Bug Out! Part 9: RV Ambush (18 page)

“No it wasn’t. It was strategic,” George said. “They had two objectives. Take out General Walker to stop the partisan resistance movement, and capture Frank. Daan was there because of Frank.”

“Yeah, I figured that out as soon as I saw him on the video,” Frank said.

“How are we gonna take these folks out?” Malcolm said.

“Saladin will be one of our classic jobs,” George said. “He’s holed up in Capitol Reef. Great place to set up an ambush. If we’re lucky, it’ll go like the Sadie Evans/Jason Beckler job.”

“Maybe we can skip the part where I get shot this time,” Malcolm said, chuckling.

“It’s going to be dangerous,” George said. “No doubt about that.”

“What about General Hogan?” Jerry asked.

“We need to get to somebody inside that base,” George said. “We’ll need Sam’s help on that job, but I think it’s important that we take out Saladin and his leadership team first.”

“Why?” Jerry asked.

“I know why,” Malcolm said. “They took General Hogan to protect Saladin, and to take another stab at grabbing Frank.”

“So they think we’ll rush our merry little band over there and try to rescue him?” Jerry asked.

“Yep,” George said. “We’re going to have to think strategically here. You guys mentioned General Hogan’s son. You have a way to get to him?”

“I have a number,” Frank said.

“Good. I’ve got an idea,” George said.

“Hey, Malcolm, what’s up?” Jerry asked, watching his face turn to worry as he looked at his cellphone.

“Later,” Malcolm said. “Let’s get through this meeting first. I see Charlie trying to get people’s attention.”

Charlie was in the front of the room, Hilda by his side.

“Hey, everybody, let’s talk,” he said.

The murmur in the room died down, and everybody looked up to the front.

“Go ahead, Charlie,” Jeb said.

“Okay, thanks folks,” Charlie said. “Most of you know the main reason for this meeting. Frank figured out the names file, and he’s updated the apps and the PC program to show that data. After we’re done talking, we should form a line over by Frank, and he’ll get everybody upgraded.”

There was applause in the room. Frank grinned at the crowd, looking a little embarrassed.

“What does it do?” Jackson asked.

“I put a new toggle button on the app,” Frank said. “You can press it, and it’ll show the names attached to the serial number on the chips. For the phone app, there’s not a lot of screen real estate, so you won’t want it on most of the time. It works better on the tablets and PCs.”

“You got a full listing of the names too, I take it,” Kurt said. “We gonna send it around to some reliable people?”

“Yeah,” Frank said. “That’s the most important piece of this. The names file confirmed what we already knew…Saladin is at Capitol Reef, and Phil is at the Schriever Air Force Base. Not much difference to us from a tactical standpoint. It
will
be important in exposing the traitors at the Pentagon, Capitol Hill, and the White House. I suspect we’re going to find a lot of bad guys scattered around various state houses as well. We can root them out with the list, even if they remove their chips.”

“So it’s going to be published far and wide too?” Earl asked.

“Yep, that’s the plan. I’ll do a mass publish of the file on the same day that the apps are released. It’s already set up.”

“And hopefully this is another job that can’t be undone,” Jeb said.

“Sure is,” Frank said. “They can kill all of us, or take us prisoner, but there’s no way they can stop the distribution. This is going to be the end of them.”

“There’s still going to be a lot of bloody fighting,” Jeb said. “You guys know that, right?”

“Damn straight,” Jerry said. “I’m still worried about the army being so over-taxed. We need to destroy the enemy before they can develop a new set of tactics, or this is war is going to go on for quite a while.”

“We’ve got traitors advising our elected officials,” George said. “That’s a huge advantage that the enemy has right now, and they’re about to lose it. So yeah, the cleanup is going to be bloody, and it’s going to go on for a while, but the enemy will lose. They have no way to win now.”

“I hope you’re right,” Kurt said. “What’s our next step?”

“I saw George and Frank chatting intensely over there,” Charlie said. “Got any ideas to share with us, guys?”

“Yeah,” George said. “We set up an ambush at Capitol reef, and take out Saladin and his leadership. That kind of operation is right up my alley.”

“What about the General?” Jeb asked.

“We’ve got some ideas there, too,” George said. “We need to contact the General’s son. We won’t be able to do a classic assault at Schriever Air Force Base, but we might be able to alert people we can trust at the base that the General is being held there. Then we set up a fake operation, to make Saladin think that we’re taking the bait.”

“Taking the bait?” Charlie asked.

“Yeah,” George said. “We think the General is being held in order to draw us out, keep the pressure off of Capitol Reef, and capture Frank.”

“How do you know they’re trying to capture Frank?” Jane asked, a terrified look on her face.

“Sam Hinton told me that the enemy knows Frank cracked their system and developed the apps,” George said. “I’m pretty sure the surprise attack on the RV Park in Utah was partly to capture Frank. Daan Mertens knows who Frank is, and what he’s capable of.”

“You don’t think the focus of that attack was General Walker?” Earl asked.

“Oh, that was at least half the reason for the attack,” George said. “No doubt about it.”

“So where are you coming up with the idea that Frank was a target?” Jane asked.

“Daan Mertens was there,” George said.

“Okay, then it sounds like we need to plan an ambush,” Charlie said. “Who should be on the team for that?”

“Jeb, Kurt, Earl, the Sheriff, George, Malcolm, and I,” Jerry said. He looked over at George. “Sound okay?”

“Perfect,” George said, smiling. “With Frank for technical support.”

“What do you want me to be doing?” Charlie asked. He looked a little hurt.

“Well, now’s as good a time as any to discuss our other problem,” Malcolm said. “We’re going to need the rest of you for that.”

“Other problem?” Charlie asked.

“Yeah,” Malcolm said. “I’ve been watching for activity of the Nighthawk Road killer.”

“Oh,” Charlie said. “Go on.”

“There was a coed’s body found yesterday with all the right markers, right outside of Kansas City. I just saw another report a few minutes ago. Two more bodies, a little east of where the first one was. Same markers.”

“Yeah, so?” Earl asked. “Sounds like whoever it is might be leaving our area.”

“Too many coincidences happening here all of a sudden,” Malcolm said.

“Coincidences?” Earl asked.

“The former owner of this park tried to get onto Frank’s PC,” Malcolm said. “You guys know about that. Then we saw Howard in the old home movies down there. A few of you know about this already. Howard was a participant with Chet, back in the old days. As far back as the mid-60s.”

There was a gasp from the group.

“When did you guys find that out?” Jackson asked.

“Right before we left the dungeon to get our rigs set up,” Malcolm said. “The Sheriff, Jerry, Kurt, and Charlie saw it too.”

“So what are you saying?” Dobie asked. “You think he’s coming after us?”

“I’m almost positive about that,” Malcolm said.

“I’ve got to concur,” the Sheriff said, a grim look on his face.

“Why?” Gabe asked. “Those guys don’t usually come over to poke the hornet’s nest, do they?”

“George and I have been watching this guy for a while now. I’ve seen the most recent action from this killer around Columbus, Ohio,” Malcolm said. “It was after the New York Harbor attack.”

“Shit,” Dobie said.

“The markings used on the bodies were subtle, but un-mistakable. He was still trying to lay low. Now we’re seeing new killings just east of here, and the killer is obviously trying get our attention. They’ve gone back to the full classic markings. I’m thinking that Scott was just here, in this town, to pick up somebody. Now they’re trying to make sure that we think they’re moving away from us. They’re going to double back and hit us, probably in the near future.”

“Who’s they?” Jake asked.

Malcolm looked over at Kurt. “You do as I suggested?”

“Yeah, been trying to raise Howard at the truck stop for the last couple of hours,” Kurt said. “No answer. I believe you’re right. He’s working with Scott. They’ll find their way back here, probably sooner than we think.”

“So you’re telling
us that Howard took off?” the Sheriff asked.

“I can’t think of any other reason that he wouldn’t answer his phone for this long,” Kurt said.

“I wonder if he knows that those home movies are down in the dungeon,” Malcolm said.

“I was wondering the same thing,” Charlie said. “Why don’t we get the lineup started for the app upgrade? We can talk about this more later.”

Everybody nodded, and started towards Frank, forming a line. Jane watched for a few minutes, and then walked over to Jasmine.

“Time to go mess with dinner?” Jasmine asked.

“I was just thinking. I wonder if anybody told George and Malcolm about Earl Wilson.”

“That’s right, his name was on the registration for that tow truck. Shit, how could we have forgotten that?”

“They’re first in line for the apps. Let’s catch them when they’re done.”

“Okay,” Jasmine said.

Hilda walked over. “You two want to help with dinner?”

“In a minute,” Jane said. “We need to pass some info on to Malcolm and George that we forgot about.”

“Okay, see you in a few minutes,” she said, walking towards the kitchen. Trish joined her.

“Here they come,” Jane said. They walked over.

“Guys, could we have a word?” Jane asked.

“Of course,” Malcolm said. George nodded, and they went over to an empty table.

“We forgot to mention something earlier, when we were down in the dungeon,” Jasmine said. “It’s about that tow truck.”

“What’s that?” George asked.

“The tow truck is registered to Earl Wilson,” Jane said.

George and Malcolm looked at each other.

“You don’t look too surprised,” Jasmine said.

“I found that picture of Red Dagger down there,” Malcolm said. “I wasn’t thinking about the ramifications at the time, but this makes perfect sense.”

“Oh yeah,” Jane said. “Did you ever hear of Chet?”

“Never by name,” Malcolm said, “but the Nighthawk Road murders went on for a lot of years. Back as far as the early 60s at least, and I’ve seen some articles talking about activity as far back as the late 40s.”

“Earl Wilson was Red Dagger’s cousin, right?” Jasmine asked.

“Yep,” Malcolm said. “I wouldn’t be shocked to find out that Chet and Scott are related to those two in some way. By blood, or close family friends, or grew up together.”

“There was a connection like that between Jason Beckler and Earl Wilson, wasn’t there?” Jasmine asked.

“Yes, they grew up together. You know about that incident, eh,” Malcolm said, a twinkle in his eye. “Don’t believe everything that you read.”

Jasmine chuckled. “I’d love to hear all about that someday, but it doesn’t have to be now.”

“I’m always ready to have an
off the record
discussion about it,” Malcolm said, grinning. “And the incident with Sailor Boy that followed, too.”

“Who’s Sailor Boy?” Jane asked.

“Let’s not go down that rabbit hole now,” George said. “You find any other documentation that mentions Earl Wilson?”

“Not down in the dungeon,” Jasmine said. “You know, it might not be a bad idea to check out the front office. I saw some file cabinets in there. They were all locked up. We haven’t looked in any of them yet.”

“There are nooks and crannies all over this place,” Jane said. “There are closets and nightstands in the bunker bedrooms that we haven’t searched yet, for instance. And closets.”

“Sounds like we have some fun times ahead,” Malcolm said.

“Indeed,” George said, smiling.

“Okay, we just wanted to let you know about that,” Jane said. “We’re going to go help with dinner.”

“Thanks,” Malcolm said. “We’ll talk later.”

They watched the two women walk off.

Heidi walked up. “What was that all about?” she asked.

“They found registration in the tow truck, and wanted to tell us about it,” George said.

“Why?”

“The truck was registered to Earl Wilson,” he replied.

“Oh,” Heidi said, a disgusted look on her face. “That sicko. Not surprised, since you found that photo of Red Dagger on the bulletin board down there. Wonder if we’ll find anything about Beckler here?”

“You should have been here for that last conversation, Heidi,” Malcolm said, laughing. “I’d be surprised if we don’t. He’s probably been in this room.”

“Looks like everybody’s got their apps upgraded,” Heidi said. “I’m going to wander over to the kitchen and see if they need any help.”

“Okay, sweetie,” George said. He watched her walk away.

“Things seem to be good between you two,” Malcolm said.

“Yeah, they are. I’m glad she puts up with me.”

Howard made the turn off the main highway, and was heading to the barn. Scott’s instructions weren’t bad…he only had to double back once, and it was mostly his own fault. The noise finally died down in the bedroom. Howard heard the door open, and Scott came out, dragging Amada along behind him. She was a wreck. Her clothes were off, her hair matted, her eye makeup running down her cheeks. She wasn’t crying anymore. She just looked around, passive, as if she didn’t care anymore.

“You didn’t break her, did you?” Howard asked, turning around and seeing her.

“She’s still in perfect working order,” Scotty said, chuckling. “She’s pretty shell shocked, though. Look at her. She sees her friend lying there in a pool of blood, and doesn’t even seem to care.”

Both men laughed. Amanda looked up, trying to say something, but only a croak came out.

“Give her some water, Scotty,” Howard said.