Grant realized that he called this meeting so he needed to get it started. “Well, everyone knows why we’re here. Rich and Dan don’t know Ted like we do,” Grant said, gesturing toward the Team. “And Rich and Dan haven’t had the benefit of already hearing from Ted and Sap like we have.”
“Sap?” Dan asked.
“Oh yeah. He’s Ted’s buck sergeant,” Grant said.
“Here’s our bottom line,” Dan said, looking over at Rich. They had obviously met before hand and had worked out the terms they would ask for. “We don’t want any attention coming to Pierce Point because of this. We don’t want our happy little community to be a military target of the Loyalists. As I told you, Grant, I’ve seen full-scale military weaponry used on fixed targets and I’ve seen what it does to human beings. We have no defenses against rockets, mortars, artillery, helicopters, or, God forbid, air strikes. The Loyalists have this hardware and would use it in a second against a guerilla facility. Then they would probably make sure they got all the guerillas by destroying everything in Pierce Point—civilians and all. That’s how it works in the real world.”
Grant didn’t appreciate that “real world” comment. He thought he was doing a pretty good job of navigating through the “real world” of a collapsed America, but Dan’s opinion was important and Dan deserved respect.
“Understood,” Grant said. “I don’t want that to happen either. Obviously, this plan will only work if we have some assurances that Pierce Point won’t be bombed. That’s what our guests will talk about,” Grant said, hoping they had some answers to Dan’s very valid concerns.
“Our other bottom line,” Rich said, “is that we don’t want our guards or you guys poached by the SF guys. We need to keep some defensive capabilities here.”
“Another valid point,” Grant said. “And it is something Ted can address.” Hopefully, Grant thought. Grant knew that the Team was joining Ted’s unit, but he would let that fact come out later in the conversation.
“While we’re waiting for Ted,” Grant said to Rich and Dan, “we should fill you in on how we know him and why we trust him.” The Team spent the next half hour talking about how they met Ted, how he helped train them at the range, and how devoted Ted had been to Oath Keepers since the beginning. They told Rich and Dan about the briefing they had from Ted on the Free Washington State Guard’s Special Operations Command there in Boston Harbor. Rich and Dan seemed impressed. They had not heard how weak the Loyalists were. The idea of having a semi-open Patriot Special Operations Command so close to Olympia was intriguing to Rich and Dan. It meant the Loyalists were far weaker than they had thought. If the report about Boston Harbor was true, which was a big IF in their minds, they could more easily see how they could win this thing. They trusted Grant, but expected descriptions of things to be slanted in favor of the Patriots.
“No offense to your friend Ted,” Rich said, “but I’m gonna need to see this with my own eyes. I’m not betting several hundred lives at Pierce Point, including mine, on your friend telling you something.”
“No offense taken,” Grant said, even though he was a little offended. Not really offended, but disappointed that Rich and Dan didn’t just accept his judgment. Grant and the Team had signed on with Ted’s unit without verifying the Boston Harbor situation. Was Rich saying that they were stupid for signing up without verifying things?
Rich was right, Grant realized. Trust but verify. Especially when your life, your family’s lives, and the lives of several hundred neighbors are on the line.
Scotty’s radio crackled. It was the Chief. “Guests arrived.”
Dan looked at the radio and asked, “The Chief knows about this?”
“Yep. They come by boat,” Bobby said.
“Who else knows about Ted?” Rich asked. He was getting concerned.
“Don’t worry,” Grant said, even though he was a little worried, too. “Only the people who have to know so they can make beach landings and meet with us. That means the Chief, Paul, and Gideon, and the people in this room. I haven’t even told my wife. I’ll wait until the last minute before I destroy my marriage,” Grant said very flatly. He wanted everyone to know how committed he was to this.
“I’ll go down and bring them up,” Ryan said, grabbing his AR.
“I’ll join you,” said Bobby. He was tired, but meeting your Special Forces liaison on the beach wasn’t something you got to do every day. The young guys on the Team were a little more star-struck by Ted and Sap than the old guys were. The “Ted project” was a young sheepdog’s dream.
While they were waiting for their guests, the men in the yellow cabin talked about little things at the Grange. Chip talked about how his Grange guards were working out and Grant told Dan how impressed he was with what he saw of the gate guards that day.
Finally, the guests arrived. Ted and Sap had on full kit. They each had an M16A4 with an M203 grenade launcher. They had plenty of grenades on their kit. Sap had a very sophisticated radio with a computer keyboard on it. They were wearing uniforms that said “Free Wash. State Guard” on the name strip that had formerly said “U.S. Army.” They looked very professional. Grant was sure this would impress Rich and Dan. Ted and Sap wanted them to know that they were real military operatives and they had ample supplies of the good military-grade hardware. They weren’t bubba guards. The grenade launchers successfully made that impression.
More important than the military trinkets, Ted and Sap were politically well prepared. Ted walked right up to Rich and Dan and shook their hands. Sap did, too.
When Ted shook Dan’s hand, he said, “Master Sergeant Morgan. Nice to meet you. I understand your Air Force Security Forces background has been pretty helpful out here. I heard that the cop who came out here was terrified of your dogs at the gate. Good.” Dan did not expect Ted to know his background. He was pleasantly surprised that they had done their homework.
“You must be Rich,” Ted said, as he turned to Rich and shook his hand. “Very nice job out here organizing things. I have heard great things about you and appreciate you taking the time to meet with us.”
Yes, Ted was sucking up. But, just as he’d been trained, he was showing respect to the leaders of the local fighters and he was showing them that Special Forces needed them.
Ted introduced Sap. When he shook Rich’s hand, Sap said, “Former Sheriff’s Deputy and current Oath Keeper, if our intelligence is correct.” Rich nodded. He was a bit impressed.
Sap had double and triple checked that their intelligence on Rich was correct. He wanted Rich to know that they had intelligence on things like this and that their intel was correct. By mentioning Oath Keepers, he was subtly reminding Rich that even a stranger like Sap knew that Rich was an Oath Keeper, so lots of Loyalists probably did, too. Sap was reminding Rich that Rich had chosen sides long ago and the Loyalists knew which side Rich was on. “No way to sit this one out” was the message Sap was conveying.
These Special Forces guys were “smarter than the average bear,” as Yogi Bear used to say. Back at Boston Harbor earlier that day, Ted and Sap had spent over an hour learning all they could about Rich and Dan and planning out how to persuade them. Political planning was as much, or more, of their job as military planning.
Rich and Dan were already impressed with the two of them. Rich and Dan had talked on the way over that maybe the Team had just agreed with an old shooting buddy, like Ted to go do some heroic, and stupid, military stuff. Dan had even suggested to Rich that maybe the Team was “playing Army” and was about to get everyone in Pierce Point killed as a result.
Rich and Dan were no longer having those thoughts after meeting Ted and Sap. Maybe the Patriots actually had functioning Special Forces units and Pierce Point would be one of them. It didn’t seem so crazy, anymore.