Kyla smiled knowingly. “Right.”
They walked in the afternoon sunshine for another twenty minutes. They reached the outer limits of Glendo, which was marked by an increase in tree cover. Numerous cars and buildings were sprawled out under the shady foliage ahead. Certainly, one of those vehicles would be unlocked and filled with gas.
The nearest truck was parked on the right shoulder of the road, facing them, next to a stand of trees. Meechum pointed to it. “I’d like a shiny new pickup truck like that one, wouldn’t you?”
They walked another twenty seconds, nearing the truck, when the underbrush shifted in the trees to their right. Meechum ran them next to the black pickup and immediately had her rifle aimed at the threat. Kyla got hers ready as well.
A man’s voice called out. “I don’t know what those food trucks do for hygiene, but their fried chicken gave me the worst trots of my life. Thanks for pulling over.”
“No problem,” another man replied, also from the tree line. “And thanks for bringing along your stash of toilet paper. But don’t complain to David about the food. He might make you disappear.”
“No kidding,” the first man laughed.
The pair fought their way out of the tangled bushes, and they immediately caught sight of her and Meechum by their truck. They had rifles slung over their shoulders, but they drew their pistols at record speed. “What unit are you girls with?”
“Shoot them!” Meechum ordered.
Fort Collins, CO
Ted had already lined up the shot in his mind: he’d order Emily to lean forward, he’d aim across the front seat, then take out the driver of the TV van. All he’d have to do is raise the pistol from its resting spot next to his seat.
The man smiled at them. “We wanted to know if you wouldn’t mind escorting us?”
Emily chuckled from behind her makeshift mask. “Escort you? What do you need an escort for?”
The guy was dressed like the people back at the computer labs in Minot, North Dakota. His black outfit was trimmed with red sleeves. It had to mean he was in one of the technical trades, Ted assumed. The man was in his forties, at least, though his dark hair was trimmed extremely close to the scalp, making him seem younger. “Where have you been? The Americans are fighting back all over the place. North Dakota. Texas. Even California, of all places.”
He was in a sweet position to glean some useful information from the two fellows. Rather than agree out of the gate, he decided to take a chance and play the role of soldier of fortune for the bad guys. He spoke in a stern voice. “Who told you about those attacks?”
The man visibly shrank in the other truck. “Sorry, man. I thought it was common knowledge. We see it on the news feeds coming in. I guess I assumed it was broadcast in other areas.” When the guy leaned back, he got a look at the second man; he was heavyset, with a long black beard rising to thick sideburns.
“It’s all right, sport,” he went on. “Though you know how it is. Loose lips sink ships.”
He didn’t know if the man would understand the old saying, but the guy still nodded profusely. “Right. Right. I won’t do it again.”
“But tell me, while we’re chatting about public news, what do you know about the attack in Texas? She and I haven’t even heard about what happened there.” He already knew exactly what went down in North Dakota, but he wanted to see if he could glean any intel on how Texans were fighting back.
“I’m afraid I don’t know what to tell you. We haven’t been shown the footage. It was confiscated before the news people could broadcast it. We all know something happened at an airport in Amarillo, but it’s anyone’s guess as to what. The running conspiracy theory is the Americans used gas tankers to blow up airplanes sitting on the runway, but I think it’s more likely their stealth bombers came and went without anyone knowing about them.”
Ted sat back, deep in thought.
Emily glanced at him once, then turned back to the two men. “We’ll follow you. Consider us your shadow. We’ll watch out for the Americans.” She laughed to herself while rolling up her window, then spoke quietly as the van drove away. “Yes, we’ll be on a sharp lookout for those wily Americans.”
Ted followed. “They said fuel trucks were used to attack the airport. That sounds like a great idea. If we come across another runway full of goodies, maybe we can do the same thing.”
She lowered her mask. “I doubt we’re going to get that lucky again. We haven’t seen a single enemy since Westby, and we still aren’t sure what happened there. These guys sure don’t make it easy to find them, which is amazing considering they’ve conquered the whole country. When we get to NORAD, though, I think it’s a great idea to attack their bunker by driving fuel tankers down their gullet.”
“That might be a problem. As you know, NORAD is inside a huge mountain. One tanker wouldn’t be enough to kick on the fire alarm there.”
“We’ll worry about it when we get closer. Right now, I’ve got to admit I was wrong. There are some enemies between here and North Dakota. They’re right here, in fact.” Emily pointed ahead. The TV van had parked at the rear of a line of six black SUVs, so he fell in behind the van.
“Dang, I hate it when you’re wrong,” he said, trying to be funny.
A fleet of flatbed tractor-trailers waited at the edge of the intersection about fifty yards ahead. Through
