Dark Days Rough Roads (32 page)

“Blake,
I’m not in the service now, but I will maintain and uphold that oath. I will
not stand by and let these people hinder the freedoms of other Americans for
their own personal gain. I don’t know what I can do, but I have to do
something. Sooner or later I will have to show my hand. I hope it’s good enough
to win. I want to get on with life as much as the next guy, but when they come
knocking on our door what do we do then? And is it too late at that point?”

“I hear
ya, Mr. Haliday. I had that same feeling. I just don’t have the experience you
do.”

“You
don’t have to, Blake. You just have to have the will power to want to help and
to want to make a difference. That’s all. I’m glad you’re here. Now, we have
some more recon to do, so let’s get that rest. I’ll call the group and check in.
Let them know we are ok.”

The sleep
was very welcomed. Both had become very tired and the past few days had taken a
toll on them. After tonight they would head to the house and get all the rest
they needed. One last night of recon would give him enough info on the
compound. He still didn’t know what he would do with it though.

They
moved out heading to a new area.

“Why not
the spot we used last night?” Blake asked.

“It was a
great spot, but there are a couple things to consider. You visit enough times and
you leave telltale signs that you were there. You start to alter the soil, and
the vegetation, and it makes it easier to find. Secondly, we need another
vantage point so we can see what else is going on in there.”

They went
out of their way to avoid some houses and ultimately ended up northeast of the
airport, across the street. This was a great spot for watching the militia. It
gave them a completely different viewing angle. They did the same thing as the
night before and laid up for the night.

He looked
over into building 4 and indeed they had two small planes in there. Piper cubs,
ancient, simple, parts everywhere, but still not running. Not sure what they
could do with them, other than some aerial recon which would be nice. Maybe
they could arm them somehow, he guessed. By the looks of it though, they had a
long way to go. Haliday started thinking, damn, should have brought the 203.
Well, it wasn’t really a 203, but rather a 37mm grenade launcher. Too many
questions would arise with a true 40mm launcher. Not to mention the
registration of it with the BATFE.

Those
planes wouldn’t be running for at least a couple of days. He looked around some
more. He saw the same routine with the security again. Every hour on the hour a
perimeter check. Looked like checks of the prison building, but that view was
now somewhat blocked. Nothing really different yet. They actually kind of reminded
him of the old football game that you plugged it in, and the men just vibrated
across the field in random directions with no sense of purpose.

At the HQ
building he saw a few guys get into a four wheeler and head over to the
prisoner building. The next view he had of them was when he spotted them at
what he called building 12. They had a man with them. They took him inside and
he didn’t see them for almost an hour. After that he watched them drag the guy
from the doorway and back to the prisoner building. They must have beaten him
something fierce. Haliday’s blood was boiling. He told Blake, “Mark down that
they torture people.”

He
watched again as they took a woman inside the same building. He waited again
and noted the time. It had barely been half an hour before they brought her out
and dragged her back to the building. “Damn it,” he said. He had an idea who
these people were. He was ready to go down there guns blazing. Evidently he had
been speaking aloud and mumbling because Blake had poked his head out again.

“Roger,
do you think that’s who they thought we were?”

“Yes I
do, and I’m f’ing beyond pissed off right now. I’m half tempted to go down
there but that would be the end of me for sure. I’ll get even with these
pricks, mark my word. I’ll get even with these pricks.” Blake had put his head
back under the blanket. “Blake, you only need to poke your head under when I
tell you info to write down, you don’t have to stay under there all the time.”

“It’s
warmer this way.”

“It’s
that or you like dutch ovens.”

“You’re a
sick man, Mr. Haliday.”

No one
else was taken out and interrogated that he had seen. It was late in the night
and they started to close up a lot of the buildings. They seemed to still be
working around the motor pool though. They had some kind of project they wanted
finished; he just didn’t know what. He hadn’t gotten a close enough look inside
that building to see.

He was
watching this one when he saw a man walk out of one of the motor pool hangars.
Haliday watched him and watched his motions. “Oh my god, you’ve got to be
kidding me?” He told Blake to stop taking notes and look. Blake poked his head
out of the blanket.

“It’s a
guy waving his arms like at the airports.”

“No
Blake, it’s a ground guide, watch.”

They
could hear the rumbling of the engine and soon it appeared. Blake said, “Holy
shit.”

“Ya,
that’s what I say. I can’t believe it.” It looked like an M113, armored
personnel carrier but slightly different. It had to be some kind of variation
or prototype that made its way into civilian hands. He still couldn’t believe
it.

The
ground guide walked it out to an empty area between the hangars and one of the
runways. Once there the driver ran it around in circles, spun in place a few
times, shot up and down along the runway, and then eased it back toward the
motor pool hangar. Quite a crowd had gathered around and was cheering. They
walked it back into the hangar.

Blake
looked at Haliday. “That’s pretty bad ass. I wish we had one.”

“Oh ya,
hell I wish we had several. Some Bradleys, a few M1s, hell, why stop there.
Couple Cobras and Apaches, a Blackhawk or two,” he was rambling now. He stopped
himself. He looked at Blake, “no problem at all Blake. It won’t do them a damn
bit of good.”

“Why is
that?”

“Let’s
get going back to camp. I’ve seen enough and I’ll explain it on the way.”

“Ok,
Blake, let me explain a few things about tracked vehicles. They can’t really
operate continually on paved roads. It tears up the track pads on the tracks
and sooner or later they fall off. They start to fall off and expose the
tracks, making them more prone to damage. There’s a reason they get trucked
everywhere, so unless they get a truck and trailer going, I don’t think they’ll
be running around the area with that thing.”

“What
about cutting through all of the farms?”

“They
could do that, sure. But it’s a large area with a lot of varied terrain.
Eventually their luck is going to run out and they’ll throw a track or
something else. I just don’t think they have the parts to really utilize it the
way they hope to, or to make repairs in the field if something goes wrong.
Maybe they hope to use it to defend their compound and that’s it. That’s what I
would do.

“It has
two firing ports on each side for rifles and whatever they wanted to use that
upper turret for. Actually it’s not a turret, but really just a half armored
turret. The gunner would still be exposed from the sides and the back. I doubt
they have any light or heavy machine guns to mount. That would have cost them
nearly as much as that track. At least I hope they don’t.

“Either
way, whatever they plan to use it for, if we take it out it’s a done deal. I’d
rather worry more about them getting those planes in the air. Yet another thing
to worry about. They can spot us easily if they can do that. We’d be restricted
to moving at night, and at night only, and that still wouldn’t guarantee
anything. Air power is supreme. I’d settle for a paraglider about now.”

“You’re
full of all kinds of good news, huh?”

“No, it’s
just better that we understand what we are up against. With education we can
make educated decisions. Now let’s be quiet because we have to cross through
the residential area here.” He heard some chatter on the radio and stopped to
listen.

“HQ this
is Papa 2. We went by the Grindstone marina like they said. We found the boat
and checked it out. It was exactly where they said it would be. We boarded it
and searched it. We found food and weapons on board. Just a pistol and an AK47
with about 1,000 rounds total. The food looks like it’s about a couple of
month’s worth. The boat does start and run, so we locked it down and seized it.
The cradle it’s in can be lowered manually to put it in the water.”

“Did you
confiscate the food and equipment?”

“Roger
that, we loaded up everything worthwhile and will be bringing it back to HQ.
They had some charts too, looks like they were heading somewhere offshore,
maybe a cabin on one of the islands. We can check that out tomorrow when it’s
daylight. See what they have out there.”

“Good job
guys, not sure if they are with the hostiles or not. We’ll keep pushing them
for info, but at least we have a new toy.”

Haliday
was fuming now. “You see, Blake, I told you. I told you. I told you. These
people were trying to get to their boat and get to their own camp and now these
dick heads have beaten them, seized their food and firearms, and plan to do who
knows what with them now. They are going to go to their cabin and take what’s
left? I don’t think so.” What started as a reconnaissance mission and bug out
ended up being much more for Haliday.

As soon
as they got back, they called in to talk to the group.

“Everything
is ok here. We had a patrol come by but they didn’t pull in. You still want us
to shoot on sight?”

“I do,
but only if you are certain they did not call in a location for the stop. If
they didn’t, hide the vehicle, bury or burn the bodies, just get rid of them.
We have a field operation to conduct in the morning so we won’t be coming in
yet. I’ll call you guys later.”

The
sporadic radio calls were wearing on the group. They almost couldn’t handle the
suspense. But, they did what they were told. David and Kevin were at the ready
to respond if they needed to. Kayla wanted to be involved, but she knew more
about the house than anyone else and would need to stay behind. Hopefully they
would not have to respond. They hated listening in though, and never knowing
what to expect.

They went
as far as they dared, and pulled over, and would wait until 0530. They filled
the bikes’ tanks. They would need to get some more gas soon. They had about 100
miles of operating distance left now. They had about 15 miles to make it to the
marina. 0530 rolled around and they took off.

They
turned in at the marina. Haliday looked around. It wasn’t a very big place, but
he had to move quickly. He searched up and down near the boat hoists. There it
was. A small cruiser, maybe 30 feet in length. Older, but looked like it was
well cared for. The winterizing plastic had been ripped open. They left the
ladder near by it too. This was the boat.

He looked
around and found a place to hide the bikes. He prepped Blake as well as he
could. He gave him a couple Snickers bars. “Eat them fast, you’ll need the
sugar rush. If you can’t hang, just drop your weapon and hit the ground and lay
there. Use the radio and tell the group what happened and what’s going on. Make
sure you flip to the right freq. first. Just push that button right there.”

“I’ll be
here Mr. Haliday, don’t worry.” Haliday had his doubts. Kid just learned to
shoot a few days ago and hadn’t pulled the trigger yet. Not even to practice.
He just hoped the kid didn’t get himself killed. They found some hiding spots
and Haliday briefed him on fields of fire.

“You
start firing as soon as you hear the first shot or if they are pointing a gun
at me and ready to shoot. You make sure they are dead, you hear me. If they go
down you put a bullet in their head. You hesitate you die.

“One more
thing Blake, see how I’m dressed?”

“Yes.”

“Remember
that when you pull the trigger. They have the commie camo on.” Haliday heard
the noise, the militia had brought one of the deuce and a halves. He bolted for
his cover as quick as he could. The good thing about a deuce was you heard it
long time before you saw it. His adrenaline was coursing through his veins.

The deuce
pulled in and paused. The driver looking at a piece of paper that must be a
hand drawn map. He put the deuce in gear and pulled up close to the hoist. Two
guys from the back jumped out and stood there as the deuce worked its way back
and forth so they were backed in as close as they could get. It would make it
easier to unload the boat when they got back. They had either taken the top off
or didn’t have one. Didn’t matter but it allowed Haliday to count the number of
militia.

The
driver and passenger got out. They walked around to the back as well. They had
pistols strapped on but no rifles. The guys from the back had the standard AR’s
this group has been carrying. One handheld ham, one ham mounted on the truck.
Haliday knew who his first target would be if it came down to that.