“What the hell!” Asher yelled.
One of the guards ran in from the balcony, nearly breathless.
“A delivery truck just rammed into a bunch of cars on the street!”
Asher looked over at Patton, who hadn’t moved from his seat. However, Patton’s expression let Asher know that the commotion had something to do with Patton’s visit in his office. Before he could say anything, the security guard stationed on the patio slammed against the thick window. As he slumped down, he left a streak of bright red blood. There was a second shot and a thudding sound out of their sight. Apparently Wildcat had hit the second guard on the balcony. The guard stationed inside, whether by instinct or some other impulse, ran to the door that led to the balcony. When he did, Patton finally made his move.
Patton closed the distance between he and Asher, who was facing away. He slapped at head and there was an accompanying pop. The governor’s hands flew up to his head, his eyes blazing with surprise. Asher pulled his hands away and his fingertips were covered with blood. A gout of blood poured down the side of his head and covered his right ear. The governor stumbled and fell against his desk, but managed to hold himself up. Simultaneously, another shot broke through the glass and struck the security guard in the head. Patton ignored him and rushed to Asher and lifted him up and sat him on the desk.
“Asher!”
No response.
“Asher!”
Still no response.
Patton slapped him hard across the face to get his attention. Asher’s eyes were still wide with incoherent shock. Patton was about to explain what he’d just done to him, but it would do no good. He would be dead within a few moments. Patton hit him with a pressure activated pellet that was fired from a plastic rig that was molded onto his wrist. It was all plastic so it didn’t set off the metal detector. Also, it was flesh-colored, which helped it escape detection by the naked eye. The pressure from contact with Asher’s head activated the powder, which fired the hard plastic pellet through the Governor’s skull. It was size of a .308 bullet, more than enough to be deadly.
Patton stood and turned away from the dying man lying at his feet and prepared for the next part of his plan. Although Patton had gotten through the hardest part of his mission he wasn’t out of danger.
Patton loaded up the program that Asher used to make video blogs and live speeches. Once this particular program was activated, all of the city’s televisions would lock into one channel and a window would pop up on all computer screens via the intranet. People didn’t have to watch their Governor, but they couldn’t watch anything else, or surf the internet, when he wanted to talk to them. Once the program was ready, Patton uploaded a video he’d made while recovering at the Harris Farm.
“Hello people of Blue Creek. My name is Patton Larsen. I understand that I have become somewhat of a boogeyman in this town. You’ve probably seen my face all over the news and on the intranet. I’m here to make an announcement. Governor Asher is dead.
“First of all, I do not gloat over the death of another human being. Yes, I, along with other friends and comrades have fought against Governor Asher and his government, both politically and with arms. Deep disagreements over the governance of this territory have led to a civil war. We did not start this war. This war was brought on by a misguided set of policies and decisions that have basically enslaved us all.
“I have fought because this government is unjust and tyrannical and when this war is over—and tomorrow will be the last day—we will return this territory to what it was meant to be, to what it originally was. Do any of you remember? How wonderful those days were when we first arrived and everyone had the hope of a new life ahead of them? We all started out on the same economic footing. We all had beautiful homes and the means to build businesses. Seeing the effects of misguided and purposeful socialist policies makes me sad and angry. What happened here, in our beautiful town, is a shame.
“What I’ve come to realize after all of this is that people are people, no matter what they earn or what they are given. A person will evolve or devolve into whatever kind of person they are meant to be. Some of you spent all of your money and then complained to the rest of us that our society was unfair. Your complaints reached the ears of those who sought to do damage and look what happened. They have destroyed a beautiful town, a beautiful community. Many have been killed or imprisoned because of it.
“Many of you will decide to leave this place and return to your homes, wherever that may be. Many of you will decide to stay. I am staying. This is my home. I’ve fought for it, risked my life for it. I would like for you all to stay but I don’t blame you if you leave. What I can guarantee is, we will return to being the community that we were when we first came here.
“And on that note, I add one more thing. I do not wish to be your leader. I only want to live in peace in my own home, with my wife, if she is still alive. This sad episode is now over—if those of you still loyal to the Governor will allow it to be over. The man you were loyal to is now gone. I plead with you—please don’t try to avenge his death. And please don’t try continue his government. If you try, you, and whoever might support you, will die. Worse, you will likely take some of your fellow citizens with you. Please accept what has happened and move on.
“I am personally in touch with Insight Resources officials and local, state, and federal law enforcement officials. We are soon going to be flooded with sheriffs’ deputies, state cops, and FBI agents. They need to sort out the mess that happened here. I promise you, if you try to fight to keep David Asher’s legacy alive, you will end up just like him.
“I can now say that the ugliness is over. I understand that many of you have become dependent on the government and those needs will continue to be met until we can get people on their feet. Despite what’s been said about me and my group, we do not want people to suffer or have needs that go unmet. My group will have to take control of the government for a short time. We’ll need to do a census and find out how many people are here and what their needs are. You will have the option to return to your homes and previous lives if you want. The government, while it still stands, will arrange for your travel.
“The experiment is over and whatever legal obligations we had back then are now over. I will explain that in more depth in the very near future. I encourage you to stay and help put this community back together. So much damage has been done and so many lives and families have been lost, but I know that we can return to that original spirit that brought us here in the first place. I thank you for your time and hope to see you tomorrow.”
CHAPTER 34
Once Patton was sure things were under their control, he decided it was time to find the answer to the question that he didn’t want, but needed to know—was Jennifer still there and was she still alive? He prayed silently to himself for a good result but prepared himself for the possibility that she was dead. Even if she were alive, Patton understood that she might be broken in a non-physical way. Undeterred, he left Asher’s office for the first time since entering it that morning.
The sun was bright now and patches of blue sky could be seen all over. A cold breeze from the northwest blew past Patton, sending a chill through him. He raised his chin and closed his eyes and let the sun bask over his face, letting it recharge him. When he reopened his eyes he saw that a truck was approaching. It was Wildcat, who’d apparently commandeered someone’s vehicle.
The two comrades hugged tightly.
“Nice shooting man!” Patton said, delirious with joy.