“Tell him to step on it Mikey. They need to get here before those damn helos do,” Sarge said.
“Guys, we’ve got a pair of Apaches coming in to take care of ‘em, if they don’t bug out he’ll blow ‘em out of the sky,” Captain Lewis said.
Sarge looked over at him. “What don’t you guys have? Do we have the entire Army on our side?” Sarge, Mike, Captain Lewis and the other three men with him started to move to the east towards the road, Mike looked over at the Captain and asked, “Hey, where’s your other man?”
Captain Lewis looked back at Mike and grinned. “Don’t worry, he’s around.” To Sarge he said, “No, not yet, but we’re working on it. We have our assets at Camp Riley that we are using. There is an assault happening right now on the DHS side of the base, we’re trying to consolidate the entire facility.”
Captain Lewis went on to explain that most of the air assets at their disposal had been airborne when the assault started. Fixed wing aircraft were loitering in a couple of areas, rotary wing assets were either assisting with the assault or helping with the recovery of Sarge and his crew. Raven two-two was the Black Hawk coming in to pick them up, Bronco three was the lead in a two-ship sortie and Bronco four was his wingman.
As they reached the road they heard the truck. Mike got on the radio and told Ted to keep coming, that he could hear him. It wasn’t long before they could see the truck bouncing down the road. Once it was close, Mike stepped out in the road and waved at Ted. The truck skidded to a stop in the road. Doc was white knuckling the wheel, and his head was twisted out the window looking up for the two helos.
With seven men needing to get in the back of the truck, some of the gear had to go. Captain Lewis grabbed a Pelican case and went to throw it to the side of the road, but Sarge grabbed him by the wrist. “Let me sort out what we dump,” and took the case from him and put it back into the bed of the truck. Captain Lewis nodded and let go of the Pelican case. Sarge went through the bed, dumping the nonessential stuff.
As they were all climbing in, the first of the two helos roared overhead. Mike started to beat on the roof of the truck. “Go, go, go!”
Doc slammed the truck in gear and floored it, shouting, “Shit!”
The ship arced up and to the right. They all could see the door gunner sitting with one foot out on the skid looking back at them. Captain Lewis got his radio. “Bronco three, Bronco three, we’ve got a hostile helo overhead, we need you here ASAP!”
“Roger that Stump Knocker, be there in three mics.”
Doc had the pedal to the floor and it was all the guys in the back could do to hang on when they hit one of the many, many bumps that threatened to launch them out of the bed. Sarge was screaming at Doc, but either he couldn’t hear him, or more likely, he just didn’t give a shit.
As the ship passed, the emblem of the Homeland Security Administration was clearly visible. The pilot kicked the tail around and lined up on the truck. They were stuck on the dirt road that was straight as an arrow and lined with trees on either side: they were a sitting duck. Captain Lewis was looking over the cab of the truck as the nose of the bird dipped and started towards them. All of the guys were looking at the ship wide eyed, each of them waiting for the gunner to open up. Captain Lewis’s headset crackled, “Stump Knocker, Bronco three.”
“Bronco three you need to hurry the fuck up!”
“Stump Knocker, are we weapons free?”
The gunner in the DHS ship opened up, the rounds hitting the road in front of the truck. Captain Lewis keyed his mic and screamed into it, “Yes, yes, weapons free, you’re weapons free, bring the fucking heat!”
I looked back at the people standing in the yard. The man looked up and said, “Why didn’t you do anything?”
I just turned and walked away. Back at the house, Jeff was still outside at his bike. He looked up as I walked up and said, “Where you been?”
I told him about the little incident and he said he had heard the yelling but didn’t know where it was and since he wasn’t from around here he wasn’t about to go walking around. He thanked me for letting him stay the night. When he did, I told him to hold off on that as I had a condition.
He looked up. “Yeah, what’s that?”
I said, “Let me keep your weapons.”
He stood there for a minute thinking about it, propped his elbow up on his chest and rubbed his chin. “You know, ordinarily there is no way in hell I would consider that, but I know you’re thinking of your wife and kids.” He paused for a moment. “And to show you that I’m not a threat I’ll agree, but I’m keeping the key to my bike.” He smiled.
“I appreciate you understanding, and I wouldn’t dream of taking the key from you. Hey, tomorrow can you help me with something?”
As he pulled his pack off the back of the bike he said, “Sure, what is it?”
I told him about the little package Sarge had sent home with me and tried to explain what it was for. He knew exactly what I was talking about and said he could certainly help out. Jeff reached into one of the saddlebags and pulled out the iPad. I shook my head when he did. “You know what you’re starting with that don’t you?”
He looked up with a grin. “Let ‘em have some fun. They’re teenage girls and probably could use the distraction. Hell, you think I haven’t been playing angry birds? It gets lonely on the road.”
I agreed he was more right than he knew and we headed into the house. Mel was sitting on the end of the sofa closest to the fireplace. She said, “We need wood.”
I stopped in the door and looked at Jeff. He just shrugged but I wasn’t about to let him off that easy. I said, “Uh, it’s your job to keep the fire going tonight, remember?”
He looked like I had let the air out of his balloon. “Aww, come on” he pleaded in mock protest. I waved him into the house and called the girls. Little Bit came right out. In the manner of typical teenagers, Lee Ann and Taylor finally came out and flopped onto the sofa, Taylor landing on her mom’s feet, and looked up. I looked at Jeff with a little nod and he unzipped the iPad case. Their faces immediately lit up.
One of them was certain to get upset with the order they got to use it, and I wasn’t sure how to go about establishing the pecking order. Before I could say anything, Jeff said, “Okay girls, there’s three of you and only one iPad so you’re going to have to take turns, and I’m sure you all want to know who gets to go first.” They all nodded in agreement, smiles on their faces so wide it pushed their ears back.
Jeff reached into his pack and took out a Crown Royal bag, holding it by the gold cord and bouncing it in his hand, a faint clicking coming from it each time he did. “What you’re going to do is stick your hand in the bag and take one marble. Keep your hand closed and don’t look at it. When each of you has one you’ll put your hands out and open them to see which color you have. Whoever has the white one gets to use it first, and the other two will do it again to see who goes next, got it?”
I looked at Jeff with raised eyebrows. “I got nephews,” he said.
Jeff held out the bag and one at a time they drew their marbles. Taylor got it first, Little Bit second and Lee Ann last. Jeff handed it over to Taylor, but before they ran off I stopped them and said, “Look guys, this belongs to Mr. Jeff and it is literally irreplaceable, so treat it that way. If he comes and asks for it, give it back immediately. If there is any fighting over it, you’ll never see it again, got it?”
They nodded and ran off to Taylor’s room, shrieking as they went. I looked at Jeff and he smiled, then to Mel. Her eyebrows were raised. “What?” I asked.
“You two are starting some trouble there, you know that don’t you?”
“Yeah, probably, but they’ll have fun and it’ll take their minds off things,” I replied.
“It will do that. Now go get some wood. And when do you thi
nk you’ll get that stove put in our room?”
I shook my head, looking at Jeff, but he just shrugged and raised his hands. “Hey man, don’t get me involved.”
We went outside and he followed me to the woodshed. On the way I asked how his carpentry skills were. His reply made me laugh. “Well, as far as IT guys are concerned, I’m an awesome carpenter.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
We filled the big green cart with wood and hauled it back to the house. As we were stacking the wood on the porch I told him that we were thinking of building a set of stocks to deal with folks who couldn’t keep out of trouble. He shook his head and commented on what a weird world we were living in now. We moved some of the wood into the rack beside the fireplace. Mel came out of the bedroom with a pillow and a couple of blankets for Jeff and laid them on the sofa. He thanked her and looked at me and said he’d be right back.
Jeff went outside and came back in with his Mosin. After handing me the rifle he handed me a Glock, then reached into his coat and drew the one in the holster and handed it to me as well. The look on my face must have revealed my surprise. “I told you I’ve got two of them,” he said.
I was looking at the first one he handed me. The barrel protruded out the end of the slide and the threads were hard to miss. “This what I think it’s for?” He nodded. “You have it with you?”
He nodded again and reached into a pocket of his coat and took out a Surefire suppressor and held it up for me to see. “It’s a nice little accessory,” he said with a smile before putting it back in his pocket.
Mel went back and told the girls it was time for bed. They protested, what with the new distraction they had. I came into Taylor’s room and closed the door, Mel looked at me curiously. I told the girls that Jeff was a guest in our house but we didn’t know him and while they were to treat him with respect, they were to also treat him like a stranger. If anything weird happened in regards to him they were to call for help. I stressed the importance of this to them, making sure they got it. The girls all asked if they could sleep with Taylor and play with the iPad for a while. We agreed, all of them together would be better than in their separate rooms.
Mel and I went back out and I told Jeff I would get with him in the morning about our little project. He said he would keep the fire going, thanked Mel for the blankets and we headed to bed. I put Jeff’s weapons in the safe and locked it up. Mel asked if it was a good idea to let him stay. I told her I didn’t get any kind of a bad vibe from him, and I was usually pretty good at sizing someone up as soon as I met them, something she had always hated about me. Mel is very outgoing and likes to talk to people. I could be on a deserted island all alone and be fine. We could meet someone and talk to them for a while, Mel would say something like, “They were nice” and I’d reply with “He’s a douche bag and full of shit” and more often than not, I would be right.
I woke up once and looked out in the living room. The sofa was empty so I slipped on my moose hide wool-lined slippers and walked out. There was fresh wood on the fire. He wasn’t in the bathroom, but as I passed through the kitchen I saw him on the back deck. I stepped out and Jeff said, “You can’t sleep either?” He was looking up at the sky.
“I haven’t slept through the night in so long I don’t remember what it’s like.”
“Yeah, me too.” He paused for a minute. “You ever seen stars like this?”
I looked up. “It’s amazing, isn’t it? When I was walking home I would look up at night. I mainly traveled at night. It’s beautiful.”
He said, “Yeah,” and just stared up into the night. He seemed lost in thought, maybe remembering something, something that might be a little painful.
“Hey man, you alright?” I asked.
“Yeah man, just thinking about home, about all the shit that used to be and may never be again. I lived in a world of ones and zeros, computers. That was my life, and now there’ll probably never be another one.”
“I know, but at least were still alive. I’ll see you in the morning.” I left him on the deck staring at the stars and went back to snuggle up next to a warm Mel.
The next morning Jeff was buried under blankets on the sofa when I came out. The fire had burned down to a bed of coals. I quietly laid a small piece of lighter wood on the coals and piled a couple of logs on and went into the kitchen. Turning the knobs on the Butterfly, I let the wicks prime while I took eggs from the fridge, filled the coffee pot from the Berkey and pulled a canned ham from the cabinet. Since I had introduced everyone to the fried mush it had become a frequent part of our breakfast and there was some in the fridge.
I had just taken the coffee off the burner when Jeff came in rubbing his head. I said, “Mornin’, Sunshine.”
“Damn that smells good,” he looked into the pan that a couple slabs of ham and mush in it and pointed at the slices of mush. “What is that?”
“It’s called fried mush, made from cornmeal. How do you like your eggs?”
“Sunny side up,” he replied absentmindedly as he took down a coffee cup and poured a cup. After taking a sip he let out a groan, “Damn that’s good.”
By the time Mel got up I had her a plate ready and a pan full of scrambled eggs for the girls. Mel, Jeff and I sat and ate breakfast together, between the three of us we killed the pot of coffee. Jeff asked if I could make another and I obliged him. We still had nearly two dozen cans, though the day was coming when it would be gone. Little Bit came out of Taylor’s room. She was wearing the jammies with the feet in ‘em and was cute as hell. She had the iPad and I could hear the theme music from Angry Birds. She came to the table and climbed up in a chair.
Mel got up and fixed her a plate of eggs and mush and set it in front of her. She didn’t even look up from the game. “We got any honey, Mom?”
“You have honey?” Jeff asked.
“Yeah, I keep bees, a couple of hives out back. It’s not a lot but it keeps us in honey,” I replied, Jeff raised his eyebrows and nodded his head, then took another sip of his coffee.
Mel came back with the honey and set it on the table and took the iPad from Little Bit’s hands in one fluid mom motion. “Hey!”
“Eat your breakfast.”
“I was in the middle of a game!”
“It’ll be there.”
She reluctantly picked up her fork and started to push the eggs around on her plate. I asked Jeff if he was ready to start on our little project and he hopped out of his chair, “Yeah man let’s go!”
I laughed at him, “Been without coffee for awhile?”
“Yeah, man I don’t ever remember it making me feel like this!”
We went out to the shop and I showed him the little package that Sarge had sent home with me. Opening the laptop up, I showed him the text file and after giving him a minute to read it asked if it made any sense to him. He said it was pretty simple and he could have it ready in an hour or so. I told him the shop was his, and he could use whatever he needed to get it done, and that I had a couple of things to do and I’d be back later.
Going back in the house, little Ash was done with her breakfast and was sitting in front of the fireplace with the iPad glued to her fingers. I told her I was going down to Danny’s house and asked if she wanted to go. She never looked up and replied with a “nah.” Taylor came out of her room and said she wanted to go.
While she was getting dressed I put on my vest and grabbed my carbine and pistol, then thought about Jeff’s. Going to the safe, I took out his two Glocks and the Mosin and set them beside the safe. Mel was in the bathroom and when she came out I told her where I put them and that if he asked about them to give ‘em to him. She didn’t protest, just nodded and wrapped her arms around me. “This would be better if you weren’t wearing all this. Where you going?”
“I’m going down to Danny’s. We
have a little project to work on. Taylor’s going with me.” I gave her a kiss and told her I’d be back later. As I walked away she swatted me on the ass. “Looking forward to it.”
Taylor was bummed when she found out we were walking, but fuel was at a premium. We went out the gate and turned right heading into the neighborhood. She walked along not saying anything, just looking down. “You okay?” I asked. She just shrugged her shoulders. This was her usual response when something was bothering her and it was all the confirmation I needed. I put my arm around her and pulled her close, “What’s up?”
She shrugged her shoulders again but with a little more prodding she finally opened up. She was lonely, missed her friends from school and, more importantly, she was afraid. She was worried what was going to happen, what her life was going to be like, and if she going to be able to go to college. I tried to reassure her but was honest about the fact that we didn’t know. I told her not to worry right now. We were all still together and I wasn’t going to let anything happen to her. She asked if she could go to her friend Rene’s house. She was Taylor’s age and lived on one of the side roads we were approaching.
I turned onto the little dirt road and we walked down it towards Rene’s house. I knew Rene’s dad, though not well. His name was Tom and I had no idea what he did for a living. There was smoke coming from the little tin stack. Like many houses out here, Rene’s family had a wood stove in the living room that was more for decoration and setting the cozy scene on a cold night than to actually heat the house.
“Looks like they’re home,” I said and jostled her shoulder.
“Hey, Tom!” I called out as we approached the house. I didn’t want to get shot at dropping by to see a neighbor.
Surviving Home Page 25