299 Days: The Stronghold

Chapter 119 Operation Head Fake (May 12)

A crowd had gathered around the semi and the black stranger. Grant asked the assembled people, largely the Grange ladies and the medical staff, “Who here in Pierce Point has a semi-truck or trailer? Do we have any truck drivers out here who have their rigs parked at their house?”

“Doug Smithson out on Frog Lake Road,” one of the Grange ladies said. “I saw his rig there this morning.”

Grant motioned for Gideon to come over to him. He whispered something to Gideon, who laughed and nodded.

“OK,” Grant said, “slight change in plans. I need someone to drive me and the guards to the Smithson place. Gideon, you follow us in your truck. I need one person in the cab with Gideon who knows where the Smithsons live in case we get separated.” A Grange lady raised her hand and walked up to Gideon. They shook hands, which seemed strangely formal but normal at the same time.

They took off. Grant was in someone’s truck. They drove a few miles to the far eastern end of Pierce Point, to the Smithson place. Grant got out at the gate and motioned for the guards to keep an eye out for anyone who might have been following them. There were dogs. Grant waited until someone came out. It was a man with a shotgun. He looked like he’d been sleeping. Oh great, Grant thought. I’ve pissed off a tired man with a shotgun—and a guy I’m about to ask if I can have his truck. Not a great first impression.

Grant put his hands up and yelled, “Mr. Smithson? We need your help. I’m Grant Matson. I’m with the Pierce Point constables.”

The man seemed to recognize the term “constables.” He came up to Grant and looked at the semi idling on the road outside his gate. He noticed the guards. He seemed to recognize one of the guards. He lowered his shotgun and came over to Grant.

“I’m Doug Smithson. What do you want?” He was not happy to be awoken by men with guns.

“Do you have an empty trailer we could borrow for a little while?” Grant asked.

“For what?” Smithson asked.

Grant motioned for Gideon to come over. Grant explained that they had a semi-trailer full of food, which made Smithson smile, and that they needed to hook up Smithson’s empty semi-trailer and take it down to the gate.

Grant said, “We’re calling this Operation Head Fake.” Smithson smiled again.

Smithson asked, “So who owns the food?”

Grant said, “The government, I guess. But it’s ours now. You OK with that?”

“Hell yes,” Smithson said. “Those bastards have stolen from me for years. Do you know what I’ve paid in fuel taxes? I’m happy to help get a little back. Bastards.”

Subverting the government was so much easier when they’d been dicks to so many people, Grant realized.

Gideon and Smithson worked on the plan. Smithson had the room to switch the trailers on their trucks right there at his place. With Grant riding along, Gideon would drive his cab and the empty Smithson trailer back to the gate. Smithson would drive his cab and the trailer full of food back to the Grange, which would be protected by the guards.

“One more thing,” Gideon said as the trailers were switched. He looked at Smithson and asked, “You got some paperwork on this empty load?”

“Sure do,” Smithson said. He went back into the house and came out with some papers. “Looks like you got a legit empty load.”

Grant got on the CB in Gideon’s cab. He called the Grange and asked if Chip was there yet. He had just walked in. Grant said, in semi coded language, that Smithson and two guards would be coming to the Grange and that Chip was to command the guard of that truck. If Smithson didn’t get there in a half hour, Chip was to radio Grant on that same channel.

Grant wanted Smithson to go first and for Gideon to follow them. He basically trusted Smithson and the gate guards riding along, but not 100%. He wanted to watch them roll up to the Grange and for Chip to take over. Then, and only then, would Grant feel comfortable leaving the trailer full of food there. People would literally kill for that truck load of food—and probably would later that night when the attack came.

Smithson pulled into the Grange, and Chip, with full kit on, waved to Grant and gave him the thumbs up. Gideon and Grant kept going down the road toward the gate. It was actually going pretty well, so far.

As Gideon’s cab came up to the gate, the guards were puzzled. Dan ran up with his hands in the air, screaming, “What the hell?” Was Grant trying to return the truck and food?

Grant wasn’t going to get on the CB and tell them about Operation Head Fake. And he didn’t have a ham radio, although he probably wouldn’t have discussed the topic even on that radio.

He jumped out of the cab and motioned for Gideon to park the rig in plain sight of the gate. Dan and Rich ran up to Grant, with the Team close behind. It looked like the Team had all its extra gear there and had handed out some AKs and tactical shotguns to some of the new volunteers. Once again, Grant felt so alive.

“OK, here’s what’s going on,” Grant said to everyone. “Now before I tell you about this, I need all of you to swear not to talk about this. You understand? Talking about this will get people killed. Who here wants to get people killed?”

No one said a word.

“That’s what I thought,” Grant said. “OK, see that trailer? Looks like the one we rescued, right?” Grant said this loudly so everyone could hear.

Most nodded.

“Well,” Grant said holding the paperwork up, “I have documentation that this trailer is empty. You see, it was an empty load last week from Tacoma. Anyone want to see?”

Everyone looked puzzled.

“Go ahead and look in the back. It’s empty,” Grant said with obvious pride. “Yep, it looks like that black guy had an empty load. He brought it in here, parked it, and started to walk down the road toward Frederickson. Right? Right, guys? Some mystery man abandoned his empty rig here and left.”

Gideon waved at them and started laughing. “I ain’t here. I’m a ghost,” he said.

“So there’s nothing for the government or the gangs to come and get,” Grant said. “Just an empty truck. Hell, they can have it. Then they need to go back to Frederickson and start looking for a black man. You guys see what I’m sayin’?” Grant had a huge grin on this face. The only thing better than capturing a semi load of food was making the government look stupid in the process.

Everyone started to get it. Many were laughing and high fiving. Someone asked, “Where’s the real trailer?”

“At the Grange under guard,” Grant said. “Where it will stay. Just so everyone knows, I have hidden the keys to the trailer padlocks in a safe place.” Actually, Grant had the keys on him, but with an AR and a pistol, his pocket was a “safe place.” Later he planned to tell Rich that he had the keys. The guy in charge needed to know everything.

“I left instructions at the Grange for how we’re going to handle the food,” Grant said. “We’ll have a vote to approve this plan, but the plan is the plan for right now. You gotta act quick to take advantage of these things,” Grant said with a smile.

It had only been an hour and half since Grant saw Gideon walking across the bridge. They had done a lot in that hour and half. They had secured a semi load of food and set out a distribution plan. All this quick action was possible because, when Grant saw Gideon, the outside thought told him to help a complete stranger. The ideas about the meal card came from reading a book, years earlier. The idea about the empty trailer came from…who knows where, but there it was. Operation Head Fake was off and running. Now it just had to work.