Wasteland Rules: A New Dawn (The World After Book 3) (22 page)

September 7, 2029

U.S.T.G. Border Checkpoint on I-80 West of Des Moines, Iowa

   Derek watched the Red Berets and the hacker escape into
the safety of the U.S.T.G. with disgust and frustration. Now that they were
inside the U.S.T.G. and protected by legions of troops, there was no way to get
them out. The border was almost impossible to cross and by the time they found
a way in or someone to smuggle them in, the hacker would be in the hands of the
Government Intelligence Agency and they would be prying loose any secrets from
his head. Their mission had failed. This was a new feeling for Derek; he hadn’t
failed at anything since the Chinese mission.

   “Well that’s it then.” He said defeatedly.

   “What? Why?” Rora asked in surprise. “I’ve never heard
you give up on anything before.”

   “There is no way we can get across that border in time to
catch them now.” He informed her sadly.

   “What do you mean?”

   “That checkpoint is impregnable to us; it is designed to
defend against a sustained raider attack. The troops have heavy weapons and the
reinforced concrete bunkers are designed to withstand cannon fire. And if that
wasn’t enough, there are armored vehicles behind that gate to back them up. If
someone still managed to breach all that, they have attack helicopters on
standby they can call up.” Derek explained.

   “Why don’t we just go around?” Rora asked.

   “They have two layers of eight foot high chain link
fences topped with razor wire that extend for the entire border.”

   “We can’t cut our way through?”

   “They have remote cameras that monitor every inch of the
fences. All obstacles within a hundred yards of the fences have been removed so
there is no cover to crawl up to them. And even if we got to the fence without
being spotted they have sensor wires running through the fence that would alert
them if we cut it.” Derek informed her.

   “Maybe the Voice could disable the cameras and the
sensors?” She asked.

   “Unfortunately, I cannot.” The Voice chimed in on
speakerphone. “The cameras and sensors are hardwired into a system that is not
connected to a network. It is specifically designed to avoid such a thing.”

  “Is it a giant circuit or sequential circuits?” Rora asked
thoughtfully.

  “What do you mean?” Derek asked.

  “Which kind of Christmas light string is it like?” Rora
asked with a laugh. “If one light goes out do they all go out or only the few
around that one?”

   “What do you know about Christmas lights?” Derek asked
laughing back.

   “We had Christmas in the lab.” She said fondly. “My
father used to string lights all around the main room. We even had a fake
tree.”

  “That sounds like fun.” Derek agreed. “I can’t remember
the last time I celebrated Christmas.”

   “So about the circuit?” Rora asked after a moment of
silent reminiscing.

   “It’s a giant loop. If anywhere in the loop is broken
they send a patrol.” Derek replied.

   “So if we broke the loop near the checkpoint they
wouldn’t know if we cut through further up?” Rora asked him.

   “Not until they fixed the first break.” Derek replied
nodding his head thoughtfully. “That might work. We just need to find a way to
break the loop without cutting it.”

   “How about crashing a plane next to the checkpoint?” The
Voice asked suddenly.

   “That would probably work, but we seem to be planeless at
the moment.” Derek quipped.

   “Not exactly.” The Voice replied. “I still have remote
control of the plane we flew into Omaha.”

   “Hang on a second?” Rora interjected. “You can do that?”

   “Yes.” The Voice replied simply.

   “Why haven’t you mentioned that before?” She pressed.

   “It never came up.”

   “Why don’t we just fly over then?” She snapped.

   “Their air defenses would shoot us down before we got
over the border.” Derek explained. “But if he flies it low enough it might be
able to hit the fences before they can shoot it down. Or even if they manage to
shoot it down.”

   “Let’s do that then.” Rora agreed. “We can wait further
up until he crashes the plane, then cut our way through, and be long gone
before they repair it.”

   “Very well.” The Voice agreed. “I am warming up the
plane. It will take off and be here in fifteen minutes. You need to be in
position by then.”

   “Sounds like a plan.” Derek muttered.

   Derek then simply turned and sped away, and Rora was
forced to follow him. They were in position ten miles north of the checkpoint
when they saw the first signs of the plane’s approach. They took turns watching
through a pair of binoculars Derek had scavenged when a trio of missiles
launched from near the checkpoint. The plane came roaring into view shortly. It
was flying less than a hundred feet above the ground and it was firing flares
and chaff like crazy. One engine was on fire and trailing flame and the tail
was damaged. But it was still flying towards its target.

   Tracer fire from the armored vehicles at the checkpoint
began to lance out as the plane drew closer. They could see people scrambling
about inside the checkpoint as the wild approach of the plane caused a panic.
The plane got close to the checkpoint before the tracer fire began to take a
toll and chewed off one of the wings. The plane suddenly dove down towards that
side and hit the ground hard. It cartwheeled across the hard packed ground and
ripped through the fence north of the bunkers. Razor wire and fencing tore free
and entangled the plane as it passed through. It came to a sliding stop and
then exploded in a giant fireball.

   Derek was moving before the plane blew. “Let’s go!” He
yelled to Rora.

   They gunned their engines and raced towards the first
fence. They skidded to a halt and Derek began cutting the fence. The cameras
were frozen into place, which Rora considered a good sign. She watched the
checkpoint through the binoculars as Derek cut the hole. All of the troops were
engaged in sealing the breach made by the plane and examining the plane itself.
The area swarmed with so many men, it looked like someone had kicked over an
anthill.

   The soldiers were oblivious as Derek cut through the
fences and they moved the bikes through. They were through and heading away
from the fence before the flaming wreckage was even put out. By the time the
soldiers had contained the crash site, they were ten miles away on the edge of
Des Moines. Derek turned south and skirted the edge of the city. The fields of
green that surrounded the city stood in stark contrast to the dead brown of the
wasteland.

  The city itself wasn’t that large any more, consisting
mainly of the large office buildings that clustered around downtown. The suburbs
that had surrounded the city no longer existed. They had been replaced by plain
pre-fabricated concrete apartment buildings for the workers to live in. They
were simple buildings with no decoration and tiny apartments built for a family
of four. They had minimal amenities and simple steel furniture. Row after row
of these squat unattractive buildings sprawled out to the west of the city.

   Clusters of service buildings for the workers appeared at
regular intervals. A general store, a large dining hall, a media center, and
the government clinic provided all of the needs the government believed needed
to be filled. Large electronic billboards dominated the skyline, flashing
propaganda and Party messages all day and night.

   Closed circuit television cameras monitored every inch of
the streets, hallways, common areas, and alleys. Nothing moved without the
FedPol knowing about it. The sections of the city that all these buildings sat
in were segregated from the rest by barbed wire fences. Ostensibly for the
protection of the workers, but it only served to contain them.

   What was left of the suburbs was a walled and gated
section that ran north of the city along the river. The Party members and their
families lived there. They provided the administrative and managerial functions
for the massive harvest and processing operations. A fenced corridor provided
them safe access to the city. They had a shopping mall, restaurants, and other
amenities. Apparently the needs of the Party were greater than that of average
citizens.

   The train depot was south of the Raccoon and Des Moines
River junction near the airport. The processing operations and grain storage
were also located there. The main garrison was north east of that, connected to
the rest of the city by two large bridges that were heavily guarded. Patrols
did sweep the city and outskirts on a regular basis, but they seemed to be more
interested with keeping people in than looking for intruders.

   When Derek and Rora arrived they found a large train with
many attached cargo containers preparing to leave. The Voice had intercepted
some radio chatter that indicated the hacker and Red Berets were leaving on
this train for Illinois. Surprisingly security seemed relatively light. Rora
was surprised the Red Berets hadn’t rounded up every soldier available to guard
them until they left, but she supposed they all felt safe behind their border
defenses.

    “What’s the plan?” She asked Derek as they sat
overlooking the train depot.

   “Obviously we have to get on board.” Derek stated. “I
think we ride ahead and board the train in transit.”

    “How do we do that?” Rora asked in annoyance. “I’m
pretty sure they’re not going to stop and let us on.”

   He laughed. “We ride alongside the train and then climb
on.”

   “Seriously?”

   “Seriously. It shouldn’t be that difficult, and they
won’t be looking for that.” Derek responded and then roared off.

   Rora followed reluctantly, jumping onto a moving train
from a moving motorcycle wasn’t exactly on her to do list. But it would just be
another crazy thing added to the list of crazy things they had already done.
Time with Derek certainly was never boring. And while she sometimes enjoyed
herself, he seemed to positively thrive on the crazy and death defying action.

   Derek scouted out a good flat spot ahead where they could
intercept the train and they waited for it to arrive. It arrived about ten
minutes later traveling at about forty miles an hour. There was a large,
powerful engine car; followed by three passenger cars, several cargo cars, and
then a long string of grain carriers. As the train passed they could see that
the first and third passenger cars were standard with rows of alternately
facing seats, but that the middle car had individual rooms.

   Fortunately the cars containing the milled grain were
heavy and prevented the train from going much faster. That would make it easier
to get on board. There was no sign of guards on the roof or anywhere on the
train except a couple on the engine itself. They seemed to be focused on
looking ahead to make sure there were no obstacles.

   With a wave, Derek was off and Rora followed. The train’s
rolling wheels drowned out any sound created by the bikes and they were able to
get alongside undetected. Derek grabbed hold of a ladder on the side of one of
the grain carriers and hauled himself up onto the car. Rora quickly followed
suit on the car behind and their now rider-less bikes crashed along the rail
bed. She scrambled up top and joined Derek atop his grain car.

   He gestured and then slowly began to move forward,
stopping at the end of each car to check for guards before he jumped to the
next one. She followed, imitating exactly what he did. They slowly made their
way across the top of the train towards the passenger cars. As she watched the
tracks whiz by below her, she had to remind herself that this was for an
important cause.

   When they reached the edge of the final cargo car, Derek
paused with a strange look on his face. “Do you hear that?” He asked in confusion.

   “I don’t hear anything.” Rora replied shaking her head.
“What do you hear?”

   Derek laid down on the car and put his ear to the roof.
“It sounds like a radio.”

   Rora followed suit and listened carefully. Darned if she
didn’t hear it too. It sounded like music coming from a radio. Then a man’s
voice came on and she was sure it was. The voice was muffled but there was
definitely a radio on in the car below. She looked over at Derek with a puzzled
look on her face.

   “I hear it too.” She agreed.

   “Something is definitely off here.” He stated slowly. “No
guards, which is unusual; even on a cargo train. And what sounds like a radio
coming from a cargo container. This is looking more and more like a trap.”

   “It was convenient that the Voice intercepted that radio
chatter.” Rora agreed. “So what do we do?”

   “We have to get the hacker, or at least what he stole.”
Derek mused. “So we go spring the trap.”

   “Aren’t we just giving them what they want then?” Rora
asked in confusion.

   “A trap isn’t as effective if the target knows it’s a
trap.” Derek explained. “Give me a couple of minutes and I’ll try to even the
odds a little.”

   With that he disappeared over the side of the cargo car.
Rora crawled over to see what he was doing and watched him climb over to the
sliding door on the side of the car. She watched as he rigged a grenade to
swing into the car when the door was opened. She smiled as she thought about
how surprised the troops inside would be when the opened the door. Then she
watched as he moved to the second car and jammed a piece of rebar into the door
latch. It wouldn’t hold for long, but it would buy them some time.

   He then climbed back up onto the car and rejoined Rora.
Together they scanned the windows of the passenger car in front of them. Their
view was limited, but every man and woman inside was wearing a long coat and
hat. That wasn’t unusual for this time of year, nor was it unusual was that no
woman they could see had long hair. All the passengers could well be soldiers,
but the plain attire and simple haircuts of the U.S.T.G.’s workers made it very
hard to differentiate.