B00C74WTKQ EBOK (14 page)

Walking around to the rear of the truck, the Chief opened the back doors. “Everything you asked for, plus we added armor back here as well. It goes along both sides and the doors, but only halfway up. We put in five gun ports, two on each side and one in one of the back doors. Notice we took off the old doors and made new ones that open out more, and they’re armored halfway up too. Tool box is secured in the corner there, spare parts are secured in a steel box, extra tires mounted to the inside roof, out of the way. We included a small compressor should you need one, doesn’t take any room at all and might be handy. Hammock mounts so the three of you can sleep in the back if you’re good friends. Foamed the tires and there’s extra foam in the spare parts box. Take it for a spin, give it a hard test, let me know if we need to change anything.”

“Wow!” Ryan said, “every boy’s dream, eh?”

The Engineering Chief replied, “Well, had it been me specifying the upgrades I’d have put a revolving turret on the top with a chain gun in it. Mount two recoilless rifles on the side and put a belt fed in the back. But that’s just me.” The Chief then walked off leaving the three men staring.

Adrian said in awe, “I like how he thinks!”

Jose asked, “Should we get him to do that?”

“No, I don’t think so. It would be severe overkill for our mission to be armed like that. But it does give me one hell of an idea. After we spin this baby around a few times I’m going to visit the Admiral.”

“The reason I wanted to see you is the Chief gave me an idea Admiral. How difficult would it be to find large, four wheel drive trucks, and rig them out sort of like a swift boat?”

“Say again?” The Admiral asked , obviously puzzled.

“Swift boats on wheels. Take a 4x4 truck and mount chain guns, recoilless rifles, small cannons, whatever on them. Make them rolling barrage platforms. Imagine the effectiveness of these against Mexican ground troops. One of these would be as valuable as a hundred men with rifles. There must be thousands of suitable trucks in Corpus Christi waiting for conversion. You’d only be limited by the amount of arms that you can scrounge up to put on them, and the crew time it would take. When the war comes, if it comes, they’d be worth their weight in coffee.” Adrian said with a grin.

The Admiral stared at Adrian. Adrian could see the thought taking hold as the skin around the Admiral’s eyes crinkled slightly. “You know, that’s a damn good idea. The engineering crew is busy as hell with getting the refinery and oil production running, but still…” His voice trailed off as he gave it more thought. “I’ll talk to the Chief about it tonight. We have plenty of unskilled men to find and bring in the trucks, and I’ll check with armory to see what our inventory looks like. I wouldn’t be surprised if we couldn’t make half a dozen or more of them fairly quickly. Given time we might make a lot more. You say the Chief gave you the idea? Good, then he’ll probably have some sound ideas already in mind. Yes, I like it, I like it a lot. Our Marine and Seal Teams could put these to good use.”

“One more thought Admiral. Could the Chief make modifications to the Angel’s truck? Not chain guns of course, but radio and armor and one of those wood gas generators he made for our truck?”

“Of course, no problem. Although, now that I’m getting to know the girls a bit better, I have to say ‘Angels’ seems a bit on the optimistic side. Those girls are damn near feral, Adrian. I’m not sure they should be trusted out of sight…No, don’t get alarmed, a deal is a deal, no matter what second thoughts I’m having.”

The last two days were spent checking the supplies on the truck, their weapons, and plotting their route.

Adrian, the Admiral, Ryan, and Jose were sitting at the Admiral’s table going over a map of Texas. Adrian, tracing the route with his finger tip said, “We’ll take Highway 77 to Kingsville, then follow it all the way to Harlingen. In Harlingen we’ll switch to Highway 100 and take it to Brownsville. From there we’ll get on 281 and follow the border west until we get to Pharr. From Pharr we’ll go on to Laredo. From Laredo we’ll continue heading west on Farm to Market Road 1417 here, then Farm to Market Road 1021 to Eagle Pass. From there we take 277 to Del Rio. From Del Rio we cut back to Corpus, crossing south of San Antonio. We’ll be covering a lot of miles with frequent stops for intelligence gathering and recruiting. It’s rough and desolate country and will have its full share of outlaws. It’s a long trip. I’m guessing two months or so, but this route takes us right along the border, where we want to be to get information. Any questions?”

“Can you carry three months’ of food for three men?” The Admiral asked.

“We can’t. We could carry a month’s supply of MRE’s if you had them, but you’ll need them for the Marines if they get activated. We’ll take a week’s supply of canned food and water. The rest we’ll hunt or scrounge along the way. There’s always plenty of rattlesnakes down there. A man can hardly walk twenty feet without finding one, and they’re pretty good eating.” Adrian was watching Jose and Ryan’s faces as he said this, hoping to get a rise out of at least one of them. All he got were two grim smiles.

“Water won’t be a big problem, we won’t be far away from the Rio Grande once we start moving along the border. It’ll be close enough we can make a run to it if needed. We’re taking plenty of water purification tablets and micro-filters too.”

“Our radio reports will be sent in every day at 1900 hours, the frequency is already set. If we hear something interesting enough, we’ll let you know as soon as we can. Otherwise, you’ll hear from us every evening.”

The Admiral said, “Alright Adrian, sounds like you’ve got it figured out as well as it can be figured out. I’ll say goodbye now, I won’t be able to see you off in the morning.”

The three men left the Admiral’s dining area. They would leave at four in the morning.

Adrian went to say goodbye to the girls.

Adrian gave each girl a hug. He promised them all he would take care of himself, and reminded them that he knew how to do that. He had expected tears, at least from some of the younger ones and was surprised that the girls didn’t seem to mind his leaving. He knew that something was up with them, but not quite what.

“Race, I want one promise from you. You won’t try to follow me. You’re up to something and I don’t know what it is, but if you’re thinking of following me…don’t.”

“We’ll live within the strict confines of our agreement Adrian.”

Adrian left satisfied with her response. It wasn’t until much later that Adrian thought over her words and realized that she hadn’t actually given him a direct response to his demand.

Chapter 16

S
ix weeks later the trio
had reached Zapata. They were camped outside of town, well off the road. Summer was coming on strong and it had been a hot, dusty drive that day. The truck had an air-conditioner, but it drew too much power and slowed them down too much to use. The wood gas-fueled engine wasn’t as efficient or powerful as when they’d used the diesel fuel, which they had long since run out of.

Adrian was cooking a huge rattlesnake for dinner.

“I kind of thought you were kidding about eating rattlesnake back in Corpus,” said Ryan, “but here we go again. How many does this make, five or ten thousand that we’ve eaten?”

Adrian replied, “Exactly seven. This makes the seventh. We’ve actually eaten a lot better than I expected. The Javalina population is pretty good; besides, rattlesnake is damn tasty, tastes just like chicken.”

“The hell it does.” Jose piped in. “It doesn’t taste anything like chicken…but it’s not bad.”

“Time to radio in.” Adrian said changing the subject. “Whose turn is it?”

“Yours.” Ryan and Jose said at the same time.

“But I’m cooking.”

“Doesn’t make any difference, it’s your turn.” Jose said with a smile.

Adrian didn’t mind radioing in, it was generally a quick report. This one wouldn’t be more than just a check in. They’d had some interesting news to send in the past few days, but nothing today. They had recruited five spies so far. He climbed into the truck, pulled out the radio and hooked it up, then pushed a button and listened while the antenna rose ten feet into the air. Turning on the radio he called in.

“Base one this is mobile one, over.”

“Mobile one we read you, over.”

“We’re doing fine here, making progress, nothing else to report, over.”

Then the half-bored sounding operator was replaced by the Admiral’s voice. This was the first time the Admiral had responded directly.
Uh-oh, this can’t be good
. Adrian thought.

“Well I’ve got something to report.” The Admiral said in a strained tone. “You’re so-called ‘Angels’ have captured my ship and I am
not
well pleased.”

Adrian sat stunned for a moment. “Excuse me, Admiral? I must have misunderstood you, please say again.”

“I said, and I know damn good and well you heard me,
the girls captured my ship
. They went out for their maneuvers as they call them. They were gone two very blissful and quiet days. I was up on the bridge on the third night when they came in with guns and told us we were captured. The little demons snuck onto the ship, past all of my security, managed to sneak all the way to the bridge and start a fire in a trash can for a diversion. When everyone was focused on the fire they came in through the hatch and took us prisoner. Over.”

Adrian took a deep breath and then said, “Was anyone hurt Admiral, over?”

“Damn it Adrian this isn’t funny! They made a complete mockery of our security! And don’t think security isn’t getting a hell of an ass-chewing over this. I’m completely revamping how we secure the ship, it’s a total cluster-fuck damn it. Over.”

Adrian couldn’t think of a thing to say. He was torn between being upset with the girls and being proud of them.

“Adrian? Answer me.” The Admiral was too furious to continue using radio protocol.

With a mighty effort, Adrian pulled himself together and tried to sound serious. “Sorry Admiral, the signal grew weak there for a minute. What is it you want me to do? How did they get on board without being seen? Over.”

“The little brats climbed up the power cables. Do you know how fucking dangerous that is? Every one of them, even the littlest, crawled right up those cables.”

Adrian waited a beat making sure the Admiral was waiting for a response. “My deepest apologies Admiral, I’m sure you’re plenty upset and rightfully so. What can I do to help? Over.”

“I want you to give Race a good old fashioned ass-chewing, that’s what I want you to do. Here she is. Start talking.”

“Race? You there? Over.”

“Yes sir. Oh…over.”

Adrian could hear the pride in her voice, even over the radio and in those two words. “Race, this isn’t what you’re supposed to be doing. Besides, it’s damned dangerous climbing those cables. What the hell were you thinking? Over.”

“We made safety harnesses out of rope Adrian, no one could have fallen. It was safe. I decided that we needed realistic infiltration training. We came up with the plan and practiced on it. Then we did it, and Adrian, we did it damned well, too. Oh, and the guns were unloaded. Uh, over.”

Adrian finished chewing Race out and instructed her to quit disrupting the ship’s routines. After signing off with a still very upset Admiral, he turned off the radio and exited the truck, laughing so hard he could barely walk. Jose and Ryan looked at him as if he’d lost his mind.

“What the hell Adrian? You losing it on us?” Ryan asked, perplexed.

“Wait til you hear this!” Adrian managed to gasp out. When he got his breath back he explained what the girls had done and the Admiral’s less-than-pleased reaction. All three of the men then laughed until their sides hurt.

Wiping his eyes, Adrian said, “Well the Admiral has met his match, that’s for sure.” Starting the laughter all over again.

Two days later Adrian, Ryan, and Jose were sitting around a kitchen table with their host Reynaldo. They had spotted the ranch earlier that day and drove up to the ranch house, a medium-sized frame dwelling, and stopped at a distance. Adrian honked the horn three times to alert the inhabitants, waited a short interval for the inhabitants to look them over, and then stepped out of the van with his hands in the air.