Bug Out! Part 9: RV Ambush (7 page)

“Alright, I’m listening,” Howard said, heart racing, head aching.

“Now don’t be nervous, Howie,” he said, smiling. “It’s gonna be okay. You know how crazy things are now. It makes the game much less dangerous.”

“What do you want to do, Scotty?”

“Take on the interlopers, of course,” he replied, smiling.

“Those guys will eat you alive. You know how many enemy soldiers they’ve killed?”

“Nonsense,” Scotty said. “All I have to do is grab one of the women, but I’ll have to get among them somehow. That’s where you come in.”

“I figured. You want me to bring you in, because you think they’ll trust anybody I’m with?”

“Why, yes, that’s exactly what I was thinking, Howie.”

“Well, you can forget it,” Howard said. “You’re gonna lose, and they’ll kill both of us. Don’t underestimate these folks. They’ve probably found your little torture room.”

“Oh, I’m sure they have, Howie. There was one thing I was very careful about, though. There aren’t any pictures of me down there. Not one. I’m not even in any of the videos.”

“Yeah, but there are some of your dad, and you guys look a lot alike. What do you think you’re going to do, anyway? Take them all on? There’s a lot of them.”

“No, of course not. We’ll slowly take them out, one by one. They won’t know who I am until we have a more reasonable number of targets left.”

“What’s all this ‘we’ stuff?” Howard asked. “I’m not going to participate.”

“Oh, yes you are,” Scotty said.

“Or else what?”

“I know where your daughter is,” Scotty said. “It wasn’t that hard to figure out. Idaho isn’t that far away. You have lovely granddaughters, by the way.”

Jane and Jasmine were in the barn, watching their laptops silently.

“Look, the big group just picked up speed,” Jane said. “I’ll send a text.”

Jasmine nodded, looking over. “No movement of the guys at the RV Park yet. They haven’t even left the coach to go to the bathroom. Seriously, this app is amazing.”

“Yep, Frank outdid himself with this one,” Jane said as she picked up her phone. She started texting.

Hey, boys, enemy has picked up speed. Must be past worst of the traffic. Get ready. Looks like about 30 vehicles total, a little separated from each other.

“Sent,” Jane said.

Jane’s phone buzzed.

“They got it?” Jasmine asked.

“Yeah,” Jane said. “I hope they’re careful.”

Malcolm slowed down his jeep, looking for a sheltered spot on the road.

“We’re getting kind of far down the road, aren’t we?” George asked. “We’ve got a lot to carry.”

“I know,” Malcolm said. “I’m just a little worried. The cretins are going to get here after dark. What if they overshoot that road? We need to be out of sight if possible.”

“Well, look there,” George said, pointing. “Dirt road. Goes around that mound.”

“Excellent,” Malcolm said, making the left turn. Jeb followed. The dirt road went back a little ways, then led around the back of the big mound. There was plenty of space to park, out of sight of the road.

“That looks like an easy way up to the ridge,” George said, pointing up at the side of the hill. “Can we be that lucky?”

“Hopefully,” Malcolm said, parking the jeep. He got out as Jeb pulled up next to him.

“Nice spot,” Jeb said. “I was getting worried.”

“Seriously,” Jackson said. “That the ridge up there?”

“It wasn’t where we went up originally,” George said. “But it may lead to where we were, or another good vantage point. We’ll see.”

“Should we wait until it’s all the way dark?” Earl asked.

“No, I think we ought to get up the back side of this hill now,” Malcolm said. “Then we can wait till sundown to set up if we need to.”

“We’ll have to be careful,” Jeb said. “There’s a moon out tonight.”

“Yeah,” George said. “These guys might be smart enough to watch the ridge.”

“Maybe,” Jeb said. “Some of the pajama boys are pretty stupid, though. Wonder who’s running this little operation of theirs?”

“Good question, Jeb. Let’s saddle up, guys,” Kurt said. The men started to get their equipment out.

“Too bad we don’t have your dog anymore,” Malcolm said to George.

“I know,” George said. “I miss Jackie. She would’ve been good to leave with the jeeps.”

“Maybe we should’ve brought Dobie,” Jeb said.

“Who’s Dobie?” Malcolm asked.

“One of our group. K-9 trainer. He’s got four Dobermans back at the park.”

“We needed to leave him home,” Kurt said. “To protect the park. Besides, Dobie’s not a rifle shot. He’s a lot better with a pistol. This is a sniper job.”

“True,” Jeb said.

The men were all heavily weighted down. Jackson and Earl had the mortars, along with their rifles. Jeb and Kurt had bows and rifles, and each carried a bag with mortar rounds and grenades. George had the M107 and OICW, in their cases, with a .270 slung over his shoulder. Malcolm had his crossbow, another .270 slung over his shoulder, and an M-16. They slowly made their way up the hill.

“We need a couple more guys, just to carry,” George said, chuckling. “This is pretty tough.”

“Yeah, but this part of the hill is easier than where we went up before,” Malcolm said. “That was steeper. Remember when I almost slipped?”

“Yeah,” George said. “I guess we aren’t getting any younger.”

“Speak for yourself,” Jeb said, grinning. “You doing okay, Kurt?”

“I don’t think I’m going to be able to get this bag of mortar rounds all the way up here. Still not a hundred percent after that last incident.”

“I’ll get it,” Jackson said. He went over to Kurt and picked it up.

“What other incident?” George asked.

“Kurt was gut shot in one of the battles back in Colorado,” Jeb said. “Talk about lucky. Bullet went through, didn’t hit any organs bad enough to do a lot of damage. The enemy’s using hardball ammo, mostly.”

“Who patched him up?” Malcolm asked.

“Mary, my wife,” Kurt said, sounding a little short of breath. “She’s a doctor.”

“Ah,” Malcolm said. “Good to have around.”

“I’ll say,” Kurt said. “Hey, my phone just buzzed.”

“Mine too,” Malcolm said.

“Yeah,” Jeb said.

“It’s the short range app kicking in. We must be close enough now,” Kurt said. “We’d better be quiet, in case they have any sentries posted up here.”

“That’s why we brought the bows,” Jeb whispered.

They continued the long climb up, in silence now, as the light grew dimmer. The sun was behind the mountains completely now, but there was still enough glow left to light their way.

“There’s the top of the ridge,” George whispered. The men got up to it, and laid in the dirt, scooting up to look over the edge.

“There’s the camp, but it’s too far away,” Malcolm whispered. “We’ll have to follow the ridge over to the left a ways. We’d better go down a little lower for as long as we can, so nobody sees us.”

“Maybe we ought to stay here for a few minutes and rest,” Kurt said. “It would be better if it was a little darker.”

“Yeah, I agree,” George said.

The men set down their stuff and slid down a little further. Jeb pulled out his phone and went through the hits on the local app. “Looks like seven hits,” Jeb whispered.

“That’s the right number,” George said, looking at his phone. “The big group is about half an hour away, from the look of it.”

“Your phones are gonna buzz like crazy when they get close enough,” Jeb said. “Don’t get too startled.”

“Maybe we ought to set up the mortars here,” George said. “The camp is well within reach, and they’ll have a hard time picking off whoever is manning them at this distance.”

“Fine by me, as long as you can do without our sniper rifles,” Earl said.

“I suggest we leave one here, and move the other one closer,” Jeb said.

“Who’s the best sniper of you two?” Malcolm asked.

“Earl,” Jackson said. Jeb nodded in agreement.

“Okay, why don’t we have Earl come closer then?” Malcolm whispered. “Not all the way in where most of us will be, but within sniper range.”

“I’m good with that,” Earl said.

“If the enemy starts to flee in this direction, I can pick them off,” Jackson said. “They might, you know. Look at the topography.”

“Good point,” George whispered.

It was getting darker by the minute. The group sat silently and waited for a few more minutes. Then Jackson moved over to a spot with a little stable ground, and started setting up his mortar.

“Okay, men, I think we can get going,” Malcolm whispered. They picked up their gear and started moving left along the ridge, as quietly as they could. Malcolm stopped to put an arrow in his crossbow, and took up the rear.

It was slow going. The ground below the ridge was a little slippery. It would have been impossible if not for a goat trail that meandered along, about fifteen feet from the crest.

Then came the buzzing. The men all jerked, startled, but settled down quickly as the hits continued. Jeb turned and looked back, grinning. “Come on down,” he whispered.

They continued along, until they could barely hear talking and laughter over the ridge. They stopped, and George set down his gun cases and snuck up to the top of the ridge. He peered over, then looked back at the group.

“Still a little far for the snipers,” he whispered, “but great place for the other mortar.”

Earl nodded and looked for a small flat spot to set up. The rest of the group moved along further.

The talking got louder. Some was Arabic, some English. They got about fifty yards past where Earl was set up, and George poked his head up again. He turned and looked at the group, nodding to the left, indicating that they should go further. He put his finger to his lips.

They went another thirty yards, and George saw a flat spot close to the ridge, big enough for the M107. He peeked over the ridge. It was a good spot. He set down his gun cases and took the .270 off his shoulder.

“I’m going to set up here,” he whispered. “You guys keep going a little further, and space out maybe twenty yards apart.”

The men nodded and kept going as George took the M107 out of its case and unhooked the tripod. He positioned it on the flat spot, quietly put a full magazine in, and removed the scope lens caps. He got behind it and looked through the scope. Perfect. He could take out all of the men in view on the canyon floor before they even knew what hit them. He only counted four down there, though.
Sentries. Where are they?

Kurt, Jeb, and Malcolm continued on, Malcolm still at the rear. Jeb stopped and got up to the ridge to look over. Then he heard footsteps on the loose dirt, and looked up. An Islamist had an AK-47 pointed right at his head.

Jeb froze as the young
Islamist pointed his AK-47 at him. Then the Islamist heard a click. He looked up just as an arrow from Malcolm’s crossbow struck him in the chest. He fell to the ground, his rifle falling out if his hands and starting to slide. Jeb lunged for it, grabbing it before it could make a noisy fall down the side of the hill.

“Freeze, one of them is looking up here,” Kurt whispered. Jeb stopped, his heart racing, afraid to move a muscle.

“Okay, he turned around,” whispered Kurt. Jeb slowly backed up and over the ridge, out of sight.

“Good thing these pajama boys are wearing black,” Jeb whispered. “They probably can’t see him lying there.”

“Yeah,” Kurt said. “That was close.”

Malcolm came over. Jeb looked up at him and nodded. “Much obliged,” he said. “Nice shooting.”

“Don’t mention it,” Malcolm said. “I only see four men below, but it’s a little hard to tell because of those tents. There could be two more sentries up here. I suggest you guys get your bows ready.”

“Yeah, and we should stay out of sight until the large group gets here,” Jeb whispered. “We don’t want to scare them away from the party.”

“You got that right,” Kurt said. “Looks like George is set up with that .50 cal. Can’t see Jackson from here very well, but I can see Earl over there. He’s got his mortar set up. I think we’re in good shape, as long as another sentry doesn’t end up over here.”

“The larger group is getting close,” Jeb said. “Maybe about fifteen minutes.”

“Good,” Malcolm said.

“Jane sent a text a little while ago. She said that the big group is in about thirty vehicles.”

“Shit,” Kurt said. “That’s a lot. We’re going to have to be patient as they arrive.”

“When they all get here, we should disable the last vehicles that come in, so they’ll make it harder for the others to escape,” Jeb said.

“Now that’s a good idea,” Malcolm said. “Let’s text George, Earl, and Jackson about that. Seal up the kill zone, and then rain fire and brimstone on their asses.”

“Literally,” Jeb said, chuckling quietly, “when the Willie Pete hits them.”

Malcolm smiled. The men all sat back against the far side of the ridge and waited.

Howard was back on the interstate, driving his class C, with Scotty sitting in the passenger seat.

“Okay, we’re going east,” Howard said. “Where to?”

“Back to my home base in Ohio,” Scotty answered.

“Why?”

“Orientation,” Scotty said. “You used to love the game. We’re going to play a little bit on the way there, to whet your appetite. I know you’ll come around.”

“You don’t know me anymore,” Howard said. “The thought of the game repulses me.”

“No it doesn’t,” Scotty said. “I’ve been watching your internet habits. Pretty sick, old friend.”

“Watching and doing aren’t the same.”

“Oh, really?” Scotty said, laughing. “We’ll see.”

“What are your plans after that?” Howard asked.

“Then you go back home, re-open your truck stop, and wait for me to contact you.”

“You think I’m just going to hop to when you call me, Scotty?”

“Oh, I know you will,” Scotty said. “Because you know that I’ll pay a visit to your daughter and her family if you don’t.”

Howard was silent for a few minutes, going over his options in his head, but then he felt it. Creeping in.
The excitement.
The yearning for terror, and the release it used to bring him. He hated himself for it, but now that it was here, he knew he couldn’t deny it for long.
Dammit.