Haliday and Chuck made it to the west end of the hangar; no one was in there. He looked at the wall and there weren’t any doors or windows. Up toward the top, he spotted two large air vents. Up against the wall was a rolling ladder. He slowly moved it over about 10 feet and climbed up. He pulled out his Leatherman and used it to pry open one of the louvers.
He looked down. This was going to be the perfect angle for the one position, unfortunately the next position down the line would have clear shots and the lack of protection would be sure death for whomever was up here. He looked at the other vent. Two shooters could do it, just have to figure out how to get someone up there.
Haliday kept looking around for something to use. “Anybody have any ideas on a platform for a second shooter?” he asked. “We have to be able to get down quickly too.” Everyone was looking around. Most of the hangar space had been cleared for the food storage. There wasn’t a whole lot they could use.
Brad and Mark searched the couple and the kids thoroughly. Mark walked them over to their vehicle and opened it up. He looked around a bit and grabbed some rope. He tied them up to a pallet of bricks. He walked back over and grabbed a couple of blankets and tossed them over the kids. It was time to head back to the compound and help.
Mark called in and told them about the four prisoners. He then made his way back to the compound with Brad. He went over the situation as it currently stood. They had made some good ground, but needed more. Once they fully secured the south end they could close the noose a little more.
Haliday looked at everyone. “It’s not that high. Grab some pallets, quickly. Take the stuff off of them if you have to. We need five or six.” The first three were ready and Haliday stood them on edge and formed a triangle. He laid one on top to form a platform. They piled up two more and he moved the stairs over and got up on the platform. “You guys keep it steady, “ Haliday said.
He pried the louvers of this vent open as far as he could. “This will work,” he said, “someone else get up here quick. You guys keep this steady.” Chuck was on the stairs and they were both ready. Haliday clicked his mic, “Now Rob.” Rob and a couple others fired out the door and Haliday and Chuck fired on their targets. After emptying a complete magazine, Haliday scrambled and got down. Chuck followed not even a second later.
Sure enough the walls around the vents opened up with a few holes. One second longer for either of them and they would have been hit. They immediately cleared the west wall of the hangar building as it took a few more rounds. Haliday called over to Rob, “How’d we do?” Rob said he would check. He wasn’t sure.
Rob got down low and took a quick peek. It looked like the position was neutralized. “Wait a second,” Rob said. There came another volley of fire. A man in the position Haliday fired into ran toward the buildings into another position as others laid down cover fire. Rob came back on. “Looks like the two guys close to us are dead and the other position was vacated, but someone left in it is either dead or injured.”
Mark and Brad were studying the north end now. Still the same problem. They got a few people closer, but not enough. The only thing they could do would be to keep more people from going in and to keep the militia from coming out. Rob called Haliday and told him the situation. Haliday acknowledged and told him to get some guys over on the south end to get the casualties out.
Mark sent the four wheeler with their makeshift medic team over there, along with two more guys. He settled down and continued to watch the area. Brad threw out some different ideas, but nothing made sense. “We wait it out,” said Mark. Mark reached in his pocket and pulled out a small bag of jerky and gave Brad a piece and chewed on one himself.
Rob sent two guys over to the militia position. As soon as they got there the first man into the position was shot with a pistol four times. The second of Rob’s guys fired his rifle into the militia man who had been laying there waiting. The man yelled over to Rob and told him it was secure now, but they lost Kenny. Rob sent one more guy over to the position.
The four wheeler made it in and they evacuated the wounded and the dead using the two four wheelers. The injured were taken next door to the police station and the dead were placed next door to that for the time being. The medical staff got busy working on everyone.
The group had managed to take full control of the south end of the airport and some key buildings. They also controlled the main gate entrance now as far as anyone being able to get in that way. The next push would be even harder. Haliday went into one of the buildings and came back out with a case of water. He opened a bottle and drank it down. Most of the other guys did the same.
He had a few cases of water taken out and a bunch of granola bars and snacks. It had been a long time already, almost six hours. They started around 0800 and they only had about four hours of daylight left now. Haliday sat down and cracked open a fruit roll up.
During the lull in activity Mark had a couple of people get the prisoners and take them to the jail. They had rigged up a wood stove courtesy of the tractor supply store and it was nice and warm in there. Mark asked Haliday for more food and Haliday agreed. They loaded up a bunch and took it over to the police station as well.
Haliday was drinking some more water when he stopped and dropped the bottle. He held his hand up and listened. He called Mark on the radio. “We have a deuce inbound. It sounds like it’s coming from the south.” Haliday started shouting out orders. Everyone started running in different directions. “Mark, get over here quick. Everyone, heads up, inbound bad guys from the south.”
The deuce was barreling down the road. Everything was quiet and as he was standing there he heard the shifting of the engine. He was kneeling down behind one of the militia emplacements they had taken when he saw it approach. It was a small three vehicle convoy. The deuce along with a pickup and an older van.
The three vehicles entered the south fence line breach and spread out. Haliday had militia north in the buildings and south. He called Mark. “Mark, where you at buddy, any idea what’s going on.”
Mark told him to wait a minute as he was checking them out. Mark called him, “Ok, I have the info. We have problems.”
Mark gave him the rundown of what was going on. “The deuce is in the middle and the other vehicles are left and right of it about 20 yards and it looks like a makeshift spearhead formation. The vehicles look like the drivers are armored up. They make the approach with any foot troops and you’re screwed.”
“The deuce has an upper turret. The pickup truck has an armored portal on the back of it as well. I count six people in the van, two in the pickup and eight in the deuce. All Russian camo and all carrying AR’s except for the deuce and pickup turrets. They have 7.62’s for sure. Roger, they have a ton of ammo with them. The deuce has armor on the sides of the bed. Maybe 36 inches tall.”
Haliday said, “That’s wonderful. The guys in the woods can’t take shots until they get closer and once that happens they are close enough to run us out. We’re going to lose the ground we have taken and a lot more lives. Mark, coordinate what you can. Do what you can. Let me know. Make sure the north holds their positions and keeps them busy.”
Haliday told them that anybody on the east and west that could take shots at these guys should do it. “Go for the tires, go for the gunners and concentrate on the rest after that.” The snipers had to hit the gunners and drivers. They had to stop the vehicles.