A Long Lonely Road

The Quest

Book 11

By TJ Reeder

All rights reserved 9 - 26-2013

Sitting on the rim of the ridge in the early morning has become my favorite part of the day. I am allowed 15 minutes to myself and my coffee.

    At the end of that time Beth joins me with two beautiful babies who are still too asleep to break the silence.

    No, the silence is broken as usual by two other grumpy babies, one carrying the coffee pot and one dragging the big old quilt that they insist we all huddle under.

    Beth just smiles and surrenders the babies to the grumps who insist on nuzzling them awake which makes them yell for food which Mama Beth must provide.

    This is the daily routine never to be changed I guess, but it’s all good because we are family and a wonderful family it is.

    Our extra king-king sized bed isn’t as crowded since the girls decided that one of them should sleep in the kids room and handle the night time duties allowing Beth to get some sleep. The night feeding duties were made easy by the breast pump one of the village ladies offered to help with night feedings.

And yes I know all about this stuff because I’m instructed in all aspects of it, I really like operating the breast pump!!

    We sit and watch the villages across the lake come awake and soon the sails appear as the fishermen run their lines.

    Good folks and good neighbors if living a mile or more across a lake is being neighbors, whatever it works out.

    Six months have past since Beth graced us with these two wonderful gifts and they have been quiet months, nobody has shot me which is a good thing.

    Wyatt and Doc haven’t shot anybody which is also a good thing, not that they have relaxed, they spend at least an hour on the range every day shooting something.

    I should too but in truth both of them are so much faster then me that the graves are filled in before I get my gun out. But I’m still better with a rifle, it’s good to be better with something.

    A word on the Plague. “What Plague”?? that’s right, what plague?

    It never got here, in fact I don’t know if it ever got out of the cities it was in, I’m not even sure it was a real plague and not a super influenza, whatever it was it didn’t survive long enough to get here. Of course we had the area closed tighter then a ticks ass and I know of nobody who tried to come thru our area.

    We’ve been in touch with the folks at Barstow and they had nobody come down with it.

    There were signs of it a few miles from the cities, folks laying dead where they fell but that was it and for that I will be eternally grateful to the almighty.

    After our morning coffee we had breakfast which I cooked as my way to pay for not having to sleep alone on baby duty.

    After we were done and were draining the last few drops from the big coffee pot Sandy started squirming around like she always does when she has something to say and can’t figure out how to spit it out. So I made it easy and said “ Yes”. Yes what? Says she, whatever it is you want, yes. She looked at me and said you know you piss me off when you give in without a fight! Ok say’s I, NO!

    And of course that resulted in my ending up on the floor being pounded on until I rolled her over and tickled her into submission.

    All to the laughter of the other two and screaming from short round and the barking of the dogs which got the kids to crying, it’s like living in a cave with wild things. some that rattle and some that just bite. I wouldn’t have it any other way.

    After I let her up Sandy cuddled up in my lap and said “May has a problem“. So I tossed her on the floor and pulled May into my lap and said what’s wrong baby? She surprised me by tearing up and my heart stopped. I just knew she was gonna say she was pregnant!

    But the gods smiled on me, she said she needed to know if her family was safe. She and her brother were raised by an aunt and a large extended family who farmed in South Eastern Washington.

    I wiped her tear always and said ok, when do you wanna leave?

    She just looked at me and then said “ that’s it? Just when do I wanna leave”? yep said I, why dick around with it? you knew we were gonna go, Sandy knew and looking at Beth I knew she did, I’m always the last to know anything.

    May is almost as good a hugger as Beth and if I hadn’t peeled her loose I would have passed out from the choke hold. I kissed her and said pack your gear toots we can leave in two days.

    This brought out a lot of girly screaming and dancing around and dog barking and baby crying, maybe that cave would be ok?? Naaa.

    I said I was heading down to the commo shack to send a message to Charley which caused Sandy to ask why?

     I told them Charley and I had been planning a trip to the coast for the last few months. This was greeted with open mouths and flashing eyes.

     I for once had them! I said we had also planned to stop and check on May’s people that she had mentioned very briefly when we first met and I figured why not?.

    I then took off down the ridge at a run, well run is a bit of an exaggeration. I made it almost to the bottom before the two caught me and started in on me for making them almost beg for the trip. “ Uh Beg?? Excuse me? Really?

     I know when to smile and say nothing. And it really pisses them off. I’ll pay later but a small victory today is worth it!.

    One nice thing about our life style here in the canyon is there’s always somebody cooking something in the cooking area.

    This morning one of the ladies was making beautiful brownies! And I arrived just as she took the first batch out of the earth oven! I was alone!

    “They” had gone back for Beth and the kids, I got a cup of coffee and a big brownie and sat on a stump, just in time to see an arm come over my shoulder and take my brownie! I spun around and saw Beth,  she who can do no wrong, smiling as she chomped a bite out of it.

    I gave up the stump and my coffee with a flourish and headed for the brownie pan. It was empty! “They” were there, as were other greedy bastards with not enough to do!.

    The brownie lady smiled and said poor Johnny and removed the next trey from another oven, I stood guard over it with my hand on my pistol, like that was gonna help, but they took pity and let me have one.

    I had just sat down when the commo girl runner came trotting up, she’s a cutie, all of maybe 9 years old, she handed me a message, snatched the brownie off my plate and was gone like smoke in a wind. Shit.

    The message was from Charley asking when we were leaving? How did he know? I looked at Sandy who had a mouth full of brownie and tried to say “What” around it. I give up, I’ll never know how this shit works and maybe I don’t want to know.

    They were giving the kids tiny bits of brownie which I’m sure is against all the laws of nature but I’m not gonna say anything.

    They all three looked at me and smiled that sweet little smile of pity, I hate em! In my head I heard voices saying“ No you don‘t!” I said “ I could!” ( out loud ) and got stared at by all the other brownie moochers who had appeared, all of whom know something is going on but figure it’s just me and old timers disease. I choose to ignore all of them which makes the “coven” laugh.

    Maybe Charley and I will go to the coast and leave them all here! 

Seeing the flashing eyes I decided maybe we won’t. yes I’m a pussy. I’m ruled by them and yeah the good outweighs the not so good. By a factor of 100 to .0001

    Sandy mentions that if I’m really planning to lead a party West and North maybe I should spend more time on the range and less time napping with the babies.

    Now that is a suck idea but they are right, but I will just get up early and shoot and save the afternoon for my baby time. They all three smile.

    I looked around for a kid to carry a message up to the commo shack and spotted the Brownie thief and made a come here motion, she laughed and said no way Hozay!

    Sandy asked her and she trotted right over but kept Sandy between us, she had my brownie all around her mouth. I hate her, even she laughed, they are all witches, the whole bunch.

    I asked her to tell the comm operator to send a reply to Charley that we would leave here in three days and meet him at his place and leave from there. She was gone in a flash, youth…and Brownies, are wasted on young people.

    The next two days were very busy, the word went out about the trip and people started showing up from every gully, wash, ravine and canyon for 40 miles around, how the word gets around I’ll never know. But the way we roll is, if ya wanna go be here when we leave, bring something that shoots and your own bed roll.

    We were taking the chopper on a lowboy and Ralph would fly bird dog in his puddle jumper still gun less despite Sandy’s best efforts.

     But one of the loud mouth old grunts ( I know it was Jasper our door gunner instructor) told her how back in the day the door gunners would take pint jars and very carefully place a pin-less grenade in them and screw the lids down tight which gave them mini bombs, toss it out, it hit’s the ground , the glass breaks, spoon flies, BOOM! I think she kissed him! And was off and running.

     Ralph tried to talk her out of putting a case of them in the plane but talk to the wind or smoke or anything else that might listen because she wasn’t.

    Then she had him fly her over her “bombing range” where we all watched her tossing them out until she had it down pat.

    Now I can see where these might work out but I’d never say it to Ralph, poor long suffering Ralph who actually, secretly, is her partner in crime, he only makes loud noises to cover his ass. And we all know it but him. One day we watched her tossing out some of her bombs that blew up in a flash of fire.

     Somebody had suggested filling the jar with gas mixed with diesel, I doubt it would be effective but she was happy.

   Ralph was getting more gray by the day and developing a eye twitch.

    I think he’s teaching her to fly the chopper too but I’ve not seen it. But I’m all for it if she didn’t kill herself or bend the bird. We really should put out the word for more pilots and get a real air service back in the air. Another thing on the list.

    We ended up with more people then I had planned for but what the hell, I’m not the only one getting bored so we expand the plan.

    I don’t want to take armor but we will have plenty of armored hummers, all with guns on them. We will also take some of the ground to whatever missiles we have a lot of.

    I’ve never shot one but I know the girls have. Too many if I recall right. They see it all as their personal toy factory and require some controlling presents. If I ever find one I’ll get him or her on it. So far I just get laughed at when I ask somebody to take the job.

    By the morning of day three the six by’s are loaded as are the cargo trailers, the tanker truck if full and the hummers all have trailers loaded behind them.

     Around 200 shooters and every vehicle has a driver who can be spelled when needed by a shooter, in truth the drivers are counted as more shooters since everybody has to be qualified with small arms.

     Beth decided early on that she wanted to stay home because  A. The babies were too small to be dragging around the country where a fire fight might erupt at any moment and B. Beth in fact is an Earth Mother and would rather be home doing earth mommy stuff then out shooting and looting as the other two call it.

    In truth I expected her to stay home but she had to be the one who made the decision. I know I will miss her and the kids every minute but I will handle the trip better knowing they are safe here in our happy home guarded by everybody in the area and two dogs who will eat anybody coming near if they don’t know them.

    A word on the dogs, Molly, sweet old gentle Molly who outside of Mis Sheri’s ducks has never hurt a thing and Walker who will eat anything he can chew on or that Sandy hands, him including a rusty horse shoe, had both decided the new “Puppy’s” in the house are theirs.

     And at first it was an issue that resulted in a few out and out brawls in which Molly didn’t give up anything to youth and size. In fact one time she had Walker down by the throat and I had to pry her jaws open. So I set them down and told them they were both going to live with Buck who won’t put up with their shit for a second. Or, they could each have one puppy as their own to guard and wash.

    And they did! Blew me right out of my boots, Molly took Sam as we call Sandra May and Walker took over JC as we call John Charles. And all’s well.

    Well that’s not all true, Walker being the big tough guy he is got too protective and once when May reached for JC he snapped at her, and before I could think I slugged him right in the mouth which rolled him ass over tea kettle and sent him running to Sandy who smacked him, told him he was bad and exiled him outside for the rest of the day, it was funny watching him pouting thru the door glass, when he was allowed in he went right to May and licked her hand then walking wide around me went and laid by JC’s crib. Lesson learned, but anybody not of the household or well known will have a problem.

    We have now established just who the Alpha male is around here, they laugh at that. I hate em.

    So the family will be split up for a while and for the first time and none of us are real pleased but what can we do? I can’t and will not sit home and send others out to handle this kind of work and the girls won’t let me go alone, meaning without them, So we are faced with Beth and the kids being here.

    But I promised we were going to make it as fast a trip as possible. I figured a month would do it “if” nothing happened which is like saying “ It’s ok, no problem” ..right.

    Our resident Witch aka V will be around checking on them as well, V is still a stranger to us in many ways and I think always will be. But she and Old Woman are life long friends which means a great deal. V has her own hobbit hole in a small side canyon, too small for more then her place and her herb garden.

    She isn’t anti-social she just thinks deeper then most folks, plus it’s hard to talk to somebody who has a squirrel sitting on their head.

    But I’m glad we have her because her healing abilities are very welcome and Doc likes her, but Doc’s a bit strange too. I will admit I often wonder if there is something going on behind the smoke but then again I really don’t wanna know.

    Beth likes her and the kids do, as well as Molly, Walker tolerates her as he does most people but just barely.

    He used to be overly protective of Sandy until the “puppies” came to live with us, now he has no time for anybody but JC.

    I had one small chore to attend to that entailed a trip to the fort so I asked Ralph to take me over in the chopper, the girls were pissed when I told them there wasn’t room for them when I brought back what I was after and I refused to answer questions, I can be a dickhead with the best of them!

    We took off early in the am and made it much quicker then driving, where we met with the guy who keeps everything in order “ Mr. Wimple” as I call him, yes, behind his back but in a nice way, he’s an accountant and is only happy when he knows to the bullet how much ammo we have.

    I had to set him straight one time when he wanted an accounting of ammo we expended in some fire fight, I offered to take him to the bodies of the assholes we killed and left in a gully so he could count bullet holes against rounds expended, he’s not brought up that issue since.

    I told him what I was after and we headed down into the cell block area where all the goodies are piled, I looked at what I was after and asked Ralph how much weight we could haul, he figured without the guns and the over load of ammo the girls tried to pile in we could easily carry several hundred pounds.

    He did ask why I needed several hundred pounds of gold, I smiled and said well I’d tell you but if it don’t work out you’ll be so disappointed that you might cry, so wait and see.

    With several helpers we got it all loaded up in wooden crates and lashed down and no surprise I was handed a clipboard to sign for what I was taking, Mr. Wimple said it was important to know what went where. I agreed with a wink at Ralph and we were up and away.

    We landed and gathered some of the loafers to help unload it into the trailer behind my Hummer which was then covered with ammo cans.

    I was enjoying being mysterious.

    The next morning amid many hugs and kisses from and for Beth and the kids we loaded up and were gone. Next stop Shiprock and Charley.

    When we arrived Charley and his scout teams were ready to roll and some had already left hours earlier. We hardly slowed down long enough for the girls to run in to see “Old Woman“, they were back quicker then I figured they would be and we were rolling again.

    Since we were traveling thru our turf with scouts well out in front we set a pace the heavy trucks could handle and settled into the grind of the road.

    A military convoy never makes fast miles but it grinds on steady, any breakdowns are handled by follow up recovery units which in our case is a six by loaded with everything the gear heads can think of plus a flatbed trailer that they can load a vehicle onto and work on it while on the move, they have become very good at that, I don’t think the military ever had people working on something while rolling along at 50 MPH, maybe they could have learned something from our people.

    They had even put up a railing over the down rig and the mechs wore safety lines which made it impossible for them to fall off the trailer, dropped tools were another thing but the follow up rig kept an eye out and usually managed to recover whatever it was, these ol boys were pretty damn good at not dropping tools, thinking about that gave me an idea which I passed on to the mech crew that evening.

    Put a rail around the trailer with canvas walls, nothing could fall off, they were still scratching their heads when I walked off, I’m sure they will wait until enough time passes so they can claim it’s their idea. Gotta love the grease balls !

    We made a few hundred miles the first day and the scouts found a small town that welcomed us and traded us fresh food for ammo, we have tons of it in all calibers and most settlements don’t have military weapons so they need civilian ammo and we have it from the old 32-20 Winchester to the big magnums and it’s the new currency.

    We always pay well because these folks are the first line of defense for our area.

    The cooks always start these trips with a reefer unit full of beef, pork and chicken and with the fresh veggies and milk etc we eat very well.

    We set these places up with transmitters if they wish to belong to the growing network of settlements that have become outposts for our expanding area of influence.

    We spent a quiet night and rolled out at day break with coffee and hot bread with butter and jelly under our belts, great way to start the day but I missed my eggs and made the mistake of saying so and will now spend the days getting ribbed over it. They get bored and need to be entertained and I’m usually the one paying the price for their boredom.

    One time we were off someplace in our desert area and Sandy was so bored she got up in the turret and with no warning opened up on a damn jack rabbit, so here’s this poor rabbit dodging and ducking, running for it’s life and then the whole fucking convoy opened up on it, they all stopped when the rabbit ran out of sight, I think that fit of boredom cost us 5000 rounds of ammo, Which I informed her was coming out of the stash she and May stole from Barstow, May wasn’t having it because she didn’t shoot at the rabbit, so now they weren’t bored because they could argue for the next hundred miles, and in the end somehow it all became my fault ..of course.

So, no rabbits. Now she looks for coyotes, Charley told her the coyote had mystical powers and was held in some grace by the people.

    She spent a week trying to decide if it counted since she ain’t of the people. She carried it so far as to ask Old Woman who said “those nasty bastards steal my chickens and I shoot every one I see!” End of discussion.

    I asked Charley if he thought the story he told her was gonna work, he said no, but for a week she’s not shot up the whole desert. Charles a cunning old guy.

    We were heading due West as best we can, I have no idea where we will hit the coast and don’t really care because what I’m after is someplace along the coast of Oregon or Washington. I’m just not sure where.

    I was looking for the ship or ships that were hauling products from way south to way north, most importantly, Coffee beans!! When we met Seth “Longbow”  Daniels up in the high country and bought the girls their bows he told us about some folks who were bringing coffee and other stuff north and selling for gold or silver, which we have a lot of but damn little coffee and I refuse to go thru my life sipping tea made from some desert weed.

     I’ll drive to wherever the hell Juan Valdez is picking them beans one at a time and get my own. Anyway this was the reason for the trip, well finding May’s people plus just seeing how things are going up in the Pacific Northwest, I have to believe things are going good in general.

    They have the Pacific to help feed them and good farm land to the East. So I tend to think they are doing good. Now to find that damn ship.

    We were someplace in the Nevada desert when the scouts reported smoke ahead and were checking it out. We next heard a broken message with gunfire in the back ground, something about ambush and then their radio went dead. Before it went dead I was dropping the hammer on the Hummer slowing down only to allow Charley to jump in with us, Sandy was on the gun and May was ready to give fire support to our left flank while Charley had the right, windows were down to avoid flying glass.

    Charley was as quiet as I’ve ever seen him and the ice in his eyes spelled bad shit for the people on the other end when we caught up to them.

    We arrived at the ambush site and found two other scout units were there giving aid to the ones who got hit. I saw right away that two of the men were dead while the other two were hanging on. I grabbed the radio mike to call for the chopper to do a medivac when Sandy touched my arm and pointed at her ear and then pointed up. I listened and heard the chopper headed our way balls to the walls.

    When Ralph landed the first person off was out head doctor followed by his react team and within moments he had taken over the care of the wounded.

    I heard the chopper spooling up and saw it lift off with Jasper in the door, I didn’t even have to look around to know who had the other door gun.

They banked away and headed after the shooters who did this.

    I yelled for Charley to tell him I’d be back but he was heading for the Hummer while yelling in Navajo at his men who were mounting up as well.

    In a minute or less we were rolling down the highway in the direction the chopper took, we were heading at the smoke the scouts had spotted and were heading to when they were hit. I was pretty sure we were safe from another ambush with the chopper hunting ahead of us but we never let down.

   Charley said something over the radio and one of his scout teams blasted past us to take the lead. I started to say something but he stopped me with a lifted hand. I knew why he did it but I didn’t have to like it. I don’t see my life as being worth more then one of his young men, then I felt May move up on the gun and realized Charley was looking out for her more then me or even himself and I was grateful.

    We never heard anything over the roar of the vehicles but we came across a pick up shot all to hell with several bodies scattered around it, the scouts had stopped and were removing weapons and checking the dead, and they were all dead for damn sure, Jasper and Sandy made sure of that.

    A short distance ahead we came up to the original reason for all the smoke, we found three vehicles stopped on the road with bodies scattered around, several were women, all had been shot in the head after being hit several times before.

    Why they died we would never know but the women were all older and there was no younger people among the dead.

    I had a feeling the same old shit had lead to this and it would never stop, hell it was going on before the EMP.

    All those cute little girls on the milk cartons didn’t end up in shallow graves, white slavery was and is a major market and always has been from the beginning of time women have meant money to slavers and there has always been a market out there, buyers willing to pay top dollar.

    It will never end but I try to kill every one of these scum I come across and so far we have ended it for a lot of them.

    Now we need to find my chopper crew before they get into more of a dog fight then they can handle, and as fate has it we heard the sound of the door guns rattling ahead, we were rolling in seconds and came up on an ongoing fire fight between the chopper and a shit load of bad guys on the ground, Charley was on the radio calling for a full out rush to our location, We rolled up within 200 yards of the bad guys and spreading out we opened up on them with every thing we had.

    I noticed Jasper’s training had worked with May at least, five round bursts and aimed fire, she was tearing their vehicles to shreds and soon a fuel tank started burning, the scout teams moved closer and on a different angle and soon we had them dropping like grass meeting a weed whacker, it wasn’t pretty but they didn’t seem to want to surrender and who can blame them, getting killed by a bullet beats hanging and that’s where these would end up.

    I was worried about any captives these people had but it was too late by far, after a bit the return fire ended and we slowly moved in where we found all of the shooters dead or bleeding out, a quick check of the vehicles produced three young girls tied and gagged, fortunately the bad guys had un-assed their rides to fight, how May’s fire had avoided hitting any of the captives will always be a mystery to me. Either pure luck or maybe something else, I wasn’t going to question it.

   Charley was questioning one of the wounded who could still talk and was getting info as to who and what these people were. After he got it all he came to me and said they were just what they looked like, slavers looking for easy targets.

    I was interested in just where they were planning to sell these girls, Charley said the man told him there was a town about a days travel West of us that was the gathering point for the women and girls and yea boys and when they had a load they took to them the coast where a ship from South America bought them for gold, weapons and ammo.

    My very first thought was shit I bet it was the coffee traders who were buying the slaves and I dearly hoped it wasn’t.

    We now had a problem in that we needed to locate this town and end their business. We called the main convoy forward to our location while Charley and I started planning, Ralph landed the bird and Sandy joined us, she was bouncing like a rubber ball as she always does after a fight, soon she will need a nap because the adrenalin dump will drain her but for now she’s “up”.

     May and she join forces and compare notes. My little Lords of War, I raised them all wrong I know.  Kind of wish Beth was here to calm them down.

    While we waited we looked over the vehicles to see what we could get running to use for our sneak approach to the bad guys base of ops.

    I wanted to use at least three vehicles so we could have a strong force inside when the attack came, hit from outside and inside at the same time would confuse the hell out of the enemy or so we hoped, of course the chopper was our force multiplier.

    We spent the night working out the issues and drilling the plan. It called for at least ten of our people and several women to get inside the town.

    I hated to ask any of our women to go in as captives but they were all as well trained at the men and would all be armed under their bulky clothing and the men would be carrying extra long guns in the vehicles. As plans go it was a good one but plans only last until the first round goes off, after that training will win the day.

    It was close to midnight when the scouts returned with news that brought our first plan to a screeching stop. They had located the small town in time to see the slavers loading an old school bus with their cargo, they said they counted at least forty people being loaded on the bus and as they watched the convoy pulled out heading West for the coast.

    This was both good and bad, they were out in the open which was a real good thing but we had to catch up and hit them before they got where they were taking the captives to be sold.

    Another good thing was their transportation was so crappy they weren’t making good time. And the best thing was the two scout teams trailing them!

    And as the crow flies we were pretty close at the moment. It was time to get Ralph back in the air, this time I was going with him.

    The scouts showed us where the town was and which way the slavers were heading.

    I figured we could catch them pretty fast so we got moving. This time we took the plane, quieter and the ground crew were getting the chopper loaded with fuel and ammo.

    I’ve never been a fan of small planes, I will ride in them but I’d rather drink real cheap beer as do it.

    We got all the altitude we could and I started looking for lights moving on the ground.

    It still seems strange to not see lights everywhere I look but that’s just how it is for now, maybe some day.

    But for now it helps because what we are looking for should be about the only thing moving. And it was.

    We spotted them from a long ways away and with our altitude we were able to shut off the engine and glide right over them at close range, thru the binoculars I was able to count the vehicles and they matched what the scouts saw. I heard the radio break thru my headset, it was the scout teams trailing the slavers.

    They had night vision gear and saw us when we passed over head, how I don’t know but with the stars as back drop I guess we stood out to their equipment.

    We got far enough  past the slavers to start the engine and regain altitude and now I wanted to scout well ahead of them for a place to hit them but we had to have time enough for Ralph to use the chopper to shuttle some shooters.

    We flew a long ways along the lonely small road before I saw what I wanted, a dip in the roadway with good cover on all sides.

    I asked the scouts on the ground if they could gain ground and get around the small convoy and get to my location without being seen, they said with night viz they could do it easy.

    I had them put two of their team in one vehicle and for the short team to remain on drag and the six man team to get to my location and to bring the M-60 off the Hummer that was in drag. They got it and within minutes the Hummer with the six man team was doing as requested, this was all on the fly, pardon the pun but it looked like we were gonna do this.

    At this point I asked Ralph to use his night viz gear and set us down on the road where the ambush was gonna happen, he said I was crazy, I asked what his point was.

    He flew real low and put on his landing lights to scout the road and decided he didn’t need the night viz, he banked around with the lights off and realigned with the road, dropped down low and relit the road and with almost complete ease he had us on the ground, I’m always impressed with his abilities.

    I climbed out and taking my pack and weapons I sent him back to get the plan rolling. I didn’t watch him take off, I always kind of avoid that if I can.

    The scout team radioed they were past the convoy and back on the pavement and pushing as hard as they could.

    Ralph was up and gaining altitude when I last heard him, now if all went well he would be back pretty quick with as many shooters as he could haul, he would dump them and return for more and the door gunners.

    We might be a bit thin on the ground but I believed we could handle it since they had no idea they were in trouble.

    It was an hour before the Hummer came flying over the hill and slid to a stop when I flashed by gun light, the scout team bailed out and we went right into setting up the ambush. I wanted one shooter to take out a tire on the lead vehicle and another to do the same on the trail rig. I planned to take out the bus driver when he slowed down for the lead rig when it responded to the blow out. I wanted one of the scouts with me to take out any bad guy in the bus, we all had 308 rifles so the glass deflection wasn’t a real issue for a straight on shot at flat glass, but I wanted that bus almost stopped if not in fact stopped.

    Handled right we could take out every one of the BG’s before they got off a shot but I wanted some alive. There was a lot of information I wanted before they checked out for good.

    We had it laid out by the time we heard the chopper coming, Ralph set down on the road and six shapes unloaded and he was up and away. I thought six bodies with all their gear was a bit of a load but I don’t know shit about it. But it became clear when the shapes all turned into women and surprisingly Sandy and May were both there.

    I asked why they weren’t fighting over the door gun and was informed that they felt the need to be on the ground protecting my bullet magnet ass. Everybody else laughed but me, they are so cute, in a primitive meat eating creature way, look but don’t pet.

    But all the women can shoot damn well and they were light enough that more ammo could be brought in, somebody was thinking! Sandy smiled and said thank you oh great and glorious leader. All I could do was flip her off which got more laughs and her saying she took that as a promise and was gonna collect.

    Fun time was over, we got everybody in their spots and ready behind good cover and prepped on the plan.

    I put two of them in a spot on the other side of the road and off to the front where they had a great field of fire but were safe from our fire, friendly  fire ain’t friendly.

    These ladies were going to get me a couple of prisoners to chat with, I figured they would have the best chance to wing a couple of runners. I hoped.

    We settled down and waited but it was another hour before we heard the distant sounds of the approaching vehicles. Now I sweat, if I blow it some of our family were gonna die and I don’t want that, the dead scouts were on my mind and I couldn’t shake it. And I didn’t want to, when I didn’t worry about our people anymore I would hang it up and let somebody else run it.

    The BG’s drove over the hill and down into the low spot and things worked like a well oiled machine, the lead vehicle had a blow out from a suppressed rifle causing it to fishtail allover the road before it stopped, the bus driver slowed down and stopped about 30 yards from the crippled rig, I shot the driver thru the head with my suppressed rifle, nobody else moved around in the bus, the vehicles in the back all stopped and the BG’s unloaded.

    How these assholes had survived this long will always be a mystery to me, they had no skills, no training at all, they simply unloaded and either started pissing or lighting smokes, a couple were cracking beers.

    It wasn’t a fight, it was simply putting dumb shits out of their misery. It was embarrassing that these assholes were able to ambush our scouts and kill two.

    I will have to look into that ambush and see what we did wrong because these people were not that good.

    One aimed volley and they were all down, there was only eight of them and the girls on the other side of the road took all three from the lead vehicle down with leg shots. After we checked the bus and the girls took over with the captives I headed for the three wounded leaders from the lead rig.

    The lady shooters were standing over them waiting for help in searching them. We got that done, removing several handguns, one I stuck in my shirt, and yes it was a keeper that I beat the scavengers to.

    Questioning wounded people who know they are dead usually don’t get much but after we separated them one of them talked his head off, telling us what we wanted to know, the other two were tougher, for a bit but there are ways of enhancing their pain and we are not slow to use it.

    After talking to all three we compared what we had and figured we had it all.  

    Two of Charles scouts came over and took over from there, it was fast. And they had it coming and the scouts had earned the right. Harsh? Bet your ass, hard times call for hard people.

    We cleaned the mess up by dragging the dead off the road into a gully where we left them for the desert to deal with.

     They may have been the most inept gang we ever dealt with but they had a lot of loot, booze, weapons and ammo and even a case of coffee, which made me wonder again if the coffee ship was also a slave ship, I hoped not. I really wanted to get this coffee deal worked out. In truth there was more to this coffee thing then just coffee.

    If I could make contact with the ship and the captain I would try to arrange a ship load to be delivered via the Gulf if at all possible. Probably not unless the canal was working which I really doubted but if somebody is in the business of selling a product and wants gold bad enough then they will find a way. Hell I’d think it was possible to do without even messing with the canal.

    As my ol grappa said. “Money talks. Bullshit walks and water seeks it’s own level“. And no I’m not sure what it means but I have an idea so, we have gold, they want it. There are a lot of things down there that we can use that are in short supply up here. I’d love to have a banana in my cereal, if I ate cereal.

    I want to set up a trade route and at the same time I want to track down the head of all this trafficking in girls and cut off it’s head. I’m sick and tired of it and it needs to be stopped. And I have a plan! Everybody thinks I lay around napping all the time but I do my best thinking in the quiet with my eyes closed, when “They” let me.

    “They” of course are Sandy and May, Beth is usually the one standing back laughing at their antics and I suspect pushing them on.

    Case in point. I was napping ( thinking) a while back when Sandy came over and said.

John…..

JOHN!…..

I’m sleeping…

No you’re not, you’re talking….

Only because you woke me up….

Nit picking belittles you…..

Waking me up belittles you….

Well you’re awake now….

Yes I am….

Aren’t you going to ask me?….

Ask you what?…

Why I woke you up….?

No, because it will be something that makes no sense at all….

You’re such a sad example ….

OK…sigh…why did you wake me up?…

I’m glad you asked!!!!….

Well?….

Well what?.. OH…! I just saw the most beautiful bird!

And you woke me up why?…

Well to share it with you…

I open my eyes…Well where is it?

It was over by Bucks pasture!

You came all the way here to tell me that?…

Yes…

Show me…

OK!

John…? Why are you taking your 22 rifle?

To shoot the bird and feed it to our cat…

We don’t have a cat…

I’ll get one…

Walker don’t like cats….

Walker don’t like anything but JC…

Well yea that’s true… I wish I hadn’t tried to share the moment with you…

……………

Shit….

Don’t cuss…

Where is everybody?

They took the babies to the cooking area to visit…

Ahhh haaa… so we are alone?

Yes..

That’s really why you woke me?….

Yes…

Why not just say.. John, we are alone, wanna make love?

Because this was more fun? Giggling as she gets carried inside…

See what I mean? never a moments rest to think.. But this time I thought it all out and this idea is gonna work. Unless we have to kill the ships crew for slaving. I hope not.

After the main group caught up it was mid day so we rolled on until around dark, the scouts had found a nice lake to camp and the fishing crowd were at it, fresh fish is always good and soon we were eating our weight in fresh fried fish with French fry’s.

    We settled down for the night and the captives joined us around the fires, Sandy and the other ladies had explained who we are and where we live and what we are doing.

    All said they had lost their families to the raiders and having no place to go agreed to stay with us.

    I warned the girls again about trying to

“adopt “another member into the family, both just smiled at me, I warned them again but it’s like talking to a rock, well no, there is a chance the rock will listen.

    In a moment of quiet Sandy leaned over and hugged me and said “ Hand it over John“, What? I said, You know what. May said, now both are moving into my space. Everybody else was just watching. The former captives were big eyed not knowing what was happening. Our people were all smiling, Charley was just shaking his head and sighing. I think the scouts were wagering on how long I would last.

   I tried a last time and said I have no idea what your talking about. Then I got gang tackled and they were ripping thru my cloths, May let out an AHH HAA!! And brought out MY former loot.

    They acted like it was the great train robbery, glaring and saying bad things while examining the Pistol. It was a Colt Combat Commander in 9MM which I though was cool. They did too, since they didn’t have one…until now. Sandy commented it was cute and May added that it shot baby bullets! Sweet!…

They are a laugh a minute, then both were kissing me and thanking me for the new “present” for their collection. I asked if being mugged and robbed of my gun was considered giving a present? The answer of course was Yes!

    After they were thru entertaining everybody at my expense we got back to it.

    Around the fire I explained what I hoped to accomplish with this trip to the coast and what it might mean for all of us, all meaning not just the canyon folk but every body we can reach if and when supplies of stuff we can’t grow start arriving, hopefully down in Texas at a gulf port.

    Everybody was open to the idea but wondered what we might get besides coffee, which most agreed alone was worth the effort.

    I mentioned Sugar, and herbs that wouldn’t grow even in south Texas. Bananas which got a standing ovation. Who would have thought?

    Hell I don’t know what all might be available but I just know there will be goods from down south that we will find useful. I hope.

    After all the trouble of the last few days we were rolling again, Charley had requested that his dead be taken home so a scout team left with a trailer behind their Hummer for the sad journey home. They took the two wounded scouts with them since both could travel. We were now short of scouts by eight but we would be fine, it’s not like most of us can’t scout it’s just the Navajo are so much better at it, but we can split the four man teams into two with two of our shooters along with them.

    We rolled past Winnemucca without stopping, no trouble and I wanted to avoid any. We spent the next couple of days just easing along and arrived near Lakeview OR. in the early evening. We had taken two days to travel what used to be a three hour trip but we took side trips off any of the small roads and goat paths just looking.

    We found a lot of small settlements with folks working together and doing fine, we traded ammo for fresh food after making peaceful contact.

    The down part was the few places that wanted us to be the Military coming to make life easier. I wonder how many people even now after three years are still sitting on their ass waiting for the Government to save them.

     I would expect not many since it was root hog or die these days, but there will always be those who will do the minimum to survive if they think a hand out is coming. Fortunately they are getting to be a vanishing species. Most communities won’t put up with that crap and we sure as hell won’t.

    We asked about raiders and found a few places where they had hit but were fought off and didn’t lose anybody. We offered the women we had saved the chance to remain in any community that would welcome them but all were having none of that, I got the feeling that most had come from places where the leaders tried to deal with the raiders and lost, they were now with a strong force that protected them and they weren’t leaving. I can identify with that.

    Most were between 10 and 20 years old and some had been used by the raiders but seemed to be fine since they got to see the assholes die. I understand that.

    The real young girls were left alone because they were worth more untouched. God I hate these bastards and only wish they could be killed more then once.

I wanted to start our search for the coffee ship at Port Orford OR but we would be dropping down into California near Crescent, around four hundred miles and then we would head north up the coastline.

    I was getting restless and decided we would pick up the pace and bypass the bigger towns and cities, it would add miles but I felt the need to get on with it.

    We took four days to get to the junction with highway 101 where we turned north. We stopped in some of the communities mostly to see if anybody knew of the ship we were looking for, all had heard of it but nobody knew where it made stops but there are only so many actual sea ports so we would keep trying.

    Our first contact with anybody who had real information was at the Smith River Indian reservation on the coast.

    Charley met with their Elders and learned that while the ship hadn’t ever stopped near them  they knew of it and had never heard a thing bad about the ship or the crew, my hopes are improved.

    We gave them ammo for the weapons they had that we could match, we also gave them the weapons we gathered from the slavers, They gave us a lot of smoked salmon, it was very good.

    We worked our way up the coast, stopping to visit with the communities we came across, it seems that things weren’t as bad here as in a lot of places. Which leaves me wondering why that would be. Of course we hadn’t visited any places bigger then small towns. But so far I’m impressed with the way these folks have held it together.

    We stopped for a few days near Brookings and just relaxed from all the movement. A few hardy souls went to the ocean for a dip, it lasted about 15 seconds, the water was like ice, so much for a nice dip.

    Sandy and May had their longbows with them and spent the time working on their skills which attracted a lot of interest so I can see that future scavenging will include over looked archery equipment but I’d bet the Fort had a ton of it, now if they don’t kill each other.

    The girls were talking about hunting again but I talked them out of it for now, I figured the folks living here might need the meat more then us. When we head East into the open country they can chase down all the poor critters they want.

    As we move north along the coast we have asked everybody we meet if they know about the trade ship. Most know of it but not much else, when asked about a ship buying women there seemed to be shock but nobody knew anything about it.

    And then one day while stopped at a small village we met a woman who said she had heard of the slave ship, she said it was painted Black.

    She heard it from a girl who had escaped from it by diving overboard and swimming to shore. She had not met the girl, just heard the story.

    She did tell us where the girl came ashore which was a few miles further up the coast. She made it to shore and was taken in by a family who gave her food and cloths and a gun since she was going to leave regardless.

    We made a beeline to the place where the girl came ashore and met the folks who took her in, they welcomed us and were very open about what they could tell us.

    They said the girl was about 16 years old and had been on her schools swim team and when the Black ship was passing close to shore she took the chance and dove overboard, she swam about a mile thru the cold water and was in pretty bad shape when she made it ashore, she saw their house and headed for it and woke them up.

    The girl had said the ship was small and had a crew of about ten people, they had taken over fifty females from five years old to early twenties. She said they were not abused and were well fed and allowed to shower. She said one of the guards had laughingly said the buyers wanted them in good health and clean and untouched.

    They said the girl had seen the opportunity and made a run for the side of the ship and went over the rail in a dive. She told them she had been taken in a raid a few days earlier before the ship sailed from a small cove down the coast about a hundred miles, all this had happened a week earlier and word hadn’t really spread due to lack of travel.

     So someplace ahead of us might be a black ship with girls and young women being bought to haul south, if we had it right.

    I yelled for Ralph and told him to get the bird dog in the air and to scout the coast looking for the Black ship. I told him we would be rolling right away and weren’t stopping for anything, we would refuel him on the road, I wanted this Black ship very bad, I wanted the bastards running this operation very bad but even more I wanted the scum at the end of this pipeline.

    One thing I know for sure is the stuff I don’t know for sure. And ships ain’t my gig, but knowing my people is my gig so I sent for a man named Fox, he was a former SEAL from the bad old days when we were both young. Fox knows ships and how to take them over. When in doubt, Delegate!

    Fox showed up and after hearing what I needed said no problem and set off to gather a team of people he knew could be of use, not SEALs but former Navy people who had a clue how to drive a ship. He also gathered together a team of shooters to carry off the plan.

    I had no idea what his plan would be but it would be the right one I had no doubt.

    One of my problems would be keeping Sandy from sneaking off as a shooter, but Fox wasn’t afraid of her which helped, I smiled at the thought.

    It took a week of rolling north with poor Ralph flying his ass off ( Note.. we need more pilots) before he spotted the ship.

    It was at anchor in a protected cove about fifty miles from where we were at the moment.

Charley sent his scouts in with orders to move in the last couple of miles on foot. He wasn’t taking any chances with another ambush.

    I told Fox to get his pirate crew together and meet with me and the other leadership members. I got with them beforehand and explained what I had in mind. Joe and Willy smiled, Charles lips may have moved a tiny bit, Sandy and May laughed right out loud. What a crew, ready to charge hell with a snowball.

    Fox and crew joined us and I told him what we knew, what we thought and what we hoped. He told us his plan for taking the ship. It sounded like a very doable plan provided all the parts clicked together

but that’s what all plans require.

    It was up to us to make sure the clicking happened.

    About midnight one of the scout teams returned to tell us the ship was still there and it looked like they had gotten complacent, only one sentry could be seen and he spent most of his time smoking and leaning on the railing facing the shore.

    Now one of the things we haul with us everywhere we go is an inflatable Avon boat we got along with all the other stuff we picked up in Barstow.

    It came complete with a motor and must have been set up for Force Recon use since I never saw one in my time but of course all the attacks boats back then were rowed by the raiding party and had dragon heads on the bow. I’m old.

    Fox and his merry band of throat cutters would attack from the open water side. The rest of us would be as close as we could get with some snipers ready to back up the play. The range according to the scouts was about 400 yards from the shore. If our boarding party went aboard just at day light we would be able to offer support fire, but to hold down the risk of a friendly fire issue only four of us would be shooting and I planned to be one of the four.

    We were settled into place well before raid time, the ship was blacked out bit the sentry was a chain smoker and the flare of his lighter came like clock work followed by the glow of his cigarette every time he took a drag, smoking kills, a lesson well learned in my youth. In the jungles of South East Asia a smoker could be smelled a good distant away. It can get you killed.

    I know each of us backup shooters were zeroed in on the glow of the cigarette, it was something to do while we waited. We were all belly down with the rifles resting on sand bags just like at the range. I had the suppresser on my bolt gun and if need be I could take down the guard but would rather not.

    Right on time I watched the guard simply drop out of sight, not a sound was heard.

    We waited for what seemed forever before we saw a light flash three times from the ship.

    We headed down to the beach where we soon saw the Avon coming in to get us. We went aboard the ship and found the entire crew except the dead guard kneeling on the deck, every one accounted for.

    After we had them secured with plastic restraints the raid team spread out to search the ship, shortly after that they returned with the captives who were clinging to one another thinking they were simply being transferred to another group which in a way they were.

    The boat returned with my girls and several of our ladies who took over with the captives who were soon crying in joy when they realized they were really being rescued.

    There was 45 captives and they were slowly transported from the ship to our convoy which had moved forward and set up a base camp, the captives were all checked over by the medical staff

( all women in this case).

    Now we got down to the fun part, finding out what all these critters knew. We separated them as par for the course and questioned them with the same set of questions, we found that most didn’t know more then what their job was aboard ship and of course what they were doing.

    The Captain and First Officer were much more forthcoming with information. They picked up the “cargo” and transported it south to a place in Baja where they were paid in gold and silver and fuel for the ship.

    They then made the return trip stopping in places just like this to pick up more captives.

    This was their second stop this far north. The first one was a dud, nobody showed up, I think we knew why. They had taken aboard this bunch several days back along the California coast before we found them.

    They gave us good descriptions of the raiders we missed by a few hours. I figured we would meet them some place down the road, we knew what they looked like, what names they used and what they drove.

    So far we were doing very well and with luck we could stop this whole mess.

    We spent the rest of the day and night camped in the cove while deciding how to handle this mess. Fox came to see me and said the Captain had offered to take them on up the coast to the other pick up spots where they could rescue the girls being sold plus wipe out the slavers who had them.

    I liked it a lot, and we could shadow them plus send scouts ahead to check out the meeting spots.

    I figured we could effect the rescues on shore easier but the ship needed to appear and signal to the raiders.

    So far this trip wasn’t going as planned, we were doing a great amount of good but we hadn’t found the trade ship. On a hunch I had Fox ask the ships Captain about the trade ship, he was well aware of it and said he usually met up with them in one port or another and bought supplies from them, he said they had no idea what his ship was being used for but nobody asked questions either.

    So all we had to do was keep moving up the coast line saving girls from a real fate worse then death, kill a bunch of scum and find a ship selling coffee. This we can handle but I decided it was better to leave the main convoy in a set location and use a roving patrol to handle business. We found a state park near the route we were taking and there we set up a small city with all the comforts of home.

    Sandy and May had been spending a lot of time with the rescued girls and were a great help in settling them down, a lot of them had come from areas close to the coast and could be returned to their families, others were all that survived the raid that took them. I left it to the women of our group to sort it out and make it easier for them.

    One the third day after the raid the ship moved out of the cove and headed north with five Hummers shadowing them, we knew the next pick up was about a day north and had it pinpointed on our maps, when we were close we parked out of sight of the road and sent a scout team ahead in an old pickup we kept for that reason. They returned to report the slavers were already in the small cove and were laying around by their fire drinking, their captives were out of sight in a tent. There was five in this gang and come dark they were getting a long nap, a  dirt nap.

    Charley asked that his people be allowed to handle the issue themselves and I agreed, payback is something we all understood. Slavers were going to be on the menu for the people for a long time.

    I will admit that I felt lost sitting in our small camp waiting to see the results of the raid on the raiders. I’m not used to sitting back and waiting, the girls seemed fine with it but I noticed they were quiet and that worried me….a lot!

    I finally took them for a drive and found a nice shady place to spend some alone time where we could talk. When I asked what was wrong May said she hated the coastal area, it was usually raining or getting ready to rain or had just finished raining and she wanted to get this thing done and head inland. Sandy just nodded and said Ditto and they missed the babies and Beth.

    I had to agree with them, this wasn’t the Rockies and it sure wasn’t home!! And I wanted this mess over with as soon as possible and I wanted that trade ship located and after that we were heading due east like our tails were on fire.

    We spent a quiet day just relaxing away from the group, napping and talking about the fun we had in the high country and the hot springs.

    That perked them both up a lot and a plan started forming but we agreed that we weren’t ever leaving Beth and the kids again. When we took another trip we were going as a family. If the American Indians lived and traveled in the wilds with their kids there was no reason we couldn’t.

We headed back to the main camp and found the raid had gone off just fine without me, I will admit I was a bit let down at this.

    They brought back three very young girls and two older teens. None of the slavers survived the event. I did ask Charley if they might try taking a few prisoners to question, he said they did and they knew nothing. I didn’t ask for more details.

We went over the plan that wasn’t really a plan. It was just rolling out of my head and I said it out loud and the others picked it apart until it actually looked like a plan. Whatever, it works for us.

    The main part of it was to keep saving captives and killing slavers. Also I wanted the trade ship and in fact I needed to find it to make my plan work or at least have a better then 50-50 chance.

    Charles lads took out two more group of slavers and saved a total of nine girls, some we were able to return to family, some to friends and some just wanted to remain with us.

    We spent two weeks slowly rolling up the coast line and I will say right now that while it was pretty country it don’t have the majesty of the Rockies nor the silent beauty of the desert. I really miss home and my babies “ our babies John! Stop with the proprietary bull shit” Shit! Stop cussing!! We have young children here. Fu…..fine, Our babies! “ good boy John”

I hate them for this shit er…stuff, it’s not fair.

    Charley who has been quietly sitting with his hat down over his eyes sighed real big. I told him to mind his own business, I think he may have laughed a bit, or coughed.

   Ralph has been flying every day looking for the trade ship which is painted red and white and flies a big white flag with a red cross on it, sort of a “We come in peace” statement.

    And Ralph found her, she had been sitting at dockside in a harbor with a fairly large town that seemed to be bustling as Ralph put it. It was about three driving hours from where we were.

    He flew down low and wiggled his wings and the folks on the ground were waving. He had a note in a weighted sock with a red streamer which he dropped, it explained who we were and where we were from and that we come in peace.

    we also had three girls who were taken near the town so we added their names to the note. After they read it they really started waving. Ralph did the wing wiggle again and returned to us where he landed on the roadway.

    After Ralph reported the news he refueled and taking Sandy as his eyes flew cover over us as we rolled forward. There was probably no real reason to worry but it pays to stay alert. Charles scouts were well out in front.

    Not twenty miles down the road I heard Sandy’s voice come over the head set, she had spotted what looked like an ambush in a low spot in the highway, right where we would place one.

    I really don’t think it was people from the town since it would have taken them longer to get it organized and set up. Unless it was a everyday thing.

    On a hunch I called Fox on another channel and had him ask the former ships captain if he had expected any more pickup along the way, he returned shortly with an affirmative. This had to be the last bunch of raiders with their catch.

    I let Charley take over and soon the air waves were burning with Navajo spoken so fast a non tribe member would never follow it. He sat back and smiled a smile that would have froze Custer’s heart if the Sioux hadn’t removed it. 

    Sandy and Ralph had motored on as if they saw nothing and after several miles made a wide turn and loitered inland from the place where the raiders were camped. Charley said he left it to the Scouts how they wanted to do it but to keep some alive to talk to us, he was concerned about something but in his way wouldn’t talk about it until he knew all the answers.

    About an hour later we got the call that the raiders were pinned down but that two of the scouts had slipped into their camp and led the prisoners out. Now it was a fire fight among the boulders by the shore.

    I could see it coming and before I could say a word Sandy called out that they were heading in on a bombing run, cussing does little good with her, in fact it does no good at all, it just makes her dig in harder so I said be careful.

    She replied that Ralph was flying so high that they needed oxygen, Ralph shouted Bullshit that she had him clipping tree tops, I expect both were exaggerating.

    But Charley was already telling the scouts to haul ass, they had heard the exchange and were long gone, they too know “Her” I think they are half scared of her too. I was just scared for her, well and Ralph.

    We had almost closed the gap and rolled up to the scouts who had front row seats to the show and here came the plane, I could see things flying out the side window and then Ralph Stood her on her tail and headed for the clouds.

   Sharp cracks from grenades ( lots of cracks!) followed a short time later. The scouts headed back in and called all clear. Now I was curious as to why the all clear so we rolled right in.

    It was a mess, the little shit had dropped about a dozen of her toys right in the middle of the boulder cluster and it really wasn’t pretty. I know she had worked at it but this was something else, I heard the plane coming to land on the road way and here she came at a run.

    Where she slammed on the breaks and gulped and said “OH, OH, OH Shit!!! I didn’t know it was gonna work that good!!” I just shook my head. Everybody was standing there kind of in awe and she was surprised it worked so “ GOOD”. Charley said something to her and she got her “opps” look on her face then looked at me.

    I looked at Charley who actually smiled and said he had reminded her we planned to take some alive. Her look didn’t last more then 2 seconds before she smiled again and said “Next time John” Promise!. Everybody else laughed while I kept shaking my head.

   I looked at Ralph who put his hands in the air and said “Hey I just fly the fuckin plane, “SHE” runs shit up there. I called him a coward to which he replied “ Yea so what’s yer point?”

    My point Ralph , I said, is that you’re the adult in the team remember? By now everybody was standing there amid a bloody mess laughing so hard they had tears running down their cheeks, the scouts just looked at us and one said something and Sandy laughed and flipped him off, now they laugh.

    I gave up and headed for the road telling all the clowns they could collect the weapons and anything the dead had on their person, this wasn’t greeted well, in fact I think I heard several fuck you’s but being the real adult I kept walking. Sandy came trotting up and took my arm and had to skip to keep up, she said she was sorry that she never thought more then one or two would land in the right place. I looked at her and could see she was serious, I asked how many she used, this brought a long silence then a mumbled, I said excuse me my love but my ears still don’t work from all the explosions, how many did you say?

    She kept her head down and said all of them, now I had to stop and look at her, all of them? She nodded, and that was how many?

She took a deep breath and said two cases. Hell even I know there are 12 pint jars in a case, the little imp just dumped 24 grenades on a bunch of shit heads in a boulder pile! And was worried she might miss. I swear to God I had nothing to do with raising her, really, well ok maybe I helped her learn to shoot but there it ends the rest of this she got on her on.

    May trotted up and said way to go Sis!! And they did a high five, low five and some kind of knuckle knocking, they been hanging with the troops to much. I miss Beth and my babies! “Our babies! Damn it!” Fine I said and kept walking. They came right along knowing I wasn’t gonna stay mad, hell I wasn’t mad, I worry about Sandy and the wild assed shit she comes up with. Grenade fire bombs being one. “Shit she said I forgot to load any of the fire bombs!” I rest my case.

    After the troops had picked over the mess in the rock pile and wiped the gore off the weapons we rolled on toward the town. Ralph had the plane on the lowboy and with no trees along the road we didn’t worry about ripping off a wing.

    Sandy and May were in the back of the Hummer with Sandy giving May bombing lessons with a lot of hand flying she picked up from Ralph. May was nodding and absorbing it all.

    Charley just sat with his eyes closed and smiled, I hate him too! “ Do not!” Stop it! I live in a rolling fur ball with two alley cats “ meow” from the back seat, Charley laughed. I sighed. This was turning into a long trip.

    We made our approach to the port city slow with plenty of flags flying, I was never sure why the flags seemed to calm people but I guess it’s got to do with the peoples faith in something.

    We were met at the entry approach of the city by their security chief and two of the Leadership Committee and over a hundred residents.

    After introductions I made waved my arm and a Suburban was driven forward and several young girls got out. Somewhere in the crowd a woman screamed and pushed forward and met her running daughter in a bear hug. The other girls were from an outlying area, their families were on their way.

    We so seldom see these reunions that it affected all of us, Hell even I had something in my eyes.

    We entered the small city, really more of a large town and found it bustling with activity and friendly people, folks smiling and waving. Not the norm for us. We met with the full council and told them our goal was to speak to the captain of the trade ship, and that we would like to stay around for a few days in camp outside town and after concluding our business we were heading West.

    After we were set up in our camp in a park outside the town Charley , the girls and Willy and Joe and I headed for the harbor.

    Our meeting with the ships captain was held on the dock under a shade canopy. His name was about a mile long but he said to call him Pete for short, he also spoke perfect English.

    He had spent many years in America before the EMP and was visiting his family in Baja when it happened.

    When the lights went out it had little effect on his village since electric power was a very spotty thing and the people were used to living without it. The village was in a very good spot defensibly speaking and Pete was quick to gather the people with weapons to form a force to defend their homes. The first test came within days.

    A force of what was supposed to be Mexican Army troops came barreling in waving guns and trying to take over, they were met with a barrage of gunfire, none of them survived, it was the perfect ambush. Who ever heard of peasants being trained in military tactics?

    The results of the short fight was to add twenty AK 47’s and a lot of ammo to the village people. Pete took charge of that and gathered his best people and showed them how to handle the AK’s. They then set about building a series of bunkers around the village and establishing a full time guard force.

    He even developed a scout force that patrolled several miles outside the area. They were tried several more times and won every time, gaining more experience and lots more weapons. As time went by Pete could see they needed some form of commerce so he headed down the coast just looking.

    In a small town along the coast he found a treasure. A ship, a small ship, but a ship, he also found the captain and crew who were living in the town. After meeting the ships captain and hearing that he wasn’t interested in going to sea Pete offered to trade weapons for the ship and offered jobs to any of the crew who would agree to serve.

    And thus was born a business, the first mate of the crew got the ship running and headed to sea where they spent two weeks teaching Pete to be the captain which was of course just a title because two weeks don’t make a seaman. But Pete was the public face of the ship and held the title.

    After a while they took the ship south and made a port call in Costa Rica where he traded a few AK’s for fuel and looked into finding a cargo. What he found was black gold and not Oil, Coffee!! Well it’s black in the cup. He got a full load on nothing but a hand shake with the owner. His plan was to head north until he found a safe market along the coast of America, he took maybe five minutes to see that California wasn’t the place so he headed further north and found this place and established a trade center with the locals.

    So far things were working very well, but he had no interest in growing bigger, he was happy, his village was happy and everybody he dealt with was happy. I couldn’t blame him a bit.

    We settled into business and I asked how much of his load he could sell us, he said he had several extra tons over what he usually dropped off here.

    He wanted gold because he could use it to buy weapons from the remnants of the Mexican Army and one thing they always needed ammo.

    He said things were very bad down in Mexico and so far they had held on against all comers but it was an on going battle.

    And now I had a plan, I asked what weapons they needed ammo for , he said mostly for the AK’s and some 223 as well as shotgun and 22 LR, I asked if he would trade coffee for ammo and he jumped at the idea, we started the horse trading right there. We had tons of ammo with us and while not as much for the AK/SKS we had a lot of that plus we had all the stuff we took off the slavers.

    We were now in the coffee business. I was saved! Saved from drinking tea made from some spiny cactus which I refused to do.

    And besides pouring good booze in cactus tea is against the laws of the universe! At least in my universe.

    Capt. Pete was also aware of the Black ship and had seen it and after a run in with them had avoided them. When told what they had been up to he was not surprised and was very glad we had ended the whole mess. I told him we weren’t quite done with them and that we would be heading south to finish cutting off the snakes head. And when done we would like to head further south to buy a load of coffee if he was willing to help us, he was but didn’t want us in competition with him, when I explained my whole plan he was very excited about it. It would also help his people.

    With our business complete we called for Fox to bring in the Black ship which cause a stir in the town but when they realized it was with us it helped.

    Fox had got the crew settled down by assuring them that they would be put ashore when we were done. And they would be. Which shore. was yet to be determined

    Capt. Pete and his crew helped us load the cargo holds of the Black Ship with as many of our Hummers as we could load with the trailers stuffed with all the supplies we might need.

    After the trucks were loaded with the coffee beans They headed for home with Joe and Willy in charge. I kept an all volunteer group of four people to the Hummer. We had fifteen Hummers and trailers loaded to the max.

    Charley headed out with several Hummers and loaded trailers full of food, fuel and ammo, he had his own mission and it was essential if this whole plan was going to work out. He was hauling ass as fast as they could safely go.

    The next morning we set sail south following the trade ship, during the days at sea we stayed sharp with work outs and shooting at floating targets off the fantail of the ship.

    Fox and his band of cut throats had the ship in good order, the former crew was scared to death as well they should be.

    Our destination was in the Gulf of California, the body of water between Baja and main land Mexico, a  place called Empalme, it was a costal city and was the home port for the black ship.

    Here was where the females were unloaded and then sent into the slave pipeline.

    I was sick with the knowledge that we would not be able to save every one that had been taken but I was going to make sure this pipe line was closed and those involved were dead. Another might rise to take it’s place but for now this was the target.

    The plan was to enter port under cover of darkness, and using the information from the captain we would start the dance after we unloaded our vehicles, but there was work to do first.

    Captain Pete was heading on south to start the wheels turning on our plan. But first he followed us and waited until we were ready to start the dance.

     Ralph would fly the chopper off the ship from the hasty landing deck we had built on the trade ship.

    He had Jasper and another door gunner with him and two security people. The plan called for several scouts and shooters to infiltrate into the dock area where they would take out anybody who was around, if they were armed then they were bad guys. Sorry but there it is.

    Fox and some of his lads went in first, swimming the last 200 yards from the Avon boat. After that the boat would return and load the scouts and shooters who would be landed on the now hopefully secured dock. I wanted to be there but I knew the youngsters could handle it better then me plus had I gone the girls would have gone so it was best to remain on board the ship.

    We were about a mile from shore and blacked out as was the trade ship which was loitering along waiting for word to send the chopper in.

    It was a long time or so it seemed before we spotted a flashing light from shore which meant come on in. I had Sandy standing looking the Captain of the ship right in the eye while he eased us into the docking area.

    His crew each had guards on them holding suppressed handguns aimed at their heads. I know nothing about docking ships but I’ll give this guy points for doing it right the first time. I almost didn’t feel the bump when we eased against the dock.

    The crew very quietly got the gangway swung out and in place which allowed the troops to head off into the dark. The ship was shut down except for one engine that provided power.

    The Captain and his crew were locked in a closed off compartment with no way out except the one hatch which we dogged and locked.

    I left a few people on board to guard the ramp against boarders while the rest of us headed into the night. We met up with Fox and the rest of the troops who were scattered out along the dock, unseen in the shadows. So far so good.

    We closed in on a warehouse that was the holding area for any captives awaiting transport inland.

    They were apparently held here until payment was made then delivered to the buyers in another town.

    The scouts eased away into the darkness to start their entry into the building.

    Time slows down so much while you wait for either the quiet word that alls well or the sudden blasting of rifles.

     Shortly a scout returned to lead us into the place, inside we found holding cages with several girls in each cage, these bastards were collecting every girl they found regardless of race, I had assumed they were only after White girls but I was wrong.

    Out of the security force guarding the place only two survived the scouts. The two were babbling a mile a minute. Sandy and May headed right for the cages with the rest of our women where they told them they were safe and would be freed soon. A lot of weeping began.

    The talkers told us a large party was coming in the morning to collect all the captives held here. We had work to do. Interrogated separately they both said that for the most part the people of the town, the few still living here stayed away from this area and weren’t involved in the slave ring. That was good news, now we could kill everybody we saw with a weapon.

    He said they would just drive up and come in to start the loading process, he expected about ten men in three covered Army trucks and all were armed with M-16’s thanks to the good old US Government.

    I figured none of them would make it ten feet from the trucks, I assigned two shooters per enemy and all were using suppressed rifles. I didn’t want one shot fired by the BG’s. Knock on wood.

    One thing I want to expand on is that while luck has a lot to do with our success the fact that we operate together, train together and live together as family makes us a very good force. We all know each other. we know who is able to handle what. And we never send anybody on a mission that is not needed, not planned out as much as possible and only volunteers.

    Male or female, all are treated the same. From myself to the commo runners.. Except the little brownie stealing shit, her I’m gonna get.

    If I can do it and not get caught by “Them” about the only thing I can do is maybe drop her off the cliff to the lake below but she’s half fish so that might not work.

    “ John, stop it, you’re not going to do any such thing, act your age.”

   Shit! I keep forgetting about them. There must be some kind of range on it like a radio.

   Further away less contact!! I’ll have to check that out.!

    “ HAHAAHAHAHAHHA”

    My thoughts were interrupted by the sound of approaching vehicles, they pulled up in front of the building and all the men unloaded and started pissing and lighting smokes. They were scattered out and I heard a click on the radio followed by watching the BG’s dropping like flies. One managed to get his gun out but was shot to rag dolls before he could pull the trigger. Damn my people are good! Scary good.

    Full day light saw the bodies being loaded into a truck to be dumped in a gully out of town. We now owned the town so to speak. Now we would start the next phase of the battle.

    Our equipment was offloaded onto the dock. We spent the day getting everything ready for the next phase. Which was gonna be the hard part. But first we needed to finish cutting the snakes head off.

    From the two warehouse guards we knew where they were supposed to be taking the girls and that was the next step.

    Fox and the scouts headed toward the objective because he spoke Spanish like he was born to it which maybe he was. They were using the guards wheels an old ford van.

    We were going to hold off till just about dusk to start and travel undercover of the darkness, right behind the three trucks who would light the way for us so we could run blacked out.

    The freed captives remained in the warehouse with our ladies as security, Sandy and May decided I need minders more then the freed girls so they came along.

    Of course they entered into a long argument on who got the Machine gun. I refused to be drawn into it so they did the Rock, scissors, paper thing.

    Which didn’t go well because they know each other too well, so I took a ballpoint and wrote a number on my hand and they guessed it, May won, she hugged me while Sandy punched my shoulder. Shit, can’t win for losing. But she finally slid over and kissed my cheek then jammed her tongue in my ear as far as she could!.. I fucking hate that more then anything else she could do. I ran off the road and damn near took out a power pole.

    She was laughing so hard I thought she was gonna die for lack of oxygen, She’s as funny as a grenade without a pin rolling around on the floor under your feet, just more dangerous.

    May was laughing and leaned forward to hug me and slipped her tongue into the other ear. This time I was ready and didn’t run off the road but I swear I will get payback!.

    “ Shh, he’s plotting again. giggling.”

“Yea I know, but we will win and he knows it”

“ more giggling”

You know I can hear you right?

John? Did you say something?

I hate them both.

Laughing out loud now.

    Here we are heading into the night to kill a bunch of people and they find it amusing to stick tongues in my ears, what does that say for us? Or them anyway?

    We need home time, I need baby time, and Beth time!

    We all do John says Sandy with a yep from May, We want this shit over with and wanna go home to our happy rock pile on the ridge.

    We all got quiet then and both got as close as the sorry hummer would allow. I hoped if all went as I planned we would be home within two weeks. If not then who knows.

    Hermosillo the sign read, a pretty big place before the event, we could see fires burning for cooking and heat. Some windows with lights showing either from candles or maybe solar. Just outside the town we met up with Fox and crew.

    they had gone in on foot and found the place right where the talkers said it was. They said it had maybe twenty people loitering around outside but none really on guard and one of the scouts was able to look in a window and saw bunk beds lined up, most were empty, the captives were held in a cage at the far end of the room and were pretty much ignored.

    From here on out I wasn’t overly worried about noise but would like to avoid it as much as possible but so be it

   These people were gonna die and the sooner the better. I wanted to be done and rolling long before daylight. I just wanted to save some for information. Because this was just a way stop, I wanted the head of the snake.

    Fox and the scouts and our shooters with suppressed weapons eased away into the night. About an hour later I heard an AK open up for a full 30 rounds then it was quiet. I could only hope none of our people were hit.

    We rolled right into the place and saw all the bodies, the door was open and inside we found Fox with a bloody rag around his left arm and holding a pistol in his right.

     kneeling on the floor was five men all pissing their pants as well they should be.

    He was asking them questions which they ignored. With not a word he shot one right in the middle of the forehead, the rest started crying and babbling.

    He split them up and started asking questions and writing down the answers, then moved to the next one then the next, he then went back and reworded the same questions and wrote down the answers. When he was done three were telling the same story, the other two were lying. Or didn’t know anything but were making it up as they went out of fear.

    He went back to the two and asked them again, one was too scared to lie the other had a look about him so Fox asked the other three who their leader was, all pointed to the one man.\

    Fox said something to the man about talking and got spit at so he motioned over two of the scouts who still had long hair with sweat bands around the head, they looked very Indian to even me and I was used to them.

    Fox asked Sandy to come over to one side and said something to her, she smiled her evil smile and walked over to the two scouts and rattled off something in Navajo which made them smile.

   One pulled a long knife from behind his back and the other jerked the captive off the floor. For the benefit of the prisoner Fox asked her what she told the Indians. She said ones sister had been stolen by slavers and she said they could have this one but she wanted his balls to make a witches brew.

    They hadn’t taken three steps when the man started talking so fast Fox had to hold up his hand to stop them.

    The man told them everything they wanted to know and a great deal was verified by some of the other prisoners.

     The captives were told who we were, where we were going and offered a place with us or they could head for home if they had one, most were from long distances away and decided to stay with their saviors, a few said they could make it home and were give a weapon and all the food and water they could carry and a ride as far as was practical. We hated leaving them but they all were old enough to know what they could and could not do.

    The head of this snake lived in a big Villa about 20 miles out of town, it had a wall around it and about 50 of his troops. One good thing was none of the captives were there and every person there knew what was going on and condoned it.

    We headed right out about a mile behind the three trucks with some of the prisoners driving, sitting with them was some of our scouts who from a distance looked like Mexicans. Their job was to get the gates opened and keep them open until we arrived, in each truck was ten of our shooters down behind sand bags stacked along the sides of the trucks.

    We would close the gap as soon as we could, the last truck in would stop in the open gate like it had engine problems.

    I was not happy with this set up because we could lose a lot of people but we were trained and worked together and were better armed then anybody in the whole country. Shock and Awshit was gonna work for us.

    I was hoping when the first truck rolled inside that all eyes would be on the new “ meat” which wasn’t there, just ugly men with a lot of guns.

   We held back until we head the radio break squelch three times and we dropped the hammer. We hit the place like it was the last melon in the patch.

    The firefight was raging inside and the truck in the gate was pulling inside when my Hummer hit the opening, May was up on the gun and it was roaring.

     I was yelling “Short bursts” at May who was yelling like a damn Comanche and hosing the upper floors of the big house.

    The two trucks were parked along the inner walls and had the whole front under fire, I kept rolling right around the house followed by two hummers while the others went the other way.

    It was the wildest firefight I’ve ever been in We got around the back in time to see the last of three suburban’s blasting out the back gate that we didn’t know about and should have expected.

    But they didn’t get very far, Sandy and Jasper were in the chopper with Ralph and they lit up the get away rigs until they were just steaming piles of junk.

They let up and we closed on the junk pile. We approached real slow and a scout with good body armor went forward and looked in each.

    He fire a shot into the first one and nothing in the other two.

    After he gave the all clear we dragged the mess out onto the ground where we ID’d the snake himself and his crew of body guards. I had no intention of taking any prisoners and I was happy to see there was none.

    While searching the bodies I heard somebody whistle and call May over, I didn’t even have to look but I did. It was the most pimped out 1911 I’ve ever seen, I don’t thing there was room for one more speck of gold on the thing, the grips were Platinum and the grip screw detents had emeralds in them. I just shook my head, even May had a disgusted look on her face but I had no doubt it was going in their gun vault.

    In the trunk back of the rigs was what had to be a scumbags idea of a GOD ( Get Outta Dodge) bag, no food or water just gold and silver and diamonds and I’ve no idea what all. We just shook our heads but we took it. And all the weapons we found. One of the guys climbed inside the leaders rig and came out with a beautiful Katana. It had to be hundreds of years old if not more.

    He handed it to May who jumped for joy. An old sword gets her going and a gun with thousands of dollars worth of bling? Not so much.

    Ralph had landed by then and Sandy trotted up and May handed her the 1911, she said “ Jeeze what fuck head ruined a nice 1911? I laughed right out loud, do I know my ladies or what. May then handed her the Katana and they were both jumping around. I know I didn’t go wrong raising them but they are weird.

    I took the sword and very carefully slid it back into it’s sheath before one of them cut an arm off.

    We had done it, the snake was dead, now all we had to do was head home and we weren’t going back on the black ship which was now retired from slaving and was gonna be hauling Coffee and anything else it could carry.

    Costa Rica was the Banana capital of the world or close to it before event. I know nothing about Bananas but if they could be hauled north there was a market for them. I’d leave that to Captain Pete. He was also taking over the former Black ship that would be repainted and become a good ship again.

    We waited until everybody was gathered together again and I held a meeting. I told them I was heading right thru Mexico to Texas and when I got there I had a plan which always gets a laugh.

    I told them that a big convoy was coming to meet us and we were going to clean up any assholes between here and there as was Charley who was dealing with the Indians whose country we were gonna be passing thru.

    It was time. This whole country had been a shit hole from day one, the people were wonderful, their food was even better, it was their leaders and the drug assholes who no longer had a market but would soon be trying to establish one in our country so my thought was kill em.

    As usual I said anybody who wanted could leave aboard the ships and head back with them. Nobody said a word.

    We took the time to find fuel and “bought?” provisions from the locals who were happy to see the snake dead. With the dawn we would roll out for Texas.

    Sandy and May came to me and said we need to talk. Ok say’s I, talk. May said John, speaking logically can you explain why we are driving across the asshole of Mexico? Now when May trash talks it’s time to listen, With Sandy ..not so much.

    I made the come on motion with my hands and she took a deep breath and said “OK, we started out to buy coffee and see my family, we instead ended up killing a lot of shit heads then we stole a ship then we sent a convoy of coffee home and you sent Charley off on some secret mission, right so far?

    I nodded. She continued by saying then we loaded our selves on a slave ship or former slave ship and headed south to kill a bunch of shit heads and save more innocent girls from a fate worst then death, right? I nodded.

    She said ok, so we killed the head asshole, saved the princesses and now you wanna drive across Mexico? Why?

    I didn’t think she was done so I did the come on thing again.

    She said ok, now we want to set up a coffee supply system plus anything else worth hauling north right? I nodded. She took another deep breath which I might add was causing a strain on her shirt button. She smiled and said John, listen to me and stop watching my tits! Sandy laughed.

    So, she asked, why can’t we take the nice comfy ship south to Costa Rica and off load and since it only this far from coast to coast ( here she held up her thumb and forefinger and held them an inch apart) We could drive it in a day, two if we have to kill more shit heads. Right? By now I was really listening and had stopped staring at her chest.

    I sat looking at her for a long time and finally said ok you’re the boss, get with it. She took it wrong of course. I said I was sorry for joking at such a serious time.

     I yelled out to everybody nearby and said “Meeting in five minutes”. When everybody was present I explained what I had planned to do, then I explained what May and Sandy had come up with.  

    Everybody started talking at once then laughing then all looked at the girls and applauded them. They took a bow.

    The commo lady was already on the horn telling the ship to hold in place that we were heading back to the dock and in two minutes we were. Every person we passed waved and yelled a greeting, it was good!

     By the next morning we were loaded back on the ship which was already in the process of being painted white with red trim. We all chipped in and the job was done by the time we were off the coast of CR.

    She was clean from bow to stern and looking awesome with the new paint and Old Glory waving. And the rail mounted m-60’s!

    By the time we got there Capt. Pete was waiting on the dock with the local bosses all of whom seemed very happy to see us.

    We stayed there for several days talking with the government officials such as they were. Not once were we hit up for one bribe. Maybe things down here were better these days.

    After I explained to them my plan they were all for it, it meant establishing trade and would bring in stuff they needed.

    We were going to operate out of the sea port of Limon. And a week later we headed out for the Caribbean coast. Several members of the Government went along to smooth the way which was good because I didn’t want to start this venture by shooting half the population.

    With no problems we made it in a day even though the roads were starting to lose ground to nature.

    After we were settled in a warehouse complex right on the port.

    We held more meetings with the local leaders and the Government types. At this point it was a looking good. We had several ships to look over so Fox and crew took that job. We wanted something small enough to run with a small crew but big enough to haul a good payload plus be able to handle storms.

    It took two weeks of looking and tinkering before Fox found what he wanted, he had several able seamen who were stranded in port when the EMP happened that were willing to work the ship as long as they returned to port here in Limon.

    Why these stranded sailors didn’t just head out was beyond me, except when looking at the local ladies I began to see why they might have stayed and wanted to return.

    The ship Fox chose was old enough that it wasn’t run by computers but was in good shape and after a big crew swarmed over her painting and cleaning she was beautiful! They say it’s bad luck to change a ships name.  So we changed her name.

    Sandy smashed a bottle of wine on her bow and named her the Republic of Texas ship “Beth“!! That brought all our people to their feet giving their version of the famous Rebel yell! 

    A week later she was loaded with a cargo of coffee and all the bananas and other slow to ripen fruit we could load.

    Fox and crew sailed that day while others set to work on the second ship he had picked out, she was given the same treatment as the “Beth” and in two weeks was spotless.

    The new captain was Foxes former first officer now promoted to ships captain.

    He too had a well trained crew and she was christened the RTS Old Woman! This had to be explained to the locals but we settled it by saying she was the Grand Mother of our village, they understood that.

    We started loading our vehicles and equipment and  the bird dog. Everything except for the security team that was staying behind to guard the cargo of coffee as it came in. I didn’t think there would be a problem but I wanted to make sure there wasn’t one.

    At the last minute I told the girls we weren’t going on this ship. We were heading back to the Pacific side to wait for one of the trade ships and we were heading back to Oregon to finish our search for Mays family. We were taking three Hummers and eight people with us plus our trailers full of everything we might need. Ralph and the chopper were going back with us. I got a lot of hugs with that one.

    We bid fair winds to our people and as they pulled away from the dock we rolled back to the Pacific coast.

    As we went I had to wonder why it was that for all intents and purposes the people of CR didn’t fall apart like we did.

     I’ve heard of no crazy shit like we have been seeing and fighting from almost day one.  I know some will jump to say it was the easy availability of guns in the U.S. but I call bullshit on that one.

    The people of CR were allowed to own guns, and in fact most of the countries South of the US border have as many guns floating around as we do. And there are more Full Auto weapons down here then in the US.

    Most either given to them by our Government or the Communist Governments around the world in their attempt to create a communist take over in our Southern hemisphere.

    Regardless you would think it would be the same or worse here. But these people who are called third world have risen to the challenge better then we did. Interesting.

    I have seen that most of the outlying places didn’t fall apart because they couldn’t plug in their game station, they as a whole just kept growing their gardens and caring for their elderly.

    Doctors are still caring for people. We have seen nobody who looks hungry or for that matter even dirty. we have a lot to learn up North.

    That evening we were back at the port and ready the next morning to load our equipment which would fit aboard both ships even though they were loaded with cargo. Of course most of our people and gear was heading North as we speak.

    The sun was just up when we pulled away from the dock. It wasn’t going to be a fast trip but it was going to be more enjoyable then the one down. We had plenty of room to move around and our people took over the stern area with awnings to keep off the sun. It was a time to sleep and read.

    We saw lots of small boats out fishing and while they avoided us they did wave as we did.

    Day after day we worked our way North just a mile or so off the coast. More and more people were turning to the ocean to feed themselves as mankind has done since the dawn of time.

    Mostly they were using sail boats but there was a few of the bigger fishing boats. In time the oceans would heal from the harm man has done and maybe if we are lucky Mother Earth won’t shake us off like a pesky bug which she should have done long ago.

    The rape of the Amazon river basin had ended, the rain forests were going to come back, I hope.

    I’m not a tree hugger but even a crusty old fart can see we were killing our Mother.

    There is a great deal to say about never getting back to where we were. I know where we live will stay as it is, that we won’t change it anymore then we have and yea one day I expect the propane will run out and the cold room won’t have cold beer but that’s the breaks, our forefathers didn’t have cold beer unless they stored it in ice houses which I guess they did.

    I love my cold beer but if it means doing without to never going back to where we were then so be it. But for now the ship has plenty of cold beer so I smile.

    In some ways I hate heading back to the mess up north but even I have to admit it’s much better then three years ago.

    Maybe we’ve managed to kill off most of the scumbags. Maybe with the advent of kids having a mother and father both they will grow up better humans. But there will always be trash, there always has been.

    The day finally came when we saw the ship turning toward the shore and watched her enter into the port we seemingly left so long ago when in fact it was only a few weeks if that long.

    The folks in the small city came down to cheer us in ( I think they were getting low on coffee) it was a happy time for all.

    They reported no problems with raiders and life was good. We off loaded our equipment and set up camp in the same park just outside town. It seemed huge without all of us camped in it.

    The former slave ship, with it’s new face lift had been renamed the RTS Freedom in honor of her having been freed from her own slavery.

    She headed on further North to trade with the villages along the coast. I wasn’t worried about them because the entire crew was well trained with the weapons she now carried.

    They could stop anything but a torpedo and I was hoping none came her way. With the extension of the trade route North it would open up more trade growth which could only help in the long run.

    Eventually I’m sure the people here will come up with something that the folks in CR want and work out a trade system.

    We hung around in camp for a week just getting our land legs back and getting our gear in top shape for the trip ahead. We spent a little range time just making sure all was well in that area.

Early fall was making it’s presents known when we headed out. We had about 600 miles to travel but we were staying on back roads and wondering wherever the road went as long as it was West and a bit North.

    We took it slow and easy, making about 200 miles a day and camping where we found water. We saw a lot of outlying farms and ranches that were doing well, we didn’t need supplies so we just kept trucking, why scare them for nothing.

    We did stop and talk to folks who were close to the road.

    I still think the flags helped a lot, all these folks were friendly and were doing good.

   All were more friendly when they found we weren’t from the former Government. I think the winds of real freedom are sweeping the land!

    I have no idea what the future will bring but I somehow think the people had enough of the “G” and are happier making it on their own with no bullshit from Washington. Works for me!

    May said her people were on a small farm/ranch near Pomeroy WA. According to the maps we had we would get there around midday. She was getting quieter by the mile, Sandy got in back with her and just hugged her and they talked in quiet voices. I was feeling pretty good because the area had missed most of the shit that hit other places.

    We finally came to a gate turning in on a paved road that May said was the one. We turned and moved slowly forward with a scout vehicle out front about 200 yards. The Scout rig eased up a small rise and stopped, two of the of them got out and moved up to the top of the hill and dropped onto their bellies and crawled forward after  looking a while they slid back down and walked to the rig.

    May was about to jump out when the radio clicked and the scout commo man said all clear.

    We drove up beside them and walked to the top, there below us was the prettiest picture you could ask for. A fast moving stream flowing thru the small valley and over the bridge was a stone house, that looked like it had been there for a hundred years, I must have said it out loud because May said it has been.

    There was wash on the line and several people working in the big garden. We just stood there until we were spotted. I made a motion and the scout rig rolled forward to the crest and showed the colors.

    We waited until an old pick up headed up to where we were, an older man stepped out and asked if he could help us. May stepped into sight and the mans knees buckled.

    May ran to him and grabbed him along with a scout, he recovered and with tears in his eyes he said here Oh My God!! You’re alive!! She just hugged him and cried. I felt pretty good right then. But I wondered if we were losing May.

“ No John, she’s not leaving us, she wants them to come with us”

I didn’t even say shit for a change, I looked at Sandy and put my arm around her.

    May stopped crying and turned to introduce us, His eyes went up when she said I was her husband but he just nodded, they really went up when she mentioned Sandy was my wife also. But he held it together.

    He said come on Mom’s gonna be worried and with that May joined him in the old truck and they headed down the hill, I said we would lay back and give them time.

    After about twenty minutes May walked out and waved us forward. Time to meet the Mother in law, Sandy laughed.

    We rolled into the yard area and parked near the barn. Sandy and I headed over to where May stood with a lady that must have been her aunt but she was while not black more of brownish color.

    May introduced us and the woman walked over and looked into my eyes just like Old Woman does.

   I thought “Oh shit. Another witch!” she smiled and said don’t cuss John. Sandy was laughing so hard she couldn’t breath.

    Now I’m not buying this stuff but there has to be a good explanation, I just ain’t found it yet, on the other hand Charley just ignores it. And gets on with his life, I need to try that.

    After all the laughing was done we went inside where she offered wild rose hip tea, I looked at Sandy who headed out and returned with several pounds of coffee. The aunt just smiled the uncle looked like he was gonna cry.

   When May explained how her brother died the three of them all cried a bit. Sandy and I excused ourselves to check on the troops to give them time.

    We found our people had parked the hummers in a defensive manner and were prepared to stay as long as it took.

    They had a fire and a pot of coffee on and  were chilling.

    I noticed one was missing and looked around and finally spotted him near the crest of the hill watching the road. Good people.

    Sandy was telling them how it went and that it would be up to May whatever happened next.

    May came out to say dinner would be served in about an hour on the back porch where there was two big tables used when they were feeding hired hands during harvest time.

    I was worried about using their food but she laughed and said her aunt could feed our whole army for a few days.

    She noticed one person missing and it took her less time to spot him then it did me. She smiled and said you know, they haven’t seen one bad person since the event.

    I was finding that hard to believe but they were way off the beaten path and out of sight. In the winter their wood stoves would put smoke up but still they had no problems.

    May took Sandy and I off to the side where we sat under a tree, she took a moment to get her thoughts right and then said looking at me she said I wanted you to meet my aunt, she was born in Louisiana and is part black.

    She added that her mother was too and that she felt that “IF” she were to have a baby there was a chance it might be darker then expected.

    They both looked at me until I looked down and shook my head and let out a moan and looked up at their confused anguish filled faces. I waited a beat and said I never knew!! With as much sadness in my voice as I could.

    May looked crushed while Sandy looked like she was gonna shoot me so I added real fast, I never knew I was colored blind!!!

    It took a moment and May was in my lap, arms wrapped around my neck so tight I could feel my head getting light.

    She let go just in time before I choked out. I was hugging her when Sandy said good save butt head! Then she wrapped around me.

    After they settled down I asked May if she actually thought it would matter to me? She said it had mattered to the one person she brought home to meet “mom”. I said well your taste in men has improved. She hugged me again and said thank you John you’ve made me very happy ! Which is lucky for you buddy boy the other one piped up.

    It would be several days before I remember her comment about maybe having a baby. But that heart attack was still days away.

    We ate on the back porch while three of us stood guard, we had met everybody living on the place mostly friends who had moved in after the event, most were about the same age. Hell I was thinking of them as old and yet they were my age. It would be funny if not so not funny.

    There was a total of twelve people living here, four older adults and two younger married couples and their teen aged kids. I’m not going into names because when we leave unless they go with us we most likely won’t see them again. And it was pretty obvious that none wanted to leave here.

    May’s aunt asked me if we had been married by a preacher, I had to think a moment and decided since Charley was an elder of the people and was in some ways a shaman or whatever and since we lived in Navajo country it made him our spiritual leader, yea it’s a stretch but what the hell. So with an absolute straight face I said yes we were.

    She asked how it was I had two wives, I was kind of stuck since it was three so I said well you’ll have to ask them, they worked it out and informed me the day of the wedding.

    She laughed out loud and said John you’re so full of shit!! Please don’t ever take up poker playing.

    Everybody was laughing their asses off so she admitted she had asked May already and knew the whole story. Including Beth and the babies.

    I made a decision right then and said. I think you folks have been very lucky to not have been hit by raiders. I then told then about what we had done on the coast just a while back, they were shocked to hear we had lost two of our people and in the process had killed about 20 or so slavers. I reminded them that like me, they weren’t getting any younger. I told them all about life in the canyons, how easy the life was, nobody working hard at all and having lots of time to follow their dreams in whatever they never had time for.

    After I stopped talking May took over and told it from a woman’s viewpoint, with Sandy chipping in. I could see the younger couples thinking about it and the older folks were looking worried. I took the girls out to relieve the guard so they could eat.

    We spent the night in the barn on the hay which reminded us of the trip north where we found that old barn and laid out the storm. Great memory.

    The next morning we met for breakfast and had a great time, we didn’t mention their moving to the canyons.

    We were laughing it up when we all heard one of the belt feds open up in a long rolling burst of firing, we could hear a lot more as we hit the door running.

     I jumped into my Hummer while the girls argued over the gun I finally reached and grabbed a belt and pulled the butt over the seat, it was Sandy and she was spitting mad. I was laughing.

    We topped the hill and saw two truck loads of people shooting at the guards, May opened up and was sawing their wheels in half, the other Hummer slid up beside us and their gun opened up. I was behind the Hummer with Sandy who was yelling at May to let up on the trigger,

    Now I was really laughing my ass off in the middle of a fire fight, here was the worlds record holder for burning out M-60 barrels telling somebody else to slow down.

    Finally the guns went silent and I peeked around the Hummer, the two trucks were burning and nothing was moving around them. We drove over and around the trucks with the guns ready, everybody behind the trucks was dead.

    We used our fire extinguishers to put out the fires. After that we dragged the dead away from the trucks. May’s uncle and the other men arrived at the scene all packing rifles which surprised me.

     One of the men looked at the dead and said “ My God!!” seems he knew a couple of them, they were locals who had never amounted to much. He didn’t know any of the others. I looked around and said what would Vegas put the odds at that the first raid you get finds us here?

    None of them could answer that. But they were smart enough to know what would have happened since they never posted guards. I could only shake my head.

    We cleaned up the weapons and everything else of use and tossed the bodies in the trucks which we towed off the property and pushed them off into a deep gully.

    When we returned to the farm house Samuel the uncle asked me if we buried them, I said no, we figure buzzards need to eat too.

    He just looked at me a moment and said yes, then he stuck his hand out and said thank you John and all your people, we would be dead now had you not been here.

    That evening at a subdued dinner Anna the aunt asked if this stuff happened where we live, May said never, Anna wanted to know why? so May explained the meaning of Indian country, nothing moved that we didn’t know about ( except the bastards who shot Beth! And Walker and me) she simply told it like it was, one of our other ladies told them stories about the cooking area and the wonderful meals we all shared.

    She had them rolling with laughter with stories about my ongoing battle to try to have one whole brownie just to myself.

    The little Commo runner was the capper when they heard about her flipping me off after stealing my brownie.

    It was funny to them but since it was my brownies I wasn’t finding it too funny. One of the troopers told about the beer cave and how it turned into a meat locker and how I had gathered the Miners and they hacked out a room off the side and carpeted it put in a bar and a pool table followed by a jukebox filled with 60’s and 70’s rock. The bartender could step into the cold room for more beer so the bar while cool wasn’t cold. It was awesome.

    Anna asked about the earth ovens so Sandy told her about the first one she and I built in the high country and the hot springs, she told them about Buck and gang.

    We ended the day with coffee and brownies!! Anna stood guard over me while I got the entire thing, I could see it was killing the girls but Anna was laughing her ass off, and then just as I was reaching for the last bite she took it and popped it in her mouth which set off a loud round of laughing. The girls jumped on me and kissed me saying “Poor Johnny”…

    The next morning Anna and Samuel asked if we really thought they would do well in the canyon? I looked at the girls who both took a moment and then said yes, it was explained they didn’t “have” to do anything except what they wanted, they talked about the ones who did the gardening because they wanted to and the ones who would gather wood for the earth ovens and the night fire, which was a good two hour job if only one person did it. Then there was the running of fishing lines, or even just fishing.

    They explained about the hunting rules, and that the older boys did that because it was done a couple of miles away from the canyon so as to not scare the local wild life that we enjoyed watching.

    After the girls stopped talking Anna looked at the rest of their extended family and made a come on hand motion. The men asked how many kids lived in the canyon and I was stumped, I had no idea.

    I looked at the girls who shrugged and said they had no idea because we rescued so many kids who lived with whomever they wanted to on any given night. I could see the mothers were shocked at that so I reminded them that most of these kids had lost their parents in raids that took them captive and they lived with us because they had nowhere else to go but  shortly after getting there found they loved it.

    The other mother asked about school? I pointed at one of the guys sitting there and said Stan is one of the teachers so he can explain it.

    Stan started by telling them his own education which involved a lot of degrees, he was actually a PHD a few times over and was great on a machine gun.

    He explained that the kids learned whatever they wanted to learn, some wanted to learn to take apart diesel engines, others wanted to learn solar science and helped install and do the upkeep on our own extensive solar set up.

    Some wanted to be gardeners or gun smiths, whatever they wanted to learn there was somebody there to teach them. Most learned then moved on to the next thing.

    Stan said in his opinion we had pound for pound the most educated group of kids he had ever seen.

    I could see that the kids here were digging what they were hearing and it was pointed out by Stan that kids needed to be around others their age to have a future.

    That was a wake up call for these people, they hadn’t thought about when their boys were ready to find out about girls.

    We left them to talk among themselves, at lunch one of the fathers asked how they could pay their way since they had nothing to trade.

    I said follow me, we went to my trailer where I said open that crate which they did, when they opened it they were looking at a box full of gold coins. After they were over their shock I said, you see? What’s value? Can you run a fishing line? Can you hoe a garden without cutting the food crops down? Can your wives cook? Can your kids be commo runners for an hour a week?

    Can you learn to patrol, shoot, become a part of a huge extended family? Can you spend a couple of hours just helping where you see something to help with? Life is very easy in the canyons, you just have to want to fit in.

    But you will have to spend time fitting into our combat teams, learning to fight if need be. But if being home works for you then you can be on the home guard force.

    Whatever you can do will be fine, money has no value with us, honor and honesty and your word are that’s required.

    That night at supper they all signed on as members of our canyon family, May was in tears. Now we had to locate some transport for them and all their personal belongings because leaving ones memories behind just wasn’t done if at all possible.

    After looking at maps we took two Hummers and headed for Lewiston Idaho, we made contact with their guards and explained what we needed, they radioed it in and soon a big Ford diesel truck drove up and a man and woman stepped out, he looked our Hummers over and said I’d give you my truck and wife for one of those M-60’s, she promptly elbowed him in the ribs which got laughs from my two.

    He said he was Blake Foster and was the head of security in the area, I asked why he needed an M-60  and if they had been having trouble, he said not until just recently when some raiders hit a couple of small places just out side town, and split before they could be caught.

    I gave him the run down on the ones we took out and he was sure it was the same bunch.

    I told him what we needed in the way of transport and that while I couldn’t let him have an m-60 I could give him some M-16’s he jumped at that and said to come on in.

    We followed him into the city where we stopped at a car lot and went in to meet the owner who was on the town council. We explained what we had and what we needed. He was still a car dealer above all else and tried to work up a trade for a hummer with the gun on it, I smiled and stuck out my hand, he smiled big till I said thanks for your time and headed for the door.

    He caught up in the parking lot and we spent 30 minutes dickering and he settled on five M-16’s a dozen mags and 2000 rounds for each for the guard force after Blake reminded him that he slept while others guarded him.

We left with two one ton quad cab diesel Fords and now we needed two large cargo trailers, Blake took us to a place that had them and we used gold to buy two large gooseneck enclosed trailers. They put the towing set up in the beds and we were off.

    We left Blake at the gate and told him who was leaving, he said he know those folks and they were good people.

     He then got a look in his eyes and said you I wonder if they would mind if we took over the place to help feed the city? I said well when we leave it will be empty but asking would be nice.

    He and his wife followed us back out to the farm where he talked with Anna and Samuel were thrilled that somebody would be in the place so that deal was done.

    The next morning the ladies started packing up the house and Anna being very practical and knowing about the Fort storage didn’t get too crazy about what they were leaving, furniture wasn’t needed so they left it. When they were done one trailer was pretty well full and the other was getting a good start.

    Samuel said the farm equipment and such wasn’t needed and when all was said and done there was still room in the second trailer.

    The next morning we headed out in convoy with one Hummer riding tail gunner and one out in front scouting.

    Sandy said well John, ready to head home? I smiled and said nope, we have another stop to make. And that was all I was saying which of course was driving them crazy.

    We drifted West, out of Washington and into Idaho, taking our time and looking at everything there was to see. Many of the smaller towns had been fought over and burned, it looked like the coastal area had been

Safer and more peaceful for some reason. More people on the coast equating more security? fewer out in farm country meaning more vulnerable? We will never know for sure but I vote for fewer people less security equals easier target.

    We had a choice of running the interstate or the more back country roads, I opted for back country, more interesting the miles of concrete ribbons.

    We opted to stay in small communities that were interested in trading for their fresh veggies and dairy product, without the reefer truck we needed daily supplies of milk, cheese. fresh backed bread, life on the road in post EMP America was getting better then three years ago. Folks were open to trade and everybody wanted news.

    We were moving in a North Easterly direction and getting well up into the mountains when Sandy popped up and said “ We’re going to see Long Bow!! Aren’t we?! May jumped in laughing and they were bouncing. I said well yea we are. Why?

    Both said they needed more cedar shafts because they had used theirs so much they were breaking and where would they get new one?

    I asked why not use fiberglass shafts and got that look that implied I was to be pitied, after all any fool know one just does not shoot fiberglass in a Handmade Long Bow! Not done, nope, never.

    We reached the area where we needed to head up some rough forest service roads that had not been maintained in years so one late afternoon we pulled over and made camp by a good stream and I explained to everybody that the girls and I had some business to do up in the mountains a ways and would return no later then three days.

    They were all armed now and the Scouts were there so it was safe enough.

    We left the next morning and spent the day trying to find the right roads into Long Bows area.

   We spent the first night camped out and were rolling at first light.

    Around noon we found the right road and headed up into the even higher country. We arrived near their place a couple hours before dark. We found them when Longbow stepped out from behind a tree with an AK pointed at us.

    It took him a few heart beats to realize three people were smiling at him and he lowered the muzzle. The girls bailed out and rushed up to hug him and babbling a mile a minute, by the time I got there they had both ordered a new more powerful bow plus a tree full of shafts. The man still looked like he belonged in the 1820’s, time stood still for him.

    We shook hands and loaded into the Hummer and drove on up to his place.

    We had met Seth and his wife Clare and two sons when we were heading home from our trip north. Later on we were on the run from a crazy old bastard who’s son got pin cushioned ( with cedar shafts!) by my ladies while he talked about what all he was gonna do to me and them. Later May blew the old fart all over the street of a town a few mountains over.

    Seth makes beautiful longbows and May used to be on some school archery team so next thing I know her and Sandy both have bows and of course are deep into out doing the other.

    We drove into the dooryard of the forest service station they had moved into when the lights went out. Clare came outside and was jumping around a bit just like the girls, they were doing some kind of group hug/dance that headed for the kitchen area. Females are…. Well…. different.

    Seth said his boys were off hunting but would be back before dark, Clare and the girls had coffee on the table and some cake that I grabbed real fast and warned them to stay the hell away from.

    Clare and Seth had seen them in action and fully understood the warning. A whole table full of cake and they eyeball the bit I have, I’ll never understand it. No man ever will. I was so busy staring them down I never saw Clare take the cake off my plate until the girls burst out laughing and high fiving each other. I just looked at her all wounded till she gave it back, less a big bite.

    Seth was watching with a small smile and a funny look on his face. I knew exactly what it was, he was seeing his wife turning into a girl again because she had female company to be a girl with, all were past that certain age but were as happy as a litter of kittens.

    After the cake we just caught them up on all the goings on we had been up to since leaving here. Seth was astounded that we had made such a long trip just to secure a supply of coffee, until I slid his cup away from him. He sat a moment and nodded saying yep he got it.

    The black ship made his hackles go up, I could see he was wishing he had been in on that. The bait was floating there and I could see the interest so I waited for it and sure nuff he nibbled a bit, asking how it was out there in the world? had things settled down any? were folks starting to rebuild? he was pleasantly surprised when I told him most folks were happier with their new life and weren’t going back to the way it was.

    Sure electric power is wonderful but folks see they can live pretty damn good without the alarm going off at 6:00 every morning telling them it’s time to go work to pay the tax man.

    We spent the rest of the day just talking about life in the canyons, how laid back it was and how folks worked together so nobody had to kill themselves toiling from can see to can’t see.

    The boys, both looking to have grown a foot since we last saw them were all ears when we talked about the way the kids did school, meaning they didn’t. they learned what they wanted from people actually doing it and then moved on to the next thing.

    Also the girl to boy ratio was like 10 to one due to all the rescued girls who wanted to remain with us, that got their attention for sure.

   The girls were having fun telling Clare all about the women of the canyon area and about the community cooking area and the wonderful meals and friendship and laughter when people wondered in looking for something to eat. I could see it was having an effect on her, Seth was watching all this with interest.

    After the evening meal we sipped our coffee with booze in it and just relaxed. Finally after a quiet spell Seth looked at his family and said “Ok. Family vote, who wants to move out to the canyons”?

    They all looked shocked for a second and three hands shot into the air, Seth laughed and raised his hand then said got room for a broke down old Mountain Man out there John? 

    Clare was up and around the table so fast I was impressed, she threw herself into Seth’s lap and hugging him started laughing and crying at the same time. The boys were smiling real big as were the girls. It was a wonderful trap and poor Seth stepped right into it.

    I knew Seth pretty well from our talks before and I knew he was only holding out up here because of his family, he wanted them safe but he also wanted them to have as good a life as possible, and I liked him and his family a lot.

    Later in the barn hay loft in our big old bed roll we talked about it, May asked if I had planned this all along, I had to say no that it had come to me when her family showed they were ready to head out just to have a better life and share it with others plus their grandkids needed to be around others if they were going to develop and build for the future and that was when I thought of Seth and family.

    Our canyons were filling up but with really good folks, not one slacker in the crowd, and damn near all the folks we had met along the way. Sort of a hand picked community. Maybe that’s why it worked so well. Everybody got along so well because everybody was a survivor and a worker and team player.

    Seth and family were going to be wonderful additions to our life and community, it was a win/win for us and them.

    Plus since the girls got everybody hooked on archery I could see we might need a good bow maker. Yep I was pleased!

    We left the family to figure out what was going and what wasn’t, we had explained the Fort and it’s vast warehouse of everything, meaning outside of personal stuff there was no need to take most of it.

    We then headed off to locate the hot springs we stayed at while waiting for their bows and we found it, it looked like nobody had been there since we were, the girls cleaned the squirrel debris out of the earth oven and got a fire going while I scouted the area, nothing moving so I headed back to find them in the pool, I joined them, setting up the tent and other came stuff could wait.

    We stayed there two nights then headed back to the cabin where we found them ready to go. Their old truck would carry them out of here and back to where we left the others at which point they could spread out among the other rigs or keep driving their truck as long as it kept running.

    I expected them to take some time saying goodbye to their home since the event but they were ready to haul ass out of there, I had a feeling they all had been wanting to leave here but just didn’t know where to go. Now they do.

    We made better time heading back to our other people then we had coming in as was to be expected. We made it back in one long day and it was good to be among our people.

    The Daniels clan were welcomed by all and after a good meal we warmed by the fires a while then hit the bedrolls. With the coming of morning we started breaking camp after breakfast. Seth said his boys were going to ride with the other kids and get acquainted while he and Clare drove the old truck which had no problems at all.

    Our next stop was Rock Springs Wyoming where we had stayed on the last road trip thru the area. Harry and Margo were very happy to see us and showed us where we could park our rigs in safety then we all headed to the café where we had a great feed that we didn’t have to cook over a fire. Mostly it was the pie that got everybody going, it’s hard to bake a pie over a camp fire.

    Our group headed for the hotel and hot showers and soft beds, the girls and I sat with our friends and we took turns telling them all about this trip. They

were blown away at the shit we can find to get into.

    I spent a good while telling them about the canyon settlements and the lake and our Fort/warehouse with the girls speaking up as we went.

    Margo was just sitting with a small smile on her face watching Frank who was eating it all up like ice cream on a hot day.

    Finally she said well John, girls, are y’all thru with the recruitment efforts? We laughed and May said yea we were pretty obvious huh? Margo said well no, just that Frank and I have been talking about heading out of here to someplace with more agreeable weather and less hassles.

    And we were talking about just loading up and heading down your way and say howdy!

    We all had a good laugh and I asked if there was trouble here, they said no, not really just that as things got more settled folks were starting to talk about wanting the Government back to make it easier, and she and Frank wanted no part of that.

    I asked them how fast they could be ready to roll out. Frank said if there was most everything they might need in the Fort to get started they could roll the day after tomorrow. I said there was more at the fort then they could believe from Gold ( which nobody cared about) to kids books, to medical equipment enough to fill a big hospital to armored vehicles, to solar stuff enough to light a city to…..name it and we have tons of it.

    Margo said “how would we ever pay for it?” Sandy said by being a good friend and family member to our community/village and doing what you want or helping when it’s needed.

    They couldn’t comprehend a community where folks did what needed doing without somebody dragging them kicking and screaming to get it done.

   We laughed and I told them the big problem we had was too many willing hands which caused the hardest jobs to be done so fast there wasn’t anything for folks to do so they just made jobs last as long as they could.

    I told them about the hobbit homes and our “pile of rocks” on the ridge and that they could do whatever they wanted, Hole or House, just point where they want to live and get out of the way because they might get trampled. They were still having trouble with that when we headed for the hotel room and the shower.

    After we were clean and in bed and all snuggled in they of course wanted to talk, as usual and even if I didn’t join in I was still required to listen with regular pokes to make sure I was awake.

    The last thing I remembered was one of them asking me why I was gathering all our friends in one place, I said I don’t know and went to sleep.

    I woke up asking myself why I was doing this and why did I think everybody wanted to join us in our weird but wonderful life style? Yet they so far had seemed to be almost waiting for us to come by and say come on.

    Bed was nice and warm and almost empty, I knew May was here but Sandy was gone. May wiggled closer and said Sandy was hungry. I said uh huh. And you? She got even closer and said I’m hungry too.

    After showering together we headed to the café where we found Sandy sitting with May’s folks, all were obviously waiting for us, so we got settled ordered and sipped the first cup of the day.

    We spent most of the morning in the café waiting to order lunch, well mostly we were killing time waiting for Margo and Frank to come tell us what their plan was. And right on time to eat with us they came in. Margo spoke first and said she was wrong about the two days, I nodded, Frank said we are ready now!

    Just like that, they had called on friends to help, explained what they were doing and what they were taking, everything else was staying and the friends could have it all as well as the house.

    They had an enclosed horse trailer packed with what they wanted as well as the back of the truck which had a topper on it.

    I love folks who can just get it done and roll. They were gonna fit real well.

    We now headed South and I waited for it and sure nuff this time May said “ We’re heading for Moab, but why? Ben, his wife and MA already moved down with us.

    I just smiled and kept driving until they both laughed and clapped their hands and said Jack and Jill!! I smiled at their enthusiasm for recruiting. I said I had no idea how the kids were doing but they might decide life with us was easier then working seven days a week from dark to dark.

    We arrived in the nice little town and headed for the motel and stables. We found the place run down looking, the stables was empty and dirty as could be, the stalls hadn’t been cleaned in ages, this was not looking good.

    I headed inside flanked with the girls and found a scruffy looking guy behind the counter and several others lounging around. Now I was really worried about the twins. The surly dickhead asked if we wanted rooms, I said “I don’t think so” he then said well stop cluttering my lobby.

    Sandy walked over to him and said where are the young couple who have been running the place?

    He smirked and said “I run em off that’s what” I could see this wasn’t gonna be good when one of the loafers stood up and said “ He told you dummies to get out of here so ya best be getting to it.

    Sandy never took her eyes off the twit by the counter but May looked at the one talking and said

“ Wow a mouth breather that made a complete sentence.” He squinted, I sighed and Sandy said “I asked you a question you cretin and I want an answer that pleases me or it’s gonna go bad, where are the kids?

    This was the very last thing I expected when we came here, this town was running so well and I wondered if Ben and Ma leaving had left a door open for riffraff to slither in. My bad if so.

    Well we weren’t getting anyplace real fast so I walked over and grabbed the filthy shirt front of the mouthy shit and tossed him into the center of the room. Mostly because it put him between the girls and I and his friends, we could now see them all.

    As he was scrambling to his feet the one doing the talking called me a bastard and tried to draw a gun from under his jacket, it was pathetic, he was so slow I think the girls took a nap waiting for him to make progress.

    His progress ended abruptly with the blast of a shotgun, the load of buck shot dropped him like a sack of shit which in a way was a pretty good description.

    Nobody moved for a moment then the sound of a pump shotgun chambering a round caused a lot of hands to head for the ceiling. The girls were zoned in on the group in front of us so I turned for the door and saw Jack standing there holding a riot gun.

    I nodded and said nice work Jack, personal? He said yea, when these assholes came in and the weasel there on the floor showed a bill of sale on the place signed by the former owners Jill and I were outnumbered and nobody wanted to go against this bunch.

    He said the personal part was the dead guy had grabbed Jill the day before and was feeling her up right on the street and nobody did a thing. He said it was over before he found out and was heading here when we drove up, he was glad to see us but had business to take care of first. Well he did take care of it.

    He said he and Jill were living at the café with Alma and Jeff the hard working stable hand as we called him.

    After we were settled in and had food on the table I asked Alma and Jeff to join us and with no build up I told them about the canyons and about all the friends who were now moving there and that we wanted them to join us.

    Jack and Jeff both looked uncomfortable and finally Jeff said “Thank you John but we have to learn to make our way without handouts.

    May looked at him and said Jeff, my family are out there setting up camp because we refuse to stay in the place, nobody said a word about handouts, my people are moving because life is better at the lake then anyplace and everybody works at something. Nowhere near as hard as y’all have been working but everybody helps everybody.

    Sandy jumped in and told them all about life at the lake , the Fort, the scavenging crews.

    The community cooking area and how we were more like a tribe then a  community.

    The girls were really listening and I could see they liked the idea.

    I capped the conversation by pointing out how just a few months had brought changes to their happy home and that it seemed strange how the town would let strangers come in and take away their living.

    Jack said the town had been changing, folks moving on, new folks coming in and not in a better way. That it wasn’t what it used to be.

    I pointed out that our life style didn’t depend on working for money because we didn’t use it, I told then we had a few tons of gold and silver at the fort and nobody even looked at it, that since we had all we needed, nobody was hungry or cold or without shelter and everybody was as busy as they wanted to be that we were the happiest bunch in the world at the moment.

    I told them we were going to set up our camp and we would be back for supper and we could talk some more if they wanted.

    After we had our tent up and the place ready we took naps, I was glad none of us had to shoot that asshole even though he needed it and had the girls known what he had done to Jill he would have died sitting there in the chair.

    We headed to the café in mass and for a while the kids were working their butts off but we all got fed and after pie and coffee the others headed back to camp and built a big fire.

    The girls and I sat with the kids and waited for it, Jill spoke up first and said John, we want to go with y’all but what would we do? We don’t know anything but this and y’all don’t need a café. Alma asked what MA and Ben were doing, I smiled and the girls laughed out loud.

    Sandy said MA took over the Saloon and then described the place amid laughter, she told them Ben was providing the whole canyon with all the fish they could eat. He fished all morning then hung out with MA playing cribbage till it was time to run his lines again before dark. Most times MA helped him by rowing the boat with a cooler of beer between them.

    They would come in just in time for the evening eat together then they sat with the other folks around a nice fire and just enjoyed the evening, also MA had been seeing a very nice widow lady and things looked to be gathering steam. They all laughed at that and the girls got teary eyed with happy tears for MA.

    Jill still asked what would they do? May asked if they liked kids? Both girls said yes of course so she explained how the schooling system worked and that several people kept a loose watch over the little demons to keep them from killing themselves, it wasn’t baby sitting, it was kind of herding cats, but it really was important work.

    Jack asked about him and Jeff, I asked what they enjoyed doing. Jeff said he had always liked working on vehicles so we told him about the rowdy bastards who took care of our fleet. Jack said he had always wanted to learn to fly but that was a dead dream.

    He learned real fast that wasn’t true!! Sandy was telling him about bombing the assholes in the boulder field while I reminded her how she over did it.

    She started telling him about learning to fly the chopper and in mid sentence got the “OH SHIT” look.

   I just smiled and said did you think I didn’t know?  At least she had the grace to turn pink which got May laughing and pointing.

    Shortly after that the four of them looked at each other and one by one took a silent vote then all smiled and hugged. We had two new young couples!

   Alma whispered something to May who hugged her and said sure and I’ll take care of it. Alma was blushing and finally admitted that while they were all living together they hadn’t been able to get married, so, now we had new couples and got to have a double wedding and a huge party! Win/Win!! May and Sandy would handle it and I expected Charley would tie the knot, People style.

    We all set to and by dark the next day the café was empty of everything they wanted to take which included the big old wood cook stove and all the stuff needed to run a first class eatery, I had an idea that these girls were gonna make an addition to the community cooking plan.

    The fun part was the locals showing up to be fed and whining about the leaving, Sandy asked them how many of them offered to stand up with them in keeping the Motel from being stolen from them, that shut them up. She also added that non of them had best show up in our area for any reason.

    We rolled out in a funny looking convoy of Hummers and newer and older trucks and trailers piled high with most everything one could think of.

    Two days later we rolled into the Fort area where we were greeted by the whole place, nobody was out “mining” at the moment so we were given a grand welcome.

    We just parked the vehicles outside the fort yard and headed in to find places for everybody to sleep, the cook staff had killed the fatted calf or two and I think a goat or two, seems they knew we were coming.

    We had a feast and everybody welcomed the newest additions to the huge family. We had a great time and went to bed late and slept late, when we drifted into the chow hall we found the cooks fixing whatever people wanted, sort of a brunch.

    When our whole bunch was gathered I took them outside where we grabbed a bunch of golf carts and all headed for a tour of the storage area.

    I could see they were blown away with it all, I told Jack and Jeff to pick out a truck as well as Seth and his boys. They just stood there with their mouths open. My ladies took all the other ladies on a tour of the household goods, that was a shocker!

    After they had picked out vehicles the mech crew took over and got them up and running while the guys joined their women. I could see they would all be back very soon after their homes were ready, be they Hobbits or Rock Piles..

    After we got back to the Fort I took them on a tour of the cell blocks, the first ones were the gold and such, they were amazed at the piles of the stuff, cells full and not locked and nobody guarding it all. We looked at everything from Art works to power tools to tooth paste, we had it all.

    We left the Fort and headed home, I had had enough of war and driving for now and sometime in the distant future.

     I needed my babies and we all needed Beth, she helped us heal our minds after some of the shit we did and saw.

    Our own earth mommy, 40 years ago she would have been wearing a long skirt with waist length hair filled with flowers and smiling her gentle smile while singing “ lets give peace a chance” while I was blowing shit up and saying fuck peace.

    Now I needed her, we all three do.

    We rolled into the home canyon before dark and found the entire population waiting for us, there were cheers and tears, we had lost some wonderful friends, the People had lost a part of their soul, but the rest had made it home and we saved a lot of young girls from a true fate worst then death. Plus we brought about a ton of coffee!!

    As we unloaded I saw Beth running at me and she launched herself into my arms and held on tight and cried a bit, then kissed me and one look into those eyes started the soul cleansing. I sat her down and let them at her and they were doing their girly, squealing, happy feet dance they always do over everything from  getting a warm cookie to watching the babies do something like try to roll over. Pretty much anything.

    We walked arm in arm to the cook fires where I found a stump and just flopped down, the Brownie lady brought me a huge brownie and stood guard over me while I ate it, all but three bites I should say. Beth in my lap and the girls wrapped around us. There is a God. Her name is Woman!

    We had a simple and wonderful meal of “Whatever Stew” which is made from…. well, whatever. I didn’t ask and didn’t care, it was home, it was wonderful. After I was done the babies appeared and took up my lap for about 10 seconds before they got into it. I swear I never get more then five minutes a day with my babies!

“ JOHN!! OUR BABIES”

Right…..

Beth was laughing and then pulled me up and led me into the night, we made it up the path to the house and into the shower, it was a long shower and a long welcome home, I woke up with just Beth wrapped around me, so I went looking, both dogs were laying outside the babies room looking pissed off, I opened the door and found the other two in bed with the kids between them. It was a beautiful sight!

    I went back to bed and Beth smiled at me and said welcome home Marine! It was a short night.

    So here I am, sitting on the stump watching the sails on the lake, and here comes Beth with a sleeping baby in each arm, how she does that I’ll never know. I get one and she sits with me, we watch the day start together.

    Then I hear the grumbling and scuffling of feet and May arrives with the coffee pot, Sandy arrives with the old beat to hell quilt and insists we all have to be wrapped up in it. They both take a baby and start nuzzling them until they wake up and demand food, Beth smiles.

We are home.

    But Charley isn’t, he headed off on a mission I requested and he’s late getting back. I’m not one to sit and worry about things. So at first light Ralph and I headed South in the chopper, and against every law in the old books we were hauling all the fuel can’s we could load in, we flew with the doors open to avoid inhaling the fumes.

    “They” were very unhappy but understood how I felt, had I not gone Sandy would have or May, but I am so that leaves them sitting on their butts. Or so I thought.

    After we were in the air about an hour the radio crackled and I hear “ This is your friendly gas station a few miles on your six, we even wash windshields. It was May, I just shook my head and said I should have known better, Ralph laughed. I’d shoot him but I can’t fly this crate, he laughed some more.

    We flew on the route Charley had agreed on until we hit the ¼ tank fuel point so we landed on a nice flat stretch of highway and waited for the rolling fuel station. I had to admit that I should have thought of doing it this way, they can do an easy 50 miles per hour while we flew at about 90 mph, not a big difference.

    It took them an hour to close the gap and I will admit I was surprised at the unit they put together in so short a time.

    Five hummers with fuel and ammo trailers, a six-by with a fuel bladder in the back for the chopper and another with fuel for the Hummers.

     I just laughed and shook my head, they rolled up and jumped out and started the hugging thing until I gave up and said good idea. She and May did their high five thing while everybody else looked relieved that they weren’t in trouble for following these two, I was grateful they did.

    We unloaded the fuel cans in the chopper and used them to fill it, then left them in the fuel truck, we were both happy to not have them onboard.

    We took off as soon as the fueling was done while the convoy rolled out behind us, we did this all the way to the border where Charley had planned to cross over, he had five hummers with four scouts in each with all the water, fuel and ammo they could haul.

    I was very worried because with the going south aboard ship and all the other stuff we did we were way behind the planned time frame, meaning Charley should have been back a long time ago.

    Now one thing I do know, there is nobody out there that can take on Charley and 20 scouts armed for a big war. Or, so I thought.

     Something was holding him up and I intended to find him. One good thing about Sandy and her little convoy was the one Hummer full of Scouts who were as fired up to find their people as we were.

    On a whim I waited till we were in the air and Ralph had gained a good bit of altitude then I used the radio to call our base station and told them what I wanted. In true military radio protocol the reply of “ You got it big daddy” came rolling back.

    I didn’t even shake my head, I just sighed. Ralph said didn’t you recognize that voice? I had to admit I didn’t, he was laughing again when he said it was the little brownie thief! Shit.

    Now I laughed. Well we tell them to find something they want to do and just learn it, age don’t play into it, unless it’s just too dangerous or too heavy for young bodies. We have a good life style.

    We landed and set up camp, a dry camp with no fires, we were on the border and things here were much worse then on our side of the border. Guards out and we crashed, it was quiet and I took the two hours before dawn, May joined me on a low hill where we used the night viz gear to keep a watch. We saw a lot of critters but none with two legs.

   Breakfast was quick and simple, coffee and homemade granola on the roll, we crossed the border on a dusty dirt track that turned Southwest, still on the route Charley had used, we saw some signs of vehicle traffic but who’s was a mystery.

    This became our routine for the next several days with nothing to show for it, Sandy and May were flying since better eyes are an advantage plus Sandy could fly the chopper a bit once it was in the air and allowed Ralph relax a bit, he was really gonna burn out if we kept this up without a break.

    We were finding sign now of our people, Hummer tracks and signs of camp spots, nothing much but the scout team with us could read it like a book.

    They said the tracks were made about the time we were on the black ship heading south. Shit, we were a month behind Charley and now I’m worried sick, something had to have gone wrong.

    I was wishing we had talked to Old Woman before we rolled, she might know something. Sandy looked over at me and said “I did, she didn’t” but she said if Charley was dead she would know.

    Part of me was so relieved to hear that while the other part wanted to say bullshit, but I’d seen enough to know it was real, so I took hope.

    I was starting to worry about fuel, I figured we had enough to run for a good while before we either headed back or broke off and found some along a highway, not that there was any where we were, it would take days to get to a paved road and the chance of a fuel station that may not have any left in it’s tanks.

    I flew with Ralph so I could try to make contact with our base, but that didn’t work, but I did get a faint reply and asked Ralph to head higher, the call came in a bit clearer and it was just who I wanted to hear!!

    I had requested a convoy loaded for bear and loaded with fuel to head out on our route, they were about a day behind us, they had rolled 24/7, rotating drivers.

    I decided right then to stay where we were until we could join up then we would really haul ass, well as best we could hauling fuel tankers on dirt goat paths.

    We got set up in a good spot for camp, posted guards and everybody crashed, Ralph was asleep on his feet when we got him to his tent.

    The girls went thru the supplies and made up a huge pot of stew from all the freeze dried crap we had, it was awesome!

    We had a quiet night and we slept thru most of it, the girls and I would pull guard tonight. In this outfit Everybody goes, Everybody Fights! And Nobody quits…Ever. I love that line!!  But it describes our people to a tee.

    It was late in the afternoon when the scouts spotted dust on our back trail, two hours later the lead scout team rolled into our camp and kept going. They would scout a few miles ahead and read the trail before coming back.

    Speaking for myself I was damn happy to see the convoy arrive. I will admit I let my emotions and worry about Charley interfere with my judgment when this cluster fuck started.

     Going off half cocked gets people killed and I know that. But thanks to the quality of people we have it was ok now, we had enough fuel to stay a long time and shooters enough to wage a real war, they had brought everything including the kitchen sink.

    I was surprised to see several of the Hummers had Ma deuces mounted on them, the big 50, kicks ass and takes names. I asked who’s idea that was and Joe pointed at Sandy and May, he said they were already loaded and rolling when the message came in.

    I looked at them and felt old for the first time in a long time, Joe slapped me on the shoulder and said John, you were worried sick over Charley and his group, hell we all were, it’s done and fixed so knock off the pity party or I’ll call them over here. Now that made me laugh. God what a team, what a crew, what a family!

    Come daylight we got everybody lined out in the order we would roll with, scout teams out front and flanks, scouts on drag, Ralph in the air. Soft targets in the middle. We were now the most powerful fighting force in Mexico as far as I knew.

   Now to go find my brother. Charley had rolled down here to make contact with the Indians we had met with during the cannibal war, we had sent the leader of those filth back to his people, I heard later he was a long time dying. Good say’s I!

    Charley was going to get their help setting up a trade route thru their territory from Baja to where we crossed over, I planned to have a small well armed fort there on the border.

    But after going on to Costa Rica and setting up the shipping route right into Texas ports we didn’t need this route so I may have gotten my brother killed over nothing, I was sick again.

    Sandy was riding with me while May flew with Ralph, she leaned over and said Johnny, Charley is ok, if he wasn’t you would know, May and I would know, his people would know. He’s ok, maybe in danger but what’s new about that?

    I knew she was right and hearing it did help, but I will always have lingering doubts about my leadership abilities. It’s easier when it’s just me and the girls. But life ain’t easy any more.

    One and on we plodded, seeing nothing nor anybody. It was like being on an alien planet, but even I could see we were gaining on the group ahead of us, the trail was very plain now.

    Then Things went to shit, from a side road came several vehicle tracks, they had come across Charles tracks and took off after him, from the looks they weren’t military but down here who knows. All we could do was grind on, we were as much as weeks behind whatever happened.

     I still knew Charley was light years ahead of these people whoever they were but shit happens.

    And it did, it happened to the people following Charley, two days later we came up on the scene of a fire fight, well…maybe fight was putting too much on it, we found three suburban’s shot to pieces. We stopped while our scouts put it together. Their report was that Charley knew he was being followed so they looped around after setting up a night camp with small fires in a gully.

They moved out on foot and set up on the rim of a low spot where the road dipped down. The followers rolled right into it and got lit up big time, the scouts had dismounted their 60’s and used them well!

    They took time to finish the survivors and round up everything useful and left the rest for the buzzards. We found bones and that was about it. I had to assume Charley knew who and what was following him to pull off a night ambush, he wouldn’t have done that if there was a chance of innocents being involved.

    The good news was our side won, the bad news was that a few days later a new group rolled in and then took off after our people.

    This was starting to turn into something more then I expected, it implied a force who was patrolling the area for some reason, I didn’t think it involved drugs since there wasn’t the customers up north there used to be, it could be part of the slavers.

    We had no idea of knowing just how big the slave business was, but if this was any part of it then it was gonna end here and now.

    If need be we would call out our entire force, artillery, Brads and all, as well as the Texas bunch, this shit was gonna stop if it meant taking the entire fucking country, make it a part of Texas, most of the folks down here had been trying to get to America, so maybe we would just bring America to them.

   The girls were happy because with the chopper they could shoot up the countryside from the air, Jasper said they could fight over the right side gun but by god stay away from his.  

    I’m afraid they might push him out when the chopper is taking off, but he’s no dummy, he attaches his safety line first thing and keeps an eye on them. They glare at him and he laughs at them.

   The chopper makes more noises then the plane but it’s much better for this kind of work. Ralph is bitching because Sandy loaded several cases of her glass bombs aboard. He did insist on no fuel bombs, I think Sandy gave in too easy. Poor Ralph.

    The scouts say we are gaining on Charley and his stalkers.

    I’m wondering why he hasn’t hit them like the first bunch. I guess we will know that when we know it.

    Finally one morning Ralph called to say he could see some kind of camp ahead and was staying way back, he said it looked like cook fires, the scouts headed right out and called back an hour later for us to come on in.

    It was a group of the same Indian tribe we had dealt with before, they didn’t know us but knew who we were. The scouts were able to piece together what they knew which wasn’t much. The gist of it was that Charley and his bunch had been here only a few days ago and had headed on into their tribal lands, they said he was luring the people behind him into a place to deal with them since they were very bad people who stole young girls to sell.

    It still didn’t explain where he had been all this time unless he went all the way to Baja and back which made sense in a way, he was here so why not make sure there was a way to get to the coast.

   From what our scouts could gather the force chasing Charley was about 75 to a 100 shooters meaning Charley was outnumbered by a lot.

    But then again he was Charley and his people were better then any bunch of slavers. Sandy was chomping at the bit to get going, she was afraid it would be over before we got there, crazy broad! That got me a smile.

    I was still trying to puzzle out why Charley was wondering allover this place, it’s not like it’s a tourist trap. Also I was wondering just why the slavers were after Indian girls? It’s not like there isn’t a lot of very nice young Mexican girls that would be easier to catch. It just don’t make any sense, I understand in a way the value placed on white girls in a brown girl world, but this I don’t get.

    From the tracks we are following the scouts say we are closing the gap really fast, I see sand filled ruts, they see a book of information. That’s why they are scouts and I’m just another gun thug.

    Also I wanted to know why Charley was not using his comm gear, unless he thinks he’s being tracked which I find very hard to believe. Who in the world would give a shit about radio signals out here in the butt hole of the planet? That’s harsh but it’s the truth, why anybody would live out here is beyond me unless they are trying to avoid contact with others.

     which in fact the Indians of this area have done since the Spaniards fucked up the country, so why is this cat and mouse shit going on?

    The best way to find out is to locate Charley and ask him. That’s Ralph’s job. I want my brother/friend out of this place and I want to be home with my family, hell we all do, it seemed we had just got a shower and then left again.

    I told Ralph to fly high and look for anything that might not belong here, I also sent two scouts with him, prepared to get out and move on foot if need be, plus they would spot anything that stood out in the slightest.

    And bingo! It paid off! One of the scouts spotted something and they flew lower and it wasn’t what I wanted to find. It was the scene of a fire fight and among the shot up vehicles was a Hummer, one of ours! I was now sick.

    The two scouts jumped out with little more then weapons and water and some dry rations. Ralph said they disappeared before he could pull up from his hover. They are good at that.

    Ralph flew back for fuel and two more scouts. I wanted to go so bad but I would be worthless to them  not to mention being a liability.

    The day grew longer and longer until it was getting too dark for Ralph to see anything, he dropped off the two scouts to follow up the first two and headed back to our night spot.

    He told us that area was covered with tire tracks, all made since the fire fight that took place. He said it wasn’t our people making the tracks. So who are these phantoms? They leave tracks but we see nothing but their shot up vehicles and bones. Tomorrow we are heading right for that fight location because I need to see it. I feel useless as a one legged Marine in an ass kicking contest.

    During the night we got probed, they were good but our scouts were better, nobody saw anything to shoot at but they were circling all around each other out there. Come daylight a scout team headed out on the track of the intruders but lost them two miles away when they mounted up in a vehicle and drove away.

    I’m now officially tired of this shit! And it’s gonna stop, I sent Ralph up with Jasper and two scouts with orders to locate these mystery people. And he did. They were hold up in a canyon about twenty miles away from our direction of travel. 

    They caught them with their pants down, three Suburban’s and about 18 men sitting around a fire just chilling out. And there came Ralph right over their little party. They started shooting but Jasper was right on them and hosed them, Ralph turned and the scout on the other door gun took out their transportation. Now they were on foot. And we were rolling.

    It took all morning to close with them but we made it and soon had them bottled up. When I first looked over the crest of the hill down into the small canyon I saw their vehicles and a lot of bodies but nothing was moving.

     We started moving in and came under fire right away. But we expected that and returned heavy fire on their locations, pinning them down while our side leapfrogged in close.

    One of the scouts yelled out in Spanish for the to surrender if they wanted to live and got laughed at for his trouble.

    One of the many things we had collected thru our travels was an old M-79 grenade launcher aka the Bloop gun, The Nam era grenade launcher of fame because it made a bloop sound when fired. The girls had about wore it out playing with it, I watched them chasing another poor jack rabbit with it one day so I hid it and paid for that for about a week.

    We dug it out and they took turns lobbing a few rounds into their area. They were pissed that they didn’t get in on the chopper attack on these shitheads so the thumper made up for it….a little. But it

brought them out, hands up.

    They were a mixed bag of trash, some looked like drugstore cowboys, pointy toed boots with shiny bling on the toes and heels, some looked like peasants from a Poncho Via movie. All looked scared shitless.

    There was only five of them surviving the fight, their wounded had been left to bleed out. Nice guys.

    As per protocol we split them up and started asking the questions then compared the answers, the peasants knew nothing and it was obvious they were conscripts who just wanted to get out of this alive, willing to help but knowing squat.

    The two Cowboys were a different breed of rat, both were more then they wanted us to know, but their arrogance and aura of entitlement showed thru to much.

    I walked over to them and speaking English said ok lads just who are you and what’s going on out here in Indian country? Why are y’all chasing my people? They both just looked at me so I had the scout ask again in Spanish. Still no answer so I asked the scout with a wink to go get the scout who’s brother had been killed by these assholes.

    He smiled and took off at a run. I had the attention of these two now meaning they spoke English just fine.

    The scout returned with one of the biggest and meanest looking Navajo scouts I could ever remember seeing. He came to me and smiled a completely evil smile and said “You want to see me John?” I said yea, these two don’t want to talk to me so I thought you might try since I know your so broke up over the murder of your brother.

    He smiled even bigger and said “You mean I get them?” I nodded but said yea but leave them able to talk ok? He laughed and said “Thanks John” .

    Now the two tough guys were looking very worried and when the Big guy grabbed one by the hair and jerked him to his feet they got terrified! He shoved the one around some boulders out of sight and within seconds a blood curdling scream echoed in the canyon and frankly scared the shit out of me, hell I think it scared Sandy which is hard to do.

    Things were quiet for a bit then the scream came again lasting longer and turning ragged at the end.

    I had no doubt at all that the prisoner was being hurt gravely but I couldn’t show weakness.

    The big scout came back into sight and said “he was weak, he passed out so I’ll start on this one and that broke the dam, the guy started babbling so fast it took me a minute to realize he was speaking English.

    He said they had been hired by former cartel bosses to keep this area locked down tight, meaning no cross border traffic period. He said our other people had been here for a while before anybody spotted their tracks and that turned it into a running fire fight which hadn’t been going well for his side, point of fact the quality of the people he had left. Poor people who had never touched a weapon but were fighting for food for their families.

    He on the other hand was a cartel gunman and always had been, he said all he knew was that the bosses had something going on in this area they didn’t want anybody knowing about. And to that point they had been killing everybody they found in the area including the Indians who have been here for a thousand years.

     He was very unapologetic about his role in these deaths, he wasn’t talking to walk, he was hoping for a fast bullet instead of the Indians knife.

    I headed for the rock pile where the other guy was and found him nursing a hand with missing fingers.

    He too started talking as fast as he could and echoed the story the first one told but he too had no knowledge of who they were helping cover for.

    I had no intention of harming the poor men who had more or less been forced to be soldiers in the cartel army. But what to do with them? In the end we took them with us, flex cuffed in the back of one of the six-by’s with a scout guarding them.

    The two cowboys were a different breed of cat and needed to be put down. The big scout came to me and made the suggestion that we turn them over to the local Indians who had been the target of these people.

    I liked it, payback is a bitch and they had earned it. I asked the scout how we could make contact with the locals, he smiled and pointed at a nearby hill where several people stood, they looked more like movie Apaches then modern day Indians, but then again they were living a few centurys behind us.

    The scout headed out to them and after a short talk returned with several of them. Now the Cartel gunmen were screaming for a bullet, I was tempted but I knew these bastards had killed and raped their way into this moment so I had no mercy.

    The locals talked with the scouts in a mix of Spanish and some Navajo and I think Apache. Point being they got the message. I also offered them the guns we took from the thugs, they nodded and gathered up everything they wanted from the pile of gear and left dragging their prisoners.

    The ones in the truck were scared to death and I doubt they could have moved if allowed to go free. Hell I would have been terrified too.

    Well we knew a bit more then we did but still not enough. Then one of the scouts came up and said the indians had told him the people we were looking for were a days travel west and South on this track and they had wounded who needed care. I have no idea how they would know what was going on miles away but in ten minutes I was in the chopper with Ralph and a full medical team and Sandy and May on the guns. We were a bit loaded but we were going and that was that.

    We took off and burned the sky following the track deeper into the mountains looking for any sign of our people. In the end it was them who found us, we spotted a smoke grenade ahead and headed for it, we spotted a scout who pointed into a feeder canyon, we eased into it and landed, when the dust settled there was Charley standing there, blood on his clothing and his left arm in a sling, he was smiling, actually smiling! I was off the bird and gentle hugged him in a second flat.

    He looked into my eyes and said “I see you my brother, I repeated the words to him.” Sandy and May were right there just standing until Charley reached out and hugged them one at a time.

    Our medical team was busy,  I led him to some shade and sat with him, I handed his my canteen and some of our home made granola bars which got a smile. He chewed on it for a while washing it down with water. He sat quiet for a bit then said “ I lost people John, we fought them for weeks while withdrawing thru the mountains. He said they had buried their dead when they could in the proper way and then moved on.

    He was exhausted and weak from blood loss but he was still Charley.

    He was stronger then most men I’ve ever known, a spiritual inner strength most people will never have. We sat quietly while he gathered his thoughts and then he sighed and said “John, we got problems”

    I had to laugh because here we are in a dry canyon in the butt hole of Mexico and we have a problem?

    He smiled at that but said yea we do, it ain’t here yet but it’s coming and we have to get back to start preparing for it. I asked him what it was and his answer was to call out to one of his scouts who left and returned with a man wearing some strange camo pattern BDU’s he had a hood over his head which was removed and I was shocked.

    Standing there in front of me was what could only be an officer in the Chinese army, I know nothing about their rank insignia but he was old enough to be a fairly high ranking.

    Charley introduced his as Col. Chang of the PRC who was a leading element of their military coming to repossess America for past debts. I laughed and said “you gotta be shittin me, right?” Charley said oh no, ask Col Chang yourself, he speaks English just fine, having graduated from UCLA.

    I pointed to the ground and Chang sat down, I passed him the canteen and some of the granola bars, he looked at it strangely so I took a bite and chewed it up, he followed suit and smiled and said Ahh, granola ! Home made I assume?

    Chang was all that was left of his former command of 200 troops, they had expected to have to deal with some Mexican dopers with a few AK’s what he didn’t expect was to run right into a Navajo buzz saw and get his ass handed to him.

    His big mistake was chasing Charley thru the mountains, he never had a chance. It was a victory for Charley and his people but they paid a price. One we would not speak of as was the way of the people.

    I asked Chang if he really thought they could waltz in and just take over America, he said no, but his leaders were under the impression that Americans were weak and cowardly and would run from the PRC troops.

    I asked him if he remembered the words “ A rifle behind every blade of grass?” He smiled and said oh yes and he knew it to be true but the new leaders of China believed they were the most powerful force left on the planet.

    I had to admit I kind of liked Chang and I could tell Charley did too, he was still the enemy but that didn’t take away from the man.

    I asked him when they were going to make their push and where and he said soon was all he could say, he really didn’t know but he knew where. They were planning to have some troops land in Southern California, I said good luck with that! He nodded and said he tried to tell his leaders about the gangs of LA but they shrugged it off as a bunch of petty thugs with switchblades. Now I was wishing we hadn’t done such a good job on the LA gangs, but I knew they poured right back in as soon as we left, well the live ones did.

   The other landings were going to be further north along the Calif. Coast but not as far as Oregon, why he didn’t know.

    He did say the EMP had done as much if not more damage to China as to the US and they were relying on shear numbers of troops to overwhelm any resistance, they had some armor and artillery but not as much as they would like.

    Their landing ships could hold several thousand troops and he knew there would be 50,000 troops. They had no air power outside of some chopper gun ships and troop haulers.

    But he added they were mostly conscripts who were rounded up and told they were in the Army, little or no training and no motivation.

    My first thought was “Fuck”! then I thought of the story about the deer hunters in the Northeast, what was it, Penn. fielded over 600 thousand hunters, Minn. almost as many, hell just the deer hunters in that small area of the US was an army of one and a half million shooters, of course that was then and this was now.

    But I’d put five thousand American riflemen up against 50 thousand troops fighting for nothing half way around the world from home. 

    Of course the only way to do that was to never let them get close, five hundred yards was an easy shot for most hunters on a man sized target. Hit and run away, live to fight another day.

    Shit, here I was sitting in the shade of a rock cliff talking to an Indian and a Chinese army Col. about fighting a war we hadn’t even know was coming.

    Sandy came over and asked Charley if he would come to the Doc to get fixed up, he smiled and said just for you.

    After Charley left Chang said I like him, he’s a very good man and I believe would be a very good friend.

    He added he regretted being on the wrong side in this because he didn’t believe in it and didn’t want to see his people wasted for nothing. I just nodded.

    We spent the night and rolled out the next morning, we went balls to the walls as the troops were fond of saying and with the chopper flying well ahead of us we could run pretty free of course we had scouts out but we were making tracks.

    We needed to get back across the border and home and we needed to spread the word of the pending war. A war we didn’t want but one we could handle.

    I just wanted my people home and I wanted to see my kids and Beth for more then one night. I needed to get people moving and plans to make.

    Ten days later we crossed the border again, we hadn’t fired a shot and had seen anybody. As soon as we got close enough Ralph got Sam our other pilot on the horn and got him moving with the big plane we picked up when we killed the Gang leader from LA.

    It was a plane set up to haul parachutist and could handle all our wounded, Sam made the trip and landed on the highway and was gone within minutes. We hadn’t been using the bigger plane and I don’t know why. Most likely something to do with needing a better landing place then the birddog.

    I know Sam’s a good pilot but not a chopper pilot. We need to spend more time on getting our air power built up.

    Charley refused to go, he sat beside me and smiled at the girls and their latest on going argument over something that nobody has a clue about, except May’s stand is “Did not” and Sandy’s is “Did too“. Charley looked at me and said “ It’s good to be home and see some things never change”

We kept rolling into the future, one we can’t control but we will handle it as it comes, as we always do.

Thank you for reading and I hope enjoying these books, LLR 12 will be coming soon.

TJ