by Mark Goodwin
“You’re not telling me anything I don’t already know. But, what about JC? Why would God give me that dream if he didn’t want me to go get him?”
Alisa turned away. “I don’t know, Danny.” Her voice cracked. “God scares me sometimes. He seemed to think that Cami would be okay without Nick. He took Korey, I guess Tracey is pretty strong, she keeps her chin up. Dana, she misses Steven so much, but she keeps putting one foot in front of the other. I’m afraid, Danny. I’m terrified that God is going to take you.” She grabbed his arm and laid her head on his shoulder and sobbed.
“Shhhhh.” He held her and comforted her. “It’s going to be fine. God won’t give you more than you can handle.”
Alisa looked up, tears streaming from her eyes. “Don’t say that, Danny. What about Pauline? Maybe God thought she could handle Rocky dying, but she couldn’t. If he thought that, he was wrong. She sits up there in that house and doesn’t move. She’s completely catatonic. I brought her food yesterday. She hadn’t eaten her food from the day before, and she wouldn’t even look at me. The kids won’t even go up there. They are afraid of her, like she’s some kind of witch or monster. She’s not a witch, Danny, she just can’t survive in this world without her husband.
“What if God thinks I’m strong enough, and I’m not? What if I go catatonic like Pauline? Who would raise our baby? And would my own child be scared of me? Danny, you can’t go, you mustn’t. I don’t think I can handle losing you. I don’t think I’m strong enough. Say you won’t go. Promise me!”
Now Danny was sobbing. Her words had snapped his heart in half. He wanted nothing more than to tell her everything was going to be okay. He longed to tell her that he’d never leave the farm again. Yet Danny knew he could say none of those things.
Danny pulled her head close to his chest. “Listen to me, Alisa. No matter what, you won’t fall apart like Pauline. You’re strong. You will make it. Pauline made a choice. She has chosen to quit living. Everyone else on the farm has chosen to keep going, to move forward, even when the grief, the pain, and the sorrow seem insurmountable.”
“So you’re going to go. You’re going to try to find JC?”
He peered deep into her eyes, into her soul. He loved her so much and did not want to leave her. “You know I have to. He put his life on the line to rescue you. He’d stormed the gates of hell to bring me home. If I didn’t, I’d never forgive myself, and I’d never be the man you deserve.” He placed his hand over her stomach. “If I fail to fulfill my duty to JC, what kind of father would I be anyway?”
She dried her eyes with the sheet and forced a smile. The two of them held each other in their arms, pulling one another closely, as if they had only precious hours left together. Eventually, they drifted off to sleep.
The next three days passed with anxious anticipation for Danny as he listened to the radio each evening at seven, waiting for a cryptic message from Pickens. Finally, on Wednesday evening, Ranger Dave’s voice came over the radio. “Your long lost cousin said he’d like to see you tomorrow morning.”
That was it. The message provided no other information in case the wrong sort of people happen to be listening. Danny required no additional details other than the meeting time, so the micro-broadcast suited his needs just fine. Straight away, he made his rounds to inform Jack, Chris, Gwen, and Antoine that they would be leaving right after dawn on the following day.
Thursday morning, Danny’s group arrived at the Pickens flea market checkpoint, a quarter of a mile away from the main gate on Walhalla Highway. Danny recognized the man who waved the F-150 through from the raid on Schlusser’s Greenville outpost. He lifted his hand and gave him a nod as he drove through. Danny proceeded to the back where the gate was opened by Carter, another man Danny remembered from the raid.
“Welcome back.” Lucas greeted the team as they got out of the truck.
Ben came out of the building he used for his office. “We’re still waiting on your friends. Y’all come on in.”
Despite the offer to ride up front with Danny and Antoine, Gwen had elected to ride in the bed of the old Ford with Jack and Chris. Jack jumped out first, then held Gwen’s hand as she stepped off the rear bumper. The team followed Ben and Lucas into the office.
A huge map of the airport, peninsula, and nearby section of the Catawba River was painted on a piece of plywood and screwed to the wall.
Danny admired the precision and accuracy of the detailed depiction. “Wow. That’s nice. Did Evan make it?”
“It sure wasn’t me.” Ben laughed. “Evan has more talent for cooking and drawing in his pinky than I have in my entire body.”
Ben turned to Chris. “We all have ideas about how this should go down. You have experience, and you always come up with issues that others of us overlook. I promise your suggestions will be considered, but when we are dealing with an operation of this magnitude, we need one chief, and a whole mess of Indians that follow his lead. I’m sure you didn’t have any trouble with that concept when you were in the Air Force, otherwise, you would have spent a lot of time in correctional custody.
“I also know that losing your father is still eating at you, and that’s understandable. But, you have a tendency to want to do things Chris’s way, and that’s not going to fly. We have to have one head honcho in this operation. I’ve never met Parnell, but I trust Danny’s judgment of the man. Additionally, his reputation proceeds him. He’s done a better job of securing his town and keeping it all together since the EMP than anyone else. For that reason, I’m going to step aside and let that man take the lead. I’ll still be in command of my men, but under Parnell’s direction.”
Ben looked around the room and made eye contact with each of them. “I suggest all of you do the same, with Danny as your squad leader. To do anything else will get you and your teammates killed.”
Chris seemed to take Ben’s words to heart. “I can do that.” He extended his hand to Danny.
Danny shook his hand. “Thank you, Chris.”
Ben’s radio chirped. “Ben, this is the east gate. I’ve got an old crew cab pickup out here. I think it’s the fella you are expecting from Concord, but I wanted to double check before I send him through.”
“Roger that. What’s he look like?”
“Handlebar mustache, white cowboy hat. Kinda ornery, like you.”
Danny laughed. “That’s Parnell.”
Ben suppressed his smile. “Send him on back.”
Danny, Ben, and the others went outside to greet the guests.
Minutes later, Parnell’s truck pulled into the back gate. As he, Grisham, Douglas, Michael, and Henry exited the vehicle, Danny made introductions. The group returned to the office, and everyone found a seat or a place to stand as the room was now filled to capacity.
Parnell looked at Danny. “The town got pretty upset about me quitting.”
“That’s an understatement,” Rick Grisham said. “I thought they were going to lynch the commissioners and the city council.”
Parnell fought back a grin. “Anyhow, I accepted my position back under the condition that I could still run the militia, and it would be entirely independent of the town leadership. I know it sounds a little bit like a Roman Caesar, but I really had no desire to be sheriff and have to answer to a bunch of indecisive bureaucrats. I told them they can have my badge back anytime if they want it. Next time we have an election, Grisham is going to run for sheriff, and I’m going to back him.”
Grisham winked at Danny. “It’ll be a puppet regime.”
Parnell laughed. “Don’t say that. Ron Haskell will come up with enough slander and accusations on his own. He doesn’t need any help from us.” Parnell put his hand on Grisham’s shoulder. “You’ll do a fine job as sheriff.”
“I’ve still got an election first. But, I’ve been trained by the best, if I happen to win.”
Parnell surveyed the map. “This is a fine piece of work.”
Danny asked, “How does you retaining your position af
fect the operation?”
Parnell continued looking at the map. “I’ll be able to utilize men from the Concord Police Department and the Sheriff’s Department in the militia without them having to resign from their current jobs. We’ve brought in some younger folks, sixteen and seventeen, to help man the checkpoints while the regular security forces are on the mission. We’re calling them the junior auxiliary. Most all of them have experience with firearms, so that helps shorten the learning curve. I’ve got a few older men from the VFW training the youngsters in troop movement, working as squads and fire teams, hand signals, and all that. Some of the older guys don’t have the ability to move as fast as we need them to in order for them to be involved in the operation, but their minds are sharp. They’ve got the knowledge and experience. The young folks are ready to listen and learn from them.”
“Did you open up the junior auxiliary to girls?” Gwen asked.
Parnell’s brows knitted together. “Reluctantly, I did. But, Concord will be shorthanded while we’re gone. And unfortunately, I don’t count on all of us coming home. Those young ladies are at a greater risk hiding under their beds than they are standing guard at a checkpoint, if the borders aren’t secure. No one understands that concept better than Taylor and Willow. They’ve both joined the auxiliary.”
A knot formed in Danny’s throat, and he swallowed hard. “Good for them. I’m glad they’re standing up and refusing to be victims.”
Parnell took a seat. “Henry, do you want to go over what you’ve come up with? After that, we can get some input from Ben and Danny so we can hear what they have in mind.”
“Sure.” Henry stepped up to the large wooden map and explained how the Concord militia intended to hit the north and east side of the airport with overwhelming force.
Once Henry finished his presentation, Danny nodded. “That’s a great plan. I wish we didn’t have to hit the non-combatants so hard by restraining them all. The combatants all have on black polos or black button-down shirts. Identification won’t be a problem.”
Henry faced the group. “I understand your concern, Danny. But, we don’t know how the non-combatants are going to react when we hit the base. They’re going to be surprised, and frightened. They’ll break down to either fight or flight. All they know is someone just broke into their house and started killing people. They don’t know if we’re good guys or bad guys. We have to secure them until we explain who we are, why we’re there, and find out if they are willing to get with our program.”
“I see your point.” Danny’s forehead puckered. “It’s just that if we run in and hogtie everyone, we’ll come across as being just as bad as Schlusser. Most of the women and teens working as cooks, gardeners, and maids are just like Gwen. The only reason they are in that place is because they have nowhere better to go. The men in maintenance and logistics are just like Antoine. They hate Schlusser.”
Gwen’s eyes narrowed as she looked at Danny. “What if . . .”
Danny caught the idea before she’d said it. “What if we could warn them that we were coming?”
Antoine looked at Henry. “They’d see us as liberators and not a force looking to put them in a worse situation.”
Parnell twirled the tip of his mustache. “You folks know how the people in there think. Let’s say we could get a message to them. How many of the non-combatants would side with Schlusser, and how many would side with us?”
“All the women would side with us.” Gwen didn’t hesitate. “We’re treated like glorified slaves in there.”
Danny looked at Antoine. “You’ve got people like Spyder who are sold out to the regime.”
“And people like Jorge looking to move up,” Antoine added. “But probably less than ten percent would side with Schlusser. I know if I was still there and knew something was about to go down, I’d be right next to Spyder when it popped off. I’d eliminate his sorry tail, right off the top. And Jorge; he’d be next.”
“What is your plan for the airport? After it’s liberated, I mean.” Gwen asked. “All those people in there have nowhere to go.”
Parnell paused for a moment as if he were contemplating the question. “We’d assign an administrator, I guess. I suppose Concord would annex the airport compound. The folks there are growing food, they have shelter, water from the river, community. That’s a heck of a lot more than most people around the country have. Concord would probably try to foster their efforts to keep going. If we expended a lot of resources, we’d have to levy a tax to pay for it. Concord doesn’t have the funds to sponsor that kind of expenditure, but I’m sure we’d take a lot less than Schlusser is extracting. For the most part, though, they’d have the right to self-determination.”
“I believe the people inside would help us out as much as possible if they knew that.” Antoine nodded.
“Then that’s what we need to do.” Henry stood tall and crossed his arms. “We need to get them a message and have them form an interior resistance. As it stands, we’re heavily outnumbered. This could be the advantage that tips us over the top.”
Danny tried to quickly assemble the pieces of this puzzle in his mind. “So, the message would need detailed plans about what each section of the airport population would be responsible for. Like, auto maintenance could possibly sabotage some vehicles. Some could be assigned to immediately kill people we know are going to be a problem, like Spyder. Maybe the women who work in the infirmary could have supplies prepositioned to help treat our wounded, once we take the terminal.”
“Maybe some of them could even get weapons and join in the fight.” Antoine turned to Danny.
“Weapons would be tough.” Danny drummed his fingers on the table as he thought. “All the guns are kept in either the soldiers’ barracks or the armory.”
Antoine pointed at the map. “If the airport is getting attacked from the northeast, Schlusser will probably have to pull men off the armory to fight on the front line.”
Michael, Antoine’s friend from the Concord Police Department, stood next to Henry. “The big question is, who is going to deliver this message, and how are they going to get inside?”
Danny’s stomach sank. Of the three people in the room who could possibly make contact, he was one. Obviously, Gwen wasn’t going alone, so there were few options that excluded him as part of the mission. He saw no point in procrastinating the unavoidable. “I’ll go.”
Antoine wasted no time in throwing his name into the hat. “Me, too.”
“I know the area. The three of us work well as a team, and we can all take the heat. Count me in also,” Gwen said.
“If she’s going, so am I,” Jack insisted.
Parnell shook his head. “No, Jack. It’s getting too big. We have to keep a small footprint on this objective.”
“What if Jack and I tag along and stay back; an overwatch team that goes only as far as the river. We’ll stay on the opposite side unless Danny’s team gets in trouble.” Chris leaned forward.
Parnell looked at Henry. “What do you think?”
“I don’t have a problem with that.”
“Okay. Deal.” Parnell turned back to Jack and Chris. “Now on to our next order of business. Henry wants to hit them at night. We’ve got a limited amount of night vision. Most of it is low- end, gen one or gen two. Stuff the farmers use to hunt coyotes or hogs at night. But, if they have nothing, that’s a huge advantage.”
“We have two night vision scopes. Gen one, but we have decent IR illuminators, which makes them almost as good as gen two.” Jack glanced over at his brother.
Ben stroked his beard. “I have a few PVS 14 units. Gen three. I’m sure some of the hunters probably have some low-end scopes.”
Henry leaned against Ben’s desk. “The new moon is this coming Tuesday. If we’re using night vision and they aren’t, that’s the best time to hit them.”
Antoine said, “If you could go in on a Saturday night, half the black shirts will be drunk. Sunday is light duty for everyone except leader
ship and the raiding parties. They don’t do anything on Sunday. So, Saturday night is the night they get lit up.”
Henry nodded. “That’s a helpful piece of information. I’ll definitely trade off a sliver of moonlight for a security force that’s half in the bag.”
“This coming Saturday night is closest to the new moon.” Deputy Douglas leaned against the back wall of the office.
Danny shook his head. “That’s two days from now. We can’t come up with a plan to make contact with the non-combatants inside the airport, execute it, and expect them to be in position in two days.”
“Danny is right.” Parnell adjusted his pistol belt. “Next Saturday is only four days from the new moon. We’ll hit the airport then. Danny, could your team go in this Saturday night and try to make contact?”
Danny looked at Antoine and Gwen. “If the maintenance crew is still working on the water supply ditch, they’ll be outside the camp on Sunday with no supervision. We could meet them without even going inside. I suppose we could go in on Saturday night and lay low in the bush until we make contact.”
“That ditch project will be going on for several months. I’m sure my old crew will be there on Sunday.” Antoine nodded.
“Could they find a place to hide guns for a week if you took them a little care package?” Henry inquired.
“Most definitely.” Antoine chuckled.
Danny pointed to Antoine. “Assuming Javier is still on the ditch crew, he can get the word out to his wife who works with the women in the terminal.”
Antoine crossed his arms. “Sly and Friendly will be fighting over which one of them gets to whack Spyder.”
“Yeah, you could sell tickets for that one. Nobody likes that man.” Danny winked at Antoine.
“If you tried to take rifles in, the most any of you could carry would be two, maybe three. What’s more, they’d be hard to conceal. Pistols will be the easiest thing for your team to transport into the meeting area and the most simple to stash until the attack. Each one of you could carry a pack with ten pistols each.” Henry pointed at Danny, Antoine, and Gwen. “That’s thirty firearms. If the resistance team inside gets organized and formulates a good plan, they can be near hostiles with rifles when the attack launches. They should be able to take out those hostiles and retrieve the rifles.”