DISCLAIMERS All rights reserved. Any unauthorized duplication in whole or in part or dissemination of this edition by any means (including but not limited to photocopying, electronic bulletin boards, and the Internet) will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. This is a work of fiction. All of the events described are imaginary, taking place in the future , and do not represent the world as we know it in the present day. It does not reflect the current geopolitical situation, governmental policies, or the strategic posture of any nation. It is not intended to be commentary on the policies, leadership, goals, strategies, or plans of any nation. This novel is not intended to be predictive of the territorial aspirations tactics of any nation or any planned use of terrorist tactics. Again, it takes place in the future, under fictional new leadership of many nations.

Any resemblance to living people is purely coincidental. The making and/or possession of some of the devices and mixtures described in this novel are possibly illegal in some jurisdictions. Even the mere possession of the uncombined components might be construed as criminal intent. Consult your state and local laws! If you make any of these devices and/or formulations, you accept sole responsibility for their possession and use. You are also responsible for your own stupidity and/or carelessness. This information is intended for educational purposes only, to add realism to a work of fiction. The purpose of this novel is to entertain and to educate. The author and publisher shall have neither liability nor responsibility to any citizen, person, or entity with respect to any loss or damage caused, or alleged to be caused, directly or indirectly, by the information contained in this novel.

DRAMATIS PERSONAE Phil Adams --Defense Intelligence Agency counterintelligence case officer with the Defense Clandestine Service (DCS) Task Group Tall Oak, Washington at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington. Jacob "Jake" Altmiller --Hardware store manager in Tavares, Florida. Janelle (McGregor) Altmiller --Real estate agent in Tavares, Florida. Wife of Jacob Altmiller. Sister of Rhiannon (McGregor) Jeffords and Ray McGregor. Daughter of Alan and Claire McGregor. Lance Alan Altmiller --Son of Jacob and Janelle Altmiller. Eleven years old at the onset of the Crunch.

Terrence Billy --Garbage truck driver, Williams Lake, British Columbia. Member of the Secwepemc tribe. PO3 Jordan Foster --Navy SEAL BUD/S student, United States Phil Bucklew Naval Special Warfare Center (NSWC), Naval Amphibious Base Coronado, California. Larry Guyot --Owner/manager of Guyot Railway and Engine Maintenance, Ltd., Prince George, British Columbia. Jerry Hatcher --Cessna 180G bush pilot, Bonners Ferry, Idaho. Dustin Hodges --Deputy sheriff, Bradfordsville, Kentucky. Peter Jeffords --American missionary from New Hampshire.

Rhiannon "Rhi" (McGregor) Jeffords --Missionary originally from Bella Coola, British Columbia. Wife of Peter Jeffords. Sister of Janelle (McGregor) Altmiller and Ray McGregor. Sarah Jeffords --Daughter of Peter and Rhiannon Jeffords. Seven years old at the onset of the Crunch. Hal Jensen --Section chief, DCS Task Group Tall Oak, Washington, Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington. Joshua Kim --NSA security officer, Washington, D.C.

Jean LaCroix --Son of Megan LaCroix. Three years old at the onset of the Crunch. Leo LaCroix --Son of Megan LaCroix. Five years old at the onset of the Crunch. Malorie "Mal" LaCroix --Younger sister of Megan LaCroix. Former machinist in Kearneysville, West Virginia. Megan LaCroix --Intelligence analyst NSA contractor at Fort Meade, Maryland. Divorced mother of Jean and Leo LaCroix.

Ken Layton --Former mechanic and member of the Northwest Militia. Stan Leaman --Dairyman from Anahim Lake, British Columbia. Sylvia Leaman --Cousin of Stan Leaman. Sixteen years old at the onset of the Crunch. Kevin Lendel --Member of the Northwest Militia. Alan McGregor --Retired cattle rancher, Bella Coola, British Columbia. Father of Ray McGregor, Janelle (McGregor) Altmiller, and Rhiannon (McGregor) Jeffords. Claire McGregor --Wife of Alan McGregor.

Mother of Ray McGregor, Janelle (McGregor) Altmiller, and Rhiannon (McGregor) Jeffords. Ray McGregor --Afghanistan War veteran and military historian. Originally from near Bella Coola, British Columbia. Living near Newberry, Michigan. Son of Alan and Claire McGregor. Brother of both Rhiannon (McGregor) Jeffords and Janelle (McGregor) Altmiller. Brian Norton --Defense Intelligence Agency counterintelligence case officer and electronics expert with DCS Task Group Tall Oak, Washington at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington. Scott Paulsen --Defense Intelligence Agency counterintelligence case officer and Russian linguist with DCS Task Group Tall Oak, Washington at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington.

Lamar Simons --Mayor of West Hamlin, West Virginia. Rob Smith --Cessna Amphibian float plane pilot, Tavares, Florida. Chad Sommers --Grandson and adoptive ward of Ron and Tracy Sommers. Eight years old at the onset of the Crunch. Ron Sommers --Rancher and former Marine Corps 3002 ground supply officer, living near Alta, Wyoming. Tracy Sommers --Wife of Ron Sommers, living near Alta, Wyoming. Clarence Tang --Defense Intelligence Agency counterintelligence case officer and Chinese linguist with DCS Task Group Tall Oak, Washington at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington. Aaron Wetherspoon --Retired U.

S. Navy chaplain. AUTHOR''S INTRODUCTORY NOTE Unlike most novel sequels, the storyline of Liberators is contemporaneous with the events described in my four previously published novels, Patriots , Survivors , Founders , and Expatriates. Thus, you need not read them first (or subsequently), but you''ll likely find them entertaining. For those who have read them, you will find that this novel ties together the four previous books. My regular blog posts are available at: http://www.SurvivalBlog.com.

1 EXIGENT CIRCUMSTANCES The backbone of surprise is fusing speed with secrecy. --Carl von Clausewitz Seattle, Washington--October, the First Year To Phil Adams, it seemed that his life had become jammed in "fast-forward." Even though his job as a contract counterintelligence agent with Defense Clandestine Service (DCS) Task Group Tall Oak, Washington at Joint Base Lewis-McChord was already fast-paced, recent global socioeconomic events were spinning out of control. The mass media was abuzz about the inflation jumping above 100 percent, annually. Federal debt obligations had reached absurd numbers, the stock markets had reached dizzying heights, and there were rumblings about foreign repudiations of U.S. Treasury paper. As he drove toward a routine security paperwork inspection with a defense contractor, Phil Adams had his attention glued to the car radio.

He punched the radio''s scan button often, jumping from news report to news report. The stories that he heard this morning were the worst yet: rioting in Detroit and Cleveland and rumors of mass demonstrations being planned by "community activists" in many other major cities. Phil muttered to himself, "This is starting to damage my calm." Then Phil got a call on his cell phone from his manager, Hal Jensen. "I need you to either get back to the Section office or get to a STU phone, pronto!" Hal said. "I''m on my way to Peregrine Systems for a quarterly," Phil answered. "I''m just a two-minute drive from there. They''ve got a secure phone.

I''ll call you in five mikes or less." Just three minutes later, Phil called Hal on the secure line. "What''s so urgent?" "I just got a priority tasking via the high side. We''ve been ordered to fully update and upload all of our electronic holdings, clean our Section out of the SCIF, degauss and destroy all of the Tall Oak local classified holdings, and turn over the entire SCIF to the FEMA staff. I''ve also been directed to close out all employment contracts--both full-timers and the ad hocs." Phil was stunned. After a long pause, he replied, "Okay, I''ll make some excuses here and be back at the office ASAP." * * * Phil drove back to JBLM--still listening to the bad economic news on the radio.

Phil was thirty-two years old, of average height, with a handsome face, brown hair, blue eyes, and short-cropped hair that was turning prematurely gray. The gray hair was an advantage on post, where everyone seeing him in civilian clothes assumed that he was either a field-grade officer or a senior NCO who was off duty. Even though he wasn''t tall, soldiers had a tendency to step out of the way when he walked down the hall. His physical bearing triggered immediate respect. As he walked into the Tall Oak Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility (SCIF), he could immediately feel the tension. Hal spelled it out tersely: The economic collapse had forced a drastic cutback in federal programs. For the first time ever, intelligence agencies had their budgets axed, and the deepest of those cuts were made to agencies with contractors. They were to destroy all of their holdings and shut down the Section.

Their communications equipment would all be handed over to the FEMA staff. However, three of their computers designed specifically for handling SCI traffic would be useless to the FEMA staffers without.