The Ranch

by Sean Liscom

  She walked over to look at the security monitors and found Jack once again in the cafeteria with his coffee cup and notepad. The pickup trucks and trailers that Nate and his men had loaded with supplies were still parked in the garage. Instead of using them to move the vaccine from the ARK, they used the six five-ton military trucks that were parked in the garage maintenance area. After the conversation with Jack earlier, they came up with a different plan to distribute the vaccine. What Jack had told them about the possibility of attack made perfect sense.

  She hadn’t even realized the ARK had the five-ton trucks until she was helping move the vaccine from the storage room. They pushed the rolling carts into the cargo elevator and took it to the garage level. The doors opened into the maintenance shop. It proved to be more expedient to load the five-tons rather than unload and reload the pickups.

  Nate and Sharkey had left in the two remaining pickups and headed to Lancaster. They were going to rally up their people and start transferring them to the trolley station at Devils Punchbowl. In fact, they should start arriving at the ARK just about any time. Nate promised to pick up the Jeep and bring it back to the garage. She was going to need it to make her run back to the ranch.

  After a quick trip to the restroom down the hall, she settled back into the chair she’d began to call her own. Her attention was on the three main screens. She couldn’t help but think of the destructive force each ship held on its cargo deck. Since the EMP, hundreds of millions of people had perished. For all she knew, that number could be in the billions. If allowed to unleash their weapons that number would pale in comparison to what would follow.

  Spurred by sudden curiosity, she moved to the laptop that Jack had been using, his pendant was still plugged into the side. As soon as she opened it, the screen came to life. It was showing the same scenes the main screens were. Moving the cursor to one of the ships, she clicked on it. That opened a drop-down menu showing all the vital statistics of each ships. The one stat that caught her eye was the destination and current location. She now knew the exact location of all 20 ships…

  “There IS another way,” she muttered to herself. Half standing, she looked to the security monitors. Jack hadn’t moved. “Good……”

  Tuesday, September 6th, 2017

  The Ranch.

  It was the sound of the running shower that woke me. I could see the wall clock through the barely open slits of my eyes. It may have been 6am and I may have gotten eight or so hours of hard sleep, but I felt like I could use at least eight more. I rolled onto my side and looked toward the cracked bathroom door. My right leg was stiff and sore. The black and blue bruise on my chest was tender to the touch. Oh hell, everything either hurt or was tender. I guess getting in a fight, getting shot and crashing an SUV will do that to a person.

  My beautiful wife opened the bathroom door, a small amount of steam escaping from the top of the doorway. She was completely nude, save for the towel her sandy hair was wrapped in. I took a moment to take in the soft lines of her abdominal muscles and the shape of the muscles in her legs. She turned to shut off the bathroom light and the chiseled muscles of her arm and back showed themselves.

  She was unaware I was awake, and I continued to watch her as she got dressed. It was impossible, at this point, to tell that she was pregnant. The reality of the situation set in when I watched her strap on her gun belt. It wasn’t long ago that I had told her we needed to move forward with our lives, we needed to keep living. I had to ask myself if I was wrong. Would any of us survive what I was sure was coming?

  I continued to watch her as she picked up her hairbrush. Brushing the tangles out of her hair, she pulled it into a ponytail and secured it with a hair tie. Watching the woman I love, the woman who was carrying my child, I’d made a decision. I would do anything, I mean anything, to ensure their survival. There was no cost too high.

  With that resolve set in my heart and mind, I realized that I was no longer the only person in the room observing. In the reflection of the mirror on the dresser, I could see her looking back at me. She smiled, put on her watch, checked her hair for any loose strands and then turned to face me.

  “Feel any better?”

  “Sore and still tired but I think I’ll make it,” I rolled onto my back again. “You’re beautiful, did you know that?”

  “Well, you’re still half asleep,” she moved to my side of the bed, leaned down and kissed me on the forehead. “Breakfast will be ready in about a half hour,” she brushed the back of her hand along my jaw when she stood back up.

  “I guess that means I should probably put on some pants.”

  “I don’t think anyone would care if you didn’t,” she laughed and headed for the door. She stopped just short of opening it. “Pants or no pants, you should probably take a shower though,” she pinched her nose, winked at me then left the room.

  The hot shower gave me time to think about the conversation that was going to happen a little later. It also gave me time to think about who I wanted to send to Ambrose. It wasn’t a decision that was easy to come to. It wasn’t even a thought I wanted to voice at the table, but what I was thinking made the most sense.

  I found myself loitering under the hot water a lot longer than I normally did. As the steam from the water lifted toward the ceiling, my heavy thoughts and clouded vision seemed to go with it. By the time I turned the shower off, I had a clear view and new determination of where I wanted things to go. Well, all of that and my sore, tired muscles felt immensely better.

  I went through the ritual of brushing my teeth, putting on some deodorant and pulling some clean clothes from the closet. When I pulled the zippers on my boots and clasped the buckle on my gun belt, I was confident in my plan. It was the first time in days, I felt like I was in total control. When I opened the bedroom door, I could smell the bacon and coffee wafting up from the kitchen. I looked up and came face to face with my brother. He was holding two steaming cups of coffee.

  “Hey,” he said, startled.

  “What’s up?”

  “Can we talk? I got something I want to run past you.”

  “I was just coming downstairs,” I offered.

  “I’d rather talk in private, if you don’t mind.”

  “Okay?” I opened the door farther and allowed him to pass into the room. He offered me one of the cups as he passed, and I closed the door behind him. “What’s this about?”

  “After you went to bed last night, I got to talking with Tyler.”

  “About?”

  “He said he needed an operations manager up at Ambrose....”

  “Yeah, he told me that too.”

  “I’ve thought about it, even talked to Megan about it and I think it should be me going up there.”

  “Oh,” I was a little shocked and it must have showed.

  “Listen, Jason. It’s the best option, for all of us, I think.”

  “But....”

  “Before you give me too much grief over it, hear me out. Okay?”

  “Alright.”

  “Tyler said he could take two teams from here. Give me Kari and Jeff’s teams. This is really something I need to do, bro,” he set his cup on the dresser and looked at me in the reflection of the mirror. “A while back, when I came here the first time, I asked you why you left home. Do you remember what you told me?”

  “I told you that I couldn’t live in your shadow, I was tired of being compared to you,” I recalled the conversation from the day in the meadow.

  “Well, the roles are reversed now. I need to leave here and strike out on my own. This is something I have to do.”

  “Is Megan okay with it?”

  “She said she’d be happy as long as I was happy.”

  “I see.”

  “I need this, Jason. I need to get out from under your shadow. I know you’ve told everyone here that were equals, but we’re not. You know it and I know it. Here, you’re the superstar and I’m just your brother. And to be quite frank, there’s too many
people with the same last name here,” he finished. I couldn’t help but think that he was right in so many different ways. I was a little relieved, too. I was planning on having this very conversation with him and I was prepared to make the hard sell on it. I wasn’t ready for him to come to me with it.

  “Why Kari? I understand Jeff, but why Kari?” I finally asked.

  “I want Kari because she’s a hardened leader. I know, she and Isabella are identical, but their personalities are so very different. They are just like me and you. She’d balance me out in a leadership role, just as Isabella would balance you.”

  “You’d have to leave here in the next day or so.”

  “I know. If you’ll give me your blessing, I’ll fly back with Tyler today. Megan and the girls can come up with the teams.”

  “It seems as if you’ve been giving this a lot of thought. Are you positive you want to do this?” I asked.

  “I’m positive,” he locked eyes with me, and I knew there would be no changing his mind. I also knew he was right. I knew he was making my decision easier. It was something he wanted, and it was something that needed to happen. Still, I’d just gotten my brother back and I was a little afraid to let him go again.

  “Alright, Ambrose is yours,” I said as I blew out a sigh of apprehension and relief. “Notify your teams and make any adjustments as needed. Not everyone is going to want to go to North Dakota.”

  “I know, already been thinking about that. Thanks, bro,” his face flooded with relief. He must have been ready to make his case to me. I don’t think he was expecting me to go along with it so easily. He surprised me with a hug that lasted for a couple of seconds. When he withdrew, he picked up his cup from the dresser and pointed toward the closed door. “Come on, let’s go have breakfast.”

  Tuesday, September 6th, 2017

  The ARK.

  T-Minus 7 hours until launch.

  Melissa took one last glance at the security monitor to see Jack still sitting in the cafeteria. He was still intent on writing on the notepad in front of him. Saying a silent prayer that he would stay there, she slipped into the seat behind the communications laptop and set her hastily scribbled notes next to it. She typed in the HAM frequency she wanted and slipped the headset over her ears. She adjusted the microphone until it nearly touched her lips.

  “Sterling ranch, Wolf actual,” she said referring to her team call sign. “Sterling ranch, Wolf actual. Emergency traffic, do you copy?” she unconsciously held her breath.

  “Wolf actual, Sterling ranch. We copy, can you authenticate?” came the response.

  “I don’t have time for that, Bill! I need to speak to Jason, now! I also have some coordinates you’re going to need, be ready to write fast, I don’t know how much time I have,”

  “Copy, go with your information. Jason, I need you down here, NOW!” Bill answered. She knew he was yelling into the intercom. She started reading off the sets of coordinates.

  I had just pulled out my chair after greeting the President and Tyler when Bill’s voice boomed from the intercom speaker. I bolted out of the dining room and down the stairs. Taking them two at a time, I sprinted for the door to the underground. The urgency in Bill’s voice was driving me to move as fast as possible. I burst into the security office to find him scribbling furiously on his notepad.

  “Repeat the last set,” he spoke into his mic and held a finger up signaling me to wait. “Copy that. I’ve got all 20. What types of weapons are we looking at?” he unplugged the earphones so I could hear the reply.

  “Each ship is equipped with Russian cruise missiles. The payloads are an even split of HE (High Explosive) rounds and biological warheads. Twenty-four of each in cargo containers on the upper deck. You’ve got about seven hours until they are all in position to fire. Jack plans on destroying them after launch but I’m not holding my breath it’s gonna work. Is there anything you can do to help?” Melissa’s voice spilled from the speaker. Picking up on the conversation, I grabbed the mic off the desk.

  “Melissa, Jason here. President Dixon will have this information in a minute. If anybody can do anything, she might. Are you okay? Where are you?”

  “Boss, I’m fine. I’m at the ARK. Captain Boone has sent six trucks out to distribute the vaccine we had here. I’ll be bringing back enough for the ranch plus a little extra. I’m praying we don’t need it, but I’ve got it just in case. There’s more though; the ARK has sent out sleeper agents to cause as much trouble as they can. They are going after leaders and infrastructure. You need to get that warning out too!”

  “Copy that, we already know about the sleeper agents. Where are those trucks headed and where’s Jack?” I asked.

  “He’s here, in the cafeteria. There’s two teams that headed out. Three trucks and four men in each team. One team is headed north, up the I-5 corridor and the other one is headed toward Las Vegas. They are running the same five-tons that we use at the ranch.”

  “Do you have the frequency they’re using? I’d like to get ahold of them and offer some assistance. They’re probably gonna need it.”

  “No, I don’t but I’ll see if I can get it from Captain Boone when he gets back. Listen, Jack doesn’t know I’m giving you this information. He hasn’t made any outright threats, but I’d like to stay on his good side. He’s been in a killin mood up till now and I would rather stay in his good graces, know what I mean?”

  “I know exactly what you mean! Only feed us information when it’s safe to do so. Don’t put yourself in jeopardy, we need you to make it back here.”

  “I’m watching him on the security monitors, and he seems content to write in his notebook and sip coffee, for now anyway. Can I ask you for one favor, boss?”

  “Name it.”

  “Is Kari close by? I need to talk to her,” she asked. I pointed to the intercom and Bill was calling her in an instant.

  “We’re getting her down here now. You said Jack was in a killing mood? Who did he kill?”

  “Some guy named Nigel when we spent the night in Deep Springs and he killed a woman named Blair along with her sidekick, Jerrod.”

  “Okay. What other intel can you give us on the ARK?”

  “This place is incredible. It’s ten levels and has a huge garage on the very top. It’s got everything you’d need to survive the apocalypse in high style. Jack gave me a laptop that belonged to the head dude, Ashton. It’s unlocked so I can access everything on it. I’m going to bring it back to the ranch because it’s got names and locations of everything. That includes the other ARK’s. It’s a treasure trove of information,” Bill held his hand out and motioned to the mic. I handed it over.

  “Melissa, its Bill. Does the ARK have a wireless network?”

  “Yeah, it does. Why?”

  “Is there any way you can link the laptop to the comms network?”

  “The comms are run by the laptop I’m talking to you on.”

  “Good! Can you wirelessly link the two of them together? If you can, I need you to transfer me all of the files on the master laptop. Can you do that?”

  “Ummmm, gimme a second,” a few moments passed before she spoke again. “Okay, what do I need to do to make this happen?” she asked.

  “They probably communicate with the other ARK’s via a satellite uplink. Can you find anything like that?”

  “I’m looking.... Yeah, found it. Now what?”

  “I’m going to read you some numbers, I need you to put them into the interface and make the uplink,” he quickly read her off a bunch of seemingly random numbers. “Did you get all that?”

  “I got it; it’s establishing the uplink.”

  “Okay, now I need you to wirelessly connect the two computers. Do you know how to do that?”

  “Yeah, I got it. I’m transmitting the data files now, shit,” she muttered. Movement on the security monitor caught her attention. Jack was getting up from the table.

  “What? What’s wrong?” Bill asked.

  “Jack’s on the
move,” she said as a breathless Kari burst into the office. Bill Immediately shoved the mic toward her.

  “Melissa?” she asked between breaths.

  “Mi amor, is that you?”

  “Sí mi amor! Are you okay?”

  “I’m fine, I’ve only got a few seconds. I just wanted to tell you I love you, I’ll be home soon,” she watched as Jack punched the elevator call button. A moment later the door slid open. “I gotta go!” the line went dead. Kari gave me a confused look. I spent the next couple of minutes explaining what was going on. She thanked me profusely for giving her the chance, however brief, to speak to Melissa. After she left the room, Bill called the President and Tyler to come downstairs.

  We briefed both of them on what we had learned, and Bill began to sort through the files as they were downloading to his laptop. It was a good bet Melissa hadn’t been discovered because the satellite link hadn’t been severed.

  “Bill, I need to use your laptop,” Jane said, moving toward him.

  “I need another 28 minutes to finish this download,” he replied without so much as looking up.

  “Bill, I need to get a hold of my people in Austin. We need to organize a first strike on those ships!”

  “Madame President, I don’t mean to be rude, but again, no. This is everything we’ve ever wanted and needed to know about the ARK’s. All of the ARK’s. There are personnel files here for every member of the ARK’s, all of their plans are here and so are all the technical details. Every damn thing we need is right here. There is nothing you can do or say in the next 28 minutes to alter any of what is going to happen at 2pm this afternoon. Unless you plan on launching nuclear weapons and if that’s your plan, God help us all,” he responded to her demand in his usual, cool and calm demeanor.