Obstacles

by David Wilson

  Turning to Diane, Talon pointed at the diagram. Diane acknowledged Talon with a nod and began to explain her diagram, pointing to each feature as she talked, “There are four buildings on the farm and two small structures. The four buildings, in order of size, are the horse and tractor barn, the house, the detached garage, and the equipment shed. The two smaller structures are the chicken coop and the well house.” Diane went on to explain each of the buildings and structures in detail. The briefing took almost an hour, but Diane was very detailed oriented and answered all of the questions each of the men had.

  After everyone had taken a pee break and refilled their coffee, Talon asked, “Ok now is the time for ideas, let’s get all of them out on the table and then we will decide how we are going to skin this cat. I’ll start with the two obvious courses of action, one, ride straight in and shoot everybody. This won’t work because they have the superior numbers and will be fighting from points of cover if we give them any warning. Two, begin picking them off one at a time from a distance. Won’t work as it gives them time to report via radio to their headquarters and might draw outside forces which would take their side with them using or I should say mis-using Federal ID’s.”

  Ben said, “How about your earlier idea about the horse. If we combine that with an assault supported by sniper fire?” He looked from Talon to Diane and back again.

  Talon shook his head, “We might have to, but only as a last result. I think we need more information. Diane has been able to brief us on the target, but we have no idea how the enemy is set up at the farm. I need to go recon the farm today and see how they are set up. I know both of you are going to say you need to go with me but no. I can get in and out without anyone the wiser. I’m not going to argue or debate this. The answer is no. I’ll take off after I get a little rest and will be back in time to brief you on the plan. Right now, I’m planning on hitting them right before first light tomorrow. What I need you two to do is rest and be ready to go when I get back.”

  Ben woke Talon at 1400. Talon was slightly surprised he had slept so soundly and was about to say so when he looked over at Ben. The young man had dark circles under his eyes and a slight slack-jawed expression on his normally cheerful face. “You ok,” Talon asked, “You look like hell.”

  Ben grinned, but said, “Man, I am dog tired, you need to wake Diane before you leave to stand watch for a few hours.”

  Talon wondered why Ben hadn’t split the watch with her and said as much. Ben just shook his head and said, “Man, you have seen her temper, that woman scares me. You wake her up.”

  Talon laughed at this, he knew there was more to the story than just Diane’s temper, but he didn’t tease the younger man, but he did wish him luck without saying as much. If Ben was attracted to her, he was going to need all the luck there was to have. Not that he blamed Ben, Diane was an attractive, smart, and tough lady. Ben could do a lot worse.

  Swinging his legs out of the hammock, he shook his boots out and shoved his feet into them. Standing, he attempted in vain to stretch out all the kinks in his body. Ben quietly laughed at Talon’s moans and curses while Talon attempted to get moving for the day. Talon replied with sigh language on what Ben could do with his opinion. Ben pointed to the Solo stove, indicating there was hot water on. Digging a packet of coffee out of his backpack, he tore it open, dumped it into his cup, and added hot water. Seeing he was taking most of the hot water, he re-filled the water pot. They had already experienced that Diane was not a morning person but was definitely a coffee person. In fact, it was better not to even speak to her until she had her coffee and spoke first.

  Sitting back down in his hammock, Talon asked Ben, “See or hear anything in the area?”

  Ben finished pulling his boots off before he answered Talon, “No, in fact, for the last two hours, I wore a pretty good path around our camp. I can’t remember ever being this tried.”

  Talon told him, “Get some sleep today lover boy, we will need you rested for the attack tomorrow, so don’t stay up talking to Diane all day. They will be fine, and she will wake you if she spots anyone. But I really do need you bright-eyed and ready to go tonight.”

  Ben muttered something that sounded like, yes dad, or something sarcastic. But when Talon told him he didn’t hear that, all he heard in return was soft snoring. Levering himself out of the hammock, Talon took a turn around the camp. Stopping about every 30 seconds, he listened for anything out of the normal. Hearing and seeing nothing, he returned to the camp to wake up Diane.

  Shaking Diane’s hammock straps, he finally got a somewhat human sound from her as she peeked out from under her blankets. She sat up and began to untangle herself from her blanket. Knowing she was awake and would have to go through her morning routine, Talon walked back over to his hammock and began gathering his gear for his recon of the farm.

  Talon was just shrugging into his ghillie jacket when Diane limped her way over to the stove. Talon stepped forward and picked up the hot water pot before she could, drawing a cold stare from Diane. “Hey, I just know how much those welts hurt when it comes to bending over,” side Talon, “I can put it back down if you want me to.”

  Diane blushed slightly and apologized, “Sorry, I do have to admit I have not been the best company over the last few days. I really am not the unmitigated bitch that I have shown to both Ben and you. But it has been hard not to punch out every male I have talked to since being in that camp.”

  “You have nothing to apologize for,” Talon stated, looking directly into her eyes, “Things like that tend to stay with you, but I will warn you not to let the experience define you. Take control of the anger and use it, but don’t let it dictate how you treat everyone.”

  Diane immediately started to retort something angry back at Talon but stopped when Talon never looked away from her eyes, and he raised a hand in a stopping motion. Diane choked off the angry response and felt the anger drain away after a few seconds. They both stood facing each other, eyes locked for a few seconds, then Talon just grinned at her. Diane stared back at him wanting to stay mad, but couldn’t, and broke into a small laugh and waved defeat.

  “Don’t think that Jedi shit will work on me all the time,” she said with a chuckle, “But yea, I get it, but I’m still mad at the world, and it's going to take a little while for me to get over it.”

  Talon just nodded his head and walked over and picked up his Tavor, attaching his sling with the quick detach swivels. Testing the connections until he was satisfied, Talon picked up his helmet and strapped it on. Having already double-checked that he had everything he needed in his small day pack under the ghillie jacket. Pulling on his gloves, Talon jumped up and down a couple of times to make sure everything was tight and would stay put. Pulling his make-up case from one of his front pockets, Talon quickly applied the four colors into a mask designed to break up his face. Making sure he didn’t miss anywhere on his neck and ears with the built-in mirror within the compact, Talon nodded to himself and put away the compact. Finished checking all of his gear, Talon looked over at Diane and gave her a small wave.

  Stepping into the trees, Talon moved in a slow, steady motion. Staying inside the tree line, Talon walked steadily for about 15 minutes. Slowing, he began to edge his way towards the open area beyond the trees. Stopping beside one of the big oak trees lining the edge of the field, Talon eased his binoculars up to his eyes. Bracing his upper arm and shoulder against the tree, Talon slowly scanned the thin line of trees running along the access road leading from Leesburg, north to the Treatment Plant on the Potomac River. Not spotting any sentry on the first sweep, Talon began another sweep of the access road. This time he spotted the man sitting at the base of a large oak tree that gave him a commanding view of the road to his south as well as a good view of the fields to his west and east.

  Stuffing his binoculars back into his vest, Talon slowly eased along the tree line till he was within 20 feet of the sentry. Stopping to observe the man, Talon immediately realized that the m
an was asleep, and the small noises he had been hearing in his Hunters Pro Ear was the man softly snoring. Not wanting to waste the opportunity, Talon stood and crossed the road directly to the front of the sentry. After getting past the sentry, Talon cut to his north and was soon back inside the same tree line as the sentry until reaching the edge of the field and was able to turn back to the west. Noting that these sentries were going to be a pain in the ass later tonight when they had to bring up the horses.

  Reaching the end of the long fields, Talon knew he was now within a quarter-mile of the farmhouse. Glancing at the sun, he knew he had at least two hours of sunlight left. Moving a little further north, Talon spotted the deer stand Diane had told him about. It was well hidden and should work for a good observation post during the daylight hours. The stand was squeezed between two of the smaller trees separating two grazing areas for the horses. The deer stand was the kind that was made out of fiberglass and stood on its own four legs about ten feet off the ground. Jake had it set up about 300 yards from the farmhouse. Again pulling out his binoculars he carefully watched the deer stand for any sign of movement. Settling in Talon observed the area around the deer stand for the next 30 minutes. Seeing nothing to alarm him, Talon began moving towards the deer stand. Keeping to the small creek that ran along the fence line separating the two fields, Talon was able to remain well concealed until he reached the short ladder leading up into the deer stand.

  Moving very slowly, Talon climbed the ladder a rung at a time until he was able to reach the door latch and began easing open the door. Feeling lucky that the door faced to the north, he continued to ease open the door until he could step inside the small stand. Glancing around the top of the stand, he breathed a sigh of relief that no wasps had used the structure to build a nest. Reminding himself to be careful with the lens of his binoculars, he cupped them in his hands to give himself an extra layer of protection. The last thing he needed was to give away his position with the glint of sunlight from reflection on his binocular lens.

  Settling in, he began watching and taking notes. It didn’t take long for him to begin establishing patterns for the soldiers on duty. So far, he had seen three guys in the barn loft manning a Squad Automatic Weapon or SAW for short. Not good, but they could handle that. They all appeared to be focused on the main drive into the farm. Talon did note that sitting just inside the barn were two bicycles, and both of them had pull-behind trailers. While he couldn’t be sure, they did look like two of their original bikes his group had used.

  The only other activity was from the main house. Talon wondered if the off duty 3 man team was also sleeping in the barn. That would account for six of the fourteen men. He didn’t see the DHS guys sharing bedrooms with all of the soldiers. The house had four bedrooms, a den, and a large family room.

  One of the big concerns for his group had been the radio communications the hostile group had at the farm. Now that Talon had seen the setup, he wasn’t as concerned about their ability to talk back to Winchester if it depended on an old 292 antenna. Talon was quite familiar with this type of antenna, as the USMC had used this type of antenna up until the early 1990s. There were several ways to disrupt the antenna. To include just knocking it down would make it useless for transmitting a signal.

  About that time, a man walked out of the farmhouse back door. He carried in one hand his rifle and, in the other, was a roll of toilet paper. Walking over to an area beside the well house, it seems this was the area the soldiers had selected as a latrine, a real bunch of rocket scientists here, shitting right next to their water source. After the man was finished with his business, the man walked over in front of the barn and talked to the men manning the SAW. Two other men appeared in the loft door to talk to the man on the ground. So, according to Jake’s numbers, it would appear they had split the soldiers evenly between the barn and the house.

  A plan was starting to come together as Talon sat back and continued to observe the farm. Sitting in the deer stand for the next three hours, he was able to determine he had been right earlier about the soldiers being split between the house and the barn. As the sun went down, lanterns came on inside the house and barn. Obviously, no one was using or had night vision equipment.

  After it was completely dark, Talon slid his backpack around to his front and got out the thermal binoculars. Carefully he counted the heat forms the device could pick up. Now that it was dark, Talon could see two of the men had moved to the lower part of the barn and were sitting in chairs right by the large sliding barn door. There were two other men still sitting on hay bales in the loft door with the SAW. The gun showed up clearly as it had absorbed the heat of the day and would take hours to cool down to ambient temperature.

  Around 9 PM, two of the bedrooms in the farmhouse lit up, and Talon could see one person moving around both of these rooms. Talon also noted that all of the bedroom windows were open due to the heat. At 10:00, one man armed with a rifle came out and sat on the back porch. He sat there for half an hour and then got up and did a circuit around the main farmhouse. This man stopped and talked with the men in the barn before returning to the back porch of the house.

  The pattern remained the same between 10:00 PM and midnight. Just after midnight, Talon packed up and headed back to their camp. He needed to hurry if he was going to have time to let the other two in on the plan and get back here to conduct the attack at first light.

  Forcing himself to relax and take his time, he climbed down from the deer stand and moved east back along the small waterway separating the fields. Reaching the tree line where it turned south along the access road, Talon stopped briefly and made sure the zip ties and 5/50 cord was easily accessed for when he would need it. Talon had decided that he would have to take the sentry on the road out of the picture. Not wanting to take the chance, he could raise the alarm if they were spotted coming back for the attack on the farm.

  Pulling his thermals out again, Talon scanned down the tree line to see if he could see the sentry. Talon had no problem spotting the thermal bloom on the sides of the big oak tree. Leaving the thermals hanging from his neck, he pulled his PVS-14 down to his left eye. Moving one step at a time, carefully placing his feet down with as much care as he could muster, Talon continued to move towards the sentry. After about 15 minutes, he had covered the 100 plus yards that had separated him from the sentry. Stopping, he checked the surrounding area with the thermals to make sure that he and the sentry were alone. Taking short breathes, Talon moved within five feet of the sentry. With his Hunters Ear Pro, Talon could hear the sentry humming to himself. Talon couldn’t identify what he was actually doing, but the thermal bloom had gotten larger.

  Taking the last step around the tree, Talon gently tapped the man with the muzzle of his suppressor behind the man’s right ear. The man froze and slowly turned his head till he could see Talon. “Careful there, James, no need to spill your coffee,” stated Talon.

  The man closed his eyes and asked, “Are you going to kill me this time?”

  “Now, James, why in the world would I do that. You kept your word last time and all I want to do is get my people across this area to head down the Blue Ridge,” Talon emphasized, “No need to make things messy, but I am pressed for time. When did you call in last?”

  “At the top of the hour, I’m not due to call in for another 35 minutes,” replied the man.

  “James, I have a very serious question for you, have you heard of any DHS or National Guard troops in the area?” asked Talon.

  James nodded his head and replied, “Some big wig DHS guy met with the Police Chief a couple of days ago. They are set up on a farm just to the west,” raising his hand slightly and pointed across the field. “The Chief said they would be in the area for a few days looking for some terrorists. He told us to just leave them alone and not get involved. But the Chief said they were to stay out of town, and we were to report if we saw them anywhere near or heading to town.”

  “Ok, James, that’s our group over there,
and we are going to cross right here and head straight over to that farm. Same as last time, this has nothing to do with this area, and I don’t want you to call it in. Can I trust you to not do this?” asked Talon.

  “Yes, Sir, no problem. I just got offered a full-time position here, and I don’t want to screw that up. Go ahead and cross, I won’t call it in. The Chief made it clear that the less we have to do with DHS, the better,” James said.

  Talon nodded to James and told him, “Go ahead and finish your coffee, just keep your hands where I can see them.” Talon stepped a pace away and pressed the transmit button on his radio and spoke into the microphone, “The first option, I say again the first option.” Almost immediately, the confirmation two clicks came back from Ben acknowledging the order.

  It was almost 20 minutes before Talon heard another two clicks in his ear. Keying the mic two times in reply, Talon stood and told James, “My people are here, and we will be going. Just call in at the top of the hour as you always would. We appreciate the help.” Talon reached inside his chest rig and pulled out two gold twenty-dollar pieces. Handing them to James, he said, “Do not say where you got these or the Chief will take them. Say your Grandfather gave them to you years ago. In fact, after you use the first one, don’t let anyone know you have the other one. People will kill for these. Each one is worth about $1000.00 or more now that paper money is worthless.”

  James's eyes lit up, “Sir, thank you. I have been living on what the department could spare. These will allow me to build myself a place here and not have to settle for hand me downs. Thank you.”

  “No problem, just stick to our deal, you have never seen us or know of us, no matter what you hear or who is asking. If you do, DHS or the department will take those coins and fire you,” stated Talon, “It’s time for you to call in, isn’t it?”

  James nodded and picked up his radio. Speaking briefly into the radio, a reply came back almost immediately.