Revenge in the Homeland (11 page)

The next missile took out the limo that Pablo’s aide had taken to his house. He was blown to pieces, as was his family inside his home.

Pablo’s guards brought him quickly to the ground, threw themselves on top of him thus shielding him from the blast and shrapnel. The two guards closest to the doorway were shredded with pieces of brick and glass. Pablo had several severe shrapnel wounds, but would survive. His guards took him deeper into the bowels of the compound and fetched the best surgeons to tend to his wounds. He was unconscious for several months and there was a power struggle to see who would replace him.

Gorge, Pablo’s most loyal and vicious general flew back from Corpus Christie to take over during Pablo’s recuperation. He not only protected Pablo’s interests, but also eliminated anyone who might try to get between him and Pablo. He killed every Cabra who had even mentioned taking power from Pablo. However leaving Corpus Christie in the hands of one of his captains was a fatal mistake.

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Chapter 13

Kentucky was very hot and humid as usual in late August. Joshua had just reviewed the shooting range and physical training facility and was covered in sweat. The local commander was nervous around Joshua and Bo who were his senior commanders. He stammered several times when asked a question and nearly fell down when Joshua quickly turned around on the shooting range.

“You appear to be very nervous Dick. Does our visit upset you? Are you hiding something from us?”

Bo spoke up, “Joshua, he worships you just like a God. He is not scared of anything or anybody. You need to realize that you are the supreme leader and as close to God as any of these people will ever see. Give him a few minutes and he will get over being star struck. Dick has the best operation of all of my compounds. He makes money and has the support of the local population. He has taken over the entire city's management of all utilities, fire department and police department.”

Joshua patted Dick on the back and said, “Perhaps we need you to train our other compound leaders. Good job. I have been watching your reports and noticed your exceptional performance. Bo, let’s discuss a promotion for Dick in the near future.”

Bo replied, “That sounds good. We need to get to the meeting room. The others should all be here by now and I know that you want to greet them before dinner.”

“Yes, I want to set the stage for the meeting tomorrow. We have a few of our leaders that want to take advantage of this disaster and conquer the USA 20 years ahead of schedule. We have had that discussion.

***

Ginny was very worried about meeting Gus’ daughters for the first time. Again, they decided that she should meet just the daughters before meeting the rest of the family. She cleaned Gus’ apartment from top to bottom even though Gus had a cleaning service twice a week. She was busy wiping the dust off the top of a bookshelf when Gus entered the living room.

“Darling, you are wearing the wood off the furniture. They aren’t coming to meet the furniture. They are coming to meet my beautiful sexy bride to be.”

“Gus, are you sure that me being Black isn’t a problem for them?”

“I’ve told you a hundred times that Black is not a problem. Now my new wife being 22 raised some eyebrows. I think they were too polite to hit me up for robbing the cradle. Calm down, they will love you as much as I do.”

A few minutes later, the doorbell rang and Gus answered the door.

“Gail, Angela, Pat meet my fiancée, Ginny. Ginny, meet my daughters.”

The girls rushed past Gus and all hugged Ginny at the same time.

Gail spoke first, “We are so glad to finally meet you; Dad has told us all about you and your kids.”

“Gus has told me all about you three and the grandchildren. He is so proud of you and was worried to death about you until we heard from Corpus Christie that you were safe. I am so happy to be joining your family.”

Angela spoke up, “We are glad to have you in the family. Now that the introductions have been made, has anyone told you that you could be Halle Berry’s twin sister?

Before Ginny could say anything, Angela asked another question.

“What did this old dog do to catch such a beautiful young lady? Did he promise you jewels and fine cars?

Everyone, but Gus, broke out laughing and he was turning redder by the minute.

“First, thank you for comparing me to Ms. Berry. Second, I know that you are teasing us, but no, it wasn’t like that. I chased him until I wore him down and he said yes. He was against us getting together because of our age difference.”

Pat hadn’t said a thing, but then she noticed the pistol strapped to Ginny’s hip and asked, “Why are you armed? Does every woman carry a gun?”

“I use it to keep Gus in line.”

The girls laughed and fist bumped Ginny while laughing at Gus.

“Seriously, we can be under attack without much notice so you will see just about everyone armed or have their guns close by their side. My rifle is in the closet.”

“Have you been in any of these battles?

Gus spoke up, “She has been in several and was wounded during the capture of this complex from the DHS. That was the day that I knew that I loved her.”

Ginny leaned over, gave Gus a kiss and held his hand and said, “I promise you that I will love, cherish and fight by his side until death do us part.”

Angela replied, “I’m glad this lady will put up with you because we really like her. She will be our best friend. I almost said sister, but that would be creepy.”

Gus said, “Thanks, but you could have kept that comment to yourself. Mentioning Ginny’s pistol brings to mind that after we get you settled in we need to get you in to our Reserve training classes. You need to learn how to help defend our country and yourselves. Of course I saw the pictures of that dead Cabra and I thing Angela can skip the knife training.”

Angela spoke up to say, “One little slip of the knife and I’ll be the joke at parties for the rest of my life. I’ll never find a man if they think that I’ll carve them up like a pumpkin.”

Gail gave Angela a hug and said, “It was my kid that piece of shit was trying to mess with. I’m glad you killed him because I don’t know if I could have done it. You take after Dad and can handle yourself. I’m too laid back and passive for this new world. Any real man will want you and know that killing a pedophile is a good thing.”

Gus chimed in, “Well I’m not so sure about that. I heard that every cheating husband that heard that story has hid all the knives in his house.”

Angela walked over to Gus, sat in his lap and said, “But I’m still your baby girl, aren’t I? You like me more than you like the others. I know.”

“I love all of my girls the same. If it helps, you are the biggest pain in my ass. You are much better at sarcasm than your sisters ever were.”

The three sisters met at Gail’s apartment later that night and discussed their new stepmom to be.

Angela spoke first, “If Dad is happy then I am happy. Ginny seems to be a nice woman and fits in with us, so I don’t see a concern. I like her.”

Pat replied, “She is way too young for Dad. He must be 26 years older than she is. Normally I would be going berserk over this and say that she would leave him for a younger man, but there aren’t many men around these days. Second, Dad is the Secretary of Defense of our new country. He has a lot going for him. I like her. Well Gail?”

“I agree that in a normal situation that I’d be against this May-December romance, but Dad will be good for her kids and they seem to love each other. I don’t want to get into Dad’s sex life, but I think he will be well taken care of in that department. Now seriously, we are in a life and death situation every day. They love each other and that’s all that counts. I just can’t call a woman younger than me Momma.”

Pat said, “Angela, you better practice swinging that ass of yours and wear some makeup, if you think that you are going to get a husband around here.”

“Sis, shut up. I know how to get a man if there is a decent one around here.”

They drank a couple of bottles of wine and then retired for the night.

***

“I am pleased to see everyone again. It is rare that we can take the time to drag you away from the important work that you are performing for the cause. I personally feel that it is important to make sure that we are all on the same page and working towards all of the goals that I have given each of you. Our struggle began in the early 50’s with my father and a few followers. It didn’t really get much traction until I took the reins and got everyone working together or eliminated from the Chosen People. I do have a big announcement. We have been very successful over the last ten years and are getting too big for me to oversee everything. I am promoting Bo Strong to Chief of Operations. All area commanders and security will report to Bo. The rest of my staff will continue to report to me.”

Everyone applauded and shook Bo’s hand. They knew that this meant that Bo was Joshua’s chosen successor. Most liked and respected Bo. The rest hated him because they thought that being married to the leader’s daughter was the only way Bo had risen so quickly through the ranks. Margret was pissed tremendously. She had planned to become the leader of the Chosen People and had planned to eliminate Bo before this could happen. She cursed herself for not acting more quickly. 

He droned on for two hours before they split into focus groups to learn various ways to improve their operations. Joshua was a shrewd manager who used the latest business techniques to improve his organization.

He took Margret and Bo off to the side and met with them about the looming ISA issue.

“Bo, has there been any more contact with the ISA in Alabama?”

“No, we haven’t been visited, but they installed several surveillance devices and we saw at least one drone fly over the compound. They know we are there; they just don’t know what we are doing back in the woods. I expect them to come back to see if we are friendly and if they like what they see, try to get us to join the ISA.

“Thanks. Margret, please update us on the latest from Port Arthur.”

“The ISA has something huge about to happen. They have sent thousands of men and hundreds of armored vehicles through Port Arthur heading west. Over a thousand of Port Arthur’s soldiers joined them.”

“I have heard that they plan to expand west and take all of Texas this year and then east to take Florida, Georgia and South Carolina. They must be stronger than we originally thought. I want both of you to send spies into their organization. We won’t get them to join us, but we must start learning how to manage them and defeat them only if necessary. Make sure your spies are okay with living among them for a lifetime. I actually thing young girls from our youth camps would be perfect. Sterilize them and teach them to be spies. They will marry into the ISA society, but not become part of them by blood. Children cloud the minds of spies.”

Bo replied, “I agree, but with your approval I’ll have the usual spies sent in to get a leg up on what they are doing until we get the girls ready. I think we can field 20-30 within two months and a hundred more over the following six months.”

“I like that. Make it happen. Now Margret, tell us about Port Arthur.”

"That new mayor has people snooping around our operation and the Governor has increased security so we can’t steal cattle any more. We need to take them out and put our own people into these positions of power.”

Joshua was pissed that Margret did not get his message about being in this for the long haul and that they had a long way to go before they could confront the ISA or USA.

“Margret, were you asleep during my meeting this morning? I said that we are in this for the long haul and I don’t want us to hurry and make mistakes and enemies. We will slowly win people over with security, food and jobs as we always have. Now get with my plan or go back to being a follower and not a leader.”

“I will do what you say. I am just eager to spread our philosophy and way of life. I think that I have been too competitive with the outsiders and wanted to manage their town. I should concentrate on our goals. I am sorry and will do better. It is not lost on me that you have entrusted me with a region.”

“Margret, just trust me that slow and steady wins this race. Thanks for coming to the meeting. Put a plan together to add another compound in Corpus Christie when it is freed from the Mexicans. I want you to transfer to Corpus Christie and start the new compound up for me. I want you to personally oversee the operation.”

“Yes sir. Thanks for the opportunity to show what I can do.”

Joshua watched her walk away and said, “Bo get a couple of spies in her organization. I want to make sure that she doesn’t go rogue on us. She knows that I just demeaned her and she didn’t flinch or show any facial expression at all. That scares me.”

“I already have three spies in her group and will make sure that one is promoted to be her aide in Corpus Christie. I should have told you this before now, but one of my spies indicated that she has plans to succeed you as our leader and I am in the way.”

“Well then, I really pissed her off. She is the type that would stab both of us in the back and take over the Chosen People if she ever got a large enough following. This will be your first test. Can you save her or do you kill her? Your choice. Let me know how it turns out. Just don’t let it blow up in your face.”

***

Ginny was lying next to Gus in bed listening to recorded music when she said, “I think the meeting with your daughters went very well. They are really good people and you and Robin should be very proud of them.”

“I am proud of them and I need to be careful not to have a favorite.”

“Gus, the feisty redhead is your favorite and they all know it’s true. I can see that they all know that you love them, but she is special to you.”