Jeremy worked in Lamoni again during the summer. The presidential mansion was completed by then. Many were already calling it the White House. At the start of the summer, he started helping with a tall, obelisk-like structure called the Washington Monument. When Jeremy looked at his Washington, DC, picture book, he realized that this was going to be an exact replica of the Washington, DC, landmark. The capitol, the supreme court building, and the White House all looked like their DC counterparts from the outside. He wondered how different they would be on the inside. He had never been in any of these Washington, DC, structures before the dissolution, so he had no way of knowing. But he was starting to remember seeing the capitol and the Washington Monument from a distance. He also remembered seeing the toppled remains of a tall, white tower during his excursion with Vincent Blake into DC. This affirmed his belief that the toppled tower that he and Vince Blake had seen in DC was the old Washington Monument.
Alicia and Jeremy had written letters before the end of the school year promising each other that they would both work in Lamoni. Just like the summer before, Alicia came down to serve the builders. But she had one other job. One of her teachers at Iowa State had arranged for her to assist with the city-planning effort in Lamoni. She was anticipating an exciting summer.
Just like the summer before, Jeremy performed heavy, grueling work in helping to build the nation’s new capital city. Alicia was always among the women serving the men at Iowa West, which was once again Jeremy’s temporary home. Jeremy and Alicia got together almost every day after work.
Alicia liked showing Jeremy the plans for Lamoni. Resembling what he had learned the summer before, he noticed that the fifteen states that were already in the reunion already had their diagonal positions selected. Iowa and Missouri Avenues would converge on the capitol building. Pennsylvania and Nebraska Avenues would converge on the White House. Michigan and North Dakota Avenues would converge on the supreme court building. The other nine states would have their places, connecting various parts of the city. But the state avenues would all be of about equal length, unlike the state avenues in Washington, DC. The British embassy, already completed, would be on Maryland Avenue. Other places around the city were designated for embassies.
Jeremy noticed another building being constructed by men who did not speak English. When he told Alicia where it was located, she looked at her map. The Russians had sent men over to build the Russian embassy. More foreign countries were convinced that the RSNA would become the new United States.
The other topic that Jeremy and Alicia most liked to talk about was baseball. With Major League Baseball in its second season, the Iowa Baseball League was not drawing well. The Grinnell team moved to Newton, hoping to draw from a bigger fan base. But it was no use. With most of the interest focused on Major League Baseball, the Iowa Baseball League could no longer survive.
There was talk of the Iowa Baseball League merging with the Nebraska-Dakota Baseball League, having teams in the largest of the cities in the four states. A worker from Missouri commented that the Missouri Baseball League was headed the same direction. The teams in Kansas City and St. Louis folded because the local boosters were interested only in the Major League Baseball teams in those two cities. The other cities in the league could no longer operate profitably. Perhaps the Missouri Baseball League might join such a merger.
In Major League Baseball, Pittsburgh was facing a tough challenge from Cleveland in the East. Meanwhile, Kansas City was opening a comfortable lead in the West. Most of the talk suggested that this year’s playoffs would be a rematch of last year’s. But many opined that such a playoff might well be won by last year’s loser.
One night in mid-August, about four hundred people overpowered three guards in Parkersburg, West Virginia, where a bridge across the Ohio River had been before the Virginia takeover. They struggled, trying to swim across the river. Two of the guards even joined them. People on the Ohio side of the river quickly gathered small boats and anything else that could float to help the people escape. When it was all over, 428 people had made their escape, with no deaths and only minor injuries. Before General Krakowski could get the gap plugged, three more people escaped. Afterward, a new barrier that was much sturdier than the original one was erected at the escape point. Then a much larger garrison of troops was stationed at that point.
President Adair addressed the nation after the escape. Not only was every RSNA radio and television station broadcasting the speech, but nearly all stations in the other states broadcasted it too. The only states where it was not broadcast were either under foreign or General Krakowski’s control.
“Last night, over four hundred people broke out of West Virginia to escape to a better life in the RSNA,” he began. “They left their homes, their loved ones, their friends, and their possessions to live happier, safer, and better lives. They escaped oppression, poverty, and fear for their own safety. Even two men whose job it was to prevent such activity joined in the escape.”
Then he continued, “Admit it, General Krakowski, you are never going to conquer the United States. If you want to do what is right for both Virginia and yourself, remove your troops from West Virginia. Allow its people to choose how they wish to be governed. Then relinquish your dictatorship and allow the Commonwealth of Virginia to do what is best for it and its people. Do it now, before it’s too late.”
The escape increased pressure on President Adair to liberate Virginia and West Virginia. In Maryland, Governor Thomas stepped up his efforts to convince President Adair to invade the two states. Meanwhile, Stephanie Pruitt demanded that President Adair invade or resign the presidency so Vice President Marshall could take the initiative. President Adair agreed that the RSNA could easily defeat Virginia with conventional army and navy forces. But nobody knew if General Krakowski had nuclear weapons. President Adair did not want to risk nuclear war. Vice President Marshall stood behind the president’s stance.
Twice during the summer, Jeremy and Alicia took a weekend trip to Des Moines and stayed with her parents. Jeremy also visited his grandparents twice. When the summer jobs were completed, Jeremy and Alicia rode the bullet train up to Des Moines together. Jeremy then rode the train to Des Moines with Dean Fisher. Jeremy told Dean that he would go to college at Creighton to train in its ROTC program. Dean complimented Jeremy about his ambition. Dean then informed Jeremy that he was playing baseball at the University of Iowa while majoring in education. He believed he could make the baseball team there if he kept working at it. Jeremy replied that Iowa could probably use a slugger like him.
After getting off the train in Grinnell, Jeremy and Dean walked together toward home until their paths diverged. They both wished each other the best of success.
In a few days, Jeremy departed for Omaha. He bade farewell to his grandparents. They told him to take good care of himself. Before he went to the train station, he stopped by Kim Mullen’s house. She would leave the next day to attend the University of Iowa. She wanted to study political science. Then they bade each other farewell. He chanced across Peter Hunt when he got downtown. Peter was carrying his luggage himself. He was headed to Sioux City to attend Morningside College. They sat next to each other for the whole trip to Omaha. Then Peter caught the next northbound train.
Upon arriving at the Creighton campus, he went straight to Colonel Brown’s office. Colonel Brown welcomed him to the school. They talked for a little bit, with Colonel Brown handing Jeremy a checklist and a map of the ROTC part of the campus. These were the places he needed to report to that day. The map showed where the locations were. At the conclusion of their talk, Colonel Brown told Jeremy to report back to him. Jeremy acknowledged that he would.
Jeremy went to every place required, obtaining his uniforms and class schedule. He also was assigned a rifle. Finally, he was assigned a room in Alpha Company, where he would room with another recruit, named Wendell Ross. At that point, he was given a small book that was called the handbook. It contained the military rules and procedures that all cadets had to follow. With his checklist finished, he headed back to Colonel Brown’s office.
“Voorhies,” he started, “you came highly recommended to us by a new faculty member in our program. You are to report to Lt. Gregory Williams’s office. It is downstairs, about directly beneath my office.”
Jeremy promptly went down to Lt. Williams’s office. Sure enough, it was the same Lt. Williams who had been his teacher in Virginia. Jeremy stood at attention and saluted him upon entering his office. Lt. Williams invited Jeremy to sit down while he walked over to the door to his office and shut it. Then, instead of going back behind his desk, he took a seat in front of his desk, next to Jeremy.
“I see you survived your swim across the Potomac River,” Lt. Williams started.
“That’s right, sir!” replied Jeremy.
“No need to call me ‘sir’ right now,” Lt. Williams said. “We are two friends talking behind closed doors. How do you like the RSNA?”
“It is certainly a better place to live than Virginia,” answered Jeremy. “But I sure do miss my family.”
“That’s understandable,” replied Lt. Williams. “I have family back in Virginia myself. I am not sure if I will ever see them again. You must feel the same way.”
Jeremy simply nodded in agreement. Lt. Williams continued, “So, tell me about what happened once you got to Maryland.”
“I passed out right away after getting to the Maryland shore. When I came to, I was lying in a doctor’s office, covered by a sheet. Three people were in the room, an elderly doctor, a young nurse, and the guy who found me.”
“And then?” Lt. Williams asked.
“The doctor’s wife brought me some breakfast. It was some of the tastiest food I ever ate. A little later, a policeman brought me some clothes. Then he drove me to the Baltimore airport, where they put me in plane to fly out to Des Moines. Upon arriving in Des Moines, they had me stay in this building that was like a dormitory. I lived there for a couple of months.”
“Well,” replied Lt. Williams. “Where did you go next?”
“My dad’s folks were located in Pennsylvania,” Jeremy went on. “Grandpa found a job in a city called Grinnell, about sixty miles east of Des Moines. They took me in to live with them there. I attended Grinnell High School up through my graduation.”
“And then you wanted to get into the military, and that brought you here,” concluded Lt. Williams. Jeremy nodded in agreement.
“I guess now I should tell how I got here,” commented Lt. Williams. Jeremy smiled and said yes.
“When we were told that you had drowned trying to swim across the Potomac River, it made me feel sick. We had just lost one of our brightest and most capable students because of General Krakowski’s oppressiveness and lies. I knew all along that those things I was teaching in class were a bunch of bullshit. But that was what I was ordered to teach.” Jeremy smiled and nodded in agreement.
Lt. Williams continued. “A few nights later, I packed my wife and two kids, with whatever belongings we could take, into my car and drove to the air base in Dale City. My military credential enabled me to get past security. I drove to a helicopter, scooted my wife, kids, and possessions into it, jumped in, and started flying off. We were off the ground when the Virginia officials noticed us and started coming after us. Even though I was flying too low, I just piloted that copter northward, over Maryland airspace, as quickly as possible. Once we got over Maryland, two RSNA copters intercepted us, forcing us to land.”
“I’ll bet you were glad to get there,” remarked Jeremy.
“Absolutely,” replied Lt. Williams. “Unfortunately, they did not accept me as readily as they accepted you. The RSNA authorities whisked all four of us up to northern Saskatchewan. While the place we stayed at was better than a prison, we were still being watched carefully. At least our kids got proper schooling. The worst part was having to stay there through two winters. The people there helped comfort us, but those winters were so brutal that we people from Virginia could not deal with it.”
“Wow,” sighed Jeremy. “I bet you all were glad to get out of there.”
“Man, were we,” Lt. Williams acknowledged. “Last spring, they finally decided we could live in the RSNA. They must have decided they could trust us. Perhaps our living through two winters there convinced them that we really wanted to live here. Upon our arrival in the RSNA, I decided, like you, that I wanted to help liberate Virginia. After some searching, I finally got this job. When I saw your name among our applicants, I knew it had to be you. I highly recommended you to Colonel Brown. It was that recommendation that convinced Colonel Brown to have you join our program.”
“Thank you,” stated Jeremy, extending his hand for a handshake. The two shook hands.
As a parting note, Lt. Williams warned, “I hope the Virginia forces never catch you. They say you killed the person watching over you to make your escape. If they do catch you, they will certainly kill you.”
“I am well aware of that,” Jeremy responded. “At least so far, they have not found me. I sure don’t want them to catch you either.”
All it took was one time in the barrack’s showers for the other men to realize that Jeremy had come from Virginia. Those welts, while fading, would not go away. One night, Wendell asked Jeremy about it.
Jeremy replied, “I was in a kind of prison house. I was supposed to be reading an article in a Virginia magazine. But I was just pretending. After lunch, the man in charge of that prison house asked me what I read. When I did not respond correctly, he took me down to the basement, where I got that whipping.”
“Living anywhere in Virginia must be hell,” Wendell commented. “Then they put you in that prison house. That must have made it even worse.”
Jeremy acknowledged this by nodding his head.
Jeremy quickly learned that one third of the enrollment at the Creighton ROTC program consisted of women. In fact, the ranking cadet in the corps was a woman named Karen Taylor, who was assigned the rank of captain. He was also told that dating any woman cadet was forbidden.
In one way, Jeremy benefited from his years in Virginia. He had already learned the military movements and rules, enabling him to get off to a quick start in ROTC. His military appearance, bearing, and performance were also among the best. He impressed faculty members and high-ranking cadets. Colonel Brown praised Lt. Williams for finding such a fine recruit.
It was not much later that Jeremy found out something he did not like about Creighton. Lisa Plummer was also attending Creighton. As always, Jeremy tried to be friends with her. He would smile and wave at her, talking to her on occasion. But there was always something about Lisa’s demeanor that made Jeremy uneasy. Wendell Ross assured Jeremy that the other cadets would help protect him if needed. Jeremy replied that he was sure that an ROTC unit would probably make effective protection.
ROTC was far more enjoyable at Creighton than in Virginia. They often participated in parades either locally or in nearby communities. Whenever Creighton had a home football game, the corps did a parade as part of the halftime entertainment. Colonel Brown seemed particularly happy with the halftime entertainment. One time he told the freshmen that for decades before the dissolution, Creighton did not even have a football team. Once college football started up again, the faculty and students gladly supported a new football team. So far, they’d had winning teams in both of their first two seasons.
Naturally, Jeremy watched the activity in his favorite sport, baseball, very closely. Once again, Pittsburgh and Kansas City won the two divisions. But this year, Kansas City won the playoff. Most people agreed that it was good for the league that the same team did not win in both of the first two years.
As for college football, Creighton barely attained its third straight winning season, with a record of 5–4. Nebraska won the conference for the second year in a row. They then went on to defeat Army in the opening round of the playoffs. Then it beat Arkansas in the second round. Finally, Nebraska defeated Navy in the national championship game. After the season ended, some of the faculty members wondered if the football fans in Alabama were pressuring the leaders in their state to join the RSNA so the state could put its storied football program up against the other states.
As the school year progressed, older cadets earned promotions. Among them, Karen Taylor was promoted to major.
Major events continued to favor the RSNA. The World Court ruled that Alaska rightfully was part of the United States. When it was acquired from Russia, it was the result of bargaining by legitimate, recognized sovereign leaders of both countries. Both countries had negotiated in good faith.
Russia promptly relinquished its control of Alaska. Newspapers showed pictures of Russia’s Alaska leader shaking hands with a man named Frank Unger, who would lead Alaska for the time being. Mr. Unger promptly announced that free elections would be held as soon as they could be arranged and that the people of Alaska would decide if they will join the RSNA.
Across the continent, Maine announced that it had decided to join the RSNA. In so doing, Maine withdrew from the Confederation of New England States and Maritime Provinces. Upon learning of this, President Adair welcomed Maine as the sixteenth state to join the RSNA. Then he encouraged the five other New England states also to join while at the same time urging the Maritime Provinces to work with their fellow provinces to create a united Canada.
For the first time since the dissolution, colleges decided to play organized basketball. Colonel Brown loved to talk about how successful Creighton’s basketball team was before the dissolution. He, like the entire student body, looked forward to the basketball season with anticipation.
Colonel Brown did not require the cadets to attend basketball games. Jeremy attended most of them. Not only did he enjoy the games, but he also liked how the ROTC color guard would carry the United States flag and the RSNA flag out to the center of the floor at the start of the games for the playing of the national anthem. He aspired to join the color guard.
Jeremy could not help but think about Peter Hunt when Creighton whipped Morningside in its season opener. Wins over Wayne State and Doane in the next two games made prospects look brighter. But Creighton’s coach, Howard Schultz, quickly pointed out that the competition would get tougher. His caution proved wise when the team lost to South Dakota. After that game, Coach Schultz commented that was why they started the season against smaller schools. It helped prepare for conference competition.
Jeremy earned a 4.0 GPA in his first semester at Creighton. When he arrived home for Christmas furlough, his grandparents were overjoyed by his performance. He thoroughly enjoyed spending his time with them over both Christmas and New Year’s Day. For New Year’s Eve, the Lanes had invited many friends over for celebration, including the Voorhies. Jeremy was most pleased to see Vincent Black. He had grown up so much since arriving in Iowa. He was getting along in school and was even accompanied by a girl named Molly Lamp. It was so nice to see Vincent smile. Unfortunately, the RSNA had been unable to find any relatives of his living outside of Virginia. After living for two years in Iowa, he had become accustomed to living with the Lanes.
Kim Mullen had likewise achieved a 4.0 in her first semester in college. She and Jeremy did not talk much together about their academic achievements. Instead, they liked telling each other about their respective schools. Kim liked participating in the debate club. While some people criticized President Adair for some things he did, they all agreed that he was a particularly good president. The most frequent subject was how to best deal with Virginia. A significant minority of the students wanted the RSNA to liberate Virginia with military takeover.
Jeremy talked about his military experience at Creighton. He admitted that it was difficult but at the same time rewarding. He told Kim about how his Virginia experience had helped him fit in. He said the biggest difference was that in the RSNA, he felt like everybody was working toward the common good. They all wanted to help strengthen the RSNA.
Jeremy left Grinnell one day early so he could spend some time in Des Moines with Alicia. They had a most enjoyable time together, talking and taking a walk in a park. Jeremy could tell that as much as he enjoyed Kim Mullen’s company, he enjoyed Alicia’s more. Before they headed back to their respective schools, Jeremy said they need to see each other more often. The problem was that the ROTC often mandated that he spend his weekends in Omaha. Alicia could not afford to spend the money on train tickets, and possibly on spending nights in motels, very often. They would just have to do the best they could.
Jeremy kept a consistent letter-writing exchange with both Alicia and Kim while he was in Omaha. He enjoyed the correspondence greatly but often wondered if they were meeting other men. But then, he was not committed to either woman, either. So far, he had not met any women at Creighton who particularly appealed to him. Some of the women in the ROTC programs seemed like they would make good companions, but they were off limits.
Shortly after the start of the new semester, Omar Fields made an announcement. It was not often that the treasury secretary would address the nation. But the entire RSNA liked what he said. Arrangements had been made to transfer control of the monetary system from Michigan to the RSNA. Michigan’s entire gold and platinum holdings had been transferred to the national depository in Fort Knox, Kentucky. All Michigan money could be exchanged for RSNA money. The process was to be completed by the end of March.
Secretary Fields went on to say that a new federal reserve banking system would also be established. Philadelphia, Cleveland, St. Louis, and Kansas City, which originally had federal reserve banks, would all get new federal reserve banks, located in their original buildings. A new federal reserve bank would be established in Detroit, ostensibly to replace the old federal reserve bank in Richmond.
Jeremy continued to excel during his second semester. He kept getting compliments from Karen Taylor, the other high-ranking cadets, and the faculty. He was still getting straight As. Jeremy was confident that he had made the right choice for his career.
Creighton’s basketball team continued playing well, but key losses prevented it from reaching the playoffs. The team finished with a record of 15–6. Both Nebraska and Drake represented Creighton’s conference in the sixteen-team playoff. Nebraska won its opening round game against North Dakota State, but Drake lost to Arkansas Tech. Nebraska ousted Arkansas Tech in the second round but was no match for Indiana in the semifinals. Indiana then cruised past Villanova to win the championship. Not only had Indiana finished the season undefeated, but it won every game by at least twenty points. Colonel Brown commented that Indiana had long had first-rate basketball players. All the university had to do was find the best basketball players in its own backyard.
March brought another bit of good news. The people of Alaska had approved the Iowa Articles of Reunification by a vote of 92 percent. Fred Unger, now the governor, would sign the necessary papers and submit them to the RSNA. The reunion now had seventeen states.
During mid-March, the cadets were bused to a small Nebraska village called Brewster for field training. As the bus carried them closer to the middle of Nebraska, Jeremy realized why the field training would take place out there. This area was much more sparsely populated than any place he had been before. The farms that he was so used to seeing out in the country gave way to open spaces unsuitable for farming. Towns became smaller and less frequent. This area provided more open spaces where military maneuvers could be performed.
A military compound located just west of the village provided housing for the cadets during their stay. Jeremy was assigned to G Barracks, where he and Wendell would still be roommates. In fact, every barracks would have the same arrangements and the same leaders as they had at Creighton. The only difference was that this time, their barracks were lettered G–L.
Jeremy soon found out how Barracks A–F would be used. They were housing the cadets from the University of Nebraska ROTC program. The two programs would participate in field drills together but would compete against each other in war games late in the week. The Creighton cadets were issued tan uniforms. The Nebraska cadets got olive green.
Most of the week was spent performing field maneuvers. Activities included advancing toward objectives, crawling to move forward, fording the nearby river, and utilizing military maps. They had to use azimuths to figure out firing angles. Contour lines marked the best ways to go up and down hills.
The week ended with the two ROTC units playing war games against each other. Creighton held the defensive position the first day, while Nebraska tried to take over Creighton’s position. The guns fired wax bullets that would not injure anybody but would leave a red mark at the point of contact. Any soldier hit would feel a warm surge there. If a soldier suffered a fatal wound, he had to lay on the ground where he was hit. If a soldier suffered a nonfatal wound, he had to retreat from the battlefield.
Jeremy suffered a “wound” on his upper right arm during the first day’s game. He had to get off the battlefield, acting like he was nursing his arm, while avoiding being “killed” by opposing fire.
At the end of the day, Nebraska had taken over some Creighton territory but failed to obtain its objective. The military instructors ruled that the game had ended in a draw.
The next day, the positions were reversed. Now Creighton had to reach its objective against Nebraska defenders. Karen Taylor told her battalion that it was easier to attack on the second day because they’d all had one day to learn the ropes.
Jeremy’s platoon gained ground quickly in the second war game. But the auspicious start soon became a predicament. Once the opposing platoon stopped retreating, another opposing platoon fell in behind Jeremy’s platoon. His platoon was trapped.
Jeremy’s platoon leader asked for a volunteer to get word to Major Taylor. Jeremy quickly volunteered for the job. Keeping a low profile, Jeremy camouflaged himself against the soil as best he could. He could sense some “bullets” whizzing by him but determinedly pressed on. Soon, he noticed a friendly platoon of soldiers forward and off to his left. He maneuvered his way to that platoon and told their leader about his platoon’s predicament. That platoon leader promised that his platoon would try to help Jeremy’s platoon.
Jeremy continued toward the back of the lines, making his way to Major Taylor. Upon reaching her, he saluted and delivered the news. Major Taylor quickly examined the maps and quickly decided what to do. Pointing to L Company’s position, she ordered Jeremy to tell the L Company commander to release one of her platoons to support his company’s position. Soon Jeremy was maneuvering with a platoon of women to go help his platoon.
The women fought well, defeating a platoon of men and rescuing Jeremy’s platoon. Soon the Nebraska forces retreated in the face of the revitalized Creighton forces. Major Taylor seized the initiative, organized her platoons in that area, and made a move toward the objective.
Once the Nebraska leaders noticed that the objective was in danger of being taken, they ordered a retreat toward the objective, massing around it to form an almost impregnable defense. At day’s end, the objective was successfully defended, but Creighton had come much closer. The faculty declared Creighton the winner.
After the games ended, the cadets from both schools were served a big banquet. No seats were assigned. The cadets with the two programs were encouraged to mingle and try to make friends. After all, in a few years, they would all be working together for the same country.
The cadets all enjoyed the banquet and the chance to mingle. Nebraska’s cadet leader felt a little sheepish that he had been bested by a woman cadet leader, but he took it in stride. He said it showed what a good leader Major Taylor was.
Jeremy continued to excel through the rest of his freshman year. For the second semester in a row, he got straight As. He, along with several other freshmen, were honored for showing great promise.
Before commencement, Lt. Williams gave Jeremy a Nebraska driver’s manual. He needed to study it over the summer. In the fall, he would take a driver education class.
At commencement, the graduating seniors received their diplomas. Their assignments in the RSNA army were announced at the same time. Jeremy noted that Maryland was getting more new officers than any other state, but not a majority. Many others were assigned to locations near Virginia and West Virginia. Some were assigned to Bristol, Tennessee, where a new post had been started. Karen Taylor was assigned to Pikeville, Kentucky. It seemed like every RSNA state got at least one senior from this class.
After he got home, Jeremy found Pikeville, Kentucky on a map. It was in a county wedged in between Virginia and West Virginia. Jeremy reasoned that it would be a good place to station troops. Belpre, Ohio, was another town that got graduates from the Creighton ROTC program. Jeremy saw that it was located across the Ohio River from Parkersburg, West Virginia. That would be another good place to station troops.
Instead of going to Lamoni for the summer, Jeremy decided he should stay in Grinnell to spend more time with his grandparents. He found work on a farm a short distance north of Grinnell, near a town called Newberg. Weather permitting, he would bicycle up to his job. If he needed a ride up, he would use a commuter bus.
When Jeremy told Kim Mullen that he was reading the driver’s manual to prep for a driver education class, he was surprised to learn that Kim had learned how to drive. Kim got permission from her parents to use the family car to teach Jeremy. Then she would drive him to the high school parking lot to start his lessons. Jeremy had the usual struggles when he first started driving but caught on well. Soon he was able to drive on the local streets. Before the summer was over, he even made short drives to Newberg and on the interstate, which passed just south of Grinnell. He was confident he would perform well in the driver education class.
Of course, he took a few weekends to go to Des Moines to visit Alicia. She was working in Lamoni again, helping with the city planning. He and Alicia enjoyed their time together, but Jeremy also sensed that some distance was growing between them. They just could not spend enough time together. True, he and Kim were getting along wonderfully. But he also suspected that a drift might occur between them. He had met some women at Creighton who seemed desirable to him, but no relationships had started. Part of his issue there was that most of the women he knew were fellow cadets.
Jeremy also met up with Vincent Black and the Lanes several times. He was most pleased by how well Vincent was getting along. They both agreed that former Virginians were popular in the RSNA. Jeremy was also glad that Vincent was still seeing Molly Lamp. She was certainly good for him.
Once Jeremy started back to Creighton, he realized that he had not encountered Lisa Plummer. Nor did he ever feel her annoying presence. Jeremy was glad he did not encounter Lisa. That was one woman that he knew he did not want to get involved with.
Jeremy did encounter Lisa shortly after school started. Trying to be friendly, Jeremy asked her why he had not seen her in Grinnell last summer. “Because my family moved to Atlantic last spring,” was Lisa’s curt reply. She said nothing more.
The RSNA got some good news early in the school year. Georgia had approved the reunion, bringing the total to eighteen. Many people considered Georgia a pivotal state because of how the Georgia delegate had rebuked the Virginia delegate at the Chicago convention. Now attention was focused on the other Southeastern states to see if they would soon join.
Jeremy enjoyed his driver’s education class. He could tell his lessons with Kim Mullen had helped. His instructor praised him. Driving also gave him a sense of more freedom.
In pro baseball, Jeremy was glad when Cleveland displaced Pittsburgh as the champions in the East. But Kansas City won the West for the third year in a row. When Cleveland won the playoff that year, Jeremy thought it was good for pro baseball to have three different champions in its first three years. Many other people agreed.
It was not a good football season for Creighton. The team won only two games while losing eight. For the fourth year in a row, it was between Nebraska and Drake for the conference title. Drake won the head-to-head battle, earning the conference title. An old-timer commented that the new Nebraska-Drake football rivalry looked like the rivalry that Nebraska had with Oklahoma. Another person commented that Drake would not be able to compete once big money became a factor. Then another person pointed out that Des Moines was now a much more pivotal city than it had been before the dissolution. That could help Drake get more money.
Once again, the conference champion faced the champion from the conference with schools located in the Dakotas and Nebraska, which was Nebraska State. The local populace expressed huge support for their hometown team. The game would be played in Kansas City because there were no stadiums between Des Moines and Omaha that were large enough to accommodate the game.
Drake squeezed out a 20–17 victory against Nebraska State. The victorious Drake players agreed that Nebraska State had a fine team. Later that night, Colonel Brown told the student body that Nebraska State used to be called Nebraska Omaha. The name changed after the dissolution.
The second round of the playoffs pitted Drake against Purdue. Drake won that game 31–21, qualifying Drake for another championship showdown. This time they would face off against Pittsburgh.
Students gathered around the televisions on campus to see the national championship. They watched as two behemoths battled for supremacy on the gridiron. It was not until the final minute of the game that Drake completed a two-point conversion to seal a 25–24 victory. The game had been exciting from start to finish.
The Creighton student body had much to cheer about during basketball season. Its team won every game before Christmas break. At the start of Christmas break, the team’s outlook seemed promising.
Jeremy got his first B since he had started attending Creighton. He could not quite ace his economics course. But he enjoyed the class, nonetheless. He particularly liked the unit on the new federal reserve. At one point, the professor held up a dollar bill with an E in the front seal. He said it was issued by the federal reserve bank in Detroit. That letter used to signify the federal reserve bank in Richmond. The professor did not believe the Richmond federal reserve bank would ever reopen.
Jeremy was glad when his aunt Cindy and her family visited while he was home on Christmas break. He particularly enjoyed playing with his younger cousins. They were all happy to see him again. His grandparents were overjoyed to have that much of their family together. It was a joyous holiday. He also spent quality time with his Grinnell friends, such as the Lanes, Dean Fisher, Peter Hunt, Vincent Black, and Kim Mullen. While he enjoyed his time with Kim Mullen, he also sensed that the rift between him and Kim was widening.
Before returning to Omaha, he stayed at the Shelbys’ for one night. He and Alicia enjoyed some rare quality time together. Alicia told him that the city designers were planning to build a major airport near Lamoni. It would serve as the main airport for the region, with the airports in Kansas City, Omaha, and Des Moines serving as minor hubs.
Jeremy felt that Alicia’s kisses were sweeter than Kim’s but could likewise sense a rift growing between them. Jeremy began thinking he should get try harder to get to know women at Creighton.
State legislatures reconvened after the start of the new year. That brought good news to the reunion effort. Florida’s legislature approved the RSNA during its first week. Alabama approved it the following week. Both governors signed the approvals into law quickly. The RSNA now had twenty states.
The growth continued. North Carolina approved the reunion in February. South Carolina approved it in March. That brought the total to twenty-two. The reunion effort was closing in on having half the states. The prospect of having a reunited nation grew brighter.
Jeremy continued to prosper at Creighton, performing well in classes while receiving praise both from faculty members and higher-ranking cadets. He was well-liked. He became close friends with a high-ranking junior named Ted Kessler, who would likely be one of the top leaders in the cadet corps his senior year.
Creighton’s basketball team sailed through the regular season undefeated. Then they won the first two rounds of the playoffs. Indiana trounced them in the semifinals, then went on to win the national championship again. Just like the first year, Indiana went undefeated, without any opponent coming close. People began to wonder if Indiana would continue to dominate college basketball. Some people thought that North Carolina might challenge Indiana’s supremacy now that it had joined the RSNA.
In March, Creighton and Nebraska’s ROTC units squared off in their annual war games in Brewster. Once again, neither team could capture the objective from the other team. But this year, the senior army officers decided that the Nebraska ROTC unit had outperformed Creighton. Each side had won the games once in Jeremy’s two years with Creighton. Jeremy was determined to do everything he could to help Creighton win his remaining two years there.
The weather became unseasonably warm in April. The same was true for most of the region, with record high temperatures reported from eastern Colorado and Wyoming all the way through most of Ohio and Kentucky. Most people gladly welcomed the warmer weather, though some wondered if it would lead to a particularly hot summer.
One night, Jeremy was walking back to A Barracks after finishing a duty. He was walking near a parking lot when he was suddenly jumped by four men. One quickly gagged his mouth, preventing him from alerting anyone within shouting distance. Then they dragged him to a car with its trunk open, put him in the trunk, and closed it. Jeremy pounded the trunk lid, hoping someone would hear him and help. Soon the car had started and pulled out of its parking space. Before long, he was driven out of the parking lot, down a few streets, and then onto a freeway. Jeremy realized what had happened. He had been caught by people working for General Krakowski. He got sick feeling that he was on his way to Virginia.
The car continued eastward. Jeremy surmised that they were crossing Iowa. Eventually, the car turned mostly southward. The car was not driven as far southward as it had been eastward, but it eventually stopped. The driver turned off the engine.
Jeremy then overheard the men talking.
“We can spend the night here. We will take him to Springfield after the capitol opens.”
“Do you really think Big Bill will give us a big reward?”
“Are you kidding? This guy is wanted for murder in Virginia. Krakowski will pay a king’s ransom for him. We will get a hefty cut.”
“What about that gal, Lisa?”
“She will get a cut too. She deserves it. We have to be thankful she pointed this guy out to us.”
“What will happen to him once we get him to Virginia?”
“This guy will be dead by this weekend. It’s just a matter of how much he gets tortured before he dies.”
Now Jeremy realized what had happened. Somehow, Lisa Plummer had found out that these men were Virginia spies. She had willingly betrayed him to these men. Perhaps money was part of her motive. But more likely, jealousy was her main motive. But the bottom line was that money and vengeance meant so much to Lisa that she was willing to jeopardize his life for it. Jeremy did not get any sleep that night, wondering if he was now in the last days of his life.