"William W Johnstone - Ashes 22 - Chaos in the Ashes (txt)" - читать интересную книгу автора (Johnstone William W)

.. . but still stayed active in the shadows. Their plan was to control,
to one degree or the other, everything east of the Mississippi River,
and Simon Border and his forces most certainly control quite a bit of
territory west of the river."
Mike left it at that, drained his coffee cup, and stood up, pulling
himself another mug. He sat back down and exhaled wearily.

"You look hungry, Mike."

"I could eat."

Ben sent out for sandwiches.

Mike wolfed down two sandwiches, sipped his coffee, and leaned back in
his chair. "Well, Harriet Hooter and her bunch helped plan the coup, but
it backfired on them. The rabble turned on them. They couldn't control
the mobs when they went on a rampage, as mobs always do. Some of the
left-wing were killed in the first few hours of rioting. We don't know
if Harriet and her immediate cronies are among the dead or not. The
capital was sacked, looted, and burned by those mindless goddamn mobs of
heathens. And they were of all colors. No placing the blame on any one
group. Now the movement, if that's what you want to call it, has
splintered into several dozen smaller groups, each group controlling a
certain section of territory. And

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William W.Johnstone

each group vowing to fight right alongside the other if need be."

Mike paused for another sip of coffee and Ben asked, "I was always under
the impression that Simon Border was a big fan of Harriet Hooter and
those that follow her; couldn't she have taken refuge with him?"

Mike sat his mug down on the desk. "It's a possibility, providing she
and the others could get to him. But they were all in Charleston when
the riots began, and Border is headquartered in Colorado. Harriet
thought she was going to just walk right into the New White House and
take over. She didn't take into account a mob's mentality. And there's
something else-my people have uncovered a coup within a coup. Border was
playing both ends against the middle. For a couple of years now, he's
had people roaming all over the nation, quietly talking with citizens.
And when we pulled out for Europe, Simon's people really went to work.
When they were through, they had convinced most of the more or less
reasonable-thinking men and women to come over to his side. They left
Harriet and her group of fruitcakes the rabble, the punks, the gangs,
and the hardcore criminal element."

Ben held up a hand. "Let me see if I can finish it for you. Drink your