Episode 30

Chapter 103

General Colt, USMC

1050 pm November 2^nd, 2006

3:50 pm November 3^rd, 2006 (local time)

I watched two burly MPS came in.

They were the same ones who arrested me a few days back.

I stood happily to one side as they grabbed General Smith and dragged him out as if he had never been their commander.

I stood there for a few moments enjoying the memory. Then I called my secretary in.

He came in and stood in front of my desk. He didn't even come to attention.

I could see that I was going to have to bring this base up to standards. "Stand at attention!" I snapped in my best 'cadet, you are so close to being hung by your ears' tone.

The orderly jumped in surprise, than dropped his materials as he jumped to attention.

I let him stand there for several minutes. "Very well, you may pick up your papers and stand at ease.

He did so with maximum speed.

Good. It seems that they can do what they need to if they are given enough motivation.

I sat down and prepared to give my first orders since taking command. "Take the following orders and have them typed up for signature within five minutes of being dismissed from this office. Order number one, the naming of enemy combatants. In accordance with presidential order number 2006-34578, I am using my authority to formally name the following people as enemy combatants, and ordering their immediate containment for shipment to Cuba. They names are Major Daniel Stone, USMC, General William Smith, USMC, Major Amy Stone, USAF, Major Anna Cork, USAF, Ashley Cork, Jacob Stone. Jacob Stone and General William Smith, USMC are already in custody..." I dictated a few more general orders for the base to bring it up to my standards.

The orderly fled the moment I indicated I was finished.

I smiled as I started to draw up plans for one of the cherished goals of the Association. A full scale assault on Palestine when they made their announcement. Those arab enemies of God would rue the day they dared to touch the sacred soil of occupied Israel.

Soon the world would realize God speaks to our President, which makes our President infallible.

Chapter 104

Karl

11:25 pm November 2^nd, 2006

I grabbed a can of soda and sat back on the sofa. Tonight's date went great. Well, it went great except for one thing. I never got to ask Krissy directly if she'd be my girlfriend.

Then the news program caught my attention. They were reporting a house fire. What's that? Julia was injured helping a child? She possibly saved it from death?

I started for my coat. My other hand was opening my cell phone to call Krissy.

Thursday, 3 November

Chapter 105

Valerie

1 am November 3^rd, 2006

"What happened to Jacob Stone?" I muttered as I picked up the phone. "Hello?? Fred??? I'm having problems contacting Jacob... I've tried about eight different ways to reach him with the final report for yesterday... No, I haven't heard from him in some time. He hasn't even responded to the email I sen about Ashley... Call Mindy if it will help... But I thought you said Tiffany broke up with Jacob... O.K., O.K., I will. Thanks."

I ended the first call to start the second call.

Chapter 106

Karen

1:15 am November 3^rd, 2006

I was sleeping.

Now I'm trying to sleep. There was a loud ringing in my head. It was very annoying.

Drowsily my mind tried to make sense of it. I think it was still trying to come to terms with the fact I was dead asleep. I've never touched beer, s it cant be that. It seemed way too early for my alarm clock. So I stuck my hand out from under my blanket and started slamming it where I thought my clock was.

No result.

Could it be? But who could be stupid enough to be calling now? I started to feel around for my phone. If my parents got woken up by this, I'm going to have to change stupid to suicidal. Finally I found it. Talk to me. I mumbled.

"This is Tiffany. I need a favor."

"O.K., I won't kill you tomorrow for waking me up."

"Thanks for that, but that wasn't the favor I was thinking about. I really need Ashley's cell phone number."

"You called me just after I fell asleep to ask for that."

"Yes. It's really important."

"You mean it's a matter of... oh never mind. It's 1 (514) 441-2243. Now let me sleep." I hung up the phone and tried to go back to sleep.

Chapter 107

Fred

2:39 am November 3^rd, 2006

My phone woke me up again. At this point that phone is waking me up more than my alarm clock.

I hit the speakerphone button. "Please tell me this is Ed McMahmon telling me I've won the Publisher's Clearing House Sweepstakes." The lousiness of my joke should tell the caller just how out of it I was at the moment.

"Sorry to disturb you, but I still can't reach either Jacob or Ashley."

Oh great, it's Valerie again.

"Are you sure there is a problem?"

"I'm sure. I've been trying for over an hour."

So much for sleep. I shook the drowsiness out of my system. "I'm getting my cell phone."

"Why? I just told you that I couldn't reach them."

"I know. I'm not calling them."

"Who you gonna call?"

"Not Ghostbusters, that's for sure. I'm calling members of the football and soccer team. I'm mobilizing the Density Force."

"You ought to call in the lacrosse team too. They are friends with Ashley."

Chapter 108

Kevin

4:20 am November 3^rd, 2006

It was cold and chilly out here this morning. Nothing like the weather where we're going according to the hints Fred dropped me.

I made my way through the large crowd that had assembled at the Stone farm. I noticed that a lot of kids had gathered into various small subgroups within the crowd.

Outside of gossip, most of the bits of the conversation I overheard were about people wondering why they were all called out here at this time in the morning.

I looked around and decided that all likely to show have shown. I was amazed at the number of students who showed. "Hey Fred! What's with all the students? I expected twenty at most."

Fred took a quick look around. "Don't ask me. I made the calls you wanted. Let's find out." He raised his voice. "Each team and group, send a person over, the rest of you get comfortable. We're going to be here a little bit."

I moved over to a stack of hay bales near the barn. The first to come over was a girl I didn't know. "Who are you?"

"I'm Stacey. I'm captain of the girl's hockey team. We heard from Krissy that Ashley's in trouble. We want to help."

"How many people could you get to come?"

"Fifteen."

"Fifteen. Great. O.K. Stand by." I searched through my coat for a piece of scrap paper to keep a tally on. When I got that started, I looked up. "Next?"

"I'm Karl, I'm here with what the jocks call the geek squad. We brought ten people."

"I'm Carol. Eight girls from the lacrosse team came because Ashley is a friend."

"I'm Mike. I came with the soccer team. Jacob's a close friend. We want to kick whoever's causing Jacob this trouble back to hell."

"That's good. How many soccer players did you bring?"

"The entire soccer team." Mike turned to do a quick head count. "Twenty seven."