The Days of Noah, Book Two: Persecution

by Mark Goodwin

  When they arrived, Everett shut off the engine. “It looks different. You know, now that it’s our new home.”

  Courtney got out and grabbed a load to take inside. “Yeah, it’s a brave new world.”

  CHAPTER 8

  On that day a great persecution broke out against the church.

  Acts 8:1b

  Noah drew his pistol and held it low as Isaiah opened the door for Henry Whitaker.

  “Thank you for letting me in!” Henry’s face was as white as a ghost.

  “It’s a little dangerous, going around unannounced. Don’t you think? I mean, especially with everyone on edge after all that’s happened today.” The tone in Isaiah’s voice conveyed his distrust of Henry’s chance appearance.

  Henry looked at Benny, who was scowling; then he glanced at the pistol in Noah’s hand. He looked back to Isaiah. “I didn’t have anywhere else to turn.”

  Isaiah motioned for Henry to lead the way into the kitchen. “Let me guess. You are somehow involved in this business.”

  “Not like you think! Several years ago, I was approached by DHS to help keep an eye out for anything out of the ordinary. You know, stuff like unattended vehicles where they didn’t belong, suspicious characters, or things that looked out of place. It was part of a national initiative to get public servants involved in being the eyes and ears of DHS. Because my job has me driving around all day, it was a good fit. They did the same thing with delivery men, school bus drivers, taxi drivers, and anyone whose profession required them to spend a lot of time out on the street.”

  Isaiah chuckled. “Some estimates suggest that nearly ten percent of the population of East Germany worked full time or acted as informants for the Stasi. But, like the Stasi informants, you thought you were being a good citizen. Please, have a seat and continue.”

  Henry didn’t seem to appreciate the analogy, but since he’d already said he had nowhere else to turn, he took a seat at the table. “A CIA agent approached me a year or two after I took my first round of DHS civil servant training. He told me there were multiple groups that were planning to attack federal and local government interests, as well as critical infrastructure around the country. He informed me that the CIA believed there were cells in the East Tennessee area. It sounded too dangerous for me, but he convinced me that it was very necessary and that my worst fears would come true if this plot wasn’t stopped.”

  Noah put his pistol back in the waist of his pants and sat at the table. “And was our Bible study under surveillance?”

  Henry avoided eye contact with any of the other men. “Surveillance is too strong a word. I was to establish relationships with multiple right-wing groups—any that could possibly be American Patriots for Christ recruiting grounds. Faith Church held many of the same beliefs as APC, so your Bible study was as good a place as any.”

  Isaiah brought Henry a glass of water, as he was visibly shaken up and sounded like he had a dry mouth. “APC is a political action group,” Isaiah argued. “They have a few lobbyists, but they’re like the NRA. They don’t have meetings about attacking the government.”

  Henry took a drink. “I know that now. One of the groups I infiltrated was a white supremacist-anarchist group in Knoxville. It was small, but a few of the guys were very open to using violence against the government. The CIA agent I worked with helped me coax them into coordinating an attack against the Knoxville Police Department. My job was to deliver a fake bomb to the extremists, and the FBI was supposed to scoop them up when they went to detonate the device this morning.

  “I was supposed to meet the CIA agent today to fill out an After Action Report. I spent the night at a friend’s house last night, so I was running late. When I heard about the attacks, I knew it wasn’t a coincidence. I knew the CIA agent had lied to me and used me to deliver a real bomb. I ditched my car and my phone. I have forty dollars in my wallet, but I haven’t used any credit cards. I’m trying to avoid traffic cams, ATMs, or anything else that has a camera connected to the grid. I know they’re going to kill me if they find me. I just need a little money to get out of town.”

  Noah cocked one eye. “Are you sure it was a real CIA agent?”

  Benny spoke for the first time since Henry had arrived. “They were real. The CIA has been using that technique for years to trap would-be terrorists. This time, they just happened to use a live explosive device. Today’s attacks used military-grade explosives. These weren’t bombs people made with fertilizer and diesel fuel.”

  Isaiah got up and left the room. He returned in a few short minutes holding a small stack of bills. “Henry, this is from Jesus. Trust me, if it wasn’t for Him, I’d have never let you in the door. Once you told me that you tried to entrap us, my instinct was to tell you to get out of my house. But I have to remember what Christ did for me. He forgave me, so I forgive you for trying to get us in trouble. Here is a thousand dollars. I don’t know how far that will get you, but it’s all I can spare.

  “Despite this money, if what you’re telling us is true, your time may be short. You’ve sat through plenty of our Bible studies, so you know all about God’s plan of salvation for you. And you know what happens if you reject the free gift of Christ’s forgiveness. If I were you, I’d think long and hard about that and make sure you’re right with God. Where you spend eternity depends on it. Would you like us to pray with you before you go?”

  Henry took the money and stuck it in his pocket. “No, but thank you. I’ll definitely pray tonight. I need to get going, so I can get out of town.”

  Noah asked, “Where will you go?”

  “To my friend’s. I think she’ll let me borrow her car to get out of town. Thank you all so much.”

  Everyone walked Henry to the back door, and he left as quickly and silently as he had come.

  Noah took out his phone. “We’d better tell Jim and David about this. They need to be on the lookout for anything fishy.”

  Benny shook his head. “Don’t say anything about this over the phone. I was going to explain a method of secure Internet communication on Thursday, but it looks like it can’t wait. I have the flash drives with me now. I’ll walk you and Isaiah through it, and then I’ll catch up with Jim and David as soon as I leave here.”

  Noah took the small thumb drive that Benny handed him. “Thanks. What do I do with this?”

  “I’ll show you on Isaiah’s computer. This drive has a separate operating system on it. It’s called Tails, which stands for The Amnesic Incognito Live System.”

  Benny led the way to Isaiah’s desktop. He shut down the computer, plugged in the tiny thumb drive, and turned the computer back on. He hit the F12 key to access the boot menu, then selected the USB option, and the Tails OS started loading.

  Isaiah’s smile looked forced. “Am I still going to have a computer when you’re done?”

  “Oh, yes. This is running a separate operating system that stays on the thumb drive, thus the live system. Everything you do in Windows is recorded on the hard drive of your computer. Whatever you do while Tails is loaded will be erased when you shut down your computer. I built a secure plug-in for the Tor browser called Spyder, which I’ve loaded onto our group’s Tails thumb drives.

  “It allows us to surf the web and access an encrypted email service without broadcasting our IP addresses. Once the system loads, simply click the globe icon on the top of the screen, and you’ll be on the web anonymously. I’ve already configured encrypted email accounts for everyone and bookmarked the login page.”

  Noah looked at the drive in his hand. “I don’t know what you just said, but basically, I turn off my computer, plug this in, turn it back on, hit F12, select USB in the boot menu, wait for it to load, click the globe, then the bookmark?”

  “Yes. You’ll have to open your persistence volume to access the bookmark. You do that when you log in. The system will prompt you to enter a passphrase, which is the same as your email username. Here’s your login info. Everyone is already in your contact list. The
usernames make it obvious as to who you’re emailing.”

  Isaiah explored his new email account. “Thanks for setting this up. Did you have to pay for the service?”

  Benny said, “It’s free for a basic account. They make money by charging for premium accounts, which include additional storage space.”

  Noah scratched his head. “Couldn’t the NSA just send a National Security Letter to the email service provider and demand they release all their emails?”

  Benny lifted his eyebrows. “This one is based in Israel, so a National Security Letter wouldn’t have any jurisdiction. I recommend we all set up alternate addresses at ProtonMail, which is based in Switzerland. We’ll only exchange ProtonMail addresses in person and never access those accounts from the persistence volumes in Tails. If any one of those thumb drives falls into the hands of an agent, the passphrase could be cracked, and we would all be compromised. Which is another reason we should never use real names, addresses, or specific information that could be used against us.”

  Noah continued to inspect the thumb drive. “This is so small; it’s the size of a fingernail. It’s hard to believe you have an entire operating system on here. How does Tor work?”

  Benny smiled. “It masks the identity of the user by bouncing your data around several nodes between end users. The problem with Tor is that, even though it is constantly being upgraded, the encryption is regularly broken by the NSA. Tor was created by the US military for spying, so that alone creates some inherent concerns.

  “Additionally, the NSA has computers posing as nodes specifically in place to intercept Tor traffic. Of course, with the Tails OS and encrypted email, it would still require the NSA to use up a significant amount of resources to crack our messages, even if we weren’t using the Spyder plug-in. Since I still keep in touch with a couple of old co-workers, I know which nodes are NSA impostors. The Spyder plug-in blocks the Tor browser from accessing them. It also wraps the data in two more layers of encryption. That may be nearly obsolete once the rumored quantum computer comes online, but we’ll use coded messages anyway.

  “Be sure to use Startpage for your search engine. Always. Even when it doesn’t matter, use encryption, Startpage, and anonymous browsers. The more resources the NSA has to expend on cracking encryption, chasing down data being passed through multiple nodes like with Tor, or wondering what people are searching for on Startpage, the better. Sometimes, it’s just about wearing them out and making them waste time, energy, and manpower. People who use Facebook, Twitter, Google, and Yahoo are essentially handing their info to the NSA on a silver platter. Nothing is ironclad, but make them work for it. Even when it doesn’t matter.”

  Noah asked, “So to keep the NSA on the wild goose chase, do I have to boot the Tails operating system and use it all the time?”

  Benny said, “Good question. For day-to-day browsing, you can download the Tor browser to your home computer. You only have to run Tails when you need to be secure and for things you don’t want to leave fingerprints of on your computer. But remember, all of our ideology about the Constitution, freedom, the Bible, and most of our core values have just been declared hostile to the federal government.”

  Isaiah asked, “So all of this, the operating system, browser, encrypted email, and anonymous search engine, is basically like putting our data in a safe. Someone could always get in the safe, but it’s much more secure than leaving it out on the dining room table with the door unlocked.”

  Benny patted Isaiah on the back. “Exactly.”

  Noah stuck the thumb drive in his pocket. “Benny, I really appreciate you putting all of this together for us. I guess you saw all of this trouble coming a mile away.”

  Benny nodded. “So did your lovely wife.”

  Noah smiled. “She did. Speaking of which, I’ve got to get home to her. I promised I wouldn’t be gone long, and that was hours ago. Thanks again.”

  “Yes, and I’ve got to get these other drives over to Jim and David.” Benny followed Noah out the door.

  Isaiah waved from the porch as Noah and Benny each left, going their separate ways.

  Noah passed by CVS on his way home. Huh, hardly anyone in there. Looked like about four cars in the lot. Noah took out his phone and called Cassie. He almost never talked on the phone while he was driving, but there was very little traffic.

  “Hey, where are you? You’ve been gone all day. We were getting worried,” Cassie said.

  “I’ll tell you all about it when I get there. I’m on my way home. I just passed CVS. There’s no one in there. Should we buy some first aid stuff, maybe some pain relievers in case this is a long-drawn-out ordeal?”

  “Yeah, good call. Get a bunch of the stuff we use.”

  “Okay, I’ll be straight home afterwards.”

  “Hurry. I love you.”

  “I love you too.” Noah ended the call and turned around. He backed up close to the door, so he could make multiple trips if needed.

  He quickly filled a cart with allergy medicine, Band-Aids, gauze, hydrogen peroxide, alcohol, ibuprofen, Tums, and antibiotic gel. I wish we’d planned ahead and bought some advanced medical supplies. Well, at least we have David to get us tourniquets and sutures.

  Noah paid for his purchase, took it to the vehicle, and went back for two more loads of toilet paper. He made room for the bathroom tissue and headed home.

  Just before he turned onto his street, his phone rang.

  “Hello?”

  “Noah, it’s Jim. How far are you from Isaiah’s?”

  “Maybe ten minutes.”

  “Be there in five. Do you have a gun?”

  “I have my Glock.”

  “No rifle?”

  “Uh, I have Cassie’s AK. What’s going on?”

  “A black SUV pulled into Isaiah’s driveway with two men in suits and sunglasses. They’re demanding to search his house. They won’t show ID, and they don’t have a warrant. He isn’t opening the door until we get there. Is your AK loaded?”

  “It has one loaded magazine in it.”

  “Have it ready when you pull into Isaiah’s, and hurry!”

  Noah’s heart started pounding. He pulled to the side of the road and dug the AK out from underneath the toilet paper. He checked to make sure it was chambered, switched off the safety, and sat it next to him on the front seat. He then sped towards Isaiah’s.

  When he pulled into the driveway, Jim was already there standing behind the hood of his car. Deputies Elliot Rodgers and Kyle Starkey were also there in a marked Sheriff’s Department car. Rodgers and Starkey both had their pistols drawn and were standing behind the open car doors on each side of the vehicle, using the doors as shields. The two men who had arrived in the black SUV were on Isaiah’s porch with their pistols in their hands.

  CHAPTER 9

  The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

  Aristotle

  Everett kept looking out the window. “It’ll be dark soon. They should have been here a long time ago. Do you think we should drive back down and give them a call?”

  Courtney was lying on the couch with her feet up on the arm. “We can, if you want.”

  Everett looked at her. “But you’re tired.”

  “All of this drama has absolutely sucked the life out of me. Plus getting all of the stuff out of the car and trying to find space for everything. Besides, like you told Ken, there isn’t a lot we can do for them if they’re in a jam because they waited too long to leave.”

  Everett directed his attention to the small television, which only received a couple of local channels from the power antenna hung inside the cabin near the window. The Harrisonburg, Virginia station they were watching divided its time covering the local situation, DC, and the rest of the country. Nearby Harrisonburg wasn’t nearly as bad as the carnage being reported from the rest of the country, especially DC.

  Harrisonburg was roughly thirty miles south of the cabin. Despite a population of nearly fifty thousand, it still had a small to
wn feel. The local field reporter told of a fistfight in a Wal-Mart, long gas lines, and anger over the decision to close the banks. Back in the studio, Tom Wells, the anchor, switched to the broader picture.

  “Thank you, Cindy. While we take the situation here in Harrisonburg very seriously, just one hundred miles east in the nation’s capital, things are worse by orders of magnitude. The metropolitan area of DC is completely locked down, and a curfew is already in place. Those caught out on the streets are being detained in huge detention centers located all around DC, including the stadium at Nationals Park and the Randall Recreation Center. Here in Harrisonburg, officials are asking residents to stay home, but no official curfew has been announced at this time.”

  Everett looked at Courtney. “I wonder if they got caught in the lockdown.”

  “They shouldn’t have. They live in Reston.”

  “What if they tried to cut through Dulles and got stuck in a quarantine area, like you did on the Beltway? I’m going to drive back down to town and give them a call. You can stay here.”

  Courtney sat up. “If you go, I go. You don’t know what it’s like down there by now. I don’t know if you noticed the way people were looking at us at the gas station, but I did. Most of them had pickups or older cars. They were looking at your BMW like it didn’t belong. I’m sure they’re all great people, but when their world gets turned upside down, they might not trust outsiders. I wish you would give Ken and Lisa one more hour. Then it will be dark, and we won’t stand out so much.”

  Everett nodded. “Okay, we’ll give them another hour.”

  “It’s nice that you’re so concerned.”

  “Ken’s my friend, but they’re also part of our survival plan. As you pointed out, we’re the outsiders up here. We’re going to need someone to be on watch at all times. That job is going to be tough enough for four people; it will be nearly impossible for two.”