“You issued that pamphlet before our meeting with the Governor?” Gen. Roswell asked.
“Yes, sir,” Grant said, as confidently as possible.
“Lucky for you,” Gen. Roswell said with a smile, “that ended up being the Governor’s policy.” He paused and said, “I recognize that you’re new to the military.” He said because it was true and to remind Grant not to do something like that while he was under his command.
“Sir,” Grant asked, “could you let the leadership of the regular military know that reconciliation is the policy?”
“I will issue a very explicit order,” Gen. Roswell said. “All my orders are explicit, but they are especially so when they detail something the Governor wants to have happen.”
Gen. Roswell stood up. Grant and Lt. Col. Hammond stood up, too.
“Anything else?” Gen. Roswell asked. It was obviously time to go.
“No, sir,” Grant said.
“We’re adjourned here,” Gen. Roswell said and started to walk out. He suddenly stopped and turned to Grant.
“Lt. Matson, you know how important this reconciliation thing is, don’t you?”
“Yes, sir,” Grant said.
“So do I,” Gen. Roswell said. “For months now, my staff and I, including Colonel Hammond here, have been talking about the French Revolution and how to prevent that outcome here. I just about fell over when I was chatting with the Governor a few minutes before you arrived and he said you and he had talked about the French Revolution before the Collapse. Right then I knew you were the right man for this job.”
Grant felt those “coincidence” goose bumps again. He was getting used them, although they still amazed him.
“Let’s go out and fix New Washington,” Gen. Roswell said, as he walked out of the room.
Grant stood and thought about that. Let’s fix New Washington.
And on to fix it they went.
Chapter 322
Reconciliation Commission
“This never gets old,” Pow said, as the Team piled into Mark’s truck nearly two weeks after they took Olympia. Hearing this reminded Grant about Pierce Point, which reminded him of Lisa. For about two seconds. Then he put her out of his mind, which he was getting better and better at. He’d had lots of practice. He knew Manda and Cole were fine. Cole probably missed his tucking, but he was almost fourteen now. He needed to be more independent. Instead of being a kid with autism, Cole needed to be a teenager with autism. Grant had work to do so he needed to focus. He always amazed himself at how he could compartmentalize his family situation and get on to the work he needed to do. Being surrounded by his guys 24/7 made that much easier for him. Grant wasn’t lonely out there on the still-dangerous battlefield. There were still Lima hold-outs around.
The Team was still using that beat up truck. Might as well. It worked fine, despite the shot-out windshield from the Watershed Park engagement. By now, New Washington was trading with Texas so there was plenty of diesel in Olympia so that was another reason to keep using it. There wasn’t any diesel for civilians, but lots for the military.
Well, technically, for State Police units like the Team. They had been deactivated from being part of the 17th Irregulars to a special detachment of the State Police. Except Grant. He was not technically in the State Police. He had to be neutral, given that he was heading the Reconciliation Commission. He couldn’t be “enforcing” the laws when it was his job to decide who should or shouldn’t have the laws enforced against them.
Despite technically being cops, the Team didn’t do anything differently now. They didn’t have badges yet. At least, not official ones. They still had their pre-Collapse “Concealed Weapons Permit” badges so they wouldn’t get shot by actual cops when detaining a bad guy. Now everyone on the Team was a real cop.
New State Police badges were on the way, at least, temporary ones. The temporary badges would be a patch with intricate stitching that would be very hard to counterfeit. A small shop in nearby Centralia run by Patriots was able to make them. They would work fine to serve as an identifier that only the State Police had.
Everyone in the truck had their familiar roles. Bobby drove. He had to dress warmer now that the windshield was gone and had to wear goggles for when they got up to speed so the wind wouldn’t get in his eyes. They were military-issue goggles from the Iraq war. At first, Bobby looked a little odd with goggles up around his black fleece cap, but it pretty quickly looked normal.
Scotty was still up front working coms. He also was the makeshift medic, although he hadn’t had to patch anyone up yet. Thank goodness.
Scotty’s kit was still blood-stained from hoisting up that kid who killed Wes. His kit had the most blood on it. They tried to clean it off with some pretty harsh detergents which got most of the blood out, but the stains were still there. The Team wore the blood stains as a badge of honor. It showed everyone that these guys had killed and would do it again. Every drop of blood on their kit was justice for Wes.
Kellie was devastated when she got the news at Pierce Point. At first she didn’t believe it. Then she cried for two days. Lisa was concerned she might lose the baby with all the stress. When Lisa told her this, Kellie almost instantly calmed down. She told Lisa, “I won’t do anything to harm this baby. He or she is my only link to Wes. If calming down is what I need to do, I’ll do it.” After that, she was much better, but she missed Wes almost every waking minute of the day. She had the Team Chicks and lots of others to support her. They reduced a horrible situation to simply bad, mostly sad.
The Team had come up with a plan to not only have at least one of them spend every New Year’s Day in the future with Kellie, but also to take care of her and their little soon-to-be child. The Team would make sure she always had a good job and everything else she needed, including lots of company and friends around. The Team had made a vow way back before the Collapse to take care of each other’s families. It meant that a man could go into danger and fight because he knew his teammates would take one of his biggest fears off his mind: taking care of his family.
Kellie got to Olympia for the funeral. They had to bury Wes in Olympia because they had no good way to preserve him for burial in Pierce Point. Wes was buried, along with way too many others, in a new cemetery in Olympia called Patriot’s Cemetery. Wes was laid to rest with full military honors. By some miracle, Wes’ dad was there. He was a retired Ranger from Ft. Lewis and had joined a Patriot irregular unit in Enumclaw. He cried at the funeral and screamed out that he was proud of his son. Grant knew that Wes had known this. Wes knew the importance of the work he was doing. Grant went up to Wes’ dad at the funeral and told him all the brave and heroic things Wes had done. Grant even fibbed a little and told his dad that Wes had said that he knew his dad would be proud. That would comfort Wes’ dad for the rest of his life.
Grant refocused on the task at hand: going to a town to informally hear evidence about some prisoners. Pow was in the back of the extended cab with Grant, windows down to shoot out of if necessary. “That’s what a heater is for,” they always said. Pow was really developing into a tactical commander, even more than before. He was now leading more than just the Team. He was looked to for his advice on tactical matters by other police and military leaders.
Ryan still rode in the back, which he insisted upon. He didn’t want to change his routine. He was always in the back with Wes and that was where he wanted to stay. It was his version of mourning mixed with normalcy bias. It was fine.
They used the back of the truck to haul a few high-priority parcels from point to point. Grant’s job had him going all over New Washington. If a load of medicine needed to get to Aberdeen and Grant was going there anyway to a Reconciliation Commission event, then they’d take the load with them.