by Robert Boren
“Messing with his secretary or something?”
“No, much worse. That’s all I’ll say right now.”
“Okay. How did they win? I thought we were controlling the scene. Mateo told me there were plenty of Peacekeepers down there.”
“They had M60s and M240s.”
“I don’t know much about weapons,” Cliff said. “What are those? The same guns they were using from Fine’s office?”
“Yes. They’re military machine guns. They also had full auto M4s, and there were reports of some other kind of weapon on these vehicles.”
“You get a picture of the vehicles?”
Romano shook his head. “We’ve only got chatter between the Peacekeepers while they were in action. None of them lived.”
Cliff set his coffee cup down. “Can we beat these guys?”
“There are two hundred thousand UN Peacekeepers activating all around the city as we speak. The resistance took out about sixty at Penn Station, and it wasn’t a walk in the park for them. We could tell that via the MVS feed.”
“How many resistance fighters were there?”
“Hard to tell. Roughly twenty, plus another ten or twelve NYPD officers armed with semi-auto assault weapons.”
“You’re telling me that thirty-two of these folks took out sixty Peacekeepers who were already dug in?”
Romano nodded. “That might have been most of their force, though. Given the number of Peacekeepers that Mateo provided, they might be headed for a Little Big Horn event.”
“What about the citizens who joined the night of the bombing?”
“Amateur hour,” Romano said.
“I’ve heard they picked up automatic weapons from the Peacekeepers they killed.”
“True, but there haven’t been any attacks on UN Peacekeepers in the city since then. Even the NYPD is avoiding contact with them.”
Cliff picked up his coffee cup and had another sip. “The UN Peacekeepers haven’t started messing with people yet, and they’re keeping a very low profile. I’d like to know how many NYPD officers we have left.”
“About a quarter of them were on our side,” Romano said.
“Yeah, I know,” Cliff said, “but Chief Harvey fired most of those, removed their access to systems, and took their weapons. The union is going crazy, of course, but there’s nothing they can do.”
“How many officers did we have?”
Cliff pulled out his phone, moving his fingers on the screen. “City-wide, about 47,000, after the big hiring effort of 2024-2025. That’s when we got most of our people in there, by the way.”
“That’s still a lot of armed resistance.”
Cliff set his phone on the coffee table. “You need to remember something. A significant number of officers got killed in the bombing. Harvey increased patrols around the harbor, for one thing. Any of them south of about 19th Street are probably dead, and then we’ve got the losses on Staten Island and in Brooklyn. They probably lost more than ten thousand men in that mess.”
Carrie came in. “Mateo is on the line. Want to take the call?”
“Yeah,” Romano said, getting up, moving to the desk. “Come over here, Cliff. I’ll get him on speaker.”
Cliff nodded, carrying his coffee to the desk, sitting in one of the antique chairs facing it as the Governor sat, hitting the speaker button.
“Hello, Mateo, what’s on your mind? I have Cliff Bates with me.”
“Have you seen what’s going on in Southern California?”
Romano chuckled. “We’ve got enough problems here to worry about. I suspect you’re about to tell us about it.”
“I’ll send you a video.”
Romano moved the mouse to wake up his PC screen, seeing the YouTube link show up. He started it playing and cast it to the big screen on the wall, Cliff turning to watch.
The picture showed a dim room, with a desk and overstuffed chair behind it. A man sauntered in, wearing an expensive suit and a fedora. He sat behind the desk and leaned back in his chair, a smirk on this face.
Good evening. My name is Ivan. Some of you know me as Ivan the Butcher. That’s a decent name for me, as you can see here.
The screen changed to video of the checkpoints at a southern California intersection, showing several dead UN Peacekeepers hanging from the traffic lights on the east side of the street.
The screen went back to Ivan, still sitting behind his desk.
We will attack you, UN thugs, and the filthy Islamists you are aligned with. We will kill you where you stand and slip away into the night. You don’t own LA County. We will destroy you.
Ivan got out from behind his desk and got closer to the camera, his face filling the screen.
We ask for the people’s help. The UN is not legitimate, nor is the Government of California. They wish to subjugate the people of this great land. It will not stand. This is only the beginning. Tell your friends. Take back your country. Stand up. Become a terror to the oppressors.
The screen went black.
Romano shook his head. “A YouTube video doesn’t scare me. We have cranks coming up with this kinda crap all the time.”
“You don’t understand, my friend,” Mateo said. “This man broke into all the local Southern California TV station feeds, as well as many strategic parts of the internet. Virtually everybody in the area saw this, and it worked. We’ve lost over ten thousand UN Peacekeepers.”
“He’s got a force big enough to do that?” Cliff asked.
“No, the citizens rose up and did most of it,” Mateo said. “This is dangerous. What are you doing to silence Mayor Fine? He could trick citizens into this type of resistance.”
“I’ve pulled Cliff out of the city, and we’re making plans to kill or capture Mayor Fine, Chief Harvey, and the rest of our adversaries in the legacy city government. They’ll be out of action in a matter of days.”
“You’d better make it a matter of hours,” Mateo said. “They’ve probably already seen this. It’ll give them ideas.”
“I understand,” Romano said, leaning back in his chair. “I’ll do my best. What are you doing to get this Ivan the Butcher character?”
“I’ve got my top people on that right now,” Mateo said. “He’ll be hard to capture, though, unlike Mayor Fine. You know exactly where Mayor Fine is, but if you delay, he’ll disappear.”
“I’m aware,” Romano said. “Don’t worry about it. We’ll handle it.”
“I saw what happened at Penn Station. That doesn’t instill confidence.”
Cliff snickered, Romano glaring at him. “We’re working that. You’ve got all those UN Peacekeepers ready to come in. Perhaps your timetable should speed up as well.”
“We don’t have all the weapons yet,” Mateo said. “Federal authorities found our main shipment. I’ve already lodged a complaint with President Simpson.”
“Simpson isn’t strong enough for this job,” Cliff said.
“Then we’ll replace him,” Mateo said. “I’ve got to go. Take care of Mayor Fine and his team, and get those commandos who attacked us at Penn Station. Talk to you soon.”
The call ended.
“What an ass hat,” Cliff said. “Talk about somebody with baggage.”
“Don’t bring that up in my presence again, Cliff. Understand?”
“Why?”
“We’re fighting against people who have an unbelievable level of sophistication when it comes to surveillance. They warned Mayor Fine about the bomb before it went off. You do realize that, right?”
“So you want plausible deniability. Okay, I get it. Sorry, you won’t hear that from me again.”
“I’ve got a guest suite ready for you,” Romano said. “Why don’t you go get set up, and we’ll chat later. I need to talk to some people about Mayor Fine.”
Cliff nodded, standing. “Mind if I take another cup of coffee?”
“No problem, and let Carrie know if you need anything else. Just keep your hands to yourself, got it? I know of your
past incidents.”
“Those weren’t what the tabloids said they were.”
“Perception is everything. Leave, I’ve got work to do.”
Cliff left, skipping the cup of coffee.
***
Mayor Fine and Chief Harvey were both in radiation suits, heading towards the massive vault door.
“There it is,” Mayor Fine said over his headset.
“That must have cost a pretty penny.”
The mayor chuckled. “Yeah, I fought it at the time. Glad I lost.”
“You know how to open it?”
“Yep, there’s an electronic control box. See it, on the wall opposite the door? Have that M60 pointed at the door when I open it.”
“Good idea,” Chief Harvey said, checking the belt, trying to keep it from getting tangled in the suit. “Go for it.”
Mayor fine accessed the panel, punching in a code, the display lighting up. He touched the screen, the massive door opening, revealing a dark tunnel.
“Nobody there, Mr. Mayor,” Chief Harvey said as he approached the tunnel. “No radiation showing up yet either. There’s an outside door, right?”
“It’s not a fortified door, but there is something there, made to look like the wall of the tunnel.” Mayor Fine caught up with him, picking up an M4. “Let’s go.”
They walked into the darkness, lights on their helmets shining.
“Still no radiation,” Chief Harvey said. “Good sign.”
“Yes and no. A lot of people know the design of this bunker, including some I wouldn’t consider friendly, like Cliff Bates.”
“Wonderful,” Chief Harvey said. “How much further?”
“This tunnel is about fifty yards long. We’ve gone maybe thirty yards. I can see the end.”
“Yeah, I see it now,” Chief Harvey said. “Is it locked?”
“Should be chained shut. I’ve got a padlock key.”
They got closer, the door coming into view more clearly, a sliding panel made of wood with a steel structure.
“Dammit, look at the chain,” Chief Harvey said, checking the belt on his M60.
The Mayor was only feet away, stopping to stare at the chain, hanging unlocked on the door. He took the safety off his M4. “Somebody’s already been here.”
“No radiation,” Chief Harvey said. “That’s just wood, right?”
“And plaster facing to made to look like stone on the other side.”
The Chief took off his suit, the Mayor doing the same.
“Slide it open while I cover you with the M60,” Chief Harvey whispered, “but don’t expect that wood to be much protection.”
“Ready?”
“Yeah.” The chief raised the M60, pointing it at the door as the Mayor slid the door to the side. Several shots rang out, the Mayor hitting the floor and crawling backwards as the M60 fired, tagging several commandos in the tunnel, the Mayor up and firing the M4 as the rest fled, cutting them all down before they could get away.
“Close that door,” Chief Harvey said. “There’s enough chain to lock it up again.”
“Yeah,” the Mayor said, taking another look down the tunnel, then sliding the door shut, fumbling for the padlock key, locking the chain. “It’ll be harder to open this time. They got it open a crack to use the torch.”
“Glad they did, or we’d be dead right now. I’m texting my guys. We’ll get officers down in this tunnel.”
“Luckily that vault door isn’t easy to breach from the outside.”
The two men rushed out of the tunnel, Mayor fine hitting the console to close the vault, and they ran back downstairs to the others.
“We heard gunfire,” Julio said.
“Subway tunnel. There’s no danger of radiation, but enemy operatives had breached the outer door. They attacked.”
“Oh no,” Kate said.
“Don’t worry, we wasted them all,” Chief Harvey said, setting down his M60. “Can we ensure the top vault door doesn’t get opened?”
“Not beyond what I’ve already done, but we can check the video cameras in the corridor, assuming the blast didn’t impact this deep. Jean, pull up the internal video cameras please.”
Jean nodded, turning to her computer screen, typing for a moment. Then the bottom row of monitors on the wall changed, showing a dim hallway.
“Nobody there yet,” Julio said, standing by the screens. “Why would they hit the lower door first?”
“There’s no radiation in the tunnel,” Chief Harvey said. “We took off our suits down there.”
“Why would you want to do that?” Kate asked.
“It’s hard enough to fire an M60 freehand without those suits on, believe you me.”
The other employees filtered back into the room, looking nervous.
“All, there was an attack attempted at the subway tunnel entrance.”
“Oh no,” said a woman who’d just sat at her terminal. “They’re going to get us.”
“Not without a fight, and we killed all the commandos in the tunnel just now,” Chief Harvey said.
“Jean, could you get Jared Carlson on the line again? We can take it in here.”
“Sure,” Jean said, turning back to her monitor. “Good, he picked up right away. Coming on now.
“Mayor Fine?” asked Jared through the room speakers.
“Yes. We just stopped a commando team outside the subway tunnel door. There’s no radiation.”
“Oh dear,” Jared said. “What about the other door?”
“We just checked the video cameras in the hallway in front of the main vault door. Nobody there yet. We can’t see what’s going on up top.”
“I’ll get a drone launched to take a look,” Jared said, “and I’ll contact my team to see if we can do a rescue. Do you have any idea how soon the power will be back on in the subway system?”
A young tech with a red beard and glasses turned from his monitor. “It’s close. I’ve been monitoring. Why?”
“It’s a long trip in our vehicles,” Jared said. “They’re electrical and can use the power from the subway train tracks when it’s on. The batteries might run out of juice on a round-trip from the base. Especially if we have to fight.”
Chad nodded. “I’ll work on it.”
“Thanks, Chad,” Jean said.
“Fight?” Chief Harvey asked.
“Yes, the vehicles are armed with rail guns and lasers,” Jared said. “The railguns will run off the battery. We used them to great effect at Penn Station.”
“Okay, see what you can do for us,” Mayor Fine said, “and thank you.”
“You’re welcome. Talk to you soon.”
The call ended, leaving silence in the room for a moment.
“I want those video feeds from the hallway running constantly,” Mayor Fine said. “How many of you know firearms?”
Five hands went up.
“Chief, want to get them checked out on weapons?”
“My pleasure,” Chief Harvey said, taking the five with him.
{ 6 }
Peacekeepers
A lbena stared at the results of the facial recognition scan for blue helmets, her brow furrowed.
“Uh oh, seen that look before,” Penko said from his seat. He looked over her shoulder. “What are you seeing?”
“The number of blue helmet hits is ramping up fast over the last few hours.” She typed furiously on her keyboard.
“What are you doing?”
“Running a report on the number of discrete hits.”
“What’s a discrete hit?”
“Where I use face recognition plus blue helmets to get an estimate of the population size.”
“I’m surprised you weren’t doing that before.”
Albena turned towards him. “It’s a lot easier to get just the helmets, and I didn’t expect to have this issue.”
Penko frowned. “How many hits are you seeing?”
“It went from about fifty per hour to three thousand per hour.”
> “Holy crap.”
“Yeah. Now quit talking to me so I can work.”
“Okay,” he said, getting back to his monitor. “Before I shut up, NYPD hits are going down, not up.”
Albena nodded, not looking up from her monitor as her fingers flew over the keys. “Whoa.”
“What?”
Albena looked over at him. “Somebody just tried to kick me out of the MVS system.”
“Dammit, already?”
“Don’t worry, I deleted their account out from under them,” she said, “but they know we’re using it. That’s not good. Watch for the indicator, and let me know immediately if you get attacked.”
“Okay. Nothing so far, but I’m sure my transaction level isn’t as noticeable as yours.”
***
Jace got a call from Don, asking for a private conference with him and his commando team, plus Cary and Hector. He made the calls, and they met in the conference room.
“What’s going on?” Tad asked.
“Video conference,” Jace said, typing at the console, the screen at the head of the table lighting up. The screen was split in half, Don on one side, Jared on the other.
“Hello,” Don said. “We’ve got some issues.”
Jared nodded. “Cary, I need you to launch one of the drones and take it to city hall.”
“An armed drone?” Cary asked.
“Yes, and it needs to be done right now. You can do it with your phone while we conduct this meeting.”
“On it,” Cary said, pulling out his thin satellite phone.
“We’ve got another mission, and it will be more difficult than the last,” Don said.
“I’m ready,” Taylor said. “I’m still on a high from Penn Station.”
Jared chuckled. “This one is more of a rescue mission, but there are complications.’
“You mean we don’t get to kill any UN slugs?” Slash asked, Don rolling his eyes.
“Who are we gonna rescue?” Tad asked.
“Mayor Fine, Chief Harvey, and his staff of twenty-two people,” Jared said.
“They’re under attack,” Cary said. “Hence the drone. How can they attack there? Isn’t it still radioactive?”
“On the surface it is, but the initial attack happened in the subway tunnel,” Jared said.