The Ranch

by Sean Liscom

  “I’m tired! I’m tired of these assholes who just can’t stand the fact that we’ve held it together. They can’t stand the fact that Elko and even parts of the country have gotten their shit together and they won’t stop coming. They will never stop but you know what? We can never stop either. Right now, they aren’t afraid of us because they know that we are the compassionate ones. We’re the ones that do everything we can to abide by the law, to install the law where there was none.”

  “We’ve been sitting on our asses waiting for them to shove us first, no more. We’ve waited for them to swing first, no more. What happened tonight, happened because we allowed it, no more....”

  “How was anything that happened tonight our fault?” Isabella interrupted.

  “It happened because our father instigated it! I was complacent, I allowed him to escape because of that complacency. What’s worse, if Greg was telling the truth, it’s happening everywhere the ARK’s have agents still on the loose....”

  “Jason, you’re blaming yourself for something you had no control over. You’re blaming yourself for something that has been planned for years, something that you couldn’t have seen coming,” she interrupted again. This time she locked eyes with me.

  “I should have seen it coming! It’s a classic strategy and I totally overlooked it!”

  “But you couldn’t have known....”

  “If you were about to commit to a major offensive, wouldn’t you send in or activate your sleeper cells behind enemy lines? It’s a classic strategy! They go after command and control and any major assets they can. They create confusion and sap morale before the first shot is ever fired. They take the legs out from under the enemy, they soften them up! Guess what; we’re the enemy!” I swung my feet out of the Hummer.

  “Wait, please,” she said softly. I stayed on the seat with my back to her. “Jason, I understand you’re upset and angry. I feel the same way. I think there is one other thing you’re feeling though; helpless. You feel like there is nothing you can do to stop our father and that is showing itself as anger. Am I right?”

  “Yeah,” I said after blowing out a long sigh.

  “You feel like you blew your one chance to stop the man who, as you said, was going to pull the trigger. I feel the same way. It was an opportunity that both of us missed and one we’re not likely to get another chance to correct, but here’s the thing; tonight, may not have been a clearly defined victory but it was one nonetheless.”

  “What?”

  “Because of your need to put this ranch first on your priority list, we were in the right place at the right time tonight. We were exactly where we needed to be!”

  “How so?”

  “You stopped the assassination of the President! You denied them a target of the highest magnitude and you exposed their plans. While it may be true that they have already begun their offensive, you’ve shown the light on them. What you choose to do with that information, that’s up to you.”

  I felt my shoulders sag a little as I thought about what she had said. She was right. I felt a little ashamed because I’d let myself wallow in my recent failings. The only thing I could think about on the ride home was the loss of two men. Those men had paid the ultimate price and I was on track to squander that sacrifice. I was allowing anger and fear to make my decisions for me. I slipped out of the Hummer and turned to face my sister.

  “You’re right, Isabella. I do have one question though….”

  “Yes?”

  “Right place, right time? Have you been talking to my wife?” I asked with a smile.

  “I do not understand,” she said with confusion.

  “Ask Jill about it the next time you see her, I’ve gotta get on the radio and start warning people,” I started to turn away.

  “Thomas Watkins and Marco DeSilva….”

  “Pardon?” I stopped and looked at her.

  “Thomas Watkins and Marco DeSilva, those are the names of the men we lost tonight. They were good men, honorable warriors.”

  “Thank you,” I turned and walked straight home.

  Instead of going upstairs, to my wife and bed, I went downstairs and into the underground. I made my way into the security shack and paused when I realized Bill wasn’t there. His laptop was closed, the radio was off and the only light in the room was his desk lamp. I turned on the lights and pulled Bills chair from the desk.

  “Security, Rogue,” I said into the little radio after I removed it from my body armor.

  “Go ahead, Rogue,” the voice came back instantly.

  “Would you send somebody to wake up Dan and Braden, please? Have them report to the secondary security office.”

  “Right away, sir.”

  “Thanks, Rogue out,” I set the radio on the desk and unbuckled my body armor. After dropping it in a vacant chair, I rubbed the bruise in the center of my chest. It was already sore and uncomfortable. I left the office and headed to the sleeping quarters. I made it as far as the kitchen where I found Bill making coffee.

  “I heard you come in,” he smiled. “You know how us light sleepers are.”

  “Dan and Braden will be here shortly. We need to move fast while we still can,” I took the offered empty coffee cup from him.

  “You got a plan?”

  “No, I’m winging it again but it’s better than sitting here waiting with our thumbs in our asses,” he simply nodded. “We lost two men….” my voice trailed off. Again, he nodded.

  “Heard you ran into trouble,” Dan said as he walked into the kitchen.

  “A whole lot of it,” I replied as I passed him a cup. “I’ll fill you in when we’re all here. Braden should be right behind you.”

  “Doesn’t anybody around here ever sleep through the night?” Braden asked as he stepped in behind Dan. He also got an empty coffee cup.

  “Not anymore, bro. Not anymore,” I mused.

  Tuesday, September 5th, 2017

  The ARK.

  Jack had led Melissa out of the control room and to the nearest elevator. When the doors closed behind them, he pressed the button for Level 9. Throughout the short ride down two levels, Jack was humming an old Hank Williams JR tune. By the time the doors slid open again, she recognized it as Whisky Bent and Hell Bound. Her father had been a big fan of ole Hank.

  There was only one door on this level, and it was at the end of the long corridor. As they walked, Jacks humming grew louder, and he started to have a little swagger in his walk. The look on his face bordered on jovial. He caught her looking at him and he smiled at her.

  “You’re creeping me out, Jack.”

  “Ah, c’mon Mel. Enjoy the win just a little bit!” he laughed.

  “We ain’t won anything yet.”

  “One more pendant and this will all be over. We’ve won!” he persisted.

  “No victory lap, no happy dance until those missiles are destroyed and I have what I want, Jack. This is far from over.”

  “Killjoy,” he muttered as they stopped at the double doors. These were different in that there were regular door handles on the doors. He grabbed both, twisted and flung the doors open. From what she’d seen to this point, the rest of the ARK had painted concrete walls and floors. This massive room immediately took her breath away.

  The floors were a dark hardwood that matched the bookshelves that lined all four walls. There wasn’t an empty spot on any of the shelves. In the center of the room was an ornate, hand-carved desk. The only thing on it was an open laptop and a desk lamp. Sitting in the high-backed leather chair was another body. The grey suit that shrouded the human remains appeared to be made of silk.

  “Pretty nice place,” Jack remarked, heading for the desk. “Too bad Ashton’s money and power couldn’t save him in the end.”

  “Is that him?” Melissa asked, stepping closer.

  “Yep. That’s Ashton Blake. The man, the myth, the dead legend,” Jack looked at the body and then at the laptop. “Curious.”

  “What?”

&nbs
p; “What were you working on, old boy?” he asked himself, pushing the chair away from the desk. Kneeling in its place, he began to type on the laptops keyboard. Melissa could see a fifth pendant plugged into its side port.

  “What’s wrong?” she asked.

  “Oh, nothing. Looks like Ash here spent his last moments in this realm trying to break my code,” he unplugged the pendant and tossed it to Melissa. She caught it and hung it around her neck with the other three. Jack went back to typing.

  “What’s with the pendants?” she asked.

  “They’re keys. Every member of the ARK got one tailored to their position here. Captain Boone, for instance, has one that can access every door and weapons locker. Maintenance workers had access to the tool lockers and sensitive areas like climate controls and so on. The four you have plus the one I have can control everything. Those five pendants are needed to be in the same place at the same time to do anything with the missiles,” he paused his typing and scanned the monitor with his finger.

  “Okay, this laptop has been unlocked and it’s got everything on it you wanted,” he unplugged the power cord and closed it. Picking it up, he handed it over.

  “No bull, Jack?”

  “On the up and up, Mel. You and I had a deal, this is my end of it,” she took the laptop and began to remove the pendants from her neck. “Just keep ‘em for now. It’s going to take both of us to do a manual launch and destruction of the missiles,” he stood from behind the desk and started for the door.

  “What?” she questioned, tucking the laptop under her arm and following him quickly.

  “All five pendants have to be plugged in. One of them acts as a Deadman switch, the other four have to be manually activated from their ports which are too far apart for one man to do alone.”

  “Oh, okay,” she followed him down the hallway and into the elevator. When they returned to the control room, the countdown clock on the main screens was gone. Jack went back to the laptop he’d been using.

  “Damn,” he muttered after a few minutes of typing. “Only 20 of the ships are left....”

  “Is that a bad thing?” Melissa asked.

  “It could be, hang on a minute,” more furious typing. “Okay, looks like one went down in the Mariana Trench. That one should be okay. The other one, not so much. It’s only got 50 feet of water over the top of it but it’s off the eastern coast of Australia. Nothing we can do about that one either.”

  “The others?”

  “They’re all 36 hours out of position, at best,” he reported.

  “Why do they have to be at a certain place? Can’t we just launch and destroy the missiles from wherever they are?”

  “No, we can’t. The ships will disobey any directive to fire their missiles if they aren’t in a position to do the most damage. That’s part of their protocol and it’s in place to prevent exactly what we’re trying to do.”

  “Okay, I get it.”

  “Let’s see here....” he got out of his chair and moved to another laptop. Melissa could see what he was doing on the main screen. He was sending orders to the ships to move into position. One by one, the ships replied to confirm their new orders. Jack spent 40 minutes confirming the orders.

  Tuesday, September 5th, 2017

  The Ranch.

  “I want every available rig to make as many trips into Elko as needed. Every available hand will be either there or here to load or unload. Don’t forget that we have that warehouse full of stuff that belongs to us. I want it back here too. If you need to, commandeer some of the semi-trucks from Elko. This has to happen in the shortest amount of time possible, understood?” I locked eyes with Dan.

  “I do, but.... Is Jim okay with this? What about the President?” he asked.

  “Jim’s fine with it. He knows that stuff belongs to us anyway. The President’s in a coma, but I can’t see her having any objections either.”

  “What if anyone else has objections?”

  “Dan, I’m only going to say this once; use whatever means you have to. Secure those supplies and get them back here. That’s a direct order, Major,” using his new title caught his attention.

  “Understood, Colonel,” he replied, tight lipped.

  “I don’t like it either, Dan, but if this ranch is to survive what’s coming, this is what we have to do.”

  “Yes, sir,” he was standing ramrod straight now.

  “If you got a problem, Major, you need to voice it now!”

  “Sir, I’m just concerned the civilians, or the security forces may question what we’re doing. This could lead to a conflict we don’t want.”

  “Ya know what, I. DON’T. CARE! You need to damn well do what you’re told! Either that, I can find someone who will!” I snapped.

  “Question, Jason,” Doc Williams said from the doorway.

  “WHAT?” I barked at Doc; my eyes still locked with Dan’s.

  “What about the President?”

  “What about her?”

  “She’s in a coma in a public hospital. Most of her security detail is dead, right?”

  “Yeah, so?”

  “Bring her out here. If this goes down as you suggest, people will look to exact a little revenge, know what I mean?” he asked.

  “Crap, you’re right. Go into town with the first group and get her back here. Bring what’s left of her detail if you have to, just get her back here where she’ll be safe,” he acknowledged me with a thumbs up. I glanced at my watch, 4:59am.

  “There are going to be a lot of people asking a lot of questions, Jason. Are you planning on filling them in or are you going to keep them in the dark for a while?” Bill asked from his office chair.

  “I’m bumping up the group meeting to six, before the first truck leaves. These people need to know what’s at stake,” I replied.

  “I wasn’t just talking about ranch personnel……”

  “I know, Bill. As soon as that meeting is concluded, I want you on every known frequency getting the word out. We have to give as many people as possible a chance.”

  “I know you don’t want to hear this; wait until after we’ve laid in our supplies, after all of our people are back here,” I started shaking my head before he was halfway done speaking.

  “No, we have to get the word out!”

  “Think about this, Jason. You put the warning out too early and you could have a real bad situation on your hands in Elko....”

  “He’s right, Jason,” Braden said. I looked to him and saw Doc nodding in agreement.

  “Fine! As soon as that last truck rolls through the gate, you start transmitting, Bill.”

  “I’ll be on it before the gate closes, you have my word.”

  “One more thing, do you still have access to Trinity?”

  “Of course.”

  “Go ahead and get the word out to the government. Let them know we will be moving the President here to keep her safe. Tell them everything we know about the sleeper agents. It might be too late already but we gotta try.”

  “I’ll do that,” he turned and opened his laptop.

  “Any questions?” I asked making eye contact with every face in the room. There were none. “Alright, I’ll be the first to admit, we’re flying blind here. We’re making this up as we go, and I don’t have all the answers. If you have something to contribute, please do so. The next few days are going to be moving at a furious pace because we’ve got a lot to do.”

  “If nobody has anything else....” I waited for a moment before continuing. “Dismissed. Braden, would you please make sure everyone is assembled in front of the shack by six? Please.”

  “Yeah,” he muttered and left the room with everyone else. I turned to ask Bill something but never got the question out.

  “Rough night?” Jill asked from behind me. I turned back to face her. She was still dressed in her sweat shorts and a tank top.

  “Yeah,” I said and held my arms open to her. She bypassed me and sat in the chair next to my body armor.

>   “Dad? Can we have the room for a minute?” she asked. Without a word, Bill slipped from his chair and closed the door on his way out. She pulled her bare feet onto the lip of the chair, her knees against her chest. “So much for retirement.”

  “Babe....”

  “Don’t! Don’t “Babe” me right now. I’m in no mood for it. You’re going to sit in that chair and you’re going to hear me out!” she said angrily. I pulled Bill’s chair closer and sat in it. “Before you say anything, I want you to hear what I have to say, okay?” I nodded. She put her feet back on the floor and pulled my body armor onto her lap. “We wear this heavy, hot shit to help keep us safe. It’s saved my ass and it’s saved your ass, more than once,” she opened one of the flaps where my .45 magazines were stored and pulled out one. It was deformed, smashed and it still held the 9mm round that had hit me earlier in the night.

  “One thing I always teach my students is that body armor is a last resort. If I remember correctly, I taught you that too. What baffles me and pisses me off the most is that you seem to think this makes you invincible. You wield your body armor like a knight would wield his shield. Yet, you seem to forget that your body is actually on the other side of this thin steel plate. You seem to forget that if this round had been six inches higher, you’d be dead. Six inches lower or to either side could have killed you too.”

  “Before you say it,” she continued. “I’ve spent all morning, since you got home, with Isabella at the kitchen table. I know what went down. You felt the need to protect the President. There’s nothing wrong with that. It’s a very noble cause and I probably would have made the same move. What pisses me off is that you felt the need to not only give chase, you did it alone.”

  “But….” she held up her hand to quiet me.

  “In the end, your mission was successful, I’ll give you that. I have to ask though. Why didn’t you fall back and allow the squads from Wraith to do their jobs? Why did it have to be you that chased Greg down?” she looked at me, patiently waiting for an answer.