Forgotten Forbidden America: Rise of Tyranny (11 page)

“You called your folks?” Nelson asked.

“Yes, Mr. Nelson, and they want us home now.”

Nelson nodded. “That’s good, but don’t get sloppy going fast,” he warned and handed over one of his business cards. “If for some reason a cop sneaks up on you, tell him I’m the one that authorized for you to have the gear, but if they see the guns, it won’t work.”

“We talked about it and will just run till we can’t, and then we’ll just shoot it out,” he said nervously.

“If you shoot, you shoot to kill, and get the hell out of there and never speak of it with anyone,” Nelson said.

“Yes, sir,” they both said.

Daren cleared his throat. “How long do you think it will take you to get home?”

“It’s three hundred miles from here, but if we are going slow, it will take us a day,” Keith told him.

“Go and get one of the atlases and mark out a route and have several backups. Memorize your route in case you have to move fast to get away, and for God sakes, don’t go near any big towns or cities,” Nelson warned them.

“Oh, we aren’t going near any town,” Keith promised.

“Guys, let’s check our loads once more, and when Matt gets here, boys, I want one of you to open the door. I’ll pull out first, followed by Daren, and we will wait as your buggy follows. Whoever is driving the buggy will pull just outside the door as the other closes and locks the door. Drive up to my truck and pass the keys off, then high tail it to your apartment. Daren, you follow the car Matt brings for you, and remember what I told you,” he finished, and everyone nodded.

They checked the loads one more time, adding a few more straps, then everyone ran to grab more coffee, and then they moved to their vehicles. When his cellphone rang, Nelson almost took off running. He grabbed it and saw it was Matt. “Hello.”

“Be there in two minutes. I’m in the car. Tell the other one the police SUV will follow him home,” Matt said then hung up.

“Daren, the police SUV will follow you home. Let’s go!” Nelson shouted, starting his truck, and Zeus let out a bark. “Don’t start,” he warned, putting the truck in gear.

Ben unlocked the door and pushed it open as Nelson pulled forward. He could damn sure tell he was pulling a heavy load as he drove out followed by Daren. They pulled up as Matt and the police SUV pulled into the parking lot, heading toward them.

Looking in his side mirror, Nelson saw the Razor outside and Ben closing the door then locking it. Ben ran for the Razor and jumped in. Keith stomped on the gas, pulling the Razor beside Nelson’s truck as Ben leaned out, holding his keys.

Nelson grabbed the keys. “Thank you, and good luck,” Ben shouted as Keith sped away. Daren pulled past him as the police SUV turned around and stopped, waiting for the truck to pass him then followed Daren out onto the road.

Matt spun his car around, squealing the tires, and Nelson pulled up behind him as Matt pulled out on the road. Nelson looked around, only seeing a few cars when this road was normally packed. Giving the truck some fuel, Nelson pulled closer to Matt as they sped down the road.

When Matt would get to a red light, he would turn on his lights and slow down, leading Nelson around the few cars on the road. In less than ten minutes, Nelson was backing the trailer into the driveway. When he turned off the truck and climbed out, he saw Matt walking toward him. Turning to the house, he saw his family running at him.

They all latched onto him, squeezing him tight. “Now, this is a welcome,” he said, hugging them.

Michelle let go and looked at the packed truck and trailer. “Did you leave anything at the store?” she asked.

“More than I wanted to, but I had somewhere I had to be,” he said.

She turned and hugged him again. “We need to get inside and talk. Gerald called,” she told him then started walking to the house. “It’s about to get ugly.”

Chapter 7

Walking inside, Nelson walked over to the couch and just dropped, crashing into the cushions. “I’m wore slap to the bone,” he said as Olivia crawled up in his lap.

“Hungry?” Michelle asked, putting Devin in his swing.

“Famished,” he said, leaning his head back on the couch.

“How about you, Matt?” Michelle asked.

Nodding as he headed to the couch and sat down beside Nelson, Matt said, “Yes, the candy bar I had six hours ago isn’t holding me over.”

“I’ll fix them a plate,” Nellie said, heading into the kitchen.

The small living room was packed as Michelle walked over to the couch. “Olivia, will you and Brittany go to your room and play?” she asked, but the tone of her voice made it a command.

Reaching up, Olivia kissed her dad on the cheek and climbed off his lap as Brittany ran over and kissed her dad, and the two girls ran down the hall to Olivia’s room. When the girls were gone, Michelle walked over to the baby bouncer, took Mike out, and gave him a bottle.

“Here, I can do that,” Matt said, getting up.

Michelle looked at him and could tell he was tired. “I’ve got it. I’m sure you don’t have long, and Nellie is fixing you a plate,” she said, but again, it sounded like a command, and wisely, Matt sat back down.

Lifting his head, Nelson asked, “Well, what did Gerald have to say?” Without answering, Michelle walked into the kitchen and came back with a notebook. “He said so much you had to write it down?” Nelson asked in a panic.

Sitting in the recliner, Michelle moved Mike to the crook of her arm and propped the bottle up. “Yes,” she said, holding up the notebook and looking at the page. “The president has signed four executive orders over the last twelve hours and invoked seven others. I looked up the ones he invoked, and America is no longer free. I have them written down so you can read them because I’m not in the mood to hear them again,” she said, turning to look at Nelson with tears in her eyes.

Taking a deep breath, she looked back at the notebook. “First, the country is under a state of
crisis,
” she emphasized the word. “In other words, we are under martial law, and the Posse Cumitatus Act has been suspended. U.S. troops have been deployed in major cities as combat troops. Tomorrow, the president will announce all people will report to their jobs unless the ATF has suspended their business. Failure to do so can result in being detained. Primary are those jobs that are deemed critical to the infrastructure: medical, law enforcement, transportation, food distribution, water treatment, and energy production.”

Putting the notebook down for a second, Michelle wiped her eyes as Nellie brought in two plates. Matt and Nelson took them and started eating as Michelle picked the notebook up. “Fuel rationing will begin immediately. All businesses that sell fuel will cease until the rationing cards are issued, and those will be issued by the local law enforcement agency serving the area,” she read then lowered the notebook. “Gerald said they want to limit how far people can travel.”

“Makes sense,” Nelson nodded. “Hard to be a pain in the ass when you can’t go far. You’re much easier to find and control.”

Sighing, Michelle continued. “Governors are now legally able to label terrorists and enemies of the state for detention. FEMA detention centers are up and now taking detainees. U.N. troops stationed inside the U.S. are to deploy to augment local troops. Homeland is increasing their manpower from one hundred and fifty thousand to one million,” she read and dropped the notebook.

“Damn, that’s all?” Nelson asked, shocked.

“No,” Michelle sobbed. “There’s more, but you can read it. The president is going to address the nation tomorrow.”

Putting his plate down, Nelson went over and knelt in front of Michelle. “Baby, we have a place to run to,” he said, reaching up and caressing her cheek.

She looked at him with tears running down her face. “There will be nowhere to hide, sweetie; if we don’t fight, they will eventually move everywhere,” she whispered.

“That’s right, but we have a place we can be safe at as we strike out,” he told her.

“Baby, this is America. We shouldn’t have to fight for our freedom. That was done a long time ago,” Michelle said in a low voice, trying not to cry.

Nodding, Nelson said, “You’re right. This is America, and there have always been those who wanted to limit our freedom to make themselves more superior and powerful. Once again, we will have to fight tyrants so our kids will know what America really is: the forgotten America that has been forbidden to us for the last century.”

“I know that in my head, but my heart doesn’t want to accept it,” Michelle told him. “I don’t want our country to become a war-torn hell hole. I don’t want our kids to see the things you and I did in Iraq and what you saw in Afghanistan.”

Nelson stood and kissed her cheek. “I don’t want them to see it any more than you do, but I damn sure don’t want them growing up living under someone’s boot, controlling their lives through fear. I’m willing to fight for that and if necessary die for them,” he told her then walked back to the couch. “Matt, when will Ashley be here?”

Having listened to the exchange between Michelle and Nelson, Matt was thinking about what they had said. Realizing Nelson was talking to him, he grunted, “Huh?”

“Ashley. When will she be here?” Nelson asked again.

“Around eleven,” he said.

“We are leaving tomorrow morning,” Nelson announced.

“We can’t,” Michelle blurted out, making Nelson and Matt look at her. “Gerald said not to leave until he talked to us again. I told him we needed to go, and he told me to wait that he would talk to us tomorrow before noon.”

“Shit,” Nelson groaned.

Matt shook his head, looking at Michelle. “He say why?” he asked hopefully.

“Just there were a lot of troops and agents moving around now, getting ready for tomorrow,” Michelle said, taking the bottle out of Mike’s mouth and putting him over her shoulder to pat his back. It didn’t take long until she was rewarded with a burp.

Looking at Nelson, Matt said, “That makes sense.”

Grabbing his plate, Nelson got up and started pacing and shoveling food in his mouth. “Yeah, it makes sense,” Nelson finally concluded. “Hate to run into a convoy of troops that were heading somewhere else.”

Finishing his plate off, Matt stood up. “So when are you bugging out?” he asked, carrying his plate to the kitchen.

“Whenever Gerald gives the go ahead. Tomorrow, I guess,” Nelson said. “But I can guarantee you I’m gone the day after that. With what’s on that truck and trailer, I’m pretty sure I’ll be shot.”

Walking back in the living room, Matt stopped beside him. “The feds aren’t going to check out your store until they get all the little mom and pop shops. I heard them talking that those were the ones that wouldn’t listen and try to sell weapons because the store was their life and they couldn’t afford to not do business. Big stores are controlled by corporations that could wait for weeks before getting nervous about their profits.”

“Sucks to be the little guy now for sure,” Nelson said. “I can see that, but my family and my ass is gone the day after tomorrow no matter what.”

Getting out of the recliner, Michelle laid a sleeping Mike back in the baby bouncer. “Baby, just what the hell do you have?” she asked, standing up.

“About six hundred or so rifles. Close to that in handguns. Then somewhere in the neighborhood of four or five tons of ammo and a couple hundred pounds of gun powder. Over thirty fully automatic weapons, fifty night vision devices, over a dozen thermal devices,” Nelson said, and everyone was speechless. “There’s a lot more, but that’s the stuff that has me really worried.”

Michelle walked over and grabbed his arm. “Baby, we have way more than we need now. I’m betting you have over a quarter of a million rounds of 5.56 alone. We have a dozen AR-15s now and two dozen other rifles and way over a dozen handguns. Why did you get that stuff?” she begged, wanting to understand.

“When you fight, you need an army, and an army that’s not armed provides only targets. With those weapons, we can arm people to fight,” he explained.

Listening to him, Michelle understood the reason but not the risk. “That’s a lot of risk to be putting on us, baby.”

“Yes it is, but if I would’ve left it, they would’ve taken it, and when we would’ve needed those weapons, they would be gone,” he said. “So instead of arming a few hundred people, we would’ve been able to arm a dozen.” 

“Damn, you really think this is going to come down to a slug fest,” Matt said behind them.

Nelson looked into Michelle’s eyes. “Yes,” he said. “The only thing that can stop it now is if the states band together and throw out the president, Supreme Court, and Congress. Appoint another one and suspend all laws they passed.”

“That will never happen,” Michelle mumbled.

“I think a few states will buck the system,” Nelson admitted.

Matt walked over. “You’re talking civil war,” he said.

“Yes I am,” Nelson admitted.

Matt’s radio went off, and he reached over and turned down the volume. “When you leave, we’re coming with you,” he said. “I think the noose will just start to tighten on all cities the longer I stay with the department. With those federal boys about to just start taking stuff from people, I’m certain the police are about to become targets.”

Turning around, Nelson looked at Matt. “And your family,” he added.

Nodding in understanding, Matt said, “I’m going to run over to my house and gather my stuff up and load it.”

“Matt,” Michelle said. “Go and get Ashley, then both of you load up your stuff and drive your truck over here,” she offered.

“Yeah, that’s probably for the best,” he admitted. “Time is starting to become a factor.”

“We’ll watch the kids,” Nelson assured him.

Matt sighed. “Thank you,” he said, moving toward the door. “I need to get back out there.”

“I’ll walk with you,” Nelson said, letting Michelle go. As they walked out, Michelle went to check on the girls and Gavin.

Nelson walked beside Matt. “Where are those feds staying at?” he asked.

“Double Tree tonight,” Matt said, pulling out his keys. “They’re still at the station going over tomorrow’s targets.”

“How do you know that?” Nelson asked.

“I’m on the morning team, and they haven’t called me in to get the morning target list,” Matt said, stopping beside his car.

“How long do you think they will be down there?” Nelson asked, crossing his arms.

“I’m sure till midnight,” he said and opened his door.

Nelson grabbed the door. “They all still riding around in that black Suburban?” he asked.

“Yeah, damn thing is built like a tank,” Matt said, starting the car.

“You be careful,” Nelson said and closed the door. Matt drove off, and Nelson watched his tail lights fade away.

Heading back inside, Nelson helped get the kids bedded down. Olivia and Brittany were sleeping with them, and Nellie was sleeping in Olivia’s room. Lying in bed, Nelson pulled out his laptop and pulled up Google Earth. He knew his town rather well, but he wanted to check several things out. After locating the area he wanted, he went into street view and found the perfect spot.

He closed his laptop. “Baby, I’m going to ride my bike around to see if I can find a place to hide the truck and trailer,” he said, walking to his closet.

“Want me to come with you?” she asked, about to get out of bed.

“No, if the kids wake up, I think it will be too much for Nellie,” he explained, pulling out a black jogging suit.

“Where are you thinking?” she asked.

“I’m going to look across the road first. That family hasn’t been here since March,” he said, getting dressed. “Then, I’m going to look south at that campground and north at those houses for sale.”

“Please be careful,” she said, lying down.

Walking out, he grabbed the radio off the counter and put it on Michelle’s nightstand. “I will, baby. If you need me, just call my cellphone or use the radio,” he said, grabbing his 1911 and magazines.

“I hope you’re not going to walk,” she said.

Stopping in the door, he smiled. “No, I’m taking my super bike.”

“Don’t wreck,” she said, putting her head down. “Your bikes are on the trailers in the garage.”

Walking out, Nelson stopped and patted the dogs then grabbed his cellphone, keys, and radio off the counter. Looking around, he gave a heavy sigh and walked into the garage. He opened the big gun safe and smiled, seeing the guns still there. The guns would only be loaded when they left.

He grabbed his AR-10 and pulled it out. It was set up for long-range competition shooting. Setting the rifle to the side, he pulled out his waist pack, put it on, and put his 1911 in the holster and the magazines in the front pouch. Digging around, he found two full magazines for the AR-10. He looked at the 7.62 shell. He put his gloves on then unloaded the shells and wiped them off. Happy they were FMJ, he reloaded them and put the magazines in his waist pack. In competition, he could hit targets at eight hundred yards with the rifle, but if everything went well, he wouldn’t need that for tonight.