299 Days: The 17th Irregulars 2d-6

by Glen Tate

  “Hey, Dan,” Grant said, “you know how we talked at one of the first Grange meetings about the checks and balances out here of the guards and the Team being a check on each other becoming too powerful? Well, the guards and Team will be a check on the irregular unit.”

  “Which is another reason we want most of the guards to remain here,” Sap said. Everyone noticed that Sap was now saying “most of” the guards, not all of them, would remain.

  “You deserve the assurance,” Sap said, “That you’re protected against external and internal threats.” This was going almost according to the script of how Special Forces trained for solving the political problems of working with local leaders.

  “Yeah, but hasn’t the Team already joined the irregular unit?” Rich asked.

  “Yes, we have,” Grant said. The rest of the guys were nodding.

  “So you’ve already poached our best guys,” Rich said to Ted.

  “Kinda,” Ted said with a smile. “But it’s not like I own them. If I want to take over Pierce Point, they’ll shoot me. There are just two of us. The Team can off us easily. There’s your assurance you’re still in control.” Everyone knew that there were two of them now, but the plan was to have up to a hundred trained irregulars out there, so the gate guards and the Team as a check on irregular unit was a pretty bad argument.

  “Besides,” Sap said, “If Ted and I wanted to take over someplace, we have a lot of choices. We would have gone AWOL and started a gang. We wouldn’t try to take over a place with guards like yours and guys like this,” he said gesturing to the Team. “I’m here instead of home in Wisconsin. I’m making quite a sacrifice. I’m doing it because I want my country back. I want to train here, but then move on to fight elsewhere. Get this damned war over with and return home to a fixed Wisconsin. Pierce Point is a step in that direction, an important step, but just a step in the bigger picture.”

  Rich and Dan thought about it for a while. Ted and Sap could take over Pierce Point if they wanted to. Instead, they were there asking to work with Pierce Point. Once again, Rich and Dan were thinking of Ted and Sap as a gift.

  “OK, but you only get as many of my guards as I say, and that’s not too many,” Dan said. “I decide.”

  “Roger that,” Ted said.

  “I want the Team, and now the support team, the ‘Crew,’ to remain on call for me here,” Rich said. This was a big concession from Rich; he only wanted the Team and Crew on call for Pierce Point. He had started off this meeting by saying Ted couldn’t have the Team at all. “I will start having more crime here and other uses for a SWAT team. The Team and Crew can train with you guys, but are on call for me. Understand?”

  “Affirmative,” Ted said. “When I say that Pierce Point needs to be secure, I mean it.”

  Rich and Dan weren’t sure that their people wouldn’t get poached, but all they could do was lay down the rules and hope Ted and Sap would follow them.

  “How are you going to train a hundred fighters in secret?” Rich asked.

  “A very fair question,” Ted said. “Before I answer that, I want to remind everyone that these kinds of issues—locals retaining control over their people, training in secret—are exactly what Special Forces does. My people have done this for decades all over the world. We’ve come up with some methods of making this work and spend a lot of time sharing what we have learned with each other, because if it doesn’t work, we die. You guys will benefit from what we’ve learned.”

  “The precise answer to your question,” Ted continued, “depends on the facilities we have here and whether the people out here are down with the program. If we have secluded facilities and the local population supports us, we can keep this secret.”

  “Hey, wait,” Rich interrupted. “I almost forgot something.”

  “What?” Sap asked.

  “The Marines,” Rich said. That got everyone’s attention.

  “I told the cops in town,” Rich continued, “that we had about fifty Marines and some ex-military contractors living out here. I told them that so they wouldn’t try to mess with us. When we go into town to get FCard food, we keep up the appearance of having the Marines. I have some military-looking guards go into town and make vague references to the ‘Corps’ around the Blue Ribbon Boys. I’m sure that rumor has gotten out by now.”

  “So,” Rich went on, “we say to our residents, if they notice a secret group of people living out here, that they are the Marines and ex-contractors. We can tell our people that we’re just keeping up the appearance of having the Marines.”

  Chip wasn’t so sure the fifty Marines thing would work. He said, “There will be some people here who see the irregulars, who are all strangers, and will ask, ‘I thought the fifty Marines were made up.’ We need a second explanation.”

  “I got it,” Grant said and clapped his hand. “How about we tell the residents that we are training a few people out here? As undercover cops to go fight corruption and the gangs, and that they are some special government police force.”

  It sounded hokey, really hokey. There was no real government, and what little government existed was corrupt and working with the gangs. And no one would think Grant would be working the government.

  “Well,” Chip said, “I’m not sure anyone would believe the undercover cops story, but all we need is a counter rumor to throw out there. Just to get people saying, ‘No, I heard it was a special undercover police force. Maybe the FBI.’ As long as the rumor isn’t ‘Some Special Forces guys are training guerillas,’ then that’s good enough.”

  Marines and contractors, Grant thought.

  “Hey,” Grant said enthusiastically. “I’ve got an idea.”

  Chapter 183

  The Rental Team

  (July 8)

  “What about a ‘rental team’?” Grant said.

  “A ‘rental team,’” He repeated, letting that sink in. “We’ll say that we, the Team, are training up a second team.” People looked puzzled.

  Grant smiled and continued. “Pierce Point will rent out the second team to a neighboring community in exchange for food and gas. They’ll be a rental team.”

  Grant looked at Ted and grinned. “This will explain all the increasingly large food and other supplies the Patriots will be sending out here, right?”

  Ted chuckled. Already, Grant was leveraging Ted for more supplies. That was what a good leader does for his men, and Ted respected that.

  “Here’s what we’ll tell need-to-know people in Pierce Point,” Grant said. “The rental team will be working to guard some neighboring community’s crops and livestock, stored food, and their people, of course. We have to keep the training secret, we’ll tell people, because the community hiring the rental team doesn’t want people to know they have food worthy of guarding. Also, the Loyalists might get uptight about a second group of well-armed men out here. And we can say that we are keeping the ‘rental team’ secret because we don’t want the gangs in Frederickson or anywhere else to know we got guys with valuable guns out here. Whaddya think?”

  Ted had been smiling as Grant first started describing the idea. Maybe it wasn’t so bad to have a lawyer out there. He never thought he’d say that. But then again, lawyers were trained in deception. Ted’s ex-wife’s lawyer was a good example of that.

  “Fabulous idea,” Ted said before anyone else could.

  “Very nice,” Sap said. He was kicking himself that he hadn’t thought of it.

  Ted, wanting to give Rich the respect he deserved as the de facto leader out at Pierce Point, said to him, “Sound good to you, Rich?”

  Rich nodded and said with a grin, “It’ll work just fine. It covers all the bases: a reason for the secrecy, an explanation for why strangers are here, and an incentive for Pierce Point to have them out here and to keep quiet about it. I love it.”

  “Oh yeah,” Rich said. Not wanting to leave Dan out, he said, “Whaddya think, Dan?”

  “Works for me,” Dan answered. Dan was understating himself.
It more than worked for him; he thought it was brilliant.

  “OK, then, we have a cover story for Pierce Point’s guerilla unit,” Ted said. “By the way, I’m going to bring that cover story back to HQ and suggest we use it elsewhere. I’d like you to come with me, Grant, and meet some people.”

  Grant felt a rush of enthusiasm and pride. Ted wants me to come to HQ?

  “Hell, yes,” Grant blurted out, just like the excited little boy he was at that moment.

  Ted smiled and said, “That way you can correct me if I start to take credit for this idea.” Of course, Ted really wanted to get Grant out to Boston Harbor, have all the brass tell Grant how wonderful he was, and then have Grant commit to the unique mission they were planning to ask Grant to undertake.

  “I’ll keep you honest,” Grant said. He knew he was being wooed to get him even more firmly committed, and to get Pierce Point’s support. He didn’t care. He wanted to do it. He knew this was part of the plan for what he was supposed to do. He was getting that weird feeling again where he could see the pathway of what the future held. Not all the details, just the basic pathway. He knew he was supposed to do this.

  With the cover story taken care of, they moved onto the next big topic.

  “What kind of facilities have you got out here that we could use?” Sap asked. A long discussion ensued between Rich and Dan about some of the local properties. They settled on the Marion Farm. Grant laughed out loud when he heard the name. He thought of Francis Marion, the “Swamp Fox” in the Revolutionary War who led rebels against the British and hoped to replicate that.

  The Marion Farm was a recently abandoned farm in one of the most remote parts of Pierce Point. It was near the very end of Peterson Inlet so there was a beach landing about a quarter mile from the property. The farm had been foreclosed on about two years earlier, but Ken Dolphson, the realtor, told Rich that he was still trying to sell it and that it still had electrical and water service. The utility companies weren’t even trying to shut off service anymore, which was a blessing. All the livestock and crops were gone, but the farmhouse and a big barn remained. There was a large machine shop and several outbuildings. It didn’t look very pretty after two years of abandonment, but that was actually good. No one would think anyone would be living there.

  The Marion Farm had one little road in and out. There were not many houses on that road. The people in the houses along the road would be key; they had to be trustworthy.

  “Would this place work?” Rich asked Ted after he had described it.

  “Probably,” Ted said. “We’ll need to see it, of course, but it’s a good start.”

  “How are we gonna feed a hundred fighters?” Chip asked.

  “This is why it’s nice to be in the Patriot supply system,” Sap said with a smile. “We steal it. Lots of it. We have quite a few ‘requisition teams’ out hitting Loyalist semis. Trust me, you’ll eat well.”

  “So this place is near a beach landing?” Ted asked. “That’s how we could get supplies there. And then move them along the quarter-mile, did you say, road to the compound?” Ted was thinking. This might work, depending on what the place looked like. He at least had a solid proposal to take back to headquarters. They had done a tremendous amount of work so far tonight. They got the Pierce Point leaders on board and might have a facility.

  Ted looked at his watch. He wanted to start acting on the plans before Rich and Dan had time to rethink their decision to participate.

  “Hey,” Ted said, “you guys mind if Sap and I go out and get a quick tour of the Marion place? We have a boat here. I want to see how the beach landing is and how far it is to the place. We won’t be able to see much of the place in the dark, but it’s better than nothing. I mean, we’re already out here. We might as well make the most of it.”

  The guys were tired. But they all said, “Sure.”

  Dan said, “Rich, you can take them. I’m tired. And I’ve learned what I needed here tonight.” Ted and Sap were hanging on Dan’s every word to make sure he was on board.

  Dan looked at Ted and Sap and said, “I’m OK with you guys coming out here with the conditions I set out: no poaching and keep it totally secret.” He said this knowing that there was no way Ted and Sap could abide by these terms, but he wanted them to succeed out there. He was glad they showed up and would make Pierce Point even better than it was.

  “How many spots you got in the boat?” Scotty asked. The Team had been virtually silent for about two hours, which was unusual. Everyone on the Team wanted to hang out with the Green Berets.

  “Four,” Sap said. “So, with Rich showing us the place, we can have one passenger.”

  “Paul,” Grant said. “He’s your most valuable passenger. He knows the tides out here. Knowing whether you can use the beach landing will be critical. Paul will help with that.”

  Ted had met Paul now twice when he came ashore and didn’t want even one more person to know about the Marion place than was necessary.

  “Could we keep Paul at the landing so he doesn’t see the place?” Ted asked.

  “Sure,” Grant said. “It is a good idea, but he’ll figure it out.”

  Rich got up to leave with Ted and Sap. “Well, I think we’re done here this evening, gentlemen,” Rich said, like he had been on board with this idea the whole time.

  It was past Grant’s bed time. He would have fallen asleep if it wasn’t for the extremely important topics being discussed. He said goodnight to everyone and made sure to thank Ted and Sap for coming out. He left the yellow cabin and headed home, waving at Gideon as he passed his post.

  Grant was a liar. He had to tell his family that nothing was going on. He had to lie. Lives literally depended on it. He thought about how Lisa would react when it was time for him to ship out with the guerilla unit and she found out that he had been lying to her for months. His marriage would be over. “Never go off to a war that you don’t have to,” he heard his Grandpa saying. But Grant had to…didn’t he?

  He spent the next few minutes in his bedroom with a sleeping Lisa as he tried to get undressed quietly so he wouldn’t wake her. He was also silently debating with himself about whether he really needed to do this Ted project thing. His brain was back in the loop of debating whether he should join up and fight a war.

  Grant fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow. That was his body’s way of telling him that he had made the right decision.

  Chapter 184

  F$

  (July 9)

  “Light ‘em up, boys,” Joe Tantori said with a huge grin as he handed cigars to his guys, the fifty plus Marines and the two dozen military contractors and former law enforcement personnel he had working for him. Cigarettes, and especially cigars, were extremely hard to come by these days. The cigars seemed like incredible luxuries. Joe was handing them out and making sure they had lighters. He was in heaven.

  Joe acquired the cigars from the bank deal he had just put together. As he was distributing the cigars, he thought back on the deal he had just made an hour before.

  Before the deal, Joe had been making money in a pretty much honest—but unconventional—way. During the Revolutionary War period, America had “privateers” who were essentially a private, for-profit navy. Privateers would intercept and capture enemy naval cargo and independent pirates and keep most of what they got. They would give a portion (usually) to the Patriot government or military units.

  They were on the Patriots’ side and were taking out Loyalist naval equipment; they just kept some of the money. It was a way for the cash-strapped Patriots to have a naval force they otherwise couldn’t afford, and a way to keep groups of well trained and equipped sailors with something positive to do instead of being pirates or joining the Loyalists. George Washington used privateers masterfully during the Revolutionary War. They were a huge asset. Joe knew they could prove to be so again during the Collapse.

  Joe’s Marines, military contractors, and ex-law enforcement officers were a very well-eq
uipped privateer force. He had two fast military interception boats he used for the military training he once did as a contractor. He had plenty of diesel in his underground tank, and he had over seventy men who were very well trained and extremely well-armed. They had to have something to do, and Joe had to feed them. The answer was obvious.

  The waters off of Joe’s compound were teeming with targets. The Loyalists were using the waters of Puget Sound to supply their fortress of Seattle. Most of the Loyalist ships were well protected, but many little ships, most of which were not well protected, took the “shortcut” to Seattle which took them right by Joe’s area. In addition to the Loyalist supply vessels, there were plenty of pirates setting out to steal whatever they could.

  Pirates? That sounded farfetched to Joe before the Collapse. Men with eye patches who talked funny and had parrots on their shoulders? The fake Hollywood pirates had been replaced with real ones. Modern day pirates were essentially gangs in boats. They stole, killed, and raped all they could. The pirates were vicious, as bad as any of the gangs — biker, Mexican, black, Asian, skinhead — that sprang up everywhere. They were also as brutal as some of the satanic cults that were terrorizing a few parts of the country.

  The highways on land were the government’s main security concern when it came to moving goods, but a tremendous amount of goods before the Collapse had been transported by sea, at least in coastal areas like Seattle. The Loyalists didn’t have the resources to protect all the maritime freight, even the fraction of freight moving after the Collapse. The freight was protected by Loyalist naval units and they were very good, but most were essentially mercenaries. Their true loyalty was always in question. The government nearly stopped trying to protect all the maritime freight, concentrating on only the most important shipments that went to key places, like Seattle, and using their Loyalist naval assets to do that. The government didn’t even try to protect against pirates. It was very low on their priority list.