The Wrath of God

by Jim Balzotti

  Amy rustled up the priest, a large man with an ample belly and sporting an unruly shock of grey hair, an infectious laugh. Rather than being dismayed at the lack of planning, he was delighted that this young couple standing before him, so obviously in love, wished to swear their vows before God in his humble church. Truly God’s love had inspired them. If the town had not been so small (population 436—and that was in the summer), such a spontaneous wedding might not have been possible. Even the necessary paperwork was handled by the priest, so Amy and Lawrence were able to bypass a closed Town Hall.

  “Well it is unusual, I know, but Bob, the town clerk, is often away fishing. We both thought it best if I handled all the matters tied to the church. And as luck has it, Bob went fishing two days ago and has yet to return!” The priest joked in a low voice, “Sometimes he likes to bring a bottle of fine Irish whiskey with him. To get away from his wife, you know,” giving a knowing wink.

  While Amy was filling out the necessary forms, Lawrence walked to the local market and bought a bouquet of fresh flowers and managed to cajole a young man sitting outside the store strumming his guitar to walk back to the church with him and play at their wedding service. In just under an hour, Amy, Lawrence, the priest, and one happy young man whom Lawrence had thrown a $100 bill for thirty minutes work playing a guitar, assembled in front of the altar with the golden sunlight shining in. Before God and man they pledged their love for one another.

  After two blissful days at the local inn, where they barely got out of bed, Lawrence drove his new wife back to the airport. He would put in his papers and receive an honorable discharge from the SAS. His commander said it was sad to lose such a good soldier, but joked it was better to lose Lawrence to a wife than to the Taliban. Besides, the enemy didn’t know he was retiring, so you never know, they would probably still be looking over their shoulders for the White Ghost and the death he brought.

  Amy would fly back and inform Milo the dog that he was getting a new dad. Lawrence would tidy up a few things—not much, really, as he had little in the way of material possessions—say good-bye to family and friends, and join his wife in New York City.

  After just a few short months in New York, Lawrence was climbing the walls. Life in the city just didn’t agree with him. It was too noisy. He’d take Milo on long walks—too long, Milo thought—and joined a gym to stay in peak shape, but he missed the solitude that only nature brought. On Amy’s suggestion, they explored the Adirondack Mountains to the north, and she pushed him to start a business teaching wilderness survival skills. It would get him out of the city and get him back doing something he loved. They bought two hundred acres in a remote area of beautiful countryside. Lawrence hand-built five small log cabins by a stream, and the New Zealand Wilderness School was born.

  It was an immediate hit. He taught both men and women, weekend warriors from Wall Street, how to start a fire with damp wood, make a shelter, use a bent pin to catch fish, and what berries they could and couldn’t eat while hiking in the woods. “Remember, if a bird eats it, you can too,” he advised. He set up a pistol and rifle range and taught gun safety and the proper way to shoot. The clients loved going on long hikes with Lawrence pointing out the local flora and fauna. He reveled in the looks of wonder when these urban dwellers would come across a deer or porcupine. There were no land lines for phones, certainly no cell towers, no fax machines or laptops, and after an initial panic, his clients found that once free from their electric collars, they loved every minute of it. Especially knowing that at the end of the weekend they would be going home to all the creature comforts each had left behind.

  His clients would head home on late Sunday morning after a breakfast of fresh coffee, juice, ham, bacon, eggs, home fries, and toast cooked over an open campfire. Lawrence usually waited until Tuesday to head home in order to stay an extra day and get in some trout fishing. But all that was gone now. Ever since the austerity measures were put in place by the government, the weekend warriors stayed at home and business completely dried up. As conditions in the city became progressively worse, he even considered moving to New Zealand, but Amy didn’t want to leave her father. Her mother had passed some years ago. Her dad had been recently diagnosed with dementia and was living in an assisted living facility in Miami. So together they decided that Amy would fly down to Miami and pick up her father, and they would all move to the wilderness camp in the Adirondacks until the madness subsided.

  A week before the Chinese detonated the ten NEMPs across America, Lawrence dropped Amy off at LaGuardia airport on a flight bound for Miami, where she would collect her father and then return. Lawrence drove up to the wilderness camps to bring in some provisions for the long winter and add to the pile of firewood already cut.

  It was on such a beautiful fall day, when the leaves in the Adirondacks began to turn crimson and gold, and thoughts turned to carving pumpkins and sipping mugs of hot apple cider, that the Chinese invaded America.

  Lawrence drove his usual way home, taking Route 56, which ran from his wilderness camp in Childwold along the fast flowing Raquette River. He connected with Route 30, which spilled into the tiny hamlet of Blue Mountain Lake. He fiddled with the radio as he drove, finding a sports station. He drove down the road a piece enjoying the scenery He looked at his cell phone resting in the holder on the dashboard. He switched on the power to call Amy to let her know he was on his way home and access any other messages he might have. When he reached her, she was at the airport terminal ready to board the plane. She laughed at what a handful her father had become and said that she might just have to tie him to a tree once she got him up there. They said their usual good-byes and hung up.

  About an hour into his drive, Lawrence pulled into John’s Bait Store, which also had a small breakfast counter and reasonably fresh coffee—if you considered six-hour-old, burnt coffee fresh—to grab some bacon and eggs without Amy around to nag him about eating healthy. He shut off the engine, opened his truck door, and walked around the dirt parking lot. He walked in the store, clanging the overhead bell announcing his arrival. He found John, his wife Mary, and a few customers huddled around the small ham radio that sat next to the powdered sugar doughnuts on the counter. “What is going on?” he asked the group.

  “Chinese attacked us today. Set off some electronic bombs across America. Can you believe that?”

  Lawrence immediately called Amy’s cell phone to warn her not to get on that plane. The “on” button lit up red indicating he had power, but he couldn’t get a signal. Strange, he thought, as a sense of uneasiness crept in his mind. Lawrence tried to control the rising panic in his chest, remembering his training. He listened to the reports coming in of massive damage across the country, but most disturbing were the accounts of planes falling out of the sky.

  Lawrence stared at the radio but didn’t hear any sounds as his only thoughts were with his wife. He looked at his watch and knew. He’d finally found himself a life worth living, and the Chinese had stolen it from him.

  Lawrence was going back to war.

  Fall 2025

  Washington DC

  It was the most perfect sneak attack launched on a nation, and the most treacherous.

  One year earlier, in October of 2024, China stunned the world when it requested the return of the 19 trillion dollars it had lent to the United States. Quite simply, the Chinese wanted their money back. It was a loan, was it not? Loans are written with a clause giving the lender a legal right to call in the note. It’s always in the fine print. China’s loan to the United States was no different; however, recalling such a large loan rarely, if ever, was done. At least, not until now.

  President Mann attempted to negotiate with the Chinese Chairman Chang, but his efforts were met with steely denials. The United States did not have the 19 trillion—no nation did. In order to save the value and integrity of the US dollar, the government instituted unprecedented austerity measures. It immediately suspended payments to all social programs. Recipients of Soc
ial Security benefits were given chits, which in reality were of little or no value. Government disability programs suffered the same fate. Payments to Medicare and Medicaid were curtailed, which forced hospitals to suspend medical treatment to some of the nation’s most needy citizens. Doctor’s offices were shuttered. Insulin-dependent diabetics found that there was no Humalog to be found. Ambulances remained parked in hospital lots. Food banks shut down, and runs on groceries and supplies at every local store were the norm. Unable to get resupplied from their vendors, gas stations closed. Banks were flooded with customers demanding their money, unaware that banks routinely kept only small amounts of cash on hand. Angry depositors, who did not understand why their withdrawal slips could not be honored, rioted. At a small bank in Hattiesburg, Indiana, the bank manager was dragged into the street and severely beaten. Confusion led to panic, and panic led to violence in the streets. Martial law was declared, but without a funded National Guard or army, it could not be enforced. Overnight, America fell into the abyss of anarchy.

  A new law emerged from the chaos: firearms, and those willing to use them, ruled.

  In an attempt to remediate the situation, the US government raised interest rates on Treasury Bills by an unprecedented 4 percent. However, there were few takers. Foreign countries that normally hedged their own currency with T-Bills could not afford to buy more should the US economy collapse. If the post office had still been in operation, people would have been receiving notices that their credit cards, adjustable rate mortgages, and loans were either being called in, or their monthly payment amount had doubled or tripled. Congress ordered the Treasury to print more money, which only served to further devaluate an already crippled dollar.

  On their end, the Chinese made good on their threats and seized American property at every opportunity. All American assets in China were frozen, regardless of whether they were privately owned. The Chinese negotiated for the United States to turn over five of their ten large navy aircraft carriers; thirty-two of their destroyer battleships; twenty-four of their fifty-three fast attack subs; an assortment of frigates, cruisers, patrol and support ships; two of the four guided missile subs; and finally, ten of their ballistic missile subs. As a stopgap measure, the United States complied, hoping to appease the Chinese.

  In addition to these concessions, the Chinese demanded, not requested, that all Aquacade satellites, or SIGINT, that were used by the CIA to monitor intercepted Chinese communications be immediately deactivated. These were configured as midsized satellites that utilized an umbrella-like reflecting dish twenty meters in diameter, intercepted microwave relays, and had the ability to pick up a household conversation in rural China. They stated that this was a violation of Chinese airspace. Again, the United States complied.

  In return, the Chinese agreed to (1) sign a non-aggression pact; (2) join NATO; and (3) give the United States more time and better terms to renegotiate the balance of the 19 trillion dollar loan. The Americans had no choice but to acquiesce to the draconian terms. In the short months since the enactment of the austerity program, the country was imploding while the world watched.

  America signed the agreement, and tried to piece herself back together.

  But China wasn’t finished.

  October 2025

  China

  China transformed science fiction into reality.

  A little-known historical fact enabled the successful Japanese sneak attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. While the element of surprise certainly played a critical part in the nefarious Japanese plot, it was the clandestine development of a shallow-water torpedo that made the attack a success. Until 1941, in order to have an effective detonation, a torpedo needed to be launched by plane and reach a depth of seventy-five to one hundred twenty-five feet. The depth of the American fleet at Pearl Harbor was thirty feet. Thus while the US military thought they might suffer an air attack, no bombs could reach the vulnerable area under the great warships’ armor belt that lay beneath the water line. Clearly they were wrong. The subsequent attack crippled the Pacific Fleet, but also triggered the adverse effect of bringing America into the war.

  Like Japan, Xi Chang knew that he had a historic opportunity to not only cripple the United States but to completely annihilate it. He knew that by doing so, China could effectively rule the world, not just America. The world. Other nations’ economies would be in shambles, and no one singular nation could match either China’s military might or its willingness to accept a great loss of its soldiers in attaining global domination. The current obstacle was the vast amount of American nuclear weapons. Even with a military that had been reduced time and time again by its spineless politicians, America remained poised as a nuclear behemoth. Chang had to figure out how to neutralize America’s nuclear might and crush its resolve.

  Long before China requested the United States pay back its loans, it built a secret manufacturing facility nestled deep in the rugged plateaus of the Qilian Shan mountain range, hidden from the roving eyes of US satellites. The Chinese developed the latest fabrication machinery operated by state-of-the-art lasers. There, it brought its best and brightest engineers and scientists to develop the first nuclear electromagnetic pulse bomb, or NEMP, using unique components that would not emit a radiation signature which could be detected by American sensors. Until now, EMPs were small, ineffective, and viewed as “science fiction” and generally deemed impractical as a weapon by most of the world’s leading scientists.

  The EMP was a bomb that set off bursts of electromagnetic radiation, causing voltage surges and disrupting normal electrical connections. The effect was similar to a lightning bolt striking a house and frying the television and toaster that were plugged into a normal household electrical outlet. It would cause a very brief but very intense spike in the electromagnetic field. This produced an extremely high-voltage surge that would damage any sensitive electronic components in its radius, plugged in or not.

  Small prototypes of these bombs had been tested by many governments as early as the 1950s. Each country had hoped to be the first to develop the next great and devastating military weapon. However, in order to be effective on a large scale, the bomb’s detonation had to interact with the natural existing magnetic field that surrounded Earth’s atmosphere, which would amplify the electromagnetic pulse waves. Even if scientists could solve this problem, channeling a bomb to affect a single country was not possible. It would be similar to setting off a nuclear explosion high in space. The radiation fallout would settle over both friendly and hostile nations. After extensive testing, it was shelved as impossible.

  Until the Chinese figured out a way to make it work.

  The Chinese went smaller. Rather than trying to duplicate the ten-megaton EMP bombs the United States tested in 1954, the Chinese developed a one-megaton NEMP bomb, small enough to fit into a household kitchen refrigerator, yet still fifty times more powerful than the bombs set off in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Encased in a titanium shell, a bomb this size detonated at an altitude of five thousand feet over Kansas would affect most of the central continental US. It was the largest weapons breakthrough since the Manhattan Project. Xi authorized the immediate production of the weapon.

  The difficulty of smuggling these bombs into the United States had been overcome years ago. As China began to export its people and capital around the world, it found a foothold in Mexico because it shared a border with the United States. If Mexico alone had been selected, Homeland Security would have been on red alert. Because Mexico was just one of twenty-six countries receiving Chinese workers and financial aid, it didn’t raise one eyebrow. At that time, America had good relations with China, and the only threat emanating from Mexico was the illegal drug trafficking across the US-Mexican border.

  In order to prepare for its attack on the United States, China established a working relationship with the Zetas, Mexico’s largest and most deadly drug cartel. The Zetas were composed of former military personnel known for their extreme violence and hat
red of the United States. They were the logical choice to partner with the Chinese. The Chinese were able to provide the Zetas with something more important to them than money: i.e., weapons, an arsenal of modern assault rifles, grenades, and land mines—any and all military equipment the Zetas would need to dominate and tip the balance of power in their favor with other drug cartels.

  The Zetas operated in Nuevo Laredo, a border city in northeastern Mexico surrounded by hills scorched by the unrelenting sun. Thousands of trucks traveled its main highways delivering both legal and illegal merchandise to the United States. It is one of the busiest land ports in all of Latin America. Its largest trading partner—unofficially, of course—was the State of Texas. Most of the Border Patrol agents manning the border checkpoints were chosen especially for their fluency in English and Spanish. Some of them still had family living in Mexico, which fostered a vulnerability to the violent drug cartels. There was an old saying in the Border Patrol when it came to the Zetas: it’s better to accept their silver than taste their lead. The Chinese chose Nuevo Laredo to set up shop by purchasing an existing nondescript grey slab concrete building that manufactured refrigerators sold to the United States. There wasn’t anything to set this building apart from the many similar such structures in which American appliances and televisions were built except for the unusually excessive amount of high-resolution motion detection security cameras and the heavily armed guards patrolling the razor wire-enclosed yard with attack dogs. The Chinese assembled the parts necessary to build the NEMPs in the back of the factory in a sealed area that was strictly off limits to all but a select few.