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They went upstairs to a large windowless room with a conference table. The table and chairs looked expensive but then the whole place was high-dollar. A large whiteboard and flat-screen television stood at one end. Warren waited as the others were seated and then sat down beside Scott. "This room is secure," Luther began. "Completely. We have it swept regularly and because the house is never accessible we never find anyhing - if we ever do someone will have some explaining to do. We have security people working 24/7 and nobody but nobody even remotely questionable gets inside the fence. Not in any condition to make it into the house anyway. So whatever goes on here is secret. "It took us a while to decide on you, Warren, even though we were familiar with your history. I seem to have forgotten to introduce Charles. Charles Stanley, a member of our organization and is here a lot lately working on some... projects. And Jessica has been part of it for a long time. If you didn't keep up with the situation it's pretty bad. The January 6 thing happened before so you may know about that, after the second Trump administration ended like the first one - the party in disfavor an it was always going to be close - they took over again. While you've been on a state-sponsored vacation they've been taking the place apart but good. It's still kind of quiet - the news media or what passes for it isn't sure how to handle it and as usual waits for the government to tell them what to say - so the underground network is where you get the most reliable news. "As soon as the new regime was installed - they had the whole thing but all they needed was the presidency - they began the purges. Like the thousand or so January 6 people they went after law enforcement. ICE especially since the closed border and deportations had hurt them badly, but the FBI, US Marshals, they replaced any new ATF people and hired hundreds more... the short story is that over three thousand people have been arrested and are in the same situation as the J6 people - held without bail until they can be run through a kangaroo court and sent up. But that's on hold even though they have some long lists to get through.... wonder why Warren?" "Someone didn't want to go quietly?" Warren asked. "Quite a few someones," Luther replied.. "I don't know what they expected, going after people whose business potentially involves violence and are prepared for it. Once it became apparent, what was going on, some of them as you say decided not to go quietly. Or any other way. So most of the three thousand in prison aren't ICE or Border Patrol but FBI and other DOJ personnel - they're going after softer prey." "Dissidents?" Warren asked. "That's how they shut down the opposition media," Luther replied. "Operators of the major outlets, some prominent bloggers, arrested on sedition or other charges. People are keeping their heads down, they've passed federal laws against 'assault weapons' and made about anything with anything over a five-round magazine. They're not trying to collect them yet but have stopped sales." "I have a feeling," Warren said, "that won't be a good idea." "With thousands of people on the lam," Luther said, "most of them trained and experienced in the use of weapons and figuring they had nothing to lose the cost of trying to corral them was too high for the moment. And being wanted and looking at life in prison - or just being killed outright - they began guerilla operations." "Hunting their hunters?" "Some of that, but even more ruthless. Apparently you didn't keep with the outside world while you were in?" "No." "This one," he picked up a remote control and switched on the television, "was just a couple of days ago." He selected an item from a menu and clicked it. The video had a Channel 8 logo in the corner and the usual chyrons. The scene was what looked like a large collapsed building. Numerous emergency vehicles filled the street and smoke was rising from the ruins in several places. "The Lancaster federal building in Jonesborough Pennsylvania. Population about two hundred thousand so it's a small one. Was a small one. Now it's smaller." "What was the body count?" Warren asked. "Thirty-something as of this morning," Luther replied. "There are some missing so it will likely go up. This was the third federal building and all were in small cities. Tim McVeigh - if you believe the official story - blew up the one in Oklahoma City because of forty-something men, women and children at Waco. And Randy Weaver's wife and son. The governmented created thousands of potential Tim McVeighs. And some have gone kinetic." "Have they caught any of the... perpetrtators?" asked Warren. "Not a one." Luther grinned. "As near as we can determine it's a loose organization if there is one, certainly there seems to be a network, scattered all over, that hides them, moves them around if the hounds get too close. In fact we know there's a certain amount of it - there's a cell in this area and we've established a cautious contact. Neither knows enough about the other to be a security risk but we communicate on certain subjects. "At any rate those federal buildings were just part of it. So far more than a dozen attacks have killed a lot of government personnel and destroyed a lot of property. We know they're hauling people in and interrogating them rather.... strenuously in some cases but they apparently haven't gotten any of the right ones. I expect that before long they will be charging people just to claim some success, haul them in for a quick kangaroo trial, and off to the gulag. "The assassinations we don't have a good estimate on. The news people are locked down and the only thing that comes out is what they're given. The underground nets indicate that there have been a couple hundred at least." "That must make recruiting difficult," Warren said. "If it gets out." "That's what they're depending on," said Luther. "But word gets out... and the shortage of recruits makes it easier for us to get our people in. Not that they were too particular to begin with and with our agents better quality we have a few inside. For now they're just monitoring and passing on information that can't be traced to them but the potential for sabotage is there. That's a basic picture of where we are. Are you up to participating in an operation or two?" "Any time."
Warren Clark |
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