False Flag (12 page)

On August 14, 1765, this particular tree was selected for hanging the effigies of those men who favored passage of the detested Stamp Act. On September 11th, a three-by-two-foot copper plate, with large golden letters, was placed on its trunk bearing the inscription
The Tree of Liberty
.

Thereafter, nearly all the great political meetings of the Sons of Liberty, and their insurgent arm known as the Mechanics, were held in this square. Embedded in the wall of the building located at 630 Washington Street was a tablet marking the spot of the historic landmark, bearing the inscription
Sons of Liberty, 1766
.

The British made the Liberty Tree an object of ridicule. During the siege of Boston in August of 1775, a party of British Loyalists defiantly cut it down. The Liberty Tree, which was planted in 1646, stood strong for one hundred and twenty-nine years. It was at this spot that the seeds of liberty were sown by the original Loyal Nine.

Steven looked at these brave men and women who comprised his modern-day Mechanics. All were prepared for this eventuality, but none could have imagined the battles would be in defense of their freedoms. It was time to get the evening started, so he quieted down the crowd.

“Listen up, everybody, we need to get started.” The raised voices died to a murmur as the Mechanics gathered around. Steven continued. “First, let me thank Don Scott, the regional supervisor for the REI sporting goods outlets in the Boston area, for gathering up these BaoFeng radio units and the Goal Zero portable solar panel chargers. Let your employer know how much we appreciate their generosity.”

Scott stood up and received a few pats on the back. “No problem.” Scott laughed. “I paid them with a check when I dropped off the keys to the stores the other day.”

“Just add it to your expense report, Don,” said Steven. He laughed as he watched Sarge hand out the new frequency codes. “Radio comms are critical to us now more than ever. We are all going to be involved in armed confrontations. Not only will the radios allow us to report intel, but they will enable you to request help if you are overrun.”

“These are your new active channels,” interjected Sarge. “Prior to the cyber attack, we all communicated through MURS channel 3, 151.9400. Those of you are active HAMRs know this to be a common channel utilized by like-minded patriots around the world. Steven and I believe that the government knows this as well.” Sarge stood back and yielded the floor to Steven.

“The bottom line is that we can’t trust the bastards,” said Steven. “I believe people like us are being targeted by the government, especially in light of the martial law declaration. We have to be mindful of shortwave listeners, other ham operators, or Citizen Corps personnel monitoring conversations via radio scanner.” Steven took one of the frequency flyers from Sarge and held it face forward to make his point.

“As you know, there is no such thing as a secret frequency,” he continued. “Anyone with a scanner can push the seek button and lock onto your conversation within minutes. We believe the government may be utilizing spectrum analyzers or scanner features like Close Call and Signal Stalker to monitor frequencies. Don helped us put together an SOP—standard operating procedure—for comms.”

Scott stepped forward and added, “Never give away your location if at all possible. Pay particular attention to the channels I’ve identified here as
tactical
. If you face a possible capture situation, or in the event of suspected eavesdropping, announce your desire to go to our backup frequencies, which you will find attached as page two. These should be committed to memory. In that event, announce the change to everyone using the code word
Brady
. Think of Tom Brady calling an audible during a play. This will alert everyone to the fact that our tactical frequencies have been compromised, and to utilize 151.600 until we can assign new tactical channels.” Scott stepped away and gave the floor back to Steven.

“On the next matter, it turns out we correctly anticipated the moves of our new
governor
,” said Steven as he was greeted with a chorus of boos. He laughed until they subsided. “Staging the break-ins at Atlantic Tactical, Boston Firearms, and the other local gun stores was genius. This left his Citizen Corps goons walking out of the stores with nothing but their pricks in their hands.” Steven shared high fives with the Mechanics. It was important to establish esprit de corps, a sense of enthusiasm and devotion, amongst the Mechanics. They would begin to risk their lives for their families, neighbors, and country tomorrow. This camaraderie would help keep them alive.

Steve went on to describe the mission of the Mechanics for Friday night. Using his most trusted lieutenants, he divided them into groups and assigned the highest-capacity armories to each. He and Brad determined it would not be possible to stop all of O’Brien’s men on their raids of the Massachusetts Guard armories Friday evening, nor did they want to. As Brad said, sometimes you had to give a little to avoid suspicion. Three-quarters of O’Brien’s men would not return on Saturday, having been abducted and locked up at the former federal prison facility at Fort Devens. The President had ordered, through Pearson, the inmates there released. Brad intended to fill it back up with O’Brien’s thugs.

Before he gave Sarge the final words of encouragement, he added, “All we can do is delay the governor and his Citizen Corps butt-buddies. At some point, the President will order the military into Boston to shut down dissent and our insurgent activities. I hope that our soldiers will obey their oath to the Constitution and stand down. As a soldier, I would never turn on my fellow Americans. Let’s continue to be a gnat in their ear. Let things play out. Above all, survive. Always live to fight another day.”

“Choose freedom!” came a shout from the rear of the room. Yells of
choose freedom
echoed throughout the room.

Chapter 19

Thursday, September 15, 2016

9:00 p.m.

630 Washington Street

Boston, Massachusetts

Sarge took in the whole scene for a moment. These three dozen plus strangers were taking up arms to fight a tyrannical government, just like his ancestors had done two hundred and fifty years ago. It was a humbling experience for Sarge as the Mechanics shouted choose freedom. When he began writing the book one year prior, he never imagined that its words would inspire Americans to this level of patriotism. Based upon the reports they were receiving all across the country, freedom-loving Americans were surviving and standing up for their rights. Now, he was doing the same.

Sarge raised and lowered his arms, motioning for everyone to quiet down. Although chairs were available, no one sat in them. Their adrenaline and excitement ran high—much like it did for the colonists during those historic meetings at the Liberty Tree.

“My friends, America is the most exceptional nation in the history of the world because our forefathers had vision. That vision guided them in creating the United States Constitution and the Bill of Rights. They are unequivocally the greatest political documents ever written.

“Our founding documents provide something vastly different than almost any people of any government has believed in human history. Most governments in the past have believed that
might makes right
. The king or ruler has all the power, and the people are expected to be dependent subjects. Out of fear of repercussions, most of the dependent class accepted their fate.

“Not in America. Our Founding Fathers said
no
. They believed that God gave us our inalienable natural rights. No government, or the individuals who are responsible for its operation, could possibly possess the power to violate these God-given rights.

“Government was never intended to be the source of our rights, and the Constitution was never meant to be interpreted as a source of giving a greater power to one man in Washington or an unelected tyrant over here at 99 High Street!” The Mechanics cheered Sarge’s words. They were looking for a leader. In this moment, Sarge knew it was time for him to fill the role that so many encouraged him to assume.

“In our country, over time, the rule of law and the freedoms to which we have grown accustomed have been lost. With few exceptions, Americans were too ignorant and unconcerned to do anything about it. The more often the rule of law was set aside, the more difficult it became to reestablish it. Now, the rule of law envisioned in the Constitution ceases to exist except as a distant memory.

“The reality is that a cloud of tyranny has descended upon America. Our President, and those who think like him, recognizes that for tyranny to be successful, the American people must first be disarmed.

“As history has proven time and again, a disarmed populace can easily be led to slaughter. But unlike the tens of millions executed in ethnic, religious and political cleansings of the last two centuries, Americans have a rich tradition of personal liberty and the right to bear arms. It is embedded in our culture and guaranteed by our Bill of Rights.

“Even before the attack of September third, those who would ignore the Constitution within the halls of government knew that if they pushed too far, they might incite a revolution. After the declaration of martial law, the time to revolt may be upon us.

“The Second Amendment wasn’t enacted just to arm hunters, as this President would have you believe. It is there for the American people to defend themselves against the criminal element, to protect themselves against terrorists and radical ideology, and it’s also there to push back against a tyrannical government that has overreached its power.

“This President does not trust the law-abiding American citizen, especially in this time of turmoil. His solution is to disarm us, but I submit to you, my friends, this has caused a revolution in America, the seeds of which are happening in buildings like this one all across the nation.” Sarge paused to allow some applause and shouts of encouragement to subside.

“We are not the enemy. The law-abiding gun owners in this country and the freedom-loving patriots like those in this room are the solution to the problems facing us in these difficult times. The enemies are the terrorist group who caused our power grid to collapse and an overreaching government who intends to profit from our nation’s demise.

“James Madison, one of our Founding Fathers, once wrote that the United States Constitution preserves the advantage of being armed. This is a fundamental right all Americans possess over the people of nearly every other nation, where governments are afraid to trust their people with arms. This right holds true two hundred fifty years later.

“This President believes that the circumstances we face oblige the government to form an army of those loyal to the government, the so-called Citizen Corps. That army can never be allowed to violate the liberties of the American people. Such infringement will never happen for so long as there is a large body of like-minded patriots who stand ready to defend their rights and those of their fellow Americans.

“We are not alone. The Mechanics are all over the country. Steven saw them in Pennsylvania and New York. We talk to them from California to Florida, and from Maine to Washington State.

“Know this, during the American Revolution, the active forces in the field against the king’s tyranny never amounted to more than about three percent of the colonists. This small group gave their lives to protect their God-given natural rights to liberty and property. Never underestimate the abilities of a small group of committed citizens to change the course of a nation. In that respect, history can, and will, repeat itself.”

Sarge looked into the eyes of these brave men and women, true American patriots. Many were clearly moved by his oration.

“I will leave you with these words from Thomas Jefferson:

“The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government. Jefferson asked,
what country can preserve its liberties, if its political leaders are not warned from time to time that the people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take up arms against us. The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants
.”

“Hear, hear!”

“Choose freedom!”

Chapter 20

Friday, September 16, 2016

7:00 p.m.

Massachusetts Guard Armory

275 Union Street

Braintree, Massachusetts

Following the Civil War, the U.S. government was becoming increasingly concerned over the possibility of widespread civil unrest and class warfare. In 1877, the War Department authorized the construction of fortified armories to be used by local militia, the predecessor to today’s State Guard units. The early armories were often ornate, redoubt-like structures. One of the first in the nation, built in Rhode Island, resembled a castle. At the turn of the twentieth century, the predominant architectural philosophy was that a building should proclaim its purpose. Churches should be welcoming, jails needed to appear oppressive, and armories should be suggestive of a fortress.

Armories were intended to be gathering places for the local militia to train as well as to store their arms and munitions. Today, armories—or their more recent politically correct designation, readiness centers—were used by the National Guard and military reserve units for the same purpose as contemplated in the 1800s.

The facility at Braintree was one of the largest armories maintained by the Massachusetts Army National Guard and held the same purpose as their original nineteenth-century counterparts, the storage of arms. It was a prime target for Governor O’Brien as a means to arm his Citizen Corps.

But Braintree was also a stronghold for the Mechanics. Settled in 1625, the town of Braintree was the birthplace of John Adams, John Quincy Adams, and John Hancock. Its residents were patriots and loyal to the Mechanics.