The military were, of course, exempt, as were members of the president’s official family. Their license tags carried the UP designation, as did their identification cards. Equal privileges were extended to members of diplomatic missions to the Union for Peace. Groups who lived in very remote areas were ignored.

It was simply too much of a logistical headache for the Union for Peace militias to track down every remote trapper and logger. The government felt that it held the ultimate weapon, which would bring in the strays when the time came.

WHILE THE FORCES OF EVIL were at work, there were others growing in number who were working equally hard, and in secret, to counteract everything the Union for Peace was doing.

Lieutenant General Archie Gladstone had established what he called the Western Defense Zone. His stated mission was to protect military assets from volcanic ash. But, in fact, he had created a military state within a state. He had called on the genius of the grizzled Master Sergeant Tony O’Reilly to assemble absolutely monumental depots of food, fuel, and ammunition, all well-hidden in mountainous regions of the country. General Gladstone positioned two armored divisions in Pueblo, along with a paratroop division and a mechanized division west of the Sangre de Cristo mountains.

His airplanes were dispersed into camouflaged bunkers in Albuquerque. Then, with utmost secrecy in a maneuver known only to a select few, General Benjamin ordered the ten Pershing missiles to be transported from the Pueblo depot and deployed with nuclear warheads in deep ravines over a wide area to the west of the Sangre de Cristo mountains.

Meanwhile, Albuquerque had almost tripled in size since the beginning of the chaos. It was not just the presence of over a hundred thousand military personnel that had caused this expansion. Civilians from all over the country were being drawn there by the thousands.

Manuel Quintana had succeeded in arranging two more satellite up-links at El Refugio. With these, he could access satellite transponders at times of the day when they were not in use by others. Pirate transmissions known as “The Voice of the Mountains” were broadcast around the world. They were filled with news reports not available from other sources. They warned of the insidious dangers represented by the Union for Peace. They particularly warned Christian believers to stay true to their convictions, whatever the price. They repeated, time and again, the biblical messages that described with great precision the nature and plan of the Antichrist.

The director and producer of these television and radio programs was Carl Throneberry. At the same time, he used all of his considerable skills to create pamphlets, leaflets, and newspapers. He, Lori, and a small staff created these pieces on two sophisticated desktop publishing computers. Printed material was sent in digital form by satellite telephone all around the world to thousands of cell groups of what came to be known as the Christian Resistance.