American Meltdown: Book Two of The Economic Collapse Chronicles (18 page)

CHAPTER 39

“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”

-Ephesians 6:12

Howe returned to Mount Weather after sealing the deal with Raven Thorn. He assured Secretary of Defense Scott Hale that he received bad information and there was no plot inside the White House or Secret Service to assassinate him after all. It was obvious that something wasn’t right about the story from the beginning, but Hale was not the type to question the President.

The week after his return, Anthony’s father, Porter Howe called him.

“Dad,” Howe answered, “how are you doing?”

“We’re fine, Anthony,” Porter replied. “You could call once in a while. I know you
’re busy, but your mother may not be with us much longer. She hopes to see you sometime soon.”

Anthony had never been close with his parents. His mother had been a socialite when he was a child and he had been raised by his nannies. As soon as he was old enough for boarding school, he was sent away. He was brought out at parties and paraded around on occasion, but they never spent any substantive time together. Anthony Howe didn’t resent
his parents for it. It was just the way things were for people in his social echelon. While he did not harbor a grudge against them, he also did not feel particularly compelled to call or visit. Even now, when his mother was dying from lung cancer, he didn’t call. Now, more than ever, the conversation would be awkward and uncomfortable. He didn’t really know the woman and didn’t quite know what to say.

“Are you safe?” Howe asked his father.

“We are. We have private security. They’re pretty top-notch and they’re well connected,” Porter replied.

“What firm?” Howe asked.

“KBR,” Porter said. “With the loss of so many US military contracts for logistics and security, they’re venturing into international personal security. The supply and demand curves being what they are, high net worth individuals are seeing the value that justifies the fees KBR charges. Ten years ago, the only way you could afford them is if you had a printing press. Well, things change.”

“I bet Halliburton would like to patch things up with KBR about now
,” Anthony commented. His father and he could always talk about business together. It was the one thing they had in common. “Halliburton is hiring all of these rookies to work at the camps. Rookies can run the FEMA camps, but the prison camps are giving these guards a run for their money. Paul Randall really stirred up a hornets’ nest for me. I’m filling up the prison camps as fast as Halliburton can build them.”

Porter said,
“Son, I would love to chitchat, but there is something really important that we need to discuss.”

Anthony replied, “I know Mom is sick, but I have a lot of responsibility right now.”

“That’s not it,” Porter said. “It is something you need to know. It’s something you’ll want to know.”

“What is it, Dad?” Howe asked. “You can say whatever you need to say. This phone is about as secure as any phone in the world.”

“I need to tell you in person,” Porter said. “I am going to take a helicopter down there. My pilot is with KBR. He has clearance to land at any military installation. Tell Secret Service I’ll be there this afternoon.”

Howe stammered for an excuse. He was usually so good at that, but he knew this must be important for his father to even call, much less fly down from New York.

“Okay,” Howe finally said.

Howe thought to himself as hung up the phone.
What could this be?
He was puzzled more than anything.

Several hours later, Anthony Howe got the call that his father’s helicopter was arriving. Anthony Howe rode the elevator to the surface. It was the first time he had been exposed to natural light since he returned from New York. The Mount Weather physician had encouraged Howe to get up to the surface at least once a day to get some fresh air and keep his spirits up. The doctor was worried that Howe’s drinking was affecting his health, but Howe was sensitive about the subject.

Even with his sunglasses, the light made him squint. Howe thought to himself.
I suppose I rather like the darkness. It seems to suit me better than sunlight.

The helicopter landed and Howe greeted his father. While not close, he did like the old man. He had a great amount of respect for him. He admired the way his father had built a financial empire from the ground up. Porter had always made sure Anthony had the best of everything and a good education in all things business and politics.

Porter Howe said, “I can’t stay long.”

Howe had grown to expect it.
Even when I’m President, he doesn’t have time for me,
he thought. It was a matter-of-fact thought. Anthony Howe had learned not to let that get to him emotionally many years ago. 

“Anthony,” Porter said
, “you have crossed a dangerous line. I know that you think you’re the supreme being of the universe, and why wouldn’t you? No one has ever told you any different.”

Howe wasn’t quite sure what his father was saying. He asked “Is this about the prisoner extermination rumors?”

“No, Anthony,” Porter said, “it isn’t. And we don’t have to pretend they’re rumors. You did what you had to do. The simple fact is that you have been groomed for this position from birth. Before you were born, it was determined that you would be brought up with a certain education, certain connections and a certain path would be laid out for you.”

“I knew you had aspirations for me.” Anthony still didn’t know where this conversation was going.

“Not me,” Porter said. “We. When I was a young man at Yale, I made a pact with my fraternity that my first-born child would be brought up into the position of President of The United States. Many men have worked diligently to make certain that this would come to be.”

“A lot of presidents have come from The Skull and Bones fraternity. All of my fraternity brothers knew we would have influential positions
,”  Anthony said.

H
is father continued “Yes, many of them knew they were to become president. After Kennedy, the men in power decided that it was best to let the elect think it was destiny that brought them to their positions. In his speech in April of 1961, Kennedy threatened to expose the very men who had brought his entire family to their glory.  Of course they backed off when he threatened to expose them. For a couple of years anyway. But these men are patient. Two years later, as you know, Jack Kennedy learned to keep his mouth shut.

“After that, no one else was to know the plans the men in power had for them. I shouldn’t be telling you this, but you are very close to being eliminated; just like Jack Kennedy.”

Howe just listened. His father had always been very level-headed. Anthony Howe knew that being in the Skull and Bones guaranteed a prominent position, but he had never thought it meant elections would be decided for him or that there were men behind the scenes pulling the strings and pretending to be gods. Howe thought,
maybe Porter is just getting old. Perhaps the strain of mother’s sickness is getting to the old man. Maybe he has Alzheimer’s or is on the wrong dose of some medication.

Porter continued, “It’s this business with Al Mohammad. He is a protected member. He served the men in power well and his reward is a long life. You cannot put yourself in the place of a god. It is not up to you if he lives or dies.”

Anthony Howe’s heart dropped to his stomach.
How does my father know about this? Who said something? It had to be Darren King. No one else knows anything about this.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about
,” Howe covered.

Porter took a stern tone. “This is not a game. This determines if you live or die. Your life is in the hands of these men, Anthony!”

The President retorted, “Al Mohammad isn’t in the Skull and Bones. I’ve never seen him at the Grove, I don’t know how he ever made it to where he is.”

Porter spoke with a whisper as if he thought the very wind might hear him. “These men are not the Skull and Bones, Anthony. They are much higher. They are the Masters. It is not necessary for him to be a Skull. The three presidents before him were Skull and Bones. At some point, they have to change it up a little. It starts to look a bit odd when you have five presidents in a row from the same Yale fraternity.

“To make up for this indiscretion, it would be wise of you to take Al Mohammad’s counsel on occasion. The Masters would like to help you with one of your problems. They have come up with a solution to the defectors from your military.” Porter took out a small RFID device. “This chip can be a great tool to get control of your armed forces and government employees.”

Anthony Howe sat stunned as his father continued speaking. He thought
. I’ve seen some very peculiar things during rituals at Bohemian Grove and of course at Yale, but I never believed in God or any other higher power. There are men in stations of power that I did not even know about an hour ago. These men are like gods and I am a mere mortal.
The misfortune of not being the apex predator was a crippling disappointment.

Howe took the chip from his father, but he was still stunned by the information. His father stayed only an hour then boarded his private helicopter and left Anthony alone again.

CHAPTER 40

“Rightful liberty is unobstructed action according to our will within limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others. I do not add 'within the limits of the law' because law is often but the tyrant's will, and always so when it violates the rights of the individual.”

-Thomas Jefferson

Eddie Cooper’s sister had just come to live with Eddie from Louisville. She told Eddie the horrors of what it was like there. Eddie relayed the information to the rest of the guys from Bravo. At a group meeting days prior, Eddie told everyone the story. “Louisville has a very ethnically diverse population. There were gangs prior to the meltdown, but now the ethnic gangs really stick with their own kind. The city is being divided up into strict territories. The Vietnamese hold the south end, black gangs control the west end and a new violent Mexican gang is running rampant in the east end of town. The east end had previously been the most affluent, but the Mexican gangs now occupy several neighborhoods through systematic home invasions.

“My sister stayed in Louisville for so long because she lived in the east end and thought she would be safe. Her husband was killed two days ago, and she left. She told me all about the conditions around town when she finally left. There was no economic activity aside from the gangs. There were no flea markets that she knew of. She had heard from a neighbor that there was a small barter network in Okolona, a suburb south of the area held by the Vietnamese. Okolona is the more redneck area. Most everyone there has a gun and from what my sister said, they organized their own security.

“No one goes downtown. All the shops, bars, restaurants, offices, condos and stores have been looted and it is a ghost town. The Louisville municipal bus service known as TARC has solar panels on the top of every bus stop for safety lighting. My sister said that none of the panels had been taken from her neighborhood, which makes me suspect that they would still be on the bus stops downtown. It seems like the gangs are not paying any attention to the politics that are heating up over the power grid and have not thought of taking the panels for backup power yet.”

With this information, Adam devised a plan to go in and get the panels since that area of the city was completely abandoned. Adam’s plan was to drive straight into the center of downtown
, get as many of the panels as they could carry and get out fast.

Matt, Wesley and Adam loaded into Adam’s truck. Adam said, “We’ll stop near Shelbyville to gear up and put on our tactical gear.”

It was 4:30 in the morning and most of the gunfire would be dying down. Adam briefed the team “We’ll arrive in downtown Louisville right around 7:00 a.m., the calmest part of the day. I’ll pull my work trailer to load up with solar panels. JC will follow me in another truck. Gary and Eddie will ride along with JC. Jeff and Lee will follow in a third truck which is pulling a flatbed trailer.”

Matt said, “JC’s truck has no trailer. We could use the old beat up horse trailer that I used to haul everything from Florida.”

Adam answered, “I think it would be too much of a target. We are a big enough target just because we have fuel. A horse trailer would make folks assume we have livestock. When people are starving, even honest men may consider making a bad move if they think we have something to eat in that trailer.”

Adam’s truck was full of gas. Matt and Adam had stocked up fuel back when the ration cards first went into effect last year. Every member of the family could get a card, so they
took cards for everyone in their group, even Mandy and Carissa. Jeff also stocked up on fuel when it was more available. Conserving fuel was a way of life now.

JC’s truck was marked ‘flex fuel’ which meant it would run on E85. Gary was producing several gallons of fuel grade alcohol every week to sell at the flea market. Prior to Gary dedicating his life to Christ, as a teenager, he had helped his grandfather make moonshine. Kentucky had lifted the prohibition on distilling for personal use after the crash. The state was not encouraging drunkenness, they were encouraging people to be able to take care of themselves.  The state recognized the usefulness of moonshine for a fuel alternative and for an antiseptic. Seeing as there were no more federal laws in Kentucky prohibiting it, Gary’s conscious was free to produce it for fuel and medicinal purposes.

Adam continued, “Three trucks running 300 miles round trip is going to dump a massive amount of fuel, but the payoff could be great. Gasoline and diesel are still available at the flea market, but both fuels are very expensive.  If we can get enough solar panels, the amount of energy we will harvest from the sun will far surpass what we will be expending to retrieve it. Solar panels won’t fuel trucks, but they will keep us from having to burn more fuel to run generators if the grid does go down. We all know the risk of it going down is pretty good. The load being sucked out of the grid by the cities could cause a cascading failure. Besides that, Howe has proved that he’s a hothead. If he could shut down our grid without turning off his own power, he would’ve already done it. Who knows how long that will stop him? He’s already proven that he’ll kill his own in order to inflict pain on the enemy.”

The men loaded up and rolled out. All three trucks reached Shelbyville without incident. They pulled off at the exit and met up at an abandoned gas station. Adam gave the last minute instructions.  “Everybody
, gear up. You six are going to be working security, Matt and I will be removing the panels and JC will be loading them into the trucks and trailers.

“Matt, JC and I will be wearing blaze orange vests and white hard hats. This will at least make us look like city workers, even though there hasn’t been a city worker for months. The security team will wear all black which makes them look more official. Matt, JC and I all have our side arms in case we need to engage an enemy.

“I know everyone just finished their checkpoint duty yesterday and haven’t had a chance to rest up. I wanted to get this done before everyone got a chance to get home and relax for too long. Right now, your minds are still in militia mode, you’re still sharp. After a week off from checkpoint duty, we all get relaxed and lose our edge.”

After the men geared up, Adam did a precombat inspection to make sure everyone’s gear was up to spec.

During the inspection Jeff asked, “Is this stealing?”

Matt answered, “Do you mean when the Republican congressman from that district took an earmark for these solar panels so he would sign off on the Democrat’s common education bill? Yes, Jeff. That was stealing. Money stolen from the American people by the IRS, went to buy solar panels for bus stops in one congressman’s district. As a representative of the American people, I know I will never be made whole for all the wealth that has been stolen from me through egregious taxation and federal money printing, but I am willing to accept these solar panels as partial concession.”

Matt wasn’t smiling when he said it, but the rest of the group burst into laughter. Wesley applauded and mimicked a cheering crowd.

The men mounted up and drove on to Louisville. They got off on 9th Street and decided that would be the western border of the operation. It was just as Eddie’s sister had said. The glass was busted out of every single shop. There was no one around because there was nothing left to loot. It was an eerie scene, like something out of a sci-fi horror movie. They came to the first bus stop. Adam and Matt quickly jumped on top of the shelter and assessed the tools needed to remove it.

Matt looked at the connectors and said, “These are standard MC4 solar connectors which just pop out. The screws have a special tamper-proof head. It’s a Torx, a six-pointed star head. Adam do you have a driver for that?”

Adam answered
, “I have a driver with multiple attachments, it has a Torx that will fit, but I only have one. I’ll work on the screws while you disconnect the connectors.”

JC said, “I’ll start taking apart the lighted display.” This held a very cheap 10 amp charge controller and a 200 watt inverter.

JC showed them to Matt, who said, “They only served to light the advertisement in the bus stop shelter, so they didn’t need be high-powered. Nevertheless, if we can get several of these, it would put out a lot of juice. That battery is even more of a joke. It’s only an 18 amp hour cell. On a positive note, it is 12 volt and several of them could easily be wired together to produce a higher capacity.”

They quickly moved on to the next bus stop shelter. There was no one around, so two of the six guys working security got involved with removing the panels to make things go faster. It would have helped to have another Torx head driver to remove the screws.

When they got to the fourth bus stop, Adam said, “You guys are getting the hang of this. We are moving along pretty fast.”

By 8:30 am they had cleared five bus stop shelters of the panels, inverters, cables, charge controllers and batteries. It was going to be an all day job. Adam reminded everyone, “Regardless of what we have at 4:30 p
.m., we’re going to pull out. I want to make sure we can drive through Lexington well before sundown. As far as cities go, Lexington is in about the best shape of any of them, but that isn’t saying much.”

The first part of the day went pretty smooth and no one bothered them. They saw a few solitary stragglers move by on occasion, but none were in a hurry to take on a well-armed militia. The team took turns eating lunch and using the screwdriver to remove the specialized star screws. At roughly 2:30 p
.m., they stopped at a bus stop in front of an old building on Broadway. They came face-to-face with several Mexicans exiting the building. The Mexicans looked as startled as the militia. The security team quickly raised their battle rifles to a ready position. The Mexicans lifted their hands as they came out of the building. The Mexicans had several lengths of copper pipe that they let fall to the ground as they raised their hands. The Mexicans slowly backed away and the security team slowly lowered their weapons without a word to one another.

Adam said, “Okay, that’s a wrap. We’re heading home.”

JC said, “I don’t think they are much of a threat. I think they are just scavenging like we are.”

Adam replied, “Yeah, but we don’t know who they are scavenging for. They may be getting that copper for a gang that uses it for building stills to make liquor. We could be seen by them as a threat. I don’t want to take that chance. We
’re rolling out.”

Everyone nodded and loaded up. The two trailers were fairly full and one truck bed was half full of cables and batteries. It was a good haul and well worth the trip; if they could get home safely.

They passed through Lexington at just after 3:30 in the afternoon. As they turned from I-64 east to I-75 south, two Kentucky Highway Patrol cars pulled in behind them with their lights on.

Adam picked up the walkie and alerted the other two drivers. “There is no way these guys are real cops. We weren’t even speeding. They have no reason to pull us over. Besides that, have any of you seen a cop in the last month? If they were real cops, they would have something to do besides pull over random drivers. I think this is a robbery. Jeff, you
’re in the rear. See if you can tell how many are in the front car.”

Jeff radioed back a few seconds later. “Looks like two. Lee says they are in uniform.”

Adam said, “They would be. It wouldn’t be believable if they weren’t. I don’t think they’ll just let us keep rolling back to London. I think if we don’t stop, they’ll pick a target and start shooting at the tires. The best thing we can do is make a coordinated stand. Okay, let me think for a minute.”

Everyone was quiet. No one wanted to do this, but there were no good options.
There were only bad options and worse options.

A minute later Adam called back on the radio to everyone. “Jeff, slow down a bit and back them up off the trailers. We will jump up ahead and then pull over. When you get to us, pull over behind us slowly to give us time to get ready. When you pull over, cut your truck sideways. We
’ll all jump out and run up to your truck. If we have to engage, we’ll have the truck for cover.”

No one said a word.

Adam called back, “Is everyone on board with that plan?”

JC called back
, “10-4.”

Jeff called back
, “Roger.”

The two trucks pulling the trailers shot forward then pulled over. Jeff slowed down then pulled in sideways behind the trailers. Jeff and Lee both jumped out of the passenger side so they were behind the cover of the truck. Adam, Wes, Matt and the others were at the truck by the time the men in the Highway Patrol cruisers got out.

Adam called out, “We’re on a mission from the Kentucky Liberty Militia. I am ordering you to stand down.”

The first man yelled, “You men are all under arrest. Come out from behind the truck.”

Adam said softly, “Everyone pick your target.”

The militia members
in the rear raised their rifles over the bed of the truck. Those in the front raised their rifles over the hood.

The man who appeared to be in charge raised his shot gun and yelled, “Drop your weapons!”