by Ira Tabankin
Tony’s face changes, he looks at both women, “He’ll make it, there’s no one I know stronger than Jay. In fact, I’m going to march back to see the doc and tell him he better save my best friend or there’s going to be hell to pay.”
Nancy looks upset, “Tony, you will do nothing of the kind. If you piss off the doc, who’s going to take care of you the next time you get yourself shot?”
“I don’t intend on getting shot again. This makes the fourth time, that’s four more than I ever wanted, I’ve reached my limit of bullets. I’m the one who’s supposed to be shooting people, not getting shot.”
Nancy smiles at Tony’s attempt at a joke, “Have you seen John?”
“He was discharged before me, I take it they dislike him more than they do me. Doc told me they kicked his ass out as soon as they could and told him not to come back or they were going to stitch his mouth closed with any anesthesia.”
“What did he do to piss them off so much?”
“I heard that he was giving the nurse instructions on his own care when they decided he was well enough to go to his own room. I think I heard the doc say something about he doesn’t tell John how to run security and John shouldn’t tell him how to care for patients. Lacy, did the doc give you details on Jay’s condition?”
Lacy tries to remain calm, “Tony, he told me Jay lost a lot of blood, he took three hits, one bounced around inside of him causing a lot of internal damage. He told me they lost him on the table, all of a sudden his life signs fell, he stopped breathing and slipped away for a minute, they brought him back from the abyss only to have him slip back over the edge again. The doctor told me they brought him back a second time. He said it looked almost like he was being pulled between each side, life and death. They placed him in a drug induced coma so his body could heal. He’s still got some internal bleeding, the doc expects to go back inside to stop his bleeding later tonight. He couldn’t tell me when Jay would come around and wake up.”
“Lacy, let me see what I can find out. I promise you, anything I learn, I’ll tell you.”
Lacy hugs Tony, “Thank you. I owe you a big one.”
“Lacy, you and Jay, have already saved my life more times than I can count, I owe you. Let me see what I can do. Maybe John knows how to hack into the medical computers, then we’ll know everything.”
“Thank you.”
“Lacy, you don’t have to thank me. It’s the least I can do. I’m going to check on John now, I’ll be back.”
Lacy reaches up to kiss Tony’s cheek.
Tony gets up from the bed, banging his hurt arm against the wall, damn that hurts. I’m going to kill whoever shot me this time.
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The Secretary of the Treasury stands in the oval office, “Sir, here is a sample of the new currency. We believe we’ve corrected all of the issues we encountered with the previous release.”
“It looks just like the old currency we announced we were pulling from the street.”
“Sir, look at the image on the bills.”
“They’re all the same.”
“Yes, that’s the beauty of it. It makes it easier to print with the same image on all of the bills. We’re going to use the previous paper and ink, all we did was change the image and remove the phrase on the back which offended you.”
“Show me that you removed the phrase, ‘In God We Trust.’ We have separation of state and religion. I won’t accept anything with the word God on it.”
“Sir, here’s an old bill and the new one, as you can see, the phrase has been changed to ‘In Government We Trust’.”
“I like it. We’ll drive home the point that the people have to rely on us. By the way, I like the images. I like it. You can proceed.”
“Thank you, I’ll prepare a press release to announce the change.”
“Excellent, issue it today.”
The Secretary of the Treasury holds a press conference to announce;
“Ladies and gentlemen, I know there have been rumors of problems with the new currency, I’m well aware that FNews has shown paper that has supposedly had the ink run when exposed to rain, there are internet stories about the paper falling apart. We all know you shouldn’t believe what you read on the internet. In order to avoid any additional stories on the internet, we’ve reprinted the new currency with the previous paper and ink with new images.”
Holding up the paper he shows it to the cameras, there are shocked gasps from the press, every bill has the President’s picture on it. The anchor from FNews asks,
“Is every bill the same? All have the President’s picture on them?”
“The pictures aren’t all the same, for example, the one dollar bill shows his profile facing left, the five dollar bill shows his profile facing right, the ten dollar bill shows his full face, the twenty dollar bill shows the President sitting behind his desk and the fifty dollar bill shows him waving with his right hand while the one hundred dollar bill shows him waving with his left hand.”
The media is speechless, no one expected the President to appear on every bill, the anchor from LSDMSN asks, “Isn’t it illegal to use the image of a living person on the currency?”
“The President signed an executive order changing the rule to make it easier for us to rush these new bills into circulation.”
“What has Congress said about this?”
“We didn’t show them, we don’t have to. The President made his decision.”
NBX asked. “When will the new currency with the greatest President of all time on it be available?”
“That’s the most exciting news! The new currency will be in banks and ATM machines within four days. There will be a $200.00 per day cash withdrawal limit in effect for the first ten days. We’re doing this so everyone has a chance to exchange some of their currency. Remember, there is a one-time exchange fee and the use of the old currency is going to be extended for another sixty days. The President and I have also agreed to begin phasing out paper and metal currency, our goal is the complete phase-out in twenty-four months, we’ll move to an all-electronic currency based on debit and credit cards with RFID and GPS chips embedded in them. Once the changeover to electronic currency is completed, the risk of theft will be gone, the cards will have triple ID protection built in them. All payments will be made by the cards, even private payments can be made through the cards.”
ABX asks, “Mr. Secretary, why go through the cost to exchange currency if we’re going to move to an all-electronic currency system?”
“That’s an excellent question. We thought that the people who are used to handling paper and metal currency wouldn’t accept a quick change over, hence we’re handling the exchange in two phases over twenty months. When the transformation is complete, everyone will be safer, everyone will be able to know to an electronic penny what they have. Even if a card is stolen, no one will be able to use it. We’re on the verge of a unique time in the county’s history. Think of all of the jobs that will be created because every vending machine has to be modified, every coin laundry machine has to be converted, everything that uses paper money or coins has to be updated or replaced. These new machines will have to be built in America bringing new jobs to America, helping us out of our recession. I won’t be taking any more questions. Thank you and good night.”
The families in the shelter are angry, they’re jeering the President. Some are throwing food at the large monitor in the mess hall, none of them liked the idea of the President being on the new currency. One person was very happy, Ricky knew that once paper and metal currency was phased out, taxes could be instantly collected. Unused accounts could be instantly collected by the government.
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People line up starting at midnight outside a Bank of America branch which posted signs saying they were going to have a supply of the new currency starting at 9:00 AM the next morning. People brought plastic, paper bags and rolling carry-on suitcases full of cash to exchange for the new currency. As soon as people
started lining up, local and county police arrived to provide security for the large amounts of cash in the open. People exited the bank holding a Red-White and Blue small credit card sized ID card with a smart chip that recorded their balance. Many held up their card yelling, “I turned in $50,000 and I got this little card and only $200 in the new currency! How do I know they didn’t shortchange me? This isn’t right!”
“What the hell is that?”
“It says it’s a USA currency card.”
“Never heard of it.”
Someone asks, “What happens if someone steals your card?”
“They told me it can’t be used by anyone other than me.”
“I like it, my wife won’t be able to spend my money.”
Some laughed, some are very worried if stores will accept the card and how will they use it to pay private debts. Someone in line says, “That won’t work in my Friday night poker game.”
“Nor mine.”
A problem none of the people had yet considered was once the country converted to an all-electronic currency the government could easily take what they wanted, when they wanted.
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Those waiting in line outside their banks and official currency exchange locations are worried they’ve been waiting in line for hours for a small plastic card or currency which may not be able to buy anything. When the banks delay the opening time, some leave, taking their bags of cash home. Others decide to exchange part of their holdings to see how this new currency card works. Two hours after the banks opened, people in line heard loud screaming coming from inside the bank. Customers were pushed out of the bank by security and police officers. The customers are cursing, a few stopped outside the bank to throw rocks towards the branch. Those in line were worried about what happened inside the bank.
“They’re not doing any more exchanges! I waited in line since last night, and they ran out of some bullshit form!”
The number of people waiting in line exceeded the worse case scenarios the Department of the Treasury projected. Banks ran out of the official DHS and Department of the Treasury forms within the first two hours, forms which were supposed to last a week. Without the forms, they weren’t allowed to exchange old dollars for the new ones. The bank managers wanted to close the branch to avoid a riot, they didn’t make it. Customers ran outside yelling, “They ran out of fucking forms, without the forms they won’t exchange old for new dollars. We’ve been screwed again.”
When the people waiting in line heard that the banks had run out of forms and had stopped exchanging dollars, they rioted; they rushed the banks, they broke the windows, they beat up the bank guards while forcing their way into the bank demanding their money.
Hundreds of others waiting for their bank to open brought folding chairs and coolers filled with coffee and sandwiches, they were in a festive mood thinking they were finally going to get to convert their currency into a currency that may be useful in buying something. They were stuck with old worthless currency which no one was willing to accept. Most of the people in line thought that simply exchanging their currency was going to solve one of their major problems, but there was nothing on the store shelves to buy. They thought there had to be a secret store or shopping center open only to people with the new currency, they didn’t yet know the new currency wasn’t going to solve anything. They stood in line filled with hope that the new currency will turn around their bad times. Pulling up to the branch, the bank manager, Oscar Smith saw the line which went around his branch five times, he worried he didn’t have enough of the new currency to handle everyone. He worried about his safety.
As soon as he parked, his car was swarmed with people offering him cash in exchange for an early entrance into the branch, which didn’t matter since the bank quickly ran out of exchange forms. The mass of people pushed against his car door, not allowing him out of the car, the mob started rocking his car to shake him out of the car. The mob smashed his driver’s door window, cutting his face with the broken glass. The crowd pulled Oscar through the broken window cutting his arms and ripping his clothing. Once out of the car the mob dragged him to the front door demanding he open the branch early so they could exchange their currency or they would stomp him to death.
When the police tried to rescue Oscar, the mob fought back. Some of them were armed and opened fired on the police killing three and wounding five officers. The police fired back into the crowd killing ten. Six people who were wounded while minding their own business waiting in line were struck, they dropped their bags of cash causing the people around them to pounce on the cash, they fought each other for the tens of thousands of dollars that spilled out of the bags. The rioting is growing out of control, the on-scene police commander calls the mayor asking for instructions.
The mayor says, “Can you disperse the mob?”
“No, sir. If we do, the people are going to explode, they may set fire to all of the buildings around the bank. We would be turning a localized riot into a major mess.”
“Commander, what do you suggest?”
“Get the bank to reopen or whatever they need to do to continue making exchanges. If they ran out of forms, get some copied or printed. If the banks don’t open and continue to make exchanges we’re looking at possibly losing the entire downtown area.”
“Can you get the bank manager to open the branch?”
“I think so, most of the bank staff are here, the manager said he would open early if you asked him to.”
“Can you get him on the line?”
“Yes, please wait one.” The police force themselves to the bank’s front door, they force it open, the commander forces his radio into Oscar’s bloody hands saying, “Here’s the mayor.”
“Oscar, this is the mayor, can you open your branch?”
“Mr. Mayor, I can if you so order it.”
“Consider you so ordered, we need to lower the tension at your branch.”
“I understand, I’ll open in five minutes.”
“Thank you.”
Oscar hands the radio back to the police officer saying, “Five minutes, please only let four people in the branch at one time. I don’t want my tellers rushed by people or risk a robbery.”
“We’ll do our best.”
The police commander lifts his megaphone, he clicks the push to talk button twice to get everyone’s attention. “Attention, attention, this is the police commander. We’ve reached an agreement with the bank manager and the DHS. The bank is going to reopen. We are going to restrict only four people at a time into the branch, everyone will get in. To ensure everyone is handled as quickly as possible, please be ready with your two government photo IDs, the amount of cash you have to exchange and the form, IRS 1550433A filled out which explains the source of the cash. If you don’t have two government-issued photo IDs and the IRS form filled out, we are not going to allow you entry into the bank, you will only waste everyone’s time.”
People looked at each other, one yelled back, “What the hell is an IRS 15504-something something-something form? Where did this come from? The money is ours, why do we need to list on a form where it came from?”
The officer responds, “This is the government’s requirement to perform a currency exchange.”
People scream NO and push forward. Most had no idea what the form was or even where to get it. They started pushing forward and pushing against the police. Rocks and bottles of urine were tossed at the police who responded with tear gas. Most of the people in line were prepared for the tear gas, they either had gas masks or damp towels they wrapped around their faces. The mob picked up the gas canisters throwing them back at the police while some people smashed the bank’s front windows. Once the windows were broken, people swarm into the branch. A few were able to exchange their existing currency for the new, when they exit the bank, they run into the fire department who is spraying people with high-pressure water, using it to keep people away from the broken windows.
In addition to honest hard wor
king people who wanted to exchange their life savings, thugs also showed up knowing there weren’t enough police to provide security for everyone. The thugs waited in the shadows for people to fall asleep. The thugs grabbed the bags of cash while running away. Some stole the new cash cards, quickly realizing the cards were tied to a specific person
Chapter 6
Tony rushed to the security area where he found John adjusting the remaining cameras. John looked up to see who was entering his workspace, “Hey Tony, how’s the arm?”
“Been better, the itch is driving me crazy.”
“Yeah, been there, done that. See if any of the women have a knitting needle, you can usually slide it under the cast. Just don’t shove it through your arm.”