by Mark Goodwin
They finally made it to the private mint where they picked up boxes filled with silver and gold bullion. Four hours later, they were in Coeur d'Alene. James McIntosh was surprised by the amount of "Don't Tread on Me" flags that flew under the American Flag. It seemed every car and truck bumper had a sticker with a silhouette of a Minuteman or the Roman numeral III. The Roman numeral III represented the patriots who were willing to fight. Only three percent of the population had initially supported the original American Revolution of 1776.
There were several "Appeal to Heaven" flags flying. James remembered these from his history book; they had flown in the American Revolution. The flag had been inspired by John Locke who had spoken about appealing to heaven when earthly powers deny men of their God given rights.
The people that were still out in the street on this briskly cool night were all happy. They did not look like they had a chip on their shoulders. They did not strike him as people who were readying themselves for war. Nonetheless, there was no mistaking; this community had drawn their line in the sand.
CHAPTER 23
“The LORD your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love,
he will rejoice over you with singing."
Zephaniah 3:17
Matt had a fitful night. He woke several times wondering if they would be able to sell the house in a hurry. Each time he woke up, he prayed that God would send them a buyer. He got up early and did his morning routine. He got $3,000 from the safe, tucked his Glock in the back of his pants and headed to Davie to check out the trailer. The man who came out of the house where the trailer was located fit the profile Matt had expected. He wore boots and a straw cowboy hat, Lee jeans and a checkered shirt. People from Davie looked more like Texans than Floridians. It was nice. It was too bad they had not had more influence on the rest of the county which had voted for Al Mohammad by a 2 to 1 ratio in the previous election.
"Howdy" the man said as he walked off the porch towards the trailer. "Are you haulin' horses?" the man inquired.
"No, personal belongings." Matt replied.
"Are you taking Randall's advice?" the man asked.
"Yea, we’re heading to Kentucky to be near family."
"I don't blame you." the man said. "Folks around here are digging in. We mostly all grew up here. If Howe wants the guns from Davie, Florida, he'll have to take them bullets first."
Matt smiled as he looked the trailer over. It had a bit of rust, but it was in good shape. The inside had been kept very clean. He knew he would be in trouble if he brought home something that smelled like horse manure." Can you take $2,500 for it?" Matt asked.
"You can have it for $2000 if you want to pay me in silver or gold, but if you're paying with federal funny money, I have to have $3,000." the man answered.
Matt looked up as he did some quick math in his head and thought about how he could convert the cash back into gold if he went back home to get gold to pay the man. He decided the risk of getting stuck with the paper wasn't worth it so he just paid the man with the cash. The man gave Matt a hand with getting the trailer hitched to his truck.
"Thanks fella, y'all have a safe trip to Kentucky. I got to go spend this while it'll still buy something." the man said with a smile as he walked towards his own truck.
Matt stopped at the Home Depot to buy some more five gallon gas jugs. There were only two left on the shelf. He also found five more plastic jugs for gas, but they only held two gallons each. The last thing he wanted to do was to get stuck halfway between Florida and Kentucky with no gas. Besides, it would be good to have gas stored in Kentucky as back up fuel or a barter item. Gas had jumped from $7.25 the day before Paul’s speech to $8.20 today. People were starting to hoard it as they anticipated the price to spike higher. He stopped at the Race Trac gas station to fill up the truck and the gas cans. He found four more one gallon cans inside the Race Trac. The truck held 26 gallons, he had 15 gallons in the shed, plus the new plastic cans, the total was 65 gallons. He figured he would only get about 13 miles to the gallon with the trailer full. He still needed another 15 gallons to be safe. He stopped by an Auto Zone on the way home and found exactly three more five gallon cans. Once those were filled, he headed home.
Karen came out as he was backing the trailer into the driveway. She had a look of curiosity on her face. "That’s the trailer?" she asked.
"That's it" Matt replied.
"It’s for horses." Karen stated.
"It will hold furniture too." Matt said. "This was $3000 and everything else was $10,000 or more. U-Haul has nothing and won't have anything for weeks."
"We don't even know if we can sell the house." Karen said.
"We still have to leave, even if we don't sell the house." Matt said. They had a quiet lunch and then Matt asked Karen to go to Publix to get some boxes.
"Are we packing already? Shouldn't we at least wait until we get an offer on the house?" Karen didn't do well with fast changes. She needed time to digest things unlike Matt.
"It would nearly tap us out, but we could still buy the farm with our silver and gold, even if we don't sell the house. I don't want to waste two trips to go look at it and then come back and move everything. I don't know if we have that much time. People are hoarding gas also. It may trigger a gas shortage. It could be weeks or months before it is resolved. If the farm doesn't work out, we will just have to stay with Adam and his family for a while."
"Why didn't you tell me that before?" Karen said.
"We’re kinda doing things on the fly here Karen. I’m making up the plan as I go along." Matt said. He caught his voice raising. He inhaled and exhaled deeply, then went to hug Karen. The stress of the situation was getting to both of them. "Everything is going to be just fine baby, I just need you to support my decisions right now. We have to move fast or things are going to get away from us."
Karen didn't say anything, but she gently stroked Matt's earlobe with her finger as he held her. He knew that meant "OK."
Karen went to get the boxes and Matt started mapping out what would go where in the trailer. He measured out the dimensions and drew it out on a piece of paper. There was a knock at the door and Matt did what he had been doing over the past weeks. He drew his gun and went out the side door to see who it was. It was Jack Mason from next door.
"I guess you guys are heading out?" Jack asked.
"How did you guess?" Matt responded with a snicker.
"Let's see, was it the ‘For Sale’ sign on the lawn or the trailer? Oh, it was both." Jack laughed. "You think it’s going to get that bad, huh?"
"Mad Max bad, brother." Matt said.
"Well, we will head up to our place in North Carolina if it gets too bad." Jack said.
"Is it stocked up?" Matt asked.
"No, I think we will have a chance to stock up if we see things starting to go downhill." Jack said.
"Just like you had a chance last time?" Matt replied in a slightly sarcastic tone.
"You have a point." Jack said.
"Don't wait till your house is on fire to start shopping for fire insurance Jack." Matt said. He had learned long ago that people would avoid looking at reality as long as possible. Normalcy bias causes people to believe nothing bad will happen to them because it hasn't happened to them before.
"I'll let you get back to what you were doing. Give me a call if you need any help packing. We will all miss you here." Jack said.
"We will miss you guys too." Matt replied.
Karen returned and Matt started loading dishes and kitchen items into the boxes she had retrieved from Publix. After that, he started loading all of the dry storage food items from the extended pantry he had built several years back to accommodate the great deals Karen regularly brought home on her couponing hauls. The day was finished and they went to sleep. Matt slept much better since he had burned off much of the nervous energy in the tasks he completed that day.
The next morning, Matt's phon
e rang. It was the realtor. "Matt, a representative from Blackstone contacted me about the house. He is offering $55,000. I know this is a lot less than you wanted, but he can close in three days. If you want out fast, this is probably your only opportunity. They have been buying foreclosures for several years now. It’s just their business model." she said.
"Doesn't he want to see it?" Matt asked curiously.
"They will send an inspector the day after they get a contract. The buyers aren't even in Florida. They just look at the appraisal and the inspection report. The fund made a ton of cash in the last housing market dip. They plan to do the same thing again. I’m sure you will get the $69,900 if you want to hold out for a few months. I expect things will turn back around just like they did last time." the realtor said.
"Good luck with that." Matt said. "I’m going to talk it over with my wife and call you back in an hour."
Karen wasn't happy about the offer at all. She wasn't happy about listing at $69,900 and she certainly wasn't happy that they would have to sell at $55,000. After a 45 minute presentation from Matt on how the apocalypse was on their doorstep, she consented to the offer. Matt called the realtor back and she e-mailed the contract to him. Once the paperwork was done, Matt and Karen started loading a few of the furniture pieces they had chosen to keep. Because of the limited size of the trailer, they had to be very selective on what they could take. Miss Mae, the cat, stayed hidden under the bed. She did not like the commotion of moving any more than Karen did.
CHAPTER 24
"If there must be trouble, let it be in my day, that my child may have peace."
-Thomas Paine
Sonny arrived at the cabin with the supplies Paul Randall had asked him to get. It took Paul's mind a moment to register that it was Sonny. He had never seen Sonny in anything other than a formal suit or dress slacks with a button down shirt. Sonny was wearing a ball cap, jeans and a grey t-shirt. "Who did you borrow those clothes from Sunny?" Paul said with a laugh.
"It’s my disguise for going on the lam." Sonny replied. "I thought it would be appropriate to make a minor wardrobe adjustment."
"Good thinking Sonny." Paul replied, "But I didn't intend for you to have to stay out here. You’re not in trouble. You should be able to continue your day-to-day life."
"My day-to-day life has been trying to get you in the oval office sir. Nothing has changed since you were forced underground. Besides, I don't trust Howe or Al Mohammad. We’ve all heard about plenty of unfortunate car accidents, disappearances, plan crashes, and untimely heart attacks involving people who didn't see eye to eye with the government over the past few years. There is no need to convict me in the court of public opinion if they want me gone." Sonny said.
"OK, if you want to stay, you are more than welcome." Paul said. "You also know that things could get very nasty. Have you ever shot a gun?"
"No" Sonny replied, "But I’m willing to learn if someone will show me."
"Governor Jacobs sent four guys out here for security. The twins have been talking guns with two of them. They all have suppressed weapons. Maybe they will trade them out for our guns while we go shoot theirs." Paul said.
"I don't quite know what that means sir." Sonny said.
"Suppressed means they have silencers. We don't want to draw attention to this location with gunfire if we can avoid it. There isn't anybody out here, but the sound of gunshots travel far." Paul explained.
Paul Randall made the temporary trade with two of the guards for their suppressed weapons. The guards lent Paul and Sonny a suppressed HK .40 caliber pistol and a suppressed Colt M4 rifle. "Have her home by sundown" the guard joked with Paul about the M4. "That's my baby."
"We will take good care of her." Paul replied with a smile.
The two men walked down to the lake and found a good sloping hill to shoot into. Paul set up some empty juice bottles at five, ten and 15 yards. He instructed Sonny with the HK pistol first. "You want to create some tension between your hands. Keep both elbows bent and soft. Push a bit with your right hand and pull a bit with your left. This will keep your aim steady as you squeeze the trigger. Slowly take up the tension on the trigger. When you’re ready to take the shot, squeeze slowly."
Sonny took his first shot. The suppressed pistol only made the sound of the firing pin striking the cartridge and the click of the next round being chambered. It was several feet away from his target. Within minutes of continued coaching, Sonny was hitting the bottles at five yards. "How is that?" he asked with a smile.
"A person is a lot bigger target than a juice bottle, Sonny. If you can hit that, you can hit a person." Paul said.
They trained a bit with the rifle as well then returned to the cabin. When they arrived, the twins were gutting a wild boar they had taken with a crossbow in the woods. Ryan called out to Sonny "Do you like roast pig?"
"I can't say I’ve had the pleasure of trying it before, but I suppose we shall see." Sonny had never seen an animal being butchered before, but he felt some strange connection to the earth that he had never felt before as he thought about what this evening dinner would be like.
Ryan and Robert finished gutting the pig and dug a pit in the ground to roast it in. They found plenty of dried mesquite wood. It was very abundant in Northern Texas.
Kimberly made some cheddar cheese cornbread and a pot of baked beans to serve with the pig. Everyone ate outside around the pit. The four guards, the Randalls and Sonny all sat up late talking around the small campfire about what the future would bring and how long they would be out here. The conversation was filled with apprehension, but it also held a sense of hope and a measure of excitement.
CHAPTER 25
"Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, let those in the city get out, and let those in the country not enter the city."
-Luke 21:21
Matt recognized the number as Adam's when the phone rang. "Hey cousin." he answered.
"Hi cousin." It was Adam’s wife Janice.
"Oh, hey Janice, is everything OK?" Matt said curiously.
"Everything is fine, I just wanted to talk to Karen and I didn't have her number handy, so I called your phone. I know this must be a little tough for her. We girls are nesters. God didn't build us to go out and hunt and gather like you boys. I thought I could give her a little encouragement by inviting her to come "nest" with me and the girls." Janice said.
"Wow, that’s awesome. I think she could use that about now. This is tough for her." Matt said.
"OK you take it easy on her; you hear me?" Janice said with a chuckle.
"Yes Ma'am'" Matt replied as he handed the phone to Karen.
"Hi Janice." Karen said.
"Hey girl!" Janice replied. "The girls are so excited about you coming here. Carissa keeps asking what day you’re going to be here. Mandy has all kinds of plans for you to help her sew a dress and help us can apples from the orchard."
"Really?" Karen asked. She loved doing country stuff with Janice and the girls. Her mind began to drift to the thoughts of "The Little House on The Prairie." It was such a pure lifestyle. When she was in the mountains with them, she had never missed the city. "Tell them I can't wait to be there."
"Mandy wants to know if Miss Mae will be coming." Janice said.
"Of course she’s coming. She doesn't know it yet, but she’s getting a little kitty cocktail to knock her out when we get done packing the trailer. Do you have a room we can keep her in until we close on the farm?"
"Absolutely. Everything is going to be fine. I know the transition is abrupt, but you will be so happy when you get here." Janice continued. The girls talked for a long while.
Matt went to fill up Karen's car for the trip. Race Trac was closed. There were big 'NO GAS' signs at each entrance and a patrol car parked in the lot. Matt headed west as he knew things would be worse as he approached the beach. Three miles up the road he found a BP station still pumping. The advertised price was $12.40 a gallon. The line was 14 cars long. Two me
n were fighting in the street because one of the men had evidently cut the other man off in the line. How had this happened over night? Was this local or all over the country? Matt shook his head and turned around to go back home.
He walked in and told Karen what was happening. They turned on the news for a while and they confirmed the shortages were showing up in cities all over America.
It seemed that OPEC had decided to quit settling oil in dollars. The decision had come after an emergency meeting of OPEC in the middle of the night. The perceived U.S. political tension and instability in the U.S. Dollar, combined with the rapid increase in oil priced in U.S. Dollars caused the oil cartel to move settlement to gold. The decision was announced as a temporary measure that would be instituted until a different currency could be established for settlement.
The BRICS nations, Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa had recently developed the BRIC. It was a monetary unit that derived its value from a basket of the member nation's currencies. The BRIC was now regularly traded on the currency exchanges and had risen heavily against the U.S. Dollar and the Euro. Unlike the Euro, the BRIC was only used for international trade settlement. The member nations still used their respective currencies within their own boarders. The BRICS nations had recommended the BRIC be used to settle oil, but OPEC determined gold would be the settlement terms for the time being.
Oil had jumped $90 in early morning trading. The current price was $331 a barrel. The shock was rippling through to the pumps in real time. The oil crisis was being exacerbated by corporate hoarding. CNC was reporting that gasoline producers were slowing the release of fuel to retailers because of the anticipated increase in prices. Retailers were doing the same thing. Large trucking companies were offering to pay more than the retail pump price to ensure they had fuel to continue business. The trucking companies were in turn doubling their freight charges. Grocers were marking up prices to cover the increase in freight. A new run on grocery stores had begun before they had fully recovered from the riots. Things were getting bad. This was the big one.