Rescue: Book 3 in the After the Fall series
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“I object,” Raymond shouted.
“Silence!” said Steve. “You had your say, made your point. Jason has the floor by my recognition. I’m giving him his say.”
“Beyond that point,” Jason continued, “if the council wants to turn me over to Knoxville, I will not accept that. I will leave town. You can banish me, like was done in medieval times, but I will not allow myself to be taken prisoner by a tyrant or his lackey. I’ll take my family and leave. I’ll rely on myself, like I’ve done before.”
“You’re going to refuse a lawful arrest warrant?” One of the council members asked.
“Let me be very clear on this. No one will take me into custody. It will be dangerous for anyone to try. Do not doubt me on that point.”
He sat down. Anne took his arm and pulled it tight to her.
Steve worried that Jason’s last comment only served to convince others of what Raymond had said, that he was prone to violence.
“Let’s call the vote,” Raymond said.
Steve was not sure where this would end up. Kevin, the Chief of Police, was also Jason’s son-in-law. Would he resign also? Would he refuse to serve the warrant if the council voted to accept it? Would Catherine resign to follow her family? It began to look like a disaster was forming. There was much hushed conversation on the dais and in the audience.
“Steve,” Dr. Morgan called out, “I’d like to have someone in the audience speak. I invited her here because she has something important to say.”
“Call the vote,” another council member said.
“I’ll hear from the person Dr. Morgan is talking about. Go ahead.”
Janet Morgan nodded to a woman in the audience. She was in her thirties, attractive with a shy face, now looking very nervous, even scared. She stood up.
“My name is Helen Chambers. I came here only a few weeks ago. I’m a nurse, so I went to the hospital and Dr. Morgan gave me a job. I was on my way here with my husband when we were attacked by a gang, four men. They killed Martin and took me prisoner.”
She went on to describe in a choked voice how she had been repeatedly raped while tied down.
“They probably would have just killed me when they got tired of me, or made me their slave, if I gave in to them. I had no options. Then Jason and his friend, Clayton came along. They killed the men and freed me. I was terrified, of the men and of my rescuers. I was nearly out of my mind. But those two men…” she broke down for a moment. “They were so kind and patient. They understood how traumatized I was. They gave me time to get myself together and helped me to arrive here safely.”
She looked around the room, her face now firm and set, and began to speak again in a more confident tone.
“These men represent the best in this town. They are honorable. They acted with compassion and used deadly force against the evil people that had captured me. It seems we need such people in these times. I hope to become one as I heal and get stronger.”
Helen now pointed her finger at the dais, letting it sweep across the council.
“Shame on you if you banish this man from town. Shame on you if you don’t defend him. He represents your best and if you cast him aside, you are not worthy to live free. You condemn yourselves to slavery, the slavery of expedient choices, the slavery of the easy way over the right way even if it is hard. I could not live in a town such as that. A town that didn’t have the pride to defend their best.”
With that she sat down. Applause now began, quietly, in one corner of the room. It was taken up by others and soon spread through the whole audience. Steve quickly put a motion on the floor which gave the council three choices: one to reject the warrants, two to accept the warrants, or three to advise Cordell that a treaty would have to be negotiated and signed before any warrants could be served on Hillsboro citizens.
With a voice vote, the council went down the line approving the third option. When the vote came to Raymond Culver, he knew he was outnumbered and voted with the majority. Cheers went up. Anne hugged Jason, Catherine came up to give him a hug. Kevin came down from the dais and congratulated Jason.
The next day Steve Warner notified Phillip Cordell of the council’s decision.
“In the absence of state or federal authority, we need a treaty between the two cities. We’re glad to work on that with you so we can begin to cooperate and help one another.”
“This is not a good way to begin cooperation.”
“I trust you will take back the message that your warrants are not enforceable here in a different city and state.”
He arranged for Cordell to be escorted to the city gate. There he could collect his courier and take him back. Steve did not accompany them to the gates. He didn’t want to have to engage in a discussion about the courier’s missing digit.
Chapter 36
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W hen they got home, the whole family gathered in the living room.
“I can’t believe some of them wanted to hand you over to Knoxville,” Sarah said in disgust.
“Never mind that now,” Jason said. “This isn’t a victory. A lot depends on what Knoxville decides to do about this rebuff.”
“It’s a clever play, changing their story just enough to put them in a good light and cast you and Clayton as the bad guys,” Kevin said.
“Yep. And it almost succeeded.”
“That woman, Helen, saved the day,” Anne said. “Her story was compelling. I shudder to think of what might have happened to us, me and the girls, if we had lost some of the battles we fought.”
“It’s still a wild place out there,” Catherine said.
“That’s why I don’t let you travel to the surrounding towns without an armed escort,” Kevin said. “We still have anarchy. No state or federal government.”
“I do wonder about that,” Jason said. “I keep expecting to see federal agents, or the army showing up any day.” He shook his head. “But back to the point, we need to be ready and figure out a way to anticipate Knoxville’s response.”
“Send out spies?” Anne asked.
“We could,” Jason said, “but it would be dangerous for them. Maybe we set up sentinels along the probable routes. If they’re going to attack Hillsboro, they’ll bring a large force. Lord knows their militia is big enough. A couple of hundred soldiers on the move should be easy to spot.”
“They’d come down the interstate. It would be the easiest route,” Kevin said.
“I agree,” Jason said. “They’d have to bring support vehicles, along with troop trucks. It would be slow going, but easier than trying to navigate back roads which might not be passable by large vehicles.” He thought for a moment. “We need to talk with Clayton.”
“What do you have in mind?” Kevin asked.
“I have some ideas I want to run by him. We’ll need his clan’s help. I’m not sure how much support you’ll get from the council to put together a militia to stand against a large force. They supported me now, but that may fade away in the face of a strong response from Knoxville. In any case we’ll need to be warned if they come here.”
That night Jason and Anne sat on their porch.
“You’re going to see Clayton tomorrow?”
“Yes. I’ll start early. I may be gone one or two nights.”
“You’re not planning to go to war with Knoxville, are you? You’ve done enough already.”
“I’m planning on making sure my family is safe. Frankly, after today, I’m not sure how much loyalty I want to give to this town.”
“Don’t let Ray Culver get to you. There are people like him in every group. You have the support of many on the council, including Steve.” She pulled him close to her. “And remember, your daughter and son-in-law are pretty well integrated into the city.”
Jason sighed. “Yeah, Chief of Police and Ambassador at Large. Who would have thought we’d end up like this?”
“It’s not such a bad life, is it?”
“No. It’s just tha
t the bad guys are still out there and it seems we have to deal with them ourselves.”
“Vigilance is the price of freedom. That was a World War Two slogan. After, it didn’t have a lot of meaning in people’s lives…but it does now.”
Anne reached over and kissed her husband. And worry is the price of vigilance, she thought.
The next day Jason and Kevin left to visit Clayton at his farm outside of town. They arrived that afternoon and sat down to talk.
Jason recounted what had gone on at the town council meeting. Clayton scowled as he listened.
“Seems like the town’s already forgot about what we did for them. They ready to throw us over for their safety,” he said with some bitterness in his voice.
“Not all of them. And they all voted in the end to send Cordell back empty handed.”
“Still, it don’t matter,” Clayton continued as if he hadn’t heard Jason. “I’d a done it anyway. Billy’s kin. Got to defend our kin.”
“That’s what we need to talk about,” Jason said. “If you remember, I proposed forming a group of rangers to maintain a watch out beyond our borders. In today’s world, we can’t just wait until danger comes calling at our gates. We need to know in advance what’s coming so we can be ready for any threat.”
“What you want from me?” Clayton asked.
“I want to create that ranger group using some of your young men and some of the town’s militia. Kevin can gather the town’s recruits.”
“And do what?”
“We create a group. We send them out, fifty to one hundred miles. They watch the major roads, those are still the main travel routes. And they let us know when danger approaches.”
“How they gonna do that? We don’t have radios. And how we gonna watch in all directions? You going to need a large group. We can’t have all our young men out. They got to help on the farms.”
“You’re right,” Jason said. “But for now, we concentrate on Knoxville. If they’re going to respond we only have to watch one route, the I40 corridor.”
“How they gonna let us know if they a hundred miles away?”
“We talked about that,” Kevin said, “on the way over here. The group would drop off watchers in pairs along the route. They’d position themselves on high ridges with long sight lines. Each pair builds a signal fire that can be seen from the rear. When the first one sees any militia coming, they light their fire. Then as each watch post sees a signal fire, they light their own. Within minutes, we can get the signal relayed back to us that a group is on its way.”
“We won’t have any details, but we’ll know there’s a force coming. That’s enough,” Jason said.
Clayton looked thoughtful. “Might work. How much time we get out of it?”
“It’s about a hundred and fifty miles to Knoxville. I figure it will take them four or five days. If we place watchers pretty far out, we can get four days’ notice,” Jason said “Each pair of watchers or rangers, will head back to Hillsboro after they light their signal fires. We’ll need them here,” Jason said.
“Okay, but how do we deal with them if they come? My people are outside of the city. We could get overrun.”
“Yeah,” Kevin said. “We don’t want to fight them at the city barriers. If they bring any heavy weapons they could just stand off and pound us into submission.”
“You think they got heavy weapons?” Clayton asked.
Kevin nodded. “They might. They could get them from the area National Guard armories.”
“Hillsboro got them?”
“Yes, but we don’t want to get into an artillery duel. We lose. The city will be damaged along with all the progress we achieved. We can’t let them destroy the city.
“So, we go attack them before they come.”
Jason shook his head. “There’s no appetite for that. We don’t know for sure what Knoxville will do. We offered an olive branch by suggesting we engage in treaty talks for mutual cooperation. We have to see if they take us up on the offer.”
Clayton made a sound of disgust. “Not much chance. I heard what that Chairman was saying. He wants everybody under his control.”
The men talked through the afternoon. They agreed that two ranger teams would be formed, made up of volunteers from the Jessup and Early clans and the city militia. It would be strictly a volunteer effort not needing any town council mandate or approval. Kevin would oversee the organization. The groups would be mixed together further tightening the connection between the city and the two clans. Clayton, Rodney and Jason would see to their training.
“We have to keep this simple,” Jason said. “There’s not much time. All we want them to do is to place themselves along the route and light a fire large enough to be seen by the scouts behind them.”
“How many we gonna need?” Clayton asked.
“I think a dozen. If they spread out twenty to thirty miles apart, the fires should be able to be seen. The farthest post will be near Knoxville so we should get an early enough warning.
“And if they come, what you got in mind?” Clayton asked.
“Guerilla warfare Jason replied.
“And the heavy weapons?”
“Can’t let them get near us,” Kevin said.
“They could have 105 or 155 millimeter howitzers. The 105 can fire nearly nine miles and the 155 can reach out nearly fifteen miles.”
“Damn,” Clayton said. “We’d never see them.”
“Right,” Kevin replied. “And they could just lob shells into town, everywhere. All they need is to have someone with experience in artillery.”
“You tell the mayor and council about all of this?”
Jason shook his head. “Wasn’t my part to do. I was sort of on trial. Besides it wouldn’t have helped to panic the council.”
“I guess you right. Seems like they don’t have much backbone.”
The groups were quickly formed. From the clans, Clayton had to pare down the number of volunteers. For the teenagers it seemed like a exciting camping adventure in the woods for a week. Kevin had little difficulty as well recruiting from the militia. His recruits were generally older but included some teenage citizens who also thought the assignment sounded like a good outdoors adventure.
The teams were assembled and equipped to stay out in the field for a week. They practiced how to set up large bonfires without starting a forest fire. Rodney severely admonished them to make sure their fire pit was completely cleared and to make sure they had a clear line of sight to the next watch position behind them. The plan was to set up on ridgetops or rocky outcroppings. As soon as they lit their fires, they were to head back to town. In no way were they to engage the enemy.
Chapter 37
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S arah offered to join the ranger group, but neither Jason nor Anne would allow it. She was only a little disappointed, never being quite the warrior her sister had become. Her boyfriend, Tommy Wilkes, however, had joined, which worried her greatly.
Tommy insisted he would be the best choice to be one of the two sent out the farthest. He would be better able to assess the composition and strength of any advancing force, thereby providing Hillsboro with valuable information when he returned. The rangers lighting the subsequent fires would not have even seen the advancing troops, only the ones lighting the first signal fire.
The next step was to discuss with Steve Warner how to prepare for any aggression on the part of Knoxville. As Chief of Police and also in charge of the militia since that group had been purged and integrated to the police force, Kevin could make contingency plans. If something other than direct police work was required however, he would need to bring it to the town council. Something like defending Hillsboro against an attack from Knoxville would come under that directive.
“The council won’t like this,” Steve said.
“Won’t like me being prepared?” Kevin asked.
“You know what I mean. Ray Culver is going to get some mileage out of this
. He’ll go back to his original theme that Jason led us astray by not paying the ransom.”
“We aren’t being attacked, we’re just preparing for the possibility.”
“You and I know that, but some may see it otherwise.”
“Well I have to do my job. It would be a dereliction of duty not to prepare.”
“I agree,” Steve said with a sigh. “I’ll defend your actions and we’ll get approval. But be prepared to weather a shit storm from Culver. And remember, we can’t put the town on a war footing for an extended period. We’re still in rebuilding mode.”
The town’s ranger group was sent out after only a day’s training. They moved fast, driving up the interstate in a convoy of three civilian cars. Cars that could be left abandoned on the highway, if necessary, as the rangers dispersed into the surrounding hills.
One by one the cars dropped off as the occupants headed into the forest. Tommy was the last. He was paired with Morgan Jessup, Clayton’s oldest son. They drove on towards Knoxville. The two grew increasingly tense as they got closer. If they ran into the convoy while on the road, they might be detained. Both had purposely dressed as civilians. Tommy carried a civilian variant of the M16; Morgan carried a 30.06 bolt-action rifle. They hoped they would look like any other wandering souls trying to survive and find a community in this new world.
When he got near Newport, Tommy stopped the car. Morgan pointed to a sharp ridge on the east side of the interstate that stood out. It looked like just the place to use for watching and signaling. It would be a hard climb and they wanted to get there before nightfall. After taking a bearing on the ridge, the two young men shouldered their backpacks, climbed over the deer fencing, and headed up the slope into the forest.
Morgan led the way. He moved effortlessly through the woods, just like his father. Tommy struggled to keep up but was not going to let the younger teenager best him. They jogged through the later afternoon, pushing up the slopes which got ever steeper. Finally, they had to crawl their way up on their hands and knees. They paused only for a moment to catch their breath at any flat area before going on.