by Ira Tabankin
Lacy looks at me asking, “Is he, is all of the government insane? How the hell can they be opening the borders when millions of Americans are being fired? What brand of rose colored glasses are these people wearing?”
“None of them can face the truth that everything is falling apart, no matter what happens they hold onto the status quo. Holding onto power is the most important thing for them. They think they’re above the people they’re supposed to be reporting to. In the President’s mind, he doesn’t work for us, we exist to support him. Just like in the Dark Ages. He and his aides know what’s best for us. With the left, it’s always ‘do what I say, not as I do.’ None of the laws or rules applies to them. Congress passes laws which they exclude themselves from. Part of me thinks the coming collapse is going to be a good thing. It will give Obama the clean slate he needs to finish his transforming of the country.”
Lacy shakes her head saying, “Jay, it’s not a good thing, millions are going to die, we could see the end of America as we know it. We could end up with him as a dictator. If the economy collapses as most thinking people now seem to agree is unavoidable. The President might declare a national emergency, signing an executive order declaring martial law. He could postpone the 2016 elections until the economy picks back up, which we both know isn’t going to happen. He could rule for life.”
“Honey, if that happens, I hope the military takes their oath to defend against all enemies, foreign and domestic to heart and removes him from office. If not, I think we’re going to see civil war 2.0 which is going to tear the country apart to such an extent, it’ll never heal.”
“Then we’ll be no better than any other third world garbage pit, we’ll be ruled by a military junta.”
“Lacy, I wish I knew what was going to happen. I find it interesting that many illegal immigrants are leaving because they can’t find a job while the government is opening the border, allowing more of them to enter. I think there’s going to be a traffic jam on the border with thousands trying to enter as thousands try to leave. What a mess. Do you think I should call everyone and poll them on last night or give them time and let them call us?”
“I think we ought to give them a little time to digest everything. I’m sure they’ll call us.”
We sit at the table watching the talking heads report on the slowing economy when there’s a knock on our front door. “Lacy, are you expecting anyone this morning?”
“No, are you? Did you forget something?”
Getting up to check I respond over my shoulder, “No, I’ll see who it is.”
Opening the door, I’m surprised to see the three families standing there. Fred asks, “Jay, mind if we come in?”
“Please do. Hon, better make some more coffee.”
Everyone comes in, Flo asks, “Do you have any of the cookies from last night left over?”
Lacy says, “Sure, I’ll get them for you.”
Everyone sits at our dining room table, Randy says, “Lacy, Jay, we’re sorry for dropping in on you without any notice. We all sort of chatted with each other this morning. We ended up meeting at Flo’s for an early breakfast. By the way, Flo makes the best pancakes you’ve ever tasted.”
“Flo, you didn’t invite me? I love pancakes. I’m going to have to get even with you.”
Flo smiles, saying, “I’ll make you some.” She gives me a hug.
Fred picks up the discussion, “We didn’t want to waste any time so we decided to come over and tell you face to face.”
I’m dying inside waiting for them to tell me what they decided. “Can you give me a hint?”
Randy smiles, saying, “How about we just tell you we’re all in agreement that Tony and Nancy join us. Just having a doctor on his payroll pushed all of us over the edge. Those who didn’t know them were surprised by them. We all voted yes. How soon can Tony have his people here to speed up building the shelter?”
“If I call him this morning, they can be here tomorrow.”
Randy smiles, saying, “So why aren’t you on the phone? We all heard the unemployment announcement, things are much worse than any of us thought. The government’s announcements aren’t making things better. We’re all worried about the future.”
Lacy carries a fresh pot of coffee into the dining room when the doorbell rings. We all look at each other trying to figure out who’s at the door. Lacy says, “If none of you are going to check who’s here, I will.”
She opens the door, speaking to someone. She pauses saying, “Honey, I need you.”
I join Lacy at the front door, there’s a messenger with a dolly at the front door. “Mr. Jay Tolson?”
“Yes. I didn’t order anything.”
“I have a very heavy package for you.”
“Who sent it?”
“It was sent by Four Clover Management.”
I look at Lacy, shrugging my shoulders. I sign the electronic pad he holds out for me to sign. The driver says, “Be careful, this box is very heavy, the shipping label says the wooden crate and contents weigh 275 pounds.” A “light” goes on in both of our heads. I ask the driver, “Can I borrow the dolly to move the box inside?”
“Sure, do you have to move the crate where you want it, or should I hang around a bit?”
“I have a dolly to move it, just need you to get it in the house.”
Fred, Randy and Jill join us at the front door. Fred looks at the wooden crate, “Jay, what did you order this time? Something fun?”
“Something for later, could you help me move it inside? I have to warn you its very heavy.”
“How heavy is heavy?”
“275 pounds.”
“Christ Jay, what did you buy now?”
“Something small and very heavy, a cube of enriched uranium. I plan to make my own bomb.”
Everyone laughs at the joke soon forgetting all about the box.
Lacy says, “Everyone, thank you for coming over and telling us face to face. We have some things we have to take care of this morning.”
Everyone smiles and nods in agreement.
When everyone leaves Lacy looks at me with an evil smile on her face, “Can we open it?”
“Let me get a crowbar from the garage.”
Breaking open the crate Lacy and my eyes grow wide in shock, Lacy says, “Is that’s what $20 million in gold coins looks like?”
“Guess so. I feel funny pushing our neighbors out, but like you, I couldn’t wait to open the crate.”
“Jay, where are we going to store it?”
“We have space in the hidden space we built under the basement. Had I known it was coming today, I would have had a safe delivered.”
“Think you can still find a safe for sale?”
“If not, we’ll store the rifles someplace else and use the gun safe. Help me get this thing in the basement.”
“I’ll bring up the dolly.”
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Spetsnaz Captain Sarnoff and his team drop off two cases of AK47s to two different gangs in New York before doing the same in Chicago thinking, Good, maybe they’ll kill each other off so when we arrive we won’t be facing our own weapons. I’d hate to be the cause of our troops getting killed our own rifles.
He’s interrupted by his first Sergeant, “Captain, we’re finished here, our next stop is supposed to be St. Louis. We’re ready whenever you are.”
“Very good. Try to keep your speed down, we can’t afford to get a ticket. One of their police may get curious and check our van, if they find our cargo, we’ll be spending the rest of our lives in one of their jails.”
“Captain, no we won’t, our people will release us as soon as they arrive.”
“Unless they kill us for getting caught.”
“Good point. I’ll drive slower.”
“Da, very good.”
The Spetsnaz team visits twenty-two American cities, dropping off weapons and ammo. They’ve sown the seeds and provided the basic equipment to enable the twenty-two cities to explode. Captain Sarn
off smiles thinking of the chaos he’s spreading across America. When the weapons are discovered, the blame will fall on China
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President Obama calls his Secretary of Defense, “Ashton, I don’t care that you don’t like my orders, all I require of you is to obey. We need to find at least two trillion dollars and one of the easiest places to find such savings is the departments with the largest budgets. Defense has the largest share of the pie so you’re going to cut your share of the budget so we can get out of the jam we’re currently in. I want you to cut 50% of the military. Start with those expensive and useless nuclear weapons. Then consider cutting the Marines. We don’t plan on invading anyone so why do we need a separate 180,000 person military that copies the Army, Navy, and Air Force. If the Marines go away, the Navy can cut the number of ships they use to transport and protect the Marines. It’s really very easy. If you cut the Marines, who are too right wing anyway, you’ll have an easy time finding the balance of cuts I need.”
“Mr. President, what about the people we’ll be booting out of the military and the projects we’ll be cutting? Over four hundred thousand people will lose their jobs.”
“Since most of them are right wing nuts when they lose their jobs, their only available support will come from the government. They’ll learn the error of their ways and vote for us to increase taxes on the rich so their benefits can be increased. Yes, I like it. Close down the Marines, cut 50 ships from the Navy and all of the Air Force’s missiles and nuclear bombers.”
“Mr. President, you’re going to leave us open to attack without any way to protect ourselves.”
“Ashton, I know you were recently appointed, however, you’ve just outlived your usefulness. I expect your resignation on my desk tonight.”
“Mr. President, you’ll have it. I disagree with what you’re doing.”
“Do you think I care? I don’t have any other choice.”
“Yes, you do. Just tell the yellow bastards to go screw themselves. They’re not going to use force. They know we’ll turn them into the world’s largest glass slab. They know we’d nuke China back to the Stone Age.”
“Ashton, I don’t want to hear this type of talk. I told you, I’ll never use nuclear weapons. History isn’t going to report that I, the first African American President used nuclear weapons or started a war with China. A black man isn’t going to nuke Asians. We need to pay them or they are going to take Hawaii.”
“Mr. President, let them try, the Navy can stop any Chinese fleet before it comes into range of Hawaii.”
“I already told you I’m not going to start another war. We’re going to pay them.”
“Mr. President the stress this is causing our people is too great, something is going to break. I’m pleading with you to reconsider your decision to pay them. Let us strike them, we’ll put the fear of Buddha in them.”
“Aston, I expect to see your orders reducing the military along with your resignation on my desk by 10:00 PM.”
“Mr. President, I won’t go down in history as the Secretary of Defense that left us defenseless.”
“Ashton, I appointed you because you said you’d follow my plans and take instructions, you’re not doing either. I’m very disappointed in you. You’re fired. You can leave right now.”
President Obama tells Denis McDonough, his chief of staff, “I just fired Ashton, I want you to take over Defense. Close down the US Marines, I want Defense’s budget cut 50%.”
US Marines Commandant General Joseph F. Dunford, Jr. receives a call from Ashton informing him of the upcoming orders. General Dunford is shocked at the news. He sends an urgent message to the senior Marine commanders to conference with him at 2400 hours.
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Sean Hannity reports a flash news item on his show at 10:45 PM. Sean stands in front of the cameras shaking with hate. Sean announces the hot rumor the President is firing the US Marines and cutting the US Defense budget by 50%. Sean says, “My fellow Americans, this is pure treason. This is high crimes. I’d like one congressperson or Senator to come on the air and tell me why President Obama shouldn’t be impeached. Fox News interrupts Sean’s show with the confirmation that President Obama has ordered the Department of Defense budget cut by 50%. He also ordered the mothballing of all of America’s nuclear weapons.
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“Tony, are you sitting down? I’d like to talk about the meeting here at my place.”
“Shit, Jay, wait one minute so I can go to my office.” Tony enters his office, closing the door behind him. Tony sits down getting ready for bad news. He pulls a notepad out of his upper desk drawer to start making alternative plans.
“Tony, are you there?”
“Jay, before you begin, I want you and Lacy to know this won’t interfere with our relationship. I’m ready, go ahead, tell me.”
“Tony, I’m happy to say everyone has accepted and welcomes you, Nancy and your family with open arms.”
Letting his breath out, Tony smiled, replying, “Jay, you owe me, you almost had me.”
Laughing, “I just had to, sorry about that. Everyone would like to know when you can have the construction people on site.”
“I’ll be there today around 4:00 PM, I’ll bring my construction foreman with me. Does that work with you?”
“Perfect, by the way, the kids want to know if you can bring some more of those cookies with you and Lacy wants to know if you and Nancy can stay for dinner.”
“We’d be happy to. Even my restaurant is having problems getting supplies of fresh food and I’m paying through the nose for anything we can get. I think I’m going to have to close the place within a week or two. Eight of the restaurants on my street closed last night. Another four put up signs saying they’re going to close tonight.”
“Are you still packed?”
“I am, but the others aren’t. The people who come to dine at my place can usually afford to spend whatever the meals cost. I’ve seen a large increase in the number of homeless in the city over the previous three days.”
“Looking forward to seeing you at 4.”
Lacy, who was listening to half of the conversation, asks, “Honey, you didn’t thank him for the crate.”
“Never on a phone. Never know who's listening. I bet a number of agencies have his phone tapped.”
“You’re right, I forgot about that little issue.” Before we finish our home phone rings, Lacy looks at me asking, “Did you say something about phone taps?”
“Couldn’t be.”
Picking up the handset, “Hello, this is Jay.”
“Mr. Tolson?”
“Yes, this is Jay Tolson.”
“Mr. Tolson, I’m Steven Brown from Bank of America’s security department. We have completed our review of the cyber attack on your accounts. Our analysis confirms someone outside of the bank and not from your location found a hole in our firewall. This party was able to hack into the bank. We found you were not alone in the attack, this party was able to empty 205 different accounts. Of course, I can’t mention who the other account holders are but I can tell you the only thing all of the accounts had in common is all are in the high net worth department.”
“So whoever hit us, also stole from 204 others?”
“That’s correct, they made off with over $300 million. We’ve spoken with the FDIC and the bank’s CEO. We’d like you and Mrs. Tolson to visit one of your local branches. If you can tell me which branch you’ll visit, I’ll arrange a meeting with the branch manager who will be waiting for you. Once in the branch, arrangements will be explained to you how Bank of America is going to support you.”
“Mr. Brown, we can be at your branch in Nashville, the one on Main in two hours.”
“Excellent, we’ll speak again when you and Mrs. Tolson are with the bank manager.”
“Honey, we have to go to Nashville, want to see if any of the kids want to go with us?”
“How much time do I have before we leave?”
“Ten-
fifteen minutes.”
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The senior commanders of the US Marines agree to resign in mass before they can be fired. General Dunford knows once he and his staff leave there will be chaos in the ranks. He expects the mid-tier officers to quickly follow with their resignations as the snowball gains speed rolling downhill. President Obama wanted the military budget cut in half, General Dunford agrees to help him. He issues verbal orders that every Marine leaving should take their personal weapons with them. The General orders the armories opened to provide the leaving Marines with “sufficient ammo and weapons as may be required for self-protection.” General Dunford’s staff laughs at the thought of 185,000 Marines walking off their bases with their personal weapons and ammo. General Dunford says, “Think of the President’s reaction when he learns everyone left with an M16 or M4, five thousand rounds, six grenades and in some cases, rockets. Many are going to be leaving in some sort of vehicle. They’ll even take the tanks. He’ll shit a brick.”
