by Patrick Shea
“Only when I’m with friends and I’m interested in their thoughts also.”
Sam said, “Well, you didn’t offer any real viable options, so let’s let the Colonel use his skill to prepare defenses. Is that alright Colonel?”
“Of course it is. We can always change plans later if we feel the need. Danny, I have to ask this. Are you willing to go back and visit that group to get an update?”
“I am, and I’m aware of the risks. If they put a watch on the entrance and see me going in or coming out of the park in between visits with them I’d be asking for trouble. But, I wouldn’t have come here if I wasn’t willing to help. But if I go back there I’ll have to tell them what you are doing here. If they are getting information from this group I can’t afford to contradict that person. What we are able to do with only the people you trust can remain a secret however.
“That second trailer I’m towing has got some pretty special gear in it. Colonel, its gear you might be able to use, but I’m not willing to part with all of it. Some of the equipment I consider for my own use. I’ll need to leave that trailer here, under guard, when I’m gone.”
Sam spoke up excitedly and said, “I forgot, but speaking of specialty weapons, I have a ZR-50 if that will help.”
Both Ted and Danny looked at her in amazement. Ted said, “Sam, how in the blazes did you get that thing?”
Sam smiled and said, “Actually Ben has it. His grandfather gave it to us before he died. It was still in the crate.”
Danny added, “I’ve never been close to one, although I did see a short demo of one once on a CD. I can’t imagine you have one. His grandfather must have been really rich or really well connected to get one of those.”
Sam said, “I don’t think he was either. He was one of the best gunsmiths in Montana though, and he said a friend gave it to him when he found out Ben was a survivor.”
“Ammunition?”
“Seven hundred rounds, Wiley said that was it. Once we ran out there was no replacement ammo available.”
Danny said, “Seven hundred rounds can do more damage than you could even imagine. I didn’t think there would be that much in one place anywhere in the country. I read a lot of on-line articles and that gun is only a rumor right now.
“Colonel I do have some listening equipment with me. Not enough to cover all of the options available to someone interested in doing us harm, but enough to cover the most likely places. Maybe you and I can find a couple of snowmobiles and do some scouting later today.”
“That sound like a good idea to me. I actually brought a snow mobile with me.”
Sam said, “I’ve got one in my horse trailer just outside. You’re welcome to use it.
“My head is spinning at the moment but I think we covered everything. Ted, you’re going to convene your group of veterans, and Danny, are you going to join that group?”
“If that’s alright with the Colonel I’d like to do that.”
“Great, of course it’s alright with me. I can use your help.”
As everyone got up to leave Noah looked at Danny and said, “Danny, Stan used a nickname for you once or twice. Weren’t you called The Trapper?”
“I was.” And now Danny’s perpetual smile was gone.
With a smile Sam said, “Danny was that because you trapped wild game?”
A little of his smile came back as he said, “No Sam, that wasn’t the reason.”
And without giving more of an explanation he walked out of the RV, followed by Ted Green.
Noah looked at Sam and said, “I think I’ll refrain from using that nickname. He didn’t seem too keen on it. But what an interesting man he’s turned out to be.”
Sam said, “I wonder how old he is. He has one of those faces that doesn’t seem like it would change much with age. I’d guess maybe mid-thirties or so. What do you think?”
Noah looked at Sam and smiled. Even he realized that Danny was a good looking man, and he not only had impressive credentials, but a great personality. Noah knew he was going to like this man, and now he wondered in which way Sam was going to get to like him. Noah laughed to himself about what a couple those two strong willed individuals would make. He made a mental note to himself to mention that possibility to Ben, just in case Ben needed time to adjust.
All he said was, “Yeah, I’d guess him to be maybe thirty five, or maybe just past that.”
When he and Sam had finished their planning session for what to do with additional newcomers, Noah walked the short distance to the lodge. When he opened the door he saw that Lily was talking to Danny with a real youthful smile on her face. Noah thought, my goodness, is he going to have everyone in this camp wrapped around his little finger? He stopped for a minute and watched the two of them. If he didn’t know better he would have thought Danny was flirting with Lily, and Lily was acting like she was enjoying it. After a minute or two he realized that Danny wasn’t actually flirting, he was simply making Lily feel good, and he was being very successful.
Lily finally looked up and said, “Oh, hi Noah. I was just introducing myself to Danny. His meeting just broke up and he was kind enough to talk with me.”
Danny said, “This conversation was my pleasure. It’s nice to know there are still such graceful women left in the world.”
Lily blushed just a little and said, “I recognize the sounds of a hungry man, but I still appreciate the compliment. Come on back to the kitchen and I’ll find something for you to eat.”
“Noah, are you hungry?”
“No thanks Lily; I had a big breakfast this morning. I don’t mind you offering to feed Danny, as long as you remember who number two in line for the bread is.”
Lily laughed and said, “You men are so transparent. I can’t believe young women think men are complicated. All they have to do is learn how to cook and bake and all of their troubles will go away.”
Both of the men laughed and Noah said, “I’m just looking for a cup of your coffee Lily. If you would be kind enough to let me have one I’ll get out of your hair.”
Later that afternoon Noah helped Danny and Ted hook a small snow mobile trailer to the back of one of the pickup trucks they had brought from town. They loaded a twenty five gallon barrel of gas and two of the machines on the trailer and went off to do their scouting. They also took a large satchel of gear from Danny’s trailer, although Noah didn’t know what it contained, he was sure the two of them would put it to good use. He was content not knowing all of the military plans, and he was going to keep his eye out for anyone looking too interested.
Noah’s biggest concern was that the insider who was communicating with Turner’s group would be one of the veterans, or was at least acting as a veteran for nefarious purposes.
He knew Ted and Danny were planning on vetting each of the men and women by personally interviewing each one about his military background. If the man was faking military service those two would recognize that fact.
If the insider actually was a veteran, that would make life really difficult. Noah headed back to his RV where he planned on going over the list of newcomers since Turner had left. However, if Turner planted someone he probably had that person come to the park like everyone else. If that was the case it could be a man or a woman.
Noah wasn’t sure what he was looking for in the list of newcomers, but he couldn’t think of anywhere else to start.
A couple of hours later his phone rang. It was Sam telling him dinner was on the table and he was late. That surprised him. He had really been caught up in his background research. He told Sam he would be right there.
They talked briefly during dinner and they both agreed that there was no reason to change anything they were doing. Sam would conduct the next rules meeting tonight as they had planned. Noah would spend his time trying to figure out how to identify the insider.
Chapter Twenty Eight: By the Time You Get to Phoenix
Wednesday: Near Phoenix, Arizona
Andy sat in his RV thinking ab
out how events had turned out. He was amazed that his group had voted him second in command behind Ken House. Even he thought he was too young for the job, although the people who nominated him were primarily interested in his Engineering degree. They were convinced they were going need engineers to survive in the future.
Ken had asked him to do two things as his deputy. The first was to organize and monitor all projects. The second was to track the developments of the other groups, both on-line and by phone. Andy wasn’t sure what that left for Ken to accomplish, but then again he didn’t really care. He wanted to stay busy and he liked his job of coordinating and overseeing projects.
And he liked finding out what the other groups were accomplishing. He had started calling other group leaders last week. He would have started sooner but chaos got in the way of progress as they tried to organize their group. It still seemed like they were on the verge of chaos all of the time.
People were coming and going constantly. Every time it looked like they would be able to stabilize, someone, usually Ken House would do or say something that would irritate a group of people and off they would go, even though the core group remained the same. They had around two hundred members and that seemed like a lot to try to control.
And of course, Ken was a control freak. He was constantly exerting his authority; it was as if he was not capable of recognizing the fact that most people were perfectly capable of governing their own lives without his help. It seemed he just couldn’t help it. He thought that Ken was the kind of person who would first thing in the morning tell someone to put his trousers on before he went outside, and would then tell anyone who would listen that so and so needed his help with dressing in the morning.
Ken had been an elected member of the Texas House of Representatives in his past life. Andy thought that if Ken was a typical politician it was no wonder the country floundered at times. But he was a good enough politician to have gotten elected for a year by this group, and he was darned good at delegating all of the work and responsibility while still reserving all decision making authority to himself.
Andy had to laugh. He knew Ken had wanted him as a deputy because he thought as young as Andy was, he would be easy to control. After the first two days as deputy Andy had decided he had had enough. He told Ken that he had decided he was going to conduct himself independently. He would let Ken know what was going on periodically but he could not operate with Ken constantly second guessing him. If Ken didn’t like how he was operating he would be willing to resign at any time, but he would stay only if Ken agreed to those changes.
Ken was astounded. He couldn’t imagine someone willingly giving up a position of power and prestige. Andy laughed and said the only thing he was interested in was progress towards a new life. He didn’t need to hold any office to work towards that goal. Andy ultimately had agreed to stay. Ken finally became convinced that Andy wasn’t negotiating for anything, or trying to trade for anything. He was serious about being able to operate freely and he would walk otherwise.
Ken finally understood that he actually had very little power over Andy and that if Andy left this early in the process that Ken would be the one to look bad. It was pretty apparent to the community that Andy was as good as promised and multiple projects had already been started. More than that, it had been a long time since Ken had actually done anything other than listen to advisors and talk. He really wasn’t capable of actual work.
So now Andy was doing what he wanted, but he wasn’t sure that was enough to pull this group together. Ken had decided that they only needed to meet as a group twice a week so Andy didn’t have a lot of opportunities to build the community into a viable team.
The last group meeting had been last night. Andy had publicly shared the figures that he had kept about who was coming and going from the group. He stressed the need to stabilize the community and then pulled the same stunt on Ken that Ken had pulled on him during the last public meeting. He looked at Ken and said, “Boss I’m really good at numbers and measuring things, but you’re the group leader. I’m sure the group would be interested in knowing what you plan to do to increase our level of stability.” Andy had smiled as broadly as he could while he did this, and tried to make it look to the group like he and Ken had planned this ahead of time.
But Ken was stuck. Andy thought he had done a masterful job of talking and saying nothing, but everyone in the group now expected Ken to come up with a solution to the problem.
After the meeting Ken was livid and had taken Andy aside and said, “Boy if you ever pull a stunt like that again I’ll have your hide. I’ll embarrass and humiliate you in front of the group, I’ll make sure everyone knows you’re worthless, I’ll….”
Andy had smiled at Ken as he interrupted him and said, “You fat slob, get off your butt and start doing something or get the hell out of here. I’m tired of your ability to talk nonsense without end and never accomplish a thing. Don’t forget, I’m an engineer and there isn’t anything I can’t measure. From now on at every meeting I’m going to put up statistics to show what a lousy job you’ve done.
You either start working at getting this group together and pointed in the same direction, or I’ll make sure you get tossed out of office. And by the way, if I were you I wouldn’t bet the farm that you could beat me in an open confrontation with the group.
And then Andy smiled again and said, “And if you do, I’ll simply complete my trip to California. I like what that group is doing. There isn’t anything you can do to hurt me, and the only way you can keep your job is by performing up to my standards.”
Andy had turned and walked away from Ken. He had taken a walk to cool down. Even though it was early December, it hadn’t yet become too cold for a stroll. The sun had been down for hours and there was no moon. Andy didn’t know where he was, but he knew he could easily retrace his step. He heard voices in the distance and walked slowly that way. As he got closer a couple of men started to talk louder and harsher. Andy slowed down and realized he was close to a group of about a dozen men sitting in at the bottom of a small arroyo and until just a minute ago had been talking quietly.
Andy realized they were there so they could speak privately. He turned around and started to slowly walk away. He stopped when he heard a man say, “Bud, I’m telling you I’m going. If I stay here I’m going to be expected to work, and to tell you the truth I ain’t interested in working for a living no more. This guy said there was a group of men and women with him that were going to do nothing but drink, raise hell, and get together.
“I sent him an email about how the women were and he said a couple of them were attached to one man but most of them moved around freely. He did say if I could bring any more women with me I should.
“Now doesn’t that sound like a better life than anything they talk about here?”
One of the other voices said, “I’m not sure how Bud feels but I’m with you Sandy. I think I even know a couple of women we could talk into joining us for the trip. But how bad is the snow? I know it gets cold up there, and I can live with that, but can we still get through?”
The man he called Sandy said, “I asked him and he said there was snow on the ground but you could still get to them if you were careful. But it won’t stay that way you know. If we go it has to be soon. On the other hand there are a lot of towns between here and there. We could camp out in any of them and wait until spring.”
I new voice asked, “Sandy, how did you find this guy.”
“Well I was browsing the internet, actually hoping to find pictures of naked women, and I entered a site and there was a notice there saying if you were a survivor, and were interested in having a good time, to email the address there. So I did.”
“Did he say anything else about what they were doing?”
“He did say there was another group in the same region, and that they had had some trouble with them, and they were planning on taking care of that problem as soon as they got some more manpower.”
Sandy said, “Okay, that does it for me, I’m going to plan on heading out of here the day after tomorrow. That gives us tomorrow to find anyone else who wants to go, and to try to round up some women. If you ain’t going with us at least keep your mouths shut about this place. I don’t want anyone getting their dander up over our plans. And don’t anyone mention anything to the women about a possible fight; we don’t want to scare any of them off.”
Andy moved quickly out into the desert. He knew the sand would cloak the sound of his footsteps and he did not want to be seen by any of this group.
And now it was Thursday morning and Andy was drinking coffee and trying to come up with a plan.
He thought he would start with calling Charlotte. He pretty much knew what he should do; he just wanted to talk it through with someone first. He was afraid if he mentioned it to Ken, Ken was liable to go with the group, not that Ken leaving was a bad idea.
He had first talked to Charlotte on this past Saturday. She had answered the phone with her full name, Charlotte White. He had called her because she was Jack Sweeney’s deputy.
Andy started the conversation by asking about Jack. Everyone always wanted to know where he was and if he had yet moved on. She said Jack never changed, you couldn’t tell if he wanted to survive or didn’t. It just didn’t seem to bother him one way or the other. But by now it was clear to her he was a survivor.
Andy thanked Charlotte and they talked for a bit, just exchanging simple thoughts, and she had mentioned that she was from Atlanta. A couple of minutes later she mentioned that she had experience with growing produce and the idea hit Andy.
Although he didn’t think it was possible he said, “Charlotte my brother and his girlfriend worked in Atlanta until close to the end. They worked for James White, would you be related by chance?”
