Dark Coup (2 page)

April’s mom smiled weakly.  “Thank you,” she said.

“And now it’s Mom’s turn,” Ty said, and called a nurse to come in while April went out to wait with the rest of the group.

…

May 22, 2013 - Fort Rucker, Alabama

On his way to a meeting with the Colonel, Major Bradley Sanford was struck, and not for the first time, by the juxtaposition of the world they had all left behind and the changes they’d had to make over the last year.  He didn’t think he’d ever get used to the fact that central air-conditioning was a thing of the past because it just used too much electricity, but the base still used laptops, printers, and radios.  He was still responsible for an IT staff of twelve on an Army base in post-apocalyptic America.  The irony of the situation almost made him laugh…almost.

Fort Rucker was the home of the US Army Aviation Center of Excellence and had been the primary flight training base for the Army.  Now, rows upon rows of airplanes and helicopters sat idle.  What had been a busy base, teeming with activity, was now a shell of its former self.  There were still over seven thousand people living on base, but the life had been drained out of it when the power went out and the world changed almost a year ago.

“Sir,” Sanford said as he entered Colonel Olsen’s office.

“Have a seat,” Olsen said, without looking up from his papers.  Life had gone on almost as usual after the power went out at Fort Rucker.  He was sleeping in a regulation bed, eating regulation food.  He still had hot and cold running water, and with the exception of a month or so without reliable electricity, power was no longer an issue.  “How are things progressing with Major Franklin at Fort Campbell?”  Olsen asked.

Sanford paused for a second.

Olsen raised an eyebrow.  “I don’t need you to blow sunshine up my butt, son, that’s what I have Lieutenant Colonel West for,” Olsen said.  “It’s not in my most recent reports, and I’m not stupid.  Why is Fort Campbell suddenly radioactive?”

“Well, Sir,” Sanford said, fighting an urge to look over his shoulder.  “It hasn’t been in the reports because we haven’t generated them for you.”  Sanford went on before Olsen could tell him to quit beating around the bush.  “We don’t have anything concrete, but… well, Major Franklin seems to be
saying
all the right things, but we don’t have proof that he’s implemented any of his orders.”

Olsen nodded.

“We also strongly suspect that Major Franklin is the one who supplied the Stingers to Major Jensen that are interdicting the air space around Natchez Trace,” Sanford continued.  “There’s no way to know for sure without tipping our hand, but there is
nobody
else nearby who could have provided her with enough of them to cover the area they are protecting.  And if he’s helping her out, it’s likely that he’s helping others out as well.”

“How are they communicating, though,” Olsen muttered, half to himself.  “And why run the risk.  He has to know that eventually we’ll find out.”

“In the case of Major Jensen,” Sanford said, “apparently they go all the way back to Basic together, so they’ve known each other a long time.  We obviously don’t have the entire records base available here, but we were able to piece that much together.  As for anyone else he may be helping, who knows.”

“How sure are you about the Stingers?” Olsen asked.

Sanford made a face and half shrugged.  “As sure as we
can
be on purely circumstantial evidence, but I really don’t think it would hold up in court.”

Olsen frowned.  “It’ll hold up in
my
court,” Olsen said.

“Sir,” Sanford asked.

“I’m judge, jury, and executioner,” Olsen said.

“Understood,” Sanford said.

“West,” Olsen shouted to his second in command, Lieutenant Colonel Howard West, whose office was across the hall.

“Colonel,” West said as he came into Colonel Olsen’s office.

“Close the door,” Olsen said.  “We have a thorn in our side in the form of Major Franklin. I want him taken out and Campbell brought under our command.”

Olsen got up to watch what little activity there was on base through his office window.  “I can’t have one of my officers blatantly disregarding orders,” Olsen said.  “I didn’t
ask
him to do something, I gave him an
order
.  This has gone on long enough, and we are going to make an example of Major Franklin and what happens when you disobey a
direct order
!”

West nodded in agreement.

“However, it is critical that the base be taken intact,” Olsen said.  “There is too much infrastructure, manpower, and material to waste by simply destroying it to take out one person.”  Olsen turned around to look at West and Sanford, “Unless it becomes obvious that the only way to rid ourselves of his rebellion is to raze the entire base and everything around it.  Do I make myself clear?”

“I believe so, Sir,” West said with a nod.

“Yes, Sir,” Sanford said.

“Outline the mission and have a brief for me in the next seventy-two hours,” Olsen said.  “Coordinate with however many other units you think it will take.  West, you’re in charge of this and I’m leaving it up to you, but commit whatever force you think necessary to do it in a single strike.  Dismissed.”

Chapter Two

May 26, 2013 - Fort Campbell, Kentucky

Lieutenant Mathis was in the communications room when the radio came to life with a call from Fort Bragg on the HAM radio.

“At some point,”
Mathis thought,
“I really need to tell the Colonel about those.”

The message was short and tersely worded.  “Prepare for an attack,” the voice on the other end said, “within the next ninety-six hours.”

“We need to tell the Major,” Sergeant Yale said as he reached for the board that managed on-base communications.

“I’ll take care of it,” Lieutenant Mathis said.

Just then one of the on-base radios came to life and Yale was happy to let the Lieutenant take care of notifying the Major.

…

“Mathis,” Major Ben Franklin said as he caught up with him outside one of ammo dumps on base.  “Any word from Lejeune or Bragg, or even Promised Land?” Mathis shook his head.  “Nothing sir,” he said.  “Not a peep.  I’m sure they’re just as busy with the day-to-day as we are, though.”

Ben nodded and looked around as they passed one of the vehicle depots.  “Where do we sit as far as getting some of this equipment spread out and deployed around the base,” he asked.  “I don’t like keeping all my eggs in one basket, and leaving the bulk of our ground equipment consolidated at the depots is just bad tactics.”

“Understood, sir,” Mathis said.  “We’ve emptied three of the other depots, and I’m working on getting these last two cleared out.  We’ve only got so much time and manpower available to redeploy everything, though.”  Shuffling the vehicles from one lot to another to keep Ben of his back had been a bigger pain than he’d anticipated when the Major had originally mentioned it.  He was proud of the idea he’d had to put a number of their vehicles into maintenance to get them out of the depots and out of commission at the same time.

“Fair enough,” Ben said.

A couple of months after the power went out, Ben had begun questioning Mathis’s loyalty.  Recently, however, Mathis had really stepped up and taken a lot off of Ben’s plate, freeing him from to focus on managing the day-to-day interaction between the base and the surrounding area.

“Keep me in the loop and let me know if you need anything,” Ben said.

“Yes, Sir,” Mathis replied.

…

Sergeant Yale hadn’t exactly been a model soldier before things went sideways with the power, but he’d learned quick enough to take his job seriously after that.  Yale was disturbed that he hadn’t heard anything about preparing the base for an attack, or seen any activity that indicated the Major was taking the warning from Bragg seriously.  His biggest beef before the power went out had been with Officers who felt the enlisted ranks were beneath them.

It had been two-and-a-half days since the transmission warning them to prepare for an attack; over half the time the warning had given them.  He really didn’t have any ideas as to
why
the Major wasn’t doing anything, but it was obvious that nothing was being done and he felt it was his duty to find out how come.

After his shift, Yale headed down to speak with the Major, but pulled up short when he saw Mathis at the desk outside the Major’s office.

“Why isn’t the Lieutenant in his own office,”
Yale wondered to himself, but decided it didn’t matter.  He walked towards the office with the intention of knocking on the door directly instead of going through Mathis.

“Can I help you, Sergeant,” Mathis asked as Yale got closer, barring him from the office with the question.

“I need to speak with the Major, Sir,” Yale said.

Mathis frowned.  “Is there something
I
can help you with,” he asked.

“No, Sir,” Yale said.  “I’d like to speak with the Major.”

Mathis looked down at some papers on his desk and replied, “I don’t believe the Major has time to speak with you right now.”

“With all due respect, Sir,” Yale started to say.

“I said,” Mathis said as he looked back up from the desk, “the Major is busy.”

Yale had seen through the window in the Major’s office on the way by that he was in fact
not
too busy, in his opinion, to discuss why nothing was being done to prepare the base for an attack.  He took a step back from the desk and craned his neck back towards the window to show he didn’t believe what he was being told.

“Yale,” Mathis said, “if I have to tell you one more time, I’ll bust you all the way to Private.”

“Sir, that won’t matter a hill of beans if we’re unprepared for an attack in the next couple of days,” Yale said.

Mathis narrowed his eyes and pulled the radio from his belt.  “Security to the Major’s office,” he said. “
NOW
.”

Yale knew something was wrong and wasn’t going to go away quietly, but now time was short so he yelled for the Major.

Mathis came around the desk to confront Yale, but the Sergeant began walking to Ben’s door.  Mathis had to take several steps to get in front of Yale and physically block him from going further.

“What is it,” Ben asked from his office and Mathis heard him get up from behind his desk.

“Nothing, Sir,” Mathis said.  “I’ve got it under control.”

Yale disagreed and yelled around Mathis towards the office.  “Sir,” he started, “why aren’t we…”

Yale’s voice cut off as Mathis did the only thing he could think of to shut the man up and hit him in the jaw.

While the blow had silenced Yale, his reaction was immediate and violent.  This was
exactly
the kind of crap he had a problem with and he’d had enough.  Yale launched himself at Mathis and the force of the impact took them both to the ground.

Mathis didn’t know what he’d expected, but being tackled by the Sergeant hadn’t been on the list.  He was struggling to pull his sidearm while wrestling with the Sergeant and trading the occasional blows when Ben came out of his office.

“What is going
on
,” Ben snapped.

“This man,” Mathis started to say, but was temporarily silenced by a jab to the gut.

Just then the MPs arrived and Mathis was able to push Yale off of himself and stand up.

“Mathis,” Ben said, trying to keep his voice level.  “Why were you brawling with Sergeant…Yale?”

“He wouldn’t let me,” Yale started to speak, but the MPs had arrived with their weapons drawn.  When one of them raised the butt of their rifle to hit him, he shut his mouth with a click.

“It’s a long story,” Mathis said, hoping Ben would let it go for the time being.

“Yale,” Ben said, looking at the Sergeant.  “Care to add anything?”

“I’ll take care of this,” Mathis interrupted.

“No,” Ben said, “you’ll let me talk to the man.”

“Sir,” Mathis started, but was interrupted by Ben asking Yale if he had anything to say.

“Why aren’t you doing anything to prepare for the attack,” Yale blurted out all at once.

“Excuse me,” Ben asked, suddenly tense and even more serious than he had been.

“I think I can explain,” Mathis said.

“If you interrupt me one more time,” Ben said to Mathis, “I may be tempted to pick up where Yale here left off.  Not another word.”

Mathis glared daggers at Yale, but didn’t interrupt.  Instead, he put his hands on his hips in a slightly rebellious pose which put his right hand next to the grip of his .45.

“We got a warning from Fort Bragg two days ago,” Yale said.  “Prepare for an attack in the next ninety six hours.”

The MPs were behind Yale and to Mathis’s side at this point.

“Why wasn’t I informed,” Ben demanded, looking from Yale to Mathis and back again.

“Lieutenant Mathis was in the radio room when the call came in,” Yale said.  “I said we needed to let you know and he,” Yale motioned to Mathis with his chin, “said he’d take care of it.”

Ben turned to glare at Mathis and was surprised to see one of the MPs reach out and grab Mathis’s right wrist.  The other guard, trained to deal with the more immediate threat first, stepped to the side of Yale and leveled his rifle at Mathis.

“He was reaching for his sidearm, Sir,” the guard holding Mathis’s wrist said.  “I have a feeling it wasn’t for Sergeant Yale, either.”

Ben gritted his teeth and then nodded to the MP who took the .45 out of Mathis’s holster, handed it to the Major, and then proceeded to put handcuffs on Mathis.

“Why,” Ben asked, not really expecting an answer.  “What could he possibly be holding over you?”

“You know nothing,” Mathis said, “
nothing
.”

…

Mallory took the middle-of-the-night radio call from Ben in her office.  “How’re things holding together up there,” she asked.

“I wish you’d asked me that a week ago,” Ben said.  “It’s about to come completely unraveled.  I was
just
informed that we got a warning call from Bragg almost three days ago.”