The Days of Noah: Book One: Conspiracy

by Mark Goodwin

  Everett stirred his drink. “Why would they want to take the gold price down?”

  Jones handed his plate to the bartender who had come by to clear the table. “It will make it cheaper to accumulate for one. The other reason is to discredit it as a competitor to the new global currency.”

  “Do the bankers intend to make the global currency gold-backed, like the BRICS currency would have been?”

  Jones curled his lip. “No. The new currency will be cryptographic. Bitcoin was the beta test for it.”

  “So this Nakamoto guy who created bitcoin, he worked for the Company?”

  Jones smiled. “Yes and no. Let’s just say we made him an offer he couldn’t refuse.”

  Everett nodded. “That’s why none of the funds are being converted into bitcoin.”

  “Bingo.” Jones held up his glass to signal for the bartender to bring him another. “Darkcoin, on the other hand, is an effective tool in the hands of someone who knows how to exploit it.”

  “I’m confused. Bitcoin will be the new global currency?”

  Jones shook his head. “No, the bitcoin payment system will be used for the new currency, but bitcoin was just the prototype. Bitcoin holders will have their bitcoins converted to the new currency, but their virtual wallets and cyber vaults will be obsolete. Likewise, the private exchanges won’t work with the new currency. The IMF will be the only exchange. Dragon will track and store all payments, balances, and purchases.”

  Everett was wearing down, but he had to know more. “Then why are CIA operatives stockpiling gold and silver?”

  “Because there will be no more paper currency. Black ops run off of the radar. We used paper for everything. There were no credit cards and very few wire transfers. Field agents use cash so nothing can be traced. Gold and silver will be the new black-market currency. Besides that, the CIA has been given carte blanche for decades; it’s unclear how much slack we’ll have when the new government rolls out. It’s sort of like working for a business that is coming under new management. You know what the old bosses let you get away with, but when the new management team shows up, everyone has to get to work on time, stop playing games on the computer, and quit taking an extra twenty minutes for lunch. You know you’ll still have a job, but you want to enjoy things the way they are while you can. Do you understand?”

  Everett finished his drink. “Yeah, I guess that makes sense. But what should I do?”

  The bartender brought Jones’s second drink. Agent Jones smiled and nodded at the man as he took the fresh whiskey. “Right, we still haven’t covered that, and it’s getting late. When you see gold and silver drop thirty or forty percent in the course of five days or less, start putting all of your liquid assets into physical coins. Better stock up on some dry goods too. The stores might be closed down for a while. No payment system means no stores. If you have somewhere outside of the city to lay low for a while, that’d be smart also.”

  Everett was tired, but this statement sparked his interest. “I thought the bitcoin payment system would work.”

  Jones sipped his drink. “Stores aren’t set up for that. And like I said before, the elite want to see a period of civil unrest. They want people to beg them to come in and save the day. They also want a significant die-off to reduce the population. Less people are easier to control, and the elite don’t have to share their planet with as many peasants. These people are absolutely sick. I can see that you’re tired, and you have enough to digest for now, but next time we get together, I’ll fill you in on the details.”

  “There’s more?”

  Jones laughed, “Son, we’re just getting started.”

  CHAPTER 9

  Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.

  Isaiah 5:20

  Noah Parker came to in the back of the patrol car. Blood was running down his head and into his right eye. He struggled to wipe it off on his shoulder, but the handcuffs held his arms behind his back and made it an impossible task.

  The car drove through the security gate at the county jail. Rodgers put the car in park and walked around to open Noah’s door. “You ready to do things the easy way?”

  Noah stepped out of the car and stood with the officer’s assistance. “Did you have to crack my skull after you tased me?”

  Rodgers guided Noah by the arm. “You hit your head on the desk after you went out. We’ll have the nurse clean that up and put a bandage on it while you’re in booking.”

  Noah had nothing else to say. There was no point in it anyway. Noah went through booking where he was fingerprinted.

  The nurse did come to clean up his wound. “This isn’t too deep. I’ll just put some Steri-Strips on there. Leave them alone for a few days. If you pick at them, they’ll come off and this might open back up.”

  Noah glanced up at her but said nothing.

  He had to give up his clothes and put on the orange pants and shirt issued by the jail. “How humiliating,” he muttered to himself.

  Noah sat in a holding cell for nearly three hours before he was taken to his cellblock. Once there, he took the mattress and the linens he was assigned and found a cell with an empty bunk.

  He placed his things on the top bunk and nodded at the man occupying the bottom.

  The man looked over the top of the book he was reading. “Make yourself at home; I’m Phil.”

  Noah forced a smile as he put the sheets on the mattress. “Nice to meet you.”

  “What did you do?”

  “Taught creationism in public school.”

  Phil laughed. “No, seriously, what are you in here for.”

  “I’m serious. It is a violation of the criminal codes in Community Core to teach creationism.”

  Phil picked his book back up. “Suit yourself. If you don’t want to talk about it, that’s fine, but I don’t need any BS excuses.”

  Noah crawled up in the bunk and stared at the ceiling. His mind raced for a while, and then he finally fell asleep.

  Phil nudged Noah. “Buddy, wake up. You’re on the news. Sorry I didn’t believe you. I’ve never heard of a charge like that.”

  Noah wasn’t sleeping very hard. He jumped out of the rack and followed Phil out into the dayroom to see the television, which was mounted fifteen feet up on the wall.

  The field reporter outside of the jail was speaking to the reporter in the newsroom.

  “That’s right Rick, roughly one hundred miles away from the site of the landmark Scopes Monkey Trial, held in Dayton, Tennessee, in 1925, a historical arrest has once again been made over the controversy of creation versus evolution. Noah Parker was arrested earlier today for teaching creationism at Sevier County High School. The arrest shows how much America has changed in less than a century.

  “In the 1925 Scopes trial, John Thomas Scopes was accused of teaching evolution in a Tennessee High School. Although the case was later overturned, Scopes was found guilty of teaching evolution and fined one hundred dollars. The trial turned into a media frenzy, and reporters from all over the country descended on the small town of Dayton, Tennessee. Dayton now holds an annual festival to commemorate the event. During the festival, a musical play entitled, Front Page News, which depicts the events of the trial, is performed at the Cumberland County Playhouse. Only time will tell if this case will also gain national recognition. Back to you, Rick.”

  Phil patted Noah on the shoulder. “Sounds like you might end up as famous as this Scopes guy.”

  “Lucky me.”

  Dinner was being served while the news was on. Noah found a seat next to Phil and waited for the tray to be placed in front of him. When it arrived, two boiled hot dogs, two slices of white bread, lukewarm mixed vegetables, and a piece of yellow cake with no icing sat on the plastic section tray.

  Noah stared at it.

  Phil wrapped one of his hotdogs in a piece of the bread. “You better eat. There won’t be anything else
until 5:00 AM.”

  Noah pushed the tray toward Phil. “I should be bonding out soon. Do you want it?”

  Phil pulled the tray over and took the hotdogs. “At least eat your cake. It’s not too bad, and you’re not free until you walk out that door.”

  Noah nodded and picked up the cake.

  After dinner, a voice came over the intercom. “The following inmates have visitors. When you hear your name called, line up at the sally port door: Miller, Gibson, Mills, Dunn, Parker, Alvarez. If you didn’t hear your name, you don’t have a visitor.”

  Noah got in the line by the door and waited. Two guards appeared outside of the thick glass and metal door, a buzzer sounded, and the heavy door slid open.

  The first guard put on latex gloves, while the second gave instructions. “Line up with your hands against the wall.”

  Noah complied as the guard went from inmate to inmate performing a pat-down search.

  After the search, Noah followed the line to the visitor station. He found an empty booth and waited. Moments later, Cassie came to the glass separation booth and picked up the phone. “What happened to your head?”

  Noah held the receiver just close enough to hear. “The officer said that I hit my head on the desk after they tased me.”

  Cassie’s lip started to quiver. She swallowed hard. “I’m so sorry this happened to you.”

  “Did you call a bail bondsman?”

  Cassie wiped a single tear. “They hit you with resisting arrest and assault of a law enforcement officer in addition to the Community Core violation. I think they’re trying to make an example out of you. Your bond is $100,000. We need ten grand to bond you out. We’re short about $1,500. I sold off some stock from our Roth IRA. By the time the money from the sale is available to transfer out of the IRA account and it clears into our checking, it could be Thursday or Friday.”

  Noah bit his lip in anger. “He assaulted me! And I never resisted!”

  Cassie maintained a calm tone. “I know baby. I called the teachers union to get you a lawyer, but they can’t represent you because of the Community Core contract violation.

  “I spoke with Isaiah, and he has a friend that’s a lawyer. I called the lawyer, and he’s filing for a bond reduction hearing. Either way, it could take a couple of days. Will you be all right?”

  “I can stick it out. The market looked like it was about to get pummeled this morning before I left for work. The news said it rebounded quite a bit, but I guess we still lost a lot on the stocks you had to sell.”

  Cassie smiled. “Not as much as we would’ve if the market hadn’t come back around. The proceeds of the sale and our savings will be completely gone once we bond you out. Do you think we should sell off some more so we have a little cash? Besides that, I think something is happening in the markets that they’re not telling us about. We could be in for a rough ride.”

  Noah tried to think. With everything else that was going on today, he wasn’t in the best position to be making a decision like this. “What’s the total value of the portfolio after today’s drop?”

  “Roughly $40,000.”

  “What do you think we should do?”

  “I think we should sell everything and take the cash. Since it’s a Roth IRA, we won’t pay any penalties. What happened today is a very bad sign.”

  Noah though for a minute. “How about we sell half and think about the rest at a later date.”

  “Okay, we can talk about the other half after you get out.” Cassie filled Noah in on how much Lacy missed him and assured him that everything would be okay.

  They said their good-byes, and Noah returned to his cell.

  He climbed on his bunk.

  “Did your visit go okay?” Phil said.

  “A little disappointing. You were right. You’re not free until you walk out the door.”

  “Do you want to borrow a book?”

  Noah looked over the side of the rack. “Do you have a Bible?”

  Phil rummaged around under his bunk and pulled out a Bible. “They used to give these out free. Now, someone has to order it for you from an approved Internet bookstore. My mom sent me this one.”

  Noah took the Bible. “Thanks.”

  Phil laughed. “Of course, they might be banned altogether if you don’t win this trial.”

  Noah still had not grasped what his trial would mean for religious liberty. For the moment, he was focused strictly on getting out of this cage.

  Noah read the soothing words of Psalms until he fell asleep.

  Early the next morning, Noah woke to the sound of breakfast being served. The trustees brought around breakfasts in bags and handed them through the cell door. Noah opened the brown bag he had been given. Inside was a boiled egg, a pint of skim milk, and a square piece of bread wrapped in plastic wrap. “Why can’t we eat in the dayroom?”

  Phil began to remove the shell from the boiled egg. “Budget cuts. The jail doesn’t have enough correctional officers to watch us all day, every day. When they’re short staffed, we stay on lock-down.”

  Noah tore into the food. “Is this supposed to be a biscuit?”

  Phil removed the contents of the paper bag and used it to put the egg shells in. “That’s what they call it.”

  Noah was famished since he had skipped dinner the evening before. He ate everything without complaining.

  Shortly after breakfast, the door to his cell buzzed, and a voice came over the intercom. “Parker, pack it up. You’re bonding out.”

  Phil smiled at Noah. “Congratulations buddy, I thought you were going to be stuck here with us for a while.”

  “So did I.” Noah wrapped the sheets and the mattress. “Take care.”

  “You too,” Phil said.

  Noah proceeded to the sally port door and waited for a guard to arrive to escort him back to the processing area. Forty minutes later, the door opened, and the corrections officer walked Noah down the hall. “We’re a little short staffed today. It could take a while to process you out.”

  “Okay,” Noah said.

  The guard took Noah to the holding cell he had sat in when he was booked the day before. Noah sat and waited some more.

  ***

  Cassie had just finished cleaning the dishes from breakfast when she heard a knock at the door.

  She dried her hands and went to look out the window. “Sevier County Sherriff? Could they have dropped the charges and brought Noah home?”

  She opened the door. A deputy in his mid-forties greeted her. “Mrs. Parker, I’m Deputy Donaldson. May we come in to talk with you for a moment?”

  “What about?”

  Donaldson had three other deputies behind him. This was obviously not a social call.

  Donaldson stuck his foot in the doorjamb so Cassie couldn’t close the door. “We’re escorting Ms. Carrick from Child Services. She’s here to do an evaluation.”

  Cassie tried to close the door but couldn’t. “Unless you have a warrant, you need to leave.”

  Donaldson was a big guy. He pushed the door open and walked in with the other three following him. “We don’t need a warrant ma’am. This will all go much easier if you just let us talk with you for a minute. Do you have any weapons in the house?”

  Cassie started for her phone. “I’m calling my lawyer.”

  Donaldson yelled. “Take a seat!”

  The second deputy to come in drew his pistol, as did the third deputy. Cassie put her hands in the air.

  Donaldson said, “Wooten, check her purse. She was going for it.”

  Wooten complied. “She has a Kahr nine millimeter in here.”

  Cassie didn’t move. “I was going for my phone.”

  “Cuff her,” Donaldson said.

  The Parker’s dog, Buster, became very upset and started barking at the deputies.

  Donaldson was moving toward Cassie. “Shoot that dog, Puckett.”

  Lacy walked into the room just as Deputy Puckett fired three shots into Buster. “No! Buster!”


  The little girl threw herself on the convulsing animal. Buster had a violent seizure before he expired.

  The fourth deputy shouted, “What is wrong with you people? You don’t just shoot their dog! He was just barking. This is America. I spent four years in the desert risking my life and fighting for freedom. This is not freedom!”

  Donaldson pointed at him. “Starkey, outside. Wait in the car. We’ll talk about this later.”

  Starkey ripped his badge off his shirt and threw it on the floor. “We’re not talking about anything. I want no part of this. Killing a dog, searching houses with no warrants, taking kids away from their parents for no good reason. This is on you.”

  Donaldson yelled. “You vets think you know everything. We’ve got a war right here. If you walk away, your career is finished.”

  Starkey kept walking and didn’t look back.

  Puckett holstered his weapon and helped Donaldson secure cuffs on Cassie. “Should we go after Starkey?”

  Donaldson shook his head. “Let him go. He chose his side.”

  Deputy Wooten grabbed Lacy from the floor where she lay screaming, holding the bloody corpse of her dog, Buster. “I need to put zip-tie restraints on this one.”

  “Do what you have to do.” Donaldson adjusted his utility belt and walked outside to retrieve the Child Services worker.

  Cassie sat on the couch. Her face was blood red with fury, but she stayed calm for Lacy. “It’s going to be okay sweetie.”

  The youngster screamed. “They killed Buster. I hate them. I hate them!”

  A heavyset woman followed Deputy Donaldson back in the room. “Lacy, I’m Ms. Carrick from the Department of Child Services.”

  Lacy spit at her. “I hate you!”

  Ms. Carrick stepped away from her. “You’re just upset right now, but everything is going to be fine.”

  Lacy kicked her feet. “Nothing is fine. You killed Buster. I hate you all!”

  Ms. Carrick walked around the house. “Mrs. Parker, I’m here to do an evaluation. Your husband has been charged with crimes against children. It’s routine for Child Services to do an investigation after criminal charges involving minors. I’m going to be honest with you. So far, things don’t look good. Deputy Donaldson says you have weapons in the house.”