False Flag (20 page)

“Okay, Penny, J.J. is going to take care of your braces,” said Susan as she cupped a worried Penny’s face in her hands.

Donald leaned down next to their daughter to reassure her. “Honey, you’ll be in good hands with J.J. When he finishes up, you’ll feel great and your smile will be worth a million bucks!”

“Thank you, Daddy. I just wish Dr. SinClair was here to do it.”

Donald patted her on the head and he whispered to J.J., “We’ll go downstairs when you’re done.”

J.J. nodded. “Okay, my good little Prim and Proper Penny Pincher—” J.J. laughed as he knelt down next to the nervous young girl “—the most important thing you can do for me is hold still, okay?”

“Okay, J.J.,” replied Penny. She looked up to Susan and added, “I’ve got this, Mom.”

Donald thought to himself that this world was no place for children. His girls were very fortunate compared to the horrors other children were facing
out there
. But Penny was growing into a confident young woman, just a week before her twelfth birthday, which fell on October first.

He got his daughter settled on the surgical table while J.J. adjusted the lights. He gave Penny a kiss on the forehead. J.J. gathered a few instruments, including one not normally used in a medical context.

“Susan, please keep Penny still for me,” said J.J. “It will be a natural reaction for her to flinch. A little bit will be okay.”

Susan nodded and looked to Donald for reassurance. He gave her a thumbs-up.

“I can’t believe I missed this,” interjected Donald. “I’m sorry, J.J., I thought I was pretty thorough and thought of everything.”

“You did pretty good, Donald,” said J.J. “Look around us.”

Donald looked around the room full of medical devices and instruments. Everything here was readily available online or at local medical supply stores. The most expensive item was the portable defibrillator that J.J. had used in his attempts to revive Sabs. Hopefully, that would not be needed again.

“I would think about the mundane tasks people performed each day,” started Donald. “I then thought about how those tasks could be achieved in a grid-down scenario. We talked about women’s health issues at length, didn’t we, honey?”

“I think we were very thorough in most respects,” replied Susan. “Typically, women and children are most affected by poor sanitation conditions. I thought of everything from personal hygiene to birth control.”

“That’s right,” added Donald. “And even though we don’t personally agree with its use, we even included the Plan B morning-after pill in the medicine cabinet over there.” Donald pointed to a large, locked corner cabinet.

“Don’t feel bad, you guys,” said J.J. as he produced a set of needle-nose pliers from the instrument sterilizer. A tear came to Susan’s eyes as she saw the tool.

“I look at our baby’s sweet mush every day,” said Donald, becoming emotional at the sight of Susan’s tears. “I could have purchased a pair of ortho pliers for around fifteen bucks on Amazon. How could I have missed that?”

“Hey, hey, you two—” J.J. laughed “—this little girl is way tougher than you two wusses. Do I need to clear
my O.R
.?”

Both of the Quinns laughed as J.J. and Penny looked at them.

“Okay, sorry,” replied Donald, speaking on Susan’s behalf.
Nervous parents
.

“You did have the foresight to print hard copies of
Where There is No Dentist
from the Freedom Preppers website,” said J.J. “Also, the introduction to orthodontics book is a huge help.”

“I’m ready, J.J.,” interrupted Penny. Everyone laughed at the child’s desire to get it over with.

“Okay, Penny Pincher,” said J.J. He put on a pair of surgical magnifying glasses, which included an LED headlight. “Open wide.”

Penny obliged.

“Obviously, you don’t want to grab the tooth, as it may crack. Dental brackets have a groove close to the tooth face designed to make their removal easy. I’m also going to use my finger to support the back side of the tooth, which has the added benefit of keeping the patient steady. Let’s take care of the first one.”

After removing the rubber bands from the dental brace structure, J.J. took the pliers and squeezed the bracket at the front of the tooth. He gave it a slight torqueing motion.

“You only need to give the braces a gentle squeeze. You don’t want to pull forward.” The first brace came loose after another wiggle. J.J. was separating the brace from the bonding glue, which was very strong. After twisting the brace, the glue remained on the tooth. J.J. continued to work his way around Penny’s mouth until all of the braces were removed. There was only a little bit of bleeding, which he dabbed with a Q-tip.

“That wasn’t so bad, was it, Penny Punkin’?” asked J.J., who had a wide variety of nicknames for the Quinn girls.

“Nope, but my teeth feel funny,” replied Penny. “They’re rough.”

“That’s the glue used to hold the braces in place,” said J.J. “Dr. SinClair would have a solvent for you, but we have to improvise.”

“What can we do about the glue?” asked Susan. She helped Penny sit up and gave her a wet washcloth to bite down on, helping ease the discomfort.

“The glue could take years to wear off completely,” started J.J. “But I have some pretty simple instructions for you. He walked over to the counter and grabbed a box of baking soda and peroxide. “There are hundreds of uses for baking soda, and this is one of them.”

He mixed a paste from two teaspoons of baking soda and one-half teaspoon of peroxide. Peroxide caused the baking soda to bubble, so he mixed the two slowly to avoid a mess.

“Sit up straight, Penny,” instructed J.J. “Susan, hold this towel under her chin to keep from creating a
mad-dog foamy mess
, right, little one?”

Penny grinned and nodded her head.

“Don’t swallow this, Penny. Let the mixture spill out, okay?”

Another nod.

J.J. took a battery-powered toothbrush and began to move the mixture over Penny’s teeth for a moment or two. During this process, J.J. explained that brushing with the peroxide and baking soda softened up the glue, which enabled him to scrape it off with a dental pick. He cautioned to use care when scraping to prevent accidental removal of the enamel, which could lead to tooth decay.

“Spit it all out into this bowl, Penny, and then we’ll rinse your mouth out a couple of times.”

“It’s yucky.”

“I know. Now, I need you to floss for me, okay? After that, let’s rinse again, please.” J.J. directed his attention to Susan as he washed his hands.

“This will help remove the glue, but it certainly isn’t the perfect solution. Once a day, have a brushing, picking, and flossing session with Penny. Be sure to rinse her mouth out thoroughly to get rid of loose dental glue and residue.”

“Thank you so much, J.J.,” said Susan, giving him a hug. “She was so uncomfortable. I didn’t know what we would do.”

“Well, this has been a first for me, I can assure you,” said J.J. He handed her a small tube of Orajel. “She will have a little discomfort around her gums for the next couple of days. This will help numb the pain.”

“All done,” announced Penny with the biggest smile she’d shared in a long time. “How do I look?”

“Like a princess!”

*****

Donald and J.J. descended the stairs into the lower levels of 1PP. It had been two weeks since J.J. left for 100 Beacon, and Donald had been busy on a project. He was anxious to share the details with his friend.

“Thank you, J.J.,” said Donald as they reached the bottom floor of the former radio observatory. “Susan was worried.”

“It was a simple procedure. The key is to take your time and not get aggressive with the brackets. Fortunately, the removal wasn’t complicated by gum disease or TMJ pains. She should heal up nicely.”

Donald reached into his pocket and pulled out the keys to the locked steel door. Certain rooms remained locked and inaccessible, like this one, the weapons room, and the vault full of a billion dollars in precious metals. This particular room had become Donald’s workshop and
man-cave
.

“What’ve you been working on?” asked J.J.

Donald led him into the room and closed the door behind them, turning the bolt lock as well. He moved past J.J. and switched on the lights over his long workbench. Tools were organized on a pegboard wall, and there were charging stations for his lithium ion batteries.

Donald’s shop was designed to perform a number of functions, including weapons cleaning and repair. There was a Hornady reloading press and several bins filled with a variety of cartridges. Donald had acquired all of the essentials for ammunition reloading, including dies, a priming tool, and a powder scale.

The large center worktable contained drawers filled with a variety of nuts, bolts, and screws acquired at Lowe’s during the build-out of 1PP. Donald was a hands-on supervisor during the process, thinking of useful tools and construction materials to benefit them in a postapocalyptic world.

“I’d like you to meet our force multiplier,” said Donald proudly. He lifted a device off the workbench and set it on the table for J.J. to see.

“What the hell is this thing?” asked J.J. as he walked around the table and studied the device without daring to touch it. On a small square bracket with rubber feet, Donald had welded an eighteen-inch-diameter satellite dish. Attached to the dish were several electronic components with wires interconnecting them. A black rubber handle was located behind another box, which contained a toggle switch and a red push button.

“This is an RFW—a radio frequency weapon,” replied Donald. “If all goes well, it will be the first of three that I will build in case we need it.”

“Are you out of your mind?” asked J.J.

“Not at all. Listen, radio frequency weapons, also known as directed-energy weapons, use electromagnetic energy on specific frequencies to disable electronics. The principle is similar to that of high-power microwave weapons used by the military. These military systems tend to be much more sophisticated and are more likely to be in the control of technologically advanced nations.

“The RFW, by contrast, is simple and low voltage enough that it can be deployed by anyone. I found a detailed schematic online. I purchased the necessary components on Amazon, at Radio Shack, and at the local electrical supply. Instructions for assembling the components and how to use the RFW were available online as well.” Donald leaned back against the workbench and folded his arms.

J.J. studied the RFW for a moment before speaking. “You’ve built an EMP device?”

“The force multiplier,” replied Donald. “is capable of causing damage to targeted electronics. It is intended to be a highly capable nonlethal weapon. It’s designed to be focused on a particular target, but can be used safely from a distance. That’s why RFWs are also called directed-energy weapons. It has the capability of rendering an attacker’s electronics useless. Just like an EMP.”

“Donald, this has a lot of potential. We could use it defensively against attacking vehicles or boats. We could also use it covertly against a facility that had power restored or is operating through a generator.” J.J. picked up the force multiplier. It was fairly heavy at seventeen pounds, but remarkably balanced. The bracket holding the components protruded underneath the handle, enabling the operator to use the base as a counterweight. The toggle switch and push button were within easy reach of the operator’s thumb.

“What are all of these parts?” asked J.J. as he gently set the device back down.

“After I obtained the plans, I set about finding the parts listed on various websites,” replied Donald. As he spoke, he pointed to each of the components. “I purchased the Sharp magnetron on eBay. This is called the
waveguide assembly
, which I obtained from a microwave oven. This is an eighteen-inch aluminum dish made by CETC. This PAPST fan is designed for computer servers and compact air conditioners. It will keep the magnetron cooled down if it has to be used for long periods of time.”

“How long do you have to use it for it to have the desired effect?” asked J.J.

“Short bursts are sufficient for most buildings and vehicles,” replied Donald. “Aircraft require a longer burst.” He looked J.J. in the eye to study his reaction.

“You can disable an aircraft with this?”

“I think so,” said Donald. He continued with the
tour
of the force multiplier. “This is a high-voltage YEO transformer that I bought from Sears. Everything is wired together, including the capacitor. Then it is properly grounded, or it won’t work.”

“Have you tried it yet?” asked J.J.

Donald put his hands in his pockets and shook his head. “No. I’m afraid to around here. What if it works better than I thought? I don’t want to fry our own electronics!”

Chapter 32

Sunday, September 25, 2016

3:55 p.m.

100 Beacon

Boston, Massachusetts

“It’s been quiet around us until now,” said Julia as she and Sarge stood on the rooftop of 100 Beacon. “That gunfire is from down the street, Sarge.” From the top of the building, they had a clear line of sight to the east toward Boston Common. Smoke began to rise from the vicinity of Starbucks and DeLuca’s on Charles Street.

Sarge leaned over the roof’s edge to get a better perspective with his binoculars, but his view was obstructed by the Greek Consulate. The commotion to their west concerned him more. The sounds of breaking glass and gunfire were common now, but this was dangerously close.

“I knew we weren’t going to be insulated from the violence,” said Sarge. “The respite of the last week or so wasn’t going to last. That’s why the idea of relocating some of the Mechanics to our building is important. I thought we could wait until Steven and Katie returned.”

“Sarge, look,” yelled Julia as she pointed west on Beacon Street. “Those men are shooting the plate-glass doors of the Gibson Museum and going in. There are at least six of them.” Gunshots rang out again on the north side of Beacon as another group of men stormed a brownstone apartment building.