A decision is needed

[W.Lynn]

Ok paste-eaters, we got him to publish Going Home. He's doing the rest, lest rabid amazon shoppers track him down like drooling zombies, to try to consume it directly from his brain.

Do we wish to make a fuss to get him to put "Cry Havoc!" before the public?

[Deerhound]

A decision is needed

As one of those rabid amazon shoppers I vote yes!

[Gwynmael]

A decision is needed

Hmm, he's actually cranking out the trilogy at a pretty good clip. Usually only one a year or so is expected from "major" authors.

Marketing-wise, I'd like to see him get out all 3 of these first. It'll make the addicts more willing to try something new.

[unseenone]

A decision is needed

President Obama was reelected in a landslide. His victory was so overwhelming in fact that many believed it a farce. This caused even more problems, the campaign had already stirred up a lot of angst in the country. Obama’s campaign really played the social equity angle. Some called it the race card. Either way you looked at it, a wedge the size of Mt Everest was drove through the country. There were cries of rigged elections from the right. The left shouted from every microphone they got in front of that this was the true season of change, after all, the nation has spoke, a second time. The people of America really did want the Hope and Change promised by the president.

One of the first things the President did was to push the Congress and Senate to ratify the Small Arms treaty. Oh there was great outrage from the reps on the right, lots of pulpit pounding and chest thumping, but in the end it passed both chambers with a nearly ninety percent yes vote. This, was gasoline on the fire. The second act of the President was to capitulate to Iran and acknowledge their right to self defense, and in that light, their right to nuclear weapons. He legitimized their nuclear program with the stroke of a pen. Isreal went mad, they pleaded their case in the public court. But with so much going on at home, many Americans simply ignored it, or paid little attention.

The trail to destruction was thus began. Oh there were other potholes along the way, but these two events were to have such a profound effect on the country that it would be forever changed. When Obama knelt at the feet of the Persians, figuratively if not literally, it emboldened the Iranian leadership. When the President proposed a further reduction in nuclear arsenals with the Russian, the government of Putin eagerly agreed. A great victory in the name of humanity was made out of the decommissioning of upwards of sixty percent of the US arsenal. The Russians played up to the plan in the media, appearances between the two leaders were plastered all over the MSM. The Russians however were not decommissioning anything.

Under the Small Arms Treaty it was announced to the nations of the world, that the private ownership of military grade weapons was now outlawed. Much was made that America, reputed to be the last Super Power, had the greatest number of such weapons in private hands. The fact that the US Administration ratified the treaty, then went even further by reducing its nuclear arsenal, heralded a new era in global peace. The rest of the world may have bought this, but the owners of the more than 200 million guns in the US, certainly didn’t. And yet, here, another wedge was drove into the nation.

There are many gun owners in the county that certainly believe that military grade hardware should be outlawed. They joined the applause of the Treaty. Those that believed that high capacity magazines should be outlawed joined into the orgy of praise as well. That is until it was revealed that additional wording was added that banned any weapon that was capable of mechanical self loading. In the beginning this caused some confusion and misconceptions. When it was revealed that any magazine, irregardless of capacity, fed weapon was banned, the cries of violating the Constitution grew louder. When it was further revealed that the term “magazine” also included tube fed weapons, the cries reached a crescendo. Now there was no doubt what the intentions behind this Treaty was, the virtual total disarmament of the American people.

For many in the prepper community the writing was on the wall. All across the country people were making decisions. Some were headed to their BOL’s, others were trying to buy up whatever ammo was left out there, prices were astronomical. There would be no more shipments, no more mags, no more parts, nothing. All those people that figured they would see “it” coming and head out and use their credit cards to prepare were caught with their pants down. And Big Brother was squeezing Astro Glide into his hand.

When the TSA started to set up roadblocks and search vehicles, the **** hit the fan. The Fed’s decided to go big. The first roadblocks were set up in Michigan. It was bait and the Michigan Militia took it. When the militia heard that the TSA goons were searching people on the interstates, confiscating and arresting people for possession of firearms, even though the “grace period” wasn’t up, they made their move. A unit of the militia planned a quick op when they heard of a roadblock nearby.

Using six vehicles they approached the roadblock from both directions. This particular roadblock was on a frontage road that paralleled Hwy 96 outside of Lansing. The lead car had two militiamen in it. As they approached the roadblock, they were challenged by the TSA and asked if they had any weapons. When they replied they did, they were ordered from the car. Both of them were wearing body armor with plates, front and back. Most of the attention of those manning the roadblock was focused on the two “noncompliant” passengers.

It was then that the other 25 members emerged from the other five SUV’s and opened fire on the TSA, DHS and State Patrol officers at the roadblock. The incident would forever be referred to as the “Lansing Incident”, it would be a battle cry for the Patriots of the nation and the anvil against which all freedom loving men and woman of the US would be hammered against. Four militiamen were killed as well as two Troopers, two DHS personnel and four from the TSA. The firefight was intense and short, the result being that almost all the vehicles at the scene belonging to any of the agencies involved were burned through the use of homemade thermite grenades.

The militia managed to escape from the scene, recovering their fallen comrades. None of them were ever caught, although the MSM would report otherwise. This was our Concord, this was the spark that started it all. America was now a police state.

[unseenone]

A decision is needed

This was the moment the Administration was waiting for. Before the fires were even out in Lansing the Attorney General was issuing decrees to local, state and federal law enforcement agencies. All weapons in private hands were to be seized. To get around any Constitutional or legal loopholes, the President enacted several Executive Orders, not the least of which was 13603, section 501 was to have a profound affect on the citizens of the nation. This particular section of the EO was headed Employment of Personnel and allowed the establishment of the National Executive Defense Reserve or NEDR. It was created under the auspices of training civilians in executive level positions in the Federal Government. In reality it was a cover to create a private, Federal police force, answerable only to the President and the Attorney General.

KLB Inc was awarded an indefinite delivery contract to provide for detention and housing of “suspects and subversives”. The Council of Governors was instructed to assist in the DHS with the activation of the Regional FEMA camps. These camps would be used to house persons arrested under provisions of the Defense Authorization Act. Soon American Citizens would facing American troops on the streets of the nation, that is unless their attention gets focused elsewhere.

Daniel Taylor lived in a four story apartment off of Century Cir, off of I-85 in downtown Atlanta. He worked in the IT department of one of the banks in Atlanta and attended the University of Phoenix Dekalb Learning Center across the street from his apartments. In his position he was responsible for keeping the network secure from the constant, daily attacks on the banks network. He was one of many who lived in cubicle land staring into computer monitors all day. Once he finishes his degree he hopes to get promoted out of the gopher farm and upstairs, but for now, this was his life.

His girlfriend Christy lived nearby in a different apartment. She had hinted several times at wanting to move in together, but so far he had been successful in dodging that particular bullet. He wasn’t ready for any sort of a commitment. He liked his freedom, and from the talks around the water cooler and the employee lounge, married life came with way too damn many restrictions for him. He enjoyed his weekends in North Georgia where he camped, hiked and fished. He liked his time in places like the Bowmans Island unit of the Chattahoochee river.

This is where he got away from the hustle and bustle of Atlanta. Up here it was quieter and fewer people. On the weekends he would load his Wrangler up and head out of town with his camping gear and a cooler, not to return until sometime Sunday afternoon. Sometimes Christy would go with him, she wasn’t much of a camper, but was learning to like it. Watching the sun set from the top of a ridge, or the sun rising over a secluded pond made it worth the trip. Most of the time however, he was alone, and that was how he liked it.

All through the election things in Atlanta got progressively worse, culminating in riots. The National Guard was brought in to put them down after the police were overwhelmed. This caused even more riots and problems. Two Guardsmen were shot and killed and their weapons stolen. The result was for the Governor to authorize the Guard troops to shoot armed individuals and looters on site. Seventeen people were killed, fourteen of them black, this just added fuel to the fire of racial inequality.

[unseenone]

A decision is needed

It was Friday afternoon and Daniel was watching the clock in the corner of one of his monitors. Half and hour and he was a freeman. Leaning back in his chair he clasped his hands behind his head and let out a long hard breath. Tom’s head popped over the cubicle wall. With his bald head and his hands clasped over the top he looked like Kilroy, the thought brought a smile to Daniel’s face.

“Hey man, you going camping again this weekend?” Tom asked.

“Yep, just as soon as this damn electronic task master says I can. I am logging off at exactly 4:30.” Daniel replied.

“Sweet, where you going?” Tom asked again.

Daniel was use to this from his cubicle neighbor. Tom was married and had two young kids and a house in the burbs. He lived vicariously through Daniel who was more than happy to regale him with his tales of adventure. Seeing the wistful looks in Tom’s eyes when he talked of hiking, camping and catching beautiful trout was one of the reasons he and Christy weren’t living together.

“North.” Daniel replied.

“North? Where’s that?” Came Tom’s confused reply.

Daniel answered by jutting a thumb over his shoulder and raising his eyebrows at Tom. “Well no ****.” Tom countered as Daniel let out a laugh.

“ I don’t know, I’m just going to throw some stuff in the truck and head out. I’ll stop wherever I stop. Only requirements are rocks, water and trees.” Daniel said as he rocked forward in his chair.

“You taking Christy?” Tom asked as he laid his forearms over the top of the cubicle.

“Don’t know, haven’t asked her yet. If she wants to hang out, then she has to go.”

“Man, I would love to get out of here for awhile, **** is getting truly ****ed up around town. Marilyn is scared, talking about wanting to go to her Mom’s house over by Savannah to get away from it. That last riot scared the hell out of her.” Tom said.

“Yeah, but that was a couple of weeks ago and nothing has happened since then, I think it is dying down now, if those jackasses like Jackson will stay off the damn TV fanning the flames.” Daniel replied.

Tom swiveled his head slowly from side to side like he was looking for something, then leaned over the cube wall and in a low voice said, “Have you turned in your guns yet?”

Daniel didn’t even look up from the monitor, “What guns?” After a moment of silence he looked up at Tom.

“You have a couple of pistols and stuff, have you turned them in yet?” Tom was whispering, or trying to.

“Oh, those, they’ve been gone. I sold them to buy the new tires for the Jeep, made enough for the rack on top too.” It was total bull**** and he didn’t know if Tom believed him or not, but no one would ever find his guns. He only had two around now anyway and where they were stored it would take a serious search to find them, even though they were in plain sight.
At 4:30 exactly Daniel clicked the mouse, his credentials already entered into the appropriate boxes, and clapped his hands over his head. Standing up he looked over at Tom, “What’s on your schedule for the weekend?”

Tom rolled his eyes, “Birthday parties. You cannot imagine how many of the damn things I have to go to.”

“No I can’t, and I don’t want too either.” Tom stood there shaking his, Daniel slung his messenger bag over his shoulder with one hand and slapped Tom on the shoulder with the other. “I’ll be thinking about you, check your phone, I’ll send pics!” Daniel said as he passed him heading for the elevator.

Tom stood there with his right arm extended out giving Daniel the bird to his back. “**** you too buddy, **** you too.”
Daniel let out an evil laugh as jumped and slapped the sign that indicated the elevator.

[unseenone]

A decision is needed

Daniel let out an evil laugh as jumped and slapped the sign that indicated the elevator. He packed into the first elevator that stopped on his floor. From the looks on the faces of the people already on it, they were not happy with one more person squeezing on, he simply smiled and edged his way in. When the doors opened in the lobby he was first one off and made a mad dash for the parking garage.

Traffic was a nightmare as is typical for Atlanta. While he was ready to get home and load up, he wasn’t letting it get to him, where he was headed there wouldn’t be any traffic. The one thing he did notice was all the police on the road. On his ride home Daniel saw more Atlanta cops, State Troopers and Sheriff Deputies than he ever had. Several of the times he saw these officers putting people in handcuffs and stuffing them in the back of their car. It seemed like the number of people being arrested was increasing.

Daniel flipped on the radio looking for a distraction. He was scanning through the stations looking for something to listen to that wouldn’t drive him nuts. The radio stopped on one of the local talk stations, Rush Limbaugh was on. He was ranting and raving about how the Republicans had completely caved on Isreal, how they were done, they would never be a viable party again. Well this certainly wasn’t helping his sanity so he punched a key on the radio and smiled as Kid Rock’s Cocky started.

His cell phone rang, looking down Christy’s name was on the screen and a smile came across his face.

He tapped the screen, “Hey sexy”, this was his standard answer.

“Hey babe, where are you?”

“Stuck on 85, sitting in traffic, where are you?”

“At my apartment, what are you wanting to do this weekend? I was kinda hoping we could go to Buckhead tonight, you know, take me out to do what I want an you can do what you want.” Christy’s voice trailed off into a breathy seductive tone.

Well now that was an offer he had to think about. “I was hoping to head up north and check out that trail we found the last time we were out.” He didn’t say anything more than that, not “do you wanna come” or anything, he was going to have to see what sort of mood she was in.

“Aw come on baby, we haven’t gone out in like forever, I wanna go out, take me out tonight, please.” Christy cooed into the phone.

Daniel’s hand fell into his lap, he looked up at the rag top of his Jeep, his mouth hanging open. In his mind he was screaming why, why, why, but he knew he couldn’t say that to her. He hated to “go out”, bar hopping, going to clubs and being drug out onto the dance floor was simply not his thing. But he liked Christy, for a couple of reason. That last thought brought him back around and put the phone back to his ear.

“Sure babe, we can go out, I need to get home and get a shower an change, just come over when you’re ready.” He finally said.

The conversation didn’t last much longer than that, Christy was excited at the thought of spending the night in Buck Head, Daniel was just as miserable at the thought, then he smiled, knowing the hours he would spend slogging through the bars and clubs would be worth it when they got back to his place.

He finally made it home and into his apartment on the second floor, closing the door with an audible sigh. His first order of business was to get out of the corporate monkey suit and into something more comfortable so he headed for his bedroom and returned wearing a t-shirt and shorts, feeling far more relaxed. He knew Christy would be a couple, hell more than a couple, hours before she showed up and grabbed a beer and turned on the TV. Fox News and CNN were running talking heads from opposite sides of the gun debates, MSNBC was interviewing some clown from the EU who was pontificating about the US’s role in the global economy and how they weren’t acting very responsibly.

None of this was doing anything to improve his mood though and he flipped to the guide and found Jack Ass the Movie, that was exactly the sort of mind numbing entertainment he wanted. Daniel decided to take a shower and start getting ready, turning up the volume on Johnny Knoxville’s antics he headed for the shower.

He was sitting on the couch watching a piece about Rommel on the Military Channel when he heard that distinct knock on the door. He flipped off the TV and grabbed his keys and wallet before heading towards the door. Opening the door he was greeted with an amazing site, Christy had one arm resting on the door frame over her head. She was wearing what is often referred to as the little black dress, little being the key word and she was smokin’ hot in it. Adding in the black heels and the fact the small dress barely contained her chest and he questioned the plan of going out, thinking staying at his place would be better. But then, if he took her out and let her party it up, it would certainly pay off.

“Damn you look fine.” Daniel said as he stepped towards her.

Christy wrapped her arms around his neck and smiled, revealing her beautifully perfect white teeth, then she pushed herself up on her toes and leaned in and kissed him, “You don’t look so bad yourself” she said with a smile, stepping back to check him out, “and all by yourself, I’m so proud.”

Daniel did a little pirouette, “Not bad huh?”

Christy reached out and grabbed his ass, “Not bad at all, so where we going?”

He had planned what he would say to this question, “ I thought we would start at Churchill’s.” Before he even finished saying it he started to smile, knowing how she felt about the British style pub.

Christy spun and started to walk towards the stairs, tossing the little black purse over her shoulder, “I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that.”

They started the night at Aria Restaurant off E. Paces Ferry Rd, a trendy upscale little place with great food and prices that reflect it. Daniel knew this night was going to cost him, but since he wasn’t going to the woods this weekend he was going to make it as enjoyable as possible, and keeping Christy in bed all weekend would certainly be enjoyable.

They enjoyed their dinner, he having Salmon and Christy a chicken something or other. Because of the difference in dishes they had two different bottles of wine at the table as well. Neither of them wanted desert and Daniel quickly paid the bill and they were off to find some music and people.

Daniel was pulling out of the parking lot when he asked Christy where she wanted to go. Her reply was of no help, “Surprise me.” All he could do was roll his eyes as he pulled out onto the road. This scenario had entered his mind and having been a Boy Scout he was ready and headed down Paces Ferry to Piedmont and made a right. The stars were lining up tonight and a car was pulling out of a spot in front of the Havana Club as he pulled in.
Looking over at Christy he asked, “Feel like dancing tonight?” his eyebrows jumping up and down as he did.

Christy was obviously surprised, being a typical guy he tried to avoid dancing at all costs and for him to suggest it was certainly a surprise. “You mean you’re actually going to dance with me tonight?”

Daniel looked over at her as he put the Jeep in park, the small silver chain she wore around her neck caught his eye, the little pendent resting in the top of her ample cleavage, he looked a little lower until the little black dress covered his desires. He reached across to her seat and laid his hand on her thigh, running it slightly up her leg under the dress, “ You look amazing tonight, wanna dance?”

Christy took a deep breath, her mouth slightly open, and began to vigorously nod her head, “Yeah, oh yeah, let’s go.”

Inside the bar was packed with all the young and beautiful of Atlanta. Techno dance music filled the place and bodies on the floor writhed to the rhythm. As soon as Christy broke the plane of the door her arms went and she began to shake her ass to the music.

[unseenone]

A decision is needed

He was sitting on the couch watching a piece about Rommel on the Military Channel when he heard that distinct knock on the door. He flipped off the TV and grabbed his keys and wallet before heading towards the door. Opening the door he was greeted with an amazing site, Christy had one arm resting on the door frame over her head. She was wearing what is often referred to as the little black dress, little being the key word and she was smokin’ hot in it. Adding in the black heels and the fact the small dress barely contained her chest and he questioned the plan of going out, thinking staying at his place would be better. But then, if he took her out and let her party it up, it would certainly pay off.

“Damn you look fine.” Daniel said as he stepped towards her.

Christy wrapped her arms around his neck and smiled, revealing her beautifully perfect white teeth, then she pushed herself up on her toes and leaned in and kissed him, “You don’t look so bad yourself” she said with a smile, stepping back to check him out, “and all by yourself, I’m so proud.”

Daniel did a little pirouette, “Not bad huh?”

Christy reached out and grabbed his ass, “Not bad at all, so where we going?”

He had planned what he would say to this question, “ I thought we would start at Churchill’s.” Before he even finished saying it he started to smile, knowing how she felt about the British style pub.

Christy spun and started to walk towards the stairs, tossing the little black purse over her shoulder, “I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that.”

They started the night at Aria Restaurant off E. Paces Ferry Rd, a trendy upscale little place with great food and prices that reflect it. Daniel knew this night was going to cost him, but since he wasn’t going to the woods this weekend he was going to make it as enjoyable as possible, and keeping Christy in bed all weekend would certainly be enjoyable.

They enjoyed their dinner, he having Salmon and Christy a chicken something or other. Because of the difference in dishes they had two different bottles of wine at the table as well. Neither of them wanted desert and Daniel quickly paid the bill and they were off to find some music and people.

Daniel was pulling out of the parking lot when he asked Christy where she wanted to go. Her reply was of no help, “Surprise me.” All he could do was roll his eyes as he pulled out onto the road. This scenario had entered his mind and having been a Boy Scout he was ready and headed down Paces Ferry to Piedmont and made a right. The stars were lining up tonight and a car was pulling out of a spot in front of the Havana Club as he pulled in.
Looking over at Christy he asked, “Feel like dancing tonight?” his eyebrows jumping up and down as he did.

Christy was obviously surprised, being a typical guy he tried to avoid dancing at all costs and for him to suggest it was certainly a surprise. “You mean you’re actually going to dance with me tonight?”

Daniel looked over at her as he put the Jeep in park, the small silver chain she wore around her neck caught his eye, the little pendent resting in the top of her ample cleavage, he looked a little lower until the little black dress covered his desires. He reached across to her seat and laid his hand on her thigh, running it slightly up her leg under the dress, “ You look amazing tonight, wanna dance?”

Christy took a deep breath, her mouth slightly open, and began to vigorously nod her head, “Yeah, oh yeah, let’s go.”

Inside the bar was packed with all the young and beautiful of Atlanta. Techno dance music filled the place and bodies on the floor writhed to the rhythm. As soon as Christy broke the plane of the door her arms went and she began to shake her ass to the music. They spent the next several hours dancing and drinking. Christy was having a great time and he knew he would later, it was the only thing that kept him going.

Daniel needed a break from the dance floor and told Christy he was going to get them a drink, she nodded and turned back to the dance floor. Daniel went to the bathroom to take a leak. Of course there was an “attendant” in there, an older black man sitting on a stool. Daniel saw him when he came in and rolled his eyes. After finishing his business at the urinal he went to the sink, the soap dispenser was gone and the old man held out a bottle of liquid soap, Daniel stuck his hands out and the old guy pumped a few squirts in his hand.

As he washed his hands he looked over to the paper towel dispenser, and just as he suspected it was empty. A smirk ran across his face, when he finished the old man tossed him a hand towel and he dried his hands. Sitting on the counter was a small basket full of bills, he handed the towel back to the old guy and he tossed it into a basket on the floor, it was now he was expected to tip this guy for some soap and a towel.

The old man was smiling at him, Daniel looked at him patting his pockets, “Sorry man, don’t have any cash, I’m going to the bar for some drinks and I’ll take care of you next time.”

“Jus’ don’t forget about me,” the old guy sad with a wink.

Daniel left the restroom shaking his head and fought his way to the bar. He was trying to get the attention of one of the hot bartenders, which appeared impossible and occupied his time with one of the huge tv’s behind the bar. A local news anchor was on the screen, behind her was a line of riot police forming a skirmish line. Daniel was absentmindedly watching when the scroll at the bottom of the screen said, “Riot at Centennial Place.”

He immediately left the bar headed for the dance floor to find Christy. He found her dancing with some Latin looking guy with no shirt, he wedged in between them and she threw her arms around his neck and kissed him.

Pulling away from her he shouted over the music, “We gotta go!”

She was still smiling and dancing to the music, “What!” she shouted back.

“We gotta go!” he shouted again.

She simply smiled back at him, grabbing his hands and pulling him towards her. Daniel gripped her right hand and pulled her from the dance floor, she tried to protest, pulling away.

“What the hell?” Christy asked.

“Look, there’s a riot starting over at Centennial Place, we need to get the hell outta here before they bring in the National Guard and start shooting people.”

“Why, that’s blocks from her, come on, come back out and dance with me.”

“No, I’m leaving, I’m not getting caught in that ****, you coming?” Daniel asked.

The tone of his voice or maybe his posture drove the point home, “Fine.”

Daniel led her out of the club and to the Jeep. He was putting her in on the passenger side when she wrapped her arms around him again. Christy pulled him to her and started to kiss him again, but the sounds of a police helicopter flying low overhead brought Daniel’s attention back to more pressing moments, even if they weren’t enjoyable as what was happening.

Backing away from her said, “Hold that thought, let’s get out of here first.”

She leaned back into her seat and smiled, closing her eyes. Daniel looked in the direction of Centennial Place at the glow rising above the buildings. Police sirens filled the air as well as police and news helicopters. All he wanted to do was get back to his apartment as fast as he could. By the time he got around the Jeep and into the driver’s seat Christy was passed out, her hard slumped over on the door.

Daniel pulled out of the parking lot and headed back towards the apartment. Traffic was building and police were beginning to shut down intersections. Daniel was forced to take several turns he didn’t want to and as a result he was getting father and farther from his apartment.

What should have been a twenty minute drive ended up taking over an hour and a half. Daniel never saw any trouble, he never got close enough to whatever was going on to see and that was fine with him. Pulling into the parking garage he managed to wake Christy up without too much trouble and helped her get to the elevator and into the apartment.

Once inside Christy sat on the edge of his bed and he went into the bathroom. For a moment he leaned on the sink looking into the mirror. He wanted to get out of town this weekend, out into the woods and let her talk him into staying here and now there was a fricken riot. He quickly washed his face and kicked his shoes off, trying to relax.

Opening the door he saw her lying naked on the bed, propped up on her elbows. The light from the bathroom lit her side facing him, a smile spread across his face, maybe staying here wasn’t such a bad idea.

Daniel woke up when light streamed through the blinds in the morning. Shielding his eyes with his hand he sat up, then went and closed them. Christy was lying there, sound asleep, she looked so good. Daniel ran a hand over her ass then covered her with the sheet and headed for the kitchen. He needed his hangover remedy, not that he drank that much, but the combination of the alcohol, the music and the stress of the ride home made him feel like he drank an entire liquor store.

After taking two Excedrin and drinking a huge glass of water Daniel went to the fridge and dug out some cream cheese. From a paper bag on the counter he pulled out a huge everything bagel then looked inside and found a plain one. With his bagel fixed he headed for the living room and dropped onto the couch, flipping on the TV.

Daniel changed to the channel to Fox News to see what was going on in the world, what he saw shocked him. On the screen was a view of Centennial Place, cars were on fire as well as some buildings in the distance. It looked as though there were hundreds of police, but unlike last night, these were not riot cops. The shields and clubs were gone, replaced with armored vehicles and rifles.

The reporter on the scene was saying something about ‘an unknown number killed in the fighting’. He sat up on the sofa, leaning forward. In the background of the shot it appeared that a large section of the area was blocked off and there were bodies visible in a couple of places. The reporter came back into view again and he could see she was crouching behind the corner of a building as the cameraman leaned out to get shots of the action. Gunshots could be heard in the audio, the camera bounced and jerked with each report.

Daniel sat there shaking his head, ‘people are ****ing nuts’ he said to himself. Watching what was unfolding before he started to get a little nervous and got up, returning to the kitchen. He felt like he should be doing something, but what? The riot was still pretty far from his place and shouldn’t be a problem, but better safe than sorry. Daniel went through the cabinets real quick to get an idea of what he had on hand. Being a bachelor, naturally they were quite bare. Deciding it would be a good idea to have a little more on hand he figured a trip to the store wouldn’t hurt.

Back in the bedroom he tried to wake Christy, but she was suffering from the mother of hangovers and was in no shape to leave. She curled up into the comforter and mumbled something about chicken noodle soup. He leaned down and kissed her on the head and said he would be back shortly.

Changing into a pair of jeans and Polo shirt he picked through the leather tray that sat on his dresser looking for the right folder to take. Daniel had a thing for knives and had quite the collection. He settled on a CRKT Carson M4 and clipped it into his pocket. Then slipped a Leatherman Wave into his back pocket with a small Fenix flashlight. He so badly wanted to take his Glock, but in the current environment that was just out of the question.

Daniel took the stairs down to the parking garage and quickly made his way to the Jeep, heading to Wal-Mart. Traffic on this side of town was fairly light, though there was a huge police presence. It seemed that every intersection had an officer of some type sitting nearby, he made it to the store without incident.

Surprisingly the place wasn’t very crowded, maybe everyone was staying inside to watch the news. The lack of crowds let him make his rounds quickly, he hadn’t really thought much about how much he was putting in the cart and by the time he made it to the register he had a cart mounded up with stuff. As the cashier rang it all up he stood there thinking of all the trips up and down the elevator to get all this into his apartment.

His haul filled the back of the Jeep, there was even bags in the front seat. On the ride back he listened to the radio, trying to keep tabs on what was going on. Then he heard something that really shocked him, the Mayor was considering a dusk to dawn curfew, though no official announcement had been made, ‘knowledgeable insiders’ stated it was all but a certainty.

Suddenly his trip started to make even more sense. If a curfew was started there would be no way for him to get to the store during the week. Back in the garage he grabbed up two handfuls of bags and headed for the elevator, it looked like he would have to make three or four more trips to get everything moved.

Back in the apartment he set the first load down in the kitchen then had an idea and went to the closet in the living room where he kept all his camping gear. Throwing equipment over his shoulder he finally found what he was looking for, his pack hammock, and headed for the garage again.

Back at the Jeep he laid the hammock out on the ground beside the Jeep and piled all the bags on top of it, then grabbed the ends and pulled them up making what looked like a huge Santa bag. Daniel was grinning from ear to ear, this would save him a couple of trips. Grinning he went to throw the bundle over his shoulder and discovered it was far heavier than he thought. With a grunt he managed to get it over his shoulder, but he had to lean way forward to get the weight to position he could walk under the weight.

Finally making it back to the apartment he dropped the bundle on the floor in the kitchen. He stared down at the pile, the huge pile spread across the floor. With a sigh he leaned over and started to put it all away. All the cabinet doors were open as well as the pantry, empty shopping bags were scattered all over the kitchen, covering nearly every horizontal surface visible. Taking a quick break he turned on the TV, back to Fox News to see if there was any new information. What he heard couldn’t be good, the Mayor was going to have a press conference at 4:00 today. He figured that if a politician was going to get on TV on a Saturday it had to be bad news

[unseenone]

A decision is needed

Glad to see some of you are keeping up. I'll warn you now, I love to write on here. As much as you guys seem to like reading it, I like to try and trip you up. SO pay attention. In this story it's going to be the little things, details, that are important. So pay attention.



Glad you guys like this one, it's going to be fun. I plan to have Book II out on Amazon by the end of March. I will be doing that podacst interview about the same time, soincidence?




Inside the bar was packed with all the young and beautiful of Atlanta. Techno dance music filled the place and bodies on the floor writhed to the rhythm. As soon as Christy broke the plane of the door her arms went and she began to shake her ass to the music. They spent the next several hours dancing and drinking. Christy was having a great time and he knew he would later, it was the only thing that kept him going.

Daniel needed a break from the dance floor and told Christy he was going to get them a drink, she nodded and turned back to the dance floor. Daniel went to the bathroom to take a leak. Of course there was an “attendant” in there, an older black man sitting on a stool. Daniel saw him when he came in and rolled his eyes. After finishing his business at the urinal he went to the sink, the soap dispenser was gone and the old man held out a bottle of liquid soap, Daniel stuck his hands out and the old guy pumped a few squirts in his hand.

As he washed his hands he looked over to the paper towel dispenser, and just as he suspected it was empty. A smirk ran across his face, when he finished the old man tossed him a hand towel and he dried his hands. Sitting on the counter was a small basket full of bills, he handed the towel back to the old guy and he tossed it into a basket on the floor, it was now he was expected to tip this guy for some soap and a towel.

The old man was smiling at him, Daniel looked at him patting his pockets, “Sorry man, don’t have any cash, I’m going to the bar for some drinks and I’ll take care of you next time.”

“Jus’ don’t forget about me,” the old guy sad with a wink.

Daniel left the restroom shaking his head and fought his way to the bar. He was trying to get the attention of one of the hot bartenders, which appeared impossible and occupied his time with one of the huge tv’s behind the bar. A local news anchor was on the screen, behind her was a line of riot police forming a skirmish line. Daniel was absentmindedly watching when the scroll at the bottom of the screen said, “Riot at Centennial Place.”

He immediately left the bar headed for the dance floor to find Christy. He found her dancing with some Latin looking guy with no shirt, he wedged in between them and she threw her arms around his neck and kissed him.

Pulling away from her he shouted over the music, “We gotta go!”

She was still smiling and dancing to the music, “What!” she shouted back.

“We gotta go!” he shouted again.

She simply smiled back at him, grabbing his hands and pulling him towards her. Daniel gripped her right hand and pulled her from the dance floor, she tried to protest, pulling away.

“What the hell?” Christy asked.

“Look, there’s a riot starting over at Centennial Place, we need to get the hell outta here before they bring in the National Guard and start shooting people.”

“Why, that’s blocks from her, come on, come back out and dance with me.”

“No, I’m leaving, I’m not getting caught in that ****, you coming?” Daniel asked.

The tone of his voice or maybe his posture drove the point home, “Fine.”

Daniel led her out of the club and to the Jeep. He was putting her in on the passenger side when she wrapped her arms around him again. Christy pulled him to her and started to kiss him again, but the sounds of a police helicopter flying low overhead brought Daniel’s attention back to more pressing moments, even if they weren’t enjoyable as what was happening.

Backing away from her said, “Hold that thought, let’s get out of here first.”

She leaned back into her seat and smiled, closing her eyes. Daniel looked in the direction of Centennial Place at the glow rising above the buildings. Police sirens filled the air as well as police and news helicopters. All he wanted to do was get back to his apartment as fast as he could. By the time he got around the Jeep and into the driver’s seat Christy was passed out, her hard slumped over on the door.

Daniel pulled out of the parking lot and headed back towards the apartment. Traffic was building and police were beginning to shut down intersections. Daniel was forced to take several turns he didn’t want to and as a result he was getting father and farther from his apartment.

What should have been a twenty minute drive ended up taking over an hour and a half. Daniel never saw any trouble, he never got close enough to whatever was going on to see and that was fine with him. Pulling into the parking garage he managed to wake Christy up without too much trouble and helped her get to the elevator and into the apartment.

Once inside Christy sat on the edge of his bed and he went into the bathroom. For a moment he leaned on the sink looking into the mirror. He wanted to get out of town this weekend, out into the woods and let her talk him into staying here and now there was a fricken riot. He quickly washed his face and kicked his shoes off, trying to relax.

Opening the door he saw her lying naked on the bed, propped up on her elbows. The light from the bathroom lit her side facing him, a smile spread across his face, maybe staying here wasn’t such a bad idea.

Daniel woke up when light streamed through the blinds in the morning. Shielding his eyes with his hand he sat up, then went and closed them. Christy was lying there, sound asleep, she looked so good. Daniel ran a hand over her ass then covered her with the sheet and headed for the kitchen. He needed his hangover remedy, not that he drank that much, but the combination of the alcohol, the music and the stress of the ride home made him feel like he drank an entire liquor store.

After taking two Excedrin and drinking a huge glass of water Daniel went to the fridge and dug out some cream cheese. From a paper bag on the counter he pulled out a huge everything bagel then looked inside and found a plain one. With his bagel fixed he headed for the living room and dropped onto the couch, flipping on the TV.

Daniel changed to the channel to Fox News to see what was going on in the world, what he saw shocked him. On the screen was a view of Centennial Place, cars were on fire as well as some buildings in the distance. It looked as though there were hundreds of police, but unlike last night, these were not riot cops. The shields and clubs were gone, replaced with armored vehicles and rifles.

The reporter on the scene was saying something about ‘an unknown number killed in the fighting’. He sat up on the sofa, leaning forward. In the background of the shot it appeared that a large section of the area was blocked off and there were bodies visible in a couple of places. The reporter came back into view again and he could see she was crouching behind the corner of a building as the cameraman leaned out to get shots of the action. Gunshots could be heard in the audio, the camera bounced and jerked with each report.

Daniel sat there shaking his head, ‘people are ****ing nuts’ he said to himself. Watching what was unfolding before he started to get a little nervous and got up, returning to the kitchen. He felt like he should be doing something, but what? The riot was still pretty far from his place and shouldn’t be a problem, but better safe than sorry. Daniel went through the cabinets real quick to get an idea of what he had on hand. Being a bachelor, naturally they were quite bare. Deciding it would be a good idea to have a little more on hand he figured a trip to the store wouldn’t hurt.

Back in the bedroom he tried to wake Christy, but she was suffering from the mother of hangovers and was in no shape to leave. She curled up into the comforter and mumbled something about chicken noodle soup. He leaned down and kissed her on the head and said he would be back shortly.

Changing into a pair of jeans and Polo shirt he picked through the leather tray that sat on his dresser looking for the right folder to take. Daniel had a thing for knives and had quite the collection. He settled on a CRKT Carson M4 and clipped it into his pocket. Then slipped a Leatherman Wave into his back pocket with a small Fenix flashlight. He so badly wanted to take his Glock, but in the current environment that was just out of the question.

Daniel took the stairs down to the parking garage and quickly made his way to the Jeep, heading to Wal-Mart. Traffic on this side of town was fairly light, though there was a huge police presence. It seemed that every intersection had an officer of some type sitting nearby, he made it to the store without incident.

Surprisingly the place wasn’t very crowded, maybe everyone was staying inside to watch the news. The lack of crowds let him make his rounds quickly, he hadn’t really thought much about how much he was putting in the cart and by the time he made it to the register he had a cart mounded up with stuff. As the cashier rang it all up he stood there thinking of all the trips up and down the elevator to get all this into his apartment.

His haul filled the back of the Jeep, there was even bags in the front seat. On the ride back he listened to the radio, trying to keep tabs on what was going on. Then he heard something that really shocked him, the Mayor was considering a dusk to dawn curfew, though no official announcement had been made, ‘knowledgeable insiders’ stated it was all but a certainty.

Suddenly his trip started to make even more sense. If a curfew was started there would be no way for him to get to the store during the week. Back in the garage he grabbed up two handfuls of bags and headed for the elevator, it looked like he would have to make three or four more trips to get everything moved.

Back in the apartment he set the first load down in the kitchen then had an idea and went to the closet in the living room where he kept all his camping gear. Throwing equipment over his shoulder he finally found what he was looking for, his pack hammock, and headed for the garage again.

Back at the Jeep he laid the hammock out on the ground beside the Jeep and piled all the bags on top of it, then grabbed the ends and pulled them up making what looked like a huge Santa bag. Daniel was grinning from ear to ear, this would save him a couple of trips. Grinning he went to throw the bundle over his shoulder and discovered it was far heavier than he thought. With a grunt he managed to get it over his shoulder, but he had to lean way forward to get the weight to position he could walk under the weight.

Finally making it back to the apartment he dropped the bundle on the floor in the kitchen. He stared down at the pile, the huge pile spread across the floor. With a sigh he leaned over and started to put it all away. All the cabinet doors were open as well as the pantry, empty shopping bags were scattered all over the kitchen, covering nearly every horizontal surface visible. Taking a quick break he turned on the TV, back to Fox News to see if there was any new information. What he heard couldn’t be good, the Mayor was going to have a press conference at 4:00 today. He figured that if a politician was going to get on TV on a Saturday it had to be bad news.

With nothing to do for a couple of hours he went to check on Christy. The bed was empty and the shower was running. Back in the kitchen he made lunch, a couple of turkey sandwiches and some Doritos. He was sitting on the couch playing Battlefield on the Xbox when she came out, drying her hair with a towel.

“Oh, that looks good, I’m so hungry.” Christy said as she sat on the couch.

“I thought you might want something to eat.”

“Mmm, this is good, now I see what you’ve been doing all morning, boys and their video games.”

“Show’s what you know, I just started. I’ve been to the store already and bought groceries.”

Through bites of her sandwich Christie asked, “What’s on the news?”

Daniel grabbed the remote and switched the tv back to cable, Fox was already on, “Riots, riots and more riots.”

Christy wiped her mouth with a napkin, “What happened last night?”

“Seventeen dead, or at least that’s what they are saying right now, the Mayor is going to have a press conference later, maybe we’ll get a little more info.”

“Let’s watch a movie or something, it’s the weekend and this is depressing.”

“You’re right.” Daniel said as he leaned back and put his arm around her.

It was Monday and back to the grind. Daniel was sitting in his cubicle monitoring what was becoming a never ending series of concentrated, though ineffective, attacks against the network. It was ridiculous that in this day anyone would actually try a brute force attack against a network like the banks, but for the last week someone has or several someones as was probably the case, have been trying exactly that.

Daniel was shaking his head at the thought when Kilroy’s head popped over the top of cubicle. Looking up at the shiny head brought a smile to his face.

“Dude, you seeing all this?” Tom asked.

Daniel looked back to his monitors, “Yeah, what kind of moron tries this kind of thing now-a-days?”

“Don’ know, you track the IP’s yet?”

“No, why don’t you, I’m locking down all the ports they probe, let’s see if we can find out where these ****ers are.”

“Cool, I’ll do it, where’d you go this weekend?” Tom asked,.

“Ended up staying home.”

Tom’s face screwed up, “Why, thought you were headed north.”

“Let’s just say Christy can be persuasive.”

Tom’s head cocked to the side in confusion, then it hit him as his eyes drifted to that pic again, “Details?”

“In your dreams brother, in your dreams” Daniel said as he swiveled around to his computer.

Even though Daniel couldn’t see him, Tom nodded and his shiny head dipped below the cubicle wall. Daniel was busy trying to isolate ports in the network where the hackers were probing, it was not a very sophisticated attack, simply typing IP’s into a browser window then using one of several black-market programs to try passwords until it finds one that works. The problem with that is that modern networks are protected by numerous layers of security. After only a few attempts the firewalls and networks flag the port and lock it out. Then a human has to look at it and decide what was going on and take further action, Daniel was the human in this case.

Daniel was focused on his monitors, he loved this ****. Someone was trying to get in and he was going to stop them. He was so busy he didn’t notice Amber who was leaning on the edge of the cubicle wall that separated him and Tom, Tom however did notice her. Amber had a crush on Daniel. What with the pics of all the cool places he went to pinned to the walls of his cubicle and the fact that he had a hot girlfriend, he was an irresistible conquest for her.

Tom had completely stopped what he was doing, from where he sat all he could see was Amber from the waist down. He was running his gaze up and down her legs, she was wearing the old fashioned stockings with the seam on the back of her legs when Amber finally tried to get Daniels attention.

“Daniel, are you busy?” She asked.

Daniel didn’t bother to look up, he knew from the voice who it was and wasn’t interested, as hot as she was, Amber had a reputation for sleeping her way to the top, “Kinda busy, what’s up?”

She was holding the thumb drive she found in the ladies room earlier, naturally she her hand was buried between her huge tits, “Oh, sorry, but I found this thumb drive in the ladies room earlier and I’m not sure who it belongs too.”

“Sorry Amber, I’m really busy right now, see if you can find out who it belongs to.”

Amber’s lips formed into a fashionable pout, “Okay, I’ll come by later when you’re not so busy”, she straightened up and noticed Tom, who tried to look like he was looking at something tacked to the wall of his cubicle, “what are you looking at perv?” and stomped off.

Tom was embarrassed, turning several different shades of red, to try and cover for it he stood up, looking over the cubicle, “Daniels, did you shut down those ports?”

Daniel spun around in his chair, “What? You were supposed to shut ‘em down!”

Flustered once again Tom replied, “Oh, right”, and quickly sat down to his computer.

Amber rolled her eyes as she walked away, what with Daniel not noticing her and that creepy ******* Tom ogling her, she was ****ed. Finding her way back to her cubicle she threw the thumb drive onto her desk and flopped into her chair, making sure to cross her legs as she was wearing a really short skirt. She sat there for a moment thinking about the rejection, one of these days I’ll get him, I’ll rock his world and he’ll never go back to that skank.

She sat there for a moment then her eyes fell on the drive. She picked it up and looked at it for a moment, then plugged it into her computer. It was against policy, but if it wrecked her machine then Daniel would have to come by and fix it, a thin smile spread across her perfectly colored lips.

Daniel suddenly sat upright, running his hands through his hair. He sat there staring at the screens before him. All morning he fought off the probes of the network, but now, suddenly they were gone. He stood up looking at the monitors, his left arm across his chest and chin in his right hand. He was interrupted by Tom.

“Dude, it stopped it, they’re gone.”

Daniel stood there for a moment before replying, he didn’t bother to turn around, “Either that or they’re in, did you trace the IP’s?”

[unseenone]

A decision is needed

“Working on it.” Was all Tom replied before disappearing into his cubicle again.

Whoever was probing the network was using a sophisticated program that bounced the connection all over the world. It successfully masked the originating IP, it would eventually turn up but would take some time to sort through it. Daniel and Tom would spend the rest of the week working on the project.

While sifting through the trail of the IP’s Daniel kept a couple of windows open on one of the monitors. One was a local news station and the other alternated between Fox News and CNN. The local station was dominated by the riots. After the riot over the weekend and the deaths that went along with it, the tension was building in Atlanta. Fox and CNN were showing similar video from around the country, riots, protests and lots and lots of police.

A video of white armored vehicles caught Daniels eye and he turned the volume up to see what was going on. The video showed a number of vehicles that were assembling in a large parking lot. It took a few minutes to figure out where this was all taking place. Apparently the mayor of Detroit had requested federal help to deal with the riots in that city. The number of shooting, which was already high, was climbing dramatically. Several police officers had hit in shootouts at riots in the city.

He sat there chewing on the end of a pen watching as more and more vehicles added to mass already there. The view changed to an aerial shot, the full magnitude of the force descending on the city came into view. A line of the white vehicles stretched for blocks.
A phone rang and Daniel looked over at his, not him thankfully.

Tom came around the cubicle, “Hey man, wow, where’s that?”

“Detroit.”

“I wish they would come here, things are getting out of hand ‘round here.”

Daniel swiveled in his chair, “I don’t think that is going to be a good thing for anyone.”

“Yeah, well if you’re not out in the street there’s probably nothing to worry, anyway, Malcolm wants us in his office.” Tom raised his eyebrows and stuffed his hands in his pockets.

“What for?” Daniel didn’t like going to Malcolm’s office, while his boss was a decent guy he never called you over just to chat.

Tome just shrugged his shoulders, Daniel levered himself out of his chair and the two headed off to see what the boss wanted. Tom stopped outside of the office, Daniel wedged himself past him into the office and fell into one of the two chairs in front of the desk.

Malcolm was just a couple years older than Daniel and had hired him for his position. Every time Daniel came into the office he remembered that interview. With his pressed shirt and stylish yet ridiculous suspenders Malcolm reminded him of Irkle. Now every time he sees him that’s all he can think of.

“Come in and have a seat Tom.” Malcolm said with a wave of his hand.

Tom quickly came in, taking a seat beside Daniel and folding his hands in his lap.

Malcolm turned his attention to the big flat monitor on his desk for a second before looking back and smiling.

“What have you got for me?”

Tom looked at Daniel, “Huh, well I’m still working on the IP’s.”

“There were several sources of the attack, it’s weird that anyone would try a brute force attack on a network like ours, I think there is more to it.” Daniel said, slumping back into the chair.

Malcolm looked Daniel, he liked the guy for his work, he was good, but he couldn’t stand his obvious lack of corporate decorum.

“I don’t think there’s more to it really, just some stupid hacker group probably, but find those IP’s and get back to me on it. Did they ever get in?”

“No, I saw every port they tried and locked them out each time, there were a bunch but me an Tom stopped ‘em.” Daniel knew Tom was always worried about his job, though he didn’t need to be, he did a good job and whenever the chance arose to give the credit he would.
Malcolm looked at his watch, “It’s close to quitting time, make sure everything is secure and I’ll see you guys tomorrow.”

Daniel and Tom nodded and left the office. On the way back to their desks they stopped by the break room where Daniel got a Mountain Dew and Snickers bar.

“Hey, thanks for backing me up in there.” Tom said as he stared into the vending machine.

As he opened the bottle of Dew Daniel replied, “You don’t need any back-up, don’t let him bother you man, you do a good job and don’t have **** to worry about.”

“Yeah, well that’s easy for you to say, you don’t have a wife an kids.” Tom replied as he pulled a Butterfinger from the little tray in the machine.

“No worried man, I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Daniel quickly went to his desk and gathered his stuff, making his to the elevator before Malcolm could change his mind. A light rain fell as he pulled out of the garage, low hanging clouds added to dismal afternoon. Rain anywhere near quitting time meant the already traffic was going to be even worse. Daniel let out a long breath, reached up and hit the button on the stereo for the CD and soon The Devil Went Down to Georgia filled the Jeep.

Traffic was crawling along when Daniel noticed one of those big flashing construction signs on the side of the road, ---BE PREPARED TO STOP---, flashed over and over. Just freakin’ great, he thought as he slapped the wheel with both hands. Daniel leaned around to try and see the accident that must be ahead, there were certainly enough flashing lights ahead.

As he inched forward the lanes became separated by orange construction cones, Daniel craned his neck more, trying to see. Slapping himself on the forehead he looked down at the Cobra CB hanging under the dash, then reached down and turned it on. Channel 19 was crowded with truckers talking about the jam, then he heard one of them say it was a roadblock, the police were stopping everyone and checking ID. Another trucker said some people were being pulled off to the side of the side of the road and dogs were going around the cars.

“I don’t know what them sum bitches is lookin’ for but they got traffic all ****ed up.”

“Tell me about it, I got ta be in Nashvill’ by seven am and these *******s is got the whole damn city ****ed up.”

The talk continued along the same course, Daniel could finally see all the cops up ahead. They were standing between the lanes, yellow rain slickers, orange cones on their flashlights and all. Daniel finally made it to the first of the officers, he did not look happy. With rain dripping from the brim of his Smokey the Bear hat he rolled his finger in the air. Daniel got the hint and rolled the window down about three inches.

“Roll it all the way down.”

Daniel rolled it down some more, about half way. The officer took a step closer and shined the flashlight in, looking around. “Let me see your ID.” The soaked officer practically spit.

“What’s going on?” Daniel asked, he was actually curious.

“I said give me your ID.”

“No offense and I’m not trying to be a hard ass, but do I have to? Have I done anything wrong?”

A look of disgust spilled across the cops face as he slowly shook his head, reaching inside his slicker he pulled the mic for his radio out and keyed it, “Noncompliant in the number one, green Jeep.”

“Hey, I’m not lookin—“ He was quickly cut off, Daniel wasn’t expecting this, he just asked the question. A ticket for reckless driving and several hundred dollars for an attorney had taught him a couple of things, well, he thought it had.

“Pull over there”, the officer stated flatly, pointing with his flashlight.

“****” he muttered under his breath as he pulled out of the travel lane and onto the shoulder where several unhappy and wet cops were now waiting on him.

Before he even stopped they were already on both sides of the Jeep. Instead of talking to him through the window, the office on the driver’s side simply opened the door and ordered him out. At the same time an officer on the passenger side opened that door.

“Shut the vehicle of and step out sir.” The officer now standing in the open door said.

“Easy guys, I just asked if I had to give him my ID, I’m doing anything wrong, is there any reason to suspect that I have done anything wrong?”

“Sir, I asked you to step out, are you going to step out and allow me to look in your vehicle?” Now other officers were coming up.

“Do I have to? All I did was ask a question, can you answer my question?”

“Sir I asked you politely, now I’m telling you to step out or I’m going to take you out.”

From the other side of the Jeep other officers joined in, “Make it easy buddy, just step out and let us do our job, if everything is Ok you’ll be on your way.”

“You still haven’t answered my question, can you answer my question? You say you’re asking me to and if I don’t you’re going to take me out, am I under arrest?”

The situation was getting out of hand as additional officers had converged on the scene, Daniel was beginning to doubt even asking the damn question, he wasn’t against the cops but he knew he had rights. The officers now surrounding the Jeep though had a completely different opinion of the situation.

“No, you are not under arrest, but you will be if you don’t step out and give me your ID, just make it easy, just step.”

“Quit being an ass, get out of the Jeep!” another officer screamed.

“Are you ordering me out?” Daniel asked the officer in his door.

“Yes, I am ordering you out of the Jeep.”
“Okay, I’m going to undo the seatbelt, and I’ll get out.”

Daniel clicked the button and pulled the belt from around him and stepped out, he was immediately grabbed and shoved against the hood of the Jeep. This surprised him as he expected them to throw him on the ground, in the mud. The officers were talking amongst themselves as they patted him down and cuffed him. As he leaned over the hood he saw one of the officers on the passenger side lean in the open door, at the same time the officer cuffing him spun him around.

“I do not consent to a search of my Jeep.”

The cop shot him a look of pure annoyance, “Billy”, the officer that was beginning to search the Jeep straightened up, looking at the other officer who shook his head slightly.

As the officer was going through Daniels wallet for his ID he asked, “What are you trying to hide?”

“Nothing, I haven’t done anything wrong and you can’t just search me.”

“If you haven’t done anything wrong what are you worried about?” The officer pulled out the license from the wallet, then took another card out and held it up for the other officer to see.

“You have a concealed handgun license, do you have any weapons in the Jeep?”

“No, I don’t have any now, sold them all right before the last ban was passed.” Technically he wasn’t lying, he didn’t have any with him at the moment.

“If I had a dollar for every time I heard that recently, you know it is now illegal to possess most firearms?

“I do, so I made a quick buck, wasn’t against the law at the time.”

The officer was amused, he had handed Daniels ID off to another officer who probably went to run it, the officer returned and handed the ID back to the officer talking to Daniel, “He’s clean.”

“Turn around” he said then started to unlock the cuffs, “next time it would be in your best interest to just go along with the program, just think, you wouldn’t be all wet now if you had just showed you ID to begin with.”

Daniel turned to face the officer, rubbing his wrists, “Am I free to go?”

“Yes sir, you are free to go, for now.”

Daniel didn’t waste any time getting into the Jeep and heading home. Though the for the remainder of the ride all he could think about was the last two words the cop said, for now. His phone chimed, looking at it he saw it was Malcolm and did not feel like hearing from him right now. Malcolm was rather liberal and a I told you so was not going to improve his mood.

[unseenone]

A decision is needed

Daniel made it home and was fell into his sofa with a groan of relief. It had been a long day and finally being home took a load off his mind. He craned his neck, looking back over his shoulder at the fridge, there was a six pack of Woodchuck cider in there and he wanted, just didn’t feel like getting up, but it damn sure wasn’t coming to him. With a grunt Daniel heaved himself off the sofa and went to the fridge. His phone was sitting on the kitchen island vibrating, he ignored it.

He brought the whole six pack back to the sofa, not wanting to have to get up again and fell into for the last time. Flipping on the TV he scanned the news networks, it was more of the same, more riots, more shooting and more of people getting ****ed off. He stopped on MSNBC when he saw an update of the Lansing Incident, even the crawler at the bottom of the screen called it that.

Another of the Michigan Troopers that was shot during the firefight died. They were showing a tape from earlier in the day of the Governor of the state was giving a press conference. He was ranting about the people involved and how they would be brought to justice, that what occurred was an act of domestic terrorism. The Governor went on to say that he had been in talks with the President earlier in the day and that the Michigan Militia has been officially designated a terrorist organization, this designation allowed for the use of federal assets in tracking them down.

Daniel just shook his head, he wasn’t a fan of what happened, no one in their right mind would be, but he could understand the mindset of those that thought that way. Opening his second cider, he flipped the TV over to the Xbox, a little time in the world of Battlefield would take his mind off this crap. Before the game even loaded his phone started ringing, picking it from its cradle beside the sofa he looked at the caller ID, Malcolm, not tonight, he thought and returned it to the cradle.

Dinner never entered his mind as Daniel played video games, getting his ass handed to him by eight year old kids. He was taking a break to go dig around in the fridge when the he picked up the cell phone and saw all the messages. There were nineteen new emails, all of them with the little urgent sign attached. He was trying to decide if he was even going to look at them or ignore it when the phone rang, Malcolm again. Shaking his head he reluctantly answered the call.

“What’s up Malcolm?”

“Daniel, where the hell have you been, I’ve been trying for hours to get in touch with you!”

“Been busy man, what’s up?”

“I need you to come in, there’s a serious problem on the network.”

“Dude, it’s dark, you know we can’t travel after dark.” A thin smile cut his lips.

“I know, do you know Robert Thomas?”

“Yeah I know Bob, isn’t he the head of physical security?”

Daniel could almost feel the agitation through the phone, “Yes, Robert is the head of physical security, he’s going to be in touch with you and will send you a pass that will allow you to travel, we have the permission of the SEC to do what we need to to deal with this situation.”

“What the hell’s going on, I thought we had it under control when I left?”
“Well it would appear we didn’t, I need you to come in, Robert will be in touch shortly with the instructions, I’ll see you shortly.” The line went dead and Daniel dropped the phone into his lap and let his head fall back onto the sofa.

“This is bull****!”

Daniel figured while he waited he could watch a little more news and started to scan the news channels. It was just more bad news, most major cities were having almost nonstop riots of some sort or another, it was getting ugly. Having seen enough of this in the last few days he pulled up the guide to find something else to watch, deciding Big Bang Theory will make a nice distraction.

It wasn’t long before the phone rang, looking at the caller ID he hoped it would be Malcolm telling him he didn’t have to come in. The number displayed was from the bank, just not from Malcolm.

“Hello.”

“Daniel this is Bob Thomas, I just emailed you a form you need to print out and keep with you on your way in, my cell number is with it, if you have any trouble call me immediately.” Bob’s gravelly voice filled the speaker, Daniel could almost smell the cigarette smoke.

“Sure thing, what the hell’s going up there?”

“I have no idea, that’s why we need you, Malcolm is about to **** himself, pack a bag too you may be here a while.”

“What the hell you mean pack a bag, I’m not sleeping in my cubicle.”

“You won’t have to, we have facilities here, things are getting shady around here and it may be hard to get out once you get in, better safe than sorry.”

Daniel sat up on the edge of the couch, “Whadda’ya mean, facilities?”

“You’ll see when you get here” Bob paused for a moment, “have uh, have you got any guns?”

Daniel pulled the phone from his head, looking at it, he did indeed have a couple left, but he wasn’t about to admit that to anyone, especially over the phone, “No Bob, I sold all mine before the ban.”

A chuckle came from the other end then, “Yeah, me too, damn shame really, but if I had any, I’d bring ‘em with me today. Just remember, if you get stopped at all call me immediately, call me when you get to the parking garage so I can let you in, see you soon.”

“Alright, see you soon.” The line went dead.

Daniel sat there for a moment looking at Sheldon on the TV, a hundred thoughts ran through his head. Jumping up from the sofa he headed for the closet where all his gear was. Standing in the open door he looked at everything, trying to decide what he would take. In the end he decided to take most of it, after all he wasn’t going to have to carry it, it’d be in the Jeep.
He was nervous as he backed out of his parking spot at the apartments, it was dark now and officially a time that was prohibited to be on the road. As he pulled out his headlights revealed empty road for as far as he could see. It was weird and nice at the same time, no traffic. Daniel pulled up and old Creed album on his IPod and plugged it into the stereo.

Human Clay was playing when he approached his first roadblock of APD. Without looking over he reached into the passenger seat and patted the sheet of paper he printed out just a short time ago. The officers waved him to a stop, making their point with the AR’s they held to their shoulders. Daniel rolled to a stop, making sure to keep his hands on the steering wheel.

The officers shouted orders as they approached, they seemed particularly on edge and Daniel wasn’t about to mess around, knowing if he did he would wind up in the morgue. The officers separated as they approached, one on either side. The officer that approached his side was a young guy around his age, the other one was older, if age was an indicator he would be the more experienced, though the younger one was issuing all the cammands.

“Keep your hands where I can see them and roll down your window!”

Daniel immediately rolled the glass down, keeping his other hand on the wheel. The younger officer stepped up, “What are you doing out here, you know there’s a curfew!” More of an accusation than a question.

“I work for one of the banks downtown and am on my way in, I have a pass here from your department that gives me permission.”

“The younger officer pulled the door open, “Get out!”

Daniel complied, as he climbed out the older officer asked, “Where’s the form?”

“On the passenger seat.” He indicated with a nod of his head.

“Out, hands on the hood!” The younger officer shouted as the older one went into the passenger side and retrieved the sheet laying there.

As Daniel put his hands on the hood the young officer buried the muzzle of the carbine in his back, “Do not move, understand me?”

Daniel simply nodded his head in reply, he was kicking himself in the ass for not calling Bob, it just slipped his mind but he could suddenly very clearly remember him saying it.

“Hey Jimmy, get his ID.” The older officer called out as he walked around the front of the Jeep.

The younger officer pulled Daniels wallet out and tossed to the older one and continued to pat him down.

“Jim, this looks legit, I’m going to call it in and see.” The older officer said.

“Whatever, I’ll keep an eye on him here, what the hell do you do for the bank that makes you so special?”

Without looking up Daniel answered, “I do network security.”
“Oh yeah, big bad hackers gotta be stopped huh, give me a break, all the **** going on and you’re worried about some kids trying to hack into your network.” The younger officer taunted.

“I didn’t want to come in, believe me, not my choice.”

“Leave him alone Jim, he works for the bank that our paychecks are wrote on, he checks out, you must be damn important for the SEC to request you personally.” The older officer said.

“I’m not, but I guess my boss knows someone.” Daniel replied.

“Alright, go on, don’t make any pit stops and be careful, things are getting a little hairy over the direction you’re going.” The older officer said.

The rest of the ride to the office was uneventful for the most part, the closer he got to downtown the more people he started to see, usually only fleeting glances as they darted in and out of shadows. Once he got a clear view of two men, they were both wearing the mask from the movie V for Vendetta. Now he really wished his Glock was close enough to get to.

As he rounded the corner to the bank he was surprised to see large roll up doors closing off the entrance to the parking garage. He stopped in front of one of the large doors just staring at it, where in the hell did that come from?

His cell phone suddenly ringing made him jump in his seat, at the same time the door started to open. Picking up the phone he answered it, “Hello?”

“I told you to call me when you got here, I also told you to call me if you had any trouble, neither of which you did.” Bob growled into the phone.

[unseenone]

A decision is needed

“I told you to call me when you got here, I also told you to call me if you had any trouble, neither of which you did.” Bob growled into the phone, then continued, “pull through the gate, so to the underground lot and pull up to the big roll up door that will be in front of you as you come down the ramp, when the door opens drive through it and wait for me.”

“Okay.” Daniel replied as the line went dead, he looked at his phone, “******* hung up on me.”

Normally the drive to the lower, underground, portion of the parking structure was blocked by one of those little arms that raise up and down, pulling through the gate he saw the arm was up and hooked a right and drove through it as the gate began to lower behind him. He had never been down in this part of the building before. As with any large modern building everyone had a prox card for the hundreds of readers located all over it. Access was controlled through permissions and his certainly didn’t have permission to access this part of the building.

The gate at the bottom of the ramp was already going up as he descended, by the time he got to it there was enough room for him to pull through, it immediately began to lower as soon as he cleared it. A short chunky man in a grey work shirt and charcoal colored pants was standing in an open door waving at him. Daniel looked around at the massive machinery inhabiting the cavernous space under the building. Most people that work in office building have no idea of the myriad of systems required to support it. They go through their day completely oblivious to them until a door won’t open or the air in their office is too cold, hot or in between.

Daniel got out of the Jeep, slung his pack over his shoulder and headed for the open door. Getting close enough to the man in the door to see him, Daniel read the name tag sewed to the breast of his shirt, Eugene. In the pocket on the other side protruded an amazing array of items, pens, pencils, screwdrivers and even a little thermometer.

“You Daniel?” The man asked in a nasally voice.

“Yep, that’s me.”

“Let’s go up and see Bob before you head off to do whatever it is you’re here to do.”

Daniel followed Eugene into an enormous elevator.

“Not like the ones you used to huh?” Eugene asked, before the doors closed he pressed the button for fifteen.

Daniel looked around as the two big doors came together, from the diamond plate on the floor to what looked like moving blankets hanging on the walls, it certainly was not, “No, the ones in the lobby don’t look anything like this” he said as the car started to lift.

“Guess not, gopher farm folks wouldn’t really like having to ride to work in one of these.” Eugene replied.

Daniel watched him as he spoke, noticing he couldn’t see the man’s mouth that was hidden behind an enormous mustache, just the bristles moving as he spoke. Daniel had to pretend to look around the car as the image of Wilfred Brimley came to mind, they could be brothers. Nothing more was said on the ride up, the car stopped, the doors opened and Daniel followed Eugene out into a nondescript hallway.

Unlike the parts of the building Daniel was familiar with no pictures adorned the walls, no art work occupied the corners, gone were the tables with flower arrangements. At the end of the hall was a single door, Eugene pulled his prox card down, it was attached to a small retractable reel clipped to the already overburdened pocket and waved it at the reader. A beep followed by a green light on the reader and the door clicked open. As Daniel passed the reader he raised his right hip, he kept his card clipped there and was tall enough to simply raise his hip to hit the readers. Instead of the chirpy beep he got a lower grating sound and a red light, he didn’t have permission to enter the door.

They entered a large dark room. To their right was a big console with the wall above it covered with flat screen monitors. Each of the screens was subdivided into a grid with a different camera view in each one, sixteen views per monitor. A large monitor in the center of the wall had a 3D image of the building on one side and a floor plan of one of the floors to the right of it. Two operators sat at the console watching the screens, they didn’t even look up as the two entered.

Eugene continued through the room towards a glass enclosed office, Daniel followed him.

“Help yourself to the pot Gene, it’s fresh.” The man sitting behind the desk said without looking away from the monitor sitting on his desk, “You want some coffee Daniel?”

“Thanks Bob.” Gene replied as he lifted the carafe from the heater.

Inside Daniel let out a little sigh of relief, not having to rely on his few encounters with Bob to ensure it was him, “No, thanks, I’m good, what’cha need?

Bob looked up from the monitor, “I just wanted to meet you, I know we’ve met a few times but it’s been awhile and we will probably be working together.”

Daniel cocked his head to the side, “Working on what?”


“You’ve seen what’s going on outside and its only getting worse, you’ve got to get to work on the network stuff and that’s a real problem by the way, and I have to protect this building. We’ve been lucky up to this point but the riots are getting closer and larger, more violent, if they kick off around here I’ll need everyone’s help.”

“Yeah, sure.” Daniel replied, then the phone on Bob’s desk rang.

Bob pressed the speaker button on the phone, “Yello.”

“Robert, this is Malcolm, has Daniel arrived yet, I thought he would be here by now.”

“Yes Malcolm, he’s here in my office, we were just having a little talk, I’ll send him down to you.”

“Thank you, tell him to hurry, there’s no time to waste at the moment.”

“You just told him yourself, good bye Malcolm.” Bob pressed the button again ending the call, not waiting for Malcolm to respond, he looked up at Daniel, “What’s up his ass, he always so wound up?”

Not sure what to say, whether it was a set up or not, he simply replied, “Yeah, he’s a little intense.”

Bob was busy typing away at his keyboard, Daniel just stood there for a moment, looking around, Gene was sitting in a chair in the corner soaking his whiskers in the edge of coffee cup while he blew on the hot brew.

“I guess I’ll head down, good to see you again Bob, or do you like to be called Robert?”

Bob looked up, “My mother was the only person that called me Robert and that only happened prior to a grade ass whoopin from my ole man, no, do not call me Robert” Bob looked back at his monitor, then back to Daniel, “I just gave you access to the entire building, your card will open every door on the campus, I also just added Gene’s contact info to your contacts so you can reach him if you need to.”

Daniel pulled his phone from his pocket looking at, “How’d you get access to my contacts?”

Bob smiled, “It’s my job to know about the people that work here, don’t worry, all I did was add Gene, if you need anything you can call either of us, oh yeah, I added mine too.”

“Just do me favor” Gene said from behind Daniel, Daniel turned to look at him, “jus’ don’t need anything.” Gene’s face broke into what Daniel could only imagine was a smile as the ends of the whiskers turned up slightly.

“Don’t worry about him Daniel, Gene’s not exactly a people person, he’s more at home with the boilers than people.”

“I understand boilers.” Gene said.

[unseenone]

A decision is needed

Daniel said his good-byes and left Bob’s office. He looked at the wall of monitors as he past them and was soon in the hall again. After shutting the door he paused there for a moment, this all seemed a little weird. Without much more thought he headed for the elevator. The doors slid open and he stepped into the big metal box.

Daniel found Malcolm in his office, he was sitting at his desk with his chin resting in his hands stating at his monitor. When Daniel came in Malcolm didn’t even look up, “I’m ****ed” and shook his head, “we are so ****ed.”

The language caught Daniel off guard, he had never before heard Malcolm swear, so to hear an F bomb, two no less, was a shock. “It can’t be that bad.”

“Oh yeah?” Malcolm swiveled his monitor around to where Daniel could see it. The screen displayed numerous rows of numbers, big numbers, and they were counting down.

It took a moment for what he was seeing to register, Daniel stood there watching as the number rolled down. These were huge numbers, but they were not infinite, “Is that what I think it is?”

“Yep, I’ve tried everything and I can’t stop it, we’ve already lost billions.”

“I can stop it!” Daniel shouted as he bolted from the office.

He ran down the hall to the largest of the server rooms in the building. Swiping his card at the door he rushed in, heading for the rack that contained the switches that were the portal to the outside world. It took several minutes to disconnect all the fiber from the switches. Networks of this size are not like the ones at a typical home, it isn’t just one line. There are lines that connect to the internet and others that connect to myriad of banking networks.

When everything was disconnected Daniel wiped the sweat from his brow, even though the room was maintained at 68 degrees he was sweating. When he returned to Malcolm’s office he found him still sitting behind his desk, though now he looked even worse than he did previously.

“What the hell did you do?” Malcolm asked obviously confused.

“I pulled all fiber from the switches, the network’s isolated now.”

“You did what!”

Daniel reached over and spun the monitor around, the figures on the screen had stopped, a curser blinking in the corner of the screen was the only thing active on the screen.

“Looks like it worked to me,” Daniel spit back, “what the hell else were we gonna do?”

Malcolm jumped from his chair, “We can’t take the bank off the network, you know what kind of **** storm this is going to cause, SEC’ll crucify us!”

“Losing everything the bank has to some unknown hacker would just as bad, have you let anyone know about this yet?”

Malcolm slowly fell back into his chair, the fear that gripped him obvious on his face, “No” looking at the phone sitting on his desk, I guess I need to.”

“Yeah, I think so, I’m going to call Bob, he needs to know what’s going on.”

Daniel left Malcolm’s office, heading for his cubicle where he flopped into his chair. He sat there for a moment then palmed the receiver from the phone and dialed Bob’s extension.

“Yes.” Was Bob’s terse answer to the call.

“Bob, do you know what’s going here?”

“Not entirely, just that you guys had some trouble on the network, what’s up?”

“Someone breached the network and billions of dollars were siphoned off before I stopped it, at least I think I stopped it.”

There was a long pause before Bob replied, “Come up to my office.”

“Sure.” Daniel hung up the phone and headed for the elevator.

He was standing there waiting on the car when he remembered the little hallway that lead to Bob’s office, there was no other elevator, just the freight car. The dig indicating the arrival of the car sounded, the doors opened as Daniel turned to head for the freight elevator.

A sly smile cut Daniels lips as he lifted his hip at the reader outside Bob’s office. In the corporate culture he was a part of something as trivial as having access to a door that others didn’t was something to be coveted, now, according to Bob, he had access to the entire building. Inside the two men were still there before their monitors. Daniel glanced over at the wall of video and stopped in his tracks. The view from the hundreds of cameras routed to this office showed a truly disturbing scene.

“So what’s going on?” Bob asked over Daniels shoulder.

The question startled him and Daniel spun around, “What the hell’s going on out there?” Daniel asked pointing to the bank of monitors.

“More of the same looks like.”

“Yeah, but it’s never made it this far downtown, what the hell’s going on?”

Bob walked over to the console and manipulated a small joystick, a video feed that filled one entire monitor began to move, the image swung then zoomed in to a line of police. Daniels stepped toward the monitor, “Holly ****, those aren’t riot cops, they’ve got shotguns.”

“They probably have less lethal rounds in them, let’s see what happens.” Bob replied.

The crowd opposite the police were taunting them, throwing bottles, bricks and anything else they find. The police used shields to block the missiles, maintaining their line. Though they couldn’t hear it, they could see an officer using a loudspeaker, giving orders to the crowd. The crowd responded with more bottles, then from somewhere deep in the crowd came a molitov cocktail. On the video feed Bob and Daniel watched as the flaming bottle arched towards the line of officers, landing in front of them, a ball of flames erupting followed by a large cloud of smoke.

The smoke obscured the crowd for a moment, but not the officers, they immediately replied with a volley of tear gas and mini beanbags fired from shotguns into the crowd. The crowd started to run, pushing and shoving to try and get away. Some people fell and were trampled by those trying to get away.

“Oh they’re gonna be ****ed now.” Bob said, watching the crowd as it began to break up.

“Not nearly as mad they’ll be tomorrow.” Daniel replied.

Bob glanced over at him, “Why’s that?”

“Do you know that we handle EBT card transactions?”

“Nope, but what’s that got to do with this?” Bob asked pointing at the monitor.

“I had to pull our network down, right now there are millions of credit, debit and yes, EBT cards that don’t work.”

“That was how you stopped the problem with the network, are you nuts, you know what kind of **** that’s going to start, look what’s already happening?”

The next day many of the employees of the bank were turned away at the door. As the network was still down and there was no certainty as to when it would be back up many of them would have nothing to do. The exception was for customer service agents, in the coming days they would face an onslaught of angry, desperate customers. There were meetings galore at the bank, not only at the bank Daniel worked for but many others.

While Daniel managed to disconnect his network from the world, the damage was already done. All those connections to the internet, other banks and the most damaging of all, the Federal Reserve served to spread the virus literally at the speed of light. All over the country and in some places around the world banks were in full panic. In an effort to calm the panic, two days after the initial incident, the White House came out with a statement that all electronic financial transactions were going to be suspended.

The statement went on to assure people that their accounts were backed by the Federal Government and order in the financial markets would be restored soon. What it didn’t say was that the real reason for the “temporary halt” was to stop the slide of the US markets, which had already lost over twenty percent in the past two trading days. Efforts were being made to determine who was behind the event but at the moment it was a almost a moot point, at least to most Americans.

It was these Americans, the ones that to this point had maintained their lives in as a normal routine as they could that now were added to the those already disgruntled masses in the streets. Most people had no way of purchasing anything, if you didn’t have cash or convince a merchant to take a check there was no way to buy anything. For most people it meant that within twenty four hours they were for all intents and purposes broke, the frog started to notice the change in the water temp.

Much to Daniels relief he didn’t have to stay at the bank and he never did see the “facilities” Bob mentioned. The other side of that coin was the fact that unlike most other bank employees he had to come to work. The fact that his credit cards or his debit card worked didn’t matter that much to him, after all he worked for the bank and while they didn’t unlimited amounts of cash, there was a substantial amount of it securely locked up in the basement of the bank. Arrangements were made for bank employees to receive cash from their accounts over the counter. The banks doors may have been closed to the public, but they were open for those inside the banking community.

It was on the third day after what was now being called the “Bank Vacation” that Daniel started to have trouble. He was on his way to work when a crowd of people were blocking an intersection. They were accosting drivers as they tried to make it their destinations. Daniel was third in line at the light when the crowd spilled out into the road. Like ants they spread out in all directions, enveloping cars, those unfortunate enough to be caught in the middle of the intersection suffered the worse.

When they started breaking out windows and pulling people out of their cars Daniel quickly checked the mirrors, looking for an escape. He was in the right hand lane, a large planter separating him from a parking lot. Daniel quickly backed the Jeep as much as he could, those behind him were also looking for a way out. The short wheel base allowed him to maneuver the Jeep around to face the planter, shifting into four wheel drive he was able to climb the planter into the parking lot.

The rest of the way to the office he never stopped again, cutting lights by using parking lots or simply running lights after slowing to make sure there was no cross traffic. The bank had taken on the appearance of fortress, all first story windows and doors were protected with the same kind of roll down doors as the entrances of the parking garage. Pulling up to the garage entrance he quickly swiped his card and waited nervously as the door rolled up.
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[unseenone]

A decision is needed

It may be a shorter piece, but I'm trying to post more often.


This time he didn’t park under the building, he went to the top deck, waving at the uniformed and now armed security officer stationed on the first level and parked in a spot on the edge, looking east. It was early and as he leaned against the wall looking out across downtown he could see smoke. It was rising in several places and the sirens, which had of late become omnipresent, seemed to everywhere at once. The wails and warbles bounced off the buildings from all directions.

From his rooftop perspective he could see a crowd that was just coming around a corner two blocks away. It was made up of people of all types but was just what the movies always depicted. Shouts and the sounds of breaking bottles added to all the sirens to create a morbid symphony of noise. Daniel shook his head looking at the crowd, then went to the Jeep and grabbed the messenger bag. After closing the door he looked at the front bumper, the big square cap that sealed the end jutting out.

Daniel stepped towards it and gave the cap a light kick, it didn’t budge and he smiled as he headed for the stairs. A pedestrian bridge tied the building to the garage on the fourth level, he took the stairs in no real hurry and came out on the fourth deck, taking the bridge over the street below into the building. Another guard was stationed just inside the building, uniformed and armed. At first the appearance of uniformed men with pistols and shotguns had caused much concern amongst the mild mannered folks working in the building. The complaints reached the point that some asked that they be kept out of sight, but as the rioting worsened around the building the complaints disappeared.

Daniel went to the little concession stand located just past the bridge. It had the usual array of items any hip suburbanite would appreciate, Starbucks coffee, bagels and pastries and even a decent deli. He grabbed his morning Mountain Dew from the case by the register, paid using his employee ID, another nice feature of working for the bank and headed for the elevators. According to what has become his new routine, the first stop was Bob’s office.

There was no real reason for him to go up there every day, it had just become the routine. He would go up there and hang out with Bob for an hour or so, watching the monitors and talking about what was happening in the world. One of the biggest benefits of this new routine was that it really ****ed off Malcolm, he tried to put a stop to it but Bob pulled rank on him and the issue went away.

Daniel flopped into a chair across from Bob’s desk. The ever present ashtray was now overflowing with buts, a ring of fine ash surrounded the tray, the principle of maximum angle of repose having been exceeded. Numerous coffee cups littered the desk as well, some having been there so long the brown ring showing where coffee was soaking through.

“Bob you like ****, when was the last time you actually slept?”

Bob held up an empty cup without looking up from the monitor, “I just finished another two hours.”

“When was the last time you left this place?”

“And go where?” Bob asked as he picked up and shook the various cups.

“Home? To get some sleep?”

“I should have you over some day, you’d understand.” Bob found a cup with liquid in it and swished it suspiciously.

“Guess I’ll head down stairs and wallow in Malcolm’s neurosis.” Daniel said as he stood up to leave.

Bob looked up, “Before you go, shut the door real quick.”

Daniel pushed the door closed and looked back at Bob.

“You remember when I asked if you had any guns?” Bob asked as he rocked back in his chair, putting his feet up on his desk.

“Yeah, told you I sold ‘em all.”

“Yeah, bull****, whatever, I would recommend you bring one it if you’ve got, things are getting pretty ****ty out there and it may become an issue.”

Daniel wanted to tell him so bad that he still had his carbine and Glock, but he just couldn’t bring himself to do it yet, “Yeah, well, I wish I did, you got any?”

Bob smiled and swung his feet of the desk with what seemed an excessive amount of enthusiasm. Standing up he went over to what looked like a large filing cabinet at first glance, upon a closer inspection one would notice there was only one handle on the front of it. Bob pulled the door open, then removed a padlock and opened an interior door, he then stepped aside to reveal the contents of the hidden safe.

[unseenone]

A decision is needed

“Holy **** Bob!”

Something resembling a smile cracked Bob’s face, “You like?”

Wide eyed Daniel stepped towards the safe, “Who wouldn’t, How- how in the hell do you still have these” looking back at Bob, “aren’t you worried about getting arrested?”

Bob crossed his arms over his chest and looked down at the carpet, sweeping the toe of his shoe across the carpet he replied, “Well, there’s a lil exemption for law enforcement.”

A little confused Daniel asked, “You still a cop?”

“Retired” Bob replied before flashing another smile.

“And it applies to you as well?”

“Membership has its benefits don’ cha’ know.”

Looking back to the safe Daniel began to take a closer look, “What kind of Ar’s are those?”

“There’s three Stag’s, two Mossberg 500’s and a few Sig’s plus enough ammo to feed them for awhile.”

“Damn, that’s a hell of a collection.” Daniel replied, shaking his head.

“That’s not my collection, my collection wouldn’t fit in that safe.”

Daniel stood there stunned for a moment, before he could say anything a voice from the control room called out, “Hey Bob, you need to come see this.”

Daniel and Bob walked out to the dark room illuminated only by the wall of monitors. “What’s up Andy?” Bob asked as they came in.

One video feed suddenly filled the entire wall, it was a shot of the street, a street in front of the bank that was filling with people. It was obvious these people are ****ed, they were the epitome of a riot in its infancy. The camera panned back and forth taking in the whole street. Off in the distance they could see fires, dumpster fires from the look it. The crowd farther out was larger and it looked as though it was moving to the business district.

“Damn, this isn’t good.” Bob said to no one in particular.

“What ‘cha want to do?” Andy asked.

“Nothing, just watch it, I’m gonna go talk to the brass” Bob said as he headed for the door, “Daniel, come with me.”

The request caught him off guard, “Sure” was all he replied, taking one more look at the screen he turned to follow Bob out of the office.

Waiting in front of the elevator Daniel asked, “Where we going?”

“I’m going to talk to the exec’s, I want to shut the building down today, call of the staff before any more of them get in.”

“You think it’s gonna get that bad?”

“I hope not, but I’d rather not have a couple of thousand people here to worry about if it does.”

“Why am coming with you?”

That shady smile cracked Bob’s face again, “Spread your social circle, meet some interesting people.”

The ding announced the elevator and the door opened, Gene was standing in the car behind a cart eating a sandwich with his right hand, a rubber glove on his left.

Daniel looked at him and smiled, then looked at the cart. It was loaded with all manner of apparatus for unclogging a toilet. Daniel took another look at Gene, the mustache moving up and down, then the sandwich.

“Hey Gene, how you doin’” Bob asked as they stepped in.

Swallowing a mouthful he replied, “Same ole ****.”

Bob laughed, looking down at the cart, “So it seems.”

“I don’t know why these prim an proper ladies insist on flushing their damn harpoons down the toilet.” Gene said, then stuffed the last bite of the sandwich in his mouth.

“Harpoons, never heard em called that before.” Bob replied with a laugh.

Gene just shrugged his shoulders, pulled a comb from his shirt pocket and ran it through his mustache. Replacing he comb in his pocket he pulled the rubber glove back on his right hand, “What’r y’all up to?”

“Going up to talk to the brass, we may need to shut the building down, looks like there’s a riot brewing.”

“Good, I hope they do, I could use the break.”

The car stopped and Bob told Gene he would talk to him later, Daniel nodded Gene as he stepped off the elevator. Once the door shut Daniel looked over at Bob, “I can’t believe he was eating a sandwich after plunging a toilet.”

Bob laughed, “Yeah, that’s Gene, he’s a real piece of work.”

Daniel’s face turned sour, “That’s just friggin’ nasty.”

Bob let out a loud laugh, slapping Daniel on the back. They came to door at the end of the corridor and Bob went through it, they stepped out into a very opulent sitting area, nothing like the part of the building he worked in.

“Holy ****, where are we?” Daniel asked.

They were walking towards a large mahogany desk, a very attractive blonde was seated behind it.

“Welcome to the den of the beast, you smell that?”

Daniel looked around, “Smell what?”

“Bull****.”

The blonde looked up, a brilliant smile flashed across her face, “Why hello Bob” she stood and walked around the desk, wrapping her arms around Bob’s neck, once in the embrace Bob turned slightly so Daniel could see him, he crossed his eyes and lolled his tongue from his mouth, with his left hand he patted her back and with his right he mimicked squeezing her ass.

Daniel stood there bug eyed, “Tiffany, so good to see you” the girl stepped back, flashed the smile again and looked at Daniel, Bob caught on and introduced him, “Tiff, this Daniel, Daniel this is Tiffany.”

“Nice to meet.” She replied, offering her hand, which he took, holding her eyes just a moment longer than business etiquette dictates.

Bob broke up the moment, “Tiff, is your boss in?”

She let out a huff of a breath before heading back around the desk, “Yeah, he’s here, but he’s busy with everything going on.”

“I need to see him and it’s critically important I see him now.”

“I’m guessing from your tone you’re not bringing good news.”

“No I’m not, but he needs to hear it, now.” Bob said with a tone of finality.

“Go in and wait, I’ll let him know you’re waiting.”

“Why thank you beautiful.” Bob replied, then flashed his own nicotine stained smile.

Tiffany returned his with a coy, off the shoulder smile of her own. Bob moved for a door to the right of the desk and Daniel followed him, looking at Tiffany she gave him a smile as well. They entered another anteroom, a waiting area where the unwashed masses waited their audience with the power brokers behind the doors on the opposite side of the room.

They each took a seat in the overstuffed leather chairs. Daniel ran his hand over the arm of his, this damn sure wasn’t imitation. After a moment Bob stood and walked across the room to a credenza and opened a lower door to reveal a minifridge.

“Want a water or something?”

Daniel looked over, “Yeah, sure water’s good.”

Bob tossed a bottle to him, Daniel couldn’t help but notice the Fiji label, downstairs they had stopped putting spring water in the water coolers and went to “drinking water”. He made a smirk and shook his head as he twisted the top off the bottle.

Bob flopped back into his seat, noticing Daniels annoyance, “Nothing but the best up here buddy.”

“So I see, hey, what’s with Tiffany, you’re ****in’ nuts by the way.”

Bob laughed, blowing water out of his nose, with a grunt he replied, “Yeah hot as asphalt in July huh?”

“Yeah, I’d say, you know there’s cameras up there, someone saw your little show.”

“Pfft, yeah, know who saw it? My guys, Andy’s probably already deleted that little piece of evidence.”