Liberty or Tyranny

by John Grit

  “If we didn’t think you would be an asset, we would’ve left you in town,” Nate said.

  Brian reached into the truck and handed Deni her backpack. After handing everyone their packs, he slipped his on and grabbed his rifle off the seat. He rolled the window up and closed the door as silently as he could. “It’s those at the farm I’m worried about. Everyone in town knows we’re their friends. Anyone who comes after us is certain to visit the farm, and there’s no telling how rough they’ll get when they do.”

  Atticus adjusted his pack’s shoulder straps, while Tyrone held his shotgun for him. “We really stepped into it when we decided to investigate those damn semis. The trouble we have caused is spreading all over this county.”

  Nate pulled a compass from under his shirt, where it hung from a string around his neck. “It can’t be undone. We’ll have to live or die with it now. And, yes, it’s a damn shame others are going to pay for our actions.” He took three steps and stopped. “Brian, behind me. Deni, watch our six. Everybody, 10 foot spacing. Try to walk as quietly as possible and no talking. Keep your eyes and ears open and your mind concentrating on staying alive.”

  ~~~

  An hour later, Nate raised his hand and stopped. When the others caught up, he whispered, “I’ll go the rest of the way by myself. Should be back just about dark.” He looked at the faces around him. “Deni knows more than the rest of you about woods fighting. Your best chance is to listen to her. Consider her in charge while I’m gone.” He studied the reaction of Tyrone and Atticus. “I don’t mean to be bossy. But Deni can keep you alive. Even Brian knows more about woods fighting than you two city guys. He’s had a lot of experience lately. You’re not lawmen anymore; you’re guerrilla fighters and your cause is survival.”

  Atticus snorted. “Glenwood ain’t exactly New York City. But I get your point. We don’t mind taking orders from you or from Deni.”

  Tyrone added, “Especially if she can keep us alive.”

  Nate took one last look at Brian and Deni, then turned and walked away.

  After paralleling the road for miles and staying back from it several hundred yards, he turned left and made a beeline straight for it. He wanted to cross before he got near the farm, in case anyone was watching. He planned to come in on the north side of the farm and observe with binoculars before moving on in and searching out one of the more distant guards near the front gate. He didn’t want to be misidentified as a threat and get shot.

  Approaching the clay road, Nate readied his binoculars. He wanted to scan every inch of the road in both directions for any sign of danger and needed to find a dip in the road or at least a hill that would limit how far he could be seen in one direction. One direction was about all he could hope for. The sound of motors roaring and vehicles rattling from the north caught his attention. He turned his binoculars on the road where it crested over a hill. He froze for a second. I’m too late. He stayed hid in the woods and watched a convoy of military vehicles – mostly Humvees with .50-caliber Browning machine guns mounted on top – race by. It was obvious they were looking for a fight.

  His mind raced. How in the hell did they react so fast? The high brass in Washington must’ve already known about our association with MacKay and others at the farm. He started his return to Deni, Brian, and friends, deep in thought. Maybe they’re not looking for us. It could be a coincidence, a normal patrol. He shook his head. No. The Army has never been out this far before. Why would they come out here now? He worried about those at the farm.

  Atticus almost jumped when he saw Nate appear, materialize from the wall of green, without any indication that he was anywhere near until he was standing only 10 feet away.

  Brian stepped out of thick brush, where he too was standing watch. He motioned with his head to Deni. “He’s back,” he whispered.

  Deni jumped to her feet in surprise. “Already?” She saw the worry on Nate’s face. “What?”

  Tyrone and Atticus stepped closer to the other three, so they could speak in low tones and not make much noise.

  Nate swallowed. His face grim, he explained, “I never got across the road. A convoy of soldiers went by, heading for the farm. That would be my guess anyway. What the hell else is out here? And the bridge is out, so they’re not going long distance to another part of the county. No, they’re going to raid the farm. Looking for us.”

  Deni’s jaw dropped. “Already? How? What the hell’s going on?”

  Nate just shook his head.

  “We have to help them,” Brian said. “This is our fault.”

  “There’s nothing we can do.” Nate gave him a stern look. “Don’t argue with me about it or give me any trouble. I don’t like this any more than you. But the fact is all we can do is pray the soldiers were not given orders to get rough with him. Hopefully, they’ll just search the farm, and once they see we’re not there they’ll leave without harming anyone.”

  “Damn it!” Brian kicked a pine tree. “The whole world went to hell all at once. No. It had already done that. Now it’s gone insane.”

  Atticus coughed. “You got that right.”

  “What now?” Tyrone asked.

  “Well,” Nate scratched the back of his neck. “I’m worried it might not be safe to go to Mel’s bunker. They may already know about it. Certainly, a few in the Guard do. We can’t go back to my place, either. I think we should wait until tomorrow, and then I’ll recon MacKay’s farm and try to learn what’s going on. I’m hoping the soldiers will be gone by then, moved on in their hunt for us.”

  “Nice,” Brian said. “Real damn nice.” He sat down on a three-foot-wide limestone rock. “The kids; Caroline; René and her father; all the others. All we can do is wait and hope the soldiers have a little humanity and don’t kill them.”

  “I think that would be a safe bet.” Nate slipped out of his pack. “They appeared to be regular soldiers, not some kind of special unit of goons. Even the Special Ops guy we took prisoner couldn’t be described as some kind of crazed killer or Nazi. It’s worrisome, but I doubt we’re going to find the aftermath of a massacre tomorrow morning. All we can do is stay here and wait. Until then, get some rest.”

  ~~~

  Ramiro, Mrs. MacKay’s foreman, rushed to a large red brick building that contained the horse stalls. Alarm on his face, he swung the three-foot-wide side door with its barred windows open and stuck his head in. “We just received a radio message from Colonel Donovan: evacuate immediately.” He stepped back outside and slammed the door shut, then ran to the front of the building and entered through double doors that allowed the horses to enter and exit the building. “Radio message: evacuate immediately.”

  Mrs. MacKay was busy showing Caroline how to properly saddle a horse. On hearing Ramiro’s voice, she stiffened and her eyes widened. “Get the horses out into the pasture.” She worked feverishly to get the saddle off.

  Ramiro ran inside, to be met by Caroline, who was leading two horses out of the building. “Did you hear me?” he demanded.

  “Yes. We’re releasing the horses into the pasture. Help the others. We’ll be there in a minute or two.” Caroline pushed past him.

  Mrs. MacKay led the still-bridled horse to Ramiro. “Make sure you take the bridle off before releasing it in the pasture.” She moved as fast as her advanced age would allow and yelled over her shoulder, “I’m going to the house to remind everyone to stick to the plan. We don’t know how long we have, so we’d better get out of here as soon as possible.”

  Ramiro nodded, but said nothing. He led the horse out of the building.

  The big two-story house was alive with activity, as were the smaller outbuildings where most of the men slept. Children were loaded into trucks, both standard pickup trucks and larger flatbeds. On other trucks, boxes and bags of supplies were loaded as quickly as possible. In less than ten minutes, over four dozen adults and children were loaded up and ready to go. Mrs. MacKay and Ramiro rushed through the house to be sure no one was left inside. Others
checked their assigned buildings, in an all-out effort to be sure not to leave anyone behind.

  Twenty minutes after Ramiro received the warning over HAM radio, a convoy of trucks and other assorted vehicles headed out the gate, stopping only long enough to pick up the guards, who ran and climbed on the back of vehicles. Those with children or other family searched the vehicles for their loved ones and climbed in beside them. Two men jumped from the vehicle they were on and climbed onto another one to make room for those who wanted to be next to their children. The convoy picked up speed, rattling down the rough clay road, heading south, the direction of Nate’s farm.

  But long before they got to Nate’s farm, they pulled off onto a Jeep trail, traveling over four miles before parking the vehicles under trees and rushing on foot into the woods to a pre-designated hiding place, dragging or carrying their supplies along with them. No one had any idea how long they would be there or if they would ever be able to come back to the farm. Seeing the worry on their parents’ faces, many of the smaller children cried. Adults kept rifle and shotgun barrels pointing outward. All they knew was danger was coming and they had to be prepared for it. Their first plan was to flee and hide, but if forced they would fight. While most of the group hid in the woods, a few men stayed with the vehicles and cut brush to camouflage them with.

  ~~~

  Less than ten minutes after the farm was evacuated, a military convoy turned into the drive and rushed through the open gate. The captain in charge wondered if the open gate might be an invitation to an ambush. Had they been warned somehow? Captain Cleef had no intention of being a part of any massacre, but feared the potential for such a disaster was there. So many civilians in one place, and all armed, was a boiling kettle of shit about to be kicked over. He hated assignments like this. His orders were to arrest five people, including one teenage boy. Intel was they might be hiding on this farm. The red light for him was the fact the farm was full of civilians who were not wanted for anything. There was no information at all as to what the five were suspected of. His orders were to find and arrest them at all costs. Bullshit. All costs? What the hell does that mean? The lives of all his men? The lives of dozens of civilians? Or both? So many bullshit orders recently. I’ve had enough of it.

  ~~~

  Ramiro supervised the hiding of the trucks under trees, making sure they were spread out over many acres. Camouflage nets were spread over the vehicles in an attempt to hide them from aircraft, but he knew, as did most of the other adults there, the heat of the engines would give them away. It would take only one helicopter to fly over with heat detection equipment, and they would be discovered. They could only hope no aircraft came along until after the engines cooled, but the metal of the vehicles would hold heat and still might be detected by infrared devices.

  Three miles from the trucks, tents were erected under trees and the children made as comfortable as possible. They carried some of the supplies they had taken with him but not all, leaving the rest near the trucks, hidden in the woods.

  Ramiro approached Mrs. MacKay. “Do you think we should dig up some of the pre-placed supplies now?”

  Mrs. MacKay did not hesitate. “No. We brought enough with us for a few days. As soon as we get the radio set up, we should hear more from Glenwood. When we do, we’ll have a better idea of how long we’ll be staying here.”

  Ramiro looked around at the busy people, already setting up a defense perimeter. Selected men and women were just then heading out to man observation posts that would afford them an early warning if attacked. Each team carried a two-way radio, so they could communicate with the base camp. The radios had been scrounged up by Colonel Donovan. Proud of their people’s efficiency, he said, “We have come a long way since the last time this happened.”

  MacKay nodded. “Yes, thanks to Nate, Mel, Deni, Colonel Donovan, and many others in Glenwood.”

  “Still,” Ramiro said, “if the soldiers find us, we’ll be at their mercy. All of this is for other threats. As before, if the soldiers come, we must surrender. Their weapons are too strong for us to fight.”

  MacKay raised her voice, “They must not find us this time. Watch them. Make sure everyone stays under the cover of trees. I have a bad feeling about this one. I fear that if they find us, we’ll lose more people than last time.”

  Ramiro turned grim. He had lost his wife during a military raid on the farm. That raid had been ordered by an insane Army officer. “The man on the radio said someone in Washington was out for blood. He said, ‘Run like hell.’”

  She looked around, near-panic in her eyes. “Maybe half a dozen adults should take the children deeper into the woods. This time they may not need an excuse before they open fire on us.”

  Caroline was checking her M4 when she heard. “Maybe we should spread out in groups of ten and rendezvous back here in a couple days.”

  “I hate to do that.” MacKay rubbed her hands together. Her face lined with worry and doubt as to what course to take. “But it seems like it may be the best thing to do.”

  Ramiro agreed. “The radio message was very ominous. I think Caroline’s idea is a good one. It will be much more difficult for them to find all of us if we are spread out.”

  “Let’s do it,” MacKay said. “We will need time to make camp before dark, and if we are to spread out far enough to do any good we will need time to travel.”

  ~~~

  Captain Cleef pulled off the dirt drive just inside the gate and let the other Humvees go on by. Colonel Donovan was on the radio warning Captain Cleef not to harm any innocents. “I’m almost certain the individuals you are after are not at that farm. If you allow any unnecessary killing of civilians, you will answer to me. And I don’t give a damn what Washington or the Pentagon says.”

  Cleef grew indignant. “Colonel, I have never allowed the murder of civilians. My men have strict orders to fire only when fired upon.”

  “Good. Stay on your toes and make sure they follow those orders.”

  “Yes Sir. Colonel, we have just arrived, and I will give you a report in 10 or 15 minutes.”

  “Fine. You do that.”

  Ten minutes later, Captain Cleef’s voice came over the radio speaker in Donovan’s office. “Colonel, the farm has been evacuated. It’s obvious someone tipped them off. I have men out searching the area at this moment. But so far, we have found no sign of large groups of people having traveled through the woods and the surrounding area recently. There are only a few vehicles on the compound and those seem to be disabled. That tells me they left by motor vehicle. I request at least one Black Hawk to search for them.”

  “We have one in the area already,” Donovan answered. “Load up and be ready to move out at a moment’s notice.” He did not mention that his sincerest hope was the pilot would come up empty. It would be dark soon, and if those being hunted were careful enough to stay under a thick canopy of cover, their chances of not being found were better than even.

  Chapter 9

  Something woke Nate. He scrambled out of his sleeping bag and sat up, listening. He looked over and saw Brian sitting up also, his rifle in his hands. It was then he realized that he too had his rifle sitting on his lap. The sound of a distant helicopter faded away.

  Deni was on watch. She heard the commotion when Nate woke and stepped closer. “They’ve been searching for hours. South of us.”

  “What terrible criminals we are,” Brian said. “That they should burn so much fuel looking for us.” He lay back down and got comfortable in his sleeping bag. Still several hours before dawn, the temperature was in the 30s. His breath misted as he turned on his side and propped his head up with a rolled jacket. “I’m going back to sleep. Wake me when the war starts.”

  Deni dropped to one knee beside Nate. Speaking in a whisper, she said, “You go back to sleep also. It’ll be Tyrone’s turn to pull security in about 30 minutes.”

  “Wake him now, and get some shuteye. I want you to come with me to check out the farm. The others wil
l stay here again.”

  Relieved to learn he wasn’t going alone, she didn’t argue. “Okay.”

  ~~~

  The dark night woods gradually lightened to gunmetal gray and revealed the world around Nate and Deni a little at a time, until they could see well enough to leave the others and head for the farm.

  Brian watched them sink into the cold mist that hung only feet above the forest floor and disappear into the towering gloom of the wilderness, swallowed by the forest, its obscurity offering at least some refuge from a modern army. The temperature had dropped below 30 and he didn’t really want to leave his warm sleeping bag, but he knew Tyrone was tired and it was time for him to pull security and let Tyrone get warm in his bag and catch a few hours of sleep. Atticus was ten feet away, snoring peacefully. At his age, things are going to get really rough for him out here in the woods, Brian thought. Let him sleep. He can pull security during the middle of the day when it’s warm and he’s rested.

  ~~~

  Approaching the farm with extreme caution, Nate and Deni bounded from cover to cover, one overwatching with rifle shouldered, while the other moved forward, leapfrogging past each other. As soon as they were close enough to see through the brush, Nate used his binoculars to scan the north side of the farm.

  “The horses are in the pasture. There’s not a single human out there visible to me.” After lowering the binoculars, he said “Let’s move around to another angle. I want to take a look at the front of the house.”

  Ten minutes later, Deni caught a glimpse of the front porch and door. “Front door’s smashed. Porch furniture is overturned. They’ve been there all right. Question is, did the people get out before the soldiers arrived?”

  Nate scanned the porch with binoculars. “I think the helicopters last night answered that question for us. They were searching for Mrs. MacKay’s people.”

  “Could’ve been searching for us.”