Chapter 15: Tuesday, November 20th, 2012 - 4:25 AM

Bill was awake for the last watch. Rob had volunteered to watch all night since he wasn't running all over the country but he had woken Bill about 30 minutes earlier and told him he just couldn't keep his eyes opened any longer. They had used the short wave again and called the National Guard just to let them know they were still alive. They didn't say anything about the battle or how many people they were. Bill assumed the bad guys were listening.

Bill started a fresh pot of coffee and proceeded to get everyone up. All of them had dark circles under their eyes and Rob was limping worse. Susan and Cherie had fussed over his wound the night before cleaning and replacing the bandages. The women grimaced after tasting the coffee and Bill muttered, "I just don't understand."

"We need to eat a good breakfast and get some up to the kids," Bill said. "We will need more food and water up there today too," he continued. "I have a feeling it will be a long day."

Breakfast consisted of sliced canned ham, fried, and fried potatoes with powered eggs in them. At Cherie's grimace at the taste of the potatoes and egg combination Bill handed her a bottle of hot sauce. "This will kill the taste of anything except bad coffee."

Susan found an insulated lunch bag and loaded it with breakfast for the kids. They loaded the other supplies on the quad and Susan and Cherie drove the quad to the lookout. Bill walked since the other quad was already at the lookout point. He needed to think. He knew wars were won as much with brain power as fire power. He needed to make sure he had all the bases covered.

It was almost six when Bill got to the lookout point and just past dawn. He was greeted by an angry mother, Cherie, a blushing mother, Susan, and two blushing 13 year olds. The kids had zipped the two bags together to stand watch. Cherie was glaring at Jimmy but Susan was between the angry mother and her son.

Mary was glaring at her mother challengingly and saying coldly, "Nothing was going on mom. It was easier this way. I wanted to be close to someone. I was afraid."

"Shut up Mary and get over here," Cherie snapped.

Bill saw the flush change in Jimmy's face and saw the way his jaw set. "Uh-oh," he thought to himself. Bill hadn't seen Jimmy in a self righteous mode but he remembered it well from his son's teen years. You could change the course of the Titanic before changing his mind now.

"Mrs. Jackson, "Jimmy began sternly. "We didn't do anything other than hold each other and kiss. I wanted to do more but Mary told me what happened before Grandpa saved you. She also told me what Grandpa told her about still being a virgin because she hadn't willingly given herself to someone." His face reddened more at that statement but he continued stubbornly on. "I didn't think she needed any more to think about until this is over so nothing happened."

All of them were staring at the 13 year old boy in amazement at the outburst.

Mary recovered first and stepped over and hugged his arm. She glared at her mom and said, "It doesn't matter if you believe it or not. I know what is true."

Cherie was opening her mouth with an angry retort when the early warning radios squawked. They all stared at the radios in astonishment for a moment before Bill snapped into action.

"Mary, take one of the quads and get down to the earthship. Monitor the radios. We will call if we need you to bring anything up. Susan, Jimmy, get up to the other site. Monitor the radio."

Susan, Jimmy and Mary hurried towards the quads with Mary still holding Jimmy's arm.

Bill scrambled under the tarp of his lookout position and brought the binoculars to his eyes. There were four vehicles this time. It looked like a ¾ ton crew cab pickup in the lead with a big SUV next in line. The last two were half ton pickups. All the pickups had men riding in the bed. Bill estimated it was more than 20 men. He had underestimated how many were left.

Cherie crawled in beside him and Bill took the spotting scope from her. The higher magnification of the spotting scope let him see more. Bill had just finished focusing when the lead truck hit the first ambush point. He saw the puff from the road way just before the truck swerved. They weren't traveling as quickly as he thought they would be but it was enough for the lead truck to hit the trip wire. Bill heard the dull report of the single bullet from the early warning radio followed quickly by the sound of the AR-15 firing. Bill heard the dull thump from the tires blowing just after the truck swerved a second time and ran into the ditch closest to the rifle. The sounds were confused between the instantaneous report from the radio and the delayed report of the distant sounds traveling through the air to them. The driver was down and one of the men that had been in the bed of the truck was down. It looked like at least two more were wounded because of the way their friends were helping them.

Men were jumping from the other three vehicles and diving for the ditch. He saw the puff and a man falling awkwardly as he stepped on one of the bullets in the road. Two more landed on the bullet traps in the ditch. Then Bill heard the distant burrrrrr of automatic fire as the AR-15 emptied its magazine followed by the thump and scream of the first man that had stepped on one of his little surprises. A heartbeat later he heard two more distant thumps followed by more screams. His angle on the road gave Bill a clear view down the ditch and he could see the two wounded men in the ditch. As he watched another man that was crawling towards one of the wounded men crawled across one of his bullets. There was another puff and the man's body seemed to bounce in place. The radio emitted the sounds of a lot of men firing weapons and men yelling and screaming in pain. He didn't hear the sound of the booby trap going off because it was lost in the sound of all the men shooting towards where they thought the bullets were coming from.

Then Bill saw the man with the binoculars. He was behind the second truck and Bill could tell from the angle of the binoculars that he was methodically scanning the ground ever farther out from his position. The man stopped scanning and angrily gestured at his men. Bill could faintly hear his orders over the radio when his voice wasn't drowned by his men's fire. There was a pause in the firing as they all ran out of bullets and had to reload. Bill heard, "Jake, four men with you to the other side of the road. Flank that position. Try to take them alive. I want information."

"This man has been trained," Bill thought to himself grimly.

Bill grabbed a radio and urgently said, "Susan, Jimmy, keep your heads down. Make sure you don't let anything flash to give away your position. It looks like the guy in charge down there is a professional."

It took the men nearly 20 minutes getting into position to flank and capture the 'ambush position'. Two more men set off mines in the ditch during the maneuvering. Bill could hear over the early warning radio that the men thought they were being shot at but no one could tell where the shots were coming from.

During the interlude Bill heard someone calling the leader Jones. "So this was the union organizer," Bill thought.

One more man stepped on one of the little mines as he approached the rifle in the ambush site. It looked like the one in charge of the little five man team which Bill thought was fortunate. "Take out the leaders and you have a better chance," he explained to Cherie. Unfortunately the loss of his lieutenant also alerted Jones to the fact that they were in a mine field.

"Watch where you step," he warned his men. "It looks like someone mined this area."

One more man stepped on a mine as they were trying to get back in their vehicles. Bill could hear Jones swearing.

One more vehicle hit one of the bullet mines before all of them passed the ambush point. Jones ordered them to change the tire and catch up. It was just after 8:00 when they cautiously approached the disabled SUV in the road.

Bill couldn't hear the orders that Jones was giving from that position but he could surmise from his angry gestures. They had lost 10 men so far and hadn't even seen anyone to fight yet. Bill knew from experience how demoralizing and frustrating that could be. He did a quick count and figured they had 12 men left and four of them were changing a tire. Bill looked back at them and saw they were arguing about something. Bill could hear snatches of conversation through the early warning radio. They didn't seem to be in a hurry to get the tire fixed and one seemed to be urging them to get it fixed so they could get out of there.

Four men went forward to check the disabled SUV. Bill could tell that Jones was warning them back from checking the bodies in the ditch by his arm gestures. It looked like he was telling them to move that SUV off the road so they could get past. They didn't see the clear fishing line tied to the driver. Two were killed or wounded from rifle fire when the driver fell out of the SUV. All of them opened fire on the tree. Another man stepped on one of the bullets in the road that was meant to blow out tires. Nine left Bill thought, or five if the idiots changing the tire left.

The remaining man on the four man team got behind the wheel of the SUV to pull it to the side of the road. Bill tried not to imagine how much worse smell in the SUV would be from the two bodies. He almost gagged at the memory of it. The fishing line was still tied to the tree and when the SUV moved the tree the rifle was in moved violently and the four covering him opened fire again.

"Gee," Bill said to Cherie with a big grin. "Do you think they killed the tree yet?"

"I wonder if the guy in the SUV messed his pants." Cherie asked grinning back.

Bill was watching Jones through the spotting scope when he suddenly whirled, brought his rifle to his shoulder and started firing back the way they had come. Bill looked back and saw the pickup with the changed tire roaring away. It looked like one of the men in the back was hit but that didn't concern Bill. He could hear the fading sound of the trucks engine from the early warning radio. The only sound left was the cries of the wounded men.

"Yes!" Bill hissed. "It looks like they are down to five men." He looked over at the early warning radio and said,"I think you can turn that off now. It has done its job."

"I don't know if you can count the one in the SUV as being able to fight," Cherie said as she switched off the radio.

Bill looked back just in time to see the man fall to his knees in the middle of the road and commence emptying his stomach. Jones motioned his remaining men forward with him until they reached the kneeling man. Bill could see the kneeling man shaking his head and Jones suddenly kick him in the stomach. Jones angrily gestured one of the other men toward the disabled SUV. The man stepped over and opened the passenger door and pulled the first mans rifle out. Then he promptly turned and heaved. Bill could see the vomit shoot from his mouth.

"I guess the bodies were worse than last night," Bill said grinning.

Jones walked towards the SUV but quickly backed away when he got within five feet of the open door. The bandit leader looked around and Bill could almost feel his frustration. Bill could tell that he was undecided about what to do next. Most of his men were dead, wounded or gone.

"Go back. Go back. Go back," Bill urged quietly under his breath.

Jones made a decision and motioned his men into a line. It looked they he planned on walking from there. Jones motioned the men to the sides of the road and they started walking forwards down the road.

"So much for our third ambush," Bill said disgustedly.

"Did you see any of them pick up water bottles," Cherie asked?

Bill's frown turned into a grin and he looked out at the sunlight from his shaded position. It was almost 8:30 and the sun was already turning the open ground into a furnace.

The radio crackled to life. "Dad," Rob said with excitement bubbling in his voice. "They captured Maloliden. The CSS is in charge of DC."

Bill snatched up the radio and said, "That's great but it doesn't help us here and now. We still have five guys out here that want to kill us."

Bill thought for a moment before keying his two-way again. "Susan, Jimmy, this is going to turn into a shooting fight. I don't want you to shoot. I want them to think there is only one position up here. If things get really tight the surprise of a second position can make the difference. Do you understand?"

Jimmy acknowledged the instructions but then Susan came on the air. "Can't Rob call the National Guard now to get help?"

"He can call but don't expect anyone to come yet," Bill replied. "They may be in charge in DC but that is a long way from Arizona."

"Another down," Cherie reported as she continued to watch through the binoculars.

Bill quickly looked through the spotting scope and saw that another man had stepped on one of his bullets as they approached the third ambush site. One of the remaining men spotted the fishing line and pointed to it. Jones picked up a rock about twice the size of his fist and lobbed it at the line. It missed but he tried again and hit the line with the second try. The AR-15 fired off its magazine ineffectually. All four of the remaining men ducked as the rifle emptied its magazine but stood as it finished. They knew the drill by now.

Bill could almost hear Jones's thoughts as he surveyed the area towards Bill's position. The man could see the overturned SUV from his position and the buzzards circling high above were ample proof of what he would find there. He was down to three men and himself. He didn't know what was ahead of them. He didn't know how many people he was facing or if there would be more booby traps that he would need to face.

Bill wished he could see the man's expression but he could read his posture as his shoulders slumped slightly and he motioned his men back. They carefully walked back to the SUV, got in, turned around, and drove away.

Bill groaned in relief. He didn't think they would be back. He didn't think they had enough men to come back but just in case they did he asked if anyone would volunteer to keep watch. Cherie volunteered and Bill was surprised when Susan volunteered to stay with her.

"As long as I can stay in that lookout position with Cherie," Bill's daughter-in-law declared. "This is uncomfortable up here. These rocks hurt."