Luke had decided he was tired of killing. It just didn’t make sense yet he was stuck making that decision every few weeks now over some idiots who hadn’t figured out that the world had changed. The disgusting part to him was that he had already lost count of how many people he had killed.
Luke knew the forensics team would fly in and check fingerprints on the corpses against state and national databases and the men’s homes would be targeted for visits by agents. If the families were there they could be subject to execution as accomplices, guilt to be determined by judgment of the agents on scene.
Luke felt uncomfortable thinking about it, but couldn’t argue with the effectiveness of the policy, and besides, he and Jamie could very easily be dead right now if the criminals had been even slightly competent.
They finished the trip without any more incidents, but upon arriving at the farm picked as the meeting point, they ran into another problem. The farmers were now demanding payment for their crops in gold. Dave was talking to them and things were getting heated.
Dave spoke with the group of farmers. “Right now we are trying to save as many American lives as possible and you are essential to that task. We need your expertise and your cooperation. You will be paid in chits to be redeemed at a fair value later and you will be given as much diesel fuel as we can manage now.”
One of the farmers chambered a round in his pump action 12 gauge and screamed at Dave, “Over my dead body!”
Dave stepped up to the man, grabbed the shotgun, and used it as a staff to twist the farmer to one side then the other. With a large step to the side to take advantage of the man’s broken balance, Dave sent him flying. None of the other farmers pointed their weapons at Dave.
Dave said to the farmer, “I suggest you stay down, so there aren’t any more misunderstandings. We’ve already had to kill a dozen men today who were determined to talk with their guns and, frankly, I’m tired of it.”
To the rest of the farmers he said, “You’re no good to the country as slave labor. You’ll also be useless as farmers if we have to redirect the resources we have slated for you in order for us to start farms elsewhere. That includes electricity, fuel, medical care, and communications.
“President Ambrose is doing the impossible to save our citizens and get this country running again. He needs your help.”
One of the farmers said, “He doesn’t give a shit about us. He’ll rob us blind and take our land.”
Dave waved for Luke to walk over. Luke slung his AR 15 over his shoulder and walked up to the farmers. Dave said, “This is Luke Mullins. He was almost killed today in an ambush by a bunch of assholes trying to steal the supplies we were bringing to you. Luke is the President’s nephew.”
There were several gasps from the group of farmers. Dave said, “He should be in high school somewhere and instead he’s driving a truck through firefights so that you can have power, communications, and medications. Look at that fucking truck! Anyone want to talk to me about getting the short end of the stick today?”
The farmers all stared at the truck and Jamie standing next to it. It looked like it really had been through a war zone. From the windows up, it was nothing but Swiss cheese. The only reason it was still functional was because of the makeshift armor from the windows down.
Dave continued, "Most of the drivers are from the Hopi and Navajo tribes. They were doing fine. The flu passed them right by. But they are out here risking their butts to bring you folks supplies Because President Ambrose personally asked them to."
To the farmer still on the ground Dave said, “You can get up now.” Dave handed him back his shotgun without bothering to unload it. The farmer took it and wouldn’t make eye contact with him.
The farmers gathered in closer and Luke spoke to them, “It’s bad out there right now. We lost most of the US population. My uncle will play straight with you. His goal is to save as many Americans as possible, keep the country intact, and have elections for congress as soon as it’s humanly possible to do so. He needs your help with that, too.
“I want to have a couple of you come back and meet him. I’d like for you to pick out two or three people you trust to come back with us so I can introduce you to him. Tonight I’d like for you to come up with a wish list of supplies that you need and want. I can’t promise everything, but you’ll have trucks heading this way tomorrow.”
A couple of the other drivers brought large ice chests and sat them down. Dave said, “Now that that’s out of the way, we’ve had a long trip. Anybody up for a cold beer or soda?” He grabbed the first two and handed one to the farmer he’d dropped. “No hard feelings, man.” The farmer opened the beer and thanked him.
With the ice broken, the farmers invited them to unload the supplies in a nearby barn and said they would distribute them from there. They fueled the trucks from the fuel tanker and unloaded most of the rest of the diesel load into the farmers’ fuel storage tanks at several nearby farms.
Within a few hours, families came from miles around to hear the news about the rest of the country and about the government. Luke’s rig became the attraction that everyone had to see, so much so that Dave asked him, “How would you feel about leaving it here? You know they’ll keep it as is and put it into a museum.”
Luke wasn’t comfortable that people would feel that way, but knew it was probably true. He agreed and He and Jamie pulled most of their things out of it.
Dave put a call into Rob and filled him in on the day’s events. Rob said, “Sounds like the kid’s doing good work. Get me that list and find a landing strip and I’ll get you a C130 up there tomorrow. Keep it a surprise.”
“Sound’s good.”
Luke and Jamie met with all of the families and listened to all of their stories. They had been through hell like everyone else, though hunger wasn’t quite as much of an issue for them. Luke shared his stories with them as well.
By the time it was time for bed, he had emailed a list of things the farmers needed or could use, and added a few things that he thought they would like.
Early the next morning, the drivers were taken around to different farms and helped to load produce onto the trailers. In turn, the drivers assisted in setting up the satellite TV dishes and, for the first time in months, the locals were able to get their news off the television.
While adjusting the satellite, Luke heard Manny’s voice coming through the television. He called out to Dave, “Who the hell decided to let Manny do the news?!”
Dave answered, “I hear he has some dirt on the first family. Something about underage driving and stuff like that.” Luke just laughed and went back to work on aligning the dish.
Just after they finished, there was the sound of a C130 overhead. It flew in a low circle wagging its wings every so often. They wrapped up and followed it to where it landed on a large section of road near the previous nights gathering. When everyone arrived at the plane, Luke was surprised to see a camera crew running around getting shots of everything. Soon there was a large group gathered to see what would be unloaded.
Luke was shocked to see Uncle Jim step out the back of the plane in jeans and a jacket. The soldiers from the Humvee stood at attention and saluted until Jim saluted back. Samantha was there along with a film crew catching all of it. As the farmers and their families began to figure out who Jim was there was a murmur through the crowd. When Luke and Jamie ran up and hugged him, the group went wild.
Soon Jim was surrounded by a crowd of over a hundred people. Jim’s security team didn’t look thrilled with the idea, but there wasn’t much they could do about it as Jim pushed his way out into the crowd. Eventually Luke brought out a megaphone for him and he addressed the entire crowd.
“Hello, everyone. My name is Jim Ambrose and by now you’ve figured out that I am the current President of the United States. You didn’t vote for me. No one did. I accepted an appointment as a Senator from Arizona, not realizing that I was being set up to take a position that would normally be third
in line for the presidency. Unfortunately, everyone ahead of me in that chain of succession was deceased.
“My goal is to save as many American lives as possible, to keep America intact, and to rebuild as much as possible so that once we are able to have elections, I can turn over the presidency to someone who has in fact been elected by the people.
“So many of us have died in the last several months that we have to do whatever we can to prevent any more needless and senseless deaths. We are moving rapidly throughout the United States to restore rule of law. I am doing everything I can to prevent any more deaths of Americans through starvation.
“I want to thank all of you and all the farmers across the nation, for doing all that you can to help with this. The monetary system is still in flux and I’m not sure yet what changes will be made. Wasting precious fuel driving gold around won’t work, even if we had enough gold ready to go. We are issuing chits for produce which will be converted to currency once the monetary system is repaired or replaced. I would ask that you give me a congress as quickly as possible so decisions such as this will be made correctly and legally.
“We are working to make sure that you have the resources you need to produce the food we need. Volunteers are on the way here for you to train and use to help increase production. Please be good to them. More than ever, we’re truly dependent on each other.
“I’m looking forward to meeting all of you, but I’m only going to be able to stay for a few hours. After today, you now will have internet access again, though it’s not as good as it once was, and soon you’ll have a mobile phone system for you as well.
“Finally, I brought the vaccine for the bird flu so that you will never have to worry about it again!” The crowd exploded into cheers. “And thank you for being so good to my nephew. He speaks very well of all of you.” They cheered more.
The cargo master started unloading items from Luke’s list and Jim, Luke, and Jamie went out to talk more with the crowd. It was a day that would be remembered for generations, and not just in the farming community.
News coverage of the event didn't miss the fact that most of the drivers in Luke's convoy had been Navajo and Hopi. Jim and George made a special point of spending time with the drivers and thanking them for their work.
Samantha made sure that her photos of Jim with all of the drivers were well represented in online newspaper stories. She knew well that her photos would fill future history books and she was determined to make them as accurate as possible.
JUNE 27th
Fifteen of the farmers flew with Jim on the C130 loaded with food they had grown. They landed at Mountain Home Air Force Base and, instead of the expected VIP tour, each of them was sent out on aid missions via helicopters to deliver food to starving citizens. Everyone who received the food was told that the fresh produce came from the selfless efforts of these farmers. By the time the missions ended at the end of the day, all of the farmers were forever changed from the experience.
The cameramen who recorded their experiences were equally touched by them and devoted themselves to getting the word out. Soon, the free press that Jim insisted upon was turning him into the biggest hero since Lincoln. Great, Lincoln was repaid with a bullet through the brain, thought Jim. Still, it was better than he would fare in the future, he was sure.
He had a late dinner with the farmers and listened to each of them carefully. The only thing he asked of them was for them to go home and tell their people what they had seen. He knew that all of them would.
After dinner, Jim flew back to Las Vegas in a B1 bomber that was being relocated to Nellis. The pilot, Major Jenkins, was one of General Whitman’s, and was appreciative, if wary, of the two hour flight with the Commander in Chief. Jim noticed the tension and shattered it by talking openly with him about the military and morale. Before long, Jim had the entire crew sharing filthy stories of various tours around the world. By the end of the flight, they had almost forgotten his position.
Once on the ground, Jim said goodbye to pilots and was thrilled to see Susan waiting for him at the airfield. He hugged her like there was no tomorrow.
She told him, “I wish you wouldn’t take such risks. It makes me crazy waiting to see if you make it home or not.”
He held her and said, “You know I’ll always find a way to come home to you. I love you.” He grabbed her hand pulled her toward the car where their driver waited. “Let’s go have some fun!”
She laughed and said, “Are you sure there isn’t something more presidential you could be doing?”
“I’ll show you presidential!”
Susan laughed and thoroughly enjoyed the rest of the evening.
CASPER, WYOMING
JUNE 30th
Julie and Helen were shuttling people and light supplies around the Midwest in a twin engine Piper Navajo Chieftain plane that Rob had assigned to them. Today’s flight was flying vaccine and communications equipment into Casper, Wyoming.
The plan was to set up at a commercial or military airport in a region, then use it to resupply smaller missions to the surrounding areas. This morning they had flown out of Idaho Falls Regional Airport but were working their way to Cheyenne, Wyoming.
Everywhere they went, they were met with people who were delighted to see them. Today was no exception. They flew circles around the area and would land once they were sure that they had been seen and people were coming to them. After only a short wait, they had several old pickups pull up to the runway. They waved and welcomed the group of people.
The first two to walk up were a couple in their 50’s, Jeff and Marie Miller. After introductions, Jeff said, “Boy, are we ever happy to see you!”
Soon the group was over thirty people. Julie gathered them all and said, “Here’s what you need to know right now. There is a vaccine and we have several hundred doses with us to start with. More will be flown in as needed.” The group cheered.
“Our elected government was wiped out, but we do have a legitimate president and are moving rapidly toward elections. We are looking for state officials in order to determine if the governor or someone in the state chain of succession survived.
Governors are appointing Senators and Congressmen to represent their states until special elections can be held at the earliest possible date. President Ambrose is insistent on elections taking place as soon as they can be done correctly, preferably within six months to a year at most.
“We’re rebuilding quickly and we need your help.”
Julie sent them to bring more of the population to be vaccinated. By the time several hours had passed, they had used up all of the prefilled vaccine syringes.
The big surprise came when Jeff and Marie returned with Governor Martin. Helen set him up with a satellite phone immediately and called Jim on it. Governor Martin talked with Jim for almost an hour before coming back to talk with the girls.
“I’d like to send my two Senators, one Congressman, and a couple of staff members back with you. President Ambrose said that would not be a problem.”
Helen answered, “It would be our honor, Governor. When can we expect them?”
“It will be an hour or so to get them all here. I believe you have met Jeff and Marie Miller? Good. They are my appointments to the Senate. We had a vote two days ago that made my friend here, Nick Larson, a legitimate Congressman.”
Nick stepped up and shook both the girls' hands. "I'm delighted to meet you two. What are they doing for the rest of congress?"
Helen said, “The Supreme Court has ruled that the House of Representatives may be appointed by state governors to serve until special elections can be held. If a governor cannot be found for a state, the President can appoint one until a special election can be held. The ruling only applies to the current crisis and cannot be used as a precedent.
“The president is legitimate as is the Supreme Court, but we’re hanging on by our fingernails maintaining the fiction that there is a government,” said Helen quietly, “but if we can
keep that up a little longer, there will be an actual government in place and we get to continue to be the United States of America.”
The governor nodded. “The stakes are enormous, but I’m not sure how I feel about the nation’s capitol being Las Vegas, though, even if it is temporary.”
“I know what you mean, Governor Martin.”
Representative Larson said, "Well, I, for one, am grateful for what you and your family are doing. I'm looking forward to working with you more."
"Thank you, sir," said both Julie and Helen.
They refueled, called in a flight plan, and departed with their VIP's for Hill Air Force Base in Ogden, Utah shortly before dark. A few hours later they were settled into temporary quarters at Hill, and would be transporting their passengers the rest of the way to Las Vegas in the morning.
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA
JULY 1st
Jim listened to General Whitman’s briefing and was pleased at the progress that had been made, as were the room full of new senators and representatives.
“In a nutshell, we are rapidly regaining control of the country through a strategy of providing initial food and vaccinations, working vehicles, and fuel. This lets communities and local governments work on essential issues and assist with helping others with in their sphere of influence.
“We have military forces throughout Mexico and Central America, where we are eliminating all drug cartels and other hostile elements. We vaccinate and feed those who assist in that cause, but we are not there for purely humanitarian purposes yet. We are there first and foremost to retaliate against the gangs and cartels for the slaughter of our citizens in several of our southern cities.”
Jim addressed the room, “I ordered the invasion after seeing what had been done in Phoenix by Hispanic gangs and the cartels." He struck the podium with his fist. "Mexico, Cuba, and all of Central America are now United States territory and will remain so from now on. We are recruiting for the US led Territorial Army and we are making those who join it live up to their oath of loyalty to the US.
The Forgiven The Fallen The Forsaken Page 17