The Independents (35 page)

Bishop knocked on David and Samantha’s door. In order to avoid another friendly fire incident, they had agreed on a code, which Bishop thought was funny since he had removed the clip from David’s MP5. A sleepy
-
looking young man opened the door.

“It’s time to kick the tires and light the fires
,
young man. We’re going on a trip. I need you to be ready in one hour. Make sure you get something to eat before we go.”

David yawned.
“That movie was lame, but okay. I’ll be ready.”

Clearly,
the kid had no appreciation for the classics.
Bishop rolled his eyes and headed for the gas station.

As he approached,
he could hear hammering and observed
a young boy on the roof with a big
bolt-action
rifle, complete with scope. The young man looked to be no older than twelve or thirteen.
This world sucks for
the young and the old alike. That kid should be watching cartoons or pla
ying video games, not pulling
sentry duty.

Bishop yelled a greeting at the buil
ding and was invited in. He maneuvered
between two of the barrier junker
s and
was shocked by the vehicle before him
. Parked
in front of the bay doors was what used to be a Hummer and no
w
more closely resembled a dune buggy.

The top had been completely cut
off
,
leaving the seats exposed. The windshield, frame, side glass and even the back gate had all been removed. Bishop inspected the inside
and smiled. The door panels were gone,
and the space was now filled with several bags of sand. A plywood wall had been built b
ehind the front seats, and the compartment behind had been packed
with sand and dirt. The hood was open
,
and Roberto was welding two steel plates along the firewall of the engine compartment.

As Bishop admired
the newly renovated SUV, he couldn’t help but be impressed with Rob
erto’s work. Bishop pulled on the handle, but the door
would
n’t budge. Roberto joined his customer, wiping
his hands on
a rag.
“I had to weld
the doors
shut. If you open them, the sand bags will fall out. You have to climb in using the running boards.
”

After Roberto slammed the hood shut,
Bishop noticed another upgrade
. A beau
tifully painted skull and cross
bones graphic had been painted on the hood. Underneath was the word “Bones.” Bishop gave Roberto a questioning look.

“My son is an artist an
d hasn’t had any cars to paint
for a while. I hope you don’t mind. It cheered him up.”

Bishop rubbed his hand over the lettering,
“I love it
,
Roberto. It’s perfect.
Your son has talent.
”

“
Thank you senor, I hope he has the chance to use it again someday.
We
’ll
have it ready for you in about 20 minutes. One problem though – this is a diesel
,
and I only had a few gallons of diesel fuel that we drain
ed from an old tractor. You
have
only
a
half
tank of fuel.”

Bishop thought for a moment and decided that should be enough.

“See you in 20
minutes.”

Bishop hurried back to the ho
tel to find Terri was already awake
and going through her morning routine. She gave him a sleepy kiss
,
and he showed her the letters the doctor had given him. As she read them, her eyebrows arched more than once. Without comment, she folded
the papers
and handed them back.

Bishop asked if she would make sure David was ready and explained about the Hummer. “You’ve messed up my Hummer
,
eh? Don’t worry about your truck while you’re gone,” and tried to produce an evil laugh.

He picked up the two MP5s and headed out the door wondering how serious she was about his truck.
In a few minutes, he pulled up in front of the hotel with Bones. David
and Bishop
started loading a few random items in the back just as the sun was rising in the east. By the time they had finished loading,
said their
goodbyes and double-
checked they weren’t leaving anything behind, it was broad daylight. T
erri, Betty,
Pete,
and Doc all watched
as Bones headed west out of town.

Colonel Owen Marcus stood on the front bumper of his command Humvee
,
watching the long convoy of equipment leaving the front gates of Fort Polk
,
Louisiana. His 4
th
Brigade Combat Team of the 10
th
Mountain division was deploying once again. More so than
at
any other time, Colonel Marcus was questioning his orders and himself.

The 4
/
10 was
normally a
“light” unit, meaning their order of battle didn’t include
heavy armor. For this mission, they had been supplemented by
two
platoon
s
who had been at Polk for a training exercise.
Those two units included eight
M1A1 Abra
ms tanks
,
and
the c
olonel
was glad they were coming along.

Some years ago
,
the Army had begun reorganizing practically every single unit
under
its command. Before
this program was initiated
, a
d
ivision was the smallest self-sufficient unit that could be deployed to any theatre. The war on terror, combined with the fall of the old Soviet Union had changed how the Pentagon planned for war.
The first Gulf War had been
the
real
cataly
s
t;
however
, as it was
the
first
major deployment of U.S. forces since WWII. The entire military wa
s frustrated at the time needed
to assemble,
transport,
and reassemble divisional-
sized units. Even though Americans heard news reports that
stated,
“Elements of the
1
st
Infantry
Division arrived in Saudi Arabia this morning
,
” on television, in reality, it took weeks b
efore all of the pieces of any d
ivision were in place. After the war, it became apparent that something had to change.
Post-
victory analysis d
ocumented
what everyone already knew
. E
ven several
weeks after U.S. forces began
arriving in the region, they would have been unable to stop Iraq’s Army had it decided to invade Saudi Arabia
.
Some
American
units
arrived piecemeal,
a little more each
day, while others
would have
all of their people, but none of their equipment
for weeks on end
.
Had the Iraqis decided to invade Saudi, it
c
ould have be
en a blood
bath and
might have
resulted in total defeat for the co
ali
tion.

Afterwards, the Pentagon determined that r
egional conflicts and police actions were the
future of the
U.S.
Army. M
oving a division of 36,000 men and
all
of their equipment was difficult
,
expensive,
and slow. T
he concept of the “modular combat team” had been
devised as the solution
.
The resulting
changes in how U.S. f
orce
s were
structure
d had
been
tested
,
proven
e
ffective
,
and implemented across the entire branch
.

These
combat t
eam
s
w
ere
really
just
small
d
ivision
s
. Usually numbering between 3,600 and 5,000 personnel, these self-contained units could be quickly deployed and possessed similar weapon platforms and capabilities
as
their divisional-
sized predecessors
– just
wrapped
in a smaller package.

With advances in firepower, air support
,
and combined arms
command and control, the Army’s new combat t
eams possessed
almost equal
capabilit
y to that of
a full
d
ivision
just
a few
decades
prior
.

Colonel Marcus watched with pride as his troopers poured out of the gate. His men had been one of the last units withdrawn from Afghanistan just a few short months ago. They had been scheduled to
stand down for a
much-needed
rest and
refit when everything had
fallen apart. After society failed, they
initially deployed to Baton Rouge under orders to
control the state capital.
Fate
would have it that the
Louisiana State
Police had been hosting a state
wide law enforcement conve
ntion in town at the same time
. The thousands of deputies, city police
officers,
a
nd state troopers had been
well led
and spread out immediately in an effort to
keep the peace.
The efforts of the visiting officers
had been enough to allow the regular city police, combined with some local
National Guard units
,
to
establish
control
, although barely
.

When Colonel Marcus had reported to his superiors that neither martial law, nor the presence of the 4
/
10 was required in Baton Rouge, he was reprimanded and told to execute his orders to the letter. While still in shock at the response from higher up, he had been approached by
t
he Independents
. H
is
old commanding general
had suddenly shown up at the makeshift
headquarters his unit had established
in the city. They had talked through the night about the movement and what it represented. He had watched several video tapes and read through a stack of papers delivered by
the three star officer
.

The following day
,
Colonel Marcus had called in his senior officers. His men sat in silence as he delivered a briefing almost identical to the one he had just received the night
before. It was his closing remarks that seemed to inspire most:

“Gentlemen, I am joining
t
he Independents
. I cannot sanction the actions we have been ordered to execute in this city. I feel it is an unlawful order and furth
ermore believe our Commander in C
hief has left the reservation. Each of you has twelve hours to brief your units on what has transpired both here, and across the country. Each individual solider is to be allowe
d his own decision. Those who
wish to stay with this command are welcome to do so with the full understanding that I am pledging the 4
/
10 to
t
he Independents
. Those who
do not wish to stay with the unit will be
allowed to leave.
Dismissed.”

No
t
a single solider had
elected
to leave
the unit
. When th
is news
arrived, Colonel Marcus was honored that his men placed so much faith in his leadership and judgmen
t. E
veryone who has ever commanded men dreams of
this type of reaction
.

With
out
question, doubt ha
d
raised its ugly
,
divisive head numerous
times since. When the orders were
issued to assemble and head back to Fort Polk, many of the officers and NCOs had quietly discussed their decision among themselves. While Baton Rouge remained orderly, hunger and di
s
e
ase
were a growing factor.
Colonel Marcus attributed the lack of civil unrest in the city to the fact that many of the residents were transplants from New Orleans
after hurricane Katrina,
and somewhat immune to disaster.
When the mayor and city council
pledged their allegiance to
t
he Independents
, things
settled down. The
entire population
seemed relieved when the 4
/
10
started pulling out of town.

Since Baton Rouge was firmly in
control of
t
he
Independents
, it was decided that the 4
/
10 would deploy to
the Shreveport area and be in a position to control that general
region
. The agricultural and nuclear power facilities
close by
were of critical importance to O
peration Delta1.

What was causing Colonel Marcus to
second-guess
his decision was a last minute briefing he had received just a few hours
ago
. Elements of the
1
st
Calvary
Division from Fort Hood were known to be in control of the Dallas area. He was instructed to deploy in such a manner as to enable the 4/10 to be a blocking force should the
1
st
move east
.
While
the Colonel
had known there was the potential of
engagement with forces loyal to the
president
, the order to be ready to fight
his fellow U.S. Army soldiers
brought an entirely new reality to his decisions.
He had many friends in the
1
st
.
Some of its commanders had been in his class at West Point.

Regardless, he had made a commitment and believed in the cause. No
doubt,
Grant, Le
e
and other office
r
s involved in the War Between the States had experienced similar
internal strife.
He could only prepare for the worst and hope it didn’t come to another civil war.  
 

As they headed
west out of Meraton, Bishop
let David drive Bones so he could get used to the feel of the stripped down SUV.
Bishop noticed the young man could carry on a conversation without looking at him and actually drove pretty well. Not that the deserted highway provided many challenges.

“David, we are going to the ranch first. I have some equipment we
have
to retrieve
there
,
and I want to make sure you have everything you need as well. You said you were comfortable with distance shooting?”

The young man nodded.
“I shot class F in the NRA juniors for the last two years.”

Bishop whistled
.
“Class F is 1,000 meters
,
isn’t it?”

“Yes
, sir.
Dad always said that if I developed the discipline to shoot longer ranges early, the other skills would come naturally.”

Bishop had to agree.
“I think I’d like your father
,
David. He sounds like my kind of guy.”

David smiled.
“He’s a lot like you.
He never thinks I can do anything good enough, but
I know he loves me. He went up flying with me once and didn’t let loose of the door handle for twenty minutes. Now, it’s the first thing he wants to do when I see him.”

Bishop smiled at the thought,
“Well young man, I
’m
going to place my life into your hands, so don’t think I underestimate your capabilities. I am, however, going to spend some time today showing you a few little tricks of the trade. Have you ever shot a
n
AR10 piston .308?”

David moved his head indicating he hadn’t, and then said, “I saw that rifle in your rack back at the cave. Is it accurate?”