The characters in this story are fictional with one exception, Clifton O. Erickson. He was a tent evangelist during the early fifties, a contemporary of Oral Roberts, W. B. McKay, Bob Dewese, William Branham and several dozen others. As a child I was privileged to hear many of these men preach. Of them, Erickson, Dewese and Roberts stand out. I personally met Erickson and Dewese. They were men of God, as were others of this era. They loved God, loved people and wanted to bring them into a better life. Erickson, like the apostle John was a man of love. Although his tent seated only four thousand while Roberts' seated nearly sixteen thousand, as a young boy I saw him as a giant in the Kingdom of God, and still do. Some of his sermons are alive to me today. The man still lives in my memory.
This story was conceived in the late summer of 1993, several months after the siege of the Branch Davidian cult in Waco Texas as an answer to the question, "what if they had come out shooting?" It took about six months to complete. Over the next year it languished on my word processor while I tried to come to grips with whether it was plausible. Then came April 18, 1995, Oklahoma City, an explosion in front of the Federal Building. Everything in the story was more than a possibility. Oklahoma City didn't change the story, it made it real to others.
This is also a story of leadership in God's Church, the good and the bad. I have seen both, and although I have seen pride, selfishness and control, I have never seen it up close to the degree that it is depicted here. But I will ask you this, "Does God condone 'a little sin' or 'small sins'? What about a few affairs, or just a couple of bank robberies? I think not. In our minds we can justify the little, but the scripture says, "It is the little foxes that spoil the vines." And I know Satan's game plan, if he can convince the world that the church isn't any different from the world, then he can convince people that "It is vain to serve God." I assure you, it is not, and anyone who fails to show God's love is failing.
Charles Russell leaned back in his chair and studied the chart spread out on his desk. Three months of research had been condensed to one page. His theory was correct. The cults had many things in common, all too many to ignore. Each had started with a very few members. They had grown, matured, become dogmatic and had ultimately come to a fatal confrontation with civil or military forces. Charles noted that in every case, the leader could have, avoided the fatal confrontation. Most could have avoided it by just a little prudence. Koresh knew the ATF was coming in time to flee. He chose to stand and fight. Like other leaders he predicted a confrontation, possibly as a ploy to cement the group together, it was them against the outside world. Koresh may have actually needed the confrontation to keep the group intact! Russell was convinced none of the leaders really wanted a confrontation but in each case, when the confrontation came, the leader was either blinded or bound by his own rhetoric. When the leader believed what was intended for consumption of the masses, he was condemned to fail. Some of the names were familiar, Joseph Smith, Jim Jones, others were obscure. In every case, the leader was killed, but the cult continued in spite of the leader's death, even in the case of Jim Jones where a very large number of the followers died with him. Smith's death made him a martyr. And Smith's following greatly increased after his death. A new leader always rose to fill the vacancy and inherit what had been passed on to him, generally one of greater power. "But what if the leader could survive the confrontation and inherit the position of greater power, or maybe appear to come back from the dead?" he mused, running the possibilities through his mind. "Jesus did that and look at his following." What about a modern day resurrection? He smiled and closed his notes for the evening. As he dropped into bed the plan formed in his mind. He would achieve what others had failed to do.
The Hanshue sect came into being in late 1954. Harry Hanshue would say it wasn't planned or created by man. Many believed it came into being as a sovereign act of God. Its beginnings could be traced to a tent meeting in a field along Banister Street, now the site of the junior high school. Clifton Erickson held revival meetings there in August of 1954. The Harry Hanshue family attended them. Until that time they rarely attended church other than on Christmas and Easter, sometimes they even skipped those services. Harry couldn't explain what drew him to the meeting, possibly the carnival atmosphere of the big tent, possibly his curiosity, but definitely there was something different about the ex-truck driver from the Catskills who preached a message about the love of God. But whatever the reason, something drew him back to the tent on subsequent nights. On the fourth night Erickson talked of a tough, hard logger in the Catskills who had given his life to Christ in an earlier crusade and how God had called him to preach the gospel in a packing shed near the camp. No matter how much he fought it, Harry saw himself in the description as Erickson spoke. In his mind Harry totally rejected the idea but when Erickson gave a call for those who would like to meet Jesus, as he did after every sermon, Harry got up and walked down the aisle. When he got to the front he found his wife and four children were behind him. The family attended every night until the revival ended. Harry later admitted a team of horses couldn't have dragged him down that aisle but he was drawn to the front of the tent by a force he didn't understand at the time. He described it as the power of God.
At first the family tried to find a church but none seemed to fill their needs. All seemed more interested in holding meetings and forming committees than in worshipping God and loving one another. After a few weeks they started having "church" in their home, with Harry "preaching" about what he had learned that week from reading his Bible. Other members of the family read too and sometimes they would tell of the good things they learned. The family began telling people in the neighborhood about this new experience they had with Jesus. As time went on they found others had gone to the same meetings and they too had found no home in a local church. The week before Easter Sunday of 1955 Harry placed three rough, wooden crosses on a hill near the road that ran by his farm and passed the word they would be having a service there at eight AM Sunday. Six local families met, thirty two people in all. The following week they cleaned out a wagon shed on the farm and put in some benches. That Sunday Harry preached his first real sermon. The thirty two who attended the Easter sunrise service were back and another fifty eight joined them, raising the number of people in attendance to ninety. After the message twenty of them came forward to confirm Christ as savior. In less than four months they outgrew the wagon shed and moved to the barn loft. By December the barn loft was full and the sect was still growing. Over two hundred and fifty people were attending every Sunday. Parking was a serious problem with the winter snows and it was obvious that they needed a better place to worship.
The men met after the morning service and decided they must have a bigger place to meet for worship and they needed it soon. They agreed they couldn't build such a building quickly. How big was another question. In less than a year they had outgrown two meeting places, something few churches had done in a hundred years. For this kind of growth they had no rule book so Harry prayed. The next week he presented a plan to the men. He showed an ad listing a factory building along the Lincoln Highway. It had been empty for over ten years. The listed price was $10,000. Harry asked for support and within two weeks they had just over $6,000. Hopefully they could borrow the remaining funds. The following Sunday he brought news of God's provision to the congregation. Early Monday morning Harry called the Realtor. On Tuesday afternoon he and Harry toured the building. It needed some work but its overall condition was good and it was much more than they could have ever dreamed. During the tour the Realtor volunteered some information. In the ten years the property had been on the market, there had been only one offer, nearly two years ago, for $4,000. The owner rejected it without even a counter offer but in the interim his financial condition had worsened and the empty building was deteriorating. The man needed cash and he needed it now. Harry walked away from the Realtor and said a short prayer. He asked God to direct him on what would be a fair price, to give the sect the building and the owner a fair return for it. Harry offered $5,000 for the building and the seven acres of land. The following day the owner countered with a price of $5,500 and Harry accepted. They now had the building and over $500 to begin renovations where they had expected to have debt. By February 1956 nearly four hundred people were meeting in the new facility. The renovations were Spartan but they were completed without any borrowing and offerings continued to come in. The sect still had money on hand when the improvements were completed. Brother Hanshue proclaimed this to be a mandate -- God approved their actions. He beseeched God to continue his blessings.
The factory site was a boon to the sect. To Harry, the parking lot was just another example of God's provision. The previous owner covered it with crushed stone but nothing had been done for over five years and some areas were badly in need of repair. The repairs would require large quantities of the material. Harry called a local quarry to obtain prices for the stone. When he told the clerk they needed over fifty loads, the manager took the phone. For that quantity, for a church, if they would be willing to have the stone delivered on slow days over six weeks he could offer a thirty percent discount. Harry hung up the phone and thanked God. The basement of the building was partitioned for Sunday School rooms, a couple of small meeting rooms and a couple of prayer rooms. This work was done by the men in the church and careful shopping for materials brought significant dividends. The sect began to hold Bible studies and soon these were being held daily. Without any paid staff, there never seemed to be a shortage of hands to do what was needed -- from cleaning the facility and spreading stone on the parking lot to preaching and teaching God's word.
People from the community -- some of whom had been detractors in earlier days -- saw people change for the better under Brother Hanshue's preaching and they too came to see what was happening. For most of the curious this was like young boys playing on a creek bank, if they play around long enough on one they'll fall in. Many soon saw the life-changing message was real and joined the sect. Brother Hanshue preached that the lives of the members of the sect were the most telling evidence of God's approval. If the lives of the members of the congregation weren't different, he wasn't following God's direction. Two police officers got curious and attended the services after they heard Charlie Setter, one of the local barroom brawlers had "gotten religion." They wanted to see him in church, so they came with their families. Both had frequently been called to break up fights Charlie started and they just couldn't believe he was going to church. But then, neither had seen him in a fight in a couple of months, somewhat of a track record. Charlie saw them come into the church and at the beginning of the service he asked Brother Hanshue if he could say something. Harry nodded and Charlie came to the front. He publicly asked the two men if they would forgive him for the trouble he had made for them. Both nodded. Just seeing Charlie stay out of bars was thanks enough, it made their jobs easier. At the end of the service both men and their families came forward to accept Jesus and Charlie was right behind them with a smile on his face.
One of the two policeman was Randy Wilson. As a headstrong lad, he ran away from home to join the army at nineteen. He left his Father with the farm. His younger brother Bob stepped in to help but Bob never forgave Randy. They hadn't spoken to each other since the day Randy left. They even stood in front of their father's casket and stared at each other without talking. Neither one would give an inch. That was seven years ago.
Randy went on duty Monday morning, running the speed trap outside the town as prescribed by the mayor. He disliked this task, the speed trap was near the bottom of a hill. This wasn't law enforcement, it was actually close to the legal definition of entrapment. No local residents were ever ticketed and few tickets were for more than three miles over the limit. But this morning, Randy's mind wasn't on his job, it was on what happened to him the night before and what he now knew he must do. He was so pre-occupied that six cars went past exceeding the speed limit without him noticing. Finally Randy closed down the speed trap and drove to his brother's farm. He found Bob getting the tractor ready. He looked up at Randy and asked, "Get out of here, I don't want to see you. Why are you bugging me?"
"I came to tell you I'm sorry. Sure I had to leave but I didn't have to do it the way I did."
"You broke dad's heart. Not coming back to see him before he died. I'll never forgive you for that."
Randy broke down and cried. When he was able to compose himself he tried to talk to Bob with no success. Bob just stood there, stone faced and stared. Finally he left, not sure what to do.
Several weeks and a lot of prayer later Randy again dropped in to see Bob.
"Bob, I need you to ask you to forgive me. I was wrong."
Bob had been drinking. He hit Randy. Randy didn't strike back, he only tried to ward off the blows as Bob swung again and again. Finally he stopped and looked at Randy. "Why aren't you fighting back?"
"I can't. I need you to forgive me."
Bob flopped to the ground. His headstrong brother had changed. They spent the next hour sitting on the ground talking. The following Sunday Bob and his family started to church. Within a year both men were actively working together with the youth groups.
Darrell Jones was a partner in the Purina feed store north of town. Bob Wilson was one of the regular customers. Darrell had often seen Bob drunk at ten in the morning, there had been heated arguments with him in the feed store, and his mouth was foul, both from the tobacco he chewed and the language he used. He was frequently late in paying his bills. Today he was different, and he had been for several weeks. Darrell looked across the counter at Bob. He had on a clean shirt, he was sober, there was no tobacco juice on his beard and he had been in the store for at least fifteen minutes without swearing or starting an argument. In fact he had helped another customer put several bags of feed on his truck from the dock. If he had not known Bob so well he would have wondered if he was in fact looking at the right person.
Bob ordered his feed, loaded it, paid the bill with a check and started to his truck. About four steps from the counter Bob turned and looked back at Darrell. "I forgot to say thanks, and you know God loves you." Then he turned and went to his truck. The remark hit Darrell and he followed Bob to the loading dock.
"What did you say?" Darrell felt anger well up in him. Why would Bob say that to him? What right did he have to say it? Someone like him.
"God loves you. He really does."
"Why did you say that to me?" Darrell was obviously upset by the remark, Bob didn't understand why it should bother him but he felt a love for Darrell.
"I'm sorry if it makes you angry, I just wanted you to know He loves you and nothing you can do will change that. Believe me, I know." He smiled as he said it.
Darrell started to walk away then turned back. "You're different, what happened to you?"
"I asked Jesus to forgive me, he did, I'm happy and I like people. Even if I didn't like them, I have to love them, He did."
That night Darrell couldn't sleep. He had been hostile to Bob for no reason and he needed to see him and apologize. The next morning he went down to the store, and checked the records, Bob's account was up to date. It had not been delinquent for more than four months. He cleaned up the morning work and told his secretary he would be leaving the store for about an hour. He put a salt lick in his car and drove out to the Wilson farm. At the house he learned Bob was behind the barn changing a tire on the wagon. He was singing "The Old Rugged Cross" as he worked. Darrell listened a few minutes before he walked up. The singing didn't sound great but Bob was obviously happy. Just as Darrell walked up Bob hit his thumb with a hammer, real hard. He held it as he looked up.
"Ouch. That really was dumb, wasn't it?" he asked.
Darrell shrugged, he couldn't believe this man was not swearing. His thumb had to hurt, was already swelling.
Bob looked up from his thumb, "Did I forget to pay you yesterday? I've been a little absent minded lately, got a lot on my mind."
"No, I wanted to bring something for you. Have a minute?"
"Sure. I'll bet you have a salt lick in your car for me." Bob treated Darrell as if he had expected him to come. He had no idea why he mentioned the salt lick but it popped into his head, he had forgotten to get one the day before and he said it almost as a joke.
Darrell's eyes got big. "How did you know I brought you a salt lick?"
Now it was Bob's turn to be amazed, "What? Did I order one yesterday and let it on the dock? I told you I'm getting absent minded."
"No, you didn't forget it. I treated you badly yesterday, I was a short with you. I wanted to bring you a salt lick to say I'm sorry. I figured it was a gift you could always use. We really value your business."
"How'd you know I forgot to get one yesterday, I just realized it this morning and I while I was finishing up the feeding this morning I told God I wished someone would bring me one so I didn't have to drive back to town for it. I really got a lot of work to do. Thanks for bringing it, how much do I owe you for it?" He reached for his wallet.
There was a lump in Darrell's throat that felt as big as the salt lick. He knew he had randomly selected a gift and it had turned out to be exactly what Bob needed. He believed in some coincidences, but this was too much. When he was able to talk he said, "The salt lick's a gift, it's free. Do you have some time, I want you to tell me about what happened to you, about God. If you don't I'll come back later."
"I'm not real good at it, but I'll do what I can. What I can't tell you about, Brother Harry can."
About twenty minutes later a happy man took a salt lick out of his car, gave it to Bob, got in and drove away. Bob tried to pay for it but Darrell wouldn't take any money. Darrell and his family attended church the next Sunday and publicly confessed Jesus as Lord. His partner and his family watched the change and joined the sect two months later.
The incident lit a fire under Bob in dealing with people. Up till that time he had assumed that you almost had to hog tie and drag someone to get them to come to Jesus. Darrell had been a witness to him that if someone saw the goodness of God, he would want it.
Darrell and his neighbor Phil Markey had been feuding for over ten years, the original cause had long been forgotten but the feud went on. The following Sunday afternoon Darrell walked up on Phil's porch and knocked on the door. Phil came to the door. The animosity between them was so great he didn't say "Hi", he just asked, "What's your beef now?" He expected Darrell was bringing a complaint.
Darrell smiled, "Actually, you're right, I have some beef. We want to invite you and your family over this evening for dinner. We're having roast beef. Maybe I can begin to show you I'm sorry for the way I've treated you for the last ten years. Please come over about five." He turned without comment and walked away. He didn't give Phil a chance to accept or refuse. Phil had no way of knowing if this was for real but he decided to try. He too was tired of the feuding. Maybe it could stop now. Darrell made the first move, the least he could do was accept it and see if it would work.
The meal was good and it was followed by apple pie and ice cream. Darrell was obviously making an effort to put things behind him. When the evening was over Phil thanked Darrell and the Markey family went home. Over the next few weeks other small acts of kindness by Darrell and his family followed. Phil couldn't understand the change but he found himself being drawn in by it. When his raspberries were ripe he considered asking Darrell if he wanted to pick some for his family but after some thought he took four freshly picked boxes to the Jones home and gave them to Darrell. "If you could use more, let me know."
"I'm told they're the best around. How much do I owe you?"
"Nothing, just consider them a down payment toward settling up for anything I've done in the past."
"You don't have to do that, I wiped the slate clean the day before we invited you over but I'll say thanks and accept them. I'd be stupid refuse."
"You may have wiped the slate clean and I'll say thanks for that but I'd still wanted to do something for you to show you how sorry I am."
"I really understand, but it's not necessary." The two men shook hands and parted.
The next afternoon Phil came home and found a dozen of the best raspberry muffins he had ever eaten on the table. Darrell's wife was one great cook. Phil saw Darrell in the yard later in the day and handed him several more boxes of the berries. "I hate to impose, but if your wife wants to make some more of those muffins, and you have a few left over that'll go to waste, you know where to get rid of them."
Darrell pointed to the boxes of berries, "My guess is the wife'll be making some more tomorrow or the day after. She claims these berries are the best. I'll see we rescue a few of the muffins for you before the kids get them."
More acts of kindness spawned more acts of kindness. It was great to have a good neighbor. Jobs that were hard to do alone were easy, it soon became unusual to have a Saturday that the two men didn't do something together ranging from home repairs to hunting. Sometimes others in the community were invited to join them.
At a Saturday afternoon hot dog roast Phil looked over at Darrell. "You know, I've saved over a three hundred dollars in the last six months because of the help you've given me. At that rate this feud has cost me a couple of thousand dollars, dumb wasn't I?"
"No worse than me, and look at the fun the kids have together now, that alone is worth it. We should have gotten together sooner. I'm glad you made the first move, I'm not sure if I would have." Before the afternoon was over Phil asked Darrell, "What happened to you, why the change?"
Within two weeks the Markey family joined the Hanshue Sect. On Sunday afternoon they invited the Jones family to a picnic to celebrate. It was like that with many others in the area. One family was a witness to another. That family became a witness to another. Within a year almost every family in the Markey neighborhood were members of the sect. Few were hard enough to live next door to someone who followed the teaching of the sect without seeing something they wanted. Some took only one encounter like Darrell, others took longer, but the result was the same.
By early 1958 the sect had grown to over 800 people. Harry quit the farm -- his oldest son took over the major portion of the work on his twenty first birthday. It looked like Harry Junior and his wife would soon have the farm house to themselves. A building on the factory site was converted to a residence for Harry and the rest of the family. It wasn't lavish but it was slightly bigger than the farmhouse and it was beautifully furnished. The congregation used this as an opportunity to bless the pastor they loved and it became exactly what Harry envisioned for his family. It seemed so perfect to everyone but as it was being finished Harry felt he should wait to move till a later time. His wife questioned him, she had watched the home she wanted come into being and had come to love the place. She even planted some flowers in the beds in front of the house. At first Harry rationalized that he and the other two boys were still helping on the farm in busy times and they should wait till the planting season was over. Finally he was pressed on the issue till he confided that he wouldn't move until he heard from God. "He told me to fix it up, but he didn't tell me to move. When he does, I'll move." His family and some of the members of the sect were unhappy with the answer, some detractors whispered that Harry thought it wasn't good enough. They had fixed up the place for their pastor, he should have it. Harry's wisdom would soon be seen.
The recession of 1958 was a tough time for many families in the sect. Six families became victims early in the year. The sect helped them as it was able. It wasn't unusual to have food and clothing as well as money donated for their relief. For one family, the Sipes, the recession was a disaster. George Sipe was a hard worker who had always provided for his family. As the recession deepened he was laid off from one job, was unemployed for several months, then found another job only to have that company close its doors within three weeks of his being hired. He hit the street again, landed a retail job only to be notified the company was closing the store. When he reported for his first day of work he was given a week's pay and sent home. As time went on the Sipes were unable to keep up the payments on their home and placed it on the market. It sold in a few weeks for a good price and they had enough to pay their debts but with just a few days to go to settlement on their home, they had no place to go. They were unable to find another home.
Brother Hanshue saw their plight and was moved with compassion. He offered the residence the church had prepared for him. George at first protested, the house was too nice, it was built for the pastor, but Harry was adamant. Until he could find work, George Sipe would become the grounds-keeper and maintenance person for the church facility, he would have the use of the residence and he would get $30 a week. George had been a book-keeper with some management experience and had worked in construction when he was a teen. Brother Hanshue later said his offer had been one of charity, to take care of a family in need but he soon found it to be beneficial to the sect. Within a few months he went to George and asked him to stay on with the church and offered a raise in pay to $45 a week. George had become an asset to the body. The day-to-day operation of the church business moved to George's shoulders freeing Brother Hanshue, as he was now called, to do the work of the ministry. Brother Hanshue continued to live on the farm and drew a salary of $60 a week. Over a period of time the church and its finances grew. In 1960 they bought a 280 acre farm adjacent to the factory site. What the factory site had been to the sect in the fifties, this would be in the sixties. It provided opportunities for growth. By 1961 Brother Hanshue and Brother Sipe were each drawing a salary of over $4,000 and both were living in Church supplied housing. About a year after taking the permanent position, George Sipe planned and built a much nicer house for Brother Hanshue than the one he had given away. George personally oversaw the construction and did some of it himself, "to be sure it was done right." When the Hanshue's moved in, Harry's wife found the flower beds had been carefully planted, later she would learn that the perennials had come from cuttings Lucy Sipe had taken from the beds at the home, the ones she had planted. She counted, there were over three times as many plants, many nicer than the ones she had planted. Harry would later tell her that she had planted and now she was reaping the harvest. Over the years nine small houses were built on the factory site to provide emergency housing for members. Much of the labor for this construction was supplied by members who were temporarily out of work. They were paid for this work, helping them through difficult times. The sect took care of its own, the needy never went without help. The leaders had no patience for laziness, but those genuinely in need were treated with compassion and dignity.
The sect continued to grow, in 1963 they added a balcony to accommodate the growth, the congregation numbered over 1500 and there was a concern they would soon outgrow the facility. Brother Sipe provided the answer for the more immediate future -- two morning services would be held on Sunday. A new worship facility would be unnecessary for several years. To provide an opportunity for the whole congregation to get together they rented Memorial Hall at the fair grounds four times a year to hold the Sunday service. These services turned out to be community events that drew outsiders, some of whom joined the body.
Over the years, Brother Hanshue studied Luther, Wesley and Simmons. He found the teachings of Menno Simmons and the Anabaptists more scriptural than their predecessors and embraced much of the Mennonite theology except in the area of what Hanshue called an extreme view on pacifism. He studied the more recent Pentecostal and Holiness movements and accepted much of their newer teachings, but rejecting some that he referred to as, "just plain off the wall" because he could find no Biblical basis for it. His theology would soon be put the test. As the Viet Nam War got hotter, the Hanshue sect provided fifty young men to serve in combat. All were volunteers. Brother Hanshue would call them his seven times seven plus one. Many of them distinguished themselves in the fighting, all returned with some recognition for personal bravery. Over half of them received medals for personally rescuing wounded at grave risk to themselves, something Brother Hanshue had taught was the highest level of love and as close to the love exhibited by Christ as they were able to attain. Several of these men were wounded superficially, but all returned home safely when the fighting ended. Brother Hanshue proudly proclaimed this as evidence of God's protection and the validity of his leadership and direction.
In the early seventies a theological division in the sect over holiness and dress for women caused a decline. Nearly one in five families left for other sects that prohibited women from wearing slacks, jewelry and short or braided hair. Many of those who left weren't new converts, but had come to the sect
from other churches having a clothes line theology. They were astounded when Brother Hanshue wouldn't support this concept. He taught that women should dress modestly and functionally but not be in bondage. Several times he mentioned that slacks were probably the most modest dress in some jobs and settings. Certainly, God would not want a woman to be less comfortable physically if she had to be out in cold weather. Some thought the women should not wear any jewelry, including wrist watches. In a sermon Brother Harry asked how Jody Processor could continue to do her job as a nurse if she were to not wear a watch. Did God want her to give up that job? Were all nurses sinning by wearing a watch? The pressure to conform became so great that some of the leaders who agreed with his theology wondered if it would be prudent to back down on the issue and take a stand against slacks, jewelry and short hair to preserve the church. When they questioned Brother Hanshue about it he was adamant, if it was right and it was God's will, the church would flourish, no matter what people thought. He pointed to the passage in Acts where Gamaiel counseled the Jewish leaders on how to deal with the Christians, if they were of God, they would flourish. He would steer the course God dictated no matter how stormy the waters it crossed. Ten years later many of his teachings on issues relating to women would be viewed not only as strictly scriptural but also well ahead of their time. Mistreatment of wives was reason for counseling of husbands and discipline for them if the situation didn't immediately improve. This included but wasn't limited to physical abuse, Brother Hanshue considered verbal mistreatment serious and placed it only slightly below that of physical abuse. He explained his rational with the analogy, "both are wrong, is stealing better than adultery?" Brother Hanshue would refer to Paul's writing, "Husbands love your wives as Christ loved the church." He told one errant husband, "Can you believe Christ would actually hit the church with his fist, or tell her she is the stupidest or ugliest person in the world?"
Generally, with counseling, the husband recanted and the marriage changed. Wives who were physically mistreated were immediately moved out of the home and provided shelter. This action brought most husbands to counseling quickly. It also brought many young women into the sect, the men of the sect were considered good husbands and it was well known they wouldn't marry outside the faith. The only way to get one of these was to join. Single men were drawn in because there were many women, but Brother Hanshue counseled against marriage to any new members till they had been there for over a year. They should prove themselves first.
Roe versus Wade caused more than a slight bump for the sect. Many wanted to take a hard line, some wanted to picket clinics, and some even advocated harassment and violence against abortion clinics and their employees. One young man found a book on how to make fire bombs and brought it to church. Brother Hanshue would have none of it. When he learned who had the book he called Cliff Harley aside quietly and counseled with him. He quoted the scripture, "The zeal of thy house has eaten me up."
Cliff looked confused. "What does that mean, Brother Hanshue?" Cliff wanted to do God's work and he wanted to put everything into it. Brother Hanshue explained to him that in his zeal to stamp out sin he had forgotten that God loved all people and it wouldn't be His will for Cliff to kill someone.
"Don't worry about that Pastor, I'd burn the place at night."
"And what if you kill a guard, or a fireman who comes to fight the fire?"
Cliff hung his head. "I never thought of that. I sometimes do things without thinking."
The pastor's hard line changed soft as Cliff realized his error. "I know you didn't mean to do wrong. You're a good man, you want to see things made right and that certainly pleases God. What you must learn is how to temper the zeal you have, which is good, with wisdom and love. The way to do that
is to learn more of God's word. When you do, you will learn God's heart and how much he cares for all of us. You'll learn to hate sin and love the sinner."
Cliff thanked the pastor and walked away. He tried, but Bible reading was really hard for him. The next day he called the church office to sign up for Bible studies, something he had avoided before. The teacher of the first class learned Cliff had problems reading and suggested he have his wife take the class with him and help him study the Bible and learn to read. Within a year he would be teaching others the message of love. The reading skills he developed helped him in his job and just after he started teaching, his boss gave him more responsibility and a sizable raise. It was that way with many of the people in the congregation, the effort they put into the church and learning about God generally made them more valuable in their secular jobs and brought them raises and promotions or better jobs.
Brother Hanshue considered abortion murder, simple and straightforward but he said God hated sin, not the sinner. He preached a series of sermons on the subject, a methodical Biblical teaching, strongly condemning abortion but also teaching forgiveness for the woman who had the procedure and even the doctor who performed it. At the end of the series he called the church to action. The militant of the sect hoped to be picketing or destroying clinics. The more timid hoped to remain inactive. What he proposed wasn't what anyone expected. The attack would be three pronged. The church would participate in peaceful prayer vigils at public meetings if the issue were being debated but would avoid confrontations at all cost. If they were legally forbidden to pray at a place they would return to the church to pray. They would try to influence legislation to provide help for all pregnant women and require pre-abortion cooling off time and counseling. Finally, the church offered its services to an organization that was counseling pregnant women. Brother Hanshue had an even more difficult job selling the idea because the organization he chose offered abortion as an option. Some asked how they could work with a group espousing a pro-choice line. Brother Hanshue countered this with the argument, "If we work with them we may be able to save lives and lead people to Jesus. Let's preach to sinners, not the choir," was his final word.
The church began to offer support to single, and sometimes married pregnant women including housing, medical treatment, clothing, food and a shoulder to cry on. The organization allowed a representative from the church to meet with each client to determine if the reason for the procedure was economic and if the church could help provide an alternative. Women in the church helped the women through the pregnancy and often a woman in the church would be the one to go to the hospital with the woman when the time came to give birth. Over a period of five years the number of women the organization counseled increased substantially while the number of abortions fell. The people from the church didn't counsel against abortion as much as they just provided alternatives for women who thought there were none. Abortion referrals became the exception and one Sunday Brother Hanshue reported one month had gone by with only two abortion referrals, and both were performed on women carrying babies with very serious genetic problems. Although the church couldn't support these procedures, they could sympathize with the woman's dilemma and few could really condemn the woman for that choice. Instead there was an outpouring of love toward both women, several of the women in the church had visited the two women and stayed with them during the procedure. The feeling was nearly unanimous, if they could stop all but these procedures and those where the mother's life was in serious jeopardy, this could be called a successful program. This program continued until the mid-eighties when a new director of the agency found it politically expedient to break the ties with the church. Within weeks the number of abortions climbed until nearly every young woman who came in was referred for the procedure. The church found another agency and began to work with it.
By 1977 the sect was growing again. Many of the members who left in the disagreement over women's dress found things less than perfect elsewhere. They started returning and at the same time new families were coming in. A building project increased the sanctuary size to accommodate over 4200 people, enough to handle the congregation. With this influx came a young man, Charles Russell and his wife, Carol. In a few months he was being called Brother Charles. He was a college graduate with a degree in History -- but his real loves were the history of religion and power. He taught History at a nearby high school -- and studied religion at night -- taking courses from Moody, Thomas Rhode, Billy Graham and a host of others. In addition he studied histories of small sects, their formation, growth and demise. He learned how many of them had grown and declined and was able to define the dynamics. Later members would remember how he expounded on how small sects met their demise only because the leaders didn't know how to exploit their position. Brother Charles became a lay elder at the age of thirty five in 1986 and was called by the sect to a paid position in early 1988.
Over the years the church had set aside money for future building projects. Brother Sipe had invested much of the money set aside for major projects in the stock market. In July of 1988 he became uneasy about this and discussed it with Brother Hanshue. The direction he got was to pray. A week later they met and discussed the situation. They agreed to sell all of the stock by the end of September and place the money in savings accounts and short term certificates. The last stock was sold on October 4 and the money was in short term certificates by October 11. During the week the stock index went up over twenty points and both men watched in wonder. On an investment of about three point seven million dollars they would have gained one percent, nearly thirty seven thousand dollars. Both wondered if they had misunderstood God's message to them. They agreed to pray about it but got no direction during the next two weeks as the stock market advanced slightly.
In late October their actions were vindicated, the stock market fell over one hundred points on one day and in subsequent days it fell even further. The stocks they had held were hard hit, they would have lost over one third of the investment. Neither of them gloated, they met for prayer and thanked God for his goodness. Within a month they began to buy back the stocks they had sold, sometimes for as little as half of the price they had received when they sold then a few weeks before. Over the next year the investment would grow to over six point two million dollars.
By now the congregation numbered over four thousand and the weekly offerings were well over $60,000 or three million dollars a year. At one time Brother Sipe estimated that over eight percent of the congregation's income was given to the church. This was certainly much greater than most churches enjoyed, and he was careful to handle that money as carefully as if it were his own. A Spartan staff of eight full time leaders provided oversight, but most of the work was done by part time and lay workers. Brother Sipe fell ill and died suddenly in August 1989 of a mysterious illness and Brother Charles took his place on the corporate board. The sect that had been so benevolent during its first thirty five years quickly turned sullen and then hostile. Brother Charles began renting the houses on the property for profit and built several more of them. In spite of the church's sound financial status, it became more and more difficult for members falling upon hard times to obtain help from the church. Those who worked for the church while unemployed got minimum wage. Counseling usually included stern admonitions to get out and get to work. Other changes were made, a large garage was constructed, large enough to house a half dozen eighteen wheelers. Brother Charles would only say that God told him to do it. He also bought several trucks and began operating a package freight line. It provided work for some members but they were poorly paid.
Brother Hanshue was now approaching his seventieth birthday and although alert wasn't able to oversee or fathom the rapid changes being made in the church. Brother Charles began to replace all of the older men on the board of elders with new men from the fifty who had been in Viet Nam.
In January Brother Charles' sermons began to include the warnings of trouble to come, much like the message of the survivalist sects of the west. They all seemed to be from the minor prophets and accented judgment and the wrath of God. Food and water were stockpiled in underground storage near the living compound. Emergency lights were bought for the whole facility. Fuel Oil for the emergency generators was stockpiled. Two-way radios were bought and placed in the church's vehicles. New buildings in one area formed a compound with a barracks appearance. All new buildings were built with heavy concrete walls on the first story. The changes caused some to leave but attracted a few others. The sect became rich from contributions, investments and the profits from the truck line.
Then came the fatal Sunday, the first Sunday in January of 1991 when Brother Charles challenged the leadership and correctness of Brother Hanshue and the old man backed down. Brother Charles was clearly in control. On Wednesday of that week Brother Hanshue's home burned to the ground. He and his wife were victims of the fire. A faulty furnace was blamed. The remainder of the Hanshue family left the sect that week. It was now Hanshue in name only. Several large life insurance policies were held by the church on Brother Hanshue's life. These brought well over two million dollars into the coffers.
The following Sunday Brother Charles called Brother Hanshue's demise a result of his challenging Brother Charles' authority and thus God's authority. His sermon was almost rabid. Subsequent sermons would only increase in the level of venom. Within a month the congregation of over forty eight hundred members dwindled to just under five hundred. For most churches a loss of over eighty percent of its membership and contribution income would have brought the leadership to evaluate its stand. Without positive action, the life of most organizations with this rate of attrition would be measured in days or weeks. The financial burden of fixed costs would have wiped out the cash reserves. For the Hanshues there was no reason to be concerned about money, the interest on the cash on hand alone was enough to keep the church going and still add to the principle. Brother Charles proclaimed himself a modern day Gideon -- sent to free men from the sins of the past. Over the years he had played on the Viet Nam sellout as a prime example of the moral bankruptcy of the American culture. Now he turned up the heat on this message. By the end of 1991 the congregation had been reduced to few other than some of the Viet Nam vets including the board of elders and some young men and their families. Brother Gideon now called for action. These families began moving to the houses in the compound. Some outside families were evicted without cause. Brother Gideon had worded the leases to allow termination within fifteen days if the church needed the property to house its members. When the houses were no longer available, the remaining members moved to the compound. As the members of the sect moved to the compound they sold their homes and gave ninety percent of the proceeds to the church. Most continued in their secular jobs, with the reduced expenses, there were large sums of money available to the sect.
Three weeks after his father's death, Harry Hanshue Junior preached his first sermon as head of the new group that began meeting at the Hanshue farm. The original wooden benches were pulled out, they had been stored in an unused corn crib and almost forgotten. His first sermon was one of love, from First John chapter four, the element that built the original sect, a message that had been ignored since Brother Charles' promotion. His first sermon was preached to thirty seven people in the same wagon shed his father used in the fifties. The group continued meeting quietly, with a few added each month. They named themselves, "The People of Love." Harry suggested the name, he wanted to be sure they would never forget what was important. They were without funds but what was given in offerings, but they cared for each other. Within six months they had moved to the barn loft and were still growing. Within a year they began renting an old store to hold meetings.
Cliff Harley was one of the men who left the Gideon sect. He remembered Brother Hanshue's words. Leaving was difficult but he couldn't bring himself to participate in any form of hate or violence. He kept remembering Brother Hanshue's words and the things he had learned in Bible studies. His family
left the sect with him. They too joined the People Who Love.
Brother Gideon treated those who left as traitors, ones who were not fit for the plow because they had turned back. He pronounced them backslidden, they would be saved because of their faith but would suffer because they had not remained faithful to the call. He continually reminded those who remained that God would have a remnant and if they were not a part of it they would miss God's plan for them. Fear replaced the faith in God. His preaching became more and more rabid but those who had stayed continued with the sect. Brother Gideon had convinced them God had given them a mission to clean up the dross in their own city, they would be the only ones able to do so in their area. The job would be theirs and theirs alone. They would move out in force when God directed. God would turn up the heat and cause that dross to surface, to identify itself and then it would be their job to deal with it. And they would deal with it as God dealt with sin in the Old Testament, with judgment. Brother Gideon's sermons began to revolve around the examples of the outpourings of God's wrath. He exhorted them to be ready to carry out the judgment of God when the time came. They would be like the Children of Israel when they entered the promised land, they would eliminate all who were not of God. The direction of that assault was pointed out when the mayor of the city came out in favor of laws banning Gay Bashing and allowing Gays more and more freedom to live together as married couples. Brother Gideon made the City and its Mayor the target.
Mayor James Deitch made his decision. He wouldn't run seek re-election as mayor, his sights were set much higher. He aspired to be governor of the state, then possibly a US senator. He recognized his one flaw, although he was a popular mayor, nobody but the people in his city knew him. Without being widely known, he wouldn't be able to achieve his goals. He needed an issue that would bring the attention he needed to make him known beyond the city. Unless he could find one, his political career would end here in the city. He spent several weeks scanning the paper, hoping to find the appropriate issue before he found the right opportunity. A homosexual group was asking for legislation to protect them from hate groups. He really disliked Gays, but here was a solid gold opportunity. He recognized the Gay Bashing law would get him the press attention he needed. Gay rights issues were popular with the press. If he added the habitation ordinance, it was a winning package. Sure, some people would be turned away but he well knew his stand and performance on individual issues wasn't as important as being known. People tend to forget the issues and only remember names in the voting booth. His support of these laws would bring him public exposure and make the liberal press his friend, no matter what happened to the law. If the ordinances failed, he must go down fighting, the valiant hero of the cause. Both the exposure and the press support he would gain were essential to further his career.
Up till that time the mayor had rarely attended council meetings but he was present at the next meeting with his agenda. He presented the two bills to the council and they balked at passage. He returned to the meeting the following month with amended bills and they were again rejected after three hours of intense debate. When Brother Gideon noticed the situation, the debate had gone on for seven months and all other council action was tied up in the logjam. Nothing else was getting done in the meetings. Every meeting brought increased press coverage and every meeting brought more debate and no action. The public filled the meeting room as tempers flared and at times fists flew. Initially the meetings were moved to larger quarters but after the police arrested several people for assault in the meetings, including one councilman, they were moved back to the smaller room where the police had at least a fighting chance to control the crowd. This only served to call more attention to the situation and the mayor. Gay groups supported him at every turn. Demonstrators from both sides began to appear outside his office and at places he spoke. Organizations from other cities pressured civic groups in other areas to call upon him as a speaker at public events. He traveled over the whole country in speaking engagements and frequently had to decline some as his notoriety increased. Many of these were to packed houses. The national media even came to the city with prime time anchors to cover two of the council meetings. Visions of the presidency danced through Mayor Ditch's head as he saw himself being interviewed on the NBC nightly news. He had chosen a fast horse and he would ride it to the finish line.
The stubbornness of the mayor was matched only by the venom in the sermons Brother Gideon was preaching, albeit these generally went unnoticed outside the sect. Had anyone been aware of both, it would sounded like a duel of words, with thrust and counter thrust, debate and rebuttal. Slowly the level of the venom grew till Brother Gideon told the congregation that like Sodom, the wicked city must be destroyed to cleanse their land. There was no longer any possibility of redemption, the city's depravity had gone too far for God to be able to forgive. Each Sunday Brother Gideon called for a cleansing of the city, a cleansing by fire. Then he would expound on how the Hanshue sect, lead by Brother Gideon would be the instrument of God to begin the cleansing of the cesspool of depravity, which is what he called the city. They would strike but it would only be the first blow to the den of iniquity. He assured them that other groups would raise up and help them in their cause after they made the initial assault. One man in the congregation came to Brother Gideon after a service and asked how God could be unable to forgive, mentioning the scripture stating that the only unpardonable sin is blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. Brother Gideon became wroth, swore at him and called him a heretic. The man and his family left the church that Sunday and did not return. The next week Brother Gideon proclaimed from the pulpit this man and his family would be eternally condemned to burn in hell for his challenging the word of the servant of the Lord, that such were worse than anyone in the city because he knew the truth and refused it. After that no person questioned his teaching. A few defected quietly but most remained with the group. Generally, those who stayed had little knowledge of the scripture but what they had learned from Brother Gideon's teaching. During this time seven new families joined the sect, all members of white supremacist and militia groups who found the hard line message to their liking. None of these had any real religious connections, they supported only the political issues that Brother Gideon espoused.
It's hard to maintain a high level of evangelistic furor without continually having new fuel to add to the fire. Over a couple of months, Brother Gideon's support within the congregation was beginning to soften and even some of the "very elect" were wondering if his leadership was valid. They were beginning to think and even worse a few were asking questions. Some looked at the massive preparations and wondered if they were really necessary. Clearly this couldn't be allowed to continue. Brother Gideon was debating what to do about this when an opportunity was presented to him. The police arrested over a dozen ministers at a demonstration in front of an abortion clinic south of the hospital. It should have been a routine arrest, the charge was ignoring a court order. Over a few weeks the issue of abortion had heated up, clinics all over the nation were being picketed and in some cases the pickets were denying access. A judge issued a temporary restraining order and although they were doing nothing wrong the ministers were really engaging in illegal picketing by violating that order. It should have been an open and shut situation, the clergy would have been arrested, fined and the whole thing would have been over in a few days, but in the fray a frightened young policeman pulled his club and hit one of the clergymen -- an older gentleman -- and he was badly hurt. The papers increased their circulation by playing up the incident, printing articles on both sides of the issue. The TV stations repeatedly showed the footage of the incident, including the policeman hitting the man. Brother Gideon used it to further incense the group. He video taped the news show and presented it to the congregation in stop action, on a fifteen foot screen in the church. He had dubbed in the sound of a club impact at the time the man was hit. The congregation gasped as one when the tape was played. Not only was the city corrupt, the police and civil authorities could no longer be trusted to support and protect the righteous. Brother Gideon's claims that they would have to face the civil authorities to clean up the city became more credible to even the more skeptical of the congregation. The young policeman's several month suspension from the force and his tearful apology to the clergyman in his hospital room went unnoticed in the confusion. Although Brother Gideon had consolidated his gains, he knew the time wasn't right yet, he would have to wait for another incident to trigger the action. He would have only one opportunity, if he moved too soon, all would be lost. Joseph Smith moved too soon, the cult survived but Smith died an untimely death. The cult had not been prepared to support Smith to the death. Brother Charles had no intention of allowing this to happen to him.
The final straw was added when a radical pro-life group firebombed a clinic one night and the police shot and wounded one of the suspects while trying to make an arrest the following evening. Two days later the press learned the man was innocent of any and all charges. He was an elder in a Baptist Church, and although pro-life, was one of a very few who weren't active in the more militant pro-life movement. He was trying to negotiate with the men responsible to turn themselves in. He had repeatedly plead with men in the organization to stay within the law but to no avail. After the fire bombing he tried to help them in spite of their ignoring his pleas. Again it was a young officer who pulled his gun and fired, thinking the man was attempting to draw a gun. It was clearly a bad shoot, it was obviously a police error. Brother Gideon called the congregation together at 2:30 AM. This is the time of day when people's defenses are at their lowest point. They would be unlikely to question the action he proposed. This was the time to strike. The police couldn't be counted upon to support righteousness, in fact, they willingly supported the other side. The time was important, to get the people to commit to action without thinking clearly was his goal. One man wondered how if there was a righteous man in the city God could condone the destruction, but did not speak out. He and his wife quietly packed their things and left the cult the next day.
Under the guise of protecting the cult from the outside a small faction of the cult had been arming and accumulating arms. Over the previous two years Brother Gideon and a few of the men had amassed a cache of arms and ammunition in huts in a wood on the south end of the farm. The initial buys brought one hundred rifles -- M-16's from Viet Nam and nearly 100,000 rounds of ammunition. The second buy brought another fifty rifles and nearly a half million rounds of ammunition. Most of the rifles were modified to shoot in automatic mode. The men who had served in the military consistently reminded him that they needed heavy weapons if they were to hold off the civil authorities. They pressed for heavy machine guns and anti-armor weapons. Subsequent buys brought twenty .50 caliber machine guns and well over a million rounds of ammunition for them, several dozen TOW rockets, some SAM's, six grenade launchers and over 6000 40MM grenades. One buy included a quantity of a common industrial explosive. In addition they were able to purchase eight non-functional old armored personnel carriers and two ammunition carriers for scrap. These were initially brought to the compound and hidden in a trench in the wooded area on the farm. Over a period of time carefully selected men were working on them. They were now fully functional.
To provide recreation and food the men of the sect had been encouraged to go deer hunting since the 50's. A rifle range was built in the early 70's and the men and women were permitted to use it. Some of the woman also learned to shoot and over the years several brought back prize deer. Some families bought little red meat because of this astute practice. In 1991 the sect began to provide ammunition and assault rifles for anyone who wished to practice. The targets on the range now included silhouettes of men.
On the last Sunday of March 1994, Brother Gideon announced to the congregation he had heard from God and the time had come for the wicked city to fall. After presenting the plan he asked who would follow. To the man, they stood with Brother Gideon.
Three weeks of planning ensued, and they were ready to attack. Everyone in the group was kept so busy they had little time to think. The APC's and the Ammunition carriers had been modified, gun slits were prepared to allow each of the APC's to carry two of the .50 caliber machine guns. Each would carry a crew of four, a driver, two gunners and an ammunition handler. The ammunition carriers were each allotted one of the .50's and two of the 40MM grenade launchers. They would be crewed by five men each, a driver, two grenade gunners and two men to handle ammunition and use the .50 if they were attacked. Eight men would be needed to crew the supply trucks, four to each truck. This would leave only thirty-three men and the women to defend the compound with only ten heavy machine guns, attack rifles and two grenade launchers if it were attacked before the column returned. The men were concerned about this but there was no alternative. The APC's would provide defense of the column and would strafe the streets while the ammunition carriers would be used to fire the grenades. Most of these grenades were high explosive, a few were incendiary. These would be used to start fires at places in the city. Brother Gideon had regretted that they couldn't find more of the incendiary devices, he had promised to burn the city.
D-day came, the men who would remain at the compound checked and rechecked their preparations to repel an assault and then checked the vehicles. Several of the men tried to swap places with those who would go, to burn the wicked city was an honor. None relinquished his place on the assault teams.
Early in the evening the supply trucks pulled out with a convoy of six old cars. The supply trucks would meet the assault teams twice. They would provide ammunition, fuel and men if needed. The cars would be parked in six locations selected by Brother Gideon. The supply trucks would pick up the drivers before the assault started.
The teams had slept most of the afternoon and evening. At about 8:30 PM they mounted up and began their journey. They traveled on dirt roads until they were behind the pottery factory, then moved to the main street. Later many local residents would remember the vehicles moving down the street for the last mile before the assault, but all considered it a military exercise and nobody notified the police or questioned what was happening. Had the police been notified at this time it most likely would only have served to raise the number of police casualties. The police had no real weapons to combat the attacking force.
At the corner of Richland and Market team Peter continued east on Market, then stopped with its last vehicle just past the Market and Richland intersection. Team Paul turned south. As soon as the last vehicle turned south the order was given to open fire. Brother Gideon looked at his watch as the order was heard over the radio, it was 9:04 PM.
Team Paul's first burst of machine gun fire ripped through the buildings on the west side of Richland Ave. A second burst ripped through people on the steps of the Catholic Church. As they were falling the grenade launchers opened up firing in both directions. The first grenade exploded on the gas pump on Market and Richland and fire shot skyward. Other grenades went through windows of the Catholic Church and exploded inside.
Angie Ruzzio had just left a meeting in a basement room at St. Joseph's and was climbing the steps to the front foyer when the machine guns and grenade launchers opened up. Suddenly there was noise of gunfire and the heavy wooden door exploded into thousands of splinters. The people ahead of Angie were all injured. At least a dozen bullets missed her head by inches. She had several splinters of wood in her arm but was otherwise unhurt. She stood on the steps until she heard the noise of the gunfire begin to move off in the distance. When she felt safe she moved to the foyer. She found only three of the others were relatively unhurt. Mary Grady had a minor wound in her arm, Angie wrapped it with an handkerchief and sent her to phone for help. Angie and the other two began to tend the wounded. A quick count showed there were at least twenty badly injured people in the foyer. Angie didn't look outside, had she done this she would have seen additional carnage. With very little to work with they began to try to contain bleeding. Mary returned in a few minutes with a first aid kit. She had contacted 911 and reported help was on the way.
Team Peter was now moving east on Market street. On the order the machine guns opened fire, sweeping the street and the people and cars on it. Both teams had been advised to avoid firing at targets ahead of them to prevent blocking the street. The drivers of cars in front of them were thus able to continue east, a move that would have taken them to safety had they continued in that direction. Most drivers made the mistake of turning to a side street or pulling off the street. When they did, they became targets as the convoy passed. The grenade launchers opened up, their first targets were the windows of three churches. The Pastor of the Methodist Church was team Peter's first fatality. A grenade entered his office window and exploded just behind his chair. There was extensive damage to the Lutheran Church next door but nobody was hurt because at the time the church was empty.
The thick stone walls protected those in the back rooms of the Catholic Church from the .50 caliber weapons but six grenades were launched through the high windows. One of these burst in a room that had just been vacated by the people who were machine gunned by the other team. It started a minor electrical fire that would have been extinguished with very little damage under any other circumstances. With the confusion, nobody would notice the fire till it had spread to several rooms. By morning the interior of the church would be a charred ruin. The few uninjured people were too busy tending the injured to notice the fire when it could have been extinguished. Later there were no fire crews, anything that caught fire burned.
As they proceeded further east, team Peter machine gunned the pedestrians and vehicles along the street. Brother Gideon had told them churches and bars were both an abomination to God, both should be utterly destroyed. Anyone on the street was suspect, they were either drinkers, druggies, drug dealers or prostitutes and all were to be destroyed. Within the next block team Peter fired a half dozen grenades into each of two bars. The machine gunners strafed the people on the street. Within thirty seconds of the first shot, the gunners had wounded enough people to tax the resources of the local fire, emergency medical and hospital facilities, and the assault was just beginning. By the time they traveled three blocks the number of casualties were more than could be handled by all of the disaster facilities in the county.
As team Peter crossed the first intersection each of the machine gunners in the lead APC trained their weapons down the street both ways and fired a sweeping burst. The ammunition carriers each lobbed in a couple of grenades and the machine gunners in the trailing APC unleashed short bursts. This fire was more devastating than anyone would have imagined. Each vehicle fired down the street as it passed. The first bursts caused a few casualties and drew would be rescuers and rubberneckers into the street. The grenades and trailing bursts from the .50's turned many of these into casualties. This pattern would be repeated on each street, it had been planned to reduce the likelihood that they would encounter resistance by making it more difficult to approach them by blocking the cross streets. None of the planners had thought this would cause the casualties that resulted. With the range of the .50's, dead and wounded were found as far as ten blocks in any direction. Casualties also resulted in homes not along the route because the .50's could penetrate a frame house and have enough power to kill in the street behind it.
The convoys were traveling at just under ten miles an hour, a speed that caused the machine gun bullets, fired at ten a second, to be spaced less than two feet apart. The grenade gunners had practiced in an open field with practice rounds and were hitting windows with good accuracy. Inside the buildings the grenades were reeking havoc. In many of the older homes along King Street the people were in the living rooms which were in the front of the house. Some had brick walls that stopped the .50 caliber's, but many
bullets found windows and doors and some the people inside. The grenades that entered through the windows frequently maimed and killed. The ones which missed exploded spraying people in the street with fragments. Cars were hit and some exploded. The heavy, high velocity, half inch diameter bullet of
the .50 generally would go through a car and still have killing power unless it hit a solid object like the engine.
The first call to 911 came at 9:06 PM. Margie Hanson was a senior operator on the inbound call board. The caller was obviously excited, there was noise in the background that sounded like gunfire. "We're under attack." There was deep breathing, "We've a column of five armored personnel carriers going
east on Market Street." The noise of an explosion drowned out the voice for a second. "... machine gunning people on the street, they have grenades."
The call was obviously a hoax, but a good one. The gunfire sounded real. Margie pressed a button to alert the supervisor to pick up and monitor her call. The supervisor came on the line to listen to the call and advise Margie.
"Where are you?" she asked.
"I'm in a gutter on the north side of Market, just east of Market and Carlisle. They hit my car, I made it out. I got a bullet in my leg, they're machine gunning us. Get help, can't talk, I got to get this bleeding
stopped."
With that the phone went dead. It had been cellular, possibly it was a real call. She had been typing as she talked, now she pressed a button and the call was passed to a dispatcher. As she looked back at the board she saw eight lines were lit. Generally at this time of the evening, three to four calls were usual, five or six was extremely high. A quiet evening had turned busy. "But that call had to be a hoax," she thought as she took the next call from the queue.
It was a woman, "They're shooting at us, they have tanks, five of them."
"Where are they?"
"Turned east on King Street off Richland."
"Give me your location," Margie asked. Her training was taking over, she was following procedure.
"980 East King. Get us help quick, there are dozens of dead. They're shooting and bombing the houses."
Margie heard a rattle of gunfire and the line went dead.
She passed this call to the dispatcher and went on to the next one.
Dispatcher Jody Walsh blinked as the call came up on the screen but she clicked the mic and called, "Rescue 12"
"Rescue 12 by."
"Rescue 12, man down, possible gunshot wound, Market just east of Carlisle."
The driver responded, "Rescue 12 rolling, 10-4."
Jody punched the button for the next dispatch and got the King street call. She thought for a moment and pressed the button to key the radio again, "Rescue 12, proceed via Queen, to Philadelphia, to Carlisle. Avoid Market and King Streets. Have reports of gunfire on West King and West Market, 800 to 1000 blocks."
Later many would wonder if the reason for the second call was because her husband was an EMT on Rescue 12. Jody was not alone, many 911 operators had a relative or close friend on rescue and fire units. Often tense moments in the center carried personal meaning to the operators.
"Rescue 12, roger, will proceed with caution."
She went back to the King Street call, dispatched rescue 9, then went to the police frequency. She looked to see who was the senior police officer on duty, it was Bill Troyer. "Good man, she thought," hopefully he could sort out the mess. She had last heard from him west bound on Philadelphia near Albermarle on the east end of the city. He should be at Carlisle by now.
"2217, report status."
"2217, Available, northbound at Carlisle and Maryland." He was already five blocks north of Market. He must be in a hurry tonight, she mused.
"2217, Can you respond to Market and Carlisle? We have a report of gunfire and Armored Personnel carriers on Market Street east of Carlisle. Proceed with extreme caution."
"2217, 10-4, ETA 2 minutes. Please confirm you have gunfire and Armored vehicles reported on Market."
"Confirm, the report said gunfire on Market. The report from King street said tanks but the report from Market says Armored Personnel Carriers."
Bill Troyer III was head of the Traffic division, tonight he was duty officer. His father and grandfather had both retired as chief of the city force as had his one uncle and a great uncle. Bill was well on the way to being the fifth Troyer to hold this position. His younger brother could easily follow him. He was forty seven, a Viet Nam combat veteran, and a senior member of the Police force. Most other police at his level spent their tours in the station, Bill spent at least two hours every night on the street. It kept him in touch with the city and the men he commanded. He was a hard man, a leader who demanded perfection but would work with any officer who really put forth an effort.
He made a 'U' turn and headed south. As he approached the intersection of Market and Carlisle he could proceed no further, the street was blocked by abandoned cars. He turned on his flashers, picked up the portable radio on the seat, and started to walk toward Market.
To the west he could see the burning gas station.
He lifted the radio to his mouth, "Dispatch, this is 2217."
"2217, go ahead."
"Do you have fire equipment in route to a fire at Market and Richmond?"
"Negative, 2217. We have no report of a fire at that location."
"Dispatch, 2217, we have a fire, get some equipment out here, the gas pumps look like they're burning."
"Roger 2217."
As he turned his attention from the radio he heard someone call to him. He looked down to the curb and saw a man grabbing for his leg. He grabbed his flashlight to get a better look at the man. Obviously he had been injured, his leg and hands were bloody. Bill bent down, "What happened."
The man looked up, "Bill, I'm glad to see you. Five APC's went up the street shooting. I believe they have .50 caliber's and grenades. They're probably about at the creek by now. I got a call in to 911 but I wasn't sure they believed me. I'm OK for now, I got the bleeding stopped, help some of the others."
Bill recognized the man, it was Jack Harrison, a neighbor. The man was reliable. They had served in the same unit in Nam. Jack had not said tanks, he said Armored Personnel Carriers. Bill made a judgment that Jack knew what he had seen. He scanned the area with his flashlight and saw more people on the sidewalk.
"Hang tough Jack, I'll be back, I need to get my medical kit." Bill ran back to his car. As he ran, he unclipped the mic to make a call but was interrupted by the sound from the radio, "This is 2210, we got three tanks coming at us, shooting. They have machine guns." There was a burst of gunfire and the radio went silent. The dispatcher called several times but the unit did not respond.
"2217 to dispatch."
"Dispatch here"
"Put out instructions, have all units avoid contact with tanks. Take cover and get people on the street under cover. Anyone on Market, clear it to the east."
"Roger 2217."
Maybe they could reduce the number of injuries. Bill listened as the calls went out, picked up the medical kit and then when the radio cleared called dispatch again.
"2217 to dispatch."
"Dispatch here."
"Get me some medical help here. I have lots of wounded. I'll let you how many as soon as possible but I can see ten just standing here. I need big time help. Have all units avoid Market Street. Contact county and state disaster services. I believe we'll be needing them."
"Roger 2217." He heard the call go out as he got to the first victim. The woman was dead. He moved to another, a young boy. He too was dead. A woman next to him was unconscious but alive. He pressed a pad over a wound in her shoulder and pulled it tight to slow the bleeding.
"Dispatch, 2217." He grabbed his radio.
"2217 here."
"Confirm status."
"I'm corner of Carlisle and Market, I've checked four victims, I have two dead, two wounded and many more on the street. Get me as many units here as possible."
"Medical help is ETA less than a minute via Carlisle."
"Tell them to go out to Richland and come back Market, Carlisle is blocked just north of Market."
"Roger 2217. We're splitting the teams -- some are going to King street. There's a second column of tanks on it."
Bill was taking care of the tenth victim and about out of supplies when he looked up and saw the rescue unit. With their arrival he would pull from the scene and begin to oversee the situation. He went back to his neighbor. Right now this was the best witness he had and he needed to know what was happening.
"You OK Jack?"
"I got the bleeding stopped. I think the bullet hit the bone, but didn't break it, it really hurts. Must have been a heavy round, it went through the side of the car, probably a .50 caliber. That's what it sounded like."
"What happened?"
"A column of five vehicles went down the street, two APC's, an ammo carrier and a two more APC's. The APC's have at least four .50's each and the ammo carrier has grenade launchers and a .50, maybe two." Bill and Jack had served together in the Mekong.
"You're sure they're APC's not tanks?"
"Sure, but what difference does that make? Do you have something to stop them?"
"I'm not sure it makes any difference, but it helps to know what you're up against. I might have a chance against an APC, but none against a tank. I sure wouldn't want them to have that main gun. The .50's and the grenades are bad enough. Hang in there, they'll be getting you out of here soon." He pulled the last large pad from the medical kit and helped Jack put it on his leg.
Bill went up an alley with his car and got out on Market. The carnage was awesome. "Dispatch, 2217."
"Dispatch here."
"Get the chief on the phone and fill him in. We have a real disaster here, we need the guard and a couple of tanks to take out these columns. Warn the boro's to the east on what's coming. Tell them to have people get off the street and behind something solid. They have heavy machine guns. Houses and regular frame buildings will not stop the bullets. Put at least two masonry was between them and the main road."
"Roger 2217,"
As the Market Street column proceeded east it passed several bars. The gunners raked the buildings and any patrons found outside. Jamie Dellinger was had just finished a with a client in the back room on the second floor of the Old Fort when the column passed. She heard explosions downstairs and the lights went out. She and the client slipped down the back steps and entered the bar through the back door. The emergency lights were on. At least ninety people were in the bar at the time of the attack. Four grenades and over a hundred .50 caliber bullets had made the place a deathtrap. The client picked up the phone, dialed 911 and placed a call for help. Jamie ran back up the steps and returned with a pile of sheets, the only thing she could imagine for use as bandages. She found her friend, Della on the floor. Della had a cut on her head but was alive. Jamie was able to get a bandage on the wound to slow the bleeding. As she did, Della regained consciousness. The client returned to tell Jamie help wouldn't be arriving for at least two hours. The bartender finally came from behind the bar where he had taken refuge. He had several minor cuts on his face. The heavy bar protected him from the explosions. He pulled out a couple of flashlights. Together they began to sort out the injured and dead. The dead were moved to the back of the bar, the injured to the front. Within a half hour the back contained thirty seven bodies. Jamie, her client, the bartender and Della found eight people who had minor wounds and were able to help them care for the seriously wounded. They concentrated on stopping bleeding, there was little more they could do.
Skip Wilson was headed west along Market Street when he heard the gunfire ahead. He stopped long enough to make out the vehicles moving toward him, they were tanks. Skip looked to the side, if he climbed under the bridge he should be safe. Seconds later he was huddled below the bridge. Many others were not so astute. Most of the others on the street tried to take refuge in alleys. The machine gun fire and grenades caught them there and took a terrible toll. As the noise of the gunfire receded Skip carefully slipped from the creek bed. He returned to his trek west. His focus was as before, finding a mark to acquire the $250 needed to support his habit for one more day. He saw several bodies on the street. He went over to one, the man was dead. Skip did not hesitate, he pulled the watch from the man's arm and pulled out the man's wallet. He found $83 and several credit cards. He slipped them into the bag he carried and went to find the next body.
It took him fifteen minutes to go five blocks, skipping the living and taking money, jewelry and credit cards from the dead. He lost count of the money but he knew he had well over $5,000. He had encountered an opportunity and was taking advantage of it. He saw a woman laying on the street next to a tree and went over. She was alive but unconscious. Her clothes were expensive, she was alive but she wouldn't be able to identify him. He opened her purse, removed more than $500 and then pulled off her watch and rings. As he did she opened her eyes, he pulled a knife from his belt. She could not live to identify him. As he did he heard someone call out, "Stop." Skip turned to run when a single shot rang out. He felt his stomach catch fire. He collapsed on the sidewalk holding his stomach. Ed Garver walked over to him carrying a short barreled, twelve gage shot gun. "I'll teach you to steal from the dead." He picked up the bag Skip had carried and walked away. Before he had gone ten steps Skip lapsed into unconsciousness. He would be dead within a minute.
Ed Garver carried the bag to his house. In the last ten minutes he had killed three people looting bodies, all druggies. With them gone, the city would be a safer place. He took the credit cards and placed them into the wood stove and lit a fire. They could be traced, he wanted no part of them. He counted the money, there was just under $8,000. He mused, "Over $2,000 a head for killing druggies, a good price for something so worthless." He placed the money in a tin box with the jewelry and hid it in his basement. He restocked his ammunition belt, picked up his shotgun, and went out again. During the night he would kill seven more looters. Each time he took the money and jewelry for himself. He considered himself a modern day bounty hunter.
Three of the explosive grenades entered through the glass block window of the telephone main central office building along West King Street. One penetrated the processor rack containing the 755 switch and exploded inside. The switch was destroyed and over 5000 customers were without phone service. The second grenade hit the main wire entrance and exploded tearing out the cables for all four exchanges in the south half of the building. The 15,000 customers in the 854, 757 and 848 exchanges were suddenly without telephone service including much of the city government. The power cables for the 849, 840, 852 and 767 exchanges in the north half of the building and the controls for the emergency generators were also severed. The customers on these exchanges would be without service in a couple of hours when the emergency batteries were exhausted unless something was done to restore power. The third grenade exploded next to Brian Willis totally destroying his left leg. He would survive but the phone company lost the services of the best wire man in the state and the man who personally knew more about the cable plant of the city than any other ten men. The man most able to effect a quick recovery of the damaged south half of the building was out of the game. That he would be there at this time of the night was an anomaly. Normally this repair call would have been taken by a junior lineman but none were immediately available, and Brian had blue blood, the expression in GTE that indicated he would take any call, any time, to any where. With this damage, the 911 desk lost one half of its inbound lines and many of the circuits to out of town exchanges were cut. Fortunately, the planners for 911 had seen this possibility and had two alternate trunk groups installed to provide service through exchanges on the north and south edges of the city. These did not go through Main. The 911 system was hurt, but still functioning.
Michelle, the 911 supervisor had been busy for nearly ten minutes now, calling for adjacent districts to send all available ambulances and EMT's and rescue vehicles. The hospitals had been notified and both were beginning to call in people to help. Nearby hospitals were notified to expect wounded. The National Guard commander was alerted. The local unit had no anti-tank weapons, nothing that would stop an APC. They were a transportation unit. The unit couldn't be activated without an order from civilian authorities but when the commander took the call he began the procedures to activate his unit when that authorization came. Several key persons were called and informally asked to come in to begin getting things ready. The unit would be activated and would help with the wounded, transportation and looting control. The informal calls to these people would save lives because they would save time in activation of the force.
Adelle Williams was in the living room of her apartment in the projects with her two children, Darin Junior and Angela ages 11 and 12. The children were playing on the floor, Adelle was watching television. She heard what she thought were bursts of gunfire. She pulled the two children into the kitchen, behind the refrigerator where they would be protected. She had just seen a special on drive by shootings.
As they huddled in the corner she heard bullets rip through the front of the house. Several penetrated the front wall, the wall between the living room and dining area and stopped in the kitchen wall. Had they stayed in the living room they would probably have been killed. The gunfire subsided and Adelle was about to come out of hiding when she heard a crash in the living room followed by the impact of an object in the back kitchen wall and a terrible explosion. A grenade had traveled through the front window, sailed through two open doorways to the back wall of the house and exploded on impact. Adelle and the children were protected from fire from the front of the house but the grenade explosion at the back of the kitchen sent shrapnel into all three of their bodies.
Thirty five pieces of shrapnel hit Adelle in the back. Her body protected Angela, except the right side of her face. Several shards imbedded themselves in her face and one penetrated her right eye. Darin Junior took three large pieces of the grenade in his left side. Adelle tried to move to help her children. Her back felt like it was on fire. She realized she was badly hurt but she had to take care of her children. She tried to push herself up and found her left arm wouldn't move and had no feeling. A fragment had severed a nerve in her upper back rendering her left arm permanently useless. As she tried to move she heard another burst of machine gun fire rip the living room, then she heard the gunfire begin to fade. With her right arm she pulled dish towels out of the drawer and placed them over her children's wounds. She couldn't see her back to determine how badly she had been hurt but she knew it was bad. She feared she would pass out or die before she could get help for them. She reached for the phone, there was no dial tone, the phone junction panel in the front yard had been destroyed by a grenade. She picked up a skillet and banged on the wall on both sides of the kitchen, then collapsed on the floor.
Beth Lehman lived alone in the next apartment. She heard the gunfire and had also taken refuge in her kitchen. She was unhurt but badly scared. She heard the explosion in the Adelle's apartment and then the banging on the wall. Beth pulled herself together and slipped out the back door. She went to Adelle's back door and knocked. "Adelle, are you there." Adelle pulled herself to the door, unlocked it and pulled it open.
One look at the situation was enough for Beth to know things were serious. Adelle and her children needed help quickly. Beth tried the phone. It was dead. Beth's car was in the front. She had no desire to go out that way. Later she would learn the car had been demolished by a grenade. Adelle's car was in the back. Beth carried both of the children to the car and helped Adelle into the front seat. She headed east toward the hospital but as she approached she saw the number of people being brought in. She was a LPN at a nursing home and recognized both the seriousness of the injuries and the problem with trying to get help. The waiting time would be hours. She put the car in gear, headed north, crossed Market Street, continued north to Route 30, and then headed east. Beth normally drove the speed limit but tonight she pushed the car to its limits. Unused to driving at high speed, she had her eyes glued to the road, she was too intent in her driving to look at the speedometer. She had to get help for her friends. Nothing else mattered, even risking her own life. It took her less then six minutes to cover the eight miles to the hospital just beyond the river. The hospital had just minutes before been alerted to expect casualties and had some people on duty and others coming in. Adelle, Darin and Angela were their first patients and all were considered serious and taken to surgery. Twenty minutes later the waiting time would have been measured in hours.
The two forces came to the eastern end of the one way streets. Team Peter turned south two blocks, then west. In a parking lot of a deserted factory they stopped next to a truck. They first opened the floor ports and kicked out the spent brass, then they opened the doors and transferred ammunition to the APC's. When the loading was complete the truck pulled out and headed west. They waited several minutes, then at 9:27 PM a radio call came from Peter. They had reloaded and were ready to move out. Both units waited three more minutes for the supply teams to head west, then they moved out together. Team Peter started east on Princess Street while Team Paul took Philadelphia.
The local guard commander contacted the commander of a unit about forty miles to the east, a unit with tanks. It was a maintenance unit and had four tanks to train their men in the art of repair. These were the older Abrams, not the ones that had fought on the desert of Iraq, but faced with a force in APC's, they should be more than a match. Commander Harold Reese checked his unit, nine of his men had actual tank combat training. He called them on the phone, seven answered. He called drivers and some other men with battle training. He would be able to crew the tanks but would be unable to put in the trained attack crews Harold would have preferred. They made preparations and waited for the call. Meanwhile the men loaded the little ammunition they had and fuel. They had only sixteen rounds for the main gun for each tank. The battle would be short unless they were able to find more ammunition. Two fuel trucks were readied to support them as were six trucks with other supplies. They would be ready to pull out, if and when the order came. According to the most recent information, the force was headed east, toward them. Harold sent the first two men he could spare to the main road in the Humvee. They were instructed to drive five miles west, park the Humvee well off the road and watch for the tanks. If they came the men should raise the alarm, allow them to pass, and follow them east, keeping well back but reporting their position. One thing Harold was sure of, if this threat came to his town, orders or no orders, he and his men would meet it with force. His town, his family and friends wouldn't be victims unless he and his men were already dead. He called the squad leaders together and briefed them. Many of them tonight might just face their first hostile fire. There was a tenseness but he saw a resolve in each face.
At 9:52 the call for the tanks to pull out came. They were ordered to move out to the west, take the Lincoln Highway and look for the APC's heading toward them. They expected an intercept at some time after 10:20. Harold was quiet as they headed east, in less than a half hour they expected to fight a battle on their own soil, something few Americans had done since the end of the Civil War. It was different than fighting somewhere else, the civilians were fellow Americans. The state police was placing a helicopter in the air to spot the vehicles. Harold did not know the tactical information by now was incorrect and the helicopter was searching in the wrong place. He was also concerned about his tactical situation, he wa instructed to not fire unless fired upon. If he was facing tanks, this meant he might just have to loose one tank before he could shoot back. He remembered how the politicians often dictate what was not sound military procedures, he sympathized with some of his predecessors.
Column Peter was crossing the railroad at Broad Street when they saw the next intersection, just around the curve, was blocked by vehicles. Trucks had been parked to block the whole intersection. The column turned right, dropped down an alley to the north and started west. As they turned on the west bound alley a truck was pulled into the end of that alley. The truck was raked with fire and it burst into flames. The column seemed trapped. The last vehicle in the group backed up, raked several trucks that were moving toward the intersection with fire and was successful in stopping them before they were able to block the street. The APC then held the area and the remainder of the column turned and followed one block north, then turned west again. The column was freed from the trap and it would continue westward. The opportunity to stop team Peter ended with the death of the driver of the lead truck.
Angie felt the wrist of an older lady on the floor of the church. There was no pulse. That made seven who were already dead and five more were unconscious. There was nothing she could do beyond first aid. She looked at her friend Mary, she was pale, the pain in her arm was getting to her. Angie knew that if help wasn't soon available many of the wounded would die. She went to the door for the tenth time and looked outside. There were people everywhere on the sidewalks but no emergency vehicles were anywhere in sight. The gas station across the street was burning fiercely and there were no fire trucks to fight the blaze. Clearly things had gone terribly wrong.
Angie went back into St. Joe's and pulled Mary and the other two women aside. Somehow they would have to get help for these people. She asked if anyone had vans or station wagons. They found two minivans, a full sized van and a pickup with a camper top. They found the keys and moved the vehicles to the front of the church and began to move the people to them. One of the men had a minor leg wound and was able to help them load the wounded, he would drive one of the vans. When they had moved all of the living to the vehicles they found there were more wounded on the street. They picked up as many as they could fit in the vehicles and prepared to move out. As they did a woman approached them from Market Street. She had a wound in her leg and was walking with a very bad limp. She waved to Angie.
"There are five people on the street hurt bad. Can you help them?"
"There's no more room, we have to get these people help or they're going to die." The pressure of the situation hit Angie, "I can't save all of them, somebody else has to do something."
The woman was not rebuffed, "Do you have a car? Mine is burning along the street."
"Yes, there's a green Dodge station wagon in the lot, it's mine. Here are the keys. Take it."
"Can you help me? I can't get them into the car." One look at the woman told Angie that was true. Even if the woman hadn't been hurt, getting an injured and unconscious person into a car would have been nearly impossible for her. Angie took the keys, got her car and parked it at the corner. They helped people into it until the car was full. With that done, the convoy of five cars pulled out to the west. One glimpse of Market Street to the east told them they would be unlikely to find help there. Angie decided to head west. The road that way seemed clear.
Bill Troyer was by now headed east on streets north of Market, trying to find the APC's. What he would do was more than he could determine. He had to see the force that was destroying his city, to see what he was facing. As he approached the railroad crossing just east of the center of town he heard gunfire. He took the rifle from the trunk and left his car. By the time he got to Philadelphia street team Paul had passed. He could see them to the west, destroying people and property. He called dispatch, warning them that emergency vehicles and people should be gotten off the street. With that done, Bill found himself helping the people who were scared and wounded. His rifle was an impediment, an object that brought fear. After organizing people to help the wounded, he headed toward his car. Before he reached it he dispatcher called for him to return to the station. When he arrived he found he was in command of the police force. All senior officers were either wounded, dead or unreachable. Later Bill would realize that his decision to take the rifle and take on the attackers would have been foolish. Six other officers had done so, all were dead. Four of them had made a battle line along Market Street and were ready for the vehicles. One was killed by machine gun fire, the other three died when a grenade went off near them. The police had no weapons to effectively attack the APC's.
When team Paul got to Carlisle Road it was to turn south to Market to return to the compound. Carlisle was blocked to the south so the column headed west through an alley that ran behind the Lutheran church, the same one that Rescue 12 had used to get to Market Street. This was probably the one notable flaw in the planning of the raid, they blocked Carlisle Road on the way in, and needed it on the way back. The force continued west through the alley and then south to Market Street. While on the alley they lobbed a series of grenades into buildings. Several entered the church school rooms at the back of the Lutheran Church and exploded. These rooms were full of wounded and those tending them. Many did not survive this attack.
Team Paul pulled off the street into a parking lot to supply before heading west. Meanwhile team Peter had continued on Princess street and met with their supply truck to load more ammunition. A Gerry can of gasoline was poured into each vehicle and the men were given drinks and candy bars. The men expected to fight a major battle on the way back to the compound and wanted the vehicles to have full fuel tanks and ammunition racks. After giving the trucks some time to head west, team Peter pulled out and resumed the attack. They turned north on Adams and came out on Market Street a block east of Team Paul. As they passed the other team, it pulled out in line behind them and they continued to the west. Selected buildings were attacked. Primary targets were churches and bars.
Jack Harrison was still on the pavement. He was weak, cold and knew he was still loosing some blood. He managed to press the button on his watch, it was now 9:53. He has been on the street for nearly an hour and nobody had come for him. He knew that if Bill Troyer had deserted him, something was seriously wrong. He knew he had to get help for himself. He also knew there were others who needed help and had also been missed by the medical teams. Jack had no way of knowing that the Emergency Medical facilities had been taxed to the limit and they were beginning to transport patients to distant hospitals.
Jack's car was nearby, it had several bullet holes but had not caught fire as he had expected when he dove out of it. He crawled to the car and managed to get into the front seat. He turned the key and found the car would still run. He put it in drive to pull away and then saw a young man on the street who was still alive. He pulled close to the young man and opened the back door. The man pulled himself into the car and closed the door. Jack drove a block down Market Street. There were injured everywhere. He picked up three more who could get into the car. Jack realized he would find no help for himself or the others in the city. He turned to Philadelphia Street and headed west on Route 462. It took three quarters of an hour to get to the hospital at Gettysburg. The injured of the city were just beginning to arrive by any available transport. Jack and the other four would soon get treatment and they would help alert the outside world about the seriousness of the disaster.
Angie had only gone three blocks west when saw flashes in the rear view mirror. She put on her turn signals and turned north on the next alley. At Philadelphia she turned east and parked behind a brick building. The others followed her. They waited until the column passed, then Angie pulled out again. She went east past the fairgrounds to Carlisle Road and headed north. Carlisle was ten miles further but it had a larger hospital and the columns were between them and Hanover. Angie prayed for the people she was transporting and herself as she drove. She pushed the car as fast as she could handle it on the winding road. Before she had always prayed with her eyes closed, that night she would get a new understanding of the meaning of the phrase, "watch and pray." In the days to come she would frequently use that as example in teaching her classes.
By 10:20 PM the columns were approaching the compound. They had expected to fight a battle but there had been none. Except for the one encounter with the police and the attempt to trap team Peter, there had been no resistance. Those encounters had been brushed away like a gnat. The vehicles were returned to their parking places and the decoys set up in the courtyard. The men moved to positions guarding the compound. They had expected an assault but none had come. They had expected the column to be followed. None of the things they had happened. At 10:40 Brother Gideon called the men together. He blessed them for the job they had done and encouraged them to continue the fight to the end. The men would begin sleeping in shifts to rest them for the battle he was sure would come at any time. He couldn't fathom his enemy, why hadn't they retaliated? He wouldn't know the answer till nearly dawn, the city had no defense against his assault. The opposition he expected hadn't materialized. The assault had one Gideon casualty. One of the gunners had a broken finger, he had slammed the door of the truck on it when they finished unloading ammunition.
Angie was still praying when she passed the boro line at Carlisle. She knew the town, the hospital was to the south and west. She sped through the streets, ignoring speed limits and drifting through stop signs and red lights. She broke at least five times as many traffic laws that night as she had in her previous nine years of driving. She taught her students to obey laws, never breaking even the smallest one, but she was willfully breaking them en masse, but tonight she was obeying a higher law, the law of love, of laying down her self, her feelings, her ideas, her opinions for the good of others. Her legalistic stance of obedience to laws, although right, was not an absolute. She would become a new person, more loving, less critical, less dogmatic, and more dedicated to her faith in God. The week before many would have not thought this was possible. Within a year she would leave the church of her childhood and become a member of The People Who Love. She would teach the same level of obedience to authority she had also taught, but then show that when laws conflicted the individual must follow the higher law. And she would often teach the message of First Corinthians 13, 'the greatest of these is love'. She arrived at the hospital at 10:33 and started blowing her horn as she approached the emergency entrance. A guard came out to see what was wrong, because the hospital wasn't in the county, and because of a clerical error at the state emergency preparedness office, it hadn't been notified of the attack. With little delay the injured were unloaded and care was begun. The three uninjured women decided to return to pick up more people but they knew more help would be needed. Two men at the hospital offered to drive the other cars. Together they headed back to the city. Angie had overcome many fears on this night. She remembered, "Fear not the one who can kill the body, but the one who can kill the soul."
Mayor James Deitch drove from his home to his office in response to an urgent call from the police. The city was in chaos, he had to detour several times to get to the office. There was fire and devastation everywhere. He arrived at 10:53. His first act was to call the office of the police chief on the phone. He was surprised to find Bill Troyer in command.
"Bill, surprised to find you there. What's happening?"
"Looks like we had two columns of Armored Personnel Carriers, five in each, one went out King Street, back Princess and the other went out Market and back Philadelphia. After that they went west, shot up the west end of Market on the way out. I have no idea yet who they are, where they are or why they did it. They had heavy machine guns, looks like .50 caliber's, and some kind of grenade launcher, most likely from the rate of fire they were the 40MM units that shoot grenades off belts. They were spitting grenades at over a hundred a minute. They fired the whole way in and back. Just blasted away at anything that was there. Right now we have at least eight police officers confirmed dead, four of them tried to make a stand on East Market. None of them made it."
"How could you possibly let this happen? Why didn't you do something? Why didn't we try to knock out the vehicles?"
"Sir, we're a police force, not an army. We have nothing that is effective against any kind of armored vehicles. As a police force, we don't need that kind of weapon and I really don't think we would want our people carrying them. None of our weapons have a range or fire power to match the .50's, our people would have been at risk before they got in close enough to even fire. Those .50's will go right through a car and still kill. Nothing we have will penetrate the light armor on the APC's."
"Where did they get weapons like that?"
"Mr. Mayor, I don't think that question is ours to answer and what's more, it really doesn't matter. They have them, they are using them.
"You're telling me they could come back and we couldn't stop them?"
"Essentially that's right sir, we could try but we couldn't promise you we could stop them. I don't think we should tell anyone that right now. We could have a panic on our hands, and worse, we would be giving out intelligence helpful to the enemy."
"And you have no idea where they are?"
"That's correct."
"What are you planning to do? Have any ideas? What about the Guard?"
"The Guard has no heavy weapons in town. I've called the transportation unit, they're sending the heaviest trucks they have. If they come back we'll try to block them in. Then we'll go after them with bottles of gasoline. We'll probably loose some men doing it, but there isn't a choice. We'll have to protect the community."
"We have nothing to stop them but that?"
"Nothing here. We do have four tanks coming in from a Guard armory east of here. They'll be in the area in about an hour but if they attack again before the tanks get here, we'll have to go after them with what we have. Right now our big need is to find them so we can send the tanks after them."
"What are we doing about that?"
"The army is sending helicopters from down south up to us, three night qualified groups that spot and kill tanks. They each have four Apaches and two recons. They'll be armed but they'll not get guns free unless they get confirmed targets. The first unit should be in the air soon, they were on the base, the other two will move out about an hour or so behind them. I'll get back to you I have another call."
He picked up the line. It was the 911 operator, she was almost frantic. "We got four tanks coming from the east, Springettsbury Police reported them on 30. They're asking for instructions."
"Tell them to take it easy, they're friendly. Wave them through, put two cars with them so we can communicate with them, put an officer on the lead tank with a radio if we can."
"OK chief." The 911 operators had already gotten the word, Bill was acting chief of police.
A few minutes later the phone rang again to inform him that an officer was on the lead tank and they were in communication with the column. While he was on the line with the 911 operator he asked if the police west of town had seen anything. A check was made, several people had reported gunfire. The last sighting report was from a civilian about two miles east of the US 30/PA 94 intersection. The columns had vanished near that point.
At 911 headquarters they felt the shock wave of the blast. They had no idea where it came from but nobody doubted it was serious. Within a minute of the blast Michelle took the first call, it was followed within twenty seconds by one on Margie Hanson's board. The both confirmed the explosion was a car bomb. It was along a street near the high rise apartment complex just off Princess Street. Over the next twenty minutes five more bombs would explode. All were cars containing a heavy charge of industrial explosive with several hundred pounds of regular nails on top of it. The number of casualties from the shrapnel was staggering. In addition to the bomb that exploded outside the apartment complex, others exploded behind the police station, in the hospital parking garage, in front of a second housing project, and in front of Mayor Ditch's house.
Mayor Deitch lived in an elite, high rent development, on the hill just south of the hospital. His neighbors were all leaders in businesses in the city, what would be called the upper crust. The bomb blasted his house as well as two adjacent ones. The mayor's house was a total loss but his family was safe. His wife and daughter had gone to a play in Hershey. He had been called to his office just before the explosion, the house was empty.
The Bitner family next door wasn't so fortunate. Frank Bitner left early in the day for Columbus Ohio. He was president of a company that printed books in six plants in the east. He and three of his staff were looking at another plant in Cleveland Ohio, he would buy it if the price was right. Carla Bitner fought with her husband that morning as he was getting ready to leave. His first grandchild was one year old today, they were planning a party for the evening. Couldn't he postpone the trip? She wanted him to be at the party. After some strong words Frank left.
The party ended just after nine PM and the family moved to the driveway to say good-by to the new one year old. As they approached their cars to leave, the car bomb exploded in front of the house next door. The seven members of the Frank Bitner family and six friends died in the blast.
Jamie Dellinger looked at her watch in the fading emergency lights, it was nearly eleven PM. Help should be arriving soon, it had to. Four people had died in the last hour, there were several more that Jamie felt couldn't last much longer. She called her ex-client over, could he try to call 911 again. When he did the phone was dead. She was afraid to tell him to go, he may not come back but unless someone did something people were going to die. She finally told him to go for help at eleven fifteen.
At eleven thirty five he returned to the Old Fort. What he saw outside wasn't good. The city was in chaos. He managed to flag down a police car and asked when they might expect some help at the Old Fort. The officer shook his head. "It might be as long as a day and even if they get to the hospital, they'll probably not get care for days." Although the officer's report was somewhat pessimistic, it wasn't really terribly far from the truth. These people couldn't wait for hours for treatment.
Jamie looked at the wounded. Twenty three had relatively superficial but painful wounds, mostly minor flack wounds from the grenades. They moved these to the one side of the bar. These could wait for treatment. Jamie called the bartender over. "Get a bottle for each of the ones over there, let them use some alcohol to ease the pain." He nodded and complied. Jamie had decided these could survive without treatment. She shuddered as she realized that if she was wrong, they could die because of her actions. Without any medical training Jamie had done what medical professionals do in times of a disaster. She had formed an informal triage, she had separated the dead and dying from those who could wait and those who needed treatment now.
Della and Jamie checked to the remaining thirty one injured people. Many of them were going to die if they didn't get help and it was clear to Jamie that help wasn't going to come to them. Leaving Della in the bar, Jamie went to the parking lot to get her car. She could at least get a few of the worst of them to a hospital. She was about to start her car when she noticed two vans in the lot. The one had keys sticking in the ignition. The keys to the other were under the floor mat. The slightly built woman quickly pulled the seats out of both vans and dumped them on the lot. As she started the one van and moved it to the back door she realized that what she was doing was grand theft auto, a felony. She could be jailed for this. She shook off the thought, tonight there were more important things to consider.
She returned to the bar and they moved six of the more seriously injured to each van. That would leave nineteen. She and the client started north with the vans. A half hour later they were unloading them at Holy Spirit. All but one of the twelve would survive. One of the survivors would loose a leg, another would loose his left hand, a woman would loose part of her left lung. Most faced long recuperation's, but few if any of the eleven would have survived till morning.
Shortly after 1:00 AM they returned to the bar. Help hadn't arrived yet and from the appearance of the streets, it wouldn't come soon. They loaded another fourteen of the people into the vans. Della found another van with keys and they loaded it. Several of the less seriously wounded would care for the others till they returned. Three hours later they had all of the patrons in the hospital. One of the emergency room doctors took time to put a couple of stitches in Della's head. While he was working he talked to Jamie. "You people saved at least a couple of lives tonight. If you hadn't got the bleeding stopped on at least five of those, they'd not have made it long enough to get them here. And you made some really good decisions on which ones to bring in first. I can't fault any of what you did. A trained professional couldn't have done better with the resources you had and under pressure."
Jamie, the bartender and the client returned to the city twice before morning with the vans to evacuate more of the wounded. After the second trip they collapsed on sofas in the hospital lobby about seven AM, all too tired to return home.
Angie and Mary pulled into the Carlisle Hospital emergency room area with their convoy for the second time. They helped unload the injured, many of them from the Lutheran Church across the street from the Catholic Church. They downed cups of coffee offered them by the hospital staff and then turned south again. There was so much to do. Angie remembered a bumper sticker she had seen several months before, "So many pedestrians and so little time." The sick joke reminded her of the scripture in James, "Life is but a vapor." She rubbed her eyes to keep them open, she just had to keep going. She found that if she rubbed some perspiration into her eyes they burned and kept her awake.
Out along the Lincoln Highway West Township Chief Jack Parson was on duty. He was one of five men on the Monroe Township police force. He was aware of the shooting and was watching for any hint of trouble in his area. He left the comfort of his car and was prone in a ditch. It was cold and damp, his uniform was dirty, but Jack didn't care about his comfort or appearance tonight. He had heard the terms .50 caliber and grenade on the radio. An ex-marine, he knew the power of a .50 caliber and intended to be a good forward observer. To do that he must first stay alive long enough to make his report and remaining in the car would reduce his chances. The car was easy to spot and made a good target. He had his portable radio, he could reach his dispatcher or be reached if necessary. So far he had seen nothing but a few cars, actually the traffic seemed lighter tonight than usual. He hadn't alerted his three off-duty people, if something big went down, they would be easily reachable and he would rather have them rested if they faced a serious situation, one tired chief would be enough baggage for the force to carry. The column hadn't passed him, he was sure of that. His radio came to life calling him. It was one of his officers, the most junior of the force, Gary Smith who lived just a few miles east of the 30/94 intersection. The officer was at home and off duty but with a force of this size, they each had personal radios so they could be reached in an emergency.
"Unit one, this is unit five."
"Unit one, Go ahead unit five."
The sequence was repeated four times. Apparently unit five couldn't hear the chief. Jack was about to tell Gary he had a radio problem when the next transmission came in.
"I get a carrier but I can't read you, unit one, one of us must have a radio problem, can you get somewhere and give me a double 'L'?"
Jack shook his head, maybe his radio wasn't working and if it wasn't he needed to know that now. Jack knew Gary wouldn't have called without a reason. There was a pay phone at the truck stop -- Jack went into the booth and called Gary. He kept his eyes east, if anything happened, there was a nearby ditch and he would be in it. He did not want to be killed while making a phone call. "What's this about my radio?" he asked when Gary answered the phone.
"Sorry to worry you chief, your radio is A-OK. I wanted to talk to you on a land line, Chief, and I didn't want to alert anyone. I got a really bad feeling about this, something that just happened here. I didn't want to talk on the radio and didn't want to ask you to call me and make anyone think I wanted to talk private. You seen them yet?"
Although Gary was off duty, apparently he had been monitoring on his radio, Jack knew most of his men did that for a lot of the waking hours. What that meant was if someone had trouble, an off duty officer just might be close and listening. He might be on his way to help a fellow officer before dispatch could even determine the need. Certainly he would have a chance to be there faster then someone outside the area.
"No. nothing yet."
"Did they turn back east?"
"Unit 3 says no, they didn't pass him. He's in a ditch back along the highway near Paradise, a local resident said they passed going west just before he got there. My guess is they turned south on one of the side roads."
"Chief, could you stand a long shot?"
"Sure, what is it?"
"Any chance they're just parked around here, real close?"
"Like where?"
"Like almost in my back yard."
"You're joking, I hope."
"Wish I was. My wife, she had to get up to go to the bathroom, you know how women in her condition are, she heard engine noises a while ago, ignored them and came to bed. She says they didn't fade out like they drove away, they stopped just as she lay down. She just woke up again and told me. I turned on the radio and heard this mess."
"You think they're that close?"
"Could be."
"Where could they hide?"
"Could be the Hanshue place, it's just over the hill."
"Those people are peaceful, it couldn't be them."
"Not lately they aren't. The leader has been stirring them up, he scares me, then too it could be someone else and they're just parking there or they just cut through the property."
"Keep your lights off, take the wife to the basement with the kids, and I'll park the car off the road and walk in. Wait for me, you and I can check it out."
"We're in tornado drill now, the wife and kids are already on the basement, I'm there with them on the extension, the cordless is turned off. I have both rifles, the shotgun and the pistols, along with ammunition. I don't want to fight it out, but I plan to be ready."
"You really think it's them."
"Don't know, but there's too much doubt to risk it and the stakes are too high."
"I'll be there, I'll park down the road and walk in."
A few minutes later there was a quiet knock on the door.
"Chief?" came a tentative call.
"It's me," came a familiar voice.
The officer picked up his radio and went out quietly.
They slipped across the field, staying more than thirty yards apart and low. Both were vets, both had infantry training, both knew the awesome fire power of a .50. There was safety for them in maintaining separation. If they were fired upon and one could remain unhurt, they both had a better chance of survival and even if both were hit, there was better chance that one of the two would survive long enough to put out an alarm. Jack cringed as he realized how negative this thinking sounded. He also realized the most important thing now was knowing the location of the attack force. Just as they were about to turn back Jack spotted a military vehicle between two buildings on the lawn near the Hanshue compound. The two men withdrew to the officer's home.
They had initially been inclined to use the radio when they spotted the vehicles, to get the word out quickly but agreed its use was unwise. If the sect members were monitoring the police frequencies this would only serve to alert them. They might even be able to locate Jack and Gary before they could put out the alarm or get away. It would also put the family at risk. It was better to wait and place a phone call. Jack picked up the phone in Gary's home and called county control when they returned. He identified himself and passed on the information they had gleaned. While he was doing this Gary was busy putting his family in the car. He pointed his wife east with the car, instructed her to go to the fire hall about six miles east, park the car behind the building and see if she could open it as a shelter. He gave her his spare radio, she should use it only in an emergency, she should use the phone for any contact with County Control. He warned her to not give her position on the radio, no matter what, he would give that to county control and instruct them to give it only on the phone. In the meantime he and the chief would begin moving families out and sending them east to the fire hall. She would be the person to keep the people together till help arrived. Jack called the dispatcher, asked that his men be alerted by phone and told not to use the radios unless directly threatened. They would each be given areas around the compound to begin to clear the civilians out of the area as quietly as possible. If any of them were needed, the dispatcher would call using that unit's number plus five -- this would signal to call dispatch by phone, they shouldn't use the radio unless they were actively threatened. A call to unit eleven would be a call for all units to call in. He reminded them they had nothing to stop the vehicles, saving lives meant keeping them from attacking till help arrived.
By now Harold Reese and his National Guard tanks were parked just west of the city line waiting for instructions. With a few minutes on his hands, Harold had ordered them to bore sight the main guns, refuel, check ammunition loads and in general be ready for anything. After that he had the men practice loading and training their weapons. With Jack's call they had an order to move. They proceeded west at fastest possible speed. They would reach the compound just before midnight. County control then contacted the Army, the Apaches and the Sparrows, already in the air would be vectored west to join the tanks.
Captain Eli Jones looked at his position indicator on the control panel of his Apache. He and his force were headed north to protect a town, they had just crossed the Mason Dixon Line near the place Meade's army crossed on it's way to Gettysburg over a hundred years ago. Like Meade, he had no idea what to expect when he arrived, only that he would be protecting the town from some sort of para-military group that had run wild. Eli was a student of the Civil War, he hoped his unit would fare better than Meade's. He checked his formation and wondered how they were doing. He was especially concerned about Billie, the pilot of his lead Sparrow. She was sick about a half hour before takeoff. The Sparrows were also flying a near maximum range, they had even removed the 7.62 MM machine guns to increase the fuel load. They would have preferred tanking but they could not arrange the tanking in time. Speed was essential. A few minutes after he crossed the Mason Dixon, he received a message telling him to head to a point further west. At first he had a funny feeling, he was headed for Gettysburg, but one look at the map indicated the location was about twenty miles to the east.
The Paradise Fire house was empty when Crystal Smith arrived. She checked all doors and found one unlocked. The equipment was gone, it had been dispatched to the east to fight fires in the city. She found the switches, turned on lights in the basement and blocked the back basement door open. By the time she had done this there were several other cars in the lot. She directed the people to come into the basement rooms that were the most protected. She placed her children in one of the rooms and asked a neighbor to watch her children while she moved others inside. For the next half hour she was busy settling down the people, finding blankets and getting people bedded down. As the place filled she had one of the other women call county control for instructions. Her husband called a few minutes later from a residence near their home.
"How's it going?"
"We need to get another shelter open. The fire house is almost full."
"What about the elementary school across the road. I'll get someone there to open it for you. It's a brick building and is protected. Keep the people in the interior areas, the halls, the protected places. Also the National Guard tanks should be between you and the Hanshues by now. That should make it relatively safe. Move there yourself with the kids and start putting new people up at the school. Let someone at the firehouse redirect anyone who shows up."
"The Beyer's are taking over at the firehouse. They'll handle it."
"Good choice. We still have a lot to get out."
"Hon, be careful."
"I will, I'm working away from the compound now. The ones who lived the closest are already out. Bye."
Brother Gideon was in his meditation room. He was puzzled. His men should have met serious opposition in the city and in the retreat. There should have been a fire fight. He couldn't believe they had only been opposed by one group of riflemen during the whole raid. He had expected losses, this would have prepared the people for the battle that was to come. Just as he was wondering how to prepare them his thoughts were interrupted by an knock on his door.
"Brother Gideon, we need to see you." It was Samuel, the leader of the Market Street column.
Brother Gideon went to the door and opened it, "Yes, Samuel, you look distressed."
"They brought up four tanks, they're just over the hill from the compound, I believe they're preparing to do something. Tank fire will be deadly, we will loose many of our people including the children."
"Samuel, don't be afraid, remember we're protected. Have the men make the preparations for battle as we planned. God will be with us. He will smile upon us as we do his will."
Samuel left with a heavy heart. He had hoped Brother Gideon would have given some magical word to make the tanks go away.
Harold Reese split his tanks into two groups. He planned a raid on the compound, an interdiction move rather than a knockout punch. He feared the units would move out and he wouldn't be able to stop them if they moved quickly and scattered. If they did, they would spread the carnage over the countryside. He would stop them now, disable their vehicles before they could move out. He wasn't aware of the Apaches which were on the way, this information hadn't been on the radio and thus hadn't been passed to him. He assumed he was the only unit capable of preventing additional bloodshed. Although his tanks could stop them, if they were to pull away now and split into small units his force would be inadequate to prevent them from making another raid. He knew the columns were composed of a total of ten vehicles, he had only four tanks, but the enemy vehicles were APC's. He could knock them out easily with his main guns and even his heavy machine guns were a threat to them. They had no known weapons to seriously threaten his tanks. He would move in and mop them up in one sweep before they could move out. He would attack head on with tanks one and two. Tanks three and four would move to the left and attack on an axis about 60 degrees from his, allowing the two groups to converge on the vehicles in the yard of the compound, giving both groups open fields of fire.
On his command the tanks moved out, advancing toward the compound. The tanks had their infra-red sights active and as soon as they cleared the hill between them and the compound they could see the still hot engines and exhausts of the APC's. Because of their focus on the APC's and their inexperience, the men in the tanks didn't see the TOW teams being deployed in ditches on their flanks. On command the tanks opened fire on the APC's with their main guns. Only one round of the first volley hit a target and it burst into flames, lighting up the area. The second volley was better with three hits, four of the ten vehicles were burning. This was looking like a successful mission, eight rounds expended to knock out four of the ten enemy vehicles.
Before the third volley could be fired two of the tanks were hit by TOW rockets. One of the rockets hit the turret of tank two and exploded, the shot was not direct and the round did not penetrate the turret. The noise caused the driver of the tank to loose control of his kidneys, the only damage was a wet seat. The other rocket hit the right track of tank four, separated the track and destroyed the drive sprocket. Tank four had lost its ability to move. It was a sitting duck, a large stationary target. The four tanks turned on their smoke generators and opened up with their machine guns, sweeping the area to protect themselves. The force had gone defensive. They could no longer concentrate on their mission, the destruction of the enemy force. They must clear the area of the TOW operators and any rifleman simply to provide protection for themselves and the crew of tank four who's rescue was now the highest priority.
Samuel was in ditch with three other men. They had one TOW launcher and four rockets. They fired the first rocket at tank two. It exploded but did no damage. He saw a rocket fired by the other team hit the number four tank at about the same time. Before they could fire a second round they were subjected to intense machine gun fire. None of them were hit but they were ineffective for about three minutes, enough time for the tanks to lay smoke and begin a withdraw.
A terrible dilemma faced Commander Reese. He could evacuate tank four but he couldn't abandon it. It was no longer mobile, its left track was off but the tank was intact, it had some ammunition and its guns were still operational. If it were to fall into enemy hands it could be used to fire on the surrounding area. He could see only one solution, he ordered tank three to pull next to tank four. The men transferred through the lower hatches and tank three pulled back 75 yards. It took three rounds to hit a vital spot and flame the tank.
With the damaged tank dispatched the remaining tanks withdrew while firing on the enemy vehicles. Events would later show they didn't knock out any vehicles during this period in spite of the early glowing reports. The objects they had fired upon were decoys.
Brother Gideon remained in the chapel during the action. When it was over Samuel returned.
"Brother Gideon, we damaged one of the four tanks and they were forced to destroy it."
"Did we have any losses?"
"None."
"God be praised. He has again protected us. Samuel, see that we are prepared for any assault, we must protect the women and children from the infidels."
Samuel nodded and left.
Brother Gideon's plan had again been frustrated. "How inept could a tank commander be, to attack in such a manner and be so ineffective?" They were frustrating his plan. For it to be successful, the compound must be attacked and women and children must die. The commander of the tanks had ignored the compound totally, even after the TOW attack, and had gone for the vehicles.
Crystal got the children in the car and crossed the road. While they were getting out of the car she had a brief fright as she heard engine noises, then realized they were overhead. The Army Helicopters had arrived. The janitor wasn't there yet so she moved the people from the cars to a depression behind the school. The parking lot was too exposed to remain there long. They would wait there until the building was opened. Again she left her children with one of the neighbors and took charge. By one thirty AM the flood of people had dwindled to a trickle and then stopped. She went back to where she had left her children. Two of the men agreed to keep watch and call her if there was any problem. She slept till about 4 AM when Gary called. He was still checking out homes, could she make a list of everyone who was there and try to make a list of anyone they could think of who hadn't shown up. He would call back in an hour. She left two men to make a list at the school and went to the firehouse. In a half hour she was back. With the help of others they compared lists, looking for anyone they missed. They could account for all but three families from the area around the compound.
When Gary called she passed the names. He knew two had been some of the last notified to move out, they were probably still in transit. The other family had decided to evacuate to the west, they had family there to be with. They had made a successful evacuation of the residents for about a three mile radius of the compound. Gary told her he would be helping with cordoning off the area till help arrived and hung up.
Angie helped unload the last of the people in her third load. She was exhausted, as much as she willed it to not be so, she knew she couldn't make another trip, she had rubbed her eyes almost the whole way to irritate them to keep awake on the last trip. She and the other women parked the vehicles in the hospital parking lot and collapsed on sofas in the hospital lobby. They would wake early in the morning and head back to the city. During the next day they would make additional trips to help save the wounded. None of them would remember how many trips they made or how many they saved. Later many of the survivors would talk of the tiny, dark haired woman who got them to the hospital, she would become one of the heroes of the night. The only other thing they would remember about her was the quiet, calm voice and her praying for them almost continually during the trip.
Most of the residents of the area around the compound left their homes expecting to be gone for only a few hours. Crystal had assumed the siege might be a long one. She had heard how families evacuated at the time of TMI. Her parents had prepared to evacuate then and the family had often discussed what they would take if they were forced out of their homes. She remembered the discussions. Tonight these twenty odd year old plans of her parents had become the backbone of her preparations to leave her home. When Gary told her they might have to leave she emptied the medicine cabinet into a box, put it in the car and threw all quickly available blankets, towels and clothes in the trunk of the car before leaving. She included her brief case she used to keep her things together for church functions and even a couple of toys for the children. While she did that Gary took crackers, snack foods, cereal, milk and bottled water, anything easy to grab and pack, and put them in a couple of boxes and put them in the car along with travel cups and the picnic basket. It was always packed when they returned from camping and held a lot of items they may need. As dawn broke she found herself managing a shelter. By now, Crystal was dead tired, she had little sleep during the night and the strain was beginning to show. She was a week short of six months pregnant and needed a full night's sleep to function. She had about two to three more hours until she would just have to stop.
She hadn't heard from Gary since the last check for residents about two hours ago. In the meantime there had been noise of battle but there had been no information.
Crystal picked out two neighbors she knew to be caring but firm. She called them off to the corner to hold a meeting. The two couples agreed with her that they would need to find help soon. She called 911 and asked for instructions. She was told the Red Cross was on the way but wouldn't arrive till evening. Their resources were being funneled to help the wounded in the city. Unless someone needed emergency medical care, they would be on their own till then.
Crystal told the men to get the things out of her car and bring them to the room they were using. She then asked one of the women to see if they could find anything to eat in the cafeteria. The woman nodded and took two other women with her to explore. The other woman was dispatched to see if any of the people had immediate needs. She returned in about a quarter of an hour with a list just as one of the women who had gone to the cafeteria returned to tell them she had a pot of coffee and one of hot water on and they had found plenty of eggs, bread, milk and cereal. They were breaking it out to feed the children first, the adults would be fed after the children ate. She called the firehouse and they sent several of the men to pick up enough food for the people there.
The children were fed and the adults were dividing up what was left as Gary walked in. Crystal grabbed him and hung on to him. After a few minutes he pushed her back, "You look awful, you need sleep, remember the baby." She nodded, crying.
"Is there a room here we can use?"
One of the neighbors, Charles, piped up, "The first aid room has a couple of cots. Jean and I'll take care of the kids."
"Thanks Charles, but we want them with us."
"I'll help get them."
Within minutes the children, the sleeping bags and their things were moved to the room. When Gary arrived he found breakfast sitting out for him. By the time he finished Crystal and the two girls were asleep. He rolled into his sleeping bag and slept till Charles called him at 10:12. The chief was on the radio asking for him.
Captain Eli Jones stood facing Harold Reese, nose to nose. "Where did you check your brains before you hopped into that tank? Your attack was an ill-timed fiasco. You failed to achieve your objective, you lost a significant portion of your force to a vastly inferior enemy and while you were busy, you could have allowed them to run over the country shooting."
"But I was afraid they would scatter and I couldn't follow them, there are too many vehicles. My force isn't as mobile as yours. If they got away, I would have had to hunt them down one at a time while they went on killing people."
"We were coming, in fact your tank was still burning when we got here."
"The first I knew about you was when you buzzed us before you sat down."
"You mean they didn't tell you we were coming?"
"No. If I had known I had help coming I'd have dispersed around to provide a perimeter and hoped they didn't get past me. I'm not a fool, I didn't know the terrain, I didn't know the enemy's capability and I didn't know his intentions and I still don't. I just didn't want any more killing. I saw the city." He dropped his head, Harold Reese and his men and come there by the way of Philadelphia street, he had seen the many dead bodies on the sidewalks. Eli recognized the older man's weakness, he cared about the people, he had to do something because he couldn't imagine allowing this force to continue its killing spree. "If I'd thought I had a choice, I wouldn't have attacked."
Captain Jones nodded. "Sorry, I thought you knew we were coming. I can't believe they didn't tell you. Based on the intelligence you had, it was a good decision." He had forgotten the mobility of the older tanks was much less than his helicopter.
The older man looked up, "What do we do now?"
"I have four Apache's and two Sparrow's. The Apaches have very light ammunition loads and we're sorta short on fuel. We removed the rockets and went to minimum ammo loads and filled the fuel tanks before we left. With the long trip and being diverted we burned nearly all of it. We had expected an intercept east of the river, we headed for that point. The Sparrows have a little more fuel but they were flying unarmed, they couldn't have made it if they'd been carrying any guns. The supply convoy will be in tomorrow with their guns and ammunition for the force." He looked at Harold, "We don't have a lot of resources, but let's see if we can use the remaining fuel to disable the vehicles before they go out and kill some more civilians."
The plan was simple, the remaining tanks would take positions around but out of sight of the compound, away from the TOW rockets. The radios were tuned to the same frequency so they could communicate. The Sparrows went in, popped up and got a picture of the vehicles, then the tanks were given coordinates for indirect fire. The Apache's stood off waiting for movement. They would chase down any vehicles that tried to move out. The tank shells were the most effective fire they could muster for the task of destroying the vehicles and Jones was unwilling to commit his force until he had a better picture of what he was facing. If the force had TOW's, they probably have SAM's. This standoff fire was a way to find out how tough the enemy really was and the Sparrows were agile enough to have a chance to avoid any SAM's they might launch. The first tank rounds were off target but subsequent volleys were right on. In a few minutes the remaining vehicles were burning.
With that battle over, Eli pulled his force back to a field about a mile from the compound and sat down. He would have to wait for his supply column to catch up with him. All of his birds now had less than 20 minutes of fuel left. He considered a flight to the nearest airport to refuel but decided to wait till dawn. An error in navigation or fuel reserves now could be a disaster.
The alarm clock next to Cliff Harley's bed went off at 5:08 AM as it had for years. Cliff pressed the snooze button and turned on the light. He had a routine, ten minutes of Bible reading, when the snooze went off, he would press it and pray for ten minutes till it went off again. Then he would move to the bathroom and begin to get ready for work. The radio would continue with the 5:30 news as he shaved brushed his teeth. By the time he was ready for a shower, the news would be over. It seemed methodical to some, but the pattern had served Cliff well, in his spiritual and secular life. Cliff lived in a wooded area ten miles north of US 30, he and his wife had heard sirens the night before but had ignored them. The lead news story first shocked him, then humbled him so that he went back to the kitchen to tell his wife, Bonita. She looked at him as he related the story. "Bon, if Brother Harry hadn't had the guts to tell me I was wrong, we could be in that compound now with them." He began to cry. "And I almost ignored his words because I didn't want to admit I was wrong."
"But you did, and that's why we've been blessed. Look at what God's done for us, financially, spiritually and in our marriage."
"Bon, let's pray for those who were fooled. They need help." She nodded and they prayed together for nearly about ten minutes. Cliff was nearly late for work for the first time in two years.
His boss smiled when he came in, "I'm so glad to see you, I was afraid something might have happened to you."
Cliff's boss was Jacob Marks III, owner and grandson of the founder of Jake's Supply. They supplied contractors with whatever they needed. When Cliff was hired he saw the motto on the front of the store and questioned Jake II if it was really correct. "If a contractor needs it, we have it."
Cliff really thought it was a hollow boast. Rather than argue, Jake told him, "Wait till you're here a few weeks, then see if you want to ask me to change it."
Cliff learned over the next few weeks that the sign wasn't one hundred percent accurate, but the way Jake handled things, it was so close to the truth it wasn't worth arguing about. One customer had come in looking for some concrete brushes they didn't keep in stock. Jake suggested an alternative they had available. Within a week the man came back, "Glad you didn't have the brushes I asked for. What you suggested worked better and they were a little cheaper. I need some more, have another job like that."
Cliff found Jake was an astute businessman but scrupulously fair. The business made money by charging fair prices, meeting the customer's needs, and giving the customer the best service in the area. Jake didn't always have the lowest price, but he generally offered the best one-stop value. Shortly after Cliff was hired, Jake III started to be active in the business and they began offering a few pieces of equipment for rent. Jake II had long noticed that many contractors had needs for equipment but couldn't bear the cost of purchase but didn't have the time to put into starting the business. The contractors did many jobs the hard way to avoid the cost of equipment they didn't need on a daily basis. The rental business grew so that it became a significant and profitable part of the whole in a few years. Cliff's Bible class and learning to read came just about that time, without that, he would have been unqualified for the position. Cliff was put in charge of the day to day management of that portion of the business and given a nice raise. In addition he would receive a share of the profits from the rentals. Jake told him, "I'll make it worth your while to keep that equipment operating, in use and making money." Cliff took the job in late November and the first year the profit check was an almost insignificant $30, but when he took it home his wife gave him a hug. "That's a good start. You do your best and we'll both pray for you and the business. Jake is taking care of you, we'll do what we can for him."
"If I hadn't ordered those five small generator sets in early December, it would have been a lot more. Maybe that was a mistake."
"Yes, but you said yourself, they were needed during the ice storm the day after Christmas and they paid for themselves in January. You did the right thing, you served your customers and your employer. God will bless your efforts."
The next year the check was over two thousand dollars, the equipment inventory was growing and they had gone to weekly and monthly rentals. Cliff kept track of the cost of equipment, its use, its maintenance and its useful life. Often he went to Jake and recommended changes in prices, generally they were decreases because the use and life of a piece of equipment far exceeded the projections. More contractors were looking at leasing for a month or more rather than buying an item. Good pricing made this kind of leasing more attractive. Cliff began to make many of the pricing and purchasing decisions. He sometimes went to a contractor and told him that he could save money by buying a piece of rental equipment he was using enough to make it best to own. When the contractor bought the item, the money was held to help purchase another item to rent. Jake had been good to Cliff. Cliff showed his appreciation by being a good steward and being on time.
"I'm sorry about being late, my wife and I decided to pray for the people in the compound. Some of them are friends, they're wrong but they need our prayers."
"I haven't heard anything from my daughter and her husband. They were in town at a church meeting and they haven't called. I'm going in to hunt for them as soon as I can get things covered here. Equipment Rentals will probably be hot today with the problems in the city."
"You go on, I can take care of this. Find the kids and take care of them."
"Thanks. I'm going to take the four by four, just in case. If you need help, contact a couple of the part-time people, get whatever you need, call in as many as you need. You'll have to keep the supply and rental going, can you handle that?"
Cliff nodded and Jake left.
As Jacob closed the door behind him Cliff bowed his head, "God, I'm going to be really busy today, I'll probably not have a lot of time to talk to you, just help me do my best and while you're at it, see if you can have someone help Jake find his daughter and her husband."
The first customer came in and started looking at plastic sheeting. As Cliff walked to help him he kept thinking of Carlisle. He pointed the customer to the sheeting, told him he would be back, went to the desk, and called the store in Carlisle.
Jack Elwine answered the phone. "Jake's supply."
"Jack, this is Cliff. I have a favor to ask. This is far out but does your daughter still work at the Carlisle Hospital?"
"Sure, she got called in last night, I think they called in everyone, Sally went over to keep the grandkids when Drew went to work this morning. You must really have a mess down there."
"Sure do, its really bad. Got a question for you, Jake is looking for his daughter and son in law. They were at a church meeting when this started. He hasn't heard from them. Could your daughter check?"
"Why would they be here?"
"Just a haunch, could you have her check. Jake is really worried."
"OK, what's their names?"
"Let's see, Harrison is the last name, I believe Scott and Lisa."
"I'll call my daughter and call you back."
It seemed like forever but within ten minutes the phone rang. It was Jack Elwine. "I got them. They have both a Scott and a Lisa Harrison, both listed in fair condition. Both are scheduled for surgery. Does that help?"
"Sure does. Let's hope Jake didn't leave for the city. I'll get him turned your way as soon as I can find him. Bye."
Cliff went to the back door. The four by four was still there. Jake was changing a flat tire. Cliff ran over to him. "Your daughter's name is Lisa Harrison?"
"Yes."
"Her husband is Scott?"
"Yes. Why?"
"They're in Carlisle, in the hospital, they're in fair condition, both scheduled for surgery as soon as they can get to them."
"Guess I don't need the four by four. I'll take my car. If someone has time today, have them change the tire, if not, I'll get it when we get back. I'll ask you how you found them later, call my wife, tell her where they are and tell her to meet me in the driveway. We're headed to Carlisle." He closed the door of his car and drove away.
Cliff shook his head. If he hadn't thought of Carlisle, if the four by four tire hadn't been flat, Jake would have gone the wrong way and Cliff wouldn't have been able to contact him to call him back. Cliff once believed in luck, a long time ago, he no longer did. He remembered his prayer, "God have someone help Jake find his daughter." He had prayed, God had done it by using him. Cliff was humbled at the thought of God using him, but he knew it was true.
Brother Gideon was angry. He had expected the Apaches and the tanks to come in to do battle. If they had, there would have been serious losses on both sides as he planned. He was prepared for that type of action but a stand-off tank battle wasn't in his plan. The Gideon forces huddled in shelters and waited for the fire to stop. He would have to force the battle, make his enemy fight on his ground. He would now bring out two weapons that would quickly bring the enemy to the battle. He had been listening to the radio for reports of the action in the city, the reports were sketchy, they had no way of knowing what carnage they had wrought.
He called Samuel to the meditation room. "God be with you Brother Samuel, most blessed of God, most valiant and mighty warrior. Tell me what is happening."
"The mothers and children are in the shelter. The men and single women are ready to repel the invaders when they come. The infidels will die as they come to silence us."
"Brother Samuel, God has spoken, we must strike out, finish the job we began, God will not be pleased if we hold back. Just as Jehosaphat was chided for not striking more times with the arrows, so shall we be chided if we do not strike out against the enemy with everything we have. Have as many of the men rest during the day as possible. Let us prepare to continue the battle tonight.
Just before nine Jake and Martha arrived at the Carlisle Hospital but could find nobody to help them find their daughter. The place was in chaos. Finally, in frustration Jake went to a phone booth and called the Carlisle store to see if there was any news from the city. Jack Elwine answered the phone.
"Jake, how's your daughter doing?"
"I can't find her. How did you know about her?"
"Cliff called me this morning to ask if she and her husband were there. Guess that's why you're up here."
"So that's how he found them. Wonder why he guessed here? Yes, thanks for the help. Do you know where she is?"
"Go up to four north. I believe that's where Darla said. If that isn't right, call me back, I'll try to find them."
"Four north?"
"Yes. Do you mind, can you help me with something before you go?"
"Will it take long?"
"No, Cliff called, he has a list of things he wants us to move down to his store, generators, tents, jacks, best guess it's five truck loads, it'll just about strip the store. I'll have nothing left. I can't do that."
"I know what he's asking will strip the store, but we need to do whatever we can to help. Load up whatever he asked for and get it down there as quick as you can. The people down there are going to need anything we can get. If he asks for it, give it to him. I understand it's going to hurt your rentals but the city is going to need everything we have and probably a lot more. I'll make sure you don't loose anything in your bonus. OK?"
Like Cliff, Jack shared in the profits of his store. To strip his store would hurt his business and his profit sharing. Cliff understood this and removed this concern.
"OK."
"And would you call Mechanicsburg and Red Lion for me, tell them the same, just in case they don't think Cliff has the authority. Until I get back, he's closest to the situation, he's in charge, let the others know that too. I don't want people to be wanting for things we have sitting in another store. And if he asks for a couple of people to help, pull them from the other stores, don't strip anyone too far but give him what he needs."
"Sure thing."
Cliff had been listening to the news. There would be need for things to help the people in the city. He had already rented most of the generators, jacks, tents and emergency lighting equipment they had in the store. He called the other stores but they too had told him they would follow policy unless Jake called them. The policy was to not move equipment unless there was a firm rental request, a prudent policy Cliff had helped make. But now, Cliff needed that equipment. He had no idea how to find Jake. He was watching the last generator go out the door when the phone rang. It was Jack, if Cliff could just let him know what he needed, the equipment was on it's way, and the other two stores were also sending people to help him. Jack ended the call by asking if there was anything else Cliff needed.
Cliff cleared his throat, "Could you send me two people to help me with the store?"
Jack was about to say, "No," but then changed his mind, "Sure, I'll have two men bring the stuff down on the truck, they can stay for the rest of the day, and we'll see if they're needed tomorrow." Cliff smiled when he answered the phone, the truck would be here for the day, he had not only gotten two more men, he now had one additional delivery truck. He could not have expected more.
By noon the area had been effectively cordoned off, the army brought in three additional tanks. Two hundred troops were deployed in a ring around the compound. Many would have thought this to be a ring of force but with a one mile front to hold, the troops were spread out over a line more than 5,000 feet long. They could barely keep in contact by sight during the day. Because of the length of the front, the tank and helicopter units were sited to allow them to form a part of the perimeter. Reese and Eli both objected to this deployment. This would place the tank and helicopter support personnel in the role of ground troops, a role for which they were neither trained or equipped. The Colonel was adamant about the deployment. The force would have to contain the Gideons until they surrendered. It was just a matter of waiting till they got tired of being surrounded and came out. After all, it was quiet, there had been no firing since the combined helicopter - tank action.
The commander was now a Lt. Colonel. He was establishing a command post and trying to contact the compound. After many attempts to call the compound, the phone was finally answered.
"Brother Gideon, servant of the most high God."
"This is Colonel Long, United States Army. I currently have your compound ringed with armor and am preparing to end this stalemate. I'm calling for your surrender. Will you end this insurrection or must I begin to move against your forces?"
"I am a servant of the Lord, commanded to bring this wicked city to its knees. I have begun that good work and I cannot surrender until the task is complete. I call on others of the faith to join us in destroying the infidels. Like the prophet of old when he was overseeing the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem, I am doing a good work and I can't come down."
"Then you must understand that I must punish your compound and your forces until you have no further means to resist." Ammunition was even now being unloaded for Reese and his tankers. The initial plan called for the Sparrows to sight for the tanks to deliver indirect fire. They would act as artillery and make the Gideon position untenable.
"I must tell you the media has been advised. There are over 150 children in the compound and over 100 women. The press will not be happy to see you kill these little ones. You have been fortunate. As yet none of them have been injured." Before the Colonel could respond, the line disconnected.
Bill Troyer was still in the City Police Chief's office trying to sort out the situation. He had been promoted to acting Police Chief, all senior officers had been killed. A meeting of city officials at the hotel ballroom had turned into a carnage, most of the senior police officers were there. Over a dozen grenades had exploded in the room. Only a handful of the hundred plus people in it had survived. One of the men had been in the restroom when the attack had begun. He raced to the street just in time to be killed by a direct blast form the .50 in the trailing APC. A National Guard graves registration unit was setting up in an open area in Penn Park. One Naval and two Army medical units had already moved into the city. One occupied a parking lot in center city, near the creak, the other two occupied parks on each end of town. These medical units would provide any medical care needed rather than just treating the wounded. This decision was based on the realization that the medical facilities in the city were overloaded by the wounded and any relief this system could get would be welcomed.
Bill Troyer didn't know where to concentrate his efforts. The city had been hard hit. The death toll would easily exceed twenty five hundred, the number of wounded more than ten thousand. The police were busy helping people who had been wounded and trying to sort out looters and citizens trying to get legitimate possessions or find friends and relatives. The firemen were still searching for wounded on the streets and in buildings and putting out fires that had been started by the attack. The water, gas and electric companies were busy turning off service to demolished homes. Gas leaks and electrical shorts had caused several fires. Electrical power was out in over two thirds of the city, this may have been a mixed blessing, broken lines had caused several fires. Broken water lines were bleeding the system of water that was vital to save the city from fire and sustain its citizens. All of the utilities had experienced problems with personnel. All had at least a fifteen percent absence rate this morning further reducing their capabilities. The telephone company had its problems too. The damage to the Main central office exchange was extensive. Even calls originating and ending outside the area impacted by the raid were effected, some of these would have been routed through Main but with it demolished, calls between East and West or North and South were being routed through other paths rather than through main, overloading them. Over half of the long distance carrier trunks ended at main, long distance calls to and from the center of the county were nearly impossible. Four men were working at reconnecting damaged wiring at main, ten others, experienced wire men, were already on the way from other towns to help. They should arrive about noon to begin the reconstruction. The phone company had just pledged twenty more for the next day. Three more repairmen were removing the rubble which had once been the 755 exchange's main switching unit. Replacement equipment was already on its way, it had been loaded on a truck in Erie before 3 AM. Two installation experts were driving the truck. It would arrive just after noon and be on line by midnight. The wire crews would need seven additional days to connect the wiring to the other switches. Repairing the damaged lines and home wiring would be a massive task. Nobody would even estimate how long this would take.
Several major fires still burned, the worst in the east end along Princess Street where a chemical storage building was hit. HAZMET was busy there and in several other areas. If one looked over the city, columns of smoke rose at various places. Two more car bombs had gone off during the night in upper
class neighborhoods. Many wondered how many more there would be. People were beginning to huddle in their basements unless they had to come out.
An Air Force recon plane flew over the compound early in the morning, took pictures and landed at the capital airport. The pictures were developed while it was returning to the base and the prints were handed to a helicopter pilot to fly them to the forces surrounding the compound.
Colonel Long called his commanders. The military was now in command of the situation, civilians had been cleared from an area two miles in diameter and others were being asked to evacuate from homes up to three miles distant form the compound. Roads were closed, detours set up, homes had been converted to military outposts. Nobody could get near the compound and hopefully nobody could get out.
Colonel Long began, "We have a serious problem, there are over two hundred and fifty women and children in the compound. The media is busy in the city, but soon they'll be here. When they do, we'll be the target of their cameras and they will look for us to make a mistake they can make into a hot news story. We must be careful to avoid any incidents. Can anyone tell me how to effect an end to this without any bloodshed?"
After a long silence Captain Jones stood up, "We could pin-point the areas and knock them out. My crew is pretty good. Can you tell me where the women and children are so we can avoid targeting these areas?"
"No."
"Then it's a standoff, we wait till they're ready to come out?" The colonel nodded.
"Pass the word to the men, no shooting without clear targets, no shooting unless fired upon. You have guns free for defense only. I doubt if they'll come out of the compound and attack us." The commanders returned to their units. Captain Jones laughed as he walked out of the meeting, "Pass the word to the men," the Colonel had said. If he passed the word to 'the men', half of his pilots and a third of his ground crews would be in the dark. The colonel knew nothing of the force he commanded.
Brother James and his wife Jeanie had slipped out of the compound about three AM, walked south through the woods, and passed an Army sentry easily without being spotted. They continued south in a ravine to a garage. Brother James was a sapper in the army, his wife had a degree in Physics and Chemistry. They had designed and built most of the car bombs. They slept till mid morning, then left for the city. Half an hour later Brother James was parking a small truck along the street west of the City Hall. Jeanie parked across the street and walked to a pay phone. She called City Hall, identified herself as a member of the press and asked for the Mayor. She was told to come in a half hour, he was getting ready to hold a press conference.
Jeanie walked to the truck, met her husband and said, "set it for thirty five minutes."
He nodded, adjusted some equipment, closed the truck doors, locked them and followed her to the car. By the time the bomb went off they were back at the garage. They would stay there for a couple of days, only leaving to deliver one more bomb before slipping back into the compound.
Bill Troyer was sleeping on a sofa in the chief's office when the blast shook the City Hall. He and most of the police in the east end of the building were unhurt. The Mayor's office was on the west wall, near the bomb. He, all of his staff and the press present at the news conference were killed along with a half dozen other people in the west side of City Hall. There were nearly a hundred injured by the blast. Bill Troyer called the president of City Council about an hour later and informed him of the Mayor's death. Bob Lincoln had become acting Mayor. Within an hour the press would report the bombing and the death of the mayor. A new threat was now obvious, an officer saw the explosion from down the street. He had come on shift about an hour before and was sure the truck was not at that location then. The truck had been parked there within the hour before the explosion. At least some of the Gideons were still outside the compound and could strike devastation in the city. Bill Troyer now had an additional problem, how could he stop what amounted to guerrilla warfare.
Eli returned to find his supply, maintenance and service people had arrived while he was gone, his fliers were getting a hot meal. Everyone agreed that the MRE's, meals ready to eat, were not that bad, but one meal of MRE's was enough to make one appreciate the hot mess, two consecutive meals of MRE's was enough to make almost any decent mess unit look good. Eli went over to the mess area, got a cup of coffee and thanked each of the people there for making an effort to get there quickly to support the fliers and ground crews. He found that what a commanding officer was perceived to think was important was important to the troops. If he called the mess tent important, it was important. If he said the coffee was good, it got better. If he said he liked the way they made pancakes, the next morning they had pancakes with warm syrup, whipped cream, blueberries or strawberries, or even sometimes they had a choice. If given just a little praise at the right time, his people would outdo themselves to please him. His visit was to make sure these very essential people would continue the good effort. If this deployment went on for very long, and Eli was sure it would be, morale was going to be a factor and Eli wanted to make sure it would stay good rather than have to restore it after it deteriorated. Food and living conditions would easily become a significant factor. He went over to his Apache. The maintenance people were already working on the birds. All had been refueled and rearmed, the first order of business, to have them ready to take off if needed. He had only to look at the Sparrows to see this, the guns that had been removed before they left were now in place. The birds were now being checked out to insure that there would be no mechanical aborts. He knew anything found wrong would be fixed as soon as humanly possible. He smiled as he realized all of this had been accomplished without him. His people had started to do what they had been trained to do without orders from him.
Captain Jones remembered the Waco incident and what followed it, without a miracle there would be no winner here either. They would only decide how badly everyone would loose. He was a man of war, had killed Iraqi's in the desert, but this was different. These were civilians, and there were women and children in the area. After briefing his people he went to a house next to his unit, found it unlocked and went in. He picked up the phone and called is wife. He needed to talk to her. She had been a Christian all her life, he had been raised in the church but was now an occasional church goer. He had never been serious about his religion. Now he was faced with a situation he couldn't handle. Instinctively he knew she could help.
"Honey, It's me. Can't tell you where I am or what I'm doing and don't ask any questions about it because I can't answer them, but let me tell you this, pray for us, me and my unit and pray hard."
"I already know where you are, God woke me up last night at about 12:06 and told me you were moving out. The base called me this morning and told me you would be out on maneuvers for a couple of days. Good Morning America gave me the name of the town but I already knew it was north. You're east of Meade's biggest battle." He bit his lip, he had taken note of his cockpit clock, it had read 12:06 when he pulled the collective to take off. The two clocks might not be in synch but this was too much to be chance. He had been duty officer, there had been no time to go home, he left directly from the base. Their house was to the south of the base, she wouldn't have heard the overflight when they left. And he had even thought of Meade when he crossed the Mason-Dixon.
"You're sitting in a white house, in the living room, in a green chair. There are pine trees outside the window. I see numbers, 1502, 332 and 272 but don't know what they mean."
Tears rolled down his cheeks. The house was white, the pine trees were there, the chair in the living room was green, and the two courses he flew last night were 332 and 272. The address on the mailbox was 1502. He had heard one person misuse the name of God, now his wife was claiming the same relationship and what she told him was right, and she had absolutely no other way to know. And he had seen her know things before but he had called it intuition. This was much too much to be called intuition.
"You still there?" She asked.
"Yes," he choked. "Who is your G-2. Someone is talking to you."
"Don't you remember the story about the King of Aram being upset because the prophet Elisha knew everything he did and reported it to the King of Judah?"
He mumbled, "Yea," the story sounded vaguely familiar, like something he heard once. She continued without a pause.
"Hon, this isn't going to make sense, but take it down and remember it, it's important for you to stay alive. I see a pit, a big hole in the ground, with a gun in it, a big one, on wheels. There's a swimming pool off to the side, and next to the pool a building with women and children. Oh, and there are people with rockets hid under bushes near to it. There's another building with tanks in it, except they have tires, not tracks but I can't see where it is. I'm sure it's not close."
Her credibility was amazing, tanks with tires, not tracks was for her, a perfect description of an APC. Without thinking he asked, "Hon, can you put a clock on the pit, where is the pool and the tanks?" He pulled out a piece of paper and drew a map. He wasn't sure what he would do with it but he wanted the information, any information that may help him do his job.
"The pool is like 12 o'clock, the tanks are far away at 5 o'clock, the men with the rockets are near the ring of the pit, and at 7 o'clock there is something black, an intense evil. What does this mean?"
"Hon, I can't tell you anything but you've just described a possible layout of a tactical situation I'm facing. I can't be sure you're right, but I guarantee, I'm going to take it seriously. Got to be going, take care of
yourself and the kids, and pray. I'll call you again later."
"Hon, one more thing, get your people in fox holes, and you too, and make them sleep in them tonight. Treat these people as dangerous," Here voice tightened, "Treat them as very, very dangerous. And you too, be careful, I want you back alive."
"OK."
The line disconnected before she could ask the questions she knew he couldn't answer. He must be under terrible pressure, he had never asked her to pray for him before, in fact he had always taken prayer lightly.
Brother James and Jeanie were headed back into the city again with two vehicles, this time he was driving a station wagon with a red cross on the side of it. He parked the wagon near the hospital emergency room exit, turned on the four way flashers and walked to the street to meet Jeanie. Jack Peterson, a police rookie saw him leave the car and watched him get into the car with Jeanie. He called the station and began following the couple as they headed out of town.
Bill Troyer was alerted, officers and a Sergeant were sent to the hospital to move the station wagon. Before they could arrive or evacuate the area, the bomb exploded. Twenty of the hospital staff died in the blast, along with thirty five patients. The hospital emergency area was a shambles, it would be unusable for weeks.
Jack Peterson was following the car when the report of the blast came in, he was instructed to follow them west, a trap would be set for them just west of town. As they turned on to Market Street Jack saw flashes and his windshield shattered. He ducked and felt bullets hit his body just before he lost control of the car and hit a light pole. He would be taken to the hospital and he would survive but his career as a policeman was over. One of the bullets hit his lower spine. Jack would never walk again. The car was
found behind the pottery several hours later, James and Jeanie were gone.
Back at the unit Eli gave orders to dig foxholes, dug one next to his Apache, plugged his helmet into the radio, climbed into his foxhole, pulled on his helmet and prayed. He was interrupted ten minutes later by the radio.
"Alpha Xray 1 to Baker Dog 1."
"Baker Dog 1 here."
"We need you here."
"Roger."
He entered the command post and saluted the Colonel.
"Captain Jones, we have the press held off at a distance, they're anxious to get a shot of what we have here. I don't want your Apaches in the air unless you check with me but I want them ready to move at any time, have the crews stay within sight of the aircraft. Make sure they're fueled and armed. I want your surveillance craft manned and ready to take off at any moment, keep the one crew ready to fly, one crew can stand down at the side. Tell the crews to get as much sleep as possible this evening, they'll be up most of the night. Now let's look at some pictures we just got. Eli shook his head, the surveillance craft was a Sparrow, the Colonel didn't know the name and it's "crew" was one pilot. Eli wondered what kind of unit this Colonel commanded.
They looked at the pictures. Eli found the pit Mandy described but there was no gun in it. He found the pool, put it mentally at 12 o'clock. There was a large shed next to the pool. At five o'clock there was a large garage with what looked like a silo, but no tanks. At 7 o'clock was a building with a cross, like a chapel. Next to the pit and the garage were shadows of sand bagged areas.
The colonel detailed the plan for the night's action. They would machine gun open areas, trying to keep the enemy off balance. The objective would be to create confusion, not inflict casualties. They would use the light guns with maximum tracer for effect.
Eli returned to his area. He showed the pictures, marked with fire zones and safe areas. They would sleep till midnight and attack at 2:00 AM. At the end of the session he reminded them to sleep in the fox holes. The ground and air crew members were armed with M-16's and a perimeter watch was set for the night. His orders were to treat the situation as if they were in battle near the enemy line. Ammunition stores were moved to bunkers. They grumbled about the activity, it was hard work but they trusted the commander and orders were orders.
This heavy manual work would have taxed any unit. The soil in the area was heavy red clay. It was fertile, but heavy and hard to dig. Eli toured the area frequently making sure the work was done. His group had as high a percentage of women as any in on the base. Many would have thought this would have reduced their efficiency but in contrast, the women generally put out a hundred percent while many of the men goofed off. And Eli could get them to push themselves to the limits. Many owed everything to him. Several of the women had been given bad ratings in other units and transferred to Eli. He had a reputation for taking poor performers and making them into good or excellent performers. At least three of the women in his unit were on report for one thing or another when they came to him. One of them was Wendy, a Sparrow pilot. Her flying was so bad she would have lost her flight status had it not been for a base commander who had a policy of giving second chances. And because of his record, many of the second chances were with Eli. Within two weeks Wendy started to improve her flying, within two months she was removed from probationary status. Within a year her simulator scores were second on the base. The other Sparrow pilot, Billie, was in trouble for fighting in her previous unit and had failed some mandatory technical courses. Her flying scores were the highest in the unit. She was transferred to Eli. Within six weeks Wendy was tutoring her in the technicals while Billie was spending time teaching Wendy the art of finessing a Sparrow in flight. Sue's previous CO thought she was too passive to be an Apache pilot. Four of the ground crew women were transfers from the brig as were a half dozen of the men. Of the collection of misfits he had been given, only two had gone out the back door. One continued to use drugs, the other was caught stealing and selling ammunition. Eli couldn't help if they wouldn't change but if they'd try, he would make every effort to help them. Eli watched as the two female Sparrow pilots helped the ground crew carry ammunition to the bunker. He smiled, then went over to help. In his unit, everyone was important. He drove that home with the pilots. In his unit there were on prima-donas. "If you think that ground crew isn't important, remember that if they get too tired and make a mistake you can die. All they have to do is forget to put in one screw or just not turn it tight."
With the exception of five sentries, Captain Jones and his people were sleeping when the assault came at 22:05. The Gideons opened fire on the encampment, firing over 500 rounds of automatic rifle fire. By the time Eli was awake, the initial assault was over. The sentries cut down two of the four Gideons, the other two were wounded and pulled back. One sentry had a painful but not so serious wound in her forearm. The others were unhurt. There was firing all around them but they seemed to be in the middle of an area of calm. They were preparing to check the helicopter and move the wounded to the Aid station when the grenades started to fall. They dove for the foxholes and stayed there until the barrage subsided. Again they were in a calm, only a few of the grenades came close to their area.
Julie King was Baker Sam 6, the number two Sparrow pilot of the Baker Sam unit. She had just slid into her sleeping bag when the firing started. She slid out and started to run away from the source of the noise. She lost track of direction and started running aimlessly in circles. She had no idea what to do, there seemed to be no place to hide. There was a loud bang behind her and her back felt like it was on fire. Her back hurt and her legs seemed to buckle under her. She felt herself falling. She lay there for nearly ten minutes before someone came to help her. Within minutes she was on a helicopter headed north to a hospital. Julie wouldn't have believed it then but she was one of the lucky ones in Baker Sam unit, she was alive.
When it was over Eli's people checked the helicopter. The one Sparrow had minor damage, a small hole in the skin that caused no internal damage. The other Sparrow and the Apaches were unharmed. Repair of the damaged bird was started immediately. One maintenance area on their perimeter was a shambles, little of the equipment would be useable. A grenade had gone into a bunker and exploded. The lack of equipment might make it more difficult to keep the birds flying but more important that this, the men and women of the unit were all alive. Three had wounds from shrapnel, none of them serious. All would be treated at the aid station and return to their posts. The unit had beaten off an assault and was still essentially intact.
A runner came up and handed Eli a note, he was needed immediately in the command post. He arrived there to find the place in a shambles. A Gideon team hit the place with rifles and hand grenades. When the teams pulled back the coordinates of the position they attacked were given to the grenade teams and they plastered them. Eli's force had been spared much of the grenade barrage because the wounded team hadn't been able to direct fire. Much of the command staff was dead, all of the remainder were wounded. Colonel Long was alive but a grenade had gone off near him filling his back and legs with shrapnel. He would be out of action for a long time. He had been bandaged and was being prepared for transport to a hospital.
Eli found Colonel Long on a stretcher, "The one aid station was hit, the other two helicopter units were hit bad, both commanders are dead. Most of the birds are out. They got all six of the new tanks, but Reese and the old ones survived. The mess belongs to you and Reese, you're in command. How did you do?"
"Not so good, we got hit hard. We managed to kill two, the others pulled back. One maintenance area was hit bad, one Sparrow has some damage, I have four casualties, all minor wounds."
"No serious injuries?"
"My people were in foxholes. My perimeter guards were alert. They didn't get close to us. Guess that helped."
The colonel nodded. "Suggest you call off the attack for tonight. Doubt if you could muster one under the conditions."
Later he would ignore the Colonel's advice.
Eli went back to his area. He had failed to call his wife as promised. He slipped into the house and dialed the number.
"Hi hon, sorry to call you so late."
"You have four hurt, none serious don't you?"
"What?"
"There was a battle, you had four hurt, none of them serious injuries, but there was death all around you. When I was praying I saw you and your people in the eye of a storm."
"Hon, you can't repeat any of this, but you need to know. It probably doesn't matter if I tell you anything, you probably already know it. I now know what that King of Aram felt like, with the prophet knowing everything. I need what you're seeing, it saved lives here, possibly mine. And hon, if I ever question you again, hit me real hard. I have the only unit here that didn't take serious casualties. I mean it's real bad." He would later find that Reese had escaped too but only because he had seen the wisdom of Eli's preparations. "I got two men and two women with wounds, but only one was serious enough to evacuate. She'll probably be back tomorrow or the day after. They patched the other three up with band aids. We were in foxholes when they hit us, nobody else was. Your map of the compound, it matches what we got in a recon photo, except you seem to know what's inside the buildings. As for the rest of it, the courses I flew that night were the numbers you mentioned and the green chair was in a white house with a mail box number of 1502. Hon, is there anything else you can tell me?"
"I keep feeling that 0030 hours is important. You need to be ready to fly then, in fact, be off the ground. Tell your people on the ground to keep their heads down and be ready for anything." He looked at his watch. It was 2308 hours, an hour and twenty two minutes to go.
"If I'm going to be ready then I got to go, I'll call you when I can."
"Hon, I'll not always be available but He is. Talk to Him. Listen to Him, you don't need me as a go between. Do you remember the veil of the temple, it was torn, Jesus is available to you. You can get up to the minute information when you need it."
He was not sure he wanted to hear that, he said "Bye."
She was so good, sure God could talk to her. But how could God talk to him, one who hadn't even recognized Him? Maybe that was the answer to his riddle. Maybe God would talk if Eli recognized Him and listened.
He went out, grabbed his exec and weapons operator and briefed them. They should be ready in fifty minutes, his weapons operator would get the bird ready and have the engine idling when he came back. This was the price of flying with the CO, you had to be both weapons operator and pilot when on the ground. But there were lots of advantages, and there was a prestige associated with flying with the old man, you learned things nobody else knew, and promotion generally came faster for the person who flew with the CO.
Eli went to the other helicopter units. The first one had no serviceable birds, there were six burned out hulks where the birds were parked. Only one Apache pilot was alive and unhurt. The other unit had one serviceable Apache, the weapons operator had survived but they had no pilot. Eli sent the weapons operator of the serviceable craft to get the pilot from the other unit. They must be ready to fly in thirty minutes. He shuddered at the thought of sending two men who hardly knew each other's names into battle in an Apache that had been exposed to a rifle and grenade attack without having time to check it out thoroughly. There were hundreds of things that could go wrong. They could make a crucial mistake in communication or the bird could have serious concealed damage. Just one little bullet hole in the wrong place could spell disaster.
Eli found the Reese next to his tank 1. "You have your tanks buttoned up, every one awake and alert and be ready to move at 0020. I think something is going to happen. How did your men do?"
"We were in foxholes same as you. Saw your people digging, set mine to doing it, it looked smart. We killed three of them, hear you got two, nobody else got any. I got one man wounded, took a bullet in the arm. The ground troops on the perimeter didn't do well. They took a whole lot of casualties. I don't think we have more than 30 effectives from that group."
Eli shook his head, rarely had 70 percent of an American force been taken out in a single battle, except the Indian massacres. Sure, the Confederates did it to a Union unit thrown in to stop an attack at Gettysburg on the first day, but they were written off to stop an attack. But the Gideons had pulled off a coup by surprising their enemy. Eli left Harold with one order, "Be ready at 0020 is my only order for now."
At 0022 Eli was back at his helicopter. The weapons operator was ready and the crew chief had just started the engine. Eli picked up the mic. "Get the choppers up, hover near your area at about a thousand feet, tankers, button up, everyone else, get in the foxholes. We're going to get hit." He began to spool up the rotors and took off. The others followed as he climbed. He looked at his watch as he climbed, 0028. Nothing. He looked again, 0029.
Still nothing. Before he looked again he heard a report. Several seconds followed, then another.
He grabbed the radio, "Reese, what do you make of it?"
"One Oh Five. In the compound. I make it full powder loads. I spent six months next to a battery of them, nothing else sounds like that. Don't worry about the shells hitting anywhere near here, unless they fire them straight up. With that powder load they're going to go at least fifteen miles. They're going over my head, sounds like they're going east." There was a pause, then Reese continued, "Oh God no, he's shelling the city. They'll drop in the town."
Eli ignored the remark, it was important to Reese but it didn't impact his situation. "Be ready on the ground, we're going to get hit in a few minutes."
The call came in to 911 at 0036. "We have an explosion in the house across the street. We need help. The place is on fire."
"Can you give me the address."
"753 South George Street."
Within minutes there were additional calls. They seemed to come from all over the town.
Wane Butler was sitting in his living room on Maple Street when he heard the shell come in. Maple was a tough area of the city, during the last year the police had been called for at least four violent crimes within two blocks of Wayne's home. But this little corner of the city had been spared the violence of the Gideon assault, until now. It was like Nam, incoming artillery. There was an explosion across the street, a heavy shell, he knew for sure. Wayne dropped to the floor, crawled to the window and peaked over the sill. A house diagonally across the street had been blown partially into the street. He called to his wife to get help and ran out. He entered the front of what was left of the house and began looking for the occupants. As he did, he heard another shell come in and hit at least a couple of hundred yards away. He found the wife on the kitchen floor with a serious chest wound. He smelled gas and decided she had to be moved no matter how badly hurt. He carried her to the street. She moaned something about a baby as he put her on the sidewalk. A woman standing nearby came over to care for her and he returned to the house. He found the husband trying to crawl up the steps, carried him out with the wife and returned. He found two pre-school age children upstairs, both alive and well. He carried them to the street. The gas was touched off by a spark before any help could arrive. All four members of the family would survive. People in other areas of the city wouldn't be so fortunate.
Then Eli realized the significance, "Mandy's gun in the pit!" A big gun on wheels, the perfect non-military description of a one oh five howitzer. How did they get one of them? Where did they get the ammunition. Eli remembered stories about stolen military hardware. He remembered the young man he had courts martialed for stealing ammunition, but that was a few boxes of 7.62 stuff. But still he wondered, "How do you get away with a one oh five?" Apparently someone had been successful.
On the ground below them a second grenade barrage burst. All aircraft reported airborne and functional, all tanks reported in as safe, the force was still intact.
Eli hit the button on the radio, "Baker Dog 5, this is Baker Dog 1."
Wendy responded, "Baker Dog 5."
"Wendy, can you get in there and see where the fire's coming from?"
"Rog, Cap. I'll make a pass."
"Keep moving, and get out quick if you see any SAM's."
"Baker Dog 3, Ken, watch her flank, stay close enough to support her. Both of you stay clear of the pit and the garage."
The Sparrow had machine guns but they were a pair of dual 7.62 MM and had much less range, rate of fire and effectiveness than the pair of quad .50's the Apaches carried for this mission. This was her first time making a pass with the potential of enemy fire and Wendy welcomed the support. Her first layer of protection was speed, maneuverability and stealth but it was nice to have a big brother or sister in an Apache along to beat up on anyone who acted really unfriendly.
"Rog cap."
The two craft flew off toward the compound. Ken would try to stay clear flying a parallel course just behind her, his protection was armor and fire power to neutralize the force on the ground, he lacked the speed and maneuverability of the Sparrow and was larger and thus an easier target to hit. But if someone fired on Wendy, the rules would change, he would bore in, firing from an angle that might take the enemy by surprise. Less than a minute later the air came alive. "There's a howitzer in the pit, it isn't empty like in the pictures. There goes another round. They're firing to the east. I'm coming around to take a better look."
Without thinking Eli keyed the mic, "Get out of there now Wendy, they have SAM's." He made it as a statement. Later everyone would wonder why he didn't say, "They may have SAM's." For a time he would wonder too.
"Rog, damn, he shot at me, released flares, going evasive." It was Wendy. She always talked through what she was doing. Then there was a long burst of fire from the Ken's Apache, then a flash in the air near Wendy's Sparrow followed by another long burst from the Apache as Ken.
"Wendy are you OK?"
"I'm hit, still have power and control, heading out, heading 030."
There was another very long burst of machine gun fire from an Apache. It was followed by a loud explosion in the compound.
"Wendy, go as far out as you can, get out of grenade range."
"Rog," There was a pause and a sound like a gasp for breath, "It's flying OK, believe the SAM hit the runner and exploded. The lower portion of the bubble has a hole big enough for a basketball. It's really drafty in here."
"Rog. Watch your instruments, look for red lights, set it down before the engine fails. Get away from the compound and get that thing down while it's still flying."
Eli was only answering to give support. If Wendy remained calm and did her job and the bird stayed together, she had a chance. It was a lot of if's but the only chance she had right now. He wasn't prepared for the next exchanges.
"Cap. I'm sorry. Real sorry." Something was wrong. The voice had turned shaky. It wasn't her normal confident tone.
"What are you sorry about?"
"Getting hit. Cap, you're gonna be real mad, no you're really going to be pissed at me, real bad pissed. I got a piece of shrapnel sticking in my belly. I guess you're going to find out everything." She reported the
situation like someone who had just committed a minor infraction of some rule rather than someone fighting for her life. Not only was she in a precarious situation in a combat situation with a damaged aircraft, she was wounded. The odds were getting much longer. If she passed out before landing her odds of survival were nil.
"Press the button and report you're wounded, you know the procedure. He wanted her to keep thinking like a pilot. Aid Chopper, get airborne and follow us out to sit down."
The aid chopper responded, "Rog Baker Dog 1. We went airborne with your flight, we're about a half click east, headed to the parking lot per orders."
Wendy pressed the button, "Baker Dog 5 reports crew member with bleeding abdominal wound. Cannot do anything to control bleeding in flight. Must continue to fly aircraft. Injured crew member is female, 24 years old and just over four months pregnant." The report sounded like she was describing someone she barely knew.
"All Baker Dog units, pull back to cover Wendy. Medivac, flare color is red." She landed on the parking lot of the Motel, Eli and the Medivac following her in. The others hovered ready to assist if needed.
Eli jumped from the Apache and ran to Wendy's helicopter. It was smoking and she had made no move to exit. He pulled the door open, she was in the seat, obviously in pain.
"I'm afraid to move with that sticking in me, Cap. It really hurts." A jagged piece of metal protruded about an inch from her belly. She was putting pressure at the point of entry to try to reduce the bleeding.
"OK, this thing is smoking, we have to get you out, hold around my neck and I'll try to move you easy."
Eli carefully pulled her from the chopper and placed her on the ground away from the sparrow.
While he was doing this his weapons operator was using the extinguisher on the fire. Eli was able to do little for her but slow the bleeding. The aid team took over and within three minutes Wendy had an IV in her arm and was headed out on a medivac.
As the medivac lifted off they heard the crump of the one oh five. Eli climbed back in his Apache. The radio was alive.
"Baker Dog 1 this is tank 1."
"Baker Dog 1."
"Jones, this is Reese. My police liaison tells me that the one oh five is shelling the city. Every time they pull the cord a house gets hit and people die. Also, a town south west of here reports a column of APC's are raiding it. Any ideas?"
"Rog, tank 1, can you give me coordinates on the town that's being raided?"
The information was passed, "Baker Dog 3, you hover and stay with Baker Dog 5 unit till the ground units come. Baker Dog 2, 4 and 6 let's move out to the south west. Ken, you reload and follow us when you get done here. Don't anyone overfly the compound without support till we do something about the SAM's."
"Rog Cap."
The four units headed out to the south west.
"Baker Dog 1, this is Baker Sam 3. Baker Sam 3 and Baker Sam 6 are operational and airborne. Where should we deploy?" He had lost a Sparrow and an Apache was not available but now had another Sparrow and an Apache.
Before he could answer the radio came alive again. "Baker dog 1, this is tank 1. Police report another enemy unit raiding a town due west nine miles. They shot up one town and are headed east on the highway toward another."
"Rog."
"Baker Dog 3, head west and join Baker Sam 3 and 6. Baker Dog take command and destroy that unit. Try to catch them outside a town. We don't want to kill any civilians."
"Baker Dog 3, Rog," came the reply of a female voice.
There was a silence with no response from Baker Sam 3. "Baker Sam 3, is a roger?"
"Baker Sam 3, Roger," Eli could hear the disappointment in the voice. The young man would be answering in command to a woman. For Eli it was the logical choice, Sue was a known entity, Baker Sam 3 was not. Eli had no way to judge the competency to command of this young man, and there were other negatives. He was flying a bird that had not been fully checked out, by Baker Dog standards, with a weapons operator he didn't know. He had more than enough problems of his own without being responsible for someone else.
"Baker Dog 3, Sue, be careful. Check your ammunition load, make sure your guns are armed and fuel status is green before you go in. Make sure everyone in your flight checks status just before engaging, and verify the same for Baker Sam 3."
"Rog Cap. I'm still in the green on both. Will do. Baker Sam 6, take the lead, head 274, Baker Sam 3, take my 4 o'clock."
"Rog Baker Dog 3." It was Baker Sam 6, the Sparrow.
Sue looked to the right to see Baker Sam 3 move into position.
They were headed south east at three miles a minute. Baker Sam 6 was in the lead, scanning for vehicles on the road. Although it wasn't necessary in the terrain and environment Sue had made a wise choice, putting the Sparrow out front. Its superior surveillance equipment made the Sparrow the proper choice to physically lead the formation. It also left the reconnaissance to someone else, leaving her free to command the flight, and think. She remembered how Eli had stressed not overloading herself with detail if she were in a command role. Eli made his own force disposition, the same as Sue. He smiled to himself. If she thought about what he had just done she would have realized he allowed her to plan her attack, to see if she would respond, then positioned his force just like hers. She had done well. Had she not done it right he would have made his disposition, and waited for her to change hers. If she had not, he would have made a suggestion.
The NBC news crew had been getting ready to get some sleep in the Fairmont when they heard the shells fall. They clicked on the scanner and started recording addresses of the shell explosions. Within minutes they reached the location of one of these explosions and had a connection to the news desk. They began their report.
Bill Troyer was watching the report from his home when he realized the significance of what was happening. By giving the locations of the explosions they were serving as forward observers for the Gideons. He sent an officer to the news crew to have them stop reporting locations.
"Cap, I got something moving dead ahead, looks like them." It was Sue.
"Stay clear, let's assume they have SAM's.
"Rog."
"Cap, I see gunfire, that's them."
"Baker Dog 4, let's do a fast overfly, we have no guns free unless they're shooting or they shoot at us. We can't afford an incident."
"Rog."
They overflew the column and drew fire.
"Baker Dog 4, you OK Mark?"
"Rog, that was a nasty nest of bees we stirred up. Believe I took a couple of rounds but everything's OK. The gages are all in the green. Mindy will fry me for the holes when we get down." Mindy was one of the maintenance crew members who would have to make the repairs. She was as good as they come on servicing and repairing the birds, but sometimes took it personal when pilots landed with damage.
"Let's make a pass. Take my right, work the column front to back."
"Rog, cap, with you."
The first pass left two of the vehicles in the column burning but the others charged on after stopping briefly to pick up the occupants.
When they returned for the second pass the column was gone. Only the conflagration of the destroyed units could be seen.
"Mark, where did the others go?"
"Don't know, I had them, then they were gone."
They searched for a fifteen minutes, then flew off to base.
Sue and the other helicopter had already landed. They had destroyed three of the five vehicles in their column and the rest had disappeared.
They rearmed and refueled.
Brother James and Jeanie were with the APC crews when they returned. Brother Gideon hailed all of them as heroes. They had killed infidels. The report of the death of Mayor Deitch had come in, the leader of the infidels was dead. He exhorted his people, "One more push and the infidel will flee from the city and we will occupy it. We will push them out like Joshua did when he entered the Promised Land. The whole city will be ours, then we will establish it as a place of justice and holiness. We will take it and rule with a rod of iron."
Bill Troyer had seen evidence of it early in the afternoon, people were leaving town. They were scared. There was nothing they could do to stop it, if people were afraid, they would leave. Now the police would have an even more difficult time preventing looting. He had seen the reports of several other disturbing cases today. Deaths by heavy machine gun fire and grenade bursts were routine. But there were some he could not explain. At least twenty deaths were obviously due to shotgun blasts at close range or pistol bullets that indicated that it had a silencer. All of the victims that had been identified were druggies. The few not identified were all carrying something that indicated they too were drug users. Someone was knocking off druggies with a shotgun. Bill could not determine why, although he admitted that many of the druggies were hard cases, he could not condone the act. He wondered who, and why. He had neither the resources or the will to begin an intensive investigation of the activities.
Ed Garver was out on the street again. During the day he slept, now he was out, slipping from one corner to another in the shadows. The police were everywhere, patrolling. He knew they wouldn't understand if they saw him, he was trying to remove the vermin from the city. His goal was the same as theirs. His pay for doing it would be better. He watched as a young man broke a window on the back of a house and entered. He waited until the man started to slip out the back door. He called for the man to stop, he started running. Before he was twenty yards away Ed's silenced pistol jumped three times. The young man fell. Ed went to him, he was unconscious and bleeding. He checked the man's bag, there was over $2,000, some jewelry and drugs. He took the money and left. Another drug dealer off the street. He continued his patrol. Several more times that night he killed a druggie, each time he took the money and left. Each time he was avenging the death of his sister by the knife of a crazed druggie.
Eli was tired, it was 0400, he wanted to sleep but it was not to be. Harold was on the radio. "They called, the one oh five is still shelling the city, they want us to do something to stop it. I've fired at it, it quits, but
starts again. I'm afraid to shell the area, if we miss we may kill some of the kids."
"Rog."
"Baker Dog 2, give status."
"Baker Dog 2 available."
"Baker Sam 3, give status."
"Baker Sam 3 available."
"Baker Dog 6, give status."
"Baker Dog 6 available."
"Let's hit that one oh five."
They were airborne in minutes.
"Baker Dog 2 take my flank. Baker Sam 3 fly well behind us, guns ready. We're going to hit that gun, you slip to the right and strafe the ground to keep the SAM's off of us."
"Rog." Sue didn't answer, she had already moved to the proper position.
"Baker Dog 6, take my left, keep your guns ready, if you see any SAM's to the left, take them, but keep out of the SAM fire."
"Rog."
Baker Dog Six was a Sparrow. This was a new aircraft that had replaced the Kiela. It was faster, more agile and had a crew of one. It had good SAM protection if the pilot had time to arm it. Billie was the best Sparrow pilot on the base, bar none. The slim black woman flew this new aircraft like she had been born in it. Eli had nearly left her behind, she had been ill and had thrown up just before taking off to fly north. She insisted she was fine and he relented.
They went in, firing at the pit.
"Cap, break left, SAM."
Eli broke left, Billie bored straight in, the SAM broke lock on Eli, missed by just a couple of feet, locked on to Billie's helicopter as she maneuvered to break free. As it fell harmlessly away she turned toward the site and a burst of fire ripped the ground. Billie had out turned the SAM, made a one eighty and was firing at the SAM site that had fired it.
When their ammunition belts were expended they flew back to their area. As Baker Sam 3 was turning to find its landing area a fire warning light flicked on. The extinguisher had no effect. At thirty feet the engine seized and the aircraft fell to the ground. The engine compartment was totally engulfed in the flames. The air crew was saved but both had broken bones. They were out of the fight. The ground crew was unable to save the aircraft.
By the time Eli landed Baker Sam 3 was a mass of flames and the one oh five had fired three more rounds.
Eli had been tired when they landed the first time but now he was just plain angry. If he didn't handle this situation now he wouldn't be able to sleep anyway so he might as well take the time now. After giving orders for the crews he called the women in the group and his exec off to the side. As he walked toward the group, he told the exec to just stand there, listen and be quiet. Clearly Eli was mad and he would handle the situation.
Until now, few of his unit had heard him swear. Few had seen him red faced. One look at him and they knew they were going to catch it for something.
"Dammit, why in the can't you be honest with me? Don't you trust me? You all like keeping me in the dark? Here I am ordering a woman into a combat situation, with real live bullets and SAM's and then I find out that she's pregnant but only after she gets shot in the belly. And she's not just a little pregnant either, she's big enough to be wearing maternity clothes, and I might add, under her flights she was when she was shot down. She should be sitting home in a rocking chair knitting booties, not flying around, dodging SAM's and shooting up the countryside in a Sparrow. Don't anyone trust me? Are you all trying to make my job harder? Some of you had to know she was pregnant, how come I'm the last to know to find out? And in a battle situation."
There was no response. They all looked at him with faces of stone. He couldn't understand their lack of response. They should at least be giving some response. Failing to make an impact on them as a group, he turned his anger on them as individuals.
"Billie. Dammit, you fly with her, bunk with her, shower with her, eat with her, study with her, do simulator time with her, I think you even got to the John with her, you had to know. I know you gals share secrets. Why in the hell...." Billie cringed. His statement was one hundred percent correct, every part of it. They had almost lived together. When she transferred in, Wendy was a scholar but an absolutely awful pilot. Billie, the natural pilot was struggling to take college classes. She once told Wendy she would sooner take on a full SAM battery single handed than take a college test. After a few weeks together, Wendy didn't question that. A simple quiz was enough to put Billie in a cold sweat. Eli suggested they work together, to help each other and both had benefited.
Billie's respect for Eli was overcome by her reaction to what she considered to be an extreme regression to male chauvinism. "Sir, as you always say, there were rumors, I was aware of rumors, yes sir, there were rumors, lots of rumors, some people even asked me about the rumors, but sir there are always rumors sir, you know that, people always like to pass on rumors, some people thought that she was pregnant, sir, several thought she looked a little heavier, yes sir, there were lots of rumors, but sir, I had no information that was verifiable, sir, her belly did look a little large, but that could mean many things, sir, all I had was rumor, sir, and to quote you, sir, we do not run this unit on rumors so I didn't think it should be reported to anyone, sir until I could verify it, sir. She never offered the information, sir and I never had an opportunity to ask."
What Billie said was one hundred percent true, there had been a pact between the two women to never ask about each other's potential pregnancy. Both knew the other was trying to have a baby but to avoid having to answer questions, neither would confirm it. Hence both could honestly answer, "I don't know."
"You two shower together, didn't you notice?"
"She was gaining some weight, sir. I know you wouldn't understand sir, but as a woman, sir, you don't tell your best friend she looks like she's getting fat, sir. Imagine how that'd make her feel, sir."
Rebuffed, he turned to another target, "Arlene, You're supply, you'd have to know, you issue clothing. She had to get larger clothing. She couldn't have fit in what she was wearing before. Didn't you notice?"
"Sir, a lot of the women and men, I might add, gain and loose weight. Should I start reporting that to you? Do you want a report of Tampon and Kotex use so you know when they aren't using them?"
He blushed. "Beckie, You're medical, how come you didn't tell me."
Beckie shrugged, "She never asked for anything that would make me think she was pregnant."
With that Charlene piped up, "Two of the women threw up their breakfast, and one of the guys, should I report that to you?"
He stopped, turned red, looked at his feet and started again.
"My apology for my behavior. I just can't believe you could set me up like that. I trusted you, I thought you trusted me."
Billie had been addressed so she entered the fray, "Sir, so what you're saying is we should have told you. Then you'd have ordered me to take a chance with the SAM instead of Wendy if you'd known she was pregnant?" He didn't answer but the question was a good one, what would he have done differently, sent Billie, or Sue in a less capable aircraft? While he was thinking this over she continued. "What if I told you I'm pregnant too, then who would you have sent in? Sue? Or Ken, in an Apache that's easier to hit? Think about that? And tell me, did Wendy's being pregnant in any way make her less capable of handling the mission? Did it in any way contribute to her being hit?"
When he didn't answer she continued her attack.
"Well Mr. Hotshot male pilot, Mr. He-man Commanding officer, Mr. Male Chauvinist Pig, since we're throwing the names around, if you'd a less capable Sparrow pilot flying with you tonight your black but would've been fried like cracklins and that's how it would have been if that greenhorn back at the base had come with you instead of me." Her face turned into one big, fiendish smile. "If you'd have known why I threw up before we left, you'd have bought the farm. You get that through your skull, without me you'd have been a goner. And the way you're sounding, you'd have left me at home. Now what you're hearing is a rumor, strictly rumor, it isn't being placed on an official document, and I'm sure you will want this conversation to be off the record, so you can't do anything with the information. Go ahead and think a pregnant woman can't fly. If it still exists, we'll turn that myth into pure crap. This pilot'll be giving birth nearly two months before Wendy and she's gona fly till this is over unless you men screw up and make it take so long that she goes into labor first. She doesn't want to see you killed in spite of your bad disposition and archaic ideas. I intend to keep you alive long enough to apologize, which appears to be a long time from now so I have my work cut out for me."
She stepped out of the group, moved toward him, and pulled her flight suit tight against what was now obviously an oversized belly. She patted it and said, "This doesn't disqualify me from flying." She let go of the suit and stepped back, saluted him and said, "All of this is rumor, sir, you sure don't want to tell everyone about this discussion we've just had, sir. For the record, sir, it's good to fly with you, sir."
He looked at them, rubbed his head, shook it and asked, "Off the record, for the rumor mill, since this is off the record, how many more of you are pregnant? I might as well know how badly my black but, as you call it, is going to get fried when the brass gets wind of my stupidity. Can't even tell if a woman is pregnant. Next thing they'll be saying my maintenance group keeps a midwife on duty in case one of my pilots lands to deliver a baby. I can hear it now." The tension was broken by a round of laughter. Of the thirteen women left, four stepped out, then two more followed them.
He slowly shook his head. What was he going to do? What could he do? In the group was Rhonda, his best missile technician; Billie, his only active Sparrow pilot; Dena, his second best engine repair person; Candy, Ken's Apache weapons operator, Charlene from supply; Heather, senior electronics expert and Sue, his Apache 3 pilot! Every time his force took off there were three of them in the air, at risk. All had been at risk in the ground assaults. And to send them home would be to essentially disband his force. His force, which was all that was left to contain the Gideon threat.
He looked at each of them carefully. Sure, now that he knew, all but two of them were certainly, obviously pregnant. He had lived with these women and had missed it. After all, you expect them to tell you. They should have been proud of it. He looked around the group. Every one of these women had been the object of hostile fire in the air or on the ground. He shuddered at the thought that any one of them could have been killed.
"Should I expect any of you to go into labor tonight?" He remembered the size of Billie's belly and tried to gage the stage of pregnancy. She had to be at least six months.
Billie and Sue looked at each other, Sue picked up with the answer, "Billie's the closest, she should be safe for a few weeks. I'm next, just over five months, Wendy's third. The others are behind us, you know how it is sir, as you always say, officers first." He smiled at the remark then forced himself to return to his stony look. He had been outflanked, and he knew it.
"Don't expect any special treatment and if any of you can't cut it I send you back home, comprende? Dismissed."
All but Billie walked away, she held back and asked, "You have anything on Wendy?" Billie asked, her voice was suddenly conciliatory.
"Nothing," came the strained response. "I'll pass on anything I get ASAP."
"Thanks Cap," came a reply of several voices.
The flight crews bedded down, the maintenance people finished the rearm and refuel and they too bedded down except for the perimeter sentries.
Brother Samuel looked at the bodies laid out on the ground. Most of them were badly mangled by the explosion. He thanked God his wife and children had escaped injury. He looked to the one end of the row of bodies, Brother Gideon's wife Carol and their three children were laid out together. The explosion centered on the small room at the corner of the compound that the Russell family occupied. The Russell's and most of those near the room had been killed or injured. Samuel wondered how his leader could continue the fight after losing everything. He prayed for Brother Gideon to have strength. They needed him if the sect was to continue the fight.
The Captain's sleep was broken at 0810. He was summoned to the command post, a new officer, Colonel Harris, had arrived.
"Captain Jones. What are you doing here? You must be the most incompetent officer in this army since George Custer, in fact he may have been a better soldier. At least he had the common sense to get himself killed to avoid the embarrassment of his failure. I've been sent here to take over, find out what's happening, sort out this mess, relieve you of overall command, terminate this situation and send you home if appropriate. You'll remain in command of your unit for now, pending investigation but only because I have nobody to relieve you. There are serious doubts in many quarters about your overall fitness for command."
Eli almost appeared to ignore the invective, "I'm glad you're here, trying to fly, run a unit and coordinate ground and air is a little much. I've been busy and kinda let a few things slip here and there."
"Let a few things slip, that is an understatement." the colonel's face was beet red. "This isn't a few mishandled supply forms but I'd bet you screwed them up too. You've screwed up bad and the press knows about it, I hope they know all there is because for your sake and the Army's. This situation is so
bad I hope there isn't more."
"What happened?" Jones had not seen a press report since they arrived.
"What hasn't? So far not only have you have placed a pregnant woman in combat aircraft, you sent her into a live fire situation in a lightly armed craft, provided her with inadequate support, and she was badly wounded. At this time it looks like she and the baby will survive, no thanks to you, but it was in doubt. Your force hit the building in the compound with the women and children and there are 25 dead and over fifty wounded. The bodies and the wounded were sent out last night while you were playing John Wayne all over the county. Then you botched that, you failed to find two forces that hit the towns. And to top it off, you have done nothing to silence the gun that's tearing up the city."
Eli shook his head. "Sir, if I can explain, until my Sparrow pilot reported her injury, I was unaware of her pregnancy. She's an excellent flier and there'd been no change in her performance. I'd no reason to believe she wasn't in perfect health. I thought she'd gained some weight but women and men gain and loose all the time. You'd be surprised how hard it is to tell a woman's pregnant if you only see her in a flight suit and I realized last night that I've not seen her in months without one. I'd have probably noticed had I seen her in street clothes or naked, but I don't routinely have my officers and enlisted personnel parade by in the nude and most of my contact with them is in flight or maintenance suits. Many of the women want to convince everyone they're Army so much they go on dates in them. I didn't see her being in a flight suit continually as a change. I'm sure Wendy used this to cover her condition."
"Well, if I'd seen her, I'd have known. They wouldn't get away with that."
A smile crossed Eli's face and he suppressed it quickly. He would allow the new Colonel to find out how easy it was to tell for himself.
Now about the women and children in the compound, your people made a rocket attack on the building that housed the women and children."
"When was this attack made?"
"The explosion was at 0037, per the press, the TV people have the fireball on tape. It happened just as your wounded pilot was withdrawing."
"We didn't fire any rockets in that action, we had full pods of machine gun ammunition for strafing."
"You were carrying no rockets?"
"None. You can check the records. How far away was the news crew?"
"Nearly three miles."
"Kinda far for a rocket explosion. Could it have been anything else?"
"Could have been a lot of things, but you were in the air and nobody else was flying. Reese says his people didn't fire any where near that time and they've been targeting the pit. Brother Gideon claims you fired the rocket."
"We didn't, you can check the records. I'd like to have someone check the film."
"I'll get a copy of it, let's look at it."
"Thank you sir."
"Tell me now, what are we going to do about the howitzer? We got to get it. We have over 2600 dead civilians in the city on the first raid, over 600 more from the raids last night and some of the over 9,000 injured'll not make it. It's bad, and that howitzer is making it worse. They wounded 400 last night and killed over twenty five. How do we get that gun?"
"I don't have anything to do the job, maybe we could get them to bring in an Aardvark with a smart bomb and hit the pit. I believe the gun's in a tunnel in the side, they pull it out and fire, then return it. I don't have anything that I can get it with unless I catch it in the open. Even then, getting it's unlikely. A heavy gun is hard to kill. If I could get some rockets into the opening where the gun is, maybe we could set off the ammunition, but that is a real long shot. I'd opt for the Vark."
"Can't get a Vark, not yet, not with the casualties in the children. If they somehow missed and hit the kids, there would be hell to pay. With the current climate, I'd avoid using rockets anywhere till we get the press calmed down."
"You're right on that sir, maybe we can try something else for now. We could try to keep it pinned down to keep them from firing by covering the pit with sporadic fire or we could hit them after they move out the gun to subject the crews to unacceptable attrition. I could put up an Apache or Sparrow, up high, watch the area and when they wheel out the gun we dive and machine gun the pit and high tail it out before they can react. If we could demoralize or deplete the crews or hit some ammo maybe we could put it out of action. At the least we can cut down it's rate of fire."
"Get one of your crews up, have them on it. I'd suggest the Sparrow, it can dive faster and it's more maneuverable than the Apache and can stay up longer." Eli felt better about this commander. He may be a hard nose, but at least he knew what he was doing with Sparrows and Apaches.
"I have two Sparrows but only one pilot, I could borrow one from another unit that lost the aircraft. I can't keep full coverage without committing the Apaches, they're slower, make more noise, burn a lot of fuel and take more maintenance. We'll do our best, whatever it takes. This flying is risky, they have both machine guns and SAM's. Both of the Sparrow pilots are women, should I put them at risk or find replacements?" He avoided mentioning that he knew one of them was pregnant.
"Come on man, if they're pilots, put them up. The whole force can't be pregnant." Eli had considered correcting that false impression but decided it was better to wait. "You're not getting squeamish about women in combat are you?"
The issues of Tailhook, women in combat and gays in the military had so clouded things since Clinton's inauguration that frequently good military judgment went out for political correctness. Careers had been scuttled for "not being in tune with the times." The colonel was a battle veteran but he hadn't become a full colonel without some political savvy. If he excluded a woman and she found out, his career was shot. It was better to expose her to combat than his career to the political onslaught. He made the decision
without any serious thought.
"No sir."
"To our next problem, what are we going to do about the APC's running over the county shooting up the towns."
"We hit four of them last night, those are gone."
"That leaves six more, enough to kill a lot more civilians."
"They must have slipped off somewhere and hid. We were short on fuel and couldn't hang around long and the howitzer was firing again. We lost focus and didn't achieve our objective."
Colonel Harris nodded, this man might make a mistake but he could recognize it and move on. "How could they have slipped the APC's out of the compound?"
"I'm beginning to think they were never in the compound, at least they weren't when we attacked the first night so we shot up decoys on the first action. When they returned after the first raid, the APC's were hidden off the site. Last night they slipped out crews in the confusion created by the attack on our positions. Let's have the police check if these people have any garages they rent or own off site."
"Where do they stand on manpower, do we have any idea?"
"They couldn't have started with more than 140 men and possibly 40 women who are trained. My force killed 2, Reese killed 3 when they attacked us. That was an awfully expensive battle for us, we lost 72 killed and over 100 wounded including some air crews. We captured five of their wounded. Reese and I have the best records, he lost no men and one tank. I've had two aircraft damaged, one on the ground, one in the air and five wounded, four of them on the ground."
"Let's assume they had 180 to start with. They examined the 4 APC's you hit last night, they found 8 bodies. That means we have reduced the number by 18, not an encouraging figure. At this rate we will be here for years."
"My force thinks they wounded a couple of the ones that hit us but they got away. Were any of the wounded they sent out men?"
"In fact there were three."
"Let's find out about them, what kind of wounds did they have. Maybe they're sending out men wounded in battle. That'll help us determine how many of them are still active. Also, can we have the police lab check for residue of explosives on the clothing from the children? I have an idea we may be in for a pleasant surprise."
Captain Jones retreated to his unit by way of the farmhouse.
"Hon, I just got chewed real bad."
"I still love you."
"I know that."
"Hon, it's going to get worse before it gets better. You're going to take a lot of blame but you're going to be totally cleared in the next five days and before you return home you're going to be the hero. Trust your people, they're good. Do you have a chubby black woman as a pilot?"
"Yes, Billie. Why?" He laughed to himself, a day ago he would have described her as slim.
"She's going to be in a tight situation today, she'll be forced to do something really difficult, almost impossible, I'm praying for her. Another woman, a blonde is going to protect her from death and the black woman is going to ride in a tank. She'll be fine. Don't send up anyone else to replace her, she's the only one to do it, if you send up the other person she'll be killed if she flies." He shook his head, his first thought was to replace Billie with the Baker Tom 6 pilot, a woman. Mandy knew even his thoughts. He knew nothing about the woman from Baker Tom. It would have been easy to make the switch and remove Billie from the point of risk.
"Hon, are you bugging the colonel's office?"
"Sorta. Do you have a phone book?"
"Yes, why, it's a local one."
"Check the name, Kuhl, spelled k - u - h - l."
He picked up the book and flipped it to the K's, "It's here, there are gobs of them. It's worse than the Jones' at home. Must be a local family name."
"Do any have garages or warehouses?"
His eyes scanned the page, "Kuhl Trucking," he said. "There it is," He wrote down the address. "I have no idea what that is or where it is."
"Neither do I, but I'm sure it's important."
"Hon, I got to go, I have to tell a pregnant Black female pilot to get ready to fly a dangerous mission. Bye."
He returned to the unit.
"Billie, Sue, I want you now."
"Yes, Cap."
"Billie, you think you can still do that profile, go high, dive in fast, strafe the ground and get out quick?"
She laughed, "Sure Cap. Those G's are fun." As a girl, Billie had loved the roller coaster. This flight profile was as close as you could get to one, in fact it made most roller coaster rides seem tame.
"I want you to have maximum loads on your 7.62's. Go up to 3500, about 5 miles off to the north and orbit. Set your engine quiet. When we hear the howitzer fire, we'll call you. You dive down, keep the engine low, strafe the pit, nothing else, cut out fast, full throttle and get away. I emphasize, get away. If they fire anything at you in the dive, cut off the attack and get out fast. If you even think there might be a SAM, kick out some flares. I'll be getting Wendy's Sparrow armed, it's repaired already. One of the other units has a Sparrow pilot that survived, Betty Bachman. Her bird had some extensive damage, they're working on it. She'll be flying the relief for you. If you make one pass, land for us to check the bird and reload. Listen carefully, I want the bird checked for damage after you make a pass, even if they don't shoot at you, I don't want you flying that profile with any chance of damage. When you run below one third fuel, come down. Go to it, take off but don't attack till Sue contacts you that she's ready to provide support if you need it." Billie saluted and left.
"Sue, get your Apache ready, I want you with maximum loads on the .50's and no rockets. When you're ready, fly out to the motel, sit down and shut down the engine. Stay on the ground and be ready if Billie needs you. When they wheel out the gun, you start your engine and be ready to take off to support her, just stay clear unless you're needed. You're backup to cover her if she has a problem. I want you to be able to take off and get in the air without alerting them. We'll follow you if we're needed."
"Sir, Billie's..."
"You're right, she's a woman and a fine pilot too."
"That profile is dangerous, what if..."
"You have your orders. I need you out at the motel to support her if she needs help. I want you to be able to take off without them hearing you. Comprende?"
Sue saluted and left.
Fifteen minutes later Billie was at 3500 feet waiting for action. Sue was on the ground at the motel, fuming. The captain had ignored her. They could have sent up Betty, she thought. And he wouldn't even listen to her.
Gary had gotten one day of sleep, then he was back on detail, controlling traffic on the main road. He and the chief were manning a barricade east of the compound. All traffic was being diverted north on Paradise Road to state route 234 to keep the traffic clear of the area near the compound. Just before noon Gary saw three trucks approaching from town. The two officers waved for them to stop, the trucks slowed and then at the last minute they accelerated and ran the barricades. They were through before either of the men could react other than to dive for the ditch. Both came up brandishing pistols but the trucks were out of range and they were over the hill before either could get a rifle.
The chief was in his car, on the radio, Gary twisted his ankle in the dash off the road and was slower. The chief was out of sight too before he managed to get the car started.
As Gary went over the first hill he saw the trucks in the distance, the last one had a back door open. There were men inside. The chief's car was in the ditch. He pulled up next to it and jumped out. The chief was alive, they had forced his car off the road and he was knocked unconscious.
The radio was out in the chief's car, and Gary's personal radio was still back in the ditch. He had to return to his own car to call for help. After reporting in he limped back to see if he could help the chief. There was no bleeding and the chief was breathing. Just as he was about to return to his own car four pickup trucks with men on the back passed. Gary noticed they had weapons. He hopped back to his car and made a call on the radio. It was obvious to him that vigilantes were intent on assaulting the compound.
The police liaison to the military got the call about the civilians on his radio and tried to pass it to Colonel Harris who was on the phone. The Colonel's aide considered any information from the civilians as unimportant and allowed the Colonel to finish the call before granting the officer an audience. By the time that happened, the trucks had joined up and were approaching the military cordon. The sentries had been given instructions on what to do if people in the compound tried to get out but had no instructions on what to do if someone tried to get in. They took the "Don't fire unless fired upon" order literally and stepped back to allow the men to pass. They reported the information to the headquarters but Colonel Harris was now with Police Lieutenant Andy Miller and the information would be delayed another
five minutes.
The Colonel was trying to grasp the impact of the information being given him when they began to hear distant gunfire. It began and increased in intensity till it was obvious there was a serious fire fight in progress. The Colonel opened the door to his office.
"What's happening?"
"We have a group of civilians, size of force unknown, who have crossed our lines and have assaulted the compound. A fire fight is now in progress."
"What are our people doing?"
"They're asking for instructions."
"Issue an order to all forces, keep out of the fight, provide no military aid, assist any wounded but take anyone who tries to leave the area into custody and use deadly force to do so if necessary."
As he finished speaking grenades started bursting.
Billie saw the action and called on the radio. "Should I engage?"
"Negative, obey your orders."
"Rog, Cap.".
Gary and Jack were in the same ambulance headed to the hospital. The city hospital was out, it would be an hour till they reached a hospital across the state line. It too was crowded. Jack was taken for treatment and admitted within an hour. Gary would finally have his foot x-rayed, set and castled about 7:00 PM. Another officer drove down take him to the school with his wife. With his injury he was out of the action, he was a civilian. Before he left he checked on the chief. His wife was with him, he was awake and had a colossal headache. He too would be out of the action for a while. Both wives would sleep better tonight. Neither of their husbands would be on the line risking their lives for a few weeks. Maybe it would be over before they were well enough to go back to work.
Samuel was alerted to their coming, the machine guns and grenade launchers were moved to face the threat. The firing started, increased in intensity and after about ten minutes tapered off. There were cries of the wounded, the Army medics tried to move toward them and were driven back by gunfire.
Several of the force were able to move and drag others to safety. These were given aid. The seriously injured were transported to hospitals. Several of the slightly wounded were kept for interrogation. The force was composed mostly of men who had lost relatives in the assault. Many of them didn't care about their own lives, they had lost more than anyone could imagine. They only wished to punish the Hanshues. Their assault was a disaster. They were able to kill one member of the sect and wound a couple of others before the fight was over. They lost 53 killed and all of the others were wounded, some of the wounded were still trapped in the no man's land."
As they were trying to help the wounded, they heard the crump of the one oh five.
"Sue, get ready to go."
"Rog Cap, I'm turning it over. Lift off in ten seconds."
As Sue prepared to take off the order came.
"Billie, come down."
Billie had already made the decision and was in the dive.
"Rog. Leaving 35."
She was at 1500 and had her guns firing before anyone below saw her. Her fire bracketed the pit and nearly all of the rounds were in it. Several of the people in the pit fell. At just past 500 feet she flattened out and flew a jinxing course till she was two miles from the compound, then turned west and landed.
Her gun tape showed she had hit at least three people in the pit, possibly a forth. Two of them were obviously women. Both Billie and Sue breathed hard as they saw them fall on the tape. They hadn't seen an actual person they had fired upon fall, and these two were women. No more howitzer rounds were fired until after dark. Eli breathed a sigh of relief, maybe Mandy was wrong about Billie. After all, even she could be wrong.
Brother Joash had been an artillery man in Nam. He had fired so many one oh five rounds at the enemy he had no idea how many he had rammed into the breach of a gun. He was accustomed to machine gun fire. Their fire base in Nam had .50 caliber machine guns to protect the base. The two turrets each had quad fifties that together fired over 2000 rounds a minute. The machine gunners had guns free at all time to defend the base. He hadn't looked up when he first heard the machine guns, he continued to ram a shell and pulled the lanyard. Just as the gun fired he felt stabs of pain as the machine gunfire hit him. As he was falling he saw two of the other gunners fall. One was Ginny, a pretty young woman who had just learned to fire the gun. The other was his wife, Sandy. He felt himself being dragged out of the pit.
People were trying to tend his wounds. They were serious. His right arm was broken, he had two more rounds in his shoulder, two in his left hip and one in his right foot. He asked about his wife, Sandy. She had been one of the ammunition handlers.
Sandy had just placed a shell next to the gun and was returning to the tunnel to get the next one. Something hit her three times in the back in rapid succession and she fell, gasping for breath. Her chest hurt, it was as though she was drowning. She felt someone drag her out of the pit and then she lapsed into unconsciousness. All of the gunners would be taken out for medical treatment. All would survive.
Captain Jones went to the CP to find Andy Miller. He handed him the name and address of Kuhl Trucking. "Can you show me where this is on the map?"
Andy looked at the address, picked up his case, pulled out a map and unfolded it. "It should be here."
"Where's the compound?"
"Here," he pointed to a spot that was marked with an "X".
"Where did we attack the columns last night?"
"Here and here," These two points were also marked.
A ravine ran from the compound to the road near the trucking firm. Other side roads joined the two places marked.
"Could they be hiding the APC's here?"
"Possibly, Kuhl is closed, defunct."
"Can I have the map?"
"Sure, I have several."
"I'll get back to you. I'm going to get some pictures of that building."
As he was about to leave the CP the colonel called him in to his office. "We have wounded civilians in a no man's land and we can't get to them. Any ideas?" The pictures of the building would have to wait.
"Why not get Reese to take a couple of tanks in and provide cover."
"I can't have him shooting now."
"I don't mean that, I mean use them for shelter. His tanks have bottom hatches, they may be able to save some of them."
"What about the TOW's?"
"Let me take care of that. I'll put my people up, we need guns free to provide protection."
"Guns, no rockets."
"Yes sir."
"Aide, get me Reese. Jones, I'll contact you on the radio, be ready to go in ten minutes."
It took fifteen minutes to get all of the force loaded and on line. Eli had his Apache's loaded with 7.62 pods -- they would use the lighter rounds as they could carry more rounds and they were just as effective for suppressing SAM and TOW fire. They were ready when Reese called the captain, "Jones, this is Reese. You ready?"
"Ready to go, we'll provide support."
They would fly for an hour protecting Reese and his tanks. All of the planes would land several times to reload ammunition and top off fuel tanks. At the throttle settings needed to fly the profiles they burned fuel at an awesome rate. To sweep the area around the tanks and keep it free of the Gideons the Sparrows and Apaches kept up almost continuous fire. Thousands of rounds of 7.62 MM fire laced the area. The tanks were preparing to withdraw when a TOW was fired at Reese's tank from extreme range. It missed. Billie was next in line to strafe and bored straight in. As she did, they saw tracers raise toward her chopper and intersect with it momentarily. She veered off to the right trailing smoke as she continued her turn. Sue followed her in and strafed the gun and then swung on Billie's tail, flying backwards and shooting as she withdrew.
Billie was trying for the landing area when the engine died. She was flying at 150 feet, with some forward speed. She dropped the speed and landed on a nearby field without power. Several Gideons tried to break out of the woods and move toward the chopper but were driven back by Sue's fire. Tracers flew over the top of the chopper, Sue bored in to suppress the fire. She continued firing until her ammunition racks were nearly exhausted, then pulled back to allow Ken to take her place.
Sue had been giving a running account on the radio. The Apaches and the Sparrow formed over the stricken bird. Reese was asking for directions. He was on the way. Ken exhausted his ammunition and broke off to land. Betty replaced him to provide cover. Three minutes after touchdown he was airborne
and Betty, the Sparrow pilot was landing to reload. The Baker Dog ground crew had always been a crack unit. Today they cut two minutes off their best record for an ammunition reload on an Apache. In the next ten minutes they would break that record and set new records two more times.
Reese placed his tank in a position to protect the chopper, then turned it to allow him and his gunner to exit behind its protection. Since her landing Billie had not made a radio transmission.
They found Billie unconscious in the seat. The bubble had been blown out, there was blood on the upper portion of her suit and her leg. They lifted her out and into the tank. She was alive but badly wounded. The tank was moving at full speed toward the aide station before the hatch was closed. She was evacuated to the hospital which was treating Wendy.
Apaches circled the Sparrow for a few minutes, then ground troops arrived to move it to safety. It would be patched up and would fly again. So would Billie, but she would not fly in uniform. Her wounds would bring a silver star, a purple heart and an honorable discharge with a fifty percent pension. Later she would laugh about it, the pension was for loss of earning power but her next job would be a traffic reporter for a radio station at more than twice the pay of an Army pilot. By the time her baby was ten she would be a major network news anchor making nearly half a million a year.
Sue was on the ground when Eli landed.
"I've got a job for a good pilot, a gravy run."
"What is it?"
"I need some pictures and I need them taken without the people on the ground suspecting what we're doing. I want you to go up, fly a couple of legs and come back."
"Rog."
He showed her the map showing the tracks.
A half hour later she was on the ground, with the tapes.
Under a flag of truce three wounded were moved to through the lines for treatment. Brother Joash, his wife Sandy and Ginny Jumper. All three had been wounded in the gun pit. Of the experienced gunners, only Brother Simon was left. He would now have to fire the gun with trainees. Brother Samuel came by to check on the gun crew. He was appalled when he learned of the attrition in the pit. He would have to assign others to handle the gun. He called Brother Simon over, "You must train someone to take your place in the event you're hurt. I suggest you get Kim and show her how to site the gun and handle it. She'll learn it faster than anyone. Kim was a nineteen year old, one of the few single women who had stayed with the Gideons. Don't go out into the pit when we're firing, stay in the tunnel. You're too valuable to loose."
A storm blew in from the west and the rain effectively shut down all operations for the day. The following couple of days would be even worse.
Captain Harris summoned Eli to the command post. A new wrinkle in the operation had surfaced the day before. A right wing splinter group, Americans Supporting the Constitution had filed for a restraining order to prevent the military from participating in the incident. They asked for the withdraw of all military, claiming that the military was illegally being used to suppress the constitutional right of freedom of religion. The left wing ACLU joined them in the suit protesting the use of the military in a civil matter! Eli looked at the newspaper. What an unholy alliance. These two groups, which had taken shots at each other for years were operating together. But then they did once before, just after Waco when they nearly managed to torpedo Janet Reno's career.
"Are we pulling out?"
"It came close, the Attorney General filed for a stay on that order and that was granted. We can have fuel, ammunition, supplies, aircraft, but we cannot have additional forces. We're here, we're what we have."
Eli shook his head. This was like other wars, they were being restrained from winning.
"One good thing, they put no restrictions on how we handle the battle."
"What about replacements?"
"We can't have any. The order prohibits any additional commitment."
"Let's hope everyone stays healthy."
"You got it."
Eli returned to the unit and told them of the order. At first there was an attitude of depression, then Sue stood up, "We got handed the job, we didn't ask for it. Now it looks like it's our job and ours alone. Let's get on with it and finish it." There were words of assent. Eli looked at his Apache pilot and shook his head. This was the woman a previous CO had called too timid. But then there was no bravado in her statement, just a calm and sincere resolve to finish the task they had started.
Julie King had been in an ancient hospital bed parked in a hospital hall for three full days and although she was physically on the mend, it was obvious to all that her disposition although initially bad, was deteriorating steadily and rapidly. The staff had already tagged her as the patient all wished would go home, the sooner, the better. Her wounds were nasty, but not immediately life threatening thanks to good field aid that had controlled bleeding. She had no abdominal, chest or head wounds, the ones that are frequently fatal. When she was brought in they pulled the shrapnel out of the wounds on her back and stitched the ones that needed stitches, then they cleaned and stitched the large wound in her left buttock together and daubed antiseptic on the shrapnel wounds on her back. Her worst wound was her left buttock, actually, nearly two thirds of it was missing. They told her the large piece of metal in her right buttock would have to wait until the more seriously wounded were cared for. The more seriously wounded had priority on rooms, she was placed in a bed in the hall. When she lay on the ground that night, she was afraid she would die. Now she was angry and as she surveyed her situation and her anger grew. She was uncomfortable, her bladder was full, she needed a nurse to help her, she needed to go to the bathroom, now. She had tried to stop someone to help her for an hour and nobody would pay any attention. She had to find a bathroom. Trying to go on a bedpan in a hall was just too much. Worse, there was no position other than on her stomach that was comfortable, being on the bedpan was agony. Finally, she felt she could wait no longer. She pulled herself upright and walked down the hall trying to keep the hospital gown wrapped around her. There was so much confusion here she realized, they were too busy to properly care for patients. If this was how they handled patient care for simple things like going to the John, she didn't want them doing any surgery on her. She entered the bathroom and tried to sit. A big chunk of her left buttock was missing and there was shrapnel in the right one, she had to brace herself to stay on the seat and not be in severe pain. She managed to tolerate the discomfort long enough to finish. There was a mirror on the wall. She moved to it and looked at her back. She started to cry, it was a disaster. After a few minutes she wiped her eyes, pulled the gown around her body and walked down the hall. She was surprised she could walk comfortably, in fact, now that she was up, standing and walking were much more comfortable than sitting.
She found a supply closet, slipped in and found a clean scrub suit. Clad like a member of the hospital staff she could move about freely. She returned to her bed, picked up her dog tags and few personal items and went to the elevator. In the nurse's lounge she found some clothing a nurse had temporarily left unattended. She went back to the closet and rummaged till she found gloves, antiseptic and bandages. She put these into a bag, changed clothes and left the hospital.
Outside she saw a military vehicle and walked over to it. She produced her ID. The driver had come to pick up another person who had been wounded, he would take her back to her unit. She was uncomfortable but that didn't matter. She would be back flying and she would make them pay for what they had done to her.
The whole team met in the briefing tent at 0600. The maintenance people had just put in a hard two days servicing every aircraft and weapon. Billie's Sparrow was ready to fly, Julie King, a pilot from the other unit would fly it. All anyone knew about her was that she had been wounded in the grenade attack. Her Sparrow had been reduced to a pile of junk in the same raid. Julie stood in the briefing trailer alone. Sue came in, watched her for a few minutes and laughed, "Got the fidgets, combat flying worry you?" The women in Eli's unit now had more combat experience than any other women in the Army. Without thinking, Sue was rubbing it in.
"Sure it worries me a little but you think it's a piece of cake, you've been flying and think you know what it's like, combat that is. Sure they shot at you and you have friends that got hit. But they missed you. Let me show you what it's like to get shot and have them hit you. Sure you saw friends hit, but it's different to take a grenade blast yourself. I'll bet that might take some of the vinegar out of you." She walked to the door, locked it, unzipped her flight suit and dropped it to her ankles. She looked fine. Standing in only her underwear she turned with her back to Sue. "I got a grenade blast in the back the first night, I was running to my bird to get it off the ground. Our Cap was too dumb to have us dig in, he got killed for it." Sue guessed there were over thirty wounds on her back, many with stitches. "They got nearly a fifty pieces of metal out of me, the ones that were near the surface, they didn't have facilities to take out three deep ones, they'll have to come out later. They patched me up and wanted me to lie around and wait till they could get to me in a week or two. I'd have spent the time in a hospital hall with my bare but sticking up in the air, IV's in my arm and eating hospital food. I told them I'd go back and let the army take care of me." She pushed the waist of her panties down to expose her but. "There are three big chunks of metal in the right side, it's sore and swollen. Most of my left cheek missing, they closed the wound by stretching the skin I had left over the bone. I put weight on the left side, it feels like the bone's coming through, I put weight on the right side, the metal sticks me." Sue could see the marks and the obvious deformation, they had pulled the wound together but obviously a very big chunk of flesh was missing. She thought of a joke about it but passed. It might be funny to Julie later, but not now.
"They didn't have OR time to go in and dig'm out so they shot me full of antibiotics and a nurse picked out the ones on the surface and sewed my but together." She pulled on her flight suit. Later she would learn the woman who sewed up her wounds was in fact a resident, not a nurse. "I have no comfortable place to sit and I can expect more surgery. I doubt they'll ever be able to make me look right. I came back, I want to kill the whole bunch of them." She unlocked the door .
The others came in and they watched the tape Sue had made. It was obvious the garage had been used in spite of the fact that the company had been closed. The infra-red shots showed recent heavy tire tracks crossing the parking lot and ravines around it. One set went cross country to the south east. They discussed the shots, the terrain and what they expected the Gideons to do. A plan was formulated. The captain left with the tape after giving instructions to the unit. They should be loaded up and ready to fly in an hour if the Colonel gave the approval.
Eli went to the CP with Sue. He wanted the Colonel to see her. They showed the tape to the Colonel. "I expect the APC's to sortie again tonight but they'll not be leaving the compound. I think they're in an abandoned garage south of here. I'd like to put up a Sparrow, to high cover, have it watch the garage. Any activity, I scramble the second Sparrow. We watch and if they move out, the Sparrow observes from high up and stays there. When they move toward a population area we scramble the Apaches and shadow till they open fire. When they do, the Sparrow stays high and watches while the Apaches take them out. I want someone to continue watching so they don't get away again. I think they slipped out on us while we were recovering from firing passes but I don't know how. This time the Sparrows don't attack with us. They keep looking."
"What about the one oh five, what if it opens up?"
"Let Reese and the tankers throw in some fire."
"What if we hit the kids?"
"Use flares, light up the area, maybe it will suppress them. Drop shells in the pit, Reese can hit that reliably. If Reese can't suppress them, we can come back and hit them with machine gun fire."
"OK, let's do it."
Eli turned to Sue, "Sue, go back to the unit, tell them the mission is on as planned." She got up, walked to the door and left.
Harris sat for a few minutes, then whistled. "God man, I see what you mean, why you didn't know the other gal was pregnant. That one looks like she's almost six months pregnant. You can't tell what they look like in those suits." Eli nodded and didn't comment. Although the Colonel's eyes said Sue was pregnant, his mind overrode them and told him she couldn't be, so she wasn't.
"Sir, Are we going to get any more units?"
"The press is pushing to keep the military presence low and screaming about the losses. We can't have any more units."
"What about replacement aircraft?"
"We have two Sparrows and two Apaches coming in tomorrow, they're just replacement aircraft, the pilots bringing them will be leaving. I have one Sparrow pilot that's fit today."
"She reported already. If that's all we can get, we'll have to make do."
"Good luck and be careful."
When Eli returned to the unit Sue met him and told him about the conversation with Julie. He nodded in assent. She could be dangerous, she was taking the situation personal, this could easily cloud her judgment at a critical time, making her likely to make a serious error. He shared Colonel Harris' remark about her appearance with Sue. She laughed and promised to pass it on to the other women.
When they finished with the planning Captain Jones called Julie off to the side. "I know you got wounded and you're pissed off, but if you take off in that frame of mind someone might not come back from the battle tonight and it could be you. You go out tonight with us, you do your job and I guarantee you we'll help you settle your score. I'm mad too, I have two very good pilots in the hospital and had four others wounded."
"You didn't see what they did to me, I had a nice body. Want to see what's left of it?"
"Of course not."
"I'll bet Sue told you all about it."
"She did, but only what I needed to command this unit. She's flying with you and wants to stay alive. My troops keep me informed."
She laughed, "Sure they do. The pre-natal unit, they call them at the base, and you didn't even know half of them were pregnant. Cut the bull Captain, these people didn't tell you squat."
"Obviously, from their performance I didn't need to know." She nodded. He watched her get up from the table.
"Since you're uncomfortable sitting I'm going to put Betty up on the first run, but stay near your bird so you can replace her when she gets to three quarters fuel or if she has a mechanical problem. Do your job Lieutenant, and we'll get you back to a hospital to get you fixed up soon. I'm sure they can do more than you think. I had the ground crews get an air mattress for you, it's over next to your bird, hope it helps. If you can't make it, tell me, one of my Apache pilots is checked out on a Sparrow."
Betty took off at 1930 hours, went to 3500 feet and orbited over a mile south of the garage. Her engine was running at a quiet setting and her IR unit was scanning the area between the garage and the compound at its most sensitive setting. At 2030 hours she reported fuel at three quarters. Captain Jones went to Julie's bird carrying a cup of coffee. She was on the air mattress, laying on her belly, asleep. He shook her awake.
"You feel good enough to go up?" He handed her the coffee.
"Can I take a couple of minutes to get the fuzz out of my head? I was just getting the first good sleep in days. Don't ever check into a hospital to get some rest."
He laughed at the comment, "Sure, take your time, Betty has plenty of fuel and she's OK, she's a tough kid, but I want to get you up soon so all the birds to have plenty of fuel."
She pulled herself up to a crawl position and he reached out his hand and helped her to her feet without putting pressure on her back. She took the coffee from him and took a couple of sips. "I'm fine." She turned to her crew chief who was sitting on the edge of the door to the cockpit. "Carol, can you turn on the power, check it out, start the engine. I'm taking it up."
Carol nodded and pulled herself up into the bird.
"Cap, let me finish this coffee while she gets it going, I'll be ready by the time the bird is."
"It's real sore back there, isn't it?"
"How would you know?"
"Ever have a dog take a bite out of you?"
"No. Why?"
"I did when I was on a paper route. Couldn't sit for two weeks. Take this along, it may help." He handed her an inflatable cushion.
"Where did you find that?" she asked.
He shrugged. "Be careful up there. I don't have a good record on Sparrow pilots these days."
"I'll take my chances with you, you may be rough on Sparrow pilots but you know foxholes. You don't lose your people on the ground. Your worst is better off than I am. My body wouldn't be a disaster area if our Cap had the guts to give orders. He suggested we dig in but we talked him out of it, that's why we were out in the open. You were right to make it an order. These people should be happy to have you as a CO, none of them are dead."
Without giving him a chance to answer she climbed into the bird and flopped into the seat without thinking. She winced, took the air cushion he offered, put it under her and lowered herself carefully. She smiled, gave a thumbs up, increased the engine speed and lifted off. Julie spotted Betty easily, replaced her in the orbit and started her surveillance. She looked at the clock. It read 20:57.
Without a forward observer to spot for him, Simon was shooting blind. He would fire one shot, target another area about a hundred meters away and fire again. One round was targeted in a residential area north of Philadelphia Street. It landed nearly a block short, in the kitchen of 401 Company Avenue. Nancy Jacobs was standing just behind her thirteen year old daughter Jeannette, watching her pour cake batter into a the dish. The shell was a dud, but it penetrated the roof, ceiling and floor of the house. It stopped in the dirt basement floor without exploding. Alex Jacobs heard the crash and felt the whole house shake. He ran to the kitchen. His wife and daughter both lay on the floor, badly injured. In seconds his neighbor was pounding on the back door. Alex opened it to let him in. Bart Devers could see that both women would need quick first aid and medical treatment soon if they were to survive. He placed a tourniquet on Jeanette's left leg and Nancy's right. Alex tried 911, the operator estimated the time to arrival of an ambulance at an hour.
Alex pulled his minivan to the back door and threw in a couple of blankets and pillows. He and Bart placed the women in the van. While they were working, Joan, Alex's wife came in. She called a friend at the hospital and learned the waiting time for critically injured was over two hours. She told Bart, he shook his head. These two may die in that time. Bart grabbed the keys to the van from Alex, handed him a flashlight and told him and Joan to get in the back of the van with the women. Twenty five minutes later they were pulling up to the emergency room entrance of a hospital in Maryland. The women were taken to surgery immediately.
Betty landed to find the Captain next to her bird with a cup of coffee. He handed it to her. The ground crew was already pumping in fuel to replace what she had burned and running the checklist. Mindy was wiping the spots off the bubble.
"Maybe I was wrong. Maybe they'll not move tonight. Get some rest, just in case." His last word coincided with the krump of the one oh five. He ran to the Apaches. "Ken, are you ready to go up? Betty's Sparrow needs servicing and I need Julie to concentrate on surveillance."
"Can't do, Cap, they're servicing the gunsight, found a problem, they need twenty more minutes." It was the first time that an aircraft belonging to the unit had been unable to fly for mechanical reasons. At least the ground crew had found the problem before the bird went up.
"Mark, this one's yours. Spray that one oh five. Sue, go in behind, stay clear unless he draws fire."
Ten minutes later they landed with the suppression run over. The one oh five was silent. The two Apaches were rearmed and the fuel tanks topped.
Captain Jones had a funny feeling, they needed to get out of there. "Mount up, we're going up. They're about to move."
By 2133 the whole force was airborne and orbiting to the north. Eli began to wonder. They had been airborne 20 minutes and nothing had happened, his haunch had been wrong. Eli kicked himself. They were burning fuel and wearing out crews and aircraft for nothing. His flight and ground crews were tired and every hour in the air added to their work load. He was about to land when the radio came alive. It was Mindy. "Cap, they're moving toward us, we're in foxholes, everyone is fine but I think they're getting ready to rush us. Can you provide support?" Her normally calm voice was about one octave above normal. She was apparently under stress but still thinking.
"Betty, swing over quiet, take a look, can you see their people moving toward ours?"
"Rog."
About a minute later Betty came on again, "Cap, there's something moving between the compound and our people. Looks like they're moving our way."
"Mindy, can you see them?"
"They're there, about 100 meters out." Eli was proud. Mindy was becoming a real soldier.
"You sure they're not ours?"
Mindy pressed the mic to answer but before she could talk the first rifle fire started.
"Wasn't before, but I'm sure now Cap. They're shooting at us."
"Cap, I see rifle fire," it was Betty.
"Two and four, sweep the area in front of our people, remember they're down there."
The two Apaches pealed off and strafed. The firing in front of the unit died, then began to build again. "Unit three, let's do our thing."
The second sweep cleared the enemy.
They were about ready to land and rearm when Julie broke in. "Cap, I see people moving toward the garage." The Apaches all had less than full ammunition and fuel loads but they would have to make do, there was no time to land and rearm, and the landing area could be hazardous.
"Rog, Julie. We're going to do a long slow orbit to the east and come in behind you. Keep them in sight. Let me know if the trucks move. That ground attack was to keep us busy."
"Rog Cap."
"Mindy, you're going to be on your own, keep your heads down and be ready to service us if we have to land and rearm. If it gets too hot, call us, we'll come back and cover you."
"Rog, Cap, we have belts ready in the bunkers for you. Just let us know who's coming in so we can concentrate on them and still keep up the perimeter. You beat up on them real good but there are still some of them out there. It's real dicey down here."
The radio went silent for over a minute.
"Cap, I think they have the engines running and just opened the door, I saw heat for a couple of seconds." It was Julie.
"OK Julie, good. Stay with them. Betty can you see her?" The last thing he needed tonight was a midair of two of his Sparrows.
"Rog, Cap. She's ahead at two o'clock."
Eli was aware of the tenseness in Julie's voice. He wanted to calm her.
"Julie, Betty's coming in from your west, see her?"
"Sure Cap, nice to have company. I've got the feeling we're going to have something happen tonight."
"OK, when they come out you two make sure you're above 2500 and stay above it. I need your eyes, your guns aren't heavy enough to do any good with the armor. Keep your ammunition. You'll be the most effective in case Mindy needs some support. I want the area below 2000 for the Apaches. Julie, when they come out you take the unit that goes to the right, Betty takes the one to the left. We're too noisy so we can't get close, we'll keep well behind you until they do something. When they fire we can take them out, but not till both units fire. We do it to the plan. Everyone heads up, no Apaches below 250 or above 2000. I don't want anyone bumping into someone else."
Julie's next transmissions would have gotten a strong rebuke from Captain Jones had it been from anyone else in the unit. They were out and out violations of radio discipline.
"Cap."
"Yes."
"If anything goes wrong tonight, if something happens to me, I want you to know, my but wouldn't look like it went through a meat grinder if I'd have been in your unit."
"Rog. Don't worry, nothing is going to happen to you."
Eli wanted to have her stop transmitting to clear the radio but didn't want to tell her right now. She needed the outlet.
"Cap, do you bring coffee for male pilots?"
"When I think they need it before or after a flight, yes. Everyone gets treated the same, they get what I think they need."
"Thanks, Cap."
A couple moments of silence passed before she continued. "You knew they were going to make a ground attack tonight, that's why you had us take off, you really knew before it happened, didn't you?"
That one threw him. Yes, he did know and there was no way for him to know, or was there? And there wasn't a way for him to explain why.
"I just guessed," He answered but he knew the answer was wrong. The real answer was much too complex to explain now and he had a battle to fight. He couldn't explain because he had not had time to resolve the issue for himself.
"Say what you want about it Cap, nobody will believe anything else, we all know that you knew. The way you gave the order to move out, you knew. And you knew the other night too." The voice was Sue's. Eli didn't respond.
With no change of expression Julie's next transmission changed from small talk to business. "We're tracking two columns, one south, one east."
"Rog. Apaches, let's move south east so we don't spook them."
About ten minutes passed with no transmission. "Cap, I have machine gun fire on the ground." It was Betty.
"Anything yet Julie?"
"No, they're moving along briskly."
"The unit is turning north at the intersection, toward a small town, they just slowed, I have machine gun fire."
"Rog. Confirm machine gun fire Betty."
"Confirm."
"Confirm machine gun fire Julie."
"Confirm."
"Apache 2 and 4 take the southern unit, 3 take the eastern one with me. No firing till we're all ready. Sparrows stay up and watch. I don't want anyone to get away. Keep your eyes open when we pull out. Whatever we don't get on the first pass will run and hide when we pull out. Pass the attack coordinates to Reese as soon as we drop down."
A minute later four Apaches were screaming down. They targeted the vehicles with cannon fire and as they pulled up there were units blazing on the ground. The firing had stopped as had the vehicles.
The Apaches turned toward the base, flew over it, dropped to ground level and went on north, then circled wide to be south of the Sparrows. "Mindy, get everyone in foxholes now and make sure they stay put. They may hit you again to get our attention. Betty and Julie, stay where you are, watching them, Apaches, follow me."
The Apaches orbited for about ten minutes then Mindy sounded the alarm. "We have incoming grenades. Don't see any ground troops."
"Keep your eyes open."
"Rog Cap." He shook his head, even the ground troops were getting into the Rog, Cap routine.
Then Julie reported, "One of burning units just went out and started moving toward the garage."
"Keep watching."
"I got a mover too."
"Rog Betty."
"Cap, I got a second one." It was Julie. "They're forming up."
"OK Apaches, go in and get them, Sparrows pass the coordinates to Reese."
The second assault resulted in explosions.
"Reese, what's happening there? Where are you?"
"We're coming, we have tracks, not rotors."
"Reese, the Sparrows can stay up, two and three are going back to the base to suppress the grenade attack on the ground. One and four are going to sit down on a parking lot to save fuel. Apache four, follow me." They sat down on the shopping center parking lot.
Apache 2 and 3 swept the area several times then landed when it was clear. Sue was happy to get down, to empty her bladder. The two Apaches were armed, fueled and in the air in short order. They joined the captain at the shopping center.
"Cap, I see the tanks coming in at the first site, the tanks are about a quarter mile from the second site."
"Rog."
"Cap, same here."
"Jones, this is Reese. Looking good down here."
In a half hour the Apaches and the Sparrows were on the ground.
The ground crews greeted them with a royal welcome. Julie climbed from her Sparrow and went to Sue. "Can we talk?"
"Sure."
"I'm sorry about earlier. I had no right to treat you that way. I was scared and angry. You were a target of opportunity."
"Anyone who isn't at least a little scared doing this doesn't understand the game we're playing." Sue reached out had hugged Julie who winced.
"Sorry, forgot about the back."
"Forget it, I needed the hug. Can I ask a favor? I need my back cleaned. I think some of the wounds are infected a little. I don't want to go to a medic. Most of them are perverts."
"Our medic is a gal. She could do it."
"I know, but if I go to the medic they may pull me out. I'm not that good a pilot but Cap needs me."
"But not if you can't fly."
"I can, I just need to have someone take care of my back so it doesn't get worse. You'd be disqualified too if you went to a medic, you're obviously pregnant."
Sue smiled, "OK, what do I have to do."
"Clean the wounds on my back with these." She handed a bottle of peroxide, cotton swabs and latex gloves to Sue. "Where can we go?"
"The maintenance truck, bring your mattress."
They entered the truck, Julie took off her flight suit and lay down on her stomach. Sue cleaned each of the wounds carefully. Each time she touched a wound, Julie jumped. Sue's eyes were filled with tears by the time she finished. Although she knew she has helping Julie, she felt the pain each time she touched a wound. It was one of the most difficult jobs she had ever done. In spite of her feelings she continued. "Let's do it again tomorrow morning. Two of them need regular attention. I need to keep you flying. We need you up there." She could have added that Julie needed to be up there with them. She helped Julie up from the mattress, they picked up their things and left.
Eli went to the farmhouse again. His wife answered on the first ring.
"Hi Hon.."
"How are you doing?"
"Kids are fine, me too."
'Good."
"You got them tonight, didn't you."
"Yes, we did. Can't tell you how, but let me tell you, I had this feeling to take off, took my while unit up, a few minutes later we'd have been caught on the ground in a fire fight and may have lost aircraft and people. We were in the air and able to protect out ground units. I'd just ordered them into the foxholes. I've made a half dozen right decisions today for no reason. One of my pilots has noticed, she asked about it tonight. Hon, it's nice but it's scary, I'm afraid it'll quit. Hon, tell me, what's happening to me?"
"I asked Him to help you and He answered that prayer."
"Him who."
"The Holy Spirit. Hon, it's up to you now, pray and ask Him to help you, I'm sure He will. I've done what I can, now you need to start to do things for yourself. We'll talk when you get home." They talked of the kids and finally hung up.
As he went outside he wrote down the name and address from the mailbox. He would have to mail them enough money to cover the phone calls. He checked his unit and found all but the sentries were asleep. He crawled into his sleeping bag, prayed for a few minutes and went to sleep.
Eli was summoned to the CP. The Colonel pulled him off to the side. "You're a hero, you and your people. We only had twenty nine killed last night, twelve in the city by the one oh five, and seventeen by the mobile units. We have confirmed kills of all of the mobile units and the garage is under guard. Reese picked up a couple of their people who were injured at the sites. They found four gas bombs, each equivalent in power to a three ton bomb in the garage in trucks. They had nails packed around them. If they had gotten them out and set them off somewhere in the city, we'd have had a real mess. Get your unit ready for today, we need to keep that one oh five off line."
"The two people from the other unit, Betty and Julie, they've been flying with us. What about them?"
"They're semi-officially in your unit. I haven't had a chance to tell you, Betty asked for a transfer yesterday and Julie hit me this morning. The paperwork is on its way."
"They asked for transfers to my unit?"
"Julie said she wanted to stay alive. Said flying in your unit was the way, you know how to keep your people from getting hurt. Betty said you were the first commander who had the guts to let a woman try to be the best in the unit. That's a direct quote. Their reasons will be passed upline along with the requests."
When he got back to the unit he tried to call them together but found Sue and Julie were missing. They appeared from the maintenance van a few minutes later. He called Julie over. "What's up?"
"My wounds needed cleaned, Sue took care of it."
"Why not have the medics do it?"
"They might ground me."
"How are you? Are you fit to fly, that's the big question?"
"My but's sore, my back feels miserable, my wounds itch but none of those effect my flying. I'm ready to fly."
"If you aren't fit to fly, if anything changes, ground yourself. I'm going to trust you but you have to respect that trust. Any problems, pull out and get treatment. I need everyone up there at their best. I want you to grow old and be able to tell your grandchildren about this."
"Yes, Cap."
"Make sure you take care of that back."
"Yes mom."
He shook his head and was about to walk away when he heard the crump of the one oh five. He looked back at Julie, he needed to get her in the air again, but he couldn't afford to keep up one of the sparrows all of the time.
Sue walked over to him with one of the pictures of the compound. "Let me show you something." She spread the picture on a bench, "If I come in here with an Apache with a couple of TOW rockets, I'll not threaten the compound buildings if I miss, but I can stand off a click and fire them into the tunnel."
"But you'll have to be come straight in, you'll be stationary there while you fly in. You'll be a sitting duck."
"But not if the two sparrows make a strafing run on the same axis while I pop up to fire. I can come in, stay behind that hill until they pass me, then pop up and fire. I think I can put one of three in the tunnel, if I set off the one oh five ammunition there, there will be no more one oh five fire. We've been trying to get the gun, let's get the ammunition. We have to stop that gun."
Eli mulled it over for a while, then responded, "No, the rockets are too big a risk, you have to stay too still for too long, but I like the idea. We can shoot into that tunnel if we approach from that direction. Let's set up a raid, two Apaches, two Sparrows. Let's load the Apache 20 MM with fifty percent tracers. The two Sparrows will flank one Apache at a time, strafing the ground to suppress any AA."
"Looks good to me, let's get started."
Within a half hour the 20 MM was loaded on two of the Apaches, the other two were ready to take off with full loads in the 50's for support if needed.
The force took off one at a time, headed north and sat down on the parking lot. On a signal the first three attack aircraft took off and got on the proper heading. Eli was going in flanked by the Sparrows. He opened with the 20 MM and many of the shells were entering the tunnel. He passed the target with no apparent result. His 20 MM ammunition was over half expended in the one pass. He called to Sue, she lifted off the parking lot and headed out to meet with the Sparrows. They had adequate ammunition to support and were ready to make another pass. Sue lined up on a tree she had seen on the photo and started her run. As she popped up from behind the hill she lined up the sight and started firing. She saw the tracers entering the tunnel. She held the stream in the opening as long as possible, then broke off the firing pass. It seemed that the attack had been for nothing. Just as she was turning to go back for a second pass there was a terrible explosion in the tunnel. Smoke and flames belched out of the tunnel and debris was blown out of the pit, the gun was blown on its side along the pit wall. Sue landed happy, the gun would not fire again.
Samuel had entered the meditation room with Brother Gideon. "I checked our people, we have nine wounded that need to be taken out. Can you arrange it?"
"I'll make the arrangements. Is there anyone who wants to take them out?"
"Two of the women have small children that need medical treatment. Another woman's husband was killed, she wants to go. Let's send them out. Another woman who could operate the gun was wounded last night in the pit. She can walk but her arm's broken. None of the gunners will be of any value to us, let's let her go too."
"OK, Samuel. How is our assault going?"
"They destroyed all of our mobile forces last night, and today they blew up the remaining one oh five ammunition and damaged the gun. It is of no use to us. We lost ten more men on the ground attack too. When do you think others will rise up and help us? We have been fighting for so long alone."
"They will join us soon. Very soon."
The call was made to the army, the women made several trips to take out the children and then left the compound. All of them were taken to hospitals for examination and treatment.
Dr. Diane Angle was almost finished with the last patient from the Gideon group that had come out earlier in the day, an eleven year old girl from the compound with asthma. She had been brought out by her mother because her condition had worsened, she was wheezing badly as Dr. Angle was finishing her examination. The emotional stress of the past few days had apparently caused the condition to worsen. The stress all of the children had been under must have been terrible. Her father was missing, later they would confirm that he had been killed in the raids on the towns. Rebecca would be given medication and would be fine. As the doctor was about to leave she looked at the little girl. "Rebecca, we're going to give you some medicine to help you breathe better, tell me, can I do anything for you, is there anywhere else you hurt?"
"It hurts down here."
"Inside your belly? Your tummy hurts?"
"No, between my legs. It hurts where Brother Gideon, when I turned ten he said I needed to start to become a woman.."
"I'll be back."
Dr. Angle and the nurse positioned her for an examination. "Let's see why you're hurting and see if we can fix you. Tell me if anything hurts."
Twenty minutes later the little girl was in the care of a children's service person and Dr. Angle was contacting the various hospitals to see if any of the other children had reported anything. The little girl had been violated and by her statement the person who did it was Brother Gideon. Feedback from other hospitals would reveal that Rebecca was not the only one. Doctor Angle wondered what would happen if the men inside the compound could know what she had learned. She shrugged, if there was any way, the men would certainly not believe it.
Samuel was walking past the compound where the women and children were being kept. He looked in to see how things were going. He noticed Ruth sitting on the bench near the door and smiled. She ran to him, "Samuel, I need to see Brother Gideon. I'm afraid."
"Don't be afraid, God will take care of us."
"But you don't understand. I'm eleven. I was to have my next meeting with Brother Gideon but he didn't call for me."
"He's been very busy."
"But he said it was important, that he teach me to become a woman. He called me three times, I have to keep going till he's sure I'm ready. He told me I'm very impure and my training will be a long and hard one. I still hurt from the last time, but I need to go back, it's God's will."
Samuel stopped, he had never heard of this training.
"Where do you meet with Brother Gideon?"
"In the meditation room?"
"How many of you are meeting?"
"Silly Samuel, just me and Brother Gideon. This a girl must do alone."
Samuel didn't wish to press the issue. He thought for a few minutes. His eleven year old daughter was helping prepare food. He went to the mess and asked for coffee. He sat at a table and Susanne came over and hugged his neck. "Oh dad, it's good to see you."
"Are you helping?"
"As commanded by God."
"I see you're putting into practice what you're learning in Brother Gideon's classes on how to become a woman."
She wrinkled her nose. "He doesn't teach us cooking, and it isn't a class, you know that, he teaches us the way Jesus taught Mary, one at a time."
He needed to have her tell more but he had no idea how so he asked, "Are the classes hard?"
"At first it was very hard. I hurt after the first few times and even bled a little. Brother Gideon said that is part of becoming a woman. Mom said so too when I told her about the bleeding."
Samuel was about to scream, then he realized that his Joanne had no idea what Susanne was talking about. He hugged his daughter and went out. It began to click, Brother Gideon was a fraud, nothing more and he had followed him.
He returned to the women and children. While he was waiting for his wife to come to the door he looked at the hole in the wall where the rocket had exploded. He had not looked closely at it before. Samuel had seen rocket blasts but this one seemed too large and shape looked somewhat unusual. He shook off the thought.
After a conversation with his wife she returned to the building and called together the mothers of the girls ten to twelve. Samuel waited. While he was waiting he saw a wire in the wall of the building that he had not seen before. He followed it and found a parcel of explosive. He unhooked the wire, followed it further and found another. He unhooked the wire from each of them as he went. Someone had prepared the building for demolition but Samuel hadn't been told about it. As a member of the inner circle, he should have known about any preparations. He checked near the hole in the wall and found the end of another wire. The blast that had killed Brother Gideon's family hadn't been from a rocket. He back-tracked the wire and found it went to a telephone wire conduit. It could go to any building on the site.
When Joanne returned she was livid. "He violated every one of the girls. And we didn't recognize it. And they didn't say anything because they thought we knew and approved."
Samuel nodded. "We need to get everyone out of here, quick, this building is wired to be blown up. I defused the charges in this end but I'm sure there are more. He blew up his wife and kids." He wife looked at him with a stony face. Samuel shook his head, "God help me, I swear I knew nothing about it. Get everyone together, move out on my signal. Get everyone into the woods to the north east and then move them to the Army. Hopefully they'll not fire on us. I'll get the men, we'll follow. If there's any firing, keep down. Our only chance is to get out of here. He set off the blast that he called a rocket. He killed our own people including his wife and children. It's only a matter of time until he kills the rest of us."
She nodded.
The scene was one of confusion, everyone moved out and was in the woods in five minutes. The men followed leaving only Brother Gideon in the compound. Reese was with his tank when he saw the people coming through the woods. The woman in the lead was carrying a white sheet. He called for his men to hold fire. There were small children with them. The men were walking with their hands up. Everyone had predicted a long siege, possibly months like at Waco with disaster at the end. Could it really be over now? It took a half hour to get the people into busses and trucks and move them to an area for processing.
Brother Gideon had tried to summon Samuel to the meditation room for fifteen minutes with no answer. The phone on his desk rang and he picked it up. "Brother Gideon, this is Colonel Harris. Your people have surrendered, you are the only one in the compound. I'm asking for you to come out, I'll call back in twenty minutes for your answer. You can see your people on TV if you like."
Brother Gideon turned on the TV. When the anchor's face disappeared the view changed to a group of people. In that group he recognized Samuel. For a moment he was angry, then he smiled, his plan hadn't failed, it had only been changed. The miracle would still happen. He would die and be resurrected. They would all believe. Those who left would be deserters of the faith, he would have an even stronger hold on the people.
He slipped through a doorway in the chapel, climbed down a ladder and entered a cave. He had prepared it so he could remain here until the army left, he was to have been the only survivor. He pressed a button on his desk, there was a small explosion and tons of ground clogged the tunnel behind him. When the noise settled he pressed a second button. There was a rumbling sound and the living areas of the compound, including the chapel, were turned to rubble.
Reese saw it happen. His gunner looked up, "The crazy bastard. He blew it up."
"He planned to do that, you don't set that kind of blast in ten minutes."
"You mean he planned to kill them all and himself too?"
Reese shook his head, "I think he planned it, but do you think he's dead?"
"How could he have survived that?"
"Don't know, I just know how he duped us before. We may be hunting for him and arguing over whether he survived for the next twenty years. It'll be another mystery like Kennedy in Dallas."
The rest of the day was spent waiting for the rubble to cool enough to search it. All of the adults were charged with various offenses and placed in custody.
Colonel Harris called Jones to his office. "We need to have you and your force available. The press wants to see them, we have a press conference for later today, for now it's set for 10:00 AM. I want everyone in full battle dress including flying suits and coveralls. I wouldn't want the press to see any of the women without them. They should see what soldiers look like. Make sure they all have their qualification patches." He winked at Jones.
The press hadn't expected the number of people Harris would feature. They had expected to see only Eli and the pilots. He brought all of his unit, from the mess to the air crews. Reese was there with his tankers. Harris introduced Jones and turned over the mic, after telling everyone Jones had been there since the beginning and knew the story better. By the time the conference was over Jones had told something each of the unit members had done to make the operation successful. He related the flights of Billie and Wendy, the ground support that kept choppers flying, the fantastic job of rearming the guns, the nearly flawless availability of aircraft, the mess crew fighting off the Gideons to save the ground equipment and stores, the two transfers, highlighting Julie's flying after being wounded, and ended with thanks to Reese for his day to day support and the performance of his men. Each of his people were heroes. Reese and his people were heroes. And with every account someone would step up to insert a comment. They told how Jones had inspired them, set an example, taught them, made them go the extra
mile. The press had a hero in spite of himself.
Then the session was opened for questions.
UP. It was reported your unit made a rocket attack on the compound and killed women and children. Can you comment?
Jones. In the attack mentioned we fired no rockets, in fact we carried nothing but guns. Only our machine guns were used, we didn't even use our cannon. Our targets weren't near the building mentioned. We believe something else caused the explosion.
Harris. Let me help on that. The state police today handed me a lab report on the explosive residue from the clothing of the injured children. The explosive was an industrial one, not a charge from one of our rockets. In addition, the film was reviewed by the network. None of our planes was in a position to fire a rocket at the time they filmed the explosion.
UP. Then what caused the explosion?
Harris. We cannot say, we only know that it wasn't caused by rocket fire as was previously thought. We continue to investigate a report that explosives in the compound were accidentally set off.
ABC. There are claims that one of the wounded Sparrow pilots was pregnant. Can you address that.
Captain Jones was about to answer but Harris stepped in front of him. "We had over 70 young women in the force here, many of them married. I wouldn't be surprised if several of them were pregnant. They take the same risks as the others. Of course, if they cannot perform their jobs or if doing those jobs became hazardous to them, they would be temporarily reassigned to another job."
ABC. But the rumor says that there are several women who are five months pregnant and flying. How could that be hidden?
Harris. "These people have fought hard and well. I want the press to look at the women in this group. They're dressed as they would be on the flight line. I'll make you an offer. You come up and point out a pregnant woman. Consider your feelings and hers if you're wrong, or in fact right. The military garb isn't really "designer fashions."
CBS. "There is a story that our losses the first night would have been much lighter if proper military procedures had been followed. Can you comment?"
Harris. "I came in the next morning. I can't comment on what happened the night before."
At that Julie stepped up to the mic. "May I?" Harris nodded. "I'm Lieutenant King formerly of Baker Sam unit, hopefully now in Baker Dog." She looked at Harris and he nodded. "I'm still carrying 3 pieces of metal in my back. I'm one of the lucky ones. Twenty three of my unit are dead. Some have permanent disabilities. Some are still in the hospital. I lost my aircraft without firing a single shot. Our CO gave us an easy out, we didn't want to dig foxholes so we protested and he backed off. We were out in the open when the Gideon attack came. Cap here made his unit work, they didn't like it, they grumbled about it, but they dug the holes and they're alive. They had four injured on the ground and two hurt in the air during the whole time here, but they're all alive and the wounded got hurt fighting, not running from the enemy. You may call me a hero but I don't, guess which way I was heading when I got hit in the back?"
CBS. "Exactly what did Jones do differently?"
Sue stepped out. "He treated us like soldiers, no matter what. He didn't care if you wear skirts or pants, it's how you do your job or fly that makes the difference to him. He trained us to do our jobs well. He has demanded excellence, just being good isn't enough for him, being the best isn't good enough, if you can be better. He calls it being the cream of the crap, he'll not settle for it. He made us think like soldiers. He made us work like soldiers even when we didn't like it and let me tell you we protested. Digging foxholes in this clay wasn't fun, it's hard. Let me tell you, digging it's a good way to get lots of blisters, but that same mound of red clay stops bullets real good. We found that out too." She reached into a breast pocket and pulled out a small piece of metal, "This came out of a mound of dirt near my Apache, my ground crew gave it to me. I helped dig that hole, they gave it to me to show they were really getting shot at while I was flying around. He protected us like soldiers. He has never treated us like men or women except when that was treating us like individuals."
Jones stepped back up to the mic, "They didn't protest as much as they let on."
Sue laughed and only the reporters in the front heard her say, "He didn't hear the names we called him when he walked away." The reporters broke out laughing.
Patriot News. "There has been criticism of the military effort. Can you tell me why it took so long to destroy the APC's?"
Jones. "Quite frankly, Reese thought he hit them the first night. He lost one tank in the effort. I chided him for that action but in retrospect it was the right move. He kept the Gideon's attention and most likely prevented another raid that night, possibly an attack on us that we weren't ready to handle. Just remember, my force came in late at night, a counterattack during that night would have hit us when we were vulnerable. Had it not been for a skillful deception, the raids would have ended with that action. We didn't know about the deception till the next night's raids. We thought we wiped them out that night too, but the confusion of a raid on our area distracted us and another deception allowed six of the units to escape us. We made some mistakes, I regret that. People died because I missed something. That I am sorry to say I will have to live with."
Reese stepped up behind Eli, "He takes the blame for too much. I personally feel Captain Jones is too hard on himself. He figured out all of the deceptions, they were obvious to the rest of us after he explained them. It's like a puzzle, after someone shows you how to put it together, it's easy. He figured it out first. That's the hard job. Second guessing is easy."
Patriot News. "Captain Jones, you do seem hard on yourself, but from what I know, it seems that without you, Reese and Harris this could have been much worse. Why do you blame yourself?"
Jones. "Because I failed to foresee things. I'm paid by the government to lead people, anticipate my enemy's actions, plan to contain and counter them and in general, to make good decisions. Mine were less than perfect."
Harris. "I too have to eat some crow here. Jones told you he chided Reese for his raid on the first night. I did the same thing to Jones on two days later. Actually I chewed him out real good before I was here a half hour and I really had no idea what was happening. I took the press reports for face value. No offense to the press, the reporting here was better than I have seen in most situations, but there was a lot lacking, including reporting Brother Gideon's releases as verified reports. In addition, the reports too often concentrated on what went wrong, not on what was done right. I questioned Captain Jones' fitness for command based on the press reports I had seen. In the next 48 hours I found Jones to be a skillful pilot, a capable leader, a fine officer, a man of foresight and a man of compassion."
UP. Give us specifics, what changed your mind?
Harris. First, Jones was the only unit leader to see the need to dig in, to really be a military unit on a military operation. Most of the other unit leaders including the command unit treated this like a peacetime operation, not the battlefield situation that it really was. His unit was called upon to hold a portion of the perimeter, in itself, a difficult task, and do it without compromising their primary mission, the support of the aircraft. This is something air units aren't really trained to do. Let's face it, we spend more time teaching aircraft mechanics to change engines than how to set up defense perimeters, set up fields of fire, and fight ground battles. He led his unit so well that they raised to the challenge. They fared better then even the ground combat units who are trained to do this job. The survivors of that unit were either ones who were lucky enough to find natural cover or those who dug in on their own, further validating his actions. To his credit, Reese saw them digging in and realized the wisdom and did likewise. Jones did this without orders, even the command unit didn't dig in. Second, Jones was frequently able to anticipate his enemy's moves and counter them. Third, his unit maintained effectiveness under trying conditions. This is a credit to any leader and his people. Under field conditions they maintained almost 100% operational readiness of the aircraft and several times set records for aircraft servicing and arming, often breaking the record times set in mock battles. Fourth, he was able to create a level of morale that caused people to see his unit as a place they wanted to be to learn and grow. Two people who were assigned to him on a temporary basis have requested transfers to his unit.
AP. Have we found Brother Gideon's body?
Harris. Not yet. We may never find it, the explosion destroyed the compound.
UP. When do you expect to leave?
Harris. I've been ordered to maintain a military presence here for at least a week. During that time we'll work with civilians to handle damage claims. We expended a lot of ammunition, I'm sure we damaged some private property and that must be compensated. There may be some live explosives to be cleared. A disposal unit is coming in to help us. We'll be here to help them know where to look. In addition, we're still not completely sure every one of the Gideons has been rounded up and we'll not leave while any threat exists.
The conference ended with an extensive photo session.
Harris, Reese and Jones walked from the session to the CP. Jones spoke first. "Sir, there's something that bothered me about that session. I was portrayed as being able to walk on water. It's flattering, but not true, I made a lot of mistakes."
"But you got the big ones right. I walked in here and had to rely on you because I had no way of knowing what was happening. I've never seen a field commander who was so perceptive. Just take the laurels. For now, go back to your unit, get things in order and start handling the day to day routine. Here's some mail for you."
Eli stopped at the white house and called Mandy. The call took a long time, she would be driving up the next day and he wanted to have her bring some things. He also discussed some problems with her before he hung up. He then made several calls to local businesses and left the house. He got back to his unit in time to eat lunch with his officers. He asked them to remain when they finished their meal while he opened his mail. There was a large amount of good news and he knew some of it was for them.
He handed one letter across the table, "Mark, this is for you. You are to report as leader of Baker Sam unit when we return. Your promotion is effective the first of next month. You will continue to report to me till you get back but you are to take temporary command of what is left of Baker Sam and Baker Tom and prepare them and their equipment for evacuation. You will fly with us and return with us."
He handed another to Sue, "Sue, you'll take Baker Dog 2 position upon his leaving. Effective immediately you're to replace Mark as executive officer so he can concentrate on his new duties."
"I have a large number of citations that we'll have to pass out. We'll do that later when we can get the whole unit together. Possibly we can take a trip to the hospital to see Wendy and Billie. They both get Purple Hearts, you too Julie. That's all for now. You're all dismissed. Sue, I need to see you and Mindy here, could you find her?"
Sue nodded and walked off. Five minutes later they were sitting across the table from him.
"What's up Cap?"
"I've a detail for you. Sue, this is your first task as executive officer. You provide help, input, guidance and direction to Mindy on this task and you make sure it's done properly. If it isn't, the failure will adversely impact your next rating. Comprehend?"
They nodded. This must be serious.
"We have an injured officer in the unit and because of that officer's gender I cannot impose myself into the situation without creating more embarrassment and I refuse to do so when there is a viable alternative. She has suffered enough, I want to reduce that suffering, not make it worse. Mindy, you will do that and Sue will provide the support you need."
"Is this about Julie?"
"Yes. She has to be uncomfortable, her back has to hurt and although we could spare her, there is no way I want her taken to a hospital in this area unless her condition worsened. They're too full, the treatment will be less than she should get, she'll not have any privacy and she'll be here when we leave with no moral support. I believe sending her home ahead of us will be bad for her emotionally. She needs to see the end of this first hand. I want us to leave together. We may not be able to take Billie and Wendy but we will if they're fit. I want our people where we can support them.
"I like that Cap, I know you're right about her."
"Now about Julie. As I see it there are a couple of problems. I watched her today at lunch. Her left, ah, cheek is somewhat abbreviated and doesn't hit the seat which increases the pressure on the right one that has the flack in it. She keeps shifting to get comfortable. The air cushion helps but it's an embarrassment and a bother. In addition, Julie lost all of her clothes in the raid. She was re-issued Army clothes. I want you to find out what size she wears, take the duce and a half, go to town and buy a pair of tight, I mean real tight, stretch pants and an absolutely sexy blouse for her."
"But Cap, half of her but is missing! She'll never be able to wear stretch pants. That's the worst thing you could possibly do. She'll be embarrassed. She had the nicest can on the base, her CO checked it out every day but he wouldn't allow her anywhere but in his office without her flight suit. I would have killed to look like her." Sue said it before she thought and turned red.
"That bad, is it? I thought so from the fact that it's noticeable in the flying suit. Fixing that, my exec, is Mindy's problem and yours."
Mindy looked up, "I'm a mechanic, not a medic or a miracle worker."
"But on the contrary, I hear continually that you work miracles when it comes to shaping materials. And this miracle you will work or you'll find yourself on permanent latrine duty for the rest of your enlistment."
"But how? I'm not a doctor."
"I talked to my wife, she was a nurse in rehab before we married. I called a place that makes prosthetics in the city to see if they could make a form for Julie but the building was destroyed in the raid. I called Mandy back and she told me to have you call her, she can tell you how to help Julie. You will make something for her and it will fit, it will make her comfortable sitting and standing and in tight stretch pants she will look good. If it doesn't look real, you have failed. You understand the penalty for failure in this unit?".
Sue and Mindy nodded. They had rarely need their CO be so firm in any order.
"Now, take this." He handed her a roll of bills. "Get what you need and get with it. If you need a sewing machine there's one in the white house. If you use anything from the house, make a note of it and we'll send them money to pay for it. You call Mandy to get some help, here's the number. Mindy, get the truck, Sue will be along. She has another detail."
"We're going to see Wendy and Billie tomorrow, get a nice nightgown for each of them, no, get two for each and while you're at it, get two and put them away for Julie. She's in for surgery when we get back and we may not have time to do this later. Mandy will be coming up tomorrow, she wants details on Julie's injuries, she's working on setting up a good surgeon for her. Sue, get her records from the hospital copied for Mandy to take back. If necessary, have Betty fly up and get them. She'll also need a picture of her back, take a Polaroid -- put it in an envelope, seal it and put it with the records. You take care of it, I don't want to see it. It isn't my business, it's only yours because someone has to do it and she trusted you."
Just before time for supper Julie walked up to Jones. "Can I see you?"
"Sure, what's this about."
"Normally I'd be real mad about someone doing what you did but Sue told me the whole story while they were working. We can go off to the side and I'll take off the jump suit. The only way I can get Sue and Mindy out of hock is to do this and they've both been really good to me. I got the slacks on with the thing Mindy made. I guess my new CO has the right to inspect my body. God knows the old one did it often enough."
"No, Julie, your old CO never had that right, I don't have that right and I'll not inspect your body as you aptly put it, no matter what I said. I hated threatening them but I had to make sure Sue and Mindy would do their best. You're in for a surprise, this inspection will be a little different."
He paid little attention to her in fact he was obviously looking away. "How does it feel when you sit?"
"Fine. I appreciate the air cushion, it's great and I'll probably fly with it until I'm totally healed, but I can sit level now so the metal in the other cheek doesn't hurt as much."
"Can you walk comfortably?"
"Yes."
"Do you look right, even from the back?"
She half giggled, "They video'd me and showed it to me. It looks great. They made two of the garmets so I could wash one."
"Are you satisfied with the result?"
"Yes, thanks Cap. I know I got something missing but I don't feel like everyone's staring."
"Good. Go back and tell Sue and Mindy I can't tell the difference. They can come out of hiding."
"But you didn't look."
"Did I have to? Your opinion is worth more than mine in how you look and feel. Now I want to tell you something else. If you don't have any further problems I'd like to have you stay with the unit till we go back and have your surgery done at the base. We'll be there to support you and I'm unsure of the quality of the care here with the load on the hospital facilities."
"Cap, your guesses are good with me. There were two wounds that were getting sore but Sue got them cleaned good and they're fine now so I can wait."
"Can I ask you a question, how did you get shot?"
"I was running away from the gunfire, hunting for the chopper when there was a blast behind me. That's all I remember."
"I keep trying to figure out how it could have taken the big piece out of you and not blasted you apart. I'm happy it didn't, it just puzzles me."
"One of your armors told me that most likely the grenade went off about eight to ten yards behind me, the heavy shell continued, hit my but and tore out a big piece of flesh. They found the jacket of the grenade in my flight suit. They said if it hadn't gone off then it would have exploded when it hit my pelvis. They say there wouldn't have been much chance I'd have survived. If I had I'd have lost my legs. Guess I should be thankful."
"Any idea what the grenade hit?"
"No, but whatever it was, it saved my life."
"For sure." She sat serious for a few minutes and then started to giggle.
"Could we have some fun with Sue?"
"Maybe. Like what?"
"I'll tell her I modeled for you and you approve. Now she and the others have to model what they got."
"What did they get?"
"Maternity bra's and girdles. You should've seen them being fitted. They were like a bunch of teenagers. That was fun but they got even when we got back."
His expression was fixed. "They went in to have girdles fitted? In their flight suits?"
"Yes. Why? Was that wrong? Your wife said they should have them and to have them fitted so they were right. And the bra's too."
"Let's hope the person who fitted them doesn't read the paper or watch TV."
"Why?"
"Because we didn't want to have the press to have more proof about the pregnant women in the unit or be able to get their names. It isn't Sue's fault, I should have told her. They know one of the injured pilots is pregnant, but they don't know both of them are."
After a team meeting later in the evening only Sue and Julie were left at the table. Eli walked over to the two women and sat down. "Julie, for the record, I want you to tell Sue how I determined she had done her job."
"He asked me if I was comfortable, if I felt right and if I looked right to me."
Sue looked up at Eli and smiled. "You're a wonderful man You accomplished a delicate task without any embarrassment to anyone."
"Thanks Julie, you can go. Sue I have something else we need to discuss."
"Thanks Cap," Julie said as she saluted and left.
He motioned for Sue to sit. "Do you have a map of the area?"
She pulled one from her flight suit pocket, unfolded it and placed it on the table. He turned it upside down on the table without looking at it.
"I'm going to take you into my confidence for now and what I'm going to tell you may be hard to believe. I talked to my wife the first night and she told me several things to expect and to make sure we were in foxholes. She also gave me a layout of the camp that matched a photo I saw the next day, but she
told me what was inside buildings. One puzzled me, the one building she tagged as having an intense evil. It was the meditation room that the survivors said Brother Gideon used as a residence during the siege. Several times I opened my map during the siege and saw a black dot hover over the meditation room. Today I opened my map and saw the same black spot on it. I blinked and it went away and then returned. I marked it and put the map away. Now on your map it appears again, right there." He made a mark on the back of the map with a pen, punched it through the paper, then pulled out his map and laid it on the table. He turned her map over. The two dots were at the same place.
He looked up at her, "I need to see Reese, to get some help." He started to pick up his things to leave.
Several seconds passed without a response from her, like she was in deep thought, then she looked up, "Can I go along?"
"Sure. Any reason in particular?"
"Because I'm your exec, because I believe in you and because I want to see this to the end. I believe if you say he's there, he most likely is. With your track record it's worth a look."
A few minutes later Eli and Reese had moved the three tanks into a circle around the place he had marked. As it would soon be dark they called for a couple of trucks to light the area.
Jones walked around the area, then put a stake in the ground and told them to dig. Sue stood off to the side, staring at the place they were digging. At five feet deep they encountered a corrugated metal pipe. A charge was set and exploded. When the smoke cleared one of the men slid down into the hole and looked into the cavity. Brother Gideon was sitting in a corner as far from the charge as possible. He was injured but still alive.
As soon as Brother Gideon was found Eli turned without any comment and walked away from the scene. It was as though he had to get away from something. Sue nearly had to run to catch him. When she caught him he was crying.
"Cap, you're awesome. I believed in you but how could you have possibly known where to look?"
"Don't laugh, God told me."
"He doesn't talk to people," she said. For a few minutes she was silent and then she looked up, "He does and he talked to you more than once. That's how you found the trucking company? And why we took off those two nights just before they hit us. You knew. You didn't guess, you knew."
He nodded.
"How long has this been happening?"
"Since we came. Keep this to yourself for now, I still don't know how to handle it."
"Rog Cap. I know when to keep my mouth shut. We'd both wind up in the loony bin if we said anything right now, after having Brother Gideon saying God told him to kill all of those people."
"Rog."
"They might throw me in for being with you."
He smiled, "You can count on that."
Most of the press left after the conference, leaving only a skeleton crew to cover anything that might develop. They spent the afternoon interviewing residents and filming the return to homes. It was a slow day, the big name anchors were gone and the second string had been left to mop up.
The TV crews missed the digging and Brother Gideon had been hustled off to a hospital under guard and with secrecy. Only a few knew he had been captured and these had been sworn to secrecy. Sue and Eli had not told anyone else of the find.
The TV crews left their hotels in the morning at about 8:30 to continue their interviews of the local residents. The CNN crew was set up in a shopping center in the last town to be raided, trying to wring out the last dregs of the story. A woman walked up and demanded to talk with Jerre, the reporter. She wanted to talk in the van. At first she was put off but as she persisted she was admitted to the van. She produced a piece of paper, it was a copy of a sales receipt from a foundation shop.
Jerre looked at it, "So what, someone bought some girdles, bra's and nighties. That's not news."
"Look at it, I fitted six women with maternity bra's and girdles and I sold four regular girdles in a small size, and six nighties.
"So you had a really good day in one sale."
"For sure, but look at the name on the receipt. Captain Eli Jones. He was the Army guy on TV. The women were from his unit, he wasn't along, but that blonde pilot that was on TV was one of them and I'd guess she's near to five months pregnant."
"Come on, this is ridiculous. A woman five months pregnant can't fly an Apache."
"Do you have the footage of the conference?"
"Sure, it's here." They began to look at the conference tape.
"There she is, the one who was the leader. I believe her name was Sue."
Jerre looked at the list of names. Lieutenant Sue Wilt, Apache pilot.
"You're sure she's pregnant?"
The clerk shook her head. "I know what a pregnant woman looks like, it's my job. Do you know news?"
"What about the others?"
Two were about three months, barely showing, the others were four to five months."
"Were any others pilots?"
"I don't think so, they had different uniforms than Sue had. Maybe you could explain something, they took duplicate sets for two of the women, something about getting them for Billie and Wendy, they were in the hospital and were about the same size. Do you know who Billie and Wendy are?"
Jerre picked up the cellular phone and dialed a number. "Can you tell me the names of the two women who were shot down in the helicopters? Thanks."
She smiled and hung up.
"Are you sure the names were Billie and Wendy?"
"Sure."
"They're the wounded pilots. Can you pick out the others on the tape?"
"No."
They thanked the clerk and left.
Harris' and Jones' careers could have been over but for the intervention of a visiting congresswoman. She had come a long way to show her support for her sisters who had fought bravely. Lydia Moffet, Democrat Nevada had pushed the women in combat bill through the house by shear effort and threats. Now her women were heroes and she would be there to congratulate them, have her picture taken with them and bask in the reflected glory. Re-election was coming, a spot on the nightly news with one of these pilots would be better than any spot she could buy. She was waiting in the outer office for Harris to return from his morning jog when the CNN crew came in. She listened to them talking as they waited.
When the Colonel came in she was admitted to his office. "Colonel Harris, I'm Congress woman Lydia Moffet, Democrat Nevada and you had better cooperate because I may be the only friend you have left by the end of the day. There are two reporters out there who think you lied to them about having pregnant women in combat, and they believe they have the evidence to prove it."
He started to splutter.
"Stow it Colonel," she exploded. "How can we get equal rights if we get special treatment just because we're pregnant. I want to meet this CO and you before we let the press in. And have him bring that female pilot along, the one who's reported to be five months pregnant, have them come in the back. You do have a female pilot that fits that description?"
Harris did as he was told. The trouble they were in now, they needed fire support and Lydia was the only gun they could muster. Sue and Eli came in a few minutes later.
"So you're the CO who is allowing pregnant women to fly combat?" Eli tried to back pedal but was cut off. Sue took a step back and stood quietly. There was no sense in getting involved in this discussion unless asked.
"Dammit, your as bad as your Colonel. He tried to deny it too."
"I'm not trying to deny it, I was just trying to explain."
"Did you or did you not know these women were pregnant?"
"Not until Wendy got shot down."
"What does that have to do with it?"
"Wendy was four months pregnant. She told us she was pregnant when she reported she had been wounded."
"Quit having me pry it out of you, what happened to Wendy?"
Jones told the story briefly of Wendy's being shot down.
"You mean to tell me she took a hit and reported her condition as she sat the chopper down under fire?"
"That's right."
"What a pilot, has she been properly decorated?"
"Not yet, the decorations came down yesterday and we wanted to get something for her and Billie. The hospital is over an hour away."
"Who's Billie?"
"She's the other pilot that was shot down. She was pregnant too."
"Did you find out about her after she was shot down too?"
"No, I found out about her the day Wendy was shot down."
"And you left her fly after that?"
"Yes," It came out quiet.
"And this is?" She pointed to Sue.
"Lieutenant Sue Wilt."
"I'm told she too is pregnant, how did you find out about Sue?"
"When I chewed them for not telling me about Wendy, Billie told me she was pregnant too and she was going to continue to fly till this was over. She got shot down the next day."
"Just how many pilots did you loose?"
"Just those two. They're in the hospital. Last word is they'll make it."
With that Harris broke in, "The other commanders lost all of their pilots but four including dead and wounded, Jones has two of that are active. He had two wounded in combat, we had twenty nine dead on the ground and thirty three wounded in the other two units."
"What about Sue here? Is she any good as a pilot?"
"She's a great pilot and understands battle tactics and leadership. But she's more than that, she'll be my exec when we get back. My current exec is being given command of Baker Sam and Sue will stay with me in Baker Dog, for now. She also did the initial planning and execution of the raid that knocked out the one oh five, that probably save a couple hundred lives in the city."
"What's this, for now?"
"Sue is command material. She'll command some day and not too far in the future. She isn't ready yet but I intend to fix that. I gave her an opportunity to command a small unit here and she came through. I recommended her for exec before we came up here, I knew Mark would be going soon. Sue, as my exec you'll be privileged to know things you can't tell. Here's your first. Ken will probably follow Mark to the new post as exec. You'll stay with me to let Mark have the more experienced of the two of you, to balance
the two units. That'll leave an opening. I think one of our Sparrows will move to Apache. It'll probably be Wendy."
Sue looked up, he had recommended her for promotion before this mission, not based on what she had done here.
"She's the best Apache pilot I have and she's developing command skills. Her pregnancy only means she'll be out for a few weeks, maybe three months."
Harris broke in, "Thank you Captain, Ms. Moffett, this man is the best officer I have known in this army. He develops people."
Jones blushed, "You know what I want to hear, when I'll really know I've done a good job? I want to have someone tell me that Sue and Mark, and the rest of them, when they move on to command, are the best officers. If that happens I've been a success."
Lydia smiled, "You really set your sights high. I hope for the good of this country you achieve success. From where I am, I expect that to happen."
Lydia turned to Harris. "Tell me now, why did you deceive the press yesterday?" It was like a voice of doom.
"I didn't lie, I just didn't tell them anything they didn't ask for."
Lydia had been hounded by the press enough to sympathize. She laughed aloud. "You mean you really didn't lie, those reporters weren't smart enough to ask the right questions and understand your answers." He nodded.
"If you quit the Army, I want you for a press Secretary, if you aren't too chauvinistic to be called a secretary."
"Right now you could call me anything. We may not survive this mess. I may need to find another job."
"Now tell me, how can we turn this to our advantage. I want to win this one, not tie."
All but Harris left by the back door leaving the news crew to wait. Sue and Lydia walked to the women's shower area together. Harris called his aide into his office. A few minutes later they told the news crew if they wanted an exclusive story they should be in the van and ready to move in fifteen minutes.
A convoy of six vehicles moved out followed by the CNN van. They met Mandy at the motel and she passed a large bag of clothes to the women in the one truck. Jerre kept complaining that they were probably being led away from a real story. After an hour they pulled into a hospital parking lot. The
soldiers dismounted and went in. The CNN crew followed. They would normally shoot a leader for the report but they didn't know what they were going to report.
They were directed to a sun room on the third floor. Wendy and Billie were already there. Both were in wheelchairs and both had IV's. Billie's chair had her leg elevated and it was in a cast. They surrounded both of them until Jones called them to attention, then they lined up along the room. While they were getting ready for the decoration session Lydia and Sue went to the Administrator's office, requested to see him and was admitted. "Sir, in a half hour you will have two live military heroes in your hospital and unless you take appropriate steps you will be unable to provide them or any other patients with proper medical care. They need to be protected from the press. I'm leaving Lt. Wilt with you to help you with the arrangements." He needed no further prodding.
Harris called out the names and handed out the decorations to them. Not one member of the unit was undecorated. When it was over the other people in the room clapped. Lydia asked the unit to stand at ease and went over to the CNN crew. "You came for an exclusive, you got it. You got to see the first
women decorated for combat assignments."
Jerre nodded, "Now what about the pregnant women being in combat? Wendy and Billie are both pregnant, that's obvious and a lot of the others are too."
"You claim Jones sent pregnant women into combat. That's true. But initially he didn't know they were pregnant." Jerre's eyes brightened. She now had her story.
"Harris lied to us."
"Not really, he answered your question, you just didn't know how to interpret the answer. He may have been devious, but he did answer your question."
"But sending pregnant women into combat, that's stupid."
"Explain that to me Ms. Reporter." Jerre stood silent for a few minutes.
"What if something happened?"
"What if one of the other women got hurt, or one of the men, as far as that goes?"
"We want to interview them."
"I think the best thing you can do is give the story you got and stop at that. Tell what happened, just don't give names."
"I still can't believe that Captain couldn't tell they were pregnant. He has to be stupid."
"Why don't you turn the camera on and pick out the ones that are pregnant. Let's see how you do. If you do well, it'll be a great story. If not, promise you'll dump the tape and forget the names?"
"Can we interview them?"
"We've gotten an agreement with the women. The ones you pick out will agree to be interviewed and if you get the right ones, the three you know of will also give you an exclusive interview, and they will not give anyone else an interview for at least three months. If you pick the wrong ones, you get no story and you promise not to use names of anyone, including the three you already know. If you go too far, these women may sue you for invasion of privacy. I know a law firm in Nevada that would like to argue the case for thirty percent of a million. Agreed?"
Jerre nodded. "This should be easy enough. How many are there?"
"Four. Actually six including the ones in the first three months, if you really feel lucky you can try for them too."
Jerre looked at the women lined up. She picked out two obvious ones, then found two more who looked pregnant. Then she picked the final two, these she proclaimed were three months. Lydia had them step to the side.
Then Lydia asked the pregnant women to step out. Six did and peeled off their coveralls or flight suit. In the maternity outfits they were wearing four of them were obvious. None were in the group selected. Jerre swore.
How could this be so? If she filed a report, she would have to report that Jones had acted in good faith. She had just proven, on camera, that it was quite impossible to determine if a woman was pregnant when she was wearing a flying suit or coveralls.
Jones stood to the side looking at the women who were judged to be pregnant and shook his head. All were smiling, with almost a proud and defiant look, not a one of them seemed embarrassed at having been selected. He kept thinking this is not as it should be. Hether was one of the group selected. She was blonde and skinny as a rail, not an ounce of extra fat on her and she had been picked. He looked at her belly and it obviously bulged and more than a little. He checked out the others, all the slim ones and they too seemed a little bigger than before. He dropped the idea for the time and went to talk to Wendy and Billie. They would have to leave soon.
When they loaded he noticed the six pregnant women and the six who were picked got into the same truck. Jones was standing at the back of the truck waiting when they started to exit at the base.
"Fall in. Tensun."
The twelve lined up and went to attention. He looked at Heather, "This combat duty must have been good for you, when we came here you were as skinny as a rail. Up there you looked almost fat, now after this short ride you're back into shape." He scanned the others, not a one of them looked like he remembered them from two hours before. After a few seconds he called, "At ease."
He looked into the back of the truck. There were two bags of clothes in the van. He pulled one out, it was maternity clothes. He looked in the other, it contained six maternity girdles and six crumpled bath towels.
He returned to the formation with the bag.
"Tensun."
"Why do I have to keep worrying if I can trust you? What are you trying to do to me, worry me to death. If you ever pull a stunt like this one again, I'll see all of you on a cargo plane to Alaska. Some of you will be flying it, the rest servicing it. Do you really think you fooled the press? What if we got caught?"
Sue responded, "Permission to speak sir."
"Permission granted."
"Sir, we felt it would be embarrassing to risk having some of the more, ah, endowed members of our group picked as pregnant. We picked six gals who were slight and technically augmented them so this wouldn't happen. We tried to prevent an embarrassing situation and you're angry with us. And by the way, it was at congressional suggestion."
He barely got out, "Dismissed," before he doubled up laughing.
He said good-by to Mandy after dinner and she headed south. She was carrying an envelope of documents and a list of things to do.
They were up before dawn to get ready for the trip. Everyone was busy packing and cleaning up the area they had occupied. Wendy and Billie were brought from the hospital in an ambulance and transferred to the medivac chopper. The two Baker Sam pilots that had flown with Baker Dog were also brought in to return with them in the other medivac. They came together, they would go home together. The birds took off together at 10:30 for the flight home. The ground units picked up the last of their equipment and headed south before noon. Eli left none behind that he had been given. Everyone who had come with him or been transferred to his command left with it. The brass had decided that the ground troops would better handle the remainder of the cleanup. The attack units needed to go home to prepare for whatever came. There were always hostile areas in the world. They may be called to go to one of them at any time.
As she flew south Sue's mind was filled with questions. So many things had happened, things she had never expected to see. Pilots she knew had died in combat, and on our own soil. She had accepted the fact that other friends had died, in accidents and in battle on foreign soil, but she had never expected to fight here, and against an enemy who were Americans. She remembered the tape from Billie's gun pass, and the scene of the young woman falling in the pit. She had never expected to fire on Americans, and certainly never American women, but Billie had, and Sue was sure she too had, even though the tapes from her guns were never clear enough to show if it was true. She wondered how someone, no how a woman could help destroy life like that, and she asked herself how her flying was different, if it really was so. She knew if she could not resolve this she could never fly another combat mission because she might hesitate to fire and cause a fellow pilot's death. Then she remembered the scenes from the city, the dead and wounded, the children with bandages, wounded and burned. She remembered the story about the mother and her teen age daughter who had each lost a leg in the shelling. Yes, she finally concluded, there was a difference, the Gideons had chosen to kill and maim, she had only been given the mandate to stop the killing. What if the city had been hers, and that child were hers? What if mother and daughter were her next door neighbors or her sister and her daughter? What would she do, what would she want someone to do? In a flash she knew the answer, it was all too clear. She had done her duty, she had done what she had been trained to do, there was no hatred, just a resolve to not allow someone to kill others.
By the time she was ready to land, her mind had been cleared. She would still wonder what happened to the woman in the pit, but it would not cause her pain.
Frank Bitner woke just before noon with a massive hangover. He had been living in a hotel since he returned home and had been sober only twice since he learned his family was wiped out. Everything that really mattered to him was gone in that one massive explosion. But much remained. The house and the two cars were fully insured, his insurance agent left a message the day before telling him a check for just over nine hundred thousand dollars was waiting for him. For the first time in his life, the house, the cars and the money weren't important. After he listened to the message on the answering machine he went on another bender. He couldn't equate the money to his loss. He knew insurance on the lives of his family would bring well over two million dollars and he would be the beneficiary of almost all of those funds, but the money meant nothing. Several times he considered ending his life.
Frank Bitner was sober again. He picked up the USA Today outside his hotel room door. On the front page he saw the picture of Brother Gideon. The story said he was being transferred to another prison because of the threats against his life. The location was being kept secret, Frank took a long look at the picture, then continued reading the remainder of the paper. When he finished, Frank Bitner showered, shaved, put on clean clothes, got a heavy breakfast and went to the office for the first time since the day before the raid. It took the whole morning but he cleared all of the paperwork that had accumulated on his desk during the last two weeks. He worked like a man with a mission. Just after noon he went to a pay phone and made a phone call to a man who had done some special work for him in the past. He finished working about six o'clock and left the office. He made a quick stop at a clothing store and bought a set of work clothes, including a work hat and a pair of safety glasses. He drove out of town to a small bar, ordered an evening meal and waited, drinking cokes and reading a book. About 10:30 a man entered, sat at the end of the bar and ordered a beer. When the man finished his drink he went out, Frank followed a few minutes later. The man was sitting at a picnic table off the edge of the parking lot, Frank joined him after checking that nobody was watching.
The two men talked for a few minutes, Frank handed the man a package, they shook hands parted. Frank drove back to the hotel. The next morning Frank was back at his desk at work. His employees marveled, they wondered how he could be so strong. He seemed like nothing had happened.
It was a sunny Sunday morning. Mandy got up and started to get herself and the children ready for church as usual. She hadn't called Eli, he never attended church unless there was something special. As she came out of the shower Eli was waiting to get in.
"You have duty today?" He would only get up on Sunday if he had duty.
"Sorta, I guess you could call it that, I'm going to church with you, if I'm allowed."
"Sure, you know you are." She walked away, thrilled.
They sat in the seventh pew. He had picked the spot. That was closer to the front than Eli had ever agreed to sit. The worship was good, but neither it or the sermon were in any way special or memorable. When Pastor Fred finished his sermon he walked down from the platform and asked if anyone wanted to have a closer walk with Jesus. It wasn't a passionate call to come forward, in fact he never asked anyone to move. It was just a calm and almost quiet question. Without any hesitation, almost as if this was a play and he was following a script, Eli stood, got out of the seat and met Pastor Fred. The pastor prayed with Eli and they talked quietly for a few minutes. The pastor looked up, "Our new brother Eli wants to tell us what has happened to him." then the pastor handed the mic to Eli. The media had told how Eli and Sue had gone to the middle of the field and marked a spot, how Brother Gideon had been found in a bunker. All had speculated on how the intelligence had been gathered for this coup. Neither had given any indication of the source, and up till now, nobody but Sue and Eli knew. Eli told how this had come about and of the deliverance of his force. It took fifteen minutes and when he finished there was hardly a dry eye in the church.
He ended, "I don't know Jesus as well as I want to, or as well as I need to, or as well as I should. I've got a long way to go, but I found that if I make a step toward him, he moves a mile toward me. I regret it took me this long to learn to know him."
When he handed the mic back, eight men got up and met the pastor at the front. The pastor called for help from the elders. They came forward and several more men and a few women joined them. All wanted to deepen their commitment to Christ. The service was the longest anyone could remember.
They had been home a week when Eli called Julie aside. "Here's a paper for you, any time you want to get started, fine. This is why I told you to wait to have your back fixed till we got home."
She read the paper. It was an authorization to have her surgery done at a civilian hospital by a prominent private plastic surgeon rather than a staff doctor on the base hospital.
"How did you swing this? And this fast too. These papers take years, if they do get approval."
"You remember Lydia, the congresswoman?"
"Yes, why?"
"She called someone in the Pentagon who called someone who called someone and the request got signed and mailed to us Fed Ex!" An appointment card was attached to the paper. The appointment was for 4 PM today.
Her eyes widened. "How do you get an appointment for today? The authorization paper was just signed yesterday. It takes weeks to get an appointment with someone like this. This doctor is well known. I've read stories about him in magazines."
"My wife called the doctor's office. She asked for the earliest cancellation available. Before the kids were born she worked there. She fills in when they have vacations. When you know the people in the office, it's easy to make things happen."
"Thank her for me."
He nodded. "You'll be about three miles off the base. As soon as you're ready to go, let me know, I'll have you put on inactive status and when you're ready to come back, we'll put that through."
"I'd like to hug you but I guess a salute must do." She saluted, then took one step toward him and gave him a hug. She stepped back, almost embarrassed, "Somehow the salute didn't seem like enough, again, thanks."
Jamie called the college for an interview. Her decision had been made that night in the bar as she tried to save people without really knowing what to do. She felt so helpless, and yet so badly needed. The feeling was wonderful and frightening. She wanted to become a trauma room nurse, not just a nurse, she told her friends, a trauma room nurse. Nothing less than that was good enough. Her interview was scheduled for later in the week. She would no longer turn tricks, her last one was the night of the raid. She had well over three thousand dollars, she would use it to start her education. Her next call was to the Bob Evans Restaurant along the bypass, they had an ad for waitresses in the newspaper. She needed a job away from the alcohol and tricks, Bob Evans may not be perfect, but it would fill those needs for now. She heard the tips were good and they served no alcohol. She applied for a job there on Friday and on Saturday the call came. The answer was yes, she had the job, could she report later in the day for training? She had only one answer, "Yes." Her life was now developing meaning.
Dennis Hovis was finally lucid. He had been unconscious for over two weeks. He remembered the walk down Market Street, the terrible pain as he was hit by machine gun fire. He saw his wife Lucy fall, crawled to her side and found she was still alive but unconscious and badly hurt. He then crawled toward a doorway, to call for help. He saw a man approach, take things from his wife's body, then realize she was alive. She roused and fought as he tried to take her ring. The man pulled a knife. Dennis tried to move back toward her. As he did he heard the loud report of a shotgun and saw the man fall. Another man took the bag the man was carrying and left. The man was carrying a shotgun. Dennis would never forget the man's face. From the doorway he called to the man to help him but the man just continued on. But he had saved his wife's life.
Dennis had been sure his wife was dead, later in the day the nurse told him she was in fact still in the same hospital and was recovering. The longer he lay there the more hatred grew in him. These people would pay.
Barry Farrell had visited Lucy several times and had checked on Dennis's condition almost daily since the day after the raid. He learned Dennis was awake and dropped in to see how he was doing. He found Dennis in a room with four other patients. Most hospital rooms were over crowded, this was no exception. The conversation was superficial, the kind of things two friends would discuss in such a situation. When Barry was about to leave Dennis pulled him down next to his face. "I want the men who did this. Find out where they are, let me know. Let me know how we can make them pay." Barry left with a mission. It would take only two days.
Julie returned the base the next morning with a smile. She found Eli. "My surgery is scheduled for Monday morning if you approve, I'll have to check into the hospital on Sunday night. They plan to do it all in one procedure. While I was there they took another X-ray of my body. In addition to the ones in my but, they found a couple of other pieces of scrap iron the other hospital missed. They'll open my but, take out the big pieces of metal, take out the couple of small pieces in my back the other hospital missed, and do something to the scars to make them less noticeable. If I chose, they'll open the scar on my left cheek, insert the prosthesis and stretch the flesh I have left to cover the prosthesis. Sounds like a grisly procedure, doesn't it?"
He nodded. She was sharing more than he had expected or in fact even wanted to know. Her smile changed to a thoughtful look. "Cap, I have a problem. The doc showed me pictures of several of his patients before and after surgery. Don't get me wrong, they all look better, but there's more to the story. He also took pictures of me, and then took one of me with what Mindy made for me. Cap, would you be mad if I didn't have that part of the surgery? If I just took the metal out and the scars fixed?"
"It's fine with me, it's your body, but why not have it all done, be as normal as possible?"
"Because with Mindy's creation I look better from behind than any of his patients, he says the surgery will have some long term discomfort, putting in a silicon implant has some risks, and I tried on a one piece bathing suit and my slacks for my boyfriend last night and he thinks I look fine. If he does, and I do, why should I bother?"
"I'll not be offended, no matter what, I wanted you to have the opportunity to have what's best for you."
"Thanks Cap. I go for surgery Monday, could some of you drop in later in the week? I'll probably not want too many visitors the first couple of days. They tell me I'll feel pretty rough and may want privacy."
"We'll do what we can, if you decide you want visitors, give us a call, otherwise we'll drop Wednesday or Thursday."
Barry Farrell returned to his boss's hospital room. Dennis Hovis looked at him expectantly. Barry knew the question without it being asked, "What had he learned about the Hanshues?"
The full briefing too about twenty minutes. The Hanshues and their families were being held in an old barracks at Indiantowne Gap. It was a military base, getting in would be very difficult. They were guarded around the clock by armed troops. The troops were good, although not crack combat units, they were MP's, trained in the job they were doing. For this duty they were probably as good and as effective as any Marine force. The barracks was protected by barbed wire, with lights and towers. After a long discussion, Dennis gave Barry some instructions and lay back in the bed. He and his wife were alive, and he had the man with the shotgun to thank for it. Barry Farrell would find him so they could reward him, but the Hanshues would pay and they would pay dearly for what they had done.
The next day Barry Farrell was back in the hospital room to visit Dennis Hovis. He had the information he needed. First, he had the name of the bounty hunter, Ed Garver and an address. Barry was commissioned to see that Ed received a reward, in the amount of $5,000. More important, he was also asked to begin the planning for a mission to destroy the remainder of the Hanshue sect. Dennis had decided that awful night that if he survived, none of those who had played a part in the raids would go to the grave in peace. He had the means, desire and ability to see that happen. Barry would carry out the orders he had been given, the money he had already been paid to do the job would be enough to keep him on easy street for at least ten years, for life if he invested it astutely.
Barry Farrell placed an envelope on the step, knocked on Ed Garver's door and quickly slipped around the corner. He waited, watching the door. When Ed opened the door he found an envelope on the step. He opened it to find $5,000. A note in the envelope had only one word, "Thanks." He took the money and put it with the others.
With that detail covered Barry now began the second task assigned to him, to punish the members of the sect. He began with the newspapers, finding names of people who had relatives killed in the attacks. He carefully contacted each one, checking to see if there was enough hatred to spark an action.
Ed Garver went to his basement. He had over $73,000 and a lot of jewelry Ed knew may be traceable. He wanted nothing to tie him to the thefts, he had not thought of the jewelry as being a problem on the night of the raid but now he saw it as a liability. He had taken nothing from the bodies of the dead, he had killed looters and stolen from them and he mused, saved at least one life. He looked at the jewelry and made his decision. He took out the jewelry, cleaned it and carefully packaged it. He slipped into the lobby of the city police station that afternoon when the desk Sergeant was busy and dropped the package into the mailbox used to collect parking fines. Hopefully much of the jewelry would be returned to the owners. He would keep the money.
Eli and a couple of the others dropped in on Julie late Wednesday evening. She was still confined to the bed, on her stomach, and covered by a sheet. Her chin was propped on a pillow so she could see the door.
She saluted when they came in, "Doc says he took out all the metal, I'll be able to fly without overloading the aircraft. It feels like they took a couple of pounds of me out too. It hurts worse back there than the day it happened." She dropped her eyes a couple of seconds and then looked up, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to complain."
Eli looked at her, "You have the right to say it hurts if it does. You earned that purple heart."
She nodded, "I just want to put this behind me."
Someone hollered, "You have." With that every one broke up laughing and it took her several seconds to realize what they thought was so funny. Her back was still sore but she was happy. She would be going home on Friday. When they were about to leave she asked Sue to stay a couple of minutes.
"Pull the curtain." Sue pulled it. Julie motioned her to come. "I can't see what they did, they all keep telling me it's fine, please take a look and tell me, did they do a good job. I trust you, tell me the truth, no matter what."
"Are you sure you want me to do this?"
"Yes, you're the only one who can tell what they did. You were the only one from the squadron to see my back before." Sue batted back a tear. This young woman she had thought was a tough cookie was a human being, with feelings. "Also I want you to tell Cap I said I'm happy with the result and thanks, no matter what my back looks like. He really went to bat for me."
Sue lifted upper end of the sheet. "They did a nice job on the scars, they're really not very noticeable. I'm sure they'll fade even more. You're going to look great." She stopped. There were several long stitch lines on Julie's buttocks, both were red and swollen but the left side was obviously still abbreviated. "But they didn't they fix your but!"
Julie had forgotten, in the excitement she hadn't shared her decision with Sue. "Sorry, I decided to skip that part of the procedure. I looked at the risks and decided it wasn't worth it. I don't want to have a silicon implant."
With the word silicon Sue nodded. Recent studies had shown the risks of problems with these devices were great. "Mindy's handiwork looks and feels fine. In addition, I lost so much skin that I'd have needed at last two surgeries to finish the job, then there was a chance I couldn't tolerate the implant after it was in and it might have to be taken out. It looked like too much trouble for what I'd get out of it."
"I think I'd have passed on it too. but it's hard to say unless you have it happen to you. You know, spend a week in my stretch pants." They both laughed.
"Could you do something else for me?"
"Sure. I'll try."
"Tell Mindy about this, the surgery I mean, and tell her thanks. I know she hasn't the foggiest notion why it was important to me, she's so pretty and she doesn't understand why my body was important to me. She actually thinks it's vanity, and maybe it is. Without a good alternative I'd have opted for the surgery, I'd have done anything to look normal. I know the surgery would've been a mistake but I'd have needed to do it."
"OK, I will. I have some news for you, when you return you'll find some things have changed. I'm sure you know our unit can have only two Sparrow pilots. With you and Betty transferring in that would make four with Billie and Wendy. We also had another guy, Jack who had had been temporarily assigned to us the day before we went north, he had a problem in another unit and they were giving him a second chance with us. Cap gets all the misfits, you know that. Jack got caught smoking pot last night, had all kinds of
drugs when they searched his things. He's out. Cap has been working my tail off." She stop, smiled, "Sorry, bad choice of words, no?"
Julie nodded.
"I think he's trying to let me run the unit, he's just standing back watching to see if I make a mistake. It makes me real nervous."
"Don't worry about Cap, he thinks you can do it, otherwise he wouldn't give you the chance."
"But it makes me nervous."
"Sure it does, but what about me, with four Sparrow pilots, I'll probably be transferred out, I was the last one in. We can't have two extra Sparrow pilots."
"No, that's the bad news in what is otherwise all good, Billie is being discharged with a partial pension."
Julie's face turned from a smile to somber. "That's terrible. She was one good pilot."
"For sure. It's hard to take but it's the right thing, she has over half of the bone missing in her lower leg and will probably always have some problems walking. The Army's decision sure was hard on her. She lived to fly."
"That still makes one extra Sparrow pilot in the unit. Who's the one out?"
"Wendy."
"Oh no. She's to good to loose. Where's she going?"
"She's taking Apache 3."
"What? How'd that happen?"
"Cap went in to the commander, told him he wanted to keep everyone. Wendy had some time on the Apache simulator and it looked good. She and Billie used to take all of the spare simulator time, they traded off on the Apache to learn how to do aerial combat. He showed them her simulator results and came out carrying Wendy's orders to move."
"He sure carries a lot of clout. What happened?"
"He's a bona fide war hero. He has congressional support. Every time he asks for something they give it to him. Even guys with a couple of stars on their shoulders are afraid to say 'no' to him."
Sue sat quiet for a minute than leaned close to Julie, "Want to hear something funny?"
"Sure."
"Some of the gals have been asking Mindy to do some sewing for them."
"Making what?"
"What she did for you."
"But I'm one of a kind, there can't be more than one or two more like me in the whole world."
"How many women do you think don't cut as sharp a figure as they'd like?"
"A lot, I guess."
"They want Mindy to make something to fill out both sides, not just one."
"Awesome. Is she making them?"
"She refuses to tell me anything. We'll just have to keep watching." Sue patted her own but.
"Not you?" Julie asked.
"Not me, for sure. I got more than enough back there, at least for a while."
Julie laughed as Sue closed the door.
Wendy walked into the Captain's office. She was still a little pale but was doing well. "Cap, I'd like to get in a little flight time before I get to big to fit in a Sparrow. The flight surgeon gave me this paper and I have in my simulator time." She handed the paper to him.
"Get your gear on and go. With your new assignment, this may be your last chance to fly a Sparrow for a long time."
She spent a half hour in the air and landed.
Eli was waiting for her when she sat down.
"How was it?"
"Cap, I was scared, afraid I couldn't get back in and fly, I had to walk around it a couple of times before I got in to take off. That flight tells me I can't quit. I think I got a little glimpse of how Billie must feel."
"I knew you couldn't quit. Good to have you back."
She went to the ready room to fill out her flight reports. A dark haired woman she didn't know was sitting at the table reading a manual. Her face was familiar but Wendy couldn't remember where they had met. Wendy walked over and offered her hand, "I'm Wendy, have we met?"
The woman slid back the chair and half stood, offering her hand, "I'm Julie, good to meet you, I've heard so much about you." There was an awe in her voice. "I didn't recognize you in the flights. You looked so different in the hospital, the day the Cap passed out the decorations. I fly Sparrow too, maybe some day I'll be as good as you." She stood up and looked slightly down at Wendy almost embarrassed. "Golly, you're only 5 foot 2. I expected you to be seven feet tall the way they talked about you when I came to the
unit. Why, the way they tell it, you and Billie could do anything with a Sparrow. I haven't heard of either of you shooting an apple off someone's head, but I'm sure that story will come out soon, and I expect you two could do it."
Wendy laughed, a little embarrassed, "Billie's a much better pilot, she taught me a lot, she kept me from washing out, but thanks."
"Yea, they say she flies better, but you think better. Everyone here I talk to says you two together are like having a whole squadron." Wendy blushed.
"I'm glad to meet you, Julie, I heard you took over when Billie got shot down. Glad you did, the unit needed you real bad. Without you Sue would have had to go to Sparrow, leaving an Apache on the ground. You did a good job, if the press reports are any near correct. Sit down and tell me what happened after I got shot down. Billie and I sorta went into a vacuum when we got hurt."
The conversation took nearly an hour. By the time it was over a bond had been forged between the two women.
Pastor Fred Joyce opened the morning service with the admonition, "This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it." He looked around the congregation and continued, "And you can't rejoice without a smile on your face. Some of you look like you've been living in a pickle factory and just got baptized in vinegar." He raised his voice, "And just in case anyone here isn't sure, I didn't do it." There was laughter from everywhere in the church.
Sue looked around the church, the only white faces were those of their unit and the two members of the TV news crew that had come. The station learned where Eli went to church and sent a crew to film some background. They had no idea his flight would be there too, in fact they would not know that until later in the service. The church was old and big, and she noted, only about one quarter full. Later she learned the building was acquired in a bank sale. The congregation bought what they could afford, some day its size
would be an asset.
Everyone was here, only Billie showed any outside signs of the battle, she had a cast on her leg and was still using crutches. At first Sue felt lost in a service that was totally unfamiliar. The songs were lively and talked of fighting a battle and winning a victory. The music was supplied by a Bass Guitar, drums, a piano, two trumpets, a sax, a flute, a cello, bongos and an electric keyboard. She had never seen such a band in church. Five backup singers accompanied the leader. After almost a half hour of exciting, almost martial music the mood changed and the songs became ones of quiet worship and honor to God. It was like the people were singing the songs to Him, not to each other. Long before the change the strangeness of the place left and a peace covered her. She had gone to Sunday School as a child but had rarely attended church since graduation from High School. Church had become irrelevant in her life but here in this totally unfamiliar place was a wonderful presence she had craved.
When the singing ended, the pastor returned to the pulpit. He made some announcements, took the offering and then walked down near the front seats. He seemed so comfortable. He was not like pastors she had known, so stodgy and formal. He was warm and friendly. Although there were several hundred people in the church, it was as though he was talking to a small group of friends.
"My sermon for today," he began, "is going to be short and simple." From somewhere in the front came an "Amen", followed by a "Thank you Jesus."
Everyone laughed. This really was not church as Sue had known it. Pastor Fred smiled and as if nothing had happened, then went on, "It's about the love of God."
"Several weeks ago some of the people here today were far from home, in a place near Harrisburg Pennsylvania. I grew up in Harrisburg, I went to church there as a child, I went to the same tent revivals there that a man named Harry Hanshue attended. Harry saw a man named Clifton Erickson teach of the love of God and so did I. Harry Hanshue was a man of love, a man after God's own heart. He saw the message Brother Erickson preached was a message from God. He founded the Hanshue sect. When he died, he was succeeded by a man who cared only for himself, a man who did not know or love God, no matter how much he claimed to hear from him. This is evidenced by his lack of love for his fellow man. In first John four seven and eight it says love is of God and everyone who loves is born of God. The one who does not love does not know God. Harry Hanshue loved and heard from God, Brother Gideon as he is called did not love nor did he know or hear from God. He was a fraud. He served only himself.
"I know God, I know his love, I know he cares for me, I know he cares for each and every one here in this building, this city, this state, this nation, the whole world, no matter what you are, who you are, where you are from or what you've done. Let me assure you, God loved you so much that He gave His son Jesus to die for you. Jesus allowed himself to be nailed to a cross and He died for you. No matter what you've done you can be forgiven and you too can know the divine peace He's given to many of us. No matter how good you have been you still need His forgiveness. No matter how bad you have been, it's still available to you. If you want to know Him, right now, ask him to forgive you and ask Him to help you live for Him. Let me repeat, He loves you."
With that he looked across the congregation. "Our regulars here are probably going to think I didn't give them their money's worth today, I usually preach for nearly an hour. But I'm sure this is what God wanted me to say and if I say more or less, I'll be wrong."
Many of the congregation wondered why he didn't ask for people to come forward to accept Jesus as he usually did, later they would understand. To have done so would have been to short circuit God's plan for the morning. It was not the right time.
"We have some very special visitors here today and I want you to meet them. Early this week I got a call from Sue," he looked at a piece of paper he pulled from his pocket, "that's Lt. Wilt, one of the folks that flies an Apache in our Brother Jones' unit. She wondered if she and some of the others from his unit would be welcome to come and worship with us today and if she could say something to honor our brother. God's been telling me we need to be more open to all people so I decided to invite her and the rest of the unit. Sue and I met briefly this morning and I must confess that all white people look the same to me so I can't pick her out." Everyone laughed. "Sue, could you come up here with me?"
Sue rose tentatively and walked to the front of the church. Pastor Fred handed her a microphone. "It's all yours."
"Thank you Pastor Fred," she looked over at him tentatively and asked, "it's OK for me to call you that isn't it?"
He nodded, "My critics call me a lot worse. I'd be happy if they stuck to that." Again there was laughter and Sue was caught up in it. Church had never been this much fun for her.
"Thanks again. This has been a good day for me. We really just wanted to come here to say thanks to a couple of really special people but quite frankly it's become much more than that to me. I've never been in a church that had this much fun. And there's a peace here I've never experienced before." Eli felt his hand being squeezed and looked at Mandy and smiled. She nodded toward Pastor Fred who had his head slightly bowed just in time to see him mouth, "Thank you Lord." When Sue called him earlier she had
addressed him as Pastor Fred, but it was a title, just like Mister or Lieutenant. Now the word Pastor carried a different tone, one of respect. He was humbled by the honor. But her words had confirmed much of what he had heard from God early that morning.
Sue was continuing, "I've enjoyed it so much. As you know, five weeks ago we too were soldiers in a battle." Pastor Fred caught the word 'too' and smiled. She already knew more than he had hoped. "You've sung about a battle with an evil force here today and I think I know what you're talking about because our battle was with an evil force. I know there is a difference in the methods and weapons, but there are a lot of things that are the same." She paused, "And we won. And after listening to you this morning I know you'll win too. You may have doubts about that, but I don't after seeing this. But let me tell you why we won. The first night all of us here could have been killed but our Captain knew we had to be ready for anything the enemy did, no matter what, just like your song about the Army of God being primed and ready for battle. Others around us weren't ready and many of them died. I had several friends in Baker Sam and Baker Tom that didn't make it. But we were ready because we had a Captain who made us get ready. He made us work hard to be ready. We didn't like it, but we did it any way. I don't know much about what you believe but I think Jesus is getting you ready in the same way, for a big battle that will really matter, at first it seemed funny to me at the time that you called him your captain in one of the songs. But let me tell you this, now I understand."
She took a deep breath, looked at Pastor Fred and continued. "I had really planned a speech but this wasn't it."
"Several times our captain put us at the right place to fight or the right place to survive. When we were in the thick of the battle we were arrayed to win. There were times the battle was around us but we were in a calm, like the eye of a storm. We were protected from harm. Aircraft are sitting ducks on the ground, in the air we are awesome. You never want to be on the ground when a battle starts. And we took off twice just moments before the enemy attacked on the ground. Not only were we able to survive, we were able to help protect our people on the ground."
Mandy shut her eyes, it was her words, the words she had heard while praying, "the eye of the storm." Sue was hearing from God too and didn't know it. How could she tell this sophisticated and educated white woman something so important and be sure she would listen and understand the significance of it? Mandy began to pray. She may not be able to tell Sue, but she knew who could. And she was already sure Sue was listening, even if she didn't know it.
"Sure, we had some injuries, some of them serious, sure it was tough, we worked long hours, sometimes without enough sleep but we won and we have to thank him for his leadership. At one time I'd have laughed off what I'm saying as impossible, but I know for sure Captain Jones was listening to God, getting guidance and was obeying. I want to thank him and his wife who prayed for us, she too should share in the glory of the victory, she too should wear a medal, just as any of those who supported us should share in it."
She made eye contact briefly with Mandy and saw a smile cross her face as she realized her prayer was being answered. Tears filled Sue's eyes, she wiped them back and finished. "Thank you Mandy, thank you so much Pastor flr leading people like the Jones' and thank you for this opportunity to honor our captain and to worship with you." She handed back the mic and walked back to her seat.
"Does anyone else have anything they'd like to share? If you do, come down here with me. I now know exactly what to do."
There was a conversation between Julie and the man with her, then both got up and walked to the front. She whispered something into the pastor's ear and he handed her the mic.
"I'm Julie King, I wasn't in Cap's group the first night and I got hurt pretty bad, I'll carry scars for life from the injuries. I broke out of a hospital and got to fly with his group. I did it for the wrong reason, I wanted revenge for what they did to me. I'm thankful that Cap got my head screwed on right before I hurt someone else or got myself killed trying. He also did more than I could have ever expected, both there and since we came back. His wife has done really nice things for me, and she didn't even know me. He's a wonderful person and a real leader. Most of my old unit is dead." She stopped and wiped tears. "This is Brad Duncan here, he's a wonderful man but we've been living together for over a year, living in sin, we new it was wrong, and we decided this morning that we're no longer going to continue to live that way. We just asked Pastor Fred to set a time to meet with us, to counsel with us and then to marry us and if after that you'll have us, we want to make this our church. We both prayed back there and asked Jesus to forgive us when the pastor finished his sermon. We weren't sure we did it right, we just did what we felt to do. I don't know what we should do next, so you'll all have to be patient with us, we have a lot to learn."
Brad leaned over and said, "That goes for me too."
The church erupted with clapping. Pastor Fred walked between them and hugged both of them. "For someone to become a part of this body we usually ask for a confession of faith, I believe we have that, and then the congregation shows acceptance by standing." Before he finished the sentence all but the visitors were standing. Julie handed back the mic and began to walk away. Before they got to their seats they were hugged by everyone who could reach them. Never had they seen such an outpouring of love.
Pastor Fred looked at the floor for a few seconds and then said, "Thank you Holy Spirit. I really didn't know what to do here a minute ago, but I think now I have definite direction. I know many of our visitors aren't accustomed to our method of worship, but I hope they'll be open to what's happening. I assure you it's of God and I believe you'll see that. You guys in the sound area, get ready with those short tapes. For those who aren't from our body, let me explain this. I'll be saying some words from God over people and we want to give them a tape of what's said. We want you to look back and check it out, in fact we're not afraid to have people check it out, we want them to do so. We have a news crew here, I appreciate their sensitivity in the service up till now. I'll ask them to either quit filming or put in a new tape. I'll wait for you to get ready if you want to stay. I'd like you to if you wish. There may be things that happen here that are private, if so they aren't news. I want to review anything from now on before you use it, if nothing is private you can use anything you film. Can you agree with me on that?"
The camera operator nodded, switched a tape and gave a thumbs up. A senior man, he would rather get part of a story or work within restrictions than to get none of it. And he somehow was sure this was going to be big and he wasn't going to leave if there was a way to stay.
Pastor Fred looked at the group. "Sue, could you come back up here?"
She was puzzled by his request but something in his voice literally drew her to the front. When she got to him he looked directly into her eyes, "Sue, you know God loves you, don't you?" She nodded. For the first time in her life she heard that said to her personally and for the first time she was absolutely sure it was true. She nodded and bowed her head, in reverence to God. The pastor continued, "And I know you've not had the opportunities to learn about him like some here have, in fact, you've had no real opportunity. In arranging for this meeting today, you have been obedient to the pull of God and for that you will be blessed. But you've heard from God more than once, and you listened even when you didn't understand. You don't even realize it, but He has told me to show it to you. When Brother Eli showed you the map, you saw a black spot on a map before he marked it, and you felt the hair stand up on your neck when you walked over the spot where Brother Gideon was hiding before Brother Eli marked it. You didn't tell anyone about it, did you?"
Sue's face tilted up to Pastor Fred. She was smiling as tears flowed down her face. A wisp of her blonde hair fell into her tears and was sticking to her face. She pushed it back. "How did you know about that, I didn't even tell Cap. I was so afraid of what I saw, of what I knew. I was afraid they would think I was crazy." It was the first time she had even admitted this to herself, she had known exactly where Brother Gideon was hiding. "When we walked out on the field that night I knew where he would place the stake before he put it there. I was afraid to tell even him. I knew he wouldn't understand. It was OK for him to know, but not me, I wasn't good enough." She began crying.
Eli bowed his head, just over a month ago he too had said he wasn't good enough. His statement was suddenly put into perspective, nobody was good enough, it was by the grace and power of God. Her statement began to free him from his mock humility.
"Sue, you prayed that night and you have since, but you really didn't know how to approach God. I'll tell you, He's pleased with you because you've used what you knew. I'm not trying to hurt you by telling you this, but to show you how much God cares about you and how much He loves you. You didn't come here by accident, He brought you here so you would know Him. She nodded. "Sue, I don't understand some of what I see for you but I see a little blonde haired boy." She began to sob and a tall blonde man came and stood next to her and put his arm around her waist.
"Pastor, how could you know that, we just saw the sonogram yesterday, our baby is a boy. We didn't tell anyone."
The TV cameraman was getting everything.
Pastor Fred looked at them, "Sue and?"
"Dan."
"Sue and Dan, God has his hand on you. He wants you to know him. You'll find joy and happiness in Him. There are more children, at least two more for you. Sue, you have just about a year to study under Captain Jones, then you'll be on your own. And shortly after that you'll be the first woman to lead in combat." He stopped for a moment. "You'll see combat again. And you'll win again if you follow after God. You'll lead as ably as Brother Eli. You'll face what seems to be impossible odds and come out as more than a conqueror."
"Dan, don't be afraid for you or her, you'll see your grandchildren. There's more but it isn't for now, go sit down." Sue and Dan would join the body the following week. As they went to their seat a young man with a smile handed them a tape. Dan slipped it into his pocket and said thanks. A year later it would be a source of comfort when Sue was engaged in a battle a thousand miles away. The others would keep the tapes they were given too. Some would put them on a shelf for a time, then take them down and study them carefully as they saw the words of Pastor Fred come true. For most they would be a symbol of a God who cares.
"I'm seeing a short woman with dark hair, she's pregnant. If you will come down here and bring your husband along.
Wendy and Bob came to the front and introduced themselves.
"Bob, you fly too?" He nodded. Bob was a Pave Low pilot. "Wendy, like Sue, you too have a year to learn. The army doesn't know this yet, and don't bother telling them now, but you're going to be a part of a unique team, the first of its kind in the Army. You're going to be the first woman executive officer to serve in battle under a woman. Don't be jealous of Sue, she'll become your strongest supporter and best friend. You need to learn to support her, know her and work with her. When the time comes, you two will have to work as one. You and your people will survive only if you make that happen. There can be no strife. Bob, you'll find yourself at home, learn to pray but don't worry, she'll come home. She has gotten her last Purple Heart. She will fight again but she will be the victor. You have both been worried about her wounds, about your baby. Your son is strong and healthy. And you're concerned that your wounds will make this an only child. Do not fear, your son will not be an only child."
Bob whispered something and Pastor Fred shook his head. He handed the mic to Bob. "Wendy and I too made a commitment today. Not just to God, but to this church, if you'll have us, that is."
The congregation rose again as one.
As they were seated, one of the elders, Gary, came up and whispered something to the pastor. The pastor handed him the wireless mic and shrugged.
Gary walked back the aisle to Billie. He took her hands and as she stood in front of him he smiled at her. "You're a beautiful person in God's sight, a lovely woman. You've cried yourself to sleep most of the nights since you were hurt. You feel deserted, cheated. You love to fly. And your dreams were all shattered in one moment. Let me assure you, you aren't deserted. God cares and there are a lot of people here who care. But I have good news for you. If you'll listen to me, your accident will not bring you down, either as a person or from the sky you love, you protected God's servant and Satan did not want you to even survive. He had hoped to kill you, in retribution for protecting Eli, and if he had, he may have been able to win an even greater victory. The day you were hurt, Captain Jones had been promised you would survive and your death would have seriously shaken his faith. Your life was important to others. Had you not flown, the person who replaced you would have been killed. Did someone in your unit crash on a landing?"
Betty pushed her way to Billie's side had hugged her, sobbing. It took several seconds for Billie to realize the significance, the Captain KNEW she would be shot down, as certainly as he knew the attacks would come and he had bet her life God would protect her and she would live. Later they learned Betty had never made a good power off landing in her career, she damaged two Sparrows in training and her Captain had signed her off rather than spend the time to teach her how it was accomplished. She would probably have not survived had she been flying the damaged Sparrow.
"You may be feeling cheated, but avoid the desire to pity yourself. There's something you must do tomorrow. There's a message, I'm not sure what but I think it's a phone call, you got it Friday and you didn't feel emotionally strong enough to answer it. You must return it. You'll be blessed by it, financially blessed but more important, you'll be able to fly. In fact they'll pay you well to fly, much better than the army, and you'll be able to use that money to help people you can now only hope to help."
She had cried herself to sleep, that was predictable. There was a message on her machine when she returned from therapy and she had been too despondent to answer it. How could he have known that? Before she could say anything the newsman moved over, whispered something into Billie's ear and walked away.
Gary moved the mic toward her, "He just told me the station he works for called me Friday afternoon and wants me to take their traffic helicopter job as soon as I can fly."
"Billie, answer that call. It will be a great source of blessing to you and you'll be able to bless many because of the position and influence it will give you."
Gary looked at the pastor and shrugged. He felt way over his head and yet he knew there were more things to share. Pastor Fred looked back, "If you have anything else, go for it."
"This doesn't make sense. I keep getting something for Mandy, but the picture I get is a woman with long dark hair and a very light, almost white complexion. Mandy doesn't look like that."
Without thinking Julie blurted out, "Mindy does."
Mindy had come only out of respect for the Captain. She had been brought up in a church where good people had misunderstood the idea of God speaking to his people openly and they had taught this was wrong. What she was seeing told her otherwise but she was still trying to rationalize the conflict in her mind. People were being blessed by the words of these men and the things she knew about them were right on. Her only concern up till now was that it could have been staged although as each word came, the difficulty to stage it grew. Without hesitation, she stood.
"Come here," Gary said as he took her hands, "My daughter, you know Jesus and you love Him with all of your heart and He is pleased with you. But you've been taught by some this is not of me and now I'm about to show you these people have meant well but have been wrong. My daughter, you have cried many times in the night because you feared you had killed someone. You carried a gun during the time you were in Pennsylvania?"
In her mind she was saying, "How could he know?" She knew the answer and in a moment all of the things she had been taught were invalidated and swept away. She nodded affirmatively, "I was on ground crew, I had a position on perimeter defense during the ground attacks."
Gary went on, "I see you protecting someone like a mother bear protects her cubs, yet almost holding fire, fearing you might kill someone." Her eyes went tight shut trying to hold back the tears. "You even pulled one person back from the line of fire at great risk to yourself." She nodded. Only Janice, the girl she had pulled back knew that. "When you loaded ammunition you hoped it would not kill, only end the struggle." This was something she had been ashamed to share.
"Let me assure you that you've not killed. I've destined you to build and restore and I could not allow you to kill. You will restore what has been taken from people, physically, emotionally and spiritually and you will do it well because I have called you and I have already begun to equip you to do it. I am even now putting in place the things that will allow you to grow into what I have intended for you. Your time in the military was my design to give you training, discipline and opportunity for what is to come." A flood of relief fell over her. "When you made a check flight before you left Pennsylvania, you looked at a beautiful house from the air, and you hoped for it, then you told yourself it was too good for you." He paused. "Mindy, that house cannot be yours, it will not be yours, but only because it's not good enough for you, my beloved deserve the best. Just stay faithful to me and you'll see wonderful things happen. You joined the Army because of finances?" She nodded. "You'll leave it for the same reason and soon. The army has been a stepping stone for you. Don't worry, it will be for your good. The time will come when you'll not be able to afford to stay."
Janice slipped out of her seat, moved over to Mindy and hugged her. Gary looked at her for a moment and continued, "You came within seconds of death, through it you have learned to live. Now you have the opportunity to learn even more about yourself."
Janice began to cry, "She pulled me back, I got hit in the shoulder, I got scared, and lost it. I got out of the foxhole while they were shooting, was standing up. Mindy climbed out, pulled me back, and kept firing. She saved my life. I'll never be able to repay her."
Gary looked down at her, "But you've already done that. You survived. Her greatest fear during that action was not for herself, but that you would die before she could get help for you. She had tried to share the news of Jesus with you and you wouldn't listen." Mindy hugged her as Gary went on, "She loved you because Jesus loved you. She would have died for you."
"How can Jesus possibly love me? I've done a lot of things wrong, I've had an abortion." She blurted it out before she realized she was in public but was relieved she had said it. Gary didn't seem to be surprised.
"We've all done things wrong. He loves you. I want you to go along with Mindy and Mandy, boy that's a mouthful. They'll show you how much God loves you." Before he finished the sentence the women were moving.
Gary and the pastor spoke words over several of the other members of the crew. Later all would admit they seemed to know personal secrets. Several in the group squirmed, would he expose their intimate secrets? Later they would realize he never exposed things that would hurt, but what would encourage them. Fifteen people would call the Pastor during the week to counsel with him. About half of them were referred to Gary, the pastor could not handle the workload.
Pastor Fred took back the mic, he looked at the news crew, and tears filled his eyes. "I thought I was finished but the boss tells me otherwise. See, I have a boss too and he demands I do what he says. I've always avoided the media, to be honest, I've been afraid of them but somehow this is different and I have something for you if I have your permission."
Both nodded.
"Tell me your names."
"Bill."
"George."
"I have good words for you this morning but there is also a warning I must give to you. You both thought you came here to work this morning to do a job and that you have done, and I might add you have done well. You have done your job with discretion and without interfering with what God is doing and I thank you and I know He is pleased. God tells me those I bless, He will bless. I bless you for your kindness and I pronounce His blessing on both of you. You thought you got the short straw with this assignment but God has brought you here for both of you to be blessed and His plan will not be spoiled. He loves you and today is the day for that love to be revealed to you. This day will result in great blessing for both of you."
He motioned to the cameraman, "Bill, you've worked hard, given of yourself and many times the story has escaped you, things have been stolen from you because others have gotten the credit you deserved. Your relationship with your wife is strained. Satan wants to tear her from you. He wants to steal some more. You are chosen of God and Satan would like to kill you. He hopes to bring despair that will cause you to crack." The camera man was a pro, he was still getting every frame and monitoring the audio but all the while he was crying. He knew every word was true. "If you trust God and turn to him today, that relationship will be healed. I promise you that. Go home and tell your wife about this morning, she will be ready for the new you. She loves you so much, she has never been unfaithful in thought or deed. In the near future you will have a story that will bring you great satisfaction. It will also bring you notice and promotion." Bill looked at George, he had come to appreciate this young man of twenty seven he had once called a punk and who had now become his best friend. To be promoted would mean to part, something he did not desire. Every other aspect of the word was good.
The pastor turned to the reporter, "George, you and Bill have been together, you help each other, you support each other. There are many crews in which this is not true." George bowed his head. He was the only reporter at the station who helped his camera. The rest considered themselves too good to pick up anything and chided him for it. But he knew what he gained from the relationship. Bill was forty five, had a nearly photographic memory and he read extensively and kept up on current events. Many times he briefed George while they were driving out to a story. His information had more than once made George's report a masterpiece rather than an also ran. "In the next few days you will do things together that will amaze the whole country. You will be in a situation that will threaten your lives but you will be victorious, you will do the right things at the right time and you will be regarded as heroes and will get the story of the year. You will literally walk through fire and will not be burned, and you will protect the lives of others. Bill, you will be recognized for your work, you will be promoted, but when you are, George will go with you. You will be blessed together. And George, you're soon going to have another partner, one for life. You will meet her in a time of need, you will fill that need and she will fill your life with happiness."
After the service the TV crew came to Brother Fred. He agreed to come to the studio and help them edit the film. They would call late in the week. As they were getting ready to leave he looked at the camera man. "Have you ever met Jesus?"
The answer came back from both of them, "This morning." Pastor Fred hugged both of them and they left.
Everything was ready, Barry Farrell had purchased a truck and outfitted it using a phony ID. There had to be no trail to him, and no trail to his boss. Four large propane tanks were fitted inside the truck and the steering was set up to be done by remote control. A small explosive charge was set on the outside of each tank to blow a hole about twelve inches in diameter in it. Four other charges were set on the tanks, these were incendiary charges, they would be blown about five seconds after the first charges. This would give the propane time to expand and mix with the air, creating a large explosion and fireball. It was a fiendish design, simple, powerful and with the exception of the explosive charges, all of the components had been legally obtained.
Barry had found a spot on a hill away from the base from which he could see the base gate and the road to the Gideon Barracks. Everything was ready.
Again Bill and George drew two short straws as they put it. In the morning they were assigned to cover a convention of a group of AIDS activists. They were placed in reserve for the afternoon, if something came in, they would cover it. The AIDS story would get a sixty second bite, at best, AIDS was becoming a stale subject. Short notice stories ran hot and cold. It boiled down to a fruitless day.
They finished the AIDS convention and were called to cover the end of a drug trial. The trial had been viewed as a long one but this morning it was rumored the defendant might be ready to plead guilty and cut a deal with the prosecutor. The station expected a break in the story. Since Bill and George were free they were sent to the courthouse.
Bill was lining up the camera outside the sixth floor courtroom for the first shots of the a drug trial. George was straightening out the mic cable to begin the report when a large tank truck ran into the front of the courthouse, exploded and turned into a fireball. The expanding gas from the explosion blew in one of the windows. The window on the sixth floor shattered and a sliver of glass drilled into George's upper arm. Bill was protected by a column and was unhurt.
Bill raced to George and helped him around the corner. He lowered the young man to a bench and looked at the arm. He took his handkerchief and pulled out the sliver, then wrapped the wound as best he could. "Sit still till I get some help."
People were moving around in a panic. They would get the story but Bill couldn't leave George without help. He would have ignored his own wounds to get a story, but not his partner's.
George started to get up when a second blast rocked the building, this one was accompanied by a blast of hot air. They could see flames outside the front of the building. A hijacked semi trailer with over 8000 gallons of gasoline had been crashed into the front of the building next to the propane truck and it was now burning furiously. The first floor of the building was an inferno.
Bill looked at him, "Lets get somewhere safe, like down on the street behind this building while we see what's happening. Can you walk?"
"Yes, I'm for that."
"I'll get the camera, you move over to the stairwell."
George was near the stairwell when Bill caught him. As he was about to open the door when Bill yelled, "Don't."
George pulled back, "Why?"
"Check the door, is it hot." George touched the door, it was hot.
"Thanks partner, it's burning in the stairwell." George realized his partner had just saved his life.
"Let's try the other one."
They moved to the other stairwell and found it too was blocked by fire.
"Now what?" George asked.
"Did you see a restroom?"
"Sure, this is a heck of a time to need to go."
"Let's get to it. It may save our lives."
Inside Bill turned on all of the taps, plugged the drains, put duct tape from his bag on the overflows and started overflowing the basins. As George watched him he thought of McGyver. Bill checked the closet and found it locked. He pulled a small hammer from his kit and broke the lock. He pulled out everything including buckets and mops and moved them into the restroom.
Bill was thinking, "We're essentially trapped. We need to get the word out that we're here. Let's get the camera going. It's our link to the outside. Can you do a spot?"
"Sure."
Bill handed him the mic, put on his headset and shouldered the camera. While he was contacting the station to take a feed George composed his thoughts.
The red light went on and George began. "We're here on the sixth floor of the federal courthouse. We've had two explosions, the first blew in the windows, the other apparently set fire to the lower floors. We're in a restroom on the sixth floor, our exits are blocked by fire. We're going to try to keep giving you the story as long as possible. We'll see how things are and then get back to you." The red light went out.
Bill set up the tripod, aimed the camera at a spot on the wall, inserted an extension cord in the headset and gave it to George. "I'm going to go out and see what's happening and see if we can try to help ourselves till they get to us. You stay on with the station, tell them to get someone to the truck. If it goes down we loose our link. Keep the water running. I'll send you some help."
Bill nodded.
George went out in the hall. He found a police officer heading for the stairwell. "That's on fire, they both are. Secure them, if they burn through or someone opens them we loose everyone in this hall. We need to get a fire hose and cover that door and the one on the other end of the hall. Get some furniture, build a barricade to protect you if that door comes in."
"I'll get the other guys, I guess we don't have to guard anyone now.
The fire hoses were broken out, the barricade was built and the water sprayed on the doors. Bill looked in rooms and moved the people to the restrooms. The women seemed panicky, he pulled aside two men who looked strong, "Get something heavy, break a hole in the wall between the restrooms. Get in there and turn on the water, plug the drains. The more water we have on the floor the better our chances of getting out of here." The men did it within a few minutes. He took two other men, they took tools from his bag and returned with all of the emergency light batteries they could find. He wired half of them to the lights in the hall and restrooms only. The other half were wired together and connected to the camera. These would provide power for at least 24 hours. Bill was sure they would not be able to hold out that long unless help came.
He pulled George aside, "How's the arm."
"It hurts, but it's not bleeding."
"I want you to go on the air, and stay on, now that we have plenty of power, stay on, don't quit transmitting, I have the camera set up, you keep them informed, if they don't get us out, we're going to die. Those doors can't hold long. When they go, it's going to get real hot up here. I'm going out in the hall to make sure they keep those hoses going. You try to get us help, I'll try to buy us time." He clicked on the camera.
Bill checked on the men in the hall, they were doing fine. He looked at the back of the building, if the rear stairwell door blew, the flames would swirl through the hall toward the open front windows and wipe out both hose teams. The hall would catch fire and the whole floor would burn. The fight would be over in seconds and they would loose. They needed the back windows open.
He returned to the restroom, "Can you come out in the hall?"
George nodded, "Sure."
"Tell them we're going to break out the back windows, keep people away from them so they don't get hit by falling glass."
They went into the hall, passed the information and made a report. Bill got the men who had broken the hole in the wall. A few minutes later the rear windows were gone.
As Bill headed toward the restroom the stairwell door exploded inward. He bolted into the restroom with his back on fire. George dumped a bucket of water on him and the fire was out. He had a few blisters on the back of his neck and his sweater was burned but he was otherwise unhurt. Bill feared for the men in the hall. He had fire training in the Navy, he must go back out and see that they were OK. He slipped out the door and hugged the floor. It was an inferno. He saw both groups of men playing water on the doorways, knocking down fire as it tried to breach the gap.
He returned to the restroom, selected two replacement teams and directed them to the hall. He shouldered the camera and followed George as they moved to the barricades to take over. They made a report that was unmatched by any either had ever done, then they moved back to the restroom.
It took over an hour for the fire crews to knock down the fire in the back stairwell and reach the floor. The first firemen up the steps came on the floor and took over the hoses battling the fire at the front stairwell. Later arrivals began helping the people down the stairs. Bill and George reported the fire fighting and the whole evacuation. No story in ten years would have the impact, and no story would get the honors of this one. And the honors would go to the two men who produced it. The view of George reporting in his blood stained jacket was a byline. The shots by Bill were masterpieces and the reporting by George was superb. The camera caught some shots while fixed in the tripod that were amazing. It caught George putting out Bill's burning sweater. It caught Bill organizing the people to help them survive, his face streaked with soot. It would be one of a very few times Bill's face would be seen on the air. They had made the news and reported it. The camera also caught Gary comforting a young woman who was scared and crying. He had been so busy he had forgotten to turn off the feed. The newsroom dubbed out the sound but the picture was enough to tell the whole story. Part of that sequence and the one report of the exchanging of the fire teams would be fed to ABC for the nightly news lead-in. There were no deaths on the sixth floor, Bill and George were among the most seriously injured. Had the fire not been effectively held back, the picture would have been different. On the other floors, the fire doors were opened and almost everyone on the floor died. The death toll was higher than the Iroquois Theater Fire.
Both men were to be taken to the hospital for treatment, another crew had arrived at the van to take over when Bill and George came down. The second team's report made the news, but the best remembered segment this second team produced was shots of Bill and George helping two injured people into an ambulance followed by a shot of the two of them sitting on the curb to wait for the next trip. The next ambulance pulled up. The driver walked back as they were getting Bill and George into the back. He looked up at them, "Good to see you guys. Saw you on the tube today, awesome reporting. I was praying for you." Bill looked back to see the face of a young man who had handed him an audio tape in the church on Sunday. Bill hugged him and climbed into the ambulance. It was the first time in his life he could remember showing any affection for an Afro-American, later he would realize the change in him that had happened without him noticing.
The hospital was full. Bill and George settled down for a long wait for treatment. Neither had serious injuries but both needed attention. While they were waiting Bill tried to call his wife but couldn't get through to her. The explosion and fire had wiped out some phone cables and the call load had overloaded the damaged system. About a half hour after they got to the hospital Bill looked up. Pastor Fred was walking toward them.
Both got up and hugged him. "What are you doing here? I hope nobody in your congregation hurt?"
"Hope not, Gary's son runs ambulance, he called, said he ran you two in, thought I'd better come in to see if we could help you. How are you?"
"We're going to need some stitches, burn ointment and bandages, but otherwise we're fine. I'm trying to get through to my wife, the phone seems to be out. I know she'll be worrying."
"There's a lot of phones out. The fire burned off a lot of cables. I tried to get through to her but when we couldn't we sent someone over to your house to pick her up. If she's home, she'll know where you are."
"Why the special treatment?"
"Because Gary junior says so, because you were in church on Sunday, because God says you two are special. Take your pick, all of them are valid."
"But we didn't make any move to.."
"I know, but till God tells me someone else is responsible for you, I'm stuck with you." He laughed.
By the time they were ready to leave for home seven of the church members had arrived including a couple who picked up Bill's wife and brought her to the hospital and another couple who had picked up George's parents. Later Bill's wife wondered what made her trust this black couple she had never seen before but when they told her they had seen him Sunday she dropped her guard. She had seen a change in him during the week. She had planned to see a lawyer on Friday but had canceled the appointment on Tuesday.
George too had a surprise, as he was about to leave the hospital a lovely young woman came up to him and threw her arms around him. She was the girl he had comforted on live television. They would begin seeing each other and within a year they would be married by Pastor Fred in their new church home.
Barry Farrell had now watched the road to the base for a week, he knew when deliveries were unlikely and when they were expected. He found that the guards were changed at 1500 hours, and that just before that time there were always several delivery trucks and these were waved through with no real check. Clearly this was the low point of security at this gate. His truck was like one of the ones expected and its time of arrival varied widely. He could paint it to match and make sure it was arriving earlier than the regular truck. He made notes then drove down the road to the base in his car. He had dyed his hair and grown a beard and the car was a rent-a-wreck. It would be difficult to trace. His purpose was to get a good look at the road he would soon be negotiating a remote control truck through. At the gate he stopped and one of the sentries came out. After a brief discussion he left, leaving the sentry wondering how someone could be that dumb.
Adelle Williams would have killed herself at least three times in the last few months had it not been for her children. Her lifeless left arm, Angela's terrible facial scars and missing eye were constant reminders of that terrible night. There was one really bright spot, Beth Lehman had been a friend. She had most likely saved Darin's life, his abdominal wound would have been fatal in a couple of hours and without her quick action medical care would have been delayed. She had helped in other ways too. She couldn't help them financially but she would invite them for a meal at least once a week. Leftovers from her refrigerator were often handed to Adelle, "so they wouldn't spoil."
Adelle had been working as a waitress before the raid. Now she was disabled and could no longer work with one arm. She had applied for disability with Social Security but her case was pending. Some money was coming in, mostly help from friends, but there was never enough. She sold a few pieces of jewelry to help out but now the last of that was gone. Yesterday she applied for food stamps. She had hit bottom, there seemed to be no way out. She couldn't abandon her children.
Today was a good day, there were two letters in the mailbox and for a change neither looked like a bill. The postmark on one letter was Leisbury, it was probably from Darin. She opened that letter first, it was good news. Darin would be up for a parole hearing in six months. Darin didn't tell her his parole was unlikely to be granted on the first try. In the letter he asked if she had heard from a friend named Carla recently. Adelle couldn't remember ever knowing anyone named Carla. She wondered if Darin had remembered the name wrong.
She put down his letter and opened the second envelope. It contained a letter and five hundred dollars in twenty dollar bills. The letter only explained the money was to help the family. It was signed, Carla.
Adelle had no way to contact Darin but the gravity of her current situation drove her actions. She put the money in her purse, went to the Grocery and bought food. Hopefully she could get a message to Darin on the next visit and determine what was happening.
That evening Beth came over. Adelle was tempted to tell of her good fortune but was afraid to do so. Beth was again becoming her usual bouncy self. She watched Adelle as she went to the kitchen for a cup of coffee. Her left arm was a nuisance. She could either wear a sling or let it hang. Beth cringed as Adelle turned in the doorway and her arm hit the frame. It hit hard enough to hurt had there been any feeling in it. Beth gasped, she still couldn't fathom that there was no feeling in her friend's arm. Adelle was embarrassed. "That keeps happening. At least it doesn't hurt but it does get bumped. I've hit people with it by just turning. I have to hold it with my other hand to be sure it isn't getting in trouble. The sling is a bother and attracts a lot of attention."
"I'll be back." Beth went to her house and returned about fifteen minutes later carrying a wrist watch with a wide band. She put it on Adelle's arm.
A piece of elastic about a half inch wide had been connected to the back of the band and a suspender clip was attached to the other end. Beth clipped it to Adelle's belt. It wasn't perfect but with a little adjustment it was a big help. Adelle's arm would be kept from straying far from her side.
Adelle went to sleep that night, thankful for many things that had happened this day. Maybe her luck was changing.
Jack Dennis was a senior federal prosecutor. He had been handed the job of overseeing the government's case against the sixty seven surviving adult members of the Hanshues. The legal battles would be long, it would be years before the last ones would be settled. Initially it had been thought the children would be placed in foster care but the mood of the people was such that there was concern for the safety of even the very young. There had been death threats against all of the survivors.
Brother Gideon was moved to the federal prison at Lewisbury to await trial. The other men and women of the sect would remain at Fort Indiantown Gap to await disposition. It was decided to move the children to the Gap with them to make the security easier to maintain. That section of the gap was cordoned off and kept under armed guard. It was an unusual job for the military but there was no other place suited for the task.
Joanne and Samuel were allowed to live together in dormitory room. Suzanne was housed with the children, separate from her parents but they could spend time together during the day. Samuel first began to read the Bible, something he had done little of since Brother Gideon had taken over. He saw truths Brother Gideon had violated, he saw God's love, not his wrath. After two weeks in the Bible he asked for several books, among them the Book of Mormon and the Koran. He began a study of the religions of the world.
Within weeks he began to see how man had taken God's word and subverted it to make it into a tool to enslave others. God was real, that Samuel didn't doubt, but some people were frauds. He cringed as he realized how he had followed one such fraud. With Joanna's help he began to write a book. It would take seventeen months to research and finish the manuscript. It became a best seller. The royalties would go to help those injured in the raids.
All of the Army personnel returned to church the next Sunday and other members of the unit came with them. Within a month the church was nearly three quarters full. There were many from the community who came because of the news stories. A few were merely curious but over a few months most joined the body permanently. A church that had been nearly one hundred percent black became a multi-racial church almost overnight. Pastor Fred at first felt intimidated in his new role, he was comfortable with a black congregation but whites made him nervous. As she was leaving the church Sue grabbed his hand and held it for a minute. Tears filled her eyes. "Where would I be if you hadn't been kind enough to invite us? Thank you." Without saying anything else she hugged his neck, then turned and walked away.
At home he prayed, "God, I'm not adequate, I'll never be." A smile came to his face as he heard, "No, you're not, but I am, and with me, you are."
He would always remain humble but a hurt from his childhood, a hurt brought out of whites making him feel inferior was being broken. He now knew he could lead and minister to people of all races.
Attorney Greg Moyer carried a stack of papers into the temporary office of the clerk of the courts in the county courthouse. The building had been severely damaged in the raid on the city, even now workmen were making repairs. He placed the papers on the counter. By the time he left he had filed for hearings to re-open the investigations into the deaths of Harry Hanshue and George Sipe and a motion to return the assets of the sect to the rightful owners. Included in the pile of paper was a petition signed by over 1500 people who claimed to be members of the new organization and also members of the sect before the deaths of the early leaders. They claimed Brother Gideon had illegally taken the assets. The motion also included a new bylaws for the organization. They included the following items.
The sect would divest itself of all "for profit" businesses. It wouldn't allow more than three leaders to assume residence on the site. Members would not be allowed to live there unless they were being provided with housing as a benevolence. The other housing could be rented to people outside the body
on a "cost plus" basis. No firearms other than sport pistols, hunting rifles and shotguns would be allowed on the site. These would be limited to a maximum of 5 per family. Ammunition would be limited to 200 rounds per family.
But the most important part was to follow. The sect would sell all of the items owned by the church that couldn't be kept under the rules, including several trucks. The buildings on the site which were damaged would be repaired from that money and the remainder of it placed in trust along with the church's current funds. The church finances would be reviewed quarterly for ten years by a panel appointed by the court. Greg was surprised when the date was assigned in three weeks. He had expected it to take much longer.
Two pills were smuggled into the prison by the wife of a prisoner serving a life term. He had nothing to loose if they were found. They were cyanide capsules that were designed to stay intact for over an hour after ingestion. They looked like the cold capsules the prison used. The prisoner passed them to Darin Williams. He put them into a crack in the masonry in his cell. He would wait for the proper time to use them.
Barry Farrell was again at his spot on the hill near the base. This time the truck was ready, it would be brought to near the base by one of the other men, the other man would follow the truck in a pickup. Barry looked at his watch, they should be there soon. His cellular phone rang. The truck was on its way, it would be coming into view in a few minutes. Barry picked up the remote control unit and turned on the switch. He was communicating with the truck. He watched as the green light went on, the truck was in his control. The driver moved out on the running board and the man following pulled up next to the truck. The drover jumped to the bed of the pickup and the pickup slowed, pulled off the road and turned around. It would proceed back to a place where they would meet.
Barry now had control of the truck, he accelerated it to over forty miles an hour. It was aimed at the main gate, everything was going as planned. He would run the truck past the gate without stopping. When the truck was about eight hundred yards from the gate Barry heard something behind him and looked up for a second. Corporal Mike Smeltzer was standing behind him, his weapon trained at Barry's middle. "What are you doing?" Barry tried to concentrate on the truck, if he lost control the explosion wouldn't be on target. He turned slightly to get a better view of the truck going through the gate, just a few more seconds and the job would be done. Then he would take care of the sentry. With the turn the corporal became apprehensive and ordered Barry to lift his hands. If he complied the truck would crash prematurely. When ten seconds had passed without an action the Corporal repeated the order. Barry started to turn toward him. This action threatened the corporal who couldn't see the box Barry was holding. Without any real thought he fired his rifle four times. Barry was thrown to the side, the strap holding the box still around his neck. He was still conscious but falling. He grabbed the side of the box to keep it from falling, hopefully he could still be successful. Maybe the other two men would come back when they heard the shots. His thumb hit a button at the side of the panel, one that was intended to be pressed only when the truck was in place. With about five hundred yards to go, the bomb was triggered. A large explosion engulfed the inner fence and the guard point in it. The bomb would have killed two army sentries but for their seeing the truck coming. They both ran away, the blast caught them and both were injured but alive.
Barry saw the blast as he fell. He had failed. Then everything went black.
When the other MP's got to Mike Smeltzer, he was sitting on a rock with his head in his hands. He had killed a man. It would be weeks before he was lucid, he would be discharged from the army with a disability pension. It would take a long time and a lot of counseling to make him realize that in fact that he had saved many lives.
The other two men who had worked with Barry waited at the place they were to meet with him to be paid. When he failed to show up, they checked the newscast and found he had been killed. They took the car and the truck they were driving and went back to the city. They found his apartment and went in, found over a hundred thousand dollars in cash and left. Both had been wearing surgical gloves, there wouldn't be a trace of their visit.
They left in the two vehicles and headed west. They had parked a car in the mountains near Fuller Lake, an old iron ore hole that was now used as a recreational area. The two vehicles involved in the raid were driven into the ore hole. They wouldn't be found for years. The two men left the area and returned home.
The police searched Barry's home about an hour after the men left. They found nothing to connect him to anyone. They knew there had to be at least two others involved but there were no leads. The Gideons seemed to live a charmed life.
Adelle again picked up her mail. There was an electric bill for eighty dollars. She put it on the counter. She had enough to pay it but that would leave her with less than twenty dollars. She had still been unsuccessful in finding a job, however she had an interview this week. A local printing firm needed a receptionist and after two interviews she was still in the running. She had been surprised because she had met the other candidates and both seemed more qualified that her. The next envelope was from the doctor who was seeing Angela. He was referring her to a company that made glass eyes. Her daughter needed this badly, her missing eye was covered by a patch, it was a source of embarrassment for her. Adelle knew the eye was expensive. She opened the next letter, it was from Carla. It contained five hundred dollars. Adelle didn't know the source of the money but it again met needs of the family.
Pastor Fred was making announcements. This was usually an unexciting part of the service. Today it would be different.
"I have one last announcement. Julie King and Brad Duncan will be married here at 2:30 PM today. We're all sorry about the short notice but this is the only time we can get together in the next few weeks. If a few of you can make it, I'd like to see us have a few witnesses for the ceremony."
Brad and Julie met the Pastor at about 1:30, they were anxious to get this phase of their lives behind them. Both felt the marriage was necessary to take that step. While they were waiting there was a knock on the door of the pastor's office. It was Eli. "Mandy and I decided to come, to be the witnesses you asked for. I'll be out in sanctuary when you're ready. I have some things to do."
At 2:15 there was another knock. It was Lee, one of the Deacons. He was carrying a box. There was a whispered conversation at the door and the pastor brought Lee into the office.
"I hope this doesn't upset you, Lee has some information about a change of plans."
"At least a third of the congregation is here and more are coming in. They took the pastor's request for witnesses seriously. Julie, a couple of the women want you downstairs for a few minutes."
Julie followed Lee, not knowing what to expect. He motioned to a door of a room, "They're in there."
The wedding was ten minutes late starting but when it did it was a full church wedding. The planning had been done in a few hours by people who in many cases didn't know what others were doing. Mindy was the maid of honor and Wendy the matron of honor. Brad watched as they came in, wearing their uniforms. What came next was more than he could expect. It was Julie in a full wedding gown, brought in by one of the women in the church. She was the most beautiful bride he had ever seen.
After the wedding they had a brief reception including a cake. One of the women in the church bought a cake and decorated it. Brad and Julie cried for most of the day. Never had either of them seen such an outpouring of love from anyone, let alone people who hadn't known them just a few weeks ago.
The surprises didn't end that day, over the next few weeks wedding gifts arrived, pictures of the wedding and a video tape. Julie was from Nebraska, she had invited her parents but the short notice made it impossible for them to attend. The video softened this. The love the congregation showered on their daughter made a profound impact on Julie's family. Within three weeks they made commitments to Christ and were attending a church near their home. The new couple took two week's leave, one for a honeymoon, one to visit relatives and then returned to their jobs.
When Adelle came home from work she found a third letter from Carla. Again it contained five hundred dollars. She put four hundred dollars of the money in her dresser drawer. She had wondered how they would live until her first paycheck came but now there would be plenty. Angela had been measured for her eye, it would be delivered in about a week.
Adelle picked up a pencil and a pad. She multiplied five hundred by fifty two. Twenty six thousand was the answer. If the five hundred dollars a week continued, she would get twenty six thousand dollars a year. What could she have done for this? After a few minutes she realized that Darin knew about the money, somehow he knew.
Carefully she composed a letter to Darin. She explained that Carla had helped her out until she had gotten a job. She wanted him to know the money was still coming so she concluded, "Carla helped us with the bill for Angela's eye. She's been a real friend." Hopefully Darin would somehow clear up the mystery.
Julie called Pastor Fred for an appointment. She arrived on time. Pastor Fred had noticed this about the military personnel. When an appointment was set for 1400 hours, they were there at or just before that time. He had several times announced meetings in military time to make them realize he appreciated their faithfulness. It was refreshing. He would have these people teach some classes in the church some day.
Julie bypassed the small talk and got right to the issue. "Pastor, you and Gary, that first morning we were here, you spoke words over people, and they were right, I knew many of them were right because I lived with these people but you didn't know them. I sat back there and kept saying, how does he know about that. And I knew the words were right." The pastor nodded. "Pastor, I really don't think I'm good enough, but is it possible, could I be hearing things like that? I'm not like you, I'm not good enough for that."
"Tell me why you're not good enough?"
"You know about my life. About Dan and I. We were wrong."
"Sure, you were wrong, but let me tell you something, Gary was dealing drugs fifteen years ago. Several of my Deacons have soiled pasts. They all changed their lives and I know you have too."
"Then you think this can be real?"
"I don't think, I know. What have you been hearing."
"Last Sunday in church, I knew there was someone who was dealing with anger, real bad from hurts. I can't tell you how I knew it, I just knew. Is that possible."
"Sure it is. It sounds a lot like the way God works with me."
"What should I do if it happens again?"
"One thing I can assure you of, it will happen again if you allow God to work in your life. Just don't turn him off. The next time that happens, go to one of the deacons in the back and tell them. He'll get my attention. We want order, but we more want God's best for everyone. Now, it may not be the best, you should have done it when you were prompted, but you didn't know, God honors that. This week I want you to share that. I'll call you up when I think it's the right time, see I'm not always sure either. God honors obedience and forgives for our lack of knowledge. He'll cover for what you didn't know to do."
Brother Gideon woke up coughing. His head hurt. He called the guard. He must get something for his cold. He was given several of the cold capsules for the night.
When Adelle got the mail there was again a letter from Darin. The letter was long and rambling but in it he explained that he had helped Carla when she had some problems and now she was trying to repay him for that when they needed help. Adelle didn't believe the story, this was too much, but she tried to read between the lines. She came up with nothing except he did know about the money.
Brother Gideon's cold was no better. He was given more of the capsules and some aspirin. Later in the day he fell over in his cell. He was dead before he could be taken to the hospital. An autopsy showed cyanide poisoning. An investigation was launched. There were no leads, no evidence, no suspects. After a few weeks the case was closed. The government was glad to be rid of Brother Gideon. To find his killer would reopen the case. The government assigned one junior prosecutor to investigate the death, then assigned him to three priority cases. There would be no more than a cursory look into his death.
Just after worship Pastor Fred called Julie to the front and had her stand next to him. As he took her hand he could feel she was shaking. This confident woman who had faced enemy fire was frightened. Julie could feel her knees shaking as she looked out over the congregation. She had experienced battle, bullets flying past her and had known people try to kill her. The butterfly's and fear while flying a Sparrow had been nothing compared to this. Her stomach was jumping. The butterflies weren't even flying in formation. What if she was wrong, what if she hurt someone? Later she would realize her worst fear was that she would say something that would hurt someone else, her fear of embarrassment was secondary to that.
Pastor Fred squeezed her hand and began, "Our new sister has something to share. Out of ignorance, she didn't share it last week. God has forgiven her, we're going to forgive her and help her as she shares. I want you to listen and if she's talking to you, respond. She's being obedient, and it isn't easy for her, you be obedient too." Quietly he prayed that someone would respond. This could be very important to Julie.
Julie took the mic, "When we were here the first Sunday Brother Gary said some real good words over some of us. Last week I felt I had something to share but I didn't know who it was for and I knew I wasn't good enough to share it. I talked with Pastor Fred this week. He told me I need to be obedient. His advice has always been good so I'll try."
She didn't want to see anyone so she closed her eyes, then began, "My beloved child, I love you and there is nothing you could do to change that love. You had once felt I mis-treated you, for a time you felt bitter toward me and now you feel that will keep you from being close to me. I have forgiven you of that because you have asked me to, even though you have not accepted that forgiveness when it was offered. Now, I want you to accept that forgiveness. Even last night you prayed that I would give you some indication that I have forgiven you. I know it will be difficult for you to come up here, but you must as a sign of your acceptance. When you do, you will be free." Pastor Fred had tears in his eyes. He already knew who should move out but there was no way he could share it right now, it was up to the person to
move. "Whoever you are, come."
Had Julie known who would step out she would never have had the courage to share. A tall black woman she had almost come to revere stood, placed her crutches under her arms and started down the aisle. It was Billie. Her husband followed her.
At the front she hugged Julie and the pastor prayed for her. As she started back the aisle Julie realized that there was more, but how could she tell the pastor. It was as though they were communicating, Pastor Fred handed her the mic, "There's more, I know there is."
"Billie, this is encouragement, You'll soon be back in the air and you'll never be taken out of the air until you want to quit flying."
She turned and looked at the pastor, "Can I say something to you? I feel really funny about it, you're a great man."
"I'm just the same as anyone else here."
"You are a man of love, you love and you care. Secretly you worry that you're inadequate. My son, you are. But in me you are a winner. Your prayers are even now being answered but there is a time of waiting. I am putting together the relationships that will bless you and this congregation beyond your wildest dreams and in it I will bless others far from this congregation. In the next three months you will see my provision be opened to you in ways that will make it hard for you to even accept the gifts because of secret pride."
Pastor Fred just stared at her. Nobody in the congregation had ever said words over him and although the words were good, there was a rebuke in them and he was sure the words were from God, not this lovely young woman. He would receive the words. He responded, "I accept that word from the Lord." Before he could say anything else she continued, "Pastor, you accepted that correction from the Lord, and you will grow. Even now that pride is being broken. You will become more than a pastor, you will be a pastor to pastors who are hurting and have nowhere to turn."
Pastor Fred couldn't believe his ears. He looked at Julie, "You truly are a beloved of God. Just keep listening. That phrase, a pastor to pastors is something I haven't shared with anyone, including my wife. It has come to me in my prayer time and I didn't really understand it until now."
Julie closed her eyes again, she had gone too far to back out now, "Can your wife come up here?" He nodded and she joined them. "Your wife will come along your side in the church in a new way. She will minister to pastor's wives. I will bring you closer together and I will use this to bless the people here."
She turned to the congregation, "You love our pastor and so do I. But his role will soon begin to change. We will have to grow up and learn to stand together and support him rather than depending on him. Many of you will have to step out into uncharted waters and sail them."
"Brother Gary, you and your wife are being called to promotion. I cannot tell you now what that will be, I know, but it isn't mine to tell but it will come at the right time. You will have to give up things you are comfortable doing and step out. You are a key, you are a leader and it will fall on your shoulders to lead. You have two options and you must make a choice, to grow or become stagnant." Julie handed the mic to the pastor and stepped back. Gary took it and turned to Julie. "My daughter, you have been obedient today and what you have done will bring freedom to many. But even more, it will bring freedom to you. Don't be afraid. You too are destined for promotion in the Kingdom of God. With it will come more responsibility and more joy than you have ever known."
Pastor Fred didn't preach, the congregation just gathered around the front and prayed.
Julie called the office of the church to talk to the pastor. Pastor Fred answered the phone.
"How can I help you?"
"Actually I don't want you to help me, I want you to tell me how to help myself. You see someone in church told us we weren't to be dependent, we were to start to stand on our own. Last night God woke me and told me I had to be the one to start. I guess when we know, more is required of us. I asked how, and he told me to begin studying his word. I got out my Bible and started reading this morning. I've got some questions. Are there any good commentaries or books I can read to help me understand?"
Pastor Fred listed a couple of books and then told Julie that God wouldn't be displeased if she asked for help after she had searched for herself. "Thanks Pastor, I really needed that," she responded before she hung up.
Julie would finish reading the whole Bible in six weeks and start reading it the second time. This second reading would take twice as long because she began to study and compare the scriptures. In five months she would grow as the pastor had seen no other person grow. Her husband supported her in the effort and although he hadn't grown as much, he became a solid Bible scholar. He realized her strength and found it comforting to have her with him.
Greg Moyer was in court. He was unhappy about the situation. Judge Strickler was assigned to the preside over the hearing. The judge had lost a nephew in the raids. Greg felt he couldn't be impartial in the case but to request a judge to withdraw from the case was to court disaster if the request was denied. The night before the hearing the church was called to prayer. A circle was formed around Greg and they prayed together. No lights flashed, no bells rang, but Greg, who had gone through two weeks with little
sleep, slept soundly all night.
The action was called by the court clerk. Greg was invited to approach the bench. He wasn't sure this was a good sign. Had the judge even looked at his motion? It would soon become obvious that Judge Strickler had studied the motion in detail.
"When I read these motions my initial inclination was to dismiss them as frivolous and deny a hearing. Late last night I decided that we may have here the opportunity to find out just how this disaster came to our city. I believe what I am about to do here today will help us move toward that end. Although I believe I have decided what action is appropriate at this time but I will hear your comments first. Do you have any arguments?"
Greg's planned remarks changed totally as he approached the bench, "Your honor, like you, we only wish to see justice done in this matter, regardless of the outcome. We believe the law was broken by the person or persons who illegally took over this property and we need this evidence to determine the responsible party or parties. Only if the evidence indicates the assets were diverted illegally, as we believe, will we then ask you to restore them to the rightful owners. If you can show that the rightful owners were in fact responsible for this action, then the state has the right to seize the property. If that is the finding, we will not move to contest that action by the state."
The judge nodded, "I totally agree, we need to determine what happened. To lay the foundation for that I am ordering the bodies of Harry Hanshue and George Sipe exhumed and an autopsy performed on each to determine the cause of death. I am further asking the state police to assume a crime has been committed and open an investigation. I will pend actions on the other motions until that report is in my hands and I am directing the coroner and the State Police to have that report in my hands within thirty days."
"Thank you, your honor," Greg answered. He retreated happily. The judge had granted the critical request. Greg had expected to have to appeal to even get a motion to open an investigation.
Mindy had thrown herself totally into her new church. She was participating in every event her military schedule would allow. But as she did she kept feeling that it was only temporary, she would be here only for a time and then leave. At first it saddened her, then she began to realize that she was being prepared for something. She felt she should get more education and visited the local library to get some information. While there she browsed a bulletin board. On it was a brochure about a seminar to be held at a hotel about an hour away. The subject was prosthetics. Six months ago she would not have recognized the word. She would need three days leave and it would cost over $500. She took down the address and phone number. When she called for information she was told the seminar was for registered professionals only, she couldn't attend.
She returned to the base for evening duty. She had just finished a complete checkout of the spare Sparrow when the captain walked up. "Is it ready to fly?"
"Sure thing."
"Are there any problems?"
"Not with the birds. They're all ready to fly. I'll go back and make one more visual check of each of them, then I hit the paperwork."
Eli sensed she wasn't as enthusiastic as usual. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing really."
"Come on, you can't fool me. Your mouth is dragging. Out with it."
She explained the situation to the Captain. She finished, "Cap, I really want to do this."
"Let me have the number. Sometimes mere captains can get things done."
He wrote down the number and walked away. As he disappeared from sight Mindy shook her head, he could do wonders, but this was impossible.
Mindy was replacing a Sparrow engine when the Captain walked up and appeared to watch. "Any problems?"
"Just pulling it for an overhaul. Time's up on it."
"When you get to a place you can break, call this number." He handed her a paper with a phone number. She recognized the phone number as the one she had called for the conference. "Just tell them who you are, I think they'll give you a different answer." He walked over to his Apache and a few minutes later took off and headed south.
She finished the engine pull, transferred the engine to the shop and walked to the phone. A woman answered. Mindy gave her name and asked about the conference registration. The reply surprised her.
"You're already registered."
"How do I pay?"
"Your registration fee has been waived and your hotel bill has been prepaid. All we need is you to be here."
"What hotel bill?" Mindy expected to stay on the base and commute the forty odd miles to the hotel.
"Young lady, to keep the people here for the long days we require them to stay at the hotel. It doesn't matter to you, your bill is paid, including your meals. You report for the first session and pick up your information at the registration table."
Mindy returned to the Sparrow. Late in the afternoon the Captain landed. She waved to him and he walked over to the Sparrow.
"You make the call about the seminar?"
"Sure Cap, what did you do? They have me registered, the seminar is free and my hotel bill is paid."
Just made a call to a friend who called another friend who was in charge of the conference registration. Somehow after I mentioned the names of Eli Jones and Mindy Stafford along with the problems in Pennsylvania the head of the conference said, "Captain Jones, is that the Mindy who wants to attend the conference?" When I said, "Yes." he said, "Tell her to call back to register in a couple of hours."
Later they learned the man had a niece in Baker Sam company who was badly wounded and evacuated. He had followed the news reports and had seen Eli and Mindy. There was nothing too good for either of them.
During the afternoon the an officer from headquarters came by and handed two envelopes to each member of the unit. When Mindy opened hers she was stunned. The envelopes contained subpoenas that called for her to appear the following week before the Senate and House Judiciary committees investigating the New Oxford incident as it was called. She went straight to the captain's office to find him already besieged by at least half of the unit. Everyone was concerned, was this a repeat of the Waco grillings? Could they be brought up on charges? Nobody knew, they would be among the first of the witnesses so there had been no word on the tone of the hearings.
Much of the unit was in church and Pastor Fred had been advised of the concerns, however by Sunday Morning the media had learned of the hearings and it was unnecessary for him to make any kind of announcement. One TV station even had a crew in front of the church but when asked to be admitted, Pastor Fred calmly asked that they not bring in the camera. They complied but the reporter did attend the service. Everyone in the church knew the unit may be facing some difficult times. The House Judiciary committee was chaired by a liberal who had said little about the hearings except that they would be held to determine what action would be taken in such incidents in the future. During the early days of the incident he had publicly called for disengagement of all Military forces, he considered their use unconstitutional, a violation of the Gideons' civil rights. Since then he had been completely quiet on the subject. The Senate committee chairman, not to be outdone by the House Committee Chairman, immediately called for hearings. He, an avowed Conservative, had called for the military presence to be kept to a minimum the day after the raids, the government should not interfere in state matters. Both inquiries could easily be hostile. Both committees had other members who had various political axes to grind. Would the unit now become the goat?
Just before the end of the service Pastor Fred called the church to pray for those who would testify to have wisdom and favor with the members of the Senate and House. He called for God to open the eyes of the men in authority to see what was good and right, rather than what was politically expedient. Most expected something special. At the end of the prayer Pastor Fred looked down at Eli, "My Brother, God is telling me to tell you to lead your people into the battle you are facing now as you did before, humble before Him, confident in His strength, knowing full well that He is with you and the battle is the Lord's, not yours. This battle will be won in the hearts of men rather then with weapons of iron. You have won on the battlefield with weapons of iron because you were prepared. This new battlefield is one that each of you have become more than well able to occupy and leave victorious. Let God direct your paths. Be like David who would not wear Saul's Armor because he had not tested it."
Neither Eli or any of the members of his unit had any idea what this meant.
The unit was flown to Washington on a military flight the night on Sunday night. They were met by several Colonels who attempted to brief them on what to say, how to say it and what not to say. By the time they got to the Senate meeting room for the hearing most of them were so confused they had no idea what they should or should not say. Mindy sat next to Julie on the bus to the Capitol, fighting back tears, "I'm not really sure what to say and what not to say."
Julie put her hand on top of Mindy's, "You know, that is how I was feeling when we left the meeting, but a scripture keeps coming up, the truth will make you free. I believe God is telling us to be truthful, and the truth will bring freedom. What those men told us is Saul's Armor."
Eli looked across the aisle smiling, "Thank you Julie, I now know what to do. The truth is a weapon I know, it is like when David was given Saul's armor, he had not proved it, but the truth we have all proven. Our enemy is not the U. S. Senate, it is the lies of the devil. They are defeated by the truth."
The word was passed back through the bus and the mood changed. They were going into battle, they knew their enemy, they were using proven weapons, and they would win. Compared to the grim looks when they boarded, each left the bus with a confident look. On the sidewalk they snapped to formation and Eli led them into the hearing room.
The Senate first called Eli and the questioning lasted but thirty minutes. To Eli the questions seemed trivial, but most centered around two issues, could a police force have handled the situation, and what weapons did the Gideons have that necessitated the use of the tanks and Heliocopters? Eli answered the questions and they moved on to the other pilots. They too were asked the same questions and dismissed. Finally, Mindy was called and after being complemented by the Chairman for her action under fire he asked the same two questions regarding the night attacks and she was dismissed. By evening every one of them had been called. They were scheduled for the House hearings in three days, but as they were leaving the Senate one of the pages handed Eli a note. If his unit could appear tomorrow before the House they would expedite the hearings and they would be able to return home sooner.
Eli answered that would be great but in his heart he was concerned, the House hearing was the one each of them had feared the most. The House sessions would take a full two days, but only because there were many accolades from the members of the committee and there were more than a few questions about individual accomplishments which brought more accolades. Only a few questions smacked of concern about the unit's activities. All of the ground crew members including Mindy were asked if the Apaches had rockets the flight that Brother Gideon's family had died. She responded that they had not used rockets in the first two days, hence that flight would not have carried them. It was a follow-up on making sure the Gideon children could not have been killed by rockets fired by Apaches. Again, the only two seemingly relevant questions were the same as the ones about the weapons and the police. The hearings were carried on C-Span and national media carried some of it in prime time.
By Wednesday evening all of the members of the unit had been dismissed to return home except Eli, Mark, and Sue who were informed they would be staying for meetings with the two committee chairmen the next day. What resulted was actually a joint committee meeting which surprised everyone. When they arrived for the session the next morning Reese was waiting for them. He was called early in the day and drove to Washington.
The two committees presented to the members, Reese, Sue, Mark, and Eli, in closed door session, a draft of the proposed legislation, not just ordinary legislation, but a Constitutional Amendment. The Army Chief of Staff and Secretary of Defense were also present. The amendment redefined the military role in what it called armed insurrection by civilian citizens and also clearly defined the status of those who engaged in such activity. Eli read the document carefully.
When everyone finished reading it, the Senate Chairman asked the Military present there if they had any questions. Eli deferred to Reese who stated emphatically that he would like to see this passed with dispatch. Eli realized that had this been in effect at the time of the incident, the activities he had been asked to perform would all have been covered as legal, and he would have gotten additional forces, helping him reduce the casualties from the 105 and the raiding parties. Eli gave his assent. When the meeting ended all present were involved in a press conference with the President. The Chairmen pledged to have the legislation approved quickly by the Senate and House.
The legislation was presented to the Senate and House. Everyone thought several weeks of debate would ensue but it passed in three days without a cloture vote in either chamber. Only a small amount of debate ensued and only twenty three words changed from the draft Eli had seen to the finished legislation. No piece of legislation had ever moved so fast. It was now up to the state legislatures.
Within twenty four hours of passage the State of Pennsylvania became the first to ratify the amendment.
Billie made a few traffic flights before her doctor recommended she take it easy until the baby came. She still used a cane to walk, the doctor suggested she continue to use it to take some of the strain off her leg. She would keep the cane and use it for the rest of her life when she had to walk for long distances. It became a part of her. With her advancing pregnancy the station changed her duties from flying to helping write copy. They were giving her experience she would never have gotten under any other circumstances. The college courses Wendy had helped her with were paying off again. She was sitting at the desk when she felt a lot of pressure and discomfort. It went away after a few minutes but about fifteen minutes later
it came back. She called her doctor and her husband. Within twenty minutes she was in the hospital. Her labor would last for seven hours but when it was over a beautiful baby had been brought into the world.
Greg Moyer was in court again. This time the press was there. The judge would make the State Police report public and could possibly rule on the other motions. Three men from the State police were present. The judge looked at the number of representatives of the press and called for a meeting in chambers.
When they emerged three hours later Judge Strickler made the reports public and issued his ruling on all motions. The new organization was given the ownership of the property with the stipulations in the motion. The state police had changed the cause of death of George Sipe from natural to murder. Arsenic was found in his body in fatal quantities. Harry Hanshue's death was ruled suspicious. His skull was fractured in a manner not consistent with anything that could have occurred in a fire. The police would continue the investigation.
The judge appointed a panel to oversee the finances as requested in the motion. The surprise was in the people he selected. It would consist of the judge, Greg Moyer, a local banker to be named, and the president of the county commissioners. Greg couldn't have even dreamed of a better group. By three in the afternoon the members of the sect began the cleanup of the site.
Mindy had no clothes suitable for the conference. She considered going in her uniform but decided against it. She was encountering situations which were sometimes awkward when people learned she had been in Pennsylvania. Several right wing groups were still chiding the government for taking too harsh action against the Gideons. There had been several protests outside their base and several members of the unit had been threatened. She had few civilian clothes but nothing really dressy and would have to go shopping to pick out a couple of outfits. She had lived a very Spartan life in the Army, and had attempted to save money. The Army provided clothes, civilian clothes were a frill.
The week before the conference one of the women in the church handed her a bag after the service. "Here's three dresses that were given to me, I can't wear them and I think they'll fit you. If not, pass them on." Mindy was due back on the base in a few minutes so she thanked the woman and left without opening the bag. She would never know where the clothes came from but they had never been worn, they still had tags from an exclusive store that had closed recently. They all fit, they were just perfect for the conference.
Mindy arrived at the hotel at 0713. She had been military long enough to begin thinking of time that way. Registration was to begin at 0730 but she didn't want to be late. She had left early enough to give herself more than twenty minutes of spare time. She fidgeted near to the table for a few minutes.
A man approached her and asked, "Is this the registration table for the prosthetics conference?"
"I think so, I asked at the desk and they told me to come here and wait. I'm accustomed to getting up early so I'm early."
"Me too, I came in last night so I'd be on time."
"Where are you from?"
"East Berlin, it's a little town in Southeastern Pennsylvania. I'm sure you've never heard of it."
She had slowly pushed memories out of her mind, now they came flooding back with the mention of the state. Even the name of the town, East Berlin rang a bell, she had seen signs with the name the day she drove to Hanover.
"I was there a couple of months ago. It's beautiful country," she said without thinking.
He looked at her and then asked, "You're Army, aren't you?" She nodded.
"You were on TV. You got a medal for the ground crew work. What are you doing here?"
"I got interested in prosthetics while I was there, one of the members of our unit got hurt. We worked out some things for her."
"You should have called me, we could have helped her."
"We tried but the local shops all told us they didn't have time or were damaged in the raids."
"We're out of town, and the phone company missed our listing this year. They paid for that. Had to run several thousand dollars of radio and TV Ad's for us."
With that the registration table opened, she signed up and went to the first of the breakout sessions. The man who was teaching it had a quiet voice, but it was strong.
"Why are you here? You are here to learn to restore. If you are here for any other reason, you should leave now. There are few injuries that are more personally devastating than loss of a body part, the ones I would cite in the same realm are major paralysis or disfiguring burns. The loss of any body part is devastating because the person must get up every morning and fact the reality that they are less than whole. Putting a peg leg on a pirate may be good enough, but for a young person it must look and feel as real as possible. Soft tissue replacement in some cases is purely cosmetic, but don't underestimate the value. If you improve the person's outlook and quality of life, you may enhance their life as much as you do when you fit a person with a functional prosthetic arm. Restoring is important, it should be your only goal."
She had chosen several sessions on soft tissue cosmetic appliances. They covered the type of prosthesis she had made for Julie. She laughed to herself, at the time they made it, she would not have even known what that words that were used meant.
She didn't see him again until she entered the dining room for lunch. He was at a table near the door and was obviously watching for someone. When he saw her he approached and asked her to join him for lunch. She had been afraid the lunch would be awkward, she knew nobody in the morning sessions and had felt totally alone. His offer was accepted and she followed him to the table. He pulled out her chair and seated her, then took the chair next to her. The only thing she could say was, "Thank you."
He smiled and responded, "You're welcome, it's rare that I get a chance to do that for a lovely woman." After a pause, he looked at Mindy, "These name tags are great, I tried to remember your name and couldn't. I'm Dave Workman." He pointed to his tag.
Six other people joined them at the table and the discussion moved to topics from the morning sessions. Dave had attended sessions on artificial legs and arms and there was sharing between those who had attended different sessions. Mindy realized Dave was frequently asking questions or explaining things she wanted to know, as if he had anticipated her question. As the meal progressed she realized he was watching her face and when she registered a quizzical look, he would help her. Before they parted for the afternoon sessions Dave asked her to meet him in the lobby before dinner. She agreed but was somewhat apprehensive. She had heard of conferences like this, about instant relationships. She had no intention of being rushed into a one night stand and was concerned about Dave's intentions although everything he had done seemed to be above board.
She arrived in the lobby ten minutes early, trying to establish herself on the high ground. He was already on the appointed sofa waiting for her, she had lost the advantage of being one up. She walked over and sat down.
Before he could say anything she started. "Dave, I really thank you for being so nice to me but I need to get something straight with you. I'm a Christian, I'm single and I intend to give myself to the man I marry as pure. As much as I like you, I don't want you to expect something I can't give."
Dave reached over, smiled and touched her hand, "I don't expect anything more than that, and in fact I wouldn't want anything more. Let's go eat and if the speaker isn't any good, we'll go for a walk"
The speaker was as boring as he expected, the topic wasn't prosthetics, they weren't interested in it, so they got up, left quietly and went for the walk he proposed. In the next three hours she learned he was three years older than her, was a widower, had no children and was a committed Christian. She was amazed to learn that he had been raised in the Hanshue sect. He and his family left just after Brother Hanshue's death. He was attending a new church in the area. They returned to the hotel at nearly 2300 hours. He dropped her at her room and left only after extracting a promise to meet in the morning. She entered her room and closed the door behind her. If he was as he portrayed himself, he was a fine man, a man who had suffered much and still was a man of love.
During the next two days they spent all of their free time together. By the time they left the conference they felt they had known each other for years.
Greg Moyer and Harry Hanshue Jr. had called a news conference at the office of the sect. Only two local papers and one radio station were present. Greg explained the situation, the damage to the facilities and how they had begun the cleanup. They estimated the repairs at nearly a half million dollars. The sale of items would be held in the next few weeks, they expected this to bring more than the money needed for repairs. The church had six million dollars in cash, four million in CD's and about four more in stocks, a total of fourteen million.
There were twenty seven houses on the site which were all empty. These were even now being cleared and would be made available to those who needed housing in the area. Priority would be given to those in the sect who were out of work followed by any from the city who had lost their homes. Several other buildings on the site would be made available for the homeless. The office of the church would be open to help meet needs of people in the community. The church was now rich but its wealth would be used to help people.
Mindy was back at the base but every time she sat down at a meal she remembered Dave. At lunch this normally outgoing young woman was so non-responsive that Julie noticed the change and it had happened at the conference. When they were alone Julie popped the question, "Did you have a good time at the conference?"
"Sure," she responded.
"Got a lot to think about, didn't you?" Julie had known Mindy was becoming interested in prosthetics as a post-army career. "I guess my getting shot changed your life as well as mine. I really need to thank you for what you did for me, although I hope you understand, I'd rather it hadn't happened."
"Julie, I know that, I would give up any gain I've had if we could turn the clock back. I couldn't benefit from anyone's suffering."
Julie reached across the table and took her hand, "I know you really mean that. I just hope the best for you. The clock can't be turned back, I want the best for you. If something good comes for you out of this, I know I can be happy for you. Now, why are you so preoccupied? Every time you sit down you go off line. I've known you long enough to know this isn't normal. It's almost like you have some guy but I know you better than that."
Mindy blushed, "Can you keep a secret?"
"Sure, you know you can trust me, you never cross your ground crew." When they returned some of the ground crews had been swapped with Baker Sam and Baker Tom. Mindy had been assigned to Julie's Sparrow in the shuffle and the two had become close. None the less, it was an old axiom in aviation, you didn't play poker with your ground crew or date their women. If they made a mistake, you could die.
"I met a guy, the first man I've ever really cared about. We spent about half of the time together and I didn't have to fight him off. We talked for hours about everything."
"And I know you well enough to know that you told him there was no shared sack time unless there was a wedding, first."
Mindy blushed, "I did, but not that way, I didn't have to hit him over the head to get his attention. I was surprised when it didn't bother him." The conversation moved to the Sparrow.
Mindy finished a rotor inspection and went back to the office to turn in the maintenance record for the bird. There was a message on the board for her, "Call Dave, 717-555-8787."
Mindy picked up the phone and dialed the number. A woman answered, "Workman Clinic." Mindy had a tinge of jealousy then suppressed it. The woman was just a secretary, she was there with him. Then Mindy realized that if he wanted her and she was available, he could have had her long ago, but he
apparently wanted Mindy enough to call.
"Dave Workman here, can I help you?"
"It's me, Mindy. You called me."
"Oh, I'm so glad to hear from you. I'm sorry about taking so long to call, we've been so busy, we're still seeing new patients who are recovering from injuries from the raids. Some were so badly hurt that they're only now able to start rehabilitation. I don't know when it'll stop. We're so busy we really can't see daylight. We had one competitor who's shop was destroyed and he lost most of his staff. I was lucky, only one of my people was hurt, she had a minor shoulder wound and was back in a week. How are you doing?"
"Fine."
"I'm not. I miss you. Could you get a couple of days off to come up and visit?"
She knew she wanted to see him but she was uncomfortable with entering a situation that might compromise her and hesitated.
"Don't you want to come?"
"Sure, but there are some rules, you understand."
"I sure do, I have some too. My sister has a spare room, you would stay with her, I wouldn't want you to compromise any more than I want to compromise myself. Mindy, you're the first woman I've even given even a second look since my wife died. I want to get to know you better, then we can decide where this relationship will head, if anywhere. I'm not in a hurry but I don't want to waste time either. How's that with you?"
"Great. I have to work this weekend but next weekend is time off."
They made arrangements for her visit.
Sue had been on pregnancy leave for two weeks but she came to the base at least twice a week to check in, usually Monday and Thursday. When she didn't arrive by 0930 Julie called her home. There was no answer. Julie then called the hospital and asked if she was there. She was told that mother and son were both doing fine. Julie remembered the words Pastor Fred had given, "a blonde haired boy." Things he said kept coming true.
Wendy had been on ground duty for a couple of weeks now. When she learned Sue had given birth she looked down at her belly. A month, maybe less, she thought, then this will go down and I'll have my baby.
Mindy drove for what seemed forever. She had driven this road once before at night, in a heavily loaded duce and a half, and although it seemed like an eternity ago she remembered the trip. She continued north from Frederick, Maryland to Gettysburg then east on US 30 as directed. The rolling hills brought back memories. As she passed the US 30 - PA 94 intersection she realized the significance. She would be passing the place she had defended just four months ago. As she passed the motel parking lot and one of the fields they used she almost cried. She remembered friends in Baker Sam and Baker Tom that she would never see again. The funerals were held while she was still here. She never had the chance to see them or grieve. She cried most of the rest of the way. It took several minutes in the clinic parking lot to dry her eyes and fix her hair and makeup.
She had expected Dave to come out and say "Hi," but instead he walked out and she got her first kiss from him in the lobby of his office with eight patients and a receptionist looking on. Later he would tell her he was not sure she would agree and knew she would not make a scene in front of so many people. He took her to the back of the building with him, "I've got some more patients to see, would you like to observe, to see what we do here, first hand?"
"Is it OK?"
"I'm sure it will be, I'll introduce you as a person I met at the conference."
They saw ten patients before the office was empty. She watched as he worked, there was a strength and yet a gentleness in his touch. The last two patients of the day brought tears to her eyes. She kept turning away from them to wipe them so they would not see her, not because it bothered her but she did not want to hurt them. Jeanette, a young woman of fifteen came in accompanied by her mother, Nancy. Their home had been hit by a one oh five shell. Mindy remembered the awful crump of that gun as it fired. She remembered thinking how much damage it must do. Now she saw it first hand. She also remembered loading the 20 MM cannon shells that knocked out the gun and she wondered, "Why couldn't we have thought to do that a day earlier? They wouldn't be here now." Later she learned the shell that hit Jeanette and Nancy was a dud. The young girl and her mother had been in the kitchen together. The girl had lost her left leg above the knee, an Left Above the Knee or LAK amputation, Dave explained, while her mother had lost her lower right leg, a Right Below the Knee or RBK. The husband was in the living room and was unhurt. He saved their lives by evacuating them from the house. To stop the bleeding of their injured legs tourniquets were used. Both nearly died from blood loss and infection. They had finally recovered enough from the other wounds to be fitted with new legs. To save them trips to the clinic Dave had scheduled them together. Mindy helped Dave with the material to make the cast of Jeanette's stump and then held her while she waited for the plaster to set. Dave casted her mother's leg, then removed both casts. As he was setting the casts aside, Jeanette asked if she could take her leg along today. When Dave answered no, she started to cry.
Mindy held her and asked if she could help. "I wanted to take my leg along today. I have to go back to school next week and I wanted to go back with my new leg. I don't want to go back like this." She pointed to the empty space which should have been occupied by her leg. Dave heard her and explained
that it took a lot of work to make a leg and it would take more than two weeks to schedule the work. When he finished, Mindy called him aside, "How long would it take to make it if you did it?"
"A couple of days but we're busy. You and I have plans for the weekend."
"Couldn't they change? Could you make the leg during the weekend if we stayed here and worked on it? Could it be ready for her Monday morning? Is there any way we could do it?" When she emphasized the "we" he was sure there was no way he could say "no."
"Sure, we could most likely have it ready by Monday for a fitting but she'd not be able to use it without therapy. It would be worse than totally cosmetic, she would be carrying around a weight that would be difficult to control and would have no value." Six months ago the cosmetic aspect would have escaped Mindy, but the experience with Julie and the reinforcement of the instructor at the conference had changed that.
"So, but she'd have to go to school on crutches but she would have two legs, wouldn't she?"
"Yes. It'd be a really clumsy, I mean real bad, but she could wear it."
"Then let's go for it."
"Do you really want to?"
"I wouldn't enjoy any weekend if we took it at the expense of making her unhappy. She's suffered so much, I'll do whatever is necessary."
Dave smiled and turned to Jeanette, "Mindy has offered to give up a fun weekend if we stay and make your leg during the weekend. You'll not be able to walk on it, it'll be in the way and make getting around more difficult than without it, you'll need your crutches, and you'll have to come back for adjustments but you would have two legs when you get to school. Is that what you want?"
She smiled through the tears, "It'll help a lot. I don't want the kids to see me with one leg. I don't want them to remember me that way. I want to be able to walk on it, but for now, just having two legs is more important than how well they work."
"We'll see if we can do it, have your mom call in on Monday morning about 7:15 and see if we have it ready. If we do, we'll have you come in to get it and we'll show you how to wear it, that'll be about all we can do. We'll do our best but I warn you, everything has to go right for this to work."
The weekend was spent working together. Dave learned Mindy could handle most basic tools better than all but his best people. She willingly threw herself into helping him, cutting, shaping and molding the leg. Mindy suggested they also do Nancy's leg so they could both be fitted together. She remembered Nancy's look when they told Jeanette they would try to finish her leg. It was like pleading, "me too," but she was so happy to see her daughter smile she suppressed her own desires. She considered this too much to ask.
The phone rang at 7:13 on Monday morning. Dave answered it, "We got her leg finished, can you come in at quarter to eight?"
"Sure," was a half restrained response.
"Don't forget to bring her left shoe and sock along. She is going to need it."
"OK, anything else?"
"Bring your own right shoe and sock along. We have your leg ready. Mindy insisted we work on it too."
For a time there was no response from the phone.
"Did you get that?"
There was a quiet response, "God bless you and her too. We'll be there as soon as we can. Thank you."
Jeanette and her mother had their initial fitting. Mindy insisted she and Dave help them walk between the parallel bars and she stayed with them as long as possible to get them as much help as possible. She knew he couldn't say no to her. By the time they were through Nancy could walk, albeit unsteady, by holding on with only one hand. Jeanette couldn't take steps but could stand without her crutches and she had some control the leg when she walked with the crutches. Both were scheduled for therapy and an adjustment later in the week but Jeanette was ready to go to school with two legs as she had asked. Nancy's mobility had increased so much she drove Jeanette to school and returned to her office to see when she could return to work. Her boss at first said no, he had already told her she couldn't handle the work on crutches. She retorted that she could walk without them but she tired quickly, but she could return if she could use her crutches part of the time. She proved this by standing up and getting him a cup of coffee. Later Dave would say this was almost impossible and Nancy admitted she had expected to fall flat on her face but she had decided the time had come to take charge of her life and she did it. By the time they came in for the adjustment late in the week Nancy was using only one crutch if she walked a lot and Jeanette could take a couple of really rough steps without help.
Mindy left to return to the base just after the fitting. She had never felt so useful as she had during the weekend. She knew for sure that she may continue to be an aircraft mechanic for a time but someday she would be in an office like Dave, helping people to a better life. She and Dave had finished two legs in a weekend and had pushed about five others so they would be completed on Monday. This would mean money to Dave, but more important to Mindy was what it would do for the people. During the weekend Mindy realized how important even the cosmetic aspects of the legs were and how important getting them fitted was to the patient. She felt even more chided for her attitude toward Julie, how she had thought appearance wasn't important. She and Dave spent the weekend together but not as they had expected. Mindy had never felt so useful or so close to anyone. They worked alone and at close quarters for the whole weekend and not once had Dave done anything that would have made her feel threatened. In fact Mindy had several times felt she wanted to grab him and hold him.
On Tuesday morning Mindy got a phone call from Dave. She was glad for the call, she had begun to miss him already. The news wasn't just good, it was wonderful. He would like to come to see her on Saturday morning and stay till Sunday night. He would fly in if she could pick him up at the airport at 11:00 AM Saturday. He asked if she could find a hotel room for him. She looked at the calendar, she was on duty at the base until noon on Saturday and had Sunday night duty at the base. It would be a short weekend. Since she would not be available she promised to have someone pick him up at the airport.
When Dave got off of the plane he didn't initially see Mindy, but then he wasn't looking for her. He noticed three Army personnel near the gate as one of them pointed to him. He assumed it was his ride and started toward them. Then he realized the person who pointed at him was Mindy, he had never seen her in uniform before. He nearly ran to her and they embraced. When they pulled apart she introduced him to the other two people with her. Their names were Eli and Mark. Dave hadn't expected such a reception. While he and Mindy talked the two Army men picked up his bags from the claim area. Dave turned toward the parking lot but Mindy steered him away from the terminal and toward the far end of the field. Sitting off from the terminal were two helios, later he would learn that they were Apache's. Dave had seen them in the air but never on the ground at this range. They looked angry and menacing. He was helped into the weapons operator seat of Eli's Apache. Mindy took the weapons operator seat in the other chopper and they flew to the base. Dave was impressed. Later he asked how she had arranged this.
"I mentioned to the Captain that I needed to pick you up at the airport, I asked if I could swap duty with someone. He checked the log and found that he and Mark were short on flight time and I was due for a flight. They could fly me over and bring us back. I think they wanted to meet you, like a big brother checking out a sister's new boy friend."
Dave laughed, "Did I pass inspection?"
"You're here, aren't you. Why do you think you flew with the Captain? I guess you passed because he didn't push you out during the flight."
"That was your CO?"
"Sure, he's an all right guy."
"I left him carry my bags."
"He did that because he wanted to."
"Did you get a hotel room for me?"
"I was going to but Cap wouldn't have it, told me not to spend the money, he wants you to stay with him for the night. They have a spare room."
"I don't want to impose."
"With Cap, I know you aren't imposing, for some reason he wants to have you stay with him and let me tell you something civilians don't understand, you don't say no to your commanding officer."
Dave laughed, "So that was an order?"
"Cap doesn't like to give orders, he just suggests and we move. We've found it works best that way. He gets irritable when we make him give orders."
The remainder of the day was a time of joy. Mindy dropped Dave at Cap's house at about 2300. As she was leaving Cap mentioned the church. Mindy responded, "Dave and I are planning to go, I'll pick him up about 0700 for breakfast."
Dave followed her to the door and they kissed before she left.
Mindy knew Dave went to church but she had been unable to communicate to him about the church she attended. She wondered how he would relate to this unorthodox worship. She watched him and he seemed to enjoy the service and participated beyond her wildest dreams. When the offering was taken he
counted out $80 and placed it in an envelope and wrote Eli Jones on the outside. He designated the amount to Benevolence. Mindy knew there were many in the church who had needs but the gesture confused her. Later he explained he had expected to spend at least that on a hotel and food and since Eli had given to him, he would give to someone else in Eli's name. Mindy sat amazed, she had never known anyone like him. Before he left they made plans for her to come to Pennsylvania for a weekend in three weeks. In the meantime they kept in touch by phone. Both had MCI service and both soon qualified for the best Friends and Family rates.
Wendy was eight days overdue and fuming. She was as big as a beached whale and as miserable. Her back ached, her legs ached, her belly ached, she couldn't sit in one position for more than a few minutes at a time and she seemed to continually be going to the bathroom. The skin on her belly was stretched so tight she was sure she would burst. She pulled up her top and looked at the two scars on her belly. Would they hold, were they healed sufficiently to handle the pressure? Would something go wrong inside during the delivery and threaten her or the baby?
When she reported her wound she knew only of the one with a piece of shrapnel sticking out of her. The medics found another wound, much higher. A second piece of metal had entered her abdomen and destroyed her left ovary. It was removed during the surgery. She still feared her son would be an only child. Several weeks ago, when she was smaller and it was funnier, she jokingly told her friends they should paint a stripe up her back so they could tell if she was walking or rolling. She felt as wide as she was high. Now it was not a joke and anyone who mentioned it would get a menacing stare. Her labor started about 0100 and by 0530 she had delivered a healthy little boy. When Sue called her later in the day she greeted her with the line, "Sparrow pilots do everything faster."
The next morning Wendy turned on the TV to watch the news. A familiar voice came through the speaker, with jet engine noise in the background. She turned to the TV to see Billie's smiling face. The station had mounted two cameras in the chopper, one to be able to shoot traffic shots, the other to give a view of the pilot. At Billie's suggestion, the traffic camera was mounted so it could be aimed much like the 20 MM cannon on the Apache. As she watched she heard Billie say, "Let's go down closer and take a look." The camera caught her face for a few seconds after the dive started, then the picture switched to the traffic below. Wendy knew the look, the one Billie got just as she began something that really made her happy. Wendy watched the picture of the road rush up, heard the while of the engine as she pulled out and realized in her mind Billie and the traffic helicopter was really making a dive on a target, just as she had in her Sparrow at the compound. Wendy smiled, her friend would be fine. Nobody would ever break her.
Mindy was in Pennsylvania again. This time she flew in late on Friday night and would return on Monday evening. Saturday morning was to be spent in Dave's shop. Dave had planned a surprise. Jeanette and Nancy were due for a follow-up visit. He asked his secretary to call them and see if they would move the appointment from Wednesday to Saturday morning at eight. Nancy agreed without thinking. She had missed too much work and Jeanette had missed entirely too much school. Moving the appointment to Saturday was an unexpected bonus.
Dave picked Mindy up at his sister's house shortly after 0600 and they went for breakfast. He told her he had a few early appointments but then they would have the whole afternoon free. He had something special planned for them.
He seemed to be in a real hurry to get to the office but when they got there he parked the car in the lot where he could see the space in front of the door and turned off the motor. He looked at her, "Let's sit here a few minutes. I have something special I want you to see."
He looked at his watch. It was ten till eight. Several of the office staff arrived and went in. Just before eight a car pulled into the handicapped space at the office door, then backed to a space across the lot. A man got out of the driver's door, walked around the car and opened the passenger door. Before the front seat passenger could emerge, the rear door opened and a young girl got out and started toward the door. She was moving briskly but had an obvious limp. Mindy's attention shifted to the woman who had just
gotten out of the car and was following with the man. It was Nancy, and the young girl was her daughter, Jeanette. Mindy opened the car door and bounded toward the office. She met Jeanette at the door. Jeanette saw her and hugged her. Nancy saw Mindy and joined them. Her husband Alex looked at Dave. He had never been along with them to an appointment so he didn't know either of these people his wife and daughter apparently loved.
Dave extended his hand, "Dave Workman, I assume your Mr. Jacobs?"
"Yes. You're the guy who made the legs for my two girls. They talked like you're the greatest."
Dave blushed, "I'm not that great. I have a lot of people who help me."
"They say you gave up your weekend with your girlfriend for them, that's great to me."
"Let's go inside, we'll check out the legs and talk."
The fitting room was a little full with all five of them. When Dave introduced Mindy Alex took her hand, shook it gently and held it for a moment as tears came to his eyes. He choked out one word, "Thanks." A couple of adjustments were made for both women and Dave asked if either of them had any questions.
After Dave answered all the questions the women had about how to increase their mobility Alex spoke up, "This has to be expensive, things are tight for us, but we need to know how much we owe. I haven't seen a bill yet. It may take us a while to pay, but I want to be sure you know, you will get it, you deserve every penny of it, for what you did for us."
Dave dropped his head, "I could say we forgot to bill you, but quite frankly, you don't owe anything. A guy in church told me he knew you and if your family came in I should let him know how much the insurance wouldn't cover. When I did, he gave me a check for the full amount and told me to let him know if there were any additional charges later. Said you didn't need to worry about money, you needed to spend your time getting your two girls well."
"Mark Hanshue, that's who it was. He's a real great guy but I'd have never expected him to do that." The name Hanshue hit Mindy but she pushed it back, there could be no connection. After all she had been told this was a family name in the area.
Nancy began to cry. "Because you did my leg that weekend, I got two more weeks of work, my boss wouldn't take me back until I had it. We had some real tough times with me off work and getting the house fixed up. We almost lost everything. The insurance covered a lot of the damage to the house, but not everything. That weekend you put in was worth two weeks pay, over $500 to us, but more than that it gave us hope. We desperately needed both. And neither of you can imagine what going back to school with her leg meant to Jeanette."
They left the office just after noon and went to eat. Mindy found that Dave was a civil war buff and they toured the battle field at Gettysburg. As they stood below the Peace Light Mindy looked at the cannon that were sited there. She walked around and looked at the bore of one of the Wentworth Bolts, a rifled cannon that fired an unusual two inch hexagonal projectile for just about a mile. The ones here were part of the battery that shelled the town of Gettysburg on the first day of the battle. She realized how much weapons had advanced since that battle. Or had they advanced, she wondered. The Wentworth could only menace those within a mile, the one oh five could fire nearly twenty miles and the shell was at least eight times the size of the bolt. A single Sparrow, a "spotter" carried many times the fire power in its auxiliary 7.62 pod than a whole rifle regiment that held at the angle. A single Apache had more fire power in its 20 MM then a full battery of artillery at seminary ridge. The small auxiliary rocket pod the Sparrow could carry would have outclassed the whole battery of Wentworths that were here in July of 1863. The big rotary rocket pod of the Apache would have more than matched either Army's whole Artillery. Baker Dog flight and Reese's three tanks could have easily been a match for either army that fought here, in fact they would probably have been a match for both armies. Even her small force on the ground could have easily held off a couple of regiments, several thousand men, with the automatic rifles. And the destruction that had come in 1863 had been awesome. As they walked through the cemetery where Lincoln delivered his Gettysburg Address she felt tears again. She saw the words on the wall, "from these honored dead we take increased devotion, that these dead will not have died in vain." She remembered Baker Sam and Baker Tom. Those who died had died in vain, or had they? Their deaths had driven Baker Dog to increased devotion. And suddenly the weight of the deaths that she had carried was lifted, she had helped make their deaths count for something. Her life would be one that counted.
They spent the rest of the afternoon driving into the mountains west of Chambersburg. At the top of the mountain they pulled off and enjoyed the view. She saw the beauty and splendor of the Pennsylvania countryside. The evening was spent with his sister and her husband at an Amish restaurant. It was hard for her to see all of this in so small a space and know it was part of Dave.
Dave and Mindy went for breakfast together. As they sat they talked. He was obviously nervous about what he was going to tell her.
"I'd like you to go to church with me this morning."
"I'd love to."
"I need to tell you something before we go. The pastor is Harry Hanshue Junior, the son of the founder of the Hanshue sect."
Mindy couldn't believe her ears. The sect that had killed still existed and Dave was a member of it. She almost screamed.
"It's not what you think. The original sect was good, it was subverted by a bad leader and most of us left. There were over 4000 of us at one time but nearly all left after Brother Hanshue was killed."
"Are you sure? How can you be sure this'll not happen again?"
"We've done a lot to make sure. We had over fourteen million dollars when we assumed the assets. We've given away about four million of that. We plan to give away all but a four month buffer. We can accumulate money to build buildings above that but we have to report it to the court. We want to be sure we don't have money to buy arms."
She sat there in silence for a few minutes, then a smile came on her face and she stood up, "Let's go, we don't want to be late."
By the end of the service Mindy was convinced this group wasn't a threat to anyone. This church was as white as Pastor Fred's had been black but the love they showed was the same. Several people came up to her and hugged her. She later learned Dave had prepared them for her as he had prepared her for them, some of the people had questioned if the military action had been appropriate.
They saw the Jacobs family as they were leaving the church. They waved to them but didn't go over to them, several other families had started talking to them. Later they would learn the Jacobs' had been invited to lunch and dinner by the two families. They would make a commitment to God and the church within the month. The love that had built the original sect was still alive, it had been dormant for a time but it was emerging, like spring flowers split the soil. It was time for it to blossom again.
Dave asked her if she would like to tour the grounds and she hesitated, then said yes. The main church building was away from the compound and had only superficial damage. So much of the grounds was in shambles. the result of grenades, rockets and machine gun fire. There was so much cleaning up that was needed. Mindy asked Dave what was being done.
He responded, "We're so busy just getting the houses and buildings cleaned up that we haven't had the time to clear the grounds. We've tried to hire people, they just aren't available in the present situation. So many people are cleaning up the town and we can't see hiring them away from that work. We could afford it if we could find the help. And we have equipment we don't need. We sold a lot but nobody wanted some of it. There are several trucks here and we'll not get a decent price for them even though they're in great shape. We've been so busy we haven't had time to even put them up for sale."
"Our church badly needs a truck for the food bank. I wonder if maybe we could swing buying one of them?"
"Don't know."
The newcomer had come into the church just before the service started and sat in the end of the seat next to Phil and Doris Markey. She looked so alone. At the end of the service Doris went over.
"Hi, I'm Doris Markey."
The newcomer responded with a slight smile, "I'm Jamie Dellinger."
Doris was a master at getting someone to talk. Within five minutes she learned Jamie was a college student. She and Phil offered to take Jamie with them for lunch. She went along and by the time they parted a bond had been formed. It would take six weeks for Jamie to admit her past to Doris, by then somehow Doris already knew most of it before Jamie revealed it.
Pastor Fred looked at the situation around him. The church had been blessed by the influx of new people but its influence and responsibility had grown too. The needs seemed to be growing just as fast as the finances. How could they continue to meet them? He bowed his head and prayed. Before he finished his prayer, the phone rang. He picked it up without thinking, "Pastor Fred here."
"Pastor, I'm Harry Hanshue. Do you have time to talk now or should I call back later."
"I think I need a break from what I'm doing, now would be a good time."
"I'm sure you don't know me but I'm a pastor of a church in Pennsylvania and one of your members visited my church yesterday. One of my people mentioned to her that we were trying to sell a truck and she mentioned that you might need one."
"I'd like to have one, but we just don't have the cash."
"Pastor Fred, call me Harry, I'm sure you can afford this one. If you want it, all you have to do is come up here, decide which one of five you want and take it back home. We'll even give you a full tank of gas and pay the license transfer. These trucks are a liability, we have to sell them and we're not going to get anything out of them. I'd rather give them all to you than sell them for next to nothing to some dealer to make a mint on resale."
Pastor Fred was a little suspicious. "How do you know about us?"
"I'm sorry, one of your members Mindy Stafford, visited my church with Dave Workman on Sunday. I believe you know him, he's visited with you."
Suddenly it came back, Harry Hanshue, the Hanshue sect.
"You're the new pastor there. I wish you God's best. From what I hear, you'll need His help. Now what's this about a truck, forgive me for sounding suspicious, I get about three calls a week from someone trying to scam me. I sorta go into that mode when I answer the phone."
Harry laughed, "I know, you're not alone, they try that up here in Pennsylvania too. We have five trucks left over from the previous pastor, they're a liability to us, I'd like to get rid of four of them, we'd keep
one, possibly one of the smaller two for use here. I can't seem to sell them at a fair price. You come up here with two drivers, pick out what you want, and you can drive them home."
"When would it suit you?"
"When can you come?"
"How about I come up tomorrow or Thursday, take a look and spend some time with you. I believe you and I have more in common than you think. I could use the time away and some real fellowship."
"Sounds good to me, tomorrow would be fine, how about noon?"
"If you're married, can you bring your wife? Mine likes to have another woman with us and I take her along a lot."
"I'm sure she'll come." Julie's words about his wife coming along side of him was coming to pass.
Pastor Fred had no problem finding the church and arrived at just after 11. Pastor Hanshue had just returned from a visit to the hospital and had picked up his wife Nora on the way to the office. He looked at the campus, there were so many problems and so few answers. He and Pastor Fred made introductions and Harry suggested they go out for lunch. They went to Rosie's Family Restaurant. As they talked the both men began to grasp the spirit of the other, and both were impressed with the love the other possessed. Later both would realize that they were both "descendants" of the ministry of Clifton Erickson, a man of love. They were heirs of that spirit and would manifest it to the world.
Nora and Sondra dropped the men at the church and went off to explore the shopping centers in the area. Fred and Harry walked across the campus to see the trucks. Fred hadn't expected what was there, he had expected something like he had looked at in Virginia. None of the trucks were over 5 years old and the two smaller ones Harry wanted to keep were the oldest. Harry told Fred to pick two that would suit their needs. Fred was almost ashamed to ask for the ones he wanted, there were two almost Fords, one had less than fifteen thousand miles. They were exactly what they had been looking for except they had been looking at what they could afford, ten year old, worn out junk. By comparison these were in mint condition, Fred knew they could not possibly afford them.
"I can't take two of them, they're worth thousands of dollars each."
"Why can't you take them?"
"It's too much."
"Would you tell Jesus a gift is too much?"
"No." As he said it he remembered the words Julie had said over him that Sunday morning. He had almost said 'no' and hurt his church because of his pride. He would tell her about it when he returned, to show her how her obedience had made a difference. It would however be the first challenge of many.
"Then don't tell me they're too much. He told me to give them to you if you'd take them. Now, just tell me which two I don't have to try to sell."
Fred swallowed hard, "The two Fords would really help us with the food bank and they'd give us something to help our people when they have to move, but they're so new."
"Did Jesus give me junk? Should I give you junk?"
Fred smiled, "No, I just don't know how accept things. A young woman in the congregation just told me I needed to be less proud and you know she's right, but are you really sure this is going to be OK with your congregation?"
"If you knew how much we're giving away to people who are in need, this is nothing. We agreed to never accumulate again."
"It's more than nothing to us. If you're sure it's OK, we'll take them."
"Tell me, you said you're running a food bank?"
"Yes."
"Can you use some food?"
"Always."
"We've a lot of canned food that was stocked. We're giving it away but there's so much and we don't have the people to handle the distribution properly. How about we get the trucks loaded before you have them picked up?"
Fred put his arms around Harry and hugged him. When he pulled away his eyes were full of tears. "I really don't know how to say thanks."
"You just did. Your visit here today was worth it to me. I've needed someone to talk to. I need someone I can call that has more experience. God told me you're the man, till he tells me otherwise, that's it."
They toured the area and talked till evening. When Fred and Sondra left a bond had been forged between the two couples. Pastor Hanshue told Fred he would be calling him. All four of them knew this would not be their last meeting.
A formal letter to Fred thanking him for his help and encouragement was mailed the next week. In it Pastor Hanshue asked the more experienced man to help him guide his congregation. Pastor Fred was now becoming a pastor to a third pastor. Two others had declared this relationship earlier in the month. All were white. Pastor Fred realized this would have been impossible just a few months before, without the words Julie shared, he wouldn't have been ready for what was happening. Fred realized he would have to be away from the church at times. The board of deacons met and agreed to appoint Gary as an assistant to the pastor. Initially he wouldn't be paid, it was a part-time position. Right now there were no funds to pay another person. Gary would joke that the salary was in six digits, all zero's.
Pastor Fred called Julie later in the week. He had known exactly what the promotion for Gary would be when she mentioned it. Without telling her about the board's action he asked her what she saw as the promotion for Gary. She waffled a few minutes then Pastor Fred stopped her. "I thank you for not bringing that out and I believe God directed you. Now for your edification and mine I need to know what you saw. If you're wrong, I'll not tell anyone."
"He'll be your assistant and some day take over the church, but don't worry, you're going to be promoted, but I don't see where to. I didn't see you moving away, you're still here."
Pastor Fred responded, "Praise the Lord. That's exactly what's happening and I know you had no way of knowing. I want you to know you have shown yourself to not only hear from God but also have wisdom to know when to tell and when to wait. You'll find yourself in a position of ministry some day and what you are going through is the training for it."
He discussed the move with her and asked her to keep it to herself until it was announced on Sunday.
On Thursday Pastor Fred and two men from the church arrived to pick up the trucks. They found them washed, serviced, fueled and loaded. When the men headed south with them after lunch, Pastor Fred stayed behind.
He and Harry walked and talked for about a hour. Fred observed, "This is a beautiful property, it's condition is a real shame."
"We've been working since we got it back but we have only evenings and weekends and our people are really tired out."
"I didn't mean to be critical, I just hurt seeing how something so beautiful can be so desolate. Let us help."
"I appreciate the offer, but how could you, you're a couple of hundred miles away."
"Labor day weekend is two weeks away, most of our people are off. If I could get transportation to bring up, let's say a hundred men, could we find some place to bunk them and feed them for the weekend and then they could go home Monday night. They could bring sleeping bags, could you get a couple of tents for them to live in?"
"That's too much to ask, to have people miss the last holiday of the summer to work. I couldn't ask that."
"You're not going to ask, I am. You only need to find a place for them to stay."
"Go ahead if you can arrange it. I'm sure we can fix it."
Jamie was back at church the next Sunday morning and this time she brought her roommate. At the end of the service they met with the pastor and made a commitment to Jesus. They both worked at Bob Evans and their attendance would be limited by their work schedule but they were faithful when their schedules permitted. Phil and Doris took them under their wing as they had with more than a few in the past. They nurtured the new converts like they had nurtured their children when they were small, and they had grown up strong. The Markeys expected their new children to do likewise.
Pastor Fred was busy with the final preparations for the trip to Pennsylvania. They had been able to find a school bus company that would rent them a couple of busses for a rock bottom price. The busses would
arrive just after midnight and they would drive all night. They would arrive in Pennsylvania early on Saturday morning. The men began to arrive about eleven PM, the busses were loaded and just after midnight they were off to the north. Eli was riding in the first bus. As they pulled out of the parking lot he looked at his watch. It was 12:06. This was the second time he had headed north at this time. The last time he had gone north to destroy, this time they would build. Mark was one of a very few of the members of the group who had not made a commitment to Christ but when he learned of the weekend he asked if he could accompany them. Eli went to Pastor Fred before and the answer was, "Sure he can come." Over the week two of the weapons operators also asked to go and were given the approval. All had been with the unit in Pennsylvania.
The weekend was spent with the men working on Saturday, attending church and having a massive picnic on Sunday and working until about five Monday afternoon. They returned home late Monday night.
On the way home on the bus Mark moved to a seat next to Eli. Before they got back home Mark had given his heart to Jesus. He then moved to the seat Pastor Fred was occupying and told him about it and thanked him for allowing him to accompany them. It was past ten PM, the men on the bus were tired, but with that news, a cheer went up. Later they would learn that the other two men who had gone along had made commitments in the morning service, they would go public with this news after the next Sunday service. They would be received into membership the following week. When they told their story the two men talked about a preacher named Jack who spent the weekend telling them how good Jesus had been to him while they worked together.
Harry and the elders toured the grounds late on Monday evening. So much had been done in the last three days. Two houses that had been damaged in the siege had been cleaned up and repaired. They were ready for families to move in. Ten of the men from the south had taken these houses as a project and had fixed everything they could find broken. Harry sighed a big sigh. He had two families that needed housing and this would fill that need. He would call both of them tonight, they would probably be moved in by Sunday. Two other houses had been refurbished except for some plumbing work that remained uncompleted because they couldn't obtain a couple of small plumbing parts on labor day. With parts, these would be completed in one evening. A dormitory building near the church was repaired. It had single rooms for at least fifty single people on each floor, but each room could house a couple. They planned to open it to people from the city. Cold weather would be on them soon and there were many families without homes. Some still lived in temporary housing, some of that tents. With the help, more families would have a warm place to live till something better could be found.
As they ended the tour Harry asked how many men had come with the group. The reply was a hundred and twenty. Harry asked one of men to multiply one hundred and twenty by twenty by ten. The reply was 24,000. Harry looked at the elders, "I want to send Pastor Fred a check for $30,000 to cover this. Does anyone have a problem with that?" Jack Hardsock was known to be the tightest man with a buck in the group and everyone almost cringed when he piped up, "Yes, Pastor, I do."
The men were collectively ready for a fight. "Pastor, I worked with those men, I'll not agree to anything less than $42,000." Three of the elders wondered if Jack had been out in the sun too long or if he had heard the pastor's suggestion wrong and thought he was cutting the amount. With everyone looking at him he continued, "I want you to send enough so we can have Pastor Fred to give each of those men $100 for the two days of work and still have $30,000 for the church. It's not right to have them work two days for nothing. I want to see each of them have something. Someone'll probably say isn't enough, I'm not sure what amount is right, but I'd sooner do something and be wrong than to do nothing. You can tell the pastor the rest of the money goes to the church but make sure he pays all of the men who came. Oh, and send another thousand to cover any expenses they had. The busses had to cost them something."
Harry was almost too shocked to answer. He could have expected an argument from Jack but not this one. He was so amazed he could think of only one response, "how do you figure that amount?"
"Two days work, ten hours each, five dollars an hour. Those guys deserve something for their work. Our men were just about ready to quit, they were tired, tired of working, tired of not being finished and tired because they couldn't see the end. By Monday morning our people could see the light at the end of the tunnel and were hitting it. Those guys from down south are worth every penny of it in the work they did and even more in the morale boost."
A brief discussion ended in agreement. The check with the instructions for disbursing funds was mailed the next day.
Virginia was opening the mail as she did every morning. There had been bills as usual. The church finances were somewhat better but they were still precarious at times. The last few weeks hadn't been good. There was one more letter, it too looked like a bill. She opened it and read the letter inside. At first she couldn't believe the message, then she looked at the check. She let out a scream that brought Pastor Fred coming on the run. He looked at the check, bowed his head and started to cry.
Five minutes later he was on the phone to Pennsylvania. "Brother Harry, that is entirely too much. We need to return at least half of it. You gave us trucks, then food, now this. It's just too much."
"Let me tell you about that. The check wasn't quite what I asked my board of elders to send."
"But that was more than generous. Don't be too hard on them. We didn't do it for the money, you know that. You can't believe the time we had on the bus coming home. My people are ready to start doing work here too. They already have a project planned for this Saturday. They really got into working together. Doing something and seeing results is one of the best motivations."
Harry laugher, "Pastor, you don't understand. I asked them to give $30,000, that was all I expected to be able to get them to give. I had hoped they wouldn't trim it down too much. When I threw out the request, the tightwad of the group suggested the extra $12,000, then added another thousand for the expenses you had coming up here. He wants you to give a hundred to each man who came up here to help. Tell me, how could I say no to him? It's the first time he hasn't tried cutting a request. Either he totally flipped, or it has to be of God."
"But."
"No more buts. We were tired, we were demoralized, you gave us more than help, you gave us hope. That may have been worth more than the help."
"But you gave a lot to us. That service Sunday morning. The men agreed they hadn't thought white people could sing like that."
"Thanks. If you don't mind, I'll tell my people that."
"You can. Not too long ago I told our congregation all white people looked the same to me. I was only half kidding. Are you aware that several of your men asked our people to come up hunting in the fall? They even offered the use of guns and hunting coats. They told us to come up, they'd do the rest."
"No, I wasn't aware of it, but I like the idea."
"So do I. A lot of our people could use the food, and the fellowship."
"And our people need to see what happens on the other side of the hills of Pennsylvania. They want you to come back with some of your people and preach some week."
"I like the idea. Do you know three men who came with me from Eli's unit weren't saved when we went, but some preacher named Jack got to two of them while they were there and the other got with Eli on the way home."
"We don't have a preacher named Jack."
"They said it was some preacher named Jack they worked with and he spent the weekend telling them how good God had been to him."
Harry began to laugh, "You're kidding, the only Jack is Jack Hardsock, the ex-tightwad I told you about. That's good news to me too. I'm glad you shared it. I believe we are seeing Jack come out of his shell."
The day after the check was mailed one of the men cleaning up the site found a partially buried metal box. It contained a quarter of a million dollars in cash and another hundred thousand in negotiable bonds. Documents in it showed it was a nest egg for Brother Gideon's escape. When they showed it to Jack Hardsock he laughed, "Brother Harry has been telling me if we give it will come back. There he is, right again. Just remember if the guys from down south hadn't come up here, we wouldn't have found that. I think we ought to cut them a check for the tithe on this, or a finders fee, whatever you want to call it, they deserve it. Ten percent sounds good to me either way." The next day a second check was mailed.
The two churches were knitted together. It became usual to have someone from one body visit in the other church. People who had relatives and friends near the other church encouraged them to visit. Many of the visitors made the church their home. The church in Pennsylvania that had been one hundred percent white just a few months ago soon was sprinkled with members of other ethnic backgrounds as people realized they were not excluded.
When the pastor told Jack about the two men who got saved he smiled. "Gosh, pastor, I didn't do anything but tell them how good God was to me." Jack thought for a minute, then continued, "Pastor, do you think maybe we've been making this too complicated? Maybe that's why people aren't getting it?"
Pastor Harry smiled, "Maybe we are."
The following Sunday his sermon would be on "Keeping it Simple." Jack nearly slid under the seat to avoid eyes when Pastor Harry told how he had inspired this message.
Cap handed Mindy a folder when she arrived for duty. She had expected it for a couple of days, it was her re-enlistment papers. Her second tour would be up in six weeks and she must soon determine if she wished to stay in the army or leave. She had already decided. She had checked with airports and found her skills as an aircraft mechanic were in demand. She applied for several jobs in the local area and was frustrated when there were no responses. When she left church on Sunday Pastor Fred asked her how it was going. She looked down. He asked why and she explained the situation. She wouldn't mind staying in the military but really wanted to be free to leave and felt it was the right time. An enlistment would tie her down. But if she couldn't find a job, she would have to stay.
Pastor Fred looked at her, then asked, "Have you tried up north?"
"No."
"Try it."
"But I wanted to remain here, there is so much love."
"But Mindy, where you want to be isn't important but where God wants you to be is. And I believe God is leading you north. Put it in His hands and see what doors he opens."
She mailed two resumes that week, one to the Pennsylvania State Police in Harrisburg and one to the airport in Baltimore. The Pennsylvania State Police called her on Friday. Could she come in for an interview at Harrisburg in the next week?
She managed three days off in the middle of the next week, traveled to Harrisburg, was interviewed, spent some time with Dave and returned to the base. The men who interviewed her were most concerned about her activities in the New Oxford incident. An express mail letter arrived the next day. It was a formal offer of a job at a higher wage than she had asked. She would be stationed at Capital City Airport. She didn't know where it was till she looked at a map. It was just fifteen miles from Dave's sister's home.
She wondered where Dave lived. She had never seen his house. It had to be near to his sister. She called him with the news of her new job..
Darin was to appear for his parole hearing at eleven. Earlier in the week he had a visit from a lawyer, an expensive one from home. He informed Darin he was taking his case on a pro-bono basis. One look at the lawyer's shoes and clothes told Darin this man had never done any work pro-bono. He was being paid and well. Darin knew better than to ask, you took what was offered.
Darin approached the hearing with misgivings. His likelihood of parole was small. It was simply too early in his sentence to expect parole to be granted. He longed to be home, to protect his family, he had been away at their time of greatest need. The hearing lasted ten minutes, the questions asked seemed to have nothing to do with his case, he left the room discouraged. It was too early, the hearing was a formality. An hour later he was informed his parole had been granted. In a few days he would be headed home. The lawyer learned of the action before he left the prison. He called Adelle that evening to tell her the good news.
Julie watched the television as 20-20 covered the progress, or better yet, lack of progress in making the Armed Insurrection Amendment the law of the land. Ninety nine days had passed since Pennsylvania had quickly approved it, followed by thirty four others. Four additional ratification's were needed and they were just not happening. In fact, all of the ratification's had come in the first fifty days. In all of the remaining fifteen states intense lobbying was going on to prevent the passage, outside money, including that from PAC's and the NRA was being spent. Some state legislators had been threatened if they voted for the amendment. In Vermont, Maine and New Jersey the Legislatures had each seen more than thirty bomb threats. Most of the state names were predictable, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, Texas, Idaho, Nebraska, Utah, Nevada, and Arizona. All had significant militia operations in them. Surprising in the group were Vermont, Rhode Island, New Jersey, Maine, and Deleware where vocal anti-government groups had held up passage.
Julie wondered how anyone could be so crass. This bill only called for military action if a group took up military weapons against their neighbors. Why would anyone consider this a valid action? She watched as one man from Deleware talked, actually she noted, as he vented his anger.
"If those guys in Washington think they are going to shove this law down our throats, they had better think again. They can stick this in their left ear. If I want to have a gun, I'll have a gun. If my neighbor crosses me, he's dead!"
The vehemence was intense.
She turned off the television and went to bed but she could not sleep. She kept thinking of the Governor of Maine, and she didn't even know his name. During the program he had told the anchor he would continue to press for passage, the bill was right and it was needed. Finally at just before midnight she slid out of bed and went to her study to pray for his safety. At 0145 she felt the burden lift went back to bed and immediately fell asleep.
Julia was surprisingly awake at 0645 the next morning, she fixed a cup of tea and turned on CNN Headline news just before 0700. The lead story was shocking, there had been a traffic accident during the night, on a deserted stretch of interstate 80 near a place called Snowshoe in Pennsylvania. She wondered where that was, pulled a map of the state she had brought back with her and noticed it was in the mountains. It appeared to be a relatively deserted area. Six vehicles had crashed and burned with some significant explosions. Only one vehicle, a Jeep had escaped the holocaust, it ran off the road and into a ditch. It's two occupants were dead. They were heavily armed and had maps that indicated they were preparing a raid on the home of the Governor of Maine as a lesson to those who would oppose them. Julie started to cry. The explosion was witnessed by a Pennsylvania State Trooper from a restaurant parking lot on a hill nearly a mile away. His radio call for help fixed the time of the accident at 01:43 AM. The time did not surprise Julie in the least.
Governor Ed Fauth called both chambers of the house together for a press conference and called for those who would oppose the amendment to stand and in two minutes tell the people of the state why they oppose it or go back and pass it. Two men stood briefly and talked of big brother. When it was obvious that no others were inclined to talk Ed took the podium.
"Let me tell the people of this state who they have to be concerned about. They must fear those who preach fear and hate, those who will tell you that our government is out to get you. Our government is not perfect, it was designed by men, it is run by men and it will be imperfect, it will make mistakes, but it is bound by laws to protect each of us. This law is one more piece of protection. No person in this state has any reason to fear this law unless he raises up in rebellion and begins to threaten his neighbor. All God fearing, righteous and good men know this is wrong. Why do we oppose the law that will prohibit what we agree is wrong? Let me tell you. Everyone who opposes this law does it for some reason. I can only see a few. First is ignorance or lack of understanding. I find it hard to believe this is true for any in this body. Second is political motives. These have no place when the safety of the citizens of this state are at stake. Third is personal gain. These have no place in this body at any time, and in fact, if this is the reason I will consider it valid reason for me to publicly call for that person's resignation."
"Each of you were elected by the people, to the people, not me will you be accountable. Since they cannot be here except by television, I will stand in proxy for them."
"Would each person who voted to bring this legislation to the floor for a vote stand." About on third of the people stood. "I applaud you for that."
"Now please be seated. Anyone who opposed or would oppose bringing this legislation before the body or would oppose its passage, please raise your hands." A few hands were raised. "Come on now, be truthful, more of you than that opposed the motion to force it out of committee was defeated." Nearly two thirds of the hands went up. He gave the TV cameras time to scan the room. "Put your hands down. Now is the to stand up and be counted. That is what the NRA is saying in opposing this bill, so lets stand and be counted, those who support the bill just did. If you oppose the bill because you think its wrong, stand up now." Nobody stood. "If you oppose the bill because you don't understand it, stand up." Again nobody stood. "If you oppose the bill for political reasons, stand up." Nobody stood. "If you oppose the bill because you would receive personal gain, please stand." There was still nobody standing.
The Governor scanned the room. "Everyone who voted to keep the bill in committee stand." Again nearly two thirds stood. The governor shook his head. He looked straight at the camera. "Scan this room, show the people of this state what caliber of people they sent here. These people opposed legislation and now they either do not know why they opposed it or they are ashamed to face the people who elected them and tell them why." The cameras were moving. One man ran at the governor and tried to take the mic, he was restrained by two state troopers. The governor motioned them to bring him to the podium. "Tell the good people of the state why."
The man stood there with nothing to say. The governor turned to the group, "This time next week, I will call today for the State Police and the Attorney General to begin an investigation of the sitting members of this body for accepting money from illegal sources. I would suggest that any who have anything to hide tender their resignations today, including the records of illegal activities. Ladies and gentlemen, it will be show and tell. I promise all who resign in this way that I will do everything in my power to see they enjoy the most lenient treatment possible from the state judiciary. I have discussed this with the attorney general and the State Justices. This body will become an example of integrity for other states. Good day, ladies and gentlemen, we all have work to do."
The legislation was passed late that night with only two abstentions and by noon the following day just over two thirds had tendered resignations. Within three days governors of other states called their legislatures to task and the amendment was law.
Darin arrived home late in the afternoon. The high of leaving prison dimmed during the time he spent on the bus on the way home. Would he be able to find a job? He now had a prison record. Many employers would shy away from him making job hunting more difficult. He pushed that out of his mind. The evening with the children and night with Adelle was wonderful.
Pastor Fred found a letter in the mail from Pastor Dennis. This was one of the men who had declared him their pastor. He had been in contact with Pastor Hanshue and several of the others. The men had agreed to begin contributing to Pastor Fred's church every month. The amount would be more than a nice salary for an assistant pastor. It took two months of planning but in the end Gary became that pastor. Pastor Fred was free to travel when needed. He had duplicated himself in the pulpit. Later in the day he would
meet with Julie and Brad. They were being promoted too.
Pastor Hanshue was surprised to find a note on his desk. Jack Hardsock wanted to see him. His first reaction was, "Did we spend something frivolously?" He smiled, Jack had been different, he too must put the old Jack in the past.
Jack came in for the appointment. "Pastor, I want to spend some money to help some of the young men in Pastor Fred's church. We can help two of our people at the same time and provide some housing that's needed in the community."
"How much will we have to spend?" Pastor Hanshue realized the role was reversed, he was asking about costs. Jack wanted to spend money. "I'd guess we could do it for a little less than a hundred thousand, and we get two more homes on the site. You know we need them desperately."
"How do you plan to do that?"
"Dave Hench and Mike Martin, they're builders. They both have a slow time now , new homes aren't moving, and they could use some work. Let's have them give us two full time members of their crews each for six weeks. That'll cost us about twelve thousand dollars to treat them fair, I checked. Then we have Pastor Fred send us about twelve of his young men who want to work and don't have a job. We feed them, house them and pay them five bucks an hour. That'll cost another fifteen thousand. And we'll need money for materials. If things go slow and the weather's bad, it'll be about forty five thousand for two houses. I'll bet we turn them loose, they build six houses, if they do it'll cost us more, possibly about a hundred twenty thousand. We'll need a few thousand to have the foundations dug."
"You really want to do this?"
"Yes." He dropped his head, "I have to confess, I went behind your back, I talked to the other elders, they like it too. And if any of them change their minds and try to fight it I'll personally take care of them."
"Why do we need to do this now?" Pastor Harry had seen such an change in this man he needed to understand why.
"There are people who need housing but that's only half of it. Those young men who came up here worked hard. I worked with them, many have no jobs and they're not afraid of work. They need an opportunity. I can't make them take it, but I can do my best to see that we make it."
"But we can give them a job for six weeks, we can't give them permanent work, what about that?"
"We're going to give them more than work. We're going to train them on the job and send them back with some experience. Maybe that'll give them an edge when they hunt for work. Worst case, if it don't work, they at least get six weeks of work and we get the housing we need."
The people who thought it couldn't be made work underestimated Jack. He pushed and things came together.
Darin no longer had a valid drivers license so he called a cab to go to the state employment office. He waited his turn, then filled out the paperwork and waited to be seen. The caseworker looked at his qualifications as an accountant and flipped through a list of jobs. She smiled.
"You're a lucky man. I have a job description that looks like it was written for you. I'll give them a call to see if they can interview you today."
An hour later Darin was waiting to be interviewed. When he returned home that evening he had a job. He would be a staff accountant in a plant that produced textbooks at a salary he had only dreamed of just a week ago. It was a plant owned by the same company who had hired Adelle.
The family went out for dinner that evening.
After the children were in bed Adelle asked about Carla. She had avoided asking the night before, she had too much on her mind and didn't want to spoil the evening.
"I did a favor for Carla."
"What kind of favor is worth five hundred dollars a week? We've gotten over $10,000 already."
He sat quietly for a few minutes. "I exchanged Brother Gideon's pills. I gave him the cyanide."
Adelle sat silent for a few minutes. "You killed him?"
He nodded.
She was silent for nearly a minute, then wrapped her arms around him and held him. "God, you took a chance. What if you got caught?"
"Someone with money wanted him dead. I got a lawyer for the hearing and the money. They promised they'd keep sending it until I got out and for five years after I got out to help me get started. They wouldn't have had to pay me to do it, not after what he did to you and the kids."
"Who's Carla?"
"I have no idea, it must be someone with money who lost something in the raids. I really don't want to know, I just want to put this behind us."
"So do I."
Jack was in an unfamiliar church but the spirit was the same. After the sermon he was called to the front. The need in Pennsylvania was noted and the opportunity for the members there laid out. They would take anyone who could work and who had no job. Sixteen young men signed up. Jack cringed, his charter was for twelve, not sixteen, could he get the board to agree? He looked at the sixteen faces, he couldn't say no to any of them.
He went to the pastor's office and called the two contractors. They agreed that they could work with the additional people. He went back and announced the news. The men should be ready to travel on the next Sunday.
During the morning service Pastor Hanshue noticed the two men sitting together in the back of the church. He didn't recognize either of them but somehow his attention was drawn to them. He wondered why but finished his sermon. After the service the two approached him and asked if they could talk with him privately.
He led them to his study and closed the door. The men introduced themselves as John Lindsey and Ben Jackson. It took fifteen minutes for them to relate their story to the pastor. Both had lived in the city on Princess Street before the raid, both were married and had one child and another on the way. On the night of the raid their wives had gone out with the children to pick up some ice cream. They were caught on King Street in front of the APC's, their car was machine gunned. Both men lost their families in that one awful evening.
They told how they were recruited by Barry and helped with the abortive raid on the Army base. And finally they told how he was killed and they had taken the money from the house.
Brother Harry asked why they had chosen to come to him. John smiled, "Jamie and Missy." Pastor Harry knew instantly, the two women who had come into the body a few months after the raid. "We met them at Bob Evans, where they work, got to know them. Jamie has been a real help to me. She told me to see you for help. We're here. By the time the men left they had made a commitment to Jesus and they had a resolve to clear their records.
John Lindsey and Ben Jackson were in the office of the District Attorney telling their story. When it was done, Stanley Rallins looked up at them. These men had broken at least a dozen laws he could think of and could be held on several counts of conspiracy, all felonies with long prison sentences. Stanley looked at them with compassion, he remembered the old TV program, Mr. District Attorney. It began with a picture of a building and a deep voice detailing the responsibility of the office, to see that the laws of the state are vigorously prosecuted, and to defend the innocent. He couldn't remember when he had been called on to defend the innocent, but if there was an appropriate time it was now. He could not defend them but he could see someone did, and he would be sure that defender was good at his job. Clearly, John and Ben weren't innocent of a crime, but they weren't really guilty either. They had been taken advantage of by someone who knew they would be easy marks. When it came down to the bottom line, they had harmed no one, why should they spend half of their lives in jail.
The men were arraigned before a district justice later in the day. When they arrived at the justice's office, Steve Latshaw met them in the parking lot. He was by far the best criminal defense attorney in the city. His brother had been killed in the raid. He approached the two men. Stanley introduced them and walked away. He had just arranged for the men to be represented in court, pro-bono, by the man he most feared to face in the courtroom. As he walked away he remembered the voice from the TV show, he knew he had just arranged for justice to be done. The men were arraigned and released on a hundred dollars bail. Both lawyers requested a trial before a judge as soon as possible. The judge could not understand that Stanley had not contested the ridiculously low amount of bail.
Pastor Fred announced that Julie and Brad would be teaching a Bible study in the youth chapel starting on Monday night. Anyone who wished to attend should be there at 7:00 PM. There was so much of a non-reaction that the pastor wondered if he had made a mistake. What if nobody came. Julie and Brad would be crushed. There was nothing he could do but wait and pray. He could not make people come, all he could do was let it in God's hands.
There were fifteen at the Bible study. Brad was somewhat put out at the beginning but as the evening progressed he realized that God had placed every one of them there. They were all people with great potential and they had been given to him and Julie to teach. By the end of the evening he thanked God there had only been fifteen. The responsibility was great. On the way home he confided in Julie, "Pastor Fred really has a lot of responsibility, doesn't he?" For the first time in his life he realized a pastor had a real job, not just preaching on Sunday morning. It was a revelation he wouldn't share with anyone else for years.
Although the class was a Bible study, Julie and Brad became a strong force to mentor several of the others in the class. They were solid adults with good backgrounds, in addition to their education, they possessed a good knowledge of many things. Those under their care began to grow, as Julie put it, "In wisdom and stature, in favor with God and man."
Mindy signed the papers and was discharged from the army. It was a tearful time, the end of a season of her life. More tearful was the departure at the church until Julie took the floor. "Few of you have any idea how much this young woman means to me, how much she has blessed my life, how much I will miss her and how much I trust her. You see, till yesterday, every time I made a flight I put my life in her hands, she fixes my plane, every time I land she is standing there, in the heat, cold, rain, sun, watching for me to come back. I know she not only makes sure every screw is tight, every thing is right, she prays for me while I'm gone. I sat in my room last Tuesday night asking God why she is being taken from me, for me, her leaving is a real loss. He spoke the following to me." She opened the Bible and read the words of the Apostle Paul when he was preparing to leave for Rome, "Why do you weep and break my heart.. The time of my departure is at hand, I have fought a good fight, I have kept the faith." She continued, "Paul was being taken to Rome where he expected to be killed. Mindy is only going north, she is being promoted and blessed for her faithfulness, that I am sure. She will be blessed by this move, and others will be blessed. Do not be concerned and grieve. I accepted that for Mindy, but I asked God, 'What about ,me? I need a good crew chief.' God told me to release her, allow her to be free and he would take care of it. Wednesday morning I saw the new posting for my crew chief, it's Janice. When I saw the posting I realized how much God has put together to give me what I need. Janice is being promoted too, you see, when God does things he does them right. And she has studied under Mindy and she has applied herself to learn, and I know I can take off with confidence that she will do her job with excellence." Mindy would be joining the Hanshues when she moved. Until she could find a place she would live with Dave's sister, Elaine. They had offered a place and she had no alternative at the time.
After the service Janice came over to Julie and said, "I hope I can live up to being Mindy's replacement. They're some big shoes."
Julie looked at her, "God told me I'll get nothing but the best, so you're the best." She took Janice and hugged her.
Dave had borrowed a van from one of the people in the sect and drove down to help her move. By evening they were back in Pennsylvania and most of her things were stored in a Elaine's garage.
Mindy finished her first day at work and returned to the house with Elaine. The next several evenings were spent transferring her driver's license and the other housekeeping efforts necessary for one who had just moved. Dave told her he had a surprise for Saturday afternoon and kept reminding her of it but steadfastly refused to give her any hints.
Dave picked up Mindy at his sister's house on Saturday at 6:30 AM. They ate breakfast and spent the morning in his office. She worked with him. After the office closed they ate at a small diner west of town. He continued to refuse to tell her about the surprise as they drove west. He turned off the road at the airport and pulled into the parking lot. "Come on, we're taking a ride."
"Where too?"
"You'll see. You're not afraid to fly, are you."
"I prefer doing it in a plane I maintain. Then I know it's right."
He laughed, what she said may have sounded egotistical but he knew she was not only serious, she was capable of doing the work she was proud of. As they approached the plane he watched her look it over, then walk around it, looking for some flaw. He knew this was how she took care of the planes she serviced for the army. Several times she stopped and made a closer inspection of some portion of the plane. The pilot walked up while this was going on, "You fly one of these?"
Before she could answer Dave piped up, "No, but she maintained them for the Army and State Police. She wants to inspect it before we fly in it."
"I've known of pilots that had trouble flying with someone else at the controls, but this is a new one. I'll have to tell the maintenance man about this." He motioned toward the plane, "She ready to go?"
Mindy dropped her head and mumbled, "Yes."
"Then let's take her up."
A few minutes later they were in a helicopter headed north. As they flew Mindy realized the flight was over the same area she had flown seen when she was here. She saw the large white house. She remembered the words, "It isn't good enough for you." She smiled, how could anything be better? She
pointed to the house, "See that one, that's the house Pastor Fred told me wasn't good enough for me."
Dave nodded and handed a small box to her, "Open it."
She started to cry when she opened it. It was a diamond ring, a large one.
"Will you marry me?
She hugged him, crying, "Yes."
After a few minutes Dave tapped her shoulder and pointed to a house, "How do you like that one?"
She nodded. It was perfect.
"That's mine."
"You're kidding!"
"No, it's mine. Actually, I should say it's ours."
Later in the evening he told her more about himself. Dave studied prosthetics and went to work in a local business run by an older man. When the man decided to retire, Dave borrowed enough money to take over the struggling business and worked to make it profitable. A year after he bought the business he married. Eight months later his wife and her parents were driving to Harrisburg. A semi crossed the median and hit their car head-on. Debbie's parents were killed instantly, she died later in the day without
regaining consciousness.
Debbie was an only child. Had she lived her parents estate would have made her a millionaire. Their house was appraised at over $350,000 and there were substantial insurance policies. Initially Dave had wanted to sell the larger house but after six months on the market with no serious inquiries his Realtor suggested he sell his home worth just over $90,000 and keep the larger home. Dave realized this was prudent and initially agreed but two days after signing the agreement he called the Realtor and took the house off the market. He signed the house over to his sister and her husband, all she would pay was the transfer fee. The Realtor was surprised to learn that he would get his fee as agreed for doing nothing but the transfer. Dave calculated ten percent of the amount of gain and wrote a check to his church. At the funeral Dave had met two of Debbie's cousins, her only surviving relatives. Over the two months since Debbie's death he had sold two cars and a lot of personal property. He looked at the money that had accumulated as well as the insurance money. He wrote two checks, each for $75,000 and mailed them to the cousins. Dave could have kept all of the money but felt it wasn't proper to do so.
The remaining money provided him with enough capital to clear the business of all debt and have cash on hand. He spent a few thousand for equipment that would make the business more efficient. Within a year the business was more profitable than Dave had ever imagined.
The young men from Virginia returned home for the last time. They had worked hard and the homes were nearly done. As Jack had hoped, six were done and two more were under roof. The weather was turning cold and they wouldn't be able to work outside, the little remaining work could be done by unemployed men and women in the congregation. Jack had cringed as twice he went to meetings of the elders and asked for more money for the project. He knew God had a sense of humor, the weather had been perfect from the start, it would rain at night, then clear off during the day so the men could work and it rained nearly every Sunday. Only one week day had been rainy, an anomaly in the area, and that day was used to finish inside work. God had forced him, the man who had always opposed spending, to go to the elders and ask for more money, and not just once, but twice. And both times he knew it was right. The money was being well spent and he knew it. The men had built eight houses, not the four to six they had expected.
Jack accompanied the men south and at the Sunday morning service he read their names and handed a folder to each of them. It contained a diploma, pictures of the houses they built and the specifications including the number of man hours to build them. It listed the jobs each of the men had done and also two letters of recommendation for each of them. One was from him, the other from one of the men who worked with them. With them standing in the front of the church he faced them, "I want each of you to go job hunting but don't get discouraged if you don't get a job on the first try. You have to throw a lot of mud at the wall if you want to be sure some will stick, you know that. But get out there and try. Show them what you did. Tell them you know to build, and tell them what you did. And tell them you want to work. You proved that. And if any of you need a reference, tell them to get in touch with me. My name and some of the others in the church are in the folder. I'm sure most of you could get jobs up north, but I'm just as sure you can here. Don't move unless God tells you to. God bless you all."
He turned to Fred. "Pastor Fred, I personally want to say thanks, to you and to your congregation, and I need to apologize to each one of you, God told me to and I better do it now before he turns up the heat to get me to do it. When you came up in September I thought it was going to be a fun weekend, very little work would get done and we'd have a lot of work to do when you left. I was proven wrong and God really got on my case for it. For misjudging my brothers I was told I had to make amends. Saying I was sorry wasn't going to cut it. I was considered the church tightwad and quite frankly, I was misguided enough to be proud of the title. That Sunday morning God told me the time had come for me to dump that title once and for all, and do it in style. The first thing he told me I had to tell them to spend twelve thousand dollars more for something than the Pastor asked for." Pastor Fred wiped his eyes, the extra money was the idea of this man and God had worked a miracle in his life to work a miracle in the lives of others. "When God gets to a stubborn, bullheaded, tightwad Dutchman, he has done something and I tell you he got to me. I haven't been this happy in all of my life. Now let me tell you something else, I owed about $50,000 on my house and a couple of thousand on a car when you were up in September. God told me if I was obedient he would bless me. Last week I paid off the last payment on the house and we still owe on the car but there's more than enough money in the checking account to pay it. With all that's going on, I didn't have time to write the check. Money came from everywhere, one guy paid me over $500 he owed me for ten years and figured up the interest and paid it too. FHA sent me a refund I didn't even know I should get when we made the last payment on the house, that'll more than pay off the car. I keep telling God I'll try to outgive him and he keeps making me try harder."
Pastor Fred turned to him, "My brother, God has told me you heart has always been right though at times you couldn't see the reason for things and you opposed them. Now he's opening your eyes. You're going to be able to balance your thrift with the needs of the ministry and you'll be the one who will spend when it benefits the gospel and you'll hold back when it doesn't have a return. And God is going to bless you personally. You've had a desire to minister. Your time is coming, it is coming soon."
Within two years Jack retired from his job to become the administrative head of the church, the job George Sipe had once held and discharged so ably. He never asked how much the salary would be when he accepted the position, when the first check was handed to him he thought it was a mistake. The salary
was almost twice what he was making before his retirement. He protested, it was too much. Pastor Hanshue responded that it was exactly what George Sipe was making when he died. He responded that George was a great man. Pastor Hanshue responded, "So are you." Jack hung a picture of George in his office. He told others he admired George and hoped to be as wise and understanding as him. Few other than Jack had any doubts he had attained that goal before he assumed the office.
Adelle had just finished a night course in accounting at a local trade school several days ago, her first attempt at self improvement since high school. She had hoped she could advance in the company. In the months since she was hired she had seen people within the company given opportunities to better
themselves, particularly if they got more education and training. She reported the course completion and presented her grade card, an "A". This morning the check to reimburse her for the tuition and books was in her mail along with a letter of congratulations from the President of the company and a gift certificate for two to eat at a very nice restaurant. This was the policy, an "A" was worth two good meals, a "B" was worth one. Adelle expected this to be the last she would see of this until she took more courses.
Later in the day her supervisor called her into her office. Adelle was asked to come in early and stay over the next day. She would be handing out the new medical insurance cards to the employees, a temp would be in to cover the lobby. There would be overtime money for the job. She thought little of the request, she had been pulled for other special assignments.
Eli woke at about 0220. He felt his head, he was running a fever, his stomach ached and he felt generally miserable. He had been feeling a little off for two days and had thought he was catching something. A stomach flu was going around and he had probably caught it. He got two Digel tablets and returned to bed. He woke again at 0450. He felt worse. He took two Tylanol and returned to bed. By 0625 Mindy woke because of his tossing. She felt his head and went for the thermometer. He was running a fever of 101. She asked how he felt and he told her about the stomach ache. She too thought it was the flu and went downstairs to get him some hot tea.
When she returned he was doubled up and in pain. She felt over his stomach and when she hit one point he groaned. She picked up the phone and called 911. In minutes the ambulance was taking him to the hospital. Mandy rode with him. A neighbor would take care of the children until they returned.
Within an hour of her call his appendix had been removed, it ruptured while they were taking him to the operating room. He would survive but his recuperation would be a long one.
Adelle was making her rounds through the building, dropping off cards for the insurance plan. She had never been in some parts of the building before, a receptionist is generally tied to a specific area. One of her stops was in the executive offices to deliver the cards for the two executive secretaries. As she was preparing to leave she saw a picture of a beautiful woman on the wall. Intrigued by the picture, she asked the secretary about it. The secretary responded that this was the wife of the president.
Adelle commented, "Such a beautiful woman. Who is she?"
The secretary responded, "Carla, the president's wife, she really was a beauty."
Adelle nodded just as the president was coming out of his office. "How are you doing, Adelle?"
"Fine, thank you."
He watched as she left, "A real lady, she is."
"She's a real trooper, a good worker. It's a shame about her arm. She asked about the picture, called Carla a pretty woman."
"Carla was, she really was." He turned and went back into his office with tears in his eyes. As he closed the door he said to himself, "Nothing is too good for the one who avenged her death or his family."
Frank Bitner picked up the phone and called a doctor he had played golf with before the raid. Her husband was killed in the raid, Frank had not contacted her because he was sure he could not handle the meeting, and he was not sure she could either. Now he needed her expertise, the meeting would be on a different level. The receptionist answered the phone, "Doctor Richter is at the hospital, will you be available later in the day if I have her call you?"
"I'll be here all day, please try when she comes in."
When Denise Richter called, Frank was at his desk.
"Could we get together this evening? I have a couple of medical questions and I need to have the inquiry made quietly."
"Sure. I need to get out of the house, all I've done for months is work, eat and sleep."
They met at the Roosevelt and took a booth in the back. After dinner she queried him about the medical question. "I have an employee who was hurt in the raids, a real worker and a good person, but she has some kind of nerve damage in her shoulder and her left arm is totally useless. It really hurts me to see her that way."
"Do you know what treatment she has had up till now?"
"No, but the surgery was done the night of the raid in Columbia. Could you find out if anything can be done? And also, her daughter has some facial scars, could you see if anything can anything be done for her?"
She promised to check, they spent the rest of the evening together and agreed to meet late in the week.
The charges against John Lindsey and Ben Jackson were dismissed on motion by the defense, the prosecution did not protest the motion. They were free men. Within six months they would marry Jamie and Missy in a joint ceremony.
The hospital room was full of friends from church and the base. Eli would be well taken care of, all had besieged the nurses to give him nothing but the best. The people at the hospital wondered who this man was, they had never seen anyone so loved. They were really impressed when a congresswoman dropped in to visit.
Frank Bitner and Dr. Richter met again for dinner at the Hideway. After dinner she pulled several large envelopes out of her bag and placed them on the table. "I pulled their records and looked at them. You know my specialty is neuro-surgery, I can give you an expert opinion on Adelle. At the time of the injury she could have been helped by micro-surgery, it's a shame it wasn't done when she was hurt, it would have had a good chance of success, with her arm paralyzed for a year she'll need some real therapy to restore it, with the time that has elapsed, the nerves are probably encased in scar tissue and we'll get a really bad result. She could come out worse than before. I would recommend against any surgery."
"How could it be worse than she is now?"
"She could have serious nerve pain and no function."
"So there's nothing we can do?"
"There is an experimental program, with an electronic implant, something like a pacemaker that has had very good results. She'll have to charge an implanted battery every couple of days. And it's expensive, very expensive."
"How expensive?"
"Over two hundred thousand."
"Peanuts."
She looked at him with awe. "Peanuts?"
"Yes, for her, Peanuts. See if you can find out how we can qualify her for the procedure."
She nodded, "Now about the young girl, the scars, I'm not an expert, but I know enough to tell you any competent plastic surgeon can fix them. They'll probably do it in two procedures."
"How much?"
"Maybe fifteen thousand total, maybe a little less."
"Do it. Find someone and let's get on with it."
"You can't just order people to have surgery."
"I'm not ordering them to have it, I just want to make it available to them. I want you to have a plastic surgeon in town contact them and tell them he's doing it free, all the bills are paid. If they take him up on it, fine, if not that's fine too."
She nodded, "Done. What about the woman?"
"Can you do the procedure?"
"Not here, but I could arrange to have it done at Hopkins and have her under my care after the initial surgical period. I'd get a chance to see the surgery, possibly to assist."
"Do it. He opened his checkbook and wrote out two check, one for $35,000 and one for $350,000. Tell me who to write on the checks." She suggested the name of a charity that would handle the disbursement for a percentage, she would have them contact the family and offer the procedures.
Frank would follow the procedures, both women elected to have the surgery. He and Denise would finally marry in a year.
With Eli in the hospital and the most optimistic return date being six weeks away, Sue was designated temporary CO and Wendy was made temporary exec. Sue had a dream the night before about the first morning at church. When she woke, she got out the audio tape she had been handed that morning and played it several times. It was as had been predicted, one thing after another had happened, it was almost a year since the New Oxford incident as it had come to be called. Sue put the tape back in the drawer, almost afraid to touch it, yet hanging on to the words.
Because the Cap would be out for so long one Apache pilot was transferred in on a TDY from another unit. Several incidents were brewing in the world, the attack units would be kept up to strength. The transferred pilot was one of the few survivors of the old Baker Sam unit, she had been wounded on the ground and out of action for several months. With Baker Sam at full strength she returned to active duty in Baker Dog.
Sue was leading her flight across the island and Wendy was following with the second flight. They had been warned to maintain strict radio silence and keep their radar's off, the enemy had a line of listening units that would allow them to pinpoint the transmitter and fire SAM's within seconds. With ten minutes to the target they encountered clouds and the two groups lost sight of each other. About five minutes from the target the threat receiver popped off, the flight was being tracked by SAM's just ahead of them. The
action must be taken now. Both flights must make exact planned moves both must explicitly trust the other. Wendy clicked the mic button once and got a response of two quick clicks. Without any hesitation, Wendy went to treetop level and full forward speed while Sue climbed slightly and slowed. Sue suddenly presented her flight as an obvious target, while Wendy and her flight were screaming to hit the SAM site, aiming at the radar's with HARM's. Wendy's flight pin-pointed the targets and launched an attack before a single SAM could be fired. The flight returned to its previous profile and continued on. Later they would engage an enemy who initially out numbered them more than two to one. The odds would get worse as other aircraft flew in to engage. When the battle ended most of the flight had little or no ammunition but all landed safely. Even the lightly armed Sparrows got kills. Sue, the pilot who had been tagged as not aggressive enough for an Apache had six, including a very durable French built fixed wing attack craft something like the Warthog. Wendy, Beth, Sandy and Julie were new aces with five kills each. Betty, the only pilot to not make ace had four, all fixed wing craft, two of them F-14 class aircraft, the first time such an engagement had gone to a light helicopter. She had downed the two of them in an interval of less then six seconds, crossing the leader and wingman with the same burst in an almost impossible 90 degree deflection shot. And Julie and Betty had done it with the 7.62's in the Sparrow, not the heavy .50's of the Apache. The cover Baker Dog, Baker Sam and Baker Tom provided allowed an assault team to free a group of captured Americans being held by a Caribbean dictator who's airforce had been reduced to little but cargo craft in one battle. Fixed wing American aircraft had been unavailable for the raid to because of other events in the world.
The flight had broken dozens of records. The crews flew south from their base and refueled in southern Florida. They flew south over the Caribbean and refueled in the air, made landfall and attacked, then flew to a second mid-air refueling, a landing in Florida and after a day of rest a flight back home. The length of flight was a record for an actual combat flight for both the Apaches and Sparrows. The unit had no mechanical or personnel aborts.
Baker Dog was the lead element with Baker Sam and Baker Tom flying in about ten minutes behind to support and maintain cover for the ground forces. Someone in the press noticed that all three unit leaders and nearly half of the air crews had flown under Eli at New Oxford. The press soon found he was recovering from an appendectomy and he became a hero again. He was interviewed at his home.
Seven days after the flight the force was on alert again, they were confined to the base, they might have to fly out at any time. They had slept on cots in the ready room at night, the ground crews had all aircraft serviced and ready to go. The dictator had threatened his neighbors with his ground forces, they may have to support ground troops.
The pilots were called at 0500 to prepare to fly out. They repeated most of the earlier flight but landed in an airport near the border. They would spend twelve days there, supporting ground troops from a dirt field, much like in Pennsylvania. There was always the possibility of ground attack on the informal base. Their ground crews were flown in to support them, many of the people had been in Pennsylvania. The ground crews were on continual alert and maintained perimeters like they had, although this time they were never called upon to repel any attackers. This time there were no air battles, the Sparrows were spotters and the Apaches attacked tanks and armored vehicles. Every air crew member was decorated in the action. All of the ground crews received unit citations. The dictator's forces were turned back, with much of their equipment reduced to scrap iron. His government would collapse in a few weeks, a more democratic regime would take over.
Upon return Sue was confirmed as the permanent CO and Wendy was made permanent exec. Eli was promoted to the executive officer to the commander of the base air groups. With his promotion came an appointment to a new task group the military was forming. Its charter was to prepare a plan that would
enable the military to fully utilize all of its people. Unlike previous commissions that generally had focused on women or minorities, this one targeted all of the members of the military. It was not affirmative action or equal opportunity, it was full utilization. Eli looked at the orders. It was what he had hoped for but he had never felt he would ever see it, let alone participate in it. He wondered how he would be able to contribute. This was a job that would tax the wisdom of Solomon and the patience of Job. Was he really up to the task? After the press session that followed the announcement he was surrounded by much of the Baker unit. All wished him well. Mandy smiled from the back. The words of Pastor Fred and Gary continued to come true. Several of the people present that day listened to the tapes again. Most would continue to do so for years...
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