“Who are you?” demanded Phil.
“Phil, your manners,” cautioned Ilene.
“Can I help you sir?” asked the senior Prost.
Rico smiled. “Yes sir, I would like to speak to Mr. William Prost if I may.”
“You’re speaking to him,” Bill said.
“Who are you, another lawyer?” demanded Phil.
“No sir,” responded Rico. “I’m no lawyer; I work with people in your situation Mr. Prost.”
“What situation is that?” demanded Phil.
“I understand from the news that Mr. and Mrs. Prost had an altercation with the police here in their home. I work with people in your situation,” Rico said in his most pleasant disarming manner.
“Are you a cop?” asked Phil gruffly.
“Phil, this is no way to behave,” reproved his mother.
“I really didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but before I could find the doorbell, I overheard part of a conversation.”
“Yeah, what of it?”
“Phil,” said Mr. Prost. “That is no way to behave. Sir, I’m afraid you’ve not caught us at our best. What can I do for you?”
“If you are talking about attacking the police by yourself, Mr. Prost is correct in his assessment,” responded Rico directly to Phil. “There are ways of fighting, other than getting yourself killed and giving the statists even more excuse to violate our constitutionally guaranteed, God given rights.”
They looked at one another. “How can you help?” asked Bill.
“Might I come in?”
“I’m afraid we are all forgetting our manners,” said Ilene. “Won’t you come in Mr. Um …”
“I go by the name Rico. Certain of my associates call me Commander Rico.”
“Very well Mr. Rico, please come in,” said Ilene advancing toward the door.
Phil stepped forward. “Mom, we don’t know this guy. He might be armed.”
Rico noticed his limp. “I’m no danger to you, nor am I armed. You may frisk me if you like.”
Ilene held the door open as Rico stepped in. “Thank you.” Phil disappeared into his bedroom. Rico heard the unmistakable sound of a magazine being locked into position and the bolt slamming forward. Phil reemerged momentarily.
“I would appreciate it if you didn’t shoot me,” he said eyeing Phil.
“You can’t be too careful these days,” said Phil. “You can’t even trust the police.”
“I couldn’t agree with you more.” Ilene led Rico into the living room followed by her husband and son.
“Please sit down, Mr. Rico,” she said.
“Wait a minute,” said Phil. He walked up behind Rico and felt for a weapon.
“Phil,” said his mother reprovingly. “Where are your manners?”
“They didn’t teach us manners in Syria.”
“You should hand Mr. Prost your weapon before you frisk a prisoner,” said Rico raising his arms.
Phil immediately saw his error and ended his search. Rico slowly turned around and opened his suit jacket.
“I’m not wired either,” he said pressing his hand against his chest to expose any wires.
“How do we know that?” asked Phil.
“I could disrobe if you like or you might use this. May I sit?” Without waiting for an answer Rico sat down and placed his briefcase on his knees. He removed a small device and showed it to the family.
He got up and turned on the device. He walked around checking the room for bugs. There were two, one behind the picture of Mr. Prost’s parents on their wedding day and one in the telephone handset. Rico said nothing as he set these on the coffee table in front of his astonished hosts.
He wrote in a small notebook, please don’t destroy them, but could you take them into another part of the house?
Ilene looked at Bill as Phil took up his cane and the bugs then headed for the garage. “Now Mr. Prost, if you will be so kind as to take this device and scan me with it.”
“Well, I guess,” said Bill uncertainly.
After a cursory search Bill said, “I don’t see anything.” He handed the device back to Rico.
“How do we know you didn’t leave one intentionally?” asked Phil who had just returned.
“Excellent question,” said Rico and took the device over to Phil. He briefly explained how it worked and went to sit down.
“May I get you something?” said Ilene. “It may be a bit cool for lemonade, but it’s about all I have.”
“Yes, a glass of lemonade would be fine.”
“Anything for you dear?” She asked.
“I’ll have lemonade too please.” Ilene got up and left the room.
“I understand that you are a veteran.”
“Yes, in Vietnam.”
“Which branch?”
“Army.”
“Infantry, artillery?”
“Infantry.”
“The news said you were decorated.”
“Yes, but that didn’t seem to impress the police.”
“I took that much from the report.”
Phil returned and handed Rico back the device. Rico looked up. “I recommend to everyone that they get themselves one of these. One can’t be too careful.”
“No, you can’t,” responded Phil.
“I don’t blame you for being distrustful. In 2011 there were 80,000 of these type raids. I don’t remember the exact year, but there was a ten-year-old girl asleep on her parents’ couch under her princess blanket when the police broke down the door and shot her dead.
“It is not uncommon for them to hit the wrong house and kill some innocent person. For years they have done this all in the name of fighting the drug war. Now they are doing worse and blaming it on the war on terrorism.”
Ilene returned with lemonade for everyone. She held the tray down to Rico and he took a glass. “Thank you.”
“I see you are walking with a cane,” he said to Phil. “You said something about Syria.”
Phil sat placing his cane beside him and laying his rifle across his lap. He took a glass. “Thanks Mom.”
“Do you really need that?” she said referring to the rifle.
“I don’t know yet. I’m a Lance Corporal, and our unit was part of the Marines who went into Syria. We were assigned to an armored column when our in-country guide led us into a trap. We managed to shoot our way out. I got hit, then evac’ed to Germany, then home.”
“How long before you have to go back?”
“I’ve got a couple of weeks, then I’ll be on light duty for a while, but I want to stay in the Marines.”
“That would be good. How are the men taking this war in Syria?”
“Well, the average grunt is not too happy with it. No one seems to know what we’re doing there. The senior officers are pushing it pretty hard. I don’t think most of the junior officers are completely onboard, but they’re Marines. They’ll do their jobs.”
“You said you work with people in our situation,” interjected Mr. Prost. “What sort of help can you offer?”
“Yes and what are you a commander of?” added Phil.
“Both are excellent questions. First my associates can help with money for lawyers. We have benefactors who help with expenses for things like lawyers, and lawyers who will work without pay unless they win.”
“What good are lawyers? We need action.”
“Action has been taken and more will be taken,” said Rico more sternly than he intended. “Part of the beauty of this country is that we can fight our battles in the courts. That way we don’t have to fight them in the streets. Not all battles are fought with guns. As far as what I command, that’s a tricky question.”
“Dad, I think he’s FBI, probably trying to get something on us.”
“I don’t blame you for being suspicious, but this is no set up like Ruby Ridge. You’ve checked me out and see that I’m not wired. How else can I prove myself to you?”
“You could empty your pockets.”
�
��I could.” With that he stood and emptied everything out of his pockets and laid the items on the table. There was his wallet, keys, some change, and his note pad.”
Phil reached over and took the wallet. “Phil you aren’t going to go through his wallet.”
“Mom, we don’t know who this guy is or what he’s up to.” He turned to Rico, “Are you some sort of cop, FBI or something like that?”
“No, I have no association with any government body and have no standing with any police force of any type, nor do I ever intend to. There is no record of this conversation and no one, other than my closest associates, even knows I’m here.
“I have put together a group of people who provide me with intelligence concerning government activities. Additionally, as of late, I have put together a strike team to help in certain special operations when direct action is necessary.”
“Direct action?” asked Phil.
“Yes, when necessary.”
Ilene interjected, “Don’t you carry a cell phone Mr. Rico?”
“Rarely anymore, I don’t like to carry anything that might be used to listen to my conversations or locate me.”
“Have things gotten that bad?” she asked.
“Yes ma’am, I’m afraid so.” He looked directly at Bill and added, “But the resistance is building.”
“You are not attacking power stations and blowing up bridges are you?” asked Bill.
“No, nothing like that. In fact, we have backed off as we don’t want to be seen as helping these people. We had rather use other means when we can. With the country broke, foreign jihadists attacking infrastructure, and now an escalating war in Syria the statists have gone into full retard mode trying to save their rule. Their days are numbered.”
“You think they’ll go down without a fight?” asked Phil.
“Hard to say, but they will last as long as the federal cops, of which there are many, and local police and sheriff’s departments continue to do their bidding.”
Bill had been considering Rico’s round about statement concerning direct action. “Was breaking out a large number of dangerous criminals part of your direct action?”
Rico paused a moment considering whether or not he could trust the Prosts. “I’ve already assured you that this meeting is private, that anything said here will not reach any official channels. May I have everyone’s word that what I tell you will remain private?”
“What makes you think we won’t just turn you in?”
“You might, but a man who is ready to take violent action against a part of the system that hurt his family is unlikely to do so,” said Rico indicating Phil’s still loaded rifle.
“Ilene?” asked Bill.
“I won’t repeat anything I hear. Mr. Rico, I’m not too happy with what you call the system myself right now.”
“I won’t turn you in,” said Bill.
“Me neither,” added Phil.
“Very well then, yes, my people and I were directly involved. However, these were not dangerous criminals. They weren’t criminals at all.”
“Then who were they?” asked Ilene. “The television has advised us to keep our doors locked and report any suspicious persons.”
“Yes, they’ve got us spying on one another for them. This is just what happened in Nazi Germany. Soon people will fear their neighbors, and no one will speak up.
“Who were they? They were ordinary citizens, just like yourselves. Somehow their names got on a list. A while back the government quietly began rounding up anyone considered a political threat to the established powers.
“They were put in large camps. Incidentally, these camps are all over the country. In fact, a manual was leaked concerning how they were supposed to work. The camp we raided was a smaller camp, one for hard cases. You can go online, and check out everything I’ve said. That’s what I would like you to do.”
“Well, that’s a lot to have us believe,” said Bill.
“Yes, it is. If I had told you a month ago that police in military gear would kick in your door and injure you and your wife, would you have believed me?”
“No, I probably would not have believed you.”
“Corporal, are your buddies being attacked with weapons our government has given the rebels?”
“Yes, that’s what my company Commander said.”
“Who would have believed just a year or two ago that we would be arming allies of al Qaeda? If I had told you this, you would have thought me insane. But here we are.”
He let this sink in, and they sat in silence. Each had recent experiences that had pushed them into unknown territory. Things which were just not supposed to happen had happened, had happened to them.
“What do you want from us?” asked Bill.
“I would like for your family to work with us. What we need now is information. We are starved for more eyes and ears.”
“You mean spies,” interjected Phil.
“I guess you could call it that. There is a tremendous amount of information on the internet. We just don’t have enough people to look for all of it.”
“Can’t you do that electronically?”
“Yes, and we have people working on data mining. The most important thing we need now is human intelligence.”
“Such as?” queried Phil.
“If we had someone watching the police, we might have known about the raid on your family’s house. Now could we have stopped it? Probably not at this time, but we could have sent out warnings.
“All of you can help, and it won’t even require any cloak and dagger work. As for you Phil, are you planning on staying in the Marines?”
“Yes, if they’ll let me.”
“Good, it would be a tremendous help if you could get into the intelligence field in the Corps.”
“I’ve been put in for a medal. I may have the ear of someone who can take care of that, but I’m not making any promises. However, I don’t like the idea of spying on the Corps.”
“I don’t blame you, but you would be honoring your oath. You see they have been systematically removing senior officers who will not agree to fire on Americans. They have plans for the military that run against everything the Corps stands for. Additionally, over 200 military officers have been removed from service by the executive branch, no reason given.”
“Maybe.”
“I think we will need time to think about this,” said Bill.
“That would be reasonable. I should probably go and let all of you work your way through this. But remember, not a word to anyone, and please don’t go and shoot somebody. That will only make things worse.”
Rico looked at Ilene. “Thank you for the lemonade.”
“You are most welcome Mr. Rico. Let me show you to the door.”
“Good evening gentlemen,” he said and followed Ilene to the door.
After they heard the door close Phil spoke up, “Well, what do you make of that?”
“Not really sure, but he is right about not going down there and getting yourself shot.”
“I guess so. Maybe we should get online and check out some of the things he said.”
“Good idea.” Bill added, “One of the international banking cartel types said a while back that the country should not have invented the internet. From their perspective, that’s probably a correct statement. However, from the perspective of the people, it freed them from the control of information by governments. Information is power, and governments of all stripes want all the power they can get.”
Two hours later Ilene stuck her head in. “You boys coming in for dinner or do I throw it out?” She had always threatened to throw out dinner, but it never happened.
“We’ll be there in a second dear. What do you think, Phil?”
“I don’t know how much more I can take. If I see one more video of cops beating some guy or shooting someone who isn’t threatening them, I might go with my first inclination.”
“Don’t do that. You’ll be of no use to Command
er Rico dead.” Bill startled himself with his own words.
“I’m starting to feel like a subversive. More importantly, I don’t feel so helpless anymore. In fact, I can think of a dozen or two ways we can help.”
“Me too son. I feel like a young soldier again.”
“Let’s not get carried away.”
“Well, just a little.”
Dinner was good. No, it was great, thought Phil. Miriam had gotten home from some sort of function in time for dinner. Phil had not realized how much he loved having the family around the dinner table together. His dad gave the blessing before the meal.
“… and thank you Lord for bringing our son home to us safely, amen.”
“I hope you can get used to home cooking after the service dear.”
“I don’t think it’ll be too difficult Mom.”
All these little things, things which had meant nothing to him as a kid, now seemed the most important things in his life. The conversation went back and forth, with much laughter.
Ilene secretly watched her son. He wasn’t a boy any longer. Old feelings, things she had forgotten came creeping back into her mind. There she was, meeting Bill at the airport when he returned from Vietnam with her mom and dad as well as Bill’s parents. Thankfully, the in-laws, to be, liked each other. Then there was that dinner at her folks’ home where he formally asked her dad for her hand.
Then there was the obligatory inspection by her mother after they were married to see what kind of a homemaker she had raised. That had been nerve racking, but she had told no one. It was hidden in the secret place in her mind.
Miriam spoke up. “Mom, just leave the dishes. I need to call Susie before it gets too late and her parents yell at her.”
“Thank you dear; don’t be too long.” Finally, Ilene broached the subject everyone had been tiptoeing around all evening. “What about our guest today?”
Bill and Phil exchanged quick glances. Bill spoke up. “We spent the afternoon on the computer. So far everything he said has checked out.”
“Such as?” she asked.
“Such as police shooting people for nothing or at least beating them to a pulp,” interjected Phil.
“He also seems to be correct about the camps as well. People have been writing Congress to complain about their family members just disappearing in the custody of federal agents, then being told that no government agency had anything to do with it.”
World War III - Home Front: A Novel of the Next American Revolution - Book One – As Day turns to Night Page 18
