Chapter 9

After what seemed an eternity, the air became quiet. I slowly moved off of Sal and reached to help her get off her back. Pinkie yelled for me to get down. Suddenly the ambulance's side walls started popping as a row of high velocity impacts that sounded like tiny explosions moved toward me. Before my confused brain could even register what was happening, Sal pulled me off my feet to the bottom of the tank trap.

As we tried to dig to China with our bare hands, the "clank-rat-a-tat-clank-tat-tat" of what turned out to be an AK47 filled the air as the hiss of flying projectiles passed over us. We tried to see where the assault weapon's fire was coming from, but the same thing that protected us from getting hit, the depth of the ditch, kept us from getting any fix on the shooter's location.

I didn't think things could get much worse for us until I heard the whoosh of an RPG and its impact on the ambulance. The armor piercing RPG went through the relatively soft sidewalls of the emergency vehicle and exploded in the sand on the other side of the vehicle. The sand and the ambulance blocked almost all the blast and shrapnel from us.

Another whoosh ended in an explosion on the SHIT which was still setting on the trail. We were in deep trouble. Because we couldn't get to our vehicle, Sal and I only had hand guns, and the bad guys had an entire armory. We heard another burst of the machine gun attempting to reach us in the ditch. One of the great things about the AK47, if you own one, is that the newer weapons almost never jam. It's a very forgiving piece of hardware. Thank God for the word 'almost.'

We heard the gun click, the sound of someone cursing, a truck door slam, a truck hightailing it out of Dodge and finally silence. The quiet hurt almost as much as the sound of the mini war had.

"God Damn, JD, you must have really pissed off someone. I couldn't be the problem. Everyone loves me."

"You know, Sal? It sure looks like I stepped into someone's flower bed. I've never had so much lead with my name on it headed my way. Let's check the rig to see if there's anything left."

I slowly got up and thought, "Pinkie can you tell if there is anyone else out there that doesn't like me?"

"No, you're all clear," came back to my mind.

I asked out loud, "Any idea who that was?"

Sal shook her head, "No, but if I find out who it is, they are going to curse their mama for giving them birth."

Pinkie was a little more helpful, "It was Rachael's brother in law."

I slowly lifted myself back up and offered a hand to Sal. We both cautiously approached the edge of the ditch and looked at what was left of our ride. Shit, except for a huge black spot on its side, the SHIT didn't even look like it was dented.

I heard Sal say, "How in the world..."

"We can thank providence that the idiot that was shooting at us didn't know that RPG rounds serve different functions. I took a trip with my roommate in college's Army ROTC fraternity, the Pershing Rifles, and spent a long weekend at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. I'm glad he didn't have the same training I did. He shot an HE round at the armored SHIT and an armor piercing round at the soft sided ambulance. If he had reversed that we would most likely be dead. My guess is that Rachel is still passed out and none the worse for it. Let's check it out."

Before we could reach the SHIT, all hell broke loose. The sand around us whirled at the sound of a soft whoosh, whoosh of a silenced helicopter landing on the other side of our Hummer. The doors opened and a dozen desert camouflaged figures quickly dispersed into defensive positions around the area. An older man with one arm followed his fellows from the aircraft and approached us.

"Deputies Barton and Jackson, we're from Security Company International. SCI is currently under contract to the alphabet soup you know as the Federal Government's Department of Homeland Security. The Foresters have been people of interest since they were identified consulting with home grown Al Qaida operatives from Detroit. When we monitored your distress call from your Tactical Vehicle, we were authorized to offer aid by our supervisors."

Sal looked at the man thoughtfully. "I know you, don't I?"

"Yes ma'am, I've had the pleasure of business relations with you in your former profession."

"I remember now. Gunny, isn't it?"

He nodded.

"You know, after what we have shared, couldn't you call me Sal?"

"I could."

"And, this is JD."

One of the figures wearing a red cross on her arm approached us. "Gunny, I'd like to evacuate Ms Forester to the local hospital. Can you get by without air support for a while? She's unconscious and in bad shape. Someone did a job on her."

Gunny then said out loud, "All report by the numbers." After a short pause while he appeared to be listening to sounds only he could hear, he responded to the five foot seven inch blond, "Sure, Doc, do what you need to do. I handle things here." Stylish tactical radios must be really small this year.

The medic turned to two men and shouted, "Evacuate!"

She then turned to me. "Is your wound still holding up? Do you need to go in too?"

I looked at her, "Wound?"

Pinkie's voice filled my head, "I don't think I should have healed your arm so quickly."

"Yes, wound. I was told you were shot in the arm and almost bled to death. I see no evidence of that."

"I owe it all to good living and organic cold-pressed natural herbal supplements. Shaklee is a marvelous company. You should visit your local Shaklee distributor and extend and improve the quality of your life. All of the pollutants in the environment have a detrimental effect on your life.

"You know? You could even start your own business and secure your future while you made those improvements in your health. I could help you with that. You would also get a discount on products you use yourself. We are looking at the opportunity of a life time, here. Improve your health, protect the environment, and save money at the same time. What do you think? Want to sign up for a brighter and healthy future?"

She sighed, "Never mind."

The medic gave me a strange look, quickly turned and hurried to the helicopter.

Sal looked at me and whispered, "That wasn't funny, JD. You almost died. That's nothing to joke about."

"I'll try to sound, I mean, be more concerned next time. By the way, Sal, do you need any vitamins? I could get you set up with no problem. My master distributor would be very happy to be of assistance."

"JD, keep it up, and you'll be sleeping on the couch."

"Yes Dear, I'm sorry."

Gunny thought this was hilarious and chuckled. Sal gave him a dirty look, and it was back to business.

I asked, "Now don't get me wrong. We're happy to see you. But, if you're working for the feds, why were you monitoring our local law enforcement frequencies?"

"When you hit your 'all emergency' button, some of the original communication equipment that was supposed to be removed, but wasn't, kicked back in. I understand that there was some sort of difficult woman representative of the county that sort of rushed our technicians. They must have taken some shortcuts and didn't take everything out. The equipment was going to be scrapped anyway, so no one noticed.

"We were monitoring our satellite network when we got your call. It sounded like you were in trouble, so we got permission to respond. We would have gotten here sooner if we didn't have all that red tape to go through."

"How did we get access to your satellite network?"

"This unit is a prototype developed to be used in the big sandbox. It has new, experimental molecularly active armor that is actually grown onto a metal substrate, hardened electronic, communication, mechanical systems, and a 500 horsepower power plant that gets better gas mileage than a Honda Hybrid. It also runs over rough terrain like a scolded dog.

"The only down side, other than the multi-million dollar development cost, is the pink color. This type of active armor can't be painted. Primers just fall off. We were able to add pigment to later generations of armor in the growing process. That's the only reason Ms Wooster was able to get this unit. No one else would drive it.

"She was also to give us a report on how effective the unit was for local law enforcement, but we haven't received one yet."

Sal chuckled, "That's because no one around here wanted to drive it either. This is its first trip out of the impound lot."

I added, "You know, it won't be the last trip though. The color's beginning to grow on me."

Gunny tilted his head as if listening to a faint whisper. After a short time, he replied, "Currently, the area is under control. We're moving to secure what's left of the compound now. It doesn't look like much is left to look at. They have been nothing but cooperative so far. Yes sir, I'll ask. Alpha's out."

He looked around one more time making sure we were alone. "The Feds want us to secure this area for their forensic teams to examine. If it's okay with you folks, we can take security responsibility until their people get here. We were given orders to take over, but that's not the way SCI operates. We ask, but we don't tell. However, it really doesn't look like you have the local resources to create a secure perimeter without us.

"My suggestion is that you take your, what did you call it, the SHIT?"

I nodded.

"Right ... My suggestion is that you take your SHIT back to town, get cleaned up, check on Ms Forester, and meet the Feds back here tomorrow afternoon."

"Great idea, Gunny," replied Sal. "How do we get hold of you if we need you?"

"Oh yeah," replied Gunny. "Hey Charlie, bring one of the backup Sat Units over here. Would you?"

"Sure thing old great leader of the exalted SCI elite," replied a tall redheaded woman in her early twenties. "We live to serve, learn, and bask in your glory."

"Good Lord woman, you're beginning to sound like the owner's niece. No more IM's to or from Sally Brown. One of her is enough in this company. Just bring the damn communicator."

"Yes Sir!" The girl stood at attention and snapped of a perfect Boy Scout salute. She then reached over her shoulder and pulled what looked to be an old fashion cell phone from her backpack.

Gunny took the phone from the woman and frowned. "Just make sure the vehicle is unharmed."

He turned to Sal and I and groused, "I'd kick that girl's ass if I wasn't afraid she'd kick mine before I finished the job. Besides Sally Brown, the owner's niece and an operative herself, idolizes Charlie.

"Anyway, this is an encrypted com unit tied into our satellite network. I guarantee you the encryption cannot be broken. You have ten options on this unit. Zero is our main HQ. One is me, and two is the med tech you just pissed off. Number nine is a little surprise you may like. It's not as good as a Pizza Hut Delivery number, but you can't have everything.