American Exit Strategy: Book 1 (25 page)

"Boys, change your magazines!" Paul yelled as the invasion team retreated to the hallway. Ryan quickly complied but Robert did not. "Robert" Paul yelled. "Change your magazine."

A dark red pool of blood was forming on the wooden floor beneath Roberts’s body. Paul would have to grieve later. Now he had to defend the remainder of his family. Paul pushed the Sig Sauer into his wife's hand. She took it but was unresponsive. He took Robert’s position to maintain the crossfire kill zone. He rolled Robert over and changed the magazine to the AR-15.

"How many are left?" Ryan asked his father.

"I don't know." Paul said. The Randalls had no idea how many team members there had been to begin with, since they had not been told by the guards. In fact, there were only five members of the assault team still alive. The team member shot in the shoulder was out of commission. He was unable to operate his rifle and was nursing his shoulder with his side arm in his hand. This left only four to go. They had grossly underestimated Paul Randall and his sons.

A fire fight began outside in the hallway. It lasted for a couple of minutes, but none of the assault team came back into the safe room. The shooting eventually stopped.

"Paul Randall, I am with the Texas National Guard. We have finished off your assailants. I am coming into the room unarmed with my hands up until you can verify my credentials." A voice yelled from the hallway at the top of the stairs.

The Guardsman walked in very slowly by himself. Paul approached him with his weapon trained on him and inspected his ID. Kimberly crawled out from behind the bed to her dead son’s body. She took Robert’s head into her lap and stroked his blood soaked hair. She still had not said anything, but she was moving.

"Mom." Ryan said as he began to cry.

Paul surveyed the damage. He was thankful that his wife and Ryan were unharmed, but the horror of Robert’s death was just starting to hit him.

A medic rushed in to check them. Kimberly motioned for the medic to go away when he tried to check Robert for a pulse. Robert was gone.

"Senator Randall," the guardsman said, "We have to move you immediately. Please come with us right away. We will transport your son's body to the location where we are taking you, so he can have a proper funeral."

The man had to order two medics to move Robert’s body to the chopper they were taking the Randalls in. It was the only way Kimberly would agree to leave the room. Two other guardsmen collected some of their personal things.

They were taken to one of the largest Texas National Guard armories.  The facility was well staffed with troops. Governor Jacobs instructed the National Guard to defend the Randalls and the armory to the last man.

Three adjacent offices were cleared out to make a living area and two separate sleeping areas for the Randalls. Paul and Ryan arranged the furniture the troops provided for them. The furnishings were sparse. They had a foldout table and chairs in the living area along with a well stocked refrigerator and a television. They did manage to get nice quality mattresses, even though they were just placed on the floor with no box springs or bed frames.

Kimberly lay on the mattress in the room where the troops had brought her things. Paul came to sit by her. Neither said a word. Ryan situated his things in his room and then came over to Paul and Kimberly's. He sat next to them on the mattress on the floor.

Several minutes later, Kimberly spoke for the first time since the assault. "The cost is too great." she said.

Paul sighed as he held her close. He had been willing to die for his country, but had he been willing to sacrifice his son? For now, the pain was simply unbearable. What made the situation even worse, none of the extended family could be told yet and none of them could come to comfort them.

The next day, a memorial service was arranged. Sonny was brought in by a detail that Jacobs had assigned to watch over him while he was away from the cabin. Larry Jacobs came to the service. He traveled to the National Guard armory in an unmarked car and dressed in the uniform of the Texas National Guard as a disguise.

Governor Jacobs embraced Paul when he saw him. He then gave Kimberly a big hug as he said "I’m so sorry for your loss. Robert is a hero and a patriot."

Jacobs sat at a table in the rec room with Paul for a bit after the service. "I am sending a guy over to take care of meals while you’re here. It’s not good quarters for you to stay in, but I can make sure you eat well while you are here."

"We can eat what the troops eat." Paul replied.

"This is not open for negotiation Paul." Jacobs said. "We’re going to have to come up with a plan about what to do with federal offices in Texas. I can't exactly start handing out eviction notices to all of the DHS, IRS and FBI field offices.

We don't have the strength to march on all of the military bases here. The National Guard couldn't even take Fort Hood."

"Have you heard from Mustafa?" Paul asked. "Do you think he wants to declare war on Texas or just me?"

"I haven't heard a word from Al Mohammad. I am thinking about how to address this with him." Jacobs said.

"I don't want to spark a civil war." Paul said.

"You aren't sparking anything Paul. Al Mohammad pulled this stunt and the people of Texas are behind you." Jacobs said.

"The people of Texas don't know anything about the attack." Paul replied.

"They will know, and when they do, they will want to do whatever is necessary. I know their hearts." Larry Jacobs rebutted.

Paul said "When you speak with Al Mohammad, try to not spark World War Three just yet. Let me speak with General Allen Jackson and see if he can make a few changes in key leadership positions at some of the larger bases here like Fort Hood and Corpus Christi. If he could put some true patriots in the right bases, it might make it easier if worse comes to worse.

In the event that Al Mohammad initiates aggression against Texas, troops could be given the option of standing with Texas or staying loyal to the crown."

"Sounds like a good plan. I would just say that staying loyal would require them to stand with Texas. All of these soldiers took an oath to defend the Constitution. Mustafa Al Mohammad is a blatant enemy of the Constitution." Jacobs added.

A soldier approached their table. "Pardon me for interrupting sir."

"What have you got for me soldier?" Jacobs asked.

"No identifying information could be found on the bodies of the assailants Sir. No IDs', no dog tags, no military branch patches. We checked for serial numbers on the weapons and looked for manufacturing information on the spent brass. Everything was completely scrubbed. Their prints didn't return any information. No facial recognition software was able to identify any of the men." the soldier reported.

"What does your gut tells you? Do you think they were CIA, SEALs or Delta?" Larry asked the soldier.

The young Sergeant shook his head. "I couldn't say for sure sir. If I had to guess, I would say private contractors whose identities have been scrubbed by CIA."

"That makes sense." Paul said. "Mustafa isn't trying to start a war; he just wants to eliminate me. And he will deny everything, just like he has for the last eight years."

"Mustafa won't call me." Larry said. "And I sure won't call him. I don't want to tip my hand to what we are doing."

Larry Jacobs called General Allen Jefferson to invite him to Texas. Repositioning leadership in key commands of U.S. military bases located in Texas was something the three of them would want to discuss at length and in person.

CHAPTER 35

"for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies."

John 8:44

Adam arrived at Matt's house just after 8:00 a.m. Matt was still having breakfast. Adam had been on farmer time for several years. He was accustomed to getting up early when he was in the military. After he had gotten sober, he returned to his "early to bed, early to rise" routine. It was a necessity for working on the farm and roofing. Outdoor work required sun light. If you didn't get a jump on the day, it would be over before you were finished with a day's worth of work. Matt was still adjusting to this schedule.

They had planned to go to town to see if they could get any of the items on Matt's wish list. Additionally, they were going to get their weekly rations of gas. Today was Wednesday. Thursday had been the day they had chosen to get gas each week. They were going a day earlier, because tomorrow was December first and EBT cards would be reloading tonight. Mondays were crazy at the pumps with people making sure they got their gas. Tuesdays were unreliable as many pumps would be empty from the Monday rush for gas. Most pumps would be refilled on Wednesday, but Thursday had proven to be the best day to go over the past few weeks. Folks in London, Kentucky were fairly well behaved, but you never knew when something would happen to spark more unrest. It just seemed wise to get it done the day before SNAP benefits were reloaded.

"You better get a move on if you want to get back in time to hear your buddy's speech at 11:30." Adam joked.

"Al Mohammad ain't my buddy!" Matt snapped. "I just want to hear the speech so I can try to decipher his B.S."

Matt slugged his coffee down, brushed his teeth quickly and rinsed with mouthwash as he put on his shoes. Matt grabbed his list, a wad of cash and his Glock. The cool weather meant he always wore a jacket and the full size pistol was easily concealed under the long tail of the jacket.

Their first stop was the gas station to fill up Adam’s truck. Five gallons filled it up since they had not been driving much the entire week. The remaining 25 gallons allotted on Adam’s other five ration cards went in the gas cans. Once he got home, they would be poured into a 55 gallon drum and mixed with Stabil fuel stabilizer to make sure the gas stayed fresh. Matt would keep his 10 gallons in the cans, but would also add stabilizer.

Adam locked the fuel in the tool boxes in the back of his truck. He didn't keep his roofing tools in the lockable metal tool boxes to reduce the chances of them being broken into and his tools stolen.

The next stop was Allen's new and used boat shop. Not many people were buying boats since the crisis and the store was only open half days, three days a week; Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays. Allen’s also did maintenance and repairs. They had done a brisk business in the years before the depression. Even in the past few years, they had done quite a lot of repair work for folks who wanted to keep their small fishing boats in good shape. Fishing was a popular past time at the nearby Wood Creek Lake. It was an affordable pass time that also provided fish for dinner.

Matt and Adam found seven deep cycle batteries at the boat shop. Deep cycle batteries that are used for boats are essentially the same as a car battery, but they are designed to be regularly discharged using up most of their capacity.

Matt bought them all. He also found some cables to use to connect the batteries in parallel to provide backup power for his home. If he was able to find additional solar panels, they would be charged using the solar panels. If not, he could still recharge them using a regular car charger. Of course he would still need electricity for that, but they would help out in the case of brown outs.

Matt had once listened to a Prepper Recon Podcast interview of a modern survivalist named Ferfal on the aftermath of the 2001 currency collapse in Argentina. Ferfal had described a prolonged period of brown outs in Argentina during the crisis. Ferfal also told about 'dirty power' which was periods that the wattage was too low to power many appliances. Having a battery backup would allow Matt to charge up the battery bank during times when wattage was running at regular strength and then use that power when the grid wasn't producing enough power or when it was completely down.

Their next stop was the local home improvement store. Several items were stripped off of the shelves. Especially items like batteries and flash lights were gone. People around London, Kentucky were definitely expecting things to get worse.

Chainsaws were completely out of stock. He did find some bar and chain oil for chainsaws. He bought it in case he was able to find a chainsaw somewhere else. He also picked up several different types of oil for small engines. If this stuff ran out, it would be as good as gold for anyone who needed it.

Matt found a solar kit. It was overpriced, but he was stuck. He had tried ordering some solar panels from a couple of different sellers on Amazon, but they all had back order notices. He didn't know if they would ever arrive or not. He had paid with his credit card, so he wouldn't be out any cash if they didn't arrive.

Paying with credit cards was quickly becoming obsolete. Credit card companies were getting hit with record numbers of defaults; even from their most qualified customers. Most everyone had their credit limits reduced by 75%. Some were reduced by 95% and others completely cancelled.

Matt bought the kit. The four panels in the kit produced only 60 watts. That was less than half of what one of Matt's 158 watt panels produced. But they would still produce additional electricity. The kit also had a piece of junk charging regulator and a piece of junk, 200 watt inverter to change the voltage from DC in the battery bank to AC that could be used by household appliances. The charging regulator and the 800 watt inverter Matt already had were good components. "Well, at least I'll have backups." Matt thought to himself.