by Robert Boren
“Internet cable hookup,” Hilda said. She pointed to where it was on the map.
“Anything else?” Frank asked.
“Not that I can think of,” Jerry said. Hilda nodded in agreement.
“Alright, so that is 6, and we have 30 left.
“I’d say we should put one in a tree pointing at the parking area in the back, and one pointing to the blind in such a way that you can see the blind itself and the area in front of the blind,” Jerry said.
“Hopefully we have enough wire to get that far,” Frank said. “I’m sure we can get to the blind, but the parking area is a ways back there.”
“Maybe we can find a vantage point that can cover the parking area but isn’t all the way over there.”
Frank nodded.
“Wonder how far back the Wi-Fi reaches?” asked Jerry.
“I know it will reach the blind, because I was able to connect my phone to Wi-Fi when I was up there.”
“Excellent,” Jerry said. “That way whoever is manning the blind can pull that view up on their phone or their tablet.”
“Yeah, that would make a big difference. That leaves us with 28 to place around the perimeter. Any reason not to just put them up every so many feet?”
“Not that I can think of,” Hilda said.
Charlie walked in and took a look at the map on the pad of paper.
“Looks good, gentlemen,” he said. “How can I help?”
“How’d you like to lead the team that strings the cable and installs the cameras?”
“It would be my pleasure,” Charlie said.
“Excellent,” Frank said. “Let’s get this map blocked out, then we can take a picture of it on a couple of tablets and go walk the areas to take a look.”
“Alright,” Jerry said. “Good plan.”
As they got to work on that, Earl walked back outside. He went up to Jackson.
“Anything happening?” he asked.
“Nope,” Jackson said. “How are things going in there?”
“Pretty good. I think Frank really knows his stuff with networks and surveillance systems. Charlie just got put in charge of stringing cable and putting up cameras. We’re liable to be asked to join that team.”
“I’d be fine with that,” Jackson said. “Do you think these folks trust us yet?”
“Some of ‘em do. Should we have been more open with them? I think Jerry is pretty suspicious about us because we didn’t say anything about Cynthia.”
“No doubt. But what are we going to do? They’d never believe our story now, even though it’s true. You know Cynthia will say some things about us under interrogation.”
“Yes, it might be in our interest to make sure she gets a little bit dead,” Earl said.
“What if we make a preemptive strike and come clean to Frank, Charlie, and Jerry?”
“I’ll do it if you will, but remember that one thing. Remember why we didn’t want to do that before.”
“Yeah, I know,” Jackson said. “I’m OK with it. Call me naïve, but these are good people. If we can help them that way, I’ll do it.”
“Alright, I’ll go along too.”
“Look, here comes the platoon!” Jackson said. They walked over closer to the main group.
There was a line of Humvees coming onto the driveway. They pulled up in the front parking lot, as far away from Cynthia as they could get. Cynthia turned around and looked at them, then turned back to the group.
“Cowards’,” she cried.
The radio in the Humvee came on. Major Hobbs ran over and answered it.
“Major Hobbs here.”
“Hello, sir, this is Major Darcy. We have our vest expert ready to go. I’m assuming the subject is the woman by the front gate.”
“Correct.”
“Alright. The expert and two of my men will be wearing protection. I suggest that you take all of your people and your vehicle back, behind a building if possible.”
“Roger that. Proceed.”
He put the microphone back, and looked towards the group.
“Let’s move it back here, folks,” he said. “Let’s get behind the store. I’m moving the Humvee back there as well.”
The group followed instructions, and got back behind the store. Hilda went into the store and back to the stairs.
“Jeb, come down here,” she shouted.
“Why?”
“We want you further away from Cynthia. The army is about to attempt to disarm the vest.”
“Be right down,” he said.
“Good, hurry,” she said.
He hobbled down the stairs, carrying his .270. They joined the others outside.
Three men with bomb protection armor and helmets with large face shields walked up to Cynthia. Two of the men grabbed her arms, as she squirmed and cried from her wounded hand. The third man ripped the top of her dress down to reveal the vest. He looked at the front and the back, and then gave a thumbs up to Major Darcy, who was sitting in the lead Humvee. He undid the straps and carefully pulled the vest off. He set it about ten yards away from the two men who were holding Cynthia, and then trotted over to one of the Humvees. He picked up a folding metal box and carried it over. He put the vest into the box, and then reached in and attached a couple of wires. He took the box to the far end of the parking lot, unreeling the wire as he walked away. When he was about 50 yards away, he stopped and squatted. He pulled a device out of his pocket and hooked the wires to that. Then he twisted the knob on the top. There was a loud explosion, and the box flew about fifteen feet in the air and came back down. The bomb tech took off his helmet and walked over to where the other two men were holding Cynthia.
“We need to search her,” he said. The two men continued to hold her arms as the tech patted her down. Then he made the thumbs-up sign. He pulled her dress back up as best he could, then grabbed her arms and pulled them behind her. He applied a large zip tie, and then walked her over to the lead Humvee. Major Darcy got on the radio and called Major Hobbs.
“Alright, Major Hobbs, you can open the gates now.”
“Thanks, Major Darcy, will do.” He put down the radio mic and looked over at Hilda. He pointed to the gate. She nodded, and went over to open it. Then the Humvees started to drive through, and they all parked up and down the road in front of the clubhouse.
“Great to see you, Darcy,” Major Hobbs said, extending his hand in greeting.
“Likewise, Hobbs. Things have been a little hairy around here, from what I’ve heard.”
“Yes. Let’s go into the clubhouse and I’ll brief you on what I know so far. Then I’ll take off with the prisoner. The General wants to talk to me.”
Outside, the group was milling around, talking.
“That was a powerful explosion,” Jeb said to Frank as he walked up.
“Sure was,” Frank said. “Nice job on taking out that detonator.”
“Thanks. What’s going to happen now?”
“Major Hobbs has to go to headquarters to brief the CO. He’s taking Cynthia with him.”
“I take it all these troops are here to hunt down the bad guys?”
“Yep,” Frank said. “They weren’t that interested until they heard that there were Islamists with the militia up here.”
“What ever happened to the Sheriff?” asked Jeb.
Frank got a sick look on his face.
“Forgot he was back there with the deputy. Hope everything is alright back there….you know he heard the rifle shot and the explosion. Why hasn’t he called?” Frank pulled out his phone and dialed.
“Sheriff?”
“Yes, Frank. What the hell is going on up there?”
“Cynthia came up to the gate. She had a suicide bomber vest on. It was under her dress, but we could see it. She raised her hands, getting ready to push the button on the detonator when Jeb shot it.”
“So that was the rifle shot. I take it the vest got detonated?”
“Yes, the bomb tech in the platoon put it into o
ne of those blast containers and blew it up.”
“Platoon, huh? They’re finally listening to us, I take it. Anything else I need to know?”
“Well, yeah, quite a bit, but maybe it better wait until you two get back down here.”
“Is there anybody else available to take over back here? If not, we can hang out for a while. I’ve had a good time talking with my nephew.”
“Not really. It’s been a little crazy here. Not sure who we could send at the moment.”
“Alright, then I’ll just hang tight for a while, Frank. Not a problem.”
“Good, talk to you later.”
“He alright?” asked Jeb.
“Yeah, he’s bonding with his nephew.” Frank smiled.
Earl and Jackson walked up to the two men.
“Frank, we need to talk to you two and Charlie and Jerry. Can we go off somewhere for a few minutes?”
“Sure,” Frank said. He made eye contact with Charlie and Jerry and motioned them over.
“What’s up?” asked Jerry.
“Earl and Jackson want to talk to us about something.”
“Alright, let’s go over to the maintenance yard,” Charlie said. “It ought to be a little quieter there. This place is a zoo all of a sudden, and the Majors are in the clubhouse.”
The men walked back to the maintenance yard silently.
“Alright, what’s on your mind?” asked Frank.
Earl looked at Jackson. He nodded.
“We need to come clean on some stuff,” Earl said.
“Go on,” Jerry said. He looked at them warily.
“We were sent into this group by the militia, to spy on you guys,” Earl said. Jackson nodded.
Chapter 9 – Terror from the North
“You were sent in here to spy on us? By the Williams Militia?” asked Charlie.
“Yes, actually by Hank,” Earl said. “He knew some of you were going to make a run for it.”
“You didn’t help him during the end, and you fought against the militia earlier today,” Charlie said. “Kinda seems like you aren’t with them anymore.”
“Why are you coming clean now?” asked Jerry, who was looking at them intensely.
“Cynthia knows us,” Jackson said. “She’ll tell under interrogation, I suspect.”
“So you are only telling us because you think you are about to get caught?” asked Frank.
“Settle down, guys,” Jeb said. “Let’s be calm about this. I’ve got a real good BS detector, and I’m not sensing it with these guys.”
“Why didn’t you tell us about this before?” asked Jerry.
“We were afraid that you’d want us to be double agents,” Earl said.
“Double agents?” asked Frank.
“They thought we would have sent them back into the Williams Militia to gather info on them, and give them phony info on us,” Charlie said.
“We still might,” Jerry said.
“We’ll do that now, if that’s what you guys want,” Earl said. “You folks are good people.”
“Did you ever actually start acting as a spy?” asked Jerry.
“Meaning did we ever pass any information over to the militia?” asked Jackson.
“Yes.”
“No, we didn’t,” he replied. “We never planned on doing it, either. We wanted to get away from that group. We were just going to leave with you guys. Hank and Lewis cornered us when we were getting ready to go. If we wouldn’t have agreed, they would have killed us right there.”
“But you chose not to say anything later, even when you saw Cynthia?” asked Jerry.
“I know it looks bad,” Earl said. “Frankly, neither of us wanted to fight for anybody. We weren’t willing to risk our lives for that stupid militia, and we didn’t know you guys at first, so we didn’t want to risk our lives for you guys, either.”
“Kinda makes you sound like sunshine patriots,” Jerry said.
“Jerry, put yourself in their shoes for a minute,” Jeb said. “You know I ain’t no pushover. If I thought these guys were anything but friends and assets to the group, I’d be the first to pull the trigger on them.”
“Assets to the group?” asked Jerry.
“Are you forgetting that Earl saved both of us today at the parking area?” asked Charlie. “He didn’t have to do that.”
“Alright,” Jerry said. “That was a concrete action, and I am more than grateful for that.”
“Damn straight,” Charlie said. “You guys are alright as far as I’m concerned, regardless of how you ended up here. None of us planned to be in this situation.”
“So what do we do now?” Frank asked. “Do we discuss this with the Major?”
“I wouldn’t,” Charlie said. “I’d say let’s go on about our business. I could use these two guys on my camera installation team. You guys willing?”
“We were going to volunteer for that,” Jackson said. Earl nodded in agreement.
“Alright, then let’s get to work,” Charlie said. “You guys can help me scope this out. Either of you guys have tablets?”
“Yeah, I’ve got an old iPAD. Why?” asked Earl.
“We want to take pictures of the map that Frank drew up in the clubhouse, and then walk the area with them and see what the physical details are. Where we can string cable, and where we can install the cameras.”
“I gotcha,” Earl said. “Good plan. Wonder how long the Majors are going to be in there talking?”
“Good question,” Frank said.
“There is one job you guys can do without the drawing,” Jerry said.
“What’s that?” asked Charlie.
“Go find somewhere to put a camera in the back that gives a good view of the parking area, but isn’t all the way back there. We are somewhat limited in the amount of cable we have.”
“Yeah, we can do that now,” Charlie said. “Frank, why don’t you call the Sheriff and tell him we’re on the way back.”
“Will do,” Frank said. He pulled his phone out of his pocket.
“Sheriff?”
“Yep. This Frank?”
“Yeah. Charlie, Earl, and Jackson are on the way back there. They’re scouting for camera locations. Just wanted to give you a heads up.”
“Camera locations?”
“Yeah, Hilda’s husband bought a 36 camera security system and never put it up. We are going to use it.”
“Good idea. I’ll watch for them.”
“Thanks, Sheriff.”
Frank put his phone back in his pocket.
“Alright, Charlie, he’ll be watching for you.”
“Thanks, Frank,” he said. “Let’s go, guys.”
The three men walked off. Jeb, Frank, and Jerry looked at each other.
“Well?” asked Frank.
“I don’t like it, but you know how I am,” Jerry said. “I’ve got a suspicious nature.”
“And you keep that suspicious nature,” Jeb said. “It’s a good thing to have these days. Are you convinced that those two are OK?”
“Are you?” Jerry asked.
“Yes, I think so,” Jeb said. “But we should keep our eyes open. I know Charlie will. He’s more suspicious than you are. He just doesn’t talk about it as openly.”
“I had a feeling he was,” Frank said. “Jerry and I are trying to win him back over after those arguments we had a few days ago.”
“I noticed, and Charlie is trying really hard, too,” Jeb said. “I have my differences with the old coot, but he’s a good man. We need him with us. I would rather he not be the leader, though. He’ll try to organize how you wipe your butt.”
The three men cracked up.
“Yeah, I gathered that too,” Frank said. He looked over at Jerry. “You OK?”
“Yes,” Jerry said. “I don’t like that those guys were less than truthful with us, though. I’ve been a little suspicious of them ever since they admitted that they knew Cynthia.”
“I think Earl is still afraid we’re going to use th
em as double agents,” Frank said.
“I know,” Jeb said. He looked down for a moment, thinking. “If I thought they would be useful, I’d be all for sending them in, but I’m guessing that the folks they were close to aren’t even around anymore. We know Franklin isn’t.”
“I was thinking the same thing,” Jerry said. “But it doesn’t hurt to make them think we might decide to send them in.”
“I’m OK with that,” Frank said. “But I don’t want them to worry about us accepting them as members of our group. We need men like them that are good in a fight, especially since mountain man here is a gimp now.” Frank and Jerry laughed. Jeb just smiled.
“Now, be nice, guys,” Jeb said. “I’m going to be better pretty quick.”
“I know,” Frank said. “You saved us earlier today, remember? Nice shot.”
“Well, that might have been stupid,” Jeb said. “It might have set off the explosive.”
“Yeah, it might have,” Frank said. “But it was still a good call. And now the Army has somebody they can interrogate.”
“They might not get much out of her,” Jerry said. “She’s defiant. I’ve seen that behavior before, in the Gulf War.”
Jane came walking over. Lucy bounded along beside her.
“What are you guys up to out here?” she asked.
“Just talking. Are the Majors done with the clubhouse yet? We need to get in there.”
“Yeah, they sent me looking for you guys. Where’s Charlie and the other two?”
“They’re out in the back, scouting camera locations,” Frank said.
“Alright, we might have to bring them back in. The Majors want to have a chat.”
“I’ll call them if we need to bring them in, but I’d rather not. I want those guys to get finished with the scouting,” Frank said.
“Let’s go back to the clubhouse,” Jane said. They all walked over. Soldiers were milling around by their Humvees, and the two Majors were sitting on the veranda together.
“Where’s Charlie and Earl and Jackson?” asked Major Hobbs.
“They’re in the back, scouting out camera positions for our security system.”
“OK, you can relay the info to them later. Come on in.” The Majors went into the clubhouse, and the rest of the group followed them.
