Chapter 37 -- GJNXPULCRYXYONIHFKF
After lunch Carter and Jessica, along with Tommy and James, were in Donald's
office, watching the news. Despite the majority of it being propaganda these
days, it at least contained factual items about government activity. They
were closely monitoring legislation, watching for signs that the final assault
was imminent.
Legislation and court rulings on first and second amendment issues in
particular were watched closely, as were those regarding education. The
likely coming ban on home education, and the likely restrictions on private
schools, was expected to be a pivotal development. There were now millions of
people who had removed their children from the public schools and some,
particularly the ones who had formed separate communities, would resist.
"The least favorable situation," Donald said, "as the Council sees it, is for
some of the serious incursions to occur before the election. We're hoping they'll
wait until afterward, to ensure they're firmly in control. If they do, the
dam breaking will be all the more forceful."
"The things happening now, like the incident in Tennessee, or the camp out in
Kentucky," Tommy said. "Are those unrelated to us, we're not moving yet?"
"No," Donald replied. "There is some stuff like that happening on its own, and
there will probably continue to be some. We're not inciting any of the independents
yet, although we are in contact with some of the ones more inclined to
restraint. The ones we can work with will be waiting for a signal.
"One important thing is that once the decision is made, we'll wait for a while
after the election. Let things calm down, and wait for the best opportunity."
He turned the sound up on the television as a familiar face appeared.
"McCormick," said Carter. "What's that bastard up to now?"
Despite being crippled by Carter's attack just before the previous election,
or more likely because of it, McCormick had been handily elected to the Senate and,
again probably due to his dramatic story, was a rapidly rising star. Ever
the demagogue, he quickly joined the worst rabble-rousing of the recent
arrivals, attaching himself to the most radical causes. Home education had
become one of his favorite targets.
Although he was able to us a walker or even a cane to walk, he elected to use
a wheelchair when appearing in public. Not that the occasional photo or video
of him walking didn't occasionally surface - they only appeared in the fringe
media.
"... and the uncontrolled indoctrination of these young children by parents
who are white supremacists, practitioners of hateful religions, cannot be
prevented while they are allowed to hide in their communes, away from public
view, with no responsible control. So I join Senator Cooper in sponsoring
Senate Bill 395, the Child Education Integrity Act, to protect the
constitutional right of our nation's children to an suitable education."
"And the sheeple will eat it up," said Carter. "How do we breed stupidity out
of the population when this is over?"
"If we succeed," said Donald, "it will be forced out of them. The same way it was
bred into them by the welfare state, the next generations will have no choice
but to be responsible. The kind of people who survived two hundred years ago
will be the new survivors."
"This guy is more evil than I ever imagined," Carter said. "Back then he was
just another opportunistic politician, now there's no doubt about what he is. I
wish I could have aimed higher. Next time I will."
"Next time?" Jessica asked.
"If it's the big one, I should be the one." said Carter.
"You don't have to do that to yourself," she said. "There will be plenty of
men to do the job. There's only a handful of us here - do you think we should
let ourselves be shorthanded here?"
"Our only defense is secrecy," said Carter. "If we're exposed, there's nothing
that can protect us. The materiel will have been dispensed before the
operation begins - I won't be needed here."
He was right, she knew. Five or six people could not defend the freehold it
it came under attack - its only protection was secrecy. And the weapons and
other equipment they were safeguarding would have already been issued to their
users. It was useless to argue, and he father wasn't going to get involved.
"If you go, I'm going with you," she said, knowing it was unlikely to dissuade
him, but hoping to talk him out of it later.
McCormick had been replaced by an analyst of some sort. Certainly, he said,
the democracy was threatened by renegade parents indoctrinating their children
with racism and hate.
A safe and orderly society could not survive such unregulated activities.
"They'll get it through for sure this time. Even if they don't have both
houses filibuster-proof, the remaining opposition is so spineless they won't
block it this time," Donald said. "And if they do they'll find a way around
it - or just ignore the rules."
The news had shifted to coverage of the forest fires in the west. As usual,
California was leading, but Washington and Oregon were doing their share.
Years of refusing to manage the forests properly made the fires an annual
occurrence, almost as predictable as hurricanes on the east coast, but there
was still constant news coverage.
"They haven't seen anything yet," said Donald.
The four of them looked at him silently, Carter thinking he knew what what was
implied, but they waited.
"At whatever point we pull the trigger," Donald said, "it's all or nothing. We
aren't leaving anything on the table. You already know we'll be attacking the
infrastructure - highways, power lines, water supplies - any other
distractions that can be useful will be exploited.
"And not just forests. There are now some large agricultural estates in the
hands of our enemies. You start a wheat field burning at the right time, and
not only do the owner harm, enough of them would raise wheat prices, and some
of them are farmers with large acreage of wheat. You could burn rice fields
as well, when it's ready to harvest, and probably corn. But we would only
attack farms owned by known enemies."
Carter had learned long ago that it was to be total war, by every and any
means possible. He thought of the country broken and burning in hundreds of
places, a country already unable to deal with the occasional accident or bad
weather. They could bring the country to its knees, and coupled with the
destruction of the government, could anyone predict the outcome.
"How much of a plan do we have frozen?" he asked.
"Essentially, all of it," Donald replied. "Not all the details are set in stone, but
those are elements dependent on variables like when something happens or where
someone is at any given time. But when it's time to go, it's time to go."
"So we're looking at seven, a little less, months to the election," said
Jessica. "Two more, a little over, until the inauguration. Then, perhaps, a
few months after that."
"Right," said Donald. "Actually a little more. Depends on what they do. If,
as it appears, they'll drop the hammer right away, we'll lie low for a while
and get our contacts in the various organizations we can influence to do the
same. They won't see the calm before the storm for what it is - they'll be
relaxing and congratulating themselves on how easy it was."
"So we're looking at about a year," said Carter. "What final preparations are
we doing?"
"Primarily visiting a few more freeholds and meeting some of the people you'll
be working with. One place I want you to go is to Silver Lake .
It's one of the more interesting ones, and is going to play a major part in
the final act. I talked with Alexander at the last meeting, and he's
interested in putting you through a course. You'll find it interesting."
"That our only clue?" asked Jessica.
"For now," said Donald, smiling. "In fact, I'd like for whoever goes first
to return the same day the other pair leaves, so no spoilers. Who goes first?"
"Of course we all do," said Jessica. "All right, Tommy, you and James go. We
can handle the suspense. When do we go?"
"It's already arranged," said Donald. "We set it up the last meeting - I'll
call and let him know you're coming."
"One other thing," said Donald. "When the time comes, we'll be supplying some of
the teams with supplies. We'll get the requests when they're ready, some of
them will be picking them up here on their way to the target. We need to see
that the inventories are up to date and the merchandise is in shape."
They watched the news for a while longer. There was not much more news of
interest to them. The usual litany of murders - generally only the top two or
three cities rated reporting. The record for the day was apparently Chicago
again, while New York took second place. Memphis, usually not in the top
three made the cut with four confirmed dead and the possibility of more.
"You have to wonder," said Jessica, "what's going to happen there when it all
goes down. They've got it easy now - don't have to work, food and shelter
supplied with enough left for expensive Chinese sneakers and plenty of drugs.
You know, it's funny we talk about having the lights and water cut off and no
food, but what happens when the drug supply gets shut off?"
"Some would say it serves them right," said Carter. "Including me. But
these aren't the real evil - they're just the human debris that piles up after
the scum that run the place. But I wouldn't be surprised if they kill each
other in even greater numbers when the lights go out."
"And their masters won't care," said Donald. "They don't care now and
probably would welcome a thinning of the underclass. The productive people
they plan to enslave will be more useful. If they're dropping like flies from
starvation, disease and violence it won't matter. Especially with the other
problems they'll be having by then."
"We'd better let you get back to work," said Jessica. "We probably need to
get out of here and relax a little. Got any ideas?"
"James and I were thinking about calling up a couple of girls we know and
going over to Saint Joe, grab a pizza or something. Mainly just take take a
drive somewhere. Why don't you come along?"
"Sounds good," said Jessica. "We'll have to take two vehicles, so we've got
backup. We'll wait for you at home, follow you to.. are these girls in town?"
"Yeah," Tommy replied. "We'll pick them up on the way."
Jessica and Carter drove over to her house to get ready, then sat down to wait
for Tommy and James.
"James seems comfortable going out in public," she said, "but I can't help but
worry sometimes. I know he's not likely to be picked up by any surveillance
here, or probably even in Saint Joe. But I'm always nervous."
"That's not like you," Carter said, "but I guess when you're it's a matter of a
wanted criminal, technically, some apprehension can't be avoided. He's
changed his appearance sufficiently that his own mother probably wouldn't
recognize him. As for cameras, who knows. It's best to avoid places where
they might be."
"Yeah," said Jessica. "I'd guess the chances that there's a nationwide search
on for him is unlikely, except for routine entry in the various databases that
are looking for many people. His best protection is that if anyone comes
looking for him, there's plenty of time to hide him before they even start
searching. They probably would show up and ask if we knew him."
The doorbell rang and they got up to go. They got in the Taurus and followed
Tommy and James in one of the Trailblazers. They stopped in Chillicothe to
pick up Tommy and James' dates. Carter and Jessica stayed in the car as the
two young women got into the vehicle and they started the drive to St. Joseph.
St. Joseph was a small city, with a population of around 70,000. But in
sparsely populated Missouri, with most of the population in St. Louis and
Kansas City to the south, it was the nearest city of any size to most of the
northern part of the state. On a Wednesday night it was not especially busy,
and they parked their vehicles side by side in the parking lot of a pizza
restaurant.
Tommy introduced Carter and Jessica to the two women, who appeared to be at
most in their late twenties. Jessica knew Tommy had a few casual female
acquaintances in the area, and guessed he had by now introduced James to one
or more. They had to be cautious about relationships with outsiders, but he
had enough experience to handle himself, and she was sure James followed his
lead.
Customer traffic was light and they easily found a table that would seat the
six of them. The food ordered, they sipped their drinks and engaged in small
talk. Beyond divulging that Carter and Jessica were employed at MacArthur
Farms, there was little discussion of their personal lives. As they watched
the two, Jessica had the unpleasant thought that James might talk in his sleep.
That could cause a problem. On the way back she mentioned it to Carter.
"Yeah," he said. "I hadn't thought of that. Not sure how many people do it. Do I?"
"Yeah, but it's mumbles. Nothing coherent."
"Let's hope his is too, if he does. And we have to assume there may be some
sleeping together. It would probably be a good idea if he found an excuse not to."
"Yeah," Jessica said. "I definitely need to talk to him about it."
By the time they were back home they were both tired enough to go directly to
bed, and sleep came quickly and easily.