The Splat Conspiracy: America in Peril

By J Joseph Higgins

Being a 73 year old man who was raised during the great depression I have seen enormous changes in America. There has been dramatic changes in technology, human rights, political philosophy (and engineering) and social values.

I have written a 75000 word story about a college professor named Adam Solomon who after winning a large sum of money, decides to initiate a bazaar plan designed to influence the national political agenda. Adams goal is to prevent any further erosion of wholesome morality and Americas constitutional liberties.

To accomplish this Adam assemblies a group of highly skilled and experienced assassins. Their assignment is to surgically remove specific individuals who have become an unwelcome influence by endorsing ideas that are contrary to the American constitution.

After several dozen high profile killings a fire-storm ensues across the nation. On the one hand thousands cry for justice and a stop to the mayhem. Yet, others, the disenfranchised, the poor, the malcontents, neo-nazis and some various kooks applaud and support the activities. Some want to join up with and take part in Adams program.

As the story builds the situation turns into a national crisis involving all of law enforcement and the President of the United States.

During the crisis Adam finds himself drawn into a close relationship with the only female assassin. They have a brief sexual experience but, Adam finally succumbs to the charms of his beautiful young secretary.

A sub plot develops when a program supporter discovers the existence of an underworld child pornography ring centered in Guatemala. After much persuasion Adam and his team raid the Guatemala childrens camp freeing 200 enslaved children. They are sent to a Christian care center and later return to a normal life.

Adam works through the plot with a good friend called the Captain. The Captain is a veteran of Desert Storm and though he has a dirty mouth he has a good heart and great military skills. Adams other good friend is a man they call Shakespear. He has a proclivity to speak using only lines that rhyme sometimes causing problems. Adam becomes friends with one of the assassins code named the Jackal. Hes very dangerous and useful.

The story ends with an unusual twist. Does Adam and his friends receive justice? Do they get captured? What will their punishment consist of?
Will Adam and his devoted secretary get married?
Could these event actually take place?
J.Joseph Higgins

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Feb 9, 2007
• ISBN: 9781469119236

J Joseph Higgins

J. Joseph Higgins was educated at San Diego City College, The University of Arizona at Phoenix, and Ohio State University. It was here that he majored in the field of Industrial Psychology and World Religions. In the seventies Mr. Higgins wrote for two regional publications. One of them focused on outdoor sports and the other with regional fine arts personalities. He is a veteran of the Korean War, at which time he served in the U.S. Navy aboard an Aircraft Carrier. Most of his life has been spent working as a business manager and salesperson. During this time he received many sales and performance awards .For a short time during those years he worked with a county arts association as President and as a President of the city merchants association. Later he moved to North Carolina where he served with the Department of Defense for nine years working at the Marine Air Station at Cherry Point N.C. While there Mr. Higgins received a number of awards for cuffing production costs and for overall performance. One his many interests are Motorcycling. He has motorcycled all of the continental United States, The British Isles, Nova Scotia and eastern Canada. Mr. Higgins believes in good government and is a frequent correspondent to government officials. Mr. Higgins resides in the mid-west with his wife of fifty-two years and they are surrounded by their large family. Please keep in mind that this book is fiction, yet it brings to mind a number of important unresolved issues facing our beloved United States.

Book preview

Chapter One

SPLAT

Steadfast Patriots Laboring Against Tyranny

The idea seemed preposterous, yet there he sat in this long cold-looking conference room with a microphone placed on his head. The shades were pulled on the tall narrow windows, yet enough light filled the walnut-paneled room with sufficient light.

Twelve men along with a beautiful middle-aged woman sat quietly around the long heavy table.

He began to speak. My name is Adam Solomon. I want to welcome all of you here today. Thank you so much for coming. What we will undertake here today will definitely impact our great American political climate. And that is our goal.

He pulled his chair tight to the table.

"You all have been given a series of very important tests including a personality profile. Because of the results of those, you have been invited here today. I have compiled a comprehensive history on each and every one of you. This includes your real names, your aliases, and your various code names, plus a complete rundown of your courageous past activities.

"It is probably here that I should tell you not to use your real names with each other because we must maintain the strictest secrecy.

In just a few moments, you will be issued a code name, although I realize that you may not choose to join our program. We must be able to communicate here today. Please use these names for the entire duration of this plan. For the most part, we will never be all in one place together at one time again unless something unforeseen takes place.

Adam stood up, pushed his chair back from the table, and picked up a brown folder.

Some of you will be getting a code name that is familiar to you inasmuch as you have used it before.

Adam walked around the table one person at a time and placed a name card in front of each person.

Starting from the right side of the table, the names were as follows: Scorpion, Jackal, Cobra, Rain Man, Cyclops, Brimstone, Canceller, Wasp, Spider, Hemlock, Venom, and Doctor D.

So that you may feel some kind of kinship toward one another, I am going to give you just a few things that you all have in common. Here are some interesting similarities: Incidentally, you are all getting an equal payment for each completed assignment. All of you have had a very successful career of removing undesirable individuals from their evil pursuits. Some working for the CIA, some working with foreign governments, some working for multinational corporations, and some of you working freelance. Your records indicate that not one of you has ever come short of completing your assigned missions. That’s very commendable. All of you are in excellent health. All of you have exceptional intelligence. You all show excellent integrity and dependability. We have in our midst nine very astute snipers. The others use various methods to complete their tasks. Among you are two military Midwestern gentlemen, two very tall and handsome Negro gentlemen, a young man from China who happens to be a black belt champion, one Native American, who has managed all of the security at a New York casino.

At this point, several hands went up. Adam looking at them explained that he would entertain questions later.

Adam being pleased began to walk slowly to the other end of the room. He was a pleasant-looking tall man with dark hair and grey temples. He had deep brown eyes and a serious slim face; he had a barrel chest and strong-looking long arms. It was obvious that he was past middle age but was well preserved, walked straight and tall, and had a good rugged countenance.

As he walked, he adjusted the microphone on his head and stopped at a large chalkboard. He picked up a piece of yellow chalk and with large deliberate strokes he wrote the letters S-P-L-A-T. Please get familiar with these letters, he said. "Here’s what they stand for: Steadfast Patriots Laboring Against Tyranny. This is what we stand for.

Now if you’ll permit me, I’d like you to meet a longtime associate and lifetime friend. He will give you more information about SPLAT.

Adam walked over to a door, opened it, and motioned to the man who had been waiting there.

The large man filled the doorway, casting a large shadow from the bright room behind him. He was tall and thick in the loins. He had broad shoulders, thick neck, dark hair, and wide nose. He was a bit heavy but not fat. He looked surprisingly like Tony Soprano. He walked over to the chalkboard slowly while looking everyone over like he was sizing them up. He turned to address the people at the table.

He began to speak with a strong deep voice. "My name is Horace Bloodrod. Sometimes, people call me Captain Blood; I was a captain in the army reserve and led several assault battalions during Desert Storm. I am so glad to see you all here and want you to all know how much I admire what you all do. I’m sure that you’ll agree with me that this world has a lot of assholes who need serious killing. They cause a hell of a lot of good people to suffer needlessly because of their greed, selfishness, and power mongering. That’s why I am proud to be associated with SPLAT, and this is why I have joined forces with my friend Adam Solomon.

I’m going to review this whole program, but before you waste my time and yours, I would like to say one thing. If anyone here is not willing to do the same kind of work as you have done in the past, well, I suggest that you get the fuck out of here and no hard feelings.

The captain waited a moment. No one left. "You’re still not locked in. You may leave later if you don’t like what you hear. It’ll be your choice, but once you agree to join us, you’re in all of the way.

"OK, let me begin by asking you what you would think about the possibility of making a dramatic change in the everyday lives of the average American while at the same time saving millions of Americans from premature death. I can tell by the expressions on your faces that you like that idea. And the beauty of it all is that we can do it without a revolution, without a new election, without the second coming, and without a bloodbath. Yes, we can do it, and the casualties will stay under one hundred people. That’s a lot fewer then those that lose their lives by getting struck by lightning, falling in the bathtub, riding a bicycle or skateboard. Ninety thousand people a year die accidentally in hospitals where lives are supposed to be saved.

"How can we do that, you might ask? Who are these hundred people? Why do we want to have them eliminated? How will that help? Let me answer these questions.

Well, the first question of how, you already know. That will be your department. Here’s how it will work; each marked person will be sent a special delivery sealed package. This package will contain some of their objectionable past behavior from newspaper clippings, etc., and a letter explaining the crimes they have committed against common decency. The letter will explain that they will have a prescribed time to announce changes and proceed with those changes. If they refuse, they will be put to death.

The captain continued. "The local news media will also get a copy of the letter. This letter will explain who SPLAT is. I know that this might complicate your job somewhat, but it is imperative that each incident has the highest profile. This is what sets up the ideology and instills the fear.

"Each of you will be given names over the course of the project. Special arrangements will be made with each of you to keep open the lines of communication. This whole project must take place within an eighteen-month envelope. This must appear as a reign of terror, my friends, and don’t get caught. Of course, I know you are all trained professionals; you know about escape routes and one shot one hit. I know you have been trained, at least the snipers, in judging distances and good concealment. But please take extra care. Some of you have been shut down for several years. As your notification letter mentioned (before it self-destructed), you will be paid $150,000.00 for each successful implementation. You will receive an additional $50,000.00 when the project is finished.

When you leave here today, if you decide to take the assignment, you will be given $20,000.00 good faith money; and it never needs to be returned and can be used any way that you see fit.

The captain walked over to the handsome thin man on his left. He looked down and smiled. Well, what do you think so far? he asked.

The man was Canceller. He turned with a cold, hard look and replied, Who the fuck do you want to disappear?

The captain stopped smiling and thought for a moment. Dirty, selfish, greedy sons of bitches, he replied.

The captain looked a bit angry now as he began to explain. "One man on our early list is a CEO for a well-known corporation. Last year he received fifty million dollars for his contribution to the organization. A very big figure, wouldn’t you say? However, his employees do not have any benefits, pensions, health care, vacations, etc. They average an income of about nineteen thousand dollars per year. Of course, why should they get more? They only made him rich.

"We have a number of these kinds of injustices that we are going to correct.

"Yes, we have brought our attention to a number of greedy bastards who will get an attitude adjustment.

Then we have the pharmaceutical companies. Like one recent company that was selling over two billion dollars of a product that created twenty-seven thousand heart attacks.

The captain explained that the drug companies need to stop advertising and promoting their poison on TV and in magazines. It’s only the doctors that need the familiarity with their products and the patient after it is prescribed. This questionable stuff, after all, isn’t sugar candy. Some of these drug people are going to change or they’re going down, he said.

A small man with glasses raised his hand. It was a freelancer, his code name Spider.

He spoke quietly. "What about some of the legal profession?

What about people like the prosecutor in Illinois who was putting electrodes on black men’s testicles to extract confessions from them? And only after DNA testing were they set free.

The captain replied, "Sounds like a good candidate.

"But I believe that the law has already taken care of him.

We do have lawyers and several judges under scrutiny at this time. Some will be advised.

The captain continued to speak. Other things we want to see change is in the hands of the multinational food processors. The additives being put into foods are killing us and our children. It’s more poison all of the time: MSG, BHT, sodium phosphate, erythorbate, nitrite, hydrogenated oils, artificial coloring, loads of sugar, and God only knows what else. This must stop at once. There’s no question that food prices would go up but it would absolutely mean we would all eat better and less. That’s a good thing.

He went on. Spider mentioned the legal profession. The wicked petty lawsuits and the size of the awards by ignorant juries are draining of millions of dollars from our daily economy. Greedy, predatory legal organizations are killing investment and profits. These sons of bitches are slowly putting the brakes on our economic growth. They will be dealt with. Our torque laws need to change and will.

With this, the captain removed his jacket and walked closer to the long table; and taking a deep breath, he said, "One of our main goals is to stop the effort of the stupid big city liberals that are trying to disarm the average American citizen. Like a senator in California, the political crowd in New England and New York, a particular scroungy, inane fat moviemaker, plus Rosie O Bullshit and the rest of that Hollywood crowd. I will personally take an interest in assigning and then following this part of the program. I am sure that there will be several of these treasonous individuals seriously dealt with.

"Mr. Jefferson was wise to include the Second Amendment into our constitution. Guns are the best tool, so far, that help us to protect our families and property. But perhaps just as important are the checks and balances that guns bring to the table of government behavior. Citizen gun ownership helps to keep our government honest and a bit more benevolent. In extreme cases, guns will stop tyranny. Just look at history in the last century.

"We have other potential targets, and one of the most challenging will be the Supreme Court. We are going to moderate the indiscriminate killing of late-term fetuses. In doing so, we will save millions of more lives than the relative few taken in this program.

"Now we are well aware of the need to rid the world of the terrorists who have declared war upon America. But the Patriot Act has to go as does the Civil Asset Forfeiture law that gives absurd power to the government against our civil liberties. This was enacted to fight the drug war, but already it has been used to enhance local law enforcement organizations as it was in Florida. Little by little, our freedoms are slipping away. We will change that.

There are many more issues that we want to confront; however, this should give you an idea of what we are looking at.

The one-eyed man, Cyclops, raised his hand. He was a medium-built man with a high forehead and an eye patch over his left eye. Cyclops was Jewish and lost his eye in a confrontation with the Palestinians. He had high cheekbones and a thin face. He looked rather distinguished.

The captain acknowledged him.

Cyclops had a nervous habit of pulling on his ear. As he did this, he asked, Mr. Bloodrod, I think many of us would be interested in hearing about more of the people slatted for our attention. I think we need to see more of the motivation behind the program.

Several others nodded in agreement, mumbling, Uh-huh, yes, yes, please.

Bloodrod looked over to Adam. Adam shook his head in approval. Well, gentlemen and ladies—looking at Doctor D—we have a lot more, the captain replied.

"We will be looking at some of the obnoxious rappers we have had it with their blatant profanity and hate-filled music. They show disrespect for the law and their women. Also, their choice of clothing is unacceptable, and their subculture language is antisocial. If they take no heed to our warnings, we will have to cancel their contracts.

"And I might add, we don’t care what color they are.

Insurance companies are another group that needs attention. The CEOs take big outrageous salaries, make bad investments like in high-tech stocks in the nineties, and then want to continue those big profits at the expense of their policyholders with huge premiums. They want a level industry without no ups or downs. Well, wouldn’t we all? I’m sure at least one of them will have to go. Then of course, there are those who find some technicality and refuse to pay off. Some of them will start writing checks or their wives will be writing their obituaries.

The captain went on. "We dislike companies like the ones that loan you money before payday. They prey on low-income people who are struggling to get along and are desperate. One lady that we know of borrowed $200.00 two days before payday. Payday came, and she could only pay the interest on the two hundred. The next pay, the same thing, and the next, and the next, etc. In the end, she paid out over $1,200.00 for the original two-hundred-dollar loan. Having done that, she still had a $200.00 balance. Her larcenous lenders didn’t even blink. We will introduce them to SPLAT, and they may never blink again.

"Let me tell you all about a particular individual in Paterson, New Jersey. A man was placed into the county jail in one of the cages. He had a history of burglary but wasn’t charged. We’ll call him Mr. Louis. Now, one morning a policeman came into his cell and turned off the TV. They told him that it was because his cellmate didn’t get up on time. When this happened, Louis went to the chief of police. We’ll call him De Bunko. Mr. Louis said to him that he didn’t think it was fair to turn off the TV because he hadn’t did anything wrong. Chief De Bunko angrily replied, ‘Who the fuck you think you are talking to?’ grabbed him by the arm, threw him onto the floor; and with the help of other officers started to beat him and put the dogs on him who in turn bit him several times. When they were done, they sent him to the hospital and wrote up a false report. You can guess what plans we might have for Chief De Bunko.

"Of course, as time passes, you will see a wide assortment of individuals on our agenda.

Who are the others on our agenda? We have lawyers, politicians, performers, moviemakers, one educator, several in the automobile industry, etc. Those who have a high profile, those who have committed crimes of greed, deception, cruelty, hatred, and injustice.

The captain continued. We have some seventy people that we believe need some attention. These are people who bring down the nation and bring down the rules of simple justice. Now if we execute our work in the proper manner, we can bring about change. Gandhi said, ‘Be the change that you want to see in the world.’ We think that we can contribute to that change. Every assignment must be done with a high profile so that the whole world can see it. It’s imperative that our signature be on every removal. It’s imperative that SPLAT brings fear to every heart in the world.

Bloodrod stepped back from the table; he pulled out a chair and sat down facing everyone. He became more relaxed and then asked if anyone had any more questions.

First, give me your code name and follow it with the question.

Several hands went up. The captain pointed to the closest person.

Yes you. He pointed again.

My code name is Rain Man. He was the Chinese gentleman.

I’ve no worry to kill these people. I share same contempt for some of these people. But perhaps it’s too severe of remedy. What you say?

Bloodrod turned to Adam. Adam, would you like to elaborate on this man’s question? the captain asked him.

Yes, I’d be glad to, Adam replied.

"Of course, you are entirely correct; it is very severe. It is also ruthless, insensitive, cruel, and criminal, but also necessary. China was once one of the greatest, if not the greatest, nation in the world. Today China is expanding on a grand scale not seen since the days of the Roman Empire.

"You see, every great nation has its time in the sun. Then it fades sometime altogether; Babylonia, Persia, Assyria, Syro-Phoenicia, Machu Picchu, and others just disappeared. While great empires like the British, the Roman, the Macedonian, the USSR, and others fall back into being mediocre.

"This is usually caused by an internal deterioration. That’s what is currently happening to our America right now! We are self-destructing! We have given away our technology. We have sacrificed the American worker for cheap overseas labor. Our entertainment has become immoral and violent. Our sports are not about the game; they are about superheroes and selling products. Medicine is not about making people well; it’s about expensive chemicals and machines and unnecessary procedures that make clinics rich and stop doctors from expensive litigation from greedy law firms and patients.

"America is being dwarfed by China and the European Common Market; and soon it will be India, China, Malaysia, and others.

"Our family structure—the standard of the world for centuries—is evaporating; only 40 percent of our families have a mother and father in the home. We are obsessed with products fed to us daily by our media. Our subconscious manipulated to buy. The American dollar keeps losing value against world currencies. We’ve lost control of our federal spending.

Our immigration policies are absurd; we might just as well not have borders.

Adam continues. "America supports and maintains a system of putting together 535-plus legislators with a continuing license to enact additional restrictions and regulations on American citizens. This is done to satisfy mostly special interest groups and manipulate our populations to comply with someone’s wishes and/or someone’s morality. Each session of Congress produces about seventeen thousand pages of records pertaining to that session. The Bible did very well with essentially one Golden Rule.

"All of this change. All of these rules. All of this litigiousness is it little wonder we are in a state of collapse? The sad part is that we are not any happier. In fact, more people young and old are committing suicide in larger numbers.

"Yes, yes, Rain Man, it is severe, but these are desperate times that call for desperate measures. Perhaps we have already run out of time.

"You see, there are two basic things that make people behave. One is conscience and the other is fear. Conscience is usually developed in a loving family atmosphere. It is usually complete by the age of about eight or ten. When I was about eleven years old and so were my classmates, we attended a country school. At that time, it was not unusual for several of us to show up in the morning with our shotguns during hunting season. We would hunt going to school and also on the way home. The principal would only remind us to make sure that they were unloaded as we stood them in the corner where they would stay for the day.

"It never occurred to us to hurt anyone with our guns. And remember, this was at a time when we would get a severe whipping if we crossed the line of good conduct. Yet that never caused us to contemplate hurting our teachers.

"What do you suppose would happen today if a student showed up on a nice fall morning with his double-barrel shotgun under his arm?

"If we had a problem with another classmate and had a score to settle, we’d move out on the playground and wrestle with each other, maybe bloody a nose or chip a tooth. It never occurred to us to stick a knife into someone or shoot them. We had too much conscience in those days. But it’s not that way anymore.

"The other thing is fear! That’s how most people teach their animals. You know the lion and the whip, the dog and the newspaper.

"We have a lot of wimps in the United States, Some people who are afraid of their own shadow. Nine one one practically shut down the whole country. People didn’t go shopping. Some people stopped flying, etc. You may remember the sniper in Columbus, Ohio. He terrorized a whole county. There have been others too. Serial killers can paralyze whole communities. It’s this fact about human nature that we are depending upon to bring about the change we are looking for.

If we can frighten the nation badly enough, we will then be able to get compliance with our wishes without hurting very many people. This is our fondest hope. If this thing comes down right, all that we will have to do is send out letters with our signature on them, and people will rush to fulfill our wishes. This should be a war with few casualties.

Another hand was raised.

She began to speak. You all know who I am; I’m Doctor D. I would like to know exactly how many people you are willing to eliminate before you are convinced this might not work.

Adam looked at her and smiled. You know, you’re even more beautiful in person than in the pictures I have seen of you, he said.

She returned his smile and softly said, Thank you.

To answer your question, Adam explained, we will go as long as we have financing. And we are getting more all of them, believe it or not. We hope that most of you will stay with us should that become necessary.

Adam went on. "Look, I know this is going to be hard work; you each will need to maximize your skills. Of course you will be paid well, but I would like to think that you would share our conviction and enthusiasm for the project.

Here’s the way that I see it. Adam looked intense. "I am sick and tired of the big corporations and their lobbyists and lawyers, the special interest groups, the elitists, the politicians and judges who make their own constitution, bringing this great country to its knees. You know, very little has changed here during the last five hundred years. These people in high positions are like the feudal lords of the dark ages. They’re like the dukes, earls, and counts of days gone by. Only they have the right to rule. Because they have more wealth, went to prestigious schools, never did any menial work, they honestly think they are more intelligent, more deserving, more qualified, and better suited to rule over us poor, common, everyday people with everyday lives.

"Additionally, we have the play-actors Hollywood types; the big athletes who can hit, throw, or put