Leibowitz Concludes by Edward Drobinski - HTML preview

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Chapter 2

They covered no more than a quarter of a mile which was

littered with dead and dying cactus remains before they came

upon the signs of former civilization. The adobe and brick

houses on the outskirts of town looked as if they had been sand

blasted by a machine working in the gear of overdrive squared.

What remained of the wooden trims was stripped and ready for a

new paint job. Wooden frame houses fared less well. As in the

aftermath of a tornado; some retained some semblance of their

structure. For others the only evidence of them having been

there was the concrete foundation and debris. In any of the

cases, they all had one thing in common. The yards were strewn

with the dead remains of that which once lived. Conk thought

that the eeriest aspect was the absolute stillness and the lack

of blaring emergency vehicles. Maddie showed no surprise;

suggesting that she had seen it before.

Conk said; “It’s one thing to imagine it and quite another

to actually see it.”

Maddie was stoic, unimpressed, and quiet.

Conk could not help but wonder what this little girl had

seen. When the mental images appeared he shut them out. He

started talking as a diversion. He said; “You know; I used to

play for the Giants. Football, that is. Paid pretty good and I

only had to work three days a week. And that’s in season. Off

Leibowitz Concludes

Page 1020

season, all I had to do was deposit the bi-weekly checks and

fend off the aggressive teller with services to sell.”

“ ............ “

“That’s a bit of a joke. I liked playing the games on

Sunday. There’s always someone out there talkin’ trash. Most of

the guys in my area were bigger than me. They’d say some stuff.

It would motivate me to want to show them a few things they

might not have previously considered.”

“ ............ “

“Admittedly; it’s hard to move somebody who weighs three

fifty when you’re two fifty. But, if you spear ‘em low you can

take their legs out right from under ‘em. Yeah, that’s a

penalty; but the refs rarely call that one.” Conk laughed

briefly.

“ .............. “

“No interest I guess? ......... Just as well. Those days

are gone forever. Even LAWLESS at their best ain’t going to get

that goin’ again. Not in my prime years anyway.”

Maddie’s hand tensed again and even seemed to quiver.

Conk said; “That’s the third time you tensed up when I said

the word ‘LAWLESS.’ Come on. Tell me. What does this word mean

to you?”

Maddie shook her head; “No,” in a quick, efficient manner.

She then proceeded to trip over a broken four by four with bent

Leibowitz Concludes

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nails extended. Conk suspected a diversionary ploy as Maddie had

successfully navigated countless others. He pulled her back up

before she encountered the nails.

“Clumsy. Gotta watch it better. This dead wood can be

hazardous.”

They kept walking.

Conk said; “I thought that we’d see a few people. It looks

like they’re all gone. This is absolutely strange. ........ I

mean like is everyone dead? Did they go somewhere else? What?

There used to be millions here.”

“ ................ “

“You were around here. You must have seen it.

“ ................ “

The silence was broken by a roar from the heavens. They

looked up to see seven planes flying west in a V pattern.

“That’s an excellent way to avoid the traps. ...... They’re

so fat they have to be cargo. Military? I don’t know.”

“ ........... “

Conk pointed to their left and said; “Look at that. The

whole mall collapsed. No sense goin’ there. We’d never find

anything in all that rubble.”

“ ............ “

Leibowitz Concludes

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“That’s what I’m thinkin’ too. ............ Well, we’ve

come this far with no problem. Might as well keep goin’ some.

Maybe the stores in town were built sturdier a long time ago.”

“ .................. “

“This is getting perversely funny. I’ve never been this

chatty in my entire life. ........ Weird too. I mean because the

old part of town is centered on Route 66. Whoooo. Believe that

symbolism stuff?”

Maddie shrugged her shoulders and raised her eyebrows. Conk

interpreted that as; “Depends.”

“Seriously, we’ve got to be careful there. The main roads

are getting all the nut jobs. And we’ll be back in mine

territory.”

“ ............ “

They walked over the edges of the yards in front of the

damaged, quiet houses. Some were just a bit disheveled. Some

were substantially absent. And some were haphazardly lying on

the ground, waiting for the renewal brought by a construction

crew. An audacious, acutely triangular metal sign stood on its

post as it always had. It announced that the next left was Route

66. The third six was added by a sloppy free-lance painter. The

road ahead became entirely concrete.

Conk said; “Remember to stay off the patches.”

Leibowitz Concludes

Page 1023

“ .............. “

Conk held his semi-automatic in his left and Maddie in his

right hand left as they made their turn. It was not what he

expected. The condition of the storefronts was much like that of

the houses. The four lane highway was host to the occasional

moving car and some dead ones. That was expected. But, rather

than a street teeming with marauding refugees out of “Mad Max,”

there were no people visible. Conk stopped in his tracks, looked

at Maddie, and said; “ ............ “

Maddie fully agreed with his sentiments.

He thought; “Can’t let down my guard. They might be waiting

for just that.” He kept his gun ready; up high, the barrel and

nozzle pointed at the sky.

They walked past the shoe store, leather shop, One Dollar,

and a men’s clothing store named Archie Gottlieb’s. They also

walked past a few carcasses, which sat within their bombed out

cars. Feeling more secure, Conk dropped his gun position to

thigh level. He pointed it toward the remnants of a street

explosion, and said; “Maddie; look at that.”

She complied.

“Don’t the guts look just like spaghetti? Aren’t you the

least bit hungry yet?”

Leibowitz Concludes

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The only sound Maddie made was actually one done through

partnership. Her fist hit his shoulder.

“Ouch. I was only joking. Darn it, girl. Have you taken any

martial arts training?”

Maddie didn’t speak, but Conk was certain that he detected

a badly hidden smile.

“Hey, here we go. Canned goods and accessories. ‘Por

Sienpre Bodega,’ and it still has a roof on it. Let me lead.”

“ ........... “

Inside, he said; “This is definitely not what I expected.”

“ ................... “

“I mean, come on. Doesn’t it strike you as strange that

with food a priority, nobody seems to have taken any?”

Maddie raised her eyebrows and eyes virtually in tandem.

“Glad I’m with someone so smart. ....... Okay, I’m gonna

load up. Look at this! Chicken, corn, beans, beef ........ All

right, all right. I know. You take this stuff for granted in

normal times. But, maybe you’ve noticed that these are not

normal times.”

Maddie curled her lips into a one sided demonstration of

hemispheric differentiation, incorrectly construed as partial

facial paralysis. It was not pleasant.

“Artichokes!”

Leibowitz Concludes

Page 1025

Maddie waved both her hands as if she was doing a frantic

doggie paddle and shook her head from side to side quicker than

the waves of florid air dictated.

“It’s healthy. ....... They say. ....... Okay, no

artichokes. What do you have against these little buds anyway?”

Maddie’s pupils engaged the natural, stained, low pine

ceiling.

“All set. Hey, look. They got some clothes in the back.”

“ ......... “

Conk removed a ruffled, white, peasant blouse from the rack

and handed it to Maddie.

Maddie recoiled and refused to take it.

Sounding something like one of John Cleese’ comedy

routines; Conk said; “Ew. Ew. Is my princess too exalted for

such fare? .......... Or would you rather stink?”

Maddie snatched the blouse from him. She then took a few

more from the rack, added some blue jeans and stuffed them in

her backpack.

“All set?”

Maddie nodded.

“We should now have enough stuff to get us all the way to

LA.”

Relaxed, with his gun back in his pocket, Conk and Maddie

walked side to side out the front door they had come in. The

Leibowitz Concludes

Page 1026

contented, playful luxury of being “off point” ended abruptly

and all too soon. Conk fumbled as he reached for his gun when he

caught unexpected movement in the corner of his eye. Fortunately

his momentary lapse didn’t matter as the movement was innocuous,

slow, unarmed, and randomly anchored.

It appeared to be what they had called “Homeless” almost a

half century prior. In the year of 2052 the phenomenon had been

politicized from all directions. The net result was that there

were three times as many, but they were referred to with the

dignity of the “Hygiene Defiant” moniker.

In either case Conk thought that this one looked both

homeless and deranged. So, he got in front of Maddie and pointed

his gun at the weaving man.

The uneasy silence was broken by Conk who said; “Do you

know what happened here?”

The guy spit in apparent disgust, then laughed at something

the other two didn’t notice. When he managed to become almost

stationary he said; “Yeah, I know. Getting’ tired of sayin’ it.

It’s harvest time. You know; like the Grim Reaper and all of

that. People been talkin’ about it thinkin’ it was a fantasy.

The cattle think that they’re at the top of the food chain until

the sledgehammer meets the skull. They’ve taken them all away

now. Serves ‘em right. I told them and nobody listened.” He

whirled and fell to the ground.

Leibowitz Concludes

Page 1027

Conk paused a few seconds before saying; “Well, I guess

he’s no threat. ......... Not any use as an ally either. Let’s

head out.”

Maddie saw something of interest and stooped to the ground

near the passed out man. She lifted the triangular, silver

necklace he wore and stared at it. Conk crouched near her and

took the necklace in his hand.

He said; “Just like yours. And it’s got his name too. Bob

Pleinsaurian.”

Maddie took back the medallion, ripped the chain from the

man’s neck and threw it into the street.

“I’d say ‘tell me what,’ but I know that you won’t.”

Maddie briskly walked back toward the main road and Conk

followed, deep in thought, and loaded down with clanking cans.

He called out; “Maddie! Slow down and watch for the patches.

After just a few steps on the overgrown path, Conk got a

better idea than he had ever had on the football field. Since

they were on flat land which was only vegetated by short,

shrubby, dead things; it was not much more difficult to walk

alongside it. For the present this approach eliminated the

possibility of stepping on a mine, as they had all been placed

on roads. So far.

“I keep thinking about how you reacted to that Hygiene

Defiant guy. Just because he has the same taste in jewelry?”

Leibowitz Concludes

Page 1028

Maddie seemed to almost laugh, but caught herself and

remained stoical.

“Almost got ya. You know, if you don’t hold up your end of

the conversation I’m going to have to drink all the water.”

“ ............ “

“All right. You’re going to get a football story. ......

I’m a rookie and we’re playin’ the Rams at home in New Jersey,

last game of the season. Oh yeah, we were called the New York

Giants, but the team had been playing in New Jersey since before

I was born. Always thought that was insulting to the Garden

State, but it wasn’t my problem. My problem was that I was an

unproven rookie. Fans don’t hear the stuff that goes on on the

field, but there’s a lot of trash talkin’. If they can take you

out of the game through intimidation, they’ll do it every time.

No big thing. It’s just like anything else. Know what I mean?”

“ .......... “

“Anyway we’re up 20-17 with three minutes left. Rams need

the win to get to the playoffs and we’re already out of it. They

got it, fourth and eight on our forty. They got to go for it

‘cause if they don’t they might not get the ball back again and

they’re a good seven yards out of field goal range. They gotta

pass. So, I figure they’ll bring somebody out of the back field

on a delay for a short one, and hope that he can pick it up.

Leibowitz Concludes

Page 1029

It’s really a chicken shit call from the coach as its not gonna

be a criticizable zero. Follow?”

“ ........ “

“I guess it’s a guy thing. Anyway we’re not puttin’ on much

of a rush, just three guys, as everybody’s back playin’ the

pass. The quarterback is takin’ his time as he’s under no

pressure whatsoever, hopin’ his running back will find an open

spot and get there. In the meantime this all-pro guard who’s

been ridin’ me all game long and gave me a couple of cheap shots

doesn’t have anything to do. So, he starts lookin’around. 320

pounds of ripplin’ fat with eyes that look like a deer in the

high beams. I decide that the game ain’t no big thing for the

Giants, but that cleanin’ fat boy’s clock was a big thing for

me. So I left the middle wide open and got a runnin’ start at

him. Oooooh, baby; that blind side hit was so good that he went

spinnin’ off and finally lost his balance and fell right on the

quarterback. We got one first down; then ran out the clock. Mr.

Big Deal All-Pro took the Rams out of the playoffs and little by

little people were learnin’ not to mess with me. That was the

highlight of my career and when I got the name ‘Conk’.”

“ ........ “

“Guess it’s a guy thing. ....... Yeah, it was great bein’

out there every week. People screamin’ like the game was more

important to them than their jobs. Wide eyed little kids seein’

Leibowitz Concludes

Page 1030

the wonders of the stadium for the first time. Reporters hangin’

around tryin’ to get a quote. Made you feel important, you know.

....... And the best part was those green fields. Perfection.

The crew would be workin’ on ‘em all week to get them ready.

They were greener than green. Beautiful. ........... Never

again.”

Conk looked at Maddie and saw her forehead wrinkle and then

she turned away and scratched it. Conk got quiet and they kept

their feet moving.

After having navigating the manageable impediment imposed

by 40,000 small, dead shrubs, Conk was re-invigorated and said;

“Don’t you want to know my real name?”

“ ........... “

“Well, all right then. I’m not going to tell ya. But, I

know yours.”

Maddie shot him a look which might have said; “Oh yeah?”

Conk said; “Once and for all I’m going to find out if you

have the ability to speak.” He crouched and tickled her belly.

Her giggling shriek indicated that the problem was not one with

her vocal chords.

A bit further down the non-road Maddie sensed something she

must not have liked. She pulled at Conk’s arm and motioned her

head toward something off in the distance to their right.

Leibowitz Concludes

Page 1031

Conk remembered the horsemen’ warning and readied his

automatic, pulling back the bolt. He said; “Lay flat on the

ground while I check this out.”

Maddie grimaced and did a half squat.

“Come on Maddie. This is serious. Bullets may start

flying!”

She rolled her eyes like a ghetto mama required to attend a

birth control class in order to keep her government “benefits,”

and then complied.

Just like he was trained in Marine boot camp, Conk took off

his backpack, got on his belly and slithered like an equipped

lizard. He moved in the direction that Maddie’s motion had

indicated and saw nothing other than the same old parched

terrain they had been on for some time. He briefly considered

turning back, but the possibility of getting a bullet up his

lesser occipital mandible was not appealing.

Arms which appeared to be human popped up from what had to

be a hole in the ground. Conk was cautious, as he didn’t know if

there were more on the way. Since whatever was there had seen

him coming, there was no risk in calling out; “Just driftin’

through. Don’t want no trouble,” while he held onto his gun.

A head appeared. A human head. Fifty feet away. It said;

“Neither do I.”

“Any more with ya?”

Leibowitz Concludes

Page 1032

“No.”

“Get out there and stand up.”

Conk heard a laugh, and the face said; “I’ll do my very

best.”

“Keep your hands in the air.”

“Your gracious request may well be much more than with

which I am able to currently comply. You might well recognize

that this is not a matter of being willfully surly. But, it is

rather the consequence of a self-induced, fleeting disability.

Might you be one of the horsemen, sir?”

“Come on. Just get on your feet and out here in the open.”

“You refrained from mentioning whether or not you are a

horseman.”

“Do you see any horses, idiot?”

The head extended further from the hole with arms raised

above it and the partnership appeared to be jumping up and down.

Conk said; “Jesus Christ,” stood up and walked to the hole.

He saw only this bearded, brown faced man and about thirty empty

Smirnoff bottles. He put the gun back in its holster, and used

both hands to pull the man to the surface. Conk noticed that his

brown appearance was the result of dirt accumulation, as that of

someone without a home, before the situation became universal.

The man proceeded to dispense with his wobbling and fell on his

face.

Leibowitz Concludes

Page 1033

Conk scoured the area, and seeing no other signs of life

yelled to Maddie; “You can get up now.” Directing his attention

back to the man with his face in the dirt, he said; “What are

you doing here?”

“I’m conducting a Harvard funded study regarding the number

of sand grains required to effectively and instantaneously drain

thirty bottles of vodka or its derivative. ....... What does it

look like I’m doing here? Idiot!

The studious one pushed himself up by his hands and rolled

into a sitting position, and said; “I’m just trying to stay away

from the horsemen. With the land so flat, they can’t see me when

I’m down in the hole.”

Conk yelled; “Hey Maddie. Come on over.” Conk offered his

right hand to the seated man and said; “Conk DeAngelo.”

The man took it, but not as an elevation device, and said;

“Jonathan Paycore.”

“Jon okay?”

“Comedian? ......... Never mind, yeah.”

“Football player. Never heard of me?”

“Don’t watch much football. Quarterback?”

“No. Comedian?”

“No. CIA Intelligence. And that’s not an oxymoron.”

“Not a what?”

“ .............. “

Leibowitz Concludes

Page 1034

“Hey, Jon. Meet Madeline Moitiesaurian; Maddie.”

Jon nodded and said; “Pleased to meet you Maddie.”

Maddie said; “ ........... “

Conk said; “Great little girl; but not much of a talker.

Jon, you were saying something about the horsemen. I might have

run into two of them a while back.”

“And you’re still here. Means you must know how to handle

yourself.”

“You know. Played some football and learned about guns when

I was a kid.”

“Born down South?”

“Yeah. South side of Chicago. Hey, why don’t we all get

down in the hole before the horsemen show up?”

“Not a lot of space.”

“Ah, if we throw all those bottles out we’ll be all right.”

The three climbed right down and Maddie made a joyous game

of throwing the bottles; so the guys relaxed and let her enjoy

herself. After they were all seated with their backs to the

earthen wall, Conk said to Jon; “You mentioned the horsemen.

What do you know about them?”

“Not a lot, really. The four of them have killed a few

people who have passed this way and took the bodies somewhere.

They seem to be the only ones who are getting a kick out of this

Leibowitz Concludes

Page 1035

disaster. They kind of lull you into a false sense of security,

and then pounce. How did you handle them?”

Maddie, who was sitting on the outside next to Conk, turned

her head toward Jon seemingly interested.

“Well, there were only two there and I was on point the

whole time. When they went for their guns I went for mine and

beat ‘em to it. Said that next time they were going to introduce

us to their ‘friends.’”

“I don’t get it. Isn’t somebody supposed to be dead or

something?”

“Told ya I’m good with a gun, but I ain’t no killer. I shot

the guns out of their hands. Got ‘em in the bag.”

“You should have killed them when you had the chance.

They’ll be more prepared next time.”

“Thought that as soon as it was over. At least Maddie and

me would’ve had horses. .......... We’re headed for LA. What’re

you doin’ out here?”

“I didn’t want to live in this mess but didn’t have the

nerve to end it abruptly. My family, girlfriend and other

friends are all gone. So, I took every bottle of vodka I could

carry from town. I figured I’d either die from that or be too

numb to feel it when somebody shot me. Haven’t eaten a thing in

a week and I’ve been feeling it for a couple of days. Shouldn’t

be too long.”

Leibowitz Concludes

Page 1036

Maddie meant well, but also had an ulterior motive when she

took a can from Conk’s pouch, opened it and handed the

artichokes to Jon.

Conk said; “You’ve got to accept that Jon.”

Jon took it, said “Thank you,” and started gagging when he

held it on his lap.

Maddie laughed.

Jon said; “That’s not funny.”

Maddie said; “ ........ “

Jon said; “She never talks?”

“Not in the time I’ve known her. I just picked her up at

the side of the road when my car got blasted outside of Phoenix.

All by herself. Just had to help. ............ Come on Jon. This

little girl needs your help. We heard that there is a

survivalist group called LAWLESS in LA, who’s tryin’ to get

things goin’ again. If those four guys catch up with me and

Maddie, we could use some help.”

Jon said; “ ...... “

“You said that you were in CIA Intelligence. Do you have

any idea of what caused all this?”

“I was with a branch office in Phoenix. The main stuff goes

on at headquarters in Langley, Fairfax County. There’s a series

of inside jokes as the building they operate out of is named the

George Bush Center for Intelligence. You can imagine all the

Leibowitz Concludes

Page 1037

Dubya stuff and there’s more. Anyway, I was techie. One of the

guys writing the software to monitor communications. Key words,

certain web sites, certain locations, patterns indicating

possible codes, kind of easy stuff. It’s technically illegal,

but it paid pretty well and what isn’t? And hey, there was an

identifiable enemy. What they did with the information was none

of my business. So, I was a minor cog on the wheel and couldn’t

help but hear bits and pieces of some things. Around each other

these CIA guys gossip like two old washer women over the back

yard fence. They try to make outsiders think they are silently

privy to high level stuff. Then they quit and write a book about

it. Like, duh!!! Most all of the time it turns out to be

completely wrong and I think that’s why it gets tolerated.”

“Er, um. You said that you were in CIA Intelligence. Do you

have any idea of what caused all this?”

“Oh, yeah; of course not. That was just intended to be a

qualifier to avoid saying a flat; ‘I don’t know.’ People think

you’re stupid when you do that.”

“Once more ............. “

“Yeah, yeah. Okay. ............... But, let me first say

that I bear no responsibility for the accuracy of this

information; nor am I responsible for any losses, charges or

otherwise deleterious financial results emanating from its use,

whether that be from an overt or implied statement. This is a

Leibowitz Concludes

Page 1038

work of fiction; and the characters contained therein in no way

resemble any person, whether alive or dead ...........”

“Do you wanna get punched?”

“All right. All right. But, you have to understand that in

this litigious world, a person has to protect themselves from

spurious .................”

“There are no more courts!!!”

“ ........ Good point. About a month ago the whole place

was in a tizzy. People were charging up and down the halls.

Smart phones were glued to ears. I heard that Rabinowitz, the

head of Mossad, the Israeli CIA plus, sent an ultimatum to our

head honcho, Olio Menpeko. Rabinowitz said that Mossad had

determined that the US had a citizen who had the means,

wherewithal and the connections to acquire a dirty nuclear

device which he intended to be detonated in Israel. Unlike the

standard protocol, Mossad was seeking US CIA co-operation in the

elimination of this person.

I guess in and of itself that was something which could

have been worked out. Problem was that Mossad wasn’t 100% sure

who this person was. They said that they had the possibilities

narrowed down to eight; some of them big or up-and-coming

players in the religion Industry. They also said that their

information indicated that D-Day would take place within thirty

days. So, since we’re friends with Israel, Rabinowitz first

Leibowitz Concludes

Page 1039

cleared it with Premier Goldsack and they wanted all eight

killed to ensure Israel’s safety.

Now, Menpeko has always had this independent, don’t-tell-

me-what-to-do attitude and figured rather than limit his options

by kicking it upstairs, he’d handle things himself. He reported

to the Director of National Intelligence (DNI); Mitt Bushbaby;

someone he always considered a know-nothing politico put in that

spot to be the fall guy when needed. And he was kind of pissed

about getting what he saw as a demand from Rabinowitz and

Goldsack; when they still hadn’t paid for the planes delivered

in 1968. His first approach was to question the validity of

Mossad’s information and its interpretation. That’s where I came

in.

There was nothing in CIA databases which indicated any

nefarious activity on the part of these eight people. I’m sure

that the chief considered the possibility that our work was not

the industry state-of-the-art, and that we would pragmatically

seek to hide that. But, since there was no one capable of

refuting we techies, it had to be concluded, at least in polite

conversation, that for the very least, step one would have to

entail the disclosure and methodology of the Mossad conclusions.

Menpeko became politely livid when Rabinowitz refused to

provide anything more than inconclusive ‘proof’ of cursory

portions of their claims. In addition, the ‘admission’ that

Leibowitz Concludes

Page 1040

Mossad was monitoring data and conversations of ‘innocent’ US

citizens was unpalatable, even though the US was doing the same

thing in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Haifa and other lesser Israeli

locations. After all, we’re the good guys. Menpeko concluded

that either there was something underhanded and unstated going

on; or if they did have more, they likely did not want to share

their technological advancement with the US as required or were

pulling a bluff to gauge US support. None of the possibilities

were satisfactory to Menpeko. Our subsequent research indicated

that two of the Israeli targets were Jewish-American members of

a small minority group called ‘True Torah Jews’ (TTJ). TTJ’s

reason for existence was their belief that the establishment of

the primarily Jewish State of Israel was a violation of both the

rules of The Bible and the rules of international morality. They

called for a Jewish abandonment of Israel; but encouraged non-

violent, voluntary withdrawal.

They seemed a much too convenient a target; though as well

as one with motivation and no meaningful known resources.

Without being presented with conclusive proof, Menpeko refused

to have the CIA a partner in the operation. Rabinowitz then

inquired whether or not the CIA would look the other way if

Mossad carried out the operation by itself; ensuring that they

could make it look like a series of unrelated accidents.

Leibowitz Concludes

Page 1041

Menpeko saw himself as being boxed into a losing position.

Seven or eight innocent American lives were not of any concern

to him. It would not likely be noticed. But thinking this way,

in effect, took Mossad at their much sullied word. More than

that, Menpeko took it personally and didn’t like the pushy

little subsidiary country’s insistence and challenge to his

position as the head of the world’s most important secret

society.

Menpeko told Rabinowitz; “Go ahead and do it at your own

risk. What kind of crap are you trying to pull getting me

involved anyway? You have my assurances that the CIA will not

take any notice. Good enough? Do it cleanly and quietly, or all

bets are off; Rabbi.

Here’s where I am forced to start some guessing. Out of

good options and in a desire to ruin Rabinowitz’ career, Menpeko

leaked this to the media. Somebody certainly did. At first it’s

on like page 82 of the New York Times and disregarded as another

undocumented piece of conspiracy garbage filler. But, someone

looked into it and found that the specified eight people all

died within two days of each other under curious circumstances.

It hit the front pages. You must have seen that. The non-

Jewish US citizenry got pissed as all hell and demanded some

answers like pronto. Some radical conservative groups started to

openly speak of retaliatory ‘hits’ in Israel. The general

Leibowitz Concludes

Page 1042

population proved to have zero tolerance for foreign

intervention on US soil, even if that intervention was done by a

‘friend.’ Under pressure, President Abdul Jawaad called a

nationally publicized press conference. But, the Prez really

didn’t know anything and neither Menpeko nor Rabinowitz told him

anything. Understandably. Bushbaby couldn’t even if he wanted to

as he doesn’t know anything more than what Menpeko tells him and

Goldsack is not going to help out a Muslim. So Jawaad got on TV

and registered his concern over the matter. He did the customary

dance and said that he is establishing a ‘Blue Ribbon Panel’ to

get to the bottom of this. He did a whole lot of the Obama

patented pained expressions. Then he refused to take questions

as he is so busy investigating the matter. SOS. Protests broke

out all over the place as everybody now knows that this is the

standard cover up formula. Then somebody, and I don’t know who,

used the opportunity to set off a nuclear device in Tel Aviv;

and another, less powerful dirty one in Jerusalem. My guess is

that it was a well-to-do follower of the ‘True Torah Jews,’ but

the possibilities are endless; and I wouldn’t bet a nickel on

it. The Israeli controlling Lehi Party, sometimes called the

‘Stern Gang,’ under Premier Goldsack, went ape shit and started

launching and dropping nuclear missiles all over the place,

including the US. Missiles the US had given them. Since then all

Leibowitz Concludes

Page 1043

forms of communication have become non-existent and I think some

things were set off underground.”

Conk said; “Never would have thought that something this

big could start with something so small in the overall scheme of

things. I could well imagine Israelis getting upset over an

impending bomb. But, for the US to carry on like that over eight

American lives is kind of ridiculous when compared to how many

innocent lives have been lost in the Middle East. I’ve seen

congressional testimony from the US military which estimates

that 70% of the drone killings are innocent victims. 70%. One

part of that story especially throws me. Can bombs shut off the

internet and all means of communication?”

“No, I don’t think so. That’s throws me too. There had to

have been somebody or something involved I don’t know about and

can’t even guess at.”

“An Israeli super hacker?”

“The Lehis are pretty smart cookies and they keep to

themselves. Or one from Hamas. Or one from Black Ops. Call of

Duty. ISIS. Fatah. PFLP-GC. Homeland Security. An independent.

We’ll probably never know. What throws me even more is why

didn’t Mossad just quietly come in and create eight ‘accidents.’

The people were from different areas and nobody would have been

suspicious. ......... The communications knockout must have been

done by someone with free access to the most powerful secret

Leibowitz Concludes

Page 1044

stuff. Points back at Mossad or Lehi. Doesn’t matter anymore

anyway. This is it for us. If they’re underground, they’re not

sending out any invitations to the party.”

“We got LAWLESS in LA.”

“Maybe. I’ve heard you. Sounds too good to be true.”

“Beats hangin’ here in the cemetery.”

“ .......... Not so sure. .......... To say ‘guess so’

would be polite.”

The sun dropped behind the Superstitions. Six eyes closed

as three brains felt safe for the night.

Leibowitz Concludes

Page 1045

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