Joshua thought he was in just about a perfect position. They were on a tall hill covered with thick trees overlooking the Cumberland River. What had drawn them to this location were numerous rumors and hints gathered from locals talking about activity along the major waterway. Joshua and his recon squad now saw the activity they were referring to.

Below them were what appeared to be several dozen small boats and six larger double-decker passenger ships typically used for tours along the river. Currently, the large ships were empty, but through the binoculars Joshua could see several hundred men, and their tents and cooking fires, in the wood line nearby. Meanwhile, men were working furiously to mount large machine guns, grenade launchers, and rockets in various configurations onto the smaller boats.

Joshua again checked the cell phone and saw there still wasn’t a signal. They had a hand crank generator to keep the phone charged, but the dam must still be down which meant the cell towers weren't functioning. Luke Carter called him nearly a week ago and told him the situation before the signal went dead, but neither really had a good answer for how to communicate the information the team gathered. Joshua hoped the power would come back up soon. Someone needed to know what they had discovered.

It was easy for Joshua to see what was planned below. Everyone was expecting an attack from the south, but no one was looking for an attack along the Cumberland River up through Barkley Lake. They could land anywhere along the park. Hell, they could land right at the dam.

Joshua’s mind raced quickly and he thought back over his conclusion again. It made sense. The dam was the key. They were conducting a sneak attack on the dam either to take it or possibly even destroy it.

He wondered, Could they really be crazy enough to want to destroy the one source of electricity? Maybe…people did crazy things when they couldn’t get what they wanted. If it was a surprise attack, they would want to maintain secrecy as long as possible which means they would probably only travel at night.

Joshua wasn’t familiar with the lakes or boating, but figured that it would take them several days at least to travel that far north.

Joshua made up his mind and called his two team leaders together. His recon squad was made up of two four man teams each with a team leader, sniper, medic, and automatic rifleman. He now addressed Billy, the better of his two team leaders, a teenager only a few months younger than himself.

“Leave me your sniper, but take the rest of your team back as fast as you can and warn them of what is going on here,” said Joshua quickly. “If you can get to Captain Green in time, maybe he can try to stop them from getting too far north. At a minimum, we have to do what we can to warn everyone, I think they’re going to try to take or destroy the dam.”

“Holy crap!” said Billy with his eyes a little wide.

Joshua grabbed his arm the way his father did to focus his attention. “You’re going to have to move as fast as you can. Steal the first car, bikes, horses, or whatever you come across. I know we’re not supposed to do that, but we have no choice. Be very careful. Only rest when you have to and never for very long. And for God’s sake, don’t get caught!”

“I understand,” said Billy while pulling out his map to study the return route.

“You’re also going to have to get a boat at some point to cross over to warn Captain Green,” said Joshua. “You won’t have time to get up to the Route 68 bridge and then come back down. As a matter of fact you might make better time on the water overall if you can get a boat early enough.”

“Won’t those motor boats catch up with them?” asked Henry, his second team chief, who had come near them.

“That’s going to be our job,” said Joshua. “We’re going to delay them as long as we can. With any luck, they’re not going to try to depart for another day, maybe two.” Another thought came to Joshua. “Also warn them that another such group could be coming up the Tennessee River into Kentucky Lake, they might be trying to attack the dam from two sides.”

“Got it,” said Billy putting away his map and looking around for his team members.

Joshua was nervous, “And Billy, be careful.”

The team leader smiled back. “You already said that. See you in a few days.” He took off down the hill at a run to gather his remaining two men and get going.

*******

Joshua lay on the top of the hill with his binoculars, looking at the boats. He figured the best time to slow them down was right before they loaded the transports to depart. If the men were already loaded, they might just push ahead despite what Joshua and his team were doing. He also didn’t want to start messing with them too soon and cause them to speed up their own timeline. He sensed it would be soon though. The men had stopped working on the small boats and there was a flurry of activity in the camp.

A sniper lay to each side of Joshua. Each shouldered the large, and somehow beautiful, Barrett M83 .50 caliber sniper rifle. Joshua was in love with the rifles and wanted to fire one, but the ammo was too scarce. As a matter of fact, none of them had fired the weapons since they were taken from Fort Campbell. They had been checked for functionality and cleaned, but not yet zeroed to the individual shooters who had trained with other, more plentiful, calibers. Joshua decided to use this opportunity to do exactly that. Accuracy was not necessarily important to accomplish what he had in mind, anyway.

He looked back down the hill to his rear, but could not see Henry and the other two men who were providing them security. They had laid out claymore mines and prepared an escape route. There wasn’t much more they could do to prepare and were as ready as they would probably ever be.

Joshua looked back though the binoculars and saw men lining up in front of the boats in formations. “Alright boys, get ready. On my command, right gun first, then left, then alternate so we can adjust fire. Aim for the nearest two gangplanks to start off. Understood?”

Both men answered that they did.

“Okay then,” said Joshua slowly. “Make sure you have earplugs in. I bet these babies are wicked loud.” He looked again and decided the time had come. He had a moment’s hesitation wondering if he was doing the right thing. Was he doing what his father wanted him to do? He didn’t have any way to talk to anyone, but this seemed best. He would roll with it.

“Right gun,” said Joshua, “fire, when ready.”

A second later the Barrett to Joshua’s right boomed and he saw a splash of water near the gangplank. “Three feet to the right and two feet down,” Joshua said and the sniper began making the adjustments on his scope. Joshua looked down at the men along the shore and surprisingly nothing seemed to have happened. He imagined it from their point of view and they likely only heard a splash like someone throwing a rock into the water followed several seconds later by a boom in the distance.

“Left gunner, fire when ready,” said Joshua.

The second gun boomed and Joshua called out adjustments. He now saw several men yelling and seeking cover as understanding dawned, but the vast majority still stood dumbly in formation. They took several more shots until they were zeroed and then Joshua decided to bring it home to them.

“Target any leaders. Fire when ready, fire at will,” said Joshua.

He looked through the binoculars as the guns boomed repeatedly beside him and saw officers and NCO’s falling to the ground with horrific wounds. Chaos ensued as the soldiers scrambled into the cover of the wood line.

“That’s enough for now, save the ammo,” said Joshua, stopping them for the moment. “Let’s wait and see what they do.” Joshua again looked through his binoculars and smiled.

It appears to be working for now, he thought. Will it be enough?