Serve & Protect by L.J. Breedlove

Author:L.J. Breedlove
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: reporter, guns, constitutional sheriffs, second amendment, white supremacy, cops
Publisher: L.J. Breedlove
Published: 2021-06-06T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 16

(Thursday, May 8, 2014)

Mac had never been so grateful for a low-key day. He’d made his blotter calls, then worked on more phone interviews. His retired sergeant friend called him back. Norton had been washed out of boot-camp when he was implicated in a gang of young men who were beating up Latinos. “They would roam at night, find a guy, and beat the crap out of him,” Sarge said. “Norton was involved, no question, but he wasn’t charged by the local cops. So, the Marine Corps just discharged him on entry level separation and washed their hands of him.”

“And he left the state, reinvented himself as just a dumb jock college student?” Mac said slowly. “And gets a scholarship at a university up here?”

“Sounds like it,” Sarge said. “Would they do that?”

Mac didn’t know. “I’ll find out,” he promised. “Thanks, man.”

So, Mac called the athletic department at Western Washington University, and asked if Norton had played baseball, and had it been on scholarship?

“Pete Norton? Sure, I remember him. Walk on, I think. Let me check,” the assistant athletic director said.

Mac waited.

“Yup,” the ADA said cheerfully. “He was a walk-on. We lucked out there, because he could really play. Got a scholarship for his sophomore year and on, though.”

Mac thanked him and hung up. He thought about the discrepancy and wondered if it mattered. So, Norton had found a college, came up here and started over. He did get a scholarship eventually, so was the lie a big deal? He didn’t know. He added it to his list of questions he had for Norton. He’d corner him this weekend for a follow-up interview. Or call him Monday if he couldn’t.

He had coffee with Janet and updated her. Told her about Sensei and the number of followers.

“Forty thousand,” he said. “I just can’t get past that.”

“Drop in the bucket,” Janet said. “There’s a lot of militia growth. Southern Poverty Law Center says the white militia groups have more than doubled since President Obama was elected. They’re tracking over a thousand groups.”

Mac thought that over. “Most militias are small groups,” he said slowly. “A bunch of dumb fucks with guns. This feels different. From the ground level? Most of these guys see themselves as part of a small gun club — they’d be proud to be called a militia. Sensei is their guru, but not their commander. But from the command level? He’s got 40,000 men, loaded for bear, he could mobilize with an email. How many of them would actually respond to a call? No clue. But even if it’s 10 percent? A solid 4,000 is a hell of a lot of men to put on the streets — men who have guns, know how to use them, and have been indoctrinated that they are the patriots that will save this country from multiculturalism.”

“That certificate program,” Janet said.

“Yeah, and the wilderness survival weekends. These men have shot at another man,” Mac said. “I’m convinced of it.”

“So, have most veterans, though, right? Is that different?”

“Yes,” Mac said promptly, then had to think about it.

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