He moved slowly toward the peak of the roof. It was a metal roof and it was cold. He reached the peak and loaded his rifle. He quickly scanned the compound. “Where are you damn it.” Haliday couldn’t find him. He searched some more and up on the roof of the admin building he spotted a bunch of sand bags.
He looked over at the gate and saw them opening it. One of the deuces pulled out slowly. They had armored this thing up with plate steel on one side and on the cab area, but he couldn’t see any gun ports or anything. The deuce pulled up behind the four wheeler and nudged it a bit. The militia got alongside of the deuce, which started to back up slowly.
It was about halfway back to the airport now. Haliday watched. Damn good idea. Just roll up, use it as a shield and roll back home. He told Blake to hold fire. One of the guys ran out toward the four wheeler and jumped in. He started to drive it toward the feed store when he was hit by the militia fire. It just rolled over toward the feed store. The man had been hit just below the base of the neck between his shoulders.
“Fire, Blake, fire.” Everyone started firing toward the deuce. Haliday aimed at the center of the sandbags and fired a round. He fired again and still nothing. He fired two more shots and nothing. He looked through the scope. All he saw was the side of a shoe and a white Nike swoosh. He aimed at the swoosh and fired one last round. He scrambled down the roof and to the ladder.
He climbed down wondering whether or not he hit the guy. He didn’t know it, but the first four shots were wasted. The fifth shot was the only one that hit its mark. Whoever it was that was up there sniping them would only need to buy one shoe from now on. The whole lower half of his foot had exploded inside of his shoe. Haliday was surprised the guy didn’t have boots on. Seeing the swoosh was pure luck.
Haliday called Blake and everyone over. He told one guy to watch the main street and another to watch the back street. “How many Rob?”
Rob said, “Two dead and three wounded.”
“You get the guy?”
“I have no idea. Rob, you think you can get that four wheeler?”
“Are you crazy?” Rob asked.
“Rob, it’s out of the kill zone for that sniper now. The rest of us will lay down suppressing fire toward the deuce, the admin building and the rooftop where the sniper was. You guys need that thing. You really do.”
Rob looked at him questionably. “You sure it’ll be ok?”
“You want me to lie to you Rob?”
“Roger, please do.”
“It’ll be fine Rob. We got ya covered.
“Everyone make sure you’re loaded up. You three fire on the barricades by the admin building. Blake, you fire on the deuce. I’ll fire on the rooftop where the sniper is. Go on three. One, two, three.” Rob ran over and pushed the guy out of four wheeler while everyone laid down suppressing fire. He got it started and drove it back to the feed store. There was some return fire, but not much. It was only a short 40 foot drive to safety.
Rob was shaking like crazy. “I never did anything like that before. But like you said, it worked out ok.”
“Good thing too,” Haliday said, “I was starting to doubt myself.” Rob just looked at him. “I’m kidding, Rob. Calculated risks Rob, we take calculated risks. Now you guys have yourselves a four wheeler.”
He walked over to the machine and looked around. He opened the little glove box. “A gas card too. You get every gas can you guys have and you get them filled as soon as you can. Fill anything that will hold gas. Oh, from now on make sure you take firearms with you. Travel in pairs at a minimum.”
He opened up a case and there was an AR inside. He handed it to Rob, “Give this to someone who’s gonna use it.”
“What about me,” Rob asked.
“You have one at your house, remember?”
“Oh ya, the quad too.”
“Keep this; give the quad to someone else.” He looked down at a metal box mounted in the back.
He opened it up. It was loaded with 5.56 rounds. There had to be about 2,000 rounds there on stripper clips with some magazines and loaders. Haliday said, “It looks like a lot, but it’s not. Blake and I are going to reload our magazines and you can keep the rest. Again, there’s a several hundred back at your house, Rob.” Haliday and Blake reloaded their magazines.
Everyone was standing around now. They started to ask a bunch of questions. Haliday stopped them all. “You guys know a doctor around here?”
They all kind of looked at each other. One guy spoke up, “Ya, my neighbor, but I don’t speak to him, why?”
“You have three wounded that need attention. Get them loaded in this four wheeler and take them there. He won’t like it, but he’ll help, it’s in their genetic make up. Then hook back up with Rob.”
They got the injured guys loaded up and the four wheeler took off. Rob said, “What if the patrols get them?”
“They are all in the compound right now, Rob. I don’t think they are coming back out any time soon. Too many injured and dead to worry about, and we just handed them their asses. We took hits too, but we hit hard with those planes and that track.
“Is there a place we can go talk?”
One of the guys spoke up. “We can go to my tooling shop just down the street.”
“Ok, let’s go.” They left the burn barrel going and went down to the tooling shop. The barrel might lead the militia to believe they were still near the feed store. As they walked by the feed store, Haliday looked the place over. “We’ll grab our bikes and meet you there.”
The guy unlocked the door; Haliday posted someone near the door to keep an eye out. “Before we start, what’s in the bins and everything over there at the feed store?”
“Oh, it’s corn, wheat and soy. Same with the trucks in the lot.”
“Damn, that’s a lot of food. I’m surprised they didn’t take it.”
“Well, they tried, but no way to move it in bulk. They were trying to find a truck to tow the trailers.”
Haliday was surprised they hadn’t posted a guard there. “I thought it was a feed store,” he said.
Rob said, “No, it’s an elevator co-op, too.”
“Hold on before we continue.” Haliday called the group.
Kevin came on the radio. “We’re all fine. Uncle Roger, are you guys ok? We got worried. We heard them say they took out the leader and thought it was you. Dawn and Grandma are basket cases. Well, they were. Now that they heard your voice, they are ok, I guess.”
“Ya, we’re fine. I’m going to cover a few things with these people here. I have to get them organized so they can handle the militia themselves now. Give them some ideas and plans. We’ll be there soon.”
“Ya, you keep saying that.”
“Ok, ok, we’ll be there when we get there.”
Haliday gathered the guys around. “This shop have any welding tools?”
Andy the shop owner answered. “Ya, we have plenty of tanks and torches. It’ll be old school, but we can manage.”
“You have sheet metal at all?”
“Nothing more than ¼ inch.”
“What about the other shops in the area, there’s a bunch of them I noticed.”
“I’m sure we have quite a bit if we put it together,” the shop owner said.
Roger looked at him, “That’s good to know.
“Anyway, you guys have seen first hand how the militia here is operating right? So you all know first hand along with the rest that those people are not here for the good of the community. You need to spread the word.”
“How do we do that?” someone asked.
“Word of mouth, use markers and write on their bulletins, whatever you can think of,” Rob told him.
“Use the ham, search for others, pass the word about who they are and what they are about. Let them know you do not recognize their authority. Make sure they understand that. Make sure you tell them you are now in charge.” Rob looked concerned. “Not like your pal Jim did, I mean the community is in charge.”