The Phoenix Agenda: A Thriller (A Rossler Foundation Mystery Book 6)

by JC Ryan

  Luke and Ben went on the first fishing expedition late on the first afternoon, and by the time it was dark the two of them arrived home with a bag full of trout. The only problem was that they were anglers and, therefore, had no clue how to gut, scale, and filet a fish. This, they explained to their disgusted wives, was due to the fact they had always caught and released the fish, or someone else did the cutting part for them. It was Ben’s octogenarian mother, Bess, who came to their rescue and taught them all how to do it. That night everyone in the caves had fresh trout for dinner.

  Shortly after that, one of the fishing trips produced another treasure. It was Ryan and Sinclair’s turn to go out fishing. When it was time to go home, they dug around to see if there were any earthworms to use as bait for any other type of fish swimming around in those waters. They quickly found some and carefully placed them in a small bucket, which they filled up with damp soil so that they could keep them alive for a day or two until it was their turn again. However, their plans were short-lived. When they got back to the caves, Martha asked about the contents of the bucket. And when they told her, she confiscated it on the spot and took it to Helen and the GGS, who were overjoyed. The two men were thunderstruck. What the hell? The audacity to rob a fisherman of his bait was a serious issue.

  When Helen saw the look on their faces, she felt sorry for them and explained to that with an earthworm farm they could produce vermicompost instead of the compost they were currently making. “Vermicompost is seven times richer in plant nutrients than compost created by decomposing plant material through fungi and bacteria. It suppresses diseases, slugs, and insects. Almost all plants and definitely everything we are growing will just grow better and quicker, carrots, corn, tomatoes, potatoes, and cucumbers - you name it,” she said, apparently very excited.

  The two of them still felt robbed of their treasure but also realized this was a battle they could not win. Walking away Sinclair mumbled, “Taking a fisherman’s bait from him is like opening an umbrella in his ass. Why can’t they just go and dig their own worms. There are lots more where those came from.” Ryan had a hard time controlling his laughter at Sinclair’s grumpy remarks.

  The next morning and afternoon there would be no fishing; they had to dig out earthworms to stock the farm. They recognized that the quicker they got the worm count up to the satisfaction of those bait thieves from the GGS, the faster they could get back to their fishing. In no time, they had a large earthworm farm producing vermicompost, and the results were visible in the plants of the Gardens of Gallatin within days.

  The sorriest human being on the planet

  With Brideaux having to turn his full attention to his new found stardom and the ensuing instability caused by his proclamation of the new world order, his life became far more complex than he'd imagined. Jason was last heard of when he arrived in Prague because he had a ‘hot lead’ who saw two of the Rosslers there just a day ago.

  The tide had finally turned in favor of the seven escapees.

  During the trip to Mount Ararat, Owen and Alison didn’t see a single police car between Nucla and Big Timber. The container was unloaded under the watchful eyes of Owen and Alison, who were following the truck all the way. The truck driver returned to Colorado to load the next container in five days’ time.

  When it was dark, Owen let the men out of the container. They were all well rested, keen, and ready to make the ten-mile trip to be with their families for the first time in more than a month. Alison made sure they were stocked with as much food and water as they could carry in their backpacks, allowing for the fact that they would have to assist Roy for much of the way. They had to reach Rabbit Hole under the cover of darkness.

  As a precautionary measure to make sure that JR and his group didn't get into some trouble that would require them to come back, Owen and Alison would remain at Mount Ararat for two days before returning to Nucla.

  Initially, because Roy was able to walk on his own with only a walking stick, the first part of the hike went well. But then, after covering two miles in as many hours he could go no further without assistance. They would from that point on, take turns with JR, who would carry him on his back as far as he could. After that Max and Raj would carry him on a stretcher as far as they could before JR took over again.

  It became a grueling trip for all of them; not only because of having to carry Roy but also because of the rough and unfamiliar terrain they had to navigate by flashlight. Their pace soon slowed to less than a mile an hour. Despite their difficulties, they arrived at the main entry of the Rabbit Hole, utterly exhausted, when dawn broke on the thirty-third day after they had left the 8th Cycle compound in the canyon in the helicopter.

  Raj, who had been to the Rabbit Hole before and knew what the main entry and inside looked like, went in first. There he met Luke and Sinclair heading out for their early morning fishing trip. At first sight and for a split second the two of them thought it was a stranger who’d found the cave opening. When they recognized Raj despite his bearded face, they made so much noise that they woke almost half of the people.

  JR, Max, and Roy also found their way inside, and within seconds Sushma, with the baby clinging to her neck, Salome, Jenny, and Rebecca appeared around the corner and threw themselves into the arms of their men. Soon, there was not one single dry face as the men, women, and baby were all crying for joy that they were reunited after so much agony.

  In the commotion that followed, no one noticed Sarah arriving, who took one look at the group and collapsed into a heap on the rock floor, her body shaking uncontrollably while she started crying. JR became aware when he heard Sarah repeating the words, “Daniel, oh Daniel” over and over again. He looked around and saw her. It took JR a few seconds to realize that Sarah must have been thinking Daniel and the rest did not make it and were dead or captured. He took two steps and pulled her up off the floor. He pushed his face against hers, yelling, “Sis, stop crying. Daniel is on his way. He’s alive and so are Doug and Mark! Please stop crying. Nothing happened to them. They’re safe, and they’ll be here in the next four to five days!”

  Sarah was still hanging in mid-air, her feet dangling a few feet off the ground, with JR trying to calm her down when she finally heard him. As if there was an ‘off’ switch, in her head she all of a sudden stopped crying and said, “Okay, now put me down.”

  However, as soon as her feet touched the ground, she started shaking again. JR immediately grabbed her to lift her up again, when he saw she was laughing. “Oh shit, you women are impossible!”

  By now, Helen and Roxanne with their children were also there, but luckily they arrived just in time to hear what JR was telling Sarah. Mark and Doug were alive and well. When they heard that they joined in with the crying choir.

  A few more minutes and the four new arrivals were dragged off to the Town Hall, where the entire group was jubilantly waiting to see them. Rebecca sent for her medical bag and examined Roy’s leg after she had to physically unwrap him from Salome’s embrace. She also had a quick examination of JR’s hand and was happy that everything looked fine. Later, as soon as things calmed down, she would do a thorough examination of their wounds.

  The four of them were shown where to sit, each with a large mug of coffee and a thick slice of home-baked bread with honey in their hands. Then they had to tell everyone what had happened to them since Salome’s conversation with Daniel that fateful night thirty-three days ago. JR got very emotional when he described how Brideaux shot and killed Robert, wounded him and Roy, and abducted Joseph. His recount of the events dampened the joy created by their arrival. It was a sobering reminder to them all about the danger they faced in a future with John Brideaux and his new world order.

  As they continued to describe their trials and tribulations of the past month, the group slowly returned to their former high spirits. At some stage, Sinclair stopped them and wanted to know, “Who is this Doug person you guys had been talking about for the past half an hour?”

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nbsp; JR said, “It’s a long and complicated story. We've only recently been told, and only he can explain. His real name is John MacArthur. He's one of the two guys who came with Mark to rescue us. Apparently his wife is here. I have not met her as yet, but Doug never stopped talking about his lovely Roxanne.”

  This explanation by JR had them all roaring with laughter as Roxanne got up. Proud as a peacock, she said with a big smile, “JR, I am Roxanne and that guy Doug is my hero.” She then turned to the group and continued, “But it is like JR said, how he got his nickname is a long story, and it’s better if he tells you.”

  The four of them had many questions to answer. Rebecca called a halt after two hours and escorted them off to her clinic where she conducted a thorough examination of all of them. She found that Max did a sterling job with the care of the wounds, and there was not much more she had to do. It was up to Roxanne to take them under her care for rehabilitation physiotherapy, which would help them regain full use of the damaged nerves and muscles.

  One thing was sure, if those four wives were able to get their hands on John Brideaux at that moment, he would very soon have been the sorriest human being on the planet. What he did to their men and their friends – Robert and Joseph – would never be forgotten.

  The Supreme Council

  The new world government’s headquarters were established in Brussels.

  The last President of the United States, one of the founding members of the One World Supreme Council, reassigned the United States Secret Service to the protection of the members of the Supreme Council. Air Force One was donated as a gesture of goodwill from the grateful people of America.

  The Supreme Council, who had been planning their takeover for many years in minute detail, were somewhat disappointed to learn that not everyone on the planet liked the idea of being ‘cared for’ by them. They were all wondering what was wrong. Couldn’t the people see how much good the Council could bring to them?

  Peaceful protests across the world marked the beginning of what would turn violent within a few days, when the protesters discovered that no one was listening to them. For the common good, the Supreme Council quickly created a complete media blackout and dealt with the dissidents in a rapid and heavy-handed manner. This brought an abrupt end to the problem and left nearly a quarter of a million dead in its wake.

  Despite the media blackout, the council discovered, as time passed, that they were not able to stop what people saw, thought, and spoke about. They had just created a few million more dissidents amongst the citizens of their new world.

  A few countries mobilized their armed forces and were ready to go to war, only to find out soon after that there was no invading enemy force. They didn’t know how to fight an invisible enemy. Yet, their soldiers were killed like flies within hours, which forced them into unconditional surrender very quickly.

  When the armed forces were subdued, the Supreme Council started to implement their agenda. First, the world had to be made a safer place, and as long as people had guns it wouldn't be safe. Hence the disarmament of all citizens was announced.

  All gun manufacturing plants and gun shops were closed overnight. Gun owners had seven days to hand in their weapons voluntarily, after which anyone who still had a gun according to registration records got a visit from law enforcement agencies that confiscated their firearms and charged them with disobedience to the Supreme Council.

  There were no court hearings; fines were issued on the spot. This was the last time anyone would be treated this leniently when it came to firearms. From now on, anyone found in possession would face a long stretch in prison. In most countries of the world, the disarmament initiative was a non-event because of existing gun control laws, but in the USA it was a different story. The announcement by the Council had the pro-gun-control groups on their feet in a standing ovation while it had gun-ownership groups on their hind legs, ready to strike at anyone who dared to take their guns away. However, unlike attempts by previous governments in the USA, this time it was not going to be an election issue. There was not even going to be a debate or vote about it. The disarmament mission left thousands dead and created many dissidents, many of whom were just waiting for the right moment to get their guns back.

  Some tried to hide or deny their weapons, but soon discovered when the police knocked on their doors that the government actually knew about each and every person who possessed a gun. There was no escape.

  A precious tool in The Supreme Council’s arsenal to win the hearts and minds of the people was their access to the secret vaults of every previous government in the world. Not only did it open up access to advanced technologies for them, but also gave them all the insider information about immorality, corruption, fraud, and outright criminal activities swept under the carpet by politicians of those former governments. They employed this treasure trove of information to their advantage as they seized all technology projects and placed them under their own supervision. They used their knowledge of the dirty secrets to either remove or control the people involved to dance to their tunes as they chose.

  They made absolutely sure that the population of the world knew about all of the corruption, fraud and criminal activities of their previous governments. Those cases that they carefully selected to publish came with the guarantee that under the new world order it would never happen again. To thundering applause from many millions around the world, they announced their intention to remove from the planet each and every nuclear weapon without exception. That also included every nuclear power plant, bioweapon, and weapons of mass destruction and demobilization of armed forces, along with the destruction of their weapons.

  The ranks of their supporters were boosted by hundreds of millions again when they announced free medical treatment and education for everyone. Health and education were the right of every citizen and not just a selected few. In the new world, everyone was guaranteed free and good quality education. Only a select few knew that the Council’s dedicated scientists were working round the clock to finish the development and commence the mass production of the chips – biochips that would be implanted in every citizen of the new world. The seemingly benevolent world government had a very dirty secret.

  Everyone would shortly be connected to one of the geostatic Skywalker satellites, about to be placed into orbit.

  It merely dictated where they would start

  When the first truck and container that delivered JR, Roy, Raj, and Max left, Daniel, Mark, and Doug got busy setting up and packing the next container to transport them a few days later. Owen and Alison returned with the good news that the first four must have made it to the Rabbit Hole and that the coast was clear all the way. They hadn’t seen a cop in days. It was as if the police were on strike.

  The container was packed and ready. This time, not only with building materials but also with a lot of food supplies. Following the same procedure as JR and his group, Daniel arrived safely at Mount Ararat without any trouble whatsoever along the road.

  Owen and Alison stayed behind at Mount Ararat for a week and worked on the house. There was always a chance the three might run into trouble and have to come back, or the people in the Rabbit Hole might have need of something from the outside. By now they had their plans for the operation of the safe house in place. They would visit there every three weeks until they were able to recruit and settle the right family on the farm to manage it for them. With Doug’s encouragement, they were very excited about the idea of taking flying lessons and buying a small six-seater plane to use for commuting between their two properties.

  Upon arrival at Mt. Ararat, when it was dark the three men put on their backpacks, stuffed with as much equipment and supplies they could carry, and made the trip to the Rabbit Hole. They found the trip a lot less challenging than JR’s group without having to worry about wounded. They arrived at the cave entrance about four hours later – just before midnight on the thirty-eighth day after they'd left the 8th Cycle complex in the canyon.
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br />   As Daniel came in through the cave opening, Sarah was standing there as if she was expecting him, with Nicholas on her hip. She let out a shriek of joy when she recognized her bearded husband. Mark and Doug’s appearance started her shouting at the top of her voice, “They’re here! They’re here!”

  By the time Daniel had Sarah and Nicholas in his arms, Roxanne and Helen had appeared out of thin air, as if they were waiting by Sarah’s side. Tears were flowing freely and shouts of joy were heard, which quickly attracted many of the others. Daniel could not help himself and had to wipe the tears from his eyes when he hugged and kissed Sarah. His sleepy little boy immediately threw his arms around his neck shouting, “Daddy, daddy,” and started pulling at Daniel’s beard.

  The two hardened soldiers, who were at first trying their best to fight the tears from their eyes as they hugged their families, gave in, took Daniel’s lead and were now openly crying.

  Rebecca was on the scene very quickly and, as soon as the first wave of calm descended, she asked the three of them if they required any medical attention. They all told her that they were good, and there were no problems at all. JR and his arrivals had set a precedent a few days ago, and there was no way out. The three men with their families were unceremoniously dragged off to the Town Hall and put through two hours of telling and explaining and listening before they would be left alone with their families.

  Once they’d done their duty to the community, each man spent a few minutes with his children, and then found one last reserve of energy in the arms of a loving wife.

  Early the next day, they took an extensive tour of the Rabbit Hole facilities, which had their mouths hanging open in surprise when they saw how much had been achieved in such a short time. The Gardens of Gallatin, the Medical Center, IT Center and Ryan’s steam turbines were impressive.

  Daniel choked up when Sarah and his dad escorted him into the Nicholas Rossler Library. What would he have given at that moment for his grandfather to be there to see how much the people of the Rossler Foundation cherished and respected him?