He told her that he was heading out and would call back in two hours. He also told her they would talk when he got there. He told her to give Mike more time; he was probably playing it safe. At the moment, Mike was the least of his worries. She said ok and he turned the radio off and ran back to the house. It was time to get moving and he had a lot of ground to cover.
He stepped into the garage and placed the radio in the truck and quickly connected it to the antenna and power. He went over to the side of the garage and opened up a big oblong box that was sealed up and grabbed what was inside. This was quickly attached to the truck with magnets and then tested. It worked like a champ. It would prove to be very useful on the trip. He was banking on it to make a difference when he needed it. A few more minor details and he would be ready to go.
Next he slowly opened the garage door. He had oiled the wheels and chain very well and made sure they were as quiet as he could make them. He didn’t start the truck, but he placed it in neutral and pushed it out into the driveway. Thank goodness it was downhill and it rolled easily.
He didn’t want to alert anyone of his leaving the home and didn’t want to let anyone know what he had. He was taking a big risk with it as it was. He dropped it in park, left the door slightly ajar and stepped back in the garage. He slowly lowered the garage door and then placed the padlocks in place that would keep the door from rolling up.
The next step was to take some steel grid wall and set it up over the garage door as well. This was 2X2 inch square steel grid that stores used to hang merchandise on. He picked it up at one of the many liquidation sales that he attended for stores going out of business. This was locked in place and added that extra level.
He stepped back into the house and then placed four locks into hasps that he had to secure it. It was a metal exterior door and would be hard to get through. They’d have to work at it hard, but the windows would be easier if they were smart enough. He left through the front door and stood on the porch. He turned toward the closed door and there again were four more hasps on which he placed locks. These locks were the round style meant for storage units and harder to cut into.
That was it for now. He went over to the truck, raised the antenna mast and placed it in neutral and rolled it into the street. Looking around, he didn’t see any candles or lights and was fairly confident he was not seen. Now when he started the truck up, if anyone woke up or looked out, it would appear that the truck was simply driving down the street and they wouldn’t know where it came from.
It was a lot of work for something he expected he would only have in his possession for a couple days max, until it was discovered and taken away. Surely martial law had been declared if the government was still around. That was the 64,000 dollar question. He had taken extreme care in keeping it out of sight until now. Even in the garage it sat under a tarp.
He had no idea why there had been an EMP. The possibilities were endless. Nuclear war, EMP attack, coronal mass ejection, whatever, he didn’t care at the moment. He turned the key, the magical moment of truth and the truck started and he threw it in drive and took off down the road.
He didn’t want anyone to see it sitting in front of his house and now it appeared to be just a truck driving down the road. An official government vehicle at that, at least in all appearances that’s what it looked like. It was incredibly easy to pull it off as far as the looks were concerned. The mechanics of it were the hard part. That had taken some doing.
He had purchased a used Tahoe from an auction of government vehicles. It was white and had been a former border patrol truck. They had stripped the decals off from it, removed the light bars and interior equipment, and put it on the auction block. It was your typical government SUV and all Roger had to do was put it back together with a slightly different design in mind.
He waited until all of the mechanical work had been done first though. He’d be sitting in prison at the moment if he had been caught. With the right amount of money, it was surprising what you could buy. Doing what he had planned required a lot of under the radar purchases.
Staging it in a friend’s his pole barn they had taken out the engine and transmission and left it nothing but a roller. A new transmission was installed with another engine that was about as basic as you could get. Practically no electronics, linkage to shift, carbureted engine, and distributor cap and plugs. It was as EMP proof as you could get. No radio, no air conditioning, no heat, no engine sensors, no emission control─ nothing.
Anything with wires was shielded, grounded, shielded again, and the whole chassis was grounded inside the garage through a hole in the garage floor and a 12 foot grounding rod. He had been assured this would work the way he had it set up and luckily it did. Haliday’s buddy had helped build it out so it would run. He had no idea what else Haliday was adding to it however.
On the exterior he put back on the big blue stripe, the federal protective service lettering and the big blue police lettering under that. On the fenders the words “Homeland Security” were present along with the DHS seal. He even added “Supervisor” to the rear quarter panel. On top was the magnetic LED light bar. From a distance you couldn’t tell the difference and up close you couldn’t either, until you looked inside and saw the modifications.
The choice of grabbing the border patrol truck versus another government SUV was an easy decision for that very reason. The windows were tinted darker than normal due to the southwest climate and blazing sun. On the back hitch was mounted a motorcycle carrier and he used a KLR650 to tuck into the carrier and the bike was painted white with matching logos and lettering. He had to admit the bike was a stretch, a big stretch at that.
This might not be that easy to pull off, but 24-30 hours was all he needed. Taking this kind of risk was almost as stupid as it was brilliant. If he failed, he would surely be imprisoned or shot, but with the time table he was projecting, he was confident he could do it. The risk was worth it.
The idea came to him years ago. At the hospital, a distraught patient had been discharged. He had walked outside, climbed into an ambulance in the ambulance loading bay by the ER, and drove away with the lights and siren blaring. This guy had not only made it into Detroit, but actually crossed The Ambassador Bridge into Canada.
Customs even opened the gates for him, thinking he was heading to the hospital with a patient. Now this was prior to 9/11 and times have changed, but Haliday’s route wouldn’t take him through any major cities for the most part or put him in those positions. That’s what he counted on during his travel─ avoiding big populations.
He was driving and thinking about how much of a fool he was for not thinking of another plan. He started doubting himself and the ability to make it. Here he was in this fake DHS Tahoe, black BDU’s and DHS patches bought from eBay for that matter; and about to drive 450 miles one way and then 450 back within an hour of getting there.
It was crazy, but then again if you knew Haliday, it was as sane as sane can get. One more stop to make which was on the way and then the journey would begin. Not quite the journey he was counting on. Things would take some very unexpected turns.
Chapter 4
Heading south, he passed by another hospital. This was actually much closer than the one he worked at, but opportunities here were very limited, so he had chosen the other. Dodging cars scattered on the streets was time consuming and he had underestimated travel time. Driving slower, he had time to check out this hospital.
Dawn was a little more than an hour away; so still being dark outside, the only thing he could make out was the occasional beam from a flashlight in the windows. He couldn’t believe people were still there. What could they possibly do? Delay the inevitable; for some it was the only thing that came to mind. Good little sheeple staying in their barnyard.