Bug Out! Part 5: RV Flight from Terror

by Robert Boren

  “That wouldn’t be advisable,” Jerry said. “They’ve been compromised. We don’t know who’s good and who’s not.”

  “You aren’t suggesting that we go after these guys ourselves?” Jane asked.

  “Actually, we probably stand a better chance of taking out the leaders than anybody else,” Jerry said.

  Jasmine laughed. “You’re a bunch of old guys. They wouldn’t let any of you into the army at this point….not even you, Jerry, and you’re the youngest next to Jackson.”

  “That means they won’t be expecting a problem from us,” Frank said. “Older people tend to be invisible to the young.”

  Jasmine thought to herself for a few minutes. “Alright, I get what you’re saying. There’s something else we can do if we don’t think we can work with the authorities.”

  “What’s that?” Jerry asked.

  “We use their social media against them, both to trip them up and to alert the general public.”

  “I like where you’re going with this,” Frank said.

  “Me too, but I’m still a little apprehensive about going after these guys ourselves,” Jane said. “Yes, we would blend in and appear not to be a threat, but aren’t we going against hardened forces here? You really think they’re going to let us waltz in and take out their leadership?”

  Jerry chuckled.

  “I’d rather go against their twenty-something true believers than Jeb. Or the Sheriff. Or Frank, for that matter. How many of those bastards did you take out again, Frank?”

  Frank just looked at him and smiled. “I think we had a lot of luck on our side.”

  “I wouldn’t call the action in town luck,” Jerry said. “We bested them.”

  “True, and a lot of that credit goes to Jane and Jasmine,” Frank said, “but we were going against a nutcase then. Not battle hardened enemy troops. We lost somebody, too, remember? I say we concentrate on gathering the info first. When we have that, we’ll figure out what to do with it. After we’ve got what we need, we can do a lot to shut down their communications, too.”

  “Yes, that’s the first step,” Jasmine said.

  “Good,” Frank said. “Jane, we need you to make a judgment on this place. If we can get away with sticking around here for a few days, it would be helpful. See if you can figure out what direction the cretins are moving.”

  “Will do,” she said.

  “I would ask Kurt and Mary if there are alternate locations fairly close by that we could move to in a hurry if we get into trouble,” Jerry said.

  “Good advice,” Jane said. “I’ll do that too.”

  Jeb walked up, picking at his teeth with a toothpick.

  “I’m ready when you guys are,” he said.

  Frank picked up his plate and Jane’s and took them over to the trash can. Jerry did the same.

  “I’m going to go get the laptop out of my rig so Jasmine can get started,” Jerry said.

  “Sounds like a plan,” Frank said. “If you have a power strip you might want to bring it along. I think the one under the PC desk is full up now.”

  “Roger that,” Jerry said as he walked away. Jasmine rushed over and joined him as he went out the door. They walked out arm in arm.

  “I’m going to take Lucy for a quick turn around the park,” Jane said. “You want to come along?”

  “Sure,” Frank said. He turned back to Jeb. “I’ll be back in a few minutes. Go ahead and start running through video again. It’s all set up.” Jeb nodded as Frank and Jane walked over to where Lucy was sleeping.

  “C’mon, girl, let’s go for a walk,” Jane said. They got her on the leash and went outside. Jane shivered. “Should have brought my sweater. It’s getting cold out here.”

  “Sure is,” Frank said.

  They walked along silently for a few minutes. Then Jane turned over to him.

  “There isn’t anywhere safe now, is there?”

  “I don’t think I’d go that far, sweetie,” Frank said.

  “We allowed these creeps to infiltrate our army, and who knows what else.”

  “I know, but the fight isn’t over yet. Not by a long shot.”

  “And what if we win? Is our government going to take advantage and enslave us, like they appear to be doing in California?”

  “That possibility has been on my mind for a while,” Frank said. “I wouldn’t worry about it too much. People are getting upset about that bullshit in California….even on the coast. Rami isn’t happy, and he’s the kind of guy who never complains about anything.”

  “You talked to Rami?” she asked.

  “Yes, I called him. I needed to use my account at work to get onto some outside servers….like the FBI facial recognition server. He’s blocking for me, so I don’t get locked out.”

  “How is he?”

  “Still working way too late,” Frank said. “He told me that we shouldn’t come back to California.”

  “Wonder if the resistance is getting any traction yet?”

  “Well, I’d love to know, but I’m not going to spend time looking into it right now,” Frank said. “We have some enemies to kill.”

  “You really think we are going to be able to do anything against these folks?”

  “Yes, I do,” Frank said. “Knowledge is more important than numbers when you’re targeting leadership folks like these. We’ll get at least some of them.”

  “Won’t they just be replaced with others?”

  “Of course, but it will cause big problems for them, and of course then we’ll target whoever takes over. This is going to be a long row to hoe.”

  “I don’t want to spend the rest of my life fighting,” Jane said.

  “Neither do I, but this is what we’ve been dealt, I’m afraid. If we can help get things back to normal for our kids and grandkids, I’ll die a happy man.”

  Jane put her arm around his waist and got closer to him.

  “I know,” she said. “That’s one of the things I love about you, but I don’t want to lose you.”

  “I don’t want to lose you either, sweetie. We’ll just have to look out for each other as best we can. We have good friends. I’d give my life for any of them, and I think they’d do the same.”

  “I know, me too,” she said.

  “You done, Lucy?” Frank asked. She turned her head towards him and wagged her tail.

  “Guess that’s a yes,” Jane said. “Let’s get back.”

  They walked back over to the clubhouse and went in. Jasmine and Jerry were back with their laptop, and were in the process of setting it up on another table.

  Frank walked up behind Jeb and Charlie and Earl, who were watching the rest of the video from the back cameras. “See anything else?”

  “Just killing,” Jeb said, shaking his head. “These guys weren’t too interested in taking prisoners.”

  “Hell, they didn’t even take a general prisoner,” Jerry said, walking over. “How stupid is that?”

  “Really stupid, and they’ll regret it,” Frank said.

  “Hey, look at that,” Earl said. “They’re leaving. See them pulling the trucks out of there?”

  The rest of the men looked at the screen.

  “Yeah, there goes the tank, too,” Jeb said. “They’re getting out of dodge fast. Wonder where they’re going in such a hurry?”

  “Good question,” Frank said. “Really good question…and why did they send such a large force there in the first place?”

  “I’ll bet they knew that the General was there,” Jerry said. “After all, he was the CO of the whole area.”

  “Right, forgot about that,” Frank said “but again, why the hell didn’t they take him prisoner? He should have been worth more to them alive than dead.”

  “Well, that all depends,” Earl said. “Can we tell what kind of traffic is hitting the camera that shows the heads on spikes?”

  “Shit, another good question,” Frank said, “and yes, I can tell. Give me a minute.”

  Frank went over
to the PC and sat down. He started searching around.

  Jasmine walked up behind him.

  “Frank, can you shoot me the names of the bad guys so I can get started?”

  “Sure, I’ll put them in an email and send them to you. I’ll need to cut and paste the name of the Islamist. It’s long. His nickname is Saladin.”

  Jasmine laughed. “Saladin, huh. He’s got a crusades fixation.”

  “Most of those idiots do,” Frank said.

  She gave him the email address, then noticed his screen. “What’re you doing there?” she asked.

  “Checking traffic on that camera that shows our friend’s heads on spikes,” Frank said.

  “Oh,” she said. “Actually, that’s a good clue for me. Send me anything you find out about how that has been put out there, especially if it’s viral.”

  “Will do,” Frank said. Some results came up on the screen. “Wow.”

  “Don’t tell me, let me guess. Viral?” asked Earl.

  “Way viral, but not to our system. Look, they captured video and put it on YouTube with captions in English and Arabic,” Frank said. “It’s getting hits from all around the world. Millions. I’ll bet there’s stuff on the US Media about this.”

  “If there isn’t, it’s being censored,” Jerry said.

  “This is disgusting,” Hilda said. She came up behind Charley and put her hand on his shoulder.

  Frank wrote the email for Jasmine. He did some cut and paste and some typing, and then sent the message.

  “OK, Jasmine, the info is on its way,” he said.

  “Thanks.” She walked back over to her laptop, just as Jane hurried over.

  “Guess what?” Jane asked.

  “I’m too tired to guess,” Frank said. “What?”

  “Ever hear of a supply depot called Tooele?”

  “I have,” Jerry said, standing up. “They hit that place? You know its north of here.”

  “Yes, they hit it. Killed everybody manning the place. They got in, stole trucks and tanks and gobs of small arms stuff, and split before any reinforcements could arrive from Salt Lake City. The reports I’m seeing say the enemy force came down from Canada, through Montana and into Wyoming, then down into northern Utah. After hitting the supply depot, they blasted their way down I-15 to link up with southern enemy forces. Guess where?”

  “Right in my backyard,” Hilda said, sighing.

  “You got it,” Jane said. “The reports I’m reading say that the force is headed into Arizona to go against the army there. Everybody thinks they want to take Arizona and then open the southern border back up.”

  “Which means we can probably stick around here for a few days,” Charlie said.

  “Probably,” Jane said. “From what I’m seeing, they have a lot bigger fish to fry than us.”

  “Take a look and see if any other action happened shortly after they hit the park,” Frank said. “They left the park in a rush……almost in a panic.”

  “’Kay, will do,” she said. She sat down and got back to her iPad.

  “Hey, look at this!” Jeb said. “The Lieutenant and his men survived. Look. They’re collecting weapons and loading them into that Humvee.”

  “How long after the attack is that?”

  “Just over an hour,” Jerry said. “Look, they’ve got a truck too. Good, they’re getting a lot of equipment picked up that the enemy left when they took off so fast.”

  “There’s another Humvee,” Jeb said. “They must be pulling them out of the barn.”

  Earl started cracking up. He pointed to the screen.

  “Well, I’ll be damned,” Jeb said. “That private is getting the booze out of the blind.”

  “Wonder if he’s getting the magazines too?” Jerry said, laughing.

  “Men”, Hilda said. She smiled. Charlie kissed her forehead.

  “There they go. Two Humvees and a truck,” Earl said. “I hope they got away clean.”

  “Me too,” Charlie said. “Wish they were here with us.”

  “Hey, this Philip Carlson character is a real idiot,” Jasmine said. “You should see all the info I’m getting. He’s bragging about all kinds of stuff, and leaving a big fat trail.”

  “Anything on the other guys?”

  “Haven’t finished the initial search on Simon Orr yet,” she said. “He appears to be a lot smarter than Philip. He at least tries to cover his tracks. The one that’s the most interesting is Saladin, though.”

  “Why,” Frank asked.

  “His online persona is being managed. By professionals.”

  “Really?” Jerry asked.

  “Yeah, really,” she said. “Just like a politician or executive.”

  “Does that make him harder to track?” Earl asked.

  “For most people, yes,” Jasmine said. “But for me, no. He’s going to be easy. I worked in this business. I know this stuff like the back of my hand. It will take a little time, though. Lots of layers to bust through, and you can’t do it fast.”

  “Good, then I’d concentrate on him. He’s probably our most important target,” Jeb said.

  Frank’s phone rang. At the same time, Lucy ran over and started to growl, looking at the door. Jane saw that and rushed over, picking up her M-16 on the way. Everybody froze and started looking around, hands on weapons. Frank pulled his phone out of his pocket and answered it.

  “Hello?”

  “Frank, it’s Lieutenant James. I’ve got a couple Humvees and a truck right outside your gate. Can you guys let me in?”

  “Hell yes, just a second,” he said. Then he took the phone away from his ear and looked for Kurt. He saw him over by the entrance to the kitchen. “Kurt, we have friends at the gate. Army friends from Hilda’s park. Can you let them in, please?”

  “Will do,” he said, and he hurried out the door.

  “Kurt is coming to open the gate. It’s great to hear from you.”

  “Glad to be here, let me tell you. Is there a Doctor around?”

  “Yes, there’s one in the clubhouse now.”

  “Good, I’ve got a couple of wounded men,” he said.

  Chapter 11 – Who is the Enemy?

  Frank and Jerry ran towards the door, followed by Hilda, Jane, Earl, and Jeb. Kurt was at the gate talking with the person in the driver’s seat of the first Humvee. He pointed over to a spot close to the clubhouse. The Humvee slowly drove over where Kurt pointed, followed by the second Humvee and the military truck. Kurt secured the gate again.

  Lieutenant James got out of the passenger side of the first Humvee. He looked over at Frank and Jerry approaching, and smiled.

  “Boy am I glad to see you guys,” he said.

  “You alright?” Frank asked.

  “Yes, I came out of this one without a scratch, but I’ve got two privates that need some attention. In the clubhouse?”

  “Yeah,” Jerry said. Mary was walking up.

  “Hi, I’m Mary. I’m the doctor. You have wounded?”

  “Yes, ma’am,” the Lieutenant said. “I’m Lieutenant James. We were at Hilda’s park with your guests.”

  “I figured that was the case,” Mary said, smiling warmly. “Bring your men into the Clubhouse. We still have some food left if you’re hungry, and we can whip up more.”

  “Thanks,” he said. Men were piling out of the truck and the other Humvee. Four of the men came over in pairs, with stretchers.

  “In the clubhouse, sir?” one of the privates asked.

  “Yes,” he replied. They went back to the truck, and several other men helped them get the wounded loaded up. Then they hurried them into the clubhouse, and put them on tables next to each other. Mary walked up and looked at the first man. She got a grim look on her face. Then she looked at the other one. Jasmine helped Rosie over.

  “I help,” Rosie said.

  “Good,” Mary said. “Stay with them while I go talk with the Lieutenant.” Rosie nodded. Jasmine stayed to help her mother.

  “Lieutenant,” Mary said
.

  “Yes,” he replied. “How bad?”

  “The one on the table closest to the window isn’t going to make it,” Mary said. “I’m so sorry. I might be able to save the other one.”

  The Lieutenant nodded, and Mary rushed back over and started working.

  “We saw you guys escape over the side fence on the park video,” Jeb said. “Did you blow something up in front of the park after that?”

  “Sure did,” he said. “We hit one of their trucks. It was full of ammo, too. The explosion took out a couple other vehicles next to it. That’s why we have wounded. Private Stennis was too close, and got hit in the head with a big piece of shrapnel. Private Henry took one in the torso.”

  “How did you guys find us?” Frank asked.

  “Well, I was in the barn when the General told you guys which route to take. We’ve driven past more than one RV Park. Luckily we could see your rigs from outside this one.”

  “Yeah, this place doesn’t provide much cover, but I’m glad you found us,” Jerry said. “You know that a bunch of soldiers turned against you back by the blinds, right?”

  The Lieutenant got a shocked look on his face.

  “No, I didn’t. We were out on a patrol when the first wave of enemy fighters blasted through the front gate. We knew there were way too many, so we escaped behind the store. Then we found their vehicles, killed their sentries, and blew the supply truck. Right after that we heard a whole bunch of men coming down the highway on foot, so we climbed up onto the hillside and watched them go by. There must have been four or five hundred men going down that road. We looked around trying to re-link up with the Major and the General and our other guys, but we couldn’t find them. When it was quiet for a while we came back in through the parking area in the back. Everybody we found back there was dead. Their guys and our guys.”

  “We looked at a lot of video,” Jeb said. “We know who the leaders were in that attack.”

  “Excellent,” the Lieutenant smiled. “We could relay that to General Walker.”

  Jerry and Frank looked at each other. Jeb just looked down silently.

  “You don’t know, do you?” Frank asked.

  “What?” the Lieutenant asked, looking concerned.