He pointed out toward everyone in the next room, “If they’re all with me, and I’m on some watch list, that makes them accessories. Harboring a fugitive. They’re in this with me. That should give them an incentive not to report me.”
Lisa was impressed. She never thought lawyers were terribly useful. She loved Grant, but she saved lives and he just argued about the meaning of words. However, this harboring a fugitive concept was a useful idea.
“Good idea,” she said. “I’ll tell them. I’m all nice and everything and you’re a terrorist, so I can break it to them more softly than you. What do you think?”
God, it felt great to have her on his side again.
“Sounds good,” he said. Grant paused, “Who else is on the list? Anyone else from WAB?”
Lisa nodded. “All of you. Tom, Brian, and Ben.”
Grant hadn’t thought of them in a few days. He’d been so busy worrying about his own family. Were the WAB families OK? Maybe they needed to come out there?
“I should call them,” Grant said, and then instantly realized how stupid that was.
“No way,” said Lisa. “That’s what they’ll be waiting for. Assuming there are any police or FBI or whatever available to monitor these things. Probably not, but it’s not worth the risk. For either you or who you’re calling.”
Grant thought about Manda’s phone. He could use that one. But he didn’t know a fake phone the WAB guys might be using. He just had their numbers. And a call to one of their numbers could be fatal.
Grant realized that he had no way of contacting them. None. They were totally on their own. He felt guilty. He should have seen this coming and he should have made plans for them to bug out to his cabin. He planned on doing that, but things blew up so quickly. There were too many things to plan and not enough time. Then again, months ago he wouldn’t have approached the WAB with this idea because they would have thought he was crazy. It was kind of their fault, Grant realized, because his friends had treated him as a little crazy for being a “survivalist” so Grant hadn’t pushed it with them. And now they probably wished he had.
Lisa and Grant were silent as they thought about their friends getting arrested and…worse.
Grant needed to use humor to lighten up the mood. “Well, I’ll just tell Pow to go buy you some tampons.” They broke into that uncontrollable emotional-release laughter.
They came out of the bedroom with tears in their eyes. Everyone looked at them, not wanting to ask what had just happened.
Lisa smiled and said, “My husband here has gotten himself in a little trouble. We need your help.” She proceeded to explain about the POI list and how everyone in the cabin were now accessories.
Lisa was trying to gauge the reaction of her parents. Would they be devastated that their son-in-law was a “terrorist”? Or would they realize what was really going on?
She did a great job with the announcement, and reminded them, “It’s not like the police can just send a car out to go get people. There are no police right now. There’s no way they can actually get Grant. Besides, he’s just a ‘person of interest.’ He’s not actually wanted.”
She paused. “Don’t tell a soul about this. Not one. We don’t need the attention. Seriously. Please do not tell anyone. Since this list is just symbolic, and no one can do anything to actually get these people, put it out of your mind. It didn’t happen.”
Chip added, “We need Grant so we can make it through this. He’s pretty involved in what we’re all doing out here. We can’t do anything to put him out of commission.” Chip was concerned that his stash of guns was in the basement of someone who was on a watch list. That would increase the odds of attention they didn’t want.
Eileen was concerned. She wanted to know more about the list. She asked who else was on the list, and found out all the conservative politicians on the list that she had voted for. It was clear that the list was entirely political. She couldn’t really get her mind past the fact that her son-in-law was wanted, but at least it wasn’t a real crime.
The Team thought Grant being a POI was cool. They knew that the guns they owned either had been outlawed by some executive order, or would be soon. They had cast their lot with the outlaws. Now it was official.
The Morrells were excited about it. They hated the government and this made Grant a hero.
The Colsons were OK with it. They didn’t like the government, but Mark and Tammy worried a little that a POI would generate some interest from the authorities about their little community. But they also realized that the government had their hands full right now. Besides, Grant was a lawyer and it was just a “persons of interest” list so, if the authorities restored order, Grant would probably talk his way out of any trouble. It’s not like he was an actual terrorist.
It was time for some humor. Grant needed to show everyone that he wasn’t worried about being labeled a “terrorist.”
“Hey, Pow,” Grant said, “since I can’t go into town, the Team should. Guess what’s on the shopping list?” Grant motioned for Pow to come over. Grant whispered to him that tampons were on the shopping list.
“No way!” Pow said. “I will do anything for you, brother, but…” He looked at Lisa and said, “OK, man. Even that.” No one else got the joke, but it still helped lighten the mood.
Next, they talked about how to go into town and get supplies. They decided that one person from each family would come to make sure they got the right things. One member of the Team would drive them and be armed. Concealed pistols on each guy and ARs in the trucks. Each family member would go armed, except Lisa, who still couldn’t stand the idea of having a gun. Actually, the reason she didn’t want to have a gun was that she didn’t know how to use one. She didn’t want to look stupid, so she maintained the “guns are bad” thing that she had believed her whole life up until yesterday.
They were coming up with prioritized shopping lists. There was so much to get. It was kind of frightening how much they needed for the next…while. No one would put a timeframe on their stay out here. Everyone kept thinking it would be a while, though they had no idea how long it would be.
As scary as it was not knowing how long they’d have to be out there, it was reassuring that they could go to the store, at least in armed groups, and still get things. Probably. Depending on what was on the shelves.
The Over Road people hadn’t initially appreciated how far ahead of the rest of the population they were, but they were starting to appreciate it now. They knew the real situation that America was in. Many people out there—despite the riots, looting, terrorism, power and internet going off sporadically, and the government issuing all kinds of emergency decrees—still didn’t understand that they needed to stock up. The Over Road people understood that, when they went into town that morning, they would probably get the last of the stuff on the shelves and at the gas pumps.
They started to round up cash. They only had a few hundred dollars between them. The ATMs were out of order. No one carried huge quantities of cash anymore and prices would probably be outrageous. They quickly realized they would have trouble buying anything with the cash they had. A sense of doom came over the group. Everything had been going so well until now.
Drew got up and motioned for Grant to come with him outside.
Chapter 81
The Fredrickson Milk Run
(May 8)
Drew took Grant out to his car.
“What’s going on?” Grant asked.
He put his finger up to his lips to signal that Grant shouldn’t talk.
When Drew was at his car and where no one could see him, he unlocked his car and pulled something from under the driver’s seat.