Read Online The Gambit by Allen Longstreet - Free Book Online Page A

Sometimes I still have dreams of the groups of people who would riot, and wouldn’t quit once the rubber bullets were used. Did the guards in your camp—”
    “Yes,” I said, cutting him short. “They did.”
    Grey nodded. His Adam’s apple moved as he swallowed.
    “So, I guess all the Camps were the same.”
    “Didn’t you watch the news at all?” I asked, surprised from his statement.
    “After we were released, I tried to avoid the news altogether.”
    I blinked, and I saw the image of the mother and daughter holding hands. My breath became shallow and rapid just from the small flashback of the memory. I felt a singeing sensation on my left forearm. Occasionally I would have ghost pain where the cigarette had left its mark.
    “I know what you mean,” I consoled.
    Grey smiled, shook his head, and began to laugh. “You know, the only time I would watch the news was when you were on it.”
    “For real?” I laughed with him.
    “Yeah man, I would tell my friends, ‘I used to get in trouble with that guy. We used to cause mayhem back in Midlothian.’”
    “Those were the good ole’ days,” I said.
    “No shit man, you’re telling me. It was hard enough being a working adult when a degree can’t get you as much as it used to. My student loans kept piling up. Then, after the Confinement it made it twice as difficult. If the Supreme Court wouldn’t have done what they did no one would have been able to return to their jobs. Too much stress in a poorly run world…”
    Grey was referring to the kick-start mandate the Supreme Court implemented shortly after releasing the citizens from the Camps. It was a law that all business owners, suppliers, and anything far and few between had to lower costs of goods to the public. They forcefully lowered the inflation to the pre-2000 level. The Government paid the tab. They filled in the gaps wherever they could, in order to get people back into the swing of things. After all the Supreme Court did to help us, it raised the question— who was behind the Confinement?
    “You nailed it man. Crime in the cities is just getting worse, and robbery is at the highest it has been in fifty years in Washington.”
    “I could imagine…” Grey mumbled.
    “So, what do you do nowadays?” I asked. “I know that degree of yours has been serving you well, am I right?”
    “Not at first it didn’t. Surprisingly enough, though, after the Confinement I got a job with Wells Fargo working in Richmond.”
    “Very nice, man!” I raised my voice and grinned from his news. “What do you do for them?”
    Grey revealed a sly smile as I asked my question.
    “Network security. Apparently after the Confinement, the execs of the bank were redirecting money to their own offshore accounts. The financial instability of Post-Confinement America was the reason, or at least, that was their statement in court. The bank lost over one-hundred million dollars during that time. That’s why I was hired. I closed the loop. I created a secure network.”
    “Badass!” I said with enthusiasm.
    “It pays the bills,” he replied, staying humble. “I get to work from home most days. The only time I go to the bank is for meetings, or when there is something I can’t look into remotely. It’s still not as badass as what you do, though. A founder of the most famous political party in the twenty-first century.”
    “Are you kidding me, Grey? Look where that title has landed me.”
    Grey’s face lost a shade of color as I mentioned that.
    “Would you trade everything you’ve done to not be in this predicament anymore?”
    “Of course not,” I answered. “I would never.”
    “Exactly, your mark has already been made. What your party has done to unite this country is unprecedented, and I know you are aware of that, too. That’s why I posed the question in the way that I did.”
    “Well, in reality I think it was the country that united itself. It was a commonly held distaste for the existing powers