Sweetness in the Dark (44 page)

The two of them had avoided talking much about their future. Instead, they had concentrated on the country’s future. While the physical aspect of their life together was wonderful, the stress of life after P-Day had overwhelmed more personal thoughts.

Paul had seen ‘the Pulse’ affect his brother and his relationship with Julie. Even though the two had married and were expecting their baby in the winter, Julie still seemed in shock. Finding herself alone on the opposite end of the country from her family had left her alone and vulnerable. That John took her with him on leaving Oregon had allowed her to settle where it was safe.

Paul often wondered, with more normalcy springing up around the country, if John and Julie would still want to spend their lives together. He wondered if he and Amanda would feel the same as life reverted into a more mundane existence.
Survival is a powerful motive, and once that is secured, people have the luxury to look at life differently
, he thought.

He looked at the beautiful woman that was cradled in his arms. He would miss her. If she realized the world was not going to end, Amanda might decide that life had limitless opportunities.
Would one of those include him?
he wondered.

* * *

The eight o’clock meeting started promptly. The President and his Cabinet members were in session with the Ewing Commission to receive the preliminary findings. Charged with discovering the culprits who had profited from the enormous credit bubble that had been created in the 1990s, the Ewing Commission was ready to name names.

John Ewing opened the session. His fellow Commission members were to his left and right. “Mr. President, the Commission is honored by your presence here today. I can assure you that the findings of the Commission will make your effort worthwhile.”

Opposite him was the President and his Cabinet members. Paul sat in the second row of chairs right behind the President. He noticed his brother was a little nervous.

“The staff will hand out our preliminary ‘Executive Summary’ for your review. It is not finalized as of yet, but the Commission feels the importance of the findings warrant its early release,” John said.

“Thank you, Dr. Ewing. I understand that a large number of the individuals involved are incarcerated here in Richmond,” the President said.

“Yes, Mr. President. With the Volunteer Army occupying the Northeast, the final perpetrators of the financial collapse of 2008 are turning up. The ‘Wanted for Treason’ deck of cards has been very popular with the troops,” John said. “But I’m afraid the fifty-two individuals on the cards are only the tip of the iceberg. As you can see in our report, we have identified four hundred and thirty people that we’ve marked for further investigation. Some are sitting in Petersburg Federal Prison outside Richmond.”

“Four hundred and thirty? That many?” the President asked.

“We’ve named the worst offenders the ‘bad ninety nine’, so to speak. Ninety nine that should definitely be held accountable to the American public for crimes against the nation. As of right now, we have sixty-one in custody,” John said. “Your suggestion to offer amnesty, removing the death penalty for treason, shook a lot loose. If they turn themselves in and show us where their assets are hidden, then the death penalty is off the table. If we have to track them down, no deal.”

“Good. The public was livid back before ‘the Pulse’ about this, and the mayhem they’ve suffered since hasn’t put them in a forgiving mood,” the President said.

“No, Sir, Mr. President. With the chaos in New York City, a lot of records have been compromised. The backup files here in Virginia have yielded valuable information you can use for prosecution,” John said.

The Attorney General perked up with that information. Before his present position, he had been a state prosecutor in Nebraska, a state hit hard by the credit collapse. With the new Constitution, he had been appointed by the Nebraska governor to a Senate seat. The Senate had elevated him to the Cabinet where he was selected as the nation’s top law enforcement official.

The AG said, “I know the paper trail is substantial. I’ve received reports from your staff on a regular basis apprising me of the Commission’s progress. My compliments to your team for their hard work.”

“I’d like to report that all the really big fish have been caught, but I’m afraid the net for them is coming up empty. The Bulgarian billionaire seems to have slipped out of the country. And the former Treasury Secretary that shoved the bailout down the banks ‘throat’ is nowhere to be seen,” John said. “But we are confident that he was able to escape New York City when it went down. We can assume that by the time we reach northern Maine, he’ll be found.”

“How about the Federal Reserve Chairman that manipulated the banks in order to float money to save the hedge fund called Long Term Capital? When that first came to light back in the early 90s, I almost kicked my television into the next county,” the new Treasury Secretary asked.

The new Treasury Secretary had been the comptroller for a large Colorado beer company. She had been elected to the House by Colorado’s voters and had been selected as a House of Representative’s appointment to the Cabinet. Her fellow Cabinet members had selected her as Treasury Secretary. She was the first in a very long time who had not been directly tied to Wall Street.

Paul remembered the Long Term Capital fiasco. He had experienced similar frustration at the time. Dubbed ‘Too big to fail’, LTC was rescued by the strong arm of the Federal Reserve, forcing banks into making loans to keep the hedge fund solvent. The fund was then quietly liquidated after the initial crisis was forgotten.

But the lasting effect was that the ‘moral hazard’ that kept capitalism honest was shattered. If politically powerful firms knew that the Federal government would bail them out if they got into trouble, then they would take inordinate risks with their capital.
Capitalism only worked if there were ‘winners and losers’
, Paul thought.

Take the risk of investments away through political connections, and the powerful would run wild. And they had run wild, creating the largest ‘credit bubble’ in the history of the world. The depression that had been coming following the financial collapse of 2008 just happened to be overrun by ‘the Pulse’.

“The past two Federal Reserve Chairmen have been located and are sitting in cells. One was captured trying to escape. He had disguised himself, since his photo was on one of the playing cards. Fortunately, his famous celebrity wife refused to cover up her looks. He was discovered because people recognized his wife,” John said.

“Vanity will get you every time,” the Treasury Secretary said.

“Mr. President, I can assure you from my staff reports on the extent of the evidence gathered so far by the Commission that we are looking at major convictions. And with one hundred million dead Americans linked to these treasonous acts, I will seek the death penalty,” the Attorney General said.

“But what of those who have complied with our amnesty offer?” the President asked.

“Yes, Sir, we will make exceptions for fully cooperating individuals who are forthright in their disclosure,” the Attorney General said.

The meeting went over the other major individuals that the Commission had identified. The final group of perpetrators was left to staffers to review as the meeting wound down. After the meeting ended, the President asked to meet privately with John. He motioned to Paul to join them.

“John, great work. I can’t thank you enough for working through this. Bringing the ‘Wall Street’ criminals to justice is even more important than pursuing the thugs who destroyed our cites. These crimes are even worse in that they supposedly held our nations best interests,” the President said. “We expected better from them.”

Paul jumped in, “But Mr. President, I’ll quote from one of my favorite authors. P. J. O’Rourke often takes a bit of a cynical view of life. He certainly did when he said, and I quote, ‘Blaming Wall Street for being greedy is like blaming prostitutes for getting paid’ Those words hit home and remind us of the duty of government.”

“Yes, I agree. Don’t forget the connivance of the Federal bureaucracy. We have laid out the criminals in Washington D.C. who were charged to protect the nation. They failed miserably. They need to stand to accounts, too.” John offered.

“We won’t forget them. They were supposed to protect the public, and through incompetence or collusion, they are twice as guilty.” The President was visibly angry at the mention of the Federal government’s involvement in the whole sordid deal.

But Paul didn’t want the main point to be missed in the discussion. “But while we are punishing the guilty, never forget that it was government interference in the market place that caused many of the problems. We have to keep our system as free-market-oriented as possible. Yes, people will suffer losses but they will remember the pain and be more conservative with their money in the future.”

“We’ll do our best limiting government, Paul,“ the President said, and then continued. “But we have another problem tied to this one. The United States issued many securities prior to the collapse. Notes and bonds valued in the trillions were sold to various investors. As a new nation, we do not have a legal obligation to repay those loans. But as a new nation, we do have a moral commitment to make an honest effort to repay legitimate claims.”

The President asked John if he would continue on with his Commission to determine who the most legitimate creditors of the former U.S.A. were. While there was no money at present to take on such a challenge, at some time in the near future the President was hopeful that some redress would be possible.

“Mr. President, I’m certainly at your service,” John said. “But with one caveat, if I may. Do I have permission to move the Commission to Boise? I’d like to go home evenings and see my new bride.”

“I can appreciate your desire to work out of Boise. I’ll instruct my staff to write up a formal change in venue today,” the President said.

“Might I make a similar request, Mr. President?” Paul retorted.

The President jumped, “You do not have a new bride at home. Sorry, you’re tied to me for the duration.”

The three Idahoans laughed. Each one missed their home state and longed to return to it. One would presently be there. The other two had work to do.

Richmond, Virginia

As the Idahoans enjoyed some downtime telling stories about life in the Gem State, they were interrupted by a knock at their door. John opened the door to find the President’s aide standing there with a note. John passed the note to the President.

“Well, it appears this note is for you, John.”

John took the note and read it. “May I be excused, Mr. President?”

“Yes, of course. I need to meet with my Army commanders right now anyway.”

John quickly left the room. The President motioned to Paul that he should follow his brother. Paul and John walked down to the room and knocked on the door. A Secret Service Agent opened the door.

“We have to watch all unknown individuals in the vicinity of the President. I’ll stand outside the door.”

John and Paul walked in. Seated in a chair was a man who might have about thirty, but from his looks, the man could have been sixty. His clothes were torn and his body was emaciated. He hadn’t shaved or had a hair cut in some time. From the smell, bathing hadn’t been part of this man’s life either.

“May I help you? The President’s aide seemed to think you may have business with me?” John asked.

“My name is Kevin Shepardson. My sister is Julie Shepardson,” the man offered.

“Julie’s brother. You’re alive! How did you find me?” John asked.

“When I was captured by a company of Idaho volunteers in Pennsylvania, I remembered her writing me about her professor at the University of Oregon. Luckily I knew your name. When I mentioned it to my captors, they informed me that you were in Richmond,” Kevin said.

“She’ll be so excited that you’re alive. We assumed all her family was dead,” John said.

“They are. I’m the only one who survived. I’ve been doing what I needed to do to survive in Pennsylvania.”

“Have you been arrested by the troops for any criminal activity?” John asked.

“No. Life in Pennsylvania has had no right and wrong for the last year. It was kill or be killed. Life was simple in a certain way. If the troops round up everyone who broke the law over the last year, there would be no one left,” Kevin said.

Paul offered to scare up some food and clean clothes. The room had a shower, so John waited while Kevin cleaned up. A razor took Kevin’s extra hair away. Everything was bagged up in a plastic bag for burning. Soon a clean and hairless Kevin ate his first real meal in a year. He began to relate life behind the chaotic lines.

When ‘the Pulse’ hit, like everywhere, life stopped for everyone. But unlike Paul and John’s experience in Idaho, civil society did not overcome adversity. In Maryland, Kevin soon found out that a huge tear in the social fabric let many undesirable things through.

Within the first week, life in the suburbs of Washington D.C. had become untenable. Kevin’s parents had never returned home from their jobs in Washington. Both had worked in the Federal bureaucracy and were away on assignment when ‘the Pulse’ hit. Kevin had no idea where they had been.

After four days the food that was in the house ran out. Kevin and a friend from next door teamed up to find more. The friend was also alone when his father failed to return from the city. His parents had divorced and his mother had moved to New York City.

Luckily, the friend’s father had worked for the FBI. As such, the house had a number of guns that would normally have been illegal for common citizens under Maryland’s tough gun laws. At first, Kevin’s friend was reluctant to open his father’s safe, even though he knew the combination.

The first gang raid into their neighborhood changed his mind. By the end of the first week without power, the noise from assaults grew closer and closer. The night before they left, a gang terrorized the next street over.