Read Online 299 Days VIII: The War by Glen Tate - Free Book Online Page B

military vehicles that
     looked like tanks and had machine guns on them.
    “Why are the Army men here?” one of the girls asked.
    “To help us,” Chloe said, and then she changed the subject back to what Santa was
     bringing.
    “You might want to put something over the AK,” Willden said to Todd. “These are National
     Guardsmen. They are under orders to seize assault rifles. Remember that you’re working
     with me on an official law enforcement assignment. Got it?”
    “You’re going to lie, Daddy?” one of the girls asked.
    “Of course not,” Todd said as Chloe handed him a jacket to put over the AK. “I’m helping
     the police by scaring away bears.”
    The girls cheered.
    A soldier came up to them. Willden had his badge out the window. The soldier carefully
     scrutinized it to make sure it was a legitimate badge.
    “What brings you out here, officer?” the soldier asked.
    “We’re transporting the family of my chief,” Willden said, very convincingly. “Paras
     are…” he paused and pointed at the girls and implied that he didn’t want to say everything
     in front of the girls. “The paras are, you know, making trouble.”
    “Who is your chief?” the soldier asked.
    “Nick Moyes,” Willden answered. “Want to confirm all this?” Todd froze.
    The soldier kept looking at Willden and Todd, and then Chloe and the girls. He didn’t
     want to waste his time talking to some police chief.
    “Aren’t they a little young to be the family of a police chief?” the solider asked.
     Todd felt his stomach knot up.
    “Second marriage,” Willden said. “And he’s pretty young. You know, with all the para
     activity, there have been a lot of replacement chiefs lately.” He put his finger up
     to his lip to signal to the soldier that he didn’t want to say anything that would
     disturb Chloe or the girls.
    “Oh, right,” the soldier said. His shift was over in ten minutes and he didn’t want
     the hassle of confirming all this. Besides, the second marriage thing kind of made
     sense. Everything Willden said to him appeared to make enough sense for him to let
     these people through.
    “You know we cannot guarantee anyone’s safety,” the soldier said like a robot. He
     used this phrase a hundred times a day.
    “Understood,” Willden said. “Is there anything I should know about down the road?”
    The soldier didn’t have the time or patience to tell this cop about all the threats
     out there. Besides, he didn’t want to scare the girls.
    “Just the usual,” he said. Willden nodded.
    “Good luck, officer,” the soldier said as he waved them through.
    As they went through the roadblock, soldiers on top of the tanks – or MRAPs, as Willden
     corrected Todd – were pointing machine guns at the Range Rover the whole time.
    Interstate 405 was empty, which Todd had never seen. “We’ll take I-90 east to Wenatchee,”
     Willden said. “We have enough gas if we don’t get delayed.”
    Everyone was silent, except the girls and Chloe, who were talking about Santa. Willden
     and Todd were tuning it out.
    They went through another military roadblock similar to the one on I-405. Willden
     used the same story about evacuating his chief’s family.
    Interstate 90 was empty, too, except for occasional police cars and military vehicles.
     There was one long convoy of semi-trucks with military escorts. “Food and fuel,” Willden
     said.
    They drove about twenty miles. As they went under an overpass, several vehicles zoomed
     down the on ramp and started to chase them.
    “Hold on!” Willden yelled and he punched the gas pedal. The Range Rover sped up, but
     it was no race car. As the vehicles came up behind them, Willden slammed on the brakes
     and the chasing vehicles sped on by. Their brake lights quickly came on. Todd was
     terrified.
    “Get out and point that AK at them!” Willden yelled. The girls were crying and Chloe
     was screaming.
    Todd did as he was told. “Use the Rover for