Paul Kirk - Devastation Point

“Oh, I think they’re coming after us, but at night with purpose? Unknown.”

“But distinctly likely?”

“Your point has merit.”

“Indeed. They’re quite motorized, are they not?”

“Sure. They’ve maintained that effort since leaving Cleveland. Doing a pretty good job of it based on the number of trucks we counted at the Hall of Fame and how many made it to Pittsburgh, so yeah, I guess they’re motorized. Less a few after that Hellfire.”

“Fifty-six trucks remain based on Renaldo’s count. And the bikes and quads and all those horses,” interjected Connor, emphasizing his point.

“Sure.”

“Even with the road blowout, we’ll only slow ’em down. But still not enough to wait for the primary rendezvous.”

“So why do it? Why waste the resources?”

“I saw a bumper sticker once.”

“You’re kidding, right, sir?” Captain Daubney caught the smile in the moonlight. He was not yet fully attuned to his new commander, but sensed a level of seriousness beneath the playful comment.

“No, and I hafta agree with the bumper sticker.”

“Okay, I’ll bite. What’d it say?”

“It said: There is no problem that cannot be solved by the use of high explosives .”

“Uh, huh. Right. So, we’re going to waste our C4 for a bumper sticker?”

“Oh, there’s no waste involved. No waste at all. We need to keep that army off our assess, and be right quick about it.”

“I dunno. No offense, sir, but you might be shootin’ at ghosts.”

“Point taken. But, I’m sure I’ll prove otherwise when the time comes. Instruct Mickey to blow the road. Make sure Red and Blue Teams are on our side before he does. See to it.”

“Yes, sir.”

Connor walked toward Rhonda and Roger. Turning left, he saw Cody and Renaldo engaged in an intense conversation a few feet away. Hesitating, Gabriella picked up a glass bottle from the road between them, tucking it into her bag, before walking on.

“Roger, Rhonda?”

“Yeah?”

“We’re not settling in for the night. There’ll be some fireworks in about a half hour that might light up the sky. That’ll be our doing. Trying to keep Phoenix’s army at bay.”

“Okay, “ said Roger for the both of them.

“Fill in the youngsters we’ll keep walkin’.”

“Need me to do anything?”

“Nah, you’re good, Rog. Stay sharp.”

“Appreciate it, sir.”

“We got some runnin’ to do.”

“It keeps our lives exciting, sir.”

“It does that.”

“Don’t worry, we’ll be there for the rendezvous at 18:00 today, ma’am.”

“Understood, major.”

The Superhawk droned on in the September afternoon, each passenger lost in his or her own thoughts.

“We’ll be there at least two hours beforehand.”

“I know.”

“You seem, I dunno, overly anxious.” Major O’Malley studied the intense, yet fidgety movement of the colonel in her seat. He sensed her inner turmoil.

“Yeah, you’re right. The more I gauge it, the more I see that the rendezvous we picked out was probably not the best choice. Could be too close to live-fire action if things go wrong.”

“How so?”

“Think about it, Mike. That spot’s not that far from Mt. Washington where we rained down that Hellfire. If this Connor MacMillen was even near that Brownsville Road designation on his handmade map, it’s not that far from Phoenix and his army.”

“Far enough.”

“Maybe not. And, if those two meet before the rendezvous point, I bet there’ll be a serious shitstorm.”

“You think Phoenix caught them?”

“Oh, no, I don’t think this Colonel MacMillen would let that happen, but I can see that there may be a surprise for the colonel when he discovers he’s got an entire army at his back.”

“You think Phoenix’s men located him?”

“Possible. Not likely, but there is the possibility. If the colonel was even there to begin with.”

“Amanda’s map seemed for real.”

“Yeah, true.”

“So, you’re seeing—ah, I got it! The timing of Phoenix in Pittsburgh suggests he’s tracking the colonel!”

“Not a coincidence, I can assure you.”

“You think he’s got a bead on the colonel?”

“Certainly explains his aggressive yet accurate route since the mill.”

“Hmmm…”

“I guess we’ll see when we get there, major.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Cruising west past Johnstown, Pennsylvania, seventy miles east from Pittsburgh, there was little in established civilization, though one spot near the river showed some evidence of cultivation and structured planting. They continued flying past.

“Make sure Shamus takes a quick scan of the rendezvous before settling in. If we see any evidence of battle, we’ll know we were too late and will need to make amends.”

“And then?”

“Well, then we make our way to the secondary rendezvous keeping an eye out for our lost travelers.”

“We’ll get them back, ma’am. With Connor MacMillen and our team.”

“Let’s hope so, major. Though an amateur, Phoenix is nothing to play around with.”

“I’ll personally off that sneaky bastard.” Chest heaving, the major refused to be embarrassed by his violent outburst.

The colonel smiled grimly. “See to it, you get a chance.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Larry, do you copy?”

Larry Reed dropped his deer jerky onto the truck seat, snatching up the radio.

“Copy. Go Luke.”

“They’re buggin’ out for somewhere. They’ve already left the KFC.”

“Shit.”

“New orders, over?”

“How close behind them are you? Over.”

“Um, not sure. We’re ’bout a quarter mile past the KFC, I figure maybe a mile or so behind them.”

“Go after ’em. Take your men and go—lose all stealth. Just try to catch up, you got it?”

“Yeah. They got a tactical team covering their exit, over.”

“How big a team?”

“Small. Probably a squad.”

“How are they doing, over?”

“Competent—haven’t seen ’em, but they’re there. Over.”

“Luke, you’re the best hunter tracker we got, take that cover team out of the way. We’ll be bumping up hard to catch up.”

“Will do. Out.” Luke radioed his men to converge for a full on assault. He planned to catch the handful of men that were invisibly fading in front of him. For the past quarter mile, he and his trackers caught whiff of their spoor, though he had to admit the team traveled well. He was certain that they were running obvious rear cover, though he felt he and his men gained on them. Giving them credit, he thought them well trained, having yet to catch a full visual. With his new orders and a shift in tactics to move full force, he knew this visual deficiency would change. “Narco, get that RPG ready.”

“Yes, sir!” Narco moved toward two men behind them and took the container. Quickly, he sat it on the ground and opened it. Within seconds, he had loaded the RPG. He was ready.

Luke turned to Jacob Johnson, his second in command for this excursion. “JJ, I want you to take your men out front fast; try to keep some cover on your assault, but let’s not be shy anymore.”

“Okay, sir.”

“Phoenix wants action more than stealth.”

“Finally finding his balls, is that it, sir?” JJ swallowed deeply at his own outburst, but did not hide from the risk involved in saying it.

Luke glanced around, realizing they were out of earshot of most of the men. He turned to face JJ. “You keep those comments to yourself, JJ. Especially in front of anyone else.”