Alea Jacta Est: A Novel of the Fall of America (Future History of America Book 1) (78 page)

“
Roger
that, Hawk Lead.  Stay on station as long as you can, transports are inbound
,”
replied the
Roosevelt’s
communication officer, miles out to sea to the
east.  The supply ship
Rodger Young
, now an impromptu rescue ship, had
diverted to only a mile outside the harbor during the battle.  By the time she
steamed into the harbor through the wreckage, all the
Roosevelt’s
contingent of SeaKing helicopters began to arrive, ready to pull out what
surviving Americans they could find.  The swarm of massive helicopters began to
make their way towards the waiting survivors on board the crippled
Coral Sea
.

Riggs and
the rest of Hawk Flight circled high overhead of the harbor and town, like
prowling sharks.  Hammer Flight had chased the surviving warlord forces inland,
striking a devastating blow to the private little army that funded pirates for
decades.  Riggs shook his head at the carnage in the streets and the awesome firepower
unleashed on the would be warriors.

“Can’t
believe they’d be so stupid to attack us like that…” he muttered at the scene
below.  Most of the town was on fire, many of the buildings nearest the water
were simply flattened and lay in pieces in the water they overlooked just an
hour before.

“
Well,
my momma always says, ‘stupid should hurt’
,” Jonesy drawled in a dramatic
southern accent.

“
Thank
you, Forrest
,” another pilot laughed.

IF WE RUN across the
Russian sonsabitches that did this, we’re putting them at the bottom of the
Atlantic!” roared the Admiral in a fit of rage not seen in many years.  It had
been three hours since the last surviving American was pulled from the wreckage
of the Coral Sea and airlifted to safety.  The battlegroup was making good
time, heading due west for home.

      “Sir,
taking on France and Spain is one thing…” cautioned the cold-war trained
Captain of the
Roosevelt
.

      “To
hell with them! 
All
of ‘em!  I’ve seen the after action report from the
Coral Sea’s
XO.  Damn it, they were already run aground and the Russians
hit her
again
.  They didn’t help our sailors and Marines when the
Forrestal
sunk at the beginning of all this mess.  I think they did
that
as well!”

“We do have
authorization,” mused Anzio’s skipper.  The assembled captains from around the
battlegroup nodded in agreement.

“There are
certain lines a sailor—no matter what nation, no matter what conflict—simply
does
not
cross!  Well…” the Admiral huffed, one grizzled finger pointing
on the map spread out across the polished oak table in the conference cabin.  “
Two
can play at that, gentlemen.  Shame we don’t have the opportunity to go
hunting…”

“We’ll make
Norfolk in about four days at present speed, barring weather…” the Roosevelt’s
skipper looked up from a chart.  He put the report down and folded his arms. 
“Still no contact outside the battlegroup.  That ICBM sure did a number on all
of us.”

“Maybe
there’s no one back home to listen.  If they nuked us…”

“Tom,” the
Admiral said in a not unkind voice, looking at the last speaker, the skipper of
one of the support vessels serving as a hospital ship.  “We’re not going to
fall prey to rampant speculation.  Gentlemen,” he said, taking in the rest of
the captains.  “We have a mission to achieve.  We are going home.  I don’t care
what has been done to them back home until we get there.  Then…” he said,
balling a fist and slapping it into his other hand. 

“It’s
our
turn.”

AND TO ANYONE
in
America this dark night, anyone listening to my voice, know this: the people of
Great Britain stand with you.  This is Nigel Tinwattle saying goodnight from
London.  May God protect us all
.”

“
Screw
that!  Send some damn troops, you Limey bastards!” hissed Lance.  He slapped
the shortwave radio off in disgust.  “England done lost its balls.”

Rob
finished re-loading his old Winchester 30-30 and leaned it gently against the
wall.  He sighed, a long, deep, weary sound that unsettled his friend.  “Don’t know
how we’re gonna get out of this one.”  He passed a bottle of Kentucky bourbon
to Steve who took a swig and passed it back with a hiss.

“You know
we can’t stay no longer,” said Lance.  He all but shrugged his shoulders. 
“whole damn town’s fled north.  There’s just too many Mexicans and they’re all
armed now.  Like the damn Chinese just gave all the Mexicans guns and said ‘Go
on, now, take all that land back.’”  He shook his head, creating a small cloud
of dust and fine ash.

Ash.  The
fires had swept down out of the Coronado National forest and consumed Nogales
days ago.  All around the compound now the world was choking in smoke and armed
Mexican nationals.  For all the Regulators knew, a Chinese army was marching
north right then, covered by smoke from Nogales.  It was the definition of an
untenable situation.

Rob
frowned.  It wasn’t fair.  He slammed a dusty gloved fist into the radio
bench.  Steve caught the bourbon bottle as it tipped over.  “We were so
close
. 
We saw this coming and no one bothered to listen.”

“Well, all
the Border Patrol boys high-tailed it a while ago.  No one left now but us, I
reckon, anyway.”  This time Lance did shrug.  He had gotten the mad out of his
system and resigned himself to what fate had served him.  He took another slug
of the bourbon.  It helped.

A knock at
the door revealed the Ed Franks, smiling like a cat.  “We’re all set Rob. 
Anyone pokes around here’ll be in for a treat.”

“I never
thought I’d leave this land,” muttered Rob to himself.  He sighed again, stood
and fetched his rifle.

“All rigged
up?” asked Lance.

“Yup, got
your standard homemade explosives and napalm traps at all the doors and
windows.  Jimbo set up one doozey of a pit down yonder by the mess hall.  Got
stakes dipped in sheep shit at the bottom.”

“Nice.  Too
bad we won’t see the look on their faces when they fall in that,” grinned
Steve.

“Have the
boys gas up all the vehicles we got left that’ll run.  Fill up every can we got—hell,
even the water bottles.  We’ll burn the rest.”

Lance
looked at Rob.  “Food and supplies?”

“Take
everything we can.  Burn everything else.  Scorched earth, Lance.”  Rob put on
his weather-beaten Stetson and opened the door to the simmering Arizona
morning.  The ever present cloud of ash and smoke threatened to blanket the room
immediately.  Through the dim light, Rob grimaced.  Over his shoulder, he said,
“Scorched earth, boys.  We leave them nothing but death and ashes.  Exactly
what they gave us.”

Ed nodded
then turned to go but paused, as if unsure what to say.  Steeling himself for
the answer, he asked, “Have we heard from the women?”

Rob turned
and smiled.  His first genuine smile in days.  “Yes, as a matter of fact.  They
made it just t’other side of Tucson this morning.  Susie’s got family there.  
They should be fine till there till we get to the Apache and get the hunting
cabins set up.”

Ed nodded
again.  “Any word  from ‘em today?”

Lance and
Rob shared a look.  “No,” said Ro.  It sounded like an apology.  Rob set his
face in stone again and went past Ed.  “Come on.  We’ve got a compound to
destroy.”

It took
longer than Rob had hoped, but eventually, every truck, Jeep and trailer was
loaded for bear with food, water, gas and ammo.  The chickens had been taken
ahead with the women and children.  That left the handful of the Franks’ sheep
and the horses.  After their mounts were loaded on trailers, the sheep were
rounded up and shot.  They couldn’t be taken along and Rob wasn’t  about to let
them be eaten by the invaders.

“Well,
she’s the last one,” said Lance, pointing at the docile ewe, watching the
Regulators through dull eyes and chewing a its cud.

Rob
strolled over to the sheep and patted its head.  “One last act of defiance.” 
He hefted the sheep and carried it over to the compound’s well.  With one
smooth motion, he slit the poor animals throat and dropped the twitching body
into black pit of the well.  A few heartbeats later there was a muffled splash.

“Hope the
bastards are thirsty,” said Lance with a grin.

Rob cleaned
his blade and stared into the darkness of the well’s mouth.  He offered a
silent prayer asking for guidance and the strength to do what must be done.  He
asked for forgiveness for the lives he’d taken in the defense of his country
and his family.  He asked for forgiveness for the lives he was about to take. 
Lastly, he prayed for the men he’d lost and those who remained. 
Above all,
Lord,
he prayed,
protect these Patriots.

Rob turned
to face the last of the Regulators with a calm in his heart not felt sense
before The Troubles.  All their vehicles, dusty, rugged trucks, SUVs and Jeeps,
were loaded.  It looked exactly like what it was…an evacuation.

The first
flickers of flames appeared in the windows of a nearby building.  Soon, he
figured, the whole place would go up.  Through the dim afternoon ash-chocked
light Rob turned to address the men.  “Boys, I think you know as well as I,
that our troubles are just beginnin’.  We’re gonna travel fast, and we’re gonna
travel hard.  I don’t like runnin’ any more’n you all do, but we don’t have a
choice any more.”  He saw the downward glances and could feel the shame of
retreat radiate from his men.

“But that
ain’t
nothin’
compared to what those foreign bastards are facin’.”

Some of the
Regulators whooped and waved hats.

“I told
this to Lance already, but I’ll tell you now, too.”  He could almost taste the
anticipation.  “Our forefathers went through all this in the Revolution. 
Outgunned and out manned.  We’re gonna do what they did.  Behind every wall,
every rock, every fence and every house, they’re gonna find a rifle pointed at
them.  We will hit them and melt into the fog, forest or desert, wherever the
hell we’re at.  We will steal supplies from them in the night, take no
prisoners and show no mercy.”  The men watched him with rapt attention.  Rob
smiled.

“So remember
this on our long road ahead of us.  Today we retreat.  Tomorrow, we fight
back.”

The
Regulators cheered and waved hats in response.  A few fired off shots into the
air.  Rob stepped up on the kick-plate of the his big truck and waved a hand
for silence.

“Regulators! 
Mount up!  We head north!”

CLOSE TO SUNSET, Rob’s
radio crackled to life as the Regulator convoy closed in on the outlying
suburbs of Tucson:
“One, we got a roadblock up ahead ‘bout 2 miles up 19.” 
Steve
was reporting from his Jeep a few miles ahead of the convoy as it rolled north
on Interstate 19. 
“Looks like someone wants to shut down the highway going
into Tucson.”

Rob cruised
on for a few moments, thinking.  They’d have to stop for fuel soon, or begin to
deplete their reserves already.  He grabbed the radio, “Hold up there,
Overwatch.  I’ll come up.”  He switched frequency so all the Regulators could
listen.

“Regulators,
we have a roadblock just south of Tucson.  Looks like the suburbanites are tryin’
to hole up.  Overwatch has stopped a few miles up ahead of us.  You all park
there while I check it out.”  When he received acknowledgements from all the
vehicles, he switched back to Steve’s frequency.

“You catch
that, Overwatch?”

“
Yep
.”

“Good.  You
got glass on the roadblock?”

“
Yeah…I
can see a couple big rigs been jackknifed across all lane….couple ‘a cars—-they
look burned out.
”

“Any
movement?”

“
Negative,
One.  I don’t see no one….don’t see any lights in town or any houses either. 
This is creepy man, even considerin’ no one has power.  You’d think there’d be
candles or fires or lamps or something’.  I see garbage and abandoned cars and
that’s it.  But the cars…they look like they were, I don’t know, almost placed
where they’re at.  It’s strange.”

Rob
considered this.  “You been spotted?”

“
No
way.  I’m off-road to the East behind a hill in a stand of cactus.  I hiked up
here to check things out
.”

“Alright,
well, I’m comin’ up to your turn off now.  Gotta hide your tracks better, man.”

Lance
laughed.  “
Good luck
.”

Behind him
in the faded light of the setting sun filtered through all the smoke, he could
see the others parking on the highway and getting out of vehicles to stretch
and socialize.

“Regulators,
maintain cover in all directions…I want fire teams at the four corners.  We
will
not
be surprised out here, understood?”

“
Roger
that, I’ll rustle up the guard
,” replied the gravelly voice of Ed Franks.

Rob turned
on his hazard lights and approached the road block at a leisurely 20 miles per
hour, both hands on the wheel.  He wanted to anyone watching to see he was
approaching slowly and not threatening at all.

“These rigs
aren’t a roadblock,” he radioed to Lance.  “They’re jackknifed alright, like on
accident, but they’re a good 10 yards apart, almost exactly.  Looks more like a
fortification.  I have to twist and turn to get through the maze, they could
pour fire down on me from every direction.  A murder lane.”

“
Sure
don’t look like it from here
…” replied Lance over the radio.  “
Looks
like lucky accident created a roadblock.
”

Rob
carefully drove between the two semi’s and came to a stop when someone with
what looked like an AR-15 stood up behind a burned out car and took aim at his
truck.  Rob jumped a little despite is expectation of such a surprise. 
“Contact,” he muttered as he put the truck in park and waited with both hands
up off the wheel in plain sight.

“
I got
two more on your right
…” warned Lance.  “
I can get one, maybe two, but
not all of them…targeting your eleven o’clock first.  He looks leaderish
.”

The man
with the AR-15, ignorant that his head was securely in the crosshairs of a high
powered hunting rifle that he couldn’t see, approached slowly and motioned for
Rob to roll down the truck’s window.  He didn’t appear to have the cocky
attitude of one who clearly had the upper hand.  Rob found that interesting and
heartening at the same time.  The man outside his truck looked calm but his eyes
were constantly scanning.  He had training.

“Sorry,
mister.  Road’s closed.  You’ll have to turn around.”

Rob
estimated the man to be in his early forties.  He had sunken, tired looking
eyes and that lean, hungry look of a soldier too long on patrol.  Rob took a
second glance before he answered, hoping to appear nervous, rather than
calculating.  He was right.  The man next to his truck looked downright
exhausted.  Rob casually noticed that the AR-15 was safed.  That was
interesting.

“I’m
sorry,” he said.  “I was just trying to work my way north—“

“Said the
road’s closed.”  The man looked at Rob’s truck bed, loaded to the gills with
supplies.  Rob suppressed a grimace. In their haste to leave before the
Chinese/Mexican forces arrived, he had neglected to have everyone cover their
loads in tarps or sheets.  He was inviting a robbery.

“You
alone?” the man asked, eyes still on the rolling toy store that was Rob’s
truck.

“No.”  Rob
waited for the man to glance around nervously.  When he looked inside the cab again,
Rob continued.  “I’m a member of the Arizona Regulators—“

“You the
guys down at the border that caused all the ruckus?”  It looked like he was
trying to hide a grin.           

“Yes,” Rob
said cautiously.

“Brady!”
called a second man with two pistols pointed at the truck.  He walked in front
and came up next to the first man.  “Hurry up!” he hissed as if Rob couldn’t
hear every word from two feet away.

“Shut up—this
guy’s a Regulator,” said Mr. AR-15, whom Rob now knew was Brady.  To Rob:
“Yeah, we had a bunch of you guys come through about a week ago.  Mostly women
it looked like, but tough as nails.  That’s why we set up the roadblock.”

“What?”
asked Rob.  “Surely they didn’t cause any trouble…”

“Oh no. 
They gave us the idea.  Told the mayor about all the shit goin’ on down near
Nogales.  Kinda spooked us, y’know?” said Brady with a half-shrug.