Return of Our Country

by David M Burke

  When the cover fire erupted, Gabby and Adam ran up the narrow dirt path as fast as they could. They were about midpoint of the cliffs when they reached the top of the hill and caught their first glimpse of a round stone tower. It was O’Brien tower, built in 1835 by Sir Cornelius O’Brien. It sat high on the cliffs, almost seven hundred feet above the crystal blue Atlantic Ocean.

  Suddenly, a woman came running towards them yelling, “Get down!” It was Gonzalez’s assistant.

  In an explosion of activity, men came charging over the hill from behind the woman. Others came from the south. Shots began flying in every direction.

  The woman pointed towards the direction of ocean and shouted, “This way, keep down.”

  They ran together and the woman had led them to a depression in the rocky terrain about fifty yards away. They were close to the edge of the cliffs and Gonzalez was waiting.

  Adam and Gabby ducked behind the rocks.

  Adam winced as he crouched.

  Gonzalez’s mouth hung open. He was looking at the blood that was running down Adam’s side.

  “Sir, you’re hit,” Gonzalez said.

  Adam grimaced and forced himself to inhale. “It was a rock fragment.”

  Gonzalez knew it must have been all the movement and the lack of a bandage causing the bleeding. But, based on the amount of blood on Adam’s shirt and pants, he had lost enough to compromise his physical skills. Gonzalez processed all this and more.

  Adam was in more pain than he wanted to admit. He was also beginning to get fatigued.

  Gonzalez could see it. “Let me look,” Gonzalez said.

  Gonzalez began to carefully peel Adam’s shirt. It was sticking. Some of the blood had coagulated as it seeped through.

  “At first, I thought it was a bullet,” Gabby said. “But I pulled out a large sliver of rock fragment.”

  Gonzalez had seen enough wounds. He noticed that peeling that little bit of shirt away had caused fresh blood to pulsate to the surface. Not a good sign. He stopped and put the shirt back in place and held his palm on it. Then he placed his other hand on the front of Adam’s chest and compressed.

  The pressure sent a gasp of air out of Adam’s lungs. He immediately took another deep breath.

  Gonzalez looked back at Gabby.

  They held eye contact for a split second. Gabby understood, and the look wasn’t lost on Adam. He looked at Gonzalez and then at an apparatus.

  “What’s this?”

  “It’s a hang glider,” Gonzalez said.

  “A hang glider,” Adam repeated.

  “I couldn’t find any rope.”

  Gabby looked at Adam and asked, “Do you know how to hang glide?”

  Adam shook his head, then heard shots hit the rocks they were hidden behind. He snuck a quick look over one that was giving them protection to the west. There were a few men trying to hold off twice as many coming to surround them.

  He turned back around and looked at Gabby and smiled tightly. “This seems like a good time to learn.”

  Adam was wincing in pain from the injury to his back. The gunfire was getting closer and Gonzalez peered over the rocks and shot a few rounds. At this point he was concerned if Adam had enough strength to lift the hang glider. Even if they could manage that, they also needed to gain enough momentum to get it to glide.

  Gonzalez’s assistant had just taken her turn shooting. She turned around and said to Gabby, “You’ve got to get him out of here.”

  “How does this thing work?” Adam gestured to the glider.

  “You run and jump when you get to the edge of the cliff,” Gonzalez said. “You’ll drop a little, and then the wind will catch you.”

  “That’s all there is to it?”

  “I guess,” Gonzalez answered, before realizing his choice of words wasn’t the best.

  “You guess?” Gabby questioned. “Have you ever been hang gliding?”

  Gonzalez had a blank look on his face. The answer was obviously no. Gonzalez shrugged. “But the guy I got it from said that’s all there was to it.”

  The shots increased in volume and frequency and Gonzalez looked over the rocks, quickly turning back after one ricocheted close to them.

  Adam lifted the edge of the glider and ducked underneath the right wing, then looked around the underneath of the glider. “Where are the other straps?” he said.

  Gabby was next to Gonzalez’s assistant, peering over the stone wall at the advancing men, and she turned around and looked at Adam.

  Gonzalez began strapping Adam in. In a moment, it became apparent there were only straps for one.

  “What’s the weight capacity of this thing?” Adam asked.

  Gonzalez frantically looked around. He found the label.

  “Three hundred pounds.”

  One of the advancing men pointed. He appeared to be speaking through his microphone, likely alerting others close by.

  Gonzalez’s assistant urged, “We won’t be able to hold them off very long.”

  “How far out is Krieger?” Gonzalez questioned.

  She didn’t know.

  Adam looked Gabby in the eyes and then up and down and said, “Take off your shirt.”

  “What?” Gabby sputtered.

  “No, not you.” Looking at Gonzalez, Adam said, “Take off your shirt and tie Gabby’s left hand to my right hand.”

  Adam held out his hand. Then he turned to Gabby and said, “We’ll have to run side by side and, right when we get to the cliff, you reach around and jump on me and hold on for dear life. Use your legs to wrap around me.”

  Gabby nodded. She felt a knot forming in her stomach.

  “We’ll run and jump… then the glider will fall a little and catch the wind.”

  “Fall…” Gabby’s eyes were huge and her face was pale, “how far?”

  Gonzalez had taken off his shirt and wrapped part around Adam’s arm. He had just finished tying Gabby’s arm to Adam’s and had pulled the knot tight with a quick snap, when automatic gunfire sent rock fragments from left to right. Krieger dove over the rock wall.

  No one had answered Gabby.

  Krieger could see Adam was grimacing in pain and noticed blood coming from his side. “You need to get to the sub.”

  Over a dozen men were advancing on their position. Gabby grabbed Adam forcibly by the upper right arm. “Come on. Let’s go.”

  Adam was frozen with pain.

  He looked out over the ocean. It was a drop of hundreds of feet below.

  Gabby was waiting, but Adam hadn’t moved. He just stared westward over the ocean.

  Then, he noticed blue and green rays of light in the horizon. A feeling of calmness came over him. He knew it was a sign. He had seen these colors before. It was time to go.

  He looked at her and grimaced.

  He took a deep breath and said, “Ready.”

  “Together?”

  Adam nodded. “Together.”

  Seeing the impending moment, Krieger yelled, “Cover fire!”

  * * *

  In unison, Gabby and Adam grabbed the cross-bar and took off running. With her last step before the cliff’s edge, Gabby pushed off with her right leg. She twisted, landing directly in straddling position facing Adam. She hung on for dear life. She was shaking with fear.

  She squeezed the cross-bar tight as they fell. They were descending.

  Then they felt the current change and the wind began to fill the sails. They began to glide.

  Gabby looked at Adam and his eyes were wide and his lips tightened.

  “Hold on,” he said. “This is going to be close.” Something was wrong in his tone.

  Gabby turned her head around to the right as far as she could. She squeezed Adam tighter with her legs. They were headed directly at a huge rock structure sticking about two h
undred feet out of the North Atlantic.

  Adam gripped tighter. Gabby hugged him as tightly as she could. She closed her eyes for a moment.

  Then she felt another change in the wind current, and she opened her eyes.

  The glider began to level off. They were closing in on the huge limestone tower. It was getting bigger by the second. Adam pushed down with his right arm. He pulled up with his left, trying to get the glider to turn. The air flow seemed to be winding around the structure. Then, winds of providence began to fill their sails. The glider seemed to hesitate in the air, and it almost stopped moving forward. They began to climb, faster than they had descended. There were a few moments of hesitation, but Adam didn’t move a muscle. He just held tight. Then they began to move forward, and soared just to the side of the huge rock formation.

  Suddenly, up ahead, the ocean erupted with foam. A huge submarine had broken through the ocean’s surface. That was it, they were finally going to be home free.

  * * *

  Now aboard the aircraft carrier, Krieger needed to speak with the president immediately. The Captain had set them up in his small secure conference room to make the call.

  “Mr. President,” Krieger began. “Thanks to some brave Irish, the vice president and Gabby are safe and sound.”

  Krieger took a breath and let the magnitude of what he said sink in. The submarine that had picked them up was under strict orders not to communicate, due to their large cargo of gold. This was the first time George had heard that Adam was safe.

  The president’s heart leapt. “Oh my God. Yes! Colonel … you don’t know how good this news makes me feel His face beamed a huge grin across his desk.

  Realizing he was on a speaker phone the president asked, “I’m here with Senator Madison Dodge, who’s with you, Colonel?”

  “Sir, it’s myself, Mauricio and Gabby, just the three of us. I put the vice president on a fast mover with a four-wing escort. I know we’re behind schedule, but they’re headed back to DC and,” looking at his cell phone Krieger said, “he’ll be there in time for your review with the economic mastermind group.”

  “Hello Mr. President,” Gabby said.

  “Gabby, it’s good to hear your voice,” Madison said.

  “Hello Gabby, it’s a relief to have you safe and sound again,” the president responded. “Colonel, from what I’m hearing, you’re telling me we’re a full go for the State of the Union address and the meeting afterwards?”

  “Absolutely, sir. I only wish I would be there for the State of the Union. But I wouldn’t miss the meeting afterwards.”

  “Colonel, I can’t think of anyone I’d rather have at that meeting than you,” the president said with a tone that went from relief to reverence. He fully understood what would happen in the meeting after the State of the Union. Now, it was beginning to sink in what Krieger and his team had just accomplished.

  “Colonel, let me commend you and your team for accomplishing this feat. What you’ve done for your country is unparalleled in modern history. You’ve given the country a chance.”

  The president looked across the desk as the Senator. Her eyes were filled with the same emotion he was feeling.

  He continued. “I don’t know how everyone got out of there. You’ll have to tell me about it later.”

  The president knew that Krieger was a true hero. He deserved the respect and adoration of the entire nation. If the people ever knew what he’d done, they’d be in awe. He and Madison were. Now, with the gold on its way back to America, and with the transfer of money Adam had orchestrated, the entire national debt would be paid off.

  The president even planned to send some of the gold to other countries it had been stolen from in turn for peace and a truly better world. Even now, some joint military forces were getting smaller stashes of gold from several locations across the globe.

  Until that very moment, the president hadn’t thought about if he’d ever tell the country about Krieger or Adam had done. That would be something to think about.

  The Colonel had masterminded almost every Special Forces team from every branch of the military to reclaim stolen gold from across the globe. Krieger grinned with satisfaction as he reflected on Gabby and Adam soaring away on a hang glider, while he’d held the position until reinforcements arrived. When the SAS realized Adam had gotten away, they’d dispersed. Then, Krieger and the rest had rappelled down the cliffs to be taken to the sub. After it had surfaced, Gabby and Adam had soared almost directly over it. Not wanting to overshoot the sub by too much, they’d let go of the hang glider and dropped into the North Atlantic. They were in the water several minutes before the sub stabilized and a team come out and got them. When Krieger, Mauricio and a few others made it to the sub, they were all transported to rendezvous with the carrier.

  “Absolutely sir,” Krieger said, “and let me say that I believe Gabby has a few stories of her own to tell.”

  Madison hadn’t felt so relieved and hopeful about the country since she could remember. “We look forward to hearing them,” she said.

  The president knew the carrier had sent out a team to look for Tim, the pilot, and The Shadow.

  “What about Brooks?” George asked, not wanting to use his alias.

  Gabby hadn’t heard anything about the dog fight Tim and Brooks had been involved in to take out Sordid and The Cleric. She looked at the Colonel. He hesitated and leaned down closer to the speaker on the table.

  In a slow, somber tone he said, “Sir, we’re sorry to report, Brooks didn’t make it.”

  Chapter 75

  In the State of the Union address in front of the joint session of Congress, the president gave the most important and inspiring message a president had ever given in modern times.

  It had been a week since Adam had gotten back. The cities had been calm for the past few days. Special task forces dressed in blue and white uniforms with red accents had begun their patrols. The newly designed attire was a cross between the standard police uniform and a marine uniform. The people’s first impression of these patriots would be that safety and security had returned. With many large gangs taken out, the streets in major cities were now as quiet as a country town.

  The president laid out how these newly created military-type police would pull back shortly, but would be available to deploy to any city where crime began to escalate uncontrollably.

  With that put to bed, the president addressed political and economic topics. “This is the start of a new age, an age of enlightenment leading to a new and invigorating age of freedom and opportunity for all. Before I get to that, there has been some house cleaning here in Washington I’d like to address.”

  The room was dead silent as the president continued. “We have texts, cell phone calls and other data to indict well over a thousand people. I’d like to thank the special task force that has not only extracted this information from the NSA database, but they have also mapped the contacts these people had with many political appointees who have burrowed into a variety of government positions. Because of this, we have let go of several thousand individuals in the CIA, FBI and other organizations. We already have dozens of people with ankle bracelets on. Immediately following this address, we will be recalling trustworthy retirees to take their place. They’ll also be watching for any residual deep state activity. I ask those of you who are contacted to join us in helping get your country back on the right track. Your country needs you more than ever. In addition, we will be notifying more than a thousand people that if they continue their nefarious activities, they’ll not only be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, they will lose their pensions.

  “I’ll be filling you in more this week from the new media room. Let me explain our new media room. We are converting our current media room into a high-tech room where we’ll be able to communicate directly to you, the American people. We’ll have regularly scheduled upda
tes, which will include fireside chats and more extensive updates complete with guests who’ll be helping on important initiatives.

  “The reason for this is, we have evidence that the media has been complicit with foreign entities to destroy our culture and the financial well-being of the American worker. Coinciding with this move, we have the votes to pass a new Truth in Media law. It will be described to you in the coming week. This move will not only allow us to talk directly to you on a regular basis without anyone filtering the truth, it will greatly reduce the false narratives the mainstream networks previously engaged in.”

  George waited for the light applause to wane.

  “Now for the best news. A cross-functional group of patriots, consisting of entrepreneurs and visionaries from across the country, have been working diligently in secret. Their job was to outline some dynamic changes that will set the country on a path to be free and prosperous for the next two hundred and fifty years. I’d like to thank two of our visionaries who’ve joined us today. Heading up our grand strategy advisory group are James Haley and Robert Szegda. They led the efforts to integrate these practices, which will ensure the people of this country keep the power intended for them to have as we eradicate the establishment from every nook and cranny of our government. To do this, the following things are being put into place and into law to ensure the establishment doesn’t rise again.”

  Even those known to be establishment politicians clapped joyfully. Those of them who were there, had been visited by a few of the president’s team of two. The president wouldn’t say anything today about that, or the empty seats. That wouldn’t be disclosed publicly for a few days. But the president already had the bills drafted and the votes counted. Each law would pass easily.

  The president went on to outline a myriad of solutions that came from the team, starting with how political freedom began with public funding elections; now elections would be publicly funded again and politicians could no longer take money for campaigns. This would put an end to the two-party tyranny that established the elites as a ruling class. It would virtually eliminate the control huge multi-national companies had on politics. This would also ensure that the middle class would again be duly represented in Congress and the presidency.