by Robert Boren
“Mostly dead,” Wallis said. “There were only about twenty men on each boat, though. We lost all the DPS patrol boats and some of our crews too.”
“Dammit,” Gallagher said.
“We’re being squeezed, to insure we stay within our borders,” Hendrix said, “That’s pretty clear.”
“Yes,” Wallis said.
“How long can we survive without the ports?” Hendrix asked.
“We’ll start seeing problems after about two months,” Nelson said. “We do have some pressure relief valves. Not sure how long they’ll last, though.”
“What are they?” Ramsey asked.
“We’ve got friendlies in Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Louisiana who are moving supplies to us,” Nelson said. “This doesn’t leave the room, okay? That’s one of the reasons I wanted the drones so badly. To protect supply convoys.”
“Why are they squeezing us so hard now?” Hendrix asked.
“They’re afraid we’ll seal up New Mexico,” Gallagher said. “Had a brief chat with General Hogan about that earlier. Those citizen groups he’s working with have caused a lot of death and destruction. The enemy needs more men and materials. They can’t count on California anymore. The worm is starting to turn there.”
“Good,” Hendrix said.
“Yeah, good, except it dumps more pressure on us,” Gallagher said.
“What are we gonna do about the gulf now?” Hendrix asked.
“We’ve got more patrol boats in the manufacturing pipeline,” Wallis said. “We’re extremely short on crews now, though. It’s a bad situation. We’ll have to beef up our protection from shore to compensate.”
“We have the stuff?” Ramsey asked.
“Gonna be tough,” Gallagher said. “We’re already moving assets around from one crisis to another. That battle in San Antonio was a great victory, but it forced us to take our eye off the strategic. We’re back in reactive mode, and we don’t have the weapons or men to cover everywhere they might pop up.”
“Dammit,” Hendrix said. “This will lead to more civilian deaths.”
“What about the Fort Stockton group?” Hendrix asked. “They still gonna do the attack in Santa Fe, or would we see retaliation from the Feds on that too?”
“I’m more worried about the attack they’ve got coming at them,” Wallis said. “The build-up on the New Mexico border is still going on.”
“What are our folks gonna do next?” Hendrix asked.
“We don’t know yet,” Gallagher said.
“They’re gonna stop in just a few minutes and talk to the people following their convoy,” Ramsey said.
“How many people is it looking like now?” Hendrix asked.
“Could be as many as five thousand, based on the latest recon I got,” Wallis said, “and get this. There’s another huge group coming in.”
“Good guys or bad guys?” Ramsey asked.
“Good guys, we think,” Wallis said.
“From where?” Nelson asked.
“Dallas and Fort Worth,” Wallis said. “It’s a lot bigger than the other group, and they’re heading right towards Amarillo on route 287.”
Gallagher chuckled. “Their social media campaign is working. This could be huge, you know. Something we can replicate.”
“They gonna make it in time?” Hendrix asked.
“That’s the real question,” Wallis said.
“Let’s keep our fingers crossed,” Nelson said.
“I think we ought to get good numbers and use them to adjust the arrival in Amarillo,” Hendrix said.
“Yeah, Kip’s right,” Gallagher said. “We should work that right now, and get word to the group.”
“Agreed,” Nelson said. “I’ve got to work on other things at the moment. Can the rest of you stay on and work it?”
“Yep,” Wallis said.
“Let’s do it,” Hendrix said.
Chapter 28 – The Rodeo
Kyle watched the road as they pulled into Lamesa.
“We’ll clog up the truck stops real good,” he said.
“That’s an understatement,” Kate said. “Eric’s gonna flag down some of the followers, right?”
“Yeah,” Kyle said. “Hope he’s careful. Hope they’re good guys. I’m going in here.” He drove his truck onto the big truck-stop lot and went to an open pump. Others flooded in, lining up. The truck stop across the street filled up too. Other cars stopped on the curbs to wait.
When Kyle got out of his truck, several people cheered. Kate went to the store to get coffee.
“We’re with you guys, man!” yelled somebody from about ten stalls over. “Bitchen machine gun.”
Kyle smiled and nodded to the man, then pumped gas. He looked around at the sea of vehicles lined up now, trailing way down the street as far as he could see.
“Damn, we’re liable to run these guys right outta fuel,” Kate said as she walked back over, two coffee cups in her hands. “Huge line at the coffee station in there too. I beat the rush.”
“I think these folks are friendlies,” Kyle said, taking one as he finished fueling up. “Thanks for the joe.”
Jason, Eric, and Kim trotted over, Paco trying to keep up. “Hey, man, we’re gonna have a quick meeting just outside of town, so stop there, okay?” Eric asked. “The locals say there’s a huge flat spot that we can park on. They use it for parking when they have a rodeo over there. Should hold a lot of our rigs. There’s good shoulder several miles on either side too.”
“Who are they?” Kate asked. “You talk to them?”
“Yeah,” Eric said. “A bunch of them fought with us in the last battle, but there’s gobs more.”
“There’s a huge group on the way from the Dallas area too,” Kim said. “Don called us. The social media thing is working.”
“This RV park won’t hold everybody,” Jason said. “You guys know that, right?”
“We need to strategize,” Kyle said. “We might want them outside of that area so we can draw in the enemy.”
“Yeah, Junior came up with the same idea,” Jason said. “I was on the phone with him and Kelly a little while ago.”
“I’m full, so I’d better move out of the way,” Kyle said. “See you down at that lot.”
“Yeah, man,” Jason said.
Kyle and Kate got into their truck and drove off the truck stop lot, heading down route 87 through town.
“This town is bigger than I expected,” Kyle said, looking around. Look, the gas stations down here are full too. Wow.”
“We’re raising an army, aren’t we?”
“Seems that way,” Kyle said. “Hope I recognize the space they were talking about.”
“It’s thinning out now, so I don’t think we’ll have a problem,” Kate said. “Probably desolate outside of town.”
“Look, beyond that small clump of buildings to the right. See that huge patch of hard-pack there?”
“Yeah, I see it. Looks like the spot. Think the dirt’s hard enough?”
“Only one way to find out,” Kyle said. He turned onto the dirt hard-pack. The vehicle lurched as it dropped off the shoulder of the road but then settled on the surface. “Level as a pool table.”
“I wouldn’t go that far,” Kate said, gripping her seat.
“I’m gonna pull all the way to the far end and park diagonally, heading back onto the highway.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Kate said. “Slow down a little.”
He glanced over at her and chuckled.
“Really,” she said. “The trailer is behind us. I don’t want everything all over the floor.”
“Good point,” Kyle said, slowing way down. They rolled to the end, and he made a sweeping turn, heading to the highway. There was a farm house just across the small dirt road that bordered the space.
“Here comes more vehicles,” Kate said, pointing.
“Yeah,” Kyle said. “This must be it.”
They both got out. A little old man with a shotgun trotted over from the house.
“We were just stopping for a brief meeting,” Kyle said. “We’ll be gone pretty soon.”
He squinted, looking at the top of the truck’s roll bar. “Holy crap, is that a machine gun?”
“Yeah,” Kyle said.
“You’re that group that took on the heathens north of Fort Stockton, ain’t ya?”
“Yep,” Kate said.
He grinned. “Stay as long as you like.” He lowered the shotgun. “Pleasure to have you here. Name’s Jake.”
“Kyle and Kate,” Kyle said. “Thanks.”
Vehicles flooded onto the property, parking neatly in rows behind and beside Kyle and Kate’s rig.
“Wow,” Jake said. “Battle coming?”
“Sure is,” Kyle said. “Not around here, though. We’re headed north.”
They watched in awe as the huge field filled up.
Jake chuckled. “Glad I gassed up today. You guys probably bought everything.”
“We were thinking the same thing,” Kate said.
“You’re purty,” Jake said. “Ever been on TV?”
Kate’s face turned red. “I was a news person for a while,” she said. “West of here, though.”
“I knew it,” he said. “I remember you. Thought you were great.”
“Thanks,” she said.
“Wow, my woman is a celeb.” Kyle grinned.
Jason trotted over with Carrie and Chelsea, Kelly and Brenda hot on their heels, followed by Junior and Rachel, Don and Sydney, and Curt with Amanda.
“Can you believe this?” Brenda asked.
“After what happened in that last battle, yes,” Curt said. “Texas has the best people in the world.”
“You better believe it,” Jake said.
“Who’s this?” Amanda asked.
“Everybody, this is Jake. Jake, this is…”
“Stop!” Jake said. “No need. I know who you are, and you guys have bigger fish to fry. Mind if I listen in?”
“No problem,” Jason said.
“You look familiar too,” Jake said. “Shit, you’re one of those Austin cops that whacked the Islamists when this stuff started.”
Junior laughed. “We were all in on that. Well, most of us, anyway.”
“I’ll be damned,” Jake said. “Need more people? Love to join, and I got a lot of friends just itching to strike back.”
“Hell yeah,” Kelly said. “Might be rough, though.”
“I can take rough,” Jake said. “The hardest part will be telling the wife.”
Curt chuckled.
“Look at all the vehicles,” Carrie said. “They’re not going to fit on this land.”
“There’s another piece of land like this on the other side of my house,” Jake said. “Feel free.”
“I’ll go direct them,” Junior said.
“I’ll help,” Rachel said. They ran out to the street and pointed at the other spot.
Dirk, Chance, Francis, Sherry, and Cindy all showed up, followed by many people they didn’t know.
“Want a bull horn?” Jake asked. “Got one at the house. Use it for the rodeo.”
“That would be excellent,” Jason said.
People gathered around tighter and tighter as vehicles continued to arrive and park, on the highway shoulder and in the new space past the house.
Moe and Clancy walked over. “We left the tanks on the shoulder, with crews to protect them,” Moe said.
“I don’t know of an RV Park anywhere that will hold this many people,” Clancy said. “Geez.”
“I just talked to Ramsey a few minutes ago,” Jason said. “There’s an even larger group on the way from the Dallas area, believe it or not.”
“Holy shit,” Dirk said. “What are we gonna do with them all?”
“They aren’t ours to do anything with,” Curt said. “They’re coming to stop the enemy.”
“Damn straight,” yelled a large man with a blonde beard and a shaved head. “My name’s Jax. What’s the plan?”
“Here’s the bullhorn,” Jake said, handing it to Jason. He got into the back of Kyle’s pickup, leaning against the roll bar and machine gun.
“Everybody hear me?” Jason asked through the bullhorn.
“Yeah,” Jax said.
There were others saying yes in the crowd, which appeared to be over five hundred people, and growing fast.
“How many of you guys were at the battle north of Fort Stockton?” Jason asked.
About half of them raised their hands.
“Thanks for that!” Jason said. “I’m glad to see you here. Texas needs all of us now. Things have gotten worse. The Feds and Islamists are squeezing us, and trying to keep us from shutting down their men and materiel flowing through New Mexico.”
“Yeah, we heard about Galveston,” somebody yelled from the crowd.
“That’s right,” Jason said. “They’re trying to choke off our supplies and fuel. They’re also trying to keep the National Guard busy with attacks like we just saw in San Antonio.”
“We kicked their asses there!” somebody yelled.
“Yes, we did, but it took our people away from the task at hand,” Jason said. “They slowed us from taking out the supply line in New Mexico. We need to get out of reactive mode and attack.”
“So what’s the plan?” Jax yelled.
“There’s a huge supply depot in Santa Fe, New Mexico. We’re planning to take a team across the border to destroy it. There’s a big problem, though.”
“What’s that?” somebody yelled.
“There’s a huge force of Islamists massing on the New Mexico border,” Jason said. “They’ve been watching the same social media you guys have. They know we were planning to set up a base in Amarillo. They’re going to attack us there.”
“So what do we do?” somebody next to Jax yelled.
“We want to draw them in and kill them all,” Jason said. “Then we want to go take out that supply depot.”
“We should consider doing both at the same time,” Junior shouted.
“Junior, come on up here and use the bullhorn,” Jason said.
“Okay.” He scrambled up onto the truck bed and took the bullhorn. “Everybody hear me?”
“Yeah, pencil neck,” Curt yelled. People in the crowd laughed.
“Okay,” Junior said. “We should draw the fight and take a smaller group into Santa Fe to take out that depot. We’ve got enough people.”
“This is enough people for something like that?” Jax asked.
Jason took back the bullhorn.
“There’s another group on their way in from the Dallas area,” he said. “It’s bigger than this group. A lot bigger.”
Jax laughed. “Bitchen. So what now?”
“We need to hide our numbers,” Jason said. “I’ll throw out a suggestion. Our core group goes ahead. Give us about three hour’s lead. Then every hour after that, more people take off. Not huge numbers. That way it’ll be harder for the Feds to see what’s going on with their satellite imagery.”
“Wouldn’t they have already seen us showing up here?” asked Dirk.
“Yeah, that could be a problem,” somebody else shouted.
“I got a suggestion,” Jake said. “Let’s set up the rodeo stuff. I can get a bunch of livestock here in no time, and the group can hang out on the bleachers for a while. We dole people out from here slowly. If they see that in their satellite pictures, it might fool them about the large movement of folks.”
“Damn good idea,” Jason said. “We’ll get on social media and ask the folks coming from the Dallas area to spread out too.”
“Sounds like a good plan,” Curt yelled. “Let’s do it.”
Jake climbed onto the truck bed and took back the bullhorn. “Okay, everybody, let’s work this. I’ll enlist townspeople too. We’ll get bleachers set up. Even do some real rodeo to keep you entertained, and we’ll get a barbeque going as well to get you all fed.
Sound like a plan?”
There was a huge cheer from the group.
Jason took back the bullhorn. “Okay, everybody, we’ll keep in touch. We’re gonna nail these cretins in two locations. Catch them with their pants down. Long live Texas!”
The people cheered as Jason, Junior, and Jake got off Kyle’s truck.
“You really think you can pull that off, old man?” Junior asked.
“Damn straight,” Jake said. “You really think you can take out that depot in Santa Fe? That’s a long ways into New Mexico.”
Junior grinned. “Same answer.”
Chapter 29 – Action in Purgatory
Richardson and the big Mexican man stared at each other.
“You have somebody in that boat?”
“Yeah. That’s a DPS Patrol Boat,” Richardson said. “It’s got two .50 cal’s on it, manned by two of my men. We’re DPS agents.”
“There’s no lakes back there,” the man said, looking Richardson up and down. The woman looked scared to death. “No rivers big enough to float a boat that big either. What are you doing back here?”
“We’re being chased by the Islamists. We need a place to lay low for a while. I used to hunt back there. Know the terrain.”
“Oh,” the man said. “You got any credentials? There’s been some real scumbags coming through here, doing home invasions and taking away women. Islamist bastards.”
“I’m going to approach. Don’t shoot, okay? I’m not here to hurt you guys.”
“Come ahead,” the man said. Jason walked over to him and pulled out his wallet, then fished out his DPS ID.
“Here you go,” Richardson said, handing it to him.
The man took it and looked it over, then handed it back. “Checks out. What do you plan to do?”
“Camp out for a few days. I’m Richardson. This is Lita, my wife.”
Lita nodded to him cautiously.
“I’m Roberto,” the man said. “Good to meet you. This is my wife, Kris. Sorry, hard to know who to trust anymore.”
“I know,” Richardson said.
“The road is on my property but there’s an easement that belongs to the Purgatory Creek folks. Probably a good place to hide out. Nobody’s been back here for a while. Not since all the nonsense started.”
“Okay,” Richardson said. “Thanks so much. We’re gonna unhook the boat back there, then take the truck back through here to make a supply run. We’ll try to be back before dark so we don’t bother you.”
