Dark Days Rough Roads (15 page)

Haliday
said, “Thank you. If you don’t mind, specialist, I’ll wait here for my partner
to drive through, not that I don’t trust you, but better safe than sorry. I
gotta get those people home.” The specialist ordered the humvees’ to open the
roadway and Haliday called Mike and told him to bring the Tahoe through.
“Quickly Mike, go 45 to 50 mph.”

Haliday
started the bike and waited. The Tahoe came through and with the dark-tinted
windows and speed, it was hard to discern who was inside. Just a few figures is
all it looked like. Haliday took off behind the Tahoe. He waved goodbye and
then sped ahead of the Tahoe. He signaled Mike to follow him. They slowed a bit
and worked their way through town. They approached the second roadblock, and as
soon as they started the approach, the humvees’ moved aside and waved them
through.

They drove
for about 15 minutes and then Haliday pulled over and stopped. Mike pulled over
as well. Haliday got off the bike and took the gear off. He was sweating like
crazy. Mike said, “You’re not that hot are you?”

“Mike, go
in that toolbox and get me a Phillips head.” Mike just looked at him and then
went and got the screwdriver. “You got a screw loose?” he quipped.

Haliday
said, “Worse than that, I have two on tight.” He walked to the back of the bike
and unscrewed the Michigan license plate. He told Mike to put it in the
toolbox.

Mike
said, “Wow, that was pure luck.”

“No, it
was stupidity, it almost got me killed on the way here and I should have fixed
it then. I can explain not having a plate on it, but too hard to explain why
it’s a civilian plate.” He then grabbed some dirt and kept tossing it on the
bare spot where the plate had been. Mike asked him how he got a government
plate for the Tahoe. “Well Mike, recruiters are all over the place and all it
took was a minute to unscrew it with an electric screwdriver. Right now there’s
no LEIN machines or MDC’s to run plates, so I’m not worried about it showing up
stolen. I kept it hidden until now.”

He told
everyone to grab a drink of water and stretch. After about 15 minutes of
checking for anything else he might have missed, they loaded up the bike. Max
yapped and they let him out to pee. Everyone loaded back into the truck and
they started off again. “Hey, Mike, flip that binder open. I can’t afford any
more military checkpoints, time to change the route. I’m not sure I could do
that again and get away with it.” They were just west of Indianapolis, a major
city with plenty of problems.

They
would be coming up on a small town called Avon soon, but would head north just
before they got there. This was still too close to Indy for comfort. They would
work their way up to State Road 32, which was east of a small town called
Gadsen and then move east from there. These small towns provided much more
comfort than the big cities. Once back in the Detroit area, it would be a
nightmare. So far everything was ok.

They made
a quick stop and dumped the two cans of gas wedged between the KLR and Tahoe
into the tank. That was only 10 gallons and they were just above a half of a
tank right now. Getting more gas was a priority. Haliday figured Gadsen would
be the ideal place to do so. Just about another half an hour and they’d be
there. They’d break for lunch, grab some gas and get back on the road.

It was
late afternoon and they were pulling into Gadsen, or at least what he thought
was Gadsen. There was a sign and that was about it. Mike said, “What the hell
is this?” Linda asked him what he meant. He said, “There isn’t anything here.”

Kayla
said, “No kidding, is this what you mean by BFE Dad?”

Haliday
said, “This is worse.” They just kept cruising through. Haliday spotted a sign
up ahead for an airport. It was just a regional airport, but worth checking
out. Next city was another 15 minutes down the road; he wanted to fuel up by
then.

They
pulled into an open gate and took a look around. Up by the main building there
were a few BMWs, Mercedes, Lexus and other expensive cars. Maybe a couple dozen
vehicles total. Then throughout the property, some service trucks, a couple
tractors and of course a few planes. It was the Indy executive airport catering
to the rich, who could afford private planes and the place to keep them. Midway
down the runway was what was left of a small gulfstream scattered about. “Guess
he picked a bad time to land,” Haliday said. Everyone just looked around; it
was like a ghost town.

Haliday
drove down between the hangars. There was an open hangar door and Haliday
paused and looked inside. He drove the Tahoe into it and turned it around so it
was facing the door. He went over to see if the door would close manually, and
after disengaging a chain drive he was able to lower it. “Ok,” he said, “Mike
and Kayla, you guys keep watch and I’ll make some food real quickly. Make sure
you guys pay attention.”

 He
pulled out a butane stove and can of butane. Within seconds it was lit and
ready. He grabbed a pouch of dehydrated veggies and opened it up, dumping the
contents into a small pan with some water. He let it sit there a few minutes to
rehydrate a bit. Next he dumped in a pouch of powdered egg and mixed it
thoroughly.

This
started to cook up and he grabbed a vacuum-packed pouch of cooked bacon
crumbles and opened it up. “Ah, bacon,” he said. “Gotta love bacon.” Next he
tossed in some powdered cheese and just scrambled it all. He walked over to the
truck and pulled out some flour tortillas he had grabbed off his counter at
home to take on the trip. He whipped up some big breakfast burritos, and
although it was late afternoon, they did the job just fine. Quite tasty too.

He had
thrown some Gatorade mix in some bottles of water. Kayla didn’t want any. “You
don’t have a choice,” he said, “you need the electrolytes to keep your system
balanced.” She reluctantly drank it. So did everyone else. “Ok, this is for the
road,” he said. He grabbed a thermos, heated up some more water and filled it
with instant coffee. A small luxury right now, but since everyone was out in
their own little world it might help them stay focused. He grabbed a chunk of
beef jerky and tossed it to the dog. “Don’t get used to that mutt,” he said.

After the
stove cooled and he wiped out the pan, they packed everything up. They were ready
to get on the road. He asked anyone if they needed to use the bathroom before
they went to look for gas. They took turns watching out while everyone went to
go do their thing. Haliday peeked out the door and ducked back in real quickly.
He told everyone to grab their guns and find cover. There were three guys
coming down the road between the hangars. He told everyone to just hang tight.
It dawned on him that he hadn’t given Linda a weapon. “Just stay low,” he said.
They weren’t sure what to expect.

He heard
them as they approached. It seemed that they were looking in every hangar as
they went down the row. He could hear them forcing doors open and anywhere from
5 to 10 minutes later they would move to the next hangar. As far as he could
tell, they had only one more before they got to theirs. Everyone just sat
there. Haliday held his finger to his mouth to tell everyone to keep quiet. He
placed his hand out and motioned for them to get down.

The door
opened and one of the guys peeked in; he whistled and Haliday could hear the
other guys come over and start talking to their friend. “God damn, how the hell
did that get here?” one said.

“Hell if
I know, but if it runs, it’s ours.” They walked into the hangar and started
looking around. “You smell bacon?” he heard one say.

“Hell ya,
someone has been in here hiding or something.” One of them walked over to the
Tahoe and peeked inside. “Holy shit, we got a gold mine.” Linda shifted
slightly and a small can on the ground near her feet fell over.

One of
the men raised a rifle up and said, “Who’s there?” There wasn’t an answer. “I
said who’s there, damn it.” Another one of the men took a pistol out and
started looking around as well. Haliday tried to watch them through a
reflection in the glass of the truck. He knew one had a rifle and one had a
pistol, but he didn’t have any idea if the third one was armed and if so what
he had. By the looks of this crew, it was a man in his late forties and two
younger guys in their twenties. He was thinking father and sons.

The older
man who had the rifle spoke up. “Listen, you’re gonna wanna show yourself and
if ya ain’t alone you’re gonna wanna both come out.” Linda shifted a bit more
and the can now rolled out from behind the toolbox she was hiding behind. “I
see you, you better get up.” Linda panicked and stood up and put her hands in
the air. “Don’t you move, who else you got in here lady?”

“Just my
husband,” she said.

“He some
kinda cop or something?”

“No, we
just found the truck.”

“Awww
bullshit, we saw what’s in there. We ain’t stupid, you tell him to come out
now. We ain’t gonna hurt anyone.”

"How
do I know that?" Linda asked.

One of
the younger guys yelled out. “Listen bitch, you’ll know what we want you to,
now do what the hell he said and tell that asshole husband of yours to get out
here now before we change our mind.” Mike didn’t know what to do. He was behind
a starting cart that had been left in the hangar.

Kayla was
over at the far side of the hangar and was hiding behind another toolbox next
to what looked like a larger Cessna of some type. She actually had the best
cover. Haliday had ducked into the small office that was in the hangar. He
could catch a peek now and then, but nothing to formulate a plan or see what
was going on. He looked over toward the door that they had come in. There was a
bag there. He thought about this for a minute. They were looting. They were
going hangar to hangar and probably through every car and plane here taking
anything they thought was valuable.

He was
trying to think this one through. Why the hell hadn’t he gotten radios and head
sets, he wondered. On the other hand, he had two passengers he didn’t count on
either. How much gear could he afford or even carry? Wouldn’t do much good
having just two sets, but then again, he told himself, that would have been two
coordinated people. That would have been better than this cluster.

 He was
trying to think this one through. “Damn it,” the older guy yelled, “get a move
on bitch.” Max, who had just been laying there, stood up and started yapping
now. “Damn mutt, shoot it,” the older man said.

One of
the younger ones replied, “I ain’t shooting it, you shoot it.”

The older
man said, “I’m watching this dumb bitch, shoot it or give your brother the
gun.” That’s exactly what Haliday needed to know. The odds were better, but
still not good.

Haliday
was about ready to crawl over to the doorway when he heard the man say, “That’s
it bitch I warned you.”

Mike
stood up and said, “Wait, wait, don’t shoot.” Haliday bolted over to the
doorway and started firing toward the group. They returned fire in his
direction and he dove to the office floor. Linda dropped to the ground and lay
there paralyzed. Mike ducked down and was trying to flip the safety off his
rifle. He heard a few rounds strike nearby. He was afraid to get up again and
get shot.

Haliday
heard an AR fire; he didn’t know who it was. Rounds started flying everywhere.
No one could get a good shot on anybody, good or bad. Haliday was laying there
when the window above him shattered. He covered his neck as the glass fell. His
hands were cut and bleeding. There was a lot of screaming going on at each
other. Haliday popped up and aimed at the man with the rifle and fired then
ducked down again. The guy dropped. More rounds came his way. Mike looked
around the side of the starting cart and fired off almost a full magazine in
their direction.

Kayla
took aim at the older guy, who was still firing from the ground; he had been
hit, but not mortally. She fired three shots toward him and the man stopped
moving at that point. She didn’t have any more lines of sight and made sure she
was covered as well as she could be. The toolbox in front of her rattled from
the pistol fire from the kid who had been shooting it. Soon enough there was a
click.

“Cease
fire,” Haliday yelled, “cease fire.” There were a few minutes of silence.
Haliday crawled over to the doorway and took a quick peek into the hangar. All
he saw was haze from the gunpowder and the men now huddled up near the Tahoe.
He got up and peeked around the corner again. It was now or never. He reeled
around the door frame and aimed at the group. One of them was holding their dad
in his arms. The other was laying there next to him holding his leg and chest.

Haliday
had drawn down on them and approached them slowly. He kicked the rifle aside
that they had been using. It was an older AK variant. He told Mike to come out
and get the rifle and check it. “Pull the bolt handle back Mike,” he said. Mike
came out, grabbed the rifle and checked the chamber, it was empty.

“Hold
onto it.” He called out to Linda and Kayla, “You guys ok?”

Linda
said, “Yes,” Kayla said “Yes.” Ok, come on out but be careful.”

Haliday
was still looking at the men. The youngest was crying as he held his father.
The other kid was no longer holding his leg and Haliday noticed his shirt was
full of blood. The kid was foaming at the mouth with a frothy pink foam. He
must have been hit in a lung. Haliday was about to walk up and check him when
the kid flipped his arm around. Haliday squeezed off a round out of his .40 the
same time the kid fired at Haliday’s chest. The kid had hidden a small snub
nose. The kid didn’t have a chance to fire another round; the .40 struck him
center mass.