Chapter 9: Diplomatic Fail

It was now a week since the obliteration of America. The media had been sanitized completely of the fact Russia, China and other nations opposing the United States made it happen. The global answer was America Imploded and any post, blog or report of anything else would quickly be isolated online. Shortly after the isolation of that content a police force would track the IP address down and visit the author. It was hard to say what might happen after that.

Jim, Brian and their wives had become pretty good friends. Brian was running the show at the Round and Chris the young soldier who lead the ambush on the foreign army at the embassy was in charge of security.  Mrs. Dr. Rook was a third wheel to a 3 person council put together to keep things in order. Brian and Chris kind of ruled the roost and she went along with them. The council had decided to expand to five. They’d invited Jim to join in as the one person not in the Round and helping Americans set up life in Ireland outside of the embassy. The 5th was a woman Jim hadn’t met. She was some kind of lawyer from New York. Her husband, Bob, was encouraging everyone to let her lead as she had some background in governmental matters. He was a stockbroker; they had a son about 15 years old; John was his name.

The three met with Jim and the lawyer from NYC, Lynda was her name. She had kept pretty quiet until the vote of the three was cast. There was an audience in the embassy room of probably a 100 or more Americans. Shortly after the vote Lynda charged in with a plan she clearly had been waiting to hatch. We need to file a legal action in the International Court, Lynda said. I know there are people moving from here to the marina with sizeable boats, I need one to take me to the Hague in the Netherlands. There we can address the International Court, we can get the ban on the true story of our nation lifted, and we can begin to recover in the eyes of the world. A man across the room yelled out, and make them pay for destroying our country to which many cheered.

I had to speak up, honestly ma’am, you don’t stand a chance filing a legal brief. “Don’t call me that,” she said, I guess referring to “ma’am.” We need to let the world know there are American’s and we expect them to handle the perpetrators of these crimes she went on. Lynda, I decided to use her name, they are killing Americans. You step out in front of the court and you’ll be taken away in no time.

“News” someone yelled out, news. There was an official news statement coming from the United Nations. We needed to know what they were saying, I knew, and only then could we figure out what value it had. In this case we’d learn plenty. The soil of the Americas is being sampled. Survivors, few have been found and are being airlifted out of the country, and it's being reported that most of America’s nuclear arsenal was in fact of the neutron type of explosive. It devastated areas in a radius of 12-20 miles but has little long term impacts. Chinese officials in charge of the west coast and Russian officials in charge of the eastern seaboard are both reporting many more survivors then expected and that soil samples suggest the country will be inhabitable shortly. Both Russia and China are said to be producing pans for the reintegration of Americans to their heritage countries and the reorganization of the American states into an agricultural mecca to help feed the planet going forward. The story concluded that many of the surviving Americans are in fact rural farmers who will help in this endeavor. Rescued Americans are otherwise eager to join their heritage nations like England, Germany and India.

More crap, I figured. No way the rural Americans want to farm for Russia and China a man yelled out across the room. Brian stood up on a table so all could see and hear him. It's more news they want us to hear, but lets keep the rhetoric to ourselves and do what we know to be right he said. Let us continue to gather, continue to pray, and continue to set ourselves up to be able to help our country when the time comes. There were a few positive cheers and light nods of agreement but not a ton of enthusiasm. It was hard to be positive. There was little to be positive about.

I disagree with anyone trying to go to the International Court I chimed in the moment the new council of five sat down. Lynda wasn’t having it. We need to go there and we need to go there now. We need a boat to take us there, and you are the boat guy she almost sounded demanding. Yes well I’m not sailing for the Netherlands Lynda. The boats we have secured are capable yes but on the open water they are sitting ducks and the people on them would die the minute anyone found out they are American. Lynda I said, you just don’t realize it, but there is a militant world order in charge and they are killing Americans. Do you need to look at the video from the airport again? I was referring to a leaked video we’d made copies of and had where the militant force in Ireland lined up about 60 American’s at the airport and executed them with gun fire in seconds.

Well I’m going and if you won’t take me then I’ll find a skipper that will. “Take the ferry” Dr. Rook, Mr. Dr. Rook, said from the audience. You don’t need a sailboat. There are ferries running to London and from there to the Hague. Go, the Dr. said, God speed. I don’t need God she said. If the ferries are going then that is how I’ll go. I wish you wouldn’t, I told her, and looked out to the small audience we had back in our council chamber. Her husband was there. Her son was there. Lynda please, I don’t believe it is safe and I think you will die if you step out there and try to make any kind of official plea. Someone has too, she said defiantly.

The only other order of business was preparing to move boats. Chris asked if the movement required some form of security and I said no. If the boats just go two vessels at a time to marina’s in Belfast and Wexford they’ll be fine. They will find plenty of marinas with vacant slips in both cities and can set up there. Once there they need to lay low but gather information that can help others. We should look for at least 5 boats to go into each city and have ten still here in Dublin. We can thus facilitate housing for 20 families. We can then venture out further North and around to the West side of the country. We may need them to find some boats for we probably can’t afford 20 boats in Dublin or we’ll soak up the market and cause them to get expensive.

It was agreed upon that I’d help skippers set sail for the two neighboring big cities and I’d find one’s that could help establish a network to buy more boats, obtain slips and set up small communities of Americans on the water. This was a job I didn’t mind. I felt like I was helping. I felt like it was contributing to the Americans staying together and keeping our faith in God and Country only slightly above ground.

Lynda walked out after announcing she’d be on her way to the Hague. The meeting had broken up and Dr. Mrs. Rook had walked off with her husband who seemed for less angry then the last time I’d encountered him. Chris and Brian were chatting when I walked up to them and they were talking about the number of capable soldiers in their mix. I couldn’t let that pass. Would it be possible to dispatch two men to follow her, I then pointed at Lynda? You don’t trust her, Brian seemed fearful? I trust her fine, but I think she’s going to end up dead. Maybe a couple of guys could save her; or maybe they just get what happens to her on film for the world to see? Our meeting had in fact been taped. Her mission was true, peaceful and legitimate I went on. We have all the evidence she is no threat to anyone. So if a couple of guys follow her maybe they save her, or maybe they just record what happens to her? Brian smiled. Bait huh. Well, I said, she wants to be the bait why waste it? Chris moved off after a quick agreement, and I suspect he was out to find the men right for the job.

We all saw Lynda kiss her son goodbye, then her husband, and head out for a cab. I noticed Chris’ three guys leaving out the side door for a car not but a moment later. I gave him a nod. It was the last time we’d see her.

I made it back to the boat via the RHB. Erin was happy her daily loaf of bread was coming out nicely in a sun oven and she still had plenty of starter and flour to keep it all going. We’d take two days to go through a small loaf so every other day she gave some to the broker upstairs or the family from Texas who finally introduced themselves after a long silence.

Later that day I helped four families prepare for their trips. Gave them plans, cash and what to look forward too in marinas, in boats, and in people to deal with. Their goal was to buy 3 boats and when they did we’d get them 3 families to move in with them. Speed was an issue here. People in the embassy and around it were starting to get hungry, and there was little space for them as more and more kept coming in.

With that set I left for a neighboring marina to buy another Catalina 27. There were a lot more of these in Ireland then I thought. The boats were popular in California and pretty small to live on but certainly better than nothing. I got this one for $6,000 Euros and the price reflected the “memo” out there that boats were getting sought by people displaced from America. There was a time when I could have bought that C-27 for $2,000 Euros but this wasn’t that time.

Finally it was evening, and Erin and I sat down with the Cockers from Texas. We shared, bread, beans with bacon, added some potatoes because we could add them to anything and had a little brocoli. It was a good meal. There was barely enough for the four of us, but we made do. Mrs. Cocker, Dianne was her name, like Erin, tried to take a little less of the food and leave more for me and Jerry. After meeting them finally and getting to know them I managed to obtain a rifle for Jerry and he was pretty grateful. He didn’t think he’d get his hands on a gun here and felt elated to have a measure of defense. Jerry had become helpful in us getting more boats from neighboring marinas.

The next morning I got a message from Brian asking me to return to the Round. He’d sent a messenger on bike and that was now easier to use then the RHB. I didn’t like using the RHB and always worried about it not being there when I got back, and so bicycle it was. I rode to the Round in about 10 minutes and the security outside had gotten to know me and let me pass easily.

When I walked into our council room, the Rooks were present, and she was consoling Bob and John. I already knew I’d been right. Brian grimace at what I saw. You should see it, he said, we have it. Brian held out a smartphone and played the video. Lynda got off the ferry in London, and was immediately grabbed by 4 men. One put a rope around her neck. She went with them peacefully and tried not to fight. They put her to the ground, a man pulled a pistol out, and fired a round to the back of her head. Think its bad, Brian said, Chris pulled his phone out and had recorded a news message in London. “American Attorney asked to go to the International Court wore a bomb and was stopped by Chinese security forces today.” They even showed her blouse with a bomb vest on, and I doubt anyone noticed the vest had no blood on it while her blouse and body were covered in blood.

This is getting sick, I said. We need to figure out how to fight back Chris said. Bob and his son walked out of the room with the Drs. How, I wondered out loud. How do we fight back?