The Conspiracy of American Democracy - A Father's Revenge

by Robert Strickland

  Chapter 15

  Departure for Vermont

  Return to Table of Contents

  “Silence in the face of evil is itself evil; God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.”

  —Dietrich Bonhoeffer

  I looked up above me and could see General Davies looking down at me. “I say old man, can you hear me?” he asked.

  I opened my mouth to speak and could barely mumble. Everything was numb and I was so thirsty. “Water,” I managed to get out before I felt extreme pain in the back of my left thigh. “AAArrrggghhh!” I screamed out.

  “By George, I believe he’s going to be alright,” General Davies said, as I saw General Thomas’ head appear in my view beside General Davies as I looked up toward the sky from the ground I laid upon. There they stood, looking down at me, and Grant with that god forsaken pipe hanging out of his mouth.

  “We sure decided we had lost you Paul. Good battle though, really good battle,” General Thomas said.

  “It was a bloody, good battle. We came through quite on top I believe. Damn Russians ran for their lives so to speak,” General Davies replied.

  “Except, I had to save a General’s ass,” I heard Adam say as he walked up beside me. “How are you feeling?” he asked laughing.

  I shook my head no and began moving my arms. “Dad, calm down. It’s okay, you are okay,” Lily said, as she rubbed on my head lightly with a wet cloth.

  General Davies began, “General Hornady, you should be dead dear Sir. You can thank Sgt. Hornady and Major Adam Jones for your survival. When Sgt. Hornady shot that drone down the shrapnel bomb exploded right above your head. You had two large nails embedded completely in your right thigh. You had a lead tire weight deposited two inches into your right forearm, and you had a chunk of granite embedded into your buttocks. But the most serious injury was a nail embedded in your back one sixteenth of an inch to the right beside the sixth vertebrae of your spine. I do not think I need to tell you what would have happened if that nail were just a smidgen to the left do I?”

  “Sgt. What?” I asked. “Hornady what?” I said, attempting unsuccessfully to sit up.

  “There, there now, settle down man.” General Davies said as he lightly pushed down on my chest. “Well, she did save countless soldiers’ lives on the battlefield with that confounded street sweeper she carries. We had to promote her a rank. We just had to,” General Davies told me.

  “Paralyzed,” I managed to mumble.

  “What’s that you say?” General Davies asked while leaning over closer to my lips.

  “Your question. I’d be paralyzed,” I weakly replied.

  “Ah yes, the question, bloody well correct Sir. You would be paralyzed from the neck down. Now, you must remain still for a couple of days. I used to be quite the field medic, and am quite excited for the work I performed on your body today. But, you have to stay immobile for two or three days. Do you understand?” General Davies asked.

  I nodded as I faded back into unconsciousness.

  For the next four days, I did as I was told. I stayed lying on an old army cot in a makeshift medical tent for all of our injured soldiers. We prayed that the Socialist and Russian soldiers would not return. We made it through and on day four, I stood up, still a little weak, but ready to go to Vermont.

  “Major, give me a full report on the battle please?” I asked as General Thomas walked into the tent.

  Adam looked at Grant, took a piece of paper out of his pocket, unfolded it and then began reading. “Well, we lost two hundred twenty-five men. We took out just short of six hundred enemy soldiers. We took out eight drones, four tanks, two Generals, four Captains and three Lieutenants. We recovered one hundred forty-seven AR-15 rifles, eight thousand rounds of ammunition, a small case of grenades, and a battle copter that landed with mechanical difficulties. One of the guys from New Hampshire is trying to get that operational so we can use it. We also have one of the Alabama guys working on one of the tanks to see if we can get it up and running. I’m optimistic on that. The final tally gives us sixteen hundred fifty soldiers.”

  I looked at Adam. I knew him well enough by now to know when he was holding something back. And he was definitely holding something back. “What else?”

  Adam looked at General Thomas and they both made an anguished face.

  “What else?’ I asked again with emphasis.

  General Thomas spoke, “Paul, Daniel was killed when he went to retrieve the little girl you met the other day. Her name was Amanda. She and her mother were killed also.”

  “Shrapnel bomb,” Adam said.

  I looked down at my feet and fell back onto the cot in a seated position. I don’t know if it was the injuries, old age, having thoughts of my own kids or what. But I lost it. I began sobbing almost uncontrollably. War is hell. But killing a little sweet girl? Why?

  “Major, leave the tent!” General Grant ordered.

  Grant sat down beside me on the cot. He said nothing. He just smoked his pipe and sat there. I thought of Hannah. God I missed her. I thought of Abby. I thought of Lily. But mostly, I thought of that sweet little girl, Amanda. After a few minutes I regained my composure, wiped a few tears from my eyes and stood up. Looking down at Grant I said, “I’m sorry Grant. I don’t know what that was all about.”

  “There’s nothing to be sorry about Paul. There aren’t any shrinks left in this world. We’ll just chalk that up to an overabundance of emotion, following a life and death situation followed by extreme grief for an innocent little girl,” he said.

  I looked at him in amazement. “Where the hell did that come from?” I asked.

  As he laughed, he said, “Hell, I read Paul. Or, I used to anyway.”

  “What’s next Grant?” I asked.

  “We leave tomorrow to look for the Iowa militia,” he replied.

  “How are we on time?” I asked.

  “It’s going to be tight. With no communication with our scouts, we can only hope they wait for us a few days,” he said.

  Communication. In this new world we existed in, there was no way to communicate. Oh sure, the Russians and Socialists could talk to each other, but we had no radios, no batteries, and no telephones or cellphones. There was no way we could get our information across long distances. We depended on cat calls, whistles, and hand signals across short distances. The few times we did recover a Socialist army radio, without a way to keep it charged it was dead in a matter of a few days. We planned on our scouts meeting us with intel just outside of Brattleboro in just five days. We had to hope that they would wait for us a few extra days. I know we would wait for them.

  “The best we can figure, we are about ninety miles as the crow flies from Brattleboro” Grant said.

  “Four days,” I replied.

  “Give or take a day. And we have no hope of looking for the Iowa militia at this point,” Grant said.

  “Alright,” I said as a matter of fact. “We’ll just have to make do with sixteen hundred fifty men, and hopefully a tank and a copter.”

  “If you’re up for it, we’d like to leave tomorrow,” Grant said.

  “Absolutely,” I replied.

  That night we all sat around our tents and ate some beans and franks. Each day, the New Hampshire militia sent out seven to ten soldiers on supply runs. While I was out of commission, they apparently found an old Food City store where they were able to find nine cases of Van Camps pork-and-beans in one hundred and four ounce cans. With our departure slated for tomorrow, and not being able to carry them with us, we cooked them all for our supper.

  Supper was quiet and subdued. Lily and Adam sat near me on a shared old tree stump. They looked at each other with mushy cow eyes. While I was now coming to grips with their relationship, and was legitimately happy for them, watching them together sure did make my longing for Hannah even more intense. I never thought it would hurt like this to be away from her again. The older I get, the worse it gets.

  General Da
vies and General Thomas sat on the ground near me. After we finished eating, the silence was finally broken.

  “Let me look at your dressings old chap,” General Davies said.

  Not really wanting to argue, I stood and lifted my shirt. He walked behind me, slowly removed the tape that held a large bandage and started poking and prodding.

  “How bad does that hurt?” he asked.

  “It’s sensitive but no real pain,” I replied.

  Adam and Lily stopped their flirting and sat watching the examination.

  I turned around and he checked my forearm. “All of the stitches in the back and the forearm look good old boy. I do say old man, move your fingers like this,” holding up his hand and started to drum his fingers in midair. I complied with very little effort.

  “Alright, let’s check that leg out,” he said.

  I pulled my shirt on and slowly dropped my pants so he could check my leg. He slowly unwrapped the bandage and poked and prodded some more. I guess I should have been a little embarrassed to have my daughter sitting there looking at me in my underwear with my pants around my ankles, but I really was not. War changes many things I guess.

  “I believe you are going to bloody well live, but, I do not really know how much more your body can take,” General Davies said. “You look like a human voodoo doll.”

  He wrapped my leg up again and I pulled my pants up. As General Thomas and General Davies began talking to each other, I walked over to Lily and Adam.

  I plopped down on the ground near them. “I really don’t have the words to thank either of you for saving me the other day. It took both of you to save me, and I appreciate it. Adam, you seem to be making a habit of saving the life of someone in my family. I don’t think I can ever repay you. But I do thank you for it.”

  Adam and Lily looked at each other and smiled as Lily stood up and said, “I have to help clean up if we are leaving in the morning,” she said as she touched my shoulder.

  I stood up and hugged her and she left. I sat back down with Adam.

  “General?” he asked.

  “Ah hell, here we go,” I said. “Go ahead, whatcha got now?”

  “Why do I have to have anything?” he asked.

  “Okay, what is it Adam?”

  “Well Sir, I was wondering if you would not mind if I ask Lily to marry me?” he said.

  I sat there staring at him for what seemed like a couple of minutes but was probably twenty seconds or so. “Well it’s about damn time!” I said. “Do you think I didn’t see this coming Adam?”

  “Does that mean you approve?” he asked excitedly.

  “Well I didn’t say that!” I said watching his elation deflate.

  He said, “I know in this world that we live in, I really have no right to ask for your permission to marry. I cannot provide for Lily, but I can keep her safe. And I can love her more than any other man ever could. And that does count for something doesn’t it Sir?”

  “Adam?” I asked as I stood up.

  “Yes Sir?” he replied.

  I could see the anticipation on his face of what was coming. He was totally dejected, thinking that I would not give him my blessing. Knowing Adam as I do, that would definitely keep him from asking Lily to marry him. “Adam, I would be honored to have you as my son-in-law. But, you had better treat her like a damn queen or I will kick your ass. You hear me?” I replied.

  In the first real sign of emotion I had ever witnessed from Adam, he jumped up and hollered, “Whooo!” as he hugged me. He then went running off to find Lily. I was certain she knew exactly what he was up to, when she left us alone.

  I walked over to Grant and Lenard and sat down. “Gentlemen, looks like a wedding is coming?”

  “Jolly good news Paul. And just so you know, I can perform the ceremony. I am an ordained minister,” General Davies said.

  Looking at General Davies like he was crazy, I responded. “Of course you are Lenard. Why does that not surprise me?” laughing and shaking my head.

  General Thomas took a cigar from his pocket and offered it to me. “I know you don’t smoke Paul, but let’s celebrate.”

  I took the cigar from him as he offered General Davies one also. We all lit up and sat there smoking cigars under the stars. A few minutes later, as the smoke drifted above our heads into the night sky, I heard the unmistakable sound of my daughter’s voice from across the campsite. “Yes Adam, yes!”

  Lenard smiled at me, “And that gentlemen, is bloody well that.”

  Placing the cigar on a nearby rock, I laid back on the grass, looked up at the stars and drifted off to sleep.

  The next morning the camp was abuzz with activity. We were packing up and preparing to leave for Brattleboro when Lily walked up to me.

  “Dad, I love you. Thank you for giving Adam your permission. You don’t know how nervous he was”, she said.

  “I told him to take care of you, but you need to take care of him also. Marriage isn’t easy, especially in this world we live in today. You two need to take care of each other. Nothing is easy,” I said.

  “We will Daddy,” she said.

  As she ran off, I swelled up with pride. “Girl called me Daddy. She never calls me Daddy anymore,” I told myself.

  With the activity transpiring at a furious pace, the camp was packed up quickly and the lines of sixteen hundred fifty soldiers were formed.

  Adam ran up to me all smiles. “General, the tank we were working on is operational and we loaded the battle copter on it. I just don’t know how much fuel they have in it. We’ll need to be on the lookout for anyplace we can get some diesel so we can fill it up.”

  “That’s good news Adam. They’ll come in handy in Vermont,” I said.

  “If we could just find those Iowa guys,” Adam mentioned.

  Looking over at General Thomas, “General Thomas, will you do the honors?” I asked.

  “MOVE OUT!” he yelled. And with that, the final push to Vermont was underway.

  Chapter 16

  The Road to Vermont

  Return to Table of Contents

  “Regard your soldiers as your children, and they will follow you into the deepest valleys; look on them as your own beloved sons, and they will stand by you even unto death”

  —Sun Tzu

  Ninety miles of walking! How did we get to this point in the United States of America? With the implosion of our economy, all of the major car manufacturers went out of business. Used cars kept things rolling for a few years. But with no new cars being manufactured, auto mechanics and car repair shops started going out of business. Before long, unless you could work on your own car, you were walking. The lack of motor vehicles caused auto parts manufacturers and auto parts stores to go out of business. At that point, everyone was walking, running, or riding a bicycle. All except for the wealthy politicians in Obama’s employ. They still had cars and had bought all of the car parts. But it got worse. There were a lot of cars sitting in driveways and parking lots. Nice cars. So, the government started using the civil forfeiture law to take possession of those cars for their own personal use.

  The Civil Forfeiture Program was more commonly referred to as Asset Forfeiture. Asset forfeiture was a form of confiscation of assets by the state, pursuant to law. It typically applied to the alleged proceeds or instrumentalities of crime. Some jurisdictions specifically used the term “confiscation” instead of “forfeiture”. Civil and administrative asset forfeiture or forfeiture without a conviction and sometimes in the absence of evidence, both drew major criticism back in the day. Civil Asset Forfeiture was originally a part of the Criminal Justice system. It later became a part of the United Socialist States Congress.

  There were two types of forfeiture cases, criminal and civil. Approximately half of all forfeiture cases practiced in the beginning were civil, although many of those were filed in parallel to a related criminal case. In civil forfeiture cases, the United States Government sued the item of property, not the person; the owner was effec
tively a third-party claimant. The burden was on the Government to establish that the property was subject to forfeiture by a “preponderance of the evidence.” If it was successful, the owner was allowed in some instances to prevail by establishing an “innocent owner” defense, though those cases were very rare.

  In civil cases, the owner did not need to be judged guilty of any crime; it was possible for the Government to prevail by proving that someone other than the owner used the property to commit a crime. In contrast, criminal forfeiture was usually carried out in a sentence following a conviction and was a punitive act against the offender.