“What about the gold we do have?” asked Madison.
“You have a little, but that still leaves you with a substantial shortfall that you need to fill with something of intrinsic value.”
George’s steely eyes narrowed.
Madison’s eyes got bigger. “You’re not talking about our land and natural resources?!”
“What else do you have?” Lord Rothmayer had expertly drawn out this exchange so they were the ones to say it, not him. He was smooth.
In seconds, Madison, Adam and George had the same thought: what other collateral is there? The president and Adam were in their first term. They hadn’t been the cause of eliminating the gold and selling signed promissory notes to the Federal Reserve and other countries, but those notes were all now coming home to roost. This was obviously an orchestrated attack — one that had been played rather well.
Sensing that his adversaries were silent because he knew they had no other options; the banker twisted the knife. He sat back in his chair, folded hid hands over his ample belly and held eye contact long enough to make his victim shift uneasily. He smiled condescendingly. “As we see it,” he said, “your only options to satisfy your commitments are to put up the collateral. With the right amount of collateral, we can help. We can convince the other countries that this would stabilize the world’s economy and put them all on a more level playing field.”
Rothmayer hesitated and looked over his glasses, then sat back in his chair with his chin up. “Of course, they’ll demand some show of good faith and want to guarantee payments. This could be handled with a moderate tax of just a few percent. We suggest that you make it a gradual implementation.”
“You mean a global or world tax, like that damn carbon tax?” Adam said with a tone fraught with anger.
The banking patriarch shrugged. “You have to pay them back somehow.”
Adam wasn’t about to say what he was really thinking. He knew the carbon and global warming taxes were actually slated to go to private entities owned by these people. That was why he and George had got out of them.
In what was obviously a rehearsed and polished delivery, Rothmayer went on to explain rather eloquently how this could all work together for what he called ‘the good of the world’. George and Adam knew it was another lie. They understood it was the globalist banker’s way of getting a constant flow of money from the middle class.
“Your only other option would be to default on your promises.” He looked directly at George before adding, “We wouldn’t be able to support you under those circumstances.”
They all knew what that meant.
Rothmayer continued. “Your currency would collapse. We would have to let the other countries know the gravity of your financial situation, and no one else would accept your dollar. They’d start demanding to be paid in a more globally acceptable IMF currency or gold. As soon as your supplies of imported goods are used up, your economy will come to a full halt and your corporate tax revenue will virtually disappear. Then massive layoffs would lead to a drop in your personal tax revenue.” His tone lowered. “That would be the end of the United States of America.”
He stopped speaking; his position was clear. Crystal clear.
George was the only person in the room whose face lacked emotion. But Adam watched George’s white knuckles clasp his pen, mentally strangling the man’s throat.
Satisfied that Rothmayer had said all he wanted to before opening it up to an exchange, George surprised the banker by saying, “We appreciate you coming here and offering us your support. I know we don’t have much time, but this is a big country with many political dynamics. It’ll take us some time to get everything prepared. I’d only ask that you give us as much support as you can, and give us a month.”
The man nodded. George immediately stood and held out his hand. The men shook hands and George said, “I’ll have another meeting scheduled to discuss our next steps.”
As the men walked out of the room, George thought, Krieger’s team is our only chance.
Chapter 28
George settled in next to his wife. She stirred.
“Did I wake you?” he asked softly.
She rolled over. “No, I couldn’t sleep. I’ve been tossing and turning. Do you want to talk about it?”
George usually told his wife what was on his mind and, even though this was a little complicated and he was still sorting it out, he chose to share.
“There’s a huge risk in going up against these people,” he said. “They’ll stop at nothing. Even George Washington had an army. These days it would be easy for one gunman to take me out. They’ve infiltrated so much of the government. They shot Reagan. They shot Kennedy right after he had the country drop the Federal Reserve and print its own money again.”
George’s wife, Renee, didn’t know what to say to comfort him, though she knew her husband well enough to know that he was a light sleeper. With both of them rolling around all night, George wouldn’t get much sleep. So, she stood up, grabbed her two pillows and said, “I’ll sleep in the other room so you can get your rest.”
Early in their marriage he would have been reluctant to let her go. But in the past few years, he realized that when he needed to perform at his best, he was better after a good night’s sleep. He simply said, “Okay hun, you get a good rest, too.”
With that, she bent over and they exchanged a quick kiss and she left for the other room.
George laid there with the thoughts of the day circulating in his head. He began to pray silently. Archangel Michael, give me a sign tonight so that I know and understand what to do. I know you communicate through dreams. If you send me a sign through a dream, I’ll understand that the message is from you. Please send me a sign that’s vivid enough for me to understand.
The last thing George saw as he fell into a deep sleep was a beautiful, vivid, royal blue. Divine Providence was about to show him an exact account of what happened to the leader of the country centuries ago.
* * *
George dreamed that one day after the new year dawned, on January 2,1777, Lord Cornwallis marched on Trenton. He brought five thousand men from Princeton.37
It was dusk when the British saw the distant campfires of the Americans. As the British moved in, Cornwallis could see that Washington was as good as trapped.38
Washington could see that in front of him was the enemy; to his rear was the icy Delaware. It was a bad spot.39
As the evening sky grew even darker, Washington called his highest officers around him in a tense council of war.40 It was at this group meeting that Washington decided to counter attack, and slip away in the night, to take Princeton out from under the British.
The next day, two miles outside of Princeton, Washington was within a few hundred yards of Stony Brook Bridge when his advanced guard began taking heavy fire at the bridge. Within moments, they were overrun. When their commander fell dead, the guard retreated towards Washington.
As Washington sat atop his mount among a group of his closest supporters, he saw his men scurrying in a panic from the direction of the bridge. Washington immediately knew the whole plan was in jeopardy and, if they let this opportunity slip away, the fledgling country might be lost.
Without taking time to utter a word, Washington perceived what was happening, and he spurred his magnificent white horse into a fast gallop, waving his hat and calling his men forward. As Washington raced heedlessly toward the enemy, the astonished Red Coats lifted their muskets, pointed at the man on the horse, and fired.41
Washington’s advanced guards watched in horror as he had raced between them and the enemy. When Washington got to the base of the short bridge, he paused, and his stallion reared. Washington was directly in front of them on the birth of the bridge. All accounts estimated that hundreds of Red Coats had clear shots from the concealment of the far bank.
They
fired almost simultaneously. Washington was so close to them that musket smoke filled the air, and neither side could see what had become of the General.42
More than one account recorded that, as the gray white smoke filled the air and engulfed him, the last thing they saw was the General disappear into a blaze of swirling royal blue and faints of red. Then the smoke lifted, miraculously, and Washington still sat astride his great horse, urgently calling his men to battle.43
Several British soldiers later recounted that, at that exact moment when the smoke was clearing, the heavens let out the loudest thunder they had ever heard in their entire lives. One was quoted saying it was deafening and came with a percussion that hit their chests and almost knocked them over as “it shook the very ground we stood on.”44
Immediately, the spirits of the patriots rose as one and they charged forward.
The entire British army was overwhelmed by the sight of this man who, it was said, could never be killed in battle, and by the accompanying thunder from the heavens above. The British soldier continued saying, “The spirit of fear overtook us, and we ran.”
Washington muscled his horse around. “After them, my boys,” General Washington called. “It’s a fine fox chase.”45
Five hundred British were killed, wounded, or captured in the engagement. The Americans lost fewer than fifty.46
Later that day, several accounts stated that British captives said that when they saw the General, wearing royal blue with a red blazer and white satchel, was still sitting high atop his great pale white stallion after hundreds of British marksmen had shot at him from a distance slightly longer than the short bridge, and then the heavens sounded off like never before, they knew Washington had been protected. Fear made them incapable of attacking. Thus, their superior forces were routed.
Bartholomew Dandridge seemed to echo the feelings of many when one patriot wrote: “It is plain (that) Providence designed you as the favorite instrument in working out the salvation of America.47
* * *
George woke dripping in sweat. He gasped for air and looked around. There was total silence. He blinked hard to see the clock more clearly. It was 3:33am.
The message was clear. I know what I must do.
Chapter 29
President Carnegie’s tone was confident. He moved about as if presenting to a sizeable group, though only Krieger, Gabby, Adam, Madison and John were sitting in the Oval Office. After his dream the night before, George felt inspired. He had renewed energy. It was a new day.
“This is a complex problem that needs to be addressed on a variety of fronts,” the president said. “We need to be creative with our actions, and we don’t have much time. The vision I want you to have this morning is that we will fix the country and set it up for another two hundred years of prosperity. In the process, we’ll address some of the things that have brought us to this point. We need to brainstorm possible solutions to get us out of this mess. What we need is a mastermind group, a brain trust, a team of people that will create a way to fix the country. I think getting the right people here is our first priority,” George directed. “I want you to find the best and the brightest minds and get them here tomorrow if you can. Their job will be to figure out how stop the country from being taken over!”
George’s mind was racing. “We’ll need some of the best in state government. People who have turned their states around. We’ll need some of the best in a variety of business sectors like technology, manufacturing, social media, and whatever else you can think of. We need people who think outside of the box.”
“What do we tell them?” Madison asked.
“Good question,” George said. “We tell them we’re putting together a mastermind group to save the country with the goal of putting the country financially on the right track in the next ten days.”
“Ten days?”
George nodded. “In our meeting with the Federal Reserve, I told them to give us some time. I told them we needed a month. But the bastard nodded and didn’t respond. I don’t know how long we have, but I do know they’re thinking about days and not a month or more. Our goal is to save the country in the next ten days. John, I’ll need to work hand in hand with you to pull out all the stops.”
John was on board. “I’ll be here every morning, unless you want me somewhere else.”
George nodded and gave him a solemn look of thanks.
George directed, “Adam, why don’t you and Madison take the rest of the day and develop a list. Then contact them.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Adam said.
Madison agreed, saying, “We’ll get right on it.”
George thought for a second and his speech slowed. He had another thought.
Heads were nodding as he looked towards Adam. “I want your group to work here, right here in the White House, to address fixing the economic issues. I want them to work in secrecy. Whatever area you choose, make sure they’re not monitored by anyone other than those we personally vet.”
Adam nodded and, as he saw George immerse himself deeper into thought, Adam asked, “Mr. President, what are you thinking?”
George responded, “I’m thinking we’re going to need two groups. We’ll need a separate group, a group of military experts, to work out of a secure location.”
Turning to Krieger, the President said, “Colonel, I’ll leave the location up to you.”
“Yes sir, Mr. President.”
Adam, accepting his role, said, “Understood. A few states have made dramatic changes. I was just reading a book on how government can work. It has an example of one state that has taken their state tax code down to one page. We can pull in a few of those people.” He looked down and jotted down a few notes.
Madison chimed in, “There are a few senators and one congressman I can think of that we can trust.”
George became more demanding in his tone; the executive presence of a leader reaching a higher level. He was dealing with a crisis. He reaffirmed. “Get them all here tomorrow morning. And find some business people that are doing things outside of the box.”
“Good idea!” Adam understood. He looked down at his pen gliding silently over the paper.
George turned back to Krieger. “We also need to put together a loyal team from the military, and I mean loyal to this country.” Maintaining eye contact with Krieger, the president continued. “First, I need a high-ranking general who’s loyal to the country and what it once was… make that two. But no politically correct pussies. You may want to think of who’s still available among the Generals who were forced into retirement by my predecessor. Find the ones who are fiercely loyal and bring them back.”
Krieger showed a trace of a smile.
George made a sweeping hand gesture. “We’ll need people who can put a mission together within days.”
“What kind of mission sir?” Krieger asked.
“One to save the country, that’s what kind,” the president responded.
George thought for a second. He hesitated to say too much in front of the others. He had a thought, and the fewer people who knew, the better. He did, however, want them to know that he would be tied up with other world leaders and working closely with Krieger and his group.
Looking back at Krieger, he said, “Get our best Special Forces operatives from around the world, and put them on our fastest jets and get them to the location you designate within forty-eight hours.”
“Yes sir!” Krieger’s large lips were now perfectly horizontal.
George wanted to be clear. “I don’t want any of these people coming to Washington. We’ll talk after this meeting, but for now, think about a place for our military group to fly into and work out of. We’ll need a large area that’s equipped to immediately prepare the group.”
“Affirmative, sir.” Krieger already had a location in mind, and he’d have them fly directly th
ere.
Keeping eye contact with Krieger, George continued. “Colonel, I want whatever location you choose to be at totally gutted of any non-loyal people immediately, and by immediately, I mean at least twenty-four hours before any of the others arrive. Put together a robust plan to ensure that only patriots are there. And immediately stop all traffic in and out, unless it’s part of this mission.”
Madison questioned, “What are you going to do, sir?”
“We’re going to save this country. Washington won independence by playing defense, and dodging attacks from the enemy. Then when they least expected it, he struck,” George snapped.
He turned directly to Adam, then to Krieger. “We’re going to attack. They declared war… we know their play. Now it’s our turn to play the only cards in our hand.”
The president turned back to Adam. “Who was that guy who helped save you when you were kidnapped? You said he was the one we saw in Pennsylvania at the other side of the river. After the shootout, he waved, then he disappeared into the shadows.”
Chapter 30
Gabby looked out over the diverse group that would soon become their economic mastermind. It had taken two days to get everyone here, but now, the room was filled with business entrepreneurs, an economist, an actuarial, an efficiency expert and a few patriotic politicians.
At the far side of the room, an actuarial economist named Haley stood speaking with a senator. A governor spoke with another person. The eccentric billionaire Szegda, known for his unfiltered remarks, hosted three spellbound female listeners to the right.
When the announcement was made that the vice president was about to address the group, everyone took seats. The room fell silent.
After his introduction, Adam began. “Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for coming. The very existence of the United States of America is being threatened. You were brought here to form a mastermind group to save the country economically. Each of you was chosen for your unique traits in a specific area of expertise. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to, within one week, create an economic plan to save the country.”
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