Chapter 41

I held a council of war the next day, right after breakfast. I invited Kim, Clara, Dunbar and Burton, Gogra, Rugar, and Tonko, and Penny. I had matters to discuss.

The fact of life was that I had to start taking Quantum a little more seriously than I had been. I had thought that we had months to prepare to confront them, without worrying that they’d show up suddenly and unexpectedly. As their base was hundreds of miles away, I had let myself treat the problem as if we had all the time in the world to get our act in gear. Well, the truth was, we didn’t have all the time in the world. Quantum still had at least one helicopter that we knew of, and perhaps other equipment that we did not know about. I had to accept that, and I had to make certain that my people accepted it. Making certain that our community came together and worked as a team was important; but preparing to meet Winslow and Quantum on the field of battle was just as important, if not more so.

“I want to talk about our preparations for defending ourselves, today,” I opened the discussion with, “and what our plans are going to be to hit Quantum before they can hit us.”

“Our small arms training is going well,” Dunbar jumped in first, looking towards Kim before continuing on, “and so is our small unit training. I think that by the new year, our fighting forces will be able to do their jobs well, under experienced direction. Hopefully, by the time we do go up against Winslow and his goons, our more experienced people will be able to function independently of direction from any of us. I’m actually thinking that some of the vanguard could be used as squad leaders by then.”

“I agree,” Burton piped up enthusiastically. “After seeing them handle themselves twice in battle, I’m sure that Tonko or Durt could take on a leadership role if we gave it to them.”

“I’m sure of that as well,” I admitted freely, smiling warmly at Tonko who was sitting across from me beaming with pride, “and I’m glad you two are thinking about that now, instead of later. However, I am concerned that our current training program isn’t arduous. I think we need to spice things up a bit.”

“What are you thinking about?” Kim interjected.

“Well, I think we need to start integrating drills for those who will be part of our fighting forces,” I told her and the rest who were at the meeting, “and for those who are going to be part of our defensive forces. Once we’ve run them through the drills a few times, we can mix it up a bit to see how they respond to different scenarios.”

I immediately got several nods of agreement, all coming from my up-time people, except for Clara. Clara had a frown on her face.

“What’s wrong,” I asked her, with concern in my voice.

Clara simply sighed, patted me on the arm, and pointed over to where Rugar, Gogra, and Tonko were sitting. A look of confusion was on their faces.

“You’re going to have to back up and explain things better for them,” Clara chided me, though with a little compassion. “I know that you and the others from home know what you’re talking about, and so do I, since medical personal have to work up training scenarios all the time; but the rest of the tribe isn’t going to understand, because they’ve never consciously done it before. If these three hunters don’t understand you, no one will.”

Clara was correct. I apologized to the men and we started all over again. I explained exactly what I was talking about, in the way of drills and scenarios, so they could grasp the concept and be able to relate the ideas to the other members of the tribe when those people started asking questions about what I was expecting them to do. It took a while, but we did get everything talked out before lunch.

In addition to ramping up training, I informed everyone that from that point on we were on a war footing; another concept I needed to explain to Rugar, Gogra, and Tonko. I pointed out that even if Helen was correct and Winslow wouldn’t risk losing his last helicopter in a search for the other two and for our settlement, it didn’t mean he would sit on his hands doing nothing. I wanted round the clock sentries posted, I wanted a helicopter watch, and I wanted patrols daily in the direction of the valley mouth. When spring came and the mountain pass opened up, I wanted a watch put on that as well. I still had a gut feeling that Mondo was going to come and pay us an uninvited visit. The plus side of all these assignments is that they could easily be integrated into our training plan, hopefully developing a little discipline in my volunteer force, and some experience.

My talks that day didn’t end there. I spoke to Kim, Dunbar, and Burton after lunch, keeping this discussion private from any of the other up-timers, although I would discuss it with Clara and Gabby later. My two biggest concerns going forward, besides training my troops, were intelligence and security. I needed to know everything that I could about Winslow’s base of operation and the region he controlled.

“Obviously, you’re talking about questioning our newest members of this community,” Kim pointed out with a knowing smile etched across her face. “The question is how do you want to proceed?”

I admitted that was indeed my intent. I also admitted that for the time being we’d do our questioning without resorting to torture. As I quickly pointed out, our newest members had all surrendered of their own accord and they’d all promised to cooperate with me. I intended to hold them to their word. I’d be speaking to each in turn, with the assistance of a couple of other volunteers, to help make certain the person was consistent in their answers. I’d grill them on exactly what they knew about Winslow’s base. Naturally we’d keep them apart until such time as we’d gathered as much intelligence from each of them as possible, and we’d compare their answers with each of the others. If there were contradictions, I’d then consider torture. Kim agreed that it was a good plan.

Security was another matter. I put it bluntly to Kim, and Dunbar and Burton, and I told them that of all the up-time people in our community, I trusted Clara and Gabby, and the three of them, and that was it. I know it didn’t make Kim happy, particularly since she’d personally picked Katherine and Beverly for this mission, but even though her brow furrowed when I told her that I didn’t trust those people she kept her mouth shut.

“We’ll need to keep an eye on them as best we can,” I informed them pointedly. “My biggest problem is that if I tell my people that I don’t trust them fully, my people will react in kind and any chance of integrating these people into the community will fail. So far things have been going good with Rolf Anderson and his people, and with Alexa and Penny. They’re working with the rest of the community, speaking the language, dressing like everyone else, and they’ve picked up a few of the customs already. I don’t want to jeopardize that by having the people they are working with spying on them. It simply means that we four along with Clara and Gabby will need to keep our eyes open for anything suspicious, regardless of how small a thing it might be.

“Is there anyone in particular you don’t really trust?” Burton asked hesitantly.

“Truthfully the last five we brought in are the most likely to try and do something against us,” I told the man bluntly. “I know you have a relationship with Helen, and I don’t have a problem with that; but until Quantum is stopped once and for all, I can’t trust her. It’s not personal; it’s just being a responsible leader.”

Burton didn’t argue with me on that point. He just nodded his head in understanding and then sat back and waited on what I had to say next. He didn’t have long to wait.

“I know we’re all going to be busy, but we’re going to have to do some tactical planning,” I stated firmly, glancing about as I did, “and the sooner we do it, the better I’ll sleep at night. I do realize that until we get enough intelligence out of our five newest members, anything we do plan will be subject to change; however, I want all of you thinking about how we can face down Winslow, and win. I want a ‘Plan A’ right through to a ‘Plan Z’ if necessary, that is if you actually come up with that many options that we can use.”

“Okay,” Kim muttered nodding her head and looking at the other two as she said it. “I think we can do that.”

“I also want you to take charge of driving this job, Kim,” I told her directly, making sure not to smile as I did, so she would take me seriously. “You’re the Army Captain and NSA data analyst. Out of the four of us, you’ve got the most background and experience at looking at the picture and tearing it apart to see what is right and what is wrong. I’ll still feed you ideas as they pop into my head, and I’ve got several I’d like to put forward once we get a little more intelligence to work with; but regardless of who comes up with an idea, I want you running with it. What do you say to that?”

Kim was a bit surprised, and a bit flattered. After giving it some thought, she decided to take on the job, but on one condition.

“What’s that?” I asked automatically when she said it, meeting her gaze with a questioning look.

“Clara doesn’t get to ban me from your bed again,” Kim declared flashing me a grin, causing Dunbar and Burton to laugh.

There was nothing I could say to that, so I just shrugged my shoulders and agreed.

I started interrogations the next morning with Gus. I commandeered one of the outbuildings: the weaving shed. I turned it into my office. It was a bit nippy, even though the hut did have a stone fireplace to help keep the place warm when people used it during the winter. The place hadn’t been used much lately with the community’s attention focused elsewhere. By the time I got there, and set it up to talk to Gus, the fire had only been burning in the fireplace for a few minutes. Thankfully I’d brought a big mug of hot tea with me, as had Kim and Dunbar. I’d asked them to sit in with me with Gus.

“I’ll put it to you plainly, Gus,” I told the man once he was seated across the work table from me and my co-interrogators, “I’ve called you here to pick your brain about Winslow’s base. I need intelligence, and from my perspective you and the ladies are my chief source of it. Do you feel up to answering a few questions?”

Gus actually had to think about that before answering me. I couldn’t tell if he’d been thrown by the fact I was being openly honest with him, or by the fact that he had to think for a moment about how much he was willing to tell me. Eventually, Gus did nod his head ‘yes’.

The first thing I asked him to do was to draw me two maps. I wanted a map of Winslow’s base and a map of the surrounding area. I provided him with a pen, paper, pencil crayons, an eraser, and a pencil sharpener, all of which had been provided by Penny from the stores liberated from the southern compound. I told him it didn’t have to be perfect, because we’d fill in the details while we talked. I did point out that I was asking the same of the ladies, even as we spoke, which was the truth. For this part at least I’d recruited a few extra people to help me out. Thus each of the five newest people were somewhere about our settlement under the watchful eye of people I trusted to a point, drawing maps. I hoped that once I had them all, and I’d reviewed them each with Kim, that we’d have one reasonably accurate map of Winslow’s base, and one of the region about it.

I’d picked Gus for my victim because of his arm. I didn’t know if he could draw or not, although I’d noticed on our trek home that he was right handed and his wounded arm was his left. He could have pulled that as an excuse not to draw, and if he did, I’d accept his excuse, but then I would have moved straight in to interrogating him on everything he knew, while Dunbar mapped out any reference on a piece of paper which we could compare to the other maps once we were done talking to Gus. Fortunately for us, Gus decided to cooperate.

It took a couple of hours for Gus to finish the map, and another couple of hours for Kim and me to review it with him, while Dunbar watched on in silence. Once we were done, I sent Gus off to get himself some lunch, with our thanks for his cooperation.

“What do you think of him?” I asked when I came back to my seat after standing by the open door to the shed, watching Gus slowly walk back to the longhouse, not closing the door until I was certain he was in it.

“Young,” Dunbar grumbled almost dismissively, “and nervous, and I think a little frightened of what we might do to him if we catch him lying to us.”

“I agree,” Kim interjected as she picked up the two maps Gus had drawn for us. They were both lacking in detail. They did however include enough information that we couldn’t positively say that Gus wasn’t cooperating with us. Once Kim had looked at the maps, she put them back down on the table and then went on. “We’ll definitely have to compare them to the other maps and see what Gus left off. It could be that Gus had a lot less access to Winslow’s base than other people had. He was only a guard, remember. He did point out where his barrack stood in relationship to the other barracks that Winslow had erected. He even pointed out the two barracks that stood beside his, identifying them as housing the female military personnel. He also pointed out the mess hall, the baths and latrines, the quartermaster’s stores, and the main guard shack. The only other locations he’s pointed out on the map are the helicopter pad and the motor pool, which are both at different points on the base in relation to his barrack. For now we’ve got to accept what he’s told us, until we have proof that he’s lying. If we do catch him, we can pull him in tonight and Dunbar and Burton can work him over, while you make it up to me for last night.”

Dunbar guffawed at that declaration, while I just shook my head and smiled. Then to change the subject, I suggested lunch. The others agreed.

That afternoon we went over the maps together, employing the drawing capability of Gabby to help us out. She did so willingly, seeing it as an opportunity to do something other than sitting about trying to teach a bunch of up-timers how to speak caveman. I took note of that comment when Gabby offered her services. I got the impression that language training had become a little repetitious as of late.

I was disappointed in all five sets of maps. None of them included much in the way of real intelligence, particularly the regional maps. All five could point out the fishing village that stood below the heights upon which Winslow had built his base, and both Gus and Carmen could point out the next two nearest villages that were also on the coast, but no one could really pinpoint where any of the other villages were. Gus was able to come up with three others that lay inland from the base by roughly half a days travel by vehicle, and Carmen gave us one, but neither could state exactly where they were or even if the village one identified was the same as one the other identified. As for Lottie, Sarah, and Helen, they’d never been outside the base before the mission that had brought them up to the compound where we captured them. The only plus was that both Carmen and Gus stated that there was a major river just north of Winslow’s base, by about ten miles, that sort of formed the northern boundary of Quantum’s territory at the moment. Both had heard rumours that Winslow planned to bridge it next spring, but neither they nor the others could swear to it for sure.

The base maps did provide me with some information once all five maps were amalgamated into one. The most important piece of information, was that we found out where the base was situated. Winslow had erected it on a large promontory to the south of the fishing village. The base was fenced off on all sides until the fence line hit the edges of the promontory where the land met the sea. After that the only thing keeping people from getting in that way was the sea and the rugged cliffs that rose up from it to support the rise of land.

More importantly we found out that there was an upper base, and a lower base. The upper base was fenced in as well. It was where Winslow and his cronies had built their retreat. Winslow had actually constructed for himself a large villa that would have looked great back in the Roman Imperial period of our timeline. It covered almost five thousand square feet of land, and it housed Winslow and a number of his friends as well as his personal bodyguards and staff.

That was another piece of intelligence that we’d garnered from the five new people. All of them had pointed out that Winslow had his own private guard in addition to the small army of thugs that he’d brought through the Gateway with him. This force lived in the villa, and it protected Winslow around the clock. While no one knew exactly how strong that force was, they all thought it had to be at least twenty or more people, given the size of the place, and the number of different guards each had seen over the months they’d been at the base. It meant that while I’d been whittling down Winslow’s forces ... actually, slashing his platoon of combat thugs in half over the last few weeks ... I now had to take a second trained force into consideration when we finally struck Winslow and his base.

By supper time, Kim, Dunbar, Burton and I had pored over the maps and we’d created a list of questions that we’d be putting to our five new members in an effort to flesh out the maps and to build up our intelligence. We left it at that, tired from the long day of thinking and wracking our brains. When we did go, I took everything with us, so I could secure it. I had a bolthole in the longhouse near my quarters that only a few knew about. I had no desire to leave intelligence lying around.

Our biggest problem in gathering intelligence from our five new members was the fact we couldn’t keep them from talking to each other about what we’d asked them. Of course we’d made the effort to warn them against doing so when we started with them that morning; but because of the nature of how we lived, and the fact that we were treating them as members of our community and not prisoners, meant that they could get together at anytime they wanted and discuss anything without my team of interrogators knowing about it. The only thing in my favour was the fact that almost all my people had been warned to speak only the common tongue around the five, and to report to me if they overheard anything suspicious. I know this sort of went against what I mentioned earlier about not wanting to turn the tribe against the five ‘new’ recruits, but for the short term it was necessary. I made certain that my people understood that it was only a temporary situation that would change once I’d learned everything about the bad people’s village. They understood that, once I had fully explained it to them, and they had agreed to watch and listen if such a necessity arose.