Invasion (7 page)

“I’m not,” he said.  “Will your dog sit by the grenades and then run to us when called?” he asked, looking at Daisy.

“Yes, she will,” Leah said.

Joshua handed her the end of the cord.  “Will you tie it to her and make her sit and stay.”

Leah saw the logic of what the boy was proposing.  Daisy could easily out run and get to a sprint faster than they could.  Daisy would already be in motion to get out of the way once the grenades detonate.

“Good idea,” Grace said, rubbing the dog’s ear.

Leah took the cord, and then walked Daisy back to the grenades and had her crouch down.  She then tied the cord to a ring on Daisy’s pack.  “Alright girl, you can do this,” Leah said, feeling a lump in her throat.  She loved this dog.

Daisy wagged, but seemed ready to follow direction.

“Alright,” Leah said, “you two head back that way.  Watch out for the helicopter, you’re exposed.  Let’s find a tree or some rocks. Go!”

Both teens took off running back down the path that had brought Leah and Daisy to the water tower.

Leah looked down the hill in time to see them launch the first mortar.  “Damn it!” she said and hugged Daisy as the mortar hit the top of a tree and exploded close by.  “Daisy, on me!”

The dog went to total attention, with keen focus on Leah.  “Daisy, stay,” she said, spreading five fingers out in front of the dog’s face.  She then turned and ran, following the kids.

Ian set the helicopter down roughly.  Violet and Anna were there instantly; one of them opening the back door where Bob was sitting.  Bob pivoted his legs, and stepped out.  He wasn’t letting go of the dead boy.

The other Scouts piled out of the helicopter, leaving Mary and Ian.  Violet opened Ian’s door before he could take off again.

“Bring back my other boy,” she yelled.

He nodded to her, and allowed her to shut the door.  Once she was clear, he applied throttle and the bird jumped off of the ground.

“How much ammo do you have left?” he asked Mary.

“I don’t know,” she answered.

“Don’t worry about it,” he said.  “We’ve got what we’ve got.”

“Momma B, this is Bulls-eye, what’s your status?  Over.”

He got two clicks of the microphone, which mean that she couldn’t talk.

Leah slid to a stop next to Grace and Joshua.  They were fairly exposed, but this was far enough from the grenades.

“DAISY, COME!  HURRY HURRY HURRY!”
she yelled at the top of her lungs.

It took a second, and then they saw the dog round a small tree at full stride.

“Hurry, hurry!” Leah reinforced.

The dog took two more strides and the grenades exploded behind her radiating a shockwave or pebbles pine needles and dust.  The blast pushed Daisy’s legs out from under her and she rolled along the path. Grace broke from cover and ran towards the dog.

A large section of the rusty third leg of the 1930’s era water tower vaporized from the detonation.  The weight shift on the tower and the buckling of the wounded steel leg was instant; the tower was going down.

“Holy crap!” Joshua said, now kneeling next to Grace and Daisy.

The back two legs of the water tower bent forward with so much momentum and torque that the 90-year-old concrete footings that had held them to the earth were pulled from the ground, and the tower was free. The weight of the falling mass of water and steel knocked down any tree that was in the path of the tower.  Once the actual tank, filled with 75,000 gallons of water, hit the ground, the entire vessel exploded and released the liquid, causing a torrent of carnage and destruction down the hill.

The three would be soldiers edged up so they could see down the hill; Daisy walked next to them. 

“Holy shit is right,” Leah said, watching Joshua’s handiwork sweep away most of the side of the hill, the truck, the soldier, the communications equipment and a large section of the road over the side of the cliff. 

“Son-of-a-bitch” Ian said, into the helicopter’s headset.  “Did you see that?”

“Yeah, I did,” the words leaving Mary’s lips on a whisper.

The tower tumbled down the hill, hit what was left of the road, and bounce over the side of the mountain.

“I’m sure Leah and Grace weren’t taken by that,” Mary offered, hoping she wasn’t lying.

“Momma B…Leah, come in.  I saw the tank explosion.  Are you okay?  Over,” Ian asked desperately.

“Bulls-eye, we’re here,” Leah reported back on the radio.  “We’re okay.  That was Joshua’s doing.  He just saved us.  Over.”

Ian breathed a deep breath.  “I think I want to meet that boy,” Ian said, smiling to himself.  “What’s your location?  I have a helicopter, over,” he told her.

Leah had figured that he had the helicopter listening to the radio traffic between Ian and Bob.

“Bulls-eye, I hope you’re bird is armed, because we now have a very angry helicopter over us; with nowhere to hide.  Over.”  Leah said, unclipping the cord from Daisy’s vest and scratching behind her ears.  Other than being knocked down by the blast, the dog seemed unhurt.

“Mom, we need to find better shelter, and I have like ten shots left,” Grace said, updating her mother, as the enemy helicopter buzzed them with a few rounds shot in their direction.

“Run deeper up the trail!” she yelled.

“Mary, I’m going to get us right next to the other helicopter, and then I want you to unleash on them.  Understood?” he said, now wishing that she hadn’t used so much ammunition at the pipeline terminal.

“Got it,” she confirmed, gripping the gun and doing her best to point it at the other helicopter as they closed the distance between the two choppers.

Ian hoped that he would surprise the second bird.  The enemy helicopter seemed more intent on killing Leah and the kids than it did on anything else. They were closing as fast as he could fly, and he needed to remain unseen for at least another 30 seconds. 

“Is that Dad coming up in the second helicopter?” Grace asked, throwing a look at the second black bird approaching in the sky.

Leah led them into a grove of tall, thick oak trees and crouched down at the base of the largest one.  “God, I hope so.”

The enemy helicopter passed again, showering them with bullets.  One of the bullets found a target.

Daisy yelped loudly and whimpered.

“Daisy!” Grace said, spinning around to put her hands on the dog.  Daisy yelped a few more times; she didn’t know why she was in pain.  The bullet had struck her back leg.

“Ian, Daisy’s been hit,” Leah said into her microphone.  “We need you now!  Over.” 

“Roger that!” came the response.

The sky above the ridgeline was alive with the sound of two helicopters. 

Ian pulled the controls hard to match the speed and altitude of the enemy bird.  He was perfectly aligned with the second helicopter.  The enemy pilot looked at them, but didn’t have time to react.  

“NOW!”
Ian yelled to Mary.

Mary squeezed the trigger and was rewarded with dozens and dozens of bullets striking the target she was aiming for.

The engine of the enemy helicopter exploded and caught fire.  The black chassis spun around two or three times and nose-dived directly into the side of the mountain creating an even larger explosion.  Mary watched the fireball bounce off of the mountain and tumble down to the road, where it burned like a giant bonfire.

“Burn you son-of-a-bitches, burn,” she said softly.

Ian heard her in the headset, but didn’t respond.

“Nice work Bulls-eye,” Leah said into her microphone with considerable relief.  “We’re at the top of the ridge, near a grove of old oaks and a small field.  You should be able to put down there.  Over.”

“Momma B, roger that!  Over and out.”

One minute later, Ian settled the helicopter on the field, powered down and hopped out.  He could see his family and Joshua emerging out of the grove of oaks once they confirmed it wasn’t another enemy bird.  Joshua was carrying Daisy as they ran to the helicopter.

“Dad!” Grace said, running to the embrace of her father.

Ian wrapped his arms around his daughter.  “My Gracie Girl.  Oh God, I thought I would never see you again.”

She leaned back and looked at his face.  “Why?  You and Mom taught me well,” she said with a smile.  “And, I knew you would make it.  You can make it through anything!”

Leah was behind her and wrapped both of her arms around her husband and daughter.  “She’s got that right!  I love you Bulls-eye,” she said, leaning her head into his.

“I love you too,” he whispered and kissed his wife.

“Ms. Burrows,” Joshua said, standing next to them, holding the bleeding Daisy.

“Oh right, dear God,” she said, pulling away from her family and opening the back door of the helicopter.

“Hi,” Mary said to the other lady, when the door opened.

Leah was startled to see the other woman in the bird with her hand still on the machine gun.

“That’s Mary,” Ian said, helping Joshua put Daisy in the back.  “Mary, this is my wife, Leah.”

“I’ve heard a lot about you,” Mary said as she presented a real smile.

“Oh,” was the only thing Leah could think of to say.

Grace and Joshua jumped in next to the dog and Mary before the two women finished the greeting. 

“There might be a few more bad guys out there,” Grace said, breaking up the awkwardness. “We should go before they find out what we did to their communications gear,” she suggested.

“Or to their soldiers,” Joshua added.

Leah jumped in the other front seat and Ian spun up the rotor blades.

“Or their pipeline,” Ian added.  He exchanged looks with Leah, and then pulled back on the controls, lifting the bird into the air and nosing it over towards the Tiller farm.

CHAPTER 16

This is an official broadcast from the Government of the People’s Republic of China. Broadcasting globally on all frequencies and all bands.

Hello, my former fellow Americans, my name is Victor Payne, I am a former Senator of this previously great country and have just been appointed to be the Governor of the Province of North America.

As the President of the former United States pointed out in several of his broadcast, this new and superior province crosses from San Diego to Minneapolis and Mobile to Winnipeg and from Winnipeg to Vancouver. 

We control the heartland of our homeland and all of the riches that the former USA and Canada offered. 

Riches used to come from the figureheads in Washington, D.C. or the money brokers in New York City, but as new citizens of the Province of North America, or PNA, you are no longer slaves to the tits of a corrupt system.  Instead, you will all have a place in a wonderful and new society built around the solid principals of equality, community, hard work and loyalty.

Ah, loyalty, even though it’s the last of the core principals, this is the one attribute that we ask for first.  For a new citizen of the PNA, loyalty is simple, and you have a choice…but only at the beginning, and only one time.

By noon on the day after tomorrow, you must lower any and all flags that show allegiance to the former United States of America.  We will provide you with the new flag that shows your new loyalty to the PNA.  This new flag must be flying above the capital of your state by noon, local time, in two days.

The consequences of not showing your loyalty are simple.  We will crush you and kill every man woman and child inside the borders of that state.

If the forces of what is left of the United States attempt to invade or interfere with this peaceful transition of power the consequences will be dire.  How dire, you may ask?  Well, Mr. President, if you do decide to try and flex your weak muscles we will activate the dirty bombs that are currently hidden in the five remaining major cities on the Eastern Seaboard.

Your time starts now.

Peace and loyalty fellow citizens of PNA,

You will hear from me again.

CHAPTER 17

“I never gave up on the fact that I would see you again,” Ian said, standing next to his wife at the Tiller farm.

It had been one day since the Burrows and Tiller families had been reunited.  But the hours had been anything but easy.  The last two Scouts lived close by, and Joshua and Grace were able to get them the rest of the way home by horseback.   They also tried to contact the family of the Scout that had been killed.

Violet knew his parents well; they both worked downtown.  So when Joshua and Grace found their house empty, everyone suspected that they had died in the first few minutes of the attack.

They buried him in his Boy Scout uniform.  Violet did her best to clean the blood off the khaki shirt before they laid him to rest.  Adam was there, in great pain, and was the one to drape the American Flag over Ben’s body.  The gravesite was along the base of the ridge overlooking the farm.  It was a simple spot where the young soul could be at peace. 

“I knew you would find a way to get to us,” Leah responded, leaning into her husband.  “I also knew that our training would be what saved us.  It had to.”

Violet worked her medical magic, and was able to patch up Daisy.  Fortunately, the bullet had passed right through the hind leg, and as long as they could keep Daisy from pulling at the stitches, the dog would recover.

Adam Tiller was equally as lucky as Daisy; the bullet he had taken at the pipe terminal had passed through his shoulder.   Thanks to the Tiller’s stockpile of plasma and antibiotics, not to mention the medical skills of Adam’s mother, the boy was going to recover. 

Anna’s nose and eye had almost completely healed. She still had a little swelling, but she did not let that stand in the way of her newfound zeal for all things related to medicine.   She felt, through this enthusiasm for medicine, that she could keep the memory of her parents alive. With that purpose in mind, she became a willing student and absorbed readily everything that Violet could pass on.  Anna, had also taken a keen interest in the care of Adam, and when she wasn’t digesting medical journals or helping Violet, she would sit by his bed and talk to him while he improved. 

Unlike Adam, Bob Tiller’s wounds were deeper and more painful.  Violet had performed surgery on her husband to remove the bullet, but again, thanks to her years of working in a trauma center, Bob would recover. He knew that at his age, and with the severity of the wounds, recovery would be a slow and painful process.  But, he was a Marine, and he was going to push through. 

“So, Grace did good?” Ian asked, approvingly.

“She was amazing!  She saved herself and Anna, and she the reason I’m here now,” Leah posed.  “I have to believe that what we instilled in Grace, with the weapons training, the linguistics, the analytical skills, the preparation overall, is what saved her.”

They were leaning up against the split rail fence of one of the pastures as they talked.  Ian had taken his analog watch off and was thumbing it in his palm.  Every time he looked down at it, Leah fought the urge to look at her watch too.  A small blue light behind Ian’s watch face pulsed every so often, and then faded away.  Both he and Leah’s watches had been doing that for the better part of an hour.

“It’s because of Senator Payne, isn’t it?” she asked, in reference to their watches.

“It has to be,” Ian said, shaking his head.  “I mean, with our past with the guy, the CIA probably wants to bring us in to talk.  That’s got to be why they activated the traces on the watches.”

“To talk,” she paused.  “Or to help hunt him down?”

“I bet it’s the second,” he posed, and then looked at Leah.  “So, do we take her with us?” Ian asked his wife. 

“Who, Grace?  Into the CIA?  She’s not ready,” Leah countered.

“But, the world is different now,” he offered.  “They knew we were training her for more.  They knew the prepping thing was a good cover.  We even did a good job selling it to ourselves!”

Leah nodded, her forehead furrowed with stress.

  “And,” Ian continued.  “We both knew that what they really wanted out of us.”

Leah tilted her head to meet his eyes.  “I know.  They wanted a dedicated family of American spies.”

“Right,” Ian encouraged.  “You said it yourself, look what she was capable of doing over the last few days, all while operating on her own!” 

Leah looked away from her husband, knowing that he was right.  She found herself looking at the horses grazing in the pasture; like nothing in the world was wrong.  “Ian, I know she did well, but I’m not ready to cast her into our secret world. Grace is not a soldier or a robot.  She’s our child. It can be different,” she whispered. 

Ian nodded like he was hearing her, but his mind was processing every variable that might make a difference in this new war.

“Ian,” she said, snapping him out of his trance. “We can take these off and walk away,” she said, not believing the words she was speaking.  “They might think we’re dead.”

“Leah, you know them better than I do,” he paused, “You’re the one that recruited me, remember?”

She nodded.

He chewed on the words for a moment before responding.  “Leah, they know we’re alive,” Ian said, convincing himself as he convinced his wife.  “They need us to help the country.  We know Senator Payne.  I bet we’re one of the only set of field agents still alive in the States; and that’s why they’re activating us.  It’s also why we agreed to acknowledge the activation.”

“I know, and I agree,” she admitted.

Both parents stopped talking as Grace walked out of the house and towards them.  She had her 9mm pistol strapped to a holster on her leg, and she looked somewhere between confused and angry.

“What’s up, honey?” Leah asked, trying to be as calm as she could.

Grace held her arm up, showing her parents the analog watch they had given her on her 16
th
birthday.  “My watch started flashing a blue pulse every couple of minutes; it’s not supposed to do that.  What does that mean?”

To be continued…