Chapter 9: The Poachers!

It was the Monday after the wedding. John had a group of 50 meet at the People’s Trust Tent. They enjoyed a nice breakfast and at 8:00 AM John brought them together and visualized the south end of the valley. Peter was in front. Most of the group were Peter’s Minute Men from Seattle. The primary exception was Chief John Nation was in the center. The rim that went around the valley looked much like Crater Lake in Oregon. It was a thousand feet high in places. The big difference was this one had a small lake in the center with almost all the rest being a very rich green pastureland. The mercenaries had a camp in the northernmost part with over two thousand men and women.

Moments after the team showed their presence, eight shots rang out. John Taylor, with his white hair, stood out as one of the targets and like the others, sent the rounds back. Many vehicles were coming toward them, and Peter yelled “NOW!” to the team. The team and all unwanted personnel disappeared. The vehicles slowed and turned off but there was one jeep with a driver and an older gentleman passenger still coming towards John. John waited. He hoped to find some information about who was funding this outfit. It took only a few minutes for the jeep to travel the last mile.

The jeep stopped within thirty feet of John and the man got out and looked behind them. He turned, “Who are you and what did you do with my men?” The older gentleman asked in a very angry voice.

“Really General? You don’t know who I am? You’ve tried to kill me several times during the last four days.” John responded.

“What in the hell do you want John Taylor?” The General responded.

“I want to know who is footing the bill for you to be here. I understand you’ve been here for over three years and have taken probably a thousand head of buffalo. I will be serving a request for payment to that person.” John approached the General. He was within ten feet of the man when he asked the question and was able to read the man’s mind well --”Ex-President Treece.” Again, that name comes up. It had been tied to the training center for ISIS on the Arizona & New Mexico border that had Homeland Security ties. The Treece family was suspected to be worth a trillion dollars. John wondered if that had any meaning anymore, “Does ex-President Treece even know your name?” John asked.

The General drew his revolver and fired at John. John was surprised, the round should have hit left of his belly button. The General was a bit stunned when the round returned to plow through two layers of body armor. Another shot rang out and the General crumbled to the ground with part of his head missing, “Hi Jimmy James. How have you been?”

“Doing very well Father John. Thank you.” Corporal Jimmy James replied.

“How is your sister, Jill?” John asked.

“She is still guiding me, sir,” Jimmy responded.

“What’s next for you?” John asked.

“I finished my junior year as an architect student. I ran out of money and did not want to go into a whole lot of debt. So, I joined the Army. I would like to get back on that path sir.” Jimmy shared, “Find a nice girl and settle down and have a good life. I hear a rumor that fish may be in the river soon?”

“Yeah, lots of them. We have an architect. He informed me he has a ton of work. Maybe he needs an apprentice. Shall we go ask him? John got into the jeep and grabbed his walkie-talkie, “Billy Nation, the valley is yours.”

“Thank you, White Eagle. How many need to be planted?” Billy Nation asked.

“What I am hearing is nine. Several may be upon the rim still.” John replied.

“White Eagle, you have done the people a great deed. We thank you and we will take it from here.” Billy Nation shared, “I have two hundred, ready to move in to salvage all that is left.”

“If the portable housing is worthy, we could use it to keep people alive this winter,” John announced.

“That’s the plan White Eagle, 10-4.” Billy Nation felt John’s concern about keeping people alive. The area was still getting a couple of hundred new people arriving weekly. The expectation was when Spokane and the greenback ended their love affair, Omak might be faced with thousands as the much bigger city fell apart.

“This is Peter calling White Eagle. Come in please.”

“Go ahead, Peter” John Taylor responded.

Peter knew everyone on the radio would be listening,” Sir, we have about 1,800 men and women that have come back from our visit with the sun.” Peter wondered how this was going to be handled, “My people are telling me these are the highly trained military who thought they were joining up with an outfit going back to Iraq to finish the job left undone. They are good people.”

“Where are you now Peter?” John asked.

“As per the plan, we are in the RV parking lot just across from the Peoples Trust Tent,” Peter shared.

“We are driving in from the valley. It will take us a bit. See if our army is hungry? If they are, I have set up a tab at the tent for this morning.” John had talked with the chief and touched on the possibility that many would be returning. Billy’s actions were to eliminate the possibility of anyone returning to the valley. John wanted to be sure that Jimmy James was on their side and not a planted assassin.

John and Jimmy had gone about halfway back to town when John asked, “What is this bump on your right shoulder.”

“It’s a bone chip.” Jimmy’s eyes went dull. The jeep sped up. They were driving in a military jeep doing 50 mph on a road where 35 mph would have been a thrill.

John simply shut down the jeep and transported it with the two of them to a vacated parking space in front of the pharmacy, “Hi honey, I’m home.”

“I love you.” Jenny smiled, “Is he still alive?” pointing to Jimmy.

“His heart rate is dangerously low.”

“Yes, but not for long if...” John felt in Jimmy’s shirt pocket and found the antidote for the poison that had been injected into Jimmy’s bloodstream. John gave it to Virginia Casey, who’d coincidentally had been at the pharmacy with Jenny. She opened the tube and administered the shot. A few minutes went by.

“His heart rate is coming back!” Virginia shared, then a few seconds later, “He just hit 60 beats per minute.”

“Let’s get his shirt off.” When they had that done, John looked closely at the bump and saw a little camera and speaker. “Got to go!” John kissed Jenny and disappeared with whatever was in the bump. John did his normal “Go to God” and was pleased when he landed there with a young man dressed in fatigues, “Where did you come from?” John asked.

“I was in a cave at my worktable,” the young man shared.

“Did you have control of his injector?” John asked.

“What injector?”

The one that came out of Jimmy James. The one you were listening to.” John advised.

“The video and sound were going by satellite to someone else. I’m Corporal Dave Hendricks. I’m just a technician in this little puzzle. I followed you for a while and then you were out of my range.”

“What are you good at, what do you like to do?” John asked.

“I got my degree in cell phone technology and the first company I work for makes me into a salesman in a mall. That lasted a week. I want to work on cell towers and satellites and be at the other end where things are changing all the time.” Dave answered, I came to work for this outfit, and they stick me in a cave 12 hours a day, 7 days a week watching two dozen cameras. I was there just to make sure they worked.”

“You want a job?” John asked.

“Doing what?” Dave asked.

“Keeping our phone system going. Finding out who keeps turning it off. Maybe going with me to ask them to stop.” John smiled.