Free Bug Out! Part 9: RV Ambush by Robert Boren

looking over at him. He sighed. “When do you want to start?”
    “I thought so,” Scotty said. “I knew you couldn’t back away.”
    “Whatever. Where?”
    “I think we should enter the State of Misery.”
    “Misery?” Howard asked, looking at him.
    “Missouri, dummy,” Scotty said, snickering. “I know a few good pickup points in Kansas City. We’ll do one there, then maybe one in Indiana, and one in Ohio. Then you’ll be free to go.”
    “I don’t think ‘free’ is the way I’d portray it, Scotty.”
    “You’ll thank me. After we take care of the interlopers, there will be many more adventures for us to enjoy.”
    “You’re going to end up like Jason, or Dagger,” Howard said. “You know that, right?”
    “I don’t think so.”
    “What makes you more special than them?” Howard asked.
    “I’m smarter.”
    Howard shook his head and sighed again. They settled in for the drive. It would be over six hours.
    Jane walked into the clubhouse, and turned on the lights. “You almost done for the day, honey?”
    Frank looked up from his monitor. He looked beat. “Oh, I suppose. This is frustrating.”
    “You looked like you were making good progress earlier.”
    “Well, yes and no,” Frank said. “Daan has a good set of security bots watching things on his system. I’ll have to overwhelm them somehow, but if I get too heavy handed, he’s going to take notice. The last thing we want is for him to realize what I’m after.”
    “He can’t figure out it’s you that’s looking, can he?”
    “No,” Frank said. “I’m running most of the attacks from a series of company servers. It would take a long time for Daan to realize that the attacks aren’t really coming from El Segundo, Colorado Springs, or Philly.”
    “This isn’t going to get Rami in trouble, I hope.”
    “No, it shouldn’t,” Frank said. “I’m not using servers that he has control over, but I am on the user ID that he’s been protecting.”
    “Can you break now?” she asked.
    “Yeah. I’m just spinning my wheels. I made a good discovery, at least. I found the names file, and several backups.”
    “But you can’t grab it?” Jane asked.
    “No, if I try, the bots will stop me before the download gets over, and then they’ll know what I’m looking for.”
    “Well, sometimes you solve problems like this after sleeping on it, you know,” Jane said.
    “I know. That’s the point I’m at now, I’m afraid. Let’s go.” He logged off of his computer, and pulled the network cable.
    “Why’d you do that?” Jane asked.
    “Just in case somebody figures out how to follow me home,” he said.
    They left the clubhouse, turning off the lights on the way out. It was peaceful. The other coaches had their lights on now.
    “You look worried,” Frank said.
    “Of course,” she said. “We have friends in harm’s way. They could get killed or captured, and it could come back to bite us here too.”
    “Yes, that’s true,” Franks said.
    “Our new trailer owners were all practicing this afternoon,” Jane said.
    “Practicing?”
    “Yeah, hooking up their trailers and driving around the park.”
    “Oh,” Frank said. “They’re afraid we’re going to have to flee again.”
    “Yes,” Jane said. “Wonder if we should have our slides in and our levelers up?”
    “Nah,” Frank said. “If the enemy could sneak up on us, it won’t matter. They’d kill us on the road just as quick as they would here.”
    “You always know how to make me feel at ease, don’t you,” she said, chuckling.
    “You already knew the answer to the question before you asked it,” Frank said.
    “I know,” she sighed. “Sometimes I need reassurance.”
    They got to the coach, and Frank opened the door, standing aside for Jane to enter.
    “No, I’m just bringing you home, Frank. Sleep. Recharge. I’m going back to help Jasmine be the eyes in the sky for our away team.”
    “Oh,” Frank said sheepishly. “I should have known.