“We will. We’ve got solar to run them as well as a diesel generator for backup at both sites. I’m not willing to lose your samples.” He clapped his hands together before continuing, “Good luck, then. I really do appreciate all that you’ve done for us.”
“You say that now,” Harper replied. “Wait until the boys have eaten everything you own and gotten all the women pregnant, then you won’t be saying that anymore.”
Jackson Jefferson chuckled. “We’ll get it figured out. Ah… What about Mandy and Carla? People have tolerated them because they’re with you, but everyone knows they ran with the Kings. As far as I know, they didn’t do anything themselves, but they’re guilty by association.”
“They’ll be coming with us,” Harper stated.
“Really?” Jake asked incredulously. “What are they gonna do if we get into a firefight on the way back?”
Harper’s eyebrows shot up. He didn’t say it, but Jake knew exactly what the man was thinking. What would he do in a firefight? He was a cripple. He couldn’t exactly ride in the targeting station the entire time, so he was going to be pretty useless in a firefight too.
Jake sighed. “Okay, so the girls are coming with us.” He pointed to the Iranian major. “Taavi will be staying here. He wants to be on the first international flight back to Iran so he can pay a visit to his former bosses. The best place to do that will probably be from New York.”
Jefferson nodded. “I agree. Plus, if these guys are headed back to Kansas, you’re gonna stick out like a sore thumb there.” He pointed a thumb at himself. “Me too. Bunch of rednecks in overalls out there.”
Jake chuckled. “It’s not that bad. Most of those types are dead now.”
“Good riddance.”
“So…” the lieutenant drew out the word.
“You want the boats?” Jefferson surmised.
“Yeah, that’d be way better than walking all the way back through New York City to our other ones.”
“We should be able to get you back to the Jersey Shore. Just gotta watch out for some assholes on the bridges.”
Jake frowned. “Now that we know the score here in the city, we’ll shoot any MF’er that we see when we get close to the bridges. That’ll keep ’em from messing with us too bad.”
“I’ll have Phil get it set up. Maybe tomorrow morning if we can get one of the fishermen to agree to it. We’re gonna miss you guys.”
“We’ll miss you too,” Jake replied. “We didn’t know what to expect here in the city, but you’ve done a very good job keeping everything together. Hopefully, we can get this shit under control soon and reunify the nation.”
“Wow, LT.”
Jake looked over at Harper. “What?”
“You really believe all that, huh?”
“Yeah, I do.”
The operator shook his head. “We just gotta take care of our own, man. Carve out little safe havens and expand from there. It’s gonna take a long, long time.”
“Good thing we got nothing but time, Harper. We will get this shit under control and we will reunify our country.”
Harper shrugged. “Just keep my rig full of ammo and I’ll bust skulls all day and all night. That’s the fun part right there.”
Jake looked at him and for the thousandth time, he wondered just what made the man tick. He was a unique breed. All he wanted to do was to kill the infected. Jake actually sort of envied him. Everything was so simple in Harper’s mind. Target comes up, target goes down. Repeat.
“Well, you’ll have a whole lot of ammo once we get back to the trucks.”
“Let’s go then,” Harper grunted, standing up from the couch.
“Uh, yeah. I guess that’s our clue to leave…” Jake mumbled, attempting to stand as well. Then he remembered he was strapped to a wheelchair. “Fuck.”
“Ahh…” Jackson Jefferson reached out a hand to Jake. “I’ll have Phil get the boat ready. He’ll come get you in the morning when it’s time to go.”
“Sounds good. See you then.”
He spun the wheelchair around and pushed off. The movement caused the pain in his back to flare up with an excruciating vengeance. He needed another dose of pain killers, but he wasn’t about to let Harper see him as a burden of any kind.
“Harper,” he called after the operator once Manhattan’s leader had closed his door.
“What’s up, LT?” he called over his shoulder. The bastard didn’t even bother to turn around.
Jake pushed at the wheels harder. He’d need some damn gloves too. “Try not to go out tonight. We don’t need you going on one of your hunting trips and then screwing up our departure in the morning.”
That made him stop and turn back toward Jake. “Don’t worry, LT. I’m not gonna miss SP.” He turned back and continued his leisurely saunter back toward his apartment.
Jake really hated the guy. Despised him. He was so fucking cocky, and…and good at killing. It simply wasn’t fair. “Life ain’t fair, Jakey-boy,” he groaned as he started down the hallway once more.
He had to tell Sergeant Turner that they’d be leaving in the morning and to gather the men. They had to get a final count of who was staying and who was going. The bare minimum was three guys so each of the Strykers could have a driver, but it would take at least six if they wanted to have someone manning the guns.
After they got the final number, it would be time for him to give one of
