Dislocated: Book Ten in The Mad Mick Series

Book 10: The Mad Mick Series

by Franklin Horton

Genres: Dystopian; Military Thrillers

Synopsis

The tenth installment in the bestselling post-apocalyptic military thriller series THE MAD MICK.

After Chinese missiles destroy Camp David, the Lightspeed organization is in shambles. Self-appointed president Walter Lightspeed is dead and he’s taken the secrets of his wireless power grid with him. After a brief respite from the apocalypse, America has been thrown back into the dark.

China is taking advantage of the chaos, sending covert teams into America to target those likely to resist their plan to annex America. Conor and Ricardo are on that list, but they have been targeted before and they won’t go down without a fight.

DISCLOCATED is jammed full of all the crunchy goodness that readers love about the Mad Mick Series – battlefield humor, biting dialogue, head-spinning chaos, and characters you might like even more than your own friends.

 

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Release date: October 31, 2023

Print pages: 388

Sample

Chapter One

 

 

Camp David was in chaos after the missile strikes. People wandered everywhere, shellshocked and injured. Some jogged blindly in the dark with their possessions clutched in their arms, talking to themselves as they ran toward what they hoped was safety. Others paced about, crying into the night for someone they couldn’t find, their keening wails rising through the darkness like the songs of coyotes.

There were fires ignited by the explosions that created pockets of illumination. Neither those fires, nor the light they created, offered any sense of comfort to the survivors of the attack. There was no solace in being better able to see the injured, the terrified, and the lifeless. The night was cold, however, the heat from those fires could not ease it. No one could stand for long in the clouds of dense black smoke that smelled of burning plastic and cooked flesh.

Conor, Ricardo, and their people slogged through the murk, navigating by flashlight and headlamp. At some point in the night, a hostile force had shown up at Camp David, likely sent in to try and mop up those not killed by the missile attack. That Chinese unit had been turned away while Conor and Ricardo were in the tunnels attending to Lightspeed’s dead body. Aware that there might be reinforcements inbound, people were trying to get away while they could. No one knew what came next. After the horrific night they'd had, no one even wanted to imagine.

Conor and Ricardo were leading a large group to what they hoped was safety. Kate, Havoc, and Barb were with them, as well as Rupert Moshaba and several surviving members of his security team. There were a couple of technicians from Lightspeed's electrical installation crews. They even had a few people from both Lightspeed's War Room team and his presidential administration. Bringing up the rear of the group were a few security contractors who’d remained as guards at Camp David once Colonel Gerard had pulled the military out. Norfolk Naval Station had been hit by a similar missile attack and Gerard had explained he had no choice but to leave and render aid.

Noting the growing size of their group, Ricardo eased over alongside Conor and spoke in a low voice. “We can only feed and house so many people back at my offices. There’s no way we can take all the survivors. There's just too many.”

“Agreed,” Conor said. “We need to warn our people of that. We direct everyone else toward Washington, D.C. Lightspeed set up a safe zone there and maybe his people can still hold it.”

Even as Conor said it, he knew it was optimistic. Walter Lightspeed had been the driving force behind the national recovery effort. He had the money, the charisma, and the connections to make things happen. Beyond that, he also had the genius to find a way to restore electricity without relying on the severely damaged infrastructure. He'd found solutions when no one else had been able to. He'd created possibilities and restored hope.

And now he was dead.

Not only that, he’d taken all his information with him. If what Havoc said was true, there was no way that anyone but Lightspeed could make his system work. Only he had known how to build the compact fusion reactors. When he died on that tunnel floor beneath Camp David and was unable to perform his regular check-in with his computer network, his "dead man switch" had been activated. One by one, every piece of the electrical infrastructure that his people had installed over the last few months had self-destructed.

Those who'd already had their power restored lost it again. Those who were anxiously awaiting it would probably never get it. Once word got out of what had taken place at Camp David, America would be demoralized and broken. They'd been too close to have hope so cruelly snatched away from them.

As Conor and Ricardo warned their small group to not talk about where they were going, Havoc asked, “Am I going with you? I wasn't sure."

Both Ricardo and Conor replied at exactly the same time.

“Yes.”

The two men frowned at the other before Conor gestured at Ricardo to proceed.

“Obviously, Conor and I are in agreement with this,” Ricardo said. “I would assume his reasoning to be the same as mine. We like to recruit talent when we see it. If you’re interested in joining our company, we would be most glad to have you.”

Conor glanced at the carnage around them. “I started to say we typically don't hire under conditions like this, but that wouldn't be true. I'm afraid we often find our best people under circumstances very similar to this.”

Ricardo agreed with an awkward nod.

Havoc didn’t have to think it over. “I'd love to work for you. My old gig went up in smoke, but I love the stories you guys tell about your experiences. That sounds like the kind of company I’d like to work for. I do have one request though, if it's not too much to ask.”

Conor assumed her request would be something to do with salary, hours, or working conditions. He deferred to Ricardo in that area. Those weren’t the kind of issues he dealt with. He guessed wrong.

“You said you have people coming to pick us up, and we're meeting them at the park entrance? There are a couple of things I need to look for if I can find my camper, or what's left of it. When I took off to warn Lightspeed about the attack, I didn’t take anything. If any of my computer gear survived, I'm going to need it. If I can check on that, I'll get to the park entrance as soon as I can. You won’t have to wait on me. I promise.”

Barb was standing alongside them. Conor turned around and caught her eye. He didn’t even have to say a word. She read his mind.

Barb stepped forward and patted Havoc on the shoulder. “Let’s go, girl.”

Havoc tore off at a run, leading the way, Barb hot on her heels.

“Barb will keep her safe,” Conor said.

“Havoc will be a strong asset to our organization,” Ricardo said. “She’s smart, enthusiastic, and skilled. If we round out her education with firearms training and combatives, she'll be a force to reckon with.”

“Yeah, can you imagine her and Barb working in the field together? They could be a dangerous combination.”

“Indeed,” Ricardo agreed.

On foot and exhausted, it took them another hour to reach the gate they'd established as a rendezvous point. The team they'd flown into Camp David with was waiting for them there.

“That’s more people than I expected,” said Conor. “It looks like they took in some of the refugees fleeing the camp. Maybe they assumed there was strength in numbers, but like we already discussed, we can't accommodate all these people at your offices.”

“Our offices," Ricardo clarified. “And in all fairness, the people we planned to meet here didn’t know we'd arranged a ride home. They had no way of knowing we needed to limit how many people we evacuated.”

“This gives us about two-dozen people, Ricardo. I’m assuming Shani and the Hatfields will also bring a few shooters with them from the offices. If so, there’s no way we are fitting two dozen people in those MRAPs.”

“Let’s wait until Shani gets here and see exactly how many we can take. Then, if there's bad news that needs to be delivered, I don't mind being the one who does it. People might not be happy, but I daresay none of us are happy about what's gone on here. We'll point the rest toward the safe zone in D.C. and they can head there for now. If enough of Lightspeed's people stay there, that increases the chances they can defend and keep it.”

When the two groups merged, Conor and Ricardo explained everything that had happened since they parted ways. The one thing they glossed over was Lightspeed's death. Both men found that part hard to talk about. Hard to admit.

The story they somehow settled on there in the moment was that Lightspeed was missing and presumed dead. The people in their group who'd been there in the tunnels went along with them, adopting this story by unspoken agreement. They assumed Conor and Ricardo had good reason for hiding the truth. The rest, those who hadn't been there, knew no different.

As the story unfolded there on the dark road, told in the harsh glow of flashlights, there were tears, expressions of shock, and angry muttering. With each new revelation, the reality of their predicament settled upon this group. This was more than losing a job. It was more than losing a beloved employer. It was a tragedy larger than all of them.

If Lightspeed was dead, his death condemned the nation. If not to death, at least to a prolonged period of powerlessness, and possibly to the final collapse of the American Empire. It was too much to comprehend.

By the time Conor and Ricardo were done answering questions, Barb and Havoc showed up. Havoc was wearing a large backpack while Barb carried Havoc's smaller daypack lashed on top of her own backpack. Despite the cool night, both girls were sweating from their long run.

“Any trouble?” Conor asked.

“None,” Barb said. “But your girl Havoc here is in good shape. She kept pace with me the entire time.”

Havoc smiled and shrugged. “I forgot to mention that my only hobby is running ultras.”

Conor narrowed his eyes. “Ultras? What’s that?”

“Long-distance running,” Havoc explained. “50K and 100K races.”

Conor recoiled, aghast. “Bloody hell, girl! Why?”

“Well, I didn't do it for this reason, but it sure comes in handy on days like today,” said Havoc.

Barb snickered. “How many times have you said that same thing, Father?”

“Frequently,” he admitted. “But even though it's true, I'm not sure you'd find me running fifty klicks unless the whole Chinese army was at my back.”

Ricardo pulled the girls in close and updated them quietly so the larger group wouldn't hear. “We didn't tell them Lightspeed was dead. We just said he was missing.”

“You said that,” Conor countered. “I just rolled with it.”

“I couldn't do that to them,” said Ricardo. “These people are broken, and if the truth about Lightspeed gets out, the rest of the country will be broken too. If we just say he's missing, that leaves a sliver a doubt. Of hope.”

Havoc and Barb agreed to stick to the story. With nothing else to do, everyone sat around and waited for help to arrive from Ricardo’s offices in Chantilly. Occasionally, they heard sounds in the woods as someone passed them by. There were no gunshots, which was reassuring to Conor.

If it was indeed the Chinese who launched the missile attack on Camp David, they must have assumed the missiles took care of most of the people who were there. They'd made the mistake of only sending in a small force to confirm that the attack had been successful. That force had been wiped out, and since there was no more gunfire, Conor hoped that meant there were no more combatants lurking around these woods.

Growing impatient, he called Shani from his satellite phone to confirm that she hadn’t encountered any trouble on the road. She explained they were making good progress but had been forced to stop several times to clear cars and other debris from the road. Conor had never been good at waiting, and waiting to be evacuated was especially unpleasant. Those had been some of the worst moments in his career. Several times he'd awaited pick-up alongside a wounded or dying colleague. At times like those, minutes became hours.

When they finally heard the sound of engines approaching, everyone went on guard. Those with weapons shouldered them and aimed down the road, hoping this was their ride and not some new threat showing up to make their day even worse.

When the two new MRAPS came into view, Conor let out a relieved breath. “May the gods bless Demo Dick. I hope he’s tipping a glass to us in Valhalla.”

“I agree,” Ricardo said. “Had he not gotten us these two vehicles so quickly, we'd be making a long and likely unpleasant walk back home.”

There were multiple configurations of MRAPs, but since Demo Dick knew Ricardo and Conor had a large team, he'd sent two of the 6x6 variants. They could hold two crew and eight passengers. Each of these had a Hatfield behind the wheel. Shani manned one of the remote-controlled weapon stations, while the third Hatfield manned the other.

Even at full capacity, there wasn't enough space in the MRAPs for all the people who'd gathered at the intersection. Fortunately, one of the Cougar 6x6s was towing an enclosed cargo trailer. It wasn’t the ideal way of transporting passengers, but it could work in a pinch and this situation certainly qualified.

As soon as the vehicles were stopped, Shani was out the door and hugging Conor. She whispered in his ear, “I had no idea you had so many people. Are they all going to the offices with us?”

“It’s a long story, but Ricardo and I wanted to see how many people we could take before we made any tough decisions about who could go and who couldn't. We know we can't support all these people indefinitely, but maybe we can accommodate them until we come up with a solution.”

Ricardo gathered everyone for a hasty briefing, telling them basically the same thing Conor just told Shani. “If you’re not a shooter and you can’t help us fight, you’re going to have to ride in the trailer. If that doesn't appeal to you, your other option is to hit the road on your own two hooves. I’m not trying to be a bastard, but that’s how it’s got to be, and there’s no time for discussion. You can go with us or not, but you have to decide immediately.”

Not surprisingly, everyone waiting there at the intersection chose to go along with them. Conor and Ricardo directed everyone to the place where they'd ride. Some of the passengers didn’t look happy about being locked inside the enclosed cargo trailer with no windows, but they held their tongues. The alternative had been made clear to them.

Once everyone was situated, the rest of the team packed into the heavy trucks and headed back in the direction from which they’d come. It made sense to use the same route since they’d already cleared it of any obstructions.

As soon as they were underway, Conor leaned into the cab of the vehicle to tell Shani and Troy Hatfield what had happened at Camp David. He included the truth about Lightspeed and that they had not shared this information with everyone.

In the passenger cabin behind Conor, Ricardo plugged his satellite phone into a charging port and spoke to his newest hire. "Havoc, were you able to salvage any of your gear?”

“My camper was mangled, dude. It collapsed like a stomped cardboard box, but at least it hadn’t caught fire like some of the others. Barb and I managed to peel one of the walls back so I could get my gear. We couldn't find everything, but we got the most important stuff.”

Ricardo cocked an eyebrow. “Electronics? Laptop?”

Havoc grinned. “Even if my laptop was crushed, I'd have found it just to rescue the hard drive. Too much gold in there.”

“What kind of gold?” Barb asked.

“All kinds. My hacking files, my crypto wallets, and the kind of information you save in case you need a get out of jail free card one day.”

“What kind of information would that be?” asked Ricardo.

“Sometimes in the course of research, you come across collateral information that's irrelevant to your current project but is still very interesting. The kind of information that compromises powerful people and threatens governments. You never know when you might need something like that.”

“I like the way you think,” said Barb.

“As do I,” Ricardo agreed. “If your laptop is functional, I have an assignment for you. I'm going to need a phone list. Lightspeed had teams working all over the country. It's possible some of them know about the attack at Camp David, but others may not. I don't want to tell them Lightspeed is dead, but they should probably know he's missing in case they’re sitting somewhere waiting on rescue or awaiting orders. They need to know they're on their own for now, and we'll contact them if we hear anything.”

Havoc’s face sank. “I just happen to have that list convenient. That was one of the last things I did for Lightspeed. He said he had reason to suspect that Resnick had been making unauthorized phone calls. I traced those calls to China and eventually intercepted one. That’s how I knew the attack was imminent. While performing that investigation, I built a master list of all phone numbers within our network.”

“I never trusted that woman,” Barb said. “She was shady.”

“Interesting.” Ricardo nodded. “I may want to look at that information in the future. There might be actionable intelligence in that list. I'd definitely like to find Resnick's contact in China and give Conor some alone time with them.”

Conor was still leaned into the front of the vehicle, talking with Shani and Troy, but he caught this part of Ricardo’s conversation. “Yeah, I'd like to get some revenge too, but this job is over. It's time to put this whole Lightspeed thing behind us and start looking for the next job. While this was fun while it lasted, tonight wasn't so fun.”

“Tonight wasn't fun, but this job is certainly not over,” Ricardo said. There was a finality to his tone that implied his assessment was beyond question.

Conor chuckled. “Mate, the job is most certainly over when the bloke writing the checks gets killed. No money, no work. Pretty sure that’s how we do things.”

“It's a bit more complicated in this case.”

“How?” Conor asked.

Ricardo sighed. “I’m not an American, Conor, and you aren't either, but that doesn’t change the fact that America has been very good to both of us. People like you and me, people who tread on the line of what's legal and allowable in a civilized society, operated here in the light of day. Not to mention, America has the massive black budgets that keep companies like ours in business. We could always move to another country. Both of us have made arrangements for that possibility, although I would prefer not to.”

“I agree with all of that, old friend, but Lightspeed’s grand vision for America was contingent on restoring electricity. It might have taken him a while to figure things out, but he eventually understood that everything came back to turning the lights on. Nothing else mattered as much as that did and there's no one around to do that now. We certainly can't. All I see are big flashing red letters in the sky saying, ‘Game Over.’ Sometimes you have to accept the fight is over and cut your losses. That’s where we’re at.”

Ricardo pursed his lips and shook his head. “Normally, I might agree with you, Conor, but I was genuinely moved by what I saw Lightspeed do. He motivated people. He made them believe in what he could do, and he restored faith when I didn't think anyone could ever do that again.”

Conor rolled his eyes. “Sounds to me like you drank the Kool-Aid. If this was a cult, you’d be wearing a white robe and a necklace of daisies.”

Barb snickered, but Havoc looked worried. She didn't know any of these people well enough to gauge the seriousness of the situation.

Ricardo frowned at the image Conor painted of him. “I assure you I'm of sound mind, though you're welcome to call me crazy if it makes you feel better. Coming from someone known as the Mad Mick, you're probably well qualified to make that assessment.”

Conor hesitated for a moment, trying to untangle Ricardo's comment and determine how insulted he should feel. Unable to arrive at a conclusion, he said, “We'll pick this up again later.”