sentries.
“Even worse, he changes direction frequently, so we never know which side of the building he’s going to peek over next. Instead of performing the same sequence, he’ll frequently stop dead in his tracks and head in another direction. Yesterday I saw him stop short, then go back and look over the east side of the building three times in quick succession before moving on to the north wall. Sneaking in on him will be tough, because we’ll never know when he’s going to peek over the side of the building in the direction of the feed barn.”
“It sounds like he’s had some military training. And if he catches us in the open, or in the barn, we’re in trouble. The feed barn is mostly empty, except for sacks of grain. We could hide behind them, but I don’t know if they’d stop a bullet or not.”
“What about the night shift guy? Is he as thorough?”
“Almost, but not quite. The first day after we blew the tunnel, the day shift man stayed behind after his shift and trained the man on nights to use the same technique. That’s why I believe that the day shift roof guy is their leader. He seems to know what’s going on, and he seems to spend a lot of his off-duty time training the others on tactics.
“Anyway, he trained the night shift guy to use the same techniques, and for the most part he does. But he does sit down and rest occasionally, and he walks slower than the day shift guy. Also, when he looks over the side of the building, he tends to look longer. So, for example, once our team is out of the tunnel, we can have them wait until he’s at the north end of the roof. Then we can give them the go signal, and they should have ten to fifteen seconds or so to make it across the open area to the back of the building.”
“Will that be enough?”
“It’ll be close.”
“How about if we wait for a heavy rain, and then use that for cover?”
“We could be waiting for weeks.”
“How about a moonless and overcast night, where the visibility is next to nothing?”
“Good idea. We’ll incorporate that into the plan. We’ll get everything ready to go, and then wait for the first moonless night.”
John spoke up for the first time. Everyone stopped to listen. John was not only a former Dallas police detective, he also pulled duty years before on the Dallas SWAT team. And before he joined the force he served a stint in the U.S. Marine Corps.
If anyone in the group knew tactics, it was John.
“Before we try any kind of assault, I think it would be wise to thin their ranks a little bit more.”
“What do you mean, John? Thin their ranks how?”
“By using a little bit of guerilla warfare.”
Chapter 15
John went on to explain his logic.
“I’m pretty sure we’ll eventually have to do a full assault against them… go in there and take the compound by force, with guns blazing. The only way to avoid it is by them leaving on their own, and I don’t see them doing that. They’ve had a taste of what we have, and they obviously want it bad enough to die for it.
“We also know that the odds are in our favor, for a number of reasons. We’ll go eventually. And when we do, it’ll be a well coordinated attack, in the dead of night, and we’ll wear night vision goggles. They have some over there, but they haven’t found them yet. So in addition to everything else, that’ll give us a great sight advantage for night fighting.
“But that’s not to say some of us won’t get hurt. So we need to soften them even more if we can. They have six men left over there. Let’s whittle that down a little more before we go in.”
“Okay, John, but how? You said guerilla fighting. I’ve heard the term, but I’m not familiar with
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