by Mark Goodwin
“I wonder if churches are even allowed to meet over here?” Rene asked.
Justin said, “They probably are considered militia meeting places. I’m sure Howe will find a way to outlaw church.”
Rene said, “Yeah, besides, he probably wouldn’t like the competition. I think he fancies himself the god of this domain.”
Justin smiled at the observation and kept walking. Soon they were up in the woods and out of sight. They headed east through the hills.
Rene inquired, “Are we looking for a mine where he’s working or are we looking for a prison camp?”
Justin said, “Either and both. Also any activity that might lead us to either one. If Milton knew what he was talking about, the mine should be within a five mile radius of this area.”
Rene said, “That’s going to be like looking for a needle in a haystack.”
“Yes and no,” Justin commented. “There will be activity around the mine and the camp that will be making noises. We’ll see roads with DHS vehicles moving in and out. Most mining operations are going to stay close to the tracks so they don’t waste fuel getting the coal loaded on the train. We can also pray that God will lead us to find Matt.”
They walked most of the day and saw nothing. They walked in a zigzag pattern from east to west, then back east and gradually working their way north. Just as the sun was getting low, they came across a gravel road. “This looks like a mining road,” Justin said.
“How can you tell?” Rene inquired.
Justin responded, “Look at the width of those tracks. Those are dump truck tires. And they’re deep, which means the truck that left these tracks was loaded down. We can hunker down here for the night and see what drives by in the morning.”
They walked back into the woods and found a secluded place to make camp. The location they chose was near the top of the hill and allowed them to observe any coming traffic on the gravel road.
Justin constructed a crude shelter to shield them from the wind and keep them somewhat dry if it were to rain during the night. They decided against making a fire which might give away their location. This meant they would be eating a cold dinner. They ate venison stew with beans and rice.
After dinner, Rene fell asleep while Justin took first watch. Hours later, he looked at his watch. Rene still had another forty minutes before her shift was scheduled, but he was nodding off and it wasn’t safe. He woke her up and she took over. Rene was very nice about getting up early and Justin was soon fast asleep. When he woke, he was still tired.
“Here,” Rene handed him the canteen.
He detected it wasn’t just water, “What’s this?”
Rene held up an empty single-serve Folgers coffee packet and smiled.
Justin took a big drink. “I love you. You’re the best wife a man could have. Where did you get that?”
Rene said, “Karen had them stashed in her bug out bag. She gave them to me. It’s cold, but it has caffeine.”
“It’s fantastic!” Justin exclaimed. They ate a few stale biscuits that they brought with them. The sun was peeking through the tree tops over the mountain to the east. Rene said, “I hear a creek running back over there. You keep a watch on the road and I’ll go fill up the canteens.”
Justin said, “Save the purification tablets and I’ll pump the water through the Katadyn filter. Additionally, it won’t taste like iodine.”
Rene said, “Give me the filter, and I’ll pump it straight out of the stream into the bottles. Otherwise, we’ll have one water container not filled.”
“Okay,” he agreed, “but be sure not to get too much sediment in the filter. Generally, it’s better to pump from one receptacle to the other so the sediment can settle, but I see your point about one bottle being empty.”
Rene filled their various water containers and returned to the post.
“I hear something coming, lay low,” Justin instructed.
They both lay prone in the leaves on the forest floor and watched for the approaching vehicle.
“It’s a bus,” Rene whispered.
As soon as it passed, Justin said, “Let’s pack everything up and start following the trail of the bus.”
They threw their packs on their backs, and started walking. They found the perimeter fence of the mine about two miles down the road from their position.
“There’s the bus,” Rene said.
“That’s it,” Justin confirmed. “I guess we’ll wait for the workers to come back out and see if Matt is in the group.”
“Then what?” Rene asked.
“Then we’ll try to track it back to the prison camp,” Justin replied.
Rene said, “The bus just got here. They’ll probably be here a while. Should one of us walk back the way the bus came and check for forks in the road? If there is a turn off, we might want to know which way it goes. Maybe we could lay some twigs in the road and see which ones are broken.”
Justin nodded his approval. “That’s a good idea. I don’t know about the sticks though. Any vehicle could cross the path and break them. I think someone would have to visually observe the bus making a turn. Why don’t you follow the road from inside the tree line a few miles down the road and see what’s up. Don’t be gone more than two hours. Pay attention to your watch; if you haven’t found a fork in one hour, turn around and forget about it. Keep your radio on, but don’t use it unless you absolutely have to. I’m sure there are monitoring stations around here.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Rene said.
Justin continued to observe the mine through his binoculars. He took notes on how well-armed the guards were, how vigilant they were about watching out and how much time they spent goofing off. They weren’t the most disciplined bunch. Justin put the battery in his cell phone long enough to activate his GPS in order to get the latitude and longitude of the mine’s location. Then, he removed the battery so it wouldn’t continue to produce an electronic signature.
Two hours later, Justin looked at his watch. Rene was running late. “That’s not good,” he whispered to himself. Fifteen minutes later, Rene snuck back up to the observation position.
“What happened?” Justin scolded.
Rene said softly, “I found a fork just below where we saw the bus drive by. I wanted to walk each of those paths for forks. I went a couple miles down each road, but neither forked in the distance I walked.”
Justin said, “Good work, but two hours means two hours. I start freaking out one minute after you’re not back on time.”
“Awe, you worried about me?” Rene chided.
Justin rolled his eyes and said nothing.
“So now what?” Rene quizzed.
Justin said, “Head back to the fork and find a secluded observation position. I’ll stay here and see if Matt gets on the bus. As soon as the bus leaves, I’ll come to you and we’ll start walking the side of the road where the bus turns off.”
“Okay, I’ll be ready when you get there,” she said.
Rene headed out and Justin kept watching through his field glasses. Several hours later, he noticed the guards stand up and start paying attention to the opening in the mine. In minutes, the workers were coming out one at a time. Justin looked at each worker as the guards cuffed them to the common chain that kept them all connected. Justin looked, but didn’t see Matt. He saw one prisoner come out of the mine looking very weak. Two guards took him out of the gate and walked him down the adjacent hill and out of view. Justin heard a shot ring out through the forest and the guards soon returned without the infirmed worker. The remainder of the prisoners were herded onto the bus and followed by the guards. The bus pulled out of the gate and Justin started walking toward the fork.
Rene came out of her position when Justin reached the fork. “What was that gunshot?” she asked.
He answered, “One of the workers was having trouble walking, so they took him in the woods and shot him.”
“I thought one of them snuck up on you.” Rene grabbed him and held him
close and tears started running down her cheek.
Justin hugged her back and said, “It’s alright. We need to get going, it’ll be dark soon.”
“Alright, they went west.” Rene sucked it up and started walking with Justin.
Four miles down the road, they arrived at a huge fence topped with razor wire. “That looks like a prison camp to me. There are guards all over the place.”
Rene whispered, “Yeah, but I don’t see any prisoners.”
He replied, “Do you see how those shipping containers are all spaced out? I bet they’re using those as prison blocks.”
“Should we just wait here until tomorrow and see if Matt comes out of any of the shipping containers?” Rene asked.
Justin said, “We need to know if he’s here and we need to know which bus he gets in and where it goes. There are several buses over there, and I bet they all go to different coal mines. Let’s head back to that creek we saw about a half mile down the road. We can fill up our water containers and take a little cat bath. We can eat dinner there, then be back here by the time it gets dark. We’ll scout out two positions where we can gather the most information in the morning. We’ll stay together until just before dawn, then we’ll get into our separate positions and stay there until the buses leave. After that, we’ll rendezvous and decide where to go from there.”
Rene said, “Great plan, let’s go.”
They moved quietly through the woods to the little stream. They both washed up in the cool stream. It was a far cry from a hot shower, but it was still quite refreshing. Tonight’s dinner was venison jerky, stale cornbread pancakes and dried apple slices.
“Look!” Rene slapped Justin’s arm.
“What is it?” Justin was curious.
Rene answered, “Morel mushrooms. Right over by that poplar tree.”
The wild mushrooms common to the area were unmistakable because of the sponge-like texture on the mushroom tops.
Justin said, “Oh yeah. Do you want to get a few to eat later?”
“No,” Rene answered. “I want to get a lot to take back to Karen. We’re supposed to be mushroom hunting, remember?”
“I totally forgot,” Justin said. “Let’s get as many as we can find. I was so focused on the real mission, I completely didn’t think about our cover story.”
Rene said, “That’s why you have me.”
They picked about thirty mushrooms, then moved back into their surveillance position. As the sun sank down, Justin took the first watch and Rene fell asleep.
Justin listened closely, but was never able to make out any full sentences of what was being said. He was too far away to hear what they were saying and didn’t feel it would be wise to get any closer to the camp. His watch ended and he woke Rene. She took the field glasses from Justin and he drifted off to sleep.
“Wake up sleepy head.” Rene tapped Justin on the back at the first sliver of morning light.
He could have used another five hours of sleep. There would be time to catch up on his sleep after his mission was complete. They ate a light breakfast of homemade granola bars that Janice made a few days ago. Rene produced two more of the instant coffee packets.
“How many of those do you have?” Justin asked.
Rene smiled. “These two and two more.”
“Good,” Justin said. “We’ll probably be out at least one more night.”
Rene said, “If we find Matt, we could head back tonight.”
Justin stated, “Milton told Adam that there is a pre-dawn raid on Lt. Joe’s tomorrow morning. Adam said if we couldn’t get back by sunset today, we should stay away until tomorrow afternoon. We don’t want to return from a successful recon mission only to walk right into an enemy patrol in our backyard.”
Rene said, “That makes sense. I hope we don’t get done before dark then.”
Justin asked, “Why is that?”
Rene answered, “So I won’t have to worry about you being in another fight over at Lt. Joe’s place.”
Justin kissed his wife on the forehead. “I understand.”
The team parted ways and each found their observation post. Justin took the field glasses and Rene took a spotting scope to watch her area. Justin looked through the binoculars and saw two guards go in one of the containers and come out with four prisoners. He watched as those prisoners took some type of food around to each container. “I guess the containers all have prisoners in them,” he whispered to himself.
A half hour later, he watched each container empty out and the prisoners get outfitted into their work clothes and boots. “Matt!” he exclaimed softly to himself. He almost didn’t recognize him at first. Matt had lost enough weight to make him look very different. Justin watched as Matt’s group was herded onto the bus. “645.” He made a mental note of the numbers painted on the back and side of the bus. Justin watched the vehicles pull out of the camp and kept track of the direction of Matt’s bus.
After all the buses left and the guards went back to their complacent state, the two spies rendezvoused at their predetermined location.
“Did you see him?” Rene asked.
Justin was excited. “Yes, I watched him get right on the bus. I know exactly which road it took. Let’s go!”
They circled around through the woods to keep a safe distance from the guards in the camp. They found the gravel road and followed it. The pair walked for several miles before arriving at the coal mine.
Justin took out his binoculars and scanned the two buses at the mine. “That’s it! 645. This mine has two buses. It must be a bigger operation. That means more guards.” Justin took out his cell phone, replaced the battery long enough to get the coordinates of the mine and then pulled the battery back out. “Okay, let’s get out of here.”
Rene was worried. “You’re not going to be back in time to participate in the operation at Joe’s.”
Justin said, “Probably not, but we still need to get out of this area. Once we’re out of enemy territory, we can look for a few more mushrooms. Gotta keep our cover intact.”
Rene smiled. “Yes we do.”
They proceeded quietly back toward the one-lane bridge which would bring them over the river to Kentucky.
CHAPTER 18
“Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.”
-Joshua 1:9
Adam pulled into Gary’s drive early Friday morning and honked his horn to announce his arrival. Gary’s wife followed him to the door and gave him a kiss as she handed him his assault pack. Gary placed his rifle in the truck first, got in and closed the door.
Adam looked at Gary’s backpack and asked, “Did you pack us a picnic?”
Gary snickered. “You told us to always carry a get-home bag with a med kit and a couple hundred rounds of ammo.”
Adam said, “I know, I’m just bustin’ your chops.”
Gary winked. “But there’s probably enough in there for a picnic. I’ve got Mrs. Brewer’s famous fried chicken, biscuits and some fried green tomatoes.”
Adam was overly cautious today as he drove. “You’ve got tomatoes already?”
Gary replied, “Green ones. We started them on the back porch back in late January. A couple of them already had blooms by the time we put them in the ground.
“You look like you’re expecting trouble. Is everything alright?”
Adam answered, “Just staying alert. If the attack is supposed to be early Sunday morning, there could be recon teams in the area. Keep your eyes open for anyone in the bushes on the side of the road. We also have to figure that Milton could’ve lied or that the timetable for the assault was changed after he didn’t report back.”
Gary nodded. “Roger that.”
The two men soon arrived at Lt. Joe’s. Gary said, “Looks like Franklin beat us here again.”
Adam said, “He always does. You couldn’t ask for a more dedicated commander.”
Lt. Joe stepped out on the
porch, “Why don’t you fellas put your truck in the barn. Franklin seems to think we might be under aerial surveillance.”
Adam nodded and drove the truck around to the barn. Gary jumped out to open the door so Adam could pull right in.
“Wow!” Gary exclaimed when he opened the door.
Adam looked at the huge vehicle in front of him. “Cougar with a .50 cal mounted on top. That’ll come in handy.”
They left the barn and walked back to the house. Franklin met them at the door.
Adam shook his hand. “That’s a fine piece of machinery you’ve got out there in the barn.”
Franklin nodded. “I had to trade out those two Hummers you took in the ambush down by Harlan. The National Guard boys over at Bluegrass Army Depot must be gearing up for something with the Coalition. They’re getting stingy with handing out weapons and vehicles. I know you always take resources into consideration, but anything we can capture in this operation will be a big help.”
Adam nodded. “I’ll keep that in mind. I guess that means you couldn’t get any other shoulder-fired weapons?”
Franklin answered, “They don’t really have much. If they have anything, it’s because it was scheduled to be decommissioned and was going to either be destroyed or recycled. We still have six FIM 92 Stingers.”
Adam said, “They’re surface to air. I wish we had something to fire at MRAPs like a Javelin. Do you think Fort Campbell might have something like that?”
Franklin replied, “Fort Campbell isn’t even trading with militia. They seem to have forgotten we’re all on the same team. You took out surface targets with Stingers at the 421 checkpoint ambush.”
Adam replied, “We took out one Cougar at close range. Past performance is no indication of future results.”
Franklin said, “We have to work with what we’ve got.”
Adam added, “Yeah, but we need tools that match the job.”
Franklin asked, “Where’s Justin?”
Adam said, “We may have a lead on Matt’s location. Justin went to check it out. Milton wasn’t able to pinpoint the prison camp, but Justin thinks he can find it if it’s in the vicinity of the area Milton gave us.”