The Battle: Alone: Book 4 Read Free

know.
         Once he determined that his girls were still alive, he needed to know how many other friendlies were in the house as well.
         He needed to know exactly where in the house they slept. His assault would likely take place at night, under the cover of darkness. If it was at all possible, he’d sneak them out, right under the noses of the bastards.
         But if that was impossible, if there was to be a battle, he’d have to make sure it was as far removed from the innocents as possible.
         He needed to know more about the enemy as well.
         A lot more.
         He needed to know how many there were, and what type of weaponry they had. Karen and Tommy were preppers, just like Dave and Sarah. As preppers, they had weapons and ammunition stored. Probably a lot of weapons and ammunition.
         Hopefully it was hidden well, and the bad guys hadn’t been able to find it. If they had found it, Dave needed to know, and in the meantime he’d assume they had an unlimited supply of bullets and maybe even some hand grenades. Frank Woodard’s ham radio friend, the one from Kansas City who’d told Dave about the prison break, mentioned that a National Guard armory had been broken into and looted three days after the prison break. The lone guard left behind when all the others had scattered to the winds was shot dead on the spot. And somebody… or several somebodies, made off with a scary array of munitions.
         Dave would assume, had to assume, that some of it may have wound up here.
         He needed to find out everything he could about their security system. He already knew they had sentries riding the perimeter on horseback. And that their hostages were escorted with armed guards while they were outside. But there was much more he needed to know.
         Did they send people into the woods to search for aggressors?
         How often did the sentries patrol the grounds?
         Were they in radio contact with one another?
         Did they avoid certain parts of the property? Property that might be booby-trapped?
         He’d have to try to determine which of the bastards was in charge. He’d be Dave’s prime target.
         And he needed to know of any weak links he could take out to even the odds a bit. And any cracks in their armor he could exploit.
         Dave knew that Karen and Tommy had a video surveillance system in their home. They showed it off to him when he’d come to visit. It was an elaborate array of twelve cameras, with motion sensors, tied into a central control center in an upstairs bedroom.
         Dave picked his brain, trying to remember details about the system. They had three monitors, as he recalled. The first showed live video from any of the cameras that were tripped. The second switched from one camera to the next, every few seconds, in a continuous cycle. The third was reserved for a particular camera, chosen by the operator, and would stay on that camera until the operator switched to another one.
         It was a good system, and had impressed Dave so much that he asked Sarah whether she thought they should invest in one of their own. They’d ultimately decided against it because of the cost involved, and because they didn’t live on an expansive farm. They lived in a house in the suburbs. Their dollars were better spent on their food and ammunition stores.
         He remembered Tommy telling him that they were thinking of upgrading their system, because infra-red surveillance cameras were just then coming into the market. Infra-red cameras with motion detectors that could spot and track an intruder any time, day or night.
         Dave hoped they hadn’t done the upgrade. It would make his infiltration of the property infinitely harder.
         He remembered Sarah, who he considered the more logical half of the couple, asking Tommy a pointed question.
         “What if it looks like you’re going to be overrun? If you