Chapter 28

I walked over to the radios where I saw Alex. “What’s happening?”

He said, “Listen.” He pointed.

I heard. “is General Hiram Scott of the loyal resurgent army making this taped broadcast for anyone listening on three point nine five zero megahertz. We will monitor three point nine six zero megahertz for any replies. We are leading the fight against the aliens and any group of persons who are not loyal to the United States. The loyal resurgent army is the only group actively fighting the aliens and injustice in our country. If you are hearing this and are loyal to the United States, you should respond as instructed giving your location. Anyone who fails to respond will be considered an enemy of the United States and subversive to our great cause.” After a couple of seconds, the message started again.

I thought about it for a few moments. “Have you checked the response frequency?”

“Not yet. I wanted instructions from you first. We did tune and listen. Our friends in Texas responded and were given some instructions that were not what I would expect of an American but of a petty dictator. The Texans told of the alien base but were told to leave it alone since it wasn’t on the list yet. The Texans asked what bases were on the list and were told that that information was secret. I don’t think they liked that answer. The LRA was quick to tell them they were being disloyal and defeatist. Riley, I really don’t think we should respond but should be careful about them. They might have enough men and material to present a challenge.”

Janey said, “They also didn’t tell their location either. However, I think they might be in west Texas or New Mexico. That’s a guess based upon the relative strength of signal from them and from the Texans. I did get a rough bearing on them that leans that way.”

“Okay, folks. It’s not great news but maybe not bad news. I don’t think they have taken on an alien base nor an organized group with firepower. We’ve done both successfully. Alex, Janey, can we hide our identity and talk to them?”

Alex said, “We can’t do much about location but we can lower our power and adjust the radio to make Janey’s or my voice hard to otherwise identify.”

“Good. Do that. Pledge to them but be in Tennessee. We need information if they will give you any. It’s worth a try. Tonight, we’ll continue on our way to Nebraska and should make it by morning. Keep me advised.”

They changed out radios and put another guy in their group on that radio. He called and was enthusiastic about what the LRA claimed to be doing. He claimed to be from Bristol, Tennessee. The person talking to him was a little bit more forthcoming about their current goals. The LRA was in Van Horn, Texas, which matched Janey’s estimate of West Texas. According to the speaker, Jim, they were going to check out the Fort Bliss area. They then planned on taking out the alien base in North Texas which was our target. I wasn’t sure what they hoped to get at Fort Bliss which was probably wiped out. Our guy, Nate, expressed hope and wanted to travel to join him. He was told that all recruits would be welcomed. Nate asked him about travel and was told to get a car and head west. No warning about travel and aliens’ attacks on operating vehicles during the day.

With that report, I decided to worry about them later. I had figured that El Paso was a crater and Fort Bliss went with it. Looking at a map, they were close. We would monitor but go on to Nebraska as we had planned. We rested to move on in the evening.

Later that day, our sentries warned us that aliens had flown over our general location twice. I thought they might be looking for something and it might be us. I talked to my platoon leaders about stopping earlier if we found a great place. We knew there was at least a suspicion that something or someone was in the area. I figured that a space-going species can’t be completely stupid. We would have to be more careful. Maybe the LRA will take the heat if they are traveling by day.

We left in the evening and drove to Nebraska and found an armory in a smaller town. It had been raided but was still good for our uses particularly since there was a motel across the street. The area appeared to be deserted. We pulled in and hid our vehicles away, set sentries, and most of us went to bed after a quick meal.

As Sheila and I lay down, I told her that the fact that the armory had been raided worried me enough to have Joe’s platoon furnish the sentries. I mentioned that he and I had given each other a look so he knew my concern. As usual, we carried our personal weapons into the bedroom with us. Alex had asked me to have all platoon leaders and myself carry our HT’s at all times. He had an emergency channel set on each for him to call all of us.

I heard Joe call for me and the other platoon leaders. He said, “Let’s be alert. I think we have a potential situation developing here. Riley, I could use you and Sheila right now at the armory. Alex has radios set up here.”

I replied. “Joe, we’re on the way as soon as we’re dressed. Riley is moving.”

Sheila and I dressed quickly including grabbing our guns. We looked out the window without disturbing our curtain before heading out to cross the street including looking in both directions. In the distance, I could hear the rumble of heavy vehicles. Apparently, those who had raided the armory were still in the area. I admitted some concern in my mind about running vehicles in the daytime.

Sheila and I ran into the armory. We saw Joe and Alex gathered around radios listening. Janey entered right behind us. We could hear, “Squad One, are you at the armory yet?” Then a different voice said, “Not yet. We don’t see anyone as we approach.”

I heard an alien air ship fly overhead. Moments later, there was the boom of one of their bombs. I heard, “Leon, we’re okay and watching for a return flight. They got the army vehicle coming our way. I don’t know what it was but it was tracked.”

Leon said, “Roger, Duck. Stay down.”

“Roger, I don’t want my feathers ruffled.”

On a different radio, I heard that same voice say, “Squad One, did you see the alien? Squad One, report.”

Alex said, “They’re on military radios. I saw one here and hooked it up to determine what we might hear.” He smiled. “The battery was dead. Janey figured out how to recharge it. We’re now reading their traffic. I don’t think they are listening to us. I don’t think they have a real radio person but are just users.”