Hell in the Homeland (10 page)

John said, “Bring her on in, but treat her like a prisoner until we get to know her better.”

They left her tied up, finished loading up the trucks and drove back to the bunker.

***

              John gathered his key people and Bob to fill them in on what he knew about Maria Sanchez. When he said the words DHS agent, all of his team were alarmed and did not want her to know where the bunker was located. John and the team put a plan together that would lessen the risk to the compound, but give them the chance to find out if Maria could be trusted. She would live if they trusted her or die if she could not be trusted. All of their lives were at stake and they would always err on the side of the Team.

Maria did not like for her daughter and niece to see her hands bound up like a common criminal. She had been with the FBI for ten years before joining the DHS and had put many criminals behind bars so this was very degrading and embarrassing for her. She kept thinking that John Harris, Gus and Scott appeared to be decent people caught up in a bad situation back in Idaho and that they would treat her fairly. She was in the back seat of a four-door pickup with George while Bill and Alice were in the front. Bill was driving with Alice riding shotgun.

Bill asked, “What happened when you reported in to your bosses back in Idaho? Did they find the rest of the Chupacabras?”

She replied, “They had filed the usual reports and told me to take a long vacation. It was just as if they cared less. What happened to you guys? Did the authorities ever find out about your involvement?”

Bill thought for a moment and knew that he should shut up.

He replied, “I’ll let John answer all questions.”

The two girls were in a pickup with Janet and Jill and were very worried about Maria.

The older one, Gladys, asked, “Why are you treating my aunt like a criminal? She is a respected federal policeman and works for the Department of Homeland Security. Bad guys attacked us and she saved us from them only to be traded to those assholes. Please turn us loose and we will leave you alone.”

Janet said, “Look, you two are very smart young girls, so I will shoot straight with you. The DHS has become a very bad group in this area. They have killed, raped and enslaved thousands of people. We need to make sure Maria is one of the good guys. We are fighting the bad guys and can’t take the chance that Maria is one of them.”

The younger girl, Angela, asked, “Are you going to hurt my mommy?”

Janet answered, “If she is as good a person as you say, we will welcome her with open arms and all of you can join our family. Now, answer some questions about your aunt.”

Janet and Jill grilled the two girls during the trip to the bunker. They felt they had learned what John would need to help make his decision.

The drive was short and they arrived to see a large contingent of armed guards and several on lookers. They got out of the pickup and two guards ushered Maria into the barn and chained her to the back wall of a horse stall. A guard stationed himself in front of the stall and stood with his M4 at ready arms.

Shirley came into the stall and asked, “Is there anything that I can do to make your stay here as comfortable as possible”

Maria replied, “Yes, you can take these chains off of me and set me free. I’m an official of the US Government and you are breaking the law.”

Shirley said, “The government and our president are the ones who bombed the country and killed over one hundred million people on the first day and a hundred million more have died since. The DHS and president are enemies of the USA. Our military, FBI and CIA are trying to arrest them as we speak.”

Shirley left and closed the stall door.

The stall was dark, but Maria could see well enough to explore her cell. She walked around the stall, explored every corner and dug with her hands to see if she could get into the next stall. She then tried to pry boards loose from the outside wall and stall walls to no avail. She heard a slight knock on the left side stall wall. She went over to it and knocked on the wall. A piece of paper and a pencil fell out of a crack onto the floor and startled her. She unfolded the note and saw. “Talk to me through the crack, but keep your voice low.”

Maria knocked on the wall, put her lips up to the crack and said, “Who are you?”

“I’m a prisoner just like you. I am an FBI agent and we need to get info on this group back to the home office in Mobile. I heard that you are a DHS agent and we have to work together to arrest these people before they do any more harm. I have friends in this camp and they will help us escape, but we have to overcome the guards. Are you in?”

Maria replied, “Why should I trust you?”

The reply was, “They will kill us as soon as their interrogator finishes with us some time tomorrow.”

Maria replied, “I still don’t know who you are, but I do trust John Harris. Perhaps he can get us out of here. Do you know him?”

The voice was from a man who she thought was in his mid-forties and white.  He replied, “Don’t trust him. He is the leader of this group and we need to get him and the other leaders behind bars."

The conversation went on for about twenty minutes when the guard knocked on the stall door and then two guards entered. One unlocked her chains and then both led her to another room at the far end of the barn. They sat her in a chair and tied her arms and legs to the chair. She sat there for about an hour and her hand and legs were beginning to tingle and lose feeling. She strained at her bindings a couple of times to no avail.

Suddenly two men walked in and sat down next to her; one was an older black man and the other was a younger white man. They started asking her questions about her trip down to Alabama and her service in the DHS. She answered questions for over two hours and felt like she answered every question at least five times with the same answer. When they started to leave, she demanded to talk with John Harris. They ignored her and left.

After about an hour John entered the room and sat down next to her.

He asked, “Have you been treated okay? I hope my Team hasn’t been too tough on you. How are you doing?”

She replied, “I get it that you have to be careful, but please don’t take any DHS issues out on my daughter and niece; they are innocent bystanders. John, I am proud to be a DHS agent, but I just joined a little over two years ago and spent most of my career with the FBI. I don’t know of any wrong doings by the DHS or the president.”

John answered, “Your girls will be taken care of even if you end up on our bad side. Don’t worry about them. Start worrying about yourself. Why should we trust you?”

She said, “I don’t think that I can say anything that will make you feel safe with me in your camp. I mean you no harm and perhaps I can help you. There is a guy in the next stall claiming to be an FBI agent who has friends in your camp and is plotting to escape.”

She went on to tell John the entire conversation.  John reached over to Maria and untied her hands and feet, then told her to walk around to get her circulation going.

She walked around the cell for a few minutes and asked, “Well, where do we stand?”

John yelled, “Steve, come on in!”

An attractive black man about forty five walked in and introduced himself as Steve. He and John talked for a minute when Maria interrupted.

"John, this is the voice from the stall! Oh, shit! You were testing me.”

"Yes and thank God you passed."

Maria asked, “Would you have killed me?”

“Yes.”

***

While all of the secret squirrel stuff was going on, George went to the girls and filled them in on his talks with the pastor. Shirley, Ann, Janet and Alice chose a date and time for the wedding, then told George that they had everything in control. George radioed back to the Pastor and filled him in and then caught the guys and informed them.

Shirley, Ann and Joan were busy planning a wedding. They had to be careful communicating with the rest of the group since John and Beth were all over the compound. They finally decided that at least one of the two needed to be in on the plans since it would be terrible if they backed out in front of the group. Beth was all in and told them that John had already proposed. They spent the next several days sneaking around planning the wedding.

***

John told Maria that they had been testing her, but what really made them change their opinions in her favor was what the girls told them.

John said, “First, their stories matched yours exactly. Second, your niece overheard you talking with someone in the FBI about some odd occurrences going on in the DHS. She mentioned that you said that some senior directors and agents were forced to retire, some new higher-level people were taking all the key jobs and that they had almost no qualifications for the job. She indicated that you had several conversations about your suspicions.”

Bob came into the room, introduced himself and shook her hand.

He said, “I need to get a JAG lawyer to interview you as soon as possible. I’ll have one flown in on the next supply run. Maria, eventually we will be back to normal and will be trying those SOBs and we want to make sure that we can execute the bastards. Your testimony will fill in some cracks.” He thanked her and left the room.

John said, “Let’s go see your girls and get you settled in. You are family now.”

***

Bob and Ensign Teller asked John, Gus, George, Steve and Scott to join them in a planning session. Bob told them that no one outside of this Team should hear what was said in this meeting. The meeting began with George giving reports on his supply savaging.

George reported, “We have hit every truck and trailer for thirty miles around here and most stores. We couldn’t take everything because there are some good people out there that needed some of it.”

Steve added, “George’s team has almost been too successful; I don’t have room to store anything else without piling it outside.”

Scott said, “That’s great news, but I don’t like it that there are people out there that think they can sit back and stay out of the fight. We need to stop worrying about them eating and perhaps encourage them to leave the area.”

George replied, “I agree with Scott. How do we know that they won’t turn on us when their food runs out? About half of them aren’t even trying to farm and are just living off what they can find in stores and trucks.”

They discussed these topics for a few more minutes and then switched to their recruiting efforts. George again gave them an update on his team’s efforts.

He told them, “The strongest groups are the ones led by Sally and the Pastor. Sally’s team has over a hundred fighters and another seventy or so that are kids or people who can’t fight. The Pastor has over two hundred fighters divided into the Alabama and the Mississippi Teams. Ensign Teller has taught them very well. Next, we have nine other groups that are smaller, but very solid and dependable. They range from one hundred twenty to a low of thirty-five fighters. These groups range from Biloxi to Hattiesburg on the west to Montgomery and Panama City on the east.”

Gus said, “Sounds like we have about seven hundred able bodied fighters and another thousand kids and those too old or disabled to fight.”

Bob said, “We have reached critical mass and can move to the next phase of the operation. We should plan our attack within the next thirty days before the DHS wakes up and realizes we are a force to be dealt with!”

John replied, “I have always heard that you need ten attackers for every defender to overrun a well-defended enemy.”

Bob replied, “That is normally correct, however, we will take out ninety percent of their force in the first minute of the fight. Our reconnaissance tells us that there are only a handful of guards actually on duty with most of their force at the barracks getting drunk. We have several things in our favor. First, we have the element of surprise, which in itself can be a great leveler of armies. Second, they don’t even know we exist. Third, we have land and air support from our military. They will blast all enemy aircraft out of the air during the first fifteen minutes. We have fifty Special Force soldiers and Seals to assist in the attack."

Bob added, “We may have an issue with security. Our intelligence group thinks that we have a mole in one of the new groups.”

This rattled everyone; they all started talking at once and then settled down.

George said, “I’ll bet it’s the Pastor. I have to apologize for not sharing my suspicion.”

John replied, “George, hold that thought for a minute. It is very important, but I want to make a point."

Scott said, “I guess we should have known that this was a possibility and prepared for it."