New America 02 - Resistance (18 page)

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

Christina Dupree was having the time of her life. Walt Disney World was fun,
but it wasn’t actually an amusement park anymore - she couldn’t enjoy the rides or have her picture taken with Mickey Mouse. Then a group of soldiers moved her from Walt Disney World to Fort Polk, Louisiana.  At first the soldiers frightened her, but she soon learned they’d moved her for a good reason.  Colonel Rutherford told her she had been selected by President Sterling as the spokesperson for orphans of the collapse.  When she tried to explain that her mother was still alive, the president said she was probably lost somewhere and they would do everything to find her.  Until then, the colonel said her story of survival was an inspiration to families across the nation.  Christina was frightened by large crowds; the thought of having to speak in front of lots of people made her stomach hurt. Colonel Rutherford had told her not to worry. All she had to do was smile and wave to the crowd; someone else would do all the talking.  Christina reluctantly agreed.  After all, she was being treated like a celebrity and given three square meals a day and a warm bed to sleep in.  Why protest?

When Christina arrived at Fort Polk
, she was placed with a loving family and even went to school for the first time in her life.  She was ten years old and a little embarrassed to be in the first grade, but the children in her class were very friendly. Christina soon found a best friend in Heather Sanderson.  They would play together at recess and shared a table at lunch.  Heather even invited her for sleepovers and would help her learn to read.

One morning, Christina went to school only to find Heather and her br
other, Brent, absent.  That evening she politely asked her host family if she could call to check on them.

“Sanderson residence; this is Colonel Sanderson.”

“Hello, mister…uh, Colonel Sanderson. This is Chrissy Dupree. May I please speak to Heather?”

“Hi, Chrissy. Hold on a sec; let me get her.”

Chrissy waited patiently.  “Hi, Heather. Why weren’t you at school today?”

“Oh, my family is going on a trip.  Dad has some military stuff to do in Denver, and he’s taking us with him. It’s like a little vacation.  I asked him if you could come with us, and he said it wasn’t a good idea. You’d miss too much school.”

“Oh man!  I wanna come!  Maybe I can get my assignments from Mrs. Slayton and you could help me.”

“Let me ask Dad. Hold on.”

Chrissy waited anxiously for the answer.  “He said it’s fine with him. He wants you to put Mr. Tolbert on the phone to talk to him about it.”

“
That’s awesome!  Hold on.”  Chrissy explained the plan to her host parent and handed him the phone.  After a minute or so of pleasant conversation, he smiled and returned the phone to Chrissy so the girls could finalize their plans. 

Poor Mr. Tolbert had no idea that his gracious decision was going to cost him dearly with Colonel Rutherford.  

***

“They have what?”  Howard Beck was eating dinner in the command center of Beck Castle.

“The message said ‘high value
UAE prisoner.’”  Marshall Beck always found pleasure in seeing his father smile, which was certain to be the result of this intriguing news.

“Wait, this has to be a mistake.  Benjamin Black, the guy that runs Disney World?”

“Yes, Pop, that’s exactly right.  They’re taking the prisoner to Fort Polk to rendezvous with Colonel Sanderson.  The problem is, they don’t know the location of Beck Castle, but the widespread rumor is that we’re near Denver.  Security is sending out some men to meet them at a secure location outside the city.”

Howard smiled.  “With our invasion of California a disaster, this news almost makes up for the tragedy.  I can’t wait to find out who it is.  Probably a high ranking general.”

“Richard will be happy as well.”

“Yes, the good gener
al would love to debrief a high-value asset.”

“Oh, I can’t wait for them to get here!  Who’s in charge of security with Max gone?”

“Dennis Twigg.”

“Inform Mr. Twigg
of the arrival of our prisoner.  I want four men guarding the detention cell at all times.  The cell door is not to open without me, you, or Richard present.”

“I’ll get it done.  Any news from California?”

“Max is in surgery now. Another thirty-two have serious injuries that will probably require surgery at some point.  Close to a hundred more are waiting to be patched up and moved back to the PSA.”

“The Chinese?”

“They’ve wiped out every major military base this side of the Rockies.  They’ll have boots on the ground very soon, I would guess.”

“Is Hal ready for them?”

“Old Man, where do we stand?”

“Sir, the EMP shield has already been deployed over the PSA.  No aircraft or vehicle will enter our airspace without our permission.  I’ve modified the sonic repulsor design we had at Beck Manor to operate on a much larger scale.  Sonic repulsors are operational near every major city and in overlapping positions down the coast.  Any artillery they fire on us or bombs they attempt to drop will be stopped.”

“Hal, you’ve done an outstanding job.  Are we ready to engage the fighter drones to defend east of the Rockies?  I wish we could’ve stopped them at California.”

“Sir, I will endeavor to have the fighter drones up and running as soon as possible.  I estimate three hours and fourteen minutes until launch.”

“Good work, Old Man.”

“Thank you, sir.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

“Benjamin, I don’t know wh
y we don’t just get the hell out of here before they show up.”  Jessica Bradley was one of the few people brave enough to disagree with Benjamin after his mind was made up.  Benjamin valued her counsel for this very reason.

“They can’t come down I-95; it’s torn to shit.  Their only choice is I-75. It’s the only passable interstate in Florida.  They think we’re on their side. Best chance we have is to lure them into a trap and wipe them out.  We’ve
got the home field advantage. We could take them out and hit the road.”

“They’re coming for the fucking president of the UAE! You know they’re gonna
expect some serious heat!”

“Again, Jessica, they
think it’s an escort mission. They have no reason to expect hostility.  They want Sterling secured at McClellan as quickly as possible. A big convoy of vehicles will only slow them down.  I’m guessing they’ll send three vehicles, maybe four.  We can take them.  Trust me.”

“I d
o. I just think we could whoop their asses and run. They’d never find us.”

“Far too risky. We can’t bring an army on the road with us anymore than they can.  We run into them on the road and it’ll get ugly quick.”

“Okay, I see your point.  So what do we do?”

“The same thing we did when Sterling got here.  Get them out of their vehicles, surround them, and shoot them all in the fucking head.”

“I can get behind that plan.”

***

Stacy Reid was bound and gagged in the trunk of President Sterling’s limousine.  She had no idea where she was or what was going on.  The limo had stopped, followed by the deafening roar of gunfire.  Stacy counted three bullet holes in the trunk. She was thankful for two of them as they gave her precious air to breathe.  The third, on the other hand, had grazed her left calf muscle.  With her hands and feet tied, all she could do was press her calf against the floor of the trunk in an attempt to stop the bleeding.

S
tacy knew one thing for certain: If someone didn’t find her soon, she stood a good chance of bleeding to death.

***

“Sir, the one-mile sentry is reporting their arrival.”

“Did he give a status report?  How many vehicles?”

“I can’t raise him.  He’s not answering his radio.”

Shit.

“Try him again. Now!”

“Sentry-one, come back.  Bobby, come in. Over.”

Silence.

Shit.

“Fall back!  Goddammit!  Fall back!”

Jessica sprinted to Ben.  “What?”

“Jessica, you were right! They know what we’re doing.”

***

“Charles, are you sure this is a good idea?”  Jackson Butler and his associate were sitting motionless in Charles’ nondescript sedan. 

“Sir, the next phase of our employer’s plan can’t proceed unless we deliver the package to Beck Castle.  This is the only way. I’ve tried other means, but this opportunity will not present itself again.”

“The Chinese think I doubled-crossed them. They want me dead.”

“I’m confident that I can remedy the situation, sir.  It will soon be abundantly clear that the PSA was planning an invasion.”

“The plan is never going to work. The Chinese will occupy half the country in a matter of weeks.  They were supposed to arrive as allies, not conquerors.”

“Sir, I sincerely hope you’re not that naive.  I’m confident that all will be forgiven if you can deliver the artificial intelligence.  Our employer is having difficulty breaching the PSA.”

“You’re serious?  That crazy old retard is giving the
m problems?  I had no difficulty throwing his ass out of his own house, and the mighty Chinese army can’t match wits with him?”

“Sir, I’m afraid you exaggerate. He put up a formidable fight for his hom
e, and he’s far from retarded. Many call him our generation’s Einstein.”

“Whatever. Let’s get on with it.  How long till they get here?”

“Any minute.”

“Well, I better get in place.”

“Sir, I look forward to our next meeting.”

Jackson hurried from the vehicle and stood in the middle of the road.  Right on schedule, the security escort rounded the corner.  The four SUVs stopped a hundred yards from Jackson. After what
seemed like an eternity, the passenger-side door of the lead vehicle opened and a sharp looking agent stepped out.

“State your business!  Keep your hands up where I can see them!”

“Sir, I am Regional Governor Jackson Butler.  The president’s life is in danger.  The people in this compound are holding him hostage.  Do you recognize me?  Do you know who I am?”

“Yes, I do, Governor Butler.  We
need to wait for reinforcements; I hear this place is heavily armed.  I can radio back. I have a secure phone.”

“No!  Stop!  We need to act now.  I have a platoon-sized force with me. I didn’t want them visible to you for fear you might jump to the wrong conclusion and start a fight.  My men will join you.  We have to act now before they try to move him!”

***

Charles watched the charade conti
nue as he picked up his phone. “Ready?”

“Yes.  When do you want us to move in?”

“The governor is going to stay behind with me. During the battle, your team will swoop in and stop the security escort.  Jackson will arrive pretending to be the hero who saved the day.”

“Wait. We’re doing this so he can get caught?”

“You need not concern yourselves with the details.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

General Richard Dupree was aboard his stealth jet with fifteen uninjured soldiers.  The craft was designed to carry twelve, but they managed to squeeze in an extra four.  Nine other jets were in formation behind him.  As soon as they landed and unloaded the passengers, the jets would take off to repeat the process.  It would take eight round-trips to collect what was left of the bulk of the California invasion force.

Once
inside the Castle, Richard high-tailed it to the command center to find Howard.

“What the hell happened?  The Chinese, Howard?  What the hell are they doing?”

Howard was fond of directness, preferring to dispense with the customary pleasantries.  “It would seem that Jackson Butler tried to broker some idiotic deal with the Chinese.  I’m guessing he invited them to come over and protect us from Iran as our allies.” 

“Sinking three cruise ships before they hit our shores doesn’t exactly qualify them as our allies.” 

“They probably mistook us for the UAE and thought Jackson double crossed them.”

“Makes sense.  How bad is it?”

“Very bad.  They’ve crippled every military asset this side of the Rockies.  They’ve got boots on the ground in L.A., San Diego, and San Francisco, with thousands more coming in by the hour.”

“Seattle?”

“Hal gave them a bit of a surprise when they tried to cross our borders.  The EMP shield went online without a hitch.”

“Didn’t even get a chance to test it, did you?”

“Nope.  The sonic repulsors are swatting down anything they throw at us, but we can’t stop them from swimming to shore or walking across our border with California.”

“For the time being, they won’t.  Without bombing runs and artillery fire, they don’t have the advantage. There’s just too much resistance.”

***

Clarence Whipp was raised by a man known to many as a “gun nut.”  His father worshipped the second amendment as scripture and was a founding member of the Central California Patriots Militia.  Clarence spent his childhood learning everything there was to know about firearms, and he quickly became a prize-winning sharpshooter.  The CCPM had swelled to over five hundred members prior to the Collapse of 2027, and it continued to grow under the leadership of the senior Whipp and his son.

When the Unified American Empire came to power and pissed all over the Bill of Rights, the CCPM headed underground.  Members of the militia had to bury their weapons and ammo in caches spread out across central California.  Almost a third of their numbers were executed by the UAE for either protesting or carrying firearms despite the ban. 

Like many Americans, Clarence had no idea that the UAE had been decapitated in Florida or that President Sterling had been taken prisoner.  That fact didn’t matter when Chinese paratroopers dropped out of the sky like confetti on New Year’s Day.   Clarence and his men had been preparing for the day when the UAE was vulnerable and weak enough to suffer an all-out guerrilla war.  The UAE was no longer the issue at hand; a much more powerful and lethal army was spilling onto the shores of the former United States, hell-bent on conquering their homeland.  Clarence and his men would fight to the death to stop them.

All across the nation, true patriots had perished under the wicked thumb of the UAE.  They died for their steadfast belief in the right to bear arms in order to protect all they held most dear.  Those brothers and sisters fortunate enough to outlive them would pry the rifles from their cold, dead hands and carry on the fight.  The living vowed tostand up to the domination of those who tried to rob them of the very tools needed to prevent such tyranny in the first plac
e
.

The Unified American Empire was a short-lived experiment.  Simon Sterling was a failure.  He appointed himself ruler of a government he was certain would be both efficient and minimal.  He aimed to consolidate his power by robbing the people of their basic freedoms, oblivious to the fact that an unarmed populace would be no match for a fierce invading force.

***

Mutee Azimi had a new mission.  His old one was going to be the biggest environmental disaster in recent history.  Mutee had acquired a large quantity of sodium cyanide, enough to poison the water supply of Sacramento and the surrounding cities.  During his training as a Silent Warrior, Mutee was indoctrinated to do two things: destroy the American culture and prepare for the invasion of America by The Great Empire of Iran.  The former was going spectacularly; the latter was being infringed upon by the opportunistic Chinese.  The Chinese problem was one that would definitely have to be addressed; the real estate was far too valuable to hand over to them without a fight.  Allah had expanded the Muslim world further than he had in all of history. The former United States would be used to further his glory.

Mutee decided not to waste his lethal chemical.  He and his men divided up the deadly substance and headed out across California to find the Chinese encampments.  Mutee was shocked at the lack of security the invading force
s placed on their own water supply.  Weapon and ammo depots were heavily guarded, for obvious reasons, but five- and ten-thousand-gallon tanks of water sat virtually unattended. Under the cloak of darkness and camouflaged in stolen Chinese uniforms, Mutee and his cell systematically poisoned the water supply. To guarantee their own escape, they dosed the water with small enough quantities of the chemical to ensure that it would take forty-eight to seventy-two hours for the infected to succumb. The Silent Warriors were richly rewarded for their efforts as the Chinese began to die by the thousands.