RJ continued. “This is Tam,” she announced, placing her hand on the shoulder of the girl sitting by her side at the table. “She had been sent by the raiders as a forward scout, but when she realized what she'd come across, she offered us information about the coming attack in exchange for safety from the raider group and she wants to work with us. The intelligence she's already provided has proven invaluable. We intentionally allowed several of the raiders to escape last night and an Apache followed them back to what appears to be a semi-permanent encampment just southeast of here. Air One is currently on its way back here from dropping off a ten-man recon team. Their instructions are to remain undetected and monitor all activity at the camp. We'll have air support on twenty-four-hour standby, just in case the team gets into trouble, which means we're already going to be running short of manpower. After this meeting, we're going to wake another forty sleepers. Specifically combat troops, pilots, and medical personnel. Our limited medical personnel were overwhelmed twice yesterday, first with the three civilian casualties and later with the five wounded raiders we recovered, so we'll get that problem taken care of. There will also be a few construction people woken up to get the external personnel quarters back into shape because we'll need them soon. We'll also be getting four more Humvees and two more UH-60 Black Hawks up and running. We'll make a determination regarding another gunship after today's meeting.”

As the meeting broke up, RJ got Brad's attention, and the two of them took a walk. “I want to make sure you watch your back at that meeting,” RJ said. “I'll be uneasy until there's an explanation as to how they know what they do. I'm sure there's a reasonable explanation, but this just isn't the way it was supposed to work.”

Chapter Forty-Six

Brad Warren sat in the front seat of the UH-60 designated Air Two as it flew rapidly across the barren terrain. They'd followed the Colorado River north for ten minutes before changing course, heading west. Dr. Stephen Cross and a security team sat in the back of the Black Hawk. Dr. Cross had been brought along to assess the general health of the community and provide medical help to anyone who needed it.

Members of the security team had undergone disaster relief training, so they could assist in making an initial survey of the town and assess what needed to be done.