“Arrest them!” the mayor shrieked, “they’ve got guns!”
She could clearly be heard over the speaker system. Ignoring her entirely, the Chief asked:
“What do you boys want?”
* * *
“I don’t want to be this close,” Julie said, nervous.
“I have to! I need to get every word that’s said. This is going to be huge!”
Kat sounded truly excited, but Julie wasn’t at all impressed.
“Alright, but we go when I say we go,” Julie answered. “Just… get it, before things get worse, because I’m pretty sure they’re fixing to!”
“You got it,” Kat said, without looking up.
Kat swung the external mic around to aim directly at Nixon. She zoomed way in on him with her video camera, just as he said through the bull horn he carried:
“We the people, the MAJORITY of the people, of this city, are FINISHED with watching this go on. This behavior will NO LONGER BE TOLERATED! This is your ONLY warning! Either you disperse immediately, and go back home, or you will pay a price!”
“ARREST THEM!” the Mayor shrieked again.
Bang, bang, bang… Three shots rang out from within the crowd of rioters, and the Mayor fell backwards off the steps, forever silenced. A bottle of flaming liquid was thrown from somewhere deep back in the crowd. It arced up and down lazily, and hit the pavement in front of the past Presidents, splashing liquid fire all around their feet.
A good portion of the rioters took off on a dead run away from this new threat. They recognized them from yesterday, and wanted no part of them. Nobody had to convince them that this was indeed the only warning they’d get.
As the reporters across the street all focused on those of the crowd that were running away, several canisters of smoke and tear-gas landed among them.
With their backs towards the police line, as an intentional display of trust, the past Presidents ran as a group to the center of the street, firing on the rioters like machines. This group of Presidents had better fire control and better discipline than those at the liquor shop yesterday had, and their aim was deadly accurate. One would pick off targets, while his battle buddy would reload, and vice versa. Those closest ones to the past Presidents were met with a load of buckshot to the head. No quarter was given, no mercy shown. Those rioters who didn’t break and run were gunned down, regardless of which way they were facing.
Within ninety seconds, it was over. Several canisters of smoke hit the pavement between the police and the past Presidents. As the one in the Nixon mask walked among the rioters that lay in the street, putting a pistol round into the heads of any that still moved, the huge black man turned towards the smoke that separated him from the police, and shouted, in a deep, powerful voice:
“Do you want to know what we did today? What we all should have been doing, all along; supporting the MAJORITY of our people. They are tired of this shit! They are tired of being labeled racists or bigots if they speak up, by people like this Mayor. We know y’all are only doing your job, as best as you are allowed to, but know this! We have NO beef with the police, but we are DONE being a SILENT MAJORITY!”
As the smoke cleared from in front of the reporters, they could be seen rubbing their eyes, trying to see what was going on. As the smoke cleared from in front of the police, they were faced with a street filled with dead bodies. White, black, and brown alike.
But no past Presidents were anywhere to be seen.
* * *
Kat and Julie had quickly torn down Kat’s equipment, and had both laid down on the roof, out of sight from the street for about half an hour, as sirens approached from all directions. After they’d caught their breath, and their hearts had slowed down, Julie turned to Kat and said:
“Tell me you got all of that!”
“Every fucking bit!” Kat answered, her face as pale as a sheet.
“Time to get out of here, and go home. C’mon!”
Chapter 13
Josh & Eric: Metropolitan PD Precinct 9:00 a.m. Tuesday, Jan 18th, 2016
Josh and Eric sat side by side in a holding cell at an undamaged precinct, watching the news coverage on a TV outside with the sound turned off, and captioning on. They were both shocked and sickened at the carnage. When they’d seen it from the roof, it looked as if people were just falling, but the cameraman or woman had captured this from, or close to ground level. It was very graphic, to say the least.
“Wow, I had no idea it was that brutal,” Eric said to Josh.
The firebomb on the screen arced up, and they both watched, from a different perspective, as Eric and Josh rolled around, trying to get the fire off of Josh, until the extinguisher was used. Then his crazed rant to the crowd below, closed out the video clip.
“Dude, that was kinda cool,” Josh said. “Too bad I’ve got a really bad hairdo now. I think that video is going to bring out the ladies to show me some sympathy.”
“If we ever get out of here,” Eric said, punching his friend in the shoulder carefully.
“Yeah, at least the lady who shaved my head was gentle. I kept teasing her about someone giving me a sponge bath, now that my burns have been looked at.”
“Yeah, I know. How bad is the pain?” Eric asked. His own hand that he’d used to punch Josh’s good shoulder was now throbbing.
“About the same as the last time you asked, ten minutes ago. God, Eric, why’re you being such a worrier about that? The doc said it’s going to be fine. Minimal scarring even.”
“If I hadn’t insisted on staying to get the till…” Eric began.
Josh thought about it for a moment, and turned to his friend. “D’ya feel guilty about all of this?” he asked, his hand indicating his body.
“Not just about your getting hurt, but about all of those people who died too. I mean, if we hadn’t got trapped, maybe they would still be alive. I just wonder if we did the right thing. Where should we have drawn the line? So yeah, I feel some guilt. If I hadn’t insisted on lingering, maybe we could have gotten away from the crowd.”
“You’re the smartest dumbass I know,” Josh spat, “you really are, you know that?”
“What? Why?” Eric asked, surprised.
“You and I put our entire life savings into buying that shop, fixing it up, and making it what it is today.”
“Yeah, and we even shared the same crappy apartment to save money, so we could afford to do it, in the beginning,” Eric chipped in.
“Ok, so listen. Your entire savings, your life's work rested in the liquor store, right? Your money, your effort, your means to make a living. Losing the store would be a major setback. A lot of it would be covered by insurance, but how fast do you think they are going to be paying out, with all of these riots breaking out all across the country?”
“Not too fast,” Eric admitted.
“Exactly. So, say we have no money coming in for six months to pay the rent, what do you think’s going to happen? Never mind, you know what I mean. Losing the store would be catastrophic and it would really suck. Besides, the electronics guy across the street… He tried running, much earlier than we did, and you saw what happened to him.”
Eric nodded, staring at the TV in the front corner of the cell. “Yeah, I just wish so many people didn’t have to die.”
“Sometimes, people just win the Darwin awards, man. There was nothing wrong with us protecting our livelihoods and our lives.”
“Don’t you feel even a little bit guilty?” Eric asked.
“Sure, I wish it hadn’t happened, but it did. I’m not going to lose sleep over it.”
“You say that now,” Eric said, “but we both know that you had nightmares last night.”
“I’m only human.”
The sound of the steel door sliding open startled both of them. Several sets of footsteps made their way towards them. The cell they were in was empty, save them. It became apparent very quickly that the attractive woman with long flowing black hair, containing just the right amou
nt of gray streaks, was walking directly towards them, followed closely by two officers.
As she drew closer, neither couldn’t help but notice how well her smart business suit clung to her body, just screaming expensive, and tailor made. Then they realized that they recognized her. In her mid 50s, she was one of the most successful criminal defense attorneys in the country. She was on every court channel, giving her opinion. Often times she’d go on shows as a guest and expert to give color to what sometimes would be a dull report.
Both men stood as she stopped in front of their cell.
“I’m Madeline Taylor,” she told them in a smoky seductive voice. “I’ve been hired on as your attorney. Arraignment is in thirty minutes. You already know the charges, yes?”
“Yes,” Josh said, “and it’s all bullshit.”
“Yeah, we were just protecting ourselves,” Eric agreed.
“That’s why I’m here,” Miss Taylor said. “The Governor is pushing for indictments of everyone involved in this… debacle. I don’t think the DA’s office has the heart to do it. Now, before we prep, do you have any questions for me?”
“Yeah, who hired you?” Eric asked. “Last I knew, we just had a court appointed lawyer.”
“Well, it’s like this...” she began, smiling, while tapping a perfectly manicured, red fingernail against her temple in thought.
“There’s this group called Anonymous Justice on Facebook. After your incarceration, a member known only as AJ, set up a GoFundMe page for your legal defense. He put the link in the group, asked for help, and gave me access to the account to defend you.”
“He did what?”
“It set a record on GoFundMe, for the largest amount ever raised in one day, to date. In less than 24 hours almost $793,000 has been raised for your defense fund, and is still climbing. That’s about $792,999 more than I was going to ask for to represent you.”
They both sat there in shock.
“I… How…?”
Eric was at a loss for words.
“When we can get you access to a computer, you’ll see. There’s a video of the masked men they call the past Presidents doing what they did, and of you two on the roof, doing what you did, that went viral. It’s the number one most talked about video clip on the Internet right now. The most important thing you both need to remember, is just like this video shows, all you did was throw back down whatever the rioters threw up at you. Got it? If you’ll both have me as your lawyer, and you can remember this one thing, I can assure you that not only will I get you released soon, but you’ll be vindicated. As a matter of fact, with your permission, I’d like to hire a PR person and someone to cover the book and film rights.”
“Excuse me?” Eric asked.
“I guess we’ll have to discuss that part later,” she said, looking at her watch, “because right now, we have to go show a Grand Jury a little video, and get you out of here,” Taylor said. “We may or may not need some of that money for bail, but I’m thinking not.”
* * *
Around the country, during those same few days, protests that turned violent were being put down in the same way that members of the past Presidents had in DC. Small business owners coordinated with family and friends, and it quickly became obvious that there was a pattern developing. Every protest organized by BLM at an Islamic establishment, was infiltrated by outside agitators. Big names, many of whom were the worst sort of race baiters, would show up to work the crowds, trying to push them over the edge, and then quickly disappear as soon as violence broke out.
Already forewarned, and coordinating through Anonymous Justice, the majority defended themselves; sometimes brutally. Uninformed outsiders were somewhat slow to catch on to the fact that there were radicals on both sides of the fence. Some groups claimed to be all about Anonymous Justice, but were really only using that as an excuse to bust some heads. Those, when found out, were dealt with most harshly. Others were just run-of-the-mill radicals, who gravitated towards the Black Lives Matter movement, even though their ideals weren’t in alignment. Those just wanted anarchy, but without losing any of their freebies, like food stamps, health care, free college and subsidized housing. They threw around words like racist and bigot freely… yet they were the embodiment of what they shouted against. Most were young, uneducated and impressionable, but a few were simply hard cases, turned professional agitator.
Chapter 14
Jermane Williams: DC Capitol Police Headquarters 9:30 a.m. Tuesday, Jan 18th, 2016
“This is Jermane Williams, coming to you from Washington D.C., inside our mobile communications center, in the parking lot of the Capitol Police Department. We’re here to wrap up our on-site coverage of the D.C. Riots, as they have become known. This is the second American city-turned-war-zone we’ve seen in the last month. To say that an unprecedented, and quite frankly vicious, string of events has taken place here over the last few days would be an understatement.
“As part of a nationwide coordinated protest at all Islamic centers and mosques by Black Lives Matter, to discover which support the new Salafi Islamic movement, permits were issued for all five such locations that surround the White House. What began with peaceful protesters asking hard and direct questions on this volatile issue, quickly escalated out of control, as a confluence of movements coming together here quite literally exploded.
“To recap these dramatic events for you, we have assembled an assortment of videos and statements, from various sources into a timeline. As we go through them, I’ve invited some guests that can help explain it all to us. Remember, we’re leaving out the guests’ names, for the safety of all.”
A slide-show of still images began, depicting the timeline of events from when all of this had started, back at St. Stanislaus Catholic Church, in Hamtramck, MI. on December 18th, 2015.
“This incident could either be called ‘the first strike’ or ‘the last straw’ depending on your point of view,” Jermane said. “Either way, this was the catalyst for a group to be formed on Facebook, calling itself Anonymous Justice, by an unknown individual simply known as AJ. Since nobody knows who he is, I asked him a series of questions in the group, in preparation for this report, and was pleased to get most of them answered.
“AJ contacted me through Messenger, to conduct this first ever, and exclusive interview in private:
[AJ] Please excuse me for spoofing my location for this interview. I’m sure you understand my reasons?
[Jermane W] Of course. My first question is; Who did this awful thing, and why?
[AJ] This was planned and supplied by a sleeper cell of radical Islamics, already in place in the United States. The triggers were actually pulled by a U.S. citizen, converted to Islam, who was radicalized after having traveled to the Middle East and returning with a woman who was to become his wife here, through a sloppy visa program.
[Jermane W] This wasn’t the first terrorist attack here in the U.S. What made you get involved after this one?
[AJ] Suffice it to say that this was my last straw.
[Jermane W] Okay then, can you tell me why, when you created the group, and began sharing information that nobody else had, people began flocking to the group in such huge numbers?
[AJ] It all boils down to this Jermane: these atrocities have been carried out by just a handful of people, compared to our overall population. Their mission is to convert the entire world to their religion. That part isn’t much different than other religions. Their methodology and belief system however, is much different than what Americans consider religious. To them, Islam replaces the government, is the only legitimate religion, replaces the military, law enforcement, the educational system, the tax structure, and our Bill of Rights. It places men superior to women, and encourages polygamy.
[Jermane W] If this is true, why aren’t all Americans, the military, the government, and law enforcement kicking them out of here?
[AJ] Quite simply Jermane, because it’s called a ‘religion’ and we allow the freedom of
religious choice here. That makes it not only illegal for law enforcement to challenge, politically incorrect for other religions to challenge, and impolite for citizens to question, because it might ‘offend’ that handful of people. Then you have our President signing Executive Orders to create laws against investigating mosques, which allows them a place to radicalize American youth, and supply them with weapons of war, and a Mayor, like the one in D.C. who ties the hands of the police.
[Jermane W] Well if that’s all true, then it sounds like they’ve found a chink in the amour of our constitutional freedoms!
[AJ] Exactly, Jermane. They are supported by a minority of extreme left-wing liberals, so vocal that the conservative majority are afraid to say anything. Enter extreme right-wing patriots, such as the core people in Anonymous Justice, to level the playing field, so to speak, and suddenly the conservative majority grows some balls and helps them repair that chink in the armor.
“That brings me to a question for our guest from Black Lives Matter. Can you tell me ma’am, how was it that the peaceful protests that you had so carefully planned, turned into so much violence and bloodshed?” Jermane asked. “Also, did you get an answer to your questions from all of this?”
“Sure,” she answered. “The issue that instigated our involvement, was the report in Anonymous Justice by well-known religious scholars that a new Caliphate, led by Salafi Islamists over in Syria, may become recognized worldwide, and would call upon all Muslims to assist them in implementing Sharia law here in America. Along with Sharia law comes subjugation or slavery of all non-Muslims. Now, I’m sure that you can understand our concern over this topic, as black Americans?”
D.C. RIOTS (Anonymous Justice Book 3) Page 9