Sheepdog-20

The next few weeks turned the county into the focal point of attention by national and international media as the citizens of the county turned out their guns and joined Ken and the Sheriff in waging war against the Hell’s Angels, Los Zetas and the Syndicate. Angel clubhouses emptied out all over the Upper Midwest of the United States as well as adjacent Canadian provinces, only to bleed out on the roads when ambushed from the sides by vigilant citizen militiamen or from above by Ken or Guiscard in the latter’s plane. The Sheriff stepped back from field work and concentrated on media management, while Ken and Guiscard took over day-to-day operations.

The governor, knowing who was there, dragged his feet and cited precedent stating that the county sheriff was the supreme official within that space- not him. The President of the United States stayed out of it officially, but every morning had a report incorporated into his briefing; he talked with the President of Mexico and the Prime Minister of Canada regularly once the word got out, and all of them privately agreed to funnel these criminals into Ken’s death trap- and any other undesirables foolish enough to follow them.

Ken anticipated this; he knew that politicians relied greatly on image and illusion, so by disrupting that illusion he could wield that weakness to drive them where he wanted them to go- much like the criminal syndicates he waged war against. As for those organizations, they also conferred- with the World President of the Hell’s Angels being furious. Now, at last, they fell into Ken’s trap utterly: the calls went out for each syndicate’s best men- top cleaners, fixers, hitmen, mechanics, assassins one and all.

Called off of holidays, other assignments, lower-priority targets, etc. they were to assemble and go after Ken, and unlike the previous attempts these operators knew better than to infiltrate openly. No, these were experienced veterans, many formally trained, and understood as Ken did where this battle really occurred: in the mind. They all knew, from examining the intelligence supplied, that Ken wanted this to happen. Therefore, they all knew that Ken expected them to come for him, and that meant assuming that Ken prepared for their assignment against him.

Ken, apart from the media at Guiscard’s bar, managed operations. He put out the word to look for outsiders in plain clothes or outside agencies, training the people in how to spot men like him from far enough distances than they could slink away and call for backup. Through Reginald he got weapons and ammunition sufficient to keep the militia and their families well-armed and supplied, as well as the space necessary to train regularly between engagements. The county hospital and morgue kept busy, keeping the people up and disposing of the dead, and The Sheriff kept the media mostly corralled by letting the go-getters go alone; more of that lot got killed in the crossfire than got anything good out of their endeavors, with the survivors being those wise enough to stay away from firefights and hostiles. In short, things were well in hand for now.

That’s what Ken kept fixed in his mind, “for now”, knowing that the next step would disrupt this initially- and threatened to do so permanently. Compelling these entities to dispatch their best killers to deal with him was not risk-free, and he knew that. The one thing he wanted to know was which group would move first, because he could guess whom amongst that group would come for him- and once he knew his enemy, dealing with him would become much easier.