As morning broke over the county much had changed. Up North the situation deteriorated further and some skirmishes between troops had started to break out. Everybody realized they were sitting on a powder-keg and the drunken neighbor had some fireworks. President Alan, normally very good in these situations seemed to have a tin ear to the problems facing him which only gave Crutchfields supporters more reason to keep gearing up for a fight. Things would get worse before they got better.

In the state capitol, Senator Donovan had convinced his other neighboring state to join in under his "protective umbrella". With three states worth of national guard troops, as mixed and matched as they were, he had enough forces to do what he wanted. That morning at 6:00am he issued an order of martial law in the area which included a curfew, random safety checks and the beginnings of gun confiscation. What Miles Donovan wanted was to exert his grasp on this new area under his temporary control and make it his for the longer term. He planned to use the uncertainty of the North as justification and by the time the dust settled Donovan's rule would be too tight for things to ever go back to normal. He wanted the control, he wanted the land, he wanted the natural resources of the area, he wanted the power. In short, he wanted it all.

Being the consummate politician he released statements to all the news outlets assuring the people of the area that this move was "temporary" and "for their safety". He reassured the people that telephone service, both cell and hardwire, would only be shut down temporarily. The systems had mostly crashed under heavy volume anyway but he used technology designed for national emergencies to make sure they were shut down for good. The same went for internet access. And with a big smile he told people not to worry when they saw Humvee's loaded with troops going down their streets as they were there for protection against looters as the local television reporters dutifully nodded in agreement.

Smythe realized that all might not be well in Ketch's county. Five of his men were missing due to unknown forces although everything pointed in the direction of this Miller and his group. Ketch seemed to have things in hand, and Smythe was willing to give him a little more rope but the idea was for Ketch to loose his men, not Smythe's. Smythe decided he'd make a surprise visit to the good Sheriff later that morning.

At the town hall it was becoming equally obvious to Sheriff Ketch that Miller's group was a problem. Thus far Ketch had kept the few citizens who voiced concerns at bay and the vast majority remained in their coma like states anyway. He could have rolled tanks down Main Street and most of those people would not have noticed. But Miller poised a problem on several fronts. First, people liked him and there was always a risk of him starting some sort of resistance to Ketch's plans. Ketch still had to play things carefully since there wasn't any immediate danger in the county. Further, if things did get ugly Miller, Dink and presumably others knew how to fight as they had already demonstrated. But right now the big problem was not knowing what Miller was up to. Had he just left the area as one of his deputies surmised when they found the hole in the fence and the tire tracks leading into the airport grounds? Or was he laying low waiting to act? As is often the case, not knowing was the hardest part.

Senator Donovan's move to declare martial law wasn't going to help matters either. For now he had most of the county going through the motions after the uncertainty of the past few days. Just the mention of curfews and gun confiscations would stir up a lot of activity in the area. He was sure to get a lot more visitors today.

****

At the impromptu campsite Miller realized they weren't in a much better position either. They had to stay on the run for four days before Webb's brother returned. And the plain fact was they weren't going to get away with another middle-of-the-night escapade at the airport as Ketch would have it, and any other known airstrip in the county on lock-down from now on. Also, bodies were laying around that Ketch could easily use as leverage against them whether the killings were justified or not.

They had not yet learned of Donovan's actions so the choice to just start driving and hope to contact Webb's brother while en-route was the most likely option. But that was not without risk. They had to avoid detection, travel by truck as far as possible and then go overland when fuel ran out. Chances were good Ketch would have the contractors and possibly the military join in the search for them. And then they still had to contact Webb's brother somehow. Webb was able to make the original flight arrangements with ease at the first sign of trouble up north. Now, they were dependent on the handheld radios to link up. The last thing they wanted to was to cover a distance in four days and have Webb's brother land back in the town where they started.

The stark reality was that they were in a very precarious position.

****

The men quickly and quietly cleaned up their small campsite as the early morning mist filtered through the woods where they had made camp the previous night. They only had a few hours to sleep so they took turns one hour on, one hour off to maintain a guard but get some rest.

As Miller squirted some extra lube into the gas ring ports on the bolt of his AR he broke the silence. "Hey Webb, if we get to a Ham radio in the next twelve hours can we get a message to your brother so he'll have it when he lands?"

Webb nodded the affirmative.

"Ok", Miller continued, "We can't get back to any of our places as they will be too hot. It's going to be risky but I think we can make it to Jason Klepper's place on the outskirts of town. I know for sure he has Ham equipment with the signal strength to reach out a ways. He's friendly to all of us so I think we can slip in, get word out to Webb's brother and move out again. And he's close enough to town that anybody listening for a broadcast might not be looking so close to home. My thought is we then hoof it thirty miles over to Lumberton. There's a long stretch of route 15 that is straight enough to land a plane but isn't so obvious that it will attract much attention. The terrain and cover is pretty good on the way over to Lumberton so we can stay low profile. I don't think it's going to be long before they put birds in the air" obviously referring to helicopters or other aircraft.

Dink chimed in. "That sounds about right to me. It don't hurt that I have some extra supplies squired away at a little shed about half way to Lumberton".

"Outstanding" Miller replied. "I figure we have to kill four days. Two for the plane to get to Wyoming and then two more to return back here. Longer if Webb's brother needs a nap or gets delayed. We'll burn a day today waiting for night so we can sneak into town to see Klepper. We'll soak up another two days getting to Lumberton by taking a nice nature walk. We'll have some extra time in the schedule in the event we are derailed en route and then we can just lay low for a bit until our taxi swoops out of the sky to get us." Miller looked at the other men to solicit suggestions or complaints. As usual they offered none.

"Alright then," Miller concluded. "Lets ruck up and cover the ground to get near town. Then we can hole up and get some shuteye until nightfall."

****

As Sheriff Ketch poured himself another cup of dreadful police station coffee he realized he only had one card to play regarding Miller and his men. He didn't want to play it since they were popular in town and people were likely to not believe the claims being made. But he was counting on one of his sycophants coming through and turning over the men or information that would lead to them.

He would release orders to apprehend John Miller, Dink Roberts and anybody else with them on the charges of suspicion of murder of the 5 missing contractors. He could use his contractors more openly to help in the search and the military force that was being sent to town to help "keep order" could maybe join in the fun too. The ruse of a manhunt would help distract townspeople from remembering that soldiers with weapons were walking the streets.

After downing another gulp of the hideous coffee and making a grimace he issued the orders that Miller and his men were to be apprehended and should considered very dangerous. "Who knows, maybe an angry contractor will take them out and get the whole mess out of my hair" he thought to himself.