Bug Out! Part 9: RV Ambush (20 page)

“What?” Terry asked.

“Our breath,” she said. “Geez, doesn’t that bother you?”

“No,” he said, kissing her again. She started to get into it now. He moved closer to her.

“My dad isn’t outside, is he?” she whispered.

“No, I saw him, Gabe, and Dobie walk over to the clubhouse.”

“Good,” she said, smiling, pulling him closer still. They melted into each other, their passion building. Terry pulled back the sheet, feasting his eyes on her, and started kissing her all over as she moaned. They were beside themselves now, passion building to a fever pitch.

They lay on their backs next to each other afterwards, hands with fingers intertwined, still breathing fast, but slowing, faces still red.

“Did you decide yet?” Terry asked, looking at the ceiling.

“I wasn’t going to decide,” she said, turning to look at his face. He turned towards her. “I was going to think about it.
We
are going to decide.”

“Okay,” Terry said. “Which way are you leaning?”

“Which way are you leaning?”

Terry chuckled. “It’s going to be like that, is it?”

She giggled back at him, and pulled her hand loose so she could tickle his side. He convulsed, laughing.

“Okay, I’ll tell you what I’m thinking,” Terry said. “I think we shouldn’t decide yet.”

“Why?” she asked.

“Because we’re days away from actions that will either end this war or, or at least blow everything wide open. It’s gonna get crazy. I think we should watch what happens for a little while.”

She studied his face, as he watched her for a reaction. She was silent long enough for Terry to get uncomfortable.

“Well?” he asked her.

“I think you’re right,” she said with a sigh. “I wish you weren’t. It’s going to be hard to wait. We’ll have to start using protection, then. We pushed it a little this morning.”

“I’m good with that,” Terry said. “We have something to look forward to, and that can be delicious, you know.”

“I know,” she said. He touched her face, and she flushed, moving herself closer to him, trembling. “Geez, I want your baby in me so badly. I’ve never felt like this before. I’ll be fighting myself. You’ll have to be strong.”

“I know. We’d better get up, or we’ll be back at it,” he said.

“We
can
play longer, you know,” she said.

“I hear your dad and the others coming back,” he said. He stretched his neck up and peeked through the curtains. “Yep, there they are, carrying coffee. The wind died down. They’ll probably plant themselves under one of the awnings.”

She pulled him over for one more kiss.

Frank got out of bed. Jane was still sleeping. He got dressed quietly, and then snuck out the bedroom door. Mr. Wonderful walked over, tail in the air, meowing at him. “Good morning sir,” he whispered. Lucy trotted over too, tail wagging. She stretched and yawned, looking comical. Frank chuckled as he bent down and petted both of them. “Our children,” he whispered to himself. He heard the bedroom door slide open, and Jane came out, giving him a groggy smile. She was dressed already.

“Good morning,” she said.

“I thought you’d sleep a little longer, honey,” Frank said, while he turned on the coffee maker. “You didn’t even stir when I got out of bed.”

“That wind woke me up earlier,” she said. “I was just dozing.”

“Yeah, I heard the wind. It died down all of a sudden. Strange.”

The coffee machine rumbled and creaked as it heated up. He went to get the k-cups.

“We’re running low on those, Frank. Maybe we should sneak into town and hit the Walmart.”

“Yeah, wouldn’t mind going there anyway. I’d love to see if Howard is around or not.”

“You feel a little less pressure now?” she asked.

“Yeah,” Frank said. “I’ve done about all I can do at this point. I’m sitting on pins and needles about the file, though. Anxious to find out what Sam Hinton thinks about it.”

“I’m sitting on pins and needles about General Hogan,” Jane said.

There was a knock at the door. Lucy barked, and Mr. Wonderful headed for the bedroom. Jane looked out the window. “It’s Jerry.”

Frank opened the door. “Hey, Jerry, what’s up?”

“You been looking at the apps?” he asked, smiling, walking up the steps into the coach.

“Not yet,” Frank said. “Just getting up. Why?”

“The icons at the base are in a different building now, and two of them are missing.”

“Really,” Frank said.

“I hope that’s good news,” Jane said. Just then Frank’s phone rang. It was still in the bedroom. He ran back and grabbed it.

“Frank here.”

“Frank, it’s General Hogan.”

“Oh, thank God.” Frank made the thumbs up sign to Jane and Jerry.

“I’ve got to thank you, Frank. You guys saved me.”

“General Kincaid got you freed?”

“No, he was a traitor. Sam Hinton figured that out, and went around him, to the security chief.”

“Oh, yeah, a Major, right?”

“Major Healy.”

“Anybody get hurt, General?”

“A couple of our guys got killed, and a couple of the bad guys. We captured Phillip. You were right about him. He’s a blowhard. Way too stupid to be leading this thing.”

“Daan Mertens is the brains. Maybe Saladin too. Don’t know him. You know we’ve got some help now, don’t you?”

“Yeah, Frank. Don’t mention his name anywhere. If Saladin finds out he’s involved, he’ll probably try to leave the country.”

“What are your plans now?”

“Sam Hinton is asking for your location, via the drop box. I’d like to pay a visit, and plan some strategy with you and our friend.”

“I was hoping you’d say that. Your kids alright?”

“Yes. I’ll bring them along.”

“Good.”

“We’re going to win this war, Frank. The hardest part will come later.”

“What’s that?”

“Rooting the evil out of our government without destroying our whole society. Talk to you soon.”

Frank put his phone in his pocket and walked out to the salon.

“He’s safe?” Jane asked.

“Yes, he’s safe, and he’s coming for a visit. We need to get George to put our location in the drop box.”

“I’ll bet he’s already done that, but let’s go make sure,” Jerry said.

“How about some coffee first?” Jane asked.

“There’s some in the clubhouse,” Jerry said. “Let’s go.”

Howard drove the class C through the morning sun. He was running on pure adrenaline at this point, after not sleeping at all. He didn’t drive all night. He found a place to park, pretending he would sleep. He didn’t. The sound of Scotty’s pleading voice kept playing back in his mind over and over. That wasn’t all that was in his mind, though. There were the images of Amanda, naked, under him. Fighting, clawing, and crying. The feel of her neck in his hands, throbbing. Wide eyes staring, then empty. He looked over at her. She was snoring. The robe had come open, giving him a hint of what was underneath.
I can’t take it.

He was about to transition over to the main route into St Louis. He went the other way, out into the empty land. He was going to do it.
I can’t help myself.
He drove down the small two lane highway for miles, until there weren’t houses and businesses and other cars passing him. She woke up when he turned onto the dirt road.

“Where are we going?” she asked, eyes filled with terror. She closed the robe around herself.

“I need a bathroom break,” he said, as he guided the coach down the rutted road.

“You could have pulled over anywhere to do that,” she said, starting to get up.

“It’ll take me a little while, and your friend’s blood is all over the floor. Probably on the steps, too.” He parked, and got up as if he was going to the bathroom. When she started to follow him, he whipped around and grabbed her arms. She fought him, screaming, flailing at him, but she wasn’t strong enough. He elbowed her in the face, causing blood to gush from her nose, and then dragged her into the bedroom, pulling the robe off as he went. He threw her on the bed and got on her, assaulting her over and over, for more than an hour. His hands went around her neck, and she fought harder, eyes wide, in a panic. As she was starting to black out, her eyes showed Howard what he wanted to see. Her life was going to end. Then she was still, and he let go, her eyes open, staring into nothingness. Howard got up and went back into the front of the coach. He sat down and cried. “What have I done?” he asked himself.

He picked up his cellphone and called Scotty’s number. It rang and rang. No answer.
Dammit.
He went back into the bedroom and took several pictures of Amanda’s lifeless body. Then he put them into a text and sent them to Scotty.

“Time to go,” he said to himself. He picked up Amanda and took her outside, laying her against the roadside. He made his marks, and then cried over her one more time.
Why can’t I stop myself?

He got back into his coach and drove to the two-lane back-top, heading for the highway. He drove too fast, racing back to the barn.
I hope he lived.

Jerry went to his coach to wake Jasmine. She was already awake, having morning sickness again. She came out of the bathroom, using a wet paper towel to clean her face.

“I’ll be glad when I get past this part,” she said, looking at Jerry, trying to smile.

“I know, sweetie,” he said.

“You look like you’re ready to go,” she said. “What’s up?”

“General Hogan is free. He just called Frank.”

“Oh, thank God,” she said. “What now?”

“He’s coming here to talk. I was going to go meet up with Frank and Jane in the clubhouse. We need George to put our location in the drop box.”

“Good,” she said. “I’ll get dressed. There’s probably coffee in the clubhouse already.”

“There is,” Jerry said. “Already had some.” He waited until Jasmine got dressed, and watched her walk out of the bedroom. “You’re so beautiful.”

“I’ve seen that look before, and it led to this,” she said, smiling, pointing at her stomach. “C’mon, let’s go.”

They left their coach and met Frank and Jane on the way.

“Look, there’s George and Heidi, coming out of their coach,” Jane said.

Frank waved, and pointed to the clubhouse. George nodded, and knocked on Malcolm’s door.

“He got the message,” Frank said.

“Wow, I can smell the coffee from here,” Jasmine said as she got onto the steps of the porch.

As they entered the clubhouse, Charlie and Hilda turned around, grinning.

“It’s on the news,” Charlie said. “The General’s safe.”

“He’ll be coming here soon,” Jerry said.

“Have some coffee,” Hilda said.

George, Heidi, and Malcolm walked in.

“Damn, that smells good,” Malcolm said, heading for the kitchen.

“You’ve heard?” Frank asked him.

“Yeah, George just told me,” he replied.

“Hey, George, is our location in the drop box?” Jerry asked.

“No, but I’ll do it in a few minutes,” he said. “Best morning I’ve had since we started this trip.”

“Seriously,” Malcolm said.

“I’m going to crank up the PC app and watch Capitol Reef,” Frank said. “If those guys decide to run, I want to keep tabs.”

George nodded as he joined Malcolm in the kitchen. Heidi followed, then Jasmine, Jane, and Jerry.

Frank got the app loaded, and navigated to Capitol Reef. Most of the icons were still in about the same area as before, but as he zoomed out, he saw another small concentration by the front gate. Jane walked up to him with two cups of coffee, and handed one to him.

“Still there?” she asked.

“Yeah, but there’s some activity at the front gate. Look.”

“That’s where the tank was,” she said.

“That’s right. Been a while since we did any poking around here.”

Jerry walked up with Malcom, Jasmine, and Heidi. George went outside, onto the porch.

“Ah, the front gate, eh,” Jerry said. “Wonder if the tank is still there?”

“Tank?” Malcolm asked.

“Yeah, we saw it using the park’s surveillance system,” Jerry said. “Hey Frank, can you still get into that system?”

“Good question,” he said. “The connect info is on my laptop. I’ll have to send it to this machine.”

“I probably still have it on mine, too,” Jerry said.

George came back in. “Okay, the General will have the location soon,” he said, sitting down next to Heidi, sipping his coffee.

“We’re getting close to another battle, aren’t we?” Heidi asked. “I can feel it. Makes me nervous.”

“You and me both,” Jane said.

“We might be able to let the army do the heavy lifting this time,” Frank said. “Maybe we’ll just be their eyes and ears.”

“Doubtful, if the General is coming here,” Jerry said.

“Yeah, I’d have to agree,” George said. “They’re going to need our capability. A big army operation is going to get noticed by the wrong people. Too hard to keep secret, and we know there are some enemy operatives without chips.”

“Yeah, like General Kincaid,” Jerry said.

“What are you doing?” Malcolm asked, watching the PC screen.

“Pulling back a bit,” Frank said. “Look at that line of icons on the road in.”

“Are they leaving, or coming in?”

“Coming in,” Frank said. “Maybe the enemy is gathering for a meeting.”

“Perhaps it’s a good time to hit them,” Malcolm said.

Scotty awoke with a start, as the door opened. He heard Kerry and Blake coming in, and another man’s voice. There were heavy footsteps, and he heard a plastic box being set down on the wood floor next to the couch. He opened his eyes and looked up.

“Can you hear me?” said a voice he didn’t recognize. Scotty tried to focus. Most of the pain was gone. It was a dull ache now.

“Scotty, you okay?” Blake asked.

“Scotty, can you hear us?” the other man said.

“The wound is under his shirt, Johnny,” Kerry said.

Johnny looked over his shoulder at Kerry. “Must be why the blood is on his shirt, I suppose, dummy.”

Scott tried to talk, but nothing was coming out. Then he watched Johnny pull a foil package out of the big plastic case on the floor behind him. He snapped something and held it under his nose. There was a searing pain in his nostrils, and then he was much more awake.