Conflicted Home (The Survivalist Book 9) by A American (learn to read books TXT) 📕

to be a nine or so hour dive. It’ll probably take twelve or better now. What about driving it at night?”

“We could. But it would take a lot longer. You just can’t drive as fast. We’ll start out driving during the day. If things get hairy, then we’ll switch to driving at night with night vision. But honestly, Morgan, I don’t think it’ll happen.” He smiled, “Should be a milk-run.”

“How are you going to convince Sheffield to give you a couple of MRAPs?”

He gave me a conspiratorial smile. “I’m not going to. You are.”

“Me?”

“Yes, good Sheriff. You’re going to tell the honorable Captain you need some of his men and a couple of trucks to handle something up this way. He won’t question you. He’d probably tell me no. Not that he doesn’t have the bodies or equipment. With all the trucks we seized from the DHS camp, there’s more than enough. But we only want one MRAP. And we’re going to need one of his five-ton medium transports with a five-ton trailer. That way we can bring everything back with us.”

“What are we getting?”

“More ammo. Fuel, food, and medical supplies. Some heavy weapons. We don’t have anything to deal with armor like the last encounter. I want something that will handle that. Plus, new commo gear, batteries. That sort of thing.”

“He’s going to be pissed when he finds out what we did,” I said, referring to Sheffield.

“Let him. I don’t give a shit. Part of this is for him and his people anyway.”

“Why don’t you just tell him what you’re doing?” I asked.

He leaned forward and sneered. “If he won’t share his info with me, why the hell should I share anything with him?”

I leaned back and shook my head. “You know, if you two worked together, we would be more effective.”

He waved dismissively. “There’s nothing going on that needs coordination. When the time comes for that, I promise you we’ll work together. I’ll just tell him what to do, and he’ll do it.”

I leaned back, shaking my head. “Oh yeah, he’ll do just that.” Cocking my head to the side, I asked, “You think this trip will interfere with the weddings?”

He shook his head. “Naw. Them ladies need time to plan anyway. They won’t be ready any time soon. They’ll want to sit around and cluck about it for a while.”

“You better not let them hear you talk like that. They’ll have your head.” I laughed. “So, when do we go see Sheffield? When do you want to leave?”

“Let’s go see him in the morning. I want to leave soon.”

“Alright,” I said as I stood up. “I’ll be right back.”

“Where you going?”

“Just hang on,” I said as I went through the door.

I made my way back out to the porch. Everyone was still sitting around talking. It was much quieter now, but there was still a lot of chatter going on. I went to Mel and whispered in her ear to come with me. She got up and followed me into the house. “What?” She asked.

“Hang on, Sarge wants to talk to you.”

“Me?” She asked. “What’s he want with me?”

Opening the door, I replied, “You’ll see.”

Sarge looked up when I came out. Then he saw Mel. I could see on his face he wanted to kill me, but he held his tongue in check. Though I was certain I’d hear about it later. Mel stepped out onto the porch and looked at him. He stared back, and she looked at me and asked, “Well?”

I looked at Sarge and said, “Go ahead.”

She was getting irritated. “Someone better say something.”

“Have a seat, Mel,” Sarge said as he pointed to a rocker. “I know you’re not going to like this, but—”

She cut him off, “But what?”

“We’re going to have to take a road trip and I need Morgan to go with us. It’s important.” She looked at me with an ice-cold glare. “Look, he doesn’t want to go. But I need him to. We won’t be gone long.”

“How long?” She asked.

“We should be back within a week.”

“A week!” She shouted. “Where are you going?”

He reached out to pat her leg, but apparently, he got a look that stopped him. “We’re going up to Eglin Air Force base.”

“Where’s that?” She asked.

“It’s up near Pensacola,” I replied.

“Why do you have to go?” She asked.

Sarge took a deep breath. “You remember what we saw at the park. We have to go meet with the general over the state. There are foreign troops here and we need to be prepared to deal with them when they come.”

She looked at me. “There’s soldiers coming here?”

“I don’t know,” I replied.

“It’s not like they’re on their way right now,” Sarge said. But even I knew he had no way of knowing. “But if they do come here with tanks, we have no way of dealing with them. So, we need better weapons. We also need supplies for the clinic in town and some other things. We’re going to pick up a load of supplies.”

Mel looked at me, then back at Sarge. “Why does Morgan need to go? He’s not a soldier.”

“No, he’s not. But he’s a big part of things here and the general wants to see him. I promise this won’t be a big deal. We’ll be back before you know it.”

“But if you guys are all going, who’s going to look after things here?”

“We’re going to have some of the Guardsmen from town come out here while we’re away. You’ll be safe,” I replied.

She threw her hands up. “I know it doesn’t matter what I say. I know you’re going.”

“It has to be done, Mel,” Sarge said.

She shrugged. “Just be careful and come back home.”

I gave her a hug and a kiss. “I will. Promise.”

“I’ll get him back home to you, Mel,” Sarge said. I promise”

She looked at me. “You walked home from there once before. I just hope you don’t have to again. But I know you’ll come back. I’m going back to the fun.