The Ranch

by Sean Liscom

  “I assume the Special Forces guys in Elko are taking the President with them?”

  “No, they’re not! They asked about her disposition and when they found out she was in a coma; they ordered the troops to leave her behind and haul ass.”

  “Just who in the hell is giving orders in Austin?”

  “Vice President Gil Thomas is the guy giving orders at this point. I told him about the sleeper cells, and he didn’t seem to give two shits either way. He’s more concerned about consolidating his forces and defending the Texas border.”

  “Does this guy have any idea how much panic the sudden withdrawal of his troops is going to cause? If he’s looking to downplay this, he’s making the exact wrong move!”

  “You and I know that, Jason. That jerkoff doesn’t seem to understand it though. Either that or he just doesn’t give a damn.”

  “Okay, screw ‘em. I need you to get back on the horn and set up a meeting between myself and the nearest regional leaders. Jim Calvert, Wayne Martin from over in Winnemucca, and anyone else who can be here tonight. This is of UTMOST importance. Since Austin is collapsing in on itself, it’s going to be up to us to get through this. Do that for me, would you?” I asked.

  “Yeah, I’ll do that,” he pushed himself out of his chair.

  “If I have to go to them, we can do that too. Either way, we gotta come up with a strategy on this.”

  “I’ll set something up,” he promised as he headed for the door. I turned back to the radio and dialed in the frequency I wanted. After a moment’s hesitation, I depressed the transmit button.

  “Colonel Tyler Banks, do you copy?” I’d barely let off the button when the reply came back

  “Go for Colonel Banks.”

  “Please send Colonel Banks my regards. This is Colonel Jason Sterling calling.”

  “Does this Jason Sterling have any relation to another Sterling we know?” the voice asked.

  “Yes. Jack Sterling is my father,” I replied. There was a moments silence before another voice came on the radio.

  “Jason, Tyler here. What’s your location and ETA? We can send out the welcome wagon.”

  “Actually, I’m sitting in my security shack. Can you go encrypted?”

  “Yeah, switching over,” he replied. I reached up and flipped the switch to encrypt my transmissions. “You there?” he asked a second later.

  “I’m here. Listen, I don’t have a lot of time to explain myself, but I have a question for you.”

  “Well, you’re gonna have to make some time, Sterling. I’ve got some questions for you too.”

  “Alright, Tyler. Let’s clear the air. What do you want to know?”

  “Is Jack there?”

  “No, he’s not. He was, but he escaped and left both of my sisters behind.”

  “What’d you do, arrest him?”

  “That’s exactly what I did.”

  “Did he haul ass back to Fortuna?”

  “Fortuna’s been destroyed. No, he headed to LA.”

  “What do you mean? Fortuna’s been destroyed?”

  “They were attacked by an unknown force and the entire compound was destroyed. Looks as if there were no survivors,” I was greeted by silence from the radio. “You still there?” I asked.

  “Yeah, I’m here. How do you know it was destroyed?”

  “We’ve got satellite photos. Kari and Isabella confirmed that it was the compound in Costa Rica. I’m sorry,” again, a long pause.

  “What did Jack tell you about the Ambrose ranch?” he questioned.

  “Not much. He said that he hadn’t heard from you since the night of the EMP. He said that your ranch was unfinished and only had a skeleton crew. He told me that he figured the Ambrose site was lost.”

  “That lying sack of shit!” Tyler blurted out. “Yeah, we had a crew of eight there the night the lights went out. Yeah, our radio was damaged, and it took us two months to find the parts to fix it. That ranch was fully operational, all we needed was a crew to run it. I can’t believe that guy! I talked to him four months ago!”

  “Is Ambrose still operational?”

  “It’s mothballed right now. It was too far out of town to do any good, so I locked the place up and we moved into Ambrose with all the supplies. Why?”

  “Listen, Tyler. I’ve got too many people inside my walls. If I send some of them your way, with all the supplies they can haul, can we work something out?”

  “Why the sudden interest?”

  “It’s.... It’s complicated, Tyler. Trust me on this one though, you might be happy to have the extra manpower.”

  “I don’t know you, Jason. So, when I say this, it’s not meant as disrespect toward you, personally. It’s just that I have a real hard time believing or trusting anything that comes out of the mouth of a Sterling. I’ve gotten burned and I ain’t too keen on sticking my hand back in the fire. Know where I’m comin from?”

  “I get it, Tyler, I really do. I need you to listen to me for a minute. At this point, I need to be kinda vague, but I know a little of what I’m talking about, okay?”

  “Say your piece.”

  “Hunker down your troops. If you’re working out of the town of Ambrose, hunker that place down too. Lay in enough supplies to get you and your people through a fairly prolonged period. There won’t be any help coming from Texas and you’ll need to be very leery of travelers. More to the point, sick travelers. There’s a storm coming, a darkness like none of us have ever witnessed.”

  “You know this, how?”

  “I’ll be honest, I’m not 100% sure it’s coming, but my gut is telling me it is and I gotta listen to that.”

  “Something to do with Jack?”

  “Yeah,” I sighed, there was a long silence across the airwaves.

  “Alright, Jason. Colonel to Colonel, I’ll take your advice. If you come up with something concrete, I want to be at the top of the list to know, got it?”

  “I got it, Tyler. One more thing; I’m no Jack Sterling. I think that’s something we can both be thankful for.”

  “Yeah, let’s hope your right. Banks, out,” he signed off. I sank back into the chair.

  “I pray I’m wrong about what’s coming, Tyler. For all of us,” I muttered to myself.

  CHAPTER 22

  Tuesday, September 5th, 2017

  The ARK.

  Melissa yawned and stretched all at the same time. The rumbling from her stomach was loud enough to actually hear in the empty control room. She pushed herself away from the laptop and stood from the chair. She stretched again to help relieve her tense muscles. When she glanced at her watch, she realized she’d been sitting in front of the computer screen for over four hours.

  She’d learned a lot about the ARK’s. The name dropping in the files she was sorting through was pretty fantastic. Even better, attached to each personal dossier was a photo to go with the name. That would be invaluable when it came to run these people down. That was a hope she still clung to anyway.

  She’d also found the files that detailed the entire layout of the ARK’s. She was particularly interested in this one. It was indeed the largest of the twelve at 10 levels underground. Level 10 was the engineering level. It housed all of the electrical generation units, fuel, machine shop, air circulation equipment, water storage and battery room. Basically, everything needed to keep this place running was located down there. It was the biggest level, by far.

  She found out what she wanted to know about the biological weapons too. It was almost more than she could handle. Not only was the file filled with the clinical data, it contained grotesque images from their human trials. Open bleeding lesions all over the body. Bleeding from every orifice. Once contracted, the virus could take up to a month to even present symptoms, but the infected person was a carrier the entire time. After the onset of symptoms, it could take up to another week to kill its host. In the end, a person would basically bleed out as their internal organs failed. There were documented cases of brain matter l
eaking from the ears and nose.

  She concluded that if she ever contracted it, a bullet in the brain would be the outcome. Not some slow horrible death in a hospital bed. No, she’d never let it come to that for herself or anyone she cared about. Better to keep one’s dignity and end it quickly. No suffering.

  If that kind of death wasn’t bad enough, what was worse was the amount of time the virus could stay viable in the air or on a surface. Exposed to the air, it could last up to 96 hours depending on the heat and humidity. If you were a carrier, it could be transmitted through sweat, a sneeze or cough or blood contact. It was one nasty son-of-a-bitch these people had created.

  She continued to search the structural records for the ARK. She was looking for the storeroom where the vaccine was kept when she ran across the communal dining hall on level 4, her stomach started rumbling, and she really needed to eat. She sighed, closed the laptop and headed out of the control room. Once inside the elevator, she punched the button that would take her to the mess hall. She was a little taken aback when the doors opened. Captain Boone and all of his men had already made themselves at home.

  “Did ya smell Sharkey’s fine cuisine from downstairs?” he joked with her. Whatever it was this Sharkey fella was cooking smelled good enough to intensify the noises her stomach was making.

  “No, but I hope it tastes half as good as it smells!” she said, picking up a food tray and stepping to the cafeteria style food line.

  “It’s rehydrated shit on a shingle,” the burly man behind the counter said, dropping two pieces of toast on her tray and covering it with gravy and meat. At least she hoped it was meat. On the side, he scooped some peach halves out of a large can.

  “Can I have a little more, please?” she asked hesitantly.

  “Little lady, you can have as much as you want!” he dropped another piece of toast, another scoop of meat and gravy and another scoop of peaches. “There’s seconds if’n ya manage to shovel all that down.”

  “Thank you,” she nodded her appreciation and headed for the silverware tray.

  “HEY!” he shouted. When she turned, she realized he was yelling at the other men. “See! That’s what manners looks like ya mutt’s!” that got a round of laughter from the table where everyone was seated.

  She retrieved her silverware and cloth napkin and sat next to Captain Boone. He scooted his empty tray over a little to make room for her. She saw Captain Boone take the last swig from his coffee cup and realized she had nothing to drink.

  “Is that coffee?” she eyed the empty mug.

  “Close enough. Mugs are over there,” he pointed. “It’s in the first carafe,” she stood from the table again, picked up his mug and went to the table with the coffee carafes and mugs. After filling one for herself and refilling his, she returned to the table.

  “Thank you, Captain,” she took her seat.

  “Call me Nate. You’re Melissa, right?”

  “Yeah,” she said around a mouthful of food. She took her time chewing; it bought her time to think. “Well, Nate. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

  “Melissa, I’m one of those guys that’s kinda direct. So, can I ask you a question?” he asked after shaking her hand.

  “Of course.”

  “Well, you seem like a really nice girl, how in the world did you fall in with a guy like Jack?”

  “Oh, I’ve known Jack for a long time. I was working at his ranch north of here. How I ended up here, well, that involved him knocking me out and dragging me along for the ride,” she took another bite of food.

  “That sounds about par for the course with him,” he took a sip from his mug while she chewed. “You must know Tyler then?”

  “Who?”

  “Tyler, Tyler Banks. If you were working at Jack’s ranch, he would have been your boss, right?” suspicion edged his words.

  “Names not ringing any bells. Jacks son, Jason was my boss. Who’s Tyler?”

  “He’s an old Army buddy of mine and last I heard, he was still in charge up there,”

  “Might want to check your Intel, Nate. Jason’s been running the ranch for a couple years now. Since before the EMP hit.”

  “Impossible! I went to Ambrose three months ago. I had some home brew on Tyler’s front porch. Next day, he flew me over to Dickerson to show me around. By the way, Jack’s got two daughters, not a son....”

  “Whoa, big guy!” Melissa set her fork down. “First, I don’t know where the hell this Ambrose place is that you’re talking about, and I don’t know no Tyler Banks. Second, Jack’s got two sons AND two daughters. Jason and Braden are quite a bit older than Isabella and Kari! I’m talking about the ranch just outside of Elko, you know, Nevada, planet Earth! The ONLY other ranch I know about is down in Costa Rica!” she had the full attention of everyone at the table now. He leaned back in his chair and locked eyes with her.

  “Apparently you’ve been privy to a lot more Intel than I.”

  “Apparently,” she picked up her fork and began to eat again.

  “How did you know about Kari and Isabella? Fortuna?”

  “I’ve been to Fortuna. It was a while back, before the pulse, but I’ve been there. Kari is my, well, she’s my girlfriend. Both of them are at the ranch, the Elko ranch,” she could see the dismay on Nate’s face. “It seems we have each other at a disadvantage with our collective lack of Intel. You tell me about Ambrose, and I’ll tell you about Elko. Fair enough?” she asked.

  “You swear you don’t know about Ambrose?” he asked.

  “The only thing I know is that Jack told me you were going to a place called Ambrose, at least some of you were. Other than that, I don’t know shit,” he studied her as she began to shovel food into her mouth again. Her eyes were darting from face to face of the people seated at the table. By now, Sharkey had joined them. “Where’s Ruiz and Wilcox?” she suddenly stopped eating and asked.

  “I thought they were with you,” he stated.

  “No, I haven’t seen ‘em since we got here,” she replied. He sat up in his chair.

  “Find those two, now!” he ordered his men. Every one of them pushed back from the table and double timed it toward the elevator. Sharkey took his food tray with him.

  “That guy doesn’t miss a meal, does he?”

  “Nope,” he grinned. “Now, tell me about Elko, if you don’t mind.”

  Melissa spent half an hour at the table with Nate. She learned that Tyler Banks and Nate Boone served together as Army Green Berets. That all came to an end when the chopper they were riding in was shot down in Afghanistan. Both men had suffered career ending injuries. Not the type to sit on their behinds, after a year of recovery and several surgeries, they put the word out in the private sector that they were looking for work.

  Both men were hired by Jack himself. While Nate was working ARK security, Tyler had been hired to run the security forces at the Ambrose ranch. Jobs that both men knew well and took seriously. Many of the people Jack hired to work at either place had, at one time or another, worked with Nate and Tyler in the military. When it came to hiring more manpower, Jack gave them a free hand to hire who they needed and wanted. Money was never an issue.

  Nate had expressed to her that Jack had changed a lot after the death of his wife. Before that, he had a temper and he could bullshit his way out of any sticky situation. Now, it was like he was always looking for a fight and he’d pull a gun instead of trying to de-escalate problems. She agreed with him whole-heartedly. He left her with a warning; don’t underestimate Jack’s propensity for violence.

  She grabbed another cup of coffee and took the elevator back to the control room. The entire time she was thinking about what Nate had said. Would Jack really consider hurting her if he felt she was a threat? She found the thought chilling. She slipped into the chair where her laptop was, opened the screen and picked a new file to browse through. It was named, appropriately, Project End Game.

  This section laid out how many container ships were to be used, their regi
stries and all of the information on each ship and each crew. The missile systems they were equipped with appeared to be Russian in origin. Each ship carried six containers that had four of the Kalibr cruise missiles. That gave them a total loadout of 24 cruise missiles per ship. It took her a second to comprehend what she’d just read. With 24 ships originally, that was 576 missiles tipped with High Explosive warheads!

  “Wait....” she whispered to herself. “That can’t be right,” HE warheads? Jack said the ships launched the EMP nukes. She continued to read and when she got to the part about the chemical weapons, she was sure her heart was going to stop. Each ship carried the same amount of cruise missiles, 24 each, equipped with biological dispersing warheads.

  With only 20 of the ships left, that meant there were still 480 biologically equipped cruise missiles. Their payloads were small on their own but fire off 480 cruise missiles into population centers and the effect was sure to be catastrophic. “Holy shit....” she muttered quietly. Sitting back in her chair, she sipped her coffee for a minute.

  After contemplating the consequences if they failed to destroy those missiles after launch, she set her cup down and went back to work. She found the sub-file that held the locations for the ships point of launch. She opened it and found the exact coordinates from which they were to launch. Now she knew exactly where the ships were headed.

  Under that sub-file was another marked “Real-time Payload”. She opened it. The screen divided itself into 24 squares. Each square had the corresponding name of the ship it represented. Four of the squares were blacked out representing the ships that had been lost. She found that if she clicked on one of the tiles, not only would it bring up the available payload, there was live video overlooking the cargo deck.

  At first she couldn’t figure out how that was even possible but quickly realized, once the power came back on in the ARK, it began to receive the images via a satellite link. That’s how Jack had given the ships their orders to move into position. The thing she found most troubling was each ship was still showing a full payload. All of the High Explosive and chemical warheads were accounted for. “What the actual....” she mumbled, not finishing her sentence.