REVENGE: Shelter Book 6 (The Shelter)

by Ira Tabankin

  “Yes, sir.”

  Chapter 17

  Five very surprised men and women sat across from Jay in the Peabody’s restaurant, three of them look around, having never been in the hotel before. Jay places his coffee cup on the table, looking at the people across from him, he asks,

  “Who wants to go first?”

  “We want, we demand, a higher minimum wage, we want the rich to pay their fair share and demand income redistribution.”

  “Let me answer you this way; one, this government no longer sets minimum wages, we’re leaving that up to employers and states. I don’t think the national government should have a say in such matters. I suggest you take it up with your employer, who is it you work for?”

  “I’m currently unemployed, I…”

  “So what are you asking for? If you’re not employed why are you asking for more compensation? Are most of your followers employed?”

  “Most aren’t; we’re waiting for higher pay that isn't an insult to us.”

  “I suggest you quickly get a real job, if you're physically able to work and don’t, you won’t be receiving welfare. The working citizens will not support those who can provide value to society but refuse to. Your days of being a freeloader are over. I should also remind you that minimum wage jobs weren’t meant to be a vocation, they were meant as entry level positions to teach the young how to work and as a stepping stone up the chain of responsibility. If you’re an adult earning minimum wage, I’d question why.”

  “That’s none of your business. We demand higher pay.”

  “You may demand all you want from your employers, but not from this government.”

  “If you don’t mandate a higher minimum wage, employers may lower what they’re paying their employees.”

  “Yes, that’s true. It’s called economics. Business owners have to make a profit if they’re going to stay in business. The typical restaurant owner makes only four percent profit, if wages increase to an extent their four percent margin is eaten up by higher labor costs they will go out of business, putting everyone that used to work for them out of a job. Your demand for higher wages will lower the number of people employed.”

  “They make more than four percent, they’re rich.”

  “I’m sorry to tell you, but most aren’t rich at all.”

  “Their workers need more to live on, they deserve $20 an hour.”

  “What does an EMT tech deserve or a nurse or policeman? How about a soldier? All earn less than $20 an hour; is flipping a burger more important than a nurse saving a life?”

  “That’s what I’m talking about, all of their wages have to rise.”

  “Don’t you see, as wages go up, employment goes down, the amount of total wages go down, your demands are hurting the very people you claim to be helping.”

  “The one percent doesn’t pay enough taxes.”

  Jay laughs,

  “I just signed a bill ending the old income tax system, we’re going to have a very small flat tax of three percent. I believe everyone should pay something into the system they’re demanding help them and govern them.”

  “The rich should pay more.”

  “Why?”

  “So we, the poor, can get more.”

  “What you're really asking for is slavery.”

  “Don’t use that word with me, I’m an African American, that word is insulting to me.”

  “Why? Were you a slave? Were your parents? Do you remember anyone in your family being a slave? Of course not. None were. Slavery ended in America more than 150 years ago.”

  “But my people were harmed and held back by slavery, the white man owes us.”

  “No one owes you anything. You can work hard to earn anything you want.”

  “We are owed…”

  “Nothing. No one owes another anything. If one class of people owes another, that class has become a slave to those they have to pay, are you asking me to bring back slavery?”

  “You do not understand me.”

  “Yes, I do. You’re the one who doesn’t understand. Let’s pause so you can think about what I said and ask the person to your right what’s on their mind.”

  “Man, Black Lives Matter, we’re tired of being discriminated against!”

  “I’ll say right up front; Black lives do matter.” The protester sits back smiling, “White lives, yellow lives, all lives matter. Life itself matters.”

  “No, you don’t understand. My people have been oppressed, our lives matter more.”

  “So now you’re racist, you believe you're better than everyone else. If black lives matter, why then do so many blacks kill other blacks? Why is 90%+ of the crimes your people commit against other blacks? Why are you aborting so many babies? Why are you killing your own people? It’s because you don’t care about others. You only care about what you can get from others. Life of any color means nothing to you.”

  “You’re a racist!”

  “You’re right, I am a racist. I believe all races are important. I believe all races should be treated the same. If you don’t, and you’re proving you don’t, then you’re the racist at this table.”

  Jay looks at the third person at the table,

  “We demand free college and a guaranteed standard of living. It’s the right thing to do.”

  “Says who? I’ll tell you, there is only one thing that’s guaranteed in life, and that’s death. Everything else has to be earned with your own two hands. One of the reasons the North is bankrupt is their welfare system. The top one percent paid 60% of the taxes. The bottom 48% didn’t pay a penny in taxes, but sucked up all the free entitlements the government allowed. The government has no say in who goes to college or who gets health care, these are not basic rights as put forth in our Constitution. Our first responsibility is to protect our citizens and ensure the security of all who live within the Confederacy. My goal is to return the country to God and the idea the founders had when they formed America. They wrote a constitution that laid out the roles of the federal government, they wrote in the document very few responsibilities for the national government. The states held most of the power. The real purpose of the Constitution wasn’t to control the citizens but to control the power of the government. Over time, people, our ancestors elected to office broke their vows of office and pulled and expanded the role of government until it was dictating the type of light bulbs we used and the toilets we had to put in our homes. The EPA ruled that it was illegal to collect rainwater on your property. This wasn’t the government our forefathers envisioned. Most of what you demand are demands I can’t help you with, they are demands no longer associated with the national government.

  “Get a job and take up the wage issue with your employer, take up the other issues with the governors of your states. I can’t help you. You voted to secede from America, to form a new country, one that would return the country to the original vision of our forefathers. You can find a federal government that interferes in the lives of their citizens across the border, if you want to go there, I will help by transporting you to the border. Once there, you can seek asylum in the North. I understand they’re very open to people’s demands. We’re not.”

  One of the protesters stands, Jay’s security force moves toward him until Jay lifts his right hand signaling them to stand down. Unknown to the protesters, Jay has a Walther PK380 under his right leg, it’s loaded with eight jacketed hollow point cartridges. The hammer is back with the safety on, he can pull it up while releasing the safety in less than a second.

  The protest leader looks at Jay,

  “I don’t understand. You’re telling us, you’re going to change everything we know? You’re taking away our checks and phones and medical? You’re evil, why shouldn’t I reach across the table and kill you?”

  “If you try, you’ll be dead before you touch me.”

  “I ain’t afraid of your guards, they’re too far away to stop me. Killing you will help everyone. You’re no good to us, you’re a fo
ol, you’re a right wing nut job, we’ll close your streets, we’ll close your bridges and schools, shopping centers and food stores. Nothing will move until we get what we want. Do YOU understand me? You’ll give us what we want, or your new little country will be on its knees before nightfall.”

  He starts to reach across the table, Jay pulls the gun from under his leg, he fires two bullets into the protester’s chest. The sound is deafening to those at the table. Most hold their ears screaming in pain. The protest leader falls dead on the table. He splashes coffee on everyone. Jay’s security team grabs each of the protesters before they know what hit them.

  “Mr. President, what do you want done with these, people? Want me to dispose of them?”

  The protesters turn white thinking of what the guards mean. A few begin to beg for mercy. Jay lifts his hand saying,

  “Quiet. I’ve had enough of your bitching. I don’t think any of you has every held a real job or knows what reality is. I’m not going to have you harmed, you’re going to leave here and tell your friends outside to go home, and nothing will happen to them. If you continue to waste my time, I’ll have you arrested.”

  “I’ve done time; you can’t scare me with threats like that.”

  “Who said anything about jail? I’ll send you to a farm where you’ll work clearing land with your hands. Our prison time isn’t like it used to be, everyone works, everyone brings value to society. If you don’t bring any value, that’s okay, just don’t expect any handouts.”

  The table is silent as Jay’s message sinks in while looking at the dead body lying in front of them.

  Jay stands,

  “You’re welcome to attend the town hall meeting, so long as you behave. I don’t have patience for assholes. If you act like a spoiled child, you’ll be treated like one, which means, you’ll be removed from the room and punished.”

  “You can’t! We’ve got rights!”

  “You do, you have the freedom to do anything you want, until, and I’ll repeat that, until you infringe on someone else. That means you have the freedom to have a party, but if your noise keeps your neighbors up, you’re infringing on their right to sleep. You can drive, but if you crash into another car, you’re infringing on that driver’s rights, and you’ll pay for it. Don’t try to cry and beg for mercy in court, those rules have changed too. Judges won’t care how you were brought up or if you came from a broken home, the only question on the table will be if you broke the law or not. Am I clear?”

  “You’ve ruined a great country.”

  “Some people think I’m saving it. If you want your old life back, just move across the border. No one will stop you or even try to talk you out of it. This isn’t about income equality, there will always be those who work hard and become rich and those who do nothing and are poor. It’s not the government’s job to equalize them. It’s about civil and self-responsibility, you people need to stop blaming others and take responsibility for your own actions and the results of bad decisions you made. No one is stopping you from getting a job, no one is making you flip burgers; get an education, learn a trade, do something with your lives. Hold off having kids until you’re married and have a job. Be responsible for who you are and what you do. Your life isn’t my responsibility, it’s yours.”

  “We’ll organize and get you voted out of office.”

  “Good luck with that.”

  “We’ll raise money to defeat you.”

  “Good luck, I’m going to announce today there won’t be any outside money allowed in our future elections. Everyone running for office will have the same amount to spend, how it’s spent will be up to the candidate.”

  “You know you’re crazy, you ain’t going to get away with this. The people will stop you!”

  “You mean the people who voted 65% for me to lead us in secession?”

  “They didn’t know what they were voting for.”

  “Yes, they did. It was all made available to everyone. I didn’t keep any secrets from the voters. If you didn’t take the time to read what you were voting on, it’s your fault, begin to take responsibility for your own mistakes. Now, I think it’s time for you to go and either quiet your groups or go home. You’re causing a public disturbance.”

  “And if we don’t want to do either?”

  “Do you like farming? Me, I hate it. Maybe you’ll turn out to love it, because if we have to arrest you, you’ll end up working twelve hours every day. I told you, we’re ending prisons where you sit on your ass all day. You will work back breaking long days growing food to feed the needy.”

  “You can’t do that, we got rights.”

  “You do, you have the right to follow our laws, and if you don’t, you have the right to pay your price to society. Now, get out of my face.”

  Jay’s security leads the protesters out of the hotel back to the street, their followers gather around then asking how it went. Most don’t know how to respond, their world has been turned upside down. The hardcore protesters promise themselves they’ll kill the President so they can return to the old ways. They grew up learning how to game the system, they don’t want to lose the system or have it changed which will require them to learn a new set of rules.

  Chapter 18

  In Washington D.C. the President’s Chief of Staff informs him the Director of the NSA urgently needs to see him.

  “He always gives me a headache; I don’t understand half of the words he uses. If it’s really urgent, then I can’t avoid him, set up a five-minute meeting late this afternoon, that way I can leave for the day to clear my head after I see him.”

  “Yes, sir. I’ll set it up for 4:55 PM.”

  “Remind him, five-minutes, not more. Have we learned anything new from Tolson’s son-in-law?”

  “No sir. We’ve broken him, but haven’t learned anything we didn’t already know.”

  “Drop him in a hole and forget about him.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “How’s the progress repairing our grid? I learned this morning we’ve lost over five hundred thousand people due to the loss of electricity. I need to tell the people when the power will be turned back on.”

  “The latest estimate from the field teams is all of the power will be back on in two weeks.”

  “That’s what they said last week. Every time I ask, they tell me two weeks, it’s beginning to sound like a bad movie line. We need the power back on, and we need it on NOW.”

  “Yes, sir, I’ll personally check on their progress.”

  “What’s the military’s plan to attack the Confederation’s Naval fleet steaming up the Eastern Coast?”

  “Sir, I do have good news on this front, the military has gathered a significant force of submarines and fighters to attack their fleet. They have a new plan to sink the Battleship, they plan on attacking it with the second most powerful air-dropped weapon we have. Back in the first Gulf War, we developed a huge bomb, we called it the ‘Mother of all bombs’ because the Iraqi President Saddam Hussein said the Gulf War was going to be the ‘Mother of all wars.’ We developed it to dig out his bunkers. We believe it can easily penetrate the Battleship’s armor. Even if it misses, the explosion itself should shatter the ship. The Air Force is testing dropping the massive bomb from C17s since it’s too large to fit in our remaining B52s. The test is scheduled for tomorrow in Nevada. If the drop works, the Air Force and Navy plan to attack their Battleship in four days.”

  “Finally, a workable plan that sounds like it may succeed. Pass along my appreciation for their thinking outside of the box, finally. Half of the time, I think our remaining military’s heart sits in the South. Tell them I approve their plan, I want a couple of UAVs broadcasting the attack, I want to watch it real time and I’m going to broadcast it live on the net so that bastard Tolson will know the entire world will see his pride and joy sunk live, it will make his military rethink their change of allegiance. After sinking his damned boat, broadcast a one-time offer to his military to return home, I’ll forgi
ve them if they return during this one time offer.”

  “Yes, sir. I’m sure most of our military will return when they see their pride and joy sink.”

  “I agree; I can’t wait to see the look on Tolson’s face when he sees his precious toy destroyed and he knows he’s defeated.”

  The CoS smiles leaving the Oval Office.

  The Director of the NSA arrives at the Oval Office at 4:30 hoped the President will see him early. He’s forced to wait until 4:55 when he’s led into the President’s office.