DEFEND THE HOMESTEAD A Powerless World Book Three Jack Hunt Direct Response Publishing Copyright © 2021 by Jack Hunt All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review. This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be resold. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then you should return to an online retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the author's work. DEFEND THE HOMESTEAD: A Powerless World Book Three is a work of fiction. All names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental. For my Family Also by Jack Hunt Click here to receive special offers, bonus content, and news about new Jack Hunt’s books. Sign up for the newsletter. If you haven’t joined Jack Hunt’s Private Facebook Group you can request to join by clicking here now. A Powerless World series Escape the Breakdown Survive the Lawless Defend the Homestead Outlaws of the Midwest series Chaos Erupts Panic Ensues Havoc Endures The Cyber Apocalypse series As Our World Ends As Our World Falls As Our World Burns The Agora Virus series Phobia Anxiety Strain The War Buds series War Buds 1 War Buds 2 War Buds 3 Camp Zero series State of Panic State of Shock State of Decay Renegades series The Renegades The Renegades Book 2: Aftermath The Renegades Book 3: Fortress The Renegades Book 4: Colony The Renegades Book 5: United The Wild Ones Duology The Wild Ones Book 1 The Wild Ones Book 2 The EMP Survival series Days of Panic Days of Chaos Days of Danger Days of Terror Against All Odds Duology As We Fall As We Break The Amygdala Syndrome Duology Unstable Unhinged Survival Rules series Rules of Survival Rules of Conflict Rules of Darkness Rules of Engagement Lone Survivor series All That Remains All That Survives All That Escapes All That Rises Mavericks series Mavericks: Hunters Moon Time Agents series Killing Time Single Novels Blackout Defiant Darkest Hour Final Impact The Year Without Summer The Last Storm The Last Magician The Lookout Class of 1989 Out of the Wild Contents Prologue Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Chapter 17 Chapter 18 Chapter 19 Chapter 20 Chapter 21 Chapter 22 Chapter 23 Chapter 24 Chapter 25 Epilogue A Plea Readers Team About the Author Prologue Humboldt County, California Four days before the event The night Ryland Strickland chewed on a bullet, he was happier than a bird with a French fry. The cannabis farmer who’d embodied the outlaw culture of Humboldt County had scored his biggest payday on the black market since he’d gotten into the industry. Deep in the hills of Humboldt, inside a cabin nestled among the giant redwoods, he did a jig around a mahogany table; a joint in one hand, a full bottle of Dom Pérignon in the other. He uncorked it and set it down, lit two candles, and considered his fortune. Buried on his property inside steel ammo containers were hundreds of thousands of dollars. Illegally earned. Pure profit. All stashed away for his retirement. It wouldn’t be long now and he could turn his back on it all. It was moments like these he was glad he hadn’t toed the line. He’d seen the abatement letters; the notices of violation posted on farmers’ gates. They were hilarious. Permits? Who needed those? That was for the chumps scared of the government, the fools who wanted to play the legal game, and those not smart enough to know how to hide crops. Not him. Oh no, he’d tasted the better life, and it was a hell of a lot sweeter than the scraps the county wanted to toss him. Regulations, rules, endless fees. Who were they kidding? He’d seen farmers try to go the honest route only to stumble in the process. The red tape, the hurdles, and the cost of going legal was killing the cannabis market. It had unfolded like an apocalypse, quickly destroying livelihoods, forcing thousands of growers out of business, and sending many underground. Lots of families had fled the area, leaving behind abandoned homesteads. Nothing more than shacks that once held the hopes and dreams of hard-working people. The brave few, bold enough to man up and deal in the black market, vanished into the hills, settling on smaller plots and keeping their mouth shut. And who could blame them? The county rubbed fingers together in front of their faces, knowing full well that most couldn’t run a business under their tight regulations. They wanted sales tax before a grow, after a grow, and then if that wasn’t enough, after a sale. Were they insane? That didn’t include all the other ongoing costs, penalties, fines, and fees. It was a joke. And these suits had the nerve to call them criminals? Ryland crossed to a mirror and buttoned up his plaid shirt, angled his clean-shaven jaw, and patted a few dabs of spicy cologne on each cheek. He ran fingers through his wavy brown hair, checking that all the hair dye had covered the gray patches at his temples. In his early sixties, he was still in shape barring a small belly that pushed at his waistband. But that was a sign of good living. A living that he’d gained from turning up a middle finger to the man. To a government that didn’t care about their lives or morals. No, the rule makers were hypocrites. The whole damn lot of them. They imprisoned them when it was illegal to grow — but oh, now the idiots had come to their senses and deemed it legal, they wanted the lion’s share of profits or would imprison them if they didn’t play by their rules? How was that fair? Screw their rules and screw them. His kin hadn’t lasted generations by paying a middleman. And definitely not by bending the knee to
