Bug Out! Atlantic Book 6, page 2
“Don’t like the sound of that,” Shell said.
“We’re going to be in those mole vehicles, and they have a lot of firepower,” Dannon said, “but I’ll tell you what. We’ll take the AKs and leave them in the vehicles, just in case we need them. Fair enough?”
“Fair enough,” she said. “How about those knives?”
“Take a couple,” Dannon said. “You know how to throw?”
“Yeah, my brother had these.”
“She came from a wholesome family,” Freeze quipped.
Moth burst into laughter. “You better watch out or she’ll stick one of those up you’re a…
“Stop!” Shell said. “Don’t be crude.”
“You wanted to play with the boys, Shell,” Jones said.
Moth nodded. “He’s right, Shell.”
She shrugged. “Okay, I get it.”
“I’d wash that blackout off your face before we go out again, man,” Dempsey said. “You can put more on when we’re in the tunnel.”
Dannon shot him a sheepish grin. “Oh yeah, forgot I had it on.”
“Where they picking us up?” Shell asked.
“The subway station around the corner. We got to put the street clothes on over this, so load pockets accordingly. Careful with the carbines.”
“Same thing as we did on the last job,” Jones said. “At least it’s dark now.”
“You guys need to watch the cameras,” Dr. Saperstein said.
“Yep, shield your faces, and don’t let any of the weapons show,” Dannon said. “That’s a must.”
The group left, rushing through the alley, coming out onto the street and directly into the nearly empty subway station, heading for the maintenance door.
“Hope nobody shoots at us from there,” Moth said. “That’s where it started last time.”
Shell had her pistol in hand, shielded against her side, her eyes darting around as she moved with the rest of the group, Dempsey keeping an eye on her, looking nervous. Dannon saw, and moved towards him.
“Don’t, Dempsey.”
“Don’t what?”
“Don’t try to protect her,” he said. “That’s the easiest way to get yourself killed. Trust that she’s good enough.”
He nodded, his brow still furrowed.
Moth got his hand on the maintenance doorknob, making eye contact with Dempsey, who nodded. He turned it, pulling the door open, showing an empty hallway.
“Looks okay,” Freeze said, “should we check doors?”
“No, let’s just get down to the end and onto the tracks,” Dannon said, looking at his thin phone. “The moles are already out there. Just arrived. They’ve got good night vision… nobody’s in the tunnel right now.”
The group went through the door at the end of the hall, going onto a slim platform, then down onto the rail bed, the mole canopies opening. Shell stopped in her tracks, looking at them.
“Whoa. These look expensive.”
Dempsey snickered. “Yeah, our funder has some deep pockets. Load in like a bobsled.”
Tad turned towards them, in the first vehicle. “Welcome back.”
“Great to have you guys,” Eve said, not turning away from the weapons screen.
“She’s the gunner?” Shell asked.
“Yeah,” Dannon said. “We’re all inside.”
“Off we go,” Tad said, closing the canopy, hovering the mole, moving to the track, then taking off at a fast clip.
“Wow, these things move,” Shell said.
“That they do,” Dannon said. “How many placements are we doing?”
“Cary has eighteen sets of two drones set up for us in the last mole,” Tad said. “All we have to do is plug them in.”
“There are outlets down here?” Freeze asked.
“Yeah, by most of the stations, for maintenance crews,” Tad said, turning towards Dannon. “Study the instructions on the phone app. You’ve already got it.”
“Will do,” Dannon said, pulling out his phone, tapping the new app, then reading. “This is simple.”
“How much further?” Freeze asked.
“A little ways,” Tad said.
“He’s worried about going backwards again,” Moth quipped.
“Shut up, man.”
“Backwards?” Shell asked.
“These can’t turn around,” Dempsey said. “They can only go forwards and backwards. Not a problem, though, they’re on the rails most of the time.”
“Here comes the first one,” Tad said.
“Looking forward and rear with night vision,” Eve said. “Nobody around. Controlling all three weapons sets.”
“Good,” Dannon said. “Hopefully we’ll be lucky and there won’t be anyone here.”
“Yeah, but we know how that usually goes,” Moth cracked, drawing a laugh from Freeze.
The moles slowed, going into hover mode, moving off the tracks, against the wall.
Tad turned towards Dannon. “Ready to go? The coordinates for the first one should be on your phone.”
“Yep, it’s there,” Dannon said, waiting for the canopy to raise, getting out, Shell, Dempsey, and the other three getting out after him.
“I’ll watch the rear,” Freeze said, checking the magazine on his FN, then rushing to the last of the moles.
“I got the front, then,” Jones said.
“Good, the rest of you can help with the falcon drones. Let’s go get two.”
They ran back to the last mole, Dannon grabbing one small wooden crate, Dempsey another, then they rushed back towards the front unit, Dannon putting his down for a moment, handing his thin phone to Shell. “Here, follow this to the first coordinate. When I activate the drone, the picture will change to the drone video feed for a minute, and then the screen will change to a map for the second drone.”
Shell nodded, taking the phone. “These are cool.”
“Maybe you’ll all get those pretty soon,” Dannon said, picking up the box again, following her. “They’re more than just a phone.”
“My drone is past, right?” Dempsey asked.
“Yeah,” Dannon said.
They walked another fifteen yards, then Shell stopped. “There it is, see the outlet?”
“Yeah, perfect,” Dannon said, taking his crate over to the small alcove, removing the falcon and the base from the wood crate, and setting them up, pushing the base back against the wall, plugging the power cord in. There was a beep from the base. “There we go.”
“Wow, this thing has a good picture, even though it’s night vision,” Shell said, looking at it.
“Yeah, amazing technology,” Dannon replied. “I love the way the falcons look. Until you get right next to them, they look like a real bird.”
“Hard to see them down here,” Dempsey said. “Too dim.”
“That’s a good thing,” Dannon said. “Let’s go. You got the map for the next one yet, Shell?”
“Not yet… oh, there it is. Follow me, boys.” She led them about forty yards forward, and then they heard a rumble on the tracks.
“Get against the wall, train coming,” Tad said over the thin phone.
“You guys hear that?” Shell asked.
“Yeah, see that alcove there?” Dannon asked, pointing to the right.
“Perfect, let’s go,” Dempsey said.
“What about the mole?” Shell asked.
“It’s thin enough for the train to get by,” Dannon said as they got up on the alcove platform, the train rushing by them in a flash.
“That was a little nerve wracking,” Shell said.
“You’ll get used to it.”
“Nobody on that train that I could see,” Dempsey said. “City’s only a shadow of its former self.”
“It’s busier during the day,” Shell said. “There’s the next one.” She approached it, Dempsey behind her with his crate, getting to the ledge, taking it carefully out of the crate and putting it into place, then plugging it in. “This is easy.”
“We’ll come get you,” Tad said over the thin phone, which Shell handed back to Dannon. They moved against the wall as the moles approached, stopping, the canopies opening, the three getting aboard.
“This is a piece of cake,” Moth said.
“Yeah, until somebody shoots at us,” Dempsey said, sitting down. The canopy lowered and they took off for the next location.
***
Mateo came into his room later than usual, Kylie sitting on the bed watching the TV, which showed coverage of the battle next to South Station in Boston.
“Hi, honey. You saw this, right?”
“Just heard,” Mateo said, sitting next to her, eyes glued to the TV. “I’ll bet Saladin is pissed right now. He just told us how our more aggressive actions in Boston stopped this kind of problem.”
The comm unit beeped.
“Emergency buzzer again,” Kylie said, leaping off the bed and inputting Mateo’s code. The screen opened, Daan Mertins showing up.
“You saw what happened?” he asked.
“Just seeing it now,” Mateo said. “That was mostly Saladin’s folks, wasn’t it?”
“There were UN Peacekeepers there too,” Daan said. “This one was planned by Saladin and Sanchez. A stupid exposed position to set up in. It was between the train station and a water way.”
“Should’ve told me about it. What were we going to do?”
Daan chuckled, shaking his head. “It wasn’t going to be a big massacre. That was a base for checkpoint setup. Boston metro area, then out into the suburbs. We’re doing the same thing in Pennsylvania as we speak, but we’re starting in the burbs first.”
“Why would we do that?” Mateo asked.
“Saladin wanted to experiment. Seemed like a good idea at the time.”
“How’s it going there?”
Daan shrugged. “About like it did in California… some of the checkpoints survived long enough to be fortified against attack, some were taken out by locals before they got a chance to dig in. Mixed bag… I think about 55% of them are still intact and working, but the night is young. We need to talk about something else.”
“What’s that?” Mateo asked.
“You’ve been using UN resources to chase down an ex-employee in Canada. Why are you doing that, when we’ve got so many other important things going on?”
Kylie glanced at him. “Janey?”
Mateo nodded. “Janey knows that we staged the Boston firing squad operation from Canadian soil.”
Daan was silent for a moment. “Shit. Yeah, you need to get her. If the Canadian authorities find out, they’ll kick the UN out in a heartbeat and join the Americans full-force.”
“Exactly,” Mateo said. “We just missed her, but we’re on her tail. She’s with her mother and brother on a houseboat, in dangerous waters, too late in the season. They’ll have a hard time getting away, and we have operatives already staking out all the likely places they could get to.”
“All right. One other thing. Did you hear about Craig Smetana’s wife?”
“I ordered her put under house arrest after her husband escaped from prison,” Mateo said. “What happened?”
“She killed her captor and escaped, then put a post on a rebel website. We may have problems with her. I’ve had my people do some background checks.”
Mateo sighed. “Okay, give me the bad news.”
“She’s a survivalist and an expert with firearms and bow and arrow. Did well in competitions while she was in high school and college.”
“She’s just one woman.”
Daan chuckled. “She’s exactly the type to rally other supporters, and she’s already started with that post she did. That web site gets huge traffic. Craig Smetana’s articles have been published there, and now John Clancy is posting a new serial there.”
“So shut it down.”
“We’ve already tried. It’s being hosted out of numerous places. It’ll be very difficult to shut down. There are a number of sites like that popping up in the United States and Europe. Japan and Korea too.”
“The UN has resources trained to handle this,” Mateo said. “I’ll get an effort started.”
“Do that,” Daan said.
“Why don’t we just shut down the internet?” Kylie asked.
Daan shook his head. “If we do that, we’ll take out Saladin’s command and control.”
Mateo sighed. “His RFID thing. That’ll be the death of us, you know. It’s gonna get hacked.”
“We’re closing in on Frank Johnson,” Daan said. “Don’t worry, he’s just an old retired guy, being protected by a bunch of amateurs. We’ll get him soon.”
“He’s got General Walker with him,” Mateo said.
“Yes, and we just got a tip on General Walker’s location. He might be dead soon. We’ve got some intel on General Hogan also. The walls are closing in on Frank Johnson.”
“I hope you’re right. Anything else?”
“Nope, that’s it,” Daan said. “Talk to you soon.”
The call ended.
Kylie looked at him, smiling, shaking her head. “You weren’t exactly honest with me about Janey.”
“I didn’t know if I could trust you yet. I trust you now.”
She eyed him a moment, looking disturbed, and then laughed. “Got you! I already knew something like that happened. What are you going to do with her when you get her?”
Mateo laughed. “Before you came along, I was going to bring her back here and use her plump little body some more, then kill her. Now I’ll just kill her.”
Kylie’s eyes turned wicked. “Bring her back and we can both use her. Can’t stand that self-righteous bitch. Maybe I can do her afterwards.”
Mateo stood, taking his clothes off. “I need you right now.”
Kylie smiled, getting undressed, the two of them erupting in passion.
***
Pat woke from a fitful sleep, lying in her canoe, pulled up under dense brush. She checked her phone, seeing the battery level at about 30%, then rummaged through her backpack for the solar charger, getting out of the canoe and walking to the clearing, setting the charger in the sun, plugging in the phone.
“Hungry,” she said to herself, going to the canoe, grabbing a protein bar and her water bottle, then going back to the clearing where her phone was. She ate the bar, thinking about what she’d do next. There were problems with being out here in the forest. The targets were all in the towns and cities. What’s a girl to do?
She heard an outboard motor coming up the river, and rushed down to her canoe, peering out between the dense branches, as a man and his son went by in a canoe with an outboard mounted on the back, the lures on their fishing poles bouncing.
As she settled down, the thought came to her. She needed to lure enemy fighters in. She’d kill them, then move, and lure some more in. The cover was dense enough here. She’d get away with it for a while, but then she’d have to leave the area. Resurface in another town, and set up shop. Use the phone to video the kills, post them.
***
“Only two more stops,” Tad said from the mole pilot seat.
“Yeah, been a long day,” Freeze said.
“Uh oh,” Eve said, looking up from her screen. “Somebody’s in the tunnel up ahead.”
“How many?” Dannon asked, trying to see around her to the screen.
“Looks like at least fifteen or twenty. They’re right next to the platform for the next station, so who knows?”
“Which station?” Shell asked.
“86th Street, 2nd Avenue,” Eve said. “We’ll be on them fast at this speed.”
“Slowing down,” Tad said. “They’re in range. Maybe we ought to nail them.”
“How bullet proof is this thing?” Shell asked.
“Small arms fire,” Eve said, eyes glued to the screen. “Well? We’re on the track, so I can use the power to hit them with both weapons at once.”
“Can you tell who they are?” Moth asked.
Eve chuckled. “Islamists and UN Peacekeepers again. You’d think they would know better than to be in uniform by now.”
“Do it, and then we’ll go on the platform and clean them up,” Dannon said, “but we have to get out fast if there are too many of them.”
“Call it in to headquarters,” Tad said.
Dannon nodded, taking out his thin phone.
“What are they gonna do at headquarters?” Shell asked.
“Either send NYPD over, or put it on social media to draw in Blockbusters and the citizens,” Dannon said as he typed on his phone.
“What’s a Blockbuster?” Shell asked.
Freeze cracked up. “Them home made tanks.”
“Oh. Those are great.”
“I’ve got to stop if we don’t fire soon,” Tad said.
“Light them up,” Dannon said, Eve firing both weapons, enemy fighters falling all over the tracks, some of them scrambling onto the platform in a panic. A few rounds came their way, bouncing off the canopy.
“You guys ready?” Dannon asked.
Dempsey nodded, the others doing the same.
“Good,” Dannon said. “Eve, lay down some cover so we can get out of this thing.”
“Sure you want to go in there?” Eve asked.
“They need to,” Tad said, “even if the enemy split. Got to move the stiffs off the tracks so we can keep going.”
“Okay, here’s your fire. I’ll use lasers.” She opened fire again, tagging one Islamist who was watching around the corner, the canopy raising, the team getting out and running along the wall towards the platform, Dannon in the lead, Dempsey right behind, then Freeze, Shell, Moth, and Jones. Dannon put his hand up to stop, then snuck up and looked onto the platform, which was deserted.
Dempsey caught up. “Anybody?”
“Nope,” Dannon said. His phone buzzed. He pulled it out, and laughed.
“What?” Freeze asked.
“Tad pulled the falcon drones out of the boxes. Eve’s an expert at driving them. They’re gonna fly into the station and see what’s up.”
“Bitchen,” Moth said. “Love watching those damn things.”
“I got the codes, so I can bring up their video,” Dannon said. They heard a hissing noise behind them, the two falcons flying over their head, making a banked turn onto the platform. Then they heard explosions, as drone missiles fired, Dannon looking at his phone. “Oh crap, there’s about a hundred enemy fighters up there, past the platform.” He trotted towards the bodies on the tracks, starting to yank them out of the way. “C’mon, help me. Somebody cover us while we clear the tracks, too.”
