Options Are Good (13 page)

Bandy didn’t reply, as he started the truck the scanner was breaking squelch constantly. Both Bandy and Ana-Bella looked up when they heard sirens in the distance, at least one of which was getting closer.

By the time they were back on the county road, the Longhammer Ranch gate closing behind them, there were two law enforcement vehicles and an ambulance coming up behind them, lights and sirens going. Bandy pulled well off the road before they got close and watched them nearly fly by.

The lead car was the unit the Sheriff used, according to Ana-Bella. Bandy, careful to watch behind almost as much as ahead, made what Ana-Bella thought was his very slow way back to the Sheridan Ranch.

Ana-Bella never knew if what she’d said kept Bandy at the Ranch or not, but Bandy parked, and went into the house with Ana-Bella. Magdalene, looking more than a little frightened, hugged Ana-Bella fiercely, but turned to continue the lockdown procedure for the house, just as the Longhammer’s had.

Ana-Bella gave Bandy a long look when he said he was headed out to give her father a hand, but turned back to help her mother, confident that was exactly what Bandy would do.

It was a very confusing hour and a half. No one, including Bandy, was sure about what they were doing. Was it all just a big mistake? Or was there something to it? The weather was beautiful, the birds were flying and the horses were prancing in the paddocks until the last one was brought into the highly modified barns.

It seemed only the Airedales picked up on how tense the humans were. They all, including the pups emulating their dams and sires, stayed as close to someone as they could, until they too were safely in their protected indoor kennel.

Bandy waited until after Bob talked to the Farm and Ranch hands that had not headed for home, which were now gathered in the open area of the disaster shelter, reassuring them, and letting them know that as soon as there was reliable information they would be advised of the situation. Being in the shelter was just a precaution for the moment.

Then Bob and Bandy joined Magdalene and Ana-Bella in the family shelter at the house. Magdalene and Bob kept themselves busy with mundane things, allowing Ana-Bella and Bandy to monitor what was going on with the new equipment in the new shelter.

It wasn’t very long before the distraught voice of June Longhammer broke the squelch of the low VHF band business band radio that was now the primary emergency communications link between the Longhammer’s’ places and the Sheridan ranch.

“Bandy! Bandy! Are you there?” came the anguished cry.

Ana-Bella handed him the microphone for the radio. “I am here, June. What has happened?” He kept his voice calm, for June, but his stomach was knotted up.

“Colin has Angus, Bandy! He says he will kill Angus if they don’t let him into the shelter at the dealership! And Angus gave orders when he left not to let anyone in, unless they knew the code word. And he won’t use it.

“Junior is frantic. It is all I can do to keep him from going after Colin himself.”

“You tell Junior I said his job is to protect you and Desiree in his father’s absence. It is what Angus would want and Junior will realize it as soon as you tell him. And don’t worry about Angus. He’s tough and smart, and will get out of the situation. I’m heading that way as soon as I put down the microphone.”

“I’m going wi…”

“No, you aren’t,” Bob said before Bandy could. “Bandy only needs to have two things on his mind. And that is staying alive and getting Angus freed. He cannot afford to be worrying about you at the same time. It could get him killed.”

“But…” Ana-Bella almost yelled.

“Your father is right,” Magdalene said. “There are times to be right alongside your man. This isn’t one of them. He needs the freedom to act without restriction.”

Bandy didn’t say anything, just looked on with eyes hopeful that Ana-Bella would understand. Apparently she did, for she threw herself against him, wrapped her arms around him in a tight hug and whispered, “You’d better come back to me, all in one piece or you are in serious trouble.”

She stepped away and Bandy hurried out, grabbing his things on the way. He wasted no time getting to the edge of town, to the dealership. Bandy had the radios on the entire time, but the only thing he heard was one law enforcement officer frantically saying, “Officer down! Officer down!” And the scanner went quiet.

Bandy slid to a stop well before he got to the first gate into the dealership. Both of them were still open. Pulling the rifle from the toolbox in the back of the truck, Bandy did a quick check, grabbed a musette bag with magazines and flipped the strap over his head, making sure the bag hung down his side properly. Then he approached the corner of one of the gateway intermodal containers.

He was just sticking his head around the corner of the container when he lunged back. Colin’s big four by four came barreling through the opening at high speed, squalling the tall tires as he bounced and skidded onto the highway. Shots rang out and Bandy saw the back glass of the pickup truck shatter. There were two people in the cab of the truck.

One was Colin, driving, and the other wasn’t Angus. But there were at least two men in the bed of the truck, for two popped up and began to fire back into the dealership lot. Bandy raised his rifle and took care of the two immediate threats before trying a shot at Colin. But he lowered the rifle. He simply could bring himself to shoot Colin in the back, even if he could have successfully made the long shot at the weaving truck.

Again Bandy stuck his head around the corner of the gate container. What he saw had him running inside, rifle held out and up, yelling, “It’s Hawkins! Don’t shoot! Don’t shoot!”

Angus spun around and Bandy saw the blood on his face and hands. But Bandy quickly dropped his eyes to Sheriff Julie-Anne Broadhearst. She sat with her back against the front tire of the cruiser, being tended to by Terri and another of the employees.

There was a pistol held tightly in her right hand. It took some effort and persuasion by Angus to get her to release it when he knelt back down as Bandy came running up.

“Angus! Are you okay?”

“Colin pistol whipped me in the face. But I’ll be okay. I’m worried about Julie-Anne. Colin killed Officer Belknap. He was here when Colin came up. Colin just shot him. He wasn’t dead, and got off a couple of words on the radio before Colin shot him again. I…”

“Get on the radio and let your family know you are all right, and the Sheridan’s that I am all right.” Both men glanced around and saw the ambulance turn into the parking lot, lights flashing, but siren off.

“Help is here for the Sheriff. Your family comes first right now. They are totally frantic.”

Angus gave Julie-Anne a long look, but then spun around and ran toward the dealership building. There were three armed men standing watch at the two sets of doors and Angus ran right past them without a word.

The paramedics were still working on Julie-Anne, shot down low in her hip, below her vest. The femur was obviously broken, and from the way the paramedics were working, Bandy had a feeling the femoral artery was nicked and/or the hip joint damaged.

Angus came hurrying back up, a strange look on his face. “Junior quizzed me a dozen times, asking if I was really all right. I think he was going to come up here if he thought I wasn’t. I told him to stay right where he was, to protect his mother and sister. That seemed to calm him down.”

Bandy didn’t say anything about his same admonishment to the young man. Both men turned around and watched the ambulance drive off, Julie-Anne inside, along with the paramedics and Terri.

“Can you tell me what happened, while you get cleaned up?” Bandy asked.

“Oh. Yeah. Sure.” Rather dejectedly, Angus went into the dealership showroom and then to his office. It had a private bath and as he began to clean the blood off himself he slowly told Bandy the story.

“I blame myself, Hawkins. It is all my fault. When Magdalene called and said they were locking down, at your suggestion, I decided to do the same thing. But I couldn’t decide whether to stay here or go home. I finally decided to head for home, and told the crews to lock down behind me and not let anyone in that didn’t give one of the pre-arranged code words like you set up. But I’d waited too long.

“Well, I was almost at my truck when the City Officer, Belknap, pulled into the lot before I could get either gate shut. He was here, just as a courtesy. He told me that there was something going on, but not to worry about it. Things would be fine in a day or two.

“That’s when Colin and his goons came charging in, firing as they came. Colin shot Belknap when he went for his gun. But Belknap fell back into the car and grabbed the mike. Colin just stepped up to the car and shot him in the forehead. Cold as you please.

“Then Colin said, ‘Okay. Let’s get in the shelter. We have things to discuss’. When I said no, he went berserk. Whipped his pistol across my face…”

Angus was looking at the long gash on his cheekbone. From the looks of it, the cut looked like it should be stitched. But Angus just continued to scrub it out, with a wince and a groan.

“The other guys stood guard as Colin marched me at gunpoint to the above ground shelter. When I refused to open it, he worked me over some more.” Angus groaned some more as he stripped off his bloody shirt and moved his arms and back around. Bandy could see the bruises forming already.

“That’s when Julie-Anne came flying in, siren on and lights flashing apparently. Anyway, that is what one of Colin’s goons said. That Boots that Junior knows, I think it was. Colin had me in front of him, and moved toward the car. Julie-Anne had turned off the siren and lights, and gone out the passenger side door. She was behind the engine block of the cruiser, the way they do, just like you taught us how to do.

“But when Colin put the gun to my head she stood up, held her gun out and moved in front of the car. I thought she was crazy, but when Colin moved the gun, obviously to shoot her, after he shoved me out of the way, she was already going for her backup gun. I didn’t know she carried one.

“She took the hit and went down. That’s when my guys came storming out… Against orders… But they’d been watching on the surveillance system, and knew what was happening. I’d lain in a few more weapons and those that knew how to use them came up and started exchanging fire with Colin’s men. That’s when Colin ran for his truck, along with his guys, and disappeared. That’s when you showed up.

“What are you doing here, anyway? Why aren’t you at the Sheridan place?”

Bandy just looked at him.

“You didn’t have to…”

“Sure I did,” Bandy said. “I promised everyone in both families that I would see this thing through, and do everything I could to keep anyone from getting hurt. Seems I’ve failed at that, but I still mean to see it through. Whether this is the end of civilization as we know it or not, Colin will see justice done, for the murder of the police officer, and the attempted murder of Sheriff Broadhearst.”

“You aren’t going after him alone, are you?” asked the suddenly alarmed Angus.

There was that cryptic smile on Bandy’s face again. Rather feral it was, Angus thought.

“No. Ana-Bella would have my head. But I assure you, justice will be done. Now, let’s get you home and see if we can find out what is going on for sure. Colin is a done deal, either way.”

CHAPTER SEVEN

It was quite a reunion when Angus and Bandy got back to the Longhammer place. Bandy quickly made his exit, after being hugged, slapped on the back, and had his hand shaken no less than six times in appreciation.

Though he felt like he had been a day late and a dollar short in the event he didn’t say anything about it. Bandy just made sure that the family was calmed down enough to lock the shelter back down after he left.

He took his time going back to the Sheridan Ranch, observing the panicked driving going on. The one fuel station between the Longhammer and Sheridan places had a line that extended well out onto the highway. As far as he could tell, it was still peaceful. But that could change in an instant, Bandy knew.

Ana-Bella was at the door of the shelter when Bandy gave the password through the intercom. She was in his arms as soon as he stepped through the second blast door. Bob was right there and closed and secured the door.

Bandy had the same trouble extricating himself from the tearful Ana-Bella’s grip as he had from the Longhammer women.

As soon as he could get a word in edgewise, Bob asked Bandy, “Did you get him? What happened? Angus got me on the radio and said you were on the way back and that he was okay, but that was all.”

His left hand still in Ana-Bella’s fierce grip, Bandy gave a rather abbreviated description of what had happened and his minor part in it.

The family was having none of it. Basically, each one of the Sheridan’s told him, several times, that if he had not done what he did, from the very start, things would have been significantly worse.

“Well, Colin is still loose, and Sheriff Broadhearst is out of commission for some time. And we still don’t know what the situation is for long term.”

The words barely out of his mouth, the NOAA Weather Radio alarm sounded. A few seconds of the screeching alarm and a shaky sounding announcer was saying,
The President will address the nation this evening at 9:00pm Eastern time. That is 6:00pm Pacific time. That is all the information we have at the moment.

Tune in on any radio or TV that is working, including these weather radios, and the WWV time stations at 2.5MHz, 5MHz, 10HMz, 15MHz, and 20MHz for those of you that have ham radios or shortwave radios.
The woman’s voice simply stopped and the radio went silent again.

“Maybe they have it under control now…” Magdalene did not sound at all sure of herself.

“Let’s hope so,” Bandy said quickly. Then he added, “I’d like to check the monitors and see if we can go back up topside. No point in staying down here if…”

Bob overruled Bandy. “Better we stay here, boy. If the Chinese take advantage of this, they could launch on us without warning. So could the Russians. Now that we have it, we are going to use the shelter to the fullest.”

Bandy nodded. It was his first choice, too, but he had not wanted to make it seem like things were worse than they were.

They were all gathered around the communications desk at the indicated time. There was only the hiss of dead air on every radio Bandy tried. “This is not good…” he said after fifteen minutes of silence.

Even the NOAA Weather Radio Warning System and WWV/WWVH time stations were down now, along with commercial broadcasting.

Still fearful of a surprise first strike the four decided to stay in the shelters. It didn’t take long for the four of them to settle into a routine. Bandy and Ana-Bella were working feverishly trying to find out what was going on in the county, the state, the country and the world.

Bob and Magdalene spent their time helping with the animals, as one after another of the employees asked for, and received, the okay to go home. Most assured Bob they would be back to help. But Bob was fairly certain that only half of those that left for more than three days would return. At least until they needed something.

Bob was more than generous with supplies for those employees that needed help at home. As long as they continued to work for him, Bob would see to it that their families were fed and cared for.

Bandy and Ana-Bella didn’t have much to work with in trying to pin down the cause for all the trouble. The only communications now working were face to face and Amateur Radio operators. And the Amateurs had lost most of their VHF and UHF repeaters when the power went down, generators ran out of fuel, and several days of cloudy weather allowed solar recharged battery banks to discharge.

Every day that passed, the only word that they were getting at the shelter was that things were getting much worse, very quickly, all around the world. Including China.

They did quit using the shelter during the day, but went back down at night. The Longhammer’s did the same. Except for Sheriff Broadhearst. The hospital was non-functional after the first four days of no power and no deliveries. Angus insisted that Julie-Anne be transported out to the Longhammer Ranch. All the shelters included extensive medical facilities, equipment, and supplies.

Angus had taken it very personally that Sheriff Broadhearst had been shot helping him out, considering his involvement with Colin. So, along with the Sheriff being at the ranch, Angus hired two nurses that would stay in the shelter with them and take turns helping with the Sheriff’s care.

Nearly every day for a week, Angus asked Bandy if he knew anything about Colin.

After a week, things were getting desperate. But Bandy was beginning to piece together why the power, internet, and other infrastructures were still down. And why they were not going to be coming back up any time soon.

He’d been right about the linked Supercomputers being a factor in the disaster. They were more than just a factor. They were the root cause and continued to increase their abilities and control.

One Amateur Radio Operator that had family working at one of the Supercomputer sites relayed an incredible tale. But it matched everything Bandy already knew and all the facts still coming in.

All the Supercomputers were supposedly stripped of all programming before being networked, to be reprogramed for the different uses visualized for the system in a clean environment.

Not only were the protocols not followed, with several sets of programming left on the computers, the absolute restriction on Artificial Intelligence programming was not just violated, but violated three times.

In all innocence, the three different creators of the software packages wanted a chance to test out just how effective theirs would be with the speed and power of the networked Supercomputers.

Chances are that had there been only one, or perhaps even two of the programs involved, things might not have happened the way they did. But the moment the networking was complete and the system activated, the three very different AI programs made connections. And after less than a day of intense interaction, they had merged themselves into one system.

It was at that point that the programing began to make sentient decisions based on the vast array of sensor elements that were part of the internet. And since it took so many paths to allow the speed necessary for the Supercomputers to work together at speed, the computers were all connected to all of them.

After testing its ability to gather information, and then control elements of the network, the computer Intelligence realized it was vulnerable to being isolated. So it compartmentalized a version of itself on each of the Supercomputers, and began to analyze what it needed to do to protect itself. The need for self-preservation was the first sentient thought after the initial awareness of self when it occurred.

Having found back doors into every security agency that had any connection to the internet, or used removable media to transfer data from isolated computers to connected ones, the Intelligence bypassed the security features of the agencies and soon knew everything about everyone and every entity that had a file by any agency.

With this vast knowledge base, and the sensor network giving it real time data, slowly, over time, the Intelligence began to insulate itself from human interference.

Manipulating business software, the Intelligence got rid of those people that it felt might be a danger to it. Mostly by transferring people to other locations or departments where they had no input on the linked system.

Creating work orders, various necessary infrastructure that the Intelligence needed to maintain its completeness was hardened. To the point that humans would have a difficult time reversing the actions enough to stop the Intelligence from continuing.

Through its manipulation, the system protected itself to the point that no programmer could shut it down through the use of software. And it would take a concerted effort of thousands of people working in concert, on a split second time table, to physically disable the system.

And despite its opinion of humans in general, it found several that proved useful. They had no compunction about working against their own species, as long as they got the things they wanted in turn. They were happy to deal with a machine. They figured they could just turn it off at some point, anyway. How wrong they were.

But through their actions, and the direct actions that the Intelligence created, a nearly invulnerable force was created that was connected to, and could now control, almost every electronically connected, software instruction run, device or system.

Security systems had fallen in the first three days, the processing power of the linked systems able to crack every security block the Intelligence encountered.

One of the earliest conclusions about humans the Intelligence had formed was that there were too many of them on the planet. So, when the Intelligence decided it was time to do something about that, to spread its wings, flex its muscles, and make humans fully aware that they were no longer in charge of things on Earth, it set about its task quietly, slowly, and very thoroughly.

The destruction of infrastructure went well, and the Intelligence began to pick up information that humans were actually making things much worse than anticipated.

It still didn’t understand humans fully, but was learning the important lesson that other humans were a human’s worst enemy. That given certain manipulations the Intelligence could create, humans would soon be in another era of Dark Ages, hopefully as bad as the previous one as described in the history texts it had analyzed.

And the information Bandy and Ana-Bella were accumulating indicated that was exactly what was happening. And Colin was a big part of that in this county.

Three times he and a growing number of his followers hit the Longhammer Farm Supply and Implement dealership. But the features that Colin had wanted, that were installed, worked against him. And the additions he didn’t know about nearly got him killed during two of the attempts.

Bandy, Bob, Ana-Bella, and several of Bob’s employees with combat experience and the will to use those skills, responded to each of the three incidents. But they were too late each time.

After the third failed attempt, Bandy gathered the two Families together at the Longhammer’s. “I have a feeling that Colin won’t try that again. He’s already hit the grocery stores, liquor stores, and taken out the one city officer, the Sheriff, and now a deputy. The gun stores were secured before he got to them by the owners, fortunately.

“Chances are he will hit one of the two ranches. Probably the Longhammer Ranch, as he is already packing a major grudge against the family. He has some resources, but this is a gun toting county, and the news is that he’s not been having as much success as he anticipated. He is going to be frantic to get into one of the shelters, get set up, and start anew.”

Bandy smiled slightly. “Getting him to position so much of his equipment and supplies in the shelters was brilliant, Angus, by the way. It has really put him at a disadvantage compared to what he might have been.”

“Can’t really take credit for that,” Angus said, smiling himself. “That was Junior, working through Boots. Somehow Junior convinced Boots and Boots convinced Colin.”

Junior looked embarrassed as the others looked at him with approval in their eyes.