American Exit Strategy: Book 1 (17 page)

"It’s my disguise for going on the lam." Sonny replied. "I thought it would be appropriate to make a minor wardrobe adjustment."

"Good thinking Sonny." Paul replied, "But I didn't intend for you to have to stay out here. You’re not in trouble. You should be able to continue your day-to-day life."

"My day-to-day life has been trying to get you in the oval office sir. Nothing has changed since you were forced underground. Besides, I don't trust Howe or Al Mohammad. We’ve all heard about plenty of unfortunate car accidents, disappearances, plan crashes, and untimely heart attacks involving people who didn't see eye to eye with the government over the past few years. There is no need to convict me in the court of public opinion if they want me gone." Sonny said.

"OK, if you want to stay, you are more than welcome." Paul said. "You also know that things could get very nasty. Have you ever shot a gun?"

"No" Sonny replied, "But I’m willing to learn if someone will show me."

"Governor Jacobs sent four guys out here for security. The twins have been talking guns with two of them. They all have suppressed weapons. Maybe they will trade them out for our guns while we go shoot theirs." Paul said.

"I don't quite know what that means sir." Sonny said.

"Suppressed means they have silencers. We don't want to draw attention to this location with gunfire if we can avoid it. There isn't anybody out here, but the sound of gunshots travel far." Paul explained.

Paul Randall made the temporary trade with two of the guards for their suppressed weapons. The guards lent Paul and Sonny a suppressed HK .40 caliber pistol and a suppressed Colt M4 rifle. "Have her home by sundown" the guard joked with Paul about the M4. "That's my baby."

"We will take good care of her." Paul replied with a smile.

The two men walked down to the lake and found a good sloping hill to shoot into. Paul set up some empty juice bottles at five, ten and 15 yards. He instructed Sonny with the HK pistol first. "You want to create some tension between your hands. Keep both elbows bent and soft. Push a bit with your right hand and pull a bit with your left. This will keep your aim steady as you squeeze the trigger. Slowly take up the tension on the trigger. When you’re ready to take the shot, squeeze slowly."

Sonny took his first shot. The suppressed pistol only made the sound of the firing pin striking the cartridge and the click of the next round being chambered. It was several feet away from his target. Within minutes of continued coaching, Sonny was hitting the bottles at five yards. "How is that?" he asked with a smile.

"A person is a lot bigger target than a juice bottle, Sonny. If you can hit that, you can hit a person." Paul said.

They trained a bit with the rifle as well then returned to the cabin. When they arrived, the twins were gutting a wild boar they had taken with a crossbow in the woods. Ryan called out to Sonny "Do you like roast pig?"

"I can't say I’ve had the pleasure of trying it before, but I suppose we shall see." Sonny had never seen an animal being butchered before, but he felt some strange connection to the earth that he had never felt before as he thought about what this evening dinner would be like.

Ryan and Robert finished gutting the pig and dug a pit in the ground to roast it in. They found plenty of dried mesquite wood. It was very abundant in Northern Texas.

Kimberly made some cheddar cheese cornbread and a pot of baked beans to serve with the pig. Everyone ate outside around the pit. The four guards, the Randalls and Sonny all sat up late talking around the small campfire about what the future would bring and how long they would be out here. The conversation was filled with apprehension, but it also held a sense of hope and a measure of excitement.

CHAPTER 25

"Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, let those in the city get out, and let those in the country not enter the city."

-Luke 21:21

Matt recognized the number as Adam's when the phone rang. "Hey cousin." he answered.

"Hi cousin." It was Adam’s wife Janice.

"Oh, hey Janice, is everything OK?" Matt said curiously.

"Everything is fine, I just wanted to talk to Karen and I didn't have her number handy, so I called your phone. I know this must be a little tough for her. We girls are nesters. God didn't build us to go out and hunt and gather like you boys. I thought I could give her a little encouragement by inviting her to come "nest" with me and the girls." Janice said.

"Wow, that’s awesome. I think she could use that about now. This is tough for her." Matt said.

"OK you take it easy on her; you hear me?" Janice said with a chuckle.

"Yes Ma'am'" Matt replied as he handed the phone to Karen.

"Hi Janice." Karen said.

"Hey girl!" Janice replied. "The girls are so excited about you coming here. Carissa keeps asking what day you’re going to be here. Mandy has all kinds of plans for you to help her sew a dress and help us can apples from the orchard."

"Really?" Karen asked. She loved doing country stuff with Janice and the girls. Her mind began to drift to the thoughts of "The Little House on The Prairie." It was such a pure lifestyle. When she was in the mountains with them, she had never missed the city. "Tell them I can't wait to be there."

"Mandy wants to know if Miss Mae will be coming." Janice said.

"Of course she’s coming. She doesn't know it yet, but she’s getting a little kitty cocktail to knock her out when we get done packing the trailer. Do you have a room we can keep her in until we close on the farm?"

"Absolutely. Everything is going to be fine. I know the transition is abrupt, but you will be so happy when you get here." Janice continued. The girls talked for a long while.

Matt went to fill up Karen's car for the trip. Race Trac was closed. There were big 'NO GAS' signs at each entrance and a patrol car parked in the lot. Matt headed west as he knew things would be worse as he approached the beach. Three miles up the road he found a BP station still pumping. The advertised price was $12.40 a gallon. The line was 14 cars long. Two men were fighting in the street because one of the men had evidently cut the other man off in the line. How had this happened over night? Was this local or all over the country? Matt shook his head and turned around to go back home.

He walked in and told Karen what was happening. They turned on the news for a while and they confirmed the shortages were showing up in cities all over America.

It seemed that OPEC had decided to quit settling oil in dollars. The decision had come after an emergency meeting of OPEC in the middle of the night. The perceived U.S. political tension and instability in the U.S. Dollar, combined with the rapid increase in oil priced in U.S. Dollars caused the oil cartel to move settlement to gold. The decision was announced as a temporary measure that would be instituted until a different currency could be established for settlement.

The BRICS nations, Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa had recently developed the BRIC. It was a monetary unit that derived its value from a basket of the member nation's currencies. The BRIC was now regularly traded on the currency exchanges and had risen heavily against the U.S. Dollar and the Euro. Unlike the Euro, the BRIC was only used for international trade settlement. The member nations still used their respective currencies within their own boarders. The BRICS nations had recommended the BRIC be used to settle oil, but OPEC determined gold would be the settlement terms for the time being.

Oil had jumped $90 in early morning trading. The current price was $331 a barrel. The shock was rippling through to the pumps in real time. The oil crisis was being exacerbated by corporate hoarding. CNC was reporting that gasoline producers were slowing the release of fuel to retailers because of the anticipated increase in prices. Retailers were doing the same thing. Large trucking companies were offering to pay more than the retail pump price to ensure they had fuel to continue business. The trucking companies were in turn doubling their freight charges. Grocers were marking up prices to cover the increase in freight. A new run on grocery stores had begun before they had fully recovered from the riots. Things were getting bad. This was the big one.

Due to the announcement by OPEC, gold also jumped in morning trading. In the previous trading session, gold had closed at $6,305 the ounce, the current price was $7,138. The $833 dollar increase in a matter of hours was a record in both dollar terms and percentage terms for a one day jump. The big winner of the day was silver. As increasing gold prices continued to squeeze smaller investors out of the market, it pushed those investors into silver. Silver jumped to $241 an ounce. This closed the gold to silver price ratio from 35 to 1 to under 30 to 1.

Matt quickly decided to take the car to the used car dealership to sell it. Karen followed him to take him back home after the sale. The lot offered him $1500 cash. The car was worth $6500 in the Kelly Blue book, but Matt took it. Today, they had to cut their losses and bug out.

When they returned home from selling the car, they had to make a few cuts from items they had intended to take in the car.  They pulled out a dresser, the futon and a box of extra dishes that they decided they didn't need. Matt repositioned the trailer so the food, gun safe and gasoline were the most accessible. They had intended to let Miss Mae sleep in the back seat of Karen's car, but now she would have to stay on Karen's lap or the floor board by Karen's feet for most of the trip.

Matt had paid Blaine to go to the closing for them the following day. Blaine was an attorney and Matt had granted him power of attorney for the closing. The money should be wired into their account the day of the closing. The funds should be clear in time to close on the farm in three days if all goes according to plan. They would only net about $50,000 after brokerage fees, taxes and closing costs, but they could easily cover the difference for the price of the farm in silver or gold; especially now, after the recent rise in the metals.

Matt and Karen said their goodbyes to the neighbors and loaded up. Matt put his Ruger LC9 in an ankle holster and put his Glock 21 in the back of his jeans. He wore an oversized plaid shirt over his t-shirt to help conceal the large frame pistol. Matt also instructed Karen to keep her Kel Tec in her pocket and her Glock 19 in her purse. Matt also put the pistol grip on the Mossberg pump action shotgun so it would easily fit behind the seat of his pick-up truck. The AR-15 would stay in the safe at the back of the trailer for now. He had also drilled holes in the trailer so the safe could be bolted to trailer floor during the trip.

The delays had set them back. They had planned to get on the road by 10:00 am, but it was now 3:00 pm. Karen picked up Miss Mae who was now feeling the full effects of her kitty tranquilizer that Karen had given her three hours prior. She had only given her a small piece with her food, so she was not totally asleep, but her eyes were glassy and she had no problems sitting in Karen's lap.

As they pulled onto the on ramp for I-95 North, Matt said "We should have prayed before we left. If we have ever needed God, it’s on this trip."

Karen replied "Is it too late? God couldn't hear us in the truck?"

Matt smiled. He got the point. "God, we ask that you would surround us with your favor as with a shield. Watch over and protect us on this journey. You are always so good to us and you always protect us. We are so grateful. Thank you."

I-75 was usually much busier at this time of day. Even on weekends, all the lanes were mostly full until you hit the toll booth past the Indian Casino. Matt had decided to take I-95 instead of the Florida Turnpike or I-75.  I-75 would have taken them through Tampa. The Turnpike would take them through Orlando. If he continued through on I-95, it would take him to Jacksonville, which was probably the worst of the three, but Matt intended to get off I-95 at St. Augustine and take the backroads to connect to I-75 north of Tampa. Additionally, Matt's friend Frank lived in St Augustine. If they got into trouble, Frank's house was a place of refuge if need be.

This plan was good, but this route still took them through Atlanta. Atlanta had never completely returned to what would properly be described as civilized after the SNAP riots. The conundrum was that gas was becoming scarce and they had just enough in the reserve cans to get them to Kentucky. I-285 was a bypass that took them around the city of Atlanta, but it was too close for comfort in Matt's opinion.

"Karen" Matt said, "Get the map and look to see if you can find a campground near the highway south of Atlanta. There is a magnifying glass in the glove compartment."

Matt's eyesight had really gone downhill in the past few years, so he needed a magnifying glass to read the Northern Star Road Atlas. The atlas was very complete, but the icons were very small. Karen may have been able to pick out the tent icon that signified the campground, but she still found it easier with the magnifying glass.

"How far south of Atlanta?" she asked as she thumbed through the atlas in search of Georgia.

"Preferably about halfway between Macon and Atlanta. The less populated the better." Matt replied.

"Here is a State Park with a campground. It’s called High Falls." Karen said.

"How far from Atlanta is it?" Matt asked.

"It looks to be about 50 miles from Downtown Atlanta. It’s about 30 miles from the I-285 bypass you said you want to take." she answered.

"How many miles is the park from the I-75 exit to the park?" Matt inquired.

"I would say about two miles." Karen replied. "Are we going to sleep in the tent?"

"I think we have to. Someone has to stand guard over the truck while the other sleeps." Matt said. "Things are getting ready to get a lot worse than during the SNAP riots and we are in a very vulnerable position by being on the road. The more we can stay away from people, the better off we will be."