The Emerald Virus

by Patrick Shea

  “If you’re just going out for fuel or something I’ll turn around and wait for you to return.”

  “No, I’m not planning on returning. I’ve had enough and I’ve decided to join a guy I know telephonically. His name is Padraig and he’s starting a new group in central California.”

  “Some of us would like to come with you. Would you mind, or do you think Padraig would mind?”

  “I don’t mind at all. Why don’t you call your friends and I’ll call Padraig and let him know I’m going to come and bring some others with me. How many are you talking about?”

  “I think about twenty. Not everyone had decided yet but I think that many have had enough and want to leave.”

  “Okay, call your friends and if they are really ready to leave we’ll wait here for them. I’ll make my call and when you’re done come over and we’ll talk while we drink coffee.”

  When Suzanne had joined Andy he asked what she and her group were looking for.

  She said, “We’re looking to join a group that’s serious about starting a community for the future, not just surviving today. By watching you these last weeks we became convinced that you want the same thing, but after last night we realized it wasn’t going to happen in Phoenix. Out biggest problem is that we don’t know which of the other groups have good leaders who are trying to meet our goals of establishing a community.

  “We were sure that you would know better than us what was available. All we see is chatter on the web and that isn’t enough for us. If an outsider listened to Ken House he or she would be convinced Ken was leading the best group in the country. They wouldn’t realize he’s just another typical politician. The same kind of person that’s always talking the talk instead of walking the walk, and who seems to get elected for reasons I’ll never understand.”

  “Maybe some day we can figure out how to avoid that from happening, but for now I’m happy we won’t have to put up with Ken anymore.

  “Why don’t I know you or your group?”

  “We didn’t know how closely aligned with Ken House you were. Until recently we thought maybe you were just his mouthpiece. Over the last couple of weeks we came to realize that you were the only one who accepted responsibility for anything. We met last night and decided we needed to talk to you this morning. Obviously a day late and a dollar short.”

  “Fortunately not that late, and if your friends are ready to move we’ll be out of here today. I have to tell you I love living in RVs. The up side is we can go anywhere, anytime. The down side is that we can only do so because none of us have families.

  “To change the subject, what kind of skills does your group possess?”

  “I think you’ll like this. Most of us are college graduates and five of the twenty have higher level degrees. Four have high school degrees but they are really smart people and work hard. We all fit together really well.

  “Four of us have degrees in a scientific field, two are engineers, one is a physicist, five had degrees in business management, two are MBAs, one has a BA in chemistry, one in math and two have degrees in the arts.”

  “You’re right, I do like the mix. I hope in addition to being educated they have enough common sense to apply themselves in a new world.”

  “I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised by the group. We started with just three of us and we found others who had similar thoughts and interests. We’ve been growing steadily over the past weeks. If we had more time I’m sure we would continue to expand.

  “The really nice thing about our group is the two things we all have in common. First, we all read incessantly. I think I like it because talking about the books we like takes me out of this world now and then, and frankly, that’s a relief to me. I do what I need to do to survive, but I don’t mind a break from worrying about the future.

  “The other thing is that we’re all outdoors kind of people. We hike and bicycle and climb and camp and those types of things.”

  They continued to talk for the next hour and other RVs started pulling in behind them. Suzanne walked back and talked to some of them. She told them after everyone had arrived they would meet as a group, and Andy would tell them where he was going, so they could join him if they wanted to do so. She had already decided to make the move.

  When she returned to Andy’s RV he was talking to Charlotte and had his phone on speaker. Andy had let Charlotte know what had happened and she had just changed the subject.

  “Andy, are you aware of the trouble brewing in the northwest?”

  “No, not at all, tell me about it please.”

  “It’s pretty basic really. The Yellowstone group threw out a troublemaker earlier and he’s started a group of hooligans a couple of hours north of the park. They’ve confirmed that the guy is planning on doing something to them and is gathering resources and equipment for whatever he has in mind.”

  “That sounds scary; can any of us do anything to help Sam?”

  “Not that I can think of. Its winter there and just getting in and out of the area could be impossible. Anyone who tries to get there risks being snowed in out in the middle of nowhere. That could be fatal.”

  “Has Sam asked for help?”

  “No she hasn’t. In fact she told me she didn’t want anyone risking their life. She told me that she and her group are preparing their defense now, and she didn’t think more people would be the answer.”

  “I’ll give her a call. I’ve only talked to her once but the least I can do is try to give her some kind of moral support. She’s taking on a lot, but I agree with her, it would be a huge risk to drive into the high Rockies this time of the year.”

  Charlotte promised to call again in a day or two and they signed off.

  Suzanne looked at Andy and said, “I can’t believe we are reverting to the days of the old west so quickly. I don’t know what I expected, but this wasn’t it.”

  “I know, I’ve seen some trouble since the virus started and it was hard for me to accept. I’m pretty well immune to surprises now.

  “Let’s go back and talk to the group.”

  Chapter Thirty Seven: Yellowstone Enlightened

  Monday, One Week Later, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming

  Noah entered Sam’s RV for breakfast. As usual the first thing he asked after saying good morning to Sam and Ben was, “Any news from Danny or Shelly?”

  Sam replied, “I had a long talk with Danny. He talked to Shelly this morning and then called me.

  “You know he only spent three days at Turner’s saloon with Shelly and he left for his scouting run. He talks with her each day but she hasn’t been able to figure out who the insider is. Danny had her tell Turner that he was snowed in outside of Minneapolis and that he’d get back as quickly as possible.”

  “Sounds reasonable this time of the year, but he can’t leave her there by herself for too long. There seem to be some true crazies in that group.”

  “I know, and Danny is concerned about that. Shelly has told him she wants a couple more days to figure this out and Danny agreed.”

  Noah asked, “Has Turner given her any hints about the insider?”

  “That’s why Danny called this morning. Turner has only referred to him as Bookie in the past, or The Bookie, but hasn’t said anything else. Last night he referred to him as The Bookworm.”

  “That’s different isn’t it? Up to this point I’ve been looking for someone connected to gambling. With a guy like Turner that seemed logical to me. But a bookworm is so different I need to go back to the drawing board on this one. Maybe I’ll find a connection, although our luck hasn’t been running that way.”

  They finished breakfast and left for the morning meeting. Sam was surprised when Colleen told her that four RVs had joined them this morning. They had parked at the west entrance waiting for morning and to be let in, and had just arrived at the meeting.

  As always Sam opened the meeting and then asked for new people. Eight people raised their hands.

  Sam said
, “Welcome to our group, but where in the world did you come from and why in the middle of winter?”

  A big guy with white hair and a rough manner stepped up and said, “My name is Charlie Sanford, I led this group here from the Tennessee River Valley, we brought four RVs for the eight of us and we won’t be staying. We like where we live and what our group is doing, but we heard you were expecting some trouble here so we came to help.

  “We are either veterans, or hunters or general outdoors people. We all know how to shoot and we all think that the group of idiots threatening your group needs to be dealt with. If we don’t help you now we could be next, so waiting didn’t seem to make sense to us.”

  Sam said, “I’m flabbergasted Charlie, and I’m in your debt. But I told Charlotte that we would take care of our own problems. We didn’t want others risking their lives for us. Didn’t she tell you that?”

  “Oh yes, she did tell us that. We promised her that we would take our time and be careful getting here. It took us almost ten days. We had to clear some roads on the way, mostly just big drifts though. That’s why we traveled two to an RV and used snow removal gear on the way. We learned from your experiences although to tell you the truth, we were really pleased that you’ve kept the road open from Bozeman to here. Some of us have never seen this much snow and digging through that would have seemed impossible I think.”

  Ted Green stood up and said, “Men, I’m Ted Green, I’m in charge of our militia. I’m pleased to have you; eight more experienced men will be a welcome amount of help.”

  Charlie responded, “Oh, there is more than just the eight of us. We’re just the first to arrive. There is another group of RVs from the TRV on the way, and we talked to folks from the Delaware group also, they have a caravan coming. California has two groups coming. One group is going to skirt the mountains to the south and east and come up that way, and the other group is going to try to dig through one of the passes in the Sierra Nevada’s. There may be others but that’s all I know.

  “And Ted and Sam, I have to correct you on two points if you don’t mind. First of all, this isn’t your problem, this is our problem too, and we’re going to help solve it. And secondly, we’re not just a group of men. Three of our group is women who have decided that they’re willing to fight for their future. And there are women in the other groups as well.”

  The three women took off there hats and scarves and waved to the group.

  Charlie continued, “And there are some youngsters coming that a year ago we would have called children. They understand as well as any of us what this means and what risk they’re taking. I’m of the belief that anyone willing to put their lives on the line ain’t children any longer.”

  Noah said, “I’m Noah Yellowbird and I want to say welcome to you also, but why didn’t we know you were on the way, obviously you’ve been talking to everyone but us.”

  “Good question. We promised Charlotte that we wouldn’t get your hopes up by promising to come and then not being able to get through. Frankly, I’m surprised that someone hasn’t said something to one of you yet. Secrets are hard to keep, but I guess that shows you how serious people are taking this threat.”

  Lily stood up and said, “Welcome, I have coffee and pastries in the kitchen, if you’ll wait just a minute my team will bring them out. I’m sure there are a lot of people who want to say hello to you.”

  Ted and Noah stood together while people introduced themselves and talked to the newcomers.

  Noah asked, “What does this do to your plans?”

  “If Charlie’s right about the number of people on the way it puts this whole thing in a different perspective. We can set up even better defensive positions if we choose to, or we might be able to go on the offensive and get this over with on our terms and on our own time schedule. The hardest part right now is that we don’t know when Turner will make his move. If we go on the offensive we don’t have that worry any longer.”

  “I agree. We could wait around all winter and find that Turner is going to try to ambush us on the way to the coast. There are ample places in the high mountains to set up an insurmountable ambush. Our only hope would be to sneak out in the middle of the night and hope we went somewhere Turner wasn’t waiting for us. I don’t think I like that risk. If we guessed wrong it would mean the end of our group, and the end of a lot of lives.”

  “Let’s start thinking in terms of going on the offensive. The greatest threat we would face would be the insider letting Turner know we were on the way. That would be disaster for us. If we’re going to pull off an offensive maneuver, surprise has to be part of it.

  “By that I don’t mean Turner can’t suspect something, or even know that we’ll attack. He just can’t know when.

  “If we can insure that, we’ll keep him worried and we’ll disrupt his group immensely. They won’t like posting guards day and night and worrying about when an attack will come, or if it will really come.

  Ted finished by saying, “My biggest concern would be that he decides that he’s better off attacking us immediately. The good thing is we have Shelley in his group and so as long as she and Danny are there we don’t have to worry about being surprised.”

  After the morning meeting Colleen and her committee met with Charlie and his people and briefed them on living arrangements and requirements. Ted Greene then took over and discussed with them his current plans and needs.

  Sam and Noah sat in on both of these briefings.

  Colleen agreed her committee would contact the other groups and find out who was coming and when they would arrive. She would also see if there was anything the Yellowstone group could do to help them.

  Sam, Noah, Ben and Ted remained the only people in Yellowstone that were aware that Danny and Shelley were working on their behalf. They agreed to keep it that way.

  At noon Sam got a call from Danny who said, “Sam, I just heard from Shelley. She told me Turner is aware that you have reinforcements and more are on the way. More importantly, Shelley was with Turner when he received the call from the insider. When he hung up he looked at Shelley and said, ‘he may be a bookworm, and he may look like a mouse, but right now he’s the best thing I’ve got going.’ I think that tells us that he’s a small guy who must be pretty nondescript. I know that isn’t much but it’s more than we had. Maybe Noah can use it.”

  “He’s standing right here listening to you and he’s nodding his head. Hold on, he wants to talk to you.

  “Danny, I think I know who the insider is, but I can’t risk confronting him until you get Shelley out of Turners reach. I think it’s time for you to get back on the road.”

  “I started back as soon as I talked to Shelley. I’ll be at Turner’s saloon late Tuesday or early Wednesday. We’ll be gone shortly afterwards.”

  “Won’t Turner suspect something if you come and go that quickly?”

  “I’ve got a plan for that. I’ll let you know how it goes. I’ll call you tonight and let you know how close I am to the saloon.”

  Sam looked at Noah and said, “Who’s the insider Noah?”

  “I’m not 100% sure yet, but I should be by the end of the day. Give me a couple of hours before we talk. I don’t want to be wrong about this. If we follow our rules we’re going to need a warrant to search an RV. We’ll have to get it from Christian, and when we do we’ll have to tell him about Danny and Shelley. I don’t want to do that until I’m sure.

  “To tell you the truth, I’ll give you my thoughts later today, but I don’t want to tell anyone one else about those two. Their lives depend on our discretion.”

  “I surely agree with that, although I don’t for a second believe Christian isn’t trustworthy.”

  “I don’t either, but I’m not willing to take the risk. I’ll be back later today and we’ll talk about who the insider is.”

  Noah made one stop and then went to find Ben who listened to what he asked and agreed. A couple of minutes later the two of them approached each other from di
fferent directions and met directly in front of the RV Noah had selected as a start point.

  Noah acted surprised to bump into Ben and told him he was just coming to look for him. Noah leaned on the front of the RV while he told Ben about the possibility of attacking Turner’s saloon as soon as additional reinforcements arrived. He exaggerated the number of people coming and the type of weapons they would be bringing.

  Noah told Ben that he needed to be prepared to use his long distance shooting skills and that he wanted him to go to the range and start practicing now, since the attack was imminent. Noah then told Ben he would see him later.

  Noah waited a minute and then knocked on the door of the target RV. He told the owner that he wanted a minute to talk about possible permanent homes for the group in the spring.

  He and Ben repeated this procedure three more times. After each visit Noah left the RV and as soon as he walked behind the next RV he paused and then returned and knocked on the door.

  He was looking for someone using their cell phone immediately before or after his visit.

  Noah spent the rest of afternoon talking to various people, especially those in the first group from Bozeman. Finally he met with Sam and then Col Green and they decided the best thing to do was to close the road leading to the park entrance.

  Late in the afternoon Ted Green posted four militiamen and a snow plow truck at the beginning of the road from the lodge to the west entrance, but made sure the blockade was out of site of the parking lot at the lodge.

  Now they would wait and see if anyone bolted.

  It didn’t take long. Just after dark an RV slipped out of its parking slot and headed towards the road to the entrance. Noah and Ted followed the RV in a pickup truck and caught up with it about 100 yards down the road. The RV was stopped about twenty yards from the blockade and two of the militiamen were walking towards it.

  Noah left the pickup to join the two men who had just yelled for the RV driver to open the side door. As Noah arrived two shots rang out from the interior. One of the militiamen collapsed in the snow and the other spun sideways and dove under the RV.