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Colonel Harris nodded back at Sergeant Timms, letting him know it was alright before following Mayor Reese into the tree line a short distance. The mayor located a fallen tree and sat down before continuing. "I'm being up front when I tell you that I don't know where they are. They showed up about a month ago with a lieutenant ordering us to turn over a member of our community who is well liked. When it was made clear that our entire town would fight to protect this individual, they were ordered to come and take the person by force. I guess the thought of killing their own countrymen to arrest or kill a purely political target was too much for them and they abandoned their mission. The lieutenant who was attached to them and ordering them to attack returned to D.C., and since then their platoon has been cleaning up the outlying areas and taking out any looters or raiders they come across. Lately, they've even been doing intel on that raiding group out of the McKean Federal Penitentiary that wiped out Warren, engaging them periodically with guerilla-style warfare and basically making themselves a thorn in their side. They show up unannounced from time to time and I provide them with food and supplies. That's it. That's everything," Reese shrugged.
"Do me a favor and describe this lieutenant, Mayor. Did you get his name?" Bruce asked.
"I only met him once when they first approached us, but I would guess he is in his mid-twenties—he had one of those ‘baby faces’ which kind of made it hard to tell his age. He had dark hair, brown eyes, maybe six-foot-two, and a medium build. He was an arrogant little prick." The mayor rubbed his chin for a second. "I can't remember his name, but I want to say it started with a G...something like that."
"Lieutenant Jenkins?" Bruce asked hopefully.
"Yeah, that was it," the mayor acknowledged. "You better watch your back with him because I'm pretty sure he isn't an Army lieutenant either," the mayor offered.
"What do you mean?" Bruce asked, intrigued.
"Well, after the platoon decided not to follow his orders, the lieutenant split. The Captain told me he was pretty confident that the lieutenant was actually CIA, NSA, or part of some other government entity. He was positive, though, that the man wasn't active duty military."
Bruce sat there taking in everything the mayor was saying. Things were starting to make sense, but there were still unanswered questions. The mayor continued, "So I've stuck my neck out there now. It's your turn to talk. What's your role in all of this?"
"My role is exactly what I've said. I command the 31st Regiment, 10th Mountain Division. We were sent here on a humanitarian mission, as well as to provide security for a team of engineers who are trying to get the electric grid up and running. It doesn't look like it is going to be possible anytime in the near future, short of an engineering miracle." Bruce felt bad lying to the man, but still knew that it was important to keep their progress on the grid a secret. "Lieutenant Jenkins was assigned to our group just before we left and his mission is to locate and wipe out the Ranger platoon. I have been ordered to help him in any way possible and provide material support to his part of our mission here. I never fully believed his briefing about the Rangers going rogue and attaching themselves to a local group of raiders, so I've been stalling him as much as possible the last two weeks. But that's about to end." Bruce took out the letter from his pocket that Lieutenant Jenkins had given him earlier and handed it to the mayor.
After reading through it, the mayor lifted his eyebrows and held Colonel Harris’s gaze staunchly. "So what's the next move here, Colonel?"
"Lieutenant Jenkins, or whoever he is, ordered me to make three squads available to him to come down here tomorrow morning and talk to you. He is trying to find intel on the Rangers’ whereabouts. I don't trust him, though, and I'm not interested in getting any of my men killed over a lie."
"How many men are in a squad? With the information you've provided, we could set up an ambush pretty easily," the mayor suggested.
"No, Mayor! That is not going to happen!” Colonel Harris barked. “These are my soldiers you're talking about. Lieutenant Jenkins is the problem here. They'd just be following his orders."
"What are you suggesting then? You have to understand we're going to defend ourselves," the mayor responded just as sternly.
"It's not going to come to that. I'm putting together a plan to have him arrested in a way that I can report to HQ that he's been killed on a mission."
"Hahaha!" the mayor threw his head back. "You still don't get it do you? I bet this Jenkins fellow doesn't give two craps about that missing Ranger unit, and I doubt the CIA does either. This isn't about them. All they care about is getting their original target. You arrest or kill Lieutenant Jenkins and they'll just send a replacement, then another, and then another. Eventually, they'll figure out that you're behind this and your name will go on the same list as the Rangers...probably right next to mine!" The mayor's voice rose louder as he finished.
Bruce slapped his hat on the side of his leg and shifted position. After a pause, Bruce asked quietly, "Who was the original target, Mayor?"
Reese leaned close and placed his finger aside his nose, smiling. "Freedom America," he whispered after looking over his shoulder for show, insinuating it was a secret.
"What the hell is 'Freedom America'?" Bruce demanded loudly, not interested in the mayor’s game and growing impatient.
The mayor leaned back on the log and smiled. "Freedom America is one of the last beacons of freedom in this country, Colonel. It's a ham radio broadcast that happens every evening at 8:00 p.m."
"Why the hell would the government care about what some guy says on the radio? Hell, they let Rush Limbaugh rule the airwaves for years," Bruce disagreed.
"That's because Rush Limbaugh didn't have contacts throughout D.C. sharing top-secret inside information with him on a weekly basis by Sat. phone. The White House and the politicians are scared because they are becoming irrelevant. Did you know that the government has a radio broadcast on every emergency channel telling every American to head to certain coastal cities and they will be fed, sheltered, and given medical treatment? They've set up these 'Green Zones' and they paint the picture like they're some kind of island resort towns. It's all a lie! There isn't any food there. The people in the Green Zones are starving just the same as everywhere else, worse actually, if some of the reports are true. The worst part of it is that we've encountered families that have actually survived the open road and come from places as far away as Iowa headed for the coastal cities. Locals have actually left working farms and gardens behind because they believed the government's broadcasts and thought their lives would be easier in one of the Green Zones. And once you are there, you can't leave. No guns or knives allowed. They're liars and people are dying because of it. The White House can't stand the fact that there are broadcasters capable of telling the truth and they'll stop at nothing to shut us up." As Colonel Harris listened to the mayor's voice rise and fall, he thought it sounded more like a performance than an explanation.
"Us?" Bruce questioned.
The mayor smiled. "Them. I just listen every night and consider myself a member of the club. Look me in the eye and tell me it's not true what I'm saying about the Green Zones?" the mayor challenged him, changing the subject.
"It's mostly true," Colonel Harris acknowledged. "But what do you expect from Washington, D.C.? They screwed up everything they tried to fix before the EMP. Do you sincerely think this would be any different? What would you do, Mayor Reese? If you think there's a better solution, I'd love to hear it."
"I'm not saying there is a solution. I wouldn't be lying to people, though, and herding them into ghettos to control them. They are a lot better off out here on their own than crammed into those disease factories."
"Maybe some are, like the type of people who live out here in the country and know how to survive. Most of the people in the Green Zones are city folk, half of whom have never seen a tree except for the ones growing out of concrete planters lining the city sidewalks. They have been raised by the government since birth. They don't know anything else. Should we let them starve?" Bruce asked rhetorically. "We are getting off topic. You have put me in a serious dilemma here. If ‘Freedom America’ goes on the radio discussing the things I've said here today, I'm finished. They will label me a traitor and hang me from the town square in Washington, D.C. At which point, they will send someone to replace me and I'm willing to bet it won't be someone sympathetic to your cause. I've stuck my neck out a mile and a half just to come here and speak with you. If we are going to work together to stop Lieutenant Jenkins, then I need to know that I can trust you to keep your mouth shut about me."
The mayor started nodding his head in understanding, but Bruce continued. "Plus, there is one more thing you need to know. To limit our casualties in a head-to-head skirmish with the Rangers, the Pentagon has authorized the use of an airstrike to take them out. And if what you are telling me is true, I'm guessing they would be willing to use the same resource to take out this ‘Freedom America’ person and maybe even your entire town if you decide to fight. Unless you have access to ground-to-air missiles that I'm unaware of, you're screwed. If I go away, your days are numbered and you know it. I've gotta know that you aren't going to discuss this with anyone."
Mayor Reese nodded. "I agree with you and you have my word that what we say here today will stay between you and me." He took a deep breath and continued, "You know that I have no way to defend our town against an air strike. It seems our destinies are intertwined."
"It seems so," Bruce agreed. He smiled wryly at the mayor. The man was obviously disconcerted after hearing about the possibility of an airstrike on his town. "On a positive note, the Combat Controllers who would be responsible for making that call fall under my command, so I have some control over what they do. Their primary mission is to set up two airfields so my regiment can get supplies flown in on a regular basis. There is a tiny airpark in Warren which we have already secured, but the larger cargo planes can't land there. I need to have access to the Bradford Regional Airport which, as you know, is just down the road from the penitentiary. I really need to speak with the leader of this Ranger outfit to get some intel on that area. Do you think you could facilitate a meeting?"
"I was telling you the truth earlier when I said that I don't know where they are staying. It's been two weeks since they have stopped by for supplies, so I assume that we'll be seeing them sooner than later, but I can't promise you anything," the mayor answered. "Besides, we have a more pressing issue. You said that Lieutenant Jenkins is bringing three squads of your men down here tomorrow morning. Neither of us wants this to develop into a bloodbath, so we need to come up with a game plan."
"I've already put into motion a plan to prevent him from reaching your town tomorrow. At this point, I just need to tweak it a little to make sure that Headquarters doesn't feel the need to send a replacement," Bruce assured the mayor.
"Okay, so what's the plan?" the mayor asked, needing something tangible.
"Well, to start out with, we need to get ‘Freedom America’ and the Rangers out of the area immediately.”
Mayor Reese stood and walked to a nearby tree, bracing himself with one hand on the trunk. He sighed deeply, running his other hand through his hair.
Even in the waning light, Bruce could tell that Reese was fighting an internal war. "It’s your radio broadcast, isn’t it?” Colonel Harris asked quietly, pausing just long enough to make sure his gut was right. “Is it worth your life to stay?" The mayor didn't respond, but turned to face him. Harris continued, "Okay, then...is it worth the life of every man, woman, and child in your town?" The mayor shook his head 'no' in response and looked away. "I suggest you use whatever resources are at your disposal to find that Ranger unit and relocate."
"To where?" the mayor asked, unsure.
"Someplace where we can stay in touch," Bruce insisted. "What about Tionesta? Mayor Thoms told me that a representative from the town visited a couple days before we showed up. Sounds like there might be a couple hundred people still living there. You'd have to keep a low profile...."
"I had a cousin who lived in Tionesta," the mayor said, pondering the idea while rubbing his chin. "He's a wily old bastard and hard as a coffin nail. If anyone in that town is alive, I'm sure he's probably still kicking. The only problem I see is that we've got to cross the entire Allegheny National Forest to get there. Half the rednecks in this state headed off to that forest with their bug-out-bags after the grid went down. They're all macho types thinking they'd live off the land like Rambo," the mayor mentioned with concern.
"Well, here is the one thing I can tell you about that. In my experience and from the reports I've heard, not one in a hundred of those people made it through the winter. Millions of people in this country had the same game plan and headed off for the big forests to ‘live off the land.’ They killed every living animal in the forest within the first month. By month two they were killing each other for food. Very few of the people who tried that philosophy had what it took to truly survive in the wild. They thought that because they went camping with their family every summer and killed a trophy buck every year they could survive an entire winter foraging for food. I can assure you that very few are still alive. Anyway, you'll be travelling with a platoon of the best soldiers this country has to offer. If there are any woodsmen left, they wouldn't be dumb enough to attack a fortified group like that."
"They aren't so fortified anymore," the mayor countered. "That's one area where I haven't been able to help them. I think they are getting really low on ammo...."
"You just make contact with them, Mayor. You tell them that I can get any supplies they need from small caliber ammo to armor piercing rockets. Whatever they need! Just get me a meeting with their commanding officer," Bruce urged.
"I'll take care of it," Mayor Reese reassured him. "You still haven't told me how you plan to get this blood hound Jenkins off our tail."
Bruce slowly let out a big smile, happy to discuss his plan to get rid of the ostentatious Lieutenant Jenkins. "Well, it goes like this...."