Seth and Trevor grabbed him, one on each arm, and they led him to the road, then across, where Ji-Ho was hiding.

  “Why not kill?” Ji-Ho asked.

  “He surrendered,” Trevor said. “We should question him.”

  The boy shot a worried glance at Ji-Ho, then looked back at Trevor. “I’ll talk.”

  They brought him back to the Williams place and took him into the parlor. The room was rich looking, paneled in lush wood, with fine furniture. Seth and Trevor sat him down on an antique love seat and pointed their guns at his head. Ji-Ho stayed outside and sent a text to Trevor.

  Don’t tell him about the apps.

  Trevor sent a reply, which Ji-Ho read. Then he sent a broadcast text telling everybody that they had a prisoner in the house.

  Trevor looked at Seth, then back at the prisoner. Kaylee and Kaitlyn sat on chairs on either side of the door, guns in their hands.

  “What were you guys doing?” Trevor asked.

  “We survived the battle on the trail,” he said. “We were looking for a way to get back to our base.”

  “Which base?” Seth asked. “Where’s it located?”

  “El Cajon.”

  “That’s a long way,” Seth said. “How did you figure on getting back there?”

  “We were looking for a car to steal,” the prisoner said. “We saw vehicles here. We didn’t know this was your base. I swear.”

  “You’re English is good,” Trevor said. “Where are you from?”

  “I was here on a college visa when the war started,” he said.

  “You joined them, after you knew about this country?” Seth asked.

  “Drones killed my family in Iraq. I got mad and joined. I regretted it almost immediately.”

  “Why?” Seth asked.

  He looked up at Seth and Trevor, shame in his eyes. “Rape and murder. Terror. This isn’t good. Making sex slaves out of young girls isn’t good.”

  “Why did you stay?” Trevor asked.

  He shook his head. “Once you’re in, you can’t just quit. They’ll kill you. Happened to two of my friends.”

  “What does your army plan to do next?” Trevor asked.

  “Get rid of you guys, so we can go back to our main task.”

  “And what was that?” Seth asked.

  “Rebuild the supply depots along I-8, so the rest of our force can use it to come into El Cajon.”

  “What then?” Seth asked.

  “Attack the military bases in San Diego, with help from the UN and certain parts of the US Army,” he said.

  “The US Army is working with you guys?” Trevor asked.

  “They have been all along,” the prisoner said. “Some of them. The ones who aren’t working with General Walker and General Hogan.”

  “You know about Walker and Hogan?” Trevor asked.

  “Yes. I know a lot about computers. I usually work intel. When you guys cut off Highway 94 and ruined a bunch of our supply depots, we got low on fighters. They forced me into the battle along the trail.”

  Trevor sent a quick text to Ji-Ho.

  This guy is valuable. We should keep him.

  He got the reply after a few seconds.

  Garrett on way into house. I tell, so he doesn’t kill.

  Trevor showed the phone screen to Seth, who nodded.

  “Are you willing to cooperate?” Seth asked.

  “Yes, I’ll tell you what I know,” he said. “I’m done with those guys. I hate them all. They’re perverting our religion, and living by the flesh as they kill those they say are non-believers.”

  Garrett burst into the room, pistol in his hand. “Prisoner, huh?”

  “Yeah,” Trevor said. “He’s agreed to cooperate.”

  “Well, is that a fact?” Garrett asked, pulling a chair away from the desk and sitting down. “That true, heathen?”

  The prisoner nodded yes slowly.

  “Cat got your tongue?” Garrett asked.

  “No sir,” the prisoner said.

  “What’s your name, heathen?”

  “Hasan,” he said, his voice trembling.

  “Well, Hasan, what can you help us with?” Garrett asked.

  “I worked intel for the Caliphate,” he said.

  “I’ll just bet you did,” Garrett said. Seth and Trevor shot each other a glance.

  “How are you guys finding out where we are all the time?” Trevor asked.

  “Originally, we used cellphones,” Hasan said. “That doesn’t work so well anymore. Somebody on your side figured out how to get around it.”

  “Somebody in California?” Seth asked.

  “No, somebody in Texas, and it spread around from there. Now all we have is satellite imagery, and we’ve lost some key contacts for that.”

  “What are the longer-term plans?” Trevor asked. “After you get I-8 opened up again, and attack San Diego?”

  “They want to re-open the route on I-8 and attack San Diego, huh?” Garrett asked. “You’d have to move thousands of cretins into this area to take on the Navy base. You know that, right?”

  “Do you have any idea how many Caliphate warriors are in California and Mexico?” Hasan asked.

  “Please enlighten us,” Garrett said.

  “Right around six hundred thousand,” Hasan said. “With more on the way.”

  “Does that include the UN thugs?” Seth asked.

  Hasan shook his head. “Those guys couldn’t do the job in California, thanks largely to your boss.”

  “Our boss?” Trevor asked.

  “Ivan the Butcher,” Hasan said. “You guys are allied with him. We know that.”

  “Some of us are,” Garrett said. “Some of us have never had any contact with him.”

  “Those crazy motor homes you have come from Ivan,” Hasan said.

  “How do you know that?” Trevor asked.

  “Intel,” Hasan said.

  “We need to keep this guy,” Garrett said.

  “Like I said, I’ll cooperate,” Hasan said. “If you’ll do me a favor.”

  “A favor?” Seth asked.

  “Do you have any medical staff?” Hasan asked.

  “Why, got a hang nail?” Garrett asked.

  Trevor shot him a glance, and he nodded to go ahead.

  “We have a registered nurse here,” Kaitlyn said. “My mom.”

  “That would do it,” Hasan said.

  “What do you need?” Trevor asked.

  “I’ve got an RFID chip in my right triceps,” he said. “It’s how the Caliphate tracks its fighters. If I’m gonna stay with you, I’d like it taken out. This is something you’ll need to do anyway, because my leadership can see wherever I am if the chip is in me.”

  “You’re chipped like livestock?” Garrett asked, grinning.

  “Exactly,” Hasan said. “It’s a genius move. You didn’t know we had RFID chips?”

  “No,” Trevor said. “Do all of your fighters have RFID chips?”

  “All of our personnel have chips,” Hasan said. “All the way up the chain of command.”

  “Holy crap,” Garrett said. “Let’s go have a brief powwow. I’ll put a couple of my men in here to watch the prisoner.”

  “Can you guarantee that Hasan won’t get accidently shot?” Seth asked.

  Garrett chuckled. “I’ll tell them not to. If Hasan doesn’t try anything, he’ll be fine.”

  “I’m okay with that,” Trevor said.

  “Me too,” Hasan said.

  Garrett nodded, and slipped out of the room. Two of his men came in, both with 1873 Winchesters, wearing double six-guns. Garrett stuck his head in the door and motioned for the others to follow him out.

  “I’ll stay here if you want,” Kaylee said.

  “Fine with me,” Trevor said. Garrett’s men nodded in agreement.

  Ji-Ho was standing outside the room with Garrett. The others joined them.

  “This guy is valuable,” Garrett said.

  “I agree,” Trevor said.

  “Yeah,” Seth said. “We can’t slip about the RFID apps around him.”

  “Agreed,” Trevor said.

  “Are we going to remove his chip?” Kaitlyn asked.

  “I think we should,” Seth said. “We might be able to turn this guy completely, you know.”

  “You mean use him as a double agent?” Trevor asked. “Send him back to the enemy?”

  “We can’t,” Ji-Ho said. “Not if we remove chip, and we must if we keep him around more than day or two.”

  “Crap, you’re right,” Trevor said. “He does want out of that org, and he might still have access to some of their systems.”

  “Yep, if his chip disappears, they’ll probably write him off as dead,” Seth said.

  “You guys okay with my mom doing this?” Kaitlyn asked.

  “Do we have the stuff we need to remove it?” Seth asked.

  “Yes, the tribe has medical supplies,” Kaitlyn said. “Anesthetics, and things to keep him from getting infected, too.”

  “I say we do, and do quickly,” Ji-Ho said. “We should get other bodies and burn, so chips disappear.”

  “I’ll go get my mom,” Kaitlyn said. She rushed for the stairs and climbed them.

  “I think we can get this guy to join our team,” Trevor said.

  “You sure about that?” Garrett asked. “Once we get the chip out of him, what’s to stop him from taking off?”

  “We keep locked up for now,” Ji-Ho said. “See how he cooperates. Treat him with respect. Treat him like team member under house arrest.”

  “He said there’s six-hundred thousand Islamists in California and Mexico,” Seth said.

  “I believe,” Ji-Ho said. “I know Saladin. Only way he do this is if he has good odds. That many men good odds.”

  Kaitlyn came back down the stairs, Anna following her.

  “I asked her,” Kaitlyn said. “She’s okay with it.”

  “Where should we do it?” Trevor asked.

  “We could lay him on the kitchen counter,” Anna said. “That big island would work. We can get that granite clean enough.”

  “Okay, let’s get to work,” Trevor said.

  “Thanks, mom,” Kaitlyn said.

  Anna nodded. They went into the parlor to get Hasan.

  “Hi, I’m a registered nurse,” Anna said, moving forward and shaking hands with Hasan. “I can do the procedure. We have what we need.”

  Hasan looked relieved. “Thank you. When you’re done, we need to burn the chip. I’d do that with the two men I was with, too.”

  “Agreed,” Garrett said.

  They escorted him out of the room.

  {11}

  Peach Cobbler

  A nna and Kaitlyn used disinfectant wipes on the massive granite island in the kitchen. Seth and Trevor stood on either side of Hasan, watching them.

  “I’ll go get my bag while the counter dries,” Anna said. “You can assist, Kaitlyn.”

  “Okay, mom.”

  Anna left the room.

  “Don’t worry,” Kaitlyn said, looking at the fear in Hasan’s eyes. “She’s good. It won’t hurt. You’ll be sore for a few days, but we have medication for that.”

  “Thank you,” Hasan said.

  “Who made these chips?” Trevor asked. “You’ve got to have millions of them for your whole organization.”

  Hasan chuckled. “They’re made right here in California. The Mertins Plant in San Jose, to be exact.”

  “No way,” Seth said, shaking his head. “Figures.”

  “Do the UN Peacekeepers have chips?” Trevor asked.

  “No, but our other partners do,” Hasan said.

  “Other partners?”

  “The Militias,” Hasan said. “They’re not active in California, but they are a big deal in Nevada, Arizona, Utah, New Mexico, and Colorado.”

  “Which militias?” Seth asked. “We’ve never heard of this before.”

  “Secessionists,” Hasan said. “They hate the Federal Government, but are too stupid to realize that they’re fighting for them.”

  Seth shook his head. “Geez.”

  Anna walked back in with two bags. “Get up on the counter, please, on your back, head facing this way.”

  Hasan climbed up quickly, looking more scared now.

  “I don’t think I can watch this,” Trevor whispered. “I’m going back by the far wall.”

  Seth nodded, but stayed where he was, watching Kaitlyn and Anna work. “You’ve assisted before, haven’t you, sweetie?”

  Kaitlyn nodded. “Yep, in the tribal clinic. That was a part-time job for me.”

  “You should go back to school and become a nurse,” Anna said. “Hand me the gauze, please.”

  “We’ve been over this, mom. I like accounting better.”

  Anna sighed.

  They worked for about twenty minutes, Hasan sleeping through most of it.

  “Done,” Anna said. “Let’s bandage him up.” She used her tweezers to drop the chip into a small metal pan.

  “Where are we gonna put him?” Trevor asked, walking back over.

  “Good question,” Kaitlyn said.

  “He’ll be sleeping this off for at least a couple of hours,” Anna said.

  Garrett walked in. “How did it go?”

  “Fine,” Anna said. “It was buried pretty deep. He’ll be out for a couple hours. You know where we can put him?”

  “We’ve got some leg and wrist irons,” Garrett said. “We can chain him to something while he sleeps. Then maybe we can move him to Dodge City. We have a jail there.”

  “Dodge City,” Anna said. “You guys finished that?”

  “Yep, after we settled some things with the county,” Garrett said. “That was a learning experience.”

  “So I’ve heard,” Anna said. “Didn’t you have to tear some buildings down?”

  “A few,” Garrett said. “To be honest, I’m grateful. We learned a lot. Built a bunch more the right way after that. All with permits, all to code.”

  “Well, that’s good,” Anna said. “I’d love to see it someday.”

  “Then you shall,” Garrett said, tipping his hat as he went out to fetch the irons.

  “Flirting with Garrett, mom?” Kaitlyn asked, grinning.

  “Shut up,” she said. “You’re one to talk.”

  “Yeah, but I’m not married,” Kaitlyn said.

  “Your father isn’t with me anymore.”

  Kaitlyn nodded, sadness in her eyes. Seth shot her a glance, and she mouthed later.

  ***

  Karen and Tex were still in the embrace they fell asleep in, facing each other. Karen woke, feeling the sweat between them, and rolled onto her back. Tex stirred, his eyes fluttering open.

  “Wow, we stayed together the whole time, didn’t we?” Tex asked. “I’m all sweaty where I was pressed against you.”

  “This thing has an air conditioner, right?” Karen asked.

  “Yeah, two, one for the bedroom and one for the salon. The thermostat for the bedroom is by the door there, see it?”

  She looked, then nodded, catching his eyes on her breasts when she looked back. “Oh, you like, huh?”

  “You know I do,” Tex said. “Is it okay for me to look, or does it bother you?”

  “I guess you can look. You’ve earned that much. I’m going to the bathroom. Can I turn on the air conditioner?”

  “Of course,” he said, watching her climb out of bed. She adjusted the thermostat, and the air conditioner started with a rumble.

  “Wow, it’s loud.”

  “Sorry,” Tex said.

  “Maybe that’s a good thing,” she said as she slipped into the bathroom.

  What did she mean by that? Tex’s mind went to them, coupling with passion, his eyes glassed over when she returned. The sight of her made him moan.

  “You’re in quite a state,” she said as she went back under the sheet.

  “I think I’d better hit the bathroom too,” he said, getting up, his back to her to hide his condition.

  “Turn around,” she said. “You got to see me.”

  “I’m in a state you might not be ready for.”

  “Oh, please. You were in that state quite a bit while you were asleep, by the way.”

  Tex smiled, embarrassed. “Oh.” He turned towards her as he maneuvered around the bed to the door.

  “Wow, impressive,” she said, half a smile on her face.

  “No Texas comments.” He chuckled as he left the room, rushing to get back after a moment. She was lying on her side, head propped up on her hand and elbow, grinning at him.

  “Looks like you’re back to normal.”

  “Around you it isn’t really that normal,” Tex said.

  “My, but aren’t we talking naughty now,” Karen said, watching as he went to his side of the bed. “Maybe I spoke too soon.”

  “Stop it,” he said, shooting her an embarrassed glance.

  “What time is it?”

  Tex picked his phone off the ledge next to his side of the bed. “Almost ten pm. I think our nap might have messed with our sleeping patterns a little.”

  “It’ll be okay,” she said, turning on her back. “That air conditioner is cooling the room down nicely.”

  “Getting too cold?”

  “No, not at all. It feels good. And besides, we need the noise.”

  “What?” Tex asked.

  She rolled her eyes, then pulled at him. He got the message and rolled towards her, moving his upper torso against her.

  “C’mon, move closer,” she whispered.

  “I’m… you know.”

  “I would hope so,” she said, reaching for his hip and pulling. He groaned as he moved against her. “Wow. You’re back and then some.”

  “Sorry,” he said, moving away.

  “Stop!” she said, pulling him back. He groaned again.

  “You’re torturing me,” Tex said. She looked at him, a loving smile on her face. Tex trembled at the sight of it. “Haven’t seen that look from you before.”

  She looked him in the eyes, then took his hand and put it on her breast. “You don’t have to be that way anymore.” He rolled closer, kissing her gently, his whole body alive, his senses at the max.

  “How long will that air conditioner run?” she asked.

  “Depends. What’d you set it at?”

  “Sixty-six.”

 

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