Forgotten Forbidden America:: Patriots Reborn (12 page)

The FLYER was loaded down by the time Gerald lowered the overhead door. Walking over to the racks of weapons, Gerald grabbed an armload, and the others followed suit. Matt grinned and wanted to ask what some of the weapons were but held his tongue. They loaded all the weapons, and Gerald coughed, seeing Nelson carrying a Carl Gustav M3.

“I like a fucking rocket launcher that I only have to carry rounds for and can keep using the launcher,” he huffed.

“It’s a recoilless rifle.”

“Eat me, it shoots a big ass rocket,” Nelson said, walking away.

“I’m taking a piss,” Matt said, walking out.

As Nelson was putting the Gustav in the trailer, Gerald came in and set down two crates of rounds for the 84mm recoilless rifle. He leaned real close to Nelson’s ear. “You know you can take the other FLYER right? They are designed to tow each other without a driver in the tow vehicle,” he breathed out.

“We take it,” Nelson said in a regular voice as he stood and grinned.

They passed Michelle heading to the trailer with an armload of weapons. When Nelson walked over to an Mk19 automatic grenade launcher, Gerald snapped his fingers. Nelson turned around, and Gerald was shaking his head and dropped his hand to his pistol.

“Jeesh,” Nelson said, raising his hands.

“Thank you,” Michelle said, walking past Gerald.

As they loaded the trailer, Matt came in. “Hey guys, there’s a boat in the backyard,” he said. “It’s like three years old, but I swear it’s never been used.”

“Yeah,” Nelson said, walking out of the trailer. “Palmer said it was for cover so none of the neighbors would think anything other than weird rich people lived here.”

“Figured, but there is also a sixteen-foot trailer out there,” Matt said.

“Palmer didn’t mention that,” Nelson said, stopping.

“Shit,” Michelle mumbled, walking past Nelson to the racks of weapons.

“Matt, go see if that Suburban has a hitch,” Nelson said, heading for the weapons. “My luck it does, but it won’t be the right size ball.”

As they continued loading the trailer, they heard the Suburban crank up and pull past the shop. “Guess my luck is good today,” Nelson grinned.

“Not for long,” Michelle mumbled.

When all the racks were empty, they loaded what Stingers and Javelins they didn’t get in the Cougar. Matt came in and just grabbed crates from a stack he saw someone else grab one off. When the trailer was packed, they loaded the back of the Bronco with cans of ammunition.

As Gerald raised the overhead door, Nancy came in the side and looked around. “Made a real dent,” she said as she walked over to Gerald and handed him a piece of paper.

“One more hour and fifteen minutes for what you want,” Gerald said, tucking the paper in his pocket.

“Good, then I can finish,” Nancy said, turning around. “You will be able to do it, right?”

“I’m going to act like I didn’t hear that,” Gerald said, climbing into the Bronco. Nancy laughed as she walked out the door.

As Gerald pulled out, Nelson started loading the other FLYER. “N…” Michelle started but caught herself. “We have one.”

“Well, we are taking two. Watch,” Nelson said and grinned under the balaclava.

As they loaded the other FLYER, Gerald backed the Suburban in with the trailer attached, and Nelson groaned, seeing the sides of the trailer were only two feet tall. “There has to be straps or rope in here,” he mumbled and started tearing the shop apart until he found some rope, six straps, and one tarp.

“Ammo, belted only, all of the stacks of fifty caliber, 7.62 and 5.56 then 4.6x30mm and 5.7x28. Palmer has all the loose stuff in regular calibers we need from confiscations,” Gerald said, closing the overhead door. “That Suburban, we fill as well,” he said, pointing at one of the two Suburbans parked on the other end.

“Dude, if you’re talking about these cans,” Matt said, pointing at pallets of fifty cal ammo cans, “that alone is half the trailer.”

“Want to bet?” Gerald said and cut the plastic wrapping off the pallets.

“Sucker bet,” Michelle said, grabbing two cans.

They formed a line and loaded them on the trailer. Matt just looked at the stacked ammo cans three feet over the side rails. Then Gerald carried over one of the pallets and stuck it between the cans and the side of the trailer. That extended the sides of the trailer to five feet tall.

“Yeah, I feel stupid,” Matt mumbled and carried over more pallets, putting them on the front. When all the belted ammo was loaded, they filled the last four feet with the special 4.6mm and 5.7mm submachine gun ammunition.

As the others tied it down, Nelson walked to a metal cabinet at the back wall. “I know what you hold, baby,” he mumbled, grinning. He opened the doors, grinning at the hard cases of night vision and thermal, goggles and monoculars. Seeing an identification number he didn’t know, Nelson grabbed the case.

He opened it, pulling out a monocular that was much bigger than any he had seen. “PSQ/20,” Gerald said behind him. “Thermal and night vision combo.”

“Oh yes,” Nelson said, putting them back. “All of this is coming.”

“Go through the lockers on the wall, and find you a helmet that fits,” Gerald said, grabbing cases. “You can’t use those without a helmet.”

Nelson ran over to the fifty personnel lockers on the wall and started opening them until he found a tactical helmet that fit perfectly. Knowing Michelle’s size, he went back through and grabbed one then carried it over. “Try this,” he said, putting it on her.

“Uh,” she huffed as he put it on. “Hey, that’s not bad,” she said, liking the weight of the tactical helmet and how the straps wrapped around her chin. “Thank you.”

They emptied the locker of all the night vision and thermals into the Suburban, and Matt went through the helmets until he found him and Ashley tactical helmets. Sighing, Nelson went over and just grabbed all the helmets and looked in one of the lockers and saw body armor. “We can make it fit,” he said, grabbing it.

“I’m going to shoot that boy,” Gerald mumbled, walking over to help Nelson.

“Get in line,” Michelle said, going over. When the stuff was loaded, Matt had to take a running start to close the passenger door.

Gerald went over to the FLYERs that were parked one behind the other aimed at one of the overhead doors. Going to the back, he pulled out a heavy bar with big circles at each end. On the front bumper of the FLYER parked behind the other one, Gerald pulled a cotter pin out of one-inch pin in the front bumper.

Putting one of the holes on the bar over the hole over the bumper, Gerald shoved the one-inch pin and the cotter pin in the bottom of the holding pin. Then he did the same thing on the rear bumper, and the rear FLYER was now trailered to the lead FLYER.

“Pull it out,” Gerald said then pointed to Michelle then the Suburban. He walked over, hitting the button to raise the door in front of the FLYERs. Nelson jumped in; he wanted to drive the one in the back with the M134 mini gun, but this was okay. Having only glanced at the weapon on this one, he looked up and jumped.

“A GAU19,” he mumbled in almost holy reverence. “Never even got to see one, much less touch one.” Hearing the Suburban pull out, Nelson started the FLYER and pulled out and could tell he was pulling a heavy load.

When he was outside, he saw the Suburban riding low and the trailer squatting really low. Closing his eyes, he prayed,
We only have to go thirty miles. Please let the trailer hold up.
Satisfied, he climbed out and followed the others inside.

They found Nancy in the offices going through filing cabinets and pulling out folders. She looked up to see them and turned to Gerald. He jerked his head to the side. “I need that suitcase,” she said, grabbing her gym bag and tossing a folder in a suitcase full of folders, bound papers, and three-ring binders.

Gerald walked out behind Nancy as Matt and Nelson fought to close the suitcase. As Matt lifted the suitcase up on its wheels, Nelson walked around the desk. He saw a glass case of metal tubes and grinned. “Cuban,” he said, reading the label. Michelle stomped her foot behind him, but Nelson grabbed the case anyway.

The three walked outside, digging out night vision goggles with Nelson getting in the FLYER, Michelle in the Suburban with the trailer, Matt in Gerald’s Bronco, and Nancy climbed in the Suburban without a trailer. Nelson looked around for Gerald and saw the driver’s door of the Cougar standing open and the seat empty.

It was ten minutes later that Gerald walked out of the house and closed the door. He strolled over to the Cougar and climbed in. When he started up, the others did as well. Gerald led them back to the road as Nancy stopped and lowered the flag at the mailbox then climbed back in her Suburban.

They pulled on the highway, and Gerald went as fast as he could, but all the vehicles were just starting to pick up speed when he slowed, pulled over on the shoulder of the road, and stopped on the highway. Nelson started panicking, thinking something was wrong, and saw Nancy jump out of her Suburban and lift the hood.

She climbed up on the bumper, taking off her night vision goggles, and turned on a flashlight as she dug under the hood. She then jumped off and shut the hood as Nelson climbed out, grabbing his AR and spinning around, expecting choppers to start landing any minute.

“Relax,” Gerald said, walking up.

“You could’ve given a hint that we were stopping for Nancy to kill the tracking stuff,” Nelson said, looking around. “Why did we have to stop on the fucking highway and not on one of the tiny dirt roads hiding behind trees?”

“We want them to think we stayed on the highway,” Gerald said, turning to see Nancy climbing under the Cougar. “We’ll be moving in less than ten minutes.”

Nelson turned and saw Nancy digging under the hood of the Cougar. “How the hell did her little ass open that hood?”

“I did it for her,” Gerald said, pulling the balaclava off his face and adjusting his goggles.

Nancy ran back to them and climbed under the FLYER, shining the flashlight, and part of the beam hit Nelson’s goggles, shutting them down. “Damn it,” he mumbled, lifting them and blinking.

“You can take your balaclava off now,” Gerald said as Nancy ran to the back of his FLYER, opening the back.

“No, I have no side windows. I’ve convoyed on dirt roads before; I’ll keep it on,” Nelson said as Nancy crawled under the second FLYER.

“Nice choice, Nelson. The FLYER is an excellent vehicle, and these have the full SOCOM load out,” she said, crawling out and jogging to the back and opened the compartment.

Nelson looked inside and saw the screens and stuff. “Yeah, but can I use it, or should I say, can you teach me what the hell all of it is? I only got to ride in the test vehicle for the FLYER 60 but liked it. I’ve read about these.”

“I can give you the manual when we get home,” she said as she closed the compartment. “Let’s boogie,” she said, jogging to her Suburban.

“I’ll lead,” Gerald said. “The sight of that monster should deter someone.”

“Yeah, that’s what I don’t like,” Nelson said, climbing in.

“I have a remote fire system; they won’t be telling anyone,” Gerald laughed as he jogged to his Cougar.

They were five miles from the turn on their road when one of the tires on the trailer Michelle was hauling popped. “Babe, my trailer is acting really wild,” she said over the radio.

“You have a flat on your left side,” he said and saw the second tire on the left side pop in his night vision goggles. “Make that two.”

“We don’t have spares.”

“Just drag the damn thing home. We don’t care about the truck or trailer, just the cargo,” he said then amended, “You most of all.”

“Aw,” she said as both tires on the right blew out.

“Front, you need to slow; she is pulling a trailer with four flats,” Nelson called out.

“Will do, at our road,” Gerald said, slowing and swinging the giant Cougar wide as he made the right turn. “Only six miles now.”

Nelson watched Nancy take the turn, and Michelle started to swing wide, starting the turn when Nelson watched one tire and rim snap off the left side and roll on down the road. As Michelle turned on the road, the trailer buckled as the second left tire shot off into the ditch.

“What the hell was that?” Michelle called out.

“Sheared the rims off the left side, and I think you broke an axle,” Nelson said as a loud pop sounded, and the trailer dropped down on the road. “If you didn’t, you have now,” Nelson said, watching both tires on the right side roll off in the ditch.

“I’m in low gear almost red lining and can only go twelve miles an hour,” Michelle called back.

“Michelle, are you okay?” Nellie called over the radio.

“Yes, Nellie, I’m breaking the truck,” Michelle huffed.

“Nellie, is Bernard awake?” Gerald called over the radio.

Several seconds went by before Bernard snapped, “You should know better than that.”

“Bernard, get the goggles Nellie used when we drove out here, and bring a tractor with some chain to us. We are three miles from the bridge, and I don’t know if the bumper is going to hold over the bridge,” Gerald said. “Please hurry; we are in shit we don’t want anyone to see.”