“Just so we’re clear, you are absolutely sure Tim isn’t going to bat an eye at this story? Four guys leave and a single man returns… with a new prospective member to boot? That would make me suspicious from the get-go,” Katherine stated looking for clarification.
“He’s is as vain as they come. A fact that your dad, I think, knows all too well,” Tyler responded and then paused. “If I can aid in the removal of that psychopath and his inner circle, then there might actually be some hope for something to survive in Columbus. Even if we’re not successful, I return with you to the park, right?”
Josh nodded his agreement.
“No more chainsaw tricks?”
James extended his hand with a little smirk, “No BS this time. You have our word.”
The two shook on it and Tyler asked, “So who’s it gonna be?”
“Looks like I’m the odd man out,” Lt. Stokes stated as he extricated himself from the tailgate. “What’s the plan?”
Katherine produced the map page she had torn from the Tin Foil Hat Club’s road atlas and placed it on the seat Eustace vacated.
“Sundown isn’t until almost 9:00 so, if what Tyler says is true, you should be able to take his Yugo to here by dusk,” she declared as she pointed to a spot on the chart. “The Martinez brothers are working on it now to remove that backfire and get it tuned up for quick escape. Find the highest ground possible and observe for the rest of the evening and overnight. Tomorrow morning, you two stroll into town as if nothing is out of the ordinary.”
The pair men nodded.
“Call out patterns and strays. We want counts and routines... that means everything from the washhouses and latrines to guard towers and road blocks. The Farmer’s Almanac says we should have good weather for the next few days, so that’s working in our favor. Your signal should be able to make it to Circleville without any issue. They’ll relay the message on to us and the rest of the towns on a need to know basis.”
“Seriously? An almanac? You’ve got to be joking,” Tyler inferred mockingly.
“Last I checked, the Weather Channel was off the air and Atlanta burned to the ground… again,” Katherine responded, shutting down his sarcasm immediately.
“What do we do from there?” Stokes asked.
“Tim has either purposefully left us alone or he’s forgotten we are here. We have that working in our favor and I’d like to keep it that way. We need to know the best avenues for entry. Where will we find the least resistance and the most? Where are people being housed aside from the high rent condo structures?” she replied candidly.
“And then?”
“Radio in your daily’s at 02:00 and use the all clear signal ‘Carolina’, but we’ll be listening the entire time you’re in there,” she responded assuredly and then looked at the pair. “Any other useful questions or comments?” Katherine asked, clearly drawing the line at Tyler’s sarcasm.
When neither responded, she declared, “Alright, Tyler, you stay here with James and Dallas while they assess your weapon skills. Eustace, walk with me to get the car from the boys along with some gear, food, and water.”
The pair proceeded to walk toward the end of the drive, but didn’t make it very far before they were joined by her father and Sam.
“Don’t take your eyes off of him for a minute,” she declared in a whisper as they entered the abandoned roadway.
“Huh? I thought he was good to go,” he responded.
“Not a chance in hell,” Josh interjected. “This is a trap set by Tim. Can’t you smell the desperation? I don’t trust him as a far as I can throw him.”
“Did you see the old track marks on his arm?” Sam asked as the four continued walking to the cabin. “Someone went through a lot of trouble to clean this guy up,” she concluded with a hint of compassion.
Lt. Stokes sighed. “What do you want me to do? Maybe some of what he said is on the level.”
The father and daughter half grinned at one another as ideas swirled through their collective minds.
“I think the less you know at this point, the better,” Katherine stated keeping her cards close.
“Great,” he declared reluctantly. “Welcome to the Army.”
Josh clapped his meaty hand on the shoulder of the young Lieutenant. As the continued to walk away from Old Man Wrigley’s farmhouse, the former field commander within him came to the surface.
“Look son, this is a tricky detail, but I have faith in you and your abilities. Rest assured that you won’t be alone, someone will be watching you. We are asking you to infiltrate and assimilate all while growing eyes in the back of your head to keep an eye on that squirrely SOB. Oh, and do yourself a favor and don’t ever let Tyler, if that’s even his name, and Tim have a conversation in private. Where he goes, you go.”
Eustace nodded his reply.
“Give us a few days to get all of the other pieces in place. You know what ordnance we have at our disposal. If ‘TK’ turns this into a shooting match, which I’m sure he’s bound to do, when the avalanche of lead starts, find somewhere safe to hole up until we give the ‘all clear’, got it?”
“Roger that, sir.”
Chapter 19
When Gregg entered the Martinez farmhouse, he was greeted by stern and furious looks plastered on the faces of the ‘Board of Governors’. Circumstance dictated that they were finally informed about the platoon of combat engineers living among them, and they were visibly angry.
Before any of them could start their collective thundering, he held up his hand to silence them.
“Ben, Jerry,” Gregg said in a serious, but light hearted tone. “You’re upset. I can see that.”
“You’re damn right we are… and stop calling us that! Our names are Benjamin and Jerod. And that’s Susan, not Sue, Suzy Q, or ‘Sweetie’,” Ben stated coolly.
“Fine. You called this little meeting. So what’s got the Board of Governors in a twist?”
“We should have been told who was living among us. We should have been told what was under that stage. There are children in there,” Susan quantified in a manner that bordered on hysterics.
“So you’re afraid for the children, is that it?”
“That doesn’t account for the arsenal of guns they hauled out of there!” she continued.
“And now that you know about the men, the stash under stage, and the weaponry in their cabins… you’re afraid for the children? I’m sorry, I don’t understand the issue.”
“How can you not –,” she started to retort.
“Look folks, whether you like it or not, those guns and the Second Amendment ‘gun nuts’, as I’ve heard you so eloquently refer to them, are all that’s standing between you and a gang rape,” he thundered tersely and continued. “How about you show a little more respect and gratitude for the people willing to protect you and your beliefs, because right now it’s the only thing keeping the wolves at bay, sweetheart.”
“How dare you say –,” she began to reply before Gregg interrupted her.
“And I let you in on another certainty, these people we’re up against, they only understand the bullet. So you can save the holier than thou attitude for the land of rainbows and unicorns. The world as you knew it doesn’t exist. All that remains is this cold hard life you are currently enjoying in the park we provided.”
As his breathing began to slow, he struck a calmer tone and concluded, “Maybe in time, once the country is rid of the gangs, death squads, and serial rapists, then you can raise your hand and preach peace and love.”
“I didn’t say I was unsupportive, Gregg,” Susan replied more calmly as well. “It was just a shock is all. We should have been told.”
“If it were me, I’d trust active duty combat veterans to safely handle the ordnance over most, if not all, of the civilians taking refuge. The men and women we personally trained notwithstanding.
“My question for the three of you is why? Why are you really pissed? What would it have changed had you known?
The firewood, water, and food still needed to be collected. We simply added two dozen extra bodies to aid in those endeavors.”
“But we –,” Jerod began.
“Not finished,” Gregg stated as he cut him off. “Now, correct me if I’m wrong, but in addition to the assistance in the completion of chores, they also taught you how to survive… how to hunt, snare, skin, and shoot didn’t they? More importantly, they taught you how to protect yourselves. All of which are skillsets you didn’t have when you got here. By my accounting, every single person living in those cabins, yourselves included, should be dead, but you aren’t.
“Josh and his infinite flippin’ wisdom saw fit to save your travelling horde from the winter storm you foolishly walked straight into the face of. Then on top of that, he provided what basically amounts to life skills teachers to assist you. And, just so we’re clear, when these guys weren’t covering for the lazy, weak, and infirmed on chore duty, they were volunteering for OP duty, watching over their flock as it were. Yes, these men lived among you and you didn’t know. Yes, they have skill sets that might possibly have allowed you to accomplish some additional tasks. However, their chief and overriding mission has been the protection of the residents taking refuge in the park. So I ask again, why are you so pissed?”
With all of their bluster successfully sucked out of the room, and a healthy dose of reality thrown in for good measure, the Board struck a more conciliatory tone.
“It would have been nice to know is all,” Jerod decried.
“Fair enough. Now, is there is anything else I can help you with?” Gregg replied.
“When will they be back? I only ask because it’s not just the engineers that are missing. I did an informal head count and we are lacking over fifty men and women as of this morning.”
“All of those residents have gone ‘operational’.”
“What does that even mean? Speak English!” Benjamin stated.
“Okay,” Gregg replied with a smirk. “Ya see, there are some really bad people with guns. They want what we’ve got and they’re willing to kill you for it. We are going to stop them. How’s that?”
“You’re patronizing sarcasm isn’t needed,” Susan rebutted.
He shrugged in response.
“What are we supposed to do to fill the void in the meantime?” Jerod asked.
“What’s up, Sarg?” the soldiers asked as they entered the house out of breathe.
“Stand fast, gentlemen,” he reflexively stated. “I’ll be with you in a minute,” he concluded before turning his attention back to the park representatives.
“Jerod, I walked through there just this morning too. I counted at least fifteen to twenty people that I’m pretty sure were laying out due to minor issues. That’s just about half of your shortfall right there.
“Listen folks, let’s get one thing straight, because this is important. That park wasn’t setup and prepped to be section eight government housing. Whether you and that enclave survive is entirely up to you. They aren’t military and, therefore, will not respond well to my flavor of motivation. That being said, those socialist programs that our country became so enamored with and reliant on, they don’t exist,” he added with emphasis.
“You were all told when you arrived that everyone pulls their own weight. That was a non-negotiable condition of your residency. If I were you, I’d remind them of that little nugget and start finding a way to motivate those people.
“Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have more pressing matters to attend to. You’re dismissed.”
“You can’t dismiss us!” Benjamin shot back.
Gregg smiled. “You’re right. You’re civilians. I forgot. My sincerest apologies,” he quipped sarcastically as he bowed.
Ben stormed out of the house in response followed shortly thereafter by Jerod. Susan lingered a bit.
When he saw her waiting patiently, he said with a sigh, “Yes, what can I do for you?”
The spritely mother of three stepped forward and abruptly slapped him in the face. Gregg just stood there and took it, more from shock than anything else.
“There, now that that’s out of the way, let me say that, we all appreciate everything that was done for us, and we are all well aware of the score. We’ll figure out a way to get those people better assimilated. However, you don’t need to treat the residents like second class citizens. Every time you say ‘civilians’ it drips with hostility and disdain.”
Gregg was taken aback by her candor, and the slap. He knew what she was saying was true.
“You’re absolutely right,” he responded with another sigh. “Please tell Benjamin and Jerod that I apologize for my conduct as of late. My only defense is that I was raised this way. I was taught to do everything with maximum effort to the best of my ability at all times. No handouts. No free rides. It’s very frustrating for me to see people given a better than average shot at surviving this mess just hanging out, laying around, pissing away the opportunity to do something for themselves all the while waiting for someone else to do it for them.”
“I agree. The work ethic has slipped a bit.”
Gregg nodded his response.
“I’m not saying we should go all draconian rule with corporal punishments and what not,” she began with a wink. “However, that being said, we should probably start with a friendly reminder,” she explained.
“After that I’d humbly suggest some form of written code of conduct and expectation, complete with repercussions,” Gregg offered.
“Now that’s something to think about. I’ll talk to the boys and see what we can come up with,” Susan answered cheerfully.
“A word of caution though.”
“Oh?”
“I would avoid any kind of inclination to have the community vote on every article being presented. They already voted when they put you three in charge.”
“Sound advice. Thank you,” she responded.
“It’s just a suggestion,” he concluded as he turned to afford her enough room to exit the house.
The men watched as she stepped off of the porch and climbed aboard the waiting horse. Once the Board of Governors were safely out of ear shot, Gregg said, “Have a seat, gentlemen. Wasn’t the first time I’ve been slapped, and it won’t be the last.”
“So what’s the story?” one asked as they took their respective seats on the couch.
“El Jefe and Rodin have cooked up a game plan,” he began as he referred to Josh and Katherine by the call signs. “We need two volunteers, so I chose you. After this, you’ll be all square after that little slip up with the radios.” As if they had forgotten, he reminded them of their error in judgment. “You know, where you discussed the gold stash on the air.”
“But we mucked stalls for three weeks and took extra OP duty,” one of the men whined.
“That was Josh’s punishment, this is mine.”
The pair hung their heads.
“On the plus side, you both work well together and you both scored above average in James’s amateur sniper school.”
A smattering of pride was re-installed.
“What’s the mission?”
“BB and that gang member, Tyler, returned to Columbus last night. He’s going to be embedded for a few days gathering intel. You two are to take Tink’s gasifier to a spot designated by Rodin and provide over watch. The remainder of our force arrives some time later. Questions?”
“Ordnance, provisions?” one man asked.
“We good with her running this Op?” the other inquired.
“I had my hesitations too, but that girl is smart as a whip. Good decision making, good mission planning skills, knows what we have at our disposal. War God and I reviewed it with El Jefe after she left the room, we didn’t change a thing… it’s that squared away. Now, as for gear, you’ll both need full combat loads along with a weeks’ worth of food and provisions. Tink customized an aluminum pull behind bike stroller for your gear. As an added bonus, and at the request of Rodin,
Agent Monahan has kindly donated the Secret Service’s McMillan TAC-338, complete with their Nightforce scope. I’ve shot it, it’s nice.”
The pair whistled at the hardware.
“I thought you guys would like that. Any other questions?”
Neither man spoke up.
“Alright, collect your gear and be at the cabin in thirty minutes to load out and get your final instructions.”
“This sucks,” one of the men stated flatly. “I saw what James, Mama Mimi, and Jacques were cooking for the wedding reception. Any way we can get a plate to go?”
* * *
As the sun continued its slow arc toward the horizon, the residents of McArthur began to fill the pews of the church. Aside from a few moments of harrowing panic associated with helping Chillicothe and Athens repel the travelling hordes, Josh and Sam’s wedding was the biggest thing to happen in the town since Christmas.
Josh stood stoically and watched as his groomsmen escorted the last of the guests to the few remaining seats. He quickly checked his watch. On cue, the small band of orchestra members that Gregg and Hoplite referred to as the ‘travelling renaissance festival’ started playing Vivaldi.
Greg, Juan, and their wives were the first two couples down the aisle and took their places. They were followed by Dallas and Heather. Behind them stood Katherine and her fiancé Scott. The final pair to enter were James and Layla. Once the last of the wedding party hit their designated mark, the ensemble changed to the ‘Wedding March’.
The two front doors of the church opened slowly to reveal Samantha and Brent. The white strapless body hugging dress shimmered with the last rays of the sunlight as she entered the shaded church. The retired General donned the Marine Corp Dress Blues that he had safely stowed away upon his arrival at the farm. The mere sight of her in the wedding gown took Josh’s breathe way. Sam, for her part, was greatly relieved when Dallas arrived in a clean pair of Josh’s old business clothes instead of the hip waders and fishing hat he had threatened to wear.
By the Dawn's Early Light Page 24
