James Rawles - Liberators

Megan looked at Joshua and said, “ Merci beaucoup .” Joshua didn’t say anything. He just embraced her for a long hug followed by a long kiss. He had longed to kiss her for months now, and since they were going to be married eventually, he would have gotten the chance. But today was the day for realizing eventualities.

After the kiss, Joshua looked deep into Megan’s eyes and knew that he was where he was supposed to be, doing what he was supposed to be doing, and most important—she was the one he was supposed to be with. Rome was indeed burning, but God’s provision had given him the out, wisdom gave them the unction, and courage gave them the impetus to stay ahead of the Golden Horde. If Joshua were to try to explain leaving his job to a coworker or government career counselor, it would not have made sense, but God’s workings are different and seldom coincide with positive law, corrupt authority, or lifetime guarantees for Federal Reserve notes.

Malorie’s head appeared out from under the Jeep on the creeper. “This thing is dry and rock solid. No leaks, all of the bushings are tight.”

Since you decided to go with one of the world’s most ubiquitous drive trains, I happen to have a few new parts over there in those bins. I know that I have at least one serpentine belt and some filters as well. We’ll see what we have room for at the end and pack accordingly.

“Speaking of, if you’re ready we can pack up now and then try to get some sleep before we leave in the morning.”

Joshua said, “I’ll grab the fuel cans from around back.”

With the ladies having most of their items prioritized and packed ahead of time, the work went quickly. The fuel and water were separated by a small tub of tools that Malorie packed. After a short discussion they decided that Joshua would drive and switch off with Malorie, who would be in the passenger seat. Megan would be in the backseat with the boys; the drivers could change out as needed. In total the distance was 550 miles, and no one expected it to be an easy trip. Since this was all a very new experience and no SOP had been established, they decided that all weapons would be loaded and rounds in the chamber with the safety on.

Malorie took a shower and went to bed; Megan sorted through some last-minute kids’ items, very grateful that her sister had diligently scanned all of the baby pictures and made double backups of them on password-protected USB sticks for posterity. Joshua cleaned and lubricated all of the weapons and set them by the door, before taking a shower and retiring to the couch. He and Megan would be married eventually, but he insisted on maintaining a prudent separation until it was right to sleep in the same bed together.

The alarm sounded early on Malorie’s phone. She pulled on her BDU pants, wigwam socks, and USMC Danner boots. Then she slipped on an Under Armour long-sleeve shirt and put on a merino wool shirt. The October mornings were chilly in West Virginia, especially with the high humidity and being so close to the river. “Best to dress in layers,” she said to herself.

Joshua put the battery back in his cell phone and walked out to the corner of the property where Malorie had told him that he could get the best signal. Joshua called in to the SOCC and said that he wouldn’t be coming into work today due to an “unexpected personal situation” that required he be home that day. The voice on the other end of the phone was more than perturbed in the reply, “Yeah, you and about half the force are calling in today to take care of the home front. I’ll mark it down in the log and report it to the desk sergeant, who’s busy putting out other brush fires right now.” Joshua saw Ken’s text and saw a reply all from Dustin as well:

Godspeed Ken and Terry. Hope you get this in time. Love you as well brother. Joshua, status?

Joshua felt his eyes well up, as he knew that unless the world started to mend very quickly, this might be the last time he ever got to speak with Ken on this side of heaven. Joshua replied:

Jeep w/ 5 pax, making all haste, sit not good in MD. Will be radio silent here after. Plz pray. Love you both brothers.

Joshua jogged back to the house. He knew that the Agency would likely do a “pull” on his phone when they figured out that he was AWOL, using tower registration data and network metrics to locate his phone and presumably him with it. In recognition of this unique “global adversary” with its finger in every pie, he pulled the battery out of his department-store TracFone and threw it away. (He had paid cash for it, and had activated it from an out-of-the-way pay phone, with no cameras around.) Next he propped the phone on a rock up against a tire on his Jeep so when he rolled out the phone would be demolished under the weight of their getaway vehicle, making him radio silent.

Malorie had the news on, and none of it was good. She helped get the boys dressed, and Joshua had breakfast on the table for them all to eat one last meal together at the LaCroix homestead before departing for Kentucky.

The mood was somber, and toward Martinsburg to the north, they could hear a distant gunshot punctuate the early morning tranquillity. Malorie spoke up. “I’m going to have the boys feed the animals; I think that the grownups need to talk about our plan.”

Megan replied, “Good idea.” She turned to the boys and said, “Jean, Leo, go feed the animals, we’ll have breakfast ready for you when you get back—chop-chop.”

In a moment of relative privacy, Joshua said, “I got a text from Ken and Terry last night—not good.” Malorie and Megan could tell that Joshua was worried about his brother Ken in Chicago.

Megan said, “We’ll just have to pray for the Lord’s protection that we’re doing what we should be doing and that His favor will rest upon us as we make this trip.”

After they all took a turn and prayed together, Joshua started with the practical parts of the plan. “The way I see it is that any progress westward and southward is what we need. In a perfect world we could have left two days ago, but like they say, ‘hindsight is twenty-twenty.’”

“What about being tracked?” Megan asked. “I still have the battery out of my phone from yesterday.” She turned to Joshua. “If you got that text message, I’m guessing that you powered yours back on?”

Joshua cleared his throat. “Correct, I had to call in that I was not coming to work today, so I used my phone, saw that Ken wrote, and that Dustin responded, then replied all to say that we were mounting up. As you might have guessed, I purposely avoided being more specific than that.” Joshua grabbed Megan’s hand. (If they were going to have a disagreement, he wanted to start the habit of holding hands, because it is hard to lose your temper when you do that.)