Another 20 Miles Read online

  "Can't wait to hear this story, Jason," he said as they entered. "Must be important if you made that climb before shift change."

  "You know you will, and, yes, it is," Jason replied with a slight grin.

  They entered the penthouse, Damon and Hutch pausing in awe of the rich decor. Neither of them had ever been in a place so elaborately furnished. Jason noticed they had stopped, turned back to them and said, "It's something, huh?"

  "You could say that," Hutch remarked, a hint of wonder in his tone. "It's like walking into the lobby of a fancy hotel. It's very … gold."

  "I guess when you have that much money, you've gotta spend it on something," Damon added.

  David Tanner was seated in the living room with his wife and son. There was a fire in the gas fireplace, but it didn't produce any significant heat. They were bundled in thick clothes with blankets wrapped around them. He stood when the men came in.

  "Jason, who do we have here?"

  Damon stepped forward. "Sir, my name is Major Damon Sorley. I am aide to General Charles Everley, Chief of Staff of the Army. He has sent me here to retrieve you and bring you to Washington immediately."

  Tanner raised an eyebrow. "And why would that be?"

  Damon indicated a chair beside him. "May I sit, Sir? That was a hell —" he stopped, looked at Tanner's family and went on. "Heck of a walk up here and I have a bad leg."

  "Of course. All of you, please sit. Can I get you anything? Water, something to eat? The gas is still working for now. Oh, this is my wife, Melanie, and our son, Brock."

  Damon nodded in their direction, sat and stretched his leg out in front of him. "No, sir, thank you though. This is all I need right now. Pleased to meet you, ma'am." Hutch and Jason sat as well. Tanner reseated himself next to his son, who snuggled up to his father for warmth.

  "Now, what is this all about?" Tanner asked, all his attention focused on Damon.

  Damon told him what had transpired in the first briefing after the pulse. When he got to the part about Olstein not turning over the reins of leadership, Tanner jumped up from the sofa again.

  "He can't do that! It's unconstitutional! He has to be stopped!"

  "Yes, sir, and that's why I'm here. I need to take you back. Speaker Roman and General Everley believe that if you're there, President Olstein will have to back off of that idea, along with a lot of other ones that are as bad if not worse." Damon left the sentence hanging in the hope that Tanner would be curious to know more. He was.

  "Such as?"

  Damon took a deep breath and replied, "He wants to repeal the Second Amendment."

  Tanner started pacing the room. "That's insane! The people will need their arms to protect themselves! There is no police force at the moment, at least none here. They're as crippled as everyone else. My security team has told me the streets are consumed with looters; people are being attacked in broad daylight. This is no time to disarm our biggest army, which is the citizens of this country!" He stopped pacing and sat back on the edge of the sofa. "Tell me everything, Major."

  Damon told him all that he knew. Tanner was nodding, shaking his head, rolling his eyes, pretty much everything but interrupting Damon. When he'd finished, Damon paused for a moment, then added, "We need to leave immediately, Sir. They're meeting again today, and I need to let the general know you're on your way there."

  Tanner stood, turned to his wife and son and said, "Get dressed. Warm clothes. Winter boots and coats. We're leaving."

  Damon looked from Tanner to the woman and child and back to Tanner. "Sir, we can't take everyone. My orders are to bring you back."

  Tanner crossed his arms. "If they don't go, I don't go. I will not leave them here for God knows what to happen to them without me. You need to make this happen, Major."

  Damon turned to Hutch, who was trying to work out the logistics by the look of concentration on his face. He looked at Damon and said, "Yes, we can do it. It will be tight, but the boy is small and can sit on one of their laps. We'll need to lose most of the supplies we brought and dump as much diesel in the tank as we can. But, Damon, when I say it will be tight, I mean it. We won't have room to take up positions inside if things go south. They'll be in the seats we should be in. We can put Darrell on the tunnel between them, so he can access the hatch if needed. That'll leave the cargo area and with that slant back, that won't be comfortable, but one guy should be able to do it."

  "You're going to need to make that two guys," Jason commented. He indicated Tanner. "Where he goes, I go."

  Damon shook his head. "No way. There's no way two guys can fit in there. It's impossible."

  Jason stood his ground. "We'll see about that."

  It took another hour to get the Tanners down to the street. There was a slight argument over a gym bag Tanner insisted on bringing, but he told them it had to come and he or his wife would hold it. Damon relented, wanting nothing more than to get the whole thing over with. The rest of the security detail had come down with them. There was no one left to protect in the penthouse. Tanner told his house staff they were welcome to stay, or they could try to make their way home, and that they could take any supplies from the place they could carry.

  When they got outside, the Humvee had been turned around facing back the way they had come. Darrell was inside with the hatch opened, scanning the area through his rifle scope. Kevin was behind it with Alex. Brandon and Craig were watching the other direction. The sun was dipping lower in the sky. They had about an hour of daylight left.

  They shared the plan with those who had stayed below. They got the Tanners inside and situated, with Darrell seated between them. They started unloading the back of the Humvee of all the food and water, keeping only one case of each. The case of water was placed in the front floorboard on the passenger side. Whoever was riding there would have to prop his feet up on it. They pulled out all the fuel cans and filled the tank, setting them aside as they were emptied. Jason climbed in the cargo area. There just wasn't room for another body.

  "I'll stay here," Kevin said quietly.

  "What? No, we're not leaving you behind." Hutch was firm in his statement.

  "No, really, I think I need to. I'm sure one of these guys will let me crash with them … especially if I come bearing food." He pointed to the cases of MREs sitting in the snow.

  Alex spoke up. "Yeah, he can stay with us. Felix has a place here in the tower. One of the perks of his job. Well, former job. We're all going to stay together. We'll take everything you guys leave back up with us and ride it out for as long as we can."

  Damon looked intently at Kevin. "Are you sure? It's probably going to get really, really bad here. There's so many people …"

  Kevin nodded. "I'm sure. Finish your mission, Damon. We all need you to do that."

  Darrell was standing in the hatch opening. "Guys, we need to move. We've got company coming."

  All heads turned toward the front of the Humvee. They could see a group of people headed their way, and they seemed to be picking up speed. Damon closed the back. He turned to the men staying behind.

  "Are you guys good here? Can you get this in the building before they get here?"

  "It'll be in before you get a block away. Now head out." Felix held his hand out to Damon. "Good luck, Major. God speed."

  Damon shook his hand. "To you, too, Felix. Stay safe."

  Hutch had climbed in behind the wheel and started the engine. Damon was walking to the passenger side door when Tanner opened the door in front of him.

  "Sir, we need to go now."

  Tanner held his hand up. "One second." He looked at the men behind the Humvee quickly moving the supplies inside the door. "Thank you all for the service you provided me and my family. If we make it through this, please come find me. There will always be a place for you on my staff." He didn't wait for them to acknowledge his statement. He stepped back inside the vehicle and shut the door. Damon did the same, hitting the button that secured all the doors.

  He watched in the
side-view mirror as the men took the last of the supplies inside and closed the door. Looking ahead, the mob was about ten feet from the front of the Humvee. He turned to Hutch.

  "You know you can't stop, right?"

  Hutch nodded grimly. "Yep. Light, inside. Shut that hatch. Everybody hold on!"

  He stepped on the gas, revving the engine high. The mob stopped, then continued their way. He put it in gear and floored it. While the tires initially spun in the snow, they caught quickly. Most of the mob got out of the way. A couple were hit and careened off the front bumper. Mrs. Tanner gasped and covered her son's face so he couldn't see. Mr. Tanner watched in bizarre fascination as they passed the ones who had jumped out of the way and were now hitting the sides of the vehicle with their hands and bats they were carrying.

  "It's sad what some people turn into in times of crisis, isn't it?" he commented to no one in particular.

  Damon was pulling the sat phone out of his bag. "Yes, sir, but not really surprising." He punched some numbers into the phone. After a moment, he spoke. "General? Sorley. We have them, Sir. We're on our way back."

  Chapter 13

  "No! You're not listening to me! How many times do I have to say it? The answer is no!" Olstein was pacing the room like a caged animal.

  "To which part, Sir?" Phil Roman asked. The other members of the Joint Chiefs who were in attendance had stopped murmuring amongst themselves at the president’s outburst and were now paying rapt attention to the interactions between the two.

  "All of it! You have not laid out one thing I ordered done as a priority! This is your plan, not mine! Leave the troops where they are? What about the lawlessness and the looting and killing that's going to be going on here soon, if it hasn't started already? Do we just abandon these people to the worst society has to offer? From what I've been told, there are no police working, no National Guard, no security forces at all! So, what, it's every man for himself now?"

  Everley spoke up. "It has to be for the immediate future, Mr. President. We don't have control. We can't get control, not yet. The lack of communications is our biggest issue. We don't have enough radio equipment here in the country that was protected to go around. Besides that, right now all along the East coast, cities are getting hammered with this storm. We couldn't get to them if we wanted to. We have no way to clear the streets."

  "Well, how did they do it before snow plows?" Olstein barked. Those in attendance looked at each other and shook their heads or shrugged their shoulders. No one had any idea. Olstein huffed and said, "Do we have any bases or remote people who can still access the Internet to look that kind of information up?"

  "It doesn't look like it. The United States is the origin and foundation of the Internet. Without us, the rest of the world is left with local servers and spotty access, not to mention only the information stored on their local servers," Roman answered.

  "Well, I'd suggest someone get to the damn library and find out! That still works at least. Cities cleared snow from the streets before cars were invented. I'm relatively sure we can do it, too. And someone give me one good reason why the troops are of more use left where they are," Olstein huffed.

  "It's not a matter of use as much as resource allocation. They're in better shape anywhere in the world other than here," Everley replied. "They have food and clean water, along with toilets and lights that work. Most of the host countries will continue to feed our people when the stores they have on hand run out. That's a lot of citizens we won't have to worry about right now. We may need them for a ground fight if North Korea decides to invade. Better they are well-fed until then."

  "Then who exactly is going to go out and gather supplies for the people here? We have nowhere near enough to feed even one percent of the population. Even with aid from our allies in other countries, it won't make a dent in what we'll need. And who is going to provide security for those supplies and for FEMA when they start setting up camps? Which addresses my next point of contention: why are we not working on getting those set up? You don't even have that on your agenda!"

  "How will we get them in place?" Roman countered. "The only vehicles that work around here are the ones we had in hardened storage. Everything out on the street all across the country is dead. We have no way to convey people or supplies anywhere. We can pull some of the transports out, but we only have so many. If we start here in D.C. and work our way out across the country, it will take months, possibly years, to get them set up across the country. And we still need to clear the snow off of the streets before we try to do any of that.

  "The reality of the situation is this could not have happened at a worse time. That winter storm hit everything this side of the Mississippi River since the blast. The South wasn't hit as hard, but it doesn't take much to cripple them when it comes to snow. They didn't have enough equipment to deal with removal even when the trucks were working. Estimates are Tennessee, North Carolina, and anything south of them got six inches or less. Most of Florida was unaffected. Everything north of there got twelve or more inches. We're measuring the old-fashioned way here and have crossed the fourteen-inch mark, and it's still coming down. We could end up with eighteen to twenty-four inches and it will be more than that up the Eastern seaboard."

  "Which means people won't be able to get out and get into trouble. Out of the bad comes some good. And if we start here and work our way out with the FEMA camps, at least we'd be doing something! But we need more supplies, much more than we have in storage. The people who have extra will have to donate to the greater good. Every point I'm making is another reason we need the troops here. Who else is going to do all these things?"

  Everley threw his hands up. "Why would we steal from people who are self-sustaining and don't need our help? If we take their food, they'll starve along with everyone else when it all runs out! Is that your plan, Mr. President? To sit by and watch the whole country die of starvation at the same time? Personally, I think we need to leave those people alone. They don't want our interference. We'll have plenty of others to deal with who do."

  "So, you're saying we stand by and watch some of the people starve when others have more than enough to feed themselves and others? That isn't right, and it isn't fair!" Olstein crossed his arms across his chest like a petulant child.

  "What's unfair about it? They prepared for something like this. Imagine if half the people in this country had done the same thing. How much better off would we be? I wish I had, but then we were told it could never happen. Looks like they were wrong." Everley leaned back in his chair.

  Olstein slammed his hands on the table in front of him. "It shouldn't have happened! They lied to us, to everyone, about their capabilities. And someone helped them. They didn't have stealth technology. Someone gave that to them or sold it to them; it doesn't matter. We need to find out who that was!"

  "We will, but that's not at the top of the priority list just now," Roman said. "We need to come up with a solid plan for getting control of the violence, especially in the major cities. They're turning into giant cesspools of looting, rape, murder, and any other thing the dregs of society can think up. Gangs are already terrorizing people here in this city, and we have boots on the ground. Places like New York, Los Angeles, Chicago … I can't even bear to think what the innocent people are dealing with right now."

  "Surely it's not that bad yet," Olstein replied. "I mean, it's only been about a day and a half since it happened."

  "It doesn't take long for evil to reign, especially when it's unchecked because there's no police force in place."

  "Which brings me back to one of the many sound reasons for bringing our troops home! They can regain order, break up those gangs, and keep everyone in line."

  Exasperated, Everley said, "Mr. President, we have maybe fifteen to twenty percent of our troops deployed, fewer than two hundred thousand. New York City alone is eight point five million people. There is absolutely no way they can maintain order in a single city that size, much less the entire country. T
he top ten biggest cities in the country total over twenty million people. All we'll manage to do is get our troops killed on American soil. It. Can. Not. Be. Done."

  "How will it get them killed? The people will recognize they carry the authority of the United States government. They won't go against them. They'll do as they're told."

  Everley laughed loudly. "Are you serious? This country was founded by people who resisted a tyrannical government and most certainly did not do as they were told. Yes, you'll get those who were completely reliant on technology and electricity in their daily lives who will comply because they're looking for someone to take care of them, to fix this. When they find out we aren't actually going to take care of them, because again, we don't have the resources to do that, you'll have even more trouble on your hands.

  "The ones who were ready for something like this will not comply. They'll go down fighting. They would fight side by side with our troops for freedom. They'll resist anyone who tries to take that freedom away. It only took three percent of the citizens to stand up to the British and defeat them. I'm betting there are more than three percent out there now willing to fight to defeat tyranny."

  Olstein rolled his eyes. "Tyranny? What tyranny? We're talking about restoring order and gathering resources for the good of more than just a few people who, according to you, would be stingy and not willing to help their fellow Americans."

  "You're talking about taking food and supplies. You're talking about making outlaws out of law-abiding citizens."

  "I am not!" Olstein cried indignantly. "How am I making them outlaws?"