Autumn (Four Seasons Book 1)

by Robert Sullivan

  “We’ll have a majority,” Liam said. “One way or another.”

  The ten o’ clock hour began to wane. The command center was waiting with bated breath as the last few states were close to having their polls closed for the election. At long last, 11 pm rolled in and the polls on the West Coast were closed.

  Liam clutched his seat as Henry said, “NBC will project that Liam Hensen will win the states of Washington and Oregon, while Felicia Hall will win Idaho and Robert Sanchez will win Hawaii. For California and its fifty electoral votes that now will either make Liam Hensen the President or could send the race to the House of Representatives, it is too early to project who will win, though Sanchez is said to be leading in the early vote.”

  “Damn it all!” Ryan shouted.

  “Do we even need California though?” Liam asked. “We’re twelve votes away. Are you sure we don’t need California for that, right?”

  “The only states they haven’t called are Alaska, Arizona, and California,” Trent said. “We’re not getting Alaska or Arizona. We need California to win tonight.”

  “We should have spent more time there,” Liam reiterated.

  “We can’t worry about that right now,” Ryan said. “For now, all we can hope is that this doesn’t go to the House.”

  The mood of the room, which had been jovial earlier that evening, suddenly resumed the tense feeling that pervaded it during the beginning of the evening. Everyone was watching the results trickle in from the Golden State. The night continued to drag on past midnight and even though Liam finally got a lead in the state, it was still too close to call.

  “Is there any way that we could get a coffee in here?” Liam asked blearily as 1 o’ clock came and passed.

  Abby brought him a mug of coffee. “I would’ve figured you would’ve been used to the late nights already,” she said.

  “You’d think,” Liam said, drinking the coffee.

  The 1 o’ clock hour passed. Many in the room were beginning to nod off, simply too tired from a grueling campaign to stay awake much longer. Liam stayed awake with the aid of the coffee, though Julia was soon dozing on his shoulder.

  The panelists had been talking for the past while about what a Hensen Presidency would portend or what would happen if the race went to the House of Representatives. To Liam’s annoyance, Noelle had explained to him that the House didn’t vote by individual representative for the President, but on a state by state basis. The Globalists only had a majority in sixteen states’ delegations, well short of the twenty-six they would need to win a runoff in the lower chamber. It was becoming increasingly clear that the only sure way to get Liam in the White House was with California’s fifty electoral votes.

  2 o’ clock came and went. Most of the California vote was in except for in Los Angeles county. Trent explained that if Liam broke even with or surpassed Robert Sanchez there, he would win the state. It became a lot hairier if Sanchez beat him in Los Angeles, something that Liam did not want to think about.

  At 2:30 am, Trent suddenly nodded at Liam, clearly thoroughly excited. Liam shouted, “Everyone! Wake up!”

  The command center suddenly jumped to attention as Liam stood in front of the TV and grabbed a desk for support.

  “Enough of the California vote has come in that NBC can now make a projection as to who will win that state. Liam Hensen is now projected to win the state’s fifty electoral votes, which gives him a projected total of 308 electoral votes. Liam Hensen is now the President-elect of the United States and will serve as our nation’s fiftieth President.”

  Exclusively for eBook, here is a preview of the first chapter of the upcoming sequel for Autumn:

  Chapter One

  After the Election

  “Are we almost there yet?” Greg asked grumpily.

  “Soon enough,” David said, matching Greg’s moodiness.

  “We need to get everyone together because we need to talk about what we are going to do now that the Black Hand is in control of the country,” Greg reminded him yet again.

  “Greg, I know that,” David shot back. “You are also the one that suggested we take the long way to make Jared Bennett think we weren’t going to Kansas City.”

  Greg sighed. He knew David was right. That had not stopped him from pacing up and down the truck, cursing at everyone in sight until Zach had warned him to shut up.

  Zach came forward to the front of the truck now, looking warily at Greg. “David, how much further is it, anyway?”

  “We’re past Columbia now,” David said. “It’s a couple of hours or so to the Smith house.”

  Zach nodded. He waved at Greg and said, “Come back with me, Greg. We need to talk.”

  Greg glowered, but followed Zach towards the back of the truck, past sleeping Continental soldiers. They sat down on the floor in the back, away from the soldiers in case any were awake and eavesdropping.

  “I want to know what you think our next plan should be,” Zach said simply.

  Greg was surprised; he had expected the talk to be about his behavior on the road to Kansas City. “I…I don’t know right now.”

  “I’m going to be honest with you, I don’t think Kansas City is going to be somewhere we can stay permanently. I’ve been talking to this Spencer and he says that the Black Hand is just as bad there as they were in Manhattan,” Zach explained.

  “Why’d you talk to Spencer?” Greg asked wearily.

  “Just to get a feel for the military situation there,” Zach replied. “With the Black Hand as thick as they are in this area, it’s more likely than not that Jared Bennett is going to know where we are pretty quickly.”

  “So what you are saying is that we are going to get into a fight soon?” Greg asked.

  “If you think that is what Bennett would do, then yes,” Zach said.

  “After what he did to Staten Island, I think he would bring all the Black Hand against us and burn Kansas City to the ground to get to us,” Greg said. “He’s fucking relentless.”

  “And it’s worth bringing up the fact that he will have an administration that won’t care what he does,” Zach said. “He probably can get away with burning a city to the ground if the Globalist regime tags us as undesirable or a threat.”

  “Why wouldn’t they?” Greg asked.

  “Hensen’s plan called for amnesty if criminals and the like gave up before some deadline. It might be we can take advantage of that,” Zach said.

  “What you mean give up?” Greg demanded, horrified.

  “No, no, of course not,” Zach said. “I meant take advantage of the reprieve to prepare for the Black Hand and whatever this administration can throw at us.”

  Greg looked at him blearily. “Do you think we will survive this?”

  “I’m not worried about our survival,” Zach said. “I’m worried about everyone else.”

  Greg looked away at the sleeping soldiers and sighed heavily. “I want a meeting when we get there.”

  The Continentals finally arrived in Kansas City, most of their strength gathered in one place for the first time. David led the convoy through the metropolitan area and into Kansas, heading towards the Smith residence in rural Johnson County. The leader of the local Continentals, Spencer Hayes, had decided to hold the meeting away from the city and had convinced Ed Smith to host. Ed had felt that he owed it to Spencer for helping to keep his family safe from the Black Hand in the last two weeks.

  Upon arriving, they were stopped at a makeshift barricade that Spencer’s forces had thrown together in light of the Black Hand incursion from two weeks prior. Greg marveled at the number of Continental soldiers here and felt a small flicker of hope that they may have a shot at surviving the inevitable Black Hand assault.

  The convoy pulled in front of the expansive house and Greg clambered out, eager to stretch his legs. There were several more Continentals here, all armed. A young man strode forward and said, “Hello, I’m Spencer Hayes.”

  Greg looked at him in surprise, noting
how young Spencer was. “It’s good to finally meet you,” he said, hiding his surprise. “I’m Greg Carlton.”

  Spencer nodded and said, “I’m glad you all got out here in one piece. Did you lose anyone?” he added, pointing at the bullet marks on the truck.

  Greg glanced at what he was referring to and said, “Oh no, that didn’t get anywhere near us. Are the rest of my leaders here?”

  Spencer nodded. “We’re all here. Would you like to get some rest first though? You look like hell.”

  Greg shook his head vigorously. “No, I need to meet with everyone. Now.”

  Within minutes, everyone was in the living room. Greg looked around at them and felt glad that they were all here safely at least, given what had happened. “Thanks for coming out so promptly,” he told the assembled leaders. “And Ed, thank you for letting us hold this meeting here.”

  “The city is crawling with Black Hand agents from what Spencer here tells me,” Ed replied. “I’m glad to help after what Spencer has done for me.”

  “And I’ll continue to do so,” Spencer said. “Greg, it’s a pleasure to meet you in person.”

  “I wish it was under better circumstances,” Greg said, rubbing his eyes. “Look, I’m not going to sugarcoat this. We got into a fight with the Black Hand on the way out of New York.”

  “That somehow doesn’t surprise me,” Charles said.

  “It’s not what you think,” Greg interjected. “Jared Bennett lured me into a trap.”

  “What? How?” Ashley asked.

  Greg deliberately avoided her eyes as he said to the floor, “He somehow had my old fiancée Veronica.”

  Ashley looked up and closed her eyes, taking a deep breath. Greg continued to avoid looking at her as he said, “Jared sent a video to my apartment that showed Veronica tied up and he was threatening her if I didn’t turn myself over.”

  “So what did you do?” Eric asked.

  “I did surrender myself,” Greg said.

  Ashley suddenly got up and left the room, disappearing out the front door. Greg watched her go before saying, “Veronica wasn’t there though. It was just a trap. I met Jared Bennett in person. He was going on about how he was going to have me tortured to death, but Zach here ambushed the building and got me out of there.” Greg smiled wryly. “Jared still hasn’t learned how to avoid getting ambushed by us apparently.”

  “Okay, so other than Bennett somehow having gotten a hold of Veronica, nothing doesn’t really seem…” Christine started

  “They’re working for the Globalists,” Greg interrupted. “Jared told me that the Black Hand is working for the Globalists.”

  There was a stunned silence at this pronouncement. “That’s…brilliant,” Spencer said, looking like he was afraid to admit it.

  “It really is,” Greg said. “Having the Black Hand terrorize the country to the point where people feel forced to vote for the Globalists. It’s perfect.”

  “So…if we’re going to keep fighting the Black Hand, then we’re going to rebelling against the United States government?” Spencer asked.

  Greg nodded. “It’s not a pleasant prospect.”

  “It’s a fucking disaster,” Spencer said. “We have barely been putting up a reasonable fight against the Black Hand, but there’s no way we can fight them if they have the Fed behind them. What the hell are we going to do?”

  “Leave the country?” Eric suggested.

  “Let’s keep that one in our back pocket,” Charles said. Everyone looked at him, surprised, leading him to continue, “It’s not an idea we can just dismiss out of hand.”

  “Fine,” Greg replied.

  “We only have three choices,” Christine said. “Fight, run, or die.”

  “I’m fighting,” Zach said. “I did not serve this country just to see it fall under the Black Hand’s control. You can all do whatever the fuck you want.”

  Spencer looked at him and said, “You can’t do that by yourself. And I have over a thousand Continentals here in the area who could use some military-class training.”

  “I’ll be glad to have you and your people, Spencer,” Zach said, nodding at him. He got a closer look at him and said, “What’s your last name?”

  “Hayes,” Spencer said. “Why?”

  Zach nodded in sudden understanding. “I fought with your father. He raised you well.”

  Spencer looked surprised, but said, “Thank you.”

  “Is anyone else staying?” Zach demanded.

  Greg, still looking at the floor, said, “I’m staying.” He got up and left the living room, deciding to look for Ashley.

  Ashley was sitting on the front porch, wiping tears from her eyes. “What the fuck do you want?” she demanded after seeing it was Greg.

  “I…I wanted to talk to you,” Greg said.

  “You risked your life to save your supposedly dead fiancée,” Ashley said bitterly. “Tell me, Greg, were you just using me all that time? Was I just your shoulder to cry on?”

  “No,” Greg replied firmly.

  “You still love her after all this time, don’t you?” Ashley demanded.

  “Ashley…” Greg started. He couldn’t find himself finishing what he was trying to say.

  Ashley groaned in annoyance. “I don’t have anywhere to go and I don’t trust anyone to take over my social media network. But Greg, we’re through.”

  Ashley got up and went back inside, leaving Greg out in the cold. Greg sighed heavily and looked out towards the horizon. “Jared, you’re going to pay for this,” he muttered angrily.

  Later that evening, most of the Continental leadership was sleeping in tents on the Smith property, which was still well guarded in case of any Black Hand attack. Greg had retired to sleep as well, exhaustion having finally caught up to him after the long trip. The only leader still up was Zach, who was prowling the ranks of the local Continental forces, making sure they were up to the task. Spencer accompanied him, making sure that he had been directing his forces properly.

  Zach had made little comment, other than barking at the occasional soldier to hold their firearm correctly. After a while, Spencer finally asked, “So what do you think?”

  Zach looked around at the other Continental soldiers and said, “You could’ve done a lot worse, given the situation. You have all access points covered, your forces have a good field of vision in all directions, and everyone is reasonably hidden. You set this up in one night?”

  “Yes,” Spencer replied. “The family that lives here has a daughter that was involved in our spy ring. They were all found out, but our spy here got away. The Black Hand found out though and besieged the place a couple of weeks back. We set this up and deterred them from attacking.”

  Zach frowned. “That’s a lot of effort to go through for one person. Is all of your strength concentrated here?”

  “No,” Spencer replied firmly. “I’ve got agents all over the city and the ones that are here are doing so on a volunteer basis. We’re trying to find any Black Hand concentrations, but they are as elusive as we are.”

  “Except for the ones that are here,” Zach said. “The people we brought from New York will stay here on the property to take over guarding it. I want you to send your people back into the city. I also need people to try to infiltrate the Black Hand again.”

  Spencer looked shocked and asked, “After what happened?”

  “I trust that you will have learned from that, like we did,” Zach said impatiently. “Talk with Eric. He’s been despondent since his spy ring collapsed and I’m hoping that getting him back in the game helps.”

  “Anything else?” Spencer asked glumly.

  “It wouldn’t hurt to bring your people around from time to time so I can make sure they are up to the task,” Zach said. “Especially if there are going to be new recruits. They need to be ready.”

  “Ready for what?” Spencer said.

  Zach looked at him and said, “The leader of the entire Black Hand is going to be coming after us, wi
th all the strength he can muster.”