Freedom TM

Stop!”
    Meanwhile, the spectral Nazi just stood observing, smoking his cigarette on its long filter.
    The soldiers finally stood. “Done, sir!”
    “Gut. Leave us.”
    The soldiers exchanged looks and left in a hurry. As they did, a deep rumbling noise came to Strickland’s ears. It was like a slow, rolling thunder. Through the wide infirmary doorway came a hellish-looking motorcycle covered in blades and mystical sigils and glyphs. Another one followed it.
    “Oh my god …”
    They pulled up alongside the apparition and slammed down hydraulic kickstands. Both of them extended fiendish sword arms with a ring of steel.
    “No!”
    The Nazi removed his trench coat and hung it on the extended blade of a nearby bike. Then he rolled up his sleeves. He moved toward Strickland along with the second motorcycle. “I do so enjoy my vork.…”

Part Three July
----
    Gold: $4,189USD/oz.
    Unleaded Gasoline: $17.87USD/gallon
    Unemployment: 32.3%
    USD/Darknet Credit: 202.4

----

Chapter 23: // Ultimatum
    Realtime.com/news
    Violence Spreads as Dollar Slides —Marauding gangs of heavily armed immigrant workers are terrorizing entire counties in Iowa, Kansas, Missouri , and Oklahoma , prompting calls for martial law in several Midwestern states and causing locals to take up arms in self-defense . With hyperinflation and never-before-seen gas prices invalidating the economies of entire communities, officials fear civil order has begun to break down .
    With the U.S. military thinly stretched overseas, private security firms have contracted with several Midwestern municipalities to restore order and suppress looting .
    The heads of America’s intelligence services sat around a circular boardroom table in Building OPS-2B of National Security Agency headquarters. Now outnumbering them at the table was a wide array of private intelligence and military analysts, led by familiar executives from Computer Systems Corporation (CSC), its subsidiaries—EndoCorp and Korr Military Solutions—and the lobbying firm, Byers, Carroll, and Marquist (BCM).
    The atmosphere was tense. On a bank of flat-screen televisions behind them, a dozen news channels were silently chronicling the meltdown of the American economy in animated graphics. But thereal headlines were reserved for the fate of the U.S. dollar. All the graphs were heading down at a precipitous angle.
    Their host opened the meeting.
    NSA: “Ladies and gentlemen, we’re facing a grave situation. As we sit here, the United States government has lost control of portions of its communications and air defense assets. At the same time, civil disorder is spreading throughout the Midwest, and the dollar is plummeting on foreign markets. I’m hearing calls for martial law coming from lobbyists on Capitol Hill. More worrisome is the talk I’ve heard about implementing Army Regulation 500-3.”
    BCM: “It’s being brought up with good reason.”
    NSA:
“What reason?”
    CSC: “Army Regulation 500-3 was intended to preserve civil order in the event government communications are severed due to nuclear attack, natural disaster—”
    BCM: “Or
technological emergency
. I think the Daemon qualifies.”
    CSC: “Make no mistake: this is a full-scale attack by the Daemon. Its forces are launching a violent revolution. Regulation 500-3 is called for. Civilian leadership is unable to maintain secure communications.”
    NSA: “What I want to know is why our systems degraded so suddenly and completely.”
    EndoCorp: “The Daemon is conducting a broad denial of service attack against government domains and communications. It’s also undermining the confidence of capital markets. It’s part of Sobol’s overall strategy.”
    DARPA: “Bullshit.”
    All eyes turned to him.
    EndoCorp: “Excuse me?”
    DARPA: “You heard me.”
    BCM: “There’s no reason to abandon decorum, gentlemen.”
    NSA (holding up his hands to calm the situation): “However, my colleague’s succinct critique stands: we may have outsourced a large portion of our raw intelligence-gathering capability to private industry, but we’re not completely blind. There’s no indication that the systems operated under contract for us have been compromised.”
    CSC: “That’s ridiculous. We can show you the proof.”
    NSA: “I’m not interested in your digital proof. We’re monitoring network and electromagnetic activity in real time. There’s no evidence our national defense assets have been degraded.”
    BCM: “That’s