“See Doc, it is already starting.” said Jon.
The three men loaded the boxes into Jon’s truck and covered them over with a tarp.
“Need some gas Jon?” asked Dick
“Yes let’s top it off since I am here.”
Dick undid the tank and filled it up. As he finished he turned to Jon.
“Well that’s fifteen dollars for the gas and uh two hundred and fifty for the other.”
Jon pulled out a bag of gold coins and counted out the payment and handed it to Dick.
Dick took the money and started walking toward his office. He then turned.
“Hey I got something for you guys, hold on.”
In a moment he returned with a bottle of tequila and handed it to Doc.
“Here you guys may need this, and if not just enjoy.”
“Thanks Dick.” said Doc.
“Dick what do you do with all of your time and money, I mean you have to stay busy with something here?” asked Jon.
Dick grinned and waived his hand.
“Follow me and let me show you my latest project. Dick took the men to another area of the building and opened a sliding door that revealed a room with what looked to be a car that was covered over. The room was filled with tools and machinery that served the job at hand. Slowly Dick rolled back the cover to reveal his treasure.
“A genuine 1968 black convertible Corvette.” said Dick.
Jon and Doc stood in awe.
“She’s got a genuine 327 V8 and a four on the floor. I am restoring her.” said Dick.
“Its beautiful.” said Doc.
“Man I would like nothing better than to get that thing out on the road and open her up.” said Jon.
“Well when I get her finished maybe we will.”
Dick placed the cover back over his prize and the three headed back towards Jon’s truck. Jon and Doc climbed inside as Dick opened the door.
“You all be careful and let me know what else you need and soon as the weather is closing in.” said Dick
With that Doc jumped out of the truck and went over to Dick. He grabbed a sheet of paper and wrote some instructions.
“Can you get that ordered from that place as soon as possible?” asked Doc.
“Sure, probably be here in a couple of weeks.”
“Thanks, and call me when it gets here.” said Doc.
Doc got back in the truck and turned to Jon.
“Ready to go.”
“Well what was it you asked Dick to get?” asked Jon
“I asked him to get the medication for Catherine you and I spoke of.”
Jon looked straight ahead. He hoped that it would never come to that but he was thankful.
“Thanks, when it gets here we will come down to get it.”
Jon backed the truck up and turned it out of the drive. They made the trip back into the mountains and within an hour had turned off down the road that led to the valley. When they were about ten minutes from Doc’s place Jon turned toward Doc.
“Do you have a place to store this stuff? I mean I could put it some where but I was just wondering.” said Jon.
“Well it just so happens I have a secret storage made for just such a thing.”
“Great then that is where we shall keep it until needed.” said Jon.
Jon soon had the truck in Doc’s driveway and presently the two were unloading the cargo. They hauled it to the back where Doc opened up a shed that seemed perfect for storage. As the last box was placed inside Jon stopped and opened one of the boxes containing the AR 15s. He pulled one out and grabbed five magazines and about one hundred rounds of ammunitions.
“I think I need to practice with one of these.” said Jon.
“Well I guess so. I know how to operate one but frankly I can’t use the RPGs or Claymores.
“Who do you think could train us?” asked Jon.
Doc replied quickly as he knew the answer at once.
“I would recommend JT, Mr. Jeremiah Thomas.”
“Jeremiah, I had forgotten about him, well not totally as it seems in our last skirmish with the government troops he took out eight of them on his own.” said Jon.
“Yep he was Special Forces in Gulf Two and served in Afghanistan. He will know how to train us.” said Doc
“Well after this week we will begin training.” said Jon.
Jon left and got into the truck and headed toward home. He gazed over at the AR 15 and began to question if he was doing the right thing. A moment later that thought left his head and as he pulled up to his cabin his reason left him no doubt. He was right.
Chapter 3
The runway at Western International Airport had been cleared of the previous night’s snow and all planes were clear for take off. The specially fitted 787 taxied down the runway and stopped at the point required for acceleration. The plane had been modified to carry dignitaries and government officials and as such had ample room and conveniences for those of the upper political class.
Grand Governor William Tarl peered out the window toward the snow covered mountains. The events of the prior weeks still fresh in his mind as he mused over how he would make his report to the gathering of regional governors and high council. Tarl had been summoned to New City to be a part of a two day conference to discuss political and economic issues in the New World Order. He had been specifically asked to report on the incident from several weeks back and to give plans to deal with all separatist outlier communities in his region.
As the jet went wheels up and gained altitude Tarl thought back on all that had been his time of politics. In the middle of the first decade of the new millennia he had been a state senator from old Colorado. His views on politics were always left leaning and as many in that time he changed his political description from liberal to progressive. Progressive was a much more tolerable moniker even if the underlying political belief was still the same. As his group gained ascendancy in the late part of the decade he began to move up in party relevance. With the first massive sweeping changes in 2011 he was assigned by the President of the United States the post of Western Czar of economic transference.
The economic transference was an absolute move away from capitalism and free markets to more of a total regulated and controlled economy. From that stance the government was able to enact all the left dogma, from climate change to economic social justice. And for men and women like Tarl it didn’t matter because as long as they had power in the bureaucracy they would remain above the vast equalization that the rest of the people had to conform to. In the middle part of the second decade the final pieces fell into place with the establishment of the New World Order and a world government. For Tarl it was the final embodiment of all his party had worked toward.
“Governor Tarl, can I get you something to drink?” asked the attendant.
“A cup of tea please with a bit of lemon.”
“Certainly sir.”
“Governor, are you ready to provide plans to the council about how you plan to deal with the separatists?” asked adjutant Schneider.
“Of course I am, I have a plan and it just needs some backing.” said Tarl
“That cover story of the bomb was genius sir. Our polls show that the cities populous are behind you when it comes to dealing with the outliers.” said Schneider.
“A small success, and yet I don’t feel gratified by it.” said Tarl
Tarl’s tea arrived and he took a sip and looked toward the window again.
“What are your first steps that you want to deal with these groups?” asked Schneider.
“The first steps have already begun. I managed to arrange for a small group of storm troopers to be assigned to Major Ross. He is sending them to block the old roads to attempt to slow down the commerce of the groups. It isn’t much but it is a start.” said Tarl.
“I will hold that until the meeting, and then you will see.”
“And sir, what of this Jon Smith, he seems to be quite effective.” said Schneider.
“Yes funny thing, I had as many records as could be found brought to me about him. He has no military experience at all. It seems he was a corporate guy, liked to hunt and fish and played some rugby in his younger days.”
“Rugby, what a barbarian.” said Schneider.
“Well isn’t that just what those people would need to lead them is a barbarian.” said Tarl.
“How do you plan on dealing with him?” asked Schneider.
“Well I have something special just for such a man. We shall see what the qualities are of Mr. Smith.”
Three and a half hours later the plane touched down at the New City airport and taxied to the gate. Tarl and his people made their way off the plane and through the terminal. Since much air travel was restricted to most people the airport was not very busy. In order to combat the so called climate transference the populace, along with industry, was assigned climate credits. These climate credits allowed for only a few trips based on miles as a ration of carbon production. As an example the trip that Tarl just took would use up an entire allotment for one year for most citizens. The only people exempt from this regulation were high government officials, military, and certain exempt corporate executives.
After a brief ride in government transport vehicles Tarl and company arrived at the National building. The structure not only contained numerous government offices and conference centers but also had quite nice rooms comparable to hotel rooms.
A half hour of refreshing Tarl headed to his first conference of the late afternoon and subsequent dinner as it was the kick off to the two day gathering of the regional governors and other bureaucrats. The room was a large table that held some thirty people with a large four way screen that was poised some ten feet above the conference table. The gathering was comprised of the National Grand Governor Albert Gomez, the regional governors for the Pacific, the West, the Central, the Southwest, the South, the North East, the North West, the Southern Provincial, and representatives from The Hague which was the seat of the New Order. For clarification the North West and North East were old Canada and the Southern Provincial was old Mexico.
The Governors and delegates were seated and offered water, tea, and compressed wheat crackers. At once Albert Gomez stood and opened the conference.
“My fellow governors and esteemed politicos, welcome to our grand city and welcome to our conference. I hope all of your accommodations are satisfactory.”
The participants nodded and noted their satisfaction as what else could they do.
“We gather here to review our success over the last year, which has been great. We also have on the agenda some very pressing items that no doubt many of you have begun to have concern over. We will review the status of actions in Asia and Africa; however what we have going on here in our own areas is much more pressing and frankly much more of a concern.”
At once the screens over the table came alive and presently a news clip with economic and political commentary began to play. It was a mix of government run press along with interviews of hand picked citizens. The news was of productivity levels and GDH, Gross Domestic Happiness. There were interviews of people telling their success stories of how they had suffered under capitalism and free markets only to have security under the socialist/corporatist new economy. The stories brought cheers from the group and many pats on the backs. After about an hour of the footage the screens went blank and National Governor Gomez stood and addressed the group.
“Well it is closing in on six and I propose that we retire the meeting for the day and go to the ball room for refreshment and food.”
Upon completion of the opening day of meeting, the group exited through a double door into a ball room complete with bars, music, and of course male and female escorts for all the participants. The party went on into the night and then continued in small groups in the hotel rooms. The next meeting wasn’t until a nine o’clock breakfast.
As the morning came and the group rejoined, there were many bleary eyes that needed stimulus to get into the morning. Cups of black teas with stimulants were brought in along with servings of synthetic protein and fruit. After breakfast Governor Gomez stood and began the day.
“Great Governors, while we have achieved much it seems that we have a great deal more to do to continue our plans for our order. While much of the world has come to understand how we need to move as a people, there are some that have not seen the light. It is those that we have the most concern for. They seem to pose no active military threat however it seems that they are well armed and if we move against them that they have the means to stop us.”
“Governor Tarl, please recount for us the goings on in your area so that we may understand the issue at hand.” said Gomez.
Tarl stood and looked over the group, confident in his thoughts. He recounted the story of the two sorties into the valley and the failure of each. He went over in detail the atrocity of the second sortie where the Urban forces suffered high casualties. Then he turned to the group and began a statement of relevance to the issue.
“After all this we come to the issue of one man for I believe it was a man such as this that poses the greatest threat to our political structure. He is the kind of man that has become self reliant. He left our civilization ten years ago and has developed a life that is a mix of rugged frontiersman, technological acceptor, and violent subscriber to a belief of independent liberty.”
The viewing screens immediately lit up with a picture of Jon Smith. The participants noted the rugged exterior of Jon and the female members subdued their immediate view of attraction toward a man that showed traits that deep down they missed. In this new world the men for the most part had become something less desirable as compared to someone such as Jon. While they possessed education and refinement, they lacked that rugged alpha male characteristic that deep in a women’s primeval soul she desired. The fact was that that desire had not been eliminated even in modern times.
“This man Jon Smith is the very reason that we need to do all we can to make sure that outlier communities are either brought into our world or are eliminated.” said Tarl.
“Eliminated?” asked Governor Meyer.
Governor Meyer was the regional governor for the Northeast Region and her full name was Lindsey Meyer.
“Yes eliminated.” replied Grand Governor Gomez.
“The World leader and their council have determined that if people cannot be brought in to conform that it is best that they be eliminated. The reduction of these peoples should bring about a positive effect in that their economic strain will be removed as well as their carbon footprint.”
“And to this point, what kind of resources can we expect from the Order to accomplish this?” asked Tarl.
“Yes, we all seem to have similar issues in our regions and our security forces do not seem equipped nor trained for such operations.” said Governor Meyer.
Gomez looked about the room at the leader’s faces before he answered. He knew that the response would cause some issues but he also knew what was required.
“I have arranged that each region will receive a full regiment of Storm Troopers and associated equipment and logistics for that regiment.” said Gomez.
The governors looked about and traded comments on the news. Several wondered if the situation truly required that kind of force while others such as Tarl were quite pleased.
“This should provide each of you with roughly 2000 Storm Troopers along with roughly 100 assorted vehicles comprising medium tanks and APCs. These regiments will be under your direct command, however I would leave the tactics and operational issues to the regimental commanders a
s most of you have no military experience.” said Gomez.
“When can we expect the regiments available in our regions?” asked Tarl.
“I would say by the first of the year as we have to bring them back from the African Theatre.” said Gomez.
Tarl began to surmise plans in his head about how to deal with his outlier issues. Aside from the valley Jon lived in there were two other areas in the region that contained separatists. While none of them represented an offensive threat to the Order, it was a more perceived threat. With the exception of the events of a few weeks back where Jon and his folks had repelled incursions into his valley. Tarl knew he could not mount a move till early April but he thought he could use some of the regiment’s forces to provide some special problems for the valley.
“I expect some rough plans from all of you in the next few weeks as I am anxious to get all of this behind us so that we can get on with the business of maintaining our order.” said Gomez.
With that the conference broke up and each of the governors began their trek back to their regions. As Tarl’s 787 lifted off the runway he glanced out the window with a smile. He knew that he now had the means to eliminate those that could cause him issue. He began to think about possibly building a villa in the very valley that Jon Smith occupied. As he said out loud,
“What a twist of fate that would be.”
Chapter 4
“That turkey sure thawed out nicely.” said Jon as he poured himself a cup of coffee.
“It does look good, and it is really large.” said Catherine.
“What else is on the menu father?” asked Amanda
“Well we have wild rice, gravy, squash and whatever the guests bring.” said Jon.
“Who else is coming?” asked Amanda
“Well we have Doc over since he is alone and this year Royce and Mrs. Johnson are coming.”
“Dad invites the Johnson’s for a strategic purpose.” said Chris.
“And what might that purpose be?” asked Catherine.
Jon Smith Page 17