Forgotten Forbidden America: Rise of Tyranny (16 page)

With a sideways glance and a low voice, Matt asked, “Did you clear out the car?”

“Yeah,” Nelson said and saw relief wash over Matt.

“Any cops show up yet?” Matt asked.

“Should we be expecting company?” Nelson asked, getting a little worried.

Putting the tea back, Matt said, “I was supposed to be at work an hour ago. I tried to quit, but the chief wouldn’t take my resignation and said I had to come in, and I had no choice but to stay. Said it was part of my oath, and if we were ordered to do stuff by the feds, it was our job.”

“He’s from New York; what do you expect?” Nelson asked. “I put all the stuff from the car in a bag. It’s in the garage. Come on; I’ll show you.”

Following Nelson to the garage, Matt stopped by Ashley in the living room and kissed her. Waking into the garage and moving beside the gun safe, Nelson pointed at the plastic garbage bag. “Title and every piece of paper that was in the car are there along with the plates,” Nelson said as he punched in the code to the safe. Opening the door, he pointed at the two soft gun cases. “I trust these are what you were looking for?”

“Shit,” Matt said, getting scared and looking around.

“What, man?” Nelson said, seeing his reaction.

“My suitcase, and I had a large gear bag,” Matt said in a panic.

Nelson raised his hands and held them open in front of Matt. “Hey, calm down, man. They’re here,” Nelson said, and Matt sighed with relief. “Your suitcase is beside the door with the gear bag you carried in last night. The suitcase was in the trunk, and I carried it inside and put it there.”

“I carried the gear bag?”

Nelson shrugged. “Well, not really. You pulled it out of the trunk but couldn’t lift it, so I carried it and guided you inside.”

Leaning back against the trailer, Matt reached up and ran his hands over his head. “Man, I’ve never been so tired in my life,” he said.

“Matt, can I ask where you got those gun bags?” Nelson asked, and Matt looked up. “Hey man, don’t get mad. They were gun bags, and I just checked them out. If they had been yours, I wouldn’t have, but I didn’t recognize them.”

Giving Nelson a grin, Matt explained, “I’m not mad, brother. I just didn’t want you to know what was in them till we were away from here. It’s called aiding and abetting.”

“Trust me; that’s the least thing I can be charged with,” Nelson smirked.

Thinking of Nelson’s truck and trailer outside, Matt said, “Yeah, but still, brother.” But Nelson wasn’t thinking about the stuff from the store.

“From your reaction, I trust the gear bag and suitcase hold more shit you aren’t supposed to have?” Nelson asked.

Matt pushed off the trailer. “I’ll get them, and you get these, and I’ll meet you in the shop,” he said, pointing at the two soft gun cases. Curious, Nelson nodded and grabbed the two cases as Matt headed back inside.

Using the side door on the garage, Nelson carried the cases to the shop. He put them on the work bench and pulled the blinds on the windows as Matt came in carrying the suitcase and gear bag. “Matt, not meaning to be a nag, but where did you get them?” Nelson asked.

“I figured you would know,” Matt said, lifting the bags and putting them on the work bench. “From the dead feds. This is some of the stuff that was in their rooms.”

“Some of the stuff?” Nelson asked, shocked, looking at the two gun cases.

“You’ve looked in the gun cases, right?”

Nelson nodded. “Yeah, in one, it had an M-4A3 and a UMP-45.”

“Then you didn’t really look in it,” Matt said and stepped over to open one up. “They both have M-4s and UMP-45s. But they also have suppressors for each, three hand grenades, and six flash bangs,” Matt said, pulling out the stuff then grabbing more. “These magazines for the M-4 are API, the real armor-piercing incendiary ammunition, and the UMP magazines are loaded with hollow points. Then, each bag has the quad-eye night vision.”

Sucking in a breath as Matt pulled out the four-lens night vision system, Nelson’s heart started pounding. “Matt, that’s the latest generation. Only SOCOM are supposed to have those,” he said, feeling lightheaded. Then, he looked at the grenades and the API ammo. “What the hell do cops need with this shit?”

“Wait, son,” Matt said and opened the gear bag. Reaching in, he pulled out a dragon skin tactical vest. “If those boys would’ve been wearing these, that sniper wouldn’t have got them,” Matt said. “Whoever took them out knew what they were doing,” he added, laying down the dragon skin vest and pulling out a concealable vest.

“It’s a bulletproof vest,” Nelson said, looking at it.

“Yes, but this is the next generation. It uses the same principle as the dragon skin but with a new carbon polymer base. It will stop a 308, but whoever took them out kept hitting them. This is what the secret service and president wears,” he said.

Still feeling lightheaded, Nelson asked, “How many times were they hit?”

“All of them were hit more than three times. It looks like on the first shot the sniper got one right at the base of the neck, and the bullet passed through, hitting the agent in front of him in the hip. The female agent was hit three times, but only one bullet actually penetrated at the top of her vest. It hit right above the top of the vest on her back and blew out her front, but the vest stopped the bullet from exiting. The fourth man was hit three times: once in his thigh, severing his femoral artery, and in the side where the vest curves in for arm movement. We think the sniper hung around and kept sending shots in till he found weak points. We found twenty empty shell cases,” Matt said, passing over the vest. “You don’t look good, dude.”

“Why in the hell would cops need this?” he asked again.

Not having an answer, Matt said, “I don’t know, but I have four dragon tactical vests and four of these concealable vests.” He reached in the bag. Nelson pulled up a stool as Matt laid out four radios with throat mics with a recharging station, a small laptop, and a waterproof case. He opened the case and pulled out a thermal spotting scope.

Turning from the stuff Matt laid out, Nelson looked at the four vests and started feeling his heart beat faster.
It was only luck I had killed them,
he thought. “Those vests do much to absorb the impact power?” he asked.

Matt pulled the suitcase over. “Yeah, but the detective said the female’s spine was broke, and the man next to her had his sternum shattered. I don’t know why the sniper just didn’t shoot them in the head,” Matt told him, opening the suitcase. “If you think this shit is wild, look at this.”

Laying four weird-looking grenades on the table, Nelson thought they were some type of smoke grenade, and then he remembered seeing pictures of them in the Army. “Holy shit, Matt, those are thermite grenades,” he said, jumping back.

“Yep,” Matt said, pulling out small, rectangular blocks and stacking them up. Stunned as Matt kept pulling them out, Nelson knew the damn case was heavy as hell. “You know what this is?” Matt asked.

Just staring at the stacked blocks, Nelson had to find his voice. “Yeah, C-4.”

“Each block is two pounds, and there are twenty blocks,” Matt said and pulled out a plastic box several inches thick and a foot wide by a foot long. “These are blasting caps with a remote detonator,” Matt said, putting the box down.

Pulling out several more hand grenades and laying them on the table, Matt reached back in the case. “Jesus Christ, Matt, how much more shit is in there?” Nelson cried out.

Stopping, Matt looked up. “You should’ve seen the stuff I left,” he declared.

“And your buddies on the force were okay with the feds having this kind of shit?” Nelson said, waving his hand across the table.

Stepping back from the table, Matt said, “No, they aren’t, but the chief isn’t going to say anything. They had four AT-4 rocket launchers and two sniper rifles set up better than yours, not including the claymore mines.”

Jumping off his stool with wide eyes, Nelson started panting, and Matt jumped back, startled by the sudden move. “They are getting ready to start a war, placing supplies at strategic locations before anyone suspects it,” Nelson gasped.

“That’s what I think,” Matt agreed.

Nelson looked up at Matt. “How did you get this, and does anyone know?” he asked, wanting to grab the shit and pack everyone up right now.

“I helped another officer empty the room, and my squad car was parked by the evidence van. I could only get a few loads because someone was usually beside the van. No one saw me throw the stuff in my car if that’s what you’re asking. The stuff in the room wasn’t inventoried before being taken out; they were going to do that down at the station, and you’re the only one that knows I took it,” Matt said.

“Okay,” Nelson said, relived. “We need Nancy to look at the computer and let Gerald see this.”

Matt jumped toward him, getting in Nelson’s face. “Are you fucking insane?”

“Matt, the computer could have a tracker on it, and Gerald needs to see what was here in Springfield,” Nelson tried to explain using a calm voice, hoping to calm Matt down.

“We’ll burn the computer, and we can tell Gerald at the farm,” Matt snapped, shaking his head. “Dude, I stole evidence from the government, and all this shit is so illegal I’m heading for a firing squad.”

“Matt—”

Matt pushed Nelson’s hands out of the way. “Dude, don’t even try to justify letting others know while we are still here. The shit you stole from the store doesn’t mean shit compared to this stuff, Nelson. They will kill me and my family. Hell, just because you know, you’re just as dead as I am, and you want the others to know,” he said, agitated, frothing at the mouth.

“Calm down,” Nelson said, sitting back down on his stool. Matt took a breath to start. “Matt, calm down. This isn’t helping, and if you don’t want to say anything, we won’t, but calm down and listen please,” Nelson begged.

Taking a few deep breaths, Matt nodded. “Okay,” he said in a calmer voice.

“First, we can’t destroy the computer till we know what’s on it. What if it has their plans on how they are going to do this and what areas are their priorities? Hell, it may have information we can’t even think of,” Nelson said, pointing at the laptop.

“It’s turned off,” Matt said with hope.

“Yeah, like that makes a difference,” Nelson said. “Look, we may be able to use a computer, but we are by no means experts, and Nancy is.”

Giving a snort, Matt said, “Yeah, like she can tell us.”

“Oh, she can,” Nelson said. “She does shit like look in the defense department databases for malware and hacks into computers for fun. I can guarantee you that most of the information Gerald got, she got it for him. Hell, he’s even admitted she hacked the NSA.”

“Yeah, he did say that,” Matt agreed. “But man, if we are stopped and someone gets nervous and squeals, we are dead.”

“Matt, if we get stopped, we’re dead anyway. When they look in my truck, they will kill us.”

Closing his eyes, Matt shook his head. “Nelson, it’s easy for you, man. You didn’t steal this shit.”

“Like you said, I’m just as guilty for knowing, and you did an excellent job getting this,” Nelson said.

“Man, I haven’t even told Ashley,” Matt said.

“Matt, sit down,” Nelson said, pointing at a stool.

“I can stand,” he said, looking at the stuff on the table.

“Please, Matt, sit down,” Nelson said, still pointing at the stool. With a long sigh, Matt climbed on the stool and looked at Nelson. “You’re not the only one doing shit to protect us. I have, and so has Gerald.”

“You two didn’t steal federal equipment that would label you as a terrorist,” he answered.

“You’re right. I didn’t, but I stole tons of stuff literally from the store, and you swore you would never say anything,” Nelson said.

“And I never will because I did it for the same reason you did; we need this stuff,” Matt said.

“Yes we do,” Nelson said. “What would it take for you to turn one of our group in to the authorities?”

With a chuckle, Matt slapped his leg. “Dude, there is no way I would do that. Even when we start fighting back, racking up body counts,” he smiled, chuckling, but saw Nelson’s face set in stone.

“I’m serious; what would it take?” Nelson asked.

The laughter left Matt’s face. “I would say the life of my family, but if it was down to that, we would already be dead because as soon as I gave them what they wanted, my family would die,” Matt admitted in a low voice, looking down. “To answer your question, nothing because I know if they had me, all of you would keep my family safe. I can’t tell you I could last forever under torture, but I would try.”

“That’s what the others feel, Matt,” Nelson said, glad at his answer. “What I tell you and you tell me stays between us unless we—and that means both of us—agree to tell the others. Agreed?”

“Yeah, man,” Matt said, looking up. “That’s a given.”

“I killed those federal agents last night,” Nelson said in a calm voice.

Laughter erupted from Matt’s mouth as he slapped his leg again. “Oh man, that was a good one,” he howled then looked at Nelson and saw his face was serious, and Matt froze in mid-laugh and sat up straight. “You’re serious and not fucking with me?”