BW

"WHAT? Let me see that." Maria shouted.

Tim handed over the list of names. Maria looked at the first names not crossed off, and turned pale. They were indeed the names of both Michelle and herself. She then scanned the names that were crossed off. An unpleasant feeling started to come over her.

"I recognize some of these names. They were members of a prayer group we used to belong to." She continued to read. "There are a lot of them I don't know. Do you think they are coming after the Christians?"

"They've done just about everything else to get us. I'm just wondering if those guys were alone, or just a group out looking for us." Tim said. "How long is Bob going to be out?"

"I gave him a pretty good shot. It could be hours. What do you think we should do?" Kathy answered.

"I'm not sure."

"The first step in the resolution of any problem is to define the problem." Alex said from the doorway where he was standing. Everyone turned to look at him. "Dad always says that when I have a problem. So, what is the problem?"

"We need to know if anyone is coming after the three we killed, and if so how many. What else did you Dad say?" Said Tim.

"The second step in the resolution of any problem is the acquisition of data. I think he got it from an old science fiction show."

"It's still a good idea. We can't put the flares out any further, we'd never see them go off. So how do we find out if anymore are on the way?"

"What about Dads' go-cart?"

"What?"

"I know, it doesn't go fast, but it goes faster than a man can run. And since it is so small it gets really good gas mileage. Someone else and I could ride out there aways, and take a look."

"It's kind of loud Alex. It also is very open. Just a roll cage. You could get shot."

"I think I have an answer for part of that." Said Maria. "Todd was a prospector, did you know that?"

Tim and Alex shook their heads.

"Did you know he has an underground room at his place?"

Tim and Alex looked at each other, and both said,

"He does?"

"Yes, that was where he used to make his explosives for prospecting. One of the things he has down there was a kind of wall, made out of some sheets of some kind of bullet-proof plastic. He used it as a shield, just in case. Maybe we can get a piece or two from that, and make a shield for the go-cart."

Again, Tim and Alex spoke together, "Show us."

After Maria and her daughter had joined the group, it was decided that since they would be staying in town for awhile, the only decent thing to do was to finally lay Todd to rest. Now, it seemed strange to Maria to return here, knowing Todd wouldn't be showing up with his usual cheery 'Hello' and broad smile. She missed him. It wasn't long before the three of them were entering the hidden lower room in Todd's' house. Maria warned the men.

"Be careful down here. Todd's' explosives were homemade, and I never really trusted them. I don't know if he was working on anything when he died. If so, it could be unstable."

Tim turned on his flash light to illuminate the darkened room. He was happy that Bob had extra batteries in the shed with the truck and 4X4. They still had a charge. On a shelf on the far side of the room were bottles, all clearly labeled, containing various liquids and powders. On the shelf below, were several books, and papers. He picked up one book, to find that it was a U.S. Army manual. The title was 'Improvised Munitions Handbook', it was dog-eared with slips of paper sticking out, here and there, to mark certain passages. Tim had seen explosives used a few times before. The one thing he learned from those experiences was that if you didn't know what you were doing, it was a good way to make yourself dead in a hurry. He put the book down, without looking in it.

"How did Todd learn about this stuff?"

"John said he was in E.O.D. whatever that means."

"Explosive Ordnance Disposal." Alex answered. "Dad said he thought about doing that, once upon a time. Then he got sober and changed his mind."

"Maria, why didn't you tell us about this before?"

"At first I wasn't sure about you guys, Tim. Now, since Bob took a bullet to save me, I don't see how I could do anything else. You know how it is. Trust is something that is kind of hard to give sometimes."

"Earned but never given." Tim murmured under his breathe.

"What was that?"

"Nothing. Just something Bob said to me. Where are those sheets of plastic?"

"Over by the wall. Todd always put them out of the way when he didn't need them."

Tim and Alex took a look at them. A foot wide, by four feet high, and over an inch thick, they seemed to be just the thing. Then they picked up one. It was heavier than it seemed.

"I don't know." Tim said."Something this heavy might weigh down the cart to much. It was a good idea though."

"Well, what about these?" Maria pointed to a box just under the shelves. Tim opened it. Inside were several vests of body armor, and 'coal scuttle' helmet's.

"Much better. If anything happens to the cart, they will still have some protection." Tim thought for a moment, "Maria, is there anything else you might want to tell us?"

"Not off the top of my head, but if I remember anything, be sure I'll tell you."

Tim and Alex lugged the heavy box back to the store, where they went about figuring out how they were worn. They were both amazed at how heavy the box was, but once they took individual vests out, They realized that separately they weren't that heavy. Even so, they were still uncomfortable, and when Alex stepped outside, he learned that they also got hot in a hurry. But, in the end, they decided they were less uncomfortable than getting shot.

---

Director of the Western Region Ives was amused. He knew that Claire would make a mess of things. He tried for the big play, as the people called it, every time. Instead of using the tried and true method of slowly increasing the pressure, until you got the results you wanted. He hadn't learned anything from his mistakes of the past. Claire was the one that had insisted on swooping down on every church he could find, and grab or kill everyone. It never occurred to him to infiltrate the churches, gather information on its' members, and then quietly pick them up, or kill those who resisted. He'd made that same mistake ever since the first century, when they tried to stamp out the followers of the Nazarene, right up through modern times, when he advised the same heavy handed methods to the masters servants in China, and South Africa. Every time he did, many would escape, and start churches elsewhere.

Now here he was trying to adopt Ives' methods, and was really clumsy at it. Since he had already killed most of the stupid and gullible ones, those who he had sent out to infiltrate the remaining Christian resistors were either already known for what they were, or such poor liars, they were easily found out.

Ives on the other hand knew the value of the ones that were easily lead astray. After all, wasn't it he that had convinced that character Judas to talk to the priests in Jerusalem? Then Claire had almost ruined everything by trying for the big play. Sure he got the Nazarene, but his followers had scattered that night. By the time they had all gathered in one place again, thousands had become followers. And now look how far things had progressed. There were more of them than ever.

Yes, Ives was amused at Claire's troubles. Even with two armies at his command, he was still struggling to pacify the southern region. Ives already had the entire west coast under his control, and the Chinese troops were well advanced into the mountains to his east. A fact which had been aided by the lack of firearms in private hands. He smiled as he though of what the master would do to Claire if only one more thing went wrong.

---

Director Claire was pacing. His staff knew this was never a good sign. Something was bothering him, and when that happened, his already short temper got shorter. Then people died. Claire stopped o look out the window. His infiltration plan wasn't working. People he sent out all seemed to simply vanish. No trace of them was found. He was growing angrier by the moment.

That is when he felt it. The building started to tremble. Then a real hard jolt hit, almost knocking him off his feet. An earthquake he knew, but this region hadn't had one of this size in a very long time. As he watched, buildings outside his window began to crumble and fall. They weren't built to take this kind of shaking. Even the one he was in began to crack, and debris fall from its' exterior. Then i came to him, it had to be the New Madrid fault. But if that were true, things were going to get much worse for him.

After a long time, the earth stopped moving. Claire picked up the phone. It was dead. He tried the cell phone. Nothing there either. He went into the outer office. Everyone was gone, having fled the building in case of a collapse. he turned to the radio, but there was nothing but static. He had no way to warn the invading forces of what was coming.

The destruction was beyond anything that anyone had ever seen or even heard of before. Millions lay dead in the streets and countryside. When the fault slipped, the resulting earthquake had caused the Great Lakes to start to drain into the Mississippi River. The invading Cuban and Mexican forces had been caught flat footed. Most of them were gone, washed out down the river to the Gulf of Mexico. Claire sat in his office, or what was left of it, cursing and blaming the one he called the Nazarene for what had happened.


BW, Vietnam Vet