299 Days: The Preparation (36 page)

Rick Menlow, that’s who. When Menlow got wind of the Governor’s proposed massive tax hikes, he knew that she could not possibly be attempting to run for another term. And no Democrat could get elected when their party had just raised taxes like that. Menlow knew he would be the next Governor.

Menlow felt a surge of adrenaline. Then he felt… it was hard to describe… a darkness. A happy darkness. He felt like the darkness was saying that he was getting something he wanted, but that the darkness would be back to tell him what he needed to do in return.

The economy was the worst anyone had ever seen. People were scared. It seemed like everyone was out of work. People started to use the “D” word of “depression.” The term “D2,” for Second Great Depression, was starting to be used. Up until this point, everyone on TV had been referring to the economic situation as a “recession.” This wasn’t any little “recession.”

Crime was getting worse. It had grown slowly when the police quit patrolling. Now it was everywhere. Not a complete breakdown of law and order, just rampant crime. It was like Detroit. In fact, people started referring to the slowly unfolding Collapse as the “Detroit- ification” of America.

Amid the virtual bankruptcy of Washington State, the Legislature decided to go to the easy plays from their political play book: crack down on crime. It was far more popular than reducing the size of government spending. Democrats loved “tough on crime” legislation because it helped them get over their 1960s image as being soft on crime. Republicans loved “tough on crime” legislation because… well, they were Republicans. The Governor wanted to appear in control of the whole mess so she could call for tougher and tougher measures.

Of course, increasing prison terms for crimes that were going uninvestigated and unprosecuted wouldn’t do much. Besides, increasing prison sentences would make the state’s financial crisis worse because it meant spending more for prisons. The state was being forced to release prisoners because it couldn’t afford to keep them. So no one, not even the mind numbed zombie voters, would go for increasing prison sentences. The state needed to do something else to show they were cracking down on crime.

The Legislature passed a package of “temporary” laws to make it easy for the police to search people at the new checkpoints and to enter homes without a warrant. The checkpoints were usually a police car or two at a key intersection stopping traffic and asking people for their ID. The police didn’t search every car; they didn’t have the resources for that. The main reasons the ineffective checkpoints were set up were to make citizens feel safe and to show them that the authorities were in charge.

This wasn’t “martial law”; it was an expansion of the powers the civilian police already had. A really big expansion. Most of the voters ate it up. “Something needs to be done,” they said.

The Legislature attempted to pass some strict gun control laws, but didn’t have the votes. People in Washington State, while progressive as a whole, still wanted guns. They saw the packs of punks milling around their neighborhoods. They might tell their progressive friends that they supported gun control, but they were the ones flooding places like Capitol City Guns. That surprised Grant. He figured the state was so far gone that gun control would pass easily, especially in a crime wave. He was glad to be wrong about that.

One small provision of the new “tough on crime” law that went largely unnoticed was a huge expansion of the civil forfeiture law. This law allowed the police to seize (without a warrant) anything of value involved in a crime or suspected crime. For example, if a car were suspected of being used by a criminal, the police could seize it, send the owner listed on the registration a certified letter, wait ten days, and then sell it, and keep the money. That last part was the key.

The police had a profit motive to grab as much stuff as they could; guns, houses, boats. Of course, the overworked police who couldn’t investigate crimes had plenty of time to send out certified mail letters to owners and to sell their bounty. It was a great way to fund police departments without raising taxes. It was also government- sanctioned theft. But it only affected criminals. Right?

No; it affected anyone unlikely enough to have their property stolen first by a criminal and then by the police. For example, when a criminal stole a car, used it to rob someone, and then got caught, the car — stolen from an innocent victim — was sold after ten days. The law abiding owner who had her car stolen was now the victim; the government had taken her car, but if she didn’t get the letter within ten days and go through the process of proving she wasn’t a criminal, then they got to keep the proceeds. The innocent victim had to prove her innocence. Civil forfeiture was a civil, not criminal, law so the burden of proof could be on the citizen to prove innocence. Many innocent crime victims were having their things stolen by government. There were more and more stories to describe on Rebel Radio, just like there were more and more pissed off people who used to trust government and now hated it. Things were getting out of hand, quickly.

Grant went into Capitol City Guns to get a reality check. Hanging out with lawyers and lobbyists was not reality. Gun store guys; that’s reality. Special Forces Ted was there with Chip and a Sheriff’s deputy. Grant avoided talking to them because they might be talking business. Chip motioned for Grant to come over. The deputy looked a little nervous about having Grant join the conversation.

Chip introduced Grant to the deputy. “Jeff, this is Grant. He’s a lawyer and has shop privileges here, so he’s cool. I trust Grant with my life. So tell him what you were telling us.”

The deputy looked a little nervous but said, “Some of us are a little concerned at all the stuff that’s happening. That civil forfeiture thing is a frickin’ racket. My guys…”

Ted asked, “Oath Keepers?”

“Yeah, Oath Keepers,” Jeff said. “We are starting to wonder when this shit crosses the line and violates our oaths. Any thoughts from the lawyer?” Jeff asked Grant.

Grant thought. “I think the civil forfeiture laws are unconstitutional, but I don’t think it’s to the level of an unlawful order. You’re not being ordered to round people up or take all lawful firearms. You could ask to be reassigned so you don’t have anything to do with the forfeitures.”

Jeff nodded. “Yeah, that’s what I thought.” They were all quiet for a few seconds.

Jeff said, “Here’s what bugs me the most. The majority of my fellow deputies don’t seem to be bothered by this ‘crime wave’ and the crackdown. They are kind of excited to be out fighting it. They feel like they are more needed than ever because there are so many crimes out there. They’re not seeing the bigger picture. I’m kinda concerned.”

More silence. Shit, this was not good. Grant had always counted on Oath Keepers to prevent his kind of thing. It looked like it wasn’t working. This might be even worse than he thought.

He looked at his watch and realized he needed to take off. He said goodbye to the guys and headed home. It was another one of those drives from Capitol City to his home where he had things to wrestle with, like the police and military deciding to fight the government, or not, as today seemed to indicate.

He could think about that the entire drive, but when he hit that garage door opener, it would be all about doing homework with the kids and going to ballet lessons. These two worlds were getting farther and farther apart. And the real world of nastiness was becoming more and more apparent and less theoretical. It was scaring the hell out of Grant.

What really scared Grant, though, was what was happening when he walked into his house. Lisa was sitting on the couch with Cole.

“OK, Cole,” she said, “what do you do if a stranger comes in our house and Mom or Dad aren’t here?”

Cole thought. “Call 911?”

“That’s right,” Lisa said. “Good. Call 911 and the police will come and help you.” Lisa saw Grant and smiled at him. She was putting her faith in the government to protect them. Grant was not. This rift between them was getting bigger.

Grant looked at Cole. He was the sweetest boy in the world. But he couldn’t talk too much or understand people. Oh, God. What will happen to Cole when all of this hits? Grant was dealing head-on with the collapse of the United States. That didn’t scare him too much since he had prepared. He was calmly planning on it. But the thought of Cole by himself in a very dangerous world terrified him.

Chapter 42

Lawyers, Guns and Money

The worse things got, the more Grant prepped. It was an emotional crutch. Yes, Grant admitted, it was an emotional crutch. After his conversation with the police about how they are going along with legalized theft, he found comfort in building up his food storage and self-defense capabilities. If that’s an “emotional crutch” then Grant was proud to be guilty of it. Prepping sure beat the other form of dealing with the situation, which was the form most people were using: pretending nothing was wrong.

Most people, even his conservative WAB friends, were trying to convince themselves that things were going to be OK. Tom did not talk about it much. In fact, he avoided the topic altogether.

During one conversation, Grant was making the point with Tom that things were getting worse. They were in Tom’s car and the Warren Zevon song “Lawyers Guns and Money” came on, which is about a guy getting out of various jams with lawyers, guns, and money.

Grant tried to make the point to Tom about things getting worse by saying, “You know, at first we tried using money to make donations and elect good people. Didn’t work. Now we need lawyers to fend off things like the CFC charges and the IRS. That may not work. I think it’ll take guns, next.”

Tom was silent. It appeared that he either didn’t understand or didn’t want to hear it. Grant had no idea why Tom wasn’t reacting. It was weird because Tom was such a fighter but he couldn’t conceive of the likelihood this fight going beyond the political realm. Even a fighter like Tom had normalcy bias. Tom changed the subject for the rest of the ride.

Brian was in outright denial. He would talk to Grant about how bad things were getting and then say, “This is no time to overreact. Things always seem worse than they usually are.” It was like he was trying to convince himself into believing it. Grant worried about how Brian would react when the shit hit the fan.

Ben was handling it better. He realized that things were not normal. He seemed to understand that something big was developing, and he would be a part of it. He and Grant talked about it one day.

“Hey, Grant, you own some guns,” Ben said. “Are you freaked out about what’s happening?”

“Yes.” That’s about all Grant would say. He fully planned on including Ben, Brian, Tom, and their families in his survival plans, but now was not the time to chitchat about it.

“I can tell something is coming,” Ben said. “Something bad. Guys like you and I will be the first to be rounded up,” he said with a half-smile. But he was also half serious. “I can’t bring myself to start stockpiling food and getting a gas mask.” He said that last part with another smile. The WAB guys, while they didn’t know the full extent of Grant’s preps, figured Grant might be preparing and often teased him about being a “survivalist” and running around in a gas mask.

Ben paused and looked at Grant in the eye. “I think I’ll be OK even when things get crazy. I don’t know why, I just do.” Ben seemed genuine; he wasn’t just convincing himself of something to believe like Brian was.

“Let’s hope so, my brother,” Grant said. Maybe Ben was prepping, too, and didn’t want to tell Grant. There was something about what he was saying that convinced Grant that Ben would, indeed, be OK.

We’ll see, Grant thought. We’ll see.

Grant’s refuge from all this stress and worrying was the cabin. Everything was calm there. It was quiet. It was beautiful. Every time he went out there, he was on vacation. Even if it was for an hour in the middle of the day. It was a vacation from the world.

Grant loved the smell of the cabin. It smelled like fresh Christmas trees and the ocean, which made sense because it was surrounded by evergreen trees and the ocean. Just smelling the cabin calmed Grant and relaxed him to the point that it was almost impossible to get mad.

Lisa wondered sometimes why Grant was in such a good mood around the house. What she didn’t know is that earlier that day he had run out to the cabin for a short time. He wouldn’t tell her.

Lisa was still rather cold toward the cabin; it was “his thing,” not hers. The maintenance and utilities were costing a fair amount of money. Regardless, it seemed like she had just decided that she wouldn’t like the place. She didn’t hate it and didn’t try to stop Grant from going there; she just didn’t like it. Grant didn’t know why. He thought that perhaps it was because his worthless parents, both of whom Lisa really disliked, had just handed him something. She also knew that Grant loved the cabin more than anything else except her and the kids. She was competing with a building out in Hickville. She was a beautiful doctor; why couldn’t that be good enough for him? Why did he need a stupid old cabin to feel great? He had her. Wasn’t that enough?

When he was out there for more than a little while, he would drop by the Colsons and Morrells and visit. Strengthening his relationship with these neighbors was as important as any other prep; maybe more so. He would explore the woods around the beach, and looked for sources of water and defensible terrain. He just watched the wildlife. There were amazing birds out there. There were harbor seals in the inlet and fish jumping. Fox roamed around the area. Eagles flew by, sometimes grabbing a fish out of the water. It was amazing.

It was now spring, and everything was blooming. There was something terribly dreary about a winter of cloudiness and rain in Washington State. Residents of Washington must endure rain from about Thanksgiving to St. Patrick’s Day. However, when it stops raining and the sun comes out, the place is glorious.

Grant looked around the cabin, which was surrounded by spring blooms. He kept thinking that this spring was going to be the beginning of something more than just a growing season for plants.