REVENGE: Shelter Book 6 (The Shelter)

by Ira Tabankin

  “Weaps, Captain, keep me informed.”

  The Northern American submarine thinks she’s invisible to the Confederate battle fleet heading north. Her orders are to sink the Missouri and as many of the destroyers as possible. She’s armed with twenty-four heavyweight Mark 48 advanced capability torpedoes. Her sonar operator reports,

  “Captain, sonar, we’re holding track on a surface contact, a flight 1 Arleigh Burke class destroyer, her sound signature identifies her as the John Paul Jones. She’s making turns for 15 knots. She’s 22,000 yards south of our position.”

  “Sonar, Captain, can she hear us?”

  “She shouldn’t, we’re just under the layer.”

  “Good, let me know any changes.”

  “Aye, sir.”

  “XO, we’ll hold here until she’s 10,000 yards away, then we’ll take her. Plan to fire two fish at her, I want the tubes reloaded as soon as the fish are away. We’re going to need everything we have to sink the Missouri.”

  “Aye, sir.”

  “Captain, sonar, strange sound from the surface contact.”

  “What kind of sound?”

  “Almost like a launch, but we didn’t hear any aircraft, we were told none were available to assist us.”

  “Maybe they dug some up. Let me know what you hear.”

  “Aye, sir.”

  A few minutes later, a scared sonar operator calls the captain,

  “CAPTAIN, sonar, splash sounds almost above us!”

  “Shit, ASROCS, that destroyer heard us, launch the decoys turn 90 degrees to port, down bubble 15 degrees, make your depth 500 feet, all ahead full. MOVE IT!”

  The two Mark 54 torpedoes land in the water, one to the submarine’s port and one to her starboard side. Both go active entering the water, both fish locate the submarine, they accelerate to 50 knots, each begins pinging their internal sonar. Each torpedo strikes the submarine which is in the process of trying to dive away from the incoming fish.

  The thin-skinned Los Angeles class implodes from the dual one hundred pound explosions. The ocean rushes in from the two holes, the air in front of the explosions is compressed, and heating, everything and everyone in front of the compressing air is turned to ash. The Northern American Navy Submarine goes down with all hands. The remains of the submarine sinks in eight hundred feet of water.

  The Captain of the John Paul Jones calls the Admiral,

  “Admiral, splash one, repeat splash one submarine.”

  “Captain, you are instructed to paint a large battle E for excellence on your bridge.”

  “Thank you, sir.”

  Chapter 13

  Lacy is sitting in a wheelchair arguing with Jay,

  “I can walk home; my legs are fine. I want to walk. I’ve been stuck in the damn bed too long. You know I hate wheelchairs. Please let me walk.”

  “Honey, the doc said you need to rest as much as possible. He’s only allowing you to go home because you’re almost as bad a patient as me.”

  “My plan worked, I figured if the doc lets you out for being an ass, he’d let me go for being one too.”

  “Great, pretty soon he’s going to refuse to treat either of us. Are you sure you’re strong enough to come home? I want you to fully heal. By the way, he didn’t discharge you for being an ass, he discharged you to get me out of his hospital. He was tired of me hanging around asking how you were doing every five minutes. He figured if he sent you home, I’d go too.”

  “I’ll heal quicker at home without Wendy waking me in the middle of the night to take my blood pressure, draw blood and give me medication. They must really be vampires, it’s the only reason I can think of why they always want to draw blood.

  How can anyone rest in a hospital? People are coming and going all hours of the day and night, the lights are always on. The machines make noise. You know it’s impossible to get any rest. I need to go home; I’ll get more rest in our own bed than in the hospital. I want to see daylight, I want to feel the sun’s warmth on my face, I want to sleep in a room that’s quiet and dark.”

  “Honey, I understand, you know I feel the same way.”

  “Good, then take me home.”

  “I promised the doc I’d help you.”

  “So help me by taking me home.”

  Jay pushes Lacy in a wheelchair to the shelter’s door, Lacy feels the sun on her face, smiling, she looks over her shoulder to make sure Doctor Basco isn’t watching them, she stands up. She quickly finds out she’s weak and shaky, Jay grabs her, holding her to steady her.

  “Easy love, you need to get your sea legs. You haven’t been on your feet for a while. Whatever you do, don’t fall right in front of the shelter, the doc will kill both of us. Take a deep breath and hold on to me with your right arm. Make sure you’re steady before taking a step, we’ll go very slowly.”

  “Okay, I’m good to go.”

  “I’m going to hold on to you, if you feel dizzy just lean on me. We’ll take a couple of steps and pause to let you gain your breath.”

  The Confederacy’s new Press Secretary records and posts Lacy leaving the hospital live on the new Confederacy’s website. He zooms in to show the tears in Jay’s eyes holding Lacy, as they take a couple of steps, they pause with Lacy smiling, leaning on Jay before they take another few steps. It takes them forty-five minutes to make the short journey between the shelter and their castle. His staff cheer Lacy’s arrival home, she’s surprised to find the kitchen and family room decorated with balloons and welcome home banners. She cries in joy hugging everyone, when she comes to Fred, the two of them cry waves of tears,

  “Fred, I’m so sorry for your loss, if there’s anything I can do for you, please let me know.”

  “You can get better, Jay’s not the same without you. We need Jay to focus on the upcoming town hall meetings and campaign.”

  “Fred, are you really alright?”

  “Working is all I have left, I can’t sit around doing nothing, my dreams are filled with images of my family. I want my revenge.”

  “Fred, you know what they say about revenge don’t you?”

  “Yeah, I’ve already dug the two graves.”

  “We don’t want anything to happen to you, Jay needs you, he can’t do his job without you, the nation needs you. Please, I’m begging you, let the hate go.”

  “Lacy, this isn’t the time to talk about these things, this is the time to welcome you home and celebrate you leaving the hospital. This is your time, this is your welcome home party, come sit and I’ll get you a cup of coffee.”

  “Thank you, Fred.”

  Fred helps Lacy to a reclining chair, he leans over to whisper,

  “Look at him, the light is back in his eyes, it’s like a thousand pounds has been lifted off his back. He needs you, you complete each other. Please do me a favor.”

  “Anything. What do you need?”

  “Don’t get hurt again.”

  Smiling, “I promise, you know, having been shot, it’s not fun.”

  Most of the new government staff is at the party welcoming the First Lady home. After an hour of celebrating, Lacy motions Jay to come to her,

  “Honey, I’m tired.”

  “I knew it. Come, let me help you up, I have a surprise for you.”

  “Now what did you do?”

  “You’ll see.” Said a smiling Jay.

  Helping Lacy to her feet, he leads her to what used to be a large family room, she’s surprised to see all of their bedroom furniture has been moved, converting the family room into their bedroom.

  “What did you do?”

  “Since you can’t easily go upstairs, I moved our bedroom downstairs. You’re next to the kitchen, and the door. The move enables you to move around the main floor doing everything you want without climbing a single step.”

  “Where’s the family room?”

  “Remember the dining room?”

  “Where’s the dining room?”

  “In what used to be the conference room.”


  “You moved everything to the main level?”

  “Yup! With staff help, of course.”

  “I love you.”

  “I love you too, come on, let me help you lay down and get some rest.”

  Lacy is quickly sound asleep, Jay stands in the doorway watching her sleep, Fred silently approaches him,

  “Whatcha need?” Whispers Jay.

  “I tried to be quiet.”

  “You were, what’s up?”

  “Can I see you while Lacy sleeps?”

  “I’m coming, let’s go. Is it serious?”

  “Admiral Jefferson just sank a Northern submarine.”

  “Oh crap, do we have the details?”

  “Yes, here’s his report.”

  @@@@@

  General Arthur smiles reading the report of six men caught attempting to break into the nuclear power plant. Another six were shot trying to break into the Oak Ridge Facility. The President was right, it’s a damn good thing we were able to deploy the Delta Forces in time. I wonder what the North is going to try next?

  @@@@@

  “What do you mean they sank our submarine? Did we strike them back?”

  “No, sir. The submarine was the only one we had in the area. We’re rushing some F16s to the coast.”

  “How long?”

  “Two hours.”

  “Okay, I want to see pictures of their ships burning and sinking.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Admiral Jefferson scans the horizon with the ship’s high powered binoculars. He tells his aide,

  “Bring up two destroyers, I think the North will attempt an aerial attack, I don’t want any holes in our air defense they can use to hit us. Warn off any planes that get within 250 miles, splash any that break the two-hundred-mile circle around us. I don’t want any of their planes getting within missile range. I’d rather take out the larger targets, their planes, than their missiles, they have a limited number of planes, the more we take down, the less they’ll have for follow-on attacks. Send a message to General Arthur to prepare the F15s at Seymour Johnson to be ready to ambush any Northern fighters. Place the battle group at General Quarters.”

  “Aye, sir.”

  Admiral Jefferson smiles, most of the North’s military joined or is waiting to join us. Each of their planes we destroy is one less they have. It takes over a year to build a new fighter, each costs over one hundred million dollars. We’ll bankrupt them! If we can break the back of their military, there can’t be another Civil War, because they won’t have anything to fight with. I like the General’s plan. We’ll slowly cruise up the East Coast pulling the North’s forces to us. They won’t be able to ignore us, the President will be worried we’ll get close enough to launch cruise missiles against D.C. Hence, he has to try to stop us, I expect the next attack won’t be a single submarine which was most likely sent to slow us down so they can marshal additional forces. I’m the light drawing all the damn flies to me, they can’t help themselves being drawn in, when they get too close they’ll realize I’m not just a light, I’m a zapper. He lifts the IMC to give orders to the battle group,

  “Place all radars in standby, let the Hawkeye do the searching for us, when she finds our friends, we’ll light off everything. The Hawkeye will send a steady data stream to each ship, feed the target tracks to your missiles so when we’re ready they’ll have their target tracks already loaded. We’re going to draw their fighters in, when they swarm us, we’ll overwhelm them with our missiles and fighters. We’re going to have land based F15 and 16 support, the Raptors are flying CAP over the President’s location. Sailors of Task Force 66, today we’re going to give the bastard who was happy feeding us into the meat grinder, a bloody nose. I know I’m going to enjoy it. Stay focused, stay calm, we will be victorious!”

  The crews of Task Force 66 cheer their support and approval.

  Admiral Jefferson looks over his shoulder seeing the captain of the Missouri standing there.

  “Hello, Captain, nice day for a little cruise isn’t it?”

  “Admiral, I’ve deployed the Marines with MANPADS around the old lady, and I'm deploying two destroyers to cruise next to us.”

  “Very good, I think we should slow to 10 knots, let’s make sure every ship is topped up with fuel and supplies.”

  “Aye, sir. When do think they’ll hit us?”

  “Assuming the sub launched a message buoy when she heard our fish hit the water and they had fighters standing by, I’d say we should see them in about a couple of hours. They’d most likely have to arm the fighters, and they have to fly here from the North, slowing down will give us a little more time. I think we can lower our alert status while we wait.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “The Washington should be here in a few days, she was running flat out, she had to slow down because she was out running her escorts.”

  “That was the reason we used to have nuclear-powered escorts, they were the only ships which could keep up with the carriers when they hauled ass.”

  “She has a full air complement and eight escorts. Her supply ships are going to lag two days behind her, their best speed is 20 knots.

  “Thank you.”

  @@@@@

  “Fred, let’s review the town hall meetings. I think we should head southeast to Florida, hit Tampa, Jacksonville and Miami, before turning north to Atlanta, we can hold one downtown and one in the suburbs, continue north to Columbia, South Carolina, Research Triangle Park, covering Religh and Durham in North Carolina, Norfolk in Virginia and Clarksburg, West Virginia, before we swing into Kentucky, crossing back into Tennessee to hold one at Memphis, ending with Huntsville and Birmingham.”

  “What about Texas and the rest of the Confederacy?”

  “Second round, I don’t want to be away from Lacy that long.”

  “Jay, she wants to come with you.”

  “Huh? Where did that come from? She’s not strong enough to make the trip.”

  “Jay, the people want to see her, she’s become a hero. It will help your election if the people see the two of you together. I talked to the doc, he thinks since you’re using a private plane and holding no more than two town hall meetings a day she should be alright. If she’s tired, she can wait in the hotel.”

  “Christ, we better bring a nurse and doctor with us and increase the protection detail.”

  “It’s taken care of.”

  “See, that’s why I need you. No one else would have been in my head, and taken care of everything before I thought of it.”

  “How long do you think the meetings will run?”

  “I thought I’d give a short overview of where we are, what my plans are and open the floor for questions. I don’t want to be seen as someone who holds phony meetings, I want people to have enough time to ask what’s on their minds. I think each meeting will run two hours, I want the people to be able to ask as many questions as possible. I’ll also need a couple of your staff to record and take notes.”

  “I’ve already assigned three of my best to you. You’re also taking the damn reporter turned Press Secretary with you, I’ll be happy to get rid of him for a while.”

  “Is he a pain in your ass?”

  “Yeah, but he’s a damn reporter. Overall I don’t like the press.”

  “You know I don’t, but I’m warming to Stu.”

  “I’m surprised!”

  “He’s proven he’s one of us.”

  “That’s what’s worries me. We have a Press Secretary, that alone ought to tell us we’re turning into the people we hate.”

  “Let me call in the staff so we can go over the details.”

  “Shit, staff, pilots, protection details, medical details, convoys of vehicles, I think I liked it better when I used to be just another regular Jay.”

  “You were never a regular Jay.”

  Chapter 14

  Jay sits in his dark office, he’s completed 9 hours of paperwork. Damn, I never realized how much goes into forming
a new nation, thank God the governors have been so supportive. I know we couldn’t have advanced as far as we have without them. The people have been good about all of the pending issues we don't have written down yet. I think canceling the national income tax and canceling most of the EPA rules and regulations went a long way towards building good will, as did the increased pay for the military. Now comes the hard part of the job, creating our formal constitution and holding our first election. I’ve announced the series of town hall meetings to meet the people to tell them face to face what I’m thinking. We have to convince them that we’re different from the old federal government. I pray Lacy will be strong enough to make the trip with me. Doctor Basco is coming along to look after her and to meet with the CDC in Atlanta. She’ll give me strength and give me honest feedback, not the political BS everyone else on this trip will force feed me. She’ll be able to… Knock, knock.