AFTER THE DUST SETTLED (Countdown to Armageddon Book 2) by Darrell Maloney Read Free Book Online Page A

how many people were out there who still had radio capability. It was mostly quiet, but I did stumble across two men talking. I knew they were very close because the signal was so strong.
         “They were both preppers who’d protected their radios from the EMPs, and they were talking about how bad the situation was in San Antonio. Thousands of people dead, either by suicide or murder. The whole city is in full chaos. One of the men said he was a cop, and that they were overwhelmed, with no vehicles, and that many of the cops just didn’t even try to help any more.
         “I wrote down his call sign and frequency. If I can raise that guy on the radio again, would you share what you know with him? Maybe if the SAPD can get even a few cars running, it might save some lives.”
         “Sure. I’d be happy to help. With newer cars, they’d have to bypass all the fancy electronic ignitions and on board computers and all that. But I could explain to them how to rig them up.”
         That evening Scott and Tom went to the ham radio and found the frequency Scott had been listening to two nights before.
         “This is K57B59. Looking for K408T1. Are you on tonight?”
         “There was a brief delay, then, “This is Kilo-408-Tango-1. Do I know you?”
         “No. But I was monitoring this frequency the other night and I’m aware of your situation. I think we can help you get some of your police cars going again.”
         “Seriously? How?”
         Scott handed Tom the microphone.
         “My name is Tom. Are you a mechanic?”
         “No, I tinker is all. But I have a neighbor who is. I can send my wife to get him.”
         “That would probably be best. It’s not a difficult process, but if you skip a step it won’t work.”
         “Okay. I just sent my wife. She’ll be back with Paul in a minute. My name’s John. Where are y’all at?”
         Tom looked at Scott, who vigorously shook his head.
         “We’re near Dallas.”
         “Do y’all have your cars running up there?”
         “Only one so far. Maybe after you know how to do it you can help spread the word to other police departments.”
         “Buddy, if you can help us get our cars running again, we’ll tell the whole damn world.”
         There was another pause. Then,
         “Okay, our mechanic is here. His name is Paul. Go ahead.”
         “Paul, my name is Tom. Can you get to an auto parts store?”
         “Yes. We’ll have to walk, but there’s an Auto Zone about half a mile from here.”
         “What you’re going to do is grab some old fashioned car parts. The old two port ignition switches that used to attach to a car’s fender wells. Have you seen them?”
         “Yes. But not for awhile.”
         “You might have to search for them, but they’ll have them for older model cars. You’ll also need some old fashioned batteries. The dry ones. The ones that aren’t maintenance free. Since you guys live in the city, they may not stock very many of them. But once you get a couple cars running, hit rural parts stores, or farm implement companies. They’ll have a lot of them, because they still use them on tractors and harvesters and such. You’ll also need solenoids and fuses, because yours are going to be shot. But I’ll bet that your starters are okay. I think the solenoids all shorted out, and that’s as far as the damage went. The generator on my car was okay, but you might want to grab some of those too in case yours were damaged.”
         Tom paused to catch his breath.
         “Am I talking too fast?”
         “No, you’re doing fine. And John’s taking notes. Go ahead.”
         “Okay. Your newer cars have way too much crap under the hoods. Electronic mumbo jumbo and pollution prevention type of stuff. But when you get right down to it, the main parts, the starting system and engine and such haven’t