by Robert Boren
“What about athiests?” asked Chester, who was walking up.
“I don’t think that is considered ‘protected’ by these folks,” Frank said.
“Well, they will have to kill me because I’m not putting up with this crap, not for one minute,” Charlie said, his face turning red.
Jeb started laughing, and walked up.
“They ain’t gonna win, Charlie,” he said. “These fools can’t even pump and refine their own oil without help from western companies. They're good at breaking things, but that’s about as far as it goes. We’ll go through them like shit through a goose if it’s a real fight.”
“Hey, here comes the President,” said somebody.
The screen showed him walking up to the podium. He had a somber look on his face.
“Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. I won’t recount what has happened over the last twenty four hours, as I’m sure all of you have been following the news. The United States, the EU, and the Russian Federation are cooperating on a level not seen since the Second World War to settle this matter and bring the guilty parties to justice. And make no mistake, our response will not be a restrained series of police actions. These attacks are acts of war, and will be treated as such. We will use our most terrible weapons, and fight as if our very survival is at stake, because it is.”
There was applause in the clubhouse, and in the press room.
“A few words about moderate Muslims,” the president continued. “There is no cause and no excuse to punish the moderate Muslims due to the actions of these radicals. Remember that moderate Muslims living in our cities have been killed in these attacks, right alongside people of every other faith. That being said, the United States is not going to have the resources to protect all of you at all times from angry citizens. I suggest that you keep a low profile while we concern ourselves with winning this war.”
“Finally, a few words about Martial Law. We have put that in place only in areas that are under attack, and we will not leave it in place for long. I know there are many out there who are concerned about the guarantees of Liberty which reside in our Constitution and Bill of Rights. This Administration takes those guarantees very seriously. Martial law will only be declared when we need it to fight the enemy. Rumors of an extension of Martial Law to all areas of the United States are false. We have no reason to do that. We will not do that. I hope that puts these fears to rest. That is all for now, and sorry, but I won’t take any questions at this time.” He left the podium and walked off to the right.
“You know, I’m actually proud of this president for once,” Frank said. Jane looked at him and smiled.
“You aren’t going to believe this Frank, but I’m worried about some of what he said,” Jane said.
“What, I can’t agree with your guy and be on your side of this?” he asked, laughing.
“He just declared open season on Muslims in the United States.”
“Oh, you think I didn’t catch that?” Frank asked. “I understand exactly what he is doing, and I think it’s brilliant.”
“Please explain.”
“Well, you heard old spinach chin saying they were going to use our society’s laws against us, correct?”
“Yes.”
“Those comments by the president just made that tactic null and void,” Frank said.
“I agree,” Jeb said, walking up behind them. “The Caliph, may he bathe in pig blood, is thinking that our government will protect Muslims when the bad element in that community starts holding demonstrations and pushing people around, like they’ve been doing in Europe for the last ten years or so. They try that shit here, and the bubbas among us are going to take them apart, with no interference from the government. The commander in chief just locked down the sleeper cells. He applied a kind of martial law, but only on the bad guys.”
“Don’t you think this could get out of hand?” asked Jane.
“Oh, it will get out of hand, at first,” Jeb said. “It won’t take to many incidents to drive these folks underground and out of action.”
“Oh, crap, look,” Frank said, pointing to the TV screen. There was video on the screen of a part of London on fire.
“Not London,” said Jane. “Please, not London.”
The commentator came back on the screen.
“That amazing footage was taken in Westminster. About an hour ago, the British Secret Service foiled a nuclear attack on the city. It was another pleasure craft, on the Thames River. The device was disarmed and all suspects were apprehended. According to BBC they were of Pakistani and Syrian nationality.”
“They stopped the plot, so what’s with the fires?” asked Jane.
The announcer continued.
“As you can see, we have fires burning in the background. At the time that the news about the foiled nuclear attack was released, Islamic demonstrators were still camped outside Westminster Abbey. Men flooded out of the nearby pubs, beat most of the demonstrators to death, and burned their tents, signs, and other items. London police looked on, but took no action.”
“Looks like the Prime Minister and our President are on the same page,” Jeb said. “Bravo!”
The screen now went to another special bulletin. The tired commentators were back on, looking at papers on their desk. They both looked really tired.
“Ladies and Gentlemen, we have two more major stories to report. First, the United States Government has announced that it is moving in to Mexico to take control of that country, in lieu of an official Mexican government. The agents from Venezuela who had attempted to take over have fled that country after Mexican nationals stormed the palace. The United States is coming in at the request of what is left of the Mexican government. They will not answer questions about the length of our occupation or plans for the future.”
“I was expecting this,” Frank said. “We’re going to annex Mexico. Wait and see.” Jane looked at him and shook her head.
“The second story comes out of North and South Korea. United States and South Korean troops are evacuating from border next to the de-militarized zone, at the same time that the Chinese are pulling their troops away from the northern border of North Korea. It is widely expected that a major attack is imminent, and sources say that North Korea is getting ready to fire their ICMBs in desperation. South Korea and Japan are trying to protect their people as best they can, and missile defense units are at the ready. Although untested, North Korean ICMBs do have the capability to hit the western United States as well as the Russian Federation and other Asian countries.”
Chapter 4 – TV Night
Everybody in the room was silent, staring at the TV screens, listening to the pundits discuss the threat from North Korea. Then a man in the middle of the room broke the silence.
“C’mon, folks, the North Korean ICBMs can’t get to us. We’re too far inland.”
“Some of us have family on the west coast,” shouted a woman close to where Frank and Jane were sitting.
Jane stood up.
“Yes, both of our kids are on the west coast,” Jane said.
“One of mine is in Hawaii,” said another person.
“My son is stationed in South Korea,” said another woman. She was crying. That hushed the crowd. Jane walked over and hugged her.
“Well, folks, I suggest we try to calm ourselves down,” Hilda said, standing up.
“I agree,” Jeb said, also standing up. “There’s nothing we can do about this now, and besides, those idiots running North Korea have failures more often than successes with their long range weapons. Most of these things are going to fall into the ocean.”
“The operative word is ‘most’, my friend,” said Chester. “But you’re right, there isn’t a thing we can do other than watch and wait.”
Jane walked back over to the bench she was sitting on, and looked at her cellphone on the table in front of her. It was buzzing, showing Sarah’s number. She quickly put the phone to her ear, and looked Frank in the eye. She mouthed
‘Sarah’.
“Mom?” a scared voice said.
“Yes, honey,” she replied. Her brow got furrowed. Frank saw that and it made him uneasy.
“We were just told to evacuate Portland,” Sarah said. “Mom, I’m scared.”
“Don’t be scared, honey, just leave. Now. As fast as you can. Don’t worry about your stuff.”
“What about Franklin?” she asked. She was crying now.
“You have a cat carrier, don’t you?”
“Yes,” she said.
“Put Franklin in there and throw him in the back seat,” Jane said. “But leave now.”
“Where are you guys?” she asked.
“We are in southern Utah. Go east, and then call us. Don’t go south of Utah.”
Frank nodded at Jane, and put his hand out for the phone.
“Your father wants to talk to you,” Jane said. She handed the phone to Frank.
“Hi, sweet pea, how are you holding up?”
“I’m scared, daddy,” she said. Frank got tears in his eyes. He used his free hand to wipe them away.
“Listen, honey,” he said. “You need to leave right now. There's going to be a lot of traffic on the road, but just head to the east as fast as you can. Do you have anybody who can go with you?”
“My roommate,” she said. “She’s pushing me to get going too.”
“Good,” Frank said. “Leave now. You can join us in the motorhome when you get out here.”
“Alright, daddy, I’m leaving now. I love you.”
“Love you too, honey. Be careful,” Frank said. He handed the phone back to Jane.
“You’re going to go?” asked Jane.
“Yes, mom, we’re leaving right now. I’m taking the cat too.”
“Good. Take care. I love you sweetie.”
“Mom?”
“Yes, dear,” Jane said.
“What about Robbie?”
“We don’t know, but we’ll try to call him. LA is a long way south, he might not be in the same danger you're in,” Jane said. “But don’t worry about it, just go.”
“Alright. Love you, mom,” she said. She hung up the phone.
Frank looked at Jane. She was on the verge of tears, but she also had a look of relief on her face.
“You alright?” Frank asked.
“I’m glad she called, and I’m glad she’s leaving. Do you think Robbie is in danger?”
“I don’t know. Certainly less danger than Sarah would be in if the North Korean ICBMs actually work.”
“Hey, look at the screen. They're talking about North Korean missile capabilities now,” Jeb said. Everybody quieted down and turned to the screen.
The commentator was standing in front of a graphic of the Pacific Rim, which had circles showing the ranges of their different missiles. Some people in the room reacted with a gasp.
“As you can see, the longest range missile is technically capable of reaching into the US Mainland,” the commentator said. “The name of this missile is the Taepodong-2. There is much disagreement on the range of this missile. With extra boosters, this missile would be technically capable of hitting as far into the US mainland as the Rocky Mountains. Our best experts do not believe that. They say the real range of the rocket much smaller. They say this missile is not capable of hitting the lower 48 states of the US at all, but it is capable of hitting the western part of Alaska, and possibly the Hawaiian Islands.”
“Shit,” said Jane. “I don’t know if I trust our intelligence enough to stake my life on it.”
The commentator continued.
“One thing to bear in mind, though, is the reliability of these weapons. The Taepodong-2 has been tested three times. Once in July 2006, once in April 2009, and once in April 2012. All three tests failed. The real danger is the Rodong missile, which is operational and fairly reliable. It has a range of just 1,300 km. That puts most of Japan in range, and of course South Korea and parts of China and Russia.”
Jane looked over at Frank.
“I’m going to try to call Robbie,” she said.
“Alright, but don’t tell him to come here. I think he’s in more danger on the road between here and there than he is from the North Koreans.”
“Agreed,” Jane said. She dialed the phone, but shook her head. “Busy signal.”
“I’m surprised Sarah got through.”
The commentator put a new map up, that centered on the Middle East, showing rings of missile ranges.
“It is believed that North Korea has been selling its missiles to Iran and other nations in the Middle East, but so far we can only verify that they have sold the Scud-B, with a range of 300 km, and the Scud-C with a range of 500 km.These are regional weapons.They would not even reach Israel from Iran. There are unconfirmed reports of the Taepodong–1 and Taepodong-2 missiles being sold to Iran, but even if that is true, there is still the issue of test failures for both of these systems. If Iran did possess the Taepodong-2 missile, technically they would be able to target areas as far away as Greenland to the north, most of the African continent, India, and large sections of China, Southeast Asia, and the Russian Federation.”
“That puts all of Europe squarely in the crosshairs,” Jeb said. “Maybe they're re-thinking some of the sanctions we asked them to help with.”
“Again, I must stress that there have been no successful tests of either class of Taepodong missile,” the commentator said. “The biggest threat that North Korea poses is to South Korea, Japan, and the thousands of American soldiers that are in the area.”
“The lines are still busy into LA,” Jane said. “We probably aren’t going to get to him tonight.”
Frank nodded.
Jeb walked over, with Charlie and Chester.
“You know what we’ve noticed?” asked Charlie. “Nobody is talking about what's going on in the Southwest.”
“I was wondering about that myself,” Frank replied. “It would be nice to know if we have to evacuate here in the near term.” Jane looked over at Frank and nodded.
“Hey, Hilda, can you get any of the local TV channels here?” Jeb asked.
“Sure, we have the usual CBS, NBC, and ABC affiliates. Why?”
“We're wondering what's going down south,” Charlie said.
“Worried about your park?” asked Hilda.
“Well, yes, but I’m more worried about us,” he replied. “If they’ve taken advantage of the confusion of all of these nuke attacks, they might have moved through northern Arizona. They could be on their way here, you know. They probably can’t go south anymore.”
“If they were smart, they would surrender,” Chester said. “They’re stranded with no place to go.”
Frank laughed. Everybody looked over at him.
“What’s so funny?” asked Hilda.
“Those people are bat-shit crazy. They want to die. You’ve seen how they act. They aren’t going to surrender. Our military or our citizens are going to have to take them out one at a time.”
“He’s right,” Jeb said. “Of course the Texicans might chase them down and kill them all. They did a good job of kicking them out of their state.”
“True, but Texas has a long border to protect, and the enemy might still be coming in from Mexico,” Chester said. “If the bad guys in Arizona are far enough to the west now, they might decide to let Arizona and Utah take care of their own problems.”
“We saw several more military caravans going south as we were driving here,” Jane said. “Lots of tanks and artillery.”
“True, I don’t think the battle is over just because of these nuke attacks,” Chester said.
Jane looked over at Hilda.
“Let’s turn it to the local channel for a few minutes. CNN is starting to repeat now anyway.”
Hilda nodded, and walked over to a cabinet under the TV screen, opened a drawer, and pulled out the remote. She changed the channel.
There was a local newscast on, with video of people stripping local grocery stores
clean in a frenzy.
“This video is from Flagstaff, earlier today,” the announcer said. “People are stocking up and hunkering down. It’s reminiscent of what happens when a hurricane is on the way. There has been intense fighting east and south of the city. Enemy forces are stronger than expected, and are fighting desperately at this hour. The Army is bringing in troops, but not fast enough to end the battle. There are also battles going on to regain Tucson and Phoenix, and that's an additional drain on resources. The Texas forces have retreated back across their own border now, and are working to stop the influx of enemy fighters coming from the south. It is expected that the flow of terrorists will stop, as the US forces link up with what is left of the Mexican military and shut off all of the supply and entry routes in that country.”
“This isn’t giving me a warm fuzzy feeling,” Charlie said. “It sounds to be like we haven’t even been able to shut off the influx of enemy from Mexico. We're spread way too thin.”
Jeb nodded, and so did Frank.
“Well,” Jeb said, “if we lose Flagstaff, we'll want to go further north, I recon.”
“Yes,” Frank said.
Hilda had a terrified look on her face. Charlie saw it.
“I know, Hilda, it’s hard to leave what you’ve worked for all of your life behind, but trust me, it’s better than getting killed over it.”
“I know what you’ve just gone through,” she replied, tears running down her cheeks.
“There’s still a good chance that they won’t come this way, you know,” Frank said. “They probably aren’t going to focus on taking new territory at this point. They have to know they are not going to win.”
“You’d think so, but we know how these folks are,” Jeb said. “We might have to defend ourselves, you know.”