
Times of Turmoil: A Christian Thriller

The End Times Saga, Volume 1

Cliff Ball

Published by Cliff Ball Books, 2017.
This is a work of fiction. Similarities to real people, places, or events are entirely coincidental.

TIMES OF TURMOIL: A CHRISTIAN THRILLER

**First edition. February 26, 2017.**

Copyright (C) 2017 Cliff Ball.

ISBN: 978-1501448799

Written by Cliff Ball.

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

# Table of Contents

Title Page

Copyright Page

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

# Chapter 1

The task was finally finished.

Gregory Evans smiled at the thought of what he had accomplished as his assistants piled the remaining jewels, works of art, and other signs of wealth into the large, unmarked freight trucks. His deal with the Germans was that he was supposed to give them a run-down of the wealth that was taken from the Jews, and then all of the liquidated wealth would be turned over to the German government.

Gregory had different ideas.

He skimmed off the top, taking about fifteen percent of the wealth confiscated, which was a considerable amount. If anyone from the government was actually monitoring him, which included the Gestapo, they would have seen what he was doing, but because they weren't, Gregory figured the Germans wouldn't miss something they didn't know existed. He told them what he thought they needed to know, but nothing more. The fifteen percent he skimmed was put into Swiss banks; none of whom asked questions. Later, Gregory would use his newly acquired wealth to amass power for himself, but for now, he had to deal with the Germans and their very mercurial leader.

Gregory came to Germany shortly before the United States had been dragged into the now Second World War because of the attack on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese. Gregory's father thought sending him to Germany would be a good lesson in leadership and business skills. Gregory's family was part of a global group of families who ran things behind the scenes.

The Evans' made their fortune back when the Hudson Bay Company (among others) was profiting off of the New World and its colonization by various European countries. The Evans family also profited greatly from the wars in America. For example: when the British fought the French and Indians, or even when the American colonies declared their independence from England, the family's focus was on their own personal wealth and power. For a brief period, there were worries from the people who profited off Europe that the French Revolution would ruin everything. Fortunately, their hopes for the future increased when Napoleon Bonaparte came to power, but expectations were short-lived when they realized no one could control him.

During the American Civil War, the Evans' and their associates stoked passions on both sides as they profited from slavery and war. The Evans decided not to help the Confederacy when Lincoln suspended rights and had no problem wielding his supposedly limited powers to make the central government even stronger. It was generally understood, among the elite, that the American government would be easier to manipulate, and a whole lot easier to bribe, than the Confederacy. The Evans' made lots of money off Reconstruction, followed by the Gilded Age, and made real progress when they found Woodrow Wilson and promoted him up to President of the United States shortly before the First World War. The Roaring '20's were considered a setback to their goals, but after the forced Stock Market crash in 1929, Franklin Roosevelt was promoted to United States President, specifically to bring about big government.

The goal for the Evans' and the others was to completely purge the United States of its Judeo-Christian leanings and replace it with something much more secular, preferably dominated by a strong central government with a few worthy persons (in the eyes of these power hungry families) in power. They knew that it may take decades, maybe even a century, but it would be done. The fairly recent Scopes Trial helped their cause immensely as far as pushing the United States towards becoming more secular, but more needed to be done. The Evans' funded people like Margaret Sanger and Josef Mengele, knowing people like them would eventually coarsen a civilization by purging society of the so-called undesirables. For Sanger, that was black people, and for Mengele, it was anyone he experimented on in the concentration camps. They didn't shy away from ridding society of the disabled and were looking for more efficient ways of doing so.

When Adolf Hitler came to power, he was ignored at first by the wealthy globalists, but when one of them read Mein Kampf, they decided his goals were worthwhile. The globalists were haters of Judaism and Christianity. They thought that taking down the Christians would be a task that required a long time to complete. For reasons the globalists didn't understand, since anything of a spiritual nature was alien to them, the Jews were easy for most people on Earth to hate; so convincing Germans to kill all the ones they could find wasn't that difficult of a task.

Gregory was raised to hate Jews and Christians. His father derided Christians mostly, complaining that if it weren't for them, he could do whatever he wanted without someone whining about it not being ethical or telling him that if he didn't repent of his sins, he'd go to Hell. Gregory's father dismissed Christianity as nothing more than fairy tales and irrational superstition. Gregory never gave a moment's thought to Christians since he had never interacted with them and never wanted to.

When Gregory came to Germany, the Germans were, of course, consumed with fighting the war. For the most part, all of the Jews and others, that the Germans considered undesirable, were already in the Camps; but no one was tallying up all of the wealth they had, so Gregory convinced the higher-ups in the Nazi government to let him do it.

It took him a better part of three years to gather up all of the confiscated wealth from across Germany, Poland, and the other German occupied lands, but he finally did it. Gregory was proud of his accomplishment and was looking forward to the day when he could use the wealth he skimmed to gain the power he wanted. For now, he had to report to his so-called superiors to tell them about his accomplishment.

A few days later, after calculating the wealth that had been confiscated, Gregory was back in Berlin to report to his superior. The man he reported to was Heinrich Himmler, the second most powerful man in Germany right after Hitler. Gregory considered Himmler one of the smartest, if not the most dangerous man on Earth, while Hitler was outright crazy. In Gregory's opinion, if it wasn't for Himmler, Adolf Hitler would have gotten so far in such a short time. Gregory had to always be careful around both men; they were paranoid and weren't afraid to kill a person on the spot if the two thought they were being betrayed. That kind of ruthlessness was what Gregory admired and hoped to emulate.

Gregory went into Himmler's office, where he found Hitler sitting on one of the sofa's in the spacious, darkly lit, office. The two stopped talking when he entered. Gregory felt an evil presence, giving him unexpected goose bumps. As usual, he dismissed it as paranoia. Himmler looked over at Gregory with his cold eyes, and said, "I understand you've finished the project. Now that you've liquidated everything, how much actual cash do we have?"

"Germany now has enough cash to last ten more years without raising more taxes on the people. If the war ends in the next year or two, it might even last longer," Gregory replied.

"Excellent. Once we crush the Russians, the Brits, and the Americans, we'll raid their banks and mints, even Fort Knox, and then we'll have enough money to last for a hundred years. After that, we can get rid of the Japanese." gushed Hitler.

"Don't count on that, Adolf. Have you seen what the Japanese have done to the Chinese and all those others under their thumbs? A war with them would take decades. It would be very expensive." Himmler warned.

"Bah! No one is superior to us. No one! If the Allies invade us, they'll be crushed like ants. The Americans can't fight like real men and the Brits are too weakened to do anything. All they do is drop bombs on our cities and chase after us in North Africa, they're no real threat. Victory is ours!"

"Yes, yes, Mein Fuhrer. Our troops will fight to the death and bring down many millions of enemy soldiers with them. Now Mr. Evans, would you like to be in charge of captured enemy money once we conquer their lands?" Himmler asked.

"Of course I would. I assume I have to wait until the war is over before I can take over this role?"

"Yes. The war should be over in a year or so. You won't have to wait long,"

"I look forward to it, Herr Himmler. What else would you like me to do?"

"For now, we want you to monitor the money transactions here in Berlin to make sure no one skims off any for themselves. No one is to be trusted. Understood?"

"I understand. You have my complete loyalty, and I will do as you ask. Gentlemen, if you'll excuse me, I have work to do." Gregory walked out of the office.

Hitler returned his gaze to Himmler and said, "Kill him when we win this war. If you don't, he'll cause trouble for us in the future,"

"I understand, Mein Fuehrer. I will see to it."

"Good. Now, I must return to my office. We still have a war to fight." Hitler abruptly rose from the couch and walked out of the office. Himmler dispensed with the usual Heil Hitler routine and went back to work.

******

# Chapter 2

Three days later....

The Allies were preparing to land on various beaches in Normandy, France, for the massive invasion the Allies planned against Germany. The weather was awful, mostly foggy, but Eisenhower and his command staff thought now would be the perfect time to stage the invasion.

Charles Atwood found himself in one of the lead landing crafts, in the turbulent sea, and thought about how he found himself here after joining the Army on December 8, 1941.

When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, it shocked the then twenty-one-year-old Charles. He, like everyone else, had assumed they would attack only the Philippines, not Hawaii. He came from a family with a long line of service in the military; ever since the French and Indian War when one of Charles' ancestors fought in the same outfit as George Washington. During the Revolution, other family members fought under Lightfoot Harry Lee. During the War Between the States, the Atwood's served under General Robert E. Lee - until that day at Appomattox Courthouse. For the Atwood's, the war was about states' rights and not letting a central government bully people, since the Atwood's never owned slaves, they were pretty much poor dirt farmers ever since the first Atwood arrived on Virginia soil back in the 1620's.

The day after the attack on Pearl Harbor, like many other men across the United States, Charles joined the Army, expecting to fight both the Germans and the Japanese. Now he found himself with thousands of others, on the way to bringing down Germany and Hitler.

Charles' buddy, Billy Massey, who he met in basic training and had been in the same unit ever since, was saying something while Charles was in his fog of thought. Billy punched Charles in the arm, bringing him back to the present. "What? What did you say?"

"I was saying that I'm looking forward to plugging some Krauts. How about you?"

"That's why we're here." Charles thought that maybe he should talk to Billy once again about accepting Jesus into his heart and getting saved before it was too late. "Billy, have you asked Christ into your heart yet?"

Billy's mood darkened slightly. He sighed and replied, "No, but like I said before, I want to get my life straightened out before I do. I got plenty of time,"

"You don't know that. You could die at any moment. Jesus says...."

"Look, man," Billy interrupted in a surprising flash of anger, "leave me alone about it for now. When we get through this battle, then you should ask me again. Okay?"

"Fine...." Charles had tried again and failed. He had asked Billy the question every two or three months, but he was immovable. Charles prayed inwardly, "Heavenly Father, please protect us from harm. I know that Billy isn't saved and I've tried to lead him to you, but he won't budge. Please guide the Allies to victory and bring us home safely. In your name, amen."

"Okay, men," their sergeant interrupted, "get ready. It's almost time to get off of this tub to fight. Remember to keep your heads down and rifles above your heads so they won't get soaked by the water." then the sergeant received a signal just as the landing craft's gate was lowering. "Out! Out! Out!" shouted the sergeant.

"Come on, let's get this party started!" shouted Billy as he rushed out.

Charles followed him, hearing the whizzing of bullets, the sounds of guns pounding away on the battleships a few miles behind them, distant explosions, and the general sounds of battle. Within seconds, he heard a "THWACK," followed by a grunt, and a splash. He looked over to where Billy had been standing seconds before. He looked down and saw his friend floating in the water, a bullet to the heart, and blood pooling around him. If he were anywhere else besides the biggest battle in world history, Charles would've broken down and cried for this lost soul, but he had a job to do, so he dragged Billy's body to the beach in spite of the chaos around him, and then shouted for a Medic.

As he waited for the Medic, Charles prayed, not for Billy, since that would be pointless, but for his family and for protection in this battle, "Dear Heavenly Father, I come to you this day in regret that I wasn't able to lead Billy to you. If possible, please send someone back home to lead his family to you so that they may know you as their Savior. Please guide me and protect me as I fight this battle and upcoming battles. Please protect and guide my family back home, and please help my leaders make wise decisions as they guide us through this war. Thank you. Thy will be done, in Jesus name, amen."

The Medic arrived, and asked, "Is he dead?"

"Yeah. Can you make sure his body gets back to his family?"

"Not a problem. He'll have to be gathered up with the hundreds of others who have already died, later on when the battle's over with. I suggest you get back into the battle, Corporal."

"Right." Charles picked up his rifle and ran towards where the Germans were ensconced in their pill boxes, shooting at the Allied forces, while he began shooting back in spite of explosions around him, bullets whizzing past him, and his fellow soldiers being shot down.

Over a day later, after getting through German defenses on the beaches, the military units that landed at various spots finally linked up, and they went inland to clear the French countryside of German soldiers. Charles was thankful that he hadn't been harmed, but knew many who had died during the battle, and he had no idea if they had accepted Christ. He hoped they had some time in the past. Charles had accepted Christ when he was eight years old, one afternoon when he asked his Mom about how to get saved. She led him to the Lord and he got baptized two weeks later at the church their family had been going to since it was built back in the 1700's.

Charles and his unit were now going from town to town clearing Germans as they made their way to Berlin. Sometimes, the German soldiers surrendered fairly easily, mostly because they were regular Army and had no Gestapo with them. Unfortunately, at other times, when a Gestapo agent was with a group of German soldiers, they fought to the death. Charles thought this was a shame, especially since dying for a lost cause was pointless, and more than likely, most of those men would probably never come to know Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior.

In one of the many towns they found resistance, Charles' unit fought hard like they always did. They were almost through when they discovered a sniper held up in the local church. Sergeant Jackson ordered Charles, "Corporal Atwood, you and Corporals Feretti, Jones, and Snyder go take that guy out so we can move on,"

"But, he's in a church...." Charles helpfully tried to point out.

"Yeah, so?" interrupted Jackson.

"Isn't it a bad idea to kill someone in a church?"

"This is war, so suck it up and do what I say. If you don't, I'll shoot you where you stand. Got it?"

"Yes, Sergeant. Okay guys, let's go." Charles and the three-headed, slowly, into the church to root out the German.

It took the four men more than thirty minutes to get into the church, because of the sniper raining bullets down on them, but they did manage to do it. Charles was thinking about the fact that he'd never actually been face to face with anyone he had killed in battle and began to wonder what he would do if and when he had to do it. The bell tower part of the church seemed to be where the German sniper was hiding.  Charles' heart began to race and his hands to sweat as he nervously made his way up the staircase. The German soldier, who was dressed as Waffen-SS, was perched near the window, taking potshots at the American troops. Charles quietly aimed his gun, which was equipped with a bayonet at the end, and ordered in German the only words he knew since coming to Europe, "Aufgeben! Übergabe! (Give up! Surrender!)"

The German turned around with an amused look on his face as he rose from his seat. It looked to Charles like the enemy soldier was the size of a linebacker on an NFL team back in the States, and about a foot taller than Charles, who was fairly skinny and not very athletic. The German replied back with some contempt in his voice, "Nein wie uber Sie statt kapitulieren? (No, how about you surrender instead?)"

Charles understood the "No," but the rest he didn't grasp. The German kept talking while slowly approaching, giving Charles pause since he really didn't want to kill the guy. His pounding heart and clammy palms weren't helping. While he kept his eyes squarely focused on the German, he began to pray inwardly, "Dear Heavenly Father, I do not want to kill this man. I need help!" Charles ordered the German to surrender one more time, suggesting that he was serious by showing that he was ready to fire his weapon.

The German came within five feet of him when he saw Feretti, Jones, and Snyder appear, making him stop in his tracks. Snyder, whose ancestry was German, and had taken German in high school, told the Waffen-SS soldier to surrender. The two began talking back and forth in German, when Snyder finally said, "He'll surrender. He doesn't want to die either, being surrounded by four Americans and all. He claims Germany will still win and that the four of us will soon be caught and executed. I told him to shove that idea where the sun don't shine." The four laughed as they escorted the German outside and into the custody of American military police.

Charles was relieved that he didn't have to kill a man face-to-face, and prayed, "Heavenly Father, thank you for helping me out. I really didn't want to kill a man that I was facing eye to eye. I pray that someone leads him to you if that's in your will. Thank you for everything, please guide me on the right path, and please help me lead others to you. In your name, I pray, amen."

A few months later, the United States Third Army, which Charles was now assigned to, after being transferred to the 80th Infantry Division, came to the Buchenwald Concentration Camp and began to liberate it. Headquarters sent the 80th to take control of the camp a few days later.

As the 80th was about to head out to the camp, Charles overheard soldiers from the 83rd talking about what they had seen. "It was awful. The people there were basically living skeletons with skin on them. The smell of death was overwhelming, there were hundreds of dead bodies stacked in mounds, and the stupid Krauts didn't even care. I'll never forget it in my life,"

"I have a hard time believing that. Who can be that cruel?" asked Charles.

"The Krauts, that's who,"

"But, what about the regular German population, didn't they try to stop it?" asked a still unbelieving Charles.

"Nope. They're a bunch of sheep if you ask me, letting Hitler do whatever he wanted, and killing hundreds, if not thousands, of people without any consequences. Well, Hitler will get his, I can guarantee that. Just you wait and see, you won't ever forget it when you see it."

Charles didn't want to believe humans could be so cruel and unfeeling to each other. He thought the soldier he was talking to was exaggerating. Surely it couldn't be that bad, he thought as he and his Division began to make their way towards Buchenwald.

He smelled the Camp long before he ever saw it with his own eyes. He also saw emaciated people walking past the Division going in the opposite direction, with distant looks in their eyes, in a sort of haunted manner, and practically dead to the goings-on of the world. It gave him a chill up his spine, but Charles still thought that what he heard about Buchenwald was exaggerated.

As they entered the Camp, Charles saw what he'd heard was no exaggeration. It horrified him and made him physically ill. He swallowed the bile and told himself to suck it up because he had a job to do.

He saw the mounds of dead bodies everywhere and the overwhelming stink of death and decomposing bodies. There was sickly looking, emaciated people in tattered striped blue and gray clothing, some were even naked, aimlessly walking around, having no idea what to do with themselves now that they were free. Some, still having the presence of mind to know that Americans were now in the Camp to be liberators, descended on the soldiers, asking for cigarettes or something to eat that would be easy on their stomachs. The 80th Infantry did their best to give what they could.

Charles also saw what everyone else tends to see wherever there's human suffering -- the American media, descending on the suffering like vultures.

There was Edward R. Murrow, over by one of the stacks of bodies, reporting for CBS News about what he saw. Over near the barracks, there were the Life magazine photographers taking pictures of the dead and dying, and even posing them for pictures to make it look more "dramatic."

Charles was disgusted and began wondering why this happened to innocent people. Why on Earth would God allow this to happen? Why would a human do this to another human? He had no answers, even though he did read the Bible as often as he could, but if he could find a chaplain in the near future, he'd ask him. The answer had to be more than there was just evil in the world. Charles didn't think there was much more that would shock him. He hoped there would be nothing worse than this.

Sergeant Jackson brought Charles out of his gloomy thoughts when he started giving orders once they were out of the trucks, "Okay, everyone listen up. We're going to have rotating four-hour shifts, mostly doing guard duty. You'll also help where you can, like helping the nurses get these people cleaned up, for example. Feel free to tour this wretched place, get it solidly in your mind to see that nothing like this ever happens again. If you get overwhelmed, you can go out into the woods to clear your head or your stomach. We'll be here until General Patton orders otherwise. Okay, get to work."

The orders given to Charles had him doing his stint on guard duty later in the day, so he and the others decided to take a tour of the concentration camp.

The conditions were awful everywhere, and as they were walking through buildings, a Corporal from another division walked past them, with a tinge of green on his face.

"You okay?" Charles asked

His Adam's apple bobbed and he looked Charles in the eyes. "You guys oughta see what I just saw. Them Krauts were burning bodies right on up 'til we showed up and we finally managed to get the durned thing turned off. I hear tell that General Patton, his very own self, is going to tour this place. Once he sees what's here, he'll blow his top. It's plum awful what I just saw...." then he threw up. "I need some fresh air." then the Corporal staggered towards the woods.

Charles and the other men walked into the building where the Corporal had told them about the burned bodies. They found six ovens, with at least six very charred bodies still inside the ovens. One of the Sergeants in charge was saying, "We haven't the slightest idea how long they were doing this, but if I had to guess, the Germans were burning more than one hundred bodies a day. It would make more than three thousand bodies burned a month, which would be more than thirty-five thousand bodies burned a year, just for this one camp. I wonder how many of those were burned alive? To be honest, the whole thought is staggering and beyond awful. The German higher-ups are going to pay, that's for sure. Eisenhower and Patton will make sure of it."

Charles searched for and found the chaplain for their unit assisting the nurses helping get the former prisoners cleaned up and attempting to get food into them. The chaplain in civilian life was the assistant pastor at Charles' church, so they knew each other in civilian life. Charles felt confident that this man would have the answers for him for why God would allow this cruelty to happen to his Chosen People - or to anyone for that matter.

"David, I need to talk to you, if you have a minute,"

"What do you need to talk about, Charles?"

"I don't understand how God could allow such evil to happen, especially to his own Chosen People. How can people be such monsters to each other?"

"Charles, you're not alone in your questions, others have asked me the same thing recently, and I'm sure you won't be the last. Come, let's sit and talk about this, and then I can show you verses in the Bible that says why such things happen."

The two men went over to a table that had two chairs and sat down. David had a pocket Bible on him, so he began looking through it for the appropriate verses so he could answer Charles' questions.

David was shocked when he arrived at Buchenwald. However, he knew God always has a plan for everything, even when evil men seemed to be winning, since no one could know God's thoughts. David saw that Charles was finally ready to begin the lesson, so he began.

"Okay, first of all, in Isaiah 55:8-9, it says: 'For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.' Now I know that doesn't get to the heart of the matter in regards to your question, Charles, but God has a purpose for everything, and his purposes are higher than anything we can imagine. Do you understand so far?"

"I think so. Go on,"

"Because of Adam's fall in the Garden of Eden, we're cursed with a sin nature. Some people, like Adolf Hitler and his friends, have turned themselves over to a reprobate mind because they don't want to know Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior. I'm sure someone tried to explain to them that they were sinners, but they rejected it over and over, so in Romans 1:28 it says: 'And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient.' This means that these people are filled with thoughts of fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness, and become haters of God. When they're like this, they hate all things of and by God, including His people, Christian and Jew alike. Do you understand so far?"

"Yes,"

"As a Christian, God has given you the ability to discern good from evil and He helps you find out what His will is when it comes to your walk with Christ. When God turns a man over to a reprobate mind, He has no more hope for them, so He lets their heart go, and they become hardened to anything related to God and Christ. Say I was to put my hand into a fire, what do you think would happen, Charles?"

"Your hand would burn and you'd learn not to do it again. So, you're saying that some people are allowed to commit horrible acts so others will not do it again, like what the Germans did to the Jews? Have I got it right?"

"Yes, but that's probably an easier explanation for the whole idea. Did you get your questions answered?"

"Yeah, I think so. Thanks for taking the time to explain it all to me, I appreciate it,"

"You're welcome. Do you have time to join me in a short prayer?"

"Yes,"

"Then let's begin: Dear Heavenly Father, please forgive us of our sins and please help the Germans to see that what they did was a sin against you and all of mankind. Please help the two of us get through the rest of this war. We ask that you help our leaders in the upcoming weeks, months, and years to make the correct decisions. Thank you and thy will be done. In Jesus name, amen."

A couple days later, after he was assigned to manage the city of Weimar, General Patton toured Buchenwald. He was apparently sickened by the atrocities and headed back to Weimar. A day or so later, the townsfolk and the Mayor were force marched into Buchenwald to show them what had been happening there for the past few years. Nothing had been cleaned up, so the townsfolk saw the bodies that were stacked and the partially burned bodies in the crematorium. The next day, it was reported that the Mayor and his wife committed suicide. A couple of weeks later, the Soviets took over administration of Buchenwald and the Third Army went elsewhere.

The end of the war came a month later when the Germans surrendered. Charles and the 80th Division would have to stay in Germany to help keep the peace.

******

# Chapter 3

Gregory Evans saw the writing on the wall as the Allies came closer and closer to Berlin in the waning days of the War. He knew he would have to get out before the Allies found him, but he also wanted as much of the money the Nazi's had accumulated deposited in his own bank account. He figured that if he could somehow get a hold of Hitler's signature, he could sign a bank draft with Hitler's signature on it, and he would be able to transfer Nazi money into his own account. Gregory finally came up with a plan and figured that if he withdrew a certain amount every so often, no one would be the wiser. Now he just had to somehow get Hitler alone and give him something to sign.

Gregory found the opportunity to get Hitler alone when a staff meeting of the higher-ups in the German High Command broke up, leaving Hitler alone. The frown lines on Hitler's face clearly showed that he was worried about the Allies. Gregory, thinking that Hitler might be distracted, approached Hitler's desk, and said, "Mein Fuhrer, I need you to sign something for me, if you're not busy,"

"Yes, yes, hand it over and I'll sign," Hitler said in a somewhat dismissive tone, without looking up at Gregory.

Gregory slipped the four-page memo in front of Hitler. The memo was written in such a way that only a person with a high degree of education would understand it, and Hitler did not have a very good education. He began to read it, but instead asked, "What's this about?"

"This is to ensure that if the Allies try to access your bank accounts, they will fail. This authorization will force your bank to accept only your signature. Does this please you?"

"That's an excellent idea Evans, and it does please me. I will sign it immediately." Hitler put pen to paper and signed the document. "There you go. Do you need anything else?"

"No, Mein Fuhrer, what you just did was quite enough. Thank you and good day." Gregory gave Hitler the Nazi salute, with no reaction from Hitler, and then he left Hitler's office.

Gregory returned to his home, copied Hitler's signature to a bunch of bank withdrawal slips, packed up his bags, loaded them into his car, and started on his way to Switzerland. So far, no one seemed to have caught on to his scheme, and he guessed that the SS and Gestapo were busy trying to keep the German troops from abandoning their positions as the Allies overran them. Expecting to get away scot-free, Gregory slowly drove his way through the German countryside, managing to avoid Allied troops, and the occasional battle, getting into Switzerland itself without any fuss less than a week later.

Gregory drove up to the Swiss bank that had the Nazi accounts. Once inside, Gregory wrote up a bank draft, with Adolf Hitler's signature on it, which would authorize him to take out three million dollars worth of Nazi money so he could deposit it in his account. Gregory thought a three million dollar withdrawal probably wouldn't raise the suspicion of the teller or anyone else in the bank. He approached a teller with his bank draft, and said, "I'd like to withdraw some money from this account,"

The teller looked at the bank draft, cocked her eyebrow when she saw whose name was authorizing the withdrawal, and then she said, "This looks to be in order and I can do that for you. Any particular way you'd like your withdrawal to be cashed out?"

"Yes, I'd like a check so I can deposit it elsewhere. If you can do that,"

"Oh, yes, we can do that. Give me a few minutes and I'll be back with your check." Five minutes later, "Here you are, sir. Is there anything else we can do for you while you're here?"

Gregory took the check, looked it at it closely to make sure he received the amount he wanted, and then replied, "No, I don't need anything else. When I do, I'll return in a few days to update the account. Thank you. Goodbye."

Gregory then went over to the bank he was a member of, so he could deposit the three million into his account. His account was more secure than the German government's and he had his bank make sure that he was who he said he was. Before he could deposit anything, the bank required his fingerprints. Once that happened, the teller or the supervisor on duty would go back to the files and compare the fingerprints. When they were satisfied he was Gregory Evans, they took his deposit slip and the check, and then deposited the money into his account.

Gregory would do this again in four days and he kept repeating this procedure until he was satisfied that he had most of the Nazi money in his bank account. Once he was sure he had enough money, he would return to the United States. For now, he would rent a hotel room so he could complete his task.

Gregory was about to withdraw money for the fourth time from the German account when the teller gave him some news, "I'm sorry to tell you this, but the United States government has seized all government assets held by Germany, including their bank accounts. I can no longer give you what you're asking for. I apologize for the inconvenience. However, if you need to open up an account, I can help you with that,"

"When did this occur?" Gregory was disappointed by this turn of events, but it didn't surprise him.

"Our bank was contacted two days ago. Agents from the United States Treasury will be arriving sometime in the near future to claim whatever German assets we have here. Again, I apologize for the inconvenience,"

"This was expected, no need to apologize. Such things happen in war." Gregory said with a shrug. "Thank you for the excellent service your bank has provided. Good day."

Now was the time for Gregory to return to the United States. He didn't worry about his bank account in Switzerland; it was safe, as he was certain the United States government had no idea who he was. With what he already had deposited in his account from a lot of the Jews wealth, the Nazi money secured the future he had planned out for himself.

In order to get back to the States, Gregory would have to get into Italy, where he had heard of escaping Nazi's getting onto ships bound for South America, to Argentina specifically, since the Peron regime was sympathetic to the Nazi cause. Gregory loaded his car with his luggage and drove to the town of Spezia, Italy, where there were a few ships that were bound for Argentina. He bought a ticket and settled in for the trip to Argentina. Once he was in Argentina, he would rent a car and drive back to the United States.

Several weeks later, Gregory arrived back in New York City. He went to his apartment first to rest because he would be going to his father's office the next day to take care of business. Gregory's apartment was basic and utilitarian. His walls had no paintings, clocks, or other decorations hanging from them, there was nothing to really indicate who lived here. Even though he had the most expensive radio money could buy, he barely ever touched it, mostly because it was there for the status symbol it was. However, he did have a modest library, which consisted of works about great men of authority and how they gained their power. Gregory had nothing on his bookshelf that would be pointless for him to read, like fiction in general. He preferred the cold, hard facts of real life. Everything Gregory did was for a purpose, he never did anything that anyone else would consider fun. Fun for him was amassing as much money and power as he could in his lifetime, no matter who he had to step on, no matter who he had to hurt.

The next day, Gregory made his way to his father's office in Manhattan. As he walked into the reception area of the office, his father's secretary, Catherine, looked up to see Gregory walking in with ever widening eyes. No one had expected Gregory, which was the way he liked it.

"My father in?"

"Uh, yes, but maybe I should warn him you're here first,"

"No, there's no need for that." Gregory walked up to the door to his father's office and opened it.

Gregory found his father, Nathan, working on paperwork, apparently tuning everything out, since he obviously didn't even hear the door open. "Hello, Father,"

To say Nathan was surprised would be an understatement, since the older man practically fell out of his chair, almost pulling whatever he was working on with him. "Son! When did you get back from Germany?" he asked, as he got up to greet Gregory.

"I returned to New York yesterday. When I saw that the Allies were prevailing, I made my exit, along with a few million dollars of Nazi money that I transferred to my bank account before the U.S. Treasury seized the German accounts,"

"Excellent. Were the Nazi's ever wise to you?"

"No, sir, I don't think so. I'm sure Himmler and Hitler were suspicious, but they never did anything about it. How goes the war on the home front?"

"There are rumblings of an invasion of Japan similar to what the Allies did at Normandy. As long as this war stays hot, we've got a lot of business. The Japanese will die to the last man and the United States Army will get a lot of people killed trying to invade the Japanese homeland, probably all for naught. Of course, there are rumors of war, mostly of the civil variety, in China, Korea, and Indochina, so we'll have plenty of business. What do you think of the plan to rebuild Europe in the image of the United States and a proposed United Nations?"

"I don't think Europe is really worth re-building. They're always going to be a garbage dump of a crap sack continent, especially since half of it looks like it might be controlled by the Soviet Union, and they'll never really be united even if they try to be a United States of Europe or whatever they want to call it. As for the United Nations, it'll be useful to have all the nations' leaders or their representatives available all in one spot; much easier to manipulate them to our side that way, and it'll be more useful than the League of Nations ever was. Anyway, I think it's finally time to consolidate all the power and bring everything the associates do under our auspices. What do you think, Father?"

"I agree. However, does this plan to consolidate power include making me retire?"

"I'm afraid so. Didn't you send me to Germany to teach me leadership skills so I could take over the family business? If this was not your intention, then I'd like to know now, so I can decide what to do next,"

Gregory's attitude made his father feel threatened, so he asked, "Are you planning to do away with me if you don't get the answer you want?"

Gregory put his arm around the older man's shoulders and said, "Now, now, Father, no need to get defensive. You're welcome to stay in the position you have now, purely as a figurehead, but I want to run the company from behind the scenes. You'll be the public face, while I consolidate everything. When it comes time to retire in two or three years, you'll do it with a smile on your face and you will be happy to have me take over. It's all very simple, really,"

"And what if I don't do what you want?"

"Well, the consequences would be rather.... severe. I trust that you don't want to know what those consequences will be, do you?" Gregory gave his father a look that sent shivers down Nathan's spine.

"No. What do you need me to do?" Nathan replied with resignation.

"I have some legal paperwork for you to sign. We can take this legal mumbo-jumbo to the lawyers if that's what you prefer, but they tend to gossip about such things. We don't want that. Once we've dotted the I's and crossed the T's, we'll get the members together, separately, and I'll convince them to turn their power over to me. Now, let's get this started."

Within two hours, Gregory had taken over the family business. His father would be the ceremonial head, while he would wield the power. In the coming weeks and months, he decided that he would visit the conferences about the United Nations and then he would talk to each of his father's associates about giving over their businesses to him. Some would see his way and others more than likely would not, but he would consolidate all of the resources of this world these men held under his own umbrella, so he could shape the world how he wanted it. It made him smile thinking about how much he could eventually influence the President of the United States or others of similar power. He was anxious to get started, but first things first.

One of the men Gregory went to see was Wayne Thompson, whose work involved influencing politicians and the rich and powerful - usually the same thing. Wayne was a man who always got his way. It took him two years, but Thompson managed to convince Franklin Roosevelt to manipulate the Japanese into attacking American assets. FDR and the rich and powerful wanted to get involved with the war in Europe, but there was too much resistance from the American people, who were isolationist. So, they created a situation that would force Americans to want to go to war, and the perfect situation happened at Pearl Harbor. Thompson was not easily persuaded to others' point of view, so Gregory knew he had some tough negotiations to go through to get Thompson to hand over his business to him.

On a clear, crisp morning in the fall, Gregory arrived at Thompson's office. Gregory knew Thompson was waiting for him, because the man's secretary let him enter the older man's office without any fuss or making him wait for an interminable amount of time.

As soon as Gregory walked into the inner office, Thompson, who was a big man, greeted the young man with a powerful handshake, and said, "Welcome, welcome young Mr. Evans. What brings you here this fine morning?"

"Thank you for seeing me, Mr. Thompson. I'm here to talk some business with you, sir,"

"Yes, I know. For such a young man, your reputation precedes you. Please have a seat and we'll talk shop,"

Gregory sat down at the chair that was in front of Thompson's desk, while Thompson sat down in his own chair behind his desk. Then he said, "Go ahead, make your pitch, Gregory,"

"I'm consolidating power and I want what you have, simple as that. What do you want for your business so I can proceed with my plans?"

"You're a bold one, I'll give you that. Tell me, what will you do with all of this power once you have it?"

"Re-shape the world in my image, no matter how long it takes,"

Thompson began laughing, catching Gregory by surprise, which didn't make him any happier with the older man. "What do you find so funny?" asked Gregory, who was scowling.

"Do you really think you can get the world to bow down to you so easily? Do you know how long such a thing would take?"

"You don't think I can get the world to bend to my will?"

"Oh, I think you could, but it would take you nearly a lifetime, and by the time you've accomplished your goal, you'll be an old man. You would be much too old to even remotely enjoy such power. Do you plan on having children?"

"I hadn't considered it. Why?" Gregory wasn't sure he liked where this conversation was heading.

"If you have a child, you can pass all of your hopes and desires onto them, and they can finish what you started. That way your legacy will live on for future generations. I have a suggestion if you're willing to listen,"

"You have my attention since I hadn't thought that far ahead into the future,"

"If you marry my daughter, I will give you what you want. That way, I'll still have a piece of the pie in this game you plan on playing,"

"Marry your daughter? Is she so ugly that nobody wants her? Or is she as dumb as a box of rocks?" Gregory was disgusted with the suggestion, as he considered women to be a waste of his time.

Thompson's mood darkened, he frowned, and said in measured tones, "Watch yourself, young man. I'm playing along with you now, but that could change rather quickly. If you'd like to know what she looks like, here's a picture of her with her mother," Thompson handed over a picture to Gregory that was on his desk.

Gregory took a look at the picture. The young lady was attractive, he supposed. Her hair color was brown, her hairstyle was done in the typical mid-1940's look, she had green eyes, she was not too skinny, and her style of dress was what was currently popular. Gregory thought he could work with that. Then he asked, "Has she gone to college?"

"Of course. She's currently a junior at Harvard. Here's my proposal: I'll only hand over my business if you court my daughter until she's graduated from Harvard, and once I see the two of you are married, I'll transfer my authority over to you. Do we have a deal?" Thompson extended his hand, indicating that he wanted a handshake deal.

For Gregory, this felt like a game, and he hated it, but he had to play it. He could just carry out a hostile takeover, but that would be bad for this particular business deal since the clients were very sensitive types and didn't like their boats rocked. With a deep inhale, Gregory took Thompson's hand, shook it, and the deal was done.

"Now, I'll have to introduce the two of you to each other. Come to my house on Friday night at seven. Don't be late. Got it?"

"I hear you loud and clear. If our business is done, I have other things to attend to. Good day, Mr. Thompson."

Back at the office, he found his father, and, with a snarl, said, "That moron wants me to marry his daughter before he'll even give me his business. He'll pay for this. Maybe not immediately, but he and his family will pay. I guarantee it."

******

# Chapter 4

Charles Atwood was looking forward to finally getting home. The last six months his Division spent in Europe after the war, mopping up and keeping the peace, was wearing on him; mentally, physically, and even spiritually. His dreams tended to be nightmares, mostly from what he had seen at Buchenwald, and he wondered if they would ever stop. He hadn't seen his family or his girlfriend in more than two years, but had written them as often as he could. Returning to the States on the Queen Mary was interesting since everyone went to the War on board the cruise ship because it had been converted into a troop transport during the War. He heard that the Queen Mary would be converted back into a cruise ship after the Army released it from duty, which might be fun for others, but he would never leave the United States again if he had anything to do with it.

The ship approached the dock in New York, where Charles could hear bands playing and what sounded like a huge crowd waiting for their loved ones to return. The crowd must be cold, Charles thought, this being January and near freezing. But, I'm glad they're here. He had no idea if his family was waiting for him, and if they weren't, he hoped he could surprise them at home. His first priority was getting off of this ship as fast as he could because it was kind of claustrophobic with over ten thousand soldiers on board, and he hated being crowded. The noise level increased around him as his fellow soldiers excitedly told each other their plans and what they would do once they returned home.

Charles was concentrating on searching through the crowd below on the dock, looking for his loved ones, when Pastor David tapped him on the shoulder, startling Charles. "Hi, Charles,"

"Uh, oh hi, Pastor. What's up?"

"Not much, just ready to get off of this tub. What about you?"

"Me too. What are you going to do when you get home?"

"I'm going to sleep for a week!"

"That sounds like a great idea. Is Laura meeting you here?"

"Yep. I managed to get a call to her right before we left. To say that she was excited would be an understatement. Unfortunately, our conversation didn't last long enough, since we only had a couple of minutes, but I told her what I needed her to know. She's somewhere down there in that swarm of a crowd, but I'm sure I'll find her with no problem at all. Is your family meeting you?"

Charles shrugged his shoulders, "Don't know. If they are, that would be wonderful. If they're not, I can surprise them at home. You know what'll be the first thing I'll do when I see my girl?"

"Nope. Tell me,"

"First, I'll give her a big kiss, then I'll get on one knee, and ask her to marry me. The only problem is, I don't have a ring,"

"I don't think you should worry about that, Betty doesn't seem like a girl who would much care about having a ring right away." David replied.

"Yeah, I know. It would be nice to have a ring though."

David patted him on the back and the two waited for the ship to complete the docking procedures so they could get off of the Queen Mary with everyone else.

When the ship came to a complete stop, the loudspeakers for the ship blared to life, and the commanding officer began to speak, "Men, welcome home. Starting from the second you step off of this ship, all of you have two days to visit with your families. In two days, I want to see this Division at Camp Kilmer in New Jersey so we can deactivate the Division and let all of you return to civilian life. That is all. Have a great visit with your families."

The soldiers filed off of the ship in a semi-orderly manner, getting swamped by the crowd as they stepped off of the gangplank. There were guys grabbing their girlfriends, giving them big, sweep-her-off-her-feet kisses, similar to the famous picture taken of the sailor and the nurse who had done that in Times Square.

David found his wife and told Charles he'd see him later, while Charles continued to look for his family or even his girlfriend. Considering they lived over six hundred miles away, in Jonesville, at the western edge of Virginia, he thought they might not be able to afford the trip. He wasn't sure what he would do since it would be about a day's drive to Jonesville, and because of that, he couldn't leave New York because the deactivation ceremony would be two days from now. After about fifteen minutes of searching, Charles decided to call for a cab.

Before he could do that, he heard a familiar feminine voice from behind him call his name, "Charles! Charles Atwood!"

Charles whirled around to see Betty running towards him, her fiery red hair coming undone from the bun she usually styled it in, and her porcelain colored Scots-Irish skin becoming red from being in the sun, even though it was winter. She was a sight to behold as she ran into his arms, and without thinking, he did what hundreds of other men did when coming home from war and seeing their girlfriend or wife for the first time in a long time: he gave her a sweep-her-off-her-feet kiss. If there had been any photographers around, they might have taken their picture. Under normal circumstances, Betty, his parents, and her parents probably would have felt scandalized, but these were not normal times.

A little over a minute later, Charles heard a throat clearing and looked over to see who it was. His parents, her parents, and both sets of siblings were standing off to the side, either looking amused or shocked by the display these two were putting on. Somewhat embarrassed by the fact that he didn't think about anyone else being there while he was kissing his girl, he put Betty back on her feet. She was blushing, and he said to everyone, "I'm home!"

"Welcome back, son." replied his father, James. Then his family and Betty's family all gave him hugs.

"How much time do you have before you have to report back for deactivation?" asked his mom.

"They gave us two days, and then we have to report to Camp Kilmer in New Jersey,"

"Great! We can tour New York City and spend time with you," replied his dad.

"You can afford to stay here? As in New York City?" asked an astonished Charles.

"You bet we can since the Bowen's and us pooled our resources and saved up a lot of money so we could spend a week here with you, just so you wouldn't have to drive six hundred miles back this direction from home,"

"Thanks, Dad. I would like to do something else while everyone's gathered." Charles went down on one knee in front of Betty, whose green eyes went wide, and he asked, "Betty, I know I don't have a ring yet, but, will you marry me?"

Charles' mother and Betty's mother put their hands to their mouths and started tearing up. Betty, still wide-eyed, began to nod her head, yes, and then finally spoke, "Yes, yes, of course, I'll marry you!" Charles got back up to his feet and the two embraced, while everyone congratulated them.

As they were about to get into the two cars, James said, "Before we go anywhere else, I think we should have prayer."

Everyone closed their eyes and bowed their heads, and he began, "Heavenly Father, we want to thank you for bringing Charles back to us, safe and sound. We want to thank you for bringing an end to this terrible war. Please direct our leaders in the way they should go and help them to lead our country in your name. Thank you for being our Lord and Savior. In Jesus' name, amen."

For the next two days, the Atwood's and Bowen's toured New York City with Charles. They visited such sites as the Statue of Liberty, saw Times Square, and had a picnic in Central Park. Charles and Betty visited the various jewelry stores, including Tiffany's, even though it was far outside their price range, but they had fun going in and checking out all of the jewelry and other merchandise. With all the pay that Charles had saved up by not spending much of it in Europe, he bought Betty an engagement ring with a diamond in it from a far cheaper jewelry store, which he would've considered really expensive before the War. Once Charles placed the ring on Betty's finger, they decided on a wedding date, four months from that day.

Two days later, both families drove to Camp Kilmer to watch the deactivation ceremony of the 80th Division. Charles was in full dress uniform. At the Camp, thousands of family members of other soldiers were sitting in the bleachers to watch the ceremony. A short time later, the soldiers came onto the field in the formations based on what unit they were assigned to.

Over the loud speakers, someone began talking, "Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to today's deactivation ceremony. I will be your narrator. We are happy that you could attend and we hope you enjoy it. The ceremony will begin shortly. Thank you."

The Command Staff of the 80th proceeded to the Reviewing Stand, where they stood at parade rest. After the Command Staff were introduced, the audience was then told, "Ladies and Gentlemen, please stand for the invocation and then remain standing for the playing of our national anthem."

After the invocation and the playing of The Star Spangled Banner, the Division's band began to play in the background, while the Command Staff began their review of the troops. The narrator described the reasons for the six Distinguished Unit Citations the Division received, rattled off the names of the four Medal of Honor recipients, the thirty-four who received the Distinguished Service Cross, and the one who received a Distinguished Service Medal. The narrator also mentioned that seven hundred and seventy-one of the men received a Silver Star for their gallantry in action against the Germans in Europe.

The narrator then went into the history of the 80th Division: "The 80th Division was activated in September of 1917 for action during World War I. They were nicknamed the Blue Ridge Division, because it was composed of draftees from Virginia, West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Maryland. The 80th's motto is: The 80th only moves forward. During the First World War, the 80th participated in major battles, such as the First Battle of the Somme, the Meuse-Argonne Offensive, and the Battle of Saint-Mihiel. Once the War ended, the 80th was inactivated May, 1919.

"The 80th was activated, this time July, 1942. The 80th campaigned throughout Northern France, the Rhineland, and elsewhere in Central Europe. They also were some of the first to see the horrors of the Concentration Camps, specifically Buchenwald. In total, the 80th saw two hundred and eighty-nine days of combat and even captured two hundred thousand enemy prisoners. Today, January 5, 1946, we witness the deactivation of the 80th. We honor them for their service and we are grateful for the role they played in defeating Germany."

While the colors of the Division were displayed, the General in charge stood up, went to the podium, and then read the inactivation orders. When he was finished, the narrator asked the audience to stand for the Benediction, the songs that the 80th used, and finally, everyone was invited to sing the Army's official song. Afterward, the colors left the field and then the Division commanders saluted each other.

"Ladies and gentlemen, this completes our ceremony. You are welcome to attend a reception that is located in the field behind us. Thank you."

Once Charles found the family, they attended the reception. As they were mingling, Pastor David and his wife walked up to Charles and Betty to say hi. After they greeted each other, Charles said, "We have news. Betty and I are engaged!"

"Great news. When do you plan on getting married?" asked David, while Laura hugged Betty and the two of them began talking excitedly, while Charles and Brian continued talking.

"In four months. I was wondering if you'd marry us?"

"I would love to. Once we're settled back into civilian life, we can discuss this in a little more detail. Meanwhile, let's enjoy the reception."

After spending more than two years at war, Charles had a difficult time adjusting back to civilian life, mostly because he had gotten used to sleeping through loud, raging battles, and there were lots of reasons to constantly watch ones back so the enemy couldn't kill you out of the blue. But, with prayer from Betty and their families, he began to change back into a civilian.

The wedding plans were going swimmingly, while Charles found a house to buy surrounded by a couple of acres of land. The two of them wanted to do a little bit of farming for a while, mostly to see if they could be successful at it.

The day of the wedding arrived on a cloudless, April day at Victory Baptist in Jonesville. Charles had his best black suit on, his best man was his brother, and Betty's sisters were her bridesmaids. Charles got into position at the front of the church, nervous with excitement, with Pastor David waiting to marry the two. The wedding march began, which was played on the church piano by Laura.

Betty came into the sanctuary accompanied by her father. She was in the white wedding dress that was handed down to her by her mother, and Charles saw only her. He did hear some of the women in the audience crying, including both mothers, but he knew those were happy tears. Her father handed her off to Charles, who took her hand, and even though he really couldn't see her face because of the veil, he knew she was smiling ear to ear and was probably shedding a few tears.

They turned to David, who began: "We are gathered here today, on this happy and joyous occasion, to join this man and this woman in holy matrimony. Marriage is a solemn institution to be held in honor by all, it is the cornerstone of the family and of the community. It requires of those who undertake it a complete and unreserved giving of one's self. It is not to be entered into lightly, as marriage is a sincere and mutual commitment to love one another. This commitment symbolizes the intimate sharing of two lives and still enhances the individuality of each of you,

"Will you, Charles Atwood, have Betty Bowen to be your wife? Will you love her, comfort and keep her, forsake all others, and remain true to her as long as you both shall live?"

"I will,"

"Will you, Betty Bowen, have Charles Atwood to be your husband? Will you love him, comfort and keep him, forsake all others, and remain true to him as long as you both shall live?"

"I do,"

"Then repeat after me: I, Charles Atwood, take thee Betty Bowen, to be my wife, and before God and these witnesses, I promise to be a faithful and true husband,"

Charles repeated the words, and David spoke to Betty the same, and she repeated the words. "Charles, will you put the ring on her finger, and then repeat after me: With this ring, I thee wed. In sickness and in health, in poverty or in wealth, 'til death do us part,"

Charles repeated the words to Betty. Then Betty was given the ring she was to slip onto Charles' finger, and then she repeated the words that David told her to say. Once that was done, David said, "In accordance with the laws in the sovereign state of Virginia and of God, I now pronounce you husband and wife. Charles, you can now kiss the bride."

Charles lifted the veil off of Betty's face; the two embraced and kissed each other for the first time as man and wife. When they broke apart, David said, "The Reception is being held outside, so join me in celebrating their marriage."

Two hours later, Charles and Betty decided they needed to leave for their honeymoon. Charles was asked where they were going as they headed for the car, "We're going to Virginia Beach for two weeks and then we'll be back."

As they approached the car, rice was thrown at them. Not until then did Betty remember to throw the bouquet. She tossed it over her head, not facing the crowd of single women behind her, and the bouquet ended up in the hands of Betty's best friend, Molly. Molly's face beamed as she held the bouquet. She was already planning her wedding and would be married in a few more months.

Betty and Charles got into their car, which had various noisemakers attached to the bumper, and drove off towards their honeymoon for their first time together.

******

# Chapter 5

"Mr. Ambassador, what you're proposing to give those Jews is ridiculous. They don't need all that land to be partitioned to them, they should be told they have to live where they currently reside. Besides, there are people living there who would not appreciate having to share," stated Gregory Evans, complaining to the British Ambassador to the new United Nations about Palestine while looking over the map of the proposed partition of Israel between the Jews and Arabs.

"Well, we have a mandate to create a homeland for the Jews, ever since the end of the First World War and our Balfour Declaration favored re-creating Israel. My government has been trying to limit immigration, but the United States is pushing us to let thousands of refugees into Palestine immediately. Harry Truman has the audacity to demand that we open up Palestine, but his government recommends that there be no Arab or Jewish state. Now, that ship with Holocaust survivors on board is causing some embarrassment for us, so my government is going to have me bring the issue up at the next Security Council to recommend statehood,"

"If you do this, there will be war, I will guarantee you that. This will not stand!"

"Are you threatening to bring the world to the brink of another war, Mr. Evans?"

"Of course not, but I have interests in the area who are not pleased with this development, and they are threatening war. You and your people best take heed of this warning, because it will not end well for you or your Jew friends,"

"And you best watch yourself, young man, otherwise, you'll anger all the wrong people with that belligerent attitude of yours. Now, if you don't mind, I have things to attend to. You know where the exit is, correct?"

Gregory was not pleased that the British Ambassador wouldn't listen to him, nor was he pleased with the heavy-handed way he was treated. If he could get away with it, Gregory would have the Ambassador killed, but that wouldn't stop history from marching on. This partition nonsense was angering his Arab associates, especially the oil-rich ones who thought the United Nations was about to take away parts of their countries that just happened to have oil underneath the surface. Some Jews were taking it upon themselves to go to Palestine without any kind of official permission, including the passengers on board the SS Exodus. It gave the British a black eye that they didn't want to repeat.

By the time Gregory approached his office he decided it would be wise to take a wait-and-see approach. The proper course of action was what he needed to think about now.

In the meantime, he was in the midst of courting Wayne Thompson's daughter, Evelyn. She took the whole business very seriously; shopping for wedding dresses, wedding rings, where they would have the wedding, the reception, and even the honeymoon. If Gregory had his way, the only wedding ceremony would be in front of a Justice of the Peace without having to spend money on such unnecessary trappings, but he had to make Thompson and his daughter happy, otherwise the business deal would be off.

Now that they were nearing the wedding date, Evelyn was about to graduate from Harvard, and Gregory felt like he was being dragged from one end of New York City to the other when it came to the wedding plans. Even though Evelyn had people for this who could do all the shopping for her, she preferred doing everything herself. Now they were at a fitting for the dress Evelyn had picked out. Gregory sat down on a couch, bored out of his mind while Evelyn was being fitted for her dress.

Evelyn came out of the changing room with the dress she wanted on and was directed to stand on a platform, while some of the service people began to take her measurements. Gregory saw that other women were being fitted around the store, but noticed there were no other men, bored like him, sitting and watching their fiancee's mess around with their dresses. While Gregory admitted to himself that Evelyn was rather attractive, especially in the dress, he still really had no desire to be married, but he supposed that Thompson was right about Gregory needing to carry his legacy on.

"Gregory, what do you think so far?" Evelyn asked, as she was being poked and prodded by the women who were doing the measuring.

"What do I think of what?"

"My dress, silly,"

Gregory shrugged his shoulders, "Oh. I think it's nice. What do you think?"

Evelyn knew Gregory wasn't as into this as she was and she really tried to ignore the signs she saw that indicated he really didn't want to get married, but this was one of those times she felt like calling him out on it.

"Gregory, will you please pay attention and please be a little more engaged. I know that you probably think this whole thing is silly and unworthy of your attention, but at least humor me. I could always complain to Daddy you know. If I do, you know he won't be happy,"

"Seriously?" he asked, with an arched eyebrow and then folding his arms across his chest.

"Yes. Daddy wouldn't have a problem canceling that little business deal between the two of you if he thought you weren't treating me right. If you want to have your way, sometimes you have to let other people have their way,"

"So you know about me taking your father's business in exchange for marrying you?"

"You bet. Being the oldest, I should have first rights to the business once Daddy dies, but if you weren't in the picture, he'd rather hand it over to my younger brother, which is not fair. This deal evens everything out. So if you don't do what I want, the deal is off like that," then she snapped her fingers to indicate that she could end this whole thing at the snap of her fingers.

"Fine. I like your dress, you look lovely, and I look forward to getting married." Gregory deadpanned, barely containing his sarcasm.

"Your attitude could use some improving, but that's better. Ladies, how much longer is this going to take?"

"We'll be finished with your measurements in five minutes, Miss Thompson. Please be patient," answered the chief dressmaker.

"I believe I have been patient. Now, Gregory, I think our next stop should be Tiffany's. You know I would love a new necklace, so would you indulge me?"

"Yes, Dear." He turned his head away and rolled his eyes. He remembered he should inform her of something he had to do, "Evelyn, I'm probably going to have to go out of town soon. I have some business to take care of overseas. It won't affect the wedding plans,"

"Can I go?"

"I don't think it would be a good idea. I would need you to be blissfully unaware of what of my business dealings are if what I'm planning to do fails. That way we have plausible deniability and all of that. Can you stay behind and not ask questions?"

"I suppose, but it won't be any fun not having you here, being the sourpuss that you are. When you do go, buy something for me from wherever it is, will you?"

This girl is getting on my last nerve, but it's for a worthwhile cause, and I will do something eventually about this impertinent girl and her father, Gregory thought to himself, and then said out loud, "Ok, I'll bring you something back. In the meantime, you get that dress properly fitted and then we'll go to Tiffany's to buy you whatever your heart desires."

Evelyn squealed with delight hearing that Gregory would indulge her with whatever she wanted from Tiffany's or any other store if she had mentioned it.

The better he knew Evelyn, the more he realized that she was a very manipulative person, a quality she must've gotten from her father, because Evelyn's mother was sweet and kind by all appearances. If Gregory didn't have so many different things going on that consumed him and his lust for power, he thought Evelyn would've been the perfect mate, but as it was, she was in the way, and her use to him wouldn't last for long. How long? Gregory hadn't decided that, but he knew that he would know when it would be time.

Evelyn knew Gregory wasn't happy with this situation, but she got some pleasure out the fact that she could manipulate him, mostly by threatening to talk to her father. She wasn't worried about the possibility Gregory would get rid of her or her parents; because her father had made it known among their circle that if anything happened to them, the suspicion should be placed on Gregory Evans, and she was sure that he had probably heard about it through the grapevine. While it probably went against his nature, Evelyn thought Gregory would do the right thing for her, and she would test that theory out as many times as she could get away with. For now, she would enjoy her shopping trip, and then watch him leave for whatever overseas business he had to deal with.

A week later, Gregory was ready to leave for the Middle East. He had the weapons suppliers scheduled to meet him in Damascus. The various leaders of the Arabs in and around Gaza would also meet with him to discuss sending the Jews packing. They prepared to immediately declare war on them the minute the United Nations gave them any land in Palestine. They would try to make it impossible for any Jew to live anywhere in the Middle East.

Gregory thought the whole thing, in general, was ridiculous. He didn't understand why anyone would fight over a city like Jerusalem or all of that dead wasteland. The city wasn't part of any major trade routes and it was in the middle of a desert on top of a mountain, but humans had fought over it for thousands of years. The spiritual warfare that involved Jerusalem, and the Middle East, in general, escaped Gregory's understanding. He cared only about the energy deposits underneath the Middle East.

Manipulating tensions between the Jews and the Arabic Muslims would be easy. The Arabs seemed to have regressed in technology from their advances in centuries past and now seemed more like Stone Age primitives. With the Arabs' predilection for fighting to the death, mostly through suicide charges if they were losing, Gregory thought they would beat the Jews easily enough.

Landing at the Damascus airport, Gregory was met by Alexya Demetryev, his contact with the Soviet government. They shook hands and Gregory asked, "How far is your government willing to take this?"

"Are you asking if they want to start a world war?" asked the Russian, in a heavy accent.

"Yes. Are they willing to go that far?"

"Nyet. My government is willing to poke and prod the western powers, supply weapons to these so-called freedom fighters, and be the thorn in the side to the United States, but they do not want another world war,"

"Ah, I see. So your government is going to basically counteract the United States. Let's say they were to intervene in the Korean Civil War, would you induce the Communist Chinese to take part in that?"

"Officially, no. Unofficially, yes. My government wants to maintain a Cold War, if that's the correct phrasing, with the United States. No actual military clashes between the two super powers, only covert actions, designed to weaken the United States from the inside. Our strategy is long-term because we know the American people are weak-willed and easily distracted. They will succumb to us, eventually,"

"Excellent. Your contacts in this area, are they ready to deploy when the time comes?"

"Dah. They're also looking forward to meeting their benefactor, the American who chooses to run contrary to his government. You are becoming known, my young friend,"

Gregory's mood darkened, and his eyes narrowed as he said, "That's not good, not good at all. I'm trying to be the power behind the scenes. When people think of me, I want to be a shadow, an urban legend, someone everyone thinks is a myth. I want you, or one of your lackeys, to make it known that my name is to never be mentioned, otherwise, there will be consequences. Understand?"

"Your meaning is crystal clear. Are you ready to meet with the various Arab leaders now?"

"Yes, yes, I'm ready to meet with the primitives."

As Evans was driven through Damascus, he found the city to be terribly lacking in charm. He saw it as an ancient city that was dirty and flat out run down. The work ethic of westerners is much better. Their cities are generally cleaner, nicer. Rome was ancient, but didn't look anything like this, Gregory thought.

Luckily, this would be his last trip to Syria, when he did have business meetings in the area, usually regarding oil, they would all be in Saudi Arabia. The Saudis were clean and were also control freaks, and Gregory liked them. Why can't the entire Middle East be run by the Saudis, why were the primitives the ones controlling everything? Gregory wondered. Thinking about the answer to that question would drive him nuts if he thought about it for too long, so he thought about something else.

They came to a building on the outskirts of the city, where there were armed guards standing out front, ready to take down anyone willing to challenge them. Gregory and Demetryev exited the car and went inside.

They found the men they were looking for in a large room on the second floor. Gregory introduced himself, using Demetryev as a translator (Gregory, of course, needed no translator, but it was better if not everyone knew that). Gregory talked about the United Nations' plans for partition and how he was going to give the Arabs fighting the Jews money to keep up the fight so they could buy the weapons they needed. He convinced the men that they would win the day and they would have sole ownership of the Middle East when all was said and done.

As Gregory was about to leave, one of the Arab fighters asked, "Will the United States or any of the western powers come to the Jews' aid?"

"I doubt it. The British don't really have the power to do anything; all they want to do is withdraw from the area. The United States verbally supports the new Jewish state, but I don't see them supplying weapons anytime soon. What of the Arab League, will they also attack the Jews?"

"I'm sure they will. We have a right to this land, the Jews do not. If they force us into full-on war, they will be massacred!"

"Good, keep that attitude up. I will watch how this situation develops and act accordingly when the time comes. I wish all of you good luck with this venture." Gregory walked out and got into the car that was still waiting for him.

At the airport, as Gregory and Demetryev were about to go their separate ways, a messenger from the Russian Embassy rushed over to Demetryev, gave him a piece of paper, and then rushed away with Demetryev's permission. The Russian looked over the paper, and said, "The United Nations has voted. There were thirty-three votes for Resolution 181, the Partition Plan, thirteen against, ten that abstained, and one that was absent. It appears the United States used their influence to convince other countries to join them, with the exception of India, who voted no because of the pressure from the United States. They were angry with how the votes were lined up. Looks like the Middle East will be exploding shortly,"

"Good, good. Excellent news. Tell your government I look forward to working with them again when and if another time comes like this. Now I've got to go. Thank you for your help." Both men shook hands and went their separate ways.

The next day, violence erupted in the area. In less than a year, the Arab forces were falling apart, as the Jewish forces were strengthened by those who fought in the Second World War. The Arab League decided to join in, which caused thousands of casualties, but Israel held onto the territory they were mandated to have, while Jordan took over the West Bank and Egypt took over the Gaza Strip.

Gregory was surprised that the Jews managed to win, but he knew there would be other opportunities to make money off of more wars in the area. Nothing was really settled, as both sides continued to attack each other.

Back home in the United States, Gregory was greeted by Evelyn, who asked, "Did you get what you needed to be done? Do you have to go back anytime soon?"

"Yes, everything's taken care of and I don't need to return to the area for a while. Are your wedding plans finished yet?" Gregory asked, with some impatience in his voice.

"Oh yes, they are. All we need now is the groom,"

"The wedding's not this minute is it?"

"Stop being silly, Gregory, the wedding is two days from now, on Saturday, like it has always been. You're not getting cold feet are you?" she arched an eyebrow, trying to see if Gregory would take the bait.

"No, I'm not getting cold feet. What a preposterous notion. You should know by now that I stick to my agreements, whether I'm at an advantage or not. I bet you'd like me to run away, that way you can stab your brother in the back and take control of your father's business yourself. Am I right?"

Evelyn shrugged her shoulders, not expecting Gregory to have zeroed in on her motivations so quickly. This man is shrewd, she thought, so I better be more careful about voicing my thoughts, otherwise, I might give him a reason to get rid of me. Then, she decided to use her feminine wiles, which probably wouldn't work on him, but Evelyn figured she'd try. "Now, now, Gregory, I wouldn't do that. I enjoy being with you," she said, as she twirled his tie around her fingers, batting her long eyelashes, and doing her best to get him flustered, "and I can't wait 'til our honeymoon. If I wasn't such a good girl, I'd have you right here and right now. But, alas, too many people would talk, so we can't. But, I can do this...." She planted a full lip kiss on Gregory, who started squirming as he felt she violated his personal space by touching him inappropriately. As he was about to give in, she finally released him. He seemed to have turned a couple of shades of red and his hands were sweating. Apparently, that kiss embarrassed him.

"What was that?" he managed to stammer out a few seconds later.

"It was to show you that I mean business when I marry you. I'll thaw you out eventually. Now, let's go get something to eat, I'm sure you're starved after that long trip."

Two days later, Gregory and Evelyn were married in a lavish ceremony at Central Park, with hundreds of guests attending. After the Reception, which was quite a drunken affair, the two went on their honeymoon, to Paris, France. They stayed in Europe for a whole month and Evelyn managed to get Gregory to loosen up a bit, but not enough for him to change his plans.

Six months after the marriage, Wayne Thompson signed over the business to Gregory. Now all Gregory had to do was to wait for the appropriate time, when no one was expecting a thing, to rid himself of the Thompson family.

******

# Chapter 6

Six years later....

"Gianni, I trust you know what you're doing. If you disappoint me, there will be consequences," Gregory said to the short Italian man in front of him.

"I make my living doing this, Mr. Evans, so you need not worry that I mess this up. You have my word that it'll be taken care of. Just say when,"

"The 'when' will be next week. You will have the flight plan and where I'd like it to happen, the 'how' is up to you. In the meantime, I will discuss the travel plans with my family, while I'll make some excuse as to why I can't go with them. I have some important business to take care of in Washington in the meantime, so I'll leave you to your work, Gianni."

Gregory went to the Capital to watch Senate hearings about the threat of Communism in the United States. The Senator leading the charge when it came to exposing this threat was the Republican from Wisconsin, Joseph McCarthy, who was doing his best to expose Soviet spies and sympathizers to Communism that he claimed had infiltrated the United States, specifically the State Department.

Gregory thought McCarthy had the right idea, but the wrong target, and if McCarthy continued on this path, he would eventually stumble onto what was really happening. So, McCarthy needed to be discredited. Earlier, Gregory had Edward R. Murrow go on television to expose McCarthy's methods to make him look like he was a nutcase, which effectively made public opinion of McCarthy plummet. Now, Gregory was looking for the coup de grace that would finally finish off the Senator, and he believed he had found it. McCarthy was going after the United States Army and Gregory knew that even the most ardent supporters of McCarthy wouldn't dare to back him up.

Gregory was sitting behind the Army's chief legal representative, Joseph Welch, as he was getting into a heated exchange with McCarthy. McCarthy was attacking the reputation of a man named Fred Fisher, a lawyer who he thought was a Communist and was working for Welch, but had been replaced in these hearings because of his association with the left-leaning National Lawyers Guild. When McCarthy suggested that Welsh fire Fisher, Fisher replied, "Until this moment, Senator, I think I have never really gauged your cruelty or your recklessness. Fred Fisher is a young man who went to the Harvard Law School and came into my firm and is starting what looks to be a brilliant career with us. Little did I dream you could be so reckless and so cruel as to do an injury to that lad. It is true he is still with Hale and Dorr. It is true that he will continue to be with Hale and Dorr. It is, I regret to say, equally true that I fear he shall always bear a scar needlessly inflicted by you. If it were in my power to forgive you for your reckless cruelty I would do so. I like to think I am a gentleman, but your forgiveness will have to come from someone other than me,"

"But, what about...."

Welsh interrupted the Senator. "Senator, may we not drop this? We know he belonged to the Lawyers Guild. Let us not assassinate this lad further, Senator. You've done enough. Have you no sense of decency, sir?"

"Is he or is he not a member of the Communist Party?"

"Mr. McCarthy, I will not discuss this further with you. You have sat within six feet of me and could have asked me about Fred Fisher. You have seen fit to bring it out. And if there is a God in Heaven, it will do neither you nor your cause any good. I will not discuss it further."

"You need to answer my questions, Mr. Welsh,"

"I'm done here. Why don't you call your next witness?"

Then the audience in the gallery erupted into applause.

Gregory nodded to one of the Senator's that he had bought, who said, "I think now would be a good time for a recess. We'll reconvene some other time when it's deemed appropriate." then he banged the gavel and dismissed the committee.

Gregory went to meet with a few Senators he had in his pockets, to convince them to finally do something about this McCarthy character. He told them, "You need to bring disciplinary action against McCarthy, if you don't, he'll discover the truth about you and about what I'm doing. I'm sure that you gentlemen wouldn't want to be exposed for the charlatans that you are. Am I correct?"

They looked at each other, and the Senator from Vermont spoke up, "I'm afraid you're right. He needs to be contained. Senator Watkins, would you like to chair the Censure Committee?"

"Of course, I would be honored. I'll begin to lay the groundwork and I think we'll open hearings in August. Would this be suitable to you, Mr. Evans?"

"I believe so. Just don't dawdle too long, because Senator McCarthy needs to be stopped as soon as possible. I'm counting on this happening, don't disappoint me,"

"Yes, sir, Mr. Evans." the Senators answered at the same time.

"Excellent. To re-emphasize what I've told all of you before: As long as you do what I want, you will continue to be United States Senators and enjoy all the accouterments that come with being one. If any of you cross me once, your lives will be ruined. Am I understood?" The Senators nodded their heads that they understood, so Gregory said, "Now that I've made myself perfectly clear, I will take my leave of you. Good day, gentlemen." Gregory departed with his shoulders back and his back stiff.

A day later, Gregory found his wife dictating to their gardener what she wanted in the yard, "Jorge, you will put a Weeping Willow over there, by the pond. I think it will look nice. When can you get to it?"

"Señora, I will plant one tomorrow. I will go to the nursery and pick one up."

"Gracias, Jorge." Then she saw her husband, and said, "Hi Gregory, what's up?"

"How would you like to spend the whole month of July in the Bahamas?"

"I love the idea. Would it be me and you?"

"How about we take your parents along too? I'm sure your father could use some well-deserved time off. Do you think he'd do it?"

"I'm sure my parents would love it. But, what's the catch, Gregory?"

"Catch? There's no catch. I think we deserve a vacation is all,"

"Ok, I'll believe you. But, what are we going to do about Jason?" asked Evelyn, who was referring to their five-year-old son.

"Jason will stay here with the Nanny. This'll be an adults-only vacation, but he'll be able to go on plenty of vacations in the future, I promise,"

"He'll be disappointed that he can't go,"

"Disappointments are a part of life, the more he has now, the less it'll bother him in the future. I'll make arrangements and then we'll go at the beginning of next month,"

"I think that's kind of harsh, Gregory," Evelyn attempted to scold Gregory.

"Well, that's life. Better to know it now than later. Anyway, why don't you go tell your parents about the trip, I'm sure they'll be just as excited as you are."

Evelyn shrugged, knowing Gregory would never change his attitude or inflexibility when it came to life in general. She thought something might be up with this surprise announcement about going to the Bahamas, but she wasn't sure if she was just paranoid. Instead of arguing with her husband, she replied, "I hope they will be excited. I don't think my parents have ever been to the Bahamas. I'll go call them and ask them if they'd like to come with us." then she went to the house to call her parents.

Two weeks later, the trip to the Bahamas was all set-up. The Thompson's agreed to go with Gregory and Evelyn, and it took Evelyn very little convincing for her parents to agree to come. Gregory told Gianni when the flight would take place, so Gianni went to work on the next phase of the plan.

The day before the trip, Gregory fixed a sad look on his face while they were eating dinner. "Dear, I have some bad news about me being able to go on the trip,"

Evelyn's eyebrows shot up, she suspected something might happen to prevent him from going, now she'd be able to hear from the horses' mouth what excuse he had to weasel out of the trip. "Ok, what's your excuse?"

"Excuse? I am going to the Bahamas, but it'll have to be later in the day. A problem with a couple of Senators regarding Joe McCarthy has popped up and I have to take care of it,"

"Can't you get one of your minions to do that?"

"I wish I could, but these particular Senators need some personal persuasion from me. My minions would only mess everything up without me thinking for them. Don't you worry, Hon, I'll be in the Bahamas tomorrow night,"

"You better be, because if you don't, you'll never hear the end of it from me. I wish there was a way to get a hold of you every hour or so, like some kind of portable phone, that way I know where you are at all times. Unfortunately, nothing like that exists. Oh well." Evelyn shrugged, went back to eating, and thought about the excuses Gregory always seems to find when something family-related came up.

The next day, around noon, Evelyn and her parents boarded the private plane Gregory owned for their trip to the Bahamas. Meanwhile, Gregory went to the Capital so he would have a legitimate alibi when the time came for the Police to come looking for him in case they had questions about what he might've been up to during the time in question.

Thirty minutes after takeoff, the engine on the plane malfunctioned and stopped working. The pilot worked to get them re-started, but to no avail. He radioed the nearest airport, which was over a hundred miles away, and informed them of his emergency. They radioed back that if the plane could make it back, there would be clearance to land. The pilot attempted to turn the plane, but the flight controls wouldn't respond. The plane was starting to lose speed and altitude.

Wayne Thompson stormed into the cockpit, "What the blazes is going on?"

"I'm not sure, sir. The engines have failed and the flight controls have frozen. I'm attempting to restore both, but nothing seems to work. I would suggest you and your family strap yourselves in because the flight is going to get rather bumpy and looks like we'll make a crash landing,"

"Over water?" Thompson was skeptical.

"I'm afraid so, sir. If I can get the flight controls to begin to respond again, we could glide in for a rough sea landing, but I'm not sure the plane has enough speed left in it to make it to land. Please, tell your family to strap in so they won't be severely injured,"

"This has got to be Gregory's fault. If we make it through this, he'll pay!"

"Sir?"

"Uh, never mind. Fine, I'll tell my family to get buckled in. Good luck."

Thompson made his way back into the cabin, and said, "I think this plane's been sabotaged, but I can't prove it at the moment,"

"What gives you that idea, Daddy?" asked Evelyn.

"The engine has stopped working and the flight controls won't respond, which makes me think someone sabotaged the plane,"

"Wayne, I think you know who did it, don't you?" screamed Brenda, Wayne's wife.

"Calm down. I'm suspecting it was Gregory, or one of his lackeys, but I don't really know that for sure. I probably won't be able to find out because we're starting to fall out of the sky, and since we're over water, I'm pretty sure we won't survive the landing,"

Evelyn's face lost all of its color. "I knew something was up, but I wasn't sure what. Sometimes, I have a hard time believing that Gregory could be such an evil man, but he is. What do we do now?" asked Evelyn, through gritted teeth, with tears running down her cheeks.

"Straighten up you two." Thompson said as he buckled his seatbelt. "We will face our impending deaths with dignity."

His wife screeched, "Oh shut up! I don't want to die, and I don't care about your lousy dignity."

Evelyn cried louder, "Father, do something!"

But her father was seeing his past with its evil deeds and was fused to his seat with unseeing eyes and unhearing ears.

The shrieks and gasps didn't stop, as in less than ten minutes, the private plane plunged into the Atlantic Ocean, fifty miles off of the coast of Delaware.

The nearest major airport, in Philadelphia, sent out an alert to the United States Coast Guard informing them of a plane going down off of the coast. A Coast Guard Cutter was sent to the last known location of the plane. He found a debris field a mile long. Within an hour, they found the plane underwater and began preparations for a rescue operation in case anyone had survived. When they discovered no one had, the Coast Guard called for a salvage ship to bring up the downed plane.

After establishing who the dead were, Gregory Evans was informed. They found him in the Capital Building, talking to an aide to one of the Senators.

"Mr. Evans?"

"Yes? Can I help you, Officer?"

"I'm sorry I have to tell you this, but your wife and her parents died in a plane crash off of the coast of Delaware a few hours ago. We'd like for you to come to Philadelphia to confirm their identities,"

Gregory stood in place for a moment, pleased that Gianni did what he said he was going to do, but he also realized that he needed to act the part of grieving husband. "What? How did it happen? Are you sure there are no survivors? I don't think I can live without Evelyn, she was my heart and soul,"

"I'm sorry, sir, for the tremendous loss you've suffered. The plane crashed due to some malfunctions with the engines and flight controls, but that's all I know. By the time you get to Philadelphia, I'm sure they'll have more answers for you."

"Ok, thank you, Officer. I'll get there right away." Then, acting a little bit more grieved, "What will Jason do without his mother? He was the only child, you know, and Evelyn and he were almost inseparable. Oh, what will I do without her?" Gregory brushed his face, pretended to dab at his eyes with his handkerchief, and swallowed hard. He squared his shoulders and took a deep breath before leaving the Capital with the Officer to be taken to the airport where they flew to Philadelphia.

In Philadelphia, Gregory went to the morgue to identify the bodies. He made sure to show his grief and then he asked about the investigation of what happened to the plane. He was told to ask the Civil Aeronautics Board about it. Instead, he decided to make an anonymous phone call to them instead of visiting their office. Afterward, he would call the NYPD.

"Hello? I'm calling to report what I think might be sabotage to a plane that went down off of the coast a couple days ago. I think it involved the Evans and Thompson families,"

"Yes, we know about that and we are currently looking into it. What do you know?" asked the Civil Aeronautics Board representative who took Gregory's call.

"I think I saw a man, who I don't think was part of the flight maintenance crew, messing with the aircraft a couple of hours before it took off. When I heard about the crash, I knew I had to call someone,"

"We appreciate you taking the time to call. Can we get your name?"

"I would prefer to remain anonymous. Is that all right?"

"Yes, of course. Is there anything else you need to tell us?"

"No, that's all. Thank you for taking my call. Goodbye."

Gregory then called the NYPD and also anonymously told them he had heard that Gianni Micelli had played a part in the plane crash, by sabotaging the aircraft. Since Gianni was always in trouble with the NYPD because of mob-related activities, they knew exactly where he lived, and went to pick him up for suspicion of sabotaging an aircraft, manslaughter, and various other crimes they decided to accuse him of.

As he was being led off, he tried to throw Gregory under the bus, "I was only the hatchet man, it was Gregory Evans who was the one who ordered me to do it. Why don't you arrest him, put him on trial, and try him for all of those crimes you accuse me of?"

"Gregory Evans? Are you sure? I don't think he would harm a fly. He donates his time and money to the City of New York, so why would he do such a heinous thing? Boys," referring to the guards who were in custody of Gianni, "take this piece of trash away." ordered the trial judge, who was also in Gregory's pocket.

For Gregory, everything finally fell into place, as he was now unencumbered by the Thompson family. He acted mournful at the funeral and made sure everyone knew how grieved he was. Jason, his son, would now be raised how Gregory wanted, while Gregory would continue to consolidate everything under his authority. There were rumors among the people in the know that Gregory did get rid of the Thompson's, but no one could prove it, and no one wanted to get on Gregory's bad side. The verdict from the Senate regarding Joe McCarthy even made Gregory happy.

It took the Watkins Committee only two months to decide the fate of Joseph McCarthy. McCarthy had forty-six charges against him, but it was decided to only censure him on two. One was that he failed to cooperate with the Subcommittee on Rules and Administration and repeatedly abused the members who were trying to carry out assigned duties. The other was that he complained that the Committee was a lynch party and they were agents of the Communist Party. The Watkins Committee also said that McCarthy acted contrary to senatorial ethics and impaired the Senate's dignity. The vote was sixty-seven to twenty-two for a vote of censure, but was re-worded as "condemn" instead.

The only person who didn't vote was John F. Kennedy, who was in the hospital due to back surgery, but hadn't said either way whether he was for or against the Senator from Wisconsin. The Kennedy family irritated Gregory since they were new money, relatively speaking, and thought they could just do whatever they wanted. Someone would have to show them otherwise, thought Gregory.

McCarthy continued on in the Senate until he died two and a half years later from alcohol poisoning. Gregory was pleased and continued with his plans.

Meanwhile, Charles and Betty Atwood now had two children, Tom, who was seven years old, and Amy, who was five. Charles was a so-so farmer, so he spent a lot of time helping his father, who owned a feed store in Jonesville. Tom had asked Jesus into his heart when was six, and now Amy seemed to be interested in knowing more about Jesus.

"Daddy, how do I know if Jesus is in my heart and if he saved me?" the red-headed five-year-old asked Charles.

"Pumpkin, you know if you asked Him to come into your heart by praying for Him to save you from your sins. Have you done that?"

"I don't think so, Daddy,"

"Would you like to?"

"Yeah,"

"You know you've sinned and that if you don't ask Jesus into your heart that you'll go to Hell?"

"Mrs. Ball said that in Sunday school. She said to ask Jesus into your heart when you're ready, and I'm ready. Daddy, can you help me ask?"

"I would love to, sweetie. Repeat after me: Dear God in heaven, I come to you in the name of Jesus. I acknowledge to you that I am a sinner, and I am sorry for my sins. I need your forgiveness. I believe that your only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, shed His precious blood on the cross at Calvary and died for my sins. With all of my heart, I believe that God raised Jesus from the dead. At this very moment, I accept Jesus Christ as my own personal Lord and Savior. Thank you, Jesus, for dying for me and giving me eternal life. Amen."

Amy repeated after Charles and then said, "Thank you for helping me, Daddy! I feel Jesus in my heart already." then she hugged Charles.

"You're welcome. Now let's go tell your Mom and Tommy what you did."

They told Betty and Tommy, and then they celebrated the good news by taking Amy for ice cream. The next Sunday, Amy and her parents went up to Pastor David during the invitation and Charles said to him, "Pastor, Amy here received Jesus into her heart a couple of days ago and now wants to get baptized."

"Wonderful! Amy, do you know Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior now?"

"Yes, Pastor David,"

"Glory to God! Charles, when would you like to have her baptized?"

"Whenever you think is best, Pastor," Charles replied.

"How about tonight?"

"I think that would be great."

"Then we'll do that. Amy, why don't you and your parents stand in front of the altar that way the rest of the church can congratulate you." then Pastor David informed the congregation of Amy's declaration and dismissed the service.

The whole congregation shook hands with Amy and her parents after the service, and then, later that day, Amy was baptized after the Sunday night service.

******

# Chapter 7

"Lyndon, I put you on the ticket so you can push my agenda regardless of whoever was President, and so far, you haven't done that. All we've gotten at this point is a near nuclear war with the Soviets because of that buffoon who is the President, a stupid attempt at trying to oust Castro, along with him having a dalliance with that Hollywood whore. What do you plan on doing about it?" Gregory was annoyed with the Vice President of the United States and had no problem telling him so.

"Jack is scheduled for a campaign trip to Texas in a few weeks, I'm sure I can think of something,"

"You think you can think of something? Don't you have something more solid than that? You aren't that dumb, Lyndon, because if you were, you wouldn't have gotten this far. I thought you were ruthless with your opposition,"

"I am. Trust me, I have something in store for young Kennedy. He won't know what hit him. My friends in Texas are looking forward to taking down that Yankee, so don't worry about it, Mr. Evans,"

"Do not tell me what to do, Lyndon. You should worry about what I think because you can be easily replaced in 1964 with someone more compliant. You seek power and I'm willing to give it, but remember that you're on a short leash. Understood?"

"You've made your point as crystal clear as you can,"

"Good. When you've rid us of Kennedy and you're in the top spot, we'll begin work on my agenda. Anything else you need to tell me?"

"No, Mr. Evans." Johnson meekly replied.

"Then we're done here. Please step out of the limo so I can be on my way," Johnson stepped out of the car and shut the door. The limo took off and Johnson walked back to his car to go back to D.C. to prepare for the day when he would be President.

A few weeks later, Kennedy's motorcade traveled through Dealey Plaza in Dallas when shots rang out. The President was shot and killed in a matter of moments. Johnson was waiting at the airport, near Air Force One, to take the oath to become the next President of the United States. Gregory was annoyed with Johnson for being so obviously eager to take the oath, but he decided not to say anything because he didn't think the media would mention Johnson's whereabouts until he took the oath. Jackie Kennedy boarded the plane, Johnson took the oath, and he made sure pictures of the grieving widow would be taken to make it look like she approved of the new change in leadership. He stalled to take the Oath until the photographers finally showed up so they could see and record Johnson taking the Oath of Office to become the new President of the United States.

After Johnson won the 1964 election over Barry Goldwater, Gregory went to him and said, "You're going to expand the role of government in people's lives, take it further than Franklin Roosevelt ever took it,"

"How are we going to do this exactly?"

"You'll declare a war on poverty, even though the poorest people in the United States are still much richer than the poorest people in Africa or India. You will create new government agencies, expand the role of the government in healthcare, education, voting rights, and put more people on welfare. You will also eventually introduce Civil Rights legislation that will bring more people into the Democrat Party, and you'll also open the borders of the United States to everyone who wants to come, not just Western Europeans. It'll dilute the influence of conservative, religious European ancestry Americans and this country will be easy for the government to control. I initiated the first steps of diluting Christian influence by having Madalyn Murray O'Hair get the Supreme Court to ban prayer in schools. We'll do even more later on,"

"She was pretty effective at getting that ruling. Anyway, why would I introduce Civil Rights legislation? You know we Democrats prefer that blacks stay under our thumb, don't you? Can't let them get too uppity,"

"Oh, they'll continue to stay under your thumbs, especially if you give them and poor whites welfare, federal government sponsored education, and introduce a completely different culture into the United States that will encourage the reliance on government. They'll run away from the Republicans as fast as they can. With what I'm proposing, the government will control who votes and who doesn't, or even how often, since they'll be on the government dole. In twenty or so years, enough of those people will be programmed to think the Republicans and the religious types are the ones keeping them down. They'll be low-information and no-information voters who don't know anything. The government should control the schools and what young minds should know. None of them should be taught enough to give them the idea they should care about what goes on in my domain. They should be given reasons to vote for your party. Promise them a free lunch. They won't know any better. Progressives will write the history any way we want. In forty years or so, the United States as a conservative, religious nation will cease to exist as it is known and the Progressives will be in complete control,"

"That sounds like what we've been trying to do for the past sixty years, ever since Teddy Roosevelt got it into his noggin' that government was the solution to everything. Ever since then, we've been obstructed in our goals by one world event after another. Now, speaking of Civil Rights, what are we going to do about that King character, he's getting way too influential for my taste and he would resist all of what you want me to do,"

"Don't worry about him, I'll take care of him when the time comes. Even though the Republicans have always been the party of equal opportunity and equal rights, you will take that role for yourselves. They want people thinking, voting, and doing everything for themselves. That needs to stop and I'm sure you don't want that to happen either. Anyway, I'll have my people bring you the speech I want you to say during the State of the Union and we'll go from there. History will see you as sympathetic to the plight of the poor and a great reformer. Any questions?"

"What should I do about Congress if they complain about all of this government spending?"

"That's all taken care of. Congress is filled with men I have bought for specifically this purpose; they'll do whatever you want and vote for whatever you and I want,"

"A great majority of Americans are going to resist you know. They'll resist all of this government spending and putting people on the government dole. What do I do about that?" Johnson asked, worriedly.

"If you begin to have a backlash, I propose you expand the involvement in Vietnam, and have the Department of Defense draft a lot of young men whose families lean anti-government or are religious in nature. Of course, you'll also get young men who are part of the establishment, which I'll use later on to bring about more control over the American people. I'll get my people to whip anti-authority types into a frenzy, have them accuse returning soldiers of being baby killers, or I'll get them to cause riots, and maybe a couple of them will terrorize parts of the United States. That will give you the distraction you need to get our agenda passed. No one, not even future Republicans, will attempt to take it out of the books as the law of the land. Are you on board?"

"You bet your bottom dollar I am. I look forward to informing Congress and the Nation about what I plan on doing. This should be interesting times."

"Of that, I have no doubt." responded Gregory with a large, menacing smile on his face.

The next four years were interesting and violent times in the United States. Lyndon Johnson began his term by declaring his Great Society during the State of the Union. Wanting to instigate more race problems and problems between the various sects of the Civil Rights Movement, Gregory paid some members of Nation of Islam to assassinate Malcolm X. Gregory even attempted to control the unrest by making the Alabama marches, led by Martin Luther King, Jr., spiral out of control by sending in State Troopers to mistreat the black protestors'. Of course, that gave the state a black eye. The Watts Riot in Los Angeles wasn't instigated by Gregory or his associates, but it helped give Gregory ideas of what he could possibly do to cause other similar incidents to happen across the United States.

Johnson also signed an immigration bill abolishing quotas based on national origins, which Gregory hoped would start the process of bringing the United States to its knees.

The war in Vietnam intensified, and the Soviets then demanded that the United States leave the area, while Johnson decided to start micro-managing the war.

Gregory told the professors he owned to begin to teach against the United States being involved in Vietnam. When the indoctrination took effect, students started protesting, began to treat returning soldiers roughly, and Gregory even convinced a couple of them to denounce their involvement in the war and throw away their medals.

After this tumultuous four years, Lyndon Johnson decided he wouldn't seek a second term as President of the United States, which disappointed Gregory. Meanwhile, Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. were thorns in Gregory's side, so he had both of them assassinated. Unfortunately, Richard Nixon ended up being elected President in 1968, and Gregory decided that he would look into creating ways of fixing American elections in the future.

******

# Chapter 8

"What do you mean you're going to the University of Southern California? What about Harvard?" Gregory asked of his son, not quite believing what he was hearing.

"Harvard? You mean the college that's full of stupid politicians' kids who are not the most intelligent people themselves? I'd rather skip the whole Ivy League tradition and go to school with real kids, Dad. USC seems like a cool place to go and I don't want to be bored for the next four years. You can understand that, right?" Jason replied.

"No, but you kids these days seem to do all sorts of off-beat stuff. While I'm not particularly happy with your decision, I'll support it. One thing I ask of you is that you don't get involved with those dirty hippies and stoned-out losers, all right?"

"You mean you don't want me to blow all your money on LSD or any of that stuff, and then have to send me off to get detoxed. Right?"

Gregory gave Jason a stony look, not amused at all that his son wasn't treating this conversation with any sincerity. Gregory didn't want Jason to get involved with the lower class scum that blew their brains out by taking drugs, because not only would it ruin Jason's future reputation, it would also ruin Gregory's reputation, and he couldn't allow that.

"Son, since you're not going to a school I want you to go to, you could at least do this little thing for me. Can you do that?"

"Sure," was the response.

"When will you leave?"

"They want new students to report to the dorms by the end of July, so I'll be leaving here about a week before,"

"Are you going to ask for a private room?"

Jason sighed, knowing his father didn't like anyone who made less than one hundred thousand dollars a year. "Nope. Like I said, I want to get to know the more interesting people our country has to offer. I can hob-knob with our idiot politicians and their idiot families later on,"

"I guess you have a point. Now, let's start getting your stuff together for this four-year adventure."

Two months later, Jason was enrolled at the University of Southern California and ended up sharing a dorm room with a guy, nicknamed Bubba, from Texas who was on the Trojan football team. Jason made sure to find out where all the local hangouts were, who all the important people on campus were, and even which professors would be the easiest to take or to influence as far as bribery went. Jason was sure that he would enjoy his time at USC and be an important player on campus in no time.

Jason walked into his first afternoon class for the first time on the Thursday of the first day, Freshman English, which was only two days a week. As he looked around for a place to sit - which was pretty easy since he was fifteen minutes early and there was hardly anyone there yet - he saw a girl with red hair sitting by herself near the top of the auditorium-like class. So Jason walked up the steps, sat down next to her, and introduced himself, "Hi, I'm Jason,"

Jason could see the girl practically put up a wall between the two of them, but he was attracted to her, so he asked, "What's yours?"

She looked up at him from whatever she was reading, and Jason saw that she had some very pretty green eyes that he thought he could get lost in.

She looked at him for a minute or so, thinking that this Jason guy was attractive, but she really didn't want to get involved with a guy who was probably only looking to score with her. She knew a few girls back home that had gotten married at sixteen primarily because they got pregnant. She didn't want to happen to her, and she was determined to wait until she was married.

When she replied, it was in an accent Jason thought might be Southern, "Why are you bothering me? There are other places to sit, you know,"

"Oh, I know, but you caught my eye and I wanted to sit next to you. No harm in that, is there?"

"No, I suppose not,"

"So, what's your name?" persisted Jason.

"Amy,"

"Hi, Amy. Where are you from?"

"Virginia,"

"Cool. I'm from New York. So, what are you reading?"

"I'm reading the Bible, which is something I always do after lunch,"

"The Bible? Really? Isn't that for squares and people who aren't intelligent enough to understand science?"

Amy looked back at him with a cold look, and Jason could instantly tell that she wasn't one to be messed with. "If you're going to insult me and my beliefs, kindly leave me alone and go sit somewhere else,"

"Sorry, that's what I've always been taught. You seem like a very intelligent young woman, so what is it about this superstition that attracts you?"

"I should get up and move. You're not going to leave me alone, are you?"

"No. Well, aren't you going to answer me?"

"What I have to say would take far too long, since we would have to leave our class to talk about it, and I would rather not miss the first English class of the semester. If you're really interested in knowing what I believe, talk to me after class, I don't have a class again until tomorrow,"

"I have a few more classes after this, but what about later today, when it's time to eat supper? Can you go out to dinner with me so we can discuss it?"

"Jason, I do not eat out with young men I don't know, at least not by myself, especially with young men who aren't Christians. Perhaps you'd like to go to church with me on Sunday to really find out about my beliefs?"

Jason was attracted to this girl and when he was attracted to a woman, he generally got his way, even if it took him a while to convince them to go out with him. This Amy was interesting to him. He had never met a Christian before and wondered what kind of person believed such nonsense. Jason decided to humor her for a while, so he said, "Sure, I'll go to church with you. Where do you want to meet?"

"My girlfriends and I will be eating breakfast first at the campus cafeteria before church at 8:30, so come by there, and we'll take you to church,"

No pressure there, thought Jason, as he thought that he would have to be on his best behavior since a gaggle of girls would be harder to impress. "I'll do that. Do I need to wear anything special?"

"Yes, your best suit, if you have one,"

"I have one."

"Good. I'll expect you then."

Jason wanted to say something else, but the instructor for the class finally came in, the students quieted down, and the instructor began the class day. After class, Amy quickly disappeared, not giving Jason a chance to say anything, so he went to his next class, American History. Jason ended up being distracted by thoughts about Amy and her beliefs, so he didn't really pay attention for the next couple of classes to anything his instructors said. When he went back to the dorm, Bubba had returned from football practice, so Jason asked, "Do you know anything Christians?"

"You betcha I do. I come from Texas after all,"

"Why do they believe it?"

Bubba shrugged his shoulders, "Got me. My family wasn't too particular about goin' to church. We did all the holidays and everything, but not full time or nothin'. They're ok people, just don't get them started about Jesus, otherwise, you'd have your ear talked off. Jehovah's Witnesses are the worst. They come knockin' on your door on Sunday's, ruinin' lunch, ruinin' watchin' of football, and ruinin' just about everything. Best to avoid them at all costs. Oh, and Mormons too. Maybe even Baptists. Shucks, maybe you should just avoid all of 'em,"

"Oh, ok. So you don't really know anything, do you Bubba?" asked Jason, as he rolled his eyes.

"Can't rightly say that I do. My focus is football, I plan on getting into the NFL, ya know, hopefully with the Dallas Cowboys,"

What an idiot, thought Jason, but this is what I wanted when I traveled three thousand miles from home. Oh well, I'll deal with it. Then out loud, "Thanks for the advice, Bubba, I appreciate it."

"Ah, it was nothin'." came the reply.

On Sunday, Jason got ready for church for the first time ever. He went to the cafeteria and found Amy and her four friends eating breakfast, looking like they were enjoying each other's company. Jason walked up to them and said, "Hi everyone, I'm ready to go with you to church,"

The girls began giggling, and then Amy said, "I'm glad you decided to come with us. I thought you might chicken out,"

"I'm curious about what you believe, why would you think I'd chicken out?"

"Because a lot of guys do when they find out I want them to go to church with me. Separates the wheat from the chaff, so to speak,"

"If you say so," Jason replied, not knowing what she meant.

"Girls, are we ready to go?" Amy asked of her friends, who all indicated they were. "Ok, Jason, follow us."

Jason walked behind the girls, unsure of whether or not he should even be doing this. His father, while not talking much about religion in general, did not like religious people, and Jason was worried what his father might think if he knew what he was about to do. But, Jason was curious about what attracted people like Amy and her friends to a religion, so he thought that this might be a good education.

They walked about fifteen minutes before they finally came to a medium-sized church. Apparently, it was Baptist. Jason thought all Christian-oriented churches were the same, because he assumed they might've been going to a Catholic church, so he asked, "How come you're not going to a Catholic church?"

"I'm not Catholic, I'm Baptist,"

"What's the difference?"

"Jason, why do you always ask questions that would take all day to explain? There's a huge difference between the two churches, but that history is nearly two thousand years, so it would take a while to explain,"

"I thought the Catholics were the only ones before that guy started the Reformation or whatever you want to call it,"

"Nope, there were many other Christian sects before Martin Luther separated from the Catholics. The particular one I belong to was part of the Anabaptists a long time ago, which existed alongside the Catholics. Why do you think the Inquisition in Spain happened? It wasn't just about Jews,"

"Really? All of that sounds very interesting. I guess I have a lot to learn." then Jason fell silent as they entered the church, went into the auditorium, and sat down in one of the pews.

From what Jason could tell, there were about two hundred people attending; a mixture of college students, families, and older people. Everyone seemed friendly enough. A few of them came over to shake his hand and introduced themselves to him. Jason was used to dealing with stand-offish people, even ones in his own social circle back home, so this kind of unnerved him. People all around him were talking to each other, laughing, and seemed to be having fun. From what little he had heard about Christians, he thought they were like Puritans; dour, always serious, and never had any fun. Jason decided he heard wrong.

Then, piano music began playing, everyone sat down, and a man came up to a podium. He told everyone to take a song book and turn to a certain page so they could sing. Jason was standing next to Amy, who shared the song book with him, and she began to sing, while Jason stared at the words on the page. It made no sense to him, but he noticed that Amy had a beautiful singing voice, and seemed like she enjoyed singing the song.

After three songs and announcements made by what Jason thought was one of the leaders of the church, an older gentleman came up to the podium to speak. He opened a book and began to talk, and Jason noticed people around him opening a book to read from wherever he was having them read from.

Maybe it's a Bible, Jason thought, I wonder how I can get one? Most of what Jason heard the man say was above his head since he had never heard a Christian message before, but what Jason managed to gather was that sin was bad, and if one didn't come to know Jesus as their Savior, then they would go to Hell. Jason was bothered by this, but he really didn't know enough to think that he was going to Hell; it all seemed really out there to him.

After about forty minutes, the speaker stopped talking and they gave some sort of invitation to come up front to confess sins. Jason saw that some people went to the front, kneeled down at a raised part of the floor in front of the podium, and looked like they were in some kind of contemplative activity. Around him, people had their heads bowed and eyes closed, he wasn't sure why, but he would definitely ask Amy a bunch of questions later - if she gave him a chance. Five minutes later, the speaker thanked everyone for coming, and everyone started walking out of the church.

As they were walking back to campus, Amy asked Jason, "How did you like our church?"

"It was interesting. That speaker was really good, but I didn't really understand what he was talking about,"

"That speaker was our preacher, Pastor Victor Anderson. What he was talking about was that Jesus died on the Cross to save us from our sins and that if someone was to accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior, he or she would go to Heaven when they died. One Bible verse says that the wages of sin are death, but the gift of God is eternal life. Another verse says that God gave his only begotten son, which is Jesus, because He loved us and didn't want to see us perish in the fires of Hell. Do you understand?"

"I'm not sure. Do you do this every Sunday?"

"Sunday morning, Sunday night, and even Wednesday night, when I don't have a class,"

"Really? That's a lot of times to go to church. Can I come with you next Sunday?"

"Sure, but remember that until you accept Jesus into your heart, I won't go out with you, so please don't even ask. Ok?"

"If you insist, I'll refrain from asking. Thank you for allowing me to go to church with you, it was eye-opening, even though I still don't understand everything,"

"I was glad to do it. I want everyone I come into contact with to know the Good News. If you ever have any questions about Jesus and being a Christian, you can ask me or contact the church so you could talk to the preacher, ok?"

"Ok. Well, this is probably where we depart, see you Tuesday for class. Bye."

"Bye." replied Amy.

Jason left the girls at the cafeteria building and he went back to his room. He contemplated what he should do about this stirring inside of him that seemed to want him to confess his sins, but he had no idea how to, and he was trying to dismiss it by telling himself it was a bunch of silly nonsense, but it just wouldn't go away. By Tuesday, he was anxious to see Amy to ask her how he should ask this Jesus into his heart. He knew it was important but he wasn't sure how he should ask her.

As he sat down next to her asked, "Can I talk to you after class?"

Her defenses went up, which he guessed was automatic, and she said, "Honestly, that depends. What do you want to talk to me about?"

"I'd like to ask you about how I can ask Jesus into my heart. I've been thinking about it since Sunday and I feel like it might be a decision I have to make right now or it'll be forever lost to me. Do you know what I mean?"

Jason noticed her defensiveness fall apart and she seemed way more open than before, as she said, "Oh my goodness, I know exactly what you mean. Praise God! I can talk to you about it after class, but don't you have other classes to go to?"

"Yeah, but this is way more important,"

"Great! We can go to the library where we can talk about you asking Jesus into your heart. I'm glad you decided to come with me on Sunday, aren't you?"

"I think so. So, how does one accepting Jesus into their hearts work?"

"Well, I'll show you a couple of Bible verses, let you read the Romans Road to Salvation, and I'll help you to pray what you need to pray. Then, if God feels you're sincere in wanting to accept Jesus into your heart, you'll be saved. After that, we'll have to talk to my preacher, where he'll have devotionals for you and stuff that you can do to build up yourself as a Christian. It really isn't all that complicated once you get right down to it,"

"I look forward to it. Thanks." then the class started and the two began to pay attention to their instructor.

An hour and a half later, they walked into the library and found a quiet spot in the back. Amy took her Bible out of her backpack and laid it on the desk. Jason could see that the book was well worn and she had bookmarks in all sorts of places. She also pulled out a small booklet and said, "This is the Romans Road, read this and it'll help explain what sin is about and how you can confess your sins. When you're done, I can tell you the prayer that you can pray to accept Jesus into your heart,"

Jason began to read the pamphlet Amy gave him. As he read it, he became more and more convicted that he should ask Jesus into his heart. He realized he was a sinner and that if he didn't ask Jesus right now when the door was open to him, then it might be closed to him forever.

When Jason finished reading, he said, "Ok, I'm ready, how do I pray the prayer that will allow Jesus into my heart?"

"Repeat after me as you bow your head: Dear God in heaven, I come to you in the name of Jesus. I acknowledge to you that I am a sinner, and I am sorry for my sins. I need your forgiveness. I believe that your only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, shed His precious blood on the cross at Calvary and died for my sins. With all of my heart, I believe that God raised Jesus from the dead. At this very moment, I accept Jesus Christ as my own personal Lord and Savior. Thank you, Jesus, for dying for me and giving me eternal life. Amen."

Jason repeated after her and instantly felt different. He knew Jesus had come into his heart because he was sincere about asking Him into his heart. "Thank you for helping me, Amy. What do I do next?"

"Well, you should probably buy a Bible, preferably a King James Version, so that you can begin studying it. I'll help you with some devotionals to get you started. On Sunday, you'll go up front and tell Pastor Anderson about your decision. Then, he'll schedule a time for you to get baptized. I'm so thrilled that you accepted Jesus into your heart!" They talked a little more before Jason had to leave to attend class.

Amy helped Jason pick out a Bible and some study material so he could grow as a Christian, but she advised him to ask Pastor Anderson what he needed to study so he could grow.

On Sunday, Jason went to the front during the invitation and told the Pastor about his decision. After the services were over and all the handshaking from members of the congregation was complete, Jason and Anderson scheduled a time for the baptism, which was the next Sunday.

Jason was nervous when the day came, especially when he found out he would be fully immersed, but Amy and the Pastor assured him that this was done all the time and he shouldn't worry about it.

Shortly before the end of the service, Jason went to the baptismal room to put on the baptismal robe. Pastor Anderson came back to the room after the main service, and asked, "Are you ready?"

"Very much so, Pastor,"

"I'm glad to hear it. I'll go out first and then when I say your name, you'll come down the stairs and get into the water with me. I'll ask you if you know Jesus as your Lord and Savior. When you say yes, I'll say a few words, and then dunk you. Ok?"

"Ok,"

"Ok, let's get started." Pastor Anderson walked down the steps into the baptismal waters and said Jason's name. When Jason reached the Pastor, Anderson asked, "Jason, have you trusted Jesus as your Savior?"

"I have,"

"Do you want to follow and live for Him?"

"Yes,"

"Then, in obedience to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and upon your profession of faith, I baptize you my brother, in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit."

Anderson took Jason's hands, guided him backward as Jason was lowered under the water, and then he helped Jason rise back up to his feet. Jason felt refreshed, but really wet, and Anderson let him go back to the room while Anderson finished the service.

Ten minutes later, Jason left the baptismal room and found Amy waiting for him. She was smiling as she said, "You have permission to take me out, if you'd like."

"Really? Um, want to go to the ice cream shop?"

"That sounds like fun. Let's go."

******

# Chapter 9

"You did what!?" yelled a very ticked off Gregory Evans.

"I became a Christian, Dad. I think it's one of the best things that's ever happened to me. That and meeting Amy, who's my fiancee," replied Jason, a day after arriving home on summer break.

"I don't believe it, I just don't believe it. You were raised not to believe such superstitious nonsense, yet, here you are, and you're telling me you became a Christian. Who is this Amy anyway?"

"Amy Atwood, she's from Virginia, and I met her in one of my classes. She led me to the Lord and helped me ask Jesus into my heart. I asked her to marry me a couple of days ago before we both came back East to visit with our parents over the summer,"

"So, you turned because of some pretty face? I knew you shouldn't have gone to California. I demand that you renounce this stupid superstition, especially if you think I'm going to let you apprentice under me and learn everything about what I do now that you've become one of them,"

"I can't and I won't renounce Jesus as my Lord and Savior,"

Gregory went into an obscenity-laced rage and began destroying things by throwing stuff to the floor in his home office. Jason had never seen his father so angry before and it really frightened him, so he prayed to the Lord for protection.

His father, with a red face and now wild looking hair, looked at Jason with cold, dead eyes, and said in a scarily even-toned voice, "Get out! Get out! Get out! You're dead to me. I don't want to hear from you, see you, or have anything to do with you from now on. While I have funded your college education, you will get no more money from me from here on out. Why are you still here? Get out!"

Jason left, disheartened, even though he knew his father would not like his decision. His father's over-reaction saddened him.

Gregory Evans had long ago hardened his heart to God's voice, had financed many atheistic causes because of his reprobate mind, and wanted to see the conservative Christian influence in the United States disappear once and for all.

Jason prayed for his father as he got into his car, praying that someone stronger than him could convince Gregory that he would go to Hell if he didn't repent and ask Jesus into his heart. Jason briefly wondered where he should go now and decided that going to visit Amy and her parents would be a good idea. He needed to officially ask Amy's father for her hand in marriage anyway, so Jason put his car into gear and drove towards Virginia.

Back in the house, Gregory, still fuming, called for one of his aides. When the aide showed up, Gregory ordered, "I want you to find out all about these Atwood's from Virginia. Who they are and what they do, basically everything I've wanted to know about other people since you've been employed with me. Jason has forced me to start over, and I will probably have to wait another twenty years or so for another apprentice to be ready, but I will get it done. Now get to it."

A few hours later, Amy was outside, helping her mom with the garden, when she heard a car drive up into the driveway. She looked up to see the familiar blue Ford Mustang and instantly knew that Jason had arrived, "Mom, he's arrived! I want to introduce him to you!" Amy excitedly dragged her mother by the arm to meet Jason.

Jason stepped out of the car and didn't look at all like he was happy. Amy hugged him and asked, "What's wrong?"

"Dad threw me out. He was furious when I told him,"

"We thought that might happen. What are you going to do now?"

Jason shrugged, "I don't know,"

"Well, let's not worry about it for now. Jason, I'd like you to meet my momma, Betty Atwood,"

"Jason, I'm glad to finally meet you. Amy's told us so much about you. I'm sorry about your father,"

Jason shook Betty's hand, and replied, "I'm glad to meet you too. Amy's told me a lot about you as parents and her siblings. I'm glad that someone in this world has parents who have unconditional love for them. By the way, where is Mr. Atwood, I'd like to talk to him,"

"Yeah, where is Daddy, Momma?"

"He had to go to the Feed Store to pick up some feed for the horses, but he should be back anytime now. In the meantime, how about I get you a cold drink? Do you like lemonade, Jason? I'm sure you're thirsty after your trip."

"Oh, yes, ma'am, and lemonade is fine. Thank you, Mrs. Atwood."

"Jason, please call me Betty. Now, you two young-ins come inside and we'll get some lemonade."

Thirty minutes later, Charles showed up with the feed, noticed the blue Mustang parked in the driveway, but went ahead and placed the feed in the barn. Once he got the feed squared away, he went into the house to find out who was visiting them. "Betty, who's here?" Charles shouted the second he came into the house.

"Dear, why don't you come into the living room? We have a visitor that would really like to talk to you."

Charles walked into the living room to see Jason Evans sitting next to his daughter. Although Charles had never met Jason in person, he'd seen Jason's picture enough to know who this was and why he might be here. So he approached Jason, shook his hand, and said, "This must be Jason. What brings you this way?"

"I need to talk to you about me and Amy. Can we go somewhere private?"

"Sure. Let's go out to the barn." Once they were in the barn, Charles asked, "What's this about, young man?"

"Well, I, uh, I would like to officially ask for your permission to marry your daughter,"

"Before I do give you permission, I have a couple of questions for you. One: Were you sincere when asking Jesus into your heart?"

"Yes, sir, I was very sincere,"

"Since I have to take you at your word, I believe you. Second: Do you love my daughter with all your heart?"

"Yes,"

"How do you plan on supporting my daughter?"

"I'm going for a business degree and I plan on working on Wall Street once I graduate. While my father rejected me because I asked Jesus into my heart, I still have enough contacts in that world for me to be able to get a job. Amy will be taken care of, no matter what,"

"I'm glad to hear it. Jason, you have my permission to marry my daughter. When do you plan on getting married?"

"We were thinking this time next year. We'll be halfway through college then, so we'll be much more prepared. What do you think, sir?"

"I think as long as you are responsible and treat my daughter with respect, I have no problem with your timeline when it comes to getting married. What does your father think?"

Jason paused, knowing this question would come up eventually. "My dad isn't happy. He doesn't like Christians and threw me out of the house when he found out I converted. I don't think he wants anything to do with me now."

"I'm sorry, Jason, but you're more than welcome in our family. Do you need a Best Man? Our son, Tom, is supposed to be home from Vietnam in six months, maybe he'll do the honors,"

"I don't know, I guess I do. I'll have to ask Tom when he gets back and hopefully, he'll want to."

"Well, now that you have my official permission to marry my daughter, let's go tell her the good news."

A few days later, Gregory was given all the information known about the Atwood family from Virginia. Basically, they were poor dirt farmers and had been for over three hundred years. What Jason wanted to do with such rabble, Gregory didn't know, but he really didn't consider them a threat just yet, so he had no plans to correct the situation until after Jason and Amy were married, whenever that would be. Gregory knew he could make the Atwood's miserable, but he decided to hold back on that for a while, in the meantime, he would set about figuring out how to ruin Richard Nixon now that he had won a second term.

Tom returned from Vietnam, accepted Jason's request that he be his Best Man, and then told the family, "I've decided to move to Nebraska after I marry Stephanie. A buddy of mine in Vietnam sold me some acres of land that he was selling, since he wanted to move to California, and I plan on going out there in the next couple of months to get started. Maybe all of us can move there?"

"We can't, at least not right now, son. We've invested too much in the land we have now to up and move. Where is this place in Nebraska?" asked Charles.

"A little town called Delaney, in northern Nebraska,"

"Are you sure this is what you want?"

"Yeah, Pop, it seems like a really good opportunity for me and I don't want to miss out on it."

"We'll miss you, you know, but, you got to do what's best for you." then the whole family hugged each other and both Amy and Betty cried a little.

A year later, July, 1973, Amy and Jason were married, and a week later, Tom and Stephanie were married.

Tom had already moved most of his belongings to Nebraska, so all he had to do was bring his new bride with him, and as soon as their honeymoon was over with, they officially moved to Delaney, Nebraska to begin their life on a property of fifty acres. A year after they moved, their son Joshua was born, followed by two daughters, Grace and Kate.

Amy and Jason, both graduated from USC and moved to New York City so Jason could begin working for a firm on Wall Street, while Amy began teaching at a private Christian school.

Gregory kept close tabs on his son and daughter-in-law, unbeknownst to them, mostly to find out when and if she ever gave birth, especially if their firstborn was a son. One of Gregory's many eyes and ears in New York City came to him in early 1974, and said, "Amy is supposed to give birth in early summer. What do you want to do?"

"I'll wait for the appropriate time. This is something that requires patience, and when we strike, it'll be out of left field. Now go, watch their every move, while I begin to formulate my plans."

Amy gave birth to a healthy son, and they named him Michael James. Gregory's plans for his son, daughter-in-law, and grandson were now nearing fruition, and he would implement the plan soon when an opportunity to do so would present itself. Gregory knew he had to have patience. He had never gotten anywhere wanting things done without a clear-cut plan. If he did, it would blow up in his face and that's just something he couldn't let happen.

The opportunity came when Gregory found out that Jason and Amy were going to take Michael to visit Amy's parents for Thanksgiving, and they would drive to Jonesville instead of flying to the nearest major airport in the area. Gregory ordered one of his men, "I want them to be in a fatal car wreck, involving a semi-truck, make it look like little Michael died with them. Find a kid around the same age in a hospital or wherever, and make sure the body is burned beyond recognition. Do what you have to do to make this work. When you have Michael, bring him to me. Is that understood?"

"We understand, Mr. Evans. We will get to work right away." then Gregory's minion hurried away.

Gregory's cronies went to the home of Jason and Amy in the middle of the night and killed them while they were sleeping by suffocating them. They made off with Michael and took him to Gregory. Jason, Amy, and a baby who had just died from pneumonia while in the hospital, were put into Jason's Mustang, and driven out to a road that was mostly void of traffic. One of the cronies had a semi-truck nearby, started it up, pushed the vehicle to a speed that would destroy the Mustang with the hope that the car would catch on fire. The truck hit the Mustang at seventy miles an hour, causing the car to ricochet off of the truck's massive bumper, going down the bar ditch, up the embankment, and then smashed into a tree. The car was a total wreck as one of the cronies walked over to it to inspect the damage, and seeing fuel puddled around the car, lit a match to it. The car went up in flames, enough to make the two adult bodies recognizable enough as Amy and Jason, but the baby suffered worse burns, enough for anyone to think he was Michael.

"It's done, Boss." reported one of the cronies to Gregory soon after.

"Excellent. No one knows Michael is still alive, so I can raise him to take over the work when I'm gone. My name isn't going to die with me. When I'm through with him, he will hate Christians and will have a hatred for the Atwood family. Now, when I have need of your services again, I'll call you. Good work."

Charles and Betty were devastated by the deaths of the three. At the funeral, they couldn't help wondering why Gregory Evans hadn't attended the funeral, but Charles decided it was because Jason and Gregory Evans were estranged and didn't want to have anything to do with the funeral.

Charles, who was now fifty-five, suffered a devastating stroke as he and his wife were about to go home from the funeral, and died a month after the funeral. Betty mourned and was depressed for nearly a year because of the deaths of her husband, daughter, son-in-law, and grandson. She considered moving to Nebraska to live with Tom and his family.

Gregory Evans, finding out that Betty now had a whole lot of land, but really no way to work it all by herself, used some of his influence to foreclose on the property, even though the Atwood's had everything up-to-date. Betty didn't have the money to fight the foreclosure, so she made the decision to move to Nebraska to live with her son, daughter-in-law, and grandchildren. For now, Gregory Evans was satisfied.

******

# Chapter 10

Most plans Gregory planned for the Middle East seemed to fail, but discontent was brewing anew, especially with the United States. Gregory found it another opportunity to bring his plans closer to fruition. Time after time, Israel had fended off invasion after invasion of their Arab neighbors, even when those neighbors had been fully armed with modern weapons supplied by Gregory's weapons dealers. Gregory, being a person that never gave up, would keep trying until he found success.

Now, the anger seemed to have shifted to the United States, especially with a weak President who had no idea what he was doing. The influential people in the Middle East thought it was a perfect time to begin an overthrow of American supported leaders, specifically in Iran.

Another one of Gregory's latest schemes had involved denying the American people oil from the Middle East, making them wait in long lines to get gas for their cars, and then he sent some scientists out to claim that oil was getting scarce around the world. One of Gregory's cronies even came up with an idea to "save" the Earth by telling the poor and uneducated people around the world that they needed to stop using up Earth's supposedly limited resources, because the Earth was cooling to unhealthy levels because of the use of these resources, and an ice age was imminent.

Later, Gregory would have scientists claim that the Earth was warming because of human activity and Earth's supposedly limited resources couldn't handle the impending super heat wave. All he would need to do now was to have educators in liberal universities, the media, and politicians in key spots start showing this made-up data to the people to get them to believe it. He knew there would always be people who would believe everything the media, their teachers, or their government told them. The problem was the minority of people who always thought for themselves. Eventually, those free thinkers would have to be disposed of so Gregory and people like him would have free reign and no one would be questioning them.

With that in mind, Gregory arrived in Paris in the summer of 1978 to find out who was willing to lead the new Muslim revolution he had heard was percolating just beneath the surface. He wanted to encourage the zeal to stoke passions even hotter. He had helped stoke civil unrest in Iran against the Shah and hoped the man he would meet with would overthrow the Shah in the coming months. Gregory really didn't care that he was dealing with Muslims, for their cause - ridding themselves of Christians and Jews and forcing everyone to live under a tyrannical system of government - suited his own plans.

The thought never once crossed Gregory's mind that, if they could, they'd separate his head from his body and tear him limb from limb because he was a heathen in their minds. The only reason he wasn't harmed in this sea of extremists, is because he had power and money, something everyone all over the world admired. Without that, Gregory would've been dead years ago.

Gregory stepped into the meeting room at the hotel he and the men he was meeting with were staying. While there wasn't going to be but five men meeting with him, apparently the hotel staff had set up the room as if there would be two hundred people showing up. Gregory rolled his eyes and decided he would talk to the hotel owner later about this mistake. He paced the floor waiting until the other men entered and Gregory went to shake their hands.

Unlike in the past when he met with Hitler and his associates, this time Gregory didn't notice the darkness that filled the room when Muslim cleric Ruhollah Khomeini and his associates entered, for Gregory too was filled with spiritual darkness. Khomeini was just the person Gregory wanted to rule over the unwashed masses. They two agreed that the masses needed supervision and the cleric would rule with an iron fist.

The American thought this would be a great experiment to see how well such a system of government would work worldwide. Khomeini, not one who ever looked happy, said to Gregory, "I'm here, now what do you want to talk about?"

"Straight to business, I see. Good. I'll get straight to the point: I want to help you depose the Shah and then help you put yourself in power over your people,"

Khomeini looked at Gregory curiously for a minute before he replied, "What's in it for you, heathen?"

Gregory chuckled. These religious types and their grandiose self-righteousness never fail to amuse me, he thought to himself. Then he said out loud, "I seek to bring down the Christian and Jewish influence over the world. I have to start somewhere, and with your help, we can do it,"

"While I do believe in crushing those unbelievers in Allah, why should I let you help me? From where I'm standing, I need no help,"

"You need my help because I provide something everyone universally needs, whether you admit it or not,"

"Get to the point, heathen," Khomeini crossed his arms while putting a bigger scowl on his face. His associates didn't look very happy either.

"You need money for a revolution of this magnitude and I have it. Does this sound like something that would interest you?"

"Excuse me while I talk to my associates," replied the Iranian, as he took his associates a few feet away to discuss Gregory's proposal to offer money.

Minutes passed as Khomeini discussed the offer of money with his associates. When they were through talking, Khomeini walked back over to Gregory, and asked, "If I were to take your money, what's the catch and will I have to do anything in return?"

"There's no catch and you don't have to do anything in return. All I want is for you lead your people in the way you want to without interference from the West and it'll show your friends in the Middle East that the United States and its allies are nothing but paper tigers. Eventually, your friends in the region will overthrow western-backed leaders in your region and then all of you can wipe out Israel with help from all of your Muslim brothers. What do you say?"

"I need the Shah gone before I ever step foot in Iran again. Tell me, how will you get rid of him?"

"The Shah is easily bribed. All I have to do is offer him a good sum of money to leave and he will,"

"Interesting. The United States won't be happy with this development. How do I avoid my overthrow by that government?"

"No need to worry about that," Gregory answered with contempt in his voice, "the President is an idiot and so is everyone in Congress. Destroy the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and they'll leave you alone. Now, will you take my money or are you going to pester me with questions all day?"

"Yes, destroying the Embassy does seem like a good plan. I'll have my followers plan that once I gain power. I believe you have answered all of my questions for now, so I will gladly take your money, Mr. Evans, and then we can bring revolution to the people of Iran."

Gregory wrote a large check to Khomeini, and then he decided to fly to Tehran to talk to the Shah, Mohammad Pahlavi. Pahlavi was for modernization of Iran, including being very pro-western, and always spoke to business leaders about bringing their business to his country. All of these ideas irritated the religious clerics of Iran, who thought the United States, in particular, was the Great Satan and was corrupting the people of Iran, so civil unrest was currently happening all over the country. Gregory cared nothing about that as he waited to meet with the Shah.

Pahlavi finally arrived, shook hands with Gregory, and asked, "What can I do for you, Mr. Evans?"

"I need you to give up your power and leave Iran,"

Pahlavi laughed, and replied, "You must be joking. Why would I give up power?"

"I don't know, maybe because your life is worth more to you than your position?"

"Are you threatening me?"

"Not at all. There are people who plan on overthrowing you in the next year or two, and if you value your own life and that of your family, you'll take your leave of Iran,"

"And who are you to order me around?"

"I'm sure you've heard of men behind the scenes who are the real powers in the world. Correct?"

"Of course,"

"I'm the main power. You don't do what I want you to do and I can make your life very miserable, even more than it is currently with the civil unrest in Iran. I have a plan that requires you and your family leaving without making a fuss. You can either go quietly or not, but you will vacate your position. What do you choose?"

"I'll leave quietly. I suppose my family could use a vacation, but do we get to return?"

"No. You'll exile you and your family to the United States and I'll inform the government that you are not to be extradited back to Iran just because the new powers-that-be insist on it. Thank you for your time. I expect you to leave shortly." the two men went their separate ways.

Early in 1979, Shah Pahlavi announced suddenly that he and his family were going on vacation. A month later, several million Iranians welcomed Khomeini back to Iran. His revolutionaries began taking over the government institutions and once that was completed, Khomeini made it clear that any other revolt by the people was against Allah and was blasphemy.

Later that year, a demand was made of the United States to return the Shah. When it didn't happen, followers of Khomeini stormed the United States Embassy and took hostages. The United States President, Jimmy Carter, blustered that the country wouldn't yield to blackmail, but when he attempted to send in a rescue operation, the mission failed, ending in the deaths of eight Americans and the destruction of two helicopters. The whole episode made the United States look weak.

Gregory Evans' plans were right on track until Iraq's leader, Saddam Hussein, decided to invade Iran for no apparent reason, then the Shah died, and Algeria offered to be the mediator between the Iranians and the Americans. The hostages were released after being held for four hundred and forty-four days and the new American President, Ronald Reagan, got all the credit for it; which irritated Gregory because he didn't think the American people would've voted for him if Carter hadn't been such a nincompoop. Gregory decided he would have to eventually start interfering in American elections so he could get the result he desired.

Terrorism was on the rise throughout the rest of the 1980's due to Iran's encouragement of it, so Gregory decided to invest in the terrorists. Most of them wanted to start big, hit government buildings or financial centers, and try to bring down governments. Gregory thought they should start small: hijack airliners, blow up military outposts, and kill masses of civilians before they started in on destroying governments and economies.

Some of the terrorists Gregory tried to control decided to stay rogue. They didn't want anything to do with a heathen from America and would not be told what to do, even if he did have a lot of money. One such group was known as Islamic Jihad, who began their campaign of terror during the Civil War in Lebanon. They began with the bombing of the French Embassy in Beirut, followed by the bombing of the United States Embassy a year later, and then the bombing of a barracks containing a multinational force of French paratroopers and American Marines. The group also went after civilians, assassinated the President of the American University of Beirut, and also attempted to assassinate the Kuwaiti ruler, but that failed. Eventually, their downfall came about when they tried to abduct Soviet diplomats, but the KGB came down hard on the group, which caused some other Middle Eastern countries to enter the fray. Eventually, Islamic Jihad merged with Hezbollah.

Other terrorists around the world did what Gregory wanted. They hijacked passenger planes and the occasional cruise ship, bombed places where people gathered, blew up buses and trains, assassinated various world leaders, but the United States and other Western powers barely did anything about it. The United States did retaliate against Libya for bombing a nightclub in Berlin, but in general, the United States seemed more interested in bringing down the Soviet Union and interfering in Central America. This was because a couple of Reagan's advisers, the Vice President, and one member of his Cabinet, were paid by Gregory to re-direct the President to other activities, which were hobby wars in places like Granada. Gregory even had the United States supply weapons to the Taliban in Afghanistan so they could fight the Soviet Union, and Gregory knew that doing so would eventually come back and bite the United States.

In the meantime, he held the terrorists back from attacking the United States itself, there would be a proper time to strike, and Gregory told them it would be sometime in the next ten years, they needed to be patient.

The Soviet Union collapsing at the end of the 1980's was a complete surprise to Gregory, he had honestly thought they were as strong as they said they were, but apparently they weren't, and he thought that maybe his age was causing his mental faculties to be impaired, which was why he thought he missed the signs. Except for the United States, the rest of the Western powers were all on the decline too, thanks to Gregory's manipulating of their economies and their governments.

Unfortunately, despite Gregory's best efforts, the United States refused to go down the drain. He was beginning to think it would take another generation or two to bring the United States to the same level of decay as the Europeans. That disappointed him, since he wanted to see it happen in his lifetime.

Fortunately, Michael was turning out to be the son that Jason had never been, and he would more than likely see the eventual downfall of the United States and its irritatingly Christian influence. The only thing left for Michael to do was graduate high school in 1992, and then enter the radicalized halls of Harvard. At his advanced age, Gregory was looking forward to finally turning the reigns over to Michael.

******

# Chapter 11

"Ok, Michael, are you finally ready to depart for Harvard?" asked Gregory of his grandson, who was going to attend the school his first time during the spring semester.

"Totally Grandpa, it'll be awesome. Now that you gave me that rad cherry red Ferrari, the politicians' kids at Harvard will be really envious of me, and they'll have a need for speed. I'll rule the school."

What is with these kids and their tortured use of the English language? Gregory thought, I know he knows better, having learned from the best teacher's money could buy. Maybe that MTV really is a bad influence, so I'll have to look into it one of these days. Gregory shook his head, and then replied, "Michael, you will be careful with that car, do you understand me? I'm not going to buy you another one if you wreck it, even though you have a substantial allowance, and I don't want the little people getting their hands on it either. Got it?"

"Man...." Michael rolled his eyes.

"I asked if you understood me. Do you, Michael?"

"Yeah, sure, whatever," Michael answered with a shrug.

"Now, I have some other advice for you. If you do get involved with a fraternity, make sure you join the best and are the head of it before the end of the school year. Make sure you get to know the children of the movers and shakers in our society, for those children will be the movers and shakers in fifteen or twenty years. Listen to all of your professors. I installed ones that will indoctrinate the kids to our point of view, and then all of that indoctrination will spread to the government-controlled public schools. In twenty years or so, a whole new generation will begin to see how the Christians and other religious freaks have corrupted this country, and their influence will begin to wane. You can then begin to make the Christians look like intolerant racists, while the groups you support are actually the ones who are, but then you'll have the media on your side, so you'll have no problems. Have you got a picture of what I want from you?"

"You know, this is so lame. Why can't we like, you know, put those Christian weirdo's in prison or kill them all and forget about them?"

"I wish it were that easy, but their influence is much too strong right now. I've been working to dilute their influence for a very long time, but I'm just now seeing the results of that labor. Give it time, Michael. You'll know when to imprison Christians when you have people calling for their heads. Unfortunately, patience is required,"

"Dude, patience is over-rated, but I get it. For the United States to collapse, a bunch of things has to happen all at the same time, and we aren't anywhere near that happening. What a bummer,"

"Yes, it is quite a bummer. Now, are you ready to go?"

"Yep, see ya, Gramps." Michael tossed his bag into the Ferrari, climbed in, waved bye to Gregory, and then did a burnout all the way out of the driveway, leaving tire marks that merged into to the street.

Gregory sometimes wished Jason and Amy were still alive, since Michael was a handful to control, but Gregory had done what he had done and never regretted it once. The Atwood family was now living in some backwater town in Nebraska, and while they were no threat to Gregory, he did keep tabs on them from time to time. Eventually, Michael would make them pay for Amy introducing Jason to Christianity, but now was not the time, since Gregory still had other fish to fry.

As he was going back into the house, the Groundskeeper walked by, so Gregory said, "Jose, I need you to remove those burnout tire marks from the driveway. I can't have my property look rundown. Would you please do that right away?"

"Si, Señor Evans, I can do that." then the Mexican sprinted off towards his shop in the back of the property.

Before Gregory could return to his home office, his mobile phone rang. While the mobile phone was convenient, it was a pain to carry around, since it was so big and had to be carried around in something like a duffel bag. Gregory invested in technology, but even he was astounded at the pace of new technologies in the last twenty years.

The common person now had access to personal computers that were desktop sized and their kids had advanced video game machines that didn't require a whole lot of space like those arcade machines did, the video game units were small enough to sit on top of televisions. There was a telescope in orbit that could see deep into space and NASA was attempting to build a space station. Unfortunately, the American government stopped seeing the payoff in space travel; otherwise, Gregory would've been able to sell trips to the moon by now, but no one in the government or the bureaucracy saw it as important. Gregory had a thought that maybe he should start investing in private space travel, but he really had no idea who to talk to or where to begin.

Gregory answered the phone, "This is Evans,"

"Mr. Evans, this is Mike Johnson of the Florida Adoption Agency. You wanted me to call you when we had someone who was ready to give up a boy. Well, we have someone who is willing, and I'm sure you have someone in mind who will take the child."

"Ah yes, thank you for calling. I do have people who are looking for a child they can raise. I'll be down to Florida shortly to see the child and talk to the family. Thank you and goodbye."

After hanging up, Gregory called Wesley Collins, a powerful politician in Florida, "Wesley, this is Gregory Evans. I have news for you,"

"Hello Gregory, what's up?"

"An adoption agency down your way called me to let me know about a boy that someone is giving up. Since you and your wife want a child to continue with your legacy and you want to help me with my plans, I'm calling you to let you know I'm heading down there to retrieve the boy, so could you meet me at my private airstrip when I arrive?"

"Yes, of course. I'm glad to hear there's a boy available. Jane will be happy when she hears the news. Thanks again."

"No problem. See you later." Gregory and Wesley disconnected.

Gregory called his pilot to ready the jet and then told the house staff that he would be gone for a day or two. The limo pulled up to the front door and Gregory was driven to his private airport. At the airport, his Leer jet was all ready to take off, as Gregory climbed the stairs, where his pilot was waiting to greet him. "Good morning, sir, where are we off to?"

"You'll be flying me to Miami."

"Very good, sir. Please buckle up and we'll get going." The Leer jet took off for Florida.

Once in Florida, Gregory was greeted by Wesley and Jane Collins and then they took off for the Adoption Agency. As they were being driven there, Wesley asked, "Once we have our son, raise him until he's eighteen, what do you plan on doing with him after that?"

"Well, my grandson, Michael, will train your boy after he turns eighteen, to be the perfect politician who will be hard to peg down and Michael will put your son on the path to the President of the United States, where he will do what we want. I'm sure there'll probably be one or two men we can use long before your son becomes President, but this way we can ensure we get who we want and will do what he's told. Does this bother either of you at all?"

Wesley looked at Jane, who shook her head no, so Wesley replied, "No, neither of us are bothered by your plans. If we were, we sure wouldn't be sitting here talking to you right now. We're committed to the cause."

"Excellent. I need more people like the two of you who aren't weak-willed and soft-hearted because what we're doing will take some bashing in of heads and all of that to get what we want. There are going to be some hard times for some Americans in the coming years, but it is all part of my master plan." then the driver indicated they were nearing their destination, the three stopped talking, and they waited in anticipation of what was coming next.

Mike Johnson was waiting for them as the car drove onto the Adoption Agency's lot. He shook Gregory's hand, and said, "I'm glad you're here. The mother of the boy came back because she was beginning to regret her decision. I asked her to wait for you. Was that the right call?"

"Don't worry about it, Mike, you did the best you could," Gregory replied as he patted Mike on the shoulder. "I wonder how much money it'll take for her to disappear,"

"I.... I don't know, Mr. Evans,"

"That was a rhetorical question, my friend, no need to answer. Come, let's go meet this young lady and her young son."

The young lady was pacing back and forth as Gregory and the others approached. She was young, Gregory guessed she was about seventeen, and since this was southern Florida, she was just dark enough to be of Cuban or Puerto Rican descent. Gregory stopped in front of her, and asked, "I'm Gregory Evans, the man who is about to have my friends here adopt your son. Why do you want your child back?"

"Mi familia....."

"English please," interrupted Gregory, avoiding the temptation to roll his eyes.

"Sorry. Um, my parents and my boyfriend are not very happy I did this thing. They want me to bring the boy back. Family is very important in my culture,"

"You signed away your rights when you left here the first time, correct?"

"Si. Yes,"

"Then you cannot undo a contract. Once it is done, it is forever. How much money do you want so we can make this matter disappear?" Gregory pulled out his checkbook from his suit jacket and retrieved a pen from his shirt pocket.

"I.... I don't understand," the girl replied, with a confused look on her face.

"Will you and your family go away if I give you a large sum of money?"

"I don't know. I guess so,"

Gregory wrote out the check, handed it to the girl, whose eyes became like saucers when she saw the dollar amount on the check, and then she said, "Thank you so much, God bless you. I'll take it to my family right now, you don't have to worry about us anymore, you'll not hear from me ever again." then she shook everyone's hands and practically ran out of the building.

"Gregory, why did you do that? If they're illegal's, they could easily disappear and no one would know a thing," asked Wesley.

"While that's true, sometimes I like to bestow on the little people a gift. Of course, I'll get it back once I inform Immigration that there are some illegal's that need to be shipped back to whatever hellhole they came from,"

"Ah, that's the Gregory Evans I know. I was getting worried there for a second,"

"Thought I was going soft in the head due to my old age, did you?"

"Maybe a little,"

"I'm not. I can be as ruthless as ever when I choose to be. My age is only slowing down my body, not my mind. Anyway, let's go see this child the two of you are so eager to adopt."

They were lead into the room where the boy was being kept. The boy was less than a year old, had dark hair, had brown eyes, and his skin tone was light enough for people to think he wasn't of Caribbean ancestry, but he also would never look like he was the biological child of Wesley and Jane Collins. Jane picked him up, and said, "I definitely want him, he's such a beautiful little boy. What will it take for us to take him, Mr. Evans?"

"You already have him, Jane. No other major details are required. You and Wesley can take him home now if you wish,"

"Oh good. But, what about a birth certificate? Does he have one?"

"Don't worry about that, Jane, nobody's ever going to care about that. As far as anyone's concerned, he's an American citizen, but I'll create one for you if it bothers you that much,"

"Could you do that Gregory? I'd appreciate it if you could,"

"I'll have my people do that,"

"Thank you so much. Wesley, do you think David is a good name for him?"

"After your grandfather?" Wesley asked.

"Yes,"

"I have no problem with the name. David's a good, strong name. Thank you, Gregory, for helping us with this. We won't let you down."

"You're very welcome. I know you won't let me down, because if you did, the consequences of such an action would be severe. Anyway, now that you have your boy, I will return to New York. Good luck."

As Gregory was getting off of his plane in New York, one of his aides approached him, and said, "Sir, there's been a situation in Manhattan,"

"Well, spit it out, what's happened?"

"Terrorists have apparently attacked the World Trade Center. Fortunately, the only major damage done was to the underground parking lot, while six people were killed and a few thousand were injured. It's believed their intentions were to knock the two towers down,"

"Do we know who carried out the attack?"

"Yes, sir. It was carried out by members of Al Qaeda, and sponsored by, from what I've been able to gather, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed,"

This news set Gregory off as he went into a profanity-laced tirade his aide barely understood. After a minute, Gregory finally said in a clear tone, "I told those morons not to attack anything in the United States until I, or Michael, told them that there was an appropriate time to do so. Plans on a much smaller scale must be tested out to see how far an attack would go before a full-on terrorist attack can be implemented. When we get back to my office, I want bin Laden on the phone so I can tell him just what I think. Why are my plans always ruined by over-eager youngsters? They will think twice next time. Let's go to my office so we can sort this all out."

At the office, Gregory called Osama bin Laden, the rich Saudi who found and partially financed Al Qaeda, "Osama, this is Gregory Evans. What in blue blazes did you think you were doing?"

"I'm doing what must be done to bring down the Great Satan. Your timetable does not suit me, so we moved it up seven years,"

Gregory took a deep breath before he spoke, since he really didn't want to start calling Osama a bunch of profane names over the phone, and would make the two instant enemies if Gregory hadn't thought before he spoke.

"Do you realize how foolish this attack was? Your men have all been arrested and the bombing was of no real consequence. While you may not get a reaction from the new President of the United States this time, someday you'll attack at the wrong time and you will get a reaction from the United States government. Next time, I suggest you run your schemes to attack the United States through me or my grandson, Michael. Got it?"

"What will you do if I don't?"

"All of your money is deposited in my bank. All I have to do is seize your fortune and you'll be destitute within a matter of hours. Even if you attempt to take your money out of my bank, I have friends who run other banks. In less than half an hour, every bank in the world would know that I don't want you to have your money, so they would follow suit. You don't want that, do you?"

Gregory could practically hear Osama's teeth grinding, but the young man needed to be reigned in, even if just for a little while. Osama finally replied, "Fine, I'll hold my men back from attacking the United States, but when we do the next attack against your country, it will be bigger and better and aimed at making their financial system collapse. You can't prevent the inevitable. The United States of America will collapse under my watch."

Gregory rolled his eyes because he knew it would take more than knocking down a few buildings to bring the U.S. down, but he humored the Saudi and decided to agree with him ­­\- for now.

A few minutes later, Gregory hung up the phone and went back to work finding something for his new United States Attorney General to do to show Christians who was the boss. There was a Christian related cult down in Texas that looked like a good test, so he called up the Attorney General to discuss what he had in mind and she agreed to send the FBI after them.

******

# Chapter 12

Meanwhile, at Harvard...

Michael's first year at the Ivy League school went well. He had professors and instructors who held the same worldview he did, and he enjoyed listening to and learning from them. He took his time finding out who were the important students on campus when it came to his political beliefs. Michael decided he would get them all together sometime soon to discuss joining forces with him to increase their influence, especially when everyone graduated and began working in the real world.

Michael sent out flyers to the various student organizations he was interested in getting to know, so he could talk to them about their future. Since a lot of people in the know knew who he was, it wasn't all that difficult getting the students who were socialist Democrats, Communists, and Greens to show up to his meeting. It was harder to convince the minor political groups with their somewhat inane grievances to show up, but they did. Once they were gathered in an auditorium that the Dean of Students let Michael use, Michael began, "My fellow Harvard students, thank you for coming. I'm sure a few of you know who I am, but let me introduce myself anyway. I am Michael Evans, my family basically runs everything from behind-the-scenes. I'm next in line to run the family business, so I thought I would get to know my future partners while we were still in college. I want to talk to you about the future of the United States and where I want to take it. None of you are politicians' children, so all of you will eventually be the ones who will probably be influencing politicians at some to see your organizations' point of view. I want to bring all of your goals under one umbrella - mine. My goal is to destroy whatever remaining influence Christians and Jews have over this country, so we can join the rest of the world as a community. What I plan may take decades, but it will happen.

"My grandfather, Gregory, wants only to stop Christians from influencing events in the United States and for them to keep their opinions, beliefs, and political ambitions to themselves. Me, I want to crush them entirely, including their political brethren, who are Republicans and Conservatives. By the time I'm done, there will not be a Christian left alive in this entire nation and everyone, including the Establishment Republicans, will hate the traditional Republicans and Conservatives. I also plan on recruiting men from the Harvard Divinity School who will have no problem leading Christians down the wrong path, the path to their eventual destruction. I imagine it will take at least a generation, about twenty or thirty years, to begin to implement the needed program.

"While we have taken over higher level education, it's time to start infiltrating the elementary, middle, and high school levels and turn them into indoctrination centers. Most of the parents in this country will be too busy with their careers to notice what they're children are learning in school, so we will be able to do whatever we want. We will educate them to the point where they are the type of voters who are so low-information that they get their news from entertainment programs and not much else. There will be those few who educate their own children or put them in private education, but there's not enough of them to make much of a dent in the future we will have planned. We have to teach these young people that America was started by bloodthirsty whites who wanted gold and silver, and the Puritans and others weren't nearly as pure as they claimed. We have to make the Natives who were here out to be innocents, that none of them ever committed atrocities themselves, that they were what one writer once called 'Noble Savages.'

"These are just some of the ideas I have for education. By the time the first thirteen years of indoctrination is over with, these students will be sympathetic to the plight of illegal immigrants, homosexuals, pedophiles, drug users, and others who their parents and grandparents used to look down upon.

"Currently, the First Lady is attempting to convince the United States that it should have some kind of universal healthcare. Well, it will fail, but only because it doesn't go far enough. My grandfather is looking into rigging future elections to go our way so that we can ram through legislation that will dramatically change America. We will eventually have a new healthcare law that will not let anyone over sixty-five have unlimited healthcare, nor will they be allowed to enjoy retirement for very long for we will have people who will determine who can live and who should die, based entirely on what these retired citizens can contribute. This law will not let undesirables be born that will suck up money throughout their lives because they have one health issue or another, like children with Down syndrome or even Autism. This law will require that everyone pay the government for their healthcare, no one will have the freedom to use whatever health care provider they want. We will control what will be used and for how long. Companies who do not comply with the rules, like giving their employees full access to abortions, will be sued or forced out of business. Universal healthcare will also be used to tell people what they can or cannot eat, and we will declare that Americans are full of obese people who need the government to control what they eat. No more eating whatever junk food you want to eat just because you can.

"We will push the climate change agenda. The EPA and Energy Department will recruit scientists who will provide data nobody else can understand that says our side is right about humans, cars, trains, planes, and even industrial factories are causing damage to our atmosphere and that it needs to stop before Earth is turned into a wasteland. If people point out that it's the sun, the natural cycle of things, and that twenty years ago there were warnings of global cooling, call those people uneducated skeptics and even racists, because we'll claim that climate change harms poor minorities the most. The EPA will work to find the smallest creatures and say they're endangered to prevent farmers and builders from just building or planting wherever they want. The United Nations will soon come out with a plan known as Agenda 21, in which they will push everyone into cities so we can keep better track of them, and the common, everyday people will no longer be able to access the great outdoors without having to go through a lot of red tape. The governments of the world will start declaring vast stretches of land in their own countries as national monuments or just buy up the land to prevent the freedom to create more energy reserves so that only a few will be in control over all of the resources of the world.

"We will also work for the equality of gays in America. We will badger and complain about gays not having the right to marry each other. Make the claim that civil unions just won't do and how they don't get the benefits that straight married couples get. It won't even matter that they'll be Common Law married like straight couples, we'll force the issue in the Supreme Court. We will give them the ability to adopt children, this way the children will be indoctrinated to accept that lifestyle. We'll claim that being gay is genetic and they were born that way, but gays will continue to recruit people into their cause. While we bully Christians and Conservatives into accepting gays, gays will claim that they're being bullied by Christians and that it could be considered a hate crime to bully gays. If a church does not want to marry gays, they will be sued into oblivion. All of you will infiltrate the Christian churches and turn their point of view to your point of view, including the Catholic Church, especially since most of them want to be liked by the rest of the world. Gays will have their lifestyles sanctioned by Christians once we're done. All life choices will eventually be treated as normal and no one will bat an eye. You want to marry a child, go right ahead. You want to marry three or four women and they want to marry multiple husbands, that'll be acceptable in the future too. You think of it, we can make it happen.

"America's borders will be opened up to whoever wants to come, and the government won't enforce the immigration laws. If a state attempts to sue the federal government over the laws, that state will lose. Eventually, the federal government will grant amnesty to the illegal's, and they'll have access to everything natural born and naturalized citizens have. This will give us millions of people who will vote for the Democrats and we'll stay in power for decades to come.

"Finally, unions will control who works and who doesn't, and which companies can continue to do business and which ones can't. All workers in the United States will pay union dues. When the union says to strike, the worker will strike. If a worker does not strike, they will never be allowed to work again. The government will give everyone a high minimum wage, but we will also give everyone a maximum wage. Basically, our end goals are social and economic justice for the oppressed peoples of the United States and eventually the world. If you're with me and want to join this brave new world, please sign up, and we'll begin the process."

When Michael was finished with his speech, the audience of a little over six hundred stood up and cheered. Michael was pleasantly surprised by the adulation, but was glad that this many people agreed with him. He walked out to the lobby where a sign-up sheet was on a table that would record peoples' names, addresses, and phone numbers where Michael and his people could reach them to discuss what they can do in the future. Grandfather would be proud, Michael thought, as he watched every single student sign the sign-up sheet, from socialists decked out in Che Guevara t-shirts, to gay men dressed in their mid-to-late 1980's pastels and the butch lesbians dressed in their flannel and jeans, to dedicated feminists who hardly ever showered and looked like they were homeless. Later on, he would have to tell all of the groups that dressing more professionally would get people to take them seriously, but the enthusiasm all of them showed made him happy. I'm taking his view of the future further than he ever thought about, and, hopefully, he doesn't throw a fit about it.

While in deep thought, he didn't notice someone standing in front of him, until she cleared her throat. Michael looked up to see a girl with long, messed up, dark brown hair, clothes that looked like sackcloth, and smelled like she hadn't showered in days. I wonder what this radical feminist wants with me? he wondered, while trying not to gag because of the smell. "Can I help you?"

"Yeah, um..."

"Spit it out, I don't have all day,"

"Why should we listen to someone who is part of the patriarchy dominated culture and wants to oppress the matriarchy?"

Michael rolled his eyes and wondered if these feminists really believed this crap they kept pushing. "Seriously? Is that all you wanted to say to me? You know, I could have read that spiel from one of your movement's press releases your leaders keep putting out. Right now, you're getting a whatever from me,"

She clearly wasn't prepared for the nonchalant attitude Michael displayed, because she looked like she wanted to run away, but she stood her ground, as she replied, "No, that's not what I really wanted to say, but I got nervous,"

"Can you please get to the point already?"

She put a strand of hair behind her ear, went into a more feminine posture, and said, "I totally love that you feel that way about the future. You're like, so serious, and I'm attracted to guys who have power. Would you like to go out sometime?"

Michael's eyes went wide and then he started laughing, "You must be joking. Look at you, you smell like a cow lot, your hair's a mess, and nothing you're wearing screams anything about you being attractive. Maybe you should try a pantsuit like the First Lady wears. Isn't she supposed to be some kind of feminist icon? Most of those other so-called feminists look like a bunch of dried up old hags, which is what you'll look like soon enough if you keep being a radical. Did you really think someone as lame as you would be qualified to go out with someone like me? Why don't you go do your homework from your Women's Studies class and leave me alone?"

The girl's face went red, she started bawling, and then ran away. Michael was annoyed by radical feminists. He knew women who were nearly as powerful as his grandfather and were that way because of hard work, not through grievance mongering. He was glad he could make one cry. Maybe he should try getting one of the queers to cry, but then one of the lesbians would beat Michael up for trying. He didn't think lesbians had the slightest sense of humor. All Michael cared about was using whatever power and influence these various groups had, he cared nothing about their imagined grievances, and he would use them as long as they continued to be useful idiots.

The next business Michael needed to do was to go to the Divinity School to recruit men who would lead Christians down the wrong path. Luckily, he had already talked to a professor who told him which men were best suited for such a task. He needed men who would be preaching in California, Texas, and some of the other key States where they could influence a lot of people to their way of thinking and could get on TV to an even wider audience. Men that wouldn't be seen as power hungry and craving riches, like some of the televangelists from the '80's, but appeared to have the people's welfare in mind. The men Michael wanted to recruit needed to be slicker than that and seem like they were on a mission from God.

Michael found one of the men he was looking for in the man's office, since he was one of the graduate teacher's assistant. He looked like he was grading some papers at his desk and was completely focused on his task. "Excuse me, are you Kevin Josten?" Michael asked, as he knocked on the open door to the office.

A startled Josten looked up from his desk. His tired eyes looked at Michael, and he asked, "How can I help you?"

"My name is Michael Evans, you probably don't know me, but I've heard about you. I believe you want to be a preacher who preaches the whole prosperity gospel nonsense. I'd like to help you with that,"

Josten's tired eyes lit up and he smiled. "Really? I'd love that idea. But, how do you propose to do that? So far, I'm stuck grading papers and teaching various classes,"

"You've graduated already, right?"

"Yes,"

"Would you like to start a church in your home state of Texas? I can get you started,"

"Would I like to have a church? You bet. But, there are currently no openings, which is why I'm stuck here,"

"There will be an opening if I give you enough money to start your own ministry. Interested?"

"Sure I am. What do I have to do?"

Michael sat down and began to discuss with Josten what he planned and what he wanted from people like Josten. Michael was amazed when Josten had no problem with the plans and was very eager to get started. Michael then gave Josten enough money to start his own ministry and build a new church. In less than a year, Josten's new church already had over a thousand members, and important television personalities were beginning to notice him. Michael also found two others who were just as eager to work with him and he also gave them the seed money to get started.

A few days later, Michael was in the library studying, when someone approached him from behind, and said, "Michael Evans, I need to talk to you,"

Michael turned around, to see an attractive young lady in a blue pantsuit. She had shoulder length brown hair, had blue eyes, and had a nice figure from what Michael could see. He stood up and asked, "Hi there, what do you need to talk to me about?"

"Don't you remember me?"

"Nope, can't say that I do. I think I'd remember someone as attractive as you if I had,"

"I'm the girl you made cry at that meeting a couple of days ago. That was totally not cool. I wanted to show you what I really look like. Eat your heart out, Michael Evans,"

"You clean up really well. What's your name?"

"Helen," she replied, as she brushed some hair back behind her right ear.

Michael took her right hand, raised it up to his lips, and kissed her hand. Helen blushed, so Michael asked, "You don't seem like a radical to me, so why are you one of them?"

"Oh, I so wanted to be, but I'm too much of a girly-girl to fit in with them. They're like, kinda crazy, you know?"

"I know what you mean. I'm glad you aren't going for the shriveled and used-up look. How would you like to go on a date?"

"I'd love to. When?"

"Would Friday work for you?"

"Yeah. Ok, I'll be ready then. See ya around." then she walked away to wherever she was headed. Michael found this to be an interesting turn of events, but wondered if Helen was a bit on the nutty side. He would soon find out.

He picked her up in his Ferrari, and Helen was thrilled to be seen in such a powerful looking sports car. Michael took her to a four-star restaurant in town so they could eat and talk. As they were eating and talking, Helen said, "I think it's so cool you have the power to do what you want to do. I'd like to someday help you with that. I can get more feminists on your side. We can protest against some future woman-hating, rape loving, anti-choice Republican President or accuse the military of treating women like second-class citizens or even force all male-dominated clubs, like Augusta, to let women in. You do know you need a woman to help you, right? Because radical feminists aren't going to listen to you, since a lot of them would consider you part of the patriarchy. What do you think?"

"That might be a good idea, but why should they trust you if you're in league with one of the male devils?"

"I would have to say that it's complicated, but they would trust me. It would be awesome if we worked together,"

"I guess I could use a female counterpart, and since you seem to want the job, I welcome you to the business." then he reached across the table and they shook hands. "So, want anything for dessert?"

"Is that all?" she asked, wondering why he didn't have anything else to say.

"What?"

"There's no, like, secret handshake, or, you know, a password to be let into your club?"

"That's silly. This isn't the Mob from the movies, this is real life. Now, why don't you order a desert or something?"

"What about your grandfather? Won't he be upset you let me in?"

"Why on Earth would you think that?"

"Well, there's some rumors I've heard that he gets rid of women he doesn't like...."

"Don't go there, Helen, that's something that no one should discuss. Not even with me. Got it?" interrupted Michael, whose sudden burst of anger caught Helen by surprise.

"Ok, sorry,"

"Now, do you want dessert?"

"Yeah, I'll take a slice of chocolate cream pie, if they have it."

Desert was served a few minutes later. Michael also knew about his grandfather's reputation, which made him decide that he wouldn't reveal this particular bit of information to the Old Man until the time was right, whenever that would be. Michael wasn't worried so much about Helen, since she was an atheist like he was, but the Old Man thought having a woman in one's life was an obstacle to his schemes. Michael didn't feel that way, and even though he respected the Old Man, he thought he was wrong, but had no idea how to change Gregory's mind, if he ever could. In the meantime, he would enjoy Helen's company and whatever happened later, would have to be decided then.

******

# Chapter 13

For the next four years, Michael and Helen spread their message everywhere to other colleges and universities thanks to the increased use of the internet during this period. Message boards and websites were created to push the message of government control over individual liberty and the mainstream media started to push the message as well. Michael hadn't realized there were so many others who felt the same way he did about the idea that the religious types were ruining the United States, and his fellow students were more than eager to get their ideas up and running when they finally graduated. He also knew of others older than him who had been getting ready for more government in peoples' lives, including the present President of the United States, his wife, and the Vice President. They had been part of the sixties upheaval that his grandfather had pushed to try to destabilize the United States, so it was hoped that when they got into power, that they would push the country over the edge. But, it hadn't happened. Instead, the President and his wife got embroiled in one scandal after another, ticking off the Republicans in Congress, and a good sizable chunk of the American electorate, even though he did get re-elected. Gregory and Michael Evans both had great hopes for the Vice President for the next election, since he was a true believer in government control, and was beginning to push the global warming agenda so there would be more government control over people's lives.

As Michael came to closer to graduation, Gregory began to slowly turn over his businesses, investments, and clientele to his grandson. At eighty-two years of age, Gregory was feeling his age and knew it wouldn't be long now before he died, so he wanted to get finished with the transfer as quickly as possible. Michael had no idea this was happening. Gregory meant to surprise him by handing over all of his power as a graduation gift. He also knew of Helen. Gregory kept track of everything his grandson was involved in, since that unfortunate event years ago with Jason and Amy, and had no problem with the young lady, since her ideas aligned with Michael's. He hoped the two young people would be happy, at least happier than he had been for most of his life when it came to companionship. Gregory had to do what he had to do in order to gain power, and while not regretting the choices he made, he did sometimes think about what might have been had Evelyn and her parents not tried to interfere so much. With all of that in mind, Gregory went to Harvard for Michael's graduation.

Michael greeted Gregory when he arrived, "Hi, Grandpa, I'm glad you could make it to my graduation,"

"I'm sure you'll be even happier when I give you the graduation gift I have planned for you. Now, where's this Helen girl that you've been seeing?"

Michael's face went ashen, since he rarely thought about his grandfather being in the know about everything, and he wasn't sure he would ever tell him about Helen, but since grandfather already seemed to know, Michael decided to reply, "We weren't sure you'd be happy I have a girlfriend,"

"Nonsense! As long as you're happy, I'm happy. Where is she?"

"She and her feminist friends are working on a protest against the Catholics for not letting women be anything: with the exception of nuns, of course. In a couple of months, they also plan on suing several Fortune 500 companies for not having enough female top-level executives and not hiring enough women in general. They have a lot of protests, court dates, and anti-war demonstrations planned to keep them busy for years to come,"

"She sounds like a very dedicated woman to the cause. Are you going to marry her?"

Michael shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know. Sometimes, she's a very girly girl who's into the idea, and then there are other times, where she gets all high and mighty about that patriarchy nonsense, the supposedly moronic idea of taking the man's last name, and we men making women stay barefoot and pregnant. I guess I should find out one of these days and ask her,"

"Yes, you probably should. By the way, did you manage to recruit anyone from the Divinity School? You mentioned it a while ago, and I thought I'd find out, since that was a brilliant idea,"

"Thank you, Grandfather. Yes, as a matter of fact, I was able to recruit some men to our cause. One of them, Kevin Josten, is now preaching in his mega-church in Dallas, Texas. His message is about prosperity gospel; you know, if you dream it, God will give it. It'll be more like, you give Josten lots of money and he'll be rich beyond all of his wildest dreams. The second, Ryan Whittier, will set himself up to be the Preacher to the Politicians, and he's in California. Someday, he wants to be seen as the go-to guy for politicians to find out what God says about this or that. The third is Mark Goat. With my help, he plans on setting up a television network that will air vaguely Christian messages from prosperity gospel preachers, messages from the occasional Fundamentalist nutcases, and even the out there End Times preachers. Our plan is to confuse those uneducated about what the Christian message really is. Heck, Goat and Whittier want to join Christians with Muslims, get the uneducated types thinking that the barbarians in the Middle East actually believe the same thing as real Christians. They call it Chrislam. We sow chaos in the Bible Belt and we can rule America the way we want,"

"You're doing a good job, Michael. Which is why you'll be very happy when I give you your graduation gift?"

"What is it?"

"You'll just have to wait until after graduation. It won't be long now."

A few hours later, everyone was gathered in the auditorium for graduation. The time went by slowly for Michael as he was looking forward to the gift his grandfather planned on giving him. Michael thought that he would be finally given the keys to everything and he would now be able to wield his power completely. The Old Man would have to go, though, if he were dying, his passing wouldn't be soon enough for Michael. Of course, it would have to look like he died of old age, so he'd have to investigate how to make the death look as natural as possible. Four hours later, after what seemed like endless talking by V.I.P.'s who were invited to speak at the graduation, Michael went to look for both Gregory and Helen.

He found Helen first. "Are you ready to meet my grandfather?"

"Sure, but what was his reaction to us being together?"

"Amazingly, he was supportive. Must be his old age affecting his brain, making him soft in the head. I think he's going to hand over the keys to his power, which will be awesome,"

"That's nice to know he has no problem with us. What do you plan on doing to him when he hands over everything?"

"I'm thinking about what's next. Anyway, let's go find him."

They found Gregory waiting for them outside of the auditorium, and he asked, "Are you ready to go back to New York with me? That's where I'll give you your graduation present,"

"Yeah, I just have to get all of my belongings together and then we can go. Grandpa, you haven't met Helen yet, I'd like to introduce you to her. Helen, this is my Grandfather, Gregory Evans,"

The two shook hands and both told the other it was nice to finally meet the other. Then Gregory said, "My driver will help you with your things, Michael, and then we can depart for New York. Helen, are you coming with us?"

"Sorry, but I have to look for my parents, they're here too. I plan on visiting with them for a while, and Michael has already met them, but I'll be in New York before the start of next month. Would you like to meet my parents, Mr. Evans?"

"While that would probably be an interesting activity, I don't think so, I'm far too busy. It was nice meeting you, Ms. Andrews." Helen kissed Michael goodbye, walked away, and Gregory said, "Interesting young lady, I hope you don't regret knowing her. Now, let's get you on your way home."

Hours later, at their home, Gregory's lawyer was waiting for them with a briefcase, and Michael knew instantly that Gregory was definitely handing over everything to him. Both men shook hands with the lawyer as they went into Gregory's office, and all three sat down, as Gregory began, "Nate, is everything in order and prepared for Michael to sign?"

"Yes, Mr. Evans, all Michael has to do is sign the papers and everything will be turned over to him,"

"Good. Michael, I'm sure you know what's going on, so this probably isn't that big of a shock to you,"

"I figured it out, and no, it really isn't that big of a shock. I am wondering why so soon after I graduated, though,"

"Well, as you can tell, I'm old, and I can't carry on with the business the way I was able to as a young man. I had hopes for Jason, but he went his own way and ultimately failed me. I would have retired in my sixties, if Jason had been my heir apparent, but that didn't happen. Now, you're old enough to take on all these responsibilities and I'm glad to see you're more dedicated to the cause than I thought you would be. Are you ready to sign?"

"Yeah, but shouldn't I read these documents before I sign anything?"

"Michael, you don't need to worry, there's no hidden language, no hidden traps, and it's all straightforward and to the point. There's one page for each area I'm involved in, and all they say is that I will hand over that to you, and you can do what you want. Once you have control over everything, you can really do what you want. Isn't that right, Nate?"

"Your grandfather is correct, Michael. Gregory wrote all of this himself, with some help from me, so there is no lawyer-ease and complicated language. Here, read one for yourself," Nate handed Michael the first document, which was only one page.

Michael read it and replied, "If the rest of the documents are as simple and direct-to-the-point as this is, I'll have no problem signing them. Where's a pen?"

Michael was handed a pen, and he began to sign his name to all of the documents. As he signed, he saw that all clients and employees had been notified of the transition of power, so they would know that when Michael came calling, he would be the one they would have to talk to. Michael also hadn't realized just how extensive Gregory's power was, he had his fingers in everything: from oil production to technology to government legislation to dealing with rogue states and terrorists to control over stock markets and currencies. If Gregory had wanted to, he could've brought the world to its knees in less than a day, but that wouldn't do anyone any good if the world economy and various governments failed in an instant, it had to do be done gradually. Michael also realized how long it would take to dilute the influence of the United States and its Christian citizens, but he would do it, and it helped him that he started so early in college with the new technologies available to him.

Ten minutes later, Michael was now in charge of the Evans family fortune and businesses. He thanked Nate, who left to take care of other clients, while Gregory seemed to be sitting in contemplation over the current events. He asked Michael, "What are you going to do now?"

"Why Grandfather, the same thing you've been trying to do: Take over the world!" Michael chuckled at his little joke in reference to a favorite cartoon, but Gregory didn't seem to get it.

"Well, that's good and all, but remember not to step on a lot of toes on your way to doing so, because a lot of your clients are the sensitive types who need to be reassured that they're special people because of the positions they're in and that what they do really does matter in the grand scheme of things. With all of this new technology, you can take your ideas directly to the people now, like you've done, and skip over the prima-donnas of the political world when you think they're just being obstructionist and thick-headed. Anyway, now that this burden is finally off of my shoulders, I think I'm going to take a long needed rest and do some catching up on my reading." Gregory got up from his chair and left the office, headed for his library.

Michael pondered what to do next, so he went to his grandfather's rather ancient Apple IIE, which would be replaced soon enough, and powered it up to find out in deeper detail what Gregory was currently involved in and what Michael could do about it. There were documents about various ideas the United Nations had about population control and how to push people into moving closer together in the cities and Gregory's thoughts on how to accomplish those goals. A research paper thought up by one of the scientists employed by Gregory, was on the best ways to create and then insert tracking chips into humans. The paper also discussed how these tracking chips would keep track of everything a human does on a day-to-day basis and how a government could manipulate the data.

Another document discussed the theory of Global Warming and how to manipulate the data into looking like humans were causing the Earth to warm, how animals were going extinct, and the discussion included various ways of browbeating the public into accepting the theory as fact. All of these documents included the names of every public official who supported these measures, and none of the names mentioned surprised Michael in the least, since most of them were publicly supporting the ideas in newspapers and on television.

Michael also found that Gregory had kept track of all of the terrorist organizations around the world and the various activities they were involved in, including references to various actions that would be taken against the United States itself in the coming years. There was an action set to take place almost a year after the next election for President of the United States, which greatly interested Michael. He decided he would find out everything he could about it and assist where he could.

After printing out some of the more useful documents, Michael picked up his cell phone and called Helen. He told her about the many documents he signed and what he found on Gregory's computer. She was greatly interested, and then asked, "Are you still going to make sure he's out of the way so he doesn't interfere?"

"I don't know. His age seems to be catching up with him and he seems kind of frail, more than I remember from the last time I saw him. Maybe he'll take care of it himself,"

"You're not chickening out, are you?"

"Hardly. Once I signed the paperwork, he didn't seem very interested in it any longer and said the burden was finally off his shoulders. Does that seem to you like someone who would interfere?"

"I guess not. So, when do we get to see each other again?"

"Why don't I come to visit you next weekend?"

"Sounds wonderful, I look forward to it. Well, I gotta go, Mom wants me to help her with a huge dinner she's preparing. Bye." the two hung up the phone.

Two weekends later, Michael went to visit Helen, and as they were talking, he asked her to marry him. She was hesitant at first, but said, "All right, but I'm keeping my last name, since I don't subscribe to the whole social structure that revolves around the patriarchy. Is that ok with you?"

"Sure, no problem,"

"Good. Why don't we go down to the Courthouse right now and get it done?"

"Don't you want a wedding?"

"Nope, I don't have any desire to drain my parents dry and we don't want anything to do with the religious types who would officiate nor do I want to use one of their buildings,"

"If that's what you want, then that's what we'll do. Let's round up your family for witnesses and let's go."

Two hours later, Michael and Helen were married. After getting everything together that she needed, she went back home with Michael. As they got out of the car, one of the household servants walked up to them, and said, "Your grandfather is dead. He died in his sleep,"

"When?"

"Last night. We called the morgue and they picked him up. I'm sure you know this, sir, but he wanted to be cremated, so they're waiting for you to make the call,"

"All right, I'll do that. Could you help Helen with her bags?"

"Yes, sir, Mr. Evans."

Michael was happy his grandfather had died on his own, but didn't let the house staff or others see how he really felt. He maintained a grave demeanor the whole time. He then had Gregory cremated according to his wishes. Gregory had also wished that everyone who should know about his death be informed, but beyond that, a big deal would not be made about it. Michael and Helen now felt unencumbered to do what they wanted to do and began to carry out their plans.

******

# Chapter 14

It was a bright, sunny September morning in Delaney, Nebraska. Twenty-six-year-old Joshua Atwood turned on the TV in his living room to the morning news so he could listen to it while he fixed his wife of six months breakfast. It was her twenty-fifth birthday, and he wanted to serve it to her in bed, even though she didn't particularly want to eat it there. Since they had a TV in their bedroom, she turned it on while Joshua made breakfast.

As he was putting the cooked food on a plate, Joshua heard a breaking news alert, and the news anchor saying, "Um, apparently an aircraft of some kind has hit the World Trade Center in New York, but we're not sure if it was an accident or on purpose. We're live as it is happening, so we're getting as much information as we can before we go into speculation as to why this happened...."

Before the news anchor could continue, cameras trained in on another aircraft slamming into the other tower, and one could tell it was a passenger plane. Like the other building, it caught on fire quickly. Joshua was shocked by what he was seeing, and then he heard his wife's reaction, "Oh my God!"

He picked up the plate of food, put it and a glass of milk on a tray, and rushed back to the bedroom. Mary Anne had tears in her eyes as Joshua sat down on the bed with the tray, and asked, "Have they said anything about why this happened?"

"No, but they're working on finding out why such a thing happened. Who would do such a horrendous thing, Joshua?"

"I.... I don't know, Hon. The United States does have plenty of enemies, but I can't imagine using passenger aircraft to attack us. I'm sure the government will find out pretty quickly who did this and respond with whatever force is necessary,"

"I hope so,"

"I brought you breakfast, do you want to eat it?"

"No thanks, I'm not hungry anymore. You can eat it if you want,"

Joshua nervously gulped down the food as the two watched the news anchors attempting to get their heads around the now apparent hijacking of two passenger planes that were forced to hit the Twin Towers. As the news kept focusing on the burning Towers, reports came in that two more aircraft were apparently missing, but within minutes of that report, one of the planes had slammed into the Pentagon, now there was only one missing. The video was shown of the President being informed, and Joshua caught the look of shock, then of concern, on the President's face as he pondered what to do next since he was sitting in front of schoolchildren reading to them. It was reported that Air Force One would be flown to Barksdale Air Force Base, and then possibly to Offutt. However, no one knew for sure, only that the Secret Service wanted the President away from anything that might happen to him.

Manhattan was in a serious state of chaos as the Police and Fire Departments did their best to get people away and attempted to rescue people in the buildings. The news media, especially the ones who were reporting from New York City, were clearly overwhelmed with emotion as they reported on the terrorist attacks on their city and on Washington, D.C., but that didn't stop them from showing people jumping out of the two buildings to escape the now massive fire that was consuming the Towers. Mary Anne clutched tightly to Joshua as the Towers suddenly collapsed into a massive heap of dust and debris, killing thousands inside, while cameras showed the terrified New Yorkers running away from the massive debris cloud that consumed the area.

"Joshua, we need to pray, especially for our President and our country," Mary Anne said through her tears.

"Ok. Heavenly Father, we come to you today because of the tragedy in New York, Washington, and all the people who have died due to the terrorist attacks. Please help their families in this time of need, please help our leaders do what is right, and please help our country to come together and focus on you. Thank you and in your name, amen."

A few minutes later, it was reported on the news, "We have learned that some passengers on a United Airlines flight, we believe that its number is 93, have stopped the hijackers of their flight from causing any more harm to their fellow Americans. Unfortunately, the plane went down in rural Pennsylvania, and there are no survivors. We know this because one of the passengers phoned his wife to tell her what was happening on board. When he was told what happened to the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, he got a group of men together and stopped the terrorists. While we don't know where Flight 93 was headed, there's a good chance that it was headed for either the Capital or the White House, since both buildings have been evacuated. We've also been informed by the FAA that all flights in the United States have been grounded or have been told to land at the nearest available airport. All flights are canceled until further notice. Stay with our broadcast as we bring you updates and reactions from various political leaders."

"Joshua, can we get the families together tonight?"

"I didn't think you wanted company today, since it's our six month anniversary and your birthday,"

"Yeah, but that was yesterday. Today, I kinda feel like being surrounded by my whole family. You know?"

"Yeah, I know. I kind of feel the same way. I'll go call everyone; I don't think anyone would have a problem coming over tonight."

Both sides of the family had no problem with coming over later on, but they all made it clear they didn't feel like celebrating anything, but being around family was what was important in this time of tragedy. As everyone talked, some of the younger males in their twenties began talking about joining up with the military. "I hear that it was a guy named Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan that backed Al Qaeda and told them to attack us. I hope President Bush will send hellfire and brimstone on that bunch," stated Dale, Mary Anne's brother.

"I saw on the web that Saddam Hussein was the one who backed the attack, along with some guy named Evans. Evans is supposed to be some super rich tycoon who is involved in everything, including this terrorist attack. We should've gotten rid of old Saddam back in the Gulf War when we had a chance. Now look at what he's done," complained Jerry Hogan, who was married to Grace, Joshua's sister.

"Jerry, you know you can't believe everything you read on the web. Don't you know that's where all the black helicopter and conspiracy types hang out?" answered Joshua, while the others laughed.

"Well, the web is also good for getting news the mainstream media doesn't report. News about what the United Nations is planning on doing when it comes to reclaiming the Earth from us humans to rumors that the last election was supposed to have been fixed in favor of the Vice President to reports about how global warming is junk science and how Gore is making money off of the whole scam. Just because you see it on TV doesn't make it true, you know,"

"Chill out, Jerry, we didn't mean to rile you up. Anyway, I was thinking that maybe it would be a good idea to join the military, especially if we're going after those terrorists, show them that nobody messes with the good old USA and gets away with it,"

Everyone in their twenties agreed with Joshua that joining up with the military to take the fight to the terrorists was a good idea and they all agreed to sign up by the end of the week. None of the wives were very happy about the plan, but they understood and gave their husbands their blessings.

As Joshua was getting ready to go down to the recruiter's office, Mary Anne stopped him, "Joshua, I need to tell you something that I should've told you on Tuesday, but other events happened along the way,"

"What is it, Hon?"

"I found out that I'm three months pregnant, the doctor told me on Monday,"

"Really? That's wonderful news!" then he gave her a hug. "But, I'm about to join up with the military, do you want me to put it off?"

"Oh, don't do that. I've got yours and my family to help me when I need it. You need to do this, your country and our future child is depending on men like you who defend our country from evil people,"

"If you're ok with it, I'll go. But if you're not, I'd have no problem staying here,"

"Joshua, please do this, because I am ok with it. I love you, but stop being such a bonehead,"

Joshua kissed Mary Anne and left for the recruiter's office. While he was outside, he noticed how eerily quiet the sky was without all the aircraft crisscrossing it, and he kind of missed hearing jet aircraft zoom by. Joshua hoped that flights would resume without too much trouble. He made his way to the recruiting office, joined the Army, went through the pre-physical checkup, and was checked out as a fine physical specimen. A week later, he was sent to the training base by way of bus and was joined by others, like James Delaney, his best friend, who had just gotten married to Elizabeth Lincoln, who was the best friend of Mary Anne, since they didn't want to put off getting married now that James was going into the military. James had been inspired when the President went to Ground Zero in Manhattan to cheer up the workers who had to sort through the mess of the downed Twin Towers and promised them that the people who downed the Towers would be brought to justice. James was a guy who didn't trust the previous President enough to want to go into the military, but decided this new one seemed trustworthy enough that he wouldn't screw over those he commanded, at least not purposefully. James did think a few in Congress would do it the first chance they had, just to make the President look bad.

Nine weeks later, James and Joshua were assigned to units in Afghanistan after the Air Force had gone in and attempted to weaken the Taliban. Later, James was later reassigned to Iraq when the U.S. invaded that country.

******

# Chapter 15

Michael Evans looked at his watch as he stood on the Observation Deck of the Empire State Building. He was staring across the open expanse to the twin buildings of the World Trade Center. The weather was clear and sunny, the perfect day for something big to happen. Nobody in his circle, not even Helen, knew what was coming next, only the Al Qaeda agents and bin Laden knew, and they only planned on announcing they were involved long after the fact. Now, Michael was by himself on the Observation Deck, his bodyguards convincing people not to come on the elevator to the Deck, even though he could've informed the owner of the building he was here, but he didn't feel like getting his butt kissed this morning. He told his guards that no one was to disturb him, even the NYPD, who would probably be concerned with other matters in a short time.

Fifteen minutes before nine, he saw the first plane, an American Airlines branded plane, come flying into the area, headed directly for North Tower, which it hit at full speed seconds later. Michael watched the top of the building explode into a fireball and the surrounding floors catch on fire. Far below, on the ground, he could hear sirens blaring as the Police and Fire Departments began to respond to the plane hitting the building. Eighteen minutes later, a United Airlines plane smashed into the South Tower, also exploding into a fireball and catching the surrounding floors on fire.

Michael was pleased that it was happening almost like clockwork. He looked at his watch again, seeing that the third plane should hit the Pentagon in about thirty minutes, while the fourth would hit the Capital near the top of the next hour. Originally, the organizers of the attack wanted to target the White House, but Michael, after reading "Debt of Honor" by Tom Clancy, thought it would be cooler to hit the Capital as a nod to the novel, even though the President would be out of town, and only the Representatives, Senators, and their people would be hurt or killed. The Al Qaeda organizers didn't need to be convinced much, since they thought hitting the White House would probably be nearly an impossible target to hit anyway. If he had thought that Al Qaeda's leadership had really been interested in punishing Americans, instead of just the government or the economy, Michael would've suggested terrorist attacks on places where lots of people gathered: the malls, large sports venues like football stadiums or NASCAR, a few of the mega churches, and parades such as the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, where they could get a massive amount of deaths, which would give them great PR in the Middle East. But, they never asked, so he didn't bother suggesting it.

He had an idea of how the American people might react, since some over-reacted to the whole Y2K scenario the year before last. Michael wanted to test his theories out before the 9/11 attack, so he had the media over-hype, for a full year leading up to January 1st, the possible computer glitch involving the year 2000, and what might possibly happen to the world-as-everyone-knew-it (at least the American version of it) when the clock struck midnight. Some people stocked up on food and water, while others stocked up on ammo and weapons, and then there were some who said they would get what they could from the survivalists. It was an interesting case study in the survival instincts of some humans and how far some would go to get ready for anarchy. It also showed Michael that someday he would need to start getting Congress to push an all-out gun control measure, for there were some people out there in flyover country that would do whatever it took to keep anyone, including the government, from getting on their land, and that just wouldn't do in the future Michael had in mind.

As Michael watched the buildings get consumed by fire, his cell phone rang, he looked at the Caller ID and saw that it was Helen, so he answered it, "Hey Helen, I thought you were meeting with your group today,"

The cell service was spotty and dropping conversations as she answered, "Michael, I'm in the (scrambled) Tower, I think we were hit by a (scrambled). We're not sure (scrambled) it out,"

"What? Did you say you're in one of the Towers? Do you mean the World Trade Center?"

"Yes, in the North Tower, there's (scrambled) and smoke all around us, we (scrambled) see anything. Do you know if (scrambled) will rescue us?"

Michael cursed to himself, having not taken the time to know where Helen was going to be this morning, if he had, he would've told her to stay as far away from the World Trade Center as she could for the day. Now, there was nothing he could do for her. "Helen, you're going to have to start making your way downstairs. Can you hear me?"

"I can hear you. We'll try, (scrambled) we're not sure where the stair(scrambled) is,"

As Michael was trying to talk to Helen, he heard a loud boom and then saw the South Tower collapse in a cloud of smoke and dust. That wasn't supposed to have happened, at least according to all the engineering reports he had read, but it did happen, and he couldn't do anything about it now, so he put it out of his mind. However, he was glad Grandfather hadn't been comfortable with putting an office in a skyscraper as tall as the World Trade Center, he had always preferred to stay as close to the ground as possible. He heard Helen ask, "(scrambled) happened? We heard a loud crashing kind of sound,"

"The South Tower just collapsed; both Towers were hit by passenger planes flown by terrorists. You should get out of there as quickly as you can. Helen?"

All Michael ended up hearing was nothing and then the sounds of a disconnected line that everyone used to hear when they left their land-line phone off the hook for a while. A few minutes later, he watched the North Tower collapse and take out surrounding buildings with it as it collapsed. Cell phone service was now completely dead, since the cell tower was on top of the North Tower, so millions of people in Manhattan now had no way of communicating with the outside world. The fact that Helen was dead bothered him some, but he really had no natural affection for anyone, so he went on about his business as usual. He would publicly mourn for her if anyone asked, and go through the motions to make it appear so, but privately, he would carry on like nothing happened. In the meantime, he had business to take care of.

At home, after hearing about the downing of Flight 93 because passengers rebelled against the terrorists and the surprising lack of catastrophic damage done by the plane to the Pentagon, Michael e-mailed some of his cronies that were handy with the internet and told them to begin circulating rumors online that the United States government had a hand in the attacks. He asked them that if they could, to put up Photo-shopped pictures of the attack from various points of view from the Twin Towers that really couldn't have existed or random explanations for the lack of major damage at the Pentagon. He also told others to also circulate the rumor that the Israeli government really conducted the attack, even though there were Israeli's that were also killed in the Twin Towers. Michael knew there would be enough stupid people to believe those rumors, and that the rumors would probably stay in circulation for decades to come.

Michael called the Attorney General of the United States about an idea he had. "Patrick, this is Michael Evans, are you busy?"

"No, I've only got an investigation going on into the attacks we just had, but other than that, not busy at all," the Attorney General sarcastically retorted.

Michael chose to ignore the sarcasm, "Good, because I have some suggestions that will prevent more terrorist attacks on the mainland U.S. I can e-mail you my proposal or you can hear my pitch over the phone,"

"Why don't you do both?"

"Ok, sending you an e-mail now. What I'm sending is in much deeper detail, but I'll just tell you the gist of what I want, all right?"

"I'm looking through your e-mail. Are you sure this isn't legislation for Congress to look at, because it doesn't look at all like just a proposal,"

"Patrick, get your friends at CIA and FBI together, go talk to the President, and convince him that the American people need this new kind of security. Tell him that Americans don't want the threat of terrorism hanging over them while they fly, so we need some kind of security at airports. I have no doubt that the President will see your way and Congress will have no problem passing the legislation to create these new departments. Airports will have security, the people will accept it soon enough, and then, when Americans are resigned to the fact that they have to go through checkpoints in airports, we expand it to the highways, train depots, and bus stations. You have to admit, the American people have way too much freedom of movement,"

"I acknowledge that. If we can control where people go, we can keep better track of the criminals and subversives, and make sure people who are put on watch lists never get to leave the city they live in. Do you know who we'll get to work these security checkpoints?"

"I have the Government Workers Union in mind for the contracts. They'll do a most efficient job," answered Michael.

"I'm sure they will. What of this Department of Homeland Security? What's that about?"

"This new government agency will house the FBI, CIA, NSA, and other government security operations under one roof. The President will appoint someone to head it, they'll issue various warnings about terror threats and track the most wanted terrorists in the world. Eventually, they'll tie themselves to state and local police departments, where they'll keep track of potential homegrown terrorists and possible terrorist organizations. When the technology to track people via satellite comes of age, the department will initiate the program. It'll also oversee some false flag operations to help bring more government into Americans lives, such as gun control, but that will come later. Does that answer your question?"

"Yes, it does. Thank you, Michael, for coming up with a way to protect the people of the United States from so-called terrorists. I'll take your recommendations to the President and we'll have all of this implemented in a few months. Anything else?"

"No. Goodbye." both men hung up from the conversation.

The United States government announced the creation of the Transportation Security Administration and the Department of Homeland Security a short time later. DHS introduced a color-coded terror threat warning sheet, but decided to keep the United States at a yellow threat, the second highest threat level. DHS also introduced baseball cards of terrorists so Americans could be on the lookout for these radicals. DHS knew exactly where the terrorists were, including the leaders of various rural terrorist camps throughout the United States, but figured they would tell the American people they were doing "something" and told them not to worry because the government had it under control.

DHS, through Michael, even managed to convince the military leaders at the Pentagon that Saddam Hussein was also responsible for the 9/11 attacks, and if he wasn't taken care of, the Iraqi leader would be a threat to the security of the United States. The U.S. invaded Iraq shortly after, even though the U.S. didn't have the means or the wherewithal to conduct a two-front war. The goal for Michael Evans was to get the Iraqi dictator and his sons out of the way so Michael could conduct even more business in Iraq in the open with his Muslim associates. As for the weapons of mass destruction Iraq supposedly had, Michael had them moved to Syria and would later use it as leverage to have the media and others accuse the President of the United States of America of lying to the American people. The U.S. Military would be stretched to the point of falling apart with these two wars, and Michael would push the buttons of Iran, North Korea, China, and others who wanted the Americans out of the way militarily by convincing these countries' leaders to do what they wanted because the U.S. couldn't do anything about it. North Korea was the first to test this idea of the U.S. being weak by building a workable atomic bomb and then waited for the first opportunity to use it.

The TSA were staffed by union workers on Michael's payroll. Their job was not to harass the foreigners who looked like threats, but to harass regular Americans. Harass the disabled, those with artificial limbs, the occasional child, and even the occasional politician if they were dumb enough to fly commercial. These Americans would be thoroughly searched to the point where some would claim they were sexually harassed, but the TSA would claim they were just doing their jobs. The airlines got in on it by getting the TSA to confiscate e-Readers, cell phones, and other electronics that they claimed would bring the aircraft down, which, of course, didn't have the power to do so. All airlines wanted was for their fliers to use the electronic devices the airlines provided, at a price. Random items were taken from Americans and then sold at government auctions, where none of the airplane passengers would be given notice that their items were up for auction. The goal was simple for the TSA: Be the government representative that was constantly in one's face about security, and get Americans so used to it, that once it expanded to railroads and the roadways, Americans would have no problem with being stopped and searched, and then Americans would hardly notice that the few freedoms they had left had vanished in front of their eyes.

******

# Chapter 16

The place was dusty. It was prone to massive dust storms and was outright inhospitable to normal human beings as the American soldiers once again cleaned their guns, overhauled the engines for the Hummers and personnel carriers, and tried to keep all the dust from getting into their food and toiletries.

"Once again I ask, why does anyone want to live in this armpit of a country and why do we have to fight here?" complained Joshua, who was cleaning the gunk out of his gun for what seemed like the thousandth time.

"We're fighting here probably because our government thought the Taliban would fold like cheap suits, and they wanted a quick victory," replied Nick, one of Joshua's fellow unit members.

"Care to explain why anyone in this godforsaken land wants to live here? We should've just turned Afghanistan into glass. I don't think anyone would miss it much,"

"I don't know why anyone would want to live here, but they have for thousands of years. Something about this place caused both Alexander the Great and the Soviet Union to tuck their tail between their legs and run away,"

"These towel-headed Afghani's also tend to be two-faced. One minute they'll greet you with a smile, then the next, they've got a bomb strapped to their chests, and want to blow you to smithereens as they become suicide bombers. What's up with that?" asked Eric, another member of their Army unit, whose racism towards the Afghani's in general usually got him into a lot of trouble.

"Maybe you should ask Army Intelligence for the answer, Eric," replied Nick.

"Army Intelligence? Ha!"

"You know, I'll be glad to get away from here for a while. I've got three more months before I go home the second time for some R&R, and then I can go back to visit with my wife and two kids. Of course, I'll be rotated back here, but I guess I can't have everything," Joshua shrugged.

Before anyone could say anything, Sergeant Derek Tyler came into the barracks, and ordered, "Ok ladies, time to get moving. We have another day of house clearing and hunting for more Taliban. Let's get to it. Move it! Move it! Move it!"

The unit climbed into the armored personnel carrier, while five of the men of the unit got into the Hummer at the front of the convoy and five others into another one at the back of the convoy. They drove for two hours before they arrived at a small village, where they were greeted by the children and the women, while the men took a little longer to come out. From the Army's past experience, the Afghan men were hiding their weapons since they were either Taliban themselves or helping the Taliban to escape.

Sergeant Tyler jumped out of the first Hummer, walked over to the head man of the village, and said to him in his own language, "We're here to look for Taliban. Have you seen any?"

"Taliban? No, they've been gone for many months. There's no need for you to look, you can go now," replied the head man, who seemed very nervous.

"Right. We're going to conduct a sweep anyway. If you could get your villagers to stay out of the way, that'll be real helpful to us." then to his unit, "Guys, I suspect that these villagers are hiding something. Fan out and conduct a thorough search, but make sure you continue to be aware of your surroundings. I don't need any more deaths under my watch. Get to it."

The men spread out across the village and began sweeping every house for Taliban insurgents. The villagers stayed in the background, loudly complaining about the soldiers going through their houses, but none attempted to do anything but stand there and complain. Ten minutes into the sweep, three of the soldiers stumbled upon a nest of six Taliban that had been attempting to hide in a cellar, and then a firefight broke out. The three managed to get out of the way and fall back, but one of them was hit by bullets in non-vital areas.

The other soldiers rushed towards the house, making sure they weren't ambushed along the way. A full-on battle broke out, with the Americans stuck behind stone fences shooting at the Taliban, who were ensconced in the house and shooting back.

The villagers scattered when the Americans turned their attention to the insurgent Taliban, which worried Sergeant Tyler, who said after he finally noticed the villagers were not where he left them, "If we're not careful, we'll be surrounded by angry villagers with weapons themselves. I really wish we had some bazookas and heavy weapons right about now, because then we'd be able to take out that house without some major help. Maybe it's time to call in an airstrike."

He called over Corporal Greer, who handled the communications equipment, "Corporal, I need some Apache helicopters out here. Pronto! Tell them we'll light up the target when they arrive. Got it?"

"Yes, sir, calling them now, sir,"

Tyler kept shooting, but tried to listen to the communications Greer was having with the handlers of the Apache helicopters. In what felt like hours later, Tyler finally said, "They're sending in three and they'll be here in ten minutes, Sergeant."

"Good." Tyler replied over the sounds of his gun firing.

Meanwhile, Joshua had been hit in the right shoulder and right leg by the bullets from the Taliban, and while not bleeding profusely, was injured enough to prevent him from firing back since he was right-handed, but he was sheltered from being hit again by anything else. For him, the pain was intense, so as he struggled with it, he prayed, "Heavenly Father, please help me get through this battle so I can see my wife and children again. Please help me with this pain so I can be of assistance to my fellow soldiers. Please help my leaders do the right thing in this war, and, if possible, please help Christians lead many Afghans and Iraqis to Christ during this time. Thank you, and your will be done, amen."

As Joshua waited for the battle to die down so the others could pull him away from where he was, he heard the sounds of helicopters approaching. The black painted Apache helicopters were a welcome sight for the wounded warrior, as he watched them take their positions around the house the Taliban were in, and then began firing their Hellfire missiles into the building. The building erupted into a fireball, killing the Taliban, who barely knew what hit them.

One of the pilots in one of the Apache's waved towards Sergeant Tyler and then took off, flying back the direction they came from. Now that the battle was over with, Joshua called for the medic, who arrived a few seconds later and attended to Joshua's wounds.

As Joshua was helped back to the personnel carrier after the medic had fixed him up the best he could, Sergeant Tyler said to him, "Congrats, Corporal, looks like you might get to go home permanently with those wounds and you'll receive a Purple Heart too,"

"I really don't want to go home because I'm injured, Sergeant,"

"Oh, don't worry about it. We'll be out of Afghanistan in a year or so, and you did your duty for your country, so you should be proud,"

"I am proud, I just wish I didn't have to leave this way. When I'm back in the States, I'll pray for all of you."

"Thanks, I think that would help." then to everyone else. "The rest of you, mop up things, and then we'll get back to camp. Come on, get moving ladies!"

A day later, Joshua was sent to Ramstein in Germany to get his shoulder fixed from the bullet that went through his shoulder and to remove the one that also went into his leg. He called his wife to tell her that he was fine and that she should expect him a couple of weeks. Two weeks later, he was on a plane back to the States, and at the airport in Omaha, his whole family greeted him, along with many others who had gathered to welcome the troops home. For the first time, Joshua noticed the checkpoints in the airport run by the TSA, and the realization that the United States was slowly turning into a police state made him sad for his country.

Joshua also finally met the newest member of their family, Brian, who had been born three months earlier. At home, Joshua's family and friends throw him a welcome home party. A few weeks later, after he had healed enough to work, he went to work with his father at their farm equipment store.

Three years later, Elizabeth Delaney received news from James that he was coming home. Now, they had four children, since every time he came home, she ended up pregnant. Their oldest was Heather, followed by James Junior, Lynda, and the youngest, Mike, who was born less than a year earlier. Even though Elizabeth lived on the Delaney family farm and was surrounded by family, she missed her husband terribly. The cell phone connection was horrible, but she hardly noticed, it made her so happy to hear her husband's voice - for the first time in over six months. The United States was slowly pulling out of Iraq, so James and his outfit would be leaving in the next two weeks. Now, Elizabeth, with the help of Mary Anne and other friends, were setting up the house for a "Welcome Home" party.

Two days later, Elizabeth and Mary Anne were visiting with each other, when Elizabeth heard a car door close outside. She got up to open the front door and saw that the car was an official United States Army sedan, and two men, dressed in their Army dress uniforms, were approaching the door. Before they even said anything, she knew right away that something bad had happened, began to cry, as a Lieutenant introduced himself, and said, "Mrs. Delaney, I and the United States government regret to inform you that Sergeant James Delaney died yesterday when an RPG was launched at the Blackhawk helicopter your husband was on. The Blackhawk also took some small arms fire while it was on fire. The helicopter crashed soon after and all were lost. I'm sorry for your loss,"

"Oh God no!" Elizabeth collapsed into a heap, crying her eyes out, as Mary Anne rushed over to try to comfort her.

Mary Anne looked at the Lieutenant and asked, "Does she need to do anything now?"

"No, ma'am. The Sergeant's remains and all of his personal effects will be flown to Omaha. From there, Mrs. Delaney has the option of giving her husband a military funeral wherever she so desires. Here are the details," he handed Mary Anne a manila folder with the official Army logo on the front. "Again, I'm sorry for Mrs. Delaney's loss and if she needs anything, she can call the Veteran's Administration. Good day, ma'am." the two Army men returned to their car and left.

"What am I going to do without him? He was my soul-mate, the love of my life, and we had four children together that he so wanted to watch grow up. What am I going to do, Mary Anne?" asked Elizabeth, as she continued to cry.

"You have family and friends who love you, Elizabeth, we will help you in any way we can. Remember too that you have a loving God, who sent His Son to die on the cross for you, so that you and James will have eternal life when you die. You'll see James again, since both of you accepted Jesus as your Savior,"

"I know, I know. Thank you for being such a good friend, Mary Anne, you don't know how much it means to me right now."

The two hugged and Mary Anne replied, "Anytime you need a shoulder to cry on, I'm here for you. You also have a whole support system of family, friends, and a wonderful group of ladies at church who are always willing to help."

A week later, James Delaney was given a military funeral at home in Delaney. Elizabeth grieved for a long time, but was supported by family and friends, who helped her with her children. After a year, Elizabeth came out of her grief, but never re-married.

******

# Chapter 17

Michael had quite a few things going on at the same time. He had gone to London to get a Muslim couple to adopt an orphaned six-year-old Muslim boy that he had big plans for when he was older. The boy would eventually bring together the whole Muslim world and he would be the leader of this Islamic Caliphate. Michael planned on having the boy and David Collins in power together at around the same time and then Michael's plans would come to complete fruition, but that was at least twenty to twenty-five years away, so he would continue to work towards his goals.

When it came to United States government agencies, the Environmental Protection Agency was filled with people who believed in Michael's view of the world. Their first goal was to bully the small farmer and small acreage landowners to test out how far they could get away with eminent domain or by telling these farmers and landowners that their land was wetland or had some kind of endangered creature living on the land. Michael's goal was to get these people to give up their fight for the land because of all the various regulations they had to put up with, then sell their land to one of his companies, and then Michael would be free to use the land as he saw fit in the future. Michael also had the EPA harass oil drilling companies, by having the EPA test the air and soil constantly, and then claim that the fracking they did was extremely harmful to the environment.

Key people, disguised as concerned citizens, were placed in various cities where fracking took place, to sound the alarm about the extreme danger of oil drilling. Michael wanted the United States to stay oil dependent on oil platforms and gas companies he owned; consequently, the price of gas kept increasing every time the President of the United States discussed energy independence.

The 2008 Presidential Elections for the United States was set to take place shortly and Michael had his cronies setting up election sites that would appear legitimate, but in reality, the election was already decided and had been two years earlier. While some elections had been partially fixed, like the bungled 2000 election was supposed to have been and the 1960 election really had been, Michael put his full effort into this one. He created organizations that would sign people up for only the Democrat party, transport those same voters to polling sites, give them the ballots that had already been filled out, and have them submit those ballots. Others were offered tons of free stuff to vote for the Democrats, some were given multiple identification cards so they could vote more than once, and Michael even had nearly the whole of traditional media in his pocket to report on whatever he wanted them to report or not to report.

The Republican Establishment candidate was hand-picked by Michael, even though it appeared he went through a tough fight in the primaries. The Republican, Senator Allen MacMurray of Oklahoma, was considered a war hero by many, but Michael knew a secret that most didn't -- the man had been completely brainwashed when tortured by the enemy when he was a prisoner of war. So when key phrases were spoken to him, he was a very compliant person and did whatever anyone wanted him to do. No one could figure out the man's positions; sometimes he agreed with most of his constituents and his Party, but other times, he agreed with the Democrats and their positions, and it was completely random.

Michael's people read various blogs and opinion sites on the internet written by various Republican and Conservative voters that they wouldn't vote for him, which was fine with Michael, since MacMurray wouldn't be elected anyway. Michael also had plans closer to the election that would make the Republican look even worse to the voters, but, no matter what, the Democrat would win.

The Democrat candidate, Larry Marsh, the first term United States Senator from Michigan, was not one of the projects that the Evans family was involved with, but it was a project of one of their low-level associates, including the candidate's own parents. Nobody had really intended for him to be the Democrat's candidate for President, it was mostly a joke to see how far they could go before the caucus and primary voters voted for the candidate, the Senator from New Jersey, Mallory Winston, that the Establishment actually wanted as President of the United States. Marsh really didn't know anything, every time he voted on anything he voted "present," and everything he knew was told to him by his handlers, and then he spouted whatever they told him to say. Amazingly, he was a hit with the low and no-information young voters, so Michael decided to get involved.

At a campaign stop in Texas, shortly before the Democrat's primary there, Michael talked to Sally Garrett, the Michigan Senator's puppeteer, "Sally, I think we can take Larry all the way to the White House. Show what kind of idiots American voters really are,"

"Oh come on, Michael, do you really think we can get Larry into the White House? He's practically Chauncey Gardner. He parrots every talking point we have, has to use a teleprompter for speeches, and doesn't have an actual thought in that pathetic little brain of his, except for the ones we put in there,"

"Of course I think we can get him into the White House. The low-info sheep just love him. Listen, Sally, you'll be the power behind the man, so you'll basically be the President. We can ignore the Constitution and pass whatever we want to pass, since we have most of Congress paid off, and you can drain the U.S. Treasury dry by giving your friends and donors as much money as you can get away with. Don't you want that?"

"Sure I do, but what about Senator Winston?"

"Oh, you'll offer her the job of Secretary of State. That way, you can get her out of the country, so she won't know what's going on most of the time, and then won't have an objection to it. By the time the 2012 election rolls around, she'll be too tired to care, and our boy will have his second term. By 2012, the elections will be under our control completely, so we won't have to worry about another situation like what happened in Florida back in 2000,"

"You know, I like your thinking. Ok, once the election is over with, we'll offer Winston the State job. Any ideas who we can use for the Vice President?"

"He has to look pretty dumb compared to Marsh." then Michael thought about it for a minute or so, and then said, "I think I know the perfect candidate. He tends to say random, off-the-cuff stuff, and to the smart voters he sounds like a fool, but to our voters, they won't have a problem with it. I'll look into it. In the meantime, we'll have our ads on TV make the Republican look bad. I'll also be making the economy look like it's about to crash, to make all Republicans look like they have bad economic ideas, since the current President is a Republican after all. Well, I'll leave you to the campaign. See you later."

The election took an interesting turn when MacMurray picked the most random Vice Presidential candidate ever, someone that no one in the Establishment had ever once thought about or even took seriously. The pick even surprised Michael, but he supposed that since MacMurray claimed to be a nonconformist, he had to prove it to his base. Her name was Lara Bristol, the Republican governor of Montana, and she was a person that tended to tick off the Establishment since she was no respecter of party or person. She rooted out corruption in state government, was also a dedicated mother and wife, and was a committed Christian, which annoyed everyone in the Establishment. Why MacMurray picked her, he never said, but it ticked off his staff, who tried to undermine her at times with the media.

Michael used his contacts in the media, including the left wing bloggers and news sites on the web, to try to find as much dirt on her as they possibly could and then they would try to make it go viral. What they found was that Lara, her husband, and her children had no skeletons in their closets outside of politics, but Lara had managed to tick off all the wrong people in her rise through the Montana political system, mostly because she didn't bow down to the party masters, nor did she let anyone tell her she couldn't do this or that.

Michael figured that with Lara's ticking off of the Establishment, that it would be the perfect way to destroy her politically and MacMurray's candidacy and any future she might want in national politics. To the political class, which included Michael, the fact that Lara also went to a regular university, which was the University of Arizona, appalled them. None of them wanted anyone in Washington who didn't go to one of the "approved" universities, such as Harvard, Yale, or any of the elite colleges.

The news media began picking apart Lara; her time as Governor of Montana, her religious beliefs, her education, or lack thereof in their eyes, and criticized her husband and children. Comedy shows started making up stuff that she said, which went viral, causing her to look stupid. Having a sarcastic sense of humor, she fought back with her own barbs against the mainstream media, which endeared her to voters who hated the Establishment Republicans, but a lot of them couldn't get past the fact that her running mate was a mealy-mouthed Senator who couldn't decide which side to be on, so they wouldn't vote at all. Others, at least the ones that wrote blogs, said they'd vote for her as a write-in vote, but they would never ever vote for MacMurray in any way, shape, or form.

Michael thought that this party in-fighting was great, and he would figure out ways of manipulating the fighting in the near future, but he would still make sure that Marsh won by a wide enough margin that would look legitimate when it really wasn't.

MacMurray's campaign for President imploded when Michael decided to manipulate the stock market to crash a month before the election just enough to make Republican policies look like they wouldn't work, and MacMurray decided that such an action required no more campaigning for a week or so, so he and his fellow Senators could look into the disaster, and then they'd be able to do "something" about it.

Lara Bristol, who enjoyed the attention and liked campaigning, publicly called out MacMurray for abandoning his campaign. "We need someone who is serious about standing for American principles, not someone who is wishy-washy about what they even believe. Americans need someone who is like a bulldog, someone who stands up to our many enemies, someone who isn't afraid to tell it like it is, and someone who can bring American back to the great country our Founders envisioned. If you vote for me as Vice President, I will show President MacMurray what a wonderful place America can be when the people are given a chance. Thank you and God Bless America!"

Meanwhile, Marsh's handlers gave him his talking points. At a campaign stop in Dallas, he said, "If you vote for me, we will make sure these banks and companies are backed by the full faith and credit of the United States, because they are too big to fail and we don't want any bank failures in the United States, because it'll harm all of you out there who struggle day-to-day. My administration will pump millions of dollars into the economy, after we print more money at Treasury, and we will give all you hard-working Americans out there some extra cash that will help the economy stay afloat. We will also start requiring the super-rich to give more of their income for more revenues for the federal government, so that you working poor will be able to afford that beautiful home you want, or buy that car you've wanted since you were a teenager. Vote for me and you'll feel taken care of, from cradle to grave, by the government. No more will you feel lost, because we will give you a hand, and everyone will have a share in this new America. Do you want to be as rich as your neighbor? We'll make that happen, by taking from him and giving to you. I am your candidate for President and I thank you for allowing me to speak with you today."

Two weeks before the election, Michael called up the Christian leaders he had in his pocket: Goat, Josten, and Whittier. "Gentlemen, I need you to endorse Marsh. Invite him to speak at your churches and interview him on TV. Make sure he looks like he's more spiritual and focused on the Christian God than MacMurray is. I will make sure he parrots all the stuff the Christians are supposed to believe and Sally Garrett, who basically thinks for him, will make sure he sounds convincing. Can the three of you make this happen this week?"

Goat replied first, "You bet. I have a talk show on my own network, so I can interview him to find out just how supposedly close Marsh is to the Lord. I'll send Garrett the questions and what I'd like Marsh to reply with. Is that ok?"

"Perfect. Kevin, what about your church, do you think they'd vote for Marsh?"

"Of course they will. All I have to do is tell them that the Lord told me that Marsh was the man for the job. Just send out his wife to my church, so she can testify to his righteousness and godliness. It will be no trouble at all to convince my congregation that her husband is practically a Moses-type character because he leads his best life as a dedicated Christian and will be the moral center of the United States once he becomes President. They'll eat it right up,"

"Excellent idea, Kevin. How about you Ryan?"

"I'll see if MacMurray and Marsh will come to my church to be interviewed by me, so we can see what direction they want to lead the country in morally. Of course, I'll favor Marsh with easy questions, while MacMurray will get the difficult questions, and being the man he is, he won't be able to answer them adequately enough to satisfy Christians who follow me for moral answers. Marsh will easily become the forty-fourth President of the United States."

"Thank you, gentlemen, for finally convincing me my time invested in your work was not a waste. I look forward to what comes out of these three meetings."

Marsh came out of the meetings with the Christian leaders looking like a better candidate than he did before and convinced many of the sheep to vote for the wolf in sheep's clothing. On Election Day, Marsh won the Presidency by fifty-three percent, even without the need of the faked ballots, but they were ready to be used in case Marsh lost the election before the actual results were known. The Republicans could only get forty percent of the vote, since the Libertarians and Conservatives voted for a third party or wrote in Lara Bristol's name for President instead. Michael and the Democrats viewed this as a mandate to begin all the social and economic programs that they've been wanting in the United States for more than sixty years.

Seeing Lara Bristol as a major threat to his plans, Michael ordered one of his cronies, "Find out when and where the Bristol's will be traveling to next. When you find out, eliminate them."

A month later, the Bristol's were on a ski trip in Colorado. In the middle of the night, two criminals, employed by Michael's crony, broke into the rented house, murdered the family, and made off with whatever valuables happened to be within reach. The two were caught a week later when Michael informed the authorities. In prison, the two were killed by other inmates to make sure they didn't later confess that Michael ordered the hit.

Many Americans with a moral center mourned the loss of the Bristol family and wondered what the future might've been like if Lara had ever become President of the United States. While others, mainly the extreme left, celebrated the Bristol family's death with unbridled glee.

******

# Chapter 18

"You're going to vote on and pass a healthcare act that will put Americans on government healthcare. You're going to claim that millions die every year without insurance and prices have skyrocketed because of predatory insurance rates. There will be no debate and no one will have time to read the legislation. Do you understand what I want?" Michael asked the Speaker of the House Darcy Rooney.

"I understand. Do I get to read it and will we be able to post it online for the people to read?"

"No. All you need to know right now is that it'll be similar in design to the UK's National Healthcare Service. You and the rest of the country will find out what's in it once it's passed. President Marsh will sign it and it will become law within the year. Full implementation will occur by 2015. No one will be allowed to debate it later and there will be no calls for repeal. You will ignore the costs to businesses and their eventual complaining, since they will be required to implement the changes that are in the bill. My people are fully prepared for everything in the bill, so they are more than ready to begin implementation,"

"I see. Will Minority Leader Tom Granger play along?"

"Granger has all the votes lined up, so the bill will pass with a comfortable margin. He has also handpicked the Representatives who will be the voice of the opposition, to pretend that not all Republicans are totally for a government takeover of healthcare. In the Senate, Majority Leader Jack Meeds will bring it up to a vote, and they will pass it with the majority of members voting yes, with only a couple of token no votes from the Republican members. The media will hype the bill to the moon and polls will be manipulated to appear that the majority of the people are for a government takeover of their health. Then that will be that and you will have the Universal Healthcare you and your side have wanted for a very long time,"

"I look forward to that day. I have another idea, if you'd like to hear it,"

"I'm open to new ideas. What's yours?"

"We need to create a situation where we end up with full gun control. It has to be a situation where we can ban all guns, or, at the very least, shut down gun sales to all civilians. Do you think we can do that?"

"I don't see why not. I imagine you'll have some people threatening to bring down the government with most of the legislation that's coming up, so if we can remove that threat to the stability of the government, you can pass anything you want without retribution. I'll look into what can be done. We also have some technology coming online in the near future that we can use to control everything Americans can do; from limiting travel cross-country, to being able to know what kind of e-mail's they send, or what they write in their text messages. We're approaching some exciting times, and I, for one, look forward to it."

The United States government passed the Healthcare Act within a month of putting it into committee, passing it through the House, then through the Senate, and President Marsh promptly signed it into law with great fanfare. Standing next to him were people whose supposed horror stories about healthcare was one of the reasons given for the need to reform American healthcare. No one was allowed to read what was in it, because their leaders told them it was too important and needed to be fast-tracked into law. Michael knew there would probably be some complaints once everyone found out was in the law, but by then it would be too late to repeal it.

Unbeknownst to the powers-that-be, there were people who downloaded from Congress' website and read the three thousand plus pages of the Healthcare Act. These people who read the law, found that the government would eventually prevent senior citizens over sixty-five from getting the healthcare they needed, people who had various ailments would have to convince the government why the government should let them continue to use expensive medications to keep themselves alive, and babies who were not born yet and had special needs would be aborted.

The law even dictated to religious organizations what they were or weren't allowed to do, including being forced to provide abortions. These were just some of the things they found in the law and it not only made them mad, but it made them concerned about the direction the United States.

Within a month, Americans who disliked a huge central government began coming up with ideas on how to deal with such an intrusive and potentially deadly Healthcare Act. Around the country, people e-mailed each other to plan protests, e-mail campaigns, and to come up with other ideas on how to convince their Representatives and Senators to repeal the law. They began calling themselves the Tea Party, after the famous Boston Tea Party.

At rallies across the country: "The United States government is imposing on us socialism and failed ideas from places like Europe, where socialism has been tried and it has failed. England's healthcare lets thousands die every year because of the lack of properly trained doctors, lack of proper training for their medical technicians, and because they have a government who decides who can live and who can die. Meanwhile, the elite in their country come to the United States for medical treatment. The same is true of other countries, including our neighbor to the north, Canada. If we don't repeal Marshcare, our nickname for such a monstrosity, the government will decide who gets to live and who gets to die. They will ration your medicine, they will abort babies who they deem unfit for their new America, and eventually, they'll probably declare all of us who disagree with them as mentally unstable.

"Recently, the President bailed out Ford and Government Motors, sorry, that's General Motors. Smart business would've been to let them declare bankruptcy and reorganize, but the political establishment in Washington declared them and the banks that they also bailed out as too big to fail. Ladies and gentlemen, if we handled our household budgets that way, we'd be hounded by our creditors, which are almost the same ones who received handouts from the government. The President and his cronies think they can just print money and the economy will recover, but so far, we haven't seen it happening. Washington needs to stop spending money it doesn't have! The way they're going, our great-great-great-grandchildren will be still paying off the debt the government keeps piling up.

"The President, Congress, and all of their political cronies are also attacking the Constitution. They say that it's a living document, so it can be interpreted in any way they see fit. The founders of our great country wrote the document as straightforward and simple as they could possibly make it, without all that mumbo-jumbo lawyer language they could have written into it. Our rights come from our Creator, not from government. If we let these attacks on the basic principles of our country to continue, our freedoms to worship, bear arms, assemble peaceably like we are now, our freedom of speech, and every other freedom guaranteed under the Bill of Rights will be taken away from us. Do we want that? No!

"They attack the institution of marriage, by wanting gays to marry when the government has no business interfering in marriage. Marriage is for those of us who have morals and a belief in Jesus as our Lord and Savior, not for those godless heathens who go from partner to partner, use children in their despicable acts, and get each other infected with nasty diseases. This is not Sodom and Gomorrah! They attack our religious beliefs, yet they have no problem with Muslims, who will kill you for not believing what they believe. Christians are about freedom, Muslims hate freedom. We're called racists, even though we have people of all colors at these rallies, and the merchants of hate even hate black Americans who think for themselves. What they want from us is that we sit down, shut up, and let them do what they want.

"As of now, we will start backing candidates to local, state, and federal office who agree with our principles. We will no longer feed the beast of the Establishment in Washington or in our own states. We will no longer support Republicans who have been in Washington for more than a decade, and those Republicans who have been in office for decades have now been put on notice that we will kick them out of office. We will create a new party that backs liberty and freedom. Know this, my fellow patriots, the state-run dinosaur media will be against us all the way, including the so-called commentators and the like who claim they have the same values as we do. With the internet at our beck and call, we can join forces together across the country, bypass the government propaganda, create our own alternate media, and educate the people about what's really going on in this country. We will take our country back from these godless socialists and return the United States to the Christian nation it once was. God Bless America!"

In Delaney, Nebraska, the Atwood's returned home from the rally that was held in Rapid City, South Dakota, and Joshua wasn't too happy. "These people aren't serious, all they're doing is whining. Our ancestors declared their independence from England for a heck of a lot less, but all of us continue to put up with more and more government intrusion into our lives. I didn't serve in Afghanistan just so we could turn into the Soviet Union. If everyone was serious about deposing the socialists and control freaks from our government, they would ask those of us who served in the military that are on their side to protect our country from these domestic enemies. Instead, it's all talk, talk, and more talk. Electing fresh blood into the political system won't work, they'll end up as corrupted as their predecessors and there will continue to be no difference between the Republicans and Democrats. I'm sick of these godless pagans telling me what to do. What's needed is to remove the cancer that is Washington from our lives by blowing the city up and have a federal capital that is rotated among the states. Plus, require the politicians to live among their constituents by making them telecommute so lobbyists will have a hard time bribing them and the politicians won't get together so often to play their stupid little games,"

"Sweetheart, please calm down, you'll upset our children," Mary Anne asked of her husband.

"Fine, but they need to know how absolutely corrupt our government is, including that indoctrination center they call school. Maybe I should start preparing for a disaster like those Doomsday Preppers we've been seeing on cable TV or on online. We should start stocking up on food, weapons, ammo, water, and prepare for whatever is about to come in the near future. I'll also make sure nobody will be able to find my weapons. You're ok with that, right?"

"I don't know, Joshua, you should really put your faith in God that everything will work out for good for those that love Him. I know you're saved, but why prepare for something that may never happen, when you know God will protect us, and even may Rapture us before anything like that even begins to happen?"

"Why? Because it'll make me feel better. Right now, I feel mad enough to go storm the White House myself and take down that jerk who says he's our President. All I'm going to do is go online to research various ways to protect ourselves from potential disasters. Please don't worry, ok?"

"Ok." the two kissed and Joshua went to his computer to do some research into the matter.

Michael Evans saw an opportunity for some mischief with this mini-Civil War that was occurring between the conservatives and libertarians versus the Republican establishment. Michael figured the best way to get his agenda achieved was to exploit this rather fortuitous turn of events, so he pulled all of his monetary support from the Republican National Committee, had the media start attacking anything and everything that socialists and others thought was bad about the Party. Michael then began throwing his support behind random candidates who challenged incumbent Republicans all across the country. In the meantime, he prepared for the eventual downfall of the Republicans by researching the possibilities of backing or establishing a third party. Michael would also secretly give money to Conservatives so they could establish their own Party, and then with three national Parties, it would keep the Democrats in office in perpetuity since the other two would split the votes.

The test came in the mid-term elections. By the end of the night, nearly every Republican in Washington who was up for re-election and had been in office for decades were now out of office. The candidates Michael backed, ninety percent of them won their office, while the new Conservative Party and its candidates won very few. The old guard Republicans then began to migrate to the Democrats, including Allen MacMurray, while some joined the new Independent Party that Michael sponsored. The President and the Democrats now saw this as a mandate that their policies were what the American people really wanted so they began to look for more ways to implement these programs.

******

# Chapter 19

"Are you all set up for the operation?" asked Michael, who was on the phone with his contact in the field.

"Yes, we are, Mr. Evans. The building has been setup, all the people are in place, the national media are waiting to begin filming, and all local authorities alerted. It'll look realistic enough when the cameras roll and everyone will be convinced it really happened. There will probably be some who wonder how the media got there so quickly, but it can't be helped. We await your permission to start,"

"Give me a minute, I want to inform Speaker Rooney and Majority Leader Meeds." Michael went over to his computer, which had video chat capability, called up the feeds for Rooney and Meeds, and said to them, "We're about to begin. Do you have the legislation ready to submit to your members?"

"Yes, we do. We should be able to get it through Congress, onto the President's desk, and then he'll sign it into law, all within two weeks of this event. I've been looking forward to this for a very long time. By the way, where is this taking place again?" asked Rooney.

"We'll be using an amusement park in the Midwest, which we closed for the day. The owners were told that we were having a private party and wanted the park to ourselves. Everything you see on TV will be acting and the still pictures of people that are shown who died will be of people in Europe who died under various circumstances,"

"Mr. Evans, without you, nothing we've wanted would have come to pass. While I'm sorry that Congresswoman Cindy Vickers was assassinated for the cause, she knew the risk when she proposed it, and her husband has become a tireless advocate for us when it comes to these gun control measures. Now, along with the restaurant massacre in Utah and the unexpected workplace violence at Fort Hood, what we do here today will change the course of American history. My one question is: how do we prevent Americans, especially those annoying Tea Partiers, from finding out this operation was a false flag and then protest against the measures we plan on taking? Plus, how do we prevent one of our actors from spilling the beans later on if they get it into their heads to do so? asked Meeds.

"You'll introduce a bill that places limits on the internet. You'll say that we have to shut down certain websites due to problems with national security or there are problems with lots and lots of digital piracy. The proposal will give the President the power to shut down the internet at a moment's notice, will give the FBI the power to shut down websites they don't like, and everything anyone says online will be monitored through a national database housed in a facility I set up in Nevada. The national database will record the internet address of the user who gets a hit for something they said, the internet provider will provide the name and mailing address of the user, and if the user's enough of a threat, the authorities will swoop in and arrest them. As for any actors who dare tell the public what really happened, they'll be derided as delusional and their careers over within a matter of moments. It's as simple as that, no need to over-think anything. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have other things to take care of." Michael clicked the button that closed the feeds without giving the two politicians a chance to say anything else.

"William, you have a go." Michael told the man who was still waiting on the cell phone.

"I'm on it." then he hung up the phone.

Michael went online and brought up the website of one of the national TV networks to wait for the national news to begin streaming the breaking news. He didn't have to wait long when a pop-up on the site announced the news alert, so he clicked it, and it took him to the page.

"We have a breaking news story. In the Midwest, there's an amusement park that has been targeted by a gunman, with possible loss of life. We take you there now, where we have our reporter Francine Viega reporting. Francine, what do you know?"

"Well, Chris, we have reports of gunfire coming from the park. We also saw someone, who could possibly be a second gunman, running out into the woods, with police chasing after him. We have pictures of children being led out by their parents as the threat continues," the picture came up on screen, showing five kids ranging in age from six to twelve walking calmly behind an adult, acting like nothing at all happened, but the reporter chose to ignore that, kept talking about how many people were inside, and what possible motive the shooter might have to have targeted an amusement park.

Michael knew he should've paid more attention to every little detail of the operation, but he thought everyone would put way more thought into it, including asking the children to act like they were upset and on the verge of crying. Maybe the low-info sheep won't notice, he thought. Michael cringed, even more, when Francine reappeared on the screen to talk. Behind her, there were some adults laughing, and if this event was supposed to be tragic, they should not be doing that. Michael, who was irritated, picked up his cell and called William, "William, this is Evans. So far, your team has made a couple of mistakes and is screwing this up. The pictures being shown do not show upset children or adults and there are adults behind Viega who are laughing. You need to fix that right away. May I suggest a few pictures of people screaming and maybe helicopter shots of police storming the amusement park,"

"Sorry, Mr. Evans. I'll fix that right away. You won't be disappointed."

"You better hope not, William. I've got too much invested in this to be an epic failure. Heads will literally roll if the script isn't followed to the letter or the reporters make glaring mistakes on air or if the actors do something beyond stupid. Tell everyone that their careers will be over with if this doesn't turn into a success. Got it?"

"I've got it, Mr. Evans. I'll tell everyone to watch what they're doing. Anything else, sir?"

"No. Goodbye." Then he said out loud, to himself, since no one was in the room, "If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself. I should've really gone up there myself to direct everything, and those hopeless hacks better hope Americans are convinced that this was the straw that broke the camel's back as far as gun control is concerned. I really need the President to act concerned more, especially when he goes with the 'It's for the children!' meme. Anyway, I guess I'll go back to watching this unfolding drama."

The action now unfolded the way Michael had wanted it to unfold after the network went to commercial for about five minutes. People were interviewed: "Can you tell us what happened in the amusement park?" asked Viega of a woman who looked vaguely upset.

"We were having a private party and some insane maniac showed up with military style machine guns and started shooting at everything that moves. He had all black on and I think he even had a flak jacket on too. He killed a lot of little kids and a couple of adults. It was terrifying!" then the woman put her face in her hands and acted like she was weeping.

A few minutes later, Viega reported, "We've been told that the shooter shot himself in the head as the police approached. They say he was using multiple guns, mostly military style, with large capacity magazines. One of the weapons, according to my sources, was manufactured by a 3D printer. Here are pictures of these weapons the police say the shooter was using."

The pictures of the weapons used were the type that only the U.S. Military used, that no civilian could ever get their hands on. That was followed by a pre-packaged video about the various capacities of gun magazines and the weapons used by other mass murderers in these types of situations. The video went on to detail every mass murder in the United States involving guns since the Columbine High School incident, along with pictures of the dead.

The video ended, with an official representative who appeared to be FBI, standing next to Viega, and she asked, "Agent Thompson, what can you tell us?"

"What I can tell you is that thirty people are dead; twenty children and ten adults. The shooter's name is Matthew Christopher and we're in the process of going to his home to find out what we can about him. He treated this whole thing like a military-style exercise, by dropping his magazines to make sure he didn't run out of bullets. Once we got close to him, he shot himself. That's all I have for you now."

"We have a reporter who is accompanying the FBI as they go to the Christopher home. Stay tuned for updates to this story."

Five minutes later, like a well-oiled machine, the President's Secretary of the Press came on TV, and said, "The President, who is currently on a trip, has expressed his shock and sadness at this shocking mass murder at the amusement park. He wishes to express his condolences to the families. He's calling on Congress to begin legislation to stop these kinds of weapons from getting into the hands of people like Christopher, because we can't have more children being murdered. The President has authorized me to release a picture of him when he received the news about this tragic and shocking mass murder,"

A video of President Marsh came on screen, who looked like he was on Air Force One, and it showed him being told the news by one of his advisers. The President acted like he was about to cry as he used a handkerchief to dab his eyes. The video stopped there, as the Press Secretary came back on screen to say, "Again, we express our condolences to the families. We call on Congress to limit the access to guns and if they don't, the President will use his powers as President of the United States to issue an Executive Order banning guns. I will take no questions for now."

The investigators for the shooting at the amusement park, used a vacant home, claiming that it was the home of Matthew Christopher, who lived with his parents. The media interviewed "neighbors" of the Christopher's who said they were a quiet family and some of the nicest people anyone could meet. The investigators made sure that they appeared to thoroughly go through the house, before they sent out a representative to speak with the media, "Ladies and gentlemen of the Press. We have conducted our investigation. We found both of Matthew's parents murdered in their beds; he apparently shot them while they were asleep. We found the boy's computer and found that he was involved with online multi-player gaming, specifically the game Call of the Battlefield, which is a first person shooter that is completely realistic, but he was also into other just as violent games, such as War Duty Online. We feel that kind of video games don't belong in the hands of the public. He also had mental problems, as he was diagnosed with Down syndrome as a child. His parents claimed he was hard to control and had a temper, they were afraid he would do something horrible, but they also trained him on how to use guns. He was mostly home-schooled as a child, which limited his interaction with people and his parents were deeply religious people, so we wonder about the psychological aspect such actions did to the boy. Matthew was nineteen years old. We express regret about the shocking incident at the amusement park and we express our condolences to the families."

The next day, Rooney and Meeds appeared together in a joint press conference with members of Congress behind them. The pictures of the victims, all of which were white, none of the victims shown were African-American, Hispanic, or Asian, was situated behind the members. Rooney talked first: "Both Houses of Congress are deeply saddened by this turn of events. We regret the loss of innocent life to a psycho who shouldn't have had access to weapons of any sort. We shouldn't have to keep burying innocents because of the free access to the type of weapons Matthew Christopher was using. That is why Congress is going to pass a gun control bill that will stop the sale of all guns anywhere within the United States. All gun manufacturers will be required to leave the United States, while the American Gun Association will be required to shut down and its membership rolls will be handed over to the federal government. While we will not go door-to-door to seize weapons, Americans who own weapons will be watched closely. We must do this for the children so they can grow up in a safe environment. Now, Majority Leader Jack Meeds would like to speak."

"Thank you, Darcy. Congress will also look into the possible link that certain medical problems, such as Down syndrome, Autism, and others have that causes such violence to occur from these kinds of people. The Health Administration will research the possible reasons for this violence, what can be done about it, and how it might be prevented in the future. If it starts in the womb, we will take care of such problems. If it occurs due to nurture, the parents and their mental health will be examined. It might be best if children were raised by the community, so that's something we'll examine. We will leave no stone unturned to get to the bottom of gun violence. We'll take a couple of questions,"

"Speaker Rooney, what's being done to curb the speculation online that this whole thing was a set-up to take away guns from the American people?" asked the reporter from Affiliated Press.

"Speech like that is what causes people like Christopher Matthews to commit gun violence in the first place. We have no use for it in today's America. We will also look into the possible link the internet and violence have when pushed together, since too many people can gather together from all over the place to push their bad ideas in chat rooms and social networks. We must put a stop to it and I ask my friends in the Senate to help me find ways to limit such gross misconduct on the internet. Thank you for your time, ladies and gentlemen of the Press, we have work to do."

In less than a week, when it normally takes them months or even years, Congress passed gun control legislation that would stop all gun sales, close down gun manufacturers, and banned the American Gun Association from continuing to operate in the United States. The mainstream media made sure to incessantly talk about gun violence right on up to the signing of the legislation. They ignored the violence in cities like Chicago and mostly focused on the violence in cities in red states, such as Dallas. Congress informed A.G.A. members that if the authorities caught anyone with weapons, they would be sent to jail immediately. States with concealed-carry were over-ruled by this new law when the Supreme Court let the government have that power after a lawsuit was filed by gun-rights advocates. The advocates ended up being threatened with years of jail time if they kept pushing the issue, so a majority of them yielded to the pressure.

An amendment was attached to the bill that would also shut down social networks, blogs, conservative news sites, and other websites that advocated for gun rights or had members on those sites who were gun rights supporters. Violent video games and online games that had anything to do with guns and violence were shut down and banned because the politicians claimed it was for the children. The bill eventually shut down even the most popular social networks since government bureaucrats never knew when to quit.

The media had the fake relatives of the victims go on television every day to complain about guns and the problems they caused to mess up their lives. Some people around the country had a hard time believing the Amusement Park Massacre was real, since the media, the government, and the "victims" were so over-the-top about the massacre. However, none of them voiced their opinions publicly for fear of being labeled a nut, but there were some who voiced their opinion online on their blogs anyway.

At the bill signing ceremony, the children who were shown escaping the Amusement Park Massacre, were now standing behind President Marsh as he signed the bill into law. Once he signed the bill, he got up, hugged the children, and said, "This bill is for the children. No more will we have children fearing that they will be killed by guns. They will have a safe, happy future, free from fear. We have hope for a brighter tomorrow and this will take us forward. Thank you and God Bless America!"

******

# Chapter 20

A few years later....

"The Department of Homeland Security announces today that the Transportation Security Administration is expanding its mission to include protecting not just airports, but the interstates and railroads of the United States. As Americans travel, they'll start noticing checkpoints along the interstates where the TSA and DHS will randomly stop travelers so we can protect the United States from terrorist attacks. With the help of the new national identification cards we're now issuing, the TSA will be able to keep track of where Americans are going. If you're traveling from your home, in say, Philadelphia, and you tell the TSA you're going to Toledo, the TSA's computer will follow that up by examining the checkpoints in Ohio that lead to Toledo. Tracking chips in these new ID's, which will only be active when you travel, will ping your ID to see if you arrived at your location. Once the TSA is satisfied, your ID will be no longer pinged.

"At railroad and bus stations across the country, which includes subways, checkpoints are set-up as you come into the station. Like the airports, the TSA will screen all travelers, and if necessary, frisk a traveler if TSA finds anything suspicious. Train and bus schedules, like airline schedules, will necessarily be delayed as travelers are screened. Remember, your safety is of paramount importance to your government as we do not want to see our fellow Americans killed by more random acts of terrorism. We thank you for your cooperation." replied the DHS Secretary, Adam Foster as he stepped away from his podium, ignoring the requests by the media for him to answer their questions.

Michael was waiting for him, "Why didn't you just come out and say that all Americans will have to apply for a travel permit if they go further than five hundred miles or leave their state?"

"And have protests all over the place? No thank you,"

"When's the last time we had a protest over anything?"

"I don't know, why don't you tell me?"

"The last time Americans protested anything the government did was that Tea Party nonsense before the Republican Party collapsed a few years ago. The vast majority of Americans will meekly accept anything you tell them now, so don't expect anyone to complain. At least not publicly and not online, but there are a few nut jobs out there, I'm sure. Your department will issue a correction in a few days, and it will be under-reported by the media. Your people will send out flyers informing the people about needing travel permits. With a few more actions, the United States of America and its people will be compliant completely to whatever I and the government want. Then, we can have the United Nations do whatever it wants without any resistance from this country. Overall, you're doing a heck-of-a-job, Foster, keep up the good work."

Michael called up David Collins to see how he was doing now. He had graduated from Harvard six years earlier, became the Mayor of Miami the previous four years to now being a Florida State Senator representing that district. "Hey David, this is Michael Evans, how's the new job going?"

"Great, Mr. Evans, although being a State Senator is not very fulfilling and much less exciting than being a Mayor, but I have a career path that you want me on, so I'll do this for eight years before I go on to the U.S. Senate, and then the Presidency. I so look forward to that and what we'll accomplish together,"

"I too look forward to that day in a little under thirteen years from now. So far, everything is falling into place perfectly, so what you and I do together will be the final act. Just remember to publicly stay above it all while you're on this path so your enemies can't target you with all those skeletons you have in your closet. Remember the old saying that you keep your enemies closer to you than your friends. The media will protect you, as long as you treat them with a modicum of respect, and as long as you act like they're important in the grand scheme of things. Keep a smile on that face while stabbing people in the back and most of the sheep won't even know what happened,"

"I enjoy your attitude, Mr. Evans, and I hope I can emulate it,"

"To get anywhere, you have to be ruthless, David, remember that,"

"Oh, I will. Thank you, sir. I'd love to talk some more, but we're being called back. Talk to you later, Mr. Evans."

Michael's next project was called Order 21 and he had been putting the pieces together for a very long time. His grandfather saw the potential during the Branch Davidian raid in the early 1990's, and Michael saw it himself when Hurricane Katrina wiped out New Orleans and FEMA had to get involved by housing uprooted people. Order 21 was an offshoot of the United Nations' Agenda 21, but Order 21 itself really wouldn't have anything to do with turning everything back into desolate wilderness after stuffing people back into the cities because the environmentalists wanted Earth almost completely free of humans. While Michael would build up everything associated with Order 21, it wouldn't be implemented until after David Collins became President, in fifteen years or less. If Order 21 proved to be successful in the United States, the United Nations would implement it across the world.

Michael had the best minds working for him come up with the plans for Order 21. Order 21 would include the design plans for FEMA Camps, how they would be supplied, loyalty oaths for everyone who worked under Order 21, how the TSA and EPA would assist the United Nations with Agenda 21, and even how they would disband Congress and the Supreme Court. Order 21 would enable Martial Law and make it known that the United Nations had established a military presence throughout the borders of the United States since the early 2010's.

The tracking ID's would also be used to target everyone they were going to round up, depending on whether or not those people would keep the ID's on them and not throw them away, like all those survivalists around the country were wont to do when the government wanted anything from them. Michael preferred that humans be implanted with tracking chips, so nobody could mess with it, other than attempting to short out the chip, but even the Democrats balked at that. When the time came, Michael would ask the United Nations to begin implanting everyone on Earth so food and other purchases could be tracked, along with tracking where people were at any given time, and without the chip, a person would not be allowed to buy or sell anything.

"Mr. Evans, here are the design plans for the Camps. What do you think?" asked the lead architect, Doyle Reid.

Evans sat down at the computer and began clicking through the floor plans and the general blueprint for the design of the Camps. He was impressed, since the software was also able to make a virtual 3D image of what they wanted, and it looked very realistic. "Good job, Doyle. You've done an impressive job. How long did it take you and your staff to come up with that?"

"Um.... the blueprints were done months ago, but we wanted a complete 3D virtual model to show you, which we finished this morning,"

"Like I said, I'm impressed. We have all the locations setup and ready for the Camps to be built, so I'm thrilled this step is finally complete. Thank you for all your hard work on this project."

"Thank you, Mr. Evans."

Michael thought about what had already transpired to have Order 21 come into existence. His lawyer had already come up with a solid loyalty oath for people who would be working at the Camp, so that was done. The loyalty oath stated that the worker was loyal only to Michael Evans and those people he authorized to distribute orders. The oath to work at the Camps was also considered top secret. If someone was hired to work at one of the Camps, they would not be able to tell anyone as it was all Top Secret, and if they did, they would be thrown into the Camp along with all the other miscreants.

Michael had used Chinese construction crews to dig out the land that would be used for the Camps. He didn't trust any of the locals in any of the locations to keep such a huge project secret, so he hired outside labor from China. The Chinese government was thrilled when they were asked to take part in the eventual overthrow of the United States, even if it wasn't done through military means. They sent over whatever the project needed to get started. Even though nobody was supposed to know what was going on, Michael knew a lot of Americans tended to know a lot, even when they were in the dark. For those who tended to be alert to everything, the huge earth movers would alert them that something major was going on underneath their noses, but they wouldn't know what. Some, who were so alert to their surroundings that they were paranoid, would spread the decades-old rumor about the government and FEMA Camps, while most everyone in their circle, especially everyone under thirty, would dismiss it as paranoia.

The people who believed everything the government told them, which was now the majority, would have no problem believing these various big digs were related to energy production, such as finding more coal, digging up minerals, or even putting in pipelines for oil distribution. The years spent on indoctrinating the young of America had finally paid off in Michael's opinion, and with it produced some amazingly compliant citizens. Now, all he had to do was wait for David Collins to become President.

*****

# Chapter 21

At around the same time, Brian Atwood was preparing to return to Delaney after serving his four years in the United State Air Force. As he was preparing to leave, his commanding officer asked him, "How come you're not re-enlisting? We could use more men like you in military security,"

"I appreciate you asking me, but I'm not really comfortable with the various stuff that goes on in today's military. I can't say my father didn't warn me when I told him what I was going to do,"

"What kind of stuff are you uncomfortable with? Maybe we can fix it?"

"I don't think you could fix any of it. I'm uncomfortable with the anti-Christian bigotry, which is led by homosexuals, and the deferral to United Nations troops really kind of annoys me,"

"You're right, not of that can be fixed. I wouldn't let the General hear you complain about homosexuals being bullies, he thinks they were very mistreated twenty plus years ago, so he lets them get away with a lot of stuff, including being bigoted towards Christians. They definitely couldn't get away with treating Muslims that way, but that's a whole 'nother discussion altogether. As for the U.N., blame that on our government, who hasn't seen a progressive socialist cause they haven't liked since the last half of the twentieth century. Anyway, did being in the Air Force help you at all?"

"Yes, it did, it helped me decide on a career path,"

"What would that be?"

"I want to work for the FBI," replied Brian.

"That's an interesting choice, considering you're not too fond of this government,"

Brian shrugged, "Maybe I can influence the government to go back to traditional American values from the inside. I don't know. I do know that I prefer law and order over chaos and I don't want to see thugs get away with murder, terrorism, domestic abuse, or anything like that. Or, I could just join my town's police force. I think I'll pray about it to see what God wants me to do,"

"Well, good luck with whatever you do in the future, Brian." the two men shook hands and then Brian finished up what he was doing so he could leave Barksdale Air Force Base and head back to Delaney.

Since Brian was driving back to Nebraska, he had to inform the TSA where he was headed, as he was going directly by interstate most of the way. Of course, he had to stop every time he crossed state lines, let the TSA rifle through his stuff, even though they could clearly see he was former military, but it didn't seem to matter to these union thugs, because they clearly enjoyed harassing their fellow Americans. Brian really wanted to mouth off to these guys, but they were authorized to do whatever they wanted in the name of security, so he decided against it. As he drove, he prayed for guidance on what he should do: apply at the FBI or join Delaney's police force. Brian had the impression and constant thoughts afterward about the FBI, so he decided that he would apply for a job with them when he got home. Two days later, after twelve hundred miles, Brian arrived in Delaney.

He parked his car in front of Atwood Farm Supply and went inside the building. His brother, Frank, was stocking shelves, so he sneaked up behind him, and said, "I need help,"

Startled, Frank dropped what he was holding, which clattered to the ground, and Frank whirled around to face his brother. "Don't do that!"

"Sorry," Brian said, with a look of mischief on his face.

"Moron, but, welcome home!" Frank gave Brian a bear hug to emphasize the point.

"I. Can't. Breath."

"Oh, sorry!" Frank stopped hugging Brian, and said, "Sometimes, I forget my own strength,"

"Whatever you say, Frank. By the way, where's Dad?"

"I'm right here," replied Joshua, who was coming out of the backroom where all the merchandise was stored.

"Hi, Dad, I'm home." then they hugged each other.

"We're glad you're back, but when did you get back?"

"Today,"

"Really? Have you been out to the house yet to see your Mom?"

"Not yet. I was driving past here, so I figured I'd drop in first to see you two. Now that I've done that, I'll head home. See you guys later."

Brian found Mary Anne working in her garden, but she'd heard the car drive into the driveway and was getting up from the ground as Brian approached. "Hi, Mom!"

"Brian, when did you get back?" she asked, as they hugged.

"A few minutes ago. I know, I should've called before I left Barksdale, but I wanted to surprise you,"

"Don't worry about it, you coming home is a wonderful surprise. Have you seen your Dad and Frank yet?"

"Yeah, I just left from there. So, what's going on?"

"Nothing really, I'm gardening. Oh wait, there is something going on. Elizabeth Delaney said that Lynda is coming home for summer break at the end of this week. When's the last time you saw her?"

"I don't know, probably when I left for the Air Force. I've had a hard time keeping up with all my friends since I was so busy. What's she been up to?"

"According to Elizabeth, Lynda has a four-point-zero grade point average, and I hear that Pensacola Christian is pretty tough for someone who wants to teach in a Christian school environment. I think she graduates next year,"

"That's interesting. Maybe the two of us can catch up over the summer. Where's Melissa?"

"Your sister and her friends are around; they just got out of school last week for the summer. She'll be glad to see you too, you know,"

"I'll be glad to see her too. Anyway, what's for dinner? I'm hungry," Brian patted his stomach to show that he was starved.

"If you're so hungry right now, go fix yourself a sandwich. You know where the kitchen is. Later on, I'll fix up some hamburgers for supper. Love ya, Brian."

"Love you too, Mom." Brian replied, as he went inside the house to fix himself a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

Later that day, the whole family was gathered around the dinner table to eat. As they were eating, Joshua asked Brian, "Do you know what you're going to do now for a career?"

"I'm going to apply to work at the FBI. I went to their website earlier and saw some openings I could apply for that are in Omaha, and it'll help I did police work in the Air Force,"

"Why would you want to work for the government? It's a tyranny and has no place for people like us. I should've really moved this family somewhere like the Amish country in Pennsylvania or some Doomsday Prepper community out west back when I thought about it. Too late now," grumbled Joshua.

"Are we really going to go through this again, Sweetheart? Dear, maybe God wants Brian in the FBI for some reason unknown to us, and if he doesn't try, he'll regret it for the rest of his life. Please don't get upset," Mary Anne asked of Joshua.

"He should know my feelings on the subject, but, he's an adult, he can work wherever he darn well pleases. But, if you're called on to round up fellow Christians, don't be shocked, because you were warned,"

"Dad, that won't happen,"

"How do you know that won't happen? Can you guarantee it won't?"

"No, not really, but, don't you think God will take care of us if Christians were rounded up? Maybe we'll be caught up in the Rapture before it happens. Only God knows what the future holds,"

"Joshua, he's right, you know," replied Mary Anne.

"Yeah, yeah. I know we should rely on God, but these idiots who run our country really tick me off. Maybe you'll be able to help change it, I don't know. I'll drop the subject and then we can enjoy the rest of our meal."

The next morning, Brian went online to the jobs website the federal government used to advertise job openings. He found what he wanted and there was an opening in Omaha, so he uploaded his resume, filled out all the appropriate information, and clicked send. Knowing how the government worked, he figured he wouldn't hear anything or get an e-mail about the status of the application until a couple of months from now. In the meantime, Joshua would allow him to work at the store until Brian found out one way or another about the job.

A little later in the day, Michael Evans was told by one of his people, "Sir, we received a ping on the Atwood family that you told us to keep an eye out for. A Brian Atwood has applied for a job with the FBI in the Omaha office. What would you like for me to do?"

"Do you have the application with you?"

"Yes, Mr. Evans, here,"

Michael was handed the application, looked it over, and then said, "Interesting. I've been waiting for an opportunity to corrupt one of them. When he's worked there long enough, we can offer him a job in Washington, maybe when Collins is President. I want you to fast-track this application, get him in the job long before it's usual for the government to respond to applications. Inform the interviewer we want him to be hired as soon as possible. Can you do that?"

"I will get on that, Mr. Evans. Do you need anything else?"

"No, that's all I want. Good job."

******

# Chapter 22

The next Sunday, the whole family went to church at the Delaney Independent Baptist Church. Mary Anne asked Brian to wear his Air Force uniform even though he was no longer in the Air Force and wasn't exactly allowed to wear it now, but she insisted. Pastor Justin Hammond was glad to see Brian, "Welcome home, Brian, I'm glad you could make it to church this morning,"

"Thanks, Pastor. I'm glad to be back. I look forward to seeing everyone and hearing your sermon."

As Brian sat down, he saw the Delaney's come in, including Lynda. He hadn't seen Lynda since he left for the Air Force, which was over four years ago. As he looked at her, he became instantly attracted to her, and he realized he never thought about her as anything but a good friend before, but now he started wondering if he should ask her out on a date. When she saw him as she was about to sit down, she smiled, and said, "Hey, Brian, long time no see,"

"Yeah, no kidding, it's nice to see you too. We should catch up sometime. When you have time, that is," Brian shyly replied.

"I'd like that, Brian," Lynda replied, as she brushed her brown hair away from her right ear.

Before Brian could reply, the music director began the service and the congregation began to sing. Brian kept glancing at Lynda, wondering if he should ask her out after church, and kind of wondered if there was such a thing as love at first sight. Two hours later, as everyone was leaving, and Brian was still debating to himself whether or not he should ask Lynda out, she approached him, and said, "Hi Brian, how have you been? Are you still in the Air Force?"

Brian, who had forgotten he was wearing his uniform until this very moment, said, "I'm great. No, I'm not in the Air Force anymore, Mom just wanted me to wear the uniform today. Actually, I'm in the process of applying to the FBI to work for them. Someday, I hope to be the FBI Chief in charge of the region. How are you and how's school?"

"Working for the FBI sounds like a wonderful opportunity. I'm good and Pensacola's great. It's awesome being around other Christians who want to serve the Lord. Did you know that I want to teach in Christian schools?"

"I don't think I've heard that. From what I remember about you, I think you'd be a great teacher. When do you graduate?"

"Next year."

"Great," then the two were silent for what seemed to them like an eternity. Brian really wanted to ask her out, so he asked, "Are you seeing anyone?"

Lynda's whole face lit up when Brian asked. At first, because of her reaction, Brian started to think she was seeing someone, so he started to prepare himself for the inevitable rejection he thought he was about to get.

"If you're about to ask me out, I accept," she finally said.

"Uh, what?"

"You were about to ask me out, right?"

"Yeah, I just wasn't prepared for you to accept it first before I even asked. Um, now what?"

She laughed at that question, while Brian really hadn't thought that far ahead, since he didn't think she'd go out with him to begin with. "Now you ask me if I'd like to go to the Delaney Soda Fountain for lunch and ice cream, silly,"

"Ok. Lynda, would you like to have lunch with me after church?"

"Of course I would. Where are we going?"

"How about the Delaney Soda Fountain? I hear they have great burgers and the ice cream is delicious. Would that be all right?"

"Sounds awesome. I love that place. I'll go tell my mom that I have other plans. I'll meet you at your car." then she went to find her mom.

Lynda told Elizabeth where she was going, "Hey, Mom, Brian and I are going to the Delaney Soda Fountain for lunch. I'll see you later, 'k?

"Ok, see you later." when Lynda disappeared out of sight, Elizabeth went over to Mary Anne, and said, "Looks like our kids are going to get together. When do you think Brian will ask her to marry him?"

"Oh, probably before she has to go back to school. Do you think those two ever thought about being married to each other?"

"I know Lynda casually mentioned it a couple of times when she was younger, but I don't think she really thought they'd ever be more than friends. I think it's cool that there might be a possibility of two life-long friends of the opposite sex eventually getting married. I just hope those two don't get all tangled up in each other and forget the rest of the world," replied Elizabeth.

"At least you know they won't get into trouble with sex, since both of them are committed to waiting until marriage. But, yeah, I hope they don't forget the outside world and their responsibilities while they're courting."

At the Delaney Soda Fountain, Brian and Lynda sat down to eat and also began a conversation that would last them longer than they anticipated. Brian told her about his adventures in the Air Force as a military policeman and dealing with drunken Airmen, fights among civilians and the Airmen at bars, the occasional case of someone going AWOL, and the various random security threats. "I really enjoyed my work, which is why I applied for a job to the FBI the other day. I really hope they at least give me an interview,"

"I think they will, God willing. You have a really strong resume and work ethic, so they would be stupid to pass you over,"

"I'm glad you're confident that they'd hire me, because I'm not. Anyway, so what do you plan on doing with your degree after you graduate?"

"I want to teach in Christian schools, probably elementary level,"

"That's great. I know you like kids, so you'd be a really good teacher. Where do you want to teach? I know Delaney only has public schools, so you'd have to move somewhere else that has a Christian school,"

"I'd like to stay in Nebraska, so hopefully there'll be an opening in Omaha or Lincoln or Sioux City. If I have to, I'll apply for a job in Des Moines or Kansas City, but I really don't want to since I prefer to stay close to my family. How do you feel about staying in Nebraska?"

"I'm for it, but the type of job I want might take me all over the place, but if I were asked about it, I'd tell them I'd like to stay here."

For the next couple of hours, which seemed like minutes to them, Brian and Lynda talked about what they enjoyed doing in their spare time, what books or movies they enjoyed recently, and even politics, which both of them had similar attitudes towards. Neither noticed that it had turned dark outside and nobody in the Soda Fountain told them to get moving because they had stayed there for far too long. Only when their parents showed up did they realize just how long they'd been sitting at the table they were at and talking.

"We've been wondering where you two were. Have you been here the entire time?" asked a concerned Joshua.

"Sorry, we got to talking and the time got away from us," replied Brian.

"Don't worry about it, Son, your father and I totally understand. We remember what it's like to be young and in love," responded Mary Anne.

Brian and Lynda blushed, while Elizabeth was more than irritated, "I wish one of you had called us to let you know that you'd be missing church. I know Brian isn't irresponsible, but I was starting to think you whisked her off somewhere to God knows where, especially since he's a single man with raging hormones. I'm relieved that you two have been here the whole time, though. Next time, though, you have cell phones, use them!"

"I have honorable intentions, Mrs. Delaney, I would never ever harm Lynda."

"I know you wouldn't, but you're not a parent yet, so you probably don't understand exactly. Brian, I do trust you, so don't mind me."

"You could've called us too, you know. I know mine is still charged," replied Lynda sarcastically as she picked up her cell and touched the screen to light it up.

Joshua, Mary Anne, and Brian couldn't help but chuckle, while Elizabeth still looked concerned, but not as upset as she was when she came into the Soda Fountain. The five left, while Brian told Lynda he'd call her in a day or two so they could go out somewhere else, like on a picnic or bike ride. For the next three months, until the middle of August, the two saw each other every day. At the same time, the FBI called him and interviewed him a week after his first date with Lynda. Two weeks later, he was offered a job working in the Omaha office, and they asked him to report for training in four weeks. While Brian and his parents thought the timing was odd, they really didn't think much of it. Getting the job was the incentive Brian needed, because there was something he wanted to ask Lynda before she went back to school. First, he had to go talk to Elizabeth.

"Mrs. Delaney, I need to talk to you,"

"Yes?"

"I came over to ask you for permission to marry your daughter. While I know she's still in school, we can wait until she's graduated. I love her with all my heart and want to spend the rest of my life with her,"

"I know you do, and I'm glad you want to wait until she has graduated. Before I approve, I have a couple of questions. How do you plan on supporting her?"

"I had an interview with the FBI three weeks ago, and they want me to come in for training next week. I want to have a career working for them,"

"Good to hear. The other question I had is: Have you two been chaste and kept your vow to remain pure until you're married? From my experience of knowing a lot of people who didn't, most of them were divorced within three years,"

"Yes, ma'am. We haven't even kissed, since we didn't want to let it lead us onto that path, and then ruin our happiness later. We made sure to practice self-control. I don't need to be physical with her to know that I love her with all my heart and soul. I think we're meant to be together, which is why I want to marry her, ma'am."

"Well then, Brian, I give you permission to marry my daughter. I know she will say yes and I hope you two have a happy and long marriage."

Luckily for Brian, Lynda was not high maintenance and didn't require a guy to make a big production out of anything, including a marriage proposal. Brian bought an engagement ring in Rapid City, since Delaney was small enough for everyone in town to know before he ever had a chance to ask Lynda, and he didn't want her knowing beforehand. He took her on a picnic and after they ate, he got down on one knee, and asked her, "Lynda, will you marry me?"

Brian could tell she didn't know whether to jump up and down, give him a hug, start crying, or faint. After a minute or so, as she attempted to get her emotions in check, she replied, "Yes! Yes! Yes! A thousand times yes!" Lynda then hugged him and they kissed for the first time, but quickly separated, since they didn't want to spoil their first time together.

"When do you want to get married?" asked Brian.

"How about sometime next summer, after I graduate?"

"I'd be ok with that. Probably June or July, right?

"I think it ought to be June, not so hot yet," replied Lynda.

"Lynda, whatever you want. If you want to get married in the Arctic, I'd be cool with that too,"

"Freezing to death over being melted by the heat. Hmm.... tough choice. I think I'll go with a summer wedding without all the freezing cold and ice. Let's go tell everyone."

After they told everyone, they were given an engagement party the day before Lynda had to go back to school. Lynda returned to school and Brian began to work for the FBI, but they made sure to e-mail or text each other every day, and occasionally video chatted with each other when they had the chance.

A year later, three weeks after Lynda finally graduated from college, on a June day that was sunny and 80 degrees, the wedding took place. It was held outside in a park next to their church with Pastor Hammond officiating. Lynda's Bridesmaids consisted of Brian's sister, Melissa, and Lynda's sister, Heather. For the Best Men, Brian had his brother, Frank, and Lynda's brother, Mike, do those honors. While he was getting ready, Brian said to Frank, "Boy, am I nervous,"

"That's only natural, Brian. I was nervous when I married my wife. You're not getting cold feet, are you?"

"No, and I'm way too in love with Lynda to want to run away. This is just a really big life-altering decision and it makes me nervous, but I'll get over it. I guess it's now time for the wedding to begin. Let's go."

Brian stood at the front, with Pastor Hammond, the Bridesmaids, and his Best Men, waiting for his bride-to-be. The wedding music started, and a minute or so later, Lynda walked out and was escorted by her brother, James Junior, since their father had died those many years ago in Iraq. Lynda had on a beautiful white wedding dress that Elizabeth had worn when she got married and both Lynda and Brian's hearts raced the closer Lynda came to him. When Lynda was finally by Brian's side, Pastor Hammond began, "We're gathered here together on this happy and joyous occasion, to witness the joining of these two young people, Brian Atwood and Lynda Delaney. As two dedicated Christians, they wanted to let everyone publicly hear their testimonies of how they came to know Jesus as their Lord and Savior first before they tie the knot. They feel this will strengthen their marriage, and I'm inclined to agree. Brian, will you like to go first?"

"I'd be honored to, Pastor. Well, I was led to the Lord when I was seven. One day, in Sunday school, I was convicted by the Holy Spirit, so I asked my Sunday school teacher, Mrs. Ferguson, about how I could ask Jesus into my heart. She helped me pray the prayer, and then I felt the presence of the Lord surrounding and embracing me. Ever since, I've wanted to do all things through Christ, because He strengthens me in everything I do. Without Him, I doubt I'd be a good enough man to marry Lynda."

When Lynda saw that Brian was through, she began, "I was saved when I was ten. After church one Sunday, I asked Mom how I can get saved, since I was kind of too afraid to go up front at church during the invitation to ask. She led me in the prayer and I too felt God's presence in my life. Like Brian said, if it wasn't for Christ, I don't think I'd be a woman who was good enough to marry a man like Brian."

"Thank you, Brian and Lynda, for sharing. Now, marriage is a solemn institution to be held in honor by all, it is the cornerstone of the family and of the community. It requires of those who undertake it a complete and unreserved giving of one's self. It is not to be entered into lightly, as marriage is a sincere and mutual commitment to love one another. This commitment symbolizes the intimate sharing of two lives and still enhances the individuality of each of you,

"Will you, Brian Atwood, have Lynda Delaney to be your wife? Will you love her, comfort and keep her, forsake all others, and remain true to her as long as you both shall live?"

"I do,"

"Will you, Lynda Delaney, have Brian Atwood to be your husband? Will you love him, comfort and keep him, forsake all others, and remain true to him as long as you both shall live?"

"I do,"

"Then repeat after me: I, Brian Atwood, take thee Lynda Delaney, to be my wife, and before God and these witnesses, I promise to be a faithful and true husband,"

Brian repeated the words, then Pastor Hammond spoke to Lynda the same words, and she repeated the words. "Brian, will you put the ring on her finger, and then repeat after me: With this ring, I thee wed. In sickness and in health, in poverty or in wealth, 'til death do us part,"

Brian repeated the words to Lynda. Then Lynda was given the ring she was to slip onto Brian's finger, and then she repeated the words that Hammond told her to say. Once that was done, Hammond said, "In accordance with the laws in the sovereign state of Nebraska and of God, I now pronounce you husband and wife. Brian, you can now kiss the bride."

Brian and Lynda kissed and the kiss was long enough to start getting some hoots and hollers from their friends and relatives, which embarrassed the two, but they laughed about it afterward. Everyone went to the reception for cake, ice cream, a little bit of Country Gospel music, and fellowship. Three hours later, Brian and Lynda went on their honeymoon, to Niagara Falls. After their honeymoon, Lynda moved into Brian's apartment, Lynda got a job as a Christian elementary school teacher, and Brian began saving money up for a house they could live in when their family started to expand.

******

# Chapter 23

Four years later....

"We're finally ready for the last phase of all the hard work my grandfather and I have put in these last few decades. With the election of you, David, the last pieces of the puzzle will be in place. How do you feel about finally becoming President of the United States?" asked Michael of David Collins.

"I'm not the President yet, we still have the Election to go through next week," argued David.

"Details, details, don't worry about that. You're guaranteed to be the President, neither the Conservatives or Independents have a chance. You'll get to do whatever you want, especially at the end of your term, when we'll have a surprise for the American people. You do look forward to that, right? Or, did I back the wrong person from the beginning?"

"No, no, I'm the guy who you want. So, no need to worry about some silly Presidential Election then? I have it in the bag for sure?"

"That's right. My years of hard work setting up the system to rig the elections came to be much easier when electronic voting came into being. All I had to do was get my hackers to hack the system and off we went. Once we're finally rid of Christians and all those other religious freaks, we can finally do anything we want without someone complaining about it. That's the final piece of the puzzle to put in and then we get to have all those wonderfully indoctrinated fools out there do what we want, when we want, and how we want. Of course, we'll make sure the Election looks close enough to be convincing, but not so close that people wonder who really won. Now, go play at campaigning while I finish up my work."

A few hours later, Michael was approached by one of his staff, "Sir, we've been tracking the Atwood family like you wanted. It looks like Brian's parents are leaving Delaney for Omaha, at least according to the trip plan they filed with the TSA. Apparently, Brian and his wife are moving into a new home and members of their family are coming to assist. Brian's parents are by themselves, so is there anything you'd like done to them now that you have the opportunity?"

"Do we have anyone in the area that is available to take them down?"

"Um, hold on, Mr. Evans, I'll have to look it up on my tablet." a minute later, after looking up names on the wireless device, "There is someone who is available immediately. Would you like me to send an e-mail requesting he take care of the two?"

"Yes, please do that. Make sure to give him the tracking ID number, the access to the GPS locator, and ask him to record the whole thing so I can watch his handiwork later on. Got it?"

"I've got it, Mr. Evans. Your request has been sent and has been acknowledged by our friend. Do you need anything else, sir?"

"No, that's all. Thank you."

Two hours later, Michael received an email with videos attached from the man they used to do something about the parents of Brian Atwood. Michael clicked "play" on the first video and it showed the contractor driving a freight truck on Interstate 80, close to Omaha. He was going about eighty-five miles an hour as he came upon his target: a four-door sedan that was only going sixty-five. The truck hit the back of the car at full speed, causing the car to start wobbling back and forth, since the driver didn't seem to know how to counteract the force of the hit. The truck pushed the car out of the way, and the video showed the car hitting the bar ditch on the side of the interstate. The first video ended there.

The second video was the feed from a camera positioned on the light pole on that interstate put there by the Nebraska Department of Roads. The video showed the truck hitting the car, followed by the car going off the road, hitting the bar ditch at sixty-five miles an hour, causing the car to launch into a barrel roll. The car's speed took it over the interstate again, into oncoming traffic, where other cars couldn't get stopped fast enough, and slammed into the car. Michael could instantly tell the parents of Brian Atwood were now dead, even though he couldn't actually see them, but the way the car rolled and the subsequent hits turned the car into something unrecognizable as a car. The interstate piled up with dozens of wrecked cars, but the only fatality was Joshua and Mary Anne Atwood. Michael was beyond delighted with the outcome and noted in his planner that he should give that contractor more money when the time came for other projects. Michael hoped that this would enable him to corrupt Brian when the time came for him to come to Washington, since he would have no parents to lean on for support when he and his wife needed it. The revenge on the Atwood family for corrupting Jason would be finally over and done with, and Michael was looking forward to that day.

Joshua and Mary Anne were buried in the graveyard at their church two days later. Brian and his siblings were devastated, since their parents' deaths came out of nowhere. The driver of the freight truck was never found, but the freight truck itself was found a few miles from the wreck, since it had been stolen from a Flying J when the original driver went into the truck stop to get something to eat for "just a second" and had left the keys in the ignition. The investigators had no clues as to why Brian's parents were the only ones run down by the driver who stole the truck, so the case was closed. Brian attempted to figure out who did it through the FBI database when his mind was clearer, but he had no luck either.

A week later, David Collins was elected President of the United States (continued in Times of Trouble).

******

If you enjoyed this book, please join Christian Indie Author Readers Group on Facebook. You will find Christian Books in Multiple Genres. Opportunities to find other Christian Authors and learn about new releases, sales, and free books. Just type Christian Indie Authors Readers Group into Facebook and join us.

Novels in The End Times Saga:

Times of Turmoil

Times of Trouble

Times of Trial

Times of Rebellion

Times of Destruction

Times of Judgment

Times of Tribulation

Jon Ryan (short story)

Xavier Doolittle (short story)

Other Works by Cliff Ball

Out of Time - time travel

The Usurper - political thriller

Shattered Earth - alternate history

Beyond the New Frontier - alternate history

Dust Storm - Christian western short story

Voyager and the Aliens - sci-fi short story

The Perilous Times Series - Christian End Times

The Falling Away

The Great Deception

The Great Tribulation

An American Journey Series -

Christian Historical Fiction

The Long Journey

******

Please visit cliffball.net for more information about my novels, read short stories that are on the site, read the blog, and sign-up to get updates by e-mail about giveaways, sales, and future releases.
