“And if the accident was a setup to collect insurance money? The so called victim decides maybe Colin wasn’t really aiming at him. That just maybe it was only a simple accident? Colin’s insurance pays off, they split the money, and go about their merry way. And if you refuse to bail him out, he will come gunning for your family when the charges are dropped and he gets out.”
“You can’t know that!” Angus replied, his voice much lower now. And a bit unsteady. “That… That… That just can’t be…”
“Has Junior seen a picture of the guy? In the paper or on TV, perhaps?”
“Um… No. He’s on a camping trip. He might have heard something on the radio, but I seriously doubt he’s seen any newspapers or TV about the accident.”
“I’d check with him. Just to see if he might have seen the guy, or perhaps Boots might have mentioned something.”
“Yes. Yes, of course. He should be home in less than an hour. I will Skype you back when I know for sure.”
Bandy nodded, shut off the laptop camera and closed the Skype session. This was not turning out to be a good day. China was making noises again about the US debt and talking about calling some of it, for partial or complete ownership in huge tracts of land in the US, as well as ownership of several vital commercial infrastructure businesses.
What Bandy didn’t notice was the announcement that nine of the fastest, most capable super-computers in the world were to be networked together, for the first time in history.
It was to be a real benchmark day. Even Communist China was adding her super computer to the multiple path link system required to provide adequate speed for the computers to talk to one another at full capacity.
It was not until the next morning, on the way to work, that Bandy found out the bad news. Angus sounded totally dejected when he called Bandy’s cell phone. “You were right. Junior didn’t know anything, but Julie-Anne called me and said there was something going on with the case. She wouldn’t tell me what, but she arrested the guy that was hit just a short time after you and I Skyped last night.”
Bandy heard Angus sigh. “The Sheriff almost came unglued when I told her I was going to post bail for both of them.”
“I’m not surprised,” Bandy said.
Angus sighed again, “Well, she calmed down a bit, when I explained a bit more of your plan.”
Bandy winced. He had hoped that Angus would not mention him other than in passing. Now Sheriff Broadhearst would be keeping him under a close eye anytime he was in the area, Bandy had not a doubt.
“What did Colin have to say when you bailed him out?” Bandy asked Angus.
“He didn’t even seem angry to have spent the night in the county lockup. He slapped me on the back, laughed, and one of his guys drove up and picked him up. I don’t know where the other guy went.”
“Okay. That is good,” Bandy said with a sigh of relief. “As soon as you can, let him know you have nearly completed the shelter. And show him what we have discussed, but not the additional features that were added.”
“I hate doing this!” Angus said his anger and disgust evident in his voice. “My family is in jeopardy, and I have to play buddy-buddy with this sleaze bag.”
“I know, Angus. But if we get lucky we could get him out of your hair sooner, rather than later.”
“I hope so. This little episode sure didn’t do it, and I thought it was in the bag.”
“You’ve just increased the trust. That will make things easier. When the time comes.”
“I just hope the time comes soon. So does Bob. This China thing has us both on edge. We might be getting ready just in time for something big to happen. I don’t want that weasel Colin anywhere near my family if we were to have to deal with something from the Chinese.”
“I feel the same way,” Bandy said his words heartfelt.
Angus could tell he meant it and relaxed slightly. Bandy had proven himself right on with everything he’d set up in the plan. So far. Angus just hoped the rest of the plan would work. Because Bandy had not said exactly how Colin would be taken out of the picture. Just that he would sometime before a crisis, or just afterwards.
It was another several weeks before anything else happened. China, Russia, North Korea, and Iran were all accused of cyber warfare by many of the western aligned countries. They were even accusing each other. It seemed everyone was beginning to have trouble with the internet, as well as satellite and other communications systems.
To top it off, the electrical grids all over the world were having problems. The only thing that seemed to be working well was the new Super Computer Network. The developers were asked to see if the powerful system could analyze the problems and come up with a solution. It had already solved a couple of tricky mathematical and scientific dilemmas and seeming conundrums. And the human genome was almost fully documented. Even aircraft scheduling and routing had been improved by the Super Computers’ amazing powers.
Bandy got his first introduction to the Super Computer Network while reading one of the Science and Technology magazines he read from time to time. “It certainly sounds good,” he found himself muttering. But there was just a little tingle of doubt in his mind. It would be some time before he realized just how prophetic that tingle would turn out to be.
But for the moment, with things slowing in the economy, mostly due to China’s efforts to manipulate the US stock and bond markets, Bandy asked for and received, again reluctantly, time off to go to Oklahoma. He would be taking the entire weekend before Memorial Day holiday, all the way through the following weekend.
There were a few last little details of the plan that he wanted to pass on to the two families, and incorporate into the two shelter systems and their backups. And Ana-Bella was going to be home that week, too. The oil drilling business was very slow, just like the rest of the economy, though more so through the efforts of radical environmentalists getting court ordered shut downs of several drilling operations than the economy.
Ana-Bella came down the Wednesday before the Holiday weekend and stayed in Bandy’s spare bedroom. Bandy familiarized her with his place, including all the disaster preps he’d made. And then, on Friday after Bandy got off from working yet another fill in shift, she helped him lock down and secure the place.
It was something he usually did anyway, but Bandy was especially careful this time to make sure everything would be just like it was when he left, when he returned. There was just a feeling in him that it was very important.
After only a slight hesitation, Bandy had Ana-Bella help him hook up the large three axle trailer to the truck. It was his pre-packed bugout trailer, for use when he might have to leave the home for a while due to some disaster that precluded him being able to shelter at home.
There was a slight smile on Ana-Bella’s face when she asked Bandy, after he’d gone through the workings of the trailer and why he had it, “You don’t consider me and my family to be a disaster you might have to get away from, do you?”
Bandy looked chagrinned and was about to disconnect the trailer when Ana-Bella touched his arm and laughed. “I was joking, Bandy! I know you are just on edge for some reason. I’ve been feeling the same way with everything going on around the world. Dad and Angus have both been doing some wheeling and dealing, even more than usual, due to it all.”
Bandy was curious to know what wheeling and dealing the two men had done, but it was time to leave, and with Ana-Bella in her own vehicle, and Bandy following in the truck with the trailer, the questions would have to wait.
Bandy didn’t even try to not stay at the Sheridan Ranch. He already had learned that lesson. Besides, it made it easier for him to do what he needed to do.
Bob more or less grabbed him after Ana-Bella and Bandy parked at the house, to give him the grand tour of what had been done to the place, “according to the plan,” as Bob put it.
“This has cost me a small fortune,” Bob said at one point. “But I’ve made some really good deals lately, and pretty mu
ch paid for it out of pocket. And it has all been worth it.”
Bob stopped just before they left the expansive shelter for the employees. “I haven’t been this worried since my days in the service, when I was privy to what the Soviets were doing back in the middle of the Cold War. That was scary. This thing with China is terrifying. I am so glad that Ana-Bella found you. You may just have saved all of our lives.”
Bandy, embarrassed at the raw emotion in Bob’s face and words tried to dismiss the worries, but Bob was not having it. Instead, he began to walk with Bandy through the short tunnel that connected the employee shelter with the family shelter.
“I want to show you a few things I’ve added, that weren’t in the plan. I started reading some of that Prep/PAW fiction you and Ana-Bella mentioned, and got some ideas.”
Bandy groaned. “Mr. Sheridan, some of that fiction has some good advice. I admit. I’ve taken some of it myself. But you have to be careful. Some of it isn’t all that good.”
“Oh, I was careful. I researched everything myself, just like you told us to do about every part of the plan we are implementing. I only followed the advice I decided was right for the Ranch, the employees, my family and me. With some thoughts for the community, as well.”
Already having learned to respect Bob Sheridan, his esteem went up another notch or two at Bob’s words. If he was thinking of community, as well as his own family, then things, if they got bad, wouldn’t be quite as bad as they might be, without that kind of thinking and preparation.
Bob frowned then. “Angus has done much the same. And Colin really liked the idea. Of course, he plans to use the preparations as part of his takeover of the county when China attacks.”
“He’s convinced that China will attack? With nukes?” Bandy asked.
“Yes. Believe it or not, the man has something of a phobia about fallout and radiation. Angus found out that Colin carries one of those keychain radiation alarms. Apparently he has a Hiroshima survivor in his family tree. Not in the direct line, but by marriage. And she told him horror stories about the radiation and what it did to people.”
“That is interesting,” Bandy said thoughtfully. “I’ll have to remember that. It does explain a few things.”
“Angus said the same thing,” Bob replied. Finished with the tour, the two men went to the house and joined Magdalene and Ana-Bella.
“Well?” Ana-Bella asked expectantly.
Magdalene smiled and Bob looked proud.
“Your father… All of you have done a very good job. Above and beyond what I recommended. Things should…”
The lights went out and Bandy was reaching for one of his every day carry flashlights when they came back on.
“What do you know,” Bob said. “It works.” He looked over at Bandy. “I had that solar power system, wind turbine, battery banks, and those auto-start generators installed like you recommended. This is the first time they’ve been used for real.”
Bob looked thoughtful. “I wonder what took the power out. There isn’t a storm anywhere around, last I checked.”
“Probably some clown ran into another transformer,” Ana-Bella snorted. “That was what it was the last time, a couple of years ago,” she explained to Bandy.
Again that little shiver up the spine. “Let’s hope so,” Bandy said.
Ana-Bella and Bob both gave him a quick look, but Magdalene was turning away as she announced, “Dinner in about five minutes. Everyone wash up.”
It was enough to distract Bob and his daughter, so Bandy didn’t have to try and explain his cryptic remark. He was glad of that, since he really didn’t have any explanation for it.
The conversation at the dinner table was lively, with most of it about the economy, China, and the accusations flying about cyber warfare that were still being levied.
But then Bob and Magdalene began describing some of the improvements and business deals that they had been making, along with Angus and June. Bandy was both surprised and impressed. The two couples had taken large steps to ensure their future financial security, no matter what happened. Disaster or a return to more normal times, they were covered. As were their children.
They had been in good financial shape before, but it was all dependent on continued economic stability. And that was certainly no longer something one could take for granted.
Interestingly enough, Magdalene and Bob both made themselves scarce after only an hour or so in the study after dinner. That left Ana-Bella and Bandy there on their own. After watching her parents leave the room, Ana-Bella got up from the chair she was in and went over to sit down beside Bandy on the sofa.
“Bandy. What do you think is going to happen? Really. Your best guess.”
Bandy closed his computer and willingly took Ana-Bella’s hand in his when she made it clear it was what she wanted. “I really do not know, Ana-Bella. There are so many things that could happen. War with China is the most likely, of course. But there is that one guy on some of the forums…
“He has a list of over one hundred and eighty different things that people might have to deal with. He is a bit of a nut, but he makes some valid points. I don’t think some of the things he has on the list are realistic threats, and some of them are simply not survivable. But the point is we never know when there will be something totally out of the blue that we will have to deal with. From an asteroid impact, to, believe it or not, the proof of the existence of extraterrestrials.”
Ana-Bella laughed. “Space aliens?”
Bandy smiled. “Yep. Space aliens. Just the discovery that they are real. If they show up, that is a different set of circumstances. And even if they don’t exist, the belief that they do could be a problem at some point.”
“I suppose so,” Ana-Bella replied. “But for the moment I am more interested in Colin, the militia, and you. You are not going to go gunning for him or something, are you?”
Ana-Bella was getting a bit worried when Bandy didn’t answer for a while. But he finally did, after analyzing his true feelings about the situation.
“You know,” he said, “I’m a firm believer in the Constitution and what it was designed to do and be. That includes all of the original things, plus most, though not all, of the subsequent amendments.
“I know many preppers, survivalists, and the like use the Second Amendment to justify many things. But many of those would do much like some of the writers of Prep and PAW fiction. Just kill those that have wronged them, or pose a serious threat to them.”
Bandy paused. Ana-Bella wasn’t sure just where he was going with the conversation, but she squeezed his hand in silent encouragement to continue.
“Well, I believe that the Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth Amendments must be adhered to in the PAW just as much as the Second Amendment. The right to a trial, by judge and jury, without any cruel or unusual punishments, along with the other rights enumerated in those four Amendments, are just as important. Summary execution just doesn’t sit well with me.
“Now, in the heat of combat, or to prevent great harm, then reacting first I think is okay. Once the action stops, and someone is defenseless, then just shooting them is unacceptable.
Bandy paused and looked over at Ana-Bella. “So, the short answer is, no, I won’t go gunning for Colin. He will have to do something serious enough to provoke me into getting into any kind of fight with him.”
“Good,” Ana-Bella replied, squeezing his hand again. “I know it might come to it. But I didn’t want something like killing Colin in cold blood, or provoking a fight so you would be justified in killing him, weighing on your conscience because you were worried about me and my family, and the Longhammer’s.”
Bandy nodded, feeling better about himself. For he had considered provoking Colin into a fight. Until he thought through the entire thing as he’d explained it to Ana-Bella. He wasn’t a cold blooded killer. Nor a manipulator that could set someone up to die that way.
So the talk moved on to more mundane things. Like the economy, a
nd China, and the problems happening everywhere, just like the lights going out.
Suddenly the lights flickered again, but just for a moment. “I think we got power back,” Ana-Bella said.
“I think so. And, with that, I think I’d better get to bed. I’m getting just a little too comfortable here with you.”
Ana-Bella smiled. “Well, that is actually a good thing in my mind. But I do know what you mean. And I’m feeling the same way. So, if you will walk me to my room, I’ll say goodnight.”
“It would be a pleasure,” Bandy said, getting to his feet and pulling Ana-Bella up to join him. They were silent as they went up the stairs. And when they stopped in front of Ana-Bella’s bedroom door. But the silence did not preclude their first real kiss. It was serious and long, and both were a bit breathless afterwards.
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