The Forgiven The Fallen The Forsaken (43 page)

Julie stepped
forward and said in Spanish, "We will back the people at every turn, even
against the political system if ever need be.  We are for the people of all of
North America."  She raised the bloody knife high in her right fist. 
"We pledge our lives to defending the rights of the people.  The people of
all of North America will be free and will have all of their rights without
being blocked by corruption.   We declare anyone who stands in the way of this
to be
fallen
."

Helen continued
in Spanish, "The people will be free.  For the rest of you in this room, you
need to make up your mind if you are on the side of your people or not.  Are
you
fallen
or
forgiven
?" 

The Kunoichi
delegation walked casually from the room and to the waiting helicopters.  On
the way, Julie asked Richards how he was doing.  "Terrified," he
answered. 

Not so smug
now, are you
, she thought, remembering that first meeting with him.  She
gave him a one armed hug and said, "Evita was never a soft touch.  Just
don't ever be fallen, okay?"  He agreed with enthusiasm.

LAS VEGAS

Speaker of the
House Larson personally delivered the New Territories Enabling Act to Jim for
signing.  Jim said, "Thank you for making this happen, Nick.  It is
incredibly important to securing our future." Samantha took pictures as he
signed it.

Whitman rushed
into the briefing room.  "Jim, you have to see this now!"  He pulled
up a file on the wall monitor. The entire episode of Julie and Helen dealing
with the Central American representatives was shown with English subtitles. 

Jim said,
"I can't believe they did that.   How long ago was it?"

Whitman said,
"Less than 45 minutes.  They haven't even made it back to Miami yet."

"I wonder
if they realize that they just became both religious and revolutionary figures? 
What the hell are we going to do with this?"

"The only
thing we can do.  Back them all the way.  And let our people in the territories
know to keep their heads down."

MIAMI, FLORIDA

OCTOBER 30th

The video of
Julie and Helen's actions went viral and the impact was felt immediately.  The
Cuban representative was killed within an hour of her declaration as fallen, then
the real slaughter of fallen throughout the new territories began.  Thousands
would be killed in the next seventy two hours, but very few would be mourned.

Richards would later
ask Helen, "Was that planned or improvised?"

Helen answered
with a question.   "Do you have any doubt what would happen to you if you
were to go against the interests of humanity?"

He thought for
a moment.  "No.  I do not."

"Then it
doesn't matter."

SAN DIEGO

Luke and Jamie
caught a commercial flight back to San Diego the day before, after deciding to
take a few days off.  There wasn't much of a selection of flights, but they felt
fortunate to have airlines operating once more.

They had slept
most of the first day home, and were finally starting to feel human again. 

Jamie looked up
from her laptop and said, "It looks like the rest of the family has been
busy."

"It's a
little spooky to see the family so much in the middle of everything," said
Luke. "Matt could have been killed.  I don't want any part of this push
into the new territories, even if everyone thinks it's so important.  I'm not
even sure if it's right."

"We're
rich, remember.  We don't have to do anything." 

"That's
good, because I think life just got a lot more dangerous for us.  So what's on
the agenda for today?"

"You know
that we're starting to run out of classes on video," said Jamie. "You
realize we've gone through a couple of degrees worth, so far."

Luke shrugged
and said, "We can always pick up more text books."

"I'm
thinking we need a better education than just reading text books." 

Luke set down
the novel he was reading and said, "I'm listening." 

"Why don't
we give up most of our driving and start hiring in professors, one or two
courses at a time?  We design our own education and we don't worry about
degrees."

Luke sat
forward, "What about the driving?"

"There are
a lot of people to do that, now.  We can pop in around the country and take a
run here and there.  People will still get to see us, and no one will be the
wiser that we're spending most of our time here getting the best education on
the planet.  Besides, with what Helen and Jamie are doing, we can duck the lime
light a lot easier than ever before." 

"And
everyone still thinks we're a couple of foolish kids giving up our education to
drive trucks.  I like it!  Let's see what kind of professors we can find to do
a little moonlighting." 

"So what
do you want to study first?" 

"Math.  I
need to understand engineering.  How about you?"

"I'd love
to find a decent economics professor."

"Let's do
it."

MONTERREY, MEXICO

NOVEMBER 2
^nd

Kunoichi
Corporation was already being seen throughout Mexico and Central America.  They
hired locally, paid well, and worked to address the most pressing needs of the
people.  Of the government officials left, none would dare to oppose the
company's progress for fear of being labeled fallen. 

Where Julie and
Helen had once been covered on Spanish television often, they were now on
constantly, pushing to deliver the needs of all of the Central American
countries and arguing for the people to join the United States and demand to
have a voice.

Everywhere they
went, crowds showed up cheering and crying.

"Ever get
the feeling we might have screwed up?" asked Julie as she looked at the
crowds surrounding their new Kunoichi building in Monterrey. 

"Relax,
love.  This is only the beginning.  Let's go talk to them."

Richards was
very proud of the massive video screens he had purchased for the outside of the
building.  He had camera systems set up in one of the conference rooms.  Helen
turned on the wall monitor showing the crowds outside, and turned on one of the
cameras in the room.

In Spanish, she
said, "Hello my friends!"  The crowd yelled and cheered.  "You
are doing the work to free all of the people.  You are my heroes!"

Through the
walls of the building, she could hear the crowds yelling.

"We will
take all of the help you can give us to make Mexico worthy of your efforts. 
All of us together will make our future worthy of the proud Mexican people. 
You will take your rightful place in the world."

The crowd
cheered louder, impossible as that seemed.

Julie stepped
into the camera's view, and said in Spanish, "Thank you for having the
courage to step forward into the future.  You are all
forgiven
."  

The building
shook with the roar of the voices outside.

Helen said,
"We have to leave you now to travel to more cities.  We love you.  You
make us proud!"  Both of them waved and they turned the camera off. 

Julie said,
"Let's get out of here before they get hurt trying to push their way
in."

"I
couldn't agree more."

They had a
camera man follow as they went up to the roof and boarded their helicopter. 
Helen started the chopper and they were soon airborne.  The crowds were able to
watch them board on the large video screens and saw the helicopter taking off
heading south. 

Julie said,
"You know this thing is going to bite us sooner or later?"

"We'll get
the job done and get the hell out of the way," Helen said.  "The forgiven
and forsaken will deliver the vote we need.  Once they join the States, it will
be a whole new world."

"We seem
to have a tiger by the tail."

"When has
it ever been otherwise?"

SAN FRANCISCO BAY

NOVEMBER 3rd

Kemp was satisfied
with the job the women had done outfitting the boat.  They were practical for
the most part, though he didn't want to think about how much was spent on
cosmetics and clothes.

He had expected
at least one or two of them to leave, but they were all determined to stay.  He
didn't understand but he was grateful for it. 
When the hell did I turn soft
,
he wondered?   A year before he would have dumped the lot of them at first
opportunity, great sex notwithstanding.    

He was able to
get the boat titled and registered in Pam's name and all of the women were able
to get emergency passports.  Kemp was surprised that the government was that
functional already.  He would have expected it to have taken years to get that
up and running. 
Once again, Ambrose is on top of things.  I'm afraid I was
on the wrong side all the way around
, he thought, grimly.  
And I deserve
to pay the price for it if I'm caught
.

The boat needed
a new name, and Kemp christened it The
Slippery Slope
.  Somehow the name
seemed appropriate for the events of the last year. 

The last detail
was what to do with the old yacht.  Kemp made up a bill of sale with his best
Frank Edwards forgery and had Sandy offer it to Simon, the manager of the
marina where they stayed. 
It's not like Frank will be coming back to
inquire about it, and Simon shouldn't have any problem titling it in this post virus
world
.

Simon was
shocked, and refused until Sandy said it would be scuttled at sea otherwise.  With
the addition of fifty grand and a request that the boat be kept functional for
sentimental reasons, Simon was more than happy at the prospect of moving into a
larger live-aboard boat.

They left port
that morning heading back to San Diego.  Lisa took the boat out of the bay and
out several miles out to sea before heading south.   The first day, Kemp
instructed all of the women on how to operate the new trawler's systems as they
all would be taking turns on the bridge. 

The boat was a
dream.  It wasn't as fast as the yacht, but was much more stable and
comfortable, plus had the added bonus that no one had died on it. 

Kemps biggest
worry was striking a derelict boat or a loose shipping container in the water,
so he had the women watching the radar for obstacles. Kemp knew better than to
anticipate a routine voyage, but he was hopeful.

He spent as much
time as he could on the bridge, but he seemed to get dragged to the bedroom
with some frequency.  He wasn't complaining.

SAN DIEGO

NOVERMBER 5
^th

Back in San
Diego, Luke was thrilled to find an excellent math instructor from one of the
junior colleges.  He dove in with enthusiasm.  The concepts were difficult but
very interesting.  He quickly saw the need for major amounts of practice and
was up to several hours' worth of practice problems a day. 

His instructor,
Raul, was originally from Honduras and was thrilled to be teaching the
president's nephew.  Luke explained to him early on that he wasn't involved in
Central America, but Raul insisted that Luke and Jamie both start learning
Spanish.  Jamie agreed that it was a good idea and they alternated back and
forth between sessions on math and sessions on Spanish.

They planned to
do two trips a month where they would fly somewhere and join up with one of the
Kunoichi convoys.  It wasn't that one more driving team made that much of a
difference, but that the drivers were so strongly motivated by having them show
up and do a run with them.  The drivers deserved their best.

Jamie had found
an economics professor, Dr. Sandra Black, from the University of San Diego. 
Jamie was thrilled with Sandra's approach to macro economics.   Sessions were
less about lectures than about discussions of concepts out of the book and
applications to the current reality.  It was fascinating material.

Meanwhile, Luke
slaved away at advanced algebra.  Raul was fantastic about pointing out where
the math could be used.  That one skill set could be the gateway to so many
others was not lost on Luke, and he was hooked.

Both Jamie and
Luke were convinced that they had made the right decision, but what caught them
off guard was Sandra's insistence that they start attending small dinner
parties of academics.  Usually the parties would be of seven or eight college
professors plus Luke and Jamie. 

The
intellectual arguments were enlightening.  Luke and Jamie were delighted to be
exposed to cutting edge theory and disagreement among some of the brightest in
various fields. 
This is so much better than just reading textbooks,
thought Luke.

Before long,
the sessions were an open secret among the southern California academics and
intellectuals and Sandra was buried in requests for invites.  Luke and Jamie
were thrilled with the opportunities to learn, and the various professors were
pleased at having any connection to the first family.  It was a good match and
an impressive education.

SAN DIEGO HARBOR

NOVEMBER 6
^th

The Slippery
Slope had powered into San Diego harbor the day before.  Kemp had been only too
happy to refuel then park the trawler at the dock.  He hadn't slept enough
during the voyage and was grateful for a day or two to recover, so he sent the
rest out to enjoy San Diego while he slept. 

In the morning,
he woke to find all of the women waiting for him in the living area.  Maria
said, "Skipper, we need to go
now
!"