by Ira Tabankin
Jay holds up his hands.
“No, no. I said I can’t do it. I can’t vote to kill him in cold blood.”
Tony smiles,
“Understood, you voted, no, John and I voted yes. Two against one, we win. I’m going to make the call and have our problem resolved by breakfast.”
“Wait, I’m invoking my owner’s privilege. My vote carries the weight of three. I think we should wait. Maybe we can bring him over to our side. Maybe the states and Fed will find a way to settle their differences. Maybe he’ll be transferred and he’ll no longer be a threat.”
Tony adds
“I’ve heard this one before; and maybe the horse will sing. I don’t see any of your scenarios happening. I understand you feel indebted to him. You don’t have to have a hand in or know any of the details. I suggest you go home and work on your spreadsheets which you like so much. We agree not to tell you anything. You can be surprised when you’re informed. You’ll have deniability because you won’t know a thing about the details.”
“You guys are beginning to sound too much like politicians. Please, wait one more day.”
“We have a very small window; it’s going to be very hard to do anything once his troops arrive.”
“I want to sleep on it, I promise to give you an answer tomorrow by lunch.”
All three nod. Jay leaves to check on the fields. John smiles to Tony,
“Are you going to make the call?”
“Of course, I am. I’ll make sure he’s here today with enough time to scout the army’s base. I’ll ask him to plan for the captain to have a little accident.”
“Good. In the short term, Jay will be pissed with us. In the long run, he’ll realize it was the right thing to do. It’s one thing to fight an enemy attacking us, it’s another to fight the army who we’ve treated like family; they have been in the shelter and know many of our tricks. Whoever Washington sends as his replacement won’t know our defenses. Since the Major has been acting as his XO, we might be able to sway his HQ staff into changing sides. Or maybe we can get them transferred away from here.”
“How can you manage that?”
“A few gold coins in the right hands can work miracles.”
“Let’s break for an hour to put the plan into play.”
“Agreed.”
Jay put the discussion out of his mind. He drove an ATV to the side two hundred acres to inspect the irrigation and the progress of the crops. Looking up at the blue sky he spoke out loud.
“I pissed you off didn’t I? You’re getting even with me for coming back with knowledge I shouldn’t have. If you’re pissed at me why take it out on everyone else? Why not just take me and get it over with? There’s no reason to be spiteful and harm thousands of people. Not unless you’re not the one doing it. Is it my brother? Is he pissed because I didn’t follow him? Can you give me a sign? Is there any way you can help me? Is asking for rain too much or too little in the grand scheme of things? Is this a new test of my faith? Either way, I know what I know, you won’t break me. I will keep my word. I will also find a way to feed and care for the people around us. At one time I would have told them to pound sand, you’ve opened my eyes to sharing and caring. Isn’t my feeding them worth a little rain?”
Jay’s only response is the windblown dust.
“I guess you’re not going to answer, are you?”
Jay pulls up to the fields where there is a large green circle of growing crops surrounded by dry, dusty fields of dead seedlings. He’s surprised to find Major Walker waiting for him.
“Did I miss a meeting or something? How did you know I would be here?”
“Don’t worry, we didn’t have a meeting planned. I just wanted to have a word with you. How I knew where you were is my secret.”
“If I find a tracking bug on me, I’ll stop sending you steaks.”
Smiling, Major Walker replies.
“That’s nasty. You are an evil man. On the serious side, do you have a couple of minutes?”
“For you, of course.”
@@@@@
Thirteen southern governors call for a southern states convention to discuss the current situation and their response to the President trying to force them to stop using precious metal coins as their currency. They decide to keep the time and location a secret so they’re not all arrested by the secret service or the FBI.
One of the aides to the governor of West Virginia leaks the meeting to his neighbor who happens to be an FBI informer. The information quickly finds its way to the desk of the Director of the FBI who calls his counterpart in the secret service.
“We know where and when the southern states convention is going to take place. Can you come over so we can coordinate our plans?”
“Should we bring the military in too?”
“No, they are full of leaks, as soon as the Joint Staffs know the southerners will know. I sometimes wonder where some of the Joint Chiefs loyalty lies.”
“I’ll be over in thirty minutes.”
“What do we tell the President if he asks where we are?”
“We’ll tell him we’re working on a secret plan to arrest the Huntsville plan leaders. He’ll love it, so he’ll leave us alone for a few days.”
@@@@@
Mid-afternoon, two motorcycles arrive at the farm’s gate. They use the entry code Tony sent them, the gate silently opens allowing them to ride up the driveway. Their motorcycles have been built with special mufflers making them almost silent. Jay, sitting in his office doesn’t hear the two approach. Since they had the entry codes, no alarm sounds to warn the families someone is entering the farm. Jay continues working on the farm’s spreadsheets cursing the developer of Excel without knowing two professional assassins have arrived at his farm. They follow their map to the shelter. Tony’s standing outside to meet them.
“Welcome. I’m pleased you were able to make it on such short notice.”
“Didn’t have much else to do. Our workload has dropped since the meltdown. Not a lot of people can afford us and they all seem to have bigger issues to deal with.”
“Follow me, I want you to meet a friend of mine, John, and we’ll get down to what we want to be done.”
“You have our payment?”
Tony flips him a small bag of ten gold coins,
“I assume this will be enough?”
They look in the bag smiling,
“For this, I’d kill you.”
“Let’s not get carried away. The job we have for you is going to be hard enough, hence the upfront bonus. You get another bag when the job’s completed.”
Both men smile and follow Tony into the depths of the shelter.
“Nice place you’ve got here.”
“You don’t know the half of it.”
Chapter 30
A bright red sun rises over Jay’s farm, the red sun contrasts against the blue sky. Jay stands in the backyard of the castle holding his mug of coffee watching the sunrise. He smiles remembering an old sailor’s fable his father told him. “Red sun in the evening, sailors delight, red sun in the morning, sailors take warning.” Jay’s spirit soared on seeing the red sun, he thought to himself, today’s the day it will hopefully rain. I remember when dad and I were going boating; we wouldn’t go far if the sun dawned red. He always told me a storm was coming. If I remember correctly, he was almost always right. It most likely saved our lives a couple of times. We would have been caught in the ocean when the storm blew. Not a good place to be in a thirty-five-foot boat. His first boat was only sixteen feet, we got caught once in a storm that was so rough, it tossed most of our stuff out of the boat. As his boats got larger, we went further off-shore. Jay smiles remembering the day at age fourteen he almost hooked a twenty-foot long shark.
Lacy places a hand on his shoulder,
“A dollar for your thoughts.”
“Make it a gold coin and you have a deal.”
“Greedy son of a bitch early in the morning aren’t you?”
&nb
sp; “I’m greedy all the time. I remembered the time I almost caught a shark. Dad and I were fishing off the Jersey shore. It was about ’64; there had been a number of shark attacks that year. We were fishing for bluefish, chumming, which means we dumped cut off raw fish over the boat. I saw what I thought was a stick moving against the waves, it was moving towards us. I pointed it to dad. He looked at it with binoculars to see it up close. It turned out to be a large shark attracted to the boat from the bloody cut up fish. He told me to pull in my line. The shark circled our boat; it was almost as long as we were. He called the Coast Guard who asked us to stay where we were so they could get the shark. A few minutes later a cutter arrived with guys on the bow holding rifles looking for the shark, which was behind us now, joined by another. The water around where we dropped the chum looked like it was boiling. The Coast Guard shot into the water. It was also the first time I’d seen and heard a rifle shot. They got the big shark; they thanked us and followed us to our marina. When we got there, they gave us a ride.
The next day the sun rose blood red like this one, the winds came up, it rained like crazy for hours. We never did catch any blue fish; we had some fluke from the day before which we cooked for dinner. He told me about the red sun. We have a blood red sun today. I bet we have a massive storm late in the afternoon. It may give us enough rain to save a few crops.”
“Do you really think our crops can be saved?”
“I hope so. I’m praying for it. Let’s have breakfast and make sure we don’t have anything outside the wind could whip around.”
Jay and Lacy go into the kitchen to have breakfast; they’re soon joined by Michelle and Todd. The last ones down are Sammi and Linda.
Lacy looks at Michelle,
“Missing someone this morning? Where’s Bianca?”
“She said she wasn’t hungry; she’ll be down soon.”
“She’s trying to stay away from school. All the kids have to go; they are our future.”
The family is enjoying the start of a new day when Jay’s cell rings. He looks at it seeing an “unknown caller” ID. “
I wonder who that is.
“Hello, this is Jay.”
“Hello Jay, this is General Arthur. May I enter your land?”
“General, of course, enter 1949 into the keypad. We’re in the kitchen by the back door, join us for breakfast.”
“I’ll see you in a minute or two, by the way, Major Walker is with me.”
“He knows the entrance code.”
“Yes, but he said I should announce myself.”
“Lacy, we’re going to have a couple more for breakfast, Ron and his General are coming up the driveway.”
A minute later the back door opens, General Arthur and Major Walker are helping themselves to a cup of coffee. Jay holds out his hand,
“General? I’m Jay.”
“Pleasure to meet you. Nice castle. I can’t say I’ve seen another in the area. Always want to be different?”
Jay laughs, “It just sort of happened. It’s a long story. Maybe another day. What brings you here.”
“I wanted to find out how Major Walker was and check out this special shelter he’s always talking about.”
“I’m impressed with your home, and an underground shelter that has withstood a few firefights?
“I’ll be happy to show it to you after breakfast.”
“I’m happy to join you. I’ve grown tired with MREs.”
General Arthur tells Jay his story. Jay notices the Confederate Flag patch.
“Looking at your patch, I assume you’re supporting the reformation of the Confederacy. Aren’t you afraid of openly wearing it?”
“I’m proud to wear it. To answer your question. I’m now supporting the idea of reforming the Confederacy. When it was first bandied about, I wrote them off. Now, I’m a strong supporter of it. I don’t think we can function as a union. We can’t seem to agree on anything today. Not even in fighting our enemies. Part of the country thinks that somehow it’s our fault.”
“I thought you were fighting ISIS across the Mississippi with the Captain’s people. I assume the battle went well.”
“ISIS are real scumbags. The things they do to our people and the idiots in the White House ignore them. ISIS is killing and torturing our people. I’ve buried thousands of people slaughtered in the name of their God. I plan to kill everyone of them I can locate. We cleared Tennessee and Arkansas of ISIS. I left to answer a personal request from the Governors of Tennessee and Alabama to perform a small favor for them in Virginia.”
“That was you who trapped and stopped the secret service convoy? I saw it online and Fox News. Great job. I think it was brilliant the way you trapped and embarrassed them. Where were the Captain’s troops while you were doing this little favor?”
“I sent them the long way; I understand they collected three tanker trucks for you. There’s something strange about a lack of rain here, we drove through torrential downpours just an hour from here. There were times I thought we’d float away and here, the ground has dried up and is hard as a rock. How long has it been since it rained here?”
“Nine, ten weeks. We’ve never seen it like this. What can I do for you?”
“I came by to check on the Major and as I said, see this eighth wonder of the world, your shelter.”
“Do you plan to stay for a while?”
“That depends on the Governor. We’re going to establish our base across the street from you.”
“That’s next door to the US Army base being built.”
“I know, didn’t you ever hear the one that said, ‘Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer.”
The men laughed at the General’s attempt at humor. He turns to face Jay,
“I’m ready whenever you are for the full tour.”
“Follow me. Please walk on the path, everything off the path is mined. In fact, the path is also mined, but currently deactivated.”
General Arthur stops mid-step.
“Jay, your farm is mined? Even the path?”
Jay laughs, “General, most of the land that’s not planted is mined with either mines, hunting traps or punji pits.”
“You’re a nasty SOB aren’t you?”
“Sure am, the mines are the only thing that’s saved our asses a few times. They’ve cut down the people trying to attack us. I’m sure you know the effect a claymore has on a human body.”
“If a person is standing too close to an exploding claymore, the BBs turn the human body into mush. I bet you’ve had a number of messes on your hands.”
“We move the mines after each attack so the second wave doesn’t know where they are.”
“Do you have other defenses?”
“General, I’m sorry, but the additional defenses are on a need to know basis. I can’t at this time discuss them with you.”
“I understand. I would most likely be the same. We don’t know each other well enough yet.”
“Thank you for your understanding. We’re at the first door. Right now, it’s in the open, our camouflage nets are pushed back. We are at what you would call DEFCON four, a little over peace. We’ve never gone down to DEFCON five. When an attack looms, we quickly move to DEFCON one. We’ve been known to move up the chain in less than thirty seconds.”
What’s the difference in your DEFCON five to one?”
“Five is peace, no known threats. Four is a higher level of alert, it means there’s a low chance, but still a chance of an attack. Three means threat on the horizon and possibly on the way. At condition three we man our fighting positions. Two means an attack is imminent, everyone will be in their defense positions, ready to defend against an attack, all of our mines will be armed, our weapons loaded and ready to fire. Of course, condition one means we’re under attack or will be within five minutes, everything we have is online. We’re usually facing between five and fifty times our numbers. We’ve survived all of the attacks with only one loss. We have our share of wounded, inclu
ding Fred, who was hit twice, also me and Tony.”
“Do you guys have body armor?”
“Every person who fights has their own body armor and helmet.”
“What are your weapons?”
“We have standardized on the AR/M class. Most are M4s, please don’t ask. We also have twelve gauge shotguns, 9mm Uzis, and 9mm semi-auto handguns.”
“No heavy weapons?”
