The City Burns: A Prepper's Struggle for The Truth Read online

  A group of soldiers forced their way through the crowd and five men circled Jim A brash sergeant walked right up beside Jim and pressed the barrel of his Smith and Wesson 9mm into Jim’s temple.“ Drop it, fucker,” the sergeant said. Jim kept his gun pointed at the other MP. The sergeant pressed the barrel harder into Jim’s skull.

  “Drop it now!” the sergeant repeated.

  Jim let go of the MP’s arm and dropped the pistol to the ground. The sergeant grabbed Jim’s arms and threw them around his back, cuffed him, and slammed his face into the grass. The group of soldiers that were with the sergeant grabbed Samantha and Annie as they strode off through the crowd that had gathered. The sergeant pointed at Coyle and told another soldier to grab him as well. “But I didn’t get to finish my mush!” Coyle shouted as his tray dropped to the ground. Upon seizing Coyle, they escorted him out of the cafeteria with the others.

  Jim was taken into a separate tent and shackled to a chair. The MP he disarmed made sure to give him a nice pop in the stomach before he left to return the favor. Once the MP left an officer in fatigues entered the tent. Jim could only make out the silhouette and the circling smoke that rose from the tip of his cigar. He lingered for a moment before getting close enough for Jim to make out the features on his face and the four stars on his hat.

  He read from a file in his hand. “Jim Farr,” he said aloud, “Former officer and specialist in Navy Intelligence. Honorably discharged after twelve years of service and three combat tours during which he earned twenty commendations, two purple hearts, and the Navy Cross.”

  The general paced around Jim in his chair examining the contents of the file. He took a long drag of his cigar and puffed out a billow of smoke. “Now why the hell would someone who was awarded the Navy Cross attack two MPs at a military refugee camp?” he asked as finally looked up from reading.

  “The military and I haven’t really seen eye-to-eye over the past few year, General,” Jim answered. The General let out a hearty laugh as he chewed on the end of the cigar. “I can see that,” he said smiling. The General’s assistant came in and handed him another file along with a chair. He leaned back in his chair and his belly stretched as he attempted to get comfortable. Goddamn I’ve gotten fat,” the General moaned. Jim finally noticed the name on the general’s jacket. His eyes went wide as the words left him.

  “General Locke?” Jim asked.

  “We can talk about your father later, Farr. We have other pressing issues to worry about.” Locke motioned to Jim’s cuffs. “You can take those off,” the general said. “General, I highly suggest—” the assistant began. “Damnit, Chris, he’s not going to kill me. Take the cuffs off,” Locke barked.

  Chris hesitated for a moment, but walked over and set Jim’s hands free. Jim rubbed his wrists and Locke handed him a photograph. “That’s your brother in-law, Matt Kearny. He was picked up during the evacuation of Phoenix two weeks ago. Do you know what he does?” asked Locke.

  Jim looked over the photo of Matt in his hands. It was taken somewhere in a downtown area. “He’s an engineer for some software company,” he replied. “PamTech. They’re one of the military’s largest contractors. They handle a lot of our digital security platforms. You’re brother-in-law was one of their lead engineers who handled a majority of our accounts,” explained Locke.

  Jim shook his head and rested the paper down on his lap. “You think he has something to do with all of these attacks?” he asked. Locke paused for a moment before speaking. “I don’t know, but we do know that he was in charge of all of PamTech’s digital security functions. He has a security clearance higher than anyone in the company and we need him to grant us access to those files to see if they’ve been tampered with,” Locke continued.

  Jim rose out of his chair and turned his back to Locke as he continued to examine the picture. “Why don’t you just break through their fire wall? You have enough resources to do it,” he said. “We tried, but the files aren’t on their network. We think they’re on a stand-alone hard drive,” Locke said. “We need Matt to tell us where it is.”

  “How long have you had him?” Jim asked.

  “Jim, we’re running out of time. If we don’t get that data, then we could be open for more attacks. Hell, we still have riots happening all over the country. We need—”

  “How long?” Jim repeated. Locke let out a sigh. “Two weeks,” he answered.

  Jim’s jaw clenched. His hands tightened into fists. He turned and focused his eyes on Locke, but not before he noticed Chris’s hand at the firearm on his hip. “My sister has been asking about him since she got here and each time you told us you didn’t know,” Jim said.

  “Well, depending on who you asked, that was true. Besides us there are only a handful of people who know where he is and what this is about,” Locke replied.

  Jim closed his eyes and shook his head to calm himself. “You want me to convince him to give you the hard drive,” Jim sighed. Locke paused for a moment before he answered, “Yes.” Jim opened his eyes, walked back over to the chair, and sat down. He looked back down at the photo in his hands as he spoke. “My sister and niece get to see him before I help you,” he said.

  Locke glanced over at Chris who was shaking his head. “Done,” he answered. “You leave today.” He rose and grabbed the grabbed the picture in Jim’s hand. “Jim, we need that drive,” Locke said. Jim’s hand tightened on the file as Locke tried to pull it away. “And my niece needs her father,” he replied. Locke tapped his cigar with his finger and ash fell onto the dirt floor. He gave a weary smile. “Let’s hope we both get what we want,” he said.

  Upon his release, Jim was met outside by Annie, Samantha, and Coyle They each had a million questions, but mostly Coyle. Jim pulled Samantha to the side out of earshot from the others. “They have Matt,” said Jim. Samantha let out a shocked, harsh whisper, “What?” She looked around as if he was there in one of the tents. “Where is he?” she asked.

  Jim kept his voice down as he spoke, “They want something he was working on for his company. I think they were going to use you and Annie as leverage to get what they want.” She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “They can’t do that!” She wasn’t whispering anymore. Jim wrangled her back in. “Hey, we need to be smart.” He glanced around at the soldiers before looking back at her. “They think I can convince him to give up what they want.”

  Samantha’s voice was harder now. “And what happens if you can’t convince him?” she asked. Jim looked over at Annie who was huddled next to Coyle. She had her arms wrapped around his leg and was glancing up at the soldiers around her. Jim looked back over to Samantha who had followed his line of sight. “Oh, God,” she gasped.

  “It won’t come to that,” he reassured her. “It might,” a stern, cold voice said from behind him. When Jim turned around he saw the same sergeant who had his gun against his temple less than twenty minutes ago.

  “You give me any trouble on this trip and I’ll put a bullet in your head right after making you watch me put one in each of your family’s.” he said. The corners of his mouth turned up slightly as he finished his sentence. Locke appeared from the distance and yelled for the sergeant. “Sergeant Hult,” he said, “will you join me for a moment, please?” Hult snapped to attention. “Yes, Sir!” he yelled. He marched off and Jim and Samantha walked back over to Annie and Coyle. Samantha scooped Annie up as she wrapped her arms around her mother’s neck. She held her daughter close.

  Coyle walked over to Jim who had his eyes on Locke’s tent. “What’d captain stars and stripes want?” he asked. Jim kept his focus on the tent as he spoke. “We’re going on a trip.” He turned back around and saw that Coyle was glancing at the tent as well. “I need you to come with me,” he said.

  “Why do I get the feeling that we’re going to do something dangerous?” Coyle sighed. Hult exited the tent with a grimace on his face. Whatever Locke had said to him he wasn’t happy about it. He slammed his shoulder into Jim as he walked by. “
We leave in an hour,” he said while not making eye contact. The trucks pulled up as Jim, Samantha, Coyle, and Annie stood with their packs alongside Hult and his soldiers. Two soldiers jumped out of the back of the truck and Jim’s jaw dropped when he saw who it was.

  The soldier smacked on some gum and had a smile from ear to ear. “When they told me who I was picking up I literally told my CO to shut the fuck up,” the man said. “He wasn’t very happy about it.” Jim laughed and stretched out his arms as the two men hugged and slapped each other on the back. Jim turned around and introduced everyone. “Sam, this is an old friend of mine, Brett Fox.” He motioned to him and then back to his sister. “Brett, this is my sister Sam, her daughter Annie, and my friend Coyle.” Brett went down and shook Samantha’s hand, gave Annie a high five, and gripped Coyle’s hand so hard that he heard it pop. Coyle made sure he didn’t show the grimace on his face until Brett turned back to Jim.

  “What are you doing here?” Brett asked.

  “It’s a long story, but it’s damn good to see you,” replied Jim.

  Brett introduced his partner to the group who simply called himself Twink. Annie grabbed Tigs’s cage and it rocked back and forth awkwardly as she meowed uncomfortably from inside. Jim tried to convince Annie that Tigs would be safer here, but she was insistent on bringing the cat. Coyle agreed with her. “Yeah,” he said, “if we run out of food at least we’ll have something to eat.” It took them twenty minutes to get Annie to stop crying.

  The truck rumbled off with Coyle in the rear truck with Hult and his soldiers while Jim, Annie, Samantha, Tigs, Brett, and Twink sat in the lead truck. Brett passed the time with old war stories of him and Jim. He kept it clean due to some of the company, but he wasn’t always successful. “So this dumbass comes running out of the bunker with a handful of grenade pins screaming his head off and just before they go off he jumps behind the barricade where I’m sitting there with the bomb switch in my hand,” Brett jeered.

  Brett then started to laugh. “I asked him what he was doing and he says, some redecorating.” He pulled up the sleeve on his arm and a six inch scar ran along the top of his forearm. “Twenty stitches,” he said, “Some redecorating job.”

  Jim smiled, “I got a black eye for that one.”

  “That was almost twenty years ago right after I joined. I was a little brash during my first tour,” Brett replied. Jim shook his head. “We got lucky a lot that year,” Jim said.

  Brett raised his eyebrows. “Lucky? Hell, it’s like we were protected by a legion of angels. Some of the shi—,” he stopped as his eyes flew over to Annie looking at him, “—stuff that we got ourselves into was unbelievable.” Jim leaned in with a puzzled look on his face. “I thought you got out years ago?” he asked. Brett waved him off with a scoff. “Ah, I tried,” he said. He looked down at his rifle and dusty uniform and shrugged. “I’m just not good at anything else, Jim. This is what I know. This is what I love.”

  Coyle looked at Brett with concern. “So you’re crazy then,” Coyle said. Twink let out a laugh and Brett stared down the two of them. Jim tried to change the subject. “How long ‘till we get there?” he asked. Brett kept his eyes on Coyle as he spoke. “A few hours,” he answered. Samantha spoke up, “A few hours? I thought Matt was in Phoenix?”

  Brett shook his head. “He’s in a facility just east of the city. It’d be faster if we cut through, but the city still isn’t secure yet.” “Secure from what?” Jim asked. Brett leaned in and motioned for them to do the same. His voice was low as he spoke. “Half the city is in havoc. With all the other shit that’s been happening around the country we don’t have the personnel to secure the city. They’re actually bringing home U.S. soldiers stationed in other countries to help with relief.”

  Jim couldn’t believe it. “It’s that bad out there?” he asked.

  “It’s turning into the wild-fucking-west out here, man.” Brett leaned back and slammed his body against the seat, making a loud thump. He flashed another wide smile. “Good job security for me though.” The sun was still high when they arrived at the makeshift base. It wasn’t much to look at, but what it lacked in building structure they made up for in fire power. There were constant patrols around the camp along with guard stations that housed machine gun nests. Jim wasn’t sure if this was to keep people out, or in.

  Coyle jumped out of the truck first and quickly rushed over to Jim. He clutched his bag and kept glancing back behind him. “Those guys really don’t have a sense of humor.” He leaned into Jim as he spoke through the corner of his mouth. “If you find me dead tell the police it was that guy,” Coyle said as he motioned over to Hult who looked even more pissed than when he came out of Locke’s tent.

  Samantha pulled on Jim’s shoulder and spun him around. “When do we get to see Matt?” she asked. Hult came up behind them. “Once you get him to give us what we need the rest of you can see him,” barked Hult. Samantha began to shout, “If you think you can keep my daughter from seeing her father…” Her fist was raised as she got closer to Hult.

  Jim held her back. “I’ll help you after they get to see him,” he said calmly.

  Hult kept the grip around his rifle tight. He motioned over to his men and they grabbed Samantha and Annie. “They get five minutes,” ordered Hult.

  There was one stand-alone building in the center of the camp. It looked as the camp had been constructed around it. There was one door guarded by four armed men. It was a secure building that required a badge and key code to enter. Inside was one solid room with cubicle barriers separating different desks and personnel. Jim, Samantha, and Annie were escorted by Hult and his men past the desks to another door that led to a dimly lit hallway with multiple doors on each side.

  The group walked down to the fifth door on the left. Hult unlocked the door and swung it open. Samantha and Annie leaned their heads around the corner and then rushed inside. Jim heard sobs as he looked inside and saw Matt clutched with his arms around the two girls holding them tight. He kissed the two of them. The wounds on his face were covered with bandages and his eyes weren’t swollen anymore. Samantha held his face in her hands and the three of them just sat huddled on the floor whispering “I love you” to each other.

  Matt’s bandaged fingers ran through his daughter’s hair, and as she smiled at him his eyes welled up with tears. “Matt,” Samantha asked, “what happened? Why are you here?” Hult cut in. “Okay, times up.” “No!” Annie screamed. She glued herself to her father’s side as the soldier’s came in and peeled her off of him.

  She was screaming and crying now. Matt tried to calm her. “It’s okay, baby. It’s okay,” he kept repeating, “Daddy will see you soon.” Samantha kissed him as Matt kept telling her that he loved them. She went over to the solider that had Annie and grabbed the wailing child in her arms. As Annie took her out of the room, tears were running down her face. Her outstretched arms desperately reached for her father. Samantha eyed Jim and Hult grabbed his arm. “You get us what we need, or they never see him again,” Hult threatened. “Understand?”

  He shoved Jim into the cell as Matt sat sobbing on the ground. The door slammed shut and the two of them were locked in. Matt stood up and sat on the small cot trying to get himself together. “I knew you’d go and find them when all of this shit started to happen,” Matt said as he wiped his eyes and cleared his throat from the snot that had built up. “Thank you, Jim.” Jim took in his brother-in-law. It didn’t seem like the same man. He was always so put together, but the heaping pile of meat and bones in front of him had been beaten down.

  “Matt, what happened?” Jim asked. Matt glanced at the door and then back at Jim. “Did they tell you what they want?” Jim nodded. “Some kind of security data. They think it’s on a hard drive and they think you know where it is,” he replied. Matt gave out a small laugh, “They’re not as dumb as they look then.” Jim snapped back. “Matt, if you know where it is then just tell them. If you don’t tell them they’re going to hurt Sam and Annie.�
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  Matt shook his head. “You don’t understand, Jim.” Jim walked over to Matt and knelt in front of his cot to get eye level with him. Matt continued, “The project I was working on handled all of the security codes, clearances, and firewalls for all classified military documents. Those documents had intelligence information on terrorist groups, covert agents, missions, and nukes. It had fucking everything.”

  “I was meeting with a group of military personnel every week for status updates on the project, any updates they needed to add, and whatever they wanted. The week before the attacks in San Diego, I found a hole in the firewall where documents of classified information were being sent from secure servers to ghost files with no known source. When I approached my superiors about it they said that it would be handled internally by the military. The morning before the attacks I was at the office and saw that the hole was still open, so I checked to see what had been sent and there was an encrypted order with a list of times and locations all around the country.”

  Matt paused as Jim took everything in and then continued. “I think there’s a high level security threat in the military that caused these attacks.” “Did you tell them that?” asked Jim. Matt shook his head. “No, I don’t know who’s involved, but I figured if they tried to go after Sam and Annie they’d eventually run into you.” Matt smiled. “And I was right.”