Free Beyond Armageddon: Book 02 - Empire by Anthony Decosmo

meeting, Gordon coordinated dozens of spies not only behind Hivvan lines, but also in Africa and Europe to explore and understand the nature of the changed world.

    Conversely, Knox loved Trevor because Stone turned him loose. No red tape, no books filled with legalese, no pesky lines of distinction between foreign and domestic spying. Knox was free to do what needed to be done— everything that needed to be done—to protect humanity’s war effort.

    He utilized children as young as nine to infiltrate slave camps to ferment rebellion. He identified a series of Hivvan regional leaders and had them assassinated. And—to everyone’s surprise—he uncovered a small network of pro-Hivvan human sympathizers sent to spy on the growing nation. Trevor never asked where Gordon hid those bodies.

    Council meetings were often long, often rough, and heated. On occasion, Trevor would drive those meetings and be the only one speaking for hours on end. Other times he sat and listened while debates raged.

    Nonetheless, somehow or another the council met the needs of the growing population and kept the war machine grinding away.

    The meeting that day, however, threatened to be one for the ages.

    Eva got things started working from a series of hand-written notes. She spoke in a formal, professional manner. They all knew she held little tolerance for bullshit; she considered her time too valuable to waste.

    “The corn harvest in central Pennsylvania and Maryland will be 10 percentage points lower than last season. This comes despite a substantial increase in the number of farms producing corn. The reason is due to insect infestations. We have been dealing with a lack of pesticides. This will have a cascade effect over the rest of this year. Corn is the primary ingredient in farm animal feed. We anticipate needing to slaughter more animals because we will not have the feed to keep them eating through the winter. Needless to say, this will result in less meat yields per animal.”

    “Now that is a cruel twist of fate,” Reverend Johnny said. “A bounty of meat this Fall because we’re running out of corn.”

    “Furthermore, we will have less offspring and fewer animal products such as milk and wool. Enjoy your lamb chops this Fall, Reverend, but I hope you don’t freeze to death from a lack of a coat in February.”

    She glanced from her notes and saw the audience hanging on her every word. Military speak and industrial output sounded cooler, but all of that meant nothing without food to eat.

      “This situation will aggravate food supply problems in New Jersey , Delaware , and eastern Maryland . We estimate that as many as fifteen thousand souls in those areas will be subjected to rations below subsistence levels by October.”

    “Wow,” Jon Brewer broke in. “What about fishing? Those areas have access to the Chesapeake , Delaware Bay, and the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Jersey .”

    “We have shortages in fuel to run fishing boats,” Eva responded. “There are two other considerations. The first is that so many of our foodstuffs were forwarded to Southern Command. Second, our facilities have recently come under aggressive attack from hostile animals. In the last week alone, I had distribution centers in Vineland , New Jersey , Rehoboth Beach , Delaware , and Denton , Maryland wiped out. Two trains were also hit by creatures, one resulting in lost cargo and a gutted crew.”

    She took a deep breath and then hit them with another shock. “If you check your casualty reports you’ll find that more people protecting or distributing food were killed in the last several weeks than were lost during the assault on Raleigh .”

    Evan Godfrey said, “Where the Hell is Internal Security?” he turned to Dante Jones. “Jesus Christ, we can’t even protect our food supply.”

    “Hey,” Dante defended. “I’ve only got so much manpower. Do you know how thin we’re spread? I got guys using friggin’ 22’s because