Blood on the Highway

(Source)

Corporal Maria Campos of the Maryland State Police glanced at the small box truck as it drove by, the driver had hit his brakes and she thought that she hadn't seen any brake lights. What the heck, she thought, it's a slow day, maybe I just missed seeing the lights. She pulled out and followed the truck which was a few cars ahead of her.

She decided to radio in, "Dispatch, Campos on National Pike NE, I've got a possible traffic stop. Possible no brake lights on a rental truck."

"You bored, Corporal?"

Campos chuckled, "Yeah, something like that. I just passed Town Hill Bed and Breakfast. I'm going to follow this guy for a bit."

After that she give dispatch the truck's tag number and the name of the rental company. There were no other cars between her and the truck, so she stayed back a ways. No sense making the driver nervous.

"That f**king trooper is still back there, Al. Stay within the speed limit, okay? I don't want to get stopped." Morgan kept looking in the rear view mirror on his side, the trooper was playing it cool, but what were they doing out here in the middle of nowhere?

Neither man realized that the wire to their brake lights had been severed. Rust and poor maintenance had weakened the wire. Rossi had hit a pothole leaving Hancock, Maryland where they'd stopped to eat and fuel the truck. That's all it had taken to snap the wire's tenuous connection to the brake lights.

As they headed deeper into the forest they came up on a rather sharp curve, naturally Rossi tapped his brakes.

Campos saw the truck slow down, no brake lights. She was in a good mood, she'd pull the truck over but just to give the driver a warning. Some of these rental companies weren't too keen on maintenance, after all, that cost money. Not really the renter's fault.

The truck went around the corner, it slowed further, no doubt the driver had seen Campos' light bar flashing. She slowed and pulled up behind the vehicle, her vehicle out in the roadway somewhat to serve as a barrier between her and oncoming traffic. Which was nonexistent at the moment.

"Why are we being stopped?" Their was a small note of panic in Rossi's voice. Though they could probably explain away the ten cases of MREs¹ in the back, Rossi would rather not have to. That and the fact that both men were armed.

"Don't panic, Al. There's nothing to worry about." Morgan's Sig Sauer was in his hand, ready to use.

Campos approached the vehicle carefully, she had one hand on her service pistol and she was focused on the job at hand. She saw the driver's window come down, as she looked into the cab, she saw two men.

"Good morning, Sir. Did you know that you had a burnt out ..."

She saw a terribly bright flash from the inside of the cab, then her hand went to the left side of her face. Part of her cheek and most of her ear were gone, she was bleeding badly as she staggered away from the truck.

"Jesus Jack, what the f**k!" Rossi had his hands clapped to his ears, Morgan's pistol going off had startled him and with it so close to his face, its discharge had deafened him. His face felt hot, the bullet which had hit Corporal Campos in the face had passed less than six inches from his own face.

Morgan was out of the truck, his weapon aimed at the trooper on the ground. He thought, she's a game one, she's trying to draw her weapon. Huh, a female cop, he thought for a split second. Then he shot, and killed, Corporal Campos.

"Al, get your ass out of the truck and help me." Morgan was dragging the dead trooper out of the road.

Rossi shook his head to try and clear it, he looked at Morgan whose mouth was moving. Then he realized what had just happened. That f**king Morgan had just killed a cop. He put the truck in gear, then realized that driving away would solve nothing. That insane bastard would probably use the cop car to run him down. So he took the truck out of gear and got out.

He saw Morgan dragging the body into the woods. Rossi frantically looked around for oncoming traffic, houses nearby, nothing. Then he jogged over to Morgan who was coming up out of the woods.

"Get back in the truck and drive ahead for a ways. I'll follow in the trooper's car, we need to find a place to ditch it. Go on, go now."

Morgan watched as Rossi got in the truck. He found the switch to turn off the car's light bar, then watched Rossi roll forward a bit, stop, then pull out onto the road.

As Morgan followed, he noticed that the truck's brake lights hadn't come on.

"Ah, shit," was all he could think to say. That's why they'd been stopped.

(Source)

Captain Choe watched the soldier from the Old Guard as he paced back in forth in front of the tomb. This place always calmed him and reminded him why he had devoted his life to the service of his country.

He was worried about meeting this CIA man here. It made him feel somewhat dirty. But it was in the open and he felt safe here. He sat up straighter, a man was coming towards him, wearing sunglasses. He rather looked like a Fed with those sunglasses, khaki pants, and polo shirt. At least what he thought a Fed would look like.

But the man passed him and met up with a woman with two small children waiting for him in the seating area. Choe allowed himself a slight grin, maybe the guy was a Fed, but not "his" Fed.

He checked his watch, he'd told the guy 0730, it was 0735. He didn't think the guy would be late. Then a voice behind him spoke.

"I'm not late, I've been here for a while now, watching you. I'm satisfied that you're alone. I am too."

The man stepped down from behind Choe and sat down next to the Navy man. "I'm guessing Chapman vouched for me?"

"She did, said you worked down the hallway from her over at Homeland."

"Yes, and no. I'm on temporary assignment from the Central Intelligence Agency."

Choe looked at the man, "It's against the law for the CIA to operate inside the U.S."

"Which is why I'm seconded to Homeland. Gives me a patina of legality."

The man continued, "I've heard that you're a pretty sharp fellow, Admiral."

"Still a Captain, I'm just a Rear Admiral (Select) at the moment."

"I see that you're precise as well. You do know what's going on in the country right now, don't you?"

"I do, SWAT teams being ambushed, rumors of the FBI doing the bidding of their political masters and not the job they were formed to do."

"I was at that ambush."

Choe turned and looked sharply at the man. "What did you say?" Choe's words were clipped and harsh.

"I'm on the inside of the cabal which is plotting a massive bloodbath to be inflicted on agents of the Federal government and local law enforcement. There are elements in the government, you may have noticed, that ignore the Constitution. Particularly the Second Amendment. They figure if they can generate a big enough public outcry ..."

Choe finished for him, "Then your average Joe Citizen won't care if the government cracks down on gunowners and their supporters."

"Yes Sir, buckle up and prepare for the police state. It's what they want."

Choe lowered his head and looked sad, "There's flag officers in the Pentagon who want the same thing. They really believe that only the military should be armed. It's what would be dictators dream of."

"Are you in?"

"In? In to what?"

"Stopping them."

"How?"

"Not today, Sir. We'll talk again, soon."

With those words, Ephraim Johansen got up and headed back down the hill to catch the Metro back to DC.

Leaving Alex Choe wondering what he had gotten himself in to.

¹ MRE = Meal, Ready to Eat