Chapter 38-- The Endgame Begins

Part 1--

Julia lay in bed that night, unable to sleep. She tried all kinds of different positions, breathing techniques, and even hot milk (which she really hated), still nothing helped. She usually had no trouble falling asleep.

She couldn't turn her mind off long enough to drop off. All kinds of thoughts went through her mind, mostly about Miri and how she came to be.

It was the first time since the last time she saw Jack that she thought about their relationship, as brief as it was. How much of herself she gave to him; how after a rough start, she really did love him in the way he loved her; how he gave her a part of himself that was hers forever.

She looked over at Ryan, sleeping the sleep of the dead as he had always done in the nearly four years they'd been together.

You could have walked out on me when we found out for sure that Miri wasn't yours, but you didn't, Julia thought; why are you so forgiving, so willing to raise another man's child? What did I do to still deserve your love?

Julia wanted to ask Ryan those questions one day when the war was over and they truly felt safe. No more having to sleep with her Glock in her nightstand drawer; no more having to watch her back because someone, somewhere wanted her or a member of her family dead.

Ryan turned over, sensing that Julia was still awake. "What's wrong, Jules? Can't you sleep?"

"I have too much going on in my head, Ry," she said. "I can't make it stop."

"Need to talk about it?"

"Ryan, all I need is your assurance that..." Julia began.

"That I love you?" asked Ryan. "Julia you know I do. Nothing could ever change that. Why all the doubts all of a sudden? Is it the Endgame that is concerning you? That if anything should happen to you, God forbid, that I wouldn't take care of Miri?"

Julia's silence told him everything he needed to know. She was scared, and he was the only one she could bring her fears to.

"Jules, I will always love you. You know that. I will always love our little girl, no matter what," Ryan said. "I know that you get scared, and I don't think any less of you because of it. You can be the hard ass assassin for everyone else, but you can always tell me your fears. I didn't fall in love with the assassin, I fell in love with the woman who makes me feel special, makes me feel strong, makes me feel loved."

He took Julia into his arms and held her close. "Thank you, baby," she said. "Sometimes, I guess I just need to be reminded of that."

"I love you, Julia," Ryan said. "For forever and a day."

"I love you, too, Ryan," Julia replied. "You make me feel strong, too."

"Good," Ryan said; "Now let's get some sleep because you know as we lay here that Miri will want something super early in the morning."

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Morbus, Dan and David were up late, working on the final plans for the downfall of the illegal government.

"The New Army will need to be neutralized," Morbus was saying; "Taking out their leaders is the only way, be it by assassination or threat of arrest. The rank and file will fall easily after that."

"Plans are in place to move in an interim government," Dan said. "A provisional Congress and Senate has been waiting for months now. And the Regions will need to be dissolved and states reestablished. That can be done by Executive Order of the Interim President, whoever he or she may be."

David caught Dan looking in his direction, and said, "Oh, no, brother, don't even be looking over here for your interim president! I don't want the fucking job!"

"You are the logical choice, David," Dan said. "You've been leading the Disturbed Ones from the moment the Illegals took over. It would only be temporary until elections could be held."

"And I seem to remember saying in Austin a few years back that I would not accept even a temporary position as president." David said; "You're going to have to find someone else, because I love my family more than I want to be President."

"Who else could we ask to do it?" Morbus asked. "I can't think of anyone old enough to do it."

"The President has to be thirty-five or older," Dan said, "so someone like Nik or Jeremiah couldn't do it. So it leaves people like Miranda Cooper or Christine Collins or Bryce Jackson to step up."

"Bryce has been a great judge," David said; "he has a legal background and some military experience. And he's certainly old enough. We'll have to discuss that with him, though. I hear he's looking to retire."

"Christine or Miranda maybe," Dan said; "Both are old enough and more than qualified."

"Christine would do it," Morbus said; "but she has a son to think about. And how long would 'temporary' be? A year, two years?"

"That's the $64,000 question," Dan said. "We have no idea of the time frame. Maybe we should ask those who meet the requirements if they're even interested in the job."

"That's a good idea," David said; "But now, if you gentlemen don't mind, I need to get home and be good to my more than patient wife. That is, if she hasn't fallen asleep yet."

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Sarah Kathryn had gotten some good news for a change.

Julia Summers had accepted her invitation to visit her at the Executive Mansion.

What do I talk to her about? Babies? Sarah Kathryn asked herself. She didn't want to think about the real reason she had invited Julia to begin with: to see if the nineteen year old assassin was willing to have some "girl time" with her.

What if she refuses me? Would she get out one of her guns and blow me away? thought Sarah Kathryn. I've been fantasizing about my own death so much that I'm not sure I'd want to go through with it now.

But Julia excited her on another level, and it wasn't for the girl's skills with weapons.

Sarah Kathryn had asked her aides to do some research on the assassin. What she learned didn't really surprise her...

She was born to an Undesirable named Jordan Terranova on June 10, 2000 at the Great Lakes Prison Hospital. She was taken from the maternity ward when she was just a few hours old by the Disturbed Ones bodyguard, the disfigured Morbus, and raised by a mixed race couple named Peter and Kiera San Marco until their deaths when Julia was twelve. It was then that Julia's training by Peter San Marco came in handy when she murdered the same soldiers who killed her guardians, and at that point, became an assassin.

Julia's life read like an action adventure novel except that everything about her was true, Sarah Kathryn thought; I wouldn't put anything past this girl.

Sarah Kathryn looked at the date that Julia would be visiting: July twenty-second. Two in the afternoon for as long as Sarah Kathryn wanted. That could be plenty of time to try and seduce her for a little "girl time", she thought. But what about afterwards?

Sarah Kathryn could always have the girl arrested for propositioning her for an illegal activity, but she didn't think she would do that. Swear her to secrecy, perhaps?

What the President of the Republic didn't know, and would only find out later is that by the time of Julia's visit in two weeks, her term as President for Life would effectively be over. Her powerbase would be incapacitated permanently, and would be left with two choices: arrested on charges of treason or death.

Julia would leave her with no doubt as to which choice to make.

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Julia's trainers suggested that all members of the BlackOps and Ghost Squads make a video will, in the event that they were killed while putting the Endgame into motion. Julia's turn came on July fifth, a little more than two weeks before her "visit" with Sarah Kathryn Hope.

She had written down what she wanted to say, what she wanted to leave and to whom. The whole idea of making a video will kind of freaked her out, but she understood the reasoning behind it.

She sat in position in front of the camera. Judge Jackson was the legal authority who would make sure that in the case of Julia's death, her video will would be legally recognized.

Julia began:

My name is Julia Rachel Terranova Summers, and I am making this video will voluntarily and without coercion.

Today's date is July 5, 2019. I am nineteen years of age, and have been married to Ryan Lawrence Summers since July 17, 2017. We have one daughter, Mirielle Grace Summers, born December 30, 2018.

I leave my entire estate to my daughter, Mirielle Grace Summers, and my husband, Ryan Lawrence Summers, in the event of my death. Ryan Lawrence Summers will be caretaker of Mirielle's portion of my estate until Mirielle reaches the age of majority. Ryan has agreed to these terms.

I have no other wills to my knowledge and belief. There is a no contest clause attached to this document as well.

A transcript of this video will was signed by me, Julia Rachel Terranova Summers, on July 5, 2019, and in the absence of this video will, is a legally binding document.

This ends my video will. This recording was witnessed by the following individuals: Judge Bryce Jackson, Ryan Lawrence Summers, Jordan Michelle Terranova Draiman, and David Michael Draiman.

The camera was turned off and Julia put her head in her hands.

"God, that was the hardest thing I've ever had to do," she said.

"It's over now, Jules," Jordan said; "Hopefully we will never need to use it."

"I guess it's my turn to sit for the camera and outline who gets what," David said. "But I have a written will that was updated after the boys were born, so do I really need to make a video will?"

"David," Judge Jackson said, "I don't think that is necessary. This was mostly for the younger folks who might not have a written will."

"Who's next, then?" asked David.

"Nik San Marco," said the judge. "Might as well send him in."

Soon Nik was seated and he began:

My name is Nikolai Gunter San Marco, and I am making this video will voluntarily and without coercion.

Today's date is July 5, 2019. I am twenty-one years of age, and have been married to KateLynn Coley-San Marco since October 3, 2015...


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Rebekah was in the lab at the training facility, working on some new potions.

As much as she loved being on the BlackOps Squad and going out on assignments to eliminate enemies of the Disturbed Ones, she felt much more at home in a lab, working on complex equations to get a formula just right.

On this day, she was working on an improved knock out spray, and what she called "heart attack in a bottle"; the capsules that could be dissolved in any potable liquid to cause the person drinking that liquid to have a heart attack or a stroke, and was untraceable.

Once, in her previous life as Jessikah Terranova, she seriously considered majoring in chemistry in the hopes of someday working in a lab finding cures for diseases.

Instead, she worked on substances that incapacitated or killed people.

She had decided on a few things that she wanted to accomplish once the war was over and the Endgame had run its course. One of those things was to go back to school and get her BS in Chemistry; another was to reunite with her family; still another was to marry Chris. He had asked her to marry him, and she said yes, but wanted to wait until after the war was over and the country was on its way to being what it was before the Illegals took over. Chris was agreeable to that. He still wanted to find the New Army troops who murdered his sister. If they were still alive, he wanted to kill them.

Rebekah had refined the formulation for the heart attack capsules, and was certain that they would work as intended. The trouble was, she couldn't test it on anyone without killing them.

Just then, Julia came into the lab to see what Rebekah was up to.

"Just trying to refine our method of untraceable killing," she said. "My problem with that is that I can't test the new formula on anyone without killing them."

"How did you test the old formula?" Julia asked.

"On corpses at the morgue," Rebekah said. "I know that sounds kind of stupid since they're already dead. You can only die once. But there's a way to restart a dead heart so that I can test it. If it stops beating, it works."

"Sounds weird," Julia said. "But what if you tested it on an unwilling subject, or someone who wants to die?"

"What do you mean, Jules?"

"What if I took a few of those capsules with me to the Capitol Sector and used them to off the Committee," Julia said; "It would look like a heart attack or a stroke and not something messy like what I'd do with a gun."

"Wouldn't many people dying that way look suspicious?" asked Rebekah.

"Oh, I know who I'd use them on," Julia said. "That's why I came over when I heard you were working in here today."

"Ahh, so there's a method to your madness," teased Rebekah. "I know you're going to take care of Parks, Sizemore and the President for Life, so how is one or two of my little pills going to help you?"

"By the time I have my little visit with Sarah Kathryn next week," Julia said, "she'll have no Committee to back her ass up. She'll have a decision to make. I'm certain that she will want me to kill her, but I won't let her take the easy way out. I might leave her one of your calling cards and let her make that decision on her own. I'll just walk away. There will be people waiting for her when I leave. It won't be pretty."

"I'd imagine that she'd be arrested and exposed for the fraud she really is," Rebekah said. "I like it."

"I don't have to tell you that this has to stay between us," Julia said. "I want to take them all by surprise."

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Part 2--

The letter arrived without a return address at the New Army Headquarters, only a postmark from the Helena Sector in the Rocky Mountain Region. It was addressed to the General in Command of the New Army of the Republic of America. It was written on a typewriter, a device that the General's aide had never heard of. The colonel who was the General's secretary had to explain to the aide what a typewriter was.

The Colonel took the letter from the aide. It was part of the Colonel's duties to read any and all correspondence addressed to the General. He opened the letter and began to read it. The longer he read, the more alarmed he became.

Dear General Pitt:

I am writing to you today to urge you to give up on the cause your troops and the Committee have championed for the last two decades. I fear it is a losing battle.

As well trained as you think your troops are, there is a paramilitary force whose members are better trained, better equipped, and more motivated than the New Army could ever hope to be. The snipers, assassins and spies that are part of this paramilitary force believe, to a person, in their cause to return the country to the way it was before the Committee to Advance the New Government and President for Life Sarah Kathryn Hope hijacked it from the legitimate winner of the 2000 Presidential elections.

President for Life Hope is an ineffectual leader whose power is really wielded by the Committee, led at this time by Carl Parks. Parks has made no secret of his desire to run the country his way: through fear. Those who do not conform to its precepts are branded as "Undesirables". Many of these opponents to the New Government have been arrested without cause, without charges brought against them, and punished in ways that are inhumane and clearly motivated by evil.

It is of my esteemed opinion that, if the country is continued to be run as it has been for the last two decades, we would be considered a third world country, one run by dictators. Carl Parks is clearly a dictator, and rules even the president he serves by fear and intimidation. Sarah Kathryn Hope is clearly a puppet; a media friendly face to hide the evil in the Committee's agenda.

There is no way that even Carl Parks could compete with someone whose oratorical skills far outreach his own. David Draiman, the leader of the resistance group known as the Disturbed Ones, is a passionate, committed, and inspiring leader.

Because of this, even those citizens who believed in your misguided cause are defecting to resistance groups in droves. Do you wonder why there are fewer and fewer people at your "celebrations" of the New Government takeover, repledging their loyalty to your cause? It's because they've seen the light and don't want to be on the losing end of this battle between Draiman's Disturbed Ones and Parks' New Government.

I again would like to strongly suggest that you reconsider your position. Even you cannot apprehend all of the New Army troops who have deserted your ranks in just the last five years. They, too, know what's coming, and have joined the other side; the side that will win out over your New Government.

Therefore, General, the decision is yours.

Sincerely,

Silence Dogood


"Who the fuck is Silence Dogood?" the General bellowed when the Colonel read the letter to him; "We must find this person and punish him or her to the extent of our power!"

"Sir, I think it's a pen name," the Colonel said; "There can't be any real person with that name."

"Find them anyway!" said the General hotly. "Start in the Helena Sector. Alert troops there that their assignment is to find this Silence Dogood person!"

The Colonel sighed silently. The writer of the letter was correct in one point: New Army enlisteds were deserting in alarming numbers. There were no troops in the Helena Sector. He'd have to bring troops in from the Billings Sector.

If he could find any, that is.

"Yes, sir," was all he said to the General.

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When the letter was published in the online newspapers a few days later, it became the topic of discussion everywhere Christofferson went. The feed store, the coffee shop, the car and truck dealer... it was all anyone was talking about.

People wanted to know who "Silence Dogood" was. Some came up with some interesting theories, but the best one that Christofferson heard was actually the true one. All anyone had to do was plug the name in to a search engine and all kinds of entries came up.

Or read a history book of the old United States, which the New Government forbade the teaching of in its schools.

So as debate out in town raged on about the contents of the letter and who Silence Dogood was, Christofferson just smiled and went along his way.

After all, in his previous life, he was a history buff.

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Days before Julia's visit to the Capitol Region to see Madame President, all the players were getting into place.

Julia's preparations for her "audience" with the President included making sure her weapons were ready for use at a moment's notice; that her blades were sharpened so that they could do the most damage; she had a vial of the newest formulation of Rebekah's "heart attack" capsules and a couple of cans of knockout spray; calculated and recalculated her plans for Parks and Sizemore to make them suffer for the suffering their leadership had on those declared Undesirable; and finally, her plans for Sarah Kathryn.

Those plans would catch Madame President off guard and completely unable to escape. Julia refined them to give Sarah Kathryn two choices: one was arrest for the crimes she committed against the people she was "elected" to represent; the other was death.

Julia would be the harbinger of Sarah Kathryn's demise. But the bitch would have to beg for it, Julia thought; I'll take great pleasure in refusing to kill her.

She'll have to do that bit herself. Julia was beyond having mercy for anyone on the Committee or for Sarah Kathryn.

Vengance is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord, Julia said to herself.

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Part 3--

Sarah Kathryn couldn't help herself. The idea of having Julia Summers in her office, alone, excited her beyond belief. She had fantasized about having the girl for the last three years, and now that she was over the age of majority, it was time, in Sarah Kathryn's mind at least, to see if the girl would play.

She didn't know that Julia had plans for Sarah Kathryn as well, and hers were far more complicated than having "girl time" with the widowed President of the Republic.

She also didn't know that Julia wasn't ever going to be the innocent teenage girl Sarah Kathryn wanted her to be. Even though Sarah Kathryn knew what Julia was capable of, she still fantasized that Julia was just a normal everyday nineteen year old girl.

Julia Summers was not a normal everyday anyone, and never had been from the day she was born.

"C'mon Sarah Kathryn, get a hold of yourself," she said aloud. "She's not the girl you're hoping she'll be. She kills people for a living! She graduated from high school at 15; married at 17; had a baby at 18!"

And at nineteen, would bring Sarah Kathryn's world crumbling down around her.

There were literally days Sarah Kathryn had left to live, but she didn't know it yet. Julia would tell her that.

Then would refuse to put Sarah Kathryn out of her misery.

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Four days before Julia and Sarah Kathryn would have their showdown, she, Nik, Jeremiah and Vixen travelled to the Capitol Sector. Meeting the four of them there would be a platoon of former New Army soldiers, recruited by Christine Collins and Miranda Cooper, to arrest the President for Life on charges of misuse of power, treason, and a host of other charges.

Everyone had their role to play: Nik would still be considered a "ghost" and take on the sniper role.

Jeremiah would back up Julia if she needed it.

Vixen would use her seduction skills on two of the three members of the Committee. The third was the Disturbed Ones plant. He would be arrested right away. The other two would never know what hit them when Vixen, who would be going by the name of Natasha, take pictures of them with her, put knock out drops in their drinks, then have them taken to jail, all while still unconscious.

Julia would take care of the Chairman and Co-Chairman by appealing to their baser instincts. Then she would turn her attention to Sarah Kathryn and the plans she had for Madame President.

They were staying in a place in the Capitol Sector called The Watergate. It was the same building involved in the scandal that resulted in President Richard Nixon resigning from office two years before Julia's mother was born. Julia knew all about the Watergate scandal; it was part of the U.S. History lessons that Kiera taught her and her brothers when they were kids.

Nik and Jeremiah were staying in one room, Julia and Vixen in another.

Vixen asked Julia what her plans for the President were.

"She's a closet Undesirable, Vix," Julia said. "I'm pretty sure that the reason she wants me to visit is to have an intimate encounter with me. I may or may not let that happen, but if I do, I've got it covered."

"Madame President is a closeted lesbian, Julia?" Vixen asked, surprised.

"Well, at least bisexual, because she had been married to her husband," Julia said. "We got intel about Madame President's, um, how can I put this? She likes to have some 'girl time'."

"Really?" Vixen said. "And if you allow her to seduce you Julia, do you know what to do?"

"Well, I did see the same videos you guys saw in training, so I have a general idea," Julia said. "Maybe I'll let Madame President take the lead."

"Freak her out and seduce her," Vixen suggested; "Bet she won't be expecting that!"

"True," Julia said; "she won't. So would I come on to her like I would a man?"

"Hmmm," Vixen said; "Why don't you just kiss her if the opportunity presents itself? See where that goes."

"And if it goes to getting naked with her, then what?"

"Well, I know you know where all the sensitive parts of your sex organs are," Vixen said; "Just rub on her clit, play with the opening of her vagina, suck her tits. That'll get her going, then she'll show you what she likes."

Julia shuddered. "Do I really want to excite an old broad like Sarah Kathryn Hope sexually? What if she wants to go down on me?"

"Pretend she's Ryan and let her do it," Vixen said. "Look, I know you don't play both sides of the fence, Julia, so I understand your hesitation. If you want, we can double team her. In my not so glorious past, I've had some experience with girl on girl intimacy. I really do prefer guys, but if some chick wanted to pay me to fuck her, I did it. I really had no choice."

"That sucks that you were taken from your family and forced to do that," Julia said. "I'm glad we all talked about it that one time. At least it explained your blank outs."

"Rebekah and I talked about it, and we decided that we had to talk to, at least, you girls about what we'd been through," Vixen said. "I think it lifted a huge burden from Rebekah's shoulders."

"And yours, too, I'm sure," Julia said.

"And mine, too," said Vixen. "You're right. My blank outs were probably tied into those memories I'd rather forget. If I haven't thanked you for suggesting I see someone, I'm thanking you now."

"I know that talking to someone helps my mom a lot," Julia said. "She can deal with things better having those coping tools available to her."

"I know that now," Vixen said, "because me thinking I can handle it alone wasn't working."

Julia flopped on the bed. She suddenly realized she was tired. And she missed Ryan and Miri.

"Vixen, can I tell you something in confidence?" asked Julia.

"Sure, Julia," Vixen said; "What is it?"

"I'm a little nervous about meeting Sarah Kathryn, as much as I hate the bitch's guts," Julia said. "I'm afraid that she's going to try and trap me. Especially if I refuse her advances."

"That's why I suggested that you seduce her first," Vixen said. "And why I suggested that we double team her. So it won't be her word against yours."

"Or...I could record everything that goes on while I'm there," Julia said. "She can't refute recorded evidence, especially if it's her voice getting all excited over what I'm doing to her."

"You could do that," Vixen said; "I can even slip into her office and place those video bugs in places she'd never suspect to look," Vixen said. "We can then download them from a remote location and save the video to a file, in
case we need it."

"Ryan knows how to do all that stuff!" Julia said. "Why didn't I think of that?"

"Unless you're planning to kill her, Julia," Vixen said, "I could go tonight and do it."

"I'm not going to kill her," Julia said; "I won't give the bitch the satisfaction of killing her. If she wants to die, she's going to have to do it herself. I'll even give her a little help."

"A little help?" Vixen asked.

"Yeah," Julia said in that voice that Vixen knew all too well; Julia's dark side coming out of its compartment. "I'll give her one or two of Rebekah's capsules. I'll make up some shit about it being a pain reliever. She'll never know what hit her."

Julia was ready to mete out the punishment she thought about since she was twelve years old, sitting in a closet in the house she and Ryan now called home, watching in horror as Peter and Kiera were murdered before her eyes.

Death is an old friend of mine, she thought.

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