Bug Out! Part 6: Motorhome Mayhem in the Rockies (19 page)

Frank and Jerry walked out
to the front of the park, where Gabe was working on the moat with Earl, Jackson, and Charlie.

“Gabe!” Frank shouted, trying to get above the noise of the backhoe. Earl saw them and gave a hand signal. Gabe shut down the engine.

“What’s up, Frank?” he asked as they walked up.

“What internet service do you have?”

“Why?”

“I was just looking at the security system at Hilda’s park. I think the enemy set something up to trace IP addresses. Just wanted to know if it will show our location.”

“Oh. I wouldn’t worry about it…I’ve got a satellite service. We’re too far out for cable, and the phone line internet out here sucks.”

“Great, that’s what I was hoping you were going to say,” Frank said. “Sorry to bother you guys.”

“No problem,” Gabe said. “Needed a breather anyway.”

Frank looked at the large circular sheet of thick metal…two pieces welded together to beef it up.

“Wow, where did you get that?” Frank asked.

“Construction project on one of the back roads. They were using these to put across a trench. They were a little late picking it up, so I kinda borrowed it.” He snickered.

“Oh, I see,” Frank said. “You think that will be strong enough for a coach to roll over?”

“Should be with the double thickness. We sank that iron bar over there down into the ground to act like a hinge with the hole in the plate…we can push it forward or pull it backward with the backhoe. It’ll span the moat no problem.”

“What did you steal….er borrow that for, anyway?” Jerry asked.

“Metal sculpture, mainly. I could saw pieces of this off to make a lot of stuff. Was going to use part of it for a kid’s structure in the playground, too, but never got around to it - then the shit hit the fan and it no longer seemed important.”

“How are you going to flood your moat?” Frank asked.

“There’s a gate I can close, in front of the tunnel that the creek runs through, under the driveway. I’ll just need to dig a trench from there to the moat, and then close it.”

“You going to have the creek running through there all the time?” Jerry asked.

“Naw, that would cause too much erosion. It might widen the span so the bridge won’t be big enough anymore. I’ll just fill ‘er up, and then open the tunnel again and fill in the trench.”

“You’ll have to drain this thing in winter, I suspect,” Jerry said.

“Probably,” Gabe said. “We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.”

“No pun intended,” Jackson said, laughing. The rest of the men cracked up.

“Pretty corn-ball, Jackson,” Earl said, shaking his head.

“Thanks for the info, Gabe,” Frank said.

“I take it Hilda’s system is still up,” Charlie said.

“Yeah, sure is. I was going to copy the video down to the PC here,” Frank said.

“Why?” he asked.

“There was somebody with that Phil guy who looked a little familiar to me. It dawned on me who it was a couple days ago. I want to double check.”

“Important person?” Gabe asked.

“An expert on RF technology. Wrote a lot of papers on it back in the day. I met him when I was working. I might get some clues on the enemy system from his papers, if it’s really him.”

“Ah, very interesting,” Charlie said. “Good luck.”

“Thanks,” Frank said. He and Jerry walked back to the clubhouse.

“The only way the enemy is going to locate us with the IP address is to get into the provider’s system,” Jerry said.

“Yeah, I know. That might protect us well enough. I know a little about that provider’s systems, since they used to be part of the company I worked for.”

“I figured that. Hopefully the enemy doesn’t have anybody inside.”

“Even if they did, it would have to be the right kind of ‘somebody’,” Frank said. “There’s personal info on customers that has to be protected. Some financial analyst or marketing guy isn’t going to be able to get in.”

“Good,” Jerry said. “Shall we go back on Hilda’s system, then?”

“I don’t see why not. I’ll just download everything from the DVR.”

“Okay,” Jerry said. “I need more coffee.”

They walked back into the clubhouse. Jane walked over to Frank.

“Why did you guys take off so fast?” she asked. “I saw you yank the network cable out of the back of that PC.”

“I was afraid that our IP address was getting sniffed from the PC at Hilda’s park.”

“Uh oh. They could tell our location by that, couldn’t they?”

“Well, not in this case. We just talked to Gabe. He has satellite internet service. The IP addresses won’t denote the ground location. You’d have to get that data from the service provider, and I know how they’re handling security of PID.”

“What’s PID?”

“Personally Identifiable Data,” Frank said. “Stuff like home address, credit card numbers, phone numbers, birthdates, Social Security numbers, and so on. There are strict rules on protection of this kind of data due to identity theft.”

“Oh…this is the satellite service that your company developed, isn’t it?”

“Yes, and I had a hand in securing their systems before that division was spun off. We should be fine.”

“Good,” she said. “More coffee?”

“Yeah, I was going to go over and get a cup after I start the download. Meet you in the kitchen?”

“Sure,” she said.

Frank went to the PC and plugged the network cable back in, then went back to Hilda’s security system. He got to the console and started the download. Then he locked the screen and walked over to the kitchen.

They heard the crack of a shot outside. Everybody’s heads snapped around to the front of the building.

“Everybody get down!” Frank yelled. He grabbed his Winchester and went to the door. Jerry joined him with his AK-47. They opened the door a crack and peered out. There were two militia men on the street side of the moat, holding guns on Gabe, Jackson, Earl, and Charlie.

“Wonder where Jeb and Kurt are?” Jerry whispered.

“Getting into position, probably,” Frank whispered back. Then there was a loud rifle shot, and one of the militia men flew backwards, hitting the ground dead. The other militia man looked at his friend in horror, and then was hit in the side of the head, blowing blood and brains all over the road.

“Their truck is taking off,” Gabe shouted. He jumped on the backhoe and pushed the bridge over, then moved it off to the side. He jumped out and ran towards his Suburban, with Earl and Jackson following. They grabbed their guns on the way. The Suburban took off down the road, tires squealing. Charlie stayed behind, hunting rifle now in his hands, scanning the area.

“C’mon, let’s go,” Jerry said.

“Where?” Jane asked.

“After them, of course,” Jerry said. Frank and Jerry ran out the door just as Kurt was pulling up in his Jeep. Jeb was in the passenger seat. Frank and Jerry jumped in.

“Jane, you and Jasmine get your guns, and keep an eye out,” Frank yelled. She nodded back to him, and the women got their weapons and ran out to the front of the park, taking up positions behind the backhoe as the Jeep tore out across the bridge.

“Step on it,” Jeb yelled. They could still see Gabe’s suburban in the distance. As they got closer they could see the battered primer gray pickup truck in front.

“Who did they shoot?” Frank asked.

“Nobody,” Jeb said. “Idiots. They couldn’t get Gabe’s attention with all the noise so they fired a shot in the air. Stupid.”

Gabe was catching up fast. He got right behind and bumped the pickup. It swerved, and a man in the passenger side stuck a pistol out the side window and fired wildly, not even aiming. Kurt’s Jeep was right behind the Suburban. He tooted his horn. Gabe moved over a little, and Kurt flew past them, getting behind the truck. Jeb got up, leaning on the front windshield of the Jeep, rifle aimed at the truck. He fired, hitting the passenger’s head, splattering the inside of the cab. They could hear the driver screaming. Jeb fired again, hitting the driver. The truck veered off the road, hitting the soft dirt and doing a cartwheel, then rolling twice and landing on its side. Kurt and Gabe pulled over and the men jumped out. They ran over to the truck, engine dieseling now, smoke starting to flow out from under the hood. Frank looked inside.

“Jeez, these look like a couple of kids,” he said. Jerry peered in too. Jeb came running over with a bucket that Kurt had in the back of his Jeep. He took out his bowie knife and stabbed the gas tank, using the stream to fill the bucket with gasoline. Then he carried it to the cab.

“Stand back, guys,” he said. Frank and Jerry moved back, and Jeb poured the gas all over the militia men and the cab. Then he pulled out a match, lit it, and tossed it into the cab, which exploded with flames.

“That’ll teach ‘em,” Kurt said.

“Son of a bitch….forgot the marshmallows again,” Jeb said.

“Let’s get away from this thing before that gas tank blows,” shouted Jerry. The men all jogged over to their vehicles. They were just getting back onto the road when the truck exploded, lifting off the ground a few inches and coming back down, totally engulfed in flames.

“That smoke is going to show up for miles,” Frank said.

“Was thinking the same thing,” Kurt said. “Hope it doesn’t bring the wrong kind of people around.”

“I suggest we don’t burn the two back at the park,” Jerry said. “Let’s have Mary take the chips out, and we’ll add them to the collection. Then we won’t attract attention to where we live.”

“Good idea,” Jeb said. They were back to the park within a few minutes, and drove over the bridge. Gabe was right behind them. They parked, and all of the men got out, gathering by the backhoe, where Jasmine and Jane were standing.

“Where’s Charlie?” Earl asked.

“He got on the roof again, with the Sheriff and Terry,” Jane said. “You get the bad guys?”

“Yeah, that’s what that smoke over there is,” Jerry said.

“Good,” Jasmine said. “Mind if we go back to the clubhouse?”

“I don’t see why not,” Frank said. “Thanks for covering the place.”

Jane and Jasmine nodded and walked back to the clubhouse, Lucy prancing along behind them.

“Let’s drag those bodies over here and get the bridge pulled away from the moat,” Gabe said.

The men leaped into action, running over to the bodies and pulling them over next to the backhoe. Then Gabe fired it up and pulled the bridge back.

“We gonna burn these guys too?” he asked, climbing off of the backhoe.

“No, let’s have Mary take out the chips, and we’ll put them into the lead box with the others,” Frank said.

“Okay,” Gabe said. Kurt trotted over to the clubhouse, and came back with Mary and the black bag. She knelt next to the first body.

“Why don’t you guys watch me do this?” she said, putting on a fresh pair of gloves. “Then you’ll be able to do it too. Might be a better idea than burning the bodies. I can see the smoke from your previous handiwork over there, which means a lot of other folks can see it too.”

“We might find a good use for these chips, too, you know,” Jerry said. “Think about it. If we break their code, we might be able to use these to our advantage.”

“Damn good point,” Kurt said.

“Okay, boys, these are in the triceps,” Mary said. “It’s always been the right arm so far. Look for this scar.” She pointed at it with her scalpel.

“That looks easy enough,” Jeb said.

“They aren’t very deep,” she said, as she cut around the scar. Then she held back a flap of skin and reached in, pulling out the capsule. “There, that’s all there is to it.”

She did the same with the other body, and then she and Kurt walked back into the clubhouse with them, followed by Gabe. The rest of the men dragged the bodies over to the meadow and checked their pockets.

“Hey, look,” Jeb said. “This one has an employee ID, from the Eagle County Regional Airport. He’s a local.”

“Shit,” Frank said. “That isn’t good. We probably have locals here who know where we are. This guy might have told all kinds of people.”

“And it doesn’t give me a warm fuzzy feeling that this guy had special access to an airport,” Jerry said.

“Seriously. Wonder if we should tell somebody?” Jackson asked.

“Like who?” Jeb asked. “How do we know who’s a good guy and who’s a bad guy?”

“I think we keep our mouths shut until Frank here figures out how to read these chips,” Earl said. “That’d be one hell of a good BS detector.”

“I’ll go get the backhoe and dig a quick hole for our friends,” Jackson said, trotting back over. He drove the backhoe over and dug out a hole. The men picked up the bodies and threw them in like trash, and then Jackson covered up the hole.

“I think I’m going to drive this thing back to the barn for now,” Jackson said. “If we get more visitors and they shoot it up, we’ll be in some trouble.”

“Good idea,” Jeb said. The men walked slowly back to the clubhouse.

“You know, that stupid moat was helpful today,” Earl said. “I thought it was kind of a joke, but it kept the cretins from driving their truck in here.”

“I know, I was thinking the same thing,” Jerry said. “Gabe’s a crazy old fart, but he’s got some good ideas.”

“What’s left to be done on it?” asked Frank.

Earl cracked up. “The spikes.”

“Spikes?” Jerry asked.

“Yeah, Gabe’s got a ton of rebar. He’s going to cut up a bunch of six-foot pieces and sharpen them on both ends with his grinder. Then we’re going to stick them all over the bottom of the moat, before we fill it with water. He’s also got some razor wire…..he wants to put that along the trees on the street side of the creek.”

“Well, that’ll keep the enemy out, but it’ll also keep us in,” Jeb said.

“That’s why we need to protect that backhoe,” Jerry said. “I think we ought to rig up a better way to move that bridge back and forth, though. I’ve got some ideas. I’ll talk to Gabe about them.”

They made it to the veranda and walked through the door. Gabe had the lead box in his hands.

“We just tossed these two loose into the box,” he said. “If we have all of them in plastic bags, it’ll get too full.”

“I see no problem with that,” Frank said.