by A J Newman
Much of the chatter on the walkie talkies was confusing. There appeared to be an insurrection against the Captain, and the French leaders, another rebellion against white rule and the farmers were fighting everyone. It sounded like a hot mess. We even heard some of the Black Separatist propaganda.
“Aaron, I think we have walked into a mess. There appear to be several groups fighting for control of Martenvous.”
“And the Captain has most of the firepower. Let’s try to not piss him off.”
***
“Father, it was terrible. I flew to Cancun from New Orleans a few days before the USA was attacked. Jennifer, Connie and I were on the beach having some drinks and sunning ourselves when it came on the news. The Americans and Canadians panicked the first day, and all of them tried to go back home. All flights to the USA and Canada were canceled. I tried to get a flight for us, but they canceled all flights the next day. That’s when I got scared.”
“How did you join the Americans?”
“It’s a long story, but we were kidnapped by a drug cartel and made to do despicable things to survive.”
“My poor daughter.”
“We escaped from the cartel’s compound on the north end of Yucatan where Connie and Jennifer were killed by the lions the cartel sent to kill us.
The Americans were hunting food and killed the lion just before it ate me. They saved me and took me with them.”
He hugged her and said, “Oh my God what a terrible experience. We owe the Americans for saving your life.”
“Yes, Father. They are good people, and they are just looking for a home. Please help them.”
“We need more good people to help us with this invasion.”
“Father, what invasion?”
“Revolutionaries from Cuba and the USA have infiltrated the black community and convinced some of them that they are slaves and that they must kill all whites.”
“But blacks have most of the leadership positions and have a great life here.”
“The revolutionaries have convinced a sizable part of our less fortunate population that the blacks on our side are also slaveholders. We have won most battles, but the constant war has hurt our farming, and we are running short of food, which makes the problem worse.”
“Can I go see the Americans?”
“They are coming to our house for your homecoming party. You will see them tonight.”
“Oh, tres joie. I want to rest, and then I’ll tell you about my entire misadventure.”
“Aimee, did you catch the name of the cartel or any of its leaders?”
“Yes, it’s the Cortez Cartel.”
“Lieutenant, plan a mission to destroy the Cortez Cartel. I believe they are based in Yucatan.”
“Sir, they are 3,000 Kilometers away. We don’t have any planes or ships with that range. We don’t have enough fuel to send frigates either. The same cartel controls the fuel shipped out of Venezuela, and we haven’t had a shipment in months. I will put a plan together, but it would be a one way mission.”
“I am sorry. You are correct. My love for my daughter is clouding my judgment.”
“Sir, there is something we can do.”
“And what is that.”
“They get most of their drugs from South America. We can sink their ships with the drugs. It is only about 1,500 Kilometers to the coast of Columbia.”
“That’s still beyond our range. Keep thinking and let me know when you come up with a plan. I must say, however, that I do like the idea of sinking their drugs. Yes, I like it very much.”
“Sir one last thought. The leader of the Cortez cartel is actually from Grenada and lives there most of the time. He has killed all of the Grenadian leadership and rules the country as a dictator.”
“And Grenada is only 290 Kilometers away.”
“Yes, sir, we could mount an attack and eliminate the leader of the men who captured your daughter. Though most certainly, one of his lieutenants will assume his place, we will, at least, let them know that punishment from our forces will be swift and terrible.”
“Develop a plan to stop the drug trade in our area, and kill the entire cartel contingent on Grenada. I also want fuel from Venezuela.
We must also have fuel for our power generation plant, or we will all, soon be in the dark.”
“Oui, mon Capitaine.
***
Governor’s Palace
The Island of Martenvous,
A former French Protectorate
Aimee looked lovely, and gushing, said, “Hello. I am so glad to see you. This is my Father, Captain Henri Bassot. Where are Callie and her husband? I wanted to see them again.”
“Aimee, that is my fault. I just invited their leaders to the dinner. We can have your other friends over tomorrow.”
Aaron replied, “We are pleased to be here with you, and to be in your beautiful country.”
“I must thank you for saving my daughter and bringing her back to me. She tells me that you have had a dangerous trip and are looking for a home. We shall discuss that tomorrow, but I will tell you now that we welcome you with open arms.”
The Captain introduced us to the island leadership and dignitaries before we were served drinks and dinner.
I noticed that the leadership was an equal mix of blacks and whites, but all of the servants were black. I got the feeling that they didn’t have a race problem as much as a rich vs. poor problem.
“Zack, I must admire you and the others for covering over 3,000 Kilometers in two small motor yachts. That was quite a trip.”
“It was one motor yacht and a 62 foot Beneteau sailboat. The sailboat was one of the best built and can easily handle long ocean voyages.”
“I am familiar with Beneteau. It is a French company.
So, many of you are soldiers?”
“Only a few. The rest of us had to learn on the fly.”
“My Lieutenant told me that you were also heavily armed.”
“We had several FN249 SAWs and two .50 cal. BMGs on each boat.”
I stopped there when I realized I was giving way too much information. He was asking too many questions for my liking. I wondered where he was going in his mind.
We had dined on seafood, steak, and numerous vegetables before a flaming desert was served. I hadn’t eaten so well in several years. I got a feeling that we ate enough food to feed a small village of the local people.
There were music and dancing after the meal, and I have to say that Ally and I thoroughly enjoyed the party. It was a brief respite from the post-apocalyptic world that had engulfed our lives for over a year, but on this occasion, we were carefree and didn’t have a care in the world for over four hours that night.
***
“Lieutenant, you do know that our visitors have a sailboat that can travel around the world without fuel. The crew needs only food and water.”
“Sir, that is brilliant. I will put a plan together that combines our Special Forces and their sailboat. Perhaps we can find another large sailboat. We can attack the drug routes all of the way back to the Yucatan and everything between here and Columbia. We just need to increase the boat’s firepower.”
“Not exactly my thoughts, but we are on the same page. Learn more about the boat and report back to me.”
***
Aaron, Mort and I were summoned to meet with Captain Bassot the next day for lunch. The note stated that he wanted to discuss our future as residents of Martenvous. We arrived at noon sharp and found another meal fit for a king laid out by the pool.
An aide to the Captain asked us to be seated and begin our lunch since the Captain was detained and would join us in a few moments. I pointed out to Aaron that I saw the staff hide food in their pockets several times.
“Zack, I saw the same thing last night at the homecoming party. I get a feeling that it’s great to be rich on this island, but being poor could be not so good.”
Captain Bassot arrived before we could finish the conversation. He arri
ved with the Lieutenant and his Chief of Staff. They joined us for lunch and general chit chat for an hour before getting down to business.
“Gentlemen, I want to formally welcome you to Martenvous, the most beautiful island in the Caribbean. We hope you will want to make this your home but will understand if you decide to continue your quest to find a suitable home.
While we weren’t hit by the EMP blasts, our island has had several setbacks due to the attacks on Europe and the USA.”
Aaron interrupted and asked, “Pardon me, sir. Can you give us an update on the state of the world? We are aware, of course, of the attacks on the USA and Israel, but know almost nothing about Europe and the rest of the world.”
“Certainly. The initial attacks were on the USA, the EU countries and Canada. French intelligence told us it was a joint attack by the North Koreans and Iran. When Israel realized it was to be eliminated, they launched all of their nuclear weapons at their enemies. Iran, Syria, Iraq and other Muslim countries were devastated by nuclear blasts.
They also bombed China, Moscow and several other countries with EMP blasts. Israel is a nuclear wasteland as is most of the Middle East.
Now, what is left of the Russian, Cubans, and Chinese are rushing into Canada and the USA to get their share of the pie. The USA has bombed Mexico and Cuba, which stopped their attacks, but they are now trading nukes with Russian and Chinese forces. No one can win that game, and we could all die from nuclear fallout.”
“Thank you, that fills in the gaps in what we had heard. How has Martenvous fared?”
“France was devastated and told us we are on our own. We relied on trade with France and the USA for most of our food. Unfortunately, we had starvation and riots as the food ran out. Thousands died during the riots, and over a hundred thousand fled to other islands.
We quickly increased our farming and fishing industries, but are just now catching up to the demand for our own people. Sadly we have to turn away ships full of people every day who think we can feed them.”
“Why would you take us into your society?”
“You saved my daughter, and I believe you have skills that could prove very valuable to our country. Surviving in the USA and then a long voyage to get here makes you experts in survival.”
“Thanks, we appreciate your comments and are glad to have helped Aimee.”
“Oui, you are, of course, welcome.
Now down to our situation. You are free to leave us or stay and become members of our community, but there are rules. The basic rules that affect you are:
1. You can’t have guns on our island.
2. You can’t vote for two years.
3. You have to find a job within 60 days.
4. We are increasing the size of our military and
everyone between 16 and 50 has to serve in our
National Guard.
5. You must become French citizens and learn French,
which is our national language.
If you decide to leave, we will fill your water tanks, but won’t give you any food for your voyage.”
If you decide to stay, you will receive free housing, food for 60 days, free medical care and all the rights of a French Citizen.”
I replied, “That’s a lot to digest. It sounds very attractive, but can we go back to our group and discuss the offer? Oh, one question.”
“Oui?”
“Do the National Guard troops keep their guns at home as the Swiss do?”
“No. We keep the arms at Fort Saint Charles and several Police Stations.”
“Thanks. We will give you our answer before the deadline.”
“Certainly and take these leaflets that cover the rules and benefits that I just mentioned.”
“Thanks, for the great lunch and covering the ground rules.”
“I’d like to hear back with your answer in three days.”
“Of course, and that sounds reasonable.”
“We will want every adult to tell us their answer in private. We don’t want anyone coerced. I hope that is not a problem.”
“Not at all. We don’t force anyone to do anything, and they are free to leave the group at any time.”
“Sorry, I forgot to ask, but how did you get the SAWs and heavy machine guns?”
I looked him in the eye and said, “Great question. The USA is in chaos. There are many abandoned US Armories across the country. We found an abandoned one and took what we needed.”
***
“Zack, you have to be kidding. They want to take our guns. I like what I see so far, but who is to say that pirates won’t attack and run right over these French military types. Everyone else has beaten them in war.”
“I have the same concerns, but playing Devil’s advocate, two years ago would you worry about not having a gun?”
“That’s not fair. It was a different time, and even then my bastard husband had guns in the house.”
“I just want us to make a good decision and not one based on our recent trials and tribulations.”
“Darling, we will make a decision based on facts.”
“Bull shit, I’m not giving up my guns to any tin pot dictator,” replied Davi. “I can live with the rest of the conditions.”
“I think we all agree on the guns. Let’s lay out the rest of the facts,” said Aaron.
“We know or suspect the following:
1. No guns.
2. Military service.
3. They are fighting one or two opposing groups.
4. The poor inhabitants are fed up with the French
Aristocracy.
5. The military appears to govern the island.
6. The island had 38o thousand people and now has
about 150 thousand. What happened to the others?
7. Food is scarce, but the rich are throwing banquets.
The list makes for the start of a revolution, and I don’t want to be trapped in someone else’s war.
We laid out our list of issues along with the rules and benefits the Captain gave us to our entire team. We discussed each item one at a time, and then we allowed everyone to have a say in our town hall meeting.
Most were for leaving, but 18 of our forty-one people wanted to stay and call the island home. The ones wanting to stay were Sam, Jacob, and half of Mort’s people from Bayou La Batre. The rest of us were adamant about leaving.
***
The Captain watched as his men wanded us with metal detectors before we could enter the meeting room. This was a surprise even though we knew the citizens weren’t allowed to have guns.
We were all seated in chairs facing Captain Bassot and his Chief of Staff. The Captain welcomed us and turned the meeting over to his Chief of Staff, who promptly covered the rules and benefits.
He took a few questions and then said, “You will now go through the black door to announce your decision to our official.
Parents, take your children with you, but parents must be momentarily separated when you declare your decision.
That reminds me, if a mother and father make different decisions, children under 16 must stay or go with the father. There are no exceptions. Now go through the door when requested.
We all filed through the door and told a clerk our decision, and then she told us to leave through one of two doors.
I was the next to last to declare my decision and found myself being herded onto a bus by armed guards. I noticed there were two buses and that the bus I was on had my friends who wanted to leave Martenvous.
I sat down next to Aaron and asked, “What the fuck is going on?”
“One of the guards told us that we were being taken to temporary housing until we were prepared to leave the island and the others were being taken to their houses.”
“Why can’t we stay on the boats?”
“I asked, and the guard replied that he just follows orders.”
The bus trip took only 20 minutes and ended at a beautiful resort. The guard told us to use the beach houses dur
ing our stay. Dinner would be served in the dining room at 7:00 sharp.”
Before we could head to the beach houses, the Lieutenant drove up and said, “Sorry for our poor communications.
You will stay here for the next week or two while we prepare your sailboat for your trip.
It will receive a small cannon, several recoilless rifles, two more .50 cal. BMGs, anti-aircraft capability and enough food and water for a 90-day ocean voyage.
We want to make sure you can survive long enough to find the paradise you seek. Captain Bassot felt that saving his daughter was worth giving you the food. Our Captain and his staff will meet with you several times before you depart. They will be better able to answer your questions.”
We started asking questions, and the Lieutenant answered with, “That is all I have to say. Enjoy the beach and resort. Do not try to leave.”
Mort gathered us around as soon as the Lieutenant left to say, “I know this was a surprise, but remember we are unknown visitors in another country. Our governments would do the same thing. Isolate the visitors, keep them happy, vet them and if they are harmless to send them on their way.”
This made sense and calmed us down. He avoided a revolt that day. I just hoped he was correct about the Captain’s intentions. I still wondered why they were now giving us food.
***
Aimee visited the next day and spent a half day swimming and enjoying the company of Callie and Paul. She made a point of talking with me that day.
“Zack, I want to thank you again for saving my life, and my father wants to repay you by making sure you have a safe voyage to your new home. I twisted his arm a bit to help you with the food.
I also told him that any pirates that you killed wouldn’t attack us later. I’m sorry that you don’t want to stay here, but understand that Americans don’t necessarily like all of our customs and rules. You should go where you will be happy, but remember that most Latin American and South American countries have the same anti-gun policies and different views of your Bill of Rights.”
