So that your love may be complete.

[Sully]

Thanks Pac.

Sully

[Tckaija]

Thank You Pac!

I don't know how you do it, but the story of the Clan keeps getting better and better!

[Dosadi]

Thanks muchs to you Mrs. PAC

Maybe Ben and Twila somehow make me think of the things that went wrong in my own life? I'm not quite able to say for sure, but I really really want them to make a go of it somehow and that magic that makes things work once in a while to be there.

No matter what I sure do appreciate the thinking it makes me do.

Also Mark and the kids. I don't know when it hit me, but comes a point when a parent can just smile at their own or other peoples kids pulling stuff like that.

One only needs to think of all the real problem kids, not just the ones that need a gentle guiding hand.

Dosadi

[Dreamer]

Thank you muches Mrs. Pac. You and the Mr are in my prayers.

[PacNorWest]

#37

"Don't run," Ben tugged Twila back down on the bed to lie beside him in the darkness. "The demons, the ones that chase you until you can run no further, can always catch you. It's a game they enjoy immensely, and one you can't win." Ben's deep smooth voice said exactly what Twila feared the most.

"When you face those terrors and fears, they loose their importance and ability to run your life." he finished into the darkness.

Twila was silent for so long that Ben figured he had offended her so much she would never speak to him again; then he realized she was crying silently. Gathering her up in his arms, he held her until there was no more tears.

"I'm glad it's dark, I don't want you to look at me;" Twila mumbled.

"Listen," Ben said to the woman in his arms, "I want you to come with me on this journey. We need to start slow, figure out a map, bring provisions and trust each other enough to talk about our problems honestly. Like any trip there are good roads, and bad patches.
There will be curves, hills and rivers to cross and will we make it together? I don't know, it's not within my ability to make such a promise. Will you pray with me Twila? Pray that we listen to God and His plan."

The both of them got down on their knees beside the bed and Ben started praying aloud. "This is what is going to hold us together," his voice was serious; "our love for God and the desire to listen to His Will, will be the glue that that binds us." They prayed.

The next morning, the interruption of sleep showed in both their faces, but the peace and calmness they had invited into their hearts gave them a new dignity and purpose. Ben and Twila went to the store to start work, and when Wayne sauntered in, Ben left to finish his business at the bank and put his money on the farm.

Two hours later he shook hands with the banker, the Title officer, the older couple that owned the farm and walked out of the bank with rubbery knees. He was thousands in debt and he had never felt as free or as happy. The former owners asked for 30 days to get their stuff moved, they had so much from 50 years of living there and Ben told them he was going to need everything they didn't want.

"I have a frying pan and a paring knife, so anything you would care to leave, I can certainly use," he told Jack and Edna, and they smiled. Those simple words solved a lot of their problems, and Ben's.

As the thirty days moved on, Jack and Edna moved what they wanted into a motor home and took off to see the world. Ben shook his head the day they stopped at the store to hand him the keys, the rumbling diesel behemoth RV in the parking lot a far cry from the tractor in the shed.

"God Bless," Ben and Twila called out as the couple left.

The older couple took Ben at his word. When he and Twila drove out to the farm there was food in the refrigerator, the clothes they didn't want in the closet, tools in the shop and chores to do. It was a case of get your gloves on and go to work.

When Jack and Edna's two kids learned about the sale, they were furious, threatening to have Ben and Twila arrested. There was no talking to the angry son and daughter; their Dad and Mom had sold, gathered up their money, spent it on what they wanted too, and drove off in the money toward the sunset without mentioning a word about their plans to their children.

The banker was the one who finally broke the stalemate. A good friend of Jack and Edna's, he showed the furious children the 'for sale' sign that had been up for almost a year, the advertising the older couple had done to try and sell the farm, and then chided the siblings for not coming around and interacting more closely with their parents. "If either one of you had been out to visit, you would have seen the work was getting to be too much for your folks to handle." Banker Foley scolded. "Jack and Edna figured you didn't care enough to call or visit, they didn't care enough to share the profits from the sale, which is what you both are really angry about."

The brother and sister were angry about the loss of their potential inheritance, but now they couldn't say much. They went to the Sheriff and then a lawyer to get legal council, and found out the same thing. They as children, were out of luck. It was a done deal.

In the following days, Ben and Twila worked hard from early morning until noon, cleaned up, went in to the store until 5, came back and finished chores. It was a rinse and repeat lifestyle.

Wayne filed for divorce, had Jenny served with the papers, signed the final decree and waited unhappily for her to do the same. It was the last hold on Wayne that Jenny had, and she stretched it out as long as possible. The Judge in the case finally threatened her with contempt and some time in jail if she and her lawyer didn't comply with the order. She sullenly signed and spit on her lawyers shoes and refused to pay the woman who had promised to make Wayne bleed more of his hard earned money.

Busy in the store, busy with the farm, busy trying to get their lives together in some semblance of order and prepare for what Clora had warned them about, Ben, Twila and Wayne worked until Sunday was their only day of rest. Church, a noon meal and only the necessary chores gave them some time to recharge.

Twila didn't mind Wayne being there, he and Ben often worked together silently in the shop, or in the fields; and that gave her time to garden, teach herself to can and dry foods and slowly move what was unnecessary of Jack and Edna's into boxes for a huge garage sale.



Summer was full of hard work in the valley. The expanded gardens required a lot of water and the Linderman's used siphon hoses to run creek water to the thirsty plants. Every opportunity to save resources was used, as they slowly built up the provisions for the coming winter.

Food got scarce in the surrounding area, the daily grind creating roving bands of starving people looking for food. The children of the clan got extremely proficient at being watchful scouts, and it was Benny and Tess out on patrol who observed a band of looters coming toward the valley.

[Dosadi]

Thank you. I made a trip to town, and came back and found this wonderful new chapter.

And of course Cliff showed up. LOL

D.

[Hermantribe]

I knew it! A giant cliff! So enjoying this story! Thank you Pac, please know I'm praying for you & Mr. Pac.

[Lake Lili]

Home from Church and the Linger Longer to find Cliff waiting at the door... Thanks Pac!

[PacNorWest]

#37b

An approaching group with evil intent; couldn't have come at a worse time for the Linderman clan. They were all scattered out away from the house. Mark and Warren were in the upper cave investigating the still smelly hole with Mary and Robert up on the hill as lookouts.

Karl was in the shop/barn working on an insert for the wagon, so the youngsters could pull the full milk pail to the house with minimal spilling. He had Gary, Lou and Sam with him and they were making plenty of noise as they worked.

Helga was teaching Milo and Teddy and Adoree how to can with a wood burning stove, and Gail and Clora were giving the triplets a bath.

As they observed the military type squad, Benny grew very alarmed and sent Tess running for the house. "Tell them I am going to be in outpost #1," he pushed Tess to get her started. "Hurry! This is bad."

Afraid she wouldn't reach the house in time, Tess pulled the dog whistle from her pocket and blew hard. She ran, blew on the whistle and then ran some more. It was a good three-quarters of a mile from the valley entrance to the house and when the whistle came into range, Inky and Lady started howling. It was a last ditch, prearranged signal for invasion. The howling continued on non stop, so Clora surmised that Tess had encountered a real problem.

Clora brought the extra rifles from their bedroom and placed them along the walls for instant access. Karl and the kids came puffing in from the shop, and the youngsters went right to the basement with Adoree's help.

"Vhat iss?" Karl said between the howling noise.

"It's Tess and a last minute danger signal, I've already sent Milo for Mark and Warren with Mark's special gun, Look," Clora was searching the lower driveway, "here comes Tess."

Tess, when she could hear the howling, stopped blowing and concentrated on running. "Incoming military type squad that looks like they are looters," she gasped out, and sat down after her adrenalin fueled run
Clora had straightened up when she heard the first howl and instructed Gail to finish and take the babies to the safe room in the basement. Adoree went to help Gail, Teddy was dispatched to the shop and Milo was sent running for the upper cave by the waterfall.

Halfway to the cave, Milo stopped and let out a piercing whistle. There was no returning answer so he started running again. As close as they were to the noisy waterfall and inside the cave, Mark heard the third time Milo whistled.

Grabbing Warren by the arm, he hissed, "Hurry, there's trouble," and they rushed to the mouth of the cave. As Milo came running into view with Mark's long range weapon with the silencer, Mark said, "Dear Lord, there IS trouble."

Mary and Robert could be heard running down the trail toward them and Milo put on a burst of speed when he saw Mark coming toward him. Warren had both the rifles the men had taken into the cave and he was moving, but somewhat slower.

Meeting up, Milo handed Mark several clips and then the sniper rifle. "Incoming, Tess blew the dog whistle so I'm assuming she didn't want to be found as she went for the house."

Mark nodded, "Take Grandpa and go for the house along the North wall. Stop and whistle so Ma doesn't shoot you. Dad," he addressed Warren, "go exactly where Milo tells you, the path is booby trapped. I don't want to have to worry about you, so please do as I ask."

Mark had assumed his old military demeanor and he expected his order to be obeyed. Warren's eyes got big when he looked at the rifle and realized it's significance. He had been about to protest Mark going on alone, when he changed his mind.

"OK," Warren conceded, "lead on boy," and Milo started them out at a trot toward the hidden path. Mark patted his vest for his necessary items as he trotted down to the second cave and joined up with the hidden path on the south side of the valley. As he ran, he wondered if Tess and Benny had made it to the house. If he knew Benny, the boy would have sent Tess to the house and curled up in one of the hidey holes they had constructed. At least, that's what Mark hoped the boy had done.

Mark ran down to the valley entrance and circled around to hole #1. Blowing a soft whistle, he waited for Benny's answer. When it came, Mark appeared out of no where and slid into the hole with the boy.

"Five man squad, armed and looking like looters. Military uniforms with a funny insignia on the front of their caps. Smaller men with weapons I didn't recognize." Benny reported. "Their grouped up at the first foundation where Wayne's trailer used to be, smoking and talking. Dad," he whispered, "I don't think their American."

Smelling the acrid smoke from the cigarettes, Mark agreed. One man went off into the bushes to relieve himself and Mark took his opportunity. The man had been gone a fair amount of time when the leader noticed. He pointed and another man went off into the bushes laughing.

Mark dropped the leader. The man crumpled from his sitting position on the log, falling over back wards. Then he dropped the second man in the bushes. The remaining two crouched down behind the log next to their leader and frantically whispering between themselves.

They were on a daring mission. The most honored leader of their squad had been contacted and offered a chance to land on American soil and take a plum of wealth and weapons from an unsuspecting enclave of rich Americans. Their orders were to help themselves to what ever they wanted.It had been too easy up to this minute.

Mark shot the fourth man when like a turtle he poked his head up to reconnoiter. The fifth man, a lowly foot soldier with excellent survival instincts slithered through the under brush to a fairly thick tree trunk and stood up. Feeling protected, he panted with exertion until he forgot and moved his left leg once to often.

Mark shot his leg off, wanting to have Warren interrogate the man for intelligence. The man dropped, but was alive by the amount of writhing he was doing on the ground.

"Go to the house and bring Grandpa down here. Use the trail on the North side. Tell Ma that I believe the threat is mitigated, but to stay on lock down. I want you to come back here and keep a good lookout up and down the road. Whistle if there are more incoming.
Benny," Mark was serious, "don't come down there, do you understand."

Benny looked at Mark with old, pain filled eyes and nodded. Then he hoisted himself out of the fox hole and slithered down the steep cliff to the path. Mark saw the bushes quiver momentarily as Benny got started.

Mark kept a hawk's watch on the road and the entrance, and right about on time, Benny whistled from below. Mark whistled back and softly called for Benny to come up to the fox hole. "Thank you son," Mark praised, clapping Benny on the shoulder.

Warren was leaning against a tree, catching his breath. He looked at Mark and followed his son's hand motions as they went to the overgrown grass around the cement block foundation. "We need some answers," Mark grated out, and Warren's eyes got big as he looked at the olive drab uniforms with the red star logo on the hat.

"Are those...?" he whispered.

"Yes, and one half alive behind that tree. Let me make sure he doesn't want to be a hero." and Mark went to circle around the man.

[Dosadi]

Only five, they clearly did not know who they were being sent to mess with.

Thank you PAC.

Now I want to hear the interrogation.

Probably gonna need a translator.

That could be arranged.

Ol' cliff just felt like he grew bigger.

Dosadi

[kaijafon]

seems to be a typical "send in the fodder to test them out before we important ones go in" and I would not be surprised if there is another group just waiting!

Thanks so much Pac, much love sent

[PacNorWest]

#37c

"Wait Mark, I need to call this in, they had to have come by sub," Warren had his 'special' phone in hand and went walking to the main road to get reception.

Of the jets that were scrambled, those from Whidbey got there only seconds before the all black dropped nose birds from Nevada. They criss crossed the ocean outside the valley until the Submarine Captain got scared and started his engines. That's all that was needed. A special recovery boat was launched from Whidbey and recovered the wreckage, a plum for US intelligence.

The wounded soldier was way far down on the need to know ladder and was allowed to die humanely. When the all black helos came powering in, Warren and Mark hid Mark's weapon and they were spotted holding regular rifles.

Warren and a man Mark didn't know walked off down the road to have a conference. The older, almost retired crew chief looked out of his chopper and spotted a face he was familiar with.

"As I live and breathe, it's Sargent Linderman," and he proudly threw a salute. "Tell me Sir, how is life?"

For the shock value alone, Mark quietly said, "Scotty, it's good. I have a wonderful wife and twelve kids."

The man staggered backwards with his hand on his heart, feigning pure astonishment. "You mean you found a woman that'd have ya," he burbled. "I no canna believe it."

"I found this little piece of heaven, found a Father I didn't know I had, and have tried to live a unremarkable, quiet life. Until now. This..." and Mark spread his hands over the killing field, "was pretty bold. The thing is, they didn't come here by accident. They were ordered here."

Scotty's lips curled in agreement, the Sargent had been the best in his field and not for one minute did he believe the man had created such havoc with the simple 30 30 slung over his shoulder.

"Don't read too much into it," Mark said obliquely, "I've already policed the brass, only the holes are left."

Scotty nodded his acceptance of the explanation, "Yes Sir, I most certainly do understand. No mention of your name and the size of the hole blasted into those yellow devils. Beggin your pardon Sir, how did you know?"

"From our posted sentry's."

"Are they watching us now?"

"Yes."

"Oh, the Captain is gonna be royally torqued about that. He didn't stop to make an inspection pass, taking the man's word for the security of the area."

"Then don't tell him, our sentry won't expose himself." Mark advised dryly.

"Humm, maybe you're right about that. Still and all Sir, I canna believe ya found a lassie to marry up with ya. She must be one in a million."

"More like ten million," Mark grinned and stuck his hand out to shake with his former spotter. "Good to see you Scotty, if you ever need a vacation,... come visit. I can always use someone to back up my lies."

"Ah Sir, you not be tellin stories to your lassie, they're not fit for sweet ears." Scotty cautioned.

"Want to know something Scotty?" Mark leaned over in confidence, "she can shoot almost as accurate as me. She stands over six feet tall and thinks I'm wonderful."

"Ahh, Sir, you're a pullin my leg for sure," Scotty said mournfully. "Tis a terrible thing, it is, treating me this way."

"OK," Mark challenged him. "See that guy talking to your boss? You go ask him how tall my wife is. That should convince you I'm telling the truth."

Taking Mark up on the dare, Scotty stopped Warren as he was walking back to where Mark was standing. Watching, Mark laughed as Scotty put his hand over his heart in a dramatic gesture and then hurried to the chopper as the engine whine started to climb.

With the bodies collected and the helo gone, it was quiet once more in the valley.

"What would you say if I told you I had a conjecture that Wilson is behind this," Warren stood with a frown, "I believe we were deliberately targeted as a retaliation for some reason."

"Like maybe trying to interrupt the Hall brothers 'social rights' demonstration?" Mark added grimly.

"Possibily," Warren admitted. "Possibily."

[Lake Lili]

Sure hope we'll see Scotty again! Great ride with Cliff. Thanks Pac!

[stjwelding]

Thanks for the great chapters Pac, the family moved to get away from trouble and stll it follows them to their new home. When will the enemies of the family learn that to mess with them means they are sinning their own death warrants?
Wayne

[bjoyce09]

Thanks Pac. Great chapters.

[ted]

Thank you Pac for the wonderful chapters.

[Dosadi]

Thank ya Mrs. PAC

There is a special relationship between the two man teams. The spotter and shooter swap out to rest each other when on a long "hunt".

Scotty probably knows that side of Mark better than anyone. It might be interesting to see him come visit and "retire" with the Lindermans. I could bet money that they trust factor is 100% there.

Ya know I started reading this and it hit me to wonder about the strange 2/3's of the triplet brothers.

Sometimes I forget how I get all twisted around trying to mix enjoying the Family story and the story of the Turkeys that keep appearing to mess with them from the outside.

Did they give the Sheik all those urns or does Mark and Clora still have some? I know they have some of that money stashed and such. Might be time to lay in some PM's and spend the rest on tangibles.

You never mention it, but I know the agenda 21 UN carp, the Chinese masters and all these local commie riots. All we need is some motslime intervention to top it off. Oh, and the local hill poeple. We already got them and mark got more kids.

Thanks.

I really needed this pick me up this evening. Got to go do chores with the animals and shut the chickens in (Coyotes).

D.

[teedee]

Dearest Pac. I thank you for the WONDERFUL story and all of it's twists and turns. I hope that you are doing well, and hope that Mr Pac is doing as well as can be expected. Please take care!

[GypsyGirl]

Sure enjoying this fascinating story! Lots of great ideas about relationships and parenting
in these pages - really like that Mark and Clora are teaching the children to do all the
chores and not dividing them into chores for the girls only and vice versa.
Really enjoying the way Ben has grown - interesting romance with him and Twila.
Thank you so much.

Gypsy Girl

[PacNorWest]

#37d

"My boss," Warren looked around by habit to see if any listening ears were close, "thinks this is more revenge on Wilson's part, than any other reason. They were surprised to see him so boldly on TV, and then he dropped out of sight almost instantly. They have rescinded all his privileges and declared him a rogue agent; so perhaps the attempt on his life was an insider...ah.. let's call it a cleansing," Warren pursed his lips.

"I'm not in the loop on this, they tell me I'm too close and could be corrupted, so I hang on the fringes. I did get a lot of brownie points with the capture of the sub, however. We knew about the new class of small atomic powered subs, but in the shadowy world of espionage, hadn't been able to get our hands on one. This puts a commendation in my file." Warren was pleased.

"I thought you were going to retire?" Mark looked at his watch. "I need to relieve Benny and send him to the house for lunch. Will you walk up there with him? If he has any questions, answer them as honestly as you can."

"Sure," Warren was pleased to be going for lunch also. "Do you want a sandwich, I'll bring one down?"

"Yeah, I could eat one, or maybe two. Maybe some cookies and a thermos of coffee also; a fella has to keep up his strength," Mark whistled three short blasts and was answered by the same. Soon Benny cane walking out of the brush. "Gosh Dad, what were those all black planes, I'd like to fly one of those cause you get to where you're going before you barely leave where you were."

"Absolutely, and their called Blackbirds; a pretty advanced method of flying around." Mark smiled at Benny.

"It probably wouldn't do me any good to ask Santa Claus for one in my stocking, would it?" That gave them all a laugh and Mark headed up the cliff to take duty.

It was Clora who brought down Mark's lunch and his coat and poncho. "Helga is complaining about her 'rhumatiz' so it's going to rain, and I figured you wouldn't leave your post." Clora passed his rucksack with five or six sandwiches and as many cookies.

"Warren wouldn't say much when he got up to the house, but do you think this is an isolated incident?" Clora wanted to know.

"For right now, yes. For the long haul, no. It seems Wilson has had his hands in this, and for the life of me, I can't figure out why he was so bold as to go on TV, when he's got to know the agency is hunting him. It was a thumbs on the nose, in their face taunt to the agency to bring the Halls on television and then show Wilson staring at the camera. As much as I would like to say it was, I don't think this planned attack was due to Warren and I contacting the brothers. This was mean spite fueled by a black heart. Something else is going on." Mark finished the first sandwich and because it was so good, he ate another.

"Thank you love," he kissed Clora once and then twice, "you do the nicest things for me," he whispered. Mark was getting ready to go for a third smooch, when...

"Ahh Geeze, their kissing again. If I did that on duty, you'd have a hissy fit," Milo and Teddy had been shadowing their mother, unwilling to let her walk unprotected down to the valley entrance.

"Ah yes, but then I'm in command and that's where the difference is," Mark said smoothly and then kissed Clora the third time for good measure. "When you have a beautiful wife, 12 kids and no privacy, you'll understand."

Milo was shaking his head but grinning. "Teddy came to walk you back up to the house Ma. I'm gonna do duty with Dad for a while if that's alright Sir?"

"It is, climb up there and have a good look," Mark invited. Lingering, he was talking to Clora when Milo gave a long whistle. Mark grabbed the ruck and made tracks up the steep incline. There were four ships out in the water where the sub had gone down, and Mark didn't think they were supposed to be there.

"Teddy," he called down, "run to the house and tell Grandpa to bring his special phone. We have more trouble. Clora, get to the house, we may be shelled."

[Dosadi]

Thank you

And Now i'm supposed to sleep when cliff shows up like that?

LOL

Loving every second of it.

D.

[Nature_Lover]

Thank you Pac!

[sssarawolf]

I just got plugged in again and it was so great to read the chapters.

[Vtshooter]

Thank you Pac. Looks like exciting times ahead.

[Deena in GA]

Ack! Talk about a cliff hanger!!!

Thank you so very much, Pac, for this incredibly good story!

[stjwelding]

Thanks for the chapter Pac
Wayne

[cliff dweller]

thank you much for the chapters, Pac.

take good care

wow, you'd think they [gov] would have seen those come through or are they celebrating finding that sub too much?

Now, Mark has to hand them some more vessels. When is someone else going to do the tough jobs? Maybe Scotty has some 'time off' to lean a hand or two.

[Mr Bill]

The troubles never stop it seems but the family prevails.

[PacNorWest]

#38

Warren drove down to the look out post. "I'm too old for all this running nonsense, old dignified men travel sedately," he remarked as he got out of his Rover. "Now what's happening?"

"Four fishing type boats, trawlers all outfitted with radar and maybe other items. Approximately over where the sub was hit. A little to much of a coincidence; I'm banking that they have troops on them." Mark relayed the intelligence.

Warren shook his head, "let me see if this is ours or someone friendly or unfriendly." and he went to the rock cleft to get signal.

The moment he walked outside the confines of the valley wall, a retort sounded and a puff of smoke appeared from the closest boat.

"Run!" Mark shouted, "their shelling us!"

The shell hit on the beach, well short of the entrance. "Come, hurry, they will have better range for the next one," Mark shouted. He whistled for Milo and the young man hit the ground running. Warren made it to the Rover and out of breath, motioned for Mark to drive.

They made it to the house with the second shell coming in way up the drive. "Milo, take your Mother, the babies, Gail and Adoree to the second cave. It's the driest one. Have the rest carry food and water, blankets, flashlights and pray. I'm going to drive Grandpa as far up to the top of the plateau as we can get. The rest of you get armed and carry as many of the guns and ammo as you can to the cave."

They stopped at the house to let Milo out, and then Mark went tearing up the bumpy road to the crude track that went up to Evergreen.

Warren got signal and sent messages to his superiors. In fifteen minutes, give or take ten seconds either way, the Blackbirds arrived and demolished the boats that were sending a barrage of shells into the valley. They exploded with force, indicating they were full of munitions.

"OK, those boats had to have been staged along the coast line. What kind of incompetence allowed them to go undetected?" Mark grabbed Warren's phone from him, when Warren had finished explaining the third time to the nameless entity on the other end.

"Excuse me," the woman's frosty voice was meant to stop Mark in his tracks. It didn't work.

"Listen Lady, I don't know who you are, but let me give you my name, rank and serial number and then you get yourself and your family out here and let those Chinese take shots at you. Then we'll see how quick you want someone with authority to pull their head out of their rear and move troops and air support in. I believe this was the first wave of an invasion and I want you to get it stopped."

Mark left no doubt as to what he wanted. He hung up, and then turned to Warren and said, "who was that?"

"The Secretary of State," Warren said with a peeved tone.

"Well she'd better smarten up," Mark had no time for politics. "I don't take kindly to people shooting at my family."

"So I noticed," Warren was still peeved. "You'll probably get the both of us keel hauled for that little display of temper, you know."

"I've had worse," Mark was working himself into a bit of a temper. To calm down, Mark called out to his Marshall boss and advised him of the situation. "I want you to know that if there aren't troops here PDQ, I'm calling every newspaper on the West Coast and a few elsewhere. This is an invasion of foreign armies on American soil. It's a call to arms."

"Calm down Linderman, it's coming on TV right now. Oh, that's right, you don't get signal out there in the boonies. How do you manage to get in the middle of International incidents way out there?" the Marshall boss rubbed the back of his neck and felt his belly rumble with the stress of having Mark as a man that worked for him.

"Madam Secretary sure looks sour and pinched faced; you'd better be careful. But, there are troops on the way and the Coast guard is checking the fleets along the coast. Did you know those boats had local, American markings and were observed and passed over?" Mark's boss continued.

"We aren't dealing with stupid people," was Mark's next comment. "Ruthless yes, stupid no."

[kittyluvr]

Mrs. Pac, I don't know how you do it. But, this story gets more interesting as it goes on. Thank you so much for sharing your talent with us. Prayers said for you and Mr. Pac.

[stjwelding]

Thank you Pac for the fantastic chapter!!!!!!
Wayne

[Dosadi]

OH Thanks PAC.

So nice to come in and see this chapter to read. Got the hay put up, and animals fed, and have the two youngest and a couple cousins taking care of garden and chickens.

We are gonna do fishing next day or so for some to put up long term, and a big fish fry (with hush puppies) this coming week end if all goes well.

D.

[teedee]

Thanks for the new chapter. This story with all the twists and turns just keeps getting better. Best wishes for you and Mr. Pac.

[kaijafon]

oh thank you so much for all the delicious MOAR!!!!!

Again, an amazing saga of an amazing but REAL family. (nothing about any of them being perfect or always right) Super wonderful to see and read about people like me. I would love to be their neighbor, even if I did have to have a bomb shelter and use it. LOL!

[PacNorWest]

#39

At times, when it rains shells...it pours buckets of disaster.

As the troops were heading for the Washington coast and the invasion, the rumbling that had tortured the ground for several week let loose with a 8.4. As severe as the original quake, when The Hanson's were young adults, the Tsunami neatly took care of the bold wave of invading Chinese. It also destroyed the fragile recovery that coastal people had made and either swept them out to sea or battered them against the cliff's that the mountains had standing as protection.

The silent invasion had fifteen submarines that were exposed, listing on their sides when the force of the water deposited them on the ravaged shelf of land. The water came up into the valley, the narrow mouth holding back the main force but allowing the inundations of the Edwards trailers and the lower corral.

Mark had moved his family from the second cave, up to the third cave when the quake hit; hoping to be better safe than sorry. He was down in the sniper's nest picking off submarine survivors as they dared emerge from the protection of their disabled machines.

Milo, Teddy and Benny were roving around the top of the valley wall on the North side, while Mary, Robert and Tess guarded the South.

Warren and Karl guarded the cave as Gail, Helga and Clora each carried a baby, ready to evacuate at a seconds notice. Adoree watched the smaller Thompson boys The cave they had been in suffered some rock fall damage, but had sprung a small water trickle as the earth settled into a new shape and fractures deep in the earth rerouted precious flows of water.

What damage the shelling had done was unnoticeable, as the water had scoured the landscape clean of intentional human detritus and deposited feet of gooey mud, dead fish and garbage.

The after shocks continued as the liquefied land tried to solidify. It was as scary and as stressful as the first quake, sparing no one in it's path.

Down in the sniper hole, Mark had to whistle for Milo. "I need more ammo," he told his oldest. "Carefully go to the trailers and go into our bedroom if you can, Under my side of the bed and toward the front are clips I need to have. Be careful son, that's a dangerous thing I'm asking you to do. It's the can I have marked Match. Please hurry if you can, I'm down to about 20 bullets."

"Sure Dad." Pleased to be entrusted with such an important task, he ran with all his might to the house. There was a post knocked down on the porch, and the boards creaked alarmingly but held his weight. When Milo went past the stove, he checked that Helga had shut down the air supply. The canner had scooted off the slick surface of the wood burner and was on it's side on the floor, sputtering.

Milo moved carefully but quickly to his parents bedroom. He sure felt funny going in a room he never went in, but Dad had given him good directions. What Dad hadn't said, was how heavy the military ammo can was. It was heavy, so Milo alternated arms as he walked as fast as possible back down to the base of the lookout.

Milo hefted the box up a few inches, repositioned himself and then hoisted the box, again and again until he reached the spot where Mark could grab the handle. "Let me reload, then do you want to try your hand?"

It was an invitation Milo had been coveting. "Think long and hard son." Mark warned as Milo settled into the small depression. "These are humans we are killing, but humans that will kill us if they get a chance. They are foreign solders that have landed on American soil with orders to kill or enslave any Americans they encounter. To that end, they need to be stopped."

"Yes Sir." Milo was calm but deliberate. He settled in, steadied the heavy rifle and drew a bead on the next soldier slowly exiting the first sub hulk. When the soldier got his head up enough to see his dead comrades, he tried to retreat, and died half in and half out of the hatch.

"Good shot Milo, you remembered exactly what you were supposed to do. Keep watch and pick them off when they emerge. I need to relax a minute and let my shoulder rest."

"Dad, can we try?" Benny and Teddy were at the base of the fox hole.

"I don't want too," Teddy quickly spoke over Benny's quiet request. "I don't want to do that, do I have too?"

"No Teddy. This is an individual thing. I would never force you to be a sniper." Mark looked levelly at his second son.

Teddy had such a sigh of relief that Mark knew he had said the right words. This kid thing, was a lot harder than Clora let on. Mark had always tried to interact with his children, but sometimes the sheer amount of work kept him away from the every day..all day long parenting decisions.

A few shots and Milo was ready for a break. Benny was ready and Mark slowly instructed his third son on the rights and responsibilities of shooting at humans. Milo was scary accurate, but small Benny was better. Mark had two sharpshooters to help with defense of the clan.

They stopped shooting when the helicopters circled the subs and the Marines rappelled down ropes. The litter of dead bodies was testimony to the Linderman prowess. Mark sent the boys back out on patrol and sat silently watching the confrontation.

[mamasusan]

Thank you for the update.

[kua]

No way on God's good green earth would I want to be going against this clan. I'm really glad they are on the sides of the True American. Yeah, I know they are fictional but as I have said before, I buy into this story so much it seems like the story of family members!

[Dreamer]

Oh my! What an eventful chapter. Please don't keep us waiting to hear if Ben and Wayne and Ben's lady are alright!

[Sammy55]

All I can say is WOW!!!

Now I have to wait for my heartbeat to slow down....................

[stjwelding]

Thanks for more of your great story Pac.
Wayne