Bug Out! Part 10: RV Race to Battle (16 page)

“Yes, good,” she said, smiling. “Thank you.”

They got up, and Gabe helped Rosie along as they followed the nurse.

“I’m surprised they have open beds,” Hilda said.

“Wait until tomorrow,” Gabe whispered. “This place is gonna be a zoo.”

***

Howard was back at the wheel of the class C rig, and Bailey was sitting in the passenger seat. It was late, and they were looking for a place to park for the night. Scott and Kerry were already asleep, Scott in the bedroom, and Kerry up in the overhead bunk.

“How about there?” Bailey asked, pointing down at a big shopping center off the road.

“We can’t,” Howard said. “There’s a chance that somebody saw this coach when we were at the farm. There may be people watching for white class C rigs stopping to overnight.”

“Oh,” she said. “That wouldn’t be good. That stain by the door - is it what I think it is?”

“Yeah, it’s blood,” Howard said. “If anybody takes this sucker away from us and does a forensic job on it, we’re toast. And not just because of the blood.”

“What else is here?”

“Well, both Scotty and I had a good time with two different victims back in the bedroom,” he said. “Sorry, I know it’s kinda gross since you were back there.”

“Actually, it’s kind of a turn on,” she said.

“Are you for real?” Howard asked.

“I like to walk on the wild side,” she said. “It’s always been my undoing. I quit school because of something bad that I did there.”

“Care to tell me about it?” Howard asked.

“Later,” she said. “I’ll take a look at my phone for a place we can pull off. I’m beat.”

“Okay,” Howard said. He glanced over at her. The light of the phone’s screen highlighted her pretty young face. She caught him looking.

“You can have me again after we find a place,” she said. “I know that look.”

He smiled at her, and looked back down the road.

“Hey, here’s something,” she said. “Take the next off-ramp. Then go down about half a mile. There are dirt roads on either side. Looks like they’re the back end of a couple of large farms. Google Earth is showing some tree cover back a ways on the road to the left.”

“Great,” Howard said, moving over to take the ramp. The local road was dark, so he clicked on his hi-beams.

“Where are we gonna sleep, anyway?” she asked.

“The dinette makes into a bed,” he said. “I’ve got blankets and pillows under the seat cushions.”

“Sounds cozy, Howie,” she said. “Don’t hit that dirt road too fast. I can’t tell how bad it is from this display.”

“I figured,” he said. “That it up ahead?”

“Yeah,” she said.

Howard made the left turn and moved very slowly onto the dirt.

“There’s a sweet spot on the road,” Howard said. “It’s not even going to be bumpy.”

“That’s good, right?” Bailey asked.

“Good and bad,” he said. “We won’t get stuck, but this dirt road probably gets used a lot. I’ll have to go to bed with my handgun under the pillow.”

“Look, there’s the trees. Nice turnout under them too,” she said.

“Tailor made,” Howard said. He pulled the rig over to the side and parked. “Let’s get that bed made.”

It took just a few minutes to get the bed done. Howard stripped out of his clothes and got in against the wall, stuffing his handgun under his pillow. Bailey undressed quickly and climbed in. He turned to her, caressing her and kissing her cheek.

“You gonna tell me what happened at college?” he asked.

“It’s a pretty juicy story,” she said, sliding her naked body against him. “Total defilement.”

“Do tell.”

“Okay, it was one of the girls in the sorority. She was all proud about how she was this
good girl
virgin. Talked about how she had integrity all the time, but she wore outfits that told a different story. Total tease.”

“I remember the type,” Howard said.

“So there’s this frat next door that we throw parties with, almost every weekend. I know one of the guys over there pretty well. We used each other for booty calls quite a few times. Kind of a
friend with benefits
thing
.
Nothing serious between us. He’s kind of a wimp, and I don’t like wimps much. Anyway, he had the hots for the teaser. He talked about her all the time.”

“What’s her name?”

“Lexi,” she said. “He asked me to put in a good word for him, so I did. She went out with him, too, and totally teased him. Then she dumped him. He was really broken up. It pissed me off.”

“So you came to the rescue, I take it?”

“Yeah, during one of the parties at the frat house. I told the guy that I’d make sure she got good and wasted at the party,” she said. “I slipped her a roofie and led her up to this guy’s room, then told him she was ready.”

“That was naughty,” Howard said. “What happened?”

“She was ready, alright, and he had a good time with her. Over and over.”

“This isn’t going to end well, is it?”

“No,” she giggled. “She woke up the next morning and remembered a little too much of what happened. Then she brow beat this guy into admitting what happened, and my name came up.”

Howard sighed. “I see. You really couldn’t have just gone home. You weren’t very honest with us.”

“I guess that
was
a little white lie,” she whispered, moving closer to him. “The police are looking for me. It was time to run.”

“I can’t believe it,” he said with mock indignation. “You aren’t staying with us due to our sparkling personalities?”

“Oh, don’t get me wrong,” she said, moving against him more. “I’m really excited to be with you guys. What you’re doing makes me so
hot.
But I’ll admit that I decided a little quicker because I really don’t have many options.”

“How do we know you won’t just cut and run as soon as you get a chance?” Howard whispered.

“Get me involved in the next killing. Then I’ll have as much to lose as you guys do,” she whispered, swinging one of her legs over his torso. “You’re not sorry you picked me up, are you?”

She kissed him on the lips, and they melted into each other, their passion building fast.

“We’ve got to be quiet,” Howard whispered.

***

It was morning at the RV Park. Charlie was already up, sweeping up the debris in the clubhouse. The place wasn’t damaged as much as he expected. A few tables had holes in them. He had to shave away the jagged splinters around the holes underneath with a knife. The floor was cement. There were chunks gone here and there, but they weren’t bad enough to trip over. There was a hole in the door of the walk-in freezer, and a couple of containers got ruined inside. He put several layers of gorilla tape over the hole. He was just finishing up when Jerry and Jasmine came in.

“Sleep well?” he asked.

“Yeah, we were both exhausted,” Jerry said.

“The morning sickness is finally starting to die down,” Jasmine said. “I’ll go get the coffee pot going. It didn’t get shot up, I hope?”

“Nope, it’s good,” Charlie said. “Hey, Jerry, want to man the dust pan?”

“Sure,” he said, picking it up off the table and following Charlie to a pile he had in the middle of the floor.

“Anything else screwed up?” Jerry asked.

“Not that I’ve found so far,” Charlie said. “That Chinook is toast, of course. I think they only got a short run before the jets caught up with them. Could have been a whole lot worse. They hit their top two targets and then got creamed.”

“They didn’t hit the barn?”

“Nope,” Charlie said. “Not even a hole in that, thank God. Glad they can’t see the generators and water system from the air.”

“Heard from Hilda or my mom?” Jasmine asked as she joined them.

“Yeah, Hilda texted me. The hospital put them up for the night. Jeb made it through the first surgery, but he’s got a harder one coming in the next couple of days.”

“He needs more than one surgery?” Jerry asked.

“Yeah, the first one was emergency surgery to stop the internal bleeding,” Charlie said. “His spine got nicked, and there’s still bullet fragments in him. They’re going to try to fix that tomorrow if he’s strong enough.”

“How much chance does he have?” Jasmine asked.

“Doc gave him about 60%,” Charlie said, face looking grim. “Not so good.”

“Well, better than even, at least,” Jerry said.

Charlie leaned the broom against the wall in the corner. “The clubhouse doesn’t look too bad now,” he said. “Good enough for the meeting. Have to patch the roof before the rainy season starts back up.”

“What time are we getting together?” Jasmine asked

“I’m thinking early as we can get away with. Maybe nine or so?” Charlie replied.

“Yeah, that should work,” Jerry said. “Too bad we were up so damn late last night.”

“Mmmmm, I smell that coffee,” Charlie said.

“Yeah, it’ll be ready before too long,” Jasmine said. “It’s almost eight now. Maybe I’ll go check the pancake mix for bugs. If it’s good, I’ll whip up a bunch.”

“I’ll help,” Jerry said. They walked into the kitchen together. Charlie walked outside. The morning was a little overcast and muggy. He was missing Hilda.

Terry walked up with Trish.

“We going to meet this morning?” he asked.

“Yeah, at about nine,” he said. “Jasmine and Jerry are in the kitchen whipping up some pancakes.”

“That sounds good,” Trish said. “Why don’t we go help?”

“You go ahead, and I’ll meet you there,” Terry said. “I’m thinking I ought to go wake up Dobie and Jake.”

“Good idea,” she said, standing on her tip toes to kiss him. “I’ll see you in a few minutes. Just mention pancakes to my dad and he’ll be up in a flash.”

Charlie chuckled. “I’ll go get Kurt, Jackson, and the Sheriff moving.”

“Where’s the General and his guys?” Terry asked.

“They bedded down in the lounge and those bedrooms down there,” Charlie said. “Wonder if Saladin survived the night?”

“Good question,” Terry said. “See you in a few minutes.”

***

General Hogan woke up to his iPhone alarm, in one of the bedrooms down the hall from the lounge. He got dressed and came out. His son and the other privates were out there, watching the TV and chatting.

“Anybody check on our guest yet?” the General asked.

“Nope,” Private Jennings said.

“We closed that trap door last night, pop,” Private Brown said. “The smell was bad, and that raspy breathing was getting to me.”

“Well, time to go check on him. Give me a hand with the door.”

“It takes a good tug,” Private Peterson said. All of them got on it and pulled up, the seal breaking. The smell wafted up to them.

“Phew,” Private Brown said. “It smells like death down there.”

The sound of raspy breathing floated up. General Hogan gave the privates a serious look, and then started down the steps. They followed him down, and one of them pulled the chain on the light, giving the dungeon an ominous glow. The raspy breathing got faster inside the cell.

“Still alive, I see,” General Hogan said to Saladin. His eyes opened wide, and he stared at them like the fish stares at the fisherman.

“I can’t believe he’s still kicking,” Private Jennings said.

“Can you hear me?” General Hogan asked.

Saladin nodded, expressionless.

“Can you talk?”

“Water,” he croaked.

“Reach down, there’s a bottle on the floor by the bed,” General Hogan said. “We left the cap off.”

He fumbled around, his hand touching it. He grasped the bottle and struggled to raise it to his lips, pouring, some of the liquid running down his cheeks to the cot.

“Kansas?” he croaked.

“Yes,” General Hogan said.

“How did you find us?”

“Chips,” General Hogan said.

“We fixed that,” he said, his eyes pleading, not understanding.

“Our apps adjust quickly and automatically. You were only invisible for a few minutes.”

He got a scared expression on his face, realizing what that meant.

“It’s over,” General Hogan said. “We got the operatives in Washington, and found the routes from Canada. Also destroyed that nuclear device you had at Capitol Reef.”

He got the hint of a smile on his face.

“Oh, there are others,” General Hogan said. “Where?”

His expression didn’t change.

“Okay, no matter,” General Hogan said. “I’ll let an old friend convince you to talk. He’s got a score to settle with you, so it won’t be pleasant.”

He continued to give them the blank smile.

“One other thing,” General Hogan said. “Our apps get distributed around the world at noon. Everybody will have them, and everybody will be able to see your forces. Citizens, police, armed forces, state militias. Everybody.”

He closed his eyes and tried to roll towards the wall. He got part way and moaned in pain as the burns on his side moved against the rough cloth on the cot.

“C’mon, boys, let’s get upstairs,” General Hogan said. “If anything happens after the release of the apps, I want about five grenades thrown into that cell.”

“Yes sir,” Private Peterson said. The men climbed the stairs, turning out the light, and closing the trap door.

***

At nine, everybody gathered in the clubhouse. Charlie was at the front of the room with General Hogan.

“Everybody done eating?” Charlie asked.

“Yeah,” Kurt said. Others murmured in agreement.

“Those pancakes were a nice surprise,” Jake said, smiling.

“Yes, they were,” General Hogan said.

“Okay, first an update,” Charlie said. “I just heard from Hilda a few minutes ago. Jeb got through his first surgery just fine, and he’s awake now. He has another surgery to go through. That will probably happen tomorrow. Earl is doing well too. He’ll be released from the hospital later today.”

“Great news,” Dobie said.

“Are Rosie, Gabe, and Hilda going to stick around until Jeb’s better?” Terry asked

“We think so,” Charlie said. “I’m worried about them being out of our protection when the apps get released, but there’s not a lot we can do about that now.”

“How about Earl?” Jackson asked. “When’s he coming home?”

“He’ll probably ride home with the others, depending on how things go,” Charlie said. “In some ways I’m glad he’s there. If things get rough there, he’ll be able to help.”