Tammy whispered, “Sorry, I’m late Bill. I hit the snooze…”
“Shhhh,” Bill said. That was unlike him to interrupt. This must be important.
He pointed at the state pickup truck. “The FC are here,” he said, referring to the Freedom Corps.
Oh crap. This wasn’t good. Their little power company had been left alone throughout the Collapse. Tammy had wondered how long they could continue to do things without any government interference. Not much longer, it appeared.
“What do they want?” She asked in a whisper.
“To take over,” Bill said. For the first time in the twenty or so years Tammy had known Bill, he looked pissed. He was defending his people and his beloved power company from those outsiders.
Bill explained that a man from the FC had come an hour earlier and told him that the government was going to take control of the power company. It was part of a plan, the FC man said, to “focus resources.” Bill interpreted that to mean cutting off power to areas of the county, or maybe the whole county.
Bill was not a political person. He was an electrical engineer by training and had taken a lot of management courses to become the manager of a little power company. He was very smart. Since before the Collapse, he could see where things were headed and wondered when the government would try to use utilities as a weapon. He kept telling himself that wouldn’t happen in America, although it was easy for the imagination to conjure up.
But, Bill was an engineer and realized how vital the electricity flowing through his company was to the wellbeing of the county. It was absolutely critical. Nothing could make people want to leave the rural areas more than cutting off the utilities. He figured the government knew this, too.
Bill kept coming back to the idea that, at some point, the government might try to take over the utility. They had taken over the highways and fueling stations. Hell, they had taken over everything else, hadn’t they?
Bill was like most Americans: an Undecided who was just trying to get by, but the more he saw of how the government was treating people—especially how they let the gangs run wild and how corrupt things were—the more he felt himself leaning toward the Patriots. He was an engineer, not a fighter, he kept telling himself. He was not a hero. But he kept returning to the idea that he had some control over a vital asset: electricity in his little county. He could not talk himself out of the logical conclusion that, at some point, his control over that asset might put him in conflict with the government. He really didn’t want to do that, but he loved this county and its people. He wouldn’t let them suffer like that.
“Tammy, you know what would happen if they take over,” Bill said, trusting Tammy like a sister. Bill never talked to her about politics, but had picked up on several signs that she was either a full-on Patriot or Patriot sympathizer. Bill was now risking jail or worse by talking this way, but he had to trust Tammy for his plan to work.
“Are you sure they want to take over?” Tammy asked Bill. She was hoping the FC was out just to give another one of those talks about keeping alert for terrorists: Ron Paul bumper stickers, Don’t Tread on Me flags, etc.
“Yes,” Bill said. “They told me. It’s part of some new program. He said some National Guard troops would be coming out later this afternoon along with a team of officials who would oversee the shut offs.” Bill looked terrified when he said “shut offs.” Those words scared him.
“Does he think we’ll just do that?” Tammy asked.
Bill nodded. “I told him we were all loyal. I told him we were committed to the recovery efforts.” Bill pointed to the FC sign in the parking lot that said “We support the Recovery.”
Bill continued, but lowered his voice now to a faint whisper and pointed to the FC man walking into the power company office. “He seems kind of stupid. He’s from Olympia where I think everyone just does what they’re told.” Bill looked at Tammy in the eyes and said, “We’re different out here.”
Tammy interpreted that as some kind of code, like Bill wanted to do something drastic to prevent the FC from taking over. “What do you mean?” she asked.
Bill looked Tammy in the eyes again and said, “I mean we can’t let this happen.”
“How?” Tammy whispered.
Bill just stared at her, then he looked at the pistol in her shoulder holster and then he looked over at the FC man. Bill nodded slowly.
Oh, God. Kill him? Was this really happening?
Was there a choice? They couldn’t let the government shut off the power. But…were they supposed to murder someone and then have all the cops come out?
“You’re not suggesting…” Tammy whispered.
Bill slowly nodded.
Tammy thought about it. Things had been going too well. It was impossible to get through the Collapse and war, or whatever it was, without being directly involved in it. Was she going to let those corrupt bastards permanently destroy her county? Hell no. She had long ago told herself that she would die to protect her children. Well, this was her chance.
“How? How will we do this?” she whispered.
Bill looked around again to make sure no one was listening. “Here’s an idea,” he said in that faint whisper.
Tammy listened as Bill outlined idea for getting rid of the FC man. It was a good plan.
“Do I have to be part of it?” she asked, knowing the answer.
“Yes,” Bill said. “Can you think of another way?” Bill was a little hurt that Tammy, who he trusted so much, was trying to get out of this.
Tammy thought and thought. Her mind was racing. How to do this differently? How to do this without hurting anyone? She came up blank.
She paused. She was about to make the most important decision of her life.
“OK. I’m in,” she said, very quietly. She wasn’t proud of this, but also didn’t feel like she had much of a choice.
The next hour or so was the longest wait in her life. She knew what was going to happen and had to play along like she didn’t. She was trying so hard to act normal.
They were in the conference room with the FC man. He was a typical looking white-collar guy in his mid-forties. He had a pistol on his belt. He looked tired and never introduced himself to Tammy. He was kind of a dick and talked down to them a little.
It was pretty obvious he was not leveling with them. He would say that the shut-off would be temporary, but then said that trucks would come to take county residents to Olympia where the power would be more reliable. Why truck people out of the county if the shut-offs were just temporary? They had been living with intermittent power outage for weeks. Why, all of a sudden, did that mean depopulating the county? The story the FC man was telling was so laughable that it was insulting. Did he think they were stupid?
Yes, he did. And it showed.
Tammy and Bill and two of the younger electrical repairmen were in a conference room getting a “briefing” from the FC man. Bill motioned and the two repairmen left. Then, a few minutes later, Bill said to the FC man, “Tammy can take you out to the switching shed to show you where the master switch is.”
Bill pointed at Tammy. That was her cue. Her hands started to shake and she felt dizzy. It took a few seconds for her to regain her composure. She took several deep breaths. She had a job to do. Her family, and the whole county, was counting on them to prevent the shut-off.
Finally, she was calm. In fact, after the initial shakes, she amazed herself at how calm she was. It was only because so many people were counting on her.
“Sure, come on,” Tammy said. “The shed is just down the road. Can we take your truck?” she asked the FC man.
“Whatever,” he said like Tammy was wasting his time.
Tammy chuckled to herself; who would really think the master switch for turning off the power to a whole county would be in a shed a mile from the main building? This FC guy was either really stupid or just a robot doing what he was told.