Arendt walked into the room followed by the two men in their late twenties who functioned as her assistants and body guards. Each was tall and fit, wore a gray suit, white shirt and back tie. She set down the bundle of manila folders on the conference table which filled the center of the room. She wore her standard gray skirt with matching grey blazer and white shirt. One of her assistants behind her placed her leather satchel bag on the table next to her papers. She acknowledged him with a nod and proceeded to open the bag, pull out a took out a stack of stapled sheets of paper. She handed them to the other man accompanying her, “John, would you mind?” He walked around the table and placed one in front of each of the men four men sitting at the far end none of whom had yet spoken or acknowledged.
After handing out the papers he stepped over to the side table in far corner and poured two cups from the pitcher of water set next to the pot of coffee and brought them back over to where Arendt was setting up. He placed them down on the table within hands reach of her, removed her bag and joined the other man on the chairs against the wall behind Arendt. She finished organizing the materials in front of her, thumbing through some of her notes and nudging the papers and folders with her finger tips in to neat piles. Finally she took a sip from one of the cups then leaned forward bracing herself with her two fists on the table surface and spoke. “Gentlemen.” She said and nodded at each of the seated men.
The largest of the four stood up. “Welcome madame chairman. I hope your accommodations were adequate.”
“My title is General.”
“Excuse me, general.”
“Yes. they were adequate thank you. Shall we begin?”She liked that the Mormon Command had the ability to stage the meeting in a hotel rather than one of their churches, it spoke to their operational capabilities. They didn't really have public churches since they had been declared illegal but she knew that they had modified other buildings to transform them into one of their temples or ceremonial halls.
“General Arendt, would you like to have a seat?” He gestured towards the chairs surrounding the table. arm outstretched, fingers together.
“I will stand, thank you. You, sit.” her gesture was more natural, direct and commanding than his. The elder looked quickly at his compatriots who remained impassive, then reached back to the armrest of his chair and lowered himself with the shaky motion of age.
“The material you have in front of you follows my presentation and includes intelligence reports we have gathered for your general knowledge and as a gesture of goodwill. We have placed those in the appendixes at the end,. This is information we feel you will find interesting and helpful. Please guard them jealously, I'm' sure you are aware that obtaining this information involves great risk and and sacrifice on the part of patriots and if it were to fall into the wrong hands could put their lives at risk.”
The men all nodded in assent and started to take to thumb through the sheets. “Take a few moments to look through them and then I will continue.”After they had finished skimmed through the papers the same man spoke. “Very impressive.”
“As you all know in order to protect American citizens who would have been targeted because of their religion, ethnicity, profession or past political affiliation the US government destroyed and instructed citizens to destroy all personal identification and local public registries. As you each are also aware the Nazi's are attempting to undermine any possibility of reconstructing American political and cultural institutions and by systematically capturing and or destroying all bureaucratic documentation.
Although their initial focus was on state and national records their focus has spread to Colleges and Universities libraries and destroying archives and records, they are seeking to make it impossible not only to reestablish the authority of government but also to make it impossible for future generations to reconstruct history through historical record. This destruction includes all previous deeds of ownership .
We assume that there are many hiding places where certain collections of books and historical documents are being kept but we also know that overall losses have been staggering. The Nazi's have also used the information they have gathered to begin making registries and data bases of citizens which has in turn lead to arrest of Jews, political leaders, and former radicals.”
“We are aware of all these issues General.”
“Please do not interrupt me. Those regions and towns that remained remained loyal to their fellow citizens by providing shelter or aid have been the victims of retaliation by the enemy. Entire towns have been massacred. Places such as Dickson Tennessee 7,000 souls killed. 12,000 in Warren Pennsylvania, 9,000 souls from Price City Utah, Millard County.”
“Yes we are well aware of the events in Price. What purpose does this listing out of the butchers bill serve.”
“At this point we estimate that a quarter of the United States population has been killed or enslaved by the enemy. We have been in ongoing discussions regard strategic integration of our forces.”
“And we have respectfully declined. We respect your organization's contribution to the fight against the invading forces.”
“As do we your brave states sacrifices and contributions to that same cause. I have not come here to today to discuss your ongoing and willful disregard for the military chain of command.”
The Elders voice began to rise. “May I remind you general Arendt that the Mormon Elders were specifically charged by the War Department and the federal government to administer and manage the homeland armament reserve and act as a de-facto homeland strategic defense force in the event of invasion.”
“I am well aware of it as you rarely miss an opportunity to remind me, at which time I consistently bring to your attention that all remaining elements of Military command and operational capabilities have already been integrated into the resistance army”
The elder rose to his feet “A resistance army that murders Americans in cold blood on the street!”
Arendt slammed her fist on the table “They are not Americans, they are traitor.”
Chapter 5