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On the morning after their meeting, Sean, Brody, Uncle Lawrence, and Uncle Nathan made another sweep of the property to look for the best LP/OP position and locations for sniper holes should they need to evacuate and be forced to take the compound back. They spent a few hours marking multiple locations before returning to the homestead. They had missed the breakfast meal and Sean’s mother and younger sister were gracious enough to scramble something up for them. They were joined at the table by Sean’s father, brother and two other uncles; the conversation flowed for a couple of hours. Eventually, Sean’s father mentioned it was already well after noon and they should be on their way if they were to travel to the other homestead to give Randy the news and still be back with the tractor before dark.
Sean, Brody, Joshua, and Nathan started gearing up for their trip into town to pick up the tractor. With the vote to use the tractor to till the large garden, there was no reason to delay. Maria carried their four-month-old son over to Sean as he was loading the Bronco with his three-day assault pack. As usual, he took care to make sure it was positioned in such a way to prevent it from jostling around and bumping the scope on his Tikka rifle, which was in a scabbard on the side of the pack.
Maria stood by silently until he was finished adjusting everything and then softly handed him their son. They didn’t speak as Sean held James tight to his chest for a moment and then gazed deeply into his son’s dark brown eyes while rocking him gently from side to side. Sean just couldn’t believe how immensely he could love something that was so tiny. There was so much innocence in his son’s face as he cooed quietly. Sean watched in amazement as James’s little fingers reached up and started tugging on the American flag patch on the front of his plate carrier, producing a smile from Maria. “He loves his country, just like his papa.”
“He’s getting stronger,” Sean mentioned as James’ tiny hand grabbed on to his thumb tightly.
“He sure is,” Maria agreed. “He almost rolled over yesterday while you were gone. Your mom was so funny. She was cheering him on and cheering him on while James was rocking back and forth and giggling. I wish we still had cameras. You would have loved to see it,” Sean smiled at the thought of that and wished he could have been there.
Brody, Joshua and Nathan walked up laden with their gear, so Sean and Maria stepped around to the side of the Bronco for some privacy and to get out of their way. Maria came closer and whispered in his ear. “I want more....” She backed away with a sexy grin and stood there with her arms crossed.
“Already?” Sean whispered back, stunned.
“Well, obviously we have to wait a little while for my body to recuperate,” she said in her typical ‘you should know that’ tone.
“I’m just remembering the way you were cussing and screaming during the delivery.... In fact, I specifically remember you yelling ‘never again!’ on more than one occasion,” Sean said with a chuckle.
“Ugh,” Maria said, remembering back to the birth of their son. “If I could just get pregnant and not give birth, it would be perfect.”
“I don’t think it works that way,” Sean said, teasing her.
“I know, but I just love every second with him,” she said, moving closer to wipe some drool off his chin. “I want more,” Maria demanded.
Sean just smiled back at her, not sure what to say. The first thing he thought of was the three miscarriages before James and worried that the next pregnancy could be hard. Maria had a fairly normal pregnancy and birth, but Sean also knew the risks involved when giving birth outside of a hospital. In fact, he had never considered the next step and was just enjoying every day watching his son grow. He knew that he should say something back to his wife who just stood there waiting for a response, but he couldn’t find the right words. He definitely didn’t want to say the wrong thing. He was saved as Joshua slammed the trunk of the Bronco and came around the side of the truck. “We’re all ready to go.”
Sean kissed James lightly on the forehead and handed him back to Maria, whose raised eyebrows told him that she was still expecting an answer. “Let’s talk about it more when I get back.”
“What’s there to talk about? I’ve already made the decision,” she said with a stubborn smile. Sean smiled back at her and leaned in for a kiss. “Be safe and hurry home. I love you,” she whispered.
“You know I will. I love you too.” Sean felt something wet on his forearm and looked down to see it glistening in the sun. “It looks like our son has left me a present,” Sean smiled as he wiped his arm off on his pants.
“Great,” Maria responded sarcastically. As she turned to walk away, she complained over her shoulder, “He takes after his father: all he does is eat, poop and pee.” Uncle Nathan laughed at Sean’s expense as Maria walked back into the house. They climbed into the Bronco and Sean slid his seat forward to give his taller brother more leg room behind him. They were extra alert as they travelled the winding road into town, especially after watching the soldiers clear the road of debris from an apparent ambush the day before. The whole situation was really odd; they discussed it again as they passed the ambush spot. There weren’t even any houses or cabins along the old country road. It was such a strange spot for an ambush. And who in their right mind would ambush an armored convoy of soldiers? Even so, it was an uneventful ride and before long they were approaching the roadblock at the entrance of town.
“Crap!” Brody exclaimed, as he was the first to notice the convoy of military vehicles lined up at the roadblock. Brody slowly brought the Bronco to a halt as the rear Humvee’s gunner turned the fifty-caliber machine gun in their direction.
“What now?” Joshua asked, concerned. “Should we approach on foot?”
“I don’t think so,” Brody answered. “I’m not leaving my rifle in the truck and I’m sure as hell not approaching that fifty with it in my hands. The longer we sit here though, the worse it looks. If we turn around now, they might give chase. I say we roll up, nice and slow and hope that young man doesn’t have an itchy trigger finger.”
“Hold on a second,” Joshua said as he turned around in his seat and started rummaging through his pack behind his seat.
After a couple moments, Brody urged him on. “Hurry up with whatever you’re doing, Joshua.” A few seconds later Joshua turned around with a pair of his white underwear in his hands.
“Really?” Uncle Nathan said incredulously.
“Well, my t-shirt was brown. It’s the only white thing I could find,” Joshua defended himself.
“Good thinking, Joshua,” Brody said as he reached back for them. “These are clean, right?” Nervous chuckles bounced around the cab. Sean turned to Brody, “Remind me to put some white cloth in the glove box when we get home....”
Brody cautiously inched the Bronco forward at a slow pace, waving Joshua’s underwear out the window. As they got within ten yards of the convoy, three soldiers stepped out from their cover in front of the MRAP and walked forward with their rifles leveled at the Bronco. Sean instinctively raised his hands in the air. They approached the passenger door but kept their distance to be out of the line of fire of the fifty.
“We want to see everyone’s hands out the windows right now!” Sean and the others quickly complied. “State your business!” one of the soldiers yelled out.
Sean leaned his head awkwardly out of the window, “Let the men at the roadblock know that Sean and Brody are here to see the mayor.”
“Alright. Turn your engine off and all four of you keep your hands where we can see them!” the same soldier responded.
“Fair enough,” Sean responded as Brody cut the engine and placed his hands on the steering wheel.
One of the other soldiers took off at a jog and returned a minute later, whispering into the sergeant’s ear. Sean watched him nodding his head in response to whatever he was hearing without taking his eyes off the Bronco. “Okay, you’re free to proceed. Take it slow and don’t get too close to our trucks, understood?”
“You got it,” Sean answered with a sigh of relief. Brody handed Joshua his underwear back and they slowly inched their way past the convoy, being sure they were all the way off the edge of the road and not getting too close to the military vehicles. It was a little nerve-racking to pass the larger trucks with the fifty-cal machine gun turrets and the soldiers manning them watching them carefully. At this distance, they wouldn’t stand a chance if they were fired on. Numerous soldiers watched them pass by with a mixture of suspicion and curiosity.
They finally reached Tionesta’s roadblock and Sean and Brody exited the Bronco. One of the town’s deputies stepped from behind the roadblock, recognizing them. “Gentlemen,” he greeted them with a nod of his head.
“How’s it going?” Sean said, shaking his hand. “We need to speak with the mayor if we could. Is he with the council?”
“Actually, no,” the deputy pointed off to his right. “He just stepped inside the woods there with the colonel. The soldiers are in a rush to get back to the base, or something, so the mayor is meeting with him up here.”
“We wouldn’t mind having a word or two with the colonel also,” Brody added. “Do you know what’s going on?”
“Your guess is as good as mine,” the deputy shrugged as if he didn’t really want to know.
“Well, let’s go say hello,” Sean said to Brody. They started walking towards the tree line only to be intercepted by two other soldiers from the lead MRAP who had stepped in between them and the woods.
“We’re here to see the mayor,” Sean offered, but the soldier just shook his head.
“Sorry, gentlemen, but the mayor is in a private meeting with Colonel Harris. You’ll have to wait here, I’m afraid.”
“We actually need to speak with the colonel as well. Would you mind telling them that Sean and Brody are here?” Brody added.
The soldier frowned before nodding and turned back into the woods. He re-emerged a few minutes later. “Well, I guess they want to speak with you too,” he seemed surprised. “You’ll find them about twenty yards straight that way,” he said, motioning into the woods with his hand.
“Thank you...Sergeant Timms,” Brody offered, after reading his name tape. The man nodded before making his way back to their vehicle.
Sean and Brody pushed their way through the dense underbrush and thorns along the side of the road and into the woods. They found the mayor speaking softly with Colonel Harris and Captain Whalen as they approached. Pastor Dan walked forward to meet them and shook their hands. “I haven’t told him anything about you guys, except that you live on a farm down the road,” he whispered discretely. Pastor Dan escorted them over to the colonel and introduced them.
“You two were at the council meeting a couple days ago, weren’t you?” the colonel asked with a smile as Brody and Sean nodded their heads. He turned back to Pastor Dan, “I thought you introduced them as part of your security team before. But you just told me that they live on a farm outside of town.”
Sean jumped in, not wanting to put Pastor Dan in an awkward position where he might feel compelled to lie for them. “Just to clarify, I believe he introduced us as security advisors, not part of his actual security team,” Sean said it with a reassuring smile, not wanting to sound combative.
“So, what do a couple of farmers know about security?” the colonel asked bluntly.
“While we may live on a local farm, we aren’t really farmers per say. You could refer to us as glorified tactical gardeners,” Sean said with a chuckle.
The colonel grinned but continued his questioning. “Ex-military?” he asked, looking Brody up and down.
Brody nodded back, “Yes, Colonel...75th Ranger Regiment.”
“Really?” the colonel seemed surprised. “And you?” he turned his attention to Sean.
“I was an Air Force SERE Instructor...years ago,” Sean replied.
“A Ranger and a SERE Instructor! My Lord, Mayor, you do pick your security advisors well,” he said to Pastor Dan with a smile. He turned back to Brody and Sean, “So Sergeant Timms tells me you wish to speak with me.”
“Yes, sir, we do,” Sean began. “After you left the other day, we were discussing the ham radio equipment with the mayor. We were considering the advantages of installing the equipment at our farm instead of in town. We don’t think the tower would be tall enough to transmit all the way back to Warren from Tionesta since it is located down in the valley next to the river. Our farm is located on top of a hill and would probably be a better location to provide transmitting coverage and to act as a relay.”
“I see,” the colonel said thoughtfully. “Where exactly is this farm of yours?”
“Off in that direction,” Brody answered noncommittally, pointing in the general direction of the homestead.
“Uh huh...,” Colonel Harris responded skeptically, catching the drift that the two men were trying keep their location private. “Well, as I was just informing the mayor, I am willing to leave a small contingency of my men in town here in case this group of looters returns. In order for me to do that, though, I need to be able to reach them by radio: and vise-versa. I’m sure you can understand that?” Sean and Brody both nodded their heads in understanding. “You also have to understand that there may be times I need to speak with my men privately. That will be hard to accomplish if you are acting as a relay. I would also run the risk of orders or instructions getting lost in translation. But let’s take a step back for a moment. The mayor here was just telling me that the only person who had knowledge on how to set up and operate a radio tower was killed during the ambush the other day. How do you plan on getting this radio tower operational?”
Sean thought about that question for a moment. “We haven’t crossed that bridge yet, to be honest. Our plan was to disassemble the tower and reassemble it the same way it came down. We will have to read the instruction manual for the radio to get it working, I suppose.”
Colonel Harris let out a sarcastic chuckle. “Son, there are a lot of variables involved with getting a ham radio base station set up properly, variables that even I don’t understand. I’m sure you can perform open heart surgery on your friend by reading from a medical journal, but some things are better left to the experts. If this thing is going to work, you are going to need my help and you know it.”
“Very well, I agree that we will probably need your help, Colonel,” Sean acquiesced.
Colonel Harris smiled and nodded his head, but not in a smug way. “I think I may have a solution that will work for everyone involved. The mayor has told me that the tower you are considering is located miles outside of town in an area that you have yet to scout. I will provide an armed escort as well as a boom truck to aid you in disassembling and reassembling the tower. I can also provide men with the expertise to set up and train you on the radio’s operation. I will only ask one thing in return....”
Brody looked at Sean with a “here we go” look.
“I would need to insist that you allow one man to be stationed at your farm to act as a relay in case I need to communicate with my men in private.”
Sean and Brody exchanged looks. “I’m not so sure about that Colonel,” Brody protested respectfully. “We are a tight-knit family and bringing in someone from the outside could upset the balance pretty easily. These are hard times we are living in and people are on edge. And I’ll be perfectly blunt: some members of our family may perceive this as a chance for you to spy on us. Besides, we don’t have enough food to take on another person. As it is, we are going to have a hard time making it through ‘til next spring.”
“As far as food goes, whoever I send to live with you would bring his own supplies and would not be reliant on your personal food stores. So that is a non-issue. What if I told you that this person was a civilian and not one of my soldiers?”
“Then I would have to ask why you would entrust a civilian to transmit sensitive messages to your men over two ex-soldiers who took the same oath as you,” Brody challenged him.
“Because to be perfectly honest, I just don’t trust you yet,” Colonel Harris responded using the same tone Brody had. However, he followed it up with a grin to keep the conversation civil.
“You can trust them,” Pastor Dan chimed in softly, taking everyone by surprise. “I can personally vouch for their character. A while back, a neighboring man kidnapped some of our local girls and was keeping them in an underground bunker for his... personal pleasure. These men risked their own lives to rescue them even though they weren’t from our town. I could make the case that they single-handedly saved our town from itself....” Pastor Dan trailed off with a side look to Sean. He wasn’t sure if he was saying too much.
Colonel Harris raised his eyebrow at that and turned to stare at Brody and Sean. He sighed and rubbed his chin for a moment before turning to Captain Whalen, who just shrugged his shoulders. He looked at the mayor once more before continuing, “I have been receiving orders from Washington, DC, that I am having a hard time following. They want me to do some things that...I morally and ethically object to. I am playing a very dangerous cat-and-mouse game and the more people I give details to, the more chance I have of being discovered. I love this country and swore an oath to protect its citizens from all enemies foreign and domestic, but it’s also getting very complicated.” Colonel Harris sighed again and Sean could tell that he was very weary of whatever he was battling. “I need you to take this man in as one of your own. I need you to tell people that he is a member of your family, group, or whatever you are. Don’t take it personally, but the fewer details I give you the better.”
“However, you want us to take in this mystery man around our wives and children. I’m afraid we’re going to need some more details before we can make a serious decision like that..., Sir,” Sean said directly, yet respectfully.
Colonel Harris pondered how to phrase his answer before continuing. “Apparently, he is the equivalent of Rush Limbaugh in the post EMP ham radio world. He has been sharing information about the current state of the government through his nightly broadcasts. He is sharing some information that certain people in DC don’t want the American people to know about. He has contacts deep inside Washington who have been feeding him information via satellite phone. I have been given orders from a General outside my normal chain of command to kill him and anyone who backs him.”
“Wow,” Brody said uncomfortably.
“However, my conscience prevents me from following orders that involve assassinating un-convicted civilians and political opponents,” Colonel Harris said sarcastically. “I have made a decision to help hide him instead. I don’t know who I can trust in my own chain of command, so I’m going to need him to do some digging in Washington, DC, for me.”
“Wow,” Brody said again. “In reality, you are asking us to step into a hornet’s nest.”
“Not really,” Colonel Harris said defensively. “I’m asking you to help me save an innocent man’s life. There is no reason anyone would suspect he isn’t a member of your group unless you run your mouth.”
“I don’t know about this...,” Sean said kicking at a rock under his foot. “We are trying to keep a low profile here and stay under the radar, yet you are asking us to take in a political target of someone from Washington, DC...someone with the power and influence to give orders to a Regiment Commander.”
“I understand your apprehension, and if I thought there was any significant risk, I honestly wouldn’t ask you.” Colonel Harris answered softly. “On his final broadcast tomorrow night he is announcing that he is being targeted by the US Government and is fleeing the area to live with relatives in another state. Again, there is no reason for anyone to ever know who he is outside of those of us who stand here today. In return, I’m offering protection to your town and your farm.”
“So, just to clarify, if we take this man in, you give us your word that you will come to our aid should our farm be attacked by looters?” Brody asked.
“I give you my word. But it’s going to be hard for me to come to your rescue if I don’t know where your farm is. Trust goes both ways here, Brody. I just gave you information that would get me and numerous men under my command arrested and hanged if word got out. I’m going to need your word in return that you’ll keep this information to yourselves. I’m putting my neck out on the line. What do you say? You help me out, and I’ll come to your aid if the need arises.”
Sean and Brody looked at each other briefly. “We can’t give you an answer today,” Brody responded, producing a deep frown from the colonel.
“What he means is that we don’t have the authority to make that kind of a decision for our entire family,” Sean explained. “We will need to take the information you provided back with us and bring it to a vote.”
Colonel Harris sighed in exasperation. “I don’t think you guys understand the urgency in relocating this individual. He will be coming into town tomorrow night, and if I just place him in Tionesta’s general population, there is a lot more risk of him being discovered in the future. So, I’m going to need to have your answer by tomorrow morning, okay?”
“That won’t be a problem,” Brody reassured him. “And just so you know, regardless of which direction the vote goes, you can trust us to keep the details of our conversation here today private. We’re happy the Regiment Commander who just moved next door to our farm is a man of honor and integrity, willing to take personal risks to stand up for the oath he took to the American people.”
Colonel Harris didn’t respond to the compliment, but just nodded his head in thanks. “I’ll look forward to your answer tomorrow. In the meantime, if you could excuse the mayor and me, we have a bunch of things to discuss privately and I’m on a tight schedule to return to Warren.” He said the last with a smile, not wanting to offend the two men he was trying to enlist help from.
“No problem, Colonel,” Brody answered. He turned to Pastor Dan quickly before they left, “Dan, we also came by to ask if we could use Mr. Andrews’ tractor for a couple days. We are rushing to get a fall crop planted and could really use it.”
“Um, well, I would like to say yes, but we are running very low on fuel for the tractors. We’ve actually been reserving their use lately to just emergencies like picking up your family,” Pastor Dan said rather sheepishly, as he wished he could help them.
“What if we were to procure some fuel from a couple abandoned cars on the way and return it on a full tank?” Sean asked.
“Well, if you don’t mind foraging for some fuel, then you are free to use it for a couple days. It’s parked behind the north greenhouse. The keys are in my office in the top left drawer of my desk.”
“Great... thank you,” Sean said, relieved. “We’re actually going to visit our friends for a couple hours first,” Sean mentioned, secretly referring to the other homestead without alerting the colonel. “Maybe we’ll catch you on our way out of town.”
“That would be fine,” Pastor Dan smiled back without giving anything away.
Sean started to turn away, but Brody spoke up once more. “I know you’re in a hurry Colonel, but for security reasons, I do need to ask you a brief question.” He didn’t pause to wait for a response. “Yesterday, when we were headed back to our farm, we came across some of your men cleaning up what looked like an ambush. To be upfront, we didn’t approach them, and I watched them clear the road from a distance. Was your convoy attacked yesterday? We saw blood in the roadway.” The colonel didn’t answer right away, but Brody noticed him look over at Captain Whalen, so Brody continued. “Sir, you have to realize that we travel that road frequently, and we’ve never encountered another living soul. If there’s a threat nearby that location, we need to know about it.”
“There’s no threat there that I’m aware of. It was a fake ambush drill that I staged when we were leaving town. I periodically run drills and scenarios to keep my men alert and prepared. Not sure about any blood, though. Maybe one of the men who returned to clear the road was injured, I’m not sure.” He looked over at Captain Whalen for help, who was already nodding his head.
“Yes, sir. I didn’t mention it as the soldier wasn’t injured seriously. He cut his leg somehow while they were moving the log.... I don’t even know all the details, to be honest, Colonel,” Captain Whalen made up on the fly.
“That’s okay, Captain.” Colonel Harris turned back to the others. “There you have it. Just for future reference, if we ever do encounter an actual threat in the area, we’ll be sure to let everyone know right away.”
“Okay, that’s good to know. Thanks again, Colonel. We’ll give our answer to the mayor tomorrow morning.” They all shook hands before Brody and Sean turned to make their way back to the road. As they approached the edge of the woods, Sean could see Joshua leaning casually against the hood of the Bronco, laughing at something one of the town’s deputies was saying while Uncle Nathan stood next to him with his typical stoic smirk. The deputies didn’t seem too attentive and were obviously more relaxed, assuming that no one would attack the long column of military vehicles parked along the road. Sean and Brody came out of the dense woods and once more had to battle through the thick thorns and briars that had grown up along the road.
The men on the road were alerted to their presence when Brody tripped headlong into a rather large thorn bush, causing him to curse their existence. Sean laughed at his friend as he tried to pull him out of the entanglement only to be pulled down by Brody into the prickly mess. “That’s what you get for laughing,” he said with a grin at Sean’s sudden discomfort.
“You boys alright?” Sean’s uncle asked as a group of men walked to the edge of the road.
“No, we’re not. Call in the Army!” Sean joked as he struggled to free his clothing from the clutches of the briars. As if on cue, the two soldiers they had spoken to earlier appeared at the side of the road, watching them with smug smiles. Sean stopped his struggling for a moment and sighed, “This definitely isn’t the same spot we entered the woods.”
“Nope, it sure isn’t,” the one soldier agreed with a smirk.
They eventually freed themselves and in short order were heading down the road into town.
“How’d it go?” Nathan asked.
“It’s complicated,” Brody answered bluntly.