Lone Star Odyssey: Decisions, page 17
Running a quick high line so the horses could graze. They removed the saddles and pack saddles so the horses and saddle blankets could dry out. Talon didn’t want to take any chances of rubbing sore spots on the horses this early in the trip. While Mat and Ben rubbed down the horses, Talon pulled out the Solo stove and put a pot of water on to heat. He figured they might as well use the time and eat something while the saddle blanket dried.
“Is the whole way like this?” asked Mat, “I mean West Virginia.”
“Oh, you haven’t seen anything yet,” replied Talon, “West Virginia has some of the roughest terrain east of the Mississippi. That’s why we figured only 20 miles a day. We will be lucky to maintain that. Especially being that we are going to bypass most of the large towns. Like this next one, Russellville, we will go around it. And before you ask, yes it's going to cost us most of a day, but we just can’t take the chance. Russellville is large enough that it is either going to be organized or it will be in complete chaos. Either way is bad for us.”
“The rugged terrain is one of the reasons there was very little travel through West Virginia when everyone started moving west in the mid-1800s. Most of the people that did travel through here found themselves a nice remote valley and settled in. You have to admit, it is a beautiful country, but you had best not care that you are always walking uphill or downhill, there is very little flat around here. There's a reason the state's nickname is the “Mountain State”. But in total very few people settled here because of the beauty, they came for jobs in the lumber and coal industries.” Talon took a breath and thought for a moment before continuing, “With that said, this area had been occupied for thousands of years by Native Americans.”
Talon looked around at the timber covering both sides of the road and for as far as a person could see, “All of this timber is not old-growth. Most of the state was clear-cut back in the late 1800s and early 1900s. All of these big oaks and other trees are less than 150 years old. That was the one thing they got right, was the replanting of the forests that they cut down. And don’t even get me started on the coal mining. Historical records would show that coal fueled the growth of the United States but really it is one of the darkest chapters in our history. Still is in some parts of the country. It is brutally hard work and most of the workers die younger than the average American. I’ll just leave it at that but for a lot of people working for the coal companies in the early part of the 1900’s to the mid-1900s it was little better than slavery.”
Ben had a look of concentration on his face when he said, “But as rugged as it is there are still a lot of people along our route. And to make it worse, most of them are going to be concentrated along the major routes, which Highway 50 is. As much as we try, there is no way we can avoid all of them. These aren’t city folks that run to refugee camps, these are country folks that know how to survive. Hell, a couple of generations ago, my people came from these very hills. Even before the loss of power these people grew their own food, or a lot of it, and didn’t particularly care for the government to begin with. Most of them probably celebrated when this happened. But my question is how are we going to deal with those we do run into?”
“We deal with each situation as it comes. If they want to be friendly, we will be. But if they shoot at us or try to take our stuff, all bets are off and we respond accordingly,” stated Talon matter of factly. “We just need to be patient and not take any risks we don’t absolutely have to take. Slow and steady. If it takes us a month to get to the Ohio River, that's just the way it is.”
Chapter 27
They had a snitch. It had to be an insider that was giving their plans to this so-called Professor. Every collection team that had gone out this week had hit a dry hole and they were attacked by snipers. They had lost four people and another three had been wounded, one seriously. This has to stop.
Danielle had restricted the target list to just the committee, and the targets would not be revealed to the collection team until right before they departed for the collection run. Also, they would be assigning two marksmen to the team, who’s only responsibility was to protect the team while they loaded the vehicle. They only had three old trucks that still ran good enough to pull a trailer. At the beginning of the week they had four, but one was put out of commission when two rounds of some large caliber rifle had cracked the block.
She had also discussed a method of flushing out the snitch with Luci. He had liked the idea and they would be implementing the plan tonight. They had a list of possible suspects and they would tell each of them a false location. Luci would have people he trusted watching each of the locations to see where the hostile forces showed up. Hopefully, that would reveal their snitch.
Her thoughts were broken by the thunder of the three kids and two dogs running down the stairs. She jumped to the side as the herd turned the corner, entering the kitchen. Both dogs were barking and the kids were laughing as they played keep away from the dogs with a tennis ball.
There were two things that could get Jagger to break his normal stoic disposition, and that was hot dogs and tennis balls. Both had been used during his training as rewards and to this day he would get super excited if either was presented to him. The Doberman puppy had grown like a weed over the last few weeks and he was all legs and huge paws. He had especially grown close with Deanna, probably because she would allow him to crawl into her bed with her each night. Danielle had objected at first, but finally gave up when she saw how happy it made both Deanna and the puppy. BoBo, Danielle had no idea where that name came from, had already shown protective qualities when it came to Deanna. Her brother, James, had been teasing her and ended up pushing her. BoBo almost took a bite out of him. She would have to watch that closely because if his paws and legs were any indicators, he was going to be a huge Doberman.
Stepping back to the doorway, she called after the triplets, “Hey you clowns, lunch will be ready in about 15 minutes. Also, I need the water can filled up. If the three of you cooperate for five minutes you can get it done before lunch. Don’t forget, you girls have to be at Luci's at one o’clock to do your shift for the wheat grinding and James you have to be over at the wood shop to stack planks for your shift. And before any of you begin whining, just don’t, I have a lot to do today too. I will see you all at dinner tonight.
Deanna called out, “Can I take BoBo with me?”
Danielle hesitated, but then shrugged, “Sure, why not. But be sure and keep him on a leash and please do not let him bite anyone. You know people are already scared of him and it will only take once and we would have to get rid of him. So be careful with him. And don’t forget, both of you need to go down and check on the horses. Be sure and give them a good brush down and clean their hoofs before dinner tonight.”
Life had become so different for them, she thought. It’s not fair that children have to worry about whether they are going to have something to eat or drink. She was thankful that her kids were flexible enough to handle it, which is so far they appear to be handling all the stress and change. Actually the kids within the community were handling the change better than many of the adults. Danielle still had to deal with, on a daily basis, many of the adults demanding to know when the government was going to show up and help. Like how the hell was she supposed to know what the government was doing? Or even if there was still a government. Yet there was a large segment of the adults who constantly stated they were confident that the government would show up and save them.
The whistle of the pressure cooker snapped her out of her thoughts about the problems of the community and back to the issue of getting lunch finished up. Thank God, thought Danielle, that the kids did like rice and beans.
James still griped about the lack of steak and bacon. That boy definitely took after his father that is a hardcore carnivore, both of them would be fine to have just meat at every meal.
The door leading to the garage slamming open startling her. She turned to chastise the offender, but bit her tongue when she saw the kids wrestling the heavy water can through the door. It took all three of them to lift the metal container. It held ten gallons, which was almost 85 pounds. Well that is if they manage to keep all the water in the can instead of on the floor. Sighing, she instead said, “Thank you for getting in the water. I really do appreciate it.”
Elaine smiled and asked, “Is it okay if we have Kool aid with lunch today. I know we just had some yesterday but we saw you got some cherry flavored last night. Please.”
Danielle’s heart almost broke and she turned away so they couldn’t see the tears in her eyes, before saying “Of course we can, wash your hands and go ahead and fix a pitcher for lunch.”
They had been lucky that Talon had purchased a well bucket and two of the old fashion metal milk cans. That and the fact Luci knew how to set up a well bucket and get it working. Talon had told her about how his grandfather had refused to install indoor plumbing for many years and he and his brother had the chore of filling the cans down at the spring and hauling them up to the house. Depending on what was going on, this happened at least twice a day, once in the morning and once in the evening. When he had ordered the well bucket she had chewed him out about wasting money. She had no idea what the hell a well bucket was, but it was a life saver now. Most of the people had to haul water every day from the community water point, but they could draw water from their well in their backyard. The metal milk cans kept the water cool as long as they kept the cans indoor or sitting on the concrete floor of the garage.
Lunch went quickly as it was only rice and beans with a little leftover pulled pork. The Kool aid was a big hit with the kids and she made a note to try and secure more of it. After lunch was finished they all pitched in and helped her clean up the dishes.
She almost broke down in tears again when she watched all three of them strap on their pistols before taking off to their assigned community chores. Some of the parents had protested that her kids carried pistols. Six months ago, she would have been horrified at the notion that her kids would be carrying weapons like they used to carry their phones. Claiming they were too young to be carrying weapons, they had shut up about it when she told them if they had a problem with it, they should attend a range day to see her kids shoot. After several of them did show up to watch, Danielle had challenged them to see if they could shoot as well as her kids could. None of them took that challenge. After that there were no more complaints about her kids carrying. It was a dangerous time and she would be damned if her kids couldn’t defend themselves if they needed to.
After the kids were off to do their assigned chores, she grabbed her kit and headed over to the community building to begin leaking the fake information to her list of suspects.
Chapter 28
Captain Nasir cursed as he and his remaining men withdrew back through the trees. The Colonel would not be happy with him for losing two more men. They moved as quickly as they could in the dark, as no one put out mines as a welcome package. Soldiers would be coming to find out who or what had set off the mine. Allah damn them, he thought. He had never dreamed that they would have laid out mines. And they had one man injured from one of those pit traps. He had been lucky and not fallen completely into the hidden trap, but one of the stakes had punctured his foot and calf badly. They had been able to get the bleeding stopped but they needed to get him back and the wound cleaned before infection set in.
Turning to his second in command, he ordered him to have one man assist the injured man back to the old armory so he could get the wound attended to. That reduced his team down to four men counting himself. They had not been able to recover the body of the man that had set off the mine. Couching in the dark, Nasir ordered the remaining men to follow him as he moved to the south of their objective. He had seen a set of partially destroyed buildings to the south that should allow them to observe this facility.
It was almost daylight when they finally made it to the abandoned buildings. Climbing into the rubble, Nasir and his men set about digging out positions to conceal themselves. As the sun crested the horizon, Nasir was impressed by what this military unit had done to protect itself. The Colonel would not be pleased to find out that taking this facility with the men he had available would be highly unlikely. Their only recourse was to capture one of these soldiers and find out where this Talon was. This military unit was inconsequential to their overall mission. Let them have their little fiefdom for the time being.
As the morning progressed, the activity level increased on the compound. However, shipping containers they had used on their outer perimeter limited what they could observe. In addition, Nasir had to have his team pull back from where they were. Nasir had observed the sniper positions on the main building and that they were continuously manned. They had spent the next couple of hours carefully constructing a hide site to continue their surveillance of the compound. After it was complete, they did observe a patrol depart the inner perimeter and head towards the location where his man had set off one of the mines. It didn’t take them long before they returned carrying what appeared to be a body bag.
Making notes of everything they observed, Nasir was puzzled that there was absolutely no activity around the main entrance of the compound. Soldiers and civilians could be seen going about various tasks. The entire compound was a beehive of activity but it revealed nothing that would help in identifying their target.
One of Nasir’s men fanatically motioned to get his attention. Crawling over to the man to find out what he wanted. “Sir, a group of six men just departed their inner perimeter and headed southeast. If they continue in that direction it will take them to the compound the rest of our people are at,” the man reported.
Nasir thought for a few seconds before responding. They must be going to check out what the fighting was about yesterday. This was the chance they had been waiting for. “Tell the rest of our team to pull back, we are going to follow this patrol and see what they are doing. Drop whatever they are doing and move right now,” Nasir ordered. After the man crawled away to inform the rest of his team, Nasir gathered his notes and prepared himself to move.
Five minutes later, Nasir gathered his men together. Pointing to the youngest man in his team, Nasir commanded, “Give all of your equipment to someone else, run as fast as you can and inform the Colonel about this patrol. Tell him we will be following and we can use this to capture some of these soldiers to find out where this Talon is. Do this now, go!”
The designated man began stripping off his gear and without another word he turned and sprinted off. Nasir was sure the Colonel would put out men to ambush this patrol and he would be in a position to take the patrol under fire from the rear if they tried to retreat. This was excellent. Turning back to his men he carefully instructed them on what they needed to do.
Moving carefully, Nasir’s small group trailed the Americans. It was confirmed this group was moving towards the old armory. Nasir’s lead man came back to him and reported that he had observed the patrol stop just to the northeast of the old armory. Crawling forward, Nasir carefully peered around a small tree. Yes, they are going to observe the old armory. From their position, Nasir’s men could take them from the rear. There were only three of them but they could do this. Taking his time, he was able to identify the American leader.
Pulling back, he gathered his men and gave them their instructions. They would shoot to wound, but he also knew this was risky. But they had to have some of them alive. This might be the only chance they would get to find out the information they needed. If his team was able to at least pin these men down the rest of the unit could move in and take them all prisoner.
Giving his men a nod, they all began to crawl toward the ridgeline. Once they were in position, Nasir carefully eased his H&K G3 forward; he had always preferred the German-made rifle over the Iranian-made Masaf or Zolfaqar. Sighting in on the American leader’s legs that were clearly visible from his position, he gently pushed off the safety. The soft snick of the safety sounded loud to Nasir as he carefully sighted in again.
A noise in the brush near him distracted him and he turned to see a bush suddenly detach itself from the ground and move towards him.
Nasir forgot all about the American patrol and he struggled to turn his body and swing his rifle towards this new threat. The rifle butt struck Nasir on the side of his neck and jaw with enough force to drive him unconscious.
Sgt Lewis flipped his suppressed M4 around and immediately took the other two individuals out with single shots to their heads. Kneeling next to the man he had knocked out, he quickly flex-cuffed him and gagged him. Bringing his M4 back to the high ready he began a slow search of the area looking for the fourth man. One of the observation teams at the compound had seen these guys follow the recon team this morning. They had been spotted when they left the old Sheriff’s building and he had been ordered by the SgtMaj to find out who they were.
Searching for the fourth member, he cautiously moved to the bodies of the two men he had shot. Both appeared to be of Middle Eastern origin but that was as much as he could tell. Searching their pockets turned up nothing of value. He was about to go down to alert the recon team when all hell broke loose.
Dropping to the ground, Sgt Lewis spun toward the direction of the incoming fire, only to realize none of it was directed at him. Peering over the top of the ridge, he saw the last of the recon team go down under a hail of fire. Damn it, thought Lewis, they had walked right into an ambush. Another quick glance told him there was nothing he could do but get the hell out of here. One of the attackers turned and pointed up the hill to where he was and several of the men began to move up the hill.
Cursing, Sgt Lewis slung his M4 and turned to the unconscious man. None too gently he grabbed the man and slung him over his shoulder. Getting the man situated so that he could balance the dead weight, Sgt Lewis moved as quickly as he could to the north. Running a hundred yards with any dead weight wasn’t easy and although this asshole wasn’t a huge guy, he had to weigh at least 170 pounds. Gasping for breath, he reached a thicket of trees and dumped the body to the ground behind a fallen tree.
