Free Stand Your Ground by William W. Johnstone Page B

them in to help keep order if you need to?”
    Baldwin grimaced and shook his head.
    â€œI’m only allowed to request assistance from civilian authorities. No military. The Federal Protective Service was disbanded after that nerve gas fiasco, or at least it was supposed to be, but from what I hear it was just absorbed back into the Department of Homeland Security. It’s still the same bunch of jackbooted thugs.”
    Stark nodded. Like everybody else in the country, he had heard about how the former president had tried to bypass the Second Amendment and use his own personal Gestapo to seize all the guns in the little town of Home, Texas, about 150 miles from here. As if that weren’t bad enough, the president had then ordered his men to use a new chemical weapon developed at a secret government lab on American citizens. It had cost the president his job, and he was now living in exile overseas, where he had come from to start with, rather than do time in prison where he belonged.
    A lot of people had hoped that near-disaster would permanently alter the direction of the country, but after a short time when it appeared that might happen, the media had gone back to propping up their sacred “progressive” cause and smearing anyone who dared to oppose it, and things had returned pretty much to the sorry state that resembled “normal” in the United States these days.
    â€œSounds like it could be a mess, all right,” Stark agreed with his old friend. “I suppose we’ll have to wait and see what happens, though.”
    Baldwin sighed and said, “Yeah. In the meantime, you want to have a look around?”
    â€œSounds good to me,” Stark said.

CHAPTER 10
    The police chief was supposed to set a good example, so Cobb tried not to use his cell phone while he was driving unless it was an emergency. For that reason, he radioed John Howard Stark while he was still at the site where he practiced his fast draw and did his target practice.
    â€œHello?”
    â€œMr. Stark, this is Charles Cobb. We met yesterday in Fuego.”
    â€œOf course, Chief. How are you?”
    â€œI’m fine,” Cobb said. “My dispatcher said you wanted to talk to me. Something about strangers in town?” Stark didn’t answer the question directly. Instead he said, “Do you know who Alexis Devereaux is, Chief ?”
    â€œThe name’s familiar,” Cobb said, frowning slightly. “I can’t quite place it, though.”
    â€œShe’s a lawyer, used to work at the White House. Now she shows up on TV a lot. The cable news networks like to bring her in as an expert on the talking head shows.”
    â€œOh, yes, I know who you’re talking about. Very staunch supporter of the administration.”
    â€œExcept when the President isn’t being liberal enough to suit her,” Stark said. “Like in the case of those prisoners who were just transferred to Hell’s Gate.”
    â€œAre you saying that Alexis Devereaux is in Fuego?”
    â€œShe is, Chief, and so is Phillip Hamil.”
    â€œI feel like I should know that name, too.”
    â€œHe’s some sort of professor who turns up on the news shows, too. In the past he’s advised the administration on U.S.–Arab relations.”
    Cobb lifted the hand that wasn’t holding the phone and scrubbed it over his face. He felt a sudden weariness settling into his shoulders. “Would it be correct to describe these two as publicity hounds?” he asked.
    â€œIn my opinion it would be.”
    â€œWe’re going to have camera crews in Fuego, aren’t we?”
    â€œMaybe more than that,” Stark said. “According to what I’ve been told, there are a number of men of Middle Eastern descent in town this morning, too. I saw a couple of them at the motel just a little while ago.”
    â€œIt’s not illegal to be of Middle Eastern descent,” Cobb pointed