Peggy nodded, "It feels like a rebellion to me too."
"I agree that it feels like that, but we need to always remember that we are the patriots and oath keepers. The people who are in charge of the country at the moment are the traitors," I said.
"I think we need to have everyone we recruit, as well as the rest of us, swear an oath to uphold and protect the Constitution, much like the oath sworn to by our military and many police officers," I paused. "Perhaps it should go something like this. I swear to protect the Constitution of the United States of America, and the principles on which it stands, from all enemies, both foreign and domestic," I paused. "We should talk about this with Lorne and the council."
"We should also make this part of our publicity campaign, which we need to kick off very soon now—especially since that incident in Alabama," Peggy said.
"Yes," Toni agreed. "We also need to put some good writers to work in stating our principles and position to the public. They need to understand that it is we are fighting for."
"And we need to make videos stating our position available online. I think the hackers can help us there too," Peggy said. "And, John. You need to make some videos so people know who you are. You, like it or not, are the symbol of our fight for freedom. The public has to know that the government is not all powerful."
"I think you should also make videos, Peggy. And so should you, Toni. Your stories need to get out to the people as well. We also need to get the lady who shot the FTSP agent in Alabama on video again, if she survived the Mississippi attack."
"I will set this up," Peggy said. "One of our people is a former advertising executive. I think he will be better at planning our 'advertising' campaign than the rest of us."
"Good," I said. "I think this will come together well, if we can move quickly enough."
"I also think we need a military person to plan the overt action against those who need to be deposed," I said. "However, military training may often produce plans that are quite predictable by the other side. Right now, we have major plans being made by a retired professor, a computer programmer, and a former housewife. I doubt that our plans will be as predictable as the feds would like them to be. We do need an experienced military advisor though, probably more than one."
"I will see who I can find," Peggy said.
"I hope we have the time to accomplish what we need to accomplish," Toni worried. "It seems like all of this is moving exceptionally fast."
"I agree," I said. "And not only does it seem exceptionally fast to the three of us, it has also resulted in extreme changes in each of our lives. I suspect that means, even if the feds profile each of us, as I am sure they have done, their profile may not accurately predict our actions or plans now."
"I know I have done things recently that I never thought I was capable of doing," Peggy said.
"The same for me," Toni said.
"And me as well," I agreed. "I never thought I would be able to take a human life.” Peggy reached out and gasped my wrist with her hand and looked me in the eye.
"Neither did I," she said.
"I just hope that we come out of all of this still human," I replied. "I don't want this revolution to turn any of us into the kind of monsters that run our government."
"I don't think that's possible," Toni said, "but I'm worried too."
We spent two more hours discussing various things that we needed to do to prevent both patriot and civilian casualties in the upcoming fight. Both Peggy and Toni each had several more great ideas. The more I was around them, the more I liked them both, and the more I thought about, and missed Susan. I knew I had to keep my wits about me, and not become distracted by either Toni or Peggy if we were to win this fight. It was hard for me to admit to myself that I was attracted to both of them. The feel of Peggy's kiss was often on my mind, as were the touches from Toni. They both made me feel guilty. Strangely, the killing of the ground hounds did not.
Chapter 20: CHALLENGE
"You often get exactly what you ask for, whether you want it or not.” John Debrouillard
Washington, D.C., The White House
"Mr. President," the secretary of the Department of Interior Security said, "I think we have a problem.” The secretary put a DVD into the player attached to the giant screen TV on one wall of the president's working office, his study, located close to the oval office. The oval office was mostly for show. The study was where the real work occurred.
The secretary, who had been in the federal government his entire career, and who had seen several presidents come and go, reflected to himself that, under this president, the study saw relatively little actual use.
The president stood, approached the television, and, immaculate as ever, gracefully sat in an overstuffed chair that faced the screen. "OK," he said. "Roll it."
The DVD started and a well-dressed man sitting at a desk appeared. He looked like any other news announcer; however, there was no identifying station logo. The man shuffled several papers, and then set the stack on the desk. "Ladies and gentlemen, citizens of our once great country, we have a problem. That problem is that our government has gone rogue. Our Founding Fathers warned us that this might happen and laid out the steps that we have a moral responsibility to take if and when it did. Well folks, it has finally happened."
The president pushed the pause button built into the arm of his chair, "Who is this clown?” He asked, standing so he could tower over the shorter secretary.
"We don't know yet sir. We have run facial recognition and biometric identification programs and he is not in our database. He speaks with a Midwestern accent, but we have no idea who he is."
"Well, find out and have him killed," the president said.
"Yes Mr. President. We will do so as soon as possible.” The secretary paused and nervously stated, "Sir, you should watch the rest of this."
"Very well," the president said and once more seated himself—with the innate grace of royalty he thought as he settled into the chair and pushed the play button. The video resumed.
"It has been a slow decline," the man at the desk said. "Hardly noticeable day to day for many of us who have been occupied earning a living and paying taxes, but a decline nonetheless. It started with small inroads on our constitutional rights as citizens and it has advanced to the point that our government now feels that it has the right to kill our very own citizens, here at home on American soil, in secrecy and with no due process, just because these citizens may oppose the actions and/or agenda of the current administration, or even simply be witnesses to what the this administration did not want them to see."
The president hit the pause button again. This time he had lost much of his composure and he failed to stand. "This is outrageous!” He shouted. "How did they find out about this?"
"Mr. President, surely you remember the advisor who told you this was inevitable."
"And I had that SOB killed. No one questions my decisions. No one. Do you understand that?"
"Yes Mr. President," the secretary cringed. "I understand that very well."
The president cursed under his breath and finally hit the play button once more.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, in my lifetime we have gone from a nation founded on, and respectful of, our constitution and the rule of law, to a nation where rich and powerful men make laws only to protect their own interests and positions.”
"Many of these laws are written and passed in secret, and often not even using our basic constitutional procedures. The public knows nothing of these illegal laws until they are forced at the point of the federal gun to comply with them. This, ladies and gentlemen, is nothing less than tyranny; a tyranny born of evil, and in place right here today in the United States of America."
"That's enough," the president stood in anger and shouted. "Kill these bastards, every damn one of them. I will not be impugned nor disobeyed!"
"Yes Sir, Mr. President," the secretary said to the president's back as he stalked from the room.
Socorro, N
ew Mexico
"And what may be even worse, is that so many of our high-ranking federal employees are basically on the take. Under the guidance of our elected officials, our country has descended from the place of honor that it once held in the world to the role of hated hegemony. No longer are our employees; and yes, all federal employees are our employees, our employees. They are supposed to work for us, the citizens. Our taxes pay their salaries. The way our government was originally set up was for these people to answer to the citizens and obey the Constitution. However, so many of these high-ranking federal officials today feel like they do not need answer to the people or the Constitution. The Constitution is to them only an old document that keeps them from taking what they wish from the people. They believe that the people are so many sheep, to provide money for the government to use as it sees fit, to be herded into whatever belief paradigm they wish us to have, or to be killed for their pleasure, or simply when we inconvenience them."
"Many of these high-ranking federal employees are sucking at the teat of large corporations whose only goal is profit. While some CEOs do care about people, there are an increasingly large number of them who do not. Like many of our elected representatives, too many of these people are psychopaths. They have no feeling for the rest of humanity."
"Perhaps, like myself not too long ago, you don't believe that what I'm saying is true? Perhaps you have seen some signs of the disintegration that our country is going through? Perhaps you've seen isolated cases were you believe high-ranking federal employees are indeed either not following the laws of the nation, or are corrupt?"
"Boy howdy, do I agree with that!” Bill hit the pause button on the video. Then he downloaded the video in its entirety onto his computer, and transferred the video to a blank DVD. "Let's see what the boys at the Longhorn have to say about this?"
Bill took the DVD, got into his old pickup truck, and drove the mile to the Longhorn Bar in downtown Socorro, New Mexico. The bar was the local hangout for the college crowd and usually included not only students, but also staff and occasionally faculty of the New Mexico Institute of Technology, as well as a few ranchers. Fifteen minutes later, Bill inserted the DVD into the DVD player in the bar and cued up the video for everyone to see. The TV was mounted on the wall and was big enough to be seen from anywhere in the room. It was Friday night and the Longhorn was full, as usual. Bill recognized most of the people he saw. They were regulars.
The patrons watched the beginning of the video in silence, concentrating on what the announcer had to say while occasionally sipping their beers. Other than the occasional remark that that 'son of a bitch of a president was not going to confiscate their guns', not much was said.
The man on the video said, "I am now going to show you a video that shows what it is like when the government decides that you are persona non-grata. Pay close attention to this video. It was hacked from government files. So, you are seeing the events through the cameras, the eyes, of the government drones that were involved."
The picture faded from the announcer and showed a man hoeing a garden. The video had sound and everyone in the room could hear the swish of the hoe as the man chopped weeds. Suddenly, the man turned and began to run. There was also an unfamiliar roar in the background.
"Well shit." Someone said. "Those are bullets. Somebody is shooting at that guy."
"No, that's not someone. That's a drone," someone else said.
They all watched as the fellow dodged bullets in a run all the way across the yard and into a small building.
"He's toast," a random voice shouted. "That building won't stop those bullets.” The crowd in the Longhorn Bar watched as bullets continued to punch holes in the metal walls of the building. It was obvious the bullets were often passing all the way through the small building. After a bit, the bullet impacts ceased. In just a few seconds the man appeared in the doorway of the building with a shotgun. He pointed the shotgun at the camera. A few people in the bar ducked involuntarily, but most cheered when the shotgun fired. On the fifth shot the image careened away from the door of the building and went black. At that point someone in the bar shouted.
"He got the damn drone with a shotgun!” At that everyone in the bar stood and cheered.
The view cut to another camera farther away. By now the man was at the back door of the house where a woman had just stepped outside. Dropping the shotgun, the man grabbed the woman and they started through the doorway into the house. Everyone could clearly see three bullets strike the woman. She shook at the impact and they could see the bloodstains grow as the pair disappeared into the house. At this point there was complete silence in the bar; something that had not happened at the Longhorn before in anyone's memory.
The audience was horrified to see that now, in the view of another drone camera; many other drones were converging on the house. They each had four, or six, helicopter blades and seemed to be about five or six feet across, and there were pistols with drum magazines mounted underneath each drone. The patrons of the bar watched in horror as the house was completely shredded by bullets. The roar of gunfire on the video sounded like a continuous boom of thunder. Not one word was said as the house collapsed onto its foundation.
The camera now switched back to the announcer. "What you have seen, ladies and gentlemen, is shocking. You have witnessed actual footage taken by video cameras on government drones of the assassination of an innocent United States civilian by our current administration, with no due process, right here in the United States. This happened in mid-Indiana only a few weeks ago. However, the man they were after escaped. The drones, and their cowardly operators, killed his wife.
"How the fuck could anybody get out of that?” Somebody asked.
"Beats the hell out of me," Bill said. "This is unbelievable!"
The camera shifted to another room where a man stood. It took most of the patrons a second or so to recognize the man who had downed the drone with a shotgun. Then everyone in the bar rose and cheered. The only liberal in the room was Hector Garcia. He rose and cheered with everyone else.
"Hello, my name is John. If you have watched the first part of this video, you know that my wife, Susan, was killed—murdered—by the U.S. government. They were trying to murder me.
Apparently, my crime against the current administration was simply posting comments on various internet blogs. At no time then did I, either verbally or in print, advocate overthrow of the U.S. government. I only predicted what I thought the government might do next. Apparently I predicted too well.
I have since been told that this administration found my predictions of their clandestine activities troubling. For that reason, and that reason alone, they decided to murder me. My wife and I were attacked at home by over 40 copter drones, each carrying a .40 caliber gun capable of firing 100 rounds. As you can see from the video, our house was completely destroyed. At this point I'm sure most of you are wondering how I managed to survive," the man paused.
"My wife and I were preppers. If you know anything at all about prepper movement, you know that the vast majority of preppers are not violent people. They are simply people who are looking at the way things are going in this country and are preparing their families and friends for what they believe are possible future hard times.
Preppers stock extra food in case of hard times. Most of us strive to have about a year’s supply of food put away. This is no different than our grandparents did, especially those that lived on farms. This is no different than the Mormon Church encourages all of its members to do. Storing food in case of hard times is an American tradition that our ancestors understood and universally practiced."
"For some time now though, the government has been hell-bent on making preppers seem like irresponsible citizens. I believe that is because their communist approach to ruling the U.S. is to exert the maximum control over every citizen. They feel that anyone who thinks for themselves, as our founders did, is a threat to their power."
"For example, recently,
in some of the major cities, there have been vapid laws passed that make organic foods illegal—most likely because the corporate backers of this communistic fascist regime want higher profits from sales of the genetically-modified, slow poison that they wish to force feed each and every American citizen."
"Many preppers also have an emphasis on organic food, and we tend to grow and raise much of our own food. In the minds of the anti-constitutional terrorists who inhabit our government, this must not be allowed because people who do not depend on the government to feed them, or tell them what to eat, cut into corporate profits, and therefore decrease political contributions to the rogue politicians."
"In addition to stockpiling food, most preppers also prepare for times when the electric grid might be down, such as during a hurricane, or perhaps after an EMP event. We make sure that we have a good supply of water that can be accessed if the grid is down. We also have medicines and other supplies on hand just in case we may need them, and, of course, we typically have guns to defend our families and friends if needed. That too is an American tradition and is our irrevocable birthright as Americans.
Preparing—being a prepper—is a lifestyle. Many of us try to anticipate situations that might occur and act accordingly. With that in mind my wife and I wondered if we might ever have to escape our house without detection. For that reason we hand-dug a root cellar under the house and then dug a tunnel from that root cellar to the edge of our property. In order to maintain operational security, we told no one of our root cellar or tunnel and we did not file for permits before we built them.
"My wife died in my arms in our root cellar, killed by bullets fired remotely by the cowards in our rogue government. I escaped through the tunnel."
"I am now, at the request of many American patriots, leading the effort to remove our rogue government from power. We are not trying to overthrow the United States. We are, each and every one, loyal American citizens. But, we are loyal to the Constitution of the United States, and not the tyrants, imbeciles, and fools who occupy the positions of highest power in the current administration."
Drone Wars 1: The Beginning Page 23