NEXT BEST HOPE (The Revelation Trilogy) (14 page)

The only thing the delegates wanted was an up or down vote on the secession issue. Leon saw to it that they got what they wanted, but only after they had made all the important decisions about governance. By the time he stood on the podium on the last day of the meeting, he had accomplished more than he could ever have dreamed. He had control of the governments of each state through a politburo, ill-defined, but all powerful. He assured everyone that J. Franklin Westmoreland would serve as leader of the New Israel as long as he desired.

Westmoreland remained out of touch, a political prisoner of the feds.

Flash’s show filled the airwaves everyday with news from the conventions.

“Tomorrow these delegates will face the toughest decision any group of representatives has dealt with in the last one hundred and fifty years,” he said. “May God be with them as they decide the fate of what used to be our country.”

•  •  •

Behind the scenes, respected leaders from CM and the United States met to attempt to work out some semblance of a plan for a political transition.

“You guys realize that you are about to cut yourselves off from the greatest democracy that has ever existed on the face of the earth, don’t you?” Sherman Aloysius asked Leon’s deputy for domestic affairs at one of these meetings.

“Its greatness stemmed from its early adherence to Christian values,” the deputy said. “The country has now forsaken those cherished beliefs.”

“Cherished beliefs like slavery and child labor and the lack of women’s suffrage?” Sherman asked.

“I can see there is no reason for us to try to reach any kind of agreement,” the deputy said, ending the conversation.

“Fascist,” Sherman said as he watched him walk away.

•  •  •

On the third night of the secession conventions, the elected members of the legislatures of Texas, Georgia, Mississippi, Colorado and Alaska, bowing to the pressure of their constituencies, voted overwhelmingly to secede from the United States of America and form a new nation, New Israel. In each state, the delegates, in the presence of the general assembly, held a formal ceremony where they signed articles of secession and elected ambassadors to deliver the documents to the president of the United States.

When the ceremonies ended in the respective states, they immediately convened the first national conference of New Israel via a video hookup. Leon Martinez presided over the meeting, which had only one purpose, the selection of the nation’s leader.

“My fellow countrymen,” Martinez began. “Today we have made history. Now let us move forward, let us bring in the kingdom of heaven.”

When the shouting died down in the halls, he continued.

“I now place before you the name of the one man who has already demonstrated his fitness to serve as our leader by the sacrifice of his liberty. We will call him not a president, or a czar, or a king, but rather we will call him what he is, a prophet. I move we appoint by acclamation J. Franklin Westmoreland, the prophet of the New Israel, to serve as our leader so long as God in his infinite wisdom sees fit.”

For ten minutes the crowd chanted, “Prophet Westmoreland, Prophet Westmoreland,” while Leon stood on the podium, his hands raised to God, his face aglow with a spiritual aura, or a well-placed spotlight.

After the demonstrations on the convention floors subsided, the Texas governor moved next to Leon on the rostrum.

“Ladies and gentlemen,” he began. “We all know Prophet Westmoreland will need a good right hand, especially, so long as he remains a prisoner in a foreign land. I move we appoint, by acclamation, Leon Martinez, to serve as his apostle, with full authority to act on his behalf.”

“Apostle Martinez, Apostle Martinez,” the crowd roared.

Leon embraced the Texas governor, then before the combined assemblies knelt beside the lectern and offered a prayer for God to bestow his blessings on his chosen people, the New Israel.

AFTER CONFERRING WITH
Professor Strube, Ert, Leadoff, Link, Sherman, and a host of other advisors, President Whitfield decided he knew as much as he was going to know about the crisis and went into action.

He refused to meet with the ambassadors of the various states who sought to present articles of secession to him, sending them a message from his staff that they would be arrested if they tried to set foot on the White House grounds. The emissaries, ever cautious, reported this to their home states and retreated to five star restaurants in the district to await their next orders.

He then issued Executive Order 101 that required any state that signed articles of secession to refund, within thirty days, any federal money paid to the state since the signing of the articles and to submit a plan whereby the seceding states would pay reparations to the United States for the improvements on their land provided at the expense of federal tax money. For instance, each state received a bill for its share of the costs of the Interstate highways built in its territory.

Executive Order 101 also required federal troops at military bases in the would-be seceding states to stand their ground. If approached by representatives of New Israel, they were not to abandon their posts or any of their equipment to any entity not recognized officially by the United States. If they felt threatened by the rebel forces, they were to use whatever force necessary to defend themselves and protect the property of the United States.

He ordered the acting secretary of the treasury to withhold payments of any federal money to the seceding states until they complied with Executive Order 101. The secretary of the treasury put an immediate hold on all Social Security and Medicare checks, pending the outcome of the dispute.

At the state lines of the seceding states, he stationed federal troops along every state highway, farm-to-market road and Interstate. When a vehicle from New Israel tried to cross the state line, the troops stopped the car and asked to see a New Israel passport. Since no such thing existed, the soldiers turned everyone back with an assurance that it would all get worked out as soon as the New Israel government got itself together. Traffic stayed backed up for miles along the highways.

He blockaded the ports of the seceding states, directing ships to deliver their goods to the nearest federal harbor. In New Orleans, he posted a special contingent to monitor the movement of goods from the port. Any freight bound for a seceding state was ordered to remain on the dock until a properly credentialed person claimed it. There was no protocol in place that would establish any entity as properly credentialed, so the freight spoiled on the docks awaiting its owners.

•  •  •

A week into the President’s plan, Congressman Farragut called and made an appointment to see Link Jefferson. When he arrived at the Attorney General’s office, Link’s secretary asked him to take a seat in the waiting room.

“I don’t believe you understand, miss,” he said. “I’m Congressman Farragut from Louisiana.”

“I don’t care if you’re King Tut,” she said. “Take a seat over there, and the Attorney General will call you when he’s ready. If you don’t want to wait, you can haul your Louisiana ass back to Lafayette or Big Mamou, or wherever the hell you come from, Congressman.”

Farragut slinked back to a seat on a couch in the waiting area, opened his briefcase and began shuffling through papers. When he found a thick position paper one of his aides had written about something, he laid it in his lap, put on his glasses and started reading with a serious look on his face.

After forty-five minutes or so, the secretary told him the Attorney General would see him.

In his office, Link shook hands with Farragut and asked him to take a seat in one of the embroidered winged chairs in front of his desk.

“What can I do for you, Congressman?” he asked.

Farragut gathered himself.

“I’m here on behalf of a caucus within the U.S. Congress,” he said. He cleared his throat and continued, “That caucus is prepared to start impeachment proceedings against President Whitfield. I am here to enlist the Justice Department’s assistance in the impeachment proceedings.”

“On what basis would you be seeking to impeach him?” Link shot back.

“On the basis that Executive Order 101 exceeds his Presidential authority and amounts to an undeclared declaration of war on New Israel,” he said.

“Tell the people in your caucus they can go straight to hell,” Link said. “If you pick this battle, I will fight you all the way to the United States Supreme Court where we’ll see how they feel about a treasonous little piece of blue blood shit from Baton Rouge like you. You ought to be ashamed of yourself. Why don’t you move to one of the friendly states where you can find some nincompoops to sympathize with you? Good day, Congressman. Please get out of my office before I have security haul you out of here in handcuffs.”

Farragut started to respond but thought better of it, stood up, and walked out of Link’s office.

“Kiss my ass,” Link’s secretary said to him as he walked past her on his way out the door.

When he was gone, Link picked up the phone and called Ert.

“Farragut was just in here making noise about impeachment proceedings,” he said.

“All we need is another fight on our hands,” Ert said. “Thanks for letting me know. I’ll tell President Whitfield he has something else to worry about.”

“Let him know we will win the battle,” Link said.

But Ert had already hung up the phone.

AS PART OF
his deal with the governor of Texas, Leon established the provisional capital of New Israel in Waco, Texas. The board of regents of Baylor University extended an invitation for the government to set up its offices in the George W. Truett Seminary facilities on the Baylor campus. They also offered their new law school complex, on the banks of the Brazos River, as home for the Supreme Court of New Israel.

The constitution of New Israel made no provision for a representative congress. Rather, the chief executive would rule, appointing officials as needed to ensure the government performed its few delegated responsibilities. Leon wasted no time filling these positions with senior ministers from large evangelical churches from the various states that comprised the new nation. Unrestrained by the venerable but now antiquated theory of separation of church and state, these spiritual/political leaders meshed their secular and religious duties, preaching fiery sermons from Romans 13 on the duty of good Christians to subjugate themselves to the powers that be which are ordained of God.

The governors of the seceding states mobilized their individual National Guard units to maintain law and order in the streets during the changeover of power.

Chaos was not long coming.

Citizens bent to break the law began to test the boundaries of the new republic. Since New Israel as yet had no criminal code and no federal courts, they engaged in acts illegal in the United States, but unregulated in their new country. Shops sprang up on every street corner in the major cities selling marijuana, methamphetamine, and cocaine to anyone who had the money to pay. The price of these substances plummeted while the New Israel Bureau of Investigation awaited orders to put the shops out of business.

The interstate highway system became a no-man’s land. Motorists considered it the American Autobahn without speed limits or traffic laws. Wrecked cars piled up on the shoulders of the road while stranded drivers tried to find someone willing to risk life or limb to bring a wrecker onto the highway.

People drove drunk on the freeways and challenged law enforcement officers with guns when they tried to arrest them. In the face of such lawlessness, police and deputies resigned their positions. Hoodlums replaced them, young men possessing neither the training nor the discipline to maintain the peace.

Casinos established themselves along the highways in border towns. No longer relegated to riverboats or Indian reservations, they began to build structures like those in Las Vegas, pyramids, fountains, faux monuments. Each casino sported a whorehouse where male or female guests were welcome.

Contrary to the promises of J. Franklin Westmoreland and Leon Martinez, the New Israel resembled Sodom and Gomorrah more than it did the kingdom of God.

•  •  •

Two weeks after the secession conventions voted to withdraw their states from the union, Leon realized he must contain the impending crisis. Under cover of darkness, Ralph drove him, in an old beat up truck, through the Mississippi backwater, searching for a way through the federal blockade into Tennessee. A mile or so from the state line, they abandoned the truck and hiked in night gear to a checkpoint where they met up with CM resistance fighters who led them through dense underbrush to a spot where several vehicles awaited them.

After they made their way twenty miles north of the border, they pulled up a narrow drive to a house far off the road where they re-supplied themselves and Leon changed into one of his best suits, stored there months before.

Shortly before one o’clock in the morning, Ralph pulled alongside the curb in front of the federal building in downtown Nashville, where he had met with Westmoreland many times. Ralph stopped the black SUV only long enough for Leon to step out on the sidewalk, and then pulled away leaving him alone.

Leon looked up and down the deserted street and marched up the front steps of the courthouse where a guard met him. Without saying a word, the guard moved away from the door and opened it for Leon. Inside, another guard motioned for Leon to turn down a hallway leading to the stairs. Martinez climbed the six flights of stairs to the jail level and knocked three times on the fire-proof door that sealed off the stairwell from the jail proper. A jailer opened the door at once and escorted Leon to a holding cell where J. Franklin Westmoreland was already waiting for him.

Westmoreland wasted no time.

“What the hell is happening? I am hearing reports of lawlessness and sinfulness the likes of which we have never seen in this country. People are beginning to think the movement is nothing more than a hoax, more politics as usual,” he said.