Glen Tate - 299 Days - The 17th Irregulars

“You want to go?” Rich asked Chip, hoping the answer was “no.”

“No,” Chip said. “I’m too old for that shit. I’ll do it if I have to, but…”

“Say no more,” Ted said. “You’re needed here. That’s important. Same with Rich and Dan,” Ted said looking at them. “Of course you two are invited into the unit but, I gotta say, you’re doing very important work here.”

“We’ll stay here,” Dan said. He and Rich had already talked about it and instantly came to the conclusion that they had to stay in Pierce Point. Without Rich being the calm law enforcement leader of the community, Pierce Point could disintegrate. Without Dan and his amazing facility-defense skills, the gate could easily be breached.

The most Rich and Dan would agree to donate to the guerilla unit was the Team and a few of the good guards, but not all of them. Rich and Dan concluded that they were helping the effort tremendously by letting the Patriots train a guerilla unit at the Marion Farm. That was all they could do. They would do more if they could, but they couldn’t risk everyone in Pierce Point just for this. Besides, after hearing about the plan to bring some military people into the unit, they realized the guerilla unit would do just fine without every last security force member at Pierce Point. Rich and Dan’s first job was the survival of Pierce Point, and helping topple the remnants of the former government was a second priority.

“What can we do to help you?” Rich asked Ted.

“Well, not much right now other than what you’re doing,” Ted said. “We’ll start bringing in boatloads of personnel and materials. I’m working well with the Chief and Paul on the beach landings.” Ted paused and thought. “Can’t think of anything right now.”

Grant thought he knew the answer to his next question, but wanted to be clear with Ted on this important topic.

“The personnel you’re bringing in are self-sufficient, right?” He asked. “We—Pierce Point—don’t need to feed them, right?”

“Correct,” Ted said. “We don’t bring people out until we can sustain them. Everything. Food. Medical. Oh, that reminds me. We have a couple medics with us and they ‘liberated’ a ton of medical supplies from their former FUSA units. You guys need any?”

Ted always tried to get as much stuff as possible to the host community. It bought a lot of good will. Whether it was Afghanistan, Columbia, the Philippines, or Pierce Point, the principle was the same: take care of your local fighters’ families and they’ll do amazing things for you.

“You bet we can use them,” Grant said, knowing that Lisa was very concerned that the initial batch of medical supplies they traded for in Frederickson was not enough. “Get them to me and I’ll get them to our clinic,” Grant said.

Ted smiled. He knew Grant would figure out a way to make sure the Patriots got political credit with the community for the medical supplies, thereby bolstering support from the host community. But Grant would do it in a way that didn’t disclose the location of the guerilla unit out there. Perfect.

“Well,” Ted said, “I guess that’s it for us. You have any more questions?”

No one did.

“OK, we’ll go to the Marion Farm now with some supplies,” Ted said. “We’ve got a couple of guys down at the boat right now. They’ll be staying at the farm and guarding things. I didn’t bring them up because, well, you’ll meet them soon enough.”

Sap and Grant figured out the logistics of getting the future shipment of medical supplies to Lisa.

Rich looked at Ted and said, “I appreciate how you’re going about this.”

Ted nodded.

“I mean, you’re not poaching all my guys,” Rich said and then pointed at the Team, “just these shit bags.” That got a laugh. “If you keep operating this way, I don’t think we’ll have any problems.” Rich looked deadly serious.

“Message received,” Ted said. “We appreciate the hospitality you’re showing us and we’ll put it to good use.” He’d used that very line in several languages in several countries. And he sincerely meant it.

The Team tried to lead a normal life after Ted and Sap left, but it was not easy. They did their day jobs while constantly thinking about their training at Marion Farm and then their eventual mission. They were excited about being in a guerilla unit. It was the thrill of a lifetime.

Grant was doing his day job of organizing and judging at the Grange and training with the Team one or two afternoons a week. He was hiding the Ted project from Lisa, which was really wearing on him. But, he had to keep it secret; not only were lives depending on him keeping quiet, but he knew that Ted would literally kill him if he talked. Grant knew that the longer he kept it from Lisa, the more betrayed she would feel. A couple of times, when he and Lisa were getting along extra well and he realized how great it would be to stay married to her forever, he thought about telling her. But he didn’t. Every time he was tempted to tell her, he imagined what Ted’s reaction would be.

Three days later, Scotty’s special “Ted radio” crackled. Ted said they would be coming with a load of men and supplies and wanted to meet with the Team at the yellow cabin. The guys were very excited. They had been craving contact with Ted or Sap for days.

The Team Chicks were asked to go to their own places that night. Ted and Sap came up to the yellow cabin at 8:00 p.m. and told the Team to come with them and see Marion Farm. This time of year, it didn’t get dark until about 9:00 p.m. The Team went to a bigger boat than the little one that Ted and Sap usually zipped around on. It was nice civilian boat, over thirty feet long, and several men were on it.

When the Team got on board, Ted said, “Gentlemen, I believe you know Stan and Carl.”

There was Stan, the construction contractor from Capitol City Guns, and Carl the computer guy who used to hang out there, too. Everyone was thrilled to see their old gun store buddies.

“How’ve you ugly bastards been?” Stan asked. He had lost a lot of weight.

“I like the beards,” Carl said, looking at the Team and stroking his own. “Never seen you guys unshaven.” He, too, had lost a lot of weight.

They caught up on what had happened since May Day. Shortly after the Team evacuated the gun store, Stan and Carl, both strong Patriots, linked up with Ted. They helped Ted move his half of the gun store’s guns and ammo from his Olympia-area home to Boston Harbor, which took about a month. They moved them in small quantities at night and would carry them around checkpoints, having to hike through back streets and, sometimes, the woods. They didn’t tell anyone about the time when they had to kill two FCorps at a checkpoint. They had walked up to them with knives in their sleeves and did it the old fashioned, and silent, way.

After Stan and Carl helped Ted move all the weapons, they started helping around the Boston Harbor HQ of the Patriot forces. They were teamed up with two other guys, Tom and Travis. Tom was an Air Force load master at nearby McChord Air Force Base, where he helped arrange cargo on transport planes. Travis was a Navy guy from nearby Bangor submarine base. He was a machinist who worked on the subs. Tom and Travis, both Patriots, went AWOL and drifted around until they found a Patriot stronghold, like Boston Harbor.

Now, Tom and Travis were assigned, along with civilians Stan and Carl, to a “liberator” unit; as in, “liberate” government food and supplies from the Limas. They came up with a variety of ingenious schemes to do this. They made fake IDs and learned the forms that the Limas used to move their food around. They even drove a truck of food right out of a Lima warehouse one time. They got that one with a low-tech method: bribing the FCorps guard with two cartons of cigarettes.