Chapter 17

Jeff called in when we had the net that evening. He was starting out in the morning and had an HF and VHF radio mounted with appropriate antennas. Shirley told him to take it easy on his drive and we were looking forward to meeting him in person.

The next morning, Michael and Cindy came over and the four of us and Janice held a war council to determine how to scout the Blasters. Linda, Betty, and Julia woke up and joined us. The three of them were continuing to feel better every day. They wanted to help and gave us a lot of information on the Blasters' site and how they thought it was guarded. The Blasters had taken over a condo complex as their headquarters. They didn't have guards as such but did have many groups out all the time looking around for anything worth having and for new victims. Nights were pretty quiet. They did not send groups out overnight. There were people outside in good weather during the evening talking and drinking.

We marked the position of the condo complex on a map and began to plot roads to use in our scouting. We had already decided to shop for some fast cars. We would mount two meter radios in them and, using quarter wave antennas, maintain a low profile. We also had HT's with earphones for when we went on foot. Ted was asked to join us as he was an accomplished hunter and used to sneaking around quietly. Michael was to drive as was Shirley. With Michael were his oldest son and Ben with his son, Ben, Jr. Janice came with us, also. I didn't want Shirley or Janice to go but they can be insistent. We would be armed and stay close enough to offer support but far enough apart to not show up as a group. We left after lunch and went into Atlanta. We added two mustangs to our convoy of two trucks and original Mustang. Janice was driving Shirley's adopted red truck and I was in mine. After acquiring the cars, we used back roads to get into the area. We figured that the Blasters would be primarily on the main roads for their scavenging missions and we would avoid those in our scouting mission. We packed a week's food and clothing.

When we were close to the Blasters' condo, we found a house set back and somewhat hidden even from the side road which it fronted. We pulled in there and made it our headquarters. We used an APRS radio set to help Cindy and others pinpoint our locations. We mounted them in the two cars, also. APRS is a ham radio method by which two meter radios are attached to GPS systems and give out periodic signals enabling them to be located and tracked. Shirley told me that her dad used to use it on trips because his location would be known and he could let other hams "work" him for awards like Worked All Counties. It did help us coordinate through our base in our activities along with the radios.

As soon as it was twilight, Ted and I donned camos, two meter HT's with earphones, and guns for an initial reconnaissance. We went out the back following compass courses laid out previously. I had an APRS beacon radio with me. I could hear everyone following my progress through the woods to the back of the condos. It was a nice two mile hike. Ted and I didn't see anyone though squirrels and birds were around. We tried not to disturb anything.

We wound up on a low ridge behind the condos with a good position to view that side. It appeared that many of the Blasters liked to look at the woods as we saw a number of lawn chairs set out and many of those were occupied. We started a count and came up with thirty-four, give or take a few. There was some moving around so we were probably not totally accurate. We settled in for the evening to watch. We would do this for a few nights to determine if there seemed to be a pattern to their activities whether they knew it or not. We were well hidden and those who were looking into the woods were not really looking. It was not uncommon for them to have a woman in front of them providing them with sex of some kind. I noticed that some of the men were a bit tender to the women and some were quite rough. Ted whispered, "It looks like some of these guys are just going through the motions while some are really into what they are doing. I'm going to count the bad guys to see what kind of ratio there might be." After a while, he said, "It looks like half of them are just going through the motions. The other half are rough and don't have any thought to their partners' enjoyment or even comfort."

We continued to watch until late in the evening when everyone finally went inside. There were no sentries. I whispered to Ted, "Perhaps, we can plan this for nighttime. If they aren't watching and everyone's in bed, we can quietly pick them off one at a time."

"That's a good idea. We might be able to pull this off without shooting a lot of people and without getting shot ourselves. Let's back out very quietly. I would like to go down to South Atlanta and check an Army base for some night vision goggles or whatever they call 'em."

We slowly slid back and reported in to let everyone know what our thought process was. There was a lot of agreement to our thinking.

While we were gone, Cindy and Mary ran the net and checked on everyone. Jeff had left and was using a rec vee on his way south. Shirley told me that Jeff recognized the potential issues on using such a big ungainly vehicle but decided it was worth the chance. At the worst, he would have to back track and get something else. She also reported that he was armed and well radioed. He figured two or three more days to arrive.

The next day, Ted and Shirley had sentry duty overlooking the condo while I led the rest on a shopping mission except Janice and Mike who stayed at our base. I had a quick internal debate on where to go and decided that Dobbins in Marietta would be my first shot, mostly because it was closest in my mind.

We took my truck and Michael's new Mustang with Michael and Ben leading. Ben, Jr., and I were in my truck. The ride over was uneventful and gave me a chance to get acquainted with Ben, Jr. He was a sharp young man, interested in everything, and willing to help in any way needed.

It took a while to find what we wanted because Dobbins was a huge base with many specialized bits. We loaded a box of goggles to have twenty-four. We also checked batteries and went by for batteries. We got a lot of batteries. You just can't have too many. We had what we needed and returned to our base.

I put on my camos and crawled up to join Ted and Shirley. Shirley whispered, "There only seems to be one leader. From Linda's description, he must be Dave. He stands with one shoulder high. I think I winged him in our little shootout."

Ted added, "Not only is he the only one giving orders, most of the rest don't seem as bad toward the women when he's not around. With a couple of exceptions, taking him out will result in the Blasters falling apart."

"Ted, could you hit him from here?"

"I would need a sniper type rifle with a scope and some practice. Then the answer is probably."

"I brought two from Dobbins along with some ammo. Let's have someone else cover this and go find a place to practice." Ted grinned.

"I have my deer rifle with scope and could make some shots even at this distance." Shirley offered.

"I think we all may need some practice. They may not appreciate us shooting their leaders and some may come after us."

Ted said, "Okay, let's talk about it more later. Right now, let's watch and get a better feel for their habits and for you get to know some of the assistants as well as Dave."

We watched for another couple of hours. I got a feel for the daytime ebb and flow of their group. None of the women that I saw seemed to have any rights. I never saw a woman wearing clothes the entire time I watched. The cruelty was constant and needless.

Michael and his son, Mike, joined us and took over watching. Ted, Shirley, and I slowly slid back until we were well out of sight before standing up and moving back to our temporary headquarters.

We ate supper and called into the net for the evening. Jeff was making good progress on the road. He expected to reach Atlanta during the day. Shirley gave him the repeater information and requested he call when he reached the perimeter, I-285. Those in our normal living area wanted to know what we had found but Shirley put them off until we returned home with a full report and recommendations.

Later that night, Michael and Mike joined us when the Blasters seemed to have retired for the night. We talked about Ted's idea about night work. Michael said, "We will need to figure out where Dave sleeps along with his assistants as best as we can. We will need to hit them first. That will limit the amount of resistance if their leadership is out of the picture."

Ted said, "In addition to Dave, I have recognized three other leaders; Alpha, Bravo, and Charlie. Since we don't know their names, I just gave them letters. Michael, will you start with me early in the morning and let's get some recognition started?"

"That's fine with me. After lunch, we will bring one more person up at a time and go over recognition points and supposed housing locations with each one. We also can draw a map of the complex from this side. Jack, what about the other side?"

I replied, "I was thinking about that and am open to any ideas on how to do it."

Shirley said, "Let's look at the map and talk to Linda and the others on the radio."

"Sounds good to me. I'll get the map and spread it out. You call Linda at the house."

She did and reported back to us all that Linda was gathering the other two for our talk.

Linda came on the radio, "Calling Shirley. This is Linda calling Shirley. Oh! Over."

"This is Shirley with the group. We are looking at the map. It's a four lane divided road in front of the condos."

"That's right but they don't live in the front units. They are all in the back ones. The front ones are for storage and sentry posts."

"Linda, Jack here. Would any of you know how many sentries or their placement?"

"Not with any certainty at all."

"Okay, I really didn't expect that you were Dave's confidant. Let's pull up a satellite map of the condo complex and see what you feel comfortable as fact and what you think might be true."

Mary pulled up a map and took the mike. "Jack, I have a satellite view up. On the computer, go to www.mapview.com/Roswell and then expand the view until you see it in the right corner. Drag it to center and expand it some more."

"Okay, hang on a moment." We looked at our screen for a bit. "Okay, we have it up and centered."

"Tell us what you can. We need to know sight distances, what's around, and what you might know about their uses of the road."

"Okay, Jack. The complex is on a hill at the front that gives a good view in either direction up and down the road. On the other side of the road is another complex. They don't use it and I never heard anyone refer to it. Betty and Julia agree on that."

"Jack, this is Julia. My sister lived in the complex across the street before the day. It is fenced all around. To the east is another complex and toward Roswell and west is a large shopping center. Check out a map and pull back on this one. I think you can approach my sister's complex from the back through a yard. I just don't see how you could cross the street without being seen. On both sides of the Blasters' complex are other complexes. You might be able to get in that way. Dave was careful to be sure that he had power for lighting. At night, they seemed to depend upon it to keep them safe. Before you, they were more concerned with keeping people in than keeping people out. You will have changed that attitude for a while but it won't stick. Time and nothing happening will relax them."

"Thanks, Ladies. I know it's tough to talk about it but we think there is a way to hit them and avoid a pitched battle. Your information is helping us form a plan."