Buddies

By Roy E. Bean, Jr

How far would you go if your friends turned up missing? These two guys use their training and experience to do a little looking for them selves. When the authorities reach a dead end they take over and are shocked at what they find. This turns into a simple story of greed and a couple of buddies trying to stop it. This story starts in the desert along I-15 in California but includes Las Vegas, Los Angeles and points in between. It is a work of fiction based on thing that really happened.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Roy E. Bean, Jr
• Release date: Nov 20, 2012
• ISBN: 9781301273027

Roy E. Bean, Jr

Started writing at 16 years old. Didn't finish first book 'Strange Dayz' until I was 26. Served in the Army and went to college in the mean time. Graduated with a degree in Business. Worked in that capacity as a civilian. Joined the National Guard and rose to the rank of SGM. Retired after over twenty years of service. Served in Military Intelligence, Cavalry, Infantry and as a Chem Specialist.

Book preview

Buddies

By Roy E Bean Jr.

All rights reserved

Copyright © 2010 by Roy E Bean Jr

Smashwords Edition

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places. and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and resemblance to actual, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

To all my Guard buddies.

If it sounds like it’s you in the story, it’s because it is you.

Keep saving the world, and don’t forget the reason you started the fight.& Don’t sweat the small stuff.

Chapter 1

They awoke to a beautiful day. The high clouds to the east reflected the suns early rays in shades of gray, to purple, then red, then yellow, and finally white. The clouds provided just enough cover to reduce the glare, and the heat of the sun. The desert was a place of extremes, and even though last night was cold, today promised to get up into the high nineties. They had hiked in yesterday afternoon. The idea was to start after the sun had done all of its damage for the day, and use the hours of 6 PM until midnight to travel. They had a Magellan GPS 4000 portable receiver to guide them to the campsite. They had two additional points that were programmed into the receiver. They had been here before, and felt pretty confident that they could reach their destination without the use of the GPS, but Jeff always wanted to be prepared. They got up, and ate a light breakfast of power bars, and fruit. They had each carried in tawo gallons of water in collapsible containers that fit onto their back packs. They used the water sparingly. This was supposed to be a fun trip, and a way to get away from it all for four days. The State had closed this area to wheeled traffic a while back, and it was much harder to get to their favorite place.

By 6 am they were on their way to the next point, where they would rest until that evening. This point had been selected due to the larger vegetation that was there, and the wadi that would provide them shade, and maybe water. They had found water there before, but you couldn’t rely on it like some of the water holes in the desert. They walked without much conversation, taking in the harsh beauty of the desert. A hawk circled lazily above for awhile, and then left to hunt a different area, or to find shade. Lizards scurried from under one rock to under another. The larger ones, caught sunning themselves on their perch, their eyes would slowly scan for the progress of the two-legged giants. Once to close, they would sneak into the nearest crack between two rocks, only to emerge to watch again.

They had reached their second point before noon, and set up their space blankets anchored to the highest ledge. The shimmer of the blanket could probable be seen for miles, but they didn’t care, they had gotten all the necessary permits, and were legal. Once camp was set up, they began to each occupy their time in different ways.

Jeff took out his notebook computer, and set up to continue writing his last term paper. This break would be his last chance to have some fun before finals and graduation. This solitude would give him just the setting he needed to concentrate on this paper. He set out the solar battery charger, and started to charge the spare battery. Debbie took out a book, and started to read about Prince Charming or some other fictional character. Scott and Ruth pulled out their Bibles, and started to work on their literature assignment.

One passage talked about how Elijah had ran from Mt. Horab to Beersheba across desert that couldn’t have been much different than this. It also described how later he had found refuge under a bush, and was left water, and a cake by an angel. At this point they realized that they had not eaten lunch, and a feeling of hunger swept over them. It seemed that the other two had forgotten also. Jeff stopped writing long enough to open an entree of chicken-ala-king, and swig down some water. He then put on his hat of authority, and announced that everyone should be drinking more water. This was surely a sign of being guilty of not doing so himself.

Around five PM, Jeff packed up the computer, but left the first battery charging. He then went over to a depression along side the bank, and started digging. After a few minutes he stopped and showed everyone that the sand was quite moist. He told them that in a few minutes the water would puddle, and they could take turns freshening up. This was a welcome revelation, and they each packed and prepared themselves. Jeff used his hat to scoop up the water, and store the water like a sink. Once done, he put it back on his head. This gave him the opportunity to share with everyone a lesson on how the head radiates heat. He went on to describe how a large percent of your body heat actually is lost in the winter when you don’t wear a hat, and that you can also cool down by doing the opposite in the summer. The wet hat would almost work like an evaporative cooler. Everyone was impressed by his genius and worldly knowledge.

Shortly after six, they moved out to their oasis. They moved a little slower, and were a little stiff at first, but made it the camp area before midnight. They set up a hasty camp, and quickly went to sleep. They slept through most of the sunrise, but caught the end through sleepy eyes. Once awake, they ate, and went about making their shelters. Someone had been there since they were there last, but that was ok, they didn’t t own it. A place like this had to be known by many, just not used as often now. Once set up, they scouted around the area a little, and found that someone had driven here recently. That got Jeff started about people breaking rules, and how ‘this’ was supposed to be, and how ‘that’ was supposed to be. They went over to where they had gotten water before, and dug around a little to make a shallow well. It didn’t take long before water seeped to the surface. They collected the water using their canteen cups, and stored it in the collapsible plastic containers. Once each of the bags were full they went back to reading, studying, or being lazy. By noon they were all just lazing, and only their stomachs motivated them to movement. That movement wasn’t very far though, just far enough to secure lunch from their rucksacks. They ate and talked about eating, and ice cream, and a cool swimming pool. None of them were complaining, and they all knew what the conditions out here were like. As each topic got more and more ridiculous, the groans got louder, and more agonizing. The sport of this died shortly after lunch was over, and they went on to their previous activities.

When evening set in, they all went for a hike to do some more exploring. Jeff wanted to take another look at the tire tracks, and look for anything that might show what they had been doing. They had taken water, and a snack with them, opting to eat their meal later. The tracks ended, and footprints could still be made out in places. The footprints were lost, going out into the desert. After further inspection it looked like these people had been hunting, or something, and had loaded something into the vehicle. The foot prints coming back were deeper than those leaving, which he said meant they had to be carrying something back. Jeff said he was going to talk to the ranger about it when we left. The green of the oasis gave way to brush, and sand, and more lizards. They had not seen a snake yet, and Debbie was very happy about that. Most desert animals are nocturnal to stay out of the heat. They do their business at night, playing, hunting and eating. That is except for snakes. They needed some heat to warm them up enough to move.

Back at camp they ate, and Jeff put his battery charger up for the night. Around nine thirty Ruth thought she heard a noise a ways off, but couldn’t make it out. It got louder, and she asked Scott if he heard it. He finally agreed that she wasn’t just hearing things, and asked Jeff, and Debbie. The noise got louder, and soon it was identified as a low, slow moving airplane. The sound came right at them, and the plane went right over top of them. Jeff thought that it might be having trouble, and his thought was meet with a thump a short distance from them. Jeff made a note on the notepad that there was a plane over head, and it sounded like they had dropped something. He also said they were going to go take a look. With that he shut off the computer, and they all got up, and hurried in the direction of where they had heard the sound. It dawned on them shortly that the plane was still in the air, droning away in the distance. They walked a little farther, and then turned around, agreeing to look tomorrow first thing in the morning. They ate, and discussed different scenarios as to why the plane was so low. Then it dawned on Jeff that he was supposed to have tried to make contact with a friend back in Las Vegas via the computer, and a satellite link set up.

He was late, but his friend was patient, and the thing actually worked. They greeted each other, and Jeff typed in the coordinates that he had read off the GPS. Jeff had forgot to put in the fully charged battery, and typed in that the link could be broken at any time due to the battery being low.

It was ten o'clock, and Jeff still hadn’t called. I was thinking that his new toy he had told me about didn’t work, and how mad he would be. He had contacted me once before, right after he got it, just to try it out. My computer was on, and I was ready to talk and also to go to bed, it had been a long day. I had hooked up with the Air force search and rescue team the month before, and they had invited me to go with them the next time they trained here. Mark and I decided it was to good a deal to pass up, and we had been out with them all last night and most of today. I had gotten home at eight, and after stowing my gear had ran a bath to soak. I almost fell asleep in the tub when it hit me that Jeff was supposed to contact me tonight. I had made the schedule for ten PM so I knew I would be back. And here I set, falling asleep again. The computer beeped at 1025, and I got a goofy greeting that could only come from Jeff. He gave his coordinates, and then rambled on about having the wrong battery in, and a plane flying over. He had gotten to the part of them hiking to see what had dropped from the plane when the link went dead. All I got was an error message, and a disconnect time. I waited to see if he would reconnect, but after twenty minutes I gave up, and went to bed.

. . .

They had come like the hawk that had been riding the wind during the day. No noise and no warning. Ruth grunted, and Scott fell over. By the time Jeff looked up from the keyboard Debbie was sitting with her mouth open, trying to talk. That was the last memory Jeff had, then he was also hit, his computer exploded in his hands.

. . .

Well, you were wrong again, you dipstick! There was no remorse; it was just a fly in the ointment.

Don t call me dipstick no more. Why else would people hike in here? They musta been nuts!

No body else is around, and there isn’t a vehicle. We better find a set of keys, and then find a car in the parking lot. This place is getting way too popular. Hey dipstick, look for keys.

"Not you too,