Bug Out! Part 9: RV Ambush (4 page)

“Son of a bitch,” Dobie said. He pulled out his phone and took a look. “They could get to us along route 83.”

“There’s a small clump a ways in, not far from Sidney, and a large group moving towards them along I-80,” Gabe said.

“They’re going to try an assault on East Denver,” Dobie whispered. “Where the hell is the army?”

“Okay, Dobie, we’re finished,” the tech said, walking up. He noticed the worried look on his face. “Everything alright?”

“Oh, yeah, sorry,” Dobie said. “Just worried about Denver.”

“You and everybody else. My wife wanted me to stay home today, and pack up the truck.”

“You guys think the enemy’s going to come this way?” Dobie asked.

“I don’t, but a lot of folks do. I’ve seen a lot of people taking off for
vacation
,” the tech said.

“C’mon, Dobie, let’s get going,” Gabe said.

“Yeah, I’ll just go settle up,” he said. Then he looked over at the tech. “Thanks, man. Nice job.”

In Nebraska, Malcolm was carefully following the enemy van. They turned off the highway, taking a small two-lane road to the north of I-80.

“They’re going off into the boonies,” Malcolm said.

“Of course,” George said. “What were you expecting?”

“Oh, I don’t know, someplace with a building perhaps. An abandoned factory or something like that.”

“There’s a lot of hills back here,” George said. “Those oil rigs over there?”

“Looks like it,” Malcolm said. “They don’t look active.”

“They’re turning left,” George said. “Into that hilly area over there.”

“I’ll drive past the road a ways. Keep your eyes open.”

“Okay,” George said.

They went past the fork and George took a good look.

“Looked like an oil road, didn’t it?” Malcolm said. “Just saw them rounding the bend around that rocky hill.”

“Yeah, that’s what I saw. Wonder how far back they are?”

“Good question,” Malcolm said. “Should we turn around?”

“Yeah, but stop before we get to that road. See if you can find a good place to park. We don’t want them coming out and seeing us.”

“Okay, then what?”

“Let’s climb up the side of that hill and check out the terrain. Maybe they’re close in enough that we’ll see them.”

“Should have brought the M107,” Malcolm said.

“If they’re back there in the kind of terrain I’m hoping, then I say we wait for their friends to arrive, and then we use the M107 to give them
a real
bad day.”

“You know, that’s not a bad idea,” Malcolm said, as he pulled the jeep up against the hill. “How’s this?”

“It’ll do,” George said, getting out and grabbing his rifle. He slung it on his shoulder. “C’mon.”

The two men started looking for an easy place to get up the hill. They found a trail, down from their jeep about fifty yards. They started up. The dirt was loose. Malcolm almost started to slide.

“Careful,” George whispered.

“Sorry,” Malcolm said. “Not as young as I used to be.”

They managed to get up to the top of the ridge, but it took them about twenty minutes, and they were both tired. George pulled a water bottle out of the bottom pocket on his cargo shorts, and took a swig. He handed it to Malcolm.

“Thanks,” he said, taking a drink. Then they crept up to the edge of the ridge and peered over.

“Wow, this’d be a perfect spot for an ambush,” George said. “Talk about a turkey shoot.”

“Seriously,” Malcolm whispered. They watched as the team pulled tents out of the van and started setting them up.

“I see six…no…seven guys,” George whispered. “All armed.”

“I’m taking the GPS coordinates down,” Malcolm said, his iPhone in his hand. “You ought to do the same.”

George nodded and pulled his phone. “What now?”

“I say we go back to the RV Park, and watch their coach,” Malcolm said. “When it leaves, we’ll know the enemy troops are here.”

“We’ll have to let the folks in Kansas know we’ll be a few more days.”

“I know,” Malcolm said.

“Maybe we ought to invite them up,” George said. “Having a few more snipers would really help with this operation.”

“You think they’d trust us enough for that?”

“Maybe,” George said. “Especially if we can talk them into getting on the phone with us.”

“Alright, I’ll start with an e-mail to Jane,” Malcolm said. “Why don’t you drive us back so I can send it on the way?”

“Sounds like a plan,” George said. “Now let’s see if we can get back down this hill without killing ourselves.”

“Seriously,” Malcolm said.

They got down to their jeep without a problem, and drove back towards the RV Park.

Back in Kansas, Dobie and Gabe were driving through the gate.

“Hey, look,” Terry said to Gabe and Trish. “Jeb, the Sherriff, and Charlie are on the roofs, with their rifles.”

“Uh oh,” Trish said.

“They saw the cretins coming into Nebraska,” Gabe said. “Wonder if they’re coming this way now? I haven’t looked for about half an hour.”

“Good question,” Terry said. Gabe drove over to the trailers and parked. Dobie pulled up next to his fifth wheel, got out with Duchess, and quickly let Simon and Peabody out.

“Not worried about the fence situation?” Gabe asked, walking over to Dobie.

“Something’s up,” Dobie said. “Princess will keep them in line. Let’s go to the clubhouse and find out what’s going on.”

They all headed for the clubhouse. Trish looked like she was going to cry.

“Glad you guys are back,” Jerry said, as he hurried over to them. “Been watching the apps?”

“Yeah, we saw the folks in Nebraska. Are they on their way here now?”

“Not yet. We see two groups,” Jerry said. “A large one that’s slowly making its way east on I-80, and a group of about 10, in two clusters. Looks like the largest group of them are in the sticks, in a canyon. There’s a few in an RV Park in Sidney, too.”

“Isn’t it a little early to be putting snipers on the roofs?” Gabe asked.

“Well, they wanted to get set up,” Kurt said, walking over. “They’ll probably be back down here in a few minutes. We’ll have enough warning for them to scramble back up.”

Jane ran into the room, out of breath. “Hey!” she shouted.

“What?” Frank asked, getting up from the PC desk.

“New message from Malcolm,” she said, still trying to catch her breath. “I forwarded it to you, Frank.”

He sat back down and pulled it up. Everybody in the room rushed over and gathered around.

Friends,

George, Heidi, and I will be a little later than expected. We overhead some enemy fighters talking in our RV Park up here in Sidney, Nebraska, and followed them. They are setting up a camp for a larger group of enemy fighters, in a canyon outside of town. We would like to take them on. Are expecting a group of about 100-200 in the next day or two. Are you interested in participating? We could use additional snipers. Please call us. 555-344-5820.

Regards,

Malcolm

“Holy Shit,” Jerry said.

“Go get the rest of the group in here,” Frank said. “We need to have a quick chat.”

“Yes, definitely,” Kurt said. He trotted outside and called everybody in. It took about five minutes for everybody to show up, Jeb and Rosie coming in last.

“Okay, what’s up?” asked Charlie.

“Jane just got an e-mail from Malcolm,” Frank said. “Gather around the screen here and read it, and then let’s talk.”

The people who hadn’t already seen the e-mail huddled around the PC screen.

“Okay, everybody done?” Jerry asked.

People nodded as they walked away from the PC.

“So what do we do?” Charlie asked.

“Here’s my proposal,” Frank said. “We call them, get them set up with the apps, and then decide during our conversation if we should go help them.”

“You sure you trust these guys?” the Sheriff asked.

“We know they aren’t lying about the two small groups of cretins,” Jerry said. “Frank’s new long range PC program has the enemy pinpointed within a few feet. The larger group is in a canyon that is a perfect kill zone. We could rain bullets and mortar fire in there. Love to send some Willie Pete their way.”

“I’m ready for a turkey shoot,” Jeb said. “Let’s do it.”

“Call them,” Charlie said.

Frank looked over at the Sheriff. “Any objections, Sheriff? Now’s the time.”

“No, I don’t think we have any choice,” he said with a sigh. “If we don’t help, we’re liable to get a visit down here from the enemy. It’s a short drive. Get them on the horn.”

Frank pulled his phone out of his pocket and dialed the number.

“Malcolm Davis.”

“Hi, Malcolm, this is Frank. I’ll put this on speaker.”

“Good, I’ll get George and Heidi into my rig and put this on speaker too.”

“Thanks.” Frank put his phone down next to the PC and hit the speaker button.

“Frank, still there?”

“Yes, Malcolm. Our whole group is in here listening.”

“Good. Thoughts?”

“Do you guys have smart phones?” Frank asked.

“Yeah, why do you ask?”

“What kind, Malcolm?”

“iPhones.”

“Which version?”

“Mine’s the oldest. It’s an 8. Heidi and George both have the new 10s.”

“Good. You guys know how to side-load apps?”

“Yeah, I do,” George said.

“Good. I’m sending you two apps via e-mail. You’ll want them.”

“What do they do?” Malcolm asked.

“The first app will show the position of enemy fighters on a GPS map. It’s long range. The other app is peer to peer, and tells you if there are any enemy fighters within about half a mile of you, even when there’s no cell coverage.” Frank send the e-mail message.

“How the hell are you doing that?” George asked.

“All enemy fighters have a chip planted in their triceps. They’re similar to RFID, and activated by LTE signal.”

“Son of a bitch,” Malcolm said. “You going to release this to everybody?”

“Yes, in about a week and a half. Long story. We’ll fill you in completely when we meet. Suffice it to say that the release will come after we’ve taken out as many leadership folks as we can.”

“You can tell where the leadership is?” George asked.

“We can see the numeric codes that are in the message payloads,” Frank said. “Rank number 1 is leadership. The ranks range all the way down to 16, from what we’ve seen.”

“How do you know this?” Malcolm asked.

“I broke the encryption for the chips, but I don’t have everything we need yet. I’m trying to attach names. That data is not in the chip payload, but I’m hoping that I can tie the serial number to a name by hacking into their system.”

“Where are the leadership now?” George asked.

“The head of the Islamist forces is in Capitol Reef, Utah. One of the heads of the Militia forces is at an air force base south of Colorado Springs.”

“You know what the names are?” Malcolm asked.

“The militia guy is named Phillip.”

“Really?” George said. “That’s who the enemy was talking to on the phone.”

Frank looked at the others, and smiled. “Well,
that is
interesting.”

“What’s the name of the Islamist leader?”

“I can’t pronounce his real name, but he goes by a nickname. Saladin.”

“George, what’s wrong?” Malcolm asked. “You look white as a sheet.”

“Later,” he said, trying to calm himself down.

“You guys alright?” Frank asked.

“Yeah,” Malcolm said. “Are you guys interested in joining our operation?”

“What do you think, guys?” Frank asked.

“Let’s go get ‘em,” Jeb said.

“I’m in,” Kurt said.

Jackson, and Earl both nodded.

“Looks like we got four,” Frank said.

“That would be great,” Malcolm said. “That leaves you enough to protect yourselves, right?”

“Yes, we’ll be good, plus we can see them coming from a ways away, thanks to these apps.”

“We’ll be bringing along some toys,” Jeb said. “A couple mortars, with some conventional rounds, and some Willie Pete.”

“You guys have mortars?” Malcolm said, chuckling. “And Willie Pete?”

“Yeah, most of it captured, although General Walker gave us some of it.”

“General Walker,” George said. “Now there’s a blast from the past. He was one of my friends, back in the day. How’s he doing?”

“You haven’t’ heard, have you?” Frank said.

“Oh no,” George said. “He bought it?”

“Yeah, at an RV Park in Utah. We barely got out of that one alive ourselves.”

“I’m really sorry to hear that,” George said, choking up.

“You don’t know General Hogan, by any chance, do you?” Jerry asked.

“Yes, as a matter of fact,” George said. “Another friend. Please don’t tell me he’s gone too.”

“We think he’s still alive, but he’s being held prisoner by the enemy. We were going to ask you guys to help us spring him.”

“I’m in,” George said, without hesitation.

“If he’s in, I’m in,” Malcolm said.

“You guys are in that big RV Park just east of Sidney, correct?” Jeb asked, looking at his phone.

“Yep, space 411,” Malcolm said.

Good,” Jeb said. “See you soon. By the way, I’m Jeb, and the others coming with us are Kurt, Jackson, and Earl. Should we bring our bows? A couple of us are experts.”

“Yeah,” Malcolm said. “See you soon.”

Frank shut off the call. “Okay, folks, we’ve just committed to a new partnership.”

“All for one and one for all,” Jackson said, laughing. “Let’s go get ready.”

The men left the room. Jane followed Frank back over to the PC. “You really think this is going to work out?”

“Yeah,” Frank said. He opened his programming screen again.

“You making any progress?” she asked.

Frank looked up at her and grinned.

“I’ll leave you alone, then,” she said. “Let me know if you need anything.”

Outside, the men had a quick huddle.

“Think we ought to take a coach there?” Kurt asked.

“Yeah,” Jeb said. “I was going to offer to take mine, with the jeep behind it.”

“What about Rosie?” Jackson asked.

“She can stay with Jerry and Jasmine, or she can come along if she wants to. It might not be a bad idea to have somebody watching the home front while we’re busy.”