299 Days: The Visitors

by Glen Tate

  “What does it matter if there’s a ‘formal’ war?” Ted asked.

  “Because if there’s a formal war then I’m not as concerned about things like killing people without knowing for sure that they’re a threat,” Grant said. “You see, Ted, we’re following the Constitution out here. It’s kind of a big deal.” That was Grant’s sarcastic zinger. “That means treason takes the testimony of two eyewitnesses and it’s done in a real trial, with a jury and everything. It’s in the Constitution,” Grant said.

  “Yeah, I know,” Ted said. Ted had studied the Constitution extensively. He thought Grant was just being a lawyer.

  “Well, OK,” Grant said, “the Constitution also has provisions about wars. It’s not precisely the same, but the power of habeas corpus can be suspended in times of war or insurrection. In a war, we operate under the laws of war, which authorizes actions without trials. Obviously. You couldn’t fight a war if you had to have trials. So I’m more OK—actually, I’m fine—with killing Loyalists if there’s a formal war. So is there?” Grant asked.

  “Yes,” Ted said. OK, maybe Grant was coming around.

  “Not sure whether this counts as ‘formal,’” Ted continued, “but the Patriots in most states have gotten together and declared their states to be ‘Free.’ So, for example, there is a ‘Free Washington State,’ a ‘Free Oregon,’ and so on. That means there’s an organized group in most states that are claiming the state for the Patriots. Some of the Free movements are larger than others, depending on the state. Texas is almost entirely a Free state; the Feds have pretty much taken off from there.”

  “Anyway,” Ted continued, “when the Free State movements started a few days after May Day, the Feds declared that this was a formal ‘insurrection,’ which triggered a bunch more emergency powers. A declared insurrection is an act of war in many people’s books.” Ted knew the intellectual debate about whether a declared insurrection was technically a “war.” He had a Masters’ degree in the history of warfare from the correspondence courses he took in the Army. It was a real degree. Ted, like almost all SF, was extremely intelligent.

  “But,” Ted shrugged, “it’s still a little fuzzy. No real declaration of war. You can imagine that the Feds don’t want to advertise that their country is breaking up so there hasn’t been any announcement to the civilian population, but it’s as close to a declared war as you usually get in civil wars,” Ted said, referencing his long study of the subject.

  Grant realized that Ted knew what he was talking about. He had a good point about this being a war. Grant needed to show the Team that he wasn’t a stubborn dick.

  He looked at Ted and said, “OK, man, I didn’t know. That changes my mind. There’s a war. A war for legal purposes. So we can go get them,” he said, referring to the Loyalists. “But I want to be careful about it. I’m trying to hold this place together under the Constitution so it doesn’t become a lawless group full of revenge killings.”

  Ted nodded. “A laudable goal,” he said, “and one we share. “But, if we get smoked out by Loyalists and some regular Loyalist Army unit comes here, onto the nearly unguarded beaches you have, by the way, then we’re all dead. Your family is dead. And the Constitution is dead out here, too.”

  It was silent. Ted had a point; an extremely good point, but one that was really hard to accept. We have no choice but to kill people we disagree with—and this is all to save the Constitution? That was true only in the rarest of circumstances, but this was the very rarest of circumstances.

  Ted had been through this mental exercise before. It was part of his Special Forces training on getting indigenous forces to side with the Americans. A big part of that was specific tactics to convince leaders of indigenous forces to join the American side. Special Forces was sometimes more political and diplomatic than military. Ted used the technique from his training for the reluctant fighter: switch to practical details to get them thinking.

  “So, who are the Limas out here who will try to kill us?” Ted asked Grant. “You know, Loyalists,” Ted said. “Ls. You know, ‘Limas’.”

  “Lima” was the phonetic alphabet term for “L.” Like Alpha, Bravo, and Charlie were the phonetic alphabet terms for “A,” “B,” and “C.” Ted and the other Patriot military people called Loyalists “Limas,” like Ted did in Afghanistan, where the troops called terrorists “Tangos,” which was the phonetic alphabet for “T.” He and his colleagues would say “Tango down” when they killed a terrorist. Using a phonetic alphabet term dehumanized the person. He wasn’t a person; he was a Lima or a Tango.

  “Snelling,” Grant said instantly. Grant described Snelling and all the Grange debates they’d had.

  “And his douchebag sidekick, Dick Abbott,” Grant added. He told them about Abbott.

  “That’s it?” Ted said. “Two enemy leaders out here? That’s great. Not too many. This should be easy.”

  “What should be easy?” Grant asked. He was still in denial.

  Chapter 164

  “So, Who’s In?”

  (July 3)

  “Killing them, Grant. Killing them is what should be easy,” Ted said. He was being gentle with Grant because he could tell that he was a decent guy who needed to come to the conclusion about killing these people on his own. Chip had told Ted about the looters, so he knew that Grant had it in him.

  Chip had also told Ted that Grant had a calm head after the shooting in preparing for a counter attack and then bugging out before the cops got there. So, Grant could do these things; he just needed a little coaxing to do them in a…premeditated way. “Premeditated” was the wrong word. That sounded like murder. This wasn’t murder. It was war. Grant needed to get used it and make the mental shift.

  The political animal in Grant was feeling that he was about to be marginalized and lose his ability to persuade the Team. He had been doing so well ever since they got out there. Extremely well, actually. Now he was stumbling. He was being shown to be weak and clinging to the old ways. Shit, he realized he had normalcy bias, which was the worst thing someone could have out there. Grant had to do something to show he wasn’t living in the past. He had to authorize the killing of the Loyalists.

  “OK,” Grant said. “Snelling and Abbott can go. But I have one condition.” Grant quickly realized that he had no ability to require any conditions, but he had already said it, so he might as well roll with it.

  “I want some evidence that they are actively out to kill us,” Grant said. “Not much evidence, just a little. Just…enough.”

  Ted knew this was Grant’s bottom line. Ted needed Grant to have a huge role in the Pierce Point indigenous fighters. He decided to give in.

  “OK, a little evidence,” Ted said. “Then we can kill them.”

  “Deal,” Grant said. He realized that saying “Deal” was conspiracy to commit murder. Another crime under the old laws to be put on Grant’s long list of offenses. He was dead if the Loyalists held onto power. He had picked sides and there was no turning back. That had happened a long time ago. This was just reinforcing it.

  “Back to what we hope to do out here,” Ted said. He wanted to turn to the tactical details.

  “Recruit, train, supply, and lead 100 or so fighters from Pierce Point and ones we bring in,” Ted said. “That’s not what we hope to do,” he said. “That’s what we’re going to do,” he said confidently. Ted needed these guys to be confident. And Ted was genuinely confident. They had a great setup out there and a core group of guys, like the Team who Ted knew personally and had even helped train. Ted was in a much better situation there than in the various hell holes where he’d done this before.

  “We’ll bring in fighters from elsewhere and also regular military too to get you up to 100,” Ted said. “The number of 100 is driven a lot by how many rifles we have. We’ll train you to do typical guerilla things like raids, harassing ambushes, demolitions. Well, demolitions if we have any explosives for you, which we don’t, at this time. But, we’ll be getting plenty soon.”
That was a curious statement, Grant thought.

  “The ultimate mission,” Ted said, “will be for the Pierce Point unit to help with the march on Olympia that’s being planned.” Every army wants to take the enemy’s capitol.

  “Most of the Loyalists have fled to Seattle and that will be the last big battle up there,” Ted continued. “But we want the political legitimacy of having the capitol. Plus, there’s a significant chunk of the Loyalist forces in Olympia,” Ted said, using the terms “Loyalist” and “Lima” interchangeably.

  “You guys,” Ted continued, “are a few miles away from Olympia. The spearhead will be from regular Patriot units, but we’ll use irregulars like you to fill in behind the regulars.”

  “Irregular” units. Grant remembered that term from the Revolutionary War. It meant recruits with little training doing what they could to help the well trained regular units. Some of the irregular units did a magnificent job. In a civil war, irregulars made huge contributions.

  “Irregulars like you,” Ted said, “will occupy the areas our regular troops liberate. You’ll guard facilities. Work on supply missions. Deal with the civilian populations we liberate. Find the remaining Loyalists and capture them or…kill them.”

  Grant nodded when he heard that part about killing Loyalists. He wanted Ted to know that he was on board.

  The Team sat there silently. They were playing out in their minds what they would be doing. Crap. This was a real war. They were in it.

  Ted thought some more. “Hey, with all you’re doing out here with the Grange, feeding people, even a postal service, all that shit, we might use you guys for civil affairs in the newly liberated areas.”

  How did Ted know about the postal service? Grant wondered. He looked over at Chip, who smiled and made the hand gesture of talking on a handheld radio. Chip must have radioed in a report to Ted on all the services that were coming to life out at Pierce Point. That explained Ted’s reference to a “civil affairs asset” being out at Pierce Point. Me, Grant thought.

  Yes. Grant’s body broke out in goose bumps when the outside thought said that. Everything was clear to Grant.

  The guys on the Team were thinking about all of this. Wes was the first to say something. “We’re not regular troops. We don’t enlist for four years or anything?”

  “Nope,” Ted said. “You’re like the militias in the Revolutionary War. Not professional frontline troops, but not meant to be. Locals who come together, do a job, and then go back to their normal lives.”

  “We’re soldiers until we don’t need to be anymore,” Wes said.

  “Exactly,” said Ted.

  It was quiet for a while. Finally Ted said something.

  “So, you guys in?” he asked.

  More silence. Then more. Oh crap, were these guys going to join or not?

  “I’m in,” Pow said.

  “Me too,” said Wes.

  “Yep,” said Bobby.

  “I’m in,” said Scotty.

  “Need an old fart?” Chip asked.

  “Ryan will be in,” Pow said. Ted asked who Ryan was. Pow explained and said he’d be back when he dropped the girls off.

  “A Marine, huh?” Sap asked. “We could use him.”

  “He’s on the Team with us. We let him in. We trust him,” Pow said.

  It was Grant’s turn. He hadn’t said he was in. He could feel the eyes on him. They were waiting for him. This was it. Formal decision time. No more talking and nodding. It was time to commit. Or not.

  Chapter 165

  Biggest Decision of His Life

  (July 3)

  Grant kept repeating his Grandpa’s words, “Never fight a war you don’t have to.” If he joined up with Ted and the Patriots, Lisa would probably leave him. Even if she stayed, she’d hate him forever. So much for a happy marriage and easy life. The life Grant had envisioned for himself was over.

  Choice. That word kept repeating in his mind. Choice? He remembered that he had no choice. He was dead if the Loyalists held onto power. No choice. None.

  Grant kept thinking. Hard. He was stalling. He was looking for a logical reason to not join up with Ted.

  He couldn’t come up with anything. He had no choice.

  “I’m in,” Grant said finally. He felt a surge of adrenaline. He knew his life would be changed forever. Probably for the worst. But what else could he do? Grant was in one of those generations who had to fight a big war. It was his turn.

  He looked Ted right in the eye and said, “I don’t do anything half-assed. If I’m in, I’m in to win. I’m a foot soldier if that’s what you need. I’ll be a cook if that’s what you need. I’ll volunteer to help with the civil affairs thing if that’s what you think would be the best contribution I can make.”

  “Deal,” Ted said.

  The Team looked at each other. They had just joined the Patriots. They were in the thick of it now. They weren’t high-fiving each other. The lawyer, insurance salesmen, lab tech, inventory guy, and rental store employee were now soldiers. They stood there reflecting on the solemn decision they had just made. It was a serious moment, not a high-fiving one.

  “OK, on to the next steps,” Ted said. He didn’t want the Team to think too long about the decision they’d just made. He wanted them focused on the job ahead.

  “Now that I have the core of a unit here,” Ted said, “and know your capabilities and supplies, Sap and I will go back to HQ and work up a detailed plan for our unit.”

  It sounded so weird to hear Ted say “our unit.”

  Ted continued, “We’ll bring supplies and some regular military guys out here. We have lots miscellaneous AWOL regular personnel looking for a unit and we’ll see if we can put them in here. We’ll bring them in by boat. Too many roadblocks on land. Way too many, especially given what we’ll be hauling. We’ll need a way to get them from the beach to safe houses without being seen. This place,” Ted said pointing to the yellow cabin, “will be perfect to keep them temporarily. Right off the beach. Safe. With a guard at the road out there.”

  Ted looked at Sap and said, “Then we’ll need to get a training facility. One that’s away from the residents. That’s Sap’s department. He’s an expert at setting these things up. Any thoughts on a location?” Ted asked Grant.

  “Not off the top of my head,” Grant said. “We’ll get one. How much space you need?” Grant asked Sap. He told them what he was looking for in a facility. Grant took notes with the little notebook he kept with him at all times.

  “We’ll poke around discreetly,” Grant said. “Which reminds me, can we tell key people we trust about this?”

  “Not really,” Ted said. “You’d have to trust them with your life. Because you are doing that.” Ted pointed to himself and Sap and said, “And you’re trusting them with our lives. Choose wisely.” Ted trusted Grant not to blab, but getting caught due to another blabbermouth was one of the constant dangers of doing what Ted and Sap did.

  Grant told them about Rich and Dan. Both were trustworthy and would be big assets, Grant said. Ted agreed that they would be assets. Besides, Chip had already told Ted in the radio reports about a former cop and Air Force vet who were leaders out there.

  “We might have those two stay put doing their normal jobs,” Grant said, referring to Rich and Dan. “They can keep Pierce Point secure while we train and group up.” He didn’t want to put all the guards and the Team into the training facility for weeks or months, leaving Pierce Point unprotected, and have crime spike up. That would lose him the support of the residents. The “Patriot way” would have failed. He needed that support for the bigger mission.

  Ted pointed to the Team and said, “We might need you guys to basically keep doing what you’re doing in your day jobs. And Grant to certainly keep doing what he’s doing with the organizational things. While you guys are doing your normal things, we’ll slowly move assets into the training facility. Toward the end, we can fold you guys into the training, because you guys are already essentially trai
ned. We need a functioning and supportive place to do our thing way more than we need a handful of extra guys like you.”

  It was silent again.

  “Sounds like a plan,” Grant finally said. “How do we stay in contact with you?” he asked.

  Ted smiled. For a civilian, this Grant guy thought of everything. He would definitely be the civil affairs guy for the unit and maybe for the larger statewide special operations unit. Ted would suggest that to Lt. Col. Hammond back at Patriot headquarters.

  Sap handed Grant a military radio in a pouch. “Here you go. There’s a laminated card with the frequencies. Your code names are on there, too.” Sap looked Grant in the eye and said, “Don’t lose this. You know what would happen.”

  Grant nodded. This was serious business.

  “Scotty here is a comm guy, if I recall correctly,” Ted said. Ted was very sharp.

  “Yep,” Scotty said. Grant handed Scotty the radio.

  “I think we’re done, for now,” Ted said. “I know you guys have important ‘business’ to get to.” The guys laughed. They felt a little embarrassed that they had originally put girls ahead of this meeting, but they hadn’t had the slightest clue what the meeting was going to be about.

  “Remember, guys,” Ted said. “If anyone talks about what’s happening, even to a hot chick who swears she won’t tell anyone, we can all get killed. You’ll have to live with that for the rest of your life. And that’s if they don’t get me first, because,” Ted said with a cold and frightening stare, “I will fucking kill you.”

  Ted let that set in. “Anyone doubt me?” he asked. No one did.

  The Team was silent and then started shaking their heads to show that they did not doubt Ted.

  He said, “Sap and I will grab those MREs you promised and take off. We have a bunch of work do to.”

  Ted stood up and got serious once again. “Thank you, gentlemen, for joining. I can’t tell you this will be easy. But it’s necessary. There’s no other way to get the country back. We tried everything else for years. We tried. We didn’t start this fight. They did. We’ll finish it.”