by Robert Boren
“Where?” Charlie asked.
“The Lieutenant said it was better if we didn’t know. The second group got taken out by the bad guys, thanks to Lieutenant James. The enemy wants to take us out, too.”
“Why?” Gabe asked.
“They’re afraid that we will grow and spawn other citizen fighter groups, and that scares them. They remember what happened to them in California and parts of Nevada and Arizona.”
“Yeah, they want to keep the American people cowering in their homes, I suspect, and we aren’t helping with that,” Jeb said.
“Exactly,” Frank replied. “The Lieutenant knows that we have a line on the leadership that took out Hilda’s park. He also knows that we have the expertise to find them and kill them. He basically told us to carry on.”
“They aren’t going to come in and help us?” Charlie said.
“Well, yes and no,” Frank said. “They gave us five army radios. Jerry has them, and we’ll spread them out amongst us. He’ll train us how to use them. Then we should check them every hour or so, to see if they have info for us.”
“What kind of info?” Jeb asked.
“They said that if they see a force coming at us, they’ll let us know,” Frank said. “They also said that they will never show up here without calling us on these radios first.”
“Good, so that should take one big advantage away from the enemy,” Earl said. “Army vehicles come here unannounced, we blast them.”
“Yep,” Frank said. “That’s a pretty big help.”
“So what was their advice?” Hilda asked.
“Stay off the roads, fortify this place as much as we can, and then go hunt down that militia leader and the ‘Saladin’ character that we saw in the video from the RV park.”
“So basically he’s telling us to carry on with what we were doing,” Charlie said.
“Good,” Jeb said. “I want to kill that militia leader up close and personal.”
“So we’re going to stay here for now?” Jane asked.
“As long as Gabe will have us, we ought to consider it,” Frank said.
“I’ll have you as long as you want to stay,” Gabe said.
“Did they say how safe it is here?” asked Mary.
“Yeah, they said that there hasn’t been enemy activity in this particular area,” Frank said. “Until today, that is. We do have a problem, though. We don’t know if the enemy knows we’re here or not. That’s what Jerry is over there working on.”
Mary gave him a quizzical look.
“Oh, those of you who weren’t out in the meadow don’t know about this yet,” Frank said. “The radio in the chopper was still working, and we heard somebody trying to call in on it. Jerry put his phone next to it with the audio recorder on. He’s trying to find out what was being said. We also tried to fake them out.”
“Fake them out?” Jasmine asked. “How?”
“We had Jackson imitate Major Donaldson. He got on the radio and told them that the chopper crashed, and that he needed assistance.”
“Ah, good idea,” Jane said. “Did they buy it? Did you get any useful information?”
“They seemed to buy it, and they gave up the location of the scouting party over by Leadville, and the location of the larger force northeast of Grand Junction.”
“I sense there’s a ‘but’ in there,” Hilda said.
“Yes,” Charlie said. “Jeb thinks that it was too easy. He doesn’t believe that those guys would have just let their positions out on a radio when they didn’t know who was listening.”
“Crap, that means that they might know where we are right now,” Jane said. “We might get hit again.”
“That’s what Jerry is trying to find out from that audio,” Frank said. “We should talk about ways to fortify this place while he’s working on that.”
Gabe stood up. “Well, we’re in a fairly good position here,” he said. “Three sides are well covered. No force of any size is going to be able to sneak in from those directions. The only problem is the front of the park, but I have some ideas there.”
“Shoot,” Charlie said.
“You guys know where the creek is, running along the road by the meadow, right?” he said.
“Yeah,” Charlie replied.
“It’s deep and rocky. Nothing’s going to drive over that, not even a tank. And to make things even better, we have a good view of that area from two different vantage points. The pool equipment building, and the registration building that is to the right of the entrance. With the quality of the snipers that we have in our group, it would take several hundred men to be able to get across there and do us damage.”
“True,” Jeb said. “I was over looking at that earlier today. Great natural boundary. But what about the entrance to the front of the park?”
“Here’s what I propose,” Gabe said. “We use the backhoe to dig a trench at the entrance. Make it deep and wide. Then we put spikes in it, and divert the creek through it.”
Jeb laughed. “A moat, huh. Got any crocodiles to put in there?”
Gabe cracked up. “Naw, I don’t think they’d make it through the winter. We could rig up a pretty good draw bridge, though.”
“How?” Charlie asked.
“My hobby is metal sculpture. I’ve got a whole bunch of heavy sheet metal and some girders in the barn. I’ve also got a welding rig, and I know how to use it. I could make us a bridge wide enough and strong enough to drive a motorhome over, and we could rig it up so we could pull it away from the trench.”
“I like it,” Frank said. “It won’t keep one or two people from sneaking over, but it will make it difficult for a medium sized force to overrun us.”
“We would need to combine that with round the clock watches,” Charlie said.
“One other thing we could do is make some emplacements and put the mortars there, ready to go,” Kurt said.
“You guys have mortars?” Gabe asked.
“Yeah, we captured some in Utah. We have half a dozen of those, and lots of rounds too,” the Sheriff said. “Several of us are trained in how to fire them.”
“Well, guess what I have – a whole bunch of sand bags. They’d need to be filled, of course. I have to keep them around for times when that creek floods,” Gabe said. “They would make good barriers around a mortar.”
“Excellent,” Charlie said. “I can draw up a plan to get all of this stuff done.”
“Yeah, you do that, Charlie,” Frank said.
“Hey, guys, I got something off this audio,” Jerry shouted from the back of the room.
Chapter 06 – Varmint Rifle
The group rushed over to Jerry, to hear what info he got from the audio recording of the radio transmissions.
“What did you hear?” Frank asked. “Do we need to lock and load?”
“No, I’m pretty sure they don’t know where we are,” Jerry said.
“Well, what did you find out?” Charlie asked.
“You want the bad news first, or the good news?”
“Bad news,” Jeb said.
“They know that Major Donaldson is really dead, and they gave us fake locations when they talked to us.”
“Shit,” Charlie said, “but you don’t think they know where we are?”
“I don’t think so,” Jerry said. “I could hear background conversation before we talked to them. Somebody was saying that they knew Donaldson would have called on his hand-held radio if he was alright. Another guy said that he was either a prisoner or dead, so don’t say anything over the radio about where they really were.”
“Knew it,” Jeb said, “so what’s the good news?”
“There was a lot background conversation going on, until the leader came in and saw that the radio was on. I had to isolate it with my audio program….I couldn’t make it out in the full recording. It just sounded like soft murmuring.”
“What did they say?” Charlie asked.
“They’re building a force in a canyon just west o
f Gypsum. They plan to attack the base in Eagle from there.”
“Really?” Frank asked.
“Yeah, really,” he continued. “They’re running out of supplies. They have to go after the base, or they’re in some trouble.”
“Those cretins probably thought they could just push over American citizens and take our stuff,” Earl said. “We don’t think we’re going to hell if we don’t support their stupid jihad, unlike the sheep that are living in their crap-hole homelands.”
Jeb started cracking up. “Yeah, pretty much. So what are we going to do?”
“Tell the Lieutenant, right?” Jane asked.
“I’d lay you ten to one that there’s somebody in the chain of command at the base that’s an enemy plant,” Jeb said. “We’ll be lucky if nobody directs an attack here.”
“I know, I’ve been thinking about that too,” Charlie said. The Sheriff nodded in agreement.
“So what are you suggesting?” Hilda asked.
“I’ll tell you what I’d like to do,” Jerry said. “I say we use our excellent trackers to find out where they are. Then we take our sharp shooters and our mortars over there and mess up their plans real good.”
“I like it,” Jeb said.
“Me too,” Earl chimed in.
“If we are going to attempt an operation like that, we’d better start planning now,” Charlie said.
“Seriously,” the Sheriff added. “I’m with you guys, though. Let’s go get ‘em. We may not get a chance like this again. I do suggest that we blow enough things up that a good fire gets going, so the big boys have no choice but to investigate.”
“How do you know we can take these guys?” Jasmine asked. “Won’t it be a really large force?”
“We can’t beat them in a straight-up fight, of course,” Jerry said. “Even if they don’t throw a lot of troops at the staging base, they’ll still be a superior force to us. We can be a rather large monkey wrench, though.”
“What’s the chances that we live through this?” Jane asked.
“Pretty good, by my estimation,” Jeb said. “I wish we had more explosives. I could go down there with my bow and sneak in far enough to plant some charges.”
“I’ve got my bow too,” Kurt said. “Love to go hunting cretins.”
Mary looked at him and shook her head. “You old farts will just get yourself killed.”
“Actually, I wouldn’t say that,” Jane said. “I saw what Jeb can do with that bow when we took on Officer Simmons in the town by Hilda’s park. Pretty damn impressive.”
“Ah, shucks,” Jeb said, grinning. “As I remember you and Jasmine saved our butts.”
“That’s right,” Frank said.
“I know about some good fire roads around Gypsum,” Gabe said. “It’s mostly canyons over there. If they’re smart, they’ll have sentries posted up on the ridges, because if they were down there without protection, you could just pour fire down on them.”
“Sounds like a good place to use some archers. I say that Jeb and I go over there and track them,” Jerry said. “Anybody else a good tracker here?”
“Yeah, Kurt is,” Charlie said. “I’m decent, but not in the same class as you guys.”
“Alright, so we have three good trackers,” Frank said.
“I wasn’t going to bring this up, but I have some explosives,” Gabe said.
“What kind?” asked Jerry.
“Just dynamite,” he replied. “From my prospecting days. It’s getting a little old.”
“Which means it’s probably a little on the unstable side,” Jerry said. “But it might be usable. I could take a look at it. If it’s not sweating too much, it might be alright.”
“Let’s back up a little bit,” Jane asked. “How do we know that they aren’t planting this info to trap us?”
“I thought about that,” Jerry said. “I’d be surprised if they’re that sophisticated. I had to go pretty deep into that recording to hear this stuff. I’m pretty sure they had no idea that it was being picked up in a way that we could use.”
“Okay, but let’s assume that they are sophisticated enough to do that,” Charlie said. “How would they do it?”
“They’d just have a few men in the room with the guy trying to call Donaldson, speaking softly. They’d have to know that we had the expertise to isolate the planted info in that audio. That’s the part I have a hard time believing.”
“How rare is that ability?” Earl asked.
“Among private citizens, you have audio nuts. They usually try to clean up bootleg recordings they’ve made at concerts and such,” Jerry said.
“Could somebody figure out how to do it by searching the net?” he asked.
“Yeah, probably,” Jerry said. “You really think these guys are this smart?”
“I don’t know,” Earl said. “I just wouldn’t underestimate them. They got a whole lot of troops moved into Utah without the army catching it, and that couldn’t have been easy.”
“He’s got a point,” Jane added.
“We shouldn’t just give up on this idea,” Charlie said.
“Yeah, I agree,” Jeb said. “But maybe rather than sending all of us over there with rifles and mortars, it ought to be just the trackers with as much dynamite as we can carry. We can dress up like hunters so we have a cover story if we get caught. Hunting rifles only….no AKs or M-16s.”
“And then what?” Jasmine asked.
“Simple. If we don’t find them, or if we sense a trap, we hi-tail it in a roundabout way so we don’t get followed back home. If we find them there as the recording suggests, then we blow up as much of their stuff as they can, and make sure a real good fire gets going.”
“How?” Frank asked.
“Well, I’ll be taking my bow,” Jeb said. “If Kurt here could do the same, we might just give them a real bad day. Jerry and Charlie and the Sheriff could cover us with their hunting rifles.”
“So you’re suggesting sending five?” Frank asked.
“Well, six, actually, because I’ll need to get you guys there,” Gabe said. “I know those roads like the back of my hand.”
“It’s enough to be successful, but not so big that we couldn’t fade into the woodwork and escape,” Jeb added.
“If Jerry goes, I go,” Jasmine said.
“Can you shoot a hunting rifle?” Jeb asked. “You can’t take that M-16. Hunting rifles kick a lot harder than what you’re used to.”
“Then I’d better start practicing,” she said.
“Wait,” Kurt said. “I think I have a solution for that. Let’s get you checked out with my varmint rifle.”
“What’s a varmint rifle?” Jasmine asked.
“It’s a small bore rifle that’s made to shoot small game. I have an old Winchester Model 54 that’s chambered for .220 Swift. The barrel is getting a little worn, but it still shoots well. It’s got a sweet scope on it, too.”
“Will it take out a human?” Frank asked.
“It’s all in the placement,” Kurt said. “At the velocity that it goes, for longer range, it can do a lot of damage. Some experts hunt deer with this round, believe it or not.”
“I used to have one of those,” Jeb said. “Wore the barrel out. They throw a fast bullet, but they hardly kick at all.”
“Exactly,” Kurt said.
“Alright, so when are we going to do this?” Frank asked.
“There’s a full moon tonight,” Gabe said. “I think we ought to go for it. There’s just enough time for me to show you guys the dynamite, and for Kurt to get Jasmine checked out on the varmint rifle.”
“I’d have a bite to eat, too you guys,” Hilda said. “To keep your strength up. This makes me pretty nervous, though.”
Charlie hugged her. “I know, but this is important, sweetheart. We’re in this fight.”
She just looked up at him and nodded.
“Alright, let’s go take a look at those explosives,” Gabe said. Frank and Jerry followed him out the door,
and over to the barn. It wasn’t quite dusk yet, but it was darkening, and there was a definite chill in the air.
“I keep this stuff in the back,” Gabe said. “Hope it’s still good.”
“How old is it?” Jerry asked.
“Oh, I don’t know. Seven or eight years, probably. Could be as much as ten years.”
There was a light hanging over the back of the barn with a wide hood and a string hanging down. Gabe pulled the string and turned it on. It wasn’t quite bright enough. He walked over to a tall metal double door cabinet that was against the wall, and unlocked it. He opened both doors and pulled out a wooded box about the same size as a milk crate, bringing it over by the light and taking off the top.
“Wow, there’s a lot in there,” Frank said. Jerry pulled out his cellphone and turned on the flashlight app. It bathed the red dynamite sticks in bright light. He carefully pulled one out and held the light close to it.
“Hell, this stuff is fine,” Jerry said. “This is top quality dynamite. You probably paid top dollar.”
“Yeah, I got it from a guy who was trying to start up a boutique gold mining shop,” Gabe said, chuckling. “He sold a lot of pans and a few other gold rush do-dads, but not enough to stay in business. Glad I bought this when I did. Somebody told the Sheriff he had dynamite in the shop and the deputy came over and confiscated what he had left. I think you need a license to sell this stuff.”
“Do you have caps and wire and a plunger?” Jerry asked.
“Yeah, it’s all in the same cabinet. Either of you have a backpack large enough to carry a bunch of this stuff?”
“I do,” Jerry said. “We won’t need all of this dynamite. Maybe a quarter of it. If we blow up what I hope we can, we’ll get a lot of help from secondary explosions.”
“You might want to bring along that small mortar,” Frank said. “It’s pretty light. One person could pack in the unit, and somebody else could bring a few rounds for it.”
“I was thinking the same thing,” Jerry said. “We get the attack started with the dynamite, if Jeb and Kurt can get me down there to set it up. Then we send a few mortar rounds into them to screw up any vehicles they might have. Add a little rifle fire too. Should work out pretty well, given a little luck.”