Bug Out! Part 5: RV Flight from Terror (14 page)

“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.

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.

“General Walker and Major Hobbs are dead. So is the doctor that patched you up,” he said. “You didn’t go back to the front of the park?”

“No, we figured we’d better gather up weapons and ammo and get the hell out of there,” the Lieutenant said. “What happened to them?”

“The bastards took them in the barn right after they blasted through the gate,” Frank said. “They beheaded them and put their heads on spikes out in front.”

“Oh, no,” Lieutenant said quietly, the pain evident on his face. “Oh no.”

“We have video of men in private uniforms killing your sergeant and the other men you had back by the blind,” Jeb said.

“Really?”

“One of the phony privates was a person named Simon Orr,” Frank said.

The Lieutenant got a shocked look on his face.

“That guy was in custody,” the Lieutenant said. “We captured him in a battle down in southern Arizona. He was involved with the Yuma attack.”

“Yes, we figured out that part,” Frank said.

“How?”

“We did screen captures of faces from the DVR video and put them up onto the FBI’s facial recognition engine.”

“Did you ID anybody else?” asked the Lieutenant.

“Yes, a man named Philip Carlson, and an Islamist leader who calls himself Saladin,” Frank said.

“Shit, we were trying to track those guys down,” the Lieutenant said. “That Saladin character is the commander of the forces that are coming down from the north. Carlson isn’t that important anymore, though.”

“We figured,” Jeb said.

“He was the liaison that helped join the southern Islamists with the militia, and now he’s attempting to do the same with the northern Islamists, but since Simon Orr is free, I’m surprised he’s still around.”

“How is it that you didn’t hear about any of this?” Jerry asked.

“Somebody took the radios out of the Humvees we took,” the Lieutenant said. “All I had was my cellphone, and I couldn’t raise anybody at the base on that.”

“Those aren’t your original Humvees?” Jerry asked, immediately concerned.

“No, ours were in the barn, and we didn’t go back there. These ones were good, but the radios were pulled out. The keys were in them, which is unusual.”

Jerry looked at Frank and Jeb.

“Did you check those vehicles for bugs?” Jerry asked.

The Lieutenant got a scared look on his face.

“That looks like a no,” Jeb said.

“C’mon, let’s go check them out,” Jerry said. “Now.”

“I’ll get ready to fight,” Jeb said. “If they’re bugged, we’ll have company. Soon. I’ll tell Kurt.”

Jerry, Frank, and Earl ran out to the army vehicles. The Lieutenant was following them, but Mary got his attention.

“I’m sorry, Lieutenant. The first man died, and the second one is in much worse shape than I thought. He’s not going to last through the night.”

The Lieutenant plopped down on a bench next to him, looking completely shell shocked. Mary looked at him, and turned to get her bag when Kurt came up behind her. He spoke quietly.

“Honey, the vehicles that the Army guys were in might have been bugged. We might need to leave right away.”

“Oh, no,” Mary said. Jane overheard their conversation and looked up from her iPad.

“Did I hear you right?” she asked.

“Yes, Jane,” Kurt said. “Jerry and Frank are out there looking at the vehicles now.”

“Lucy!” Jane said. The dog came running over, tail wagging. Jane pulled her close and petted her. “Keep your ears open, girl.”

Jeb and Earl ran out to Jeb’s rig with their rifles and climbed on the roof. They scanned the area looking for anyone approaching. They could see Jerry and Frank going over the Army vehicles carefully.

“Son of a gun,” Jerry said, climbing out from under the first Humvee. “Here’s one. They didn’t take much time to hide it.”

“What kind?” Frank said as he continued to look.

“GPS locator/transmitter. El Cheapo. You want me to disconnect it?”

“Is that the best thing, or should we have a couple of privates drive this thing away?” Frank asked.

“If they’ve been monitoring, they know the vehicles are sitting at an RV park right now. They’re on their way already,” Jerry said. “So it doesn’t matter. We need to leave. Quickly.”

“Frank,” Jeb said, as loud as he could without shouting. “Pickup truck heading this way. Four guys in the back. They are going slow, trying to find us. Get Kurt and the Sheriff out here with their rifles.”

“Will do.” He ran for the clubhouse as Jerry checked the other Humvee.

“Hey Sheriff, Kurt,” Frank said. “Enemy coming down the road in a pickup. Grab your rifles and go get with Jeb. Everybody else, start packing up the computers and stuff. We need to get ready to leave fast.”

“Why?” asked Mary. The Lieutenant snapped out of his shell-shocked state, got up, and turned towards Frank.

“There was a bug in one of the Humvees,” Frank said. “The enemy knows where we are.”

“Alright, you heard the man,” Charlie said, getting up. Jane ran over to their laptop and shut it down. She put it in the backpack, and then stuffed in the iPad. Jasmine did the same with their laptop.

“What about the wounded soldiers?” Charlie asked.

“They’re both dead,” Mary said. “The second one just passed a couple of minutes ago.”

“Jackson, you good enough to walk now?” Charlie asked.

“Yeah, I can make it,” he said. “Got a spare rifle nearby?”

“Here,” Charlie said, handing him one of the AK-47s. Charlie grabbed his hunting rifle and headed out the door.

Frank picked up his Winchester and ran out the door too. He went back to where Jerry was.

“More bugs?” he asked.

“No, I think the one in the lead Humvee was the only one.”

“Good. Might as well yank that thing. We’ve been made anyway, and we might need this vehicle.”

“Will do,” Jerry said. He slid underneath the front of the vehicle, and then came back out with the bug in his hand. There was a barrel over by the side of the Clubhouse. Jerry walked over and opened it. “Rainwater, perfect,” he said.

“Don’t throw it in yet,” Charlie said. “It doesn’t look like these idiots see us. We shouldn’t tip them off.” Then there was several rifle shots. Jeb, Earl, and the Sheriff all fired at once. “Never mind.”

The truck rolled into a ditch alongside the road, the driver’s head smeared all over the inside of the windshield. It was about two hundred yards down the road. Then there were several more shots…..Kurt and Charlie were shooting at two of the men who jumped out of the back of the truck and were running for cover. They got both of them. The light in the cab turned on as the man in the passenger seat tried to get out the door. Kurt nailed him and he flew off to the side. There were still two men in the back, aiming their AK-47s at the park. It was too dark to see anything other than the lights of the clubhouse, so they fired in that direction. Glass broke, and there were screams from inside the clubhouse. Jeb and Earl opened up, killing both of the shooters before they could jump out of the truck. Then there was silence.

Frank and Jerry ran into the clubhouse.

“Anybody get hit?” Frank shouted.

“Yes, the private sitting by the window,” Mary said, crying. The Lieutenant and several other privates were huddled around him.

“He’s dead,” the Lieutenant said. “We’d better get out of here now. Did you take the bugs out?”

“Yes,” Jerry said.

“I’m so sorry about this, everybody,” the Lieutenant said.

Frank and Jerry just nodded back at him.

“Alright, everybody, let’s load up and be out of here in five minutes,” Frank shouted. Jane came over to Frank with the backpack.

“All packed,” she said. “Let’s get out of here.”

“We’re packed, too,” Jasmine said. “Jerry, could you go help Mom while I carry this out to the rig?”

“Yeah, I’m on it,” Jerry said. He went over to Rosie. She was already heading to the door.

Earl, Kurt, and the Sheriff came running in to see what had happened inside. They looked down at the bloody private on the floor.

“Jackson, you alright to drive?” Kurt asked.

“Sure,” he said.

“Good,” Kurt said. “C’mon guys, let’s go get you in those two rental rigs.” Earl and Jackson followed Kurt out the door. Kurt ducked his head back in. “Mary, grab whatever you want from here and meet me at our rig. Be ready to go.”

“Will do,” she said. She gathered up her medical stuff and threw it in the bag. Then she went into the kitchen with a backpack and filled it up with first aid stuff and dry foods. She went out the door after that and headed towards their rig.