Black Knight Squadron_Book 1_Foundations

by John Chapman

  The manager let Manny into the store and helped him load several carts with hand crank fuel pumps and lots of hose and connectors. As they worked, Manny explained what had happened to the manager. Manny suggested they use some MDF board he saw in the store to cover the main doors and seal the back entrance from the inside. In less than 10 minutes they had the entrances boarded up and everyone loaded on the trucks. It was none too soon; the guys on security were getting nervous about the crowd that was gathering to look at them and ask questions. “Bravo One, Bravo Five,” one of the guys said over the radio, “Some of these folks are getting pissed we aren’t helping them. We need to go.” Manny acknowledged him and told everyone to mount up. The convoy left immediately.

  After dropping the two Tractor Supply gals at the apartment they shared nearby, the team drove to Mount Union College, by coincidence the location of the next family members they needed to recover. They were picking up Allison, the girlfriend of SWAT officer Dale Renton, and their child. Renton was driving the lead HMMWV, and as they approached the Athletic Department he saw Allison and their 4-year-old son waving at him. Dale’s son had taken rides in both the HMMWVs and M113 during team family BBQs, and recognized them.

  Dale pulled up and stopped next to them, then jumped out of the truck and swept them up in his arms. After sharing a quick embrace and kiss, he hustled them to the rear of the M113 where the ramp was just coming down. They loaded up and Dale quickly returned to his seat in Manny’s vehicle. A couple of seconds later the radio cracked, “Vic Two is ready to move,” meaning the ramp on the M113 was up and the driver was ready to pull out.

  As they pulled out onto Union Ave from the college Manny commented, “This is going way too easy Dale.” “I know,” Dale replied, “But I’m grateful we were able to grab Allison and Dale Junior.” Manny nodded and said, “Me too brother.”

  The Tractor Supply manager was riding with Dale and Manny, and gave them directions to his place, a dilapidated house on Milner Street, where they dropped him off with the suggestion to shelter in place. After the manager got out of the HMMWV he turned and started to say something to Manny, but the truck was already moving. Manny watched him turn and disappear into his house in the rearview mirror.

  To get to the next address they had to go north on Freedom Ave, right through the middle of Ward 5. As they pushed the envelope of the M113’s speed limitations, swerving around stalled traffic and marauding pedestrians, Manny saw a patrol car in front of them in the road. As they got closer he saw it had been shredded by gunfire. He reached for the PTT on his plate carrier but before he could broadcast he heard a series of shots and heard them striking the M113. Manny found the PTT and broadcast, “Push through, Push through!” Already traveling at maximum speed, the convoy just kept moving. Manny turned his body to allow himself to shoot out of the passenger side door opening (the soft HMMWVs didn’t even have plastic roll down window covers), and heard the M240 on top of the M113 open up in a booming series of short bursts as Jerry gave someone the business. Manny couldn’t find any targets.

  The team drove out of the area, making several random turns. Eventually they were able to slow down a little and continue the mission. The next recovery location was a dry hole; the SWAT assaulter’s wife wasn’t at home and her car was gone. He had no idea where she could be, and looked devastated that she wasn’t there. The team waited while he grabbed some belongings from the house and left a note for his wife. Manny promised him they would make sure all the teams had her description and would be looking for her. They reluctantly moved on to the next objective, where they recovered a member of Charlie team’s wife from work, then the two kids from middle school.

  As they moved west on Patterson Street returning to the range, Manny could hear heavy gunfire to the south. He thought back to the shot-up patrol car on Freedom Avenue, and hoped that if that gunfight involved Black Knight teams that they were stacking some bodies. The more we handle early, Manny thought, the fewer we will have to deal with once they get organized. Manny knew from hard won experience working in the middle of several miniature apocalypses, from Syria and Iraq to Sudan and Liberia, that as time went on the individual savages that survived would smarten up and form into organized groups of savages.

  Manny shook off the big picture and refocused on the current mission, knowing the best thing he could do was knock the targets down one at a time, one mission at a time. Of all the people present on the range when the lights went out, Manny had the easiest transition from ‘normal’ to ‘society is off the rails’. He understood from firsthand experience what it took to win in these types of situations; he just never seriously thought he’d be doing it in America. Still, he counted himself blessed, knowing how lucky he was to happen to be here, with these people and resources, when the pulse hit. For the first time in a long time he felt he had a genuine purpose in life. He realized he was all-in with the Black Knight Squadron.

  *

  When Bravo team pulled into the range Manny noticed that Burt and several of the Echo team guys had already erected one of the Army surplus vehicle maintenance structures on the grass on the breaching range, and were about halfway through putting the second one up next to it.

  He also noticed smoke rising out of a chimney pipe sticking out of the first structure. Kyle must have gotten the duel fuel wood/coal heaters that were an option with the structures in the Army supply system. He shook his head in admiration at Kyle’s prowess with the DRMO system. Manny went back to the M113 and told Dale to unload the families into the big tent, not the team room, because the maintenance structure was heated while the team room was probably already getting cold with the power to the heater out.

  When Manny walked into the office, he surprised to see the lights were on. David looked up and smiled at him and said, “That electrician is a stud. I was just surprised the wiring was still intact after the pulse. None of the computers will work, but the heater, outlets and lights seem fine.” All Manny could say was, “Holy crap Dave, that’s amazing.” “Nah, just hard work. The miracle will be finding enough diesel in a week to keep it running.” Manny couldn’t disagree and replied, “True ‘dat.”. Still, it really was a minor miracle that the electrician was able to get that big generator wired in that quickly. That dude deserved a medal.

  David asked, “So how did the run go? Who were you able to recover?” Manny filled him in on the entire mission, including grabbing the hand crank fuel pumps. As he spoke David walked to one of the white boards and started marking off the families they had recovered, and made a note by the one that they didn’t. When Manny was finished, David said, “Great work brother. Take a few minutes to refit, then relieve Echo team on base security. I’m sending Echo with Doc Zimmerman to the hospital to see what’s up there.” Manny said, “Roger that,” and pushed out to his next mission, happier than he had been in a long time.

  Chapter 11

  City Police Range

  Alliance, OH

  It was fully dark when the first convoy from city hall passed through the gate checkpoint at the range. Kyle, sitting in the front passenger seat of the lead vehicle, immediately noticed the two maintenance structures Burt had erected on the breaching range; and more importantly the fact that there was light coming out of them. As soon as the HMWWV stopped moving Kyle was out of the truck and jogging to the office. When he opened the door, he saw the lights were on there too, and the heater was working! A big smile grew on his face as he said, “Damn David, I leave you alone for a few hours and you fix everything!” David smiled and said, “The water plant guys and city electrician really crushed it. They had that big generator wired in and running about an hour after Bravo team delivered it.”

  “Wow! That’s awesome.” Kyle said, then changed the subject, “City hall and the PD and Fire departments are moving out here. I have a bunch of them and their stuff with us. We still have Alpha team and four patrol cops at the PD we need to recover. Nowak is slightly injured and is being moved to the new clinic
in the classroom building. Gean (the Alpha team medic) is with him.” David said, “Roger, I will go examine him as soon as we are done, and we will put the city government types in the second tent.” Kyle nodded, then brought David up to speed on the events in town, including the small battle on Broadway, and Officer Card’s death. David digested the info for a second and said, “Holy shit things got bad quick.” Kyle could only nod.

  Kyle stuck his head out of the office and told Mark to put the city people in the far maintenance tent. Mark said, “Roger,” then turned and started barking orders. Kyle returned to the office and said, “OK, where do we stand with the rest of the missions?” David spent the next 15 minutes briefing Kyle on Bravo’s two missions, Charlie’s scouting mission return, and Echo’s new mission to the hospital. “I haven’t gotten Charlie team’s report yet, they got back about 10 minutes ahead of you.” Kyle replied, “OK. I’m going to go gather up the Chief, the Mayor, and Mark. If Ben comes to give Charlie’s scouting report before then have him wait. We’ll only be a minute.” David replied, “Roger,” and went back to work on his white boards as Kyle left the office.

  Kyle spent the next five minutes gathering up Mark, the Mayor, and the Chief. They ran into Ben in the team room and all walked over to the office together. After everyone was inside and had found a chair, David gave a briefing on Bravo team’s two completed missions, and Echo team’s scouting mission to the hospital that had just launched. Ben then stood up and briefed the group on Charlie team’s scouting mission while David prepared to write critical information on the board.

  Ben gathered his thoughts, consulted his notebook, and began, “We started by heading towards Hwy 183 to come back into the city from the Atwater direction, but found a train stopped on the tracks blocking the road. We noticed the train had a bunch of CONEX boxes loaded, a mile’s worth at least. We didn’t stop to check the boxes, but some of them are sure to be filled with food for the ABC Food Superstores warehouse to the west of town; and at least some of the cars were hauling coal.” David wrote ‘check train for resources’ on the missions list.

  Ben continued, “We backtracked and made it into town on Rockhill. As soon as we got to the cemetery on Rockhill we noticed several groups of young males standing in the street mean mugging us. We kept going, but we did see them gather up and start walking south. When we made it to State Street we saw a lot of stalled vehicles, but not a lot of people, until we drove past the Texas Roadhouse. There were people stacked up outside the door and it looked like the building was full as well. It was probably people taking shelter from the cold. We drove all the way west to Walmart, and found a ton of people in the parking lot. They had the doors barricaded already, but I don’t know how long they can hold out against a mob.” David wrote ‘Secure Walmart’ and ‘check on people at Texas Roadhouse’ on the board.

  “Then we went east on State Street,” Ben said. “The Marathon gas station at Rockhill was being looted. We continued east and turned south on Union, and saw the CVS Drug Store was being looted as well. Mount Union was a ghost town, I guess the students are on Christmas break.” Ron, the Mayor, nodded his head and said, “They are.” Ben gave him a thumbs up and continued, “The first people we recovered were Tom and Kim (Tom was a nationally known gunsmith and machinist, and close friend of everyone in the room; Kim was his longtime girlfriend). I figured his skills and tools would be critical.” Everyone in the room made approving noises, and Kyle said, “Absolutely. Great call.”

  Ben nodded and drove on, “We weren’t able to bring much of his stuff, but we locked the house up tight and figured we can go back soon and get it before the looting gets out of hand.” David wrote ‘get Tom’s gear’ on the board while Ben pressed on, “We were able to recover everyone on Charlie team’s families except Ed’s. His girlfriend wasn’t at work and his kid wasn’t at school. After that stop, we went to every school in town, and only found kids at the High School. The rest of them were empty and locked up. The admin must have sent the kids home somehow. The High School had about 30 kids left, and the Principal was making a plan to get the rest home.” David wrote ‘get high school kids home’ under the ‘Priority 1’ heading on the board. Everyone knew that would be the next mission.

  “After that we patrolled some of the residential areas,” Ben said, “but there were so many people wondering around looking pissed we decided to go check on some other PD families we knew about, and off duty officers. We did hear a big ass gunfight somewhere in the Broadway area, but didn’t investigate. I heard some of the radio traffic and thought you guys had it under control. We were able to recover two more officers and their families before the MRAP was assholes and elbows full. We got back late because we realized after we left, no one had a watch that worked, and none of our cell phones were displaying the time.” Ben closed his notebook and sat down. Kyle said, “Great job brother.”

  The group in the office spent the next hour making plans and setting priorities. The first job was to get someone to the High School to check on those kids and to get them home. The Mayor also wanted the Principal brought to the range, to coordinate using the High School as an emergency shelter. Charlie team got the tasking and was pulling out of the gate within 10 minutes of Ben receiving the verbal OPORDER from David. They ran blacked out, the MRAP’s infrared headlights and the MAWL on the M240 in the turret allowing the team to drive and pull security under night vision.

  *

  As Charlie team pushed, the command group decided to move the range office and team room / classroom to the newly erected maintenance tent closest to driveway, and to start calling it the TOC. The range office was equipped with a full kitchen and industrial ice machine, which now worked again thanks to the power from the generator; and they decided with so many people (over 30 women and children were already on site, and more were sure to be coming) living at the range, even temporarily, the space would be better utilized as a communal kitchen.

  They spent some time moving people and gear around until they had the large classroom configured as a sleeping area for families (They had a limited number of cots, and put ‘lots of mattresses’ on the salvage list). Next, they set up the second maintenance tent as the temporary City Hall and City Emergency Operations Center. Burt spent several hours running extension cords and low wattage LED Christmas lights into the tents and building make-shift easels for all of the white boards they had taken down from the classroom and office.

  David put on his doctor hat and went to examine Dylan Nowak. When he was done he reported to Kyle and Chief Stone that Nowak had a mild concussion and suffered from the psychological shock that could be expected of someone who had just experienced unexpected, sustained combat. He ordered Dylan to rest for 24 hours, and would check on him periodically. David told Chief Stone that Dylan would be fine in the short term, but was pretty sure he would have some long-term psychological effects from the fight.

  Several SWAT wives volunteered to run the kitchen, and immediately started sorting through the LTS food Kasey had brought from the condo, and the few buckets of Wise LTS food Kyle kept on site. Mark and Kasey had decided to donate their LTS food to the group to make getting through the next couple of days easier for everyone. The three-month supply of food for four people wouldn’t last long feeding the growing host of people living at the range, but it would give them time to gather more food and get a meal plan organized.

  Using one of the M915 tractors and lowboy trailer, they moved the fire department mobile command trailer to the range from the city maintenance yard, and plugged it onto the makeshift power grid. By the time Delta team escorted Fire Chief Dalano back to the fire station all of the fire fighters were gone, despite his orders to stay there until he returned.

  Bravo team caught the mission of going with Chris and Ed back to the brickyard to gather up the working frontend loader, backhoe, and bobcat. They returned shortly, having driven the large vehicles on the road back to the range. They swapped out the bucket on one the loader for lar
ge forks, and started moving most of the vehicles the pulse zapped off the range and up to the main entrance of the water treatment plant. They left Mark’s Yukon and David’s Ford Raptor to be used as storage.

  Manny supervised the placement of the cars at the entrance to the water treatment plant to create a makeshift serpentine of broken down cars to force any traffic coming into the plant to slow down. He knew it wouldn’t stop a real VBIED, but it gave them a framework to improve upon, and provided some small level of cover to the guys working what was now called the ECP. Mark ordered the access control team to move up to the treatment plant entrance and to expand the active patrolling area to cover the entire water facility.

  Kyle discovered that Lydia, the Stark County work release deputy, had worked as an inventory control manager for a steel mill in Canton for several years, back when steel mills were still a thing in Ohio. He immediately christened her the supply guru, and she jumped at the job. Lydia had been worried she had nothing to contribute, and was scared she wasn’t going to be able to pull her weight. She was very happy to have a purpose, and started working like a whirling dervish. Within two hours Lydia was reporting back to Kyle in the TOC with a list of supplies on hand, and an even longer list of things she thought they needed to go ‘acquire’.

  Once city hall was fully evacuated and all of the police personnel were at the range, Mark formed another Black Knight team, Foxtrot, from 14 of the non-SWAT police officers now present at the range. He assigned Sergeant Wiggins, the department admin sergeant, as their Team Leader, and tasked the team with providing security for the water treatment facility and the base 24/7 until further notice.

  Chief Stone announced to the TOC that he was re-naming the police range ‘Forward Operating Base Card’.

  Of the department’s sworn police officers, only six were unaccounted for at this point, with four of those being the supervisors who had been trapped in Columbus. After assigning 14 of the patrol officers to Foxtrot team, Mark had eight patrol officers and four detectives left over. He spread the eight remaining officers, all of whom were former SWAT officers or guys who spent a lot of time training at the range, out among the existing Black Knight operational teams.