The vehicle was running along the fence line and spotlighting it as they drove along. The closer they got the more Haliday could make out. It was another side by side four wheeler of some sort with two people in it. One was driving and one was spotlighting the perimeter and both were wearing the same Russian camo and they were armed. They continued on with their check. “Blake, it’s 2200hrs; write that check down.”
Haliday waited and listened. As soon as the four wheeler stopped by the admin building, the occupants went inside. They weren’t calling in these checks so they must be telling them when they go inside that everything is ok. He was wondering what they would do if they came across a problem. Probably best not to find out.
He scanned the other buildings as well. “Blake, building four has activity, but I can’t tell what. I can only see the back of it. Looks like they are taking parts into it, but I’m not sure what kind. They might be trying to get a plane working. The other two buildings look big enough for their motor pool. I doubt they need a third. We’ll have to keep checking on this one.”
2300 hours rolled around and the four wheeler made another circuit around the fence line only this time they went the opposite direction. Midnight would reveal their pattern. Hopefully it’s not every hour on the hour and just alternating direction. Security 101, do not create a pattern. Change it up every time. Same with the time, you do not do it on the hour, half hour, etc; you had to make it seem random. Someone must have OCD or something.
Haliday waited and then scoped the area once again. He saw the hangar door of the third building open. “Yep, definitely part of their motor pool. They have a couple deuce and a halves in there.”
“Deuce what?” Blake asked.
“Big trucks. Blake, think of Good Morning Vietnam when they were all sitting around in the trucks waiting to move out.”
“I didn’t see that movie, but I understand now.”
“They have something else in the back, but I can’t quite see it.”
He saw a few guys leave building four and turn the lights off. “How did I miss that?” Haliday said. He looked around and found it. “Ok, got it, Building six looks like it’s a power house or generator building. I can see the exhaust. They must have power to the whole complex, but selective on what they are running. I wonder how much fuel they have. No telling though. It looks like an underground fuel tank.”
He eyeballed the rest of the buildings over the next hour. Nothing he could really see going on. Midnight came along and the security check was just like the first. “Unbelievable,” he said, “they are too routine for their own good. They have half of it right, but then make some dumb mistakes. They make it too easy for someone to plan something.”
He heard a loud truck in the area. He watched the entrance closely and saw an old army surplus fuel truck pull in. Two guys were at the main gate checking vehicles that were entering and exiting. He watched the fuel truck as it pulled up near the generator building. “Looks like they are siphoning fuel from the gas stations and then filling these tanks.”
After the truck emptied its load it went and parked near the motor pool. Shortly afterwards the whole complex went almost dark. They had either turned the generator off or killed most of the power to everything except what was critical. Maybe just the admin building was still powered up.
“You need to stretch or anything Blake?”
“No, I’m ok for a bit.”
“Ok, rotate your ankles, stiffen your legs then bend your knees, rock from side to side to keep your blood flowing and legs warm. Do not let them fall asleep. If you have to get up and run you’ll be in a world of hurt. If you need to go to the bathroom, then get up and go, don’t get plugged up again or risk an infection from not wizzing.”
Other than the security patrols of the compound nothing else really happened all night. He did notice a lot of checks around building seven though. He didn’t pick up on this earlier. Maybe it was due to the activity during the day and none at night. Might be that he simply noticed the flashlight more in the dark.
Right around 0530 the activity started to pick up. There were people coming out of what he called buildings 8 and 9. These looked like they may be the housing for the complex. Probably had sleeping quarters set up in there. Easier to keep everyone warm that way without heating too many buildings.
He waited until the 0600 patrol made its round and then called Mike as he continued to watch. “Hey Mike, put Bill on for me will you please.”
“Ok, here he is.”
“Roger it’s Bill, how can I help you?”
“What can you tell me about the Bad Axe airport?”
“The memorial airport?”
“Whatever they call it. What do you know?”
“It’s very small, mostly all private planes, smaller stuff, and a couple helicopters I think.”
“What about the buildings. What about the main building?”
“Oh, it’s their offices. Actually when you go in there it’s pretty nice, they have a small little snack bar, you can rent out a large conference room too. Nice big lobby, that’s all I know.”
“Ok, that helps, thanks.”
“What’s going on there?”
“It’s the militia HQ now.”
“My buddy is a pilot, the one who wanted to recruit me. So are a couple of his friends.”
“Is he a big guy, black hair, mustache, attitude?”
“No, my buddy is a smaller gray haired guy.” Haliday was trying to figure out who the leader of this group was.
During the conversation he noticed that the patrols had changed shifts. The day shift headed out and within 10 minutes the night crew came in. After putting their vehicles away, they went into the HQ. People continued to filter out of 8 and 9 and head to the HQ. Haliday figured they used the snack bar to cook and the conference room to eat and hold meetings.
“You ready to go Blake?”
“I sure am.”
They were about to get up when Blake said, “Look Roger.” Roger looked and saw three people heading toward building seven pushing a cart. Two were heavily armed. They opened a couple locks on the door and pushed the cart inside and took what looked to be a partially empty one out. It was chow time for their captives. This is where they were holding them; whoever they may be that is. No telling how many of them there were either. Enough to need a cart for their food.
This small group went back to the HQ. “Ok Blake, we need rest, let’s go get some.” They packed up, messed up their area to hide their presence of being there and went back to where the bikes were. A quick meal and radio call, then some rest. They’d make sure they got some decent sleep over the next eight hours. Haliday was analyzing the info he just acquired as he laid there.
“You sleeping yet Roger?”
“No, what’s up?”
“Why are you so worried about these people and what they are doing?”
“You mean the militia?”
“Ya, them.”
“Well Blake, here’s the way I see it. Here in this country we have our constitution. Now it’s been crapped on time and time again the past few years, more so than any other time period. Slowly but surely, its meaning is being eroded and the Supreme Court is trying to rewrite it from the bench.
“The country is in a position now where we need to make sure we live up to the meaning of the document in its purest form. We are practically back to that period in time when it was written. Oh, we have modern housing, some conveniences and such to an extent, but the next few years will be very different than they were a week ago, but very similar to a couple hundred years ago.