Forgotten Forbidden America:: Patriots Reborn (30 page)

Bursting through the few bushes, Nelson slowed and moved to the side and felt Gavin pull past him. Nelson jumped and turned around. “Did you almost hit me?”

“No,” Gavin whispered, glancing around, which made Nelson nervous. “It’s spooky when you’re not in the trees. It feels like there are eyes everywhere.”

Reaching over, Nelson patted Gavin on the back. “Yes, but don’t let your fear rule you. If you do, you can’t think, and that’s when bad things happen.”

“Yes, sir,” Gavin said in a low voice.

“Hey, you’re doing good, son,” Nelson said, sliding him back on the seat. “Now, keep all noise down from here on out.”

Gavin nodded as Nelson climbed on and eased the four-wheeler through the trees, stopping in a small gully on the back side of the first hill with the Stryker on the other side. They climbed off, and Nelson moved to the trailer and pulled out three R/C cars, setting them on the ground.

None had a body anymore, and all of them had a three-inch-deep metal plate mounted on the top covered with an inverted copper disk; all that made up the shape charge. Since the bomb and button camera weighed more than three times what the car weighed, Nelson had to make adjustments to the shocks and springs.

With the added weight, the batteries drained much faster, but they weren’t going to be driving them long. Of course, the added weight affected the handling and cut down on the speed. This didn’t bother Nelson so much because the damn things moved too fast for him to make fast corrections. That was why he was so good at fixing the little cars.

The bodies of the 1/16 buggies were just over a foot long and eight inches wide. Without the extra crap mounted on them, they could hit forty miles an hour, and that was hauling ass for something you aren’t sitting in. Now with the extra weight, they could barely go faster than thirty, which was still hauling ass to Nelson.

When they practiced with the cars at the farm, Gavin wasn’t affected in the least, and with a camera mounted to the car, he was awesome to watch. He would zip around, doing donuts around a car Nelson would drive around at a jogging pace. Gavin would just laugh as Nelson would be sweating bullets, driving his buggy slowly. That was the whole reason Nelson had wanted Gavin to come.

Looking over at Gavin, who was holding his AR as he looked around the woods, Nelson smiled.
Kid’s a natural,
he thought as he leaned over and whispered, “Move your rifle to your back. You are going to have your hands full. I’m only going to carry stuff in one hand so I can shoot. If anything happens, drop down. If you see me get hit, call Zeus, and move here. Get on the four-wheeler, and move to Ronald, Kevin, and Josh.”

Taking a deep breath, Gavin nodded and slung his AR across his back. Nelson grabbed the bag with the remotes and one of the twenty-pound buggies and handed them to Gavin. Slinging the bag on his shoulder, Gavin carried the buggy with both hands.

Nelson grabbed an AT4, slung it, and grabbed another buggy then moved around Gavin, whispering, “Step where I step, and keep a few steps behind me. Whisper if you need to get my attention.”

Moving slowly, it took a little time to get to the road between the two hills almost three hundred yards away from them. Easing across the road, Nelson stayed in the woods, moving to the top of the hill he was set up on. He moved around the building and put the buggy down then motioned for Gavin to do the same.

Nelson dropped his rucksack and motioned for Gavin to take off his small backpack. When Gavin was ready, Nelson moved back to the four-wheeler. Pulling the rest of the gear out and laying it on the ground, Nelson pulled out a camouflaged net and covered the four-wheeler as Gavin tapped his leg, making his heart jump.

Instinctively, Nelson dropped down on one knee, looking around, then turned to Gavin. Gavin was hunched over as he looked around, but his goggles were tilted up off his eyes. Then, he looked at Nelson. “What?” Nelson whispered.

“My batteries died in my night vision,” Gavin whispered.

“You don’t have spares?”

“Yeah, in my backpack,” Gavin said as Nelson opened a pouch on the side of his tactical vest and pulled out batteries, handing them over.

“Always keep a set of batteries for everything you have on your body. The extras go in your pack,” Nelson whispered as Gavin took the batteries. Seeing Gavin fighting with the tactical helmet, Nelson reached over and took it off for him. “Keep your movements small and fluid. Don’t jerk. Fast movement is easy to detect from a long way off.”

Nodding his head slowly, Gavin replaced his batteries as Nelson finished covering the four-wheeler. When Gavin was ready, they carried the rest of the gear back to the building at the top of the hill.

Nelson knelt down, looking at his watch, and saw they only had a few hours until dawn. “Gavin, we are moving to my fox hole and will have to wait there until night. Once we get in, we can’t get out. These troops move around during the day. If you have to pee or poop, do it now. We can in the foxhole, but it won’t be nice.”

Gavin nodded and moved to the side of the building as Nelson grabbed his rucksack. When he was done, Gavin moved over and grabbed his backpack. Nelson thought about leaving Gavin in the foxhole as he came back for the rest of the gear but decided instead to show Gavin how to move at night.

Carefully and slowly, Nelson eased over the hill toward his covered foxhole. The only reason he found it was because he was looking for the boulder it was beside. Nelson set down his gear, and Gavin slowly looked around for the hole they were going to be hiding in.

Nelson noticed Gavin looking around and reached over, grabbing the edge of the sniper blanket that covered it. Gavin leaned down to see the inside and thought that was the neatest thing ever. Leaving the stuff, they moved back and grabbed the rest.

With all their gear, Nelson moved to the edge of the foxhole, moving the cover, and dropped his rucksack to the bottom. Motioning for Gavin to get in, Nelson looked back at the lit up camp and checkpoint but didn’t see anyone moving about.

Gavin climbed down and looked around in wonder at the neat hole his dad had made. It even had glass windows. The hole only came to his chin, but the dirt piled around it put the edge over his head. He looked up at the tarp that covered them and noticed it was tight except where they were coming in. At the back of the hole, the tarp was held off the ground with sticks forming a shelf that his dad was shoving gear on.

Before his dad came in, Gavin grinned, watching Zeus move inside to the back of the foxhole, staying on the shelf area in front of the gear. Zeus laid down, resting his head on his paws as Nelson climbed in then pulled the cover back over.

Seeing his dad take his rifle off, Gavin did the same. “Sit on your pack,” Nelson barely whispered, taking his helmet off.

“Dad, why do you have glass windows?”

“They have thermal, and thermal reads surface temperature. We can look at them behind the glass, but they can’t detect us. Now with both of us in here with Zeus, the glass will heat up some, but since it’s beside a boulder, I’m not worried they will investigate.”

“Man, that’s smart,” Gavin said in awe. “What about the tarp covering us?”

“It has a lining underneath the camouflage netting that reflects all heat back. The outside will stay the same temperature as the surroundings unless we touch it. As long as we are in here, they can’t see us. Even if they come in the woods here, they would have trouble finding us. I walked past the damn spot in daylight several times, it’s camouflaged so well, and I made it.”

“Dad, you’re like awesome,” Gavin said, grinning.

Nelson wanted to tell Gavin he learned this from fuckers trying to kill him, so he knew it worked. Instead, he reached over, patting Gavin’s leg, enjoying the praise. “Get some rest; I’ll take first watch, then we have to go over where to drive the buggies and truck.”

“Yes sir, I’ll try,” Gavin sighed quietly.

Seeing Gavin trying to get comfortable, Nelson picked Gavin up and set him in his lap. Gavin thought he wasn’t tired until he rested his head on his dad’s shoulder. Soon, he was asleep and breathing evenly.

I was kind of glad your mother hit me for suggesting to bring you along. I needed you but really didn’t want my boy here with me,
Nelson thought, rubbing Gavin’s head. Like hundreds of years ago, a father and young son sat waiting to fight for freedom with family and friends. The first call of patriots was to free America. This time, patriots were called for the forgotten, forbidden America that had been taken.

Chapter Sixteen

An hour after the sun went down, Nelson moved the tarp back. “You remember everything?” he asked, looking at Gavin.

Holding up his wrist to show Nelson his watch, Gavin nodded. “Yes sir,” he whispered with apprehension. “What about those people they have tied up on the bridge?”

Looking over his shoulder and around a tree, Nelson looked at the two people that were tied up spread eagle on boards nailed in an X that had been stood in the middle of the westbound bridge. They had watched the soldiers that morning tie up the woman and teenage boy before the reclamation patrols left.

The westbound side was blocked off with cars, and the only way to cross it was on foot. Only the eastbound side was used. Nelson wanted to help the two, especially since they seemed to have pissed off the troops.

“If we can, we’ll try,” he said, opening the rifle bag on his rucksack. Nelson pulled out his M1A, the civilian version of the M14 that he was going to use as a sniper rifle. Laying it outside, he pulled out the suppressor and slid it over the barrel. “If any of the explosions don’t work, run the other buggy over, and set it off.”

“I remember, Dad,” Gavin said, then Nelson eased out and stuck his head back under the tarp.

“If you need me, I’ll be close. You might hear me moving around, but if Zeus doesn’t growl, it’s me. Use your radio to get me; don’t leave this hole for shit, understand?” Nelson said, and Gavin nodded. “They may be able to track radios here, so when you call me, I may be running back, and we are leaving everything here. Don’t shoot unless you have to; I don’t want them to know you’re here.”

Giving the barest of nods, Gavin tried to swallow, but his throat was dry. “Zeus, stay. Here is the end to the antenna I’m putting up,” Nelson said, leaving a wire then backing out and covering the hole.

Leaving his sniper rifle beside the tarp, Nelson started moving out, placing the gear for the attack. He set up the antenna, strapping it to a tree fifty yards away at the top of the hill. Grabbing the R/C buggies, Nelson set them in the parking lot of the building at the top of the hill. Moving back, he grabbed his sniper rifle and moved up the hill until he found another good spot where he could shoot at the prison area and the camp.

Breaking every sniper rule he was taught, Nelson set up just under the top of the hill next to a large tree. Getting down on his stomach, Nelson put the legs of his bipod down for his rifle then pulled out two more magazines. Getting comfortable, Nelson glanced at his watch then grabbed his laser range finder, taking ranges to targets around the prison and camp.

***

Across the river at dawn, the buggies reached the spot to wait for the attack. As Nelson climbed out of his foxhole, Gerald led his group down in the darkness of the ridgeline to a hill beside the bridge that overlooked the entire attack area. The hilltop they were going to set up on was almost bare, so they couldn’t pull up until the attack, but Gerald wanted Matt and Bernard to see where they had to pull up to park.

Like Gavin and Nelson, they had all watched the two get tied up on the bridge and left in the sun that morning, but Gerald wasn’t changing plans anymore. He pointed out the guardhouse in a small field behind the prison, the checkpoint house, and the lodge.

He watched the others closely as they burnt the area into their minds, and then they all moved back up the hill. Seeing they were ready, he whispered, “Head back up and wait for the first explosion, then head down and start shooting. Don’t shoot at Nelson’s hill no matter what; your guns shoot too many bullets to do precision work,” he whispered, and they all nodded. “Duke, stay with Michelle.”

As the group moved back up the ridge, Gerald turned and headed down to the river. “How come I’m the asshole that has to keep swimming across this damn river?” he mumbled.

***

After the lookout down the road behind them had changed, Ronald left Josh and Kevin in the house. He eased into the woods and paralleled the road. He heard the lookout long before he saw them and thought he had to tell Nelson thank you again for the super hearing aid. When he caught his first glimpse, Ronald eased further down the slope, so they couldn’t spot him if they looked this way with thermals.

Figuring this was close enough, Ronald eased up to the lip of the ridge and peeked over. The Humvee was just under a hundred yards away. He could hear them talking quietly as he eased the AT4 off his back. He checked behind him, making sure the back blast from the rocket wouldn’t hit anything that could direct it back to him. Satisfied, he knelt down and waited.

At fifteen till midnight, Kevin eased out of the house and drove the four-wheeler slowly on the shoulder of the road a half a mile from town. He stopped at a house just off the road and pulled the thirty-pound R/C truck then the almost two-hundred-pound trailer with the bomb out. Hooking the bomb to the R/C, Kevin said a prayer as he turned on the switch. When he opened his eyes, he exhaled then turned on the R/C truck switches.

In his foxhole holding the controller for the truck, Gavin saw the light for the bomb come on the switch mounted on the side. He twisted the steering when the controller light came on to make sure he had range. When the front wheels of the truck moved side to side, Kevin peed his pants.

“Fuck,” he whispered, forgetting that Gavin was supposed to do that to make sure the truck was in range. Walking bow-legged so his wet pants wouldn’t rub him, Kevin climbed on the four-wheeler and moved back to the house with Josh.

Nelson glanced at his watch and saw it was ten after midnight, moved to the top of the hill, and turned on the R/Cs then moved back to his sniper spot. Having already mounted his thermal monocular in front of his scope, Nelson flipped his goggles up then pulled the precision stock to his cheek.

Pushing the safety off, Nelson sighted the two guards at the far end of the prison area near the tree line. They were a hundred yards back from the wire, sitting in lawn chairs and talking. Swinging his rifle back to the other end, two troops were sitting beside a Humvee in the parking lot thirty yards from the prison area. The other two were sitting at a picnic table at the guardhouse.

Moving his sight to the first two, Nelson tilted his wrist back, watching the time.

In the foxhole, Gavin made sure the windows were blocked and pulled off his helmet and goggles then turned on the video display glasses. The screen was built in the eyepiece, and he liked it much better than looking at a small TV screen.

Seeing the other controller lights come on, he put on the glasses and took a deep breath as he pressed the trigger, moving the R/C truck that was almost a mile away from him. He pulled it out on the road and drove toward the camp.

Having gone over the route a hundred times that day with his dad, Gavin didn’t have any problems making the turns on the small roads lined with houses. Less than ten minutes later, he was driving around a house and could see the lights of the lodge. Driving past the field with the trailers, Gavin went between two trees and stopped.

Ahead, he saw two soda cans standing up six feet apart. He drove through them, heading straight at the fence where Gerald had cut it. When the front of the truck touched the fence, it moved. Gerald had cut a flap then wired it up so the cut part of the fence acted like a big dog door, swinging up as Gavin pulled the truck and trailer through.

Crossing the parking lot, Gavin could tell the battery packs in the truck were getting low because he was squeezing the trigger wide open, and the truck was barely moving. Pulling in front of a Suburban that was parked in the middle of the lodge, Gavin sighed, parking the truck and putting the controller down.

Grabbing the controller that had “Tank” written on it, Gavin unplugged his glasses from the truck then plugged them to the new controller. When he had video, Gavin drove his buggy off the hilltop down to the road.

Hearing the electric engine creep off behind him, Nelson took a deep breath and let half out as his crosshairs stayed on the guard’s nose. Gently squeezing the trigger, Nelson was surprised when the rifle bucked and moved his crosshairs to the other guard, who was just turning to his companion as his head exploded.

Nelson watched the bullet blow out the troop’s throat, almost taking his head off. Moving his scope, he saw the other troop sitting in the chair without a head. Swinging to the two sitting in the parking lot, Nelson smiled, seeing them still talking. He was over three hundred yards away, and there were generators running all around them.

Taking another deep breath and letting half out, Nelson sent them with their buddies. Moving up to the guardhouse, Nelson almost freaked when he only saw one guard, but the other stepped out from behind a tree, buttoning his pants.

Since Mr. Pee was standing, he was the greatest threat. Nelson rested the crosshairs, squeezing the trigger. When the rifle bucked, he swung over on the last guard to see him starting to stand and squeezed before the crosshairs came to rest.

He watched the bullet hit the guy in the back, knocking him down. Nelson moved the rifle and squeezed three more times, bracketing the troop’s head. Two of the bullets hit the troop in the head, blowing it apart.

Swinging back to Mr. Pee, Nelson saw him trying to crawl to the guardhouse. Squeezing the trigger slowly four times, Nelson took his head off. Scanning around and seeing none the wiser, Nelson aimed at the padlock on the gate. It took four shots, but he hit it then dropped the partial magazine and loaded a full one, aiming his rifle at the camp.

***

Moving out of the river up to the lodge, Gerald never heard the shot that killed the first guard or any that followed as he moved to the restaurant that was holding the women. Staying low, he moved up the stairs to the building and took a quick peek inside. Three rows of people were in the center of a large room with furniture against the wall.

Dropping down, he eased up to the door, tried it, and was shocked that the damn thing was unlocked. Slipping inside, he closed the door gently and quickly counted thirty-four forms laying on the floor in three rows.

It was then he realized that three chains ran the length of the room, and the forms were handcuffed to them. Moving around the group slowly, he saw all of them were women of various ages, and none were clothed. Seeing one that was middle aged and no others were chained close, Gerald moved over to her and placed a hand over her mouth.

The woman jerked, and he put a hand on her shoulder as he put his mouth next to her ear. “We are here to rescue you. Quiet,” he breathed out, and the woman froze. Not taking his hand off her mouth, Gerald continued. “Not all the troops here are asleep. If anyone makes a noise, this escape is over, and my team just attacks. Nod if you understand.”

Relief filled the woman’s face as tears rolled down it, and she nodded. Taking a breath, Gerald told her the only thing he knew that would keep all of them quiet. “They are going to kill all of you women because they can’t have others knowing what they were doing to you. We are going to try for the others in the rooms, but this group is bigger than us,” he said, glancing at his watch. “We could only bring so many from Arkansas here to fight. If an alarm goes up, we attack whether we are out of here or not, understand?”

The woman nodded rapidly and pointed to her wrist at the handcuff. Gerald pulled out the handcuff key he always carried. “Move slow and quiet, and get the others up. Tell them fast, but if any make a noise, I’m gone, and you’re on your own. You have nineteen minutes, and I’m leaving with or without you. Form two lines at that back door; I’m going to keep watch in case one of the troops comes in.”

The woman nodded as the handcuff came off. Gerald moved to the front of the restaurant as the woman moved down the line, waking the women. Looking outside, Gerald saw the area lit up with portable lights and looked over and saw the R/C truck parked fifteen yards from the lodge in front of the Suburban. Hearing soft whispers behind him, he looked back and saw the woman moving down the second line, letting women go.

Gerald moved back and walked into the kitchen and saw it had been recently used. Out of curiosity, he moved over to a huge, stainless steel stove and turned on a burner. He almost jumped when a small popping started, and blue flame sprang out. Turning it off, Gerald moved to the side of the stove.

He never saw a propane tank, so that meant gas was still on there.
No need to waste that,
he thought, pulling a multi tool off his vest and opened it up. Reaching behind the stove, Gerald turned off the valve and put the jaws on the hose and twisted it off. Pulling it off the valve, Gerald turned the valve on and heard the hiss of gas, and the smell hit him like a wall.

Putting his multi tool up, Gerald walked out and heard a younger girl let out a yelp, but over a dozen women hissed, “Shh,” quietly. Stopping, Gerald was surprised to see all the women at the back door in two lines. Glancing at his watch, he walked over to them, mumbling, “Ten minutes, not bad.”

Moving to the door, he whispered, “Stay in line. My team is about to move in for the others, and we have to be gone. We are going under the bridge, and you’re going to have to cross the river to the prison area. The guards there are already dead. If you hear an explosion, that means we have been discovered, and you need to head south to Louisiana. Don’t wait because more troops are going to come, and we can’t hold them for long,” he whispered, moving to the door. “No talking, and no noise.”