G Hopf - Sanctuary

The crowd of protestors had swelled to several thousand. It was the largest group he’d ever encountered and they looked ready to fight.

They continued to sing and march until they stopped just within a few feet of the line of armed Marines.

Mayor Brownstein turned around and began to yell to her people to quiet down. “Spread the word, please be quiet! I need to address the colonel. I need everyone to be quiet.”

Shouting and yelling cascaded down the ranks of the crowd until most were silent in anticipation of what was going to happen.

She turned around and faced the Marines. She pulled out a piece of paper and began to read it. “Marines and sailors, fellow Americans: Please lay down your arms and join us! We are here not as adversaries but as friends. We want to remain in the United States. We don’t choose to create a new country; we choose to stay with the land of our birth or, for some of us, the land we chose to immigrate to! We love you and appreciate all the sacrifices you men and women have done for us! But we cannot go along with Colonel Barone. He is a traitor who betrayed the very country he swore to defend. He has forsaken this country and brought you here against your will! We forgive you! We know you have to follow orders but now you must know that you don’t have to follow unjust orders! This man has perverted our system of separation of powers! He comes here like Julius Caesar, promising great things, but his intent is to conquer. He now has taken another step by having the vice president of the United States killed along with our very own Christopher Hicks. He is a traitor and outlaw and we people of Coos Bay, North Bend, and Coastal Oregon are here to arrest this man and bring him to justice!”

A loud cheer erupted following her speech, then the crowd started to chant “Traitor!” over and over.

The Marines in front of her looked stone-faced in front the people. Brownstein attempted again. “Marines, please lay down your arms and join us.”

Barone pushed his way to the front of his men and directly in front of Mayor Brownstein. “Madam Mayor! I have always been one who loved theater, and this is quite a show you have here.”

“This isn’t a show for your entertainment, but a show of force in the power of the people.”

“People? Why do civilians think they’re the only so-called ‘people’ but men in uniform are your instruments? These men, my men are also the ‘people.’ Enough of you and your ilk thinking you have a monopoly!”

“Lieutenant Colonel Barone, we are here to arrest you for the murder of Vice President Cruz and Christopher Hicks!” Brownstein yelled.

“Murder? They’re not dead!”

“We received information that they are dead. Based upon your past actions, we have to assume you had them killed. A fair trial will either find you innocent or guilty, but you will be tried!”

“Mayor Brownstein, we have much to do here. Enraging thousands of people with a lie, then coming down here saying you’re going to arrest me, is foolish. I’m not going anywhere, I have work to do!” Barone hollered out, then turned around.

As he walked past the first row of Marines, a bottle thrown from someone in the crowd smashed against his head.

The force jolted him, causing him to stumble. A Marine steadied him. He felt behind his head, and looking at his fingers, he saw blood. Angry, he turned around and walked back to confront Mayor Brownstein.

He held his bloody hand in her face and said, “This can go very bad for you unless you calm down this mob. You came here for my blood. Here. Now do you want to see theirs?” he asked, pointing at the crowd.

Brownstein heard his threat loud and clear. She was aware that by organizing such a large group that things could have the potential of getting violent, but she didn’t seek a conflict with him. Her hopes were that such a demonstration of strength would compel him to listen. That had worked. Now she was unclear about what she wanted the group to accomplish. Of course she’d be happy if he gave himself up to them but she knew that he was incapable of that.

More agitated yells came from the group.

She turned and yelled, “Everyone, please, we are a peaceful people. We are here to show the colonel that many are upset with him and don’t want him here. We are not here to fight these men!”

A few rocks came from the center of the group and bounced off the helmets of the Marines in the first row.

“Mayor, disband this mob and go home! If you want to talk we can do that, but not like this! If you want to talk to the president, I can have that arranged, but disband this mob now!’

The yelling had increased in volume and severity. More rocks and bottles were hurled at the Marines. The Marines held their line and didn’t budge or flinch.

Brownstein wasn’t focused on Barone. Her attention was now on controlling the crowd, which was getting more boisterous.

“Everyone, please calm down!”

Then a single gunshot changed everything.

People in the crowd scrambled in all directions after a man near the front of the group attempted to shoot Barone. His shot missed and had struck a Marine behind Barone in the neck.

Another gunshot cracked from a different direction.

This shot hit Barone in the shoulder, went clean through, and struck a Marine standing behind him.

The crowd was heaving and shifting. Some people had fallen and were being trampled on. Total pandemonium had broken out.

Brownstein was still yelling for control and order but it was too late.

Barone clutched his left shoulder and stepped back behind the front row of Marines.

Things were happening quickly and chaotically but the Marines were maintaining strict discipline under the pressure. They had their rifles targeted on the crowd but none could get off a shot at the two shooters, so they had held their fire.

Barone had made it back to the ship while a corpsman looked at his shoulder.

“Holy shit, Colonel!” Simpson bellowed as he came up alongside him.

“My men are good people, right?” Barone asked Simpson.

Simpson looked at him oddly. “Sure, they’re good people, but they’re fine Marines.”

“They are fine Marines,” Barone stated as he watched the crowd slowly disperse as the people ran back into town.

No one had seen enough of the two shooters in the crowd to identify them, but Barone knew that someone would come forward. He had stifled a strong temptation to order his Marines to kill everyone in the crowd. Killing innocents would not serve him, he recognized, but he wasn’t opposed to selectively choosing his targets.

Marines carrying stretchers came rushing by him with those who had been shot.

Barone looked at the first, who was grimacing in pain at the bullet wound in his arm. A second stretcher went by, the Marine’s face obscured by a poncho.

“Stop!” Barone commanded. He lifted up the poncho to reveal a young lance corporal, his eyes still open.

“There’s one of our finest right there,” Simpson declared.

“Yes, he was,” Barone said.

The crowd had almost entirely dispersed. Some were limping off, others were helping those who had fallen. Signs, trash, and other debris littered the dock.

Barone watched Brownstein, who was still visible from where he stood. She appeared lost, as if she didn’t know how her plan had gone wrong. He snarled and ordered, “Top, have her arrested.”

“Roger that, sir,” Simpson said with a smile.

“What’s the charge?”

“Inciting a riot.” He paused for a moment. “And murder.”

First the snowstorm slowed them, and now the highway was packed with thousands of people heading west in the bitter winter cold. Foot traffic was not a problem that Sebastian expected to encounter on their journey. He could only imagine how desperate those people must be to be out in the harsh weather conditions, vulnerable to whatever would come their way. The one thing Sebastian didn’t want to do was drive in among them. Fortunately, the terrain north of the highway was flat and only covered in small shrubs, plants, and only a few inches of snow, making it easy to go overland.