Cow battles part 23

[Lowdown3]

Part 23
What happened next was a surprise to everyone.

Just before day break the following morning, the Op team reported hearing six shots. They came from the direction of Mr. Hansen's house. Immediately following, the house was seen on fire in at least four places.

Lyle called the retreat and asked for permission to send two men down to help.

"Under no circumstances , over. " Jim's reply came.

"But their house is burning down!" Lyle said.

"The fact that you heard six shots tells me they are probably dead anyways, so what is there to save? That and you'd probably be walking into a trap. Full alert the rest of the night. We are sending react force to your Point Charlie, ETA 60 mikes. Confirm. Over"

"Confirm."

Jim hated not sending someone down there. Their was a slight chance Mr. Hansen and his family were still alive, but it was highly doubtful. More than likely Gomez would use that as a way to lure the Group into an ambush. "I would." Jim thought.

"I figured they would strike back, but never figured it would be this soon." Jim told Bill.

The interrogation of Pablo was going to have to be swift and absolutely no BS would be tolerated. Their just wasn't any time. If Gomez found out who the real shooters were, the Group could expect a major attack on the retreat.

Jim would rather take the fight to them, then be forced to fight in the Group's front yard. Such was the feelings of the rest of the Group.

Bill would help with the interrogation. He spoke Spanish and had experience with interrogations in the Iraq war.

Rusty was given the task of getting six men ready and prepped for the fight. One way or the other, a fight was coming. It would either be here if Gomez found out about the Group, or it would be at the hideout of Gomez if the information could be gotten.

Early in the morning, the Op team reported eight Mexican's moving through the woods near the site of the old observation point. This was obviously the crew that killed Mr. Hansen and set fire to his house.

Lyle, Murphy, Steve and Barney comprised the current Op team. Jim had instructed the shooters be moved to an alternate site, approximately 200 yards from the site they shot from yesterday. It was a safety precaution and it proved worthwhile.

Lyle called into camp with the news.

"Jolly Green, come in this is Lyle."

"Jolly Green here, go ahead Lyle."

"Dude, we got 8 Mex's down here, **** is fixing to hit the fan!"

Scotty broke in "Proper radio over."

"Dude, listen, get Jim on the radio now!"

Jim was knee deep in Pablo's interrogation. He went to the radio.

"Jolly Green to Lyle, come in"

(whispering) "Lyle here, 8 Mex's coming towards us, approximately 200 yards out, what do you want me to do?"

"Give me a quick SALUTE report."

"**** dude, no time for that."

"Quick."

"Size- 8 Mex's all armed, Activity- coming right towards us, Location- right in front of us, Unit- The F'in Mexican army, I don't know, Time- right frickin now, Equipment- small arms."

"How are they moving?"

"Single file."

"Roger. Make sure everyone is ready to move. Make sure you have all radio's and maps. IF they come close to you or you cannot avoid contact, execute a running ambush. Proceed back to Point Charlie, link up with React Force. Fall back point to that will be Point Echo, greyhound bus. Over. Confirm."

Greyhound bus meant that every possible fighter would be waiting at that point to take the battle to Gomez.

This was not the time nor the place that the Group wanted to take on Gomez. If the Op team could whittle Gomez down in the running ambush and link up with the react force, that alone would probably eradicate this part of Gomez.

Jim joined Rusty and asked how many men were ready.

"The six you gave me are ready to go now." Rusty said.

"Good, can you do a final inspection and then take them to Point Echo? I'm gonna try to round up a few more and be right behind you."

"Yep, I can do that. Anything specific for gear?" Rusty asked.

"Plenty of ammo, extra batteries for radios and NVG's water, light LBE, 3 parachute flares, a couple of smoke grenades. Make sure everyone's got a flashlight. Can you be ready to move in 15 minutes?"

"We'll be gone in 5 minutes." Rusty said with a smile. And they were.

The first fallback point for the Op team, Point Charlie, was just too far for the rest of the Group to make it to in a short period of time. The second fallback point, Point Echo, could be reached sooner.

[All Talk]

Nice plot element. Looks like Gomez' group isn't quite the indisciplined rabble too often thrown up as cannon-fodder in these sorts of stories. Don't let this turn out too easy or too final. Life, even (especially?) after TSHTF, is never so tidy.

[Lowdown3]

Thanks.

Yes it may not be gang bangers holding their pants up with one hand while shooting a Lorcin with the other hand :)

We may have to face folks with some discipline and previous training post TSHTF.

I remember one time being at a gunshow with a friend that thought really highly of himself despite that he had only a little bit of training.
We were talking about the prospect of having to face people after something happens. His reply was to the direction of "but dude, I have an AK..."
To wit I said "let's go stand up by the entrance for half an hour. I want you to count how many assault rifles come through and leave the doors of the show." I went on to tell him that just HAVING the weapon was not enough, he needed skill with arms and most importantly, others with him that had true skill of arms.

That's the point most people miss. They get the "I'm empowered cause I have a 30 round magazine" mentality. Having a gun that fires a lot of bullets means little in the overall scheme of things.

[GAGLOCK]

Nice way to illustrate how an isolated farm/homestead can't defend itself against a determined gang. It's a lot scary to me how there are so many gang members with military training and even on active duty today. Keep hearing stories of all the gang graffiti showing up in Iraq and Afghanistan. Motorcycle gangs with caches of weapons, ammo and supplies. They're preparing too.

[Lowdown3]

Keep in mind this was an old guy, his wife couple kids with hardly a prepared place, no defenses to speak of, etc.

[All Talk]

Right, if you mean why the Hansen's were so easily overrun. Another interesting question to deal with is how Jim et al decide to deal with the herd of cows now. Do they think the whole herd is now theirs by right?

Do they discover hansens' 12-year old nephew hiding in the root celler? How to handle property rights in such a circumstance? We can agree that Gomez' group, as the killers, have no claim. But Jim's group were being paid for their protection of the herd on agreed-upon terms -- that doesn't necessarily make them heirs to the whole herd -- technically they are owed nothing more than the cows they were getting in payment. What about other neighbors?

What if the DO commandeer the herd. Mightn't this galvanize previously uncoordinated households into a common cause (with certain justification) agfainst jim and his group, leading to frcition if not downright conflict?

[Lowdown3]

All valid concerns. I'll try to cover them all.

[coyotewhisperer]

I think Jims group has full rights to the entire herd if hansen and his wife are dead. It wasn't like hansen was giveing out cows to hungry people. I worked in a big county jail and the gang members conducting coordinated home invasions had zero training from the military or anywhere else. some of them told me they learned tactics from TV and video games.
.

[Lowdown3]

That's a scary thought isn't it CW? Scary for them, good for us ;)

[rockriver]

the story line was mighty good.. but i really learned reading the comments too.