Monthly Archives: December 2018

Kathy told Lou to keep their hotel rooms for now. On their way back to Mount Pleasant, Storm said to her father, “Well, are we living high on the hog or what? Our new employer either has real money or he doesn’t care about it.”

Lou replied, “Yeah. I think both. He has money and doesn’t mind his people going first class. But, don’t take that for softness. I was with him when we fired the garage. He is one cool and deadly guy. Kathy told me he had killed a knife fighter with a single blow to the chest. That’s how he got the scar on his upper left arm. I know something about street fighting but Jack is a trained killer. All I know about Hapkido is that it is a Korean martial art and a very deadly skill. When it comes to killing, the Koreans are serious. Kathy said Jack was trained by the best. She’s also had some Hapkido training. Did you also see that they are never without a weapon on them or within reach? No mistake, we are with some very serious people. Three of them went on a mission last year. Two came back. What we’re doing with them is very dangerous. On the plus side, they are very good people and won’t expect us to take any risks they wouldn’t take.”

“I agree, but there is another thing. The pay is very good. In six months, I will be out of debt. I’ll risk my ass under those conditions.”

“Okay, daughter, but stay very focused. Jack said to pick up a couple of bikes. We’ll use my bike. I know what it will do and it’s comfortable for two people. Some of these bikers will be hard. I’d like for us to stay together. Bikes can get separated all too easily. Besides I’m proud of my bike. I’ve kept it in good condition and for a thirty-year-old Harley, it does okay.”

Storm said, “If we are going to be showing money around, we need to get some newer biker clothes. I also assume we’ll be carrying.”

“You got that right! We’ll take those two 9mm Brownings I got from my dad. You’ve fired them several times. I think you’re pretty good. They’re untraceable and we have permits. Problem is they don’t match the fake IDs we’ll be getting from Kathy.”

Lou asked, “What do you think of our assignment? Any ideas about approaches?”

“Yes, when we get set up in a motel or wherever, I’ll get working on collecting info on local bike clubs and do some discreet hacking into police files and suspect clubs. If radical Muslims are behind this violence, then there has to be some connection with a Mosque or Muslim organization. We can hit the local biker hangouts from Myrtle Beach to Columbia, maybe Atlanta. I can pose as your lover. No father would be parading his daughter around in some of the places we’ll be going.”

“Okay! But, how about the other question I asked? About how you feel about our job?”

“First off, we need the money. I’m tired of dreading picking up our mail and answering bill collection calls. We need to do better. This is a chance to get a stake. That’s the upside. Downside is that I’m scared. These are nice people, and they’re treating us very well. I even like them, but make no mistake, these are hard people with little or no give. I have never killed anyone or even come close. I don’t think Jack or Kathy lose any sleep over killing. My God, there were six people in that building. Five of them burned to death. I know you helped set the fire but how do you handle what you did?”

“I’ve been involved a few times in the past with operations that resulted in people getting killed. Killing marks everyone. I don’t care how cool they seem. It stays with them. I’m sure Jack and Kathy handle it by knowing they did the right thing. Wouldn’t it be worse if we had let the car bombs go off in downtown Charleston? How many innocent people could’ve been killed and/or maimed for life? Where is the moral certitude?

“A very senior citizen who served in Vietnam as a civilian contractor told me a story that helped me understand personal responsibilities. He said that he was in direct control of a few Vietnamese hunter/killer teams that patrolled the jungles within rocket range of major cities. A subordinate had given rules of engagement instructions to one team that prevented them from firing on groups carrying 122 millimeter rockets within launching range of civilian targets, if women and children were part of the group. He told me that he countered that order because the people carrying those missiles had some choice, however slight, not to follow Viet Cong orders. The innocent civilians sleeping in their homes had no choice when death from the skies fell on them. Where is the morally right decision? In my mind, our responsibility is to protect the innocent. That’s what we did in starting the fire in the garage hiding two car bombs.

“Remember we may get into a situation where I’ll expect you to cover my back. If you feel you can’t do that, please tell me now.”

“I think …”

“Not good enough. You can’t think. In an emergency, action moves too fast for you to think. You must react. There’s no time for thinking, analyzing or reflecting. When going into action, leave the thinking behind. Just react. Shoot and we’ll sort it out later. In the meantime we will both be alive. Don’t try to wound or disable the shooters. Aim for the body mass and shoot, just the way we did at the range. ”

“I can protect your back but help me to get ready. I just don’t have your instincts. I don’t see all the variations you see all the time. Our heads are different.”

“Seeing the threats and possible fighting moves will come to you with a bit of experience. Some people never get it. You will! Being constantly ready, knowing what’s going down and what your role is will guide your actions without any mental hesitations. Now let’s get our bike out and serviced and get ourselves packed. I think we’ll also visit the range before we start out.”

Jim Beasley, the fireman Jack and Shadow met at the fire site, couldn’t believe his luck. The man they had just missed killing in Pittsburgh was in Charleston with his damn dog. They weren’t able to get many details about his brother’s death, but they did know the dog had saved Brandon and his wife. What the hell were they doing in Charleston, especially at the fire site? When he got home, he would call for a family conference. Brandon would soon learn that the ways of the South were not dead yet. Revenge for killing family members called for, no, demanded revenge. No mistakes this time. Brandon was on Beasley turf. His older brother, Jake, was a former cop who was now selling real estate. He could find out where Brandon and his dog were staying. Damn, he would soon be a family hero! God is good, an eye for an eye. That’s the Bible’s way.

To separate myths from realities, I believe you must keep the investigation simple; myths require complexity to exist.

The first myth is that Donald J. Trump stole the election from Hillary Clinton with the help of the Russians. Since myths do not require proof or evidence, only belief and righteous indignation, the Trump collusion charge is a near-perfect myth. After two years of investigation by a Special Counsel and the FBI, no evidence, as in none, has been found. What has been found is an unwavering attempt to manufacture evidence that continues, even though no crime has been identified and collusion itself is not a crime. The crimes that Mr. Mueller continues to ignore are the numerous crimes committed by the Clinton campaign, the Democratic National Committee, the FBI, and the Department of Justice.

The collusion mythology carries on only to damage a duly elected President and his Administration. For the first time in my memory, the entire power of the government under President Obama was used to ensure power was passed to another Democratic (socialist) candidate. When President Trump clearly won a compelling number of Electoral votes, the leftovers of the Obama Administration became the deep state and created a Special Counsel that, by the laws governing this process, was illegal from the beginning. In America, “rule of law” and “due process” require the government to investigate crimes, not to abuse the rights of citizens in the search for a crime. If there is no crime, there cannot be a lawful investigation. The myth is that there was a crime and President Trump is guilty of that crime. Since the myth is clearly false, the Special Counsel’s investigation is a political witch hunt which must be terminated with a return to “due process” and the “rule of law.”

The second myth is that the President is engaging in a no-win trade war when he uses tariffs to seek reciprocal trade agreements with other nations that have taken advantage of American goodwill for decades. All the socialists or progressive members of the Democratic Party, the “Never Trumpers,” and the “Globalists,” or “One-Worlders,” are radically against the President.

This group includes the people who brought us the “Rust Belt” and little or no economic growth. These people are only after personal and corporate wealth. They have been trained to seek the highest return possible, no matter where it comes from. If they think the source of steady high returns for the investment dollar come from China, Japan, Europe, or any low cost of labor area, that is where they invest. It doesn’t matter where the profit comes from as long as they and their clients get rich.

Trade imbalances with China, Europe, Canada, Mexico, and elsewhere are not problems to them. Steady profits are the name of the game. Rust Belt cities, unemployment lines, falling wages, slow growth in America are not factors in their drive for profits. When Wall Street, bankers, the Federal Reserve, globalists, and money managers rail against President Trump and his use of tariffs to bargain for reciprocal trade agreements, they are simply trying to protect their foreign investments.

When America’s manufacturing moved to foreign lands, the money people got richer. Their investments grew, and their clients prospered, while the rest of America paid the bill.  Trump is not engaging in a trade war, this is a myth. He is simply bargaining for a better deal for America, and he is willing to fight the money establishment to get that better deal.

Joel was keeping within the speed limit, even though he desperately wanted to get north of Georgetown on Route 17 before the State Police would be looking for his car. Once there he could decide where it would be safest to stop for the night. He had some minor burns on his neck and arms that hurt like hell. Joel had no feeling for the people who died in the fire. Just the feeling that he had lost his capital and the hard work he put in to build his business. Thank God, he had saved the images of the young girls in their moment of death. Those couldn’t be replaced. Each one was unique.

He had enough of al Qaeda. If all they could do was destroy his business in a failed bombing attempt, he was done with them. Take their money and disappear. He didn’t care if he ever touched another rug. He would find another way to support himself and his real work of hunting and killing young women. His research was much more fulfilling than selling rugs and acting as a boarding house keeper for occasional terrorists. Let the man from Herat try to find him.

When Joel’s van parked in the rundown Vision Motel in Surfside, the CIA helicopter that had tracked him from his rug shop in Charleston reported his position, and a ground surveillance team vectored into the location took up position around the motel. Frank had instructed the team to maintain discreet surveillance but do not lose the target.

The next morning Joel drove over to the Citizen’s Bank of Surfside. After going through the identification procedures, he emptied his safety deposit box of two different identity packages and $100,000. Now he was equipped to disappear. Using his new identity as Robert Huxley, he bought a five-year-old gray Ford Explorer in good condition with 40,000 miles. It was a cash deal in a small used car lot that was hurting for business. No questions were asked, and he drove off with dubious temporary plates.

His old blue van was parked two blocks from the used car lot. Getting rid of it would not be a problem. Parking the van in a nearby strip mall with the keys in the ignition and no plates would attract some of the clientele hanging around the cut rate shops. Pulling up several slots away from the van, Huxley AKA Hankins removed the van’s plates, took his reserve of stolen plates from under the back floor mat, and drove off in his Ford Explorer. The temporary plates would last 30 days.

When Joel’s car was out of sight, one of the three surveillance cars pulled into the mall and parked beside Hankins’ abandoned car and removed the tracking beacon. Frank instructed his surveillance team to remove the beacon Kathy had placed behind the grill and not to install it on another car. The Professor was far too street smart. He’d check Hankins’ car for beacons at the first opportunity.