Chapter 12

The next morning, we rose and ate breakfast. While we ate, I said, "Last night, we talked about setting up a CB. Also, I think we need to run a speaker inside or put another radio in here. We need to monitor HF better, too."

Mary said, "There must be more people on the air and we need to find them. Why don't you want to use the CB to communicate, also?"

"I am concerned about the potential type of people who might be on CB." I said. "I think it might be more useful as a burglar alarm. I agree that we need to make a more concerted effort to contact other people. That's my reason for the speaker or additional radio to monitor HF."

Shirley said, "Okay, you've convinced me. You take Janice and check the drive. Mary and I will clean up and run some speaker wire."

"Okay," I said. A few minutes later, Janice and I got in my truck and went out the drive to the tree. We got out and went to the other side. Off to one side, I saw marks in the dirt beside the drive. Someone had been there and turned around! I pulled my cellphone and called Shirley.

"Shirl, someone was here last night. I can see marks where they turned around."

"That's not good. What do you want to do?"

"I'm going to remove any tracks I made, back the truck and clear the drive to hide any more marks I may have made. I will be back in the house in a few minutes."

"Okay, be careful, Hun."

"Okay, Bye."

We cleaned all traces of our trip up but left the other tire tracks. We returned to the house. Now, we knew we weren't paranoid, someone had been watching. The questions were "what did they see?" and "what will they do?" Shirley and Mary had set up a speaker for the HF and set up a basic CB radio and antenna while we were gone. It was close enough to lunchtime, so we prepared and then ate lunch together.

"What do you think we can do about our watchers?" I asked the table.

"If all they are is watchers, what's the worry?" Janice said.

"My concern is that they might not just be watchers."

"Jack, I think you should call Robbie to let him know and, if he agrees, to pass the information on to the rest of the family." Mary said.

Shirley said, "I think we need to monitor the repeaters, simplex and the CB channels heavily for a while. We need to gather all the data we can. Warn your parents, Jack."

"Okay, I will call Mom and Dad now." I said, moving to the phone. I dialed and Mom answered, "Mom, this is Jack. Is Dad close by? Good. Put him on, please. Dad, Jack here. We have a situation and you need to be made aware of it. I think we are being watched. Yes, Sir. We went into Carrollton yesterday to pick up a couple of generators and then some fuel for them. My shoulder blades itched the whole time. We blocked the drive at dusk. This morning we went up there and saw new tracks that we didn't make. Okay, Dad. I'll let you know."

Shirley said, "What did he say?"

"He said he's been suspicious for a few days. Now, we have confirmed it. He's going to call the family and we're to let him know what, if anything, we decide to do."

"Jack, I can see it in your eyes. You have something in mind."

"Well, yes. Actually, I have two things in mind. One is to set up a sentry post up the drive to watch for someone coming. And, the other is to do some scouting. I think we need to find these folk before they do something. Carrollton is big enough that some people could have survived and banded together. We need to find out about them and either have them join us or dissuade them from hanging around."

"How do you plan to do that?" Shirley said carefully and slowly.

"First, I figured to roam about our place and try to ascertain whether or not anyone has been scouting us out other than coming down our, now blocked, drive."

Mary said, "Then, what?"

"That depends. If there is no sign, we need to figure out how to know if someone is looking at us. If there is some sign of them, then we must find them and determine if we must deal with them and how."

Shirley said, "We can set up some sensors around the area. We will need to get some electronic parts to build them though."

"I agree. First, I want to go scout the area to see if there is some sign that we have been actively spied upon."

"You are going by yourself?"

"Yes, Shirl. I don't think you ever deer hunted with bow and arrow. I have and am quite stealthy in the woods. I will take my rifle and a pistol."

"You need to take an HT, also. I will prepare it for you."

"That's good. Unless it's an emergency, don't call me. I will call in to you every once in a while."

"Be sure you do." she said as she went into the garage.

I went into our room and put on my camo clothes. I looked in the mirror trying to be sure there was nothing reflective on my body. I saw nothing. I pulled my light camo gloves on and lightly painted my face. I went back into the kitchen and heard Mary and Janice make sounds of slight surprise. Shirley came in with a small hand held radio.

She handed it to me. "This is a two meter HT. It's set for simplex and is on an off frequency. I have the radio in the shack tuned and it will hear you. If you cut it off, it will be on frequency when you turn it on. I would prefer you don't turn it off. I also have an earpiece and vox microphone if you want those."

"No, I want my ears unimpeded."

"Okay, be careful." With that, she gave me a kiss and a hug.

I went out to the truck and grabbed my rifle. I walked up the drive about half way to the tree blockage. I went off the drive into the trees and began to search the ground. I went around about one hundred yards and saw nothing. There was another creek with a pasture on the other side. One hundred feet out was the end of the trees. I followed to the edge and looked in toward the house for an observation spot. I stayed in the trees and moved slowly toward the drive. I found nothing. When I came to the drive, I continued across the drive. Fifty feet from the drive, I found the spot where someone had been crouched looking in toward the house.

I keyed the mike and said softly, "Shirley, this is Jack. Over."

The volume was down as she responded, "Go ahead, Jack. I'm here."

"I found the spot where they were looking at us last night. It's about fifty feet from the drive just inside the tree line on the right as you would head out."

"Okay. Hun, step forward and wave. Maybe we can see you."

"I will do that though I will have to step around to avoid leaving a sign myself." I stepped over about ten feet carefully and then moved forward and back over ten feet. In the open, I waved. "Can you see me?" I asked.

"Yes, we see you, Hun. What are you going to do now?"

"I want to trace their path to where they parked though it's probably at the point where Janice and I found they had turned around."

"Okay. I will stand by."

I retraced my steps to the observation point. From there, I covered the ground watching for those little signs of passage that even good ones leave in the dark. I found a bit more than I expected. Either the person didn't expect us to look for them or they weren't that good. I hoped for the later. I kept going and found a footprint in a wet spot. I moved forward and found another of a toe where they made a long step to get in the truck's passenger seat just where we had found it had turned around. I went to the other side of where the truck was stopped but, despite looking carefully, could find no sign of the driver getting out. I looked carefully at the tread pattern but it looked like a normal truck tire. I did find where the back bumper may have broken and pulled away a small piece of brush. Whether that would have any later value was questionable but it was all I had.

I called. "Shirley, this is Jack. I have traced the looker to the passenger side of the truck."

"Roger, Jack. That means there are at least two."

"That's correct. I am going to circle around further away from the drive and work my way back coming in at the back from over the hill."

"Okay, Jack. Call in every once in a while."

"Okay, Shirl."

I moved out again off the drive away from the house about a hundred yards finding nothing. I started to move through the woods to circle the house. I tracked around looking for sign but seeing nothing until I came to the end of the treeline. The valley going in towards the house was open with a small creek going through the middle. I followed that about half a mile to another drive but saw no sign that it had been used. I crossed the creek carefully and returned to the trees. I followed the trees up the hill until I could overlook the house. I continued over the crest of the hill and looked in on another house that I knew was there though I didn't know who had lived there. It looked deserted. I decided to check it out. I went up slowly. I notified Shirley of my intent. I could tell she wasn't happy but knew we needed to check things out. She told me that Janice was outside with another HT and had moved toward the drive blockage to keep watch. Mary was in the shack trying to make contact on forty meters.

I moved up to the house from downwind. I smelled death. I kept going. The house was unlocked and looked untouched. There was a man in the main bedroom in the bed. No one else was there. I left disturbing nothing.