Bug Out! Part 8: RV Park Terror (18 page)

“Okay,” Jane said.

“We also might not understand their structure well enough,” Frank continued. “Maybe Saladin is the only level 1, and the other people we think are leaders could be rank 2.”

“Good point, but I’d be surprised if there are as many as we saw,” Jerry said.

“There’s also another possibility,” Jane said. “You’re only on the southwest. You need to move it around. They might be in western Colorado, for example, or further south in that state. They also might be in DC, or in Mexico, or along the Canadian Border.”

“Or they might have removed their chips,” Frank said.

“Hope not,” Jerry said.

“I’ll check the parts of Colorado we can’t see here, and then get started at upgrading everybody’s apps,” Frank said. He moved the map over.

“Crap,” Jerry said. “Look. There’s a 1 and a 2 at that air force base we’ve been watching for a while.”

“These are the ones that have been sitting in exactly the same place for quite a few days,” Jasmine said. “Maybe they’re dead.”

“I wouldn’t count on it,” Frank said. “They might have removed their chips, or they might have infiltrated or even taken over that base.”

“Look,” Jasmine said. “Both of them have country code 1.”

“We need to get ahold of General Hogan,” Jerry said.

Meanwhile, in Elko, Nevada, Malcolm, George, and Heidi were pulling off the road to fuel up and talk.

“How you holding up, Malcolm?” George asked as he walked up.

“Great,” Malcolm said. “So glad to be on the road again. Where should we stop for the night? It’s getting late.”

“Well, we wanted to talk about that a little,” George said. “Heidi ran to the store. She’ll be back in a minute.”

“Your coach working well?”

“Yeah, but it’s a little noisy on the grades, as usual. I think Heidi’s antsy to get a new rig.”

“Well, I wouldn’t wait too long. This Tiffin of yours still has good value. Another few years, not so much for a gasser.”

“Hi, Malcolm,” Heidi said, walking up with a small bag of stuff.

“Enjoying the trip?” he asked.

“Yeah, I am, actually,” she said. “Did George ask you about the route?”

“I was waiting for you, sweetie,” George said. “We’re wondering if we shouldn’t just stay on I-80 instead of going up on those smaller roads in Idaho.”

Malcolm thought about it for a minute. “You know, it might be okay. I haven’t heard about any enemy activity in northern Utah. It would be an easier, faster drive.”

“That’s what we were thinking,” Heidi said.

“Well, I’m willing,” Malcolm said. “Where do you want to stop for the night?”

“Could you go for another hour?” Heidi asked. “Wells isn’t too far off…we can probably get there by dark. Map shows 48 minutes.”

“You guys want to boondock, or do you need hookups?” Malcolm asked.

“We can spend the night at a Wally World if you want to,” George said.

“Or even a truck stop,” Malcolm asked. “I like Heidi’s suggestion. Let’s go to Wells.”

“Okay, it’s settled,” Heidi said. “Want me to drive for the rest of the day, honey?”

“Sure, that’d be great,” George replied.

“Now that’s what I need,” Malcolm said. “A relief driver.”

“I’m going back inside,” Heidi said. She walked back around the front of the coach.

“Anything more from Ted?” George asked.

“No, not so far. We’ll have to figure out how we approach this group without getting into a battle.”

“I think we need to make contact before we get there,” George said.

“Any idea how we do that?”

“No, Malcolm, not yet. Let’s both think on it.”

Back in Kansas, Frank was finished with his testing on the phone apps, and a line formed up to the PC table. He was installing the upgrades on everybody’s devices.

“This is great,” Jeb said, smiling, looking at his new app.

“Let’s see,” Rosie said. Jeb showed it to her, and took her through the steps to run it.

Charlie and Kurt were leaning up against the door by the kitchen, watching and chatting. Terry and Trish walked up, with Gabe and Dobie.

“We got the info for the trailers all together,” Gabe said. Dobie and Terry nodded in agreement.

“What about Jake?” Kurt asked.

“Oh, we have his stuff. He needed a nap,” Gabe said, grinning. “He drank a little too much earlier.”

Trish rolled her eyes. “I’ll bet he got all sentimental, didn’t he?”

“A bit,” Dobie said, smiling. “It’s okay, it’s not every day that you marry off a daughter.”

“I guess,” Trish said.

“Ready to get your new apps?” Charlie asked.

“Yeah,” Gabe said. “We’ve got Jake’s phone too. Looks like the line’s thinning out.”

The group walked over to Frank. Charlie and Kurt stayed where they were.

“When should we go into town?” Charlie asked.

“I think it ought to be tomorrow,” Kurt said. “Now that we have the new app, I’m expecting things to move quickly. Frank get ahold of General Hogan yet?”

“No, he wanted to get us all loaded up first.”

“You think we have any chance of taking out the leaders by ourselves?” Kurt asked.

“We have some good capability,” Charlie said, “but this’ll be more difficult than anything we’ve tried before. Some of us probably won’t live through it.”

“I know, that’s in the back of my mind all the time,” Kurt said.

Hilda walked over with Mary, smiling.

“What’s up?” Charlie asked.

“That walk in fridge and freezer is in good shape,” Hilda said. “We’ve had it running for a couple hours now. Wonder if Jeb’s been scoping out the area for game?”

“Good question,” Charlie said. “Hey, Jeb!”

Jeb looked over, and started towards them, helping Rosie along.

“What’s up, Charlie?” he asked.

“Had a chance to check around for game? We got the walk-in freezer working.”

“No, not yet,” he said. “Want a little venison, do you?”

“It’d be nice,” Charlie said.

“Yes, I like too,” Rosie said.

“Want some company when you check around?” Kurt asked. “I’d like to tag along. Got the itch.”

“Bow or rifle?” Jeb asked.

“Let’s start with bows,” Kurt said.

“Ah, man after my own heart,” Jeb said, grinning.

“Looks like Frank’s done with the upgrades,” Mary said, watching him. “Genius…hope the enemy doesn’t get wise before we get the top guys.”

“Seriously,” Charlie said. “The clock’s running.”

“I know,” Hilda said. “I’m scared to death.”

Frank watched as the last person walked away with their upgraded devices. Jerry held out his hand to him, and they shook.

“Job well done, my friend,” Jerry said. “What’s next?”

“General Hogan,” Frank said. “I already loaded the new version up to the distribution points, but we’ll need to make a special distribution for him and his men.”

“How’re you going to do it?”

“Network transfer,” Frank said. “They should be able to download it from this PC if we get it set up right.”

“Good,” Jerry said. “Gonna call him?”

“Yep, now’s as good a time as any,” Frank said. He found the General’s private number in his contacts list and punched it. It rang and rang. No answer. Frank got a worried look on his face.

“He’s not there?” Jerry asked.

“Well, he’s not answering,” Frank said. “I’ll try him again in a few minutes.”

“What if we can’t get him?” Jerry asked.

“Then we do the best we can by ourselves,” he replied. “Wonder how much time we’ll have to hit the leadership once the apps make the light of day?”

“Good question, Jerry said. “For the rank and file, it’ll be a turkey shoot on that day, I suspect, but the leadership might all get away if we don’t nail them beforehand. That wouldn’t be good.”

“I’ll try again,” Frank said. He hit the contact again. It rang several times, and then clicked.

“Hello?” said the voice on the other end. It wasn’t General Hogan. It was a much younger-sounding man.

“Who is this, please?” Frank asked.

There was a long pause.

“You still there?” Frank asked.

“Frank?” the voice asked.

“Who is this?” Frank said. He shot Jerry a concerned look.

“Irwin Road. The General is held at Irwin Road,” the voice said. Then there was a click.

Frank looked at his phone, then up at Jerry.

“What’d he say?” Jerry asked.

“The General is held at Irwin Road,” Frank said.

“Recognize the voice?”

“I’m trying to place it,” Frank said, “but yes, I think I do.”

“Maybe one of the kids?” Jerry asked.

“Yeah, think it was the General’s son,” Frank said.

“Let’s do a search on Irwin Road,” Jerry said. Frank nodded and did it on the PC.

“Uh oh,” Frank said.

“Son of a bitch, that’s Schriever Air Force Base,” Jerry said. “Maybe the cretins back there aren’t dead after all.”

Jerry and Frank looked
at each other, shocked at what just happened.

“What’s wrong?” Jane asked.

“Sounds like General Hogan is being held captive at that air force base,” Frank said.

“Oh, no.”

“You know this could be a trap, right?” Jerry said. “Hogan might be dead, and the enemy has his phone.”

“I hope not, because that would mean they have the apps,” Frank said. “I don’t think so, though. It sounded like the son to me.”

“Maybe they’re holding the son captive,” Jerry said.

“Hope not,” Frank said.

“So what do we do?” Jane asked.

“Let’s call everybody together,” Jerry said. “We need to brainstorm this one.” He got up, along with Frank and Jane, and they left to gather the group. Everybody gathered around the area where the PC was. Frank took his seat back in front of the monitor, and Jane sat down beside him.

“Everybody here?” Frank asked.

“Everybody but Jake,” Gabe said. “I’ll brief him when he wakes up.”

“Good,” Frank said. “Here’s the situation. I just attempted to call General Hogan. First time I tried, there was no answer. Then I tried again, and a young man answered. He said my name, so he knew who was calling.”

“Was it one of the kids that we helped after the General left?” Jeb asked.

“Could have been. The voice reminded me a lot of the General’s son.”

“What’d he say?” asked Charlie.

“He said the General was being held at Irwin Road.”’

“Where the hell is that?” Jackson asked.

“I searched on it,” Jerry said. “It’s that damn air force base, where we have a bunch of icons that have been sitting for a while.”

“So maybe those guys aren’t dead, then,” Kurt said. “Maybe they took over the base.”

“Maybe,” Jeb said. “Or maybe the enemy captured the phone.”

“That’s a possibility, Jeb,” Frank said.

“What’s the base look like?” Earl asked.

“Good question,” Frank said. “I’ll pull it up on Google Earth.” He loaded the program as the group huddled behind him, where they could see the screen.

“Schriever Air Force Base,” Frank said as he typed it into the search window.

“Shit, that’s flat as a pancake,” Kurt said. “Look at it. It’s going to be hard to assault.”

“Yeah, it’s pretty sprawled out, too,” Jeb said.

“There’s some high value targets at that base,” Jerry said. “A level 1 and a level 2. Both from the USA.”

“You know what,” Jackson said. “Something’s fishy. There aren’t enough icons there to take over a base that size. No friggin way.”

“Yeah, that’s been bothering me too,” Jerry said. “They aren’t moving around a lot, either. They might be holed up in one building, and the rest of the base might not even know they’re there. All it would take would be a few traitors around to keep watch.”

“Can the app pinpoint the exact building they’re in?” Jeb asked.

“The short range app can,” Frank said. “But we’d have to be really close. Too close, if the whole base has been taken over.

“Shoot,” Jasmine said. “Too bad, because if we could figure out the building, we might be able to tip off the others at the base.”

“Assuming that the enemy doesn’t control the whole place,” Earl said.

“I see that mind of yours working, Frank,” Jane said, watching him. “You’ve got an idea.”

“Yeah,” he said. “I didn’t make the long range app sensitive enough to get down to a few feet because it took too much processing power, and I wanted it to work in smart phones. This PC is fast, though. I’ll see if I can make a new version for PCs that’ll get us that close. It’ll take a few days.”

“We could just send a few people on a road trip to use the short range app,” Jeb said.

“True, we could,” Jerry said. “But it would be a lot better to be able to do it from here.”

“I’ll work on it,” Frank said.

“Well, don’t work on it too hard tonight, Frank,” Jane said, putting her hand on her shoulder. “It’s getting late, and you’ve been hitting it really hard for the last couple of days. You need some rest.”

“Yeah,” Jerry said. “Seriously.”

“I say we break out some of that food down in the pantry, and relax for a while with some dinner,” Hilda said.

“Good idea,” Charlie said. “What do you think, folks?”

“I could eat a horse,” Gabe said.

“Okay,” Hilda said. “I saw some huge cans of spaghetti sauce and a bunch of pasta down there. We’ll whip something up. She looked over at Jane and Mary. They nodded back to her.

“I’ll help too,” Trish said.

The women walked off, with Charlie and Kurt following.

“You two going to help?” Mary asked. “Too many chefs, you know.”

“You really want to carry all those big cans up the stairs?”

“Oh,” Mary said. “I get it. Yes, that’d be nice.”

The next morning, in Wells, Nevada, George and Heidi were waking up to bright sunshine.

“Want some coffee, honey?” Heidi asked.

“Do you even need to ask?” he said, chuckling. “Maybe we should just go get some from the Truck Stop store, though. That way we can get on the road faster.”

“I’m good with that, if you are,” she said. “They probably have donuts or something too.”

“I’ll check to see if Malcolm’s up, first,” George said, sitting up and pulling his pajamas off. He got dressed quickly, watching Heidi as she got dressed next to him. He took a moment to take her in.