by Lee West
“Jane! Nice to see you!” he said, shaking her hand.
“You remember my husband, Sam, and daughter, Lea.”
“Of course. I’m so happy the three of you are safe and sound. I heard about your trek out of the mountains.”
“We’re pretty relieved to be here too,” said Sam.
“Joyce said a team went to Doris’s house to get her. What’s going on?” asked Jane.
“Come on. Let’s head inside and we can chat. I don’t want some of the younger kids to overhear us.”
The four walked to an immaculate, spacious post-and-beam camp lodge. The place looked more like a woodsy four-star hotel than a kids’ camp. The back side of the building had large floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the vast expanse of Lake Sparrow. Gleaming hardwood floors stretched across the entire building. A grand two-story fieldstone fireplace framed the room.
“This is a kids’ camp? I should’ve listened to the two of you when you wanted to send me away for a few weeks in the summer. Looks like I really missed out!” said Lea.
“Don’t worry. You didn’t miss anything. We would’ve sent you to the rustic camp down the street.” Sam smiled.
They moved outside to the large wraparound deck and sat on a picnic table overlooking the lake.
“As you know, we moved here to get away from the New Order. The New Order took us completely by surprise. We were adjusting to the loss of power, rendering aid as needed, when they just rolled into town and started cutting us down. I had to make a quick decision. Stay and fight, with the odds stacked against us, or withdraw and regroup for an organized counterattack. I went with the second option, because I felt it best served the people of Evansville in the long run. If the New Order had wiped us out at the outset, nothing could protect the people. At least now we have a fighting chance. And a good one at that.
“The first wave of our resistance started today by securing Doris Venture’s house. One of the Porter police officers named Gayle Jones is assembling veterans outside Porter to push into the town from the south. The plan is to hit the New Order in Porter from both the north and south in a coordinated attack. Probably within a day or two.”
Jane sat looking at the chief in stunned silence. She knew the police would eventually mount a resistance, she just didn’t know when. It all seemed to be moving so fast.
“How did you know about the New Order’s plan to hit Doris’s house?” asked Jane.
“We dismantled and brought a portion of our radio from the station. We had to connect to the camp’s antenna, however. There was a small radio here. It must’ve been here for emergencies. We really couldn’t hear anything outside of the camp until Doris’s radio started broadcasting.”
“I helped get that radio operational with Charlie,” said Sam. “It has one hell of an antenna. You might be able to contact county for help.”
“One step at a time,” said the chief.
“Is Charlie here?” asked Jane.
“Haven’t seen him yet.”
She had a sinking feeling hearing that. He should have been here by now.
“What’s happening at Doris’s house? Has the New Order arrived?” asked Sam.
“Not sure yet. We’re maintaining radio silence until tonight. Doris’s radio is so powerful, we can’t chance being overheard by the New Order. So far, we believe the HQ’s location is unknown to them. We’ll know more about the situation at Doris’s house tonight, just after midnight. Until then, let’s get you settled.”
Chapter Eighteen
Charlie unconsciously picked up the pace as he neared HQ. He was in excellent physical condition from the daily runs, swims and bike rides he enjoyed. Getting to HQ and being reunited with Gayle was the only thing on his mind as the hours passed on their hike from Scott’s house to HQ.
“Charlie! Hey, man, can we ease up on the pace?” asked an obviously winded Mike.
“I don’t think I’ve moved this fast since the two-for-one sale on shoes at Marshalls,” said Barbara with a smile.
“Sorry about that. I guess we’ve been moving pretty fast. We’re very close to the HQ. Let’s stop for a minute so I can alert them we’re coming,” said Charlie.
Charlie pulled the handheld radio out of his pack. Using the predetermined channel and squawking sequence, he attempted to reach HQ.
“What are you doing? Doesn’t the radio work?” asked Doris.
“It works just fine. We have a signaling system in place. It’s better than actually talking just in case anyone other than HQ is listening.”
Charlie rapidly depressed the call button and then waited for a reply. Someone on the HQ side responded with the exact sequence of sounds.
“That’s cool!” said Scott.
“We should be good to go now. They’ll be looking for us to approach from the south,” said Charlie.
~ ~ ~
The Archers were situated in a rustic cabin building called Meadow. Each cabin around the camp had a different name. Their cabin contained four bunk beds and one single bed placed to the rear of the cabin. The cabin, along with four others just like it, had sat unused until they arrived. Jane was surprised to see that HQ did not contain as many people as she would have thought. By her estimation, there were probably twenty police officers and their families. Plus another thirty people, including some of the children whose parents had not made it to them yet. Jane knew that many of those kids would likely never see their parents again.
“I’m going to head down to the lake to clean up,” said Lea.
“Okay. Just stay where you can be seen,” said Sam, to Lea’s retreating figure.
“This place is great. I’m just surprised that there aren’t more people here,” said Jane.
“Me too. Didn’t the chief say that around thirty officers left this morning for Doris’s house?”
“That must be what it is. Most of them aren’t here. The place just seems emptier than I imagined.”
She went to Sam, holding him tightly. They’d had no privacy since being reunited with Lea. Holding him, Jane leaned in and gave an almost imperceptible sigh of relief.
“What’s on your mind?” he asked.
“I’m relieved to be alone with you, and to be here. Finally I feel like there’s some purpose and direction for us. Fleeing the unit so quickly sort of threw me for a loop.”
“Me too. All I keep thinking was that I planned for everything and still failed.”
“You didn’t fail. Not even close. This is the nature of disaster planning. Besides, we still have everything you stocked for us. That’s an epic win in my book.”
“Let’s just hope Tank and his merry band of idiots didn’t find it.”
“They were just opening and looking. I didn’t see any real effort being made to dig through the units. They’ll meet your wall of junk and leave,” said Jane.
“If they don’t try to burn the whole place down. Never know with those idiots.”
“Hey, Mom! Dad! Look who just rolled in!” yelled Lea from the distance.
Jane and Sam separated with a quick kiss. Jane could barely pull herself away from Sam’s warm embrace. They would have to find a secluded spot for some alone time once they got cleaned up. She stepped out of the cabin, looking around the camp.
“Charlie!”
Jane ran toward Charlie, the cabin’s screen door banging behind her.
“Jane! Sam! I didn’t think you would be here yet. I assumed you would lie low at the unit for at least another day or so,” said Charlie.
“We were sort of forced out. Tank and his men found us,” said Jane.
“Holy shit. How?”
“We’re not sure, but they were cracking open units. We scrambled to leave before they got to ours. Hopefully, if they open it, they’ll be fooled by Sam’s wall of trash,” said Jane.
“Let’s hope so. Have you seen Gayle Jones? I’m not sure if you know her. She’s my girlfriend. An officer with Porter’s PD. She was one of the first officers I put on the tr
ail. She should be around here somewhere,” said Charlie.
“Are you sure she should be here? I think she’s the officer chief mentioned that’s heading up the team of veterans in Porter,” said Sam, turning to Jane. “Right?”
Jane nodded as the color drained from Charlie’s face. Her friend started to sway; Sam quickly rushed in to steady him.
“Sit down, man,” said Sam.
Her husband led Charlie by the elbow to the steps of the cabin.
“I need to find the chief and figure out what happened. I put her on the trail. She was supposed to be up here waiting for me after I moved the last officer out of Porter. Damn it. She mentioned wanting to form up the veterans. I didn’t think she meant she would do it herself.”
Charlie sat for a moment on the steps. Jane glanced at Sam, meeting his eyes. She worried for Charlie.
Slapping his hands on his lap, Charlie stood up abruptly. “I need to find the chief. Good seeing you guys.”
“You sure you can stand?” said Sam.
“I’m fine. Just wasn’t expecting this little twist.”
He jogged away quickly back to the main lodge.
Jane shook her head. “Honestly, I didn’t even know he had a girlfriend. I feel like such an ass. He helped us and we never even asked about him. I just assumed he was alone,” said Jane.
“He’ll get it sorted out. Let’s see if they need us to do anything,” said Sam as he took Jane’s hand. They walked silently toward the center of camp.
Chapter Nineteen
Travis drove the old Chevy Impala back toward the house claimed by the cops. If he did this right, he would come out of this alive, with a chance to move up to the Boss’s second-in-command position. Then all of these assholes would have to respect him.
Although he knew roughly where the house sat, it was hard to find the driveway entrance in the pitch dark of a cloudy night. He counted on seeing some sort of marking that would jog his memory, but so far, nothing had jumped out at him. Not finding the house for tonight’s raid would ensure his permanent place at the bottom of the pack, if not a bullet to the head. He needed to find the house and recapture it. Slowing to look at the first driveway along the road, he didn’t see a mailbox. He thought he recalled there being a mailbox at the beginning of the driveway. Now he wasn’t so sure.
“What the fuck? How much longer? My nuts are getting numb sitting back here all crammed in,” shouted a thickly muscled, heavily tattooed moron named Vox.
“It should be right around here,” said Travis.
“Should be?” Vox grunted. “You mean you ain’t sure?”
“I’m sure. I think. I mean, the entrance has to be right around here. I can’t see shit!”
“You don’t sound so sure,” said Vox.
Travis stopped the car. “That’s gotta be it!”
The entrance had no mailbox or sign of any kind. He could have sworn there was a mailbox there this afternoon. Nonetheless, he figured he should get the guys out of the car before they started to turn on him.
He didn’t maneuver the car onto the driveway. Instead, he pulled up along the side of the road and killed the lights. The second and then third car pulled up behind him. Just as he was about to get out and address his soldiers, the guys in the third car sprinted past them, headed down the dirt driveway, in the direction of the house. Stupid idiots. He knew what they were doing. Chico, the driver of the third car, wanted to claim this victory for himself. Dumb ass.
“Chico! What the fuck? Where’s he going?” asked Vox.
“Gonna get himself and everyone else killed,” said Travis. “Keep your eyes open and your mouths shut. We don’t know what those fools are doing.”
The group walked silently down the dirt path. None of them had thought to bring flashlights, making their progress slow in the darkness. Probably better that way, thought Travis. The lights would give them away. Travis could hear the men from the third car up ahead, talking like they were headed to a Fourth of July picnic. Idiots. He was glad they went ahead. Let them get shot first. Maybe it would distract the cops long enough for Travis’s group to sneak around the side.
“Okay. Let’s stop here. The house should be just a little further,” said Travis.
“Why are we stopping?”
“We need to move slowly and figure out where the cops are.”
Hearing nothing but the fools in front of them, Travis and his heavily armed crew walked slowly and quietly toward the house.
~ ~ ~
Dale Spencer sat with Jason Donnelly, Howard Pritty and a few others around the campfire. They’d managed to bury the bodies of their slain fellow officers. Large stones and a makeshift wooden cross marked each grave. Spencer had recorded who was in each grave so the families could retrieve them later. The New Order bodies were arranged in a long shallow grave topped by fallen trees to discourage scavengers.
The team had had a long hard day. Fortunately, the farm afforded them the luxury of fresh water, fruits and vegetables. Everyone ate their fill before drifting to their bunk areas for rest. He stayed outside with his radiomen and the last remaining officers, waiting for midnight.
Spencer wondered if he had enough personnel to effectively guard the perimeter. The farm was vast, with long borders. Officers were placed near the entrance to the road and on both the northbound and southbound mouths of the horse trail. He’d scattered a few officers to guard the remaining approaches, which was the best he could do with the limited human resources at his disposal. He hoped it would be enough. All they had to do was listen for out-of-place sounds. Easier said than done by yourself, in the middle of the night, after a long hard day. The team would rotate four hours on and four hours off until reinforcements arrived. He’d tighten the schedule if too many of the sentries missed their thirty-minute check-ins—a sure sign they had fallen asleep. It would be a grueling, exhausting schedule, but they’d manage. Somehow.
“Sergeant, we’re gonna try to reach HQ. It’s almost midnight,” said Donnelly.
“Alright. Let’s see what we can do.”
The three moved to the communications shed. A soft glow from the lit candles in the house partially illuminated their walk.
Pritty started up the generator with a roar, cutting through the silence. The noise of the machine reverberated off the trees, echoing back to them.
“If the radio can’t reach HQ, the noise from that beast sure as shit will,” said Spencer to Donnelly.
“No kidding. I can’t believe she had all this stuff. Her son must’ve really been into building radios. Did you see the box back there of spare parts? We could build a second one of these babies!” said Donnelly, slapping the top of the radio.
Pritty came in and sat down at his seat. The two were ready to attempt to reach HQ.
“Eagle’s Nest, come in,” said Pritty into the handset.
“Eagle’s Nest, come in. It’s Blue Jay. Over.”
“This is Eagle’s Nest. Come in, Blue Jay,” said a faceless voice from HQ.
“Overlook One is secure. We sustained heavy casualties and require immediate medical assistance. Over.”
“Roger that, Blue Jay. We’ll assemble a team and try to bring more medical supplies to you. Not sure what we’ll have to offer. Over.”
“Anything would help. We have two officers down with serious injuries.”
Just as Pritty finished his report, automatic gunfire echoed through the shed.
“What the hell?” said Spencer, moving into the front room of the shed. Bullets rattled through the shed’s wood siding, spraying them with splinters.
“We’re under attack! Repeat, we’re under attack!” yelled Spencer.
Donnelly joined him at the front door of the shed, both of them sticking their rifles through the opening at the same time. Two New Order men were standing in the front yard. They were blanketing the house with bullets, seemingly on a suicide mission. Spencer released a short burst of suppressed fire, hitting the man closest to the shed. The othe
r man continued undeterred by the fall of his comrade, pausing only to reload his rifle. Another burst of bullets from an unseen officer stopped the second man’s rampage.
Tires screeched in the distance. Nothing stirred in the front yard or house. Spencer sprinted from the shed to the backyard.
“Officer Spencer coming through!” he yelled, making sure his approach wasn’t mistaken for a hostile attack.
Inside the house, his officers scrambled around, moving away from the windows. Others checked on the two injured men in the living room.
“Casualties?”
“None in here, Sergeant. I think we got lucky this time.”
“You might be right. Stay alert. We don’t know what may be coming next.”
Moving back outside, Spencer met Alice Gleason on the front steps.
“All secure, Sergeant. We caught a bunch of New Order men creeping their way up the driveway. We managed to neutralize most of them, but then those two breached our line. They made a mad dash to the house—guns blazing,” Alice said wearily.
“Nice job. Your team saved us. Things could have been a lot worse. Any casualties?”
“None. We’re all safe and sound. Rogers and Cleff are grabbing the vehicle the New Order men left behind.”
“How many cars were there? Could you tell?”
“We think there were three cars in total, but we weren’t sure how many men arrived. There are five KIA on the driveway plus these two,” she said, waving her gun in the direction of the dead New Order men.
“How did you manage to see them walking up to the house?”
“Honestly, we didn’t, nor did we hear their cars. The driveway is so long, and with this cloud cover, it’s damned near impossible to see anything. We got lucky. One of them stopped to light a cigarette.”
“I guess cigarettes can kill,” smirked Spencer. “Drag the bodies to the New Order gravesite and then rotate in for early relief. I’m sure your team could use the break.”
