The Shelter, Book 4: The New World

by Ira Tabankin

  “I’ll arrange the meeting. I was told you might not want to wait. Our second in command will chair the meeting. He’s been fully briefed on the issues.”

  “Your leader isn’t going to attend? We demand your owner attend the meeting as originally planned. We’ll go on a hunger strike until he arrives.”

  Fred shakes his head,

  “He won’t care, in fact, he’ll like your hungry strike, it will mean there will be fewer supplies he’ll have to share. I’m sorry, I thought I said he’s tied up in a very personal matter that concerns one of his children. If you don’t want to wait, you can turn around and leave.”

  “What could be more important than food?”

  “That’s something he will have to decide if he wants to discuss it or not. We can start the meeting right now. Our second in command, Tony will sit in for Jay.”

  “Since you’re not giving us any choice, I guess we’ll have to. Where is the meeting going to take place?”

  Tony walks toward the group rubbing his left arm, he’s very happy his cast was recently removed. He extends his right hand,

  “Hello, I’m Tony, I’d like to welcome you to our farm. It’s a pleasure to host our discussions. Please follow me. I’ll show you to the conference room and your rooms if you’d like to freshen up before the meeting begins.”

  The representatives are in awe of the castle, one asks,

  “How large is this thing?”

  “That’s a really good question. I guess one day; we’ll have to measure it. Jay and his wife had a seven thousand square foot house on this site before a tornado tore it apart. I’m sure some of you may have seen it.”

  The representatives from the closest town smiles and nods.

  “Yes, it was brand new and beautiful, I remember it. Jay bought it? Wait, is Jay’s last name, Tolson? The couple who won the lottery and moved here?”

  Tony smiled, “Yes, that’s them. They bought up all of the local farms, combining them into one of one thousand acres.”

  “There're rumors he’s crazy, I remember hearing from the sheriff he dug up his fields looking for possible buried treasure. Why do we want to try to work out an agreement with a crazy person?”

  “Well that’s something, you’re going to have to ask Jay.”

  “Will he be joining us?”

  “I really don’t know. He was going to, except he really is dealing with a very personal matter.”

  Tony’s interrupted by hearing Sammi yelling.

  “Daddy, you HAVE to save him! I’m asking you to save him, which saves me. You can’t refuse my request if I ask you to save me.”

  “Sammi, you don’t understand. I have no idea where he is.”

  “God damn it, you’re stalling. Look at the video, listen to him scream and cry. What kind of animals are these people to do that to anyone? Can’t you feel his pain; can’t you see he’s being eaten alive? He’s begging for help. Why aren’t you out there finding him?”

  “Sammi, we have no idea where he is.”

  “Bullshit! I call bullshit on that. Don’t lie to me. I know Tony and John wouldn't have released him into the unknown unless you had a way to track him. You know where he is. You’re stalling. You’re hoping he dies.”

  “Sammi…”

  Tony walks over to close the family room door.

  “I’m sorry you had to hear that, Jay’s usually not an angry person. That’s the little personal issue I told you about. I don’t know how long it’s going to take to sort this out.”

  “What’s going on with her husband?”

  “He was captured by ISIS. They’re torturing him to make him tell them where we’re located and how to circumvent our security system. Don’t worry, we’ve changed and updated our security so anything he tells them isn’t going to be usable to them. They placed his torture on the internet for everyone to see. Jay’s daughter wants us to go get him.”

  “Aren’t you going to rescue him? What kind of people are you?”

  Tony stops mid-step. He turns to face his accuser,

  “That man tried to kill Jay, we decided to banish him versus killing him. We have a limited number of people, we’re not a police force or an army. We don’t have the resources to risk a rescue mission.”

  “Then, we can’t count on you to help us. If you’re not going to save the son-in-law of your leader, how can we trust you to come to our aid?”

  Many of the other representatives nod in agreement, they form a large circle to talk among themselves. They send one woman forward to speak on behalf of all of them.

  “Tony, we appreciate the offer for a meeting, and potentially receiving food and supplies. We’ve decided we can’t trust people who wouldn’t try to rescue one of their own. If you won’t attempt a rescue mission for your leader’s family, we know we won’t be able to count on you to complete your end of any deal we reach with you. We’re going to go home. If you decide to rescue the poor man and you can prove to us how we can trust you, you know where to find us. Good-bye.”

  The group turns around and starts walking down the driveway. Major Walker watches them leave the farm, he reaches Tony as the last of the representatives leaves the farm’s property.

  “Tony, what the hell happened?”

  “Major, I’m sorry. They learned about Ricky being tortured. They decided if we’re not going to rescue him, they can’t trust us, hence they won’t do a deal with us.”

  “Shit, they’re going to starve if they don’t get additional food. You were our last hope. I’m going to chase them down. See if I can turn them around.”

  “Want a motorcycle or SUV?”

  “You have working vehicles and fuel?”

  “We don’t advertise it, we hold them for emergencies, which I guess this counts as one. I’ll unlock the garage for you.”

  The two walk to one of the cement building, the Major is stunned when Tony opens the door.

  “Oh my God. Where in the world did you get all of these vehicles?”

  “The motorcycles and two pickups came from a gang which tried to attack us, Jay bought most of the others. My people brought some vehicles which we store on the other side of the farm. Before you ask about fuel, we have a couple of large buried tanks. Which vehicle do you want to borrow?”

  “Thanks, I’ll take one of the bikes.”

  “Good choice.”

  After selecting one, checking it over, Major Walker climbs on the bike, presses the electric start button, the engine fires up, he smiles, nods and is gone so he can try to talk the town’s representatives out of leaving. Tony stands in the garage thinking, damn, Ricky’s an asshole, but no one should have to be eaten alive. I’m going to tell Jay we should go get him. We can take one of the SUVs, four, five of us, it shouldn’t take us more than half a day. I never thought I’d suggest we rescue the shithead.

  Tony locks the garage, he enters the castle, Lacy meets him at the kitchen door. Tony nods at her asking,

  “Is he still in the family room?”

  “Yes, he and Sammi are still going at it. Tony, to be honest with you. I think we should rescue him. I feel sorry for him.”

  “That’s why I came to see him. I don’t want to interrupt him; could you whisper in his ear we both want to chat with him?”

  “Brave soul, send the woman to see the angry beast. Yeah, you’re a brave man.” Smiling, Lacy nods. She fills a coffee cup and walks down the hall towards the family room. She knocks on the door, saying.

  “Jay, I brought you a fresh cup of coffee, I really need to see you, we have a new security situation.”

  Jay stops talking in mid-word when he hears Lacy say, “new security situation.”

  He turns to his daughter,

  “Honey, something must have come up, give me one minute.”

  “Always something comes up, everything is more important than my family or my feelings.”

  “Honey, please, just one minute.”

  Jay leaves the family room, he closes the door beh
ind him, he stands in front of Lacy. He deeply inhales and exhales to calm himself. He sips the fresh coffee.

  “Is there a real security situation, or did you just want to calm me down?”

  “Honey, Tony is here, we both believe we should rescue Ricky.”

  “WHAT? I’ve been sitting in here explaining to my eldest daughter why we can’t do a rescue mission and the two of you want to run the mission. Why? How?”

  “Come into the kitchen, let Tony explain it.”

  “This better be good. I’m in a really pissed off mood. I have negative patience.”

  “This shouldn't take long.” Said a very hopeful Lacy.

  Jay enters the kitchen, he sits next to Tony,

  “I thought you were running the meeting with the town’s reps, what happened?”

  “They decided if we wouldn’t rescue one of our own, they couldn’t trust us.”

  “Did you explain, he’s no longer one of us?”

  “Yes, however, they didn’t buy it. They feel that he’s still family and we have a duty to rescue him. I told them, he tried to kill you, they still felt we needed to rescue him.”

  “Shit, just what we don’t need. Alright, what’s your plan? Whatever it is, it has to be quick, we can’t afford to have a group of us off the farm if we’re attacked again.”

  “Hence, why I want to take one of the vehicles which we added the extra mufflers, making it almost silent. We have more than enough fuel to use for a rescue mission. We can reach him in less than an hour. Hopefully, surround and surprise the shit out of the ISIS dicks holding him, rescue him and be back by dinner. Major Walker went to ask the reps to return.”

  “Who are you going to take with you?”

  “Myself, and four of my people.”

  “Take a couple of the original team, Fred has two sons who are good with weapons, both Randy and Franco’s sons have been proven in battle, they’re solid and follow orders.”

  “Done, I’ll be back by dinner.”

  “If you’re not, you’ll have to wash the dishes for a week. Tony, get in, get him and get out. Take a nurse with you. If something happens, we can’t afford to lose one of the two doctors. Be careful. I don’t want to lose you. In fact, we can’t afford to lose anyone. I think my daughter will owe you a big one.”

  “Jay, what are you going to do with him when we return with him?”

  Smiling an evil grin, Jay sips his coffee saying,

  “You’ll see. I don’t want to ruin the surprise. He will pay for trying to kill me. You can bring him back, but he won’t step foot in my home ever again.”

  The two friends hug, Tony jogs out of the castle picking up his handheld radio to call John.

  “John, I’m going to lead a rescue mission, I need some intel and pictures.”

  “You’re too old to lead anything, I’ll lead it. I have the experience; Todd will hold down the security function. I knew Jay would cave, I have six people armed waiting for the order to go. We’ve fueled and checked two vehicles, we’ve fitted Wendy with body armor. I’ll see you at dinner.”

  Tony stops jogging, he turns around to tell Jay the change of plans. Jay smiles not having to place his closest friend in danger.

  “I agree with John. He has the experience. Sit back and watch how an expert runs the mission. Join me as we tell Sammi, her lying husband is going to be saved.”

  Two minutes later, Lacy hears Sammi’s joyful scream. She thinks to herself, damn she can scream. I may get my hearing back in a day or two. I hope she knows he’s not going to get away Scot-free. Thank God it’s only ants eating him, he should be okay when John reaches him, if they were larger animals, there wouldn’t be anything left of him.

  Jay motions for Tony’s handheld radio.

  “Castle calling MW, over.”

  Jay can hear the motorcycle over the radio, “Castle, I hear you 5 by 5, over.”

  “John is going on a rescue mission, tell the town’s people they should turn around, we’ll have the meeting as soon as Ricky’s back.”

  “Roger. I know that will make a difference to the town’s people. Thanks.”

  Chapter 13

  The President is pacing the Oval Office trying to figure out how to save his dream of transforming America when an aide knocks on the door; he sticks his head in.

  “Sir, I have a message from Beijing.”

  “What do they want now? They took Hawaii, I’ve called off the Navy from attacking their ships and planes. I stopped the army from fighting their troops on the ground. I ordered whatever repayment we can afford to be made to them. What the fuck do they want now?”

  “Sir, I don’t know. They are requesting you accept a visit from their ambassador today.”

  “Today? That’s very unusual, these meetings are usually set up weeks in advance. I need to know their agenda; I need to know their questions so I can have my aides draft my responses. This is all very unusual. I’m very busy today. Send back a message proposing next Thursday at 2:00 PM.”

  “Sir, I don’t think they are going to accept a delay. They sounded very eager for the meeting.”

  “What time do they want to see me?”

  “Mr. President, they said they would like to have their ambassador visit today at 4:00 PM.”

  “Shit, there goes my leaving early. If it’s that important, tell them I’ll agree to meet their ambassador. At least, the little asshole speaks good English.”

  “Sir, I’ll send your reply.”

  “Get the Secretary of State over here. Not on the phone, I want to see him here in the Oval Office. Hopefully, he’ll have some idea what’s going on. If he knew about this and didn’t tell me, I’m going to fire him.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  The President sits behind his desk, he leans back with his feet propped on the edge of the Resolution desk, In the seven years he’s been President his shoes have scratched up the priceless desk. An hour later the Secretary of State finally enters the Oval Office,

  “Sir, you wanted to see me?”

  “Yes, what the fuck do the Chinese want now?”

  “Sir, I don’t know. We’ve done everything they’ve asked for. I honestly don’t know what they want.”

  “I want your staff to draw up a list of everything possible they could want. It’s very unusual for them to send their Ambassador to see me without any advance notice.”

  “I’ll get them right on it.” Said the standing Secretary.

  “You’re not going anywhere. I know you, you won’t return if I let you go. You’ll stay here until the Chinese Ambassador arrives. “

  @@@@@

  Ricky passes out three times, he never realized such small creatures could cause so much pain. His left foot is covered in ants, his foot looks like he’s wearing a red and black fur boot. The two ISIS scouts are laughing at Ricky’s suffering. One opens his pants and urinates on Ricky to wake him after he passed out. He tells his partner,

  “Let’s wash the ants off of him so we can question him again. If we don’t like his answers, this time, pour some honey on one of his balls, that should get him talking.”

  His partner agrees, they each dump buckets of water on Ricky’s left foot washing most of the ants off of him. Ricky opens his tear filled eyes.

  “Please, I’ll tell you anything you want to know. I’ll tell you the truth.”

  “Yes, you wi…” He never finished the sentence as a bullet entered the back of his head. He was dead before his body touched the ground. His partner was about to say something when two bullets struck him. Ricky looked around wondering what was happening, he worried some worse group would capture him. He looks up at a familiar face.

  “You look like shit.”

  Ricky sees John staring down at him.

  “Please get me out of here, these damn ants are eating me alive.”

  “Calm down, they’re not eating much, they’re biting and stinging yes, eating, not so much. Frankly, I don’t know what to do with you. You tried to kill Jay, pa
rt of me wants to leave you here. You’re worthless. However, I was sent to rescue you so I guess I’ll have to. What do you think we should do with you?”

  “Please, I admit I was wrong. I’ll behave, I promise I won’t do anything wrong again. I’ll do anything you say, please just untie me and take me home.”