Chapter 15

Saturday

I was surprised when all the women went to sleep last night at the same time I did. I knew that Helga had to get up early today, but they all went to sleep. Helga got up about 0300, explaining that she wanted to get an early start so she could get the crab and the crawfish to the farmers market early. I was surprised when Sally, Dana, and Kristen went with her. “Make sure everyone is strapped onto their sled securely,” I reminded Helga.

“Hurry back to us,” Sally said emotionally as each of the four women kissed me goodbye.

I commed and found that Don was already several kilometers down the bayou with another 25 klicks to go before reaching the bay. Eight klicks beyond that was our favorite shrimping grounds. Even though it was early, I could hear in the background that my brothers were excited. Fortunately, Don made sure they went to bed earlier than usual last night, although I’ve heard they now go to bed early, anticipating getting up early to hunt. I also knew that, like my brothers, the men on the boat would be armed.

We’d had a run-in with four rowboats loaded with guys last spring. They thought the sixteen of them could take our boat away from us. They only had rowboats with small outboard motors, but they had the bayou blocked with several logs chained together across the bayou. While Don filled their boats with enough holes to sink them, I sniped at the chain on one side of the first log. It took four shots with the 13 mm sniper rifle to sever one end of the chain. There weren’t any targets left by then who weren’t busy swimming for shore. With their boats sinking and several of the dead pirate wannabes floating, we continued down the last several klicks of the bayou and out into the bay. Don radioed the Coast Guard and reported the incident. That was the last we heard about it.

I was up at 0400 (Central Time) and ate breakfast after getting ready to go. I reached Fort Bragg by 0600 (Eastern Time) and stowed my gear in the barracks before heading for the PT field. I warmed up a little before everyone else arrived.

Cooper saw me and came over. “I hear that you said to split the gold on the ships evenly,” he commented questioningly.

“I didn’t know I was supposed to get half,” I replied. “It was a team effort and I think it should be divided evenly. I’ll even divide the farm equipment evenly if anyone wants to,” I offered.

“You keep that,” he said. “I hear that you’ve started a huge farm to provide food and jobs.”

“Yup. I spent time yesterday at the Lucky J Meridian talking with the second Lucky Jim’s grandson. He has plenty of qualified help and is willing to let me hire some of their top people. He also put me in touch with the contractors they use and the liaison with the defense department they use to hire veterans and disabled veterans. We hired about sixty yesterday. Some will provide security, some will operate heavy equipment for construction or farming, and some will learn how to operate the equipment,” I explained.

“Any chance my brother can get a job?” he asked. “He doesn’t know how to operate heavy equipment, but he knows construction.”

“Send him to my house and they can put him in touch with Rubio in Tensas Parish. If he has family, it will be a few weeks before we have enough big tents set up to accommodate everyone. If he needs a place to stay in the meantime, most of the houses closest to our place are empty and they can use one until the tents are ready. They’ll have to clean it first, though. The place where we’re starting the farm doesn’t even have running water, electricity, or waste treatment yet.”

“Is it in the States?” he asked.

“Yeah, it’s in one of the northern Louisiana Parishes along the Mississippi River. Evidently, most of the towns burned during the Welfare War and were never rebuilt. All but a few families there are living in squatter’s huts. They all rely on farming and hunting to survive. We bought the entire Parish, but have to install a water treatment plant, a sewage treatment plant, and a basic power grid,” I explained.

“How will you manage all that and still work with us?” he asked.

“Don and my wives will oversee everything. I hired the guy who just oversaw the construction of the Lucky J Haiti and he wanted to supervise the next big project, too. He’s happy and he knows what to do. He’s already worked with the construction company extensively, and he’s going to bring managers to supervise each crop that we’re going to grow. All I need to do is com Don or one of my wives at night when I’m able to. That way I can answer any questions that come up.”

“Shit, I’d be nervous as hell trying to start something like that,” he admitted.

“I am,” I admitted, “but I trust Don, I know my wives are smart, and I trust the people we got from The Lucky J Meridian.”

Everyone was assembled for PT by 0655. Lt. Grant led us through warmups and then calisthenics. Despite the cool weather, everyone was sweating when we finished. “Five kilometers, then report to the briefing room,” Grant hollered.

While everyone formed up into ranks, I watched and wondered where I should go. I’d just decided to stay at the back when Cooper hollered at me and motioned for me to join him. “Front right, you call cadence. Try for a four minute forty second average,” he ordered.

“One problem,” I replied sheepishly. “All I know are Marine cadence calls.” Everyone booed and hissed.

“Surely you know something else,” he replied questioningly.

“I know a few good songs,” I suggested.

“Go for it,” he replied, once again pointing to the front right corner of the formation. He remained at the front left.

“Well, shit,” I thought, wondering how bad my singing voice was. No nearby dogs had howled when I sang during my runs at home, and nobody edged away from me in church. I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to sing straight through or stop after each line for them to repeat it, but I started out anyway, choosing a starting pace for a five-minute klick since we were already warmed up.

“Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord,” I started. Surprisingly, it sounded like everyone else joined in once they recognized the song.

I’d heard the song in harmony before. The rare times that I heard the descant harmony done well, it sent chills down my spine--good chills. We continued our paced run with other voices and groups, mainly the guys, adding other harmonies.

“Pick it up,” Cooper hollered when we finished the song. I already had the next song planned, one I usually sang to myself at a 4:20 klick pace.

“The ants go marching one by one, Hurrah, Hurrah!” I started out, quickly joined by everyone else as they let me sing the line and they did the “Hurrah, Hurrah!”

As I neared the end of the song, my mind was scrambling. I knew a couple of more songs, but doubted that anyone else knew the words. “You probably don’t know this one, so I’ll sing a line and then you repeat it,” I called out.

The music was an early Louisiana fiddle tune originally titled “Jackson’s Victory” to celebrate the American victory over the British at New Orleans at the end of the War of 1812. The title changed to The 8th of January during the Civil War to celebrate the victory without giving credit to the, then, Union General.

Then, just over a hundred years ago, a high school teacher who loved to make up silly lyrics to help his students learn history came up with song lyrics about the battle that he put with the Eighth of January tune. Incredibly, a few groups actually recorded the song, “The Battle of New Orleans.”

I had found the lyrics while I was searching for, of all things, military music. I already knew the tune but was unaware that there had originally been no lyrics to it. Despite knowing that the current lyrics were far from accurate, the song was hilarious, so I had added it to my repertoire.

[Author’s note: Lyrics to The Battle of New Orleans were written by Jimmy Driftwood and sung by Johnny Horton in 1959.]

Changing to the up-tempo song and picking up the pace, I started, letting the rest of the troops repeat each line.

Ole Hickory said we could take ‘em by surprise,

Ole Hickory said we could take ‘em by surprise,

Yeah, they ran through the briars an’ they ran through the brambles

Yeah, they ran through the briars an’ they ran through the brambles

An’ they ran through the bushes where the rabbits couldn’t go.

An’ they ran through the bushes where the rabbits couldn’t go.

They ran so fast that the hounds couldn’t catch ‘em

They ran so fast that the hounds couldn’t catch ‘em

Down the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico.

Down the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico.

“You’re on a roll kid,” Cooper laughed when we finished. I thought about the next song and decided that it would be easier to use as a cadence count than trying to sing John Phillip Sousa’s Stars and Stripes Forever, no matter how much I loved the lively song.

“Let martial note in triumph float,” I called out in cadence. The words were quickly repeated, so I continued. Each line I called out was enthusiastically repeated.

“I thought you didn’t know any cadence counts,” Cooper commented questioningly.

“Those were the words to the song Stars and Stripes Forever,” I replied.

“You’re doing great. See if you can improvise one more cadence count and then I’ll finish,” he hollered.

“Shit, now what?” I wondered. The other two songs with words and every other cadence count I knew were traditional Marine Corps songs and cadence counts. The one song that wasn’t, “The Circus Bee,” didn’t have any words. I enjoyed humming the music for the last stretch of my runs since it was very fast paced. Instead, I chose to use a cadence count that I’d made up myself. My sisters and Sally had found the incomplete copy I’d written down. Despite teasing me about it, they jumped in and helped me finish it. I had to do some quick mental editing because it, too, was geared towards the Marines.

With no small amount of trepidation, especially knowing that I still wasn’t satisfied with some of the lines, I started calling out cadence with what I had so far.

The end of my cadence count was met with a lot of laughter and then Cooper began a cadence count that took us the rest of the way back. I took a lot of good-natured ribbing as we headed for the briefing room. The female SEALs seemed to have especially enjoyed my cadence count, walking behind me and repeating, “So if you meet a crazy girl, marry her or send her to Commander Earl.” They were still laughing when we got to the briefing room.

Everyone stood and saluted, watching Lt. Commander Ferguson expectantly when he strode into the room. “I spent most of the day yesterday in meetings,” he began, grinning when he got a groan from many of the people in the room.

“The gist of the meetings was that they think we should proceed to Nicaragua as soon as everyone feels comfortable working with Jim,” he announced.

“Let’s go,” Cooper said as he stood up, a sentiment echoed by everyone else.

“Okay, we’ll probably leave for Catacamas, Honduras, this afternoon or tomorrow morning, depending on how things turn out in this meeting. We’ll be staying at a new base that’s still under construction. We’ll be in a new barracks and I’ve been assured that we’ll have a secure storage area for our weapons. The base is between 80 and 250 klicks from the areas in Nicaragua that we’ll be concentrating on, so we’ll have quick access.

“Now, I’d like to discuss how we’re going to approach this. Due to the unique nature of what we’re going to do, surprisingly, the higher ups are leaving it to us to plan and implement this,” he said.

“I think we should start with the areas closest to the border and work our way south,” Cooper suggested. For the next half hour, ideas and suggestions flew fast and furious.

“You haven’t said anything, Jim,” Lt. Commander Ferguson commented. Naturally, everyone looked at me.

“I think we should go to the border where I can get vectors for each source of danger that I feel. I can also note the sources that seem the most dangerous. I can probably even reach out and get a vague idea of what the danger is for a few of the closer sources of danger. That way, we have a better idea of what we’re facing.

“We should probably be ready to attack immediately in case I find something we need to respond to immediately, like a planned ambush against U.S. troops. Some of the fire teams should be kept in reserve in case they’re needed to respond if a second problem arises or are needed to sweep in behind enemy forces that we’ve engaged.

“Then we should do the same thing from the southeast or southwest corner of the designated area and note where vectors meet. From there, I can probably get a vague idea of what the dangers are in the areas originally too far away from the border for me to search.

“At that point, I feel that a closer look is warranted for the sources of danger that seem the most pressing. That would require me to fly within half a kilometer of each source I feel warrants a closer look. The cloaking should hide me, and the new shielding should protect me if I’m somehow discovered.

“I’m sure you’ll want to send other troops with me to provide cover if needed or to respond to a critical situation if we come across one,” I said to Lt. Commander Ferguson. He was nodding.

“Once I’ve completed a closer review of what I feel are the most critical spots, we can regroup and decide what to do, or you can have everyone ready to respond and let the leader of the group you send with me determine what course of action to take,” I suggested.

“A prudent plan,” Ferguson mused aloud. “We’ve already determined that the cloaked sleds are impossible to see or detect,” he commented.

“Not entirely impossible to detect,” I interjected, surprising him.

“When Don and I raided the compounds in New Orleans and Atlanta, they were surrounded with a field of passive sensors that measured background cosmic radiation. Anything flying over the sensors will momentarily reduce or stop the cosmic radiation reaching the sensors. The computer they are hooked up to can read the disruptions to determine the course and speed of whatever caused the disruption. What they can’t do is determine the altitude or identify the source as accurately,” I explained.

“So they might know we’re there, but not how high we’re flying or what we’re using,” Ferguson clarified.

“Unless they’re able to determine the shape of whatever flew over and compare the image to known shapes and sizes of U.S. aircraft,” I replied. “They might be able to extrapolate the altitude based on the comparison of the two sizes. However, I have no idea if they’re able to determine the shape of what they detect or if they’ve even considered the possibility.”

“What sort of weaponry did they have available to use at the two compounds if they detected anything, and how did you defeat the sensors?” Ferguson asked.

“They had hundreds of what almost looked like pyrotechnic tubes used for fireworks. From what we learned later, those were designed to repel a low altitude attack by helicopters ferrying troops. At the first compound, I was able to determine that the new sensors along the west side of the compound hadn’t been connected yet. In Atlanta, we used an electro-magnetic pulse to fry the electronics in the sensors before we attacked.