Dark Road

by David C. Waldron

  “She was going to go home,” Chuck said, “but at that point didn’t necessarily have any other plans yet. I certainly didn’t have any ulterior motives but until I knew she was going to be safe for at least the near term I wanted to make sure she was ok.”

  Marci nodded in a way that indicated it was ok to keep going.

  “One thing led to another and we ended up here a few days later. The more time we spent together not on the night shift,” Chuck continued, looking at Sheri, “the more I really got to know her, I realized I didn’t just have a crush on her.” Chuck clenched his jaw.

  “Then there was the abduction,” Marci said.

  “Right,” Sheri said. “I still have trouble talking about it.”

  “I know that isn’t what this is about,” Marci said, “but if you need someone to talk to, that’s something I’m more than capable of doing.”

  Sheri nodded. “I may take you up on that.” She squeezed Chuck’s hand again.

  “Possibly the shortest abduction on record,” Chuck said. “When that happened it was like my world came to an end and I realized what she really meant to me.” He looked at Sheri. “I had to do something or die trying.”

  “I’m glad you didn’t die trying,” Sheri said, looking at Chuck, and then turned to Marci. “It isn’t a whim and it really isn’t some stress-induced romance. We really are in love. And this is going to make him blush but we haven’t slept together yet even though we’ve been sleeping in the same bed since the night he rescued me.”

  Marci nodded once. “Ok,” she said. “As soon as things are squared away with the marriage license, I would be honored to perform your wedding.”

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Sparky was spending half of his time cannibalizing dead electronics gear for parts to build basic HAM radios and the rest of his time teaching classes on radio and antenna theory, basic electronics and electrical engineering, and what used to be Amateur radio. He thought of it with the qualifier because he was pretty sure it was going to become their primary method of communication in the very near future.

  So far he and Grounder had put in place a redundant certificate system to send out keys to the other groups that they had been able to vet into the network. The network consisted of eight of the groups that Major Jensen had contacted prior to the group call a month ago and another dozen through those initial eight.

  In addition to securing their communication on the HAM bands, Sparky and Grounder had made some very strong suggestions to everyone that they issued keys to. The first suggestion was that they minimize use and discussion of the pirate radio, as it was now referred to. The longer it could be kept on the down low the better. The second, was to add a second layer of security to the communications if possible. Use of a breadboard to rotate daily or weekly code phrases, should the keys be somehow compromised, should be the minimum security when using the radios for anything but mundane traffic.

  Lastly, and totally unbeknownst to all but a very few, Evan and Spencer were working on a more robust and long-term backup system. In short, they were working on a HAM radio-based Internet and e-mail system. The biggest hurdle would be getting the basic requirements met at the user’s end-point in the first place.

  …

  Sparky hated having to trust the military radios that could transmit and receive on the HAM bands, mostly because, well, he didn’t trust them. He didn’t have the time or energy to build enough radios for everyone who wanted or needed one so he had to make do with what he had, and that was the mobile rigs from the newer military vehicles or the communications tent.

  Sparky was on duty in the communications tent with his own homebrew equipment plugged in and scanning the 40-meter band, in case someone had something to say, when a weak signal came through at about 12:54 am.

  “Any station, any call,” came a voice he didn’t recognize. “This is an emergency message. Repeat, any station, any call. This is an emergency message. Reply only if you are receiving and then copy this message. I don’t have time to rag chew, over.” and then Sparky was positive he heard gunfire in the background.

  Sparky waited two seconds to be sure the line was clear and then keyed his mic. “This is…this is station Alpha Prime.” He wasn’t going to give either his old Amateur call sign or his nickname in case someone else was listening. He’d probably already said too much. “I read you and I’m copying, go.”

  He hit a couple of keys on his laptop that began recording the conversation and then grabbed a piece of paper and a pencil.

  “I think I know where I’m talking to, just not who. I’m with the South Carolina Army National Guard out of Eastover. We only have this one radio configured for secure communications and I have a battery powered bulk tape eraser sitting on the laptop. It should wipe the hard drive enough that they can’t get the key. If I hear someone coming I won’t sign off, I’ll just hit the button. We told the Colonel to stuff it. The orders were unconstitutional and wrong. Even before ARCLiTE was declared we’d been working with the civilians just fine, and making it official just made things go that much smoother. Break.” He was giving his transmitter a rest and making sure that anyone trying to home in on the transmission would have to start over.

  “These new orders are ridiculous and our CO refused to obey them. Tonight they came in with a half a dozen helicopters from who knows where. There was a firefight and probably upwards of fifty people were killed, civilian and military alike. They fought alongside us like, well, like their lives depended on it. Right now they are gathering up all the firearms but not like the orders said to, they are gathering up all the guns, from everyone. They’ve stripped rank from all of the military so everyone is a civilian now. Break.”

  “They’ve already moved all of the vehicles to one side of the camp and now they’re disabling the engine blocks with thermite. Anyone who wasn’t killed in the fighting is as good as dead now anyway. We were up to about three hundred and fifty people and were working with some of the surrounding farms and a couple of towns. Not now; it’s all in ruins and nobody would trust us now anyway.” Sparky heard another voice in the background yell “HEY!” and then the transmission ended.

  Sparky was getting sick to his stomach but couldn’t let it control his actions right now. This was one of the reasons the pirate radio was there. The Major needed to know about this and she needed to know right now! He hit the channel on the board to call her handheld and then stopped. Even though that was local it might hit the satellite too. He shook his head and took a breath—he hated having to trust the military radios.

  He took the extra few seconds to change the military radio recording loop to five minutes, to cover the time he would be gone, and ran to the Major’s tent.

  …

  “I need to talk to the Major,” Sparky panted to the guard at Mallory’s tent.

  “And that’s why she has a radio,” the guard, who Evan didn’t recognize in the dark, said with a frown.

  “We can’t always trust the radios, man, if anyone knows that it would be me.” Sparky said, raising his voice a little in the hopes of possibly waking the Major up. “Seriously, I need to see her right now. There is a problem and she needs to know about it five minutes ago.”

  “I’m coming, Sparky,” Mallory’s voice came from inside the tent. “Let me finish putting my boots back on.”

  The guard shook his head. “If you woke her up she’s going to have my head.” He hissed.

  “No, if he woke me up I’m going to have his head.” Mallory said as she came out of the tent.

  “Is there anything you don’t hear, ma’am?” The guard asked with a salute.

  “Not as far as you know.” Mallory said as she returned the salute. “Stay here; I’m safe with Sergeant Lake. What’s the big deal at 1:00 am?”

  “You have to hear it and read it to believe it,” Sparky said to get out of earshot of the guard, but continued after a few steps and a look from Mallory. “A guard unit in South Carolina basically just got
a death sentence from the Colonel.”

  Mallory almost stumbled when she heard that. She had been in contact with a group in South Carolina one time and their response to the orders had been…carefully worded was the best way she could put it. If she recalled correctly, they had said they were “having problems with the orders.” Not problems implementing the orders, or problems enacting the orders, but problems with the orders.

  “Why didn’t you call my radio?” Mallory asked.

  “Because I’m afraid to trust the military gear at this point,” Sparky said. “The report came in on the encrypted 40-meter band and then went dead when the sender fried his hard drive with a bulk tape eraser. There’s no way I should know about it through official channels and no other reason for me to call you to the communication shack,” Sparky shook his head, “tent at 1:00 am. If our radios hit the satellite, even for local communication, they would know I knew something was up. I didn’t want to run that risk.”

  “Good call,” Mallory said, “quick thinking. Let’s have a look at what they said.”

  …

  “Damn, he’s serious about his new orders.” Mallory muttered after she finished the transcript and listened to the replay from the laptop. “I wonder how or even if he’ll try to spin this if anyone asks about it.”

  Sparky just shook his head. It was starting to sink in what had happened and what the fate of those people was most likely going to be.

  “They’re obviously organized, that’s for sure, but we don’t know where they are based out of or even…” Mallory paused.

  “Or even what, ma’am?” Evan asked.

  “Well, we don’t know where the Colonel is but in a way that almost doesn’t matter.” She said. “What does matter is where his people are. Where did those helicopters come from? I’m not saying it’s totally irrelevant where the Colonel is; he and the helicopters may be in the same place, but not necessarily. He could have…loyalists just about anywhere.”

  Mallory was pacing in the tent. “I don’t know where Eastover, South Carolina is but I’m guessing that there’s probably a half dozen Army bases those choppers could have come from if they were Black Hawks and made the round trip without really hurting for fuel.”

  “Alpha Prime come in,” a new voice broke Mallory’s monologue via the HAM radio.

  “Alpha Prime,” she asked.

  “I had to come up with something other than my HAM call sign or my nickname,” he shrugged.

  “This is Alpha Prime,” Sparky said, “keep it discrete.”

  “Will do, just letting you know we copied the previous transmission as well and assume things didn’t go well for the sender.” He said. “We’re in the neighborhood of Pinebluff, North Carolina and we’re going to send a group out heavy at sunrise. What just went down was not kosher and, at the very least, they need to be able to defend themselves and communicate. We’re going to see what we can do to help but until we hear something from Fort Jackson we want to tread at least a little lightly.”

  “Understood, Alpha Prime clear,” Sparky broke the connection. “Well, I think we can be pretty sure that neither Camp Mackall nor Fort Bragg sent the helicopters.”

  …

  “Sergeant Lake,” Mallory said. “We need to see what happens in the morning, via official channels that is. You can receive tonight during your watch but, and this is a direct order, I don’t want you initiating any communications regarding what just happened before 1000 hours tomorrow. Do I make myself clear?”

  Evan swallowed. He was in Army mode; he was Sergeant Lake right now. “Yes ma’am, and I understand.”

  “Good,” she said. “I’m not being hard and uncaring; I’m trying to protect us. I don’t want you to stew about this either. Communication got out about what really happened and that’s better than wondering why a group we brought into the ‘net just dropped off the wire with no notice.”

  He nodded.

  Mallory took a deep breath and thought for a few seconds. “Is there any way to test whether or not our handheld radios hit the satellite for local calls?”

  He gave her a questioning look at the change of direction the conversation had taken.

  “You said that you didn’t want to use the radio to call me because you didn’t trust it,” she said. “You weren’t sure that it wouldn’t hit the satellite and you didn’t want to give away the fact that you knew something you shouldn’t have. Is there any way to test whether or not the handheld radios hit the satellite and, if they do, to disable it?”

  “I really don’t know,” Sparky said after a few seconds. “I’ve taken enough of them apart to fix what’s field repairable and replaceable, and although I’ve tinkered with them I’ve never really gotten into the guts of one. Are you willing to run the risk of me destroying one?”

  “Yes,” Mallory said without hesitation, which shocked him, as she paced in the small confines of the tent. “We have—I won’t call them spares—but we have a couple dozen extras. Take one apart and find out what makes it tick. If it always uses the satellite see if that can be disabled, temporarily or permanently. The HAM radio stuff won’t suffer; Major Franklin has Spencer and his people working on it now. You work on this.”

  Mallory could already tell Sparky was feeling better and wouldn’t be obsessing about what had just happened in South Carolina. She was also pretty sure he wouldn’t be getting any sleep tonight, either.

  …

  Specialist Sasha Brey was manning the radio when the official announcement of the early morning attack came through. She made a call to the Major and to the First Sergeant over her handheld radio to summon them to the communication tent after recording the broadcast, and then played it back for herself because she couldn’t believe what she’d heard. It was just ending when Mallory walked into the tent.

  “What was that last bit?” Mallory said.

  “Ma’am,” Sasha said and started to get up.

  “As you were,” Mallory said and then repeated her question.

  “A broadcast about some sort of attack early this morning on a unit in South Carolina,” Sasha said and began to play the recording over again.

  “Hold off starting it over again until Sergeant Stewart gets here,” Mallory said.

  Sasha nodded, “Yes, ma’am, of course.”

  A few seconds later Bill showed up.

  “What’s going on, Sergeant?” he asked.

  After a brief update Sasha played the recording.

  “So the civilians didn’t want to have their guns confiscated,” Bill said. “They revolted violently enough that the unit in question had to call in for help. They called directly to the Colonel. The nearest base with birds is going to be…probably a half hour flight away, maybe forty-five minutes.”

  “Go on,” Mallory said, glad that Bill was immediately thinking along these lines.

  “Nobody and I mean nobody is ready to jump into a helicopter at midnight with no warning, even under optimal conditions, and we haven’t been operating under optimal conditions for months.” Bill continued. “The fastest I’ve ever seen a ‘hawk up and running was eleven minutes—and that was a Medevac unit in a combat situation doing a thru-flight, meaning they had already done a pre-flight for the day.” Bill shook his head.

  “This doesn’t add up Major,” he said finally. “They needed help so badly that they called it in directly but they didn’t know where it was coming from or how long it would take to get there? The help didn’t know the call was coming but was able to muster enough men to fill half a dozen Black Hawks and arrive just in time to save their butts—and do it all in the middle of the night?”

  “Thank you Specialist Brey,” Mallory said. “You will be debriefed after your shift. Find Top when you are done. Save that recording and any more that come in regarding this matter.”

  “Ma’am,” Sasha nodded to Mallory.

  “You and I need to talk,” Mallory said to Bill, which got a raised eyebrow but no argument from her First Sergeant.
<
br />   …

  “What’s going on,” Bill asked once they were out of earshot of the communications tent.

  “In due time, Top,” Mallory said. “We need a little more privacy. We also need a few more people.”

  Mallory stopped a couple of runners on errands and preempted their tasks to have them find Joel, Eric, Lieutenant Halstead, and Sergeants Ramirez, Bowersock, Wilson, and Lake. She also told them to have Lake bring his laptop.

  “That bad, huh,” Bill said.

  “That bad,” Mallory said.

  Chapter Thirty

  Mallory didn’t say anything more until everyone was present and seated in the command tent. Even then it was several more seconds while she finished collecting her thoughts before she spoke, and when she did, it was into her radio.

  “Sergeant Brey, have there been any more transmissions or announcements?” She asked.

  “No ma’am,” came the response over the radio.

  “Please send the recording to my radio.” Mallory said. She saw Sparky swallow.

  After the twenty second recording there were a few seconds of silence during which Mallory looked around the tent at the gathered group. Mallory nodded slightly at Eric, who looked like he had something to say.

  “With all due respect,” Eric began.

  “Yes Captain,” Mallory cut him off. “It’s bovine excrement. Other than helicopters being used, not a word of it is true.”

  Mallory looked at Sparky. “Please play the first transmission that came in last night.”

  Everyone looked at Sergeant Lake, and then back at Mallory and back at Lake again. From the outside it looked comical.

  Lake stepped forward to set up his laptop, turned up the volume, and then played the first recording. By the end, almost everyone was in shock—and more than a couple of mouths were open. Mallory’s jaw was clenched; she’d been stewing about this all night and was at a slow boil by now.