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

The sergeant looked at him. “Sir, who have you pissed off?” he asked.

“I want to save my troops and the civilians here, Sergeant, and some people don’t like that. I want to rebuild America.”

The sergeant looked at his men timidly and then back at Gene. “If that’s the case, sir, let’s get our families and make for Louisiana and join Omega and Gamma,” he said.

Loving that response, Gene replied, “Hold that thought, Sergeant.”

“Sir, we are going to attack them,” he pointed out.

“We haven’t yet. Now, you talk to no one about what we talk about. If you answer, evade and lie, or they will kill you,” Gene said.

The sergeant looked at his troops then back at Gene. “We’re with you, sir.”

“Okay, five of you will stay by me at all times, and two will stay in my room. Five more will stay with the general, and if he orders you to hurt the President or me, you will tell him sure and come find me so I can have him arrested or shot,” Gene said. They all nodded, smiling.

The sergeant broke them up in detachments as Gene walked back to the command area with his security force. Walking inside, he asked the front desk where the general was, and they reported that he was in his room.

Gene walked down the hall and knocked on the door. “Who is it?” Givens barked.

“Colonel Walker, sir,” Gene yelled.

Givens opened the door, and shock spread across his face upon seeing all the armed troops. “What is the meaning of this?” he bellowed.

Gene looked at the troops. “Wait here, men,” he said and looked at the general. “We have to talk now, sir,” he said.

“Come then,” Givens said, closing the door behind Gene.

Gene spun around. “Sir, there are segments of Homeland that want to kill us,” Gene said.

Givens took a step back. “One of the aides came over here and told me that,” he said, starting to believe it.

“It’s true, sir, the President wouldn’t tell me how he found out, but mine and your lives are in danger. The President instructed me to pick some men I could trust to protect us.”

“I have two MPs that follow me around,” Givens said.

“Sir, I didn’t pick them, so I can’t trust them.”

“How many?”

“I’m assigning five to each of us around the clock, and I put two in my room at all times,” Givens said.

“Why in your room?” he inquired.

“I don’t want a bomb planted or my room bugged. The Secret Service is coming over to sweep my room this afternoon,” Gene said, and Givens’ eyes got wide with fear. “What, sir?”

Givens sighed and looked at the floor. “Colonel, I had a bug put in your room when I found out you were going to talk to the President. I thought you were going after my job, and that means kill me.”

“General, I’ve told you I have no ambition to go any further than I am. I love my troops.”

“I’m sorry, Colonel,” Givens said.

“No need to apologize, sir. Where is the bug before they come over and find it?” Gene asked.

“Let them find it and think it was Homeland,” Givens said, smiling.

“Sir, there is a camera watching each hallway that is being recorded. They find it and review the film, see your aide going into my room after leaving yours. What do you think they will expect?” Gene said.

“Shit,” Givens said. “It’s under your bed.”

“Thank you, sir. Your men will be in the hall,” Gene said, walking out.

With his group following him Gene had to admit he felt much safer with five Rangers watching his back at all times. He led them all in his room and removed the bug.
That ought to surprise Jake,
Gene thought, breaking it.

Chapter 6

Tuesday morning, Bruce was standing in front of the command group in mission control. Picking up his notebook to start, Jake stood.

“Hold on a second, Dad, I’m starting,” Jake said. “You have got to get Gopher under control. He is over the radio telling everyone in Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia that wants to be rescued to hang white flags out. Those groups that don’t want to be rescued to hang another color of sheets out, then he tells gangs to just hide; we will find them.”

“What’s wrong with that?” Bruce asked not seeing a problem.

“Dad, we missed a lot of people. I found twenty-three groups in south Louisiana yesterday with white flags hanging out!” Jake yelled.

Disappointed, Bruce asked, “How many have you found so far?”

“Thousands,” Jake replied.

“What about gangs?”

Mike stood. “Bruce, I was going to tell you in the meeting, but we have found several. One of them is huge—I mean thousands. They are bigger than Grenada easy. They are in eastern Georgia at a paper mill. Our best estimates so far put the bad guy count close to five thousand,” Mike said. “The scavenging group saw where someone tried to get supplies at Benning, but the blues wiped them out. We sent out UAVs and found the gang.”

“Any others?” Bruce asked, feeling a headache.

“Yeah, several dozen. They average a hundred or so.”

“What are you not saying?”

“Well, we have found several in Alabama that are going out finding white sheets hanging out and capturing survivors,” Mike said.

Feeling the world crash back on his shoulders, Bruce dropped in his chair. “Someone tell Gopher to shut his trap and announce only bring out sheets when they hear choppers because gangs are moving in before we can get everyone,” Bruce said.

“May I continue now?” Jake said, looking at him and Mike.

“Go ahead, son,” Bruce said.

“Like I was saying, Gopher is making promises we can’t keep yet. When the savaging crews get back to rotate out with new crews, they all just collapsed, so we can’t use them to pick up the survivors. The crews only have one day off before rotating back out,” Jake said.

“Okay, from now on, the scavengers unit will be called Sigma, and the home guard will be the Praetorian Guard,” Bruce said. “We will use some of the units of Sigma that were here—”

“Ah no, Bruce, my Sigma units are still storing the crap brought in and are working fifteen hour shifts; they are tired,” Stephanie interrupted.

Angela stood. “Bruce, the Sigma units out now are only getting five hours rest a day. They are getting down time even if I have to lengthen time out. The ‘Praetorian Guard,’” she exemplified, “barely got that. Gamma had to send out several platoons just to replace them so they could rest.”

“Why the Praetorian Guard?” Mike asked, curious.

“First, when I think home guard, I think of the old men in England during World War Two: not the image I want. Second, the Praetorians guarded the seat of power in Rome. Now, they guard something we can’t live without. Our home.”

Mike shrugged. “Oh, I like that. I just though you came up with it when you were tired. You hallucinate some wild shit when you’re tired.”

Bruce shook his head, not even going there. “Well then, I will take Omega out to gather the survivors that are close—” he stopped as everyone jumped up and started yelling and pointing fingers at him. Bruce fought the urge to run.

“Shut the fuck up!” Mike screamed at the top of his lungs, and the room fell silent with everyone looking at him. “I’m first, so back off,” he said, looking around the table. Then, he turned to Bruce. “Okay, you want to leave and go get some survivors. Correct me if I’m wrong, but we all agreed that you would stay here until the government troops were handled one way or another,” Mike growled. “I don’t see Gene here, and I haven’t been told you wiped them out, so that means they are still a threat. Just because there is something going on elsewhere, don’t think you can just take your toys and go play.”

Throwing up his hands in disgust, Bruce said, “Mike, the attack is over a month away.”

“Bruce, they could leave in a few days. I know they just can’t up and leave on short notice with seven thousand men, but they can decide to leave today and start in two days. If you go out, you could get tangled up with a gang, a mob of infected, find the Grail, or get abducted by aliens. Point is, we want you close until this is over,” Mike told him.

“Mike, I could be back here long before they get close,” Bruce said.

Shaking his head, Mike glared at Bruce. “You get distracted in the field too easy. We want your entire attention on this until it’s over,” Mike said. “Bruce, they are coming with seven thousand troops. They have been trained to fight and have the same shit we do, granted no fixed wing air, but they have toys.”

“We are not trying to fight them, Mike.”

“Prepare for the worst, hope for the best. Sound familiar?”

“I have, Mike. If it comes to that, we will wipe them out by air. I’m not going to get in a slug fest with them.”

Mike threw up his hands in disgust. Marcus leaned over the table. “Bruce, what he is trying to say is we want you to plan for everything even if we have to get in a slug fest.”

“We can’t; that’s the point. They will win,” Bruce said.

“No they won’t, Bruce, and you know it. We will lose a lot, but we can beat them.”

Giving up, Bruce said, “Alright, Omega leaves tomorrow to prepare the battle line. What about the survivors?”

“They have survived for over a year out there. A few more days won’t mean much, especially if it puts us at risk,” Marcus said.

Feeling he let those survivors down, Bruce groaned. He didn’t like it, but he nodded. Mike put his hand on Bruce’s shoulder. “Brother, we all want to bring in those people, but we are stretched thin even with nine thousand people working and the others training. Everyone in this clan is busting ass every day.”

“Fine. When is the hydro station coming online?” Bruce asked, and everyone sat back down.

Paul stood up, grinning. “Noon today,” he announced, and everyone started clapping. When the applause stopped, Paul looked at Bruce. “Tonight, we will light up the wall, roads, Hope, and the farm.”

“Kind of a waste of power,” Bruce said.

“We have it, and the people need to know man is not living in a cave,” Paul said.

Jake looked at Bruce. “Dad, I want to broadcast the news program via satellite for video,” he announced.

“Son, I haven’t seen much in the way of power out in the wasteland. How are people going to watch it?” Bruce asked.

“Do you ever listen to our radio broadcast?” Jake asked. Before Bruce answered, he continued, “We have been telling people how to charge batteries and build them in banks. The short wave is bursting with survivors now; they are listening to what we put out. We can use one of the current satellite providers we took over since the equipment is everywhere out there. They just plug it up to their banks of batteries and watch us. With that, we can give one-hour visual classes on how to survive.”

Impressed with the thought of having broadcast television, Bruce said, “Cool, you can try it,” not sure how to tell him no.

“Thank you. The first broadcast will be in two days,” Jake said. Seeing everyone just gawk at him, Jake shrugged. “I was just going to do it, but Danny and Matt wanted to ask first. It’s easier to ask forgiveness than permission,” he said.

“Okay, son, but you and the others will be rolling out with Omega tomorrow to prepare the area,” Bruce said.

Cocking his head to the side and sighing heavily, Jake said, “Dad, we kinda have a lot goin’ on here now.”

Bruce smiled. “Son, I’ve seen your little nerd group. They can handle it.”

“We prefer to think of them as ‘Minions of Oz,’” Jake said, getting pissed and throwing down his notebook.

Bruce laughed at Jake. “Sounds good. You gathered a group and made a team to carry out the task, as did the others. Now, it’s time to get back in the war,” Bruce said. “Joe is the command vehicle ready?” he asked, looking down the table.

“Yep,” Joe said.

“After the meeting, it’s time to introduce it to Omega,” Bruce said, grinning.

“Oh, you are so going to love it,” Joe promised.

Mike gave a hurt expression. “Doesn’t Gamma get one?” he asked.

“Already started on yours, Mike. Bruce asked first,” Joe said.

The meeting continued for another hour, and Bruce told Willie to gather Omega to look at the new command vehicle. Bruce was walking over to the machine shop area, holding Angela and Stephanie’s hand. Passing the shop, he looked out toward Debbie’s statue and saw the building that was for the mausoleum was getting much bigger.

Feeling the ground shake, he turned to see a behemoth of a vehicle drive through the west gate. It was as tall as a semi-truck with a connected trailer but looked longer. There were four wheel groups, each dual wheel tandem axles, one on each end and two in the middle. As the vehicle turned in, Bruce saw both sets of wheels turned on the front, allowing the vehicle to turn rather sharply for its size. Right in the middle of the vehicle, it bent like the back half was a trailer but was connected to the front like an articulated bus. The front end looked like a wedge with the wedge horizontal and the point seven feet off the ground.

It stopped in front of the group, and Bruce was still in awe at the size. Then, he noticed something and yelled at Joe. “Hey Joe, where are the windows?”

“Doesn’t have any; Jake didn’t want them. I have to agree it made building it a lot easier,” Joe said.

Glancing over at Joe, Bruce replied, “Hey dude, I can’t use the force to drive the damn thing, and Danny has already told me no one else in Omega has the force either.”

“Come inside, and let me show you,” Joe said, walking around the side. A door opened, and steps popped out.

Following Joe inside, Bruce was in awe of the size. There were computer screens everywhere, and in the middle of the floor were two tables that had large monitors face up for the surface. The monitor tables created a large touch screen that could be used to monitor everything the vehicle could do. Jake came over, standing by Bruce. “Dad, this thing can monitor radar, all communication, comes with its own UAVs, and keep track of all units out with it,” Jake said.

Feeling like he was in a vehicle of the future, Bruce grinned and walked to the front, stopping at the driver’s seat with Jake following. “The driver can look at the monitors like in the beast, or he can turn them into 3-D and put on the goggles to give him depth. In case of massive electrical failure, it does have a periscope,” Jake said.

“We have armored glass now,” Bruce pointed out.

“Not enough to equal two inches of slanted, rolled steel with reactive armor. Once it’s sealed, this thing is airtight; it floats,” Jake said. Bruce’s eyes got real wide, and he grinned. “Wait, Dad, it doesn’t have the propulsion system yet,” Jake said.

“It floats?” Bruce yelled.

“Yeah, we put it in a pond two days ago,” Joe said behind him. “Almost didn’t get it out. Had to pull it out with a dozer.”

Stephanie looked at Joe. “This is the command vehicle. Why is it built to go into battle?” she asked, more than a little worried.

Joe shrugged. “Well, Bruce wanted something big and gave me a rough drawing. Since he is kind of important, I wanted to make sure he was protected. I’m sorry, Stephanie, but sometimes, your husband acts irresponsible.”

Angela and Stephanie ran over to Joe, hugging him. Angela pulled his face down, kissing him. “Thank you. It will be much easier dealing with him out in this.”

Joe looked up at Bruce, seeing the wild look in his eyes. “Hey, Bruce, don’t think you can take this thing into front-line battle. It’s made like you wanted to run the war, not participate in it. I wanted to make it strong in case the battle found you.”

“How much does it weigh?” Bruce asked.

“Around twenty-four tons loaded out,” Jake answered. Bruce nodded. Better than he first guessed.

“What kind of gas mileage does it get?” Angela asked.

“Three miles to the gallon,” Jake said, looking away.

“Let’s take it out tomorrow,” Bruce said, grabbing Joe and wrapping his arms around him in a bear hug. “I want five more, and name each one after a Titan. This one will be Prometheus,” Bruce said.

“Why six?” Joe asked as Bruce let him go.

Walking away, Bruce said, “We will eventually have another strike team, and I want Sigma and the Praetorians to have their own when they go out. Like you said, they are new, and I want backups when they break.” He stopped, looking at the bank of monitors on the walls at work stations. After his tour, Bruce headed to the shop to outline what he wanted to do.

***

The next morning, Omega was gathering around their vehicles parked on the road in front of the farm. Bruce was hugging Angela and Stephanie when Emily and Sherry came running up. Both had on their little multi cam uniforms like Bruce and Omega now wore. With a backpack and their little BB guns slung over their shoulders.

Not able to help it, Bruce smiled. “Girls, what are you doing?” he asked, thinking the twins looked cute.

“Going with you, Daddy,” they said in unison.

Angela looked down at them. “Girls, it’s dangerous out there. When you get bigger and learn how to fight, you can go,” she told them. Tears started welling up in their eyes, and Bruce let out a sigh.

“Okay, girls, go get in Daddy’s rig with Buffy,” Bruce said, and the twins let out shouts of joy, running over and hugging his legs. Then, they took off to Bruce’s RG, which was in front of Prometheus.

In a tower of fury, Angela spun around with her face red. “They can go just because they get tears in their eyes!” she yelled. “We have to stay here, and they can go?”

Seeing the look in her eye, Bruce was seriously considering running. “Go get your gear,” Bruce said. Angela and Stephanie ran over to him and kissed him.

“I have to ask Carroll to watch PJ and Cade,” Stephanie said.

“No, bring them too,” Bruce said, which made the boys really happy. Neither one questioned that as they took off running to the house.