to get to know her friend all over again.
“Sweetie, Nelson and I need to go soon. So can . . .”
“Sorry, but I’m not here to chitchat. I want to know if Mack and I can help. We have our car, so we can . . .”
“Yes, of course. Sorry to assume.”
“It’s fine. I can’t imagine what you must be going through. Just let me know what we can do.”
Samantha smiled at her old friend. Having her on board to help made her feel better.
The plan they agreed upon took all four of them to a spot closer to the small base Nelson had spotted. He wanted to try to get himself into a position where he’d be close enough to identify who was there.
“So that seems easy,” said Seneca smugly.
“We will see. Like I mentioned before, the place is heavily guarded. Let’s keep our heads down, be quiet, and whatever we do, don’t let them see you.”
Cheyenne Mountain, Colorado
Baxter briskly walked through the dimly lit halls, a white piece of paper clinging to his fingertips. As he came upon personnel, they immediately stood at attention and against the wall. When he reached Cruz’s door, he hesitated before knocking; what he was about to say was heart-wrenching. The few seconds he bought himself didn’t change the fact that he had to be the one to break this news.
He knocked loudly. Then he looked down at the paper and read it again to himself. Maybe he had read it wrong the first five times. Did he miss something? As he slowly scanned each word, he made sure that it said what it said.
The door opened, and there stood Cruz. “General? Is everything okay?”
“Sir, may I come in?” insisted Baxter.
“Sure, sure. Come on in,” said Cruz, opening the door more. “Please ignore the mess. We were so used to housekeepers that we forgot how to housekeep ourselves,” he said, acknowledging the state of his quarters.
“Thank you,” said Baxter, stepping inside.
Cruz closed the door behind him and asked, “So what’s this about?”
“Here,” said Baxter, handing him the paper. “I thought it best I hand-deliver this.”
Cruz took the paper and read it. The concerned look on his face melted to sadness as the words sank in.
“When did they find it?”
“Just thirty minutes ago.”
“Call everyone to the command center ASAP. I’ll be there in five minutes.”
“Yes, sir.”
Cruz was the first to reach the command center. He immediately went into the large briefing room and picked up the phone. “Get me the Colorado governor,” he said into the handset, then put it down.
Baxter was the next to arrive, followed by the rest of the team.
Just as everyone was sitting down, the phone rang.
Cruz grabbed the handset before the second ring. “This is Vice President Cruz. Yes, Governor, we have been informed. When can you get your people here? I understand, but you need to evacuate everyone now. I don’t understand what you mean. Slow down. Who?” Cruz asked, then began clicking on the receiver. “Governor, are you there? Hello, Governor?” Cruz clicked the receiver again. Nothing but silence. He turned to Baxter and ordered, “Get the governor back on the line immediately!”
Baxter turned to leave, but the door burst open before he could reach it.
A young tech sergeant came in, his eyes wide and face flushed. “Sir, excuse me for interrupting, but we have a major situation!”
Cruz dropped the handset and followed as everyone rushed out of the room. The main command center had four rows of glowing monitors, which all faced a much larger LED screen on the wall, showing a computer image of the continental United States. On a smaller screen to the right was an aerial view from an orbiting satellite.
“Sergeant, what is it?” Baxter barked.
“Sir, we just registered a detonation,” the tech sergeant said, sitting back down at his computer. “Here, let me put it on the screen.”
All eyes turned to the main screen.
The tech sergeant maneuvered a cursor and zoomed in on the Denver metro area. East of the city was a red dot that pulsated. He took the cursor there and zoomed in again. The pulsating red dot now enveloped the Denver International Airport.
“Sergeant, what are we looking at here?” Cruz asked.
“Sir, that large red dot signified a nuclear detonation,” the tech sergeant answered soberly.
“Shit!” Cruz blurted out.
“What can you tell about the blast from here?” Baxter asked.
“It’s tough, but the blast seems limited or contained. Like it was a subsurface explosion.”
“Subsurface?” Dylan asked, not knowing what that meant.
“Dylan, it means an explosion underground,” Cruz answered.
“It means the DIA bunker facility is gone and so is the governor and all those people,” Baxter then added.
“We have another,” an airman bellowed from behind his monitor.
“What?” Cruz asked, confused.
“Yes, we are getting data that there has been an event at Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska. It looks like another subsurface detonation.”
“How is this happening? I don’t understand!” Cruz exclaimed.
“Wait, hold on. Sir, we are picking up another one!” the airman yelled .
“Where?” Baxter asked.
Everyone in the room was on pins and needles.
“Raven Rock, Pennsylvania!”
“Mr. Vice President, these are all secure bunker
locations, like Cheyenne Mountain,” Baxter told him.
“What do we do? Evacuate the base?”
“Sir, I don’t think there’s much we can do. These all seem to be coordinated. If this base has been targeted, then it’s only a matter of time. Somehow these locations have been compromised. They store most of our long-term self-storage foods and other needed resources . . .”
“How is this happening? How can this be happening? Why are we so inept?” Cruz shouted.
“I don’t know why, but right now there isn’t much we can do from here,” Baxter said in an attempt to answer the vice president’s repetitive questions.
“There has to be something we can do!” Cruz yelled.
On the big screen a fourth, then a fifth red dot appeared. Dulce Base, New Mexico, followed by Mount Weather, Virginia.
“Sir, those locations held the bulk of our underground stores of food, water, and equipment. We are the last large facility.” Baxter said somberly.
“Then we are a target. We need to evacuate immediately!” Cruz exclaimed, clearly frightened.
“Like I mentioned before, we can attempt to evacuate the entire base, but these attacks look coordinated. If it’s going to happen, it will happen any minute,” Baxter said as he walked to a chair and sat down. He placed his face in his hands.
Everyone looked around nervously. The room was quiet except for the slight hum of equipment and the five low-toned pings that showed the locations of the nuclear detonations.
Cruz also felt the weight of defeat. He walked back into the briefing room and slammed the door behind him.
Tijuana, Mexico
“Is it done?” Pablo asked. “Good, glad to hear it. Really, that’s ahead of schedule. How did . . . Never mind, doesn’t matter. I’ll be there, thank you. Yes, of course I’ll have the payment,” Pablo said, then hung up the satellite phone. He placed it on his father’s desk and twirled it. As he watched it spin, visions of his new role in the world were sinking in. Not since Hitler had someone tried something so bold. Feeling cocky, he stood up and walked to the cabinet behind him. He opened the top door and reached in for a bottle of cognac and a snifter. He poured himself a glass and sat back down. Just as he was about to taste the cognac, a loud knock at the door disturbed his moment.
“What? Who is it?”
The door opened, and in came his mother. Her clothes, hair, and makeup showed the signs of distress.
“Mother! Please sit down. Can I pour you a glass?”
She marched over and slapped him across the face.
A look of anger came over him, but it melted away quickly and was replaced with a smile. “Mother, please sit down.”
She went to slap him again, but he grabbed her wrist.
“Mother, stop! Now you can go sit down or I will have one of my men restrain you.”
She resisted him, but his grip was tight.
“Do you understand me? Either you behave yourself or I’ll have you locked up like Father.”
“You insolent, spoiled brat!” she said, then spat on him.
The spit clung to his cheek like thick plaster.
He wiped his cheek with his sleeve and stood up. Still holding on to her wrist with his left hand, he brought her close. “Mother, my patience is not infinite. If you don’t behave I will have you locked up.”
“I don’t care! Lock me up! How dare you tear down everything your father worked so hard to get for you and our family!” she yelled, her face flushed with anger.
“I haven’t torn down anything. I will take this family to a higher place than he ever could. You will see, Mother. In three days, I’ll show you and Father. I will show you the future of the Juarez family.”
Outside unknown military installation
The prospect of knowing where Gordon and Hunter might be filled Samantha with hope. The reality of where and what it was filled her with dread. What Nelson had described sounded like a prison to her. Armed guards not only guarding the gate and perimeter but guarding others who were working sounded bad. She hoped that today’s trip would provide them enough information, and proof that Gordon and Hunter were alive, so that they could coordinate a rescue.
They had stashed Nelson’s truck behind several large boulders on the opposite side of the mountains that overlooked the camp to the west. The hike to get into a good spotting position took them almost two hours. The steep climb and rough terrain made for an ankle-twisting experience.
Seneca and Mack set up farther south, closer to the vehicle. Nelson was concerned about leaving the truck, so part of their responsibility was to watch the east-west road that led to the camp and make sure no one came up behind them.
Once settled into their hiding position, Samantha pulled out a pair of binoculars. When she first looked through them, the image of the camp was blurry, but as she adjusted the optics, a crystal-clear image appeared. Below her was exactly what Nelson had described. Approximately a dozen armed guards walked the perimeter and stood post at the gate. A group of about twenty men were working on the far east side, too far for her to identify any of them. Throughout the camp she saw others coming in and going out of buildings, but again it was impossible to identify anyone. Frustrated that she couldn’t see Gordon or Hunter, she put the binoculars down and grunted, “Damn.”
“Let me guess. It’s too difficult to make out anyone?” Nelson quipped. He too had a pair of binoculars and was scanning the base; however, he was looking for weaknesses in their defenses.
“Yes, that, and do you see how many armed men are there? Even if we spotted Gordon and Hunter, how would we get them out?” Samantha said. Knowing she needed to get past this feeling, she picked up her binoculars and began to look again. She strained her eyes to see the men on the far east side. She looked for children but couldn’t see any. As the men worked on the far side coming and going, she attempted to spot any of Gordon’s obvious traits.
“Hey, do you hear that?” Nelson asked. He lowered his binoculars and cocked his head as if that would improve his hearing.
“Yeah, I do. What is—”
“Over there!” Nelson exclaimed, pointing to the north of the base.
Six Humvees with mounted guns were heading toward the camp at high speed.
Samantha turned and looked. “Who’s that?”
“I don’t know,” Nelson answered.
Shouting erupted from the camp as they too saw the incoming vehicles.
The Humvees soon opened fire with .50-caliber machine guns. The distinct deep thumping sound from the .50s engulfed the valley.
Both Nelson and Samantha watched in amazement as the Humvees drew closer, guns blazing, and the personnel in the camp ran like cockroaches when the lights come on.
Soon, though, the guards recovered and began to return fire. Their collective effort quickly destroyed one of the Humvees.
The berm provided the camp guards adequate protection, and soon they were able to stop two more advancing Humvees.
Samantha peered down on the surreal events. People were running everywhere, but she took notice of the several people running toward the south berm, which was now left unattended. One was a woman dressed in what appeared to be a nightgown. Samantha thought her attire was odd. She watched her run straight across the runway and helicopter pads. Seeing this woman and two men make a break for it gave Samantha hope that if Gordon and Hunter were there, they too might take advantage of the distraction.
Her hopes soon were dashed as she saw someone with a rifle take aim and fire several shots. Immediately following the shots one of the men fell hard. To Samantha it looked as if he was dead before he hit the ground.
The shooting of this man caused the woman to make a hard right and start to head west. Bullets hit the ground behind her as the guard who had shot the man targeted her.
Samantha found herself cheering for the woman—come on.
More bullets came flying toward the woman, this time hitting the ground just before her. She darted left, then right an
d kept erratically moving until she reached the berm. The woman lunged and rolled to the opposite side. On the far side of the berm and safe from bullets, she plotted her next move. She looked toward the mountain in front of her; the rough terrain and rock outcroppings made it an attractive place to hide.
Samantha was so nervous for this poor woman. Then a thought came to mind—this woman could know about Gordon and Hunter.
“We have to help her!” Samantha said loudly to Nelson.
“What? How?” he asked--.
“She could know about Gordon and Hunter. We have to help her!”
“Okay, what do you have in mind?”
Inside unknown military installation
The instant the attack came Gordon knew this was his time to act.
He grabbed Derek by the shoulder and said, “Now’s the time, let’s go!”
“Now?”
“Yes!” Gordon exclaimed as he pulled out the knife Hunter had given him.
The guard who was in charge of watching them was still there, but his attention was focused on the action happening at the north end of the base.
Gordon flipped open the blade and walked briskly over to the guard, whose back was toward him. Not hesitating one more second, he grabbed the man by the face, covering his mouth with his left hand, and slit his throat. Blood squirted out of the open artery; then the large volume of blood just cascaded down from the open wound and covered his body. The guard went limp in Gordon’s arm. Knowing he was dead, Gordon let him fall to the ground.
“Let’s get my boy!” Gordon said loudly as he picked up the guard’s semiauto rifle and what extra magazines he could carry.
Pandemonium was gripping the base. People were running all over the place. Some of Rahab’s people ran for the cover of the buildings, while most of his henchmen were assembling at the northern berm and engaging the soldiers. His captives were also reacting in various ways. Some huddled together, scared and unsure of what to do. Others ran toward the perimeter of the base. The other men Gordon was with took off for the eastern berm; beyond them was an open expanse of desert.
Automatic gunfire, screams, and cries made for a symphony of chaos.
“Here!” Gordon said as he handed Derek the blood-covered knife.
The Long Road - A Post Apocalyptic Novel (The New World) Page 20
