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Speaker 1: Make sure to check out Drink Champs, your number one

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Speaker 1: R E and d J E f N sat down

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Speaker 1: most significant interviews. I literally had to go like Danos

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Speaker 1: and I don't want to have to be the villain.

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Speaker 1: But when I went and did the Donda thing, he

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Speaker 1: I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or where ever you

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Speaker 1: listen to your favorite shows. Hey Leathal listeners, take here.

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Speaker 1: Last season on Lethal Lit, you might remember, I came

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Speaker 1: to Hollow Falls on a mission clearing my aunt Best's

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Speaker 1: name and making sure justice was finally served. But I

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Speaker 1: hadn't counted on a rash of new murders tearing apart

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Speaker 1: the town. My mission put myself and my friends in danger.

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Speaker 1: Though it wasn't all bad, I'm going to be real

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Speaker 1: ify Tig. I like you, but now all signs point

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Speaker 1: to a new serial killer in Hollow Falls. If this

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Speaker 1: game is just starting, you better believe I'm gonna win.

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Speaker 1: I'm tig Torres and this is Lethal Lit. Catch up

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Speaker 1: on season one of the hit murder mystery podcast Lethal Lit,

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Speaker 1: a tig Torre's mystery out now, and then tune in

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Speaker 1: for all new thrills in season two, dropping weekly starting

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Speaker 1: February nine. Subscribe now to never miss an episode. Listen

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Speaker 1: to Leave the Lit on the I Heart Radio app,

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Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Look for

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Speaker 1: your children's eyes and you will discover the true magic

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Speaker 1: of a forest. Find a forest near you and start

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Speaker 1: exploring it. Discover the forest dot Org, brought to you

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Speaker 1: by the United States Forest Service and the AD Council

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Speaker 1: After the Revolution. Richardson, Republic of Texas, Chapter one. Mannie

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Speaker 1: Mannie smiled the way the British journalist's face blanched as

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Speaker 1: the old Toyota hit the pothole. Reggie wasn't used to

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Speaker 1: bad roads, cars driven by actual humans, or the way

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Speaker 1: the heavy metal of the gun mount and the truck

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Speaker 1: bed made the aluminum frame groan. That was all familiar

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Speaker 1: to Mannie. He'd grown up in Siodad de Muerta, back

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Speaker 1: before the lake would blast, back when people had still

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Speaker 1: called it Dallice. The truck's driver veered around the bloated

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Speaker 1: corpse of a large dog lying in the middle of

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Speaker 1: the road. Reggie gripped the truck bed with white knuckles

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Speaker 1: and eyed the swaying ammo belt of the twenty millimeter

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Speaker 1: cannon like it was a coiled snake. The gunner, Mannie's cousin, Alejandro,

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Speaker 1: grinned down at the journalist. The suspeneon's a little fockt

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Speaker 1: ye eh. The brit nodded and turned greener. When the

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Speaker 1: technical hid another pothole. Mannie supposed he should offer a

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Speaker 1: comforting word to the man. That would be good business,

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Speaker 1: but a louder part of him looked at Reggie's brand

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Speaker 1: new boots and thought he can stand a little comfort.

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Speaker 1: The journalist would brag about this ride for months once

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Speaker 1: he got home. Escorting reporters from the safety of Austin

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Speaker 1: to the sundry hotspots of the old Metroplex was not

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Speaker 1: Manny's ideal career. Two years ago, he'd been working on

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Speaker 1: a bachelor's in business administration from the University of Austin.

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Speaker 1: The plan had been to get a job with Ages Biosystems,

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Speaker 1: then charm his way into a working visa and a

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Speaker 1: gig in the California Republic, but the fighting had started

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Speaker 1: up again and ruined all that. The culprit this time

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Speaker 1: was the Heavenly Kingdom, a loose assortment of Christian extremist militias.

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Speaker 1: They'd boiled out from the suburbs of the old Metroplex

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Speaker 1: and all but broken the Republic of Texas. The Autonomous

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Speaker 1: City of Austin had stabilized the situation with the help

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Speaker 1: of an alliance of leftist Texan militias, the Secular Defense Forces.

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Speaker 1: Beating them back had cost a lot in blood and

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Speaker 1: time and forced Manny to change every plan he'd ever

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Speaker 1: had for his life. So he'd embraced the situation and

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Speaker 1: started his own business, hiring on some friends as employees.

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Speaker 1: Together they'd built the best network of stringers in North Texas.

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Speaker 1: His boys fed him video contacts and news updates, and

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Speaker 1: he sold what he could to the big foreign media conglomerates.

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Speaker 1: In a couple more months, he'd have enough saved up

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Speaker 1: that he could fuck off, fly to Europe and apply

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Speaker 1: for a refugee visa. My ans are pretty good as

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Speaker 1: long as the war doesn't end too soon. The technical

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Speaker 1: rolled to a creaky stop in front of a checkpoint

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Speaker 1: that had clearly been erected within the last few days.

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Speaker 1: It was just a collapsible electronic gate and two sandbag

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Speaker 1: emplacements on either side of the battered highway. A street

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Speaker 1: sign nearby announced that they were on the edge of Richardson,

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Speaker 1: formerly a suburb of Dallas and currently a forward position

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Speaker 1: of the People's Protection Army, a local anarchist militia. Manny

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Speaker 1: could see the p PA's red black triangle emblem stitched

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Speaker 1: onto the jackets of the soldiers guarding the checkpoint. One

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Speaker 1: of the p PA men walked up to the driver's

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Speaker 1: side window and started chatting with Philip, the driver. Phil

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Speaker 1: and Manny's cousin Alejandro were both with the Citizens Front,

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Speaker 1: a more or less a political militia from the suburbs

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Speaker 1: of Austin. Both militias co existed under the broad umbrella

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Speaker 1: of the Secular Defense Forces. The SDF had been organized

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Speaker 1: by the Canadian government to lump all of North Texas's

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Speaker 1: palatable militant groups into a single package that could be

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Speaker 1: conveniently armed. While the first guard talk with Philip, his

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Speaker 1: partner did a circuit around the back of the truck.

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Speaker 1: The man was big, bulging, with muscles so sculpted and

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Speaker 1: prominent they had to be vat grown, and he moved

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Speaker 1: with the twitchy ungrace of a man who replaced his

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Speaker 1: nervous system with circuitry. His weapon was a very old,

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Speaker 1: very battered a R fifteen with an M two four

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Speaker 1: three grenade launcher below the barrel. The latter was old

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Speaker 1: U S military gear. The former had been someone's toy

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Speaker 1: before the Revolution gave America's half billion civilian guns a

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Speaker 1: new riis on debt. The man moved back to the

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Speaker 1: barricades when he had finished his lap. Reggie looked up

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Speaker 1: at Manny and asked, was he a Was he chromed?

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Speaker 1: Manny smiled. That was always one of the first questions.

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Speaker 1: As soon as any foreign journal saw trooper with a

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Speaker 1: large enough billed skin with an off shade, or who

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Speaker 1: just moved a little too fast to seem completely right.

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Speaker 1: Anything beyond basic aesthetic and medical modifications were banned. In

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Speaker 1: civilized countries like the UK. The real chrome, the implants

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Speaker 1: that would let a man lift a truck or take

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Speaker 1: a rocket to the belly that ship was locked up tight.

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Speaker 1: A few national militaries even used the stuff these days,

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Speaker 1: not after the revolution. He's got some fat, grown muscles,

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Speaker 1: Manny said, in an off handed way that suggested such

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Speaker 1: things were common aftermarket nerves too. Probably his stuff is

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Speaker 1: low grade, that's why it's so visible. Reggie nodded, his

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Speaker 1: eyes stayed locked on the big man. He was quiet

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Speaker 1: for a while before he spoke again. You just live

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Speaker 1: right alongside them, don't you. Manny shrugged. Everybody's got something

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Speaker 1: out here and the wet wears, but lets us hold

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Speaker 1: back the martyrs. They own the whole city if it

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Speaker 1: weren't for half fats like him. The journalist nodded, and

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Speaker 1: his gaze stayed fixed upon the militiaman until a troubled

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Speaker 1: look crossed his face. He glanced back to Manny. Are

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Speaker 1: you all chromed, Reggie asked. Manny smiled. I don't expect

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Speaker 1: either of us as stock sabien eh, but I doubt

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Speaker 1: I've got anything you don't. Reggie seemed somewhat comforted by this.

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Speaker 1: Most of what I've read about the really heavy mods

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Speaker 1: says they cause a lot of well unstable behavior. That's

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Speaker 1: why that's why this city such as ship Hole, Manny asked.

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Speaker 1: The journalist had the grace to blush. Manny looked away

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Speaker 1: for a moment. His eyes landed on the bones of

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Speaker 1: three large public housing buildings. A barrel bomb had detonated

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Speaker 1: in the center of the courtyard. All three shared. It

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Speaker 1: had peeled away the walls, some of the floors, and

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Speaker 1: the resulting firestorm had burned up everything that wasn't concrete, steel,

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Speaker 1: or rebar For just a moment, many felt bad about

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Speaker 1: hoping the war hung on. At other six months, the

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Speaker 1: old government blamed a lot on roided up veterans with

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Speaker 1: military grade mods. He told Reggie. Most was just propaganda,

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Speaker 1: fear mongering. People were pissed after twenty years of plague,

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Speaker 1: disaster and poverty. Manny shrugged, It's true, a lot of

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Speaker 1: chromed up vets turned on the government. You can't make

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Speaker 1: men into gods and expect them to keep fighting from men,

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Speaker 1: Reggie pointed back to the bolding militiaman, I take it,

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Speaker 1: muscles there is pretty far from a god, nah, Manny laughed.

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Speaker 1: He's just a guy with too much meat money. Gods

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Speaker 1: don't man checkpoints. The brit was excited. Now. These were

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Speaker 1: the questions he'd wanted to ask since they met yesterday.

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Speaker 1: Do you know where some of those people are. Reggie

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Speaker 1: couldn't keep the excitement out of his voice. Could we

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Speaker 1: talk to them? Manny didn't have any of those contacts,

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Speaker 1: nor did he know any other fixers who did. He

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Speaker 1: tried to let the Brit down easy. Most of those

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Speaker 1: folks live on the road in between the civilized parts

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Speaker 1: of Texas and the Republic of California, oh. Reggie looked disappointed.

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Speaker 1: The truck rolled past the wreckage of an old Catholic school.

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Speaker 1: It bore signs of being fortified, destroyed, refortified, and redestroyed

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Speaker 1: several times. The Brit was inches from asking another question

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Speaker 1: when the gate man waved them on, and the battered

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Speaker 1: Toyota farted its way into drive, belching and complaining past

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Speaker 1: network of potholes until it hit a relatively straight chunk

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Speaker 1: of asphalt. Only a few minutes now. Hef a. Manny said,

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Speaker 1: the p PA's forward position is about five minutes out.

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Speaker 1: He'll be in the ship then, or at least sit adjacent.

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Speaker 1: The journalist's face washed over in an even mix of

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Speaker 1: anxiety and pride. One of the first lessons Manny had

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Speaker 1: learned at this job was that phrases like the ship

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Speaker 1: made rich Gringo writers unreasonably excited. An excited journalists always

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Speaker 1: called Manny the next time they were in country, giving

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Speaker 1: white kids and keffee as a lifetime of bragging rights.

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Speaker 1: For surviving a couple of days in his home killed

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Speaker 1: his soul just a little bit, but Manny pushed down

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Speaker 1: the anger and told himself that a chip on the

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Speaker 1: shoulder was a lot less useful than money in the bank.

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Speaker 1: The Technical rolled off the old highway. Manny could see

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Speaker 1: twenty three and Spring Valley Road and blasmed on a

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Speaker 1: weather beaten, bullet scarred sign. The Technical pulled to the right,

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Speaker 1: the guns swayed in its mount Manny couldn't help smiling

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Speaker 1: as the brit instinctively pulled away from it. They rolled

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Speaker 1: up to what had once been a strip hall and

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Speaker 1: was now a forward operating base for the People's Protection Army.

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Speaker 1: An old laundromat, a bookstore, and a half dozen restaurants

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Speaker 1: now had their roofs ringed with barbed wire and machine

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Speaker 1: gun emplacements. Manny could see a line of bullet hole

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Speaker 1: stitched across three of the shops. None of the windows

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Speaker 1: were intact, but otherwise the buildings had weathered the war

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Speaker 1: rather well. Three M one ninety eight howitzers were parked

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Speaker 1: next to a taco shop that had once served the

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Speaker 1: local college kid's beer and cheap grub. There was a

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Speaker 1: flagpole out in front of the shop, and from it

195
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Speaker 1: hung the blue and white starburst flag of the SDF.

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Speaker 1: Three men in uniforms stood waiting as the old Toyota

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Speaker 1: rolled to a stop and Manny and Reggie disembarked. Two

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Speaker 1: of the men were officers in the p P, a

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Speaker 1: Colonel Jacob Milgram and Major Deshaun Clark. Milgram was a boring,

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Speaker 1: tight lipped nerdy type, but De Shaun was one of

201
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Speaker 1: Manny's favorite sources. He was an old infantry guy, a

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Speaker 1: consummate brawler with a face full of scars, and three

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Speaker 1: published books of poetry to his name. He actually had

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Speaker 1: a base of international fans, mostly in Spain. The third

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Speaker 1: man was Hamid Mohammed, an adviser from Syrian Kurdistan. The

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Speaker 1: Curds had been giving aid to the Sundry militias of

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Speaker 1: the Secular Defense Forces for years now. Manny considered Hamid

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Speaker 1: almost a local. He shook hands with Jacob since Manny

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Speaker 1: knew Deshaun better. He met the man with a full

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Speaker 1: embrace and used it as an opportunity to palm the

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Speaker 1: major a packet of his favorite cigarettes. Deshaun gave him

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Speaker 1: a wink and a smile. Manny shook Hamed's hand next,

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Speaker 1: and then kissed him on the cheek. Amid returned the kiss,

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Speaker 1: clapped him on the shoulder, and said, Emmanuel, my friend,

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Speaker 1: you really should get out of this business. One of

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Speaker 1: these days you'll come up here and it won't be safe.

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00:11:35,960 --> 00:11:38,120
Speaker 1: Mannie frowned a little at the use of his birth name,

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Speaker 1: but he didn't make an issue out of the matter.

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Speaker 1: There's still a war on, right, he smiled at Hamid.

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Speaker 1: He'll get that ship under control. Maybe I'll work a

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Speaker 1: straight job again. Not too soon, though, he thought. The

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Speaker 1: least this work can do was last long enough to

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Speaker 1: get me out of Texas. Hamid smiled back, and Manny

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00:11:54,440 --> 00:11:58,280
Speaker 1: introduced Reggie to the officers. The journalist was clearly awkward

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Speaker 1: in that special way Manny had come to expect from

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Speaker 1: new war correspondents. It was the norm for young writers

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Speaker 1: to be intimidated by grizzled military men. Some of them

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00:12:07,080 --> 00:12:09,360
Speaker 1: got over that Manny had worked with a middle aged

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Speaker 1: der Schpiegel reporter last week, could probably take in as

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Speaker 1: much incoming fire as Major Clark. Colonel Milgram led them

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Speaker 1: into the militarized taco shop. A brief blast of nostalgia

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Speaker 1: squeezed Manny's lungs. The place had obviously been closed since

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Speaker 1: the revolution. The drink specials and meal prices printed on

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Speaker 1: the wall were given in U S dollars, a currency

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Speaker 1: as dead as the last American president. Many recognized ads

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Speaker 1: for bands and movies he remembered from his childhood. The

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00:12:35,320 --> 00:12:38,120
Speaker 1: glass facade had shattered years ago. The kitchen had been

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Speaker 1: gutted and replaced by wall length screens displaying maps of

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Speaker 1: the city. At least a dozen uniformed men and women

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Speaker 1: milled around the space in small groups. He and Reggie

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Speaker 1: sat down at a long picnic table with Hamid and

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Speaker 1: the two officers. Reggie set his camera up on the table.

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Speaker 1: It was just a small silver sphere, but Manny knew

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Speaker 1: it could record everything happening around it at a higher

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Speaker 1: resolution than the human i and orderly brought in three beers,

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Speaker 1: shiner box from Austin and one dark brown tea and

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Speaker 1: a glass cup for hummade the brit raised his glass

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Speaker 1: in a friendly salute, thank you for meeting with me,

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Speaker 1: and then he started to ask questions. Manny leaned back

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Speaker 1: in his chair and enjoyed a long gulp of cold beer.

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Speaker 1: If he wasn't needed to translate, he generally checked out

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Speaker 1: during interviews. He used the free time to activate his

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Speaker 1: deck and check in on the two stringers he had

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00:13:25,200 --> 00:13:28,400
Speaker 1: working right now. David Allenby was up in Addison today,

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Speaker 1: taking a Californian documentary crew on a tour of an

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00:13:31,320 --> 00:13:34,400
Speaker 1: SDF training facility. He'd messaged Manny to let him know

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Speaker 1: they'd gotten through the checkpoints without any issue. Oscar Martinez

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Speaker 1: didn't have any journalists with him. He was embedded with

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Speaker 1: a Republic of Texas police unit getting footage from inside

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Speaker 1: a neighborhood that had recently been liberated from the Heavenly Kingdom.

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Speaker 1: There were no new messages from Oscar. His last check

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00:13:50,320 --> 00:13:52,959
Speaker 1: in had been the night before. It was probably nothing,

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00:13:53,000 --> 00:13:55,880
Speaker 1: but it concerned Manning. Nonetheless, what if Oscar got a

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Speaker 1: better offer for his footage. He'd always been loyal before,

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00:13:58,880 --> 00:14:01,840
Speaker 1: but if that funk from the Areadian had gotten to him.

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Speaker 1: I'm interested in the Abrams Road bombing, Reggie told the colonel,

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00:14:05,360 --> 00:14:08,200
Speaker 1: and many's attentions swung back to his reporter. That's an

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00:14:08,200 --> 00:14:10,880
Speaker 1: odd thing to ask about. The bombing had occurred two

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00:14:10,880 --> 00:14:13,280
Speaker 1: weeks back. It had been big news for a couple

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Speaker 1: of hours. Manny had paid one of his contacts and

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Speaker 1: rossa front for a video of a walk through of

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00:14:17,800 --> 00:14:20,800
Speaker 1: the wreckage. It had brought in about three grand profit.

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Speaker 1: The Abrams Road bombing was not a martyrdom operation. Colonel

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Speaker 1: Milgram sounded almost angry, terribly sorry. Reggie said, you're right,

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00:14:29,480 --> 00:14:33,200
Speaker 1: of course, there was no driver, so no martyr right right,

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00:14:33,360 --> 00:14:36,080
Speaker 1: Deshaun Clark said. He pulled a folded piece of white

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00:14:36,080 --> 00:14:38,400
Speaker 1: paper out of his pocket, opened it up, and smoothed

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00:14:38,400 --> 00:14:40,400
Speaker 1: it out on the table. It was a map of

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00:14:40,440 --> 00:14:43,360
Speaker 1: the df W area, color coded to show the positions

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00:14:43,360 --> 00:14:46,440
Speaker 1: of the various militias in the region. We operate eight

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00:14:46,520 --> 00:14:49,440
Speaker 1: checkpoints on that part of the Richardson line, DeShawn said,

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00:14:49,480 --> 00:14:51,720
Speaker 1: as he pointed to each one. Five of them border

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00:14:51,800 --> 00:14:55,840
Speaker 1: Republic controlled territory. The traffic from there is mostly autonomous,

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Speaker 1: and those vehicles slaved themselves to our traffic management system

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00:14:59,280 --> 00:15:02,600
Speaker 1: before they can in our territory. The other three checkpoints

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00:15:02,640 --> 00:15:06,240
Speaker 1: border territory controlled by the martyrs. They don't see much traffic,

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00:15:06,280 --> 00:15:09,560
Speaker 1: and they're all heavily manned. Reggie was quiet for a

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00:15:09,600 --> 00:15:12,160
Speaker 1: few seconds. Manny could almost hear the gears turning in

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00:15:12,200 --> 00:15:14,320
Speaker 1: the journalist's head as he struggled to find the words

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00:15:14,320 --> 00:15:17,080
Speaker 1: for his next question. Would it be fair to say

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00:15:17,120 --> 00:15:21,280
Speaker 1: the autonomous checkpoints are less secure? Then, Deshaun smiled a thin,

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00:15:21,520 --> 00:15:25,600
Speaker 1: quiet smile. Amid grimace. Colonel Milgram responded in a terse voice.

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00:15:25,960 --> 00:15:30,240
Speaker 1: The autonomous checkpoints have fewer defenders, but they border republic territory.

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Speaker 1: The martyrs haven't pulled off an attack on one in

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00:15:32,560 --> 00:15:36,160
Speaker 1: quite some time. Was Abrams Road not on such attack?

296
00:15:36,360 --> 00:15:39,720
Speaker 1: Reggie looked eager now, like a hound, following assent. We

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00:15:39,760 --> 00:15:42,720
Speaker 1: don't know who bombed Agram's Road, Colonel Milgram said, No

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00:15:42,760 --> 00:15:46,240
Speaker 1: one's taken credit, but we doubt it was the martyrs. Why,

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00:15:46,600 --> 00:15:49,640
Speaker 1: the journalist asked, Manny leaned in a little interested, in

300
00:15:49,680 --> 00:15:53,280
Speaker 1: spite of himself, at where this was all going to lead. Perhaps,

301
00:15:53,400 --> 00:15:56,000
Speaker 1: Amid said, you should read a bit more about this

302
00:15:56,120 --> 00:16:00,360
Speaker 1: Heavenly Kingdom. They reject all autonomous technology. They even use

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00:16:00,400 --> 00:16:03,440
Speaker 1: remote human pilots for their drones like it's two thousand

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00:16:03,440 --> 00:16:06,600
Speaker 1: and fucking three. That's why our skies are always clear.

305
00:16:06,920 --> 00:16:10,840
Speaker 1: We jammed them. Reggie asked, is it possible they found

306
00:16:10,880 --> 00:16:14,360
Speaker 1: some way to hack your defense system? Hamid laughed, we

307
00:16:14,480 --> 00:16:17,160
Speaker 1: bought this system from the Israelis. If you're telling me

308
00:16:17,200 --> 00:16:19,200
Speaker 1: one of the Martyrs Brigades has a hacker who can

309
00:16:19,240 --> 00:16:23,000
Speaker 1: crack that, then I'm the King of Albuquerque. But something

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00:16:23,080 --> 00:16:27,800
Speaker 1: still went wrong, Reggie insisted. Hamid smile turned cold. This

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00:16:27,960 --> 00:16:32,840
Speaker 1: is war, Mr Reggie, It's mostly things going wrong. That's

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00:16:32,840 --> 00:16:35,720
Speaker 1: where the line of questions petered out. Reggie asked them

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00:16:35,720 --> 00:16:38,480
Speaker 1: for access to the security footage from the destroyed checkpoint,

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00:16:38,680 --> 00:16:41,800
Speaker 1: and Colonel Milgram agreed to send it over. We'd like

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00:16:41,840 --> 00:16:45,200
Speaker 1: to speak to the survivors as well, if possible, Manny interjected,

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00:16:45,360 --> 00:16:47,840
Speaker 1: not waiting to see if the journalist would ask. He

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00:16:47,920 --> 00:16:50,040
Speaker 1: knew those men were all stationed behind the line now,

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00:16:50,080 --> 00:16:52,200
Speaker 1: which would make for a safer, easier rest of the

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00:16:52,240 --> 00:16:55,560
Speaker 1: day than heading up to the wire, of course, Colonel

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00:16:55,600 --> 00:16:58,520
Speaker 1: Milgram said, with a smile to Manny. They said their goodbyes,

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00:16:58,560 --> 00:17:01,120
Speaker 1: and then Major Clark walked them out to their waiting Toyota.

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00:17:01,560 --> 00:17:03,800
Speaker 1: The Texas heat hit like an oven as they exited,

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00:17:03,880 --> 00:17:05,879
Speaker 1: and Manny was glad they'd be spending most of the

324
00:17:05,880 --> 00:17:08,920
Speaker 1: rest of their day in doors. Deshaun clapped a hand

325
00:17:08,920 --> 00:17:11,399
Speaker 1: on Manny's shoulder as he lit one of his new cigarettes.

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Speaker 1: It's good to see you, Emmanuel, he said, and then

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00:17:14,320 --> 00:17:16,679
Speaker 1: he smiled at Reggie, and it's nice to meet you,

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Speaker 1: my British friend. I'm sorry you've come to the front

329
00:17:19,359 --> 00:17:24,520
Speaker 1: at a boring time. Why, Reggie asked, Because this Deshaun

330
00:17:24,640 --> 00:17:27,280
Speaker 1: gestured at the gun emplacements and loitering militiamen of the

331
00:17:27,359 --> 00:17:31,920
Speaker 1: command post. This is not war, not really. Your job

332
00:17:32,000 --> 00:17:34,600
Speaker 1: is to help your people, children of peace and plenty,

333
00:17:34,960 --> 00:17:37,920
Speaker 1: understand what is going on here. You must teach them

334
00:17:37,920 --> 00:17:40,800
Speaker 1: the language of war. And to paraphrase a dead poet,

335
00:17:41,080 --> 00:17:43,600
Speaker 1: the language of war is a language made of blood.

336
00:17:43,920 --> 00:17:47,199
Speaker 1: To be spoken, it must be earned. There was an

337
00:17:47,240 --> 00:17:49,639
Speaker 1: awkward pause, a little of the blood drained from the

338
00:17:49,680 --> 00:17:53,160
Speaker 1: journalist's face. Hugh Nutty, Old fuck, Manny thought, with more

339
00:17:53,200 --> 00:17:56,960
Speaker 1: amusement than fear. Classic DeShawn, he said, and laughed to

340
00:17:57,000 --> 00:17:59,920
Speaker 1: ease the tension. The major bid them both a good day,

341
00:18:00,240 --> 00:18:02,960
Speaker 1: hugged Manny, and sauntered off back to the command post.

342
00:18:03,400 --> 00:18:05,879
Speaker 1: Smoke from his cigarette curled up into the air behind

343
00:18:05,960 --> 00:18:08,639
Speaker 1: him as he walked. Manny's eyes lingered on it for

344
00:18:08,640 --> 00:18:11,560
Speaker 1: a second before he turned back to Reggie. Ready to go,

345
00:18:11,840 --> 00:18:16,480
Speaker 1: he asked Chipper as he could manage. Three hours, a

346
00:18:16,520 --> 00:18:19,560
Speaker 1: handful of interviews, and one short drive later, Manny and

347
00:18:19,560 --> 00:18:22,320
Speaker 1: Reggie arrived at their home for the night. The Richardson

348
00:18:22,400 --> 00:18:26,239
Speaker 1: Autonomous Project, once a Walmart, now a twenty two year

349
00:18:26,280 --> 00:18:29,840
Speaker 1: old experiment and sustainable urban living. The project was the

350
00:18:29,880 --> 00:18:33,080
Speaker 1: furthest island of civilization on the sd F side of

351
00:18:33,119 --> 00:18:37,000
Speaker 1: the Front. Its militias steadfastly refused to involve themselves in

352
00:18:37,000 --> 00:18:40,320
Speaker 1: the region's greater conflicts. They'd been targeted a few times

353
00:18:40,359 --> 00:18:43,840
Speaker 1: by the Heavenly Kingdom. The sd F, by contrast, left

354
00:18:43,880 --> 00:18:46,479
Speaker 1: them alone, so when a fixer like Manny found himself

355
00:18:46,480 --> 00:18:48,520
Speaker 1: on the wrong side of the L B J Freeway

356
00:18:48,560 --> 00:18:52,440
Speaker 1: after dark, he could usually trust the project to provide food, booze,

357
00:18:52,440 --> 00:18:56,760
Speaker 1: and shelter for a price. Of course, sleeping arrangements in

358
00:18:56,800 --> 00:18:59,440
Speaker 1: the project were broadly communal. The bulk of the old

359
00:18:59,440 --> 00:19:02,120
Speaker 1: Walmart had been converted into an indoor meadow with grow

360
00:19:02,200 --> 00:19:04,879
Speaker 1: lights hanging from the rafters and a wide, lush field

361
00:19:04,880 --> 00:19:08,320
Speaker 1: of native grass sprawling across most of the inhabited space.

362
00:19:08,920 --> 00:19:12,320
Speaker 1: Fruit trees, bushes full of berries, cannabis, plants, and copses

363
00:19:12,359 --> 00:19:15,399
Speaker 1: of bamboo lined the edges of the space. The center

364
00:19:15,400 --> 00:19:18,240
Speaker 1: of the field was dominated by a large circular kitchen

365
00:19:18,280 --> 00:19:22,199
Speaker 1: surrounded by a handsome oaken bar. Table tables, gazebos, and

366
00:19:22,200 --> 00:19:25,440
Speaker 1: sundry personal structures dotted the field, along with a pair

367
00:19:25,480 --> 00:19:28,560
Speaker 1: of dance floors. Reggie's face lit up when he saw

368
00:19:28,600 --> 00:19:30,959
Speaker 1: the bar. By the time Manny had dropped off their

369
00:19:30,960 --> 00:19:33,120
Speaker 1: bags and paid Charlie and the driver for the night,

370
00:19:33,280 --> 00:19:36,639
Speaker 1: the journalist was already three beers in the brit wasn't

371
00:19:36,640 --> 00:19:40,080
Speaker 1: precisely drunk or sober, but at that productive twilight in between,

372
00:19:40,560 --> 00:19:43,720
Speaker 1: he'd unrolled a portable screen and had a holographic display up,

373
00:19:43,920 --> 00:19:47,360
Speaker 1: looping four separate sections of the security footage Colonel Milgriman

374
00:19:47,400 --> 00:19:51,640
Speaker 1: sent over. The journalist alternated between typing furiously scrawling notes

375
00:19:51,680 --> 00:19:54,160
Speaker 1: in his journal and taking huge gulps of something brown

376
00:19:54,200 --> 00:19:56,680
Speaker 1: and foamy. He stopped working when he saw a Manny

377
00:19:56,720 --> 00:19:59,840
Speaker 1: approach and waved him into the adjacent seat. Hey brother,

378
00:20:00,040 --> 00:20:02,600
Speaker 1: check this out. Many pulled up a seat, and the

379
00:20:02,640 --> 00:20:05,480
Speaker 1: journalist directed his attention to a six second loop of

380
00:20:05,520 --> 00:20:09,120
Speaker 1: footage from immediately after the bombing. It showed two man

381
00:20:09,160 --> 00:20:12,320
Speaker 1: size silhouettes standing on top of an old garage. Many

382
00:20:12,359 --> 00:20:15,040
Speaker 1: remembered the building. It stood maybe two hundred meters from

383
00:20:15,040 --> 00:20:18,399
Speaker 1: the Abrams Road checkpoint. One of the silhouettes had a rifle.

384
00:20:18,760 --> 00:20:21,720
Speaker 1: The other held a short squat tube that Manny recognized

385
00:20:21,720 --> 00:20:26,480
Speaker 1: as a camera lens. Notice anything, spotters, Manny said, probably

386
00:20:26,480 --> 00:20:29,040
Speaker 1: trying to get a kill. Count. No, man, look at

387
00:20:29,040 --> 00:20:31,320
Speaker 1: where he's pointed. That Count's not looking at any post.

388
00:20:31,520 --> 00:20:34,560
Speaker 1: He's looking straight back deeper into the old town. And

389
00:20:34,600 --> 00:20:36,679
Speaker 1: I'll bet you he's high up enough to be staring

390
00:20:36,760 --> 00:20:40,680
Speaker 1: right at Colonel Milgram's command post. Manny looked again. He

391
00:20:40,760 --> 00:20:44,240
Speaker 1: thought about the angle. Okay, so what, he asked, You

392
00:20:44,280 --> 00:20:46,439
Speaker 1: think this was a probing attack for some big action.

393
00:20:46,840 --> 00:20:50,760
Speaker 1: The journalists shrugged. Maybe it's something new, is what interests me.

394
00:20:51,200 --> 00:20:53,560
Speaker 1: Two years of Modytem operations that all look more or

395
00:20:53,640 --> 00:20:56,560
Speaker 1: less the same, and now this weird one, an autonomous

396
00:20:56,680 --> 00:20:59,240
Speaker 1: vehicle bomb from a group of fanatics who think autonomous

397
00:20:59,359 --> 00:21:03,680
Speaker 1: vehicles are the evil. Yeah, Manny agreed, that does seem weird.

398
00:21:04,320 --> 00:21:06,679
Speaker 1: The bartender walked up and offered Manny his pick of

399
00:21:06,720 --> 00:21:10,280
Speaker 1: the finest liquor in this particular war zone. Manny ordered

400
00:21:10,280 --> 00:21:12,440
Speaker 1: a Shiner. It was the one beer a drinker could

401
00:21:12,440 --> 00:21:15,040
Speaker 1: find across both the Republic of Texas and the Austin

402
00:21:15,080 --> 00:21:18,320
Speaker 1: Autonomous Region. He looked back at the looping footage. They

403
00:21:18,359 --> 00:21:21,119
Speaker 1: both watched it twice more. Then Reggie spoke up again.

404
00:21:21,800 --> 00:21:25,240
Speaker 1: What have you heard about Pasta Mike, he asked. Manny

405
00:21:25,320 --> 00:21:27,520
Speaker 1: stiffened a little bit at the name. He had heard it,

406
00:21:27,560 --> 00:21:31,240
Speaker 1: of course, vague stories of rioting in Kansas, a fundamentalist

407
00:21:31,320 --> 00:21:34,800
Speaker 1: uprising inside the southernmost territories of the United Christian States.

408
00:21:35,280 --> 00:21:37,800
Speaker 1: He hadn't thought much about it at first, but two

409
00:21:37,880 --> 00:21:41,000
Speaker 1: years ago Pastor Mike had moved to Texas, shortly before

410
00:21:41,000 --> 00:21:43,960
Speaker 1: the Heavenly Kingdom had declared itself. It was hard to

411
00:21:44,000 --> 00:21:47,120
Speaker 1: say what role exactly the preacher played in the organization,

412
00:21:47,440 --> 00:21:51,000
Speaker 1: but he was certainly its most visible face. I know

413
00:21:51,040 --> 00:21:53,439
Speaker 1: who he is, Manny said. I know the Republic led

414
00:21:53,480 --> 00:21:55,560
Speaker 1: him in because they thought as followers might provide a

415
00:21:55,560 --> 00:21:58,640
Speaker 1: buffer against Austin's influence. I know that blew the funk

416
00:21:58,720 --> 00:22:02,040
Speaker 1: up in their faces. Manny took a long drink and continued,

417
00:22:02,560 --> 00:22:05,240
Speaker 1: that's an old story around here, the Republic using those

418
00:22:05,240 --> 00:22:08,159
Speaker 1: gone fondling nut fucks to push back against the leftists.

419
00:22:08,680 --> 00:22:11,720
Speaker 1: The journalist raised an eyebrow, and Manny instantly regretted his

420
00:22:11,760 --> 00:22:14,920
Speaker 1: crude response. He didn't really care about religion one way

421
00:22:15,000 --> 00:22:17,000
Speaker 1: or the other, but whenever he came out to the front,

422
00:22:17,040 --> 00:22:19,360
Speaker 1: it was hard not to get a little angry, especially

423
00:22:19,400 --> 00:22:22,960
Speaker 1: after a drink. Sorry, he said, it's been a long day.

424
00:22:23,480 --> 00:22:26,040
Speaker 1: Viggie looked down, coughed, and took a sip. He looked

425
00:22:26,080 --> 00:22:28,879
Speaker 1: back at Manny, took another sip and said, you know,

426
00:22:28,960 --> 00:22:32,919
Speaker 1: that's another subject I'd rather like to cover. What Manny asked,

427
00:22:33,280 --> 00:22:37,440
Speaker 1: anti Christian sentiment in North America. Manny grunted and looked

428
00:22:37,440 --> 00:22:40,080
Speaker 1: down at his drink. The brit barreled on, You're not

429
00:22:40,119 --> 00:22:43,000
Speaker 1: the first North American I've heard express anger towards Christians,

430
00:22:43,119 --> 00:22:46,760
Speaker 1: he said, in California, Cascadia, the North American Federation. I've

431
00:22:46,800 --> 00:22:50,080
Speaker 1: just seen a lot of hate. Look, Manny interrupted me.

432
00:22:50,640 --> 00:22:53,119
Speaker 1: I'm a man of piece. I love everybody, but this

433
00:22:53,240 --> 00:22:56,080
Speaker 1: continent's been torn apart in bleeding for the last twenty years,

434
00:22:56,400 --> 00:22:58,640
Speaker 1: A lot of people hate Christians. The ones that don't

435
00:22:58,640 --> 00:23:02,440
Speaker 1: hate Christians hate leftists, and everybody outside the American Federation

436
00:23:02,560 --> 00:23:06,520
Speaker 1: hates capitalists. Hate, hate, hate. Manny took a gulp of

437
00:23:06,560 --> 00:23:08,639
Speaker 1: his beer and set it down a little harder than

438
00:23:08,680 --> 00:23:11,440
Speaker 1: he had intended. He looked Reggie in the eye and finished,

439
00:23:11,920 --> 00:23:14,560
Speaker 1: There's exactly one thing all the broken bits of this

440
00:23:14,600 --> 00:23:19,000
Speaker 1: continent have in common. Hate. The journalist arched an eyebrow

441
00:23:19,000 --> 00:23:21,320
Speaker 1: at Manny and returned the gaze. He had the look

442
00:23:21,320 --> 00:23:23,920
Speaker 1: of a man peering into the enclosure of a particularly

443
00:23:23,960 --> 00:23:27,399
Speaker 1: exotic zoo animal. Manny wanted to resent it, but he'd

444
00:23:27,440 --> 00:23:29,320
Speaker 1: been doing this job long enough to know this was

445
00:23:29,400 --> 00:23:33,000
Speaker 1: just how journalists looked at people. Reggie downed his drink.

446
00:23:33,280 --> 00:23:35,399
Speaker 1: He reached a hand up to signal the bartender, and

447
00:23:35,440 --> 00:23:38,320
Speaker 1: then looked back at Manny. Can I buy you another round?

448
00:23:38,840 --> 00:23:41,760
Speaker 1: Manny shook his head, no thanks, I'm tired and I

449
00:23:41,760 --> 00:23:44,399
Speaker 1: don't want to drag ass at the front tomorrow. He

450
00:23:44,480 --> 00:23:46,800
Speaker 1: downed the last of his beer, bid Reggie a good night,

451
00:23:46,840 --> 00:23:48,600
Speaker 1: and headed over to the spot of turf where he'd

452
00:23:48,600 --> 00:23:51,200
Speaker 1: set up his sleeping bag and gear. He popped off

453
00:23:51,240 --> 00:23:53,520
Speaker 1: his shoes, his pants and his shirt and rubbed himself

454
00:23:53,560 --> 00:23:55,960
Speaker 1: down with a handful of wet naps. Then he grabbed

455
00:23:55,960 --> 00:23:57,720
Speaker 1: a night shirt and swept pants from his bag and

456
00:23:57,760 --> 00:24:01,960
Speaker 1: slipped them on. Manny considered clean pajamas a necessity. He

457
00:24:02,080 --> 00:24:04,080
Speaker 1: fired up his deck again once he was swaddled in

458
00:24:04,119 --> 00:24:06,719
Speaker 1: his sleeping bag. There was a juttering start, and then

459
00:24:06,760 --> 00:24:09,199
Speaker 1: the corners of his vision were populated by a series

460
00:24:09,200 --> 00:24:13,040
Speaker 1: of small, partly translucent screens. Each one bulged with updates,

461
00:24:13,119 --> 00:24:16,160
Speaker 1: friends asking about his weekend plans, spam from his college,

462
00:24:16,240 --> 00:24:19,119
Speaker 1: notifications about the new video uploads, and headlines from the

463
00:24:19,160 --> 00:24:22,560
Speaker 1: local news. David had messaged him twice more to let

464
00:24:22,600 --> 00:24:24,880
Speaker 1: him know he and his journalists were headed back to Austin,

465
00:24:24,960 --> 00:24:29,600
Speaker 1: and then that they'd arrived. Oscar still hadn't responded. Manny's

466
00:24:29,600 --> 00:24:32,679
Speaker 1: initial concern was over his loyalty. I got that fucker

467
00:24:32,720 --> 00:24:35,040
Speaker 1: started as a stringer. If he sold that video and

468
00:24:35,080 --> 00:24:37,280
Speaker 1: cutting me out of the deal, I'm going to going

469
00:24:37,359 --> 00:24:40,159
Speaker 1: to But the longer he thought about Oscar, the more

470
00:24:40,240 --> 00:24:43,159
Speaker 1: Manny worried something might have happened. He'd been working in

471
00:24:43,200 --> 00:24:45,760
Speaker 1: Plano today. You were a very stable chunk of the front,

472
00:24:45,920 --> 00:24:49,359
Speaker 1: but this far out almost anything could happen. Manny closed

473
00:24:49,400 --> 00:24:52,000
Speaker 1: his eyes, sighed, and tried to purge the anxiety from

474
00:24:52,040 --> 00:24:54,400
Speaker 1: his mind. There was nothing to do now other than

475
00:24:54,440 --> 00:24:56,399
Speaker 1: get to sleep so he could wake up tomorrow and

476
00:24:56,480 --> 00:24:59,640
Speaker 1: make more money. That thought prompted Manny to pull open

477
00:24:59,640 --> 00:25:01,560
Speaker 1: his Bank King app and check on the status of

478
00:25:01,600 --> 00:25:04,879
Speaker 1: his savings account. The numbers glowed fat and happy, and

479
00:25:04,920 --> 00:25:07,520
Speaker 1: the space in front of his head another five months

480
00:25:07,520 --> 00:25:10,399
Speaker 1: in the field, maybe six, then I buy that plane ticket.

481
00:25:11,160 --> 00:25:13,159
Speaker 1: He started to think about the pictures he'd seen of

482
00:25:13,240 --> 00:25:16,280
Speaker 1: Dublin and Berlin and Barcelona, all the places he thought

483
00:25:16,320 --> 00:25:18,320
Speaker 1: he might live if this war would just hang on

484
00:25:18,359 --> 00:25:21,720
Speaker 1: a little longer. He soon fell asleep and slept pretty

485
00:25:21,760 --> 00:25:31,359
Speaker 1: well until the first mortar land. Conquer your New Year's

486
00:25:31,400 --> 00:25:35,160
Speaker 1: resolution to be more productive with the Before Breakfast podcast.

487
00:25:35,400 --> 00:25:39,360
Speaker 1: In each bite sized daily episode, time management and productivity

488
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Speaker 1: expert Laura Vanderkam teaches you how to make the most

489
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490
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Speaker 1: are the practical suggestions you need to get more done

491
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Speaker 1: with your day. Just as lifting weights keeps our body

492
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Speaker 1: strong as we age, learning new skills is the mental

493
00:25:54,560 --> 00:25:58,560
Speaker 1: equivalent of pumping iron. Listen to before breakfast wherever you

494
00:25:58,640 --> 00:26:02,200
Speaker 1: get your podcasts. What's Up, guys. I'm a Shop Blou

495
00:26:02,320 --> 00:26:04,000
Speaker 1: and I am Troy Millings and we are the host

496
00:26:04,040 --> 00:26:07,000
Speaker 1: of the Earnier Leisure podcast where we break down business

497
00:26:07,000 --> 00:26:10,080
Speaker 1: models and examine the latest trans and finance. We hold

498
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Speaker 1: court and have exclusive interviews with some of the biggest

499
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500
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Speaker 1: Mark Cuban, Rick Ross and Shaquill O'Neil. I mean our

501
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502
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503
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Speaker 1: knowledge is in death and the questions are always delivered

504
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505
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Speaker 1: to know. We talked to the legends of business, sports

506
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507
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508
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Speaker 1: college business class mixed with pop culture. Want to learn

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510
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511
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512
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Speaker 1: or credit work. We got it all covered. The Earnier

513
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Speaker 1: Leisure podcast is available now. Listen to Earnier Leisure on

514
00:26:52,720 --> 00:26:56,680
Speaker 1: the Black Effect podcast Network, I Heart Radio, app, Apple podcast,

515
00:26:56,800 --> 00:27:05,359
Speaker 1: or wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, I'm Robert sex Reese,

516
00:27:05,600 --> 00:27:08,840
Speaker 1: host of The Doctor sex Rees Show, and every episode

517
00:27:08,960 --> 00:27:12,240
Speaker 1: I listened to people talk about their sex and intimacy issues,

518
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Speaker 1: and yes, I despise every minute of it. She she

519
00:27:16,200 --> 00:27:20,320
Speaker 1: made mistakes too kill everyone at her wedding. But hell

520
00:27:20,440 --> 00:27:23,480
Speaker 1: is real. We're all trapped here and there's nothing any

521
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Speaker 1: of us can do about it. So join me, won't you?

522
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Speaker 1: Listen to The Doctor sex re Show every Tuesday on

523
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Speaker 1: the I Heart Radio, app, Apple podcast, or wherever you

524
00:27:32,320 --> 00:27:40,880
Speaker 1: get your podcast. Chapter two, Rowland. He woke up suddenly

525
00:27:40,880 --> 00:27:45,119
Speaker 1: aware of two equally pressing problems. The acids worn off

526
00:27:45,440 --> 00:27:49,040
Speaker 1: and eight people are here to kill me. Both of

527
00:27:49,040 --> 00:27:52,440
Speaker 1: these facts concerned him equally. He couldn't remember his name

528
00:27:52,600 --> 00:27:55,120
Speaker 1: or where exactly he was, which made the impending kill

529
00:27:55,200 --> 00:27:58,159
Speaker 1: team all the more concerning. He opened his eyes, His

530
00:27:58,280 --> 00:28:01,439
Speaker 1: vision was blurry and unfocused. His head felt filled with

531
00:28:01,480 --> 00:28:05,160
Speaker 1: sand Roland, Oh ship, that's my name. Roland wondered how

532
00:28:05,160 --> 00:28:08,359
Speaker 1: long he'd been asleep. He reflexively triggered his deck before

533
00:28:08,359 --> 00:28:10,760
Speaker 1: The dim firing of a synapse reminded him that he'd

534
00:28:10,800 --> 00:28:14,920
Speaker 1: permanently disabled his data connection well a long time ago,

535
00:28:15,520 --> 00:28:18,480
Speaker 1: five million, two or twenty six thousand minutes. His hindbrain,

536
00:28:18,560 --> 00:28:21,920
Speaker 1: what Roland called the acres of microscopic processors and data banks,

537
00:28:21,920 --> 00:28:24,840
Speaker 1: spun into his blood, spat the knowledge out, unbidden into

538
00:28:24,880 --> 00:28:28,080
Speaker 1: his conscious mind. Roland tried to curse, but wound up

539
00:28:28,119 --> 00:28:31,359
Speaker 1: spitting out a wad of brackish flim instead. His eyes

540
00:28:31,400 --> 00:28:34,199
Speaker 1: settled on a quarter full bottle of fungus whiskey. He

541
00:28:34,280 --> 00:28:36,800
Speaker 1: grabbed it, drained it, and rooted around on the table

542
00:28:36,800 --> 00:28:38,880
Speaker 1: where he'd found it until his digging turned up a

543
00:28:38,880 --> 00:28:41,720
Speaker 1: sheet of acid. He ripped the sheet in half, ate

544
00:28:41,800 --> 00:28:44,520
Speaker 1: one half and pasted the other on his sweat damp chest.

545
00:28:45,400 --> 00:28:47,960
Speaker 1: Roland's brain didn't wait for the acid to do its job.

546
00:28:48,400 --> 00:28:52,520
Speaker 1: Nanomachines couriered the lysurgic diethyl acid directly to his synapses.

547
00:28:52,960 --> 00:28:55,440
Speaker 1: The drugs took hold in a matter of seconds. Acid

548
00:28:55,520 --> 00:28:59,120
Speaker 1: softened the world around him. His hindbrains running commentary faded

549
00:28:59,160 --> 00:29:01,560
Speaker 1: into a sort of gym roalized hyper awareness of the

550
00:29:01,560 --> 00:29:06,480
Speaker 1: world around him. He sighed, relaxed, and remembered woman hovered

551
00:29:06,520 --> 00:29:08,800
Speaker 1: over him, her hands on his shoulders, her knees on

552
00:29:08,840 --> 00:29:11,400
Speaker 1: either side of his body. Sweat dripped down from her

553
00:29:11,400 --> 00:29:14,240
Speaker 1: short black hair onto his face and chest. Her pupils

554
00:29:14,240 --> 00:29:16,719
Speaker 1: were the size of dinner plates. She smelled like acid

555
00:29:16,840 --> 00:29:20,840
Speaker 1: and desire. She smiled, revealing a row of Damascus steel teeth.

556
00:29:21,400 --> 00:29:24,120
Speaker 1: Roland pulled himself out of the memory. He felt the

557
00:29:24,160 --> 00:29:27,080
Speaker 1: strike team advance. His hindbrain generated a map of the

558
00:29:27,080 --> 00:29:30,560
Speaker 1: approaching assassins. They were still a solid minute from his hovel.

559
00:29:30,880 --> 00:29:33,320
Speaker 1: There were six men and two women on the team.

560
00:29:33,360 --> 00:29:35,680
Speaker 1: If he'd wanted a micro seconds focus could have told

561
00:29:35,760 --> 00:29:38,560
Speaker 1: him which members of the group were vegetarians, where two

562
00:29:38,560 --> 00:29:40,840
Speaker 1: of the team were on their minstrel cycles, and how

563
00:29:40,880 --> 00:29:43,480
Speaker 1: recently each of their firearms had been cleaned and oiled.

564
00:29:43,840 --> 00:29:46,760
Speaker 1: But Roland didn't care about that information. He was trying

565
00:29:46,800 --> 00:29:49,560
Speaker 1: to remember where he'd left his gun. The one room

566
00:29:49,680 --> 00:29:53,360
Speaker 1: hut Roland occupied was best described as squalid. He knew

567
00:29:53,360 --> 00:29:55,440
Speaker 1: he'd lived there for quite a long time, although he

568
00:29:55,520 --> 00:29:57,920
Speaker 1: wasn't sure if the home was his in any legal

569
00:29:57,920 --> 00:30:01,240
Speaker 1: sense of the word. It's one room held a filthy mattress,

570
00:30:01,440 --> 00:30:04,320
Speaker 1: a hot plate, several dozen empty bottles, of liquor and

571
00:30:04,360 --> 00:30:07,560
Speaker 1: a tinkling carpet of spent whippets. A large knife was

572
00:30:07,600 --> 00:30:11,360
Speaker 1: embedded in the door. Roland couldn't remember why he knew

573
00:30:11,360 --> 00:30:13,200
Speaker 1: he'd had a gun at one point, even though he

574
00:30:13,200 --> 00:30:16,760
Speaker 1: couldn't currently find it. He stood up, still wobbly from

575
00:30:16,760 --> 00:30:18,960
Speaker 1: the massive dose of g h B he'd taken with

576
00:30:19,000 --> 00:30:21,840
Speaker 1: his nightly tequila, and started kicking at the piles of

577
00:30:21,840 --> 00:30:24,560
Speaker 1: bottles and drug paraphernalia in the hope that one of

578
00:30:24,600 --> 00:30:27,600
Speaker 1: them might contain his gun. He found some bullets after

579
00:30:27,680 --> 00:30:29,960
Speaker 1: a few seconds search, at the bottom of a folger's

580
00:30:29,960 --> 00:30:33,280
Speaker 1: coffee tin that was half filled with marijuana. Next to

581
00:30:33,320 --> 00:30:35,880
Speaker 1: the tin was a large metal bowl of stagnant water.

582
00:30:36,360 --> 00:30:39,080
Speaker 1: Roland glanced in and caught sight of his own reflection.

583
00:30:39,560 --> 00:30:43,520
Speaker 1: His black skin looked ashen and clammy, unusually pale, he thought,

584
00:30:43,800 --> 00:30:45,960
Speaker 1: but he didn't recall enough about himself to know if

585
00:30:46,000 --> 00:30:49,040
Speaker 1: that was really true. His face was long and drawn,

586
00:30:49,200 --> 00:30:53,120
Speaker 1: with wide, jutting cheekbones and apache uneven beard. His head

587
00:30:53,200 --> 00:30:55,720
Speaker 1: was covered in stubble. The center of his face was

588
00:30:55,760 --> 00:30:59,600
Speaker 1: dominated by a crooked, heavily scarred nose. Roland had no

589
00:30:59,680 --> 00:31:01,760
Speaker 1: wreck election of why it was scarred, but he knew

590
00:31:01,760 --> 00:31:04,200
Speaker 1: the injury must have happened back before the army filled

591
00:31:04,360 --> 00:31:07,560
Speaker 1: with chrome. He turned away from his reflection and continued

592
00:31:07,600 --> 00:31:10,720
Speaker 1: to search through the house, scattering food, encrusted plates, empty

593
00:31:10,760 --> 00:31:13,800
Speaker 1: coke bags, an old fashioned print pornography into even less

594
00:31:13,880 --> 00:31:17,640
Speaker 1: organized piles. No dice that I pawn it, he wondered,

595
00:31:17,760 --> 00:31:21,959
Speaker 1: as his machine assisted adetic memory ward with his profound intoxication,

596
00:31:22,560 --> 00:31:25,520
Speaker 1: Roland was now conscious enough to remember that not remembering

597
00:31:25,600 --> 00:31:28,080
Speaker 1: much was pretty normal for him, and he should really

598
00:31:28,080 --> 00:31:31,040
Speaker 1: worry more about the assassin's coming to kill him. Oh

599
00:31:31,040 --> 00:31:34,640
Speaker 1: shit right, the strike team was just fifty meters out now.

600
00:31:34,840 --> 00:31:36,800
Speaker 1: He felt a gust of wind, and in the same

601
00:31:36,840 --> 00:31:39,280
Speaker 1: way felt as two of the men began to assemble

602
00:31:39,320 --> 00:31:42,120
Speaker 1: a large sound cannon behind a rocky hill that faced

603
00:31:42,160 --> 00:31:45,480
Speaker 1: his novel. He guessed it was a Callahan Mark thirty eight.

604
00:31:45,920 --> 00:31:48,240
Speaker 1: Roland didn't know how he knew the weapon's name, but

605
00:31:48,280 --> 00:31:50,959
Speaker 1: he knew it could burn out even his armored synapses

606
00:31:51,000 --> 00:31:54,320
Speaker 1: with a few seconds of continuous fire. One man was

607
00:31:54,360 --> 00:31:57,240
Speaker 1: on overwatch for the Callahan team. He carried a two

608
00:31:57,240 --> 00:32:01,280
Speaker 1: bore Ruger Fauscion anti vehicular rifle. The mingling odors of

609
00:32:01,320 --> 00:32:04,240
Speaker 1: fierce wet and baby formula wafting off him. Triggered since

610
00:32:04,280 --> 00:32:07,800
Speaker 1: memories of someone holding a new born infant, Roland guessed

611
00:32:07,800 --> 00:32:10,080
Speaker 1: the man must have a kid back home, a kid

612
00:32:10,120 --> 00:32:12,840
Speaker 1: he scared of leaving fatherless. Of some chromed out asset

613
00:32:12,880 --> 00:32:15,880
Speaker 1: had fillets him that was useful data. He filed it

614
00:32:15,920 --> 00:32:17,960
Speaker 1: away in the chunk of his brain least likely to

615
00:32:18,000 --> 00:32:21,400
Speaker 1: lose that information. Over the next four seconds, Roland's memory

616
00:32:21,520 --> 00:32:24,720
Speaker 1: was real good in four second chunks. Over the next

617
00:32:24,800 --> 00:32:27,800
Speaker 1: pico second, he caught equally informative whiffs of the others.

618
00:32:28,000 --> 00:32:29,840
Speaker 1: It was enough to suggest that two of the women

619
00:32:29,840 --> 00:32:32,120
Speaker 1: in the main assault team were lovers, and they'd both

620
00:32:32,120 --> 00:32:36,200
Speaker 1: had Millspeck's subdermal armor implanted recently. The acrid scent of

621
00:32:36,240 --> 00:32:39,360
Speaker 1: fresh suitures hung heavy in the air around them. Roland

622
00:32:39,360 --> 00:32:40,840
Speaker 1: could also tell that one of the men in the

623
00:32:40,840 --> 00:32:44,480
Speaker 1: assault party took heavy testosterone supplements, either because of a

624
00:32:44,520 --> 00:32:47,800
Speaker 1: genetic abnormality or because he'd been assigned female at birth.

625
00:32:48,360 --> 00:32:51,600
Speaker 1: The fourth man was moderately addicted to ephedric's and riding

626
00:32:51,600 --> 00:32:55,160
Speaker 1: into battle on a high stimulant wave. The last member

627
00:32:55,160 --> 00:32:57,160
Speaker 1: of the assault team was the only one to give

628
00:32:57,240 --> 00:33:00,000
Speaker 1: Roland any pause. He could guess the man's heightened way

629
00:33:00,000 --> 00:33:02,400
Speaker 1: eight six ft five hundred and forty pounds from the

630
00:33:02,440 --> 00:33:05,360
Speaker 1: sound of his footfalls. Roland could smell the sig Sour

631
00:33:05,480 --> 00:33:08,600
Speaker 1: five hundred submachine gun in his hands, but otherwise the

632
00:33:08,600 --> 00:33:12,440
Speaker 1: man was a sensory blank. No sweat, no hydraulics, and

633
00:33:12,560 --> 00:33:16,440
Speaker 1: black to thermographic sensors. The man was chromed, not so

634
00:33:16,520 --> 00:33:19,080
Speaker 1: heavily as Rowland, of course, but the competent and well

635
00:33:19,160 --> 00:33:21,920
Speaker 1: armed squad he led might be enough to narrow the gap.

636
00:33:22,440 --> 00:33:24,760
Speaker 1: We're in the shooting shit, shit, shit, did I leave

637
00:33:24,760 --> 00:33:27,880
Speaker 1: that gun? The static balance in the air changed as

638
00:33:27,880 --> 00:33:31,080
Speaker 1: the overwatch team warmed up their sound cannon. The assault

639
00:33:31,080 --> 00:33:34,000
Speaker 1: team was close, now barely a hundred feet out, waiting

640
00:33:34,000 --> 00:33:36,440
Speaker 1: in the cover provided by several large bowlders at the

641
00:33:36,440 --> 00:33:39,760
Speaker 1: base of the rise that held Roland's ramshackle home. He

642
00:33:39,840 --> 00:33:42,720
Speaker 1: knew how this fight would go. They'd unleashed the Callahan

643
00:33:42,800 --> 00:33:44,880
Speaker 1: for a good five seconds while the killed team moved

644
00:33:44,880 --> 00:33:47,640
Speaker 1: into position and kicked in the door. Next the big

645
00:33:47,640 --> 00:33:49,840
Speaker 1: bruiser and the two women would enter, while the remainder

646
00:33:49,880 --> 00:33:52,120
Speaker 1: of the assault team fanned out to cover the sides.

647
00:33:52,880 --> 00:33:56,640
Speaker 1: Textbook post human kill team tactics. He thought he didn't

648
00:33:56,640 --> 00:33:59,160
Speaker 1: actually remember any of the fights this conclusion was based on,

649
00:33:59,400 --> 00:34:02,440
Speaker 1: but he'd clearly lived through similar encounters, and if he

650
00:34:02,480 --> 00:34:06,479
Speaker 1: trusted his body and hindbrain, he would again. Roland finished

651
00:34:06,480 --> 00:34:09,600
Speaker 1: searching the apocalyptic ruin that was his kitchen sink. The

652
00:34:09,640 --> 00:34:11,560
Speaker 1: pile of plates had been large enough to hide a

653
00:34:11,600 --> 00:34:14,440
Speaker 1: short barrel, a R ten, but his gun wasn't there either.

654
00:34:14,920 --> 00:34:18,960
Speaker 1: Funck Nuts, he cursed. The profanity brought a tiny serotonin spike,

655
00:34:19,239 --> 00:34:21,920
Speaker 1: and Roland felt himself calm down even as the noose

656
00:34:22,000 --> 00:34:24,880
Speaker 1: tightened around him. His combat wet wear did most of

657
00:34:24,920 --> 00:34:27,719
Speaker 1: its work in the moments before meat met metal, so

658
00:34:27,840 --> 00:34:31,279
Speaker 1: Roland closed his eyes, slumped his shoulders, and relaxed while

659
00:34:31,280 --> 00:34:34,000
Speaker 1: it cross indexed his memories of past firefights with his

660
00:34:34,040 --> 00:34:37,440
Speaker 1: current sensory data. A moment later, Roland was presented with

661
00:34:37,520 --> 00:34:41,239
Speaker 1: three potential counter assault strategies. He selected the one that

662
00:34:41,280 --> 00:34:44,920
Speaker 1: sounded like the most fun. The Callaghan fired, blanketing his

663
00:34:45,040 --> 00:34:46,640
Speaker 1: home and much of the area beyond it in a

664
00:34:46,680 --> 00:34:49,360
Speaker 1: web of noise designed to assault and eventually fry the

665
00:34:49,400 --> 00:34:51,920
Speaker 1: synapses of anyone dumb enough to stand too long in

666
00:34:51,960 --> 00:34:55,600
Speaker 1: its wake Payne lashed from Roland's inner ear and sparked

667
00:34:55,600 --> 00:34:57,960
Speaker 1: out to every nerve in his body. It would have

668
00:34:58,000 --> 00:35:00,480
Speaker 1: been enough to leave a strong man curled on the ground,

669
00:35:00,560 --> 00:35:03,840
Speaker 1: shifting his guts out, but Roland just felt a distant ache.

670
00:35:04,200 --> 00:35:06,760
Speaker 1: His experience of the damage was more akin to seeing

671
00:35:06,760 --> 00:35:09,400
Speaker 1: the check engine light on a car than true agony.

672
00:35:09,880 --> 00:35:11,799
Speaker 1: He was aware that if he waited too long, the

673
00:35:11,840 --> 00:35:14,200
Speaker 1: sonic weapon would blow out the pain dampners on his

674
00:35:14,239 --> 00:35:17,479
Speaker 1: spinal nerve gates. Lucky for him, the assault team didn't

675
00:35:17,520 --> 00:35:20,480
Speaker 1: wait that long. Roland felt the big man arc his

676
00:35:20,560 --> 00:35:22,600
Speaker 1: leg up to kick in the door. He crumpled in,

677
00:35:22,760 --> 00:35:25,600
Speaker 1: and Roland lunged left. This helped him avoid the first

678
00:35:25,640 --> 00:35:27,879
Speaker 1: spray of covering fire. As the chromed man and both

679
00:35:27,880 --> 00:35:31,640
Speaker 1: women barreled inside, Roland flung himself into the hovel's main

680
00:35:31,760 --> 00:35:34,759
Speaker 1: structural support beam, which ran up the building's left wall.

681
00:35:35,320 --> 00:35:37,080
Speaker 1: He hit it with the rough speed and force of

682
00:35:37,120 --> 00:35:40,160
Speaker 1: a light truck going twenty miles an hour. His momentum

683
00:35:40,200 --> 00:35:42,640
Speaker 1: carried him and half the left wall into the rocky

684
00:35:42,640 --> 00:35:47,040
Speaker 1: ground outside. Roland's filthy little home tottered and swayed. It

685
00:35:47,120 --> 00:35:49,560
Speaker 1: collapsed first on the left side and then on the right.

686
00:35:49,600 --> 00:35:52,520
Speaker 1: As the whole structure failed, Roland was already up with

687
00:35:52,560 --> 00:35:54,680
Speaker 1: a jagged piece of two by four in his hands.

688
00:35:55,000 --> 00:35:57,720
Speaker 1: He rushed the ephedric's addict, holding down the left flank.

689
00:35:58,040 --> 00:36:00,360
Speaker 1: The man got two shots off, and to his credit,

690
00:36:00,440 --> 00:36:03,120
Speaker 1: both hit right where Roland's original heart had been, and

691
00:36:03,160 --> 00:36:05,440
Speaker 1: then Roland was on him. He shoved the wood into

692
00:36:05,480 --> 00:36:08,000
Speaker 1: the meat of the man's face. It gouged off enough

693
00:36:08,000 --> 00:36:10,879
Speaker 1: flesh to Philippine glass and shattered the poor fellow's jaw.

694
00:36:11,160 --> 00:36:15,000
Speaker 1: He went down hard. Roland smelled the familiar scent of

695
00:36:15,000 --> 00:36:18,440
Speaker 1: antihemiragic nanomachines as they rushed to save the man's life.

696
00:36:18,760 --> 00:36:21,240
Speaker 1: He caught a slight sour whiff of the cheap clotting

697
00:36:21,280 --> 00:36:24,800
Speaker 1: agents in the man's blood. Roland guessed it was Traumax brand,

698
00:36:24,960 --> 00:36:28,000
Speaker 1: which was convenient. Traumax had based their whole line off

699
00:36:28,000 --> 00:36:30,800
Speaker 1: a piece of Brazilian military wet wear that itself was

700
00:36:30,880 --> 00:36:34,000
Speaker 1: based on a crude synthesis of horseshoe crab blood. The

701
00:36:34,120 --> 00:36:36,560
Speaker 1: organs worked well enough unless you happen to be an

702
00:36:36,560 --> 00:36:40,719
Speaker 1: amphetamine attitude suffered massive tissue damage, then your Traumax unit

703
00:36:40,719 --> 00:36:43,399
Speaker 1: would flood your synapses with adenocene to knock you out

704
00:36:43,760 --> 00:36:46,479
Speaker 1: rather than risk pushing more amphetamines on your stressed heart.

705
00:36:47,239 --> 00:36:49,279
Speaker 1: Something in the smell of the man's blood set off

706
00:36:49,280 --> 00:36:53,160
Speaker 1: a powerful sense memory buried deep in Roland's hippocampus vine

707
00:36:53,239 --> 00:36:56,040
Speaker 1: slashing his face boiling jungle heat, and his fist connecting

708
00:36:56,040 --> 00:36:58,279
Speaker 1: with the face of a heavily armed young woman. Her

709
00:36:58,360 --> 00:37:00,600
Speaker 1: orbital bone broke un to the blow. He smelled her

710
00:37:00,600 --> 00:37:03,279
Speaker 1: blood meat the air, and she dropped, dropped, dropped. The

711
00:37:03,360 --> 00:37:06,239
Speaker 1: memory flashed by, free of context and the time it

712
00:37:06,239 --> 00:37:08,600
Speaker 1: took the other man to hit the ground. It was

713
00:37:08,680 --> 00:37:11,319
Speaker 1: frustrating to only remember the what of an action, and

714
00:37:11,360 --> 00:37:14,000
Speaker 1: not the why or the after. It was like knowing

715
00:37:14,000 --> 00:37:16,160
Speaker 1: how to ride a bike without remembering who'd taught you

716
00:37:16,200 --> 00:37:20,400
Speaker 1: and when only for everything. Roland found it somewhat unsettling.

717
00:37:21,080 --> 00:37:23,200
Speaker 1: A twelve gage slug hit him in the first It

718
00:37:23,320 --> 00:37:27,120
Speaker 1: dug deep, hit reinforced bone, and stopped. The little machines

719
00:37:27,160 --> 00:37:29,640
Speaker 1: in Roland's blood were already cutting it apart by the

720
00:37:29,680 --> 00:37:31,960
Speaker 1: time he stopped musing and bounded over to the other

721
00:37:32,040 --> 00:37:35,279
Speaker 1: flank man. Roland chucked the two by four hard as

722
00:37:35,280 --> 00:37:38,200
Speaker 1: he ran. The wood impacted above the assassin's temple with

723
00:37:38,200 --> 00:37:42,200
Speaker 1: an audible crack, shattering the man's sphenoid bone. The battle

724
00:37:42,239 --> 00:37:45,920
Speaker 1: drugs started to trickle into Roland's synapses. Now a cocktail

725
00:37:45,960 --> 00:37:50,200
Speaker 1: of endorphins, oxytocin, serotonin, and epinephrin concocted to make violence

726
00:37:50,239 --> 00:37:53,720
Speaker 1: as addictive as a fat rock of crystal meth. Roland

727
00:37:53,760 --> 00:37:56,319
Speaker 1: instantly wanted more, and he knew he could trigger a

728
00:37:56,360 --> 00:37:59,120
Speaker 1: greater dose by stomping on the downed man's skull and

729
00:37:59,280 --> 00:38:02,440
Speaker 1: ending his life. He fought down the urge and instead

730
00:38:02,719 --> 00:38:05,640
Speaker 1: grabbed the man's a a thirty two combat shotgun and

731
00:38:05,760 --> 00:38:08,640
Speaker 1: rolled for cover behind a red rock boulder. He was

732
00:38:08,680 --> 00:38:11,680
Speaker 1: almost fast enough, but either the overwatched man had some

733
00:38:11,760 --> 00:38:14,959
Speaker 1: aftermarket parts Roland hadn't smelled, or all the hardcore drug

734
00:38:14,960 --> 00:38:18,240
Speaker 1: abuse had done long term damage to his reflexes. Maybe

735
00:38:18,239 --> 00:38:21,040
Speaker 1: no more crack binges. Roland fought as a massive two

736
00:38:21,040 --> 00:38:23,600
Speaker 1: bore slug drew most of his left shoulder out into

737
00:38:23,600 --> 00:38:27,560
Speaker 1: the desert behind him. Roland belted out several fukwords as

738
00:38:27,560 --> 00:38:30,920
Speaker 1: pain flooded the banks of his dampners, and just that second,

739
00:38:31,080 --> 00:38:34,520
Speaker 1: with truly exquisite timing, the Callahan crew swiveled their weapon

740
00:38:34,640 --> 00:38:38,120
Speaker 1: round and poured sonic fire at him from above. For

741
00:38:38,280 --> 00:38:43,200
Speaker 1: refraction of a second, everything went dark. Roland's world was riotous, red, pain,

742
00:38:43,280 --> 00:38:46,160
Speaker 1: and little else. If his body had required the input

743
00:38:46,160 --> 00:38:47,960
Speaker 1: of his conscious mind, he would have been in a

744
00:38:48,000 --> 00:38:51,360
Speaker 1: real pickle. During the milliseconds it took for his dampners

745
00:38:51,360 --> 00:38:53,839
Speaker 1: to cut through the pain hayes, Roland's body dove ten

746
00:38:53,880 --> 00:38:55,920
Speaker 1: feet to the left, enough to take him out of

747
00:38:55,960 --> 00:38:59,359
Speaker 1: the Callahan spray and behind and outcropping of rocks. Two

748
00:38:59,480 --> 00:39:02,200
Speaker 1: rounds act into the rock above his head. Roland came

749
00:39:02,239 --> 00:39:04,560
Speaker 1: back to himself as the shards cut into his skin.

750
00:39:05,200 --> 00:39:07,319
Speaker 1: He glanced down at the ruin of his shoulder. His

751
00:39:07,400 --> 00:39:10,920
Speaker 1: little blood robots were already hard at work rebuilding the muscles, bones,

752
00:39:10,960 --> 00:39:13,799
Speaker 1: and sinews blown out by the giant's slug. A couple

753
00:39:13,880 --> 00:39:16,520
Speaker 1: seconds more and the limb would be usable again. But

754
00:39:16,640 --> 00:39:19,839
Speaker 1: Rowland had a better idea. He used his intact arm

755
00:39:19,880 --> 00:39:22,560
Speaker 1: as a flesh catapult and flung himself up over the

756
00:39:22,600 --> 00:39:26,200
Speaker 1: boulder towards the Callahan in its three guardians. The man

757
00:39:26,320 --> 00:39:29,480
Speaker 1: with the two boar fired again. Roland had known he would,

758
00:39:29,480 --> 00:39:32,320
Speaker 1: and his hind brain had already calculated the ideal emotions

759
00:39:32,360 --> 00:39:35,680
Speaker 1: to avoid the dozen most likely shot patterns. He sailed

760
00:39:35,719 --> 00:39:37,719
Speaker 1: over the half pound bullets with ease and used the

761
00:39:37,760 --> 00:39:40,319
Speaker 1: hand of his intact arm to rip his wounded arm

762
00:39:40,440 --> 00:39:43,400
Speaker 1: free at the shoulder. Roland landed hard in front of

763
00:39:43,440 --> 00:39:46,000
Speaker 1: the callahan. He swung his own severed limb like a

764
00:39:46,080 --> 00:39:48,359
Speaker 1: club and knocked the barrel to the left. Then he

765
00:39:48,440 --> 00:39:50,640
Speaker 1: laid into the gun's crew with a mix of pounding

766
00:39:50,680 --> 00:39:52,759
Speaker 1: swings from the arm and stomps to the other men's

767
00:39:52,840 --> 00:39:56,920
Speaker 1: knees and ankles. Bone shattered, assassin screamed. The man with

768
00:39:56,960 --> 00:39:59,360
Speaker 1: the two boar and the newborn child at home wavered

769
00:39:59,360 --> 00:40:03,359
Speaker 1: and broke. Roland had expected this. Many normal humans, even

770
00:40:03,360 --> 00:40:06,319
Speaker 1: hardened veterans, found it nauseating and unsettling to see a

771
00:40:06,360 --> 00:40:09,320
Speaker 1: man move as fast as he could move, ad beating

772
00:40:09,360 --> 00:40:11,720
Speaker 1: their friends half to death with a severed limb, and well,

773
00:40:12,080 --> 00:40:15,280
Speaker 1: he'd predicted the guy would break. It's not your fault, buddy,

774
00:40:15,400 --> 00:40:18,240
Speaker 1: Roland thought, as he watched the man run. Don't feel bad.

775
00:40:18,640 --> 00:40:20,440
Speaker 1: He'd wanted to say that out loud, but he was

776
00:40:20,480 --> 00:40:24,280
Speaker 1: having trouble working his vocal cords. In roughly seven seconds,

777
00:40:24,400 --> 00:40:26,759
Speaker 1: Roland had eliminated five out of eight threats in the

778
00:40:26,840 --> 00:40:29,560
Speaker 1: kill team. His hind brain predictions had given him six

779
00:40:29,600 --> 00:40:32,520
Speaker 1: more seconds at least before the entry team cleared themselves

780
00:40:32,560 --> 00:40:35,160
Speaker 1: from the debris of his collapsed hovel. But the other

781
00:40:35,239 --> 00:40:37,520
Speaker 1: post human, the man who'd shone blank on most of

782
00:40:37,600 --> 00:40:41,359
Speaker 1: Roland's senses, had freed himself faster. Roland realized this when

783
00:40:41,400 --> 00:40:44,760
Speaker 1: a trio of fifty caliber slugs burst into his chest cavity.

784
00:40:45,200 --> 00:40:47,600
Speaker 1: He dropped, avoiding the last three rounds of the burst,

785
00:40:47,640 --> 00:40:50,040
Speaker 1: and rolled behind another pair of bowlders with his severed

786
00:40:50,120 --> 00:40:53,160
Speaker 1: arm in hand. The two female assassins were close to

787
00:40:53,200 --> 00:40:56,000
Speaker 1: freeing themselves now. Roland could hear them struggle out through

788
00:40:56,040 --> 00:40:58,480
Speaker 1: the vibrations of their bodies in the red sand. He

789
00:40:58,560 --> 00:41:01,440
Speaker 1: couldn't see the other post hum, but he'd triangulated his

790
00:41:01,480 --> 00:41:05,160
Speaker 1: most likely location. Unfortunately, the other fucker had him dead

791
00:41:05,200 --> 00:41:08,240
Speaker 1: to rights. If Roland broke cover, he'd be shot to pieces,

792
00:41:08,560 --> 00:41:11,280
Speaker 1: maybe more pieces than his trauma organs could put back together.

793
00:41:12,120 --> 00:41:14,080
Speaker 1: All right, oh boy, do eat a bunch of lead

794
00:41:14,120 --> 00:41:16,360
Speaker 1: and charge the bastards to play the meat rockets and

795
00:41:16,440 --> 00:41:19,200
Speaker 1: run for a gun while they're blind. He suddenly remembered

796
00:41:19,200 --> 00:41:22,120
Speaker 1: the spring loaded assault razor embedded in his left forearm,

797
00:41:22,360 --> 00:41:25,080
Speaker 1: and then the twenty two millimeter grenade pistol buried in

798
00:41:25,160 --> 00:41:28,239
Speaker 1: between his small intestine and his sigmoid. Colin did I

799
00:41:28,239 --> 00:41:30,719
Speaker 1: remember to load it before shoving it in there? But

800
00:41:30,760 --> 00:41:33,680
Speaker 1: before he could take any action, the firefight was interrupted

801
00:41:33,880 --> 00:41:37,640
Speaker 1: by an oddly familiar voice. Hey, Rowland has its swinging.

802
00:41:44,480 --> 00:41:47,960
Speaker 1: I call the Union Hall as his male alife, and dear,

803
00:41:48,440 --> 00:41:51,000
Speaker 1: I think these people of planning to kill Doctor King.

804
00:41:51,600 --> 00:41:55,319
Speaker 1: On April fourth night, Doctor Martin Luther King was shot

805
00:41:55,360 --> 00:41:58,560
Speaker 1: and killed in Memphis. A petty criminal named James Earl

806
00:41:58,680 --> 00:42:01,520
Speaker 1: Ray was arrested. He played guilty to the crime and

807
00:42:01,560 --> 00:42:05,200
Speaker 1: spent the rest of his life in prison. Case closed right,

808
00:42:06,239 --> 00:42:11,040
Speaker 1: James L. Ray was upon for the official story. The

809
00:42:11,080 --> 00:42:14,960
Speaker 1: authorities would parade all we found a gun that James L.

810
00:42:15,040 --> 00:42:19,120
Speaker 1: Ray bought in Birmingham that killed Dr King, Except it

811
00:42:19,200 --> 00:42:21,600
Speaker 1: wasn't the gun that killed Dr King. One of the

812
00:42:21,680 --> 00:42:25,120
Speaker 1: problems that came out when I got the Ray case

813
00:42:25,800 --> 00:42:28,719
Speaker 1: was that some of the evidence, as far as I

814
00:42:28,800 --> 00:42:32,799
Speaker 1: was concerned, did not match the circumstances. This is the

815
00:42:32,920 --> 00:42:36,840
Speaker 1: MLK tapes. The first episodes are available now. Listen on

816
00:42:36,880 --> 00:42:40,000
Speaker 1: the I Heart radio app Apple podcasts or wherever you

817
00:42:40,040 --> 00:42:46,600
Speaker 1: get your podcasts. Here's to the great American settlers. The

818
00:42:46,760 --> 00:42:50,799
Speaker 1: millions of you has settled for unsatisfying jobs because they

819
00:42:50,880 --> 00:42:53,759
Speaker 1: paid the bills, and uh, you just kind of fell

820
00:42:53,800 --> 00:42:58,319
Speaker 1: into it, and you know, it's like totally fine, Just

821
00:42:58,440 --> 00:43:02,080
Speaker 1: another few decades or so and then you can enjoy yourself.

822
00:43:02,840 --> 00:43:05,919
Speaker 1: Of course, there is something else you could do. If

823
00:43:05,960 --> 00:43:09,400
Speaker 1: you've got something to say. You could, I don't know,

824
00:43:09,640 --> 00:43:14,080
Speaker 1: startup podcast with Spreaker from my heart and unleash your

825
00:43:14,120 --> 00:43:18,320
Speaker 1: creative freedom and spend all day researching and talking about

826
00:43:18,360 --> 00:43:22,000
Speaker 1: stuff you love and maybe even earn enough money to

827
00:43:22,080 --> 00:43:25,839
Speaker 1: one day tell your irritating boss as you quit and

828
00:43:25,920 --> 00:43:31,080
Speaker 1: walk off into the sunset, Hey I'm no settler, I'm

829
00:43:31,120 --> 00:43:37,440
Speaker 1: an explorer. Spreaker dot com. That's spr e a k

830
00:43:37,760 --> 00:43:47,800
Speaker 1: e er hustle on over today. The Gangster Chronicles podcast

831
00:43:47,920 --> 00:43:51,719
Speaker 1: is a weekly conversation that revolves around underworld, the criminals

832
00:43:51,719 --> 00:43:55,080
Speaker 1: and entertainers, to victim's crime and law enforcement. We cover

833
00:43:55,120 --> 00:43:58,880
Speaker 1: all facets of the game. Gangster Chronicles podcast doesn't glorify

834
00:43:59,040 --> 00:44:03,120
Speaker 1: from motilicit that empties. We discussed the ramifications and repercussions

835
00:44:03,120 --> 00:44:06,440
Speaker 1: of the Exemptieppe wall. She played gamester games through an

836
00:44:06,480 --> 00:44:10,120
Speaker 1: ultimately rewarded with Gainster prizes. Our Heart Radio is number

837
00:44:10,160 --> 00:44:12,799
Speaker 1: one for podcast, but don't take our word for it.

838
00:44:13,040 --> 00:44:15,960
Speaker 1: Find Against the Chronicles podcast and I Heart Radio app

839
00:44:16,040 --> 00:44:23,440
Speaker 1: or wherever you get your podcast. Roland hadn't smelled or

840
00:44:23,480 --> 00:44:26,560
Speaker 1: heard this new man coming. The voice was very familiar.

841
00:44:26,840 --> 00:44:28,720
Speaker 1: Roland felt a name on the tip of his tongue,

842
00:44:28,960 --> 00:44:32,080
Speaker 1: but it just wouldn't come. Weapons down, lads, and glasses.

843
00:44:32,239 --> 00:44:35,719
Speaker 1: I've seen enough to guess the end. Roland smelled frustration,

844
00:44:35,840 --> 00:44:38,719
Speaker 1: waft off the two women now free and angry. The

845
00:44:38,800 --> 00:44:42,000
Speaker 1: other post human smelled like nothing, but Roland felt him

846
00:44:42,000 --> 00:44:45,600
Speaker 1: lower his weapon. Some gray, dead strand of memory pulsed

847
00:44:45,640 --> 00:44:47,840
Speaker 1: in the back of Roland's brain, and he guessed that

848
00:44:47,880 --> 00:44:50,040
Speaker 1: it was safe for him to stand up now, So

849
00:44:50,120 --> 00:44:53,279
Speaker 1: he did and put eyes on the mystery man. The

850
00:44:53,400 --> 00:44:56,680
Speaker 1: fellow had a lopsided, squarish jaw with a very deliberate

851
00:44:56,719 --> 00:45:00,200
Speaker 1: five o'clock shadow. His nose was thick and bulby. His

852
00:45:00,239 --> 00:45:02,719
Speaker 1: red hair was tangled into dreadlocks that were more the

853
00:45:02,760 --> 00:45:07,040
Speaker 1: result of inattention than stylistic choice. He was tall, muscular,

854
00:45:07,080 --> 00:45:09,080
Speaker 1: but lean, with a bare chest that was covered in

855
00:45:09,120 --> 00:45:12,200
Speaker 1: tattoos of black snakes. They writhed in time with the

856
00:45:12,239 --> 00:45:14,680
Speaker 1: beating of his heart. He wore nothing but a pair

857
00:45:14,719 --> 00:45:17,719
Speaker 1: of red leather chaps and a broad, calm smile. His

858
00:45:17,800 --> 00:45:21,120
Speaker 1: bare penis swung pingulous in the breeze. Both of his

859
00:45:21,160 --> 00:45:24,000
Speaker 1: palms were extended out front and visible. It was the

860
00:45:24,080 --> 00:45:27,440
Speaker 1: kind of gesture one used to calm an animal. Roland

861
00:45:27,520 --> 00:45:30,920
Speaker 1: synapses fired and misfired, and a string of fragmented memories

862
00:45:31,000 --> 00:45:33,839
Speaker 1: ran through his mind. He recalled a really good hot

863
00:45:33,880 --> 00:45:36,320
Speaker 1: dog on a sunny day, push ups in the mud,

864
00:45:36,640 --> 00:45:39,799
Speaker 1: searing pain in his genitals, and the taste of shitty ditchweed.

865
00:45:40,239 --> 00:45:43,080
Speaker 1: These memory fragments were all, somehow tied to the man

866
00:45:43,120 --> 00:45:45,520
Speaker 1: in front of him. It took Roland a moment, but

867
00:45:45,560 --> 00:45:47,120
Speaker 1: as soon as he got a full look at those

868
00:45:47,120 --> 00:45:50,040
Speaker 1: cold gray eyes, the man's name clicked in the place.

869
00:45:50,560 --> 00:45:55,080
Speaker 1: Oh ship, he croaked. Jim. Roland hadn't spoken to a

870
00:45:55,160 --> 00:45:58,839
Speaker 1: person in months, at least maybe longer. He sounded more

871
00:45:58,880 --> 00:46:01,960
Speaker 1: like a suffering cap an English speaking human. But Jim

872
00:46:02,040 --> 00:46:06,640
Speaker 1: understood him, Yep, he said. Roland's side looked at his

873
00:46:06,640 --> 00:46:09,799
Speaker 1: separate arm and crudely shoved it into place it had

874
00:46:09,800 --> 00:46:12,200
Speaker 1: clotted a bit, and his stubb burned as the tiny

875
00:46:12,320 --> 00:46:14,839
Speaker 1: robots in his blood got to work reattaching his once

876
00:46:14,880 --> 00:46:18,520
Speaker 1: in future limb. Jim, he said again, sounding a bit

877
00:46:18,600 --> 00:46:20,840
Speaker 1: less like a frog after a six day coke bene,

878
00:46:21,360 --> 00:46:25,200
Speaker 1: you funked up my house man. That's not cool. Roland

879
00:46:25,239 --> 00:46:27,600
Speaker 1: didn't know how long he'd known Jim. He couldn't even

880
00:46:27,600 --> 00:46:30,200
Speaker 1: pin down the man's last name, but he was pretty

881
00:46:30,200 --> 00:46:33,319
Speaker 1: sure they'd fought together back before the revolution, and he

882
00:46:33,360 --> 00:46:35,960
Speaker 1: was certain they'd had a threesome with a devilishly handsome

883
00:46:35,960 --> 00:46:38,960
Speaker 1: spet SNAs man. He couldn't remember that guy's name or

884
00:46:38,960 --> 00:46:41,440
Speaker 1: why they'd all been in Panama, but he didn't expect

885
00:46:41,520 --> 00:46:43,600
Speaker 1: that was the sort of experience past him would have

886
00:46:43,600 --> 00:46:46,799
Speaker 1: shared with someone who wasn't a friend. You remember me,

887
00:46:47,360 --> 00:46:51,880
Speaker 1: Jim asked, basically. Roland answered, good, because I got a

888
00:46:51,880 --> 00:46:58,719
Speaker 1: favor to ask. Hey, everybody, Robert Evans here. I hope

889
00:46:58,760 --> 00:47:00,879
Speaker 1: you just enjoyed the chapter you listen to. I hope

890
00:47:00,880 --> 00:47:03,200
Speaker 1: you enjoyed the chapters to come. If you would like

891
00:47:03,320 --> 00:47:05,960
Speaker 1: to read the text version of this book either on

892
00:47:06,000 --> 00:47:08,080
Speaker 1: the web or on your e reader as an e

893
00:47:08,200 --> 00:47:10,719
Speaker 1: pub you can find those on the website a t

894
00:47:11,000 --> 00:47:15,160
Speaker 1: r book dot Com, so again the free ad free

895
00:47:15,280 --> 00:47:17,880
Speaker 1: e pub and the text of every chapter will be

896
00:47:17,920 --> 00:47:20,799
Speaker 1: on a t r book dot After thirty years, it's

897
00:47:20,840 --> 00:47:23,200
Speaker 1: time to return to the halls of West Beverly High

898
00:47:23,239 --> 00:47:25,480
Speaker 1: and hang out at the peach pit. On the podcast

899
00:47:25,600 --> 00:47:28,360
Speaker 1: nine O two one o MG, visit Jenny Garth and

900
00:47:28,400 --> 00:47:31,240
Speaker 1: Tory Spelling for a rewatch of the hit series Beverly

901
00:47:31,320 --> 00:47:33,560
Speaker 1: Hills nine O two one oh. From the very beginning,

902
00:47:33,719 --> 00:47:36,840
Speaker 1: we get to tell the fans all of the behind

903
00:47:36,880 --> 00:47:39,239
Speaker 1: the scenes stories to actually happen, so they know what

904
00:47:39,320 --> 00:47:42,120
Speaker 1: happened on camera obviously, but we can tell them all

905
00:47:42,200 --> 00:47:44,319
Speaker 1: the good stuff that happen off camera. Listen to nine

906
00:47:44,360 --> 00:47:46,759
Speaker 1: O two one o MG on the I Heart Radio app,

907
00:47:46,800 --> 00:47:52,080
Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm John Gonzalez,

908
00:47:52,160 --> 00:47:55,160
Speaker 1: the host of s i s new podcast, Sports Illustrated Weekly.

909
00:47:55,719 --> 00:47:58,799
Speaker 1: Sports Illustrated has delivered some of the best storytelling in

910
00:47:58,880 --> 00:48:02,239
Speaker 1: sports for seven into years, and now that continues. On

911
00:48:02,280 --> 00:48:05,160
Speaker 1: our show. Each week, we'll dive deep into the best

912
00:48:05,200 --> 00:48:08,759
Speaker 1: stories from around the sports world. Sports Illustrated Weekly is

913
00:48:08,760 --> 00:48:12,120
Speaker 1: available every Wednesday on the I Heart Radio app, Apple

914
00:48:12,200 --> 00:48:19,759
Speaker 1: Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe now. The

915
00:48:19,920 --> 00:48:24,680
Speaker 1: Black Effect Presents features honest conversations and exclusive interviews, a

916
00:48:24,760 --> 00:48:29,080
Speaker 1: space for artists, everyday people, and listeners to amplify, elevate,

917
00:48:29,320 --> 00:48:33,360
Speaker 1: and empower Black voices with great conversations. Make sure to

918
00:48:33,360 --> 00:48:36,600
Speaker 1: listen to The Black Effect Presents podcast on I Heart Radio,

919
00:48:36,719 --> 00:48:40,120
Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast