The Shelter: Book 1, The Beginning (39 page)

John responds, “We’ll let the grass grow longer, the spikes and barbs don’t have to be high, just enough to slow them down. I wish we had some bouncing Betty’s.”

“Huh?”

“Land mines, when triggered, they bounce up and explode.”

“I like that, can we make some on springs?”

“Too much work for the return, we can make regular mines and spikes much quicker. We’re going to need thousands, over ten thousand of them to cover the area from the road to our homes. I know where to find the rebar, we can cut and weld them into “X” shapes. I also want to look at cutting more trenches and vehicle traps just behind the barbwire.”

Tony asks, “John, all well and good, however, how much time do we have before we’re attacked again?”

John lowers his coffee cup, he looks at Tony and me, his voice lowers to almost a whisper, “Tony, that’s the real question. Isn't it? I don’t know. The reports we’ve picked up on our radios tell us a story I wouldn’t have believed six months ago. Hundreds of thousands of people are wandering around the country looking for help, hundreds of thousands are either fighting over scraps in the cities or they’re dying from starvation. Bodies are lying where they died.”

“Shit, I built the shelter as a last resort, hoping we’d never have to use it.”

“Jay, I think we’re going to need the shelter sooner versus than later. I think the only way we’re going to survive is the shelters. We were lucky last night. We’ve talked many times that if we’re hit by a large group, they’ll overrun us, it’s all a question of numbers. Even though we were lucky last night, one of us got hit, this proves no matter how well built our defenses are, there’s always a risk. A lucky shot can get any of us. If we assume the reports are correct, everyone with half a brain is leaving the cities, the government stopped sending military convoys into the cities with food and water. Those people have nothing to lose, they’re not going to be as easy to negotiate with as the first group. When we get hit, we’ll have to retreat to our shelter to live to fight another day.”

“John, how long do you think we have before a sizeable group hits us?”

“It could be at any time, which is why I want to expand our eyes ASAP.”

Tony smiles, he pats John on the back, “So why are you wasting daylight talking with us, get going. Set up new cameras. I hate surprises, especially surprises that want to kill me.”

“I’m going, I stopped here for coffee.”

“Excuses, excuses.”

Tony smiles at John, who nods his head at us. “I hope I’m wrong, but my gut says we’ve been lucky.”

Tony gets very serious, “How many people do you want to accompany you?”

“Four shooters in case we run into trouble, plus four to help install the cameras.”

“They’ll meet you at the warehouse in fifteen minutes.”

“Works for me. Gives me time to have another cup.”

Tony and I walk towards the infirmary to check on Fred. The doc meets us before we reach the ER, “Guys, he’s sleeping, please don’t wake him.”

We nod in agreement, “How’s he doing? I swear when he got hit, it felt like I did too.”

“Jay, we got the bullet out, he should be fine, the only potential issue is an infection, I’ve given him a strong dose of antibiotics to counter the possibility. If he doesn’t develop an infection, he can go home in two or three days.”

“Thanks, doc.”

Tony and I turn to leave when I get a brain flash, “Tony, if John hasn’t left yet, I think we need to see him.”

“Let’s hurry.” We catch John and his team as they are loading into two pickups, “John, before you go, can we see you?”

John laughs, saying, “First you tell me to go, and then you ask me to wait.”

“John, how much mace or pepper spray do we have?”

John stops mid-step, “Damn it, I think I see where you’re going. Why didn’t I think of it?”

“We can rig a remote sprayer of pepper spray. It may break up a large group. If we can get or make tear gas, we could mix the two together, the gas will surely break up large attacks without us killing them.”

“Tony, you brought a college chemistry teacher with you, didn’t you?”

“Yes, Jeff Stone. I’ll find him.”

Jeff was found in the small lab looking at fertilizer. “Jeff.”

“Tony?”

“Can you make tear gas?”

“Sure, it’s an easy formula, I was afraid you were going to ask for VX.”

“What’s VX?”

“Forget it, you don’t want it because I won’t make it.”

I nod responding, “It’s nerve gas, very deadly shit. The wind could blow it back at us, killing all of us.”

Tony frowns, “You guys win, just tear gas.”

“To repeat, yes, I can make it, anything else?”

“Explosives. You’ve got fertilizer, and diesel we need to make thousands of land mines.”

“Harder than large bombs, I’ll see what I can develop. I’ll need some supplies.”

“Give the list to Matt, he’s going to take a team into town.”

Twelve hours later Matt and his team return with most of John’s list. John’s team mounted Pan/Tilt/Zoom (PTZ) remote control cameras on existing telephone poles a mile from our gate. He wired them with small amplifiers to ensure the images were good quality and he could control them from the security shelter. At 7:00 PM, many people complained about a buzzing noise over the farms, people even shot into the air, trying to hit or scare away the buzzing. Todd laughed at the shooting, he landed the small RC drone in front of a group of our people who now realized what the noise was. The video of our neighbors scared by the buzzing was enough to make most of us laugh for the evening. Our spirits lifted thinking we had a handle on our security. We felt we’d be able to see anyone attacking the farms before they could close enough to harm us. We were wrong. Dead wrong.

Chapter 20

Captain Black taps Sergeant Gray on the shoulder whispering, “Sarge, we have to get out of here. The Russians have almost closed their circle with us in the middle, I don’t think they liked us taking out three platoons of their tanks. Our orders are not to get caught and leave nothing behind which they could use to prove we were here. Wake the men, we’ll try to slip out in this heavy rain, we won’t leave tracks in this weather.”

“Sir, where’s our pick up point?”

“Sarge, about ten klicks from here, a Pave Low helicopter will be waiting for our radio call.”

“I’ll get the men ready to move.”

The Russian Spetsnaz captain whispered to his team, “The Yankees are two klicks in front of us, I want them alive. Our orders are to bring back live prisoners who can prove the Americans attacked our troops. Putin wants to use the prisoners to force the Americans to pay for the damage they’ve done. Tell the men to wound, not kill. If they kill all of the Americans, I’ll kill them. Am I clear?”

“Yes, sir. Sir, the Americans are broke, they don’t have anything to pay us with. China is pressuring them into giving up their state of Hawaii.”

“Maybe our dear leader wants New York City.”

“That would be interesting.”

“We move out in thirty minutes.”

“Yes, sir.”

The American Special Forces team quietly breaks their cold camp, moving towards their pickup point in a driving rain. They move in single file with their fingers hovering over the triggers on their Russian-made AK74 assault rifles. They're wearing NVGs, which enable their transit through the dense woods which have heavy ground foliage. They move almost silently, unaware there is a Russian Spetsnaz team following them. Captain Black took point at the start of the march. His sixth sense kept telling him something was wrong so he drifted back to the rear kneeling in the mud listening. He felt in his bones something was wrong. He heard a branch snap, he tapped the last soldier in line, holding up his hand to tell his squad to pause. Each troop paused in mid-step. Captain Black motioned to his men to take up an ambush position. His men dropped to the wet ground, covering themselves with the ground material. They waited for the people who were following them to reach their position. The Russian Spetsnaz team was very good, they were almost silent following the Americans. They had intercepted the American communication figuring out where the probable pickup locations were. They were lucky in picking up the American’s trail, they decided to follow the Americans to their pick-up point, where they would capture the Americans and their helicopter.

The Russians walked in single file on the same trail the Americans used. Unknown to the Spetsnaz the Americans had lined the curve of the trail with Claymore mines. As the Spetsnaz entered the turn on the trail, the Claymores exploded, sending thousands of steel BBs into the Russian Spetsnaz team tearing most of them apart. The surviving Spetsnaz were taken under fire by the Americans firing silenced AK74s into the Russians. Sixty seconds after the firefight started, it was over. None of the Russians survived. Captain Black checked each Russian, he took their IDs and any paperwork they had. He told his men to take the firing pins out of Spetsnaz’s rifles so they couldn’t be used against them. The American team reached their pick up point without any other incident and boarded an Air Force rescue Pave Low helicopter that is equipped with special mufflers making it almost silent. Once onboard Captain Black is handed a radio transcript with his new orders, “Men, we’re going home. There’s been a lot of civil unrest, we’ve been tasked with a special mission, helping our people who are hungry, fighting warlords and gangs.”

The sergeant asked, “Warlords in America? Captain, you’re kidding me, right?”

“Wish I was, conditions back home are a mess. China is moving towards Hawaii, it looks like there’s going to be the largest naval battle in the Pacific since the Second World War. The seventh fleet is moving into position to block the Chinese from landing in Hawaii. Two or three carrier battle groups are going to take on the entire Chinese fleet. The Pacific is going to be the world’s largest live shooting gallery.”

“Captain, I hope they don’t go nuclear.”

“Sarge, I don’t think either side will let that genie out of the bottle.”

“Cap, I didn’t think they were serious about taking over Hawaii in exchange for their loans.”

“I didn’t either, however, most of their fleet is moving east toward Hawaii. The intel says they’re deadly serious. I didn’t think the President had the balls to put up a fight.”

“Captain, did the President order the Navy to respond or is the CNO issuing his own orders without the White House’s knowledge?”

“Sarge, I hadn’t considered that I’ll think about it on our flight home.”

“Cap, are we going to be flying home in a C17?”

“Sarge, we won the lottery, we’re going to Kiev where we’re going to board a commercial flight to London and another commercial flight all the way to Chicago. If it weren't for the military, there wouldn’t be enough flyers to keep any airlines flying. Most of the existing commercial planes have been reconfigured with all coach seats. They’re cramped, but they beat sling seats.”

“Captain, someone in high places likes you. I don’t think I’ve had the luck to fly half way around the world commercial. Anything beats getting beaten up in a C17 for twenty hours.”

“Got that one right.”

“Cap, I don’t know about our next mission, fighting other Americans isn’t something any of us signed up for. I have some serious negative thoughts about this. I’m not sure the men are going to like it either.”

“We’re not going to fight normal citizens, only the bad guys.”

“Captain, who says who’s the bad guys? The current administration thinks anyone on the right is a bad guy, hell, they think we’re the bad guys. I won’t fight my brothers and sisters.”