CHAPTER 22

Barbara finished loading up the last of her side arms. She now had four total and as many extra magazines as she could fit in the ballistics vest. She also had the two shot guns. She planned on keeping one slung and the other as her primary firepower. She always hated shooting those things at qualification. They kicked horrifically and always left her shoulders bruised. She could never image needing anything bigger and could hardly figure on even needing something that big. Now she looked down at her two large bore weapons and thought them rather puny when she considered what they were up against. They needed bigger guns and a lot more of them!

Then Barbara looked to the back seat of Norm’s car and at the big bag that he normally kept in his trunk. He had pulled it out just before leaving the station. Barbara realized there was no way he could have came in this morning, knowing that he would need that bag. It led her to the question, “do you always keep that much firepower in the trunk of your car?”

“No,” Norm said as he drove slowly down the back road, towards the L-5. He then added, “most of the time I got more. I just didn’t know a war was going to break out today or I would have brought the big stuff.”

Big stuff? Barbara realized she was going to have to have a serious talk with her second in command, after this was all over. What she was going to tell him was another story. Right now, Barbara was leaning towards commanding him to have his big stuff, all the time! She then looked forward and let out a big nervous sigh, “you’re driving pretty slow, you know that, right?”

“I always do when I’m on my way to get killed,” Norm replied.

Barbara noted rhetorically, “gee Norm, I didn’t know that was so often.”

Norm replied anyway, “you mean since Jake got here?”

That caused Barbara to think and then reply, “point taken.”

Then Norm went on, “sides that. We don’t want to cross the L-5 till we get the call.” He then checked his rear view mirror and noted, “at least they’re still back there.”

Tony was driving the stations one and only operational vehicle. He had Garcia riding shotgun with Amy and Danni in the back seat. Barbara looked back and then asked Norm, “why wouldn’t they be? You think they might chicken out? Not that it’s entirely unreasonable right now.”

“Na,” Norm replied. “I’m more afraid they might start shooting each other. Putting Amy and Danni in the backseat together, right now, with Tony driving? I was all for sending Danni in the other direction.”

Barbara’s fear mixed with frustration and she blew up, “I don’t need to worry about that right now Norm! In less than an hour it’s probably not going to matter anyway.”

Fortunately, the phone rang and Norm pulled it out of the little cubby hole in his dashboard. He was quick and nervous when he said, “what’s the word?”

The girl on the other end replied, “who the fuck is this?”

Norm bit her head off, “you know goddamn well who this is Betsy! Now tell me what you looking at!”

“I was supposed to talk to Jake,” Betsy replied. She did not cower from Norm’s temper and it was a different experience for him.

That did not stop Norm’s temper however, “well now you talking to me. You going to tell me or not?”

After a moment of thinking, Betsy relented, “they just took off.” The girl began rattling off what all the helicopters were called and even what units they belonged too. Norm had no clue what all of it meant and, more importantly, he really didn’t care. He did care about the chopper he saw off in the distance. It had been holding it’s position for a while now and had maintained a line of sight on them since they left the station.

Finally when the girl stopped talking, Norm asked her, “how you know all that shit?”

“I’m a Marine Norm,” the girl snapped back. “They make us learn all that stuff.”

“Oh yeah,” Norm snorted out, “I keep forgetting. All right girl, get your ass back to the consulate. You should be safe enough there.”

“I don’t work for you,” Betsy replied in no uncertain terms. “Leave my exit strategy to me, please.”

“Fine then,” Norm told her, “stay there and get your ass killed. I don’t care.” He hung up and tossed the phone back in it’s hole. Then he told Barbara, “Jake was right. Horst is moving.”

All Barbara could say to that was, “oh god. How desperate are we. We don’t have to depend on one American. Now it’s two.” The thought never seemed to occur to her that, once again, Jake had been right. Norm did not wish to broach that subject even if he noticed. Barbara did not give him a chance too. She broke out with a very unrelated issue that almost made Norm’s eyes pop out of his head. She asked him, “first, it was Jessica Walsh. Now.. You don’t think he’s also screwing that little marine girl do you? She’s almost young enough to be his daughter!”

Norm’s jaw fell open. He then just said it, “what the fuck has gotten in to you?”

“What?” Barbara seemed genuinely confused by Norm’s attitude. She then told him, “I want to know if we have a pervert living in the barracks Norm. My daughter lives there too, you know?”

Norm decided it was a road he did not want to go down. However, on the one that he was traveling, he saw a traffic cluster and, even more important, the L-5 overpass. On the other side of the tunnel, created by the freeway, were a line of fire trucks that were blocking traffic that was going both north and south. As Norm slowed his car he grabbed his phone again and this time he called the station.

Bob picked up and Norm told him, “pass the word. We got confirmation and we are now at the point of no return.”

Bob Johnson sounded as nervous as Norm felt, “are we really sure this a good idea?”

Norm bit his head off, “what the fuck you worried about. You back at the station. Now, tell his highness to get off his throne. Everything is a go from here on out. Understand?”

“Um,” Bob stumbled around and finally got out, “Roger Wilcox, over and easy, ten fourteen… or whatever people say during stuff like this.”

“Just do it Bob,” Norm commanded and then hung up. As the car came to a stop he looked at Barbara and told her, “I think Bob just jumped off the deep end.”

Barbara nervously shrugged and said, “actually I thought he was the sane one. He’s still back at the station.” She then changed the subject and got back to work, “now just drive around these cars, Norm! We’ve got to get under that bridge.”