The Raid

Tomorrow’s Past
:
The Raid

By Everette Morgan

Copyright 2013

All rights reserved

All characters appearing in this work are fictitious and figments of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead is purely coincidental.

Proofread and edited by Janice Morgan

Cover photo & photo editing by Savannah Morgan

Table of Contents

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18

About the Author

Tomorrow’s Past: The Raid

Chapter 1

Marcus and Kim both lingered, looking at the photo of David which Jocelyn had displayed for them.  It had only been a few weeks and David was already looking malnourished. They must barely be giving them enough food to sustain them.  They could also see several bruises on his face and arms.

“Jocelyn, where is this picture being taken?” asked Marcus.

“It was taken just outside of the Broken Arrow Air Force Base near Tulsa, Oklahoma,” she said.

“You don’t have video footage of this?” he asked.

“No. Currently, the cameras working in this area are set to time lapse only.  The picture will refresh every thirty seconds,” she said.

As soon as Jocelyn finished answering him, Kim said, “Let’s go get him.  Going back home would only slow us down.  We have plenty of ammo and we already have a good head start in that direction.”

“Hold on Kim.  We don’t know anything about where he is being held.  We don’t need to rush this and get us all killed,” said Marcus thoughtfully. “Jocelyn, how far away is his location?”

“If you travel by highway, it will be between six hundred and seven hundred miles.  I am plotting a course as we speak,” she said.

“You want to go back home before we head that way?!” said Kim raising her voice.

“Calm down.  I didn’t say that.  You are right.  That would just waste time but we need to have a strategy and plan ahead so we don’t walk into a trap.  Let’s see what Jocelyn comes up with and go from there,” he said.

It took a couple of minutes but finally Jocelyn had plotted a course for getting there and it wasn’t pretty.  With the detours and obstacles along the way, it was over eight hundred miles and it could take up to five days travelling to get there.  Jocelyn pointed out that in some places the fastest you could drive was around ten miles per hour.

Before they made a decision, Marcus had Jocelyn analyze the base.  She was able to display the entire layout of the whole area along with all the security measures that were in place.  A majority of the base was covered with a Force Canopy.  Further out was one of the invisible perimeter fences that Marcus had dealt with before.  They had vegetable gardens set up between the canopy and perimeter fence.  The gardens were being worked by approximately ten to twelve prisoners at different times.  Six prisoners alternated every three days to work the gardens.  It looked like maybe they were working on a winter crop.  Running scans of the entire base, Jocelyn was able to determine that there were approximately a total of twenty-two to twenty-five prisoners.  They were being held by a total of forty-one captors. 

After some discussion, Kim and Marcus came to the conclusion that the best way to break David out would be to get him when it was his day to work the gardens.  Although, in Marcus’ opinion, it looked like the hardest part would be to actually make it there.  Marcus and Kim kept debating on how they should proceed for the next thirty minutes.

“It’s just so far away that it might pay us to go back home, set up a plan, and head back to Oklahoma.  I know it might take us an extra week but we wouldn’t be going in blind,” said Marcus.

“I know.  You are right.  It’s just so frustrating now that we know where he is located.  I just wish there was a way for us to travel faster.  If we had a pilot it would be great.  We could track down a plane or helicopter and get there quick,” she said.

“Yeah, you are right.  I just…,”

“Marcus,” Jocelyn interrupted.  “With the new access I have to several of the military bases, I can bring a fully operational Black Falcon helicopter to your location.  There are several in the database that are fully automated and fully armed.  Would you like me to fly one in?”

Marcus and Kim looked at one another and they both said in unison, “YES!”

“How long will it take you to bring one in?” asked Marcus.

“I have several charging as we speak.  I can have one here in three or four hours,” said Jocelyn.

“We still need to plan, so how about flying two of them to the house?  Make sure they are fully armed and pass all of your diagnostics.  Now that I think of it… wait until dark to fly them in.  We don’t need to draw any unwanted attention to our location.  Does that sound okay to you Kim?” he asked.

“Sounds great to me,” said Kim.

“Jocelyn, the largest place we have to land under the canopy is the pasture.  Land them there and we will get headed back,” he said. “Tell Wynd that we are on our way home.”

Chapter 2

After Jocelyn finished telling Wynd that Marcus and Kim were on the way home, Wynd remembered some of the things that Marcus had talked about before they left.  He told her that he wanted to make sure that she took every precaution necessary to protect their home. 

“Jocelyn, can you send out a drone on a fifty mile radius and make sure there aren’t any problems?” asked Wynd.  “I know you have been scanning the area everyday but let’s double check and make sure it’s still clear.”

“The new large drone Marcus found in Redstone is here but Marcus wanted me to run it through a battery of diagnostics.  Rom modified his drone to have the same capabilities as Marcus’ so we should be able to use it,” said Jocelyn.

“Is Rom using it?” she asked.

“He is, but I can take it over and he will think that it just malfunctioned” said Jocelyn.

“What?” asked Wynd laughingly.  She wondered if Jocelyn was developing an attitude.

“Easy, peasy, lemon, squeezy,” said Jocelyn.

Wynd knew exactly what was going on then.

“Has Marcus done this before?” she asked.

“Several times.  He says that it drives Rom crazy and then he laughs,” said Jocelyn.

As serious as Marcus was at certain times, he had a great sense of humor and really liked to aggravate.

“Okay, Jocelyn but we are going to do it my way.  I’ll go talk to Rom and ask if he minds me borrowing the drone,” she said as she got up and went upstairs to Rom’s room. Rom was using the big screen in his room to fly the drone.  It looked like somewhere in the valley near Trenton.  Trenton was a little town at the foot of the mountain.  He was flying the drone over a small herd of stegosaurs in one of the larger clearings.  He turned and looked at her when she knocked on his door. 

“Dinosaurs are so cool.  I wish I had one for a pet,” said Rom.

“I don’t think so,” said Wynd smiling.  “We have enough problems without asking for trouble.  Anyway, I want Jocelyn to run a fifty mile security sweep and I would like to use your drone.  Do you mind?”

“Sure, I don’t mind.  Just realize though, that sometimes it gets a mind of its own and will fly off.  I’ve got it back every time but it usually takes about thirty or forty minutes to get it back online.  I need to have Jocelyn run some diagnostics to see if she can find the problem,” he said.

“Okay, thanks.  I’ll let you know when I’m finished with it.  I just want to double check the area,” she said smiling.  She turned and headed back downstairs.

“Okay, it’s a go Jocelyn.  Take control and run a fifty mile scan.  Also, can you put it on full screen so I can watch?” she asked as she walked back down into the living room.

The huge screen in the living room immediately switched on and Wynd was flying above the forests of the mountain.  Jocelyn flew the drone back up the mountain, across their little stronghold and then headed it toward the Chattanooga area.  It was neat getting to see where they were living from the air.  She could see the twins playing outside as it flew over.  The drone continued over the wooded areas of the mountain.  It was a beautiful sight even though most of the leaves had fallen. Wynd was really getting into it.  As the drone sailed over the edge of the mountain, it almost took her breath away.  She was going to have to do this more often. 

There were still several herds of dinosaurs in the valley.  Most were herbivores, but she did see an occasional carnivore. She continued sailing through the valley and then they were over the Tennessee River flying around Moccasin Bend.  Chattanooga was coming into view.  It still amazed her to think that most cities like Chattanooga were basically empty.  As the drone flew over the city, labels and titles would pop up on the screen. Jocelyn had added markers and titles to the different areas so that you could understand where you were and pinpoint your location.  While Wynd was taking in the sights, Danielle came in and sat down beside her. 

“What are you watching?” asked Danielle.

“Jocelyn is running Rom’s drone on a fifty mile sweep to make sure there is not anything we should be concerned about.  She’s flying over Chattanooga first, because that’s the most likely place for trouble to come from,” said Wynd.

“Wow, the river is beautiful.  Is that the Tennessee River?” she asked.

“Yes, we just went around a section of the river called Moccasin Bend.  They say it’s shaped like a moccasin.  Maybe Jocelyn will fly higher next time so that we can see it,” said Wynd.

The drone sailed through the lower downtown area and made several passes over it just to be sure they weren’t missing anything.  Finally satisfied, Jocelyn flew the drone up and over a place called Missionary Ridge.  The city spread out for miles.  Jocelyn flew the drone up and down the major roads in the area searching for anything that might be a problem. 

“I think the sign was on! I think the sign was on!  Hurry, turn around and fly back!” screamed Danielle.  Wynd almost fell off of the couch.

Scared out of her wits at Danielle’s screams, Wynd took a second to get her composure.  She then turned to Danielle and said, “What are you screaming about?”

“Go back, go back… please,” pleaded Danielle.

Wynd instructed Jocelyn to turn the drone around and go back the way it had come.  Jocelyn flew back down the road they were following.  The road’s name was Brainerd Road. 

“Stop! Stop!” yelled Danielle.  “Awww… it wasn’t on.”

Wynd finally figured out what was going on and gazed with wonderment at Danielle.

“You started screaming and going into fits because you thought the Krispy Kreme Donut store’s ‘HOT NOW’ donuts sign was on?  Are you totally out of your mind?”  she asked smiling.

“Those hot donuts were the best.  I could eat a dozen of them myself. I really miss those.  Sorry I guess I was hallucinating,” Danielle said as she started laughing.  Wynd started laughing with her. 

“Okay, Jocelyn.  You can continue on.  Danielle and I are going to find Virginia and see if she can make some doughnuts.  Let me know if you find anything,” she said smiling.

They got up and began to search for Virginia.  Jocelyn continued her detailed grid search of the area.

Chapter 3

Marcus and Kim left Redstone Arsenal.  It was already mid morning before they finally started on the trip back home to Haven.  They had just turned and headed home when Jocelyn reported a problem.

“Marcus, the drone has picked up a disturbance at the U.S Space and Rocket Center. A pack of raptors have trapped two boys at the ‘Saturn V’ rocket. They are outside on the catwalk that encircles the top of the rocket.  I’m not sure how much longer they can keep them from coming through the door,” she said.

Jocelyn brought up some history on the Space Center and displayed it for them.  About fifty years ago the Rocket Center had renovated the Saturn V.  They had it sealed and preserved against deterioration.  The renovation also included adding a building that connected to the rocket and also installed stairs and a catwalk that went to the top for visitors to tour.  It gave a fantastic view of Huntsville and the surrounding areas.  The rocket was over three hundred and sixty feet tall.