by R. P. Wolff
“I agree, but what is happening?”
“We are especially concerned with Dallas. A specific prisoner has some guards concerned. It is prisoner number 88715, which I know means nothing to you, but he is Lance Hampton, the former governor of Texas.”
“Oh yeah, I know him well. He is my sworn enemy. He’s a filthy infidel. He’s causing problems?”
Zelda hated Lance Hampton. He was a vocal critic of her father and of the Mater religion. She was glad that he was in prison.
“It’s really weird. The guards are worried in Dallas. He was working a landscaping job.”
Zelda smiled visualizing the former governor doing landscaping work.
Colin continued, “He was being whipped for insubordination, and a swarm of bees attacked the guard and killed him. They went into his mouth and suffocated him, and they stung him all over his body.”
“Wow, did the bees do anything to the governor? Or I shouldn’t even refer to him as a ‘governor.’ Did they do anything to Hampton or prisoner 88 … or whatever you said?”
“No, they didn’t touch him, not one bee stung him. And then he helped the guard and tried to save him before the other guards came to the scene. He didn’t even try to escape, so he was on favorable terms with the guards.”
“No one should be on favorable terms with the guards,” she blurted. “That’s all we need is soft guards. The next thing you know they’re letting them escape.”
“I know, Madam President. I’ll make sure they stay sharp and give no favoritism.”
“Okay, so big deal, the guard was attacked by bees. What’s the concern?”
“Well, his daughter tried to escape from one of our educational camps. They caught her and put her on the video, so he could see her get branded and for the other inmates to see what happens if they or their children try to escape.”
“I like that.” She smiled again thinking of how horrified Lance Hampton must have been seeing his daughter get branded. Teaches him a lesson for doubting her religion.
“They were also whipping him while he was in what the guards call the ‘whipping chair.’ Then the bees, and this was inside, started attacking the guard who was whipping him. They came out of nowhere. They tried to suffocate the guard.”
“Really?”
“Yeah.”
“Inside … in the winter? I never heard of such a thing.”
“Madam President, the guards think the former governor has some special power over these bees.”
Special powers, she thought. She didn’t like the idea of anyone having special powers other than her. But could this person have special powers over bees? That was impossible. It was also impossible for her to inflict pain on men, yet she was able to do that.
After a long pause, Colin asked, “Madam President, what should we do about him?”
Zelda pondered this question. Her initial reaction was to kill him. Why take a chance? If he was to have this power, he could do a lot of harm. But they had his daughter. As long as they had his daughter, he was helpless. If he tried to attack the guards with the bees, they would just harm his daughter.
Zelda made up her mind, and said, “Let’s just keep a close eye on him. Keep me personally updated on him.”
“Yes, Madam President.”
“Oh, and communicate to Hampton that if any guard gets stung by one bee, his daughter will pay the consequences.”
“What if he’s not even near the guard who gets stung?”
“I don’t care. I consider any bee who stings any guard to be Hampton’s fault.”
Chapter 15
Zelda was steaming as she sat at her desk at the Oval Office. Two days had gone by since she summoned Victor Cook. Linda had gotten a hold of him, but he wanted to speak to Zelda before he would agree to come to D.C. This perturbed Zelda, but she took his call. He had asked Zelda why she wanted to see him. She didn’t give him an answer and demanded that he catch a flight that Linda would arrange for him on the next day. He had said okay, but he never made the flight.
To makes matters worse, he wouldn’t answer his cell phone, and, most importantly, he had disengaged his Freedom Chip. He must have cut into his skin and removed the chip. The punishment for this offense was death.
Victor Cook, the man that may have the information about her real parents, was on the run. This infuriated her. They had to find him.
She needed to have Bruce go to Dallas and find Victor, but she liked having him around for sex. Who else was she going to fuck? She had her eye on one of the Secret Service guys. A nice, tall stud with a rock-hard body and broad shoulders. He seemed dumb as a pile of rocks, but he might do while her real sweetie was off finding Victor.
Her phone beeped. Linda informed her that the Secretary of the Treasury was outside waiting for her.
She sat back in her chair thinking about the conversion. It had been over three months. What could she expect in such a short time? She knew that it would be impossible to round everyone up and have them in the system within three months. Realistically, she hoped to have complete control within a year. Of course, she wouldn’t let her incompetent generals and cabinet members know her real goals. They had to be fearful of her and rush to get control.
As expected, other countries had threatened sanctions against the United States, and Russia and China were even suggesting that military action might be necessary. Her Secretary of State, Wesley Tate, had warned the other countries that the United States would retaliate if the United Nations, who was now meeting temporarily in Munich, Germany, imposed any sanctions or military actions against the United States.
It was a false threat.
Zelda didn’t really care about any sanctions because the United States didn’t need anyone else except for Canada because of their oil. She was not worried about any country, even Russia or China, invading the United States. They might threaten it, but they would never go through with it, knowing the United States’ nuclear arsenal and overall military strength. Let them bicker. Their stock markets were tanking, and the world was in a recession without the United States as a purchaser or manufacturer of the world’s products. The rest of the world was heading towards another Great Depression.
After making Bruce wait about ten minutes, Zelda finally instructed Linda to let him in. She thought that maybe she needed to fire Linda. Although she was a thorough worker, Zelda didn’t trust her, and she couldn’t inflict pain on Linda like she could with men. Yes, she might have to replace Linda with a hot new male secretary. Hey, maybe that could be one of her regular sex partners.
Bruce interrupted her thoughts as he entered the office. He did the required religious gestures and sat in the usual chair across from her desk. He rarely smiled lately. Zelda noticed. Today, was no different. He seemed like he dreaded seeing her.
Good. She had a special project for him.
She signed some documents, ignoring him. Then, she slammed her hand on the table. Bruce jerked.
She scoffed, “I’m so fucking pissed. What do you think happened to that motherfucking Victor Cook? This can’t be good.” She had previously informed him of Victor’s missing status.
Bruce shrugged.
Zelda pressed on, “He took out the Freedom Chip. He’s not answering his phone. His phone is off. We can’t get any GPS reading on it. He didn’t get on our plane that we arranged for him.”
“This is bad, Madam President.”
“You’re goddamn right it’s bad. It’s all your fault.”
“Wait a second, here. Madam President, come on. I’m the one who figured this out that it might be him. You asked me to investigate, and I did investigate.”
Zelda had enough of his complaining. She focused and clenched her fists.
“Aahh!” Bruce coiled up and held his crotch.
She unclenched her fists after a few seconds, gritted her teeth, and said, “Don’t you smart off to me. I don’t give a shit that you figured it out.”
Bruce exhaled and panted.
&
nbsp; Zelda continued, “Now, here’s what we’re going to do.”
Bruce nodded nervously.
Zelda said, “He’s probably hiding in Dallas somewhere. He can’t get too far without the Freedom Chip. He can’t buy any gas or groceries. He’s probably hiding amongst those filthy infidels.” Zelda pressed her lips together. “I’m so pissed. I want you to go there and find him.”
Bruce sighed.
She was tempted to zap him again. Instead, she asked, “What’s the matter?”
Bruce paused. “Madam President, I have so much to do here. I mean, we have a major oil shortage.”
Zelda replied, “The Department of Energy can handle that. You don’t have to worry about the oil.”
Bruce pressed on, “Our whole financial system is fragile.”
“I don’t give a crap. You go down there.”
“What about my family?”
“Are you serious?” Zelda leaned towards him.
“Okay, okay,” Bruce said, while holding up his hands in self-defense. “I’ll go.”
“Find him. Don’t come back unless you find him. Your family will be safe here in D.C.”
“Can I have some men. I mean, can I have some of Colin’s men.”
“Of course. I’ll let Colin know that you’re going to need a team, preferably special forces.”
“Yeah, I want to go in with a small team and maybe even some undercover guys.”
“Fine.” Zelda paused. She wanted to brainstorm with Bruce before he left. She said, “So let’s talk among us. If he didn’t come to see me, he must have a video or some other type of evidence. Don’t you think so?”
“Well, yes. That was my whole theory to begin with.”
Zelda frowned at him. She didn’t like for him to remind her that it was his idea again.
Bruce leaned back in his chair, apparently sensing Zelda’s frustration.
Zelda said, “And it looks like he’s not a Mater anymore.”
“It would sure seem that way, Madam President.”
“Okay, let’s say he has this potentially damaging video that could undermine the whole Awakening Day and perhaps the whole Mater religion. What’s he going to do with it?”
“He could play it on the Internet or something even though the government has many restrictions on the Internet. You know I really don’t know.”
Zelda sat there thinking. Now that Victor was on the loose, he may be motivated to expose the video. But if he’s against Materism, which seems to be his position as he’s not responding to her, why wouldn’t he have already exposed the video if it does really exist? Maybe he was okay with Materism until the conversion. Maybe he doesn’t like what he’s seeing with the conversion, and now he’s become an infidel.
Bruce sat in silence studying Zelda.
Zelda said, “I think maybe he’s not pleased with the conversion, and he may have converted to a heretic. That’s the only thing that makes sense to me.”
Bruce nodded. “Yes, that would make sense, but that makes him dangerous to us. Don’t you think?”
“Absolutely. Find him.”
“Yes, Madam President. I will leave right away.” He stood up, did the sign of the Z, bowed, turned, and walked out of the office.
Zelda needed to take care of one more urgent item on her list. After Bruce left, she called her secretary through the intercom system. “Linda, please get my chief of staff on the phone right away.”
“Yes, Madam President.”
Within a minute, Linda connected General Arnold Chandler, Zelda’s Chief of Staff.
“Yes, Madam President.”
“General Chandler, I need to you take care of something for me right away?”
“Yes, Madam President. What is it?”
“I need you to fire my secretary Linda today, and replace her with a young attractive man in his late twenties or early thirties.”
General Chandler hesitated. “Do you have a replacement in mind, Madam President?”
“No, you take care of it.”
“Okay, Madam President.”
“And make sure it’s done today?”
“Yes.”
Her chief of staff surprised her by not asking why she wanted Linda fired. Good, he’s learning, thought Zelda.
Chapter 16
“Minus twelve days,” Lance whispered to Pete Goodman, his new cellmate.
“I know, I know, me too,” Pete said. “We’re supposed to take the test today.”
“That’s what they said twelve days ago.”
Lance seethed. The guards were supposed to release him twelve days ago according to his ridiculous sentence for doing nothing wrong. They had promised him over the past 377 days that they would release him to his wife and daughter.
A lot had gone on during the past year—mostly horrible stuff. At day 275, which meant that he had 275 days remaining on his sentence, they had transferred many of the polics, short for political prisoners, to Huntsville. The prisoners referred to themselves as “Polics” among themselves. They didn’t want to consider themselves true prisoners or inmates because they were all innocent except for believing in a different religion than Materism.
Most of the Polics feared being transferred to Huntsville, which had a reputation for housing the most violent criminals. When they got there, they were surprised by the prison population. They had heard that the guards killed all the violent criminals and cut off one hand from the other non-violent prisoners. The Maters branded most of the handless prisoners, but some were not. Apparently, they were Maters. The guards treated them a little better than the other non-violent prisoners and even the Polics.
It was a relief that the remaining prisoners were not violent. In fact, since day 275, Lance did not see one fight among the prisoners. It was the opposite. The inmates stuck together. Even though there weren’t any fights, there were several escape attempts. Maters eventually caught all of them. They had a year added to their sentence, were whipped in front of everyone, and placed in solitary confinement for thirty days. No one tried to escape twice. The escapees all had one thing in common: they didn’t have any children. The men with children, like Lance, didn’t want to chance an escape because they feared that their children would suffer the consequences.
But it wasn’t just the incarcerated Polics that suffered. People on the outside that were Maters or others that registered with the Freedom Chip but were not incarcerated, would try to escape the system. They would carve out the Freedom Chip and flee. When the government caught these individuals, the punishment was severe: public hanging. They would force the Polics to watch the hangings on TVs in the prison, repeatedly. The message was clear: take out the freedom chip, and you die.
Lance had seen too much punishment over the past 377 days. He wanted out and couldn’t wait to reunite with his family, even if it was under the suppressed Mater evil regime. He had sadly missed their birthdays, Thanksgiving, though there was not much to be thankful for, and Christmas. He cried himself to sleep many nights regretting not seeing his precious daughter grow up. He was missing an important year and felt like punching the walls for not being able to see her.
He also worried about his wife. He didn’t realize how much he loved her until he was without her for a year. He missed their conversations and companionship. He wondered and worried about what was happening to his wife. Was she in a female prison? Or did she escape? He hoped to see her in a few days.
For most of his sentence, Erik Coleman was his cellie until day forty-five, or forty-five days until his original sentence was up. His new cellie was Pete Goodman. For unknown reasons, the guards transferred Erik Coleman to a different prison. He had liked Erik a lot and was able to confide in him. Pete was a good guy too, but Lance had only known him for about two months. Pete was in his late thirties, huge, at about six-five, with thinning hair. He came from a different prison, which seemed odd as there were few transfers from other prisons. Before the conversion, Pete was a CPA and partner at a large accoun
ting firm. Like Lance, being in prison was quite a step down from his normal life. Pete was divorced with no kids, so he didn’t have the attachments that Lance had. Pete always talked about escaping with Lance, but he never did more than talk and just waited out his sentence, which was the same as Lance’s.
Pete, who was on the upper bunk, peeked down to Lance, and said, “So are you ready for the test?”
“How could I not be?” said Lance. “They have been ramming it down our throats for the past year.” Lance shook his head. “I know the eight commandments by heart. We’ve literally have said it hundreds if not thousands of times. How could we forget?”
“Tell me about it.” Pete sighed. “Hey, do you think they’re really going to reunite you with your wife and daughter?”
“They better. That’s what they’ve been promising me.”
“Do you really think they will keep their promise?”
“I hope so.” Pete’s comments perturbed Lance. Why would he mention something so negative?
“What are you going to do if they don’t?”
Lance rubbed his forehead, and said, “I don’t know.” He wondered to himself what he would do. He would start off complaining to the authorities and remind them of the promises made to him. If that didn’t work, he would try to visit his daughter and wife wherever the Maters held them. Maybe he needed to instead rely on his friends: the bees. Shortly after the second incident where the bees helped him, the guards threatened him that if any bees stung guards, his daughter would pay the consequences. He informed the guards that he had no control over the bees and that it was just a coincidence. They didn’t care and told him that he would be responsible for any bee stings or attacks.
This worried Lance and prompted him to figure out how to control the bees. He tried to figure it out one day while he was landscaping. When he was working with Erik one day, he asked Erik to make believe that he was attacking Lance. It started off with Erik just pushing Lance and yelling at him. Hundreds if not thousands of bees emerged almost out of nowhere, but they just hovered and didn’t strike.
