Chapter 16

[West Georgia]

Jeff called in when we had the net that evening. He was starting out in the morning and had an HF and VHF radio mounted with appropriate antennas. Shirley told him to take it easy on his drive and we were looking forward to meeting him in person.

The next morning, Michael and Cindy came over and the four of us with Janice held a war council to determine how to scout the Blasters. Linda, Betty, and Julia woke up and joined us. The three of them were continuing to feel better every day. They wanted to help and gave us a lot of information on the Blasters’ site and how they thought it was guarded. The Blasters had taken over a condo complex as their headquarters. They didn’t have guards as such but did have many groups out all the time looking around for anything worth having and for new victims. Nights were pretty quiet. They did not send groups out overnight. There were people outside in the good weather during the evening talking and drinking.

We marked the position of the condo complex on a map and began to plot roads to use in our scouting. We had already decided to shop for some fast cars. We would mount two-meter radios in them and, using quarter wave antennas, maintain a low profile. We also had HT’s with earphones for when we went on foot. Ted was asked to join us. Jack was glad because he was an accomplished hunter and used to sneaking around quietly. Michael was to drive, as was Shirley. With Michael were his oldest son and Ben with his son, Ben, Jr. Janice came with us, also. I hadn’t wanted Shirley or Janice to go but they can be insistent. We would be armed and stay close enough to offer support but far enough apart to not show up as a group. We left after lunch and went into Atlanta. We added two more Mustangs to our convoy of two trucks and original Mustang. Janice was driving Shirley’s adopted red truck and I was in mine. After acquiring the cars, we used back roads to get into the area. We figured that the Blasters would be primarily on the main roads for their scavenging missions and we would avoid those in our scouting mission. We had packed a week’s food and clothing.

When we were close to the Blasters’ condo, we found a house set back and somewhat hidden even from the side road that it fronted. We pulled in there and made it our headquarters. We used an APRS radio set to help Cindy and others pinpoint our locations. We mounted them in two cars, also. Shirley explained to me that APRS is a ham radio method by which two-meter radios are attached to GPS systems and give out periodic signals enabling them to be located and tracked. Shirley told me that her dad used it on trips so his location would be known and he could let other hams “work” him for awards like Worked All Counties. It did help us coordinate through our base in our activities along with the radios.

As soon as it was twilight, Ted and I donned camos, two-meter HT’s with earphones, and guns for an initial reconnaissance. We went out the back following a compass course laid out previously. I had an APRS beacon radio with me. I could hear everyone following my progress through the woods to the back of the condos. It was a nice hike. Ted and I didn’t see anyone though squirrels and birds were around. We tried not to disturb anything.

We wound up at the top of a low ridge behind the condos with a good position to view that side. It appeared that many of the Blasters liked to look at the woods as we saw a number of lawn chairs set out and many of those were occupied. We started a count and came up with thirty-four, give or take a few. There was some moving around so we were probably not totally accurate.

We settled in for the evening to watch. We would do this for two or three nights to determine if there seemed to be a pattern to their activities whether they knew it or not. We were well hidden and those who were looking into the woods were not really looking. It was not uncommon for them to have a woman in front of them providing them with sex of some kind, usually oral. I noticed that some of the men were a bit tender to the women and some were quite rough.

Ted whispered, “It looks like some of these guys are just going through the motions while some are really into what they are doing. I’m going to count the bad guys to see what kind of ratio there might be.” After a while, he said, “It looks like under half of them are just going through the motions. Now, whether or not that’s because they’re really just going through things or if they’re just tired, we don’t know. The other half is rough and don’t have any thought to their partners’ enjoyment or even comfort.”

We continued to watch until late in the evening when everyone finally had gone inside. There were no sentries. I whispered to Ted, “Perhaps, we can plan this for nighttime. If they aren’t watching and everyone’s in bed, we can quietly pick them off one at a time.”

“That’s a good idea. We might be able to pull this off without shooting a lot of people and without getting shot ourselves. Let’s back out very quietly. I would like to go down to South Atlanta and check an Army base for some night vision goggles.”

We reported in to let everyone know what our thought process was and slowly slid back. There was a lot of agreement to our thinking.

While we were gone, Cindy and Mary ran the net and checked on everyone. Jeff had left and was using a RV on his way south. Shirley told me that Jeff recognized the potential issues on using such a big ungainly vehicle but decided it was worth the risk. At the worst, he would have to back track and get something else. She also reported that he was armed and well radioed. He figured two or three more days to arrive.

The next day, Ted and Shirley had sentry duty overlooking the condo while I led the rest on a shopping mission except for Janice and Mike who stayed at our base. I had a quick internal debate on where to go and decided that Dobbins in Marietta would be my first try, mostly because it was closest in my mind.

We took my truck and Michael’s new Mustang with Michael and Ben leading. Ben, Jr., and I were in my truck. The ride over was uneventful and gave me a chance to get acquainted with Ben, Jr. He was a sharp young man, interested in everything, willing to help in any way needed, and was a big guy physically. He liked to be called Bennie.

It took a while to find what we wanted because Dobbins was a huge base with many specialized groups. We loaded goggles to have twenty-four sets and picked up some more binoculars to have more spares. We also checked batteries and went by a store for batteries. We got a lot of batteries. You just can’t have too many. We had what we needed and returned to our base.

I put on my camos and crawled up to join Ted and Shirley. Shirley whispered, “There seems to be only one leader. From Linda’s description, he must be Dave. He stands with one shoulder high. I think I winged him in our little shootout.”

Ted added, “Not only is he the only one giving orders, most of the rest don’t seem as bad toward the women when he’s not around. With a couple of exceptions, taking him out will result in the Blasters falling apart.”

“Ted, could you hit him from here?”

“I would need a sniper type rifle with a scope and some practice. Then the answer is probably.”

“I brought two from Dobbins along with some ammo. Let’s have someone else cover this and go find a place to practice.” Ted grinned.

“I have my deer rifle with scope and could make some shots even at this distance.” Shirley offered.

“I think we all may need some practice. They may not appreciate us shooting their leaders and some may come after us.”

Ted said, “Okay, let’s talk about it more later. Right now, let’s watch and get a better feel for their habits and for you get to know some of the assistants as well as Dave.”

We watched for another couple of hours. I got a feel for the daytime ebb and flow of their group. None of the women that I saw seemed to have any rights. I never saw a woman wearing clothes the entire time I watched. The cruelty was constant and needless.

Michael and his son, Mike, joined us and took over watching. Ted, Shirley, and I slowly slid back until we were well out of sight before standing up and moving back to our temporary headquarters.

We ate supper and Janice called into the net for the evening. Jeff was making good progress on the road. He expected to reach Atlanta during the day. Shirley gave him the repeater information and requested he call when he reached the perimeter, I-285. Those in our normal living area wanted to know what we had found but Shirley put them off until we returned home with a full report and recommendations.

Later that night, Michael and Mike joined us when the Blasters seemed to have retired for the night. We talked about Ted’s idea about night work. Michael said, “We will need to figure out where Dave sleeps along with his assistants as best as we can. We will need to hit them first. That will limit the amount of resistance if their leadership is out of the picture.”

Ted said, “In addition to Dave, I have recognized three other leaders; Alpha, Bravo, and Charlie. Since we don’t know their names, I just gave them letters. Michael, will you start with me early in the morning and let’s get some recognition started?”