THE TOCABAGA CHRONICLES: (BOX SET - PART I - BOOKS #1-5)

by Thomas H. Ward

  Aamir and his men jumped into the old car and slowly drove away as I watched.

  Returning to the top of the bridge Tommy asked me,”Dad, where is he living at?”

  “I don’t know. Maybe I should have asked, but he didn’t reveal that. I wonder why. Well Tommy, what did you think of Aamir?”

  “To be honest I didn’t care for his cocky attitude and the way he talked to you. If he were not your so-called friend, I would have beaten the shit out of him for yelling at you. I don’t trust him. He seems very tricky. You asked me, so there you are. That’s what I think.”

  Tommy is 5 foot 10 inches of solid muscle and is a hard core trained Marine and knows every trick in the book for hand to hand combat. Yes he could have beaten the shit out of Aamir but it would serve no purpose. Since he was a Marine Scout Sniper he also is an excellent shot and knows his weapons. He is a good looking young man with blond hair and bright blue eyes.

  “Okay, thanks for the input and I agree with you. Aamir is not easy to understand and he always has had a chip on his shoulder. I don’t fully trust him either and certainly not with my life. Did you see the guy in the black hat and shirt?”

  “Yeah, what about him?”

  “Well he gave me the evil eye, like he wanted to kill me. I have seen that look before and I know you have too.”

  “Yup, he just gave himself away. I think he will be a problem.”

  My radio came on,”Jack, this is Sessions, the Colonel and I are going back to the Fort and will contact the General to make some kind of plan. Let’s meet at 0800 hours at the bar to discuss this before Aamir arrives at noon. Make sure Rick and anyone else you like are at the meeting.”

  “Okay, Captain, see you in the morning.”

  I was wondering how Aamir knew anything about al-Qaida. I wondered why he was keeping some secret. Where is the al-Qaida Army located and how many of them are there? It disturbed me that he was not more open with us since he wanted help so bad.

  One thing for sure, we will be fighting al-Qaida in the near future but the big question is when. I wondered who the guy was that gave me the evil eye in the black hat. We will find out tomorrow one way or another. I will ask Aamir.

  MAY 11, 2025

  Last night I radioed Rick, and the other Board members to meet at 8am at the bar with Colonel Turner and Captain Sessions to discuss the situation.

  Arriving at the bar, everyone was all ready there, along with Sergeant Cain. Sergeant Cain is the person in charge of the drones. I couldn’t help but wonder what he was doing here.

  Colonel Turner started out,”Gentlemen, I spoke to General Harper last night about the Muslim group coming here. He suggested that we take in the women and children for their safety. He also said no men can come in without a background check and that is final.”

  “His idea is to let the men be the . . . FRONT LINE . . . of defense and fight against al-Qaida with us. We will set up sand bag defensive positions on both sides of the road. We’ll put up some tents for them up to live in temporarily and supply them food that their wives can take to them three times a day. After a background check they can come into Tocabaga assuming your group approves.”

  “Sergeant Cain has a report to give and pictures to show you taken by our drones. We have been watching groups of 5 to 10 men with weapons infiltrate the area around us for about a month.”

  “Thank you, Colonel Turner, Sir. Yes our drones have spotted these men coming to our area almost every day, for about a month. Our drones cover an area of 30 miles and as you know can take very detailed pictures. There may be as many as 200 men down the road from here, about a mile in the old condos. Others are less than 5 miles away spread out in many buildings around the area. We believe these guys are al-Qaida.

  “They have many different types of weapons including RPGs which is their weapon of choice. We have also seen them plant roadside bombs at night, which is an al-Qaida trick. The main thing to our advantage is they have no armored vehicles or aircraft. They get around by pickup trucks that have machine guns mounted in the back. We estimate the total force to be about 1,500 men so far.”

  A rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) is a weapon system that fires rockets equipped with a warhead that explodes. They are very dangerous for ground troops, can shoot down choppers, and also stop tanks if the correct type of warhead is used.

  “We took pictures of the four men who came here yesterday and by photo ID we identified one of the men to be Abdul Aalee. He was the one with the black hat and shirt. Here are the pictures. He is a member of al-Qaida and is wanted for international terrorism crimes. The other three have no feedback on yet. We didn’t get a picture of Aamir since he was with you inside the bar when the drone flew over.”

  The pictures were passed around and the printed report showing that Abdul Aalee was wanted for terrorist attacks killing more than 30 people in France and blowing up the London subway killing another 40 people.

  Colonel Turner said, “Sergeant Cain, thank you for the excellent report and good work. You are dismissed for now but please leave the pictures.”

  “Yes Sir. Thank you, Sir.”

  As Cain walked out of the room I said,”Wow, I knew that guy in the black hat would be trouble as he gave me the evil eye like he wanted to kill me.”

  Captain Sessions replied, “He probably wants to kill all of us. The question is what is he doing with your friend Aamir?”

  “I have no idea but when Aamir comes I am going to ask him right up front. I know he will tell me the truth.”

  Colonel Turner commented,”Great Jack, but what does everyone think of the General’s idea? As you know we have half of our men out on patrol in the south of the state for another two weeks. So our forces are currently made up of your 96 security people and about 200 Rangers. Our tanks should give us a big advantage over 1,500 terrorists.”

  “Does everyone agree to let in the women and children?”

  Rick spoke up stating his true feelings,”I say we don’t let any of them in Tocabaga. If one is a terrorist then they may all be terrorists.”

  Tommy replied, “Yes, Rick could be right, if we let them in who knows what could happen.”

  No one spoke for a few minutes then Jim Bo, my son-in-law, said,”How do we know we can trust the women? They can be just as dangerous as any man.”

  Captain Sessions replied,”Of course the women will not be let in without being searched first for any weapons. Captain Riley and perhaps Amy will be in charge of that as only women can search women.

  “We will set up a tent and have each one enter to be searched without the others seeing what is going on. We will take their pictures and fingerprints and have them checked out. To check DNA it takes too long, pictures and prints we can check in a few hours, so that will have to do.”

  I commented, “Good idea as a woman can also carry a bomb. We need to be very careful. As for the men, we need to complete the background checks. We can’t assume they are all terrorists.”

  Captain Sessions said,”Here is the plan. Aamir comes here today at noon we tell him our idea that the women and kids can come in Tocabaga. His group of men will help fight al-Qaida when they come. He will be on . . . THE FRONT LINE . . . but not really because our Bradley’s and Abrams Tank will blow the bad guys off the map as soon as they are in sight. I don’t see them getting within 200 yards of the front line. After Aamir and his men have helped us defeat al-Qaida then they have proven themselves. If all goes well we can accept them based on fingerprints and picture security checks. If we take any prisoners we will need Aamir to help with translations.”

  The Bradley M3 Fighting Vehicle, named after General Omar Bradley from WWII, has a three-member crew, weights 27 tons, and is fully armored. It fires a 25mm chain gun which can destroy most tanks and has a 7.62 M240 machine gun to mow down ground troops if needed. Some also have tow missiles that can blow up anything even a building.

  The M1 Abrams Tank named after General Abrams, fires a whopping 120mm laser aimed
cannon and never misses its target. The cannon can blow up buildings. It has one M2 50 Caliber Heavy Machine Gun, and two 7.62 M240 machine guns. Bullets and other large projectiles just bounce off the sides of this big boy.

  “Jack, you need to pump Aamir for more information and feel free to tell him we already knew about al-Qaida. Ask him if he knows the guy in the black hat is Abdul Aalee a wanted terrorist.”

  I said, “Perhaps we should arrest him when he comes back with Aamir.”

  Sitting there I received an email from General Harper sent to my tocabaga.jack@gmail.com address. It read:”Jack what do you think of my plan?” I emailed back: ”Colonel Turner told us, and I agree it is a good plan. We are in a meeting now discussing that, thank you.”

  Everyone was sitting there watching me respond to my email. No one said a word.

  “I just got an email from General Harper. I told him I liked his plan.”

  Sessions replied, “Jack, I thought about arresting him on the spot but let’s wait a while to see what he is up too.”

  “Okay, I agree and we will see what Aamir tells us.”

  Rick commented,”I say shoot him on the spot.”

  My brother Ron said,”I agree with Rick.”

  Ignoring the comments from Rick and Ron, Sessions replied,”Now let’s discuss what we will do when al-Qaida attacks us. I have 200 men and I need 50 to cover and protect the Fort area. The rest will be assigned to the bridges, with about 85 to the main bridge and 10 to the south bridge.”

  “When the fighting starts we will have air cover from our choppers using their M134 Mini Gatling guns and 50 caliber machine guns. They will fly in from behind the enemy creating a squeeze and with no escape for al-Qaida. We are going to line the roadside with Claymore mines. I want to finish off al-Qaida once and for all. I will land 50 Rangers behind them to cut off any who try to escape.”

  The M134 Minigun is a 7.62x51mm NATO round and an electric operated six-barreled machine gun, which can fire up to 6,000 rounds per minute. It fires bullets so fast you can cut a telephone pole in half in a few seconds. It mows men down like a bowling ball knocking over pins leaving a bloody mess. Once this gun starts spitting fire there is no safe place to hide.

  “I would like your 96 security people to cover the east and west sides of the island watching for boats. We will assign you eight M249 SAWs (squad automatic weapon) and 2 Barrett 50 caliber BMG sniper rifles. You can pick out who gets what. I suggest you break the men down into 12 man teams for a total of 8 teams. Each team will have an M249 and each man will be issued 4 hand grenades.”

  The 50 BMG is a 50 caliber rifle, shooting a Browning machine gun round that can go through steel, even an engine block. It can go through one side of a car, come out the other side, and kill someone. The BMG has a muzzle velocity of 1,900 miles per hour or 2,800 feet per second. The BMG bullet is a ½-inch in diameter and nearly 4 inches long. I call it the Superman Bullet.

  A SAW M249 is a light machine gun that fires a 5.56 NATO round up to 700 rounds per minute. It is an awesome weapon that can be moved very quickly using a 2 man team. You need 2 men to carry all the ammo this baby fires. It is belt fed or uses 100 round drums. The effective range is 600 yards.

  “The Colonel and I think we should go on high alert now and start getting the ammo and sandbags set up at the locations they are needed. Jack, it is up to you for the east and west side of the island to determine the best locations. We suggest that everyone work a 12-hour security shift. When the attack comes everyone will be on duty until the battle is over.”

  “Anyone have questions? Okay, if not then make it so. The Colonel and I will be roving around, making sure things are done correctly.”

  “Everyone is dismissed except for Jack.”

  “Jack, when Aamir comes bring him here to the bar right away. I think it is better that the Colonel tell him what we are willing to do. He will have no choice if he wants to save his family. What do you think?”

  “Captain, I agree with you and I think he will accept our offer. If there isn’t anything else Captain, I need to get my security people set up. Please have your men bring the eight M249 machine guns and the two 50 cal. Sniper rifles to the bank. I will have Ron and Tommy distribute them accordingly. I will radio you when Aamir arrives. It is almost 11am so he will be here soon.”

  “Okay, Jack, see you later.”

  “Captain, Colonel, thank you. I’ll see you later.”

  The board and security heads were waiting outside for me. I advised Ron and Tommy to pick the teams and assign the eight M249 guns and two BMG sniper rifles as they see fit. They would assign four teams of 12 to guard the east and west side of Tocabaga. Each team would have one SAW and each side of the island would have one 50 BMG, which can shoot a mile and is a deadly weapon with the right shooter.

  One of our best shooters is Tony the bar keeper. He has the eye hand coordination and is almost as good a shot as Tommy, so Tony will man one of the 50 caliber sniper rifles and Handyman Chris will man the big gun on the east side of the island, he is also a deadly shot.

  We were starting our 12-hour watch duty immediately. Everyone was given the order to shoot anything moving in the water. “Shoot first ask questions later” is my motto.

  I asked Tommy and Ron to meet me at the bridge at noon. I wanted Tommy and Ron to stick near me if and when the shit hits the fan.

  I went home and told Hemmi, Amy, and Tonya, my son’s wife, what happened at the meeting. I told them we are now on high alert and we would be doing 12-hour security details. I also advised them to stay close to home with the kids, Kendra and Shanda. I asked them to keep their guns handy and lock all the doors and shutters. Don’t open the door for anyone unless you can see who it is, if it is someone you don’t know shoot first and ask questions later.

  I asked everyone to pass on the word we are on high alert and to be ready for anything. Rick put up a notice on the community bulletin board. Rick would be in command of the west side and Jim Bo in command of the east side of the island.

  I was at the bridge along with Tommy and Ron when Aamir arrived. It was the same old car and there were four people. Aamir got out and to my surprise so did Rahim, the two of them started to walk up the bridge when a Ranger stopped them. We went down to see what the problem was. While walking down to them I looked to see if Abdul was with them but he was not.

  I asked,”What is the problem, Ranger Kelly?”

  The Ranger replied,”These men don’t have ID badges to enter Camp Tocabaga.”

  I stepped a few feet away and got on the radio to Captain Sessions,”Captain, please advise Ranger Kelly to let two people pass as they are our guests. A man named Rahim is with Aamir. I know him and he can be trusted. Oh, by the way Abdul did not show up.”

  Sessions cleared up the problem with Ranger Kelly and then Rahim came up and gave me a big bear hug, like he always did in the past.

  “Rahim, it is great to see you. I am very happy you came to this meeting with Aamir. I would like you to meet my son Tommy and brother Ron.”

  Rahim stuck out his big hand and shook hands with everyone and said with an accent,”It is my pleasure and honor to meet both of you.”

  Tommy and Ron both commented, “It is nice to meet you Rahim.”

  Aamir stepped forward and said, “Hello Tommy and Ron. It is nice to meet Jack’s brother.”

  Ron replied,”It is nice to meet you Aamir,” and they shook hands.

  I said,”Okay, introductions are over, let’s go to the meeting. The Colonel is waiting for us.”

  We walked into the bar where Colonel Turner and Captain Sessions were seated at a table. There were only three chairs left at the table so Aamir, Rahim, and I sat down. Ron and Tommy sat at the bar.

  “Colonel Turner and Captain Sessions, this is Rahim a mutual friend of ours. I have known Rahim for about 10 years.”

  Standing up everyone shook hands and Rahim said,”I am here to help Aamir in any way possible so there are no misunderstandings.�
�

  Colonel Turner replied, “Rahim, thank you for coming.”

  “Getting down to business we have agreed to allow your wives and children come into Camp Tocabaga to live as long as they like. We will assign housing for them and a few people, like Jack’s wife, will see they are made at home here. They will be issued ID tags, have ID pictures taken, and finger prints. Of course before coming into the Camp they will need to be searched in private by two of our women to make sure there are no weapons or bombs.

  “Now as for the men in your group we are asking you to house temporarily at the base of the bridge in tents until we can check everyone out. But we also are asking you to fight for us against al-Qaida when they come. We will set up a defensive position for your group and provide you any necessary weapons. Fighting with us provides the proof that we are on the same side.