by Robert Boren
“You really going to point that artillery piece down the road?”
Sam chuckled as they got back into the Jeep.
“No, I think that would be a bad idea,” he said.
“Why?”
“First off, we have the Tigr, and that ought to be enough. Secondly, that artillery could bring down the side of the mountain over our little road. If that happens, we won’t be able to drive out of here. Be different if we had a bulldozer, but we don’t.”
“Oh,” Connie said. “So what do we do?”
“Wait, watch, and keep a cool head,” Sam said. “At least we’ve taken care of the immediate Islamist problem.”
“Wonder who’s worse?” Connie asked. “The Islamists or the UN?”
“That’s the real question,” Sam said, as he started the Jeep and k-turned, heading back to the RV Park.
Chapter 17 – World at War
Seth rushed down to Emma as the others helped Ji-Ho bring the guns off the rooftop deck.
“The police are going to come get us,” Emma said.
“I wouldn’t worry about it,” Seth said. “We just sank five boatloads of invaders. Then the navy came along and sank the main boat. I don’t think we’re in trouble. If anything, they’ll thank us.”
Emma looked at him, still trembling. “Hold me, dummy.”
Seth pulled her close, hugging her as she sobbed against his chest.
Kaylee and Matt came inside. “You okay, Emma?” she asked.
“I’m okay,” she said. “I don’t like this.”
“None of us like this,” Matt said.
Ji-Ho walked in with Angel and Trevor.
“Anything else happen?” Seth asked.
“No,” Ji-Ho said. “I call police chief and tell. He fine. We fine.”
“So what now?” Emma asked.
“Nothing,” Trevor said. “We just did a good thing. Don’t worry about it.”
“Let’s watch the news for a while,” Matt said. “Maybe they’ll say something.”
Ji-Ho picked up the remote and clicked on the TV. “Hungry?”
“Kaylee and I will whip something up,” Emma said. “We found what we needed.”
“Ah, very good,” Ji-Ho said. “Many thanks.”
“Thank you for giving us a place to stay,” Matt said.
“Yes, thanks,” Trevor said. The others nodded in agreement.
“Hey, look at the screen!” Jamie said.
“What is that?” Trevor asked. “Is that New York Harbor?”
“Oh no,” Kaylee said, staring wide-eyed at the screen. “What happened?”
Everybody sat, watching silently as the screen showed video of the devastation.
“Look at the banner at the bottom of the screen,” Emma said. “Nuclear attacks in New York and Seattle.”
“Oh no,” Ji-Ho said. “No no no.”
“What if they do that here?” Emma asked, clutching Seth.
“Could they?” Kaylee asked.
“Wonder what the guys in those boats were doing?” Trevor asked.
“Getting ready for an attack like this, perhaps,” Angel said. “Dammit.”
“Nothing blew up out there,” Emma said.
“Nuclear bombs have to be detonated,” Jamie said. “They won’t go off in an explosion.”
“He right,” Ji-Ho said. “This very bad. Hope wife okay in Korea. I worried.”
“Why would Korea be a target?” Kaylee asked.
“North Korea have bombs,” Ji-Ho said, looking at her in fear. “Maybe they provide. Things get hot fast.”
“She’s not next to the border, though, right?” Kaylee asked.
“No, she south, but maybe not enough,” Ji-Ho said. “Local news commentator come on. I turn up.”
“The attacks in New York, Puget Sound, Vladivostok, and Charleston Harbor have local authorities on alert. All harbors and marinas in the area are on lockdown, and all vessels large and small are being searched at this hour.”
“They wouldn’t have to hit a harbor in this area,” Trevor said. “They could float something into Santa Monica Bay and blow it there. The wind would drive the radiation right into the major population centers.”
“Lovely thought,” Jamie said. Seth shot both of them a glare as Emma trembled against him.
They watched the news silently for a while, nobody knowing what to say. Jamie finally got up and walked to the windows, looking out over the blue Pacific. “There’s a lot of patrol boats out there now,” he said. “Big coast guard cutters. They probably got the same idea Trevor did.”
Angel, Matt, and Ji-Ho all went to the windows and looked.
“Wow, big operation,” Ji-Ho said. “Good. They keep enemy boats away. We probably safe.”
“Should we go?” Emma asked.
“Go where?” Seth asked.
“I don’t know. Inland. Maybe your grandparent’s cabin.”
“You won’t make it,” Trevor said. “We’ll be under martial law in the next few hours. They’re already closing down roads. You’d never make it past all the checkpoints.”
“This is still America,” Seth said.
“Trevor right,” Ji-Ho said. “Police chief tell me. City put in grids with checkpoints. Residents only, unless have job in area. Will be very tight.”
“With all the cross streets around here, their controls are gonna leak,” Jamie said. “There will be ways around the checkpoints.”
“Maybe, but don’t get caught in wrong area without papers,” Ji-Ho said. “Police or National Guard arrest.”
“You sound like you’ve lived this before,” Angel said.
“Most of earth not free like America,” Ji-Ho said. “Even South Korea. Government push people around during crisis. Everybody is suspect. Very bad. Wish I went with wife.”
“Why didn’t you?” Kaylee asked.
“Business,” he said. “Can’t leave. Might not be able to come back if leave now.”
“You’re probably right there,” Trevor said.
“Can we go in the bedroom?” Emma asked. “I just want to curl up in a ball next to you and sleep.”
“Don’t you feel safer out here with everybody else?” Seth asked.
“No,” she said. “I want you to hold me. I’ll make it worth your while.”
Seth shook his head. “I’ll cuddle with you. You don’t have to bribe me. C’mon.”
They left the room.
“She’s really shook up,” Kaylee said.
“Of course she is,” Matt said. “She’s a total control freak. This situation is very out-of-control.”
“Be nice,” Kaylee said.
“Oh, come on, sweetie,” he said. “I’m not being mean. It’s how she is. You know that.”
“I know, but you don’t have to say it that way,” Kaylee said. “Guess I’m cooking dinner by myself.”
“I’ll help you,” Matt said, getting up and holding his hand out to her. She took it and got up. When they got into the kitchen she hugged him.
“I’m pretty upset too, you know,” she said. “Can you hold me for a minute?”
“Of course,” Matt said, holding her tight.
“No!” Ji-Ho shouted from the living room.
Kaylee’s eyes opened wide, and she looked up at Matt. They rushed back into the living room.
“What happened?” Kaylee asked. Ji-Ho had tears running down his cheeks.
“Russia just told China to move their forces away from the border of North Korea or risk losing them,” Trevor said. “The nuclear devices did come from there.”
“Oh no,” Kaylee said, rushing over to hug Ji-Ho.
“If she’s in the south she’ll probably be okay,” Matt said.
“North Korean leadership nuts,” Ji-Ho said. “They might fire all they have at South Korea.”
“They might fire some of it towards Japan, Russia, and the US,” Jamie said. “Look at the screen.”
There was a graphic showing a world map, with circles around
North Korea for each type of missile they have.
“See, their best missile could hit the west coast of the US,” Jamie said.
Trevor shook his head. “Japan and South Korea have a big reason to worry,” he said. “Remember that there’s been no successful tests of the longest-range North Korean missiles. Most of the time they blow up shortly after takeoff.”
“I think a lot of their failures have happened because we’ve shot down their missiles,” Jamie said. “They should’ve made more progress in the last ten years.”
“He right,” Ji-Ho said. “Small comfort for me, but I wouldn’t worry about North Korea hitting US. Even Japan is big job for them.”
“All they have to do is get lucky a few times,” Angel said. “This sucks.”
“I go try to call wife,” Ji-Ho said, leaving the room.
“He’s so worried,” Kaylee said. “Me too.”
***
Robbie was shutting down his laptop, Morgan next to him. “Almost dark,” he said.
“Yeah, and no gunfire in the distance,” Morgan said. “That’s a good thing, hopefully.”
“Hopefully,” Robbie said, touching her shoulder. She smiled at him and put her hand on his.
They went into the living room and sat down with the others in front of the TV.
“Anything new going on?” Morgan asked.
“Evacuations,” Gil said. “They’re moving people away from San Pedro and Long Beach.”
“The harbors,” Robbie said.
“Uh oh,” Morgan said. “They find something?”
“Not yet,” Gil said, “but they nabbed a pleasure boat in Baltimore’s inner harbor just before the Islamists were going to set off a nuke.”
“That’s really close to DC,” Morgan said.
“Sure is,” Justin said.
“Steve and Colleen are still downstairs?” Robbie asked.
“Yeah, but they’re being quiet this time,” Gil said.
“Maybe they’re just being together,” Morgan said. “Colleen was really scared. Sometimes we just like to be held, you know.”
“Yeah, maybe,” Justin said. “Wish I had a girlfriend. A real one, that is.”
“The plastic blow-up one getting old?” Gil asked.
Robbie laughed. “Ouch.”
Justin snickered. “Shut up. Everybody doesn’t have to know.”
“You guys are crazy,” Morgan said.
“I do have a girlfriend, by the way,” Justin said to Morgan, “but we’ve been drifting apart. She left town with her parents. Hadn’t seen her for a few weeks before that, so I’m guessing it’s really over now.”
“Why don’t you make a move on Steve’s sister?” Gil asked. “We all know you like her.”
“She’s got a boyfriend, remember?” Justin said.
“Steve told me that was on the rocks,” Gil said. “You ought to ask him about it. Katie’s fine, and I’ve seen her check you out before.”
“We’ll see,” Justin said.
“Pussy,” Gil said. “You won’t do anything.”
“That doesn’t make him a pussy,” Robbie said. “Think about it. If it doesn’t go well, he runs the risk of losing his friendship with Steve.”
“Good point,” Morgan said. “Seen that happen before.”
“Thanks for that vote of confidence,” Justin said.
“I still say he’s a pussy,” Gil said.
Robbie’s phone rang. He looked at the number. “It’s my mom. Good. Tried to get her a couple times earlier. No dice.” He put the phone to his ear.
“Robbie?”
“Mom, you got through. I’ve been trying to call you for a while now. It’s nearly impossible to get a call to connect from here.”
“Well, it’s probably like when we have an earthquake,” she said. “You know how they tell you to call a relative out of state?”
“You guys are out of state,” Robbie said. “Everything’s screwed up.”
“You’ve been watching the news, right?”
“Yes, all of the nuke attacks. Geez,” Robbie said.
“Are they saying anything about LA Harbor?”
“Yes, they’ve been moving people out of the areas right around LA and Long Beach harbors.”
“Do you think you’re all right where you are?”
“I think so. We’re pretty far away from the big harbors. The closest thing to us is Marina Del Rey, and there aren’t any large ships in there.”
“Good,” his mom said.
“Oh crap,” Robbie said. “Big flash to the north…”
There was static on the line, and it disconnected.
“What the hell was that?” cried Morgan, rushing next to Robbie.
“I’ll bet that was a nuke,” Gil said.
“Marina Del Rey?” Justin asked, terror in his eyes.
“No way,” Robbie said. “We would have felt it. We’d probably be dead already.”
The door downstairs opened, Steve and Colleen running up the stairs.
“What was that?” Steve asked. “It lit up the room.”
Colleen clutched Steve, trembling.
Gil pointed to the screen. “Special bulletin on TV.”
“We have received a statement from the White House that retaliation has started, and will be working its way from the closest perpetrators outward. Venezuela has just been rocked by nuclear attacks in all of its ports and all of its major population centers.”
“Whoa,” Robbie said.
“Steve,” Colleen said, turning against him and sobbing.
“Look at the TV now,” Morgan said. “They’re about to tell us what happened here, I’ll bet.”
“This just in. A small device was detonated in Southern California, in Ventura Harbor. This harbor was not considered a threat. Now all of the municipalities with small harbors are on alert, and all boats are being searched.”
“This is horrible,” Steve said.
“The Cities of Ventura and Oxnard have sustained large loss of life and catastrophic damage. The prevailing wind is to the east, which will cause problems for the rich agricultural area that lies in that direction. Authorities have said they will require evacuation of people as far east as Simi Valley due to the fallout danger. There are also plans to evacuate the nearby communities of Thousand Oaks and Agoura. At this time, it appears that the nearest big population areas up and down the coast will survive and not need evacuation. These communities include Santa Barbara to the north and the cities along Santa Monica Bay to the south.”
“Oh, geez,” Robbie said. “All those people. My God.”
“They’re gonna check the sporting marinas around here now,” Gil said. “King Harbor in Redondo, and Marina Del Rey.”
“Yeah,” Justin said. “Probably down south too. Huntington, Cabrillo, Newport, and the others.”
“What’s your mom gonna think?” Morgan asked.
“She’s probably out of her mind right now,” Robbie said. He tried to call her. “Still can’t call out of the area. Hopefully she saw the news report that it was Ventura.”
“What should we do?” Colleen asked.
“Not much we can do,” Steve said. “It’s far away. It won’t affect us directly.”
“Look, something else is happening,” Gil said, nodding to the TV.
“More?” Colleen asked. She looked shell shocked.
“In other news,” the announcer continued, “Russia has started using the same strategy in their country to take out the radical Islamists, which is to take out the closest bases first, and then expand outward. They have chosen not to use nuclear weapons near their country. They are using a scorched earth eradication in areas of their country that are linked to the device in Vladivostok. At the current hour, they have leveled all mosques in Chechnya, and are searching house to house for Islamist leaders in that province. The UN and Amnesty International are already protesting the actions.”
Gil laughed. “Yeah, let them protest, but stay the hell out of the w
ay.”
Justin glanced at him.
“What?” Gil asked.
“Nothing,” Justin said. “I actually agree with you this time.”
“Glory be,” Robbie said.
“This isn’t something to joke about,” Colleen said.
“I’m not,” Robbie said. “Really.”
“Breaking news,” the announcer said. “A device has been located in the San Francisco Bay area, on a large private yacht. There is a manhunt going on right now to find the perpetrators. The owners of the yacht were found below deck. All of them had been murdered.”
“Thank God they found that,” Justin said. “You know how dense the population is up there?”
“Yeah, seriously,” Gil said. “Geez, what a frigging night.”
“I just want it to be over,” Colleen said.
“The White House has announced a press conference for 10:00 PM EST tonight,” the announcer said. “And it is expected that the Russian president will join him for part of the briefing.”
“Oh, great,” Gil said.
“We need to stick together now,” Justin said. “No BS.”
“Okay, you got me there,” Gil said. “I’m willing to listen, even if I can’t stand the guy.”
“Can we go back downstairs?” Colleen asked.
“The President is gonna be on pretty soon. Why don’t we stay up here until then?”
“Okay,” Colleen said.
“Thanks,” Steve said, putting his arms around her.
“I need a beer,” Robbie said. “Anybody else?”
“Yeah, I’ll take one,” Gil said.
“Me too,” Justin said.
Steve shook his head no.
“Honey?” Robbie asked, looking at Morgan.
“Honey?” She giggled.
“Sorry,” he said. “Too soon?”
Morgan smiled. “No. I’ll go with you and help.”
She got up and the two of them went into the kitchen. As they were getting beer out of the fridge, Robbie’s phone rang.
“Hey, Robbie, your phone is ringing,” Justin shouted.
“Coming,” Robbie said. He and Morgan returned with bottles. Robbie set two bottles on the coffee table and grabbed his phone.
“Mom,” Robbie said.
“Yes, honey, it’s your father and me. I’ve got you on speaker.”
“I tried to call you back, but still can’t connect from here,” Robbie said. “You heard about what happened in Ventura?”
