Bug Out! Part 11: Motorhomes on the Dark Road (11 page)

“She’s gonna split,” Howard said. “I would if I were her. Even if we don’t get back there, the folks in that park will eventually show the dungeon to the police. They’re going to see her. You too.”

“I’m still dead, remember,” Scott said, smiling.

“Okay, I get that,” Howard said. “I’m still worried about Sherry. She’ll split.”

“Don’t be so sure,” Scott said. “She knows we’ll find her, and she doesn’t want to lose her grandma’s property. It’s probably all she has.”

“We should watch for her property to be listed,” Howard said. “She’ll take off with the money if she can sell out. Hell, I ought to put my truck stop up for sale. Now. I’ve had offers in the past.”

Scott was deep in thought again. Bailey was watching and listening, but getting anxious.

“Hey, guys, we have plenty of time to figure that out,” she said. “Let’s go on the hunt.”

“She’s right, Howie,” Scott said. “I think better when I’ve been satisfied. Let’s go.”

“Alright,” Howard said, standing up. “You’ll have to watch for me when I back out of there. That alley is a little tight.”

***

General Hogan came into the clubhouse. “You guys know where George and Malcolm are?”

“They’re out in the barn, on that work bench that we used to sit at,” Heidi said. “Why?”

“Something just happened. Hey, Frank, why don’t you come along too?”

“Sure, just let me save this,” Frank said.

“What are you working on?” he asked.

“Phone apps for our early warning system,” he said.

“Oh. Figures. I’ll let you get back to it pretty soon.”

Frank got up, and the two men walked over to the barn.

“Hey, guys,” the general said. George and Malcolm looked over from their laptops.

“Hey, General Hogan, what’s up?” George asked, smiling. He turned around in his chair.

“Nobody’s been watching the apps lately, I take it?” the General asked.

“Not me,” Malcolm said. “Been busy all morning.”

“Same here,” George said.

“Yeah, I’ve been programming for most of the morning,” Frank chuckled. “Makes you forget time and space.”

“There were a large number of icons in New Mexico and southern Arizona,” General Hogan said. “They’ve been slowly disappearing over the last week. All of the remaining ones disappeared a couple of hours ago.”

“How many we talking?” Frank asked.

“Over a thousand. They were spread all over the place before. We caught some of them moving in the direction of southern New Mexico, in dribs and drabs. And then poof…all of them are gone all of a sudden. And that’s not all.”

“What else?”

“There’s been a large theft of lead,” he said. “From three different sources. Half a million pounds.”

“Son of a bitch,” Frank said. “They’ve probably got a whole bunch of lead-lined semi-trucks made up already.”

“That’s what we’re thinking. You said something about a timed automatic history of icon hits, Frank. Still keeping that up?”

“Yep,” Frank said. “Want me to access it?”

“Could you?”

“Sure, but we should do that on the PC in the clubhouse. It’ll work better on that than it will on the laptop.”

All four men walked back into the Clubhouse, and Frank logged back onto the PC.

“What’s going on?” Jane asked.

“We’ve got some disappearing icons all of a sudden,” Frank said. “I’m going to use the history files to see what’s up.”

“That doesn’t sound good,” Jasmine said, worried look on her face.

“Okay, how far back do you want me to start?”

“How about two weeks?” General Hogan asked.

“Sure, I can do that,” Frank said. “What you’ll see is this map of the US, a snapshot for every hour. If there’s movement, we’ll see it happening as each snapshot is displayed. Maybe I should send this to the TV screen over there.”

“Good idea,” George said.

Frank switched wires in the back of the PC and then used the remote to turn on the TV. They all stared at the screen.

“It’s show time,” Malcolm said, chuckling. Nobody else laughed.

The screen came up with a map of the USA, showing an hour for each second.

“Too fast?” Frank asked.

“No,” General Hogan said, starting at the screen as the icons floated around. “We can slow down if we need to later.”

They watched, hushed, as icons moved. They could see the roundup of the fighters around Denver, and in other parts of Colorado. Same thing with northern Arizona.

“Look at New Mexico,” the General said. Down in the southeast corner. It’s like a vacuum is sucking them up from that point.”

They got closer to the screen, watching as a hole in the fabric of the icons grew, with icons further and further out disappearing.

“Ten to one, they’re being picked up in shielded trucks, further and further out,” George said. They continued to watch as the ring of emptiness grew to encompass all of New Mexico, Arizona, and Southern Colorado. Then it got to the end.

“Wow,” Frank said. “That was interesting.”

“Can you go back again?” General Hogan asked. “Slow it down? Maybe even start it a week or two earlier?”

“Sure,” Frank said. The screen went to the input block, Frank putting in new parameters. He hit the Save button with his mouse cursor, and the map showed up again.

“Look at that concentration right there, in New Mexico. Can you zoom in?”

“Yeah, but I’ll have to start it over,” Frank said. He went back to the input page and changed the coordinates to show New Mexico only. Then he re-started the display.

“Look, there’s a clump, and it just disappears all of a sudden,” Malcolm said. “Where is that?”

“I’m on it,” Jane said, turning back to her laptop.

“There it goes again,” General Hogan said. “A few miles out, then a hundred, then several hundred. They’re getting into shielded vehicles. No doubt about it.”

“So we know where they are,” George said. “Why don’t we get an air strike going?”

“Yeah,” Malcolm said. “Seems like a no-brainer to me. That doesn’t look close to any cities.”

“They aren’t going to bomb there,” Jane said, looking at her laptop screen.

“Why not?” General Hogan asked.

“Because that’s Carlsbad Caverns National Park,” Jane said.

“They’ve gone underground,” Malcolm said.

“I need to call some people,” General Hogan said. “If you’ll excuse me.”

The group watched him leave the room, and then looked at each other.

“They’re trapped, even if they think that formation is too sacred to battle in,” George said. “We just need to send commando raids in there, and watch for people trying to escape.”

“You’d think so,” Malcolm said. “Wonder what they’re doing in there? They have to know they can’t win the war. Think they’re setting a trap to take out as many Americans as possible on their way to oblivion?”

“You mean go out in a blaze of glory?” Malcolm asked. “Could be. These folks are nuts.”

“Can you tell what kind of enemy they were?” George asked.

“Yeah, I checked,” Frank said. “Mostly Islamists. There’s very few militia folks now. I’m thinking most of them got rid of their chips and disappeared back into the woodwork.”

Malcolm’s phone rang, making everybody jump. He pulled it out of his pocket and put it to his ear.

“Hello?”

“It’s Sherry.”

“You get contacted?”

“Yes. Apparently Howard didn’t know that the films and VHS tapes were at the RV Park. He thought they were locked up in a storage unit.”

“Really?”

“Yes. Scotty told him that he’d moved that stuff back to the park before he left for Jersey.”

“I’ll bet Howard was just thrilled about that,” Malcolm said, chuckling. “I wondered why he was okay with this group taking over the park.”

“What now?” Sherry asked. “He’s not coming back. He’s going to try to sell this truck stop and walk away.”

“What did he ask you to do, Sherry?”

“Stay until he figures out his next move.”

“What are you going to do?”

“Sell my place if I can, and disappear.”

“Scott will find you.”

“Possible. I don’t have much choice, Malcolm. Gotta go.”

“I might be the best hope you have, Sherry.”

“Maybe. Gotta go. I’ll call you later.”

Malcolm put his phone back in his pocket and looked over at George. “We got a problem.”

“Uh oh,” George said. “What?”

“Let’s talk about that later. This is more pressing at the moment.”

Jane was still sitting at her laptop
in the clubhouse when her phone rang. She put it to her ear.

“Hello?”

“Mom?”

“Robbie, how are you?”

“I’m good, mom. You and dad okay?”

“Yes, it’s getting easier, believe it or not. Where are you?”

“We’re being moved out of the Denver area. That town is safe again.”

“So we’ve heard. How bad did it get?”

“Really bad, until those apps got released. Then it was a turkey shoot. They surrendered left and right.”

“Where are you guys going now?”

“Rumor has it we’re going to Lubbock, Texas, but that just came up. Not sure it’s true. We’re hoping we don’t end up in Mexico.”

“You probably won’t.”

“Why, you know something I don’t?”

“Maybe, Robbie. Keep your mouth shut about it, okay?”

“Okay. What?”

“We are seeing enemy icons settling in southeastern New Mexico, then disappearing.”

“Southeastern New Mexico? There’s nothing there.”

“Yes there is, son. Carlsbad Caverns.”

Robbie was silent for a moment.

“We’ll have to go clean it out. Crap.”

“Probably. Want to talk to your father?”

“Sure.”

Jane motioned to Frank. “Robbie’s on the line.”

Frank smiled and rushed over, picking up the phone.

“Hi Robbie.”

“Hi dad, how are you?”

“Good. What’s happening with you?”

“We’re done in Denver. I’ve heard we’re being moved to Lubbock, Texas.”

“Did mom tell you what we’re seeing?”

“In southeastern New Mexico? Yeah.”

“How come you’re calling?”

“I was hoping that Lubbock was near you guys are, so I could see you.”

“We’re a ways north of there.
There’s no place like home
.”

Robbie was quiet for a moment.

“Okay, I get it. Probably be hard to get together, then.”

“Depends on which way they send you. Wish they let you guys have cellphones.”

“That’s not happening. Talked to Sarah lately?”

“No, but it’s been a madhouse here. I’ll try to call her today.”

“Good. I gotta go. Love you dad.”

“Love you too, son. I’ll give this back to your mother.”

Frank handed the phone back to Jane.

“I take it you have to get off, Robbie.”

“Yeah. Love you, mom.”

“Love you too, honey. Take care of yourself.”

“You too.”

Jane put her phone on the desk and looked up at Frank, concern in her eyes.

“Don’t worry. He’s not Special Forces. They’ll go in first,” Frank said. “He’ll probably just be part of the mop up.”

“They could have anything there,” Jane said. “They could be outside of that cavern and lure the army in.”

Frank was silent for a moment, thinking. “You’re right, and we need to poke at that possibility. They stole a lot of lead. We’re thinking it’s for vehicles. It might be for buildings instead.”

“They have nerve gas,” Jane said, tears welling up in her eyes.

“We’ll bring this up to General Hogan and the rest of the folks. Don’t worry about it yet.”

“Not possible,” she said, moving over to hold him.

“Something wrong?” Jasmine asked, walking back to her laptop with a cup of coffee.

“Just heard from Robbie,” Jane said.

“That’s good news, I hope.”

“He’s okay, but it sounds like they’re sending him near southeastern New Mexico.”

“Oh,” Jasmine said, getting a worried expression on her face.

***

“Pull over, Howard,” Scott said. “There’s enough room there.”

“Remember that I need to drive out of here,” Howard said, pulling over into the space. It was tight, but he had some clearance.

“What now?” Bailey asked, excited.

“Now we wait,” Scott said. “Watch for young lovelies to come by. When we see one we like, we open the coach door and yank her in. Easy peasy.”

“Yeah, that’s what you always say,” Howard said, looking out into the street from the driver’s seat. “Lot of people around here. Lot of foot traffic, especially across the street.”

“You always get so nervous,” Scott said. “Relax. We’ve done this before. We’re good at it.”

“There’s one,” Bailey whispered, looking down the sidewalk.

“Wow, she’s hot,” Scott said, watching her. It was a large girl in a tight low-cut top and tight pants. She had long dark hair and a voluptuous figure.

“She’s not carrying anything,” Howard said. “Shouldn’t we wait for one with their hands full? She looks pretty athletic, too.”

“I like her look,” Scott said. “She’s it. C’mon, Bailey. You get out the door and ask her a question. I’ll come up from behind and grab her. You’ll probably have to help.”

Bailey’s eyes were wide and dilated, and she had a wicked grin on her face. She got to the door, Scott following her.

“Now,” Scott said.

Bailey opened the door and stepped out onto the sidewalk. “Hey, you know where the concert is?”

The girl slowed, looking warily at the motor home. “What concert?”

“The student recital. Isn’t it around here?” Bailey asked as the girl got closer.

“This is just dorms,” the girl said, looking more suspicious. “You from around here?”

“No, I’m here to visit my sis,” Bailey said. The girl was right next to her now. Scott leaped out of the door and grabbed her arm. She screamed, and her hand went up. Pepper spray shot into Scott’s eyes, and he yelled. Then the girl sprayed Bailey in the eyes and continued to scream as she ran.

“Shit, get in,” Howard shouted. “We gotta get outta here!”

Bailey and Scott were rubbing their eyes, cussing, trying to find the door. Howard leapt down and grabbed Scott by the arm, yanking him inside. Scott grabbed Bailey’s arm, and she followed him in, cussing and spitting. When they were through the door, Howard slammed the door and locked it, then rushed into the driver’s seat and started the engine.