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  “I hate to say it, Sir, but it is almost better that it has come up now. Forewarned is forearmed. I suspect if they are this overt now, they would be a real danger in the PAW, especially if no one knew of their plans. They would come out of nowhere and do their thing, before anyone could react.

  “Now, at least two people with the means to take action know. And will be prepared for not only just what is going on, but for what could happen in the PAW.”

  “What is ‘PAW’?” asked Magdalene, looking up from her book.

  “Post-Apocalyptic World,” Ana-Bella said before Bandy could respond. She looked over at Bandy. “I’ve been doing some research,” she added with a smile.

  Bandy smiled back. “You pick up quick.”

  “Fortunately I found a preppers acronym list that has covered all of the acronyms I’ve run across. Preppers use a lot of acronyms.”

  Bandy laughed. “Yes, I suppose we do.”

  There was silence again as the four went back to what each was doing.

  Bob was obviously disappointed when Bandy didn’t offer up any additional details before all were ready to go to bed, but didn’t protest.

  The next morning Bandy was up even earlier than usual, due to being in unfamiliar surroundings. He almost just stayed in his room, to work on the computer, but went ahead and showered and then dressed in a nice pair of slacks and dress shirt.

  He headed downstairs to get something out of the truck. When he came back in he found Magdalene already at work in the kitchen on Thanksgiving Dinner.

  “Is there anything I can help with, Mrs. Sheridan?” Bandy asked, expecting a quick negative. But Magdalene surprised him.

  “Sure,” she said. “Wash up and you can help me with chopping some vegetables and things. My arthritis is acting up a little this morning. Seems cold.”

  “It is quite chilly out,” Bandy said, setting his attaché case at the end of a kitchen counter. He washed his hands at one of the two kitchen sinks and took over the chopping chores Magdalene had been doing.

  “Oh, the house is quite warm enough. I just get a chill from time to time lately over the way things are going.”

  “I understand,” Bandy said.

  “I think you probably do,” Magdalene replied. “Would you care for some tea? That might help warm me up this morning.”

  “Yes. Please.”

  Magdalene set about making the tea, and finding out a few things about Bandy as she guided the conversation skillfully, and subtly, about Bandy and his life.

  Bandy wasn’t unaware of what she was doing, but she was easy to talk to, and he decided that her knowing some of his background would be better in the future than her not knowing. So he followed along, and let out a few minor secrets.

  But when Magdalene asked about his military service, and she saw his reaction, she quickly changed the subject. But there was something about his military service that bothered him more than a little. She decided speculating about it wouldn’t do any good. It would probably be something that Ana-Bella might get from him, but Magdalene doubted that she could herself. At least right now.

  Ana-Bella came in then and quickly ushered Bandy out of the kitchen, taking over what he was now doing. “Sorry I overslept, Mother,” she said, watching Bandy pick up the attaché case to head for the study.

  He’d barely been at it fifteen minutes when Bob came into the study. “You’re up early,” Bob told Bandy. He seemed pleased.

  “I’m a fairly early riser anyway. Being away from home I tend to get up even earlier.”

  “I’m rather that way myself. Always wanting to check things out before really needing to do anything. Been getting up early all my life. Have to, working a ranch.”

  Bandy smiled when Ana-Bella came into the study a bit later to announce that breakfast was ready. She’d been in a robe earlier, but had changed into a nice skirt and blouse, suitable for the day’s activities.

  Bandy asked to help do the cleanup after breakfast, but was again ushered out of the kitchen. It turned out just as well, for Angus Longhammer, his wife June, and their two children showed up shortly after Bandy got back on the computer, with Bob watching ESPN, being a huge football fan, there in the study.

  There were quick introductions, and June joined Magdalene and Ana-Bella in the kitchen. Fifteen year old Desiree asked for and received permission to go out to the barns to get in a ride before Thanksgiving Dinner. She apparently knew her way around, for neither Angus nor Bob offered to take her out.

  Angus, Junior, sixteen, and the spitting image of his father, in features and in size, stayed with Angus, Bob, and Bandy in the study. “Junior, we have a few things to discuss,” Bob said before Junior could sit down. “I was going to turn down the sound until the games start.”

  Junior looked first at his father, and then Bandy. “It’s about the… problem… I’d like to stay.”

  Bob looked a bit reluctant, and Angus even more so, but Bandy, seeing the intense look on the young man’s face quickly said, “I don’t mind. Everyone is going to need to be brought up to speed. I have a feeling that Angus might have some sources of information we might not be privy to.”

  “Just call me Junior,” Junior said. “Everyone does.” Bandy nodded.

  “I don’t know, son,” Angus said softly, not wanting to hurt the boy’s feelings, but not sure he was up to being involved in what they would be talking about.

  “Dad, I know some of what is going on. That Colin… I don’t like him, and I don’t like the way he and a couple of his group look at Mother and Desiree. I liked getting the shooting practice at first, but they talk really coarse, and are very disrespectful of women.”

  Angus’ eyes narrowed. “They said things about them?”

  “Crude things. Colin laughed it off when he saw me get upset, saying it was just guys being guys. But I think, given the opportunity, they would more than likely hurt them both, if you know what I mean.”

  “We know what you mean,” Bandy said.

  Angus was livid. He knew his family was at risk, due to something he’d done, but Junior’s comments really brought it home. “I am not going to let anything happen to them, Junior.”

  “I’m not either,” Junior replied. “I’d rather be in on it from the beginning. One of the militia guys’ brother is in a couple of classes with me. He’s just like the others, and is always in trouble, but he likes to tell me what the group is doing and how they are going to take over when the… well… when things get really bad. Like in a war or something.”

  “Bob, do you mind if…”

  Bob cut Angus off. “He’s almost a man. He does probably need to be in on this. I’m not so sure about Desiree or June…”

  “You know Magdalene is going to know everything you know and do,” Angus said with a laugh. “And Ana-Bella is like her mother. And they are both like June. I’d like to keep it low profile around Desiree, but I’m not sure we can.”

  “Sir,” Bandy finally said, “I think everyone at risk should be made fully aware of the risks. They will need to be on guard against all sorts of things. Not just in the distant future, but now, before anything major happens.”

  “She’s only fifteen!” Angus said the fear visible in his face.

  “But she’s tough,” Junior said. “Just like Mom.”

  “You think she should be part of this? I was thinking more of sending her up to Sophia’s.”

  “She would hate that,” Junior immediately replied. “Just like I would. If this family is in danger, we should face it together.”

  Angus sighed, leaned back in the chair, and closed his eyes for a moment. “Yes. Yes, of course. But allow me to have my innocent and unsuspecting daughter for a bit longer.”

  “Not that unsuspecting,” Junior said. “I clued her in about Boots… That’s the guy in my class. That she should be careful about him. And she wanted to know why. And well… we talked a little about what is going on. She’s scared, too.”

  “Man, I have so let m
y family down,” Angus said, on the verge of actually wringing his hands.

  “So she does know a little of what is going on?” Bandy asked Junior. He could tell Angus was distraught at the situation. Bandy would try to give him a little time to get back in focus.

  Junior nodded. Bob had turned the TV sound down and the four were totally ignoring it. “What can you tell me of the militia group?”

  “Dad probably knows more… But Boots is a real braggart. He’s told me a lot that Colin might not have told Dad.”

  Bandy was relieved to see Angus come out of his blue funk. “What do you know, Junior?”

  All three men were more than a little surprised at the amount of knowledge Junior had been given by, and Bandy suspected, extracted from, Boots. Junior began to reel off a list of equipment and supplies, and weapons and ammunition that was verging on staggering.

  Angus was shaking his head. “He never told me he had half of that! What else did this hooligan tell you?”

  Affirming Bandy’s earlier thought, Junior said, “I sort of needled him a little, to get him to describe some of the things they have planned. He mostly talked about what he was going to do to some of the girls and women at school… It was disgusting. But also about how they are going to take out the Sheriff and her people…

  “The Mayor and council… Take over the gun stores right off the bat. Then the fuel depot and Wal-Mart and all the grocery stores. And the banks and coin shops. They want to control all the food and fuel, and want cash and gold and silver.”

  Bandy asked, “Does this Colin have any idea that Boots is telling you these things? And do you think he might just be shining you on, to make himself seem important?”

  “I thought about that last part. But I don’t think he has the imagination to come up with the things he’s told me on his own. I’m sure everything is what he’s heard the others talk about.

  “And I don’t think Colin even suspects. Boots gets a little spooked when his name comes up. He is afraid of him. Even said his brother is afraid of him.”

  “Well, I would suggest you keep a pretty low profile around Boots now,” Bandy said, looking over at Angus. “Take any information he offers, but don’t try digging up any more.”

  “I think I can…”

  “No, Junior. Hawkins here is right,” Angus said. “I don’t even like the idea of you associating with that boy at all. But it would be a dead giveaway if you just cut him off completely. You are, and can be, an asset on this, but I don’t want you risking anything. Not this early in the game. It might be bad enough in the future.”

  “He’s right,” Bandy said. “Now is the time to watch and see. No overt moves or actions until I find out more about this Colin.”

  “He makes a lot of Youtube videos,” Junior offered then. “About how to attack the establishment, he puts it, and defend against oppression. He’s a real bigot and very prejudiced.”

  “Okay. I’ll check that out. Now what can you tell me about any training they do, any property or locations they have or use, and just how skilled they are?”

  “Well,” Junior said, looking thoughtful again. “They use the county range for most of the basic shooting practice. But one of Colin’s uncles has a small farm way out near the county line. He’s old and I guess senile or has Alzheimer’s from what Boots has said. Doesn’t really know what Colin and the others do out there.”

  “That being?” Bandy asked when Junior paused.

  Junior lowered his voice slightly. “That’s where they do the ‘kill training’ Boots bragged about once. He shut up real quick, but I had the impression that is where ambushes and automatic weapons practice were done.”

  Bob looked outraged. “Those… Those hooligans… have automatic weapons?” His worried eyes went to Bandy.

  “They are an additional threat, Sir. But depending on ammunition stocks, the actual types and numbers of weapons, and skills training, probably not as much as you might think. We can get into that later. But for now it is enough to know they have them and are training with them. Which means they do have at least some stocks of ammunition.”

  “Not a lot, Mr. Hawkins,” Junior said.

  Before he could continue, Bandy said, “Just make it Bandy, Junior.”

  “Yes, sir… Okay Bandy. But they are always complaining about getting enough ammunition. They always want more than they have.”

  Angus cleared his throat. When everyone Bob, Bandy, and Junior looked over at him, he had an almost distraught look on his face. “I really screwed up there,” he said. “I bought several cases of ammunition for them at a gun show some time ago. I’m sorry.”

  “Dad, it is okay,” Junior was quick to say. “I think they burned through all of that in just days. Because a week after that when I asked Boots about going shooting again, he said they couldn’t waste the ammunition.”

  Angus looked relieved. But did add quietly, “But they were still able to get some practice they wouldn’t have otherwise.”

  “Water under the bridge, Mr. Longhammer,” Bandy said, bringing grateful looks from both Bob and Angus.

  He looked over at Junior. “About how many are in the militia, Junior? Do you know? And do you know of any other supporters, other than the actual militia members?”

  Junior shook his head. “I’m not real sure. I think there are only about twenty. Maybe twenty-five members. There are a couple that Boots said the Sheriff picked up. Illegally, according to him. And at least three travel for their work and aren’t always around.

  “As for other supporters… I just don’t know. Colin looks kinda smug sometimes when something like that comes up. Boots, too. He implies that the militia has some powerful people involved. But he really does brag a great deal.” Junior looked over at his father. “Dad? What do you think? I’ve only been around Colin a little.”

  Angus sighed. “Yes. Too much. And me even worse. He has implied that I… we… are only one of several people he has lined up on his side. I don’t know whether I believe him or not. He’s put a lot of pressure on me to get the shelter built. To his specifications. And wants me to get quite a few things, in quantity for him and his militia.

  “And wants me to pull my political and financial support from Sheriff Broadhearst. Julie-Anne… she’s been a friend for a long time. She is good people and a good Sheriff... I feel like I’ve let her down. I haven’t done anything overt, but I haven’t supported her like I would have in the past.”

  “You’ve been more than generous with your support,” Bob protested.

  “I know,” Angus replied. “But nothing like you lately. You were there for the meeting a month ago. I gave her excuses and didn’t show up.”

  “You said you had a shipment you had to check on,” Bob said.

  “Oh, I did. But anyone in the office could have handled it. Colin was standing in the office when I got the call asking me to come to the meeting.”

  “Ah…” was Bob’s only response.

  Angus looked over at Bandy, a pleading look on his face. “Can you tell me… anything… anything at all that will keep my family safe and get this menace put away?”

  “I am working on a plan, Mr. Longhammer. If we can take a look at your place tomorrow, and I can do some evaluations, refine the plan a bit more, and I can have a real answer by Saturday afternoon.”

  Angus sighed. “That will have to do. I’m not sure how I’m going to explain all this to June and… and Desiree.”

  Turning quickly in the chair, when he heard Desiree ask, “Explain what, Daddy?”

  Angus closed his eyes for a moment and then reopened them. “In a few minutes. Would you see if Magdalene and Ana-Bella can spare June for a few minutes?”

  “Of course, Daddy.” Desiree started to turn to leave, but paused long enough to ask, “This is about that group Junior told me about, isn’t it?”

  Angus could only nod. He turned back around in his chair and sighed.

  “It’ll be alright, my friend,” Bob said softly.
>
  Angus nodded. “I sure hope so,” he replied, just as softly.

  It was only a few moments before not only Desiree returned with June, but Magdalene and Ana-Bella as well.

  “Well Dear, I take it you are ready to get this problem out in the open.” June went over to the chair where Angus was sitting and put one hand on his shoulder and squeezed gently. “I’m glad.”

  Angus looked sheepish, and a little relieved. “I know I should have…”

  “None of that, Angus,” June said firmly. “That is all in the past. What we must concern ourselves with is the future.” She let her hand slip away and went to the wide brown leather sofa and sat down, to be joined by Magdalene and Desiree. Ana-Bella leaned against the side of her father’s desk and crossed her arms.