The Independents (36 page)

Bishop grinned, “Oh
,
yes.
It’s what I call a factor
y freak. We received ten of them
at work to evaluate. I took them all out to the range to zero and break them in. That one was a tack driver
,
and I assigned it to myself.”

David’s voice was all business now
.
“I noticed it only has a 16-inch barrel;
that’s pretty short compared to what I’m used to. Won’
t that take some velocity off
the round?”

“Yes, it is about 50 feet per second slower out the pipe than a military issue sniper rifle. At 900, that means you have to add a little holdover. No big deal.”

David thought
about that a little bit and shrug
ged his shoulders, “It’s just math.”

That statement made Bishop smile again.

As the
y
drove, Bishop started outlining to David how they would work together. Every now and then
,
David would interrupt and ask for a term to be clarified. By the time they were approaching the vicinity of the ranch, the two were communicating well.

Bishop pointed for David to pull off of the highway. The
young man was a little confused.
“I thought we were going to the ranch?”

Bishop nodded, “We are, but I don’t want to go in the normal way. I don’t trust those Colombians one bit. They may have someone up in the mountains watching the road
,
hop
ing to see where the ranch is located
.”

David thought that was a good idea.

Bishop guided David to
park Bones under an overhang of rock where it would be difficult to spot. The two dismounted and began a long
hike through the low-
lying desert hills. On the way, Bishop took the opportu
nity
to begin David’s training.

“David, when you are moving through hosti
le territory, you always decide
where your next cover is before you move.
If you can, look for an alternative spot as well. Never leave good cover unless you know where you’re going.”

Along the way, Bishop explained a few more basic movement techniques to the novice and was pleased to see the lad learned quickly.

When they got close to the camper, Bishop had David take a high perch on top of a rock formation. “Go up there and stay low. Don’t silhouette yourself. I’m going to m
ove forward and disarm the trip
wires. Your job is to make sure no one tries to follow me and to keep scanning around, seeing if you can spot any observers.

David nodded and began climbing up the rock.

It was almost noon when they finally walked into the Bat Cave. They fixed a quick,
simple meal and then Bishop
started laying out equipment for David. The boy’s thin frame required adjustments to Bishop’s spare gear. He used Terri’s body armor and a spare load vest to get David ready for a little time in the field.

Be
fore long, they were headed
toward Bones
,
and Bishop couldn’t help but notice the transformation in David. The boy seemed to be taking all of this seriously and paid close attention to Bishop’s every word.
He understands what’s on the line.

Whe
n they had arrived at the Humvee
,
Bishop stopped David and handed him two balloons. “Here, blow th
ese
up.” Bishop took a deep breath and began blowing up one himself. When they had six of the
balloons inflated, they
jumped into Bones and drove
into the flat
,
open desert. Bishop kept looking over his shoulder and finally stopped David near a small patch of scrub oak. The
y
carefully tied the balloons onto the branches, and David commented that it looked like a birthday party for the rabbits. Once all of the decorations were in place, t
hey returned to the overhang. Bishop looked at David and instructed
, “
Pop ’em
.”

David extended the bi-pod on the big rifle and brac
ed it on Bone’s hood.
He looked through the scope and adjusted the rangefinder. He flicked open the small notebook Bishop had give
n him and looked at
the DOPE
that was
recorded in the pages.

The young man took a deep breath, flicked off the
safety,
and welded his cheek to the stock. The big rifle
bucked against his shoulder, it
s discharge sending echoes
rolling
acros
s the desert floor. One of the b
alloons vanished a full second and
a
half later. Bishop was pleased that the kid didn’t even take his eye from the scope
,
and in a few moments, a second shot was on its way. After seven shots, all six balloons were gone.

David flicked on the safety and ejected the magazine from the rifle. He had a pure look of disgust o
n his face, “I missed. I knew I’d
pulled
it
before I saw the miss.”

Bishop reached up and grabbed his shoulder
.
“Son
,
that was some damn
ed
fine shooting. Don’t worry about it. You’re using a new rifle in a new environment. We’ll be just fine if you keep that up.”

“I wish we had some more time. I think another twenty rounds or so and I could hit six out of six from here.”

“You’re fine
,
bud. I don’t think I could hit six out of six if we stood here until next Sunday. Now, here’s the important question – do you think yo
u can shoot a man if you have t
o?”

David thought about that for longer
than Bishop was comfortable. He finally looked the older man in the eye and answered, “I don’t know.
I really don’t know.”

B
ishop understood the hesitation.
“Son, your grandpa, Terri
,
and I all need for you to take a shot if necessary. I’ll try not to put you in that situation, but I need to know you will pull that trigger. We can talk about it some more on the way to Alpha. Let’s get going.”

Alpha
,
Texas was an oddity. There was no logical reason for the town to have grown and survived when most others in the area had barely managed to exist.
With a population just shy of 6,000 people, the town existed on the southernmo
st slope of the
Davis Mountain r
ange
. At an elevation of 4,500 feet, Alpha occasionally received snowfall. Before the collapse, a ski resort had been built only 15 miles outside of town in the Alpine valley. While not considered a
world-class
ski resort by any
means
, the facility attracted visitors from the surrounding countryside and was a viable operation. It was not unheard of to see
beginners heading down the slopes in cowboy hats.

Alpha State University added another 2,000 residents to the town.
While the college had been absorbed into one of the larger state university systems some years ago, it still maintained its rural campus charm. Alpha had witnessed a declin
e in population during the 1980s. The city fathers
decided that non-ranching jobs were a critical element to reversing the tr
end and
established an industrial park just north of town. While the original expectations had never been met, the town did attract a small chemical
plant, which
added some well-paying jobs to the local economy. A large distribution center was also built in the community due to its centralized location. While the decline had stopped, it was still a stretch for any city manager to claim the town was booming.

Bishop and David were approaching from the south, traveling the sixty or so miles to the outskirts of tow
n cautiously. Bishop attended both
high school and
college
in Alpha
. While he had known the lay of the land well at one time, he had only occasionally returned since.
Bishop knew of a spot used by high school kids back in the day to park and make out. He hoped he could still find it.

David guided Bon
es over a roadway that was ever
increasing in elevation
.
Their climb brought them to an elevated area where the lights in the evening
were
as
close to a romantic vista as
co
uld be found
in the
Chihuahua
desert.
Careful to drive slowly and not kick up any d
ust, they finally found the site
about
a mile
outside of
the
city.

Bishop took the big rifle from David
, and they found a location
to go prone and observe the town. It was the first time Bishop had been to Alpha in over five years
, and from this distance, everything looked very much like Bishop remembered
. The big rifle had a
mounted
sco
pe that provided twenty-
four levels of magnification
,
and as Bishop focused the op
tic, he quickly realized the sleepy, little college town had indeed changed
since his last visit.

T
he first thing he noticed was a
gas station
that had
burned to the ground. Only the rusted skeletons of the pumps and the seemingly untouched si
gn identified the heap of scorched
lumber and brick. The surrounding structures had appare
ntly sustained quite a bit of damage
in the f
ire as well. On the same highway that Bishop and David
had just been traveling
, there appeared to have been
a roadblock at one point in time. Two smashed
vehicles of some sort
, accompanied by
piles
of old tires and a rusted piece of farm equipment
had been
all stacked to make a low wall across the highway.

Bishop wanted to enter Alpha at night
,
and they had arrived a few hours before sundown. They decided to stay put, have a
meal,
and then attempt passage to the
north
side of town where the university campus was located.

Bishop broke out a small German infantry camp stove that was about the size of a deck of cards. He unwrapped a couple of fuel pellets and began to prepare some food. David was assigned to keep an eye on the town and let Bishop know if he saw any movement. Bishop kept an eye on their
immediate
surroundings so no one could sneak up on them.

Bishop finished heating up water for soup and coffee and was about to invite David to join him when
the two heard
a dist
ant popping noise
coming
from Alpha. Bishop immediately recognized the sound of
gunfire. He moved quickly to David’s side and watched as the young man desperately moved the scope from side to si
de trying to see where the racket
was coming from. The source, he announced, must be hidden by all of the structures in the town.

The shooting
continued for several minutes
.
Bishop thought he could identify several dif
ferent weapons being discharged; a
lthough at this distance, it was impossible to be sure. As sudde
nly as it had started, the fir
ing stopped
, and then a r
ev
v
ing engine noise could be heard in th
e distance. Everything was still
after that.

The two ate i
n silence, each picking at his
food. David was steady, but Bishop could tell he was nervous. Bishop didn’t blame him on
e bit. After they
had finis
hed their meal, Bishop reviewed
the plan again. The fuses had been r
emoved from Bones so it would
n’t
e
mit
any
light. They were going to maneuver like a caterpillar through the town, with Bishop scouting ahead on foot until a suitable hiding spot was found. He wo
uld then radio David to follow with
Bones
,
and they would repeat the process until they were on the college campus. David, while parked, would watch Bishop with the night vision
,
and try to cover his back with the
long-range
rifle.

As the sun began t
o set, they packed up everything
, rechecked
their
equipment
,
and proceeded toward the highway.

The
President
of the United States was furious. He stalked around the conference room
,
holding a thin stack of papers in his shaking hands. “This is treason!” he screamed
.
“Absolute treachery!
Why would anyone do this? Why now?”

General Wilson replied.
“Sir, we don’t know who the
man was feeding information to
, or why. He killed himself as soon as he knew we were onto him. What we do know is that he transmitted all of the plans to Operation Heartland to an unknown location. There is evidence that he had been sharing crit
ical information since we
evacuate
d
Washington.”

“Why
,
General? What possible reason could someone have for wanting to know our plans?”

“Sir, there
has been speculation
of another group trying to organize various parts of the country. The data has been sketchy at best
,
and I had made the decision not to trouble you with rumor and innuendo. Perhaps that wasn’t the appropriate course of action.”

“Another group?
What do you mean another ‘group
?
’
”

“Sir, some of the units that we no longer have contact with have been observed intact and conducting themselves as normal. It would seem as
if
the command structure were
taking orders from someone other than my staff.
The act of refusing communication while still able to do so is by itself a serious offense.
”

“General, are you saying a foreign power has take
n over control of part of our military
?”

“No
, sir.
I am not implying that whatsoever. I now believe the new group is domestic and most likely led by current or former political figures from Washington.”

The POTUS had to digest that s
tatement.
“Any news of our emissary from Texas?”

“No
, sir, no news. However, I did
speak to the commander in charge of Houston. He is suspicious some of his officers are
near rebellion. He also
has been hearing rumors.”

The
president
’s temper boiled over, but one woul
d have to know him well to tell.
“General, we can’t wait any longer. We are losing control of this situation. What is the first step of Operation Heartland?”

“The first step is to secure the nuclear reactors around Shreveport
,
sir. Elements of the
1
st
Calvary
D
ivision would vacate
Dallas and proceed east to establish control of the area.”

“Let’s do it
,
General. I hate initiating this plan without having a complete picture, but we can’t wait any longer. I’ll sign the order.”

“Yes
,
sir.”

The Humvee bounced
down
the somewhat rocky incline
to the highway where David turned left and proceeded towa
rd Alpha. The sun was just slipping
behind
T
win
P
eaks
Mountain
off to the west
,
and s
ome ambient pink light leaked
around the
7,800-foot
formations
. When they were within sight of the abandoned roadblock, Bishop dismounted and proceeded on foot.

Bishop knew he was taking a risk by approaching the town
while there was still
visibility, but decided that it wou
ld be best to let David get accustomed
to working their system.
They hadn’t seen any movement at all in this area
of the city
,
and Bishop couldn’t see any reason for anyone to even v
isit. They passed the charred debris that had once been a
gas station without incident
,
and David did a good job of maneuvering Bones into a narrow alleyway behind the rub
b
le of the building. They were entering a section that was partly residential with a few small businesses scattered among the homes. Bishop saw signs
marking an insurance agency
, a small clothing
store,
and a hair salon. He carefully moved from
cover to cover, always looking for any sign of habitation or trouble.
It was completely dark now
,
and a
fter mov
ing
four blocks north, he spotted a car wash and radioed David to bring Bones and hide in one of the stalls.
Bishop moved another three blocks away from the car wash when he saw movement ahead. Using his night vision, he spotted a group of
people directly approaching
his position. There were at least ten of them
,
and he could make out rifles. Bishop key
ed his microphone and whispered,
“David, we have a group of armed men heading directly at us. Get ready to get out of there.”

Two clicks acknowledged David had received the message.

Bishop retreated
toward David’s stall at the carwash
, taking
cover in what had once been a dry cleaning storefront housed in a concrete block wall building. The front door was nowhere to be seen
, and shards of
window gl
ass littered
the ground. He entered through the doorway and ducked behind the front wall, looking out one of the window frames. He knew the concrete bloc
k would not stop bullets, but he
was
in a hurry
and hoped the location would
at least
provide some cover
. He watched as the gang of
armed men continued to advance toward his position
. A quick check rev
ealed a back exit
, which was missing
its door as well. An obstacle course consisting of trash, papers and steel racks turned on their sides lay between Bishop and the exit. An ornate, older
cash register
sat
on th
e floor in front of the counter, its drawer
exte
nded and empty
. He barely could pick up the enormously
heavy machine and managed to place
it next to the wall he was hiding behind.