“Wonder what happened to Seth?” Glenn asked.

  “I don’t know. He was nice enough, but I’m glad I found you.”

  Glenn smiled. “Well, I’ll do my best to protect you. So sorry about what you’ve had to go through.”

  “I’m worried about my mom and my brother more than anything.”

  “I understand,” he said. “Glad you dumped the phone.”

  “They can really track us that way?”

  Glenn nodded. “It’s illegal, but yeah, they can do it. Hungry? I could do with some lunch.”

  “Sure. I have some money.”

  “Keep it, you’re gonna need it,” Glenn said. “I know a decent burger joint in Oromocto with rig parking. I’ll go in, you stay here, out of sight. Maybe climb in the bed again if you can stand it.”

  “It doesn’t smell bad,” she said. “I slept there for a while, remember?”

  Glenn nodded, pulling off Highway 2, getting onto the main drag.

  “How come you were camped out in Moncton?” Janey asked. “I got the impression you were spending the night.”

  “I was going to,” he said. “Have some time to kill before I get to Quebec. I like that truck stop. I know the owners, and usually see other friends there. And then there are the women. They’re nice, and I have some regulars.”

  “I kinda messed that up.”

  “No, you kinda saved me from myself,” he said, pulling into the rear lot, parking in a row of semi-trucks. “I’m not proud of that behavior.”

  “I don’t want to cause you problems,” she said. “Now you have to find someplace else.”

  “I’ll just find a place around Quebec to hang out for an extra day. It’s no big deal. You like cheeseburgers and fries?”

  “Of course,” she said.

  “How about to drink?”

  “Cola, don’t care which.”

  “Okay, I’ll be back in a few minutes,” Glenn said. “Get up there out of sight, though, okay?”

  She nodded, climbing into the sleeper, getting under the covers again. Glenn left, closing the door, his feet slushing through the gravel as he went into the back door of the restaurant. She wished she had her phone. Maybe her mom and brother would be in the news. The minutes ticked by, and she started getting worried, like she did in the hotel parking lot. Then the door opened, Glenn climbing into his seat with a white paper bag.

  “We might have a problem,” Glenn said.

  “Uh oh. Want me to come out of here?”

  “Yeah, I think it’s fine, nobody’s around other than a few truckers. Ran into two guys that I know in there.”

  “Oh, that’s what took so long.”

  “Well, that and the food. They make it all from scratch.”

  She climbed down, sitting in the passenger seat, Glenn passing a burger and fries to her, pointing to her drink in the passenger cupholder.

  “What problem do we have?” she asked, taking a bite of the burger. “Wow, this is good.”

  “Told you,” Glenn said, taking another bite. Then he washed it down with his drink. “There are roadblocks in Quebec, and they’re searching trucks… cabs and trailers. I don’t think we can go there right now.”

  “Dammit,” she said. “Let me out before we get there and I’ll find another way in.”

  “You’ll get caught,” Glenn said.

  “That’s my problem. I’m not going to screw up your work, Glenn.”

  Glenn finished his burger, starting the engine on his rig. “We can go a different route, maybe get you into a suburb. You can make your calls from there.”

  She eyed him. “I’m causing you too much trouble.”

  He smiled back at her. “I had the feeling it was going to be a challenge helping you right from the start. Don’t care, it’s the right thing to do.” He drove off the restaurant lot, getting back onto Highway 2. “Hope you don’t mind making a detour into the US.”

  “What are you planning?”

  “We can make it to Dyer Brook. Good safe place to overnight, and you’ll be out of the clutches of the UN and the Canadian Government. It’s in Maine.”

  “The UN doesn’t have as much power down there?”

  Glenn nodded. “We just took out the President because he conspired with the UN. Nobody’s helping them now, and they’re getting attacked all over the place.”

  “Okay, thank you.”

  “Don’t mention it.”

  Janey looked over at him. “Hear anything about my mom and brother?”

  “I asked if anybody heard what was going on in Moncton,” he said. “Nobody heard anything. I’m sorry.”

  “Maybe I don’t want to know.” She looked out the passenger side window, trying to stop the tears from coming, as the truck cruised down the highway, a curtain of green on either side of the road.

  ***

  “Let’s get moving,” Dannon said, Freeze and Moth next to him, Dempsey and Shell coming out of the back room with their Kevlar jumpsuits on, Jones coming in the door. “Car’s ready.”

  The group left, driving to a parking garage close to the 125th Street Station, looking in all directions as they rushed through the cavern, slipping onto the dark street, then down the steps to the station, which was nearly deserted.

  “Wonder why it’s so dead?” Shell asked.

  Dempsey looked at her as they entered the station. “People are scared. You can feel it.”

  “Yeah, you’s right,” Moth said, his eyes darting around. “Think the moles are here yet?”

  Dannon nodded. “Just got buzzed. They’re here.”

  “You get any RFID hits, man?” Jones asked.

  “Several while we were driving over,” Dannon said. “None right here.”

  They turned down the hallway spur, towards the maintenance hallway, Moth opening the door, seeing it clear, the rest right behind him as he entered, rushing to the far door, cracking it open, the moles there, Tad sitting in the driver’s seat, Eve in the gunner seat again. The canopy came up, and they got in.

  “Everybody ready?” Tad asked.

  “Yeah, man,” Dempsey said.

  The mole rose on its cushion of air and got onto the tracks, then shot backwards.

  “Dammit,” Freeze said.

  “Sorry,” Tad said. “We won’t be going this direction the whole way.”

  Freeze shrugged. “Don’t worry about it. Doesn’t bother me as much as it used to.”

  The mole sped through the subway tunnels, getting to the main bunker, the door opening to let them in, sliding closed after them. Cary and Hector were there, next to a row of crates and some weapons.

  “Great, they’re all ready,” Dannon said, walking towards Cary with the others.

  “Yep, they’re ready,” Cary said. “Be careful out there. The enemy will be on patrol, more than likely. They’ll probably have their own video surveillance set up in spots.”

  “I expect that,” Dannon said. “What’s with the hardware?”

  “We didn’t think you could sneak enough M4s through the station, so we’ve brought these to put in the moles, just in case,” Cary said. “We’re hoping you won’t need them, of course.”

  “Leave your street clothes over those jumpsuits,” Hector said. “Enough people have seen you in action now, thanks to all that citizen video at the Armory operation.”

  “Yeah, citizen video is a double-edged sword,” Cary said. “They used it in Boston to tag the resistance fighters at that Superstore attack.”

  “Heard, but most of them turned the tables,” Freeze said.

  “Yeah, that was righteous, man,” Jones added.

  “Let’s get these crates loaded into the second mole and get out of here,” Dannon said.

  The team got to work, getting the Falcon drones and weapons loaded in a hurry, then taking off, going forward this time after backing out of the bunker’s garage, Tad’s unit in front, Zev driving the second one.

  “How are the falcon’s doing on subway duty?” Dannon asked.

  Tad turned around. “So far so good, although there haven’t been enemy fighters down there since we placed them.”

  “That’ll change,” Eve said. “Good piece of mind for operations like this one, though.”

  “Which spot are we hitting first?” Shell asked.

  “The large one,” Tad said. “We’ve found a good roof in a building that has a freight elevator in back. There’s a couple folding carts in the rear car… you can load the crates on those and wheel them into the elevator.”

  “Sounds good,” Dempsey said. “How about the smaller location?”

  “Similar,” Tad said. “You’ll only need to place two Falcons there. That’ll be enough.”

  “You guys who have the RFID apps need to keep an eye,” Moth said. “I suggest you aren’t handling the carts.”

  “I agree,” Shell said.

  “We’re almost to that first location,” Tad said. “Slowing down now. You’ll go through the maintenance hallway again, as usual. We got a Falcon drone down there. It’s been watching. The coast is clear.”

  The vehicle slowed, rising off the tracks, setting down beside them, the maintenance door ahead a few feet, the team getting out, going to the second mole, Zev ready for them, canopy already up.

  “Hey, Zev, how are you?” Dannon asked.

  “Great, my friend. Hope this works.”

  “We’ll get intel from both kinds of drones,” Dannon said. “Should be worth it.”

  “We’re ready,” Moth said, next to Freeze, each with a loaded cart. “We need all hands to get the carts up to the maintenance door. This ain’t exactly a smooth surface out here.”

  “We got you,” Dempsey said, rushing over to help, Dannon joining him with the others. They carried the carts to the door, Moth opening it, seeing an empty hallway. They lifted the carts over the lip and onto the smooth linoleum floor, heading to the station entrance.

  “Glad they had those Falcon drones watching,” Dempsey said to Dannon as they got to the door, Moth opening it again. They both got buzzed.

  “Islamists,” Dempsey said under his breath, pulling his phone.

  “I expected it, we’re within a half-mile of the target area,” Dannon said, checking his phone. “We just learned something important.”

  “What’s that?”

  “The short-range app doesn’t do that well in subway tunnels. We’ve been within half a mile of these folks for a while, and the app didn’t pick it up.”

  “Shit, you’re right,” Dempsey said.

  “You guys coming?” Freeze asked, ahead of them, about to go out the exit.

  “Yeah. Just looking at RFID hits, man,” Dempsey said.

  “We got hits?” Shell asked.

  “Yeah, but not until we got closer to the subway entrance.”

  “Don’t like the sound of that,” Shell said. “C’mon, let’s get this done and split.”

  The team pushed the two carts out onto the street, going into a door on the next building, the freight elevator right there.

  “Is this door usually unlocked like this?” Shell asked.

  “Tad said we sent an NYPD officer here to unlock it,” Dannon said. “Still, keep your eyes open. I’m not convinced that we’ve got the enemy locked out of the Municipal Video System.”

  “Yeah, makes me nervous,” Freeze said.

  They rode the freight elevator up to the top, stepping out into a short hall with one door. Moth rushed over, cracking it, looking at the roof. “We’re good. I suggest we take off light-colored clothing, just in case. There are buildings overlooking us.”

  “Yeah, do that,” Dannon said. “I’m stripping down to my Kevlar suit.”

  “I like that idea,” Dempsey said. “We got three M4s with us.”

  “Good, bring them out, but keep them out of sight as much as possible,” Dannon said.

  The team carried the crates out onto the roof, Freeze joining Moth, handing him one of the M4s. “Let’s watch. I’ll take the other side.”

  “You got it,” Moth replied, turning towards the closest building, across the street, most of the windows dark.

  “Look at this spot,” Dempsey said, pointing to an alcove next to the stair house. “Got an outlet. Wonder why?”

  “That,” Shell said, pointing to the TV antenna sitting on the ground next to the wall. “They’re using this as a TV hangout. Probably nice when it’s warm enough.”

  Dempsey, Jones, Dannon, and Shell set up the Falcon Drone bases, several using the power from the outlet in the alcove, the rest on the other side of the stair house, sitting too far away to plug in.

  “This gonna be a problem?” Dempsey asked.

  Dannon shook his head. “These all have those upgraded batteries that Vasil was working on. We should be good for a while.”

  “Who’s Vasil again?” Shell asked.

  “Genius scientist,” Dempsey said. “He’s kind of a Poindexter.”

  Shell snickered. “Be nice.”

  “In this case it’s a compliment,” Dempsey said.

  “We got them all placed,” Jones said. “Let’s blow this joint. All those dark windows make me nervous as hell.”

  “Yeah, me too,” Dempsey said.

  They left the roof, heading back into the freight elevator, stopping to put their street clothes back on.

  “Was this the easy one or the hard one?” Shell asked as the elevator took them down.

  “Hard one,” Dempsey said.

  “It’s always the easy ones that get you,” Freeze quipped.

  { 16 }

  Night Patrol

  W hitaker was watching out the windows at the base, on the outskirts of Philadelphia. The Apaches were loaded and ready to fly, crews already in them. Burr was still working on his laptop. He turned towards Whitaker.

  “First of the citizen groups showed up, they’re in the forest around the base.”

  “Good,” Whitaker said. “We got any way to contact them?”

  “I’m getting them with phone texts,” Burr said. “That’s about as good as we got.”

  “Good. Anybody seen UN vehicles on the way?”

  “Not so far,” Burr said.

  “I’ve only got a general idea of where the UN base is.”

  “Some citizens claim to know where it is,” Burr said. “It’s a lot closer to town, in a pretty exposed spot. Some of the citizens have been planning to hit the place. Do you know where it is?”

  “I know it’s a half-hour away with normal traffic,” Whitaker said. “Heard it from Sibelius, though. Who knows if he was being truthful or not?”

  Burr typed on his laptop. “Here’s where the citizens think it is.”

  Whitaker came over, looking at Burr’s screen. “Bensalem?”

  “I’m taking it with a grain of salt,” Burr said. “They might be right, though.”

  “Wish we knew exactly,” Whitaker said. “We don’t need eight Apaches to protect this place. We could send four of them to the UN base as they’re on the way here to attack.”

  “Want me to poke into it further?”

  Whitaker thought about it a moment. “If we bring it up online, the enemy will see the conversation.”

  “I didn’t get it from there. The leader of the citizens who just got here claim they know where it is, and I’m using phone texts with them. Shall I ask the question?”

  Whitaker nodded. Burr picked his phone up off the table and used both thumbs to send a text.

  “You’re fast,” Whitaker said.

  “Grew up with it. Most people my age are this fast.”

  His phone buzzed. “Abandoned car dealership, where Lincoln Highway meets Interstate 276.”

  “They’re hiding in plain sight? Not sure I believe it.”

  “That’s one of several bases,” Burr said, “but it’s the largest.”

  “I’m calling Derrick.” Whitaker walked away with the phone to his ear, having a hushed conversation. He was back in a moment.

  “Are you sending his team to make the hit?” Burr asked.

  “No, just letting him know,” Whitaker said. “His team isn’t ready yet.”

  “We aren’t either,” Burr said. “Not unless we can get people on the ground to make sure it’s really an enemy base.”

  “Enemy base?” Whitaker asked.

  “Sorry, I meant UN base.”

  “You had it right the first time.”

  “Another citizen group just got into position on the eastern side of the base,” Burr said. “They’re filling in the spots that need coverage, merging with the first team.”

  “How far out are the citizens coming via the northern route?”

  “Minutes away,” Burr said. “They’re the smallest group, but that’s the least-likely route. I’m expecting the enemy to come in through the eastern route.”

  “Or the southern,” Whitaker said, “which probably means they’ll come from the northern.”

  Burr cracked up. “Probably right. Oh, they just got there. They’ve got some good hardware, even though they’ve got less people.”

  “What do they have?”

  M240s and BARs. A couple M60s. All the guys have military experience too. They just might give the UN some problems.”

  ***

  Charles was sitting on his couch, feet on the coffee table, Maggie laying on the couch with her head on his lap, watching the late TV news. Charles’s phone dinged.

  “Don’t answer it,” Maggie said. “I’ll make it worth your while.”

  “I’m still recovering from this morning,” Charles said, grabbing his phone off the side table. “Lance, wants a call.”

  “With just us?”

  “The team,” Charles said. “Sorry.”

  Maggie sighed, sitting up, turning her chest towards Charles and shaking, showing him everything through the sheer white negligee. “Sure you want to do a call right now?”

  Charles moaned at the sight of her. “You’re awful lewd for a woman your age.”

  “Would you prefer less libido?”

  Charles shook his head. “No, more than I can handle is better than not enough. Been there, done that.”

  She smiled. “But you still want to take the call. Okay. I’m going to turn it on and run in to put on a robe, unless you want me giving a free show.”

 

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