Drake’s mind wandered, and he thought about his mom and dad and his only brother. How could I lose them all in less than two weeks? he thought.
Whitney slowly crept into his thoughts. He’d thought about her a lot since seeing her again. He had always felt something for her, even in the early days, and he realized he had come back to this very spot over and over for years, just to see if she had returned.
Could she like a man like me? he asked himself. I mean, I’m a country boy for sure. He hoped she hadn’t already found someone down at the Ranch. Now she had returned to this mountain and was likely to live in this very house with her grandparents, only a few miles from his place.
You had better give her a home to come back to, he heard from behind him, turning quickly and raising his rifle. Scanning the cliff and surrounding trees, he saw no one.
“It’s them,” he whispered aloud. “You’ve been gone a while,” he added. Nobody else knew about them except for his younger brother. They had seen the round metal discs that made no sound fly over the mountains dozens of times since they were children. Some were as fast as turning on a light in a dark room, and others lumbered along like a blimp over a football stadium. But all of them were quiet…deadly quiet.
His father had been with them on several occasions and dismissed the objects as “the damn government,” occasionally throwing a rock or stick towards them, and once even firing a 30-30 rifle round in a disc’s general direction.
Only Drake could hear them speak. Not every time he saw the disc, but most times, and even when he could see nothing, like this morning.
You had better give her a home to come back to, he heard again, now snapping him back into focus.
Drake had looked at the watch, loaned to him by Mac for today, and realized it read 8:33. He jumped, feeling foolish for not paying attention to his surroundings like he usually did. Had he missed something, a clue at exactly 8:30? he thought.
Mac would be expecting an update soon. He focused intently for the next 20 minutes, blocking everything else out of his mind.
Everything was the same; the people walked around unafraid. It was as if the ultimatum had never been given and this was to be their new home forever.
At 8:52, he quietly radioed Mac, giving a brief account of what he had observed. “People are casually walking around, with no signs of packing up or preparing for a fight,” he reported.
“Okay,” replied Mac. “Good job not getting spotted. I guess we have our answer. Give it another 30 minutes. Radio me if anything changes and, if not, head straight back down here.”
“Let’s get ready,” Mac called to the group, all still at the machine shop. “It looks like they have no intention of leaving.”
Mac, with Cory’s help, reviewed each participant’s duties, down to the minute.
It was determined that everyone participating would meet up on the cliff at 10:30 a.m. for one last observation before initiating the mission that, once started, could not be undone.
“Once the smoke starts,” said Mac, “we’re committed 100% to the safe removal of the entire group. Whitney will get the children playing outside together, away from the main house. She will be covered by Drake on the ground and those of you up here. Cory and I will be in front of the house when they exit the front door. Drake will chain the back doors only to ensure they all exit the same way. Firecrackers set off behind the house will drive them forward without injuring anyone, and the smoke bombs will be set, one at a time, just inside the back window. I’m sorry, Willie…if the window is not open, I mean. We can have the glass replaced before nightfall, though, if it comes to that.”
“If you get our house back, you can bust out any window you want,” replied Willie.
“When they come out,” added Mac, “leave that part to Cory and me. We will still offer them the new home and provisions, but not before we let them know they can’t return. This is the riskiest part of the operation, right as they are heading out the door. Cory and I will be positioned behind this large boulder right here,” he pointed on the map, “and I’ll set off the firecrackers from the front as we step out from the rock. If it works to plan, they will be driven out all at once and stopped in place before they can scatter.
“One of Cory’s old officers will be on the cliff and will call ‘Loveland Police Department’ over the megaphone, ordering them to lay facedown on the ground. They need to see the rest of us armed on the cliff, but there will be no shooting from our end. I’m hoping that no one is dumb enough to take us all on with a pitchfork or deer rifle. Understand, many things can go wrong, or at least not to plan, but we have no choice in the matter now. Let’s be safe and pray for both sides of this.”
By 10:30, everyone was in position, with Whitney and Drake out of sight behind the barn.
“Are you scared?” he asked her.
“No, not really. I walked all the way here from town by myself, traveling only at night, and then spent a couple of nights right here in this barn. I engaged the children during the ritual hour three days in a row. Now, I’m doing the same thing but have a ton of people backing me up, and
