“And what about crime? What about the drop we are experiencing?”
“Have you been in any big cities lately and really walked around in the streets? Crime drop? What a joke you and the media are playing. I know. I work in the hospital ER and I see gunshot victims every day. You don’t protect society by removing the guns from responsible citizens. You want to really help, get them out of the hands of the thugs and then you will be doing something.”
“Do you really believe that for one minute?”
“Absolutely I do. It motivates me to get out there and say enough is enough. By nature, I am a nonviolent person but I can only be pushed so far. There are millions like me and the day of pushing is coming to an end. The military will not be enough to stop three hundred million people and at some point people like me will raise enough awareness to stop the rape of this country.”
“You know Mrs. Hargreaves, I believe you are absolutely right as well. People like you will make a difference. At some point even the sheep will say enough is enough. What you have done is stir the flock and you’re right, others will come forward. Someone will be able to rally the people and stop this foolishness.”
She looked at him with her mouth open trying to figure out if he was being honest with her or trying to trap her for some sinister purpose.
“Then why did you do what you did yesterday?”
“There are all kinds of military people. Yesterday a lot of good people got hurt and some got killed. If I was the kind of person you think I am I would have used real bullets and we would have turned the military loose on you with everything we have. I wanted to keep the injuries to an absolute minimum while still following my orders. To you it seems simple, just don’t follow the orders. It isn’t that simple. If I hadn’t done it the way I did they would have brought in someone else and they might very well have had a totally different mindset. They could have just as easily wanted to inflict the most damage possible. In fact, that is probable. It isn’t always black and white Mrs. Hargreaves.”
“You’re saying you did us a service?”
“No. All I’m saying is it could have been a total disaster for your protesters. It was bad enough as it was but there could have been hundreds dead.”
“I’m not even sure what to think about a statement like that,” she replied.
“That’s fine,” he said standing up, “It will give you something to think about.”
***
“There is another huge protest scheduled for Grant Park in Chicago.”
“Oh crap. That’s just great. When?’
“Next Friday.”
“That doesn’t give us much time. Alright, you know the drill, get everyone moving,” Colonel Bigelow said.
“You know, this could really get ugly. They could have as many as twenty thousand people at this one.”
“A water cannon and five thousand troops will not be enough to contain that kind of a crowd,” Lamb replied.
“What do you want?” the colonel asked.
“I want ten thousand troops, a half-dozen Apache helicopters, as many ISS troops as we can line up and every water cannon in the city. Every man is to be in full riot gear with chest armor. Make sure we have fire fighters on hand along with medical personnel. If we don’t get this stopped, the President will declare Martial Law and then we will really have a fight on our hands,” Lamb told him.
“I wish we had more time.”
“We don’t and wishing it won’t make it so. Get on it right away.”
***
General Douglas had gone to see the President the moment that he was informed about the Chicago protest. He was sure this would push her into declaring Martial Law giving him the extra latitude he wanted.
“Chicago?’
“Yes ma’am. Grant Park.”
“Geez. These people are crazy. We have spent a ton of money getting the gangs out of that town and now they want to protest?” she said disgustedly.
“Apparently so.”
“Maybe we should ship all the gang members and crooks the ISS catches to Chicago. Let them see what it’s really like, the ungrateful morons.”
“You know how it is with left wing liberals. They always want more. No matter what you have done for them, it is never enough,” Douglas replied.
“And you probably think I should just declare Martial Law and put an end to this foolishness.”
“The thought did cross my mind,” Douglas said.
“I know that is what you want but I’m not going to do that Chester. Not now. I want the Chicago protest put down hard. Not just a few people with broken bones but some real damage done. I want Michigan Avenue hit hard with fires and destruction as well. I want our people to create havoc on the entire downtown area. Make it look like the protestors were the ones causing all the damage. I want it to look like this was just an excuse to loot and destroy. I’ll get Jack Eckman to make it look like this was nothing more than a bunch of trouble makers looking for an opportunity to steal, burn, and loot,” she told him.
“Alright but if that doesn’t work, you are going to have to consider Martial Law at some point.”
“I am aware of that Chester,” she replied.
CHAPTER TWELVE
“What do you think?” Lance asked as Thomas looked at the video.
“Darned impressive. You spent the week there just checking out the place?”
“I did. I even spent two nights in the bunker to see if any homeless people were using it. So far not a single person has shown the least bit of interest in the place. Maybe they are all afraid of it. And yes, I checked for radiation.”
“I wasn’t going to ask. I could see you weren’t glowing,” Thomas shot back.
“Har-de-har. Anyway, the bottom line is that it would certainly suit our needs. I still think, to be on the safe side, we should line the ceiling with thermal mylar. I understand the IR is pretty sophisticated now days.”
“That’s what AJ said as well. Alright, if it works for you let’s get the show on the road. We start with moving at least half of the munitions we have here. Use smaller rental trucks from different locations and different brands, not just U-haul.”
“I’ll get it organized with Lincoln. I wanted to ask, how is Gerhardt Burger doing now that he is on board?”
“Honestly, I haven’t heard much. He took Deal and four others out for six days and we haven’t seen them since. I know he is using the time to train them. If they come back half as good as he seems to be it will really be something.”
“Yes well, I still have my doubts about someone doing only what they want to do.”
“I’m aware of your feelings.”
“Anyway, I’ll get Lincoln gathered up and we can start getting everything organized for the move.”
No sooner had Ivan Lance left than Burger and the others came in. Gerhardt looked pretty refreshed compared to the rest of them. They looked like they were on their last leg.
“So, the warriors return,” Thomas said, shaking hands with Gerhardt.
“I would get up and hurt you for that if I could find the strength to move,” Kim muttered.
“A little tired are we?”
She just glared at him.
“How are they doing?” Thomas asked.
“Not bad. Not ready yet but they came a long way. Kim and the others weren’t too keen on some of the cuisine but other than that they did remarkably well.”
“Oh give it a rest. We caught you what? Once out of the entire week? That was sheer luck.”
“Still, I didn’t expect you to catch me even once.”
“I really don’t like you at the moment,” Kim said sitting down on the floor and stretching out.
“Poor losers,” he said to Thomas.
“So what is next?”
“Why we do it again of course. I’ll give them tomorrow off and then we hit it again.”
They all groaned and Gerhardt winked at Thomas.
“Sounds like a splendid idea t
o me,” he replied smiling.
***
“How are they really doing?” Thomas asked after the others had gone to get some much needed rest.
“Better than expected actually. Kim is really very, very good. Jason is a close second. Kirk is not quite at the same level as the other two but is working hard. Ben is good but takes too many shortcuts. Unfortunately they are the type that could get him or his teammates killed. He will either have to shape up or I will have to get rid of him. Alex just needs more time. He works hard but forgets things from time to time. It isn’t that he is lazy; he just has to learn by doing something over and over. He never complains and because of that, I have faith that he will make it.”
“So Ben is the only one that you may have to replace?” Thomas asked.
“Yes. I counted on at least two and possibly three so we are way ahead of the game.”
“Excellent. I will have a job for you just as soon as you think you are ready.”
“We should be in a week if it can wait that long.”
“That would work out just perfectly,” Thomas replied.
***
The first few trucks were already on the road to Kansas and everything had been progressing like clockwork. The only glitch had been when one of the rental trucks broke down and they had to get a replacement. Other than that, it had gone exactly as planned.
Now that the move was happening, Thomas started shifting his thoughts to the drones in San Diego. He had already read the intelligence report from Commander Lexar and knew they had a fairly substantial security system in place, not only electronic but in number of human assets as well. That meant that they would have to plan an actual assault, something he had hoped would not be necessary.
“Gerhardt, here is what I am thinking. If we can find a way to take out their eyes and ears in the building and storage facility can you and your people take out the other elements?”
“The guards?”
“Exactly.”
“You have twelve at the main facility and fifteen at and around the storage area for a total of twenty-seven guards. These two guard houses are the key element in getting to the others. We have to take them out first. I need everything you have on the actual facility,” Gerhardt said.
“Everything, including topographical photographs and even the original architectural blueprints are here,” Thomas told him.
“Well, that will certainly make it easier. I’ll take this back to my team and come up with a plan. What kind of time frame are we talking about?”
“A week to ten days.”
“Splendid. We will have something for you in a day or two,” he told Thomas.
A short time later Lance and Lincoln came in.
“How is the move going?” Thomas asked.
“Better than expected. We have nearly half the munitions moved already. Everyone is really pitching in.”
“That’s good to hear. What about the facility itself?”
“It’s better than we could have ever hoped for. We have electrical, water, and sewage restored. The blast doors were still there but they had been disconnected. That has been taken care of as well. Nothing short of a direct nuclear bomb can penetrate that place and I’m not even sure that would do it. The Nike Missile sites were doggone well protected during the Cold War,” Lincoln said.
“What about food supplies?”
“We are working on it. You can’t just stroll into your local grocery store and buy food for twenty-five thousand people. It looks kind of suspicious. We have taken some from here, bought large amounts at the warehouse stores and we are looking for truckload sales from liquidators.”
“We need to get a retailer license, it would save us a lot of money and time,” Thomas said.
“We would have to set up a shell corporation.”
“Then let’s do it. Lincoln, can you handle something like that?”
“I doubt it but I know who can.”
“Good, put them to work on it. What about an inventory? Not of just here but of each of the states in ARM. We should know what we have on hand at each place so we don’t waste time and effort trying to either get it there or getting there and finding we need it.”
“What about putting Major Pearson on that? He used to be in procurement,” Lance suggested.
“That sounds perfect. We can get him a letter of authorization to do a full inventory at every facility. We need to know how much small and heavy stuff we have. We really need an accurate accounting of our sustained firepower,” Thomas told them.
“Speaking of firepower, retired General Ashton said he was in charge of a Hellfire storage facility in southern Indiana of all places,” Lance told them.
“I wonder why there?” Lincoln asked.
“Not a clue, nevertheless he said they generally had two to five hundred Hellfires on hand along with some other pretty interesting missiles.”
“That changes things a bit. If we intend to raid the San Diego facility we need to grab the Hellfires at the same time or else they will tighten up security even more,” Thomas said.
“I agree. I’ll talk to Colonel Gentry of the Indiana Militia and see if he can work up an intelligence report for us,” Lance suggested.
“That would be very helpful. Gentlemen, we have a lot going on but I feel like we are at least keeping our heads above water. I will feel better when we are moved. I have the feeling we are wearing our welcome out in these parts. It is only a matter of time before someone stumbles upon what we are doing.”
“We should be done by the end of the week if everything continues to go smoothly,” Lincoln told Thomas.
“Lance you go to work on Colonel Gentry. I’m working with Gerhardt on a plan for San Diego. Lincoln, if you don’t mind, keep things on track with the move. Oh, and Lance, remember to have Major Pierson get on the inventory. I have a feeling we are really going to need that and soon.”
“I’ll get him on it immediately and then call Colonel Gentry. He is a good man. I’ve worked with him a few times and he will get the job done,” Lance told Thomas.
“Anything else?”
They shook their heads and headed off to complete their tasks.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Nothing was going like the ISS had planned. The traffic made it impossible for them to arrive at Grant Park in Chicago early enough to be in all the places they had planned. It wasn’t going to be anything like Milwaukee. Nothing was quite as tidy. First of all the park is huge. On top of that, it is surrounded by some of the busiest streets in Chicago. To the west is Lake Shore Drive which is a main corridor into the city. On the east side is Columbus that is almost twelve lanes wide with the turn lanes. The south side is bound by Roosevelt Ave. which is a heavily traveled road and leads right into Lake Shore Drive.
The north is no better. Jackson Street is another major road that leads into Lake Shore Drive. There was no way they were going to simply block off those streets to contain the people.
They had decided the only way to pull this off was to use the train tracks to the west of Grant Park and then rush out and surround the entire park. Even under ideal circumstances it would have been a monumental undertaking.
It was made worse today by the delays in getting everyone to the jump off point, the beautiful spring day, and the fact that Chicago residents love a good protest.
By the time the troops and the ISS had gotten in place to surround the Park, twenty-five thousand people had packed the area. It was more than just a protest; it had become a party-like event. Not only the protesters were there but families had brought their children to watch what was going on.
As expected, the serious protesters were closer to the huge fountain where the speakers were working to whip the crowd into a frenzy. As part of Colonel Bigelow’s plan, he had stationed a hundred agents along Michigan Avenue near the most expensive shops. When the time came, they were to start smashing windows and grabbing items to make it look like general looting was taking place.
To aid in this they had made sure no ISS agents or troops were located along Congress Avenue to the west so that those trying to escape would have direct access to Michigan Avenue and help with the confusion.
An hour later than planned, everything was finally ready and the ISS began to seal off the area. Some people were alert enough to notice what was going on and decided to slip away. They were the smart ones. Most were just oblivious to what was really going on around them.
“Everything in place?”
“Everything is ready.”
“Water cannons ready?”
“We’re standing by,” came the reply.
“Alright. Remember, tear gas just in front of the crowds around the fountain. Rubber bullets too, once they start to panic. Use whatever force you want. Batons and Tasers are authorized. No actual firearms though, unless it is a life threatening situation. Then you can fire at your discretion,” Colonel Bigelow told them one more time.
The section commanders all acknowledged they understood.
“Ready…fire,” he commanded.
Canisters of tear gas shot through the air startling the crowd. Many froze, not sure what was happening. Some who had been in protests previously, immediately began to cover their faces and started looking for an escape route. The beginning panic led to a full-fledged stampede of people pushing and shoving. Old and young alike were knocked to the ground as people tried to find a way out of the trap. Husbands and wives became separated as well as families. Children became lost as people collided and careened looking for safe passage.
They usually ran into the ISS or military lines that would attack them with clubs and rubber bullets. It was actually easier for the ISS to control since people were not funneled in a narrow confine like they were in Milwaukee.
“Proceed with Michigan Avenue,” Bigelow ordered and immediately the troops started breaking out store windows and grabbing whatever they could.
PROJECT BlueBolt - AMERICAN UPRISING: BOOK III - AMERICAN UPRISING Page 7
