“Why would they? They know damn well in a few months none of these roads will be passable. That nice agent told us they were closing the office in another three weeks.”
Trinity broke into her parents’ conversation. I see some smoke to my right, is that important?”
Erin asked, “Honey, is it white or dark smoke?”
“Mommy, it’s very dark, like black. And it’s very thick.”
Jon thought to himself, “Shit, dense oily dark smoke means something is burning out there and we’re driving towards it. I don’t like this. I bet there are people ahead of us and they’re not friendly.”
Trinity yelled, “I saw someone!”
Erin asked, “Easy honey, tell us what you saw.”
“I was looking at the snowbank and I saw it move and it had a white and black rifle.”
Jon asked, “Honey are you sure?”
Two bullets struck the snow in front of the SUV. “Yeah, she was sure. Trin, do you see them?”
“Yes, I do.”
“Can you hit them while we’re moving?”
“I don’t know, but I can get close.”
“Okay honey, we’re counting on you. Your mother and I can’t see them from where we’re sitting.”
Trinity opened her window, the freezing cold blew in, her sister yelled that the cold hurt. “Shush, I’m trying to aim while dad hits every bump in the street. I see one. Dad, hold the SUV straight.” Trinity pulled the trigger six times. Each pull sent a 40-gram jacketed hallow point bullet towards the shooter. She heard a scream “I think I got one.”
“Good girl. We’re not stopping, I want to outrun them before they call their friends.” Jon pushed down a little more on the accelerator, the chains dug in and drove the SUV forward and around a sweeping curve, only he cursed under his breath. “Roadblock about a hundred meters.”
“What are you going to do?”
“We can’t go back, there’s most likely at least one shooter still there whose job was to drive us towards the roadblock. They must know when someone leaves the border station because no one could be just hanging outside waiting for a car or truck.”
“So, what are you going to do?”
“Honey, girls, HANG ON. I’m going to ram our way through the roadblock. That steel beam we welded on the front before we left in case we ever had to push stranded cars out of the way is about to help us push our way through. We’re going to drive through where the two cars bumpers are. Hang on!”
The Coats hit the roadblock doing 70Kph. The initial crash jogged everyone in the car around, luckily, they were wearing their seat belts, so they didn’t get injured. The momentum and weight of their fully loaded SUV pushed their way through the two cars parked nose to nose which formed the roadblock. Their action took the two men standing behind the roadblock by surprise, as in the months they’d used the roadblock to steal and rape, no one had ever challenged them. One man stepped out in front of the speeding SUV. Jon hit the man sending him over the SUV, he bounced off the rear window spoiler snapping it off, part of the plastic part embedded itself in the man’s chest. If hitting the man didn’t kill him, the spoiler being embedded in his chest did. The other man was shocked anyone would drive through the roadblock and run over his friend. Jon shook his head, “I think we’re clear, or at least for now. Don’t relax, keep your eyes open in case this was the part of a larger group.”
Erin replied, “I hope so, how much further do we have to go before we reach Interstate 81?”
“I think we still have a few hundred Kilometers to go.”
“I pray we make it.”
“Me too, me too. I was frankly surprised someone had set up a roadblock so close to the border crossing. So far so good.”
Unknown to the Coats the surviving man at the roadblock used a handheld radio to call ahead, “Dark SUV, man, wife and two girls. They shot Sam and ran over Ricky, they ran the poor SOB over. I want them. I want them alive so I can skin the SOB who ran him over. I also claim the older teen. I think she was the one who shot Sam. I’m going to break her and teach her a lesson.”
The voice on the other end of the radio said, “I’ll tell the boys to be ready for them. How the hell did they break through the roadblock?”
“They had something mounted in front of their bumper, whatever it was, it pushed the two cars apart and they drove right through the middle of them. We’ll stop them and teach them a lesson. They had the red refugee sticker which means they are most likely heading to I-81. Can you stop them before they reach the freeway?”
“The boys and I will be ready for them.”
“Thanks. Remember, I want to be there before you deal with them.”
“Then you better start now. Does your snowmobile have enough fuel to make the trip?”
“Don’t worry about me, just remember I want my chance with them.”
Chapter 7
President Lanoha stared at his staff, “I won’t accept that there’s nothing we can do to stop the rock. There is always an answer if we look hard enough. I need you to use every resource you have to find a way to stop that rock from hitting us.”
A Secret Service agent knocked and entered the Situation Room, “Sir I was given a TS message for your eyes only.”
“According to our friends at Fort Meade
