Chapter 10 eiltcfioreaaethliloenmlmlooohlirecwehumaryqrnndluntookedkol The travel arrangements were as usual - Sir Walter and Myles in the back seat of a vehicle with two security personnel in front. Two more vehicles were in front and two behind. Not that security was likely to be an issue - the escorts were more to alert them to possible encounters with law enforcement or other officials. Checkpoints, ostensibly to check drivers licenses, vehicle safety or other common compliance matters, had become increasingly common in recent years. They were known to be more for surveillance and data collection than public safety, and the Freeholders, when travelling, preferred not to be caught in them. They and their vehicles would be photographed and the details of their presence at that time and location entered into vast government databases. The outriders might not be able to avoid them, but they could warn their leader in time for their drivers to select an alternate route. The drive was uneventful and not especially tiring, despite its length. Sir Walter and Myles watched some news on the video screens in front of them. The Penn Creek affair got only brief coverage - likely due to the lack of information fed to the news organizations from the government. They seemed to think there was mild armed resistance to the raid but it was accomplished with minimal casualties. Myles had seen no video of what actually happened, so apparently it had been managed. A later segment showed some sort of disturbance in Saint Louis, Missouri. While the narrator stated it was a racially motivated altercation which escalated into a large riot, requiring the presence of a large police force to restore order. There was a reference to 'white separatists', something so common in these stories Myles wondered why they bothered. It seemed to be heavily edited, but even so a number of firearms were visible and in use, and several blue-uniformed personnel were down and not moving as the crowd of civilians moved past them. "Four police dead, a large but unspecified number wounded. A similar unspecified number of civilians dead and wounded." said Sir Walter. "Mercury One is located west of the city, and they watch events there closely. It seems there was an incident a few days ago, a couple of young men were shot and killed by police, apparently in a case of mistaken identity - or more accurately, they went to the wrong apartment and broke the door down with no warning. With both the them dead, the official story is the only one available. They produced a couple of guns and some drugs and claimed that the occupants fired first "However, a fair number of acquaintances stated that the two men not drug users and were not believed to have owned any guns. And with the fact that they were at the wrong place having already been leaked, and a police witness indicated that there was on resistance by the decedents, they just seemed confused at the sudden intrusion and apparently one of them made was was deemed a threatening motion and several of the cops began firing at once. Something like thirty to forty shots. "The witness promptly disappeared and made the statement by phone from an unknown location, adding that he believed his colleagues were likely to kill him to prevent him from talking. His whereabouts are at present unknown, but that was enough. "Some family and friends demanded a more thorough investigation, but the matter was closed as far as the authorities were concerned. So there was a demonstration at city hall, about fifty or so according to our sources. During the melee, a small group of them broke away into a side street and a number of cops followed them, mostly using their batons and tear gas, which was a big mistake. At least some of the group were armed, and turned and fired on their pursuers. It seems they all then escaped. Our people at Merc One believe it was a setup, attracting a large number of police to the site in order to kill a number of them. Revenge, pure and simple, it seems." "Not hard to believe, given the circumstances" said Myles. He knew other incidents of the type had occurred recently, including the case of Jeffrey Mannis. He wondered how much more of it went on without their knowledge. It seemed that a good many things were covered up with the assistance of the news media. "It does seem to be happening more often" said Sir Walter. "The number of what are described as assassinations of law enforcement personnel, as opposed to those killed in gunfights, is up considerably over the past couple of years. I would guess some of those, perhaps many, are revenge attacks by normally law-abiding citizens who have suffered some abuse at their hands. "We're definitely seeing an increase in abuses by government at all levels - these types are all local or state matters - but more importantly, more reaction by citizens. It wasn't so long ago that the reaction to murders by law enforcement were always civil lawsuits. Of course, those were rarely successful, and official discipline was equally rare. Perhaps it's finally all too much for some. They soon passed through Hartford - with a population of a little over a hundred thousand, it was the nearest large city to West Plains. That puts us about two hours away, thought Myles. On the interstate highway there were certainly cameras, though not so many out in this sparsely populated part of the country. The license plates on their vehicles would not yield much information as they were registered to a variety of shell companies which would not readily be associated with any particular person. About an hour later they turned onto a two-lane highway that pointed directly at a range of hills. Myles knew from experience that judging the distance over flat land to feature like hills or mountains could be difficult, but guessed they were about an hour away. There was little traffic out here, most of it appeared to be farm trucks - dirty, various tools and equipment in the back, and sometimes towing trailers. An occasional automobile suggested someone from the countryside going to or returning from Hartford or one of the smaller nearby towns. The sun was low in the sky behind them as they left the highway and followed a private road through the transition of flat land to low hills. Aside from the signs at the highway which indicated it was a private road, Myles could see no evidence of security measures. He knew, however, that there were watchers along the way. Some would be cameras feeding video to watchers further up the road, inside the fenced areas of the freehold property. Others might be, and some probably were, men hidden in the landscape, blending in with the terrain, seeing without being seen. He knew that, being expected, they were under observation, and that the men in the lead vehicles were conversing by radio with the Mercury One personnel as they approached. They would have been briefed with the description of the convoy and its expected arrival time, and so allowed to pass unchallenged. Even if an enemy had managed to hijack the convoy, insert its own people, and get inside the gates, they would experience a unpleasant surprise upon their arrival. The hills had risen to somewhere in the thousand foot range when they arrived at their destination. The hills continued in the back to perhaps four to five thousand feed at their highest points. Myles had researched the West Plains outfit in Sir Walter's records, and found that it occupied sixteen sections, a four by four mile area with only a small strip on flat land, the rest was in the hills. Most of the hills were rather rounded on the tops, and many of they had clearly been artificially leveled even more. Looking at aerial views, Myles had noticed a number of large pools among the hills, likely formed by closing gaps between some of the hills and allowing them to fill with water. He knew those pools could be quite deep, and things could be easily hidden in them, to be retrieved only by someone who knew where to look. Eventually they arrived at their destination. A large metal building of a type commonly found in rural areas, this one a dark green with a grey roof, two stories high, and about two hundred feet long, perhaps sixty feet or so in width. There were a large number of windows on the top floor, at regular intervals. The lower floor had only a few windows at the end where the main entrance was located. As they disembarked they were met by the leader and a pair of younger men. They had the look of men with military experience - not unusual in the Freeholds, as a considerable number of men who had enlisted in the armed forces and found it not to their liking, mainly due to the tampering of politicians over many years. Many of them, alarmed by the deterioration of a once honorable institution, found their way into the Freeholds. Myles knew that many of the larger ones, including Mike Charlie, looked for recruits from that source. The leader was Kurt Nelson, himself a veteran of the mideast conflicts that had gone on for quite a while after the Indochina action had been dead for a few years. The results of those had been worse - at least approximately half of Indochina had remained in the friendly category afterward, with only a few thousand American troops guarding the border dividing the halves of the country. There were still frequent outbreaks among the unstable states which usually seemed to always involve American troops. Some people thought they were deliberate, to keep a large number of troops in a perpetual state war in which they became accustomed to fighting civilians, while others suspected money was the primary motivation. Others thought it was both, probably accompanied by other nefarious inclinations. Nelson was a robust man, Myles guessed his height at a little over six feet, with a powerful build. Wide shoulders, a suggestion of powerful arms within the long sleeves of his dark green military-styled shirt, and large hands, rough as if from vigorous manual work of some sort, indicated a strong and energetic man who probably rarely had doubts about anything, least of all his abilities and the validity of his beliefs. A sizable scar on the back of one hand, and another one near his left eye, indicated he had seen some rough action. He greeted Sir Walter and Myles, introduced his apparent proteges, and they watched as some of his men went with the convoy to park the vehicles and find their accommodations. It was well past lunch time, and Nelson took Sir Walter in his car while his assistants took Myles in another, and they went to his quarters to eat. The brief ride gave Myles the opportunity to learn that the young men, Aaron and Carl, were indeed both ex-military, having met during their four-year enlistment in the Army. They were both infantrymen, and Myles guessed they would have in that time acquired a useful familiarity with weapons and tactics. After lunch they returned to their point of arrival, and Nelson gave them a tour of the building, which proved to be a combination of office spaces, meeting rooms and a large arena which occupied about half of the lower floor. He showed them around - the arena was being outfitted for the attendees to see presentations by Sir Walter and others, the meeting rooms would be used for discussion groups. Myles and Sir Walter had been accompanied by ten men - given the approximately sixty attendees there could be over six hundred men, a small army in itself. Even if some of the smaller Freeholds had smaller delegations, it was still a considerable force. The power of the entirety of Freeholds would be considerable, he thought. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ * ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Nelson took them on a tour of the Freehold grounds. Most of the facilities were located on the higher hills toward the back of the area. A half dozen large hills had been flattened to increase the level area on top, with terracing in places to place some buildings at lower levels. The highest levels contained what appeared to be defensive emplacements, suggesting some form of rather powerful artillery might be available. The hills further back, several miles of them, were mostly the property of the state. Some sections had been sold off over the years, most of them smaller than the West Plains property. The remainder were seldom visited except during hunting season. The hills themselves were more piles of dirt and loose rocks, rather than the stone of mountains. This allowed easy digging, and they underground chambers favored by the freeholders were many. Finding the gravelly soil excavated in the process to contain substantial traces of gold, the West Plains people had quietly begun a rather profitable mining operation, digging out large quantities of the hills, removing the gold, and then returning the remainder to its original place and allowing the grass to cover it. During the twenty-two years of operation they had amassed a substantial hoard, and in well-hidden and secure vaults under some of the hills were small stacks of one-pound bars of the metal for which men had lusted for millenia. All the freeholds held quantities of gold, silver, and other valuable items such as gemstones - any items with a high value to size relationship. They bought them as their financial means and markets allowed, in anticipation of times in which ordinary currencies became useless. During the tour Myles got a look at some of the artificial lakes, and was amazed at some of them - judging from the height of the hills forming their sides, they could be a thousand feet or more in depth. Nelson explained that they had been carefully stocked with various types of fish to create a self-sustaining ecosystem that would provide a considerable amount of food in an emergency, and they were fished regularly to prevent over-population. Deer and other game abounded in the surrounding hills, making the possibility of long-term survival with no outside resources a possibility. There were about eight hundred men living at the site. About a fourth of them were older men with families, usually a wife and a handful of children. Freeholders were inclined toward larger families, and without the societal pressures of the outside world they were able to care for them at a lower cost. Education was local to the Freehold or, in the cases of very small ones, through arrangements with one of the larger organizations. Those with large land areas could provide much of their own food, and most other costs of living were reduced as well. The younger men usually had girlfriends on the outside, and some of them also had jobs outside. The families on site boosted the population to around eighteen hundred. Industry included some weapons manufacturing, common among the freeholds, along with some dual-purpose businesses involved reconditioning automobiles and building barns and other buildings for farms and businesses. The businesses had off-site locations in some of the nearby towns, and sold most of their product to outsiders. Like several of the larger freeholds, they had attracted a number of doctors, and operated clinics in Hartford. The income from their outsider customers subsidized free care for their own people, and not having to use outside medical facilities allowed them to maintain a low profile. The overall effect was that of a peaceful rural village, as most of the more serious business was hidden underground and inside the buildings. They might go unnoticed for quite a while, as the task of bringing the entire country under surveillance and control would take a while. That work was still concentrated on the cities, where most of the population lived. Still, given time, they would get around to the most remote rural dwellers, and even giving up the last vestige of civilization and living in caves or in the outdoors probably would not be enough to escape. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ * ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ They returned to the main settlement and were shown to their quarters. Their entourage was housed with them in a facility that was something like a military barracks. The rooms were comfortably sized but plain, with minimal furnishings. Wired and wireless connections for connecting computers to the private network were available. A very basic bathroom was attached to each room. The private school Myles had attended had a military character, without being an actual military academy. Uniforms, spartan quarters, and the non-academic courses such as physical education had a distinctly military quality. So the small bed with dark green wool blankets, the cushionless chairs, and simple fixtures in the bathroom did not concern him, despite the luxury of his usual environment. Preparations for the large assembly included a large mess hall where meals were served most of the day, and after stowing his gear Myles joined Sir Walter and a few new arrivals for an evening meal. Although the major figures in the larger freeholds communicated regularly, such meetings were relatively rare and they took advantage of the opportunity for more efficacious conversations. While Myles knew who most of them were, he had met few of them. So it was that they stood around in the courtyard outside the mess hall, smoking their favorite cigars and cigarettes, and drinking whiskey and brandy. The calm before the storm, thought Myles, as he watched the various conversations, most seeming to be serious, but with some occasional laughter signifying a lighter mood. Sir Walter introduced him to each of the men who came over to talk, and Myles mostly listened to their conversation. These were the men who had created the League and built the first freeholds, and recruited and vetted those who built others. They would lead them through the coming action, whatever it turned out to be. Eventually it was time to go to bed. Myles suddenly realized he was certainly ready for it. Fatigue and alcohol had done their job, and when he went to bed he was asleep within seconds. Throughout the next day the arrivals continued, with the final guests arriving in the late evening. Myles and Sir Walter, with assistance from a number of the West Plains personnel, set up the meeting facility. The sixty or so principals, each with one or two proteges, would make a fairly large assembly of around a hundred and fifty, so the man meeting hall was of more than adequate size. Rows of chairs were aligned before the speaker's dais, and large electronic whiteboards and video screens were brought in. With all of the equipment tested and the breakout session rooms prepared, Kurt Nelson arrived to inform them that all attendees were present and they could begin the next day. Myles and Sir Walter went to dinner and retired for the night. Tomorrow would be busy.