I put on my bullet proof vest while thinking about the situation and holstered my Glock 17. I chugged some coffee and telling Amy. “I want you to have the warriors patrol Tocabaga day and night 24-7. Have four women on a patrol at one time. Any boats that go fishing are to be inspected when they come back to the dock. If something seems out of the ordinary report back to me.”
“Ok. Will do, Dad.”
“I don’t think we have anymore spies here but the boats need to be checked. That was a weak point that I missed. We need the Warriors to be our police on the island. They’ll be our eyes and ears keeping a sharp look out so we’re all safe.
“You’ll have to arrange the funeral of your two warriors. Have the service at two pm and post a notice on the bulletin board. I suggest that Trini, Maggie, and you be the honor guard. You’ll need to perform the service. Was Sally or Jill married?”
“Sally was married so her husband Wayne will speak at the service. Jill wasn’t married, but her best friend was Trini so she’ll say some words. I already spoke to them about it.”
“I would like to speak at the service also. So you start it off and then let me speak and then the others. Jim Bo will use his boat to take the bodies out to sea with Wayne, Maggie, Trini, and you after the service. Be sure that all your girls are there in full uniform and they’ll do a 21 gun salute on your command.”
“Ok, will do. Now I’m going to talk to the volunteers waiting outside.”
“See you at the funeral service. I have to go see Sessions now.” I asked my men to come with me to the Fort for the meeting.
It was going to be another busy hot day on Tocabaga. We drove to the Fort to have a meeting with Captain Sessions. I filled him in on the spy situation and the fact we lost two women warriors in a gun battle. He felt very sorry about that and was surprised when I told him that there were five FBI agents on Tocabaga who apparently came here on Johnny’s boat. I explained how the Amazons would be patrolling 24-7 and inspecting all boats when they return from fishing trips. If there are any others inclined to be spies, that will make them think twice.
Sessions then filled us in on what happened on the rescue mission. They blitzed the Dome with the BVFs and the Humvees destroying five Federal trucks. The Bradleys blew open the Dome doors and his men rushed inside killing all the guards.
While this was going on his two Blackhawks flew over and destroyed two more trucks loaded with men using the M134 mini Gatling guns. Two SOCOM fighter planes bombed the Dali at the same time wiping it off the map.
The M134 Minigun is a 7.62x51 mm NATO, six-barreled Gatling gun with a high rate of fire up to 6,000 rounds per minute. It has rotating barrels with an external electric motor. This baby shoots a steam of fire that can cut trees in half.
Inside they found four Rangers still alive and four bodies. Along with them was Carl, Jr. and an estimated 200 other prisoners. They all wanted to be let out but there was no way of telling who was a political prisoner and who was a real criminal. Sessions didn’t have time to interrogate them and he couldn’t bring them back to Tocabaga. He unlocked all the cells telling the people they were free to leave. Only God knows where they went to.
One Father with two little kids begged Sessions to take his kids even if he couldn’t come along. Sessions rescued all three of them bringing them to Tocabaga. Too sum it up there were no fatalities but one Ranger was slightly wounded. The mission was a success.
Sessions commented, “After we’re finished here I’ll introduce you to Albert Madison and his two boys. You can take him under your wing and find them a place to live. He seems like an ok guy. He claims he was in the Navy for eight years. We’re doing a background check on him now.”
It turned out that Albert Madison was a Navy Corpsman and Tommy knew him from the Korean War in 2018. Navy Corpsmen serve as combat medics for the Marines. Combat medics are a Marines’ best friend. Albert’s security clearance wouldn’t be a problem. We can always use another medic here on Tocabaga.
I stated, “Of course we’ll help out Mr. Madison. How is it going at SOCOM?”
“The major battle is over and the Federal troops have been defeated except for a few pockets. I have been ordered to deploy my Rangers to cut off any forces trying to escape. It’s just a mop up job. Tonight we will move against them using the two Bradleys and the Iron Maiden. That leaves you with no armor for security but we’ll only be gone for a few days.”
The Iron Maiden is the name of the Abrams tank commanded by Captain Riley who is also a very close friend of Captain Sessions.
The M1A2 Abrams Tank is named after General Abrams. It fires a whopping 120mm laser aimed cannon and never misses its target. The cannon can blow up buildings or other tanks. It has one M2 50 Caliber Heavy Machine Gun, and two 7.62 M240 machine guns. Bullets and other large projectiles just bounce off the sides of this big boy.
I advised Sessions, “I guess it’s a good thing I have the Amazon Warriors activated. We’ll have to put the road block on the bridge again and start full 24-7 security.”
“Jack, you will also need ten people here at the Fort for security.”
“Ok, I’ll keep the Warriors out here. How soon are you deploying?”
“We’ll roll out of here at 2100 hours.”
“All right. My warriors will be here by 2000 hours. We have a funeral service today at 1400 hours.”
I wasn’t happy about the Rangers leaving for two days or longer. We all felt secure with the Rangers here. Even a small force of Rangers is appreciated by the people living here. Sessions and I walked outside and found Albert Madison and his two boys, who appeared to be 13 to 15 years old.
After introductions to my crew I asked Jim Bo to find them a condo to live in and show them around Tocabaga. Jim would also provide them the proper ID name tags to hang around their necks.
Albert Madison was a good-looking stocky-build man. He had long arms and his hands almost hung down to his knees. Long arms means you have some added muscle that normal people of the same height don’t have. His two boys looked just like him.
It was a muggy hot day as we all stood at the service for Sally and Jill. The Amazon squad performed the twenty one gun salute and we all listened to the speeches. It was a sad and moving service. Everyone had tears in their eye’s as their bodies were covered with a flag and put on the boat. Jim Bo would take the bodies 30 miles off shore. The body bags would be weighted down and then slid overboard while saying “The Lord’s Prayer.”
On land we have a cemetery across from the church where we place a white cross with the names and dates of those that have died so they will always be remembered. Some of the Tocabaga women place fresh flowers at each cross once a week.
Later that evening all the warriors went to the bar to celebrate the life of Sally and Jill. I warned them not to drink too much because they would be on duty tonight. I went home to spend some time with the family. I thought quality time with the family is important. You never know when it could be your last day here on earth.
That night the Rangers pulled out at 2100 hours and the women warriors went on duty as soon as the Rangers left. We were now on our own with no Ranges here to help protect us from evil.
I needed to rest because there’s no telling what could happen tomorrow. I tried not to think about it as I closed my eyes trying to sleep, trying to reach dream land. My dream land is usually nightmare land where I lead an Army made up of dead people.
JUNE 30, 2025
Today we rebuilt the road block to keep vehicles from crossing the bridge into Tocabaga. This is done by interlocking ten cars in an angular “V” shaped pattern thereby creating a wall of cars.
I received an Army gmail, sent to tocabaga.jack, from Sessions advising he would be delayed another 5 to 10 days because of the mop-up operations. This was not good news.
Late in the afternoon a group of twenty people came walking up the road to the bridge. They were asking for food and were demanding that we let them cross the bridge to liv
e here.
One man stepped forward and yelled, “You have to let us in. You don’t own this island. You didn’t build this. You need to share what you have.” It seems I’ve heard something similar to that before.
I walked down the bridge right up to the man with the big mouth bringing along Tommy and Jim Bo for back up because a few of them had guns. I stepped up close to him and asked, “Sir, what’s your name?”
He replied, “My name is Stan Gill. Who are you?”
“I’m Jack Gunn Director of Security for Tocabaga. Mr. Gill, you don’t know it but we do own this island. Most people have been living here more than ten years and paid for these homes. We did create this island sanctuary. We’ve worked hard to build this up and some have died to protect it. Usually we let people join us after we do a background check. You have a large group of people and it may take some time to check all of you out.”
“What do you mean a background check?”
“Camp Tocabaga is a part of an Army Ranger base located here and therefore everyone who wants to live here must submit to an identity check. We need to know if anyone has a criminal history of any kind. We use fingerprints and facial recognition methods which we compare to law enforcement records.”
“That seems a little too much if you ask me. You guys aren’t cops.”
“Actually some of us are cops. Look, we need to protect this island and no one comes in without a background check. If you agree we can arrange to start the process.”
“How long does it take?”
“It could take two to ten days.”
“What do we do in the meantime? We don’t have any cars so traveling is a big problem. We walked here from the Dome. The Rangers raided it yesterday and told us about this so called Tocabaga Island.”
“You were prisoners at the Dome?”
“Yes. We’re hungry and need shelter. Please help us out, we have no place to go.”
I looked at Stan Gill and he didn’t look like someone who had been in prison. He didn’t look like the others because he was to clean-looking. He had his black hair slicked back in a neat fashion. His face was clean shaven with no sign of stubble. His clothes seemed a little too neat and clean. Stan was about my height and a little leaner I guessed, putting him at around 170 pounds. He looked strong and well fed but it was his sunglasses that made me wonder about him. They were the type of glasses that a typical agent would wear.
It was clear that Stan Gill was the spokesperson for this group. I looked around at the group and saw it was made up of some young men, but mostly older men and a few women. They didn’t threaten us in anyway so I would agree to provide them some food. Then it occurred to me that Albert Madison was at the Dome and maybe he knows some of these people. Maybe he could vouch for them. I asked Jim Bo to find Albert and bring him to the bridge.
Speaking to Stan I said, “I’ll tell you what we can do. First we’ll give your group some food. When you’re finished eating we can take finger prints, facial photographs, and submit them to the Army for a background check.
“We have one man here, Albert Madison, who was at the Dome. If he vows for your group we’ll let you come on Tocabaga until the background check comes back. First we’ll do an interview with each person and ask you some key questions. If you come on Tocabaga you cannot bring a weapon with you. We’ll keep your weapons until you’ve been cleared.”
My plan was to ask each person in private some key questions to help us determine if they could be a bad apple. The questions are:
Have you ever been convicted of a crime? If so, what was the crime?
Do you believe in the Constitution of the United States?
Do you know The Pledge of Allegiance? If so, recite it.
Do you know the first two amendments in the Bill of Rights? If so, what are they?
Are you a socialist or communist? This is a key question. If they are either one then they will be rejected.
What did you do for a living?
I was talking to Stan when Albert showed up so I asked him, “These people claim they were prisoners in the Dome. Do you know this man or any of these people?”
He looked at Stan, then carefully at the people with him, and replied, “Nope, I don’t know him, but I recognize some of the others here. You have to remember there were over 200 people in different cells so I don’t know everyone.”
I advised my men, “To speed up this process take one person at a time to the High and Dry building. Take their names, picture, fingerprints, and interview them. Once you are finished keep the people under guard in the building until we obtain an Army clearance.
“Ron you run all the information down to Phillips at the Fort and ask him to process it ASAP.”
I looked at Stan and said, “Ok we’ll let your group come onto Tocabaga one person at a time. You can all stay in the High and Dry building for now. I expect that it will take two to ten days for results to come back. Stan you’re first.”
The process was in motion and maybe these twenty or so people will have a new home here on Tocabaga. It’s out of my control.
Albert walked up to me and said, “Sorry I couldn’t be of more help Jack.”
“That’s ok, Albert, we’ve done this before. If they don’t pass the security check then back on the street they go. How are you and your boys doing?”
“They’re doing great and are working on the farm for Maggie. They like it a lot. They like the fresh air and freedom. I’m working with Doc Scott at the clinic. Jack, I want to ask you something.”
“Shoot, Albert, what do you want?”
“My wife and oldest son stayed at our old house and didn’t come to the green zone with me. She didn’t want to leave her home and be under Federal control.
“I took my youngest sons to the Green Zone about a year ago because I thought it would be safer for them. It wasn’t safer and that’s how we ended up in jail. Someone tried to steal our food and I got into a fight. My wife was right. I should have stayed with her. We didn’t part on good terms. I’m worried sick about her and my son so I want to bring them here.”
“Where does she live?”
“We have a house off 66th Street located on 30th Ave. North. It’s not far from the old Mall.”
“The Mall … I haven’t been up there in years. We went to Ellenton Mall a couple of times and had all kinds of FUBAR. I don’t like going near any malls. Do you think she’s still living at your house?”
“I don’t know but I want to find them if possible so I’m asking for your help. As far as what’s at the mall I don’t know anything about that.”
“Albert what you’re asking isn’t easy. We would need at least two vehicles and four men. That’s a fifteen to twenty mile trip one way. It could be very dangerous and there’s no telling what we could run into. I would need volunteers to come along. Let me think about it.”
As I walked away from Albert I thought the Mall must be a complete mess. It must be loaded with criminals and gang members. Even going near it we could end up in a big FUBAR. I’ll ask Tommy for his opinion. I would like to save his wife and son from certain death but it would be a risky mission. The other fact is the Rangers are not at the Fort so we are short handed.
I headed home for the night. I wanted to see my family and enjoy the grandkids. They always make me laugh and I forget about the dangerous times we are living in. I’ll discuss Albert’s request with Tommy and the family tomorrow. No more work today.
July 1, 2025
It’s almost Independence Day. Independence Day has a special meaning for us because we are free men. We aim to stay independent following the Bill of Rights established by our ancestors and given to us by God. Usually we have a big party and this year we were looking forward to celebrating with the Army Rangers. It seems they’ll miss the party this year.
The group that arrived yesterday was living in the High & Dry and all the information had been submitted to the Army for background checks. In the meantime our people would bec
ome friends with them by taking the group food and water.
I was sitting on the patio with my family having a cup of coffee and I mentioned Albert’s request to search for his wife and oldest son. I explained, “His wife stayed behind to live at their house with his 18 year-old son. Albert moved to the green zone about a year ago with his two youngest boys for safety reasons.”
Tonya, my son’s wife, stated, “What if she doesn’t want to come here to live?”
Tommy commented, “She may be dead for all we know.”
“Yep, I know the odds aren’t good but since Albert is a veteran we owe him.”
“Yes, that’s true. I’ll go with you.”
Amy spoke up, “I’m in also. How many people do you need?”
“I think four people and two trucks.”
Amy replied, “I’ll ask Maggie if she wants to go along. She’s game for anything adventurous.”
“Ok ask her. It’s eight am so let’s plan to leave here by ten am. I’ll tell Albert to get ready. Tommy, you get the gear and ammo ready. We’ll take the two black SUVs’ that we confiscated from the Feds since they’re bullet proof. Be sure to bring a SAW with a lot of ammo and some grenades.”
I pulled a map out to determine what would be the best route to take. There are two routes we could take. One way we pass through somewhat safe neighborhoods by driving down Gulf Blvd. to Pasadena Ave. which turns into 66th Street.
The other route is taking 34th Street to 1st Ave. North. Then take that to 66th Street. Once on 66th Street it is a straight shot to Albert’s home located on 30th Ave. North.
The problem is we haven’t been that far north using either route. We really don’t have any idea if either is safe. If Sgt. Cain, the Drone Master, was here I could have a Drone fly the routes to check them out before we leave. But that’s not possible. One thing I didn’t like was we would have to go past the Mall which could be packed with all kinds of weird people.
THE TOCABAGA CHRONICLES: (BOX SET - PART I - BOOKS #1-5) Page 40
