The Shelter: Book 1, The Beginning

by Ira Tabankin

  Laughing, I respond, “Nope, I never trusted the market. I invested in gold, silver and four farms. Do you think the farms will be a good investment?”

  Fred smiles while nodding his agreement, “Best investment you ever made. Jay, why the automatic weapons and all of the trenches? Do you really think we’re going to have to fight the people around us?”

  “When people realize we have four working farms with food and fuel, I’m sure we’re going to be close to the top of their places to visit. What really worries me is the people who installed our tanks will blab about them. When the government money stops, and it will stop, people are going to go crazy. When they get hungry enough, they’ll kill for a gallon of fuel thinking the fuel will take them to a place they can find food. We’re a farm, they’ll assume we have both food and fuel. Which makes me 100% sure they going to attack us. Even if we had nothing, the rumor we do will be enough to drive them to attack us. The trenches will make it easier for us to go house to house without being seen. The trenches will provide us some cover when the attack comes. The automatic weapons will be force multipliers. The M4s will allow us to put down a lot of lead in a short time. I’m hoping they confuse the invaders enough that they won’t know how few of us there really are. We have to learn to use automatic weapons which will rise to the right when fired. I have some new handguards and bipods to hold the rifles steady when we’re firing. I would have loved to get a couple M249s or other machine guns, but my contact didn’t have any. I bought a lot of small lasers which I plan to mount on sticks we’ll stick around the trench in places we aren’t in. The attackers will see the lasers, they’ll think the lasers are us holding our weapons. Hopefully, they’ll attack the lasers. The silencers will make it harder for them to figure out where we are. I also have two FLIR night vision handheld binoculars which will enable us to see them, hopefully before they see us.”

  Fred looks over to me, “Jay, I’m worried that you’re convinced we’re going to have to fight. You remember, none of us have experience fighting. If we get invaded by large numbers of people, there’s a good chance we’re going to be overrun. What do we do then?”

  Before I can answer, Fred says, “Cop car behind us, been there for a few miles.”

  “How fast are you driving?”

  “I’m within one or two MPH of the speed limit, sometimes under, sometimes over, never more than two over.”

  “He must be confused, he’s not used to seeing someone on this deserted road going the speed limit. Just keep it up and don’t look nervous.”

  “How the hell do I not look nervous? We’re carrying a truckload of automatic weapons.”

  “Just chill, we’ll be fine.”

  “Shit, his lights just came on.”

  “Put on your right blinker and start to move to the shoulder.”

  Before Fred can move to the shoulder, the police car zooms around us, speeding up. “Fred, I’d say, today is your lucky day. He must have gotten a call. He won’t be back for us. As far as he knows we didn’t break any laws. He most likely thought we were carrying drugs. I bet he called in our plates, the truck rental company told him they rented the truck to a farmer and he must have assumed we are carrying equipment for the farms. Fred, getting back to your question, I have a really out of the box idea. I’m working on a plan for a large underground shelter. Rich and Jill are going to have their barn rebuild like yours, I’m thinking of having a large underground shelter dug under the barn. We can dig tunnel entrances to the shelter from each of our homes. If we get overrun, we run into the shelter and hide until the attackers move on or they fight among themselves to the point we can come out and defeat them.”

  “With all of the defenses you outlined, do you really think we’re going to need the shelter?”

  “Fred, I’d rather have it and not need it than need it and not have it. If I can get my kids to come down and stay with us, the shelter is going to have to be large enough to hold all of us. Plus, it’s going to need storage space for supplies to keep all of us going as long as it takes.”

  “Ah! That’s why the freeze dried food.”

  “Yes, in case we’re driven from our homes we need to eat.”

  Fred shakes his head, “I never worried about security or home invasions before. I have the shotgun for hunting and just in case someone tried to steal my animals. I’m really worried that you think it’s going to get so bad we might have to leave our homes. I never thought I’d see the day when we living outside of Nashville think we’re going to have to fight our neighbors.”

  “Fred, they won’t be our neighbors, they’ll be criminals or people so hungry they’ll think nothing of killing us for a meal. I’m hoping we can hold off any attack but Fred, what happens if we get hit by a force of hundreds or even a thousand? Even with automatic weapons we would be overrun. Each layer of defense is designed to slow the attackers down and thin their numbers before they reach us. In the worse case, the defenses will buy us time to escape into the shelter. We need a place to hide until they leave, which hopefully they will when the supplies they find are used up. The refugees are going to be like waves of locusts stripping the land clean. I only hope we have time to build the shelter before we need it. I’d also like to find more people we know and can trust. Seventeen people aren’t enough to defend what we have.”

  “Jay, why just one shelter? Why not build one behind your house and one in the middle field which is equal distance from all of our homes?”

  “Interesting idea. I’ll have to see how long it’ll take to build. By the way, I ordered some personal defense items for us.”

  “Personal defense items?”

  “Kevlar helmets and armored vests. Congress is about to outlaw the ownership of armored vests and helmets for any non-military and non-police. I called a couple of companies and bought what I could. I hope they ship everything I ordered.”

  “Will they work?”

  “I pray we never have to find out. They aren’t like the vests the police wear, these use thick metal plates, one in the front, one in the back, and two small ones on the sides. They are rated to stop all handgun and 5.56 rounds which the police use. They may save our lives when we have to bail.”

  “Jay, this brings up a question I almost hate to ask, what are you going to do if nothing happens? You’ve most likely spent $5million on your home, our farms, new barns, new equipment, weapons, food, fuel tanks and fuel. That’s a lot of money, isn’t Lacy going to skin you alive?”

  Laughing, “Fred, we had nothing before we won the lottery. Lacy would have lost her job putting us into the group of those living on the government dole. We now own our house outright, we own a couple of year’s worth of food and fuel, we own three farms, and a ton of weapons. Plus, we still have over $20 million left. Fred, I pray every day I’m wrong, my gut says it’s going to be much worse than I think. I keep trying to think of what else we may need to keep us alive for the next few years if we don’t have any outside help.”

  “What else do you think we need?”

  “I’d love to have a doctor or an RN in our group. I’ve stocked OTC medications and many prescription medications which I got in Canada and Mexico. But if someone comes down really sick or gets wounded, we’re going to need a doctor. A first aid book isn’t going to cut it.”

  “I’ll contact our local doctor, he’s a small sole provider, he lives about five miles from us.”

  “I thought all of the small doctor practices closed up due to Obamacare.”

  “Most did, Dr. Basco refused to, he’s sixty-eight. He said he’s always practiced his way and the government can be damned, he’s not going to change.”

  “Jay, what else can we do to keep what’s ours?”

  “The new barns are fire-proof, we should make sure all of the farming equipment is kept locked inside every night. When the locusts leave, we’re going to need the equipment to start over. I’ve ordered sprinklers to be installed in the other’s homes. Once the shelter is built, I want to
move most of our stored crops into it.”

  “I’ll talk to the others when we get home. I’ll remind the others not to leave anything outside overnight. We’re not used to having to think about security. Portland hasn’t had any serious crime in many years. Jay, one idea I’ve been thinking about is cutting a trench on one or both sides of the barbwire to stop a car or pickup from driving through the barbwire.”

  “I like it, thanks.”

  “Jay, where are you going to get the sheet steel to cover the driveway trenches?”

  “Local company in town sells sheets of steel up to one inch thick. That’s too heavy for our need. I plan to buy some ½ inch thick to cover the driveway trenches. We’ll drill holes in the corners so we can tie a rope to them, we’ll drag them open and closed with the tractor or pickups. I want to see about lining some of our home walls with the ½ steel plate, it should make the walls bulletproof.”

  “How long have you been planning for this?”

  “A couple of months. Anyone looking at the current situation could see the economy is going to crater. The election in Greece was the match that lit the fuse.”

  “Jay, how long do you think it’ll be before the meltdown happens?”

  “Look at today’s announcement of the excise tax. That’s a sign the government is panicking. The markets dropped over 50% of their value in three days and are still falling, unemployment is over 11% and increasing, it’s only a matter of time before it all comes apart. The EU fell apart in less than three months.”

  While we’re driving home, the news channel reports the President is closing the stock markets for two weeks to allow calmer heads to prevail. The President hopes traders calm down and don’t pour gasoline on a burning fire causing it to burn out of control. The President also announced that he was going to help the recently unemployed by expanding the welfare programs to provide a safety net under those who recently lost their jobs. To pay for the increase in the welfare programs, he’s increasing the taxes on the 1% to 40% of all income over $500,000 a year.

  “Is this going to have a big impact on our plans?”

  “I hope not, I need to see the details of the new taxes and when it starts. Our money isn’t really considered income per say, plus we moved a lot of our money offshore or into hard assets. I wonder if Congress will sit still and allow him to raise taxes, the President doesn’t have the authority to set taxes.”

  “Can they just take what you have?”

  “Who’s going to stop them?”

  “This is beginning to sound a lot like the revolutionary war.”

  “Yeah, isn’t it?”

  Chapter 7

  Captain Black, commanding the US Special Forces troops in the Ukraine led his teams to a hill overlooking a Russian Army forward operating base. He dictated out loud what he saw, so his radio operator could encrypt the information and bounce it off a US MilSat to the Pentagon. He sent images to the Pentagon with his notes. Sergeant Gray asked, “Captain, what are we going to do now?”

  “Sergeant, how long have you been in this man’s Army?”

  “Sir, this April will be twenty-two years.”

  “Then you already know the answer to your question.”

  “Yes sir, we wait for further instructions.”

  “See, you knew the answer before asking. Before you ask, I have no idea how long it’ll be before they respond.”

  “Yes, sir. I’ll keep the men alert.”

  “Sergeant, rest a third of the men. I’ll let you know when I hear anything.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  An hour later their instructions arrive. Captain Black taps Sergeant Gray on his shoulder, whispering, “Sergeant we have our orders.”

  “Sir?”

  “Come with me.” The two men quietly leave the tent where the other two sergeants are sleeping.

  “We’ve been ordered to use the Russian anti-armor and anti-personal missiles to attack their base camp. We’re supposed to wipe it out. HQ doesn’t want any to escape.”

  “Sir, can we use the mortars?”

  “Only if they’re Russian or Ukrainian. We’re not to use any NATO weapons.”

  “Sir, we’re not carrying any. I check the men every day to make sure they didn’t hide any side arms that we missed in the last screen. We have two Russian mortars with a total of forty rounds, HE, and WP.”

  “Excellent. Let the men get a little rest. We’ll wake the camp at 0300 hours, feed them and attack at 0400. We’ll fire 5 rounds of WP from the mortars followed by 5 of HE, followed by another 5 of WP. The secondary team will launch anti-armor missiles at the tanks when the first mortar rounds are in the air. If we time it correctly, we’ll take them completely by surprise and cripple them before they know what hit them or where the attack is coming from.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  The American SOF camp quietly wakes, the men having cold MREs for breakfast. They take down their tents and police the area, removing every trace that they spent the night on the hill. At 0400, Captain Black says, “Fire.”

  Within a second the first rounds are dropped down the mortar tubes and are on their way to their targets before the captain completes the word ‘fire’. Antitank missiles leave their shoulder-fired launch tubes as he finishes saying “Fire.”

  The anti-armor missiles arrive on target a moment before the mortar rounds explode. The missiles strike the Russian T-80 and T-90 main battle tanks on top of their turrets. The missiles’ multistage warheads burrow into the body of the tanks where the main warhead explodes the onboard ammo and fuel. Tank after tank explodes, sending burning debris and shrapnel into the troop tents. The initial mortar rounds arrive as the line of tanks start exploding. WP burns through everything it touches. Water doesn’t put the fires out. The Russian troops quickly come awake, racing out of their tents into the hell the American’s released on their camp. Missile after missile strikes the lines of tanks as the mortar rounds explode over the tents. The American troops fire as quickly as the launchers can be reloaded and the shooter can lock a target in the missile. The mortar’s first target is the ammo/supply tent, followed by the mess tent and the officer’s tents. After the initial targets are destroyed, the mortars shift to the general camp, rounds land in the center of the camp moving out in an increasing circle. The Russians aren’t able to immediately counterattack and by the time they are able to pick their heads up from the debris of their destroyed camp they discover all of their weapons are destroyed. The Russian troops looks for survivors, providing aid to the few wounded by setting up a first aid tent to replace the one destroyed by their attackers. They lay the wounded in lines in front of the new first aid tent, marking the ones who have the best chance of living when another round of mortar shells and missiles arrive killing everyone in the camp. Colonel Black tells Sergeant Gray to take a squad to the camp, “No prisoners and don’t leave any proof behind of who we are.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  The squad walks down the hill carrying Russian-made assault rifles. Thirty minutes later they return telling the Captain, “Mission completed.”

  “Thank you Sergeant.”

  In Moscow President Putin is informed of the attack by the Russian Federation Minister of Defense, Sergey Shoigu. “Mr. President, there were no survivors. The attack was done with our weapons. Even the boot marks in the mud match ours.”

  “Minister, do we have a rogue platoon?”