Chapter 11 Dancing Toward Freedom
“If I can’t dance to it, it’s not my revolution.” ~ Emma Goldman
Ira Glaser dropped toward a clear area where there were a few people milling about. He could see the rucksack he’d pushed ahead of him making a soft landing. Bill, Peter, Susie, and Sal were safely on the ground. As he descended, Ira could see Sal putting a rucksack down by Bill, who was first on the ground and guarding three of the rucksacks. Susie had gone toward one of the barracks and was holding two guards at gunpoint while Peter approached them with zip ties.
Making a good landing, Ira helped Sal with the sack gathering, as other members of the team made their descent. By the time Steve and Karen joined them, all the rucksacks were together and had been opened for operations. Ira taped up John’s injured ankle and gave him a pain pill to swallow.
Susie and Peter had brought the captured guards up, and Karen had Carla and Phyllis escort them to the South fence, near the section torn up by the munitions.
“Sit. Stay seated and stay silent,” said Phyllis. The guards sat. A few glances at one another and at their zip tied wrists made it clear they weren’t going to fight, nor talk.
Meanwhile Gavin, Phil, and Bill had gone into the first barracks with Ira to clear the building. Ira retrieved a second med-pak from the rucksacks, entering last. He immediately noticed a group of prisoners getting up from what looked like a dog pile. There were some severely injured people at the bottom, including one unconscious.
Bill took charge as soon as he saw Ira enter. “You need to get these trustees out to the South fence. If they can walk, they walk, and they’ll go out ahead of everyone else except guards. If they can’t walk, the others need to carry them. Gavin and Phil will help you get them zip tied. See what you can do.”
With that, Ira set to work. He started with the most injured, who had been knocked unconscious by the crowd. A quick examination showed a mass of bruises on the back of the head. Ira put a cervical collar on, checked vitals, and moved to the next. While Gavin zip tied the unconscious trustee, Ira set a broken arm on his next patient. Outside he heard a very loud explosion, but kept working, focused on his job.
Altogether there were eight trustees. By the time Ira was finished treating them, Susie had come in with Harry, their gunner.
Bill said, “Harry, you look healthy. But you seem to be missing an aeroplane. What happened?”
“Bill, they shot Jerry and he took the plane into the admin building. That was the big explosion you heard. We got the east and the South fences down, and I worked over the mine fields on those sides pretty good. But we’re not going to Ocean county airfield. Karen wants you, me, and Phil to find the motor pool and commandeer everything with wheels,” Harry finished his report and smiled a bit.
Bill reflected for a few moments, then looked at his team. “Susie,” he started, “I need you and Gavin to get these trustees outside. Don’t go to the South fence, go to rucksack central. Report in and someone else will herd them to the fence.”
Raising his voice, Bill now addressed the crowd of prisoners, soon to be escapees. “Listen up! Some of us are going to the motor pool. We don’t advise you to rush out the fences, because some of the mines in the east and South minefields may not have been cleared. The guards and the trustees are going to find out for all of us. All of you should go out with Gavin and Lisa here, get further instructions from Steve and Karen, who are leading this expedition. If any of you want to help us get the upstairs levels cleared and headed out, I need two volunteers.”
Several of the prisoners raised their hands, knowing that they would stay on familiar ground a bit longer. Bill pointed to the two nearest and said, “You’ll do, stay here with me a minute. Gavin, Susie, get everyone moving out.”
Now turning to Ira, Bill said, “Ira, this thing is coming along, but without a return flight, we’re going to have to improvise. I need you to take these two, what are your names?”
A short black woman in her thirties said, “Eleanor Jefferson.”
An extremely thin, tall, not quite emaciated white man in his forties said, “I’m Jake Willis.”
Bill held up a steadying hand and looked to Ira. “Take Eleanor and Jake to the top floor, work your way down, get everyone here out of this building. When the owners send a response team, this place is going to be levelled, so if anyone can move, get them downstairs and out to rucksack central. If they can’t move, treat them and get help moving them. Go directly to the South fences, and if the guards and trustees aren’t already moving, tell whoever is in charge there to get everyone going. We’ll catch up when we have vehicles. Got it?”
“Yes sir. Got it,” was Ira’s immediate response.
Bill now put the hand he had held up onto Ira’s shoulder and turned back to Eleanor and Jake. “Either of you know how to shoot a gun?”
The two escapees looked at each other and Jake smiled. Eleanor smiled back. Both nodded.
“Good! America may survive,” was Bill’s comment, as he reached into his backpack. He pulled out a blue goo gun. “I’m giving each of you one of these revolvers, they have five shots each. You point the barrel at what you want to shoot, pull back on this lever to cock the weapon. If you have to fire, squeeze the trigger. Ira get out ear plugs for our new recruits.”
Bill handed the first goo gun to Eleanor who was overcome with a look of delight. She immediately pointed it at the floor, her finger alongside the trigger guard. Meanwhile Bill had gotten another blue goo gun for Jake.
“Eleanor, thank you for showing me you know what you’re doing.” Bill tipped his baseball cap’s visor a tiny bit as he said these words. “Do me a favour and run through the four rules of gun safety with Jake here. Ira, when your team is ready, get going. Harry, Phil, and I are gonna find our rides. Go with God.”
Matching words to deeds, Bill headed for the exit. Susie and Gavin had already gotten their herd of trustees out the door, and a long file of escapees was now exiting. Seeing the three jump team members coming past the line, the escapees began to express their thanks, which caused those nearest the door to stop and turn back.
“Yes, you’re welcome, we’re glad to be here,” said Bill, “But I need you to stop for a moment while we go ahead of y’all. Anybody know the way to where they keep the trucks?”
A short older woman, not more than five feet tall, looking to be in her early seventies spoke up. “You’ll find a bus and some pickup trucks up at the north end. I can take you. Let me go first, I’m too old to stay here a minute longer.”
Eleanor, Jake, and Ira had been watching these developments. Now Ira turned to Eleanor and gestured to invite her to speak.
“Every gun is always loaded,” said Eleanor. “You never put your finger on the trigger until you wanna shoot. You never point the muzzle at anything you don’t want to destroy. You make sure of your target and what’s behind it.” She had her eyes fixed on Jake the whole time. He nodded at each sentence.
Ira smiled, and, with no further words, headed for the open stair well at the back of the barracks building. Jake gave a “you first” wave and Eleanor set off on Ira’s heels. Jake looked around and headed with them, pausing every few steps to check behind him.
Stopping at the first landing to be sure he had his team together, Ira noticed Jake checking their rear. “You seem to have done this before, Jake,” said Ira.
“Yeah, a tour in Iraq. They put me here because I used to be an Iraq Veteran Against the War,” said Jake.
Ira nodded and headed up the stairs.
Later, In Paradox
Sarah Pinero gavelled the crowd silent and smiled at them. She was standing next to the desk where Tyrone had been sitting that morning. A tall slender woman in her mid-sixties she was dressed in recent styles. She had entered from the back of the building through the same door that Tyrone had come in through at the start of the proceedings. Sarah had a standing desk adapter that she placed on Tyrone’s desk on the dais so she wouldn’t have to lean over.
“Folks, as you’ve no doubt heard, Tyrone was asked to take up an important assignment back east. My name is Sarah Pinero, and I’m here to help you see this process through. You’ll excuse me for standing, but I don’t enjoy sitting for long periods due to some back issues. Thank you for returning from break and taking your seats. I’m glad to see the grand jury all here,” Sarah said.
“Sally, let’s hear what you have to share, please,” and Sarah gestured at the table marked “prosecutors.”
Sally stood up and marshalled her thoughts. She then turned to face the grand jury and looked at each one for a moment.
Having finished this examination, she began. “Bernard Grossman was a friend of my husband. He lived here in the valley for two years. He’s dead now. His family hired me and Robert to prosecute the defendant, Joe Jones, for the crime of murder mitigated by circumstances involving high emotions, also known as second degree murder, which we have alleged against the accused. Today I will show you the evidence we have, including camera video, including witness statements, including the autopsy report, and we ask that you indict the accused, form a petit jury, and complete these proceedings.”
Before she could continue, the door at the back of the room, which Sarah had come in through, opened again. A young woman of about 12 years carrying a message ran in and rushed up to Sarah.
“Mom!” she cried, “you have to see this now!”
Sarah smiled indulgently at her adopted daughter and took the message slip. She looked at Sally and the grand jury for a few moments and said, “Folks, meet my daughter Dori. She’s here with news.”
The audience and the grand jury smiled and everyone shared a chuckle, but these soon died away. Dori only stared at her mom, not showing any sign of embarrassment. Sarah, reading the message, went from indulgent to intent to deeply concerned, all these expressions passing over her face during the short period that she was reading. She looked up at Sally, then glanced at Ben, the grand jury, and the audience. She sighed.
Putting her hand on Dori’s shoulder, Sarah said, “Thank you. I’m glad you’re here right now.”
Gathering the rest of the room with her eyes and demeanor, Sarah said, “I regret to inform you that Scott Hitchens was killed this afternoon. Sheriff Green has requested that the militias of Paradox Valley bring everything you have to the Bedrock post office, immediately. There’s a convoy of vehicles out of Denver full of Red Rangers. Five minutes ago they gunned down Scott on the road from Naturita during a firefight. They have 23 miles to get to Bedrock, and could be arriving in eight minutes. Dori and I will take care of locking up here. Go, now, please.”
Ben Stone had stood up as soon as he heard the word “militias” and was already heading for the exit. He paused and turned back to hear the rest of Sarah’s words.
Ben spoke loudly and calmly: “If your equipment isn’t with you or in your truck, either go home and get it together, or ask a friend if they have spares for you to use. We’ll want Jane’s truck out on Highway 90 with her .50 cal pointed east. Bob, Sally, please find out if anyone has heard from our team out toward Utah.”
With that, Ben was out the door, walking quickly. He went to his pickup and opened the driver’s side back door of the crew cab. Inside were body armour, a helmet, and his tactical vest. Getting these on in under a minute, he was in the driver seat and going before he had his door closed. A few short stretches of city street and three turns got him onto the highway, and he floored it. As a result of his preparedness, he was at the front of the line, and arrived at the Bedrock post office in under five minutes.
The day was warm, and the sky was clear. As he pulled to the right to park by the general store, Ben glanced in his rearview. Fifty cars and trucks were following him from Paradox. Whatever came at them out of the east, they would be ready.
Freedom Decentral: Free the Slaves copyright 2019, 2020, and 2026 Jim Davidson all rights reserved.
Beware Utah. It seems to be the actual hub of the Deep State. (Colorado and Arizona not far behind.)