*
Chapter 27
The Ranch and the vigilante’s camp.
Kate and Tom kept both drones in the air for several hours. They only brought a drone back to change batteries or let Jerry try fitting the gun cradle or bomb rack on one of the twin drones. Sam had given them the current location of the vigilante fighters, and they used that as a starting point for finding a safe home base for the rest of Sam’s group.
After several hours of searching, they found a good site for Sam’s group. It was about five miles up Dead Indian Road and then another three miles west on the curvy Shale City Road. There were several abandoned houses and a couple of barns within a couple hundred yards of each other. Tom asked Jack to set up a couple of the farm trucks to haul them to the location.
Tom looked at his wife, who had her eyes glued to her drone’s monitor. “We found a good site for Sam’s people. Now, let’s fly the drones back to the vigilantes and see what they’re doing.”
The vigilantes operated out of an abandoned ranch about a mile north of Ashland and another half mile east off Dead Indian Road. Tom was surprised the gang’s raiding party hadn’t found them already. “They’re too close to Ashland to have that much movement during daylight hours.”
Kate said, “That looks more like a mansion than a farmhouse, but there are tractors, barns, and farm implements in the sheds. Crap! Look at the women and children sunning themselves around the pool. It’s too damn cold to swim, but they act like they’re on vacation.”
Tom’s drone was circling the area in a wide arc around the place. “Oh! Shit! A small convoy just turned off Dead Indian Road heading their way. How can we warn them?”
“We can warn them, but we risk losing a drone. I’ll fly down to them, land, and use the speaker to tell them of the attack.”
Tom frowned and flexed his fingers. “They might shoot the drone. Give it a try. I’ll move closer to see what they do.”
Kate swooped down to treetop level a hundred yards from the house and then moved closer until the drone was spotted. She landed the drone and began speaking. “The gang is coming! Get away fast. Go!”
The men looked at the drone, and one raised his rifle. “Can you hear me?”
“Yes! Sam sent me! Getaway now. Three truckloads of men are only a mile away. Go! Now!”
That caught their attention, and several trucks and Jeeps came pouring out of the barn. People dropped everything and jumped into the vehicles and left. The vehicles headed up the hills into the forest. About ten men stayed behind to give the others time to get away.
Kate took the drone back up to a thousand feet, in time to see an explosion throw the gang’s lead vehicle up into the air in a huge fireball. The other two tried to go around the explosion when Tom saw the trucks lurch to a stop as they were ripped apart by heavy machine gunfire. The windows shattered, and chunks of metal flew through the air.
Tom watched closely and saw the men fire RPGs toward the remaining trucks. The other two exploded similarly, with bodies and flaming fuel spread around the area. Several men survived, but were covered in burning gasoline. They dropped after a few steps when a machine gun cut them down.
The vigilantes waved their weapons in the air and danced around in celebration.
Tom called out to Kate. “These vigilantes just wiped out thirty to forty gang members in less than a minute. They have SAWs, RPGs, and at least one heavy machine gun. I’m landing and going to tell them where their new camp is located.”
Tom lowered the drone down beside the ongoing celebration. The men abruptly stopped and stared at the drone. He cut the engines and spoke over the speaker. “I’m Tom, and Sam asked me to scout for a new base camp for your group. We’re moving the rest of your party there later this week. Speak, and I can hear you.”
“Why should we trust you?”
Tom chuckled. “I could not have warned you and let them kill or capture you.”
The same man spoke. “You didn’t do squat. We set a trap for Mendoza’s men and left bread crumbs so they could find us. You arrived just as we were springing the trap. I had a spotter down at Dead Indian Road with a walkie-talkie. He told us they were coming just as you landed the first time.”
Tom said, “Good for you. I’m glad your group is much better organized than you appeared to be. Now, back to business. We have drones covering the entire area. We know where you are and can easily follow you at a safe distance. Sam asked us to find a new base camp for you. We can just as easily leave you alone. Your choice, but your leader, Sam, might be pissed.”
The man growled. “Sam isn’t our leader. I’m the leader of the group. She abandoned us.”
Tom raised his voice. “Sam was shot during her last assignment, and we’ve been helping her recover. I can let her speak to you in about fifteen minutes.”
The man said, “Sam told us that her other group would take our old, sick, and wounded in and care for them. What have you done with them?”
“Nothing, and we don’t plan to take in your problems, so you can run around the country stirring up
