Bug Out! Atlantic Book 7, page 18
“Our teams are a good fit,” Tamera said. “Think I’ll go hit the sack too. So nice chatting with you guys. See you in the morning.”
Chuck, Christy, and Todd watched her walk away.
“This evening went flat in a hurry,” Chuck said.
Todd shrugged. “Don’t worry about it. Nobody did anything wrong. There’s a lounge down the hall with a bar. You guys want to go check it out?”
“Sure, I’m game,” Chuck said.
“You aren’t too tired?” Christy asked.
“No, but I’ll go to the room if you want.”
“I’ll go to the room, you get yourself a drink,” Christy said.
She kissed Chuck and left the conference room. Todd got up.
“Let’s go.”
Chuck followed him into the hallway, the conference room almost empty now.
“How’d you get involved?” Todd asked.
“Devin introduced me to some friends who worked on his survivalist blog,” Chuck said. “We’ve been next-door neighbors for years. I started doing raids with them. Then we got involved in the Superstore attack, and the enemy used facial recognition to find some of us. Devin got tipped off before the UN Peacekeepers showed up at his house. He and Max made short work of the pansies they sent. He decided to split. Christy and I tagged along.”
“You were part of Ross’s group originally, weren’t you?”
Chuck nodded. “We were one of the Paine Society’s affiliates. Would have been involved more closely early on, but one of the cells was helping the enemy, and Ross couldn’t figure out who. That broke up the affiliation for all the outer groups. Some of them are here now, getting trained. Good to see.”
“Here we are,” Todd said, opening a door, walking into a dimly lit room resembling a night club, some drinking at the bar, Art sitting at the table with a few people.
“Wow, this is cool,” Chuck said. They grabbed a couple bar stools and sat, getting beers.
“Here’s to us Patriots,” Todd said, clinking Chuck’s glass.
Chuck smiled. “I’ll drink to that. You’re worried about something.”
Todd nodded. “My friends are placing Roach drones in several places tonight. Won’t feel better about that till I know they’re all okay.”
“Where?”
Todd took a sip of his beer. “We have chopper video and other sources of intel on enemy bases, which we’ve been studying since the day all the UN checkpoints got destroyed.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. We need to know which ones to hit. Those Roach drones will help us with that.”
“Are they using hybrids for the mission?” Chuck asked.
“Naw, too much video on them. We use regular cars… different ones every time when we can. Sometimes we have to walk close enough to use the launchers. It’s dangerous, the enemy has patrols around their bases now. Easy to get caught.”
“We need those Falcon drones they were talking about,” Chuck said.
“Yeah, or something else that would allow us to place the roaches from a longer distance.” Todd chuckled. “Wonder if Tamera really went to her room, or if she went to that motor home?”
Chuck laughed. “Did you see the way they were looking at each other?”
“Yeah. Fair warning to Devin, that woman gets serious fast. Seen it happen before.”
“You’ve known her a while?”
“We went to college together.”
“You never dated her?” Chuck asked.
“No, not my type. I would’ve pissed her off in about a week. Valued the friendship too much. She is a beauty, though.”
“Yes she is,” Chuck said.
{ 15 }
Assassin
J ustin Ho was driving the sedan, cruising across the Gilmore Bridge, on the way to Boston’s West End neighborhood. Tyra was behind him, in the back seat, Roach launcher in her hand. It was nearly midnight.
“The target is where the old mental health department was,” Tyra said.
“That’s the building behind it,” Justin said. “Why, you been there?”
“Shut up.”
They cracked up as Justin turned onto Route 28, taking it across the Charles River Dam to Martha Road.
“This turns into Stanford Street,” Justin said. “Hope our drive-by launch works.”
“It’s late, there aren’t many people around,” Tyra said, “but if we do see anybody, we park and walk to a suitable location.”
“Here’s the big curve,” Justin said. “Get ready, it’s right past Merrimac Street.”
“Two pods, right?”
“Yeah, one just past Merrimac, the other just before Cambridge Street.”
“Nobody around,” Tyra said, her eyes peeled out the window, rolling it down. “They might have cameras.”
“Not much we can do about that. Here we come.”
Tyra lifted the launcher up, pointing it out the window as they rolled across the entrance to Merrimac, firing, the pod flying into the second floor of the parking structure.
“Nice shot,” Justin said. “Get ready for the next one, there’s no traffic to slow us down.”
“Already loaded,” she said, watching the sidewalk. “There’s the balcony. Harder shot.”
“You can do it.”
Tyra fired, the pod flying up, landing behind the wall of the massive balcony over the front entrance. Justin turned left on Cambridge. “Text the team, tell them the pods are down.”
“Just did, text received by Ava and Ashley. How far is the next one?”
“It’s pretty close,” Justin said, “so reload.” He drove them through the big curve, the street name changing to Tremont, passing Chinatown, rolling past Boston Common.
“Always loved this part of town,” Tyra said.
They took the bridge over I-90, the road name changing yet again, to Shawmut Avenue. Justin chuckled.
“What?” Tyra asked.
“All these street name changes must drive visitors nuts.”
“Oh. Yeah. How close are we?”
“I’ll turn right on Berkley. It’s the building at Tremont.”
“We’re back to that street again, huh?” Tyra quipped.
“Crazy town,” Justin said. “Lots of foliage to shoot into. Move to the passenger side, it’s on the right.”
“Okay,” Tyra said, watching as Justin made the right. “More people out and around.”
“More bars over here,” Justin said. “Get ready. See all the trees by the corner?”
“Yep,” Tyra said, firing, the pod dropping into the trees. “Bullseye.”
“Text…”
Tyra laughed. “I know, already doing it. Who do we have running these drones? Just Ashley and Ava?”
“Adrian and Trinity too. Dave’s probably helping, since it’s almost impossible to keep him away from Ava.”
“Stop, I think it’s nice.”
“Oh, I know,” Justin said, “but I still like to tease them.”
“Where to next?”
“Further away, so relax,” Justin said. He drove to I-90 and got on, driving past Fenway Park, Tyra settling back, looking at her phone. She laughed.
“What?”
“Tamera. She’s interested in the leader of that new group. Devin.”
Justin laughed. “I’d better warn him.”
“Don’t you dare,” Tyra said. “I got her back.”
“That’s not fair. You don’t know her like I do.”
“Oh please, she’s a good woman.”
“Didn’t say she wasn’t,” Justin said. “Especially good in a fight, kinda like you.”
“Thanks, I think. How close is the target?”
“Few more miles, I’ll give you plenty of warning.”
“What street are you getting off on?”
“Cambridge Street.”
“Geez, again?”
Justin snickered. “Don’t blame me, my family was in Viet Nam when this mess was laid out.”
“Don’t ask what mine were doing.”
Justin looked at her in the rearview mirror. “Sorry.”
Tyra smiled. “Never heard of any Vietnamese plantation owners.”
“Still,” Justin said. “There it is already. Don’t worry, we got a fairly long grind on the surface streets.” He got off I-90, getting onto the curvy Cambridge Street.
“What’s the cross street?”
“It’s just before we get to Warren or Sparhawk… depending on what side of Cambridge you’re on.”
“Of course,” Tyra said, shaking her head. “How come you don’t have a girlfriend?”
Justin laughed. “There are few women who can tolerate me.”
“Stop. I could tolerate you. You’re one of my favorite people here.”
Justin was silent a moment.
“Sorry, forget I brought it up,” Tyra said.
“No, it’s okay. If I was ready for that, you’d be at the top of my list.”
“Forget me, why nobody?”
“I don’t think I could work in the field with somebody I’m in love with,” Justin said. “I’d be trying to protect her instead of doing the job. That’s bad for everybody.”
“Oh,” Tyra said. “Dave and Ava don’t work together in the field. Neither do Sunshine and Jacob.”
“Not by choice, anyway,” Justin said. “They might be forced into it if things get bad. We haven’t been hit hard by the enemy yet. Not really. We’ve been able to stay alive and have a somewhat stable life. It won’t continue that way forever, unless the enemy just gives up. I don’t think that’s likely.”
“All right, that’s a good reason,” Tyra said.
“Almost there,” Justin said, breaking the tension. “On the right. Trees next to the building again.”
“Perfect,” Tyra said, aiming the pod launcher, firing as they rode by, the pod dropping into the dense foliage. She laughed.
“What?”
“We’re dropping these into planters. What if a bigger bug attacks them?”
Justin burst out laughing. “They could call in a missile strike.”
Tyra snickered. “There you go. Texted Ashley. Oh wow, they’ve got bugs inside the first building already, both sides.”
“Really? Excellent.”
“Where’s the next one?” Tyra asked.
“Market Street, just before I-90. Right side again. Lawn with trees, not as dense, but not in an area with nightlife, so we’ll probably be okay.”
“Close?”
“Yeah, we’ll be there in a couple minutes, so get ready.”
Tyra loaded the pod launcher as Justin drove, getting to the location fast.
“There it is,” Justin said, Tyra firing the pod, landing it on the lawn next to one of the trees, then texting Ashley.
“We got three more locations, right?” Tyra asked.
“Yeah, that ought to be enough for one night.”
“At least it’s going easy,” Tyra said. “About our conversation, you won’t say anything, right?”
“About Tamera? No, I was just kidding around. I love her. Old friend.”
“No, about me.”
Justin looked at her in the rear-view mirror. “I wouldn’t do that.”
“Maybe you’ll keep me in mind… you know, for after.”
Justin smiled. “Count on it.”
***
Mayor Fine and Chief Harvey arrived at the main bunker in Manhattan, Tracy waiting for them on the platform. The canopy opened, both men getting out, followed by Eve and Tad.
“You look worried,” Mayor Fine said.
“Just nervous about you being at New City Hall. It’s a known location, and they have the high explosives. Remember what happened in Oklahoma City.”
“We shut down traffic around that block,” Chief Harvey said. “They won’t be able to get the material close enough.”
“We’ve also got the subway tunnels monitored with Falcons,” Tad said. “It’s not that dangerous there.”
“Where are we going?” Chief Harvey asked.
“Albena is in the intel room,” Mayor Fine said.
“I asked that Cary and Jace join us as well,” Tracy said, “and Julio and Kate.”
“Perfect,” Mayor Fine said. They went to the elevator, riding it up a couple floors, going into the intel room. Albena was at her PC, typing furiously, Penko watching her with a furrowed brow. He looked up when they came in. Albena’s eyes remained focused on her screen.
“Chief Harvey, been a while since you’ve been over here,” Penko said. “How are you?”
“Great, Penko, how are you?” Chief Harvey asked, shaking his hand.
“Better yesterday, before the hacker came back.”
“That’s what Albena is working?”
“He’s trying to figure out if we have access to the RFID system,” Albena said, not looking away from her screen, her fingers still hammering away. “Penko will brief you, if that’s okay, so I can keep on this guy.”
Cary and Jace came in, eyeing Albena with concern.
“Still at it, huh?” Cary asked Penko, who nodded.
Julio and Kate came in next, greeting the Chief, sitting down.
“Are we in trouble?” Kate asked, nodding towards Albena.
“Perhaps,” Mayor Fine said. “That’s why we wanted the meeting.”
“How come you went to New City Hall?” Julio asked.
“To do a press conference with Chief Harvey,” Mayor Fine said, “and to demonstrate that we’re in that location.”
“Even though you aren’t most of the time,” Chief Harvey quipped.
Mayor Fine snickered. “I almost hope they try an attack. It won’t go well for them.”
“Why, what changed?” Kate asked.
“Vasil beefed up our counter-measures,” Cary said. “It’ll be bad for anyone nearby.”
“That’s the other reason we shut down the streets around that block,” Chief Harvey said. “I think we ought to leave them that way until we have a reason not to.”
Mayor Fine shrugged. “It’s a sign of weakness, but maybe that doesn’t matter.”
“I agree with the Chief,” Tracy said. “There are people working above ground there, for one thing.”
“That’s a good point,” Jace said.
“How did you beef up the counter measures?” Kate asked.
Jace smiled. “We’ve got about a thousand of those roach drone missiles placed, and we’re using Roach drones from many locations to designate targets. The enemy could send tanks down the street and we’d have our way with them.”
“Depends on the tank,” Cary said. “Those missiles might not be effective against the armor of an M1 Abrams, but we’d know if the enemy had those. The missiles will destroy smaller armored vehicles. I wouldn’t want to be in a Bradley Fighting Vehicle with those missiles around.”
“Maybe we should put those missiles around this bunker,” Julio said.
“No, we don’t want to do that,” Mayor Fine said. “The enemy doesn’t know where this is, and if we put up that type of hardware, they might see it. Not worth the risk.”
“I agree,” Jace said, “besides, we don’t have people working above ground in this location. They could detonate a device the size of the Oklahoma City bomb here and we’d live.”
“It’d trap us, though, wouldn’t it?” Tracy asked.
“Probably not,” Cary said. “The subway is hard to damage. Chances are good that both directions would remain clear.”
“We should get on with the meeting,” Mayor Fine said. “Go ahead, Penko.”
Penko moved his mouse, typing on the keyboard, the big screen on the wall lighting up, showing a map of Manhattan, with six red circles, in various parts of the island north of the radioactive zone. “The red circles are locations similar to the site of the major explosion a few days ago.”
“Similar in what way?” Julio asked.
“Similar population and similar level of traffic to and from the larger sites,” Penko said. “That doesn’t guarantee that there’s ammonium nitrate in these locations. It’s the best we could come up with.”
Albena backed away from her monitor. “The hacker is trying to find the same information, in my opinion.”
“He’s gone?” Penko asked.
“I killed all his user ids and shut down the name server. Then I changed the password on the portal. He can’t make a new ID until he breaks into the portal again and starts up the name server. If he starts that up, I’ll get an alarm.”
“So he’ll be back,” Cary said, “but it might take a while.”
“How do you know he’s trying to find out the same info?” Mayor Fine asked.
“I can tell which cameras in the MVS system he’s accessing. I don’t think he knows that. He’s looking at the cameras with views to the six locations we’ve highlighted.”
“He has access to the RFID data,” Cary said.
“I’m sure of that now,” Albena said, “but on the flip side, I believe he’s sure that we also have access to RFID data.”
Chief Harvey sat silently, trying to push out the conversation and think, Mayor Fine watching him. Julio was also looking at the Chief, starting to say something, Mayor Fine motioning him to stop.
“There are sites that meet this profile in Queens, The Bronx, and Long Island as well,” Penko said, adding them to the screen.
“Wonderful,” Tracy said.
Chief Harvey wiped sweat off his brow.
“Okay, Chief, what’d you come up with?” Mayor Fine asked.
He smiled. “What?”
“We’ve got two people with good strategic minds… you and Dannon. I brought you over here for this reason. What are they trying to do, and how can we counter it?”
Chief Harvey chuckled. “You’ve got more confidence in me than I do in myself.”
“Humor me.”
The Chief sighed. “Okay. Being able to see only part of our enemy can seem like a better than nothing situation. It is, if the enemy doesn’t know that we can see part of their people. If they do know, the reverse is true, and add to this that they know which of their forces we can see. That’s a dangerous situation for us.”
“I’m not following,” Tracy said.
