Chapter 8

Most everyone else had already taken advantage of the showers ( there were three in the house) for the evening, so Cora kindly consented to let me do so as well. By the time I came out, my legs were feeling a bit rubbery, but my butt didn't hurt quite as much.

Ruth was supervising KP, even though she was one of the cooks and I took her aside as I headed for what was left of the food.

"I may have found the reason for Archie telling your sister not to go into the mine. Do you know of any reason why he would have a store of Marine Corps weapons stashed in a cave at the other end of his mine?"

Her surprise, to my untrained eye, looked real, which was a relief, but I guess it wasn't a total shock to her.

"I told you that my sister complained to me that Archie didn't let her go into the mine. She said he would sometimes get a call late at night and would get dressed and go down there. Beth said that he made her promise never to follow him or go down there herself, but that if he ever didn't come back, she was to call the Sheriff and send him down there. Why? What's this all about?"

"I have a suspicion, but that's all it is right now. I'll take Ramon down there tomorrow and see if we can learn anything else."

The Gunny showed up while I was finishing my meal, with Amanda in tow. "Matt will be along later, he's still tending the horses."

"Okay. It's probably just as well that the three of us go over what I discovered before Matt shows up. Gunny, you ever see a four-barreled gun with no magazine and no receiver? The one I saw had a motorized mount that seemed to have its own target acquisition sensors. It was packed in a metal box about yeah long by so wide and about this deep," I gestured with my hands to show the dimensions of the boxes I had seen. "USMC markings and the return address of a company in Australia."

Garcia's eye's turned skyward as he searched his memory. "Nope, can't say I've seen anything... Hey wait a minute! Did you say the company was in Australia? That wouldn't be Brisbane, Australia would it?"

"Yeah, as a matter of fact, it was."

"Do you remember the name of the Company?"

It was my turn to look skyward. "I didn't really pay much attention. I think it started with an 'M' and was like two or three words... 'Mental... ' or something like that."

"Could it have been 'Metal Storm?'"

"Why yes, now that you mention it, I suppose it could. I remember thinking it was rather a pretentious name for a weapons company."

Ramon was visibly excited now. "If it's what I think it is, the company name is a bit of an understatement! About three days before the sickness, a rumor was going around the Corps about a shipment of high tech weapons that was stolen right from under the noses of the guys here at Twenty Nine Palms. That shipment was purported to have been comprised of the first part of an order of Metal Storm weapons in a variety of configurations."

"Oh yeah!" Amanda piped in. "I remember seeing something on Discovery channel about that weapon a couple of months ago. It's like each bullet is a little rocket that's fired electronically, and they stack 'em in the barrels and fire them sequentially. I forget the rate of fire, but it seemed like it was something like a million rounds a second. All I know is, after seeing that, I'd hate to be in front of one of those things if it goes off."

"That's the one," Gunny nodded. "When I first heard the Corps was going to be getting them, I did some reading. Talk about fire power! How about a handgun that can fire eight rounds before recoil pulls it off target? The one you saw sounds like the automated model they wanted for perimeter defense. Different configurations can handle anything from slugs to grenades. It's got target acquisition and tracking using optical and infrared sensors. It can also be operated remotely from a terminal that displays the information from its sensors, and several of them can be networked together to coordinate their fire."

"Well, if it's that good, it may help solve the other problem that came up from our explorations. Seems this place has a back and a side door, and I wouldn't be surprised if there was a way down the west side, as well."

Amanda looked puzzled as to why that would be a problem. Garcia was not. "Yeah, we're stretched pretty thin with work and watches here, so it would be great if we could set up an automated system to ward off intruders from those places. I'll tell you frankly, I've been worried about defense and detection. These mountains aren't all that high, and any Marine who completed basic would be able to scale them in a few places. Yeah, it would really be nice to have an automated system, but wait a minute. How many of these things did you see?"

"I didn't count. I saw a pallet loaded with boxes identical to the one I opened - maybe twenty of them, but the whole cave was lined with tarp covered stacks of something. There were footprints leading off into another tunnel, as well. I didn't take time to explore that one, but for all I know, there's more in there. I'm beginning to think Archie's mine was a waystation for gun runners."

"Hell if there are twenty of the automated jobs, we could set up some pretty serious fields of fire that should deter almost anyone who wants to sneak in the back door. I'd really like to get a look at what's down there."

"I'm glad to hear you say that. You and I and Amanda are going back down there first thing in the morning."

'Back down where?" Matt emerged from the kitchen with a plate of food and took a place opposite me.

"Into the mine," I told him. "I found some dropshafts and falls as well as some places with weakened timbers, so we need to see how much of the mine we're going to fence off to keep people from getting hurt."

I hated lying to one of my people already, but I still didn't know who I could trust to keep things close to their chest. I was pretty sure about Garcia, and if Amanda was going to be my second, she would need to know, but for now, I wasn't planning on sharing the information with anyone else, just in case. I caught Amanda's glance as I told my fib, but she picked it from where I left off.

"People and animals. We can't afford the loss of either."

Clever. Very clever. Amanda, while reinforcing my subterfuge, had managed to remind me that we had dogs and other animals who might wander into fields of fire and be detected by automated systems. We would have to think of some way to keep them safe.

"That's right," I smiled to let her know I got the message. "Whatever we do, we will have to consider the animals, as well."

"Well, horses and livestock shouldn't be much of a problem as long as we keep them behind their fences," Matt said. "This Archie apparently didn't want animals wandering, either. None of his range is unfenced, even in that south pasture. Dogs, on the other hand, I don't know what you can do about, short of keeping 'em on a leash."

"Well, if can rig a fence or something across the tunnels in the appropriate places, it should keep them out of the danger zone. They won't be able to dig under with a solid rock floor like we've got in most of the tunnels."

"I saw some rolls of chain-link in one of the sheds," Amanda said. "If we can figure a way to fasten it to the walls and floor, it should do the trick."

"That's easy," I shrugged. "Just staple it to the framing timbers. We'll probably need something to stiffen the bottom so they can't push under, but that stuff usually comes with metal strips for that purpose. We should probably make it easily removable so we can get out that way, if need be."

"That's pretty easy, too," Matt said around a mouthful of food. "We used to make temporary 'gaps' that were just wire and a piece of wood at the end that was to open. All you need is a way to hook the wood to the post. A wire or rope loop or two should do the trick. Of course, that sort of 'gap' can be opened from either side pretty easily, so if you're worried about intruders..."

"We've got other plans for dealing with intruders," I replied, hoping it would satisfy him. "Among other things, it's not very easy to find the opening where I came out."

"Just thought I'd mention it. Don't forget to include that south pasture in your plans, too. If anybody got up there with weapons, they'd have us at a distinct disadvantage."

"All right," I said, pleased with the synergy we seemed to be developing in our little group, "We'll take some materials and tools with us and see what we can do when we go down there tomorrow, and then we'll see about the south pasture. Meanwhile, Matt, you want to tell us about what your explorations uncovered?"

"Sure. the path up the cliff face by the waterfall is fairly broad, and though it has a few switchbacks, it's plenty easy for horses, cattle, or even ATV's. I wouldn't try it with the Hummvee or the trucks, though. The south pasture is about forty or fifty feet below the top of the path, which rises about a hundred fifty feet above the floor of this valley. I rode down the east side, which Archie seems to have fenced off for a path. The whole valley is about half a mile wide by about two miles long and runs roughly north-south. I saw at least one gate in the fence along the west side, which might indicate another path down the mountain, but I didn't get that far. I did find the way down from the south end because the path at the top was pretty well-used. It's actually a vehicle track. Unpaved, but Archie apparently came up that way a lot in whatever vehicle he used for doing work around here. There's kind of a basin up there that apparently catches runoff in the rainy season, and it's fed by some tiny streams that come from higher up. Didn't see any snow so I don't know where that water's comin' from, but here's the good news: Instead of just letting the livestock drink from the catch basin, which is higher than the pastures, and use it for a bathroom, Archie has set up a little system where water trickles into troughs that the animals drink from then, whatever's left goes to water the grass. The waterfall up there," he pointed with his fork, "is overflow from the catch basin that doesn't flow through the pastures. Since the livestock can't get to it, it ought to be pretty clean, maybe even drinkable."

"What about the horses?" This from Garcia. "Any more up there?"

"Not that I saw. The ones I brought back seem to be pretty good stock, but the best one of the lot's already been claimed." He smiled and pointed his fork in my direction.

"Thanks, Matt," I said, "Would you excuse us for a few minutes, now? There are some things I need to discuss with these two."

"Sure. Oh yeah, in case you're wondering, it's about five miles from the bottom of the south trail back up to the main trail." He waved and disappeared.

"Okay, so we have two, maybe three escape routes if we need them, but any way down is a way up for potential enemies, and all need some sort of sentry system. I sure hope you're right about what's in those boxes, Gunny."

"Me too."

"By the way, what's up with Colby and Smiley coming to attention and saluting me on my way in? I thought we weren't going to try to make Marines out of them yet."

"Believe me, Gav, they ain't Marines by any stretch of the imagination, but the fastest way to get where we need to be with them is to instill some discipline, particularly respect for authority. Normally, I'd have about six weeks to work on that, but I have to take some shortcuts, so I've taken a more personalized approach. Those two and a couple of others showed some promise and I took a little time to instill in them the pride of the service they've undertaken and explain why they need to show respect for those who have given them that opportunity. It seems to be working with the ones I've hand-picked, but I won't be able to use the same approach with everyone, especially the older folks."

"Okay, it's your call. I just wanted to make sure that you weren't ignoring the fact that anyone here could just take off and find another place to hole up if they didn't like the environment."

"I understand that, Gav," he replied irritably. "It's not really that much different than basic, except that I don't have a captive audience. I still need to know who I need to lean on and who will respond better to persuasion."

If this had been a military unit, Garcia would never have permitted himself to answer a superior that way. It reminded me that my authority over him was only as good as his respect for me. If I had really been his commanding officer I would have given him a dressing-down, at the very least. As it was, I needed to maintain order without losing one of my best assets.

"Gunny, if I didn't think you could handle it, I'd find another way to get it done, but if I didn't question what I don't understand about your methods, I wouldn't deserve to be in my position. If I think you need to change anything, I'll tell you outright. At the moment, I'm just seeking information. That's something both of you should understand about me: When I ask a question, there are no hidden agendas. I ask so I can get the information I need to do my job. I understand that both of you, as well as others in this camp have experience that's different than mine, so I ask to understand, especially when something seems to conflict with what was planned. Until I tell you I think you're wrong, however, there is no criticism implied or intended. If I do criticize something you do, I'm only criticizing that one thing, not the person who did it, understood?"

"Gotcha, boss," Ramon held out his hand. "Sorry if I got a little testy there. It's been a long day."

"You're allowed, Gunny," I accepted his offered handshake, "in private. In public is another matter. You've started something with these guys, now you have to set the personal example for them to follow."

Garcia snapped to attention and gave me his best parade-ground salute. "Aye, aye, sir!"