The Shelter: Book 1, The Beginning

by Ira Tabankin

  “I agree, I took the metro from D.C.”

  “What’s so important you had to break protocol to ask for a face to face meeting?”

  The aide slides his notes across the table folded in a newspaper. His friend’s face turns white as he reads the note. “Is this really going to happen?”

  “I stood by the door, I heard every word. Jack Lew is having the new tax rules drafted for release within the next few days.”

  “Christ, this is going to tear the country apart. I understand why the meeting couldn’t wait. There are two girls coming in to join us in a couple of minutes. They’re going to ask to join us, we’re going to buy them a beer, laugh like we’re having a good time. You’re going to leave with one, me with the other. They’re our cover story. Two old friends from college have a beer together, meet a couple of nice girls and leave for the evening. She will go home with you, she’ll stay for a couple hours. In case you’re being watched, it’ll look normal enough.”

  “You mean she’s going to sleep with me as a cover?”

  “Don’t get carried away, she works for me. If she went home with you and quickly left, it wouldn’t look right. Make her dinner, have a drink, tell her your life’s story. She’s a good kid and also a black belt. She won’t take any crap.”

  “What do you want me to do tomorrow?”

  “Act normal, act as if you got laid tonight.”

  “OK, I’m supposed to be on call for a meeting of the National Security Council.”

  “Great, I can’t meet with you tomorrow. If you learn something very important text the girl, you go home with tonight. She’ll give you her number.”

  “OK, look here they come. Wow, they are both very pretty! Can I take the blonde home?”

  “If you think blondes have more fun, you’re wrong. She’s a real ball-buster.”

  “I don’t care, she’s very easy on my eyes.”

  “It’s your life.”

  @@@@@

  While we wait for Sammi and her family to arrive Franco knocks on the doorframe, “Jay, got a minute?”

  “Sure, what’s up?”

  “We heard the news report so we think we should work on the shelter around the clock. Do you have any objections? We’ll rig the large construction lights to provide us with light. We ought to be able to finish the main opening tonight and if we can get help with the backhoes, we should be able to finish the tunnels to each home in six days.”

  “Franco, I hate to say it, but you may be right. Things don’t look very encouraging. Please, go ahead. I also think you should rig a tarp over the hole so anyone flying a drone won’t see what we’re doing.”

  “We can do that. I hope everyone else doesn’t get angry over the noise.”

  “If they complain, tell them to put ear plugs in. Our salvation is likely that hole in the ground.”

  Within minutes, we hear the steam shovel working on the shelter. We’re watching FOX news, Lacy is trying to calm me down since I’m yelling at the TV. Sammi and her family return helping Lacy stop me from throwing something at the TV. Sammi runs into my arms, “Daddy, I’m sorry. We saw the news and a couple of minutes later, Ricky got an email informing him he’s been laid off for the duration of the current financial crisis.”

  “Sam, I’m very sorry. This isn’t what I wished for. Shelly and Todd are deciding if they should go home or stay. I think they’re going to stay. You’ll be much safer here than on the road. That’s if you’re able to afford to fill your gas tank. Inflation will start exploding and gas, which is in very short supply, is going to be almost impossible to find.”

  “Daddy, I won’t doubt you again.”

  “Yes, you will, don’t worry about it. I’ll try to hold my temper in check.”

  Before we continue my phone pings with a message, reading it, my mouth drops open, Lacy says, “Honey, what’s wrong? What’s going on?”

  “Lacy, we need to convert the money we have in the bank into gold and cash that can’t be traced. Stock up on food, supplies, everything you can think of.”

  “Honey, what’s going on? A forum I belong to just sent an alert message out, it seems someone got a hold of Obama’s next plan. He’s going to confiscate gold and silver in private hands, tax people like us at 75%. He’s going to levy another tax on our bank accounts and bonds we’re holding. He’s also planning to place a tax on the personal property we own.”

  Lacy asks, “What property?”

  “Our cars, the house, the farms and even the farm equipment.”

  “Oh shit. Can he do that?”

  “Since there’s no one with any balls in Congress, no one is willing to talk bad about him out of fear they’re breaking the racist/hate speech laws. He’s become more of an emperor than a President.”

  Sammi asks, “Dad, why is he taxing everything so much?”

  “China wants to be paid back, he has to raise the money someplace. He figures taxing the rich is the best way.”

  Lacy shakes her head asking, “How do we hide our gold and silver? I’ve been converting money into gold and silver every week since we won the lottery.”

  “Lacy, where have you stored it?”

  “In the safe.” Smiling, she acts very proud of herself.

  “Honey, we have to find another place to hide it. The first place they’ll look is in safe.”

  Lacy starts to get angry, “Are you saying, they’re going to come to our home looking for money? What are they going to take next, my jewelry? My gold fillings?”

  “Don’t give the government any ideas. I’m sure they’re going to count our watches as gold, not jewelry. Sooner or later they may get around to taking our fillings.”

  “Jay, what are we going to do? I’m not prepared to lose our investment.”

  “I’ll find a way.” Thinking to myself, Where would I look for gold coins? If I was coming into a house like this, where would I look? “Honey, I have an idea, I want to sleep on it, if it still sounds good over coffee we’ll discuss it. By the way, make sure you order twenty or so cases of coffee from the importer in Miami, I don’t want to be without our coffee.”

  “Yes dear, I’m making a new list. I’ll ask the girls if they need anything special for themselves and the kids. I don’t know how they’re going to get it here.”

  “Mail is still working, ask them to mail it. We should also make sure we have at least a year's supply of everyone’s medications. I’d like to have two or three years supply on hand. I don’t know where we’re going to get the extra medications. After the damn Obamacare passed, every insurance company tells the others when drugs have been purchased. I tried to buy a six-month supply for cash, the drug store refused to fill my order because it was too early for refills. We’ve got to find a new source for medications. The Canadian ones I used have stopped shipping to the states.”

  Todd says, “Dad, should we take a quick trip across the border into Mexico?”

  “If I can’t find another source soon enough we’ll have no other choice but to make a run to Canada or Mexico.”

  Shelly looks worried, “Dad, do you really think the trouble’s going to last a year or longer?”

  “Honey, I hope not, but you know me, you know I’d rather be prepared and not need it than to need it and not have it.”

  Shaking her head and smiling, Shelly nods her understanding while Sammi asks, “Is this going to be a yellow or red alert stock up?”

  Lacy laughs, saying, “I think dad thinks this is a DEFCON 1 prepare. By the end of the week, none of us will be able to fit in the house for all the boxes he’ll have.”

  Everyone laughs as we break up for the night.

  @@@@@

  As the dawn spreads over the country, millions of people wake, they read or listen to the news over their breakfast coffee. The stories of the new taxes and government confiscation scare most people. People log on to their bank accounts, where they try to transfer funds offshore. People line up in front of bank branches hours before they open. The Presi
dents of the largest banks reach out to Jack Lew asking for advice. The bank chairmen remind the Secretary of the Treasury they don’t keep enough cash on hand to pay off all of their depositors. Jack orders the Federal Deposit Insurance Commission (FDIC) to issue an emergency order whereby depositors can withdraw only $250.00 a day. Banks are ordered to put up signs in every branch and place the emergency orders on their websites. These notices increase the country’s financial panic. At 9:00 AM when the banks open, they are met with lines of thousands of people waiting to get into the bank. ATMs had been emptied of cash hours before the banks opened, increasing the panic. The initial people who made it to the teller demand to close their accounts but instead they are handed a notice from the FDIC saying a maximum of $250.00 withdrawal a day per person. Photo IDs are required to withdraw cash but by 9:30 AM the FDIC changes the rules mandating two photo IDs are required to withdraw cash. ATM cards are not accepted as an ID. At 10:30 AM, with thousands still in line, the FDIC orders the banks to close for three days to cool off the run on the banks. The FBC orders the country’s banks not to refill the ATMs. The bank holiday increases the public’s panic. People without cash don’t know how to pay for whatever food they can locate. With the banks closed and the ATMs empty. Interest rates on credit cards are increased to 35%.

  My entire family is having breakfast in the dining room. The television in the family room was placed is the dining room so we can watch the panic spread across the country. Shelly asks, “Dad, what do you think is going to happen next?”

  “Honey, I think the stock market is going to crash when it opens, the real tipping point is going to be July 15th.”

  Lacy asks, “Hon, why July 15th?”

  “The second Wednesday of the month is when the government makes their direct deposit for social security, VA, welfare, disability, you name it. If the government is really as broke as I think they are and having to scrape together every penny it can to pay back China, they are going to default on the July payment. If they default on their payments, there’s going to be a panic that surpasses Black Tuesday, October 29, 1929, when the market lost 12% of its value. It was the ‘official’ start of the great depression. About half of the US population relies on some form of government payment program, 47% of families rely on food stamps. When the government defaults how are these people going to feed their families? They are going to tear every food store apart. People will swarm out of the cities after they strip the cities clean like hordes of locusts and since we’re a farm, many will assume we have a supply of food. We have to be ready before it happens. We have five weeks to complete our preparations.”

  The table is silent as my words sink in. Sammi asks, “Dad, can we be ready in five weeks?”

  “We don’t have a choice. I may be wrong. Obama may find the money to make the payments. If he does, it will just delay the collapse for another month or two. It’s going to happen. They’ve tipped their hand when they announced the bank holiday.”

  Lacy asks, “Honey, what are we going to do about our accounts? I don’t want the government to take our money.”

  “Honey, how much do we have in the banks?”

  Smiling, Lacy says, “Hon, we have $20 million in various accounts here and overseas.”

  “Good and bad news. I don’t know where to hide $20 million.”

  “Honey, I think the accounts in Switzerland should be safe. Cash is going to become next to worthless. We should buy things that will be in high demand in a crash. Food, water, medications, cigarettes, beer and liquor, ammo, sporting equipment, toilet paper, and even diapers.”

  Sammi asks, “Dad, why not gold?”

  “Sammi, people will be looking for goods to live on before gold has any real value. A family can have a million dollars in gold but with no food, they’ll die. Food and life-saving medications are initially going to be worth a lot more than gold. I want everyone to search online for anything on the list and buy up everything you can find. I think we have only a couple of weeks before it turns to shit. I also want us to stock up on beer, wine, and cigarettes. I know none of us smokes, they’ll make goof trading items.”

  Ricky says, “Dad, just another one of your typical end of the world bullshits, nothing’s going to happen. You’ll see I’m right and this is a total waste of money. It’s your money, if you want to waste it, it’s your decision. I won’t help you waste good money. I don’t understand why you don’t willingly pay your tax? Its people like you who refuse to pay your fair share that put us in this situation.”

  “Ricky, you don’t have to help, but do me a favor, keep your bullshit to yourself and your mouth closed.”

  Todd asks, “Dad, can you convert it into diamonds?”

  “Todd, maybe but diamonds are not as easy to sell as gold and silver. Grading diamonds is much harder than determining if gold or silver is pure. Government coins are accepted as pure while diamonds are much harder to use as currency. Most people couldn’t tell a real diamond from a cubic zirconia. Diamonds won’t work. I think we should focus on what most people either want, need or just can’t do without.”

  Todd asks, “Drugs?”

  “Todd, if you mean drugs like coke or heroin, my answer is no. I won’t deal with those kinds of drugs. They’ll end up killing their users. I’ll stock morphine and other pain meds because even we may need them.”

  Shelly asks, “Dad, can you transfer the money to Canada?”

  “Ricky, all international electronic transfers are being watched by the IRS and the FDIC. I think I need to take a little trip to Nashville this afternoon.”

  “Lacy asks, “Honey, what are you thinking?”

  “I know a couple of people I want to chat with. Todd, want to take a little ride with me?”

  “Sure Dad, when do you want to leave?”

  “Say 11, I have to call him to make sure he’s in town and he’ll see us.”

  Sammi asks, “Why Todd and not Ricky? Who is he?”

  I look into my oldest daughter’s eyes, “Because in a jam I know I can count on Todd. I don’t have the faith that Ricky will know what to do. We’re going to be crossing into a gray area. We’re going to be making a deal with the devil. I want someone who will not be scared to hold a gun and know how and when to use it.”

  Lacy looks worried, “Jay, where are you going?”

  “I’m going to see if we can cut a deal with Tony.”

  “Are you sure it’s safe? Can you trust him in the current situation?”

  “I can usually trust him to screw us a little, to him it’s just business. I know what he’s going to charge and I’d rather do him a favor than pay our money to the government. Having him and his friends as our friends may help us in more ways we can count.”

  Lacy nods her head in agreement with me. She says, “Make sure you tell him I said I’m looking forward to seeing Nancy soon.”

  Ricky asks, “Who is Tony?”

  Lacy answers, “He’s a member of what you could call the mob.”

  Sammi says, “Dad, you deal with gangsters? That’s wrong. I’m against it.”

  “Honey, when it’s your money you can deal with whomever you want. Todd finish up, then join me in the basement. We’ll pack some heat in case we run into some unforeseen problems.”

  “Dad, give me a couple of minutes to finish my morning routine.”

  Laughing, I nod my agreement.

  @@@@@

  As Todd and I are pulling out of the driveway, we pass five trucks with large preformed cement walls waiting to pull into our and Fred’s driveways. Todd says, “Looks like the walls of the shelter have arrived.”

  “Looks that way, I wonder what the shelter is going to cost.”

  “You don’t know?” Todd asks in a shocked voice.

  “Nope, I just told Franco to get it done. I opened an account he can access to pay his suppliers. I told him to see me when the account balance falls under $10,000. He’s stretching the original fund longer than I thought he would.”

  �
��Can I ask how much was in the original account?”

  “$2 million.”

  “$2 million? You signed over $2 million to someone you barely know? What if he skims cash off for himself?”

  “Very hard for him to do. He may be able to skim off some funds from payments he makes to suppliers, but not very much. Either I trust him to build our shelter, which is also going to be his shelter or I have a real problem. I have to trust a small group of people. I’m looking at the big picture. If Franco skims a couple of hundred thousand yet is able to finish the shelter, what do I care? If we need to use the shelter, cash is going to be worthless.”