“Mike, which building do you feel gives you the best observation of the entire intersection?”
After looking at the area he replied “Probably the Clanton Building there. It has a flat roof. From there, I can cover the entire area.”
While pointing down the street, the Captain said, “John, I want you to take the Strip Mall Roof. That way you can still cover the team, but you’ll also be able to observe anyone trying to flank us.
Hopefully, they won’t make it up this way, and this will all be routine. But, if they make it this far, it could turn into a very ticklish situation. Stay alert and remember that we’re depending on you guys to cover our butts.”
Hubert Law Building
Rodney, Simpson, the five team leaders, and the two girl captives were in the crawl space waiting for Jerome.
Rodney ordered, “Gag them so they can’t make any noise.”
One of the girls started panicking and begged, “Please don’t put that over my mouth. I have an asthma problem. If you put that over my mouth, I’ll suffocate.”
The team leader ignored her and started to proceed even though she was attempting to push him away.
The other girl pleaded, “Please Mister, she does have a problem breathing. If you put that on her, she could die.” He started to slap her across the face when Jerome came walking in and yelled, “Wait up!”
He walked up to the girl, smiled, and asked her, “What’s your name, sweetheart?”
“Sarah.”
“Ok Sarah, you don’t have to wear the gag. But let me tell you this. If you girls make so much as a sound or even think about trying to run away, I’ll cut your throat and leave you for the rats to eat,” he said while pulling out his straight razor and holding it to her throat. “Do I make myself clear, Sarah?”
She stood there with total fear on her face, nodding her head.
The other girl spoke up, “Mister, we won’t run. We’ll do whatever you want.”
Jerome turned to her, “But you don’t have any breathing problems, do you?”
She shook her head no.
“Good! Then we can gag you,” He then commanded, “Gag her!”
“Are we ready?” Saying it as though he was talking to everyone but looking directly at Simpson. Everyone replied, “Ready,” except for Simpson, that knew Jerome was talking mainly to him. He looked at Jerome and nodded his head, along with a wink. Jerome then pulled out his cell phone and made a call.
Lieutenant Jones was pacing nervously while watching the two Urban Warriors that were guarding the front entrance of the law building.
“It’s been an hour. Why in the hell haven’t they surrendered? If Jackson couldn’t talk the group into surrendering, this could turn into a disaster. Oh God, all I’ve done is given them advanced notice. I’ll be a laughing stock. NO! I believe Jackson. They will surrender. They have to.”
His thoughts were interrupted when one of the men said, “Sir!” with the intent of calling Jones attention to the guards. One of the guards had his cell phone to his ear. As soon as he hung up, both guards pulled handguns out from under their coats, laid them on the ground and went down to their knees while putting their hands on top of their heads.
“YES!” Jones said aloud, then composing himself and feeling embarrassed that he showed such joyous relief. “Go!” he ordered over the radio.
The plan was that the joint SWAT Team would secure the ground floor. As soon as it was clear, Jones would enter along with the news team.
The MSNBC team insisted that if they’re going to go in, that they’d be allowed to stream the surrender live. They also insisted that one camera operator be allowed to follow at a short distance behind the SWAT Team, so he could film them clearing the first floor. At first, Jones said, “Absolutely not,” but the producer used their earlier interview with Jerome as a reason why it should be allowed. Jerome’s people would probably feel much more secure knowing that cameras were filming the SWAT Team.
Jones, breaking all police procedures, agreed.
Two SWAT officers appeared out of the darkness, securing the two guards at the door. Then the team ran into the building with the reporter a short distance behind them. Jones was watching a monitor, observing the team going from room to room yelling “Clear,” every time a room had been secured. Soon the call came over his earpiece.
“The first floor is secure sir.”
With a huge smile, Jones thought, “Fuck you, Captain Davis. You’ll be working for me soon.”
He entered the building with the rest of the news crew following.
The live stream showed the back of Jones walking through the lobby and then down the hallway that went to the elevators and the stairway. The camera showed one team member securing the elevator door, while the rest of the team was ready to clear the stairs.
Jerome looked at Simpson “Now!”
Simpson hit a final number on his cell phone, and a huge explosion could be heard off in the distance.
“Let’s go.”
Jones hearing the explosion asked, “What the hell was that?” Then keyed his radio, “Report!”
There was a hesitation, then someone reported. “Sir, a huge explosion just happened several blocks to the south. It looks like the old Power and Light building, about halfway up. It’s got to be around floor 18. A huge fire ring seems to be coming out of all sides of the building.”
Captain Davis broke in on the channel. “Jones, you need to abort! They obviously……….”
Over the MSNBC channel, the live stream showed Jones holding his hand up to his earpiece as though he was trying to hear better; then a bright flash and the beginning of an explosive sound; then it all went black.
Captain Davis was looking down at the Hubert Law Building. A tremendous fireball came roaring out of all the windows and entrances. The concussion wave, along with debris flew over him. He ducked his head as the debris fell. He then raised his head and looked down at the building.
The three-story building had collapsed.
Captain Davis yelled with rage. Then his body just slumped down to his knees. “Please God, No!”
They could hear the explosions all the way up in Gladstone, even though it was 12 miles away. Mike saw the explosion from the Power and Light Building. He looked at it through his scope. The ring of fire looked like a perfect circle, almost like the top half of the building was a spacecraft launching.
When Simpson set off the first explosion, they all escaped using a crawl space that went up to a back alley. The explosion did exactly what Jerome had planned and turned the heads of the officers watching the back side of the building. Once they were around another large building, Jerome had Simpson set off the law building explosion. Even though they were blocked by the other building, the explosion had been so big, that the sound waves knocked them down and the windows broke in the building they were next to, shattering them with broken glass. Except for some minor cuts, the larger building had protected them from serious injury.
Rodney led them north, and they made it under the interstate using a drainage ditch. Ten minutes later they were running into the warehouse where Rodney had hidden the old school bus. When they arrived, even though exhausted, Jerome started laughing.
Rodney yelled “You son of a bitch!” and hit Jerome in the mouth knocking him down, “You killed our men, just so your ass could escape.”
Jerome was laying on the floor holding his jaw and shaking his head, trying to get out of the daze that the hit from Rodney put him into. He looked up at Rodney with murder in his eyes.
“Why? Why did you have to sacrifice our men, our friends?”
Jerome smiled and slowly got up. “Rodney, we have a job to do. We’re now at war. I’m now the general of that war. Our people have finally risen and are now doing battle across America. We’re going to take back this country that we built. I had to survive. We had to survive to lead our people. You’re like a son to me, and you’ll be there by my side. You have to look at the big
picture; the future. There was no other way.”
Rodney paused for a minute, obviously in shock, and he started staring at nothing.
Jerome walked over to him and smiled. He put his hand on his shoulder, “Son, you………” Suddenly Jerome pulled his razor out and slashed Rodney’s throat right across his Jugular Vein. Rodney grabbed his throat gasping for air and stared into Jerome’s eyes with a look of “Why?”
Jerome was covered with Rodney’s blood that was squirting out of his throat with every pump of his heart. Jerome noticing this, shoved Rodney down to the ground and yelled, “Son of a bitch!” while trying to sweep the blood off of his shirt. He then turned and looked at everybody, “Anyone else?” No one said a word. The only sound was the girls crying out of fear.
“SHUT UP!” he screamed at the girls, which turned the crying into muffled whimpering.
Rodney made one last gasping sound and took his last breath.
“Simpson, can you drive this thing?”
He nodded his head yes, even though he was in shock from what had just happened. “Let’s go then!”
“Where?”
“We’re on the outside of their perimeter. Drive over to Oak Street. We’ll use the demonstrators we sent out for cover.”
“What about the cops?”
“Trust me, they’re now in rescue and recovery mode.”
Simpson, going back to his old self, growled, “Where the hell is Oak Street? I don’t know this city.”
“Just go east and when you get to Oak, go north.”
As they were driving up Oak Street through North Kansas City, they spotted the swarm of protestors. They had dispersed after the explosions.
“Keep going north!” Jerome barked.
As they were driving through the crowd that was heading off in all directions, the three men Rodney had sent out to lead the protesters, started flagging down the bus. Simpson started to slow down, and Jerome yelled, “Keep going. Those bastards couldn’t do their job and keep this mob together. Fuck em!”
Mike, seeing a vehicle approaching, used his scope to get a better view. He keyed his mic, “Tac 1, we have what looks like a school bus heading straight towards us. No, now it seems to have stopped.”
Simpson after driving around a curve spotted police lights from the roadblock. He came to a stop. Jerome’s head jerked forward when he stopped as he had closed his eyes trying to rest until he could figure out his next move.
“Hey, we got a problem,” Simpson stated.
They sat in the middle of the road, trying to figure out what to do.
Jerome mumbled, “Why the hell are they up there? There is no way they know who we are. No one could’ve seen us, but even if they did, they wouldn’t have had time to set up a roadblock that large and that fast.”
He sat there silent for a minute and then commanded, “Hanson, give me your shirt,” as he was covered in Rodney’s blood.
“Drive up slowly. I’ll do all the talking.”
Captain Rogers keyed his mic, “Mark 1, can you see what they’re doing?” Mike replied, “I can see some movement on the bus, but I can’t tell what’s going on.”
The bus slowly started moving towards them.
“Ok gentlemen, by the book. Mark 1 and 2, don’t go to sleep on me up there.”
Mark 1, then Mark 2, keyed their radio as both Mike and Ackers were acknowledging Roger’s transmission.
The bus drove up to the roadblock. Spotlights from the patrol cars were filling the bus with light. Jerome slowly stood up and stepped out of the bus. Just as soon as he stepped out, the Captain came over the PA system, “Sir that’s far enough. Please keep your hands where we can see them.”
All the tactical officers had their guns aimed at him and the bus.
“I’m sorry sir but there is a curfew in the City of Gladstone, and no one is allowed to enter unless you’re a resident, and if that’s the case, you’ll need to turn to go to the checkpoint at the Antioch exit.”
Being that all radio communications only go through the tactical team’s earpieces, Mike keyed his mic, “Tac One, I see one driver, two females and it looks like 3 to 5 people trying to hide behind the bus seats.”
“10-4”
Tac 3 came over the radio, “Tac 1, I recognize that guy. That’s Jackson. He’s the one that made the broadcast the other night and the leader of all of this.
“10-4,”
Sir, we’re going to have to ask that you have all your passengers come out of the bus so that we can check identifications.”
“Gentlemen, Gentlemen. What is all of this? This is my family, and we heard the explosions and then saw this large group of protestors heading up the street, so we decided to leave our home and try to find a safe place. We were just trying to get out of Kansas City the quickest way we could.”
“I understand that sir but……”. “Mark1 came over the radio, “We’ve got movement.”
Suddenly two girls came running out of the bus. The first one was screaming, “Help us. We’ve been kidnapped!” and she started running toward the police officers. The second one seemed to have a gag over her mouth and started running the same direction, but Jerome grabbed her by the throat and pulled out a handgun. The first girl made it to one of the officers and kept screaming, “they raped us, and he just cut a person’s throat.” She was immediately escorted to safety.
Jerome, while holding the barrel against the 2nd girls head and using her as a human shield, demanded, “Now Gentlemen, this is how it’s going to go. I, along with this sweet thing, are going to get back on the bus and we’re going to drive away. We haven’t crossed into your city limits, so you don’t have any jurisdiction anyway.”
“Mr. Jackson, I’m sorry, but we can’t allow that to happen, and I assure you that we have full authority.”
“So, you know who I am?”
Little did Jerome know that besides the seven guns that were trained on him, Mike had his sight aimed right between his eyes waiting for the command to fire.
“Yes Sir, I do. Now, we don’t want this to turn ugly. We can work this out. We need you to drop your weapon and let the girl go, and the occupants on the bus need to stick their hands out of the windows. Then we can talk.”
Jerome seemed to snap at that point. Whether he realized he wasn’t going to escape this, or maybe he just slipped away into his delusion of grandeur, he started yelling, “Do you realize who you’re talking to? I’m the leader of this civil war against you oppressors who want to kill off all those that won’t be your slaves! Do you want to see this girl die? I’ll kill her and watch her blood pour out onto the street!” While he was talking, he was swinging his gun around towards the officers. He continued, “You will watch this girl die,” and pressed the gun back to her head.
“Tac 1. We have movement on the bus. There are five people, all with firearms,” Mark 2 advised.
Ackers knew that Mike would have his sights on Jackson, so he covered the bus.
“Do you want to see?” Jerome asked as though he was daring them.
Rogers keyed his Mic, “Mark 1, Action Authority.”
Mike replied, “Copy Confirmed.”
He then pulled the trigger, and Jerome’s head exploded.
The girl just stood there, stunned by the compression of the shot impacting Jerome, whose body immediately dropped to the ground.
Rogers yelled at her, “Run! Come to us.” As she was running, gunfire exploded from the bus. “Return fire” ordered Rogers, while grabbing the girl and pulling her behind one of the cars. The team opened fire. One man ran from the bus, wounded but still firing as he ran. He made it to the sidewalk and started running toward someone’s home while firing at the officers. Ackers pulled his trigger, and the round hit the man dead center in the chest.
The gunfire stopped coming from the bus.
“Cease fire!” Tac 1 ordered.
They could only hear groans coming from the bus. Mike was scanning every part of the bus, and then he saw
movement from the driver’s area. Simpson had survived. He came bursting out of the bus, with what appeared to be a transmitter in his hand yelling, “Fuck you!” and started manipulating the transmitter. Mike took one final shot.
Since Simpson's head was turned sideways, Mike hit him right at the top of his ear, also exploding Simpson’s head wide open. His extremities seized open, causing him to release the transmitter.
Tac 1 immediately transmitted “Team one, move.” Three officers ran to the door of the bus, threw in a flashbang, and then entered and secured the bus.
There were five people on the bus. Only two of them had survived.
After the wounded had been escorted to the hospital, they did a complete search of the bus. On the floor, in the back seat, they found a box of C-4 plastic explosive. It was connected to the transmitter. Simpson had the intention of blowing up the bus, killing as many police officers as he could. One more second and he would have activated the transmitter. If Mike hadn't hit him where he did, Simpson could have finished the activation, even while dying.
Jerome and his crew were dead, but the revolution he wanted to command and the chaos that he started had spread throughout every major city in America.
Chapter Eight
The Lord will bring on you and on your people and on the house of your father, a time unlike any since Ephraim broke away from Judah-he will bring the king of Assyria.
General Qassim Baraz, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Quds Force Commander, was responsible for over 500 American deaths in Iraq through the use of terrorism. The United States insisted on his extradition to stand trial, but of course, Iran refused. The United Nations implemented a very strict travel ban forbidding him from traveling outside Iran.
Since that time, America has elected a new president who has served almost two terms. During the seven years that he’s been in office, he’s reduced our Navy down to its lowest level since 1918. He reduced our Army to its lowest level since before World War II.
He has declared that America will no longer be the leader of the free world but just a fellow nation.
Apocalypse Coming Page 9