“Hi, Jared.”
“Where’s Crank?”
The teen jerked his head toward the tent. “Inside with the girls.”
Jared unslung his rifle and sat across from Devon. “Where have you been? I was wondering if we lost you.”
The teen shook his head without making eye contact. “Naw, I’ve been following you guys all day. I figured if we are going to be sneaking around trying to help John, I might as well practice when I can.”
Jared shook his head, knowing he should have guessed the kid was skulking about in the hills the whole time. After Devon ate, he and Jared gingerly entered the four-person tent. The four adults lay lengthwise next to one another while Essie slept across their heads. Under normal camping circumstances, the arrangement would have been dismal at best, but in Jared’s opinion, it was the perfect layout. The weather was cold, so sleeping like a pile of newborn puppies belayed any need for a heating device. On top of that, everyone was so completely worn out, Essie could have delivered kicks to the adults’ heads all night and not one person would have woken. Weirdly, it was the perfect sleeping arrangement under their current circumstances.
Chapter 11
On day three of Jared and company’s trek through the hills, they came across a dirt road that appeared to wind its way through the mountains in an easterly direction alongside a medium-size creek. The landscape hadn’t changed much with the rolling hills, dry grass and clumps of scrub oaks. The road appeared well kept, which could all change once the rains came with no one to maintain it. Jared figured by next year the road would be a rutted, washed-out mess if the rainy season was severe enough.
Jared dismounted and walked out onto the road, investigating the hard-packed surface for any sign of recent use. Jared didn’t know exactly what he was looking for since he possessed no experience in the art of man or animal tracking. He did know that if there were human footprints way out here, it would mean they were most likely not the only ones in the area. With the winds blowing as hard as they had lately, Jared doubted tire, hoof or foot prints would remain intact long.
Next, Jared fished a map out of his pack and spread it on the ground, studying the document. Before John’s kidnapping, he’d tried teaching Jared how to read a map, but they didn’t spend enough time on the subject matter. John had hurriedly rushed through more land navigation instruction than Jared could understand well enough to retain. Jared did remember John telling him the compass work took practice and that getting around in the hilly areas of California could be done by terrain association mostly, so this was what Jared tried to do as he sat on the ground next to the dirt road.
Jared hadn’t checked the map in quite some time, so getting a fix on his exact location proved far more difficult than he expected. After wrestling with the map for ten minutes, Jared was relatively sure he knew what road he was looking at. The road led all the way to Highway 5, which was where Jared was headed. When he was finished, Jared promised himself to pay closer attention to the map until he knew exactly where they were. A curve in the road to the left or a sharp bend hooking around to the right would reveal to Jared the information he needed by simply matching what he saw on the map to what direction the road twisted and turned.
The surface of the road revealed nothing that caused Jared concern in the way of tire or foot prints. Jared was content with the fact the road led in the direction they were heading, so taking a deep breath, he turned and shrugged at the rest of the group.
“What do you all think about following this for at least a little bit?”
“It’s up to you,” Shannon countered.
Jared studied Devon and Stephani, who offered no debate. “We go nice and slow and stay as quiet as possible. Something happens, we bail to the right and stay together. No one goes left; we all go right as a unit. Shannon, no matter what happens, you don’t stop. You get Essie out of harm’s way. That’s your number one priority.”
When no member of the group argued against Jared’s plan, he climbed back into the saddle and moved onto the road, heading east. The creek ran along the south side of the little dirt road, with some water in it, but not much since the rains hadn’t officially started. Jared thought about all the drought drama before the event and how California was constantly being bombarded with drought information. Now he was a little thankful for the California drought. Cold was bad; cold and wet was worse.
The creek was home to numerous scrub oaks, which grew along its banks, offering shade in the depths of the little waterway. Jared thought about moving everyone down into the shade and simply riding through the creek, but a closer inspection changed his mind. The road was much safer than the creek would have been with its large rocks and uneven ground due to water erosion. There were also areas of the creek that narrowed and would have forced the riders out of its bed and back up onto the road in order to pass.
Contemporaneously the road was their best option, leaving Jared to ride in silence, scanning for any sign he’d erred in his decision. That sign publicized itself in the form of a distant rumbling. Jared pulled up on his mount’s reins as he twisted in the saddle, looking back at Devon and the women. By the looks on their faces, they also heard the rumble. Jared jerked the horse’s head around toward the creek and dug his heels into the animal’s flanks.
The drop from the road to the bottom of the creek was less than two feet, and Jared’s horse lunged awkwardly down into the creek bed, followed by his pack animal and the three remaining riders. Jared glanced back quickly to make sure Essie had not fallen during Shannon’s transition into the creek bed, before urging his own horse forward. Seeing Essie clinging tightly to Shannon’s waist caused Jared to face forward and pray the animal under him would not stumble and fall in the rocky creek bottom.
The rumble Jared heard was the unmistakable sound of a diesel engine churning its way up the road from their rear. In a small recess of Jared’s overtaxed brain, he wondered why he hadn’t seen any tire tracks. Then he wondered if the vehicle simply hadn’t traveled over this part of the road, but instead drove into the area from another access point. As best Jared could remember, the dirt road they were on didn’t have many other access points, causing him to wonder who these people were and where they came from. The one thing Jared didn’t want to think about was what these people were up to or what they’d do to him and his friends if they were spotted.
Jared and company moved as quickly as the horses could pick their way through the larger creek bed rocks until the bank rose and they could no longer see the road. Jared stopped where the creek wound its way back toward the road and the bank was nearly ten feet high. A large tree grew next to the road, further shielding anyone up on the dirt road from being able to see down into the creek. Jared swung out of the saddle, dropping to the ground and guiding the animal closer to the bank closest to the road. He secured both his horse and the pack animal to some exposed roots that jutted from the hard-packed dirt of the embankment.
Jared turned and made sure everyone else was doing the same as he’d done, and to his relief, they were all following his lead. Jared briefly stared at Crank and wondered if the little dog would bark at the approaching vehicle, giving away their position.
“Can you keep him quiet?” Jared queried Devon, gesturing at Crank.
Devon pulled a small length of rope from his rat bag and looped it around Crank’s neck. He held the dog close as the sound of the approaching vehicle grew to a crescendo of hammering diesel pistons directly above their heads. Within seconds, it was apparent there was more than just a single vehicle. Jared guessed two to three diesel-powered vehicles were passing above them. The group of five huddled next to the horses, ensuring the animals didn’t swing out into the creek bed and attract any unwanted attention from whoever was driving by.
As soon as the vehicles passed, Jared turned to Devon and the rest of the group. “Keep that dog here and watch Essie with Shannon. Steph and I are going to see who that was and, if possible, where they were going.”<
br />
Shannon shot Jared a questioning look, which he ignored.
“We can ride the creek as far as it allows us. After that we either go on foot or come back here,” Jared announced not only to Stephani, but to the other two as well. He caught Essie’s eye for a moment and smiled. “We’ll be right back. Got to go see what those folks are up to.”
She didn’t return his expression.
Without another word, Jared leapt into his saddle and dug his heels into his mount’s sides, urging the animal up the creek bed. Stephani wheeled her mount around, following Jared up the creek bed. Although the vehicles weren’t going terribly fast, they quickly outpaced the riders, leaving only their tread marks in the road’s dusty surface. Jared could hear the diesel engines fading as his horse stumbled through the uneven creek bottom. When the engine noise faded completely, Jared guided his horse out of the creek and back onto the dirt road, where he pressed the animal into a gallop. Jared was a novice rider at best, so he clung to the western-style saddle’s horn with the hand he clutched the reins in while using his free hand to stabilize himself by clinging to the cantle.
Stephani lay low across her steed as the two raced up the hard-packed dirt road. In the distance was a slight rise with two hills on either side of the road. Jared slowed his mount, steering the animal off the road and across the creek to an open field on the opposite side. The two rode through the open field and up the back side of the hill to the right of the road, stopping fifty yards short of the crest. Jared knew what he was doing. He wanted to see what the men in the vehicles were up to. The fact that he was doing it caused Jared to question his own sanity.
Anyone with vehicles would by now know their value, and Jared felt sure these people had already been forced to defend what they were driving. The small detail that these people possessed not one, but multiple vehicles was a testament to their capability to protect their belongings. While all these thoughts raced through Jared’s mind, his body continued its quest to gather information on the owners of the vehicles. Before his horse came to a full stop, Jared pivoted out of the saddle and dropped lightly to the ground.
Wordlessly, Stephani did the same as Jared tugged his horse’s reins, dragging the animal to a small cluster of brush, where he tied one of the reins around the base of the largest bush, then waited as Stephani secured her mount similarly. After their transportation was tethered, both Jared and Stephani turned, crouched low, and weasel walked toward the top of the hill, rifles held at low ready.
When Jared and Stephani were within ten yards of the crest, they both went to their stomachs and crawled the remaining distance through the dampish soil and dry vegetation. Jared reached the top of the hill and peered carefully over its crest. Below him in a small valley was a ranch complete with all the outbuildings, animal corrals and pens one would expect. The main house was a large white structure with two military Humvees parked in the driveway. There were eight men dressed in fatigues, talking to three people who remained on the house’s front porch. Jared immediately associated the eight men in fatigues with the two Humvees, while the three people on the porch had to be the residents of the ranch.
Jared dragged his binoculars out of his pack and focused them on the white ranch house property. The people on the porch were two women and a man. The women gave the impression of being mother and daughter while the man was most likely the father. With the aid of the optics, Jared could see the two parties were engaged in a heated debate—over what, Jared had no idea. The man on the porch was visibly angry, while one of the military men would speak, listen to the man on the porch, shake his head, and then repeat the back-and-forth. After several minutes, the military man barked something to the rest of the troops, who set off toward a barn located not far from the house. Halfway across the yard, the group split, with half continuing to the barn and the others heading to a cement pad where a horse trailer was parked.
Over the next fifteen minutes, Jared watched the military man and the family on the porch argue and posture while the rest of the troops connected the horse trailer to a Humvee and loaded it with a couple of goats, several chickens and a cow. Once the animals were locked in the trailer, the man who was speaking with the family on the porch turned, walked to the lead Humvee, and got in. The two vehicles churned out of the drive, spewing dust as they rumbled back onto the dirt road, heading east. Jared watched as they left, wondering what in the heck was going on.
As the Humvees departed, Jared watched the older woman conversing with the man in earnest. The man held his hands out as if he were explaining something to the woman that was completely out of his outstretched hands. Finally, the man threw his hands in the air and stalked off toward the barn. The woman stood staring after him for a moment before turning on her heel and disappearing through the house’s front door. The younger female lingered on the porch briefly as if torn between which parent she should follow, before she too slipped into the house.
Jared turned his head slightly in Stephani’s direction. “What do you think?”
Stephani was peering down at the ranch with her own pair of binoculars. She didn’t bother coming out of the optics as she replied, “I think those guys are stealing from this family. I also bet they’re part of the group who took John.”
Jared cocked his head fully now. “Stealing from them?”
Stephani pulled her eyes away from the binoculars and locked them on Jared’s. “Yeah, stealing, taxing, whatever they’re calling it, doesn’t change the fact that the people down there need what those guys just took.”
“Let’s go see what is going on,” Jared whispered as he began crawling back toward where he left the horses. Stephani stowed her binoculars before wordlessly trailing Jared back to their mounts.
When the two reached Shannon, Devon and Essie, Jared explained what Stephani and he had just witnessed, then announced to everyone he wanted them to accompany him on a ride down to the homestead, where Jared hoped they could gather information concerning what was going on with the military personnel in the area. Jared also suggested the group inventory their stores in case trade talks started during or right after introductions.
“Do you think it’s wise for all of us to just ride down there?” Shannon queried, her voice laced with uncertainty.
Jared nodded his head, his lips pursed tightly together in a sign he hoped rather than knew all would be well if their group rode up to a complete stranger’s house and said hello.
“If I ride down there strapped with weapons, there is more of a chance there will be problems than if I ride down with two women, a teen, and Essie. These people shouldn’t see the weapons as a threat but as a way for us to protect ourselves—I hope,” Jared added almost as an afterthought.
“I think I agree,” chimed in Stephani.
“Okay,” relented Shannon, “but I ride in the back, and if anything goes wrong, Essie and I will run.”
After it was decided they would make contact with the family on the homestead, Jared and Devon inventoried their depressingly trivial stores so they knew exactly what they could spare to trade. Jared realized the group had maybe enough food for the next month and was running short on water. Ammunition was good since none had been expended. Jared knew that could change in the blink of an eye, but hoped it wouldn’t. Jared had lost all faith in human goodness after the event, and now he wanted to believe it was out there, making a comeback. If these homesteaders turned out to be good people, Jared would have recently met three groups of people he would consider his friends or, at the very least, allies.
After Jared and Devon returned all their wares and goods to the back of the packhorse, Jared tied the animal to a tree. “I say we leave this behind. If it gets nuts down there and some of us are able to get away, this would be nice to have.” Leaving the pack animal behind was a solid tactical decision, Jared knew, but it was also a stark reminder of the times they were living in.
Without further discussion, Jared turned his mount’s head toward the homestead and
gave the animal a slight nudge with his heels.
Chapter 12
Inside the briefing room, Carnegie, Josh and Navy Captain Daniel Kemper sat at the table, briefing an upcoming mission that in Kemper’s view stank of a manpower shortage. Carnegie dismissed Kemper’s concerns, and oddly, Josh agreed with the cantankerous colonel. Carnegie was sending just the two of them out to a small farm where intel suggested a working tractor was stored in a barn. The two men would fly out in a Black Hawk, secure the residence, and then check the barn for the coveted tractor.
When Kemper pressed the need to bring at least a few of his men, Carnegie flatly refused, telling him if there was a crash, he could ill afford to lose what amounted to all the special operation types in one accident. If for some reason Josh and Kemper were killed, Carnegie still had the rest of the SEALs at his disposal. Kemper didn’t like it one bit, but he relented, allowing Carnegie to continue laying out the mission plan. When the briefing was concluded, Carnegie told both men he wanted them to execute immediately.
Kemper frowned, wondering why the whole affair just kept getting weirder by the minute.
“I’d like to talk to the boys and let ’em know what’s going on before we leave,” Kemper said as he stood from the table.
“Absolutely not, OPSEC has got pretty loose around here,” Carnegie warned. “I don’t know who yet, but information has been leaking from this base, and it has made our mission outside the wire harder and more dangerous. You guys leave now, and I don’t want you talking to anyone about where or why you’re going out, and that’s not a request, ladies.”
Kemper glanced to Josh, who just shrugged as he got to his feet. Wordlessly both men walked together until they were outside the building, heading toward the tarmac, where Kemper could already hear a helicopter’s engine roaring.
“What in the hell is wrong with the colonel? We should be rolling into this with at least six if not twelve shooters.”
The Jared Chronicles | Book 3 | Chains of Tyranny Page 10