Firebase Freedom by William W. Johnstone Read Free Book Online

and you have to show an ID card. Do you want to get an ID card, swearing that you have converted?”
    â€œNo, but some of the people down here on the island have. I don’t blame them, though. If we had no access of any kind, we wouldn’t have any sugar, or coffee, or half a dozen other things that we aren’t able to do for ourselves.”
    â€œThat’s true. But can you imagine what the people on the mainland are having to go through, even for the simplest necessities of life? Destroy pictures, and kill their dogs.”
    â€œHa, Bob wouldn’t kill Charley if you pointed a gun at him and demanded it,” Jake said.
    â€œI was talking to Ellen Varney. Did you know this is the second dog they’ve named Charley? She says that Bob told her that if England could have eight kings named Henry, he could have two dogs names Charley.”
    â€œBob is an interesting man,” Jake said. “He told me a good story about the Battle of Mobile Bay. Except for four, all the Union ships involved were wooden ships, but they were protected by chain mail hanging over the sides, and the shot and shell from the fort just bounced off of them. One of them, the Brooklyn , was struck seventy times, and didn’t sink.”
    â€œHe knows a lot of history, doesn’t he?”
    â€œHa! It’s because he’s so damn old that he’s lived through it. Do you know he can remember, as a boy, knowing someone who actually fought in the Civil War? And he served in the army with someone who was the last World War I veteran to be on active duty. If we ever get bored, all we have to do is let him tell stories. Don’t forget, that’s what he did for a living.”
    â€œHow is he coming along with the Declaration of Independence he’s writing?” Karin asked.
    â€œI don’t know, he hasn’t let me see it yet. But I expect it’ll be just about what we want, and need.”
    â€œDeclaration of Independence. That’s quite a thing. Do you really think we’ll ever actually be an independent country?”
    â€œYes. How viable we will be as a country, I don’t know. But that isn’t our primary goal. Our primary goal is to throw Ohmshidi and those towel-headed sons of bitches the hell out of here, and take back America.”
    â€œYou actually have confidence that we can do that?”
    â€œI do. I mean, that’s the whole point of this, isn’t it? To take our country back?”
    â€œHow are we ever going to do that, Jake? You know as well as I do that Ohmshidi has access to every nuclear weapon this country had. I mean, if we started making too big of a problem for him, he could take care of us with just one nuke.”
    â€œYou think we should just give up because he has nukes?”
    â€œI think we should be realistic about our chances.”
    â€œWhat if someone had said that to George Washington? I mean, when you think about it, what chance did the Colonies have against England, in 1776?”
    â€œYeah? Well, England had to send troops 3,500 miles, and they didn’t have a nuclear bomb,” Karin said.
    Jake took another swallow of his lemonade. “Uh-huh, and the Colonies didn’t have me to lead them,” he teased.
    Karin laughed, and punched him playfully on the shoulder. “You know what you remind me of? You remind me of a mouse, floating down the river on his back, with an erection, shouting ‘Raise the draw bridge!’”
    â€œWhoa now, that really hurts. Are you saying my pecker’s the same size as a mouse’s pecker?”
    â€œWell, no, I do know better than that,” Karin said, and she leaned over to kiss him.
    â€œWant to play around?” Jake asked after the kiss.
    â€œUp here, on top of the wall?”
    â€œNo. But we could walk up the beach for a way, nobody would see us in the dark. It might be fun.”
    â€œWhat would be fun about getting sand in the crack of your