Drone Wars 1: The Beginning Read online

Once the conversation died down, I took Lorne aside and said, "Lorne, we need to talk.” We spent the next 14 hours in private conversation."

  Chapter 15: PLANNING

  "Planning is necessary even though no plan survives unscathed.” John Debrouillard

  Near Kansas City, Missouri

  I looked around my new office. It was far larger than anything I had ever had as a professor, even larger than my home office before I retired, and Susan and I moved from our politically correct McMansion to our little house in the country. Again, I was amazed at the resources that Lorne and the other members of the council had.

  The room was about twenty by thirty feet and filled with WWII surplus desks and filing cabinets, the least expensive functional office furniture to be had. Contrasting the old furniture, were five of the newest and most modern computers scattered around the room. Two were Macs, two were PCs running sanitized versions of Windows, and one as a PC running Linux. I had used PC's all of my working life, and had switched to Mac when I retired. I now much preferred Mac's for my personal use. I would have been content with a single iMac, but Peggy insisted that more computers were needed. I wasn't sure why more computers were necessary, but I trusted her judgment.

  My desk was bare wood. There was an iMac on a table next to it, but I preferred to work without the distraction of a computer as much as possible. My colleagues at the university had laughed at this habit, yet my publication record was better, both in number and quality of peer-reviewed publications, than theirs. I found the computer to be nothing more than a distraction when I was thinking, and only of use in writing, recording ideas, or looking up specific information on the internet.

  One wall was bare unpainted sheetrock. Lorne was going to have it painted, but I told him the resources were better used elsewhere. Besides, Toni and Doc were busy covering that entire twenty-foot long wall with maps, including a very large map of the United States that showed not only major roads and cities, but topography as well. There was no time to paint anything.

  Peggy was busy directing a couple of guys on how to mount the biggest flat screen TV, which she insisted was a computer monitor, I had even seen on the opposite wall. Lorne had agreed that this was necessary. I didn't even know what it was for yet.

  Someone had also recovered Peggy's cat, Loco. It was a large white Ragdoll with long hair and a majestic visage. The cat kept watch over all of us and accepted the many pats and caresses that came her way with a deep dignity that only cats possess. At present Loco was supervising from the corner of my desk. For some reason, Loco's eyes always followed Lorne as he moved around the room.

  Lorne had also mounted three gun racks around the room so that they were only a step of two away from any of the workstations. Each rack held a couple of selective fire M16s and about 20 loaded magazines in shoulder bags, as well as a couple of 1911 model Colt .45s. I wasn't sure they were needed, but Lorne insisted. He had acquiesced though to finding me another Browning to replace the one I had dropped into the Gulf of Mexico, even though he strongly preferred pistols in calibers larger than 9mm. The new Browning now rested in an inside the pants holster butt forward on my left side. Of everyone in the room, Doc was the only one not carrying a holstered pistol.

  What amazed me the most was the location of the new office. It was over 300 feet underground, and located on the outskirts of Kansas City, Missouri in what had been an old underground limestone mine. Nancy bought this old mine, and a dozen others, a few years ago. She developed a number of the mines as cold storage facilities, and others as document storage facilities. While not as large as the Hunt Subtropolis in the same area, she still had a sizable operation.

  She had several government contracts to store documents that needed to be kept safe. One of her mines was even rented to the DIS and was where DIS stored their own important documents. DIS had their own armed guards on that one and no one else was allowed in. When I asked her about that, Nancy laughed and said there was a back door that they didn't know about when we needed it.

  Our new headquarters was excavated even deeper than the original mine, and there was no public record of the new excavation. All the work was done by patriots and oathkeepers loyal to the Constitution and the organization. Electricity was generated onsite by solar panels on the ground above, and the electric and communication lines were carefully hidden. Heat came from a series of old fashioned steam radiators powered by a small coal plant on the surface. The coal plant was a part of Nancy's surface limestone mining operation. There were also half a dozen well-hidden escape hatches, just in case. I still didn't know the entire layout, and doubted I ever would.

  There were also a number of other offices and a very large workshop in the same tunnel complex. Lorne said that we were going to expand into the rest of the open space underground very soon and build small factories to make any special items and weapons that were needed for the resistance.

  Lorne was convinced that soon the administration would institute complete gun control, and not long after that country-wide gun confiscation, in an attempt to disarm the people so that they could be more easily controlled. He believed that we should make weapons available to any patriots who needed them; weapons that were the equal of anything used by our military. While I had no desire to carry a grenade launcher around, at least under normal circumstances, the Second Amendment to the Constitution does not forbid it. Our founders fully expected, and wanted, the citizenry to always be at least as well armed as the military so that the citizens could overthrow our government if, and when, it went rogue. Actually, most of our founders thought in terms of when, not if. Well, it had certainly gone rogue now, I thought.

  Lorne also believed that our government was likely to use genocide to readjust the population mix to where they wanted it—more sheeple and fewer patriots. Lorne said that the government would especially be interested in getting rid of preppers because people who depended on themselves more than the government scared the powers that be shitless. He also said that they would love to get rid of old white men because they were too conservative for the current administration. Military veterans had to go because, according to the feds, it was possible that veterans, who were mostly conservatives, might use their military skills against them. And Christians had to go because they ultimately answered to God, not the federal government. I agreed with Lorne that all this was possible, although I didn't think it was as likely as he believed. After all, that would mean getting rid of half the population of the USA, and the productive half at that.

  Our quarters were also underground near the office complex. Lorne, Doc, Toni, Peggy, Myrtle, Leon, and I, as well as a dozen technician and ex-military security guys and gals, each had our own quarters. They were identical and each comprised a small bedroom, bathroom, and sitting room. Each was equipped with an intercom and an old-fashioned dial telephone that was wired into an internal telephone system with no outside access.

  The galley was run by Myrtle, who had Leon and a couple of others as helpers.

  There was also a very large conference room that looked like it would hold almost a hundred people, though there weren't nearly that many chairs. The big conference table was made from plywood and 2x4s and seating was a menagerie of folding chairs of various types. A video camera and tripod were set up in one corner.

  At the end of the hall, there was a darn good gym with treadmills, elliptical machines, and a couple of weight machines and some free weights. I was looking forward to slamming some weights around. It seemed like a good way to vent—until I could kill Susan's murderers, anyway.

  My first act as the new leader of the revolution was to have a long talk with Myrtle. After all, any army is only as good as its ability to feed the troops, even though I wasn't sure yet if we even had any troops.

  Myrtle and I found a small, empty room and set up a couple of folding chairs. Myrtle carefully lowered himself into the chair as if he expected it to collapse underneath him. I made a mental note to request some stronger chairs
.

  "What's up John?” Myrtle asked, "Or should I call you general, or something?” Myrtle smiled.

  "Dumb Ass, will do nicely," I smiled. "I am not sure how I got myself into this."

  "The same way we all did, John," Myrtle replied more seriously. "We just ran out of patience for tyranny."

  "Anyway, Myrtle," I said. "I want to know more about the food and water situation here. This is not a critique, just me learning enough to plan effectively. I know Lorne, and the committee, have already done a lot of planning, and put a tremendous effort into building this facility, but I need to come up to speed on all of this, as well as what our capabilities are around the country.

  "I thought we would just write reports like we used to in the military," Myrtle stated.

  "I thought about that," I replied. "However, I don't think we need to commit very much information to paper, or digital files, for that matter."

  "You must have a good memory, John," Myrtle said.

  "No, just a trained memory," I said. "It is a useful tool, especially when one is trying to make sense of an ever increasing flood of information."

  "Did you take a memory course?” Myrtle asked.

  "You might say that," I replied. "I read and studied The Memory Book by Harry Lorayne and Jerry Lucas. It is a very good memory system."

  "Do you think we all need to use it to reduce paper trails?” Myrtle asked.

  "I am not sure yet," I answered. "On one hand, no paper or digital trail leaves no trace, but—and this could be a big but—if someone is captured who knows a lot, torture might let the government get at that information. I still need to think about it."

  "Yeah," Myrtle said. "I thought about that too. Why would a government that kills our citizens at home not torture them for information?"

  "I think they will," I said. "That is why no one should get caught."

  "Tell me about the food and water supply 'down under', as it seems to be called lately," I requested.

  "Well," Myrtle said, "water is the most important. We have three wells that are drilled into a deep aquifer below. The wellheads are all underground. Two of those wells have electric pumps, and one has a deep well hand pump. That one is just a backup.

  "How much water do you think we will use?” I asked.

  "I am guessing about 200 gallons a day per person, everything included," Myrtle replied.

  "That sounds close," I said. "I suspect it may run a bit higher.” "As I understand it, we have room for about 30 people at present down here. That would make our daily water use about 6,000 gallons."

  "The wells seem to produce that and more, as best I can tell.” Myrtle said.

  "I will ask Lorne for the well tests. That will tell me more. Then I need to do some computer modeling to see if the drawdown from our wells will affect any of the wells on adjacent properties. If any of water levels in surrounding wells are affected, then it will be possible for a hydrogeologist to infer the existence of our wells. That information might end up in government hands. That would be bad for us," I said.

  "I don't know much about water wells," Myrtle said. "Could they actually tell that?"

  "If water levels in surrounding wells are affected, and I had that data, I could tell," I said. "Remember, I am a hydrogeologist."

  "That's lucky for us," Myrtle said.

  "We have to be that through about everything," I smiled. "Success is in the details. We are up against the most thorough data collection and surveillance system the world has ever known."

  Myrtle nodded, "You are the right guy for the job. But I already knew that."

  "Thanks for the vote of confidence," I said. "I wish I felt that way myself. Can you tell me about our food supply?"

  "That's the easy one," Myrtle said. "We have enough freeze-dried emergency food for three years, or a bit more, at eventual full capacity of over 100 people. I am inventorying it now."

  "OK," I said. "Please let me know what you find out."

  I spent the next three days asking questions about rock stability during potential bunker-buster strikes, how we received our electricity (a combination of generators, surface mounted solar panels with battery back up), and our outside communication system, as well as facility security. Once I had the answers to most of my questions, I realized that our electrical power might be our weakest point. Our generators ran on diesel, and though the ventilation system was excellent, and exceptionally well hidden, the volume of fuel we used was great. I needed to talk to Nancy about how the fuel purchases were hidden and what fraction of her operation they were.

  Lorne and I also went to the surface to inspect the solar array. It was truly impressive—too impressive. I was worried that the size of the array, clearly visible by satellite, might arouse government suspicions. That was something else I needed to talk to Nancy about. Lorne said she was due to arrive in about three days. I figured I had no choice but to wait, so I moved on to other things.

  I had always heard that "revenge is a dish best served cold.” I was beginning to think that the old saying was wise indeed. I was determined to kill Susan's murderers, but the more I thought about it, I realized that I agreed completely with the committee that the entire government had to fall and be replaced with one that honored our Constitution. Otherwise, the psychopaths in charge would murder many more innocent citizens, like Susan. I did not want that to happen.

  Lorne and I spent the next three days discussing what we should do and in what order we should do it.

  "I think we should put together an army and take the White House and Congress," Lorne said.

  "Lorne, in many ways I agree with you," I replied. "However, how would that make us look to the sheeple?"

  "Should we care about what the sheeple think?” Lorne asked.

  "They are citizens too. Their lack of knowledge would work against us and many might stand with the government out of habit."

  "Except the supporters," Lorne said. "They will stand with the government out of meanness."

  "Lorne," I said, "many supporters are well-meaning people who are simply not cognizant of the way the world really works. They are often critically thinking challenged; programmed by our politically correct education system, if you will. I don't want any citizens hurt, if at all possible, no matter what their ideology. In the end, it will be our efforts to prevent collateral damage that will rally the citizenry to our cause and cause massive desertion among the ranks of federal workers and police. We can't be the ones leaving dying and dead innocent children and citizens from our attacks on the government. Leave that to the government—and we need to prevent as many government caused civilian casualties as possible."

  "I see your point," Lorne said. "I get so mad though, that sometimes I just want to shoot the government bastards."

  "As do I," I smiled. "It is perhaps the greatest temptation of my life to just take a gun and start searching out and shooting the drone operators who murdered my wife. However, in the bigger scheme of things, that would be pointless. This revolution will ultimately be won with technology, not with guns."

  "You have said that before," Lorne said. "I have been thinking about that, but I don't understand how we can beat the system since they have most of the technology."

  "Paid for with U.S. citizen dollars," I reminded Lorne. "We will simply take back the technology we need and disable the rest. We will need some talented programmers, hackers, hardware, and internet technology folks to do it, as well as some very good electronic engineers. I don't have the knowledge, nor can one person do all that needs to be done along those lines."

  "Make me a list of the skills you need and we will start recruiting," Lorne said.

  "It might be possible to get a government contract to facilitate much of the work and not even have the people solving the problem know why they are solving the problem or for who," I said. "I will have a list to you this evening."

  Lorne grinned. "Now, that sounds like a plan. Let me see what I can stir up."

  After I spo
ke with Lorne, I went in search of Peggy. She was a computer programmer, and I needed her input. I found her sitting with Toni in the cafeteria dining room. They were drinking coffee and chatting. It appeared to me as if they were becoming good friends. I walked over and sat down at the table. They were sitting across from each other near the end where I sat down. They both stopped talking as I got closer. I was too lost in thought to hear anything I might otherwise have. That was starting to be my normal mode again, much like it had when I had been doing research at the university.

  "What's up, John?” Toni asked.

  "Yeah," Peggy said, "what's up Doc?” She looked at Toni, "After all, he is a retired professor."

  "John is plenty good enough," I said.

  "You look stressed," Peggy said. The smile on her face faded a bit, but it was still peeking out. I liked that.

  "Peggy," I said, "I need some advice about computers, and such."

  "OK," Peggy replied.

  "I'll go and let you guys talk," Toni said.

  "No," I smiled. "Please stay. I can use your input as well."

  "OK," Toni said, "I was hoping you might say that."

  "Let me set up the conversation by saying this," I said. "Our first task is to understand what the government is doing, and how they are doing it. We need to know what they are doing before we can counter it."

  Toni nodded. "This I want to hear."

  "There are three things that every tyranny has done to control a free people. First, they remove the peoples' ability to reason."

  Toni said, "That would be the dumbing down of the school curriculums over the last 20 years."

  "Longer," I agreed. "Although I doubt it started as a deliberate attempt, it has certainly morphed into one. Also, the democrats have been breeding a less than clear-thinking population by continually increasing the number of people drawing welfare. Even those citizens among them capable of thinking clearly are constrained from thinking clearly at election time because the welfare has become their only option for survival. They have no jobs available."