Fractured Nation Read online

  Later that evening, when many of the family had retired to their respective wings of the mansion, Samuel strolled into the kitchen area to find his wife and Ms. Holloway enjoying a quiet cup of coffee. After receiving an invitation to join them, and pouring his own cup, Samuel said, “I want to thank you for your efforts this weekend Ms. Holloway. As usual everything was excellent, and it was abundantly clear to anyone paying attention that Savanah had a really good time.”

  “Thank you Mr. Tillman, she is a sweetheart of a young lady.”

  “She is indeed, and please don’t tell any of the others that Savanah is my favorite.”

  With a wink of her eye and a slight wry smile, Ms. Holloway replied, “I’m very sorry Mr. Tillman, but I’m afraid that I couldn’t hear what you just said.”

  With a nod of approval, Samuel returned her smile and said, “That’s excellent dear lady, excellent. Now I need to ask you something, and I apologize if this is uncomfortable or too intrusive. Did Mason disrespect you in any way earlier this evening?”

  With a curious look upon her face, she replied, “No Mr. Tillman, why do you ask?”

  “Well it looked to me as if he demanded that you take his seat next to Courtney, and if that was the case, then his behavior was improper.”

  “I understand Mr. Tillman, but that was not how I interpreted his actions. He was rather insistent that I sit next to Courtney on the couch, but I would not have called it a demand.”

  “So you didn’t mind taking his seat?”

  “No. I would have preferred to remain standing in the event that Mrs. Tillman or Savanah needed help with passing around pieces of the cake, but I certainly didn’t mind sitting next to Courtney.”

  “Alright, thank you Ms. Holloway. If you’re sure, then we will leave it at that.”

  As part of the envisioned yearlong celebration to commemorate America’s two hundred fiftieth year of existence, the mid-February weekend honoring the birthdays of former presidents Abraham Lincoln and George Washington marked another in the intended series of planned events throughout 2026. Although it was true that New Year’s Eve had kicked off the year with a grander than usual party, the mid-January birthday of civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. had subsequently become the first in the progression of celebratory milestones.

  All three men, each in their own way, had been instrumental figures in American history, and their respective birthdays had become obvious choices when identifying key dates for celebrations throughout the year. Unfortunately the modern society of America was for the most part oblivious as to the accomplishments of each man. Like many of the three day holiday weekends throughout the year, most citizens had no clue as to the true meaning of why the day was being celebrated. With regard to the scope of Dr. King’s accomplishments, he had showed tremendous courage and conviction while pursuing and bringing forth necessary changes in the mindset of American society that he hoped would provide equal treatment for all of her citizens. Washington was more commonly known as the father of the country by having been the most notable general in defeating the oppressive British forces during the revolutionary war, and then being elected as the first president of a newly formed nation. Lincoln, like Washington, had also served as the chief executive, but his legacy was based on being the man who held the nation together during the years when a bloody civil war seemed destined to tear it apart. Unfortunately only days after a peace accord had been reached that would preserve the union and enable the nation to once again move forward from that civil war, an assassin’s bullet ended Lincoln’s life. He, along with Dr. King and several other notable figures throughout American history, had their lives taken from them as a byproduct of their conviction in what they believed to be the correct course of action for the nation. It was only fitting that such men be recognized in perpetuity as those who committed the ultimate sacrifice in quest of a stronger and healthier nation, and Samuel was pissed off that leaders with such moral character had become nearly extinct in America.

  For the mid-February celebration milestone, the powers that be within cities and towns all across the nation had brought forth an increased effort with regard to parades, fireworks shows and the surrounding festivities. In many of the southern or less mountainous regions of the country, winter was already beginning to loosen its grip, so the carrying out of such plans became less difficult for the organizers and participants. The collective mindset was to use the event as another step in the buildup and rehearsal process for the grand July fourth celebrations, and then continue with the same increased level of pomp throughout the various holidays of the fall season.

  While watching the Washington D.C. fireworks show on the giant holographic wall screen in the comfort of their family room, Samuel said to no one in particular, “There’s no way that our current President, the one before him, or the one before that, would have had the intestinal fortitude or abilities to accomplish what either Washington or Lincoln did while ascending toward, or residing as, the leader of this country. Hell, for that matter I could go back into our history even further. The last person elected to the oval office who had actual frontline military experience resembling that of Washington, or a handful of our other former Presidents, was Bush senior and he left office nearly thirty-five years ago.”

  Emerging from the kitchen with a tray containing several cups, items that one might add to their coffee, and some cookies, his wife Victoria replied, “That’s true enough dear. Unfortunately we don’t appear to have any viable candidates for the presidency in the near future from either party who will alter that now well established pattern.”

  “You’re absolutely right, and that lack of true understanding lessons the strength of our chief executive.”

  Then with a slight quiver in her tone, Victoria added, “I believe that a man or woman in that position should know what the frontlines are actually like before they so easily send others off to battle.”

  Sensing the discomfort in his wife, Samuel attempted to shift the subject slightly to relieve her strain as Ms. Holloway entered the room with a large pot of strong hot coffee for the group. After she placed it in the usual location, Samuel stated to the collective, “Well, Harwell has nearly three years left in his first term. Perhaps someone with a spine from either party will emerge as a serious candidate before he comes up for re-election in 2028, but in the meantime, Harwell’s lack of both a backbone and quick decision making ability could serve us well.”

  Now seated within a few feet of her husband, Victoria fought back her emotions of the moment before and thanked Ms. Holloway for her help while offering her ageing confidant a seat. As Victoria commenced with her coffee ritual, she was quite pleased to see her second son Mason stand to surrender the seat next to his wife Courtney for Ms. Holloway. Then Samuel knew that his wife was back in form when she seized the opportunity to rib him and their oldest son Kyle with, “Well at least there is still one gentleman among you.”

  With that Kyle stood and, referring to the coffee cups, asked, “Can I help you pass those around mom?”

  “That’s an excellent idea, thank you Kyle.”

  Soon after Kyle delivered a cup to Ms. Holloway, Mason’s wife Courtney, and then his own wife Ashley, Samuel asked, “Mason, have you secured a location for the training facility?”

  “Yes sir I have. After scouting several possibilities, I have found a location that will be suitable for the various aspects of our needs.”

  “That sounds good Mason. Tell us more about it.”

  “It’s on a large piece of nearly flat land in a remote southwest portion of the state, so no one will bother our personnel while they use it and the nearby mountain for high altitude training. We will also be able to carve out a small airstrip, and then construct the necessary support facilities with relative ease. Very few people would ever notice, or care, that work is being done.”

  “We can? That’s fantastic. But how did you get permission to do that?”

  “Well I haven’t yet,
but I’m sure that the owner will be agreeable.”

  “You know that assumptions can be dangerous Mason, especially one of this magnitude. How can you guarantee that the owners will comply with our needs?”

  “Because the land was available for purchase, so I took the liberty of doing just that on behalf of the family. Technically, you and mom now own the flat piece of land that I speak of and the easement to it from the distant highway. You are the ones who need to give us permission to build the airstrip and establish a suitable cover for it.”

  Surprised by the decisive maneuver of his middle son, Samuel reached for the coffee that was being offered to him and replied, “Alright Mason, that’s very good. Now tell us about the cover.”

  “I thought that we could set up our cover as a skydiving school, and that would explain to anyone who was curious as to why so many parachutes would be seen in the area on a regular basis. If they came to investigate, then the large rectangular shaped clearing that had been established within walking distance of the facility could be explained as the intended landing zone.”

  Looking around the family room to see if anyone had any thoughts on the matter to share, Samuel took a sip of his coffee and broke the silence with, “That is excellent news Mason, well done. I’m proud of you for taking the initiative with regards to the land for the airstrip, and I like the idea of the skydiving school. You should proceed with doing what is necessary to establish that cover and moving forward, but use a name for the facility that won’t easily be traced back to the family.”

  Strolling into a popular Waffle House located within a highway junction town of Conroe Texas, Samuel noticed three familiar faces waiting for him in the corner booth. After requesting a cup of coffee from the waitress at the counter, he moved toward his friends and sat down. Then he said in a soft tone, “Good morning gentlemen, it’s nice to see you again.”

  Seated immediately to Samuel’s right, the most senior of the men replied, “It’s nice to see you again as well number two, but why the urgent meeting?”

  “I received some positive news yesterday afternoon that needs to be shared with all of you, and I wanted to provide you with as much time as possible to act upon it.”

  “Alright number two, what do you have?”

  “The executives at various networks have agreed that as part of America’s continuing yearlong celebration, each of our three possible target locations will have a live television feed during the pregame festivities and the contest itself. Of greater significance, at least from our perspective, is the decision that those festivities would have more of an impact if they were to transpire on television simultaneously. Thanks to their thought process on the matter, we can now plan to move on all three sites.”

  “That’s amazing number two. It has unfolded in exactly the same manner as you predicted, but how could you have possibly known that would happen?”

  “Because I helped to plant a seed of potential profit that I knew could not be ignored by the network executives.”

  The man furthest into the corner of the booth then inquired, “How did you do that?”

  After receiving and thanking the waitress for delivering his cup of coffee, Samuel waited for her to depart and replied, “We have had a friend working within one of the networks for several years now, and he has kept me abreast of opportunities that could be exploited. He had noticed a few years ago that although it didn’t occur every season, from time to time each of the three locations would host a contest on the same calendar day. As luck would have it, two of the locations were going to host on our preferred day this coming fall. Then using that information to our collective advantage, I urged him to pursue the matter further. When he felt the time was right, he suggested to a superior that this coming fall could present a wonderful opportunity for a live television event.”

  “That’s all it took?”

  “Well, that and a little time. You know how the corporate world works, especially in the entertainment business. Someone suggests an idea, and if a superior likes that idea then they run with it and subsequently claim the credit for its conception. In this particular case our inside man pitched his idea to a known greedy corporate climber who possessed both the ability and ambition to contact the administrative offices of each institution. Just like that, the wheels were set in motion. Only one of the locations needed to make a slight alteration to their schedule in order for all three to host simultaneously, and their opponent for that day was eager to oblige when they learned they would in turn receive public recognition for assisting in the process. It was simple really. All they needed to do was flip the respective seasons when each institution would host during the scheduled home and home series.”

  The last of Samuel’s three friends at the table joined the discussion by adding, “That’s a clever way to get them to agree.”

  “Thank you, but our inside man at the network is the one who pitched the idea. He was quite correct when he voiced to me that the one thing that can always be counted on in our current culture is vanity. By offering publicly known credit toward them, the institution who has now become the visitor on that day set events in motion that have played beautifully into our hands.”

  “That explains the common day for hosting, but what about the start time.”

  “Once again vanity came into play. Although each of the three locations showed an eagerness to be one aspect of the festivities, none of them wanted the vulnerability of being shown up by either of the others as a consequence of having performed first. The idea of a simultaneous starting time was floated and subsequently agreed upon, so here we are.”

  “Very nicely done number two. So what time is everything set for?”

  “The contest in the mountain zone will begin at one o’clock their time. That will coincide with a three o’clock start for the two locations in the eastern time zone.”

  The man in the corner stated, “That’s a late start in the east for that time of year.”

  Glancing in his direction, Samuel replied, “True enough, but that could become an advantage during the evacuation process. The daylight savings time that just began this morning will have ended two weeks before the event to create a time change. Combine that with the shorter daylight hours of less than six weeks away from the winter solstice, especially that far north of this location, and the sun will have sunk to a lower position with regards to the western horizon. For the two locations in the east, that could be a hugely significant factor. In terms of attempting to escape the area, the approaching darkness should help each respective group.”

  The man contemplated what had been presented, gave an approving nod, and then added, “Your right number two, we can benefit from that.”

  With that Samuel took a sip of his coffee, and changed the subject slightly by stating, “Now then gentlemen, let’s discuss what will need to be done in order to hit all three targets effectively. I realize that you have all done a tremendous job with your efforts to remain on schedule, but now we must identify and recruit additional personnel if we are to maximize the impact.”

  The senior man took the lead once again by asking, “Are you speaking of additional ground personnel?”

  Answering to the group collectively, Samuel replied, “Although more of them will surely be needed, that aspect of the operation will continue to be handled by another faction. In your case, please maintain the focus only upon the air personnel. You will need to identify and recruit a total of forty-two individuals with the necessary skill set for the jumps.”

  “Forty-two, that’s a significant escalation in personnel. Why the big change?”

  “It seems that the networks have a patriotic idea for their television coverage that will require fourteen parachutes at each location. Although that will cause alterations to our original thoughts, it also provides us with a greater opportunity.”

  “Alright number two. At the moment we only have the twelve that you initially requested, but we shall do our best to locate an addi
tional thirty.”

  “Thank you gentlemen, I know that you will. And please, all of you must understand that this is imperative to the overall plan. We have the necessary site for the training facility selected, and machinery is in transit. Your initial twelve recruits and the selected pilots for their training will be sent there shortly to begin construction. What I must be concerned with at the present time, is if the three of you need help in locating the thirty additional recruits. If you believe that you do, then I need to know that right now as opposed to a few weeks or months from now.”

  After glancing at each other for a few seconds, followed by a collective gentle side to side movement of their heads for verification, the reply was resolute. “There’s no need for any additional help number two, we can contact number seven again and tap into the same gene pool that we recruited the current group from. There are many more who could be candidates, so we won’t let you down.”

  With an affirming nod of his own, Samuel replied, “Alright gentlemen. Based on your results in the past, I believe in all three of you and thank you for your extended effort. Please keep me posted on your progress though, as proper documentation will need to be fabricated for each of the additional recruits.”