by T J Reeder
She and Old Woman wandered off to do whatever witches do when they meet again after a time. I could tell they were going to get along quite well. I took Charley to meet Rick and spent a while getting the news from him. All seems well here. People coming and going- travel was more open here then a lot of places. A couple of refineries had gotten up and were turning out lots of diesel and some gas.
But it’s still quiet and peaceful; Rick said there hadn’t been any more trouble out of the people we had run-ins with and that most of the bunch had moved on.
I heard gunfire ruining the quiet and knew the girls were at their range. Can’t leave ‘em for a minute and they are doing something to disturb the peace. I could tell from the sharper crack that Kid was working out with her 9mm and for that I was glad- she needed the trigger time.
Charley and I left Rick looking at a tree that he felt needed cutting down but it would be good fire wood- nothing wasted. We next run into Fred the former town Sheriff who had quit to take up herding cats. He said that was going well since the cats pretty well had it down so he could nap more. His wife was still pleased that I got Fred to call it quits and move out here. She was really happy here; she was an expert on herbs and was growing most of the stuff they used and traded the surplus. Kind of like V back home except without the squirrel.
By the end of the first week I was bored to death. Life was too settled here, too quiet. Hell, the only real noises were Rick’s saw cutting wood and the girls shooting up the range. My mom was still kicking but is confused, altho at 94 she has the right to be!
I was ready to go, at least for a good drive in the general area. We decided to take a few days and check out things to the east and north, an area I hadn’t been into. Charley and his scouts rolled with us. The kids stayed with Auntie Sheri and Old Woman. This was the first time Beth had been away from them and I was wondering how she would handle it. She had left enough bottles for a few days and since they were now tearing up real food that wasn’t a problem. But we would just make a three-day loop and be back.
Most of the group that came with us decided to come along so it was a convoy with two scout rigs with 60’s on them. I was wondering how well that was going to go over with the folks where we were heading. We took the cargo trailer with us since we would likely camp out along the way if no rooms were available. Camping down here kind of sucks; bugs and snakes aren’t good bed company.
We rolled towards Texarkana and not knowing what to expect we made sure we had our weapons at hand. We decided to take some rural roads and avoid the interstate and of course we had no intentions of going into any area near a bigger city.
We rolled thru small towns and folks just waved and where we stopped we were welcomed. Texas had really held it together for some reason. Independent spirits I guess. We got up into the northeast corner and started see signs of problems. People were more heavily armed and less friendly. We rolled up to the state line checkpoint and found we were known. Harry had sent out word we were around and were good guys.
The guard force (when asked) said folks were worried because strange crap had been going on- people disappearing or found dead; raiders coming out of Arkansas was the thought. I asked if it was raids for women but they said it was men as well, anyone over 40 was being killed and left for the buzzards.
Sounded like slavers to me but then they said it was all non-whites being taken. No whites had been attacked except in the case of a white man who lived next to a black family and the thought was he has seen something he shouldn’t have.
I asked if his people had checked it out. They had as well as they could but all the raids were close to the line and they were prevented from crossing over. Now that pissed me off but he was under orders from somebody who wasn’t here.
He said there did seem to be a pattern to the raids but he didn’t have the manpower to set up ambushes in a wait and see game. All they could do was try to get folks to move away from the line but some of these people had been here since after the war. I didn’t need to ask which war- there was only one as far as these folks were concerned. I didn’t get the impression from these people that they weren’t worried about it because of the races involved. I could see they were pretty well stuck here.
We rolled to the local café, trooped in to eat and filled the place. I hadn’t really paid any attention until now and was surprised to count thirty people- and I knew several were still outside guarding the vehicles. I guess some of the homestead folks came along.
The owner seemed like he was debating not serving us, but the Guard commander walked in and said we were good folks and to be happy for the business. That made it all better. Sandy and May had been quiet and that worried me; Beth is always the quiet one around strangers but for ‘Them’ to shut down was something.
It came out over coffee. They were both simmering underneath- both have a sense of fairness and for them to think somebody was raiding for what had to be ‘colored’ slaves was pissing them off. Charley wasn’t looking very happy either. I’m sure he wondered how many local Indians had been hauled off.
We got our food and it was filling if nothing else. The man couldn’t cook for shit, which surprised me. We had pie and in that area he shined! Damn good pie! He came out and said his wife was the cook but was sick and he was the baker so that explained it. He turned out to be a good ol’ boy who was just overwhelmed with his wife out.
My ladies gathered up the dirty dishes and headed for the kitchen and washed them and cleaned the tables. The old boy was shocked and brought out some more pie and joined us. I told him for pie they would mop the floors too. I got slugged twice and sighed at by Beth. He asked if they did windows. I wisely kept my mouth busy with pie.
We asked him what his thoughts were on the missing people; he just popped out with, “Slavers!” He believed somebody up in, “That shithole called Arkansas” (he seemed to dislike the place) was behind it. He had a good friend who had to move his family away because of the problems. His friend was white with a Black wife.
I asked him where he thought they were being taken. He was of the opinion they were being taken for sale in one of the more Southern states where slave farming could work. I hadn’t thought of that but I could see it.
He also said he had kept a map of the raids and he was flat out for sure where the next raid was going to happen- not the exact people but the area. He went for his map and we looked it over. He was looking at an area about 20 miles away.
I looked around at my people who all nodded. I asked if we could borrow his map for a minute and handed it to Kid who headed out the door and was back in a minute with his and one of ours. It took her a couple of minutes to get the area marked and asked the man some questions about the area since he was familiar with it.
He seemed surprised to be so skillfully interrogated by a young girl. The girls were beaming like they had taught her everything she knew. Beth was smiling as if she gave birth to Kid. Hell, I was puffed with pride; even Charley was acting like a proud grandpa.
I was thinking about sending Beth and Kid back to the homestead with a scout team, but that lasted till she leaned over and whispered, “Try it.” Witches. Fine. I was wrong and all four of them looked at me and laughed. Kid said, “Duh”. The poor cook was lost while our people were laughing; they all knew I stepped in it again.
After she had picked the poor guy’s brain for 15 minutes Kid sat looking at the map and her notes on the sideline, so we all waited to see where she was going to go with the info.
It was fun letting her run with it. I may not be the sharpest tack in the box but I know talent when I see it and Kid has it in spades. She’s going to be an excellent tactical operations person and god knows we need one. I sure as hell ain’t one. And the girls believe if you shoot it more than it shoots you, you’re gonna win.
She sat a minute not even aware that she was mapping out battle strategy, then looked at me and said, “I see two likely places for the next attack. We have two hummers with p
igs, and 25 or so shooters. If we split into two teams we can do over watch on both. They are only a mile apart so back up is close as well as acting as a blocking force.
We all just looked at her then the whole place erupted in ‘Oorahs!’ Kid turned bright red and the girls wrapped her up in a giant hug. When the cheering was over I pulled her to me and hugged her and whispered, “Well done, baby. You just put together a concise battle plan in less time than some Generals I’ve seen. You’re our new Operations Officer!” She laughed, then saw I wasn’t and said, “Really?” “Yep” I said, “You’re a natural.”
We headed out to the vehicles and relieved the three scouts so they could eat. When they were done we rolled out to a small park just outside town.
I had our Navajo talker call back to where Harry was, and the word got passed about what was going on and what I thought. He wasn’t happy about the thought, and said he would contact the people who needed to know what was happening in this area because he hadn’t heard anything from the guards where he was.
The next morning, taking just the girls and Charley we rolled to the first town on the map that Kid had picked out and found folks there very worried. They had heard of us and listened to what we had to say. The plan was to infiltrate into the town after dark and wait for the attack while staying out of sight. If it didn’t come soon here or at the other town we would just have to go hunting.
The town leaders were all for it, and one rode with us to the next town to help ease the way. It helped for sure as these folks were even jumpier. We told them where we would park our vehicles and after dark some of their men would come out to guide us in. It wasn’t great but it was better than nothing.
These two weren’t really towns, more like small villages. They were close to each other and had a plan to help each other if need be. We headed back to the park where our people were and laid it out for everybody. I hated to split us up but I was leading one group and Charley was leading the other. We each had an M-60 and talkers so we would have good communications and good firepower- the two things you need most to win.
As soon as it was close to dusk we rolled out. I wanted us in the area before dark so we didn’t have to use lights. We just made it and after parking, the guides came out of the trees. We loaded every round we could carry and the 60, and leaving two people to guard the vehicles we headed into the place using back trails. By full dark we were at the edge of town and could move better. I had spotted a good place to put the 60 and got them into place- the gunner and his loader and two security shooters.
The rest we spotted in the areas where we had good fields of fire with two people in each hide. I planned to keep the girls and myself as the reaction force to flank and roll them up if they dug in for a fight. I wanted at least three prisoners.
The townspeople were told to remain in their homes behind cover and only shoot if somebody broke into the house. And I asked them to only use shotguns, which everybody in Texas owns. That covered everything as best we could; Charley contacted us to say he was in place, so we settled down for the night.
Morning came and nothing had happened, so we all sacked out for the day, remaining inside in case they had watchers out there in the woods. I asked the girls how it was that we went on a vacation and ended up in this shit. Sandy smiled and said, “Just lucky?’’ I swear they live for this shit.
I was hoping we weren’t in for too long a wait since we had babies that needed mommy’s milk. Beth said it was fine, they were doing just fine on solids and could do just fine with cows’ milk or goats’ which I knew Sheri had. I had to stop a moment and think about the kids already growing up enough to eat solids. I was gonna lose my babies!
Beth laughed and said, “John, you have years ahead of you with your babies (“OUR babies Beth!”) She just laughs at them. I told them to stop listening in, and was told to do something that I cannot do. Thank you so much for the graphic suggestion…Not.
We sat there for three days and nights and I was ready to give up when the radio clicked twice telling us we had movement. The scout whispered that he could see at least a dozen people easing into the town on foot. The night vision gear is a godsend. Charley called to say they were clear- no sign of anybody but would hold in place just in case.
One thing I had done was place extra people in the homes of the non-whites living in the town. So far these people had hit isolated homes where there were no others living close enough to help. But that had changed when people moved into town to be safe.
All the extra shooters were armed with shotguns and were ready to repel the attackers that came in. We were going to nail them as they came out. I also had a scout using a 22 rifle to kneecap the ones I needed to talk to. It stood to reason the ones who remained outside were the ones running the mess.
The scout clicked the radio, whispered, “They are going in!” and shortly the sound of shotguns broke the quiet of the night. The screaming started and our outside people popped the flares lighting up the night. Anybody not in our BDU style and moving was fair game. And there were several running away.
In the light of the flares and using the red dot sights they were not going far. We all opened up and they were dropping like leaves in the fall; more flares went up and it was over. I heard the distant sound of vehicles starting up and heading right at the blocking force and Charley’s people coming in. I told him to hold and let them come to him, then light them up.
It was just minutes when we heard the sound of a 60 running wild. I had to look to see if Sandy had snuck off. She turned and smiled and flipped me off followed by her shadowy twin. Kid just laughed. Beth was beside me and rubbed her head on my chest laughing. Yeah, I’m a riot!
I looked over at Kid and saw empty brass where she had fired. I didn’t know if she would and it was OK if she didn’t- we have a lot of shooters and we have people who just can’t pull the trigger and that’s fine. They all contribute to the well-being of the group and that’s enough. But she got right into it like her bigger shadow Sandy. Two of a kind…God save the world.
We held in place until full daylight before we went out- I wasn’t losing anybody to a wounded but able shooter. Been there done that, never again.
We eased out and up to the bodies very carefully and found a few alive and still able to talk. The rest were dead; all told we got 8 runners outside, the people in the houses got another 7, and I know a few got away but ran into Charley.
Speaking of him he rolled in shortly with two live ones and reported they had gotten a total of 6- all drivers of the trucks. We took the wounded into an old barn and separated them for questioning. All were more than willing to talk to save their asses, but we made no promises.
They were simply raiders capturing people for a group using slave labor to farm and handle the other chores at their big farm on the Arkansas/Louisiana border. They were really isolated; living like kings and not raising a sweat. They had mounted gun bulls riding herd on the slaves and shot any who stepped out of line. The men worked outside and the women worked inside cooking and cleaning and of course were forced to provide other services and age meant nothing to these people.
These raiders were being paid in food and dope, (one of the crops the place was growing), which they then traded and sold for other stuff. It was a sickening operation that we were gonna close down. Each and every one was asked who they got information from at the border guard base and all said the same three names- the number two man and two of his buddies. The commander knew nothing about it.
We gave all their weapons to the townspeople and decided to take the prisoners to meet the guard force commander in private. We patched them up enough to keep them alive and headed out. I figured we had enough time to plan out our attack before they were aware their suppliers had a bad night.
We got close to the guard camp and I sent Charley in the hummer to have a chat with the commander who returned with him. He listened to the things the prisoners had to say and then headed back with Charley.
An hour later we headed in and found the second in command in irons as well as two others. All were cussing the wounded talkers. I gave them all over to the Commander who held court right there and hung them all: Swift justice in the new world. We didn’t stay for the show.
He did get enough information out of his traitors to piece together what we needed to know. But before we could even start to get anything going vehicles started rolling in, all with Republic of Texas markings. Harry and Bear and two brother Bears climbed out along with the latest version of Texas Rangers. We held a meeting and laid it all out. Trusted people from the Arkansas and Louisiana state guards were included.
The outcome was they would handle it and we could watch. Worked for me- I don’t like risking our people if there is a way out. Harry and Bear were stood down too since they weren’t in the Texas unit anymore.
Bear’s brothers were, and lorded it over him until I was afraid we were gonna have a Bear brawl. Sandy and May dragged him away and explained that his brothers were braindead and we were his family now.
