by Mark Goodwin
“Thanks.” Danny took the lids, which the man had wrapped up in old newspaper and stuck them in the crate with the empty jars. “Why would people buy used lids?”
“Jams, jellies, pickles. If they lose their seal, there’s less risk of them spoiling because of the sugar and vinegar, which act as preservatives.”
Danny paid the man and collected his goods. As he was leaving, he noticed jars of sorghum and molasses. “Seventy-five cents. That would be a nice treat. Honey is the only sweetener we’ve had lately.”
The man overheard Danny talking to himself. “A jar of each?”
Danny smiled. “I’ve got my hands full right now. I’ll take the jars to the truck and come back.”
“You could stuff them in your backpack. They won’t leak.”
“Okay. You’ve convinced me.” Danny set his purchases down and dug out a dollar fifty in silver coin. He stowed the treats securely in his day pack and headed toward the truck to rendezvous with the rest of his team. As he neared the vehicle, Danny saw Ben and Jack emerging from the building, which Ben used for his office. Danny hoisted the crate of jars over the side and into the bed of the truck.
“Did you find everything you were lookin’ for?” Ben put his foot on the rear bumper.
“I think so. I need to find a pair of cargo pants and a pair of jeans for my sister. She was always fit, but she’s lost a lot of weight since the EMP.” Danny unlocked the cab of the truck, placing the clothing, molasses, and sorghum in the floorboard of the passenger’s side for safe keeping.
“I had Randy fill up your tank for you. You still had a quarter tank, so I’ll owe you next time you come.”
“Thanks, Ben. We appreciate it.” Danny looked at Jack. “Did you guys have a good talk?”
Ben glanced at Jack then turned back to Danny. “I’m worried that this young fella’s brother is about to get him killed. From the sounds of it, their mama has lost enough already.”
“I’ve tried telling them that.” Danny closed the truck door.
“Didn’t take, huh?” Ben stroked his beard.
Danny snorted. “No, didn’t take.”
“But, he has a point. I did give them my word. I said if they’d help us take out the Greenville outpost, I’d dedicate as many resources as possible to helping them get their father back.”
Danny gave a sigh of exasperation, removed his cap, and ran his fingers through his hair. “Ben, you know what the odds are of JC still being alive.”
Ben pressed his lips together and nodded. “I do. But, that doesn’t relieve me of my obligation. This young man is calling me to account. I have to honor his request.”
Danny looked Jack in the eyes. “I just hope we don’t produce more orphans and widows in what amounts to nothing more than Chris’s blood lust.”
Jack didn’t flinch. He said nothing but stared straight back at Danny as a symbol of his resolve.
Ben broke the silence. “Do you have anyone else you can call on? Anyone at all? I’ll drag every man I’ve got to this thing because I said I would. But, if we don’t get more people, this is going to be a suicide mission for all of us.”
Danny turned to see Antoine and the girls approaching. “Let’s talk about it over lunch. We’re eating at the BBQ Smoke Barrel. Can you join us?”
Ben looked at his watch. “It is about that time, isn’t it?”
Danny opened the door so Antoine and the girls could lock their purchases in the truck cab. Then, the group made their way to the BBQ booth. Once there, Danny waved at the man behind the table. “These guys are with me. Plus, I need to purchase one more meal for Ben.”
The man shook his head. “Ben doesn’t pay for his food here. He does too much for this community. Feedin’ him is the least we can do.”
Danny looked at the chalkboard where the menu options were written. He waited for the girls and Jack to finish ordering. “I’ll have the pulled pork, turnip greens, and potato cakes.”
“Excellent choice. I’ll have the same.” Ben put his hand on Danny’s shoulder.
“Make it three.” Antoine held his index, middle, and ring fingers in the air.
When the food was served, Jack sat with Gwen and Dana. Danny, Antoine, and Ben sat at the next table.
Danny said a quick prayer to bless the food, and they began eating. “Wow, this is good!” He took another bite of the pork and finished chewing. “Antoine thinks he might have an in with the sheriff in Cabarrus County.”
Ben wiped his mouth with a napkin. “Parnell?”
“Yeah, do you know him?” Danny’s eyes widened.
“I know of him,” Ben replied. “What’s your plan to make contact?”
Danny looked at Antoine, who explained that he had a friend working as a cop for the Concord Police Department.
Ben continued eating as he listened. “It’s kind of a long shot. If the meet doesn’t go as planned, whoever goes could be viewed as spies. Who are you thinking about sending?”
“It would have to be Antoine, Gwen, and me. We’re the only ones with first-hand knowledge of Schlusser’s layout.” Danny swallowed hard. “And you’re right. I’ve already considered the consequences if the operation goes south.”
“But you’re still willing to try?” Ben looked at both men.
Antoine turned to Danny. “It’s up to Danny.”
Danny felt the weight of the responsibility. “I don’t know. I guess we should have some idea of a plan before we go waltzing into Parnell’s county. How can we expect an answer if we don’t even know what we’re asking for?”
“I’d say that’s prudent. Since I’m obligated anyway, I’ll help you put together a plan that involves both our teams to take to Parnell. Ranger Dave is in contact with some ham operators in Cabarrus County. I’ll have him reach out and see if any of them are in contact with Parnell. It would sure help if he knew you were coming.”
“That would be great.” Danny looked at Antoine. “What do you think?”
“I like that a whole lot better than showing up unannounced. That’s just not proper etiquette.” Antoine chuckled.
“It ain’t none too healthy neither.” Ben laughed.
After they finished eating, Ben said, “How about we call Lucas over to the office and see if we can come up with a rough sketch for an assault on the airport?”
Danny nodded. “Okay. Just me and Antoine?”
“Better bring Gwen in. She might have some detail about the layout that you boys are missing.” Ben stood up.
“Okay.” Danny relayed the information to the team members at the other table. “Dana, you have a pretty good idea what size Cami wears. Can you look around the booths and see if you can find her a pair of cargo pants and a pair of jeans?”
“Sure.” Dana stood to take her tray back to the table.
Danny retrieved a few pieces of silver and handed them to Dana. “Jack, can you keep an eye on Dana? The flea market is a pretty safe place, but I still don’t feel right leaving her alone,”
“No problem. I’ll do it.” Jack cleared his tray and followed Dana.
Danny, Antoine, and Gwen followed Ben to his office. Ben unlocked the door and held it open for them. “Coffee anyone?”
Danny watched as Ben hit the brew button on the coffee maker next to his desk. It was an odd sight that made him feel unsure of his surroundings. Danny followed the power cord with his eyes. It ran from the Mr. Coffee machine to an orange extension cord, around the wall, and into the next room. “Do you have a battery bank in there?”
Ben took a seat behind his desk. “Yep. A small one. I’ve got two solar panels on the roof of my office. There’s nothing good on TV anymore, so coffee seems to be the highest and best use of the solar power.”
Antoine smiled. “I like a man who has his priorities straight.”
Ben slid a pencil and a blank sheet of printer paper to Danny. “Can you sketch out Schlusser’s layout?”
Danny took the paper and began to draw. “Here’s the Catawba. On th
e west bank right here is a coal-fired electric plant. Obviously, not much is going on there, so that’s where we stashed our vehicle. Across the river and about a mile due east from the electric plant is the southwestern corner of the airport. Roughly two miles north of the plant is a train bridge.” Danny made a crosshatch to demark the railroad tracks. “These cut across the north side of the airport with an entrance to a train yard, which sits on the south side, right between the two main runways.”
Ben watched closely as Danny drew. “I’m followin’ you. Keep going.”
“All the buildings Schlusser is using are along the eastern border, with his main hub of operations right here, on the southeast corner. These two buildings are the National Guard base. And that’s where it all got started.”
“Is that where you think Schlusser is now?”
“Oh, no. Back to the river. It splits off into a short fork, which runs inland about three-quarters of a mile, forming a peninsula. Probably about a mile and a half from the electric plant?” Danny looked to Antoine for clarification.
“More like a mile.” Antoine crossed his arms.
Danny nodded and drew in the fork of the river. “And along this peninsula is a row of really nice houses.”
“Riverfront property. I’d imagine it’s prime real estate.” Ben rubbed his gray beard.
“Yep. And Schlusser took over the whole neighborhood. He has his top brass living in all these homes. Several houses in the neighborhood are delegated as bunk houses for his goons. Basically private security.”
Ben looked over the map. “Where’s the terminal, and what’s he doing with that?”
Gwen pointed at the map. “At the northeast side of the airport. It’s mostly women and younger kids. That’s where I stayed. We did the cooking, cleaning, and gardening.”
“Gardening?” Ben looked surprised.
“Oh, yeah,” she replied. “Schlusser is utilizing all of the green space between the runways and around the perimeters for food production. It’s no sweat off his lazy tail, so why not?”
Ben poured a cup of coffee for Gwen and handed it to her. “That makes sense. It’s not a bad idea. It’s unfortunate that the man is such a malicious dictator.”
“Thanks.” Antoine took the Styrofoam cup of coffee as Ben handed it to him. “Yeah. The airport could have been a good place to start over. Maybe we can take it, and Parnell will put someone in charge who understands freedom and the American way.”
“I admire your optimism.” Danny closed his eyes and took a long sniff of the cup that Ben gave him.
Antoine sipped his coffee. “I learned it from you. After that crazy stunt you pulled, blowing up the fuel tanks, heck, I believe anything is possible.”
“We were up against a rock and a hard place.” Danny grinned as he recalled the event. “And besides, that was all God. I had very little to do with it.”
Antoine nodded. “Yeah, and you convinced me to put faith in your God. That’s all I’m looking for here. I just want to see you put that same faith in that same God. He’s already brought you through once. He’s proven himself. It should be easy for you to believe in him now.”
Danny had to swallow the knot in his throat. God had proven himself to Danny a lot more times than that. Antoine was right. He should have more faith by now.
Ben came to Danny’s defense. “Well, you pray about it, Danny. But, you can’t just run at a thing like this half-cocked. If it’s God’s will, I’m sure the faith will come. And I’m sure God will let you know.”
“What about you?” Danny asked.
“Like I said, I’ve already committed myself to this. I owe Chris and Jack.” Ben’s forehead furrowed. “Whatever you decide about getting involved in the fight will be fine with me. But, I’d sure appreciate it if you can do anything to convince Parnell to give us a hand.”
“Absolutely. You can count on me for that.” Danny put his hand on Ben’s shoulder.
A knock at the door preceded Lucas entering the room. “Danny, Antoine, Gwen, how are you all? It’s good to see you all.”
They all greeted the man who had fought beside them at the Greenville Convention Center. Ben quickly brought Lucas up to speed and pointed out the highlights of the map Danny had drawn.
“What are you thinking about doing?” Lucas continued looking at the map.
Ben pointed to the top right corner of the map. “Concord is roughly twenty-five miles northeast of the airport. If we can convince Parnell to get involved, he’d be bringing his forces straight into the terminal. Hopefully, it would be an overwhelming force, pressuring Schlusser to send all of his troops to meet them. I’m sure Schlusser has scouts watching for just such an attack. Meanwhile, we’d hit the peninsula and try to eliminate most of his top brass. The foot soldiers will be occupied with holding the northern and eastern flanks of the airport. Our only advantage is the fact that Schlusser has spread himself too thin. We have to exploit that weakness as much as possible.”
Lucas stared at the map. “And if Parnell won’t help?”
“You just pray that he does.” A grim look came over Ben’s face as he glared at the map. “Just pray that he does.”
Ben sipped his coffee and glanced over at Danny. “So, you’ll go to Cabarrus County?”
Danny looked at Antoine. “Are you in?”
“Yeah, I’m in.”
Danny turned to Gwen. “What about you?”
“Sure.”
Danny took Ben’s hand and shook it. “We’ll do what we can. See if Ranger Dave can reach out and make contact.”
“I will. Thank you, Danny.” Ben’s eyes showed his delight.
Danny led the way out of the office and to the truck. Dana and Jack arrived shortly after the others.
“When will I see you again?” Ben asked.
Danny looked at the sky as he thought. “We’ll stop by on our way out to Concord, Friday morning.”
“Good. I’ll top off your tank with gas. It’s roughly 280 miles round trip. You should be able to make it on one tank, provided you don’t do too much sightseeing. Come back through on your way out, and I’ll fill you up again.”
“Thanks.” Danny opened the door of the F-150 and got in. “Do you think there’s any chance those boys down in Charleston would help you take out Schlusser?”
Ben’s brows drew together. “They have the manpower and the firepower, but I don’t know that much about their leadership. If you get the wrong guy, you’d just be trading one dictator for another. We could end up expending our precious blood and treasure, and come out worse off than we are now. We have a shot at taking out Schlusser, but if the man running the joint base down there decided he wanted to impose himself on this region, we couldn’t do much about it. I’d prefer to stay at arm’s length with that crew.”
Danny closed the door and started the engine. “Well, maybe we can find out more about him. Perhaps he’s a real patriot.”
Ben smiled. “Perhaps he is. But, remember there’s no commander-in-chief, and no official organizational structure. You could have the nicest guy in America running the show today, and he could be taken out by a coup tomorrow. As a matter of fact, leadership could change every other week. Stuff like that happens in third world countries all the time.
“Anyway, you take care.”
Danny forced a smile. “See you soon.” He put the vehicle in gear and drove away. The thought that America was now a third world country nagged him the whole way home.
CHAPTER 4
His mouth is full of cursing and deceit and fraud: under his tongue is mischief and vanity. He sitteth in the lurking places of the villages: in the secret places doth he murder the innocent: his eyes are privily set against the poor. He lieth in wait secretly as a lion in his den: he lieth in wait to catch the poor: he doth catch the poor, when he draweth him into his net. He croucheth, and humbleth himself, that the poor may fall by his strong ones. He hath said in his heart, God hath forgotten: he hideth his face; he will never see it. Arise,
O Lord; O God, lift up thine hand: forget not the humble.
Psalm 10:7-12
Danny ran his hand through Alisa’s hair as she lay in bed Tuesday morning. “Are you coming to breakfast?”
“I’ll eat later.” She pulled the cover over her shoulders and turned to face the wall.
Danny sat on the side of the bed. “So, do you think you’re pregnant?”
She rolled back over to look at him. “Yeah. How did you know?”
“I’m fairly observant. I know these kinds of things.”
“Gwen told you, didn’t she?”
“No. Gwen didn’t say anything about it to me. Why? Did you tell Gwen before you told me?”
“I haven’t told anyone anything. Girls just know stuff like that.” She sat up and looked him in the eye. “Dana. She told you.”
Danny feigned a look of shock. “I’m insulted. Why don’t you believe that your loving, caring husband would figure it out for himself?”
Alisa lay back down. “I knew it. Dana told you. Who else did she tell?”
“She confirmed what I’d already suspected. It was on the way to Pickens yesterday. Antoine was in the cab of the truck. He may or may not have overheard the conversation.”
“Oh, great. So basically, the entire farm knows. Jack and Gwen, do they know?”
“Possibly.” Danny tried to be elusive.
Miss Jennie’s voice called up the stairs. “Y’all better get down here. Breakfast is getting cold.”
“I’ll be down in a minute. Alisa isn’t feeling well,” Danny replied.
“She’s gonna have to eat somethin’. That youngin’ needs to eat whether she feels like it or not.”
Danny put his hands in the air. “I didn’t say anything to Nana.”
“This is just great.” Alisa huffed and pulled the pillow over her head.
Danny pulled the maternity top out of his day pack and held it up. “I have something for you. It might make you feel better.”
“What is it?” She reluctantly came out from under the pillow. Alisa looked up. “Oh, Danny. It’s so cute.” She sat up and took the top. She held it up to her shoulders and looked down. “I’m going to be huge.”
