"Any clues?"
"Not really, but John wants me to start training on the Barrett's rifle tomorrow morning."
"Damn," Harry said. "What the hell are they going to do with that thing?"
"When I find out, I'll let you know," Ham said.
"I think this is a scary development," Holly interjected. "The idea that they might actually shoot that gun at something or so
mebody is terrifying."
"Tell me about this oath," Harry said.
"Well, it pretty much called for me to hand them my ass on a platter, and if I do something they don't like, they have my permission to shoot me."
"Swell," Holly said.
"Harry, did you get the scrambled cell phone?"
"It'll be here tomorrow morning, and you can pick it up tomorrow evening."
"I'm getting to the point where I really want a way to communicate," Ham said.
"Well," Eddie put in, "you can always go into Peck's study and talk to the ceiling. We'll be listening."
"Are you getting real-time transmissions?"
"As far as we know," Eddie said. "Who knows what those spooks at NSA are doing with this stuff. There may be some sort of delay piping down here to us."
"Can we find out? That's something I'd really like to know."
"I'll try," Harry said, "but those boys and girls don't talk much."
"Who else is hearing it besides us?" Doug asked.
"Hell, I don't know," Harry replied. "They could be playing it in the NSA cafeteria, for all I know. My guess would be that the attorney general is getting at least a digest of what's being said, and certainly, the director, but I asked for it to be as closely held as possible."
"Oh, by the way, the group has a name."
"What is it?"
"The Elect, and by telling you, I've just made myself eligible for a bullet in the brain."
"We came up with that name in the militia database. Now, who wants pizza and who wants Chinese?"
44
The following morning Ham packed a large duffel with clothing, including several fatigue shirts. He was going to have to sew that microphone button on a different shirt every day, he reflected. He had grown to hate and fear the recorder in his boot. It was too damn hard to turn on and off, and it had already nearly gotten him caught. He wished he had complained about it to Harry and made them get him something simpler to use. He resolved not to use it again, unless he absolutely had to.
He packed his cell phone and charger into the duffel, and as an afterthought, included a bottle of Wild Turkey. He had a feeling he was going to need a drink every now and then, if he had to start living with those people.
He drove out to the lake and found Peck.
"I expect you want to draw the Barrett's rifle and some ammo," Peck said.
"Right."
"Follow me." Peck led the way into the house, to an innocuous-looking door that turned out to lead to a cellar. Cellars weren't big in Florida, and Ham thought they must have gone to a lot of trouble to waterproof it.