Chapter 39

Karen stayed with Melinda and the rest of us left. Brenda and I went to my study and tried Grimes' login and password. It let us right in, but I still didn't understand any of the things we'd found. At least I could recognize some of it was about the house. I let Brenda dig through and I watched to see if anything interesting popped up.

Brenda found the security section and began reading it in detail for a few minutes then she quit and resumed scanning. It was all simply page after page of details in text. Much of it was referring to contingencies for dispatching security teams and then entire squads depending on the presumed threat.

I'd lost interest by this time and was examining the monitor, which cycled through the guest quarters. It cycled through all the empty guest rooms and the exercise area and the common room and then began again. I saw Melinda was still unconscious and Karen was still with her.

"Shit!" Brenda said.

"What is it?"

"Come look, Jack."

I returned to Brenda's side and looked at the screen. She was reading on a page headed Guardian Project. I scanned the first few lines and then asked her what it was.

"Do you remember we told you everything was already here for surface-to-air missiles? The command, control and radar is already in place, and the slabs were already in there to install missiles?" she asked.

"Yes. It's a shame they didn't finish before the sickness took them."

"It is finished. The slabs are just decoys," she said.

"What do you mean?"

"The slabs are just the covering for the actual missile batteries. If the system is active and a missile needs to launch, the slabs slide open and the missile battery rises to firing position. It can open and get into position in twenty-seven seconds it says here. They're patriot missile batteries and there are five launch stations, but all of them contain a PAC-2 and a PAC-3 launcher."

"What does that mean to me Brenda?"

"It means somehow Grimes managed to talk someone out of nearly a billion dollars worth of surface-to-air protection. The PAC-3 units were just finishing up their development and only a few had been delivered to the army.

"They hadn't even been deployed yet. The PAC-2s have four missiles per launcher and the PAC-3s have eight missiles per launcher. The PAC-2s range can be up to one hundred and sixty kilometers. The Pac-3s range is around fifteen kilometers."

"Well what do we have to do to make them operative?"

"I'll have to keep reading to find out, but I know now what was pointed out to us as the command, control, and radar for the missiles was only a decoy setup. There must be another command center for the Patriots somewhere. Their system is both more complex and simpler."

"That doesn't make sense Brenda. How can it be more complex and simpler?"

"The system is more complex, but it is simpler to operate. In fact the Patriot system can fight an air battle by itself if you let it."

"Just keep reading."

I didn't really understand most of what she told me, but I did gather if we'd had the system operating this morning we wouldn't have taken any damage from Melinda and the F16. I figured she would know more about it faster if I just left her alone, so I did.

I made a stroll through the kitchen and living room and went outside and to the area where the Chinook was being unloaded. It was empty now and everything was at least in the garage. Aimee was moving the Chinook to refuel and then park it. I saw Jasmine and remembered she had been in the military so I went to her and ask what she had done in the military.

"I trained for special forces. Even though I completed all the training I was still reassigned. They decided though I had passed all testing my physical endurance was marginal and they asked me to consider something else.

I'd already decided I'd fucked up going for Special Forces though I didn't let on. I was happy to get out of it looking good and there was too much to do which required more muscle than I had or wanted to develop."

"What you're telling me basically is you're a well trained killer who just needs someone to do the heavy lifting."

"That's it. I was fine with everything except packing a couple of hundred pounds of arms and ammunition thirty or forty miles. If it was a mission where I had a ride to the target I was one mean bitch. I received special notice several times for my aggressive attitude," she said, and chuckled.

"What did you do after that?"

"I was never reassigned. My aunt died not long after and I got a discharge to take care of my nieces."

She asked me then if I needed her to do anything special and I told her I was just trying to see what she knew how to do in case something did come up. I asked her if she thought she was capable of taking over the security on the ground around here and if she would be interested in doing it.

She said she was qualified and would be happy to help out in any way she could, so I pointed out Sharon had drifted into the position and had done well, but she was a teacher and I thought her services might be needed in that capacity if she wanted to do it. Jasmine said to let her know what I needed her to do.

I drifted back into the house and spied Nancy by the coffee pot and went to her.

"Honey, I'm home."

"Did you have a hard day on the pilots? I mean with the pilots."

"We had a fucking scare the shit out of Jack day. Here I thought I'd done so well for our protection and here comes a fucking jet shooting up the place."

"The girls shot it down though didn't they?" Nancy asked.

"They did, but we were lucky. Brenda said if it had been properly armed and crewed it could have possibly taken out all the helicopters."

"Well I'm glad we were lucky then," she said.

"Me too. I'll take all the luck we can get, but I'm not going to depend on it. I think we'll have to try and find some jets of our own. That's not what I need to ask you about though.

"We have ended up with some school age children and I think we should try to give them a little more education. I'm thinking of asking Sharon if she will try to organize something to keep them from stagnating at their current level. What do you think?"

"I think it's good planning and also think Sharon would be more comfortable teaching than trying to keep the place secure. I think she's done a good job, but just don't think it's her cup of tea."

I thanked her for her opinion and sought Sharon. She was walking back up from the airstrip and I went to meet her. I just spilled what I had on my mind and her face lit up. She would happily give up her post as head of security and would love to organize some schooling for the children.

I asked her to try to find out what she needed for resources and told her I would tell Jasmine to get the security details from her and then she could consider herself our teacher.

I was hungry so I went to the kitchen to see about my supper. Susan and the twins were there and a couple of others were eating. Susan brought me a meal and sat with me as I ate and told me she had worked out a little system.

She thought we were too many to have our meals at the same time now so she had just set up two hours for each meal and told the others they should try to eat during those times and try to stagger themselves so they didn't all show up at once. She told them not to worry if the new scheme didn't work at first since she didn't intend for them to miss any meals. She intended for all of them to get all they wanted to eat.

Five of the other women had volunteered to cook so she had them assigned to lunch and supper. She and the twins were covering breakfast except for mine. Nancy had claimed the right to fix my breakfast and had also invited Susan to help her with it if she wanted to.

When I'd finished I asked Susan if Brenda had ever come in to eat. She said she didn't think she had so I went back to my study and found Brenda right where I'd left her. I asked if she'd made any progress and she said she knew where the command center for the Patriots was located now and she was just reading the special differences in our system. It was different from the normal portable systems the army used.

I told her she couldn't learn everything in one day and she needed to come eat and then think about some rest. She decided I was right and came to the kitchen with me.

Suppertime was officially over but Susan had been waiting for her. Brenda seemed touched when she realized it and Susan brought her meal and sat down to talk with her while she ate. I wandered into the other study to see what Frank, Bob, and their crew were up to.

They had workstations everywhere and on everything. They all seemed to be busily doing something, but I could see several of them didn't have a place which was going to be comfortable for hours at a time. I got Frank's attention and when he came to me I asked him about it. He said it was the best they could do with what they'd brought.

"Frank the world, or at least Dallas and Ft Worth, are our shopping mall now. My credit is outstanding and if you need desks, chairs, or other equipment I'll make sure you get them. Make a list of what you want.

He told me the big desk and the credenza and all the other furniture were beautiful but that he thought it would be much better if they could just get some sturdy tables that were the right height to put workstations on. That way they would all have more or less the same comfort level.

"Frank isn't this room big enough for all of you to have a separate desk?"

"Well I guess it is. I never even thought of that though. I guess it wouldn't cost anything but a little elbow grease to do it now would it?"