“There’s no one up here with me and there is no ‘base’!” Shauna said. “I’m alone.”
“Do you really expect me to believe you’re alone way up here? A woman, in these mountains by yourself? It’s dropping below zero up here at night this time of year. Where are you staying and what are you eating? It doesn’t look like that deer rifle is doing you much good, but then you don’t look like you’re starving either. Now, one more time, how many are with you and where are they?”
Shauna was trying to read the man before she answered. He’d mentioned ‘government contractors’ and she knew all too well that could cover a lot of territory, but at least if it were true, they probably weren’t part of a rogue militia or band of insurgents themselves. They seemed professional and highly skilled, so it seemed likely that this man his companion had called “Chief” might be telling the truth, but that didn’t mean she was ready to trust them. They weren’t giving her the benefit of the doubt, running her down and restraining her as they had, and telling her she was under arrest for terrorism. She simply couldn’t risk bringing the same fate to Jonathan and Vicky, knowing as she did from hearing all of Eric’s stories that some of these contractors operated with completely different rules of engagement than regular military. That of course, was why they were often used in situations and places where rules were a serious hinderance to getting things done. And Eric should know, because he spent years working for such outfits himself, although he’d avoided the dirtiest of them. Shauna knew she had to think of something to buy more time and divert their attention elsewhere, and the only place that came to mind was the ranch that had belonged to Vicky’s grandparents.
“I was staying with a friend of my daughter’s, at her grandfather’s ranch until a gang of looters came and stole their horses, and then murdered them and burned their house down,” Shauna said. “I was the only survivor, and only because I was out hunting that day like I am now. I heard the shooting and headed back there as fast as I could. But I saw the men that did it from the ridge overlooking the place and I knew there was nothing I could do, so I stayed up there until they were gone. When I finally went down there, I saw that my daughter’s friend and her grandparents were dead. It was terrible, but there was nothing I could have done. Look, I was there because I was looking for my daughter. I’d hoped to find her there with her friend, but she didn’t know where she was, and I was out of options.”
The men looked at her with little expression as she told her story, and Shauna could tell they didn’t find it very convincing. “A ranch house, huh? Where was this, exactly? We haven’t seen a ranch house anywhere nearby. This is all national forest wilderness land.”
“It’s to the south. Not all that far really. Less than a two-day hike down the Divide Trail, and then a short way west on the first gravel road you come to.”
“And you just struck out into the mountains by yourself after this happened, and that’s how you ended up here?”
“What else could I do? I couldn’t stay there. I didn’t know if those men were coming back or not.”
Before he could answer, the man questioning her was interrupted by one of his team members, who’d been standing guard off to one side, but was now walking quickly towards them, a handheld radio up to his ear. “They found something, Chief. About two klicks farther up that creek we were on. It’s a cabin. Way off the grid and pretty well hidden.”
“Is it occupied? Did they encounter any resistance?”
“No sir! Reece says they secured the perimeter first, and then cleared it. They didn’t find anyone inside, but there were lots of weapons and other supplies in there, and some horses outside. He said someone’s living there for sure. The wood stove inside was still hot.”
“Tell him to get an inventory of all the weapons and ammunition and keep the property secured until we get there. I want to see this place myself and I’ve got one of the occupants with me now.”
“Rodger. I’ll pass the word.”
When the “chief” turned back to her, Shauna was shaking her head. “I don’t know anything about a cabin like that.” She’d heard enough of the conversation to know that for whatever reason, the men who’d discovered the cabin didn’t have Jonathan and Vicky. It surprised her really, to hear that, because she thought surely they would either be inside or close enough by if outside that they would have been seen when those men found the place. But however the two of them managed to elude capture, Shauna was elated to hear it, and she wasn’t going to give these men any information that might compromise them or cause them to add more false accusations to the reasons they were detaining her.
“I don’t know anything about a cabin up that way, but I haven’t been all the way up there. I’ve been trying to keep out of the higher elevations because it’s so cold.”
“We’ll see about that. I’ll bet you’ll recognize the stash of weapons my men found when we get there, and I’m sure whoever’s with you will be back home soon. Now get up! Let’s go!”
Shauna got to her knees and then stood, unable to dust the snow off her jacket and pants with her hands secured behind her back. She stomped her feet to shake some of it off as one of the other men picked up her Glock and stashed it in his backpack.
“What do you want me to do with this, Chief?” The same man asked, holding up the 30.06.
“Break it and leave it here. We have no use for it.”
“You have no right to confiscate and destroy my guns!” Shauna said. “That rifle is my only means of getting food, and the pistol is for personal protection.”
“You’re not going to need either now. And yes, we do have the right and the orders to confiscate firearms from all civilians we encounter with them. It’s nothing personal, but I’m being paid to do a job.”
The man with the Remington emptied the chamber and magazine and then walked over to a large rock, against which he smashed the buttstock, breaking it off at the receiver. He then wedged the barrel into a crevice in the rock and leaned into it with all his weight, bending it enough to render it useless. Then Shauna was forced to start walking, flanked on either side by two of the five who’d ran her down while the other three pushed on ahead, anxious to see what their other teammates had found. Shauna had no idea what they planned to do when they got there, and she was out of ideas for plotting an escape.
At this point, she was mostly willing to believe the men were who they said they were—a team of private contractors. That didn’t necessarily mean they were really working for the U.S. government, but it seemed likely that they were, as they seemed highly disciplined and professional. It would make sense that most of them, like Eric, were probably former Special Forces operatives now working in the private sector for better pay and flexibility. Shauna noted that their weapons and equipment were top-tier, but though they were all more or less dressed in tactical camouflage, they weren’t wearing any cohesive or official-looking uniform.
What all of this would mean for her now, she wasn’t sure, but Shauna felt somewhat better that at least she hadn’t fallen into the hands of a band of insurrectionists or outright outlaws, which would be far worse. She would have been willing to divulge more of the truth about her presence here though if her captors were members of an actual military unit that operated through the normal chain of command. In that case, she might be able to use her recent interactions with Lieutenant Holton back east to her advantage. As it was though, Shauna decided to keep quiet for now and say as little as possible, at least until they arrived at the cabin and she knew the status of Jonathan and Vicky and what these men planned to do next. If it turned out that they had them and she couldn’t deny they’d been staying there, she hoped to convince them that she and her companions were in no way involved with any activities related to the troublemakers that roamed these mountains. But considering all the weapons that were indeed stashed at Bob Barham’s cabin, both his own and the ones they’d brought there with them, she wasn’t optimistic that story would go over very well.
; The steep hike back up there was difficult with her hands behind her back, and the two men flanking her offered no help, other than urging her to move faster. When they finally emerged at the lower end of the meadow that extended down from the cabin, Shauna saw that the men had thrown almost everything that was inside out on the ground. She looked, but didn’t see Jonathan or Vicky among them, and wondered how they’d managed to escape capture. Then she glanced over at the horses that were all hitched together to the post outside the barn, no doubt secured there by the intruders. Tucker wasn’t among them! Shauna smiled inwardly, hoping for the best, but knowing that wherever Jonathan and Vicky may have gone, they may return at any moment, unaware that they were riding straight into a trap.
Four
JONATHAN’S HEART POUNDED AS he watched the armed strangers in disbelief. They had simply appeared out of nowhere and without warning at the lower edge of the meadow, and now they were spreading out on both sides, just inside the tree line, obviously intent on surrounding the cabin. He wasn’t sure if he’d seen them all or not, but he counted at least eight. How they’d found Bob’s place, he had no idea, but watching the cautious way they were moving into position around it, Jonathan was glad he and Vicky weren’t inside right now. These strangers were up to no good, Jonathan was certain, and from what he could see, they had come there to raid the place or remove the occupants.
He saw the other horses down there in the meadow acting skittish because of the intruders, and Jonathan turned slowly and looked back to where Vicky was standing next to Tucker, soothing him with whispers as she gently patted him to keep him quiet. Vicky was wide-eyed with fear as she looked back at him. He knew she was wondering what was going on down there, and she needed to see this.
“Take Tucker a little farther back in the trees and tie him there,” he whispered. “And bring the rifle when you come back.”
He had Bob’s .44 Magnum revolver on his belt, but a handgun would do them little good if those men armed with rifles spotted them and started shooting. He’d also brought the .45-70 lever-action, carried in the scabbard attached to Tucker’s saddle. Vicky had it with her as she crept slowly back to his side.
“I counted eight of them! There may be more though. They’ve basically surrounded the cabin from within the edge of the woods.”
“What do you think they want?”
“Probably everything we’ve got! What else?”
Before Vicky could say anything, her response was cut short by a burst of automatic gunfire, somewhere far off in the distance in the direction from which they’d heard the two rifle shots earlier. “That sounds like it came from the same place Shauna was shooting!” Vicky said.
“If it was her that we heard the first time, yes! Either way, that is the direction she went this morning, down the creek, and she didn’t have one of the M4s or AKs with her. There must be even more of those jokers than I thought!”
“What are we going to do, Jonathan? Shauna could be in trouble!”
“I know she could! She probably is! We’ve got to figure out a way to get down there and find her if we can, but we can’t let these guys see us.”
“Look! They’re doing something down there right now!”
Jonathan turned his gaze back to the view of the cabin and saw two men running from the edge of the woods to the front porch, converging on it from opposite sides. When they flattened themselves against the log walls on either side of the door, he knew what was coming next. He saw some of the other men in the tree line ready their rifles as they covered their two buddies, and then one of the men on the porch backed up and drove a hard front kick into the door. It wouldn’t have given way so easily if anyone had been inside to drop the massive wooden bar that Bob Barham had fashioned into place, but that lock wasn’t designed to be used from outside, and the smaller latch Jonathan had secured gave way easily to the man’s vicious kick. As soon as it did, the two men entered the doorway with their weapons at ready while two more sprinted from the woods to provide close-in backup. Eric had told Jonathan stories of using similar tactics clearing buildings in the war zones where he’d fought, and when Jonathan didn’t hear any gunfire, he figured these men were trained professionals. Inexperienced amateurs would have sprayed rounds indiscriminately, out of fear, even before they determined if the structure was occupied or not.
“Dammit!” Jonathan said. “Those bastards are going to find all our shit! They’re going to clean us out! Our food… our weapons… everything!”
“I don’t see that we can stop them, Jonathan. There are way too many of them!”
“Not if Eric were here, there wouldn’t be, but he isn’t, so yeah, you’re right. Man, we are so screwed if we lose all our stuff!”
“Maybe they won’t take it,” Vicky said. “Maybe they’re looking for someone, and they got the wrong place. Do you think they could be soldiers? They look like they could be to me.”
“Maybe, but I’m not willing to let them know we’re here so we can ask them. They seem to know what they’re doing, but that doesn’t mean they wouldn’t shoot us on sight. We need to try and slip out of here before they start looking around, because now that they’re inside the cabin, they’re gonna know that someone’s been living there. If they come up this way and I’m still here, I’m screwed, because I can’t run. Besides, we need to find another way down to where we heard that shooting and see if we can find Shauna.”
“There is a way on the other side of the ridge above us, if we can find a route that Tucker can handle. There’s no way I could help you walk that far as steep is it is, but Tucker could carry you while I lead him. Shauna and I were up there just the other day. It looked like another small creek down in the ravine on the other side, and she said it had to run into the main creek somewhere.”
“Then that’s the way we need to go, but we’re going to have to be real careful slipping away from where we are right now, especially with Tucker. He’d be easy to spot from down there if they start glassing these slopes, and he may get agitated and make noise. Go ahead and lead him a bit farther back in the woods and wait for me there. I’m going to watch these guys just a moment longer and then I’ll crawl back over there and mount up.”
“You should come now, Jonathan. Why wait?”
“Because I want to see what they’re going to do when they finish searching. I want to make sure they don’t just leave afterwards, because if they do, we might have other options.”
“I wouldn’t count on it, Jonathan.”
“I’m not, and I won’t be long. Now go! Take it slow and keep that horse quiet!”
Vicky did as she was told, and Jonathan turned his attention back to the men raiding Bob Barham’s cabin. He now saw that three of them had discovered the old man’s grave out there in the meadow, and were standing there looking at it, no doubt reading the inscription on the wooden marker that bore the recent date of his passing. He knew it wouldn’t fool them into thinking no one still lived there though, because there were dirty dishes in the sink and the coals in the wood stove hadn’t even had time to burn out since breakfast. Jonathan then saw a couple of the others that had been inside come out onto the porch carrying the rifles and shotguns they’d found in there. They leaned them against the railing and went back for more. After several trips, they had stacked the ammo cans and the bags containing magazines and the handguns out there as well. Jonathan knew it must have looked to them like whoever lived there had an arsenal and was seriously prepared for anything, and it was the truth. However, all those preparations had done them little good in the end, as they had been caught out and surprised by this silent and swift-moving band of invaders, who had now taken possession of it all without firing a shot.
As he watched them, Jonathan noticed one man walking towards two of the others while holding something up to his ear. It was hard to be sure at that distance, but Jonathan figured it was a radio of some kind. He already knew there were more of the men than just those he could see at the cabin because of
that burst of gunfire. Jonathan thought it quite likely that the one he saw with the radio was in contact with the rest. They would probably be coming here as well, and soon, so Jonathan knew it was time to get moving if he and Vicky were to avoid getting caught. He feared the worst for Shauna if she had indeed exchanged gunfire with any of this crew. She was far outnumbered and outgunned and had likely been as surprised as he and Vicky at their sudden arrival. All he and Vicky could do was try and find her down there in the direction from which they heard the shooting, but they had to be extremely careful to avoid being seen while doing so.
Jonathan crawled quietly back to where Vicky was waiting with Tucker. With her standing beside him, so he could put an arm around her while hanging onto the saddle horn with his other hand, Jonathan was able to get his good foot into the stirrup, and from there, swing his injured leg up and over. She passed the .45-70 lever action rifle up to him and then he was ready to go. “Just take it real slow and stop ever so often to listen,” he said, as she took the reins in one hand and began walking quietly in front of Tucker. “Try to keep to the heaviest cover that we can get through with Tucker. We don’t know that some of the others with them aren’t out here combing the woods already.”
The going was difficult as Vicky sought a suitable route up and over the ridge. She had to double back in places, taking advantage of the natural switchbacks she could find, and the higher they went, the more snow accumulation they encountered. Jonathan hated that they were leaving a visible trail in it, but there was little they could do about that now. At least it didn’t start from the cabin, as the meadow and surrounding areas down there were mostly free of snow until the next storm came through. Jonathan hoped that would buy them some time, as the men wouldn’t pick up the trail until they had time to expand their search radius well away from the cabin. Whether they would even do that or not, there was no way of knowing, but it was best to assume they would. Though he and Vicky stopped several times to listen carefully, they could no longer hear the men down at the cabin from up there where they were, and there was nothing else from the direction they’d heard that machine gun burst either.
Feral Nation Series Box Set 2 [Books 4-6] Page 37