“Why is that?”
“Let’s get going back to camp. I’ve seen enough and I’ll explain it on the way.”
“Ok, Blake, let me explain a few things about tracked vehicles. They can’t really operate continually on paved roads. It tears up the track pads on the tracks and sooner or later they fall off. They start to fall off and expose the tracks, making them more prone to damage. There’s a reason they get trucked everywhere, so unless they get a truck and trailer going, I don’t think they’ll be running around the area with that thing.”
“What about cutting through all of the farms?”
“They could do that, sure. But it’s a large area with a lot of varied terrain. Eventually their luck is going to run out and they’ll throw a track or something else. I just don’t think they have the parts to really utilize it the way they hope to, or to make repairs in the field if something goes wrong. Maybe they hope to use it to defend their compound and that’s it. That’s what I would do.
“It has two firing ports on each side for rifles and whatever they wanted to use that upper turret for. Actually it’s not a turret, but really just a half armored turret. The gunner would still be exposed from the sides and the back. I doubt they have any light or heavy machine guns to mount. That would have cost them nearly as much as that track. At least I hope they don’t.
“Either way, whatever they plan to use it for, if we take it out it’s a done deal. I’d rather worry more about them getting those planes in the air. Yet another thing to worry about. They can spot us easily if they can do that. We’d be restricted to moving at night, and at night only, and that still wouldn’t guarantee anything. Air power is supreme. I’d settle for a paraglider about now.”
“You’re full of all kinds of good news, huh?”
“No, it’s just better that we understand what we are up against. With education we can make educated decisions. Now let’s be quiet because we have to cross through the residential area here.” He heard some chatter on the radio and stopped to listen.
“HQ this is Papa 2. We went by the Grindstone marina like they said. We found the boat and checked it out. It was exactly where they said it would be. We boarded it and searched it. We found food and weapons on board. Just a pistol and an AK47 with about 1,000 rounds total. The food looks like it’s about a couple of month’s worth. The boat does start and run, so we locked it down and seized it. The cradle it’s in can be lowered manually to put it in the water.”
“Did you confiscate the food and equipment?”
“Roger that, we loaded up everything worthwhile and will be bringing it back to HQ. They had some charts too, looks like they were heading somewhere offshore, maybe a cabin on one of the islands. We can check that out tomorrow when it’s daylight. See what they have out there.”
“Good job guys, not sure if they are with the hostiles or not. We’ll keep pushing them for info, but at least we have a new toy.”
Haliday was fuming now. “You see, Blake, I told you. I told you. I told you. These people were trying to get to their boat and get to their own camp and now these dick heads have beaten them, seized their food and firearms, and plan to do who knows what with them now. They are going to go to their cabin and take what’s left? I don’t think so.” What started as a reconnaissance mission and bug out ended up being much more for Haliday.
As soon as they got back, they called in to talk to the group.
“Everything is ok here. We had a patrol come by but they didn’t pull in. You still want us to shoot on sight?”
“I do, but only if you are certain they did not call in a location for the stop. If they didn’t, hide the vehicle, bury or burn the bodies, just get rid of them. We have a field operation to conduct in the morning so we won’t be coming in yet. I’ll call you guys later.”
The sporadic radio calls were wearing on the group. They almost couldn’t handle the suspense. But, they did what they were told. David and Kevin were at the ready to respond if they needed to. Kayla wanted to be involved, but she knew more about the house than anyone else and would need to stay behind. Hopefully they would not have to respond. They hated listening in though, and never knowing what to expect.
Chapter 20
They went as far as they dared, and pulled over, and would wait until 0530. They filled the bikes’ tanks. They would need to get some more gas soon. They had about 100 miles of operating distance left now. They had about 15 miles to make it to the marina. 0530 rolled around and they took off.
They turned in at the marina. Haliday looked around. It wasn’t a very big place, but he had to move quickly. He searched up and down near the boat hoists. There it was. A small cruiser, maybe 30 feet in length. Older, but looked like it was well cared for. The winterizing plastic had been ripped open. They left the ladder near by it too. This was the boat.
He looked around and found a place to hide the bikes. He prepped Blake as well as he could. He gave him a couple Snickers bars. “Eat them fast, you’ll need the sugar rush. If you can’t hang, just drop your weapon and hit the ground and lay there. Use the radio and tell the group what happened and what’s going on. Make sure you flip to the right freq. first. Just push that button right there.”
“I’ll be here Mr. Haliday, don’t worry.” Haliday had his doubts. Kid just learned to shoot a few days ago and hadn’t pulled the trigger yet. Not even to practice. He just hoped the kid didn’t get himself killed. They found some hiding spots and Haliday briefed him on fields of fire.
“You start firing as soon as you hear the first shot or if they are pointing a gun at me and ready to shoot. You make sure they are dead, you hear me. If they go down you put a bullet in their head. You hesitate you die.
“One more thing Blake, see how I’m dressed?”
“Yes.”
“Remember that when you pull the trigger. They have the commie camo on.” Haliday heard the noise, the militia had brought one of the deuce and a halves. He bolted for his cover as quick as he could. The good thing about a deuce was you heard it long time before you saw it. His adrenaline was coursing through his veins.
The deuce pulled in and paused. The driver looking at a piece of paper that must be a hand drawn map. He put the deuce in gear and pulled up close to the hoist. Two guys from the back jumped out and stood there as the deuce worked its way back and forth so they were backed in as close as they could get. It would make it easier to unload the boat when they got back. They had either taken the top off or didn’t have one. Didn’t matter but it allowed Haliday to count the number of militia.
The driver and passenger got out. They walked around to the back as well. They had pistols strapped on but no rifles. The guys from the back had the standard AR’s this group has been carrying. One handheld ham, one ham mounted on the truck. Haliday knew who his first target would be if it came down to that.
The group walked over to the boat and opened a lock and chain around a wheel gear and started cranking it to lower the boat into the water. It was in the water now and they started to take the plastic winterizing completely off. Haliday raised himself up slowly, aimed and called out “Halt or I shoot”. The two riflemen spun in his direction and started to raise their rifles. The driver reached down for his ham. Haliday fired once and the bullet shredded the guy’s hand and the radio.
Haliday spun toward one of the riflemen and fired a quick burst into his chest before he dove back for cover. He heard a splash in the water. Blake hadn’t fired yet. Damn it, he froze, Haliday thought. Haliday heard the radio guy screaming in pain. He heard some pistol shots and heard rounds hitting around him. He was behind a metal dock box filled with rubber bumpers and ropes and saw holes appearing through the metal. He hit the ground as low as he could get.