Going Home (21 page)

“Be careful driving with those goggles of yours. They are decent, but depth perception is a bitch. Take it slow at first until you get accustomed to it.” Ted stuck out his hand. I took it, and we shook.

We spent the next few minutes saying our good-byes. Jess gave all the guys a hug and got a little teary-eyed. Linus gave her a big hug and whispered something in her ear, causing her to laugh as she wiped away tears from her face. When he turned her loose, he looked at Thad and me.

“You guys get her home, and then get your asses home. I expect to hear from you on schedule. You give us a SITREP based on the codes we discussed along with your location based on the closest waypoint.”

Thad spoke up. “Hey, Sarge, you haven’t given us your call sign yet. You got one, don’t ya?” I hadn’t even thought of that. They gave us all call signs, but never gave us theirs. Mike spoke up real quick.

“Oh, yeah, he’s got a great call sign.” Linus snapped around to face him, poking a finger to his face.

“I dare ya; I fucking dare ya to say it!” He was squinting one eye and jabbing that finger at him.

Mike put his hands up and started to back up. “Roger that, Sarge. I was just having a little fun.” He was trying not to laugh.

“Keep it up, and you’ll be having a little recovery from a grade A ass whoppin’!” He wasn’t backing down. Mike was still trying not to laugh. Ted was looking at the floor, not daring to make eye contact with Sarge, who was giving him the stink eye.

Thad cocked his head to one side and crossed his huge arms across his chest. “Now I gotta hear this. I ain’t leaving until I do.” He puffed out his chest a little more.

“These snot-nosed little shits are just trying to get a rise outta me,” he barked back.

“Looks like it worked,” I said. He shot me one of those looks that if it could kill, I would’ve turned into dust where I stood.

“Ah, come on, Sarge, just tell ’em; they can use something else, but you gotta admit it’s pretty damn funny.” Mike was pushing his luck, from the look on Sarge’s face.

His expression stiffened; he crossed his arms like Thad had and rocked back on his heels. “All right, I’ll tell y’all what smart-ass over there is referring to. But I’ll warn you all now that your pay grade isn’t high enough to use it. And if any of you so much as giggle, I’ll throttle you to death.” He looked at all of us. Jess looked scared; she just didn’t understand this kind of thing. I knew this had to be good.

Sarge took a deep breath. “Blanket. Some people call me Blanket.” I immediately got it and had to turn around so he couldn’t see my face. Jess was standing there looking confused. “Blanket? I don’t get it. What’s wrong with that?” she asked.

Thad had a huge smile on his face. It looked like it was about to split in half. “Linus’s blanket, from
Peanuts
,” he blurted out; he couldn’t hold it anymore and broke out in a deep rumbling laugh that caused the rest of us to follow suit, much to Mike’s relief. He was about to explode but wasn’t about to be the first.

Sarge was turning every shade of red known to Sherwin Williams. Hell, he had shades they never thought of. “Fuck you, asshole, the whole lot of you!” With that he shoved Ted across the room and made for the door.

The time to get back on the road had come. I made a little gift, not really a gift, but I left the ghillie suit and the hand tools I had in my pack with Sarge and the guys. The added weight of the radio and its batteries meant I had to lighten the load. Ted wired two twelve-volt seven-amp-hour dry cells in parallel to run the radio. These batteries can’t run it long, but they will give me the ability to transmit on the run.

“One more thing; we will not be transmitting from here anymore. The same goes for you. After you make contact, you need to displace at least five miles before the next transmission if at all possible. And you will use Foxtrot Sierra Mike for my call sign, and that better be the only one I hear.” Sarge gave Ted and Mike a cross look.

“All right. Why exactly are we keeping in touch for this trip? I mean it isn’t like you can come help us if anything goes wrong.” I had wondered about this for a little while.

“Do not underestimate what we’re capable of. What you have seen in your stay here is all I let you see. We will be seeing each other again. I promise,” Sarge replied.

“Well, fellas, I for one can’t thank you enough for all you’ve done for us. Linus, thank you. You were right all along, and I should have listened better,” Thad spoke up.

“Well, better late than never. Some lessons just need to be learned the hard way. You’re smarter now though, ain’t ya?” Linus replied to him.

“Yeah, I shore am smarter now.” Thad dropped his head with a little laugh.

“You keep these meatheads in line, Jess. Make sure they call me when you get there.” Linus smiled at her.

“I will; thanks. You’ve been so nice to us, and that isn’t common right now. I hope to make it up to you someday.” Jess smiled back at him.

“You just get home safe,” Sarge replied

We were loaded up and on the road just as the sun dipped below the horizon. There was still enough light to see, so I wasn’t wearing the NVGs. We weren’t using the headlights and had removed the bulbs from the taillights and blinkers, just to be safe. The first leg of our route would take us east on 26 toward Trenton. It was a small town and shouldn’t be a problem. By the time we were out of Old Town, it was dark enough that I needed the NVGs. Ted was right about the depth perception thing; it really sucked.

The road was open and deserted; there aren’t any houses on this section of the road, so we made good time. I was only running about forty-five, just in case. It only took about twenty minutes to make the outskirts of Trenton. I slowed as we approached town. There were houses now, some of which had dim light coming from the windows. I slowed the truck as we got closer to town; there weren’t any people around that I could see, but there were signs of life in the form of lights and smoke from fires.

It was fully dark now, and the goggles were doing great. They really lit up when I looked at a house that had candles, lanterns, or some other forms of light in them. It was the glow of a cigarette that caught my attention—actually it was two. They were on the left side of the road ahead. I stopped the truck and turned on the IR source on the goggles. With the additional source, I saw the roadblock and the men manning it. They obviously heard the truck, but since we were running blacked out, they couldn’t see us.

“What’s up?” Thad asked as he shifted the shotgun in his hands.

“Roadblock,” I replied.

“What’s it look like?”

“There are a couple of guys I can see, but there may be more. I don’t like the look of it, though. I think we should find another way. Showing up in the dark blacked out like this isn’t going to win us any points with ’em for sure. The guys said not to make contact with anyone if we could.” I was watching the men at the roadblock. Every time one of them took a drag from his smoke, I could see their faces. They were looking down the road for the source of the engine. “Besides, any town with a PD is probably going to take the truck.”

“My ass. This is my ride home. Let’s see if we can find a route around it. Jess, you know anything about this area?” Thad asked.

“I’ve been through here before, but I don’t know the area at all,” she replied.

I tried to back the truck up, but that just wasn’t happening. Trying to look in the mirror through the goggles was a no-go. I did a three-point turn in the road and headed back out of town. There was a road on the left, heading south, and I took it. It was a residential street with houses on both sides. Fortunately, it was still kinda cool out, and no one was hanging around outside. As we passed by, I saw the occasional door open and a curious head poke out, but no one ever came out to investigate.

It took what seemed like hours, but we eventually came out on the east side of Trenton on 26 again. I knew that Newberry was up ahead and would probably have the same thing going. We came out far enough east that I didn’t see the roadblock on this side, but I was certain there was one. We drove on without talking; everyone was on edge. It was quite the change from how we all felt at Sarge’s house. Out on the road, we all felt vulnerable.

We passed a large timber operation on the left. I knew from personal experience that Newberry wasn’t far ahead. Slowing down, I started to look for a turnoff. I found a paved road heading south and took it. There weren’t any roads leading back to the east, so we kept heading south. The road took a sweeping turn to the west, but there was a spur that continued south. It was a lime rock road and looked well-traveled, so I took the spur. Shortly after getting on it, there was another road of the same type that headed east, so we turned off.

This stretch of road was mostly farmland, with hardly any houses. As we passed one of the few that were there, I heard a shot. Everyone instinctively ducked their heads. We didn’t know if it was aimed at us or not, but I stomped on the gas a little harder. After a mile or so, we came to another lime rock intersection and took the north side. This brought us back to 26 east of Newberry. We took off down a paved road again. We were getting close to the west side of Gainesville and really needed to get off the highway. Our goal was Wacahoota Road. It’s a small road that would keep us away from Gainesville proper and would tie into US 441. Our map, though, didn’t show all the roads in this area, which was full of little roads and dirt paths. I needed a break from the goggles, plus it was time to look at the map and see what we could find for a route.

It was going on ten o’clock. In four hours, we had only gone thirty miles. It was a hell of a lot faster than walking but still seemed to take forever. I was looking for a place to stop when we came across a mud pit. It was an honest to goodness mud boggin’ hole. There were a few tent-type carports scattered around, and a few trucks were sitting here and there. I turned off onto the road and came to a stop at the entrance. As I was checking the area for any signs of life, Thad asked, “What’cha got?”

“Looks like a muddin’ hole. Doesn’t look like there is anyone around. I need to take a break from these goggles and to look over the map,” I answered.

“I don’t like it out here. Place has got to be full of rednecks,” Jess said.

“Well, I don’t see any necks, red or otherwise, and we need to stop,” I replied to her.

“I need to pee.” Jess was squirming in her seat.

“Yeah, me too,” I answered absent-mindedly.

“And that makes three. Let’s stop here for a minute and take a break,” Thad said. He was looking out the window into the night.

After pulling in and parking the truck, we all climbed out. I took the XD from my bag and tucked it and its holster into my pants and slung the carbine over my shoulder. Thad extricated himself from the truck and tilted the barrel of his shotty over his shoulder, looking around. Jess came out and made for a clump of palmettos not far from the truck with a roll of TP in her hand. I went to the tailgate of the truck and dropped it. It fell almost straight down. Thad reached in and pulled out a loop of rope that was tied off to an eye on the top of the bed, lifted the gate, and hooked the loop around the pin of the gate. “We put this on today after Ted did the same thing you just did.” I just stood there shaking my head.

“At least this thing didn’t have a bumper back here, or it would have made one hell of a noise,” I said. Thad just grunted his agreement. “Keep your eyes open, man. Its blacker’n a well digger’s ass out here,” I said over my shoulder as I stepped off to take a leak.

Thad let out a combination chuckle and grunt. “That’s not what I thought you was gonna say. You had me there for a minute.”

I turned right to him; he wasn’t four feet from me, and I stuck my hand out, feeling around. “Who said that? Who’s there?” Thad let out a laugh again and stepped off himself.

After getting some relief, we were at the back of the truck. Jess’s head was on a swivel; she was way nervous. I laid out the map and started to look it over. “Thad, grab a poncho, would ya?”

“Sure, what for?” he asked as he was pulling one out of his pack.

“We’re going to use it as a cover so I can turn on a light and look at this map. I don’t want a light shining all over the place out here.” I unrolled the poncho and threw it over my head and leaned over the map.

“I’ll keep an eye out.” I heard Thad’s big feet crunching the dirt as he moved around.

Looking at the map, it looked like SW143 ST was the closest thing to us that would go far enough south to be worth taking. The problem was it petered out on the map. There just wasn’t anything else that would keep us west of Gainesville and out of residential areas. Hell, even this road would probably be residential. After taking a little break with sandwiches—Sarge was probably the only guy around with a couple dozen loaves of bread in the freezer, and some coffee—it was time to get back on the road. I told Jess and Thad what I had planned and kind of where we were headed. I admitted to them that I didn’t exactly know how we were going to get there, but we’d figure it out.

“Anywhere is better than here. This place gives me the creeps,” Jess complained.

“Well, saddle up then.” We all piled into the truck and got back on the road without a hint of Jess’s zombie rednecks. We hit 143 about two miles after leaving. We were getting dangerously close to Gville, in my opinion, but I hoped it was worth the risk. It turned out to be a decent road with only a couple of houses; but instead of running out like the map showed, it made a hard right. There was a gravel lane that kept on straight with a very prominent Private Road sign on it. I stopped the truck at the edge of the gravel, looking ahead for any sign that someone might be out there.

“What is it?” Thad asked.

“Sign says private road. But I think we should keep going; there is a lot of forest ahead, and if we can stay in it, we would be better off.” I continued to scan the area ahead as I spoke.

“Then go. I don’t want to sit here any longer than I have to.” Thad was looking out the window.

I started down the drive. We didn’t see hide nor hair of anyone. The lane led to what looked like a barn. I swung the truck toward the east, and there was a path into the trees. I eased the truck into it, and we were headed east again. The little path opened up into a trail through the woods. The old truck bumped along for a ways until the trail opened up further onto a power line right-of-way. It was clear sailing to the east, no houses and no worries. Bumping along with the useless power lines overhead, I was thinking about people or what seemed like the lack of them. We hadn’t had direct contact with a single person since we left and very little sign of any. I checked my watch; it was almost midnight. We were supposed to check in with Sarge so I figured out here would be as good a place as any. At least we could see anyone who might sneak up on us before they got too close.