The Shelter: Book 1, The Beginning (29 page)

“Sounds good to me.”

Lacy and I clean up saying, “Honey, do you think everyone liked Tony and Nancy?”

“Lace, yes, I think everything went very well. My only concern is will we have enough time to finish the shelter before it’s too late.”

Lacy pauses while placing the dishes in the dishwasher asking, “What are we going to do if we run out of time?”

I look into her eyes and lowering my voice, I respond, “We pray and we do whatever we have to in order to live.”

Chapter 15

We wake early the next morning to the news reporters all worried about the newly released unemployment numbers. Lacy and I have breakfast while watching the Fox morning news. Looking at Lacy, “Crap, someone made a mistake, they just announced numbers which sound like they’re the real numbers.”

“Honey, can the numbers be real? 946,000 new claims in the past week? My God, that’s worse than the numbers in the 2008 crash. The Department of Labor said the revised unemployment rate is 11%.”

“I think the numbers of claims are correct, but not the percentage. My gut says the percentage is closer to 20%. The Department of Labor doesn’t count those who dropped out of the workforce nor do they count anyone who used up their benefits. If you’re unemployed for 27 weeks and used all of your unemployment benefits, you’re no longer counted even though you’re still without a job. Since they only count people receiving benefits the real numbers are much higher. If they’re reporting 11%, think about how many people they’re not counting. Call them the ‘hidden unemployed.’ Most of our economy is driven by consumer spending and without that spending the crash is going to be deeper and longer lasting than anything we’ve seen since the great depression. Even then we didn’t also have to face the external forces dumping our dollar, crashing our economy. We have a president who thinks the only way to get us out of a recession is through government spending. The ‘smartest man’ to ever sit in the big chair doesn’t understand how the economy works. He’s never managed anything in his life. The 29 depression was made worse and extended because of the government’s spending.”

“A couple more weeks of numbers like this and no one will have any confidence in the economy. When people lose confidence in the economy, they don’t spend and when they stop spending more people lose their jobs making the problem worse. It’s a never ending cycle, like a snake eating itself. More than 50% of the country is dependent on government assistance which is stopping. There aren’t any private industry jobs opening to hire these people, what are they going to do to put food on their table?”

We’re interrupted by the Secretary of the Department of Labor making an announcement, saying, “My fellow Americans, we know that many of you are concerned with the new unemployment numbers. I want to assure you that the jump in the weekly unemployment numbers was expected. It’s a seasonal blip, it's nothing to be concerned about. We are moving ahead with President Obama’s announced immigration program. We believe increasing the number of immigrates will open new jobs for Americans, improving our overall economy. These new immigrates will pay much-needed income taxes. They will absorb the lower tier jobs that the average American doesn’t want to do. Bringing these new people into our hearts will help all of us. I’ve heard the phony complaint that Fox News broadcasts, that opening the borders to additional immigration is taking jobs away from Americans. This simply isn’t true. Most Americans won’t take entry level jobs, jobs that are critical to keeping our economy moving. We’re all aware of the current financial pressures on the government. China’s demand for immediate repayment is delaying our payments, but this too will improve with the addition of millions of new workers paying taxes and social security into the system.”

Lacy looks at me asking, “Is he, is all of the government insane? How the hell can they be opening the borders when millions of Americans are being fired? What brand of rose colored glasses are these people wearing?”

“None of them can face the truth that everything is falling apart, no matter what happens they hold onto the status quo. Holding onto power is the most important thing for them. They think they’re above the people they’re supposed to be reporting to. In the President’s mind, he doesn’t work for us, we exist to support him. Just like in the Dark Ages. He and his aides know what’s best for us. With the left, it’s always ‘do what I say, not as I do.’ None of the laws or rules applies to them. Congress passes laws which they exclude themselves from. Part of me thinks the coming collapse is going to be a good thing. It will give Obama the clean slate he needs to finish his transforming of the country.”

Lacy shakes her head saying, “Jay, it’s not a good thing, millions are going to die, we could see the end of America as we know it. We could end up with him as a dictator. If the economy collapses as most thinking people now seem to agree is unavoidable.  The President might declare a national emergency, signing an executive order declaring martial law. He could postpone the 2016 elections until the economy picks back up, which we both know isn’t going to happen. He could rule for life.”

“Honey, if that happens, I hope the military takes their oath to defend against all enemies, foreign and domestic to heart and removes him from office. If not, I think we’re going to see civil war 2.0 which is going to tear the country apart to such an extent, it’ll never heal.”

“Then we’ll be no better than any other third world garbage pit, we’ll be ruled by a military junta.”

“Lacy, I wish I knew what was going to happen. I find it interesting that many illegal immigrants are leaving because they can’t find a job while the government is opening the border, allowing more of them to enter. I think there’s going to be a traffic jam on the border with thousands trying to enter as thousands try to leave. What a mess. Do you think I should call everyone and poll them on last night or give them time and let them call us?”

“I think we ought to give them a little time to digest everything. I’m sure they’ll call us.”

We sit at the table watching the talking heads report on the slowing economy when there’s a knock on our front door. “Lacy, are you expecting anyone this morning?”

“No, are you? Did you forget something?”

Getting up to check I respond over my shoulder, “No, I’ll see who it is.”

Opening the door, I’m surprised to see the three families standing there. Fred asks, “Jay, mind if we come in?”

“Please do. Hon, better make some more coffee.”

Everyone comes in, Flo asks, “Do you have any of the cookies from last night left over?”

Lacy says, “Sure, I’ll get them for you.”

Everyone sits at our dining room table, Randy says, “Lacy, Jay, we’re sorry for dropping in on you without any notice. We all sort of chatted with each other this morning. We ended up meeting at Flo’s for an early breakfast. By the way, Flo makes the best pancakes you’ve ever tasted.”

“Flo, you didn’t invite me? I love pancakes. I’m going to have to get even with you.”

Flo smiles, saying, “I’ll make you some.” She gives me a hug.

Fred picks up the discussion, “We didn’t want to waste any time so we decided to come over and tell you face to face.”

I’m dying inside waiting for them to tell me what they decided. “Can you give me a hint?”

Randy smiles, saying, “How about we just tell you we’re all in agreement that Tony and Nancy join us. Just having a doctor on his payroll pushed all of us over the edge. Those who didn’t know them were surprised by them. We all voted yes. How soon can Tony have his people here to speed up building the shelter?”

“If I call him this morning, they can be here tomorrow.”

Randy smiles, saying, “So why aren’t you on the phone? We all heard the unemployment announcement, things are much worse than any of us thought. The government’s announcements aren’t making things better. We’re all worried about the future.”

Lacy carries a fresh pot of coffee into the dining room when the doorbell rings. We all look at each other trying to figure out who’s at the door. Lacy says, “If none of you are going to check who’s here, I will.”

She opens the door, speaking to someone. She pauses saying, “Honey, I need you.”

I join Lacy at the front door, there’s a messenger with a dolly at the front door. “Mr. Jay Tolson?”

“Yes. I didn’t order anything.”

“I have a very heavy package for you.”

“Who sent it?”

“It was sent by Four Clover Management.”

I look at Lacy, shrugging my shoulders. I sign the electronic pad he holds out for me to sign. The driver says, “Be careful, this box is very heavy, the shipping label says the wooden crate and contents weigh 275 pounds.” A “light” goes on in both of our heads. I ask the driver, “Can I borrow the dolly to move the box inside?”

“Sure, do you have to move the crate where you want it, or should I hang around a bit?”

“I have a dolly to move it, just need you to get it in the house.”

Fred, Randy and Jill join us at the front door. Fred looks at the wooden crate, “Jay, what did you order this time? Something fun?”

“Something for later, could you help me move it inside? I have to warn you its very heavy.”

“How heavy is heavy?”

“275 pounds.”

“Christ Jay, what did you buy now?”

“Something small and very heavy, a cube of enriched uranium. I plan to make my own bomb.”

Everyone laughs at the joke soon forgetting all about the box. 

Lacy says, “Everyone, thank you for coming over and telling us face to face. We have some things we have to take care of this morning.”

Everyone smiles and nods in agreement.

When everyone leaves Lacy looks at me with an evil smile on her face, “Can we open it?”

“Let me get a crowbar from the garage.”

Breaking open the crate Lacy and my eyes grow wide in shock, Lacy says, “Is that’s what $20 million in gold coins looks like?”

“Guess so. I feel funny pushing our neighbors out, but like you, I couldn’t wait to open the crate.”

“Jay, where are we going to store it?”

“We have space in the hidden space we built under the basement. Had I known it was coming today, I would have had a safe delivered.”

“Think you can still find a safe for sale?”

“If not, we’ll store the rifles someplace else and use the gun safe. Help me get this thing in the basement.”

“I’ll bring up the dolly.”

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Spetsnaz Captain Sarnoff and his team drop off two cases of AK47s to two different gangs in New York before doing the same in Chicago thinking,
Good, maybe they’ll kill each other off so when we arrive we won’t be facing our own weapons. I’d hate to be the cause of our troops getting killed our own rifles.

He’s interrupted by his first Sergeant, “Captain, we’re finished here, our next stop is supposed to be St. Louis. We’re ready whenever you are.”

“Very good. Try to keep your speed down, we can’t afford to get a ticket. One of their police may get curious and check our van, if they find our cargo, we’ll be spending the rest of our lives in one of their jails.”

“Captain, no we won’t, our people will release us as soon as they arrive.”

“Unless they kill us for getting caught.”

“Good point. I’ll drive slower.”

“Da, very good.”

The Spetsnaz team visits twenty-two American cities, dropping off weapons and ammo. They’ve sown the seeds and provided the basic equipment to enable the twenty-two cities to explode. Captain Sarnoff smiles thinking of the chaos he’s spreading across America. When the weapons are discovered, the blame will fall on China