Chapter 1

Pearl, MS
Jack opened the back door to the truck and sighed to himself. ‘Man this is a lot of crap to haul up there for three nights’, he thought to himself. In the back seat he had his duffel bag from the Air Force, his lap top bag and his shirts on hangers. In the bed was his large Coleman cooler with his bottled water, sodas and lunch meat for the week. It all had to go up to the hotel room on the third floor. ‘Well at least there's an elevator’, he thought.
Jack didn’t like the idea of multiple trips so he started loading himself up as a beast of burden. The backpack on his back, the laptop bag over his neck, the duffel balanced on the wheeled cooler in his left hand and shirts in his right. He knew it would be easier to make two trips, but he hated to waste time.
On the way to the elevator Jack passed Jim Harper, one of the guys on his crew. “Damn that’s a lot of s*** Jack. Why you haul so much with you? We only gonna be here three nights.” Jack looked at him and had to smile. He was actually begining to understand what the hell Harper was saying. To most what Harper had said would have sounded more like “Damn that elet of s*** Yack. Why you hauls mut wit ya. Wees onty unna be here tree nigh”. To call Harpers manner of speech an accent was an insult to accents, it was a strange mix of the deep swamp south, urban gehto and God only knew what else. Jack replied "Harper some of us take baths and change our clothes”. Harper replied “whatever man that more s*** then my wife bring.”
Jack just chuckled and kept walking to the elevator. Once in his room he started to unburden himself putting the pack in the far corner, the laptop on the table, the suitcase and duffel dumped unceremoniously on the floor and the cooler left by the mini fridge. The shirts he hung on the bar in the closet. ‘Man I spend more time here than I do at home’ he thought. His next thought was dinner, burger or pizza? This seemed to be the daily dilemma. He knew he should eat better but he was south of forty and worked most of it off. Besides he hated wasting money eating out without his wife. He opted for the pizza, it would be dinner for two nights. He phoned in the order and jumped in the shower.
He got so filthy at work he could never bring himself to sit on the furniture until he’d showered. It amazed him that a lot of the guys he worked with could go straight to dinner after getting off work. After he ate Jack fired up the laptop and hit the for sale section on several of the gun forums he frequented, looking for a good deal on one of the many things on his to buy list. He wasn’t just looking for guns, though he rarely passed up a good deal on one he wanted if he could afford it.
Right now he doubted he could afford a new gun even if it was a smoking deal. It was a tight week for his family. It seemed like most weeks were tight lately. Jack made good money for a carpenter but he was pretty much the sole provider for a family of four. His wife, Carrie, did work part time and made the grocery money, but everything else came out of Jacks paycheck. Mainly he surfed the net to pass the time.
At 8:30 his wife called so Jack could say good night to their son Cody. Cody was 2 1/2 and liked to talk on the phone though his vocabulary was still pretty limited. So the discussion mainly focused on Elmo and Cars. This was one of the best parts of Jacks day and one of the worst. He enjoyed talking to his son immensely, but when he got off the phone he always regretted not being home more.
After the phone call with his son he continued to follow his routine and read his bible, two chapters every night one old testament one new. He couldn't remember when this became hi system for reading scripture, but it had been that way for years. Jack ussually felt at peace after reading the Word, but for some reason tonight he felt restless. When his reading was done Jack turned the TV on to Fox news and tried to catch up on the news. He tended to ignore the talking heads on the channel and read the ticker on the bottom. After 15 minutes he was relatively certain the world wasn’t going to fall apart before morning though the market still looked like hell having dropped another hundred points. The middle east still looked like the middle east with Iran supposedly developing nukes and some military action in Palestine being mopped up by the Israelis. Russia was again acting aggressively with its neighbor Georgia staging more troops and tanks at the border. Unfortunately the ticker mainly gave you part of the story and the major news networks seemed more interested in having various talk shows than reporting these days.
Before he went to sleep Jack called Carrie and they talked about the mundane things about each other's days. Carrie told Jack that Bella their 9 month old daughter was starting to crawl around a bit more, progressing from rolling along the floor everywhere she went. They discussed their days and said their good nights.
Jack walked down stairs and went out the main door to the hotel and lit a cigarette mad at himself for not being completely quit of the habit yet. But at least he was down to about 5 a day, a long stretch from the 2 ½ packs a day he was smoking 6 months ago. He’d quit, it was just a matter of time as long as he kept trying.

Chapter 2
Pearl, MS
The alarm went off at 5:00 a.m. and fully woke Jack by 5:15. His morning routine was pretty brief, get dressed, put on his boots. Put his pocket knife, keys, wallet and change in his pockets. Put the pocket holster in his right front pocket, put his cell on the opposite hip. Brush his teeth. Load his lunch and drinks in the cooler grab his bags and out the door. He lugged the laptop, suitcase and cooler down to the truck. He’d like to have left everything but the cooler in the room but if he had to bail he new he’d want this stuff. Over the years he had had to leave unexpectedly a few times due to various family emergencies. Besides it was to valuable to leave in a hotel room.
He was on the highway by 5:35 and on the job by 5:45. He smoked his first cigarette of the day as he listened to the morning news. At 5:55 he was out of the truck and walking toward the cargo container they kept their tools in.
He met Greg Smith and Dan Walker at the locked container and exchanged good mornings with them. Greg was from Louisianna he was 38, 5’9” and a trim 150 lbs... Dan was a local living about 20 miles out of town. Dan was 32 (Jacks age) 5’6” and about 230 lbs., though he looked pudgy to many people a lot of Dans girth was muscle. At 6’ Jack looked pretty tall next to the two of them, though he didn’t notice. Being married to a woman that was only 5’2” made pretty much everyone else seem average height to Jack. “Find any good deals last night Jack?” Greg asked. “A few, nothing special though, there is as a guy on blackguns that had a PS you may want to check out though. .308 and supposedly less than 500 rounds through it, for $600.” “Email me with a link to it and I’ll check it out. That’s a pretty fair price” Greg said. “I already did last night I thought you might snatch it up. You’ve got crap for taste in pistols but you do seem to appreciate a nice rifle” Jack kidded. “Hey not everyone wants an antique on their hip Jack” Dan joined in. “If I carried a gun to kill mice I might own a mouse gun, but I'll stick with my .38 wheel gun for those unpleasant social occasions"Jack quiped. “ Wasn’t that thing designed in the stone age?” Greg replied. “ Man I can’t believe the .380 boys are double teaming me this early in the morning” Jack chuckled.
Just then Matt Jones, the superintendents son and coincidentally a foreman showed up and unlocked the container. The rest of the crew trickled in and everyone grabbed their stuff and headed off to the project they were working on the day before. Neal Marler was partnered with Jack hanging cabinets in the kitchen of the office building they were working on. Greg and Dan were in the office next door putting in the base boards and window casings.
“What do you think this ones gonna be Neal?” Jack asked. “Mark told me it’s gonna be a lawyers office” Neal answered. “That explains the high dollar trim package” Jack replied. Jack and Neal had been partnered together for over a year and didn’t have to talk much about the work since they were almost always on the same page. It was kinda funny really Neal was fully six inches shorter than Jack, almost 100 lbs lighter, 15 years older and from a completely different part of the country. But on 90% of things they agreed and saw their work the same way. A rarity for two experienced carpenters who weren’t trained by the same person. Neal started with the company a year after Jack and partnered up with him their first day. They worked so well together the boss rarely split them up. The two hit it off right away and learned that they lived in the same town 100 miles away from the job they met on. Neal had lived in Michie,TN for all of his life, Jack had just moved there from Florida two years before, right before starting with the company. Jack and Neal road to work together, to save on gas. They also hunted together occasionally. Their wives got along well so their families often spent birthdays and bar-b-ques together and even camped together a couple of times. If it hadn’t been for Jenny, Neals wife, Jack doubted he would have ever gotten Carrie to go camping. Carrie often called herself a girly girl, Jack often called her a priss.

Chapter3
Jackson, MS
A lot of people would think of Jack as odd. He believed in being prepared for the worst whenever possible. Which is why he had gotten a permit to carry a concealed weapon. It was also why he carried a backpack full of camping gear wherever he went. On any other crew he had ever been on, he just didn’t talk about that stuff because he didn’t feel like explaining it to anyone else and being labeled either a gun nut or survivalist. The funny thing is neither term was an insult to Jack but he didn’t really care to discuss it with those that would never get it. When he started with the company he was surprised to find that most of the crew had concealed carry permits and of those that didn’t all but one carried a gun in their vehicle. He really loved the pro gun attitude in the South.

Sometime during his first week Greg noticed Jacks pack and they got to talking. It turns out Jack wasn’t the only one on this crew that believed in being prepared. Greg carried a similar pack loaded with similar gear. The two often discussed their gear and their results with it. They both found it helpful to have someone else into their “hobby” to help keep them motivated. About six months later they started the job in Jackson, MS and Dan was hired on. After a few weeks Jack and Greg found out Dan was of a like mind. The three often remarked how odd it was for 3 survivalist who had never met before to wind up on the same construction crew of 12 guys.
When Neal started the three quickly tried to convert him to their mindset. The backpack idea didn’t take. But Neal did start stocking a little extra food in the house for “just in case." Neal never did warm to the idea of bringing a gun to work with him and only kept enough supplies on hand to feed his family for about 2 weeks. Neal believed in being prepared for small scale disasters. Jack, Greg and Dan took it a bit further. Though none of them were as prepared as they would like to have been.

At break that morning the conversation was focused on where the next job would be and whether or not there would be a layoff. This job only had about a week left in it and though none of the guys had ever been laid off by this company it was always a worry in the construction industry when a project was winding down. They had been in Jackson for a year and a half working on a series of commercial buildings and the last one was just about done. Jack and Neal were swapping scuttlebutt they had heard from the big boss when Matt Jones interrupted them. “No need to worry about a lay-off guys Daddy said we’d all be going to Little Rock to start another strip mall when this is finished.” “That be good man. I can spend some nights at the house with my wife. You all will have to come over for Bar-B-Q when we get to Little Rock” said Harper, at least that’s how Jack translated it for Greg and Dan. “Well now that ya’ll don’t have to worry about a lay-off get your asses back to work before Daddy fires you” Matt teased. Everyone headed back to their tasks.

Jack made it a habit to bring his lunch. A lot of the guys went out to eat, but Jack preferred to sit in his truck, call his wife and listen to the news on the radio. The company didn’t want a radio playing on the job for safety reasons so Jack tended to feel news deprived by lunch. He ate his ham and cheese sandwich and then found the local station with a news broadcast. He listened for a bit about the presidents latest economic stimulus ideas and then turned it off out of frustration. How is it that he, a 32 year old Carpenter understood that you couldn’t tax your way to a better economy and the President an actual proffesor could not. He called Carrie to see how her day was and how the kids were doing. They made small talk for a few minutes and said goodbye.

After Lunch Jack and Neal moved on to checking all the completed units and making a punch list of what still needed to be done on their end. They found two that still needed the cabinet knobs that were on back order and three that needed doors that still hadn’t come in yet. “Well it looks like we need to do all the crown molding and that’s it Neal.” They went ahead and told Matt what parts they were waiting on and started the crown molding.

That night Jack went back to his hotel room and preformed his usual routine. During the news he saw that the European Union was making noise about their economies going in the toilet thanks to the American economic troubles. “Typical bunch of liberals blaming their problems on someone else”, Jack said to himself. The economy was really bothering Jack, like everyone else he was really paying attention to the market for the first time in his life the last few years.
Though it seemed that the steady downward slide of the dollar was just something he had gotten used to. When he first got into construction, after getting out of the service, the 40K a year the older guys were making seemed like a fortune. He was making over 50 now and it wasn't enough. Just in the last year his grocery costs had gone up dramatically and it wasn't diapers and formula that was straining his paycheck. Sugar for example had gone up fully 50%.

Chapter 4
Jackson, MS
The next morning Jack missed a call from his wife about an hour before break. He noticed the missed call on his cell about 15minutes latter when he stopped running the miter saw long enough to get a drink of water. It was unusual for Carrie to call during working hours so Jack was a little worried when he saw the missed call on his cell. He called her back right away. “Hello.”Something in her voice wasn’t right. “It’s me babe what's up?” “Haven’t you heard, no one's listening to the radio?” Carrie was bordering on frantic now. “Heard what I don’t know what you’re talking about. Slow down, what's going on babe.” Jack knew he had to stay calm his wife had a tendency to go emotionally ballistic when stressed and she sounded very stressed. Carrie calmed herself down a bit and then answered “The President has been shot in Georgia.” Jack thought for about half a second and then replied “Who shot him? the Russians? That doesn't make any sense he was just in St Louis yesterday giving a speech and the news didn't say anything about a trip to Georgia. I thought he was campaigning all week? “ Carrie frustrated at the tangent her husband just went off on snapped "I don't know what the heck you're talking about but it has been all over the news, they don't know if he is dead or not at this point, but people have already started rioting in some of the bigger cities." None of this made any sense to Jack, "why the hell would people be rioting if he was shot in another country?" Carrie calmed down a bit and slowly said "he wasn't shot in another country he was shot giving a speech in Georgia, just outside of Atlanta." "Oh man that's bad," Jack replied. He immediately started to worry about his wife and kids "Nothing's going on around there is there honey?" It was unlikely as they lived in the country and the closest town of any size was not the kind of place you would picture riots occurring, small town America with its Walmart and McDonalds. "No nothing's going on around here. There has been some rioting in Memphis, but nothing close to home. I was more worried about something happening there Jack. Your always talking about the crime being bad in Jackson. I was thinking maybe you should come home early."
"Do you know how he was shot, I mean was it a rifle or pistol? Close or far away? Where was he hit?" Carrie was unfazed by the sudden shift in conversation she had known her husband for years and was used to the stream of thought way he talks, switching from one subject to another in mid discussion. "I don't really know anything about the shooting other than he was shot. They aren't sure if he is alive or dead, I've actually heard it reported both ways as well as that he was shot in the head, that's what they are saying on fox, but CNN says he was shot in the leg, so I'm not sure what really happened. He was shot about an hour and a half ago and they're saying since then that rioting has started all over as a result." "All over as in where?" "I don't know" Carrie replies "big cities, Chicago, LA, Memphis, I didn't catch them all but I know there were those three and others. It looks like the Rodney King thing all over, people tearing up their neighborhoods, looting stores. It's scary to watch, even though I know it's not close to here. I really think you should get out of the city Jack."
"No everything's fine here, were working in a good neighborhood. Besides I know they want this job done this week. They were even talking about us working Friday if we had to, to get done. Then we just need to come back with a skeleton crew when the rest of the material comes in. They also said no one was getting laid off and we'd get to go to Little Rock for the next job. I don't want to be the guy that takes off when they need him and resultantly is looking for work next week." She knows arguing about him coming home won't help They needed the income from the job otherwise he wouldn't have taken it They both hate that he is always on the road, but like that they can afford for her to be a stay at home mom. "Ok honey, but Jack please be careful." "I will babe, I'll call at break when I can talk more. I love you, bye." Jack disconnected the phone, reaches in his pocket and pulls out a cigarette, lighting it without even thinking.

Neal has been listening for the entire conversation. He wasn't intentionally eavesdropping, but they were working together and he was standing right there when Jack made the call. "What the hell is going on Jack?" Jack looks at his friend and fills him in on what little he knows.
Neal seemed pretty worried about the riots and they were in the back of Jacks mind as well. Jack felt like he was in an awkward position being Neals ride back home. "Look Neal, given what's going on, if you want to drag up and go home I understand and I'll run you back to Michie tonight and turn around and drive back down here. But I really want to finish the day." "No man, I need this job just like you. Let's just finish it and we can go home at the end of the week like normal. Maybe the boss will let us work some OT so we can get done sooner. If anything bad happens we can always skin out." Relieved Jack smiles "Great, I just don't want you feeling stuck here. I know how it is when you are riding with someone."

Jack and Neal walked over to the next unit where Greg and Dan were installing appliances and told them the news. Everyone seemed to be in a kind of shock. It reminded Jack of 9/11. He didn't like the President a bit, but to think someone had shot him felt like a personal affront to Jack. Jack figured they were all thinking pretty much the same thing. A black president had just been shot. This could be very bad, racial tensions seemed worse than ever these days with the media egging it on every chance they got. Jack new most hard working Americans black, white and any other color didn't view race as an issue these days. But he also knew that plenty of people made a good living making an issue of race. Weather they were reporters, politicians or community organizer types, there were plenty of folks stirring the race pot. They always seemed to find something to turn into racism, even though those same people tended to be the worst racists of them all. These people often targeted poorer minority groups, who incidentally felt like they got the short end of the stick more often than not. Jack had seen it a hundred times, go in the wrong neighborhood and they don't like white people. It's usually left unsaid but rarely unfelt.
On the opposite side of the same coin there were just as many ignorant white people that were exactly the kind of racist idiots that the media liked to make examples of. Skin heads, KKKers you name it. They too were usually poor and looking for someone to blame their problems on. Weather it was race, religion or politics, the media found a way to stir it up and make things worse than they were to begin with. "Useful idiots", that's what Stalin called them.
Regardless of his thoughts or feelings Jack had a job to do. So he and Neal went back to the unit they were working in and finished hanging the crown molding.

Chapter 5
By Thursday some facts had come out about the shooting. The President was indeed dead. He died 2 hours and 20 minutes after the shooting while in surgery. He had been shot by a lone gunman using a .223 rifle from a range of 400 yards. The president was hit in the head and left side of his body. The head wound was more or less superficial, the body shot which apparently penetrated the body armor he was wearing did much more damage. The investigation into the shooting revealed that the shooter had been hiding in a storm drain that was perpendicular to the platform the President had been speaking on. The street the drain was located on was higher than the platform, so though he was shooting from almost ground level he was more or less level with the President. The storm drain helped diffuse the sound of the shoots and prevented anyone from locating the shooting position immediately after the shots were fired. The shooter had managed to escape. Forensics teams from the Secret Service and FBI where still pouring over the shooting site. To date all that had been reported to be recovered where two pieces of spent brass and a folding chair that the shooter had apparently waited in.
The news was still reporting large scale rioting in many of the cities across the country, with the worst of it being in Detroit, LA and Memphis. Not surprisingly there had been no rioting in Atlanta. The National Guard had been called up to help secure the shooting scene almost immediately following the assassination. Between the Guards presence and the Police force which was already at a high state of readiness due to the Presidents visit any attempted rioting was put down before it started in Atlanta.
The Vice President had taken the oath of office on Tuesday following the Killing of the President. He was staying in an undisclosed location as where most of the cabinet and Joint Chiefs. The new President addressed the nation Tuesday night bemoaning the loose of his predecessor and calling for an end to racial inequality. Though there was no proof who the killer was the entire speech seemed to be about condemning racism and blaming the far right. The media of course took the story and ran with it. "It's not the fault of the rioters they are just frustrated with the rampant racism that has kept them down for so long" one popular TV news person was quoted as saying.
There had yet to be any rioting in Jackson. People where on edge, violent crime and vandalism had spiked and there were several reports of flash mobs robbing stores. But out and out riots where not a problem yet.
The rest of the week went by in a blur for Jack. They worked late every night so they could get done. Everyone wanted to get home to their families. The project was all but done by Thursday afternoon. Everyone would go home that night with Matt and Harper returning next week to install the material that was on back order. The rest of the crew would meet in Little Rock on Monday and start the next project, a hospital.

The last thing they did on every job was to load the company tools up on Pete and Matts trucks. While all the guys provided their own hand tools the company provided all the power tools and more expensive equipment they used. Usually they started hauling off tools they didn't need at the end of the job the week before. But since a lot of the material had shown up at the last minute they had kept all the tools on the job until the last day. The problem this created was that here where now more tools to be hauled then there was available space in Matt and Petes trucks. Jack volunteered to take some of the tools with him and bring them to Little Rock the following week. He and Pete wound up loading the generator, miter saw, table saw and spare gas cans into Jacks truck.

Once everyone was loaded up they were given the address to the next job and told to have a good weekend.

Chapter 6
Jackson, MS
Jack and Neal jumped in his truck and headed home. They took I-55 north for about 100 miles and exited the interstate in Winnona, MS. While in Winnona they stopped for gas at a shell station. They had made this drive so many times in the last year and a half that they both knew when and where they would stop and how long each leg of the trip would take. Jack got out and stared pumping gas while Neal went in to use the facilities. The first thing Jack had noticed when pulling in was a group of teenagers hanging around in the parking lot. The same kids where usually here every week when Jack and Neal stopped off. They were always hanging out by their cars, playing their music to loud and in general just being kids. Jack had never thought much about them before, they always seemed harmless enough, just some boys trying to act like how they thought men should act and girls hanging out with them. Today was a little different though. While these kids always played their music a little to loud, today it was blaring and the lyrics where pretty offensive to Jack, who didn't exactly have virgin ears. The kids were also yelling a lot and cussing, not so much at each other but in their conversation, like they were all mad about the same thing. Looking around the station a lot of the other customers seemed nervous.

Before Jack was done filling his tank a Winnona police car pulled up behind where the kids were parked and a rather large police officer got out of the car. Within seconds the music was turned down the kids where in their cars and leaving as soon as the officer moved his car so they could pull out. Jack finished pumping his gas and went inside the station to use the restroom. When he came back out Neal was waiting on him and they got in the truck and headed home.

Jack dropped Neal off at his house and then drove the two miles to his own house. Before he had finished getting out of the truck his Doberman Browning ran up to him and was licking his hand. The Dog looked fierce if you didn't know her, but she was a giant baby. Jack often said if they were ever robbed the dog would probably pee herself at the sight of strangers and hide in here kennel, until they left.

Jack carried his bags to the porch and let himself into the house. It wasn't much as far as houses went, just a singlewide mobile home. But unlike everyone else they knew Jack and Carries house was paid for. He'd paid a $15,000 cash down payment for it and the 5 acres it sat on when they had moved to Tennessee 2 years ago and had paid the balance off on the property within the first year. Since then he had made improvements to the house and property, residing the house and replacing the windows as well as installing a storm shelter and building a large shed. The next big project Jack had planned was to start building on. He intended to add on to the trailer one room at a time until he had built a whole new house at which point he would have the trailer hauled away. Of course the finished product was a long way off completed only in Jacks mind. But he had drawn the plans up and had stocked up on building materials when they were either cheap or free.

Given the traveling Nature of their work the company would let any of the employees have left over material at the end of different phases of each job. The idea being it was cheaper just to throw the stuff away then to store it and haul it to the next job. As a result Jack got lots of free 2x4s, plywood and trim.

When Jack walked in the door Carrie was sitting on the couch with her eyes glued to the TV. Jack was a little annoyed not to be greeted after having been gone for 4 days. But when he looked at what she was watching he stood there mesmerized himself. The TV was on the local news and showing building burning, it looked very familiar, Jack realized after a second or two that it was the Tupelo, MS mall. Jack has driven right by it an hour ago. Just then a reporters voice came on the TV. "Witnesses are telling us that a small riot broke out here at the Barnes Crossing Mall about two hours ago. It apparently started when a group of teenagers went into one of the stores as a flash mob and started stealing clothing, the group moved on to other stores and started stealing shoes and electronics. In the matter of a few minutes the group got much larger and at some point a fire broke out. Police responded but were unable to contain the youths, once the fire started they concentrated their efforts on evacuating the mall. At this point authorities are unsure how many people were injured in this event or if everyone got out of the mall before it became engulfed in flames. This is Kirra Knight with action news 12 Memphis."

Jack sat down on the couch next to his wife . "i can't believe they burned down the mall" was all he could come up with to say. "what the hell is happening to this country" Carrie blurted out. "I don't know but I never thought this rioting crap would happen around here. We moved here to keep the kids away from all the violence and crime." They both sat their quietly for a few moments and then Jack told Carrie "I don't want you going anywhere without your Glock babe." "Do you really think that's necessary, Tupelos and hour from here and there hasn't been the least bit of violence or crime around here?" "Just because there hasn't been doesn't mean their wont. The same kind of idiots that started that fire are everywhere. Just humor me and carry your Glock when you go shopping and stuff, that is why we got you your permit after all." "OK, but I still think you're over reacting." "Carrie in the last 4 days the president has been shot, rioting has started all over and now the mall has been burned down, I'd rather over react then see you or the kids hurt because you weren't prepared." "OK, I said I would. Now kiss your wife hello you big old wood monkey" she teased.

The weekend went quickly. On Friday they did their grocery shopping and Jack worked on the house, finishing the caulking around the new windows he had put in two months before. He hated caulking and put the job off as long as possible. Saturday Jack went shooting in the morning and they barbequed that afternoon. By Sunday afternoon Jack had mowed the lawn and was packing for his trip to Little Rock on Monday when his cell phone rang. He checked the caller ID and saw that it was Matt, his boss. Jack answered. "What's up Matt?" "Hey Jack there has been a change in plans, Pete and I aren't gonna be able to go back to Jackson, this week we have some stuff to do at the office and we decided to put the Little Rock job off a week or so until things calm down there a bit." "What do you mean cam down." "Haven't you been watching the news Jack?" "No honestly I haven't turned on the TV since I saw the Tupelo mall burning down on Thursday night." "Jack there have been a lot of riots in Little Rock, cops shot, neighborhoods destroyed the whole bit. As big a news junky as you are I was sure you'd have known about all this." "Honestly Matt I've been so busy around here I just kinda forgot about the news for a couple days." "Well you should check out CNN, when we get off the phone. Anyway, the reason I'm calling is we don't need you and Neal in Little Rock this week since we aren't starting up yet, so that you guys can get some hours we are gonna let you go down and finish the Jackson job. I'll email you the punch list if you'll give me your email address. That's why I'm calling and not Daddy, he is computer illiterate." Matt and jack both chuckled at that Matts Dad still couldn't work the built in GPS in his truck, much less get online. Jack gave Matt his email info and then called Neal to let him know what was up.

When he got off the phone with Neal He fired up his computer and printed out Mattes email. there was more work left on the job then Matt had thought. It was mostly trim work and hanging doors, but at least 3 days worth of work for the two of them. After that he decided to check the news for a bit while Carrie was making dinner. Things where bad all across the country on Thursday when Jack got home, by Sunday they were horrible. The minorities were rioting all over the place from big cities to small towns. In the small towns these mini riots as the media was calling them were typically put down quickly by the local police. In the cities though the rioting and looting was running rampant. With the exception of mall riot, nothing had been reported to have happened in between Michie, TN and Jackson, MS . Which was the area Jack was most concerned with. He hopped this week would be as uneventful as any other.

Over dinner he and Carrie discussed what all he had seen on the news. Carrie was not Happy that Jack was still intent on going back to work given all the crime, but Jack convinced her that there was nothing to worry about and that they really needed the money. Especially given that the next job had been put off for a couple of weeks. That night he unloaded the tools he didn't think he would need off of his truck and loaded what he thought he would need. He put the generator in his shed for safe keeping. There was already power on this job site, since the buildings where more or less completed, and he didn't want to be responsible for it ridding in his truck bed around Jackson. He loaded up some cords and a couple of power saws he didn't normally carry. Since Matt and Pete had already taken the companies tools home, he needed stuff to for him and Neal to work with.

Though he didn't want to let on to Carrie he was a but nervous about this trip. He knew that Jackson wasn't any different than any other city and that the riots were just as likely to occur there as anywhere else. But he couldn't afford to jeopardize his job and didn't want to seem like he wasn't a team player. Besides if nothing happened this week in Jackson, and it likely wouldn't, he'd seem pretty foolish for not going to work. Jack decided he'd take along a little insurance just to be safe, he'd take a ling gun with him and a full sized pistol. If things got bad he didn't want to be stuck with a 5 shot revolver. The pistol was no big deal, he had put a small gun safe in his truck last year when he had had a pistol stolen out of it. He learned his lesson the hard way, to the tune of about $700, and didn't keep unsecured guns in his truck anymore. However he didn't have a way to secure a rifle in his truck. He figured he would take a cable lock and run it through the action of the rifle he took and attach it to the seal frame on his truck. Not ideal or nearly as secure as a safe, but it would have to do.

For a pistol he selcted his Glock 34 9mm out of his small collection. It was the gun he had the most practice with occasionally shooting it in matches. He grabbed the Glock, a holster, mag pouch and 2 spare mags out of the gun safe he kept in his bed room. The long gun was a little harder to choose, he only had a few rifles, besides his .22s and hunting guns that he wouldn't consider for self defense. That left him with his AR-15, M1A and a Kel-tech sub 2000 he bought on a whim a couple of years ago. The M1A and AR-15 where both pretty expensive guns, where as the kel-tec was dirt cheap. Even though it was only chambered in 9mm he figured he'd take the kel-tec, that way if it got stolen he would only be out the $200 he spent on it. He grabed the carbine, a couple of 33 round mags for it and took the guns and accessories out to the truck. He locked the Glock and al the mags in the trucks safe and cabled the carbine to the frame of the back seat. He then loaded his luggage and cooler into the truck and went inside to get ready for bed, feeling a little better about the trip to Jackson.

Chapter 7
Michie, TN

The next morning Jack got up at 3:30, got dressed, poured some coffee into his travel mug and was out the door by 3:50. Ten minutes later Neal was climbing into the cab having thrown his stuff into the bed. They talked about what they had to do when they got to the job and about their weekends. They avoided discussing the rioting and assassination until the passed The Barnes Crossing exit on highway 45. They could see the burned out hulk of the mall from the highway. "Hard to believe they burned it," Neal said. "I know, it's pretty scary what people are capable of. 32 dead and 78 injured according to the news" Jack replied. "Of course the news has to be politically correct and not mention the fact that the riot was started by a bunch of black kids" Neal spat. "How did you hear it was black kids? Nothing I saw mentioned that." "well of course it didn't, reporting minorities committing a crime is racist." They both laughed at that. "What was I thinking of course you're absolutely right. If it had been started by a bunch of white kids they probably would have beaten that fact into the ground. But how do you know it was black kids?" Jack asked again. "Phyllis's cousin is a Tupelo cop. He told her about it that night on the phone. She called to check on him and the kids when she saw the fire on the news. He called he back a few hours later and told her the whole story. A bunch of back kids, around 50 came in the mall at the food court and started pushing white people around screaming about how they killed their president. Mall security tried to stop it, but the two guards on duty got the crap kicked out of them by about 10 of the kids. A couple cops showed up in the middle of that and tried to stop the beating, somehow both the cops where shot. Next thing you know the place was on fire." "But the whole thing started with some kids stealing stuff right? Why weren't the cops getting shot mentioned on the news?." "I don't know man but that's what he told us. Maybe they aren't telling the newsies the real story. Or maybe the news is going along with it to keep people calm." The two friends drove on in silence.

That night Jack followed his usual routine checking into the hotel, ordering dinner, etc.. When he turned on the news he learned that it had not been a good day on Wall Street. With the assassination and riots Jack just hadn't paid attention to the market. Not that he was an expert on the subject anyway. But he knew enough to know that the circuit breakers kicking in every day for the last five days in a row was a very bad thing. He also saw that the rioting in Little Rock, Memphis and St Louis had been brought under control when the governors of those states instructed state police and the national guard to start arresting anyone in the streets after declared curfews or in groups of over 5 people over the age of 13 and authorized deadly force for any form of resistance. Only a few mass arrests in each city had been enough for the rioters to figure out that when the authorities showed up they had better disperse.

The next morning while Jack and Neal were working the miter saw died on them. Tom called Matt and asked him if he should go ahead and replace it and just charge it to the company credit card he had been issued. Matt told him to go ahead and buy a new. Jack jumped in his truck and headed to the nearest Lowes to buy a replacement. When he walked in he noticed a long line at the check out with a customer arguing with the clerk about his credit card being good. 'It sure sucks to be that guy' Jack thought. Knowing what a pain it was when there was a problem with your card. While he was putting the saw in his cart he heard an announcement over the intercom. "Attention Lowes shoppers, unfortunately our credit card processing system is down, unless you are paying with cash, we will not be able to complete your transaction. 'Crap, guess I'm not buying a saw here,' thought Jack. He started walking out to the car when he noticed the same customer still arguing with the clerk.

The next hardware store was a Home Depot and though Jack didn't like shopping there he knew that he shouldn't waste time driving to another Lowes when the Depot was only a mile away. When he parked he noticed several people walking out of the store empty handed, looking very annoyed. He started walking toward the door when one of the customers walking to their car said "hey buddy, better go to Lowes, unless you're paying cash their credit card machines are down here." "That's crazy Lowes told me the same thing Jack responded. You don't know of another hardware store around here do you?" "Sure there's and ace hardware two blocks up on the left." "Thanks a lot I guess they'll get my business today." "Mine too" the stranger replied.

When Jack arrived at the Ace Hardware he saw a sign on the door stating cash only, credit card machines are down. What the hell Jack thought. Knowing he had to get the job done Jack went inside the store and bought the cheapest power miter saw they had and paid cash. It wouldn't hold up to the kind of use he regularly put them through at work but it would do good enough to finish this job. He could have bought a better one, but the one they normally used was $450 and Jack only had $300 on him. So he opted for the $150 saw, knowing it would take the company over a month to reimburse him.

When he got back to the job site he told Neal about the credit card machines being down at all three stores. "I wonder if it's just a local problem or maybe those three stores all use the same processor?" Neal guessed. "No idea, I'm just glad I had some cash on me to buy a new saw with. You ready to take lunch?" "Sure thing Jack, you brought yours I guess?" "Always" Jack replied. Jack sat down to eat in his truck while Neal walked across the street to a Burger King. While listening to talk radio Jack heard a news story saying that one of the major credit card processors had a major system error and that they were working to fix the problem. "Makes sense" he thought to himself. After he finished eating he called home to talk to Carrie. "How are you my love" he asked when she answered. "I'm good baby how about you?" "Same old same, putting up trim, trying to get done, now that we have all the material. We should get done about noon tomorrow and I'll be headed home." "That's great, I'll be glad to have you home" she replied. "Whys that?" he teased. "Shockingly enough I actually like having you around? By the way I have to go by the bank and get some cash, the credit card system and the check processing system was down at the doctor's office and the pharmacy today. I had to pay cash at both. Supposedly some processing company had a computer glitch or something." "I know all about it" he went on to tell her about his adventures in miter saw shopping.

That night Jack learned more about the credit card problem. Apparently not only did this credit card processor shut down credit card transactions on its network somehow it also shut down all other credit card processors and the EBT system which handles electronic food stamps in most of the country. Today being the first of the month there were lots of pissed of people trying to buy groceries with their food stamps being told the stores could not process their transactions. 'Not good at all' Jack told himself.

The next morning when they got to work Jack pulled his portable radio out of the truck. "I know it's against the rules Neal but , with it being just us here I figured we could keep an ear on the news, do you mind?" "No I think it's a pretty good idea myself." When Jack got the radio out and turned it on nothing happened. "Damn the batteries must be dead. Well I guess that's what I get for trying to break the rules" he told Neal.

The two worked on the finishing touches to the project and then started doing a walk through to ensure everything was done. About halfway through their walk through Jacks cell phone rang, it was Carrie "What's up babe?" Jack said in way of answering. "Jack I just left the bank, they said they would only let me withdrawal $50." "What we've got plenty of money in there?" "I know they said it was a temporary policy until they could get their system straightened out. They said their systems were affected by the same bug that messed up the credit card processing." Carrie sounded worried to Jack and he was starting to worry too. "Jack is this the banking system collapsing like you said could happen? I mean I always thought you were being a little over the top with that stuff, but we can't get money or use our debit cards or credit card." "I don't know babe, but I'm sure it's nothing, just a glitch like they are saying. I'm sure that's all" Jack said to reassure his wife, not quite believing it himself.

When he got off the phone he told Neal what Carrie had said about the bank. "Crap, I don't have any cash to speak of on me or at home" said Neal. "We don't have much either" replied Jack. "Well hopefully it will all be straightened out in a day or so" Neal said. "I hope so" Jack agreed.

They quickly finished their walk through and started picking up their tools. By the time they finished loading the truck it was 4:15 in the afternoon. They found two more items that weren't on thier punch list that would have to be completed in the morning. Somehow there had been no sheet rock finishing done in two of the buildings closets. They got in the truck and started to head to the hotel to check back in. Jack noticed that gas at the first station they passed was $8.00 a gallon. "What the hell it was only $4.00 this morning" he told Neal. "Well you weren't goanna stop until Winnona anyway where you?" his friend asked. "Actually I wanted to fill up before we left, with all this banking stuff going on I was worried prices might spike. Oh well I guess we'll see if they are any cheaper in Winnona tomorrow."

Chapter 8
Jackson, MS

That night the rioting started all over again in every major city in the country. After two days with no credit cards and no welfare money people began to revolt. Looting was rampant in almost every city and town. Some speculated that it was planned at first, by the end of the night there was no doubt. The largest terrorist attack in history was carried out in the United States by what appeared to be its own citizens. With random riots starting up all over at almost exactly 6 p.m eastern throughout the country. By 7 p.m. eastern time the riots where in full swing. That's when the bombs started going off. Police stations, banks, hospitals and government buildings where targeted in every major city and in many rural and suburban areas. The bombs ranged in sophistication from Molotov cocktails to C-4 with remote detonators and everything in between. Police officers and government officials were assassinated. By the end of the night there were estimated to be 100,000 people dead or injured nationwide.

When the riots started Jack and Neal where checking back into their hotel. They had thought they would be going home today but the unfinished sheetrock changed their plans for them. By the time Jack got out of the shower and turned the TV on the riots where in full swing in Jackson. Fortunately they were staying in Pearl, MS just south of Jackson and the rioting hadn't reached their area yet. Fox news was attempting to cover the riots, but none had the resources to cover a story this big. Jack couldn't believe that people where going this crazy. After a couple of minutes he thought he should check a local channel just to see if anything was happening in Jackson. He was shocked with what he saw. St Dominic's hospital was completely engulfed as was the governors mansion, looting was taking place all over the city and the police where completely overwhelmed. There where fires breaking out all over the city and reports of some bombings.

Jack picked up his cell phone and called Neal. "Hey man" Neal answered. "Have you got the TV on? Have you seen the riots?" Jack asked. "No what's going on?" "Turn the TV on channel 6, then pack your shit we're getting out of here." Jack quickly packed what few items he had unpacked and drug his stuff to Neal's room and knocked on the door. Neal opened the door and immediately turned around and continued packing his stuff. The TV was on and Jack watched as they showed an overhead shot of one of the many riots taking place in the city. It was like something out of the L.A. riots of the 90s a large group of black people was hitting and kicking 3 white guys in what appeared to be utility company uniforms. One of the guys was down and had 3 or 4 people kicking him in the head, it was obvious he was dead. They had another pushed up against a wall with the people running in hitting him and then darting away, he looked out on his feet. The third man seemed to be holding the crowd at bay with a crowbar, swinging it wildly from side to side trying to make his way back to the power company truck, something tripped him and he was gone at least 10 guys jumped on top of him. "This is some bad shit Neal are you ready to get out of here yet man?" "Neal glanced at the TV. Hell yes lets go."

The two made their way to the lobby where at least another dozen people where doing the same thing they were, getting the heel out of dodge. The line to the counter was at least 6 people deep waiting to check out. One look at it and Jack went out the door. They could bill him for not checking out properly he didn't care. They loaded their stuff into the truck as quickly as possible with most things just being thrown in the bed. before he started the truck up Jack reached back and opened the safe and retrieved his Glock. He clipped on the guns paddle holster and double mag pouch, then jumped in the seat and fired the truck up. The city was to the west and north of them. But so was the only route they new home. Jack headed East on I-20.

Appreciate it. I'll change the tittle.

Keep it coming

Good start. Thanks for posting it.

I enjoyed reading. Just a thought, you might avoid the "wall of text" to make reading easier.

Good stuff thusfar!!!!

Good story! A few spelling and grammatical errors but nothing major. Do have to agree with the others that breaking it up a bit at dialogue would help. Very much looking forward to the next installment. Thanks for sharing this with us.

Chapter 8 continued

After about 15 minutes of driving Jack pulled to the side of the Interstate. "I'm going to chekc the GPS on my phone and see if I can't find us a route home."

"Good idea. The only way I now to get home from here is back through that mess." Neal replied.

Jack Pressed the apps button on his phone and then the GPS icon. He selected his home address which was programmed into the phone. The little circle icon on his phone started turning. He waited about 30 seconds and it was still turning. "Damn things locked up I guess, I need to restart it." He Powered the phone off waited and powered it back on. The he went through the process of starting the GPS again. After about a minute the little circle was still spinning. "Crap I guess I need to pull the battery, I've only had to do that a couple of times with this phone."

"That's technology for you, never works when you need it to. Have you got a map I can start plotting a route with that? While you play with your fancy phone." Neal was always needling Jack about his phone or computer. Neal just didn't see the need for them.

"Yep, it's in the map pocket behind your seat." Jack replied as he started taking the protective case off of his phone. Neal Got out of the truck and opened to back door so he could move their bags out of the way to get to the map pocket. There was quite a bit of traffic flying by them on the interstate.

Jack finally got the battery pulled out of the phone and started putting it back together, when Neal told him "No map here man."

"It should be back there, maybe Carrie moved it to the other side the last time we cleaned the truck." While Neal started moving stuff to get to the other side Jacks phone stated it's start procedure.
"No map here either man."
"Don't worry about it the phone will be on in a just a few seconds." Jack replied. While he started getting the GPS going Neal put everything back in the cab and climbed back into the passenger seat.

"The damn thing still wont work. For some reason I've got phone signal but no data." Jack griped.

"Well we could try to dead recon our way North. But have these Mississippi roads just go to some farmers house or start out running north south and end up running east west." Neal joked.

"He let me call Dan, he lives around here, he could probably give us directions." Jack found Dan Walkers number in his phone directory and hit send. After three Rings Dan picked up.

"Hey Jack, everything OK, I saw some of the rioting was getting near your hotel?"

"We're OK Dan, we decided to head out of there when things started getting bad. That's kinda why I'm calling. Neal and I are on I-20 East just past Brandon and are trying to figure a way home without going back threw the city. I figured since you live around here you could probably direct me a back way to the Natchez Trace that could avoid the rioting."

"Sure Jack no problem. But it would be a lot easier to draw you a map, especially since I know the way by turns and not street names. Why don't you and Neal come over here, have a cup of coffee and I'll draw you a map? Heck, you guys could just crash out here tonight and head home in the morning." Dan offered.

"Honestly Dan I'd like to get home as quick as possible, but a map would make me feel a lot better about navigating my way through back woods Mississippi. How about we swing by and you can draw us that map and we'll be on our way."

"Sure Jack, I understand." Dan then gave Jack directions to his house.

Jack recapped his conversation with Dan. While Neal thought the map would be great he also thought it might be a good idea to crash at Dans until sun up. "It's just easier to navigate in the daylight Jack."

Chapter 9
Jack pulled the truck into the Walkers driveway. The walkers lived in a old farm house that Dan was slowly restoring. It was a fairly big house, that had been added onto several times over the years. It was a single story with wood siding and big covered porches.

Jack and Neal recognized Dans Bronco in the drive way so they knew they were at the right place. Neither of them wanted to go knocking on the wrong door out in the country in the middle of the night.

Before they could ring the bell Dan was opening the door to great them. "Hey fellas, rough night. Come on in." Dan led them threw the living room to the kitchen. "This is my wife Shelly. Honey this is Dan and Neal from work." They exchanged pleasantries with Dans wife while he got them each a cup of hot coffee.

"OK, guys here's the map I drew up. It should take you about an hour and a half to get to the Trace from here. But these are mostly country roads, and I really think you'd be better off going in the morning when you can see a bit better." Dan explained.

"Well Neal and I talked about it and we'd like to take you up on a place to crash for the night if you and Shelly don't mind Dan?" Jack asked.

"No not at all, we've got plenty of room. As a matter of fact we insist." Shelly said.

"Well thanks very much, we really appreciate it." Neal said.

Jack and Neal got their things out of the truck and Dan showed them to their rooms. When Jack go to his room he thought that he better cal Carrie so she didn't worry when she saw the rioting on the news. He pulled out his cell phone and hit the call home button. The phone rang twice and then he got a rapid busy signal. He tried calling three more times and got the all circuits are busy message each time. "Damn phones" Jack muttered. He then went to the email on his phone and wrote her an email telling her what had happened and where they were. He hit send and started to read his bible. After about 5 minutes he got a new notification on his phone. It said Email unable to be sent. Great still no data service, Jack thought. OK, well I send a text, people were getting text messages when all the phones were messed up after Katrina hit. He wrote out a text explaining what had happened and where he was now and that he would be home tomorrow. About 5 minutes later she sent a text back, saying that she was glad he was OK, that she loved him and would see him tomorrow. She also said she would let Neals wife know what was going on.

What happened?