William Johnstone - Phoenix Rising

“You seem to know your helicopters,” Jake said.

“Well, I certainly know the UH1-D model,” Bob said. “And probably just about every other one you saw in the museum.”

“Were you an Army aviator?”

“Yes, I have a little over six thousand hours, thirty-six hundred hours in one just like this. I flew three tours in Vietnam, and I taught maintenance test flight procedures at AMOC in Fort Eustis. Chief Warrant Officer-four, retired.”

Jake extended his hand again. “Major Lantz, and I didn’t get a chance to retire. Ostensibly I’m still on active duty since I never got any orders relieving me. We are all in the same boat. Karin is a captain, an Army nurse, the rest are sergeants.”

“Welcome to Fort Morgan,” Bob said. “It’ll be good to have neighbors again.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

When Bob, James, and Jerry returned to The Dunes after their visit to Fort Morgan, they found that all the women in James’s house were in a condition of shock and fear. Becky was lying on the couch and the other women were gathered around her. She had a black eye and a split lip.

“What happened?” Bob asked.

“We’ve been robbed,” Ellen said.

“Robbed? How did that happen?”

“Four armed men came through the gate,” Ellen said. “When they found out we were living here, they broke in to the house and took as much as they could carry from the pantry and from the freezer.”

“They also took the propane tanks,” Cille said.

“We have no food or electricity,” Gaye added.

“What happened to Becky?”

“We don’t really know,” Ellen said. “She had gone with Sarah, so they weren’t here when the men came. It wasn’t until after the men left that we found her.”

“You found her?”

“She was down by the swimming pool. She was lying in the road and at first we were afraid she was dead. But she came to, and we helped her back. We asked her what happened, but she can’t remember.”

“What’s the last thing you remember?” Bob asked.

“Walking on the beach with Sarah,” Becky said.

“Where is Sarah now?”

“I don’t know,” Becky said. “I don’t even know how I wound up at the swimming pool. One minute I was walking on the beach, and the next minute Ellen and Cille were asking me how I feel.”

“We are a little worried about Sarah,” Cille said.

“Maybe more than a little worried,” Gaye said.

“I’ll go look for her,” James offered.

“Was there anyone down at the fort?” Ellen asked.

“Yes. And that reminds me,” Bob said. “Becky, why don’t you come with me? One of the people in the helicopter that landed down at the fort is an Army nurse. I think maybe she should look you over.”

“You don’t need to do that.”

“You were knocked out, weren’t you?”

“I guess I was. I don’t know why else I would be lying in the road next to the swimming pool.”

“That means that, at the very least, you have a concussion,” Bob said. “I think it would be good for her to look you over.”

“All right.”

“If you and James are both going to be gone, I think I should stay here with the women,” Jerry said.

“I think that’s probably a good idea. Why don’t you go over to my house and look in the top drawer of the chest of drawers in the bedroom. I have a P-thirty-eight pistol there, with a full magazine.”

“Right,” Jerry said.

“Becky, do you feel up to walking down to the golf cart? We’ll take that down to the fort.”

“I think so,” Becky said. She sat up, but when she tried to stand, she fell back on the sofa. “I don’t know, maybe I can’t.”

“Tell you what. We’ll set you in a kitchen chair,” Bob said. “I’ll hold the back and Jerry can take the legs. We can get you down the stairs that way.”

Cille brought a chair over and they helped Becky onto it. Then the two men carried her downstairs, all the way to the golf cart. She was able to move from the chair to the golf cart on her own.

“I think I’ve got enough charge left to get us there and back,” Bob said as he put the cart in gear.

“Jake!” Deon called down from the top of the wall. “It’s that warrant officer and some woman, coming up on a golf cart.”

“Wave them on in,” Jake said.

Deon was standing on the north parapet of the fort and he waved at the two on the golf cart, inviting them in.

Jake and Karin went out to meet them.

“Hi, Bob what brings you back so quickly?” Jake said. Then he noticed Becky. “Good Lord, what happened?”

“She doesn’t know, exactly,” Bob said. “But while we were here visiting, some men broke into our place. They took all our food and our propane. After they left, the women found Becky unconscious on the road near the house. I remembered that the captain here was a nurse.”

“Yes, I am,” Karin said. “A nurse, I mean. None of us have rank anymore.”

“I was wondering if you would take a look at her.”

“I’d be glad to. Becky, is it?”

“Yes, ma’am,” Becky replied.

“I’m Karin. Bob, why don’t you get down and let me drive her into one of the casements so we can have a little privacy.”

“All right.”

“You say you were robbed?” Jake asked, after Karin drove off.

“The women were, yes. They took almost all of our food.”

“Look, we don’t have much, but we could let you have a case of MREs. That’s not going to last you very long, though.”

“We’ve got a couple of people who are pretty good at hunting and fishing,” Bob said. “We’ll get along all right.”

“They’re good at it, you say?”

“Yes, very good. With wild game and fish, and seaweed for our vegetable, we’ll survive.”

“I wonder if you would be interested in something,” Jake said.

“What is that?”

“Moving in with us. I know that you are probably much more comfortable in your own house right now, but I’ll be honest with you, Bob. If you have been holed up here for the last six weeks or two months, you don’t have any idea what is going on out there. You are likely to have more unwanted company, and they might do more than just rob you. If you are with us, you would at least be safe.”

“That is something to consider,” Bob said. “Let me take it up with the others. If it were just Ellen and me, I would take you up on it in a military minute. But I don’t want to abandon the others.”

“I understand,” Jake said. “Talk with the others and see what they say.”

“I can see the advantage we might have in moving in here, for security purposes,” Bob said. “But what would you get out of it?”

“The more of us there are, the more security that is for all of us,” Jake said. “And, to be honest, I’m intrigued by the fact that you say James and Jerry are very good at hunting and fishing. We have enough food and MREs to last us a few weeks, somewhat less if you join us; then we are going to have to supply our own food. I see there is chickweed here. That’s edible. And, as you say, seaweed.”

“Across the road there are some scuppernongs,” Bob said.

“Scuppernongs?”

“It’s a wild grape. It’s good raw, and it makes a really good jelly.”

“We’ve brought seeds,” Jake said. “And they are pure seeds, not hybrid. I plan to get a garden in as soon as I can. If it stays warm long enough, we’ll have some homegrown vegetables in six to eight weeks.”

“Sounds good. What have you got?”

“Several kinds of beans, peas, corn, beets, carrots, cucumber, radish, spinach, cabbage, lettuce, tomato, onion, bell peppers, jalapeno peppers, watermelon, and cantaloupe. I also have a dozen potatoes that we can use the eyes from.”