Nano Surveillance (Dave Henson Series Book 1) (32 page)

Chapter 80 (March 30, Saturday 1:00pm Central Daylight Savings Time)

Since the President had declared martial law two days ago, active and reserve military units, as well as state National Guard units, and state and local police forces, began patrolling the streets in all major cities around the country. Besides military and police personnel patrolling the streets on foot in full battle gear and brandishing automatic weapons, light military equipment including Humvees and Armored personnel carriers, crisscrossed the city streets and roadways to provide an extra level of intimidation. A 9:00pm local curfew had also been included as part of the President’s martial law directive. Consequently, streets had to be cleared of all pedestrian and automobile traffic, with the exception of critical services such as ambulatory medical staff and utility service workers.

The public was outraged with the President’s martial law directive and were protesting constantly during daylight hours in the streets, and whenever they could get away with it, into the late evenings. Small shoving and pushing skirmishes had broken out between military units and citizens in various protests around the country, but fortunately no one had been seriously injured so far. 

It was early Saturday afternoon in downtown Dallas and another protest was forming. There were already ten thousand people in the streets of Dallas comprising of all ages and walks of people. Of particular surprise was the high number of college students that were participating in today’s protest. Up until the President had instituted martial law, college campuses around the country had seen little outrage or activity in terms of student protests. The President had been “their man” ever since he had made it to the national political stage nearly a decade ago, and they had continued to back him up until they were told they had to be locked down inside their dorm rooms and apartments after 9:00pm.  They had been a loyal and vocal political demographic group for him on key initiatives that he had successfully championed through Congress over the years, including healthcare and immigration reform. They had even been his strongest supporters for his successful change of federal laws that eliminated Presidential term limits. And for their support, the President had rewarded the students well, with the federal legalization of marijuana, dramatic increases in college financial aid money, and student loan forgiveness programs for graduates who couldn’t find employment in their field of study within two years of graduation. But the institution of martial law had hit a raw nerve on college campuses. It was one thing for college students not to be able to find a job after graduation, but it was another thing to eliminate their ability to socialize, mingle and hook up. The former they could accept, with the President’s lavish unemployment safety net programs, however, the latter was unacceptable. The idea of being grounded by anyone, and effectively imprisoned, was a complete anathema to them. This was the generation who had grown up doing what they wanted and where they wanted, parental rules and civil laws be damned.  So college students from all over the greater Dallas area had come to protest with the older working class men and women. And with them they had brought their energy and new vitriol for the President.

Jane Wilson and Mary Sullivan had also decided to participate in today’s protest, and each had brought with them one of their children. Jane, her ten year old son John, and Mary her twelve year old daughter Meghan. The liberating experience they had felt a couple of days ago when they joined the spontaneous protest had been so powerful that they couldn’t resist their desire to participate in today’s more organized protest. 

Besides all the protestors in downtown Dallas, there were also a couple of thousand military army reservists and local law enforcement personnel. So far the protest had been fairly peaceful with people simply marching in the streets and demanding the impeachment of the President. As a result, the soldiers and police units were simply observing the crowds and showing a presence.

However, as the Dallas afternoon wore on and the crowds became larger, the intensity of the protest picked up. College students had become increasingly vocal as the hours had passed by. Many were intoxicated. The energy of the crowd, and particularly among the college students groups, had become palpable. The tipping point came at 3 o’clock in the afternoon when one male twenty-five year old college student literally threw his body through a plate glass window of a convenient mart. His simple incendiary act of violence was instantly contagious. Within seconds, other college students in the protest march began turning over cars in the streets, kicking in store windows, and throwing whatever they could find at both windows and the law enforcement.

Immediately the military reservists and the police tried to stem the outbreak of violence, however, their attempts to curb it only exacerbated the situation. Within minutes, the entire Dallas protest degenerated into the equivalent of a raging forest fire of violence. Many of the non-college student protestors attempted to run from the violence. However, the police and military reservists interpreted the rush as a threat to their personal safety. Shots began to be fired from both the military and police. Though they were using rubber bullets, at close range they were nearly as damaging to human tissue as regular ammunition. As the gunshots started to occur, the protest instantly broke out into wild chaos with people fighting, screaming, and running in all different directions to get away from the violence and turmoil.  

Jane Wilson and Mary Sullivan, along with their children, had been near the group of college students that had initiated the violence. Like the other non-college students, they had panicked when the violence broke out and had started to rush away from it, each pulling their own child behind them by the hand. As they approached the wall of army reservists, Jane heard the crack of gun fire and saw the smoke from the fired weapons. In a heartbeat Jane saw people around her go down. Her ears were ringing and motion seamed to slow to a stop. She was still holding on to John’s hand when she turned to her left. When she did, she saw Mary on the ground with a crimson stain growing on her chest. Mary’s daughter Meghan was down on the ground beside her, holding her head and screaming and crying. Mary’s eyes and mouth were open, but no sound or life shown from them. Similarly, around Jane lie several other people dead or injured. Blood was everywhere. Jane put her arms around her son John who was standing shaking and crying, and the two collapsed on the ground huddled next to Meghan and Mary’s body. She sobbed, rocking her son John back and forth in her arms as the wave of humanity and violence passed around them like a raging fire sweeping through a forest. Within minutes the violence had passed and medical personnel were on the scene to help the injured. Jane, however, just continued to hold her son and sob as her world and country collapsed around her.

Chapter 81 (March 30, Saturday 4:00pm Mountain Daylight Savings Time)

Dave, Dana and the rest of the NSurv team were huddled over a computer watching a news piece on the Dallas massacre that had occurred earlier in the day during a protest march. The violence had been extensive with a dozen people killed and more than fifty injured. All of it at the hands of people who were supposed to protect them. The public outcry was already at fever pitch all around the country, however, no further violence had occurred. At least not yet.

“I think we need to up our timetable on the next video release,” said Dave, after watching the video news clip of the violence that had unfolded in Dallas. “The longer we wait the more likely additional lives will be lost or irreparably damaged.”

“I agree,” said Dana. “We’re nearly done with the edits to the video and I can wrap up overlaying the narration by noontime tomorrow. The sooner we release the video the sooner we can convince the Congress to impeach this sick President and his administration. I can’t believe what we’re seeing unfold in our country. After watching what we just saw in Dallas, I’m at the point of seriously wondering what country I live in. This is not the United States that I grew up in, nor is it a place that I want to continue to live in, if this is truly the new normal.”

“It’s not the new normal,” responded Ron vehemently. “As tragic as what happened today in Dallas, it was a crystal clear historical reminder to the American public on what happens when you don’t keep constant vigilance on your government. A government that is given unfettered powers to do what it wants when it wants, via a lack of public oversight, or by a corrupt national press, will always end badly for the people it governs. Based upon the national outrage we are now seeing, as a result of today’s tragic event, the citizens who lost their lives in Dallas was not in vain. They made the ultimate sacrifice today to effectively remind us where we came from and what made the United States once great. We’re going to take out this President and his allies tomorrow, and return this country to a path of opportunity and prosperity for those who want to work for it.”

“Amen to that,” responded Dana as the others nodded their heads in agreement.

“Okay, we’ll plan to release the video for 3 o’clock tomorrow afternoon,” said Dave. “Jeff Kolosky will deliver the final blow the following evening. Based upon the events that unfolded today, these two video releases should seal the fate on the President’s demise. I’ll wager that he’ll be out of office within the next seventy-two hours.”

“Dr. Gillian and Joe, please make sure those sensors on the driveway are in peak operation again. Also, let’s all begin to pack up any remaining items we don’t anticipate using anymore or don’t mind leaving behind. I have this uneasy feeling in my stomach that we’re about to be paid a visit by the Feds.”

Chapter 82 (March 31, Sunday 8:00am Mountain Daylight Savings Time)

Barbas’s men, Alex and Basil, were heading north on a poorly maintained road in their beige sedan. They had spent the night at a cheap hotel near the airport they had checked out the previous day. Their initial inquiries with the FBO operator at that airport had led them on a wild goose chase that cost them the entire day.  The FBO desk jock had said he had seen a Bombardier Challenger business jet fly into the airport a couple of days ago, but that it had departed after a short two hour layover. While the aircraft was on the ground it refueled and the FBO had delivered food for the crew and passengers. He also reported that the aircraft had some local visitors that had driven in and met with them during their layover. The desk jock said he recognized the vehicle of the car and its owner, so Alex and Basil drove out to his home to pay the man a visit. They had also contacted Barbas about the possible lead.

After not finding the man at home and spending nearly four hours tracking him down, they finally found him working at a hole-in-the-wall auto garage on the outskirts of the town. It turned out the guy was an ex-Air Force aircraft mechanic and knew the pilot of the business jet. The pilot had called him a week ago and had said he would be stopping into the airport for a brief visit to pick up some equipment for their passenger. So he and a local buddy of his had simply gone out to say hello to his old friend and to take a look at the jet. In the meantime, Barbas had checked out the registration tail number of the jet and it turned out it was owned and operated by an oil and gas company that had operations in North Dakota.

So after wasting an entire day, and suffering yet another brutal round of verbal abuse from Barbas, they were now enroute back to Cut Bank Airport eating slices of cold left over pizza for breakfast. Besides continuing their conversation with the cute blond FBO attendant, they also planned to pay some visits with the other locals on and around the airport. In particular, they wanted to meet up with the man who was driving the old S60 Volvo.

Chapter 83 (March 31, Sunday 2:00pm Mountain Daylight Savings Time)

What the NSurv team hoped would be the final video that they would need to shock the public, and its elected congressional members, into action was ready for broadcast. The team had worked nearly all night long to complete it. Dave and Dana wrapped up the final narration edits at 4:00am in the morning, before they finally retired to their beds. Due to the late night, the team had gotten a late start in the morning. As a result, they were rushing to pack up the remaining lab and computer equipment, as well as all of their personal belongings, and load them into the Ford Explorer and Lexus SUV.

As soon as the video was broadcast, Dave’s plan was to have the team drive the three vehicles back to the airport and load their contents into the aircraft before all of them would depart the country for Calgary, Canada.  He had figured that Canada was the safest place to be to watch the politics unfold in the United States over the next week or so. Assuming his desired outcome for the U.S. politics, the removal of the President and his administration, he hoped that they would be able to return to the U.S within the next couple of weeks, without having to be sent to prison.

Crossing into Canada required an Instrument Flight Rule (IFR) plan to be filed with the FAA.  However, he was going to skip that little technicality and fly fast and low into Canadian airspace. When he neared Calgary Airport he would contact Canadian Air Traffic control and request for an emergency landing. Once on the ground, he’d have to improvise a plan depending upon the Canadian government’s reaction to his unfiled flight. At least all of the team had their passports in their possession. Canada was also typically more lenient with U.S. citizens entering their country illegally. The only wild card would be if there was already an international arrest warrant for them, and Canada’s willingness to support the U.S. government extradition wishes for them. For now, he’d have to put those concerns on the back burner and focus more on the task at hand, preparing for the broadcast of the video and their imminent departure out of Cut Bank, Montana.

Dave had given a weapon to everyone on the team, with the exception of Dr. Gillian, simply due to the fact that they were one gun short. Also, Dr. Gillian was not thrilled with the idea of possibly having to shoot at someone, even if it meant saving his own life. Ron and he each had a pistol, and Dana and Joe had the rifles. Ron had shown the two how to operate the rifles the previous day, doing a little target practice out behind their building. Both Joe and Dana had become fairly accurate marksmen, even though they only had a couple of hours to become familiar with the weapons.

At 2:45pm the vehicles were all loaded up, and only a computer and a router remained on a lab bench in the building. The computer drive had been cleaned of all of its previous contents. The only thing that remained on it was the video that they were about to broadcast, and the software to run it and interrupt the normal broadcast stations and network servers. Dr. Gillian, however, still held onto his laptop to keep tabs on the surveillance cameras mounted down the long driveway.

Akin to a sports team waiting to leave the locker room just before the start of a game, the small NSurv group sat around the small empty lab area fidgeting and waiting to go live at the top of the hour with the video. Everyone was anxious to release it and get out of Cut Bank, as the news reports had still been coming in that the Feds were traipsing all over the northwest part of the country looking for them. But Dave and Dana wanted to wait until 3:00pm sharp. On the east coast it would be 5 o’clock when they released the video. Regional television stations typically started their local news segments at that time. In addition, people would most likely be wrapping up their weekend activities and be either at home unwinding in front of their televisions and computers, or listening to their radio in their vehicles as they drove home.

Dave had also checked out the local weather conditions at the airport and up in Canada. Again, it was another spring day in the northwest. The temperatures were still only in the low 40’s and the winds were kicking up out of the west at 25 knots. The sky was also solidly overcast, but fortunately the lowest cloud layer was at 3,000 feet AGL and there was no precipitation expected. It would be a bumpy ride flying at a low altitude, but at least he’d be able to see where he was flying.