The 2nd American Revolution
Chapter 6
Charles Carter stood there numbly as he heard the slow click, click, clicking sound of both caskets being lowered into the ground right after Reverend Leonard Hacker had finished his eulogy. He stood there until the clicking stopped and after a few minutes, the Reverend came over to him and while laying a hand on Charles shoulder, said he was sorry for his grief at this moment of life, but they have gone to a better place. That's when Charles fell to his knees, letting out what started as a groan, then became a scream of pain and agony from the very depths of his soul. A few minutes after Charles had let out his scream, the Reverend said it was time for them to leave. Charles said no, I want to see it finished and when asked by the Reverend seeing what finished, Charles said I want to see their graves filled. When the Reverend left, the fake grass was pulled off the raw earth that had been dug out the previous day, with one of the cemetery workers climbing into a backhoe which had been parked a discreet distance away. The two others brought back shovels. In maybe 15 minutes, both graves had been filled. He was told by one of the men, that they would be back after the earth had settled to finish the job. Charles said nothing, but turned away walking back to his truck.
His story began five days earlier when he was kind of listening to the news while making breakfast before going to check in at work. What got his attention was two people had been killed and several officers wounded in Houston who were doing a no knock raid on some drug dealers house. All he thought about this bit of news was his brother and his wife lived in Dallas and nothing more. It was on the 3rd day after hearing the news about the shootout, he received a call from the Houston police department stating that it was HIS brother and wife that had been killed by the police in self defense while doing their raid. This occurred while he was a work. He immediately notified his supervisor who asked him to prove it to him that this was actually true and not some made up bullsh*t story to get out of work early and be gone for a few days Charles simply called the Houston number and gave the phone to his supervisor. After some questions by the supervisor, he gave the phone back to Charles and apologized, saying you have 3 days off with pay. Charles simply nodded, went to the office to tell one of office people that his brother and his wife had been killed which was why he would be gone from work for the next 3 days. He never returned to work.
Charles was one of those quiet men, the kind that disappears in a crowd of one. It was his brother Noel was the one everyone looked up at during their years of growing up. While Noel was a athlete in junior and high school, he wasn't good enough to be offered a college scholarship. It was in Noel's last 2 years of high school that Noel started drinking which lead to using drugs, in this case, pot. While offered both by his brother, Charles had no use for either as he'd seen how Noel and his friends acted when they were drunk or high on pot. It was in his 2nd year of middle school he got his nick name of Owl and to make it worse, his father changed it even further. It was Brandon (Noel's friend) who one day said he was like an owl being so quiet all the time. What made it worse was when Noel told his folks about this while they were having supper. The 3 of them laughed, with his mother saying that it was so cute and his father saying since he wasn't a full size owl, how about Little Owl, with more laughter coming from the three of them. When he complained about this, he was told he was too sensitive and it's all meant in fun and nothing more. He retreated further into his books, which were either science fiction or fantasy. He got a job working at Wendy's part time (full time meant benefits) in his first year of high school and while he spent some on books, most of it he saved. Until he discovered and figured out that Noel had stolen almost $1,000 of his hard earned money. He discovered his money missing 3 days after Noel had moved to Houston. A years worth of savings gone, just like that. He quietly opened a savings account where he kept the majority of his savings and again, bit by bit started saving all over again. He knew that when he reached 18 and school was over, his parents expected him to move out or start paying them to help offset the cost of food, utilities, etc. He realized he wanted a life of his own because if he didn't, he'd be there the rest of his life and considering the way his life was going, it was nowhere.
He rented a small studio apartment simply because he had very little in personal effects other than his paperbacks, fishing rod and gear. His father said he was too busy to help him move, so Charles ended up renting a U-haul van for $20, having to take the city bus from his home to U-haul, drive back home to put his things into the van, drive to his new home, then back to U-haul and another city bus ride back to his studio and new home. Of course since he was working and had been saving his money, his parents weren't about to help him out money wise. He went to working for a trucking company loading and unloading trailers usually by pallet jack, sometimes a forklift, other times by hand which seemed to happen more than once. Since he needed a phone, he got one that you bought minutes for and since he only used it for work, he still had many minutes left on original 300 minutes the phone company had provided with his purchase. He was quite popular with the 3 dock supervisors because he was always willing to work extra hours either on his own shift or the other two which meant overtime. With each passing month, money was saved, growing larger.
In his fourth month of living alone, he bought a refurbished computer from Best Buy because the cable company had a special on the internet, good for one year, which he took. With access to the net, he had all sorts of entertainment at his finger tips along with keeping up with what was going on around the world. The third time he got drenched in the rain waiting for the bus to go to work, he bought himself a good, used pickup truck with 4 wheel drive via Craigslist for $2,000. He missed fishing, so a few months later he bought an 18' Gamefisher that came with a 10hp motor and trailer for $1,000. It was his first boat and another dream that came true for him. He used peel and stick letters from Walmart, naming it Brigadoon, after the movie.
Later, he got a free camper shell (Craigslist again) which he fixed up so he could sleep in it when he wanted an overnight fishing trip. Life was good and uncomplicated until his brother and wifes deaths, which later he determined was nothing but murder. Charles being so shy and quiet, was never a social mixer so he never had a girlfriend though he did look at Julie, one of the office girls at work more than once. But realized that was all he'd ever do about it. Because of this, he just quietly saved his money each week, which added up over the ensuing years. His parents called him several times, but quit taking their calls when they insisted on calling him Little Owl. They finally quit calling and never thought to ask him where he lived so they could visit. One thing Charles knew was that his job was also a dead end job with NO chance of being promoted to being a dock supervisor, much less terminal manager. The trucking company wanted those jobs done by those with college degrees and Charles had no interest in going back to school for this. BUT when he reached 21, he could take the trucking companies class A driving school course to become a truck driver free of charge. In exchange for the training, room and board provided by the company, he would have to drive for them for one year. It was here he found his knack in life and after 30 days of being on the road with an instructor, he was on his own. He was able to store truck and boat in the company yard with no problem. There was no reason for him to keep his apartment since he would be living on the road and in the semi-truck so he gave notice that he was leaving, getting his cleaning and security deposit back. Along with no longer paying for the internet there, this gave him a large boost in saving more money.
The truck shell, which was lockable, held his pc, monitor and those paperbacks he didn't take with him while on the road. After 3 months of being on the road, he missed his internet access so while in Salt Lake City, he went to New 2 U, a computer store chain which sold used office computers and laptops. He bought a laptop and from AT&T, his wifi internet connection. The one money problem he had was food. Bologna (or ham) and cheese sandwiches along with chips and sodas got tiresome after 2 months, so he would hit the fast food restaurants or a regular restaurant at a truck stop. This was money he didn't want to spend, but had no choice until he saw a driver cooking a meal on the catwalk of his truck. Drivers name was Steve, who explained he had a wife and 2 boys back home to support. By using his camping equipment and shopping at Walmart, he had cheaper, more nutritional food to eat every day and more money to send to mama. After making a delivery at Walmart, he bought a Coleman single burner propane stove, 6 propane bottles, frying pan, etc. This is where he found he liked the gallon jugs of Arizona ice tea and made it go further drinking wise by watering it down by at least 25% with water. Now he had more money to stash in his bank account each week vs eating at some fast food place or truck stop restaurant. Charles knew he was still drifting thru life, but at least he was content with it and what more could anyone ask for or expect?
When Noel left town, he moved to Houston for more job opportunities where he got work at a produce distribution company and from there, got his class B license making deliveries to restaurants. It was at a Mexican fast food place that Noel met his future wife, Harlean Carpentier. While driving and making his deliveries, it was when Noel realized he had an excellent distribution operation ready to go for selling grass which he sold to more than one employee at these restaurants. Now Noel wasn't completely dumb as he had no intention of becoming a major player in distributing grass, just enough so he made a few bucks and of course, keeping himself in grass and beer, something Harlean had no problem with as she also enjoyed both. Soon she moved in with him and 5 years later, flew to Las Vegas to be married, spending a week there before returning home. He never bothered to call their parents or Charles.
Charles bought a used Ruger P89DC 9mm pistol after almost having been robbed at a truck stop. The reason he wasn't, was because he had cried out for help and ran very, very fast from the knife welding would be robber. Several weeks later, a owner operator from another company was trying to sell the pistol as he needed the money till he got paid which would be several days away and would need to refuel again before that happened. It was the same way he had bought a truckers GPS and CB much cheaper than he could of via one of the truck stops. He could never understand how anyone could be broke if they watched and understood how their money was spent.
Via the internet, he watched many videos on the use and maintenance of his newly acquired pistol. There was a Bass Pro shop he stopped at on the way back to his home terminal for his two weeks off after being on the road for 4 months. This was when he bought 4 additional magazines and 10 boxes of ammo. There was a privately owned in and outdoor shooting range in Houston which is where he learned to shoot his pistol. For some unknown reason, it brought him great satisfaction not only learning how to shoot but also consistently hit the target. It was there he met Terry Jene Bollea, the store owner, who took an interest in him. Terry even lent him a bolt action .308 rifle, though Charles had to buy the box of bullets. Charles found it was harder to shoot a target long range which he later bought the rifle from Terry, along with having a scope mounted on it. On the road again, he bought a laser range finder and spotting scope from Cabela's. His life was going in a direction he had never imagined.
As the weeks went by, the Houston tv news crew kept reporting on the shooting of his brother and wife. But soon it became apparent that the mayor, chief of police and the police involved were attempting a cover up, including the police either covering up their body cameras or turning them off during this no knock warrant search. His brother and wife were targeted because of what a confidential informant said: that Noel and his wife were selling black tar, i.e. heroin. But later, the informant (face blanked out and voice changed for the interview) told the news people he had not only never said this about them, but that he had also never bought anything from them other than grass and that had been at work. A neighbor said their place never had any unusual foot traffic as far as a drug dealer would have, but when the cops attacked the place, it was like hearing CNN footage of U.S. troops in combat in Afghanistan. Then he started checking many Youtube videos of cops and lack of accountability for their actions. Those few who did get fired would sometimes later be reported as simply going to work at another police department either in the same state or simply moving to work in another state. With no repercussions to this bad cop of course and it seems they too had many complaints against them in their new jobs. His breaking point came when NO charges were brought against any of the cops for the murder of his brother and wife.
Then Charles came across the Youtube of the black Army veteran shooting the Dallas cops for treating blacks like they did, with the cops not being held accountable for their actions thru the years in that city. This was when he started buying a lot of .308 ammo and was using the range for several weeks until someone asked him if he was going to war as he seemed to be there every day. It took him several days to find the place he wanted to shoot without anyone knowing he was there. Two cans of fluorescent spray paint bought from Home Depot were used to paint fist sized rocks and using his range finder and a 100' tape measure also from Home Depot, he layed out a rock every 100 feet to a distance of 300 yards. From a Dollar Tree store, he bought 50 packages of latex balloons, each with 25 balloons per package and from Walmart, several cans of helium and cheap fishing line. From Terry, he bought a Henry AR-7, a semi-automatic .22 caliber rifle which would shoot .22 shorts, long and long rifle ammo, with the the rifle disassembling into 3 pieces, which included 2 magazines. Each time after returning to the yard for his time off, he'd check his P.O. box for mail, with the postal employees knowing he was a truck driver, would hold all his mail. As for his phone and internet services, he paid them online. After his 2 weeks off were up, he was back on the road again, but this time checking Youtube videos on the abuses done by police without cause....and not being held fully accountable for their actions. Instead, they'd get mini vacations...suspended for a period of time, but still getting full pay. In the rare cases they were fired (but never prosecuted), they'd simply find another job with police in another county, state, etc.
Then there were the news reports of people taking the law into their own hands and killing people such as those rich and famous liberals and antifa people. Included in this was the obviously planned murders of police.....and NOT being caught. And much was said about the unblinded justices figures found at these places. For 8 months, Charles traveled the highways and roads of America, making his plans. More than once, he'd be out in the middle of nowhere taking his mandatory 10 hours of rest, at which time he'd practice with his pistol or rifle. While at a Bass Pro store, he decided to buy an AR-10 which also shoots the .308 caliber simply because he realized he might have to be shooting A LOT of bullets and a bolt action rifle along with his pistol, weren't simply going to make it for that kind of action he had planned. He bought a DPMS Panther AR-10 and 20, 30 round magazines, along with 2,000 rounds of ammo and a scope for this rifle. Having learned his lesson earlier, he went back to places where there were no people and practiced as much as he could. Thru FIA (Freedom of Information Act), he got the names of all the cops involved in the murders of his brother and sister in law. Justice denied is no justice at all. Of course, the lawyers came crawling out of the woodwork wanting to take his lawsuit against the police department, with him choosing the law firm of Murdock and Son. The reason he chose them was because Jack and his son Matt, LISTENED to what he had to say, along with not asking for money up front as part of their retainer fees. Adding to this was not expecting 50% or more of whatever settlement that may come out of this case, along with expenses occurred by them while this case was pending. They charged a flat 20% and expenses which they would provide an itemized list of those expenses.
The news people worked themselves into a lather with more shootings of not only cops, but the governors of California, celebrities and what the reporters would call “the common man”. Thing is, these “common” men and women had what are called rap sheets and it had nothing to do with that form of music. Drug sellers/users, car jackings, drive by shootings, rape...just a lot of crime committed by what he found out to actually be a small percentage of Americans. With blacks committing most of the crimes. Sure, there were whites and other races doing the same thing, but not in the numbers that blacks did. As for Asians and Native Americans, they were basically non-existent crime wise statistically speaking. It was the Hispanics, with their gangs that was giving the blacks a run for the money crime wise. Of course he and everyone had been watching the news when he could at various truck stop drivers lounges and how these shooters left unblinded lady justice's figures as their calling cards. Thanks to the news, he, along with everyone else, found how these people were killed which gave him ideas on how to carry out his revenge. It was at a truck stop where he happened to catch a very old western tv series called Have Gun, Will Travel staring Richard Boone. At first, he had no intention of literally using a silver rook chess piece, but the more he thought about it, the more the idea appealed to him. And with Ebay selling so many different things...... Then came the day it was time for him to give notice at work and carrying out his revenge.
First to go were David Araquette, Ed Assnier and Alec Boldwin while fishing on their day off which was a Monday. This meant the lake had very few fishermen there. Being off duty, they of course had their pistols but not wearing any kevlar. One thing the three didn't expect was being shot as he came up to them in his own boat as they were thinking he was going to ask them how they were doing and vice versa. But instead of showing them his rod and reel setup, out came his loaded, ready to go AR-10 with it's 20 round magazine. Afterwards, using his pistol. he made sure they each got a head shot. Checking to make sure there were no casings in either boat, he cut their anchor rope and due to the head shots and pulling the boats drainage plug, their boat quickly filled with water and drifting away. He then proceeded to quickly putt putt away to the other boat launching site on the lake. Three silver paladin chess pieces had been left on the tailgate of David's truck. Once hooked up, he took off for a highway rest stop some 60 miles away for the night. The next day, he was on his way to San Antonio. The demand for drivers has been exceeding for available for more than 5 years and this is where temp agencies got into the action. More than one driver simply wanted something to supplement his income. Charles had other plans. The agency was quite happy to quickly find him an over the road job, but he told them that he'd work no more than 30 days at a time, then he was taking time off. The agency was more than happy in agreeing, along with him being able to store his truck and boat at the truck companies yard which had a security guard on duty 24/7. The temp agency was good to its word, though several times they asked if he could stay a few days past his 30 days, which he said okay. He rented a car for his next targets and next to go were Bob Barkor, James L. Books and Steve Biscemi who were doing a three some on the local golf course, leaving his 3 silver rook chess pieces on the ground next to the bushes he had shot from. He was back on the road the following day.
When he returned from being over the road, he bought a motorized bicycle which didn't require registration or insurance, but only a helmet which covered his head. With that mode of transportation, it was no problem pulling up to his next 2 targets being James Aaron Charles and Gregory Timothy Clooney. A cut down double barrel 12 gauge shotgun (private sale thru Armslist) took care Aaron, while a molotov cocktail made from a mixture of gasoline and dish soap in a large glass jar and dew rag from Dollar Tree finished Gregory. They thought he was reaching for a piece of paper for an address he was looking for. But he wasn't done. After their deaths, cops no longer worked alone and were suspicious of everyone which of course, ended up over reacting to perceived danger. Three men were shot, one being killed. Now the people were up in arms, with even more lawsuits being placed against the Dallas police. A “thorough review” by the board of inquiry on these “unfortunate incidents” was NOT accepted by the public. Texas state representatives got into the act by generating and passing a bill that a police departments board of inquiry was to only have ONE cop on it, the others would be regular citizens, including one being a private criminal defense lawyer, the other being a lawyer from the local D.A.'s office. No longer would the boys in blue be investigating themselves.
People were quick to realize the reasoning of WHY the 2nd Amendment followed the 1st and what could happen to the people should it no longer be recognized for its value as the anti-gunners and liberal media wanted you to believe. At first, some people started OPENLY carrying their weapons whether it was a pistol on their hip and in plain sight or their “assault rifles” strapped to their backs with video taping showing the reactions of the police. In more than one case, these people told the cops (usually 4 or more) to go f*ck themselves as they had broken no law and attempted to walk away, with the gun owner being tased, the weapon illegally seized along with the video tapers camcorders. More lawsuits were brought, but now the people started walking down various city streets in groups of 4 to 12. What the cops did NOT expect was suddenly being surrounded by an ARMED group of people telling THEM they were under citizen arrest for violating their civil and constitutional rights. Four cops in separate conflicts thought they could draw their weapons, cowing these people into submission and they chose poorly as they were simply killed. The videos were posted on Facebook, Youtube, etc. after being edited so NO faces were shown, along with voices of these people being altered. The left leaning and liberal media tried stating this and other actions by these people were nothing more than racial and religious hating terrorists. Kind of hard to put a spin on this when it was obvious that different races were working as a group or separately when confronting the police about their constitutional rights.
Of course, other police organizations from different states always sent representatives for the fallen officers out of respect. What no one expected was Clive James Davis, Stuart Damon, Craig Stirling and Richard Donald Schwartzberg being shot while they carried the coffins of James Aaron Charles and Gregory Timothy Clooney during their funerals. Several of the news media covering the occasions were shot simply because several cops from the other states thought those 4 had been shot by several people with pistols. More lawsuits against those who had shot them and of course, the FBI sent more people to investigate these shootings. But now it was stretched to the maximum investigating not only these murders, but others across the U.S.
Suddenly it seemed the people were REALLY p*ssed, with ARMED individuals and groups of people walking around openly armed in those bastions of liberalism such as California, New York, Connecticut, etc. Not only carrying their “assault rifles”, but magazines which carried up to 100 rounds. The police quickly realized they were NOT to be stopping these people without cause. The New York City mayor tried controlling the openly carrying of guns which he and others banned, to no avail. Street shootings, robberies, etc. which were common in a city like Chicago and it's many gun laws became common, but with a difference. Now people were packing and started shooting these people doing these various crimes. The Chicago mayor declined to give up her ARMED police escort of 2 officers so she would understand what it'd be like to be unarmed like everyone else. She was voted out of office and a month later, several men broke into her house while she was giving a speech, stealing whatever they could. This in turn had the people demanding mayors no longer be given police protection. Then there was the backlash of police looking more like a military unit than a police unit. The ex-military armored vehicles? They were sold off, with the excuse of being needed for drug busts no longer being accepted. No longer were cops to wear military style uniforms. They only had 2 to choose from: their regular uniforms or if in SWAT, all black. Those that continued to wear the military style uniforms on duty were now being called Hessions openly by the public. Cops were now being held to a higher standard of accountability, with those found guilty by the new review boards were either fired or charged with violations of the law, including prison sentences for some where they were warmly greeted by the inmates.
There are many abandoned homes in Chicago, which the city couldn't give away for $100 because the new owners would have to pay not only for reconditioning their new place, but also pay the back taxes unpaid by the previous owners. Which became used by drug users. Complaints to the police by citizens went unheeded by the D.A.'s office and police as they said they needed proof that drug activity was taking place there. So people started burning these former homes with the drug users inside. Those that tried escaping were shot, leaving the firemen to deal with the fire and of course, the police and city morgue to deal with the dead in and outside of that place. No one in the neighborhood saw or heard anything when interviewed by the police or media.
It was 22 months after Charles started driving that he was once again standing before the graves of his brother and sister in law a bouquet of flowers for each one. After kneeling between the 2 of them, he said I don't know if you'll hear me or not....or even if there's any kind of consciousness after the body dies, but here goes. He started how he got a job as a truck driver and some of the sights he'd seen. Then it was it's done. Those that killed you payed for this with their own lives, then explained what he had done and how. After laying the flowers at the base of each headstone, he said by the way, I'm NOT Little Owl. My handle is now The Paladin, explaining how he now identified with and took that name.
Three months after visiting their graves, the secretary at the Murdock and Son law office called him, saying the law firm had reached a settlement with the city of Houston and he was needed to come in, agreeing to the settlement agreement and signing it. A check would be issued to him within 72 hours if everything was satisfactory to him. He called the law office, saying he'd be in the next day and was. It was there he found that the city would not admit to any guilt by the police actions on that day, but to expedite the matter, was making this offer. He accepted the offer which was 5.8 million dollars after legal fees and expenses were deducted.
With that money, he bought several acres of land, having a double wide mobile home put on it, along with a cinder block, 2 car garage which was filled with rebar and cement in the cinder blocks to make it tornado proof as he told the contractor. This included a cement ceiling with access to it via a steel door that could be locked from the inside. There were 3 sets of garage doors, with the inner and outer parts being sheets of 1/2 ” steel, with the interior door being of the roll up type. The steel doors were perfectly balanced, with no trouble moving them by hand. Close and lock the outer doors, then pull down the roll up door, locking it into place, followed by doing the same to the 2nd set of steel doors. And under this garage was another room which he called his war room though he told the contractor this was his best place to REALLY survive a tornado. The contractor thought he was overdoing it, but since he was paying for everything.... In reality, Charles wanted to be prepared should the cops discover what he had been doing and had NO thought of going gently in the night as some would say. It was in the garage and in that other room he started building a stash of weapons, food, etc., along with checking the news of other cops abusing their positions of authority. He of course, went back to driving and not only killing rogue cops, but the politicians who thought they were above the law, each time leaving his silver rook somewhere to be found. This started others deciding to take the law in their own hands, with them not only leaving silver and plain rooks, but other chess pieces. What the FBI, Homeland Security and the cops couldn't believe was that this wasn't some sort of massive group conspiracy even when they caught some of these people.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgvxu8QY01s