fun,” Scott said, grinning.
The horn of the coach sounded.
“Shit,” Howard said, looking out towards the coach. “I didn’t hear any bikes.”
The horn honked again, longer this time. Then a police siren sounded.
“Cops,” Scott said, looking at Howard. “Great.”
Chapter 5 – Rush to Battle
The General walked up to the front of the room, where the home team was meeting.
“News?” Charlie asked.
“Yeah,” he said. “There were several passes set up to get into Kansas. The men who set them up have been quietly arrested.”
“Anybody get across?” Hilda asked, looking frightened.
“We don’t know for sure. There’s one group for which we don’t have reliable information,” he said. “We need to scan for enemy chips.”
“Are they close?” Charlie asked
“No, if they came in, it was from the north, mid-state,” he said.
Dobie took his phone out of his pocket and got a concerned look on his face.
“You see icons?” Gabe asked.
“Yeah, but only five. See, right at the tip of the border. They’re on a small road that dead-ends. Not a good way to get down here.”
“Well, it is possible we aren’t the target,” General Hogan said. “Could be completely unrelated.”
“That looks like an area that won’t have cell coverage,” Gabe said. “They might disappear, and then re-appear a whole lot closer.”
“Does Frank’s long-range PC app get around that problem?” the General asked.
“Nope,” Dobie said. “It works the same as the original long-range app, but with a lot finer resolution.”
“Remember, once they get within a few miles, we’ll get an alarm from the peer-to-peer app,” Gabe said.
“That’s true,” Charlie said. “Unless they remove their chips, we’ll see them.”
“What if we lose our cell tower?” the General asked.
“Won’t matter,” Gabe said. “That’s the beauty of the peer-to-peer app. It picks up the chip itself directly, not through the LTE network.”
“Good, then we’ll just have to be watchful.”
“We’ve got our planning done,” Jake said. “Who wants to help me get the Wi-Fi and the cameras up?”
Most of the people raised their hands.
“Good, let’s blitz this. We can get it done before the sun goes down.”
***
The away team was still planning. Private Brown walked in with a case and put it on the table. He opened it.
“Okay, gather around,” he said. “These laser target designators are easy to use. It’ll only take a minute to walk you though it, but we need everybody to know how.” He pulled the unit out of the case, and extended the small tripod legs.
“Wow, they’re smaller than they used to be,” Jerry said.
“It’s really simple,” Private Brown said. “You look through the eyepiece, get the target in your sight, and pull back this trigger. You can lock the trigger and walk away, so if it’s a hot spot, you can stay out of sight.”
“And hope nobody shoots the device,” Jeb said.
“Yeah,” Private Brown said.
“Do we have to call anybody to get their attention before we paint a target?” Jerry asked.
“No,” Private Brown said. “We’ll have several drones in the air, and several fighter planes nearby too. If something gets painted for more than 12 seconds, the missile will lock on. Just make sure not to move it until the missile hits, because if you move the beam, the missile will follow it.”
“I just got access to a satellite over the area,” Frank said, motioning for everybody to gather around the PC.
“Can’t see a lot of people moving around,” Jeb said. “Oh, wait, look there. Lower left hand side of the picture.”
“Yeah, two people walking,” Frank said. “The resolution keeps getting better and better.”
“Seriously,” Jerry said.
“I’ll zoom out a little bit. Maybe there are more pockets that we haven’t seen yet,” Frank said. He zoomed out far enough to see the front gate. “Look at that
The horn of the coach sounded.
“Shit,” Howard said, looking out towards the coach. “I didn’t hear any bikes.”
The horn honked again, longer this time. Then a police siren sounded.
“Cops,” Scott said, looking at Howard. “Great.”
Chapter 5 – Rush to Battle
The General walked up to the front of the room, where the home team was meeting.
“News?” Charlie asked.
“Yeah,” he said. “There were several passes set up to get into Kansas. The men who set them up have been quietly arrested.”
“Anybody get across?” Hilda asked, looking frightened.
“We don’t know for sure. There’s one group for which we don’t have reliable information,” he said. “We need to scan for enemy chips.”
“Are they close?” Charlie asked
“No, if they came in, it was from the north, mid-state,” he said.
Dobie took his phone out of his pocket and got a concerned look on his face.
“You see icons?” Gabe asked.
“Yeah, but only five. See, right at the tip of the border. They’re on a small road that dead-ends. Not a good way to get down here.”
“Well, it is possible we aren’t the target,” General Hogan said. “Could be completely unrelated.”
“That looks like an area that won’t have cell coverage,” Gabe said. “They might disappear, and then re-appear a whole lot closer.”
“Does Frank’s long-range PC app get around that problem?” the General asked.
“Nope,” Dobie said. “It works the same as the original long-range app, but with a lot finer resolution.”
“Remember, once they get within a few miles, we’ll get an alarm from the peer-to-peer app,” Gabe said.
“That’s true,” Charlie said. “Unless they remove their chips, we’ll see them.”
“What if we lose our cell tower?” the General asked.
“Won’t matter,” Gabe said. “That’s the beauty of the peer-to-peer app. It picks up the chip itself directly, not through the LTE network.”
“Good, then we’ll just have to be watchful.”
“We’ve got our planning done,” Jake said. “Who wants to help me get the Wi-Fi and the cameras up?”
Most of the people raised their hands.
“Good, let’s blitz this. We can get it done before the sun goes down.”
***
The away team was still planning. Private Brown walked in with a case and put it on the table. He opened it.
“Okay, gather around,” he said. “These laser target designators are easy to use. It’ll only take a minute to walk you though it, but we need everybody to know how.” He pulled the unit out of the case, and extended the small tripod legs.
“Wow, they’re smaller than they used to be,” Jerry said.
“It’s really simple,” Private Brown said. “You look through the eyepiece, get the target in your sight, and pull back this trigger. You can lock the trigger and walk away, so if it’s a hot spot, you can stay out of sight.”
“And hope nobody shoots the device,” Jeb said.
“Yeah,” Private Brown said.
“Do we have to call anybody to get their attention before we paint a target?” Jerry asked.
“No,” Private Brown said. “We’ll have several drones in the air, and several fighter planes nearby too. If something gets painted for more than 12 seconds, the missile will lock on. Just make sure not to move it until the missile hits, because if you move the beam, the missile will follow it.”
“I just got access to a satellite over the area,” Frank said, motioning for everybody to gather around the PC.
“Can’t see a lot of people moving around,” Jeb said. “Oh, wait, look there. Lower left hand side of the picture.”
“Yeah, two people walking,” Frank said. “The resolution keeps getting better and better.”
“Seriously,” Jerry said.
“I’ll zoom out a little bit. Maybe there are more pockets that we haven’t seen yet,” Frank said. He zoomed out far enough to see the front gate. “Look at that
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