“It’s okay General,” Adam said as he sat on the ground in front of me. “Take your time, we’ve got all night and nowhere to be.”
“Go on Paul,” Grant said.
“The Bear was there on the battle field,” I said as I looked at my feet and went back in time in my mind to that fateful day.
“Egads!” General Davies said. “You saw The Bear on a field of battle? Good god man, no one has lived to tell of that!” he continued.
“His soldiers were going to kill me. Hell, I was praying that they would kill me. Then Alexei hollered out for them to stop.” I spoke with a slight chuckle, “The Bear came up to me and told me that they had killed all of my men. He said, laughing, that he had made them suffer. He said that I had no one left to fight for me or with me. He told me that they would repeat what happened that day in every battle from then on with all resisters. Not only were they going to kill all of our soldiers, but they would rape and kill our wives and our children,” I said as I paused to wipe a tear from my eye.
Adam, General Thomas, and General Davies sat motionless and did not say a word. They were hanging onto my every word and awaiting further description of that unforgettable day in Tennessee. This was the first time I had discussed Tennessee with anyone except Hannah. I guess I should have felt liberated by getting it off my chest. Quite to the contrary, I felt sick to my stomach all over again, the loss of my men, fresh again in my heart and soul.
I continued, “Then Alexei put his face close to mine and said, ‘We will raid your camps and kill your babies so we do not have to fight them in the future. And, we will make you watch it all General Hornady.” I paused, breathed deeply, and hesitated before I continued. “We are not going to kill you, we are going to break your spirit, and in the process we are going to break the spirit of the resistance,” he informed me.
I paused to catch my breath again, I felt as though I was hyperventilating. After thirty seconds or so I continued. “Then they brought a horse to where I was and they lifted me onto the horse and tied the rope that bound my arms to the reins. Then The Bear put his head right next to mine and he said in a cryptic, raspy voice, ‘You tell your army, you tell your militias, you tell anyone who will listen to the great General Hornady that we are done playing with you. From now on we kill you, rape your women, and behead your children. You tell them that I am coming for them. You tell them that The Bear is coming for them.’ Then he fired a gunshot and the horse galloped off,” I said.
There was still the presence of silence from my stunned audience. By now Hannah and Lily had entered the tent and were also listening intently as I described the events from Tennessee.
I continued, “I don’t know at what point it happened, but I fell off the horse, was dragged for a bit until the reins snapped and then I bounced around on the ground until I stopped moving. It was so hot. The sun was beating down on me. I was thirsty, I was hungry, and I felt like I was dying. I was still praying to die to be honest with you.” I again stopped, took in a few breaths while still staring at the floor in deep thought. “Then all of the sudden, Emmet arrived. Like a guardian angel, he arrived. I tried to fight him at first, as I didn’t know who he was or what he wanted with me. He took me to a cabin, fixed me up, nursed me back to health, fed me, and took me home. He took me back to Hannah. Once home, Hannah and I offered for him to stay with us, but he said his job was done, saluted me and left. And I haven’t seen or heard from him since.”
“Bloody hell man. My guess is that they are walking us into a bloodbath in Vermont,” General Davies said as he looked over at General Thomas for affirmation.
“Now, just how do you figure that General?” I asked.
“Don’t get your knickers in a twist General. I am merely trying to see the entirety of the picture,” General Davies replied.
As General Davies shook his head no and looked down at the ground, General Thomas spoke. “Paul, I’ll tell you what it looks like to us. And then you tell me what you think. The Russian soldiers beat you so badly you thought you were going to die. The Bear sent his right hand man to nurse you back to health and get you home so you could deliver the message that he wanted delivered. For added insurance, they abducted Lily and Abby while Emmet had you. Hell, they knew no one but women and children were in the camp because they had killed everyone else in Tennessee. They knew if the great General Hornady spoke that people would listen to the message. But you threw them a curve and went out into the world alone with Hannah and kept the message to yourself. The resistance continued on and they knew that the message had not been delivered. So, they held onto the girls to draw you out. Are you with me so far?” he asked.
“I’m with you,” I answered as I wiped a few more tears from my eyes. A man can be strong, in stature, in spirit, and in heart, but even the strongest man, can be moved to tears when suffering great loss, or reliving great loss.
General Thomas continued, “The days turned to weeks, the weeks to months and the months to over a year. You were nowhere to be found. That is until Adam stumbled upon you in that nasty New York sewer, and reignited that passion. That patriotic fire that you have burning deep down inside of you. It wasn’t too hard for The Bear to figure out who did that fancy work downtown a while back. I’m sure he knew then, that you were back in the fight so to speak. So, at that point he goes on the offensive. His soldiers found Hannah and he knew you’d keep coming until you found her. Now, we threw him another curve when we showed up at a sister campsite and brilliantly attacked at nightfall,” General Thomas paused.
“Bloody good call on a nightfall attack Sir. Bloody good call!” General Davies added.
General Thomas continued. “So, rather than retreat with his men, he stayed put, knowing we were coming for him next. Then, in a brilliant strategic move, he allows himself to be taken prisoner, lets you interrogate him, and sets you up for a Vermont showdown where he knows they will be waiting.”
Realizing the picture painted was clear to everyone but me I said, “Where he and Emmet will be waiting with thousands upon thousands of soldiers,” as I shook my drooped head.
“Exactly,” Adam replied.
“It is an absolute genius maneuver if you think about it,” General Davies said.
“With the exception of one thing,” General Thomas added.
I lifted my head to look at General Thomas, “What’s that?” I asked while Adam and General Davies took on this quizzical look and manner.
“I am sure Emmet told him you had no idea who he was when he treated you. The Bear thinks he has this thing set up for a complete massacre. But now, we know his plan, we can act accordingly,” General Thomas stated.
“How so?” I asked.
General Davies spoke up, “I do declare my good man, one thing we should definitely consider first and foremost, we should leave the women and children here, so they are nowhere near that battlefield. We will either return triumphantly having turned the tide of the war in our favor. Or, we will be massacred. The women and children do not need to be a part of that.”
Adam spoke up, “I did not want to mention it before because the information is old. But I heard a while back that the Iowa militia was marching for Portsmouth, New Hampshire. There was something about taking a ship away from there. They are supposedly done, spirit broken, giving up fighting and going somewhere else. If we could intersect them on the way to Schenectady, they have fifteen hundred men. That along with the men from New Hampshire, we would be rocking and rolling then wouldn’t we? If we could by some chance sway them for one more battle before they left?”
“That would be thirty six hundred men if it worked out,” I said.
“That would set up quite the battle indeed,” General Davies said.
“First things first,” General Thomas stated. “We leave here tomorrow, and start toward Schenectady to find the New Hampshire 27th. We take our time, stay rested, and send scouts ahead looking for other resisters.” And, as he looked at Adam, “We’ll look for the Iowa
militia while we are at it, though it’s doubtful we’ll find them. We gather anyone else we can to help us in our fight. As we get close to the rendezvous point, we formulate a more solid plan. But another militia or two would certainly put us in a good spot. And, just remember Paul, The Bear thinks you are coming with two hundred men,” he said, as he smiled.
“This could be a bloody good show old chap, a bloody good show indeed. This could turn the tide of the war completely in our favor if we can defeat The Bear and his right hand man. It could very well be bloody glorious!” General Davies exclaimed emphatically.
Looking at Generals Thomas, and Davies, and then at Adam I spoke. “I’m sorry I messed this up. Tennessee is still haunting me. This sounds like a good plan. Let’s do it. I defer all command to you three. I am just along for the ride at this point.”
Walking up to me and standing so close to me that I could smell the tea on his breath, General Davies began, “This is no time for self- loathing man, get a hold of yourself. You, my dear lad, are the great General Hornady. We are all in this together, every one of us commanding in his way.” Standing erect at full attention, General Davies clicked his heels for emphasis as he continued, “The pleasure to fight alongside you will be all mine kind Sir.” he stated as he saluted.
“He’s right Paul,” General Thomas said.
“No offense to anyone here,” Adam piped in, “but I will take my orders from you General Hornady. I’ll follow you to hell and back without question. So, let’s get back to business and leave the self-pity behind Sir.”
“Paul?” General Thomas asked awaiting my reply.
“We leave in the morning!” I replied with authority.
“In the morning!” Adam said smiling as he looked at the group.
“In the morning!” General Thomas said with a smile.
“Tomorrow it is!” General Davies replied.
General Thomas turned to leave, “If you men will excuse me, I must say goodbye to Sally Ann. She’s not going to like this one bit,” and he departed the tent.
“And I must go prepare myself for the endeavors that await us in Schenectady” General Davies said as he clicked his boots, saluted, and turned to leave the tent. He stopped at the tent door and held the flap open as he awaited Adam.
Adam turned to leave with his head hung low.
“Adam!” I called out as he approached the open tent flap that General Davies held for him.
“Yes Sir,” he replied as he turned back to face me.
“If you love her, now would be the time to tell her,” I mentioned as I walked over and put my hand on his shoulder.
“How can I do that to her General? Tell her I love her and then leave her to go to an almost certain death,” he said.
“You’re asking the wrong question Adam. The real question is, how do you not tell her and leave her to wonder for the rest of her life?” I said.
“I know I just met her. But I do love her, I know that every time I hear her voice or look at her smile. I’ve never felt like this before. It’s almost like she is the reason I have been doing all this and I never really knew it, until I met her. My greater purpose has finally been unveiled,” he said.
“You’ll never regret telling her. But, you’ll always regret it if you don’t,” I replied.
No other words were spoken. Adam looked at me with sadness in his eyes, nodded affirmatively to me, and left the tent.
Chapter 12
Leaving for Schenectady
Return to Table of Contents
“Before anything else, Preparation is the key to success”
—Alexander Graham Bell
While there were many parts to the destruction of the American way of life, the North American Free Trade Agreement was probably the most destructive. An agreement that was supposed to assist in an increased trade in goods and services which would boost the economy, in fact, took money and jobs away.
The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was an agreement signed by Canada, Mexico, and the United States, creating a trilateral rules-based trade block in North America. The agreement came into force on January 1, 1994 under then President William Jefferson Clinton. It superseded the Canada–United States Free Trade Agreement between the United States and Canada. NAFTA has two supplements: the North American Agreement on Environmental Cooperation (NAAEC) and the North American Agreement on Labor Cooperation (NAALC).
Supplement number one was The North American Agreement on Environmental Cooperation (NAAEC) which was an environmental agreement between the United States of America, Canada and Mexico as a side-treaty of the North American Free Trade Agreement. The agreement came into effect along with the NAFTA on January 1, 1994.
The agreement consisted of a declaration of principles and objectives concerning the conservation and protection of the environment as well as concrete measures which were supposed to further cooperation on those matters between the three countries.
Supplement number two was The North American Agreement on Labor Cooperation (NAALC) which was signed on September 14, 1993, by the Presidents of Mexico and the United States, and the Prime Minister of Canada, as the second supplementary accord to the North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). It entered into effect along with the NAFTA on January 1, 1994.
The NAALC was the first international agreement on labor to be linked to an international trade agreement. It provided a mechanism for the member countries to ensure the effective enforcement of existing and future domestic labor standards and laws without interfering in the sovereign functioning of the different national labor systems.
Along with its companion agreement on environmental cooperation, the NAALC added a social dimension to NAFTA. Through the NAALC, the regional trading partners sought to improve working conditions and living standards, and to protect, enhance and enforce basic workers’ rights.
The goal of NAFTA was to eliminate barriers with trading and investment between the United States, Canada and Mexico. The implementation of NAFTA on January 1, 1994 brought the immediate elimination of tariffs on more than one-half of Mexico’s exports to the United States and more than one-third of United States exports to Mexico. Within ten years of the implementation of the agreement, all United States-Mexico tariffs would be eliminated except for some United States agricultural exports to Mexico that were to be phased out within fifteen years. Most United States-Canada trade was already duty-free. NAFTA also sought to eliminate non-tariff trade barriers and to protect the intellectual property right of the products. The United States Chamber of Commerce credited NAFTA with increasing United States trade in goods and services with Canada and Mexico from $337 billion in 1993 to $1.2 trillion in 2011.14
What really happened with the NAFTA agreement was that over two million American manufacturing jobs were sent to Mexico by 2016, which further drained the American economy and entitlement programs.
I did not get much sleep that night as I prepared Hannah and Abby for my impending departure in the morning. There were so many problems with leaving them behind. I knew that all of the women were prepared to hunt and scavenge. I knew that the children were not. My main concern was, what if a Socialist platoon came by the campsite like they did before? I knew what would happen. The same thing that happened three years ago would happen, or worse.
It had long been an unspoken rule in the militias that the women and children travelled with the militias and were nearby the battlefield. We had to protect our loved ones and we could not do that from three hundred miles away. I had just found Hannah, Lily and Abby and now I was going to leave them. And what for? The Bear? Emmet? No, I was leaving them for America. Much like my forefathers did in 1776, I was going to fight for the greater good. I was going to fight for the future of our country. And in the morning, that is what would make me leave my loved ones.
Lily never came back to the tent overnight. Not that I really expected her to, but it would have been nice if she had. I was giving her the space I promised Hannah I wo
uld give her. But, it didn’t mean that I had to like it. And I didn’t like it. Not one bit.
In the early morning, over thirteen hundred soldiers prepared to leave. They packed up half the tents, half the supplies, and told their loved ones goodbye, for what could possibly be the last time. I found Lily in front of Adam’s tent helping him pack his bag.
“Lily, can we talk for a minute?” I asked.
“Sure Dad, what’s up?” she asked in a matter of fact manner.
“I just wanted to tell you that I love you, and that we will come back to you. And uh, um,” I said as I looked over at Adam, who was trying to pack, but was also watching us with a pained look on his face, “I’ll keep him safe for you Lily.”
“No you won’t. I will, because I’m coming with you,” she said as she smiled.
The Conspiracy of American Democracy - A Father's Revenge Page 9