WAR (28 page)

              “Scott, you know what I mean. Don’t play innocent with me.”

              “Mom, do you really think things are going to get worse? Will it change our lives? Will everything I learned be changed if the USA takes over?”

              “Scott, no one said anything about the USA taking over. Look at the positive side, they turned our electrical power back on, we have lights and heat, television and our cellular phones work again. Dad and I are working again, our cars are charged, you’ll see soon everything is going to be fine.”

              “So when’s the internet going to work?”

              “As soon as Presidents Bloomberg and Rand sit down and reach an agreement together.”

              “Mom, I’m hoping they do it soon. I can’t wait for everything to get back to normal. I also hope they restart the program. I really enjoyed being on television.”

              “Remember what we spoke about.”

              “Mom, my friends say if the show comes back both families are going to meet. Do you think that’s true? We’re going to meet our other halves?”

              “Scott why are you calling them our other half?”

              “Because they are. There are eight of us, we’re four, they’re the other four, see half and half. I want to meet Leon and learn some of the tricks he uses to meet girls.”

              Jason says, “Scott, we’ve talked about this. We’ve talked about the failure of fame. We’ve talked about how fame is like a bad drug. It’s something your Mom and I won’t tolerate.”

              “Dad I understand. I promise I won’t let fame go to my head.” Scott thinks,
Much
.
I so want to chat with Leon.

@@@@@

              General Chekov thinks to himself,
They sent me here to take and hold this city so we can hack into the casino accounts. We’d be able to pay the Motherland back for the pain and suffering the Americans did to us. We lost the airport and our air-bridge. Our reinforcements coming from LA were intercepted and destroyed. I’ve lost over a thousand people and more equipment than I can count. For what? Now the Marshal wants me to surrender so the Americans send us home? NO. I came to do a job. I’ve never failed the Motherland. I’m going to hold these casinos until our hackers break through their firewalls. The damn Americans and their God of technology. I hate them. Maybe I should kill all of the hostages; if I do then they will have nothing to stop them from breaking in and killing all of us. I’m going upstairs and kick some ass.

General Chekov yells, “Captain, get your ass in here. I want to pay our computer geniuses a visit. Maybe my right foot inserted into their asses will motivate them. If they don’t have a damn good timeline, I’m going to hand these idiots over to the Americans.” General Chekov gets angrier with each step he takes going up four flights. Everyone who sees him, tries to get out of his way, they either flatten themselves against the stairwell wall or try to go down the steps. Chekov grabs a few asking them what they’re doing in the stairwell and where they’re going. Almost none gives him the answer he wants. Chekov turns to the captain with him, “Collect every one of these assholes, arm them and place them on guard duty outside the casino. I’m sick of them hiding here. We’ve lost over a thousand in the past three days, I’m sick of these white assed cowards. I want to see them outside within ten minutes.”

              “Yes sir. My radio doesn’t work in here, I have to step out to call security.”

              “I’ll wait.”

             
While the captain walks towards the exit, the floor shakes, a loud BOOM rings and echoes off of the stairwell walls. The shock and vibration knock everyone off of their feet. They hear glass breaking and thousands of people screaming.

              The Captain says, “What the hell was that?”

              “Bomb. Someone either hit the building with a bomb or they blew one up under us.”

“Where the hell is our security? Where’s the quick reaction team?”

              “Sir, I didn’t hear any airplanes overhead.”

              “I didn’t either. Either they used a B2 or other very high flying plane or someone got under us and set off a bomb under the casino.”

              Before they can continue, they hear rapid gunfire coming from all directions. “General?”

              “Can’t tell where it’s coming from, sound echoes in here. We’ve got to get out of the stairwell before they find us.”

              The building shakes and groans in protests to the explosions hurting it and tearing pieces off of the multi-billion dollar building. They can hear the wind howl through holes in the walls. Chekov thinks
Damn it, I need information. I need to know what we’re facing. Who or what is attacking us? Are they coming in from under us? If there was a tunnel under the casino, it’s what I’d do.
The building shakes and vibrates with another explosion. Chekov starts running up the remaining stairs to reach the casino’s main security office where the computer control room is located. He opens the door from the stairwell to be greeted by dense smoke, the smoke and fire alarms are screaming. Chekov chokes, his eyes tear from the smoke and fumes. “Comrades are you here? Is anyone here?” He looks for the captain that was following him, he can’t see him or any other of his troops. Chekov returns to the stairwell, he sees two bodies of his men. Coughing from the dense smoke, he walks towards the end of the hall by holding his hand on the wall so he knows where he’s going. When he reaches the security room, he trips over the door that’s been blown off its hinges. 
Shit, somehow they got in here and killed or captured my people. Damn the Americans, I really hate them.

@@@@@

“Ron, we’ve blown the door at the security center.”

“Commander, great news, did you capture or kill the Russians who were in there?”

“Ron, we got three of them alive, we had to kill the other two. We’re taking the rear stairwell down. Follow us ASAP, we set charges to destroy the computers and all of the security equipment.”

“Commander, did you grab the security tapes? We need those.”

“Relax buddy, your friend Brad made a beeline for them as soon as we got into the room. He took all of the CDs. He also found a book full of CDs. He jammed them all into a backpack, last I saw, he was on his way to the tunnel.”

“Great, meet you there.”

“We’re on our way.”

Before Commander Lewis can say anything, the building shook again.
I told these assholes to be careful with how much plastic they used. The fools are going to bring the building down before we get the hostages out. I’ll never get a green card from the USA if they kill the hostages. If the Russians don’t kill them, I will.
“Commander, we’ve got to go right now.”

“Brad, I’m at the stairwell, someone is approaching the security room from the north stairwell.”

“Commander, get out of there. It could be the Russians.”

Chapter 19

President Bloomberg lay in the burn ward of Cedars-Sinai hospital. His body is 70% covered in third-degree burns. He’s being kept in a drug-induced coma to allow his body to stabilize. The LSA cabinet gathers in the hospital’s executive conference room to discuss what to do. Michael Schulmer, LSA Minister of the Treasury, opens the meeting to discuss events at the same time thinking,
This is my chance to become President for life. All I have to do is gently guide the other cabinet members to select me.
Kory Booker stands to interrupt Michael.  “Michael, I’m sorry to interrupt, we don’t have the time for a long drawn out discussion. We’re on the verge of World War 3 Our economy, thanks to you and President Bloomberg, is bankrupt, our people have been traumatized by the loss of our electrical grid, we’ve lost tens of thousands due to death by exposure, various crimes, and even starvation. There’s a major battle going on in Las Vegas and Washington DC, our ally the Russian Federation has been attacked and lost their President. We have to agree to a new President and bring our people together as a solid united country.”

The Director of DepLIES stands saying, “Kory, we agree with you. In fact, I would like to place your name in consideration to become the next President. You would be our first minority President since our founder President Obsma founded the LSA.”

Michael, watching his dream slip away says, “Director, I think we need the most experienced person we have to lead our country.”

The others agree back and forth when there’s a knock on the door and Elizabeth Warren enters the room saying, “I’m the first Vice President, even though our constitution is different, I believe I have the right to become the next President of the LSA.”

Michael asks, “Elizabeth under what right do you have to make your claim? We all know you disagreed with President Bloomberg on our financial plan to bail the LSA out.”

Elizabeth smiles saying, “You mean your little plan to counterfeit billions of USA dollars? What did the two of you think was going to happen when President Rand figured out the money you were flooding the market with was phony? He would have destroyed us! You and Bloomberg were placing the LSA on the edge of national suicide, you would have given the USA cause to crush and destroy us. Our progressive dream and all of the progress we’ve made would have ended with your little stunt. Why did you two even think you could have gotten away with it?”

“It wasn’t my plan. President Bloomberg called me in to explain the plan. He asked me to have the mint print the money so we could pay the banks back with it.”

“Michael did you agree to use our mint to print counterfeit USA currency? Did you supply samples of the currency to the Bank of the LSA? Did you deposit $500 million in the LSA bank accounts to cover welfare payments?”

“Yes I did. I followed President Bloomberg’s suggestion. I agreed with him that we didn’t have any other choices. Our economy is in a technical state of bankruptcy. We need additional sources of income if the LSA is going to live.”

“Mr. Minister, isn’t true you never discussed limiting our spending with President Bloomberg?”

“Ms. First Vice President, what does that have to do with the current discussions?”

“As Minister of the Treasury, it was your job to propose working budgets to the President? Wasn’t it your job to ensure the LSA was fiscally solvent? How can this cabinet vote for you when you failed in your current assignment? How would our minorities feel if we elect another white, middle-aged man? We need to elect a minority or a woman as President of the LSA.”

Heads around the table nod in agreement. Michael, sensing the room and his future is moving against him says, “I have the most experience in government of anyone here. I was the Senior Senator from New York, I was our first Minister of the Treasury, I led the LSA into the world as a member in good standing.”

Kory responds, “You led us to the edge of the abyss. You led us to massive inflation, food prices have risen an average of 4% per month over the previous eighteen months. You and President Bloomberg increased government spending while reducing farm land, you all but outlawed all family farms…”

“We outlawed family farms to protect the families. Do you know that they had children as young as seven doing manual labor on those farms? Children as young as seven! Plus how could we ensure they were following all of the safety precautions for the manufacture of food that we set in place to protect our people. We had to protect our people from the families that took advantage of them. Does anyone know how many people were injured because they purchased food at small farm markets? None of which had any health inspectors stationed at their locations? We simply can’t allow our people to consume food that hasn’t been tested to meet our safety standards.”

John, one of the aides to the Director of the DepLIES mumbles, “Why do these people have to grow food in the dirt when everyone knows you can just go to the local food store and buy what you want to eat. I don’t understand why people would use dirt and also kill animals to eat. Christ how old fashioned are these people? They are sick, they need medical help.” Leaning over to his Director of the DepLIES, he whispers, “Sir, I think we should move against all of these farms. They are selling food to our people that comes from the dirt.”

“Shut up idiot.”

The aide decides he’s going to issue the rules to stop using dirt for food production as soon as he’s back in his office. The cabinet decides it’s time to vote for a new President. Elizabeth says, “Before we vote, who’s going to tell President Bloomberg that he’s out?”

Michael says, “He’s in a coma, no one knows how long he will be in a coma or even if he’ll make it. We’ll cross that bridge once he wakes. Now I suggest we vote.”

The vote breaks eight for Kory and three for Elizabeth. Kory Booker is appointed the next and first full African American President of the LSA. Kory stands to address the cabinet, “First of all I’d appreciate it if everyone stayed in their current position until I get settled in a new Gray House. With the current one destroyed, we have to find a new Gray House. One of my first tasks is to ensure the minorities of the LSA are protected, I want to ensure that everyone in the LSA is equal.”