Chapter 16: Back in Omak! Shoot out at the Bridge!

The World comes Knocking.

“Hello,” Johnny Taylor answered.

“Mr. Vice President, we have a delegation from Monsito. Do you have time to meet with them?” Nancy McCormick asked. This was the first time she had addressed Johnny as Mr. Vice President.

Johnny would make time to meet with them, “Absolutely Nancy. Let’s have them meet with me at Sou’s. Oh, by the way, is Bill available for lunch? I may need someone to watch my back.”

“Will do. Bill is home, he just got finished with a class. Three more Black Lanyard promotions today. He’s excited. Sir, we are now over twelve hundred Black Lanyards. Say twenty minutes?” Nancy asked.

“I have to get my act together and get there. I’ll call up Sou and reserve the table.” Johnny advised. The table was a gift from the folks in Riverside. They’d discovered John didn’t have a comfortable place to meet 25 to 30 people at one time. They built and brought down a table with rounded corners that could comfortably seat 30 adults. Sou had more room than tables and welcomed the big table, knowing John would be having lunch and dinner there regularly.

John and Sou’s son George had convinced him to leave Seattle. Sou was very happy to have his family safe, “I’ll call up Bill now. Thanks, Nancy.”

Johnny thought for a second and called up Bill McCormick, “Bill, can you join me for lunch?” Johnny asked.

“What do you have going on?” Bill could feel the concern in Johnny’s voice.

“Got a group from Monsito here,” Johnny shared. The men who’d stayed in Omak from the mercenaries were fitting in very well. They had the local phone service up and running most of the time and felt they could get another cell phone tower up also, “I could use somebody to watch my back.”

“I’ll be there in five minutes.” Bill responded, “You buy me lunch?”

“Thanks, buddy! I will!” Johnny and Bill said their goodbyes and Johnny started looking up what he could find on what was left of the internet about Monsito. He knew his dad didn’t like the company, something about Agent Orange that was used in Vietnam. Everyone who handled it was probably dead and everyone who got touched by Agent Orange had a medical problem that wouldn’t go away.

Bill came into the bank where Johnny was. He was sitting at his dad’s desk. Johnny stood to greet his friend, “Hi Bill. You do that flying thing again?”

“Yeah Johnny, you should try it.” Bill laughed as Johnny shook his head.

They walked over to Sou’s Chow Hall, “Johnny stopped and looked at the sign. “Well, he finally named it.” Johnny laughed, “Again.”

“Truth in the advertisement.” Bill chuckled too.

“Shall we play hard to get?” Johnny asked, and Bill nodded.

There was a large group of suited figures standing outside looking expectantly, “I’m John Taylor Jr. Vice President. You from Monsito?”

“Yes, we were hoping to meet with the president.” The only man with a name tag shook hands with Johnny and commented. Johnny read ‘Phillip Roths Smith, Director of New Development’ on the name tag.

John turned, “I’m sure Nancy can schedule you in for an appointment in two or three months.” He finished his turn and started walking away with Bill on his shoulder.

“Wait, we came over a thousand miles to meet with him,” Phillip demanded angrily.

“Well, your trip isn’t a complete waste, you can make an appointment while you’re here.” Johnny turned and continued to walk away.

“Wait, we’ll meet with you.” Phillip sounded defeated.

Johnny turned to Bill, “Are you going to have much time?”

“Today is our anniversary and I have to buy some flowers. Eight years today.” Bill looked at the Monsito bunch and said, “If we can get right to business, perhaps we’ll have time.”

Johnny loved it. Bill had reduced the importance of Monsito to just ahead of buying flowers, “Well it is lunchtime. Sou’s special sounds good.” Johnny and Bill shrugged and turned back to the Chow Hall.

The single black man and the token woman were both smiling as they filled into the restaurant. Both realized their time was probably short as the rules of political correctness were fading into the past. Monsito was part of the Eastern Establishment and so far, had blocked with the help of other corporations, any return of civil order east of the Mississippi River. There was a strong movement to form a corporation with the directors appointing the president.

As the party entered, Phillip took charge and told his staff to move some tables together.

“We have a table reserved already.” Johnny stood in Phillip’s way, “This way.”

Phillip took up residence at one end of the table. Johnny and Bill ended up with the black man and token woman on the other end. The other men in suits made the sides work. As they were seated, one of the wait staff came up and talked with Johnny. He ordered a large bowl of smoked fish chowder for each at the table. They were served within a few minutes, “I ordered you our most sought-after delicacy. Fresh smoked salmon made with our local vegetables.”

“Mr. Vice President don’t mean to correct you, but the potatoes are from Idaho.” Bill was trying not to laugh.

“Well, that’s local.” Johnny watched as everyone reached into their pockets and pulled out a breath mint container, extract a pill and wash it down with water. “What are you taking?”

“Breath mints!” several of the men shared emphatically.

“Just how dangerous are your GMOs?” Bill asked, “Last year, the Pope said that GMOs were poisoning the planet’s food supply,” Bill supplied.

There were several answers of denial. But from Johnny’s right came a thought “Yes, very dangerous!”

“Both of our wives are pregnant. Are GMOs safe for them to eat?”

Again, the consensus at the table was “Oh certainly!” but both Bill and Johnny heard the thoughts of the woman and the black man that disagreed with that consensus.

“Mr. Taylor, what we came here today for is to obtain your agreement to allow our products to continue to be used in the Western States,” Phillip stated. He pulled a binder of papers out of his briefcase and handed it down to Johnny.

“Mr. Smith, I thought everyone on the East Coast was more formal. We do not call the Vice President by his surname,” Bill informed.

“Well, we on the East Coast are forming our own government. Members of your government have nothing to do with us.

Johnny turned to Bill, “Do you have time after we eat for us to take our visitors on a tour?”

Bill looked at his watch, then looked at the table, “Yeah, I think I can make it work.”

Three minutes later, Johnny laid a silver dollar on the table after looking at the bill. He looked to Bill and both men smiled and nodded.

A second later they were on the catwalk on the west side of the sun.

“What is that?” Phillip asked as he moved through the railing. There was a rush to be behind him then the railing closed and became solid again.

“Where are we?” the woman asked.

As Phillip exploded, the black man said, “That has to be a hellish way to die.”

“You’re correct. We think this is what our ancestors defined as Hell!” Johnny shared.

“What are you going to do with us?” the woman asked.

“Take you to see God,” Johnny smiled, “are you two, ready?”

Bill helped Johnny get the group here, but Johnny was certainly comfortable with four to God. They showed up and Gaia there to meet them, “Hi, big brother.”

“Hi, little sister!” Johnny gave Gaia a big hug and twirled her around. She squealed with delight. “Little sister, this is?” He allowed people to introduce themselves.

“Tanya Jefferson,” the lady shared.

“Mathew Winston,” the black man held out his hand.

“Mr. Vice President, is this God?” Tanya asked.

“Yes, come with me.” Johnny held Gaia as he escorted Tanya over to the surface, “Touch it and ask a question.”

“I asked if I am supposed to leave Monsito and join the new U.S. government.” Tanya was stunned, “You guys are in alignment with God. Aren’t you?”

“Two thousand years ago, my father was John the Beloved. He is the Comforter. He is the President, John Taylor. He’s the one who taught us how to come here.”

“That’s a myth from a book that’s been edited and translated hundreds of times. That can’t be true.” Tanya had a pained expression on her face.

“Ask God!” Johnny suggested. Gaia started laughing as Tanya’s eyes got huge as she went through the questions.

“What is life all about?” Tanya asked.

“God needs Christs. To become a Christ, one needs to graduate. Before we can graduate, we have to ascend.” Johnny smiled, “Jesus even told us to follow him.”

“What will Monsito do when Phillip and his group do not show up?” Johnny asked.

Bill and Mathew Winston had joined Johnny and Tanya, “Monsito will send their investigation squad. They are licensed to kill,” Mathew shared very solemnly.

“How about you guys, are you safe?” Bill asked Mathew and Tanya. The two Monsito staff shook their heads to indicate they weren’t safe.

“Then it seems like we may need to go visit whoever might come at us,” Bill suggested.

“Ready to go back?” Johnny asked, “Take a deep breath.”

The four were once again sitting at the big table at Sous. The four ended up talking about what Sou was going to call the dinner today. Sou was looking for his identity and he had repainted his main sign six times in the time he had been open. Virginia was convinced Sou was dealing with PTSD. She’d talked with him and felt he was on the upswing and one day soon, a name would show up and it would stay.

Mathew collected all of the phones left on the table along with the briefcase and agreement, “These phones might come in handy. They open up doors at headquarters.”

There before Johnny, a package showed up out of thin air on the table in front of him. Before Johnny had checked it out, an identical package showed up in front of Bill. The packages were marked with a note indicating that the boxes contained military-grade satellite phones. The notes denoted the phone numbers of John, Johnny, and Bill and were signed “POTUS” in little letters underline with a swirl.

“That is certainly your dad,” Bill stated.

“How can you be sure it’s my dad?” Johnny asked. Tanya and Mathew were looking on in wonder.

“He’s the only man in the world who capitalizes words that he feels are important and then would sign “POTUS” in lower case.”

“What’s POTUS?” Johnny asked.

“President of the United States!” Mathew and Tanya answered together. Johnny opened the package and pulled out the phone accompanied by two batteries. He put them in and powered up the device. The phone came to life and Johnny dialed his father’s number.

“Mr. Vice President,” John Taylor Sr. laughed.

“Mr. President. How long are you going to be with the Marines?” Johnny asked.

“I’m done with the Marines. They’ve moved into Amarillo, Texas. In the process, we found thousands of phones like the one you have. We’re getting them out to all the government people now. I have a new aid, a Lt. Sarah Lopez. I think she’ll be very useful until she meets Billy Nation.” John laughed.

“Where did the phones come from?” Johnny asked.

“It’s something Treece had done while he was in office. They put up a dozen or so satellites all over the world just for these phones. Can you imagine spending a couple hundred million dollars on a private phone system?

“No, I can’t. We’re having lunch with a Monsito delegation.

“How’s that going? Is Bill with you?” John asked.

“Yes, Bill is watching my back.” John laughed, “Twenty-six went to see God, two returned. These two want to work for the people. The first recommendation they have is for no GMOs and no Monsito pesticides. They are also suggesting Bill and I go to the annual stockholder’s meeting in New York tomorrow night. There’ll be six of us -- three with Black Lanyards, two with Green Lanyards and Bill thinks I need to be tested for Blue.”

“I love hearing that son. Let me know how it turns out. Teresa’s number is 00004. Love you son!” John signed off.

“Love you, Mr. President!” Johnny closed the phone. Just then, machine gunfire could be heard. Both Johnny’s and Bill’s phones went off.

They answered Jenny screaming, “Come quick, a bunch of men are trying to shoot their way into town on the Highway 20 bridge.”

Johnny and Bill both stood, “Mathew, you’re with Bill. Tanya, you ride with me. Come on.” Johnny directed.

At the river:

Just before the shooting occurred, the young gang had completed bringing in 18,000 fish in 18 days by way of the nets. They were cleaning up the workspace and putting away the net just before they grabbed fishing rods for the day. There were no more ice chests, and all the home freezers in the area were full. Sou shared that he still had room in his freezer, so he got permission to bring a stainless-steel fruit tub to be filled up with fish to be served at his restaurant.

So, for the last three days, the kids had worked to fill up Sou’s stockpile and had a blast doing it. Word was that the fishing was going to end on Friday. Even Frank Johnston had returned and was assisting with obtaining salmon eggs for the hatchery. He liked to catch one every evening. He added it to the fish being smoked and then made into chowder.

Billy Nation had gotten the old fish hatchery up and running. The artesian well had dried up shortly after St. Helens had blown her stack in 1980. That day had changed a lot of the landscape. Many wells had dried up or gave very little.

Tony was going to get a fishing rod when he felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. He looked around and saw a bunch of men watching from the south side of the river. Tony handed the rod to his brother Ben. Steven and Ben had gotten permission to be here these last two days. Tony had woken that morning with a dream of standing in a battle on a bridge. He turned and walked up to the bridge on the north side.

As he turned to step onto the bridge, he paused and looked back to see Brad and Gloria on his right and Willa on his left. The rest of the group was following him, even the little kids and the men and women of the ‘over the hill’ gang, including Big Henry and Mr. Johnston. He handed Willa his cell phone, “Call mom. We may have wounded.”

Over the past couple of days, Tony had been taking everybody up to see God as evening classes. The young boys and girls were keeping up on their schoolwork and learning all kinds of things. They had been to see God 14 times since they started fishing. They knew they had to stop evil and this bad bunch of men with guns was before them, so they stepped up to meet the threat. Tony stopped in the center of the bridge. The rough-looking men were bunched up about 50 feet away.