The Hand of War

by Blake Banner

  I didn’t hesitate. “Is that why you made him kill his own best friend?”

  His answer surprised me. “Yes, Lacklan. That is exactly why. But I am not going to explain that today because there is no way you can understand it. Because it has to do with commitment, loyalty, and love on a level which is beyond the likes of you.”

  I felt a hot pellet of anger in my belly, but controlled it. “That’s a love that kills.”

  “Like I said, I am not even going to try to explain. You might as well try to describe air to a fish. But I am going to ask you both something. And I want you to understand that we have never before asked this of anybody outside the twenty-seven permanent members. So you can understand that this is a mark of our respect for you, and especially both of your fathers.”

  Marni frowned. “Both…?”

  He nodded. “Your father refused membership. We offered it to him because he was an exceptional man. He refused, even knowing what the consequences would be. So we had to kill him, because he would have destroyed us. But we respected him for his commitment to his own beliefs.”

  She looked at me, as though she was searching for something in my face. There was a wordless exchange between us, and then Hennessy was talking again.

  “I am going to ask you a question which your father was never able to answer, Marni. How can we save humanity from the catastrophic changes that are coming? How can we avoid the millions of deaths, the famine, the flooding, and still preserve all the best that humanity has achieved?”

  She stared at him a long time without answering. Finally, he sat forward, with his elbows on his knees, and said, “You condemn us for the way we run Omega. Now I want you to tell me how I ought to be doing my job. And I promise you, Marni, that I will listen to you with an open mind, and an open heart.”

  She took a deep breath. “First, Mr. President, the whole world must be informed of what is coming. Every single individual has the right to know the threat that he or she faces. If we are a plague on this planet, as we certainly are, then each of us needs to take responsibility—personal responsibility for reducing the population. It only requires each family to have only one baby, and within a generation…”

  “We can come to the technicalities later, Marni. Let’s stay with the general principles for now.”

  “Fine. Then the first thing would be to inform the entire world of the facts concerning climate change and overpopulation. Second would be a managed reduction of the population, and a steady, phased move away from the global, mass market, so that we can eliminate our reliance on fossil fuels. And third, engage the leading universities of the world in a systematic program to transform the way we get energy—to move away from fossil fuels and toward solar power, wind turbines… The more the population is reduced, the more feasible that becomes.”

  Hennessy nodded a few times after she had finished, then turned to me. “What about you, Lacklan? Have you anything positive to contribute to this discussion?”

  I shrugged. “As you know, we went for a walk last night, where we could get away from your bugs…”

  Ben said, “The house is not bugged. If you’d asked me, I would have told you.”

  I raised an eyebrow at him, then turned back to Hennessy. “We discussed our options; in the end, we agreed that those were the realistic options. I stand with Marni. If we are talking in generalities, those would be the obvious steps.”

  Hennessy scratched his cheek, then leaned back in his chair. “Obvious, yes, realistic, no, not really. And please let me explain why…” He hesitated. “Then I’ll come back to my reasons for asking you, and to my proposal for you both. But first, let me explain why this is not a realistic suggestion. You see, whichever way you cook it, there are always going to be two options. The one you have suggested, and the other one. The other one is to ensure the participation of a small, powerful elite, insulate yourself from the damage as much as you can, and let ninety percent or ninety-nine percent of the population wipe themselves out. Then create a new society that works, with you at the top, running things. After five, ten, fifteen generations, the heirs to that elite will inherit a beautiful, stable, sustainable world.”

  Marni drew breath to say something, but he held up his hand. “Just hold on, and hear me out. Now that option, the one that you two both detest so much, is open not only to us, but to the Chinese, the Russians, the Muslim kingdoms, and Europe. It’s open to anybody who has all the information. Knowledge, if you’ll forgive me for using an old cliché, is power. Now, we would have to be plumb stupid to give away the kind of information that we have been able to gather through NASA and other sources, and allow ourselves to be sabotaged so that China, or North Korea, or Saudi Arabia, can seize the advantage and come out on top.”

  Ben had been nodding throughout this monologue. Now he said, “And that is without getting into the details of how we handle massive climate migration once the droughts start in earnest. The Middle East is already in the midst of the worst drought in recorded history. That can only get worse and spread. Once drought turns to famine on a global scale, as it soon will, and there is not enough—” He stopped, staring hard at Marni, then continued with almost savage emphasis. “Simply not enough food to feed everybody. Once that happens—and we are talking a decade or two at the very outside—once that happens, Marni, what do we do? All the information that you want to give these people will only fuel the chaos and the strife that is going to engulf the world. It will not help anybody, but it will lead to war.”

  Hennessy studied us both for a moment. Then, he drew breath and started to speak again. “However, having said that…”

  Ben cut him short. “It is, Marni, Lacklan, like being in a city with three hundred thousand people all dying of some dreadful disease. And you know that in one, small clinic, there is enough medicine to save only two hundred people. If you spread the word to the city, the consequences will be devastating. And in the end the medicine, if it is not destroyed, will fall into the hands of the most violent and the strongest, the Hell’s Angels or the Mafia. Your other option is to select the best, the finest, and offer them a share of the medicine.” He turned and smiled at Hennessy. “Dick, forgive me, I interrupted you.”

  “It is a perfect simile. I was going to say that, in spite of this, because we admire you and because we loved your father, Lacklan, we are prepared to make you a very significant offer.”

  I raised an eyebrow. “Join or die? I’ve been made that offer before, and I’ve lost count of how many of you people have died since then.”

  Hennessy sighed. “That is not the offer. We will create a committee for the purpose of studying your suggestions and finding a workable way to implement them. We will go further than that. We will make you both directors of that committee, with executive powers, to give it teeth. You can start as soon as you like, select whoever you want for the committee, and, within certain reasonable bounds, start reaching out to people to find a way forward. If you can make it work, then we will be happy to follow your ideas.”

  Marni was frowning hard. “What?”

  Ben laughed. “It’s not as incredible as you think, Marni. We are happy to do this for two very simple reasons. First, we don’t believe it’s possible, and you will discover that as you try to make it work. And second, if you can make it work, it will be everybody’s preferred way forward.”

  She stared at him, then stared at me. I sighed loudly and reached into my jacket for a packet of Camels and my Zippo. As I lit up, Hennessy said, “You can’t smoke in here.”

  I leaned into the flame, then snapped the lighter shut, inhaled deep, and blew smoke at the ceiling. “You want to come over here and make me stop, Dick?” I turned to Ben. “I have one, real big problem with your suggestion, Ben.”

  “I thought you might.”

  “You planted a nuclear device at the UN. It would have killed somewhere between a quarter and a half of the population of Manhattan, men, women, children, indiscriminately.

 
“Now, here’s the interesting part about that. If you had wanted to cripple the U.S. economy for some reason, you would have picked the financial district. But you didn’t, you very deliberately picked the UN. Why would you do that?” I held up a hand. “Don’t answer, not yet. Before he escaped, Abbassi told me that Aatifa, Hassan, and Ali were set up, that the canister they thought they were planting was a dummy, that it was never intended to get through security.” I laughed and shook my head. “I thought at first that they were intended to get caught at security, while trying to enter. But that wasn’t it at all, was it, Ben?”

  He shook his head. “No.”

  “The plan was that I would see Abbassi at the party. That was why you sent me there, and I would go after him and expose the plot to bomb the conference, or at least alert the Feds, just as I did. But I was never meant to escape from the Institute. I was supposed to stay there in a drugged stupor, while you went ahead and bombed the UN. Then Mclean and Jones would have revealed to the president that they’d had a warning that Islamic terrorists were going to bomb the conference with a dirty bomb. Knowing this administration’s feelings about Islam, an all-out war was a certainty. What was Prince Awad’s reward? Membership of the Alphabet Club?”

  He didn’t waver in his stare. He just said, “That is not the question, Lacklan. You can do better than that.”

  “Yeah, you’re right. War in the Middle East is nothing new. You don’t need to nuke Manhattan for that. But if you can claim that hostile powers in the Middle East, like Iran, have nuclear weapons, then that would justify the president in using nuclear to retaliate in the Gulf. And I can’t prove it, but two gets you twenty that Russia would come in on the side of….”

  “Don’t be naïve, Lacklan. Russia would not come in on the side of Iran. But Europe would impose severe sanctions on the U.S. if we struck at Iran with a nuclear missile. Our military presence in Europe is very significant. We have U.S. Naval Forces Europe, U.S. Army Europe, U.S. Air Force in Europe, U.S. Marine Force Europe and U.S. Special Operations Command Europe. In addition to which we have about 250 nuclear warheads deployed in Italy, Turkey, Germany, Netherlands, and Belgium. Now, if those assets were seized by the European Union, driven by general public outrage, how do you think this president would respond.?”

  A wave of nausea swept over me. I stared at him, and then at Hennessy. I heard my voice, but it was as though somebody else was speaking.

  “Dear God… You were trying to trigger a war with Europe?”

  Ben shrugged. “Why not? The last one was the best thing that ever happened to the U.S. The British Empire was crippled and we became top dog, remember?”

  Twenty Two

  Ben rose and walked toward the window that overlooked the internal garden. He stood in stark silhouette and stretched, making his vertebrae clunk. After a moment, he turned back to face us.

  “You become pretty tedious sometimes, Lacklan. You’re hard work. We need a war. So does Europe. It used to be easy. Countries went to war on a regular basis. Now public opinion has become so damn precious, even when we go to war, people expect our soldiers to get through it without getting hurt.” He laughed and turned to Hennessy. “Hell! They even expect the enemy not to get hurt! So we needed a new 911. More than that, a new Pearl Harbor.”

  Marni was staring from him to Hennessy and back again. “Why? Why in God’s name do you need to go to war with Europe? You must be insane.”

  Hennessy sighed like he was getting bored of having to explain the obvious. “Come on, Marni, get real. Why does anybody go to war? Why has anybody ever gone to war? Religion? Of course not! Ideology? Of course not! People go to war over resources, land, arable land, food, water, minerals.”

  Her voice was shrill when she answered. “And we are short of resources in this country?”

  I said, “No, but we will be. Draw a line from Washington, D.C. to Washington state, and in twenty years, everything south of that line will be desert.”

  She hadn’t lost the shrill edge to her voice. She almost screamed, “So what? Now we are going to invade Europe? Is that it?”

  Hennessy said, “Don’t be absurd.”

  “Don’t be absurd? Really? You are telling me not to be absurd? You want to start a fucking war with Europe!”

  I said, “Marni.” She stared at me like she was ready to hit me. “We should have seen this. This should not be a surprise.”

  She flopped back in her chair. Ben said, “Are we good?” I nodded. He went on. “Every so often, the world needs a war. As globalization and industrialization progress, necessarily those wars get bigger and their impact is more far-reaching. The wars in the Middle East have been beneficial, but we need something bigger, much bigger. Because when climate change really kicks in, we need to be in a position where we profit from it. Originally, our rival was Britain, then it was Russia, now it’s Europe. Does that answer your question, Lacklan?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Good. Now, Dick was going to make a proposal. We establish the committee, as he already outlined. In exchange, we want something from you.”

  “What?”

  Ben looked at Hennessy. “Dick?”

  He smiled, like he was granting us some great boon. “We want you to become permanent members of Omega. Lacklan, you will step in to your father’s position as Gamma. You will be second to me. Marni, you will come in as Psi. You will both manage the Commission on Education and Reform, and you will marry. You will be man and wife, and you will commit to Omega.”

  I sat forward. “What? Why the hell…? What fucking business is it of yours…?”

  “That’s the deal, Lacklan. We know you both have strong feelings for each other. We would like you to marry and have a family.” He laughed. “It’s not so unusual, guys! All over America, all over D.C., corporate culture is the same: we want you to get married, make a home, have kids! It breeds stability, loyalty, harmony, and integration. It cements the culture of mutual support. Don’t you love each other? I think you do.”

  I drained my glass, stood, and went back for another. I poured a generous measure and turned to face them. They looked complacent, like they already knew the outcome of the meeting. I said, “What about Gibbons?”

  Ben said, “He returns to Oxford unharmed.”

  “What about his supposed murder?”

  “A mistake. You are hailed as a hero and ISIS claim responsibility for the attempt, and you and Marni get a period of grace to make your plan work. But there is one thing we have not discussed yet.”

  Marni said, “My father’s research…”

  Ben said, “We must have that. That is not negotiable.”

  She looked at me. We held each other’s gaze for a long moment, then she said, “I don’t see that we have much option, Lacklan.”

  I looked at Ben and swore to myself that one day I would kill him. “OK, Ben. You have a deal.”

  Hennessy smiled. “Excellent. That is very good news, and I am confident that you will not regret the decision you have made today. Marni, where is your father’s research?”

  She buried her face in her hands and was silent for a long while. When she finally dropped them into her lap, her face was wet with tears. “It’s in a box in a bank vault in Oxford. I have to instruct them to send it here.” She turned to face Ben. “It must come via the diplomatic bag. The material contained in it is much too sensitive to risk any other means of transport.”

  He reached in his pocket and pulled out a card. He wrote a name on it and handed it to her. “Have them send it to this man at the U.S. Embassy in London. I’ll advise him to expect it and forward it to former President Hennessy at this office, as a top priority, via the diplomatic bag. Will that satisfy you?”

  She nodded.

  He pointed at the desk. “You can use the phone over there.”

  “Now…?”

  “Yes, Marni, now.”

  She looked at me, like she was begging me to do something, to stop this from happening. There was nothing I
could do. She got up and went to make the call. Ben was studying me carefully. I didn’t give him much to read. Finally, he said, “I am quite serious about the marriage, Lacklan. I want you to see to that straight away. I want you living together and making a real commitment to Omega. Have kids. Be happy. Is that understood?”

  I nodded and stood. “It’s understood, and now I’d like to get the hell out of here.”

  Marni finished making her call and came and joined me by the door. She was having trouble controlling her tears. I put my arm around her but she shook her head and pushed away. Hennessy smiled at me, though his eyes were hard and cold. “It’ll take a bit to adjust, but give it time. Meanwhile, we’d like you to stay in D.C. just until the package arrives. We’ll be keeping an eye on you, just to make sure everything’s OK. My advice? Use the time to get acquainted. It’s been a long time since you two had a proper conversation.” He gave me a friendly punch on the shoulder. “Hell, Lacklan, take your lady out to dinner, show her a good time, talk about the future. Things are going to be good for you guys from now on. You can stop looking over your shoulder.”

  I held his eye a moment too long, then said, “Yeah, you, too.”

  I opened the door and we stepped out. We didn’t speak in the elevator, or as we crossed the Pentagon rings, moving toward the exit. We didn’t talk until we were back outside in the sunshine. Then I took her in my arms and held her for a long while, feeling the cool breeze from the river on my face, listening to the cry of the gulls overhead and the mournful bray of a riverboat in the distance. She looked up into my face and I kissed the tears from her eyelids and her cheeks.

  “Come on,” I said. “Let’s go and get drunk.”