Liberators: A Novel of the Coming Global Collapse

50 BLINDING FLASH

The air-conditioning unit was not working, but as was the tradition in the U.S. Navy, adverse environmental conditions were not an excuse to cancel or reschedule training. Rather, they were considered “an opportunity to excel.” It was ninety-five degrees Fahrenheit in the classroom. The video that they were watching was on improvised explosives and incendiary devices. A lot of the Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL (BUD/S) students were not paying close attention to the film. They were now in the final days of phase three (land warfare) of their twenty-four-week course and feeling confident that they would beat the odds, graduate from the course, and go on to a SEAL team assignment. Many of the students were slumped in their chairs, daydreaming about cold bottles of beer. As Petty Officer Third Class (PO3) Jordan Foster was watching the video, his mind began to wander. He thought about his cousins in Regina, Saskatchewan, and he pondered their situation living first under the French Army occupation, and now under the Chinese Army occupation. He wondered how they might be fighting back. As the training film was showing a time-delay thermite incendiary device, an idea popped into Jordan’s head. He sat bolt upright in his chair, and a scatological expression escaped his lips. He stood up and walked briskly to the door. His instructor had been standing in the back of the classroom, doing his best to stay awake. Noticing the petty officer’s odd behavior, he followed him out the door, close behind. Once they were outside, the bright sunlight made them both blink.

“What’s the matter, trainee? You know, it’s not too late to disqual you and send you back to the fleet. Can’t take the heat, pogue? Attitude problem?”

“No, sir! With your permission, I need to diagram something for you.”

Jordan pulled a notebook and pen from the breast pocket of his utilities. He began sketching a long, cylindrical object.

Jordan described it as he drew. “Sir, this may not be an original idea, but I believe that its potential application may be. Here we have a hermetically sealed cylinder, say, forty millimeters in diameter and about a half meter long. A full pound of thermite is in the bottom two-thirds of it, a time-delay electronic timer just above that, and a spring-loaded sleeve at the top end.”

The instructor removed his BUDS baseball cap briefly to wipe his brow. He asked, “What the flying fig is this all about, trainee?”

“Canada, sir. Reliberating Canada!”