Shelter: Book 2, A Long Days Night (13 page)

During my speech many heads hung down, they knew I was right, that changed with my joke at the end when everyone laughed. I sip my water and continue, “I admit the rooms are small, Lacy’s and my room is the same size as yours. All of the rooms are the same size. No one is getting any special treatment. Everyone has the same size room, everyone eats the same food, and everyone gets the same medical treatment. I could have built myself a much larger room and justified it since I paid for the shelter. I decided it would be better if we are all equal. We’re all in this together.”

“So when do we all get back to our real homes?”

“Ralph, I think that was you, it doesn’t matter who it was, we all want to go home. I’ve seen what the animals are doing to my house. I assume some of you have looked at what they’re doing to your homes too. We’re working on starting a series of raids to see if we can scare them out of our homes and off our land. I have to warn anyone who hasn’t wanted to see what they’re doing, they are truly animals. We’re going to have a lot of work to do to rebuild our homes when we do return. I’m asking you not to lose faith. We’re going to win. When this is all done with, we’ll be sharing a beer and laughing about it.”

A voice yells out, “What do you know about the President’s speech tonight?”

“Not a damn thing. He doesn’t talk to me. He and I don’t agree on anything.”

Most of the people in the mess room laugh. Fred asks, “Are you going to listen to him tonight?”

“Do I have a choice? Any channel we receive will be carrying his speech. I really think his speeches should be carried on the Comedy Channel.” That breaks the ice, everyone laughs and claps at my remark.

Chapter 7

After my speech, I stopped at every table to chat with everyone. I shake everyone’s hand and hug most people, it really feels good to be back. Since we’ve decided to jointly listen to the President’s speech tonight, I figured I would visit John and Todd to see what’s going on in my home. The Sons of the Devil motorcycle club is using my home as their headquarters. Each bedroom is being used by gang members to ‘gang bang’ some of the mob’s women. Sitting in the security room with Todd, my son-in-law, I’m sick watching these SOBs tear up my house, I think I’m going to burn my bed before I every touch it again. I will get a new one, untouched by these pigs. Todd says, “Dad, look at them go at it in your bed. I didn’t know that was possible.”

“Todd, it’s a good thing I love you and you’re the father of my granddaughters or I’d kill you. They’re dirty and I mean that in every way possible. I can’t believe what I’m seeing. If they keep shaking the bed like they’ll break my bed frame and headboard. The ‘old lady’, as Dutch calls her, is hanging on to my headboard while she’s riding him. Damn it, they’re making a porno in my bedroom.” Todd laughs, spitting up his coffee. While we’re watching, four more people jump on my bed and start going at it. “Todd, isn’t there some way we can gas them to make them stop?”

John turns around to see what’s got us all worked up, he looks at the monitor laughing, “Jay, I didn’t know you produced porn on the side.”

“John, find a way to get them out of my house!”

“Jay, settle down. You knew this could happen. Don’t lose your cool so early. We’re working on a plan to get them to leave.”

“John, my worry is they decide to stay for the winter.”

“Jay, they may then decide to try their hand at planting crops, we could be looking at them moving in and staying. If they do, we’re going to have to run a guerrilla operation to get them out. It could take us months to remove them.”

“John, I need you to find a way to get them out, not think of ways for them to stay.”

“Jay, very soon, I promise you. There’s evidence the gang and the mob are at odds with each other, this works to our benefit. Also, some of the gang can’t figure out if they should stay or leave. Some want to stay for the winter, others are afraid the mob is going to attack them. The mob is hungry and pissed at the MC. Very soon it will be time to exploit the distrust between the two groups. We’ll help turn one against the other. “

“John, if you say so. We must try to dislodge them ASAP.”

“Jay, believe me when I say, I fully understand, everyone wants to go home.”

“I’m glad you understand.”

Tony meets me walking out of the security room, “Tony, what do you think your counterparts are doing in other parts of the country?”

“Jay, according to the reports and radio/HAM messages we’ve listened to, the entire country is fighting with each other. Many of the families are fighting with each other so they come out on top when the mess is over.”

“Which side are you supporting?”

Tony smiles, “I’m supporting whoever wins control.”

“I understand. I wonder how my favorite sheriff is doing.”

“That’s a very good question. We haven’t seen or heard anything from him since a couple of days before the battle. I wonder who he’s screwing out of a nice place to live. Jay, it would just break my heart if he ran into some serious trouble, he’s been a pain in my ass for too long.”

“Was he always trying to arrest you?”

Tony laughs, “My brother from another mother, he didn’t want to arrest me, he wanted his cut from my various businesses. He wanted his monthly payments made on time and in cash with untraceable bills. So long as civilians weren’t killed in my business, he left me alone. He made an arrest of a couple of my people now and again so he would look good to the voters, but all he was really interested in was the money, ‘show me the money’ was his favorite saying.”

Before we can continue, Todd makes a shelter wide announcement, “Jay, please come to the security room, Jay, please report to the security room, we have a code 1 event.”

Tony and I looked at each other, we didn’t need to say anything, we both knew a code 1 event could be a serious crises, we took off running to the security office. People who saw us running assumed something terrible happened. They got very concerned, many followed us to learn what happened. Rumors spread through the shelter quicker than we were jogging, the rumors beat us by minutes. In hindsight, I don’t think it was a good idea using code words over the general announcement system nor should we have run through the shelter, we attracted way too much attention. When we arrived, there were already fifteen people standing outside the locked door to the security room demanding to know what was going on. They started hounding us with questions before we even unlocked the door.

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Captain Sarnoff is handed a coded message from his radio operator, “Sir, you have an eyes-only message from the FSB head of mission Demetri Darkenov. His instructions are to hand the message only to you and for you to respond within one hour. Sir, shall I wait?”

Looking at the length of the message, Captain Sarnoff replies, “I will call you when I am ready to respond, this might take a little time. Where are we?”

“Sir, we are south of Chicago just outside of a town named, Normal, Illinois.”

“Who the hell names a city, Normal? These Americans are crazy. Normal. No one is normal, least of all Americans. I will decode and read Darkenov’s message in my vehicle.”

Sarnoff decodes the message on his laptop, he’s surprised by the message. He leans back in his chair thinking how to respond. He drafts a response, calling the radio operator to send his response to the FSB. Sarnoff spits on the ground thinking to himself, Damn FSB is worse than the KGB was, same people, more freedom since our beloved President allows them to do anything they want. This mission is crazy. They could be igniting the fuse for World War Three. I do not have a choice so I will have to follow his instructions. I need to speak with Nikita, this could get very messy.

Sarnoff grabs a private running by his vehicle, “Where is Nikita?”

The private snaps to attention, “Captain, the political officer is inspecting the men.”

“Please locate him and tell him I need to see him as soon as possible.”

“Yes, sir.” Replied the private as he ran off to find the political officer.

Ten minutes later Sarnoff sees his old friend walking towards him, “Comrade Captain Sarnoff, you want to see me?”

“Do not give me any of that Comrade bullshit. Our mission orders have changed. Darkenov personally sent the changes.”

“I can tell without even seeing them, there goes our little scenic drive through mid-America.”

“You are right there. Do you want to read the orders or should I summarize them?”

“Old friend, please just summarize them. Darkenov is such an asshole, he is usually way too wordy.”

“He hasn’t changed. Our orders are to look and act like an American Tea Party militia and attack an American Army company moving south from Chicago. We are to use RPGs or American missiles. We have been instructed to use AR15s or old AK47s. We are not to use any weapon or wear anything that connects us to the Mother Land.”

“Great, the SOB wants us to start a new civil war for him.”

“Captain, this is a dangerous mission. An American Army Company is much larger than us.  We were simply supposed to drop off weapons and stir up civil unrest, not attack the damn US Army. Their Army has no sense of humor. Why are we supposed to look like a Tea Party and not just unhappy, hungry citizens? We look normal, we are unhappy and most of us are hungry. When this mission is completed the damn FSB will most likely track all of us down and kill us. They will not want any live witnesses around to testify what they started. Who did you piss off to get us locked into this bullshit mission? I had high hopes of returning home in one piece and not in a pine box.”

“I too would like to return home alive and not in a box. I do not trust Darkenov as far as I can throw him, which might have to be off the roof of the Russian Mission building.”

“Captain, trust and Darkenov do not belong in the same sentence. We should plan to disappear after this mission. Before you ask, he will not listen to me. I am considered tainted because I have spent most of my career in the field at your side.  No matter how connected you or I are, no one can save us from the FSB’s wet works teams.”

“Nikita, my old friend, let us plan how to carry out Darkenov’s mission and then disappear. I considered not carrying out his mission. However, we need the time to make the arrangements for us and the men to disappear. I do not think either of us will be able to go home again. Our masters will not want anyone telling tales after this mission.”

“Da, Captain, maybe we should make plans to stay here. America will be restarting, there will be plenty of good paying work for people like us. Many of their rich will be interested in having their own army. We should easily be able to hire ourselves out for security work. Some may be interested in hiring us to do battle for them. We should create new documents for the entire team, I suggest we stop using Russian, we only speak English, the men can use the practice.”

“That is an interesting thought. We will discuss it in more detail after we locate and dispose of this American Army unit. According to the orders, they are supposed to be close, they were reported moving south on Interstate 57.”

“Good, the sooner we take care of the Americans the quicker we can disappear.”

“Nikita, come, let us open a bottle of vodka while we review how to trap the Americans. Like the good Russian soldiers we are for now, we will follow our orders. If we do not follow Darkenov’s orders, he will not stop until he has every one of our heads mounted on his wall.”

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At 9:00 PM, most of us are sitting in the mess hall sipping coffee, tea, or hot chocolate while we wait for the President’s latest address. Fred yells out, “I’ve got fifty that says, he’s going to raise taxes, any takers?”

Rich responds, “I’ve got one hundred that says he’s going to ban all guns.”

Tony responds, “Those bets are a sure thing for you, how about a real bet, one hundred dollars with odds of a thousand to one that he resigns.”

Everyone laughs when the large screen changes to an image of the White House. We notice that the White House is ringed with heavily armed troops, the fence in front of the White House has been increased to over twenty feet high. There are two LAVs and an M1 tank sitting in the driveway blocking anyone who tries breaking through the barrier to gain access to the Presidential House. Megan from Fox News looks into the camera saying, “Good evening, tonight President 0bama is going to address the nation on the ongoing financial crisis. He’s also promised to address the spreading violence that has the entire country fearing for their safety. The DHS and DOJ have stopped issuing the crime statistics due to the rapidly increasing numbers of violent crime that are reported every day. There are rumors circulating the Pentagon that all of America’s foreign-based troops are being brought home. The door is opening, here is the President of the United States.”