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

“Text Heidi and let her know we’re on our way,” Malcolm said.

“I just texted Rosie,” Jeb said. “She said that the cretins are getting ready for something. They’re loading stuff from their cars into that motorhome.”

The men started picking up their equipment and headed back to the jeeps.

Jane turned to Jasmine. “The boys are leaving,” she said.

“Good. I don’t like all of those bad guys within a hundred yards of my mom.”

“Seriously,” Jane said. “Maybe one of us should stay focused on the canyon, and one of us on the RV Park.

“Agreed.”

“Wonder if the enemy leadership has any idea who just hit them?” Jane asked.

“Good question,” Jasmine said. “Shoot! The Islamists are in two of the coaches near their site.”

“Uh oh. How close are they to ours?”

“Not very,” Jasmine said. “They’d have to come quite a ways to grab ours.”

Jasmine’s phone rang.

“Mom?”

“Hi, honey. Bad guys just grab two more motorhomes.”

“What happened to the people in them?”

“Too far to see good, honey. They not coming over here. Too many other coaches between us and them. Just got call from Jeb. They on way back now. Better keep eye in sky, and tell them how to sneak in.”

“We are, mom. Be careful.”

“I okay. See you soon.”

“Any movement in the canyon?” Jasmine asked.

“Nope, not yet. There’s not very many icons left there, either. Only about twenty. The rest of the bad guys must have burned up.”

“They hit them with the white phosphorus, I suspect,” Jasmine said.

“Willie Pete,” Jane said. “Bad way to go.”

“Serves them right.”

“Uh oh,” Jane said, voice trembling.

“What?” Jasmine asked.

“I just zoomed out a ways. There’s another group of enemy icons showing up, coming east on I-80.”

Jeb’s jeep led the way
this time, with Malcolm’s following closely behind. They raced down the dark highway, heading for the interstate.

“Any other movement?” Jackson asked, seeing Kurt looking at his iPhone.

“At the RV Park? No, still the same number of icons. Hope Jane and Jasmine are watching. They get a lot more detailed view. I can’t tell if they’re heading towards our coaches or not with this app.”

Jeb’s phone dinged. He pulled it out and looked at it as he drove.

“The girls?” Kurt asked.

“Here, read it,” Jeb said, handing his phone over to him. “I’m about to get onto I-80.”

Kurt nodded and looked at the text message. “Uh oh.”

“What?” Jeb asked.

“There’s another group of cretins heading east on I-80.”

“Really? How many?”

“Jasmine’s saying about forty. Probably wondering why they lost contact with their away team.”

“That means they’ve probably alerted the cretins at the RV Park.”

“Probably,” Kurt replied.

“She also says that they’ll guide us into the park when we get there. We’ll want to sneak in.”

“Should we take the cretins at the park out?” Earl asked.

“No, I’d say we stick to the plan. Try to follow them to the bridge they were gonna blow, and ruin their day,” Jeb said. “We’d better make sure they can’t follow our coaches back to Kansas when we’re ready to leave.”

“Roger that,” Jackson said. “Wish we had a safer place to hang out.”

“You and me both,” Earl said.

“Well, better get ready,” Jeb said. “It’s only a couple of off ramps up.”

“Here’s your phone,” Kurt said, handing it to Jeb. “I’ll text the girls on my phone.”

Jeb nodded as Kurt sent the text.

Only 2 off-ramps away from RV Park. Should we drive in?

Jeb’s phone rang. He pulled it out and answered it.

“Jeb?”

“Hey, Malcolm. Almost there.”

“Yeah. We were thinking that we should go in first. Maybe you guys could hang back a few blocks from the park for a few minutes. We’ll call you.”

“Sounds like a plan. See you soon,” Jeb said. He put his phone back in his pocket.

“George and Malcolm are going in first. We’ll hang back for a few minutes.”

“Good,” Kurt said. His phone buzzed in his hand. “There’s the short range app kicking in. We’re within half a mile.”

“Yeah, mine went off too,” Jackson said.

“Me too,” Earl said.

They took the off-ramp, and went down a couple of blocks, looking for a good place to park.

“How about that grocery store parking lot,” Jackson said. “Looks like the store is still open.”

“Good idea,” Jeb said. He turned into the parking lot and stopped, in-between two cars, not too far from the front entrance. “Refresh your short range apps.”

“Yeah,” Kurt said.

Malcolm drove slowly onto the RV Park driveway, and input the code. The gate rolled open. It seemed so loud to him, and his heart started to beat faster.

“Should we turn off the lights?” George asked.

“I think not,” Malcolm said. “If the bad guys see us driving around with our lights off, they’ll know we’re trying to sneak in. I say we just drive in around the back of the park. They probably won’t even notice us.

“Okay,” George said.

They went slowly down the road, through rows of coaches, most of them with their lights on. There were a few people sitting on the veranda of the clubhouse, chatting and drinking beer.

“Maybe I won’t go all the way to the back,” Malcolm said. “Better to be in amongst the coaches here. We can get all the way to our space this way.”

“Yeah,” George said. They rolled along, getting to their coaches in a couple of minutes. Malcolm parked behind his, out of sight of the enemy space.

“Let’s go,” Malcolm whispered. They quietly opened the doors and got out, checking their handguns as they stood up. Heidi came out of the Tiffin and walked quickly over to George, hugging him.

“Getting a little spooky here,” she whispered. “Those enemy fighters got here and loaded a bunch of stuff into their coach. Then they went into the coaches on either side of them. I think I heard some silenced gunshots.”

“Rosie okay?” Malcolm asked.

“Yeah, we’ve been in radio contact the whole time,” Heidi said. “I just told her that you guys pulled up. Where are the others?”

“We told them to hold back for a little while,” George said. “They’re in a grocery store parking lot, about a quarter mile back.”

“Good idea,” Heidi said. “I was watching the enemy with the binoculars. I don’t think they noticed you guys.”

“That’s good,” Malcolm said. “Let’s get inside.”

George reached in and picked up the cases for the OICW and the M107. “Damn, this M107 case is warm.”

They all went into the Tiffin, and George stowed the gun cases under the bed. He grabbed the shotgun on the way out to the front of the coach. Malcolm was behind the driver’s seat, looking at the enemy with the binoculars.

“Yeah, they didn’t notice us,” Malcolm said. “They’re getting ready to leave, though. One of the guys is undoing their water and sewer now.”

“They probably heard about our handiwork,” George said, grinning.

“Did you guys kill all of them back at the canyon?” Heidi asked.

“Probably,” George said. “We thought it was too risky to go down there and poke around, but we ruined all of their vehicles. Anybody who lived through it is goint to have to walk out.”

“Good. I’m glad you guys didn’t go down there.”

“Should I call Jeb?” George asked.

“Give it a few minutes,” Malcolm said. “I think they’re going to take off any second. They’re unhooking the two coaches they hijacked, too. Rather not have them meet the boys at the gate.”

“Okay, I’ll text them,” George said, pulling out his phone.

Jeb, cretins getting ready to leave. We’ll let them go & text you. Better avoid meeting them at gate.

Heidi, why don’t you get Rosie on the radio and let her know, so she doesn’t sit there and worry.”

Heidi nodded and picked up the radio.

“Rosie?”

“I here.”

“Jeb and the others are safe. They’re parked at the grocery store. We’ll let them know when the bad guys leave, and then they’ll be back here.”

“Okay, thanks Heidi.”

George’s phone dinged. “Jeb got the message,” he said.

“There goes the main coach,” Malcolm said, watching it pull away.

“How many getting into those other coaches?” George asked.

“Looks like there was five in one, and six in the other. The main coach must be pretty full.”

“Refresh your short range apps,” George said.

“There goes number two,” Malcolm said. “Number three just pulled behind it.”

“The local app is showing they’re all in those coaches,” George said.

“You guys are going to follow them tonight, aren’t you?” Heidi asked.

“Probably,” he replied. “We can’t have them blowing up a bridge that the army needs.”

“Looks like they cleared the gate,” Malcolm said. “Watch them on the apps, or better yet, contact Jane and have her let us know when they’re on the interstate.”

“Good idea,” Heidi said. “I’ll text her.” She typed on her phone.

Jane, check bad guys heading out of park. Please let us know when they’re on the interstate.

There,” Heidi said. Her phone dinged right away. “She got it, said will do.”

“I could get used to this style of warfare,” George said, laughing. “Those guys in the canyon had no idea.”

“These cell phones aren’t very secure, though, you know,” Malcolm said. “And pretty soon the apps are going to be released. That will change the dynamic. It’ll be bad for the enemy, but it will make our operations more dangerous too.”

“True,” George said. “Hope Frank can come up with those names pretty soon.”

Heidi’s phone dinged. “It’s Jane. All three enemy coaches are on I-80, heading west. That other group that’s coming east is bogged down in traffic again. Denver must be a madhouse of evacuations.”

“I’ll tell Jeb to come on in,” Malcolm said. He typed into his phone.

“How far ahead can you guys let them get?” Heidi asked.

“We have some time,” George said. “Blowing a bridge takes a while. I think we ought to get after them when they are about 40 miles out.”

Malcolm’s phone dinged. “They’re on their way,” he said.

“Good.”

Howard’s Class C was off the interstate, cruising through the Kansas City streets.

“Park right there,” Scotty said, pointing to a spot on a quiet side street, just a block from the University.

Howard nodded and parked the class C on the curb. There were apartment buildings on both sides of the wide street.

“Okay, we’re here. What’s the plan, Scotty?”

“We wait and watch for a pretty young thing to show herself. Then I’ll show you the beauty of the passenger side coach door.”

“You grabbed them using RVs before, I take it.”

“Yeah, Howie. When everybody got cellphones, the tow truck routine got too dangerous, remember? Let’s get out of the front seats. We can watch from behind.”

Howard got up. He was throbbing with excitement. It was written all over him. Scotty noticed, and chuckled.

“Doesn’t take long, does it?”

“Stuff it,” Howard said. “I’m not happy about this.”

“You will be. Look,” Scotty said, nodding forward. A lone student was coming, phone glued to her ear, books in her arms. She looked like she was about to drop something, and she was walking fast. “Watch the master, and learn. You’ll grab the next one. Get ready to drive.”

Scotty got by the door, watching out the window. When the girl was just slightly past it, Scotty opened the door, bounded out, and grabbed her around the waist. She screamed, and her books and phone went flying. Scotty yanked her through the door, shoved her onto the couch, and slammed it shut. She continued to scream, and he slapped her across the face several times. She fainted and fell to the floor.

“Drive, idiot,” Scotty shouted, adrenalin pumping, eyes wild.

Howard jumped into the driver’s seat and took off. Scotty picked the girl up and started taking her clothes off. She came to and started screaming again. He slapped her a few more times, and continued pulling her clothes off. She started kicking and clawing. Scotty got a grin on his face as he fought her. “This is the part I love. Take us out of town. Fast.”

“Okay,” Howard said, sounding out of breath, voice trembling. He headed for the interstate and got on. “How far?”

“There’s an off ramp right outside of town,” Scotty said. The girl tried to claw his eyes, but he grabbed her wrists. “Take it and roll towards the back country. I’ll be in the back entertaining our guest.” He dragged her kicking and screaming into the bedroom and shut the door.

Howard’s heart was beating a mile a minute. He could hear the struggle going on, the girl’s screaming, and Scotty laughing like a maniac. He knew what was going on back there. He was ready for his turn. He drove faster. No traffic. Good, he thought. His wickedness was awake again. His only thought was to enjoy the prey…enjoy the kill. He knew how he’d feel afterwards. He’d feel free for the first time in years.

Jeb drove the jeep next to his coach, and everybody got out. He rushed to the door, going inside and giving Rosie a hug. She started to cry, but had a big smile on her face.

“I told you it’d be alright,” Jeb said.

“It not over,” Rosie said. “But you do good.”

Jeb nodded. “I know, we have to be after the others. In a little while.”

The rest of the men came into the coach, and went to the fridge. They pulled out snacks and soft drinks.

“How long until we follow them?” Kurt asked.

“Don’t know,” Jeb said. “Let’s go talk to Malcolm and George.”

Just then there was a knock on the door. Malcolm, George, and Heidi came in.

“Nice job,” George said, smiling.

“Same to you,” Jackson said. “We make a pretty damn good team.”

“Sure do,” Malcolm said. “We aren’t done yet, though.”

“Yeah, we know,” Jeb said. “How much of a lead should we give them?”

“Maybe forty minutes, max,” George said. “Once they get to the bridge, it’ll take them close to an hour to get the charges set. We should arrive when they’re busy.”

“Just what I was thinking,” Earl said.