The Shelter: Book 1, The Beginning

by Ira Tabankin

  I stand to reply, “Randy, I agree with you. Every person who knows about our shelter is one more who might and most likely will attack us. We can prepare some tricks for those that know where we are, however, it remains a risk, one we have to think about. I for one am leaning towards getting the shelter built quicker and taking the risk. We can make it very difficult for invaders to reach us. Once we know the world’s burning, we can rig a lot of nasty surprises to hurt any attacker. Of course, we might surface to find others living in our homes and eating our food. Or we could surface to find our homes burnt to the ground. We’re facing a risk either way we go. I for one think, we need more help in defending what we have. I think we should turn our border into a type of castle like in the old world. You know, like a moat around our farms, or guard towers.”

  Randy asks, “Jay, are you suggesting we build a wall around 900 acres? Do you have an idea what kind of resource that’s going to take? We’ll never get our crops in or out of the ground. There aren’t enough trees close to us for us to use to build a wall with. Making it out of cement will require many thousands of trucks that aren’t available. Where would we get so much in such a short time? I also think building a wall will cause everyone to wonder what we’re hiding.”

  The discussion goes around the room three times before we find ourselves in agreement to listen to Tony while also trying to figure out how to improve our defensive positions. We agreed to meet in two days time with Tony and Nancy. Franco and his sons go back to work on the foundation of the shelter while our neighbors go home for the evening.

  @@@@@

  Spetsnaz Captain Second Rank Sarnoff receives new orders to report to the Russian Embassy in New York City for a secret mission. Sarnoff is instructed to pick five people from his team that speak perfect English and who have experience operating in America. Upon arriving in New York City, Sarnoff reports to the FSB head of mission, Demetri Darkenov, who instructs the captain on his mission. “Captain, in the basement of the Embassy, are eighteen crates of weapons, all of the weapons are from China. Your orders are to spread these weapons in the minority neighborhoods in America’s major cities. You are to encourage them to attack the wealthy. We want you to start a race and class war. Such a war will divert the American’s attention away from their other issues. Minorities across the country will take up arms in support of their brothers. When the arms are captured, they’ll point to China’s involvement in America’s internal issues. This will increase the tension between the two countries. The drain on America’s resources will force their President to enact even greater draconian tax and security measures quickly pushing the collapse of their economy and the possibly of a civil uprising. Here are your team’s new ID documents and money to support your efforts. Do you have any questions?”

  “None, sir. I assume once we leave the embassy we’re on our own and we can’t return here.”

  “Correct, you will work your way to Los Angeles, stirring up trouble across the country. Once you reach LA, you will call 619-555-5555, the code word is ‘Bluebird’. Arrangements will be made for your return to the Motherland.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Captain, the highest office in the Motherland has their eye on you and this mission. Do well and you’ll be promoted upon your return.”

  “Thank you, sir. I’m sure we’ll have an enjoyable time sightseeing our way across America.”

  @@@@@

  At 11:15 PM, I’m woken by my cell. I wonder who’s calling at this hour, usually a call after I go to bed means bad news. “Hello, this is Jay.”

  “Jay, do you recognize my voice?”

  “Yes.”

  “Good. You seem to have a problem. Our good friend the Sheriff of Nottingham has informed the feds that you didn’t win the lottery. He’s claiming you sold drugs to make the money. The feds are going to seize your accounts in the morning. First thing tomorrow the Sheriff is going to show up on your doorstep with an arrest warrant for you.”

  “I see, have the funds we discussed been handled?”

  “Yes. I’d like you to call your bank to inform them someone stole your identity and they cleaned out your accounts. Claim you’ve been stolen from. Each of your accounts is insured for $250,000.”

  “I think I understand. I’m really pissed someone hacked my laptop and stole my passwords. I’ll have to report this crime to the good Sheriff of Nottingham first thing in the morning.”

  “Excellent idea.”

  “So I assume everything else is in process.”

  “Of course. Sorry to have woken you.”

  “No problem.”

  Turning over, Lacy asks, “Who was that?”

  “Tony, the Sheriff, has told the feds we didn’t win the lottery, did you know we’re drug, dealers? The feds are going to seize our accounts in the morning, except tonight a hacker raided our accounts and emptied our accounts.”

  “What? Why aren’t you calling the bank’s security department? If you know, this happened why don’t you do something about it?”

  “Honey, because Tony’s people are the hackers. They will empty our accounts while also converting them into gold which Tony said is untraceable. By the way, expect breakfast to be interrupted by the Sheriff with an arrest warrant for me.”

  “He wouldn’t dare.”

  “Yes, he will. As soon as he arrives to arrest me call Brad. He’ll be at the court before the Sheriff is able to book me. He shouldn’t have any problems getting me released. He has a copy of the certified letter from the lottery. Any judge that issued the warrant without checking the facts is about to be very embarrassed. Tell Brad that I want to file charges against the Sheriff that should keep him out of our hair for a while. Tell him about the when the Sheriff stopped me and punched me, Todd saw it.”

  “Honey, do you think it’s wise to just wait and let all of this happen?”

  “Yes, we really have no other choice. I didn’t get a call tonight. In fact, I’m going to report the phone lost or stolen. I’ll switch to my backup number, please make sure everyone has it.”

  “OK. Are you going to be able to get any sleep?”

  “Yup, nothing I can do about it, plus it may be fun. Honey, Tony wouldn’t have called unless he had everything already in hand.”

  “Are you sure he’s not creating a problem, so he can solve it on the eve of the meeting?”

  “The thought crossed my mind, but this does sound like our local Sheriff, who wants to find a way to take what’s ours. Maybe I should have just paid him off when I had the chance to.”

  “That’s not the answer and you know it. Brad is going to have to find a way to get the feds to investigate him.”

  “I like that idea, mention it to him when you call him in the morning. Goodnight hun.”

  “Night babe, I love you.”

  “I love you too.”

  Chapter 13

  As usual, Tony was correct, our front door was kicked in at 7:30 AM by the Sheriff and fifteen heavily armed deputies. They ran through our house yelling for everyone to get on their knees with their hands held up. The deputies marched my family downstairs. “Officers, thank you for bringing everyone down for breakfast. How would you like your eggs, or do you want pancakes? Coffee? We have regular and decaf.”

  The Sheriff stood staring at Lacy and I in shock, “Jay, what the fuck are you doing?”

  “Hell Sheriff, I figured even you could see we’re having breakfast, would you like to join us?”

  “I have a search warrant and a warrant for your arrest.”

  “Isn’t that nice, you plan to arrest me before you search for whatever it is you think we’re hiding. By the way, what is it you’re looking for?”

  “We know you’re hiding gold and drugs in the house.”

  “And just how do you know that?” I ask while sipping my coffee. “I admit, I do have drugs here, would you like two aspirin? I have prescriptions for all of the other drugs. You’ll find most of the pill bottles in the fridge, top shelf. Ju
st don’t mix them up. They’re very expensive.”

  “Jay, you don’t seem to understand. I’ve got you this time. You’re in violation of the President’s new executive order and you’re a drug dealer.”

  “Sherriff am I a drug dealer because I offered you two aspirins? What else have you found?”

  “Honestly, nothing yet but we will. If I have to tear your house apart, I’ll find your hidden gold and drugs.”

  “Sheriff, my lawyer is on his way here. I think you will be served with court papers ordering you to repair any damage you do to my house. In addition, I’ll be holding you and the county responsible for any damage you do to my home.”

  “Not if we find your hiding place.”

  “Sheriff, do you really think I’d be dumb enough to hide anything illegal in my house, knowing how much you’d love to nail me on something? Why don’t you sit, share a cup of coffee with us.”

  The Sheriff pours himself a cup of coffee. He sips it, saying, “It’s very good, it’s a shame you won’t get coffee this good in jail.”

  “Nor you.”

  “What the hell does that mean?”

  “You lied to the judge to get the warrants issued. I plan to press charges as soon as you’re done playing your silly games. In fact, since I’m Jewish, I’m planning on filing a Federal Hate Crime suit against you and your department. I have a press release ready to issue as soon as you’re finished. Would you like to read it before it’s issued?”

  “Jay, we both know you converted your money into gold.”

  “Do we? With what money? Haven’t you heard? We’re broke. Someone hacked my bank accounts last night and drained all of our accounts. I’ve notified the bank of the issue, their lawyers are checking our claim. They’ve confirmed someone logged into our accounts in the middle of the night, they were able to trace the login. Whoever stole our login bounced the signal all over the world. You can have your tech experts check my laptop. You’ll see I didn’t use it last night after 8:00 PM. My laptop wasn’t used to log into our accounts. Your experts will see our accounts weren’t accessed by any of our devices or from our house.”

  “You’re shitting me.”

  “Why don’t you call the bank and ask them yourself? I’m sure their head of security is going crazy trying to figure out what happened to our funds.”

  Laughing the Sheriff says, “Jay, this is too funny. You got robbed? Your account is only insured for $250,000. You lost over $20 million, poof just disappeared into thin air. This is so funny. I love the irony of it. A thief robbed by another thief.”

  “I don’t find it very funny.”

  “I don’t understand why you’re not panicking. I would be.”

  “Sheriff, you would panic because your money was gotten illegally, ours was won legally. Our money was deposited in many different accounts, in different banks. We may lose a million, the rest is insured. We’ll be inconvenienced for a while, but only a while. The FDIC will return our funds very quickly, as will the other banks. They can’t afford the bad press if they don’t return it. Your people have been here for a while, have they found anything?”

  “Not yet, however, this is a very large house. The largest in the area. If we don’t find anything in the house, we’ll start in your yard and then the fields.”

  Reading the warrant, I smile, “Sheriff, no you won’t.”

  “What do you mean, no I won’t?”

  “Did you read the search warrant? You have permission to search my house. Not my yard, not the farm fields, only the house. If you do anything else without a valid warrant, I will call the State Police and say my rights are being violated. I’m sure the State Police would love to arrest you. Sure you don’t want another cup of coffee or anything to eat?”

  “Let me see that warrant again.” I slide it across the kitchen table. My kids and grandkids are marching in and out of the kitchen getting breakfast, they nod and wave to the police officers who are dressed in black tactical gear running room to room in our house. Sammi asks, “Dad, why are they running around like clowns? Why are they all armed? We didn’t do anything to interfere with them.”

  “Sammi, ask them.”

  Sammi looks at the Sheriff, “Sheriff, why are you tossing everything on the floor? A lot of that stuff is ours. Why aren’t you putting everything back where you found it? There are young children in the house, one of them is my daughter, your people are scaring her by pointing your guns at her. When my Dad’s done with you, I’m going to sue you.”

  “Young lady, I’d keep my mouth shut if I were you. Who the fuck do you think you are? And what the fuck are you doing with that cell phone?”

  “I’m exercising my rights. I’m recording your cursing in front of my daughter, I’m recording your people tear my daddy’s house apart and the way you’re disrespecting him and all of us. I’m recording how you’re scaring the young children in the house, how you’re breaking items and pointing guns at unarmed people wearing PJs. I’m recording everything which I’m sure my dad’s lawyer and a judge are going to be very happy to see.”

  “Young lady, you can’t record a police officer. It’s an obstruction of justice.”

  “Yes, I can. Google it yourself, it’s legal in Tennessee. I checked. I’m not threatening you, I’m not interfering with your operation. My husband and I are standing at least five feet away from your people while we record everything you do.”

  Before the Sheriff can respond, our lawyer, Brad enters the front door. “Hi Jay, Lacy you’re looking great this fine morning.”

  Lacy hugs Brad, “Coffee?”

  “Jay’s special brew?”

  “Of course.”

  “Then yes. By the way, hello Sheriff, I think I have something here for you. Here it is, I have a court issued cease and desist order. It’s signed by Superior Court Judge James, Brownstone.”

  “How did you get him to sign this?”

  “By presenting him with the evidence this entire raid was bullshit. I showed him the certified letter from the lottery proving that Lacy and Jay won the money. I also have a certified email from his banks that his accounts were hacked last night. The bank's security confirms the access did not, I repeat, did not come from any device registered to Jay or Lacy. No device in this house accessed his accounts last night. You’re on a private witch hunt which the court frowns upon. You’ll also notice you and your department are liable for any damage to Lacy and Jay’s possessions. You invented this entire event because you’re looking for something to hang on my clients. The Judge isn’t very happy with you right now. In fact, I’m expecting you to be receiving a call to shut this investigation down.”

  “Councilor, I don’t answer to you.”

  “You’ll answer my questions when you’re on the witness stand in open court.”

  The Sheriff’s phone rings before he can respond to the Brad, “Hello.”

  “Yes, I understand. No, we haven’t found anything yet. Sir, this is a very large house. We haven’t checked the yard or the fields yet. I know what the warrant says. Sir, we only need a little more time. Yes, sir, I hear you. Thank you, sir.”

  Punching the end button, the Sheriff looks at Brad saying, “Councilor, it seems you’ve won this round, but one inning doesn’t make the ball game. I’ll be back.”

  “Sheriff when you return, you better have cause. Otherwise, I will take you to court.”

  “Counselor, I still have the arrest warrant for Jay.”

  “If you value your job, I’d suggest you forget it and leave the house. You and I both know you’re here on a fishing expedition. If you arrest him, we’ll add false imprisonment and false arrest to our charges.”

  “Mark my words, I’ll be back. I’ll get what I deserve.”

  “Sheriff, you may indeed get what you deserve. Did I tell you I’ve been recording everything you’ve said since I arrived? I’m sure the court is going to be very interested in hearing the recording as will the electorate in the next election.”

 
; “Counselor, what do you want?”

  “Leave my clients alone.”

  The Sheriff turns around, storming out of our house after slamming the door behind him. Brad and I laugh as he orders his people to leave.” I call over to Sammi, “Sam, why don’t you take some pictures of the damage they did to our front yard and anything else you see.”

  “Sure dad, happy to.”

  Shells sits down between Brad and me, “Dad, are you broke? Did you lose everything? Todd and I can help you. We have a little saved from what you gave us.”