Bug Out! Part 4: Mortars and Motorhomes (6 page)

“These folks are just smart enough to get themselves into trouble.”

“I don’t think they knew that we were here,” the Sergeant said. “And by the way, they sent a small drone in here. We shot it down.”

“Well, they know we’re here now,” the Major said. “I’m going to call the CO and see if we can get some night vision choppers out here to find where they’re coming from.”

“Okay, Major Hobbs. We’ll keep an eye on things back here.”

“Alright, out,” he said.

“I’m bringing the drone back,” Jerry said. “I didn’t see anybody else back there.”

“Alright,” Sergeant Jones said. “I wish they would give those things to us. All we have is large drones. They are great when they are flying, but it would have taken us twenty minutes to get the damn thing in the air.”

“Still might be a good thing to have, though,” Frank said. “I’ve read about those. They can stay up for several hours at a time, right?”

“Yes sir,” the Sergeant said. “They just aren’t good for fast tactical work. There were enough troops back there to overrun us. That little drone saved our bacon.”

“Well, maybe,” Jerry said. “You guys have night vision. You would have picked off a lot of the cretins before they got close.”

“Possibly, but there’s a lot of cover back here.”

The drone appeared and slowly made its way back. Jerry landed it a few feet in front of them.

“Alright if we go back to the front?” asked Frank.

“Yeah, I think we’re done now,” the Sergeant said. “Thanks, guys.”

“I’ll go put this drone back on the charger,” Jerry said. He threw the controller and some other pieces into the backpack, put it on, and then picked up the drone.

“Don’t forget your rifle,” Frank said.

“It’s in my rig. I couldn’t carry all this stuff and that rifle.”

“Oh, makes sense,” Frank said. “C’mon, Lucy, let’s go.” She jumped up next to him, tail wagging.

“Maybe we should get some of those drones for the department,” the Sheriff said as they walked back. “How much do they cost?”

“This one was about $1400,” Jerry said. “I’m not so sure I’m okay with local police using drones, though.”

“Seriously,” Earl dead panned. “They might see my still with that.”

The men all cracked up. Jerry was nearing his coach, and split off from the rest of the group. He rejoined them when they were at the clubhouse veranda. They went in the door. Jane and Jasmine both rushed over and hugged their men.

“I was so worried about you,” Jane said.

“I didn’t even fire a shot this time. Jerry’s drone and the army did all the work.”

“Earl shot down their drone,” Jerry said.

“Oh yeah, forgot about that,” Frank said. “Nice shot, too.” Earl looked over at him and smiled.

The Major walked in.

“Nice job, boys,” he said warmly.

“Get the CO?” asked Jerry.

“Yes, and he’s sending up a couple of Apaches to look around the area with their night vision.”

“Excellent. I don’t suppose they heard anything about Simmons yet?” asked Frank.

“Not a word,” the Major said. “They didn’t find any wreckage during their search earlier.”

Charlie and Jeb walked in.

“You guys going to leave those trucks in the road?” asked Charlie.

“At least until it gets light. There’s no other way in here.”

“You won’t need the doc to get in here and look at your private?”

“No, he’s dead,” the Major said.

“Oh, no,” Charlie said. “So sorry.”

Jane looked at Frank.

“I don’t know how much more of this I can take,” Jane said. Her eyes were glassy. Frank pulled her close and gave her a hug.

“I know, sweetie,” Frank said.

“Why don’t you guys go try to get some sleep?” the Major said. “We’ve got our men on a rotation. They can watch things tonight.”

“Yes, Frank, let’s go,” Jane said.

“Alright.” They nodded at the group of people and walked out the door, with Jerry, Jasmine, and Rosie right behind them.

The night air still smelled of gunpowder as Jane and Frank and Lucy made their way to the coach.

“I feel so trapped,” Jane said. “It’s a nightmare.”

“Yes it is, but it will pass,” Frank said. “These guys will eventually get tired of losing people trying to attack us.”

“How much of our survival is due to blind dumb-ass luck?” she asked.

Frank smiled sheepishly.

“Probably more than I’d like to admit,” he said. “But we do know how to fight.”

The sound of choppers approached. Frank looked up and saw them. Two Apache attack birds. Jane looked up nervously.

“Now there’s a nice sight,” Frank said.

“Good guys?” asked Jane.

“Good guys. They’re what the Major asked for.”

They got to their rig and Frank unlocked the door. Cool air rushed out as he opened it. Mr. Wonderful peeked his head around the corner, and his tail went straight up when he saw them.

“Hi, big boy,” Frank said. “I’ll bet you’re hungry.” He bent down and petted him, and the purring got loud enough to hear over the chopper noise.

“Will you feed them, honey?” asked Jane as she headed to the bedroom.

“Sure, no problem,” he said. He went to the fridge and got out the cans of food, dished it out into their bowls, and put them down on the floor. They attacked the food quickly.

“Wow, they were hungry,” Frank said.

“Good. Get in here,” she said. Frank looked over, and she was standing naked next to the bed.

“Oh yeah, I get to do my special job now, don’t I,” he said, grinning. He walked into the bedroom shut the sliding door, and stripped off his clothes as fast as he could. Then he took her into his arms, caressing and kissing. They were at a fever pitch by the time they got onto the bed, and they ravaged each other, falling asleep right where they stopped.

Frank was awakened by Lucy barking. The morning was bright. He could see that even with the night shades down. He looked over at Jane. She was still sleeping, so he snuck out of bed.

“What’s the matter, girl?” he asked her. He looked out the window, towards the front of the park. There were two Humvees moving from the barn to the front gate, with tow bars and chains attached. The army was going to clear the road.

“You two ready for breakfast?” he asked, looking down at Lucy and Mr. Wonderful. “Okay, I guess I can feed you.”

He got the food out of the fridge and filled their bowls again. Then he went back into the bedroom. Jane was stretching, her eyes opened. She smiled at him.

“That was nice last night,” she said, with an embarrassed grin. “What’s the commotion about?”

“They’re getting ready to tow the trucks out of the road up there,” Frank said.

“They won’t need you for a while, will they?” she asked. She pulled the sheet back, showing herself to him.

“Again?” he asked.

She just smiled back at him as he climbed back into bed.

Jane and Frank walked
to the Clubhouse after breakfast. Charlie was already there with Earl and Jackson. They were getting ready to head back out to finish their survey for the security cameras.

“Morning, guys,” Frank said. “Seen Jerry yet?”

“Naw, he’s a late sleeper like you,” Jackson said, grinning.

“Want me to make some coffee in the big pot?” Jane asked.

“Might as well,” Charlie said. “Thanks. Hilda would, but she’s not quite ready to be up and around yet.”

“She’s doing better though, I hope,” Jane said.

“Yes, she is,” Charlie said. “She’ll be up and around in a couple of days.”

Jane got the coffee pot filled with water and put in the coffee. Then she plugged it in, and soon the big percolator started to sputter. Jane watched the water spurt into the glass cover, getting more color as it progressed.

“Mmmmm, is that coffee I smell?” asked Jasmine, as she walked in with Jerry and Rosie.

“Rather have Mimosa,” Rosie said sternly. Then she laughed. “Just kid. Good morning, Jane.”

“Good morning to you,” Jane said. “Hope you slept well.”

“Jerry and Jasmine kept me up at night, with their carrying on,” Rosie said. Then she got a big grin on her face and used her thumb to point to Jasmine. She faked a big laugh.

“Mom!” Jasmine said. Jerry cracked up, looking quite pleased with himself.

“You ready to go scope out the rest of those camera locations, Frank?” asked Jerry.

“Sure. Let’s go get that done, and then we can come back and have some of this coffee.”

Jerry nodded. They grabbed their tablet and the marker and headed out.

Jasmine walked over to Jane, smiling.

“Jerry really had his blood up last night,” Jasmine whispered.

“So did Frank, but I was the instigator,” Jane said, with an embarrassed smile. “I’m glad.”

“Me too,” Jasmine said. “I’m so afraid that I’m going to lose him. I feel like I want to hold on tight and not let him go.”

“Yes,” Jane said. “It’s funny, really. We’ve always had a pretty good marriage, but it was getting a little stale, and we were picking at each other. All of this excitement has us acting like we did when we were newlyweds.”

Jasmine nodded in agreement.

“I’ve got this strong urge to have babies with Jerry,” Jasmine said. “How stupid is that?”

“Not stupid at all,” Jane said. “Do you two have any kids? I don’t remember you talking about them.”

“No, not yet, but we were going to start trying. Then everything went nuts.”

“Well, you probably don’t want to wait too long. Age will catch up to you.”

“I’m only thirty five, so I still have a little bit of time. It would be smarter to wait until things settle down, but the urge is strong. With me and with him.”

“How come you didn’t try earlier?”

“Our careers…..or rather my career,” Jasmine said. “I had the better paying job. We would have had to scale some things back. We were saving for it, though.”

“And now neither of you are working.”

“Yes, that’s true,” Jasmine said. She giggled. “Funny, huh?”

“Well, that’s one advantage to being older. We’re both retired now, and our kids are grown. We could just amble around the country for the rest of our lives if we wanted to.”

“Do you want to?”

Jane thought for a minute.

“You know, I resisted taking off in the motor home when this all started. I loved using it, and we went out often….we took a trip every couple of months. But I wasn’t ready to become a full timer. I liked my sticks and bricks house.”

“You are changing your mind now?”

“This lifestyle and all of the danger and excitement has given our relationship a shot in the arm that I didn’t expect,” Jane said. “I feel like Frank’s woman in a way that I haven’t for a long time. I like the thought of being cozy with him in a smaller place, with less junk to distract us and more time to focus on each other. Strange how that works.”

“Yes it is. I’ve had the same kind of feelings.”

“So just get baby in you,” Rosie said, walking up. “You know you want to. I will help with baby. I had six.”

“I know, mom. You are probably right. Even if something happens to Jerry. At least I’d have a piece of him left.”

“So just forget birth control,” Rosie said. “He won’t know.”

“Mother, I couldn’t do that,” Jasmine said. “We would have to discuss that.”

“Would he be mad?” Rosie asked.

Jasmine got an embarrassed smile on her face.

“No,” she said. “He told me he wanted to last night, when…..you know.”

“Then settled,” Rosie said. “Throw away pills.”

Jasmine and Jane looked at each other, and they both giggled.

“Should I?” Jasmine asked, looking at Jane. “Really?”

“Don’t drag me into this,” Jane said, laughing. “You make your own decision, but remember that it’s always a good idea to listen to your mother.”

Chester walked in.

“Coffee. I love the smell of coffee,” he said. “You girls look like you’re scheming. What are you up to?”

“Never mind them,” Rosie said. “You come here, you sweet man.”

“Mom! Behave,” Jasmine said. She tried to sound stern, but she was laughing.

Meanwhile outside, Frank and Jerry were making good progress on their survey. They were almost to the back of the park now, checking out the last camera location.

“There’s a good tree there,” Jerry said, pointing. Frank walked up to it and made the mark.

“That’s it,” Frank said. “Let’s go back in and get us some coffee.”

“Maybe we should stop by the barn on the way and see what’s up,” Jerry said.

“Alright,” Frank said. They started walking in that direction.

“What a pretty morning,” Jerry said. “Wish we were just here on vacation.”

“I know. If we live through this, I’ll be back for some relaxation time.”

“What are you and Jane going to do after this calms down?”

“I would actually like to rent out the condo and stay on the road,” Frank said. “Not sure that Jane would go for that, though.”

“Sounds nice. Wish I could do that.”

“I’ll bet you’ve got some years to work, yet,” Frank said.

“Well, I’m forty five, so yes. We want to have kids, for one thing.”

“Ah yes, that will cost you,” Frank said, laughing. “But it’s the best thing in the world, trust me.”

“You have two, right?”

“Yes, we do. A boy and a girl.”

“Thought I heard you say that. They’re both okay?”

“My son is in our condo in Redondo Beach,” Frank said. “I need to have a chat with Jane, though. He told me last night that he enlisted in the army. He was about to tell Jane when the cell tower went dead.”

“How do you feel about that, Frank?”

“Proud but worried. And then there’s my daughter. She was living up in Portland.”

“That’s too close to the action right now.”

“I know,” Frank said. “She is probably in Boise right now, though. She was on her way here when all of the nukes were going off. After things settled down, we suggested that she stay there.”

“Who’s she with?”

“Her best friend. They are staying with her friend’s cousin. Sounded to me like there might be a little romantic spark there.”

“How do you feel about that?”

“At this point, all I care about is that she’s with somebody who will protect her. Hope they get the cell tower back up soon.”