The Face of Freedom. Benjamin Vance

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СКАЧАТЬ Then it hit me that everything I’d done in politics was for my own benefit. Everything that I’d rationalized to be good for other people had actually been calculated to keep me in office and in power. Absolute power corrupts absolutely, and is exactly the case for ninety percent of people. We conversed in my consciousness or my mind for a while and then God said I didn’t belong with him. That was the most profoundly defeating and sad thing I’d ever heard. I started to cry, but I couldn’t argue. Words wouldn’t come to me. I started falling toward earth, and earth opened up and I kept falling and I felt the heat from hell and I woke up crying like a baby.”

      Tears streaked Agent Denzine’s face, but she didn’t say a word. She understood fully and kept driving.

      After an hour or so without a meaningful word between them she said, “I’m the one who put the ad in the paper about your speech today.” She didn’t look at him.

      He turned to her and quietly said, “Thank you very much Jenetta.”

      14.

      By the time they reached Coeur d’Alene, it was late and the back roads and slow traffic had worn them out. She asked if it would be okay to spend the night on the south side of town. He knew little about Coeur d’Alene except it was beautiful and hard to pronounce. He agreed to a stop and soon they were in front of a small, but beautiful English Tudor nestled in about five acres of meticulously kept foliage. She told him to wait and went to the porch. She was met at the front door by an older man who hugged her and then motioned for the walker to come in. She introduced the man as her uncle and gave his name as Ike Larson, lieutenant colonel, USMC retired. He was one of the good men the walker preferred not to meet.

      He was greeted with dignity and kindness. He found that Ike’s wife had died the year before. He offered his condolences and they were accepted. Ike didn’t ask many questions. He gave the walker an upstairs bedroom across from his. Jen had the downstairs bedroom. Ike and Jen fixed a great dinner while the walker checked the outside of the house for “rat holes” that human rats might see as weak points to gain access to the home. He didn’t find any. Even the windows were barred on the inside, so that one could get out, but not in.

      After retiring for the night, he heard a light rapping on his door. Expecting Jen he opened it. It was Ike. He invited him in. Ike made himself comfortable in one of his late wife’s wing-back chairs.

      He said, “I can’t shake the feeling I know you from somewhere. Were you in ’Nam? Were you in the Army or the Corps?”

      “I can’t tell you Ike. It’s nothing against you at all; it’s just me. I’ve taken an oath not to reveal my identity until it’s discovered by the government.”

      “Why?Are you one of these guys in the witness protection program that Jen tells me about?”

      “No sir! I’ve just decided that for the sake of others, I need to keep my history private. I’m trying to carry a message that would not be as effective if people knew who I am and what I’ve done.” He saw Ike stiffen and quickly added, “No; nothing that I could go to jail for, at least legitimately.”

      Ike thought for a moment; looked at him intently and put two and two together. He slowly whispered, “Sheeeit, you’re that guy everybody’s talking about. The, the … walker guy, aren’t you?”

      “Well, that’s what some people call me, because I don’t like to use vehicles. It’s too easy for the gov to monitor me unless I walk or at least hitch an anonymous ride here and there. For all we know, they know I’m here now!”

      “You think?”

      “Absolutely Ike, and given the right priority and circumstances, they could spy on me walking through the woods. If they think I’m a threat to the administration, they’ll kill me ... period! The only fly in the ointment is they think Jen has left the building and will be waiting on another assignment. They don’t know she’s left the reservation. They have no idea, I hope, that she’s endangered her career to help me. If I work it right they‘ll never know.”

      “Soooo, what do we do? What can I do?”

      “Nothing, I can think of. If we get some rest, maybe I’ll think of something tomorrow. Right now, Jen needs the rest more than I do. Just in case, can you give me the layout of your house and any alarms or possible weak points?”

      “Hell, yeah. Come on with me. We’ll start in the basement.”

      He gave the walker the grand tour. Meanwhile, Jen was listening to the two old timers talk superficially about guns, ammo, the government, and early warning systems. She’d already reconnoitered the house and grounds. It looked tight.

      After the tour, Ike and the walker talked some more about voting responsibility, guns and the constitution. They were both all too ready to express what they thought about the government’s recent crackdown on human rights. When they said their goodnights, Ike said, “Like I’m going to be able to sleep a wink tonight.” They both grinned. Jen lay in her bed and grinned too, at the notion these old guys hit it off so well.

      At about 1:00 a.m. the walker crept outside with a blanket and his pack; very bad dreams again. A big evergreen tree of some kind in Ike’s “back forty” had beckoned to him after they arrived. He lay under its low sheltering branches and the whispering of a breeze through their needles slowly rocked him to sleep. At about 3:22 a.m. hell came to earth.

      15.

      Roland Franks had indeed come to the White House early. The President’s secretary invited Steven Northfield, because that’s what the President usually wanted. Charles Able was a bit peeved when the two men walked in at the same time, but after a second thought he figured it was just good staff work to get all involved. After pleasantries, The President gave Roland Franks permission to arrest the walker.

      Steve wondered if Roland could handle the problem since, after all, he thought the FBI came under the control of his agency. He asked the president where the walker was to be taken. The president wanted him taken to a terrorist facility. That’s all that was said. The walker was then and there considered a terrorist.

      Roland Franks personally notified his FBI operative to get the hell out of Dodge before the FBI or DHS team got there. He was getting to be a bit apprehensive of Steve Northfield and his proclivity to take decisive action without regard to the consequences. Steven Northfield had always been very jealous of the President’s superficial friendship with Roland Franks, and Franks knew it well.

      Roland also told Jenetta Denzine the walker was now on the terrorist list. She hadn’t immediately informed the walker. It didn’t take too long for the FBI/DHS team to get information from a jealous Julie Parker that the walker left with Isadora Lazenby, and it didn’t take long for the team to figure out who Isadora really was.

      After that, it was a simple task to monitor her late model truck’s GPS system via satellite. Once she and the walker stopped, it was a simple task for Steven Northfield to direct a smart bomb to within one meter of the center of Ike Larson’s beautiful home and reduce it, and the terrorist occupants to small pieces. He would cover the incident as a natural gas explosion.

      16.

      The sickeningly strong impact swayed the big Balsam Fir, but couldn’t uproot СКАЧАТЬ