Next, James got into an odd patch of soil, roughly rectangular, where the detector indicated a high level of diffuse iron oxide. From his past experience, he knew that this meant that a vehicle had sat there rusting for many decades before it had been hauled away for re-cy, long before James was born.

He kept searching, still finding useful nuts and bolts and other bits of rusted steel. There was enough sc.r.a.p here to warrant him stopping and moving his vehicle and trailer closer, to obviate making tiring trips back and forth.

He knew he'd come upon a productive patch for finding steel. He could probably dig up valuable base metals here for several days. He pulled out his tablet and triple-tapped the stylus on his currently indicated position and said, "Good patch for sc.r.a.p steel." The icon of a human ear appeared on the screen, indicating that a new voice annotation had been made to the map.

He moved his truck and trailer in close, to an adjoining patch that he had already scanned as clear. He again flipped the PV panels down. The charge controller showed the batteries were already back up to 47 percent. The skies were still sunny, so he would have enough juice to drive home within a couple of hours. This was shaping up to be a good day.

He eyed his lunch bucket on the seat but decided to go back to scanning. He didn't want to leave a productive patch so soon. Out of habit, he reran the detector's bitsy sequence and put his headphones back on. After finding a couple of steel shards, some nails, and a few aluminum cans, the detector went quiet. Apparently, he was leaving the sc.r.a.p field. He plodded on, and his mind began to wander again. His tablet beeped and said, "200, reminder." That was a preprogrammed reminder that he had traveled 200 meters past the last registered hit. So he stepped two paces to his right, made a 180-degree turn, and walked back toward the productive sc.r.a.p patch. After walking 150 meters, he was back in the thick of it. He dug up so many nails and cans that he had to have Mickey help him shuttle the load back to the trailer. He took a long pull from his canteen, and thought again about taking a lunch break. But he decided to press on.

When he was just fifteen meters from the rectangular patch of iron oxide, his detector started to howl. The only other times it had done this was when he found something big, like an engine block. The Minelab's display showed a strange blinking "Fe-Pt-Au-Ag???" indication. Walking over the spot from three directions showed him that the indicated spot was about a half meter wide, and one and a half meters long. James was excited, but he didn't lose his cool. He pulled out his tablet, triple-tapped the stylus, and said, "Large, metallic target, near surface. Could be good."

Knowing that the target was large, James set down his detector and headphones. He pulled his entrenching tool out of its belt pouch and flipped it open. He had dug down only ten centimeters when he uncovered a rusty steel plate. Then, widening the hole, he recognized the familiar outline of the folding handle of an ammunition can. He tried pulling the handle up with his fingers, but it was rusted in place. So he pried the handle up with the tip of the e-tool.

He tried pulling the can up out of the ground, but it wouldn't budge. When he used the tip of his e-tool on three sides to wedge it free, he could then see that it was just one of several ammo cans that had been buried together in a phalanx. After prying the can free from the surrounding caliche soil, he was finally able to lift it. He was surprised at its great weight.

He set the rusty can down beside the hole, and, using the tip of the e-tool for leverage, he flipped its latch open. And then, with considerable force to overcome the rust on the hinge, he swung open the lid. He was stunned to see that the can was filled with gold coins, ten-ounce silver ingots, and diamond rings. James looked skyward, and said, "Thank you, thank you, Lord, Jehovah Jireh."

Twenty minutes later, he had excitedly dug up eighteen cans and lined them up in a row, at close intervals, and had pried them all open. James was dumbfounded. With this much gold, he'd be able to support dozens or even hundreds of missionaries for decades.

Mickey walked back from the truck where he had been napping to look at what James had found. Gazing at all of the glittering gold in the ammo cans, Mickey clapped his hands, and declared, "Yeah, yeah! Do you know what this means, Pastor?"

"No, what?"

"We can buy ice cream!"

Acknowledgments.

As a novelist, I've been influenced by Pat Frank (the author of Alas, Babylon), George Stewart (the author of Earth Abides), and Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle (the coauthors of Lucifer's Hammer). When I was a young man, those four novelists provided me some important formative "what if?" images of possible futures for America. I am in their debt.

Above all else, it takes faith and friends to survive. I've been blessed with a lot of friends, and they have helped strengthen my faith in Almighty G.o.d.

This novel is dedicated to my new wife, "Avalanche Lily," for her inspiration, encouragement, and diligent editing. She has filled a huge gap in my life after Linda ("The Memsahib") pa.s.sed away.

My sincere thanks to my editor, Emily Bestler. This novel wouldn't exist without you.

My thanks to the other folks who encouraged me, who contributed technical details, who were used for character sketches, and who helped me substantively in the editing process: Aviad, Azreel, Ben, Brent F., Chris F., Cope, Daniel C., "The Other Mr. Delta," Grizzly Guy, Reggie K., Ignacio L., Jerry J., J.I.R., Johannes K., Keith K., Dr. Mark L., CW3 J.S., Dave M., Michael H., Dean R., Jim S., D.S., "SNO," and Terrie.

James Wesley, Rawles.

The Rawles Ranch.

July 2012.

"Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded; But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof: I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh; When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you. Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me: For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the LORD: They would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof. Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices. For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them. But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil."

-Proverbs 1:2433 (KJV).

Glossary.

10/22: A semiautomatic .22 rimfire rifle made by Ruger.

1911: See M1911.

9/11: The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, which took 3,000 American lives.

AAA: American Automobile a.s.sociation.

ACP: Automatic Colt Pistol.

ACS: Army Community Service.

ACU: Army combat uniform. The U.S. Army's "digital" pattern camouflage uniform that replaced the BDU.

AER: Army Emergency Relief.

AFB: Air Force Base.

AFSC: Air Force Security Command.

AK: Avtomat Kalashnikova. The gas-operated weapons family invented by Mikhail Timofeyevitch Kalashnikov, a Red Army sergeant. AKs are known for their robustness and were made in huge numbers, so they are ubiquitous in much of Asia and the Third World. The best of the Kalashnikov variants are the Valmets, which were made in Finland, the Galils, which were made in Israel, and the R4s, which are made in South Africa.

AK-47: The early generation AK carbine with a milled receiver that shoots the intermediate 7.62 x 39mm cartridge. See also: AKM.

AK-74: The later generation AK carbine that shoots the 5.45 x 39mm cartridge.

AKM: "Avtomat Kalashnikova Modernizirovanniy," the later generation 7.62 x 39 AK with a stamped receiver.

AM: Amplitude modulation.

AO: Area of operations.

AP: Armor-piercing.

APC: Armored personnel carrier.

AR: Automatic Rifle. This is the generic term for semiauto variants of the Armalite family of rifles designed by Eugene Stoner (AR-10, AR-15, AR-180, etc.).

AR-7: The .22 LR semiautomatic survival rifle designed by Eugene Stoner. It weighs just two pounds.

AR-10: The 7.62mm NATO predecessor of the M16 rifle, designed by Eugene Stoner. Early AR-10s (mainly Portuguese-, Sudanese-, and Cuban-contract, from the late 1950s and early 1960s) are not to be confused with the present-day semiauto-only AR-10 rifles that are more closely interchangeable with parts from the smaller caliber AR-15.

AR-15: The semiauto civilian variants of the U.S. Army M16 rifle.

ASAP: As soon as possible.

ATF: See BATFE.

AUG: See Steyr AUG.

AWOL: Absent without official leave.

B&E: Breaking and entering.

Ballistic wampum: Ammunition stored for barter purposes. (Term coined by Colonel Jeff Cooper.) BATFE: Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, a U.S. federal government taxing agency.

BBC: British Broadcasting Corporation.

BDU: Battle dress uniform. Also called "camouflage utilities" by the USMC. Most BDUs were made in the Woodland camouflage pattern.

Black rifle/black gun: Generic terms for a modern battle rifle-typically equipped with a black plastic stock and fore-end, giving these guns an "all black" appearance. Functionally, however, they are little different from earlier semiauto designs.

BLM: Bureau of Land Management, a U.S. federal government agency that administers public lands.

BLUF: Bottom line, up front.

BMG: Browning machinegun. Usually refers to .50 BMG, the U.S. military's standard heavy machinegun cartridge since the early twentieth century. This cartridge is now often used for long-range precision countersniper rifles.

BNSF: Burlington Northern & Santa Fe Railroad.

BOQ: Bachelor officers quarters.

BP: Blood pressure.

BTR-70: A Russian eight-wheeled armored personnel carrier, designed in the 1960s.

BX: Base exchange.

C-4: Composition 4, a plastic explosive.

CAR-15: See M4.

CARC: Chemical agent resistant coating. The paint used on most U.S. military vehicles.

CAS: Close air support.

CAT: Combat application tourniquet.

CB: Citizens band radio. A VHF broadcasting band. There is no license required for operation in the United States. Some desirable CB transceivers are capable of SSB operation. Originally twenty-three channels, the citizens band was later expanded to forty channels during the golden age of CB in the 1970s.

CLP: Cleaner, lubricant, protectant. A mil-spec lubricant, sold under the trade name Break Free CLP.

CO: Commanding officer.

CO2: Carbon dioxide.

COD: Collect on delivery.

COMINT: Communications intelligence.

CONEX: Continental Express. The ubiquitous twenty-, thirty-, and forty-foot-long steel cargo containers used in multiple transportation modes.

CONUS: Continental United States.

COPS: Committee of Public Safety.

CP: Command post.

CPY: Ham radio shorthand for "Copy."

CRKT: Columbia River Knife & Tool.

CU: Ham radio shorthand for "See you (later)."

CUCV: Commercial utility cargo vehicle. The 1980s-vintage U.S. Army versions of diesel Chevy Blazers and pickups, sold off as surplus in the early 2000s.

DE: Ham radio shorthand for "From." This is used between call signs.

DF: Direction finding.

DMV: Department of Motor Vehicles.

DPM: Disruptive pattern material. A British military camouflage pattern, with colors similar to the U.S. Army's defunct Woodland BDU pattern.

Drip or drip oil: The light oil or hydrocarbon liquids condensed in a natural gas piping system when the gas is cooled. Sometimes also called natural gasoline, condensation gasoline, or simply "drip." A mixture of gasoline and drip oil can be burned in most gasoline engines without modification. Pure drip oil can be burned in some gasoline engines if the timing is r.e.t.a.r.ded.

DRMO: Defense Reutilization and Marketing Office.

E&E: Escape and evasion.

ELINT: Electronic intelligence.

E-tool: Entrenching tool (a small military folding shovel).

F2: Force Two a.s.sociates.

FAA: Federal Aviation Administration.

FAL: See FN/FAL.