Survival of the Species
Chapter Seventeen
Prior reconnaissance had shown that all of the major media's editors, and some of the higher-ranking journalists, had been given police protection during the election campaign.
It was impossible to protect all journalists, even though the executions of various journalists by the Movement had shown that they were potential targets. At least the Silent Brotherhood had silenced their anti-Nationalist ravings up until the election. When those journos who wrote "anti-racist" stories began to get bumped off, the media had used pseudonyms for such writers, so as to foil payback from the Movement. However, the Nationalists were not to be stymied by such games; they simply killed any journo from the same media office as produced the anti-Nationalist propaganda, leaving behind a note telling the media who the journo had been killed in place of. As far as the police were concerned, they could not provide protection for every media person across Australia; they could only suggest that the media leave the Nationalists alone.
Overall, police resources had been spread pretty thinly across the ground - trying to provide protection for politicians, ethnic spokesmen, leading Socialists-Communists, rabid multiculturalist teachers, multinational business executives, bankers, etc, etc, etc (as well as trying to carry out the normal business of everyday policing). Apparently, it was thought that the Revolution would try to disrupt the election process itself, as all the offices of the Australian Electoral Commission were under heavy guard.
Karl had been allocated his target two days beforehand - a journalist named David Leeson. Apparently this guy had once been a Nationalist, but had become a turncoat who had since continually lied about Nationalists, in his efforts to "expose" them - including writing articles, and giving interviews to the media, as well as giving the political police a run-down on all he knew from his prior Nationalist involvements. He was meant to have been executed on the first day of the Revolution, but had inconveniently disappeared for several days at that time (rumour was that he had actually booked himself into a psychiatric hospital to cope with one of his occasional psychiatric relapses). The Nationalist Revolutionary Council was miffed that Leeson hadn't been hit with the first wave of executions; this time around, they wanted to make sure.
As was the usual case with the large-scale execution operations, all of the hits were to be carried out at roughly the same time on the same night. Although this tactic brought risk of increased police presence once the wave of executions began, and involved certain risks in keeping all hits to a set timetable, it meant that police resources would be stretched to the limit, and that confusion would be at a maximum (also, these mass executions struck terror into the heart of the System, and kept the enemy permanently on edge).
Karl had sussed out Leeson's home and his work; as well as which he had been supplied with photos and video footage of Leeson, so that he could confirm his target's identity.
Karl soon discovered that Leeson had just recently been given police protection (luckily, only one policeman). On the basis of this new information, Karl had been given an assistant at the last minute - a red-headed woman named Barbara (presumably, that was her real name).
On the morning of the hit, Karl and Barbara waited in Karl's van in Leeson's street, waiting for him to go to work. It was vital that Leeson be followed, so that when night-time came they would know his whereabouts. Although they could have taken care of him that morning, Karl and Barbara had to wait till about 9 pm, the set time for the wave of simultaneous executions - any earlier would mean tipping their hand and possibly alerting the police nationwide, whilst too much later would mean that they could face an alerted police response.
In fact, this was possibly the last wave of executions like this; the Nationalist Revolutionary Council had decided that now that their modus operandi was known, and considering the possibility of a slip-up by one of the many activist units, that it would be better to change over to single target executions hereafter (although, certainly, the Nationalists were already carrying out many such single executions). For the moment, the waves of executions had made enough of an impact upon the general psyche of the population, and upon the Establishment in particular.
Leeson's front door opened, and his plain-clothes police bodyguard came out, scanned the surrounds, then got into his unmarked car and started it up; within seconds, Leeson (complete with flak jacket) dashed out, slamming the front door behind him, and quickly jumped into the car, which set off immediately.
Apparently, this was meant to be a daily ritual for Leeson during the election campaign. Presumably, it made him feel safer to have a bodyguard during the election, which was tipped to be a likely time for Nationalist "hits". Unfortunately for Leeson, he was just one of thousands of potential targets, and therefore he was lucky to have even one bodyguard. As for after the election, it was expected that he would just have to go back to continually looking over his shoulder. Presumably his state of mind was hardly helped by the article on the front page of The Morning Observer newspaper the previous week, which carried a photo of the assassinated federal Director of Public Prosecutions, with a painted slogan clearly visible on the wall behind the body, "The White Revolution strikes who it wants, when it wants, where it wants" (the photo only appeared in the early edition, being removed by request of the Prime Minister's office, on the grounds that it would badly affect national morale).
Karl and Barbara carefully followed Leeson to his work, and took turns at keeping an eye on his car during the day, being careful not to compromise the mission by being too obvious. Although they had been given information on his regular schedule, including when he normally left work, they didn't want to muck up the hit by relying on him leaving work at the usual time, and not being there if he left early.
As it happened, Leeson did leave work at the usual time, but instead of going home, he made a couple of stops, and by 8.30pm had made his way to an all-night cafe. Apparently, Leeson had arranged to meet someone there, because when Karl walked slowly past the cafe and looked in, he could see Leeson in deep conversation with another man; with his bodyguard seated a couple of tables away.
Karl returned to the van, and both he and Barbara donned their makeshift disguises; simply wigs and glasses - hardly the work of a master of disguise, but it was enough to invalidate any description of them.
They walked into the cafe, and ordered some coffee. While the coffee was being made, Karl walked towards the back of the cafe, as if to get a table, whilst Barbara stayed at the counter, in order to cover him.
Karl walked past the bodyguard, pulled his pistol out, and stuck it into the nape of the cop's neck, telling him to put his hands flat on the table. Seeing Karl make his move, Barbara took about her pistol and pointed it around the room.
"Everyone on the floor. Now!" she demanded.
The few patrons of the cafe looked up, startled; not really taking in at first what she was saying.
"I said NOW! Or I start shooting. On the floor, people. Do it!"
That got their attention. Everyone quickly lowered themselves to the floor, keeping quiet.
"Face down, arms outstretched, and no talking."
While whilst this was going on, the police bodyguard had put his hands flat on the table, as ordered. Karl told him to then very slowly drop to the ground, keeping his hands well in sight. When the cop was lying on the floor, Karl again pressed his pistol firmly in into the back of the bodyguard's neck as he searched for his gun. Karl then secured him, using the cop's own handcuffs.
"You're lucky, mate, we've got no gripe with you normal cops, only with the political police; but if you give me any trouble, you're dead meat."
Karl then told Leeson and his "friend" to stand up, with their hands on their heads.
Pointing his pistol at the "friend", Karl asked "Who, and what, are you?"
"My name is Tom Harvey, I'm just a car salesman."
Not believing that for a moment, and interested to know exactly who Leeson was meeting with, Karl told him to slowly take his wallet out and produce his ID. As the "friend" did so, Karl saw a hint of dark metal in the bloke's hand, and shot him immediately. The guy staggered backwards, falling over another cafe patron, and crashed heavily to the floor, a pistol spinning across the room. Keeping his eye on the others, Karl picked the weapon up; obviously the "friend" had actually been some sort of cop (presumably one of the political police) that Leeson had arranged to meet.
With everyone's attention focused on the dead cop, the owner of the cafe (a swarthy, greasy-looking man; some sort of Arab) had reached up to the wall phone behind the counter and was just about to dial, when Barbara saw him out of the corner of her eye, and spun around and shot him; phut, phut.
Karl hadn't even noticed the cafe owner's movements until Barbara had spun round.
"Blimey," thought Karl "I would have given him a warning shot. Truly, the female is the deadlier of the species."
But, on a moments reflection, Karl knew that Barbara was right: take no chances, and teach all of the other bastards a lesson in obeying orders. He simply nodded at her, and then headed for Leeson.
"You!", Karl pointed his pistol at the target, "Get on your knees; now!"
Leeson sunk to the floor on his knees, his eyes wide open, and his face twisted with fright.
Karl leaned over towards him, and spoke in a slow, menacing voice, "We've come for you, Dave."
A wet stain appeared at the front of Leeson's trousers, and a horrible stench filled the air as he fouled himself.
Karl reeled back in disgust, "Aw, Jesus, can't you even die like a man?"
"Don't kill me!", pleaded Leeson.
Karl's answer was to shoot him between the eyes; dark red blood and grey brain matter splattered across the room, the body fell back on its haunches, and then slumped sideways. Karl's stomach turned with disgust at the repulsive and bloody spectacle that lay spread out before him. What a pathetic excuse for a man Leeson was; Karl felt that the death of this traitor was hardly worth risking his own life for.
Barbara's voice broke the silence, and cut through Karl's train of thought: "Okay, you lot, stay face down on the floor for five minutes after we close the door, or you're all dead."
Karl and Barbara left the scene in silence, and drove quickly away.
* * * * * * *
Most of the people killed during the wave of executions were journalists, a clear indictment of their role in continually creating anti-Nationalist propaganda. Hardly any politicians were killed; a reflection not only of the stringent security being given to politicians during the election campaign, but also of the Nationalist Revolutionary Council's desire not to upset these elections too much - obviously they wanted the elections finalised relatively easily, so as to forge ahead with whatever plans they had in mind.
* * * * * * *
The following day, Karl found himself thinking of Barbara, who - although not a beauty in the classical sense - was a good looking woman, with a shapely body, and a nice face which was accentuated by her flowing red hair. Even more important was the fact that she was politically and racially "tuned in".
It was no good to have children with a woman who would allow, or even encourage, race-mixing; a child who grew up in the company of muds would be open to the possibility of marrying one of them, thus becoming a miscegenist. In such a case it would be better if the child had never been born, rather than disgracing his People by becoming a race traitor. A woman like Barbara would keep her children on the straight and narrow, and bring them up to be proud of their Race and Nation.
Karl hadn't had much time to "chase" after women in the last few years, as he had spent most of his spare time spreading propaganda for the Movement; and, of course, he had been very busy since the start of the Revolution. Besides which, taking on a mate could be a security risk. Unless, of course, it was a woman like Barbara, who was a dedicated Nationalist.
Karl again thought of Barbara; who had, during their day together, let him know that she was unattached. Karl decided to get in contact with her again if he could; if not now, then at least when the Revolution was over.
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