Phoenix Rising: by William W. Johnstone Read Free Book Online Page B

fire. Bullets crashed through the windshield of the Mercedes, punched holes in the side, and slammed into Shihad, leaving his body a bloody mess in the back seat.
    Frazier and Dean left the two weapons in one of the cars, then drove off in the other. Driving quickly through the Addison tunnel, they turned onto Dooley where the saw Buck’s truck sitting about a hundred yards up from the corner. The doors to the trailer were open, and there were two ramps leading up into the trailer.
    Frazier, who was driving, drove up the ramp into the trailer. He and Dean got out of the car and pulled the ramps up as Carter Davis, who was waiting on the side of the road, hurried up to close the trailer doors. That done, he walked up to the front of the truck.
    â€œDrive away,” he said.
    Buck nodded, put the truck in gear, then drove away. After he turned onto Midway, before he reached the LBJ Freeway, he was met by three SPS cars, their red and blue lights flashing, the warning sirens blaring.
    Fort Morgan
    There were, by now, several groups of freedom fighters around the country, most of them in the South. Fort Benning, Georgia, Pensacola Naval Air Station in Florida, Fort Rucker in Alabama, Keesler Air Force Base in Mississippi, and Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana were now in control of the patriots, occupied in the main by many of the men and women had had been stationed there in the pre-O time.
    Even though Jake Lantz and the Phoenix Rising group had taken over Mobile, the capital of what they were now calling United Free America was still located at Fort Morgan.
    â€œWhy shouldn’t we stay here?” Jake replied when he asked why they didn’t move the capital to Mobile. “We have everything we need at the fort, it is easily defended, and it has probably gone through a hundred or more hurricanes without damage. I see no reason why we shouldn’t stay right where we are.
    Not one of the group who identified themselves as Phoenix Rising, disagreed with Jake.
    That had been an earlier discussion. At the moment though, Jake Lantz and Bob Varney were at the Mobile airport. When Mobile was freed from the State Protective Service there were several aircraft there that were returned to their original owners. One was a business jet, a Cessna Citation 10 which belonged to Vaughan Charter. Jake and Bob had arranged for Dick Vaughan to fly them to the five military bases in order to enter into conversation with the patriots who now occupied them.
    The fastest business jet in the world, the Citation 10 is a six hundred mile per hour aircraft so that wheels up to wheels down between Mobile and Pensacola was a matter of minutes only. Landing on Runway 7R, Vaughan was able to take the A5 exit, then he taxied back down the A taxiway to Base Ops. There were at least half a dozen men standing out front, waiting for them. Jake opened the door and stepped down, followed by Bob, and then by Vaughan.
    A short, grey-haired man stepped forward. “I’m Hi Gurney,” he said as he extended his hand in greeting.
    â€œMr. Gurney, I’m Jake Lantz.” Jake took Gurney’s hand, then introduced Bob and his pilot.
    â€œCome on in, have some coffee with us and we’ll talk about things,” Gurney invited.
    â€œWill your plane need servicing?” one of the others asked.
    â€œNo, thanks, it’s good,” Vaughan said. “General, I’ll wait out here with the plane,” he added to Jake.
    â€œAll right,” Jake said.
    â€œGeneral, huh?” one of the men with Gurney said. “Well you two should get along fine. Hi was an admiral.”
    Jake chuckled. “Then you’ve got me ranked, Admiral. I was a major in the pre-O days. This gentleman, who is the provisional president of United Free America, appointed me general in our provisional army.”
    â€œI’m sure it was a wise appointment,” Gurney said. He looked at Varney for a moment. “You have the look of