James, Marix, Deberg, and Warren were almost embarrassingly helpful to the Grays, especially Lindy, who, with all the help, needed only point to what she wanted moved. Talking to each other the men guessed at the young woman’s age. James guessed her to be near nineteen or twenty, Deberg thought nineteen and Marix assured them all she was at least twenty. Pickett watched from a distance
Unable to stand it any longer Deberg waited until a time when Lindy’s parents were occupied and at a distance. Then he asked Lindy, “How old are you?” The other three men listened intently.
With a quick glance to her parents and assured they wouldn’t hear, Lindy turned to Deberg, glanced to each of the other three men, fluttered her eyes and with a mischievous sexy smile said, “Going on twenty.”
“You should be a model,” James blurted.
Again she smiled, turned and sashayed away, enjoying the eyes she knew followed her every move.
Snidely, Deberg turned to the other three men. “Told you she was nineteen.” The four then continued about their unfinished business of loading the trucks.
In the process of loading things, Krysti grabbed Beau’s duffel bag, accidentally spilling the contents in the Corvette. A small leather case popped open revealing many medallions. One was a five-point star with a ribbon to be worn around the neck, another was an ornate star, and the third a round medallion with a wreath surrounding an eagle. The Medal of Honor, the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Distinguished Service Medal, none of which Krysti recognized. Nor did she recognize the medal with the Hebrew engravings: The Hero of Israel. She knew they were medals of some kind and might be important so she returned them to the case. Due to her short time with the military she had no way of knowing they were his and that they were the medals awarded for bravery, while fighting for what he believed in.
Krysti tried to ask Garrett a question, but seemed hesitant. Finally she spoke. “Is Beau the one from Israel?”
“Yes,” he said firmly, watching her reaction. It was as though he had dealt her a crushing blow as she momentarily staggered from the single word. “Girl, let me tell you something. War is hell and you can forget the Geneva Conference, because there are no rules in war. As much as we try to follow rules, it can’t be done. You may not understand it, but we’re in real trouble, the likes of which this country has never seen. Honey, we need you now more than ever. Don’t fall apart on us. Enemy forces are all around us, and the straight truth is an invasion has been launched against the United States and we don’t know its magnitude.”
“He doesn’t know where we are. How will he know where to find us?” Krysti pleaded.
Garrett could see Krysti cared a great deal for Beau. She seemed oblivious to what he told her. He tried to comfort her when he said, “Beau has the uncanny ability to do what is required when it is needed. Like a magician, he always has one more rabbit to pull from his hat.”
Bewildered at the strange events occurring with deadly speed, Krysti shook her head in confusion. “Yes… but will he return?”
He could tell she was worried and concerned. Garrett smiled and assured her. “He’ll return. Tough times go away. Tough men don’t.”
A man in civilian clothes, with a military rifle at the ready, stood guard outside Walker’s house. Already alerted they were coming, he let them pass.
Inside they found three officers hastily changing to civilian clothes. Tracy sat on the couch crying, while two of the officer’s wives tried to comfort her. Walker’s wife, Katy, recognized Beau and pulled him to the side.
Katy said, “Tracy’s husband is dead. He was killed yesterday trying to take off and fight. Snipers shot him while he sat in the cockpit of his plane. He never had a chance. She’s in no condition to stay here, so we were going to take her with us.”
“That won’t be necessary. We’ll take her,” Beau interjected.
“You’re lucky you found us. We’ve been hiding since they landed. This was our first chance to gather a few things and leave. It’s awful. Those men have control of the base.”
“Who were they?”
“I don’t know. My husband said some were speaking Spanish. They all spoke English and a few had a Middle Eastern accent. I know I’ve heard that accent when we were in Saudi. We barely managed to escape from the base. I still can’t believe it,” Katy said, in shaken disbelief.
Beau heard the same story from her husband, Scott Walker. He had decided with two other officers to head to East Texas, in the hopes they could find the four Harriers they tested only two days earlier. Scott invited Beau to go back with him and fight but Beau declined.
Most of the people in the neighborhood were afraid to leave and afraid to stay. The people had no idea as to the vastness of the situation. Scott told Beau people were waiting for the banks to open. Others were trying to cash in insurance policies. Some had left town but most had returned to their homes already. They had nowhere to go and were unable to do anything for themselves but wait. The people lacked the knowledge and/or the ability to survive on their own. Most wandered about aimlessly or hid inside their houses, terrified to venture out.
Scott warned Beau and his brothers of a danger worse than the enemy — other Americans.
Then Beau described what he had seen happen to Lipton and Washington. After what Scott had seen, Beau’s story was not hard to believe.
“This might be a bigger problem than the invaders,” said Scott. “There are a lot of people already looting, burning, killing, and raping. Even worse, those people are beginning to band together and have become extremely dangerous and deadly.” Scott added, “I think it might be safer to have the enemy catch us than the marauding gangs of deadly Americans.”
“That bad already?” said Beau.
Scott nodded. “Only our rifles have kept a few groups away, but those groups are banding together and getting larger and more dangerous every day.”
Beau wished them luck and regretted not going with them. Maybe he could extract a measure of revenge if he found the Harriers, but his obligation to Tracy and the others forced him to remain behind.
He knew Cobra was probably near, but where and with what part of the invasion? Why were enemy soldiers hunting for Tracy? Only Cobra would order the soldiers to find her, but he discarded the possibility that those pursuing her could be doing so in some kind of retaliation against him. Quickly he collected Admiral Garrett’s emotionally distraught daughter. With Tracy safely strapped in the back seat of the four-seater buggy, the brothers prepared for the return trip.
Less than five minutes from Tracy’s house they met with resistance where an enemy barricade blocked the street they traversed. Bullets started to fly and they spun their vehicles around, crashed through two fences in a residential area, and eluded their pursuers. Only their familiarity with the area saved their lives.
Suddenly, Tracy started to scream hysterically. “Stop! God will take care of us! God will take care of everything!”
Beau grabbed the woman and shook her, but still she continued to scream. He slapped her and yelled, “God isn’t going to do shit!” She was so stunned, she quit screaming and he squeezed her arms with his hands and pulled her near. “God gave you a brain, Tracy. Use it! There will be no miracles today. If we survive it will only be through our own actions.”
She started gibbering incoherently, slipping into self-induced shock. Beau knew they would need to hurry, if only to save her. What problems had confronted the others? Hopefully they had not run into trouble.
Night was drawing near. Only a few more hours remained before it became too dark to travel. Still trapped in the city, they would need headlights to continue their escape in the nighttime hours, but the lights would make them easy targets. Night travel would be too dangerous and probably deadly for all.