THE WARNING A Novel of America in the Last Days (The End of America Series Book 2) (10 page)

World
Wide Web

        
Experts in the use of the internet are not in agreement as
to why some e-messages go viral and yet most don’t. The G.A. Anonymous memo
entitled
America’s Communist Takeover
not only went viral, if there is such a phenomenon, it went hyper-viral. Within
ten days of its initial dissemination on the net it was forwarded to others by
over fifteen million readers. Within two weeks over forty million Americans
received the incendiary memo.

        
So many Americans had read the memo that eventually the
mainstream media were forced to report on its content. Virtually every article
or televised report ridiculed the memo, criticizing it as “another example of
right wing kooks making up things to criticize our besieged President”. A CNBC
report was typical of the treatment given to the widely read memo:

        
“Bruce, the latest
buzz among the radical right is an e-message that is ridiculous on its face.
It’s entitled ‘America’s Communist Takeover’.”

        
“Tom, did you just say Communist? Are
these Neanderthals not living in this century? Don’t they know that the
Communists fell from power when the Soviet Union disintegrated in 1991? 1991!
Tom, how can these wingnuts look in the mirror? Think what they are saying….They
accuse our President of being a….what?....A Communist, of all things? If they
want to criticize his policies, I think they have the right to do so, though
it’s difficult to do so, given the success of those policies. But, Tom, these
unprecedented attacks are over the edge. I don’t know any Communists and I dare
say that most Americans have never met a Communist. Since 1991, as I said, they
just don’t exist anymore.

        
“Bruce, since this attack, may I
say….this scurrilous attack….has been made on our President, even including a
threat to physically remove him from office, don’t you think that the
government should enforce the McAlister Act and stop these hate word attacks?
The McAlister Act prohibits attacks on public officials. I certainly hope that
the FBI and DHS, and whatever other agency, will go after these haters, arrest
them, convict them and put them away where they can no longer pollute the
internet. America should not grant freedom to those who abuse free speech. I
say just lock ‘em up and throw away the key. For the leaders, the people behind
this horrible libel, maybe a bullet wouldn’t be too good for them, I’m just
sayin’.”

        
“Ditto that, Tom. Anyone who tries to
overthrow the government is guilty of treason. Traitors deserve the death
penalty. That’s an American historical tradition, I’m pretty sure. Hang ‘em up,
string ‘em up….stop the treason. Protect our President. The only reason they
hate him so deeply is his nationality. That’s what I’m sayin’. Back to the news
desk.”

        
Instead of convincing moderate
and conservative voters that the Communist memo was to be avoided the attacks
by the media brought it to the attention of those who had not read it on the
internet. Polls showed that within just a few days over eighty percent of
Americans knew about the accusation that their government had been taken over
by Marxists, though a slim majority said they didn’t believe it.

Miami
Beach, Florida

        
“Is this America’s most listened to talk show host?”

        
“
Yup
. You got him.
Who’s
this?”

        
“Don’t you recognize my voice?”

        
“No…. I don’t….wait. Say something else.”

        
“How much do you want me to say? I can….”

        
“Oh, I know who you are. Long time no talk. Not since our
foursome out at Carmel. What was that - one, one and a half years ago?”

        
“Yeah, something like that. Look, we need to meet and talk.
OK?”

        
“Well, sure….that is….you know my schedule.
The world
knows my schedule. I don’t
have any open….”

        
“You
will
want to
talk to me. Sooner. Not later. This is
critical
.”

        
“When people tell me how important it is that I meet with
them that generally means it’s super important to them, but
not
to me. Just tell me what this is
about.”

        
“Your life. Your ability
to
continue
to live it….that’s all I can say until we meet.”

        
“
Hold on
, ol’
buddy, you got through my layers of security to talk to me based on our
friendship. Don’t abuse it by dripping veiled threats of I don’t know what all.
If you want to….”

        
“I’ll be at your beach house at 8 PM tomorrow night. Let
your gate guy know.
Believe me
when I
say you will want to hear what I have to disclose to you. Your future is in the
balance.”

        
All he could do in response was sputter, “
But
….you….I just said….Are you still
there?....
You’ve hung up?
....What
the….”

        
The next night as 8 PM neared America’s favorite radio
talker was not very happy. He was puffing his Cuban cigar at an accelerated
rate, the tip burning crimson red. People just don’t treat me like this, he
thought. This guy is dis-respecting our friendship, he felt. Security buzzed in
to alert him that his expected guest was on his way to the beach house.

        
He decided to make the best of what was clearly an awkward
situation. He offered his guest a glass of wine, which was declined. His guest
sat on the edge of the chair that was offered to him and plunged immediately
into the purpose of his visit, “Ol’ friend,
you
have to move
.”

        
“
Move
? What are
you talking about? I haven’t been here all that long. New York was a….”

        
“I mean you have to move offshore,
out
of the country.
Out of
America
. Soon.”

        
He was getting increasingly irritated, “Un huh. And what is
the reason for such an
unsolicited
piece of
unwanted
advice, may I ask?”

        
“It comes as no surprise to you, of course, that you have
enemies in high places -
very high places
.
How many people in your field get attacked, by name, by the
President
?”

        
“I just tell ‘em to
get
in line
. I’ve been attacked by experts through the years. These guys are
amateurs
. Rank amateurs. They don’t
bother me a….”

        
“
Stop
! What I have
learned has nothing to do with words of scorn from the White House. Now, pay
attention.
Close
attention. My third
son is an agent with a federal agency that’s so secret that it has
no name
. No address. No funding entry in
the budget. You get the idea. My son knows we are friends. He’s
not
a particular fan of yours, but he
does believe that you have the Constitutional right to express your opinions on
the air - the public airwaves.”

        
“Nice to know he’s
not
a fan
. So what does your secret agent son have to do with anything?”

        
“No reason to be
smarmy
.
He was in a meeting last week where your
death
was discussed.”

        
He choked on his cigar’s swirling smoke, “
Chuff, uhhum. Chuff…
.What did you just
say?
My death
? You’ve got
just one minute
to explain yourself before
I call security,
sir
.”

        
“A kill order has gone out. You’ve been declared an
enemy of the state
; a domestic
terrorist. Under the Patriot Act and the National Defense Authorization Act you
can be eliminated. It’s been
decided
.
If you don’t leave the country you will not be alive to continue to broadcast
your views.”

        
“Alright, I’m sorry I was a bit harsh there, but you have to
understand I get death threats
all the
time
. Have for years. What makes this
any
different
than….”

        
“Good question.
Very
simple answer
. This leak is a gift to you because we’ve been friends and my
son
just happened
to learn of the
kill order. Otherwise, in a week, maybe two, no more than three, you’ll be on
the brown side of the grass, as they say. It’s
your
decision. Believe it, act and
live
. Ignore it and
die
.
Don’t forget what happened to Glenn. Have a nice evening, ol’ buddy.”

        
Twelve days later radio listeners across America were
shocked to hear their favorite radio talk show host announce, “Folks, America’s
premier radio talk show will now be called
Radio
Free America
, as I am broadcasting to you from my new location, offshore
from America. Where? I know my audience, so I know that millions of you right
now are asking….
where
did he move?
Where
is he now? Folks, I don’t want to
invite a drone visitor, if ya’ know what I mean, so I
won’t
be divulging my location. My fact-filled and incisive show is
being recorded here in my new home location. Then, each day it will be bounced
through at least ten locations around the globe, so that my location will
remain a secret. We change the routing every day, sometimes more than once a
day. I suspect that
Radio Free America
will be shut down on certain radio stations, as more station owners get
threatened. But we’ll be on
most
of
the radio stations as before, and certainly available on the internet. At least
for a while. Who
knows
how long?

        
“Folks,
Radio Free
America
may be the last source that thinking Americans have to get the
truth. Most of us who paid attention, the non-low information crowd, knew that
Fox wouldn’t be long term. All the White House had to do was influence
one man,
the owner of Fox. Which, of
course, they have now unfortunately accomplished. So, here I am, Napoleon on
Elbe, in exile, broadcasting the truth, as long as I can. Oh, by the way, for
the folks in Yorba Linda, I’m not actually on Elbe, that was just a figure of
speech. But
, I am in exile.
I didn’t
want to be, but here I am. I guess I saw this coming for some time. I just
always thought that something or….someone….would come along and save our good
old USA from collapsing. I was
wrong
.
If you’re listening to me in the USA, consider following me. Think about moving
offshore. There’s a big, nice hospitable world out here and you can survive and
thrive in it. More on that in the coming weeks. As long as my golden microphone
works that is. Adios for twenty-one hours. Until tomorrow, friends.”

MOUNT
VERNON, INDIANA

        
Roy Henry was angry. Seriously upset. He couldn’t recall any
time in his 34 years that he had been so livid. He thought, “I live in a free
country; the land of the free. Heck, I fought in two wars as a Marine to keep
those freedoms. America is known world-wide for clean, honest elections. It’s
only in third world countries or dictatorships that elections are rigged,
fixed, with rampant vote fraud. Not here. Not in the U.S. Oh, maybe a few
voting irregularities, here and there, but nothing like this. This totally
stinks.”

        
Roy Henry was fuming after he read a newly published report
documenting vote fraud in each of the battleground states in the Presidential
election, now almost a year past. There had been no demonstrations or protests
about the rigged election in the first few days after the election. A few
commentators had raised some questions about the vote count, some of which
appeared to be cast under suspicious circumstances, but there was no obvious
level of outrage, with nothing more than suspicions. But, now….now, he thought,
we know the guy
stole
the election.
His opponent, a decent moderate Republican, failed to even get one vote in
hundreds of precincts, with the President gaining over 99% of the votes cast in
thousands of other precincts located in strategic states across the country. He
knew that doesn’t even happen in a dictatorship.

        
But, what to
do
about it? The mainstream media was complicit in the theft. They would never
even
hint
, let alone report, that
fraud occurred in the election, now that it was “over” and their favored
candidate had “won”. Most of the prosecutors, the only public officials in a
position to bring charges, were of the same political party as the President.
Those who weren’t, without loud media support, would never try to bring down a
president. Especially not this President, whose supporters had shown that they
could play rough.

        
It’s over, he sadly concluded. My country is being led by a
thief, or at the very least led by a man surrounded by thieves, obviously with
his willing consent and direction. He had learned in his American history
classes that in 1960 John Kennedy’s supporters in Cook County, Illinois had
held out voting results until they knew how many votes were needed to put their
candidate in the lead in the final state needed to win the White House. That
was an historical embarrassment, but nothing like what just happened in states
across the country. This was an organized, orchestrated and overt stolen
election.

        
 
He doesn’t deserve to
run the country he concluded,
he didn’t
win
a majority of the votes!
The
more he thought about it the more convinced he was that the President needed to
be run out of office. But, how’s that going to happen, he wondered? Since the
media are in his pocket, and no law enforcement official will take any action,
that only leaves us,
we the people
.
He knew that phrase, we the people, was in some important document, he just
wasn’t sure exactly which one. But, in any case, he knew in his gut that the
people would have to take action, otherwise the fraud will succeed and the
American system of free and fair elections, by the people being governed, would
be gone forever.

        
As Roy was trying to contain his rising anger, he decided to
check his e-mail. He saw that one of his shooting buddies had e-mailed him,
saying Roy, YOU GOT TO READ THIS. He looked at the message line of the e-mail
and saw that the attached document was entitled AMERICA’S COMMUNIST TAKEOVER.
What the heck is this, he pondered? He opened the document and started to read.
By the time Roy had finished reading he knew that he had an answer to his
earlier question as to what Americans should do. It was time to get out his
sniper rifle with telephoto lens and make some serious plans.