Chapter 22

Division 1’s primary mission was to protect Auburn and Folsom’s Hydroelectric Facility. Colonel Carl Fenton, his Division staff, and Companies C, D, and E were enroute to the Folsom area. Their primary mission in Folsom was to provide security for the Hydroelectric Facility and they would accomplish this by sending out patrols to find and destroy any hostile parties in the area. A secondary mission was to send any survivors they encounter to their SCC, which would be located at Company C’s Headquarters. The Negotiators normally deployed with Companies B, C, D, and E would care for the survivors at Company C’s location until they could be transported to Auburn.

The area close to Folsom Dam was Company B’s Area of Responsibility (AOR) and it was surrounded by predominantly residential neighborhoods and the lake. Major Vannes’ Planning and Intelligence Section identified three schools in the area surrounding the Hydroelectric Facility that appeared to be suitable as Company Headquarters for Companies C, D, and E.

As the three Division 1 Companies approached Folsom, Company C’s commanding officer, Captain Tim Bale, keyed his radio.

“Ark 3, Charlie 1. Over.”

“Go, Charlie 1. Over.”

“Our turnoff is coming up in about a half mile and we will be leaving the convoy when we get there. Over.”

“Roger, Charlie 1. Ark 3 out.”

A few cross streets later, Company C turned off onto Fuller Road and headed for the Wilma Cavitt Junior High School. Company C’s AOR was bounded by Douglas Boulevard, Hazel Avenue-Serra College Boulevard, Oak Avenue, and Folsom Lake. They would establish a temporary SCC for any survivors found in the Folsom area at their Headquarters. The remainder of the convoy continued south on Folsom-Auburn Road.

A few minutes later, “Delta 1 and Echo 1, this is Ark 3 over.”

“Go Ark 3, Delta 1 over.”

“Go Ark 3, Echo 1 over.”

“We are approaching my turnoff. Report in to Ark 3-2-1 when you reach your objectives. Ark 3 out.”

When the convoy reached Folsom Dam Road, Division 1’s commanding officer, Colonel Carl Fenton, and his staff turned onto Folsom Dam Road and headed for Company B’s Headquarters building. They were met at the entry gate by a vehicle waiting to guide them to the building.

When the convoy reached Inwood Road, Company D turned off and headed for Carl Sundahl Elementary School. Their AOR would be everything south of Oak Avenue, east of Hazel Avenue, and west of the American River.

After crossing the river, Company E headed for the Theodore Judah Elementary School. Their AOR would be everything south of AOR 1 and the lake, east of the American River, west of Sofia Parkway, and north of Blue Ravine Road.

Captain Maroun was listening to the convoy’s radio traffic and knew Colonel Fenton would be arriving in a few minutes. He and Lieutenants Jackson and Denton walked across the road to the Division’s new Headquarters building, and waited for the Colonel’s arrival.

The Colonel’s Mobile Command Post, one of the RVs modified by Sam’s Construction Department, was following the pickup truck Captain Maroun dispatched earlier to the gates on Folsom Dam Road. The MCP’s guide vehicle pulled into the parking lot. Private Kennedy Hale, who was in the bed of the guide vehicle, signaled the MCP’s driver to park the RV in the parking lot. The MCP and vehicles following it pulled into the parking lot and found places to park.

As people begin exiting the MCP, Ahmed said, “Good afternoon, Colonel. I’m glad you’re here.”

“After that drive, Captain, it’s good to get here. Where do you plan to put us?”

Motioning toward the building, Captain Maroun said, “I thought this building complex would be ideal for you and your staff, Sir. We have been preparing it for you during the last few days.”

“Well I only have thirty-two people on staff, so it is certainly big enough for us. Let us get our bags out of the RV and then you can show my Executive Officer and me to our quarters so we can drop off our bags. After that, we can go over to your office and talk.”

“Yes, Sir. Lieutenant Jackson, show the Colonel’s staff officers where their quarters are. Lieutenant Denton, show his enlisted staff where their quarters are located.”

It only took a few moments for Colonel Fenton and Lieutenant Colonel Tale to grab their bags, and then Captain Maroun was escorting them into the Division’s new Headquarters building.

A short while later, Captain Ahmed Maroun, Colonel Carl Fenton, and Lieutenant Colonel Bob Tale made themselves comfortable in Ahmed’s office with mugs of freshly brewed coffee.

“Ahmed, my other Company commanders are getting their people to their new Company Headquarters and starting to set up for business. I instructed them to be here at thirteen hundred hours tomorrow for a short meeting. By now, my people have dropped their bags off at their quarters and they are unloading the trucks and beginning to set up their respective sections.

“As we came in, I noticed that you have your comm antenna on top of your building. I pointed that out to my Communications Officer Major Fullbright. She said she would have her people put their antenna on top of our building also. Does the additional height extend your range by very much?”

“I’m not sure, Carl. We were able to reach the Ark with just the vehicle radios and whip antennas. We use a different radio and antenna and we didn’t check the range of the antenna at ground level. I suspect putting your antenna on top of your building will be adequate, but if she can’t get enough range, she can always put her antenna on our building and run a buried cable to her radio.”

Carl nodded and then said, “Tell me, how are things here? Any problem areas?”

“Not too much to add since my last status report, Carl. The area around the Hydroelectric Facility is secure, and we get a walk-in survivor every so often. I turn them over to Mistress Turner and she handles them until they can be transported back to Auburn. I assigned a few of my people to work with Seal Team 6 several weeks ago, and that seems to be working okay. Now that you are here, we may be able to provide them with more help, if they need it.”

“What’s the situation like between you and Mistress Turner?”

“About the same, Carl. We each do our jobs and I try to not irritate her. Unfortunately, just the sight of me seems to anger her.”

“You put Seal Team 4 in her SCC quarters, if I recall. How did she take that?”

“Let’s say she just barely tolerated it. She didn’t seem really hostile toward the Seals from what I heard, but she was really mad at me.”

“Any idea why?”

“Chris, Aaron, and I have talked about that. Chris thinks it is a control issue. She wants to be in total control, and while she is here, I’m her boss; I don’t think she likes that. Aaron thinks control is part of it, but according to him, she finds me personally interesting and acting angry is her way of keeping me at a distance.”

“And what do you think, Ahmed?”

“I’ve never had a women react to me or someone I know the way she does to me, so I’m not sure what it means. I think there is something more to it than a control issue or personal attraction. Perhaps I remind her of some guy she used to know, and I’m getting the shit she would like to have handed out to him.”

“I see. She can’t tolerate being controlled or she is dumping on you because she can’t dump on the other guy or she is trying to convince herself that she doesn’t have the hots for you. That’s an interesting set of possibilities. If we wait long enough, maybe we will find out if it is one of those possibilities or something else.”

“What do you think of her as a person?”

“Competent at her job, Carl, and generally a good, caring person. If you’re asking if I’m attracted to her, the answer is No. If things were different, possibly.”

“What about the Seals and the tree clearing?”

“They’ve done a great job so far. Ensign Yeager was left in charge when the rest of Seal Team 4 was recalled to the Ark. I talked with him after they left and he said Troop 3 was almost to the point where he and Seal Platoon 5 could return to the Ark and redeploy to Benicia. He will be leaving Chief Nighy and Seal Platoon 6 here to complete the job and keep the grid clear in the future.

“That was when I decided that when Ensign Yeager left, Chief Nighy might need a few extra people. I asked for volunteers and came up with ten people who were interested in helping them. Ensign Yeager fitted them out with dive gear, and from what he said they are competent for Army pukes. I think he was trying to be humorous, but some of those Seals really don’t like us Army pukes.

“I was planning to go up to the dam today and check on how things are going, but I got tied up making sure your building was ready for you. The Seals will be finishing up for the day in a couple of hours. Would you be interested in going with me when we’ve finished our coffee?”

“Sure, and my coffee is almost cold, so I’m ready to go when you are.”

“Let me arrange for a driver and we can leave.”

Stepping out of the office, Ahmed saw Staff Sergeant Anthony Redman. “Sergeant Redman, go get a truck and bring it around front. I’m taking Colonel Fenton and Colonel Tale up to the dam so they can see the area and the tree clearing operation.”

“Yes, Sir. Give me a minute or two and I’ll be out front.”

Ahmed returned to the office and said, “Sergeant Redman will be out front in a few minutes. I’m going to make a pit stop in the latrine before we go. You may be interested in doing the same.”

The three officers headed for the latrine to empty their bladders, and then they went to the pickup. After a short drive, they arrived on top of the dam and parked near the tower.

“Lieutenant Jackson and I decided to use this tower as an observation post when we first got here. We learned that we can’t walk around on the top due to the equipment installed up there. As you can see, we built an observation platform by planking over the girders that are about halfway up the tower, adding a barrier around the platform, and adding the ladder and a safety cage.”

Ahmed led his guests to the ladder and they climbed it to the observation platform where Ensign Yaeger was observing the tree clearing effort. He introduced the two Colonels to Ensign Yaeger, and asked the Ensign to explain the tree-clearing effort.

“If you look closely, you can see the top edge of the grid and five marker buoys. One buoy on each side of us at the shore, two further out and to the sides, and one directly in front of us. Those buoys mark the perimeter of the filter grid.

“When we got here, there were trees pushing up against the grid. We removed all of those trees and we are now working at keeping the surface clear and looking for trees that are on the lakebed. If you look a little to the right of the buoy directly in front of us you will see a boat about five hundred yards out that is headed our way. That is two of your Army people towing one of the floating trees they found to the shore.

“Floating trees are getting harder to find. We have to keep going out further to find them. When your people found the tree, one of them became the swimmer who took the towrope and secured it to the butt end of the tree. The other person was the driver who minded the swimmer’s safety line. Now they are towing the tree in to the shore. They are headed to our right and if you look down the road in that direction you will see a couple of tow trucks and a few swimmers at the edge of the water. When your people get here, one of those swimmers will disconnect the towrope so the boat can go back out for another tree. They will then connect the tow truck’s cable to the tree. When the swimmers are clear of the tree, the tow truck driver will winch the tree up to the road and then drag it down the road that you came up and drop it in the wood yard.”

Lieutenant Colonel Tale said, “I assume the wood yard is that area down below that was full of trees.”

“That’s right, Colonel. Now finding the submerged trees is a little different than what we do for trees floating on the surface because the water is too muddy to see. The lack of visibility makes it dangerous to send down divers to search for trees. You see the three inflatable boats that are close to the grid. Those are our dive boats. The speedboats further out are our towboats. We divided this area into three work zones, one for each dive boat.

“The dive boats are pulling a utility anchor across the lakebed. When the anchor hooks a tree, we send a swimmer down to connect a towboat’s towline to the tree. Then the towboat pulls the tree to the shore. The swimmer takes the tow truck cable and they connect it to the tree and then they disconnect the boat’s towline. The tow truck gets the tree out of the water and drags it to the wood lot.”

Getting Ensign Yaeger’s attention, Captain Maroun said, “A couple of days ago you told me that you were almost to the point where you and Seal Platoon 5 would be leaving. Any idea when that will be?”

“We could probably leave now, but I’m going to give it another two days. We have cleared almost all of the close-in submerged trees from the lakebed. Another day of dragging for trees, and then I’ll put my people to work removing any tree branches and loose debris that has been sucked up against the grid’s mesh. After that, Seal Platoon 6 should be able to keep the grid clear with the help of your people. By the way, your people meshed with mine and they are doing a good job.

“Hopefully, the mud will settle out by next year and we will be able to see any trees that drift in across the lakebed. That will also make it a lot easier to clear small debris from the grid’s mesh. Until then, Chief Nighy and a few of your people will be using dive boats to find the submerged trees, which will take up most of their time.”

Colonel Fenton said, “Thank you, Ensign.”

Ahmed said, “Colonel, while we are up here, you may want to take a look at the surrounding area.”

After moving to the other side of the observation platform, Colonel Fenton asked, “What do you want us to see, Ahmed?”

“I thought you might want to assess our area and its security features. We have lights, guard posts, and roving patrols that cover the entire area. That allows us to spot anyone moving toward the Hydroelectric Facility or toward our buildings.

While pointing in the appropriate directions, Ahmed said, “Over there to the west of our buildings is Folsom-Auburn Road. We built the barrier that you drove along to stop vehicle traffic from entering our area from the north. There are security lights on top of the barrier pointed to the north, and at night, they light up that area. We also cleared the area to the north of the barrier of all trees and buildings that someone could use for concealment to approach the barrier. Ensign Yaeger has been pulling double duty during the day by keeping an eye out for movement in the cleared area to the north of the barrier.

“The area around our buildings is lit up at night by security lights and we have guard posts at key fixed points around the buildings. The area around the Hydroelectric Facility has several fixed guard posts, but some of the guard posts are only manned at night. The post at the entrance to our area, on top of the dam, and the remaining posts around the Hydroelectric Facility are manned twenty-four seven. I also have a few two-man roving patrols in our area.

“On the east side of the river there is a large open area. We built barriers to block vehicles from entering that area. We also removed anything that could be used for concealment and installed security lights so we could see any foot traffic in the area at night. One of the Hydroelectric Facility’s fixed guard posts is on top of the east side of the dam. They keep an eye on the area east of the river during the day.”

Lieutenant Colonel Tale asked, “How effective have your security measures been, Captain?”

“I’m not sure how to answer that, Sir. So far, a number of survivors have been attracted to our presence here at the dam and by our movements in the area. Our guards have detected and alerted our comm center to their presence before they reached a point where they might be a threat to the Hydroelectric Facility. However, they weren’t attempting to sneak up on us. The closest roving patrol is sent to their location to check them out. So far, everyone we approached just wanted help, so we took them to the SCC for Mistress Turner to process. In a few instances, we sent a patrol out to their residences to pick up their friends and family. We haven’t been attacked by anyone, but we have procedures in place to respond to an attack if one were to occur.”

Colonel Fenton asked, “What is your procedure in case of an attack, Captain?”

“Standing orders are no one leaves the immediate area of the Headquarters building without their weapon and personal radio. When a guard post recognizes an attack, they call it in to the comm center and they provide the details of the attack. Our personal radios are all on the same frequency, so that alerts everyone in the area that has their radio with them. We have a siren set up to sound an alert signal, so the comm center activates the siren and rebroadcasts the details of the attack’s location and attacking force.

“When the siren sounds, the people at the fixed guard positions remain in place. First Platoon’s three Squads reinforce the three guard posts on top of the dam. Second Platoon’s three Squads move to prepared positions that cover the approaches to the Hydroelectric Facility.”

Colonel Fenton said, “Your plan seems to provide an appropriate degree of security, Captain. Have you conducted drills to ensure the plan is implemented correctly?”

“Yes, Sir. When we first got here and implemented the plan, I conducted drills once a day until we worked all the bugs out of the Attack Response Plan. I currently conduct a drill about once a week.”

“Now that we are here, how did you intend to integrate us into your response plan?”

“I haven’t given that a great deal of consideration, Sir. It is one of several things that I want to discuss with you once you and your staff have settled in.”

“Anything else that you can think of, Colonel Tale?”

“Not at the moment, Colonel. Captain Maroun seems to have more than adequate security arrangements in place.”

“I agree. Captain, I think we have seen everything that we need to see from up here. Let’s head back so Colonel Tale and I can get settled into our new quarters. My people undoubtedly have a few questions by now.”

Company A’s commanding officer, Captain Abigail Bell, and her First Platoon’s Leader Lieutenant Zeke Diaz were in SCC 2’s Round Table Clubhouse office with Seal Team 1’s commanding officer, Lieutenant Alexander Brooks, and his three Seal Troop commanders Ensigns Mac Allen, Sebastian Belton, and Daniel Benton.

This was their first meeting since Seal Team 1 took over the Rite Aid and Grocery Outlet buildings on the other side of Auburn Ravine Road. The six officers were enjoying their freshly brewed coffee while discussing their deployments to SCC 2.

Captain Bell asked Lieutenant Brooks, “Are you settled in at the Rite Aid, Alex?”

“Pretty much, Abby. We still need a few things, but Leah has two of her Scavenger Teams out looking for what we need. She said we should have the remainder of our We Need List by tomorrow.

“My decision to set up in the shopping center across the street made a lot of extra work for us, but I think we will be better off over there. My main concern was us having to deploy a Response Team to a location that needed us there now. Zeke is going to have a lot of civilians around the SCC, especially children. I didn’t want my people driving over someone in their rush to get to where they needed to go. Besides, my shopping center gives us better access to Highways 49 and 80 and those are the roads we most likely be on to get to our destination the quickest.”

Captain Bell said, “Yeah, Zeke and I both agreed with your rationale when you told us you would be moving into Rite Aid. What do you plan to do with the Grocery Outlet?”

“Right now, nothing. We set up a generator to provide power to Rite Aid, and I don’t know if it is true, but I heard we will be getting power from Folsom in another day or so. I had my people clear the meat, produce, and other food out of Grocery Outlet that had gone bad and take it to your dumping area. Once the smell in the building has diminished, we may use it as a supply warehouse for Leah. Captain Bale told me that is what he had in mind for Save Mart.

“What about you and Zeke, Abby, how are things going on this side of the road?”

“Zeke has Alpha’s First Platoon and he and his Third Squad got here the day before you arrived. I’m at SCC 1 with his First and Second Squads, and I just stop by SCC 2 and the other SCCs when needed.”

Alex said, “Yeah, I recall you mentioning that when we arrived.”

Abby said, “What about it, Zeke, how are things working out for you here?”

“Fairly good, Abby. Captain Bale left the place in good condition. He and his men repaired all the damage, got the place organized and set up, and did all the Survivor Collection effort before they left it with me. When we knew Third Squad would be here, Mr. Lyle arranged for me to get a couple of Negotiators to handle the survivors, and they are doing a good job. We have a minor problem and a somewhat larger problem.