Matthew Mark - Dark Days Rough Roads

“Blake, these railroad tracks will take us right through what I think is their HQ. The airport on the right and this land on the left with the big pond is probably theirs. The airport gives them a huge advantage on three sides as far as visibility, it’s all open. The front can be covered easily enough with manpower, especially if they are using the main building as their admin area.

“What I propose we do is take these tracks up as far as we can. We head into the woods to the east of the airport and then walk up as far as we can go. We’ll listen in to their traffic and watch for a while and take some notes. See what we can learn. We might have to stay a couple days. After that, we play it by ear. No rescues, no diversions, just recon.

“I’m going to call the group and let them know what’s going on. I want them to get a couple guys together and keep them on alert in case we need some help. It wouldn’t hurt to have some extra firepower in case it gets hairy and we need help getting out. If that happens we’ll shoot straight for the house and say our prayers along the way.”

Haliday and Blake took off. All of the radio traffic they had heard recently pointed to the militia patrols still concentrating on the northern areas. They used this advantage to creep up into position. They settled into the wooded area directly east of the airport. They covered up the bikes, grabbed their gear and started the short hike toward the airport.

They were close to the perimeter, but still hidden in the woods. Haliday and Blake laid down their wool blankets on the cold ground. They concentrated on concealing themselves. This might have been a good time for a ghillie suit, he was thinking. But how much could he actually carry on the bikes. Blake’s didn’t have saddle bags. He had to use some extra canvas packs that Haliday had extra and with the rest of the gear it was tight. That was the main reason he left his M24 at camp.

He did take his spotting scope and would be using this. He had Blake cover himself up with a smaller blanket and use his flashlight to take notes. Haliday’s maps had aerial photos and he used this as a guide to jot down a rough sketch of the area and number the buildings. Blake and Haliday were ready.

“Ok Blake, I definitely see activity. I think this is the place.” He slowly worked the scope around. “Building one, definitely their HQ. They have stalled cars in place around the entire front and the sides of it for protection. Concertina wire inside the fence too. Looks like they also have some fighting positions fortified in a few locations amidst the cars. Everyone seems to be going in and out of this building.

“It looks like they pushed the planes out of the hangars and are using buildings 2 and 3 as some sort of motor pool. I can see the door open on one and see some vehicles inside, but the other one just has a vehicle parked in front of it.” They heard a small vehicle and Haliday covered the scope and ducked down again.

The vehicle was running along the fence line and spotlighting it as they drove along. The closer they got the more Haliday could make out. It was another side by side four wheeler of some sort with two people in it. One was driving and one was spotlighting the perimeter and both were wearing the same Russian camo and they were armed. They continued on with their check. “Blake, it’s 2200hrs; write that check down.”

Haliday waited and listened. As soon as the four wheeler stopped by the admin building, the occupants went inside. They weren’t calling in these checks so they must be telling them when they go inside that everything is ok. He was wondering what they would do if they came across a problem. Probably best not to find out.

He scanned the other buildings as well. “Blake, building four has activity, but I can’t tell what. I can only see the back of it. Looks like they are taking parts into it, but I’m not sure what kind. They might be trying to get a plane working. The other two buildings look big enough for their motor pool. I doubt they need a third. We’ll have to keep checking on this one.”

2300 hours rolled around and the four wheeler made another circuit around the fence line only this time they went the opposite direction. Midnight would reveal their pattern. Hopefully it’s not every hour on the hour and just alternating direction. Security 101, do not create a pattern. Change it up every time. Same with the time, you do not do it on the hour, half hour, etc; you had to make it seem random. Someone must have OCD or something.

Haliday waited and then scoped the area once again. He saw the hangar door of the third building open. “Yep, definitely part of their motor pool. They have a couple deuce and a halves in there.”

“Deuce what?” Blake asked.

“Big trucks. Blake, think of Good Morning Vietnam when they were all sitting around in the trucks waiting to move out.”

“I didn’t see that movie, but I understand now.”

“They have something else in the back, but I can’t quite see it.”

He saw a few guys leave building four and turn the lights off. “How did I miss that?” Haliday said. He looked around and found it. “Ok, got it, Building six looks like it’s a power house or generator building. I can see the exhaust. They must have power to the whole complex, but selective on what they are running. I wonder how much fuel they have. No telling though. It looks like an underground fuel tank.”

He eyeballed the rest of the buildings over the next hour. Nothing he could really see going on. Midnight came along and the security check was just like the first. “Unbelievable,” he said, “they are too routine for their own good. They have half of it right, but then make some dumb mistakes. They make it too easy for someone to plan something.”

He heard a loud truck in the area. He watched the entrance closely and saw an old army surplus fuel truck pull in. Two guys were at the main gate checking vehicles that were entering and exiting. He watched the fuel truck as it pulled up near the generator building. “Looks like they are siphoning fuel from the gas stations and then filling these tanks.”

After the truck emptied its load it went and parked near the motor pool. Shortly afterwards the whole complex went almost dark. They had either turned the generator off or killed most of the power to everything except what was critical. Maybe just the admin building was still powered up.

“You need to stretch or anything Blake?”

“No, I’m ok for a bit.”

“Ok, rotate your ankles, stiffen your legs then bend your knees, rock from side to side to keep your blood flowing and legs warm. Do not let them fall asleep. If you have to get up and run you’ll be in a world of hurt. If you need to go to the bathroom, then get up and go, don’t get plugged up again or risk an infection from not wizzing.”

Other than the security patrols of the compound nothing else really happened all night. He did notice a lot of checks around building seven though. He didn’t pick up on this earlier. Maybe it was due to the activity during the day and none at night. Might be that he simply noticed the flashlight more in the dark.

Right around 0530 the activity started to pick up. There were people coming out of what he called buildings 8 and 9. These looked like they may be the housing for the complex. Probably had sleeping quarters set up in there. Easier to keep everyone warm that way without heating too many buildings.

He waited until the 0600 patrol made its round and then called Mike as he continued to watch. “Hey Mike, put Bill on for me will you please.”

“Ok, here he is.”

“Roger it’s Bill, how can I help you?”

“What can you tell me about the Bad Axe airport?”