by Mark Goodwin
“You basically bought the gas with those silver bars, so he can’t really turn you down.”
“That’s true. Why don’t you empty your cans into the Santa Fe? I’ll fill them up for you while I’m there and bring them to you tomorrow. You’ll be at David’s, right.”
“I’ll be there. Thanks, that would be a great help.” Noah retrieved his gas cans and filled the tank of the Santa Fe. What he couldn’t fit in that tank went into his truck. He dropped the empty cans in Isaiah’s truck bed and waved goodbye.
***
The next day, Noah, Cassie, and Lacy arrived at the Ray’s house early in the afternoon for the regular Thursday Bible study and the weekly meeting. Jim and Sandy Taylor arrived at the same time.
Jim carried one of the drones that would be used for training, and Sandy carried the other.
Sandy said, “I heard you brought Lacy to your covert op to divert fuel from the evil empire yesterday. I wonder what DCS would think about that?”
Cassie smirked. “Probably wouldn’t bother them anymore than dragging her to our terrorist cell meeting every Thursday.”
“What’s that?” Lacy asked.
“It’s a drone. You use this little controller, and you can fly it around in the air to see things from the sky,” Jim explained.
She was intrigued. “Can I drive it?”
Sandy nodded. “I’ll have to teach you how, because it’s a little complicated, but if it’s okay with Mommy, it’s okay with me.”
Cassie patted her daughter on the head. “She’s already running clandestine operations; might as well teach her to run counter-surveillance too.”
The girls went inside the house, but Noah and Jim hung back.
“Were you able to talk to the seller yesterday?” Noah asked.
“Yeah, he wants to do a deal. Isaiah told me what you two discussed about trying to price the property in gold and silver. I relayed that to the seller. He’s looking to get some ammo, fuel, and long-term storage food.”
“In addition to the amount of gold and silver we offered?”
“No, instead of some of the bullion. He agrees with the valuation on the metals, but he wants to replace some portion of the coins with supplies. We won’t have to put ourselves in a predicament. I think he’ll take whatever we can come up with. It’s not like he’s getting many offers.”
“Do you already have an offer in mind?”
“I could throw in a couple boxes of ammo from the department and twenty-five gallons of gas. I’m sure David would throw in a couple cases of 5.56. We could take up a collection of food from everyone; put together a six-month supply for two people. It wouldn’t make a dent in our overall stockpile.”
Noah thought about the deal. “You don’t think giving away county property will come back to bite you?”
Jim laughed. “Noah, there’s no currency. Everyone who is still showing up to work is doing so out of the goodness of their heart. The only reason the county has any fuel whatsoever is because of your family and Isaiah. That ammo locked up in the cage wouldn’t be worth a darn if people like Elliot, Kevin, and I weren’t coming to work, even though we know we’ll never get paid for it. I’d like to meet the guy who has the audacity to say something to me about taking some gas and ammo as compensation.”
“Oh, I bet they’re out there.”
Jim shook his head. “I hate to admit it, but you’re right. Well, they’d have to find out about it first, and I ain’t telling.”
Noah chuckled. “Me neither. How much would you reduce the amount of metals if you did that deal?”
“$55,000.” Jim was confident.
It was obvious to Noah that he’d already assessed the current market value of the supplies. “Think he’ll go for it?”
“I do. I’ll present it as a firm offer. I think he knows there are more cabins out there than groups of people with stockpiles piles of food, fuel, ammo, and bullion.”
“What about transferring the title?”
Jim said, “Sandy is a notary. We’ll just notarize the sale until the clerk’s office reopens. That won’t be until there’s a new currency system. As of right now, they can’t collect a transfer fee or assess value. Lots of things don’t work when there’s no uniform unit of money.”
“Whose name would we put it in?”
Jim smiled. “Now there’s a curious subject. If we’re planning on continuing to be enemies of the state, which I do, it might work in our favor to not have the new ownership filed in the clerk’s office right away. When it is filed, it might be best if it were in the name of someone who hasn’t shown up on the radar yet, like Lacy.”
Noah nodded. “Good plan, but Lacy was in the system when she was taken by DCS.”
Jim gritted his teeth. “That’s right. What about Lynette?”
“That would be better. I’ll ask David.”
The Rodgers showed up with Kevin and Sarah riding with them in their car to conserve fuel. Everyone greeted one another, and then the two ladies went inside.
Noah filled Elliot and Kevin in on the developments with the cabin.
Kevin said, “I’m happy to pitch in any way that I can, but I know for a fact that there’s no way Sarah is going out there.”
Elliot asked, “What if you spin it, like the other girls need her for security?”
Kevin shook his head. “You work with her; you know how she is. That ain’t going to happen.”
Elliot said, “I’ll see what I can come up with.”
Noah smiled. “Thanks. Kevin, we can’t accept anything from you. Thanks for the offer, but it’s not your responsibility.”
Isaiah, Sharon, and Benny arrived next. They were all excited to hear that Jim was going to be able to put together a deal for the cabin.
David led weapons training for those who wanted to participate, while Sandy offered hands-on instruction for operating the drones.
Next, the entire group convened inside for what was becoming the customary potluck lunch. Afterwards, they gathered around the Ray’s living room for Bible Study led by Isaiah. He taught from Revelation 21 on the new heaven and new earth, emphasizing the fact that this world was not a Christian’s permanent home.
Noah found it very comforting to focus on the world to come, as he was seeing less and less evidence that the present world could be brought back to a place where he was free to worship and provide for his family without being in the shadows of tyranny.
Once the Bible study was finished, the group discussed the matters at hand. The first order of business was for Jim to fill everyone in on the finalized offer to be presented for the cabin. The group was unanimously satisfied with the proposed deal.
Sandy took the floor next. “Drone training went very well today. Sarah rigged up a simple release mechanism to the AIR8, the larger drone, which could be used for dropping a payload. It worked fairly well, but she’s going to tinker with the design and try to get it to operate a little more smoothly.”
“Nice work, Sarah.” Cassie handed everyone the new edition of the Tallmadge Letter.
Benny quickly scanned the contents of the latest edition through the clear plastic wrap. “I like the fact that you’ve included your thoughts on sabotage. People are passing the letter around. I heard some guys talking about it over the Ham all the way down in Clayton, Georgia. If it starts spreading, you might have to think about giving it more national appeal.”
“Georgia? That’s fantastic. I was worried no one in town would even read it,” Cassie said.
David asked, “What else are you hearing over the radio?”
“There were two attacks against detention facilities. One yesterday in Yakima, Washington, and the other in Columbia, South Carolina. I didn’t get a lot of details, but detainees were liberated from both. No idea how many. There were casualties on both sides, too, and again, I don’t have any numbers.”
Everyone in the group listened intently to Benny.
Jim asked, “Who pulled it off? Are they connec
ted?”
Benny shrugged. “I don’t know. I suppose militia. I couldn’t tell you if it’s groups who have been training together for a while, or if they just sprouted up. There’s plenty of both all around the country.”
“Does anyone have a map of our area?” Sarah asked.
David stood up. “I have a map of Sevierville.”
“Anything wider? Like something that would cover Knoxville?”
“I think so.” David left to retrieve his map.
Sharon looked at Sarah. “Why do you want a map of Knoxville?”
“I’d like to look at the campus, to see if there are any weak spots that we could exploit. Maybe we could liberate some detainees.”
Sharon shook her head. “That sounds like inviting trouble.”
Sarah scowled at Sharon. “So, if you were in one of those camps, you would want people to leave you there to rot, so they wouldn’t invite any trouble on themselves?”
Becky crossed her arms. “Sarah, that’s a noble thought, but we have children in our group to think about. In this instance, I have to side with Sharon.”
Sarah looked at David, who had just walked back into the room holding the map. He seemed to be weighing options but didn’t say anything.
Kevin spoke up. “We could form a splinter cell. Sarah and I can head it up. We’ll stay away from your group if you want. Everyone has to make their own decision, but if we’re going to wage an insurgency battle, it needs to start now. Since attacks have already been made against the camps, DHS will start dedicating more resources to perimeter security. It will get harder and harder to make an effective raid. If any of you are interested in working with us, let me know, but this is what I have to do. Elliot, Sarah, and I will be waiting outside by the car. Take your time, but I don’t think this is the group for us.”
Sarah stood to put her coat on.
David had been looking at the map in his hand while Kevin spoke. He suddenly looked up. “That won’t be necessary, Kevin. I think this is your group. I’m in. Guys, what do you say?”
Noah took a deep breath as if he were cliff diving for the first time. He exhaled. “I’m in too.”
Isaiah raised his hand. “Count me in.”
Benny rocked to and fro. “Me too.”
Jim and Elliot both held a hand in the air and gave a nod to signal they were on board.
Cassie said, “I’d be in if I were allowed.”
Sarah sat back down next to Cassie and patted her leg. “You’re already in. You’re doing your part. Ever hear the saying, the pen is mightier than the sword? It’s true. Your letter is creating a stir all over town and even beyond, evidently.”
Sandy wiped a tear. “I’ll do whatever I can to support you all.”
Caroline looked at Sarah. “Whatever I can do to help, let me know.”
Becky huffed and went into the kitchen behind Sharon, who had already left the room.
Cassie tapped Noah on the shoulder. “I’m going to go talk to Becky.”
“Okay.”
David spread the map out on the coffee table. “Noah, you and Isaiah are more familiar with the layout of the campus than the rest of us. Can you tell us what we’re looking at here?”
Noah pointed to the area along the river. “All the sports fields are along the back side of the campus.”
Isaiah ran his finger along the map. “You’ve got tracks that run between these two soccer fields and the secondary baseball stadium.”
Benny took his laptop out of his bag and plugged in his Tails OS flash drive. “I can look it up, so we can see the Google Maps images.”
David pulled a handful of wooden letters out of the Scrabble game stowed beneath the coffee table. “Thanks, Benny. And no one will be able to tell we were looking at that?”
“No.” Benny pulled up the image.
David placed three of the small wooden blocks on the fold-out map indicating where the two soccer fields and the baseball field was. “What’s the total number of sports fields on campus?”
Isaiah looked at Benny’s screen. “They have nine separate enclosed areas. Of course, I’m counting all the tennis courts, which are in a single enclosure as one, and the two practice football fields as one since they have the same perimeter fences. I’m also counting these two soccer fields on the back side as one.”
David looked over at the screen. “Where is the interrogation center?”
Noah pointed out the arena. “Right here.”
David put his finger on his chin. “I bet they’re using this building as a processing center and holding detainees in the two football practice fields. They might be taking the overflow detainees to the baseball field and the two soccer fields in the back. If I were running it, I’d have the relief centers in the big football stadium and these other fields, closer to the front of the campus.”
Kevin said, “We need to get some actionable intelligence; we don’t want to be trying to liberate a relief center full of people who don’t want to leave.”
Caroline asked, “How will you know the difference between relief or detention centers?”
Elliot said, “Detainees will probably be wearing identifying clothing. Those areas will probably have more guards and lights also. If we could get one of those drones overhead without being noticed, we’d be able to figure it out.”
Sarah said, “I’ve got a friend at The Wildlife Resources Agency. We can get some boats and see how close we can get with a drone.”
Jim said, “I’ve got a pretty serious camera for the AIR8. It has really good zoom resolution. Even if you can’t see much from the control monitor, we’ll be able to zoom in on areas of the footage once we get it in a computer.”
Sarah looked at Kevin. “We going fishing tomorrow?”
Kevin winked. “I guess so.”
Jim said, “I’ll come along. I’m familiar with the limits of the drone.”
Noah asked, “If it goes out of range, will you lose it?”
“No,” Jim said. “It’ll return to its take-off position or head back that way until it comes into contact with the signal.”
“Wow, that’s cool,” Noah said.
Kevin looked closely at the map on Benny’s screen. “If the soccer fields in the back are detention centers, we might be able to put together a plan to liberate them. A derailed train would block access to that entire area.”
“And that’s as simple as pulling up a couple lengths of track.” Sarah smiled.
Sandy put her hand up. “You can’t do that. The engineer is probably innocent. He would be killed if the train derailed.”
David said, “Then we’ll make a sign warning him to jump. Derailing a train would cause a huge diversion and lots of chaos. It would also disrupt the supply lines. All of those things fit our mission. We need someone to conduct recon and figure out the train schedule. It doesn’t have to be near Knoxville. It could be way down by Alcoa. We can do the math on how long it takes the train to get from there to Knoxville or vice versa.”
Elliot raised his hand to volunteer. “I know the area.”
Noah glanced over at Elliot. “I could come along, for moral support, or we can take turns, and I can relieve you.”
David said, “It might be good if two of you were together. The tracks run along Maryville Pike Road. There are plenty of places to pull over and wait for trains. It’s not going to be very entertaining, but it’s necessary.”
Noah nodded to show that he understood. “We’ll do it.”
The plans were in motion for an attack against the DHS military base in Knoxville. Tasks were assigned, and the adrenaline buzz kept the group speculating about possible outcomes deep into the night.
The Parkers left around the same time as the rest of the group. It was well after midnight, and Lacy fell asleep on the short ride home.
Noah glanced at Cassie. “You okay? You look worried.”
Cassie stared out the window at the stars in the clear sky. “Yeah…no. I don’t know. I went in to th
e kitchen to try to console Becky. That didn’t really happen. Instead, she got me upset.”
“Why?”
“She was upset. She said she’s been through all of this before with David, when he was serving in the desert. She’s mad. Becky said he’s done his share, and it’s someone else’s turn. What I really think she means is that she’s done her share, and it’s some other wife’s turn to worry.”
“I’m sure it was hard on her. People forget it’s not just the soldiers making the sacrifice—it’s the whole family. Why did you get upset?”
Cassie put her hand on Noah’s leg. “She told me that I had no idea what I was in for, wondering when and if you’re coming back. She’s right. I don’t know. And I’m not looking forward to it.”
Noah took one hand off the steering wheel. “This is a one-time thing. I’m working with three vets who know how to plan and run an operation like this. We’ll be in and out. You have to have faith in God.”
“You know it’s not a one-time thing.” Cassie pulled her hand away to wipe a tear. “I have faith, but I know that God can choose to bring you home during the raid, or worse. You could be captured, tortured, who knows. I have faith that God will bring us through this world and to the other side, but I dread the misery between here and there.”
Noah didn’t want to say it out loud, but he, too, was afraid of what was to come. His faith was rock-solid. He wasn’t afraid of death, but he was scared of dying. He was confident of his salvation beyond the doorway, but the door itself filled him with anxiety. Even now, Noah sensed the fear deep in the pit of his stomach, but he would not allow it to deter him from what had to be done.
CHAPTER 17
Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.
Matthew 10:34
“Trouble in paradise?” Everett looked at the two cardboard boxes full of clothes that Ken was positioning on the side of the couch in the living room. Several pairs of Ken’s shoes were lined up against the wall, next to the boxes.
“Yes and no.” Ken knelt down on his knees to slide his flip flops and a pair of dress shoes under the couch.