by TW Powell
Mesquite was Deseret’s southwestern gateway and well defended. Collective pilots who ventured over Mesquite did so at their own risk as there were several Patriot PAC-3 missile batteries concealed in the surrounding mountains. These missiles and their radars were maintained in a state of constant readiness by Deseret technicians and periodically upgraded by Japanese technical advisors.
250 miles to the north, Salt Lake Squadron had arrived in Ely and was ready to move against Round Mountain and Carver’s.
In Kingston, Junior was incessantly drilling his forces. Those normally considered noncombatants, the elderly, teenagers, and mothers with children, were being trained in self-defense weapons and tactics. The Medical Team was preparing to function as a mounted MASH unit. Finally, the Kingston fighting force was prepared to either defend the Kingston or move southward and attack Carver’s.
Otter Creek
1st Brigade of the 2nd Kentucky was camped in the woods along Otter Creek which ran from north to south about 2 miles west of the Depository. They had not yet been discovered, but Colonel Jimmy Haycraft knew it was only a matter of time until they were spotted.
“Jimmy. The Keeper says 1 a.m. tomorrow morning.”
“What about 1 a,m. tomorrow morning?”
“That’s when the 100-hour time lock on The Vault will provide a 10-minute window when the combination can be entered into the system.”
“Hold it Jo, how do we know the time lock hasn’t been reset, or in some way interrupted?
Maybe it won’t open when he thinks it will.”
The Keeper was standing on Jo’s left and one step behind her. He whispered in her left ear.
“The Keeper says the clock has never been reset. He says even if it is serviced, which is almost never, the timing is not affected. It will click into safe mode tomorrow morning at 1 a.m.”
“Jo, can we have a moment in private?”
“Sure, Jimmy.”
Jo excused The Keeper, “David, would you step outside for a moment?”
With that, David left the command tent.
“Jo, are you willing to stake perhaps hundreds of lives, including your own, on this character?”
“He is one strange bird, isn’t he? The answer is yes. If The Keeper says The Vault will open tomorrow morning at 1 a.m., that son-of-a-bitch will open!”
Jimmy paused for a moment, placed his hand upon his forehead for another moment, then shouted, “OK, Keeper get your ass back in here.”
“It’s my understanding that Treasury Department security protocols require two different passcodes be entered simultaneously in order to open The Vault.”
Jo and the Keeper had yet another sidebar conversation.
“That’s right Jimmy, your understanding of Treasury Department security protocols is correct.”
“OK, Jo. Then what are we talking about? We can’t open that vault door.”
“Hold on, Jimmy. The Keeper didn’t say that. He said that those Treasury bean counters didn’t have a clue about Operation Roosevelt and its secondary protocol. He’s damned sure The Collective hasn’t a clue.”
“Secondary protocol?”
“You bet your sweet ass Jimmy. There’s a secret secondary protocol.”
Jo then pointed directly at The Keeper’s balding head, “Inside his nerd brain, there’s a secret passcode. Tomorrow morning at 1 a.m., he will input that code into the lock and that 20-ton vault door will swing wide open.”
Jimmy exclaimed “God Almighty.”
The Keeper smiled a Cheshire Cat smile.
“So, here’s the deal. At midnight have 1st Kentucky cut Dixie Highway up yonder by West Point. Then get some of your boys up off their asses and cut the Dixie about a mile south of the Depository. I’ll have Blaster get with your Quartermaster and procure all the fireworks he needs to do his thing. At 12:45 a.m. tomorrow morning, the rest of your boys will be right across Dixie Highway from the Depository. You will cross the road and form a cordon around the outer perimeter fence. You will not assault the Depository, per se, but you will blow the hell out of the Guard Shacks located at the entrance and several points along the entry road.
“Next, Apache and I will park Huey directly over the Depository. The Keeper says the roof is too uneven and will not support Huey, so we won’t land. Flipper and Butcher will rappel down to the Depository rooftop and take up sniper positions. Then we’ll land Huey out front on the driveway. Apache will keep the rotors turning just in case we have to bug out. Flipper and Butcher will drop satchel charges down on each of the pill boxes on the four corners of the Depository.
“Using shaped charges, Blaster will blow a hole in the Depository front door big enough for a Mac truck. Katz and I will enter the Depository and neutralize any opposition. At 1 a.m., The Keeper will input his code. The Vault will open. Blaster will position charges inside the Depository to blow the HEU inward toward the center of the building.
“The Keeper and I will locate the merchandise. We’ll bust open that wooden crate and haul the merchandise out the front door and onto Huey. Then, Huey will take a quick lap around the yard, with Blaster strategically dropping IEDs amidst the stacked drums of DU. We’ll drop a rope ladder and retrieve Butcher and Flipper from the roof. With the merchandise in hand, and the Fab Five all back onboard, we’ll get the hell out of Dodge. All demolition charges will be set to detonate at 1:30 a.m.
“Jimmy, your men can abandon the perimeter at 1:25 a.m. and run like hell back to Otter Creek.”
“Hold it, Jo. My boys can’t outrun a nuclear blast.”
“Jimmy, it doesn’t work that way. It’s actually very difficult to set off a nuclear explosion. A critical mass of HEU, over 100 pounds, must be imploded in just the right manner to bring the mass to supercriticality. The odds are virtually nil that we can accomplish that in The Vault. We can create a dirty bomb. The explosive devices will blast radioactive debris throughout the Depository and the surrounding grounds. If we’re lucky, when the HEU in the Depository is concentrated by the explosions, the HEU will act like an out-of-control nuclear reactor pile and generate enough heat to cause a meltdown.
“The prevailing winds are from the west. If your boys run to the west, they’ll be OK. Since the explosions involving HEU will be contained by The Vault and the Depository building, there should not be widespread contamination, but there will be local contamination. In fact, we’re counting on the Depository site being rendered extremely contaminated for a long, long time.”
“Jo, what about the merchandise?”
“What about it?”
“Just what in the hell is down in that vault?”
“Jimmy, you don’t want to know…”
“Where will you take the merchandise?”
“Somewhere safe. Somewhere free. You just make sure those Army and Air Force pukes in Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri and Altus, Oklahoma are ready to refuel my Huey.”
Infrastructure
“Hey Dad, look at the desert all around us.”
“Yeah, Tommy. What are those three towers to the west and northwest? They are bright as the sun at the top.”
“Dad, those are thermal solar generation plants. See all the mirrors arranged in concentric circles around the towers? Those mirrors focus the sun’s rays onto a point at the top of the towers.
“All that heat is transferred to a heat exchange fluid that, in turn, heats water to make steam. That steam powers a turbine generator and produces electricity.”
“What’s that to our north and northeast? It looks like lakes, or something.”
“Those are more solar plants, except those are photovoltaic plants. Those plants use solar panels that convert sunlight directly to electricity. Years ago, the thermal plants were more economical, but as solar panels became more efficient and cheaper, the photovoltaic plants captured much of the market.”
“Tommy, you know any mineral mining and processing operation requires several critical inputs. You need labor, water, diesel fuel for the mining
equipment, coal or natural gas for roasting and drying the ore, and electricity. I suspect that Mountain Pass gets most of its power from these solar plants. Vegas probably depends on them too.”
“Dad, it’s not quite sundown. Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”
“Yep, let’s get Puma 2 airborne and recon these solar plants and the Primm casino resorts.”
“Ok, but why are we reconnoitering those closed up casinos?”
“Infrastructure. I betcha the slave laborers are housed at those shut down resorts in Primm.”
Within a few minutes, Tom was heaving Puma 2 aloft.
“Son let’s just make one long oval lap. The sun’s about to go behind the mountains.”
“Once we retrieve Puma 2 we’ll hike over to Mountain Pass.”
What Do You Really Think
Delvin was an honorable man, a fair man. Yes, Alex was a cog in a horrible machine, but Delvin had been close to Alex for the last 5 years. Despite all the despicable things she did, perhaps she was only trying to survive, just like Nurse Beth and her friend Natasha had to do back in Louisville.
As the pair lay in splendid luxury in the Marilyn Suite that evening, Delvin had to find out just what his special friend really thought.
“You know Alex, I’ve been thinking about what you told me a few days ago in Frisco. You told me that we came out of that vaccination fiasco smelling like roses. What ever happened to the Debtors that we vaccinated and released?”
“Nothing happened and that’s a shame. If those Chinese imbeciles hadn’t screwed things up, the plague that is now sweeping China would be sweeping the Resistance.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Delvin, you can’t be that dense. Those red ampoules supposedly contained live virus. The plan was to inject the Debtors with a highly contagious virus with a high mortality rate, then release them to infect the Resistance. But those Chinese idiots fucked it all up.”
Delvin was trying to give Alex the benefit of a doubt, “Alex, you’re telling me that you wanted to eliminate the Resistance fighters, the troublemakers.”
“Most certainly, that was our primary goal.”
“Then you really weren’t targeting the noncombatants, the women and children.”
Alex laughed, “Come on, Delvin. That was the really ingenious part of the whole plan. It would have wiped out all the Resistance. They’re hiding out there in those mountains and swamps and forests. They’re out there breeding like vermin. The virus would have wiped them all out, their filthy offspring, their brood sows, their useless, obsolete elders. Gone! A final solution to the Resistance problem.”
Alex’s words exposed a darkness in her soul that was even darker than Delvin’s worst fears. Alex rolled over on top of Delvin to give him a kiss and see where that might lead. Delvin sat up, forced out a gag, covered his mouth with his hand, then ran to the bathroom.
“Delvin, Honey, are you OK?”
“No Alex, I think I’m going to be sick…”
Team #1
A couple of hours before dawn, Vet and Adam kept low as they scampered across US 95 at Cactus Springs, Nevada. The men had an easy two-mile hike along a dry wash to the rugged low hills that lay just a little under 3 miles to the west of the 9,000-foot runway at the former Creech Air Force Base in Indian Springs, Nevada. At first light, they hunkered down behind some boulders that obscured any sign of their presence.
Vet surveyed the airfield through his binoculars while Adam prepped Puma 1.
“Adam, I think we need to get Puma airborne and get this done before the sun comes up over the mountains.”
“Mr. John, you’re right. Once that damn sun gets up over the mountains, we’ll be looking straight into it.”
Adam was at the controls as Vet heaved Puma 1 into the air.
“Mr. John, you can watch in real time on that laptop. I’m gonna take Puma up about 5,000 feet off the deck and fly straight east along that 9,000-foot runway. When she gets to the east of the airbase, I’ll take her down to 1,000 feet and we’ll get a good view of all the buildings and vehicles.”
“Adam looks like all the operational facilities are in the northeast quadrant of the base. There’s 4 large hangars located on the northeast end of the main taxiway. Looks like a couple of them are wide open.”
“Mr. John, those hangar doors are on the southwest end of the hangars. That means Puma will need to look to the east to see inside. I guess she better get her ass on around to the west side of the base and drop down to 100 feet for a quick peep.”
“Yeah, there doesn’t appear to be any activity on the ground. If she’s going to do it, it needs to happen in the next 5 or 10 minutes. Mr. Sun is about to poke his head over the Sheep Range.”
“OK, but it’s both our asses if we lose her.”
Adam placed Puma into a long looping descent. By the time she was due west of the hangar doors, Puma was only 100 feet off the deck.
“There you go Adam. Look in that big hangar. That’s a big assed drone, probably a Global Hawk. Those are definitely Predators, or Reapers, in the smaller hangars. Take her back up to 500 and gimbal her eyes straight down, then make another pass.”
“Just a moment. OK, coming back around at 500.”
“What’s that between the two runways?”
“I dunno. Looks to me like an asphalt cloverleaf.”
“Helipads, 4 helipads. Look, right next to the cloverleaf. There’s 4 covered revetments.”
“Take her down for a peek?”
“Adam, you read my mind.”
Not a soul was out and about on the helipads, so Adam took Puma down to just 20 feet off the deck. Adam was having a blast weaving Puma around and about the covered revetments.
“Great work Adam. Let’s bring our little kitty home.”
Adam brought Puma to a deep-stall landing there among the boulders.
“Don’t worry Mr. John, she didn’t crash. That’s just another one of Puma’s tricks.”
Team #1 then retired to a cooler, shady spot a little further up the hill amongst some larger boulders.
While Adam was cranking the generator and recharging Puma, Vet was replaying the surveillance footage.
“Adam, the doors were shut on two of those hangars, but we’ve got a large drone in the big hangar, I mean she’s almost as big as a small airliner. I’m pretty sure that’s a Global Hawk. If so, that’s good news and bad news. The good news is she’s not armed. The bad news is she can fly thousands of miles at 60,000 feet and has cameras and sensors that make Puma look like a blind kitty.
“Global Hawk is a strategic asset. The Collective would never waste her flight hours on a few assholes up in Kingston. But there’s more bad news. They probably use that bird to spy on Deseret, the Arizona and Texas Rangers, maybe even those Jews and Cubans down Miami way.”
“Mr. John, you and Junior have got to blow that Hawk to smithereens.”
John chuckled, “Hang on Cowboy, I wish I could run down there and take out that asset, but I would just get myself killed. No, we’re soldiers. We have to get this information back to our command. That Hawk is a high value target of opportunity. We will deal with her at the appropriate time.”
“The smaller drone is either a Predator, or a Reaper. Either one is bad news. Reaper is just a meaner version of the Predator. Either of those assets can fire Hellfire missiles, but the Reaper can carry other ordnance and more of it. We must assume there are more drones in the other hangars.”
“What about the helipads, Mr. John?”
“Two of the revetments are empty. There’s a smaller helo parked in one revetment. Probably a Kiowa. Kiowa’s are mainly used as scout and utility choppers, but they can be armed. Definitely a concern, but nothing like an Apache. A larger helo is parked in the fourth revetment. She’s not an Apache. I can’t tell for sure, but I think she’s an old Huey Cobra. Not quite as tough as an Apache, but in a fight a Cobra can live up to her name. If that’s a Cobra, she must be taken out along with th
e drones.”
“Mr. John, my Dad was right, wasn’t he? Just these air assets could take out Stonewall Ranch and Kingston.”
“Yes Adam, your Dad is quite a Marine. Now, let’s get our camo tarpaulin set up and get some rest. Tomorrow morning, we’ll know just what kind of Marine you are, my friend, after we’ve finished our 30-mile forced night march.”
At dusk, Adam and John rolled up their camo tarp, and packed up, and moved out.
“Let’s move it. We’ll hike to the north of the airfield, giving it a wide berth. Then we’ll follow US 95 all the way to Vegas. When we get closer to Vegas, we’ll by-pass the Southern Paiute Reservation.
“We must be careful down by the Rez. The Collective really pandered to the Native Americans after the Revolution. I should know, I traded Indian artifacts. The Members treated that stuff like religious relics. But I’ve heard some scary stories.”
“Like what kind of stories?”
“I don’t know all the details, but let’s just say our White asses probably won’t be welcomed on the Rez.”
John’s fears were justified. Following the American Civil War, the state of Oklahoma was officially known as the Indian Territory as it was dotted with Indian reservations. Unofficially, the area was known as “The Nations”. Every time White settlers drove an Indian tribe off their land, the Federal Government would resettle the tribe in The Nations.
The Indian Territory eventually became the Oklahoma Territory. Then, in 1907, the State of Oklahoma entered the Union, but the reservations remained semi-autonomous.
Most White folks down Oklahoma way were quite conservative. When The Collective came to power, Oklahoma resisted. The Collective manipulated The Nations, using them as proxies. The summer of 2026 became known throughout The Nations and among all Native Americans as “The Summer of Tears”.
In the real world, most of the Tribes earned considerable revenue from casinos and smoke shops. Since the reservations were semi-autonomous, state and local gaming prohibitions and tax laws did not apply. Indian casinos dotted America. Many tribal lands sported classy casinos that generated a steady stream of cash for the local tribe. Likewise, Indian smoke shops sold tobacco, alcohol, and more recently marijuana, at tax free prices, sort of like duty-free shops.