Bug Out! Part 12: RV Alliance (10 page)

“Hello” he said.

“Be right out,” said a woman from the back room. Scott looked around nervously. The woman walked out, putting a hair band on.

“Sorry,” she said. “I’m Sue. Can I help you?”

“Yeah, my wife called in a reservation. Two nights, for a small Class C towing a car.”

“Last name?” she asked, looking at her computer screen.

“Jones,” he said.

“Ah, here it is,” she said. She wrote up a ticket for him, tearing off the bottom, and handing the tag to him with a map.

“Is there a swimming pool?” Scott asked.

“Of course,” she said. “And a spa, too. You’ll love it. The pool isn’t far from your space.”

“Thanks,” Scott said, turning to leave.

“Enjoy your stay,” she said.

Scott hurried back to the rig, looking in every direction.

“Well, everything okay?” Cindy asked.

“No problem,” Scott said.

“She didn’t look suspicious?”

“Not a bit,” he said. “Cute lady, for an older gal.”

“Possible playmate on the way out?” Cindy asked.

“Nah, I like ‘em young,” he said. “Don’t worry, you’ll earn your wings soon enough, but I think we ought to lay low for a day or two. Keep off the road.”

“Hey, Scotty, is there a pool?” Kerry asked from the bunk.

“Sure is, Kerry,” Scott said. “After we get set up, you can swim. Don’t follow anybody though, okay?”

“I won’t,” he said. “I didn’t follow the guys at the other place. They snuck up behind me and put a gunny sack over my head.”

“Jerks,” Cindy said. “They got what they deserved.”

“What’d you do to them?” Kerry asked.

“Never mind, Kerry,” Scott said. “They can’t hurt you anymore. Just keep to yourself. Don’t talk to strangers, okay? Especially adult strangers.”

“Okay.”

Scott drove onto their spot, then got out and did the hook-ups. He stuck his head by the side windows. “Electricity is on now, if you want to watch TV.”

“Great,” Cindy said. She picked up the remote and turned the TV on. Scott walked in the door.

“Can I go swimming now?” Kerry asked.

“You got trunks?” Scott asked.

“I got some cut-offs,” he said. “That okay?”

“I don’t see why not. Take a towel from the bathroom,” he said. “Remember what I said. Don’t talk to anybody there. If somebody messes with you, come back here right away, okay?”

“Okay, Scotty,” he said, rushing into the bathroom with his shorts to change. Scott plopped down on the couch next to Cindy and put his hand on her thigh. She snuggled up to him and they watched TV. Kerry scampered out of the bathroom and down the steps of the coach.

“We gonna keep up the sleeping in the daytime routine?” Cindy asked.

“Yeah, for a few days at least,” he said. “Oh, shit.”

“What?” Cindy asked, looking at his face, then up at the TV.

There was video of the house in Columbus, with FBI agents swarming around it.

“They found my house,” he said. “Glad I took the valuable stuff out of there.”

“What valuable stuff?” Cindy asked.

“Films from the old days,” he said, “and a few other items of historical value. I put them in my storage locker.”

“Oh,” she said.

“Quiet, I want to hear this,” Scott said, turning up the sound.

“This quiet street near the university in Columbus, Ohio, was awakened early this morning by an FBI raid. The house appears to be the base of operations for several abductions and murders in recent months, culminating with the failed abduction and subsequent murder of Michelle Hamilton. The house held the remains of an FBI agent, a parolee named Sy Means, and this man, who was in the viral video of the failed abduction.”

“There’s my old friend Howard,” Scott said, feeling himself choke up as Howard’s face flashed on the screen.

“Sorry,” Cindy whispered.

Scott turned off the TV. “Let’s sleep for a while.”

“Okay,” she said. “Maybe a little play time?”

“After we sleep,” Scott said. “I’m really tired.”

“All right,” she said. “You okay?”

“No,” he said. “I didn’t want to lose that house. Everything seems to be going wrong now.”

“What are you gonna do?”

“Sleep on it,” he said. “I’m not good when I’m this tired.”

They got off the couch and headed for bed. Scott stopped half way there and turned to Cindy. “You know how badly the kid that runs the storage lot got beat up?”

“Drew?” Cindy asked. “My ex could be a real animal. He might have beat him up pretty good. Drew was kind of a wannabe with the tough folks in town. They made fun of him and pushed him around a lot.”

“If he’s able to talk to the FBI, they’ll find my locker,” he said. “It’s not under my name, but he’ll remember which one it is.”

“How bad would that be?” she asked as they climbed behind the curtain into bed.

“It won’t get us caught,” Scott said, “but they’ll get my money and my treasure.”

“Treasure?”

“Yeah, film of the Black Dahlia murder and others,” Scott said.

Cindy started at him, mouth open. “You mean her killing, or just the aftermath? There’s been a lot on TV shows about that murder.”

“The interview, the beating, the killing. Everything but placement of the body.”

“Have you seen it?” Cindy asked, breath getting short.

“Yeah,” Scott said.

“Tell me about it,” she said.

“When we wake up,” Scott said.

Frank and Jane were following
Jerry and Jasmine, nearing Grand Junction. Jane’s phone rang. She answered it.

“Hi, Jane,” Jasmine said. “I made us reservations in Grand Junction. Looks like a nice park.”

“Great,” Jane said. “I’m tired, and I know Frank is. How much further?”

“We should hit the off-ramp in about ten minutes,” she said.

“Okay, talk to you soon,” Jane said.

“We’ve got a place to stop?” Frank asked.

“Yeah,” Jane said. “Ten minutes away.”

“Good,” Frank said. “I’m beat.”

“I know, honey,” Jane said. “You should have let me drive.”

“Tomorrow,” Frank said. “I was too keyed up after the UN roadblock.”

“You’re gonna call the General when we get settled, right?”

“Yeah, but I’ll probably get half way through a martini before I do,” Frank said.

“Not a bad idea,” Jane said, smiling. Lucy came over and whined, looking up at Jane. “C’mon, girl.”

“She needs to get out,” Frank said.

“I know. We’re almost there. I’ll walk her around while you’re in the office.”

“Okay,” Frank said. “Been on the apps lately?”

“Yeah, a little while ago. Nothing outside of the detention camps now.”

“Good,” Frank said. “I asked Kurt to check on that recording app every so often, to see if there’s activity at the caverns.”

They rode silently until they got to the off-ramp, following Jerry and Jasmine onto the two lane blacktop.

“So pretty here,” Jane said. “Reminds me more of Utah than Colorado.”

“Well, we’re right by the border,” Frank said. “Makes me nervous going back into Utah again.”

“Me too,” Jane said. “There’s the park.”

Jerry and Jasmine parked in the staging lane. Frank drove up behind them. Jane got out with Lucy, and Frank walked over to the office and met Jerry and Jasmine.

“Nice choice,” Frank said, looking around.

“Looks like it,” Jasmine said.

“Call the General yet?” Jerry asked.

“No, I thought I’d wait until we got here,” Frank said. “I drove the whole way. Was too nervous to let Jane drive.”

“Same here,” Jerry said.

They walked into the office. There was an old man in western garb behind the counter. He was tall and a little overweight, with a shaved head under his cowboy hat.

“I’ll bet you’re Jasmine,” he said, smiling.

“Yes,” Jasmine said.

“Good,” the man said. “I’m Clint. Good to have you here.”

“Nice to meet you,” she said. Jerry and Frank nodded.

“Who’s paying?” he asked.

Jerry and Frank both slid him credit cards.

“Thanks,” Clint said. He ran them, filled out the tags, and handed them over with maps. “Here you go. You’re just past the pool off of the main road. Enjoy!”

“Thanks, Clint,” Jasmine said. The three of them went back to their rigs. Jane walked up to Frank.

“All set?” she asked.

“Yep, let’s go.”

They followed Jerry and Jasmine to their spaces and parked. Both couples got set up quickly.

“Martinis?” Jane asked.

“Hell, yeah,” Jerry said.

“Sounds perfect,” Frank said.

“I’ll just grab myself a soda,” Jasmine smirked. “Being pregnant kinda sucks.”

They ended up under Jerry’s awning, sipping their drinks.

“Peaceful place,” Jerry said. “Wonder how the pool is?”

“Probably nice, but I don’t think I’ll bother. Time to get the general on the line. I’ll put it on speaker, so gather around.”

Frank hit the General’s contact and put his phone on the table next to him.

“Hello, Frank.”

“Hi, General,” Frank said. “I got you on speaker. Jane, Jerry, and Jasmine are here with me. We’re in Grand Junction, Colorado.”

“Wow, making pretty good time,” he said.

“Not bad,” Frank said. “We ran into something unexpected and wanted to talk to you about it.”

“Okay,” the General said. “What’s that?”

“We ran into a roadblock.”

“Where?” asked the General.

“I-70, about a third of the way into Colorado,” Frank said.

“What was the roadblock for?”

“Small pox vaccine,” Frank said. “I can understand that; glad they’re doing it.”

“Something’s bothering you,” the General said.

“Yeah,” Frank said. “It was manned by UN Peacekeepers.”

“What!” General Hogan asked, sounding alarmed. “I wasn’t informed of that.”

“I figured,” Frank said. “It gets worse. They were asking if they could search vehicles, and they were waving their guns around.”

“Son of a bitch,” the General said. “Did they say what they were looking for?”

“Yeah, guns and drugs,” Frank said. “I told them no way without a warrant from a US Judge.”

“Good,” General Hogan said. “They fight you on it?”

“They told me I had a bad attitude, but it was pretty obvious they couldn’t force us. One of them said they were
US authorities
.”

“That’s baloney,” the General said. “At least it’d better be.”

“Yeah, one of them remarked to the other that they didn’t have authority to force a search.
Yet.”

“I’ll call the Pentagon,” General Hogan said.

“You haven’t heard anything about this at all?” Jerry asked. “Not even rumors?”

“I’ve heard rumors, but the Joint Chiefs warned the Administration not to do that.”

“Then how can they get away with it?” Frank asked.

“The President probably used an executive order, and until it gets challenged in court, it’ll stand. Were they searching anybody?”

“Yeah, several cars were being searched when we pulled up,” Jerry said. “I suspect those people didn’t know they could refuse.”

“Probably,” General Hogan said. “I expected the idiots in DC to try to lock down the population somehow, but I didn’t think they’d go as far as bringing the UN to this country.”

“Yeah, especially when they’re having problems in the EU,” Jane said. “What’s up with that?”

“Good question,” General Hogan said. “I’m gonna call the Joint Chiefs and have a chat.”

“Good,” Frank said.

“You didn’t see any UN guys anywhere other than the roadblock, did you?”

“Nope, and I had one eye in my rear view mirror most of the time,” Frank said.

“Good,” General Hogan said. “I’ll get back to you. It’ll be sometime tomorrow morning, though. Won’t be able to raise the Chiefs this late.”

“Thanks,” Frank said. “We’ll let you know if we see any more.”

“Okay, you do that,” the General said. “Thanks for telling me.”

“Take care,” Frank said. He shut off the call.

“It really bothers me that he didn’t know about this,” Jane said.

“Me too,” Jerry said. “Why are they letting him hang out with us for so long? Why haven’t they called him back to headquarters?”

“I’m wondering the same thing,” Frank said. “I wonder if they’re trying to separate out the military leaders who might resist something like this.”

“If they are, we’re in trouble,” Jane said. “Remember that he doesn’t want to bring the armed forces into the situation in New Mexico. I figured it was just to avoid leaks. Maybe it’s a bigger problem.”

“Yeah, maybe,” Frank said. “Anybody ready for another drink?”

“Sure,” Jerry said.

“I’ll hold off,” Jane said. “Want to have a clear head.”

***

Dusk. Scott was sweaty, still breathing hard after a feverish session with Cindy. She had dozed off again, and was laying half atop him, her stale breath hitting him in the face. He’d finally had enough, and pushed her off so he could climb out of bed.

“Kerry?” he asked.

“I’m up here,” he said from the bunk.

“You go swimming?” he asked.

“Yeah, Scotty. It was nice. Nobody else was there. The spa is too hot, though.”

“Glad you had fun,” Scott said. “Hungry?”

“Yeah,” he said. “We still have some Kraft Dinner. Should I make some?”

“Sure,” Scott said. “We might as well try out the stove in the new coach. You can watch the TV, too, you know.”

“I was earlier, when you two were asleep. Nothing good on.”

Cindy climbed out of bed, pulling on her clothes. “Did I hear something about food?” she asked.

“Yeah, Kerry wants to make some Kraft Dinner,” Scott said, smiling at her. “You were a little out of control in there.”

“I know,” she said. “I’m bad. The description of that film really got me pumped. Think I can see those films someday?”

“Depends,” Scott said. “I’m afraid the FBI agents are gonna find my storage locker, and if they do, I’ll never get them back.”

“Should we double back there and get them?” she asked. Then she thought for a moment. “Never mind. Stupid. They’ll be watching.”

“Yeah,” Scott said. “We need to head for a place far far away,” Scott said. “Otherwise we’ll get picked up. It’s only a matter of time.”