The Plot to Overthrow by Mohammad Goldstein - HTML preview

Chapter 23

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DCCLXXXV

A solemn assembly precedes every serious action. All throughout history

soldiers, crusaders, reformers, and the founding fathers, gathered together

with like-minded others before embarking on their actionable causes. If it is

a genuine solemn assembly, the possibility of death is a reality to everyone

in attendance.

Sam had demanded and received silence between everyone. Meeting with

each member privately, he reminded them to “avoid Woodstock69 and all

contact between one another like a plague.” Molly posed a personal problem,

so Sam temporally ended her waitressing career. For a month,

communication between everyone was at a standstill. Roger was the only

member allowed at Sam’s home. He worked to secure Sam’s office for their

first official meeting and the revelation of the plot to overthrow.

Emotions at the gathering of a solemn assembly are serious, morose,

brooding, dismal, grave, and distressing. An agitated, nervous, atmosphere

replaced the normally friendly group atmosphere as each member entered

Sam’s home. The burden of individual decision time rested upon everyone

with the weight of a lead robe. Sam was reserved, stoic, and edgy, saying

very little. He seemed preoccupied with who would arrive next, rather than

with those that had already arrived. Everyone milled around like strangers

at a neighborhood party with nothing in common. Even cheerful Molly kept

to herself, offering only cordial greetings. Alcohol quickly disappeared in

large quantities, as each member attempted to medicate their individual

detached feelings, seeking some degree of normalcy.

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Observing them, Sam began to doubt in his own mind, ‘I am not sure they

have it in them.’ He knew it was one thing to talk, bitch, and moan about the

United States government – it was yet another, to become a willing

participant in the overthrow of that government. The serious, life changing

gravity of each member’s individual decision and the fear of the unknown

rested in the room like death at a funeral home.

Roger and Scott were the last to arrive in Roger’s car and parked inside of

the garage. Scott went straight for the booze as Roger went over to Sam and

whispered in his ear – greeting no one. After another fifteen minutes of food,

drinks, and morbidity, Sam broke the silence of the solemn assembly.

“I think it is time we begin.”

Without a word to one another, everyone turned in unison and robotically

walked to the entry of Sam’s study. The majority of the group stood away

from the entry not knowing what to expect when the doors opened. Sam

thumbprinted the door, and nothing happened. Roger walked to a small glass

ball on the opposite wall, and stared into the glass as a light beam scanned

his eye. Turning around, he handed Scott a small card along with an

electronic device and sent him to a small slit in the wall. Inserting the card,

Scott typed numbers into to a keypad attached to the handheld digital device.

There was a loud click, indicating the door was unlocked.

“Very impressive,” Larry said, looking at Roger. “You set this up?”

“You bet. You ain’t seen nothin’ yet.”

Molly opened the outer door, revealing a new steel vault-type door. She

stuck both thumbs into a scanner, and the four-inch thick steel door opened

automatically.

Speaking to the group, Roger explained, “We did this demonstration to

show you the four levels of entry security. After tonight, it will take a

combination of two separate identities to gain entry. In higher security times,

it will take all four combinations. After tonight, not even Sam can enter this

room without another team member. I will assign each of you a full entry

spectrum for every level of entry before you leave tonight. This will be the

only room where anyone can discuss the plot to overthrow. There will never

be any discussion of the plot to overthrow outside of this room.”

“Where’s the stuff?” Steve asked nervously.

“What stuff?” Roger replied.

“You know – the stuff that was here last time we were here. That strange

power.”

Smiling for the first time, Roger said, “Not my department man.” Everyone

broke into a small amount of nervous laughter.

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Entering the room, each wall had electronic boxes in front of them displaying

digital sound waves on a monitoring screen. Each box in front of a wall had

a dozen wires attached to the wall by suction cups, giving the appearance of

a huge EKG on every wall.

“That does it. I am about to have cardiac arrest over the strange power, and

you walk me into a room where even the walls are having heart attacks,”

Steve quipped with a smile. “What in the hell is this stuff?”

“Think of those boxes as vacuum cleaners that suck up sound. Everything

you say in this room is sucked up and then beat together with a million

different frequencies that will distort every word. Running through the walls

and ceiling are modulated frequencies emitted through those suction cups,

making this room unintelligible. A listening device in or out of this room

cannot decipher a single vowel. Even a listening device planted in this room

could not transmit our conversations through these walls. It is the same as

trying to listen to a conversation at the other end of the Super Bowl with 80

thousand people shouting on fourth and goal. There is no way your normal

ear can hear the conversation. Anyone trying to hear what we say in this

room has to go through a million frequencies, and a hundred million

scrambled words, busted into little pieces like shattered glass. It just ain’t

gonna happen. This is the best stuff available. It was developed by some

very twisted paranoid individuals.”

“Holy shit! This is real 007 stuff,” said Jerry. “Does this actually work?”

Smiling again, Roger said, “You can bet your life on it.”

“Cute, very cute,” Jerry replied.

Sam wasn’t sure if it was the alcohol, or their commitment becoming a

reality, but he welcomed the small change in everyone’s emotions. Sam

closed the steel door with the push of a button. The eerie sound of a bank

vault door closing filled the room producing the same emotion in everyone.

Trapped – with no way out.

Roger took out another handheld device. After pointing it around the room,

he said, “Room secure.”

Walking up to the front of the room, Sam stood behind a small table in front

of the poster of the 4Horsemen. “Tonight, we begin our journey together,

and I am prepared to reveal the plot to overthrow. I did not intend to let a

month go by before our meeting, but as you can see the security installed by

Roger required additional time. As I mentioned in our last meeting, everyone

has a plan ‘B’ in case plan ‘A’ fails. I do have a plan ‘B’ that has no direct

correlation to plan ‘A.’ Plan ‘A’ must not fail. Tomorrow morning, we will

implement plan ‘B.’ Since that plan hinges largely on your financial

contributions, I will have Molly take your commitments publicly.

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Steve has prepared several documents you will need to sign, as well.” Sam

took a seat and Molly walked to the front.

Another side of Molly emerged that no one had seen before. Speaking with

serious inflection, she began. “I am here to take an accounting of your

financial capabilities over the next year. Sam mentioned in our last meeting

that we expect you to deliver a number tonight, followed by an immediate

check or cash in my hand within 24 hours. We will deposit that money into

a corporation in Panama. Access to those deposits will require valid

signatures of two team members and the corresponding numbers from these

security tokens. Secondly, we are expecting you to give an estimated total

amount of your personal net worth by the end of this week. This will include

every asset you own and every dollar you can borrow. In a year, we fully

intend to destroy your good credit score, and every loan you secure against

assets will never be repaid. You will need to cash your life insurance policies,

sell every expensive car, home, or borrow the full equity against the property.

In other words, a year from now you should be broke, in debt up to your

eyeballs, and own nothing but the clothes on your back. We expect you to

maintain your present lifestyle with your spouse, but you will max out

everything.

“Over the last month, I was given information about plan ‘B.’ I feel it is

worth every penny that we can scrape together. I am excited about the

possibilities of what we can accomplish. I will also be the head administrator

for all activities and funding involving plan ‘B.’ The best private investigator

that money can buy has provided me with your estimated net worth. Let me

warn you up front; do not try to bullshit me about how much you are worth,

or I will kill you. That is if Sam does not kill me first,” she said, smiling at

Sam.

Just like that, Molly flipped the switch to the Molly everyone knew and

loved. “I hope you understand, when Sam dumped the job of being the

administrator of plan ‘B’ into my lap, I objected with the snarl of a trapped

cat. Much to my disappointment, Sam did not buy my argument, and I’m so

glad he didn’t. I don’t understand why men always pick a woman to be in

charge of finances. It seems to me, you guys would finally wake up and

realize that we are the last species that should be in charge of money.”

Laughing, she said, “You all know how much women like to shop. Steve

has prepared our last will and testament, corporate papers for Panama and

power of attorney over our personal assets – in the event you suffer a sudden

death.”

When Molly finished speaking, Steve got up and took his briefcase to the

front of the room.

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Opening it, he said, “You will find these documents are postdated and

notarized a few years back. They will end up in a postdated, sealed file at

the courthouse. In the event of my death, the record numbers are stored in a

secure offshore server. I will give each of you the particulars later. Again, it

will take two of you to access the internet server for the file numbers to locate

the hard copies at the courthouse.”

Removing several sets of documents from his briefcase, Steve placed them

on the table. Molly looked at the first name in the stack, and asked Jerry to

declare his number to the group.

Standing to his feet, Jerry began laughing. “Wait until you hear this. I dug

up every can I could find, and some were buried over ten years ago. With

the numbers of holes that I have in my backyard, the neighbors think I have

prairie dog infestation.”

“I thought you kept a pirate’s map, Jerry?” Roger said with a smile.

“I did, but I am pretty sure I buried some cans when I was drunk or high,

so my number could change. I ordered the best metal detector money could

buy to give the property a full scan. Setting a small suitcase on the table, he

declared, “I have hard cash; seven million, five hundred, and forty-seven

dollars. Every dollar is tax-free stolen money from the United States

government. Damn, that feels good just to say it! There is something sweet

about using untaxed money to destroy the bastard.

“I have a big surprise for everyone,” he said excitedly. “As you know, I

recently acquired the assets from my father’s funeral business and his estate

that I can easily liquidate.”

Steve interrupted, “Jerry, there is no hurry. You have a year to liquidate

those assets.”

“I know that Steve-O. Bosworth, as many of you know, was an interesting

man. Many years ago he was in the newspaper about jewelry missing from

a body.”

“I remember that,” said Scott.

“For over fifty years, Bosworth stripped the ‘ornaments’ from the ‘dead

trees,’ as he called them.” Jerry became very exuberant and excitedly

proclaimed to the room. “Recently, I found his stash of ‘ornaments.’”

“What are you talking about?” Scott asked.

“I am talking about four jumbo jet caskets, Scott. Supersized caskets for

fat people, in the back of a rental storage unit, filled to the brim with

extremely expensive jewelry.”

Scott sat with a stunned look of disbelief on his face, staring intently at

Jerry.

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“The rental people called me last week about the overdue storage bill. You

can imagine my surprise, when I walked to the back of that unit and started

opening the lids. My eyes nearly popped out of my head when I opened the

first lid. I felt like a little boy that had found a room full of a pirate’s hidden

treasures. Every chest was full of gold, diamonds, and silver.”

“Do you mean to tell me your father stripped my father, mother, and every

member of Samantha’s family that we buried through your father’s place?”

Scott asked.

“Yep, I am pretty sure that is what happened. I knew he did this his entire

life, Scott. I never thought he could have accumulated that much stash,” Jerry

replied.

“Goddamn, it Jerry. Robbing dead bodies, now that is fucking sick!” Scott

shouted.

“What does it really matter at this point, Scott?” Jerry questioned. Reaching

in his pocket, he took out a small piece of paper. Clearing his throat, he read.

“‘If you are reading this, Son, it is because I am gone and you have found

my hidden treasure. Use these ornaments for a worthy cause. I will see you

when you get here, Love Dad.’ I think of it like this, Scott. As a group, we

just hit the jackpot. Do you have any idea how much money four jumbo

caskets full of expensive jewelry are worth? You know, in a strange sort of

way, I think that Bosworth was an unknown part of our purpose. Had I

known then what I know now, I would have stripped each body that went

through that business and especially your entire family, Scott. We need

money for what we are about to do.” Without another word, Jerry stepped

up to the table and signed every document without reading them.

Steve picked up Jerry’s papers and placed Scott’s papers on the table as

Molly called his name. With a huge smile, Scott stood to his feet looked

around the room at everyone, and then back at Molly, and said, “I am proud

to say that I can deliver two million, seven hundred thousand dollars, and I

have the check with me.” Walking to the front, he picked up the documents

and began reading them. Included in Scott’s documents was the assignment

of his expected five-hundred plus million-dollar inheritance in the event of

Samantha’s death.

While he was scanning the documents, Sam interrupted him. “Come now,

Scott. We know you have more money in offshore accounts than what you

put on the table tonight.”

Still examining the documents, Scott quickly replied to Sam’s comment in

an angry tone. “First, I want to know how you knew about all of this.

Secondly, this is what I can bring to the table now. You asked us to bring

what we could put our hands on, Sam. I did that.

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Now I find that you decided to change the game since our last meeting.

Without any notice, you are asking each of us to strip ourselves financially

of everything in life. You expect us to sign over our estates, inheritances,

and to borrow every penny we can, so you can send it to a corporation in

Panama. Let me ask you a question. Does the word STUPID appear to be

written across my forehead?” he asked, gesturing with his hand on his

forehead.

Irate, Scott continued, “Everyone in this room knows that it takes time to

get those kinds of funds out of offshore accounts. If I had yanked them out

as you are suggesting I would have drawn too much attention to myself. In

my opinion, you should have been more specific at the last meeting, Sam. I

did exactly what you asked. What are you going to do? Kill me because I

did not understand that you would change you’re fucking mind before this

meeting.”

Scott’s hostility towards Sam’s knowledge of his financial worth was

obvious. When Sam did not respond right away, Scott continued. “If I

remember correctly, the last time we met you were going to kill Molly. Did

you mean that? Or, have you changed your mind again, Sam? I see she is

still here.”

“Yes, I did say that. And I meant every word,” Sam finally retorted. “Scott,

you must realize there is a damn good chance that every person in this room

is going to die. I ask you, what better reason would you have for the damn

money than to support the very purpose we are undertaking? You entered

this room with the understanding that we were plotting the full and complete

destruction of the United States government. What did you expect us to do?

Sit on our ass and plan for another ten years or debate the issues again? This

is not Washington! We are behind secure, locked doors for a reason, Scott.

Tonight, we have stopped talking and have started taking action. I have the

plot to overthrow, and I know it will work, Scott,” Sam said.

“That does not give you the right to change your mind every time we walk

in this room,” Scott snapped.

“Yes, it does, Scott,” Roger shouted. “We are in a fluid condition. That

means the situation or circumstances can change at every moment. The

moment we locked those doors, we each sealed our own fate. We

individually made a personal choice that the serious possibility of death was

in our immediate future. I know that I made that conscious decision. I am

willing to die in order that ‘we the people’ take back the deed to their

government. You can expect things will change quite often as we move

forward. You need to be ready for that to happen.”

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Looking at him with eyes of ice, Roger asked, “Do you want in or out,

Scott? What decision did you make when we locked those doors?” After a

long, back and forth stare down with Roger, Scott picked up the pen and

signed every document without answering Roger.

Steve picked up Scott’s papers as Molly called for Larry. “I’m embarrassed.

All I have to my name is sixteen thousand dollars, and that came from the

sale of my car and all of my household furnishings. I’m sorry; I smoked,

snorted, and pissed most of my life away. After my encounter with God in

1983, I gave away more than I kept. The good news is I may be moving in

with an old girlfriend of mine. I can support myself with my own hands, so

I will be able to contribute more if I am living with her. After much thought

and prayer, I intend to close my building, so that I can dedicate all of my

time to this purpose.”

“I think that is a sound decision,” Sam responded. “I was going to ask you

to do that. We must keep ourselves below the radar. No unnecessary

attention; not even a speeding ticket, please.”

Looking at Steve, Sam noticed there were no documents on the table for

Larry to sign. “Well then; it seems to me, Larry, that you have already put in

more than anyone. There is nothing past all that we have, is there?” Sam

said. “You are already where everyone in this room will be in a year.”

Roger spoke up and said, “I will be sixteen thousand short. That will drop

me to eight hundred and twenty-two thousand, Molly. The sixteen thousand

goes back to my best friend, Larry, for his new living expenses.” Looking at

Larry with a smile, he said, “I understand you and Kat will be taking a

honeymoon. Who knew, after all these years the rock star would finally get

married. It’s about time. Congratulations. Now, please tell me you got rid of

the big screen television.”

“Yes I did, but it was hard to part with. It is a classic nowadays, but Kat put

her foot down and said no,” Larry answered with a smile. “I really messed

it up with her a long time ago. I suppose if you wait long enough, love comes

one day when you least expect it. Thanks, Roger.” Once again, they hugged

like long-lost brothers. After the embrace, Roger stepped up to the table, and

signed the papers without reading them.

“I have a total of seventeen-million,” Sam said. “I borrowed against

everything I own, including Woodstock69. If we work that business together,

I am sure we can generate some additional usable income over the next year.

I paid the mortgage up for one year on this place, and for all of the security

improvements Roger installed. I sold my annual salary from the university

to a broker at a discount for the next year. The money was wired last week

for immediate use.”

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Steve tried to make short work of the procedure. “I have twenty-two million

from civil cases I collected during my career.

“Cheers for the ambulance chasers,” Larry laughed.

“Keep it up, Larry, and you will need an ambulance after I chase you

down,” Steve said, smiling back at Larry. “You know I love you, and

everything your life represents.”

“I know, but lawyers still don’t go to heaven, Steve. No matter how many

times I have asked the boss for you, he will not change his mind.”

“We will find out in the end, my friend. This amount includes three cases

I settled last week at ridiculous prices, so that we would have the funds for

the immediate start of plan ‘B.’ Like Molly, I understand what plan ‘B’ is

about and felt that I needed to gather every dollar I could get my hands on.”

Spreading his documents on the table, Steve added, “Here are my signed

documents for everyone to examine, along with a list of assets, insurances,

and possible inheritances.”

“That leaves me,” Molly said, smiling. “In my life, many men and recently

one woman have given me some incredibly nice gifts. Some willingly - and

some - not so willingly. I placed my money with brokers that invested it

wisely. They earned large sums of money for me in the stock market. Several

exceedingly wealthy men and one extremely wealthy woman placed huge

sums of money into my overseas accounts. They did this in order to avoid

public humiliation.” Looking at their puzzled faces, Molly smiled. “I see

you want to know what I mean by ‘in order to avoid public humiliation.’

Well, let’s say for instance that a ten grand ass whipping caught on video

could end up being worth five-million. In many instances, the men were

wealthy with a huge reputation to protect, so they paid instantly.

“Since I am the only mother in this room with a school age child, I am

keeping five hundred thousand dollars for my son. I am not signing over one

of my insurance policies where my son is the sole beneficiary. If anyone has

a problem with that, let’s settle the issue.” Molly paused, waiting for a

reaction. When no one said a word, she continued. “Everything else I

presently own or can obtain as we move forward, I contribute to this purpose.

The good news is, I have accumulated thirty-seven million, and have it

spread all over the world in various accounts.”

Mouths were wide open, and jaws were on the floor as Molly kept speaking.

“The first wires from my accounts began arriving in Panama, last week. They

will continue until the transfer of all my funds is completed.”

Every mouth remained open because of the sheer dollar amount.

“Oh, stop it,” Molly said. “It was not that much until a recent talk with an

enormously wealthy ex-congressman’s country club lesbian wife.

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I convinced her that a video of a woman fucking her should not be for sale

on the Internet. That is unless she wanted to become famous like Paris

Hilton.” Winking at Scott, she signed her papers.

“What time do you have, Roger?” Sam asked.

“It’s time.” Roger walked over and opened the main door. General

Breckinridge was waiting on the other side. “Everyone, I hope you remember

meeting General Bradley Breckinridge.”