PROJECT BlueBolt - AMERICAN GULAGS: BOOK I - AMERICAN GULAGS

by Marshall Huffman

  “And the ones on your list.”

  “Exactly.”

  “And you think that as a group we stand a better chance?”

  “I think that as a group we will have better intel, more eyes and ears to the ground, and a better chance of survival.”

  “I’m not so sure. They could use one to trap all of us.”

  “I guess that is a possibility as well. Lincoln I didn’t come here to try to talk you in to anything. I guess I just needed to talk to someone in the same position. To see if I’m just being paranoid or missing something,” Thomas told him.

  “I doubt you are being paranoid, of course that is coming from a guy hiding out in the boonies of Idaho,” Lincoln said and snickered, ”You can pick up your gun and come on in and we’ll talk.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  Waggoner had been right. The ISS division known as Battalion 101 was tracking down the officers who had resigned rather than sign the personal oath to President Clemons. So far they had managed to capture twenty-six officers who had simply resigned and gone on with their lives.

  None of the early arrests were difficult and most were still living in the same home as before. Two of the Navy Admirals had even taken jobs in US Navy Shipyards.

  Because they were officers and had leadership abilities they were immediately shipped off to the Supermax prisons. Now that most of the easier ones were being “detained”, they were starting to spread out and look for the others.

  President Clemons had made it very clear that she wanted all of them tracked down and detained. The biggest problem Battalion 101 had was that the President wanted immediate results and that was simply impossible. It would take a lot of foot work and tracking down leads to find those who didn’t want to be found.

  ****

  “No I don’t understand Taylor.”

  “Madam President it is becoming increasingly more difficult. The ones that went to ground did a very good job of erasing their trail. We have to dig a lot deeper to find them. They have scattered to a number of different states and locating them is time consuming.”

  “You have all the manpower you need. You have all the authority you could possibly want so I guess I don’t understand why you aren’t getting the results,” she insisted.

  “Let me give you an example. We have been trying to find General Billings. What we have found out so far is the day after his resignation he closed out his bank accounts and sold off all his stock. He sold his car and signed over his house to his son and his wife. He called his credit card companies and cancelled all his credit cards. Essentially he more or less disappeared from the usual tracking systems. We found his cell phone in pieces in the trash. We were able to retrieve nothing from it. We looked at this call records but nothing showed up. His son said his dad was acting all ‘weirded-out’ and wouldn’t tell him why he was doing any of this. So where do we go from there? We have a tap on his son’s phone. We have an APB for him from his physical description which isn’t very hard to change. Now we are basically looking at probabilities and talking to former acquaintances. Looking for anything that will give us the slightest clue as to where he may have gone. One person did tell us he thought he had a condo in Florida but didn’t know the location. We are looking at records of condo owners but as you can imagine there are literally hundreds of thousands of them to check out,” Taylor told her.

  She pulled at her lower lip a few times then went and sat back down at her desk.

  “Are they all going to be that hard to track down?”

  “Honestly? I think that is one of the easier ones. Some may have even have left the country. Gone to Canada or wherever. Some are in the back woods of Kentucky, Tennessee, and places like that. Everyone will be hard to ferret out.”

  “Damn it isn’t anything ever simple? Does it always have to be so complicated?” she said.

  “Madam President, we are not giving up, I just want you to understand that it will take longer than we originally thought. Some of them were smart enough to realize they would become potential targets and took the necessary precautions immediately.”

  “Those are the ones we really need on our side. It is such a shame to waste them by letting them languish in prison,” Clemons replied.

  “What do you think about launching Battalion 102 as well to help track them down,” Taylor asked.

  “I think that is an excellent idea. Go ahead and do it,” the President replied.

  “I’ll take care of it immediately.”

  ****

  Battalion 102, usually just referred to as department 02, wasn’t difficult to establish. They would usually just barge into the Governor’s Office and explain the way it was going to be. Little was left to choice.

  “We realize this is a change but as of now, the Mayor of each city will appoint a Police Commissioner who answers to the ISS 02 Department’s Inspector General. Smaller towns with just Sheriff’s Departments or local police will answer to an Area Inspector General. From this point on, the police, Sheriff’s Departments and State Police are under the authority and administration of the ISS.”

  “I don’t know who you people think you are,” Mayor LeMont of Tacoma, Washington said, “But you don’t give orders in my State and in my town.”

  “I’m afraid you are very wrong about that. Our authority comes directly from the White House. You will comply or we are authorized to remove you from office and appoint our own Mayor."

  “Like hell. You can get out of my office this very minute.”

  “Stan, cuff the Mayor,” the agent said.

  “Don’t you dare try it. I will have you put in jail so fast your head will spin,” the Mayor threatened.

  “We are the police. You are going to be charged with extortion, misuse of campaign funds, misuse of city funds, kickbacks, and a few other crimes as time goes on. You will be taken to a detention center operated by the Federal Government. You will not make bail and will be held until your trial date is set.”

  “You can’t do this. I’ll sue you into the weeds.”

  “You can, if you survive in Federal Prison while awaiting trial. There are some really bad people in prison and most don’t like politicians all that well.”

  “This is nuts. The last time I looked I lived in America. We have laws and a Constitution that protects people from this type of abuse,” the Mayor said.

  “You know, you are starting to get on my nerves. Now you walk out of here with us or we cuff and take you out. However you want to do it is fine with me,” the agent told him.

  “This isn’t over,” he said as they escorted him from the building leaving everyone staring at the spectacle unfolding.

  ****

  “Commissioner Warren, with the arrest of the Mayor, you now will report to the Inspector General. That will be your immediate supervisor from this point on.”

  “I don’t think you understand. I work for the Mayor’s Office. I do not work for the ISS or any of their lackeys. You can try to come in and take over but it isn’t going to happen. I control the police force of the city and I honestly don’t care what ISS does or does not want. This is my city and I will not turn it over to this Inspector General or whatever fancy name you want to give them. Now you have two choices. You walk out of here and get back to whatever rock you crawled out from under or I will have you locked up. You may scare the Mayor but you do not scare me. So what is it going to be?”

  “Commissioner I don’t think you to grasp the power behind the ISS or the league you are playing in. ISS is the police. You are but one small cog in the entire process. You will comply or you will be removed,” the agent told him.

  “All I can say is give it your best shot boys. You even think about trying to arrest me and I’ll have you taken out of here in a basket. You see, I figured you would try something like this and outside that door,” he said pointing, “is a SWAT team that answers to me. All they need is a reason to come in here and take you out. Care to give it a go?” Commissioner Warren
asked.

  “You may win this round but this is nothing more than a skirmish. You can’t win the war,” the agent said and opened the door.

  Standing outside was a full SWAT team ready to storm the office if needed.

  ***

  “We knew some places would be easier than others. Obviously those will require more resources. That is where the National Guard comes in. They do answer to the Commander-in-Chief. She says jump and all they can do is ask how high. We’ll compile a list of all areas that are putting up resistance. We will use the Final Solution department to remove any difficult situations,” Taylor told the President.

  “I can see that working only so long. At some point people will realize these problems are being eliminated by an outside source. That could lead back to the ISS and eventually the White House,” the President replied.

  “I think we have to do that in some areas. New York, Chicago, LA, and a few others have Commissioners that have challenged us and are basically saying they are not going to comply.”

  The president sat looking out the window for several seconds before speaking again.

  “Alright, activate FS but I do not want any of the big city commissioners eliminated in the same way. It has to look like it isn’t being done by one group. It must appear random.”

  “Not a problem. I have some of the best in the business. None of them will appear to have been done by the same group. It will look like isolated incidents,” Taylor assured President Clemons.

  “Just make sure that’s true,” she said dismissing him.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  CVTV – BREAKING NEWS

  In one of the most bizarre stories this reporter has ever seen took place earlier on today at One Police Plaza. What we know so far is that a fire fight between ISS agents and City Police, including SWAT teams took place around 3:20 p.m.

  Witnesses told us that ISS officers came in force to remove the City Police Commissioner from office. He had refused a direct order from the White House to report to the newly appointed Inspector General placed in office by the ISS.

  Earlier the Mayor was arrested and charged for obstruction when he refused to turn over his direct authority to the ISS. Once he was forcibly removed from his office, the ISS then went to notify the Police Commissioner that he would now report to the new Inspector General.

  While some of the details are still lacking it is believed that the Police Commissioner declined to accept the Inspector General as his direct superior. He was then told he would be removed by force if necessary. A heated exchange followed and the ISS agents retreated to get backup forces. When they tried to re-enter the building, they were stopped by police officers.

  It is unclear at this time, who shot first but evidentially a shot was fired and then a melee occurred with not only physical conformations but several volleys were exchanged. Police sharp shooters managed to keep the ISS agents pinned down with several being killed or wounded.

  At around 8:00 p.m. National Guardsmen began showing up and were ordered by the ISS to storm the Plaza and remove all occupants. This was met with a refusal by Colonel Blackwell. Orders coming directly from the White House removed Colonel Blackwell and placed General Bonner in charge of the National Guard troops. He then ordered them to empty the Plaza and apprehend those inside.

  To add further confusion, we are told that approximately thirty percent of the National Guard refused to obey the order and simply walked off. The remaining Guardsmen tried to storm the building but were met with withering automatic fire and precision shooting from snipers.

  It is estimated that at least twenty Guardsmen were killed and another forty wounded. The Police Commissioner addressed the Guardsmen over the loud speaker telling them that his men did not want to have to kill or wound any military personal. He urged them to ignore an ‘unlawful and illegal order’ and to hold those responsible for its issuance accountable.

  It is estimated that another thirty to forty percent of the Guardsmen then refused to follow the orders of General Bonner. It is believed that General Bonner has been in direct contact with the White House and is asking for additional troops. This would include regular Army personnel.

  We have also learned that the head of the ISS has tried to have direct contact with the Police Commissioner but no word as to the outcome of those conversations at this point. In a brief statement from the White House, a spokesperson said that implementing Inspector Generals was the normal procedure now that the ISS has been established. This was being done to better coordinate information and increase the security of American citizens. Inspector Generals will be installed in every large city and Regional Inspectors in rural areas.

  It is believed that regular Army soldiers are being routed to the city to deal with this standoff.

  ****

  The President was furious. She had been pacing back and forth for the last thirty minutes talking in a voice just below a full shout.

  “Who does that pipsqueak think he is? A damned city Police Commissioner telling the President, telling me, that they are not going to comply. Shooting at our ISS members. I can tell you this, when this is all over I want that bastard locked in a hole someplace where they have to ship in air just for him to breath. I want him put in the harshest prison we have. I don’t want him to ever resurface,” she bellowed.

  Taylor knew this wasn’t the time to speak up. He just sat and listened and watched hoping she would run out of steam soon.

  “And that damn Colonel. Refusing a direct order. I want him arrested and tried for treason,” she shouted, her face almost purple with rage.

  “Yes ma’am,” Taylor said as she continued to pace around the room.

  Finally, she flopped down in her chair.

  “We are not going to go through this again. From this minute forward, I want the ISS agents to go into those offices fully armed with automatic weapons and backup to control the situation. I don’t care if we have to kill everyone in the place we will not have another situation like this, understand?”

  “Yes madam President,” Taylor replied.

  “Can you believe this? We have agents on the way to Chicago. Those people are all crazy anyway so what are we going to run into there? I’ll tell you, nothing. You are going to lead that particular insertion of an IG. Take a hundred fully armed agents if necessary but we will not have another fiasco like this one. Am I clear on that?”

  “You are perfectly clear.”

  ****

  Mark Walker had been meeting with everyone he could to find out what was going on. While everyone was more hush-hush than usual it didn’t take long to learn that the ISS was bugging every conversation and had cameras in almost every office, hallway, and some suspected, bathrooms. Everyone was paranoid about who was watching and listening.

  He was sitting on a park bench when one of his best sources of information sat down a few inches from him.

  “Let me ask you something. You are a reporter because you have a license to be in that profession. You had to register and be approved by the Media Cza,r isn’t that right.”

  “Yeah, we all did.”

  “So if you stick your nose in where it doesn’t belong, how much longer do you think you will hold a license to be a reporter,” she asked.

  “Wait. You’re saying that I could lose my license for just investigating a story? Cheryl, the news operates independently from politics.”

  “Really? So what happened to FAL TV when they refused to follow the Administrations line of reporting? Have you ever heard of what happened to Mr. Inman who was the head of FAL? I can answer that for you. No. You haven’t heard one word. No one has. He just disappeared off the face of the earth.”

  He looked at her with his mouth open. She had to be crazy. None of this was possible. There were reasons for everything. Inman probably just went and got another job someplace else. What else was he going to do once FAL shut down?

  “Let me ask you something,” he said at last, “If they knew you were
talking to me what do you think would happen to you?”

  “Honestly? I would either have an ‘accident’ or simply disappear.”

  “You really believe that?” Walker asked.

  “I know it,” she replied.

  ****

  When Mark Walker got to his car two men stepped up behind him.

  “Mr. Walker?”

  “Yes,” he said turning around startled.

  “You just came from sitting on a park bench over by the river. You were talking to Cheryl Morse from the Vice President’s office. We would like to know what you were discussing in such a remote place.”

  “What? Nothing. I mean we talked about a lot of things. The weather, the crime rates that seem to be at a new all-time low, just stuff like that. Why? Why does that concern you?” Mark asked.

  “If you were receiving secure White House information you would both be considered domestic terrorist suspects. Are you?”

  “Am I what?”

  “Don’t be stupid. Are you a domestic terrorist?”

  “Good Lord no. Look all we were doing was passing the time. It wasn’t a ‘meeting’. I just happened to recognize her. We started talking about everything from the shock of the President’s death, her family, and the weather. Just small talk.”

  “Alright Mr. Walker but the ISS has its eye on you. You’re credentials will certainly be under scrutiny from this point on. Remaining a reporter means staying in good standing with the Media Czar’s guidelines. Clandestine meetings are not in your best interest.”

  “It wasn’t a clandestine meeting. It was a chance meeting, nothing more. You are making something out of nothing.”

  “Let’s hope for your sake, that is true,” the agent said and walked off.