Dark Days Rough Roads (27 page)

Haliday
was listening to the minute men frequency. “Papa 4 is out at Delta 13.”

“Almost sounds
like cops.” He waited about 7-8 minutes before he heard them again.

“Papa 4
is back on patrol. Parties at Delta 13 said they haven’t seen anything
unusual.” Haliday figured Kayla hit the nail on the head. These were locations
of houses and they were checking them regularly.

He listened
in a bit more. “Papa 2 is out at Bravo 7.” He waved everyone off and motioned
for them to sit. Kayla came by with her notebook. She was taking notes. After
about 25 more minutes they had a pattern figured out. Papa was obviously a patrol
number, and they noted each patrol had an area assigned to them. One was Alpha,
two was Bravo, three was Charlie and four was Delta. That made sense.

What
didn’t make sense was they could not possibly have numbered every house or
building in the area. Rich said, “They have a neighborhood watch set up. They
probably have people in key locations and they check in with those people.
Intersections, ends of roads, wherever they have a vantage point.” Good catch Dad.

Haliday
had to figure out two things. How did they convince these extra eyes to play
along and what area were they in. Make that three things, what area were they
trying to get too as well. He studied the map to see if he could figure out the
areas. He noted everyone else getting anxious. “I learned this in the army
folks. It’s called hurry up and wait.”

Haliday
studied the map some more. He had lost himself in it when he heard Kayla say
bingo.

“Bingo
what Kayla?”

“Dad, you
didn’t hear that?”

“All I
heard was cantonment.” Damn, he got it. They wanted Papa 3 which was the
Charlie sector to stay in their cantonment area. He had used cantonment areas,
or rather districts, down at Ft. Stewart as an MP.

Haliday
divided the map up in equal sections now. They were covering roughly 40X40
miles. The yahoos he ran across had gone out of their area and were cautioned
to stay in their area today. These would be the Papa 3 units with Charlie
sector. At night he figured the two units covered north and south. Someone had
military training or read a lot of field manuals.

This
posed another problem. The Bay City Minute Men most likely bordered the Bad Axe
areas. If they had a mutual aid pact, that increased the odds of trouble. They
would definitely have more firepower. Haliday was going to have to completely
rethink this situation.

 He
called everyone over. “Time to change the plan. We are going to make a very
short move to this location here. This will put us just inside the edge of
their patrol area. We’ll set up camp and you’ll stay there tonight and through
tomorrow as well. Early the next morning you’ll move out and head straight to
the house.

“I’m
going to head up over here and stir the pot. I’ll stir it enough to draw them
away from you guys. Once you get there, you fortify the hell out of it. There’s
instructions, diagrams, notes, everything you will need right there in the
house. Kayla knows how to get to everything. I’ll work my way back and we’ll go
from there.

“What if
we’re spotted?” David asked.

“They
have the patrols calling in the checks from their spotters, so I doubt they
have a way of communicating. They’ll be too busy with me to do the normal
checks. Like I said, I’ll buy you the time to get there. I do need a volunteer
to go with me. Blake, it’s your bike and you know how to ride. It’s going to be
you. Let’s move.”

In about two
hours they reached the camp site. Haliday and Blake made their preparations
while the rest of the group set up camp, placed the booby traps out and got
settled in. They covered a few more informational items, wished each other luck
and said their goodbyes. Haliday and Blake headed out.

Haliday
and Blake rode out and used a lot of the back roads. They avoided the main
roads, even though they seemed to be clear. The reason behind this was that
Haliday figured this was where most of the spotters were located, almost like
border patrol outposts. The militia would know when their little border had
been breached. It was this particular reason that Haliday laid out the plan the
way he did.

They were
as careful as they possibly could be while in area Charlie, the area they would
settle into for the long haul. Once they reached the other sector, however,
they made themselves plain as day. They made it a point to be seen by whom they
suspected were most likely spotters. This was the beginning of the plan.

After
another hour they stopped and pulled over into the woods. Haliday and Blake had
the portable hams so they could keep in touch. Haliday told Blake to cut back
through the woods, change over and come back through the area that they just
came from. Blake cut through the woods, stopped, and made some quick changes.

Blake
changed his outer jacket cover that Haliday had given him. He had a couple of
these. They were just shells of various camo patterns and not full jackets. He
also altered the looks of his bike. He took some black hundred mile an hour
tape and made some large stripes on the yellow tank and fenders. He placed one
across his helmet as well. He took off and headed to where they had originally
stopped.

Haliday
in the meantime had taken some black and brown tape and put squares on his bike
to give it a quasi digital camo look. He simply took his helmet off and put on
a boonie cap to go along with his own jacket change. The difference was good
enough that most people would think it was someone else.

About
half a mile before Blake reached the woods, he stopped right in the middle of
the road in front of a small farmhouse on a corner lot by a small intersection.
There was a lady standing there on the porch. Blake looked down the main road
and raised his arm and gave a quick wave. Haliday came up behind him and they
both took off. As far as the lady on the porch knew, there had been two pairs
of bikes that went through. A multiplication of manpower through deception.

Next up,
they caused a little trouble. They rode up close to a small town called Pigeon.
Haliday scoped out a small gas station with only a few people near it. They
rode up slowly and pulled in. A guy in his mid-twenties was standing there with
a pistol stuffed in a thigh rig. Blake was facing this guy and Haliday made it
a point to face the direction they came in from.

“You guys
don’t look too familiar, how can I help you.” Blake looked around. Haliday
looked around as well and then the ruse began. Haliday clicked his mic and
said, “There are four bodies here, all armed. Hold your twenty.” The guy looked
up the street and then back at Blake.

“Any
chance we can buy some gas?”

“How much
you need?”

Blake
said, “We need to fill six bikes and six ‘two’ gallon cans.”

“Is that
all?”

“For now,
we might need to fill our trucks in a couple hours.”

“That’s
going to be a problem for sure. Where you guys from anyway?”

Blake was
good at this. “Just around,” he answered.

The
moment was getting a little tense. Haliday clicked the mic again, “No, hold
your twenty. Doesn’t look like they want to play nice with us.” Haliday glanced
over at the guy who was standing there now. “Well? We get gas or not?”

The guy
said, “No, we’re under orders not to sell it to anybody that doesn’t have a gas
card.”

“Where do
we get a gas card?”

“You
can’t, the militia gave them out.”

“You mean
the military gave them out?”

“No, the
militia.”

Haliday
looked at the guy. “So let me understand this. You guys are taking orders from
a group of yahoos who think they run the country now? You guys have a say in
that decision of how they would distribute what’s yours?” The guy didn’t
answer. Haliday said, “Lets go, these people are suffering HUA.”

The guy
asked Haliday what HUA meant.

“Head up
ass.”

Haliday
clicked his mic once more; “We’re coming back out. Have Dave in truck five fill
up a couple gas cans for the bikes and meet us at…,” Haliday then stopped,
looked at the guy, and said, “I’ll call you back with that info. Thanks for
nothing partner. We’ll go find our gas elsewhere.” They high tailed it out of that
area quickly.

Of course
there hadn’t been any transmissions or any truck number five, but appearances
counted here, not the facts. They found themselves a little place to hide. They
sat it out for about two hours trying to listen to see what was going on.
Haliday grinned when he heard the first message pertaining to them.

“Papa 1
is out at Alpha 10 with information. Stand by.” A few minutes passed. “Alpha 10
reports that there were at least four men on motorcycles who passed by a couple
hours ago. They report there might have been more, but definitely saw four. We
have a direction and will head out and see what other info we can find.”

About
half an hour later came another transmission. “Papa 1 is out at Foxtrot Delta
3.” Haliday thought about that one, ok, fuel depot, these guys really wanted to
play army. Good for them. Haliday openly laughed at the next transmission.

“Papa 1
to HQ we have reports that confirm six motorcycles and possible trucks in the
area. Maybe up to five or more, but makes and models are unknown. There is an
unknown number of hostiles. Seems they wanted gas and were denied. We
understand the guys were some sort of wannabe Special Forces jerks with
attitudes based on the way they acted.” Haliday got a kick out of this.

“Oh boy,
these people are hilarious,” he said.

They
pushed their bikes further into the woods and covered them up. Haliday broke
out a small camp stove and some water. “Mac and cheese this evening, Blake, is
that ok with you?”

“Sounds
ok to me.”

“You want
coffee or cocoa?”

“No, can
I have something else?”

“Water,
Kool-Aid, Arnold Palmer or Tang?”

“I’ll
have some Kool-Aid.”

They finished
their quick dinner and then checked in with the group. “Everything is going
fine,” he said. “Tonight I want you to monitor the militia freq. and take
notes. Do not worry about what you hear about us. I want you to concentrate on
what they are doing. Have a couple people listen in to make sure you get as
much info as possible.

“Ok
Blake, you ready to go?”

“Yes
sir.”

“Alright,
then let’s get busy.” Haliday double-checked to make sure the lights on the
bikes were taped off. He rigged up the headlights so that you could pull a
strip of tape off and it would uncover the light in case they needed to see.
The moon was fairly bright and provided enough light to see at the speeds they
were moving. They moved slowly using back woods trails.

They were
coming up on a small road and turned the bikes off. They walked up to a stalled
car and punctured the tank and filled their smaller gas cans. They went back
and filled the bikes. They went back and topped off the gas cans. Haliday let
the gas flow out of the tank though instead of plugging it like he had the
other tanks.

Haliday
grabbed a cigarette out of a pack in his pocket; he didn’t smoke, just used
them for projects. He grabbed a wooden match and poked it through the cigarette
near the filter. He grabbed a paper clip and bent it into shape. He placed this
down by the gas on the ground. Looked like a little cannon pointing toward the
sky. The cigarette would burn down, ignite the match which was close enough to
the gas, and that would set it all ablaze.

This would
buy them time to get out of the area. They walked back into the woods and took
off. They were well enough away from the area when the gas ignited and the car
became engulfed in flames. This drew the attention of the nearby homes as they
came out to look at what was burning. This would be reported if it wasn’t seen
by a patrol.

They hit
another spot about four miles away and further north. Haliday showed Blake how
to do it. “We don’t need the gas, but we need the diversion,” Haliday said.
Blake looked at the car.

“Oh man,
Mr. Haliday, it’s a Camaro,” Blake said.

“What’s
wrong with that, they don’t burn? Blake, the car is useless. If it makes you
feel any better I’ll write the owner a check. Let’s move.”

Blake set
the makeshift fuse and they took off again.

“Last but
not least, the grand finale for the night. This third car is where it gets
risky. This is what we’ll do.” He explained the plan to Blake and they got
ready to go. “If we get separated, you meet me back here. Let’s go.”

They cut
the engines on the bikes and rolled down a hill about an eighth of a mile. When
they stopped by the car, Haliday went and punctured the tank. No gas, though.
He walked over to another one and same result. This wasn’t going to work out
that well. There were no other cars far enough away from the homes.

He looked
around and saw an older store by itself with a dirt parking lot that looked
empty. He checked it out and it appeared it had been empty for probably 10
years or more. The people in the Thumb Area had it made. Nice rural areas, but
they still had that American dream—they’d open a business; it would fail and
sit empty. Simply not enough people around to support it.