“No, Jack. You’re good. What’s going on?” Lynn says. I tell them what we just found.
There is a pause on the other end. “That’s all kinds of fucked up. Are you sure that’s what happened?” Lynn asks.
“Yeah, I’m sure,” I answer. “Is Bannerman there?”
“Yeah, I’m here, Jack,” I hear Bannerman say.
“Okay. We need to divert the wall crews now. We’re going to need an inside walled compound built with towers. Lynn, if you can still hear me, gather the other team leaders. I’m on my way back. Think about how to tell the others as well,” I say.
“I’ll call the crews now and divert them. Lynn says she’ll get the others. See you when you get here,” Bannerman says.
“Okay, let’s turn this around,” I tell Red Team.
“Sir, what does this mean?” McCafferty asks.
“It doesn’t mean we are exactly fucked right now but the doc is lubing up his gloved finger,” I answer.
“We’ve been through worse. We’ll get through this as well, sir,” Gonzalez says.
“Damn straight. We’re going to get the manuals right now and study them hard. Then we’re going to turn the Spooky (AC-130) loose,” I say.
“Hooah, sir,” Gonzalez says. I sincerely think she says that just to see me roll my eyes.
After dropping by the aircraft and picking up the manuals, we head back to Cabela’s to discuss this new development. The fact that the night runners were able to get over the walls drastically changes our plans and our measure of feeling secure. The knot that has formed in my stomach tightens even more with the thought that the night runners have the capability to penetrate the walls.
Pulling into the parking lot at what I once thought to be our secure sanctuary, I hurry inside. Lynn has gathered the team leaders that aren’t out on assignments. I quickly detail my observations at Madigan which brings a silence to the group as each ponders for themselves what this means.
“Well, it’s obvious our walls aren’t going to be able to hold the night runners out on their own,” Lynn says breaking the silence.
“So much for our move to base housing. At least I’m assuming we won’t be able to do that as the houses themselves aren’t secure,” Drescoll says.
“Yeah, I think we need to drop the idea of moving to the bases for now,” I reply.
“That still leaves us with the problem of housing then,” Bannerman says.
“True. I believe we need to think about building quarters here in the compound. I think that will be quicker than fortifying the houses up there and it will leave us with the building here as a secure fall back point. Let’s table that for now though and talk about what we need to do to beef up our security here,” I say.
“I think your idea of building another inside wall to create an inner compound is a good idea,” Robert chimes in.
“I agree,” Frank says. “I’m thinking that should be our priority.”
“We need to put up some towers along the perimeter and have them manned at night. They should be self-defensible in case the night runners scale the walls. In other words, they should be designed so they can’t be scaled and far enough away from the walls that they can’t be leapt on from the top,” Lynn adds.
“My thinking is that, if we do build the additional walls, then we need to plan it so that whatever housing we build and the storage containers with our supplies are inside of the inner compound,” Bannerman says.
“I agree with that. I think building the inner wall and towers are our priority right now. I want to make sure we have the entire inner area covered by cameras with thermal imaging and the monitors manned at night along with the towers. There should be plenty of cameras on the bases. We should think about putting an overhang on the walls like we have on the roof to make it more difficult to scale the top,” I say adding my two cents.
“What about mining the outside of the walls?” Greg asks.
“And lay claymores around the exterior of the building here?” Drescoll adds.
“All great ideas,” I say watching Bannerman madly scribble on his clipboard.
“We should seal up the shipping containers at night as well,” Bannerman says looking up from his writing momentarily.
“Shouldn’t we build the barns and stables up more too?” Bri asks. Trust my wonderful girl to be thinking of the animals. Bannerman nods in her direction and his pen dances across the paper.
“We’ve mentioned a lot here. We also have a lot of projects going on. How are those going to be affected? I guess I’m asking how we want to prioritize all of these things. We have the water tower that I think needs to be in place prior to winter. The walls around the vehicle maintenance and storage hangars will be finished in a day, well, two now that we diverted the crews. Let’s see, we also have the inventory and movement of supplies from the distribution centers. We won’t need the teams on supply runs for the time being so we have those freed up,” Bannerman says.
“Don’t forget the searches for other survivors,” Drescoll says.
“There is also the search for families which is time critical and clearing out the area,” I say.
“Well, like Bannerman mentioned, we have a lot going on. We have a lot of resources people-wise but it’s not unlimited. I think we need to prioritize what we are going to do and Bannerman can assign crews. We keep going down the list until we run out of people keeping in mind we still need security and there are our daily tasks as well,” Lynn says.
“Are we at a point where we can create additional teams?” I ask Lynn.
“No, not yet. I think we need to increase the teams at the earliest opportunity but we can’t forsake training,” she answers.
“Okay. We’ll work with what we have. I think our first priority is building the inner wall and towers. Any disagreement with that?” I ask.
“Not going to find any disagreement here,” Greg says to which the others agree.
“We have some time critical elements and need to decide if we’re going to do them or at least where they fit on the priority list; the water tower, vehicle storage facilities, and the search for families,” I say.
“I think we need to throw the idea of fortifying the animal enclosures, as Bri mentioned, up close to the top,” Frank says.
“I think clearing out the area is important as well. That will hopefully keep the night runners away, or at least diminish their numbers, and if we level the ground, we’ll at least be able to see them coming from a distance,” Robert says.
“Alright. So perhaps we keep the crews in place to finish the vehicle maintenance and storage facilities and then have them start on the wall. I was a touch hasty on diverting them. If we have the resources, we can design and start building the towers once we know where the wall will run. Keep the water tower crew on what they’re doing. Assign truck crews and a team to inventory and begin bringing supplies back making sure to secure the containers at night. We also need to find the security codes and bring the generators online up there. Along with building the towers, we can fortify the animal enclosures. Red Team and I, along with Craig, will begin learning the weapons systems and train on the AC-130. We’ll need others with us for support. Are we okay with resources to this point?” I ask.
“I’ll have to work it out in more detail but I think we should be okay at this point. There isn’t a need for a security detachment for the work inside the compound,” Bannerman says.
“Keep in mind we need at least one team on standby as a response team,” Lynn says. “And if you want to gather more cameras, mines, and claymores, we’ll need teams for that and for deploying them. We can have others dig the necessary holes but we need those knowledgeable about arming the mines to actually put them in place and mark their locations.”
“Will we have enough to put skylights in the maintenance facilities as well to deny them to night runners?” I ask.
“We’ll be stretching ourselves thin but I think we can manage that,” Bannerman answers.
“So, we finish the maintenance wall and start on the walls here, build the towers and fortify the animal enclosures, work on the water tower, put in skylights, start bringing supplies down, clear the area when we’re ready, and then search for the families afterwards. Do I have that right?” I ask.