Jared cautioned John about how he worded the OP duties, knowing Stephani and Shannon were two very strong women and wouldn’t take kindly to any insinuation they were to be used for menial tasks while the men did all the important work. In the end, Calvin and Devon took care of the OP while Shannon spent time with Essie and Salvador, helping them with their school studies.
Stephani, Claire and Jared got back to creating the garden that Stephani and Claire had already started while the men were away. The work was difficult even with the use of tools they’d found near the partially disassembled shed. While Jared and the women gardened, John helped Carlos fit a shutoff valve to the water line inside the house. They attached an elbow joint to the end of the pipe so the water would flow down and into the sink almost like the original plumbing. The toilet was still flushing, and the sink continued to drain water, thankfully.
As Jared toiled away in the rocky soil, he suddenly stopped. His ears, if they could have, would have stood straight up. The women also stopped their work and stared into the sky. A helicopter was inbound, and now they could all hear it. A few seconds later, the aircraft came into view, flying low and directly over the house. It banked left and flew two complete circles around the ranch’s property before leveling off and slowing as it began to descend.
John came racing around the side of the house. “Grab your rifle,” he shouted as the helicopter settled onto a flat grassy area a hundred yards from the house.
Jared brushed his sweaty hands off on his pants and snatched his rifle from where it leaned against a tree and ran after John, who was already hotfooting it back toward the front of the house.
John turned and hollered back to the women, “Get the kids and everyone inside the house.”
Jared caught up to John as the two reached the front yard. The roar of the helicopter was deafening after months of literal silence living in the hilly California countryside. In the days before the event, a passenger jet could fly over and no one gave it a thought. Most people’s brains were trained to tune the sound out completely. Now this helicopter was about the loudest thing Jared could ever remember hearing in his entire life, including the days before the event.
As the helicopter settled onto the grassy earth, men leaped off and began setting up a perimeter. As the men sprinted to their positions, the sound of the aircraft changed, and it lifted into the air, nosed over, and flew down the draw behind the house.
After the racket of the helicopter dissipated, Jared heard a man’s voice call out, “John Buckley, it’s Josh. You out there?”
Jared looked at John and realized he’d never asked the man his last name. Buckley did not seem to fit, in Jared’s opinion. Jared saw the man who was calling out to John, dressed in basically the same clothing John wore, although this newcomer’s uniform was far less dirty and didn’t hang off his frame like John’s seemed to do. John stood frozen for a moment after being called upon by name. He studied the approaching man and realized it was Josh, a guy from the unit who had been stationed with him at the Stockton airport. Josh handled a team of misfits much like John had, and was the only other member of their old unit in the state, as far as John knew.
John evaluated his situation and knew deep down these men were here to take him back. The team setting up a perimeter was standard operational procedure, and the bird taking a few laps while the men talked was also not uncommon, especially in light of their recent shortage in battlefield equipment. By every indication John could see, Josh expected him to come willingly, which was going to be a bit sticky.
John remembered his orders before he’d gone out to ask people to come and join the government effort to rebuild America. If they come, great; if they refuse, make them come had been the standing order from Carnegie. Barry was the only person who’d seemed hell-bent on staying as far away from the government as possible in all the missions John had participated in. John knew if he refused, things could get messy, and that was the last thing John wanted.
John turned his head almost imperceptibly toward Jared and whispered through the side of his mouth, “They’re going to take me. I don’t want to go, but if I refuse, there’ll be trouble. If I see it going that way, I’m getting on that helicopter and leaving you all.”
Jared started to open his mouth in protest, but John stopped him. “Don’t do it, not now. Just let me see what they want.”
Jared stood down, a look of concern on his face as John stepped away, walking out to meet the man coming toward the house. Jared turned and saw Carlos standing at the side of the house, staring wide eyed at the men out in the grass. Jared strolled as casually as he could over to Carlos. “Get inside and be ready for anything.”
Carlos turned and walked into the house, where the women and children were peeking through the windows, having torn the butcher paper back in order to see. Jared moved onto the porch, where he stood intently watching as John closed with the stranger from the helicopter.
Josh smiled when the men were within ten feet of each other. “Good to see you, John. Where the hell have you been?”
John opened his hands and swept them about the property. “Right here, brother. We had a bird strike, and down we went. Lost the whole crew,” he said, shaking his head somberly.
Josh pursed his lips, searching John’s face for any sign he was
