The colonel knew he was king out here in California, answering only to someone in Colorado for the time being. Carnegie had been stationed in Colorado Springs when the event took place and for the first week sat around NORAD, waiting for orders. When they came, he hadn’t asked a single question. He’d loaded up on a transport plane and had been flown to Stockton airport, where he had operated out of ever since.
“Josh, I want the drone pilot and you to get together and figure out where you last saw this car, along with its direction of travel. Put together a search area and assist the pilot in any way he needs in finding these people. I want a closer look at them and what they’re doing,” he said, his voice losing some of its volatility.
When the colonel was done, Josh knew better than to stick around or ask any stupid questions. He rose, jerked his head toward the door so Kemper knew it was exfil time, and executed a hasty retreat.
Within forty-eight hours, the drone pilot was locked onto the ranch house and called for Josh, who came and confirmed the VW was the same one he’d seen from the helicopter. As Josh studied the layout of the property, he located the trailer, which was now empty and parked behind the ranch house. A detailed search of the property found the solar panels on some sort of rack. Josh thought this was actually pretty smart on the part of the people down there. No matter where the sun was, they could shift the panels, ensuring they were always gathering the sun’s energy-giving rays.
As the pilot locked the drone into an orbit around the ranch house, Josh saw a figure emerge from the house and walk up the driveway.
“Can you pull in on that?” Josh asked the pilot.
“Sure,” the pilot said as he worked the controls, making minute adjustments as the camera bounced for a second before reeling in the walking figure ten thousand feet below.
Josh leaned in close, seeing a man wearing basically the same uniform Josh was wearing, and carrying a rifle. As the drone came around to the right side of the man, Josh caught his breath. “Fucking John?” he whispered in question.
Thirty minutes later in the briefing room with Carnegie, Josh went over video as well as still shots of the people from the ranch house. From what they could tell, there were eleven people living on the small property. Two were children, and the rest appeared to be adults. Although the group of people had solar panels with lines running to the house, Josh had no way of determining whether or not they actually were pulling power inside the house.
Josh also watched footage of what appeared to be a water line running from a creek that showed water between its banks. These people kept several horses, the VW, and carried small arms. Josh was absolutely positive the man he’d seen wearing the battle dress uniform (BDU) was one John Buckley. Josh also located the downed Black Hawk and could only assume something catastrophic had occurred, causing the bird to fall out of the sky less than thirty minutes from the base.
No one else at the ranch house appeared to be part of John’s team, causing Josh to wonder if they all died in the crash, leaving John the only survivor.
Carnegie order Josh and his team to mount up the following day and retrieve John while assessing the rest of the group’s capabilities. He wanted to know how much food they had, how many weapons, and how much ammunition they possessed for said weapons. Carnegie wanted to know if they owned any level of communications equipment and, if they did, who had they spoken to. Lastly, he wanted to know who everyone in the group was and what they had done before the event.
Josh suggested just grabbing John and doing all the how, what, where, when and why stuff in a debrief once they got back.
Colonel Carnegie’s face contorted when Josh floated this idea. “I get it, some of you nitwits aren’t that smart, but Goddamn, man, don’t you at least watch a little television? Fucking Dances with Wolves, Apocalypse Now? Those are just a couple, you fucking idiot. What if your man has gone native, you ever think of that?” Carnegie roared, his face reddening with anger. “Now get your ass out there, grab Lieutenant Dunbar or Colonel Kurtz or whatever the fuck we’re calling Buckley these days, and find out what in the hell the rest of them are all up to out there.”
Josh thought about asking who Lieutenant Dunbar was, but decided he’d better just get the hell out of the briefing room and go plan the operation. The plan would be pretty straightforward. Josh would fly directly to the property, land, and contact John. He would have his team set up security and wave the aircraft off, but other than those basic precautions, he wasn’t too overly concerned about any sort of conflict with these people.
Josh felt they would probably be relieved to see someone from the government and would be upset when Josh only brought John and left all of them behind. He’d make some promises if things looked like they could get bumpy, promises he would never deliver on of course. Then he would fly back to Stockton, brief Carnegie, and let the old man at John. He was sure the colonel would tear John apart for not walking home.
Chapter 44
Jared and John had allowed the OP to go unmanned for the several days they’d worked on the water and solar issues. Before the work was completed, John suggested they put someone on the OP during the day at least. One of the women or Calvin or even Devon could sit and watch while the rest of the men did most of the
