Gods and Crowbars Ch. 04

This story is part of an ongoing series. The chronological order of my stories is now listed in WifeWatchman's biography.

Feedback and constructive criticism is very much appreciated, and I encourage feedback for ideas.

This story contains graphic scenes, language and actions that might be extremely offensive to some people. These scenes, words and actions are used only for the literary purposes of this story. The author does not condone murder, racial language, violence, rape or violence against women, and any depictions of any of these in this story should not be construed as acceptance of the above.

Part 16 - Come To Jesus (continued)

"Oh my God." Melina finally gasped. The enormity of her situation was hitting her; she had processed fully the depths of her problems in just seconds.

"Who is he?" Laura repeated, her eyes relentless as they bore into her younger sister.

"His name is..." Melina started, then said "... well, his name is like your old mother's: it can't be mentioned out loud even if we knew what it was. I only knew him as 'Mr. C.'. He was my cell leader until recently."

"What was his cell's mission?" asked Laura.

"It was supposedly an inter-agency cell, with people from the CIA, FBI, NSA, working on direct security threats. My group, the ones I knew of, we were all snipers. 'Wet boys'." said Melina. "I'll make no bones about it, I joined the cell so that I could kill black subversives trying to overthrow the Government using ginned-up protests and riots. But I was not asked to do any of that. At least not yet."

"What is your current cell and it's mission?" Laura asked.

"Still what I do best: sniper." said Melina. "But this one is pure CIA, and I'm only sent against foreign or international agents that try to penetrate the USA. Counterintelligence Directorate."

"And 'Darkwave'?" asked Laura.

Melina said "I'm not sure, but what I heard is that 'Darkwave' was allegedly sent to kill Don, but as I said before, she never did it, and so Mr. C. 'disavowed' her."

Laura nodded. "And you don't know his name." she said.

"No." said Melina. "How... how did you get a picture of him?"

Laura locked her eyes with her sister's. "This man was behind the torture of my husband, which by the Grace of God failed. And may God have mercy upon this man when Don finds him. But my problem right now is you. Does your husband know you're in the Company?"

"Yes." Melina said. "I told him when I went active."

"You need to talk with him." Laura said. "You and he and your children are in danger now. You also need to decide what you're going to do: stay in the Company, or get out."

"You're not 'disavowing' me?"

"No." said Laura. "It's not in my power to do that, and I'm not convinced it's the right thing to do, anyway. So, let's figure out what we can do to keep you both useful and alive"...

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

"So that's it." Laura said. "Melina didn't outright say it, but this 'Mr. C.' was forming a cell that seemed dedicated to helping annihilate any black insurrections in the country. That can be looked at in one of two ways... they're legitimately working to defeat the Fascists that are manipulating blacks, or they're suppressing blacks to enforce white supremacy."

We were sitting in the Mountain Nest, me in the rocking chair with a lap full of cocker spaniel (Buddy), while Bowser gave aid and comfort to a distressed Laura.

"From what we know of this man," I said, "it's probably the latter, though Melina might not know it. She didn't know that Ferrell was part of the man's group?"

"She said she only knew a few others, some of them being her own recruits." Laura said. "One of those, Agent 'Darkwave', was 'disavowed' by Mr. C. right at the time you rescued Becca and Cindy and took George Aurus into custody."

"She's probably the one that blew the electrical panel that night." I said. "And may be the person Cindy almost caught hanging around Leonard Lotz... who I suspect is with her and with the person who took Agent 'Darkwave' away from Melina. And most importantly... this 'Darkwave' and her new handler, so to speak, are the ones that exterminated that son of a bitch pointing rifles at you and my daughter's heads..."

"Melina denies any and all knowledge in that." said Laura.

"And I believe her." I replied. "So, are you going have Melina try to get more info on this Mr. C.?" I asked.

"No. That would be way too dangerous." Laura said. "Mr. C. is like Westboro, a spider in the center of a web. He would know." I agreed with that.

"By the way," Laura said, "I asked Melina if she knew of anyone named 'Paulsen'. She said the name was familiar, but she didn't know who he was."

"That's okay." I said. "I think I do..."

Part 17 - Profile In Courage

"This is Bettina Wurtzburg, KXTC Channel Two News!" shouted the lovely redheaded reporterette at 7:00am, Wednesday, April 19th, from in front of the Courthouse building. "As we reported yesterday, Leonard Sharples was found 'guilty' on all counts yesterday, including murder with aggravating circumstances and attempted murder of a Police Officer with aggravating circumstances!"

"Legal experts were surprised at the totality of the victory by ADA Paulina Patterson and State Attorney Jenna Stiles." continued Bettina. "But they also say that the Defense counsel from the firm of Chase, Lynch, & Berry, P.C., may not have provided as energetic a defense as they possibly could have, once they could not impeach the devastating testimony of Police Commander Donald Troy."

"The death penalty phase of the trial now begins," said Bettina, "and experts tell Channel Two News that getting a death penalty has become extremely difficult in the past several years..."

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Cindy Ross came into the Witness Room of the Court where the Death Penalty phase of Leonard Sharples's trial was occurring, where Paulina was talking to nine-year-old Susie Haskins, cousin of the late Scrawny Haskins. Susie was about to take the stand.

"How are you feeling, Susie?" Cindy asked as she sat down by Susie.

"Kinda... kinda scared." said Susie.

"I understand." said Cindy. "It's not easy for grownups like me to get on a stand and testify, either. But don't worry, the lawyer can't hurt you, even if he's trying to yell at you."

"I know." said Susie. "But all those people... will be looking at me."

Cindy smiled. "You know my dad, Dr. Eckhart?" Susie nodded. Cindy said "He gets in front of thousands of people at a time. He says he's scared, too, but you know how he overcomes it? He just stays himself, and he doesn't worry about them looking at him."

"It's... still kind of hard." Susie said, and Cindy could sense her fear.

"Susie, courage is acting in spite of your fear." Cindy said. "Do you know who was the most courageous person I ever knew? Mrs. Veasley."

Susie's eyes lit up a bit, and Cindy reached into her pocket and brought out something in a small plastic baggie. "This is Mrs. Veasley's Bronze Star ribbon. She was a very brave person in the Army, and evacuated a military hospital that was under fire. She lost the use of her legs, but never stopped trying to save others' lives, either as a nurse, or an Army Officer, or at First Baptist Church."

Cindy put the ribbon in a pocket on Susie's dress. "Mrs. Veasley would want you to carry this with you today. If you get scared or nervous, just think of Mrs. Veasley and her Bronze Star, and you be brave like she was."

"Yes ma'am, I will." Susie said resolutely, her young face beginning to set into determined purpose.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

"The People call Susie Haskins to the stand." announced Jenna Stiles.

The doors to the Courtroom were opened by the bailiffs, and in walked Susie Haskins. She walked down the aisle with her head held high, exhibiting no outward fear. She made a very impressive first impression.

The Bailiff swore her in, and she sat in the witness chair, on a raised cushion.

"Susie," asked Jenna, "who was Scrawny Haskins?"

"He was my cousin." said Susie.

"Did you ever talk to Scrawny?" said Jenna.

"Not much." Susie replied. "He was in jail a lot."

"So how did he communicate with you?" Jenna asked.

"He would send me cards at Christmas." said Susie. "He would tell me to be good, and to read books, and to study... and to not mess up like he did."

Jenna went to the prosecution table, picked up a bundle of cards, and said "Your Honor, I'd like to place these into evidence."

"Objection!" started Lynch, but Folsom was having none of it.

"Overruled. The evidence is entered." said the Judge. He directed that the Christmas cards be shown to the Jury.

"Did you get a Christmas card last year?" Jenna asked.

"No ma'am." said Susie. "Scrawny was killed by a bad man. So I don't get any more cards telling me not to mess up like he did."

Members of the Jury had tears in their eyes as they read the messages from Scrawny to his young cousin, his words reaching out from the grave.

"No more questions." said Jenna.

"So, young lady." H.J. Lynch said loudly. "Your cousin was a bad person, wasn't he?"

"Not to me." said Susie. "He wanted me to do better, and be a better person than he was."

"So why did he mess up? What was wrong with him?" asked Lynch.

"I don't know." said Susie, almost defiantly. "He was good to me. He wanted me to do better with my chances then he did with his. He may have messed up, but he was not a bad person. He didn't... he didn't deserve to die." Susie fought to stay brave.

"You would still be good and do well, no matter if he'd sent you those Christmas cards or not, isn't that right?" barked Lynch. The Jury's reaction to him was not positive.

"I don't know." said Susie. "But when it's time to do homework or reading, I think of him telling me to do better than he did, so I get it done."

Lynch was getting nowhere. He could not break down a nine-year-old child, not knowing that a cousin's love and the bravery of an Army Nurse were too much for him.

"No more questions." said Lynch.

"Thank you, Susie." said Judge Folsom. "You may step down."

Susie got off the witness stand and walked down the aisle, trying not to break into a run to get out of there. As the doors opened for her to leave, she saw Cindy outside, kneeling. Susie ran into Cindy's arms and burst out crying. Bravery was a hard thing to do.

"You did great, Susie." Cindy said, hugging Susie tightly. "You did very, very well. Mrs. Veasley and Scrawny are watching us from Heaven, and they are very proud of you right now."

"Why is Justice so hard for good people?" Susie asked between sobs.

"Anything good is hard, Susie." Cindy said. "Freedom is hard, and soldiers like Mrs. Veasley and the Iron Crowbar worked hard to protect our Freedom. Justice is hard, but Justice is always inevitable. Even if it doesn't come from us, it will come. But anything worth having, whether it's Freedom, or Justice, or being with the person we love, or whatever we want in life, it's hard, but it's worth working for, okay?"

"Okay." said Susie.

Callie Carrington was also there, watching with admiration at how Cindy comforted Susie, was so good helping the young girl. Cindy had a lot of love to give to a lot of people, Callie thought to herself. And being a police officer was honorable and good, but Cindy had it in her to do much, much more...

And yes, Callie had heard Cindy's words about being with the person she loved...

It would take a few more minutes for Susie to regain her composure. Her parents took her home, Mrs. Veasley's ribbon still in her pocket. She would one day return it to Cindy at a time when Cindy would need it most... but that is a story for the far-flung future.

Part 18 - Profile in Crowbars

"So," said the DepDirector as he met with me, Laura, and Jack Muscone in the FBI offices in the Federal Building, "your sister is staying with her current cell?"

"For now." said Laura. "I've asked the CIA Director for her to take a leave of absence to assist me in some of my Company-related work, and he's granted it. So she's off to the side for the moment, and hopefully out of danger."

"Good." said the DepDirector. "So... this is big. Why is your sister such a racist?" He was looking at Laura. Laura looked at me.

"Very bad childhood experience. Her mother was brutalized by black thugs." I said. "Sometimes those experiences shape a person's thinking. Wouldn't you agree, Mr. Director?"

The DepDirector looked at me in shock. His own experience was the mirror-image of Melina's, and he realized exactly what I was conveying to him.

"Okay, I can understand that." said the DepDirector with a huge amount of understatement. "So, where does this leave us?"

"I'm not sure." I said. "Taking Benny Brighton out of California and sending him here suggests Mr. C. may be having a hard time keeping recruits. We've taken quite a few of his people into custody. They keep making dry runs, like the mothballs and the power station attack, but the 'big one' hasn't come yet."

"Jack, do we have any leads on what's going on? What might happen?" asked the DepDirector.

"We know 'Stormbringer' is the codename for their plan," said Jack, "but we have no idea what it is."

"Yes we do." I said. "It's a variation of the 'Providence Springs' plan. 'Providence Springs' was too fast, too big, too ambitious. Their plan was to rid Fillmore County of all blacks, create a White Utopia, then expand it to the next county and to the next. They were going to see how well their plan worked with Providence Springs, see what the reaction to wiping it out was. If no one did anything; great, they win. If there was an outcry about it; great, they learn from it and try again. What they did not expect was to be interdicted on the way to making it happen."

"But they haven't tried again, have they?" asked the DepDirector.

"I don't know." I said. "I am wondering more and more about the Pine Valley project... and maybe even Valley Villages to our south. Unfortunately for them, an extremely vile, unscrupulous man was so greedy for green dollar bills that he covered up contamination on the site, which would've killed the White Utopians and their eugenics-created progeny. Nothing like lead poisoning to defeat genetics experiments, eh?"

"Oh my goodness." said Muscone. "You think all that was related?"

"I don't know." I said. "But I had a lot of time to think very clearly while lying in a hospital bed, with no morphine to dull my mind."

"Ahhh," said my wife, "so that's why you refused the morphine."

"That was part of it." I said. "But I digress. In my little mind palace, I'm taking ingredients from all over the place: Providence Springs, BigPharmaCorp, Millwakee, the Federal facility northwest of the City, Pine Valley, a corrupt US Senator, several members of the BigPharmaCorp board..."

I continued, almost heedless of my surroundings: "They started out trying to take over a county, and would try to take over more. Now they're just looking for a safe haven to retreat to, to breed their new superior race, while they launch their own version of Helter Skelter, violent race wars that will look like demonstrations, riots, and assassinations of police officers. Then after all the blacks are annihilated, and a few to-them-useless whites and other ethnicities as well, they expand out of their little havens to take over the world."

"And how do we stop them?" asked the DepDirector.

"The same way Hercules defeated the multi-headed Hydra." I said. "We cut the body away from the heads. You also have to understand, Mr. Director, that this is war... race war, eugenics war, or whatever you want to call it... but it's war. And one does not make 'arrests' in war. One annihilates the Enemy. I'm prepared to do that. Are you?"

The DepDirector shook his head. "I don't care to destroy the Constitution in the process of saving it. So no bloodbaths. Keep things as legal as you can."

"I yam what I yam, but I will try." I said, in a brilliant imitation of the legendary Popeye.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Getting back from my meeting with the FBI, I went to the Crime Lab building on the other side of the parking lot from Police Headquarters, and went in through the 'back door'. In the back left corner of the building from the front door, to my right as I entered, was a small room. with a couple of long lab bench tables. On one of these tables, Joanne had laid out the evidence from the Rutledge murder.

"This clear plastic, sir," said Joanne, who was in the company of Christina Cho and Jerome Davis, "looks like it's from a 2-liter soda bottle."

"It's beginning to degrade in a consistent manner with that kind of plastic, Commander." said Christina. "After 10 years in a landfill, it would be broken down more."

"So these bottles degrade more than one thinks, or the activists say they degrade." I inquired.

"Yes sir." said Christina. "It's not a fast process, but that's why survivalists can't store water in these types of containers nor gallon jugs for too many years. They degrade, spring leaks..."

"Okay." I said, "so what about the cardboard?"

"They didn't run much testing on it ten years ago." said Joanne. "But they ran a gunpowder residue test the other day, and got a match of breakdown products." She showed me the mass spec tests.

"Excellent!" I said. "So, what does this mean?"

"Sir," said Joanne, "as a hunter, I know a little bit about using silencers, especially on .22 WMR rifles when squirrel hunting. I think this is a very crudely made silencer. Attached to the end of a pistol, the perp fired the shot, which hit Rutledge in the chest, and the exploding bottle of cardboard pieces, maybe soaked in water, went all over the place."

I nodded and smiled happily. "Damn. This is simply outstanding work, guys. Outstanding! Okay, are you ready to go visit a crime scene?"

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

I was driving my Police SUV, whose driver seat had good lumbar support, towards County High School. Joanne Warner was riding shotgun, and Jerome Davis was in the backseat. Cindy was still at the Courthouse, and so would miss all the fun.

"We got very little from all the people we contacted." said Joanne as we drove. "Some of the women who were Jennifer Amberton's crowd said they thought Jimmy was acting strangely and suspiciously. Some others said they left early because there was tremendous tension between Jimmy and his wife, and between Jimmy and Jason and Kevin. One person said when he heard about the murder the next morning, he thought Jimmy was the one that was dead."

"Interesting." I said. "Did anyone contradict what they said ten years go?"

"No sir." said Joanne. "That's what I was looking for, to see if anyone said something different. Most people said they could no longer remember, and the ones that said anything pretty much said the same thing they said ten years ago."

We arrived at the County High School's sports complex. One of the coaches was there to greet us.

"Hi, Coach." I said, shaking his hand. "Any more Slender Man sightings, lately?"

The coach laughed. "No, but we've sure had a lot of tourists come around wanting to know where the sighting was. A lot of them were from England, and are young people, but we also had a Biology professor from the University took soil samples at the right field foul pole, near where Slender Man was seen."

"Interesting." I said. "So the Baseball fields used to be a practice field, right?"

"Yes." said the coach. "Behind our left shoulders is the back of the home stands of the football field. The fieldhouses are behind your right shoulder, off the end of the endzone, and they've been there for decades. The Baseball field was built about five years ago."