“Where? Who voted?”
“In California. The people still alive there voted.”
“This is part of California,” Peckham noted. “We not only didn’t vote, we didn’t even know there was an election.”
“All the people around where we were voted. Maybe next time you can vote, too; but right now you’ve got to abide by what we decided.”
“Where you were? Which was?”
“Around Tracy.” “Tracy?” Peckham uttered.
“Yeah. It’s a town about seventy miles south of Sacramento, and. . . ”
“I know where Tracy is,” Peckham cut in. “What does it have to do with the election of a governor?”
“It’s been set up as the new state capital. Sacramento is kaput.”
“But, why Tracy?”
“That’s where Mr. Silva is from,” replied McFee.
“Mr. Silva?”
“Richard Silva. He’s the new governor.”
“What qualifies him as governor?” queried Peckham.
“He was an Assemblyman once, a few years back. He knows all about that kind of stuff.”
Peckham shook his head. He turned to Zach and Stacey. “Do you have any questions?”
“I have one,” said Stacey. She looked at McFee, her eyes boring in on his. “Why are you here?”
“The first smart question you guys have asked,” said McFee. “We’re here to collect your first installment of taxes.”
“Taxes? What taxes?” said Peckham.
“We’ve got a whole new state government to run. We need stuff. Resources.” Peckham studied the man. “Are you aware that what we used as money before no longer has value?”
“Sure, but what we need is food and equipment and stuff like that. I saw many animals here when we came in, and I see you have crops growing. We need to take those, and we’ve heard you have things like canned goods, tools, rifles, ammunition. We need that kind of stuff, as well.”
“You need rifles and ammunition?” Zach asked.
“For the state militia.” McFee put his palm out toward the men around him, indicating he was talking about them.
“They look very well armed,” Zach pointed out.
“There are more of us,” McFee told him. He looked meaningfully at Zach and then at Peckham. “A lot more.”
Neither man appeared cowed by what was an obvious threat. “Plus,” Zach suggested, “it wouldn’t serve your purposes to have others armed.”
“As long as we got a militia to protect ‘em, no one else needs to be armed.”
“A lot of people would disagree with that statement,” Zach said.
“Look, we’re wasting time here,” McKee protested. “Let’s start. . . ”
Peckham put up a hand. “Before we continue this, I need to talk to my man inside. I believe he’s been on the phone with someone on the mainland, and he may have some information for us.”
“Phone? There are no phones,” McFee sputtered.
“It’s not much more than a modern walkie-talkie, but it serves the purpose,” Peckham told him.
“Warren, come out here, please.”
Warren walked out from the building holding a walkie-talkie.
“Did you hear what was said out here?” Peckham asked.
“Every word. I relayed it on to Captain Kotchel.”
“Who the devil is Captain Kotchel?” asked McFee.
“He’s the captain of what may be the only U.S. Coast Guard cutter left in the world,” Peckham told him. “He and his men have been patrolling the coast to keep order.”
“And,” Warren said, “he says there’s been no election for governor of California.”
“If he’s on a boat, he’s out on the ocean,” McFee pointed out. “He doesn’t know what’s going on away from the coast. I guarantee you there was an election, and Richard Silva is now governor.”
“Captain Kotchel has contacts all along the coast and inland,” Peckham said. “He keeps pretty close tabs on what’s happening on land as well as at sea.”
“And he says there hasn’t been any kind of consolidated effort statewide as of yet,” Warren interjected.
“Yeah, well, we consolidated around Tracy and elected a governor,” McFee spit out. His eyes narrowed and his face was getting red. The men around him were getting tense. They didn’t point their weapons at the Two Harbors people, but they raised them up a little with each exchange of words.
“He says there are groups in several places in the state,” Warren said. “Some are like us here on Catalina, people setting up a community. Some are no more than gangsters out stealing everything they can get their hands on. He hasn’t heard of a legitimate group working to put together a community in the San Joaquin Valley area. That’s where Tracy is, right?”
“That’s enough beating around the bush,” McFee stated flatly. He straightened up to appear more dominant and took a half step forward. His men did the same. “Give us what we came for.” Peckham remained standing casually beside the table. “I agree with your first statement,” he said. “So, in order to not waste more of your time or ours, I’ll come right out and tell you that we are not going to give you a thing.”
“In that case,” McFee spat out, “we’ll just have to take it.”
He pulled a revolver out of his holster, pointing it at Peckham, and raised a hand. When he did, they could hear a loud racking noise from the boat. They could see that the man behind the machine gun had aimed it at the people on the hill. The noise was undoubtedly something he did to get the weapon ready to fire. Three of the men with assault weapons pointed them at Zach, Stacey, and Warren. The others looked for targets on the boats and in the buildings.
“If one person lifts a finger to try to stop us,” McFee seethed, “everyone on this island will be shot, beginning with the four of you!”
* * * * *
Chapter 4
RATHER than lift a finger, Peckham nodded his head. Moments later, a shot rang out and there was a loud “clanging” sound at the boat. McFee and his men turned to see that one leg of the tripod the machine gun rested on was now shattered by a bullet, and the gun rested on the deck.
“Look around you,” Peckham said to McFee and his men.
The people who had been working on the hill were now behind the tractor with rifles aimed at them. All the people on the boats took cover, but at least thirty of them had weapons pointed at McFee’s boat or at McFee and his men. Twenty more armed men and women had come out from behind the buildings and had McFee and his men in their sights. The intruders could not see the four snipers in the trees.
When McFee turned back to look at Peckham, he saw a gun pointed directly at him. The Arthurs and Warren were also holding guns and pointing them at the three men closest to McFee.
“Don’t pay any attention to these guns,” Peckham said. “They’re just backup. You see, that first shot was just a warning. A Soldier in Iraq made it. He could just as easily have put the bullet between the gunner’s eyes, but we will not kill anyone unless we have no other choice. You should know that we have no fewer than three ex-snipers here, and I can assure you that at least one of them has that spot between your eyes in his sights as we speak. Many of the others pointing weapons at you are ex-military. The others have all had training in the use of both handguns and rifles. They’re all pretty good, and several of them are real sharpshooters.
“So, I repeat, we will not give you a thing and have no intention of letting you, or anyone else, steal from us. As time goes on and we build up our supplies, we will be in a position to trade for things we need. But we will never be bullied into giving away anything to thugs like you.” McFee started to move his gun hand, but thought better of it.
“You were smart to stop moving that hand,” Peckham told him. “If it had moved another half inch, a bullet would have hit you between the eyes. Not a one of your men would have been alive two seconds later.”
“You’re messing with the wrong people,” McFee growle
d through clenched teeth.
“Only because the wrong people already tried to steal from us,” Peckham responded. “We’ll let you live, but this incident should be a lesson to you. Get out of here and don’t come back.” McFee turned to Zach. “You look like a thinking man,” he said. “Try to talk some sense into your friend here.”
“You’re right, I am a thinking man,” Zach agreed. “After you’re gone, I think I’ll talk to him. He’s far too patient. Your kind should be shot on sight.”
“You’re all going to pay for this!” McFee shouted vehemently. He appeared to be thinking about raising his gun again, but looked around and kept it pointed down.
“Zach may be right,” Peckham opined. “Maybe you should have been shot on sight.”
McFee shot him a look of pure hated but turned around to walk away. “Let’s go. We’ll deal with these fools another time.”
“Stop!” ordered Peckham.
The thugs stopped in their tracks, and McFee turned back to look at the mayor. “What?”
“Leave your weapons. Drop the ones you’re carrying right where you are, and leave the machine gun on the dock.”
“We can’t go out on the ocean unarmed,” McFee insisted.
Zach lifted his gun and pointed it at McFee’s head, “Drop them, or I’ll drop you.”
“There are some real bad people out there,” McFee pleaded. “They rob and kill whoever they catch up to if they can’t defend themselves.”
“I know that for a fact,” Zach concurred. “I’m looking at some of the culprits right now. It’s too bad we won’t be able to see how you deal with being victims for a change. Drop those weapons. Now!”
He saw fear in the eyes of the man to McFee’s right, so he made a show of shifting his aim to the man’s forehead. The thug immediately dropped his assault rifle. The rest of the men followed suit.
“Your handgun, too, McFee,” Peckham ordered.
“You’re breaking the law here,” McFee protested. “You’re going to be in a lot of trouble.”
“Are you still trying to play that card?” said Peckham. “Okay, fine, I’ll deal with any issue of law if and when the time comes. Bring a court order from a recognized court, and then we can talk. Meanwhile, I will give you one last warning. Drop that gun and get out of here.”
McFee began to unbuckle his gun belt. He made a show of doing it very slowly, attempting to demonstrate an independent mode. He tried staring down Peckham, but the other man’s eyes bore into his. He shifted his eyes to Zach’s, and when that produced no better results, he tried out staring Stacey. Her eyes seemed to burn into his, so he finally settled on Warren, who didn’t seem quite as determined as the other three. However, the young man didn’t look away, so McFee finally dropped his gun and holster, and then led his men down to the boat.
The four from the island followed. When they got to the boat, McFee and all but one of his men climbed aboard. One man went to the controls and started the engine. The man guarding the boat was on the bow alongside the man sitting behind the machine gun, which was still lying on the deck. He still had his assault rifle. The man’s hand was at the trigger, but he had the weapon pointed upward.
The lone man who had remained on the dock untied the stern line and started toward the bow to untie that line.
Zach moved to intercept him. “You’re not ready to leave yet,” he told the man. He looked up at McFee. “Bring the machine gun down to the dock before you shove off,” he ordered.
“I see one of your men still has a weapon,” Peckham added. “We can’t risk your trying to use it against us, so we need that, as well.”
“We’ll be helpless out there with no weapon at all,” McFee protested again. “C’mon, be reasonable.” “Don’t worry, boss, all they got is handguns and there ain’t no way I’m gonna give up my weapon,” the man with the assault rifle called out. “Duck, and I’ll cut ‘em down before they can lift a hand.”
McFee ducked and the man dropped the barrel of his weapon down toward the people on the dock, squeezing the trigger.
* * * * *
Chapter 5
A bullet ripped into the side of the shooter’s head before the barrel of his weapon lowered enough for the bullets to hit anyone on the dock. The five of them dropped flat on the dock, but it proved to be unnecessary. Even though the shooter died with his finger jammed into the trigger guard and that the weapon continued firing for a few seconds, the bullets sprayed harmlessly out over the harbor. McFee was the only one anywhere near the target area. He and everyone on the boat dived for cover.
The bullet that killed the thug traveled more than two hundred yards, and the sound of the shot came as he fell. When the shooter hit the deck, the weapon dislodged from his dead hands and an eerie quiet replaced the noise of rapid firing, with the final shot ringing out across the bay.
McFee was the first on his feet. He pointed accusingly at Peckham from the boat’s deck. “One of your trigger-happy people killed my man!”
Peckham rose to his feet. “That guy was about to shoot us. If he’d slowed down a little, I think our sniper would have just wounded him, but we’ll never know for sure.”
“You’ve gone too far,” seethed McFee. “That man was on official duty.”
Peckham studied the supposed state official for a moment, and then shook his head. “You’re no more than thieves. Trying to steal under some phony banner of government is still stealing.”
By now, all the people on the dock were standing. “I’m no more an official in Catalina than you are of the state,” Zach said, “but I think I can speak for all of us on Catalina. Get out of here.
Now!”
“We’ll be back in force.”
“I wouldn’t recommend that,” said Zach. “I just got here myself, but I’ve seen enough to know that these people don’t respond well to interlopers.”
“Shall I untie the bow line, boss?” asked the man still on the dock.
“No, we need those guns first,” Peckham reminded him.
McFee attempted to look defiant, but glanced over at the shore and saw there were still dozens of weapons pointed at him. He knew there were others. . . snipers in the nearby woods. He ordered his men to unload the machine gun and the automatic weapon the dead man had tried to use.
Once the weapons were unloaded, the man untied the last line, jumped aboard, and the boat shoved off.
* * * * *
Zach carried the machine gun up to the building they used for storage. Warren carried the automatic weapon, an AK-47 similar to the ones the Arthur family used. They had six, gifts from the executive officer of an aircraft carrier right after the war started. The other automatic weapons McFee’s men had left, along with McFee’s gun and holster, had already been put in storage.
When they put everything away, the people returned to the table they had been sitting at earlier. Peckham had been turning something over in his mind. “Those people coming in like they did brought something to mind.”
“That there’s a need for watch towers?” Zach asked.
That stopped Peckham for a second. “That, too, now that you mention it. I was thinking about something else, though. Right after the war started, we heard that the Speaker of the House was sworn in as President, and a few people from congress were still alive and meeting.”
“We heard the same thing,” said Zach.
“The problem is we haven’t heard a word since. Neither has Captain Kotchel. We have no idea if there is any recognized organization in existence to govern the country or any part of it.”
“You seem pretty well organized here,” Stacey observed.
“What we have is temporary, and as your husband pointed out, we need to make improvements when we find weaknesses. Besides, we are growing, and more people mean more complications.”
“That reminds me,” Warren interjected, “Captain Kotchel said they found a replacement shaft for their ship; it will be repaired in two days. They’ll come here then.” He
stopped and he looked apologetic. “Harry, he also said he has twenty-six refugees from Simi Valley.”
“Did he indicate if they had food and supplies?”
“The way he talked, they were near starvation,” Warren replied. “He said they were definitely not preppers. He said you should call him after you discuss it with the group.”
Peckham’s shoulders drooped.
“Do you take all comers?” Zach inquired. He had been watching the hill where the tractor and the four men and women were again planting seed, but returned his attention to the conversation.
“So far, all who have come are able to take care of themselves. I say ‘they’ because I’m part of a group that arrived later. The original residents were gracious and agreed to take us in.”
“You were introduced to us as the mayor,” said Stacey.
“Two Harbors is – was? – an unincorporated part of Los Angeles County. It probably doesn’t make much difference now, being as the entire county records where destroyed when Los Angeles was. With all the changes taking place, people decided to have an election for temporary officers. I was once the mayor of a small town in San Bernardino County, so they picked me. But I’m new. . . part of a survivalist group that’s only been here a month. We had food, weapons, and supplies enough for ourselves, and we had enough to share. As you saw, we can handle ourselves in a conflict. When Captain Kotchel comes across people in need, he asks us if we’re willing to take them. We get together and decide. We took in a few small groups that were able to take care of themselves, you and your family included. Captain Kotchel doesn’t send people who aren’t honest and hard-working.”
“Yet you appear concerned about the twenty-six he’s about to ask you to take,” said Zach. He again looked up the hill but continued to listen to the conversation.
“We’re nearing capacity for what we have and how much we’re able to produce in a short time. If they have nothing, they may need more than we can give.”
“What about Avalon?” Zach asked. “I know it was overrun by thugs, but the people on the container ship that tried to destroy Two Harbors yesterday claimed they wiped out everyone there before they came here. It may be open for a settlement.”
Seeking a Sane Society: Nothing is the Same (The Seeking Series Book 2) Page 2
