A NATION DIVIDED - THE SECOND CIVIL WAR (The Second Civil War - BOOK I 1) Read online

  THE SECOND

  CIVIL WAR

  BOOK I

  A NATION

  DIVIDED

  By

  MW HUFFMAN

  A

  PREAMBLE

  TO WAR

  This Is Dedicated to:

  My wife, Susan, for the love and support along with the countless hours reading my stories, and to the men and women who might one day be forced to choose sides and who will fight to keep America one Nation Under God.

  A Nation Divided - Civil War II

  © 2012 – MW Huffman

  All Rights Reserved

  A WaJe Production

  No part of this book may be reproduced without the written permission of MW Huffman and/or WaJe Productions

  This is a work of fiction. It represents no persons living or dead. The events are invented by the author. While there are elements of truth to the story it should not be taken as fact.

  Other Books By MW Huffman

  THE END–BOOK I of The Event Series

  THE BEGINNING–BOOK II of The Event Series

  THE REVELATION–BOOK III of The Event Series

  The Second Civil War–BOOK I-A Nation Divided

  The Second Civil War–Book II-A Nation at War

  The Second Civil War–Book III–A Nation Healing

  Project BlueBolt – BOOK I – American Gulags

  Project BlueBolt – BOOK II - The Gulag Journal

  Project BlueBolt – BOOK III – American Uprising

  REVOLUTION

  THE BRINK

  CLOSE PROXIMITY

  BLACKSTAR

  CHIMERA

  WORLDS END

  SUN BURST

  Sins of the Fathers

  The Unfinished

  Angie Bartoni Case File # 1 - The Alphabet Murders

  Angie Bartoni Case File # 2 - Frost Bite

  Angie Bartoni Case File # 3 - Dead Aim

  Angie Bartoni Case File # 4 - What Goes Around

  Angie Bartoni Case File # 5 - Nothing to Lose

  Angie Bartoni Case File # 6 - Shadow Man

  Angie Bartoni Case File # 7 – The Club

  Angie Bartoni Case File # 8 – Shakespeare Murders

  Angie Bartoni Case File # 9 – One Too Many

  Angie Bartoni Case File #10 – Weak Link

  Angie Bartoni Case File #11 – Vanishing Act

  Angie Bartoni Case File #12 – Revenge

  Angie Bartoni Case File #13 – Payback

  Angie Bartoni Case File #14 – Dead on Arrival

  The Logan Files - Blond Deception

  The Logan Files - Innocence and Avarice

  The Logan Files - The Deal Breaker

  The Logan Files – Pain Center

  Norris Files - Silver2

  Norris Files – Insurrection

  “War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feelings which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself.”

  -John Stuart Mill (1806 - 1873)

  The Second Civil War – Book I

  A Nation Divided ©2013 By

  MW HUFFMAN

  A WaJe Production

  THE PREAMBLE

  TO WAR

  PROLOGUE

  Wars do not just happen, they take time to develop. Important issues must be left unresolved and simmering. They usually happen when one group unites against the mistreatment, real or perceived, of another group.

  Many find themselves caught between two opposing views and quite often they are forced to make a choice. Perhaps the greater tragedy in a Civil War is that it can cause a division of families. Relatives who choose one side while you choose another will become your enemies once hostilities break out. It has happened in other countries countless times but it has only happened once before in American history. The American Civil War not only divided the nation but families as well. In a Civil War every casualty depletes the nation’s most precious resource, human life.

  War is evil BUT sometimes war is better than peace when the stakes are high enough. When politicians actually believe they can regulate citizens into submission the division begins. While they are correct to some extent there is a flash point where those same citizens will no longer allow themselves to be pushed into a corner.

  What happens when the government oversteps its purpose and authority? The purpose of the government is to ensure our freedom and to protect our liberty. Its purpose is NOT to control our personal lives and to deprive us of our Constitutional rights.

  How many would fight to maintain their freedom and Constitutional rights? How many would stick their heads in the sand and hope somehow it would be all right? It is one thing to want peace but quite another to be too afraid to stand up for what is right. The fastest way to become a slave of the state is to fail to stand up against the dismissal of the Constitution.

  Those who fight the government would be called traitors or worse. Is that the truth? If the government is no longer serving the people that they were elected to serve and making sure that our freedoms are secure, who are the real traitors?

  Those who will stand up and say that enough is enough will be the true heroes of tomorrow.

  CHAPTER ONE

  The drapes were drawn tight against the windows. It was more to ensure that no listening devices could pick up the conversation than for blocking the sunlight.

  Six men and four women sat in various chairs and on sofas facing the large desk currently occupied by President Benjamin Quasim. The President was tapping his pen lightly against the leather blotter on his desk.

  “Is there anyone in this room who is uncomfortable about our plans to narrow the scope of the second amendment? If you have even the least amount of doubt regarding our course of action, now is the time to speak up,” the President said, looking around the room.

  No one spoke up but the one thing that the President was good at was reading body language.

  “Alice? You seem a bit uncomfortable. You have some qualms?” he asked the Secretary of Labor.

  “Not really. I mean...” she said not finishing the sentence.

  “Go on. I want each person's input. Please,” he said in his most reassuring voice.

  “Well it’s just that I think a lot of people are going to be very upset. I mean, I don’t personally have a problem with the plan but I do think that we are underestimating how the people will react.”

  “Based on what?” he asked, leaning forward with his elbows on the desk.

  “Well, I think the recent poll pretty clearly tells us how people feel about the government’s interference with their second amendment rights. It showed eighty-six percent of the population favors the private individual’s right to gun ownership.”

  “That’s a crock of crap,” interjected Secretary of State, Hanna Cole.

  “Why do you say that?” challenged Alice Dell.

  “Statistics are just a bunch of numbers. They can be manipulated to say what you want them to say.”

  “So when we quote the opposite statistics they are just a bunch of made up numbers. Is that what you are saying?”

  “No Alice, I’m saying I don’t really care what they think. We are going to eliminate private ownership of guns. It’s as simple as that.”

  “And what if they don’t see it that way? What if the citizen
s say no?”

  “That will be the day. They are all sheep. You tell them to do something and they may bitch and moan a bit but in the end they will do it.”

  “You’re that sure?” Alice shot back.

  “Yes I am and you should be too if you’re in this room.”

  “Easy Hanna. I asked the question and I am definitely interested in what she is saying. Back it down a notch,” the President said.

  Secretary of State Hanna Cole shut her mouth tight. She could feel her neck getting red as she fought back her fury. She had little respect for President Quasim. She considered him weak and indecisive. He wanted to talk every decision to death. The man couldn’t just choose a plan and move on. If it were up to her, she would get rid of anyone who didn’t want to go along with the plan.

  “Go on Alice,” the President prompted.

  “Okay, you may remember a few years ago when one of the individuals running for President was a guy named Ron Paul. In one of his speeches he said something like, ‘Governments, whether they are dictatorships or democracies reflect the people. When the people get fed up, they throw them out.’ When you stop and think about that for a few seconds, it’s a pretty powerful statement about what people are capable of.”

  “And you are afraid they will put up a fight over the second amendment?”

  “I think it is a very real possibility,” Alice said.

  The President looked around the room trying to measure the impact that Alice’s statement had on the others. He could almost see the wheels turning in the head of Secretary of Education, Brenda Shaw-Wilkins. He couldn’t get a reading on his Chief of Staff, Sarah Slone. Secretary of State, Hanna Cole was an open book. All she wanted to do was move on. The others seemed to be waiting to see what he would say.

  “Then maybe we need to refine our approach a little better. Slip it in less obviously,” he suggested.

  “With all due respect Mr. President, we don’t need to slip it in. Begging your pardon but you are a lame duck President. You don’t have to explain yourself to anyone any longer. We can push this through. We need to get this done,” Cole replied.

  “I understand your urgency but I think that Alice has a valid point. What would we do if we had a general uprising? What are we going to do, start killing Americans?”

  “We do whatever is necessary. That is exactly the point. We have to get the guns out of the individual’s hands. We can only do that by taking away their suppliers and ammunition,” Hanna insisted.

  “It’s the taking away part that will be challenging. A lot of them will simply choose not to give them up,” he replied.

  “Then we arrest them. If they resist, we use whatever force is necessary. We have the media on our side. They can put the proper spin on it to make it look like we are the ones protecting the citizens. Those opposed to the plan are the gun nuts. We have all kinds of groups that can skew statistics to serve our purpose,” Hanna said.

  “I thought you said statistics were pretty much worthless,” Alice cut in.

  Hanna didn’t reply; she just shot Alice a dirty look.

  “James, what do you think?”

  “Well, I can see both sides.”

  “We all can James. What I am asking is how do you view our current plan?”

  “I think maybe we should look at how we intend to implement the plan a little more closely to make sure our ducks are in a row.”

  “Humm,” the President uttered.

  He was wondering why he had chosen him to be his Vice President anyway. Yeah, James Jason was from a large swing state but still, the man was a dud. No creativity whatsoever.

  “Noel?”

  The Attorney General played with his mustache before speaking.

  “Alice is certainly right in that we could find ourselves backed into a corner at some point. The key will be to sweep in fast and furious to disarm those with weapons. It has to be done before they can react and get organized. On such a large scale, it will be a very difficult task,” he replied.

  “But you think we should go ahead?”

  “Once we are assured that we can do this lightning quick. The military will have to help as well as the civilian police forces.”

  “That may not be so easy,” the President said.

  “It should be. You’re the Commander-In-Chief. They have to obey any orders you give,” Hanna interjected.

  “Can we handle it?” the President asked, ignoring Cole and looking at Adam Little, head of Homeland Security.

  “Like Hanna said, we get the military in place along with the other agencies and we can swoop in and get them before they have time to organize. Yeah, I think we can pull it off.”

  “I can call a meeting of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and make it perfectly clear what your orders are Mr. President,” Roland Clarke, Secretary of Defense said.

  “How do you know all the branches will do as ordered? I mean after all, this will affect all branches down to the lowest level. Admiral Greenfield of the Navy and General Amblin are not in favor of the Small Arms Treaty the UN is trying to push through with our help,” the President said.

  “True, but they are military men. They will do whatever they are ordered to do. You are the Commander-in-Chief and they are required to follow your orders.”

  “Do you have any doubts at all about them following my orders?”

  “Well, not really. I mean someone could balk but I’m not sure others would actually follow their orders.”

  “You’re not sounding too sure of yourself. If you can’t handle them, I’m damn sure I can,” Hanna Cole said.

  “Ms. Cole,” the Secretary of Defense said, turning to face her directly, “How about putting a sock in it? You do your job and I’ll do mine.”

  “You can’t speak to...”

  “Stop it,” the President said, slamming his hand down on the desk, “Enough of this bickering. I won’t stand for it. Ms. Cole, I was talking to Mr. Clarke. Go on Roland,” he said.

  “Admiral Greenfield has served under four Presidents. He knows how it works. He didn’t get to be the Chief of Naval Operations by failing to follow orders. He will do so this time as well. As will the Commandant of the Marines, General Amblin.

  The Counselor to the President, Ralph Larson, finally spoke up.

  “Look, I know what you want to accomplish but we still have to do it within the framework of the law. It will be challenged immediately. We need the Supreme Court on our side. It’s as simple as that.”

  “We have that. I appointed two members to the Supreme Court during my last term. All we need is one more and then we can’t lose,” the President said.

  “I understand but only one is ready to retire. She is what? Eighty-six? When she goes, then we can be assured of a legal victory as well,” Ralph told the President.

  “She will be eighty-seven next month,” the Chief of Staff, Sarah Slone, informed them.

  “Eighty-six, eighty-seven, it doesn’t matter. We need her to retire,” Hanna said.

  No one bothered to say anything.

  “Ralph, do you think you could sort of feel her out to see what her plans are? Nothing too obvious but it would be helpful to know her intentions,” the President asked.

  “I can do that. I’ll arrange to meet with her on Sims vs. The United States over the Veteran's Rights case coming up next month. I’ll find a way to slip it in.”

  “Good, good. Okay then, let’s get all of our ducks in a row and then we can proceed,” the President said standing up. It was a signal that the meeting was over.

  Everyone stood except the Secretary of State. Benjamin looked over at her.

  “Hanna, something else on your mind?”

  “I think we should vote on this issue,” she said.

  Everyone in the room seemed to stop breathing. It was so quiet that you could almost hear the air molecules bumping into each other.

  “Ms. Cole. Does this look like a committee? Let me assure you that it is not. I will decide when we make our mo
ve. I will give the order. We will not vote on this or any other issue. Is that quite clear enough for you Ms. Secretary of State?” he said, leaning forward and putting his hands flat on the desk.

  Cole stood up slowly, picked up her briefcase and said, “It is indeed,” and turned and walked out of the room.

  The rest still stood, mesmerized.

  “The meeting is over,” the President said, snapping them out of their trance.

  CHAPTER TWO

  “Okay ladies and gentlemen, we need to get started. We have a bunch of new business to cover and most of us want to get home in time to see game three.”

  He banged the gavel on the wooden block, bringing the meeting to order.

  “First up, the minutes of the last meeting need to be read and approved.”

  That was quickly taken care of and they moved on to new business.

  “The gun club has managed to buy the ten acre parcel next to the current shooting range. The deal finally went through after nonstop negations. We were able to buy it for nine thousand an acre or a total of ninety thousand dollars.”

  People began to clap and cheer. They had been trying to buy the land for the past ten years to no avail. The owner had now passed away and left the property to the grandchildren. All they wanted was the money.

  “We have already drawn up some plans for the layout of the facility. The construction will mean some inconvenience for a while but in the long run it will be worth it. Other good news is that we did not have to take out a loan to purchase the property. Based on our current and projected finances, we should have enough or only need to borrow a small amount to make the improvements. With a little luck we may not have to borrow anything at all.”

  More clapping erupted. Older members could remember when the place was not much more than homemade shooting stands and a bunker to stop the bullets.