Whiskey Black Book Set: The Complete Tyrant Series (Box Set 1) (91 page)

“Nathan,” Denny shouted, dropping everything he was doing to head for the exit. Blake saw the explosion and then saw a secondary explosion in the distance. That one blew up the American History Museum with an equal amount of force. Next, a tertiary explosion rocked the Thomas Jefferson Memorial. When Blake put together what was happening, she shouted, “Everybody out, now!”

There was a sequence of explosions that were seen, felt, and heard all across the District. Blake ran with all her might toward the ground level, as did everybody that was with her. They were like a stampede of wild cattle being funneled through a narrow gorge. Those who tripped or lost their balance were trampled underfoot. They had just made it out of the building when it exploded into a fiery inferno. Those caught in the wake of the blast’s concussion were thrown several feet forward, away from the discharge.

On the southwest side of Arlington Memorial Bridge, General John James had sent the 1
^st
and 2
^nd
Battalions of the 21
^st
Marine Corps Regiment into the Pentagon to remove any enemy combatants that might be inside. Rumor was that Executive Commander Abdul Muhaimin had taken shelter inside of it to command what was left of the UN forces in America. They wanted him alive and that was the orders of the two Marine battalions that were sent in. That idea fell short when the sequence of explosions began rocking the greater District area. When James discovered what was happening, he ordered the immediate evac of all Marines in the facility. It was an attempted idea that also fell short.

When the Pentagon exploded, it sent a plume of fire into the sky that could be seen from many parts of Virginia, West Virginia, and Maryland.

General John James threw his mic onto the ground in a fit of rage. When that did not satisfy his temper, he picked it back up just to throw the entire radio into the Potomac River. He had lost nearly two thousand Marines in that explosion. The price was very high and the objective was not met.

Denny was standing at the White House blast site as it burned and crackled in the cold of the day. His mind was numb and failed to respond to the increasing heat of the fire as it spread throughout the collapsed debris of a once iconic landmark.

Rory saw Denny standing at the edge of the fiery inferno and he joined him. He couldn’t tolerate the heat, but understood why Denny probably wasn’t feeling the pain. He gently pulled him backwards from the fire and said, “Come on, Den. We’ve got to back up from the blaze. It’s too hot to be that close.”

Denny obliged Rory, but didn’t respond.

“We can go through the rubble tomorrow and look for Nathan,” Rory said, attempting to reassure Denny.

“You saw him go in?” Denny asked.

“I did; he and a few others. There’s no way anybody could have withstood that blast.”

Blake saw Denny standing off to the side of the blast site and walked up to him.

“Your friend didn’t make it out?” she asked.

Denny shook his head.

She put her arms around Denny and hugged him briefly, saying, “I’m sorry for your loss,” and then walked away. Rory remained by Denny’s side. Sergeant Banks walked up to his other side and stood there silently. He didn’t need to say anything. Denny knew he respected Nathan, so his silence was a memorial.

Buchanan stayed with General John James in the following days. Together they discussed the rebuilding of America, and they combed through James’s draft of the new Constitution.

Two Weeks Later

Deep Underground Command Center

Construction on the DUCC began at the turn of the millennia and was intended for continuity of government in the event of a catastrophic national emergency. Deep beneath the west wing of the White House was an entryway to an underground White House, complete with a cyber warfare command center and nuclear command center. From there, a lengthy labyrinth of connecting tunnels led to other emergency command centers, local military bases, and intelligence centers, such as the underground Pentagon.

Abdul Muhaimin was safely tucked away beneath the surface of the earth. The blast that had destroyed the Pentagon two weeks before hadn’t even been felt at his location. He had all the necessities he could have hoped for tucked away with him in the deep underground bunkers. He had let his appearance go, only slightly, for he was alone and shared his whereabouts with no one. He had a predetermined time frame to live in the “basement” of the Pentagon of two weeks. After that, he had told himself, he would integrate into the American populace and not be accountable to the Americans. His hope was to get off scot-free.

Muhaimin was watching recordings of
The Walking Dead
when the alarm on his watch went off. Looking down, he could see that it was 09:00 hours.

“Time to blow this joint,” he said.

Moments later, above ground, the debris from the old Pentagon was still in place. The story was the same for every American landmark in the District. Nothing had been moved, although some had searched the debris, looking for bodies or, to a lesser degree, survivors.

Muhaimin didn’t know if he was going to be able to exit from the ground level of the Pentagon, but he thought he’d give it a try. With the turn of a key and a heavy push, he broke open the barrier that had once shielded him from the outside world. Sunshine flooded his eyes for the first time in two weeks. He gave himself a moment to gather his bearings. The sun was bright and the fresh air felt good, even though ashes had fallen on him when he had cracked open the secret hatch.

Gently he pushed the lid all the way open and climbed out of the bunker. Looking out over the District, he took in a deep breath. He was proud to have destroyed America’s greatest monuments. His chin was tucked, his chest pushed out, and his shoulders were back. He savored the moment before taking off his military dress coat.

“Is that him?” a female voice said from his rear.

Muhaimin whipped around and saw two men and two women. One of the women, a brunette, was pointing a shiny 1911 Smith & Wesson pistol at his face. The two men and a redheaded woman had M4 rifles resting across the fronts of their bodies.

“That’s him,” one of the men said.

The brunette squeezed the trigger and blew a hole in the head of the terrorist dictator. His body fell limp to the ground and became one with the rest of the rubbish.

So ended the reign of Executive Commander Abdul Muhaimin.

In the days that followed, Blake and Tori took a liking to one another. Blake and Denny shared stories with Tori that she had missed out on. Blake had barely retrieved the intelligence on the secret underground bunker before the executive building blew. Ryan Lee was instrumental in identifying the executive commander. Although Muhaimin didn’t tell a soul his plan to hide out, it made no sense to any of them that he would blow himself up. “He was too high-minded for that,” they reasoned.

Ryan Lee left for home, Denny returned to Gorham, and Tori and Blake went on a series of adventures together before happenstance separated them. But that was another story …

The landscape of the west was far different than that of the Midwest and eastern parts of America. Mexicans had knocked out the man-made borders that separated Mexico from California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas. They invaded with hopes of finding a new start and staking claims to land that Americans no longer had control of. All they found was pestilence.

Across the west, a contagion was being spread from person to person, killing everybody that came in contact with it within six weeks. The young and the elderly didn’t last that long.

In the moments following North Korea’s EMP attack on the West Coast, the biocontrol and engineering facilities lost their ability to contain a deadly virus that the government had been manipulating for years. When the lights went out and the power failed, the virus spread; it needed only person-to-person contact. The virus was able to survive on contaminated surfaces for twenty-four hours before dying.

Nobody was immune—nobody except the government’s own employees. Every veteran and government worker employed in 2017 and beyond were inoculated with the EbolaProzyme vaccine. The government knew that if it were to maintain civil obedience via the use of emergency police powers, it would need to be immune to the virus.

But why would the government develop a virus, you might ask?

The Agenda 21 protocol called for a population cap of five hundred million. How could that number be attained with a constantly growing population? It was impossible to depopulate the earth, so the fix was the accidental release of a deadly and uncontrollable viral strand.

Soon, the world would meet its population cap. The post-apocalyptic landscape would have to be rebuilt, managed, and defended by veterans and retired government employees. But that was also another story …

“When I first began my adventure with the Tyrant series, I did so with one goal in mind: to bring awareness to the unconstitutional actions our government is currently undertaking.

“Throughout the series, I have made multiple references to true-to-life facts. I cite some of them in the back of book 1, The Rise. In essence, the Tyrant series is a work of fiction with fictitious characters, but based on matters of fact. The executive orders I cite are real; Agenda 21 is real; the population cap is real.

“My experience and training in the Marines and law enforcement have taught me that FEMA is real and, though there may be no viable facts to support FEMA camps, they are possible. Obama’s Executive Order 13603 signed into law the likelihood of a federalized civilian police force. It also signed into law the possibility of a federalized civilian labor force. In the words of this executive order, a tremendous amount of power is given to FEMA and even places the Department of Defense in charge of water supplies. Why would the DOD need to be in charge of water unless it was controlling it? This executive order goes on to declare all agriculture and farmland to be seized. If they can control the people, they can make them do whatever they want.

“The vitality of American liberty is dependent upon the oath taker. The veterans and the law enforcement officers, together with lawmakers and all forms of civilian patriots who have sworn an oath to the Constitution, are charged with its defense against all enemies, both foreign and domestic.

“The pieces have been set; now all that it requires is a large enough crisis to declare emergency police powers. That’s what they’ll call ‘martial law.’ It will be a buttered-up term used to fool the people into civil obedience.

“If you have not read my non-fiction book, Oath Takers, I urge you to do so, especially if you’re a veteran or serving anywhere in law enforcement.

“God bless you, and God bless the United States of America!”

—L. Douglas Hogan

L. Douglas Hogan is a U.S.M.C. veteran with over twenty years in public service. Among these are three years as a Marine Corps antitank infantryman, one year as a Marine Corps Marksmanship Instructor, ten years as a part-time police officer, and 20 years working in state government doing security work and supervision. He has been married over twenty years, has two children, and is faithful to his church, where he resides in southern Illinois.