“I’m happy to help with the calling until Bob gets here,” Melanie said. “I know just about everybody on a first-name basis, which should make it a lot easier and quicker.”
“Without doubt,” Jack said. “Let’s do it. It’s still early enough to catch most people at home.”
Chapter 22
Friday, July 25, 2:15p.m.
Bennet Estate
Hamilton County, New York
It had already been a reasonably productive day as far as JD was concerned as he turned his aged Lexus, which had been his mother’s, into the serpentine Bennet Estate driveway. He’d gotten in touch with Brent Phillips to discuss the truck issue. As Commander Mikhailov had correctly surmised, offering the money completely eased Brent’s insistent desire to get the vehicle back. On the contrary, he’d immediately accepted JD’s suggested offer of a hundred dollars a day. JD hoped it was going to be acceptable to the commander.
As JD neared the Bennet House, he was convinced the day was going to get even better despite the nervousness he always felt in the commander’s presence. Late that morning, he’d received a call from Alexei, who said that the commander had come up with a number of potential lectures that he was proposing to give to the Diehard Patriots as well as several potential dates for the nextcombat tactic operation that he would personally lead. Alexei had then told JD to come by around 2:00p.m. to meet with the commander and make some choices in both categories. He was also asked to bring Ethan’s notes and records so they could compare them with their own. Without a second’s hesitation, JD had agreed. He was thrilled but tense. He was the first to admit that the commander seriously intimidated him.
After parking, JD spent a minute gazing through the windshield up at the house, which appeared to him to be the ultimate horror movie set with all its towers, pointy doors, and odd decorations, all of which aggravated his nervousness. As he sat there, it also seemed mildly ironic that for him to get invited to the house, Ethan would have to die and JD would have had to show up on their doorstep the day before uninvited and force himself to make somewhat of a stink.
At that point JD’s main concern was wondering exactly how he would make the lecture choices beyond using his childhood standby, “eeny, meeny, miny, moe.” As he fully admitted, he was next to illiterate about military matters in general, as he hadn’t spent time online reading up on the subject like Ethan had. Before being forced to become the Diehard Patriots’ head by necessity, he really hadn’t cared about any of it, and although he’d attended the few lectures the commander had given back when he first arrived, JD hadn’t really listened.
What had added considerably to Alexei’s call, as far as JD was concerned, had been its unexpected cordiality. Up until that particular phone call, Alexei had never expressed any sense of friendship or camaraderie. In all previous interactions, he’d answer questions but generally didn’t ask them. This call had been different. He’d even asked JD out of the blue if he liked to swim and if he had a swimsuit. JD wasn’t much of a swimmer, but he had abathing suit, and he certainly wasn’t going to pass up an opportunity to interact with the Netherlanders, especially if it might include the commander. So, JD had agreed to bring a swimsuit, and at that moment, he reached over onto the passenger seat and grabbed it along with Ethan’s folder full of his notes. He then slid out from behind the steering wheel of the aged car and slammed the door. Once outside, he took a deep, fortifying breath before starting for the back door. He felt distinctly out of his element with these people, and although it hadn’t particularly bothered him before he became the Diehard Patriots head, it did now. It was a stress for him to act as if he knew what he was doing, and on top of that they were the first foreigners he’d ever met.
On the previous afternoon, he’d just walked up to the rear door and pounded on it, and he decided to do the same that day. He wondered briefly if there was a doorbell or intercom at the formal front door and if that would be a more appropriate way to announce himself, but he decided not to make the effort to check. As it turned out, he didn’t need to worry. As he mounted the steps to the porch, the rear door opened and there was Alexei holding it open for him with a welcoming smile. It was as if he’d been watching out for him. JD smiled awkwardly in return.
“Great to see you,” Alexei said. “Come on in! Can we offer you a cold one?” As somewhat of a linguist, speaking English, German, and Uzbek in addition to Russian, he’d picked up a few local American colloquialisms.
“I’m good,” JD said as he passed Alexei and entered the house. Walking through the mudroom and a portion of the storeroom, he entered the kitchen, where he found Viktor, Nikolai, and Dmitry sitting at the granite topped island almost as if they hadn’t left it from the previous afternoon.
Not knowing what to do, JD nervously started to salute, but since he’d never been told exactly how to salute, he felt self-conscious and didn’t follow through. Instead, he ran his hand through his mop of hair as if that was what he had intended to do in the first place.
“Welcome and please sit down!” Viktor said, gesturing toward the same chair JD had occupied the previous day. If he had noticed JD’s awkward half-salute, he didn’t call attention to it. In front of him was a stack of papers.
As JD took his seat, Alexei put an open bottle of Bud Light on the counter in front of him even though JD thought he’d declined the offer.
“I’ll take your bathing suit if you don’t mind,” Alexei said, holding it aloft. He’d picked it up from where JD had placed it on the neighboring, empty barstool after putting Ethan’s folder on the countertop. “I’ll take it down to the changing room, where there are some lockers. We’ll swim after our meeting.”
JD nodded but didn’t respond—clearly out of his element and a bit overwhelmed—while Alexei disappeared. If it had just been Alexei and Dmitry, he would have been fine. It was the commander and to a lesser extent his lieutenant who unnerved him without knowing exactly why.
“The easiest decision today will probably be when to hold the next nighttime Diehard Patriots operation, which I would like to center around the concept of discipline,” Viktor began as he held aloft the top sheaf of papers from the stack in front of him. “The earliest it could happen would be next Wednesday. What I’m thinking we can do is plan either Wednesday or Thursday night, avoiding Friday and Saturday, which Ethan had convinced us was not good for the Diehard Patriots rank and file. Is that a fair assumption?”
“Yes,” JD said, but to get the response out he had to clear his throat. “Yes, Friday and Saturday are social nights.”
“Understood,” Viktor said but not without a roll of his eyes for Nikolai’s benefit but which JD couldn’t help but notice. “Back to the issue at hand: Wednesday or Thursday night? Which one would you prefer?”
“Wednesday,” JD said without hesitation. For him sooner was preferrable. He felt the faster things were underway the better.
“Fine!” Viktor said. “Wednesday it is.” He then leaned across the table to scoot the description of the operation in JD’s direction. “You don’t have to look at this proposal now. Take it with you and go over it at your leisure. If you have any comments or suggestions just let Alexei know and he can tell me, and I’ll incorporate them.”
JD picked up the attached papers, glanced at the top one but then put them back down on the countertop. Instead, he took a pull on his beer to appear relaxed and glanced back across at Viktor, Nikolai, and Dmitry, who were all staring at him intently. At that point Alexei returned and took his seat, which made JD feel marginally better.
“The rest of these papers are suggestions for the weekend lectures,” Viktor explained as he held them up. “I strongly suggest we don’t overdo it in terms of lectures in consideration of your membership. Perhaps two would be enough for your group, one on Saturday and another on Sunday, and you can choose the two from among the twelve I’ve briefly outlined in these pages. They fall into two major categories and for you to pick a lecture from each would be the smartest. Are you with me?”
“Yes, sir,” JD blurted.
“The first group deals with basic militia organizational skills, all of which the Diehard Patriots significantly lack. These include issuessuch as discipline, functioning as a group to maintain order, and even the ability to understand and follow orders. I know that such subjects don’t sound entertaining, but they are the backbone of a militia organization. Understood?”
“Yes, sir,” JD repeated.
“The second group of lectures are definitely sexier,” Viktor said, and Nikolai nodded in agreement. “Here we could offer such subjects as basic explosives and demolition, appropriate use of grenades, better rifles than AR-15s, or basic hit-and-run tactics, plus a number of others as you’ll see. My suggestion is that you take this collection home and decide which two you prefer sometime later this afternoon and let Alexei know. Or we can do it now. One way or the other you have to decide by tonight, so I can prepare adequately for tomorrow. Do you have a preference?”
