Blue Plague: War (Blue Plague Book 6) (11 page)

“Whoa, Bruce scared? When did that happen?” Carl asked, sitting down.

“When he heard that someone was trying to teach blues to shoot,” Matt said.

“WHAT!!!” Ted, Carl, Willie, and Adam all yelled.

Bruce held up his hands for quiet and, to his surprise, got it. “Son, how—” Bruce started but stopped as Jake held up his hand.

“Dad, just because Matt and I are out in the field, don’t think the minions aren’t working keeping us up to date. We have conferences with them twice a day and more when they need it.”

“How much did those little nerds tell you out there that you didn’t tell me?” Bruce snapped.

“They aren’t nerds. They are warriors of Oz, our minions,” Jake popped off.

“Boy, if I come down there, I will put you through a wall,” Bruce growled, narrowing his eyes.

“Dad, they broke into the underground research database site yesterday. They started forwarding us stuff, and one of them saw a video feed from a cell with a blue and someone trying to teach it to pick up a gun on a table. All the blue does is try to attack the glass to get to the human behind it,” Jake said. “There is a lot of information on their database, so we are downloading it.”

“And you tell me this now?” Bruce asked, pinching the bridge of his nose, fighting the headache.

“I always brief you when I have the information. If I start halfway, all you say is go find out more,” Jake snapped.

“This is kinda important,” Bruce said, squeezing his eyes closed and massaging the bridge of his nose.

“Oh, then I guess I should tell you three months ago, a nuclear submarine tried to launch a missile to hit a mega horde on the west coast, but the rocket failed. We wiped all the rocket boards months ago. There is another government group at Groom Lake or Area 51, but they aren’t talking to anyone. They tried to hack us is the only reason we found them in April. We let them hack the computer over the fort that watches the camera over the driveway then took their system. They have several hundred people there, but they aren’t doing anything. They quit talking to the President and made them think they were overrun. Let’s not forget the group in Tennessee in a nuclear bunker. We still don’t know what branch of the government they’re from, but there is close to eight thousand of them. Then there is a huge military group in Pennsylvania, close to sixteen thousand, and they have a valley locked down. We hacked their system three weeks ago, and some general is running it like regime. We find out so much shit from UAVs, satellites, hacking, and radio transmissions I can’t tell you everything, so I tell you what the current threats are!” Jake screamed at the top of his lungs.

Bruce stood up and started unbuckling his vest, and Angela and Stephanie jumped up, dropping their vests. Stephanie yelled at Bruce, “Move one inch toward him, and I will monkey stomp your ass!”

Startled, Bruce stumbled back with shock and fear spread over his face. “What?” he mumbled.

“You heard her, bitch! Take a step toward Jake; I dare ya. Fuck no, I double dare ya!” Angela yelled, moving toward Bruce.

“Have you two lost your damn minds?” Bruce yelled.

“You move toward him, and I’ll shoot you in the knees and let Angela choke you out,” Stephanie snarled, holding a pistol in her hand.

Visibly shaken, Bruce just stared at the two as Mike eased over, not getting between them. “Hey guys, let’s all calm down,” he begged as Angela crouched, ready to attack Bruce.

“Mike, butt out. If he touches those kids for doing what he asked and trying their best to please him, he will hobble with a cane. We’ll take care of him, but he will lose one kneecap,” Stephanie warned.

Seeing the look on her face, Mike turned to Bruce. “You’re on your own, dude. I’m keeping my knees,” he said, heading back to his chair.

With her face twitching trying not to grin, Carroll eased out of her chair. “Now, that be enough, all of ya, sit down,” she snapped.

“Carroll, I love you with all my heart, but you will shut up and leave this to us,” Angela popped off, never taking her eyes off of Bruce. Carroll smiled and sat back down.

Seeing the two ready to attack, Bruce took a step back only to see the two reposition themselves. Holding up his hands, he said, “Okay, you win.”

“Oh, there is no win. You were wrong, buster, and taking it out on the kids. We will protect them with our life even from a spanking that wasn’t warranted,” Angela said.

“Bruce, you are wrong and made a mistake. Jake and Matt are doing everything you asked and told them to do just like all of our kids. If you want to be mad at someone, be mad at us. Angela and I could have gone over the information they gathered and brought it to you. Even though we are over ten other projects, it is more our responsibility than theirs,” Stephanie said.

Looking at them, Bruce sighed. “I’m sorry, Jake. You’re right. I shouldn’t have yelled at you like that. I was wrong, son. I’m very proud of you.”

With his eyes bulging, Jake along with the rest of the kids looked at Bruce in something close to amazement. “Wow,” was all Jake could manage.

Though Bruce really wanted to go to bed, he turned to look at Jake and saw the other kids with the same expression. “I’ve admitted when I’m wrong and apologized before to you,” he said.

“Yeah, days later. Never at the moment,” Danny said.

“Well, I’m fixing to get shot and choked out,” Bruce said, looking at Angela and Stephanie.

“Hey, you earned it,” Stephanie snapped.

Nodding and shrugging, he admitted, “Yes, I did.” He turned to the group. “Everyone, I’m sorry.” Angela and Stephanie just moved back to their chairs and sat down as Bruce watched them. When they sat, Bruce turned to them. “When I got too big for my britches, Debbie never got ready to shoot me,” Bruce said.

“We know. She told us we would never be good enough to fight you to keep your attention. She told us when you got out of hand with the kids to shoot you in the leg and stomp on you,” Stephanie said.

Feeling lightheaded Bruce grabbed the table as his knees got weak. “She what?!”

Angela shook her head. “Yeah, Bruce, she trained with you for over two decades so she could keep your attention when she fought you. Sorry, but we won’t be that good for years if ever. So Debbie just told us to threaten you and if you didn’t listen to shoot you in the knee. She did say only one in case we had to give you another lesson we had one more knee to shoot out.”

Feeling lightheaded and somewhat fearful, he asked, “You were really going to shoot me?”

“I’ll leave that up to you, Bruce,” Stephanie said. “I promised the kids would be taken care of, and so would you. You can use a cane to get up and down the stairs,” Stephanie said, grinning at him.

Bruce collapsed in his chair and noticed Mike and Nancy laughing silently. Looking at Marcus and Carroll, he saw the same thing. “Damn,” was all he could say. “I’m really sorry. They’re right; I was mad at myself and taking it out on others,” he said.

“See, that is so much easier than yelling,” Angela said.

Looking down the table at Jake, Bruce smiled. “There is no denying they belong to this family, is there?” he asked.

“Ah, duh. That’s why Mom brought them into this family,” Jake said, grinning.

Looking around the table, Bruce announced, “Okay, from now on, 1000 every morning, a security briefing by Jake followed by everyone else over your areas. We are just too big to do this once every week or two weeks now. And the cameras in here and other command areas are off and are only turned on when the command person in charge gives the approval,” Bruce added.

“Ah, Dad, can I say something without you going postal again?” Jake asked.

“You can ask, Jake. He may go postal, but he won’t get near any of you unless you earn it,” Angela said like a royal decree.

Jake laughed along with everyone else. “Dad, I don’t want any cameras down here or in any command area. Just in case someone hacks our system.”

Stunned, Bruce replied, “You said they couldn’t.”

“With me and Matt here, I don’t think they can, but since we are back in the fight, I really don’t want to take the chance. I don’t care what the clan thinks; it’s a chance I don’t like taking.”

“Fair enough,” Bruce said, looking down. “Jake and Matt, after the battle with the government, one of you are to stay in garrison at all times. You can decide amongst each other each time, but one of you will stay over the Land of Oz.”

“We can monitor Oz from the command vehicle, Dad,” Jake said.

“Jake.”

“Oh, alright. We will play rock, paper, scissors,” Jake said.

“Thank you. Now, what have you found out?” Bruce asked.

“Well, we are still downloading, and the stuff we are downloading is mostly scientific research, which I hate to say the minions, Matt, and I are having a hard time deciphering what it is. Like I said, we saw them physically trying to teach a blue to use a weapon. That is the only reason we know that.”

“What kind of facility are they in?” Bruce asked, and Jake pulled out his laptop.

Typing away, Jake looked up at the monitor on the wall as a diagram came up looking like four boxes staked on top of each other. “This is their site. It’s buried forty feet underground to the first level with the last level a hundred and twenty feet down. They have power, running water, and enough food for two more years.”

“What is their power source?” Mike asked.

Looking up, Matt answered, “Not sure yet, but I really think it’s nuclear.”

“What?” Stephanie asked.

“Well, when I had one of the minions try to go into that file, it was blocked with an Atomic Research warning,” Matt said.

“Well, that puts a damper on just bombing them,” Mack said.

“How so?” Bruce asked.

“Bruce, if there is an atomic reactor there, we really don’t want to drop a bomb on them,” Mack replied.

“Afraid it would kill them too fast or something?” Bruce asked.

“No, leaking radioactive waste into the ground,” Mack said.

“I don’t care. The thought of armed blues is too much of a risk,” Bruce said.

Sandy leaned over the table to look at Bruce. “Bruce, please don’t get mad at me, but a lot of those scientists don’t even know about that research. The only reason I did was because I hacked into the mainframe. I killed their star infected that took them five months to teach her to just pick up a gun. Believe me, I know the danger they are playing with, and it is the Homeland and military liaison who are running that program.”

“I’m not going to get mad, but what are you doing here?” he asked.

Mike cleared his throat. “I, ah, asked her here, Bruce, to tell the minions what they were downloading. I didn’t think much of it was English, but Sandy assured me it is.”

“That’s acceptable. So Mack, you don’t think we should just bomb them because it might hit a reactor that we don’t even know is there. Sandy, you think we shouldn’t because not many of the scientists know about this research,” Bruce stated.

They both nodded in agreement as Angela spoke. “Bruce, since we can watch them, how about waiting and forming a plan?” she asked.

“Guys, what if someone could have stopped Hitler, Tojo, Mussolini, or Stalin from killing millions when they were just kids? Those alone are responsible for killing over hundreds of millions of people. Let me tell you I would have blown up each one’s kindergarten class to stop them. They make the cluster fuck we are in look like a second grade class trip. If this group teaches a blue how to shoot, humans are dead. Even if they can’t hit a target ten feet away, we lose our only edge: engaging at a distance. I’m talking about our survival period,” Bruce laid out the scenario.

“Bruce, I hear you, but the other scientists can help us,” Sandy said.

“Sandy, do you really want to risk the species?” Bruce asked.

“No, but can’t you just go up there and take out the military and get them out?”

Shaking his head and rolling his eyes, he said, “Contrary to popular belief, it’s not that easy.”

“You hit Grenada,” she said.

Willie spoke up. “Ah, ma’am, that was only several hundred miles away. We had ground forces ready to back us up. You are talking launching an attack over a thousand miles away with only a small force and no ground backup. Let’s not forget that there is still a very heavy presence of blues in the area who will come and see what the noise is all about.” Sandy lowered her head.

“Bruce, can’t we just watch them for a few days?” Stephanie asked.

Letting out a sigh, Bruce said, “Stephanie, I don’t want to kill all of them, but be damned if I’m going to risk what little chance we have in this war. If they succeed, we’re done for.” Seeing her still stare at him, he added, “You’re willing to risk the kids’ chance in this war?” Stephanie looked down and shook her head.

Bruce looked at Mack. “Mack, I want both F-15s ready to fly at a moment’s notice. One I want armed with deep penetrators and the other a small yield nuke,” Bruce said, and that got everyone’s attention.

Stephanie looked up at him. “Bruce, we talked about this. We don’t know how it will affect the blues,” she reminded him.

“The known evil faced now or a suspected unknown evil faced later. We will watch them around the clock, and after Jake and Matt’s security brief tomorrow, I’ll make the decision. People, this is for the species past, present, and future. Now, any other business?” Bruce asked.

“The government got more ammo and UAVs,” Matt said.

“Where from?” Adam asked.

“Montana,” Matt answered.

“Are they any threat to us?” Bruce asked.

“No. As soon as they powered them up, we owned them,” Matt said, which earned a kiss from Danny.

“Well then, people, 1000 tomorrow, let’s all get some rest,” Bruce said, standing up. Walking to the living room, he picked up one twin and turned around to see Danny pop Angela on the butt when she tried to pick up PJ. Bruce smiled as the others grabbed a kid, taking them upstairs.

After some debate, they brought the kids to his room. Bruce was still scared he was going to get shot. Stripping the kids, the three showered and got ready for bed.

Angela turned to Bruce. “In case you’re wondering, we would have stopped you. It would’ve hurt us, but we would’ve done it.”