Dark Days Rough Roads (42 page)

Everyone
just kind of looked at each other. Rich asked him, “Are you sure?”

“Ya Dad,
I’m sure.” Dinner was served up soon afterwards, but not a lot of people were
really hungry. Almost half was put away for later. Normally this would have all
been gone. They were good at guessing how much to make so nothing went to
waste.

Haliday
walked over and grabbed a glass and tossed some ice in it. The idea of not
having gas for the generator one day, or a cold fridge really ticked him off.
He had a solar array and battery bank, but that would push it even if operating
nothing but the fridge and a few lights. He poured himself a couple fingers of
Jack Daniels, sat at the desk and listened to the radio and took more notes. He
told Mike what was going on, he checked in with Rob, but didn’t say anything to
him.

Rob told
him he had recruited a few more families. Once word spread, they knew who to
believe. There were still doubters, and there were still those believing the
militia, but the tide was turning. Not bad for a day’s work. Rob told him they
got the truck from the parking lot and put tires on it. He also said they
managed to round up some quads and a couple of bikes. They were working on a
couple other vehicles, but not sure.

The
kicker was Brady’s hunting center. Brady had taken everything and locked it up
tight. He had steel bars over his windows and no one was getting in there. His
house was attached to the back of the store. He was willing to fork over
anything he had which would be of use.

Bows,
crossbows, a lot of bolt action rifles but he also had close to 12 semi-autos,
AR and AK variants. Years ago he had bought a couple dozen SKS’s and still had
almost twenty. They weren’t big sellers in the area. To round it off he had
about a dozen shotguns and plenty of ammunition for everything. “Rob, you need
to make him your best friend. Talk to you tomorrow.”

 Haliday
pulled his shift on watch that evening. It was 0200hrs and he stepped outside
for a minute. It was colder outside tonight. He had his balaclava folded up
into a watch cap configuration and pulled it down. He had told Diana that he’d
be back in a few minutes. He walked over to the small outbuilding, which was
really just an old hand-built shed maybe 10X12. He checked it out and the
single door was secure.

He
started to walk over by the pole barn and paused. He bent down to tie his shoe
and mumbled aloud. “Damn shoe string, had to break on me now, huh?” He rose to
his feet and walked back to the house and went inside. He told Diana they had a
guest outside. Whoever it was had tried to hide behind the pole barn. He
noticed their cloud of breath in the cold air. He used the shoe string excuse
to go back in the house.

He went
over to the laundry room and walked inside. Next to the window was a homemade
periscope. He had found plans online, but he didn’t like them so he had made
his own. He took a six inch PVC pipe and used it. He notched out the top and
bottom and then played with mirror angles until he got them set at 45 degrees
and glued them in place with gorilla glue. He used it to look out through the
window. The person was by the pole barn.

He saw a
single figure, small in stature. He wasn’t professional, nor was he very
careful about his movements. He watched them try and peek in the pole barn
windows, but he had to strain to reach them. He moved off toward the woods. Haliday
went to another window and glanced out. Diana asked him if he wanted her to
sound the alarm. “No, that’s ok. It’s just one person. The neighbor across the
street. I just watched him go back over there.”

He walked
over to the radio and flipped frequencies. There it was. He sat there and
listened and this is what he had heard: “I couldn’t stay long. Someone came
outside but he didn’t see me, I thoughthe would be coming back so I left. I’m
sure it’s the people you are looking for. I think I saw some vehicles but I’m
sure I saw the motorcycles too.” It was a woman’s voice.

“Ok.”
said a man, “Can you try and confirm then let us know.”

“Ok, I’ll
go back tonight.”

“Thank
you,” the man said.

Haliday
wanted to go across the street and slit her throat, but knew better. They
needed a little more time to prepare. In the morning he’d go over there and
pump her for information. He knew she was married, but couldn’t remember if she
was happily married or not. Might have to play spouse against spouse. 0300hrs
came and they woke their reliefs and briefed them. “Wake me at 0800hrs,” he
said. “I want an early breakfast and a trip across the street.”

After
breakfast, Roger put on some jeans, and a polo shirt, and grabbed a regular
winter jacket. He took Rich and Kayla with him across the street. Psyops—family
was always a good bet in order to humanize a situation. Just the nice neighbors
coming over to say hello. He still took his .40 and Kayla and Rich had 9mm’s.
They walked up and knocked on the door. He did a quick survey of the property.
He kept a hand in his pocket of his jacket with his finger on the trigger
guard.

None of
their vehicles that he saw seemed to be running. Firewood stacked up in the
back, but that was normal out here. Pretty plain and nothing really stood out
at all. The only thing was some tire tracks in the driveway that looked within
a couple days old and the antenna on the chimney. They walked up on the porch
and knocked.

A man
came to the door. “Can I help you?”

“Hi, my
name is Roger, this is my dad Rich and my daughter Kayla. We have the place
across the street.”

“What is
it I can help you with Roger?”

“We just
wanted to introduce ourselves. We never really met; just waved across the
fields once in a while. We’re here for a while and I wanted you to know it was
just us.”

The man’s
wife came to the door. She looked tired and was dressed, but looked like she
slept in her clothes. “Who you talking to honey?” she asked.

“Oh, the
folks from across the street,” he said.

She
looked them up and down and just said one word. “Hi.”

“Hello
ma’am, nice to meet you.” She just stood there. Roger repeated the introductions.
There was an awkward pause and they were about to just say goodbye and leave.

“Where
you guys from? How long you staying? Who else do you have up here?” It was
three quick questions. Haliday knew it was her that had been out there last
night.

He
answered her questions, but fairly generically in nature. “The suburbs. A few
weeks until things settle down in the city, I suppose. Couple others with us.”
He answered the questions curtly.

“You have
a lot of people over there,” she said.

“Well, my
family is all. They want to be safe, too.”

“Ya, I
guess family being safe is important,” she said.

Roger’s
turn to ask some questions. “Is it just you two here? Don’t you have a
daughter?”

“She’s at
her boyfriend’s for a while,” she said.

Roger
played coy, “Oh, ok, just remembered seeing her around before. Well, anyway,
we’re going to get going, nice meeting you. We’re across the street and if you
need anything let us know.”

“You too.
We’re fine.” Her answers were just as quick and almost rude. She walked away.

The guy
looked at Roger and shrugged his shoulders. He then opened the door some more
and extended his hand. “I’m sorry, I’m Lance,” he shook everyone’s hands. “Take
it easy,” he said,

“See ya
around, Lance.”

They
walked back to the house. “That was weird, Dad.”

“I agree
with Kayla, Roger, that lady is a little bit off.”

“I would
expect so.”

“Why is
that?”

“When the
husband opened the door to shake hands, there was a picture on the end table.”

“Of what,
or of whom?”

“Her
daughter and her daughter’s boyfriend.”

“So
what’s that mean?”

“They
were standing next to a quad, wearing Russian camo. I believe I met him the
other night.”

As soon
as they walked into the house he called another meeting. “The lady across the
street is watching our every move. I don’t know what the husband is all about,.
I don’t think he cares. I’m not sure he even knows what’s really going on. But
she is definitely buying into the BS the militia offers because Blakey boy here
tried to kill her daughter’s boyfriend the other night.”

Blake
said, “huh?”

“Ya, the
kid on the quad,” Roger said.

He sat
down at the radio and called Rob. “Rob, has there been any movement from the
militia?”

“No, none
at all that we’ve seen. They haven’t left the airport at all.”

“Rob, can
we meet?”

“Sure,
when and where.”

“Your
house, I’m on my way. Don’t panic I’m bringing friends.” Haliday called Blake,
Randy and Dawn over, “get your gear together, firearms only. Dress warm too.
Grab me a welfare bucket, meet me in the pole barn.” He left a list of chores
for the rest of them.

They met
him in the pole barn. He went over to his Jeep and started it up. This was a
1982 CJ7 with soft top. He had redone the tub on it and fixed the rust. Instead
of going with a lift kit, he actually lowered it an inch. He added 200 pounds
of skid plating underneath for added weight. This was to lower the center of
gravity and help prevent rollovers in fast or tight turns.

Everything
else on it worked normally. He added roll cage protection and hand holds. The
rear seat was a special touch. It could flip over and face backwards. This
vehicle was painted flat black. Everything on it, bumpers, rims, everything. He
didn’t have the top and didn’t care to worry about that. Canvas was useless for
anything but wind and water protection. He folded the windshield down.

They
pulled out onto the road and headed south. He went east at the next road and then
north at the next one after that. He did this for the neighbor’s sake. They
were at Rob’s in 35 minutes. They pulled in and he angled the Jeep for a quick
easy escape. He didn’t expect this to be the case. He walked up to Rob. They
shook hands and went into his pole barn where he had set up an office.

Randy
stood guard with one of Rob’s sons. The kid was 16 actually, his younger
brother was 15. Randy called the younger son over. He pulled the bucket out of
the Jeep.

“Go put
this in your house. Do not tell anyone about it.”

“Is it
going to blow up?” the kid asked.

Randy
looked at him funny. The kid had a point. “No, it’s not. It’s for you guys
after we leave, but do not tell anyone but your mom and dad.”

In a bid
to keep Rob on his side, he had brought him a welfare bucket. He didn’t like
the idea, but it was a needed evil. Feed the animals and they won’t go away is
what he always said. He needed a couple of pets right now and Rob was footing
the bill nicely. He almost felt badly, but after what he did for these guys, it
was no big deal. He actually needed Rob more than he let on.

Rob had
the wood burner going. It was nice and warm. He had a map of the area up as
well. “Nice map Rob, where’d ya get it.”

“My store.
I used to sell them to the tourists. Want to buy one?” Roger flipped him off.
“Nice to see you too.” Rob said.

“Well,
we’re here on business.” He looked at a guy next to Rob. “I don’t think we met.
I’m Roger.”

“Everyone
calls me Brad?”

“Brad?”

“Ya, it’s
Bradley Brady.”

“Ahhhh,
the hunting shop owner.”

“Yes, sir.
I’m helping Rob out with planning and everything.”

“You have
any info on the militia? Anything at all?”

“We have
a couple guys watching them at the compound. Writing down everything they do,
how many people we think they have, vehicles, the same thing you did basically.
The most accurate info we have is a body count. They have 31 adult males, 25
adult females, 10 male teenagers, 12 female teenagers, around eight younger
boys and maybe five younger girls. Give or take a few people I think.”

“Damn,
78-80 fight capable people? That sucks, I underestimated their troop strength.
One of them is my neighbor’s daughter; the girlfriend of the kid you guys cut
loose.” Rob looked down at the table. “Sorry, sore subject, huh?”

“Ya, we
should have hung that kid.”

“We had
that talk, Rob. Rules of engagement, the law, but it’s a thin line here and
hard to interpret. Any more people signed up with you?”

“We have
a good 60 we can count on.”

“Not
enough though. Not yet.”

“I
promised my wife the boys wouldn’t leave the house, though.”

“Fair
enough Rob, keep making your rounds and recruiting. Spread the word.”

“What
about the prisoners?”

Rob
looked at him. “What do you mean?”

“Oh ya,
the people in the building next to their barracks or housing units or whatever
the hell they call them. We haven’t seen anyone go in there at all. I’ll
double-check but I’m pretty certain.”