Bug Out! Atlantic Book 8, page 5
“Cat got everybody’s tongue?” Lance asked.
“You’re in a new location,” Saladin said. “Or at least a different room.”
“Yes, I had to move to a safer location. Sturm is at my old location, laying a trap for Dan Dannon.”
“Oh, so Sturm knows where you are?” Saladin asked.
“You can lose the mahogany, Saladin,” Lance said. “He knows where I was, not where I am, and I’m keeping it that way. He actually agrees.”
“Why would he agree?” Saladin asked.
“Because if Dannon tortures him, he won’t know where I am, and he knows I’m important to this team.”
Jean burst out laughing.
“Something funny, Poodle?”
Jean shook his head. “There’s the Lance we know and love.”
“Why was this call needed?” Maggie asked. “It’s just been a sniping session.”
“I wanted to reassure you of our actions,” Daan said. “I also wanted to let you know to stay away from the cities on the Atlantic Coast. Don’t expect that bunkers will protect you. Not with these new shells.”
“Well, that’s almost true,” Mateo said. “I was also reviewing the specs of the new device. If you have a sealed bunker with an internal air supply, you’ll survive if you’re deep enough. Filtration systems on outside air intakes won’t work… this new weapon will set the air on fire and break through filter elements and baffles.”
“What about gas masks?” Jean asked.
Daan shook his head. “Your skin will burn off. Masks won’t help.”
Maggie leaned back in her chair, her face red. “What we use against others could easily be used against us.”
“Nope, this is a highly secret cocktail,” Daan said. “Truly unique. It’s like a neutron bomb without the radiation trace.”
“It’s still experimental, and there are problems,” Saladin said. “I’ve discussed it with the inventor. He advised against using it in operations near our own troops.”
“Hence delivery by boat from a few miles away,” Jean said.
“Yes,” Daan said. “Everybody understand?”
Nobody said anything.
“Okay, that’s all I have. Lance, is there anything you need to tell us about your movement?”
“The hacker exploited a mistake I made, learned my location,” Lance said. “This is why I quit messing with her before. It’s not worth it unless we have an important objective.”
“But you went back to it,” Daan said.
“Because I had an important objective,” Lance said, “and by the way, this may lead to the death of Dan Dannon and his team.”
Saladin laughed. “We don’t have anybody that good.”
“I’d stack Sturm up against Dannon,” Mateo said.
“What happened to his left hand again?” Saladin asked.
“Okay, stop,” Daan said. “Lance, make sure we don’t lose Sturm. I’m holding you responsible.”
“Me? Why?”
“Because you lured him out to the target zone, Lance,” Daan said. “You’re valuable, but sometimes it seems barely worth it.”
“Oh, piss off. Talk to you losers later.” Lance’s face left the screen.
“Are you going to put up with that?” Saladin asked.
Mateo shook his head. “Saladin, how did you ever get in command of anybody?”
“I can find you, Mateo.”
Daan held up his hands. “Enough. This call is over. Talk to you all later. No reprisals.”
The call shut down. Maggie looked over at Charles, terror in her eyes.
“You’re right, my dear,” Charles said. “Our team is falling apart.”
***
Justin woke up to the sound of puttering in the kitchen, and got off the couch, pulling on his clothes. Tyra was wearing a robe too small for her, working on breakfast.
“That smells good.”
Tyra turned towards him. “About time you got up.”
“I’m liking that robe,” Justin said, looking at Tyra spilling out of it.
“Stop, it’s Trinity’s. She’s small.”
Justin came closer, taking her into his arms. “We’re not on duty now, are we?”
“I’m not letting you mess with me in this,” she said. “I’ll be falling out.”
“That would be a tragedy,” Justin said, kissing her tenderly, Tyra returning it, trembling.
She smiled. “Go sit down, breakfast is almost ready. Better yet, find some jam or jelly.”
“Okay,” Justin said, going to the fridge, finding strawberry preserves, taking the jar to the table, stopping to get a knife out of the drawer.
“You know where everything is?” Tyra asked.
“Not everything, but I’ve spent some time hanging out with Trinity and Adrian. They both live in this building. Had some epic parties here.”
“Great, find me two plates, then.”
Justin smiled, walking to the cupboard and getting them down, putting them on the counter next to the range. Tyra put the eggs and bacon onto the plates, then checked the toaster.
“I’m surprised there’s fresh food here,” Justin said.
“Trinity said she was here last week, and stocked up.”
“Really?”
“Don’t you listen in the meetings? Jaak, Henry, and Ross want some of us living outside the downtown bunker.”
“Oh yeah,” Justin said. “You got a place still?”
“I do, but it’s small.” She buttered the toast, then took the two plates to the table. “Sit.”
“My place doesn’t have a good garage,” Justin said. He took a bite of the eggs. “Very good.”
“Yeah, it’s so hard to make eggs,” she said, smiling at him.
“I liked that kiss.” His eyes wandered over her.
Tyra closed the robe, which was falling open in the front. “Yeah, I’ll bet you did. I need to get dressed.”
“Relax, I won’t ogle you anymore,” Justin said, “as difficult as that is. Eat your breakfast. I’ll look away.”
She laughed. “Yeah, until I fall out, and then you’ll be feasting your eyes.”
“Trust me.”
Tyra laughed. “Oh, please, did you really say that?”
“You don’t trust me?” Justin asked, struggling to keep his eyes off her.
Tyra giggled, then opened her robe and quickly closed it again. “Missed it.”
“You’re gonna tease me now?”
“Maybe a little bit. Eat.”
Justin kept his eyes off her as he ate the rest of his breakfast, both of them silent.
“Well, you’ve got willpower, I’ll give you that,” Tyra said, getting up, straightening her robe again, picking up the plates and rinsing them in the sink. “What are we doing for the rest of the day?”
“Don’t know, was about to send a text to Henry.”
“Do that,” Tyra said, putting things away in the kitchen, Justin typing on his phone.
“Henry said to stick around here for the next couple days, just in case. They’re worried about those EU Navy ships.” Justin continued texting.
“Shit,” Tyra said, putting the butter and eggs back into the fridge. “Are they gonna evacuate that downtown bunker?”
“I think they’re considering it, but Henry wasn’t ready to say it,” Justin said, getting up. “I asked, and he said they aren’t sure yet.”
“What do you want to do?” Tyra asked, sitting back down at the table.
“Spending a couple days with you doesn’t sound bad.”
She stood, looking at him, her expression different. “Well, at least we’re not drunk.”
“That’s true.”
She came next to him, bending down to take his hand, pulling him up, the robe opening again, her breasts falling out. Justin’s eyes widened, looking away quickly.
Tyra giggled, not making a move to cover herself. “Oops. The girls are out of control.”
“I’ll turn around.”
“You’ve been a good boy,” she said, dropping the robe off her shoulders. “I think we can stop worrying about it, don’t you?”
Justin turned his head, sucking in air at the sight, pulling her against himself for a kiss, both of them lost in passion.
Tyra grabbed his hand. “C’mon.” She led him into the bedroom.
{ 4 }
Whistling Death
T he EU fleet headed south from Halifax. Captain Schroeder was in his stateroom, looking at his tablet, reviewing news accounts and commentary on the attack. There was a knock at his door. “It’s open.”
Zander came in. “Our reconnaissance isn’t showing any enemy ships along our route to Boston. Shall we proceed?”
“How about the Panama Canal? Get anything from Central Command?”
Zander shrugged. “They said the southern fleet would attack it and ruin the repairs done thus far, but he assured me that the repairs aren’t finished, and no ships can get through in the canal’s current condition.”
“Where is the US Pacific Fleet?”
“Most of them are in Asia. There are a few ships coming down the west coast towards Central America, but most ships near the US mainland are cruising north, heading for San Francisco.”
“They know about the ships we’re using there and in Portland,” Captain Schroeder said. “Good, that’ll keep the Pacific Fleet busy.”
“I don’t understand why they aren’t bringing more ships back to North American waters.”
“They don’t trust the Chinese,” Captain Schroeder said. “There has been movement towards Australia.”
“Will we be using the new weapon on the west coast?”
Captain Schroeder nodded. “That’s the plan, subject to change.”
“Are we going to use those weapons in Boston?”
The captain eyed him a moment. “Same answer. Don’t lose your nerve, or I’ll have you replaced.”
“I understand, sir, and won’t lose my nerve. After what we did in Halifax, we’re doomed unless we win this war.”
“Anything else?”
“Are we to proceed to Boston, then?” Zander asked.
“Oh, sorry. Yes, please proceed.”
“Yes sir.” Zander left the stateroom, closing the door behind him. Captain Schroeder set down his tablet, rolling his chair to his main terminal, bringing up the crew roster, looking for a worthy replacement for Zander.
***
Ashley and her team drove Roach drones through the rubble of the Boston bases they attacked.
“We whacked the hell out of them dudes,” Dave said, Ava rolling her eyes, sitting at the laptop next to his.
“It’s hard to see anything in this burned up rubble,” she said. “I’m surprised the UN and the Islamists haven’t brought in cleanup crews to check for survivors.”
“That bothers me as well,” Adrian said. “I was just on the RFID app. Kinda looks like they’re evacuating the city.”
Ashley eyed him a moment, then pulled out her phone, sending a text. “We need to talk to the leadership team. I’m texting them now.”
“Something bothering you?” Trinity asked.
Ashley nodded. “Halifax isn’t that far from Boston, and I’m seeing rumors online that the EU Navy task force is heading south.”
Ava looked up. “You think they’re gonna hit us with those weapons they used up there.”
“Shit, we might not be deep enough,” Trinity said. “We might have to evacuate.”
“We’re pretty deep,” Adrian said.
Trinity eyed him a moment, then looked back at Ashley. “How long does it take to get here from Halifax by boat?”
Gavin looked up. “It takes about sixty hours to sail it. Of course that’s a lot slower than modern military ships could do it.”
Quint cleared his throat. “Approximately twenty hours… but we don’t know if they’ve left yet, and they might not come straight here. They might hug the coast and take pot shots at Portland or Portsmouth.”
“Those aren’t strategic,” Adrian said. “They’ll hit us first.”
The door to the intel room opened, Jaak rushing in with Henry and Ross. “Ashley, get the com unit set up for the main screen, so we can continue a call we had going with Jared.”
“Okay,” Ashley said, going to the PC, setting up the system. The screen lit up, and Jared appeared.
“Hear us and see us okay?” Jaak asked.
“Indeed,” Jared said. “Greetings, all.”
“Are you in here because of my text?” Ashley asked.
Jaak shook his head. “We were already on with Jared, because I’ve been watching the RFID app. The Islamists are leaving. We’re also getting reports that UN vans are on the streets, heading west. Figured we should hold the meeting with you guys involved.”
“Those ships are gonna hit us,” Dave said.
“Will this bunker protect us?” Ava asked.
“The downtown Boston bunker won’t,” Jared said. “Our sensors picked up a lot of data on the attack in Halifax. The new weapon starts the air on fire. Even if you’re in a bunker, the material will get through air filtration systems. The only sure-fire way to stay alive is to be on bottled air, in a bunker completely closed to the outside.”
“So we need to evacuate,” Ashley said.
“Yes, and that needs to happen within the next five hours,” Jared said. “Art’s base can be used for this situation, and I’ve already notified him. He’s pressurizing the main air tanks now, and bringing some spares on line which we haven’t installed yet.”
“You knew this was coming,” Quint said.
“We got intel from a couple agents in the UK,” Jared said. “That isn’t the reason we have the capability at Art’s place, though. That site was already hardened to that degree, and used for nuclear survival testing back in the early 1960s.”
“Shit, somebody might come knocking on the door, then,” Trinity said.
“No, it was top secret,” Jared said.
“Can’t we attack this task force?” Quint asked. “We’ve got a navy.”
Jared shook his head. “We have some capability to bring to bear, but most of our navy is in the Pacific, and even the Atlantic fleet is spread out, protecting allies. Some of the closer assets are on the way, but they won’t get here before the EU Navy gets to Boston.”
“So there’s nothing we can do?” Ross asked.
“I didn’t say that,” Jared said. “We’ve got thousands of anti-satellite weapons. Alex believes he can re-direct those to targets on earth. I talked to him right before getting on this call. He’s got an attack set up, but there is one problem.”
“What’s that?” Trinity asked.
“The enemy will know who is responsible for the attack. The Sampson Corporation designed the satellite warfare systems, and they’ll find out in short order that the order to use them didn’t come from the US Government.”
“Shit, so they’ll know you were behind it personally,” Jaak said. “We can’t do it.”
“We may have to do it, with so many lives at stake,” Jared said, “but I’m working on an angle that might help us. There are operatives at the White House talking to President Borden right now. We’re making him an offer he can’t refuse.”
“You’re going to make him give the order,” Henry said, a grin on his face.
“We might not get the order in time to save Boston,” Jared said, “depending on how fast the EU task force can arrive and mount the attack. We do have a handful of Navy assets moving in your direction, and we have two potent ships already in the area.”
“We need to use this to our advantage,” Gavin said. “When we leave.”
“What do you mean?” Henry asked.
“We go out in our hybrids, and destroy as many of the fleeing enemy convoys as we can.”
“That’s a good idea,” Dave said. “I’m in.”
“We’ll lose people if we do that,” Jaak said.
Jared was silent for a moment. “No, Gavin’s right, we can use the RFID apps to guide us to them on the road, and blow them up. It’s worth the risk.”
“We can also blow up UN vehicles on sight,” Trinity said. “I like it.”
“I’m in,” Quint said.
“As am I,” Adrian said. “We need to contact the folks we just trained, and spread the word around.”
“The enemy might see us enter Art’s base,” Ross said.
“Can the EU ships hit Art’s base?” Ashley asked. “It’s pretty far inland.”
Jared shrugged. “Not sure. The specs on 127mm guns say they’ve got between 30- and 100-kilometer range, depending on the projectile used. We don’t know much about the projectiles, unfortunately.”
“I thought you had sensors running,” Adrian said.
“The sensors measured the detonations of the rounds and their impact,” Jared said. “There was no data to tell us the range of the projectiles. They hit Halifax from only twelve kilometers away.”
“Okay, we need to get ready to go,” Jaak said. “Ross, could you contact Devin and have him warn all the new recruits, please? Get them ready for a quick conference call. Henry, could you get with the people at this base and the team we sent to Art’s base, please?”
“Sure,” Henry said. “What’ll you be doing?”
“I’ve got files to move to Art’s system, and things to lock down, in case the enemy finds their way into this facility.”
“I’ll help you with that,” Ashley said.
“Oh, one other thing,” Jaak said. “Should we warn the citizens?”
Jared nodded. “Yes, but do it through the Sons of Liberty web site only.”
“Great, I’ll get with Sunshine and Jacob.”
***
Sturm sat in the living room of Lance’s house in Sagaponack, scrolling through his tablet. Claude came in.
“They aren’t coming, are they?”
Sturm shook his head. “They saw us arrive, or saw Lance leave, or both. We need to get out of here before they send an assault team.”
“How did they see us?”
Sturm shrugged. “The hacker probably got into the local MVS system.”
“So we should go back to Manhattan?”
