G Hopf - The Long Road

“Where?” Baxter asked.

Everyone in the room was on pins and needles.

“Raven Rock, Pennsylvania!”

“Mr. Vice President, these are all secure bunker locations, like Cheyenne Mountain,” Baxter told him.

“What do we do? Evacuate the base?”

“Sir, I don’t think there’s much we can do. These all seem to be coordinated. If this base has been targeted, then it’s only a matter of time. Somehow these locations have been compromised. They store most of our long-term self-storage foods and other needed resources…”

“How is this happening? How can this be happening? Why are we so inept?” Cruz shouted.

“I don’t know why, but right now there isn’t much we can do from here,” Baxter said in an attempt to answer the vice president’s repetitive questions.

“There has to be something we can do!” Cruz yelled.

On the big screen a fourth, then a fifth red dot appeared. Dulce Base, New Mexico, followed by Mount Weather, Virginia.

“Sir, those locations held the bulk of our underground stores of food, water, and equipment. We are the last large facility.” Baxter said somberly.

“Then we are a target. We need to evacuate immediately!” Cruz exclaimed, clearly frightened.

“Like I mentioned before, we can attempt to evacuate the entire base, but these attacks look coordinated. If it’s going to happen, it will happen any minute,” Baxter said as he walked to a chair and sat down. He placed his face in his hands.

Everyone looked around nervously. The room was quiet except for the slight hum of equipment and the five low-toned pings that showed the locations of the nuclear detonations.

Cruz also felt the weight of defeat. He walked back into the briefing room and slammed the door behind him.

Tijuana, Mexico

“Is it done?” Pablo asked. “Good, glad to hear it. Really, that’s ahead of schedule. How did… Never mind, doesn’t matter. I’ll be there, thank you. Yes, of course I’ll have the payment,” Pablo said, then hung up the satellite phone. He placed it on his father’s desk and twirled it. As he watched it spin, visions of his new role in the world were sinking in. Not since Hitler had someone tried something so bold. Feeling cocky, he stood up and walked to the cabinet behind him. He opened the top door and reached in for a bottle of cognac and a snifter. He poured himself a glass and sat back down. Just as he was about to taste the cognac, a loud knock at the door disturbed his moment.

“What? Who is it?”

The door opened, and in came his mother. Her clothes, hair, and makeup showed the signs of distress.

“Mother! Please sit down. Can I pour you a glass?”

She marched over and slapped him across the face.

A look of anger came over him, but it melted away quickly and was replaced with a smile. “Mother, please sit down.”

She went to slap him again, but he grabbed her wrist.

“Mother, stop! Now you can go sit down or I will have one of my men restrain you.”

She resisted him, but his grip was tight.

“Do you understand me? Either you behave yourself or I’ll have you locked up like Father.”

“You insolent, spoiled brat!” she said, then spat on him.

The spit clung to his cheek like thick plaster.

He wiped his cheek with his sleeve and stood up. Still holding on to her wrist with his left hand, he brought her close. “Mother, my patience is not infinite. If you don’t behave I will have you locked up.”

“I don’t care! Lock me up! How dare you tear down everything your father worked so hard to get for you and our family!” she yelled, her face flushed with anger.

“I haven’t torn down anything. I will take this family to a higher place than he ever could. You will see, Mother. In three days, I’ll show you and Father. I will show you the future of the Juarez family.”

Outside unknown military installation

The prospect of knowing where Gordon and Hunter might be filled Samantha with hope. The reality of where and what it was filled her with dread. What Nelson had described sounded like a prison to her. Armed guards not only guarding the gate and perimeter but guarding others who were working sounded bad. She hoped that today’s trip would provide them enough information, and proof that Gordon and Hunter were alive, so that they could coordinate a rescue.

They had stashed Nelson’s truck behind several large boulders on the opposite side of the mountains that overlooked the camp to the west. The hike to get into a good spotting position took them almost two hours. The steep climb and rough terrain made for an ankle-twisting experience.

Seneca and Mack set up farther south, closer to the vehicle. Nelson was concerned about leaving the truck, so part of their responsibility was to watch the east-west road that led to the camp and make sure no one came up behind them.

Once settled into their hiding position, Samantha pulled out a pair of binoculars. When she first looked through them, the image of the camp was blurry, but as she adjusted the optics, a crystal-clear image appeared. Below her was exactly what Nelson had described. Approximately a dozen armed guards walked the perimeter and stood post at the gate. A group of about twenty men were working on the far east side, too far for her to identify any of them. Throughout the camp she saw others coming in and going out of buildings, but again it was impossible to identify anyone. Frustrated that she couldn’t see Gordon or Hunter, she put the binoculars down and grunted, “Damn.”

“Let me guess. It’s too difficult to make out anyone?” Nelson quipped. He too had a pair of binoculars and was scanning the base; however, he was looking for weaknesses in their defenses.

“Yes, that, and do you see how many armed men are there? Even if we spotted Gordon and Hunter, how would we get them out?” Samantha said. Knowing she needed to get past this feeling, she picked up her binoculars and began to look again. She strained her eyes to see the men on the far east side. She looked for children but couldn’t see any. As the men worked on the far side coming and going, she attempted to spot any of Gordon’s obvious traits.

“Hey, do you hear that?” Nelson asked. He lowered his binoculars and cocked his head as if that would improve his hearing.

“Yeah, I do. What is—”

“Over there!” Nelson exclaimed, pointing to the north of the base.

Six Humvees with mounted guns were heading toward the camp at high speed.

Samantha turned and looked. “Who’s that?”

“I don’t know,” Nelson answered.

Shouting erupted from the camp as they too saw the incoming vehicles.

The Humvees soon opened fire with .50-caliber machine guns. The distinct deep thumping sound from the .50s engulfed the valley.

Both Nelson and Samantha watched in amazement as the Humvees drew closer, guns blazing, and the personnel in the camp ran like cockroaches when the lights come on.

Soon, though, the guards recovered and began to return fire. Their collective effort quickly destroyed one of the Humvees.

The berm provided the camp guards adequate protection, and soon they were able to stop two more advancing Humvees.

Samantha peered down on the surreal events. People were running everywhere, but she took notice of the several people running toward the south berm, which was now left unattended. One was a woman dressed in what appeared to be a nightgown. Samantha thought her attire was odd. She watched her run straight across the runway and helicopter pads. Seeing this woman and two men make a break for it gave Samantha hope that if Gordon and Hunter were there, they too might take advantage of the distraction.

Her hopes soon were dashed as she saw someone with a rifle take aim and fire several shots. Immediately following the shots one of the men fell hard. To Samantha it looked as if he was dead before he hit the ground.