by Robert Boren
“I’m on speaker with Chief Harvey of the NYPD and two of my top staff members. I just had a rather disturbing conversation with Governor Romano.” The Mayor described the conversation.
“He’s complicit,” Jared said. “We’ve been watching him for a few months now. There are others.”
“You didn’t say anything before?” Chief Harvey asked.
“Not publicly,” Jared said. “I’d be dead right now if I’d tried to, and nobody would’ve thought much of it. This goes very high up.”
“President Simpson?” Mayor Fine asked.
“In it from the beginning,” Jared said, “as was the leadership of the EU and the leadership of the UN. Half of the Joint Chiefs are involved.”
“Son of a bitch,” Chief Harvey said. “So what do we do?”
The line was silent for a moment.
“I would make sure the public at large knows you survived,” Jared said, “and then we’ll need to make plans to get you out of there before they send in the assassins.”
“Assassins?” Kate asked, her eyes wide. “You think they’ll try to kill us?”
“If they can, they’ll kill everybody in the bunker,” Jared said. “They don’t have a choice. You’re inconvenient as hell. You could prevent them from taking over the city, maybe even the state.”
Chief Harvey nodded. “You’re right. That’s exactly what they’ll try to do.”
“Okay, we’ll do a video broadcast tomorrow morning. I was planning on it anyway. I’m gonna tell them everything I know… the UN’s attempt to take us over, the traitorous behavior of government officials… everything.”
“We can’t mention Mr. Carlson,” Julio said.
“Oh, I agree with that,” Mayor Fine replied.
“I wouldn’t bring up President Simpson or the EU,” Jared said. “That’ll make the situation seem hopeless to the people. Stick with the UN. They’re the main danger for your city at the moment, and the UN hasn’t been popular for years.”
Mayor Fine thought about it for a moment. “Okay, I agree. What are you doing?”
“Building several resistance teams in the Mid-Atlantic and New England regions,” Jared said. “That’s all I’ll say for now.”
“You’re afraid we’ll be captured and tortured,” Kate said.
“Well I’m afraid of that too,” Chief Harvey said, “so definitely do not tell us anything about those teams.”
“Yes, agreed,” Mayor Fine said. “I know of your technical prowess, obviously. If you have any way to get us out of here, we’d appreciate it.”
“There are people working on that now,” Jared said, “but we have difficult problems to tackle. How many radiation suits do you have down there?”
“I don’t know,” Mayor Fine said, “but we’ll find out. We’ve got enough food for a couple months, but our enemies could dismantle one of the vents and send something lethal in here. I doubt they’ll try right away with the radiation as bad as it is.”
“They’ll use suits,” Chief Harvey said. “Let’s look at the drawings of this place. Maybe there are ways we can protect ourselves.”
“That would be wise,” Jared said. “I’ll talk to you soon. Good luck with your broadcast.”
“He’s gone,” Jean said from outside.
“Okay, we’ve got some things to investigate,” Mayor Fine said. “Let’s get to it.”
They left the small room.
“What should my focus be?” Kate asked.
Mayor Fine turned to her. “I want the NYPD, the fire department, and all other government officials still online to be working the movement of wounded to hospitals, and I want city funds going to aid in that. We’ll borrow if we have shortfalls. That is your main job, Kate. Julio, I’d like you and your team to work that as well. Chief Harvey and I will concentrate on taking the streets back from the enemy and protecting our team.
“Exactly the right call,” Kate said. “I’ll get right on that. Luckily I’ve got the phone numbers I need.”
“After we have the wounded attended to, contact the army Corps of Engineers,” Mayor Fine said, “so we can start repairing infrastructure in areas that are still inhabitable.”
“Hopefully the military wasn’t in on this,” Julio said.
“If they are, we’re done,” Chief Harvey said.
“No we’re not,” Mayor Fine said. “Time to push the negative thoughts to the side. This city needs us. I won’t let them down as long as I can draw breath.”
***
Governor Romano was sitting in the office of his secure shelter, still fuming about his call with Mayor Fine. He punched his desk phone.
“Clara, get me Mateo and Cliff Bates please.”
“Yes sir,” she replied. “It’ll take a few minutes. I believe the Secretary General is in Switzerland.”
“Let me know. Thanks.”
He leaned back in his plush desk chair, watching his computer monitor, which was cycling through video cameras around New York City. There was a soft rap on the door.
“Come in,” Romano said. The door opened, a pretty woman walking in, her long blonde hair swaying as she sat.
“How long do we have to stay here?” she asked in a Dutch accent.
“I don’t know, Lotte,” Romano said, leaning forward. “A few days, probably.”
“Did you lock down the city yet?”
He sighed. “No, I’ve got a call coming up with Mateo and Cliff to discuss it.”
“You need to be ruthless about this. Time is short to consolidate power.”
“Don’t you think I know that?” Romano said, leaning back in his chair again. “We’ve got citizen militia folks shooting at our Peacekeepers, and I can’t stop it yet.”
“Why not?” the woman asked, crossing her legs.
Romano’s eyes lingered on her a moment. “Mayor Fine and Chief Harvey survived in that damn bunker. They’re still running things on the ground. I wish I would’ve let Fine win on that budget battle over the bunker upgrades.”
“That was my suggestion, remember?”
“You truly are the devil,” Romano said.
“But you like what we do together,” she said, standing, starting to unbutton her blouse.
“Not now, I have that call coming up,” he said.
“Is it a video call?” she asked, her hands continuing to undo buttons.
“No, but I have to concentrate. You’ve gotten me in enough trouble.”
She smiled. “You still want it, though. I can see it in your eyes. No matter, I’ll be back later. Speak wisely with Cliff. He’s flighty. He can ruin things for us.”
Romano chuckled. “Mateo’s worse. He’s still diddling massage girls, leaving his bodyguards behind.”
“He didn’t kill another one, I hope,” Lotte asked, buttoning her blouse.
“Not yet, but that was almost discovered. Diplomatic immunity would keep him from being prosecuted, but if it would’ve made the papers, he’d be in big trouble. His leadership would’ve taken him out.”
“If men can ever get their urges under control, we’ll have a lot less progress in the world.”
“Like I said, you’re the devil. Get out of here. I need to gather my thoughts before the call.”
She smiled, then turned to leave, her hips swaying just a little more than normal. Romano sighed as she closed the door behind herself. I should have known better. He was startled by the ringing of his phone, pushing the button.
“Yes?”
“They’re both on, sir.”
“Thanks, Clara. Cliff, Mateo, you hear me?”
“Loud and clear,” Cliff said.
“I too can hear you, my friend,” Mateo said.
“Good,” Romano said, leaning forward, resting his elbows on the desk. “I had a rather disturbing call with Mayor Fine a few minutes ago.”
“He’s still alive, huh?” Cliff asked. “I was afraid of that. How?”
“Somebody warned him to get into the City Hall bunker before
the bomb went off, obviously,” Mateo said. “I got a report from my chief of info security an hour ago. Somebody broke into our email server.”
“Son of a bitch,” Romano said. “What kind of outfit are you running, Mateo?”
“Relax, my people think they can figure out who did it. That could lead us to the bulk of the resistance in Manhattan. We know where Mayor Fine and his team are. They aren’t going anywhere. They’re trapped under a high-radiation zone. This is a tradeoff we can work with.”
“There are vents to that bunker, are there not?” Cliff asked.
“I don’t know anything about the technology, but I’ll put somebody on it,” Romano said.
“It won’t be easy getting them that way,” Mateo said.
“How would you know?” Romano asked.
“Those vents have to filter out the radiation,” Mateo said. “Common sense tells me they’ll be difficult to compromise, and our people would be working that difficult problem while wearing bulky radiation suits. We’d better figure out a way to lure them out.”
“Dammit, he’s probably right,” Cliff said. “I wish we would’ve been successful taking him out in the City Hall attack. Frigging Chief Harvey was there to save him.”
Romano chuckled. “It wasn’t just Chief Harvey. Mayor Fine is a decorated Marine. You don’t just pick up an M60 and use it effectively if you don’t know what you’re doing, and we’ve got good accounts and video of two M60s being used to great advantage.”
“Seems to me you have a problem to work on your end,” Mateo said. “I’ll work the email server hack issue. You develop a plan to either get the Mayor and his team out of that bunker, or kill them while they’re inside.”
“I don’t take orders from you, Mateo.”
“That’s where you’re wrong,” he replied. “The sovereignty of the United States ended when the bombs went off. You will follow instructions.”
Romano chuckled. “You see, this is why you need Americans on this operation. You have no understanding of the American character. We must convince the citizenry to go along with what we’re doing. If we don’t, they’ll rise up, and there are four hundred million guns in private hands here. This isn’t Germany or France. Compared to the EU, America is truly the wild west.”
“The German people had guns. Their leadership successfully took them away.”
“Different situation,” Cliff said. “Germans were used to taking orders from government. Hate to say it, but Romano’s concerns are right on the money, and if we ignore that, we’ll lose, and every one of us will be killed. Mark my words.”
Mateo chuckled. “Have it your way, but get your job done. I’ll be back in Manhattan in a few days.” He hung up the phone.
“That moron is gonna get us all killed,” Romano said, shaking his head.
“We could bring him down, you know,” Cliff said. “We’ve got the goods.”
“We don’t want to do that,” Romano said. “They’ll send somebody smarter if we do that.”
Both men broke into laughter.
“Talk to you later, Cliff.”
“Yes sir, Governor. Take care of yourself. The resistance is dangerous.”
Romano ended the call, then pulled out his cellphone, typing a text to Lotte. Get your pretty little butt in here.
{ 2 }
Lockdown
I t was early morning, John Clancy working on his laptop, the power still out. “Wish I had a spare battery,” he whispered to himself, looking at the 67% reading in the lower right-hand corner of his screen. “Maybe I can borrow Linda’s battery.” The attacks had stimulated his already active imagination, the words flying onto the page. Freedom fighters versus the oppressive government. Politicians, vaguely based on real leaders, who were having their way with the population. The social justice trap after it springs. Weapon confiscation. The resistance. His mind was spinning through it, ideas about later scenes hitting him while he was hammering out the current scene. There was rustling coming from the guest room next to his office. Craig walked in.
“Oh, sorry, you’re on a roll,” he said.
John stopped, turning to him. “Sleep well? Pat doing better?”
He shrugged. “Pat’s a nervous wreck. She didn’t expect this.”
“You did,” John said, locking his screen to save battery power.
“Didn’t you?” he asked.
John chuckled. “Some of what happened was in this book already.”
“Which chapter are you on?”
“Fifth,” he said.
“Of how many?”
“I never know for sure. Probably about twenty. Have any more articles in the works?”
“Yeah, I’ve already written another. Don’t mention it to Pat.”
“You just had that one published days ago.”
“Wrote it last night when I couldn’t sleep.”
“You brought your laptop? Didn’t see it”
“I did it the old-fashioned way, with a pencil,” Craig said. “Used some paper from your printer. Hope you don’t mind.”
“No problem,” John said.
“Mind if I go turn on that radio? Maybe they’ll say when the power is coming back on.”
“Sure, go for it,” John said. “I’ll work some more, but call me if something crazy is happening and I’ll come out.”
“You got it,” Craig said, leaving the room. John got back to work, still in the zone, the conversation flowing onto the page. Point and counter point, deception etching the surface of integrity.
Craig called out to him. John sighed, saving his work and shutting down his laptop, vowing to be back within the hour. He walked into the living room. “What’s going on?”
“UN Peacekeepers are trying to take over New York City,” Craig said. “Killed a bunch of NYPD last night, but citizens rose up and stopped it. Now there’s open warfare going on. The Mayor is going to speak in a few minutes, from a bunker underneath City Hall.”
“City Hall,” John said. “Isn’t that pretty far south on Manhattan?”
“It’s in the hot zone,” Craig said, turning the radio up. “Here it comes.”
Hello fellow New Yorkers. This is Mayor Fine, coming to you from a secret location.
I express my deepest sympathy for those who have lost loved ones in the evil attack on our city. I regret to inform you that the situation is still dangerous. We don’t know of additional nuclear weapons, but a foreign power is seeking to take over the city by force. I’m talking about UN Peacekeepers.
You may hear members of the media and certain politicians say that the UN Peacekeepers were invited in. They were not legitimately invited in. They were invited in my treasonous politicians who were, in part, behind the attacks. Governor Romano is among the guilty, and he has told me that I’ll be killed because I will not call off the NYPD, and I will not arrest the armed citizens who have been helping the NYPD prevent a violent takeover by this foreign power.
I urge citizens of New York not to cooperate with UN Peacekeepers. Please do cooperate with the NYPD. If you are in the citizen militia, please know that I will support your actions against the UN invaders, and I will not order your arrest.
I expect the Governor to appoint an interim Mayor. That mayor will not be legitimate. It will be part of the attempt to take over this city, and the nation. I cannot stress this enough. UN Peacekeepers are foreign invaders who have no authority over US citizens in any way.
We are working to restore power to those parts of the city which are in a blackout. It will take time because critical infrastructure has been damaged up and down the eastern seaboard. Citizens of the city will need to work together and rely on each other. You should share food with your neighbors and work to get our city back on its feet. Help is coming, but not as quickly as all of us would like, so we’ll be on our own. If you have relatives or friends you can stay with outside of the city, I would sugg…
“They cut him off,” Craig said.
“Sounds like it. Not s
urprised about Romano. Knew that cretin was dirty.”
“What’s going on?” Pat asked, walking into the living room with Linda, both still in their robes.
“Mayor Fine was just speaking, and he got cut off,” Craig said.
Pat shook her head. “You aren’t going to start believing every conspiracy theory that comes up, I hope.”
“You guys notice that the announcer hasn’t come back on our local radio station,” John said, staring at the radio. “Mayor Fine might not have been cut off… it might be a local problem.”
“Oh boy,” Linda said, sitting next to John on the sofa. “I thought you’d be writing.”
“I was, but Craig called me out when he heard the Mayor was going to speak,” John said. “Down to about 65% battery, though. It’ll go fairly quickly. That laptop is getting old, and the battery isn’t what it once was.”
An emergency broadcast tone came from the radio.
“Whoa, I know what that is,” Craig said.
Linda nodded. “Surprised they haven’t been broadcasting already.”
Pat shuddered, her eyes glassing over. “Maybe there’s more attacks coming.”
Attention citizens of Pennsylvania. This is the emergency broadcast system. This is not a test. Yesterday’s attack has damaged our infrastructure, but rest assured that we are working to get the power back on as quickly as possible. Governor Dunton of Pennsylvania has declared Martial Law, which will be enforced in our cities first, then in the rural areas. We will work to ensure this declaration has the least impact possible on your lives, but please cooperate as best you can while we work through this crisis. For citizens living in cities with populations above 40,000, you may be required to give your firearms to the local authorities. This is not confiscation; it is a temporary lockdown. Your weapons will be returned to you as soon as the crisis is over. Looting in our cities will not be tolerated, and will be met with deadly force, as will resisting police and National Guard troops. Please keep your radio tuned to this station for additional information, which we will provide as soon as available. Thank you.
“Here it starts,” Craig said. “Glad my gun isn’t registered.”