WAR (7 page)

“Colonel, won’t our chutes show up on their radar?”

“Our chutes are made of a new stealth material; the LSA doesn’t have military grade radar they shouldn’t even see us coming down. If they do, we’ll look like a flock of birds. That’s IF they found a way to get electrical power running. Our experts feel that they won’t have any radar units working.”

Inside the cabin, the pressure drops to equalize it with the outside, the yellow light over the doorway flashes, Grover yells, “One minute.”

“Let’s go!”

They step out of the C18A into darkness. Looking down, all they see is darkness instead of the usual sea of lights LA is known for; tonight they are jumping into a sea of darkness.

The team floats down under black parachutes. They safely land in an empty field. They quickly unbuckle their parachutes, which they roll together and bury in a quickly dug hole. The team makes sure there’s no one around watching them. Grover whispers, “Without power, almost everyone will most likely be inside. Tonight we’ll cold camp in the woods, tomorrow we need to acquire four cars. We all have LSA IDs and LSA money. Our IDs say we work for either the DepLIES or the DepRevenue. I don’t want to steal the cars. Their cars all have tracking chips in them, even without power, a local DepLIES vehicle could interrogate our car to find out it was stolen. We’re going to buy four used cars in the AM. Let’s set up camp and post guards. Try to stay hidden, don’t attract any attentions from the locals.”

The team sets up camp in the woods; they don’t see anyone moving around outside the rest of the evening. In the morning, the team splits up looking for used car lots or cars for sale. Two teams luck out and find a local used car dealership that is overjoyed to start their day by selling a car. The paperwork cleared instantly. This was their first sale since the power went off. The third team found a car for sale sign on a car parked in a parking lot, they followed the directions to the seller’s home which was a block away, the car’s owner and Grover’s Sergeant walked back to the car. The owner explaining the car’s history, he tells the sergeant the only reason, he's selling it, is he’s been laid off due to the lack of electrical power and his government benefits are stuck due to the lack of power. The banks can’t open without power. The owner says, “Man, the USA really screwed us this time. We’re starving; we’re cold and tired. I wish they would just tell us what they want and turn it back on. The Sergeant replies, “I agree. I need to buy a car because the one I ordered can’t be built with the power off and I need to report to my new job with the state government in Portland.”

“How are you going to pay for it? A check or credit card is useless since the banks are closed.”

“How about cash?”

The seller’s eyes grow huge; he replies, “Cash? You have that much in cash?”

“Yes, I sold off all of my furniture when I got the new job. Since my wife passed away, I planned on renting a small furnished apartment. So I have the cash, and really need a good car to get me to Portland.”

“Mine is only a few months old. Never had any problems, full charge on the battery. How do you plan on getting it charged on your way to Portland?”

“I figure I’ll stop at hospitals that still have power to charge it up.”

“Can you do this? We’ve been told not to recharge at hospitals or we’ll be arrested.”

“I work for the DepLIES.”

Once the Sergeant said where he worked, the seller replies, “I think I can give you a very good price on the car.”

The deal concluded quickly; the owner was overjoyed to have the cash and to be able to provide a good deal to a member of the DepLIES. The team has three cars; they are scouting the local area for the fourth when two hours later the fourth team finds a small lot with four cars for sale. The team quickly purchases the fourth car. The team splits itself into the four cars heading to LA. The streets are empty. Grover thinks to himself,
I never thought I’d see the day the LA freeways are empty. The 405 used to be jammed 24 hours a day, today we’ve only seen thirty-six other cars. It’s like being in the twilight zone. Without power everyone is staying inside their home. Most can’t charge their cars; no businesses are open except for some of the government offices and of course medical facilities.

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At 6:00 PM President Brownstone’s armored limo pulls up to the front guard house at the west wing of the White House. The Marine guard walks to the driver’s door who already has his window down and his secret service ID out for the guard to check. Looking in the back of the limo, the guard sees President Brownstone, he snaps to attention saying, “Sir!”

President Brownstone replies, “Corporal, here’s my ID card.”

“Sir, yes sir. You’re expected. Please pull up to the door on the west side. You’ll be met by an honor guard. Sir, if I may, it’s good to have you back in the House again.”

“Corporal, you’re too young to have been in the Marines when I was President.”

“Sir, you inspired me to join. Your actions in protecting our people. Sir, the way you handled the terrorists and then the way you refused to run for re-election made me so proud that I wanted to serve and protect the country as a Marine like you did.”

“Corporal, thank you for your service. The people of the country are fortunate to have people like you protecting them.”

“Thank you, sir.”

Clicking his radio, the Corporal says, “He’s at the west wing.”

When President Brownstone’s limo pulls up to the west wing door, a Marine honor guard stands at attention saluting the President as he exits the car. President Brownstone steadies himself with his cane. He stands at attention and returns the salute of the honor guard. A Marine Captain approaches the President saying, “Sir, it’s an honor to have you in the House again. We, the Marine honor guard, would like to present you with a small token of our appreciation.”   The Captain reaches behind his back handing over a walking cane painted in the colors of the US Marines. The wooden cane has “Semper Fi” engraved in it. “Sir, on behalf of the US Marine Corps we would like to present you with this cane. Remember, once a Marine, always a Marine. We are proud to be your brothers.”

President Brownstone holds back a tear; he smiles, exchanging canes with the Captain. “Captain, it’ll be my honor to accept and use this cane. I thank the Marines for their duty.”  He salutes the Marines, who return his salute with smiles on their faces. The Honor guard again snaps to attention. President Brownstone enters the White House where two secret service agents are waiting for him. He looks at one of them and smiles saying, “John, are you still on duty? I’d thought you retired.”

“Sir, this is my last year. I was promoted to head of the Presidential detail four years ago.”

“Well, the president couldn’t be in better hands. How’s Molly and Susan?”

The agent is surprised that the President remembered his wife and daughter’s name. “Sir, both are fine, Susan is getting married early next year. We’d be honored if you attended.”

“John, I wouldn’t want my presence to take away from her special day.”

“Sir, Presidents Cruise, and Rand both have agreed to attend.”

“John, in that case count me in. Please warn Susan it’s going to be a media circus and the security with the three of us there very intense for all of her guests.”

“Sir, she’s going to be overjoyed. She hasn’t seen you since the night you ended up babysitting her.”

“Well, it’s not often a sitting president babysits an agent’s daughter.”

“Sir, it’s never happened before. I thought I was going to get fired for bringing her to the House with me.”

“John, to tell you a secret, I made sure you weren’t. You didn’t plan to bring her if I remember correctly; Molly was in the hospital. Every babysitter you tried was booked, so you had no choice but to bring her. You didn’t know I was going to come downstairs. I saw her playing in your office, so I asked her who she was and what she was doing. When she told me, I told her we had some paper and markers she could play with. She followed me to my study where I spent an hour playing with her. I remember the look on your face when you entered my office looking for her. I thought you were going to faint.”

“Sir, I’ve faced being shot, I’ve faced terrorists, I’ve faced people trying to break into the House, I’ve faced a lot of strange situations, yet when I saw you, the sitting president, sitting at your conference table playing with my daughter, I was speechless. To top it off, when the First Lady brought her cookies and milk I almost did faint. I couldn’t believe the first family was babysitting my daughter. I still have trouble believing it.”

“I remember we had the house photographer take pictures of us together so she would remember it. Does she still have the pictures?”

“Sir, she has them framed in her living room. Everyone who sees them is surprised.”

“I’m glad. When you retire, you and Molly should spend a weekend at my house.”

“Sir, Molly and I would be pleased to. President Rand is waiting for you. Shall we go?”

“Lead on.”

The two men reach the Oval Office, President Rand’s secretary says, “Mr. President, please go in, he’s waiting for you.”

President Brownstone enters the Oval Office where he sees President Rand and Vice President Lee. “Hello, Mr. President and Vice President.”

“Rod, we can do away with titles.” Says a smiling President Rand. “Rod, thank you for coming. Before dinner, we’d like to pick your brain about the situation between us and the LSA. The only thing,we had time to cover this morning, was sending the Colonel out west to decapitate the LSA.”

“Do you mean the civil war I spent my presidency trying to avoid?”

“Yes, that situation.”

“What can I do for you?”

“We know President Grameniko has agreed to support the LSA and is sending troops and equipment. We think our blockade will capture them before they reach our shores.”

Smiling, President Brownstone replies, “No you won’t. I bet the Russians have already landed them in the LSA and may have already crossed into our territory.”

The Oval Office falls silent. Vice President Lee asks, “Sir, how can you say that?”

Rod continues, “Because Grameniko wouldn’t have agreed to send troops unless he had a plan how to get around our blockade. His military wouldn’t have agreed to send troops unless they had a way to get into the LSA and the USA. The last thing Grameniko wants, is to have his people caught by our Navy. If we caught him sending troops, he knows we’d attack Mother Russia. Since we blacked out Russia and the LSA, he had to agree to assist Bloomberg. My guess is somewhere along the border or just across it is a group of Russians waiting for the order to attack.”

The Oval Office is quiet again, President Rand asks, “Where do you think they will attack?”

“If I were Bloomberg and Grameniko I’d pick a city that would cause us the most harm and also give them a boost back home. The target city would be close to the border to minimize their travel time in the USA, giving us less time to see them. As such, my guess is Las Vegas.”

Vice President Lee replies, “Las Vegas? Why in heaven’s name Las Vegas?”

“One, because there is tons of money there, think of it as a giant bank robbery they can solve a number of their financial ills by bringing home a billion or more each. Second, it’s a city they know we won’t bomb because the casino owners are powerful people who would be very upset with us for damaging their assets. Thirdly, there are a lot of their citizens who vacation in Vegas, Bloomberg can claim he’s helping bring them home because we kidnapped them. He’ll hold the city hostage until we turn their power back on. When the power returns and they’re done stealing the money from the city, both will be heroes to their people. Grameniko will want us to share some of our technology with them. If we surrender or give in to them, they win. Attacking Las Vegas becomes a double win for them.”

President Rand and Vice President Lee are quiet for a long time; President Brownstone sips his coffee. After a couple of silent minutes, President Rand says, “What can we do to stop them?”

“First, let’s assume the Russians are already in the LSA. I bet if we review surveillance from the past few days we’re going to find a couple of overloaded ships full of fit soldiers. Second, what military force do we have near Las Vegas? I’ve lost track of what’s going on at Base 51 and the other bases. Does the Air Force still fly Red Flag training outside Vegas? Since Fort Irwin was closed in California and moved to Nevada, is it still active? When I was President, there were two battalions of armor at the national training center. Is the base still open? We used to have Russian military equipment there and if they’re still there we can use it against the Russians. They may be confused by fighting against their own equipment. I think we ought to issue a full alert to Pendleton, I’d get them moving towards Vegas tonight.  What’s at Nellis? The Russians have never seen our new anti-tank rail guns, nor have they fought against our new infantry weapons. I suggest calling in the Joint Chiefs, let’s discuss a battle plan with them.”

Picking up the phone on his desk, President Rand says, “Please ask the Joint Chiefs to join us in the Situation Room, tell them to bring their best strategic planners.”

At the Pentagon, the Chairman of the Joint Staffs tells his aide, “I think we should take two birds to the White House, alert the secret service that we’ll be landing on the south lawn.”