Paradise Burning (The Virtagwalla Series Book 2) (5 page)

8

Xavier Rove removed his readers and laid them down on the table in front of him. He rubbed his temples attempting to grasp the situation that was being laid out before him. Only ten minutes prior he was interrupted during his afternoon meeting with Thaddeus Clark, the Minister of the Interior, by Ray, who had rushed in turning on the television. The three men watched in horror as the riot ripped through downtown Villaggio, following the torching of the site for the future extension of the UV. Although immediately shell shocked, Rove was quickly awaken by General Laurels bashing into his office.

              “I told you, I told you!” He yelled pointing to the television. “Mr. President, I need your authorization to permit my men to use force to contain this crowd.”

              Stunned, and shaking slightly Rove simply looked at Thomas Laurels who was holding a walkie-talkie to his ear. Obviously impatient, Laurels yelled this time, “President Rove what are your orders?”

              Breathing hard now, and struggling with a throbbing headache, Rove shook his head and painfully commanded him to tell his men to use any force necessary to quell the rioters. Laurels nodded, screaming through the walkie-talkie to his men. Immediately the helicopters swooped in, and began dropping tear gas into the crowd and the horsemen arrived to sufficiently break up the crowd. Artimus Zhang barged into the President’s office, ripping Rove’s attention away from the television.              

              “What is all this ruckus with Villaggio?” he demanded.

              Xavier shook his head, and stared at him. He too was attempting to resolve that exact issue. Without answer he moved towards the lobby where Kay too was watching images of the rioters being dispersed. She looked up at him, “Mr. President, is everything alright?”

              Sighing and shaking his head, “Clearly not,” he turned back towards his office and the four men had come to the doorway all looking equally as confused and alarmed. Realizing he must move quickly, he turned to Kay, “Ms. Lyons will you please contact all the Ministers of my cabinet and inform them we are having an emergency meeting in ten minutes. They are instructed to drop whatever they are doing and meet me downstairs in the Situation Room at, geez, 6:43. Thank you.”

              He then turned to Ray, “Hampton, I need you to get a handle on this situation, and contact the national security advisor, Bush. You will have five minutes to present to myself, Artimus, the Cabinet,” he looked at General Laurels who too looked very confused, “And General Laurels the situation unfolding in Villaggio. Do you understand?”

              “Yes sir,” he simply responded turning back towards his desk.

              “For the rest of you, I need you all to disperse and come fully prepared in ten minutes to discuss the future course of this nation. We need to get a handle on this situation and attempt to head off any repercussions.”

              The three remaining men could feel the tension of the room, and equally dispersed. Ten minutes later the entire executive wing of the National Government had assembled, including the head of the National Guard. Such a gathering was truly a rare one, and one that produced a high level of anxiety. Hampton Ray, and Stewart Bush walked into the room.

              Starting up as they set their folders down, “We apologize for being late ladies and gentlemen,” Stewart Bush exclaimed hooking his computer up to the projector, “Hampton and I wished to provide for each of you a small presentation of what we are dealing with on the other side of the island.”

              Ray sat down across the table from Stewart, who went about diligently setting up the presentation. Pulling out a red laser pointer, the presentation flashed up on the four screens on each of the four walls. Starting slowly, “Good evening everyone, I will attempt to make this as brief, but as thorough as possible,” he shuffled some papers and continued, “At approximately 16 hundred hours a growing peaceful demonstration was gathering on the southern quad of the Villaggio College’s campus. It was at this point we were alerted to the actions, however as we all know, constitutionally citizens have a right to gather peacefully. The original reasons for this gathering was to demonstrate against Virtagwalla’s decision to apply for statehood, along with a slew of other things, most likely including the recent tough economic times we are facing,” the presentation flipped from maps of the Villaggio’s city center, to the campus of the college, to pictures of the signs and such from the rally. “At approximately 17:30 around one thousand students and none students had gathered for this demonstration. At this point it was still a peaceful demonstration, and the national guardsmen on the ground had no reason to believe that the group would get unruly. At 1800 hours the Mayor of Villaggio, Mr. Kel Goldberg took the stage. It seemed to be Mr. Goldberg’s passionate speech that excited the group.”

              “Why am I not surprised?” Zhang hissed slamming his fist against the table.

              “Artimus, now hold just a moment. Kel would never have wanted this to happen,” Rove said interjecting.

              “Right, and do not believe that his intention. However he did speak very provocatively, and from all the accounts of what I heard it could have been interpreted as threatening to the National Government, to Ponchertrain, and possibly to specifically some individuals in this room.  However Kel Goldberg has the freedom of speech and thus is constitutionally protected to say such things,” Stewart Bush clicked the presentation forward and now it began to show images of the riot growing, “Roughly fifteen minutes later the peaceful demonstration did in fact turn for the worst, and became violent. The mob broke from the campus and began moving through the city center to what we like to call the epicenter. This epicenter is in fact the land purchased by the University of Virtagwalla for the alleged Villaggian Campus.”

              “Now that is frankly unjustified tittle-tattle,” Sylvester Chamberlain piped up, arising from his drowsy stupor.

              Staring blankly at the Chancellor, “Mr. Chancellor they used the signs advertising the future campus as torches to burn the foundations of the buildings!” Hampton Ray jumped in, “So don’t attempt to fool us any longer. The University is greedily doing something over in Villaggio and your twisted lies can’t protect it now.”

              “Why how dare your ignorance and gerrymandering!” Sylvester growled shifting in his chair.

              “Gentlemen!” Rove barked leaning forward, “Hampton is right Chamberlain, the University can no longer lie about this venture, and especially now that these images are being flashed on every news channel across the world.  But we mustn’t allow this to distract us from the true crisis at hand. Mr. Bush, please continue,” Rove growled leaning back.

              “As I was saying,” Bush started again pushing up his glasses, “At this point the mob had grown significantly, picking up people as it moved through the city center. By the time the mob had made it to the UV site near the town square, the crowd was rallied by a one, Mr.” Bush had to look at his notes, “Ty Allewoman. This man excited the rioters, and urged them to bring down the ‘Gold hands’, implying not only the national government but also the people living on the eastern part of the island.”

              “Where was Goldberg for all of this?” Zhang scowled.

              “Its interesting that you mention that. Mr. Goldberg was nowhere to be found. He was able to escape prior to any of the actual rioting, however his whereabouts are still unknown. Since the event it seems the cell phone system across the island has become somewhat patchy due to the substantial increase in calls being placed.”

              “It seems our cell phone system has recently been strained due to over capacity, resulting in some connectivity problems,” the Minister of the Interior reported, “When a large number of calls are being place it jams the system and buckles the entire network.”

              “Great,” Rove sighed turning back to Bush. “Let’s finish this up.”

              “In conclusion the National Guard, due to statutory restrictions could not activate its crowd control maneuvers without authorization from the President. Thus is why General Laurels needed your permission. The National Guardsmen were able to subdue the crowd, and have now placed the city under a curfew. They have also escorted the City Council to City hall. All the city government seems to be missing is its Mayor. Whose whereabouts are, as previously mentioned, still unknown.”

              Hampton jumped in as the slides went blank and Bush was wrapping up, “Ladies and Gentlemen this is the first demonstration turned riot this nation has seen in nearly a century. Our National Guard acted brilliantly and diligently. We have arrested nearly three-dozen unruly rioters and conspirators. Unfortunately one citizen did lose their life due to trampling,” the feeling of the room sobered momentary as silence fell on everyone’s ears. “However that isn’t the last of our worries. There is reason to believe this may not be an isolated incident, in that we could begin to see more and more of these types of civil disobedience as the economy continues to decline and people lose faith in the system. Even now a small mass is gathering on the eastern lawn of Capital Tower. It is peaceful as of yet, however as we have seen in this case there is no telling what a group of people can do.”

              “I agree with Mr. Ray, we must do something to calm the nerves of the nation,” A woman speaking in a sharp Russian accented commented.

              “Thank you Ms. Stokes, I agree,” Rove said turning back to Ray and Bush, “We must reach out to the people of this nation and assure them everything will be fine, everything will be all right. We must reaffirm their faith in this government and in ourselves.”

              “I could not have said it better myself, my boy,” Zhang commented.

              “I need to speak to the people of Virtagwalla,” he turned to Ray, “Can you make this happen?”

              “Certainly. Tonight, it will happen. Let me get Elisabeth Mooring and Charlie to begin putting together some remarks for this evening. I will also brief Lis so that she can talk to the press as soon as possible. I will get right on it,” he withdrew his phone and left the room quickly.

              Zhang spoke up, “Mr. President, I think this also presents us with another issue. That of the National Guard’s role in these types of matters.”

              Laurels perked up, and Rove turned to face Zhang, “Yes, what do you mean?”

Zhang leaned back in his chair, “I just feel if the bureaucracy of the process was refined and they could, oh I don’t know, operate with a certain level autonomy, than we wouldn’t have to wait for the President’s orders to initiate things like ‘crowd control maneuvers’. That’s all.”

              General Laurels nodded his head, “Mr. Prime Minster I couldn’t agree more.”

              Rove looked around the room at the rest of the ministers who all seemed to agree with Artimus, leaning against the table, “How would we go about changing that policy?”

              Zhang wrangled his hands, “Oh it would be a simple change to the statutes, really not a big deal. However I would have to call the Parliament back into session if you wanted this thing done soon.”

              “How soon could this be accomplished?” Rove asked folding his arms.

              “Well if you are talking about expediency, there is another option,” Zhang said standing, “The constitution allows us the option to make decisions and statute changes in times of emergency simply by having the Ministers of the Cabinet vote. And look who we have around us here,” Zhang smiled, “However we must have an official witness, like, I don’t know, maybe the National Security Advisor,” Zhang said laying his hand on Stewart Bush’s shoulder, “and of course, authorization from the President of the National Government.”

              Rove eyed Zhang who had a bizarre smile on his face. He felt a chill going down his spine, and recognized how shifty the situation looked unfolding before him. “I don’t know Artimus, this just doesn’t seem right,” Rove shrugged.

              “Xavier we are in a time of crisis. This island is hanging together by a thread, and you are worried about some silly obscure clause in the constitution. We must make this decision quickly. Who is to know, the mob outside right now could be planning the bombing of this building. And what if we all were to perish?” he held out his fist, “Then who would make the call. We need to undo this frivolous level of bureaucracy before something really tragic happens.”

              Taking a deep breath, Rove lowered his head, “Fine. I duly authorize this action.”

              The vote was taken. Rove left the room feeling as though it was all falling apart, and not one of them knew what to do to save it all.

9

             
“I understand sir. Thank you,” Lis ended the call and handed the phone to her assistant. Grabbing her necklace and stroking it, she spoke softly to her assistant as they seemed to be sprinting to the Press Room, “Ok we need to make this quick. Hampton said he doesn’t want me to answer many questions about the situation, and that the President will be speaking tonight.

              “Can I get you anything?” the brunette assistant asked handing Lis her folder with notes.

              Lis grabbed the notebook, flipped it open, “Yeah, how about a really large margarita?”

              The two women smiled, and Lis nodded, turning the handle of the door and walking into the Press Room.

              “Calm down!” Elisabeth Mooring had to shout to calm the Press Corp down. They each called out her name, with their Dictaphones at the ready. Opening her folder, she began quickly; “At approximately 6:22 this evening a peace rally was taking place on the southern quad of Villaggio College, just outside of the downtown square of the city. The group of students and ordinary citizens had begun to gather earlier in the afternoon protesting a variety of things including the loss of jobs, increase in unemployment, the government’s slow response to both of those problems, and the statehood movement. Up until this point the gathering was peaceful, however twenty-two minutes prior the Mayor of Villaggio, Kel Goldberg took the stage and gave a very impassioned speech. Mr. Goldberg must have hit the right chord with the crowd, because it quickly became violent. The rally turned into a mob that proceeded to loot stores, topple statues and light poles, and set fire to a plot of land in Villaggio’s city center. Within ten minutes from the point of the riots inception, the President activated the National Guard, and they went into crowd control maneuvers. Thirteen helicopters, a couple dozen guardsmen on horseback and two-dozen hummers with Guardsmen rolled into the riot to stop them from wreaking more havoc on the city. The President plans to speak to the public this evening on these matters.”

              “Lis, when was the last time something like this happened on the island?”

              “Chuck, I can’t speak to that. I feel as though it hasn’t been for a long while. But I am not a historian so I can’t give you specific time.”

              “Where is Goldberg, and is he being charged with inciting a riot?”

              “The whereabouts of Mayor Goldberg were unknown as of two minutes ago when I was briefed. The National Guard is currently searching for him, not to arrest him, but to ensure he is safe. As far as I know, Mayor Goldberg did not intentionally excite the riot but instead68797 it was a different party. However you can’t quote me on that, because I wasn’t there nor have I heard what he said. Therefore I can’t agree or disagree that he will be charged with a crime against the nation. But if I had to make a guess I would say he will not be.”

              “Lis, there has been a growing number of people inhabiting the eastern lawn of the Capital Tower, is the President or the National Guard concerned we could see something riotous happen on this side of the island?”

              “Tricia, as you know the residents of this island have the right to peacefully gather, especially on public land such as the eastern lawn of this building. I have not heard anything from the President or General Laurels in terms of concern for future riotous actions from them. However I am sure those conversations have been had and planning for all instances are being considered,” checking the clock, “Ok folks. That’s all for now. Watch the President this evening to get more information!”