Bug Out! Atlantic Book 8, page 1
Bug Out!
Atlantic
Book 8
Inferno
Robert Boren
South Bay Press
Copyright © 2020 by Robert Boren.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.
Publisher’s Note: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are a product of the author’s imagination. Locales and public names are sometimes used for atmospheric purposes. Any resemblance to actual people, living or dead, or to businesses, companies, events, institutions, or locales is completely coincidental.
Book Layout ©2017 BookDesignTemplates.com
Bug Out! Atlantic Book 8/ Robert Boren -- 1st ed.
For Bob B.
The arts of power and its minions are the same in all countries and in all ages. It marks its victim; denounces it; and excites the public odium and the public hatred, to conceal its own abuses and encroachments.
― Henry Clay
Contents
Previously – In Bug Out! Atlantic Book 7
Slaughter
Hot Fudge Sundaes
Terror Shells
Whistling Death
Road Rage
Scattered
Steph
Pancakes
Poconos
Alliance
Hot Zone
Hubs
Bad Dreams
Video Game
Bensalem
Media Collusion
Together Forever
About the Author
Cast of Characters
Other Books by Robert Boren
Previously – In Bug Out! Atlantic Book 7
As Book 7 opened, the battle for the Apache helicopter base was ending, the enemy overrun by a massive group of citizens. Whitaker sent his forces to a suspected enemy base, at an abandoned car dealership in nearby Bensalem. Private Burr contacted the leadership of the citizen forces via text messages, telling them about the attack, and the citizens got ready to move over to that location. Whitaker contacted Derrick’s team, and they agreed to arrive at the enemy base early to reconnoiter.
Derrick, Pat, Hymie, and Bailey got to the enemy base, and found UN Peacekeepers there, many Islamists arriving in semi-truck trailers, some having Stinger missiles. It was an obvious trap. Derrick and Bailey attacked with mortars, preparing the scene for the citizens and Apache helicopters on the way. The enemy was defeated quickly, but Derrick knew the enemy had an informant in their ranks. It was lucky that his team arrived and caught the enemy. They would’ve taken out more Apaches and killed a lot of citizens.
Cary, Hector, Laleh, Eve, and Vasil were in the lab, getting ready to fly Falcon drones to the roofs of the buildings they’d marked for surveillance, so they could release the Roach drones from them. The operation went well, the Falcons delivering the Roach pods, Hector driving the first batch of Roaches through the cracks in the roof access door, down the stairwell, avoiding enemy personnel in the building. The team got all the Roach drones placed for the upcoming surveillance and attack.
Jared had a conference call with Jaak, Ross, and Henry, telling them that President Hank Borden was probably an enemy operative, and that they shouldn’t share any resistance details with his administration. They also discussed expanding the Boston team, and talked about the RFID hits Jaak was seeing around Washington DC. Jared shared the fact that RFID was being used for all enemy operatives, including people in State and Federal government positions. Jared shared that Frank Johnson was working on an update to the apps to unencrypt the payloads of the RFID data, which had names and ranks. After the initial part of the call, Jared kept Jaak on the line by himself to talk about his son Alex, who had solved the technical problems with his Samson Drive. Alex wanted to use the Samson Corporation’s still secret Fusion Reactors and their Cargo Lifter hull to test the drives in space. Jared was preventing him from doing that, and asked Jake to convince him not to go forward with the testing if Jared was killed in the war – something he was expecting due to the expanding ring of people he had to deal with to supply the resistance. Jaak didn’t understand. Jared told him about new sensors the Samson Corporation had placed in space, which allowed him to see battles between alien spacecraft that had jump capability similar to what Alex had designed. Jared knew the aliens would take an interest in Earth if they saw the drive profiles of the Samson Drive. Jaak reluctantly agreed to talk to Alex if Jared was killed.
Daan called Mateo, upset at the loss at the Philadelphia Apache base and the subsequent loss at the abandoned car dealership. Mateo told him about the spy he had at the Apache base which correctly tipped him off about the attack at the abandoned car dealership, promising to use the spy to destroy the resistance in that region. Daan was cautiously optimistic about that, but upset at the number of UN Peacekeepers and Islamist Fighters lost in the two battles.
Rob and Slate were halfway through construction of the first Blockbuster for the Broadstreet Boomers. Derrick and Pat came in, Derrick saying that Whitaker wanted a meeting about security at the Apache base. They did a conference call, Whitaker telling them about a suspected spy, and the fact that the abandoned auto dealership was just a trap. Derrick and Whitaker agreed to an in-person meeting at the Apache base.
Ross and the Sons of Liberty/Paine Society members had a phone meeting with Devin and his team, to discuss their inclusion into the group. Jax suggested they meet at Art’s facility and get Devin’s team trained and supplied with Hybrids. Devin agreed to provide names of others he knew who were clean, so Art could run background checks.
Tracy talked to Mayor Fine after attending a meeting of State Governors, telling him that many of the governors were upset about the military tribunals going on at GITMO. They discussed that, and also the need to hold elections in New York, both state and city level.
Penko, Albena, and other members of Mayor Fine’s team were up all night, watching video feeds from the Roach drones they’d placed earlier. Julio expressed concern that their target building for the upcoming attack appeared to be an outpost, not an important base, because of the movements they’d been watching via the Roach drones and the RFID apps. While they were talking, Albena ran her RFID history report and saw numerous Islamists showing up at the big building where they’d placed Roach drones. This was the location they did not plan on attacking. Vasil drove some Roach drones into a conference room they were congregating in and listened to the conversation. There was another Roach drone nearby, so Eve opened its saved video and audio and started going through it, finding out there was an operation being planned, EU Navy ships being a large part of it.
Late the next evening, Dempsey, Dannon, and their team were getting ready for the attack. Their job was to guard the area while elements of Mayor Fine’s team went to a rooftop with Roach drone missiles, to launch them to the targets designated by Roach drones. Tad and Eve picked them up from the nearby subway tunnel in Mole vehicles and took them to the staging area, where they set up around the high rise, waiting for the missile team to arrive.
Janey and Glenn made it safely across the border into Maine. They stopped at a truck stop for the night, and were watching the news on TV when pictures of Carol and Ken were displayed, the newsreader saying they were suspected to be participants in murders that happened in Green’s Point, and that the main suspect was Janey, her DNA all over the crime scene. Janey was horrified, and told Glenn they’d listened to the people at Green’s Point being murdered over the phone after they’d left in their houseboat. Janey knew from the photos of Carol and Ken that Mateo had them.
Jace and his team arrived safely at the high rise guarded by Dempsey and Dannon, and used their missiles, the Roach target designators guiding them through windows at the enemy base. After a dozen missiles hit, the building exploded HUGE, taking out half a block in all directions. Debris flew at them on the roof, Kinsey hit in the head, dying instantly. Jace’s team and Dempsey’s team got away after a short skirmish with Islamists on the streets between the high rise and the subway station.
Mayor Fine and the rest of the leadership team debriefed Jace’s team when they returned to the main bunker. It was obvious the missiles had touched off high explosives in the building, several saying it was probably ammonium nitrate. The RFID apps and the drones showed that enemy operatives were arriving back at the conference room in the larger complex, so Vasil gathered his team and went to the lab to monitor the surveillance and optimize drone placement.
Daan called a meeting of his leadership team about the explosion in Manhattan, Lance telling them he had video of Mayor Fine’s hybrid vehicles nearby. The team argued over what the attack and explosion meant, Saladin admitting after some pressure that he’d stored ammonium nitrate there, along with other precursor materials he planned to use during the wave attack. Daan was worried that the explosion would convince the EU High Command that the US Military was involved. Mateo disagreed, reminding them of the similar attacks in and around Boston, suggesting that the help Mayor Fine was getting probably came from a military contractor, not the military itself. Charles laughed that off, but Mateo convinced them his guess might be true, and Charles agreed to look at the handful of military contractors wh
Duffy and Rico continued building Blockbusters at the increased rate. The ammonium nitrate explosion woke them up very early in the morning, so they got up, hearing a knock on the back door. Their source delivered more materials, including a group of smaller crates which held tripod mounted M19s. A note said these could be used from cover where it didn’t make sense to bring Blockbusters.
Mateo, Kylie, and Sturm had a private call about the explosion in Manhattan. Sturm asked if Mayor Fine’s team had access to Saladin’s RFID system, and Mateo said that was likely. Mateo also admitted that he knew about the ammonium nitrate after studying the movement of Saladin’s forces through Nyack on their way into Manhattan. Mateo investigated and found a warehouse full of ammonium nitrate. He couldn’t follow the material to its ultimate destinations because there were too many other RFID hits coming down that corridor. Sturm suggested that Lance re-engage Mayor Fine’s hacker to slow them down on their search for the rest of the ammonium nitrate. Mateo made an alternate suggestion… have Lance figure out where the other ammonium nitrate caches were. He said he would provide Lance with RFID system access and put him on it. If Lance could find the other sites, then UN Peacekeepers could lay a trap for Mayor Fine’s team.
Whitaker had his meeting with Derrick’s team at the Apache base. They discussed fortifications for the base and recruitment of more citizen fighters. Rob asked if there were supply depots around that had military weapons. Whitaker said yes, near Bryn Gweled. He didn’t know if the depot had been cleaned out or occupied by the enemy. Private Burr brought up the floor plan of the depot on the big screen, and the team studied it. Derrick’s team offered to go investigate.
Carol was a hostage of the UN, being driven to the Halifax base in a van. After they arrived, the guard carried her to a cell and abused her until she passed out.
Sunshine was doing research on her laptop when Jacob woke up. They talked about what she was seeing, rumors of the EU Navy heading to the east coast from the north and the south. Jacob asked what they could do, Sunshine said bombardments. She continued her research to verify the stories.
Pat, Derrick, Hymie, and Bailey took the Tahoe to the supply depot in Philadelphia, driving past it, going to park in the strip mall a couple doors down. They noticed a gun shop was in the middle of the building, with the lights on. A man behind the counter saw them, so Pat and Derrick went inside, meeting Terry, who was a fellow resistance fighter. He agreed to watch the street via his video security system while Derrick and the others checked out the depot. Pat and Derrick went back to the Tahoe and picked up Hymie and Bailey, Derrick leading them along the woods in back, trying keys that Whitaker had given him, getting inside after a few minutes. The rear part of the depot was full of weapons in several rooms; M60 and M240 machine guns, mortars with willie peter and conventional rounds, Claymore mines, M4s, grenades, and other goodies. While they were still inside, Terry called Derrick, telling him that UN vans were coming down the street, parking in front of the depot. Derrick’s team turned out the lights in the depot and waited. Terry sent a broadcast text to his fellow resistance fighters, asking them to come on down as more UN vans showed up. After the call, Terry locked the front door of his store, turned out the lights, and got out his Barrett .50 cal sniper rifle, taking it up the spiral staircase to the roof of his building, setting it up. He also grabbed his Thompson machine gun, and waited as his friends replied to his text. Blumenthal, a leader of the resistance team Terry was in, got into the conversation, saying there was three truckloads of patriots on the way. When Blumenthal got to the opening of the street, he told Terry to open fire, so Terry blasted the vans with the .50 cal to keep them from leaving, the patriots arriving and opening fire, killing all the UN Peacekeepers in short order. Then Blumenthal and Derrick met in the depot and discussed getting the weapons out before more UN Peacekeepers showed up. Derrick surprised Blumenthal by telling him most of the weapons would be going to his group. Derrick wanted the claymore mines, some mortars, the willie peter rounds, and a few machineguns to protect the Apache base. Blumenthal was to take everything else. They had trucks coming, including Slate’s bobtail. Derrick hadn’t been in the front section of the building yet, so he used his keys to open the door and found it stuffed to the rafters with ammonium nitrate. He sent Bailey out to see what was in the UN vans. Bailey found detonators out there, telling them that the UN planned to blow up the building, either before Derricks team got there or while they were there. Slate arrived with his bobtail, Rob ahead of him with the finished Blockbuster. They loaded up the weapons and ammonium nitrate and took off, promising to get back together with Blumenthal and Terry, to join forces and coordinate the resistance together.
Glenn began training Janey how to drive truck as they continued south into the United States. Glenn changed his plans on where to go with Janey after hearing rumors about Naval attacks along the coast, opting to take her to Nashville, Tennessee, where there was no enemy activity. They stopped for the night just south of Columbus, Ohio.
Sturm called Lance late at night, saying he got permission to give him access to Saladin’s RFID tracking system. Lance laughed, telling Sturm he already hacked into the system and was using it. Sturm asked Lance if he could locate the ammonium nitrate caches, so a trap could be set for Mayor Fine’s team. Lance accepted the assignment with glee.
Lance began hacking against Albena again, and the way he was working made Albena think he knew about the RFID apps. He was using the MVS to look at sites Albena had identified as possible ammonium nitrate caches via RFID hits. She shared it with Penko.
Devin and his team met Tamera, Jax, and Todd at Art’s training center, settling in, starting their work with the hybrids.
Captain Schroeder was leading the EU Navy’s northern fleet west from Europe, getting to Greenland when he got a call from Daan Mertins. They discussed status, especially rumors that the repairs on the Panama Canal were progressing. If the canal was reopened, the US Navy’s Pacific Fleet could move into the Atlantic. That was a huge risk to the EU Navy. Daan said the southern fleet would bombard the Panama Canal if needed.
Carol was sitting in her cell. Kylie and Mateo came to see her, showing her a picture of Ken alive but beaten, and a picture of her ex-husband, his lifeless body hanging by piano wire. Mateo told her that Ken was at the Halifax facility, on the other side of the complex, and he would survive if she cooperated in luring Janey to them. Mateo told her to think about it, and left the cell block without harming her.
Derrick and his team arrived at the Apache base with Slate’s bobtail truck full of weapons and explosives from the depot raid. After getting a crew on unloading the bobtail, Whitaker took Derrick’s team into the command center for a meeting. They discussed the spy. Whitaker had a good idea who it was… a tech working in the hangar. Whitaker, Pat, and Derrick went out there, speaking in front of the traitor about an operation to get some technical documents from the dead commander’s residence.
Lance and Sturm had a call to discuss Lance’s search for ammonium nitrate caches. He’d found nineteen suspected locations in the greater New York City area, six of them in Manhattan. Lance also brought up the hacker he’d been fighting, hoping that Sturm had some idea who it might be. Sturm didn’t. Lance agreed to keep working, but said Mayor Fine’s hacker probably knew what he was doing.
In Boston, Justin and Tyra were in a sedan, launching Roach drone pods at suspected enemy base locations. Ava, Ashley, and others were standing by at the base to drive the Roaches into the enemy bases and set them up for surveillance. It was a dangerous mission, but they finished without being caught.
Mayor Fine’s team discussed the locations Albena had identified as possible caches of ammonium nitrate. During the conversation, Chief Harvey realized the dangerous position the team was in. He suspected, like Albena did, that the hacker knew Mayor Fine’s team had access to RFID data. They could watch for an attack based on RFID data, and attack with UN forces which weren’t visible. He added that the tables could be turned against the enemy. Then Chief Harvey had another brainstorm. The hacker was taking a toll on the team and learning too much. Maybe they should use an assassin to take out the hacker, and they had a professional on their team… Dan Dannon. Mayor Fine called him, inviting him and Dempsey to the main bunker for a discussion. They arrived in a little while, and were briefed on the situation. Dannon agreed to hunt down the hacker.
