The Forgiven The Fallen The Forsaken (34 page)

"No, sir. 
I would find a quiet place to sit and relax till the hounds get tired.  But I'd
have my boat ready and I'd be real close to that water, sir.  Right about now
I'd be sitting with my feet up enjoying a good meal and a snooze in a place
where I wouldn't have to sweat over some Predator jockey looking with IR.  Look
for the right boat and you've got them.  They're in it already or they're close
to it.  When they move, they'll be doing their best to look like they're
fishing or drifting.  Except nobody's wasting fuel on fishing right now, so I
would lean toward drifting."   

"Good
thinking, Green.  Keep looking." 

"Yes,
sir!"

Rob shared Green's
analysis with General Whitman.

"I think
the kid's onto something," said Whitman.  "I'll put him to work with
the feeds from the Predators.  We have a couple of other options that are
showing up in the pool that we'll follow up on as well."  He chewed
lightly on his lower lip, lost in thought. "But I think the kid's
right."

ARIZONA HOUSE

SEPTEMBER 13
^th

Aerial pictures
of Flagstaff were finally available on the web.  NAU quite simply didn't exist
anymore.  The campus and surrounding area just wasn't there.  Damage in the
surrounding areas ranged from completely flattened to merely unlivable. 

Julie was hopeful
that the village might have made it, but when she scrolled over to that area,
there was nothing but a crater.

"It must
have had multiple warheads," said Helen.  

"Nothing
we can do about it now, I suppose."

"Yeah, but
if we don't get the all clear pretty soon, I'm going to go crazy."

Julie said,
"Well, if we can't do anything now, we need to be making plans for when we
can.  We still need to get those tech companies up and running.  It's home work
time." 

They spent the
rest of the day doing research and planning.  By the end of the day they had
determined their first purchase would be a solar panel company that was located
near Kingman, an easy drive from their location.  By the end of the day they
had completed their business plan and were lining up necessary resources. 

Helen got their
real estate agent on the phone and gave instructions to set up the purchase.

LAS VEGAS

Jim had set up
an emergency session of congress with no reporters allowed.   He explained the
situation of the launches and of Walker and Kemp. 

"The bottom
line is that we didn't know he had the missiles and the only way to have
prevented the launch would have been to have hit it with a nuclear bunker
buster first.  Once the Russians had committed to launching, there was no
choice but to take them out.

"Unfortunately,
part of the strike protocol was to hit the Russians with a high altitude EMP. 
This took out the power grid and electronics across a good part of Northern
Europe.

"This is
where we stand.  We are in the process of tracking Kemp and hope to have him
captured or killed in the next few days.  We have lost Flagstaff entirely and
it will take us months to have the I-40 fully usable again.  We are turning
over every stone to determine if there are more hyperkinetic missiles in
conspirator hands, but I don't believe there are at this point. 

"The
Russians are no longer a force to be considered and Northern Europe is worse
off than it was at the end of World War Two.  We are evacuating as much of the
European population as is willing to go.   Already, flights are flying between European
countries and the East Coast around the clock.  We will transport those who
wish to return at a later date.

"As you
know, I'm a pragmatic son of a bitch, and I intend to keep as many of those
folks here as will stay.  We will take some pressure off of Europe for now by
pulling enough of the people to allow the damaged infrastructure to meet the
needs of the rest.

"We are
still in contact with our bases in Europe and are using them for the rescue
efforts.

"Our long
term agenda now includes rebuilding Europe as well.  I believe that it must
also include the prevention of use of nuclear weapons ever again."

"I need to
get back to the Whitehouse now but will be meeting with many of you over there
as events develop."

Later that
night, Jim was relieved to finally get to talk to Susan.  After a long hug and
some tears, she said, "It looks like we lost Stewart, Teresa, and their daughters,
along with Frank and Rita's kids, Angie, and some forgiven volunteers who were
working the greenhouses and providing security.  Denise was back in Vegas when
it hit, thank God."

"That's a
relief, but I'm devastated over losing the rest.  Angie was a good kid, too. 
But we'll have to mourn the dead later.  Things are just moving too fast right
now.   I don't trust my own people after that assassination attempt.  I want to
stash you at Julie and Helen's for a while.  Are you okay with that?"

"That
sounds good."

"Give them
a call and have them fly in tomorrow morning."

They talked for
a short while longer before Jim said he had to sleep.  Susan was just happy to
have him there.

MONTANA

SEPTEMBER 16
^th

The men stayed
in an abandoned house eating canned food for three days, waiting for the search
for them to move elsewhere.  Just before dark, they took the car the five miles
remaining to the marina, put on their wetsuits, and launched a small
houseboat.  Kemp had one of the men operate the electric trolling motor to keep
them out into the center of the river and they let the current do the rest. 

They would
travel to the small plane he had stashed and take a trip up to Canada.  From
there it would be easy to catch a commercial flight to South America.  The only
danger was in getting caught in the next several hours, but that shouldn't be a
problem.

HILL AIR FORCE BASE

"Looks
like we have him, sir."

Rob looked at
Green and said, "Show me."

"Here,
sir.  Looks like a fishing barge or small houseboat. They're using a small electric
motor to get them to the middle.  If my guess is right, they'll use that to
keep them in the middle and ride the current for as far as they can.  Once that
doesn't work anymore they'll either leave the boat or start the main
engines."

Rob looked at
the Colonel in charge of the operation and said, "I'm going to get out of
the way Colonel.  It's your show.

Colonel Stevens
gave the order, "Take it out."

ON THE HOUSEBOAT

Kemp had a gut
feeling that something wasn't right, almost the point of nausea.  He had
learned to trust such feelings long before.

He snapped his
fingers, opened the trap door he'd prepared in the floor between the pontoons,
and pointed down.  Each of them put on their diving gear and rebreathers,
attached their dry bags to their belts, and lowered themselves through the
floor into the water.  Kemp handed each a hand held diver propulsion vehicle
that looked like a hand held torpedo. 

As soon as they
were all in the water, they attached themselves to each other with a guide
rope, powered up the DPV's, and rapidly left the boat behind.  They were almost
a mile downriver before the Apache helicopter tore the houseboat to pieces with
its machine gun. 

Kemp watched
his oxygen levels carefully.  They should be able to get several hours out of
their rebreathers and two hours out of the DPV's.  The cold water would be a
concern before air would be, but their suits would keep them warm enough for
now. 

He could hear
the choppers overhead looking for them.   Whoever was doing the hunting was
good.  Maybe too good.  I told that asshole not to go after the president. 
Everything since had derived from that one stupid decision. 

There was a tug
on the rope and Kemp shut down his DPV.  One of the men indicated that his
battery was dead.  They dumped it and carried on with the other three units, dumping
each of them in turn as the power ran out.

From here on
out they would be swimming on their own power.  They still had a couple of
miles to go to the next shelter. Kemp hoped they would make it.

HILL AIR FORCE BASE

The reports
were coming in from the operation.  The boat was empty, though it hadn't been
for long.  Colonel Maybry said, "They went in the water before we hit.  We
need coverage everywhere they could be, including if they're underwater using
scuba motors.  Get me that B1 to drop ordinance right up the river.  Get me a
few more and we'll carpet bomb the entire area if we have to.  Let's go
fishing."

IN THE RIVER

Kemp was
starting to worry.  The pursuers were too good.  They were almost to the
shelter, but it would be a close thing.   He could see it up ahead now.  Two
quick tugs on the rope and he swam for it like there was a great white shark
behind him.  It was everything his men could do to keep up.  In the distance he
could hear heavy bombing.

He detached
from the rope and pulled off his fins as he found the shore.  He sprinted into
the woods and over to the hidden shelter entrance with his men right behind.  They
opened the hatch and scrambled in with his gear.  The last man in closed it
behind them.  It was a close thing.

Taking a deep breath,
he started walking down the eight foot round tunnel.  There was a safe room at
the end with two other exits.  As long as they didn't take a direct hit, they
should be okay for now.

Bombs hit above
them and part of the tunnel collapsed, filling the room with dust and dirt. 
Kemp coughed and choked but he was unhurt.  He called out but his men didn't
respond.  When the dust cleared he saw that all three had been crushed, along
with their supplies. 
Oh, my brothers. I'm so sorry.
They were all
former Mossad and had worked with him for years. 
But perhaps you can save
me one more time,
he thought, as he realized that the bodies would not be
recognizable. 
Hopefully the hunters will believe that I am one of you.

Kemp picked up
the pair of fins he had dropped and his dry bag and continued to the safe room
where he picked up one of the bags of supplies.  Leaving by an alternate
tunnel, he worked his way back to the river entrance a quarter mile down. 
Within minutes he was back in the water once again swimming downriver.

HILL AIR FORCE BASE

Rob was there
when the reports of the bombed out shelter came in.  There were at least two
bodies in the shelter, but they wouldn't know the full count until the debris
was removed.  Even then, identification would be difficult unless the men had
ID on them. 

Rob told the
Colonel he would be borrowing Green for a special project.

"Looks
like you won the pool, Airman Green," said Rob.  "Now I want you to
look at something more for me.  Assume that Kemp survived and it's his men who
died.  What did he do and where did he go?"

Without missing
a beat, the airman said, "Back in the water sir.  The bombing had passed
and the woods would be full of soldiers soon.  The water is the only safe
place." 

Rob paled. 
"Okay where would he go?"

"He has an
aircraft somewhere, would be my guess.  There's an airstrip off of Lake Fort
Peck, but he doesn't really need one. If that won't work, he has a plan B and a
plan C.  I'd look at a motorcycle or 4x4 to get up to Canada, and then blend in
with the local population."

"Keep
working on it and let the Colonel or me know what you come up with."

"Will do,
sir."

I think
the
son of a bitch just got away
, thought Rob, grimly.

LAS VEGAS & ARIZONA HOUSE

Julie and Helen
were thrilled to pick up Aunt Susan at Nellis.  They had lunch with her, then
refueled, loaded her bags, communications gear, and some supplies, and were
soon airborne again.  

Susan was
delighted to see the new house.  She loved the enclosed pool and spa, and said,
"If we have to be tucked away someplace, it might as well be
comfortable."  The girls couldn't agree more.

They brought
Susan up to date on their plans to start companies in solar power, high tech,
and shipping.  Susan listened carefully and commented, "You need to be
grabbing up some of the immigrants flying in from Europe, India, and
Australia.  There's a lot of talent there just waiting to be tapped and they'll
be happy to have good work."

Helen said,
"You're right!  And the first place they'll go will be to the web.  We
have work to do."

Helen and Julie
spent the rest of the day working on websites while Susan kicked her feet up in
the TV room eating ice cream and watching movies.  When they teased her about
it she answered, "You can't imagine what it's like to have people watching
you every minute.  You can almost feel them judging everything you do. I haven't
been able to do anything like this in forever.  You have any chips?"

MONTANA

Kemp eventually
made it out of the water and found shelter in a small boat house.  He slowly ate
an MRE, thinking about his next steps.  When he finished, he filled his canteens
with filtered river water and changed into woodland camouflage with infrared
protection and put a ghillie suit over the top of his pack.  There were still
Predators high overhead.  Whoever was hunting him really was persistent.  And
smart, he thought.  He dumped the wet suit, rebreather, and related gear under
the boathouse.  Hopefully it would not be found for some time.