by M. P. Lodi
Emily stood up and walked over to the refrigerator with her glass. The living room directly connected to the stand-only kitchen, complete with sink, dishwasher, stove and a cabinet. It was almost a studio apartment setup except for the bathroom and bedrooms across the hallway. Only a small table though in the corner where she kept her computer. She took the pitcher of iced tea out and poured herself another glass full.
“And now, it's been over a year since you all left the Army, and all of you owe Noah for helping hide and support all of you. Interesting.”
“Noah is the man. He's helped the families of all of us as often and well. He is the least materialistic rich guy I ever heard of. Money doesn't mean anything to him unless he can use it to help his people. I always admired him for his loyalty to his men. And women.”
Emily returned and sat back down on the sofa, putting the glass on the table. “Has he helped your family too?”
Jacob nodded yes. “Noah's got connections high up in the Army and Air Force. His grandfather was a Colonel working for the Air Force Security Agency. That's what the NSA was called before it became the NSA in I think 1952 or 1953. He never told you all of that?”
“No... and I'll be sure to keep it quiet that you told me. Not that it’s a secret or anything. You ever see Fight Club?” she asked him.
“Good movie,” Jacob replied, adding “it’s one of Noah's favorites too.”
“Yeah I know, and to me it looks like he's been building his own private army. From a security and paramilitary group in Kentucky, to his own men that served with him, and then there's those men of the Oath Alliance all over America. All of the men and women who took an oath to support and defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic. I see where this is possibly going now. With his connections, money and the loyalty of his people, he can do a lot of damage.”
“Do you really see where this is going?” The way Jacob asked that made Emily realize that there was much being hidden from her and she hadn't a clue where Noah was truly leading them all. Jacob was obviously one that liked to talk. How much would she find out before they got back from upstate? She was thinking she could learn a lot. It was times like this that made her wish she paid more attention in her psychology classes during college. They do say let talkers talk.
She took a quick sip of her drink, looked right at Jacob and asked, “Is there something you're not telling me?” That was a bit more direct than she imagined she'd be. She threw the dice. He already seemed willing to give her info. Maybe he might just tell her everything.
Jacob blew out some air. “You ever see an iceberg? Get that realization that the part you see is only a small fraction of what's below the water?”
She looked right into his eyes. “Is there any way I can get you to fill me in? Reveal more of the iceberg for me?”
“Loose lips sink ships, as they say. And you know sexual favors are out of the question with me, honey.” He glanced at her chest.
That made Emily almost laugh. “On that note, why is it that you look at my breasts? I mean, you are gay, like you said. Why do gay men love breasts so much?”
“We don't like all breasts, just a nice rack like you have.” Emily smiled.
He continued, “Talk to Noah. He's the man with the plan. What I will say is this country is going to be a very different place within a few years. We don't know exactly when it all starts. With the shit about to hit the fan in this country, it'll be Noah and quite a few other men of action, many that we know, who will help this country through the hard times. The dark times coming right around the corner. ”
She took another sip then set her glass on the table. “Are you one of the conspiracy theory people too? I think you're all a little off on this country. Noah as well. See... you can keep that in your confidence for me. Now we both have secrets on each other. I hate to say it to you, as an obvious true believer, but the government won’t try anything. All of the conspiracy theories are just that. You think the President and his people want to try anything so drastic?”
Joshua got up from his seat. “I'm going to get some of that iced tea too.” Emily pointed to the fridge. She watched him as he walked over there and grabbed a different glass, opened the fridge and took out the pitcher.
As he poured his glass with the refrigerator still open, he said, “It might not be The President pulling the strings. Seriously Em, look up the Federal Reserve, understand what's going on about fiat money and how manipulated the stock market is. You think the stock market crash of 2008 was an accident? Right before the election? There was a 500 billion dollar short order put in to help crash it all. Now who wanted to make sure that the old dude McCain wasn't elected? Who had 500 billion dollars to short the market, and who wanted President Obama in office?” He put the pitcher back in the fridge and closed the door. Walking back to the loveseat by the door, he sat down.
“Who profited? Start putting two and two together and before long you won’t like that the answer is four. Something is going to go down soon, and all I'm saying is when the hammer falls, the people who start it all are going to be shocked at how violently the American people fight back to restore the Constitution.”
Emily sighed. “You know what I'm thinking? I'm thinking that just maybe Noah handpicked all of you maniacs planning for the time you'd all be back in the civilian world. He handpicked not just violence-prone individuals but also patriotic types who looked at the government and authority with distrust. Like I said, he's building an army of loyal combat vets. You all have some real gripes from what I've heard, but a lot of what I'm hearing is honestly scaring me.”
Jacob took a sip and put his drink on the side table next to the loveseat. “Noah is a lot smarter than some people give him credit for. He's misjudged from the time you meet him. It's only after you've known him that you see past the facade he lets others see. Tomorrow night we're having a big meeting. We have a number of our friends coming in, key people from all over. Let's see what you're thinking then. You'll really see the whole crew then and see how we all think.”
“You're telling me this is going to be more than just the war on organized crime? That's not enough?”
He didn't answer her. After a few more seconds he said, “Wait until the meeting.”
She took a deep breath in and slowly exhaled. “I'm starting to be very afraid where this is going.”
Noah
Noah stood up and walked to the front of the room. He had all of his team in this small conference room located on 55 Water Street in Brooklyn. One of Jackson's businesses had an office there, and Noah rented the space for the evening under the guise of a network marketing company that actually did not exist. Jackson and Noah worked out a plan whereby Noah could always use his facilities anywhere in the nation for free.
All he needed to do is drop a few names at the local facility, and they would make a call. It would always be verified that such and such company had a national account with Jackson's company Virtualofficestaff.net. As long as Noah used the word North in the company name, no matter where he went he could hide out, meet, and use any of Jackson's facilities without worry.
In the room were sixteen men and two women. Emily was the one non-military person there. Noah's regular trusted crew of Mike, Joshua, Charlotte, Caesar, Jacob, Rob and Frank were all present. Along with them were other military buddies, as well as some of the staff for Noah's paramilitary group in Kentucky. After Noah left the Army in early 2014, he started a security firm that employed many of his former people from Afghanistan. As they left the service, they knew they could find employment with Noah.
Noah looked at everyone and stood beside the three large whiteboards covering the center of the front wall. Everyone hushed up as he took a dry-erase marker and wrote 'Westbranch Baptist Church'.
Before he turned around to face everyone Caesar said, “Those fuckers need a few bullets in their heads.”
The others all agreed and a couple said, “Hear, hear.” No one in the meeti
ng liked the supposed Church. They were more of a political movement designed to degrade and hurt military families as far as Noah was concerned. Members of the military all over the world would love to get any members alone in a room for the atrocities committed against the families of military people.
Noah began, “I want to salute each of you who ran ops in the last few days. Two days ago Sergeant Joe, or G.I. Joe, to those of you who know him, was the first to leave our new calling card. As of yesterday and today, I don't know how but they identified your fearless leader and they're calling you all ‘Noah's Merry men’.”
Joshua chimed in, “‘Noah Hood’. I like how they call you that. All of that money we gave away in the neighborhoods where we had a few of the ops went over real well. This can work well for us all. I have a really good feeling. There's buzz all over the net.” Everyone seemed to agree.
Noah looked at everyone in the room. “We've all been through hell and back. While we were still serving in Afghanistan – some of us in Iraq – quite a few of us heard of the utter contempt and disrespect that this supposed religious organization, the Westbranch Baptist Church, held for our returning dead countrymen.”
Caesar, in his deep Morpheus-like voice, said, “They ain’t right, someone needs to do somethin' about them.”
Everyone in the room nodded agreement. A few watched as Noah turned to the whiteboard and started drawing boxes, then began adding what appeared to be streets. He turned around and faced his people.
“We all know what these low-life scum have done to the families of our fallen men and women.”
Emily raised her hand as if she was in a classroom. “I don't; can you tell me who they are? I'm not sure if I ever heard of these people.”
Everyone looked her way. Noah answered, “The Westbranch Baptist Church is a national atrocity. What they do is - when a military person dies, they then arrange protests at the funeral.”
Noah's raised his hand for a second, and then he continued, “Now imagine you're a six year-old child who just lost his father. And at your honorable Dad's funeral, there are a hundred pigs with signs calling your dad scum, and chanting 'he deserved to die'...over and over.”
Caesar said, “I want to kill every one of those fucktards.”
Joshua then said, “You might get your chance.” Quite a few of the men smiled.
Noah continued, “What I drew here…” he pointed to the whiteboard and looked at them all again. “This is where a funeral is going to happen for Private Johnson of New York. Right here in the Bronx.
“These 'religious' folk,” Noah emphasized religious and made the quote signs with his hands, “are going to do one of their largest protests yet, just to hurt this brave family that just lost their loved one. A man who sacrificed everything to defend this nation. His family, by the way includes two small children. One is nine and one is four.”
Charlotte stood up. “Provide me cover from a couple blocks away, and as long as I have a clear view I'll fucking take out a few dozen of the cretins myself.”
“Hear, hear,” said at least four of the men. One person said “Charlotte” like that Wilbur pig, but Noah didn't see who. Neither did Charlotte as she looked around the room to see who said her name like that.
Noah noticed Emily's mouth wide open. Her eyes were wide as well. She looked almost shocked. She looked stunned. Noah wasn't expecting this reaction at all. He knew she would would not be as enthusiastic as his own people, but her reaction didn't fit in at all.
“I have a plan, ladies and gents. Let this be one of the first rounds of the coming movement. No longer will we veterans stand by and watch our nation devolve into a bunch of politically correct panty waste commie assholes. Now we do what every veteran from sea to shining sea has said they wish they'd do. We're going to hit that protest and leave our new calling card.” Noah walked over to the easel, and removed the cover to reveal a poster with AWRA printed in big black letters on top. On the bottom it said in smaller letters “America Will Rise Again.” It also included an illustration showing a soldier crying as he watched protesters stomp on an American flag.
“We'll distribute these by the hundreds of thousands all over the nation. We have our genius types ready to get it on computer screens all over, including on YouTube and twitter. By the time this funeral is done and there are thirty or forty dead commie loving pieces of shit from that church dead on the ground, we'll have all the free publicity that we'll ever need.” Noah looked at Emily, who seemed frozen. He realized she wasn't taking this well. It was too much for her all at once. It was a mistake to have her there.
Noah had carefully handpicked his people. They were all his type of action-oriented individuals who would do anything, with proper motivation, to save the nation. That included killing, as he had done with them all back in Afghanistan. Plus, they were all wanted by the law as it was. All were ready to do anything needed for this country. But Emily, she was a civilian who knew almost nothing of what the government had been doing to erase freedom in America. She didn't yet understand what was to come. She was like most Americans who would rather go to work every day with their heads up their asses, thinking everything was fine.
Americans were now being lied to by those in power almost every day. It was like the passengers of the Titanic who were told, “No, the ship's not sinking.” Except that we hear, “Don't worry about anything. The debt isn't a problem for this country. We'll never be like Greece. Nothing to worry about; let's all just print more money. That's the solution; let the Federal Reserve control even more of the economy.”
A few conversations broke out around the room, and everyone looked ready. Joshua stood up with his hands in the air to quiet everyone and warned them, “I'll say it: we'll also be hunted by every agency all at once. Are we all ready for this?”
“Fuckin’ A,” Mike boomed out to everyone's claps and a few whistles.
Caesar yelled out, “It is my honor to kill those scumbags. If one more child cries at his father's funeral because these creatures call his father a coward and baby killer at that funeral, I might have to go hunting the members of the Westbranch Baptist Church myself, one at a time. You know I'll do it. It's about time we start having our side shooting back.”
Joshua then stood up again. “Our buddie Jim, may he rest in peace, I heard this fake ass Baptist Church protested at his funeral. Had his family in tears. Some bikers were getting ready to fuck them up too, but the police separated them. That's how the establishment does it. They create the atmosphere to destroy our morale, our way of life, then use our own police to enforce their own twisted moral code. Just like how Christianity is under attack all over America, but dare to try to stop a Muslim from praying in a school. Just dare to do that, and that school administration will be backed by the good old United States federal government.
“Only Christians get suspended for wanting to pray, never Muslims. It is a national atrocity. Someone has to start the spark. We can be the spark that stops the slide into dictatorship. Once the government sees blood, they will try some dictatorial shit. Then the veterans, both active and former military, will make our move to keep our nation free.” Everyone clapped for Joshua.
Noah boomed out to the room, “Sometimes justice is needed... above the law. In this instance, you have criminals about to desecrate the man's funeral. He died for his country, and they think that they have a right to torment his wife and children? At the man's funeral? Fuck no. Jim used to show me photos of his kids. One kid was a mere six years old; they had him crying as they called his Dad a baby killer and coward.”
“We're all with you, Sarge,” Charlotte yelled out.
Everyone was excited... except for Emily. She sat in her chair next to Joshua with her mouth wide open. Noah realized that she was the odd man out, and the only person in the room not truly with them. Everyone was pumped up and as ready as he knew they'd be.
He had to consider the possibility: Emily might become a problem for them. It wasn't the kind of thi
nking he ever wanted to entertain. Especially knowing that lives hung in the balance, and his own plans were at risk. He looked at Emily and just thought. She looked back at him and he was sure she knew what he was thinking. They definitely needed to talk. She had a look on her face like she was ready to run to the police or the F.B.I. as soon as the meeting ended.
No. Not Noah's Emily. She would never do such a thing to the man that she loved. The man who adored her. She gave up her whole life to be with him. Would she betray Noah and his people for the very cockroaches that degrade and hurt families of military heroes? Heroes who paid the ultimate price in defending the United States of America?
Noah studied Emily's face as everyone in the room broke up into their own conversations.
Emily clearly and slowly mouthed, “We. Need. To. Talk”.
They most definitely did need a good long talk.
Jen
Jen and Jackson had married right before the end of summer. To this day, Jen had never stayed in the main mansion of the estate where she had grown up. Her husband's father, Lorenzo Russo, rarely came to the estate. Jen, along with her Aunt and Emily all lived in the “Help's Building” as she and Em called it.
The master bedroom was spacious, with 13 foot ceilings, three different sky lights, and all the luxuries wealth could afford. Jen walked in a second time and looked at Jackson laying on the bed.
He had turned on the television and was just laying there in his blue silk shorts, no top. Jen had never been with a man as muscular as Jackson. She never personally knew any muscled men except for Jackson and his best friend Noah, who was himself a more serious body builder.
She crawled up onto the bed and lay next to her husband. “Still no letter by that rock. I expected her to leave us one already. I left mine for her, but I'm getting worried.”