Holding Their Own: A Story of Survival (6 page)

Timothy Bose had served as a United States Senator for 16 years. He was an experienced, albeit frustrated, politician. The honorable gentleman envisioned being President of the United States, but his polling numbers and lack of name recognition indicated that he had little chance. He was an intense student of history, especially concerning politics, and could recite from memory details of how every major leader had come to power since the beginning of civilization. While this skill was not unique in Washington, he could have also written a thesis on how each of them had
fallen
from power. And that was what made him think differently about governing than anyone else.

He had been waiting for
an event that would focus America. A strong conservative and a keen observer of the human animal, he reached the conclusion that the American people were like confused waves on the sea. The economic tide and changing winds had left his once proud nation listing without direction or purpose. Such an event would be even better if it focused the nation’s attention on him and away from any opposing candidate.  

As the disaster in Houston unfolded
, he made the obligatory patriotic statement to support the people and the commander-in-chief. When new information about an “illegal Mexican” playing a key role in the explosion had surfaced, the senator saw his opportunity. Washington’s “Inner Beltway” went silent as experts, consultants and think tanks digested the news. Advocating certain positions, views and policy was going to be complex as everyone instinctively recognized the situation as a potential powder keg. After all, the Hispanic voting block was more powerful than ever, and there was the upcoming election to consider. Yet at the same time, white, middle class America was suffering badly from the depression. While the rest of Washington went into analysis mode, the senator had his aide schedule a news conference. Being first out of the box had its advantages, and most of the major news networks clamored to hear what he had to say.

He worked until late in the night
, preparing his opening comments and refining his position.
This is it
, he thought,
how I handle this situation can make or break my dream for this country
. While he would never have admitted it publicly, Germany in the early 1930s served as his model. The German people, under the Treaty of Versailles, were suffering horrible economic conditions at that time. Adolf had been a brilliant, if not ruthless political mind and had seized the one tangent that would unite the German people – a common enemy. Hitler picked the Jewish people as the focus of frustration and anger. Senator Bose would pick illegal aliens, and the situation in Houston would be his springboard.

He had to tread carefully as he was
n’t an orator like Hitler. If he didn’t position this correctly, bright political minds would pick up on his strategy and counter him brutally. He had no desire to see concentration camps in North America, nor did he feel that his race were superior in any way. He believed America needed a bold movement to unite her people and change her course. Japan was not going to repeat an attack on Pearl Harbor, and a surprise strike from any other world power would be nuclear and out of the question. Even when the world had believed that the Houston incident were a terrorist attack, the country had not united like it had after 9/11.
No
, he thought,
I have to play this just right, and if I do, I can change the course of this great nation
.

The s
enator’s news conference started right on schedule with an eclectic assortment of attendees representing every publication from
The Houston Chronicle
to
The Associated Press
. Bose began with a prepared statement that conveyed the proper mix of outrage, remorse, and professionalism. He began by discussing the composition of America and how its greatness was directly related to the immigrating masses from the four corners of the globe. At first, everyone listening thought, “Great speech, he is going to tell everyone not to take out their frustrations on the Hispanic people for the sins of one man,” but then his tone and pace changed. He started quoting historical references to non-military invasions of various empires throughout history. He gradually worked in rule of law, and then dropped his bombshell 30-second news byte:

“
The Department of Labor indicates that 24 million Americans are out of work. The Department of Homeland Security estimates that there are 24 million illegal aliens in the United States. Does everyone think these numbers are just a coincidence? We have always said we can’t possibly round up 24 million illegal aliens and deport them. Well, I think we can. I’m going to introduce a bill this afternoon into the Senate that will authorize Immigration Control and Enforcement to hire an additional 2 million agents. This will employ our people and provide a kick-start to the economy. Furthermore, the bill will temporarily grant ICE special powers of enforcement, search, seizure, and arrest. This legislation will also create a special court system to process the deportation of every single illegal in the United States of America. Finally, funding will be available in the form of a cash reward for information leading to the deportation of any illegal. I will be happy to take questions now.”

The group of reporters erupted
, and cameras flashed all over the room. The senator nodded at the first reporter:

“
Sir, isn’t what you are suggesting a breach of civil rights?”

“
What I’m suggesting is more like limited martial law. Now, I understand that this is something which has never been proposed before. But ladies and gentlemen, these are unusual times, and we have to take a
new
course of action to meet these
new
challenges. Please consider that we currently have millions of Americans who are out of work. Our government is broke, and our cities barely provide basic services. We simply can’t continue to do this anymore! Our citizenry is weary of supporting illegals. We have to ask ourselves . . .
Could the incident in Houston have been avoided if we had addressed this problem before it spiraled out of control?
Think about it. Would the hospital still be open if its bottom line had not been completely corroded by the excessive burden of free medical care? Would we have thousands of Houstonians dead or dying? We can structure this bill such that the rights of every single American citizen are protected under our Constitution. Those who are here illegally deserve no protection under that document.”

“
Senator, what you are suggesting could expose immigrants who are here legally to tremendous discrimination and hardship. What do you say to them?”

“
My bill will protect American citizens and those who are here lawfully. Those who are not should leave today because we are going to find you, and when we do, we will deport you. In addition, I have a message to those considering entering the country illegally – don’t. If we have to put an armed man every 10 feet along the border, we will. The border will be closed, ladies and gentlemen, and those that should not be here will be removed.”

T
he questions and answers went on for another 15 minutes. When he was finished, the senator went back to his office and began directing staff to write the new bill. He could not remember a time when his phones rang so much. He instructed the switchboard to take messages. He wanted all of his people focused on the language of his landmark legislation.

C
able news channels brought in their best analysts and talking heads to cover the senator’s announcement. At first, the consensus was that he had crossed the line and his political career was over. Within a couple of hours, however, the story started to change.

Both the House and
Senate were overwhelmed with a 70% positive reaction to the senator’s announcement. The volume of telephone and email traffic regarding the interview was unprecedented. The website for The Department of Homeland Security crashed due to excessive traffic from those trying to apply for the new jobs. Many people simply offered to volunteer.

The powerful people in
Washington are connected by the world’s most advanced intelligence network, and it doesn’t belong to the CIA or the NSA. Social media, internet, text, email, and cell phones all became hyperactive as information was instantly shared throughout the city. Press offices, think tanks, lobbyists, and elected government officials all received constant updates. It didn’t take long before everyone knew Senator Bose had connected with the American people on a level not seen since 9/11.

The only people who were unhappy about
the entire concept were the Hispanic political organizations and the Mexican government. Of course, the ACLU and other liberal organizations immediately protested the senator’s anticipated bill. The phones of the Hispanic groups were hot with activity trying to call in favors, making threats and organizing protests.

Bishop had been
sitting up in bed watching the senator’s news conference.
Not good
, he thought.

After watching the commentary
, he decided that Terri was just going to have to trade him in for a new model because he could
not
stay in bed one minute longer.

He got up and found that
the more he moved around, the better he actually felt. He showered, dressed, and brushed his teeth. He had just polished off his third peanut butter and pickle sandwich when he realized he needed something to occupy his mind.

Initially, he tried to work out, but the pain in his
ribs made him rethink that idea. Bishop headed to the garage and his beloved workbench. When Terri and he had been looking for their first home, there were just a few criteria that were really important to Bishop. The first was that he wanted a house that afforded a little privacy – something very difficult to accomplish on their limited budget. The second and most important feature was having a good area for a workshop.

When Bishop returned from the Army, he had decided to take his limited savings and relocate to Houston. After all, his degree had been chosen specifically for a career in the oil industry, and Houston seemed a logical choice to find a job. He quickly found that every person on earth with any sort of engineering degree was in Houston with the same idea. As one headhunter put it, “Every waiter and burger flipper in Houston is a petroleum engineer.”

After a few months of
searching, Bishop was still unemployed and running out of money. He had been going to the Veterans Administration and using their job placement service when he noticed a small note on the bulletin board:

HELP WANTED – Public rifle range has an opening for a safety/range officer
. Must have firearms experience and be able to work weekends. Military training/experience a plus.

Bishop took
the note down and called the number before reaching the parking lot.

Northside Gun and Range was not far from his apartment
. He was connected with the owner, Richard, who asked if he could stop by that afternoon. Bishop had a job.

The pay was only a few bucks above minimum wage, but Bishop needed to work and did his absolute best
. It wasn’t long before Richard came out to the range and asked Bishop if he could come inside and work the gun store as his regular man had called in sick. Bishop really impressed the customers with his knowledge of firearms. When he got his next paycheck, he noticed it was higher than normal. When he mentioned the error, his boss said, “You sold three guns last week. That’s your commission.”

Eventually
Bishop approached Richard and asked if he had a minute. “Sure, what’s on your mind?”

“You know the economy keeps getting worse and the range business has slowed down
. Why don’t we take a few of the shooting lanes and make a pistol training area out of them? We can give private lessons as well as provide Concealed Handgun License classes if we get a certified instructor.”

It was
n’t long before Bishop was on his way to firearms school in Dallas, learning to become a state certified handgun instructor. The new offering by Northside brought in customers. Not only did the range do well, but sales in the gun store increased, too. Richard paid Bishop a share of the profits.

Bishop was working on the range
when a number of serious-looking gentlemen showed up to shoot their pistols. Bishop had never seen weapons like theirs and struck up a conversation. It turned out that they were competition shooters and were in town for a match. He heard them call their pistols “speed guns” and decided to watch the matches the next day.

He drove to a competing range where the matches were being held and was surprised
when he had trouble finding a parking spot. He watched several different types of competitions and wanted very badly to join in.
This is so cool
, he thought.

He went to work the next day and told Richard abo
ut his experience, emphasizing how busy the competing range was. Richard was a big fan of NASCAR and decided that Northside needed its own competitor so the shop could plaster their man with advertising as if he were a racecar. He purchased Bishop a very expensive “speed gun” and told him to “get real good” with it.

Bishop
had always been a good shot as his father taught him the basics early on. As he got older, he could finish his chores on the ranch before it got too hot. Without much else to do, he spent countless afternoons exploring the washes and canyons on the property with his rifle. When school was in, he didn’t have as many chores, so the late afternoons were spent stalking anything that moved in the west Texas mountains.

Bishop
was bored to death at the range and did not often get a chance to sell rifles, so he put all of his energies into practicing with the pistol. He had been hard at it when Richard said, “We have to do something different. You are using up all my profits in ammunition. I want to do this, but we need to figure something out.”

“How about reloading?”

So Bishop learned how to reload ammunition and found that it not only saved money, it was therapeutic as well.

With his sore ribs and troubled state of mind, Bishop went to his garage and began reloading a batch of rifle rounds. He was so involved in his task he didn’t hear Terri come home. When she realized he wasn’t in bed, she knew exactly where he was. Terri never understood how someone as smart as Bishop could spend hours pulling a handle on a machine, doing the same thing over and over again. She started to open the garage door and paused when she heard him whistling. She stopped and listened to him for a bit and decided to leave him alone.
Oh well
, she thought,
if it makes him happy
.

Bishop finished reloading and was hurting a bit more than what he would ever admit
. He still couldn’t bring himself to go back to the bedroom, so he planted himself on the couch and started watching a documentary on the First Gulf War. Terri fixed a nice meal and brought it into the TV room on a tray. As Bishop reached for the food, Terri snatched the remote control and playfully teased, “You fall for that every time.”

“Damn
,” was all he could think to say.

Terri was hooked on a show called Celebrity Dance
Hall. The show featured a myriad of celebrities partnering with professional dancers in a contest. Bishop didn’t like the program and would have normally occupied himself elsewhere while Terri watched. He considered the bedroom, but decided watching the show while eating was the lesser of two evils.

As
the first team finished their routine, Bishop could not help himself and heckled the contestants. A little later, he made additional condescending remarks while finishing his meal.

Terri
gave him an aggravated look and said, “Bishop, just be quiet. I don’t sit and make fun of your baseball players constantly grabbing their crotches and spitting all over the court, so either leave or hush up.”

He managed to keep quiet for the next few segments, but additional criticisms soon followed before he caught himself and
looked over to see Terri staring at him harshly.

Bishop decided if he were
ever going to sleep again with both eyes closed he had better shut-up. It took all of the discipline he could muster, but he managed to make it through the rest of the program without additional comment. He even recovered a bit when he made Terri a bowl of microwave popcorn. When the winners were announced, Bishop didn’t say a word. He watched Terri out of the corner of his eye, and when she wasn’t looking, snatched at the TV remote. He was too slow. He then decided to try another approach, and using the tone of “a man and his castle,” told her, “My turn to pick a program.” This was a tactical error on his part as her response was a barrage of high velocity couch cushions. He retreated quickly to the bedroom to lick his wounds and regroup, smiling all the way.

He decided to clean one of hi
s rifles until he was sleepy and went to pick one out. As he was looking through the gun safe, he saw the original “speed gun” Richard had purchased for him years ago and bad memories came flooding back.

Bishop entered his first match three months after he and Richard had hatched their plan. It was a local affair, and only about 40 shooters signed up. He entered three different competitions that all involved running through a “course” and shooting at several targets.

He finished in the top ten in all three events, and managed a close third in one
. He later joked with Richard that the giant “Northside Gun and Range” patch on the back of his shirt had caused him discomfort and impacted his times.

The following week was the best ever for Northside
, and Richard put Bishop full time on training. He purchased competition guns for rifle and shotgun based events, commonly called 3-gun matches.

For the next
10 months, life had been grand. Bishop worked hard and spent countless hours on refining his technique and scores. He won his first local event a month later and placed in the top 50 in his first national event. Richard paid for him to go to Fort Benning for the nationals, where he placed in the top 20 in two different competitions.

Business at Northside
continued to grow every month.

Bishop landed after flying home from a national event in Phoenix where he had won for the first time
. He hadn’t called Richard because he wanted to surprise him with the big trophy, but as he arrived, he noticed several police cars in the lot. He parked quickly and ran toward the main building, only to have his way blocked by a big cop.

“Sorry buddy, you can’t go in there
- Crime scene.”

“Officer, I work here
. What is going on?”

“You work here? Hold on.”

The officer stuck his head inside the door and yelled at someone to come out. A man in a suit appeared and introduced himself as Lt. Davis, HPD Homicide.

Bishop really didn’t remember much after that except that Richard was dead
. He had been killed during an attempted robbery.

The police never did make any arrests in
the case, and the entire matter made Bishop’s blood boil to this day. Richard’s son took over Northside and sold the business within two months of his father’s death. The new owners had no interest in competition shooting and judged Bishop to be an unnecessary expense.

He was back to looking for a job when Spider called and asked him to come to Iraq.