by Ira Tabankin
“Huh? He wants me to call him?”
“Yes, sir. He said within five minutes.”
“Damn it. Okay, patch him into my cabin.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Admiral, Admiral Jefferson here.”
“Admiral, I’m sorry to drop the niceties, the President is on the war path.”
“I wish he was.”
“Admiral, this isn’t the time for jokes. He was presented with a diplomatic note from the Chinese accusing you of shooting down and sinking additional Chinese planes and ships. What do you say?”
“Admiral, we are operating under our standard defensive posture. We issued a warning to every ship and plane not to breach our defensive zone. We warn them off three times. We send up two Hornets to warn off any who ignore our warnings three times. Any who still continue their course, we took purely defensive actions per our standing orders to defend our assets.”
“Admiral, do you have radar and radio tapes?”
“Of course, shall I send them to you?”
“Yes, ask your XO to send them to me ASAP. The CIC wants to talk to you within the hour. I want my people to review your tapes before you speak to him.”
“Yes, sir. I’ll have them sent to you right now.”
“I’ll call you back within fifteen minutes.”
“Yes, sir.”
The CNO calls Admiral Jefferson back in ten minutes.
“Admiral, my staff checked your tapes. Your story is confirmed. I’m not sure the President is going to believe it. We can try. He doesn't know how to read the tapes. I think you should walk him through the events. Are you ready to speak with him?”
“Yes, sir.”
A minute later the phone buzzes, a voice says,
“Please hold for the President of the United States of America.”
“Admiral Jefferson, this is the President, why are you out there starting the Third World War? Didn’t you see my direct orders? Can you give me one reason why I shouldn’t fire you and have you dishonorably discharged and arrested?”
“Mr. President, I sent radar and radio tapes to the CNO, which will show I ordered NO offensive action. I acted to protect and save American lives and assets. I issued orders to Task Force 66 to assume a defensive position. When someone breaks our defensive zone, we issue three radio warnings they should turn back. We warn them on the international radio channels, in both English and Chinese. If they don’t respond to the third warning, I send two Hornets to warn them off, if they continue on their course which will place them either over us or directly toward us in an attack profile with their offensive sensors blanketing us, I have no option but to protect my command. If it’s a ship, I fire two warning shots while broadcasting warnings, if they continue towards us, I have to assume they mean to do us harm. Then, and sir, only then, did I take action to strike them. I opened fire on them to protect American lives. Sir, I'm sure the tapes can be played for you. I can walk you through them.”
“Your tapes prove this?”
In the Oval Office, two officers nod their agreement. The President says, I want the CIA or FBI to look at his tapes, you people in uniform will do everything to protect each other.”
The Director of the FBI says,
“Sir, my people, have listened to the radio messages, they haven’t been altered, they confirm what the Admiral is saying.”
“Damn it. That means the Chinese are lying. Why would they lie to me?”
The President shakes his head, saying.
“Admiral Jefferson, I order you to issue four warnings and to move an additional fifty, no make that one hundred miles away from the Chinese. Are my orders clear?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Good, I don’t want to hear any more complaints from the Chinese that you shot them down.”
“Sir, it would help if they didn’t try to force our hand.”
“I only have your word on that. How do I know you didn’t move your task force into position to block the Chinese fleet?”
“Sir, my radar tapes very clearly show our position.”
“Admiral, follow my orders, or I'll accept your resignation.”
“Sir, sir.”
The President had already slammed the phone down before Admiral Jefferson could acknowledge the order.
The Commanding officer of the Missouri looks at Admiral Jefferson.
“Sir, are you going to re-position the Task Force?”
“Captain, have the repairs on the Missouri been completed? Have the other ships in the task force been provisioned, repaired and rearmed?”
“Sir, our repairs are completed, but not tested. It will take us another day to complete our tests, the last of our ships will be resupplied within two days.”
“Captain, I don’t think we can safely follow the President’s orders until we have a sea test and review the ships performance. If my memory is correct, it usually takes two weeks to complete such tests and reviews.”
“Admiral, that’s correct.”
“Then I suggest we follow the Navy’s long standing policy which has proven to be the best and safest way to complete a ship’s repair. I don’t want to place the lives of our people at risk. Captain, I’ll inform the CNO we are completing the repairs and following the Navy’s long-standing policies before we place their lives at risk by changing our position.”
The Captain smiles,
“Yes, sir. I understand, we’re going to play this by the book.”
“Captain, by the book. We’re going to follow the book to the letter. They can’t throw the same book at us if we’re following it to the letter written in it.”
“Aye, sir.”
Chapter 15
Ricky is angry that everyone is acting as if he doesn’t exist. No one says a word to him. As he and his family walk towards the shelter, he waves and nods at everyone he passes, no one returns his greeting, most turn their heads in the opposite direction, completely ignoring him. When Ricky reaches the shelter, he’s met at the door by John, who blocks their entrance.
“I’m sorry, but it’s been decided not to allow you to stay in the shelter. It's decided you can’t be trusted. We have prepared a special place for you.”
“John, I’m Jay’s daughter. If I say you let us in, you stand aside and do what I say.”
“Your father is the farm’s owner, not a king. You’re not a princess, you have no authority to give anyone orders. Do you think your father would be happy to hear you talking like this? I know Jay, he’d punish you, maybe even banish you. Your father NEVER lauded his position over us. I wouldn’t accept orders from Jay and I’m not accepting them from you. If you want to stay on the farm, you can follow me to your husband’s new home.”
Ricky smiles, he leans over to whisper in Sammi’s ear,
“Don’t worry, I know the access codes, I’ll get us inside tonight.”
John stops mid-step and laughs.
“Ricky, how stupid do you think we are? The second Tony led you out of the emergency exit, we changed every access code. We removed your fingerprints and retina scans from the approved access list. You have no authority to even access our server. Nothing you knew has any value.”
Sammi asks.
“How about our access to the internet?”
“Revoked, you have permission to call security and medical, all other access has been removed.”
“That’s not fair. We have rights.”
“No one has rights to the internet. Your husband admitted to planning and attempting to carry out first-degree murder. No one here trusts your family. Ricky is going to be put to work in the fields. His new home is one of the trailers beyond Tony’s. You’ll be on the back line of Jay’s property. In a perfect place to notify us of any intruders.”
Ricky turns pale, saying
“We’ll be the first ones attacked.”
“Could be. You wanted to be left alone, here’s your chance. There’s an old saying, ‘be careful, what you ask for, you might get it.’
”
Ricky shakes his head looking at the trailer,
“This place is a dump. It’s not fair for my family to have to stay here.”
“You’re right, Jay’s offered his daughter and granddaughter to stay in the castle. However, you aren’t allowed to come within two hundred yards of the castle.”
Sammi stands in front of the run down trailer trying to figure out what to do. She steps inside, and out again.
“Ricky, we’ll come visit you every day. We’re not going to live in there. It’s dirty and smells. I can’t do it. I won’t let our daughter live in there. I’m going to return to the castle with John.”
John turns to face Ricky,
“There’s one more thing you need to be aware of. We’re not a very trusting group, we are going to track your every move. Roll up your right pant leg. We have this nice little GPS tracker which you will wear 24 hours a day. If you try to remove it, there’s a small explosive, it will blow your foot off. If you thought ants were a problem, try to get around with your foot and part of your leg missing.”
“You can’t do that, I’m not a criminal.”
“You’re worse, you’re a traitor. I for one hope you try to remove the device. By the way, it will sting you if you enter a circle two hundred yards around the castle. It acts like an invisible dog fence. It will give you a hell of a shock, I’ll show you.”
John pulls out a small remote control device, he presses the red button, Ricky falls into the mud screaming.
“See, a little shock. Just enough to remind you to stay away from the castle.”
“LITTLE SHOCK my ass! That thing knocked me down. It felt like you hit me with 200 volts.”
“I think it’s 240. Remember, stay away from Jay, the shelter, and the castle. Enjoy your new home. I hope I don’t see you for a long time.”
John takes Sammi and Linda with him towards the castle. Linda turns around looking at her father,
“Daddy, don’t be scared, I’ll come see you every day.”
“Sam, Linda, I love you.”
Sammi turns to face John.
“Was hurting him necessary?”
“Yes, it was. You seem to forget your husband tried to kill your father. I wanted to leave him out there. Your father decided to banish him on the farm. Hence his new home and tracking device. He’ll never be a threat to any of us again.”
“What’s going to happen to him?”
“He’s now a farm hand. He’ll work on clearing new land.”
“That’s backbreaking work.”
“Good. If his back is broken, he won’t be going anywhere or trying to kill any of us, will he?”
John left Sammi and Linda at the castle’s back door. Lacy opens the back door for them.
“I see you decided to return, your father is going to be very happy.”
“My father banished my husband to a broken down trailer and backbreaking work. Where is my father? I want to talk to him.”
“He’s in an important meeting. I wouldn’t interrupt him.”
“I’m going to my room; tell him I want to see him.”
“I will when the meeting is over.”
“I want to see him now, he used to always interrupt meetings when I needed him.”
“You're not a child any longer, you can wait until the meeting is over.”
@@@@@
Jay looks around the conference room, a room built in the center of the castle, there are no windows, the walls are blast and bullet proof. He smiles, feeling secure in the room, he prays the meeting goes well so he can support the TFM. He looks at and nods towards Tony, silently telling him to begin.
“Thank you for attending, we recognize many of you have had to travel a long distance to attend the meeting. The TFM told us you’re all in a similar situation, you need food to feed your people. We have food and medical supplies. We’re prepared to offer every town a supply of food and medical treatment in exchange for labor. We’re willing to show our good faith by giving you a cart full of food to take home with you. Looking forward, in order to continue to feed everyone, we’re going to need to cultivate additional land. Normally we’d use the farm across the street. However, we believe the Army will be using that farm as their central Tennessee headquarters. That leaves us with clearing the land around our farm, turning the wooded land into farm land. We can cut down the trees and clear most of the land with our tractors, what we need is people to clear the stumps and prepare the land for crops.
The people in the meeting begin yelling over each other. Jay and Tony have problems trying to figure out what’s being said. They’re able to hear the common thread is,
“You’re asking us to be your slaves for food?”
Tony shakes his head, “No one is making you a slave. You’ll be farm workers, paid for your labor. Labor which will help feed everyone. There’s a big difference between a slave and a paid worker.”
A couple of the representatives stand to stare at Jay and Tony.
“What are you going to pay us with? Paper money has no value. Are you going to pay us in IOUs? We’ve had many fights breaking out among our people trying to figure out the value of goods and services. We have people who are growing food in their gardens, each charges their own price, most have no idea what their apples are worth. They fight over how to pay for apples. At the end of the day, most of our people have either stopped selling things or they barter. One of the things we all agree on is we need food and a valuation system so our people can pay for goods and services.
Jay smiles, he’s helped to his feet by Tony.
“I don’t think we can afford to wait for the feds to figure out the currency crises. They’ve tried two or three different times to change our currency, we’re suffering from a lack of confidence in our currency. No one trusts it’s worth what the paper says it is. What can $5 or $10 buy today? No one knows. We need to have a valuation system so everyone in central Tennessee know their money is worth what it says. They need to know they can go from town to town and use their money. Are any of your towns accepting the latest federal currency?”
Every head shakes, no.
“That’s what I thought. I don’t accept it either. Other than not wanting money in my pocket with his face on it.”
Laughter echoes off the walls of the conference room. A few of the reps frown at what they consider a very bad joke.
We should come up with a system we can all agree on, one that can be used in all of our towns, and one that can grow and be used in other areas.”
Every face is staring at Jay
I thought we could combine assets and create our own bank and our own currency. One backed by gold and silver.”
“Where are we going to get gold and silver?”
“Isn’t it illegal for us to make our own currency?”
“Isn't it illegal for us to own gold and silver? We thought the feds confiscated all the gold and silver in private hands.”
“Can we do that?”
Jay smiled, “We heard radio reports that South in Huntsville the banks got together with the Army to create a new currency based on gold and silver coins. They post an exchange rate which is honored by all for purchasing and paying debts between each other. They even have a standardized center to cut people’s gold and silver coins. For now, they use precious metals for all of their transactions. They'll even melt people's jewelry into certified coins. That might not be possible here, we can begin to issue currency in conjunction with Huntsville and hopefully Chattanooga and Knoxville based on gold and silver. If we can reach an agreement in a short time, most of Tennessee and a third or more of Alabama will be using the same currency, I bet, as soon as word spreads about it, others cities and towns will ask to join us. We’ll create a new national currency from the bottom up. Our currency will have real value because it will be made of gold and silver.”
The people in the room sat in stunned disbelief. One brave soul stood,
“Jay, are you trying to create your o
wn country? Aren’t you committing treason against the country? I for one am afraid that working with you will smear all of us as treasonous criminals. It's one thing to fight gangs and another to be labeled a traitor thus having to fight the FBI and US Army. How can you assure us, if we agree with you, we won’t end up hanging from a tree?”
The room is silent as his words quietly echo off the walls. Most of the representatives sit in stunned silence with what they’ve heard.
