Chapter 13: Monday, November 19th, 2012 - 5:30 AM

Bill snapped awake and rolled out of bed in one motion. Jimmy was standing beside his bed and had jumped back at the sudden movement.

"Sorry Grandpa. You asked me to wake you at 5:30," Jimmy said.

Bill nodded and wiped his face with his hands. His eyes felt grainy and his head felt like it was stuffed with cotton. He had only slept for a couple of hours. The night before had been a flurry of planning and activity preparing for what he was sure would happen today.

First they had made the short wave calls to notify the National Guard and to let Young know what was going on. They had studied the topographical maps of the area to the south and worked out the defensive positions they would use. The station Bill had used earlier in the day would be one and another location on the other side of the road was selected. They were within sight of each other and could protect each other if the bandits tried to flank one of the positions. Bill had explained that the best chance they had would be to know where the enemy was and to whittle down the odds before any fight started. Bill, Jimmy, Susan and Mary took the two quads down the south road to prepare an early warning system and a couple of booby traps. The night vision goggles were the only thing that made it possible.

Jimmy waited at the defensive location while Bill slowly drove down the south road. They tested the reception every few minutes until they finally lost contact. Bill drove back towards Jimmy until he had a good signal and tied a length of fishing line across the road. The line was attached to a stick which would be jerked from a board that would allow it to drop onto the transmit button of a spare radio. Bill tested it by pulling the stick out and Jimmy confirmed that it worked on a separate radio. The radio's were only supposed to have a two to three mile range but the way the land was laid out gave them a straight like shot to the hills almost five miles away. They had an early warning system.

The booby traps were a little more complicated. They modified two AR-15's. They filed the sears so that when the trigger was pulled it would fire until the magazine was empty. They had captured enough AR-15's to have one for each of them and three spares. Bill and Rob had decided to save one spare in case of a jammed weapon.

Bill used another length of fishing line to trigger the trap. Another stick would be pulled free and a rock would fall about an inch that would pull a second line that would pull a trigger. Bill was reminded of the traps in the road runner cartoons and sure hoped these worked better. The rifle was lodged and duct taped in place in a scrub mesquite tree and aimed across the road. It was angled so it would hit the front and side of a vehicle that had just hit the trip wire. The first booby trap was set about a mile past the early warning position and just before the dirt road made an S curve and dipped through a ravine.

The second was almost two miles closer and at another ravine.

Bill remembered some of the simpler booby traps he had seen in Viet Nam and was able to fashion about 20 single bullet booby traps. He sliced and folded the end of a short piece of plastic plumbing tubing so that it was closed. He cut up a bunch of pieces of 1X2 and ran a wood screw through the middle of them. Then he impaled the closed end of the plastic tube on the exposed tip of the screw so the point could be seen inside the tube. Then it was a simple matter of sliding a bullet into the tube with the screw tip against the primer. "When pressure is placed on the bullet the bullet fires and goes through the foot and shatters the leg," Bill explained. "You have a wounded man and at least one more that has to take care of him."

He placed few of these around the ambush points so that when the bandits investigated where the firing was coming from the traps would be fired. He also put a few in the road about 20 feet before the first ambush site. Bill figured they would be going fast and the traps would bring them almost to a complete stop with flattened tires and make the ambush more effective. He estimated where a vehicle would be stopped after the ambush and placed a few more in the obvious hiding places. He used a few more farther away from where he thought the vehicle would stop. Bill thought they might try to get out of the ambush site by crawling along the bottom of the ditch. He set up the second ambush site similar to the first but assumed they would be going much slower so the bullet traps in the road were almost at the trip wire. Several more were placed in the obvious approaches to the overturned vehicle. Any investigation of the vehicle would get at least one casualty and this one would be within range of the sentry points. Anyone trying to help a wounded man would be shot. More were placed in the sheltered places that men could use to attack the sentry points. It was as good as they could do without explosives.

Bill hadn't lain down until almost four in the morning. "I think I'm getting old," he grumbled as he stumbled into the living room and got a cup of coffee. Everyone else was up and everyone looked as tired as he felt. Cherie was standing watch at the same location Jimmy had used the night before. She had gone to bed while Bill, Susan, Mary and Jimmy had prepared the reception. She had gone up the mountain to monitor the early warning radio when Bill and the others finished.

The little group listened to the recorded broadcasts in amazement as they drank coffee and hot chocolate.

"That asshole never meant to leave office after his four years," Bill said in amazement. "We have a traitor for a president!"

The plan for the day was as simple as they could make it. Jimmy and Susan would watch from the location Bill had used yesterday. Bill and Cherie would use the other location they had determined from the topographical maps the night before. Both teams would take plenty of water, some jerky and dried fruit. Rob and Mary would stay in the earthship. Rob would use the firing positions in the earthship to cover them if the two teams needed to retreat. They only planned for one shooter from each position using the civilian M-14s while the other person acted as the spotter to direct fire. They each had an AR-15 in case the bandits got too close. If, or when Bill thought privately, they had to retreat; Bill and Cherie would get to the lookout on the hill next to the earthship. The quad could be hidden inside the earthworks and two people could defend the hilltop easily. They could also cover the earthship if anyone tried to flank those firing positions.

Bill picked up Cherie and had Jimmy and Susan settled into their position by 7:00. He warned them again about keeping the binoculars shaded so reflection from the sun wouldn't give away their position. He told Cherie about the latest from the radios on the way to the second position.

"I'm glad I didn't vote for that son-of-a-bitch," Cherie growled.

They arrived at the approximate location they had selected the night before but, as is often the case, it looked a lot different in the day time. It was almost 8:30 before they were settled into their site and waiting for something to happen. It wasn't as comfortable as the site Bill and Rob had prepared that Jimmy and Susan were occupying. The shale was uncomfortable to lie on and the camouflage tarp didn't shade the whole area. No matter how they moved something stuck out into the sun. At least they had plenty of water.