Chapter 14

I stepped off the stage and several people came over to me and either asked a few questions or introduced themselves to me. I just politely answered any questions and more or less chit chatted for a little while. I was surprised that they were mainly pledging their cooperation to me and asking what they could do to help or where and what they would be able to bring to the school to make their lives easier if they had to move here. I was rather surprised that they were mostly worried about where they could get guns and some wanted lessons on firing them as they hadn't handled guns before. All in all, it was a pleasant interlude. Kittrick caught my eye and motioned for me to follow him, so I figured we were headed for the principal's office again. When I walked inside, there were folding chairs set up for more people around the wall.

We were joined by Zeke, McGuire, the Sheriff, and Barry. When we were all seated Barry closed the door and then the Sheriff exploded.

"You are under arrest for assault. You WILL be going back to Bisbee with me when I leave here. I am going to lock you up before you get all these people killed with your so called plans. This is my county and I say who does what and when. Barry, you resigned your position as a Deputy so you can leave."

Before I could do anything, Kittrick spoke up, and to say he was pissed would be putting it mildly.

"You, Sir, will stand down and shut the hell up! You are not in charge of anything, the Federal Government is, and Thom is in charge of this town and area. I think you better get your head out of your ass before I take you to the Fort and lock you in the Brig until this is over. You have done nothing but cause problems since you arrived. You have no arrest powers and from this point on, you will assist Thom and the other small towns to the best of your ability. You will surrender any extra arms you have along with the ammo. I will be sending a Chopper with my men on board to gather what you have to help out. I want all walkie talkies as well as any extra marked vehicles for our use. Thom will have a 4x4 and Barry will be keeping his to use here. Also, any disaster supplies stored in the County will be turned over to the Army for distribution to the areas that need them. You, Sir, have come to a fork in the road. You either help or I will lock your ass up and let someone else from your office do what you should be doing. Your choice, Sheriff!"

Before we could move there was a knock at the door and the pilot came in and whispered something in McGuire's ear. He got up and abruptly left, leaving the door open. I had leaned over to close it when Barry's wife came in and put a tray of cups and a carafe of coffee on the desk and closed the door as she left. I had a cup in hand before anyone else could move. Zeke was next and when I glanced at him he winked at me and sat back down. I almost dropped my cup in shock and grinned to myself as I sipped the nectar from the gods. I was watching the Sheriff, waiting to see what he was going to do, and his next move or sentence I think surprised all of us, if Zeke's reaction was any indicator. Hell, he almost dropped his coffee cup in surprise and for Zeke that was unusual to say the least.

"Thank you, Colonel. Now I can go home to my wife and kids and try to save some of the people in my area like Thom is doing here. I admit I was a bastard, but in my defense, I was waiting on someone like you to clarify my position. Besides, to put it truthfully, I am scared as hell and glad to finally have the decisions taken out of my hands. What is happening is way beyond my experience and I have no idea what I should do. Thom, I apologize for my actions towards you, and I will be using some of your ideas to help out the people in Bisbee. Colonel, you will have my full cooperation in any way you need it. I brought eight walkies and chargers with extra batteries for Barry's use here. We don't have many more available, but you are welcome to them. I have six of the SUVs' like Barry has if you can use them. They are all almost new and just out of being serviced. They all have radios installed with signal boosters for outlying areas. I don't know what's going to happen in the near future, but all I can do is wish all of you luck in standing your ground. Colonel, I have maybe one hundred extra 9 mm carbines that the department has in storage and twenty boxes of ammo for them. I also know that we have approximately fifty extra 40 mm Glocks in storage with plenty of ammo for them. We have a few sniper rifles but not much ammo as they are .308 caliber. The county bought them several years ago and we just left them packed in the original boxes. The county has several large temperature controlled warehouses filled with emergency rations in several cities. I have a list I will turn over to you tomorrow where the different locations are. Now, may I please have some of that coffee? My nerves are shot."