by Ryan King
Chapter 12 – Delay
Joshua thought he was in just about a perfect position. They were on a tall hill covered with thick trees overlooking the Cumberland River. What had drawn them to this location were numerous rumors and hints gathered from locals talking about activity along the major waterway. Joshua and his recon squad now saw the activity they were referring to.
Below them were what appeared to be several dozen small boats and six larger double-decker passenger ships typically used for tours along the river. Currently, the large ships were empty, but through the binoculars Joshua could see several hundred men, and their tents and cooking fires, in the wood line nearby. Meanwhile, men were working furiously to mount large machine guns, grenade launchers, and rockets in various configurations onto the smaller boats.
Joshua again checked the cell phone and saw there still wasn’t a signal. They had a hand crank generator to keep the phone charged, but the dam must still be down which meant the cell towers weren't functioning. Luke Carter called him nearly a week ago and told him the situation before the signal went dead, but neither really had a good answer for how to communicate the information the team gathered. Joshua hoped the power would come back up soon. Someone needed to know what they had discovered.
It was easy for Joshua to see what was planned below. Everyone was expecting an attack from the south, but no one was looking for an attack along the Cumberland River up through Barkley Lake. They could land anywhere along the park. Hell, they could land right at the dam.
Joshua’s mind raced quickly and he thought back over his conclusion again. It made sense. The dam was the key. They were conducting a sneak attack on the dam either to take it or possibly even destroy it.
He wondered, Could they really be crazy enough to want to destroy the one source of electricity? Maybe…people did crazy things when they couldn’t get what they wanted. If it was a surprise attack, they would want to maintain secrecy as long as possible which means they would probably only travel at night.
Joshua wasn’t familiar with the lakes or boating, but figured that it would take them several days at least to travel that far north.
Joshua made up his mind and called his two team leaders together. His recon squad was made up of two four man teams each with a team leader, sniper, medic, and automatic rifleman. He now addressed Billy, the better of his two team leaders, a teenager only a few months younger than himself.
“Leave me your sniper, but take the rest of your team back as fast as you can and warn them of what is going on here,” said Joshua quickly. “If you can get to Captain Green in time, maybe he can try to stop them from getting too far north. At a minimum, we have to do what we can to warn everyone, I think they’re going to try to take or destroy the dam.”
“Holy crap!” said Billy with his eyes a little wide.
Joshua grabbed his arm the way his father did to focus his attention. “You’re going to have to move as fast as you can. Steal the first car, bikes, horses, or whatever you come across. I know we’re not supposed to do that, but we have no choice. Be very careful. Only rest when you have to and never for very long. And for God’s sake, don’t get caught!”
“I understand,” said Billy while pulling out his map to study the return route.
“You’re also going to have to get a boat at some point to cross over to warn Captain Green,” said Joshua. “You won’t have time to get up to the Route 68 bridge and then come back down. As a matter of fact you might make better time on the water overall if you can get a boat early enough.”
“Won’t those motor boats catch up with them?” asked Henry, his second team chief, who had come near them.
“That’s going to be our job,” said Joshua. “We’re going to delay them as long as we can. With any luck, they’re not going to try to depart for another day, maybe two.” Another thought came to Joshua. “Also warn them that another such group could be coming up the Tennessee River into Kentucky Lake, they might be trying to attack the dam from two sides.”
“Got it,” said Billy putting away his map and looking around for his team members.
Joshua was nervous, “And Billy, be careful.”
The team leader smiled back. “You already said that. See you in a few days.” He took off down the hill at a run to gather his remaining two men and get going.