Melvyn said, “Now there’s a good chance they’re going to ask for the registration to make sure it matches my driver’s license. I’ve seen them do spot checks on people. I suppose it’s to make sure people aren’t stealing cars and driving them over the border.”
“I’ve seen them ask people for papers, but never knew why. That makes sense.”
“But that’s the thing. They don’t check everybody. It would take too long. They do spot checks.”
“Every eighth car.”
“What?”
“They check every eighth car.”
“Now how in the world did you know that?”
“We’ve gone over this bridge several times to visit Joe. While you were busy driving, I was busy noticing things you didn’t. Like, for example, they make the driver of every eighth car roll down their window and hand them papers and passports.”
“Well, I’ll be darned. I didn’t notice that.”
“Well, I guess it’s a good thing I did, then, isn’t it?”
He smiled as he said, “Yes ma’am. I guess we make a good team, don’t we?”
“Darn right. So what are you going to say if we’re the eighth car?”
“I’ll tell them we left our passports at home, but we’ll be more than happy to go and get them if they wish. I’ll apologize profusely and pretend this is our first visit to Canada and we didn’t know any better.”
“And if they ask you for the car registration?”
“I’ll be absolutely shocked, not understanding why they’d ask for such a thing. I’d offer the signed title as proof the car is ours and point out to them that Jacob’s annual registration doesn’t expire for three more months.”
“And if they don’t buy it?”
“I don’t know, honey. I have no Plan B. I suppose we throw ourselves at their mercy and beg them to let us in their country.”
“Do you think they would?”
“Sure they would. Everybody in the world says that Canadians are nicer than Americans. We’ll put that theory to the test.”
“They’re Americans too, you know.”
“Who?”
“The Canadians. They reside in North America too. They’re as American as we are.”
“I know that, technically. But when everybody else in the world talks about Americans, they’re talking about people from the United States. Not even Canadians call themselves Americans. They call us Americans and themselves Canadians.”
“I know. Why do you think that is?”
“I suppose they don’t want to be associated with us. I think they see us as their ill-behaved neighbors to the south. Or perhaps the uncle they only see at Christmas that embarrasses the rest of the family.”
As it was, they weren’t the eighth car which got checked. The car in front of them was checked and they were waived through to Windsor.
They breathed a huge sigh of relief and abandoned the Chevy a block away from the Duff-Baby House.
Joe picked them up promptly at one p.m.
Chapter 9
In the nation’s capitol Tony Carson and Bud Avery were living their own adventure.
It was no more fun than the one Gwen and Melvyn were having.
They’d been playing a cat and mouse game against a pompous bureaucrat at the Department of the Interior named Townsend and several of his thugs in black suits.
Actually, Bud suspected the men in black suits were assigned to the Department of Homeland Security. But it was only a guess, since they never showed any badges, never explained whey they were following them. Never even uttered a word, actually.
Tony and Bud had come to Washington well armed for the game. They had data on several thumb drives and had done a good job hiding them in various places. The thugs temporarily detained them at DI Headquarters long enough to find one in their hotel room and to confiscate it.
But Bud expected that to happen. In fact, he wanted it to. He wanted word to get back to C. Hastings Townsend they had the goods on him. And that there were probably more copies out there.
They’d done a good job of losing their tail, thanks to the crowded streets of Washington and its heavy traffic. And over sandwiches at a downtown Subway they planned their next move.
“I was worried, Bud. When you disappeared I wondered where you went. I thought they might have caught you and grabbed you. Or even worse, killed you. Don’t you ever do that to me again.”
Bud eyed him warily before responding.
“Just when did we get married and you become my nagging wife? Because I have to tell you, Tony, I don’t remember any of it. I must have really been drunk. And if you tell me we had a honeymoon, I swear I will pull out a gun and shoot myself in the head, right here and now. And then I’ll shoot you.”
Tony smiled. Then he stated the obvious.
“If you shoot yourself in the head first, you won’t be able to shoot me.”
“You’re absolutely right. I’ll have to shoot you first.”
“Do you even have a gun?”
“Yes. In my suitcase at the hotel.”
“Wait a minute. You brought a gun to D.C. and didn’t even bring it when we walked into the lion’s den? What good is it if you didn’t bring it with you?”
“It wouldn’t have made it through the metal detectors. They’d have made me check it with security when we entered the building. And since the thugs escorted us directly out of the building it would still be there.
“Relax. I checked my suitcase when we were back at the room. They didn’t take it.”
“I’m serious, Bud. Without you I’m lost in this town. I don’t know where anything is or where to go or who to see or what to tell them.”
“Well then, my young and helpless friend. I suggest you do whatever is in your power to keep me from being killed or kidnapped.”
“That’s what I’m telling you. I will fight like the dickens to keep them from dragging you into a car. But I can’t if you go and disappear on me again like that.”
Bud suddenly went silent. The smile left his face and he took on a peculiar look.
“What?”
“Oh, nothing. My grandson used to say that all the time… like the dickens…that’s all.”
“The grandson who died? The one you said I remind you of?”
“Yes. I’ll tell you about him sometime, when things aren’t so hectic. Right now we have other things to worry about.”
“Ya think?”
“I’ll tell you what, Tony. I won’t willingly leave your side again. I just had something I had to do, and didn’t have the time to explain it to you under the circumstances.”
As he spoke, Bud was intently watching two tourists chatting and eating their lunch a couple of tables over.
They were two men, early twenties perhaps, with heavy Boston accents. Same height, more or less, same hair color, same facial features.
Probably brothers.
Tony turned his head to see what Bud was looking at.
“What now? Do you think they’re spies? Assassins? She we run?”
“Don’t be such a drama queen, Tony. You watch too many spy movies.”
Bud got up and walked over to the men’s table.
“Excuse me, gentlemen. My grandson and I have lost our phone. I’ve got an important call to make. Would you mind if I borrowed a cell phone for about five minutes?”
The tourists looked at each other, clearly unsure of the stranger who’d suddenly appeared and was trying to borrow something of value.
They hesitated, prompting Bud to produce a folded fifty dollar bill from the front pocket of his trousers.
“Come now,” he said. “I’m an old man. You can clearly run me down and tackle me if I try to run away with it. And I’m willing to rent it for five minutes for fifty dollars. You’re not going to get a better deal than that today.”
One of the men took the fifty from Bud’s hand, examined it to make sure it was real, then looked at the other and shrugged.
; “Why not?” he said as he handed Bud his cell phone.
“Thank you,” Bud said. “I’ll bring it right back.”
Bud returned to his own table with the phone and ignored Tony’s question: “What in the world was all that about?”
Instead, he took a tiny black notebook from his jacket pocket and opened it.
Then he punched a series of numbers into the cell phone and placed it next to his ear.
“Hello. I need to speak with Professor Hamlin. It’s quite important.
“Yes ma’am. I’ll hold.”
Chapter 10
During the pause Tony attempted to ask Bud what he was doing, who he was talking to.
Bud placed a finger to his lips to shush him.
“Hello, Wayne. This is Bud. Now, I’m pressed for time, so I’m not going to ask you how Julie and the kids are or about your golf game. Instead, I’m going to ask you for a big favor. And you’re going to have to write some stuff down. Are you ready to copy?”
There was a slight pause.
“Okay. First of all, if anyone from the government or law enforcement comes to ask about me, you haven’t heard from me or seen me since we played golf in Norwood last week. You don’t know where I am.
“I know, I know. Just bear with me, okay?
“If I don’t contact you again within ten days from today I’m either in custody by government henchmen or I’ve been murdered.
“If that’s the case, I want you to come to Washington D.C.
“Go to a place on H Street, just a few blocks from the Washington Monument. It’s a storefront called Office on the Go. They have a bank of rental mailboxes in there. Go to Box 54565. The combination is 32-45-38.
“In that box you’ll find several pages of computer data. Just a bunch of numbers, mostly. Mumbo jumbo to me, but you’ll look at it and know instantly what it represents.
“Also in the mailbox is a thumb drive. The papers are only a sampling of the overall data. But the thumb drive holds the entire data file.
“There’s also a personal note from me that will explain fully what’s happened and why I’m asking you to do this.
“Once you have the papers and the thumb drive, I want you to return home. Don’t tell anybody where you went or what you did. Quietly make copies of both the drive and the papers, and send them to all your colleagues around the country. And around the world.
“Tell them the government is killing and kidnapping people to keep this information hidden and ask them to share it loudly and widely.
“The people need to know.”
Bud suddenly went silent and was listening to what was obviously an agitated and worried friend on the other end of the phone.
“I’m sorry, Wayne. It’s all laid out in my note. I can’t explain further right now, because I don’t want to get you involved in this unless I’ve been kidnapped or murdered.
“Also, because my five minutes are up.”
On that ominous note, he hung up.
As he stood up and returned the phone to its rightful owner, Tony’s head was spinning with a dozen questions.
He just didn’t know where to begin.
So he just jumped right in.
“Bud, who was that on the phone? Do you think it was safe telling him where you stashed that stuff? If that winds up to be the only copy we have left when this is over can you trust him with it? I mean, we already know they’re talking to our relatives. And who is he supposed to make copies for? You told me yourself that you don’t know which media outlets to trust. That many of them are closely watched by government operatives.”
Bud smiled, unflustered by his young charge’s grilling.
“Calm down, I say calm down, boy,” he said in his best Foghorn Leghorn impression.
“Wayne is a friend of mine. He’s a college professor and head of the University of Missouri Springfield Geology and Earth Sciences Department. He’s also world renowned in his field. If you want to know anything at all about rocks or dirt or dinosaur shit, he’s the man to ask.
“And before you ask, he wasn’t one of my old professors. I went to Missouri, yes, but to get a degree in criminal justice. The only thing I know about rocks is that they hurt when somebody throws them at you.”
“Then how do you know him?”
“We got teamed up in a blind golf tournament several years ago.”
“How in heck do the blind play golf?”
“Not that kind of blind, dummy. They matched up partners who didn’t know each other. Like in a blind date. It was a charity function. Anyway, they matched us up and we hit it off pretty well. We didn’t win the tournament, but we weren’t really trying to. We helped raise money for sick kids, and that’s what we were out there for.
“Anyway, we hit it off and became good friends. Now anytime he’s headed out to the course and somebody in his regular foursome bails on him, he invites me to play. I do the same for him.”
“But why let him in on our little secret?”
“Because that’s his line of work. He lives and breathes rocks and dirt. He’d eat them too, but they’d break his teeth.
“All that data is just chicken scratches on a paper to you and me. But he’ll know exactly what it means.”
“What will he do with it? You said for him to share it with his colleagues. What did you mean by that?”
“Look, the government has its thumb on many of the news outlets. It’s been that way for a very long time. If those networks get ahold of the story they’ll want very much to put it out there to the public. But the government plants who work for them will get the word out to their supervisors. The government will swoop in and order them not to air it. They’ll identify everyone in the network who knows about it, from the CEO to the lowly janitor who was sweeping the floor and overheard the two anchors talking about it.
“Once they identify who knew about it they’ll take them into a room not unlike the one we went to at DI Headquarters. It’ll be an interrogation room.
“They’ll intimidate them and threaten them and tell them the story cannot be told because of national security concerns. They’ll claim it’s a hoax and airing the story would cause people to riot. People will die in the chaos, they’ll say. And they’ll say anybody who doesn’t keep quiet will pay a heavy price.
“They’ll be jailed for violating national security. Twenty to forty years, they’ll be told, at hard labor.”
Chapter 11
“Surely not all the networks would back down,” Tony said. “What about the networks which claim to be independent? The ones which claim they’re the only ones telling the truth? And that everybody else is peddling false news?”
Bud shook his head.
“Tony, please tell me you’re not naïve enough to believe anything that comes out of the propaganda networks.”
“Well… yeah. I mean, kinda.”
“Let me tell you something about the propaganda media,” Bud said.
“First of all, there’s no such thing as fake news. It’s a bogus claim by one network or the other to explain why the real media’s account of events doesn’t jive with their own.
“Use your common sense for a minute. If ninety nine networks tell one version of a story and one outlier tells a different version, it isn’t because those ninety nine networks collaborate or collude to make ‘fake news.’
“It’s because that one single outlier is full of shit and is trying to convince their viewers they’re the only truth teller.
“The truth is the vast majority of media outlets are still honest and trying to do their jobs. But the outliers do such a good job of brainwashing their viewers their viewers believe any damn thing they tell them.
“Here’s some more truth.
“There are essentially two so-called ‘news’ outlets that are full of crap. They’re not news outlets at all. They’re propaganda outlets.
“They’re like all the other networks in one respect only. They want to get their ratings up. So of cours
e they’ll jump on the story, because they’ll have a scoop and their ratings will go through the roof.
“But that’s where the similarities end.
“The liberal network will run with the story and claim the world is coming to an end. That we’re all gonna die, and that’s why it’s essential we adopt all the world’s stray puppies and elect a gay president immediately.
“The conservative network will say it’s no big deal. That it involves science and they don’t believe in science. So the eruption must therefore be a hoax. Then they’ll remind everybody they need to go buy more guns and protest against legalized marijuana.
“They’re both full of it.
“That’s why we can’t just take this stuff to the media. Because the honest media will be shut down by government thugs. The dishonest media might have the guts to run it, but will distort it so it nowhere near resembles the truth.”
Tony, who’d been looking down and studying his hands during Bud’s diatribe, was almost afraid to respond.
He suspected that whatever he said, it would be wrong.
Bud seemed on a roll, and Tony didn’t want to get rolled over.
Still, the silence was so deafening he just had to say something.
He figured the safest way was with a question.
“So what can a college professor do that a national news network can’t?”
“I left him explicit instructions in the note I sent him. If I don’t contact him within ten days to say Hannah has been released, he will make dozens of copies of the paper data as well as the digital media…”
“Digital media?”
“The thumb drive, dummy. Anyway, he’ll make copies of everything and send it to every major college in the country. And probably several overseas as well.”
“Pardon me for being skeptical, Bud. But what good will a lot of college professors do us, no matter how prestigious their colleges are?”
“Don’t underestimate the power of the American college student, Tony.
“Student protesters were instrumental in the civil rights movement. They also ended the Vietnam War. Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon took them for granted. And then millions of college kids took to the picket lines and the streets. They surrounded the White House by the thousands, day in and day out. It turned out they were more powerful than the government and all of Nixon’s National Guardsmen. Because they were right and they knew it.
The Yellowstone Event (Book 2): A National Disgrace Page 4