Chapter 18: Twisted Minds

“Okay, Andrew, now you and I can have that conversation that I wouldn’t have with you a week ago.”

Jackson looked at Anderson, puzzled, then opening his eyes wide. “Sir, you mean the one where I asked if this was actually a military coup?”

“Exactly. Sergeant Watson simply confirmed what I’ve found out on my own. The only thing that I was really wondering about what just how much like mushrooms the other side is, and now it really sounds like they’re totally in the dark and being fed a lot of shit, probably for their own good.”

Watson frowned. “I’m not confirming you’re right, Sir. But what have you found on your own?”

“Oh, didn’t Colonel Aragorn tell you about me?” Watson shook his head. “I’m one of the world’s best white-hats in the online security business. I’m so far past the firewalls of the NSA, CIA, FBI, and Pentagon, I may as well be looking at the keyboards while they’re typing. I was just wondering if you’d actually admit why you were sent here, or if I was going to have to treat you as an undercover operative.”

Watson slammed back into his chair. “Well, doesn’t that just kill corn ass high! Here, we’re trying to be sneaky, because other than a few governors and their National Guard units – at least some of them – we’ve got the cooperation of damned near every major military unit in the United States. This is supposed to be so classified and secret only a few people know the whole truth. I’m one of them, because my wife diagnosed the fuckwad as senile midway through his first term.”

“That would be Doctor Michelle Watson, Deputy Director of the Defense Health Agency, if my notes are correct. That’ll disappoint Pearlina that you’re already married, but I’m sure she probably won’t kill you,” Anderson calmly said. “That also means while the Joint Chiefs probably don’t have a clue, things have been getting ready for close to three years, then. This fills in quite a gap in my knowledge I simply didn’t know I was missing, as far as explaining why I was approached last summer about theoretically designing this and the other camps. I didn’t set up the programs themselves, I was told others were doing that. But figuring out locations, as well as making preparations so if the shit hit the fan, logistics would be ready and in place, that I could do from just my computer keyboard and mouse.”

“That almost sounds like a bad conspiracy theory,” el-Azizi said. “The military of the United States decided on their own to disobey the National Command Authority, set up contingency plans should it need to happen, then is implementing those plans, without anyone being the wiser? That’s almost as bad a conspiracy theory as a rich man using his money to get prosecutors elected that he’d influenced to be soft on hardened criminals, so it would cause unrest throughout the nation, forcing a global response. Oh, wait, that one’s not really a theory, is it?”

“Sir, what I want to know – if it’s not too much of an issue – is how you changed our plan such that there are women running around the camp without pants on, and this woman is sitting in here naked.”

“Well, I’ll tell you, Private Bailey ... or is it Doctor Bailey?” Anderson asked.

“Master’s level work, Sir, not MD or PhD. Victoria and I are Licensed Graduate Professional Counselors, Sid and Jessie are Licensed Clinical Professional Counselors.”

“Okay. It’s pretty simple. I took your plans, and decided to improve upon them. It’s a generational thing, but you were more concerned with maintaining the dignity of the people we were going to educate than I was. You strip away their ability to hide behind whatever society has allowed or given them, whether it’s clothing, religion, or jewelry, show them you really don’t give a shit one way or the other, and unless they’re completely beyond redemption, they’re going to figure out what to do to survive. You reinforce that by killing one of them that’s totally beyond redemption, do it rather brutally so you shock them to their core – maybe cut a finger off to remove a personal item – before you blow their brains all over the ground. Then you segregate the sheep from the wolves, figure out how to tame the wolves if possible, whether it’s through use of the baton, the taser, or rock salt at thirty feet. You strip them of their individuality by shaving their heads, arms, and pubic hair. You don’t allow them feminine hygiene products and tell them when they’re outside, a little blood doesn’t hurt the ground. And you reinforce the attitude that you’re doing this because you’re a soldier, while showing them what a soldier really is – someone who is doing his job to defend the country.”

He smiled. “As for Zuhra el-Azizi here, I took away her hiding behind religion, but I also realized that if I put her in with the wolves, they’ll kill her because of what she’d done outside of here. I made sure she had no dignity, not even scrubs, and I chained her to the floor at night while I slept. I showed her by my actions I’m not a rapist or a murderer, by showering with her but not doing anything untoward. And when a guest was too badly injured due to head trauma to survive – I gave her the pistol to put that guest out of her misery.”

“You handed her a fully loaded pistol?” Private Bailey asked.

“Yes, he did. There was no danger to him, or to any of the other guards here, Miss. Sorry, Private. I’ve gotten used to saying Sir to everyone. Just for my own clarification, did the four of you plan on the guards forming personal relationships with some of us? Sexual relief, if nothing else, for all parties that consented, even though legally in a prison type environment, it can’t technically be mutually consensual due to the power relationship a guard has with a prisoner?”

Her eyes narrowing, Hunter replied, “Yes, we did. We figured that after a couple of months, the women that weren’t lesbians or bi-sexual would be seeking relief, and it would work well for them to give in to the authority figure of the guards.”

Grinning, Zuhra asked, “Did you count on the guests falling in love with the guards, and vice-versa?” All four of them women looked shocked. “That’s also why I’m not wearing any clothes, and I haven’t since my first day here, other than some pants when I was having my period so I didn’t make a mess while inside a building. It fits in with me being the liaison between the camp residents and the camp staff, including the Latin Lesbians. And it doesn’t hurt that every staff member knows I’m not the same woman that I was when I came in here – and neither are any of the women in here.”

“Sir, I have a question,” Booker said. “Why does Colonel Wellington dislike you? It’s rather obvious to me he sent us here hoping we’d end up disrupting things. I’m going to speak for all of us when I say, no chance in hell of that happening. But why?”

“Oh, fatso hasn’t liked me for years. I came home from Iraq with some mental health issues of my own, because of ... well, you’ve all seen the elephant. When it came time to set up the Oklahoma State Guard, it was decided we’d keep our old, active duty ranks when we entered, not whatever we had when we finally retired from reserve duty. I was a Captain in Iraq. Yes, I came home and couldn’t stay in, on active duty. I was in the reserves and still got promoted. I told Davis I tried to get back in after the Towers. They wouldn’t let someone with permanent, albeit minor, lung damage from the oil wells back on active duty, even if I did wear a chicken. So that’s one reason why Lieutenant Colonel Wellington of the Oklahoma State Guard has an issue with medically retired Colonel Anderson. The other reason – did you catch it, Watson?”

He nodded, asking, “Who’s Sarah?”

“Very good! That would be the wife of the Governor of Oklahoma. She’s my niece. No, I didn’t recognize your driver, but then again, the family tree has a lot of branches. Oh, and one other detail that sort of gave it away. My tech team are civilians that work for Tinker. They’re still getting their civilian pay from Tinker, because payroll counted this service as leave for military duty.”

Watson shook his head. “Damn, you Okies aren’t so dumb, are you?”

Anderson grinned and said, “Hey, watch it. You and I are natural enemies. Blue and White over Orange and Blue, any day!”

“Oh, Lord. Now I know I should’ve told the Colonel I wouldn’t do this, instead of being eager to see if it’d work. I can work with Crimson and Cream because we’re not in the same conference yet, but Kentucky?”

There was general laughter throughout the room, with el-Azizi simply shaking her head. “I suppose when we finally leave here, I’ll have to simply make allowance for that, won’t I?”

“Yes, Zuhra, you will.” Anderson switched back to work. “Okay, platoon leaders, you get your new privates and show them around. This side of the berm is combat, so no salutes. The far side of the berm is not, so saluting is required there. We do not have separate facilities for female troops, so you’ll be sleeping in the tents with your platoon mates, and using the same shower and rec facilities as they do. We’ve all seen combat, so we know that discipline in the field applies. Most things, if they come up, I expect you to handle within the platoon. Think of that godawful movie that had no resemblance to the book, ‘Starship Troopers.’ I’m still available and will listen if it’s something serious. Getting told you have a nice ass is not serious. Getting grabbed on said nice ass is. None of us are eighteen years old, young, dumb, and full of cum anymore. I had this same talk with all the men before our first guests showed up, because those rules also apply to our interactions with the guests. In addition...”

He paused, then continued with, “Sergeant Jackson, once the new troops are settled in their quarters, you will spend the rest of the afternoon and evening prior to movie time in personal instruction with all of them on the proper use of the baton. Yes, that’s something else I modified from your training plan. Physical correction, up to and including potentially lethal force, is authorized. You will not use your hands, you will use the impersonal rod of authority, the baton. But no shooting of the guests unless I authorize it. Questions?”

“One last one, Sir. You didn’t explain slaves.”

Anderson quickly went through the legalities the local tribe was using. All four women winced when he mentioned the branding of the captives.

Hunter frowned. “Didn’t we fight one Civil War over slavery?”

Surprising all of them, el-Azizi answered. “Yes and no. Yes, slavery was one of the main causes, but the states rights versus those of an all-powerful Federal Government that actually was not following the Constitution was the main reason. In this case, the treaties with the Indian tribes of Oklahoma as well as Supreme Court rulings make what happened to those eight women perfectly legal under federal and state law. Sergeant Watson, when you make your report up the chain of command, you might point out that sometimes decisions have unintended consequences. The rules of engagement all of the various National Guard troops are operating under need to be carefully scrutinized in those states where there are populations of Indians that are closely related to the Oklahoma tribes, especially with Indian Nations that are not specific reservations.”