“Michelle and I have you and Nellie listed as the next of kin and guardians. If that’s too much, let me know, and we can change it,” Nelson said, looking at the floor.
Bernard strode over and wrapped Nelson in a massive hug, scaring the shit out of Nelson. “We are honored you and Michelle think that highly of us,” he said, letting Nelson go.
Able to breathe again, Nelson smiled. “Thank you,” he said, sucking in a breath. “Michelle and I have always worried about that.”
Spinning around, Bernard wiped his eyes and grabbed an armload of cases. “We love those little ones,” he said, walking out.
“You will tell Nellie, right?” Nelson called, and Bernard just nodded. Grabbing several cases of ammo, Nelson followed him out and loaded up Michelle’s Suburban. Bernard put the stuff Nelson gave him in his truck. When they were done, they headed inside to find Olivia in the living room dressed like a tiny cheerleader, doing cheers. Gavin was in his ball clothes, sitting on the couch next to Nellie, who was still holding Devin.
Michelle was stacking small overnight bags against the wall as Bernard walked around the small cheerleader and stopped in front of Nellie. “Nelson and Michelle have asked us to be legal guardians over their kids. I said we would, but I wanted to make sure it was okay with you,” he said with a tender face.
Nellie pulled Devin in tight for a hug and jumped up to hug Bernard. “You know it is, and if you would’ve said no, I’d broke both your legs,” she said, on the verge of tears, and walked over to hug Nelson and Michelle. “Thank you,” she said, kissing Michelle.
Gavin grinned and stood as he asked, “So they are really our Nana and Pappy now?”
“It’s legal now. We asked, and they said yes,” Nelson said, heading to the bedroom to get dressed. When he came back, he found the living room empty. Even the bags Michelle packed were gone. Hearing the kids outside, he followed the noise. He found Nellie in the passenger seat beside Michelle and his truck backed out and Bernard’s pulled in the garage.
“Bernard, quit mumbling, and move your butt!” Nellie yelled out her window.
Suddenly, Nelson saw himself as Bernard thirty years from now getting an earful from Michelle. Shaking the vision from his head, he walked over to Michelle’s window. “What’s going on?” he asked.
“You, Gavin, and Bernard are going to take your truck, and we are taking mine. They moved their suitcases in your truck,” Michelle said, looking down at her phone. “I changed their hotel to the one we are staying at.”
“I wasn’t gone that long,” Nelson complained.
“In your male world maybe, but in my woman’s world, you were gone for a week,” Michelle stated, looking up.
“I don’t have to wait thirty years,” Nelson mumbled.
“What, baby?” Michelle asked.
“Nothing,” he replied quickly. “This is a good idea. I need to talk to Bernard some more.”
Smiling, Michelle nodded. “Thought so,” she said as an older Bronco pulled in the driveway. She looked in her rearview mirror. “What is Gerald doing here?” she asked.
“Whatever the hell he wants to,” Nelson mumbled.
Gavin climbed out of the truck, and Olivia climbed out of the Suburban and ran over to Gerald as he got out of his Bronco. “Uncle Gerald!” they cried, latching on him. Gerald was five foot eight with a hard, lean build and salt-and-pepper, close-cut hair. He knelt down and hugged the kids as the others walked over.
Looking up at Bernard as he walked over, Gerald asked, “What are you doing here away from the farm?”
“My boy has a championship game today, and we have a skeet shooting competition to win. It’s grandpa and grandson,” Bernard said proudly.
Gerald laughed, standing up. “Trust me; I knew you wouldn’t miss this game.”
“What brings you to this neck of the woods?” Nelson asked, holding out his hand, and Gerald shook it as the women came over and hugged him.
“Just heading to the farm,” he said. “I know Bernard asks the neighbors to feed the animals when he’s gone, but I have several deliveries coming this weekend.”
“You’ve had several this week,” Nellie said.
“And I’ll have more,” Gerald said, looking at Bernard and Nelson. “I trust you have been following the events?” he asked.
“Oh yes,” Nelson said, and Bernard nodded.
“Not telling you your business, but after this weekend, I wouldn’t stray far from home,” Gerald said in a low voice. “Can I ask everyone to turn off their cellphones or put them away?”
“And I thought Nelson was paranoid,” Michelle said, turning off her phone and handing it to Gavin to put in the truck as did everyone else.
“Homeland can activate them, turning them into listening devices,” Gerald explained. “When you two go to the farm, don’t take your cellphones. Homeland has started recording tracking data from the towers.”
“How did you find that out?” Nelson asked, fighting an urge to run for the hills.
“Oh, I knew they could do it, but it requires a warrant. My sister found out they started collecting tracking data two weeks ago,” Gerald explained.
“So you think this is the tipping point?” Nelson asked.
“The chairman of the Joint Chiefs has called sixty percent of all overseas military personnel home. If the tipping point’s not here, it will be soon,” Gerald said.
“You think our market will crash today?” Michelle asked.
Gerald shook his head. “No, the feds dumped more gold on the market, and it’s stabilized for now, but the cards are starting to wobble. The ambassador from China is set to meet with the VP today. Have you tried to pull out a large sum from the bank?” he asked, looking around, and they nodded. “That’s the government trying to keep its hands on all available hard currency. That physical cash is what they’ll use next to stem the flow, but expect prices to skyrocket till the cards fall. A joint session of Congress is meeting behind closed doors, so we can expect something.”
“What have you heard from work?” Nelson asked. After retiring, Gerald became a consultant to the special operations group at Fort Smith.
“The boys are getting nervous,” he said. “Homeland is releasing a list of suspected terrorists that just happen to be preppers, gun owners, and Christians. The farm hasn’t been on any of the lists, but everyone but Bernard’s and Nellie’s name is on the list.”
Feeling like the world was on his back, Nelson slumped his shoulders. “Damn,” he mumbled. “All that work trying to stay under the radar was for shit.”
“Language,” Michelle snapped.
“Nelson, I have more experience staying under the radar, and it didn’t work. We are on the list because we are in the NRA and have past military service,” Gerald explained. “I’ve seen the list.”
Letting out a long sigh, Bernard asked, “How long do you think we have?”
Gerald shrugged. “Don’t know, but when it goes, it will go fast. Not days but I guess a couple of weeks. Most people will continue to follow the rules, but slowly, they will turn.”
“Have you talked to Matt?” Nelson asked.
“Yeah, just came from his house. He said they were going down to Texas tonight as well.”
Surprised at hearing that, Nelson looked at Michelle. “What?” she said. “I told Ashley we were going down early last night.”
“You could’ve said something,” Nelson said.
“Why? I handle the details; you handle the supplies,” Michelle informed him, making the group laugh.
“Well, I’m going to head out,” Gerald said, hugging the kids. “Stop and get some prepaid cellphones. Don’t program any numbers in them. Keep a small card with the numbers,” he said, handing over a card. “This is to my drop phone,” he said then climbed in his Bronco and left.
“Let’s get this boy to his game,” Bernard announced. The others smiled and climbed in vehicles. Nelson armed the house and closed the garage doors then followed Michelle
. “We’ll be fine on the farm,” Bernard said as Nelson pulled on the highway.
“Hope so because if we aren’t, we wasted a lot of effort,” Nelson said.
“The first year will be the worst, and the second won’t be much better, but people will start to work together after that.”
“We have six fighters in our group. You think that’s enough?” Nelson asked.
“After we make some modifications, it will be enough,” Bernard told him. “Remember, we have neighbors.”
“Bernard, the closest is just over two miles away,” Nelson pointed out.
Bernard grinned. “Wait till you see what Gerald has planned. A few more people that could shoot would be nice so we could work the land more, but can we really take a chance bringing in more this late in the game?”
After thinking about that, Nelson said, “No, we’ll have to play it by ear. We all agreed it would only be our families that have come out—no friends or friends of friends.”
They pulled into the baseball park, and Gavin grabbed his ball bag and took off. Nelson took a deep breath. “Bernard, please don’t threaten the umpire again.”
“Then that idiot better call the strikes Gavin throws,” Bernard snapped. Sighing, Nelson hoped they had a different umpire than the last time.
They carried over chairs and set them up behind the fence as Olivia took off with the other little girls dressed as cheerleaders. All the girls were sisters of the players.
The game was underway, and it was the third inning when Bernard jumped out of his chair. The others turned to see him heading over to where the cheerleaders were. A group of older boys was picking on them, and at least one girl was crying. “You going to help?” Michelle asked, looking at Nelson.
“Who’s going to bail us out if I go over there?” he asked. “I’ll help him get rid of the bodies.”
“Bernard wouldn’t shoot them,” Michelle stated. Like them, Bernard and Nellie didn’t go anywhere unarmed.
“You don’t shoot ten-year-old boys,” Nelson scoffed. “You break their legs and arms so that they can’t run or eat. Brings the point to leave the little girls alone,” he informed her.
“You are so weird,” Michelle said, watching the small group of boys take off after Bernard scolded them. Then, the group of girls hugged his legs. Bernard reached down and picked up Olivia, who was wiping her face. “Oh damn, she’s crying,” she mumbled, and Nelson immediately jumped up with fire in his eyes, and she grabbed his arm. “Bernard is handling it,” she said, pulling him back down to his chair.
Bernard carried Olivia off as they continued to watch the game. “If that umpire doesn’t pull his head out of his butt, I’m going to put my foot up it,” Nellie snarled.
“I think Gavin threw a ball that time,” Michelle said with a sigh.
Holding Devin in her arms, Nellie looked at Michelle. “Are you kidding? That was right down the middle,” she snapped. Nelson bit his tongue, wanting to tell her if it was down the middle, then the catcher wouldn’t have caught it in the dirt. Thankfully, Gavin struck the batter out, closing the inning before Nellie charged the field.
Hearing Olivia laughing, Nelson turned around. “Oh my,” he said, and Michelle turned and sucked in a breath. Bernard was carrying Olivia, who had a mass of cotton candy that was almost as big as she was on a stick. In her other arm was a mass of candy boxes. “She’s going to be awake for three days,” Nelson predicted.
Bernard sat down, putting Olivia in his lap. She was doing her best to whittle down the mass of cotton candy. “You beat those boys?” Nellie asked, getting up and spreading out a blanket to change Devin.
“Told them the next time I would,” Bernard replied.
Hearing Olivia’s ragged breathing, Michelle dug in her bag and pulled out an inhaler. Olivia was tearing into the cotton candy but was wheezing very loud. Leaning over, Michelle gave her two puffs, and the wheezing slowly went away. Not concerned, Olivia kept right on eating. “You aren’t going to let her eat all that candy at once, are you?” Michelle asked Bernard.
“She doesn’t get candy that often.” Bernard smiled, hugging Olivia. “Those mean boys made her cry. This is making her happy.”
“Let her have the candy,” Nelson said beside her. “We will deal with the hyper child later.”
“She’s a little girl, not a china doll,” Michelle said. “You two are spoiling her to no end.”
Barely shaking his head as he watched Gavin’s team at bat, Nelson mumbled, “Woman, don’t start. I’ll hold you down and lick your face.”
“I’ll help hold you down as he does it,” Bernard said beside her. Giving up, Michelle sat back and watched the game.
When Gavin hit a double, they all jumped up, cheering. Even little Devin held up his hands, yelling. He didn’t know what for, but he did it. The next kid hit the ball to the second baseman and barely threw out the kid. As Bernard and Nellie yelled that the kid was safe, Gavin rounded third and headed home.
The first baseman saw Gavin halfway to home when he threw the ball, and Gavin dove as the catcher jumped to catch the ball. The catcher caught the ball, and Gavin slid across home plate in a cloud of dust. “Safe!” the umpire yelled, and the cheers erupted.
As Gavin went into the dugout, Bernard sat back down with Olivia, who had finished the cotton candy and was working on several boxes of candy. “First good call the ump made all day,” Bernard said.
Gavin’s team won the championship, and after team pictures, the family went over to take their own. Bernard and Nellie smiled when Nelson and Michelle called them over, getting someone to take a picture of all of them together.
As expected, the sugar rush hit Olivia like a tidal wave. Nelson was sure she was actually vibrating as the sugar coursed through her veins. They loaded up and stopped at a diner to eat then headed to Texas.
Chapter 4
It was evening when they reached the hotel. Nelson didn’t envy Michelle and Nellie one bit for having to ride five hundred miles with a hyper five-year-old. Gavin fell asleep in the back of the truck before they even made it out of Missouri, but little Olivia was bouncing as they climbed out of the vehicles.
Seeing the look on Michelle’s face as she walked over to him, Nelson gave serious thought to running. “Your daughter hasn’t stopped for one second,” she said, stopping in front of him. “I’m going to get the rooms. You deal with her,” she snapped and spun around, storming off.
Bernard walked over beside him. “Women folk tend to be high-strung, don’t they?”
“Yeah, but I think it’s only to keep men in line,” Nelson admitted.
“True,” Bernard said, walking over to pick up Olivia as Nellie got Devin out of his car seat. It wasn’t long before Michelle came back and handed him the card keys.
“I’m going to get the phones Gerald wanted us to get,” she announced, and Nelson knew she needed space from the hyper child.
Carrying Devin, Nellie came over. “We will watch the kids and take them down to the diner. Why don’t you two go?” she offered.
“Nellie, Olivia is still going hard. She talked to the TV in the back for the last six hours,” Michelle warned her.
“That is good for her,” Nellie sighed. “Not every day but every so often.”
“We have them, and they can stay with us tonight,” Bernard said. “You two need some time alone.”
Michelle looked at Nelson, who shrugged. “Hey, I’m not going to argue with them. They’re both armed and holding my kids,” he said, making Michelle smile. They unloaded the luggage and left the kids with Nana and Pappy.
At the mall, they found a kiosk that sold the prepaid phones. Nelson was shocked when Michelle bought six. “I told Ashley I would buy theirs,” she explained as she counted out the money they had pulled out of the safe.
They went to an office supply store and bought some cards and a few other things before going to eat. It was late when they got back and just headed to bed.
They were up before da
wn and called down to make sure Bernard and Nellie were up. Not surprised, they heard the kids in the background. Gathering their stuff, they showered fast and headed down to their room. Inside, they found Matt with his family.
Matt reminded Nelson of a no-neck linebacker. He was five foot eleven but was muscle-bound, pushing way past stocky. His dirty blond hair was crew cut, and he had dark hazel eyes. Ashley was the complete opposite at five foot one and tiny. Her body was hard from workouts and running marathons but still small. Straight, strawberry blond hair fell just past her shoulders.
Their four-year-old daughter Brittany, who was a small clone of Ashley, was playing with Olivia, and even though Olivia was a year older, they were the same height. Their youngest, Mike, was in Ashley’s arms, sound asleep, when they walked in.
Walking over, Matt hugged both of them. “I don’t want any hard feelings today when Ashley and I win,” he grinned.
“Hey, miracles do happen,” Nelson said as Michelle hugged Matt and went to Ashley. Bernard walked over, and Nelson laughed. “Regret your decision now to keep the kids, don’t you?” he asked.
“Are you kidding? That was a blast,” Bernard smiled.
“Well, feel free to do it anytime you want,” Nelson chuckled, turning to Matt. “You heard anything? Gerald said he talked to you.”
The smile fell off Matt’s face. “The department almost didn’t let me off. Homeland issued a nationwide alert for unrest.”
“The market only lost sixty points yesterday.”
“The Reserve increased interest rates on bonds to control inflation. I checked the web this morning, and China wants cash now for their bonds,” Matt said in a solemn voice. “Of course, none of the networks have said a thing, but a movie star was arrested for rape yesterday,” he added.
Thinking about that for a minute, Nelson just huffed. “Well, we can’t do anything about it. Let’s get the crew ready and head to the range. I’m ready for them to write me a check,” he finished with a grin.
“Second place pays fairly well.” Matt grinned.
Nelson laughed. “I’m glad you’ll have some money then.”
Forgotten Forbidden America: Rise of Tyranny Page 5
