“We don’t need them.” Nelson shrugged. “Bernard, Gerald wants to go over to Hank’s today with you, and I do as well.”
“Welcome to.”
“Bernard, Hank may fight to protect Steven,” Gerald said as he stopped rocking. “It may get bloody because if they fight back, we have to kill them all.”
“Well, I don’t think Hank will do anything, and we are assuming he hasn’t already shot him,” Bernard said as Michelle came out carrying a platter with cups of coffee. “Thank you, darlin’,” Bernard said, taking a cup.
She let Gerald take one then Nelson. Taking the last one, Michelle sat down on the swing with Nelson, leaning her head on his shoulder. “So we going to Hank’s?” she asked.
“You’re not,” Nelson said in a dead voice. Michelle looked up at him, but he kept looking straight ahead. “If it gets bloody, I don’t want you there.”
Seeing the worry on Nelson’s face, Michelle laid her head back on his shoulder. “Then I’ll stay here.”
They sat quietly as the world around them slowly started to brighten in the predawn. “I love sitting out here before the sun comes up,” Bernard said quietly as he sipped his coffee. “No matter what I feel like or what I have planned for the day, this puts me at ease seeing the colors slowly come out as the new day takes hold.”
Nellie stepped out. “Breakfast is ready.”
“Just a few more minutes,” Bernard said, draining his cup. Smiling, Nellie walked over and sat on his lap as they watched the sky light up as the sun rose off to their left. “A new day is here.”
“I didn’t really like the last one,” Nelson mumbled, getting up.
Bernard reached over and grabbed his arm. “Nelson, you done a good thing. You rescued Alex and Adam. Don’t let killin’ that trash bring you down.”
Giving a scoff, “That’s what you thought I meant?” Nelson snorted. “I’m not going to lie, I got little tingles and even a touch of a woody. I’m talking about seeing girls not much older than Gavin being raped. Parents taken out behind a church and a wife raped beside her husband. All the empty houses and no one is doing anything.”
“We are,” Bernard said, letting his arm go. “And we will do more.”
“I think before this is over, I’m going to be very fucking tired of killing,” Nelson said, walking past Bernard and into the house.
They all turned to Michelle, and she shrugged. “He’s tired, and he gets melodramatic,” she said. “Next is unbelievably bitchy. That one, I really fucking hate.”
“Make him take a nap,” Nellie said.
“What, and make bitchy get here faster? I think not,” Michelle said, walking in the house.
The others followed, and everyone sat down at the table as Michelle came over to Nelson. “Open your mouth,” she commanded.
“Why?” he asked, but as soon as he opened his mouth, Michelle threw a capsule in, almost choking him.
Grabbing a glass of water and draining it, Nelson sat it down. “You trying to kill me?”
“No, trying to stop me from killing you before you get bitchy,” she said, sitting down.
Taking a drink of orange juice, he asked, “What was that?”
“Go pill.”
Nelson jerked up and smiled. “Ooh, feel good awake pill.”
Bernard laughed and held out his hands. Everyone held hands as he said grace. When he was done, Nelson looked down the table at Nancy feeding Mike. “Nancy, time to spill it, girl. What the hell did you do for the government? I’m thinking you were with NSA,” Nelson said as he loaded his plate.
“Very good,” she said, looking over at him. “Yes, I was a contractor for them first, but they hired me seven years ago. I tested system vulnerabilities by hacking into them. Then I was transferred to system design and concept programming.”
“So you designed the networks like that safe house?” Nelson asked as he shoved a biscuit in his mouth.
“And the house,” she said, trying to spoon rice cereal into Mike’s mouth without much success. “Like I said, that is a command and control house. It can house the fifty-man action and response team assigned to it.”
“Nelson, if you counted those lockers you ransacked and the bunks upstairs, you would’ve counted fifty,” Gerald said.
“I can count, but I’m talking to Nancy, so hush,” Nelson said, grabbing the pitcher of water. “Okay, the operational command house. You helped design it and the computer setup?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“Seven years ago,” Nancy said, and everyone but the babies, Olivia, and Brittney stopped moving. “When they handed me the outline of what had to be done, I talked to Gerald, knowing if they found out, we would both be dead. He’s the one that gave me the idea of the Special Forces ready rooms. That is what the shop was designed after.”
“Seven years ago?” Matt mumbled with a mouth full of food, and Nancy nodded, finally getting a spoonful in Mike’s mouth, which he pushed out with his tongue.
“That’s when I started looking for us a place to hole up,” Gerald said, spreading jelly over a piece of toast.
“How many were built?” Nelson asked, grabbing his glass of water.
“Don’t know how many right now until I look at what I downloaded, but three years ago, my section chief told me they just finished the three hundredth one,” Nancy said, making Nelson choke as he drank his water. “Those command houses are set up just like Palmer told you. Homeland has the country divvied up according to population. The areas here in Missouri cover five counties. Some states it’s more; others, less. It depends on if that state is a strong gun state or wants less control from the federal government. If so, they get more action response teams, your military contractors. Palmer was the area administrator.”
“So those I shot in Springfield—”
“Yes,” Nancy cut him off. “They were the administrators for Springfield. I’m sure that’s why Palmer had Ivan with him. Missouri is about in the middle as you can get on gun control, but Springfield and the southern part of the state is where most of the gun owners live. So down here, one area is five counties. Up north, it’s eight counties, but there are twenty-seven operational centers here in Missouri for its one hundred and fourteen counties and population of six million.”
“They don’t know who owns guns,” Matt said, and Nancy laughed.
“Bullsh…” she stopped, looking at Mike spitting out more cereal. “Yes they do. If you buy it with a credit card, it’s logged into NSA under your name. NSA scans all for sale sites and gun boards. The ones online are easy as you can figure, but if someone withdraws four hundred and twenty dollars and a gun was advertised in the local paper for that much, your name is flagged. When you go out and buy ammunition with your credit card or a check, your flag turns into a registration. If you buy ammunition of a different caliber than they have you down for, it’s classified as a registration of unknown make and model. It’s really simple how they did it with the banks cooperating.”
“And nobody said anything?” Bernard gasped.
Nancy shook her head. “I learned about it four years ago in a meeting by accident. I was warned it fell under my NDA, nondisclosure agreement, and they pulled up a federal judge’s interpretation of a presidential order that Franklin D. Roosevelt signed. Then the judge said it was backed further, and confirmed by executive order 12222 that Reagan signed.”
“One man can’t pass law,” Bernard said.
“Hey, I know that,” Nancy snapped. “I have known people that tried to speak out. They are all dead—accidents of course but still dead. They could take control of your car going down the road, forcing the accelerator wide open, turn off the brakes and air bags, then disengage the ignition. You are stuck in a rocket you can only steer.”
Bernard just stared at her in shock as she continued. “Or they send someone to rob you and kill you. Have someone break in, give you a shot, and you have an instant heart attack. The list is endless in how they can kil
l you.”
“Makes the Nazis almost look tame,” Nelson mumbled.
“I know of sixteen NSA employees or contractors that have been ‘handled,’ what they called it. Snowden was beyond brave, and his only saving grace is he became public fast, and he only had information about the wide surveillance programs, not registration or preparation for civil disorder. I think if he would’ve been on those projects, they would’ve killed him regardless of where he was.”
“Nancy, I have to say you were brave just living under that kind of threat,” Nelson said.
“Thank you, but it’s of little condolence,” she sighed. “But back to the Area Op/Con buildings, that’s what they are called. I have the information now of where they are and how many, but I only glanced at it as I downloaded it. Texas has 254 counties, and if it followed the same plan as Missouri, it would have fifty or so Area Op/Cons. It was the only state I looked at, and Texas has one hundred and twenty-four.”
She looked around the table, and Nancy saw even the little ones were listening and staring at her in shock. “In the states that are trying to pull out from the union, the Area Op/Con are now ordered to create unconventional warfare.”
Michelle gasped, jumping back. “We have to let them know.”
“Oh I did,” Nancy smiled. “I sent the governor of Texas the locations of the Op/Con buildings and the safe houses in the cities. I sent him the information for each state that has joined him. The rest I sent to a man Gerald knows that was still in SOCOM until a month ago. He has an active network already set up.”
Letting out a laugh, Gerald looked around the table. “Those boys will get the word out, and the government will lose a lot of toys.”
Matt asked, “What about the rest of the world? Nelson said Palmer told him every country had an economic collapse.”
“Yes, but we are really the only problem child. That is what I skimmed hard as I downloaded. The EU is having problems, but if only the government has guns, all the people can do is mass and catch bullets with their bodies. That is why they feel safe to send troops here to get the ‘wild children across the pond’ under control. We have the ability to feed them.”
“What about China? They could invade,” Matt almost shouted in shock and jumped back when Nancy and Gerald started laughing. “It’s not funny.”
“Oh, I’m sorry, but we aren’t laughing at you,” Nancy said. “No country wants to invade us no matter what you’ve read. We have over three hundred million firearms here. China is at war; they invaded Indonesia.”
“They could still come here,” Matt said, unconvinced.
“Matt, I got to sit in on several digital war scenarios and help program others. An invading army would suffer horrendous casualties just from the population. We ran one game that the Chinese and Russian armies were able to occupy the entire country in forty-eight hours, which is impossible. From the population only, they were suffering sixteen hundred casualties a day. That’s just from the acts of individuals, one person taking a shot at a soldier without coordination with others. Just one person hiding out and taking one shot in one town. All of the research said that would be repeated two thousand times a day across the country, and that was the most conservative number. No army can withstand those losses.”
Seeing Matt nod, Nancy continued. “They did run one scenario repeatedly, changing variables every time. The only one that had a viable chance to subdue the country, that scenario was the federal government seizing control. They aren’t seen as an occupying army, so they don’t get hit hard with the losses at first. I went over the data after I hacked into the program and can show it to you. Two factors were the only things that sped up, stalled, or changed the outcome of the scenario: private gun ownership and individual independence, but only the first one really matters. An armed man is a citizen; an unarmed man is a subject.”
Watching Matt’s jaw drop, Nancy nodded. “Yes, if people were dependent on the government for survival, they didn’t fight or didn’t fight long. The most promising of all the ways to create dependence on a large scale quickly involved seizing the money. Those scenarios showed the most promise if the banking system was controlled. They kept changing the other parameter of the scenarios: guns. I mean they input different gun laws, confiscation, registration, and such, but the only thing that gave them a quick victory almost every time was moving the people away from their homes and relocating them. People who brought guns would be detained, and they could only bring so much. The rest of the guns would sit in empty houses.”
“I’m going to be sick,” Nelson said, getting up.
“It’s just the go pill, baby. Eat some more,” Michelle said in shock.
“No, I’m sick because they actually ran programs taking over the country,” Nelson said as he paced around the kitchen. “I mean to whittle it down to two factors, holy shit! That’s persistent.”
“Nancy, did they ever think any of the states would break away?” Michelle asked, almost begging.
“Oh yes, they always programmed Texas, Montana, and Utah to break away.”
Stopping his pacing, Nelson looked over at Nancy. “Did they ever program this many?”
“Yes, and they even ran scenarios with more,” Nancy said.
Nelson stood, waiting for more, but Nancy just stared at him. “Well, don’t hold out now?”
“The scenarios stalled, and the side with the most willpower to sustain losses through starvation, disease, and casualties won. In almost every scenario, it was the federal government. They have forced labor programs to work crops, industry, and infrastructure with manpower instead of machinery. Doing that, they don’t have to use fuel and can save it to retake the areas not under their control.”
“You make it sound like they are going to kick our ass, and the game hasn’t even started,” Nelson cried out, throwing up his hands.
“Nelson, this game was started before we were born,” Nancy said, shaking her head. “The scenarios I’ve been referring to have been running for two decades on computers. Before that, they were done in group think tanks. Even when the public got wind of parts of what the government was doing, no one believed it. You had senators, congressmen, and even presidents making excuses, and the public bought it. Most would think, ‘Why would our government want to do this to us? It was just a mistake.’”
Ashley wiped tears off her face. “Why?”
“Power,” Nancy mumbled. “Eisenhower warned of the military industrial complex, but he was wrong. It’s the entire industrial complex. Most elected federal officials aren’t rich when they take office. All of them are multimillionaires before they leave. They have nice salaries, but it’s hard to make a hundred grand a year turn into twenty million dollars in four years.”
“I know we have limited information now and need to fix that, but have you noticed any big monkey wrenches they hadn’t counted on?” Nelson asked.
“Only one, and I don’t know if it worked.”
“What was it, and when do you think you’ll know?” Nelson asked, feeling a breath of hope.
“If the problem I saw is a ‘monkey wrench,’ we’ll know in three days,” Nancy said. “I don’t want to say what it is right now in case it doesn’t work.”
“We aren’t going to tell,” Nelson huffed.
Nancy laughed. “I know that, Nelson. Even trying to picture any of you betraying us makes me laugh,” she said then became serious. “If this ‘monkey wrench’ doesn’t work, I’m going to have to get directly involved.”
“We’ll be with you,” Nelson said with a grin.
Nellie reached over and held Nancy’s hand. “You won’t be alone if you have to get involved more than we already are.”
Gerald held his hand out over the table. “Michelle, give me a go pill. Seeing Nelson bounce around is making me tired.”
Getting up, Michelle laughed. “I’m sure you know the risk.”
“Believe me, I’ve taken them many times before and have some in my cabin. Your bottle is
just closer,” he said as she walked over to her vest hanging on the wall, pulled out a big medication bottle, and shook out a pill.
“We had to take Nelson’s away from him in Iraq. One person kept his bottle and would have to give them to him,” she said, walking back to the table and giving Gerald the pill. “He would stay awake for days, going out on every mission that came up.”
“It was fun,” Nelson sang out with a smile.
With a face of stone, Michelle looked at Gerald and growled, “If you give him a bottle, I’ll break your legs.”
Tossing the pill in his mouth, Gerald shifted his eyes behind Michelle to see Nelson pacing the kitchen. “No worries there.”
“If you want to do something, Nelson is good for ten hours because he’s not getting another one unless I,” she stressed, “think it’s necessary.”
“We’ll be done by then for the day,” Gerald said, standing up. “Bernard, ready to go see Hank?”
“We’re taking my truck,” Nelson shouted then ran over, kissing the kids on their heads, then kissed Michelle before he darted out. Everyone was startled at just how fast he did it.
“I’m warning you, he makes snap judgments like this. They are sound, but like I said, he makes snap judgments. He’s supposed to be on Adderall but won’t take it. The go pills only seem to pump up his hyperactivity.”
“Can’t you come?” Gerald almost pleaded.
“No, I told him I wouldn’t,” Michelle said, sitting down. “And I would have to take a go pill, and when both of us are hyper, we encourage each other just a little too much.”
“Well, that’s a good thing,” Matt said, patting Ashley’s hand.
“Not all the time,” Michelle said, picking up her fork.
Bernard grabbed a napkin and wiped his mouth as he stood up. “We should be back in an hour, or I’ll call on the radio,” he said, hearing Nelson’s diesel crank up.
“If things go bad, be ready for casualties,” Gerald said, kissing Devin on the head.
“If that happens, don’t get in front of Nelson,” Michelle warned. “He attacks fast and without warning if he feels a shit storm coming. If you see him step away from the group, get ready.”
Forgotten Forbidden America:: Patriots Reborn Page 13
