They couldn’t hear the two in the front of the truck talking. Had they, they would have been even more scared. The driver, a senior officer of the raiders smiled at the passenger who was the number three man in the organization. “Make sure we keep them alive and don’t harm them. They’re worth triple the amount unharmed and if the two girls are still virgins they’re going to be worth their weight in food and fuel.”
“How far until we reach the trading post?”
“Thirty miles. Depending on the conditions, between 90 minutes and two hours. We should get a good price on them because there haven’t been any new young females in a long time.”
“Think they’ll keep them together?”
“Nah, no one could afford buying the three of them as a unit. They’ll be broken up, I think the young one will bring the most money.”
“We’re going to be rich…”
“I told you, never count your money while you’re sitting at the table. We haven’t sold them yet. Once we’re home then you can count your share of the prize money.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Drive easy, if they’re bruised their value will be decreased!”
“It will take us longer…”
The senior pulled a small sidearm out of his jacket pocket, “Don’t bruise the fruit, they lose value with every mark on their bodies!”
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Gary propped Jon up as one of the soldiers patched him up. “You’re going to be okay, the bullet went right through, missed the bone. When you got hit, you twisted around which did dislocate your shoulder, but my friend over-here fixed that while you were out so you didn’t feel it…”
“What do you think woke me?”
“Okay, so you felt it. Trust me, it would have been much worse. You’re going to be fine…”
“No, I won’t, those monsters took my family. We have to find them before it’s too late.”
“Jon, it may already be too late. They were most likely taken to the trading post. A place where different gangs trade and sell-buy different things, including people.”
“Slavery? I thought you people got rid of slavery 165 years ago!”
“Whoa, we did, but in case you didn’t realize it, laws aren’t something we have a lot of out here in the badlands. As people moved out of the northern areas, the criminals and gangs took over. Since those being resettled were very limited on what they could take with them, the gangs had a field day striping homes and stores. They set up their own trading center. The few police that remained behind until they too were resettled refused to enter the trading camp due to being outgunned and outnumbered.”
“But your military could have easily stopped it, why didn’t they?”
“I don’t know. I can only guess the Colonel decided to leave them alone and they’d leave him alone. He knew in the end they couldn’t survive up here long so why use force when Mother Nature would take care of the problem for him.”
“But the women and girls they kidnapped…”
“I don’t know what to tell you…”
“We’re talking about my family, not some faceless strangers. Give me one of those assault rifles and ten or twenty full magazines and I’ll get my family back. If no one will help me, I’ll do it myself.”
“How are you going to get there? They’ll see you coming a mile away, you’ll stand zero chance of freeing your family. In fact, if they realize, and they will make you tell them who your family is, it will go much worse for them. One person can’t break into their camp. We need to convince the Colonel to clean up the mess once and for all. I think this attack on the convoy might have been the straw that broke the camel’s back.”
“I’m not sure what that means, but if it gets the Colonel to raid their camp and get my family back, then break that camel’s back.”
Gary broke out laughing.
@@@@@
Colonel Spivey agreed the attack on his convoy and supply depot was too much, so he agreed to attack the trading campsite. He decided he wasn’t going to get caught with his pants down. This was the time to pull out the big guns and crush the gangs for good. If he didn’t kill them now, they’d sooner or later drift south causing additional problems no matter where they went. He ordered the six M1A2 Abrams tanks he still had made ready. He told the captain in command of the tanks to load them with antipersonnel shells, six sabot shells and six high explosive shells to destroy buildings. The 120mm M1028 canister cartridge was similar to a ‘super-sized’ shotgun. It fired hundreds of steel balls from the tank’s main cannon. It had an effective range of up to 500 meters and anything within its lethal range was torn apart by the steel balls.
The tanks were heavy enough to have traction on the ice and snow-covered roads, their wide tacks dug through the ice and snow providing the tanks the ability to go anywhere they wanted to. Their turbine engines while thirsty, were almost silent in the wind. The tanks had been painted what could only be called ‘dirty-white-camo’ as they were painted a combination of dull white, gray, and black. They blended in with their surroundings.
The tanks were equipped with their 120 mm main gun, and three machine guns. Their targeting
