Doug liked the way the people in the South were rallying behind what he was doing so he decided he was going back to the south and hit a few more targets. When he was in Houston he heard about a suspected training camp near Glenwood, Arkansas. The men that told him about it said they had set up a new training camp near a little place called Caddo-Gap, Arkansas. It was not too far from Glenwood in a very remote and beautiful wooded area several miles out of town. They said it was so secluded that it was hard to find unless you knew where it was.
Doug was going to stay at Catherine’s Landing RV Park in Hot Springs, Arkansas. It was about a forty-five minute drive to Glenwood and another forty minutes to the camp. The closer he got to Hot Springs the more beautiful he thought the Arkansas country truly was. He soon found out that Hot Springs is also known as the “Spa City.” It is located in Garland County and has the largest grouping of bathhouses in the Unites States. The hot springs are the resource for which the area was set aside as the first Federal Recreational Reserve in 1832. (1) In his opinion there weren’t too many places in America as beautiful as the surrounding area of Hot Springs. He loved all the beautiful trees and lakes and felt like this may be the best kept secret spot in America.
Glenwood was the closest city to his next target and located in the Ouachita Mountains. It has approximately two thousand residents and it is surrounded by lakes and forests with the beautiful Caddo River flowing through it. The residents are very friendly and they like to tell people they don’t need a vacation because they enjoy one all year long. Some of their recreation includes fishing, swimming and hunting.
Arkansas was the state where the two Army soldiers were shot in Little Rock and one was killed by an American born Muslim terrorist who had converted to Islam at age twenty. He was very active in radical circles, traveled to the Middle East and married a Yemeni woman. (24) These were the people that Doug just didn’t understand. They are born and raised in America and have had all he freedoms and liberties we all share. They have never lived under the rule of another foreign country and yet they are supporting that country and its radical cause.
After Doug checked into the RV campground he unhooked his car and headed to Glenwood. When he got there he got out of his care and talked to some of the town people and asked where the little town of Caddo-Gap was located. One of the older men that was sitting in an old beat up rocking chair that looked like it was a hundred years old said, “It’s just up yonder a few miles,” as he pointed in the direction of one of the roads leading out of town. He thanked the old man and headed to Caddo-Gap. He soon learned that Caddo-Gap only had a post office and that was about it.
Once he was in the little town of Caddo-Gap Doug went into the post office and asked the man at the counter if he knew about some type of Muslim camp up in the hills. Doug said that he had been told by some local people from Glenwood that a group of Muslims had set up some kind of camp about eighteen miles deep in the woods. The man at the counter said, “Take the little dirt road that’s heading east and drive about thirty five minutes up into the hills and you’ll find it.” Doug thanked him and headed up in the direction of the camp.
The narrow dirt road had hickory and pine trees so thick they touched each other at the top from both sides of the road. He felt like he was driving in a tunnel and was wondering how the terrorist ever found such a remote and beautiful place. There were deer and other wild animals along the road as he made his way up the winding road to the camp. The camp was so remote they didn’t have a guard house. They just had a four rail gate on the main road into the camp that was locked. As Doug looked around he saw men dressed in Muslim attire and carrying weapons over their shoulders as they strolled around the camp. As soon as they spotted him they tried to hide their guns. Doug turned his car around and slowly headed back down the mountain.
Now that he knew where his next target was located he headed back to Hot Springs. That evening he was going to dine on the Riverboat Bell of Hot Springs. It was a quiet and relaxing fifteen mile sunset dinner cruise on Lake Hamilton. The cruise included dinner and entertainment. (1) While on the cruise, he thought this would have been perfect if he just had Shirley, Jenifer and Michael with him to enjoy it. Without them the loneliness left him empty and dead inside. Life no longer had meaning for him except for the mission he was on against the terrorist. Now that he had killed a lot of the terrorists even that was not satisfying the pain he was feeling inside. He didn’t have anyone in his life to share things with anymore and he missed Shirley telling him everything would be okay. He didn’t have Jenifer to call to see how her day went and if there was anything he could do for her. He didn’t have Michael to talk to and share his life with any longer. All the loved ones in his life were gone and all he had to talk to were their ghosts.
The next morning he pulled himself together and put on his mustache, goatee, hat, sun glasses and hooded sweatshirt and drove back up to Caddo-Gap to visit the terrorist camp. He wanted to observe it with his binoculars for a while and get an idea where everything was located. Once he was in position he lay in the grass along the tree line while he watched the camp for several hours.
Later that day and on his way back down the hill, he saw a young man in a new pick-up truck coming toward him. As he got closer to the pick-up the young man reminded him of Michael. He could see that he was clean cut with short dark hair and blue eyes as he pulled up next to him. They each rolled down their windows and started up a conversation with each other. The young man looked him over for a minute and then said, “Hi, How’s it going?” Before Doug could answer he said, “What are you doing up in these parts?” Doug still hadn’t answered his first two questions as the young man asked him another one, “You been up at the camp?” He could tell this young man was anxious to talk about the camp. He shook his head and said, “I went up to check it out.” The young man said, “Are you part of them?” Doug laughed and said, “I’m the furthest thing from those terrorist.” As soon as he said the word terrorist the young man began to tell Doug how the people up in that area were very angry the Muslims had set up a camp in their favorite hunting grounds. “Me and some of my friends have gone up to the camp and taken pot shots into their camp from time to time. We like to shake them up and get them excited.” Doug laughed, “How long have they been there?” The young man said, “They’ve been there about two years.” He asked the young man what his name was and where he lived. He told Doug, “My name is Richard Snow, but you can call me Rick.” He said that he had been raised in the area his entire life and that he had his own place back down in the holler by Caddo-Gap. He asked Doug his name and he replied, “Charles Fisher, but you can call me Chuck.” They both laughed and reached over and shook hands.
They shut off their cars and sat and talked for about an hour regarding the camp and how much Rick and his friends hated having it there in the hills. He appeared to be very sincere and he reminded Doug of Michael as he talked. After hearing how much Rick and his friends hated having the terrorist camp in their back yards, he felt comfortable talking to him about the camp and the people in it.
Doug asked Rick if there was anything he could tell him about the camp. Rick began telling him that he believed there were about one hundred people in the camp and mostly men. He said they had several SUV’s they drove into town to get supplies and town people would see them from time to time. He and his brother went deer hunting up in the area and had a few encounters with men from the camp. He said “They heard us shooting our guns, hunted us down and told us to get out of the area or there would be problems. Another time we were driving toward the camp and were stopped by two men in a black SUV coming from the camp. They questioned us about where we were going and what we were up to.” He told Doug that it angered them so much that he and his brother went to the camp a couple of nights after that incident and shot several rounds in the direction of the camp before speeding away. He said, “This is our land. We have been here
all our lives. This is our home and they don’t have the right to boss us around.” Doug asked him if there was anything else he could tell them about the camp. He said, “We have heard a lot of gunfire and some small explosions on the camp while we have been hunting close to the area. Doug asked, “Did you ever get a chance to see the buildings or anything else on the property?” Rick laughed, “My brother, Todd and I snuck onto the camp one day just to see what was going on. There are several mobile homes and shacks on the camp on about eighty acres. They’ve built about six larger buildings where they conduct some type of activity.” Doug asked him if they saw any women or children and he said they didn’t see any the day they were there but they have seen women in the SUV’s coming and going from the camp. Doug asked him, “Do you and your friends really want to get rid of this camp?” Rick eyes widened, “Are you kidding, we would love to get rid of the camp if we could figure out a way to do it. We have told the local police and other law enforcement agencies about the activities of the camp but nothing ever happened.”
Sitting there talking to Rick gave Doug an idea. He told Rick, “I have an idea for you if you want to hear about it. Can you get your friends together for a meeting so we can discuss it? You have to tell them this is top secret and classified and they can’t tell anyone, not their friends, girlfriends, wives, or parents.” Rick could tell that he was serious as he said, “Sure, when should we all meet?” Doug told him how about the following day at his house around 10:00 am. Rick said, “That would be great” as he started up his engine, turned his pick-up around, telling Doug to follow him and he would show him where he lived. When they drove into the driveway he could see Rick had a lot of pride in his place. The yard and surrounding area was mowed and clean of any trash or debris. The house was a small wooden house and he thought maybe just two bedrooms as he pulled up next to it. It was old but well maintained on several acres. He waived and leaned out his window and told Rick he would see him tomorrow as he left the driveway.
When Doug got back to his motorhome that night, he thought about it and knew he was taking a big chance involving these young men, but he was looking forward to being with them and seeing if they would perform the way he thought Michael would if he was in that situation. He was getting a little tired of killing the terrorist alone and thought it would be nice to have some company. He didn’t really need these young men to complete this mission, but he thought it would be a real experience for Rick and the other young men since they wanted so badly to get rid of the camp. It would be interesting to see if they really had the guts to go through with it. He came up with a plan that he thought might work for them and decided he would present it to them the next day, but only if he felt comfortable during their first meeting. He had to find out if these young men were just loose cannons or if they were truly serious about getting rid of the camp. He also had to find out if he could trust them.
The next day, Doug put on his cap, mustache and goatee and drove to Caddo-Gap and pulled into Rick’s driveway. There were two more pick-up trucks already there besides Rick’s. He cautiously approached the front door and before he knocked, Rick opened it and said, “Come on in Chuck and meet my friends.” When he got close to Rick he could tell he was about six feet tall with broad shoulders and a thin waist. His dark hair made his eyes stand out even more than he thought when he saw him the day before. As he entered there were three wide eyed young men sitting on a couple of couches and very excited to meet him. They all appeared to be in their early twenties. Rick introduced his brother Todd, Jason Rockwell, and Kevin Heartland. Jason had bushy blond hair and it looked as though he had just gotten out of bed and put on a baseball cap. He was about five feet ten inches tall and about one hundred and eighty pounds and Doug could tell from his tan face and light eye brows he spent a lot of time in the sun. Kevin was about the same size as Jason but he had shorter dark hair and also wore a baseball cap. He too was tanned and Doug thought he had nice white teeth as he smiled. Todd was just a younger version of Rick with dark hair but he had hazel eyes and was a little thinner. They were wearing cowboy boots, jeans, and long sleeve shirts over a white tee shirt. They were all smiles as they met Doug. He loved their enthusiasm and energy. These young guys could all be soldiers serving in Afghanistan right now and some of them dying over there just like Michael had done.
Doug started asking them questions and feeling more comfortable with them and gradually worked his way into talking about the Muslim training camp up in the hills. Two of the boys lived in Glenwood and Rick’s brother still lived with his parents in Caddo-Gap not too far from Rick. The more he talked and listened, he could tell they were sincere about wanting to get rid of the camp. He could hear the anger in their voices as they talked about how the terrorists had moved into the area and kept everyone away from areas they had been going to since they were little to hunt deer, wild pigs and Turkeys. They weren’t just angry with the local authorities but angry that the United States government allowed the camp to be there in the first place.
Doug told them that he was a retired Special Forces Officer and now a CIA agent. He told them the reason he was there was that he was working with the government to find out how to cripple or destroy the Muslim terrorist training camp. The young men all high-fived each other as they listened in eager anticipation. They were focused on every word he was telling them about the Muslim terrorist camp. He told them he had a plan on how to blow up the camp and expose them to the American people and that if they helped, they would each receive ten thousand dollars. He pulled out twenty thousand dollars and put it on the coffee table in front of them and said that each of them would get five thousand once they agreed to do the mission. He told them they would get the rest when the mission was completed. He told them that if even one word leaked out about the mission to anyone, then the deal would be off and the person that leaked the information would be eliminated. The young men looked at each other when he said that and they suddenly realized just how serious he really was about this mission. It was a bluff on his part but he knew it would work with them.
He told them to be prepared because a lot of the members of the camp may be killed during this mission. He said, “You need to look at these terrorists as your enemy. They would kill you and your families if they ever got a chance. They are nothing more than targets to you and you have to look at them that way.” He hesitated for a minute to see if any of them was going to head for the door but none of them did. Rick then spoke up and asked Doug, “What exactly is the mission, Chuck, do we have to carry guns and kill people?” Doug said, “We will go in during the middle of the night, while everyone is sleeping and place C-4 bombs and detonators into the main buildings we want to blow up. We don’t want to kill the women and children so we will stay away from homes or buildings where they are located. We want to make sure that we blow up their weapons building which is our main target. Once we blow it up there should be several secondary explosions. I have talked to my superiors and the FBI, CIA and other law enforcement will shut it down once our mission is complete. We aren’t going in with guns; we are going in with explosives to blow them up.” He went on to say that Jason and Kevin would come in from the north side of the camp and place two C-4 bombs on two buildings while Rick and himself would come up from the south side of the camp and place two C-4 bombs on two more buildings. Todd would wait back at a central location with the van until everyone was back. Doug said he would have the van to carry everyone to the camp location from Rick’s house and they would go back to Rick’s house after the mission was completed.
He told the boys he had the C-4 bombs and everything else they needed to carry out the mission. All they had to do was show up at Rick’s house the night they were going to hit the compound and be ready to go. He told them to wear all black and paint their faces black so it would be hard to spot them at night. They would hit the targets the next night after he had a chance to study the c
amp during the day. He would have a sketch of the camp ready. They were to meet him the following evening around 7:00 p.m. at Rick’s house. They all agreed and as he left he said, “I will see all of you tomorrow night and remember, this is classified, so don’t say a word to anyone.” The boys were excited to be getting ten thousand dollars for doing something they wanted to do to the Muslim terrorist camp in the first place. They probably would have done it for free but Doug wanted to make everything “look and feel real” for them.
Doug left them and drove up to the camp and parked in an area where his car couldn’t be seen. He studied the camp for the rest of the day with his binoculars. He crept around to both sides of the camp so he knew what they would encounter when they entered the camp from those sides. After he was satisfied he had enough information regarding the location of the buildings on the camp, he made his way back to his car and went back to his campsite to rest. Involving these young men was going to be a huge risk for him but one he was willing to take.
The next day Doug put on his disguise and caught a cab to a local used car dealership in Hot Springs. He had seen a white van on the car lot a few days earlier so he purchased the van under his fake name and left. Once he had it in his possession he drove it to a place near his campground and parked. He waited until late afternoon and then drove it back to his camp and loaded it with the C-4 bombs, detonators and phones he had worked on during the day. Once everything was loaded he drove to a remote area and put on his black clothing with his disguise and took the additional money he had promised the young men.
When he got to Rick’s house that evening all the young men were hyped up and anxious to go. He gave each of them surgical gloves and told them to put them on before they left. As he handed each of them a pair he said, “It will keep your finger prints off anything in the van or on the bombs. We don’t want you to be captured because of your DNA.” Doug went over the map with each of them so they understood it completely. They were already familiar with the camp and how it was laid out so it didn’t take long to explain where their target buildings were located.
Doug showed them a C-4 bomb and went over everything in connection with how it worked. He told them they would turn the phones on when they got to the camp. He kept the extra phone he was going to use to call the phones on the bombs strapped to his chest with duct tape. He told the boys, “We will turn off the car lights the last two miles before we get to the camp and find our way to an area I have picked out to hide the Van about three quarters of a mile from the entrance to the camp. Then we will walk the rest of the way to the back sides of the camp and take up our respective positions. Once we have placed the bombs on our targets, go back the same way you came in and we will meet back at the van. We will meet up in one hour after you place the bombs. If any of us aren’t back in one hour, we will leave without that person.”
He gave Jason a watch with the same time as the one he was wearing and said, “We will place the bombs on the target on or about the same time so we will each make our approach onto the compound starting at exactly 2:00 a.m.” He told the boys not to talk once they were out of the van. The boys were suddenly very quiet on the drive up to the camp. Doug figured it was nerves and anticipation. Doug thought Michael must have felt like that when he went out on a couple of his missions.
When they hid the van the two teams split up and went to their designated position. Before they left he turned on the phones that were attached to the bombs. Once they were in position both teams waited until exactly 2:00 a.m. and headed for their respective targets. Rick and Doug crept slowly into the compound, keeping very low as they moved. Even though the terrorists had cleared the camp of most of the trees there was still grass about knee high leading to the buildings. It took about ten minutes to reach the buildings and they were able to put their bombs on their targets without any trouble. As they turned to go back the way they had come in they heard dogs barking and huge flood lights came on that lit up the entire area. There were a few guards that came out of the shacks and just as Doug and Rick were almost at the edge of the property there were shots being fired in their direction. As they hurried back to the van, they heard more gunshots coming from the camp in the other direction. It was just a few short blasts from an automatic weapon just like the ones fired at him and Rick. He was hoping Kevin and Jason were okay. He would’ve felt terrible if one of them was hurt or killed by the terrorists.
Doug and Rick made it back to the van and had been waiting there for about ten minutes before Jason and Kevin made it back. He rushed everyone into the van and they headed back down the hill. On the way down, he asked them what happened back at the camp and Kevin said, “We had just placed the bombs on the building and heading back when all the lights came on and we heard gunfire from the camp. A big Rottweiler dog from the camp came tearing toward us as we started running and it was on top of us before we knew it was there. We had to beat it over the head with some big rocks we grabbed on the ground. The noise from the dog’s yelps must have alerted the guards to our position so they shot in our direction. The dog ran back to camp.” Doug said, “Did anyone get hurt?” Kevin looked down at his arm, “I have a few bite marks on my arm but nothing real serious.” Doug was relieved that none of them had been shot with the bullets.
After they traveled several miles down the dirt road Doug had Todd pull the van over to the side of the road and he said, “You men want to see some fireworks?” He pulled off the phone that was attached to his chest and turned it on. They all said, at about the same time, “Hell yes we do!” Doug started dialing the numbers to the phones on the bombs attached to the buildings and they started going off like a Fourth of July fireworks show. There were also several secondary explosions so he figured they must have hit their weapons cache. The boys erupted in laughter as they all were “high fiving” each other, yelling and bouncing up and down on the seats.
When they got back to Rick’s house Doug gave each of them the remaining five thousand dollars he had promised them and thanked them for a job well done. He told them, “I couldn’t have done it without you men.” They shook hands as he said, “You men take care of yourself. That was a successful mission and I think the Special Forces soldiers and America would’ve been very proud of all of you tonight.” The young men shook hands and hugged each other and he thought I know Michael would have been proud to have had them on his team. After he left the boys he drove the van to Hamilton Lake and sank it. He waited until it was completely out of sight before he walked back to town. He then caught a cab to back to his campground.
When law enforcement arrived at the exploded camp and checked things out in the daylight they found parts of rifles and grenades and other metal fragments that had been blown all over the compound from the explosions. The FBI was called in to secure the compound where no one else could get hurt from undetonated grenades and ammunitions. It was all over the local Arkansas news reporting that a new terrorist training camp near Caddo-Gap, Arkansas had been hit by the “American Terrorist.” The reports said that it appeared a lot of people had died from explosions on the camp. They still didn’t know how many were killed because they were still sorting through the debris. The report went on to say there were several explosions and secondary explosions that shook the area for miles. The news correspondents expressed some fear and concern that there may many more of these types of camps throughout the United States in hidden areas just like this one.
In other related news reports it focused on the threat radicals pose to the United States military. It said the recent arrests of a former United States Army soldier for supporting a Muslim terrorist group in Maryland, and a Muslim arrested for conspiring to attack military troops in Tampa, Florida demonstrated the extent of the problems associated with Muslim terrorists. (11) The more Doug heard and read about this type of activity the more he knew he was doing the right thing for America.
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C
hapter 31 - Alabama