by Robert Boren
It took another ten minutes or so to gather everything up. It was too much to carry. Dobie called Gabe and asked him to bring the pickup truck out. Then he and Jeb walked up the canyon road and took care of the last body. After they got the chip out they each took a foot, dragged him over the side of the shoulder, and rolled him down by the other bodies.
“Well, what’s the haul?” Gabe asked after he parked.
“Not bad,” Charlie said. “Thirteen more AK-47s in usable condition, some ammo, and a few hand guns. We blew up all the mortar rounds, I’m afraid, and the mortars they brought are toast.”
The men tossed everything into the back of the pickup and drove back over the bridge. Jackson pulled it away from the moat, and then drove the backhoe to the barn.
“It’s Miller Time,” the Sheriff said, walking into the clubhouse. Rosie looked over at him and laughed. Charlie rushed over to Hilda and gave her a hug.
Jake walked up with Trish. “Man, is it like this all the time?” he asked. “Feels like we’ve gone out of the frying pan and into the fire.”
“The heat’s on, that’s for sure,” the Sheriff said. Gabe and Dobie walked into the clubhouse.
“Thank God for those dogs of yours, Dobie,” Mary said.
“We were pretty damn lucky again,” Charlie said. “Too lucky. If it wasn’t for you guys coming down the road when you did, the cretins would’ve gotten those mortars set up.”
“If the dogs act like that, there’s going to be something up,” Dobie said. “Trust me. We won’t just be able to sit back here and let them come, though. We’re going to have to check things out. It’s too easy for them to lob shells in here at us.”
“I think we ought to be putting more cameras around,” Jake said. “I’ve got the stuff in my truck, like I was saying before. We ought to be putting them down the road apiece in each direction.”
“Yeah, I agree,” the Sheriff said. “Those guys knew where we were, and they were getting ready to make an assault. No way was this random.”
“Shoot, that reminds me,” Gabe said. “The chips. Hand ‘em over, guys.”
“Wait a minute,” Jake said. “Can’t we drop them somewhere advantageous to us?”
“Yeah, a kill zone,” the Sheriff said. “How about back there in the canyon. We ought to be able to trap a few of these folks if we’re smart about it.”
“You know, that’s a hell of an idea,” Dobie said. “But we should place them well. Scatter them all around that canyon area. ”
“Right,” Charlie said. “Let’s go do it now, before it’s all the way dark.”
“Yeah, I’ll fire up the SUV. Jackson, could you let us out again?”
“Sure,” he said.
Dobie went out and got Duchess again. Then he met Gabe, Charlie, and the Sheriff back at the SUV. They got in and watched as Jackson pushed the bridge back over the moat. Then they drove off towards the canyon.
Back in the Clubhouse, Hilda walked up to Mary. They both looked terrified.
“We aren’t going to survive here, are we?” Mary asked.
“No way,” Hilda said. “I’m going to make sure that our coach is ready to go.”
“Yeah, me too,” Mary said.
Trish was listening to them from a few tables over. She looked over at her dad, who was talking to Gabe. She wished that Terry and the others were back. She was trembling.
Chapter 11 – Smartphone Apps
The generator on the coach purred along. Jeb and Terry paced outside, looking around warily.
Inside, Frank had his hand on the signal generator, looking at Jerry.
“Go for it,” Jerry said.
“Yeah, honey, go ahead,” Jane said.
Frank turned on the signal generator, and then switched on the signal receiver.
“That doing it?” Jasmine asked.
“Looks like it…I’m getting more than one hit here. I’ve got to plug the signal generator into the laptop.” He connected the two devices with a USB cable, and brought up a program.
“What’s that?” Jane asked.
“A little program I cooked up to capture RF message payloads.”
“That mean there’s output?” Jerry asked, pointing to an indicator on the screen.
“Yep, sure does,” Frank said. He clicked on a button that said “Cap” on it, then selected a folder to store the file.
“Hey, Frank and Jerry!” Jeb shouted.
“Uh oh,” Jane said.
Frank opened the file using his notepad application. The file was 64 bits long, but was all gibberish.
“What’s that mean?” Jane asked.
“It’s encrypted, as I expected. This’ll be the hardest part to figure out.”
“Guys!”
“Let’s go see what they want,” Jerry said. Everybody left the coach.
“What’s going on?” Frank asked.
“Listen…mortar and small arms fire,” Jeb said.
It was silent for a moment, and then there were several muffled explosions.
“Oh no, that coming from the park?” Jasmine asked.
“It’s coming from that direction,” Terry said, “but it’s hard to tell if it’s a few miles or forty miles. A lot of hills around here.”
“I think it’s coming from the park,” Jeb said.
“Should we go back?” Jerry asked.
“Not yet,” Frank said. “We’ve got work to do. If our guys are going to lose, we’ll just get killed going back.”
“He’s right,” Jeb said. “You guys keep working.”
Terry looked sick with worry, but he had resignation on his face. “Yeah, keep working. Maybe we can sneak in at night.”
“It’ll be really late,” Frank said, “but we’ll see. I’ve got two steps to do. If I can get the first one done, that’s good enough for this trip.”
“What’re the steps?” Jerry asked.
“First, I need to be able to recognize that these are enemy messages, regardless of what they say under the encryption,” Frank said. “That’ll make the bad guys visible.”
“At what range?” Jeb asked.
“As long as we can get out on a cellular network attached to the internet, we can see where the chips are anywhere in the world.”
“That’ll help us to see anybody coming at us,” Terry said, grinning.
“Exactly. That’s why I want to get that part done before we leave here.”
“And the other part?” Jasmine asked.
“Crack the encryption. That should tell us who’s who.”
“Ah, so we really could use the message to find that asshole Saladin,” Jeb said.
“That’s what I’m hoping,” Frank said.
“Let’s get back to work,” Jerry said.
“Yeah, no sense telling us luddites about this now,” Jeb said, laughing. “Go work your magic. Terry and I’ll make sure we don’t get any un-invited guests.”
Frank nodded, and went back into the coach, followed by Jerry.
“You guys need something to drink?” Jasmine asked. “I’ve got lots of soda in the fridge.”
“Yeah, that’d be great,” Terry said. “Diet cola would be good.”
Jeb nodded yes. Jasmine went into the coach, followed by Jane. She came back out with two sodas, handed them off, and then went back inside.
“What next?” Jerry asked.
“We pull out each of the chips, one at a time, and capture the payload. Then we figure out what we can use to ID them. You have any sharpies in here?”
“Yeah, just a sec,” Jerry said. He went into one of the cabinets above the couch and opened it, pulling out a shoe-box shaped plastic bin. He pulled the top off and grabbed a sharpie. “Here you go. Gonna mark the bags to match with the files?”
“Exactly,” Frank said. He marked the bag for the first chip with the name he gave to the payload file, and put that chip back into the lead box. He grabbed another, and closed the box. He set it on the table in front of him, saw the return on the si
gnal receiver, and clicked the capture button.
“You don’t even have to take it out of the plastic bag?” Jane asked.
“Nope, no need,” he said, as he pulled up the file. “Look, same structure. This part’s going to be easy.”
“These will only get us as close as the nearest cell tower,” Jasmine said.
“That’s true,” Jerry said. “There’s got to be one really close to Gabe’s park, though, because we have killer LTE coverage there.”
Frank gave them a sly smile, as he continued to work.
“I think maybe I should make up a couple of mobile cell towers,” she said.
“You know how to do that?” Jerry asked.
“In theory, yes,” she said. “The hardest part would be getting the internet connection.”
“How about pairing it with satellite?” Jerry asked.
“That might work,” she said.
“How is Gabe getting his internet?” Jane asked. “I remember Frank talking about it being a fairly low bandwidth satellite connection.”
“He’s got cable TV,” Jerry said. “That means that there’s cable run all the way out there.”
“It’s probably run along with the electricity and phone lines, on the poles along the highway,” Jasmine said.
Frank listened as he worked, putting the second chip back and grabbing the third.
“Wonder why he doesn’t have good Wi-Fi there, then?” Jane asked.
“Probably too expensive,” Jerry said, chuckling. “That guy’s Mr. do-it-yourself. I’ll bet it’s hard to squeeze a penny out of that old codger.”
Frank cracked up. “Yeah, you’re probably right. Maybe we ought to take up a collection. I wouldn’t want him to dump the satellite internet, though. Cables are easy to cut, and all we need in order to see the cretins on his PC is that satellite internet connection he has. Speed won’t make any difference…and as long as we have LTE at the park, the mobile devices will work.”
Frank put the third one back and picked up the fourth, then the fifth. Soon he was finished with all of the chips in the plastic bags.
“They all holding to the same file parameters?” Jasmine asked.
“Yes. Step one will be a lot easier than I thought,” he said.
“Does Simon Orr’s chip look any different than the others?” Jane asked.
“Impossible to tell until I break the encryption,” Frank said. “Hey, Jerry, got any pens with a finer tip? I’m down to the loose chips.”
“I’m not sure, let’s have a look,” he said, picking up the plastic bin again.
“Doesn’t have to be permanent.”
“Here’s one…might be a little dry, though,” Jerry said. He handed it to Frank.
“This’ll do,” he said, marking on the first of the loose chips. He worked his way through the rest of the chips.
“How are you going to break the encryption?” Jane asked.
“I’ve got a program that I can use,” Frank said. “It’s going to take quite a few days to run, though, and I’ll need to fine tune it. I might need to contact Rami again, to get the FBI’s latest dataset.”
“Wouldn’t that be a tip off to bad guys in the government?” Jerry asked.
“Maybe,” Frank said. “Hopefully we won’t have to go that far. I have one other idea in mind if breaking the encryption won’t work.”
It was starting to get dark outside. Jerry turned the lights on inside the coach.
“How does your genny do on fuel?” Frank asked.
“She’ll run all night and then some,” Jerry said. “It’ll stop at a quarter of a tank, though.”
“Just like ours,” Jane said. “That way you won’t strand yourself.”
“I’m going to finish the programming for step one, and then I’ll side load applications on all of our phones. I’ll kick off the encryption solver program after that.”
“Okay, no problem.”
“I’ll need some quiet for a while,” Frank said.
“Then I suggest we go outside and chat,” Jerry said. Jasmine and Jane both nodded. Jane kissed Frank’s forehead, and they all left the coach.
“How’s it going in there?” Terry asked as they came out.
“Good,” Jerry said.
“He’s programming now, and needed quiet, so we decided to come out here,” Jane said.
“Yeah, that helps with programming,” Terry said.
“You know how to program, Terry?” asked Jasmine.
“Only a little. I was taking classes before all hell broke loose.”
“Being a Deputy Sheriff wasn’t for you, eh?” Jane asked.
“Not really,” he replied. “I’m a little too easy going for that kind of job. I think I’d do better with the confrontational parts of it after our experiences, though.”
“You’ve proven yourself in a fight, that’s for sure,” Jeb said. “My hat’s off to you.”
Terry smiled sheepishly. “What’s he programming?” he asked.
“He’s going to create Android and iPhone apps that we can use to see enemy chips,” Jerry said. “He’ll get all of our devices loaded up, and then work on step two.”
“Is he going to do a wide release of the apps?” Jasmine asked. “I mean, to other people outside of our group?”
“Eventually,” Jane said. “First we need to get step two done. We don’t want to tip off the enemy leadership that they’re in trouble before we take them out.”
“Good thinking,” Terry said. “After that, he should flood the internet with the apps. That’ll be the end of the enemy.”
“That’s the idea,” Jane said. “Keep this to yourselves, though. We don’t know everybody at the park that well.”
“Damn straight,” Jeb said. “It’s really hard to tell who we can trust. We’re getting hit too often. We’ve either got a plant or a bug or something.”
“We never checked all of our vehicles for bugs, did we?” Jerry said. “We should do that. Anybody could have stuck something on us. Remember all the bad guys who were living with us at Hilda’s park?”
“Crap, you’re right,” Jeb said. “Why didn’t we think of that before?”
“You’ve got your bug detectors in the rig,” Jasmine said. “Maybe we should check these vehicles right now.”
“Frank would’ve seen anything attached to our rig when he was working this afternoon,” Jerry said. “In fact, that big unit he’s been running in there would have picked up anything on Jeb’s jeep, too. I think we’re safe, but we need to check everybody else when we get back to camp.”
“I hope they’re okay back there,” Terry said. “I’m worried about my uncle.”
“They’re okay,” Jeb said. “If they weren’t, we’d hear the executions. More gunfire.”
“Think the enemy would know enough to notice that we’re gone?” Terry asked.
“That’s a really good question,” Jerry said. “Frank says he knew that Belgian guy from work…and they’ve obviously been able to capture photos of us. That guy might recognize Frank.”
“Simon Orr admitted that they’ve been on Frank’s tail since almost the beginning, remember?” Jane asked.
“Oh, yeah,” Jerry said.
“You know, we need to get smarter,” Jeb said. “Every time we win a skirmish, we think that the enemy leadership has lost track of us. They’ve been following us all along, and eventually they’ll get us, if we don’t take care of them first.”
“Yeah,” Jerry said. “If it wasn’t for those U.S. Army drones, our heads would be on spikes back at Hilda’s place.
Jane shuddered.
Jasmine sighed. “This thing that Frank is working on is our only chance,” she said.
“Yes, it is,” Jerry agreed.
“Even if we find out where Saladin and the other leaders are with the chips, they’re going to be very well protected,” Jane said. “What makes you guys think we can take them out?”
“They’ve got a handful of smart guys surrounded by
a bunch of idiots,” Jeb said. “We’ll get them, but it won’t be easy.”
“I wish I had your confidence,” Jane said.
“Me too,” Jasmine said. “We’ve had so many lucky breaks. Maybe we aren’t that much smarter than the enemy.”
“They would have nailed us by now, if they were as smart as we are,” Jeb said. “Sure, we’ve been lucky a few times. We’ve also been smarter than them a few times, and we’ve just outright beat them a few times too.”
“We do have a good team,” Terry said. “It’s classic, really. We have the genius. We have several hunter/sniper/survivalists types, like Jeb here. We have the handy man who can cook up almost anything with his un-educated, un-predictable ingenuity. We have the technologists. The animal trainer. The organizer. The military strategist. The tech supply person. We even have a medical team.”
“Good assessment,” Jerry said. “The enemy is focused on the genius, because they’ve got somebody on their team smart enough to know he can sink them. What they don’t understand is the strength of the people he’s surrounded by.”
“That’s why they put close to a thousand men into the assault on Hilda’s park,” Jeb said. “That piece of real estate wasn’t worth a hundred men, let alone a thousand. I was thinking they went in there to take out General Walker, and I’m sure that was part of it, but I think the real prize was us.”
The coach door opened. It was Frank.
“Hey, all, I need all of your cellphones and tablets,” he said. “With the USB cables, if you’ve got them.”
“You’re done already?” Jerry asked.
“Well, to be honest, I had most of the programming work done ahead of time. I just had to fine tune it for the parameters of the output. It was easy.”
Everybody handed their phones up to Frank. Jerry went into the coach and fetched his tablet, putting it on the table next to the pile of phones. Frank got to work, as Jerry went back outside.
Terry was leaning against the coach, looking up at the hills, silent as the others chattered. Jane noticed. She walked over to him.
“Worried about your uncle?” she asked.
“Uncle can take care of himself. I’m more worried about Trish. She’s really having a hard time with this stuff.”