The kicker was Brady’s hunting center. Brady had taken everything and locked it up tight. He had steel bars over his windows and no one was getting in there. His house was attached to the back of the store. He was willing to fork over anything he had which would be of use.
Bows, crossbows, a lot of bolt action rifles but he also had close to 12 semi-autos, AR and AK variants. Years ago he had bought a couple dozen SKS’s and still had almost twenty. They weren’t big sellers in the area. To round it off he had about a dozen shotguns and plenty of ammunition for everything. “Rob, you need to make him your best friend. Talk to you tomorrow.”
Haliday pulled his shift on watch that evening. It was 0200hrs and he stepped outside for a minute. It was colder outside tonight. He had his balaclava folded up into a watch cap configuration and pulled it down. He had told Diana that he’d be back in a few minutes. He walked over to the small outbuilding, which was really just an old hand-built shed maybe 10X12. He checked it out and the single door was secure.
He started to walk over by the pole barn and paused. He bent down to tie his shoe and mumbled aloud. “Damn shoe string, had to break on me now, huh?” He rose to his feet and walked back to the house and went inside. He told Diana they had a guest outside. Whoever it was had tried to hide behind the pole barn. He noticed their cloud of breath in the cold air. He used the shoe string excuse to go back in the house.
He went over to the laundry room and walked inside. Next to the window was a homemade periscope. He had found plans online, but he didn’t like them so he had made his own. He took a six inch PVC pipe and used it. He notched out the top and bottom and then played with mirror angles until he got them set at 45 degrees and glued them in place with gorilla glue. He used it to look out through the window. The person was by the pole barn.
He saw a single figure, small in stature. He wasn’t professional, nor was he very careful about his movements. He watched them try and peek in the pole barn windows, but he had to strain to reach them. He moved off toward the woods. Haliday went to another window and glanced out. Diana asked him if he wanted her to sound the alarm. “No, that’s ok. It’s just one person. The neighbor across the street. I just watched him go back over there.”
He walked over to the radio and flipped frequencies. There it was. He sat there and listened and this is what he had heard: “I couldn’t stay long. Someone came outside but he didn’t see me, I thoughthe would be coming back so I left. I’m sure it’s the people you are looking for. I think I saw some vehicles but I’m sure I saw the motorcycles too.” It was a woman’s voice.
“Ok.” said a man, “Can you try and confirm then let us know.”
“Ok, I’ll go back tonight.”
“Thank you,” the man said.
Haliday wanted to go across the street and slit her throat, but knew better. They needed a little more time to prepare. In the morning he’d go over there and pump her for information. He knew she was married, but couldn’t remember if she was happily married or not. Might have to play spouse against spouse. 0300hrs came and they woke their reliefs and briefed them. “Wake me at 0800hrs,” he said. “I want an early breakfast and a trip across the street.”
Chapter 26
After breakfast, Roger put on some jeans, and a polo shirt, and grabbed a regular winter jacket. He took Rich and Kayla with him across the street. Psyops—family was always a good bet in order to humanize a situation. Just the nice neighbors coming over to say hello. He still took his .40 and Kayla and Rich had 9mm’s. They walked up and knocked on the door. He did a quick survey of the property. He kept a hand in his pocket of his jacket with his finger on the trigger guard.
None of their vehicles that he saw seemed to be running. Firewood stacked up in the back, but that was normal out here. Pretty plain and nothing really stood out at all. The only thing was some tire tracks in the driveway that looked within a couple days old and the antenna on the chimney. They walked up on the porch and knocked.
A man came to the door. “Can I help you?”
“Hi, my name is Roger, this is my dad Rich and my daughter Kayla. We have the place across the street.”
“What is it I can help you with Roger?”
“We just wanted to introduce ourselves. We never really met; just waved across the fields once in a while. We’re here for a while and I wanted you to know it was just us.”
The man’s wife came to the door. She looked tired and was dressed, but looked like she slept in her clothes. “Who you talking to honey?” she asked.
“Oh, the folks from across the street,” he said.
She looked them up and down and just said one word. “Hi.”
“Hello ma’am, nice to meet you.” She just stood there. Roger repeated the introductions. There was an awkward pause and they were about to just say goodbye and leave.
“Where you guys from? How long you staying? Who else do you have up here?” It was three quick questions. Haliday knew it was her that had been out there last night.
He answered her questions, but fairly generically in nature. “The suburbs. A few weeks until things settle down in the city, I suppose. Couple others with us.” He answered the questions curtly.
“You have a lot of people over there,” she said.
“Well, my family is all. They want to be safe, too.”
“Ya, I guess family being safe is important,” she said.
Roger’s turn to ask some questions. “Is it just you two here? Don’t you have a daughter?”
“She’s at her boyfriend’s for a while,” she said.
Roger played coy, “Oh, ok, just remembered seeing her around before. Well, anyway, we’re going to get going, nice meeting you. We’re across the street and if you need anything let us know.”
“You too. We’re fine.” Her answers were just as quick and almost rude. She walked away.
The guy looked at Roger and shrugged his shoulders. He then opened the door some more and extended his hand. “I’m sorry, I’m Lance,” he shook everyone’s hands. “Take it easy,” he said,
“See ya around, Lance.”
They walked back to the house. “That was weird, Dad.”
“I agree with Kayla, Roger, that lady is a little bit off.”
“I would expect so.”
“Why is that?”
“When the husband opened the door to shake hands, there was a picture on the end table.”
“Of what, or of whom?”
“Her daughter and her daughter’s boyfriend.”
“So what’s that mean?”
“They were standing next to a quad, wearing Russian camo. I believe I met him the other night.”
As soon as they walked into the house he called another meeting. “The lady across the street is watching our every move. I don’t know what the husband is all about,. I don’t think he cares. I’m not sure he even knows what’s really going on. But she is definitely buying into the BS the militia offers because Blakey boy here tried to kill her daughter’s boyfriend the other night.”
Blake said, “huh?”
“Ya, the kid on the quad,” Roger said.
He sat down at the radio and called Rob. “Rob, has there been any movement from the militia?”
“No, none at all that we’ve seen. They haven’t left the airport at all.”
“Rob, can we meet?”
“Sure, when and where.”
“Your house, I’m on my way. Don’t panic I’m bringing friends.” Haliday called Blake, Randy and Dawn over, “get your gear together, firearms only. Dress warm too. Grab me a welfare bucket, meet me in the pole barn.” He left a list of chores for the rest of them.
They met him in the pole barn. He went over to his Jeep and started it up. This was a 1982 CJ7 with soft top. He had redone the tub on it and fixed the rust. Instead of going with a lift kit, he actually lowered it an inch. He added 200 pounds of skid plating underneath for added weight. This was to lower the center of gravity and help prevent rollovers in fast or tight turns.