Just north of us, about a mile away, there used to be a big condo and townhome community. Now it is empty, for the most part, and falling apart. Homeless people, gangs, criminals, terrorists, and other dangerous people have taken it over. They would like to take over our island and homes but we won’t let that happen. Some in small groups of five or six have already tried to come here over the bridge or gain access by boat. They all died trying so they don’t try any more.
After the battle, most of us went down to the bar for a beer and a lot of people gathered around us and wanted to know what had happened. Everyone was worried but they were all happy we weren’t hurt. I hate having to tell a story over and over again, but Mark likes to tell stories so we all just let him tell it in his own way, which can be quite funny most of the time, but not always accurate.
The slaves were checked out by Doc Scott at our clinic to see if they needed medical assistance. Doc said they just needed food and water. Several families who had no kids stepped up to the plate and volunteered to take them in, including the older woman. They are all in good hands now.
We could hear gunfire coming from the condo area and guessed that the same gang that was just here was engaging with the criminals now living in the condos. With any luck they would kill each other off. It was dark now and we wondered what would happen next.
What will we do tomorrow?
April 18, 2025
Last night nothing happened except we heard continuous sporadic gunfire. We left ten people on guard at the bridge, figuring that would be enough until others could arrive. I don’t think anyone slept well, worrying about what would happen the next day. I dozed off a few times, getting about an hour of sleep. My whole family slept together that night. We took turns serving a two-hour guard duty just in case.
Ron, Tommy, Robbie and I drove down to the bridge around 7 am after a great fried fish and orange juice breakfast. Rick was there, it seems he spent the night on guard duty.
I asked Rick, “Anything new?”
Rick replied, “Nothing, you can only hear gunfire every now and then. Jack, I am sorry about yesterday; you were right and I will back you up that they were making a move for their guns.”
I stated, “I don’t think anyone is going to put me in jail for killing two bad guys, so forget about it.” I think Rick chose to pull guard duty all night because he was sorry for chewing us out over killing the two dorks.
I suggested, “Rick, let’s have a meeting to decide what we’ll do next. We can’t let a force of thirty armed people control our one and only way out of here for very long.”
Rick asked, “Who do you think should attend the meeting?”
Eddy, who was standing there with us, said, “How about the head of each security team, the Board, and anyone else who wants to attend.”
Rick said, “That’s what I was thinking, please pass the word to meet in two hours.”
Eddy has three main jobs, brewing beer and wine, growing pot, and pulling security duty. Ed used to be a full-time brewer of beer in the big city. Everyone likes Ed’s beer so he is a popular guy. Ed likes pot more than anyone and once he starts smoking he becomes very weird. I don’t know who is crazier, Eddy or Mark. Anyway, Mark and Ed have the pot under control and get along just fine. Ed won’t tell anyone how he makes beer, keeping it a secret for some reason, maybe to make himself more popular or to feel needed. Ed is married and his wife does a lot of the farming in our community garden.
We have six security teams made up of 16 people each for a total of 96 people who can shoot. Each team has a team leader, meaning six people in the meeting plus the five Board of Directors which is made up of Rick as President, me as Vice President and Director of Security, Steve as Treasurer, Robbie as Member at Large and Bill as Secretary. The Security Team Leaders are Police Bob, Army Mike, Navy Ron, Marine Tommy, Deputy Matthews, and Big Steve, using the nicknames that everyone calls them. Rick would put up a notice at the town hall that anyone could attend the meeting but the final decisions would be made by the Board.
At the meeting, we decided to do a recon of the area to see just what this gang was up to and exactly where they were located in case we needed to attack them. The recon would be conducted by Tommy and me. If my son was going then I was going with him. Tonight would be perfect for this surveillance because there was no moon and the darkness would provide us excellent cover. Tommy was a Marine Scout Sniper and an expert at doing recon so I relied on him as we got ready, suited up, checked our weapons, gear, put on our camouflage paint, bulletproof vests and then duck-taped anything down that made noise.
We had about a mile to go to reach our destination with fairly good cover. The bad guys could be waiting along the way or lying in the brush watching us. Either way it would be dangerous. We drew a map and made a plan with set meeting points in case we became separated from each other.
Once we crossed the bridge and were beyond the car roadblock, we had to cross an open space of about 300 feet. The plan was that Tommy would take the west side of the road and I would take the east side of the road. That way if one of us was spotted we could set up a crossfire and cover each other. A line of trees and heavy mangroves on each side of the road would provide cover most of the way to the first buildings.
We crossed the bridge at 3 am, as the best time to sneak around is 2 to 4 am. That is when most people are in deep sleep. I was moving down the east side and Tommy down the west side of the road on the edge of the shrubs and mangrove trees. I could hardly see Tommy in the moonless night. He was about 100 feet across the road from me. We each had a radio to stay in touch. Clicking the transmit button three times meant stop and five times meant go. With this signal, the radio would hiss a static soft clicking noise. No talking unless it was necessary.
As we got within 400 yards of the first building I saw a person sitting on the edge of the road in a chair. I clicked three times to Tommy and he stopped. Using my night vision I saw this guy was asleep or had his eyes closed. I clicked five times to go. While Tommy proceeded I aimed my AR15 9mm at the guard’s head. After Tommy was clear, he would cover me.
I had to pass within twenty feet of this guard. I held my breath and watched where I was walking so as not to make any noise, creeping along step-by-step until I was about one hundred feet past him. It was time for Tommy to cross the road over to my side, since the view was better on the east side of the street. Tommy slowly crawled on his belly across the road taking about 15 minutes, while I covered him. So far, so good, we had not been spotted.
I whispered to Tommy, “I think these guys are in one of the big four-story buildings and may have a shooter on the top floor. It’s probably the one near the road.”
This complex had about ten big buildings with two near the road, one on the east side and one on the west, so maybe they were in both buildings. As we sneaked around the buildings, keeping near the plants for cover, we spotted their cars at the one building on the east side of the road.
Tommy said quietly, “I want to go inside.”
I replied, “Negative, too dangerous. Let’s go back, we’ve got enough information.”
Tommy nodded and we started back.
As we approached the guard sleeping in the road, he suddenly woke up when an owl screamed in the night. He stood up and I froze about 30 feet away from him. Tommy was on the other side of the road out of sight. I clicked three times on the radio. The guy looked around dazed and then he saw me on the edge of the mangroves and jumped to reach for his AK47. I popped him with my AR 9mm carbine three times, which of course made three loud bangs. He was no doubt dead, as I never miss with my AR15 9mm. It shoots like a BB gun with very little recoil.
We both started to run for the bridge, keeping close to the overgrowth. Tommy would run ahead about 50 feet since he was faster than me and then stop and look back, aiming his rifle to provide cover fire.
We were about halfway back and Tommy shouted, “Dad, keep running to the bridge, I will cover you. They’re coming
in a car.”
I was so out of breath I couldn’t speak or reply to him, but my brain was working overtime. I turned to see one car coming. That meant possibly three or four men.
I stopped, trying to regain my breath and replied, “Don’t shoot, hide until they pass you. I am running in the middle of the road so they can see me.”
“Ok, Dad,” yelled Tommy.
I thought I could run faster on the road than in the dirt. I can make it. My hope was if they saw me in the road then they would drive right past Tommy, who was hidden in the mangroves, come after me and then we’d have them in a trap.
I knew Ron and Robbie would be there with more men and we would kill them if they came within range. I was huffing and puffing, running at full speed, slower than a turtle it seemed, with 40 pounds of gear on me.
I was tired and ready to fall. I stumbled as I got to the first cars in the roadblock. Robbie and Ron were there to meet me. I stumbled falling to my knees; Ron raced out and grabbed me, half-dragging me back up the bridge behind a car. I laid there and puked, trying to gain control of my breath. I thought, man, I have to quit smoking.
I run three miles four times a week but running with all that gear on, a bulletproof vest, 100 rounds of ammo, rifle, pistol, water and heavy boots was difficult. I am too old for this shit.
The car got closer and gunfire was flashing from the windows. Ron, Robbie and about ten others started shooting, firing everything they had, and the car came to a screeching halt about 200 feet from us. Gunfire stopped coming from the car. One dope jumped out of the car and started to run back down the road, trying to get away. I don’t know how our bullets missed him as he ran out of effective range.
I got on the radio and called Tommy saying, “Bad guy coming toward you, take him out.”
A few minutes later we heard one shot, which means one kill if Tommy fired it.
The radio hissed, “Got him, Dad. On my way back. Did you guys kill the rest of them?”
“I think so but check the car on your way back.”
A few moments later, Tommy was jogging down the road and he stopped at the car, pulled out his Glock 9mm, and started shooting into it. He pulled the bodies out of the car and dragged them to the edge of the water. Hopefully the high tide would wash them out to sea.
Driving the car full of bullet holes over to us, Tommy said, “Some of those assholes were still alive but not now. I got us some more guns and ammo; here are three AK47 rifles and ten mags of ammo.”
“Good job,” I said, and I thanked God we made it back.
“What do we do now? They’ve still got us blocked in,” Rick asked.
Tommy replied, “I have an idea; we have killed another five dope heads, cutting their numbers down to less than 30 men. I suggest we snipe them to kill more and after they lose another 10 or 15 guys, they may give up and leave. We don’t need to go after them and breach the buildings. I can kill them at 700 yards away. That way we stay safe.”
I replied, “I don’t mind fighting in the open but going into their secured buildings is another matter.”
We needed hand grenades and the Rangers gave us a boxful but breaching a building is risky and an easy way to get killed. I didn’t want any of us to get hurt, let alone killed. The idea was to take out the bad guys and not end up dead in the process. We’re not trained for breaching buildings. Tommy’s idea was a good one and everyone agreed with it.
I asked Rick, “Can Tommy use your Cobb 50 to shoot right through the buildings?”
Rick said, “Yes, but I don’t want to use all the ammo. I’ve only have 200 rounds.”
A 50 caliber armor-piercing round will go through a car engine so blowing through a concrete wall is not a problem.
Tommy, the expert in this said, “Here is the plan; the shooting platform will be the back of my pickup truck. This way we can get the hell out of there quickly if needed. I will take the Cobb 50 and my sniper rifle for easy window shots. Just give me ten rounds of 50 cal. I would like two people for added protection armed with ARs; they can watch for men who may try to sneak up on us. I need another person for a spotter to scan windows and ground areas for targets to hit. If we do this once or twice a day we can kill ten more of those jerks. This will demoralize them and they will give up and leave. I want Robbie, Eddy and Amy for a spotter.”
We all agreed and Tommy made ready his Toyota four-door, four-wheel drive Tundra pickup. Tommy thought it important to hit them right away as they might not be expecting it and would be looking for the four men we just killed. Robbie and Eddy would go with him for security and my daughter Amy would be his spotter.
Amy knows how to shoot and spot. She is an excellent shot and can handle any gun better than most men. Tommy and Amy are close and they think alike so she was the perfect choice but I didn’t like putting her in danger. She is my little girl even if she is thirty-five years old.
I was wishing someone else had the balls to go, as I was just too tired. Another reason I didn’t want her to go was that she was a nurse, an RN, and she was valuable to the whole group.
They started loading up the guns, ammo, gear and water, when all of a sudden, we heard a lot of rapid gunfire coming from the other end of the island called, “NO MAN’S LAND.”
The radio crackled, “We are under attack, send help ASAP!” called Army Mike, who was on duty with three other men at the edge of NO MAN’S LAND.
APRIL 19, 2025
It was dawn when Mike’s radio call came in.
On the radio to Mike, I asked, “How many are you fighting?”
He replied, “About ten men and they came by boat and flanked us. We are between the four cars blocking the bridge. They are behind us in the toll booth and on the west side of the bridge. This is a serious situation and we could all be killed, you have to act fast.”
Getting back on the radio, I told the other guards, “Watch for any boats; if they come within shooting range, shoot to kill. Mike, we are on the way. Everyone else be alert, at the ready, in case we need help.”
Tommy, Eddy, Robbie and I were set to go. I asked Amy, “Please sit this one out.”
She got out of the truck and we all jumped in. I could see Amy was disappointed not to get in the action, she is pretty much fearless.
As we were leaving Tommy told Rick, “Keep an eye on this bridge in case they try to attack here again.”
Good point, this could be a two-pronged attack so we would be fighting on two fronts at once, which was not good.
Tommy shouted, “Everyone ready? Here we go!”
Tommy punched the gas and the 5.7 liter Tundra burned rubber for a few feet, as the truck sped forward.
Our island has two bridges, one on each end. The island is about one mile wide and two miles long. The main bridge in is an old-fashioned Bascule double-leaf drawbridge that can open and close by rising in the middle. This is the only way onto the island from the mainland, unless you come by boat.
The other bridge goes to No Man’s Land, which use to be a county park with beaches. It is also an island and has no connection to the mainland. No one lives there except a few homeless people who have a trailer and want to be off the grid. There are five of them who help us tend the crops we grow there. In turn, we give them part of what we grow and also provide other foodstuffs. These people are harmless and have no weapons but will tell us if someone lands there by boat. We patrol NO MAN’S LAND everyday because we also hunt rabbits and fish there.
Speeding down the road, I told everyone in the truck, “Listen up. Mike and his three guys are trapped between the four cars on the bridge. The bad boys are at the toll booth and on the west side of the road. I suggest we stop and approach on foot from about 200 yards away so they don’t see us.”
Tommy replied, “Sounds good to me.”
“Me too,” agreed Robbie.
No comment came from Eddy. Eddy didn’t like to fight and he needed more experience but he was willing to do his part.
I advised, “When we sto
p Ed, you stay behind and act as the rear guard, staying near the truck but watch for bad guys and don’t shoot us. I repeat, do not shoot in our direction. If you see anyone let me know right away, ok?”
Eddy, trying to sound military replied, “Roger that, boss.”
Tommy drove off the road close to the undergrowth as we pulled up to within 200 yards.
We jumped out of the truck and I pointed to some bushes on the side of the road and instructed, “Ed this is a good place for you to stay. Robbie and I will stay on the west side and take out the toll booth. Tommy you secure the east side and provide a flanking move, also attacking the toll booth. After we clear it we will find more dopers on the west side of the road near the bridge.”
Tommy answered, “Yes sir sounds like a good plan to me.”
In the now strong daylight we walked toward the toll booth on the edge of the mangroves. Tommy was on the east side of the road in the shadow of the trees caused by the rising sun. We could clearly see the enemy shooting at Mike’s team.
I radioed Mike, “We are here and are going to take the toll booth first and then go after the others.”
Mike replied, “Hurry up! Big Dan is hit bad.”
Tommy radioed, “Dad, I can see five guys and have a shot at all of them. Permission to fire?”
I responded, “If you got a clear shot, take it; kill them all if you can. Robbie and I will try to draw their fire.”
From where Tommy was he could see three sides, east, north and south of the booth, while we could see the west and north side. So no matter what wall they hid behind we could shoot them. Robbie and I found a small drainage ditch to hunker down in for cover and waited for Tommy to shoot. We heard two rapid shots and two guys fell. We started to fire at the three remaining men and they fired back at us, bullets slamming into the ground all around us and zipping overhead.
At this point they didn’t know Tommy was shooting at them. I heard another two shots from the 308 and Tommy called me, the radio hissing, “Dad, two more dead, that’s four now. The last man is running for the water.”
THE TOCABAGA CHRONICLES: (BOX SET - PART I - BOOKS #1-5) Page 4
