The Shelter: WAR

by Ira Tabankin

  Major Walker calls the General with his report and asking if they’ve crushed the remaining ISIS troops. He’s informed the Colonel has found and killed the remaining ISIS troops.

  “General, want me to take my people and support the Colonel?”

  “Not necessary, clean up the Cartel and meet us back at the farm.”

  Looking at a map, Major Walker smiles,

  “Sir, I’ll be there in four hours.”

  @@@@@

  The Governor’s office is always filled with noise and people rushing back and forth. The phones ring twenty-fours a day. Jay’s had to hire four additional people just to answer the phones and emails. He ordered that anyone calling or emailing will get a return call/email within twenty-four hours. No matter what the question, or comment, each one is to be responded to, as word spreads that his office is quickly responding, the number of calls and emails multiples by a factor of ten, twenty and one hundred. Jay makes a note to ask John about setting up a talk radio show or getting him on existing ones where the people of the state can call him to directly ask him questions. As the calls and pleas pour in, Jay feels like he’s drowning in the people’s pain and suffering. He looks at the pleas wondering how he can help the hungry and homeless. He thinks about how he can provide basic services and security for thousands. The number of pleas and begging begin to weigh him down, he hasn’t slept in three days.

  After reading an email from a single mother who lost everything she owned to a roaming gang, including her twelve-year-old daughter, Jay can’t take it anymore. He walks out of his office without saying a word. Fred and Nancy look at his face which is lined and frowning.

  Fred tries to reach out to his friend.

  “Jay, how about we go get a mug of coffee? Would you like to walk around the farm, get a lungful of fresh air? How about we drive over to look at the new shelter?”

  Jay ignores Fred, he doesn’t register Fred being there. Jay walks into the living quarters of the castle. He makes his way to his private office. He sits in the dark office. With the high windows and the lights off, the room is bathed in shadows. Jay’s sitting with his feet perched on the edge of his desk, he’s leaning back in his chair with his eyes closed. He’s trying to escape the reality he’s found himself living in. I hope the President is tearing Governor Abrams apart. Damn him for appointing me. There are so many that need so much and I’m only one person. They call, they email, they beg for help. Where the hell should I start? We have to do something to help them. We’ll never make anything of the Confederacy if we can’t take care of our people. I’m sick of committees and consultants telling us what the people need and want. I have thousands of emails and phone calls saying what the people need and want. I’ll set up a meeting with General Arthur when he returns.

  There are times I feel I can’t do this anymore. There’s too much for one person to handle. I can’t help everyone. I feel for each one of them who asks for help. How can I best help the people of this state? How can I make a real difference they can feel? How can I make them feel like they can sleep peacefully in their own homes? How can I feed them if I can’t feed the people I’m already committed to feeding?

  Jay sits up, he listens to the sounds of silence in his castle. He feels something cold move next to him. He looks into the corner of his office. You’re here aren’t you? You’re enjoying watching me fail. You set the entire thing up so I would fail and learn how to accept failure didn’t you? Would it help if I say I’m sorry? Would it help if I accept I’ve been a hard headed ass? Can you respond? Jay doesn’t hear a sound, the cold feeling passed without it returning. He places his head in his hands, exhaling he feels his years. He looks up at the small window, soon my spirit will fly out of that window. Soon my years will run out, like following a string that ends. The sands in my hourglass are slipping away. Every day is another grain of sand lost. How much longer will I be able to do this?

  “Jay, are you alright?”

  “Huh? How long have you been here?”

  “Long enough to know you’re worried; the stress is crippling you isn’t it? Is there something I can do to help you? Why don’t you come to the kitchen with me? We’ll get a cup of coffee; I can put a shot of brandy in it. It’ll help you sleep.”

  “I want to stay up to receive General Arthur’s report. His forces are attacking the Cartel and ISIS troops. I’m hoping this will be the last battle. I urged him to use whatever firepower he has to ensure these two threats are wiped out. We can’t afford to fight a three-way battle. We can use the Cartel and ISIS as a warm-up to the main event with the North.”

  “Then fresh coffee is what you need to help you stay up. Jay, you know if things went to shit, you would have heard from him already. I bet he caught them in the open and killed them all. He’ll only call before he’s finished if some broke through his lines and are heading here. Let me get you a decaf and brandy?”

  “Thanks, but I don’t feel like coffee tonight.”

  “How about just the brandy?”

  “I want to keep my wits in case he calls and needs something.”

  “It’s been thirty minutes since his radio operator called to say they were engaging ISIS. If something went wrong, you would have heard. I bet he’s in the process of cleaning the mess up and taking the trash out. Don’t worry.”

  “I’ll join you in bed, maybe you’re right. I’ll take a small glass of brandy, maybe it will help me sleep.”

  “I’ll get it for you.”

  Lacy drops two small pink pills into the glass before she pours the brandy. Hopefully, no one will call and you’ll get a good night’s sleep tonight. According to the doc, this should knock you out like someone turned your lights off.

  “Here you go.”

  “Thanks.” Jay swallows the brandy in two mouthfuls. Five minutes later he begins to slur his speech. “I think I’m going to lay down.”

  “Good idea.” Within minutes, Jay’s snoring. Lacy smiles thinking, with all he’s been through, I’m not sure him taking the job of LT Governor and now Governor was a good idea. I hope Governor Abrams returns and is able to take over, leaving Jay to find a way to return to running the farm.

  She falls asleep looking at Jay snore away in a deep drug induced sleep. She has faith the General will remove the threat from ISIS and the Cartel. She knows he won’t need anything from Jay and he needs his rest if he’s going to be his best every day. There're much larger issues he has to figure out than the Cartel and ISIS outlaws.

  Of course, she’s right. The military crushes the Cartel and ISIS. Both groups are crushed. A total of thirty-six survivors are kept in the makeshift prison where they’ll be interrogated by experts. General Arthur wants to locate and take out El Chapo and Al Afi in order to end the threats from both groups. He orders the interrogators to use enhanced interrogation methods to get the locations of the leaders.

  @@@@@

  Ricky remembers the cell phone number Governor Abrams gave him, asking him to call if he saw anything unusual. He feels the strange vibration almost daily. He’s seen clouds of dust close to his home. He’s noticed a lot of people going someplace over the hill near his home. Every time he tried to cross the hill, he gets stopped by one of the security people, some are wearing military uniforms which Ricky doesn’t recognize. He wonders where the new security people came from, he once heard them say the LT Governor is going to be inspecting them. Ricky is happy to hear the LT Governor is visiting the farm, he hopes he’ll get to meet him. He figures the LT Governor will know about him and help him contact Governor Abrams. While sitting on his front step, he decides the best way to ensure he gets to meet the new LT Governor is to use the number and call the Governor. I know the Governor won’t answer his own phone. I’ll get one of his staffers. He wouldn’t have given me his number if he didn’t also tell his staffers who I was. I’ll call and ask if they can set up a meeting between the LT Governor and me. Maybe I can get the LT Governor to get me released. I’ll practice my pitch so the LT G
overnor will hire me, taking me out of my private hell and enabling me to get my revenge against Jay.

  Ricky looks at the governor’s business card, smiling he picks up his cell, dialing the number, he’s surprised it’s answered on the first ring.

  “Governor Abram’s phone. Who’s calling, please state your name and the purpose of your call.”

  “This is Ricky from the farm north of Nashville. I met the Governor a week ago. He told me I should call if I saw anything suspicious. There’s been a lot of unusual activity close to me.”

  “RECORD this call, someone from Nashville says there’s unusual activity. Might be a lead to their new headquarters.”

  “Mr. Ricky…”

  “No, just Ricky.”

  “Sorry, Ricky, the Governor is tied up right now,” Says a smiling DHS guard remembering that he’s telling the truth, Governor Abrams is tied up. “Can you describe what’s unusual in your area?”

  “I feel strange vibrations under my feet, like earthquakes.”

  Placing the call on mute, “Bingo! I bet someone is digging a tunnel or bunker near this guy. Someone run a search and pinpoint his position. This could be the lead we’ve been looking for.”

  “Ricky, what else would you like to pass along to the Governor?”

  “I heard a rumor his new LT Governor will be visiting us, I’d like to see if the Governor can arrange a meeting and interview for me with him. I’d like to offer my services to him.”

  “Ricky, we’ll make sure your message gets to the Governor. The LT Governor has a very busy schedule, he has many inspection visits planned, could you give me some more detail where you are so we can ensure the LT Governor is able to squeeze you into his schedule?”

  “Sure, I’m located on what the Governor knows as the farm with the large shelter…”

  The DHS agent covers the phone, he looks over his shoulder to his staff, “MAKE SURE YOU HAVE THIS CALL TRACED, he just said large SHELTER! This could be what we’re looking for.”

  “I’m located at the far eastern corner. I believe there is some sort of construction going on to my west. I’ve seen large dust clouds; I’m guessing caused by a lot of vehicles or heavy ones driving on the dirt road that was cut from the lake to the farm.”

  “Look for a large farm with a lake on its border, check the overheads for a new dirt road from the lake to the farm.”

  One of the aides in the back of the control room yells, “I’ve got it! I see the lake and dirt road, there is a lot of construction equipment on the dirt road and something very unusual. While the cameras say there’s nothing down there, the IR cameras say there’s equipment down there. It must be under a camouflaged net.”

  “Ricky, is there anything else you can tell us about the farm which will help us make sure we’ve got the right one?”

  “How many farms have a large castle?”

  “Did you catch that?”

  “He said castle? WOW, holy shit! I see it. We’ve got the place pinpointed. Why the hell is there a castle on a farm?”

  “Ricky, just out of curiosity, what’s the story with the castle?”

  “Jay, the farm’s owner, uses it as his home. He’s an asshole, a far right wing gun nut.”

  “I heard, I'm marking the area with a red star, marking it as a potential threat area.”

  “Ricky, we’ll talk with the LT Governor and get back to you. If we need to reach you, is the number you called the Governor on the best number to reach you?”

  “Yes, it’s my cell.”

  “Perfect. You can be sure we’ll be in touch.”

  Hanging up, the DHS agent smiles looking at his staff.

  “What a bonanza, we now know the Tennessee new LT Governor will shortly be at this location, we know a right wing gun nut lives there and they’re building something they are trying to hide. See what you can find out about this Jay and the people on the farm. I want to present our report to the Secretary this evening.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Chapter 23

  The Secretary of DHS looks at the report from his staff covering the phone call from Governor Abram’s phone.

  “A castle? You’re telling me I’m looking at a castle in central Tennessee? Who in their right mind would spend the money and manpower to build a damn castle? Is there a moat around it? Did you happen to see any knights in armor jousting? Jesus, what else have the assholes in the South been doing that we don’t know about?”

  “Sir, we tasked a bird to take better images of the castle, some of them are very interesting.”

  “Show me. Can you put them up on the large monitor?”

  “Yes, sir. Here’s the first, if you look in the area in the red circle, you’ll see a person in a uniform going into the castle. Here’s another image, in this one, we zoomed in and you’ll see a US Army uniform walking away from the castle, there are also two Army uniforms walking towards the hill behind the castle.”

  “Does the military have a base we didn’t know about and if so, what are they doing with a castle?”

  “Sir, look what we found across the street from the castle, follow us as we zoom first to the first facility. Do you see all of the uniforms and straight rows of tents? Do you see the vehicles parked here?” Said the analyst to an area circled in red. “Those are LAVs and Bradley fighting vehicles.”

  “An Army base on a farm?”

  “Sir, look at the second location, its next to the first one. This is a US Army base. However, it’s not on any DoD list.

  “How do you know it’s an Army base?”

  “Who else would have Abrams main battle tanks and rows of Bradleys? This image clearly shows a mobile air defense vehicle.”

  “What the hell is going on down there?”

  “Sir, let us zoom to the back of the farm, we’ve highlighted the IR images, there are lines of construction equipment down there. They have camo netting covering them from our eyes, but we have IR cameras they may not be aware of.”

  “Maybe they don’t have any IR masking devices. What are they doing with construction equipment in that corner of the farm?”

  “We don’t know. We found the trailer our caller, name of Ricky, lives in. We’ve circled it in green. As you can see, he’s not too far from the IR targets.”

  “Can he take some pictures and send them to us?”

  “Sir, we don’t understand why, but, he’s informed us he can’t move more than 100 yards away from his home.”

  “Someone is tracking him. I bet he’s wearing some sort of ankle tracking bracelet. That means whoever is tracking him wants him to stay where he is. Did he give you any hint why’s he’s tethered to that spot?”

  “No, sir. He told us the new LT Governor is going to be making a stop at the farm and asked us if we could set up a meeting for him with the LT Governor.”

  “Who is the new LT Governor? Do we have a file on them? Do we have a copy of their travel agenda?”

  “Sir, we don’t have much information on the person, nor do we have a copy of his agenda.”

  “I guess we're going to have to invite ourselves to the LT Governor’s visit. Find out who from the media is covering his trip, we’ll send a couple of field agents as members of the press to interview him and if possible, grab him.”

  “Yes, sir. We’ll find out.”

  Thinking out loud, the Secretary says, “I wonder what the hell is going on down there. This might be a perfect opportunity to grab the LT Governor, which would cause sufficient chaos to make their people wonder if they made a mistake. I like it.” Looking up at his aides, “See if you can grab the LT Governor and find out who’s in charge of those military bases down there.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  @@@@@

  US Army Sergeant Johnson taps his partner on the shoulder, they are watching the hotel through night vision optics. Whispering,

  “I make that hotel the ISIS headquarters. They’re flying the ISIS flag over the hotel, they’ve set up portable Sat comms dishes in the parkin
g lot. They have a lot of armed ragheads running around. All are armed with some sort of AK rifle; many have bandoliers of ammo strung over their shoulders. Dumb shits. By the time they reload a magazine, they’ll be dead.”

  “There must be two hundred of the shitheads down there.”

  “Which is why we’re going to call in a long-range strike or an airstrike. We’re not going anywhere near the hotel until it’s a smoking hole in the ground.”