"Well, it's obvious we aren't going to give up any of our people. Besides, it's me they want and I'm not going to just go with them." I paused, deep in thought. I needed time to think about this. I knew the decision I had made earlier was what had gotten us into this but I also knew I wouldn't have done it differently if I had it to do over again. I knew that we had enough firepower to take on this group but it would result in casualties on our side. I hoped to find a way to avoid that. Do I take preemptive action or wait for them to make the first move? I had always been proactive rather than reactive. Proactive lets you make the decisions, choose time and place. Reactive means you're dancing to someone else's tune.
Could I find a way to get us out of this without firing a shot? I had till sun up to find it. "Dave, keep everybody on alert but keep them quiet. No accidents. I don't want someone to accidentally throw a shot across the road and start a war. We've got some time and I need to think about this. I'm going back to the warehouse. Meet me upstairs in the planning room at midnight."
"You got it. Do you want one of the trucks to drive you back?"
I was already deep in thought. "No, I'll walk." I turned and started across the parking lot toward the building. If I was going to come up with a peaceful solution to this situation I needed to talk to Kat. Dave was brute force. Jim Holley was the organizer. Kat was the diplomat. A good leader doesn't have to know all the answers; he just needs to know where to go to get them. Her counsel got me through a lot of rough times over the last five years. If I could find a way to keep the bullets from flying, it would be with her help.
Jim must have been watching out one of the windows and saw me walking back, because he caught me as soon as I opened the door. "What’s going on? Are they leaving? What’re you going to do?" he rapid fired at me as I stepped inside.
"Jim, relax. We’re going to meet in the planning room at midnight. Till then just keep everybody in the bunkers and quiet. If they need stuff, let them go a few at a time and come right back. Be upstairs at 12. We'll talk about it then." I could see he didn't like those answers but he said okay and I headed for the Aid Station.
Kat was in the Aid Station. She sat in a chair talking with Doc Groves and one of the nurses, a lady named Laurie Silversmith. They saw me walk in. "How goes the war?" Doc asked.
"We're winning," I replied. "Doc, I need to borrow part of your staff for a few minutes."
"Well, I think we can do without her for a bit. Just make sure you feed her before you bring her back."
I smiled. "Will do, Doc." I held my hand out to Kat and she stood, placing her hand in mine. I led her out of the Aid Station and up the stairs to our room.
As soon as the door was shut she asked what was wrong. I explained the situation, told her about the gang’s demands and the deadline. I told her I wanted to end this without bloodshed. I said I needed to come up with a plan by midnight as that’s the time I had set to brief the others on whatever we were going to do. I also explained that I'd pulled her out of the Aid Station because I wanted her help coming up with something.
She walked over and sat at the desk. I could tell she was considering all the options. I knew how her mind worked. She would look at all the factors, weigh all options, and then develop a couple of different courses of action. Then she would look at the pros and cons of both courses and choose the best one. I'd seen this dozens of times. While she considered, I walked to the desk and picked up my note book and a pen. Kat’s a detail person and would insist on me writing down her thoughts.
Finally she looked up at me. "You have to kill them." I had been concentrating so hard on being prepared to write down her detailed ideas it took a moment for what she said to sink in.
"Huh?" was all I could get out. I know I need to work on my vocabulary one of these days.
My wife gets an exasperated look when she's talking and she thinks I'm not listening. She had that look now. "I said, you have to kill them."
"Kat, I heard what you said."
"Then why did you say huh?" she asked.
I was still in shock. "Because I'm in shock. I came to you for advice on how to end this peacefully and you tell me I've got to kill them! Pardon me but, huh?"
Occasionally she will take pity on me and describe in detail a concept that I'm too thick to understand. This was one of those times. "Scotty, sit down and I'll explain," she said.
I pulled a chair close and sat so we were knee to knee. She looked me in the eye. "We know they’re willing to commit atrocities by what they did to Nancy, right?" she said. I nodded. She continued, "They know where we live now. Maybe they have for a while. They know we send groups out to forage for food and supplies. Even if you succeed in forcing a peaceful resolution to this situation, it's only postponing the inevitable. They will be back. Next time they might want some of our supplies or some of the women. Or they could just wait and ambush the foraging parties as they go out or come back in. The bottom line is they won't stop. You have to kill them."
I let her words sink in for a few moments. "All of them?" I asked. I know, I was being dense but hearing her explain in cold hard facts that I needed to just face up to it and kill them had screwed me up.
She took it in stride, though. She patted me on the knee. "Yes Scotty, all of them or at least most of them."
"Wow. Not what I expected form you, sweetie."
"You’re the one always going on about second and third order effects. How if we do this, then this will happen and then that will happen. I'm just pointing out what's going to happen if you let them walk away from here in the morning. You know I'm right."
The more I thought about it the more I knew she was right. She had neatly packaged her idea and then tied the bow on it by saying, "This way we have the advantage. A time and place of your choosing. The other way, they can hit us anytime, anyplace. They have the initiative."
"You're right. The only way to ensure we’re safe is to eliminate the threat. We do it with the Stinkies every time we go out. This crew is no different. I guess I'd better get busy and come up with a plan."
Kat stood up, then leaned over and kissed me. When she straightened up, she said, "good boy," and patted me on the head.
She started toward the door. "Where are you off to?" I asked.
"I'm going back to the Aid Station. You have planning to do and Doc’s going to need me."
I did have a lot to get ready by midnight and I thought she might be right about Doc needing her. My plan had better be good or Doc would be very busy tomorrow.
I spent the next four hours studying a map and making notes. I forgot about eating and only paused for a couple of bathroom breaks. I stopped by the kitchen area downstairs on my return from the toilet and picked up some coffee the ladies had prepared. It would be a long night for all of us and they were keeping the pots going.
As I planned, I took into account our weapons and the level of training we had been able to give the security people. I tried to keep the plan as simple as possible and still accomplish the goal. I wanted to hurt the gang as badly as we could and risk our people the least.
By midnight, I was ready. In the planning room, I had already set up the map and had drawn some of the detailed plan on a white board hanging on the wall. I had my notes and everything in order when Dave and Jim came in.
First order of business was to get updates from my two section heads. I let Jim go first and he went on in detail about where people were stationed and what they were doing. He even gave me a run down on what supplies and food stuff had been used during the alert so far. He ended with what he considered to be shortages and added if we didn't resolve the situation soon, we would be out of some seriously needed items. Another excellent reason to end this as soon as possible.
Dave spoke next and described how he had our defense set up and the rotation schedule so everyone got some sleep. He then told us what had been happening across the road. It seems that our friends had decided to have a little party. Dave said they had built a couple
of fires and most of them were sitting around the fire drinking and whopping it up. This was good news and fit right into my plan.
With the updates finished, I went right into my plan and started by telling them we were going to attack the gang at first light in the morning. Jim immediately started to protest. His argument was my plan put our people at undue risk. I pointed out he hadn't even heard my plan yet. Then, it’s wrong of us to attack first without giving the other side a chance to negotiate. I started to get tired of having to argue with Jim about every decision that concerned security.
"Jim, I'm not asking your permission. I'm telling you this is what we’re going to do. Now shut up and listen,” I said.
Jim crossed his arms and sat back in his chair, obviously angry but quiet.
Dave had wisely kept his mouth shut, his eyes on the white board. I could tell he had been trying to figure out my plan. With Jim's moaning stopped, at least temporarily, I started to brief them on how I wanted to conduct the attack.
For the next hour and a half I went over the plan with them. I covered as much as I could quickly, saving the majority of the time concentrating on Dave's part. He and I shared the tactical portion of the plan and I wanted to make sure there were no questions about what he was supposed to do. He would be leading the force that would conduct the assault of the Gangs position. I could tell from the big smile that spread across his face he was pleased with this responsibility. Our security forces are divided into two platoons and Dave would take the entire second platoon on the assault. His assistant for the operation would be the actual platoon leader, Jenny Moss. She was tough and capable. First platoon would stay in the compound and provide support from their covered positions under my command with their platoon leader, Darryl Aikens, as my assistant.
The plan’s basically a flanking maneuver. Dave's unit would go over the compound fence in back of the warehouse then make their way around to the right. That would put them in a position to hit the Gangs left flank. My unit would provide fire support with the heavy machine guns from the front of the compound. The plan called for a sniper team on the roof of the warehouse and they would fire the initiating shot. It was about a six-hundred yard shot and a former Air Force security specialist named Chad Bennett was our shooter. I wanted him to find and kill Man-bear with the first shot. That would be the signal for the assault to begin.
Sun up was around 5 a.m. and I wanted to give Dave an hour and a half to get into position. His unit would have to go over the fence at 3:30 a.m. and that left him two hours to brief both platoon leaders and then for them to brief their respective platoons. As soon as I was sure Dave had all the detail and understood our signal plan, I told him to take off and start his briefs. That left me with Jim.
He started the second Dave was out the door. Actually, begging me to reconsider. I’d finally had enough. I reminded him of the conversation we had yesterday afternoon and stressed the point about supporting my decisions. He quieted down so I could explain his part. His part was relatively simple. As soon as we broke from the meeting, he would pass the word inside the warehouse to go to red alert. He also had to make sure everyone got to their assigned positions and were prepared to handle their jobs once the shooting started. Between now and then, he had to make sure that the non-combatants had everything they needed to stay in the safe areas until the operation was over.
At 4 a.m., I wanted everyone in their assigned safe areas one hour before the assault kicked off. I hoped this gave us enough time for any last minute emergencies. I asked him if he understood his part of the plan and he nodded his head in the affirmative. I asked him if he had any questions and he shook his head in the negative. He still didn't look happy but at least he wasn't arguing. The last thing I said to him was, "Okay Jim, make it happen."
"You got it," he replied as he got up and left the room.
Alone in the planning room, I mentally wrestled with myself. Had I made the right decision? Was my plan sound? I'd know the answers to those questions in about four hours.
Chapter 6
Stinkies to the Rescue
As I sat alone in the planning room, I was reminded of "Murphy's Laws of Combat." Murphy stated that no military plan survived first contact and Murphy had been a constant companion to me since the Event. If old Murph was around this morning, we were screwed. We didn't have a QRF, Quick Reaction Force, in case something went horribly wrong and we needed to rescue Dave's group. There were a thousand things that could go wrong and you can't think of everything. I had contingency plans for everything I could think of but what had I missed? My mistakes would cost people their lives. If we won, we got to survive a few more days, maybe to die slowly from starvation. If we lost, well, then the struggle was over. I wasn't a quitter and I never give up but these were the thoughts that plagued me in that quiet room, alone in the small hours of the morning.
I got up off my ass and headed out the door. Instead of sitting there worrying, I needed to supervise the preparations for the operation. I walked through the upstairs area and it appeared to be deserted. I then headed down stairs to the main floor.
The main floor looked like the inner workings of a bee hive. There was movement everywhere. I could see that Jim had passed the word about the red alert. No one stood still. People were moving supplies and ammo to various areas. I could see men and women herding the children toward one of the bunkers. Food had been moved to the kitchen area so the cooks wouldn't have to leave to go to a storage room.
We had two six-wheeled ATVs and the crews had litters strapped to the back ready to transport wounded to the Aid Station. I could see weapons being passed out of our make shift arms room and men and women were loading magazines. There was no screaming or wailing or gnashing of teeth. Everyone seemed to be going about their jobs in an orderly and efficient manner. I knew they had to be nervous, I know I was, but they weren't showing it.
Five years of constant fear had somewhat blunted all of our emotions. A few people with guns just didn't have the same impact as surviving having a loved one ripped from your arms and devoured in front of you. These people were tougher now. The same way soldiers were after having survived combat. Like the pioneers of old that endured privation and Indian attacks to settle the west.
That last thought had my mind running off on a tangent. I filed it away to think about later when I had time. Now, I had to get back to the business at hand. I saw Jim and he paused to look back at me. I waved my hand around to indicate all the activity, and then gave him a thumbs up. He smiled and waved; I waved back and then went to find Dave.
Dave had fixed his own little area up in a corner of the warehouse. It wasn't a room but he had hung curtains on two sides to provide much needed privacy. I had tried to talk him into using one of the rooms upstairs, but he refused. He said they should be for couples and families as he was single and his little corner was all he needed. I pulled the edge of a curtain back and poked my head in.
Five people sat or stood in his living space and Dave used a white board to draw and explain the plan. In the room were Jenny Moss, 2nd platoon leader; Darryl Aikens, 1st platoon leader; Chad Bennett, our sniper; and his spotter, Steve Wooten, along with Dave. Dave stopped talking and all heads turned in my direction. I apologized for interrupting and asked if they needed anything. They all replied in the negative and I asked if they had any questions that I could help with. Again, I got the head shakes so I excused myself and left. The last place I wanted to check in on was the Aid Station so I headed in that direction.
Doc, his nurse Laurie, and a couple of other people, including my wife, were quietly arranging the Aid Station to accept a large volume of patients. They had set up a triage area and had signs taped to the wall to indicate seriousness of injuries. Behind a curtained off area Doc had four make shift operating tables set up. I could see Kat placing surgical tools beside one of the tables as I walked in. Doc had his back to me and I didn't think he had seen me until I heard his voice say, "Everything is sterile. Don't t
ouch anything."
I looked over at him and he still had his back to me so I wasn't sure if he was talking to me. Until he turned around. "Yes, I'm talking to you. God knows when the last time you washed your hands was," he said.
I tried to look hurt but he wasn't buying it. "We've got everything under control here. Kiss your wife and get out. Go do something useful."
I started to lean over the table to kiss Kat but Doc cut in with a loud, "Don't touch anything."
"Yes Sir," I replied, and I stepped around the table and gave my wife a peck on the cheek.
We looked at each other for a second and I heard behind me, "Now will you get out?" I rolled my eyes at Kat and she laughed and I turned and started to leave. As I went out the door I heard Doc say, "I saw that." I had to laugh. He tries so hard to be a grumpy old bastard but I liked him. So did Kat.
There wasn't anything left for me to do. Everyone knew their job and seemed to be doing it. I also wasn't ready to be alone with my thoughts again so I headed over to the kitchen and got another cup of coffee. I spoke to a few people as I crossed the big open floor. An encouraging word here, a pat on the back there, then took my coffee and headed outside. Fresh air was what I needed right now.
It was dark, of course. Not the dark we were used to before the Event. Back then, there was always ambient light and even on the darkest nights you could still see. Now it is really dark, inside a cave dark at night. No street lights, no malls, nothing to light up the night sky except the stars and they were glorious. I loved coming outside at night and just looking at the sky. I never knew there were so many stars. It reminded me of the sky's I'd seen at sea.
A few years before the Event, Kat and I had gone on a cruise in the Caribbean. I remember sitting out at night and being amazed at how beautiful the sky was. This had to be what it was like out on the prairie at night a hundred and fifty years ago. There was that thought about the pioneers again. I knew I needed to spend some time thinking about this, but later. Right now I needed to be focused on the upcoming assault.
We Go On (THE DELL) Page 6