Nikki peered at it. “Okay, how?”
“We’re going to send it in Morse code. Do you know code?” he asked.
“Um, no.” Nikki hesitated a moment. “I’ve never even heard about it until a couple of weeks ago.”
Fred’s expression tightened slightly. “Alright, you’ll need to learn it at some point. They used to have a class at Weather. You might want to check into that.” He started to tell her Sammy was an expert with Morse code and could teach her, but then thought better of it.
“Sure, but why aren’t we just talking into the microphone? Wouldn’t that be easier?” she asked.
“Two reasons. First, most people don’t know Morse code, so it’s a little more secure. Second, the range is longer with dots and dashes than the human voice. Speaking of which, let’s hook up the outdoor antenna.”
Nikki watched as Fred walked over to the wall and grabbed a coil of coaxial cable that was hanging on a nail. One end of it snaked up the wall and through the roof. He took the other end and attached it to the back of the truck. He unscrewed the antenna cable attached to the radio in the truck and attached the other cable. He straightened to see Nikki staring and explained.
“Back a while ago, Zach and I put a directional antenna up on the roof. It’s set up so that it is pointed toward Mount Weather.”
“Okay,” Nikki said. She wasn’t exactly sure what Fred was talking about, so she simply watched.
Fred turned the radio on, and after tuning it, began using a button to tap out a series of beeps. When he was finished, he explained while awaiting a response.
“After identifying myself, I kept the message short and sweet. I tapped out, arrived, CX icy, n contact, CM. Tell me what I said.”
“Um, we have arrived, I don’t know what CX means, I guess that n contact means no contact with any soldiers, which is what we’re supposed to be looking for, and I don’t know what CM means.”
“CX is an abbreviation for weather conditions, and CM is an abbreviation for Charlie Mike, which means continuing the mission.”
“Oh.”
Fred frowned slightly. “Alright, add phonetics to the list of things you need to learn.”
Nikki held off a retort as a series of beeps emanated from the speaker.
“What’d they say?” she asked.
“They acknowledged the message and confirmed that we should continue our mission. Alright, let’s go ahead and give them a weather report.”
Fred thought for a few seconds before tapping on the button again. After finishing, he waited for a response, which came a few seconds later.
“The general SOP is to radio in the morning, letting them know we’re heading out, and then giving them a shout in the evening to let them know we’re still alive. If we spot something of significance, we radio them as soon as possible with a SITREP.”
Nikki frowned. “SITREP?”
“That’s an acronym for a situation report. Do you know what a SALUTE report is?”
“No idea,” she said.
“Okay, we’ll go over it later.”
“Go ahead and tell me now,” she insisted.
“SALUTE is an acronym. I’ll go over all this when you get a notebook and start taking notes so’s I don’t have to keep repeating myself.”
He then sat staring at the radio. Nikki thought they had finished communicating with Mount Weather.
“What are we doing now?” she asked.
Fred held up a finger to silence her. After a few more seconds had passed, she heard a couple of microphone clicks. Fred clicked back before shutting off the radio.
“Someone else listened in, didn’t they?” Nikki asked. “Who is it?”
“Not now,” Fred said and turned the radio off. He then unhooked the cable and rolled it up, storing it away. He glanced at his watch.
“It’s twenty-one hundred hours. Let’s tend to the horses and then turn in,” he directed.
“They’re going to need exercise,” she pointed out.
“Yeah, we’ll get them out tomorrow.” He pointed toward the barrel stove. “I’m going to drag a cot over and bed down there.”
“Can I sleep there too?” Nikki asked.
She could see him tense slightly, but after a moment he answered. “Yeah, sure.”
In no time they had a fresh log in the barrel and the cots were on either side of it. Fred explained they could not put too much wood in because of the smoke. He then spent the next thirty minutes explaining the specifics of a SALUTE report. He then yawned and pulled the blanket up to his nose. Nikki was fidgety and not ready to sleep.
“I want to ask you something.”
“Sure,” Fred said.
“Shouldn’t one of us stay awake and be on guard, or something like that? That’s what they teach at those classes.”
“Normally, I’d say yes, but nobody is going to be out in this weather. Besides, we have everything locked up. They’d have to breach a door and make a lot of noise to get in here. If that happens, we’ll hear them and kill them.”
Nikki heard him shift in the dark. The barrel had a slight glow, which put the room in a dull orange light. She could see him staring at her.
“One thing I need to hear from you. If it comes down to it, do you have the mettle to shoot another human?”
“You’re damn right,” she said without a moment’s hesitation.
He stared a second before speaking. “Okay, I believe you.”
Nikki beamed in the dark at the compliment. Fred was quiet now and Nikki suspected he was going to sleep, but she still wanted to talk.
“How did you know about this place?”
“Zach and I found it last year. We’ve set up a few spots like this one in various locations.” He paused a moment. “I guess this can be a training lesson. You want to make hideouts like this in your area of operations. Find a building that doesn’t stand out. You can’t have one on a main road, but it needs to be close.
