The American Terrorist

by Ron L. Carter

Doug was heading to Nashville. This was a place he had always heard about and seen on television and now he was going to see it in person. He made reservations at the Two Rivers Campground located just two miles from Opryland. It’s a peaceful resort with full hook-up sites, laundry, game room, swimming pool, stores and more. It also had a concierge desk to make reservations to whatever tourist attractions he wanted to go see. There were two things he wanted to see in Nashville while passing through, Elvis Presley’s Graceland and the Grand Old Opry. Doug and Shirley had tried to get tickets a few times to watch Elvis perform live in Las Vegas but they were always sold out before he could get them. Elvis was Shirley’s favorite entertainer and he always regretted not taking her to see him before he died in 1982. Now that he was going to be in Nashville he knew he had to go take a tour of Graceland.

  While growing up his dad used to love the Grand Old Opry and would have the entire family watch it on television on Saturday nights. That’s what instilled in his heart the love for Country and Western Music. On his way into Nashville he saw a billboard that said Vince Gill would be performing at the Grand Old Opry on Saturday night. That was one of his favorite singers and he really wanted to do his best to get a ticket to see the show.

  After he arrived at his campsite he set up his motor home, unhooked his car and went to the concierge desk. He made reservations to do the tour of Graceland and was lucky enough to get a ticket to see Vince Gill. He was ready to relax for a few days after his last attack. He spent the rest of the day just relaxing around the motor home and doing some laundry. Early the next morning he had to jump on a shuttle bus that was waiting next to the pool to go to Graceland. The tour lasted for several hours and included a lunch. He took his camera along for a few pictures. The entire time he was just thinking about Shirley and wishing she could’ve been with him.

  The Saturday night show at the Grand Old Opry was even better than Doug expected. The dinner show came with two drinks of your choice and a nice prime rib dinner. He thought Vince Gill and the rest of the group put on a great show, just like the ones he watched on television as a kid. He was glad that he had gotten the opportunity to be there in person and see them perform live.

  He started doing some more research on his next target in Dixie, Tennessee. It was about eighty miles from Nashville and according to the reports; Dixie has gradually become a stronghold for radical Islamic terrorist organizations that are transforming parts of the state of Tennessee. This is the type of infiltration that Doug felt he had to stop or at least slow down. His new target was a sprawling closed camp with a lot of mobile homes and several areas used for training in hand to hand combat, firing weapons, and using explosives. He had to do some careful planning on how he wanted to attack this camp. He wanted to try and blow up some of his terrorist targets while they were training or getting ready to train. Once he made up his mind what he was going to do he put four - I.E.D.’s under the seat of his Mercedes along with four - one pound sticks of C-4, some wire, the black carry bag and entrenching shovel.

  There was no moon out that night and he thought it was just plain creepy as he made his way to the camp. He had an idea how it was laid out from an aerial view he had studied of the camp. He parked his car in the woods about a half mile away in an area where it couldn’t be seen from the little dirt road. He wore black clothing and had the bag on his back as he made his way to the rear side of the camp where the training took place. He felt like he was a lone soldier back in Vietnam when he was dropped off in the middle of the woods. He wondered if anyone really cared about the mission he was on to stop the terrorists. Did the Americans think he was just another nut case taking the law into his own hands? Regardless he had made a promise to Michael and he was going to try his best to fulfill that promise even if it meant dying in the process.

  Doug was bent over and moving slowly toward his intended target planting area. He believed this was the same type of land where Michael had trained at Fort Bragg, South Carolina. He found an area that looked like it was the place the terrorist trained in hand to hand combat on a concrete slab. There was a six to eight foot trail the terrorist used to get to their training area. He placed two of his I.E.D.’s in that location along with two of the blocks of C-4. Once in place he wired the I.E.D.’s to the C-4 and they were ready to go. When they went off there would be a huge explosion and hopefully a lot of terrorists would die. He buried them approximately 20 feet apart and connected them with wire so that when one blew up the other one would blow up as well. They would be triggered by the pressure release plate used in Afghanistan. When a person steps on it the bomb is set and then when he steps off, it explodes. He camouflaged the area of the I.E.D.s and wire lightly with dirt and leaves from the surrounding area so that everything looked natural.

  After these two targets were set Doug went to the firing range area and set the other two I.E.D.’s and C-4 up so they would be ready exactly like he had done at the hand to hand combat area. He made sure the bombs were all set with the pressure plates before he left. He grabbed his entrenching shovel and black bag and left as quietly as he had come into the camp. He made it back to his car and drove the one and half hour drive back to his campsite Nashville. Once he was back at the motor home he checked the back of his car so it didn’t look like anything was out of place. Satisfied that everything was okay he settled down for some much needed sleep.

  He got up early and packed up his motor home, attached his car and took off to Virginia. He was already thinking about his next target at the “Pink House” in the remote area of Virginia. He had read some real disturbing things about this camp. It wasn’t until a few days later after he had arrived in Virginia that he heard the news reports that said, “The American Terrorist” had struck again in Tennessee. The news reported that eight men were killed and four were wounded in a well-planned and calculated attack on the camp. It said law enforcement agencies had found two I.E.D. bombs that had not been detonated. Doug wondered which two didn’t explode and also wondered why? Did he do something wrong or once the first two went off and killed the eight men did they not go near the other two? He knew he couldn’t second guess himself because he would never know for sure. The news also reported that the Muslims all over America were starting to get very angry and they believed these attacks against the Muslim people were planned by the CIA or the FBI. A spokesperson for the FBI came on the news and said, “I can assure you, this is not the work of either the CIA or the FBI. We are just as puzzled as the Muslim community as to who is doing these bombings.” He said they would investigate this to the fullest extent of the law. They would get to the bottom of who was committing these attacks and put a stop to them. When Doug heard that he just rolled his eyes and said, I hope not, I’m not through killing these terrorists yet.

  In some parts of the South people were starting to speak up and they were saying, “It is about time the FBI and the CIA are getting involved and checking out these terrorist camps. We have been trying to tell them that something was going on for the past few years.” Others were saying, “We don’t care who is doing the bombings to these camps, we applaud them for having the guts to stand up to these terrorists. These camps have kept most of us that were born here and lived here all our lives afraid to go out at night.” He was happy the people were finally starting to rally behind him and voice their fear and dislike for the terrorist camps located so close to their homes. He felt like he was finally starting to get the American people’s attention.

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  Chapter 17 - The Pink House, Virginia