The Days of Noah: Book One: Conspiracy (17 page)

Noah laughed. “Good idea. Thanks. People don’t see a monkey dressed in a suit every day in Sevierville. He’s a good attention-getter.”

Leo patted Noah on the back. “You’ve really pulled off a world class protest, Noah.”

Noah looked around. “I had nothing to do with this. I have to give all the credit to God. I could have never put this together.”

Jim Taylor walked over to give Noah an update. “We’ve collected four hundred signatures already. This is really going to happen.”

Cassie came by with some lunch. “Becky just dropped off some sandwiches. She said they’re praying for us, and she’s sorry they can’t stay longer. David is going to come by right after his shift ends. Maybe around 4:30. Lynette loved the little monkey. I wish Lacy was here to see him.”

Noah’s heart sank. Even though he saw her regularly, he missed his daughter so much. “Me, too.”

By one o’clock, the crowd had swelled to well over one hundred. Protestors were on the sidewalks running along both Bruce Street and Court Avenue. They were gathered on the walkway in front of the courthouse and on the lawn. Pastor Mike stopped by with his wife, Lynn. “Noah, this is absolutely fantastic. I’m so glad you have such a big turnout.”

“Thank you pastor. The signatures are pouring in as well. I guess Channel 8 aired their piece at 12:00. The other local channels from Knoxville are showing up now.”

Pastor Mike gave Noah’s arm a squeeze. “They better hurry up. We had to park three blocks over. The parking lot is completely full. Do you mind if I say a few words and offer a quick prayer?”

Noah nodded. “I’d be honored.”

Pastor Mike walked up the stairs to the courthouse door and stood looking out over the crowd. “Folks, I’m Pastor Mike Barnes of Faith Church where Noah attends. I see a lot of people here today from Faith Church and several others that I haven’t met before. I want to thank you all for showing up today to show your support for Noah and for liberty. This is how our country started. It was people just like you who’d had enough of being told what to do and how to live their lives. In 1776, Pastor John Peter Muhlenberg gave a sermon to his congregation from Ecclesiastes three. He read, ‘To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck what is planted.’ At the end of his sermon, he said ‘In the language of the holy writ, there was a time for all things, a time to preach and a time to pray, but those times have passed away.’ He went on to remove his robe and reveal the military uniform he was wearing underneath.

“It is my hope that the time to preach and the time to pray have not yet passed for our present crisis, but that season is certainly waning. If we are to avoid another period of violent revolution, then we must act swiftly. Time is short. Pastors, like myself, have sat quietly by as the winds of tyranny have slowly eroded the foundations of liberty. I regret the time I spent being quiet, but that time is over. I’m ready to do whatever it takes to turn back the tide and regain our lost freedoms. I hope you are as well.”

The crowd applauded Pastor Mike’s short address. He bowed his head and prayed aloud. “Father God, through the blood of our forefathers you have granted us a land of unprecedented freedom. We’ve been complacent and derelict in our duty of preserving that freedom. We pray that you’ll forgive us and grant us the strength to regain what has been lost. Amen.”

The crowd clapped loudly as Pastor Mike stepped down. Soon a chant spontaneously arose. “God gave us our rights, so you can’t take them.”

Over and over, and louder and louder, the chant grew to a roar. “God gave us our rights, so you can’t take them.”

By 2:30, the crowd easily exceeded four hundred people on the grounds of the county courthouse. Additionally, people were driving around the surrounding streets and honking their horns.

Several deputies walked to the courthouse stairs, and one called out over a bullhorn, “This gathering is creating a safety hazard, and we’re going to have to ask you to disperse.”

Six other deputies made their way to the center of the crowd. The one who appeared to be in charge addressed the four uniformed deputies who’d come with Rodgers and Starkey. “Gregory said you guys are all fired. You need to go to his office and hand in your badges and your service weapons immediately.”

One of the four, Kyle Harding, said, “You’ve got no authority to fire me. If Gregory wants to fire me, tell him to bring his cowardly tail down here and do it himself.”

The leader of the six said, “If I have to call him, he’s going to have us arrest you.”

Harding’s face changed. “If you assault me, I will be forced to defend myself. You have absolutely no reason to arrest me. I’ve done nothing in violation of the law. You, on the other hand, have just threatened a law enforcement officer.”

The other three deputies participating in the protest fell in close behind Harding and placed their hands on their weapons.

The leader of the six deputies looked Harding up and down. As he turned away, he said, “You’ll regret that.” He changed his attention to Noah. “Do you have a permit for this protest?”

Noah looked at Cobb.

Isaiah spoke up. “I do; it’s right here with my concealed carry permit.”

“Let’s see it.” The man demanded.

Isaiah handed the leader a copy of the Constitution. “The Bill of Rights is on the back. The First Amendment guarantees my God-given right to peaceably assemble and petition my government for a redress of grievances. That’s precisely what we’re doing here today.”

The man threw the Constitution on the ground and pointed his finger in Isaiah’s face. “You’re a freakin’ smart aleck. I’ll make sure you’re first in line when we start locking people up. You have ten minutes to clear out, or you’re all going to jail.”

Cobb grabbed Noah. “We need to get you out of here. Tell Cassie to get her things.”

Noah shouted. “No! I’m not going anywhere!”

Cobb said, “Noah, if you’re arrested, they’ll revoke your bond. I might not be able to get you back out. You’ve got a lot of momentum going, and we need you to be free so you can fight this.”

Pastor Mike backed him up. “Listen to him, Noah. You go on and get out of here. We’ll hold down the fort.”

Cassie walked up with her jacket in her arm.

Isaiah nodded. “Noah, go home. Let us take over. Cassie, in my kitchen, I have the combination to my safe taped underneath my silverware tray. It’s in the drawer next to the sink. The safe is in my bedroom closet. If we get locked up, bail Pastor Mike and me out with the money in the safe.”

“Okay,” she said.

Cobb escorted Noah and Cassie through the crowd. “Gregory knows you’re trying to get him fired, so you need to not give him a reason to arrest you today.”

Noah and Cassie walked to their car in the adjacent parking lot. The shouts from the crowd grew louder, and the deputies yelled over the bullhorn. “Disperse. This is an unlawful assembly.”

As they drove away, they saw two protestors lying face down in the courthouse lawn being handcuffed.

Noah shook his head. “This is bad.”

Cassie put her hand on his leg. “This is necessary!”

CHAPTER 17

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. For this is the time of punishment in fulfillment of all that has been written.

Luke 21:21-22

Noah paced back and forth as he watched the scenes of Isaiah and Pastor Mike being arrested play over and over on the local news channels.

Cassie came back in the room. “Tom said they still haven’t been processed in. He can’t do anything until they show up in the system.”

Noah turned to face her. “Maybe we should go ahead and get Isaiah’s money from his safe.”

“We don’t know how much to take out.”

Noah rubbed his chin as he thought for a moment. “Disturbing the peace. It couldn’t be more than ten grand each.”

Cassie rolled her eyes. “Unless they get assault on an officer and resisting arrest tacked on.”

Noah grabbed his keys. “That’s true, but if we know where the safe is and figure out how to open it, we’ll be that much closer to being ready when we get the call.”

Cassie’s phone rang. “Hello?”

Noah went to put some food in the bowl for Sox while Cassie was on the phone. He looked at Buster’s bag of food, which was still in the closet beside Sox’s. The pang of sorrow hit him again. He sighed. It would be a long time before he completely got over losing Buster. Sox came into the room at the sound of the cat food container. The cat seemed to know the pain Noah was feeling and rubbed his leg before he started eating.

Noah scratched Sox behind the ear while he ate. “We’re going to get through this, Sox. We’ll get Lacy back, and we’ll be a family again.”

Cassie walked into the room. “I’m ready to go.”

Noah got up and headed toward the door. “Who was that?”

“Sharon Beck.”

“Is Lacy okay?” Noah asked.

Cassie followed Noah to the car. “Lacy’s fine. Sharon is a mess. She just saw Isaiah getting locked up on television. It really took her off guard. She wanted to make sure something was being done to get him out. I promised that I’d keep her updated. If you ask me, there is something more than just a platonic, friendly concern.”

Noah shut the door and started the car. “Oh yeah? You think something is goin’ on between the two of them?”

Cassie smiled. “I don’t know about Isaiah, but judging by the way Sharon acts, I’d say she has a crush on him.”

They arrived at Isaiah’s and found his safe. Noah opened it. “Nice gun collection!”

Cassie said, “Wow! What’s this?”

Noah picked up the box on the top shelf. “Don’t play with his guns.”

Cassie didn’t listen. She picked up the first battle rifle in the safe. “HK, this is cool!”

Noah shook his head as he opened the top box. “No money in here.”

“What is it?” she asked.

“Look.” Noah held up several gold coins in plastic sleeves. “Somebody else believes precious metals are a good thing to have around.”

Cassie put the HK rifle back in the safe and took out an AK-47. “What do you think about this one?”

“I think you need to focus on what we came here for.” Noah looked in the box below the one with the coins.

Cassie put the AK back and took out the Armalite AR-10. “This is what I need.”

Noah pulled out a stack of fifty-dollar bills. “It looks just like the rifle you just bought.”

Cassie put it back. “No, this one is chambered in .308.”

Noah counted through the bills. “I’ll take $5,000 for now; we’ll come back if we need to.”

Cassie closed the safe and spun the combination dial to make sure it was locked.

On the way home, Cassie called Tom to see if there had been any progress on bailing out Isaiah and Pastor Mike.

After she hung up, Noah asked, “What did he say?”

“No news yet. He said over fifty people were arrested, so it could be late tonight by the time everyone is processed in.”

They went home and waited patiently by the phone. They fell asleep on the couch watching the eleven o’clock news.

At 1:30 AM, Cassie’s phone rang. “Okay, we’ll meet you there.”

Noah rubbed his eyes and yawned. “Are they out?”

“We have to meet Tom at the jail with the money and sign some papers.”

“Okay, let’s do it,” Noah said.

Cassie called Sharon during the ride to the jail. “They should be out within the hour.”

“Yeah, you’re right,” Cassie said.

“Great, see you then.” Cassie hung up.

Noah glanced over at his wife. “What did Sharon have to say?”

Cassie said, “She thinks they’ll be hungry when they get out. She’s going over to the Kettle and opening it up, just for them. She wants us to bring them by there. Lacy will be there.”

Noah yawned. “Alright.”

Cassie tussled his hair. “You can have some coffee when we get to the Kettle.”

Noah laughed. “Then I’ll never get back to sleep.”

Two hours later Noah and Cassie were in a booth at the Country Kettle with Lacy, Pastor Mike, and Isaiah.

Pastor Mike ran his fingers through his hair. “What an experience!”

Noah said, “Jail is a nice place, isn’t it?”

Isaiah said, “Thanks for picking us up.”

Noah nodded. “I think I owed you a jail pickup.”

Lynn Barnes showed up at the Kettle. Pastor Mike stood up to hug his wife, and they embraced for several minutes.

Shortly thereafter, Sharon came to the table with a plate of roast beef, a bowl of mash potatoes, a bowl of gravy, broccoli casserole, and warm rolls. “I hope y’all don’t mind eating family style.”

When Sharon squeezed into the booth next to Isaiah, Cassie shot Noah a look that said I told you so.

Pastor Mike said a quick prayer, and they all filled their plates.

After dinner, they talked about the protest, the trial, and how terrible things had become.

***

Noah awoke from a deep sleep Tuesday morning, just after nine o’clock. His phone was ringing. By the time he got to it, he’d missed the call.

“Jim. I better call him back.” Noah pressed the number, and the phone began to ring.

“Noah.”

“Hey Jim. Sorry I missed your call. What’s happening?”

“You sound tired. Did I wake you up?” Jim asked.

Noah stretched his free arm. “Late night. It was almost five when we went to bed. We took Isaiah and Pastor Mike over to the Kettle after we bailed them out.”

“Go back to sleep; I can tell you later.”

Noah said, “I’m up. We’ve got stuff to do today. Tell me what’s going on.”

“The county commissioners held an emergency meeting this morning. They took a vote and are unanimously asking Sherriff Gregory to step down.”

Noah lit up at the news. “That’s fantastic!”

“They’ve asked me to be the interim Sherriff,” Jim said.

“No kidding!”

“Yep, Gregory is supposed to be out of the office by noon. I want to do some house cleaning. Do you have Elliot’s number? I’d like him to help me decide who stays and who goes. Needless to say, the charges against everyone for disturbing the peace will be dropped. The charges you got for resisting and assault will be dropped also. Sorry I can’t do anything about the Community Core charges; those are with the state.”

Noah nudged Cassie to wake her up. “Thanks so much, Jim. That is absolutely great!”

“I guess your protest did the trick. I took the petitions by early this morning, but I think they’d already made up their minds. Most of the county commissioners have some type of business interest tied to local tourism. National news coverage of jack-booted thugs pushing around citizens in front of the Sevier County Courthouse didn’t go over well at all.”

Noah beamed over the news. “I can’t thank you enough for all of your help, Jim.”

“Don’t thank me; you did most of the work. But it’s like Pastor Mike said, we’re all in this together. The war ain’t over, but this battle was a major victory.”

“Talk to you soon.” Noah hung up and tried once more to rouse Cassie.

“Baby, wake up.” It was a vain effort. Cassie was dead to the world.

Noah kissed her on the back of the neck and relented to let her sleep. He went to the kitchen, fed the cat, and started a pot of coffee. Once the coffee was ready, he poured a cup, sat quietly at the kitchen table, and took a few minutes to be thankful for God’s help in the protest. He opened his Bible to Psalms 9 and started reading to himself.

“I will praise you, O LORD, with all my heart; I will tell of all your wonders. I will be glad and rejoice in you; I will sing praise to your name, O Most High. My enemies turn back; they stumble and perish before you. For you have upheld my right and my cause; you have sat on your throne, judging righteously. You have rebuked the nations and destroyed the wicked; you have blotted out their name for ever and ever. Endless ruin has overtaken the enemy, you have uprooted their cities; even the memory of them has perished. The LORD reigns forever; he has established his throne for judgment.”