Grudgingly, Blake raised his hand off the table. “Um, are the Wild Ones making ball bearings?” he sheepishly asked.
“Oh, they have the capabilities to make so much more,” Bren said, digging in the satchel he’d laid on the table. “They have an actual smelter set up and it should be online by now,” Bren said, pulling stuff out of the satchel. “Linda was able to get from,” Bren paused, flipping a page in his notebook, “Rhett, one of the ones they use to get information from inside the perimeter.” Victor and Blake both looked at a one-inch ball bearing Bren was holding up.
“They can also make half an inch,” Bren said, then handed the ball bearing to Victor. “That one is the same that has been made for years but,” Bren said, holding up another ball bearing that looked just like the one he’d passed to Victor. “This one isn’t,” Bren said and passed it to Victor.
“Holy shit,” Victor gasped, taking the new one and holding one in each hand. “How in the hell did they do this?”
“What?” Blake asked, but knew better than to take them until Victor gave them up.
“It’s heavier, like twice as heavy,” Victor said, turning to Bren.
Nodding, “They upgraded the gun bots. The new ball bearings have a lead core. Trent got to see a test fire. He got pictures but no video,” Bren said.
“So?” Blake shrugged. “It shoots a heavier ball. What’s so big about that? For that fact, how in the hell did they get lead inside a ball?”
“I’m not going to call you an idiot because I wondered the same thing,” Bren admitted. “Ball bearings are made from rods of steel, learned that from the eggheads. If you look real close, you can see a difference on the new one. The rods of steel they use for those have a lead core.”
“Okay, it’s neat, but what’s the big deal?” Blake asked again, really wishing Victor would pass them over.
“Blake, they are twice as heavy, but the Wild Ones adjusted the gun bots’ motors so they are still throwing them out at five thousand feet per second,” Bren answered, and Blake turned from the bearings in Victor’s hands to look at Bren. Realizing Blake wasn’t making the connection, “Blake, those are more powerful than regular bearings. They impact with twice the energy. If you shoot enough .22 bullets at one inch of steel, they will eventually punch through. It’s the same for the bearings. It takes half as many shots to punch through armor, and they have a longer range because they can remain stabilized in flight longer.”
Realizing the implications, “Oh,” Blake panted as his face went white.
“Very good,” Bren crooned at Blake’s understanding. “The big gun bots that throw those one-inch bearings are really automatic cannons and not machine guns. That is a twenty-five millimeter cannon that’s firing three thousand rounds a minute. Even the Strykers and Bradleys we have would be turned into Swiss cheese by one of those, and they have way more than one.”
Finally handing the bearings to Blake, Victor shuffled his papers until he found what he was looking for. “So, what is Bravo doing?” Victor asked. “That’s what the group in Bimble is called, right?”
“Yes, they are The Wild Ones’ Bravo group,” Bren answered. “Their main job is to gather supplies, but not like our scouts do. They pull in cars to disassemble and recycle. Metal of all kinds, electric motors, computers, cameras, TVs, electronics, and the list goes on. Their function is to supply the Wild Ones with materials.”
Making notes, Victor gave a nod. “Effective,” he mumbled. “Have they added more?” he asked.
“Yes, as of last contact with Trent and Linda, Bravo is at four hundred and twenty-six,” Bren answered, and Victor gave a groan as he continued writing.
“Linda and Trent ever find out…” Victor paused, flipping a page, “what the Geek Squad does?”
“The ones they are using for information haven’t gotten definitive answers,” Bren answered and flipped several pages in his notebook. “Fourteen of the original Geek Squad actually made it from Knoxville. There was an IT/technology convention there and all were vendors.”
Looking up from the bearings in his hands, “IT/Tech Con,” Blake stated, and Bren gave him a surprised expression. “I was going to talk to a vendor for Victor, but Victor told me I couldn’t go since it was starting to get crazy.”
Making notes on what Bren had said, Victor looked up. “Everything Trent and Linda have sent said the Geek Squad, for all intents and purposes, were ‘geeks’. How in the hell did they get here?”
Giving a chuckle, “Don’t know how they got here, but the Geek Squad heard the ‘Borg Queen’ broadcast and just had to come and see,” Bren said. “They didn’t get close because the Borg Queen is bad and they saw what was left of Pineville. They found a spot and were setting up when the Wild Ones made contact.”
“The Borg Queen is bad,” Blake assured them.
“Should’ve watched more TV,” Victor mumbled as he made notes. “Anything on the other groups in the Wild Ones?”
“No, the three, Rhett…” Bren paused as he scanned the open page in his notes, “Corey and Rita, who are the only source of information from inside the perimeter, aren’t welcome at the other areas of Bear Trap, Beard, and Cabin groups,” Bren explained.
“They’d better be,” Blake scoffed, finally putting the bearings down. “For what we’ve had to send to Trent and Linda to get the three to talk it’s cost us a fortune.”
Somewhat glad Blake was thinking about cost, “It has cost us some drugs and liquor,” Victor huffed. “The way I see it, we’ve gotten a bargain.”
“Even Trent and Linda say the three are worthless. Linda’s last report said she was surprised the three are still alive because inside the perimeter the work is harsher, and those who don’t work go missing,” Bren said.
“They kill members?” Victor asked, glancing up.
“They haven’t so far that we know of but I assure you, they will,” Bren stated with certainty.
“How about getting Trent and Linda to sneak the three out and then we’ll get what we can from them?” Blake suggested.
Throwing down his pen, “Are you stupid?!” Victor cried out. “No, scratch that. How fucking stupid are you?” he corrected. “Everything Trent and Linda have sent says the three aren’t worth much, but you want to risk snatching them? None inside the perimeter can leave. Don’t you remember hearing that because I damn sure do! We get three worthless fucks here who can’t give us much of shit and aren’t any use as leverage, and piss off the one group that could bend us over and fuck us any way they want?!”
“Very good assessment, Victor,” Bren nodded.
“Then how about grabbing another one?” Blake suggested, hoping to get Victor to calm down.
“Any motherfucker we know who comes from the Wild Ones to join us, we’ll shoot and haul their bodies to leave a sign telling the Wild Ones they didn’t give us a choice, we told them they couldn’t join us!” Victor shouted, then snatched up his pen. Taking deep breaths to calm down, Victor turned to Bren. “Have Trent and Linda found out just who’s really at the cabin?”
“Nope,” Bren answered, and Victor slumped in his chair.
“You really don’t believe what Linda suggested, do you?” Victor asked. “I don’t give a shit how smart or driven, teenage boys and girls can’t do the shit going on there.”
“No, I agree with Trent. There are others at the cabin who don’t mingle with Bravo, and only a selected few of the other groups. Just from gossip, Trent has confirmed the bunkers at the cabin, but nothing on size,” Bren said. “The teens are just a front.”
Shrugging, “I’ve known some smart kids,” Blake said.
“Blake,” Bren sighed. “When I was a major, I had a captain under me whose son graduated high school at the age of twelve. At the age of fourteen, when I met the kid, he had two bachelor degrees. His IQ was near two hundred is all that I recall. Yes, he was smart, but very limited in his vision. As far as common sense, he had none. That kid, to this day, is the smartest person I’ve
ever met, but I’m sorry. It takes teams of intelligence to come up with what we are seeing from the Wild Ones. The teens are fighters and we have that from Trent and Linda. Yes, I think those teens are smart, but they aren’t the source or the leaders. They are just window dressing to confuse others.”
Watching Blake, Bren could see he wasn’t convinced. “Blake, I want you to talk to England. He’s over in Barracks Two getting debriefed. He was taken to a house somewhere, blindfolded and questioned. England even says the questions he was asked came from military minds. They wanted layouts of buildings, distances, amounts, and very specific locations. Even England said the teens were being led,” Bren explained.
When Blake drew a breath to continue, “Don’t,” Victor warned, pausing his writing. “Kids don’t think like that, so drop it.” Rolling his eyes to Bren, “Please continue,” Victor sighed.
“Well, after getting to see the shredder, I moved around the Wild Ones’ area,” Bren said, leaning over to point at the map. “Trent told me he got Corey wasted and got a location I needed to check out here at Walker. So I moved the team there, and holy shit,” Bren gasped in awe. “I got to see a gun bot set up and functioning on its own.”
Tapping his laptop, “The gun is set up on this ridge overlooking the valley floor here where this valley to the east joins in,” Bren said, turning the screen to Victor. “Sitting there, the bot has a kill zone a thousand yards out. We sat there for three days, and the damn thing never missed a shot,” Bren said with awe.
On the screen, Victor saw infected bodies on a small road. He could tell the view was from a ridge to the south and the camera holder was beside a tree. Realizing the tree was between the camera and the bot, “So you thought the bot might see you?” Victor asked.
“I’m sure it could’ve, but I told my team not to expose themselves to its field,” Bren answered. “The views we got of the bot, the camera was just eased out from behind a tree or rocks while the operator looked at the screen.”
As Bren tapped the laptop, Victor watched two infected drop as their heads literally vanished. “This is the one I wanted to show you,” Bren said, and the image changed and Victor could see a road from the east, leading to the ridge the bot was on. Eight infected were moving along the road heading west, moving around headless infected on the road. “Watch,” Bren said with a grin.
In quick succession, all eight heads vanished. When the first body was on the ground, the last headless infected was already falling. “The bot killed eight infected in four point six seconds from a thousand yards,” Bren stated in awe as he paused the video.
“You sure that’s a thousand yards?” Blake asked, looking at the map and then the screen. “By map it is, but taking in the slope, I would say around nine hundred.”
Blown away Blake even knew that, “Correct. When you take in the thirty degree angle, the range is eight hundred and fifty-seven yards from the first infected shot,” Bren answered.
“No matter what, it’s farther than I can shoot,” Victor said.
“Victor, that video proves the bots’ shooting is autonomous. They may not move autonomous, but they damn sure shoot autonomously,” Bren told him.
“And each one has a fifty thousand round hopper full of ball bearings?” Victor groaned.
Nodding, “Trent has pictures of that,” Bren said. “He’s tried and Linda’s tried to get images under the cowling, but can’t. Corey, Rhett, and Rita aren’t on any of the assembly lines. Trent offered them a hundred ecstasy tablets if they could get assigned to one, but they couldn’t.”
“Can we steal one?” Blake asked.
Pointing at the map, “There’s one right there all alone. Get some men and go get it,” Bren challenged. “The turret can cover three hundred and sixty degrees, so how are you going to sneak up on it? We know for a fact the thunder bots have explosives inside,” Bren said holding up another photo. “Linda got this in Bimble when a thunder bot went down. Well, not really down, but Linda heard them say one of the motors was running hot. The rear door on the cowling exposes the drive motors, and right there you can see blocks of C-4. They are still in their wrapping and you can see the wiring. From that picture we can’t tell how they are wired in, but I’m not going to test it. We know for a fact the Wild Ones put lethal deterrents on their equipment. That’s why the dumbass Pirates are no more.”
Realizing nothing he offered made anyone happy, Blake clamped his mouth shut.
Glad that Blake didn’t continue, Bren turned to Victor. “By now, I’m sure it’s operational again. The Wild Ones have also turned on three cell towers,” Bren paused and passed over photos. “Everyone had their picture taken and thumb scanned, then were issued a cellphone.”
Blake did give a groan on that because he missed being able to use his cellphone. It was still on his belt but he just played games on it now. “Shit,” Victor moaned. “That’s smart.”
“Huh,” Blake mumbled.
“They can keep track of everyone,” Bren said as Victor shuffled slowly through the photos. “The phones are also transmitters. Those in the Wild Ones can walk in front of gun and thunder bots without getting shot.”
Before Blake took a breath to ask, “No, we can’t steal a phone and get access,” Bren said, turning to Blake but Blake was never going to ask, he was just glad Bren said that because he’d wanted to. “The bots have facial recognition and biometrics of everyone. If you approach with someone else’s phone, you’re shot.”
“Hold up,” Blake called out, forgetting his mouth was clamped. “The Wild Ones inside the perimeter wear masks. How are they recognized?”
Genuinely impressed by that, “Each mask is individualized and it’s easier to scan. They print a skull on a sheet of kydex and then it’s heated up over a mold of that person’s face. When it’s done the eyes are cut out, along with the mouth slits. Now you should see how each one is different,” Bren explained.
Surprised that Bren had been cordial toward him, Blake just gave a nod.
“Can Linda do anything?” Victor asked, and Blake furrowed his brow.
“Captain Ryan was in cyber warfare,” Bren said toward Blake, then shifted his gaze to Victor. “She doesn’t want to risk it and I agree with her. Linda told me the programming she’s seen is beyond belief. Granted, it was only a glance at a screen when one was setting up a gun bot on Bravo’s wall but she’s certain if anything connects to a phone, it will notify someone,” Bren said and Victor gave a nod. “One thing Linda did say is if the meteor hadn’t hit and that programming had ever been released, someone would’ve gone to prison and lost everything.”
Victor turned, raising an eyebrow. “The language is compatible with many programs from Windows or Mac,” Bren explained and Victor gave a soft whistle.
“I’m getting so tired of the Wild Ones,” Victor sighed. “Any way you think we could ally with them?”
“Nope,” Bren stated. “They know you, or of you, Victor, and they don’t like you. Rhett, Corey, and Rita have told Trent and Linda that multiple times.”
Not surprised because he had pissed off many in his life, for the first time Victor was regretful. “Wish I knew why and could fix it,” he sighed. “Okay, so they have means to control their area. What else?”
“Victor, the area they have control over the infected is over a hundred square miles,” Bren said, marking a quadrilateral polygon on the map. “I moved my team on the outer edges of that and inside that, just on the edge, we only had to take out thirty-one infected over two weeks. Outside that on the way back, we were taking out twice that an hour.”
“I should’ve hired whoever started that group,” Victor said, then looked up at Bren. “Surely that’s not all.”
“So right you are,” Bren grumbled. “I met with Trent before starting my scouting mission and he told me the Wild Ones were going on an outing,” Brent paused to point at the map. “They were heading here to this small ammo plant.”
“That’s not an ammo plant!” Victor cried
out. “That’s Jolly Munitions, owned by Matthew Jolly! They make ammo, but you can’t call it a plant. Matthew wanted me to help him expand but it wasn’t worth the investment.”
Holding up both hands, “First, I worked as a liaison at Lake City, I know it’s not a large plant,” Bren stressed. “Lake City can make hundreds of thousands of rounds a shift. But,” Bren snapped, “that plant could make more ammo than we can now. All we can do here is reload brass.”
“Bren, that plant specialized in competition quality and didn’t have the ability to make more than twenty thousand rounds a day,” Victor said.
“I think they could do fifty thousand a day,” Blake offered.
“Either or, that’s more than we make,” Bren grumbled.
“Bren, we don’t have the supplies or means to roll sheets of brass or billets of lead,” Victor told him, and Bren was impressed that Victor knew that. “Matthew ordered that and didn’t have the space or means to do it in house. That’s why I wouldn’t invest in Jolly. I invested in Retention instead, a munition plant in Florida.”
“Victor, if I had known that was there, I would’ve gone after it. I watched them load up rolls of brass and billets of lead. When that ran out, I would’ve found more or come up with a way to make it,” Bren told him. “Any other businesses like that around because I don’t have the internet to search?”
Victor shook his head, turning to Blake. “The only one would be Geoff,” Blake answered. “He has machines, but he made cases for real oddball rounds.” When Blake saw Bren looking at him, “Oh, his shop is in Corbin, a few blocks from the arena.”
“Might as well be on the moon,” Bren grumbled.
“We can send the scouts to check on the convoy?” Victor offered as he started making notes again.
Hearing ‘convoy’, Bren just groaned and his face flushed red. The ‘convoy’ was a supply convoy meant for troops protecting Corbin, London, and Lexington FEMA camps. When the military had been dispatched to fight the growing riots, they hadn’t been issued munitions. Only when it was confirmed that the dead were walking did Washington allow ammunition to be sent out to troops, but only in small quantities so the public wouldn’t be alarmed. A part of Bren could understand because that’d been the first week in April and there had been generals asking for permission to use small tactical nuclear warheads.
Forsaken World | Book 6 | Redemption Page 29