A NATION AT WAR - The Second Civil War Book II (The Second Civil War - BOOK II 1)

by Marshall Huffman

  “General?”

  “I think it would be best if you escorted Ms. Cole to her quarters and kept her there. She seems to be suffering a breakdown and is obviously no longer in control of her faculties,” the General said, standing up.

  Hanna rushed at him and tried to hit him with her fists but all he did was grab her hands and hold them. She struggled against him but it was useless.

  “Perhaps restraints would be in order,” he said, smiling at her.

  “I will see you shot for this,” she yelled at him, spittle coming from her lips.

  “Yes, well, maybe another day. But not this one. Take her and keep her in her quarters,” the General ordered.

  “This isn’t over," she screamed as they took her out of the room.

  “No. Not quite yet,” he said softly as the door closed.

  ****

  “Are you telling me that Mexico crossed into California and killed American citizens?” President Jason asked as they were riding from the airport to the Capital Building.

  “That is the report we have. They are essentially using the main roads to move their tanks and support equipment. They are using I-5, 805 and I-15. From the last reports, they were getting ready to move on San Diego. I guess some Apache Helicopters were able to get into the North Island Air Station and are preparing to attack the tanks and ground troops. They have only a handful of fighters since Quasim ordered everything sent to the East Coast,” Internal Affairs Chief, Beau Zimmerman told him.

  “We can’t sit by and let Mexico invade. They may not be for the Republic but I damn sure don’t intend to have Mexico claim California.”

  “What would you like us to do?”

  “Get Jamison, Fox and...Ah hell, get all of the military commanding officers over to my office as fast as they can get here. They are spread out over hell’s half acre but we need to have a meeting as early as possible. Every hour it takes, Mexico gets entrenched deeper into US soil,” Jason said.

  “What about the possibility of a retaliation attack by the United States?”

  “It’s something we have to chance. I’ll see if President Quasim will even take my call. It’s worth a try at least. Maybe we can have a cease fire while we deal with Mexico.”

  “Good luck with that,” Beau said as the limo pulled up in front of the capital.

  “You start rounding everyone up and I’ll call Quasim immediately. This is something that we cannot afford to waste a minute of time on.”

  “Understood,” Beau said hurrying to his office.

  President Jason just shook his head. The next thing you know Canada will try to take Alaska, he thought as he walked into his office and began to make the call to President Quasim.

  CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO

  Mexico was overjoyed with the first day’s success. At daybreak they would continue their march north. General Riviera woke early, ready to have his men take San Diego. It would be a major accomplishment.

  At first light he ordered his men to advance. They were met with resistance almost immediately. During the night as many reserves as could be found were entrenched along the Mission Valley Freeway.

  They had even managed to get six Abrams tanks outfitted and had them hidden at the I-15 and 163 interchange. The Apache AH-64 helicopters met the advancing army and immediately attacked anything on the roads. Within a few minutes, fifteen tanks were destroyed and burning. Again and again, the deadly Apaches attacked, slowing the advance to a standstill.

  General Riviera was furious. This was not the way it was supposed to be at all. Their intelligence assured him that they would meet with hardly any resistance. Instead he was fighting Apache helicopters, military reserves, and even some citizens.

  “I want them to advance. I don’t care how stiff the resistance is. Captain you will break through or I will have you relieved. Do you understand?” he yelled into the field phone.

  The fighting intensified and slowly the Mexicans started to advance once again. The Americans fell back to Balboa Avenue and dug in there. During the night, Miramar had moved its remaining fighters to Montgomery Air Field. Once the advance started up and the Apaches broke off to refuel and rearm, they entered the fight bringing the Mexican Army to a halt once again.

  The fighting ended in a stalemate as the sun set on the second day.

  ****

  General Ascot was waiting as the President’s plane came to a stop and the ladder was lowered. He saluted as the President stepped off the plane.

  “I’m surprised to see you here. I thought you would want to be as far away as possible,” the President said as he climbed into the limo.

  “It seemed like as good a time as any to talk. How did your negotiations with President Jason go?”

  “As expected. They would have gone better if we had not received the situation report on what was transpiring in our country. Tell me General, just how did they manage to pull this off right under our noses? I’m not sure how something like this could have happened,” the President said, leaning back.

  “Sir, with all due respect, how it happened is not the real issue here.”

  “Oh really? I thought I decided what the issue was, not you General,”

  “Let me rephrase that. We should be considering, not how it happened, or who is to blame, but how we can stop this foolishness.”

  “Foolishness? Just what are you referring to General?” he asked, leaning forward now.

  “Killing each other. The death toll is reaching into the hundreds of thousands now. Each raid brings an escalating mortality rate. We simply cannot continue to fight by bombing each other. I’m not sure at this point a ground war would accomplish much. I had hoped you would come to some kind of agreement with President Jason, that you would find some way to end all of this carnage,” the General said.

  “I see. So you think we should just let everything go? Let them do what they want. It’s acceptable to you to divide the nation. Is that what you are telling me?” the President said.

  “Sir. My point is that we will not have a nation if we keep this up. The division will be too great to even consider uniting again. You cannot kill millions of people and then turn around and expect them to welcome you with open arms. Let them try to create a country on their own. They will soon find that they will need help. Our help. Then we can start rebuilding the country.”

  “I am truly sorry you feel that way. I guess the Vice President was correct. She said you didn’t have the stomach to see this out. She warned me that we needed a stronger person at the head of the military. One that wasn’t afraid of making the hard decisions,” the President said and sat back once again looking out the window.

  “You know Mr. President, you are being short sighted. You win a few battles and think you have won the war. It isn’t that simple. War never is. Military men will die to protect their country but they hate the idea of war. No one in their right mind wants to see death and destruction on the scale we are seeing. I’m sorry you feel that I am not strong enough but let me assure you I am. I am prepared to do whatever it takes to protect my men and our nation.”

  “Meaning what, exactly?”

  “Meaning that I no longer consider you fit to run the affairs of this nation. You are being relieved as Commander-in-Chief and are to resign as President of the United States immediately.”

  “What? You...You pompous ass. Do you think you can just take over like that? I don’t know where you got these delusions of grandeur but I am the President and you will relinquish your command effective this minute,” the President sputtered.

  “Sorry Benjamin, it’s a done deal. Vice President Cole is under house arrest. You will be placed under arrest as well. We are taking you to a secure location where you will be held until we decide what to do with you. Several members think you should be tried for...are you ready for your favorite word? Treason,” the general said and chuckled.

  “You will not get away with this. You will answer to the people before this is over.”

&
nbsp; “You know, Hanna said almost the same thing. I seriously doubt that either of you are correct.

  ****

  President Jason was sitting in the main conference room with his head people. They were discussing what to do about Mexico and why President Quasim was refusing to take his phone call.

  “What did you expect? You embarrassed him. He thought he was going to make you beg him to stop and give in to his demands and then you go and pull the rug out from under him,” Mary Lake said.

  “Yes, but still. I told them it was about the Mexican invasion of California. You would think that he would at least want to discuss that aspect,” Jason insisted.

  “He is a stubborn man. He doesn’t know how to back down. He just bulls ahead,” Vice President Folly replied.

  “But California. He is just going to sit by and let them take it and kill the Americans living there? What if they decide that Oregon is land they want as well? When will it stop?” Jason asked.

  General MacMillan was just about ready to speak up when a young woman came in and handed the President a note. He read it quickly and looked up at them.

  “It seems that General Ascot has been given the task of talking to us. At least we can start a dialogue,” he said.

  “When does he want to talk?”

  “Apparently he is holding right now.”

  “Then let’s see what he has to say,” MacMillan said.

  Jason pushed the button and placed the call on speakerphone.

  “This is James Jason. How can I help you General Ascot?”

  “Mr. President. Thank you for taking my call. I assume I am on speakerphone so I will try to keep this brief. I am informing you that if you are willing to stop all hostilities, we are prepared to do the same.”

  They all looked at each other in stunned silence.

  “General Ascot, I just left a meeting with President Quasim and that was hardly the message I got from him. What has changed in the last twenty-four hours that would precipitate such an offer?” Jason asked.

  “It is a fairly long story and I would be more than happy to give you the details at a later time but it is sufficient to say that from a military point of view ending the killing of all Americans is our primary concern.”

  “I see. General, is the military now in control of the United States?” Jason asked.

  “Temporarily.”

  “Then you are speaking for the United States. I must assume that President Quasim is no longer Commander-in-Chief.”

  “That would be correct sir. As I said, it is a temporary arrangement. We do not wish to have a military country. This was the only way that we could assure that productive talks could begin,” the General replied.

  “General Ascot, this is General MacMillan. Just to be totally clear. You are offering to cease all hostilities if we will do likewise. You will no longer attack our states or cities as long as we do not attack yours. Is that correct?”

  “Yes. I can’t speak for private citizens and skirmishes might occur in some areas but as for the military and reserves, we will not cross into your territory.”

  “Thank you General Ascot.”

  “Mr. President?”

  “We accept your offer. We will begin a step down and all military personnel will cease fighting. It seems like we will have much to talk about soon. You are aware of the situation in California?”

  “We are. It is a great concern and simply cannot be allowed.”

  “We totally agree. We will issue orders to terminate all civil hostilities immediately.”

  “Thank you Mr. President. We will do likewise.”

  “We appreciate your calling General.”

  “Good day sir,” he said hanging up.

  They all sat there looking at each other for a moment before Vice President Folly spoke up.

  “Do we really stand down? What if it is a ploy of some kind?”

  “I honestly doubt it. They know we could retaliate with force if necessary. No. I think General Ascot is in control and President Quasim and Vice President Cole are either in seclusion or under some form of restraint,” MacMillan replied.

  “What should we do next?” Jason asked.

  “I will have our people remain on alert but to stop any fighting except to defend their positions. We were planning a major air strike on Columbus, Ohio later this week but I will have them stand down.”

  “Good. We need to start planning for the next step. A dialogue with the General and looking at the situation in California,” the President said.

  CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE

  The war between the states began to wind down. President Quasim and Vice President Cole were removed from office. General Ascot remained in control of the United States and would do so until the election scheduled for a later date took place.

  A series of meetings were to take place between Ascot and President Jason to discuss the free flow of citizens across borders and the resumption of trade.

  The major concern on both of their minds was California. Finally it was agreed that they would both join forces and operate out of Davis-Monthan Air Base in Tucson, Arizona.

  By the time they had gathered sufficient military personnel and aircraft, Mexico had pushed to the city limits of Carmel.

  ****

  Mexico’s Secretary of National Defense, Eleazar Guzman entered the room where the President sat drinking coffee.

  “Mr. Presidente. We have received word that the Americans are joining together in Arizona to counter attack our soldiers.”

  “Where are we now?’

  “We have just taken a place called Carmel and are pushing toward Monterey.”

  “Show me on the map,” the Presidente said walking to a large table with a map of California lay out.

  “This is Carmel. It is mostly destroyed now. We did not want to get bogged down in house to house fighting so we pretty much just obliterated it.”

  “And this is Monterey here?” he asked, tapping the map.

  “Si.”

  The Presidente studied the map for several moments.

  “Then I want all troops to stop advancing. We will hold along this highway here,” he said tracing along the Monterey-Salinas Highway. Reinforce all positions and have our Air Force destroy the Monterey Peninsula Airport. I want it totally destroyed to prevent the Americans from using it.”

  “I will see to it.”

  “We will hold on to what we have gained. We may have to give some back but that can be accomplished at the future peace talks.”

  “I understand Mr. President.”

  ****

  Within three months, the Mexican soldiers had been driven back to the southern outskirts of Los Angeles. They held the line between Irvine and Riverside and on November 15th, they agreed to a cease fire. Major cities like Los Angeles, Long Beach, Pomona, and San Diego were mere shells of their former selves.

  A conference was immediately set up between General Ascot and President Jason. California dominated much of the dialogue. Both realized that the killings had to stop all across the nation, including California.

  It was finally time for the nation to begin healing.

  The Second Civil War

  Book III

  - A NATION HEALING –

  Marshall W. Huffman did not begin writing until after he retired from teaching. He decided to start with a trilogy based on a cataclysmic event. Marshall’s first trilogy is THE EVENT and consists of THE END, THE BEGINNING, and THE REVELATION. With THE EVENTS success he decided to write a second trilogy that is a frightening look at the events that could lead to THE SECOND CIVIL WAR. It is made up of: Book I – A NATION DIVIDED; BOOK II – A NATION AT WAR; BOOK III – A NATION HEALING.

  He has also published a series of books entitled: the ANGIE BARTONI CASE FILES with a central cast of characters. In addition, he has two another series entitled: THE NORRIS FILES with its own set of central characters and THE LOGAN FILES. He enjoys writing mysteries, techno-thrillers, and Sci-Fi. His other Sci-Fi b
ooks THE BRINK – DEEP FLIGHT and CLOSE PROXIMITY are intense techno-thrillers with Sci-Fi intertwined. He finished BLACKSTAR and it just went on sale. His latest addition CHIMERA is a look at what could well happen if we don’t stop twisting science in perverted way.

  Marshall was born in Bainbridge, Georgia and grew up in Indiana. After spending eight years in the Navy, he attended Ball State University, earning a B.S. degree in Business.

  During and after college, he was involved in the restaurant business and spent the next twenty-five years in all types of venues, eventually owing his own fine dining restaurant. After years of long hours, he decided on a career change. He attended Eastern Illinois University earning a MBA. Because of his business background, Eastern Illinois University asked him to teach in the hospitality management program. He was recruited from Eastern to Parkland College and soon took over as the Program Director for the Hospitality Program. During his tenure there, he became a chef and had a television show called Cooking around the World with Chef Marshall and taught a series of Gourmet cooking classes for Continuing Education as well.

  Professor Huffman retired from teaching along with his wife, Dr. Susan Huffman, to the Tampa Bay Florida area.

  You can find his books under: MARSHALL HUFFMAN at Amazon.com.