Nodding as he passed the platter around, Matt said, “Yeah, it would be neat to have, but what for?”
“I’m going to put some plates on one of the UTVs so we can ride around with some protection,” Nelson said. “I also need to weld up a steel barrier for Gerald.”
“I need to check the fence line and the crops,” Bernard said, loading his plate.
Reaching over the table, Nancy grabbed a biscuit. “I would like to get up our air warning system,” she said.
Gerald looked around the table. “Okay, everyone takes care of side projects today, and we will continue on the preparations tomorrow since we are going out to get supplies tonight.”
Putting his fork and knife down, Nelson put his hands on the table and turned to Bernard. “We are bringing that mini excavator and track steer back,” he said in an even voice.
“We have an excavator, and my tractor can do anything that little skid steer can,” Bernard said as he took a bite. As he swallowed, he turned to Nelson. “They’re not green.”
Throwing his hands up, Nelson cried out, “Bernard, we used those Bobcats in the sand box. My God, if they can take GIs abusing them, they can stand up to anything.”
“We’re bringing back a combine,” Bernard said. “What do we need more equipment for?”
Shocked that Bernard left it open, Nelson just blinked. “That mini excavator can come in handy with digging small fighting positions, and it doesn’t use anywhere near the diesel the big one uses. The track steer can go where those tractors can’t, but there are five attachments at that farm for it,” Nelson finally mumbled.
“Bernard,” Michelle said, shaking her head. “They are good equipment. We watched the engineers abuse the hell out of them, and they always ran,” she said then cut her eyes at Nelson. “They never let him play on them. I suspect he has ulterior motives, but I can see the reasons why Nelson wants them.”
Satisfied, Bernard nodded. “We’ll bring them here then, but if they are delicate, we get rid of them and find green ones if we need them that bad.”
“I never thought I would see the day,” Nellie mumbled, staring at Bernard. “You’re letting equipment on this farm that’s not Deere.”
“If our troops used it, I’m willing to give it a try. Besides, Bobcat doesn’t make tractors, so I’m not being disloyal,” Bernard said with a serious expression. Gerald took a breath to inform Bernard that they did but saw the look Nelson was giving him. Wisely, Gerald kept his mouth shut.
After breakfast, Nelson headed to the barn. The destroyed Suburban still sat in the back of the barn as he walked over to the area where Bernard let him set up his machine shop in the far back corner. Taking off his vest and hanging up his AR, Nelson grabbed his tools and went to work.
As he worked, Nelson was shocked at just how fast it was possible to tear a car apart. In two hours, he had the body cut open and stacks of ceramic plates and sections of Kevlar off to the side. He called Matt to the barn and got him to help take out the three-inch-thick windows.
After lunch, Nelson went to work on the steel barricade Gerald wanted him to build. When it was done, he called Matt and Gerald on the radio. With their help, he moved it to the loft of the barn and placed it at the back loft door that looked out over the field.
“Gerald, what did you want a steel parapet for?” Matt asked, wiping his brow. “It may stop bullets, but the walls on this barn won’t. If I have to fight from the barn, I’m doing it from the ground.”
“I’ll show you. Wait here,” Gerald said, heading to the stairs.
They watched Gerald leave and just looked out over the field. “Your son is in love with Nancy,” Matt blurted out.
A grin split Nelson’s face. “Yeah, and she’s a good one for him to have a crush on. She’s smart and can kick his butt playing games.”
Matt laughed. “Yes, Nancy definitely has tomboy tendencies.”
“I’m proud of what she did,” Nelson said, staring out at the field as the cows walked around.
“Me too,” Matt said then sighed. “I just wish she would’ve given us warning.”
“No, it would’ve gotten hopes up, and if it didn’t work, it would’ve been bad for morale.”
Glancing over at Nelson, Matt thought about that then turned to look back over the field. “Yeah, that would’ve been a big hit to morale,” he said.
They just stared at the cows as they moved around in the field until they heard Gerald grunting up the stairs. Glancing over his shoulder, Nelson saw Gerald carrying a large wrapped object with metal tripod legs. Struggling to walk and carry the object, Gerald duck-walked over and set the object down behind the metal barrier Nelson welded together.
Grabbing the burlap covering, Gerald pulled it off, exposing a huge gun mounted on an arm with electric motors. Mounted beside the gun was a camera. “Made a remote firing station, so whoever is sitting in the command area can keep an eye out and use this to make attackers go somewhere else,” he said with a grin.
“Is that a SAW?” Matt asked, looking at the gun.
“No, it’s an M240, a bigger version of the SAW. It fires 7.62 instead of 5.56,” Nelson said as Gerald moved the tripod and noticed the gun had a suppressor mounted on the end. “You suppressed it?”
“Well yeah,” Gerald said, unwinding an electric cord. “In case we are attacked from two sides, I don’t want everyone to know there is hell up here.”
“I’ll get some hay and stack it in front of it,” Matt said, moving over to stacks of hay.
Gerald grabbed his arm. “No, I was thinking empty feed bags. This thing gets hot, and I really don’t want it being responsible for burning down Bernard’s barn.”
“Yeah, that probably would piss him off,” Matt said, going to grab some empty feed sacks.
Nelson screwed the legs down as Gerald plugged up the remote gun station and started checking it over. “Just have to get the cable for the video and controls hooked up and load it, and we are in business,” Gerald said with a grin.
When they were finished, Nelson hooked what was left of the SUV up to a tractor and pulled it out of the barn. Dragging it across the field, he pulled it to the very back of the property and as deep as he could into the trees.
Pulling the tractor back to its parking spot, Nelson shut it off and went to the FLYERs. Pulling the one with the GAU19 out, Nelson started going over the buggy. At the back was an extendable boom with a thermal camera mounted on top. Looking out the top to make sure the boom wouldn’t hit any branches from the oak tree he was sitting under, Nelson sighed, pulled the FLYER out more, and raised the boom up.
He looked over his shoulder as the boom telescoped up twenty feet. After playing with the camera for a few minutes, he lowered the boom back down and pulled back under the oak tree. Climbing up in the gunner’s seat, he turned on the GAU and pressed engage for the barrels to start rotating.
A smile split his face as he watched the three massive barrels spin. “I can kick Darth Vader’s ass with this and make him my bitch,” he chuckled. He practiced loading it and really wanted to fire the GAU, but that would let everyone in a six-mile radius know serious weapons were around.
Pulling the FLYER back inside, he went over to the other one with the mini gun. Nelson had used those in Iraq several times, so he left it alone after making sure it worked. This FLYER had a sniper detection system mounted on the back where the camera was mounted on the other one.
After playing with it for a while, Nelson walked out of the shed and saw Bernard raising a long ass pole with a birdhouse on one end. Looking at the other end, Nelson watched it slide in a hole as Bernard lifted the pole up using the bucket on the boom truck he used to work on the barn.
When the pole was up, Nelson noticed steel cables attached to it at various heights. He watched as Gavin, Adam, and Alex grabbed the cables, pulling them out, and grabbed a large rod, tapping it into the ground. Then Matt came over carrying a sledgehammer and pounded the rods in deep.
“What
do you think?” Gerald asked, walking up behind him.
“Why in the hell do we need birdhouses, and why do they need to be that damn tall?” Nelson asked.
Gerald laughed and grabbed his arm, pulling him to the front of the house then pointed to the side of it. Near the northwest corner of the fence was a pole with a birdhouse, but it was only twenty feet tall. In the back northeast corner was another birdhouse, but it was ten feet taller than the other one. “They have directional microphones in them. Birds can’t get inside; it’s just painted pegboard with holes. Because they are set at different heights, we can get a better location on the height of planes and helicopters.”
Nelson grinned. “A poor man’s radar.”
“Yep, acoustic detection,” Gerald laughed. “Tested it out, and Nancy could pick up planes and large drones twenty-two miles away, small drones at twelve miles, and swore she could tweak the system to go out a little further.”
Turning around, Nelson watched Nancy push over a wheelbarrow and dump concrete at the base of the last pole. “When will the command area be done?” Nelson asked.
“All outside cameras will be up tonight, and the cameras that we are mounting around the berm will be up in a few days. With Gavin helping her, Nancy is moving right along. I planned on the cameras being up six weeks after we started. Together, they will cut it in half.”
“What did Hank talk to you about yesterday when we dropped off the stuff we gave them?” Nelson asked, turning to look at Gerald.
“They are using a lot of gas, keeping their generator running to keep the freezer and fridge cold.”
“Cold storage is the difference between living easy or living hard,” Nelson nodded.
“Think we could help them?”
Nelson shook his head. “Dude, they aren’t getting our spares.”
“Hell no,” Gerald snapped. “I know you were looking at using alternators on cars as a possible backup.”
“Yeah, I have the plans in the cabin.”
“Think you could rig up something?” Gerald asked hopefully.
“That creek is really far from them. I’m sure they don’t have the wire needed to run back to the house,” Nelson said.
“They have a small stream that runs just north of the house that empties into the creek. I looked at it, but I have no idea if it’s enough water flow,” Gerald said, watching Nelson for any reaction.
Taking a deep breath, Nelson looked away from Gerald. “I’ll give you a list to give them. When they get the list together, I’ll come and see what I can do. I have to build a desk and shelves for your sister in the basement for the command area then wire it up with electricity. I have to weld up a thousand caltrops. Bernard asked me to make a tie rod for Hank’s broken tractor and see if I can come up with a battery bank for them so they wouldn’t have to run the generator so much, but I think I can mark that off doing what you want if they can get the stuff. Michelle wants our basement and all the storage containers organized this week so she can start an inventory.”
As Nelson paused to take a breath to continue, Gerald sighed, “Thanks Nelson. We need them to stay close.”
“I’m not doing all the work,” Nelson snapped. “I have more than enough to do here. I haven’t even got to what Matt and Nellie need me to do.”
“I know, and if they expect you to do the work, then they can leave, but we need people close that can fight. On the HAM last night, we heard two guys talking about a gang hitting a small town south of St. Louis. We need numbers, and the only way to do that is have people close.”
Nelson turned to Gerald. “It’s about time we start seeing what’s around and making life uncomfortable for any hostiles.”
“Yeah, but if we make too much noise, the feds will come here in strength, and we can’t fight strength from here; we’d have to leave,” Gerald said.
“Lay down, and they walk over us.”
Gerald grabbed his arm. “Dude, who do you think you’re talking to? I’ve been in so many shitholes around the world doing this I lost count a long time ago. I’ve done this before. I know how to fight this war. We are already making a bad mistake of staying in a static location when the other side has massive airpower.”
“We can’t leave, not with little ones,” Nelson said as Matt walked over, carrying his sledgehammer.
“That’s why we hit feds a long ways from here and just string up hostiles along the road to deter others,” Gerald said as Matt stopped beside them.
“How come I was chosen to drive those damn rods into the ground?” he panted.
Gerald looked at Nelson then back to Matt. “Because you’re the size of a house with arms bigger than my legs,” Gerald told him.
“She’s your sister. Next time, you get the sledgehammer,” Matt said, handing it over.
“I’m going to talk to Nancy and make sure we don’t need the sledgehammer for any more projects, and if we do, we need to make adjustments,” Gerald said, walking away with the sledgehammer. “We leave after supper.”
***
As the last rays of sunlight disappeared, Nelson climbed up into the gunner’s seat behind the GAU. It took him and Michelle to load the thousand-round ready box and stack cans of ammunition on the buggy. Michelle almost passed out when Nelson mounted a SAW on the swivel arm on the passenger door, especially since Gavin was going to be riding there.
When Nelson had told Michelle that he was letting Gavin come, she almost pulled her pistol and shot him. When asked for the reason, Nelson told her he was tired of loading shit and wanted more help. The only ones not coming were the babies, Olivia, and Brittney with Nellie to watch them.
Adam and Alex came over to see Gavin sitting behind the SAW, and their mouths dropped open. They were both carrying ARs like his with modified vests. Both had grown up around guns and even had ARs of their own before the feds came, emptied their home, and took them away.
Seeing the look on their faces, Nelson mounted a SAW on the swivel arm on both back doors and told the boys to climb in. Michelle just shook her head as she climbed in the driver’s seat.
“One is ready,” Nelson called over the radio.
“Two pulling up,” Gerald said as he pulled up behind the FLYER in Bernard’s truck. Bernard was in the passenger seat with his M14 hanging out the window.
“Three here,” Matt said, pulling up behind Gerald in his truck with an empty trailer hooked up.
“Four here,” Nancy called out, pulling up behind Matt in Nelson’s truck with Ashley beside her.
Reaching up to adjust his night vision goggles, Nelson flipped the safety off on the GAU. “Rolling out,” Michelle said over the radio. Nelson looked down at Michelle as she put the FLYER in drive and pulled out of their berm. “Nelson, if you shoot that damn thing, you better call out targets. I don’t want to shit my pants with that cannon going off over my head.”
Nelson laughed as she drove around the overturned truck roadblock. “Baby, if I get a chance to squeeze off a burst, I swear I’ll call it out beforehand,” he said and glanced at each of the boys. “I hope none of you boys have fingers on triggers,” he called over the intercom.
They, like everyone, else had radios and night vision goggles but were wearing headsets that allowed everyone inside the FLYER to talk via the intercom. “No sir,” each one responded.
“Nelson, did you load those SAWs?” Michelle asked with an edge to her voice.
Nelson grimaced as he pressed his transmit key. “Yes baby, I went over it with them. They know how to operate it. An unloaded gun is just a fancy club, babe.”
“We are talking when we get home,” she called back and glanced up at him.
Won’t be gettin’ any tonight, Nelson thought as Michelle sped down the road. It didn’t take long for them to reach the first farm. It was much bigger than Bernard’s and was the one that held the Bobcats that Nelson wanted.
It also had a nice machine shop. Nelson had bought all his equipment online, and he thought his equipment was top n
otch. Only two racks were on the barn wall that held metal stock in various shapes, sizes, and sheets. Nelson had wanted more, but that stuff started getting expensive, but for a private machinist, he was happy with his stock.
That was until he went into the building that was set up as a machine shop on this farm. The racks inside held metal by the ton, not pieces. The machine shop alone was going to take three trips just for the metal stock. Gerald insisted that they also take some of the machines as well, and when Nelson objected, Michelle almost passed out. In the end, Gerald won.
Michelle stopped out on the dirt road as the trucks pulled into the farm. “Boys, which one of you is staying with Mom?” Nelson asked, climbing out of the gunner’s seat.
“I am, Dad,” Gavin answered.
“Alex, Adam, let’s go,” Nelson said, jumping off. Bending his knees as he landed, Nelson turned around and pulled his AR off the top of the FLYER. Hearing a pneumatic pump, he turned to see the boom with the camera extending. “Let us know if you see something,” he said, jogging toward the farm.
“My God, look at the deer all over the fields,” Michelle gasped. “They aren’t out like that when I’m hunting.”
All the trucks were off, and Nelson heard a diesel engine fire up and saw the tracked loader move toward the machine shop. Hanging off the bucket were forklifts. He skidded to a halt when he saw Bernard driving the Bobcat into the machine shop. “All that bitching he did, and he’s driving it!” Nelson snapped.
Gerald walked over and grinned at Nelson’s open mouth. “Yeah, he’s driven them before—that one as a matter of fact,” Gerald laughed. “He told me as we were loading up he’s used both of them on the farm before. He wanted to go and buy the John Deere mini excavator and track loader but said each one alone cost more than one of his small tractors.”
Nelson stormed off toward the machine shop. “I’m going to give him a piece of my mind.”
Trotting after him, Gerald grabbed Nelson’s arm. “We got them, so just leave it alone,” Gerald pleaded.
Watching Bernard carrying out one of the full racks using the loader, Nelson nodded. “Yeah, loading that by hand would’ve sucked big time.”
Forgotten Forbidden America:: Patriots Reborn Page 17
