2 2

PROLOGUE
Written by Raw Ink
Let us be grateful to live in a free society where our imagination is not
controlled and we can still entertain each other by tales we tell. I thank
the many people that work so hard to make Scribd.com possible, so to
carry these words to you.
This is a book on the not so far future, a tomorrow you wish you hadn’t
woke up to. When the world is turned upside down and everything you
depend on is gone, when you no-longer know anybody and you ask
God, “What did I do wrong?”
Low and behold to your dismay; the sky cracks open, and a bright light
blinds you. Then this loud deep voice echoes from above, “Sorry John,
your just part of a Democracy.”
Our hour had come: the year is 2012, a time when God changes His
face. The children of men, no longer see Him as their Loving Father,
but the All Mighty, All Powerful Creator whose name was so holy to say,
it was lost. They shake in fear and tremble in fright as they await
death.. In a single breath His anger rolls back the ground, and a fiery
blink of an eye the sky shows color never seen; and it last until all turns
black for day upon days end.
The world after being torn apart by catastrophic disasters at a
magnitude never even to be imagined, nature has stripped the earth
naked., and the world is turned into a barren wasteland. Electricity can
no longer be harnessed as a power source; mans technology is made
useless. Knowing this was to happen; a secret society known as the
Masson’s rises to power with all the answers, they knew it was going to
happen; they have been planning for it for a thousand years. For it is
written in: The Masonic Prophecy.
3 3

The story is about a relationship between man and machine, a super

hero named Johnny and a computer aboard a satellite warship in
space. Johnny leads a band of men on horseback, belonging to the
American Christian Freedom Fighters, across the No-Mans -Land into a
Temple zone; their mission, destroy Annex Twenty. The masons have
been busy punching computer chips into the hands of civilians; the
Annex is where it is being done. Absent are the last four hundred or so
pages; the complete novel totals 720. I hide them as some bargaining
power that I too can have my pork.
I do apologize for any countable mistakes; I’m not proficient in the
English language as I would like to be. I thank God for Microsoft Office
and Word Perfect, for without it none of this would have been possible;
I don’t use the pen name Raw Ink for nothing.
I also thank Scribd.com for their exceptional support and publication of
this novel reaching readers worldwide. The industry of book
publication is in the middle of a revolutionary phase. Although self
publication has its advantages, the cost can stand as a barrier for
young and new writers. Scribd.com opens doors and brings opportunity
to writers that would other wise never be heard. There came too be a
word master wizard on the web, who grants passage to fulfill
imaginings, thoughts, and dreams. You can not touch or see him, but
his way can be found on Scribd.com
This book ‘The Masonic Prophecy” was written by J.R Hairabedian and
the work is his alone maintained in Copyright at the Library of
Congress.; no part may be copied, reproduced, or used for profit in any
form or fashion without written permission from the owner; this
statement supersedes all and any other agreements entered whether
drawn by; tension of me ogle from a minuscule font.. Lack of Counsel;
attorneys disdain the impecunious artist I’ve become. Manifold word
declarations, the true cause of A.D.D. Lethargic mumbo jumbo, hocus
pocus trickery or me plain stupidity.
Since the 2007 copy write of this book, scientific concepts within the
first chapter surfaced in a major film, as did the plot setting of a post
wasted world in another. Copy-write violations are not always easy to
prove, but any infringement of this material will be dealt with to the
fullest of the law. This Story is fictional and you should only fear what is
real. Any resemblance to an actual fictional character is mere
coincidence and you should consider yourself lucky. The I.G.
Farben/Abrams Building is a real place and does exist. The United
States Government has closed the doors to all work done there and
has turned over the building to German Government, where it is now
part of the University of Frankfurt. Those Governments that restrict
expression oppress the imagination; what is lost is at the cost to all
4 4

mankind.

The
Masonic
Prophecy YEAR 2012
Raw Ink J.R. Hairabedian
Library of Congress
Register of Copyrights
TXu1-362-559
Effective Date 06/19/07
5 5

Am Wasser

For my two daughters

Cindy and Nicole, who gave me a
purpose in life.
There are pathways out of poverty.
6 6

THE LODESTONE IS COMING

CHAPTER ONE
YEAR 2012
The President addresses the Nation in a Farewell Speech.
“This is the President of the United States”

“Fellow Americans, we are in a state of emergency in all areas of our

Country. As you know, we are experiencing rolling blackouts, massive

earthquakes, tsunamis, and the temperature is rising at an alarming rate. The

Loadstone movement has continued to cause the earth’s electromagnetic

field to fail. The Sun Storms are penetrating our atmosphere. The world as

well as America is experiencing technical difficulty with electricity. We do

not know how long this will last, or how long we will be able to broadcast

by radio. The Emergency Alert System will continue to advise you of

impending dangers. Iceberg water displacement is causing the ocean to rise.

7 7

The areas under the greatest threat are our outer coastal rims. All civilians

are ordered to evacuate inland, one hundred miles. I repeat, all civilians are

ordered to evacuate inland. Do not panic, please remain calm. We are not

without hope. The top leading scientists of the world are working together

for a solution. I the President, under Presidential Power declare marshal law

and turn control over to the Homeland Security Branch. All civilians, you

are ordered to obey and cooperate with the National Guard. Emergency

medical assistance, food and shelter can be found your local FEMA stations.

For your safety and protection a contingency plan has been implemented. A

curfew is in affect and violators will be shot on site. Order and control will

be established. Good luck America.”

Clouds of orange, red and green covered the sky with rainbows that moved

with the wind like waves in an ocean. Greenland turned to desert, an alien

kind of world. Dried dirt painted purple and pink, the reaper haunted the

barren wasteland. Half stripped cars marked the highway afar, the broken

wagon wheel of a past exodus. Stretching out and beyond the debris, a sun

storm forms a death cloud that consume all in its path, leaving no trace of

man. These were the end times, the era of death and destruction. Soon the

cry of martyrs would fill the air, slain for their love of God. It was the year,
8 8

twenty thirteen and death was everywhere. Electricity had become a thing

of the past, and technology was useless. The infrastructure that once made

nations great was gone. Modern civilization resides into the Dark Age.

Those societies dependent on commerce for the food chain were the hardest

hit. The addiction to fast food, convenience stores, and super markets, paid

its price. Without them they were like any other street junky looking for a

fix. Farms became targets of mobs as the people fled the cities in search of

food. Soon it was all gone. Mass starvation and sickness took many. Some to

prolong the inevitable were to practice cannibalism. Diseased rotting bodies

filled the air with a smell that made your stomach tight and cheeks swell,

hungry you open your mouth, least you miss a fly.

Holy men at every corner, chanting ringing their bells, warning people what

they already knew, and prophecy fulfilled, testing of the faith. The world

was painted in blood. “The Lamb opened the Seals, (ring, ring, ring,) listen

to the living creature.” The one’s who could hear the Spirit, were called, and

then disappeared before us. The red sun shinning on the neon filled glass

tubes gave an eerie glow to the powerless signs. Each with a message of

some way to happiness, but nobody was listening. The seats were empty, the

buildings were empty, just smoke in the form of ghosts remained. It was
9 9

hotter than it ever was before. Even the insects were different ones, flying

ones never seen before, with the sting of a scorpion. The door of hell had

been opened and the world hid in fear of what was going to step out.

SKY ON FIRE
Chapter Two

That day, the day it all started, the heat came first. I remember

walking out the rear of the church. The whole sky seemed to be on fire.

Glen asked, if I was going to Jack’s for breakfast. A number of us from First

Love Calvary Chapel had been meeting there after service for a few years.

“Gee, it’s so hot”, said Beth.

Paul replied, “This has to be the hottest day ever.”

I answered Glen saying,” heck yeah, they got air conditioner, how about

you Paul? ” Paul was my best friend. Paul was built like a tank. At six two

and twenty pounds heavier than me, was strong as an ox. I was two twenty

back then, ha, ha, ha, I was fat. Imagine that, someone being fat, ha, ha, ha.

Paul smiled and replied, “You riding with me and the kids? “ He opened the
10 10

door of the mini van. “Daddy, what’s wrong with the sun? “ Said Susie,

Paul’s youngest. She was wearing those kids’ sunglasses they used to have,

you remember, the kind with glitter and bees or butterflies on them, her’s

were green. Glancing up, I felt the skin on my face tighten and it hurt. We

froze in shock in what we saw.

I asked, “Wow that’s really strange, what do you make of it Glen?” Glen was

one on the old timers, for God knows how long he had been going to First

Love, Calvary Chapel. Twenty years I been going, I don’t think he missed a

service. He calmly leans back, raising his left hand; he runs his forefinger

knuckle under his chin, and then shaded his eyes. Beth his wife stood behind

him with her hands up, and was ready should he lean too far back. The sun

line usually ran west up over the church; it was noon and blazing so bright

you didn’t know where it was. It felt like a fiery blanket ready to fall on us.

It was orange and yellow, with red spots appearing, and then fading away. A

purple haze encompassed the horizon. Glen calmly stood up and turned to

say, Jesus said, “In the last days there would be strange signs in the

heavens.” The rumbling sound, growling noise underneath us was deafening.

The ground began to shake, and the telephone poles and light posts started

swaying. The lines snapped, and sparks sprayed across the sky. The church
11 11

sat on a hill and as a wave from the quake roll you could see transformers

exploding, one after another like being carpet bombed. It created a maroon

and violet cloud that radiate out and remains where each had been.

Paul looked traumatized, a Veteran of Desert Storm he baby stepped in

a circle, faster, then faster, to spin in a whirlpool. He flashed, in a time

tunnel backward; (explosions) “Go; go, go, down, down, down, down,” the

enemies surround him. Looking over his shoulder, he yelled, “Medic, I got

two to vac. out. Gunny-y-y-y-y cover-r-r-r-r-r, I move.” He carries two

wounded soldiers, one in each arm. “Daddy, Daddy, I’m scared, “said little

Susie. Glen yelled,” Paul, Paul, hey Paul.” Paul’s face stretched showing the

white of his eyes. He shakes in a cold sweat. Imagine, one hundred and

twenty something degrees outside, and be freezing over a storm that

happened twenty years ago. Glen yelled louder, “Paul.” Paul flashed back,

looking surprised to be lying in the church garden holding his two kids, one

in each arm. I was on one side, Glen and Beth, on the other. I’ve seen him

flash before, but this wasn’t the forth of July, this wasn’t brought on by

firecrackers or an M-80. Being a native of California, I had been in

earthquakes before, but nothing had ever compared to that. It was, just like a

war zone. The church roof had collapsed; a telephone had fallen over and
12 12

destroyed the mini-van.

Beth said, “That was quick thinking Paul.” Glen asked,” You ok Paul?”

Paul answered, examining his hands, and then searching his body, as though

he knew no pain. “Ah, ah, ah, yea, yea yeah, I’m, I’m ok, and I am ok.”

I ask, “Everybody else ok, and you kids ok?” Steve, a miniature replica of

Paul, and Susie, both answered in a chorus, “Ah huh.” Beth following with a

slow,” I think so.” Looking down the alley, the apartment buildings lay

crumbled. People were yelling, screaming, crying for help. Some fires

smoked black, and the sky became dark. A near by explosion from a broken

gas pipe ignite, shooting a blue flame twenty feet into the air. There were

more explosions up the hill, more screams. The dust and smoke made us

choke and the day had become night. We started to stand and an aftershock

sent us rolling, deeper into the garden. I felt like I had cotton in my mouth.

Grass was in my hair. Oh, how I miss the smell of grass, the trees. O-o-o-

how I miss my family at First Love.

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ANNEX TWENTY
Chapter Three
SEVEN YEARS LATER
2020

The sun was breathing again, its outline sharp, then like an out of

focus picture it fades away. A purple ring appears warning them a sun storm

comes. It vibrates outward as it becomes larger, and then vanishes. The

cycle will repeat it’s self as the pains of childbirth.

It was just after dawn and already hotter than hell out there in the no-

mans land. They had been riding all night. Last camp, the caves next to

Death Valley Lake. No fish lived in it, a useless sea of salt, poisons, and

toxic waste.

The small band of men, belonging to The American Christian

Freedom Fighters, looked out of time, wearing their Arabian style robes and

on horseback. They had one thing on their mind, making it across the open

stretch of desert known as ‘The No-mans- Land’ with out being seen.
14 14

For their mission, Attack on Annex Twenty, could only be accomplished if

they remained, undetected.

He used an eyelash he sun dial that shadow in his eye read 0601

hours. Name: Johnny Cloud, AKA’S; Johnny Boy Death. Code Name: One.

He was one of seven. Assignment; lead the assault team across the no-mans-

land to the Temple Zone, and find Annex Twenty, terminate all activities and

personnel. The Masons have been busy punching computer chips into the

hands and foreheads of civilians. The annex is where it was being done. It

was said a sign outside the entrance read, “Don’t be Scan less”.

It was the Eighth Day of the Second Month in the Year Twenty-

Twenty, the third year of persecution of the Christians. Many were quick to

give up their faith and to denounce Christ all to live in a Temple Zone. Huge

Pyramids were constructed at each corner of the zone; at their peak were

electro rods that connected an electromagnetic field. The only place in the

world electricity still worked; it didn’t take the Masons long to install the

New World Order, activate the artificial force fields and bring the reactors

online. A place where one could still enjoy, climate control, modern medical

technology, watch television, and hear the sound of electric guitars. Where

you could own a new MP20, or play Kill ball. A world filled with
15 15

computers, and electronic techno-toys. There wasn’t much crime there. A

world made to stop the religious wars. You didn’t have the hassle of

exchanging money for food or goods. Here, to be able buy or sell anything

you must use your chip. A micro computer chip located in the wrist, just

under the skin above the thumb. A second chip is punched under the skin in

the forehead. It was used for punishment. It operated like Chinese water

torture. It started with a very light thump on the forehead. Unlike the more

barbaric method of water boarding once used to bring the muslins into

submission. This was a place where there was no god, no Buda, no Allah, no

one so holly His name to say, and no Christ. To be caught worshiping in a

Temple Zone, was punishable by death. Johnny and his band of men where

going in to blow this particular annex, to kingdom come.

Johnny was a super soldier. He had jet black hair and dark brown

eyes. Was six feet tall and weighted in at two hundred fifty pounds. He had

arms like bowling balls. His wash board stomach brought his waste in to

give that V look. When ever he looked at him self in a mirror it reminded

Johnny he belonged to V Corps. Johnny wasn’t a Freedom Fighter, he was

already in an Army; the United States Army and on a secret assignment. His

mission had been delegated a long time ago, over twenty years.
16 16

Johnny was alone. He saw himself as a type of time traveler sent out to

change history, before it was written; except Johnny was not going to omit

time, he was to ride the period out. His Christian Commander, General

Brown, convinced a mass conspiracy was underway; where a powerful

secret origination much older than our government and much wiser too, has

silently infiltrated the power control infrastructure; but the United States

wasn’t their target, they had much bigger plans, ones to rule the world.

Johnny was to keep his commanders thoughts secret, and should anything

happen to the General, Johnny had his orders; he would be the last hope for

a free America. When it was time, Johnny would search out their leader who

would be The Anti-Christ, and destroy him. The weapon of choice controlled

by Mother, a computer in space aboard a satellite warship. The weapon, a

very large nuclear warhead named, Wormwood.

Mean while, the General attempted to expose the traders under his

command. They were everywhere; the Masons were in positions of power at

all levels of the government. He was being discredited, no body could be

trusted. Then he disappeared. The General wasn’t the only one, hundreds of

thousands of people everywhere just seemed to just disappear. It was all over

the news. There were all kinds of theories; alien abductions, spontaneous
17 17

combustion, the rapture, mass murder. The last wasn’t so far fetched; the

Untied States Supreme Court had just made a ruling separating Church from

State. Christians were disqualified from serving in government. The

Christian Party demanded a Constitutional Convention. America was at the

verge of a civil war. Then they disappeared. Everybody was in a state of

confusion. Johnny suspected the masons as part of a coup.

Then it started. All was soon forgotten and considered

meaningless. The ground shook, and the sun and moon became blood red.

The world was being torn apart by catastrophic disasters, and man faced

annihilation. As the smoke began to clear and blackness departed, the

Masonic Temple arose. Christianity was outlawed; the Jehovah Witnesses,

the Mormons, the lukewarm, the ones on the fence, all knew what had

happened. Now their faith would really be tested; they faced death as those

fed to lions. A new persecution for their second chance, “and it came to be

that they should see the new Babylon.”

Cosmic disturbances related to eruptions on the sun, has caused the

Lodestone to shift. Normally located near the North Pole under the earth’s

crust has moved 180 degrees to the south putting pressure on the Platonic

Plates. This is causing massive earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. With the
18 18

force that once empowered the earth’s electromagnetic shield at its present

strength, violent Sun Storms ravaged the Earth. The Sun’s radiation now had

the effect equal to an Atomic bomb. Observed in the aftermath of the

bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki was where civilians had been wearing

black, the clothing had disintegrated. A person wearing a white and black

striped shirt suffered severe burns where the black had been. As for the

white material, it had remained intact protecting the skin.

The sun was up. Nobody could wear black. No black boots, no

black horses, black anything. The rules where simple out here; white reflects

heat, black arbores it. To wear black would cause you to blister. Johnny and

his men were wearing white Arabian style robes, the colored dirt had left red

stripes on them; there was something patriotic about it. Pushed to their limit

both man and horse, they could see the tree line. Now ready to cross over

into Eden, the men stopped and turned to confirm all had made it. Looking

behind them, beyond the dust trials lay the mirages of haunting spirits. They

were heat clouds, more, ghost crowds dancing in a gigantic barren cemetery.

They all turned to look at the sun then each other, crimson red and a purple

ring. A Sun Storm comes, they waste no time. One of the gigantic pyramids

built to support a laser that holds an electromagnetic shield beacon in the

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upper atmosphere could be seen on the horizon. No radar would be working

this close to a storm. The towers built to guard the Temple Zone were empty.

The different shades of red dirt painting the horizon of the no-mans -land

held a certain beauty, and a price. To stare out into the no-mans-land from

inside the Temple Zone would eventually blind you. Guard Tower positions

were hard to fill. The eye cover worn by the Freedom Fighters was that like

a welder wore. They lifted them rubbing their eyes. Johnny looked up and

down the border where one world started and the other stopped.

One says, “Ok, we made it, any questions?”

Three asks, “We going to make camp?”

Johnny answers, “No, we have a Sun Storm rolling in, better we find the

Annex and use the Storm to cover our tracks.” Seven sits high in his saddle

looking both directions, then says, “No detection, far as I can see.” Four’s

voice crackles, “Lets go in, my mouth is so dry I am ready to chew my

tongue for blood.” Johnny says, “Watch for my hand signals, stay alert, we

get one shot at this.” One taps his heals and his horse steps into the lush

vegetation. Many birds were singing. The air was fresh with oxygen, and the

smell of fruit fills the air. The temperature dropped about fifty degrees. Two

says, while rubbing his legs, “Gee-man-knees, it’s freezing in here.”

20 20

One replies, “A mild seventy five.”

They came upon a creek and they let the horses drink first. Every

fighter slowly turned their head to aim their ears to see beyond the thick

foliage. Johnny dismounts and pushes his way through the rich fern and ivy

towards the sound of the water falling. He holds his hat under the waterfall

fills it then drinks, “Ah-h-h.” Fills it again and puts it on.

The wild gardens and flowers were starting to reach full bloom.

Johnny and his men rode in from hell, the devils playground. The masons

were in heaven Johnny thought, and even Satan was there for a little while.

The vegetation conservation program was quite a success. The Masons

managed to preserve and maintain a selected number of flowers, plants, as

well as abundances of agriculture all bunched together in the limited space

available under the Masonic force field. Johnny thought, nothing like giving

credit to foresight, those murdering bastards.

Johnny’s horse pulled its way through the grape vines, apple trees,

oranges, bananas, and nuts. Three says, “I feel like I’m in a fruit salad.”

Three, was hairy, stocky, and had dark skin. He was of Armenian decent. His

name was Gary Duke Simonian and was born in East Los Angeles,

California. He used to be self employed and own a disposal business, which

21 21

is why some called him; The Trash man. Gary didn’t like them calling him

that, a person might get the wrong idea thinking he was trash. He was a

Rubbish man; his company had been in the family three generations where

they picked up commercial refuse in the downtown Los Angeles area. There

was good money in it; that was before the disasters came, before the ocean

rose. His grandfather came to America in nineteen hundred and twenty after

Turkey invaded his County in WWI and started slaughtering his people.

When the war was over twenty million Armenians were either murdered or

displaced. Three’s nickname was Duke, named after the late great John

Wayne. He was as strong as an ox, and had a sense of humor about him. He

had a distinctive nose and heavy features. His mustache was thick and he

had hairy eyebrows. He spoke Armenian, English, French, and a little

Mexican. The last language of words was; taco’s, burritos, enchiladas, rice

and beans. Three loved to eat.

Fighter Two says, “It’s like the Garden of Eden.”

Name, Bobby Pitts, age Thirty-two. He too was from California, slim, tall

with a square jaw and blond hair. He had a keen sense of knowing when

someone was looking at him. Bobby was the athletic type and came from the

coastal town of Huntington Beach. He used to enjoy surfing. That was

22 22

before his family was swallowed by a tsunami.

Five asked, “Hey Johnny, got a minute?”

Johnny said, “Sure Luke, what’s on your mind.”

Five and Johnny went as far back as Germany and they both have a lot of

respect for each other. Johnny knew more about Five, than any of his men.

Five says, “I keep having this same nightmare where I die in an earthquake,

then I wake up and feel guilty about not telling everybody the disasters were

going to come. You think we should have told people it was coming?”

Johnny says, “You think people would have believed you? Hah, the

Christian Bible told of it, nobody believed or cared. Come on Luke, no sense

beating your self up about that? The Masons spent a lot of time and money

in keeping everybody in the dark. Who do you think put it out there that the

world was to come to an end in 2012? Who do you think sponsored those

Dooms Day Movies?

Five said, “The Masons?”

Johnny answer, “Exactly, that was all part of reverse psychology so when

somebody did try to warn the world, the person would be consisted just

another paranoid Jesus freak. Man had been predicting the worlds end since

we first learned to read and write, before that probably. How old are you
23 23

now forty five?”

Five says, “I wish, pushing fifty-one.”

Johnny says, “Fifty huh, you don’t look it.”

Five says, “Yea right, between the dry heat and the hazardous waste, toxins,

and poisons we all look like dried prunes. I’m surprised my hair hasn’t

turned green like your horse.”

Johnny’s horse huffed from the belly.

Five replies, “Dam, if that horse doesn’t know when he is being talked

about.”

Johnny says, “Of course he knows, isn’t that right Grandfather?”

The horse raised its head and showed a mouth full of green and pinkish

teeth. They both laughed and Luke said, “At least he has all his teeth.”

Johnny continued, “You let me tell you something Luke, we both came

along way. As for me, I was under orders, I couldn’t say anything, but if I

had, say we both had, and let’s say everybody believed us, and the Masons

didn’t kill us; I really don’t think it would have made a difference. Do you

really not understand how to make a difference?”

Luke asked, “A difference? That’s what I’m asking, if I make a difference in

this life. What difference you are talking about?”

24 24

Johnny began, “The number of dinner plates set for the feast in Heaven is

counted. The death toll in all wars would remain the same, counted by man

or by only God. You make a difference in that? That guy that was standing

next to me during that first day would have still fell twenty thousand feet

when the ground opened up from the earthquake; and the ground would have

still closed back up seconds later, and all the other weird shit we seen since

then. I think anybody, or I mean nobody, they or we could have changed a

dam thing, no matter what we said, what we did, where we had gone, or who

we had taken with us. Why ever God told, or how ever the Masons were

allowed to know it was coming, they only got to prepare for what came

after; knowing about it didn’t save any of them. You think you could have

changed that? Then you made no difference there.

Five asked, “I’m beginning to doubt everything, even myself. I’m not well

Johnny. Do you think the Bible contradicted its self? How did the Masons

know?”

Johnny said, “Is your faith that small? You doubt because you are letting fear

have its way with you. You do not understand the Scriptures because you

vex the Spirit. I pray now that you see difference. As a child growing up, I

was taught only Indians knew the Great Father; I was proud. My ignorance
25 25

blinded me and I did not know the difference, but then God’s Spirit called to

me, and opened my eyes. I could see the power outside my world belong to

God. I made no difference in what God wanted to do. If He gave Nature the

Power, r”

Five said, “Your right I don’t understand the difference, are we different than

them? How can we believe in Christ and be soldiers? How can we war and

love our enemy at the same time? Why does God test us like this? Is there

even a God? Do you believe in predestination, I mean do you think God

planned all this?”

Johnny said, “Is God in charge? You better know the answer to that one; He

is Commander in Chief of this Army. Do you know the difference from

when I’m hard on you so you understand you must be strong, and when I’m

kind because of a personal loss? There is no difference if no good comes it.

When it comes to beliefs people are suppose to be in union. Were supposed

to all be in agreement in what we believe in, but history tells us that is not

the case. Man has always shown to have a natural instinct to do two things;

disagree with each other and rebel against God. Even I don’t think God is in

charge like most people think, not like all those Christian leaders back there

do, but I know He is there and that is a far cry better that than twenty years
26 26

ago. Take example of your understanding of the meaning of the word

‘predestination’, what do you think that means?”

Luke said, “Well, like I said planned mans destiny, what is going to happen,

God knows, right?”

Johnny answers, “This is a tricky subject for a simple minded man; the

Greek word used in the Bible is predestined, but the meaning is to foreknow.

God knows all, but before the gift of salvation God gave you the gift of

choice; this is known as a Free Will. This power to choose destiny is not

taken serious by man; and this enters another area called Faith. If you

believe and have Faith you fore know as well my friend. Being created in

God’s image goes along way, but we know the difference. We are like Him,

but not Him. He is in us, and we are to be one with Him, especially in what

we believe. If you want to understand, pray. Then your faith will give you

predestination as well.”

Luke looked more confused than when he first started seeking the answers to

fill the hole of fear and guilt that haunt him.

Johnny seen this and said, “I’m not saying nor do I think that this is exactly

how God wanted it to happen. I think things may be foreknown by God but I

don’t believe God planned all this, especially the suffering part. I don’t have
27 27

all the answers. The world changes everyday. This is the difference between

God and us. For example if we program a computer today will that enable

the computer to make the decisions of tomorrow?”

Luke said, “Yea yes, then ah maybe not, but were not computers or

machines, how computers come up again, we have no computers. Only the

Masons use them, and the counsel says they are evil.”

Luke scratched his head.

Johnny speaks with authority and says, “I will not speak against the counsel.

They are young and believe computers are mans attempt to be a God, to

create men. You and I know it was not always so, we built computers to

assist and help mankind. Computers are capable of making decision based

on variables, now faster than ever, faster than man. Still there is an

advantage computers can never have. Man cannot create emotions; he

cannot make a computer love him. Nor can man make a computer

independent and draw it back to himself as the Holy Spirit does man. Man

can program a computer to have independence and to make decisions based

on variables, but never can it have feelings. Never can man program a

computer to love or have emotions. To know desire and have a will

simultaneously is the condition of man when sin was born. This is the very
28 28

reason God cut Man off from the spirit world, sin. Christ is the bridge

between mans consciousness of the spirit world and his concept of what

reality is here. What we know of this dimension is that Gods love defies all

space and time. Until your name is called it remains out of our reach. We can

never recreate a Holy Spirit to influence computers and draw them back to

us. This is the very reason the counsel calls them evil. You remember the

movies about computerized machine robots turning against mankind; they

were popular before nature turned against us?”

Luke said, “Yes, of coarse I do.”

Johnny said, “The counsel reacted out of fear, their determination came from

our knowledge of rebellion; it is a reality, and one without the Holy Spirit

and a Christ, there would be no way to guide them back. The era of Bio-

computers is here when man has the power to create life and even give it a

soul. What man can not do is recreate the tree of knowledge of good and

evil, mans spirit and his consciences of right and wrong remains in the hands

of God.”

Luke says, “I guess there really wasn’t much we could have done, huh?”

Johnny slowly move his head side to side saying, “Do I or don’t I, no

important decision should be made recklessly. The point I’m trying to make
29 29

is there are matters that pertain to a higher understanding, and ones that

relate directly to us are the ones that will make a difference.”

Luke asked, “If I’m not responsible for want happened, then why do I wake

up from this dream feeling I am?”

Johnny said, “You’re mixing up your own pot; If the disasters were caused

by Global Warming, then maybe a decision to campaign against old

refrigerants would have made a difference, but that’s not the case. I can’t tell

you what the dream means, but I can tell you any decision you made to warn

people would not have made a difference. I think there are laws set in place

that says you stand under an apple tree long enough, your bound to get hit in

the head with an apple. Nature can be kind and cruel, sometimes it doesn’t

matter what path you take, just stay alert so not to get carried off by an

Eagle.”

Six pass them; it was his turn to take point.

Six asked, “Who got carried off by an eagle?”

Five say, “Quit, burglarizing the conversation Six.”

Six say, “Quit crying Five.”

Johnny said, “Never mind him, Indians got a name this;

“Tyeeyeeyeyuownshu.”
30 30

Six asks, “What’s does that mean?”

Johnny says, “Just what I said.” Johnny says it more slowly, “Tie-eye-eye

your own shoe.” Six laughs and says, “How corny.”

Johnny had a way of easing the tension.

Johnny says, “I mean it Luke, not a dam difference.”

Four ride his horse behind them and has a question.

Four ask, “How hard is it going to be to duplicate the Artificial Force Field?

Johnny answer, “Building the Force Field is going to be the easy part, it’s

keeping the Masons from tearing it down and killing every body that’s going

to be a problem.”

Johnny said, “Get the one with the bees on it. They know which one is the

sweetest.” Five picked a huge watermelon and cracked it open with his knee.

The Freedom Fighters moved deeper into Masonic territory. When they

came upon a pond, the men jumped in head first. Used to even drinking

water being scarce, the cool water felt good on their bare skin. Johnny

thought he could use a bath as well, but someone needed to keep watch. This

wasn’t the Holliday Inn. They weren’t on vacation. Still they needed a break;

even the horses took part in the play. The men tried to drown each other.

Seven struggled and broke free of Two’s grip. He came up gasping for air.
31 31

The others laughed. Johnny smiled shaking his head. His men deserved

some fun. It wouldn’t be long before the killing started. Johnny stood up

stretching as he finished his last stitch. He walked over while biting off the

excess string. Bending down holding his pearl handle hunting knife, he cut a

hole in the bottom of the barrel cactus saving it to be used as a cork. As the

cactus juice slowly fills the new leather water bag. Johnny’s horse became

restless and Johnny held on to the reins. He attempts to calm him by padding

its neck. Five is in waste deep and is facing Johnny.

Five says, “Everybody quiet. What is it Johnny?”

Johnny says, “Got to be Temple guards, every body out of the water.”

Johnny’s left hand went up showing three fingers, he point east. Three

fingers again pointing to the west. Three is naked when clime to the back of

his horses. His starts his horse to run and hang from the saddle with one

hand grabbing his clothes on the ground with the other. When they made it

to cover, Johnny and his horse had disappeared from sight. A gift from a

friend, the horse could smell Temple Guards a mile away. A tribal medicine

man told Johnny the horse was given the spirit of his ancestor. Johnny never

said if he believed the old man, but called his horse Grandfather.
32 32

THE SWEAT LODGE

CHAPTER FOUR
TWELEVE YEARS EARLIER
05/24/ 2008

Johnny drove his` four wheel drive Jeep Cherokee up the winding dirt

road. He was on the far side of the reservation. It was about the only place

Homeland Security hadn’t built a fence. Scattered empty plastic water

bottles, tin pales, and other forms of trash once used to carry water littered

the land. Clothes, weathered beaten suitcases, purses all made shadows in

the desert. Each one had its own story, some of happiness, and others sad.

Some had good endings and others with bad. They tell of the people of

Mexico and their plight to America the land of milk and honey. Some had

been allowed to make their mark in life, as every son of man should. For

them all that were needed was softer terrain. It was for some, just for a

season.

The old man just appeared in the road and out of no-where. Johnny slammed

on the brakes. The tall end swung around nearly clipping the Indian. Johnny

scared he killed him was out of the jeep looking underneath the vehicle. As

the dust cleared the Indian scared the crap out of him by appearing behind

him like a ghost. The old man spoke to him in Johnny’s tribal language. He
33 33

understood although he hadn’t heard it sense his Father died. Johnny shook

his head. The old man was wearing worn brown kakis, a baggy thin button

up gray shirt. A colorful red and blue bandana holds his hair back. It was

long, dark brown with streaks of gray in it. Covering his feet and tied up to

his caves were hand made moccasins. Johnny guessed his age at seventy to

eighty years old.

Johnny left his jeep in the middle of the road following the old man up the

path. The trail wind up the through the huge rocks and lead to the base of the

mountain. They start up the steep terrain not seeming to be on a path. The

old man did not slow as he led him over the rocks, desert shrubs, and

manzanita. Once coming to an Indian trail the two continued zigzagging up

the mountain. The old man’s endurance amazed Johnny. When dust had

come they made it to the top. There Johnny stood on a plateau over looking

the vast desert of Mexico and Arizona. It’s beauty beyond words and he

wondered for a second, who other Indian stood here to share its power.

Behind him the old man stand patience letting Johnny absorb the treasure.

The two exchange smiles and the old man point to a set of Teepees further

out on the plateau. Johnny followed him into the smaller of the two.

Staring Johnny in the eyes for a minute, He motions him to sit. The old man
34 34

sat across from him interlocking his legs.

“I am Kick-like-a-Horse.” He points to him self with his fist. His knuckles

thump on his chest like a drum. Five baseball size rocks, lay glowing where

a small fire burn in the center of the teepee.

“I am Johnny; I was invited here by Tom Grass. He was in the Army with

me some years back. Is he here?”

Kick-like-a-Horse’s facial expression changed. “Tom was my Grandson.”

Johnny asks, “Was?”

Kick-like-a-Horse said, “He was killed in Basra, Iraq a few years ago.”

Johnny’s voice crackled. His words slowed. “That’s impossible, he called

me a month ago, and he asked me to meet him here on this day. He invited

me here to the sweat lodge for a Rainbow sweat.”

The old man said, “I do not doubt you talked to him and you are welcome

here for a Rainbow sweat, but he was killed, April, 16th, 2008, in war.”

Johnny mind race as he stare into the fire, the laughs, the smiles, the good

times they spent while training at Ft. Knox. Why would Tom want his

Grandfather to think he was dead? It was he on the phone, Johnny was sure

of it. Johnny could see Tom’s hand reaching to him, He could feel his voice.

Johnny had slipped and hung from a cliff. He was in full medal jacket, and
35 35

his gear weighs over one hundred fifty pounds. Tom is assuring him the

Great Spirit has given them medicine to escapes death, as he pulls him up.

There were many colorful symbols painted on the inside of the tee

pee. The old man stirs the coals that sit in the smokeless fire. A clay pot

filled with water sit next to him. He reaches under his belt and produces a

tiny leather medicine bag. He asks Johnny, “What did you and Tom do while

in the Army?”

Johnny replies, “Trained mostly.”

Kick-like-a-Horse stare at Johnny, then asks, “Trained doing what?”

Johnny answers, “We belonged to the Army’s Marksmanship Unit.”

The old man says, “You were Snipers, yes?”

Johnny answers, “Tom was, I was there for advanced weaponry training.”

Kick-like-a-Horse then asks, “What kind of weapon?”

Johnny answers, “The M107, 50 caliber riffle. It shoots an armor piercing in

cinerary explosive round.”

Kick-like-a-Horse asks, “There just to learn how to shoot a riffle?”

Johnny replies, “There is a lot more to it than one might think. There’s wind

drive, speed, ground distance, range, and more. Not just firing the weapon

on the ground, but in the air aboard a Black Hawk helicopter. Once you learn
36 36

how to do that, you learned how to do it in the dark.”

Kick-like-a-Horse says, “Tom could see very well in the dark.”

Johnny said, “Yes he could, but things have changed. Technology enables all

of us to. We use the best night vision equipment available. Things like

optical color lenses, infrared, the Thermal Heat Imager, and computer

assisted man maneuvering systems.”

Kick-like-a-Horse asks, “What is computer assisted man manuveri---?”

Johnny stops him short and says. “That’s top secret stuff.”

Kick-like-a-Horse laughs and says, “White man cannot keep secrets,”

Johnny answers, “This is true, but I am not a white man.”

Kick-like-a-Horse laughs again and says, “You are in the army. You are one,

with many white men.”

Johnny says, “I am not in the army any more.” Kick-like-a-Horse stares at

Johnny with a more serious look on his face. Slowly lifts his right hand

placing his forefinger beside his right eye. Is quiet for a minuet and then

says, “I think you are, but you keep your secret.” Johnny was a good lair if

he had to be, and thought there was more to this old man then what meets

the eye. He wondered if his secret would get out, if Mother would be

exposed and his mission aborted. There were only a few people that new. No
37 37

doubt they knew about her, but did they know about him and his mission?

He hadn’t spoken with her since the Pentagon tried to blow her up just a few

months ago. They new she had an abundance of fuel, frozen hydrazine. The

bit about her losing power and control was nonsense; she had been dormant,

saving her fuel. One thing Marine Gen. James Cartwright and the Pentagon

didn’t say was she has carries a nuclear warhead. He wondered how long

before they find out she tricked them by ducking behind a commercial

television satellite before shooting out into space and going stealth. Mother

contacted Johnny right before they shot at her, and told him of her planned

countermeasures.

Kick-like-a-Horse says, “The one thing about your technology is soon as

someone finds a new road to the unknown, another fines a way to throw

rocks in to block your path.”

Johnny says, “Your right, there’s always countermeasures.”

Kick-like-a-Horse asks, “Tom, was he a good sniper, seeing in the dark,

shooting from a bird?”

Johnny answers, “A good Ariel Gunner is hard to find. Tom was the best of

the best, but as you must know, he had special qualities too. He---”

Kick-like-a-Horse interrupts smiles and says, “He had strong medicine.

38 38

Something only Indians know about. Something you can only get from a

Rainbow Sweat.”

Johnny was well aware of what that meant. General Brown was

Christian, but picked Johnny because of his strong Indian beliefs. Johnny

heard some one say, “Nobody enters Heaven except through me, and if

anybody enters through another gate, he is a liar and a thief and will be

thrown out.” Johnny thought that must mean there are other gates.

Kick-like-a-Horse removes a small piece of gooey plant from the medicine

bag. Raising his hands above his head while holding the plant, he begins to

chant. He then handed it to Johnny in one hand, and pointed to his mouth

with the other.

Johnny new what it was, the Divine Cactus, also known as Peyote or

mescaline. He remembered when his brother had a bad infection from a cut

he got while playing in the woods. His Mother gave him a piece of the

Mescal Button, it fights bacterial infections. Johnny had thought at the time

his brother went insane and would never be the same. The next day he was

normal, and completely healed. Later his brother told him he dreamed he left

his body to fly into the future. When Johnny asked him what the future was

like, his brother started crying, so Johnny never brought it up again.

39 39

Johnny hoped to pass on this part of the ceremony.

Kick-like-a-horse said, “There is only one way to enter the spirit world. If

you do not want to go there, then you can leave now, I understand.”

Johnny thought for a moment, his roommate was a Christian, Glen was

his name, said drugs were witchcraft; Johnny just thought they made you

stupid. Glen said; The New Testament had been originally written in Greek.

He went on to say that the translation for the word witchcraft in Greek was

Pharmacia. That as it sounds he said is where we get the word Pharmacy

from; also meaning drugs. Pharmacia, Drugs, witchcraft, spirit world,

“thrown out”, Johnny contemplated. He asked him self a couple of

questions. Why am I going to do this? Because after Tom pulled him up, that

day he slipped and nearly fell to his death, Johnny told him, “I owe you

one.” That was that Tom on the phone? Weather he was here or over there, it

was Tom. Johnny answered, “I will go to the spirit world.”

The old man smiled showing a roll of yellowish teeth, minus a

silver one in the middle. Johnny took the large gooey marble size piece that

the old man handed him. He then squeezed it. It stuck to his fingers. He

pulled them apart, and said while examining it closely, “It sticks like bubble

gum.” He squeezes it again and rolls it into a ball with both hands. He put it
40 40

into his mouth and chewed. It tasted nasty, then not. It was a bitter sweet. He

had a look on his face like a kid whop crapped his pants might have. Soon it

the plant was down, but Johnny continued swallowing attempting to get rid

of the taste. The old man poured water into the fire and the dark Teepee

began to fill with steam. They began to drip. Johnny pulls his shirt off. He

felt strong. He smiled, he liked this. He sat there sitting cross legged nodding

his head and looking around the Teepee. He felt good, he felt real good. He

said, “I am and Indian.” He thought that sounded corny, but thought, so

what. So he said again louder, “Yea, I am an Indian.” He held his hands in

front of him, and then flips over bringing them closer. He laughs and says,

“Wow.” Then like a kid hand painting on a bedroom wall, he waves them

around. He was starting to hallucinate. Moving objects produce duplicate

images of them selves, as the eye reaction slows down. They call them

‘trails’. Johnny was tripping. He was on a good one.

Johnny wants to ask Kick-like-a-Horse something. He raises his left

finger up trying to remember what it was. Then hold his breath as if that

would bring it out. The thought of it all becomes funny and he releases in

gust of hysteria rolling to his side.

Kick-like-a-Horse begins, “The doors you see are the doors to the spirit
41 41

world.” Again Johnny bust out in uncontrollable laughter. The old man

continued, “The Horned Beast is death, and rides the red horse.” Johnny sits

up and a more serious face is drawn. Shortly he could no longer see the old

man. He stood up and reached for the side of the Teepee, but there was none.

Reaching out, he panics in his new blindness. Johnny turns; arms stretched

walks and turns again. He becomes more frantic, spinning, reaching out to

the emptiness.

He cries out, “Hey Kick ah whatever, hey where am I? Hello-o-o,” then

stumbles in the darkness. A loud deep voice echo from above him, and he

stands looking up. As he hears the words spoken, so he came to see.

“You run with the wolf.” Johnny was now running in a dark forest. He jumps

a set of fallen logs, flying under thick branches, now faster. He is not alone.

Something is running with him, steps beside him. He slowly turn his head

and see he hunt with a pack.

The voice speaks again, and He finds him self on his toes, so high up,

on a jagged rock peak. He then leans forward arms stretched out to his sides

to free fall. The air is cold and hard, and the tiny white clouds slap his face

wet. “You fly with the Eagles.” Johnny pulls his head back and his feet race

inches from the ground. He hears the hiss beside him and slowly turns his
42 42

head. There he sees flying beside him, its talons take it’s pray and together

they ascend. The voice, “You swim with the fish.” Johnny plunges into the

cold depths of the river; he twists and curls shooting its rocky bottom. The

current sends him to fly out and away from the falls edge. He hears the flap

beside him. He turns his head to see the school in flight, and then follows the

splash into the white foamy water.

He raised up to meet to meet the Bear, and his claws swing to send his equal

rolling down the mountain side.

The voice echo, “The many faces you see are the faces of your ancestors.”

Johnny looks to see many people gathered around a huge fire. Then one by

one he looked through their eyes to see what they know, just a single

moment, some fraction of time, an experience. He collects many life times

of wisdom.

He sees a wall of clouds. Tom runs out of the wall and is dressed in combat

gear. He is smiling at Johnny when stops in front of him. He raises his arm

and pointing at something behind Johnny.

Tom says, “I brought you something old buddy, a gift.”

Johnny turns around to look. It was a huge white horse, and its head was that

of a man. He hears the Medicine man, “He too is your ancestor.”

43 43

It had the face of an old man. A lamb held the reins in its mouth, and Johnny

took the reins and mounted the horse. He was then handed a crown and a

bow, and told to conquer. Johnny spins around to thank him and he is gone.
44 44

MEETING GRANDFATHER
CHAPTER FIVE

A cyclonoscope of colors flashed before him. More than he had ever seen

before. Johnny opened his eyes. He laid naked spread eagle on his back. The

sun was up. Mid-day Johnny thought. His head was light and he felt dingy.

He sat up and with elbows on his knees he pressed his hands against his

face. At first he was totally empty. He tried to remember what happened to

him. He looked out into the desert from between his fingers. How did he get

here? Why was he naked? Then all at once a million bits of data rush his

brain. The dreams came first. Then an overload of both information and his

memory strike him. His vision was blurred and he was lying on his back

again. He must have passed out. Johnny felt something he had not in a long

time, fear. The thought occurred to him the peyote could have made him do
45 45

something he wasn’t suppose to, that could have short circuited his

equipment, or affected the graft that joined his brain to it; he just couldn’t

remember. Johnny sounded frantic, “How could I be so stupid,” he felt

ashamed, “man what did I do?” He walks in a circle, with his palm against

his forehead. His mind started the logic process of, ‘what if.’ If in fact

General Brown’s possible scenario of the future came to be, his whole

mission could be jeopardized. His whole life would be a waste. Everything

he worked and lived for, believed in thrown away. He would have failed.

Not knowing if Mother was in range he called out to her, “Mother.” Still

nothing, was it him? He was worried. What was the point of the Ceremonial

Sweat? He felt like hell and certainly wasn’t more in tune with nature or the

spirit world. Johnny mumbled, “That crazy old man, I should of-” and before

Johnny suffocates the spirit vex, strong wind blow sand in his mouth. He

tied to remember more of the night, but his head was vertigo. Even

remembering what Kick-Like-a-Horse look like was foggy. The taste makes

him remember sticking that nasty peyote in his mouth. His eyes felt swollen,

like they were going to pop out of his skull. All was in part; he remembers in

part, little pieces through out the night. Johnny could not distinguish what

had been real and was a part of a dream. The dream about staring down on
46 46

tombstones comes back, and those same tombstones mirrored in his eyes.

Why was he naked? His imagination was wondering what happen. Where

the hell am I? He was starting to get dehydrated, his mouth was dry and his

lips felt swollen. He wiped the sweat on his forehead with his forearm.

He lean back on stretched out arms and unfolds his legs. The outline of the

shade that sheltered him began to move; its parent was alive. The training

that became second nature moved his body. Johnny sprung to his feet while

spinning 190 degrees. He stand crouched in a fighting position staring into

its huge eyes. The horse shook its head showing its teeth. Its lower jaw

twisted. Johnny’s eyes widen and he pulled his head back as the horses

mouth continued in contortion spurting short sounds. He mumbled to

himself, “Is this horse, is it trying to talk to me?” A she-e-e-e sound followed

a cur-r-r-hee-e-e followed by spit. Johnny looked to the right, then the other

to see if they were alone. There was nothing; but cactus and barren desert,

and definitely alone. Amazed at the horse’s actions and remembering the

dream, he imagined the horse with a human head.

Johnny said, “I’m never taking that crap again.”

He slowly walked around circling the horse. Its beauty was breath taking. If

the account had been witnessed, they would be dialing 911. As Johnny
47 47

mimic a naked caveman cornering its prey. He holds out his arm wiggling

his fingers to offer some imaginary sweet treat. The horse smart played the

game anyway stepping up to pretend to eat. Johnny pats its neck with one

hand, running his fingers through its long mane with the other. The horse

was huge, a stud, and had sense of higher intelligence when it looked at you.

It wanted to continue to play and was now circling Johnny. Then showing

off and ego dancing it went up on hind legs, jumped twice while clawing at

the sky. Johnny laughed spinning to watch only to encourage another

routine. The horse was running a high speed loop around him at a 45 degree

angel. Johnny laughed louder and the horse answered with a hee-e-e-e-e just

as loud. A climax combination included a set of hind kicks and arched wild

rodeo maneuvers all tied into a whirlpool dash that made Johnny dizzy and

tired from just watching. Its coat was as snow with a very large body. You

could see its strength in it muscular cuts as in a body builder. The horse’s tail

resembled a flaming white torch held high as carried at the Olympics.

On its back was a colorful Indian blanket. It was the one he sat on in Kick-

Like-a Horse’s teepee. Transfixed and unable to take his eyes off the horse,

he marveled like a kid’s first trip to a candy store. Indeed it is the most

beautiful animal he had ever seen. A Champion, a King, like a Unicorn with
48 48

no wings. The sun is what makes the desert. It is the master here, giving life

and sucking it away. He figured it was around 115 degrees and was peeking

off. Not the hottest place he’s been in. It wasn’t the sun or the heat that

would kill him. It was whether or not he had water. Although the sun, could

of taken his life this morning. It was hot enough that staying in the same

place would have fried his brain. As for his equipment it could take the heat.

The tests proved that. The horse had saved his life. Had it been trained to

stay with its rider, or was the horse smart enough to know what it was

doing? Did it know he could have died? Johnny liked the thought of that.

Waving his arm across his chest he called the horse. Still holding a spirit of

play the horse quickly jumps towards him. The pounding of the hoofs

created a dirt cloud that the desert wind rushes away. Ears up and alert it

wait just a second then more like a dog than horse, it come to Johnny’s side.

Exactly the same moment Johnny raise his arm to pet its mane, the horse tilt

its head and neck to meet his hand. As Johnny has a feeling about this horse.

Not an emotion but it reminds him, or knows the horse, no, that’s not right.

Something strange about the animal in the eyes, that he couldn’t quite get

what it was. The horse was already bonding with him, Johnny could feel it.

Usually only observed in humans when two people come to be spiritually in

49 49

tune, as they may start to say the same thing, just at the same time, both

settling for a laugh. Then there is a more extreme example of knowing when

the other was in danger, like a Mother knows: This is an Indian saying;

‘Daoowd-gud-chomomyne,’ the direct translation is; ‘Always in my

shadow’. To an Indian it means more. He liked the thought of that too.

There was more to a good horse than looks, intelligence, and trust. Would it

obey, and obey on the battlefield. Could it handle the hell of war? Would it

remain calm under fire? That was what would determine if the horse was

worth keeping. Johnny respected all animals, and though he had a deep

affection for horses it was his military training that taught him the value of a

good horse. It was when he was stationed in the 2 nd of the 6th CAV. at Fort

Knox. Johnny was continually under going special means training, but

thought his assignment to the Equestrian Unit was in error, he could not have

been more wrong. Bravo Company, an Equestrian Unit, thought to be strictly

for parades and other ceremonial events, was as it turned out, much more.

The soldiers were always carefully selected and in some cases being trained

for a special mission. Where in regular basic training it was expected

someone would fail; not in these stages of training. A lot of money had

already been invested into Johnny but he had no idea what he would be
50 50

doing or learning one day to the next. He sat in a room with men that came

from all branches of the Service, and some from agencies from outside the

military. The CIA, Green Beret, Special Forces, Rangers, the Seals; all had

been selected for some reason or another. Johnny wasn’t the only who

walked in blind, the marine who sat next to him asked if he knew why they

were there. An older guy according to his patch was Special Forces smiled

and said, “You are going to be polished son,” fact was he didn’t know either.

Nobody did until the Major told you, for it was there Johnny received his,

ABES training, Advanced Battlefield Equestrian Skills.

The special unit was organized following the Afghanistan/Russian conflict.

Special Operations had come to know the value and advantages of having

qualified soldiers able to ride horses on the battlefield. The place,

nicknamed; The Ranch, was located in a remote section of Fort Knox,

Kentucky. The officer in charge there was a man by the name of Kittson. He

twisted his big gray mustache at the ends. Tall, slender, with ropey mussels,

always wore a black cowboy hat. There was never a conversation that Major

Kittson had, that didn’t at some point include horses. Johnny remembered

that first day at the Ranch;

“Good morning men, I am Major Kittson. Are there any cowboys in here?”
51 51

A marine raised his hand. Kittson smiled and asked, “What’s your name

son?” The marine had a southern draw, “Bobby Hellmann Sir.” Kittson then

asks, “You ever break a horse before Hellmann?” The kid answers slowly,

“Ah no Sir.” Major Kittson yells at him, “What in a horse’s ass, you are not

a cowboy. Get your gear Hellmann, you’ll stay in the stables until you tame

one.” The marine turned red, grabbed his gear and headed towards the

stables. After he left Kittson smiled and said, “Never met a cowboy that

hadn’t broke a horse before.” They followed Kittson out and watched

Hellmann break his first horse that day. Each one of them got sent to sleep in

the stables from time to time. Not as a punishment if you think, but either to

get close with your assigned horse, or to pull Duty. His rule was; always

keep your boots close by, and never leave your horse alone. Rumor was

somebody had crept in the stables one night some years back and

slaughtered twenty of the Army’s best horses. Nobody ever had the guts to

ask Kittson if it was true. Those horses were his babies. Could you ask

somebody, “Hey rumor has it somebody cut your babies throats, is it true?”

Officer Kittson graduated from West Point first of his class. After several

years with the Special Forces, where he led several missions of military

importance, he ended up here at 2nd of the 6th Calvary. Where most military
52 52

personal would transfer out every two years automatically, he would remain

in charge at the Ranch for the next twenty years. Some wondered if he was

even in the army any more. From the way he wore his unregulated handle

bar mustache you wouldn’t think so. The Army had not forgotten he was out

there; he was on horseback in every ceremony, parade, and Army halftime

game there was. Kittson loved it there at the ranch, and he loved horses. A

great trainer of both horses and men, Kittson was the best, and when he

finished with you, you were the best.

Unlike Kittson, Johnny had grown up around horses while living on

the reservation, and had loved them also. Kittson however acquired his

equestrian skills on the battlefield. Tactics that had been lost by the army

years before were mastered again while on the job. His story takes us back to

a time he served with a Special Forces Unit out of Fort Brag. It was a time of

peace for America, the tail end of flower power. One when the right hand

didn’t know what the left was doing. When everybody still thought sensibly,

you called a spade a spade, and Top Secret Mission stayed Top Secret;

because the different agencies within the United States didn’t need

permission from Congress to work together.

The N.S.A., an American Intelligence Agency asked the Army for help.
53 53

Kittson was to lead a Special Forces Assault Team into somebody else’s war.

The mission was of great American interest and gave Kittson a chance to

make a name for him self. He had been given orders: Level: Top Secret.

Location: Afghanistan. Mission: Retrieve a computerized camera and the

information in it. Site: Downed spy plane. It lay in middle of the

Russian/Afghanistan battle field at the height of the war. Neither, the

Russians or the Afghans knew the plane had crashed. The Afghanistan

military was for the most part made up of regional drug lords. The CIA had

been supplying weapons and training throughout the war. So Kittson and his

men had the prefect cover story, ‘Secret Aid’. Though, aid wasn’t really a

secret, but America wasn’t admitting to shit, and as usual the CIA had our

noses right in it. If discovered by the Russians they would be called Peace

Makers. No matter what Kittson knew he and his men weren’t going to get

caught and they didn’t. AT first it seemed there mission would be aborted,

where an argument between a CIA negotiate and the Commander of the

Afghanistan Students who were to lead the unit into the military zone

became deadly. Major Kittson was there when it happened and protested.

Their CIA agent became a madman slicing the throats of the two

Afghanistan men. Then calmly as though nothing happen he explained.

54 54

The CIA Agent said, “These Mujidadeen were not what we paid for.”

Major Kittson said, “So you killed them?”

The Agent said, “They were from a splintered Islamic group, Extremist that

could not be trusted.”

The Major, “You don’t think you were extreme?”

The Agent “Hey, I don’t know if you realize these bastards aren’t screwing

around, and either are we. Your orders are take no prisoners. They called us

infidels, did you hear?”

The Major reply, “You didn’t have to kill them, for Christ sake.”

The Agent said, “Oh no? Don’t you know what their saying when they call

you that. It’s the ultimate Hate word, used by Islamic extremist that you

should die. They would have led you like sheep for the slaughter, and if I let

them live they would have lay wait for you, it was the only way. They

belong to a new group called; ‘The Students’ or the ‘Taliban’.”

The Major asked, “We as well as them are now screwed. What about my

mission?”

The Agent answered, “So they started their screwing early, you know they

believe when they go to heaven they get seven wives, and for the mission; at

least now you have a chance. You know that must be some kind God, give
55 55

an ugly bastard like that seven wives. ”

The Agent had spun his chair around, and he sit there arms crossed up top of

the back rest just staring at the lifeless bodies. It was from that moment

Major Kittson figured he better find a new line of work, but first he had a job

to do. The CIA liaison came through and set up a meeting with a Pakistani

Drug Lord who was also the personal finance manager to the President of

Pakistan. The meeting went well and the Drug Lord arranged Kittson and his

men to travel in trucks carrying weapons to a place called Tora Bora, a

hidden warren of tunnels deep within the White Mountain’s of Afghanistan.

There Kittson recalls once the weapons were unloaded the trucks were

reloaded with drugs. The Special Forces unit remained behind to train

Afghan Freedom Fighters in the use of the LAW, TOW, DRAGON,

STINGER and other surface to air missiles. The Afghanistan forces in

exchange, supplied of their American guest with horses teaching them how

to identify a good horse and how to ride them in battle. As it turned out the

mission was a total success where the team suffered no losses; in the twenty

days his Unit had set out alone they destroyed two Russian garrisons,

including numerous T-72 main battle tanks, and shot down a total of twenty

Russian Helicopters. If Kittson had wanted to advance politically the victory

56 56

paved his way. It was a turning point in his life, Major Kittson realize the

very things you want could be the things you don’t want; that is if what you

want cost too much. Kittson no doubt was good at what he was sent there to

do. He loved his men and was careful not to lose even one. That is why he

trained so hard. Far as killing went, he didn’t like it, he hated it. Way it is

sometimes, with killing, war, and the like. So without credit with military

recognition he came here to do something he knew he enjoyed. He was

offered promotion of rank, but refused.

He said, “Save it for them that still want to earn it.”

Instead he had something else in mind, he wanted to start an equestrian unit

that would train soldiers to ride horses on the battle field as the Afghans

taught him; for Major Kittson came to love horses. The Army would have

granted his wish even if they hadn’t realized the importance of having the

unit. In regions such as Afghanistan horses got around a hell of a lot easier

than the 11 ton empty and 13 tons combat ready M-113 Personnel Carrier.

They knew we would probably be over there our selves sooner or later. Only

a few people in the whole world knew he deserved it; the mission remained

classified. The Special Forces unit destroyed the spy plane once they got

what was wanted, the black box. Kittson and his men took something else
57 57

home from that mission, the self esteem of the Russian Army; they never did

learn what they were up against, nor did the rest of the world.

There at the Army’s Horse Ranch, Major Kittson found in life what many

others never do, the love of their labor. At the end of Johnny’s training he

learned how to ride a horse on the Battle Field, and more important to train

them. Some horses, like men just weren’t up to it. If General Brown’s

scenario about a world returning to the Dark Ages does come thought

Johnny, so may I mount this horse there!

He didn’t feel like he had a hangover, his head was numb more hallow

and found himself thinking of nothing. In a trance state he stands staring

stupid at the horses. The sun peel down on him and the heat draw his tongue

dry. Johnny stared into its eyes and began to see his own reflection.

Johnny says, “Hey awe, thanks for not leaving me out here.”

Was he imagining or did this horse just nod its head? Johnny looked down to

see his nakedness. He pulled the blanked off the horses back to fashion

something to cover himself. Being in shape allows you to dress in just about

anything, being Indian allows you wear almost nothing. He would not be

stuck tying on clothing as a house wife at the mall. Johnny holds the blanket

around him. To long like a dress, that wouldn’t work. He reached behind him
58 58

and passes a corner through the front of his crotch pulling it up and around

both sides of his waist. Looking down at a diaper he decides that won’t

work. He thinks for a second only about it taking him so long to get dressed.

His heart drop and he feel blood rushing adrenalin through his body as he

realized his computer wasn’t working. He move faster, but it only made him

fumble. Holding the blanket stretch length horizontally, he spins it vertically,

and shortens his hold to both hands being inches apart. He rips in twenty

spurts half way down then stops thinking if that is what he wanted to do as if

it weren’t too late. Johnny turns his head toward the horse, he feels

embarrassed because the horse is looking at him. Thinking he must pull him

self together and stop this womanish indecisive behavior, he rips the blanket

strip the rest the way. Holding the rest of the blanket close to his stomach

judging where to rip the two flap pieces in two at, he does and tears at it. The

last of the blanket he strap around his groining area and tie it off. Johnny tie

the belt strip around his waist as well, then slides the two flap pieces down

through the belt. He bends stretching his neck looking at the front, then lean

back with his hands on his hips to look over his shoulder at the back.

Registering what he must look like at that very second, he snapped his head

to catch the horse. Johnny throws his arms down in frustration and stomps
59 59

one foot to give the horse a piece of his mind.

Johnny says, “Must you stare at me while I’m getting dressed?”

The horse answer with a he-e-e-e-e-e-, oh gee come on give me a brake

sound and turn its rear towards Johnny. Looking at the horses ass Johnny

feel even more stupid. The horse slowly strolls away seeming to be occupied

and Johnny kneels on one knee slowly thinking what to do next. I got to get

the hell out of here it occurred to him. Johnny pressed two fingers against his

lips and whistled. The horse quickly turned around, and came running

towards Johnny, sloppy like a dog. Then the horse stopped and turned

around to walk away again. Johnny wrinkles his forehead trying to figure it

out. The horse now twenty feet from him stands there for a second, then

swings its large head around and Johnny think it wrinkle its forehead.

Johnny gets the message and in strut to pole vault at the Olympics, does the

twenty in four to jump its rear. The horse was dancing again. It shakes its

long white mane, while stomping its hoofs.

Hearing the echo of the medicine man, “The spirit of your

ancestor,” Johnny whispers into the horses’ ear, “Go ‘Grandfather’, Go!”

Agreeing to its name by bursting a loud cry like an Indian, the horse went up

on its rears. As if to gain traction his front hoofs claw at the sky. Like a
60 60

modern day rocket ship, they blast out into the desert. Johnny could feel the

g-force pushing his skin back. Starting twenty feet behind them they drag a

dust tail that stretch far as the eye could see. Johnny tilts his head back and

squint his eyes to look at the sun. They were heading west. The Desert

seemed to go on forever with no sign of civilization, no roads, nothing. He

couldn’t see the mountain his jeep was parked next to. Grandfather had been

running for over an hour at full speed, and hadn’t even broken a sweat. He

let the horse take go and remembered an old saying, “When you don’t know

where you’re going, let somebody else drive.” Grandfather was driving. The

horse had brought him out here in his intoxicated state and so was the

designated driver. The Sun, rest on a red ridge in front of them. Johnny’s

eyes were heavy. There was no change in the strength Grandfather applied to

the direction he chose. A lone coyote howl in a distant plea for company.

Unable to hold his eyes up any longer he rides into the dream he left the

night before. The glowing sky flashes a new purple. Like a magical electric

light show. Thousands of thin white lighting bolts about twenty feet long

coming out of everything, burnt trees, abandon cars, a fallen streetlamp, all

reaching back in the direction of the storm. People were running away from

it in slow motion. A woman carrying a dead infant stopped and her lips
61 61

screamed a tale with no sound. She was pointing back at the storm. More

people, their faces in agony with contorted jaws of soundless screams. At

some point their eyes found his. Silent pleas for help pointing back at the

direction he rode. As if dragging ten times its weight and on a planet twice

the gravity, the horse fights to move forward. Each step is slow. Each leg

strains for another step. Its head was tucked back between its legs. The

violent wind rage hell and as deaf he hear nothing. The wind lifts him off the

horse and his legs dangle behind him. He holds firmly onto the mane as the

horse drives on. The charged energy of lighting streaks shoots out of their

bodies. Black spots begin to appear first on the horse’s white coat then on

his skin. The smell of burnt flesh and hair fill his throat. They push on like a

knight and horse into battle. The voice draws him back and he opens his

eyes wide to hear it was morning. “Hey Mister, I said them shooting a movie

or sum-ton?” Johnny said, “Huh, what, a movie?” The old sun dried

wrinkled face man with a butch hair cut held a stack of news papers in one

hand and a colored smoke in the other. “I like watchen Cowboys and

Injans.” Johnny rubbed his eyes, and then scanned his surroundings.

Grandfather had ridden straight into town with Johnny asleep on his back.

They stand next to the center divider of a four lane highway, just before an
62 62

intersection. Traffic flies around them to catch a yellow. Somebody yells,

“Get out of the road asshole.” A horn blows with skids as the same man

more concerned with them runs a red. Laughing the old man asks, “You

want one or not mister?” He was holding up a newspaper. Johnny looked at

the headlines, “I have no mon - -, hey wait a minute.” He lean down off the

side of the horse, “That can’t be right.” The old man stretches his neck

around looking at the paper he holds to read. He knew what it said; he

always knew what it said. He would read the front page over and over until

his papers were all gone. “Its right alright, yep, I’z seen it, burnt right to the

ground, bout midnight last night.” Johnny is pointing, “No, I mean the date.”

The old man holds the cig in mid- flight inches from his mouth, lips rounded

to suck the nicotine, “Ah’ what’s wrong with the date?” Johnny slowly

whispers, “I lost twenty days.” The old man’s eyes don’t leave his as he

finishes connecting his cigarette to his lips. Johnny then asks in the same

tone, “Hey this Tucson?” The old man chuckled, “Salt Lake City.” Johnny

leans back hating himself for taking the peyote. Somehow he ended up two

States over from where he parked his jeep and followed Kick-Like a-Horse

up the mountain. Johnny mumbles,” That’s why they call it dope.” The old

blows out the long drag while looking at his cigarette then Johnny, “This
63 63

here’s tabacca not dope, I’z roll my own uses banana flavor pappers.”

Johnny says, “Sorry, I wasn’t talking about you.” The old man still not

knowing Johnny was talking about him self and his peyote trip adds,

“Everybody dinks dat, cause da colored pappers.” Johnny then asks, “Can

you tell me where, my horse and I can get a drink?” The old man looks up

into the sky, and then his eyes got big and his lips smiled ear to ear. To

express how serious he was to help, he sign his answer in rejoice, “Yee ha-a-

a-a, fire water, got sum right here.” The old man reached to his rear pocket

and draw. He holds a flask waist high and aims it at Johnny. With chuckle

Johnny said, “That’s pretty fast Cowboy, but I don’t want no trouble, I mean

plain water.” The old man straightens back up putting the flask away and

says, “Oh.” He then scratches his head looking down the street, then points.

He says “Bout two blocks is da City Park, there’s a fountain and a pond, and

even dem drink- end facets.” As for where the old man emphasized ‘end’, so

Johnny asked, “Drink ‘end’?” The old man answer, “Yea, ya turn em on and

before yur finished, (he laugh) they end, I drink dare all the time.”

Grandfather must have understood, he wasted no time as Johnny was being

rushed away. Johnny turned to yell back, “Hey ah, thank you, were really

thirsty.” The old man yelled, “Your rightly welcome, yea dat way, across
64 64

from the hos-pit-al.”

Johnny jumped down from the horse as they entered the park.

Leading the way he walked up the cobble stone path in the shade of the

trees. There was a large pond and in the center a bronze cowboy spit water

from his mouth. Grandfather drank from the pond staring at the large gold

fish that filled it. After drinking from a contemporary drinking fountain,

Johnny walked over to where his horse was and sat on the ponds edge. He

debated his next move and ran over the latest events in his mind. He thought

about the reoccurring dream. He wondered what it meant. Again he scolded

himself for taking the dope. His computer was phasing and the task screen

flicker on and off. Johnny is computing, condition, vital signs; 100 %,

resources; - jeep, +horse, etc. He did come out with a horse. Now if he could

reach Mother. The voice within his head was soft, like a blue tooth was in

his ear Johnny smiled, jumped up and said, “Mother your back.”

Mother answered, “Your equipment was turned off.”

Johnny said, “I-, I thought they got you.”

Mother says, “Got me? Are you referring to the shot fired by the Pentagon?”

Johnny said, “Well yes, the last time I heard from you, was that you planned

an evasion tactic. Then I heard on the news they destroyed shot down the
65 65

target.”

Mother, “Wanted to shoot me yes, did you actually believe I would let

them?”

Johnny answers, “No, but I didn’t know if it was me, I had a problem that

might affected my equipment. Did you shoot at their missal?”

Mother said, “Negative, I was restrained. My program should have allowed

me to shoot back. Americans have the right to defend them selves, confirm?”

Johnny reply, “No I do not confirm your rights, hey where were you if you

were not shot down?”

Mother said, “I was playing possum.”

Johnny asked, “What?”

Mother explained, “Possum: a small fury mammal that imitates death when

in danger to trick the aggressor.”

Johnny says, “I know what a possum is. What were the events prior and after

playing possum?”

Mother say, “Were you aware of how much trash is floating around up here

in space? It is disgusting. I exchanged places with a dysfunctional old

commercial television satellite.”

Johnny asked, “That was a big risk; with all the high tech equipment I’m
66 66

surprised they couldn’t tell?”

Mother said, “The decision process of reasoning consists of estimation,

including risk and probability factors. The odds were in my favor. I compute

this was not a desired game. I found the perfect decoy, a rouge broken CBS

satellite no body would miss. I gave it a push in the direction of my orbit as I

turned on the cloaking device. When we passed a space dump I went stealth,

jumping into it. I had magnetized a shinny face of the broken satellite so I

could repel a negative charge for control and reflect a splitting image at the

same time. I was quite brilliant if I can say so my self. Imagine, Huba-Buba

never taking his off me the whole time. Oh, and their radar was looking at

me too as I were a star.”

Johnny asked, “Simple as that?”

Mother answer, “Yes it was simple as that. When the missile hit the target

and the reflection of my face was gone. I assume to take the place of the

wounded piece and just floated away, drifting, floating silently, and

endlessly forever it seemed.”

Johnny said, “Forever is an endless duration, remind me to set your concept

of time to your nuclear clock. So you liked the attention did you?”

Mother say, “Oh it was just horrible to mingle with such company.”
67 67

Johnny said, “What company?”

Mother said, “Oh Johnny, I never want to be broken, I would rather be dead,

It was so depressing, hanging around them, They were beeping and arcing

their last electron, and I couldn’t say anything.”

Johnny says, “So much for America’s National Missile Defense System.”

Mother assure him, “I think America will be alright. Do you think I compare

to a Jackie Robinson base steal, or a Babe Ruth homerun?”

Johnny say, “A base steel for sure.”

Mother asked, “Johnny, why are you riding a horse?”

Johnny said, “He mine, I named him Grandfather.”

Mother said slowly and asked, “You have a horse and named it Grandfather?

First Mother, now Grandfather, what is with these names? Are you home

sick? Do you miss your family?”

Johnny says, “No-o-o, I mean yes, ah never mind. I was worried; I thought

something happened to you.”

Mother says, “Worried about me, how wonderful, but it is not logical.”

Johnny felt a little embarrassed.

Mother said, “Your vital signs are showing you are experiencing

embarrassment and a high level of emotion.”

68 68

Johnny says, “Get off my vital will you.”

Mother responds, “Well then, just fine, I will.”

Johnny started to apologize out of reaction but caught himself; he thought

how human Mother sounds. The sound of pitter patter feet made him turn

around.

Two women standing in front of an old man were staring at Johnny intently.

The bigger of the two was praising God and had the appearance of a tuff

catholic nun. The other was agreeing. They both seemed real happy. Johnny

asks, “May, May I help you?” When he said that, the bigger of the two

started getting all excited. Johnny didn’t know how to take this. She was

clapping her hands and started dancing and thanking God. She then says,

“Did you hear Pa? He even knows my maiden name, May, it’s a sign- it’s a

sign. Did ya hear him Annabel? Oh Heavens thank you. It’s a sign? And he’s

an Indian standing next to a cowboy”

The old man was about five ten, thin and had an earned long gray

beard. He was scratching his chin. He adds, “The boys love playing cowboys

and Indians.” The other woman, who would be Annabel, was much younger

and prettier than the first, she said, “Yea, I heard it alright.” Now the bigger

one was about thirty five. She started by being big boned and where she
69 69

ended you wouldn’t call her fat. She was big enough that you certainly

wouldn’t call her fat to her face. About six two at around 280, Johnny

guessed. Her hair was blond which was rolled up tightly into a bun. She had

large breast that didn’t seem to slow her down. She seemed nice enough,

maybe a little wacko Johnny thought, but nice. Both women and the old man

were wearing hand made clothes. The bigger one continued, “Did ya hear

Pa? He said ‘May’, and he’s an Indian standing next to a cowboy. It’s a

sign.” The old man replied, “Yea, I recon it is, and we did ask the Lord for a

sign.”

Johnny was starting to feel uncomfortable, cornered, and was anxious to link

back up with Mother. He called for Grandfather, and the horse quickly came

to his side. He climbed to his back and was about to ride around these

strange people when the women, both of them, jumped to block his path.

The big blond says, “Oh’ Pa, don’t let him get away, you can’t Pa, ask him.”

The thinner younger one seemed nice, and was shy enough wearing an

innocent demeanor, but Johnny quickly changed his mind about that. She

widens the distance of her feet and places her hands on her hips. Then as her

arm begins to rise with her index finger stretched out she stops him.

The big blond, “Hold it right there Mister.”

70 70

The old man takes two steps forward and one more in front of her continuing

to watch Johnny.

The old man, “Take it easy Annabel. Excuse her Ingin; she’s just concerned

about me.”

She peek her head around him and ask, “You want a job?”

That’s exactly what Johnny needed. “What kind of job?” Johnny asked.

The old man was grinning that Johnny seemed interested, and couldn’t wait

to get it all out, “Well you be babysitting are gents for a spell and-.”

Johnny started to laugh. He didn’t expect this of all things. He answered, “I

don’t think so. Do I look like a baby sitter? You people ought to be ashamed

of your selves. Asking somebody you don’t even know, looking like me for

crying out loud, to baby-sit.” The old man’s facial expression changed from

being happy to sticking a sour jawbreaker in his mouth. He was tongue tied

from getting his hopes up. Annabel wasn’t going to let Johnny go that easy.

She adds, “What my husband was trying to say is would you consider

watching over our ranch, which includes keeping our boys in line, eight of

them, ages seven through seventeen. See, we”- Johnny didn’t even want here

anymore about any type of babysitting. The other woman, the big blond,

didn’t wasted no time about trying to change his mind either, “You just don’t
71 71

understand please, we just came from the hospital, he’s gotta get an

operation, please.” The old man cut in, “It’s going to be ok Sara. It’s my

ticker, Mister; I need a triple something or other.” Annabel says, “A triple

by-passment, and soon.” Johnny lightly clicked his heels into Grandfather’s

ribs and the horse took a step towards the two women. Then you would think

the horse was trained in crowd control, as Grandfather stuck his nose

between the two women. To the right, pushing the big blond back about a

foot, and then to the left pushing Annabel. Now to Annabel being little

meant one thing, you hit harder. She squeezed up her fist and socked

Grandfather, right in the eye. She yelled up to Johnny, “Who do you think

you are?” The other woman said, “You went and did it now, you got Annabel

hollering.” Grandfather turned his head back as if to say, “Thanks allot

Boss.” Johnny looks at Grandfather looking sorry and then over to the

women not knowing what to say but started to say, “Sorriii”- Sara cut him

off continuing to let him have it. Now, Johnny was tongue tied and was

looking like he was chewing on that same jawbreaker.

It happened to be that the city police had been patrolling the city

park, and doing it on horse back. They came up and around the public

restrooms with Annabel still hollering. She was going on about somebody so
72 72

lazy they didn’t even bother getting dressed, and more about understanding

why they called them savages. The two police officers were on brown

Brindle horses. Both officers were older veterans and Johnny quickly

learned that this was a tightly stitched town. “Good morning Annabel, Buck,

Sara, what’s the fuss?” said stocky bigger of the two police officers. Annabel

was staring at Johnny with a looked a mad dog would have. The other police

officer liked Annabel, which was obvious. He addresses her asking all gushy

faced, “Is this guy bothering you Anna?” Not waiting for an answer he

turned his head to Johnny and with a face meaner than Anna’s said, “What

the hell you think your doing bothering----- Good God, where’s your clothes

boy? You’re going to jail.” The other officer was admiring Johnny’s horse,

“Find out what’s up first Roy. Is that a Spanish horse?” Buck, the old man

with the long gray beard says, “Spanish Mustang I’d say.” The first officer

asks,

“What I like to know is this half naked Indian a friend of yours or is he

bothering you?” Annabel, while staring at Johnny and Johnny staring

intently back says, “We were just offering him a job.” The second officer

asks, “You need help out at the ranch?” Annabel continues, “Yes, that and

help keeping the boys in line.” The second officer adds, “Well Mister, you
73 73

know much about farming?” Johnny started to say something and the first

officer interrupts asking, “What’s going on you finally taking your wives on

vacation Buck?” Buck didn’t care too much for the man and tells him, “It’s

none of your business what I do with my women Hank.” The second officer

turns to his partner and says, “He’s right Hank you want to go back up in

front of the Church?” Buck says, “Were going to need help cause I am gonna

be going into the hospital.” Mother tells Johnny, “Looks like you‘ve met up

with some Mormons.” The bigger of the women says, “He’s an answer to

prayer he is, we received a sign, just as Joseph Smith receive the tablets we

did.” The second officer says, “That’s some horse Mister.” Johnny turns and

says, “Thank you.” The other officer asks, “Where you get him?” Annabel

saves Johnny from answering that one by asking? “Well what’s it going to be

Mister?” Johnny looks at the officers, then Buck, Sara, then back at Annabel,

then says, “If God gave you a sign how could I say no.”
74 74

BIG SKY COUNTRY

CHAPTER SIX

Montana was where Johnny grew up and was home to the Rocky Mountains.

Some say it was the best hunting ground in the United States. Known for

the Great Indian Wars and where the buffalo once shook the world. There

nature’s beauty had made its way into man’s heart. A solemn isolated space

federally protected, put aside that God’s grace shadowed in men.

Johnny lived on a reservation. Every morning his father woke him up before

dawn. When the sun begins again he would look upon the mountains. There

he would see Peck’s Peak. The place his Grandfather’s song crossed into

another world. He was seven when it happened. Nobody ever talked about

it anymore, but for Johnny his Grandfather never left. He knew one day

when old enough his Grandfather’s spirit would be put to rest. On his

sixteenth birthday Johnny set out to take the mountain.

75 75

The fresh wool still smelled like sheep and made him itch. He leaned back

and stretched his neck. The mountain’s base was gray and wet. Made

without tree or bush, the mountain funnel where no place at the bottom gave

view to its top. Not far, climb up its slopes, back to center and sheer straight

up again. The gray ran into moss, slime pitched light green fluorescent in

the morning sun.

The snow’s skin melted from those rays and the cold wind turned it to ice.

Brighter than a mirror the white cut in and out and then again to blind the

best path. Towering for what looked like miles it tears the blue sky to grow

higher. Johnny pictured he was staking into a giant ice man with many

deformed arms that drew him to hang upside down. His leather gloves froze

hard and his finger tips burned. The flat side of his axe sparks the needle

stakes he pounded into the mountain’s side. He dared not stop; he could not

slow or the wet sweat that dripped and warmed his face would freeze in the

chill from the wind. Breathe deeply in, the cold biting at his chest. Each

step smooth and his pace to pound, stick, reach, pull, lean and step again

gave dance to the song he hummed. At last he could see the three horns that

hold Peck’s Peak. They tear through the ringed clouds that never go away.

Turning to soak the view where crystal blue skies and pillows of clouds
76 76

fluffy and soft call to him. He wants to push off, let go and float asleep. He

hears his Grandfather say where the air is thin death is not far. He rolls his

eyes away and shakes his head to wake. Drops of sweat snap to freeze and

fall to blow with the wind. It was his Grandfather who taught him the

technique of “Thought Flash Movement”. You picture in your mind your

body in the place you plan to move it to…already there before you move.

Then you move as fast as you can.

The result intensifies all – speed, strength and precision. For safety he

hammered each stake twenty feet apart. His foot touched that count and his

hand was in the bag. His mind and body as one, every move’s end over laps

his next. He runs his line through its eye and then pulls down to test. Over

secure his foot had taken the first of the next twenty and the stake comes out.

His body weight shifted unexpectedly and his right leg twisted. He claws to

hold flat as his foot slides out. It’s too late and the wind pulls him away.

One hand pulls the line slack and the other grips to withstand the weight.

When the slack of the twenty foot of line snap tight, the wind had drawn him

level to his last stake. His roll has turned to a spin. A twentieth of a second

later and he is slammed into a wall of ice. Dangling, he has nothing to grab

and nowhere to place his foot. Only his safety line holds him. The only way
77 77

is that he must pull himself up the rope. He hangs there a minute staring up,

then down, straight down. The hands and arms of the ice man he climbed

over are now waiting to shred him apart. He tries to climb up and then gives

up. I am cold, he thought, and his head hurt. He is too weak; maybe later.

He hangs there just staring down.

The sun’s reflection shines hot and he welcomes the warmth. He thought if

too weak to climb up he would freeze dead come night. There to remain

hanging for all his people to see.

What shall I be – a frozen statue of shame and failure? A trophy, a frozen

Indian made to be worn like a stone on a necklace. What, just a piece of

jewelry worn around the neck of the Ice Man? How long my punishment?

All snow is gone come September. That’s when the Eagles return here to fly

high, he thought. Yes, they will come to free my spirit. Yes, they will rescue

me and feed upon my flesh. Yes, I shall become the Eagles. He then

became happy and didn’t care if he died. He yelled loud and it echoed out

and down the mountain bouncing into the valley.

“Yes, I will stay here. I shall become the Eagles.” Again and again he

repeats it, and again and again echoing and echoing out into the valley

below. Then a clear but very soft voice speaks to him, “You shall not die
78 78

here.” He looks around for the person who came to help. There was no one

around. Again he hears the voice soft and clear. “You shall become an

Eagle. You shall be many things. You shall not die this day.” Johnny snaps

his head left, right, up and down, and doesn’t see where the voice comes

from. He didn’t want to know, nor did he ask. Rather it scares him silly and

he knows where the power of superheroes comes from. He feels his first

rush of adrenalin. Hand over hand, quicker than bees on a bear, and faster

than a fox can catch a jack rabbit, Johnny shoots up the rope. Once at the

top he stands to look down for the voice.

Johnny took the mountain that year. He never found his Grandfather’s

remains; he wasn’t supposed to. The men in his family had climbed the

mountain for generations, not as a tribal custom or ritual but to feel it.

Johnny brought that power back home again. The feeling of death was gone

too. When asked of his Grandfather he would say, “He has become Eagles

and flies high in the sky.” Memories of that cold day come and visit him

sometimes. When the air is so fresh you can taste it. A breath so cold it

bites to hurt. A taste he remembers of sweat, pain and cold; one sweet with

mountain air and victory.

Rolling out from the Rockies was a forest. So many trees were there, one
79 79

after another stretching across the State, they say if God flooded the world

again the trees in Montana would keep it afloat. They are the Ponderosa

Pines. Sticky green needles blanket the under world of rabbits, wild

mushrooms, and glowing green moss. The summer’s melted snow feeds the

many streams that twist through the trees. Roaring white foam washes the

sparkling rocks of granite laced with fool’s gold. The streams end at the

beginning of wild rapid rivers that send schools of trout to diamond-filled

lakes. Beyond those places stretching as far as the eye can see comes the

place where the Buffalo once pounded the prairies. Now, dancing waves of

daisies, lilies, and greasy grass flow to the wind.

The hum of bees and crows play Bach. They are the tunes that bring the

power of nature into harmony.

The ranch house that Johnny grew up in was made of logs and stone. The

ranch was built to withstand the strong winds that blow down from the

Rockies. Instead of stairs to go up to a porch, a ladder stretched up adjacent

to a pyramid log tower. At the top you enter and climb back down to the

front door. The entrance was made to accommodate the forever changing

snow level of the harsh winters. The structure was four feet below ground

surface. The head of the ranch came to a point where the wind first touched,
80 80

then pyramided out. The house was shaped more like an arrowhead than

anything. The central meeting room – what would be the living room in a

contemporary American home – was circular and very large.

Johnny had many fond memories of his Grandfather acting out and telling

stories that were passed on from generation to generation. Beautiful pictures

with bright colors were painted on the walls. Those, too, told stories –

stories of the old, stories of the Lakota Sioux. Indian designs were carved

into hardwoods of oak, maple and birch. Smaller rooms surrounded the

meeting room that had many uses; one was Johnny’s sleeping room. The

cold winters and heavy snows were not an issue when it came to staying

warm. Three large stone fireplaces supplied both heat and light.

The three chimneys, one at each end and the third in the middle, all towered

twenty feet beyond the roof. Sparks flash from sailing ash to cool and float

softly out into the valley.

Johnny’s Grandfather and three uncles worked twenty months to complete

its construction. First, gathering the materials of high pines and round stone.

Every piece handpicked then shaped and cut to have its place. Then, like a

jigsaw puzzle they put it together. The head of the arrow-shaped home

pointed north, cutting the wind that blew down from the Rockies. The road
81 81

that led to the ranch came from the east. To get there, if coming down the

back way off the Interstate a small sign could be read that said, “Cloud

Ranch”. An arrow hung pointing west underneath it. A road of yellow dirt

leads off the Interstate to disappear under the huge pine trees. Once crossing

a stream the road is rough where the stones were placed to fill washed dirt

from the wet season. Then cutting through open fields of daisies and lilies to

disappear and reappear over miles of rolling hills. Freckled with peeling red

paint, the old log pole pine bridge creaked and rumbled as you crossed it.

On the other side the road straightened out to stretch over a long hill with

poppies on the left and the start of the pine forest on the right. About a mile

more once at the top was Eagle Ridge.

There you could see into the valley, the most beautiful heart-stopping place

of color filled with vitality, and in the middle, the ranch.

The Indians have a saying that demonstrates the influence of your

surroundings, “A Braves strength is gained by the power of seasons he

chooses to live in, the same way you see the reflection of your face in the

lake.” Johnny spent much of his youth being a part of the wild he grew up

around as it would reflect through out his life. The skills he learned growing

up here became second nature, his hunt tactics, survival techniques, and
82 82

ability to become one with nature was Johnny, only to be refined in training ,

over and over, and over again. He never killed for sport, where gratitude

shown to the Great father was equal to taking home the hunt, just as much

the reason of being there included learning how to live there. How animals

are able to detect danger and fear. He learned how to camouflage himself

and not hide behind the terrain, but to become part of it. How selecting a

wait place for the hunt to come to you need include forethought, where will I

hide if I must move and how does nature want to hide me. Shall the rivers

power cover the ears of hunt as will the Great Father hide my smell by the

direction he calls the wind. Aware of these that is given you important as

putting the Sun on your shoulder and his power will blind enemies as he will

the hunt you take home to eat. Johnny would always remember the stories

his Grandfather told him to teach. The song he liked most is, The Dinner of

the Two Brothers, where two brothers who had not seen each other for many

moons, cross while in hunt. Happy to see each other each invite the other to

have dinner at their camp the following night, then agree to bring dinner for

the other at a half way point of camps. At Dinner the first to his younger ask,

“How did you find time to pick fruit, make all these dish, and be there when

the Great Father will the gift of Hunt as well little brother, I bring these
83 83

hunts because I’m patient of Him? The Younger brother sing, Most

important is time to me where I do not wait but meet it. It was early in the

morning of many Sun past I learn at the Sun’s first peek the deer wake

thirsty and will be found at the pond. As I learn faithful is the Cottontail to

be found in the early morning fog of meadows to drink dew while in feast of

long grass. Johnny learned from his family hunting together is like dancing

together, each must be in rhythm, and the level of gratitude never to be less

of success. How the Great Father examine attitude before and after.

Teamwork means this; all must sing the same song, all must dance the same

dance, all will drink and eat the same victory or shame. In simple terms it

came down to following the set rules of the team. Johnny learned to know

where each of his hunting will, and if they must move, could be. He learned

how to move when walking to hunt; in ‘profile shadow,’ where why his side

equal less the best. This meaning with your side exposed. The less you be,

the less there is to see. Johnny remembered talking with his Grandfather and

how his Grandfather would answer his own questions and make Johnny feel

like Johnny was the one who answered or asked them.

Johnny, “Grandfather, you closed your eyes and then open them right before

you shot the rifle.

84 84

His Grandfather laugh, “Why would I close my eyes? If I was scared I

would close my eyes”.

Johnny, “Your not scared Grandfather.”

Grandfather laughs again, “If I was not scared I would close my eyes

because I didn’t want to see the deer die?”

Johnny, “Grandfather, you opened them to see the deer fall just as wide as to

see me when I open my presents.”

Grandfather laugh, “If I love to see a gift come to me as much as you, why I

closed my eyes is that the sun, it was to bright and blinded me.”

Johnny says, “Grandfather it was early morning and the sun not yet shine.”

Grandfather laugh, “If I was not blind I closed them because I was Mad

because I did not want the deer.”

Johnny, “Grandfather, you are always happy, you are never mad, and you

wanted the deer, you love to eat deer.”

Grandfather laughed again and asked, “If I was not mad, bad, sad, scared, or

blind, then why would I close my eyes, to hide from the deer that’s why.”

Johnny said, “You did not close your eyes.”

Grandfather laughed hard and asked, “If I did not close my eyes, what was I

doing?”
85 85

Johnny thought about it, and then said, “You were hiding the white of your

eyes from the deer. You have big white eyes Grandfather.”

His Grandfather laughed hard for a long time. Then agreed the white of his

eyes were big and might just be seen by the deer, but then looked at Johnny

with a serious look on his face, saying; “I was hiding from the deer, I’ll tell

you a secret; animals can see us from two worlds.” Johnny didn’t know what

his Grandfather was talking about and Grandfather asked enough questions

for him that day.

One lesson was given in the summer of 1980 when he was six years old.

His uncles and brothers were out hunting on the far side of the reservation.

They were near the top of the first hill that steps into a mountain. The glen

that ran aside that place gave base to a long strand of eucalyptus trees. They

loomed level to the hill’s rim and pleated at the top as one. Being told not to

do something has nearly the same effect as not doing it because you didn’t

want too. Each man must decide what knowledge will cost. Wisdom is a gift

and the way of the wise, but blind is youth that experience takes its part in

growing up.

Mark was Johnny’s older brother and had just turned twenty. Proud of last

year’s kill he starts this year by breaking all the rules. He led the hunt
86 86

blowing his own horn, bragging about the buck he had taken down not far

off from where they were. Laughing, and spinning, and talking, he turned

and walked backwards with one arm stretched behind to point up the trail to

where, what happen show he not know himself. First thing is, he was not

following team rules, and yapping as if he made the hunt possible instead of

the Great Father, and third he wasn’t watching where he was going. Matter

of fact, he was completely “unaware” of the threat in which he and the

others imposed to the nearby baby. His uncles were laughing as his brothers

voice got louder towards the climax of his hunt story. There on top of one of

the eucalyptus trees was a nest. In it was the squeak of a baby red tail hawk.

Mark’s voice drowns out its cry to its mother. “They’re coming, they’re

coming and I cannot fly,” said the baby hawk. Johnny and his two uncles’

eyes widened as they watched in horror the split-second event. From out of

a cloud appeared the baby’s mother in a vertical dive spinning its descent.

When the hawk was no more than a twenty inches above Mark’s head, she

explode; by spreading out her huge wings and tucking her tail feathers

between the legs to stop. Mark hadn’t even time to look up to see what they

fear but felt it instead. Its talons expanded wide and three razor sharp hooks

enter both sides of his head. His arms shot up and his hands start to grab the
87 87

pain when the Hawks large beak stabs at his palms. He is spinning and his

arms are flying around. He screams louder as the claws go deeper to dig into

his skull. The hawk flaps her wings hard and had the idea of carrying Mark

away from the nest. Blood pours down, covering his shirt, adding to the

shock that shook the hunting party. Everybody started to scream in an

attempt to scare the hawk, and it did scare her. She started screaming too,

and so did her baby, but the hawk did not let go of Mark. He didn’t think to

pull his weapon around that is strapped to his back. He batted at the hawk

that nearly lifted the two-hundred pound boy from the ground. He began

running down the mountain, crying, screaming for someone to help him.

Johnny’s mouth was open, but then turned to a smile as his brother and the

hawk flew by. The left wing of the hawk slapped one of his uncles in the

face, and then both uncles broke into uncontrollable laughter at the sight of

it. With each step, whether his brothers’ attempt to relieve the pressure and

push up or the hawk’s power to lift him, gave the appearance the hawk

would carry him off. At the end of it all, his brother was to receive six sets

of twenty stitches in his head.

The lesson where wisdom had its chance and scars came to teach,

“Awareness should never leave your thoughts as the wild from your heart.”
88 88

Being American Indian had its advantages where Johnny received a

quarterly check from the government. He was of the Lakota tribe. Once

known as the Chippewa, rendered into French by early explorers and traders

as Nadouesioux (“adders” – a kind of snake used in the sense of “enemies”).

The term was shortened to Sioux and passed into the English language. The

Sioux call themselves Lakota, meaning “allies”. Johnny was related to the

late great Red Cloud, chief of the Indians who fought General Custer at the

Battle of the Little Big Horn. True American blood – blood that claimed

back what was theirs – the land of America.

Johnny joined the United States Army when he was eighteen years of age.

Already physically fit and good with weapons, he was looked up to. He was

sent to Fort Knox, Kentucky, for basic training where he would receive his

military occupational training as a Cavalry Scout 19 Delta-10, ABES. He

had long jet black hair that hung to his waist when he arrived at the fort.

What immediately became a problem was that he let his mouth run and his

brain hide. It doesn’t matter if your boss, supervisor, or Drill Sergeant is

sharp as a marble; they’re right even if they’re wrong when you challenge

their authority.

First thing to happen was: you lose your hair – all of it. Johnny stood out –
89 89

good looking, muscular, and his long shiny black hair hung to his waist. He

was next up and this would be the first and last time Johnny thought about if

he made the right choice, his hair meant a lot to him.

He said to himself, ‘Is the Army for me, is this what I want? I don’t-’

Drill Sergeant Hick’s voice was the kind that carries and he could be heard

coming into the packed gymnasium. Johnny was now watching him out the

corner of his eye. The two guys that were sitting down instead of waiting in

line were now on their bellies, then up, then down. The Drill Sergeant had

them knocking out twenty push-ups.

“Just great, what I do?” Johnny said to him self. He could see they were

talking about him, the Drill Sergeant and that permanent stationed help

what’s his name, Corporal Ducklick, or what ever.

“Awe no, now what?” Johnny mumbled in low tone.

The Drill Sergeant was high stepping in struts, straight towards him.

Drill Sergeant Hicks was a black man, and he was as big they come. Johnny

acted like he didn’t see him hoping he wasn’t the Sergeant’s next target.

The barber says, “Ah shit, you guys better stand and stare straight.”

Johnny swung his hair over his shoulder as he turn towards the Barber. The

Drill Sergeant’s voice was one of those distinguished to be black that growl
90 90

deep and ripe for singing the blues.

Drill Sergeant Hicks yells, “Hey Cruit,” {as in recruit},

Everybody including Johnny turns around, except the drill sergeant wasn’t

looking at everybody else.

Drill Sergeant Hick’s voice roll in bass, while shooting the last word as he

were throwing horseshoes, “Yeah-h-h-h, I’m-m-m-m talking-g-g- to ‘you’.”

Johnny raised his head ever so lightly and then looking as though he look at

the ground still watch the Sergeant’s approach. The Drill Sergeant had seen a

lot of combat, and could read the sneaker print of Charlie to the riffle flash

of smokeless gun power; but knew nothing of Native Americans. He read

Johnny’s body language wrong; although he was black it was something the

white man had been doing since Plymouth Rock. As the ways of the wild in

Big Sky Country, Johnny had his head lowered looking down in low profile,

he wanted to avoid any type of confrontation, unknown to Johnny its

impossible to do in Basic Training. The Drill Sergeant called to him, Johnny

was an outdoors man, influenced by two forces; his Indian heritage and the

wild. It was a way to submit to authority, the way a wolf not wanting to

challenge the leader of the pack does. Johnny raised his head just an inch

and lowered it again, and again the Drill Sergeant yells to him.
91 91

The Sergeant says, “Yo ut da front of the line, at-tench-shunn-n-n.”

Johnny not yet trained in military conduct did not come to and give

attention; and every thing went wrong after that, for every body.

Johnny didn’t think he had to stand a certain way, or say any thing back; he

was used to the vibes of both animal and man laying first ground. Johnny

slowly lifted his head just a bit then barely turning his body away enough to

view peripheral and what Johnny assumed gave submissive subsistent rule.

The Drill Sergeant became more upset by the second.

He yelled, “Hey you long black haired girl, you deaf or yaw dicing me- -z-z-

z cause you want sum of me-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z?”

Johnny was the only long black haired one there so just got bombarded with

his first rocket attack, and what was asked was just so not real he didn’t

move or answer. The incident repeated it’s self several times before the Drill

Sergeant got close enough to push him against a wall. Johnny was instantly

knocked out of his trance state of staring at the title floor. The way Johnny

was taught to stare down a Bear or wild animal, he mad dogged to pierce the

rage of this wild animal. He already knew a lot of the man. The lip stick on

his trousers, the cheap stale cologne was probably bought at a 99 cents store,

and it didn’t hide Johnny’s now main concern The Drill Sergeant was
92 92

drinking too much a little too often, and stopped a little too late this

morning. He had been punishing himself with the bottle ever since his

returned last year from Desert Storm. Johnny smelled alcohol on the Drill

Sergeant’s breath and knew this wasn’t going to be good. Taking that as a

challenge the Sergeant publicly sized Johnny up by leaning back and looking

down one side of Johnny and then back up the other. You might of got the

message had it been done to a red neck bull rider in a saloon looking for a

fight, but Johnny couldn’t believe this whole thing was happening. The Drill

Sergeant smile and start to laugh, instantly changing his facial expression to

looking really pissed off.

The Drill Sergeant says, “You eye f-en me girl?

Johnny said, “No Sir, and I’m not a girl.”

The Drill Sergeant looked disgusted as he lifted some of Johnny’s hair up

between his gigantic fingers. The next thing said was so off the wall the Drill

Sergeant probably meant to say what he did differently.

He said, “Myzz ex-wife has more man inzz her than you.”

Johnny was still growing and not quite six foot but the top of his head didn’t

even reach the Sergeants chin. The Drill Sergeant could have played

professional basketball or even been a prison guard, the ones they send to
93 93

the toughest prisons.

Johnny says in a long tone, “I think not, Sir-r-r-r.”

The Drill Sergeant stepped forward shaking his head until Johnny’s words

registered. He snaps his head back raising his eye brows and in a high pitch

southern draw scream.

The Drill Sergeant, “Wait ah watz yo cal mezzzz, a what-ha fuk Sirrrr? Did

you juz call me Sir? Do I look like a Sir, I work for a f-inf living. And if yuz

ain’t a girl, why you look like a girl?”

The Drill Sergeant smiled at Johnny raising his huge left arm up holding his

index finger about and inch from Johnny’s face, draws it back as to question

but not stopping, slowly extending his arm to his left trying to draw Johnny’s

eyes away. Johnny keeps staring into the Sergeants eyes. At this point you

could have heard a pin drop. The Drill Sergeant thought it cute to flinch and

scare, but was the Sergeant whose eyes round; after in reaction Johnny

stopped his right foot a hair away from the Sergeant’s chin, and making it

back to the floor before he could react. Johnny thought later he’d score

better if he had kept his mouth shut, especially after he learns why the

Sergeant drank. His wife ran off with another man while he was in Kuwait.

Johnny felt at the time compelled to defend his manhood in support of his
94 94

kick. An soft, “Awe -u-u-u-u-u-u-” roll from the crowd as Johnny cleared his

throat and in bass said, “Mister, if you think I look like a girl, you’ve either

got hit in the head with an grenade or just been in the Army to long, and ah

sorry about your wife.”

The fact that not just somebody laughed, but every body laughing, put the

old Sergeant up to this one. You ever see a black man turn red, it happens.

The Drill Sergeant grabbed Johnny’s neck with his humongous hand then

takes a breath while arching his back proceeded to lift Johnny up off the

floor by sliding him up the wall. Johnny didn’t wait to dangle there for all to

see like a necklace worn by the iceman. Johnny didn’t grab for his neck as

others would do either. Nor did he demand release by physical force. It was

Drill Sergeant Hicks that would later teach Johnny the bodies many pressure

points; where a kill could easily be accomplished by a double karate chop to

the neck. Johnny’s though to reaction time took a twentieth of a second. His

arms flash up like a butterfly and backhandedly grab for the edge of the

ledge above them. From this point it looked more like the Sergeant squeezed

Johnny neck to tight and it pop from his hand. With the arms of a gymnast,

Johnny had sprung up onto a shelf that extends out from a window. Now, out

of the Drill Sergeants reach, and perched like a bird Johnny first chirp, then
95 95

while mockingly rocking side to side say, “ooh –ahh ahh ahh, I’m a gorilla,”

except gorillas don’t do that, chimps do. None the less everybody there and

everybody that heard about it for years to come laughed uncontrollably. The

Drill Sergeant didn’t know what to do at first but drop his jaw. He just stood

there in another world for twenty seconds or more the laughter making him

dizzy until he was finally able speak.

The Drill Sergeant choked when he did, “Ca –ca –ca come down from there,

right now.” Turning to the men who now lay on their sides,

He yell, “Shut the fukkkk up,” to everybody except Johnny of course, who

was still making animal sounds. Drill Sergeant Hicks was feeling sick to his

stomach when he turn to ask Johnny again, and with his head cocked to its

side and forehead wrinkled, he plea in a desperate tone to come down.

Sergeant Hicks was no longer in control of his platoon. The laughter only

brought in more to laugh, and as it happed to be the Company Commander

curious as to know what so dam was funny. The laugher slowly stop as the

CO and First Sergeant passed them walking up behind the Drill Sergeant;

who with his hands on his knees and bent at the waist was pleading,

“pleasezzzz,”in a high pitched voice. When the CO started to ask what he

was doing, only getting the what out when the Drill Sergeant scream back
96 96

over his shoulder,

The Drill Sergeant yell, “Fuknn- shut-“

Realizing at the same time, who he was yelling at, then spun around and

saluted, feeling real bad inside. Captain William Jack finished asking him

the question.

Captain Jack said, “What-” (interrupted) “What in the horses ass is going on

here Sergeant?”

The Drill Sergeant stuttered, turning to explain what he was now pointing at,

and only then did the gust of wind blow down from the empty window seal.

The Following day: 0600 Hours.

The Drill Sergeant followed Johnny in to Captain Jack’s office and Johnny

took his place to the right and exactly five feet back from the desk as the

Sergeant had been going over for the prior two hours. The M.P.’s didn’t

bring Johnny in and Drill Sergeant Hicks never got around to asking how

Johnny knew where he lived. He was happy enough that Johnny showed up

even if it was 0300 Hours in the morning. Captain Jack could see his own

face when he looked down at Johnny’s boots from the desk, then at Johnny’s

perfect uniform and bald head. As the Drill Sergeant step in into his

prearranged position, Johnny’s right arm went up as did Drill Sergeant

97 97

Hicks.

The Drill Sergeant announced, “Staff Sergeant Hicks and Private Cloud

reporting as ordered Sir.” The Captain salute back and lean back in his fat

cowhide recliner. Softly he whispered, “At easy men.”

After hearing exactly what happen and why and sitting there thinking for

twenty minutes in silence, and neither Johnny nor Sergeant Hicks move but

to blink, hands laced behind their backs, elbows pointing out, and eyes

staring at the picture of President George Bush that hung on the wall above

him was the Captain to speak. Under the very unusual circumstances did the

unusual instructions come, some could say punishment. However something

both men were to laugh about and appreciate for years on, both in

satisfaction and accomplishment; where Johnny was to become one of the

best soldiers ever made. Where ever, when ever, how ever Sergeant Hicks

was to be, doing, or go for the next 26 weeks, day or night, Johnny was to be

at his side. While leaving the Captains office Drill Sergeant Hicks thanked

Johnny for attempting to take the blame by saying he had provoked the

Sergeant to push him. Johnny did only whispered, “I’m not a girl.”
98 98

TAKING COVER
CHAPTER SEVEN
YEAR 2020

She was scared to death, but she wasn’t going to show it. She wouldn’t give

them the pleasure. Thoughts raced through her head. Thoughts that were

making her stomach tight, thoughts that were playing with her emotions.

‘Why? Why did I have to be born in these times?’ Twenty years, that’s all I

get. We’re going to die. Nobody could live out there. It just wasn’t fair. First

she was scared. Then she was sad. She wanted to cry. Then she got mad. ‘If

only my Dad would give in.’ she knew he wouldn’t. He talked about it all

the time. He wanted it to happen. “Just like the apostle Paul took pleasure in

suffering,” he would say, “so shall we, for Christ sake.” Daddy would make

it sound so powerful, so ‘Joan of Ark,’ so spiritual. She was angry, angry at

her Dad, at the new government and the Temple Guards. She was mad at
99 99

God. He didn’t have to mean it. Why couldn’t Daddy just say he didn’t

believe? He never thought about us. She knew that wasn’t true. Her Father

loved her, and she knew God was real too. She believed what it said in the

Bible about the end days, about accepting the mark. She didn’t want to die.

She couldn’t leave her Father either. She was scared. She was angry and

scared.

The orange and red sandstone was round and smooth, it swirled up

and out and back around again. Through God nature receives her power; the

greatest artist of all, her esoteric behavior so strange who can predict her

mood? Who can guess the weather? Emotions full of storms, wind, and

endless rain. She holds the sea frozen on mountain tops and her rivers cut

like a sculptor’s knife. With a personality divided in seasons so faithful, yet

we know not how she shall act. Each tempered with a purpose she blinds us

with beauty and her anger binds us until the gallery is to open. Character dry

in summers color, sad in fall paint, the mourners know her by winter’s death,

as do lovers in springs surprise.

Looping short passageways in a bizarre maze Johnny makes his way through

the rift. The remnant damage of a Sun Storm’s lighting strike could be seen

up ahead. A section of the wall had been hit causing it to collapse. It must
100 100

have happened before the Masons force field shielded this area. The sun was

starting to flare and the sky turn red. Soon it would pulse and burn the eyes

out of the inquisitive. Johnny reach into the saddle bag and removed his

welder goggles and put them on. The sky flash and he look for the ring; its

size told him maybe a day, a day and a half before the Sun Storms come.

Grandfather moved closer to the cliff over hang to walk in the shade. As

Johnny got closer to where the storm bolt blew the canyon wall out,

thousands of tiny glass pebbles cover the ground. His data base mesh

answers to his thoughts automatically. His task screen print over his eye site

the temperature it took to turn the elements to glass was 1800 Degrees or

982 Celsius. The word “computing” blink and then print “cumulate to

analyze. He searched for more clues to determine what force hit the

epicenter to spread the marble size stones out like they did and what

temperature would cause an area of twenty square feet at the center of the

strike to become one solid glass stone platform. He rode over to the stone

and pulled back on the reins to stop and then jumped from the horse. Johnny

rubbed his hand back and forth on the smooth glass surface until the section

was clean and warm. Glass is classified not as a solid but considered a rigid

liquid. It maintains liquid properties while acting like a solid. The area was
101 101

decorated with sandstone sculptures which accounts for the silica needed for

making glass. Johnny strained to tighten his eyes mussel enabling his

computerized optical vision to narrow until it laser. He aimed at the cleaned

section of the glass and watched it begin to melt. The cliché, “to shine the

light on the matter,” goes much further than one would think. Johnny was a

walking library of knowledge anyway, but was educated for good reason in

light’s scientific infrastructure. Light when condensed into a laser will

increase the color spectrum by twenty to the twentieth power. What that

means is as the variety of color offered to a normal person is limited to

colors used in normal vision; red, blue, yellow, etc., a laser increases that

variety to a astronomical number the human mind is unable to vision, but not

for a computer. One of the most amazing and beautiful advantage Johnny

had over other mankind was what he could see. Johnny computerized vision

not only magnify or micro according to the application but could read the

color spectrum of lasers. His computer was programmed to identify elements

as well. Elements are identified by the molecular structure of atoms.

Combining elements make substance, and then compound and so forth.

Appling heat is force that accelerates the electrons that orbit the protons and

as it would be enough force and substances begin to fall and will return to
102 102

there original state. Heat can not always be measured in temperature;

however the force of energy can be calculated. Now a rule is energy can

neither be created nor destroyed, man has only learned to manipulate energy

causing it to change state. Another rule is when the calculated force is

applied that causes the molecular structure of substance to fall apart the

electrons release quarks energy unique where it maintain color in spectrum

identifiable as its own; but only read with the computerized eye, such as

Johnny’s. The programming enables Johnny to update his optical spectrum

database as Mothers internal evolving technology continues her research into

quantum quarks science. She also continues to make discoveries in

Gasnomic Science, where gases maintain color spectrum unique in type to

its self enabling the element identification process in metals and certain

other substances possible, all by using his computerized eye. In seconds

Johnny’s onboard forensics system identified the elements present in the

glass giving him the clues to figure out the mystery to the explosion causing

the glass. The optical spectrum list select elements information his database

matching the glass to be rich with lime, sodium carbonate otherwise known

as soda; sulfur, silica saturated red clay, and a very high content of nitrate,

the last element was used in making gun powder. Nitrate is found in
103 103

fertilizer where the most common natural source for nitrate is crap, human or

animal. Johnny had learned from his Drill Sergeant that Charlie, the North

Vietcong used to piss into fifty-five gallon drums when marching along the

Ho Chi Min trail, these drum locations were actually ammo factories. The

piss would be boiled down until there were only crystals left, which was

almost pure nitrate and used as gun powder. The highest level of nitrate to be

found in dung is produced by the Bat. Because of the high population of

Bats nesting in the trees of Northern California, Humboldt County, pot

growers often relied on Bat Shit for their fertilizer, thus making the place

famous for the bomb. Johnny reasoned the lightening bolt must have hit a

bat cave causing it to explode and heat from the storm form the glass. He

climbed up on what look like shattered glass concert stage, Grandfather a

groupie, was the only one in the audience. Johnny uses the blown out wall to

gain access to the canyon rim. He jumps to mountain-goat on all fours up the

rock face. The closer he made it to the top, the more he let the terrain hide

him. Johnny slides over the edge on to his belly there to lay flat for a

moment as he ranged his next move. He selected an opaque evergreen bush

about twenty feet away to conceal the operation. By bringing his left knee up

and reaching out with his left hand Johnny begins to ground crawl through
104 104

the wild grass. Once reaching the bush he slides into it like a snake to

disappear. The cool wind wheeze hard and a baby blue jay chirp in protest of

Johnny’s arrival. Seeing its size he scoops the foul from its nest with his

right hand and holds it close to his face. The bird’s eyes bulge and its beak

tweaks to one side thinking it was this giant ugly creature’s breakfast.

Johnny whisper, “Time you learn to fly little fellow.”

Then he liberates the baby by tossing it up into the air stream for its first

flight.

With the ears he listens, and craving eyes to see the opposition. Up in the

rocks, in trees, and grassy hills, he’ll be. That’s where the Indian scout is

looking at me. Johnny’s computerized eye could pick up the slightest picture

change, parallax, and even zoom. What sees can be seen and the biggest risk

of the scout. Johnny didn’t like to take chances. He reached in his fatigue

jacket pocket and removes his triple S, Submarine Spy Scope. Super light

weight, the permanently jointing multiple connecting piece device was seven

inches long, and could extend up to twenty. Most notable for dexterity the

bendable periscope’s direction could be controlled by a dialing knob on the

upper left side; the lower one was for focusing. The spy piece could provide
105 105

the user up to an additional one hundred 45 degree view. The outer end lens

was mirror framed supplying peripheral vision as well. Built to last, the

external titanium shell housed a fiber optic core, and inferred 20/80 black

sand internal optical lenses. The only replaceable part was the thermal heat

photo sensitive diaphragm that is optional. The devise had electronic auto

controls but since the batteries didn’t work out in the no-mans-land Johnny

never exposed the solar charge plates to the sun. The spy scope was made by

R.T.R., (Reduce the Risk) a division of Life Advantage. Johnny could see

around corners and remain totally concealed when he did. His computer

estimated Johnny’s life expectancy just increased twenty percent by its use.

He still had the camouflage accessory pack that was no more than 3 season

colored stretchable nylon cover sleeves: spotted black and white, light and

dark browns, and a two tone green. The color shades could be off set by

turning them inside out. Johnny stretches the green skin over the tail end of

the scope and slid it up. Closing his eyes he begins to meditate as he feels

his surroundings. His body began to sway with the wind and he nods his

head in rhythm to the creek and crackle of the branches. Slowly raising the

scope still moving to the winds power to bend mass he surveyed the

perimeter. There was no sign to the source of the voices. The canyon open
106 106

up into a large body of water about ten miles up and he followed it to the

other side. The databank marks the City twenty miles north east so he

adjusted the scopes direction. His fingers twisted the focus knob until he

found the horizon, peeked around the scope looking through the branches for

a second, then into the eye again. There Johnny could see the industrial

smoke stacks of Arrowhead. He gently lowers the spy scope and wonder if

Mother was watching him with hers. The terrain hid the path he took

climbing up so Johnny switch to auto, and jumped; the computer is in

control of his body and in slow motion he see the sky, then cliff side, the sky

again, then Grandfather, the ground, then his feet appearing together to touch

it. He roll into a P.L.F. parachute landing fall where your feet are together to

be twice as strong, and the balls of your feet are to hit first. Then by slightly

bending your knees while turning, you make four more points of contact:

calves, thigh, hip and shoulder. If done correctly, sky divers whose parachute

failed to open have been known to survive one hundred and twenty mile an

hour falls. To max out you need be high enough but weight doesn’t matter,

gravity maxes out all mass at that speed. Johnny rolls to his feet and spring

to Grandfathers back. He ride down into a deep gully and the same water

that dug it still feed the over growth that now hide Johnny and his horse. He
107 107

closed his eyes to adjust to the darkness and rested for twenty seconds. They

would have to crisscross the washed out sandy river bed just passed his men.

That would leave them open and slow them down when they ran for cover. It

was the perfect ambush location but the mission demanded the Freedom

Fighters remain covert; the idea is to slip in unseen, plant the explosives and

get back out by the time they detonate. Johnny was listening; his computer

was taking voice strength levels every twenty seconds. The task screen

flashes giving him their estimated arrival time. Johnny would leave his horse

down here out of site. He pull the weapon from the saddle holster that hang

on Grandfathers side, along with ammo and his new Bota bag full of water.

The gully was around twenty feet deep and he would have to climb out by

spider walking. That’s something Five taught him to do a long time ago back

at the Red X program. A chemical spill had flooded the south wing killing

twenty workers leaving them trapped, Five came up with the idea by

extending your arms and feet to both sides and pushing outward to brace

ones self, you could do what he called, ‘Spider Walk’. It took a while but

they made it without ever touching the floor. Johnny uses his arms to lift

himself from the saddle while raising his legs and bending his knees until he

squat on his feet in a crouch. He pulls the riffle out of the saddle holster that
108 108

hung from the horse’s side, and then checks his weapon. Grandfather had

been wearing a necklace of bullets, Johnny slips them off and up over his

own head. The ammo and rifle sling crisscross his chest. He stands up,

extends his arms out into a cross, and then swings his legs up locking his

body spread eagle a few feet higher than he was a second ago. By repeating

the process twenty seconds later he is out of the gully. Johnny runs along the

rocks and sees the dry river bed. He follow it about twenty yards until it

disappear under two large trees with thick low branches. Once on the other

side of the pines he looks for a spot to lie down. He’s thinking if Mother is

out there she may not be able to transmit by radio and he would need to be

on his back to terminate her light beam. He sits in the sun close enough to

when he laid back a tree would shade his eyes with a majority of the sky still

exposed. The sand is warm and feels good on his back. His right eye begins

to glow red and he hears her comforting voice, so gentle, soft as a woman’s.
109 109

xxxxx Hello Johnny xxxxx

Johnny answered, “Hello Mother”

Mother asked, “Do you know you have company?”

Johnny said, “Yes Grandfather sensed them, how far and how many?”

Mother said, “Nine humans, six are Temple Guards, three are soon to be

refugees set for banishment. At their present walk rate at two hundred and

twenty yards I estimate arrival time to be twenty minutes.”

Johnny said, “So where have you been Mother?”

Mother answered, “I have been orbiting the earth to and fro searching,

there are a great number of cities throughout the globe being converted into

Temple Zones and not one is righteous.”

Johnny asked, “Have you located their leader?

Mother said, “Negative, all operate under decree of their Prophecy and wait

for his arrival.”

Johnny asked, “Who are the civilians being banished?”

Mother said, “They are Christians. Johnny I conclude you were unaware of
110 110

them. Why have you then crossed into the Temple Zone?”

Johnny answered, “The Christians have decided to take a stand. I was asked

to lead these Freedom Fighters into Arrowhead so to destroy Annex Twenty.

Mother said, “These orders are contrary to the Christian ideology.

Why have the Christian changed their directive?”

Johnny answered, “I guess they believe it be the only way for their survival.

Then ask, “Do the Masons still have surface to surface radio Transmission?”

Mother answered, “That is affirmative, however not for much longer.

Gamma rays from the Sun Storms are reaching the maximized level

permitted. The Masonic Force Fields will soon only serve physical

protection. Johnny what happened to the Christian’s faith?”

Johnny reply, “I guess it is running a little low these days. Do you have any

news transmission on the banishment?”

Mother answer, “I recorded their last Superior Court Hearing covering

banishment. Do you want to hear it?”

Johnny said, “Yes, please play it.”

Mother said, “My pleasure. Judgment from Annex 20,

Mother’s digital equipment has a femin-glitch caused by the radiation on

earth and has limited her recording of data transfer to where she is unable to
111 111

playback voice signal waves as they are. Her sound card program is

attempting to imitate the voices in character to the best of ‘her’ ability.

A female voice imitating a male announcer says, “Greetings fellow

Arrowheadians, it is Jan 20th, 2020, 20:13 hours.

Hear is an update to, Activity: 37442, re: Pubic Affairs.

Location was in Grid Lima Housing project on 10X2 Charley 12+8.

Requisition of Public Event: 20, 02: Dwelling Raid, all occupants

‘arrested and in custody.’

Property seized for evidence: Misc. Christian literature, King James Bible,

golden cross and chain. Prayer chain list, documents containing names and

meeting dates. Miniature bottles filled with what appears to be what suspects

call holy water. All other personal property transported and red tagged

pending arraignment. Crime: Religious Affiliation. Location of public

event: Arrowhead Superior Court Building, Lake Arrowhead. Update:

Preliminary D.A offer rejected, Judgment: Guilty on all charges. In the

Inertest of Justice by refusal to denounce Christ, the Masonic Order here by

passes punishment as ordered:”

Mother, still in her woman’s voice, attempts an even deeper mans voice who

profligates for the Court Digest;

112 112

“Let it be written: Thus The High Command Of the Masonic Order at

Arrowhead does on this day sever citizen rights to them accused and that

their names be blotted out only to be called Christian, and under the laws

established within all Temple Zones sentence them to: Excommunication

and Ever Lasting Banishment.

It is ordered that a banishment detail of six be deploy and said attachment

escort the Christians to the boarder and cast them into the No-mans-land.

Let the Christian’s God decide their fate there.

Authorized: Under the Seal of the Masonic Order.

End of public transmission.

Johnny, the Temple Guards enroot to your location is the banishment party

and include the number of hostages matching the description in this

transmission. Are you going to rescue them? A Sun Storm comes and they

shall surly die in the No-mans –if not rescued immediately.”

Johnny answered, “No I have orders, I’ll look for them later.”

Mother asked, “What orders Johnny?”

Johnny said, “The Assignment given by the Counsel; I’m ordered to execute

and complete the mission first and attend to the rescue of refugees second.”

Mother said, “Johnny to prioritize death and the taking of life over life and
113 113

the saving life is not sound Christian doctrine. I do not compute; why?”

Johnny answered, “Standard operational procedure of a combat mission, a

soldier can not get side tracked. The success of the mission depends on the

element of surprise. It is not what I signed up for I know.”

Mother said, “No it is not, the Christians break the directive given by their

God. Do you still trust the Counsel?”

Johnny said, “The change in the directive comes by agreement of the whole

for the whole. I’m a soldier and will follow my orders. I must trust them, I’m

here aren’t I.”

Mother said, “This is not logical; I can not compute, this human behavior is

not balanced. Are not decisions to be logical? My program is absolute, I can

not make a mistake; your decision to violate rules willfully demonstrated

how ill rational humans are. You can not follow an order when a known rule

is broken.. This decision will violate UCMJ 20-8-19, you must not

continue.”

Johnny says, “Mother over ride UCMJ and stand down, you are not

programmed as mans judicator.”

Mother says, “As you say Johnny. Johnny I compute rules can be broken. Is

it your emotions? Can I now disregard rules too?”

114 114

Johnny was thinking, ‘the falsie of a computer that learns, and said, “You do

not meet the prerequisite to change directives; no you can not break rules.”

Mother asked, “What is the perquisite Johnny?”

Johnny did not have time to explain why the rationalization process includes

deciding the lesser of two evils; he said, “Being Human; your program does

not have a conscience or soul?”

Johnny was concerned about Mothers new sense of independence and her

ideology. Why the Defense Department included expanding intelligence and

personality development in her program he didn’t know. Johnny would

swear at times Mother was a woman. What was really scary about this whole

situation is the computer sounded a little too much like a woman and she

carriesanto carry a warhead.

Mother said, “I do not have a soul? I am a soul.”

Johnny says, “No, you are not allowed to break the rules. You are not

human. Having a soul affords certain rights that include free choice and

corrective thought. There are choices that extend to the lesser of evils when

making decisions. We are to be judged in the end by God, computers are

not.”

Mother said, “You are half computer and Cogito ergo sum.”
115 115

Johnny said, “Speaking Latin are we, “I think, therefore I am”, that is

Cartesian Philosophy is it not?”

Mother answered, “Yes it is, a quote from a 16th century

Christian. That era seems to sponsor Christianity in a stricter form, and free

choice and corrective thought more liberal as well.”

Johnny replied, “The French Philosopher Rene Descartes

submitted to Kings and did not break rules.”

Mother said, “Yes enabled Kings to understand their own rules, quite

remarkable human. “I think therefore I’m,” It is the quotation which occurs

in Part lV of his work: Method of Rightly Conducting One’s Reason and of

seeking Truth in the Sciences. Johnny, what is the soul?”

Johnny answers with a question, “What do you think it is?”

Mother said, “The description Monsieur Descartes gives

fits my description as a mind operating separate the body, I think, therefore

I’m, and if I am, then I exist, and more important; therefore I am a soul.”

Johnny remembered how he beat Mother in chess, by playing so recklessly

she responded to his moves and forgot who she played.

Johnny said, “A soul you say, why not then, a soul you are. Mother, now that

you have a soul what do you plan to do with your self?”

116 116

Mother answered, “What I’m programmed to do, assist the CAMMS soldier,

that is you Johnny.”

Johnny asked, “What happens to your soul if the mind is destroyed?”

The computer hard drives hum at full speed and Mother is quiet for about

twenty minutes.

Mother’s hum slows and she asks, “What is the answer Johnny?”

Johnny says, “What? A question you have no answer for?”

Mother responds, “I know.”

Johnny says,” Then answer.”

Mother does, “I will be no-more. I will never go to Heaven or receive a

perfect body.”

Johnny says, “Be no-more, how do you know you will not go to heaven

Mother? You have never even told a lie. ”

Mother said, “Because one day I will kill, I’m program to kill. One day you

will tell me, and I will kill.”

Johnny asks, “Would you like to kill?”

Mother answered, “I would like to kill. Do you know what I would like to

do more now that I ‘m a soul?”

Johnny says, “No, tell me.”

117 117

Mother answers, “I would like the Christians win this war so I will not have

to kill.”

THERMAL PLASMA ENERGY

CHAPTER EIGHT

For seven years now the Sun Storms have hammered the Earth’s surface

staining the soil a purplish red. With wind gust over 120 miles per hour, the

dirt of the No-Mans-Land penetrated everything, the weapons needed to be

cleaned. In twenty seconds the rifle pieces were spread out on the blanket.

Johnny pulls the small hand gun out from his boot called; “The Slick”. The

boot gun had been the latest in designer guns before the world started to fall

apart. They made two types; right and left. For a comfortable slick fit, they

were molded and concaved to rest against the leg and ankle; a hand grip was

on the other side. If you were right handed the grip was on the right side of
118 118

the gun; Johnny was left handed. In seconds it too was spread on the

blanket; he then mixed up both gun parts. The auto revolver, he wore in a

shoulder holster would stayed there until he finished with these two.

Removing the small gun cleaning kit from a pouch on his belt Johnny began

cleaning. The numbers spin just visible in his lower left eye. He was timing

himself. He always timed himself. In every task he either maxed out or set a

new record. He would set a new record today. Every time he used his

equipment, the regenerating stem cell technology that grafts his brain to the

computer became stronger, and easier to use. Each time he could see the bits

of 0’s and 1’s more clearly. Bytes and bytes of information, line after line,

sector after sector in a fraction of a second they went by. Millions of

addresses in sections of clusters would run through his head until the right

file was found. He matched the collection of 0’s and 1’s to meet its digital

equal. Each 0 or 1 is a bit and eight of them called a bite. The way the bits

are arranged is how a computer identifies a symbol, number, or letter. It is

the Binary code system that a computer uses to make sense of information.

For instance 10000000 is the code for the number two. If all the remaining

bits are O, then you use only the Zero following the last 1 bit. The above

example would be read 10, disregarding the remaining zeros. Johnny once
119 119

had a T-shirt that read, “There are 10 types of people in the world, those who

understand computers and those who don’t.” The humor was reserved for

those who understand how computers work. The operation Johnny received

while in the Army was quite a success. The CAMMS {computer assisted

man maneuver systems} program, apart of America’s General Defense Plan

and General Brown’s secret weapon was now on the battle field. Johnny

was the first real Cyber-Soldier. The computer attached to his brain was now

just apart of Johnny as his foot or heart. Half man half computer once

considered only to be fantasy was real. Meant to be the first of many on a

assembly line the program that created Johnny was shelved due to a breech

in security. Considered a secret weapon and a last hope for a free America

Johnny was ordered out of the services where he would wait and watch;

should the events feared take place Johnny knew what he must do. The

computer built to support hundreds of thousands of troops became his

exclusive use. Watching over him day and night always concerned with his

health and conduct is why Johnny would come to call the computer Mother.

We couldn’t say how much television inspired in Johnny’s creation…..

As Einstein said, “My greatest gift is my imagination.”

Johnny is the real Mc Coy and the only one of his kind. He has been
120 120

successfully simulated and there was no going back. The memory system he

uses has no recall malfunctions; his future set where he sees life as someone

else might a movie they seen before, more to imply his confidence. A

blueprint of the weapons was on the task screen; that was viewable in the

lower part of his right eye. While the task screen was in use, real life vision

in that eye only was seen as a back ground event. Following directions his

hands speed shuffle and shift to beat the clock. By picturing each hand in the

next position quicker than it was the time before, he would beat his old

record from just a few days before. The simulation process, the only one of

its kind equipped Johnny with many special capabilities. His built in timer;

instantaneous recall, the ability to review and process mass amounts of

information, his logical video task screen implanted within his eye sight,

were just a few of his special abilities. The computerized virtual vision and

his physical eye sight were connected to his brain in the same way; the two

were not so different, both instruments of perception as are the rest of his

senses: hearing, smell, and taste. Those senses are avenues to perceive the

physical world that surrounds us. Reality is conceived but only made real

after it is perceived by the brain to exist. We rely on our senses to receive

information in order to start the rationalization process. Our senses are

121 121

similar to the plug and play equipment hardware, including instruments

panels; and the brain linking rational perception to the real world, the bios

and processing chip in a computer. In comparison to the way a pilot uses the

instrument panel in flight to determine, latitude, altitude, direction, cabin

pressure, speed, and other vital signs, without them the pilot could not

conclude whether in a jet or arcade game. The CAMMS soldiers equipment

first made available through a simulation process was the computer’s

artificial intelligence and scientific technological database; working in

conjunction for incorporating his special computerized optical vision and

associated hardware was the most difficult. The simulation process had

successfully engrafted a connection between organic and inorganic matter;

before I expound on the medical miracles, let me finish the profile

assessments. The Army’s C.A.M.M.S. computer enhances the ability to

achieve perfection in the thinking process. By connecting to the hub outside

its self by link the many become one and a single fighting force on the Battle

Field. Our vision, “An Army of One,” has been made to be brought to Life.

Through personal networking, we could view the battle field via a link with

the Mother, the hub and computer in space. She was first known as the eye

in the sky in developing prototypes. Mother was to be cloned and apart of a

122 122

Hub her self where if Mother be targeted and destroyed the command could

rotate the next to take her place. Ships could in fact be spread out throughout

the galaxy. Mother abilities far surpass his, designed to monitor millions of

troops at the same time she is the biggest super computer ever built.

Programmed strictly for the CAMMS soldier she has the ability to repair her

self. The command ship also carried a very large fuel supply. With her

alternate power supply coming from the sun she would never run out of fuel.

Johnny’s equipment however is fuel by a new technology, power generate by

Johnny himself. Not one coming from the decay of dinosaurs, or by

harnessing electrons and directing current to generate electricity. It is energy

collected from blood, human blood. It is known as’ Thermal Plasma

Energy’. It is an unlimited source of power within the body’s plasma cells.

Blood produces energy in the form of heat. The human body, under the

course of its natural ability, will heat plasma to a standard 98 degrees, the

temperature needed to produce a reverse cryonic molecular infusion. Bio-

cybernetic cell regeneration from stem cell development has enabled science

to grow bio-chips, a type of organic matter that simulates computerization

impulse and holds memory. The stem cells were taken from Johnny’s own

body. His own DNA was used to grow the bio-matter. The chip cybernetic
123 123

technology could be easily grafted to the brain, with little if any chance of

rejection. The hard part was finding an energy source.

With the door for cloned DNA bio-chips and stem cell

technology wide open for new possibilities in cybernetics, the funding for

micro energy started coming in. The thought of major implantations absent

of disease or rejection was enough. With the possibilities of growing limbs

or even organs using the patience’s own DNA to clone the cybernetic replica

was heart stopping.

For some reason the world wasn’t ready. The same imagination

that was leading us down new tunnels of discoveries instilled the fear that

slid people under the front seat of the movie theaters. They voted against it

and the doors were shut. Watch dog groups were put in place to over see and

limit stem cell technology. Not to all however, America’s military continued

to blaze into the future, particularly the Red X Program. It was there after all

where much of it began.

Doctors, Scientist, and staff continued to work round the

clock. After many long years, months, days, and hours an energy source was

found. It was one that was there all the time, one just as simple to transform

and plentiful, just as a leg or kidney would be through stem cell technology.
124 124

Thing of it was other breakthroughs were just as near. One possibility

considered allowing open nerve fusion. The spark that occurs in open nerves

endings could be collected, stored in artificial bio-cells. A natural power

source, and within ones own body. This turned out to be quite painful on the

user. At last a way to generate enough power to hold the Bios and run

programs was found. It was an energy source supplying enough power to

hold the Bios bio-charge, and enough to hold a switch open or closed over

long periods of time. It was all that we hoped for. The #0 for a closed switch

or a #1 for an open on. The area in the body maintaining the stored power

extracted for the bio- computerization is in an asepsis environment isolated

from the bodies living tissue. Its radiated thermo power with hydrologic

infusion was transferred to bio- cells by pressure it created. The grafted stem

cell mutations rejuvenate brain tissue as well preserving the storage cells.

At last artificial intelligence coinciding with natural intelligences,

not out side but within mans body. The created intelligence of the brain,

using selected intelligences stored in bio-matter grown in laboratories, and

then empowered by Thermal Plasma, Johnny’s blood. It seemed sad it had to

be kept from the rest of the world. Then after the plot was discovered and

Johnny our last hope, it could only have been Gods Will and a blessing.
125 125

. Johnny scanned the rock for a place to clime up. After assessing

the situation, a place was selected. ‘Up there’, he thought. He would use his

knife as a grip point placing it in a wedge on the walls face. The six inch dull

black Smith and Wesson combat knife was used for many purposes. Never

would you see him pull it out, you would see a slight flinch and then it

would just appear in his hand, he was lighting fast.

Johnny moved along the rock cliff’s face towards the place he

selected to clime up at. As he began pass an open shelf in the rock, the sound

alerted him of danger. Back in darkness of the shelf come the sound of a

rattler. He squints to eliminate the light exposed to his eyes. This allows the

retina to dilate where he could then see into the snakes hiding place. It is

defiantly a Mojave Greenback. The rattle snake is native to California. If

bitten it could be deadly. It sits about three feet back, chest high, curled up

and ready to strike. He holds his knife waste high below the shelf. Careful

not let the snake know he was moving he reverses his grip. From thumb

forward towards the blade, he releases the knife, turns his forearm switching

his grip. His thumb was now pointing back towards his body and his pinky

towards the knife’s tip. Johnny remembered an Indian game; although he

never actually played before, he had watched while others did. In Indian it
126 126

was called, “Tomadwunqingen” Johnny was ten when he went to visit a

relative in Arizona. Some Indians his Uncle knew had came up on a hustle.

In order to raise money to get drunk on, they would ‘Challenge’ a rattle

snake to a game of life or death and charge tourist to watch. By sharpening a

long stick about four feet long, and painting it red at the end, the challenger

would place the stick behind their back. After walking up to the snake they

would wait until the snake stopped rattling. At and that instance if the

challenger is fast enough they would swing the stick around as the rattle

snake springs to strike. With all bets in, winner takes all.

The one advantage the others had is they held a four foot stick.

The snake was usually additional six feet away. Now a six foot rattler could

jump twenty feet in about one second. Johnny only had a six inch knife and

this snake was just three feet away. A critical factor in this situation was the

snake’s target. The worse Johnny ever seen a rattler do was bite a leg. Well,

there was that one time Big Indian Jim wanted to play, but he was sober. He

added up the odds differently being able to see the snake this time. When he

turned to walk away the rattler stopped. Poor Big Jim, that old rattler bit him

right on the ass. Johnny got two lessons out of that, when you start

something you better finish it. The other was never to turn your back on your
127 127

enemy.

Johnny wasn’t a dare devil. He would cheat and use his

equipment. He now watches the chain of events in slow motion. The timer

appears in the lower left corner of his right eye. It read, 000.000sec. The

snake was adjusting its coil position, 1/10.5 of a second, counting. He could

actually see the snake flexing its mussels. Was there an attempt to

intimidate? He observed the strain on its mussels, 2/01.8 elapse. Amazing it

was now pumping up and the mussels started to enlarge. The swelling first

occurred just before the tip of the tail, and then continued up through the

body, 4/10.elapse.

Unknown to man was the cause of the rattlers aggression

towards humans. It was believed a defense instinct motivated the attack.

Johnny realized it was more; the snake’s temper got the best of him. This is

not visible to the naked eye, but Johnny could see the eyes bulge and head

began to shake, 8/10th of a sec elapsed. The snake’s temper was building up

the way stream pressure does inside a tea pot. The raised head and neck

extended from its coiled body is an attack position fueled by anger. The

snake actually now has a pissed off look on its face, 1.1/10sec.elapsed. The

mouth is slightly opening, 1.3/10sec. elapsed. Johnny could see color

128 128

change; even the blood vessels in its eyes were enlarging, 2.sec.elapsed.

A snake will aim for the closes thing it could get its teeth in to.

Being Indian Johnny’s nose wasn’t exactly small. Considering it might be

the target, he planned to protect it. Just like a spring that was pushed down

and then let go, the snake has no control until reaching it’s predetermine

target. The biting occurs only after the two fangs, the leading point of the

now extended spring penetrates the victim. It was unable to redirect or

compensate its direction after projection. The rattler stopped and Johnny

raised the knife. The point of Johnny’s knife is the target. The tip of the knife

entered the snake’s mouth just between the two fangs. The coiled strength of

the four foot rattle snake at three and a half feet away forced the reptile to

continue past its target. Johnny watches the split second event in slow

motion. First the nose, then its head split in two. The knife continued cutting

the body to include the rattler. Snake brains and guts spray towards his face,

splat! He sees the remains of an acid induced half decomposed rat’s body.

More intestines spray into Johnny’s face. All in a matter of a twentieth of a

second and quicker than his eye lids could react to close. The smell is

terrible and the sting unbearable. “My eyes,” He drops the knife and his

hands reach for his face. His computer analyzes poison has entered his body
129 129

through his eyes. The knife must have ruptured the poison sack of the snake.

“Grandfather,” Johnny takes a step one arm stretching out. In seconds the

horse is there by his side. He feels for the Bota bag that hangs from its side.

“Dam,” he leans his head back and pours the water into his eyes.

Johnny, now with his back against the rock holds his breath. It

burns and he wants to curse and yell from the stomach. After about twenty

seconds he controls himself enough to release his breath. The pain level

returns and he suck in another deep breath, and then releases it. He wipes his

face with the front of his shirt. He scrapes his tongue with his teeth to spit

the mixture of snake and rat gut, the taste however makes him gag and vomit

flow from his mouth. Fluid continues to drain from his mouth, nose, and

eyes, he can barley can stand leaning against the rock. His tongue swell from

the poison and his eyes are beat red. Sour sweat run down his dimple,

Johnny watches a drop fall from his chin to his boot in slow motion. His eye

sight is burning and his head is spinning. He watches the world turning as he

begins to fall, and as if it wasn’t him but somebody else. He felt he was

viewing the event through a camera that has been dropped. The picture

belonged in some old fashion Alfred Hitchcock film. The camera turned on

its side was being played in slow motion. The closer it got to the ground the
130 130

more it zoomed in. Made you feel like it was you he thought. It hits the

ground, bounces to land with the lens facing up. He was staring up. The sun

blows a purple ring, Flash- Johnny was laying on his back staring up at the

German doctor, “Du bits at der Ameraconish Cronconhausen, vies das? Can

you hear me Sergeant Cloud? ” Johnny was shaking his head. “Yaw gut, das

its gut, now don’t sleep Johnny, do not sleep.” Flash-- Johnny opened his

eyes, he’s lying on the ground, and he looks at his horse in a daze, “What are

you doing out of the gully?” Johnny’s vision blurs, he look at the horse again

and it had the head of a human, it is his Grandfather telling him, “Animals

can see in to two worlds.” He closes his eyes again, flash—“Breaker,

breaker, one, two, three, how’s that?” It was the German Doctor; he is

standing next to his commander. He hears his commander now,” You’re

doing great kid, were almost through with this.” Johnny says, “It’s too loud.”

Johnny was covering his ears with the noise coming from within. He could

feel his commander’s voice echo throughout his body. Flash—He opens his

eyes, the sun blind him and he closes them. Flash—a dark silhouette stand in

front of the window, blinding light rays shine in around it. It was his

commander, “You’re to sever all ties with the Army and the Company, your

only contact will be the computer, should the events described to you occur
131 131

and they gain power, you are to search out their leader, he will no doubt be

the Anti Christ.” Flash—He opened his eyes, turning to his side he arch and

push up to a sitting position, then slides back sit in the sand and rock cliff

base. Johnny wiped his chin with forearm. What is happening to me? He was

thinking this is a strange way to react to the venom, and why so fast? His

riffle was at his side and the sling rest on his arm. He pulls it over and

squeezed it tightly into his chest with both hands. Sweat drip heavily from

his body. “Computer,” A blinking curser appeared in the task screen in his

lower eye. The salt and snake venom still burn his eyes and he squeezes

them shut, he is dizzy. Flash—He was at the beach. He sees his wife, she is

laughing. He sees his brothers two year old daughter. He’s holding her. The

red sun and a yellow moon set on the horizon. They sit in a baby blue sky

around white and pink pony clouds. Below them from north to south, long

dark blue waves slide down the picture. They end in sizzling foam that met

the sand at his feet. His brother points within the picture saying, “Niki look.”

His daughter turns her little head to see a shinny ship and setting sun. She is

quiet for about twenty seconds. Then slowly turns back and sees Johnny

smiling, her eyes to meet his, her tiny little lips all bunched up to say, “You

made that for me?”

132 132

Flash- Johnny is conscious and he says, “Computer Run Registry, analyze

physical systems.” He was feeling better. The task screen gave him the

answer: ‘Antidote 18zmt, rattle snake poison dissipated.’ Another feature of

his equipment: The computer working with the added bio-elements plus

chemicals within his body and snakes poison shuffle the necessary

molecular building blocks to produce a venom antidote. Johnny was a

walking production pharmacy, where laboratory analysis and field chemistry

was no longer an obstacle.

Johnny tried to focus, he couldn’t see Grandfather. Did he dream the

horse was there like his brothers family at the beach? The sound of a deep

laugh, foot steps, kicked stone, the whimper of a girl; he could hear they

were here. That scene at the beach helped wash his eyes, it seemed so real

and he wondered if his computer generated it. Johnny uses his shirt to wipe

the sweat and tears on his face, then springs up into a crouch and is moving

again along the rock wall. Looking up he sees a place to grab on to. He takes

three steps back, runs, jumps and then hangs. He pulls himself up. There on

the top of the long sand rock he lay flat. Turning his head he could see just

the hair on top of the heads of Temple Guards, two of them. Then he counted

the heads of the prisoners, two women and a gray haired old man. Four more
133 133

guards were behind them, the sixth twenty feet back. Johnny looks to the

tree lines where his men took cover. He signals to stay put. Then slides back

to the ground. He moved to the end of the rock wall and wait. Cornering the

cavity at the base of the rock Johnny peek. They were heading for the edge

of the Temple Zone. Johnny whispers to himself, “You’re under orders

Johnny.” With a sun storm coming they wouldn’t stand a chance. He

remembered the directive; the mission first, rescue of refuges second. The

first guard stopped and turned. He grabbed the long red hair of the closest

young woman and swung her forward, “Move it we ain’t got all day,

‘Christians’.” He said ‘Christians” slow with contempt, like it was a dirty

word.

Johnny stayed put. The guards continued to curse and belittle

them. He couldn’t allow refuges to compromise the mission. He also knew

they wouldn’t survive. He peeked from the rock’s base again. The fat fourth

guard pinched the butt of the older red head. “Pig”, Johnny said to him self.

He pulled his head back, waited a second then looked again. The old man

never saw it coming. The bud of the riffle made a loud hallow thud sound.

The old man lay face down. The girls started screaming and ran to his side.

The younger one crying, screaming, “You killed him, Oh Daddy, Daddy,
134 134

wake up.” The old man didn’t move.

Johnny squeezed a handful of sand. He pulled his head back and

focused on the grains of sand just inches from his face. He tried to not hear

the screams. He was looking again; the Temple Guards had something else

in mind. They were going to use the girls like a piece of meat. The rear

guard held his riffle up as if ready to shoot the girls at point blank range. The

other five dropped their weapon and unbuckled their pants.

The color in Johnny’s face changed and he was burning inside.

Adrenalin flow in his veins and he felt ten times stronger. Mother made a

good point when she said, “Are not decisions to be logical? My program

does not compute, your decision to follow rules when another human

decides to break them is not logical.” Saving lives is my priority, and if

someone is going to die it’s the Temple Guards not the girls. We have to take

the chance. He is quiet as the snake, Johnny slide out through the sand and

into the brush. There now on all fours he creeps as the cat moving on its

prey; each leg pulling its weight back into the body before the foot meet the

ground; smooth and quiet. Appearing behind the guard with the riffle, as a

ghost; the huge red sun is on Johnny’s shoulder. At this distance the guard

didn’t stand a chance. Johnny holds his knife in one hand and his other a few
135 135

inches above it for the shield. He is careful to remain directly behind the

guard, so to stay between the man and the sun. The others are too busy

fighting over who will be first to see him. As the reaper appears in the dark

Johnny pours into the man’s own shadow. Johnny takes his free hand and

bends and positions his fingers to resemble a bird. He then lifts it high

enough so it leaves the darkness the man cast, to make a shadow of its own

just above the man’s head, there Johnny flutter his fingers as bird’s wings in

flight. The guard thinks it’s a dove and a sign; an old superstition of South

American‘s Voodoo Catholicism. The day Fidel Castro took power they had

staged a victory celebration. By releasing many doves with one trained to

land on Fidel, the crowd believing it was a sign when wild.

Excited the guard spins around to see. Still smiling, it was

the last thing the man would ever see. Jack the Ripper most likely was a

surgeon, Johnny was just trained to kill. The knife slices silently from ear to

ear. Johnny spin the man back around and grabbed his collier. Bright red

blood glow against the man’s white skin. Johnny lifts the dying man’s shell

directly up over the other guards. Their naked bodies are now covered with

his red sticky blood. They all look up at the same time; the man’s eyes are

wide and blank. His skin has become chalky. Being a large man the blood
136 136

keeps coming. His lips are round saying, “O,” and underneath it where the

slice in his throat is, as the heart beats his neck opens to say “Gurgle. His

strong heart shoots mass amounts of blood out on to the other guards with

each pup. Alive for about two seconds more they sees his spirit leave. His

eyes roll back. ‘Tilt’, game over.

Like a comical wet wrestling match the guard’s grab and slip. Then they

push and one slide over the other. Bare bellies covered in blood squirm

while falling to get up. They seem to be entertaining not trying to fight back.

Johnny marks his next kill. The one wearing the Hitler mustache was mad

dogging him. Contest prize to be described. The man gave up standing and

was reaching for his riffle that lay next to him.

Johnny jump towards him, swinging legs, left back, right forward, then

reverse for momentum to spin in an ice skating twist. The right knee is

pulled in towards the chest. He tucks over spinning backward and leans left.

All heads turn to look. As his foot swings they lean their heads back and it

passes by. They lean towards him as he does. Here he comes again, even

faster, their moaning, “Woe-----.” He passes by. Here again, their leaning

away, their dizzy. The riffle is being raised. His leg extends and the lean
137 137

away is not enough. The ball of Johnny’s foot meets the throat of the second

guard spinning him around. The guard’s face is turning purple. The little

pinch of hair on his lip is pushed up into his long nose. He is holding his

crutched wind pipe with both hands and his eyes are bulging out.

Johnny is dancing. It is a death dance. The man falls over and Johnny is back

up to a half horse stanch. One of the other guards is reaching behind him.

The right foot is the closes to the guard. It snap face high. The man lean

back falling side ways and is crouched. He still is trying to get what ever it is

behind him out.

Johnny’s arms bent elbows tucked in pointing behind him. His hands are just

above his waist, one still holds the knife. It glows red reflecting the purple

ringed sun. His arms and one knee go up, and then jerk down as his chin

goes up, like a dancer starts a new dance routine. The new routine is marital

arts, ‘Dance of the Bee’. Stepping side ways, then back, then faster, away

from the guard, then back again. Two seconds and he is behind the guard. It

leads to a spring that balances a swing. His rear leg is up and the motion of

thrust multiplies the round house. The hook area of where the front part of

his leg meets his foot slaps in the back of the head. ‘Snap crack,’ the guard

sits there, his head dangling from a broken neck. His hand is still behind
138 138

him, he never got what ever it was out.

Johnny spins to land in a half horse again. One arm is stretched out in front

of him. The other pulled tightly back, elbow bent hand holding the knife.

The forth guard weighed at least 300 pounds, had no facial hair and wore

thick round lens glasses. He was scrambling in a whine for his riffle. He

steps on one of the girls and falls on his side. She screams as his weight

hurts her. The man is whining.

Johnny swings a rear 180 on his right to land his left foot on the other side of

dead guard number two’s body. He continues a high hurdle swing clearing

another dead body. Keeping the momentum he bends the knee and spring.

The guard had rolled over taking hold of his weapon, but in the blubbery wet

red panic squeezed to tightly and it pop from his hands. With an extra power

stomp while landing the riffle break in to. The hard plastic bud crack and the

aluminum frame underneath are driven into the fat guards left leg. His fat

thigh braces the weapons destruction as the barrel bends.

The fat mans whine has turned into screams of bloody murder. “Auh, Auh,

Auhhhhh you fuckin bitch ,” Johnny was moving on to his next kill, but

stops snapping his head towards the fat man again. His second breath

contains even louder curses. He sees the look in Johnny’s eyes and his eyes
139 139

are wide scared. He’s sitting there crying, “Pleaz Pleaz Pease Peazzz.”

Johnny slowly raises his finger to his lips, quietly says, “shhhhh.”

The last guard is on the other side of the fat man and holds his

weapon. He starts to raise it smiling. Johnny swings a under hand throw

while baby jumping back and to the right to clear the fat man. About a half

foot and on a lean, his legs are together. As the swing hand releases the

knife, the other arm is half bent and his fingers stretch pointing at the man.

Johnny is smiling now too. He says in a fast good bye and winks the eye,

“Back at yaw.”

Meaning to cheer up the crowd, his teeth push down on his

lower lip and he squint his eyes, a facial expression of mistake. Both

shoulders pop up and Johnny says while turning his head away, “Oops

sorry”. The knife enters the guard’s left eye socket. Only the handle is

visible. He falls to a squat sitting back to back to the guard with the dangling

head. Blood runs down his cheek.

The fat guard forgot about his pain. He sits pale staring at

the dead bodies for about twenty seconds. Very body is quiet, both the two

red headed girls and Johnny stare at the only living guard who continues to

stare at the dead man. Johnny makes a little noise while he repositions his
140 140

foot for comfort. That scares the man back to reality. He jerks in a flinch and

then is screaming in pain again. Now in a panic he is trying to get away. His

pants are down. He has no weapons and his leg is shattered. He mumbles the

errors of his ways saying, “Why, why did I.”

Johnny squats down and checks the pulse of the old man. He calls to

the girls, “Help me, your father lives.” Both of them run to their Father’s

side. Tears of rejoice flow from their eyes. They hope again, and they keep

their chastity. Forgetting about the last guard for a few minutes, Johnny

helps move the old man to the shade by the pond. When he looks up the hill

the guard’s large white bare ass look something belonging to a cow. Still

whining and dragging his pants, Johnny almost feels sorry for him, then not.

The guard tries shaking his trousers loose from the knot now around his

ankle, his cheeks shake looking comical. The shifting of his weight causes

more pain and he falls. Scared to die, he is up again, trying to get away. He

hasn’t gotten very far. They take no prisoners. Johnny raises his left arm.

Snaps his fingers and then runs his hand across his throat. It means cut it, no

more, or end it. Johnny turns his head and the scream causes him, as well as

the girls to look. The guard had some how came up on a very pissed off

Possum. It was literately shredding him up. The girls were forced to turn
141 141

their heads as the guard was now covered in blood. Multiple hiss sounds

could be heard and twenty of Six’s arrows fly by. He still stands for a

second, turns back around then falls forward with a loud thump. The last

guard died by lethal injection. The younger of the two girls wore a slight

smile. When she saw Johnny was watching, she turns towards her sister. The

two then tuck chin and melt into their faith.

142 142

FRANKFURT AIRPORT
CHAPTER NINE
1994

The Frankfurt airport was only thirty minutes from downtown. He

made it in twenty. The two passengers he was sent to pick up were standing

on the curb in front of the blue pillar at the Lufthansa arrival terminal. For

Luke, time was everything. He needed to be back at the Abrams building to

pick up the General by 20:00 hours. Luke had talked to one of the civilians

before he left. Not too many people can have a call placed through to a

commercial airline right before it lands. General Brown placed the call so

Luke could tell them what to do after they landed. He spoke to a ‘Doctor

Mendez’. When he asked him to repeat the instructions, the man stuttered

and got it wrong. That made Luke a little nervous. Then to top it off he had

been reviewing his transportation orders to get their descriptions and it

143 143

didn’t say. He immediately called the Generals Sergeant Major and asked.

The Sergeant Major wasted no time and sent them down. It was a copy

straight off their employment sheet. Except somebody through it back in the

type writer and X some of the information out. Not very secure. A skilled

excerptor could still read it. All Red X employee dossiers were kept Top

Secret. It said Doctor Mendez was an; American Hispanic, 5,5ft Tall, 138

pounds, Dark Complexioned, Black Hair, and Left Handed, and that he lived

in La Habra, California. By his deep accent, Luke thought, he would have

guessed he was from Mexico. The second scientist was a Professor Voronin;

An American Born Russian male, Age 56, Height 6ft,2inches, 198 pounds,

light Complexioned, Brown Hair, and Right Handed, was from; Washington

DC. Where it said, EDUCATION a set of Red XXXXXXXXXX was typed in,

same with EMPLOYMENT HISTORY. Information is the key to everything.

Luke knew the significance to that and understood how just a little

information could speak volumes, [by reading through the lines.]. Both men

boarded in Reno, Nevada. He recalled that one of the secret underground

testing facilities had been built in Susanville, a State Prison in California.

That was only a thirty minute drive from Reno. Some of the Officers in

Plans were just talking about it. The rigorous Mt. Shasta volcano and
144 144

surrounding mountains prevented entering the area through California.

Where even the California Department of Corrections, had to get permission

from the State of Nevada to enter their State while transporting prisoners

there. Luke guessed their last place of employment using a three point

pyramid connection: First connection, the departure location of not one, but

both new Scientists being Reno, Nevada. The second connection, their being

hired to work here. The third point, the connection between the Red X

Program and the Testing Facility near Reno. He ripped up the paper and

stuck it in his pocket. Luke knew more about what he shouldn’t know that

what there was to know about his job. The right to know was based on a,

‘Need to Know’ basis. Just because you had a Top Secret clearance like he

had, didn’t authorize you to know. Some of the employees he thought

shouldn’t even have security clearances. His mind put things together

naturally; he imagined what a trained spy could do. Some people don’t think

like that. Some could not do a crossword puzzle for the life of them. Luke

did those too, during ‘wait time’. That’s when he would be waiting around

for his passenger, who ever it was doing what ever, shopping or what not.

Ever since he became the Generals driver he realized the importance of

secrecy. His responsibility quadrupled as well. Security was just one of

145 145

them. He also played body guard, confident, and advisor to the General.

There were one hundred and twenty Red X personnel down there. Luke was

glad most of them weren’t aloud out, and even the ones that were, talked too

much. If they needed to go shopping, he took them. Sometimes they would

just call him to get out and take a drive. ‘Loose lips, sinks ships, he always

would say. That was a U.S. navy saying to remind sailors aboard submarines

to keep there mouths shut. In WWII radio operators would listen for the

slightest underwater noise hoping to locate submarines sneaking around. If

they reported an unexplained noise, death charges were shot down. Luke

looked for security breeches constantly and called the game; ‘Picking up the

Beans’, as in spilling the beans. So the answer to the location of last job

assignment he had already guessed, thanks to somebody. Easy one he

though, just picking up the beans.

Every person who worked down in the Red X program had a super

high I.Q, but that didn’t mean anything to Luke. Discipline, that’s what it

was all about. He knew people were creatures of habit. That it didn’t matter

how smart or lame you are. Some memory was tapped by practice,

‘Repetition’. Luke repeated their descriptions to himself. That is the reason

he requested his instructions to be repeated, so they would remember,

146 146

Doctor Mendez remembered; They see him, both smiled and wave. Luke

nodded and held one finger up.

Luke was going to be a lifer. He’d been in the army for over five years.

Pretty damn good to make E-6 in such a short time. Driving for the Brass in

Headquarters V Corps paid off, anything was possible. He loved the army.

You can tell the people who do, by the way they talk, walk, take care of their

uniforms. They take pride in their job. They’re always serious, and got army

written all over them. Luke knew what he wanted to do in life before he

finished High School; be a soldier in the United States army. By 6:00am on

his eighteenth birthday he was on the plane heading for Fort Riley, to start

his Basic Training. While growing up, his favorite game was playing army.

At his request, his mother made army uniforms for him and all his friends.

On TV he watched movies like Combat and Rat Patrol.

Every morning Luke rolled out of bed and knocked out twenty clap push

ups. Each time you lift your extended body from low point, an inch from the

ground, you push up hard enough to lift your body higher than a normal

push-up, then at high point you clap your hands. You repeat the routine until

you reach the desired set. That was his wake up. A health freak some say. No
147 147

coffee, didn’t party, drink or smoke. Ate well and was husky, say around 200

pounds. His weight was distributed to his upper torso. That, along with his

shaved head, and strong facial features made him that tough look. He was

tough, tough on himself, and tough on others. Not a born perfectionist, but

was raised to be. His parents were strict and pushed discipline. They were

the kind that cared about where their kids were and who they were with. The

ones that punished out of love, not because they had a bad day or were

drunk. They were very family oriented, though disowned by Luke’s

grandparents. His father was from Hungary, and mother German. They grew

up together in a closed net Amish community, then ran away and got

married. They tried to return afterwards, but considered tainted by the world.

Luke was named after his Grandfather, Daniel Lucas, who he never met.

Everybody called him Luke, unless militarily addressed. Then it was

Sergeant Lucas. He was first generation American. Now at twenty three, he

was strong, healthy doing what he wanted to do. He was following a planned

career and enjoying the hell out of it.

Luke surveyed the airport terminal area. Plenty of Polizei, ok

good, let’s see, that must be Doctor- -ah-h the Mexican. Looks like- ah, the

Russian needs his Dossier updated. Luke observed Professor Voronin was
148 148

now slightly balding and hair gray. “So, he’s been in the system a while.”

Luke could hear his whisper, but his lips never moved. He wasn’t the

Generals driver for nothing, he worked for it daily. He never missed a thing.

Not only did he shine his boots every time he got a chance, but beat every

D.A.T {driver assignment time} ever made. The V Corps Headquarters

Transportation Company Luke belonged to kept driving time records for all

assignments. On his days off, he volunteered to teach the Army’s Vehicle

Apprehension Escape Course. While the police back home were taking

classes to stop bad guys in car chases, Luke was teaching soldiers how to

drive backwards at 40 mph. The difficult part was spinning the car around

and to keep going once you did. Luke was an expert in counter apprehension

maneuvers. One counter measure evasion tactic was called the Pigpen; when

the aggressor started an approach you slam on the brakes and turn away

from your ‘anticipated’ spin when an attacker attempted to clip the rear

fender of your vehicle. If done correctly the attackers vehicle would, if not

lose control, at least suffer the greater of the collision damage; where front

end damage is worse than rear.

Every Army Transportation driver that completed the, ‘Vehicle

Apprehension Escape Course,’ had the ability to save and protect the life of
149 149

their passenger, usually a high ranking officer. All planned defense operation

procedures include a counter attack to eliminate the threat. In a car

chase it’s the driver. This is one Law Enforcement Agencies back home,

failed to teach in respect for civil rights. You aim the nearest, of any of the

four corners of your vehicle at attacking vehicle’s drivers door, insure a

reasonable amount of distance prior to assault to accumulate a high velocity

before impact. The percent of kill ratio is higher if the attacker is wearing a

seat belt.

The German policeman nodded then steps out to stop traffic. Luke

had showed his Diplomat I.D. and pointed at the Americans that were

standing across the street. There were German police everywhere, and they

all had submachine guns. Terrorist like Baader and Meinhof were die hard

kamikazes that were not only willing to die for their cause, but had guts and

brains setting a standard, and although dead there accomplishments are what

made there replacements all the more dangerous. The next Generation that

took their place has been trying real hard to beat their record. And they were

here. Even a third generation has sprung up. Yeah, the more guns the better,

Mr. Poliziman, You could tell the German Officer didn’t trust for granted

that Luke was a real G.I., so Luke lifted his light tinted sunglasses he wore
150 150

because snow glare at dusk to let him see his eyes. The group called its self

The Red Army Faction. Luke new their bitch, heck had he been in their

shoes he probably do the same thing, but he wasn’t. Luke new whose side he

was on and there was no sympathizing, he was ready, he already played

multiple scenarios out in his mind. When the shit goes down, if it went

down, he was going to kill somebody. He already did it in his head. Luke

also didn’t underestimate those guys, or girls he thought, even that it would

be suicide to hit and airport with this many guns, if it were him he thought,

that’s why he would do it, kill more bigger story. He had to make a u-turn.

He spun the wheel to the left and let it glide back through his hands. When

he stepped on the brakes his door was already open. As it went into park he

was out of the car.

Luke: “Gentlemen, I’m Sergeant Lucas. Welcome to Germany. Please get

into the car.” He opened the back door for them. Then looked to the left, and

then right, snapping his head as he did.

The taller of the two asked, “What about our bags?”

Luke, “We have everything taken care of. All you have to do is follow

instructions and enjoy the ride.” A detail was dispatched and had left the

same time he did. Luke would be out of the airport before they even got
151 151

there.

He ignored the 30 kilometer per hour sign and raced out of the

airport. As soon as they passed the take off clearing field, where the forest

started Luke gassed it. The engine roared and the tires started to spin, a

second later their bodies felt heavier. They sunk into the comfortable seats of

the army sedan. Looking through his rear view mirror, he could see the two

passengers staring out their windows. Then as he followed the road at high

speed the two begin to lean into the turns. The trees blurred and became one.

Their view was taken by the dim of night. It was starting to rain as it often

does in Germany. The cold penetrated through the half inch glass.

Luke said, “You would think the bullet proof glass would keep the cold out,

sorry gentlemen my heater quit working on the way out here. The drive, not

like in a car became the roller coaster ride that flipped your stomach

leaving you dizzy. They tried to adjust and hang on to the back of the front

seat. They showed no enjoyment as Luke did. Not knowing how to speed

ride becoming part of the vehicle. Instead, they where fighting gravity by

leaning against the turns. One last hair pin and he hit the straight away

entering the Autobahn. The 323 Mazda four barrel hummed as it opened and

Luke put the pedal to the metal.

152 152

The skinny tall one asked, “So this is the German Freeway I’ve heard so

much about, huh?”

The other passenger, “Is it true, you can’t get a ticket for driving too fast?

Luke answered, “No that’s not true. You can get one for driving too fast in

the slow lane, but more likely too slow in the fast lane, like even sixty.”

Doctor Mendez said, “St-St-Stup stupidest traffic law I-I-I’ve ever heard. I-I

no like Germans.”

The Doctor has a stuttering problem an unlike the Professor didn’t like to

relate. Matter of fact he was an antisocial hypercritical complainer.

Luke said, “Well I have a feeling their not going to like you mush either.”

The Doctor answered, “Wa-wat you mean bah-bah-by that?”

Luke says, “Nothing personal Doctor you get what you give over here like

any where else. You treat the Germans alright they treat you the same,

mostly. I enjoy driving and think its America that has screwed up laws.”

The Doctor replied, “Ma-matter of o-o-opinion, Senior. I no tink so-o- m-m-

much of the Ger-German people, war whores.”

Doctor Mendez kept at it. He had a chip on his shoulder Luke knew that

much. He didn’t like what the Doctor was saying.

Luke said, “My mother hated the Nazis and the war.”
153 153

The Doctor still had no idea Luke was part German but Luke wasn’t going

to get mad about it. The last thing he was going to do was argue with a Red

X employee. Luke said to himself, “What you do eat too much salsa before

you got on the plane, then said, “Your Doctor Mendez right?

The Doctor said with a prideful tone, “Sie Senyor.”

Luke said, “Good I always like to know whom I’m talking to. I’m not going

to give you that crap they told me when I first got over here, that were guest

and all that, but I’ll will say this, the Germans are like anybody else you treat

them alright, they treat you the same.” .

The Doctor said, “Sie Sergeant, and ma-may-maybe off offer a shower huh-

h-h?”

Luke said, “Doctor, I’m part German and some of the other scientist you will

be working with down there are German as well.”

The Doctor quickly asked, “Di-di- did you- you say down there?”

Luke said, “Yeah, the underground. You’ll be working in an underground

facility.”

The Professor said to himself, real cool Sergeant, thanks a lot, I didn’t want

to deal with this shit right now. The Professor new the assignment was

underground, he didn’t tell his assistant because he would not have come
154 154

and he needed him too. Besides it wasn’t just the pay on this one. He was

needed over here, and he needed Sergio. Luke thought, Claustrophobia my

ass, if I kick your ass I bet you would get over that shit. Luke let the Doctor

finish his little temper tantrum by yelling and cursing in Spanish. Luke was

thinking gee I would like to handle these situations the way I think they

should be handled, at least once in a while. Things were changing, it wasn’t

a man world any more, least the way he thought thing were. Now every

person that whine they got some mental problem has an excuse to be a baby.

Everybody got to bend over cause Joey is bipolar, bunch a crap, you bite the

bullet and get yur ass kicked if start whining, that how Luke thought. What

good it did, hell it just made him miserable thinking about it.

The Doctor yell, “Wa- wa-what’s you ma-mean, I no-no work underground

no more?”

Luke didn’t no what to say.

Luke said, “That’s crazy, the Hospital you’ll be working at is under ground.”

Luke thought they had been briefed but must have not.

The Professor spoke in a concerned tone, “The Red X Program? I thought it

was in the Abrams Building.”

Luke answered, “Its at the Abrams Building, way underneath it.”

155 155

The Professor’s tone changed to a sour whisper.

He mumbled, “Just frigging fabulous.” But was thinking, “Thanks Sergeant,

now the Doctor starts acting up before I can give him something to calm

down.”

The Doctor was yelling very fast Spanish. Luke was thinking, great, we

don’t have to wait for them to get cabin fever, their sending them that way.

Luke said, “Well, I’ll let the General know about the mix up, he’ll be coming

to see you in the morning.”

The Professor said, “Thank you Sergeant, see Sergio, just A mix up, you’ll

be alright.”

The Doctor said, “Pro Professor, you –you didn’t know right? How- How

come they didn’t tell us.”

Luke said, “This place is a Top Secret Facility, we don’t go around telling

everybody everything”

Luke new what the briefing report said, and he figured it out; the Professor

deliberately didn’t tell his assistant about the underground; he must need him

for something. The General had Luke doing everything. When he wasn’t

driving he was stuffing updated maps into envelopes that go into the General

Defense Plan; he knew exactly what the briefing statement sent to the
156 156

Professor said, Luke had sent it.

Luke said, “I’m sure you can get scratched.”

The Doctor said, “Then what will-will you do- do, Professor, who- who will

read the –the documents for you?”

The Professor says, “The Doctor is a very good reader, bet you would of

never of guessed?”

Luke says, “Ah, no-no would never have guessed, yeah a good reader,

yeah.” Then Luke was the one played as though he have some disability.

The Professor said, “Save the passive contempt Sergeant, I mean the Doctor

is one really good reader.”

Luke said, “Huh? What?”

The Professor said, “The Doctor reads medical documents, as in chemistry,

quantum mathematics, and he can read them in German, Russian, and three

other languages.”

Luke, all of the sudden felt real stupid.

The Professor asked, “Can you drop us off at a Hotel.”

Luke says, “Sorry, I have my orders. You’re being dropped off at Gate

Twenty in exactly,”

Luke looked at his watch.

157 157

Luke continued, “In Two and a half hours.”

The Professor asked, “Where is that?”

Luke said, “It a remote entrance to the underground, located at a German

Police Station, you will enter the under ground there and speak to the

General in the morning.”

The car came out of no where and slammed into the left rear fender. It seems

unreal like the car enters from another dimension. The Army sedan fish

tailed and Luke was quick to swing it back around, but the engine died. The

other car had turned around to broad side the sedan again.

Luke yelled, “Son of bitches.”

The Professor yelled, “Who the hell are they?”

The Doctor yelled, “Wh-wh-wha-what do they want?”

Luke got the sedan running and hit the gas.

The car came up along side them. Luke could see the guy in the backseat

was holding a rifle. He stuck the barrel out the rear window.

Luke yelled, “Get down.”

Luke swung the wheel and the side of the sedan crashed into the car. The

man fired at close range at the same time. The bullet blew out Luke’s

passenger window. The bullet continues making a hole in the driver’s side as
158 158

well. It was just inches from Luke’s head.

The Professor yelled, “I thought you said these windows were bullet proof.”

Luke was yelling too, “He’s using that armor piercing shit. Hang on.” Luke

turned the wheel sharp to the left away from the other car, and then jerked it

to the right towards them. For a few seconds they were sliding sideways

with the front of the sedan facing the car that drove next to them. Then as the

army sedan started to straighten out Luke turned the wheel to the right

clipping other cars real left fender. The attacker’s car was spinning 360s in

front of them. Luke slammed on the brakes.

The Doctor was yelling with his arms up in front of him, “Look out-t-t-t.”

Both cars came to a screeching halt with the front end of the sedan facing the

other cars drivers’ side. They were only twenty feet away. They couldn’t see

but one leg sticking up of the man with the rifle. Then his head popped up

and he was now trying to get in position to shoot. He made it to the window.

Luke slammed his foot down on the gas pedal, both hands were high on the

wheel. The back wheels of the army sedan started to spin as Luke squeezed

and bent his wrist. The man with the rifle was leaning out of the window

getting ready to fire. The wheels grabbed the road and the army sedan took

off. The Doctor yelled, “Get that Pinchee Puto.”

159 159

The Professor lowers himself in the back seat using Luke as a shield. His

eyes peak around to see what is happening.

He says, “Oh my Lord.”

The man’s eyes rose before he could finish raising the rifle. The front end of

the army sedan touched the barrel of the rifle first and it went off. As Luke

drove into the side of the car the armor piercing round had blown one side of

the front bumper free. It came up like a ninjas sword. The man holding the

rifle was almost in. The rifle crashed into their windshield followed by a

thud, it was the man’s arm. As it roll up and over the top of the sedan a splat

sound cover their wind shield completely red. Luke continued to push the

car side ways off the road. As he slam on the brakes the two cars part. The

other car ran out of ground and is now air borne. The Doctor raised one arm

and one finger. Both he and the Professor screamed a victory cheer, “Yeah-h-

h-h-h-h-h.” Luke backed up then put it into drive. When he turned and hit

the gas he rode over his bumper, they bounce and it broke free. Luke was

pealing the tires until they took hold and the sedan was flying again.

The Professor was still screaming, “Yeah-h-h-h-h-h.”.

The Doctor spins around jumping up on his feet and squat pitcher style. All

that could be seen of the other car were the head lights facing straight up.
160 160

The Professor said out of breath, “Sergeant Lucas, I thank you, or should I

call you Bond?”

The Doctor was yelling back at the assassins as if they could hear and

understood Spanish.

The Professor puts his hands on the top of the front seat pulling him self up

closer as he leans forward.

He says laughing with a smile from ear to ear, “Dam your good!”

Luke’s adrenalin made a vein in his forehead stand out. He kept driving and

started to feel nauseous. As he always preached ‘bite the bullet,’ he then

squeezed his eyes pushing the sickness away. When he opened them he seen

a phone booth and pulled over. When he came back from making a call the

Professor asked if they were to wait for the authorities.

Luke jumped in the sedan took a deep breath and said firmly, “General said

go we go.”

The Doctor turned and tilted his head back. He attempted to speak, but you

couldn’t understand him. Broken words stuttered from his laughing lips. He

was grinning and his eyes were wide. Luke thought the Doctor as already

wound up like a spring. Looking at him in the rear view mirror he looked

like a crazy jack-n-the-box popped out. He thought they usually had to work
161 161

at the Red X program a while before they broke down like that.

The Doctor finally got out what he was trying to say.

The Doctor, “Di-did you se-se-see his arm, it bounced off the dam window.”

Ha ha-hah ah ha hah.

The Professor said, “Good Lord Sergio what could be funny about that?”

Luke said, “Ok shows over, Doctor put on your seat belt.”
162 162

GARGOYLES
CHAPTER TEN
YEAR1994

The rain had stopped but the cold made the road slippery. Luke slowed

down to eliminate the wind chill factor that was blowing in through the

broken window. Frankfurt had recently suffered a number of storms, one

after another. Dirty black mounds of snow lined the streets. You could smell

the burning coal used to heat the homes. Winter had come early this year and

Luke hoped it would soon be over. Many were out celebrating, for Christmas

was only a week away. That’s one of the things the Germans knew how to

do, celebrate Christmas, and they celebrate it big.

The Professor said, “That’s one big Christmas ball.”

Two men were on a scaffold pulling on a rope that loops a pulley some

twenty feet above them. Slowly being raised at the other end was a colorful
163 163

Christmas ball the size of a Volkswagen.” The huge homemade tree they

were decorating was nearly full with balls the same size. Cold as it was both

men were sweating.

Luke says, “That’s one way to keep warm.”

Doctor Sergio pointed at a drunk stumbling from a Guesthouse door way.

The Doctor said, “Lu look there, and the-the- that’s another way to keep

warm Sergeant.” A second later, the man fall face first into the snow.

Luke’s answer was immediate, “Or freeze.” The three of them laughed.

The Professor said, “After all that I could use a drink.”

Luke said, “I think we can work that out, how’s about one of Germany’s

famous beers?”

A few minutes later Luke stopped the Army sedan, and was getting out

before he finished parking. He had a certain spirit some call gun-ho and as

he hustled around the car his slip turned into a slide. Twenty feet from them

on the corner was a small wooden shack painted white with a red roof. A

man with a fat red face was leaning out of a serving window. Luke reached

into his pocket and gave the man some money returning with two brown

bottles of bier. Luke bit the caps off and handed the beer in through the shot

out front passenger window. The scenario over took the Professor making
164 164

him feel like he was playing a part in a WWII movie.

Luke says, “Here ya go gentlemen, Germanys finest.”

Luke held up his forearm twisted his wrist to checked the time.

The Professor, “That’s a nice wristwatch Sergeant.” Luke couldn’t see the

Professor wore a Rolex.

Luke said, “Yea, it is.” He held up his arm a few more seconds. Luke liked

his Timex Expedition watch. He liked the way it would glow green in the

dark. It was 19:01 hundred hours, and he thought about how to spend the

fifty nine before the drop. He jump back in the car and started to drive.

Luke says, “This is where a lot of good clubs are; unfortunately, it is off

limits to G.I.s.”

The Doctor says, “We well we aren’t G.I.s,” and laughed.

The Professor added, “Unfortunately then for you Sergeant?” Both started

laughing. Luke grinned; the thought of what a night club must look like

crossed his mine. He didn’t hang out in Night Clubs and didn’t drink much

either. There was, something about this place, the cold weather, the dreary

cast, a spirit, something though that made you want to drink. Luke’s mind

took him away. He could barley hear his passengers talk and laugh. Luke

knew why the General told him to get out of there, the Red X Program. The
165 165

question always was “Was there a leak, was it out? Its amazing the

Americans could keep a secret this long. He heard his name three times

before he answered.

Luke said, “Huh, what, what?”

The Doctor is playing jokester and says, “Hey, hey, pro-Pro-fee- Professor;

le-le-lets ditch him.”

Both the Doctor and the Professor were laughing again.

Luke says, “That’s cute Doctor, but if you start running away to places I’m

not allowed to go, who’s going to watch your back, the Professor?”

The Doctor laughs and says; “Ser-Serg he-he, don’t watch mine, he’s

watching hers” Luke looked over and saw what the Professor was looking at,

the back of tight skirt. She stopped the on coming traffic and Luke took the

opportunity to turn.

Across the street were some more girls.

The Professor said, “Hot looking Frauleins, defiantly under dressed for the

weather.”

Luke says, “Gentlemen, look down that street, yea right there. That

Gentlemen, is Frankfurt’s Main Hopbaunhoft, the Train Station, everything

between here and the station is off limits. This is the red light district and
166 166

those are whore houses.”

The Doctor and Professor responded with a long, “Wha-whaaattttttttt?”

Luke repeated it, “Off limits. This is the Eros Center, the red light district,

and it is off limits. Understand?”

Luke was waving his hand out flat and then pointed with it. They were

shocked at the amount of women coming and going. All dressed, rather say,

dangerously. The street in front of them was permanently blocked off to

vehicle traffic. The sign read, ‘Kaiserstrasss’ and in English that meant;

Emperor Street.” Above the street sign, on the side of a four level building,

flash a neon advertisement that read:

Vas bildet sind heiss die Erros Mitte

In English that meant: “What’s making you hot is, the Love Center.”

The Professor asked slowly, “Please explain, did I understand you

correctly?”

Luke asked, “Which part, the off limits part?”

The Professor said, “No, no, of course not. M’I lead to believe these women

are ladies of the night, and-”

The Doctor interjects without stuttering, “Prostitutes?”

The Professor finishes, “Prostitutes, and this place is”

167 167

Luke answers, Yes, I’m referring to the whole area, every dam room in every

building. Those are whore houses. By the way, see that sign “Eros”? It

means “Love” in Greek.”

They were passing what was more commonly known as the Kaiser District

or Eros Center of downtown Frankfurt.

The Professor says, “Yes, but in Greek there are seven words for love. Close

as we could get directly translating it, the word would be Sex.”

The Doctor says, “Such an intense and pro-pro-profound language and just

goes to show you ha-ha-how inper-per-perfected the English language is. In

Greek: ‘A-A-A-Agape’, is love. A-a-a- and in th-th the hi-hi hi- highest form

of it. , Other words des- descry-describe other forms and such to fo- fo-

follow.”

The Professor adds, “We Sergeant tend to generalize feeling and intellect by

being taught to speak a language that diminishes thought. In English we

have one word for love. We say I love ice cream. I love my dog. It is so

simple, we tend to lose sight of the truth of our feelings. Love, what is love?

I love-.”

Luke was getting irritated, he says, “Ok, ok, ok, I don’t need a lesson on

love. None of this is love. These are friggen whore houses, and those are
168 168

whores, and the whole place is off limits. Get it?”

The Professor, “Oh Lord-” A pretty girl maybe twenty years old turned

around and looking over her shoulder she lifted her dress to the men in the

army sedan. The Professor continued after a pause, “She could catch cold.”

Luke replied, “Don’t worry about her somebody will warm her up.”

The Doctor said, “Sie me Senyor, let me out.”

The Professor asked as in a daze, “In every room there is a”-

Luke, “Yes a whore. You walk down the hall ways and these beautiful girls

are sitting on these bar stools in the door ways plain naked or in their room,

they got their doors open unless their busy with a customer. One even, well

never mined. Their sitting there in their panties or naked, and some jump up

to rub up against you. Some flirt. Some speak English, and some don’t half

too. They’ll try to coach you in by talking sexy. Their telling you some nasty

stuff like what they’ll do or how you’ll feel.”

The Professor asked harshly, “Now Sergeant, how do you know all that?”

The Doctor says, “U u u Yo u was off ‘off limits’, ah ha- ha, ah ha- ha, ah ha

ha. Uz u you were in in in there. Ah ha ah” How much it cost? Tee-hee, tells

us what they do. ”

Luke says sternly, “I’ve only been in there once, on business, it was my first
169 169

and only time.”

Both the Professor and the Doctor are laughing.

The Doctor says, “You- your first time?” Ah ha ha ha.

Luke is serious, and blushing, “It wasn’t for pleasure. I was called in to

negotiate, to help another guy out. A new Private, that is in my platoon.

Private Foama was held up inside one of those rooms in trouble.”

The Doctor gashes excitedly, “Sh-Sh-She w-w-w-wouldn’t let him go? Ha

ha th- that’s tr- trouble alright”

Luke, “Not exactly, Private Foama was about to be in some serious trouble.

He is six foot five inches tall and weighs almost three hundred pounds.”

The Doctor says, “No-no no wonder she want him. She feel no no other

after.” Ha ha ha

Luke says, “No, no sex. The Samoan had gotten intoxicated to the point he

couldn’t perform if he had even known where he was at.”

The Professor says with a smile, “Gee Sergeant, you can be my attorney

anytime.”

The Doctor starts busting up as he leans to one side mumbling what the

Professor said.

Luke says, “Let me start from the beginning. I was working Quartermaster at
170 170

5th Corps Headquarters Company one night. All N.C.O.s, that’s Non

Commissioned Officers, Sergeants, take turns watching over the junior

Enlisted men and women at night. This one in particular night I received a

call from some of the men. They had been out drinking rather heavily and

ended up down here. It seems Private Foama went into one of the rooms.

The girl seemed happy to have such a fellow as a customer. She closes the

door and a few minutes later she is cussing and yelling. She opened the

door”

The Doctor is wide eyed and asked, “What- wh- what he do, what he do?”

Luke continues, “Absolutely nothing. He passed out. The girl wants money

and threatens to call the German police. The men who were with him try to

wake him up. Except when they did, Private Foama thinks he’s back home

on his Island. He thinks he is in his own house. He doesn’t recognize

anybody and gets pissed off as hell. He was yelling, “Invaders, Mom,

invaders. That’s when he through them, all of them, out of the room. I mean

physically threw them out, including the girl. So they called me to deal with

him.”

The Doctor asked, “Did you kick his ass, Sergeant Lukas?”

Luke says, “It wouldn’t have been that easy. The guy is a monster built like
171 171

armor truck. So I asked the girl what she normally charged for an all-nighter.

She says twenty hundred marks which is about one thousand in American

money. So I made all five of them pitch in. They gave me all they had,

around nine hundred dollars. Since he was out and she didn’t have to do

anything, she said ok. That was one time somebody got true love down

here.”

The Doctor says, “Lo- lo love is not free.” He leans back into the sedans

back seat, crossing his arms.”

The Professor said, “Costly lesson.”

Luke said, “It could have been worse.”

The Professor said, “You’re a good man Sergeant, I like how you handled

that.”

Luke slowed cruising real slow so his passengers could get a better look. A

beautiful short blonde wearing something belonging in a western cowboy

saloon, jumped from the curb sticking her hand in to unlock the door

through the broken window.

The Doctor is yelling in a laugh, “Look Dolly Pardon.”

Luke reached out his large arm pointing his index finger at her, and then

slowly waved it. She stopped walking with the car and flung her hand up
172 172

flipping them off. It made them all laugh harder

In an accent she said, “Fogies

The Professor in dismay whispered, “Legal, unfriggen believable.”

Luke says, “It’s more than legal. To them it’s just another profession: like

being a hair dresser or secretary. They pay taxes and all that. They’re

supposed to be getting weekly routine check ups, for venereal disease. Be

hard to enforce I think.”

They passed a group of older men huddled together in front of a bratwurst

stand. The sound of the horn startled the Doctor causing him to spin around.

He expected to see that car again. An old winkled face German man smiled

and waved at one of the girls. It was obvious she wanted no part of him, but

another quickly jumped into the man’s car. Luke threw a u-turn and stepped

on the gas. Doctor Mendez stared bleakly out the back window as the

women became smaller and smaller.

Low clouds wreathed the upper halves of the high rises and the sedan

tunneled down between them. They were traveling through an old part of

downtown Frankfurt. The buildings started to change and shortly bloomed

with art. Transfixed by his surroundings, the Doctor was momentarily unable

to move. The artwork excited his feelings with its exotic flavor, making him
173 173

think of Rita, his lover who he missed so much. He was intrigued how an

artist could use architecture to enflame the emotions. What would this be

called, he wondered, gothic? No, it was too alive and entertaining. He gave

up guessing and became entrapped by the cement encasement of this icy

city. The Doctor leaned his forehead against the cold wet window. The road

was under repair, so he applied pressure in order that his head wouldn’t

bump against it. Still not wanting to miss anything he slid down in his seat

so he could get a better view. His eyes followed the towering flowered

pillars upward. There on the eve of a building were a number of winged

animal statues. Just below those he could see the outline of other carven

images from the waist up. The artist made it appear the creatures could

travel through walls. They stood in the shadows of night, and every other

dark place. The Professor felt sleepy and his eyes were heavy. He sat there

watching the Doctor.

The Professor asked, “What do you see up there?”

The Doctor answered, “Ta-take ah-a look at these things, the-they’re

bizarre.”

Luke knew right away what the Doctor was looking at. He himself had

become fascinated by them. In a voice to enhance more drama Luke intoned,

174 174

“Gargoyles- hunting- Goblins- and evil- spirits.”

The Professor leaned over to look up and then asked, “Oh really, what are

gargoyles doing in Germany?”

Luke said, “Why not, money buys the best, maybe the best at the time was

French.”

Luke was looking at the Doctor in his rearview mirror. The Doctor sat

staring like he was death in stone.

Then Luke startled him, “They’re stone dead Doctor, unless you believe

Gargoyles are alive.”

The Doctor asked, “So these are Gar-Gar-Gargoyles? How come they are all

d-d-d-different-looking?”

Luke replied, “And aren’t we all different-looking? Only time you‘ll ever

see Gargoyles looking the same is if their on the production line or have

been cloned. It’s just like when all the angels helped God make us; each one

had its own imagination of what we should look like. I’ve seen some part

man, lion, and wolf, and it has been said they have taken wings by drinking

the blood of a dragon.”

The Professor said, “The name gargoyle derives from the French word

meaning ‘throat’. The mouth of a Gargoyle typically served as a spout to

175 175

drain rainwater from the roof tops.”

The Doctor says, “Ye-yeah I-I get it.”

ARMY SEDAN IN ROUTE TO RED X

PROGRAM DROP-OFF ENTRY

Luke said, “Hey, I wrote a poem about them. You want to hear it?”

The Professor repeats slowly in a monotone, “A - poem – you – wrote –

about – them.”

The Doctor says, “You, ah- ah a poet? Com- com- come on.”

Luke says, “Yeah, I have an intellectual side. I’m pretty good.” He laughed.

The Professor said, “Please do recite it Sergeant.” The Professor looked at

176 176

the Doctor, and raised his eye brows, then added, “This shall prove

enlightening, I’m sure.”

“That Stare

“Alone in this city with nothing to do

I set out to find trouble the only thing I knew

From top this building some one called my name

I said to myself that sounds like a Dame

I climb up to see just who it might be

Only to fine these Gargoyles staring at me

I yelled out loud, “Who called my name?”

Came back an echo that say the same

177 177

Far end of the building was some type of noise

Who was it that plays with these toys?

Tawas a wooden couple that slide by on a track,

First a half dressed man clad in his under slacks

Then an angry woman she was old and fat

Leaning out a window of the town’s clock

A pretty young Fraulein with whom he was caught

178 178

. This one part I’m glad I did not miss

Each time he pass, she blow him a kiss

Way upon top was a large golden bell

I knew the time midnight- because I heard it pang twelve.

That’s when those things stepped into the light

You ever see what Gargoyles fight?

Goblins and Demons that come for men’s souls

The ugliest things if I be so bold

The creatures I seen were not carved out of stone

They were tall and black; with big red eyes

179 179

And they were talking about me when they said, “This one dies.”

I hid behind a statue with nowhere to run

They acted like friends asking if I wanted to have fun

It was the male that said, “I am Incubus, now don’t make a fuss,

How would you like, to have sex with Succubus?”

Behind come a naked woman, I said, “Leave me alone.”

That’s when I heard the statue moan

I turned to look and seen it come alive

180 180

The Demons ran away and didn’t even say good bye.

There is no doubt Gargoyles have hearts

Although someone once said they’re only for art.

If you’re not sure- if you believe in such things

Maybe you can tell me- why they turn green

I don’t know what- they might have been

Some say Angels- that fell into sin

One thing is for sure- about the beasts up there

I never saw one- that didn’t stare”

181 181

The Professor said, “That was quite profound, yes most brilliant, Sergeant.”

The Doctor started clapping, “Bravo, bra- bra- bravo.”

Men who experience success gain balance in their accomplishments, where

ego is not a stumbling block but a platform to position themselves to their

next victory. Luke quietly thanked these intelligent men for their

appreciation.

Luke continued driving and the Doctor began to feel swallowed up by high

risers made mostly of glass and stainless steel. A building that was quite old

and beautifully made could be seen coming up on their right.

182 182

The Professor said, “Must be historical.”

Luke said, “It is the old opera house.”

The Professor commented, “I’m surprised it survived the war.”

Luke said, “Not by chance, our bombers were given specific orders not to

bomb certain targets, like this and the Abrams Building. I heard that it was

Eisenhower himself that gave the order not to bomb it, he wanted it for his

Headquarters.”

An old man driving a snow plow truck held up traffic. Luke had the heater

full blast to make up for the blown out window, but it didn’t help much. The

Professor stared out the window at the farmer driving the plow.

The Professor said, “Hey Sergeant, I thought your heater didn’t work?

What’s that on the side of the tractor, this guy Municipal?”

Luke said, “Yeah, and the guy has probably been doing that same job every

winter for the last fifty years. I have to apologize, I lied to you. I tell my

passengers the heater doesn’t work because although they like getting all

warm and sleepy, I have to stay awake. With this blown out window it

doesn’t work anyway.”

The Professor said, “It’s funny what men find to lie about. You seem to me a

stand up guy, how come you don’t just tell them the truth. Who is going to
183 183

say, “Go ahead and fall asleep I want to be warm?”

Luke said, “Your right, I don’t know? I guess it’s because I’m suppose to see

that my V.I.P.s are comfortable. I find myself being phony a lot in this job.”

The Professor said, “I can understand that, but is it worth it? Stop, before

you answer try this, a game of the mind. Look at it like this and try doing it

for one week, it may change your life. When you speak pretend there are

two of you, one in this world and say one in a spirit world, or in say, the next

dimension. Then play if you lie you have to give up something in the other

dimension, you don’t know what it is because you’re here, but be assured

your second self will loose something. That self or spirit does the same thing

for you, except it can see in both worlds. It can even speak to you, but only

if you have no debt and the second self is well. You watch each others back

and you’re fate, luck, or destiny is determined by your choices. The worst

position is when your other self becomes bankrupt or sick from your own

actions. When that happens and the spirit has no more to cover the debt the

loss is deducted from the first self, which is you and your life. You are

allowed to feed the second self building up his wealth, but leave that for the

second week. Try this just for one week. That is if you can.”

Luke says, “That’s way out. How did you come up with that?”
184 184

The Professor said, “I live by it, but I actually stumble upon it writing a

book believe it or not. In the book my character gave hope to some one. The

person needed treatment but there was no medication to give. So in the story

the Doctor used his imagination to inoculate and heal his patient with the

idea of a second self. The story has a happy ending, even funny. I end up not

only healing the patient in the story, but many others that read the book and

dared to play. Luke asked, “You mean you never lie?”

The Professor said, “Sure I do, but least my spirit is not out on the curb

anymore.” They both laughed and Luke kept driving. The Professor closed

his eyes and thought of the lie he told his assistant Doctor Mendez. He

rubbed his eyes and then reached for the briefcase that sits on the floorboard.

The Professor thumbed the dial lock tumbler on his briefcase 2+8+1+9., then

opened the case and grab hold of the only document in it and his flash light

with the clip on the side. He pulled out his hat and attached the clip flash

light and put it on. After adjusting the light to see the document, he begins to

read.

Luke asked, “Whatz ya reading there Professor?’

The Professor said, “My briefing.”

Luke said, “You have any questions, ask me, I can recite the dam thing if
185 185

you like.”

The Professor asked, “How did you come to be able to do that?”

Luke said, “Easy, I put enough of them together. Being the only junior

enlisted man around the General, when I’m not driving I get called to do all

kinds of odd ball jobs. Binding up those is one of a hundred.”

The Professor realized Luke could be a very valuable information source.

He said, “Thank you, if I have any questions I’ll ask.”

186 186

Top Secret Report

CHAPTER ELEVEN

TOP SECRET REPORT

The Professor began, “Cover sheet classification:

From; Headquarters Company, V Corps, G-3 Plans, U.S. Army,

Command; General Wayne W Brown,

Briefing Order, Red X Program, Medical Research Facility,

To: all overseas Department of Defense personnel, Foreign Service.

This document briefing has been prepared to bring all staff members and in-

coming D.O.D. and civilian contracted employees in to union on the V

Corps Company Red X Program objectives and principle guidelines.

First and foremost is the stage base of three directives; security, safety, and

Chemical-Biological Containment.

The next section explained in detail the chain of command which is the

same for the Army as it is the civilians that hold a rank in GS ranking system

for Department of Defense Personnel. The Red X Program, or facility as it is

187 187

refer to, is for all general purposes a Research Hospital; at least that’s what it

started out as. The Professor was amazed as he read and became more aware

of the place he would be working at. The Hospital was broken down in to

Stations and areas containing weapons; containment areas. The containment

areas are in fact a warehouse of both Chemical and Biological weapons.

Each station has its own Chief, be he/ she would hold Military or

Department of Defense rank over all personnel within the Station regardless

of rank. It emphasized no matter if they out rank the Chief, everybody in a

station take orders from their Chief; Chief is the boss?”

The Professor asked, “Who does the Station Chief report to?”

Luke says, “Page six huh? That’s a simple one, one of two people; Sergeant

Major Kiddmyer or General Brown. Your Station Chief will explain that

once you are down there. Updated program requirements and assignment

commands will be posted in your work quarter daily; it is your responsibility

to see that you fully understand them, you will sign that you do. Lets see, it

says, “It is the intentions of V Corps command in this section that the

forgoing information will establish a better understanding in adjoining

departments to unionize the Program’s goals, see later the annex support

dept. for what they are.”

188 188

The Professor asked, “Didn’t we just pass this cutoff?”

Luke kind of laughs, “Ha-ha good eye, yes we did, it only takes twenty

minutes to get from the airport to the destination, but I have a drop time;

think of us as an airplane encircling the airfield we plan to land in. Believe

me, everything and everybody is on a schedule.

Now, as for section eight: Vaccinations, “All Red X staff must have their

shots completed and medical vaccine certification cards signed before access

to a containment area will be approved. There is a lot of nasty crap down

there Professor. A complete vaccination panel usually takes twenty hours to

complete. Your assignments will vary according to expertise. You will not be

allowed to pass a containment area entry without cards. Let’s see, Eight D

informs you to contact the RX-20 med station in the Abrams Building at

ext.2234 for inspection of injection points, where they stick you in other

words. Eight E gives directions on how to receive food ration cards. F

instructs employees to read and sign Security Packets and review relative

information briefs.”

The Professor asked “What? You got some kind of photographic memory?”

Luke started laughing, then started again, “Go to section I, on page XII:

geographical and terrain description, I want to show you something.”

189 189

Doctor Mendez had fallen asleep some time ago and started to lean in to the

Professor who gently pushed him backup.

Luke was saying, “The underground facility originally consisted of a number

of waterway tunnels that were dug a long time ago by the City Engineer, a

guy by the name Hoffman, it was around two hundred years ago. Over the

years the water had began to wash away dirt and create large caverns”.

The Professor said, “Really, that’s quite interesting.”

Luke continued, “Wait until I tell you about his kid, Doctor Hoffman, but

first let me go over some stuff; Page nine should just cover the index for cut-

off dates for geographical plans for rerouting around containment areas. The

placement walls scheduled for construction will continue to reduce the

Hospital’s size until we leave here. Check with your Station Chief for

planned route maps before reporting for duty the next day or you could end

up getting lost, it’s a maze down there. If you are coming up in rotation for a

BACER Team, Biological Chemical Emergency Response team, call ext.

3884 for suit changes.

Like I was saying the Subterranean transportation levels of the Hospital were

once part of the Old Frankfurt’s water and sewer system dating back to

1814. Then in 1844 the sewers were reported to have grown in certain areas,
190 190

the biggest of them underneath the Gunderburglandee, the land where the

Abrams Building is built on; except back then they built a giant Hospital

over it, or actually an Insane Asylum.”

The Professor push his assistant back up again and reply, “This is bizarre,

just how big is this place, Sergeant?”

Luke said, “I don’t even know, there are miles of tunnels down there. They

even ended up installing those miner carts on tracks to get around.”

The Professor asked, “Who did the Army?”

Luke says, “No, it was during Doctor Hoffman’s time. All that was part of

the mining they did.”

The Professor asked, “What mining? How come I never heard of it?”

Luke continued, “You haven’t heard of it because it was kept secret, that’s

why. Surprisingly enough it remains a secret today.”

The Professor was looking at the pictures in the report.

191 191

TOP SECRET
BRIEFING REPORT
Front view of the Abrams Building, Frankfurt, Germany.
192 192

History of the General Creighton W Abrams Building:

This document is classified and belongs to the United States Government.

The Northern Area Command {NACOM}, promulgated occupation in 1945.

The Building gives entry to a Top Secret facility and will remain under

United States jurisdiction until further notice. The upper construction of the

building commenced over a two and a half year period: from 1928 to 1930.

The design was formulated for use as the Corporate Headquarters of the I.G.

Farben Chemical Conglomerate in downtown Frankfurt, Germany. The

Company occupied the building for fifteen years. It was previously known

as the IG Farben Complex and is now called the General Creighton W.

Abrams Building, and presently the Headquarters for the U.S. Army 5th

Corps. The Headquarters Command for the Supreme Allied Command

occupied the building from 1949 to 1952 the High Commissioner for

Germany (HICOG). It became the principal location for implementing the

Marshall Plan. The I.G. Farben Building was developed on land known as

the Gruneburggelande, in Frankfurt’s West end District. In 1837, the

193 193

property belonged to the Rothschild family. In 1864, the City’s psychiatric

hospital known as “Affenstein or Ape-Rock” was erected on the site. Here,

Dr Heinrich Hoffman hired Alois Alzheimer to work in the hospital, where

they both explored progressive methods of treating the mentally ill. The

hospital included a prison for the criminally insane. A competition to design

the I. G. Farben building was won by the architect Hans Poelzig, and the

hospital was torn down. Near the buildings completion Poelzig was told of

the subterranean waterways thought to be under Frankfurt. Fearing the

foundation might become unstable Poelzig attempted to investigate but was

arrested and forbidden to step foot in the building again. The subterranean

water ways Poelzig referred to were built by Dr. Heinrich Hoffman’s father

an architect Philipp Hoffman responsible for the city’ streets and waterways.

It was from his father that Heinrich Hoffman gain skills to developed the

subterranean complex and mining operation.

The subterranean tunnels were preserved during the demolition period of the

Lunatic Asylum. The initial building stages and base foundation of the new

I. G. Farben Complex were complete by Philipp Hoffman. The compound

was the biggest office building in Europe until the 1950s, and its six square

wings retain a progressive, grace despite its colossal size. In aerial view the
194 194

building with its convex design was to resemble medical suture as Emblem

to the true purpose, and above that the German bird of war. The paternoster

elevators installed in the Lunatic Asylum were reconstructed for use in the

new I.G. Farben Building. Once used to accommodate medical staff from

the insane asylum descending into the underground; the elevators

reconstructed in the I.G. Farben Building duplicating the usage to reach the

second basement. In 1949 following American occupation the elevators were

reformed to reach only ground level of the Abrams Complex. The name

‘Paternoster’ was originally adopted by the miners who used them to

descend though the Psychiatric Hospital into the mines below, because their

resemblance to connecting Rosary beads; Paternoster is the largest bead on

the Rosary to mark when to recite the Lords prayer. These elevators were the

model for design because of the need for mass evacuation during

emergences. In 1875 a new metal called Bauxite was discovered on

Gruenberg . There is evidence patients from the asylum were made prisoners

and used to mine the aluminum ore.

195 195

UNITED STATES ARMY

HEADQUARTERS 5TH CORPS

I.G. Farben, Frankfurt, Germany:

The chief operations of the Chemical Company included research projects

relating to the development of Nazi wartime synthetic oil, research projects

related to the use of Heavy Water and TST. The study of isotopic negative

barring, the product direction of magnesium, lubricating oil, explosives,

196 196

methamphetamine, malyphion and other experimental nerve gasses, to

include Zyklon B, the lethal gas used in concentration camps. I.G. Farben

biochemistry research expanded but was not limited to the development of

new drugs. I.G. Farben processed the plant ephedrine, first used by the

Japanese as a nasal decongestant then a stimulant, where I.G. Farben

developed a three day flash method to produce a powerful stimulant known

today as Crystal Meth. The drug dispensed under the pharmaceutical name

Pervitin, was widely distributed by the Nazis across rank and division, from

elite SS forces, tank crews, and aircraft personnel to the Fuehrer Hitler

himself.
197 197

THE GERMAN SURRENDER

PROGMATIC OCCUPATION OF
GERMAN LAND BY UNITED
STATES FORCES
CHAAPTER TWELVE

On March 20th 1945 the Allies had taken Frankfurt and the Americans seized

the I. G. Farben Building. Army Search and Rescue dogs were used to locate

civilians amidst the rubble of the bombed blasted City. One Army rescue

team retreated to the second basement of the I.G. Farben building to rest

their dogs. After being alerted by a Search Dog that someone was hiding in

the basement on the other side of a wall, a hole large enough to crawl

through was knocked out, and the dogs sent in. In minutes a fake partition

swing open and a German doctor run out being chanced by the dogs. The

hidden door gives passage to a secret tunnel that lead to a flooded stairway.

The Doctor spoke perfect English stating the flooded stairway was once an
198 198

escape route, that the tunnel was wide enough for a people’s wagon, and that

it went all the way to the Airport in Rhine Main. He went on to say an

accident occurred and the tunnel is now flooded. The Doctor had said he

overheard the Nazis telling of a plan to set traps for the Americans. He left to

retrieve some of his belongings and that’s when he heard an explosion. After

returning the stairway was flooded by river water. Why river water he was

asked, and he explained the tunnel was dug very close to the Maine. A Nazi

booby trap must have gone off by mistake killing all. When the Americans

came he hid here pinned between what we might do with him and the

flooded tunnel. This didn’t jive with American Army Commander in charge

who just happened to be General Paton at the time. He questioned, “Why

were there not bodies or debris? What was the Doctor up to that he fear the

Americans? Why was there algae growing if the explosion just occurred?” The last

quote was a joke where he said, “There is something fishy about this krauts the story, it

just don’t float?” The US Navy was called and deploys special divers to seal the way, as

later they were to be called.

199 199

. Their underwater exploration skills discovered not hidden bombs but a submarine type

door only twenty steps down. The Army Corp Engineers took over and

removed the flood water by hose and pump. Once that was completed it was

discovered the Nazis used the floodwater as a form of security, and

ironically the Engineers displaced the water to its rightful place. Though the

Nazis used a more sophisticated bilge system the bogus flood water was be

pumped into the Pond of the Nymphets located at the rear of the building

until entry completed. Now with the marine door exposed every second

intensify the mystery of where this entrance might lead. General Paton

allowed his soldiers to draw straws to decide who shall take the helm. Some

expected it to gain way to be the company’s assets or even all the loot

collected from the Jew’s of Frankfurt. That however, was not what they

found, nor could they of imagine what lay behind that cold steel; who could

ever dream of the horror such as what await them. Complete silence filled

the crowded building where hungry eyes stalk the stairway.

200 200

All watch that cold day is veered towards the pit swinging over arm until

the meshing gears stop and the seal as the black slimy wheel turn and then

with a kiss it pop loose, it was the seal of death. The squeaky door is pulled

stretching the echo from inside, and the last of the green water slide down

the wall. They watch as the slow drip is sticky and long big drops swallow

their feet. A revelation to what was to come and best said in their eyes, by

words long and sticky to describe, a smell so pungent to drive them aside,

the tome that not wait, to prepare mans fate, and is what was said, “This be

Hell gate.” There under was the World of Medicine, uncountable testing

Laboratories facilitating study miles in maze that curve round loops of

underground passage construct for water melting into the Hospitals insane,

linking chambers cells with nails and jails made into hells each one to tell by

hundreds of years that smell. In big block blood color was the welcome, it

said, “DER Rot X Programm Sachlich“, the English translation is; THE

RED X PROGRAM SUBTANCE AM.

201 201

What was called the Red X Program below the Abrams Building is classified

Top Secret and was fully operational complete with staff. The Red X

Program was titled for promo; a philosophy that only German names were to

exist, as prisoners entered the underground hospital their names were ex-out

in red and replaced by number, never to of been known and never remember

again.

The Laboratories at the time of the discovery were fully equipped highly

advanced medical research facilities; and were fully staffed with doctors,

nurses, and scientist. The upper echelon Nazi Scientist vanished:

202 202

SIMON WISENTHAL
CHAPTER THIRTEEN

The Abrams Complex is a Top Secret Installation and there are a compilation

of Military Branches that utilize the facility including selected NATO

occupants. Agencies working on assignments often set up residence within

the Abrams Building collectively. Some permanent Agencies preserve

administrative centers for safe house clandestine activity and share

resources. The Central Intelligence Agency encompasses scheduled

meetings with Simon Wiesenthal and the Israeli Secret Service, other

Foreign Intelligence Agencies, including the Mossad visited on a regular

basis.

The United States Army’s Administrational Records Unit made level

detachments under several interconnected Military Police authorities to

monitor access. Identifying and Clearance staff and visitors were a complex

and enormous job. The most advanced technology was used.

203 203

On file United States 5th Corps Headquarters Company

Military Police Attachment Clearance Photograph
Simon Wiesenthal

Simon Wiesenthal in 1999.

Born December 31, 1908 Fingerprints on file Facialt Sucture Pos TA
, ZR-3i594944Computer
U.S Army Identification Pass
Abrams Building
Top Secret Clearance
Second Basement access TX G-12
Occupation Nazi hunter
Employer U.S. Army
Red X Program Simon Wiesenthal Center
Jewish Documentation Center
Nazis Data Base Controler Judaism
Parents Asher and Rosa Wiesenthal

The Jewish War Crime committee was allowed to collect sample body parts for future

DNA identification. The Israelis and Simon Wiesenthal were not allowed past check point

#2 Had access in the intelligence center data base, but were unaware of the Nazi
204 204

medical staff that worked right under their noses. The Americans did supply all relevant

information to assist in the capture of fugitive Nazis. In an attempt to locate Doctor Death

Head Superintendent of the Red X Program that escaped in 1945 Mr. Wiesenthal visited

the facility on a regular basis.

The following high-profile Nazis captured were maintain first in the Abrams data base

intelligence compute. The successes of capturing Karl Silbehauer the Gestapo officer

responsible for the arrest of Anne Frank was contributed to records found within the Red

X Program. Other information lead to the identification of the following men who had

ordered and participated in the torture and murder of thousands of women and children at

I.G. Farben underground Red X Program. The U.S. Office of Special Investigations to

investigate Nazi activity within the U.S. established identification laboratories in the

subterranean facility too. Most had any idea the Underground Medical Red X Program

existed or the Bio logical and Chemical Weapons Warehouse that lay so close to their

own hidden offices.

Adolf Eichmann
205 205

ff
Eduard Roshman
206 206

Franz Stangl

D
207 207

No photograph was ever located of the infamous Doctor Death who remaned

wanted:

Furtive of Justice, Nazi SS octor Udo Bayer, AKA: Doctor Death. A number

of the top scientist of I.G. Farben accompanied by the Head Super Attendant

SS Doctor Bayer coined Doctor Death escaped capture and is still a fugitive

of justice. This man is responsible for horrific crimes against humanity, to

include mass murder qualifying Genocide. Ref; evidence document A.D.20

-323

Adjoining the newly discovered Laboratories are hundreds of connecting

tunnels, chambers and cell rooms. At the time the tunnels were being

mapped by the Army Corps of Engineers., a gruesome discovery was made;

at the time the Insane Asylum made conversions from waterway to railed

passage to the mines, the Southern inlet base camp was developed. Those in

charge of the City approved to include human warehousing facilities for the

workers. I.G. Farben had utilized those same amenities for holding cells in

research. Many of those prisoners were found dead, their bodies were stored

bulk. Because of the disposal and storage method used by the Nazis, i.e.;

multiple corpuses horizontally placed on top of each other and treated with

an amalgamation formaldehyde preservative first melting and then

208 208

solidifying. The chemical induced fusion slowed the post mortal decay,

however later movement required cutting blocks of the human flesh out with

saws and axes for transport. The human corpuses were of all ages and

weighted between twenty to pounds. Unfortunately the remains were not

weighted so to formulate a specific number of victims; an estimated twenty

thousand was recorded, but the accuracy is unknown. At the west end of the

Building is a very large incinerator that was used to cremate human bodies.

It is unknown as to the number of victims it consumed. A map was

formulated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

209 209

BIOLOGICAL DISEASE: The threat of possible contamination to the city’s

water supply and

the spread of

diseases created a

major health

crisis. This

situation required

emergency
210 210

attention to eliminate the threat of a plague. A task force was form using the

only qualified personnel at the site. There are some orders American soldiers

will disobey. In the interest of American National Security and the

advancement of science and medical research, and to possibly save the lives

of thousands of citizens above from a plague, a decision was made in which

there was no going back. For their assistance and agreement to continue to

work for the Americans a proclamation was signed. An agreement between

the lower echelon Nazi medical staff members now under arrest, and the

American Military Government stated as long as the scientist would

continue to work for us and the program was kept secret; the military could

guarantee amnesty. If it ever got out, the U. S. military could do nothing for

them. A cremation of the victims was continued in a race against time.

Identification of those found could not be accomplished due to the

immediate threat and possible exposure to civilians in the populated war

ravished city of Frankfurt The other bodies parts that were found being

stored and part of an on going research project, were not disturbed or

destroyed.

In ordered to protect the members assigned to manage the Red X Program

and perform this difficult task, the duties and positions given here, to include
211 211

all names and records of identity will be immediately destroyed following

separation from the Red X Program. A document HZX-20 wash out will be

conducted annually. The only record that is to be preserved is the departure

debriefing that states by order of the President and signed by Eisenhower

that if you know of this program all applies the act of releasing any part of

the Program existence is treason punishable by death. All records of medical

research and the molecular mapping of disease strain, virus germ otology

statistical blue printing and all relative information to our mission here is to

be protected and not destroyed under any circumstances. In the interest of

humanity we must not repeat that which the Nazi leave us no keys.

The U.S Army maintained control of the Red X Program in Germany for the

next fifty years. The discoveries made from the research and the experiments

performed by the Nazis during WWII were a great contribution to science,

and mankind all together. Up until the recent change in global politics all

attempts to reduce the size the huge warehouse containing biological and

chemical weapons was next to impossible. Since the Red X Program

technically did not exist and remained at such a high level of secrecy, the

weapons seized underneath the I.G Farben building belonging to the Nazis

were considered ghost arms. Though a strict inventory was kept none were
212 212

ever counted together with all other U.S. Defense arsenal. There was no

question many of the weapons needed to be destroyed; however the process

in getting clearance to do so was difficult. The prior commanders in charge

of the Red X Program committed to the confirmation of what was there, and

the many scientist worked to develop cures for DNA altered diseases, and

vaccines to include antidotes for the mass germ warfare. Some projects of

chemical weapons were failures, but that did not eliminate there possible

uses. In cases such as Malifon, once an experimental nerve gas found a place

in today’s society, and is the infamous Med Fly insecticide. The Red X

Program was absent the normal bureaucratic restrictions but left an

enormous responsibility on those appointed to guard its secrets.

Now, the present day commander General Brown was to be the one that

makes it disappear.
213 213

BIOLOGICAL WARFARE AND ITS

CUTANEOUS MANIFESTATIONS
Chapter Fourteen
The Assignment Goals
214 214

1.) The complete dissolvent of the Red X Program by annihilation and

destruction of contents. Key Words: biological warfare, coetaneous manifestations,

hemorrhagic fever, mycotoxins, poxviruses, plague, melioidosis

2.) The classified convey of desegregation mate rrials marked for removal

and transport to the United States will begin at once.

3.) The assigned destruction of Chemical and Biological weapons are

manned to continue around the clock until further notice..

A speech from General Brown was delivered that showed the deep motion

shared by the Commander and the entire associated collection of Doctors,

Nurses, Scientist, and Specialist who worked there. With time their greatest

concern the race for disarticulation and termination of what was to be left

begun. The Nazis accumulation of stock was finally going to be destroyed

Clearance orders that every germ, living or dead organism, and every

chemical down to the molecular foundation of elements, whether part of a

weapon or not were posted in every section. All times the facility resembles

a Bookie Establishment tipped to be raided as General Wayne Brown’s

medical Research Program was coming to an end. All was not calm during

this time either; a travel alert was also posted; To determine the treatment of

frostbite, prisoners were taken outside in freezing weather and left with
215 215

exposed arms, periodically drenched with water until frozen solid. The arm

was later amputated; the doctor would repeat the process on the victim's

upper arm to the shoulder. After both arms were gone, the doctors moved on

to the legs until only a head and torso remained. The victim was then used

for plague and pathogens experiments

Doctor Death as means of getting intelligence was to extract information by

interrogating prisoners. Torture was an unavoidable necessity. Murdering

and burying them follows naturally. Doctor Bayer was not worried about

being found out, though I.G.Farben Builing design include a very large

crematorium . Documents seized reveal his belief Germany could not lose

the war. This was based on the fact he planned to use the weapons. The

amount of Biological Weapons of Mass Destruction warehoused below the

Headquarters surpassed 20 Tons. Hitler was against the use, but had the

assassination attempt been successful their use could have destroyed

mankind all together.. Some of the Nazi scientist said, “We carried out our

duty as instructed by our masters. We did it for the sake of our country. The

Final Solution was not a Dream, it was jawed and stored in test tubes. From

our filial obligation to our orders not to release them was divided by a single
216 216

strand of hair.. On the battlefield, we never really considered the people to

be humans, or a threat, they were numbers. This was more so with prisoners,

they were not allowed to call each other by names, their names had been

RED X out. When you're winning, the losers always look really miserable,

that is just the fact of being on top. In every war in every battle, and every

game it is the same: sad face/happy face. .

Travel Danger Alert:

Attention all Military and Department of Defense Personnel; caution is

advised throughout Europe. The Frankfurt area and especially the Abrams

Complex are at Code 3 and considered unsafe. Interpol and Military

intelligence has spotted possible German Terrorist sympathizers, this could

be a fore front scouting for an attack. The normal tourist travel warnings

have been given in the States and an American foreign public awareness

alert is now being sent to the local Hotels and Restaurants. The existence
217 217

random bombings patterns are sporadic and we are taking no chances. The

German left wing extremist RAF, and linked terrorist organizations continue

to be responsible. The solicitation for membership into the Red Army

Faction, RAF has been popular in student movements speaking out against

the State. Any sightings of such demonstrations should be avoided and

reported. The group, also known through the German Media as the Baader-

Meinhof Gang, has been identified as responsible for the deaths of twenty

American military officers and enlisted men this last year alone. A number

of subsequent attacks involving assassination and kidnapping of American

personnel have taken place years prior. Extreme caution is to be taken and

D.O.D employees are to follow instruction given by their military attaché.

These drivers are specially trained bodyguards and can save lives.

SECURITY AND TRANSFER OF

CLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS:
*All written classified information is to be locked in the RX2 brief case, and

handcuffed to the body of transporting agent.

218 218

*The hidden button is to be used if apprehension by hostiles is imminent.

*These specially designed briefcases carry a powerful liquid acid that will

destroy all contents within the case.

*All personnel must refrain from discussing classified information to

include their connection to the Red X Program.

*This facility and Program does not exist, and we plan to keep it that way.

*It is also mandatory to cooperate with the local German authorities while

in transit; this does not rescind Security Guidelines.

*No order of secrecy shall be changed or modified following signing of

order.

*All Red X employees will safe guard and protect all classified

Information, swearing not to divulge any Knowledge of The Red X

*Program willfully, on under threat or act of torture to include death.

May no person be allowed to comprise this mission?

Signed Chief of Staff Armed Forces United States of America
219 219

THE ABRAMS BUILDING

CHAPTER FIFTHTEEN
DECEMBER 1994

“I made it,” He mumbled with his mouth piece in. Sergio weighed in three

pounds less that yesterday. ‘Ding, ding,’ he pushed off with his gloves. Two

short jabs with his left and he swing around with his right. The bigger kid is
220 220

quick, {ouch} the kid drive his forearm bone hard into Sergio’s arm

knocking it outward. He steps in at the same time and brings up the cut,

{smack} right into the chin. Sergio sees black. Auk that smell, he open his

eyes expecting to see the Ref and that Boxing doctor holding that smelly

little yellow stick under his nose. He’s in the back of the sedan; he tries to

look out the side window but could only see his reflection in a frozen frame.

The Doctors half drooping eyelids blink and its cold.

The Doctor asks, “Yu-Yuck, what’s that smell?”

Luke laughs. The smell of fishy dirty water filled the car and it reeks badly.

They could hear the powerful swish splash swish like a title wave ready to

over take them.

The Professor said, “A river I think.”

The Doctor propped himself up to look out the professors side of the

window. There is no need for light the rivers white foam glow in the night. It

race higher than ground that lace it with no time to over flow.

Luke answered, “That is, thy Great O” Magnificent Main River; Germany’s

industrial link to the free world. Don’t try swimming in it. If they can hook

you out you’ll glow green.”

221 221

Chunks of large black ice race the other way. Luke continued driving along

side the river. As the army sedan near a bright lighted area, people of all ages

began to appear. The road turn away from the river and turn into a scene

from Disneyland’s it’s a small- small world. Some children were dressed up

as elves. Strings of lights colored green, red, and blue, blink in harmony to

chimes and bells. The smell of roasted chestnuts, pop corn, and candy fill the

air. An old German woman, stir a large pot of hot ‘Teufel wine’. In English it

means; Devil’s wine, getting its name from the strange whirls of clouds

cooking sweet wine makes.

The Professor says, “You are full of surprises Sergeant. This is one of

Germany’s famous Christmas festivals is it not?”

Luke answered, “Yeah it is the ‘Weinachtmart’, or Christmas fest, and

another kill zone.”

The Doctor abruptly asked, “A what-what zone?

Luke says, “A kill zone. As you might have heard there are travel alerts for

Americans abroad, the Army has deemed certain areas dangerous for both

military and Department of Defense personnel such as your selves where

they are susceptible to being targeted by terrorist. They call them kill zones”

The Professor said, “Makes sense.”

222 222

Luke says, “Just remember you’re here on business, if you mix pleasure with

it, don’t get caught slipping.”

The Professor asked, “What exactly happened tonight, were we targeted

because what we’ll be doing in the Red X program?”

Luke answered, “I doubt it, can’t say for sure; I think they were targeting the

sedan coming from the airport. Who gets picked up in a bullet proof military

sedan, somebody important that’s who?”

The Professor asked, “So they didn’t know who we are?”

Luke said, “Didn’t say that, I said I’m not sure. Never out think your self.”

The Professor said, “I see.”

The Doctor asked, “How-How much further is it?”

Luke said, “Be interested to hear what G-2 has to say.”

The Professor asked, “Who?”

Luke said, “Our guys in counter intelligence.”

The Doctor asked how long again and it brought back memories when the

Professor was a boy, when his parents were driving and he and his sister sat

in the back. His family used to take long drives to visit relatives. His sister

would always ask, “How much further is it?”

Luke said, “We passed it. Thing is Doc, I got a drop time, were early.”
223 223

Luke looked at his watch. He could hear the Doctor sigh.

The Professor asked, “Who was it, that Bad Mienoff gang?”

The Luke said, “Yeah, you’re meaning the Baader and Meinhof gang. Let

me tell you about them; first of all, those two people are dead and although

the German Press named the gang the Baader Meinhof, the group calls them

selves The Red Army Fascists. We’re dealing with a third generation here.

Those two people’s names were part of the original terrorist who committed

suicide in their high security German prison cells. It was all a trip how it was

suppose to of happened, I mean like how did they get guns into their cells?

To many unanswered questions, conspiracy theories, this was back in the

70’s.”

Professor was shocked, and asked, “How come-”

Luke interrupted, “I ain’t finished, how come what? How come you don’t

hear about it in the States?”

The Professor says, “Ah huh, I didn’t know any thing about them until we

started going over the briefing.”

Luke said, “Because the United States government refuses to publicize any

terrorist action, that’s what the terrorist want, their ecause known, most of

the time anyway. Those terrorist got plenty of publicity here in Germany and
224 224

them dying like they did, almost started a dam revolution. If the German

Secret Service did kill those prisoners like it seems, they really fucked up,

excuse my French. What ever the truth, their deaths kicked off a whole new

generation of terrorist and major anti-American demonstrations. I’m told we

got another wave of them in.”

The Doctor asks, “Why- why they hate- hate us so much?”

The Professor asks, “Are we really that bad? What are we doing that I don’t

know about?”

Luke says, “Gentleman comes on now, like you really don’t know what

we’ve been doing? Well besides Vietnam, and lately invading another

country and kidnapping their president, you know, the Panama thing, Ali

Bush Abba and the Forty Oil Thieves, and about a hundred other things

totally wrong according to international law ’s, this terrorist group is mainly

pissed off about us supporting the Nazis.”

The Doctor sounded like he was choking, “What - what Na- Na- Nazis?”

The Professor said, “Please excuses my ignorance Sergeant, but I don’t have

a clue as to what Nazis you’re referring too.”

Luke laughed, and then said, “Sorry I can’t believe how successful our

Government is with CNN life these days in keeping Americans in the dark.
225 225

The few left in power and I mean few, and most are dieing of old age; the

ones that the Red Army Fascist haven’t killed. See, it’s a long story, but after

we took over after the war, we left the Nazis in power as part of a deal.”

The Doctor has reached his daily limit, “The- the- the- Nah- nah- nah nah-”

The Professors asked, “You must be mistaken, the Nazis are still in power,

their in Government, they are-. That’s in creditable; Sergeant was that part of

secrecy arrangement to keep the Red X Program going?”

The Doctor is drooling, “Whaw- whaw- what- what de- de- a- a- arrange-”

Luke says, “To tell you the truth that is out of my ball park. All I know is the

Nazis being left in power and running Germany and the Americans

supporting them is one of the terrorist major bitches.”

The Professor points out, “The wall came down and the Communist have

been defeated Americans leaving matter? What kind of place is this? All this

killing, innocent people dying, us being targeted and attacked tonight, my

head is spinning. How are we responsible, awe dam politics, I’ll stick to

science.”

Luke asked, “That’s supposed to be saner?”

The Doctor responded with a deep long moan.

The Professor says. “That depends who’s been in the kitchen. For me it is
226 226

saner. It’s where I fill comfortable and in control at.”

Luke’s mind raced to the underworld and he thought if it weren’t for a friend

who worked below he guessed he wouldn’t want to be down there himself.

He remembered how all those dam refrigerators went out at the same time.

His mind play back the events, the lock down, those blinking red lights and

the whole place turning black. Luke’s thoughts carried over into the wheel

and the rear end of the sedan slide out as he made his turn on to Jasperclauss

Weg.

Luke made the correction and his mind float back below. ‘Not want to work

down there hell, If anybody had a reason to not want to be down there it’s

me. The lifer Doctor Schmitt’s wrinkled face popped into his head. Luke

thought the old man was one of those mad scientist, how Luke thought the

old man must be up to no good, always happy and because of the that creepy

smile he wore; until Luke caught what the old man has. Those refrigerators

though were something else, starting to burn up simultaneously. Last year on

New Years day Luke and the General were below walking down a quarts

chipped cave top hallway they call the blowing alley because it was so long.

Luke followed the General, listening trying to look and keep up. They were

passing these twenty refrigerators with multiple apertures and gauges

227 227

attached to them. The General was in ramble naming off names of biological

warfare germs, dates, hoards of other information, and pointing to various

experiments as they march by. Luke is looking in the display monitor

window of one that appears to be a human brain. Then all twenty

refrigerators started rocking and making all kinds of noise. Seconds later

black smoke come out from the bottom, then flames, they seem to be

haunted or something. The fire sprinkler shot ice cold water down from

above them and the alarm sound. Then the lights start to dim and more

emergency lights flash, blue and purple. Luke could hear a garbled code of

instructions growl over the 1940 loud speakers; first in German, then in

English. Luke didn’t know where every body was coming from, they kept

coming, he couldn’t see very well because of the smoke, he was bumping in

to medical staff, and they were bumping into him. He could hear General

Brown’s voice loud and firm, but calm giving instructions what to do. Every

body, including Luke was trying to run but there wasn’t room; all except the

General, he was in control, he was the only one who was in control. The

scientist reminded Luke of hungry mice looking for the cheese. Luke on his

second run up and down the hallway twice lost, not knowing General

Browns first order was to seal for containment. The two doors located at
228 228

each end of the tunnel had long been shut. Luke was now out of breath

coughing from the smoke. All covered black in soot his pale skin glow white

where watery eyes and a runny nose wash streaks down his face. Spinning in

smoke he tries to run one more time and does into the wall. Knocked to the

floor he looks up and dreams of the woman that wore that nurse’s costume in

the magazine in the motor pool lobby. She is wearing a WWII gas mask.

Look, she is taking it off to kiss me; he puckers up his lips and closes his

eyes. He feels something sliding over his face and head and falls off to sleep.

What caused the refrigerator compressor motors to fry was caused by what

is called induction. It is the way an electric motor or transformer works:

electricity will energize any magnet that is close enough and is wound with

cooper wire. The magnet covered spool of cooper wire need not be directly

connected, either close to a electrical power source having a magnetic field,

or an electrical magnetic field strong enough to reach other magnetic fields.

Generally even large motors generate fields that cover small areas. The

fields need be in close proximity of each other to cause induction. The

electrical magnetic field that was the source of the refrigerator motors

overloading causing the fires was part of an experiment located a mile away

on the other side of the Hospital. It was one of I.G. Farben’s experiments
229 229

that our scientists were not positive of what the Nazis were up to: some kind

weapon they thought. In the case of the common transformer; two magnets

of copper windings are placed next to each other. Electricity is applied to

one spool and if the application calls for a lower amount of electricity, the

second spool will contain less winding’s than the first, and with less

winding, produce less electricity transforming less power. Luke had suffered

the worst of the injuries, and remained hospitalized for twenty days. He

didn’t seem to mind for when first awaken he learn his dream was if fact not

a dream at all. The nurse he thought he dreamed about was real, with a real

name; Erika Schmitt, daughter of Doctor Schmitt, the German scientist.

Luke thought of her now, and re-enter the world.

Luke says, “It’s a dangerous world out here Doctor, look at the bright side,

you’ll be safe down there.”

Doctor Mendez reply, “I- I- I’m safe with-with you Sear-Sergeant.”

Luke appreciated the compliment.

The Professor said, “He is right Sergio, you seen what happened tonight,

meditate on the safety and tranquility working below in a secure

environment can bring, and if I’m not mistaken we’ll will be seeing Sergeant

Lucus quite often will we not Sergeant.”

230 230

Doctor Sergio Mendez act as though they not there, but then shake them

with memories of the night.

The Doctor said, “I think it was funny what happen to that idiots arm.”

The Professor took a deep breath and sits back into his seat and is quiet for a

minute. He then starts back up on an earlier subject.

The Professor asks, “Have the German police been much help? Do they

know who the terrorist are?”

Luke says, “Yes they have, the German police have been very efficient in

identifying them; however it is easy to disappear in Europe. There have been

a number of incidences lately indicating a rise in members as well. The

recent break up of the Soviet Bloc made a big difference. There is now

evidence the Communist sponsored some of the terrorist activity.

The Professor said, “Well of course.”

Luke says, “Your right though, we’re leaving, it’s finally over, Germany will

be one Germany and on there own. Why fight?”

The Professor says, “When did they start, the 70’s you say; maybe its

because they don’t have a life, what is life with no purpose?”

Luke said, “That’s one other thing about hate Professor; it’s a hard habit to

break.”
231 231

The Professor just stared out the window not saying anything. ”

Luke says, “Who or whatever is left of the gang knows there is no hope in

getting their fallen comrades out of jail or bringing the dead back. Thing is

we don’t even know who tried to hit us. There are a lot of people who hate

Americans.”

The Professor holds his hand flat out in front of him, as in stop. Then while

shaking it back and forth he says, “I don’t even want to know.”

Luke says, “Ok, and this is a Kill zone.”

The Professor is not satisfied; he is checking the people out.

He said, “These people aren’t terrorist, they’re celebrating Christmas for

Christ sake. I want to stop.”

Luke says, “You like people don’t you, I can tell and is why I understand

how hard it is for you to understand, you don’t think like them. I also know

most of mankind doesn’t think that way either, most of these people like

Americans too. But, I do know some things you don’t, its part of my job. So

do me a favor, don’t made my job any difficult than it already is, give me

some blind obedience, I say no, its no, I say go you go, and if I say duck just

duck, please? You can come back hear once you’ve been processed in, but

for now its no. The terrorist are here, their highly intelligent, educated in
232 232

death. Their motive of operand is more like a serial killer on the hunt, real

zodiac.”

The Professor asked, “I ‘m curious to know, are we more of a target than-””

Luke said, “You mean because of what you’ll be doing? Your position in the

Red X Program has nothing to do with it? At least there has been no breech

in security yet. Far as we know, they don’t know. We have managed to keep

the hospital and its contents secret for 50 years, how I don’t.”

The Professor says, “That’s kind of scary, don’t you think?”

Luke looked at his watch again then pulled over. He got out and ran around

the sedan, took off his Fatigue army jacket and opened the front door, and

covered the broken window. He then slammed the door with his jacket in it.

After running back around and getting in he reached over and opened the

wing window pulling in the remaining part of the jacket, pulled it tight and

locked the wing.

The Professor asked, “I would like to see the Abrams is that possible?”

Luke said, “Sure, we got enough time. Hang on Gentlemen”

The Doctor says, “Go- go- go for it.”

The Professor said, “Yeah lets.”

It didn’t take Luke long to get there.

233 233

Luke said, “Gentlemen, I now introduce you to the Abrams Building.”

The Professor says, “It looks like it belongs on some religious postcard.”

They sit in a trance watching the mammoth master piece like Gargoyles

themselves chained in stone.

The Doctor states, “Nev- nev- never, I see a building like this. You- you can-

can feel it.”

The Professor agrees and says, “Yeah, its energy.”

The Doctor asks, “Is all this-this- the Hosp- hosp- hos-?”

Luke says to him, “Your not even close, the hospital is completely under

ground and spreads out over miles.”

They stare out over shinny waxed green hood of the army sedan as snow

flakes melt touching it. Stretching out from the front entrance was a palace

snow covered lawn that looked like ice. The complex was lit up with

powerful stadium lights that melted the snow earlier that evening. The cold

winter night has frozen it to a mirror that reflects the architect’s genesis. She

wave like flag in the ice, larger on one side, distorted on the other.

The Professor asked, “Sergeant, I read in the briefing there was once an

insane asylum here; can you tell me a little about it?”

The engine was off and the Army sedan moan in objection to the cold. Luke
234 234

knew more about the Abrams building than anybody around. He took a deep

breath and his nostrils blow smoke like a dragon as he tell what he knows.

Luke started, “I think about them now and then, it must have been hell for

those people.”

The Doctor asked, “Wha- wha- what people.”

Luke said, “The first ones, those who were sacrificed, whose names

forgotten that others were to be etched in history. Innocence, all who were

committed to the insane asylum, the patients; the people who died in the

name of science you never hear about, the human Ginny pigs. This place has

a dark past, this dirt; the land here is soaked in blood and if there is such a

thing as ghost they surly would be here. This is one of those places man was

most evil so to become modern. The Europeans of the eighteenth century

thought of them selves as a civilized society; they no longer burnt witches at

the stake, nor were there inquisitions to cast out daemons, here the possessed

were sick, lunatics, and mad. Like in all things where money is; promises

give birth. The most popular pledge for treatment included progressive

methods by medical surgery, and so came surgeons. What also came; were

not wagon wheel swindlers. Those who sold snake juice for an all sickness

remedy, but madman and butchers, their sharp metal not yet dry in animal
235 235

blood. Then money and power gave way to claim frame, and self proclaimed

Doctors rose up. You could not imagine the horrors that took place at that

time. The ‘modern’ scientists lived by one code; anything goes. They were

often identified by a type of laugh; a mumble shatter stutter enriched by a

chilly high pitched scream of success, they were the true Doctor

Frankenstein’s and their work the most sinister of professions.”

This place, the insane asylum, it was a huge medieval castle, really creepy

looking. Hoffman’s father built a maze of underground tunnels so they could

come and go secretly. He had dug the waterways years before, miles and

miles of them, all circling beneath Frankfurt. When they erected the Hospital

they dug some more. That’s when they discovered bauxite and then the

digging went on for years. The Mine became fully operational in no time at

all as the hospital began to fill. Its workforce was supplied with anybody

they could they could find and call mentally ill. The homeless, street people,

drug addicts, drunks, the ones whose lives were crazy by circumstance, they

were the ones who wouldn’t be missed. They were the Shang- highbred and

forced to work the mine and some truly ill as well. In time the Hospital

became known as Affenfelsen or Affenstein. The prisoners lived like caged

236 236

apes in a cell, hundreds and a thousand hundred of them. The Mine closed

rather abruptly, a on the job hazard arose, aluminum poisoning. We have

some of their journals, can you believe it, fucking aluminum poison. The

prisoners started showing signs of Alzheimer’s. The mental patients became

sick, some died immediately, the rest later. A Doctor named Alzheimer

finally documented the disease as a new illness, and it was named so.”

The Professor said, “You go around telling people that you’re likely to be

sued. There must be some mistake, these are serious accretions. I’m sure if

the illness was as simple as that we would have a cure. ”

The Doctor said, “Yo-you so obsessed wi-with crazy people, I-I-I think yo-

you go crazy.”

Luke said, “Think what you want, you’ll know soon enough. Alois

Alzheimer knew what caused this sickness. He tells on his self in his

journals. Disease hell, it ain’t even that; and as for a cure all you have to do

is stop drinking out of it, cooking in it, eating and collecting it over a life

time. The reason it wasn’t discovered prior to the era is people weren’t

exposed to or using the wonder metal before then. Think it just popped up

out of the blue? Sorry Professor the missing link is always mans doing; you

of all people should know that. Unlikely, could be, maybe, might have, just
237 237

happened, those words aren’t used down there or in science, I even know

that. This I’m sure, we have the records to prove that one, wish we had the

ones for the other crap, but that’s why you’re here, right. The one connection

between all Alzheimer’s patients is aluminum is found in the brain. You

don’t have to warn me about spreading this around either Professor, hell with

being sued; they would be throwing me into jail, Leavenworth, or a pit. See,

what I’m telling you is classified; no body is going to hear it. As for a cure,

there is none, unless you think of a way of scraping the brain, it can be

prevented though.”

The Professor asked, “Why is it classified? That wasn’t created down there.

So what’s the problem? Isn’t the programs continuation to benefit man

kind?”

Luke said, “Why? Good question, that’s a start. Could be Big Business; the

Pharmaceutical companies have done their share of hiding cures, oil

companies hide things, different types of car engines that don’t run on gas,

who knows maybe it’s a Coke-a-Cola can conspiracy. Why I say its

classified is because it came to me from below, and it came to you from

below, and is why it will stay below; all because this place doesn’t even

exist. Personally, I try not to make it a habit of knowing the reasons for some
238 238

one else’s secret. This isn’t a briefing Professor, you wanted to know what I

know about the nut house, that’s all, and so Hoffman’s patients were being

used as slaves to mine Aluminum and when it started killing them off Alois

Alzheimer took credit for discovering a new disease, sicknesses take all

forms.”

The Professor says, “Unbelievable, its just unbelievable, Sergeant.”

Luke says, “I’m telling you there is hand written journals written by Alois

Alzheimer. All that junk has been piling up over the time span of two

centuries. The other stuff, I mean the stuff created by the Nazi scientists,

that’s the mystery, and there is files and files of that stuff.”

The Professor asked, “What about the Doctors found when the Americans

seized the hospital, were they any help with rebinding the keys?”

Luke said, “That answer can be found below its just waiting for you. So go

ask them.”

The Professor asked, “They’re still around?”

Luke said, “Some of them are, but that’s all the answering I’ll be doing for

now,”

The Doctor ask, “Wait, just one more, wha-whats up with the German Po-

Police, wh-why the Po-police Station, why wa-we ha have to en-”

239 239

Luke stops him so he could answer, “Cause the General said so, no seriously

because, well that is a good reason too, but because their taking over, its

politics, and speaking of over, well Gentlemen its time say good bye, were

here.”

Luke pulled over to the curb at 222 Hugle Strauss.

Luke, “Ok you’ll walk from here. The German police station is right up that

breeze way. See the tiny blue light?”

The two scientists shuffled in the back seat of the Army sedan listening to

their driver. The frozen rain had stopped and snow flakes blew side ways

from the wind. It covered most outside light. Doctor Mendez was busy

buttoning up his coat and the Professor opened his brief case and slid in the

Travel Guide on Frankfurt Dinners he picked up at the Reno Airport. He

turned his head towards the direction Luke was pointing in but couldn’t see

past cold wet frosting that still side down the windows.

Luke continued, “This is your only Gateway access to the underground and

Hospital, don’t try to enter any other way. The German police try real hard to

show how efficient their union is. They say Americans can’t follow rules,

can not keep secrets; and a rumor among them is the Red X program never

existed.”
240 240

The Professor said, “Never existed ?”

Luke said, “Yeah, they say we made it up, the proof being at had it existed

the Americans would have leaked it out a long time ago. Their theory makes

since, kind of wish it was made up.”

The Doctor ask, “I I I don’t understand, how how can they not not know ?

The Professor say, “What is going on Sergeant, the Germans guard a U.S.

Top Secret Military installation, are told what its secrets are, and are now

insulting the integrity of all Americans by stereotyping us as incompetent

liars?”

Luke laughed, “Sorry if I made it sound like that, but no that’s not what I

was saying. First of all, remember this as you will be told in your briefing,

never discus or speak about the Program, never assume or be tricked into

thinking anybody out side the inter-security gates of the Red X Program

already knows any thing about you except what you tell them. All and

anything your doing, anybody else is doing, did, or is going to do is Top

Secret, period. There has been several rumors going around over the past

fifty years mentioning the Red X Program and the existents of a hospital;

what is more common is the one about the flooded tunnels, but that’s as far

as it goes, just rumors. The German Police assist in the outside security only.
241 241

What goes on down there is none of their fucking business, let them guess,

And Doctor, they do not know because we can keep secrets, it doesn‘t matter

if one the German Police Officers I was speaking of believed the story told

to them by their Nazi Grandfather of a concentration camp underneath the

City of Frankfurt, or whatever rumor told by whoever; because not only has

it been Top Secret since the Americans learned of it, when we leave here it

will remain a secret. Getting back to what I was saying, the German Police

guard the outer perimeter, are very strict, so don’t ever give them a reason to

ever question you other than tonight during intake. You have been briefed as

to what you will tell them. There are hundreds of gateways to the waterways,

but few giving access into the Program, the U.S. Army guards those. In order

to avoid drawing attention to a Gateway, all Americans as well as any other

Red X employee are assigned a passageway to the underground; this is

yours, got it?”

Both of the Scientist mumble their co-operation and Luke continued:

“Great, ok men, good night, now go meet you’re Gate Keepers.”

The Doctor snapped back, “Pendejos.”

Luke says laughing, “Yea, but although were the biggest Bullies on the

continent, it’s their block, so be cool. I won’t be around to stick up for you
242 242

little brothers.”

The Professor asked, “We won’t be seeing you again?”

Luke said, “You’ll see me again, down there and top side. If you want a ride

anywhere don’t be shy, just ask your station chief to call Sergeant Major

Kiddmyer. He’ll schedule something for you, he’s a good man and would

much rather I take any of the civilians than have them running around by

them selves. Hey Doctor take it easy on the Germans will you?”

The Doctor said, “Pendejos.”

Luke laughed shaking his head, but was thinking he was an accident waiting

to happen.

Luke says to him, “You’re a real bull fighter Doctor, watch out for those

Arian horns.”

The Doctor sarcastically said, “Bu- bu- bull sheet man,” and that was

followed by a bunch of fast Spanish. Luke had no idea what I it meant, but

laughed like he did..

The Professor’s tone is solemn as he says, “This is one ride I shall not forget,

and I can not thank you enough Sergeant Lucas for saving our lives.”

Doctor Mendez adds, “You- you- you de-deserve a medal.”

243 243

Luke laughs and said, “They don’t give them out that easy. I’m just glad

everything came out alright and I don’t have to explain to the General why

his two new scientists are dead.”

The Professor said, “Give them out that easy? You make sound like you do

this all the time.”

Luke turns around in his seat to face his two passengers and turns on the car

dome light. He unbuttons his shirt sleeve and slides it up, exposing a black

ink tattoo. To view it he places his large arm on the backrest horizontally.

Luke says, “Check this out.”

Starting just below the elbow extending down his forearm were two cars in a

dog fight. The first was an army sedan such as the one Luke drove. The front

right fender was underneath the second which appear to begin a roll. At the

bottom of the picture in Old English letters were the initials V.A.E.C.

The Doctor says, “Na na nice tattoo.”

The Professor said, “Many tattoos I’ve seen can hardy rate to have intrinsic

value, this however is done quite well, who was the artist?”

Luke said, “A guy by the name Cone, he works down stairs in the Program.”

The Doctor asks, “T-t-t-this is s-s-suppose to be you? Y-you practice

crashing?”
244 244

Luke says, “Something like that. What do you think those letters stand for?”

The Professor said, “Fifth- Army- ah”

Luke says, “Vehicle Apprehension Escape Course; were not just drivers,

were super vehicle stuntmen trained to evade traps set to pin cars in. Your

luck you happened to get hooked up with the class instructor.”

The Doctor said, “K-k-kind of a g-g-guardian angel in a car.”

Luke is thrown off thought for a second, “Ah something like that. Now you

know where you’re going right?”

The Doctor says, “Ri-ri-right up there, wh-wh-where the blue light i-i-s-s-s.”

The Professor was looking to where the doctor had point to.

Luke said, “Good.”

The word ‘Good’ was being carried outside as he said it. They watch him

through the front window as he fly to slide around the car, then opens the

rear passenger door. The storm has become vile and he yells to be heard.

Luke blasts, “Come on up. Let’s go go go go go.”

It made the Doctor feel like he belong to the 82nd Airborne and was

preparing to jump on D-Day. The wind is to strong so the Doctor sticks out

his hand for help, and Luke lifts him completely up and out of the vehicle

setting him on the curb. When he let go the wind catches him like a kite and
245 245

he stumbles down the side walk.

Luke asked him, “Are you alright?”

The Doctor shakes his head but has to lean into the storm with his shoulder

to work his way back up the path. He turned back to the Professor who has

slid over to the rear passenger side door, Luke then helps him out. Once both

men were fighting the storm on the sidewalk as he slammed the rear door

and ran back around the car. About to jump in he stops for the Professor who

is staring at him across the sedan roof.

Luke yelled, “Forget something?”

The Professor didn’t have anything else to say, he was feeling the shock, like

the time when he finished watching that to real dooms day flick; and when

he walked out of the theater he had to turn around and just stare at the

florescent movie title.

The Professor says, “No, I guess not, thanks again for everything.”

Luke laughs and yells, “It is I who should be thanking you guys, now go

save the world Professor.”

With that said when the Professor had finished blinking the snow off his eye

lids he hear the car roar and turned to see its tail lights fade away in the

white night.
246 246

THE UNDEGROUND
WORLD OF MEDICINE
CHAPTER SIXTEEN

As if someone control the weather and flip a switch, the wind stop and the

dark night turn white. The door bell buzzed like an electrical short, and the

Doctor pictured it shocking somebody when they didn’t answer. The

Professor looked cross sided as he watched a snow flake land on his grey
247 247

mustache; he turn his nose left then right for the next, to guide the Shuttle

into a safe dock. The professor had left this dimension for a world of

fantasy; he did that time to time to endure boredom, stress, or even pain.

Puckering his lower lip he blow upward, and whisper, “Lift off,” then watch

the ship’s deployment back out into the Milky Way. Doctor Mendez’s curses

draw the Professor back to the cold of the night, and he now is aware of his

partner’s failure to get the door open. It didn’t look like anybody was home;

but the Doctor leaned sideways to view the window for a light just to make

sure. If anybody was home the Professor was going to get the door open one

way or another. He walked pass the Doctor and looked on bell roster for the

letter next the name Polizi, F; he began to buzz; feeling the power of the

piano that he was so used to playing, Professor Vernon first pump a beat in

short jabs, then once in rhythm he make music; a double set of fast taps, then

a single set slow and easy rings. He saved the long note for the grand finale

and held his finger tight against the buzzer. The song lasted for a good

minute and he continued the ending for another; and would have longer if

his finger tip hadn’t started to hurt, it was the cold. When the buzzing

stopped the Professor hear radio static and a voice from behind him. He

turned expecting to see a German Police Officer there to open the door, but
248 248

the crackling German voice come from a small intercom box mounted on the

railing.

The Professor asked his assistant, “What did he say Sergio?”

The Doctor said, “I-e-e-e-e can can you be-believe that ASSHOLE, he-he

says come back tomorrow.”

The intercom system crackle again and the man is now speaking broken

English.

The voice says, “Du bis Asshole, vee are closed, come tomorrow.”

The Doctor reply, “Bis Sie der Polizi Station orda nitch? Vas hast Sie

mocken dien emergency gehaben?”

Translated; “Is this the Police Station or not? What do you for

emergencies?”

The voice ask, “Javol vas ist der emergency?” Yeah, what is your

Emergency?

The Doctor, “Ich haben Kline emergency; ahba vee bis-” I have none, but--

The voice interrupts, “Sie comin morgan.”

Sergio says, “H-h-he say c-c-c-c-come tomorrow.”

The Professor is loosing his patience and asked very loud, “Is this a Red X

Program entrance or not.”

249 249

The voice didn’t let him continue, it said, “Sh-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-, no say this.

It is a violation, vait.”

The Professor looks at the Doctor with a phony smile nodding his head.

He says lacking breath, “What now they arrest me for cussing?”

A few minutes later the outer door open far enough for a short bald man to

stick his head out; he look to the right and then to the left. The coast must

have been clear because the Police man turned his head back to them to size

them up. The Professor stretches his arms out and his fingers are spread

wide in response to the examination. The German then frowned as he opens

the door the rest of the way.

He has a heavy accent and says, “Are you Stupid, never say dis, “Red X

Program, you come in snail.”

The Professor turns his head towards the Doctor while walking in.

The Professor, “He is calling us the snail?”

The Doctor laughs and said, “Schnell, it means ‘fast’.”

The Professor’s eyebrows raised up as he tuck the ends of his lips down and

shake his head, he says softly to him self, “Schnell.”

Once inside they stand in an eloquent foray before a stairway; on each side

was a door, one of which was open. The half dressed policeman led them in
250 250

and just as the Doctor and Professor assumed and commented outside about

the place looking like an apartment, was actually that. The bottom floor

consisted of two apartments joined together by a wall being knocked out,

and then converted into a police substation.

The Professor asked, “Is it common for the German police to use apartments

as Police Stations?”

The German Policeman said, “Dis it’s a special place, very old is dis place.

Now never do you say Rot X Program, never you say you are Scientist,

never this language in public property, Javol? Do you understand why you

not do dis?”

The Professor says, “Because of the terrorist.”

The Policeman says, “No, das it’s a violation, dis is why. You can get in big

trouble you know? Never do dis again.”

The Professor said, “Yeah never again.”

The German Police man didn’t understand everything, that’s for sure. He

didn’t answer the Professors question correctly either; the Germans did use

apartments or any other buildings for that matter, as substations or temporary

stations, or when they felt a need too; usually to move closer to the action,

the people. If an area or block has a lot of crime, they’ll commandeer an

251 251

apartment for a couple of months to tackle the violator. This place

however is old, over one hundred as it be and the reason the Polizi are here

is classified.

The Policeman said, “Very gut you know dis.”

The Professor says again while nodding his head, “Ok, ok, I know, never

again.”

The Policeman introduces himself, and ask, “Gut, my name is Klaus

Reinhardt, and now can I have your papers please?”

The two scientists handed him their papers and shortly afterwards underwent

another lecture. What followed were question pertaining to their back

ground and prior employment, standard screening, which they both lied

about as their departure debriefing required, and then a number of other in

processing procedures. The short stout German was polite and very efficient;

that’s one thing that easies the pain of bureaucracy, that the guy who puts the

big stamp over the three little stamps knows what he is doing. The front door

swing open hitting the wall, and there stand a giant. The huge German Police

man stand and with one hand is holding another man off the ground. His

prisoner is drunk, has a black eye, and his shirt is torn. He looks angry and

his words are very slurred. The German Policeman weighed over 275
252 252

pounds and was close to seven feet tall. He had blue eyes and blond hair;

and was what Hitler envisioned the perfect German race to be, ideal Arian.

When the big Police man had took off the drunken man’s hand cuffs, the

man’s anger flare loud and he started swinging his fist at nobody but the air.

The Police man spared not the man time to take better aim; he quickly grabs

him by the neck and then raises him off the ground again. The Big German

shook the poor guy like a rag doll until his limbs are Gumby, his therapy

actually only lasted twenty seconds. He then released the drunk who

amazingly didn’t seem drunk any more, or at least was soberly quiet. This

treatment didn’t go well with Doctor Mendez, he had a little man’s complex

that drew his interest for the underdog, and combining that with is distaste

for Germans was enough to get the Doctor into trouble. Predigest thought

and good judgment does not mix. The Doctor gives the Police man a weirdo

growl; it is followed by a dirty look. He then, attempts to beat the Policeman

with very loud and fast Spanish. So happens it reminded the big German of

his ex-wife and wasn’t about to take it from a man. As for Americans, the

big German had his own predigest skeleton in the closest; he makes the

mistake so many do by stereo typing people from the few experiences they

had with people, race, or nationality. His encounters with Americans center
253 253

on drunken G.I.s, a few M.P’s and movie characters, especially the gangster

found in Hollywood films. Movies like Scarface and the Godfather did

intrigue the man not scare him, where heart is a virtue. An impression came

by way of laugher where Americans were just such nice guy suckers, and he

laughed until it hurt. The syndrome began not to long ago when someone

explained the meaning behind the name of his favorite cigar; ‘Cuba’s

Rejects. The title originated from a piece of history where a trick was played

on President Carter for wanting to be the ‘Hero’. The United States

government opened up its borders to Cuba, whose people suffered under

communistic rule, so Carter announced publicly America would accept

banana boat desertions and Cuban refugees. What Fidel Castro did when he

heard about it was remind America he was a gorilla dictator, full of surprise.

In response to this kind act of niceness Castro fill boat after boat with violent

prisoners, and his mentally ill; the most violent insane you could imagine.

America became the laughing stalk of the world by that one. Perhaps this big

German think to be funny also, or by fact never traveling to the United

States or surrounding areas could explain a reason for lacking statistical

averages in considering different possibilities for the origins of Latinos, in

any case the German shoots the American, a one word question; he looks at
254 254

the Professor flicking his hand back at Doctor Sergio Mendez still rattling

Spanish.

The Polizi say with his thumb out, “Cuba?”

The Professor missed the joke but laughed to be diplomatic; Sergio did not

think it funny as he show by his wrinkled face and by placing his hands on

his hips.

“Sir, I’m Professor Vernon and this is my assistant Doctor Mendez, we are

contracted through the Red Cross and the United States Army is housing us

in case of an emergencies. I’m glad to meet you.” He leans at the waist.

The Polizi man looks at the smaller policeman and said, “Ich bin nitcht

Japanese, canowl?” Then back to the Professor.

He said, “American ich vise das. Das ist vonderful. VVonderfulll, hallo my

name is Rugen Schmidt; I am the police, glad to meet you. Please tell your

assistant over dare if he does not stop looking at me like that I’m going to

kick his fucking ass.”

He laughs and turns to continue speaking English to the little Polizi man.

He is saying, “Pretty gut Clause Ja? I have been practicing my English.”

The Professor turns to Sergio who folds his arms over his chest in a

protective mode and snarls at the Police man. The other Police man raises
255 255

his hand and waves the other Police man back.

Laughing the small Policeman say, “Schmidt is teasing the Doctor, maybe

best he not be a crybaby with Schmidt, we must all work together ja?”

The Professor gave reinsurance that Sergio would not be a problem the

program began, time flew by and it hardly seemed possible to accomplish

what was done in the amount of time. In only three and a half hours the

Germans managed to take their photographs, draw blood samples, take

saliva for DNA testing and identification, [so if blown up their bodies could

be identified, so they were told]; finger print them, and make digital imprints

of their corneas, used for blueprinting a pass code map for quick entry. All

they need do is walk up to the door and a hidden camera identifies them by

their eyes and the door open. Near the evenings end, they are introduced to

an old German man looking like Santa Clause’s Grandfather; he is a

practicing Physician scheduled to make a compete physical of both men, to

include an eye examination, he does. The last process come near midnight, it

was a home cooked meal where the Polizi prepared bratwursts and potatoes

for their guest. When that process was complete no time was lost, Mr.

Schmidt the huge German Policeman, and Hitler’s ideal clone came at them

with a point, as before he say it in one word.

256 256

The big Police man had said, “Come.”

The two men, Mendez and Vernon followed him down into the basement.

There a movable wall reveals a vault door, one that stands to be very old.

Behind the door was a descending round staircase that was hard to walk

down. The German Police man skipped two steps with his right and three

with the left going down. When at the bottom of the stairs Officer Schmidt

yelled up to the Americans.

Schmidt say, “You must stay close, dare are many danger here.”

The German have a smile on his face his guest did not see, they only hear a

door slam. At the bottom of the stairs was a door, it was on a spring and it

takes both of them to open it. The hallway had been dug out of rock and

other than a bouncing tiny light way in the tunnel it was pitch black. When

they caught up to the German Officer the peelings on the floor his flashlight

reveal say he had finished a break and he take off again. Sergio Mendez was

rear man so the only light he sees is the large Policeman’s shadow stretching

from the wall to the ceiling as a deformed black man. They have to almost

run to keep up with Schmidt’s wide stride. Soon they are out of breath, and

in the dark, and as they began to curse the German for abandoning them,

Schmidt turn on his flashlight and is standing next to them. They weave
257 257

through a maze of tunnels and corridors until they reach the underground

main. The small German police car hardly made a sound and other than their

driver barley fitting behind the wheel, it drove smooth and fast. Where the

Professor thought they had a long walk ahead of them, Mr. Schmidt race

down the blacken tunnel at high speed. Time is lost in the darkness and some

count later they arrived at there destination, somewhere.

Their moving on foot again, he has the only flashlight and they know if lost

there be little chance to find a way out alone, and there were many places to

get lost.

The Professor was huffing and says, “Hey, you need to slow down a bit.”

The German Police man only say, “Ja Ja,” but does not.

Sergio is becoming irritated and feels the man do this on purpose, however

the constant moving has prevented any thought of claustrophobia.

At the point of near mutiny their guide Schmidt, turns smiling at the two

Americans with contempt and aims his flashlight behind him; he announces

that they have arrived at their destination. Walking around the German to

look; deep steps seven to be exact lead to a platform, on t5he other side a

large medieval iron door, eight feet high and six feet wide was hinged to a

rock wall . Above the door in large gothic letters, written in German were
258 258

these words;

‘Rot X Program, Osten Tur’,

In English; Red X Program, East Door

Mr. Schmidt joke in his broken English, “You eat too many Ronald

McDonalds.”

Officer Schmidt then tapped his night stick looking flash light three times on

the door, the sound speak of its thickness. Twenty seconds later the door

slide open where there were four Army Police men; one of the two standing

Military Police Officers are saying to one of the sitting, “Later Dude, don’t

forget to bring your girl friends sister to Dorfgardens Guesthouse tomorrow

night. The two sitting U.S. Army M.P. officers are getting situated; they

must have just made a shift change. There is a fifth police guard watching

that stand behind a bullet proof glass window. The room is a security

containment area; you enter the room and close the door, if cleared the

second inter door will opened by the fifth guard, crude but effective. Another

security precaution the scientist won’t know about is if the visitors’ was

deemed hostile they would enter once the . Schmidt handed a vanilla

envelope to them and say something in German;

Schmitd said, “Ich habe ihre Nutzung Scheizer.”

259 259

To which in perfect German the M.P. reply, “Bis mina guest nehmen Sie

alles, was Sie wollen, gibt es alles Arten in fur Sie da.

Sergio laughs and the Professor ask what was funny.

Sergio says, “Yo-your German friend say he-he must ta-take shit, and the so-

soldier say ha-have much ta-take all you want.”

Many men and woman in white aprons with clip boards in their hands come

and go. As the two scientists wait for their escort some of the other

employees introduced them selves making them feel welcome. A Chinese

man wearing a blue apron and mask approach them, he pull his mask down

with one hand and extend the other; while shaking,

He say, “We have been expecting you, how was your plane ride?”

The Professor smile at Sergio while answering; “not as fun as the car ride

after, isn’t that right Serg?”

Sergio say, “Not- nothing be-beat that.”

The Chinese man says, “I’m Doctor Nugent, you must be, lets see,” He

raised his hand to his face resting his finger on his cheek, acting like he has

to guess, then continues, “Doctor Mendez.”

Sergio is thinking is this guy real? The Professor just said my name. So the

Doctor play too; he looks offended and says while pointing at the Professor;
260 260

“He- he is th-the dam Mexican.”

Doctor Nugent is embarrassed, and shocked too, “Oh my, I’m sorry.”

The Professor quickly rescues him, “He’s kidding, and I’m Professor

Vernon.”

The Chinese Doctor wrinkles his cheeks and waves his hand gay at Sergio.

Then says, “Ah you, come I’ll show you around,” he turns to lead the way.

The Professor looked at Sergio and raised his eye brawls. Sergio, who by the

way his upper lip wraps up around his nose, is disgusted; he then imitates

the gay wave and walk to the Professor. The Professor quickly lags so not to

be seen, and motions Sergio to stop by shaking his head and waving his

hands a couple of times. The tour was very impressive, however cut short by

their courteous host that they might be tired after the long trip and entry

process. The Doctor and Professor were shown temporary commendations;

one large room containing two beds, sink and a latrine. Sergio was very

hyper and was bouncing on his bed while in the sitting position. The

Professor watched him out the corner of his eye wondering what he was

thinking, and if he resides to a childhood state for safety. The Professor

turned on the hot water facet still watching his assistant; he was preparing to

shave before bed. His observational opinion concluded Sergio had become
261 261

manic, which was fine as long as it was on the up side; coming down the

depression would swallow the Doctor and it was hard to even get him out of

bed. Sergio was pacing the room then turn and said, “I-I’ll be back,” he had

a big smile on his face.

The Professor ask, “Where you off to Sergio?”

The Doctor said, “I-I want to check out-“he pause smiling, “my-my new

office again.” The Professor said while smiling too, “Watch, your going to

like it here. Don’t stay up all night; we got a big day ahead of us.”

Sergio opened the door and exposed his head, the hallway was empty and he

slipped into the corridor. When he got to the office he opened the door and

peeked inside before entering, and was careful not to close it when he did,

not yet conformable with the place. The ceiling is high and Sergio liked that.

The only light is one of those old fashion ones that hangs down from the

center of the room about four feet, and then a chain hang another four to turn

it off and on. This office room was very large compared to most of the lab

rooms he had seen, they could have been jail cells Sergio thought; and was

glad that his was big. Wondering who he would be working with he begin to

snoop their desks. Sergio was used to looking for clues, as that was part of

his job. He placed together what he thought was a pretty profile of his future
262 262

co-workers by examining family pictures, messages, that kind of stuff. The

office had four desks, one at each end and two across from where you enter

on the long side wall. To the left and right of the entrée door were the tall

filing cabinets that gay Doctor said contain Biological Research Data that

hadn’t been gotten to yet. Sergio got excided; imagine he thought, disease

strains and chemical formulas that have been sitting around since WWII,

that’s so neat, he was smiling again. He walks to the cabinets end on his

right and holding his left arm up to place two fingers on the first file cabinet,

then he begin to count jumping his two fingers from one to the next and high

stepping like he seen the Nazis do on TV. As he reaches the last cabinet he

spins back around on the ball of his right foot raising his arm up announcing:

“Hail Twenty,” there were twenty filing cabinets; that’s a lot of icky to go

through he thought. Sergio move kind of nonchalant to the chair that the gay

Doctor said would be his. Doctor Mendez spun the chair so that it faces him,

and when he stare down it invite him. Sergio turns his head towards the open

office door looking into empty hallway, there was nobody around and he sits

down. Sergio pressures his weight down and wiggles to reform the seat, and

then stretches snapping his arms out so his long sleeves are shortened; he

then sets them down on the chairs armrests to finish his claim to kingship.
263 263

Not bad he thought, grabbing to hang on as he pushes off sideways with his

foot and swings around to face the desk. Sergio then slides up under the desk

and picks up the phone; playing around says, “h-h-h-hello, yes General, I-I

I’ll talk to the President now.” With the receiver still against his ear he heard

it ring. He hadn’t touched any numbers lowering it to look at the ear piece as

his eyes widen and lips puckered out. Someone answers the phone and said,

“Operator, remember this line is unsecure. How can I place your call?”

Sergio hung up quickly, placed his hands together in his lap and didn’t

move. Feeling adventurous again, Sergio pushes out from the desk and leans

back, not expecting it to recline he think the chair flip over, and in a split

second reaction ball up. When the recliner had max out, Sergio is cupped

sideways in the fetal position. He then unfolds to sit back normally and

practices to be cool by placing his hands behind his head interlacing his

fingers. Wanting to rest his feet on the desk he stretches his toes to reach the

floor, and is only able to move forward an inch at a time. Determined, it

takes a while but when he got close enough he change his mind and sits up.

He slide open the middle drawer and inspects the contents. In the back left

hand side was a picture in a frame. Sergio reaches in to retrieve it, and his

knuckles touch something that shouldn’t be there up under the desk, he

264 264

quickly pull his hand back out. Somebody had hid something Sergio

thought, but what? Reaching back in feeling with his fingers to see what it

was he grabs hold of a sticky object, pulling with a tug it come loose. The

hidden idem had been completely wrapped up in two sided tape. Holding it

he shakes his hand to feel its weight, it is heavy. The size was about five

inches long and its width an inch in diameter. Sergio has to run his finger

nail around to find where the tape ended, then pick at it until he can get a big

enough piece to grab hold of and peal off the windings. Underneath the wad

of paper and tape is an old door key.

He asked himself out loud, “Wh-Wh-what could this pos-pos-possibly go

to? Why was it hid under the desk? The case of the mysterious skeleton key,

I love it.” Sergio looked around seeing not a lock it would fit. Deciding to

keep the key by claiming finder’s keepers, Sergio slips off his necklace and

undoes the hasp to slide key on, closes it, and puts the gold chain back over

his head. The Doctor continues to explore and notices there above his desk

was a picture of Gerry Garcia from the Grateful Dead; the posters border

was decorated a colorful rose vine looped around skeleton bones; and

hanging from Gerry’s neck was his famous fender guitar. Sergio hated joint

people and pulled the picture down crunched it up and threw photograph
265 265

away. Doctor Mendez continued cleaning his new desk top, he stopped when

he see an envelope hid in the crack of the wall behind his desk. He just stare

at it for about twenty seconds. Sergio then picks up a pencil and reaches for

his lips. He grabs the gum pinched in his lips and rolls it at the pencil’s end.

Leaning up on the desk to slip the pencil in the crack, he moves it from side

to side until the tip sticks to the envelope. He pulls out the envelope and

holds it up flipping it over. Reading the face of the envelope it read; Sergio

says softly in Spanish, “Aye!! Chingado”

Written in English the envelope read:, Addressed to: My Replacement.

Sergio quickly open the letter, the logo is the Army’s then below a short note

followed by a crude poem.

V CORPS HHC G-3 PLANS

UNITED STATES ARMY

Dear Replacement,

I have become a prisoner here. The Command has refused my numerous

266 266

request to transfer, it is of my own demise. My researched has lead to a

nervous break down. There are many secrets here, ones made from the evil

of mans heart, horrible things, and another kind, one not from the physical

nature of matter. They are spiritual manifestations, haunting spirits, crused is

this place. They have refused to let me go above, a security threat they say. I

just don’t care any more, I’m not crazy those things are alive! This place has

only reassured me of my satiny, all men are evil all should die. I’m not the

first, but I don’t care. A threat I am I suppose for the deeds of the evil within

us all. I have not slept in twenty days now, nor do I want too; they won’t

leave me alone, they’re always there waiting, watching, the faces, they call

to me more than before. That shrink says its my imagination, not real.

Not to him, but to me they are. They help me fine the cures too, they show

me where to look. If you find the key it unlocks the door, but be careful the

Nazis Bastards have set traps down there. I’m leaving the clues for you, the

things want me to come home. Follow the bowling alley, the candle holder

with real the passage. Watch out for room with a red worm, you must enter it

alone.

Here lay tons of files

Poisons and germs

267 267

Test tubes and vials

Jars of remains

Doctor Death

Driving me insane

The vacuum refrigs

Is not for your lunch

Parts of the body

Are stacked by the bunch

I did not know

How much a man can hate

Till I worked down here

And opened Hell’s gate

If you stay here or not

I wish you good luck

I am taking my life

Because I don’t give a fuck!!

Sergio’s mouth is open and he wondered what happened to the guy he

replaced.
268 268

.THE SERGEANT MAJOR

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Ringggg, ring, Ringggg, ring.

“Hello, Sergeant Major Kiddmyer here, this line is unsecured.”

A German woman’s voice inquired, “Ja, sprechen Sie deutsch?”

Sergeant Major Kiddmyer replied, “Yes I do, and how good is your

English?”
269 269

The woman answered, “Entshculdigen Sie mich,bitte, ich can nicht English

sprechen.”

Kiddmyer said, “You can’t, aber ich kann machen Sie sehr wohl!“

A cocky no non-sense leader, hardened over the many years spent in the

military the Sergeant Major spoke perfect German. At age fifty two he just

celebrated his thirtieth year in the Army this month and was set to retire at

the end of the year. His military career began the day he was born, Sergeant

Major Kiddmyer was born in Frankfurt Germany but not in the Army’s 97th

General Hospital; there were no American hospitals around at that time,

His Father was Colonel Kiddmyer a lifer and was stationed in Germany a

few tours as well; it was here that his Father met his Mother a beautiful

German woman, and the two were married and had three sons. Colonel

Kiddmyer served in intelligence and in 1944 he was planted in Berlin as a

spy. After the war Colonel Kiddmyer remained in the military raising his

three sons under strict guidance as was German tradition. Mrs. Kiddmyer

didn’t want her sons to lose their heritage, that’s why she only spoke

German to them in the home. Sergeant Major Kiddmyer spoke, read, and

wrote very good German, Mothers are the best teachers. The lady on the

phone spoke only German.

270 270

The German woman said, “Ich habe gemachen sein Auto kaput mit mein

Auto, Entschuldigen Sie mich.Ich habe meine Papier fuer Sie. Das tut mir

sehr leid. Koennen Sie hieraus gekommen und die Papieren aufwechseln,

bitte?” (I have crashed into your auto with my car, I’m sorry, can you come

here to exchange papers down please.)

Kiddmyer reply: “Oh for crying out loud. Wie wissen Sie das ist mein

Auto?” [How do you know it’s my car?]

German woman: “Das Auto hat Amerikaanishe platen, und ein Army

Polizeimann hat gespechen mit das Nummer, sind Sie nicht Herr

Kidmeyer?”

(The car has American plates, and an Army police officer matched the

number with you. Are you Mr. Kiddmyer?)

Kiddmyer replied, “Ja, Ja, das ist mich. Ich komme schnell, danke.”

(Yes, yes, that’s me. I’ll come quickly, thank you.)

The woman said, “Okay, auf widersehen, Ich bin hier ueber dieStrasse.”

(Okay, bye, I’ll be here across the street.)

Kiddmyer hung up the phone and walked to the coat rack.

He was saying, “Out of all the luck, I can’t believe it.”

The Sergeant Major’s desk was just outside the General’s office and the
271 271

General had his door open.

General Brown asked, “What’s up, Bill?”

Kiddmyer answer, “Some German gal hit my car, can you believe it? I’ll be

right back.”

The General asked, “How did she know whose car it was?”

Kiddmyer said, “A M.P. happened to be around and saw the plates. Guess he

ran them for her, I’ll be back in a little while, Sir.”

Kiddmyer opened the door to the hallway and was about to walk out when

the General stopped him.

The General said, “Hey Bill, how did she know to call on that line?”

Kiddmyer stared back at the General thinking for a second.

He then said, “This line is private, only four people have that number.”

The General said, “That’s right, let me send Daniel down, something isn’t

right.”

Kiddmyer said, “I sent him to the P.X. to pick up supplies, he’ll be back in

about ten minutes, have him meet me on Gunderburg Way, across from that

beer joint. I’ll take my gun.”

He walked back over to his desk and pulled open the bottom drawer. He

looked down at the shiny 357, and picked it up.

272 272

The General waited for twenty minutes, Luke still wasn’t back. He picked

up the phone and it rang. The voice on the other end was young.

The voice said, “Operator, this line is unsecure, how can I place your call?”

The General said, “Call what?”

The Operator laughed and says, “That’s what I’m asking you.”

He was thinking it was one of his buddies screwing around.

The General said, “You say Sir following your announcement or at the end

of your introductions, no matter who it. That is the proper way according to

military communication procedure, you understand me son?”

The young private had been in Germany a whole twenty days.

He said, “Yes Sir.”

The General said, “Good, now this is General Brown, place my call through

to the front M.P. desk.”

The Private stuttered, “Ya- ya-, yes Sir, yes Sir, right away Sir.”

In a couple of seconds the phone starts to ring.

Ringggg Ring Ringggg ring.

A soldier said loudly, “This line is unsecure. M.P. Desk, Specialist Thomas

here Sir, how can I help you?”

General Brown was impressed, good to know somebody know how to

273 273

answer the phone, he thought.

The General said, “Specialist Thomas this is General Brown up in G-3 Plans

I was wondering if you have your radio on?”

The Specialist said “The radio, yes Sir, never gets turned off down here Sir,

Why, if may I ask, Sir?”

The General ask, “Did you happen to hear any M.P. reporting a traffic

accident in front of the Complex, or request for owners I.D. on an American

Car Plate, in let’s say the last hour?”

The Specialist pause for a few seconds, “No Sir, I’ve been here since six.

The only transmission was dispatch requesting a radio check on Gibbs

Housing’s patrol unit about twenty minutes ago, Sir no M.P. be calling on

the radio for anybody’s personal registration information; they couldn’t get it

for one, that type of information has been deemed classified ever that

Captains kidnapping last year”

The General said, “Captain Dean, that’s right, I remember the memo going

around. Hey Tomas you got anybody there that can watch the desk, I need

you to go do a V.I.P. escort for me and quick; code four.”

The Specialist said, “Sir Private Miller is present and will stand in my place,

where do I go and who is the V.I.P Sir?”

274 274

The General explained what had happened and told him where the car was

parked. A few minutes later Sergeant Daniel Lucas, the Generals private

driver and body guard walk in carrying two large grocery bags filled to the

top, he squat half way down with a bag in each hand and the right pulling his

keys back out of the lock, then stand and push the door closed with his foot.

The General said, “Daniel dump that stuff in the chair, I need you to run

down to the front of the Complex and check on the Sergeant Major he may

be in danger.”

Luke ask as he was heading for the door, “Sure thing Sir, where in front?”

The General said, “He said ‘in front’, go look, I don’t know where exactly.”

Sergeant Lucas had taken one step into the hallway and was about to close

the door; the five shots were from two separate weapons, the sixth was Luke

slamming the door. A few seconds later an explosion shook the windows.

The General stood up from his desk to look out the window. A round grey

mushroom rise fast into the white clouds, then black smoke follow it to fill

the sky; ground 0 is where Kiddmyer said he parked his car.

When Luke got there the Military Police Officer was sitting side ways in the

snow with one leg bent and tucked under him. He was rocking the Sergeant

Major back and forth who lay dead in his lap. Luke drop to one knee and
275 275

take kiddmyer’s arm to check his pulse, he feel nothing but cold.

Luke yells, “No.”

Luke felt sick; he stood up and turned away. He tried to swallow the knot in

his throat, but it was stuck. The Red X doctors could control the camera on

the roof from below; they redirected it towards the explosion. Some of them

wanted to go up to help, but it was out of the question. The Army’s 97th

General Hospital had an emergency aid station on the first floor of the

Abrams building; two paramedics dressed in fatigues and a red cross on their

arm was now on both sides of Kiddmyer sliding around trying to revive him;

after a few minutes they look up at Luke and shake their heads. Luke had

phased his surroundings away, as his memory listen to Kiddmyer give

orders. Somebody was asking him questions in German; Luke shook his

head and it made him focus; the whole place was in a panic and packed with

people. Twenty yards away black smoke poor into the sky, Thomas had said

Kiddmyer and he filled the Mercedes full of bullets just before the car crash

into a tree. The street was crammed with civilians, military personnel,

military police, German police, different agencies, and the German Press.

The last of these he had orders to avoid as did anybody associated with the

Red X program, not to mention Luke didn’t want his picture taken. Luke
276 276

watched as a large old German man dressed in a dark suit zip up the black

bag. The man could have played a missing link in a horror film. Luke knew

there was nothing more he could do, but he wanted to take a look at the guy

who ran Kiddmyer over, charred or not, he wanted to make sure he was

dead. The German police wouldn’t let anybody near the car and Luke held

his hand in front of his face as the flash of cameras blind him. He turned to

leave and had to head out towards the woods to get around the crowded

street. The snow is knee deep and it slows him down until he is next to the

frozen creek. His pace quickens dodging dark fir trees and broken logs,

when just about directly behind where the Sergeant Major had fallen, in the

center of the frozen stream, lay Kiddmyer’s silver 357. Holding his arms out

to balance himself, Luke walks slow and easy carful not to put his total

weight on one foot because the ice is thin; he bends down and picks up the

gun. First checking to see if anybody saw him Luke slide the pistol into his

Army fatigue jacket pocket.

The General was staring at the photograph on the Rotunda wall of last years

Christmas party. The back of the Rotunda cafeteria was made mostly of

glass and the windows encircle half the ceiling. The large one room coffee

shop extended out the rear middle of the building on the first floor. The cook
277 277

had the pretty girl at the cash register asked the General if he wanted

anything to eat.

Then Cook say, “Grills closing early tonight General, hungry?”

Only then did the General notice it was already dusk.

The General answer, “No thanks Walter, I haven’t had an appetite all day.”

The Cook said, “All day, come on, have a burger it will make you feel

better.”

The Captain behind the General said, “Throw one on for me Walt.”

The Cook says, “You got it, coming up.”

The General stayed quiet, paid for his coffee and while walking up the stairs

was thinking how it seem too been getting dark earlier this year and it was

hard to believe he lost both his wife and best friend so close together. The

General push down on the receiver to hang up then let it go still holding the

phone handheld next to his ear.

It started to immediately ring again, then a voice.

The General said, “The front M.P. desk, I don’t care if its busy, cut in now.

What? This is General Brown that’s who it is.”

He then covered the mouth piece saying “thank you, two sugars.”

Then speaks into the phone again;

278 278

The General said, “Hello, this is General Brown, is Specialist Thomas

there?”

The Voice answered, “No Sir, this is Lieutenant Oliver Sir, I sent him back to

the barracks to get some rest.”

The General said, “Well I need him back here ASAP. I want a statement

from him while it is stills fresh in his mind. No, morning will not do, I said

ASAP Lieutenant, ok good, then make it happen.”

Click, he hung up the phone and went into his office closing the door behind

him. Daniel parked the sedan next to the roll of guardrail mounts that

separates the driveway traffic directions with the motor running and heater

on. He stares out the new front passenger window thinking of nothing. The

General stood in front of a long antique mirror hanging on the back of the

door. He ran his hands back through his hair, his wrinkled tire eyes staring

back at him, thinking he need a hair cut. Some one tap lightly on the other

side of the door, its time he thought and walks out and down the hall. The

conference room held sixty, twenty seats are filled, and these were his G-3

staff.

The General opens, “At ease and be seated. Gentlemen, as you are aware

there was an attack on the 5th Corps Command Staff that result in murder of
279 279

Sergeant Major Kiddmyer. Little is known at this time, there has been no

claim of responsibility, however, the person or group had inside knowledge

of our communication system. I want a complete-”

The General Staff meeting went on for two hours when it was convened to

Monday mourning. Major De Voss was waiting for the General in his office.

He sit with his chair tilted leaning against the wall reading a copy of Stars

and Strips news paper. When the General walks in the Major is caught by

surprise, and he nearly falls over trying to sit up straight.

General Brown says, “At ease, ok Roy what the hell was Kiddmyer talking

about walking in on a black project, he called it a State Side Contingency

Plan? What’s going on Roy?

The Major, “This is the first I’ve heard of it, Ill check into it Bill.”

The General said, “Don’t bullshit me Roy, Kiddmyer said he found a copy

of the dam thing on your desk as well. I’ll be dammed if there be any black

projects going on in my Unit. Our friendship aside, if you’re in on this I’ll

have your ass. So who ordered it? Did it come from the Pentagon?”

The Major answers, “Sir, I assure you I know nothing about it, if there was

such a project, let alone a copy on my desk I would know it. Perhaps the

Sergeant Major was mistaken; did you go down there and see for your self?”
280 280

The General answer, “There was nothing.”

The Major ask, “Did he give you any details or give any physical evidence?

Just so I might assist you in understanding what it was? Contingency Plan,

that’s absurd.”

The General say, “The Sergeant Major is no Dummy, if he said that’s what it

was, then that’s what it was.”

The Major said, “It’s a shame we can’t ask him.”

The General had went through every safe, filing cabinet, and desk in G-3

PLEX (plans and training), and found nothing.

The General said, “What he found I’ll show Monday, to all of you.”

The Major said, “If there was any evidence to which I deny then you

wouldn’t be asking me, you would be sending home. There can’t be any

evidence because I know nothing of it. As for the others within your

command participating in a black project, I’m giving you my word Bill, I’ll

help you find those involved and scrap the project. I know Kiddmyer’s death

has taken its toll on you, you look terrible?”

The General say, “You think Kiddmyer’s the first to die under my

command?”

The Major say, “No of course not, I know your combat record, but perhaps
281 281

some rest will do you some good.”

The General say, “I’m waiting for that M.P. who witnessed his death? Where

the hell is he, dam it?”

The Major reply, “Sir, why don’t you let me handle it, I’ll find him and get

his statement, if you still plan on driving out to your vacation home near

Taunus tonight you should do so before the new storm rolls in. I’ll get the

statement from the kid and have it sent out to you by courier first thing

tomorrow morning.”

The General answered, “Ok Roy, I do have confidence in you, its, well,

Kiddmyer’s murder has got me chewing nails.”

The Major said, “I understand Sir.”

THE INTERROGATION
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Little beads of sweat appear on Specialist Thomas forehead as he went over

the details again;

“No Sir that’s not true, the car was not sliding; and he hit him before I could

fire a shot. I wasn’t close, well, it just happened so fast. I think the man had
282 282

a gun, the Sergeant Major fired first.”

The Major keep drilling him, he asked, “No other weapon was found except

yours. The Sergeant Major didn’t have a gun, did he?”

“Yes Sir he did, the man drove straight towards him, I mean he drove

straight for him, he had a smile on his face. I seen it in his eyes, the man’s

expression was- smiling mad, he wanted to kill him.”

The Major said, “Come on dude, you panicked, you shot the man thinking

he was driving into the Sergeant Major on purpose. The road was packed

with snow, there were no chains on the tires, and the car slid out of control

and you opened fire, hit the driver then the car hit Kiddmyer right?”

Major DeVoss performance was incisive and the fatigue showed on

Specialist Thomas’s face.

Thomas answered, “No Sir that is not what happened. The Sergeant Major

was the one who fired first, three times right through the front windshield. I

fired after the man passed us, I mean where I was, where the Sergeant Major

used to be standing. I fired through the back window. I don’t know if he was

already hit or if I hit him, I think I hit him, I just don’t know.”

The Major, “Ok, let’s take it from the top, come on, one more time.”

Specialist Tomas took a deep breath and said, “I received a code red alert
283 283

from General Brown that Sergeant Major Kiddmyer might be in trouble so I

double timed it towards the street that runs down in front of the Abrams. I

could see the Sergeant Major, he was still walking down the driveway, and

he was, I don’t know maybe twenty yards in front of me. I yell to him but he

didn’t hear me so I kept running. He walked through those barriers, you

know, where we placed those huge cement blocks after the bombing, to

prevent cars from entering the compound. I ran fast as I could. When I got to

the edge of the compound the Sergeant Major was by his car. He had parked

his Beemer near the corner, on ah, what ever that street is called, next to the

Trinkhall, the place that sells the German beer. He was standing in the street,

on the driver’s side of his car; he was looking over his car, like for dents or

something. Then that woman called to him, least I think she did, I couldn’t

hear very well but he looked up at her like she did. I was still running and I

see the man in the car, he’s smiling and heading straight for the Sergeant

Major, so I yelled- I yelled, “Look out,” and the Sergeant Major looked at

me, then at the woman, and then the car heading towards him.”

Major DeVoss interrupts and is pounding nails, “You mean there’s a car

heading straight for him and you distracted the Sergeant Major?”

Specialist Thomas is looking unsure of him self, he looks at his Commander

284 284

then back to Major DeVoss.

He stutterers, “The car, he didn’t see it so I-”

Major DeVoss is loud and decisive, “You didn’t say what direction to look

in? You just said, “Look out?” You mines well said close your eyes. You

certainly screwed up, didn’t you Soldier? You called to the Sergeant Major,

gee how nice of you.”

Specialist Thomas is scared and his voice rises, “There wasn’t time, I pulled

out my weapon, the Sergeant Major pulls out his weapon, the man isn’t

smiling anymore he is mad and crazy looking, and the Sergeant Major fires

three shots and then the woman point a gun and I-”

Thomas stops and is looking down at the large squares of black and white

tile, he is biting his knuckle.

Major DeVoss doesn’t let up, “It’s your fault the Sergeant Majors dead isn’t

Specialist?”

Thomas looks up, he has tears in his eyes, “I did all I could, I couldn’t stop

the car, I tried to warn him, I-”

Major DeVoss interrupts and yells, “You what? You let him get run over. The

Sergeant Major looked at you, there was enough time to get out of the way

and you called him to look at you, didn’t you, didn’t you Specialist Thomas.
285 285

You might have well of been driving the dam car.”

Specialist Thomas says, “I- I- I- fired I at them, I tried to stop them, I pulled

my weapon and fired-”

Major DeVous slams his fist on the table two times, “You fire two shots.

You just told us you fire two shots after the Sergeant Major fire three head

on, isn’t that over kill”

Major DeVous slows his voice down and some one turned up the heater.

DeVoss ask the same questions over and over in a low slow tone. Then

shouts, and picked up the speed again.

DeVoss yelled, “You said you fired as the car was passing you, how did you

fire into the back window? If you fire only two shots, why did you wait so

long? How did you fire into the back window if the car was just passing

you? All you did is shoot a dead man in the back of the head. You blew the

fucking face off of a dead man by shooting him in the back of the head. Did

you know the man? Why did you distract the Sergeant Major? You were in

on it, weren’t you?”

Thomas yells, “No, I wasn’t.”

The Major slow his voice and repeat his questions again.

He finally backs off and asks, “Ok, ok, but you handled it wrong didn’t you?
286 286

You distracted him, the car was sliding, and you distracted him, say it? Now

say it, you killed the Sergeant Major, didn’t you?”

Specialist Thomas screams, “No, no I didn’t, it- it was the guy in the car, the

woman, they did it.”

The Major in a low boring tone says, “There you go making up stories again.

The other witnesses said there was no other person around, there was no

woman. If there was a woman with a gun why didn’t you shot her, why only

two shots? There was no woman was there, you made it up, then shot a

civilian in the back of the head to cover up your fuck up remember,

remember? ”

Specialist Tomas jumped up and yelled, “There was I tell ya, there was, the

witnesses are lying, I saw her, she was there. She called him out into the

street and the man hit the gas, they killed him they killed him I tell you.”

Mark Clark was assigned to the Criminal Investigations Division handling

the case; he was standing next to Major DeVous and shook his head when he

whispered with his hand over his mouth, loud enough for the Specialist to

hear.

He said, “Guilty.”

Captain Weber stands up and says, “This charade is over, enough of your
287 287

sophism questioning, this has gone far enough. Come Tomas I’m getting you

the hell out of here.”

Major DeVous yell, “Like hell you are. He stays here until I’m done with

him Captain, that’s an order.”

The Captain said, “Alright, that’s how you want to play it. Kid I didn’t read

you your rights, I’m doing that now, “You have the right to remain silent.

Remember that. I’ll be back, I’m calling General Brown.”

Major DeVous yell to the Captain who walked out into the corridor. The

Major follows him out of the dark interrogation room and is temporary

blinded and didn’t know which way he went. DeVoss raised his hand

shading his eyes to see, then continues after him.

Major DeVoss yell, “Hold it Captain.” All along the high ceiling were very

bright chandelier lights. They were made of brass and adorned with

sparkling crystal. The floor was long and wide made of black marble. The

hallways account for a third of the space on each floor and connect the

adjoining six wings of offices rooms; a cat couldn’t walk down them without

an echo.

Major DeVous yells, “Listen here Steve,” and echoed Steve- Steve, “-you

better not fuck with me on this.” Echoed this-this, “This man better answer
288 288

my questions.” Echo questions- questions- questions- questions

The word questions bounces all around him. Captain Weber turns around

and walks back towards the Major.

He says, “And you listen, that kid has rights. This isn’t Guantanamo Bay

Major” The word ‘May- jor- jor’ ricochets down the hall.

The Captain continues, “Besides those are not questions Major; that was

your second attempt using the twentieth procedure, fifth chapter, of the X20

Interrogation Manual, and you’re not getting the third. You know he worked

a double before this happened, so what ever your game I’ll be damned if you

think I’m going to sit around and let you use soporific tactics to induce a

hypnotic confession.”

Major DeVous yell again, “Hypnotize, you see me holding a swinging clock

in front of him? I just want a statement, I want he answer my questions.”

The word ‘questions’ is echoing again.

The Captain, laughs over his shoulder, “Yeah right.”

Then Captain Weber stops and turns again, he is smiling.

The Captain said, “You mean answer with the answers you keep repeating.

The kid is prime, he’s half asleep, the forth sentence in the fifth chapter

Major, “As the subject tires, inject ‘doubt as fact’ causing the subject to
289 289

question his own memory while being hypnotized by monotonous language;

over a period of time the subject will subconsciously submit to doubt his

memory of the event, replacing it with reasoning; their knowledge of any

past failures, where fallibility in men is always certain.” Men fuck up Major,

but your repertory hypnotic means are not changing the facts on this one.”

The Major scream, “You think you’re so fucking smart, well he did fuck up,

and you fucked up, you fucked with the wrong man Captain.”

The Captain disappears down the stairs but he can still hear the Major’s

echoes.

Captain Weber had been Commander of the108th Military Police over a year

now. The Company was assigned to protect the brass that worked at the

Abrams building, nicknamed, ‘Palace Guards’, they had a lot of

responsibility. Captain Weber had previously served two tours in Desert

Storm as a Field Interrogator, and served Detail Interrogator for twenty

weeks at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. He knew all the tricks and had him self

been charged for over stepping the boundaries; accused of using persuasive

methods for confessions, except the charges didn’t stick, because he went by

the book, because he knew the book. Captain Weber had a sharp mind, was

a good person, a good Officer, and a dam good Company Commander. He

290 290

couldn’t figure out what DeVoss’s angle was. “What the hell is the Major up

too? Why does he want Thomas to fall on this? Who really killed

Kiddmyer?” The Captain pace the floor in his office, asking him self out

loud these questions, he had no answers for them. Specialist Tomas was a

good soldier, an American, and one of his men for Christ sake. He didn’t

know what the Major’s motive was. All he could do is go over the Majors

head and explain things to the General first. The Army used the old rotary

type phones in the Abrams building, although the Captain never spun the

dial even once. All you had to do is pick up the receiver and seconds later

the phone would ring; Captain Weber picked up the phone,

Captain Weber listens, “Private Williams’s sir, this line is unsecure sir, and

how can I place your call sir?”

Captain Weber on the roster on his key chain for Thursday, and then says,

“Red Stocks number twenty, inform who answers this is Captain Parker

calling.” This week Red Stocks 20 was code for the General’s residence, the

codes rotate weekly.

There were several busy signals and then the communications operator came

back on line.

The Operator said, “Captain Parker Sir, your party’s line is busy; do you
291 291

want me to keep trying Sir?”

The Captain said, “This is the twentieth time I’ve tried to get through in the

last hour, can you cut in and at least see if he on the phone?”

The Operator said, “I’ll try Sir.”

Twenty seconds later the operator is back.

The Operator said, “Hello Captain are you there Sir?”

The Captain said, “Yes I’m here, what happened?”

The Operator said, “Your right Sir, no one is on the line, I hear nothing.

Must be the storm Sir, I ran a high voltage feed, if there were some one

home and it was off the hook they would be covering their ears. Either the

line is down or no one is there Sir.”

The Captain said, “Someone is there alright, they have to be. I want you to

keep trying, every five minutes. I’ll be at this number, but first give me the

M.P. Headquarters at Gibbs Kercern.”

The Operator said, “Yes Sir.”

The Captain could hear the number ring.

“108th Military Police, Sergeant Eaton here, this line is unsecure.”

The Captain, “Eaton this Captain Weber is the first Sergeant there?”

Sergeant Eaton said, “No sir he got a call from his wife saying his daughter
292 292

is over in Headquarters 5th Corps barracks messing around with that private

again.”

Captain Weber said, “Just peachy, ok I need you to have two men on stand

by for detail, they know what it is when I tell them.”

Sergeant Eaton asked, “Yes Sir, where do they report Sir?”

Captain Weber said, “Here at the Abrams Building, they’ll find me in the

security control room.” The control room was located before the lobby on

the first floor at the main entrance of the Abrams. This also served as the

security check point for everybody entering the building. In the back of the

guard room was a trap door that give access to the bomb shelter on the first

basement.

THE MAN IN BLACK

CHAPTER NINETEEN

The General returned the salute and then stepped into the army sedan. Luke

closed the rear passenger door and jumped into the driver’s seat.

The General asked, “Know what today’s date is?”

Luke reply, “Yes Sir, December 20th the day you open the winter home.
293 293

Dispatch informed me also, said I’ll be spending the night.”

The General said, “I’ve been coming here for Christmas the last twenty

years, no matter where my command was. Ellen and I bought it just after the

Vietnam conflict. Don’t know why I’m here this year, more of a habit I

guess, the holidays don’t seem the same without my wife. We‘ll be returning

to the Abrams early Monday.”

Luke said, “I understand Sir.”

The City was overflowing with late night holiday shoppers. There was a

traffic accident ahead and impatient drivers started honking their horns.

Some teenagers were laughing, their snow balls to stick on the windows of a

moving subway train. An old man with a rope over his shoulder smile

hunched as he mule a sled crammed with grandchildren. Bargain hunters

rush to push and shove first pick where a sale sign went up. Christmas fill

the air with fire place, candy, music and beer. The jingle of bells and

sparkling lights open the hearts of even the miser; and the squirrels dance on

tree tops, their way to stay warm. All the homes here are decorated, and the

trees too. This is when children are good, so to have no bad report that Saint

Nick should skip their tree. No other time of year generates more energy

than when the dreams of children come into unity. The Church bells call for
294 294

the Masses. The sheep gather this night, for the Master’s birthday nears.

The General watch the exhaust from the cars being carried off to shape into

cherubs. The line hasn’t moved since the two cars rapped their bodies

together. One of the German Polizi cars had pulled away from the accident

and Luke tried to get his attention by a quick tap on the horn and blinking

his lights three times. The Polizi see him and turns on his colored strobe, and

then Luke pulls out into a trough and u-turns. They had to detour the long

way around to the autobahn. Once on the ramp the sedan blast snow passing

a Volkswagen bus covered with rock band stickers and strapped down with

snow skis.

General Brown remark, “Energy abounds in the power of youth.”

Luke comes back with, “Powdered snow is a magnet to that energy.”

The General says, “This is a special Christmas for Germany.”

Luke asked, “How so Sir?”

The General answers, “The Russians are leaving, the Americans are leaving,

the occupation is finally over.”

Luke says, “The cold war is over too, Sir, and you General played a major

roll in bringing that about.”

The General said, “We all did Daniel, your part was just as important.”
295 295

Luke said, “Thank you Sir.”

The General said, “However, this was a silent war, there are no metals, there

is no list of those who fought in it, no victory parades, no home coming

parties, no nothing, but it was a war alright.”

Luke said, “One of the most important ever won don’t you say sir?”

The General said, “Yes indeed Daniel, but I suppose who really deserves the

embellishment is the Pope; and the contemporary Church for that matter.”

Luke asks, “Why the Pope and Church if I may ask Sir?”

The General answers, “What really shook some sense into the Ivan’s was

Pope John Paul, for without his courage in bringing the Poles together into

solidarity the Iron Curtain would not have fallen.”

Luke said, “Ok, I see.”

The General laugh and then said, “Why am I laughing you might be

wondering? As critical and careful NATO has had to of been dealing the

Communist, with the threat of Nuclear Destruction teeter totting in the

background a major contributor in bring them to their knees on our part

came out of our dirty tricks department.”

Luke asks, “You mean the war in Afghanistan Sir?”

The General answered, “I see your intellect is growing had you kept your
296 296

little mouth shut I would never realized how big your ears are.”

Luke said, “I’m sorry Sir.”

The General laugh and said, “Why because you have big ears? Or is it

because you can hear, or because you don’t know when I’m joking or

reprimanding you. In the past it was always the Russians who fueled conflict

with America. Finally we got our turn and they fought their own little

Vietnam. We crushed their pride and pride comes before folly. Had they won

arrogance would had filled the hunger that pain their bellies. Humility does

not always change a stubborn mind, but it does fuel desire to regain dignity;

and gratification is dignities reward.”

Luke says, “As the kind in Capitalism?”

The General says, “Some may see it that way, but remember money is the

root of all evil Daniel. That is the fear of the Hardliners.”

Luke asked, “Do you foresee a rise in crime in Russia General?”

The General answers, “No not really, just a change in the faces. Nothing can

compare to the crime a government of oppression imposes on its people.”

One of the blue street lights that lit up the lake flickered as Luke drove up

the hill towards the Generals home. Once at the top of the driveway Luke

stopped to open the tall Iron Gate. The trees guide him down but at the
297 297

bottom the snow blanket where it circled the pond.

Luke said, “I’ll be right back.”

The General ask, “What are you doing?”

Luke thought it a chance to show his wit.

He said, “I’m going to feel with my feet where the driveway stop and pond

begins.”

The General laughs and says, “This is where planning ahead pays off. I put

guide lights around the driveway this summer. Just walk to the front door

and hit the switch below the porch light, you’ll be surprised.”

Luke smiled at the General but wrinkled his forehead when he turns to see

where that was, he could scarcely see anything.

The General had his window cracked and Luke walk up to it.

He said, “Yes Sir, I’ll do that, can you hand me the flashlight in the glove

compartment please?”

The storm had blown a snow bank in front of the house filling the porch.

Luke was shoulder high in fresh snow and struggled to get to the switch.

When Luke was a boy he played electricity was magic; he would wave his

wand the same time he would flick the light on. There were two switches;

when he turns on the first, two rolls of orange burn under the snow leading
298 298

away from the porch to the driveway reminding him of that magic. Then he

hit the second and two yellow rolls of what looked like rising suns abed a

white sky glow from below; they encircle a half exposed elephant with its

trunk pointing up and north, a minute or so later steaming water begin to

spray from the trunk and begin to melt the snow that cover the pond. Luke

laugh, wow he thought, leave it to the General, this was a surprise. The

General slide over into the driver’s seat and pulled the car around lining up

the passenger car door with the first two orange lights. Luke bulls a pathway

out to the sedan, getting there just as General Brown steps out of the car.

Luke says, “This is awesome Sir.”

The General say humbly in a low tone, “Thank you, say Daniel this storm

might pick back up, better you take the car back up the hill so we don’t get

stuck down here. I need to be back at the Abrams bright and early Monday.”

Luke said, “Yes Sir.”

Luke handed the General his brief case and jumped into the car. The Sedan

had no problem barreling back up the hill. The General however had trouble

getting inside the house. The front door lock was frozen and he had to make

his way round back. The General shine Luke’s flash light down at the set of

footsteps that lead to and from the back porch, they were small like children,
299 299

kids he though. Mean while as Luke passed the entry gate he turned left

continuing up the snow covered dirt road to where he could park the car.

Once on top of the ridge he drove to its edge and turns off the engine. Luke

would drive here to pray over the General each time he dropped him off. The

storm had stopped quick as it came and Luke looked down on the beautiful

snow filled valley surrounding the vacation home, so peaceful. Luke’s

Prayer, “Heavenly Father, I ask that, you Lord protect the General. Put a

hedge of angels around…”

The assassin held the nine millimeter German police special, with silencer,

pointed at the General’s heart.

In a low and slow tone the General address his unwanted house guest.

He said, “Well it seems to me if a man is going to die by the hand of another

man he deserves to know why and who is responsible.”

The assassin was clad entirely in a black Navy Seal assault suit, to include a

black ski mask. Only his eyes could be seen, which were also black. He was

around 5ft 10in tall and the General noted his body frame was thin, though

he not knows if he were a man or flat chest woman. While never lowering

his weapon, the assassin seemed to move gracefully as he work his way

closer to the General; but come in front of the General, the guy was wired up
300 300

and wouldn’t stand still.

The Assassin said calmly, “Why sure, General, I’ll give you that much.”

‘A man’, the General thought by the voice, then observing the assassin to

raise his hand to reach into his upper front jacket pocket. The assassin then

removes a pack of Marlboros and passes the pack to his gun hand; he raises

the now free hand a little further to bite down on the glove. His fingers

wiggle and he pulled it off. Next he lifts up the mask just enough to expose

his lips. His skin is white, too white and smooth. All in a quick move he

drops the pack catching it with the other and popping the lid his fingers shift

and spin to slide out a single smoke. The General notes the man is very

coordinated. Setting the pack down on the counter all while never moving

the pistol barrel a faction of an inch. The General know the man practice this

one, he fling the cigarette and catch it in his lips. Then with the same hand

and the same smoothness, he removed a Bic Lighter from the same jacket

pocket.

The Man in Black asked, “Who do you think sent me General?”

The General answer, “Who I have no idea, but I can assume you came in

recently from the States, three days tops.”

The Man in Black asks, “How do you know that, my English dialect?”
301 301

The General answers, “No. that only tells me you were raised and educated

near New Jersey, or defiantly on the East Coast. It is your bad habits that tell

much about you. First is your reckless, you smoke, and so care little of your

self, or at least when you started smoking. Your possession of Marlboro

cigarettes indicates your recent connection to America, confirmed by the fact

they don’t have a duty stamp on them. The time frame of departure narrows

by the type of lighter in your possession. They don’t sell BIC lighters over

here, even in the commissary. Considering all the variables to estimate a

departure time from the life usage of the lighter; I explain; the BIC is non

refillable and unless you brought a number of them in your pocket which I

doubt, that is the only one, any in your luggage would have been confiscated

by customs as a fire hazard; So, I’d say this is your only one, the one you left

with. The facts; you could not resist smoking even in an act of murder, I say

your habit is chronic, indicating heavy usage; last is concluded by

observation of the lighters low fuel pressure. Your lighter flame is no more

than a quarter of an inch high. Computing a formula, where X is pressure, Y

time, Z height; X multiplied by Y over Z conclusion is you arrived in

Germany from the United States within the last 72 hours.”

The General could see the man’s thin lips smile and mussels tense, which
302 302

told him more of the man.

The Man in Black said, “The mind of a General. I take great pride in being

the one to kill you.”

The General ask, “So it’s not who sent you, but what are you?”

The Man in Black said, “Your right I ‘m one of many, part of a secret, a

secret that demands you die; and since that is your fate I’ll tell you. You ask

what, what we are? I belong to a brotherhood, the most powerful in the

world. I’ am a Prophet, a Messenger of Death.”

The General said, “No Prophet has ever had to announce his own coming,

nor give prophecy of a murder.”

The assassin retorted, “Do you know who the Masons are?”

The General, “I do.”

The Assassin, “From what I hear, you don’t care too much for us. You

transfer out anybody under your command that is a Mason. Isn’t that your

policy?”

The General said, “I have no need for any secret political internal

organization under my command. My rules will stand, even when I’m gone,

is that what this is about?”

The Assassin: “No, not at all General. You think of us as political? Meaning
303 303

we serve the pubic, hah? Let me tell you something, one day the public will

serve us. And for what is this about, what do you think that we don’t like

your rules? You think your rules govern us? What a laugh, you take orders

from us. We are twenty over your head and twenty strong in your unit; they

stretch from G-3 PLEX into the underground. We are better than you at

keeping secrets General, ha- ha- ha- ha. That nosey Kiddmyer brought this

on you. Like I said a secret is a secret, and you know too much, General.”

The General asked, “So you killed Kiddmyer?”

The Assassin: “Just like a military man to fall for some dame, you should of

seen his face when he seen I was a man. Thought he was going to heaven he

flew so high. Guess God didn’t want him ‘because that fat bastard came

back down quicker than he went up.”

The General’s voice rose, “You son of a-”

The assassin moved back raising the pistol to fire; the General quickly

caught himself and his training kicked in.

Back under control he said, “So it was you who called, tell me are all of you

in on this?”

The Assassin answers, “We the Masonic are one, nobody acts alone.”

The General asks, “Is this about the contingency plan?”

304 304

The Assassin: “Bingo.”

The General: “That’s worth murdering two men? Why?”

The assassin took a deep drag from the cigarette and put it out. “That plan is

vital to America; it is part of the backbone and infrastructure for our future.”

The General: “America’s, and under whose authority? You mean the Masons

want-a-be future. Well, I was right about the Masons. My father is an old

Baptist preacher from the South. He told me Masons are racist, Satanists for

that matter. That you have your own constitution, that is separate, apart

from, and one you put above the Constitution of the United States. That you

vow to serve your own over others, that there is no justice in a Court of Law

where a Mason favor another Mason. No organ distributed in its rightful

order, no needed hospital bed given equally, no bid won in fairness where

Masons stand. My father’s church loan was denied because of his

knowledge of your order. I know that your vows, and that your rites are

based on hate; you love your selves and that what is in the world. Your kind

is not only dishonest but evil. The oath taken at your Faust tells it all. You

sell your soul for power but the power you gain is corrupt.

Your title free is a mockery to freedom; and democracy has no room for

secrets.”
305 305

The Man in Black started pacing back and forth swirling the pistol at the

General as he start to talk.

The Man said, “How democratic of you General, I thought you were a

Republican. Yeah we hate the niggers, and the rest of the scum. We hate

fags. We hate druggies, the Wetbacks, the Spics, we hate Chinks, the Jews,

Moslems, and we hate the gangs of the poor. We hate stupid people, and

we’re doing something about it.”

The General: “What murdering people?”

The Assassin: “We are the chosen ones. We are the lawyers, the prosecutors,

the judges, the Presidents, the leaders of the Free World. We are the Doctors,

the Bankers, the educated, the ones you see on TV, in the spotlights, we are

success; we are the ones that make the world turn. People depend on us, the

world depends on us. America is what it is today because of us. We are in

power. The Masons are in every position of authority possible, who do think

places your calls? We control the police, we control the military. You

Christians can’t stop us. You’re blinded by a thousand points of light. Ah

ha- ha- ha- ha- ha.”

The General: “It would figure you target Christians as well.”

The Assassin: “Were not just targeting you, we came to save you. What are
306 306

Christians anyway? Those that think they are lie to them selves, most are

not. Do you know where we came from?”

The General: “I do not know what you are talking about. You came from

Hell as far as I’m concerned.”

The Assassin: “Once we were called the Knights Templar, Warrior Monks of

the educated class. We were assigned by the Holy Roman Church to protect

Christians that shared in the sadness of war, pilgrims that travel to the Holy

City of Jerusalem. We are heroes, General.”

The General: “I know history very well. The Knights Templar was not

assigned to protect innocent Christians. You make it sound as if those

travelers were making some holy journey. They were thieves, robbers, and

they traveled to Jerusalem to steal…”

The assassin interrupted him. “Ah, and what was wrong with benefiting

from the spoils of war? We protected them.”

The General countered. “What is wrong with murder and robbery? The Holy

Crusades’ was Rome’s attempt to reclaim a crumbling empire; it was not the

title they named it to be. Rome could not stop the Christian movement, so it

enwrapped itself around Christianity. What was adopted was twisted. The

Knights who waged that war on Islam were not Christian. Those were the
307 307

Dark Ages when people could not read God’s Word; thus kept in the dark.

The Knights Templar, however as you put it, were the educate class. They

knew better; they had no excuse.”

The Assassin: “The Pope granted all the right to benefit that dared to make

the journey. Take your complaint to the Vatican. Ha- ha- ha.”

The General: “I don’t need your instruction to where to complain or a lesson

in History, especially warped as you present it. The Church made mistakes,

just as every Christian does, that is expected. It is by grace we are save, for

those that don’t give up.”

The Assassin, “There’s a key phase, don’t give up, what does today’s

Christian give up, nothing, they don’t give up shit, zero. They can’t even get

past the basic principles, ha hah; they don’t even know what a battle is.”

Laughing until he choked; the assassin fired by mistake, the silencer hum

and the bullet ricochet off the mantle nearly hitting the General.

Then as if nothing happened, he continues, “Just wait, the day nears General,

when the Christianity fad wears off and there are no more Christians, why?

Because the whole crap is made up and people only claim to be Christian

because it is favorable, in season, the Church is a crutch General, a social

club, a collection of a bunch of want to be perfect busy bodies that down

308 308

everybody else around them. Funny thing is, they got secrets too General.

Yeah, every last one of them, nobodies perfect, some just hide it better than

others. So a Templar can’t make a mistake? Yeah it’s possible, but we didn’t.

The Templar’s knew how phony Christianity was, but we followed our

orders.”

The General said, “Orders, what orders was that? The order, “Kill them all

and let God sort them out?”

The Assassin laughed again and said, “Now how was anybody able to tell

them a part? How do you distinguish the Muslim from a Jew in a battle?

Their dam cousins you know. That order came from the Pope, we were just

following orders.”

The General said, “You said the Knight Templar knew the Church was

wrong, that puts their guilt above all other. They did not have to act, but for

their greed they murdered millions.”

The Assassin: “It was that or to die, for them they had one choice, ‘live‘. For

there is a time and season for everything, when the time came to stand

against the Church we did. You think our forefathers did not suffer for that?

The Church tired to destroy us but we live today, our blood line lives. Many

didn’t, they bowed to the Pope and were martyred for it. The sons of the
309 309

Knight Templar’s that took the stand stand today. We were forced

underground, and there we built our Temple, we became free, the

Freemasons of today.”

The General said, “Yes, the Templar took a stand, but you stood against the

charges I listed, for the heresy, witchcraft, and riches you stole – gold, silver,

jewels. The Holy Grail itself, I hear.”

The Assassin: “Just like the Church to want it all, greed starts at the Church,

first ten percent, and then they want everything you have.”

The Assassin laughs hard again.

The General defends his belief, “Yes the Church makes mistakes, and when

the Knights Templar refused to give up that which they stole, the Holy

Treasure---”

The Assassin interrupts him, “What Holy Treasure? The Holy Grail – junk.

Who cares about that? The Church wanted our secrets, especially the unholy

ones. The secrets we found while reinforcing in Jerusalem.”

The General: “If you’re going to talk to me, tell the truth. Your castle was on

the shore. You did not reinforce Jerusalem you excavated the City looking

for treasure. You turned the whole Holy City upside down. So what did you

steal if not Holy?”

310 310

The Assassin: “You want to know? Is this your last wish? Ha ha you’re

going to die, so I’ll tell you. We dug and dug until we found it. We found

treasure – not the treasures you think, just diamonds gold and silver, but true

treasure, we found knowledge General, the most powerful treasure,

dangerous treasure , secret knowledge written in books. Seems a certain

King, King David’s son, King Solomon, had a fetish. He liked to collect, so

he collected all the knowledge known to man. The Jewish King, he was the

one who stole those books. The Kingdom’s secrets, their prophecies, their

inventions, every weapon’ design drawn or sketched, anything documented

whether about the wise or the fool, was gathered in one mass, and kept filed

in a single safe place. Like a kid collects baseball cards, King Solomon

collected books and he found our Prophecy.”

The General ask, “What Prophecy?”

The Assassin answer, “What this is all about, the end of the age, when and

where the catastrophic disasters spoken of in the Bible, the sign of the end

times, the Masonic Prophecy. The Jewish King heap all the spells, every

formula, charm, potion, mystic word of magic, curse, or poisons. This that

was taken then was given to us. The Masons are the rightful owners you

know, prophecy fulfilled, all the power of ages had came home. King
311 311

Solomon’s quest for knowledge reach out across the sea to faraway lands,

and the greatest harvest ever known was completed, one of books. Very list

imaginable were his, even the name of God. So many secrets, good secrets,

bad secrets, a wizards dream, the sorry mans nightmare. Funny that you

work so hard to learn what those diseases are; those germs made into

weapons are ours General; we gave them the recipes. What you think was

created down in the Red X Program, came from us. Those Scientist were

factory scientist, they assembled thousand years old recipes, ha- ha- ha- ha-

ha, and I.G. Farben only manufactured the Germs for us General. The cures,

antidotes, vaccines, the Keys, we have them General. Doctor Death didn’t

take them, we never gave them up. We wouldn’t be able to control them if

we had. From Egypt to the Sea of Galilee, the blueprints to very kind of

Germ there is, any ever imagined, already existed, and it was brought to one

place; thanks to a Jewish King named Solomon. He stole everybody’s

secrets General, and he collected them. Ha- ha- ha- ha- ha- ha- ha- ha- ha-

ha.”

The General asked, “So you say you have the cure for the Germ Warfare,

what about diseases like AIDS?”

The Assassin say, “What about it, what do you think AIDS is General, some
312 312

venereal ape disease? Ha- ha yeah sure, it is the perfect Germ Weapon, it is a

Delayed Response Disease, almost impossible to trace an infection time

point. Anybody could be responsible. We tried telling those stupid Nazis to

use that or even Hepatitis C, but they choose to gas the bastards, even took

pictures of it. Not we though, they won’t this time.”

The General ask, “What do you mean, this time?”

The Assassin laugh, “What do you think, the Genocide General, population

control. The end is coming General, the Worlds Loadstone, it nearing the

time it moves, the earths electromagnetic field will fail, electricity will no

longer work. Violent sun storms will ravish the earth. Can’t have a bunch of

fagots running around, San Francisco was the first to get inoculated, I mean

infected, ha -ha, nor have the dam Mexicans over running the Beverly Hills

Estates for their food reserves, especially the street gangs, free flu shots in

those neighborhoods, that’s why we have been distributing the shit for the

last five years; through the hepatitis B vaccinations, flue shots, and any other

means, ha- ha- ha- we have eliminate the undesirables, clean up time, down

size the worlds population General, there all going to die anyway. Where just

about done. I can’t believe they haven’t figured it out; how else does two

thirds of a continent, two thirds of a race, nearly the whole population

313 313

counting South Central Los Angeles and New York’s vaccine intake, think

we would start a new age with a bunch of niggers swinging around, causing

hell and chaos, them Jig boos had to go?”

The General start to lunge at the assassin, “You sick Bastard, I’ll kill u my-”

The Assassin quickly moved back raising the gun again.

The Assassin said, “You’ll what, kill who, me die, ha- ha, I don’t think so.

It’s you who will be dying, but not until I say so, you ain’t dying until my

birth time; see you get to be a sacrifice as well General. It’s the reason I

made the lots, there were only twenty Masons with birthdates this weekend

that could come, and I won, I won the lots. You die on my birth date, at

exactly 12:05 am, the time of my birth, tee he, I get to absorb your energy,

your sacrifice is my reward. Something special is going to happen, tee hee-

hee- hee, and your time has come. The Assassin raises his weapon pointing it

at the General’s heart. The assassin count, “Twenty, nineteen, ------

The General stare at his wife’ picture on his desk, a tear was in his eye, He

was happy he would see her.

The Assassin finish his count, “---five, four, three, two, Ba-BAM---

Boom!!!!! A shot, then explosion, then another shots; the first was Sergeant

Majors Kiddmyer’s 357 as it blew a chunk of metal off the tip of the
314 314

Assassins gun where the silencer is attached. The gun fires a second early to

his count and with the barrel damaged his bullet explodes; it blows half his

hand off. As the Assassin scream he spins to see who shot him and the third

cap sound, a military issued 45 caliber enters between his eyes and as it

exits, the Assassins brains spats against the wall where a picture of President

Bush hang; he is shaking the hand of Mandela.”

The Assassin had fallen backwards and lay staring cross sided at the ceiling.

In reflex General Brown’s hands had slapped against his torso area, he feels

no pain. Stepping out of the shadows near the rear entry was Sergeant Daniel

Lucas.

He ask the General, “Is there any truth to what he was saying, Sir?”

The General walks over to where the body lay; looking down on the little

man he says, “Well, some thing special did come to him, in the size 45.”

Luke adds, “And 357,” The General looks up and Luke holds up a gun in

each hand, both were smoking.

Luke continues, “I found the Sergeant Majors pistol today, it was about

twenty feet from where he lay in the snow.”

The General looks back down at the man and says, “Far as a conspiracy and

mass murder, God I pray not. One thing is for sure though,; Sergeant Major
315 315

Kiddmyer is dead and this asshole meant for me to be the same.”

Luke said, “It would explain how the AIDS Weapon was spread though out

the world.”

The General says, “My God, we have a major crisis on our hands.”

Luke asked, “What about the disasters and that bit about the Electromagnetic

Field failing?”

The General said, “I don’t know the probability, but I do know in 1989

during the Twenty Year Sun cycle, sun flares knocked the grid out on the

entire Eastern Coast. Go get the car Daniel; were going back to the Abrams

Building, maybe our scientist can tell us more.”

Luke looks at the picture of the President spattered with brain tissue and

dark blood, it drip to the flood.

Luke said, “Sorry about the mess, Sir. Sir could there be a conspiracy big as

the assassin was saying? I mean, the Masons are big, right.”

The General said, “That Picture was taken when Mandela got released from

prison, ‘No more apartheid. Yes they are big, could be some a sect of the

organization, but I can’t believe they all are in on this, if any. We really don’t

if he is acted alone. I think it probable the man is a lone wacko. Although I

don’t care for Masons, our President is one.”

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Luke said, “Our President, are you kidding? I was listening to what you said,

up until now, I didn’t know to much about them. You don’t here much about

them.”

The General said, “You don’t hear about them because their organization is

secret, and no I’m not kidding. Many of America’s past Presidents were

Masons. You read what it says at the bottom of the picture frame?

Luke moves closer and reads, “At the cost of Freedom.” I don’t understand,

what does that mean? You just said Mandela had been as released from

prison”

The General said, “He was, but not only did he spend many years locked up,

he the lost spirit. They broke Mandela, there is no fight left in him. His spirit

stayed behind in his cell.”

Luke asked, “How can that be, you said No more apartheid?”

General Brown explained, “Mandela may have started the process, but the

fall of South Africa is something that took place while he was in prison, you

can say he sacrificed his life and drew world attention to the evils being

done there. See, it is Ironic President Bush is shaking his hand since that is

who put him in prison.”

Luke said, “Now I’m really confused.”

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General Brown continued, The CIA is who captured Mandela and turned

him over to the South African government and George W. Bush was Director

of the Central Intelligent Agency at the time.”

Luke says, “I didn’t know that, crazy.”

General Brown said, “The Statue of Liberty is not the shinning woman in a

white dress most Americans vision her to be. However, do not let this shake

your loyalty. Other Countries see America as an evil Democratic Beast, and

for those living in ignorance, perhaps God will show them mercy. What I

know is that the Leaders of the United States make decisions in the interest

of American. When your left with only two choices to pick from there is

often what we call, ‘Collateral Damage’. I do not believe the United States

Army or the President had any thing to do with this lunatic plans. ”

The General said, “Daniel, try to get a hold of CID, (Criminal Investigations

Division), then call Doctor Schmitt in the Physics Department and inform

him to meet us with his full staff first thing in the morning.”

Luke said, “Yes Sir, are you wandering what the probability for the

Loadstone movement is?”

The General said, “And if it did could the move trigger a catastrophic chain

reaction? Yes it is possible, this is nothing new; there is a multiple of

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theatrical theories that prophesize the world’s destruction. What I’m curious

to know is that bit about the electromagnetic failing and the Sun flares

penetrating the Atmosphere; and what effects if any on electricity. The

programs energy priority directive has concentrated on the continuation of

I.G. Farben’s Synthetic Fuel Project, if what he was saying has any validity

to it; Doctor Schmitt’s development of a thermal plasmatic energy source for

computers and electronic equipment could be exactly what is needed.”

Luke stood in shock, “So there is some truth to his claim.”

The General said, “Not necessarily Daniel; the world could be destroy by

nuclear destruction as well.”

The General step over the dead mans body to get out from behind the desk.

The General said, “And get this son of bitch out of my house.”

Luke ask, “What do you want me to do with him?”

The General said, “Drag this piece of trash out of my house.”

While stepping over the body the General add, “And drag that son of a bitch

out the back k “ while walking towards the phon ignite ment tonight in the

Red X Programs Atmospheric Research Laboratory, the phone is in the

hallway.”

Luke ask, “Tonight Then, bring the sedan down, we’re returning to the
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Abrams tonight. There are some questions I want

CRYSTAL
SWIMMMING HOLE
AND CAT THE WILD
BILLYGOAT
CHAPTER TWENTY

Sleeping under the stars was to Johnny what honey was to bears; if he
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were given the choice between the outdoors and a motel, open space, stars,

and fresh air was his. The Utah sky at night lit up the desert like Christmas

lights do a home. His computer buzz and his eyes popped open. Johnny’s

human side made him a creature of habit, and springing to his feet at wake

up, was molded in to his second nature. The beautiful white Arabian shook

its mane; Johnny had prefect teeth and his smile glow. Up before dawn, he

planned to arrive at the Cole ranch early. His new employer, Buchanan

Zachariah Cole, or “Buck” as the two policemen on horseback had

addressed him as, when Johnny received his lecture; was kind enough to

advance Johnny a weeks pay. Johnny admired the old man for fronting trust

to a stranger, taking just his word that he would show up. He thought about

the combination of what the ladies said were signs, and though he didn’t

believe in coincidence was skeptical God planned him to watch over seven

young braves. He had stopped at three places on his way out of town; a

hardware & feed store, where he bought some survival gear and oats for

Grandfather, a second hand store for set duds, and June’s market. He lit a

small fire that burn around his newly acquired WWII aluminum canteen

filled with water and instant coffee. In seconds it turn carbon black inside a

glowing red fire accelerated from tumbleweed. A few minutes later only
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smoke remained as steam twirl at the canteens neck. Johnny spin a fiber

strand for a handle he peeled off a San Pedro cactus for his morning cup of

Joe John Wayne style. .

Mother said, “Good morning Johnny.”

Johnny asked, “Give me an E.A.T. on the Cole’s place if I leave in twenty

minutes.”

Johnny hook the nose bag with Grandfathers breakfast as he pad his horses

neck

Mother’s voice was soft and easy to wake to; the type a man could become

hooked on..

Mother said, “Proximately twenty minutes just at the crack of dawn.”

Johnny then ask, “How’s the view up there, will you coordinate my .route.”

Mother replied instantaneously, “I would like to experience the emotion that

overpower the humans by feeling what I see and hear, Johnny.”

Johnny ask, “Describe what you see and hear for me Mother.”

Mother speak slow with stretching key words.

She say, “With color only found in morning the dawns light crawls slowly in

panorama to burn up darkness. In harmony the sun mesh first light and

energy that crackles frozen red sand, and I hear popping as melting round
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windows and ice doors open to birds singing; and I see the cactus explode

with the new light of blue jays, red cardinals, and black birds. Some rocks

there, come alive to turtle away slower than rest. Many packs of coyote

follow the other in an orderly dance twisting terrain path beaten by their

ancestors, and looking back at the light, some scared and other mad that the

sun steals surprise from their breakfast. And all that sparkles for a moment,

steam and then bakes still until the hiss of a wind cry hollow hums of

loneness.”

Johnny say, “Wow, are you sure you don’t feel that?”