by Mark Goodwin
Matt explained the plan to mobilize the charging station to follow the sun around the property at different times of the day.
“Have you checked out the communications gear in there?” Adam asked.
“Not yet,” Matt answered.
“Think it’ll still work?” Adam inspected the small, backup charge controller.
Matt replied, “All this stuff works. I don’t see why the radio wouldn’t.”
Adam asked, “So you think anything that was in a metal shed will still work?”
Matt responded, “I have no idea. There’s a lightning rod on this shed. I don’t know if that had anything to do with it. I read a little on EMPs before, but most of the information out there was fairly speculative. Besides, I think the effects vary greatly on several different factors such as distance from the blast, size of the charge and atmospheric conditions.”
Doc asked, “What about radioactive fallout? Can that be an issue?”
Matt said, “I don’t know. I think the detonation altitude required for an EMP is above the ozone layer, so I hope that will protect us, but I suspect some amount is bound to make its way through.”
Doc asked, “Do you happen to have potassium iodine tablets?”
Matt shook his head. “No. What about water purification tablets? The main ingredient is iodine. Can we use those?”
Doc said, “That’s an idea, but I wouldn’t know how much to use. If I could look it up on the Internet, I could figure it out, but that’s out of the question. You’ve got a huge bottle of Betadine. We can paint a large area of skin on everyone’s stomach with Betadine. The iodine will be absorbed through the skin and flood the thyroid gland. That should protect us from trace amounts of radiation filtering through the atmosphere.”
Matt said, “Okay, you’re in charge of that.”
Adam said, “I’ll take a small amount of Betadine over to the house and take care of my clan. I’ll run some by Gary’s place, then come back here when I’m finished. I’ll bring Lt. Joe with me when I come back and we’ll see if he can get the ham radio fired up.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Matt said.
Adam followed Doc back to the house while Matt and Justin continued working on the solar wagon. They soon had the platforms built out and loaded the equipment on the wagon.
Justin said, “We should get the battery bank set up next, so we can power the fridge.”
Matt agreed and Justin carted a couple batteries to the house. Once the battery bank was complete, Matt ran an extension cord to the fridge and flipped the switch to the inverter.
Karen came to inspect the fridge. “It’s working!”
Matt said, “Things are going to get tough around here, but having a little bit of power will make a big difference.”
Rene followed Karen into the kitchen. “What about the water?”
Matt answered, “When the London water tower runs out, I guess there won’t be any pumps running to refill it. We won’t have running water much longer.”
Justin said, “We can figure out a way to get water from the creek to the house. It’s not that far. I can haul it in buckets ‘til we get something rigged up.”
Matt rested on his crutches, “Thanks, it’ll be a week or two before I can haul water in a bucket. You need another wagon for water.”
Justin said, “Who knew wagons would be such a valuable commodity?”
“Yeah, who knew?” Matt laughed. “Where can we salvage wheels?”
Karen said, “You could take the wheels off of the lawn mower.”
Matt replied, “That might actually work. We won’t have a lawn mower, but water certainly tops a tidy lawn in our list of priorities at the moment.”
Doc came in and ordered Justin and Matt to lift their shirts so he could apply a generous amount of Betadine on their abdomen.
Matt raised his shirt, “Any particular reason we’re putting this on the stomach?”
Doc answered, “The skin on your belly is fairly tender and you’ll get a higher absorption rate. It’s also a big enough area to apply an adequate amount of the iodine solution. Not intentionally, but it’s more cosmetic as well. The Betadine leaves a rust colored stain on your skin and the tummy is usually covered.”
“What about Miss Mae?” Karen asked.
Doc answered, “I suppose we can put a little bit on the back of her neck, so she won’t lick it off.”
Karen answered, “Okay, but you better let me do it. She still hasn’t warmed up to you, yet.”
Matt said, “Fellas, we better get on that water cart project. Whatever we’re going to get done from now on is going to have to be done during daylight hours. We can’t afford to run lights.”
Doc agreed, “On to the next project, then.”
Rene said, “We’ll take care of feeding the animals and check on the garden.”
“Thanks,” Matt headed out the door.
Back at the work shed, the men put their heads together to construct another wagon for hauling water. They soon had a rudimentary cart that would serve the purpose.
Matt inspected the wheels they’d salvaged from the lawn mower. “They won’t take a lot of weight. You’ll have to take multiple small loads.”
Doc added, “I can haul water also. Between the two of us, we can keep the house supplied. Once Matt’s leg is better, we’ll let him catch up.”
Justin laughed at the comment and Matt rolled his eyes. Adam pulled up with Lt. Joe. “You guys ready to check out this radio?”
Matt replied, “We’ve been running full speed ahead since the blast this morning. Can we break for lunch and then jump on it?”
Adam nodded, “We can do that. I’m just anxious to find out if we’re being invaded.”
Matt said, “I see your point. Maybe we’ll just grab a sandwich and eat while we work on it.”
The men walked back to the house, grabbed a few snacks and headed right back to the work shed. They unloaded the components to the ham and carted them back to the house.
“I’m getting a little tight on space,” Matt said. “I’m not sure where we should set it up.”
Doc replied, “Put it in the office.”
Matt said, “But that’s your personal space, and it’s not that big.”
Doc smiled. “I don’t mind one bit. If I’ve got a place to lay my head at night, I’m very grateful.”
Matt said, “If you’re sure you don’t mind.”
“I insist,” Doc said.
Lt. Joe still had limited use of his injured arm, so he instructed the others as to where and how to set up the radio. Matt ran a power cord into the office to supply electricity from the battery bank to the radio. Lt. Joe asked, “Does your drill still work?”
Matt said, “We’ve been using it on the other projects. The battery is getting low, but it could go a little while longer. What do you need?”
Joe replied, “If you don’t mind, I’d like to drill a hole through the bottom of the window seal to run the antenna cord.”
“Whatever you need,” Matt replied.
The radio was soon set up and it proved to be in working order. Lt. Joe sat down and started scanning the usual frequency. He pressed the talk key and said, “This is Lima Juliet forty-nine calling CQ CQ CQ.” Joe continued to scan. “I’ll keep checking the channels generally used by the militia, National Guard, Texas and the Northwest Coalition.” Each time he came to the desired frequency, he repeated, “This is Lima Juliet forty-nine calling CQ CQ CQ.”
Everyone watched as Lt. Joe scrolled through his usual stops. “Looks like everyone has been hit. This ain’t good boys. I’ll keep running through to see if anyone else is reaching out. I’ll run back through our frequencies and call CQ every thirty minutes or so.”
Matt nodded and walked outside to clear his head for a moment. Adam followed him outside.
“What are you thinking?” Adam asked.
Matt peered through the trees to the east. “Do you think they’re attacking right now?”
“What do you recommend?” Matt inquired.
Adam said, “I think we should consolidate everyone into one house and maintain it as a base. We’ll run round-the-clock guard duty and keep everyone at the ready.”
Matt said, “That’ll get crowded.”
Adam said, “If we’re getting hit, comfort won’t be an issue anyway.”
“I see your point,” Matt agreed. “Where do you propose to keep everyone?”
Adam said, “The communications hub is here. You’ve got solar, a good water source; I think we should set up camp at your house and start fortifying a position. The weather’s nice, we can set up tents for the guys and the girls can stay in the house. The men can all crowd into the work shed if it rains. I think we should bring Gary and his wife as well. Probably Mr. Miller, too. He’s all alone. He wouldn’t stand a chance if his house is attacked.”
Matt asked, “You think DHS is going to roll all over the hills of Kentucky going house to house, rounding up farmers and killing us?”
Adam replied, “I don’t know. My training just tells me to be ready for whatever. They may send small units house to house. If we’re ready for them, we can take a small unit.”
“Then they’ll be back with more troops to squash us,” Matt responded.
Adam said, “If we get hit, we’ll relocate to my farm. If it gets hit, we’ll go to Gary’s. We’ll map multiple routes out. As soon as we’re attacked, the girls will bug out to my house. We’ll kill off the invaders, then fall back to my place with the girls before reinforcements arrive.”
Matt said, “Let me tell Karen about Fort Bair. I’m sure she’ll be excited to know her home is becoming a military base.”
Adam laughed, “I’ll go round up the rest of my clan. I’ll drop them off with their necessities, then go grab Gary and Debbie.”
“Okay,” Matt said. “Do any of your Baofeng radios work?”
“They’re all fried,” Adam answered.
“I’ve got my walkie-talkies in the safe, they should be protected but they’re only effective for a mile or two in these hills,” Matt said.
Adam asked, “Is your single-side-band, shortwave radio in the safe?”
“Yeah,” Matt replied.
Adam said, “I can’t respond, but if I take that with me, Lt. Joe could call me on the ham if anything goes wrong. I’d at least be able to race back here if there’s trouble.”
Matt nodded and went to retrieve the shortwave. He informed Lt. Joe of the plan. Joe then set the radio to the channel he would call if they were assaulted.
Adam jumped in the old truck and said, “I’ll bring as much food and provisions as I can.”
Matt replied, “You better cache anything you don’t want to be stolen. You should stash some food and weapons over there as well, especially if we think we might have to fall back to that location.”
“I’ll do it,” Adam said as he drove away.
Matt wasn’t sure how Karen would take the concept of “Fort Bair.” He knew Miss Mae would find it disagreeable. Nevertheless, it had to be done.
CHAPTER 31
“One loves to possess arms, though they hope never to have occasion for them.”
-Thomas Jefferson
Paul Randall’s security team woke Paul Randall early Wednesday morning to inform him of the attack. They immediately moved him, his wife and Sonny to the underground bunker below his house.
Paul asked the lead officer, “Do we know if there was a physical attack or EMP?”
“I’m not sure, Senator,” the man replied. “I saw a bright flash in the sky. I’m guessing EMP. All the radios are shot. We can’t get any information right now. You have a backup-comms system in the bunker. I’ll get it set up right away.”
Kimberly asked, “See if they can get a hold of Ryan. I have to know if he’s okay.”
Paul explained that it was most likely an EMP attack and that there was probably no life-threatening damage at the moment.
The officer got Paul’s backup radio running. He was able to reach Fort Hood’s Emergency Services Network and soon had General Jefferson on the line. He passed the mic to Paul.
“General, can you confirm that we were hit with an EMP?” Paul asked.
“It looks that way. I’m sending a Humvee to pick you up. This may have been a precursor to an invasion. That’s what I’d do if I were attacking,” Jefferson said.
“The vehicles are running?” Paul asked.
“They were supposed to be hardened against EMP, but that didn’t pan out for most of the fleet. All of the vehicles that were inside metal hangars or metal garages seem to be unaffected. Everything on them seems to work.” Jefferson said.
Randall voiced his concern. “What if we’re hit by a secondary device while we’re on the road? Then we’ll be totally exposed.”
Allen Jefferson said, “That could happen, but I’d say it’s unlikely. I’ve sent men to Red River to pick several old Vietnam-era vehicles that should work. If we’re attacked by another EMP, I’ll have them pick you up. You’ll have an adequate security detail to defend you until they arrive. Besides that, you know how to shoot if you have to.”
Sonny asked, “All of our computers are completely dead. Is there any chance the information on the hard drives could be salvaged?”
Jefferson replied, “I don’t know, Sonny. Bring them and we’ll see what we can do. We have a few Toughbooks in a cage that survived the attack. I’ll get one for you to work on. You and Paul will have to share it. We don’t have many.”
“How long ’til our ride arrives?” Paul asked.
“Hour and a half,” Jefferson replied.
“We’ll be ready,” Paul signed off.
“We have to go to the base?” Kimberly asked.
“I’m afraid so,” Paul replied. “We better pack a couple of bags.”
Sonny went straight to his quarters and the Randalls went to their room to get ready.
As they were packing, Kimberly said, “I can’t believe we’re being run out of our home again.”
Paul responded, “Jefferson has a nice residence set up for us at Fort Hood. It won’t be like hiding out at the Armory.”
“It won’t be home either,” she said.
Paul secured their house and double-checked his pistol. He took two extra magazines and placed them in the bag with his laptop.
His ride arrived right on time and they were on the way to Fort Hood. Kimberly didn’t say much on the way to the base. Paul was sure the trip reminded her of the last time they had to leave their home because of a threat from the Federal government. It had resulted in the death of their son, Robert. Paul didn’t bring up the subject as he had no desire to relive the ordeal.
When they arrived at the base, General Jefferson met them at the gate. Jefferson jumped into the Humvee. “How was the trip?”
“Uneventful, which was good,” Paul said.
Jefferson said, “We’ll take you directly to your base residence. I’ll give you an hour to get settled in, then we’ll have a conference call with the Coalition governors. Larry should be here by then. Kimberly, if you don’t mind, Mrs. Jefferson will be stopping by in an hour or so to make sure you have everything at the residence that you could need.”
Kimberly perked up a little. “That would be great.” She looked out the window and asked, “Are these houses part of the base?”
“Yes,” Jefferson replied.
“It looks just like a little suburban neighborhood,” she commented.
Jefferson smiled. “We want the soldiers to feel at home here. The place we have for you is a townhome. We don’t have auxiliary power for any of the single family residences that were open, but it’s a big townhouse. Sonny, you’ll be staying in the adjoining townhouse. Larry and Alison Jacobs will be staying three doors down from you. They’ll be arriving shortly. Next door is a private security detail that will be ma
king sure you’re all safe.”
Kimberly brightened up, “It will be nice to see Alison. And Candice too, of course. Maybe we can play cards while we have light.”
Jefferson replied, “You’ll have electricity, at least for lights, cooking, hot water and other necessities. We have massive auxiliary generators and plenty of fuel stockpiled.”
“Thank you general,” Kimberly said.
Jefferson responded, “My pleasure.”
They pulled into the drive of the townhouse. Jefferson and the security team helped them bring in their bags. Sonny went to his townhouse and the Randalls went to theirs.
Paul asked, “How will we conduct the conference call?”
Jefferson replied, “The Pentagon took several recommendations from the EMP Commission. They installed fiber optic communication lines underground running between several key bases.”
“Could the Federal States listen in if they wanted?” Randall asked.
Jefferson explained, “It is a hardline connection between each base. The cables run side by side, but are entirely independent of each other. It is a ridiculously simple system. It operates almost like an old telephone switchboard with each base having their own switchboard. You connect only to the bases you want to communicate with.”
Paul inquired, “Could the system be tapped?”
Jefferson shrugged his shoulders. “The system is supposed to alert you if the line is tampered with, but nothing is completely out of the question. It’s the best alternative we have, so we’ll have to take our chances. We could run encrypted signals, but we would need someone to physically install the software for each node.”
Paul asked, “Should I come with you? Do we need to have a conference call right away?”
Jefferson answered, “The governors aren’t at the bases yet. Some won’t arrive for several hours because of the distance. Several Coalition States don’t have a base that’s linked to the fiber optic network. We have no secure method to communicate until the governors are at the military bases.”
Paul asked, “Have there been any reports of Federal troop movement in the Coalition?”