Autumn (Four Seasons Book 1)

by Robert Sullivan

  “If those who are a part of a gang or rogue militia refuse to submit by the time this grace period is up, a special task force will be appointed to seek out these individuals and incarcerate them for the rest of their lives. If these individuals refuse to submit to the authority of this task force, then they will make themselves available to the use of lethal force. The safety and security of this nation and its peoples are of a paramount concern to this campaign and any attempts to threaten the peace will be met with the force necessary to keep the peace.”

  “Part of the security of the United States, of course, has to be guaranteed by her military. In the last century, the United States has been the preeminent world power, attempting to keep the peace, not only for Americans, but of people around the globe. It is no coincidence that when the United States pulls out of the world, like she has today, the world falls apart which in turns threatens our safety. The military must be made strong again and not be used as just a domestic police force, but a force that will guarantee our safety and security around the world.”

  “It is not just the safety and security of Americans that this party will secure, but also their health and education. The costs of education and health in this country has been growing exponentially for most of this century and it is time that it is stopped. Reforms will be introduced that will make it easier for the average American to obtain an education and also obtain quality health care. Teachers and doctors will be employed directly by the federal government, follow the same guidelines and practices all over the nation, and will take anyone who comes to them within reason. Parents will be free to send their students to whatever school they want and be free to choose whatever doctor they want.”

  “We recognize, however, that some people just are not going to be able to go to college. This is through no fault of their own and it will no longer be a vice to not have a college degree. Those with a specific skill set, be it in metalworking, agriculture, whatever, will learn how to be the best worker they can be and will have their job guaranteed by the federal government. If they cannot find regular employment, there will be a commission to find a job for them within the context of their skill set. Everyone will have a job, this job will be guaranteed by the federal government, and will receive an appropriate level of pay for that job.”

  “The federal government itself be extensively reorganized as well. The bureaucracy will be reorganized in such a manner that they will be forced to work for the people as opposed to thinking that they cannot be touched. This will be necessary if the earlier plans I have mentioned are to work. The current arrangement is unsustainable and it must be made to work for the average American instead of inconveniencing them.”

  “This is what Liam Hensen will be fighting for. We will make the system work for America, instead of against its interests. Liam believes that this plan will bring America back up from the brink and bring peace around the world once again,” Ryan finished.

  The crowd cheered just as loudly as they had been before the speech. This was a relief to Ryan; a more tepid response may have caused them problems. He waved to the crowd and left the stage to return to Liam and prepare for his speech on Thursday.

  “What did you guys think?” Greg asked.

  “I didn’t like it,” Zach said instantly.

  “What? Why?” Greg asked, surprised. “I didn’t hear anything bad in there from what I could tell.”

  “Did you notice that he said the Fed would be doing everything?” Zach asked. “There was no mention of how the private sector factored into this.”

  “Why would they be if the Fed is just going to take care of anything?” Greg replied.

  “Because that is a dangerous game to play,” Zach said. “I’ve been overseas and I’ve seen what happens when the state says they are going to take care of everything. They inevitably are unable to do so and a lot of people end up dead because they either don’t have food or they were labelled enemies of the state for not toeing the line.”

  “Yeah, I’m a little concerned about how he explicitly said, ‘rogue militias’,” Ashley added. “That could come back to bite us in the ass, especially since the Globalists are presenting themselves as antagonistic to the Fed as it currently stands. What if they find out about our arrangement and come after us for it?”

  “We just need to get friendly with the Globalist campaign,” Greg said. “I’m sure it can be arranged so that we don’t get caught up in their net if they were to win.”

  “I don’t know,” Zach said. “That is a dangerous game to play, Greg.”

  “What choice do we really have?” Greg asked. “No matter what we do in seven months there will be a new President. If we want to get to the bottom of who helped get the Black Hand to power, then we need more time than that. Even if it doesn’t go over well we still need to try.”

  “I’ll leave that to your judgement,” Zach replied. “But I also would suggest that we make a contingency plan in case that does not go over as well as you hoped.”

  “Do you think you can handle that?” Greg asked.

  “Sure, why not,” Zach replied. “I’ll get some others to help as well and consider all of our options. But I can guarantee you this, we will not submit to that pardon if your idea doesn’t work.”

  “Understood,” Greg replied.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Abduction

  Liam Hensen was nervous, which was something that did not happen often. It was the final day of the Globalist Convention and he was due to accept the nomination and give a speech shortly. It was the moment he had been waiting for; rallies around the country were good and all, but this was his opportunity to show the entire nation at one time who he was. It was a make or break moment for him.

  Ryan was with him, giving him a pep talk while they looked over his speech. “Look, you’ve handled every rally, fundraiser, and media appearance so far. This is just basically another rally, just a bit bigger and a bit longer than what you usually do.”

  “I know, it’s just…this is huge. The whole country is going to see me for the first time,” Liam said. “I can’t mess this up.”

  “You won’t, you’ll be fine,” Ryan said. “Everything is going to go perfectly.”

  “How much longer until we go on?” Liam asked.

  “Not long,” Ryan said. “They’re getting through the glowing testimonials first.”

  “That would’ve been easier if I had any living family,” Liam said.

  “We make do. If the only hiccup in this campaign is that you don’t have any family to lavishly praise you, then I think we will be fine,” Ryan replied.

  Liam laughed out loud and said, “Okay, let’s go.”

  Jared was standing next to the stage as he had been for the past three days. He had not let that time go to waste though; he had used his power as security to muscle out other guards that were not a part of his squad to make sure that no one would resist when he sprang his trap. He was annoyed at the long wait, but he was convinced that it would soon be worth it. He was going to let Liam speak for a while before he interrupted with the abduction.

  The person on stage was apparently a lifelong friend of the candidate and was giving a yarn about how Liam was a caring person and would take care of the country like he promised to. Jared was not listening, but instead trying to suppress the nervousness that was growing inside him. The feeling was annoying him; before Staten Island he had never felt like this before an operation. There was much that hinged on this abduction though and Jared reasoned that was what was making him nervous.

  Whoever was on stage finally wrapped up his speech as the lights dimmed and a video showing Liam’s rallies and philanthropic activities. The crowd lapped it up and Jared was sure that whoever was watching around the country was reveling in it as well. Up to the point when his boss had told him they would be abducting him, Jared had not given any thought to the Presidential election. Now that he was here though, Jared was concerned about Liam’s platform; it certain
ly was a threat to his plan to spread throughout the country.

  The video finished and suddenly a fifty-year-old song started playing. Jared recognized it as “Thunderstruck” and realized that Liam was going for the rock star entrance. He listened as the song wound up more and more strongly until it suddenly hit the first shout of, “Thunder!” A shock of sparks flew up from the back of the stage at the shout of thunder, adding to the din and catching Jared by surprise.

  Privately, Jared admitted to himself that if he was not focused on his mission then he would have gotten swept up in the excitement of the moment. The song reached its climax, forcing another shower of sparks from the stage as Liam Hensen finally rushed out and swept around the crowd for high fives and backslaps as the song finished up before jumping back up to the stage.

  The song ended to another shot of sparks and Liam walked up to the microphone and shouted, “Good evening, America!”

  The crowd cheered before Liam waved them down. They fell quiet long enough for Liam to say, “I accept the nomination of the Globalist Party for the Presidency of the United States!”

  The crowd went wild again, prompting Liam to try to gain control of the convention again. Jared realized that he had wound the crowd up too much and that he would have trouble giving his speech as is. He was perfectly content to let him try to speak for a while though, otherwise the crowd might not take the abduction seriously and think it was another stunt like the song.

  “Our movement is one that is growing everywhere in the country,” Liam said as he restarted his speech again. “Your enthusiasm is going to carry this momentum right through the next five months and straight on into the White House!”

  “I have to say though, I cannot believe how far we’ve come. When I was approached by the Globalist leaders last year and they asked me if I wanted to run for President, I had my reservations. After all, it seems like it is a thankless job and you aren’t really able to effect many changes like those that are needed in this country. But after some convincing, I decided to go for it, because I felt that I could be the one to enact the reforms this nation needs to get back on its feet.”

  “The way that we will make help this nation get back on its feet is simple; we take care of one another. From security to health to education, there is nothing that any citizen will not be lacking for once my reforms are put into place. This nation will be the envy of the world one again and an example for the rest of the world to follow. When we are done, other nations will be so jealous of what we have that they will want to simply join the United States.”

  “But this all begins at home, in our streets, in our schools, and in our hospitals. For too long, gangs and rogue militias have been running amok in our streets and this cannot allow to continue unabated. My wonderful campaign manager, Ryan, told you the other night what we plan to do about these rogue forces. I can assure you that it will work, because either these people will take the pardon and be remade into model citizens, or they simply will not fit into the new system and be expunged. I promise you this, you will be able to go to bed this time next year and not have to worry about a riot happening down the street.”

  “And when we have recovered our strength here, we will share the peace we have created throughout the rest of the world. When the other warring countries see that we can reestablish peace, they will want to follow our example and help lead the world to peace once again. When my administration comes into power, things will immediately start changing for the better. The system we will put in place will benefit all Americans.”

  “My opponents are just going to offer you the same solutions that has been tried time and time again. They think that somehow even though they have tried their plan before only to end up where we are now, it will work on this go around. It is unacceptable that this be allowed to continue. We cannot continue to use the same tired, broken solutions that have been tried for decades. If we want to bring the nation from the brink, something radical must be done.”

  During all of this, Jared was listening to the speech, not waiting for anything in particular, but just waiting for a good time to strike. He had been annoyed by the talk of eliminating the gangs; if his boss had not explicitly said to just abduct Hensen, then Jaren might have killed him here instead of abducting him. Jared had wondered why the boss only wanted him kidnapped, but he was sure it would be for a good reason.

  As Liam continued his speech, Jared leaned into his earpiece and said, “There’s a crow in the rafters.”

  It was the signal to engage the plan. Members of the squad went around the convention hall and barred the doors to keep the people from following them. They left one door open for the moment; the door at the other end of the hall from the stage was left unlocked. The Black Hand had gotten a hold of a .50 caliber machine gun that they would threaten the crowd with to keep them still why the abduction was going on. Other members brought up several vehicles to the getaway point.

  “The crows have been cleared out,” Jared heard in his earpiece. He nodded, pulled out his handgun and fired several shots in the air.

  The crowd screamed and ducked away from the sound of the gunfire. Jared quickly moved onto the stage, moving a stunned Liam out of the way and shouted into the microphone, “NOBODY MOVE! A MACHINE GUN HAS BEEN SET UP IN THE ENTRANCE AND WILL BE USED IF ANY OF YOU TRY SOMETHING STUPID!”

  The crowd looked to see that the machine gun had indeed been set up and was pointed at the crowd. They cowered and fell silent while Jared started a brief diatribe. “My name is Jared Bennett. I’m here to teach you all a lesson. This bastard thinks that he can stop the gangs. He is feeding you a lie. No one can stop us. No one can stop the BLACK HAND!”

  At this signal, two of the Black Hand soldiers cut down the American flag draped above the stage and unfurled the Black Hand symbol; a giant black hand pointed downwards on a field of red. “Everyone in this room and everyone in the country should have known better than to think we were dying. We are everywhere and no politician, no matter how hard he promises, will be able to get rid of us. We are taking this charlatan away to hold to prove that no one can stop us!”

  Jared turned his gun on Liam and said, “Move!”

  Liam held his arms up in surrender and moved towards the back of the stage. Jared kept his gun pointed on him as they moved through the maze of hallways towards the extraction point. “Don’t you think that was a bit overblown?” Liam said indignantly.

  “Shut up!” Jared barked.

  “Take it easy, why don’t you,” Liam said, sounding annoyed.

  Jared was wondering why Liam was not as afraid as he should be, but there were other things on his mind than that. They arrived at the extraction point where the rest of the squad had already gathered. They had even managed to recover the machine gun to keep the authorities off their tail as they moved out.

  Jared shoved Liam into one of the cars and climbed him after him. “Keep the cars separate from each other. We all converge on the same point within three hours, clear?!” he shouted.

  “Yes sir!” the squad replied, doing as they were bid.

  Jared slammed the door and said to the driver, “Get us the fuck out of here!”

  The driver obliged and they peeled away from Madison Square Garden, heading west. Liam looked bored as he looked out of the window, watching the city drive by. “I’ve got to admit Jared, this went over better than I thought. When I talked to the Master, she had her doubts you would be able to pull this off after the Staten Island fiasco,” he said.

  Jared was floored. “What the fuck are you talking about?”

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Revelation

  The Conspiracy leaders were all staring at the screen in utter shock. The Globalist Presidential candidate had just been abducted on a live national broadcast by Jared Bennett, the leader of the Black Hand. Their mouths were aghast in horror, trying to make sense of the situation.

  Zach recovered first, “Eric, why didn’t we get notice of this beforehan
d?!”

  “I didn’t know!” Eric protested. “Nearly everyone has been moved out of the city at this point and the ones that are still here are not in regular contact with each other! This had to have been planned by Jared and people very near to him.”

  “Never mind that shit, where was the Secret Service?” Greg asked. “Aren’t they supposed to be guarding Presidential candidates?”

  “The Fed hadn’t gotten around to doing it yet,” Zach explained. “They have to do it within four months of the general election unless the candidate asks early, but Hensen must not have asked for it in advance.”

  “That clearly was not a smart idea,” Greg said. “What are we going to do?”

  “What are we going to do?” Zach asked. “I don’t think we are going to be allowed to do anything, not unless we get called into doing it.”

  “I don’t like the idea of just doing nothing,” Greg said.

  “Greg, we aren’t an official government entity that could get involved in this sort of thing, not unless we were authorized to,” Zach explained. “Trust me on this, I have a lot of experience in this area. We just need to sit tight and wait. If the Fed wants our help, they’ll call us.”

  Greg glowered. He had gotten used to the idea of responding to a Black Hand incursion himself that sitting around waiting while other people took care of the crisis was abhorrent to him. As the network replayed the abduction over and over again, Greg could not help but look up the Black Hand flag and feel rage flow through him as if Jared had unfurled it to taunt him personally. He would make Jared pay for this, if given the opportunity, Greg decided.

  Jared was irate. Liam had toyed with him on the car ride over to where they were holding him, but he had not said a word since. The Black Hand had taken him to an old building along the East River in Queens and had him handcuffed to a desk in a small room. Jared had wanted to just let him stay tied to a chair elsewhere in the building until someone came along to pick him, but his comments in the car had so confused Jared that he altered the plan.