Titus set the receiver down in its cradle. “Damned quacks! Think they run things beyond their hospitals. Okay, I’ve got you released to my office. Please don’t do anything stupid…like collapse or die. It would make your Mother and your wife very irate with the both of us. And the minute I think you’re not going to be able to hack light duty, I’m sending your ass back to the hospital. You read me, Colonel?”
“Sir, yes sir!” Marcus replied, sounding more chirper than he felt.
“Schriver is sending over a medic to monitor you,” Titus told his son. “Soon as the medic arrives, we’ll get to work.”
A few minutes later, someone knocked on the door to the reception area. Titus pushed the intercom button and said, “Enter!” The door opened and Lieutenant Colonel Teresa Roman stepped into the room. She marched to a point in front of the general’s desk, snapped to attention, and reported. “Sir, Colonel Roman’s medic reporting for duty!”
“Teresa, he’s all yours for the next ten minutes, then I want him ready to go to work,” said Titus to his daughter-in-law as he rose from his chair. “I’m going to go get some coffee and a Danish. I’ll be back shortly.” It seemed to Marcus as if his father was leaving the room with all due haste without making it look like a retreat!
The moment the door closed, Teresa turned to her husband. “Dammit, Marcus! Are you trying to kill yourself?” she asked, the anger quite evident in her voice.
“Uh…” Marcus began, “no, ma’am! But I can’t just lie around in a bed if the Arizona State Guard is going on the offensive against the enemy forces. Any duty would be better than that!”
Teresa glared at him for a moment then nodded. She knew her husband and understood his sense of duty. “Okay! But I want you to understand something…if I see you overdoing it or about to collapse, I WILL have you put back on the sick list, removed from the Battle Staff, and restrained in your hospital bed…under sedation, if necessary! Do you read me, Colonel?”
Marcus stared deep into Teresa’s brown eyes and answered honestly, “Yes, ma’am!” Teresa removed her med-kit backpack, opened it, and removed several instruments from it. She checked his pulse, oxygen saturation level, and blood pressure. She shined a light into his eyes to check pupillary reaction, then had him follow her index finger with his eyes. She put her instruments aside and drew out a medical hyposprayer. “This contains a mild painkiller and a stimulant! I can give you one shot now and another in four hours. After that, you will return to the hospital to be re-evaluated, then eat and rest. Understood?”
Marcus nodded and replied, “Understood!” Teresa pressed the hyosprayer against his neck and pressed the button that released the pressurized medication to force it through his skin. A moment later, Marcus felt much better. His aches and pains, while not gone, were no longer hammering at him. He felt renewed energy…ready to face the day.
He rose from the chair and took Teresa in his arms. “Thank you, Honey!” he told her then planted a kiss on her lips. The general chose that moment to enter the room with a tray containing three coffee mugs and several Danish piled on a plate.
“Hey now! Enough of that!” Titus said in a mock gruff tone. “I need him fit for duty, not all keyed up!” The three of them shared a laugh then sat down to have their informal breakfast.
**********
January 17th, 1022 hours (MST)
The New White House
Denver, CO
“Madame President, are you sure this is a good time for you to be away from the Capitol?” asked Marie Kasigo, President McPheron’s Chief of Staff. “The place you intend to visit is awfully close to the border with Mexico, ma’am!”
“Marie, believe me when I say…I passed geography back when I was in elementary school and I was a whiz with maps in the Air Force! I know exactly where San Angelo, Texas, is located. I have received some exciting news from our facility near there…and I think it is in our country’s best interest for me to be there at this time,” answered Katherine McPheron. As the commander of a fighter squadron, McPheron had been a fearless and dedicated leader to her personnel. She understood the dangers of combat; having been part of the group of American military personnel who had been stationed in South Korea when the North Koreans invaded their neighbor several years before.
“But, Madame President, you…” Kasigo started to say; only to be interrupted by McPheron who raised her right hand.
McPheron sighed. She didn’t like what she was about to do. “Marie, I seem to recall that when we served in the Air Force, I was a general and you were a lieutenant. I gave the orders then…and I give the orders now! I’m going! Period! Get it set up ASAP,” McPheron said, her mind made up. “Tell Orlen Kitchel at Secret Service and General Faris over at Buckley AFB to make it happen!”
Marie Kasigo realized it was useless to continue trying to dissuade the president from this particular course of action. When the general makes up her mind about something, it’s time for the troops to jump up, salute, and make things happen, she thought to herself, remembering what it had been like serving under General McPheron’s command years before.
“Are things coming together for this evening’s television and radio address?” McPheron asked. Her chief of staff nodded. “Yes, ma’am! The media are making all the arrangements as are our media specialists. We’ll be ready when you are!”
“Excellent!” McPheron replied. She had the unenviable task of telling her nation something few U.S. Presidents had ever had to say. “Marie, I’m going to take a little time before my 11:00 hours meeting with the Vice President, Speaker of the House, Secretary of Defense, and the Joint Chiefs! Thanks!” With that, Kasigo excused herself, closed the door to the Oval Office as she left, and returned to her desk.
In the Oval Office, President McPheron shifted in her chair, trying to take some of the pressure off of her lower back. She closed her eyes for a moment to try to relax, but her thoughts kept returning to the latest report from Prime Base, several miles northeast of San Angelo. McPheron had authorized an Ultra Top Secret project to be run from that base. While initial reports had been promising, the base had lost contact with its advance teams. The new report indicated that, after many months, it looked like contact with those teams might once again be possible.
McPheron knew she needed to visit Prime Base; partially to see if this project might be able to save part of the American Dream and partially for her family; her husband, Daniel, and son, Michael. Her son had gone with one of the Project Foothold teams months before to a secure site. This might be the last chance she and Daniel would have to communicate with their only child. McPheron wondered if she could convince her husband to join their son. She, of course, would need to remain behind; her country needed her! She opened her eyes and checked her computer monitor.
**********
The president’s meeting started precisely at 11:00 a.m. “Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for coming on short notice. We have all reviewed the recent intel. We have, independently and jointly, reached a decision to change our strategy from a defensive posture to an offensive one. Before we proceed, I want us on the record that we…all of us…agree that this is the best course of action! And, that we prepare to release the intel over global media to show the world we have no other alternative but to go to total war!” McPheron looked at the assembled personnel and watched as they nodded their understanding.
“Very well then,” began McPheron, “Vice President Thayer, what do you say?”
Malcolm Thayer had been McPheron’s personal choice to serve as her running mate for many reasons! A tall and stocky gentleman, he had made it into the U.S. Naval Academy with a combination of excellent grades and a football scholarship which helped him escape the rough neighborhood he grew up in. When offered a professional football contract, Thayer had turned it down to go to the academy and complete his education; first with a bachelor’s degree, then later a master’s and a PhD! He had served his country in the U.S. Navy for 15 years until an accident at sea
had severely injured his left leg and cut short his military career. Thayer parleyed all of his earlier successes into the business sector; which had led him to becoming a much sought after business executive!
“Madame President, based on the intel we received, we have no choice but to go on the offensive…and soon,” Thayer responded. “With the subversion of the Peoples States, the United States is the sole remaining free nation standing against the Islamic Global Caliphate! I vote yes…and so has the Senate!”
McPheron turned to look at Representative Maria Ruiz of Arizona, the Speaker of the House. “Madame Speaker?”
Ruiz put her coffee cup down. “Madame President, the State of Arizona has been under attack for years now. My constituents were part of the initial group of citizens to call for the conservative states to break away from their liberal counterparts. They…and I…feel it is time for us to put down the kid gloves, get off our behinds, and kick some ass! The House votes YES!”
President McPheron smiled at her fellow Arizonan. She knew how the citizens of the Grand Canyon State felt. They’d voted resoundingly for her to become the President of the United States! “Thank you, Maria! Secretary of Defense Everett?”
Al Everett, General, U.S. Army (retired) looked every bit the paratrooper he’d once been. Tall, well-muscled, and tanned, Everett had worked his way up the chain of command in the 101st Airborne, then into other commands, and finally, the old Pentagon. McPheron had pulled him from an unsatisfying retirement and made him Secretary of Defense to continue rebuilding the U.S. military in preparation for this moment.
“Yes, ma’am! Our troops are ready, our logistics are sound, and battle plans have been developed with our active duty, national guard, reserve, and state guard components, Madame President!” Everett replied. He smiled and continued, “Our allied forces are chomping at the bit…ready for some payback…finally!” McPheron returned the smile as she thought about those allied forces that had been carefully hidden from the rest of the world for so many years.
“Let ‘em know that their time is coming, Al,” President McPheron said. She continued around the room asking each person present for their opinion and vote on the issue before them: whether to continue to fight a defensive war or an offensive one! Each of the remaining personnel voted in the affirmative.
“Very well then,” she began, “we are unanimous in our decision! I will go on television and radio this evening to let the world know of our resolve. During my speech, we’ll release the intel recordings of Suleyman and Al Zahrani discussing their plan to betray the PSSA. Our federal troops and state agencies are already on high alert but let’s take it up a notch! Once word gets out, the Caliph, Carrington, and their ilk will probably dither a bit then launch a balls-out attack to accelerate their schedule. Alright? Great! Malcolm…Al…if you would hang back a moment, please? Thank you, everybody”
Thayer and Everett kept their seats while the others rose, said their goodbyes, and left the room. Once the door closed, McPheron leaned forward in her chair to address her vice president and secretary of defense. “I know you two want to talk me out of visiting Texas. Well, it ain’t going to work, guys! I have never led from the rear and I won’t start now! This is just going to be the first leg of a tour of our border states. After this trip, I’m going to the other southern states, then the Dakotas and Iowa before working further east. I want our citizens to know that I’m with them in this fight!”
The two men started to talk over one another to argue with their leader. Everett deferred to Thayer, who responded, “Damn it, Katherine, it’s an unwarranted risk! We need you here in Denver!” Everett quickly nodded his agreement.
“That’s just so much horse squeeze, you two, and you know it!” replied McPheron as she slapped the table with the palm of her right hand! “We have a command and control system in place should anything happen to me. Malcolm, that is precisely why you will be staying in Denver, on the slim chance something does happen to me. Al, I’ll be in Air Force One, Marine One, or in the Beast. Otherwise, I’ll be on or near military installations at each stop. Between the Secret Service, the state police or guard agencies, and nearby military personnel, I’ll be fine!”
The two men grumbled but had to admit, she had made her point. Finally, Thayer asked, “I take it the San Angelo visit is basically to check on the status of Project Foothold?”
Thayer and Everett were two of a very small group of personnel who had been fully briefed on the project. Thayer because he was in the line of Presidential succession and Everett because the project was run under the auspices of the Department of Defense for security reasons.
“Gentlemen, let me be blunt! We know that we may be taking an offensive stance far too late in the game to prevent the IGC from fulfilling their goal of global domination. They have overrun and or destroyed every other country around the world,” McPheron said. “Thankfully, they don’t have an endless supply of nuclear weapons or I’m afraid they would have already nuked us! The only other reason they haven’t is because they need our midwestern states for agriculture! If this is our final battle, our final moment, then Project Foothold may be the only chance to continue our country’s way of life! And, the secret of Project Foothold must never, I repeat never, fall into IGC or PSSA hands. Do you read me?” Both men nodded their assent.
“I want to personally see if Project Foothold has been successful. If communications can be made between the two locations, I hope to convince Daniel to join Michael at the secure site! And I must impress upon the base commander that under no circumstances can that base be allowed to fall into enemies hands,” McPheron said. “I want them to be prepared to use the base’s self-destruct system to prevent that!” Thayer and Everett knew the possibility of Daniel McPheron leaving his wife behind to travel to a secure location without her was non-existent. Mr. McPheron may never have served in the military but he was a student of military history, and an honorable man respected by all who knew him!
McPheron locked eyes with Thayer and then Everett. “C’mon, old friends, you know I’m right to do this!” She smiled at them and watched as they nodded their agreement.
Finally, Malcolm Thayer said, “Alright, Katherine, alright! Just don’t go out and get captured by the enemy. We’d have to recall Kent and Cord Morgan to pull off a rescue attempt, and they’re kinda busy at the moment!” McPheron, Thayer, and Everett shared a laugh…one of the last they would share together.
**********
The media technician held up one hand with five digits extended. He silently ticked off the last few seconds by curling a digit every second. After the fourth second, he pointed at President Katherine McPheron; telling her that she was live on multiple media: television, radio, and Internet.
“My fellow Americans,” McPheron began, as so many American presidents had begun their speeches to the country for decades. “Our nation was born of people who came from the Old World seeking freedom for themselves and their loved ones. Over the past two and a half centuries, time and time again Americans have had to fight to preserve that freedom and this nation.” She paused for second before continuing with her speech.
“Each time, the American people have risen to the occasion, faced the dangers they encountered, and fought any adversary. Each time, we emerged victorious…until the past few years; in which we have ‘fought’ a defensive ‘cold war’ with our brothers and sisters who now reside in the Peoples Socialist States of America and with the ever expanding Islamic Global Caliphate. In this war, we have tried merely be left alone.” McPheron paused again and shifted ever so slightly in her chair. Damn back pain! she thought, trying to keep the pain from showing on her face.
“Unfortunately, our defensive posture has cost us dearly. In recent days, our intelligence agencies have intercepted and deciphered a series of communiques between Caliph Mahmud Muhammed Suleyman of the IGC and one of his chief agents. That agent, Abdul Aziz Mohammed Al Zahrani, has been identified as the mastermind of numerous terror op
erations conducted globally by the IGC to include the attempt to release radioactive materials over key locations in the State of Arizona a couple of years ago.”
“Al Zahrani has done more to expand the IGC worldwide than any other agent of the Caliph. At this moment, Al Zahrani is in the former District of Columbia as a special envoy to Sherrill Carrington, the President of the Peoples Socialist States of America. Carrington and her administration have formally allied themselves with the IGC to strike at the United States of America.” President McPheron stopped for a few seconds to let her last sentence sink in.
“This alliance is for the sole purpose of conducting offensive combat operations against the citizens and the lands of the United States of America. To date, their efforts have been confined to areas along our borders with the PSSA. However…based on the communiques that we have intercepted, it has become apparent that the PSSA and the IGC plan to increase the frequency and severity of their attacks. They have prepositioned their troops, aircraft, tanks, ships, and equipment near our borders with the intent of launching a series of massive attacks upon our nation.”
With her right hand, President McPheron pointed to her upper right and the camera angle shifted slightly to allow a graphic to appear. “I have ordered that the original audio of the conversation between Caliph Suleyman and Al Zahrani be played. You will hear the recording with the translation in captions followed by an audio translation. While we normally would not play something like this, it is my decision, and that of my administration, that the people of the United States should hear the threats being made towards them in the words of the enemy themselves.”
The audio began to play. As Suleyman and Al Zahrani spoke, captions were displayed in the graphic area. The audio ran for several minutes, then the conversation was repeated in an English audio format. The camera angle returned to President McPheron and she continued her prepared speech, “The first audio recording, ladies and gentleman, contained the voices of Caliph Suleyman and his lieutenant Al Zahrani. Their voice prints were matched by three separate audio laboratories to recordings of both men. The content of the conversation was verified by seven different Arabic translators. The English captions and audio translation were accomplished by a team of six Arabic translators. The conversation, its contents, and the threats contained within it are authentic. They, with the aid of their PSSA allies, intend to launch a massive strike upon the United States of America using nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons!”
The Arizona State Guard Trilogy Page 54