The Final Proclamation (An America Reborn Thriller Book 2)

by Carlton James

  “At 6:38 p.m. Eastern time the district manager for the FCC delivered a supplemental order to one received by this station earlier in the day. In the first order, this station was directed to terminate all broadcasts, for national security reasons, based upon the President’s authority under the declared state of emergency. The order recently handed to us rescinds that order without explanation. Our contacts within the White House indicate the President will be making an address to the nation tomorrow evening concerning the death of her husband and explaining the White House reaction directly following that tragedy. Now let’s turn to our White House correspondent, who can tell us what is known about this whole incident.”

  Mike pushed the record button and turned off the TV. “I’ve spent the last four hours scouring the web for information and unless there has been a major breakthrough, which they would have announced at the beginning, they’re just speculating and rehashing what we already know. Peter, do you have any insight on this stuff?”

  Everyone turned to Peter, who usually had excellent sources in Washington, D.C.

  “I’m sorry, Mike. Everyone I know seems to be as baffled about it as we are.”

  Although uncomfortable about it, Peter kept to himself Lisa and Su Ling’s opinions of what might have happened. They were speculating and to relay their thoughts might compromise the fact they had been hiding in his house for a month. Both were strongly of the opinion that the President had ordered Walter killed, but would not elaborate why they had that opinion, citing Lisa’s promise to her father.

  Peter continued, “I have no idea about who killed the First Man, but I kind of suspect that the President’s reaction to publication of the video by denying it and trying to crush further publication was literally a knee jerk reaction. Seems like her staff was finally able to talk some sense into her and she’s trying to do damage control. What is most frightening to me is the fact that she ordered a blatant violation of the First Amendment and won’t be held accountable for it. We’ll have to see what she says tomorrow evening, but if she keeps this stuff up, the country is going to revolt on her. It’ll be Patriots versus King George, or Queen Katherine all over again.”

  Looking around the room, Mike saw only agreement. He asked Sean for his take. “Mike, I have to agree with Peter. Honestly, I’m just waiting for the other shoe to drop.”

  Just as he said this, power was cut off in the house. After about five seconds, Mike’s automatic whole-house generator fired up and the lights came back on. Mike asked Lauren, “Honey, how many times has that happened this week? Four? Five?”

  Lauren said, “I think it’s the fifth time. So far an hour is the longest it has been out. I did hear the power company has been cutting employees and has been having trouble buying power from other regions.” The whole concept of no power was depressing for everyone.

  Chapter 52

  The New Year - Plus Forty Four Days

  State highway

  Outside of Shelbyville, KY

  0830 Hours EST

  Cruising down the two-lane highway between the state capitol and the small town of Shelbyville, Kentucky was the Governor’s convoy consisting of ten vehicles. It included the Governor’s limousine, two Kentucky State Police cruisers and seven military vehicles. The National Guard Captain in charge of the Kentucky Governor’s protection motorcade was only a little concerned. He had complete confidence in his men and their equipment. It had been gained through two tours in “The Sandbox” of Afghanistan and Iraq, over the past four years as Combat MPs. These military policemen had literally been to war and returned to tell about it. He was confident that he would win any fight that might come their way, but he was less certain he could avoid casualties. This concern was heightened when he recalled the briefings identifying potential threats to the Governor. With less experienced troops, he would have been riding without any weapons “locked and loaded,” or having shells in the chambers and capable of being fired by simply flicking off the safety switch. He now treated every movement of the Governor to be the same as a combat patrol in the Sandbox. For firepower, his people had everything available from individual M-4, fully automatic rifles to grenade launchers to the mounted, belt-fed M240 machine guns atop two of his armored HMMWVs, known as the Humvee.

  The original plan was to drive to the Interstate for the short trip to Shelbyville, however, the leader of the Kentucky State Police protection detail for the Governor had been informed the Interstate was shut down by a bad tractor trailer accident just west of Frankfort. The motorcade approached a cut between two hills and the hair on the convoy commander’s neck began to stand up. Automatically, he reached for his radio and announced for his men to go on high alert. He had trusted his instincts before and had always been right. Within seconds everything seemed to happen at once, but to the commander, it played out in slow motion.

  A pickup truck roared out of a driveway off to one side, heading for the side of the lead armored Humvee. At the same time bullets began to bounce off the sides of several vehicles, coming from at least 4 directions. The turret gunner of the second armored Humvee brought his M240 machine gun that was mounted on the roof, to bear on the pickup and riddled the front seat area of the vehicle. At the same time the third Humvee opened up with its MK19 automatic grenade launcher, causing the pickup to explode. None of the vehicles in the convoy had slowed and all maintained their assigned distances from the vehicle in front.

  The Governor’s armored limousine passed the middle of the cut through the small hills when two men could be seen standing on top of the hill to the right, each with a LAWS rocket on his shoulder. The first fired at the limousine, with the rocket passing several feet over the roof. Just as the second man fired his rocket, he was blasted backward by bullets striking him from at least three different sources. His rocket struck the limousine in the passenger compartment, causing the vehicle to lose control and crash into the rock wall making up the side of the hill.

  With the limousine disabled, the Combat MP’s that were not manning mounted weapons dismounted, and immediately set out to secure the perimeter. A loud crack was heard and the MP manning one of the machine guns felt a bullet tear through the cloth on the side of his shirt. He immediately shouted, “Sniper!” He then pointed in the approximate direction from which the bullet had come. Four of the MPs began to quickly and stealthily make their way toward the sniper position. It took them less than a minute to cover most of the distance. Twice more shots were fired from that position, but it was obvious the sniper was focused on the convoy. When the MPs were within eighty yards of the sniper one of them launched a 40mm grenade, ending the threat. It had landed eight feet from the old bearded man, but he had suffered several shrapnel wounds and lay crying in pain.

  The sergeant in charge of the four approached the bleeding man, who was doubled over, holding his gut. Conversationally, the sergeant said, “If you don’t roll over and show me your hands, I’m just going to put a bullet right between your legs and then through both knees.”

  After a moment, the man rolled over, pulled his hands away from his gut and then put them back to his gut.

  Again, in his unhurried Kentucky drawl, the sergeant said, “I’m not a gonna tell ya again. Hands all the way out, spread eagle. Do it now.” The old man looked into the eyes of the sergeant and saw no pity, nor any give. He moved his hands and arms as instructed.

  The sergeant said to one of his men, “Search him, and then cuff him.” Two other guns and two knives were found on the old man along with his wallet and a small bag of gold coins.

  “Get me a medic, Goddamn you!” The old man spit the words out through painfully clenched teeth.

  The sergeant just stood and looked at him as his corporal read out what he had found in his pockets and wallet. The old man continued to curse and demand m
edical treatment, citing everything from Kentucky law to the Geneva Convention. The other two men had reported there did not appear to be any more hostiles in the area. They also believed they had found the man’s brand new truck. Two sets of new truck keys were laying in the pile of the man’s belongings.

  The sergeant sent one man with keys to verify it was his truck before squatting down on his heels next to the old man. He thought briefly how the old man could have been his grandpa, but then decided he was probably too mean to have fathered children.

  The sergeant reached into his medical kit and pulled out a plastic wrapped syringe and showed it to the man. “Mister, this here is my own personal morphine shot, you know in case some asshole like you was to shoot me and leave me laying there to die. Now when we got one of them Taliban idiots over in the Sandbox, we usually turned them over to the Afghan soldiers to get everything they knew. I got to watch a couple of times and they were pretty good at squeezing ‘em. Far as I’m concerned, you’re no better than one of them and maybe worse, ‘cause you weren’t even told we were invaders. Now the only thing standin’ between you and this here morphine and a medic is telling me who paid you to do this.”

  The old man closed his eyes for a couple of seconds before muttering, “Fuckit, I ain’t going to suffer for that sonofabitch. I might not live through this, but at least I can die knowing he’ll get his. It was Tank Monahan who paid for this. That’s his gold in the pouch. Hell, you can have it if you want.” Gasping with pain, the old man continued, “He said something about the Fontaine people had hired him to hire us to get rid of a problem. That’s all I know, now give me the damned drugs!”

  The sergeant nodded, before asking, “When and where did he do this?”

  “Goddammit, it was four days ago at the Pen and Pencil in Frankfort. Now please…” He drew out the last word with his agony.

  The sergeant slit the old man’s pants leg with his knife and gave him the shot of morphine, followed by putting on a pressure bandage. He then sat down on a nearby rock and began to dig for more details.

  . . .

  The White House

  1700 Hours EST

  Marc sat at his desk feeling like a zombie. He had grabbed three hours of sleep, early in the morning, before showering and coming back to the White House. He had been working with the President’s speech writers when the news broke that the Kentucky Governor had been assassinated by what was believed to be paramilitary revolutionaries. Katherine had immediately reacted by demanding a portion of her speech be used to announce her ordered confiscation of all assault weapons and any semi-automatic weapon capable of shooting anything larger than a .22 caliber long rifle bullet. This would include semi-automatic handguns. Only police and military units were exempt from this confiscation, which would be coordinated by the Department of Homeland Security. The portion of the speech dealing with Walter’s murder was to be downsized and emphasis was to be placed on the Governor’s assassination.

  Marc had heard whispers, conveyed through social media and mentioned as unconfirmed reports on the conservative news channel, that a surviving attacker had named a local man hired by the Regional Governor and even the Fontaine administration as being responsible for the assassination. The White House and favorable media outlets quickly condemned those reports. The surviving attacker had been taken into custody by DHS and had disappeared. DHS had also arrested the Commanding General of the Kentucky National Guard on suspicion of complicity to the murder. The usual requirement for a probable cause hearing had been waived under the State of Emergency by Regional Administrator Coyote Collins. Tensions were running high in Kentucky and throughout the heartland.

  Marc had no chance to talk to Susan, who was spending almost every moment with the President. Events seemed to continue at an incredible pace, making it impossible to get ahead of them. He had stopped trying to write up explanations for the PEOs and instead simply disseminated them to the Press and the Congressional Record.

  Thinking about the President’s upcoming address to the nation, the sour feeling in the pit of his stomach seemed to grow. With everything going on in the rest of the world, it seemed that America was destined to go to war with herself.

  Chapter 53

  The New Year - Plus Forty-Four Days

  The Mike Broehm Residence

  Outside of Cronin, Kentucky

  2140 Hours EST

  Mike was gathering himself to speak with his command staff and a few others in his family room following the President’s address. Quite a few soft curses and comments clearly showed the contained outrage felt by all present. On the one hand, the President had actually apologized to the American people for the well-intentioned, but misguided actions of a few members of her administration. She even explained that the violent death of her husband, Walter had caused her to rely on inaccurate data when she made the decision to halt dissemination of what she was lead to believe was a staged video depicting his last moments. At this point her voice cracked, just a little, and a tear dripped down her cheek, as if she recalled the horror and was truly a devastated wife.

  The President’s demeanor changed when she described the attack on the Governor of Kentucky by what were believed to be militant revolutionaries. The DHS had quickly identified accomplices, to include the Commanding General of the Kentucky National Guard. All Kentucky National Guard members were ordered to remain in their barracks or training centers, with guard details from the active U.S. Army to be sent to each one.

  The President had then announced a new PEO directing all Americans to turn in any automatic or semi-automatic weapons shooting munitions larger than a .22 caliber long rifle, to DHS collection centers. All of these weapons must be turned in within forty five days or offenders would be in violation of the PEO and would be arrested. This order included handguns. Only active military and police were exempt from this mandate.

  At first, Mike didn’t know what to say. He began by saying, “All right, this is not going to be the end of the world.”

  Just then Linda walked into the room. She had been to Frankfort, along with a member of Sean’s security detail, to gather intelligence about the murder. With some relief, Mike said, “What can you tell us, Linda?”

  Looking around the room at all the gloom and doom, Linda decided on a tried and true military briefing strategy. “Well, first Mike, I’ve got good news and bad news. Which do you want to hear first?”

  “Why don’t you give us the bad news first and we’ll head uphill?”

  “Okay, I heard the President’s address on the radio on my way back from Frankfort. In fact I sat out in the car the past few minutes to finish it up. That stupid bitch just issued the opening salvo for what could be a very bloody civil war. Now for some good news, the Combat MP’s helping out the Governor’s detail were able to interrogate the guy responsible for staging the attack. He said that Tank Monahan had paid him a quarter million to do it and that Tank claimed the money came from the Regional Administrator’s people. Probably Coyote’s Chief of Staff. They paid in gold coins. A state judge has already signed the search and arrest warrants and the state police are out after Tank and the Chief of Staff right now. Also, in an unusual move, they are trying to get the whole story out on social media, but several of the social media moguls are taking down the sites almost as quickly as they can try to get them out.”

  Linda took a deep breath before continuing. “It is obvious that the DHS won’t be using the National Guard to try to seize guns. They’ve been restricted to their barracks. It will take DHS a while to gather enough goons to begin trying to enforce the President’s PEO. Frankly, I don’t think the goons or even active military will be much interested in starting firefights with American citizens. If the orders do go out to the military, I would expect everything from a passive ref
usal to mass desertions. I think what we’ll have to worry about most is the likelihood that DHS goons will target various areas, like this neighborhood, for plunder. After the last time, they’ll most likely bring a lot more men and firepower. Again, the bad news is that there will be more of them with more firepower. The good news is they don’t know how prepared we are nor how strong we are in leadership.”

  Saying this, she looked right at Mike. Everyone else turned to him as well and began a spontaneous cheer, to include comments like, “Yeah, Mike,” and “We’ll fight for Mike!”

  Mike was completely humbled by the show of confidence and could feel the need inside of him to live up to their faith.

  “I’ve been saying all along,” Mike said, “if we stick together, we can get through anything.”

  Mike let things die down a little before asking Linda, “Now correct me if I’m wrong, but won’t the arrest of Tank and the Coyote’s Chief of Staff be viewed by the administration as some form of insurrection?”

  This question sobered everyone quickly. Linda said, “Yes, Mike it very well could. But other than the DHS and its hired goons, I don’t think she’ll be able to successfully send anyone else out to enforce it. She and her advisors badly miscalculated the vast majority of the American people. She may be able to blow smoke up the ass of her most ardent supporters, but certainly not around here.”

  Linda’s comment drew a suppressed smile and chuckle from Lauren and even a few of the men in the room.

  Mike interjected, “Kentucky does have Ft. Knox and Ft. Campbell with lots of soldiers at each place. Won’t they be tasked to help DHS?”