Chapter 6 - Remember the Warden

They tracked the villagers to a makeshift work camp. The Militia had them cutting down trees, milling them down into boards and building some sort of structure.

"What are they building?" Charlie asked, no one in particular.

"It looks to be some sort of tower." Miles answered.

Then Rachel noted something in a heavily guarded wagon. "Oh my god." she gasped.

"What, what is it?" Miles asked.

"He's building an antenna."

"You mean like a TV tower? But why?" Aaron asked.

"You see that device in the wagon. I think it's a relay device, but I can't be sure till I take a look at it. But if I'm right it will extend the range of the pendants to about a twenty mile radius around the antenna tower. Think of it as a cell tower. As long as you are in the coverage area you had service. He could build a whole network of these and have power throughout the whole republic."

"If that happened he could use countless helicopters, tanks, you name it." Miles stated.

"Yeah but wouldn't we have power to?" asked Charlie.

"Not necessarily." Rachel said. "I highly doubt Bass would want to share his power with everyone. I'm betting that he's programming the antenna to only power up whatever has a special receiver."

"The resistance would be over before it even really started." Nora groused.

"Okay so we get those villagers out of there and blow up the antenna, should be a piece of cake."

"Who how do we get in?" Rachel asked.

I have an idea." Charlie piped up.

"What's that kid?" Miles asked

"Remember the warden?"

Miles and Nora both smiled and Rachel just looked confused.

"What warden?" she asked

"Good idea but I don't think that's going to work this time Charlie. There are more guards and their better armed. Plus last time I checked we don't have that handy dandy little wrist gun."

"What happened with the warden?" Rachel asked again.

"What if I can get close enough to slit his throat, cause some confusion while the rest of you sweet up?" Charlie asked.

"What!?" Rachel couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"Still won't work," Miles said. "They'll cut you down before we can take them all out."

"Will somebody answer my question?" Rachel demanded.

Miles looked at Charlie, silently telling her the ball was in her court. They had yet to fill Rachel in on all their "adventures" on their way to rescue Danny. He had a feeling this wasn't going to go down very well.

"Long story short mom, I shot the warden of the chain gang Nora was in, point blank, to get a sniper rifle, and to free the rest of the prisoners."

"You did what?"

"Mom we really don't have time for this." Rachel continued to stare at Charlie with a shocked look on her face. "Okay if I can't do the lost girl routine then what?"

"Well we can't just rush in and attack, we'd run the risk of the villagers getting caught in the cross fire. We need to get in and attack from the inside." Nora said as she continued to survey the situation.

"So we need to get people inside. Inside a Militia prison camp" Charlie trialed off and looked down at her covered wrist.

Miles followed her gaze down to her wrist, to the spot he knew was the site of the brand. God he hated that thing, hated thinking about how she got it. Part of him wanted to yell "Hell No" but her idea had merit.

"I don't like it."

"What don't you like?" Aaron asked looking from Miles to Charlie and back again. It looked like they were having a whole conversation with just slight facial tics and eye movements. Obviously they were having a major discussion about the idea Charlie had. It was creepy how they could do that. When Miles nodded and Charlie smiled he finally got fed up and growled "Will you two use actual words, the rest of the class doesn't speak Matheson."

Charlie just shook her head and smiled. "I'm going to pretend to be a Militia soldier bringing more prisoners for the work camp. I figure Jason and I can at least get Miles and Nora in and between the four of us we should be able to take care of the guards around the prisoners while the rest of you get the guys on the perimeter."

"I have to admit, it's a good plan." Miles said the pride in his voice evident.

"Oh no, no, no, no. Hell No" Rachel was shaking her head adamantly. "She's not going in there."

Charlie was clearly getting fed up with her mother's interfering. "Do you have a better idea mom? One that doesn't involve me sitting on the sidelines, watching everyone else do what needs to be done?"
Rachel fell silent.

"Didn't think so, okay let's get going."

Everyone was in position. Charlie loosely placed the chains on Miles and Nora. She wanted it to at least look like they were properly chained up.

"You ready for this?" Miles asked, his voice full of concern.

"Don't worry Uncle Miles, I got this." She gave him a small smile, then took a deep breath, grabbed Miles' arm and started marching him toward the camp. Nora and Jason followed close behind. There had been some discussion on who should lead who. It actually made more sense for Jason to take Miles in but to be honest Miles didn't want Charlie more than an arm's length away from him. Here he was giving Rachel grief about being so over protective. He was just as bad.

They made it to the front of the camp before they were stopped by two sentries. They reminded Miles of Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum. "Who are you and where do you think you're going?"

Using his best Militia Boy voice Jason answered, "We need to see your commanding officer, we have two high priority prisoners to turn over to his custody."

"Oh yeah, where are your orders and your uniforms?" asked Tweedle Dee.

Charlie pulled up her sleeve to show her brand and infused some serious attitude into her voice. "We were undercover dumbass, now let us through. If you don't you commander, and not to mention General Monroe himself will be seriously pissed."

Jason showed his brand too and Tweedle Dum looked over their brands like he was studding fine art. Miles was getting ready to go on the offensive just in case the Tweedle brothers didn't buy they story. Finally after what seemed like an eternity they granted them entry.

"We'll we're in," Charlie muttered under her breath. The next part of the plan would depend partly on the villagers keeping their mouths shut. The last thing they needed was one of them recognizing them and calling out for help. Luckily everyone had their eyes averted so, so far so good.

They made their way to the commander's tent and Jason froze. "Shit" he hissed.

"What? What is it?" Charlie asked.

"The guy next to the commander, he knows me. He's had to have heard by now that I'm either dead or joined the rebels. We're blown.

The man Jason was talking about took that moment to look up. His gaze settled on Jason and recognition came over him.

"Crap, it's now or never kids." At that both Miles and Nora shook off their chains and lunged for the closest guards, quickly taking them down and taking their weapons while Charlie and Jason aimed for the commander and his assistant.

All hell broke loose. There was fighting on the inside and fighting on the perimeter. Miles looked up to see Charlie taking on not one but two guards. He started to move to help her out, but as she brought them both down, he realized that she didn't need his help. Miles couldn't help it, he smiled and shouted out to her, "That's my girl!" Charlie looked up and smiled a big stupid grin. "Now watch your ass!"

Rachel watched from a safe distance. Her nerves were frayed to the breaking point. As she watched she started to see Charlie in a new light. She hadn't really ever seen her daughter in a fight like this. She was confident and moved with a deadly grace, just like Miles. She saw them talk to each other during the fight. They had such a special connection. Rachel guessed it was bound to happen, it was only natural. No matter how much she didn't like it, she wasn't going to fight it anymore. She was going to back off. Charlie needed him right now. She needed her father.

After the villagers were freed and Rachel dismantled the relay device, Nora blew up the tower. The mood around the camp was celebratory. Someone found fiddle and music started to fill the night. Miles and Charlie were sitting together staring at the fire. "You did good today Charlie."

"Thanks." She paused briefly then continued "Will it always be like this? Will there ever be an end to the fighting, to the amount of people that Monroe hurts?"

"I wish I could tell you what you want to hear, I really do. There will be end to the fighting someday, let's just make sure it's us on the winning side."

The fiddle was soon joined by a guitar or two and soon Charlie was swaying to the music. He looked up to see Jason stride toward her. He knew what was coming so he put on his best stern father look, it was one he had seen many times in his youth, at least he hopped was achieving the right look and he didn't come off looking constipated.

Jason extended his hand to Charlie and asked, "May I have this dance?" At the same time he gave Miles a challenging stare.

Holy crap, Junior had balls, Miles thought to himself. He had to admit, he kind of liked that about the kid. Miles subtlety nodded his okay as Charlie accepted Jason's invitation.

"Hey Junior, have her home by midnight."

"Yes sir."

Charlie just rolled her eyes.

"You're giving her a curfew? Isn't she a little old for that?" Nora asked.

"Yeah, well that's what fathers do don't they?" Hell if he was going to do this father thing, he was going to do it right.