“You said you and your men are contractors working for the U.S. military. I found that interesting, because my husband has worked in that field for years, mostly in the Middle East and Europe, but he was a SEAL team operator before that. We had a lot of help getting out here to Colorado because of his former military service. In fact, he participated in a rescue operation for the Army in exchange for their help getting us here. That’s where some of the weapons you see came from. They are not stolen, and he would never have anything to do with the insurgents or terrorist groups that are causing all the problems in this country. My husband has spent his entire career fighting people like that overseas, and he damned sure doesn’t want to see it continue here.”
Shauna didn’t give him time to interrupt and the chief just stood there listening to her story with an emotionless face she couldn’t read. She didn’t know if he was buying a word of it or not, but she went on, filling in enough details that if he really was a contractor like Eric, he would know that she knew what she was talking about and wasn’t simply making stuff up. After telling him the highlights of their journey beginning in the boatyard in Florida, the chief finally stopped her.
“You’re either telling the truth or you’re really good at spinning fiction on the fly, lady. If it is true, then you’ll get your chance to tell it to someone in the Army eventually, and maybe they’ll look into verifying this Navy SEAL husband of yours. But that’s above my pay grade and outside of my area of specialty, so I’ll leave it up to the people who do that kind of thing. In the meantime, my mission is clear. I’m here to remove civilians and insurgent elements from the area by whatever means necessary. I have authorization to search and destroy, and with evidence we’ve found here, I don’t have to bother taking you in at all, but I’m going to anyway.”
“You can’t force me to go anywhere with you. I haven’t committed any crime! I was a guest here at this cabin before the owner died, and my husband will be returning here with our daughter when he finds her. He won’t know where to look for me if I’m not here!”
“You’re right, maybe I can’t force you, but I can shoot you if you don’t cooperate. I’m giving you a chance because your story may be true, but you’ll have to tell it to someone who cares. You can’t stay here, because my orders are to destroy any potential insurgent hideouts in these mountains, along with any supplies and equipment found with them. There’s no place in this sector that is safe for you, so you’ll be better off where you’re going. Once we get you back to our operations center, we’ll arrange for your transfer into government custody.”
“But I already told you what I was doing here! I’m no threat to the government or anyone else. Take all the guns and ammo and whatever else you think you have to confiscate, but please, let me stay here and wait for my husband! We’ll leave as soon as he gets back.”
“I’m sorry, but I can’t do that. Like I said, I can’t leave this place standing.” With that, he turned back to his man, Jenkins: “Have the men sort all the weapons and ammo and useful supplies and load it onto those horses. Then burn the rest; along with the cabin and barn.”
“Why would you burn down this beautiful cabin?” Shauna pleaded. “It was that poor man’s dream. He spent years building it!” She was thinking, of course, of Jonathan and Vicky. Wherever they were, she was sure that they would return here soon. She hoped it would be after all of these men were gone, so that they wouldn’t be taken prisoner too, but even if they escaped that, they would need the cabin for shelter until they could get somewhere else. It was bad enough that the men were taking all the firearms, supplies and horses. But to burn the cabin too? That was a disaster.
“I already told you. It’s part of the job I agreed to. If I leave structures like this standing in these remote areas, they’ll be used by the insurgent and terrorist groups that find them. If your husband was the operator you say he was, then he’d tell you the same thing. This is pretty much standard procedure in this type of fluid environment.”
“My husband isn’t, and never was a mercenary at war with law-abiding American citizens! This is a disgrace and goes against everything he stands for, and everything this country stands for!”
“Lady, I don’t know whether you know much about what’s going on everywhere else or not, but if this situation isn’t brought under control, this country isn’t going to stand for anything, because it’s no longer going to stand! You can call me and my men whatever you like if it makes you feel better, but it’s people like us who can get the job done. I did my time in this country’s military too, and my friends bled and died for what it stands for. Law-abiding citizens aren’t my enemy, but lately it’s been hard to tell who is and who isn’t. The only policy that works is to bring these lawless regions back under control. We’re fighting something here that’s much bigger than you realize, and it isn’t just a bunch of anarchists who don’t want to work and pay taxes. Who do you think is instigating all this? Did it occur to you that the money and weapons required to mount such a widespread and effective insurgency is coming from outside the U.S.? And that this entire mountain region from here to the southern border is wide open to the power-hungry drug cartels that control Mexico? Do you know the extent of what they would do to grab and take over a vast swath of the U.S. while the country is in complete chaos and they think there’s no one to stop them? That’s why we’re clearing these mountains out, because once that’s done, we will have a better idea of who the enemy is, and it will pave the way for striking them with decisive action.”
Hearing all this, Shauna realized nothing she said was going to change her situation. She would be taken away with these men, and that was that. They could have just as easily killed her as taken her alive, especially since she was armed at the time, giving them ample excuse under their loose rules of engagement, so she had to figure that she was lucky in a way that she would get a chance to plead her case for innocence later. As she stood there thinking of this, she was still afraid that Jonathan and Vicky would show up anytime and be taken into custody with her. She even briefly considered that it might be best for them, since they would all remain together that way and may have a better chance of survival, but Shauna couldn’t bring herself to mention them, because she could in no way trust these hired soldiers. Wherever Jonathan and Vicky were at the moment, at least they were free, and though they would be left with no shelter, weapons or supplies, as long as they were free, they would have a shot at survival. Maybe they would even find a way to reunite with Eric, and Megan, if he found her. Shauna could only hope.
She turned away, unable to watch as two of the men set fire to the cabin. She couldn’t help but feel that everything that had happened to Bob Barham was her fault. If she hadn’t stopped in that one spot along the Divide Trail, Jonathan wouldn’t have fallen and broken his leg, and she wouldn’t have hiked down this particular drainage and found the cabin. That discovery and the old man’s generosity had marked the beginning of the end for him. Now with the cabin and barn gone, and his beloved horses taken away, the only thing remaining of him was his solitary grave at the edge of that lonely high meadow.
Shauna couldn’t watch all that go up in flames, but without making it obvious, she was watching the surrounding forest for any sign of Jonathan and Vicky. She couldn’t imagine that they had gone far, but they had taken Tucker, the strongest and best trained of the horses they had available, so anything was possible. Shauna could tell that Jonathan had a crush on Vicky almost from the day he met her. She didn’t think Vicky felt the same, but there was no way to be sure. It wasn’t like they had to leave the cabin to be alone together though, even if that were the reason, unless maybe they were afraid she would return much sooner than expected. Whatever it was that had taken them away, it had saved them for now, and when the other horses were loaded, and the fires were burning with unstoppable fury, the chief ordered his men to move out, and Shauna was led away with them.
They headed back down the drainage in the same dir
ection from which the men had arrived, making Shauna wonder once again if they already knew about the existence of the cabin and had come here specifically to target it. She wasn’t going to ask, but she figured that had to be it. If they were indeed working on contract for the military, they probably had access to satellite photos taken before, even if online mapping imagery wasn’t available to them now. The cabin would have been visible, and it was likely they were systematically clearing all such remote dwellings if any of what the chief said was the truth.
Bob Barham had told her that the drainage crossed a small gravel road several miles downstream, but Shauna hadn’t wandered that far in her hunting and exploration forays from the cabin. Her captors followed the creek all the way down there though, and sure enough, they came to the road Bob described after two or three hours of hiking. Knowing what she knew now of the local area, she wondered if it might be the same road that eventually led up to the site of Vicky’s grandparents’ ranch, but the contractors weren’t going that way. They turned north instead, following the road a short distance before turning off on a narrow, dirt two-track leading out into a flat area of tall pines. Shauna saw why after they’d gone another quarter mile. Hidden there among the trees, were three crew cab pickups and a Land Rover SUV. The men spread out and checked the vehicles, making sure the area was clear before unlocking and starting them. Then, Shauna saw them begin unloading the guns and other supplies from the horses to pile everything into the beds of the pickups. She was shoved into the back seat of the Land Rover, but just before the door was slammed shut, she heard one of the men ask the boss what to do with the horses.
“Shoot them! We can’t take them with us.”
“NO!” Shauna screamed at him. “Just let them go! They’ll be fine on their own!”
The chief came over to the Land Rover and got into the driver’s seat. “Until another group of outlaws comes along and uses them to escape justice or attack other citizens. I’m afraid turning them loose is not an option!”
Shauna couldn’t look back as two more men climbed into the vehicle with them and the chief pulled away ahead of the trucks. She shuddered when she heard the rifle reports, but she knew it was useless to protest further. How this man could call anyone else an outlaw was beyond her. He was taking the law into his own hands and she found it hard to believe that the U.S. government was paying him to do so. If she ever did get a chance to present her side of the story to any real authorities, she wasn’t going to leave out what happened here, but she knew even as they drove away that the odds she’d get to tell someone who cared were looking pretty slim.
When they came back out on the main road, the convoy followed the gravel until it ended at a T-intersection with a paved road. From there, they turned west, and Shauna had no idea where they were going; most of the scenery along the way just mile after mile of the same desolate mountain wilderness. At one point they crossed a high pass, winding back and forth up a series of steep switchbacks and then down again in an equally steep descent on the other side. Just to the west of that, the convoy turned off the pavement onto another gravel road, at the end of which was a closed U.S. Forest Service work station that they had apparently converted to their headquarters. The vehicles stopped at the gated entrance to the compound, and the chief chatted briefly with the armed guards there before they proceeded to what appeared to be an equipment building and the chief parked the Land Rover in one of the garage bays. Shauna was then taken to a supply room with a single entrance through a heavy metal door. Once inside, she saw there was just one small window and lots of shelves with boxes of what appeared to be mechanical parts and other related inventory that had probably been there since before the place had been converted over. There was nothing in the room to accommodate an overnight stay; no bathroom, couch or anywhere else to sleep, just a metal desk with an old swivel office chair.
“We don’t normally bring guests or prisoners here, so we’re not set up for it,” the chief explained. “You’ll have to sleep on the floor while you’re here. Someone will be back with a blanket and a bucket you can use for a toilet. They’ll bring you food when we get our evening chow.”
With that, the door slammed shut and Shauna heard the sound of a hasp and padlock clicking into place on the outside. There was enough daylight coming through the window for her to see well enough, but the opening section was far too small to accommodate even a slim woman such as herself without breaking out the entire frame, so there was no point in even thinking about trying to escape. Shauna slumped into the office chair as the long and eventful day replayed in her mind. She knew now she should have listened to her gut reaction that day she discovered that Eric had left without them. She should have followed him immediately, insisting that Jonathan and Vicky do the same. Sure, it would have been dangerous, but anything would have been preferable to this. She’d made another mistake by not going with her first instinct, and Shauna spent the rest of the night agonizing over it and wondering if she’d ever see her daughter again. All she knew for sure was that her present situation meant that it was out of her hands for now, and the only thing that gave her a little peace was knowing that at least Eric had a pretty good idea of where Megan went. As long as he got to her and kept her safe, Shauna’s main purpose in coming out here was accomplished, even if she never got to share in it. And that was worth dying for if that was the way it had to be.
Six
VICKY HELPED JONATHAN STEADY himself while he dismounted from the saddle and then she took the heavy revolver when he handed it to her. He was about to unbuckle his belt to remove the holster, but she stopped him.
“I don’t need it. I’ll carry it in my hand and be ready to use it, but don’t worry, I won’t have to. I know how to move quietly in the woods. Grandpa taught me a lot more than just riding. I’ll be careful, and I won’t get too close, so they’ll never know I’m there. I promise!”
With that, Vicky gave Jonathan a quick hug and left him sitting on a big rock, Tucker’s reins in his hands. If he needed to remount the horse on his own, he could stand up on the rock to assist himself. But Vicky didn’t plan to let that happen. She knew Jonathan would be helpless out here without her and Shauna, so she couldn’t let him down. But at the moment, she was far more worried about Shauna. After finding her rifle destroyed like that, there was little doubt as to whether she’d been taken by those men. And Vicky didn’t want to think about what they might do to her. She didn’t know what she would be able to do to stop it, but she had to know for sure if they had her and if Shauna was still alive. It was too dangerous to attempt to follow the tracks from where she’d found the rifle, because she had no idea how many more of them might be nearby in the woods or whether or not some were posted along their route, standing guard. She wouldn’t be able to see much of the area around the cabin from that approach anyway, so Vicky climbed back up to the crest of the ridge, retracing the route she had taken with Jonathan and Tucker. From up there, she would be able to get a good view, and find out exactly what it was those men intended to do now that they’d discovered the cabin and all the supplies and weapons inside.
Vicky hadn’t exaggerated too much when she told Jonathan that she knew how to move quietly in the woods. Although she’d never been interested in hunting and killing animals during her summer visits to her grandpa’s ranch, she still loved learning about how the Indians and frontiersmen had survived out there, and the old man had delighted in teaching her what he knew of woodcraft. The main takeaway she got from it was that if one wanted to move unseen and unheard through the woods, the key was to be slow and deliberate about it. She had moved faster when climbing up the backside of the ridge, but once she was descending towards the cabin, Vicky slowed down and paid careful attention to where she put her feet with every step. Although there was a covering of snow, it was still possible to make out the shapes of fallen branches on the ground beneath it with careful scrutiny, so she took the time to avoid accidentally breaking one.
Jonat
han had warned her about getting too close, saying the men might begin a sweep of the area at any time. When she finally reached the overlook where the two of them had first observed the men approach the cabin, Vicky saw that she didn’t need to get closer to see what she was looking for. Shauna was there. She was standing right in front of the cabin with her hands apparently tied behind her back. There were more of the camo-clad men there than she and Jonathan had seen before, some of them standing near Shauna while others moved things out of the cabin and barn. Vicky was relieved and happy to see that Shauna was alive and apparently unhurt, but she was in the hands of those strangers and there was no way of knowing what they were going to do now that they had her.
As she watched them sorting through the rifles and other firearms that had been in the cabin, Vicky could tell that they were questioning Shauna, even though she was much too far away to hear anything that was said. Shauna probably wondered why she and Jonathan weren’t there, and Vicky didn’t know if the men knew about the two of them or not. She doubted Shauna would tell them anything she didn’t have to, but would the men figure it out by looking around in the cabin? Now that they were here, were they planning on taking over the place and staying, waiting them out until Jonathan and Vicky were forced to return that evening because of the cold? Vicky thought they might, until she saw a couple of the men lead the other horses into the barn and then emerge several minutes later with all of them saddled or fitted with Bob’s pack saddles. The horses were then led to the pile of stuff in front of the cabin and the men began loading it onto them. They were taking the horses and all their supplies and firearms with them! Even if they let Shauna go and left her behind, this was going to put her and Vicky and Jonathan in a desperate situation. But she doubted they would let Shauna go though, and she saw that she was right when some of them began moving back down towards the meadow, leading Shauna and the horses with them. It appeared that they were going back the way they’d came from when Jonathan first spotted them, but three or four of them were still doing something in the cabin and barn as the others waited at the edge of the woods. Vicky knew she had to get back to Jonathan as fast as possible to tell him about Shauna, but she wanted to wait until she knew all of them were gone. When the last of them finally came back out of the cabin and barn, it was only a moment later before Vicky saw smoke—lots of it—and realized what they’d just done. By the time they began disappearing into the woods, the smoke was pouring out of both structures and she caught a glimpse of flames through the open cabin door. Vicky took one last look before turning to hurry back to where she’d left Jonathan. The only good news she had to tell him was that Shauna was alive; for the time being. But they’d lost their shelter, their horses, supplies and weapons, and Jonathan still couldn’t walk. She had no idea what they were going to do next.
Feral Nation - Convergence (Feral Nation Series Book 6) Page 5