Henry nodded as though he understood.
“After this is over, I might be able to help you with the garden idea. I think it will be difficult for all of us to adjust to this new way of life, but it can also be rewarding,” Nate added to the conversation.
Becky came back out with enough bowls for everyone else. The other people that occupied the small encampment were also related to Dillon and Becky. They were Ray’s grown kids.
One by one, they took turns at the pot of beans, and then took a seat around the bonfire. It wouldn’t be long before the sun was down. Nate was hoping to get an early start in the morning to try to do some tracking to find Audrey.
“These beans are great,” Henry said, thinking of how they tasted much like Betty’s.
“Thank you; but first, if you don’t mind, we would like to say a prayer.”
Henry, feeling embarrassed, placed the bowl between his legs, and bowed his head along with everyone else.
Becky finished the prayer, and everyone silently ate the hot beans. Any discussion of the next day would wait, Nate thought. The outside temperature was starting to drop drastically. The amount of small talk among everyone was coming to an end.
“Dillon, Ray…can we talk about the plan for tomorrow?” Nate asked.
Henry watched as Dillon and Ray seemed to enter a different frame of mind. They knew it was time to set a plan. They both also knew they were not qualified to develop one. It was something the two had already discussed privately. It was hard to let two strangers come in and decide the possible fate of everyone involved, but something had to be done.
“Yes; let me first say, Nate…we are in agreement that we would like to hear your ideas first,” Ray said.
Nate was shocked to hear this from Ray. Yet, he appreciated the reality they were faced with and the willingness to at least listen.
“I appreciate what you said. My plan is simple, frankly. We will track down and find Audrey. I have a good idea that they are likely higher up in the mountains. They will think they are in a safe high ground from any attack. What would they fear? Only you know they are here, but you don’t know who they are. We do. At least I hope that’s who they are. We don’t know exactly how many there are, but I suspect it isn’t even a squad to be honest. With proper recon, we can quickly determine what we are up against. That recon needs to be done first and then we fall back and make our plan of attack,” Nate said in conclusion.
“Ok, that makes sense. When do we leave?” Dillon asked.
Nate smiled. He looked at Henry and then back at Dillon and Ray.
“I leave tonight. Then we can plan our attack in the morning when I get back,” Nate said.
“Absolutely not! You are not going after Russian paratroopers alone,” Henry said.
Dillon looked at his brother. Nate placed a hand on his dad’s shoulder to calm him.
“Man, I thought Ray was the crazy one here,” Dillon said, trying to inject a little humor into the small group meeting.
“Dad, you know I will not engage; this is purely a recon mission,” Nate replied.
“Nate, I know what you are saying; but damn it, son…this is not the time for going it alone! You need someone to at least watch your back,” Henry said.
Nate dropped his head knowing that his father was correct, but didn’t want to have Henry enlisted in this for a few good reasons. Number reason being his health and the elevation; but mostly, he didn’t want Henry involved because he was his father. Henry had made it all the way to Wyoming, Nate needed him to stay and protect this group. Once he could see what they were truly up against, then he would feel better about his father being alongside him in battle.
“I can go and cover him,” an unfamiliar voice said off in the shadows. A young man – who was maybe twenty-five in age – stepped out and walked toward the four men sitting around the smaller fire. Dillon knew the voice; he looked at Ray as he began to speak. The voice was coming from Ray’s son, and Ray was the first one to address him.
“Son, I know you can; but maybe sit this out for now,” Ray said, standing and turning to face Kyle, his son.
Nate stood and placed his hand out to formally introduce himself.
“This is my son, Kyle. He just came back from Afghanistan a few months before the collapse.
“Nice to meet you, Kyle,” Nate said, shaking the young man’s hand.
“So, I hear you are a ranger?” Kyle asked.
“Yes, 75th reg,” Nate replied.
“U.S. Army 29th reg,” Kyle replied.
“What was your MOS?” Nate asked.
The young man looked tired. He had a full beard that for good reason was unkempt.
“I was a sniper,” he replied.
This changed things up in Nate’s mind. Henry was a sniper, but he wasn’t twenty-five years old…but why didn’t Ray seem to want Kyle doing what he was trained to do?
“Kyle, you know why I didn’t want you involved in this. I’m only trying to keep you safe,” Ray explained.
Kyle turned to his farther to reply. Kyle wasn’t as tall as his father, but he was far from a small man. He was stocky built with dark brown hair. He also wore a wedding ring.
“Dad, the doctors said I may have PTSD; that doesn’t mean I have it. Besides that, I have been fine even now without the medication. I think the meds caused more harm than good,” Kyle said as he turned back to Nate.
“Please Nate, I can provide the over watch you will need. The only problem is I don’t have a good rifle for that,” Kyle stated.
Nate was turning to his father when he noticed Henry was already moving to the bag that was on the ground. Henry removed his .300 Win Mag rifle. Henry was wiping it down with a cloth as he walked up to Kyle.
“This is my baby. I was a sniper in the Marines many years ago. Just promise to bring it back to me,” Henry said, handing the heavy bolt-action rifle over. Kyle’s eyes opened wide as he studied the older, but effective, rifle. He had shot many bolt actions and preferred this one over the MK-12 semi-automatics that the military currently used. Kyle looked at his father and spoke.
“Dad, I know you would do the same if you could. I have to do this. If I can help bring Audrey back, then it’s worth it,” Kyle said.
Ray nodded his approval.
Henry handed Kyle a box of ammo. There were only twenty rounds in the box.
“I don’t need to tell you to conserve these, and remember…one shot, one kill. Ammo is hard to come by right now,” Henry stated.
“Yes sir, and I will return it,” Kyle replied.
Chapter 6
Poking the Bear
The overnight temperatures had dropped substantially. It was the coldest morning Nate had experienced in Northern Wyoming. The sun would be up in minutes, and that would help strike the cold from the air a little better. Nate climbed out of the tent he had his father bring with them. The tent was very warm, along with the subzero style sleeping bags that kept them warm. Nate stood up, stretching his tall frame, and he saw Kyle already up and sipping on coffee at the bonfire. Nate gathered himself up and put on his coat. He then walked over to Kyle.
“Good morning, Master Sergeant,” Nate said.
Ray had told Nate, before turning in, what rank Kyle had achieved in the military. Nate had met many snipers over his twenty-plus years in the service from many branches. Most had not achieved the rank of Master Sergeant. Nate found that impressive.
“Good morning to you, Lieutenant Colonel,” Kyle replied, standing and saluting with a jovial smile.
Nate smiled back, thinking that someone had talked to Kyle last night as well, and that someone must have been his father.
“I guess titles and ranks don’t mean much out here anymore. What we know, however, can go far to help during this current state of affairs,” Nate stated, grabbing the pot of black coffee and the cup he used from the night before. The pot hung over a smaller fire that burned next to the larger bonfire.
“True. Nate, how long have
you been out?” Kyle asked.
Nate hadn’t thought much about that day in a long time.
“It will be two years this spring,” Nate said, looking at the ground and recalling, in his mind, the years that flew by, and how much he missed what he did.
“Then I guess we both were in at the same time. Where were you deployed?” Kyle asked.
“My last deployment was in Iraq. Let’s just say…I was providing security with others to diplomats,” Nate replied, not wishing to go into further detail.
“I see. Well, I will say that I have served alongside a few rangers before, and I will do my best in this situation,” Kyle said.
“I’m certain you will, Kyle.” Nate replied.
Waiting for Henry and the rest to wake up, Nate and Kyle discussed further their training and experiences. Kyle had enlisted right out of high school with the intention to get out and become a Law Enforcement Officer. It was hard to do with his PTSD; no one wanted to touch him. He often felt extremely on guard and had trouble making decisions. Things were finally looking up after a good evaluation was received from his commanders and doctors. Then the collapse occurred. Nate also learned that Kyle had a lot of additional schooling in becoming a sniper. He took courses in high angle, precision rifle, and extreme range precision courses. Nate was lucky to have Kyle on his side.
“Good morning, I see you two are ready,” Henry said, coming up from behind. Nate stood and offered his father a cup of coffee. Also coming toward them were Ray and Dillon. The coffee was running low and Dillon went up to get some more going when he saw Becky coming down the slope from the cabin. She was carrying a tray of deer jerky for the guys to have for breakfast. The only meats they had in plenty was whatever they had managed to hunt. The food was well received. After about an hour, it was getting later than Nate had wanted to start out, and he motioned that it was time to get going. Henry took Nate to the side and spoke to him before he gathered up his gear.
“Nate, if you find them, I trust you will decide what is best; but son, if you can get that girl home then do it. Our family is waiting too. One last thing, if you are not back in two days, then I will be coming for you,” Henry said with a muzzled voice. Nate knew his father was serious, and Nate had no intentions of being gone that long.
“If I can get her home without coming back to get reinforcements, I will. That I promise. You know if I took everyone in right now, it would be too much emotion involved, and that would give the Russians the upper hand. At least with it being just me and one highly trained sniper we have a chance. Everything depends on how many of them there are,” Nate explained.
“That is certain,” Henry added.
Everyone said their goodbyes, and within fifteen minutes, Nate and Kyle were leaving to the northwest, heading slowly up the mountain. Kyle wore the best coat he owned. He carried a small pack on his back and the rifle Henry had loaned him. He followed behind Nate about ten feet. Nate was wearing his long dark green parka that Gene had given to him. He knew neither of them was blending in to the environment very well, but it could not be helped. They tried to stay in the tree lines and off the main trail. Nate was looking ahead for any sign of tracks left behind from any of the invaders. He saw many broken branches that looked old; it was hard to say if they were broken by a game animal or a human. The way the mountain was formed, there were only a few paths they could have taken up this general direction. The rocks and steep cliffs made this a certainty of travel.
Up ahead Nate saw something. It was an odd shape partially covered in the snow and sticking out. He soon realized what it was. He looked up and saw the tree branches that had been broken, then looked back down. He motioned for Kyle who came up alongside. Nate didn’t speak; instead he used his hands to point in the direction of the snow-covered shape. Kyle focused in the direction until he saw the body. Nate pointed up at the trees.
In a whisper Nate spoke. “It appears one of the paratrooper’s chute didn’t deploy.”
They walked up to the frozen dead man. His gear and radio were still intact, but the AK-47 was snapped in half with the trooper impaled by the rifle barrel. The radio appeared to be broken as well.
“I think we are headed in the right direction,” Nate said with Kyle nodding in agreement.
Both men slowly walked away from the dead Russian and continued up the mountain. The time was late morning, later than Nate had originally planned to be out, but at least it was starting to get warmer. They made it up to the top of the mountain in about an hour. They stayed in the tree line and walked around the edges to the clearing ahead.
Kyle spotted the reflections of light far off in the distance. He pointed and spoke softly. “Do you see that glimmer way up there? Up on that next mountain?” he said, pointing ahead.
Nate looked carefully in the afternoon sun and then saw the flickering. He removed a pair of binoculars from inside his coat. He focused in and smiled. Nate handed the binoculars to Kyle. After a few seconds, Kyle removed them from his face.
“That’s one hell of a plane crash,” Kyle said just as he heard a distant sound of laughter. Both dropped to the ground in an instant at hearing the sound from far ahead. Slowly they rose back up with Kyle scanning the valley floor out ahead. The sound they heard was coming from around a bend down in the valley. Kyle handed the binoculars back to Nate and silently motioned in the direction of the valley bend. Nate looked down into the area. He saw what looked like a tourist resting station with one small cabin. Around the cabin were several small military style tents set up, and many fires burning. Nate did a quick head count of the men he could see. He was able to easily spot four men walking about the camp area. However, there were more than four tents set up. The number of tents was eight, not counting whoever was inside the cabin. This was not going to be easy. Number one: the number was higher than he had anticipated. Number two: it was a wide-open area, this was good and bad. Number three: he didn’t know if the girl – Audrey – was even still alive. That thought he would keep to himself.
“Well, we can figure at least eight targets, with a few inside that cabin. Of the eight, maybe two or three might be flight crew and hopefully they won’t want to fight,” Nate said, removing the binoculars.
“I agree, but at least we can post up in the high ground. I wonder why they chose this area when it’s so unprotected,” Kyle asked.
“Honestly, I don’t think they believe they have anything to fear, and they took up camp in this spot because it was easy. It was premade for them; all they had to do was settle in. I don’t see anyone standing at a guard post of any kind,” Nate added.
“What do you say if we make our way around the higher areas that look down into the camp closer?” Kyle asked.
“Good suggestion,” Nate replied. It was nice working again with a likeminded professional.
Slowly, the two of them crept along the mountainside trying to position themselves closer to the small camp. The snow had fallen heavier in the region they had entered, helping make their approach through the woods noiseless. However, they were leaving tracks. It took them nearly thirty minutes to make it to a point that gave them a view from a high ridge with a steep cliff. Laying on the ground and peering from behind several rock formations, they now had an unobstructed view.
“Are those graves?” Kyle asked.
Nate looked at the area that Kyle was pointing to. It did appear that there were graves there; three new looking graves slightly covered in fresh snow, but with still visible dirt.
“I think so. I would be guessing…but maybe some were injured from the crash or just became sick afterwards, who knows,” Nate suggested.
There were varieties of reasons for there to be graves. Number one: being out in the middle of nowhere with a limited ability to stay warm and to eat good food would cause casualties. There was also the possibility of predators causing death; like mountain lions to bears. The important thing now was how many really were alive.
“Let’s do a head count,” Kyle
said.
Nate was already scanning. He still didn’t see Audrey, which concerned him; but he prayed that she was inside the cabin.
“I only see six. Maybe the extra tents belonged to the ones in the graves,” Kyle said.
That made sense, and Nate agreed. Yet, there could still be more Russians who were away from the camp. They would need to spend some time doing recon in order to make a good estimate about that question of how many evaders were actually present. Their eyes were drawn to the cabin when they saw one man emerge. He was a not a big man; in fact, he looked very short in stature. He was wearing the typical Russian paratrooper gear, with a coat over the top. Nate peered at the man through the binoculars. He appeared to be the commander. He was barking out orders to a few men who were nearby. Two of the men ran behind the cabin and returned with a four-wheeler. It was obviously stolen. The sound of it woke up a few more as they came out from their tents. So far, the total number was eight men. The commander took off to the west, traveling at a high rate of speed through the snowy range. After he left, the men – having nothing to do – reentered the seclusion of their personal tents; except one man who slowly walked up to the cabin. He waited till the others were not watching before he went to the door.
Nate looked at Kyle and then pointed at the man.
The soldier tried to open the cabin door, but found it locked. He pushed it, but it was secure and did not open. He yelled something in Russian and stepped away slowly, seemingly very aggravated that he could not get inside.
“I bet Audrey is in there, Nate. Why else would he want to get in after the commander left?” Kyle asked rhetorically.
Nate thought about Kyle’s comment. It made sense. It was also possible that the commander had some good vodka inside that he was trying to keep from the other men. That was a sure way of upsetting those under your command. Nate laughed to himself.
Defending Home Page 7