Free American Exit Strategy: Book 1 by Mark Goodwin Page A

was to kill the inside lights. This allowed him to crack the Venetian shades just enough to see outside without allowing anyone to see back in. He took a close look down the street. He didn't see anything. He double checked the lock on the front door, and then walked to take a look out the kitchen window. Just then, he heard something around the side of the house. Adrenaline shot to his heart. He drew his gun and shut the earphone off from the Radio Scanner that had been playing on his phone. He checked to see that the Walkie was on in case he had to call Karen. Maybe he should wake her up first. “No, I'll check it out. I'll let her sleep.” he thought. Matt switched on the light that was mounted to the tactical rail on his Glock and stepped out the door. He scanned the yard with the light. Slowly, he stepped around the side to the laundry room door. He turned the knob and pulled it open. He stepped back as he did so to draw down on anyone that might be inside. No one was there. He closed the door and locked it. He stepped around to the bike racks and something shot out from the shrubs!
    It happened so fast. Fortunately, it was only Buster, the cat from up the street. He frequented Matt and Karen's yard on occasion.  From what Matt understood, Buster belonged to Chicken Elvis. The Man's first name was really Elvis. They lived in a decent area, it wasn't a trashy neighborhood. There was no community association telling you what type of flowers to plant, but you wouldn't expect people to have chickens in this neighborhood. Chicken Elvis had chickens. He also had two roosters. Those roosters were up every morning at 4:30. The nickname "Chicken Elvis" was the way they differentiated him from the guy who owned the gun store where Matt and Karen shopped. Oddly enough, the gun store owner’s name was also Elvis. As a form of soft retribution for the roosters waking him up from time to time, Matt also referred to the man as Chicken Elvis to the neighbors, even though they required no distinguishing adjectives.
    Matt thought about the cat running out from the bushes. What a start it had given his heart.  What if it had been an intruder? Would he have been able to take aim and shoot?  Maybe he should check the corner from a greater distance. He was overanalyzing the event. "Just keep your head and be alert. I will also come up with a few things to make this fence harder to get over tomorrow morning." he thought.   As Matt walked back around, he heard the exchange of gunfire in the distance. "Somebody found more than a tomcat." he thought to himself.
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     

 
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    CHAPTER 13
     
     
    "Are we at last brought to such a humiliating and debasing degradation, that we cannot be trusted with arms for our own defense?”
    -Patrick Henry
     
    The day after the riots started, Matt's phone rang. It was his cousin from Kentucky, Adam.
    "How're you guys doing?" Adam asked with concern. "Is everything OK there?"
    "We made it through the night without any incidents, but it sounded like a war zone outside most of the night. I was listening to the police scanner over the internet and it sounds like the good guys just barely held on. The criminal element thrives on this type of volatile environment. "Matt answered.
    "You guys should pack it up and head on up here. You can have the pull- out bed in the office for as long as you need it. We have plenty of storage space in the garage for all of your stuff. Rent a trailer, hitch it to your truck and come on up." Adam said.
    "Thanks for the offer, but I don't think the roads are all that safe right now. We would have to come through Jacksonville and Atlanta to get there. There are large scale riots in both of those cities; worse than what we have here in South Florida. We are pretty well set to hunker down for a while." Matt replied.
    "Did you hear about