Patriot Smith, page 44
part #1 of Patriots Series
Her voice was bitter. Almost like she was planning violence.
“We were going to take over here. I can’t believe you shot them like that!” She seemed to think that all the shooting was his, for some reason. Only about half of it had been. Most of the rest was probably Rene.
Meaning he had questions for her but didn’t ask them at the moment.
Instead he pointed at the men laying on the ground.
“All of you, off with the clothing. If you have a weapon left, call it out now, or I’ll shoot you when I see it.” They did it. Probably because he really was planning to kill them if they didn’t cooperate. It showed in the firmness of his voice. Rick and Vina came out, which caused Janice to look hopeful for a second. That didn’t last, since they just had the first aid kit.
Good rescue operations took more than some band aids.
A bit inexpertly, they bound wounds and applied direct pressure. Sebastian could have done a better job of it, having had field training for that kind of thing, as well as experience but didn’t call out any helpful hints. Frank was the last one to take his clothing off, pretending to cradle his right hand in pain.
When Sebastian shot him, the bullet went through his neck. In his left hand was a second gun. One the search had missed totally. He didn’t die instantly, drowning on his own blood, instead. That kind of thing took time. Janice tried to raise a fuss over it but Hal pointed his weapon at her directly.
“Be quiet. Now. Finish stripping gentleman. If anyone has a weapon, call it out now, so that we can deal with it without killing you. This is not a great time to try and get the drop on us.”
They were being covered by almost everyone that lived there, by that time. Only Marcus wasn’t holding a gun. He did dart back inside to grab two of the portable lights. That took some set up but when he had the area illuminated, the man took a deep breath.
“This seems to be most of them We’re missing two. Collin and Maggie.” He sounded certain of that, which got the young-looking girl, who was thin and nervous, to speak, softly.
“They left. Three days ago. They wanted to take me with them but Dad came to my room at the wrong time…” She stopped then.
They all got what it meant. All of them.
Janice started to say something but Sebastian stopped her.
“Lay face down, on the ground, all of you. We need to call this in. Chloe, do you have your cell on you?” She normally did and while she had to set the rifle down, she wisely backed up a good way before doing anything with it. Then she dialed, holding it to her ear, waiting.
“This is Chloe Barret, there’s been an attack on our farm. Um… Ten people, dressed in black masks. We have them. One of them is dying. Maybe more than one.” She had to give the address then, and was asked to stay on the line.
After a bit she spoke again. Talking to them.
“She said that it will be about twenty minutes for anyone to get here.”
That was about right. They were well away from the town of Newton and the State Patrol was mobile enough that getting anywhere could take them a while, depending where they were starting from.
Sebastian looked at everyone then.
“I’ll get the gates opened, if they aren’t already. Hal, Rene… You two are in charge.” He almost asked if they could handle it but the fact was they either could, or things were going to go pretty badly. Hal nodded, going big, so that the move would be seen in the dim light.
“We have this. Be careful.”
That was the plan but he nodded back, holding his little flash light firmly. Trying not to think about the fact that he’d just shot a man in the throat. It had been the right move but he’d been aiming lower than that. The man was still basically drowning in his own blood, which was a gasping and sputtering thing. Sebastian figured he was going to be hearing that noise in his sleep for a long while.
Walking quietly, he didn’t think about anything in particular. Instead he listened, trying to tell if anyone was about to get the drop on him. They might have all of them, or there could be another ten of them just past the gate, ready to move in once the house was taken. There weren’t but that didn’t mean he wasn’t careful. It took a while to get the gates unlocked and by the time he walked back, just getting to the house, the three patrol cars drove up. They had their lights on, flashing blue and red. There were no sirens, however. It made the whole thing seem off.
Like a light show for trees. No one else, other than them, were there to see it after all. The animals would have run off, already, at a guess.
Before they could get out, he dropped the handgun he had on him.
“Put the safeties on and toss the guns away, before they get out?” He didn’t know if it was the right thing to do or not but everyone listened to him. That meant even though side arms were drawn, the people there didn’t aim anything at him. Or the people at on the ground.
Johansson were there, along with several other familiar faces. Customers from the market.
She gestured at the nude people on the ground.
“They were streaking in your yard? No wonder you shot at them.”
That got him to smile. It was funny, in a weird way.
“If only. Then we could have invited them in for some nice brownies. This is an Antifa group. They tried to kill us and take over here. The FBI is looking for them. I have a contact number for that, if you want to get in touch with him? Anyway…”
Rene stepped forward, slowly, her hands up.
“Nicole Simons, FBI. Agent Turner and I were under cover here. We got an alert earlier, so we were waiting for this crew. Then everything went dead, as for communications. What’s going on? Any word?”
The state patrol officers both looked at her like she might be lying, since she was wearing a pink hoodie and had short, nearly boyish hair. Facial piercings as well. It didn’t lend a lot to her FBI story. Then, given all of that no one would have ever asked her to prove she wasn’t law enforcement. That made it a great look for her cover.
Hal didn’t look the part either. The man needed a haircut too badly for that.
One of the tidy looking state guys nodded.
“The move into New California started about two hours ago. Using the CDC message as cover, I think. Everything going into that area was effectively being jammed. Since it was only playing those messages on all channels. Only local calls are being allowed, nationwide, to stop the word from spreading that way. We were given a heads up on that but only three hours ago or so. What we can do is load these people up and try to get an ambulance or two back here. Handcuffs first.”
They took longer to do that than Sebastian would have but they didn’t try to give first aid to anyone, even if it meant that some of the kids were going to die. They didn’t look old, really. Old enough to kill and to follow the wrong leaders but like they should have been serving burgers at The Ram, not getting blood all over his driveway. Thankfully that was gravel. He could dig the spots out and cover them with clean rocks, later. If it didn’t just wash away using some water.
The thoughts were bit grim but he had a lot of time to just stand there, as the ambulances came and people were finally allowed to awkwardly dress and then be packed into the police cars.
After that there were questions, forms to fill out and all of that. The minutia of police work that never made it into movies, because it was always just too mentally brutal. They had to go over everything, and in his case, that meant doing it honestly. Including covering when he’d been afraid.
Even if he’d kind of blocked it out at the time.
The weapons were all packed away but the cops left Hal and Rene. They had their guns still, so if anyone was left lurking around in the dark, there would be that to protect them.
After they left, even if there was a hole in the fence someplace, Sebastian walked the long driveway again and closed the gates up. Locking them tight. It was probably just psychological at that point but he did it anyway. When he got back to the house, everyone was sitting in the living room, talking. About what had happened. Even if they’d gone over a lot of it already for the police.
This time it was different. Tears were flowing from several of them and Mel was hyperventilating dramatically on the sofa.
“I came here to be in television, not for this kind of thing!” She was still tipsy and had a nearly full bottle in her hand. It seemed like something other than cider, since she sipped it and winced each time she did.
Sebastian just looked at Hal and Rene, trying to project bemusement.
“So, you’re both FBI? You do realize that doesn’t get you out of doing the shows, right? We have a contract after all. I mean, we might be able to let you go, Hal but Rene… Nicole, here is one of the leads on Patriot Smith. If I have this right, we just had the largest viewing audience in history for a fictional program and it was for that PS. Which I still haven’t seen. I hope it doesn’t suck.”
Paul, who had been sitting quietly, took a deep breath. It was shaky and weak sounding, like he might be dealing with asthma.
“It’s good. Probably better than the first one. This… I don’t know. Why are FBI agents here? I mean, Hal, you’re my best friend and you didn’t mention that to me? I get it, I guess but…”
There was a smile then, from the all too familiar agent.
“We were here to watch Chloe. The rest of you too, since we didn’t know who was working with the terrorists. Not for the first two months or so. For a while we both kind of thought that Sebastian might be your leader.”
That got him to nod.
“I have the right background for it, at least if I was evil. I was the one that set this place up too and like a few of you pointed out, it really is basically a commune. That kind of sounds like what a Marxist might do, doesn’t it?”
Nicole Simons looked at him, still seeming like a Rene to him.
“I was working out of Spokane when my last operation shut down. Agent Waters was the lead on that, which is why we met him on the road when Calley and her cell were taken down. I was pulled well ahead of the take down. Turner here, Kevin, had managed to pass the interview, and I have a drama background, which made it easier. I minored in it in college. Normally we wouldn’t have two agents in one place like this, undercover. The rules are different right now though. Martial law, you know? We nearly pulled out about a month back, before that call came in from the Merick’s.”
Sebastian thought he got it at least.
“And then the people you were watching managed to become temporary online celebrities?”
Hal smiled. It looked like his normal expression. He even sounded the same. Like a slightly young television editor. If it was an act, he was keeping it up. If not, then he really didn’t seem like an FBI man in real life.
“Bingo. That meant we had to stick things out here and only take you down if you actually killed someone. Though, I’ve been tracking the numbers, Sebastian. You aren’t just regular e-celebs here. Right now, you and Chloe are the face of the government. Your name recognition is huge. More than the President. Marc is patriotism right now or will be by this time next week. Vina is his sidekick and bringing in the LGTB community with a message that isn’t about how much people hate and fear them. They need little costumes or something. Posters for kids’ bedroom walls. Not that we can really merchandize anything right now. That’s why these four aren’t going off to prison. The only one that we could take would be Rick. He’s also the least guilty of this bunch. I mean, he didn’t sleep with anyone underage even.”
Marcus nodded then.
“Maggie said she’s nineteen. That looked about right?”
Hal shrugged.
“Which is probably good enough for you.”
That left only Vina and Chloe to be guilty on that score, which no one was taking seriously. It might not even be illegal, at least for Vina, she was pretty young and the guys earlier really had seemed to be at least sixteen or so. Maybe even older than that. Montana pretty much let anyone have sex with an underage person if they were within ten years of them that way. It was a weird law but was really how they handled things there.
Interestingly, Karen stood up and looked at Rene, crossing her arms.
“Um… We did it. For that matter, I’ve slept with Hal, as well. More than once for each of you. That isn’t legal.”
She seemed worried about it, for some reason. Looks were exchanged, and there was some real blushing.
Sebastian, going for a joke, sniffed.
“Well, you’re only an informant and with a different agency, so it should be fine. Plus, martial law. I bet those rules aren’t even being enforced anyway. A lot of them won’t be right now. When you don’t have to guarantee constitutional rights, pretty much anything goes, right?”
Karen blinked at him, her face going slightly white.
“Fuck. You knew this whole time?”
Everyone turned to look at him, which got Sebastian to shake his head. He wasn’t going to lie about it and it was clear that she didn’t get he was kidding.
“Nope. I was just playing. So… DHS?”
That got a head shake.
“Federal Marshals. Like you said, just an informant. They found out I was coming here, so made a deal with me. Just to keep my eyes open. I really didn’t get that anything other than making shows was going on here. That and lots of candy. Still, I got paid for it. Not a lot but the money went into my account each month. I bet that’s done now.” She looked around. “Anyone else?”
For some reason she stared at Sebastian.
That meant she missed Paul seeming a bit upset. He didn’t act like he was going to volunteer his secret status as CIA or anything. No gun came out to take them hostage, either.
“Freaking hell. So, this is about done, then? We’re actually doing well, finally. I mean, not making any real money off of it but no one is right now. If we can keep it going… Only we can’t, can we?” He seemed honestly bummed out about that.
Sebastian didn’t really know the answer but smiled anyway.
“We can. We will. We’re basically the only ones that can save our country now. For the moment, anyway. We have the eyes and ears of the nation on us. So, even if this is a slightly strange production company, we kind of have to keep going.” He stood, looking proud he hoped. Of all of them.
“Some of us have faltered and made the wrong choices but came back to the side of right before it was too late, and while the world is dark at the moment, we still have a fighting chance. This isn’t the end. Not for us, not for America. This is just the start. The battle has begun and is hard but we will prevail. Working together, all of the good people of the world will take back the light and grind evil down until it’s no more than powder. We will win.”
Because there was no other choice.
“Besides, we’re finishing Patriot Smith if I have to kidnap you all and lock you in the studio until it’s done. America needs an icon right now. A legend. A symbol of hope to cling to. That’s our part in the coming war. To make sure that the good people of the world know that we, the United States of America, will not give in to the darkness.”
Everyone laughed, as if he might be joking with them on that score.
Sebastian did too, because he simply wasn’t.
After a bit, they’d all get that. It was their duty to fight the evil of the world.
It was their duty to win.
There were no chains, yet. Their job was to prevent the terrorists from putting steel around their necks to bind them.
They had some tools now, including Patriot Smith.
The rest was up to them.
Thank you for reading:
If you enjoyed the book, please consider telling your friends about it and leaving a review? It is the most important thing that anyone can do to help spread the message. Word of mouth is the only method we can count on during these dangerous times, so please spread the word!
Phillip S Power, Patriot Smith
