“Hello,” Simpson said. “Nice to see you again.”
“The honor is mine,” Saladin said. “Shall we begin? I know time is short.”
“Might as well,” Simpson said. He sat on a couch, Blake next to him. Saladin and Mertins took chairs facing the couch.
“Have you decided, or do you want more discussion?” Mertins asked.
“Our people have checked out your monitoring solution,” Simpson said. “It looks good. Do you guarantee that all of your people in the states will have chips implanted?”
“Yes,” Saladin said. “As a matter of fact, I’ve decided to use these devices for all of my people. It’s a good way to keep track of what’s going on.”
“Makes sense,” Simpson said. “We may be interested in looking into this technology for use in our armed forces.”
“We’d be very happy to provide these products for the US Government,” Mertins said. “For the right price.”
Blake and Simpson chuckled. “I’ll leave negotiation of that to the DOD, but we have to get past this operation first. How soon can you field your operatives?”
“One month,” Saladin said.
“That’s a pretty long time,” Blake said.
“We have to program the chips and implant them,” Mertins said. “It’s actually a bigger job than you might think.”
“Okay,” Simpson said. “A month works for us, doesn’t it, Blake?”
“Yes, it’s workable,” Blake said. “Gives us a little more time to prepare. You are still working closely with Governor Sable, correct?”
“Yes, of course,” Mertins said. “He’s been in the loop during the entire planning process.”
“And the UN?” Simpson asked.
“They’re on board,” Mertins said. “They don’t know about the capability of the chips.”
“Good, let’s keep it that way for now,” Saladin said.
“I agree,” Simpson said. “This is too sensitive to spread around.”
“Yes,” Saladin said.
“So we have agreed on going forward?” Mertins asked.
Simpson sat quietly for a moment.
“You want to have more discussion?” Mertins asked.
“No, I think we’re good,” Simpson said. “Sorry, this is a dangerous operation, not to be taken lightly. You understand, I hope.”
“I do,” Saladin said. “Any leaks could be devastating to everybody in this room.”
“Exactly,” Simpson said. “Even after this operation is completed successfully, we can’t release information about it. It does not exist. Everybody understand?”
“Yes,” Mertins said.
“Of course,” Saladin said.
“Good, then let’s drink on it,” Simpson said.
The men gathered by the liquor tray and watched as Mertins poured whiskey for all of them.
“Here’s to a successful operation,” Simpson said, holding up his glass.
“Here’s to Global Governance,” Mertins said, “may it better mankind.”
They all drank, but every one of them had a furrowed brow.
Bug Out!
Escape in a Motor Home
Chapters 1-4
Robert Boren
Chapter 13 - Bug Out! - Lock Down and Leave
Jane stared out the upstairs window, a worried look on her face. There was smoke rising into the air, several miles to the east. The sea breeze was blowing it inland.
“It’s getting closer,” she said to herself.
“What?”
Jane turned around. Frank was out of bed, walking towards her. He looked out the window.
“Oh, remains of last night's festivities, huh?”
Jane looked up at him. He was much taller than she was, and still had a lot of vigor for being in his early 60s. She was in good health too, for her 57 years. One of her friends had joked that they looked like they just walked out of a retirement finance commercial.
“These thugs are getting closer to us,” Jane said. “What’re we going to do when they’re at our doorstep?”
“I’ve been thinking a lot about that. We’re locked into this condo, but we don’t have to live here all the time.”
“Locked in?”
“Meaning we can’t sell out and move without ruining ourselves financially.”
“Oh.”
“We do have an asset that we can use until things get back to normal, though.”
“Are you going to start that stuff about the motorhome again?” asked Jane.
“Yes, as a matter of fact.”
“I don’t want to full time in the RV.”
“Neither do I. Look at it like being a snowbird,” he said. “Winter is here, and it would be nice to be away. When winter is over, we come back home to South Bay.”
“Is winter going to be over?” She looked at him as he collected his thoughts.
“I still have hope, sweetheart. People are finally starting to get pissed, and eventually they'll start voting the idiots out.”
“It’s going to be a long road, and the problems are tough,” Jane said. “How do you tell a government employee that they have to take less in retirement? That’s something they've worked for. They're counting on it.”
“You can’t,” Frank said. “There has to be other ways to solve the problems, until we have more balance between young and old in this state. The problem is that nobody wants to make the tough choices.”
“Well, let’s not go into politics, or we’ll just get into a fight again.”
“Agreed.”
“So tell me about your idea, Frank, and I’ll try to keep an open mind.”
“My idea is simple. The coach is already pretty well stocked up from the trip last month. I say we grab the rest of the stuff we need, throw the dog and the cat into the car, and take off for the storage yard. We have to go early in the day, though…lots of places between here and San Bernardino that I wouldn’t want to drive through after dark.”
“OK, we get to the coach. Then what?”
“Head to Arizona or Nevada, and just hang out. Watch and listen. Be nimble on our feet, move around when we need to, and come back when the government has a handle on things here.”
“Aren’t you worried about the condo when we're gone?” asked Jane.
“Of course, but if something bad happens, wouldn’t you rather have it happen when we aren’t around?”
Jane looked down, thinking. She couldn’t come up with a good counter to that.
“What about the kids?”
“Sarah's already living far enough away. I think she’ll be fine. I’ve tried to talk Robbie into moving, but he isn’t hearing me. Bottom line, we can’t force him to move just because it would make us feel more comfortable. That’s really up to him.”
“Can we afford it? It’s going to be hard to boondock much with that residential fridge running down the batteries. RV Parks cost a lot.”
“We were going to add solar and the extra batteries anyway. Let’s just move that up. We have the park discount memberships, which will help us with the cost some, and remember, we won’t be moving around as much. This isn’t a vacation. We can take advantage of the longer term rates when we find a place that will make a good long term stop.”
“You won’t go stir crazy living in the small space?”
“Are you kidding? Who’s the one who always wants to stay out longer?”
“I know, I know,” Jane said. “I guess that one was stupid…I’m never quite ready to come home either, but I love our sticks and bricks house.”
“We aren’t giving it up forever. Just for a while.”
“Unless somebody comes along and burns it down.”
“We have insurance, honey, and like I said, I’d rather not be here if something like that happens. We can replace the house, but if we burn up with it, it’s game over.”
Jane walked from the window into the kitchen. She turned on the coffee maker, and got a couple of cups down out of the cupboard. Fra
nk followed her in there, and sat down at the kitchen table. They could still see the billow of smoke rising, and now there were helicopters circling. They both stared silently out the window as the coffee machine sputtered.
“Want me to turn on the news, sweetie?” asked Frank.
“Not on my account. We know what happened. I’m sick of hearing about it every day.” She came over to the table with a cup of coffee in each hand. “Here you go, honey.”
Frank took his cup and had a sip.
“How soon do we need to decide?” asked Jane.
“Sooner the better, as far as I’m concerned. If you want to go slow, we can watch and see what the gangs do over the next week or so. Maybe wait to see what the Governor does. If he calls out the National Guard that might stop the looting.”
“You don’t look very hopeful.”
“A lot of people to the east have left, and the pickings are getting slimmer and slimmer over there. More people stuck around in our area, and they have more money. That means more stuff to cart off. Easy picking, big payoff.”
“What about the National Guard?”
Frank smiled. “That’s going to lead us to politics again.”
Jane sighed. “Go ahead and tell me what you’re thinking.”
“The governor waited too long. He didn’t call them out to protect people in the poor and lower middle class areas, and he’s taking a lot of heat for that. Guess what'll happen when he finally calls them out for the upper middle class areas.”
“Urrrggggg,” she said. “Forget I asked.”
“Alright.”
“You want to leave tomorrow morning, don’t you?”
“Yeah, because it’s only going to get harder to get out of here if we wait. We can lock down the house today and be ready to go at sunup.”
“Can we really be ready that quickly?”
“I think so. The long pole in the tent will be getting that security system set up.”
“You want to do that before we leave?”
“Yes.”
“It’s not going to stop anybody from coming in here.”
“I know, but it will allow us to see what’s going on. We’ll have access to the cameras via the internet.”
“Why does that matter?” asked Jane.
“Well, if we have broken windows or a door hanging open, I can call somebody to go fix it. That should limit the damage.”
Jane nodded. She looked out the window, deep in thought. Frank knew to shut up for a few minutes. He got up and got another cup of coffee.
“Alright, I’ll do it,” said Jane. She got up from the table and walked over to Frank. “Are you really sure we’ll be safer?”
“Yes, because we won’t be where the gangs are. And if things get bad where we are, we leave and find a new place.”
“I’ll start putting things that we need into boxes. I think our papers and as many photos as we can carry should go with us.”
“Anything really valuable that isn’t too big should go into the safety deposit boxes.”
“Agreed. I’ll take care of that while you get the security system installed.”
Frank went downstairs to the garage. He turned on the fluorescent light over the workbench, and looked around. His sports car was sitting next to the far wall, and the Jeep Liberty was sitting closest to the door, next to the work bench. He was glad that he had the Liberty ready to tow. That was the last major project he finished for their RV.
The garage had two doors – a wide rollup garage door and a walk through door on the opposite wall, which led to a tiny side yard. The rollup door was pretty secure. He could unplug the garage door opener on the way out. The walk through door just had the normal dead bolt and door knob. Not secure enough, since the door was not visible from the street. It wasn’t far from the end of his work bench. Maybe I can block it with something, he thought to himself. Then he remembered the four by fours that he had against the wall behind his sports car. He climbed back over there. Yes, that would do nicely, he thought. He picked up the first one. It was six foot long and heavy. He carried it carefully around the cars, and over to the door. It was longer than the space he had between the end of the work bench and the door. He leaned one end of the timber up against the back door, and the other end slid back on the floor and hit the bottom frame of the heavy workbench.
“Son of a bitch,” he said to himself, smiling and shaking his head. The timber was wedged between the work bench and the door, with the timber sitting against the door about four feet off of the floor. “Nobody is getting past that.”
The security system was in a big box sitting on the work bench. He opened it. Inside were four cameras, a DVR unit, and a control box. There was a lot of wire included. It took him a couple of hours to get everything laid out, and the garage camera installed.
Frank heard footsteps coming down the stairs. Jane appeared, with a heavy looking bag under her arm.
“I’ve got the stuff for the safety deposit box. I’m going to the bank now,” she said. Then she glanced over at the back door with the four by four wedged in. “Wow, nobody is coming through there.”
Frank just nodded at her and smiled.
Jane fired up the car and backed out, then drove down the driveway. Frank closed the big door and got back to work.
“Well, where should I locate the rest of these cameras?” Frank asked himself. “One pointing down the hall at the front door, one under the eave on the balcony pointing down onto the driveway, and one in the living room.” He wished he had more cameras, but the eight camera version cost more than double the $250 that this system cost.
Running the wires for the cameras took the most time. He got it done in just under two hours. He set up the DVR and control box in his office, right next to the cable modem and router. He plugged everything in and turned on the system. Then he went through the steps to get his smart phone and iPad hooked up for remote viewing and management. He was just finishing up when he heard the garage door opening. Jane came walking up the stairs, with a couple bags of groceries.
“There are more bags down there, honey.”
“I’m on it,” Frank said. He went down the stairs and fetched the remaining bags, taking them to the kitchen.
“Jane, hand me your phone and I’ll set you up on the security system.”
Jane walked over to her purse and pulled it out. She handed it to Frank.
“Saw the cameras,” she said. “Must have been fairly easy to set up.”
“I was pleasantly surprised. How did your errands go?”
“They went well. All the stuff that I took to the safety deposit box fit, barely. Then it was off to the store. I picked up enough stuff to keep us going for several weeks.”
“Excellent.”
“It’s weird out there. I had to wait for a bank manager to let me into our safety deposit box, and he asked all kinds of questions. I had to show two forms of ID. And then there was the grocery store. The shelves are getting bare. Looks like a hurricane is coming. There was a big sign up front that said they were closing at 6:00.”
“Sounds like everybody is getting ready for martial law.”
“I’m glad we’re getting out of here,” said Jane. “Could you bring up the ice chest? I want to get it packed tonight.”
“Will do,” Frank said, as he turned to go downstairs.
The rest of the day was consumed with packing. Clothes, medications, electronics, food, and supplies for the cat and the dog. The cat didn’t like all of this commotion one bit, and was hiding out all afternoon and into the early evening. The dog was getting excited. Lucy was a little Jack Russell, always bouncing around, but when she saw that camping trip prep was going on, she was just beside herself with excitement.
At about eight pm they were done and tired. Frank flopped down on the recliner sofa and pulled the lever to get his feet up. Jane came over and sat next to him, leaning up against him and putting her hand on his chest.
“I hope we’re doing the ri
ght thing,” she said.
“We are. Trust me.”
“Are you bringing the guns?”
“Some of them,” Frank said. “The revolver, the Winchester lever gun, and the pump shotgun.”
“That’s all? No hunting rifles?”
“I think the Winchester and the pump are the only long guns that I can keep out of sight easily, because they’re both so short. They give us all the capability we need. No reason to bring too much.”
“What if you have to hunt for food?”
“The Winchester will work for that,” he said. “You know that if we get stopped and searched on the way to the storage yard, we’ll probably lose the guns. I don’t want to be giving a two thousand dollar Weatherby to the cops. The high end guns can stay in the gun safe.”
“Why would they take them away? They’re legal.”
“They shouldn’t, but remember what happened during Katrina.”
“Not that again.”
“You asked. Anyway, that means we don’t have to bring as many different kinds of ammo, too.”
“Okay. What time to you want to get up?”
“How about 5:30?”
“I’m good with that. I’ll go set the alarms. Let’s go to bed early.” She got up off the couch, and started towards the bedroom.
“I’m just going to watch some news. I’ll be up in a little while.”
Jane looked out the bedroom window before climbing into bed. There was already a glow of fire to the east. At least it wasn’t any closer than the fire from last night. She laid down and looked up at the ceiling in the dark. Was this the last time she was going to enjoy her nice bed in her condo? She felt unbearably sad. She was just starting to drift off when she heard Frank come in. The bed moved as he carefully climbed in. Jane turned towards him.
“Any news worth talking about?” she asked quietly.
“Not really. The usual talking heads bullshit about martial law and what Washington was going to do. There were some eyewitness accounts of military vehicles coming down from the Bakersfield area, but there wasn’t any official comment on that.”
Frank brought his hand up and petted Jane's hair, and then moved over and kissed her forehead. They cuddled. Soon they were both fast asleep.
The Plan: How the Bug Out! War Began Page 6
