The Shelter: The Aftermath

by Ira Tabankin

  “I agree.”

  Lacy shakes her head, “You two worry about any potential alternative motive he may or may not have. I’m just going to be happy to sleep in our home tonight.”

  Jay motions to Tony, “Tony, contact John, I want him and Todd to do a sweep of all the homes to make sure the Captain didn’t plant any listening or other devices in our homes.”

  “I agree, I was in the process of sending him such a message. If I rebuilt the homes, I would have bugged them.”

  “As would I. Until we know for sure, tell everyone to be very careful what they say.”

  Ricky is hanging back behind the last group of families. Anytime anyone asks him about the rumor their homes have been repaired, he smiles and nods. He tells everyone how great it is and what a good friend the Army has become.

  He’s also plotting and thinking, I’m going to switch the strength of Jay’s potassium which he uses for leg cramps, according to an article I found, high doses can cause severe heart arrhythmias which mimics a heart attack. If anyone looks deeply into his death, they’ll think he had a heart attack, not unusual for a man his age who’s faced the stress he has. If anyone discovers the potassium, they will think he had bad leg cramps and took a larger dose. No one will think it unusual. Soon I’ll be done with his bullshit. I can help the community follow a nonviolence policy. I’ll wait until everyone is settled, everyone will return to their normal activity. When everyone thinks Jay has a full recovery, I’ll grind up the potassium giving him a large overdose, killing him, I’ll assume the role of leader by taking charge of Jay’s funeral. All I have to do is glue this stupid smile on my face for a few more days. Soon Jay, very soon and you’ll be out of my hair. If Tony gives me any shit, he’ll be next. I can turn him in to the Army for his previous crimes, this will leave John and Todd. I’ll work on a plan to deal with both of them.

  @@@@@

  Unknown to the families, just a few miles away are two scouting teams, both are in empty homes reviewing their next steps. Julio has left teams in central Louisiana to capture and enslave the residents who will work the coca and poppy fields for the El Chapo. He stayed away from Mississippi after discovering the hard way that the state is filled with heavily armed militias who fired first and didn’t ask questions. He decided to deal with them after he was able to move armor and heavy artillery into position. Julio smiled to himself, the research department’s plan is going to work, he’s going to turn a lot of the fertile land into huge fields of poppies and coca plants. Fields which will yield heroin and cocaine, enough to flood the world, turning everyone into an addict. Once hooked they will pay or trade everything they have to get their next fix.

  @@@@@

  The families hug the soldiers who are waiting for them at each home. They cry with joy at the sight of their repaired walls and roofs. When they enter their homes, they are more shocked to find their homes have been repaired and rebuilt. Most are in better condition than when they had to take shelter.

  Their fighting trench has been improved. Additional drain holes and pipes have been laid to drain rain water from the bottom of the trench. The walls have been supported with wooden beams and reinforced concrete. Every one hundred yards there are enlarged protected positions for crew served weapons, he notices tripods for machine guns have been bolted to a cement floor, there are ammo storage pockets cut into the walls next to the crew served weapon stations. The one feature that surprises everyone is the rows of large X-shaped forms made from what looks like railroad ties lined up in front of the trench. He thinks back to the World War Two movies of the allies storming Normandy Beach, Fred says, “Son of a gun. They built a defensive line around the entire trench. No vehicle is going to get through that barrier.”

  He sees troops placing claymore mines in front of the Xs. Fred smiles knowing the Captain is more than keeping his word. Before he can do any more inspections, he hears Cheri call him.

  “Fred, I need you in the house.”

  “I’m coming, what’s up?”

  “Fred, our broken furniture has been repaired, the inside of our house is perfect. I also found cases of MREs and bottled water in the pantry.”

  “Did you check the basement?”

  “No, I waited for you to check it.”

  “I’m coming, I’ll check it. I hope they didn’t take what we had hidden in the walls.”

  “Guess, we’re going to find out. Fred, what do we do, if they're gone?”

  “I can try to file a claim with the Captain, but what else can we do?”

  “Oh God, I hope everything is still there.”

  “Me too. I also hope Jay’s stash is still there.”

  “Do you think they found his subbasement?”

  “I don’t know. When we’re done checking our home, let’s go next door and see how Jay and Lacy are doing.”

  @@@@@

  Lacy and Jay are surprised to find a wheelchair ramp from their back yard to their rear door. Jay looks at it, “Captain, when did you build this? How did you know I’d need a ramp?”

  “I ordered it built yesterday, one in your rear yard and one your front door. I think they're still building the front ramp. It should be finished later today.”

  “I don’t know how to thank you.”

  “Let’s go in and see what you think of the inside of your castle.”

  Entering the rear door, Lacy sucks in her breath, she’s frozen in place looking at the finished kitchen. “I don’t believe it.”

  Captain Black smiles, “I hope you like the rest as well as the kitchen. I’m lucky to have some people on my staff who used to build high-end custom homes. They were in the Guard when they were called up, since they were from this area, they got assigned to me. They enjoyed completing your home. I’m very proud of their work. It lacks many of the little details of the typical high-end home, we wanted to complete the basic home before we attempted anything else.”

  Lacy hugs the Captain, “I don’t know how to thank you.”

  “We found a copy of the design documents in what we assume is Jay’s office, we improved the areas we felt we could improve and had to modify others we couldn’t quickly finish per the design documents. We didn’t spend any time on the trim. You’re going to find the castle almost impregnable. When you factor in the improvements we made to your trench and the castle, you should be able to resist any invasion. We do have one issue we didn’t anticipate, the castle design isn’t handicap-friendly. We could easily build the entrance ramps. However, I don’t have any idea how to get Jay up or down stairs.”

  Jay looks around the kitchen, “Captain, we used to have a sort of ‘dumbwaiter’ to move heavy objects in and out of the basement. Did you leave it in place?”

  “Yeah, we didn’t touch anything you already had in place. I don’t know how much weight the system will take.”

  Smiling, Jay nods, “It will support me. It’s held objects a lot heavier than me. I’d like to check out the basement. Lacy, why don’t you check out the upstairs. I won’t be able to get there for a while. The dumbwaiter is too small to take me in the wheelchair and you at the same time. I’ll be safe in the basement. Join me after you look upstairs.”

  Captain Black looks at the staircase, he pauses to think, then ads, “Jay, maybe we can locate or build one of the motorized chairs that go up the stairs.”

  “That would work, where are you going to locate one?”

  “Yeah, most likely we’ll build one.”

  “Captain, I’m waiting for the other shoe to drop, you haven’t done all of this without wanting something more than land.”

  “We can discuss the details later. Do you want one of my people to accompany you to the basement?”

  “No thank you. I can check it out by myself.” Jay’s thinking, I pray they didn’t find the sub-basement. I don’t want anyone around when I check it out. I’m going to check for any cameras or mics before I open the sub-basement.

  Jay opens the door to the ‘dumb-waiter’ he wheels
himself onto the floor. He closed the door, closed the safety gate and pressed the down button. The ‘dumb-waiter’ jerks starting down, catching Jay’s breath in his throat. He’s worried he was wrong and it won’t hold him. The elevator slowly descends into the basement. When it touches the basement floor, the basement lights come on. Jay presses the lock button, swings up the safety gate which opens the outer door allowing Jay to wheel himself into the basement. He smiles seeing all of the equipment he left behind has been untouched. He wheels himself around the basement looking for wires or anything different from his memory of the way it was before they entered the shelter.

  He paused in the middle of the basement thinking if I was going to hide cameras where would I put them? I’d place one or two dummy cameras so I’d think I found them and miss the real ones. Jay spends fifteen minutes looking for the cameras, there’s a dummy camera, hidden just enough to make me think they worked at hiding it, and there should be another across the basement. Now that I found the dummies let’s find the real ones.

  Twenty minutes later Lacy calls down, “Jay, are you okay?”

  “Yes, how’s upstairs?”

  “PERFECT, I love it.”

  “Great.”

  “Do you need any help?”

  “Is the Captain still with you?”

  “No, he went to see how Fred and the others are doing.”

  “Great, then please come down.”

  Lacy joins Jay in the basement, she looks at the two cameras, “dummies?”

  “Yup, I’ve been looking for the real ones. Anything I should know about upstairs?”

  “No, it looks great, we’ll have to check for cameras and mics later.”

  “Ask Todd to help. By the way, have you seen Ricky lately?”

  “He’s been keeping away from you since you locked him in the storage room back in the shelter.”

  “Good, I like it when he stays away from me. I don’t trust him.”

  “Do you really think he’s bad?”

  “Lacy, I don’t trust him. I think he’s spending his time trying to work against us.”

  “If you catch him what are you going to do?”

  “He’s out of here. I don’t want anyone around us who I can’t trust.”

  “Won’t Sammi be upset?”

  “She can stay or go with him, it’ll be her choice. If she knew he was working against us and didn’t say anything, then she’s as guilty as he is.”

  “Honey, she’s your daughter.”

  “Don’t remind me. I don’t want to believe she knew and didn’t say anything. Lacy, look where I’m pointing, tell me what you see.”

  “A small dark gray box. I don’t remember one there before.”

  “That’s because there wasn’t one. It must be a camera.”

  “Want me to pull it down?”

  “No, just get a sheet of black or dark paper, we’ll turn off the lights, hang the paper in front of the camera, hopefully, who’s ever watching the video feed will think we turned the lights off and left.”

  As the lights go out, Lacy says, “the paper is up. I’ve got it covering the lens so when we turn the lights on, it will stay dark by the camera.”

  “Great, let’s check the sub-basement.”

  “Jay, let me make sure no one is upstairs.”

  “Good idea.”

  “We’re clear, everyone is tied up at their homes, the army is working around the front of the houses.”

  Jay wheels himself to one of the cabinets hanging along the back wall. He says, “Lace, I can’t reach the cabinets.”

  “I didn’t think you would be able to. I’ll do it.”

  “Do you remember the sequence?”

  “Of course, you have no faith in me.”

  “Sorry, I didn’t want you to trip the security system.”

  “That would be funny.”

  “No, it wouldn’t. We could end up dead in our own house.”

  Lacy reaches behind a cabinet door, she taps in their secret code, she pauses until she hears two beeps, then she enters two additional numbers. Part of the wall snaps open. Jay wheels himself to check the doorway.

  “The pins are in place, it doesn’t look like anyone found the doorway. I can’t make it down the steps.”

  Lacy smiles, “Finders keepers, what I find down there is mine.”

  Jay laughs, “Try to lift it out of there.”

  Lacy disappears for a few minute, Jay hears the safes opening, “Honey, everything is here. Everything looks untouched, it’s very dusty without any fingerprints or footprints in the dust. This room is very dirty, it’s been untouched.”

  “Great, lock them up and come back up. Don’t worry about the dust, it tells us if anyone has been down there.”

  A corporal sitting in a command LAV touches his radio, “Captain, Corporal Bing, Jay was in the basement, he looked around, he found our two dummy cameras. It doesn’t look like he found the real ones. He spend around twenty minutes in his basement, turned out the lights and left. I assume he went upstairs. We didn’t get a chance to mount any cameras in the ‘dumbwaiter’ and the one in the kitchen ended up with most of its view blocked.”

  “Where’s Lacy?”

  “We saw her go upstairs and into every room, she returned to the kitchen, we have to assume she helped Jay return upstairs.”

  “Thanks, keep me informed if they do anything unusual.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Ricky and his family settle into their new rooms, he looks around in disgust, these rooms are worse than the cheapest hotels I’ve stayed in. Cheap furniture, no carpet. The high windows and concrete block walls make me feel like I’m in a prison. Once I find the right time to take care of Jay, we’ll be out of here and in the rooms I deserve to be in. No one appreciates the work I have to do. Soon, those who sided with Jay will know the price of their decision

  Chapter 24

  EL Chapo’s army enters into battle with Louisiana militias supported by National Guard units. They fight running battles across the state. The battles go back and forth, one wins a battle only to lose the next town. Armed citizens fight for their homes and businesses. El Chapo’s army has recruited thugs and criminals to fight for them in exchange for drugs. The drug army broke into three National Guard Armories and Fort Polk Army Base equipping them with similar weapons to the US Army, much better weapons than the militias and armed citizens have. EL Chapo uses the new recruits to soak up the defender’s bullets. He sends them to lead the attack, holding his best, most experienced and loyal troops to attack when the defenders are low on ammunition.

  Louisiana turns into a blood bath, streets and streams run red with the blood of the dead. Urgent calls for help go out to all US military commands close to Louisiana to provide support as soon as possible. The US Air Force is surprised and shocked when five of their airplanes are shot down by US Stinger shoulder-fired anti-air missiles in the hands of EL Chapo’s people.

  Surviving citizens of Louisiana are being turned into slaves to work fields of poppies and coca. Entire towns are burned to the ground, bulldozers level them, turning them into farm land. Slaves are housed in tents and kept shoeless so they can’t easily escape. The whip and torture is used to motivate the new slaves.

  @@@@@

  Captain Black’s radio operator runs out of the radio vehicle with an urgent emergency order in his hands, he asks the first officer he sees, “Sir, do you know where the Captain is?”

  “Check the intel vehicle.”

  “Sir, thank you.”

  The sergeant runs towards the intel vehicle hoping the Captain is there. The message requires him to personally respond. The radio officer tried contacting the Captain on his radio, however, he didn’t answer his radio or phone. Reaching the intel vehicle, he’s stopped by two armed MPs. “Halt. This is a restricted area. You can’t be here.”

  “I have an urgent message from the 07 for the Captain.”

  “I’ll take it to him.”

  “I can’t
, it’s marked for his eyes only.”

  “Okay, wait here, I’ll inform him. He’ll come out to see you.”

  The MP enters the vehicle, “Captain, Sparks is outside, he says he has an urgent eyes only message for you.”

  “Thanks.”

  Captain Black exits the vehicle, “Sparks, what’s up?”

  “Sir, urgent, eyes only action order for you. I need your signed receipt.”

  The Captain rips open the envelope, reading it he looks at the MPs and the radio operator.