These words echoed on the early morning flight to central Iowa, the soldiers getting amped up for the busy day ahead. Chris had called to find Thaddeus was indeed in high spirits, welcoming the unexpected visit from Chris and his soldiers on the grounds of discussing possible options for the capture of Martin Briar.
It didn’t take much to excite the eager Liberation, and Chris played to their leader’s ambitious emotions. There was no plan for getting Martin, and if there was, it certainly wouldn’t be shared with Thaddy at this point in time.
“An easy blindside mission, boys,” Chris said when they had arrived and departed the jet. An organization as small and young as the Liberation would have no way of surviving the assassination of its leader so early in their existence. They likely had no plans in place for such an event, and would scramble for a few weeks before eventually fizzling into the void of failed organizations.
All guns were loaded and ready—Chris just needing to give the signal once they arrived to Thad’s home in Ames, Iowa. He had moved from his prior San Francisco residence where Chris had first encountered him at the beginning of their relationship. The Liberation had originally formed in Iowa, a majority of its members having lived in the state. It became an unofficial headquarters despite not having a building to call home.
Thaddeus hosted many events each month from his house, primarily ones that required their small leadership team to make plans for the future. Thad took the liberty of inviting a handful of these leaders for the occasion of Chris’s visit.
Chris drooled when Thad mentioned this on the phone, knowing the bloodbath that awaited. By the time they arrived to Thad’s house in two separate vans, Chris and his team had a perfect understanding of how the morning was supposed to play out. The beauty of being the Keeper of Time was that no one questioned when Chris arrived to a destination with his dozen of guards surrounding him, guns in hand.
“What a beautiful house, don’t you think?” Chris asked his team as they unloaded from the vans and started up the flagstone pathway that split the front yard into two halves. Yellow and orange leaves sprinkled the lawn from the massive oak tree that shaded the garage to their right.
Chris saw through the front window a group of four men laughing in the living room, standing around with drinks in hand. He rang the doorbell and took a step back. These boys like to party early.
Thaddeus opened the door, a tipsy grin plastered across his face. “Chris Speidel! You should have just come home with me after our meeting in Wyoming—would have saved the extra trip.”
“No worries at all,” Chris said as he led his team into the house. “I had business to tend to back in Idaho—I don’t mind the time on the jet, gives me a moment to unplug from the chaos.”
Thaddeus chuckled as he held the door open for all twelve soldiers. “Well, I hope we can help take some of the workload off your shoulders. We’ve already been talking things over about how to get Briar.”
“Oh really? I can’t wait to hear. Where should I have the team mingle? I’m sorry for traveling so heavy, but times are dangerous right now.”
“No problem at all,” Thaddeus said, turning to the men crowded into the foyer and living room. “Gentlemen, I have plenty of space in the backyard or basement. Make yourselves at home and let me know if you need anything.”
The lead soldier nodded and made his way down the only visible hallway, all others following him.
“Thank you,” Chris said.
“Can I get you anything? Beer? Water?”
“I’m okay, thank you. I run on a tight schedule, as you might imagine, so I’d love to jump into business if that works for you fine gentlemen.”
“Absolutely. Let me introduce you to the gang.” Thaddeus pivoted and strolled to the three other men who had waited in the opposite corner of the living room, sofas and lounge chairs set up around the perimeter, a coffee table moved in front of the fireplace to open the space up. “We’ve broken our organization into four different regions to start. I lead what we call Liberation Midwest. And here we have Joe Hicks, leader of our West Coast and Rocky Mountain branch.”
A tall man stepped forward, his face long and droopy, black hair matted down in a way that reminded Chris of Frankenstein’s monster. “Pleasure to meet you,” he said in a deep voice that greatly complemented his appearance.
“And Morgan Kuzma, leader of our Northeast branch,” Thaddeus said, moving to the next man, a more sophisticated appearance with his glasses and sweater vest, a perfectly-trimmed goatee framing his welcoming grin. Chris shook hands with him and offered a smile. “And last, but not least, Donny Spencer, leader of our Southern region.”
Donny nodded to Chris but didn’t speak, keeping a tight-lipped grin before forcing his beer back to his mouth.
“Quite the team you’ve assembled here. How many members are you at now?” Chris asked.
“We’re approaching four thousand scattered across the country. We have even shifted our focus beyond the U.S. borders—hoping to find a new recruit who gels with all of us and make them the leader of our international efforts. Right now we are solely focused on recruiting new members from the Road Runners. There’s still plenty of them out there who are sick of the status quo and want a new opportunity.”
“Impressive, and you plan on using these recruits to help track down Briar?”
“That’s the plan. Most of these recruits are eager to completely break away from the Road Runners and declare
