by TJ Tucker
“We’re facing a highly coordinated operation,” said Morgensen.
“It’s a wonder that they haven’t taken us already,” said Kurdi. “Command and control are always the first objective.”
“We’ll operate under the premise that time is short,” said Morgensen, walking into the room and turning off her cell phone. “We assume that we are a target, that we need to put together a response quickly, and evacuate the President to safety in a hurry.”
As she took her seat, an aide entered and whispered something into Mac Johnson’s ear. Johnson turned in alarm and asked, “This is confirmed?”
The aide nodded, adding, “Yes Sir, I’m afraid so.”
Johnson then said, “You need to tell the room what you just told me. Include any other details you know about.”
“There appears to have been a high-altitude nuclear detonation in the vicinity of our forces in Taiwan. Communicating with our forces is impossible at present, as the atmosphere is charged with so many ions.”
“EMP?” asked Johnson.
“Looks like it,” said the aide.
“Then we’re dead in the water,” replied Johnson. “You can forget about using any of the equipment over there.”
“Explain!” demanded Torres. “What’s EMP? And why can’t they do anything?”
“Electromagnetic pulse Sir,” said Johnson. “A nuclear explosion at high altitude doesn’t destroy anything on the ground with its fireball or shock wave. But it floods the region with an enormous wave of electrically charged particles. It’s like a localized version of what a massive solar storm could do, but it can be far more intense in the region of the detonation. On a small scale, you can use a conventional device to wipe out a small grid. The outcome is that any microchip in the area experiences a surge in induced current so massive, it’s destroyed.”
“You mean our military microchips are not shielded against this?” demanded Torres.
“Certain ones are shielded,” replied Johnson. “But it’s only a relative shielding factor. A true nuclear EMP can overwhelm even most of those. And our biggest vulnerability is that the number of shielded chips is small. The proliferation of electronics in weapons systems has run far ahead of our ability to go back and retrofit shielded chips everywhere. A weapon system might have some surviving subsystems, but also a number of dead ones, and the whole can’t work without all its parts.”
“And you also used Chinese chips,” said Millie Howe. “When my husband was still active in the Navy, he identified a flaw in Chinese chips that made them particularly vulnerable to EMP of just this kind. He tried to get the Navy to exclude them from any combat system, but couldn’t get your predecessors to take him seriously. He retired shortly after that. Today the vulnerable chips are included in the majority of military electronics.”
“Great news!” said Torres, sarcastically. “What about casualties, what are we going to see?”
“Any plane in the air will probably crash, though the pilots may survive if they’re lucky. Ships may not be mobile,” said Johnson. “The blast itself won’t sink ships or destroy buildings on the ground. Troops won’t develop any radiation sickness. I should also say that after the static in the atmosphere clears, we may be able to communicate with at least the biggest ships. Some communication systems were systematically hardened for EMP resistance, if I’m not mistaken.”
“Then we have no way of responding?” asked Torres.
There was silence in the room for a long five seconds or so. Connolly finally responded, “There’s always the nuclear option.”
“I’m guessing you don’t mean that metaphorically, Bill,” said Torres.
“No Sir, I mean it quite literally,” said Connolly.
“All my life, I’ve believed it’s a complete failure of statesmanship and war craft to have to resort to nuclear strikes,” said Torres, somberly.
“But it’s definitely complete failure of governance and vigilance to allow your nation to be defeated and occupied, particularly in this fashion,” replied Morgensen. “What else would you do now?”
Torres said nothing in reply. After another pause, Mac Johnson spoke up. “Our surface forces in the region are incapacitated right now. But EMP doesn’t penetrate the water too deep, so our subs could still launch their Tridents. And we have our ICBMs – InterContinental Ballistic Missiles – here at home. They should be ready.”
Everyone in the room could feel the crushing weight that had just descended onto Torres’ shoulders.
“Mindful of the President’s reservations, we have to explore every alternative,” said Hanna Morgensen. “And the value of our investments in China is not to be taken lightly.”
Jess Linssman became sick to her stomach at the thought that the principal argument against a nuclear strike on China was the value of corporate investments. She excused herself and left the room.
Torres took the departure as a signal to winnow down to a small number that would have to make the decision. “Ladies and gentlemen, I’d like to go into executive session now. Mr. Corson, Mr. Ferguson, please stay on.” John and Lyle were in the process of getting up, but sat back down at the President’s request.
Chapter 73: Executive Session
The only ones left after the room was cleared were Morgensen, Connolly, Kurdi, Johnson, Corson, Ferguson and Torres. “I don’t know who I can trust anymore, so I’ve asked Mr. Corson and Mr. Ferguson to stay on. They know more about this than any of us, and I need to keep everyone honest.”
Torres placed a call to the Chinese embassy, which had to scramble to find the ambassador. When he finally appeared by video-conference, Torres demanded that “You immediately withdraw your forces back to the secure port facilities, and back across the Mexican border.”
The ambassador reacted as though he had been asked to stop an invasion of Martians. “Sir, I assure you China has done no such thing. The embassy is operating normally today. We have no special instructions of any kind. It is inconceivable that my government could have ordered such a thing.”
Frustrated by the exchange, Torres hung up the line. “He’d react like that regardless of the truth behind it.”
He turned to the group. “Defense and retaliation are the questions now. Defense is easy. I’ll call home whatever forces are able to respond and come home. It’s retaliation we need to discuss.”
“Retaliation against the Chinese?” asked Morgensen.
“Of course, who else?” said Torres.
“Rhetorical question, Mr. President,” said Morgensen. “We don’t have irrefutable proof they are responsible.”
“And we likely never will,” said Connolly. “The urgency of this situation demands action in the absence of such proof. They know that US policy is never to exclude first use of nuclear weapons. It was the foundation of our deterrence policy. To not use it now would eviscerate the very concept of deterrence. And secondly what’s with this crap that we don’t have proof? It’s Chinese soldiers, Chinese guns, Chinese FN-6 missiles taking down our aircraft before they can get off the ground. And given our covert operations lately, they have the motive of retaliation. What more do you want?”
“I’m afraid I have to agree,” said Morgensen. “The situation is now beyond the capabilities of the conventional forces that remain at our disposal. At the end of the day, what we are contemplating does not constitute a first strike, since our forces were technically attacked by a nuclear weapon. We have to strike back now and retain the capability for further strikes. The negotiations to come will not be pretty, and we need credible threats. Use the ICBMs now, and keep the Tridents as a further threat to force withdrawal.”
“Could we hit them with an EMP?” asked Torres.
“There’s no time to reprogram the ICBMs,” said Johnson. “Our EMP-producing missiles are on our ships. Guess where those ships are.”
“So what the hell were they thinking?” asked Kurdi. “To invade the US and not assume you will be sent back into the stone age, glowi
ng?”
“That’s troubled me from the start,” said John Corson, who had been quiet to this point. “I had to decide early if what we’d stumbled on was plausible. In the end I decided that if it was real, there had to be a plan to neutralize the nuclear response. Otherwise, it was irrational. When did this all start? Maybe eight hours ago? And here we sit, still able to launch the nuclear strike? Right now it’s looking pretty irrational.”
“As of this moment, our ICBMs are online,” retorted Johnson. “How long that remains the case, I can’t say. You have to assume also that our ability to communicate will only last as long as it takes them to seize control of our facilities. And at that point, our ability to retaliate is in fact neutralized. Mr. Corson, we may only have a small window of opportunity before any plan to neutralize our ICBMs comes into play. The Chinese plan probably factored in the time we would waste arguing about the matter.”
“Are we in agreement then, that a prompt nuclear retaliation is in fact our only viable option?” The Cobra was finally showing her hand. “I hate to rush such a decision, but it will soon be out of our hands completely.”
“Give me five minutes, Hanna,” said Torres. “It’s my name that will be attached to this decision in history, not yours. John and Lyle, come with me to the Oval Office.”
“Five minutes may be all you have, Mr. President,” said Morgensen. “There are reports of troops in DC now.”
…
“Gentlemen, I’m probably the most manipulated man in America, and now’s not the time to be taken in by bullshit. Did anything in there strike you as off?” Torres sat down in his chair across the desk from John and Lyle, who were still a little overwhelmed.
“Sir, the whole premise is fishy.” said John. “We’ve been aware of the attack for close to an hour now, and it began long ago. You’ve had time to launch a counterstrike and so far as we can tell, there’s been no move to take out that capability, nor to occupy the White House and capture you before you can give the order. The Chinese ambassador was correct. It’s inconceivable that they would order this and leave themselves open for annihilation. Surely they have an idea of how trigger happy those people are in the situation room.”
“Are you suggesting it’s not the Chinese behind this?” asked Torres.
“Chinese assets and Chinese soldiers are being used Sir, there’s no doubt about that,” said John. “But is the Chinese government involved? There, I’m beginning to develop some doubts.”
“I can trace things back to a visit I had from a Chinese envoy that was adamant that we couldn’t pay our debts back and that they wanted compensation of a different sort. I thought they meant Taiwan. Secretary Morgensen steered me into massively fortifying Taiwan. That’s how we overcommitted our troops over there to begin with. Now that it’s happened, she wants me to launch a nuclear strike with no more deliberation than if I were to order some kind of training exercise. I don’t think the prospect of 500 million deaths means anything to her. And what you saw in there, with her holding back her opinion, was that she was pretending to be neutral at first and then to be swayed by the situation. She knew all along where she wanted this to go.”
“One other thing has always sat badly with me, Sir,” said John. “Derek Ellis captured Frank and me, and initially demanded to know everything we knew. I let on that I knew it was China backing him, which I didn’t know with certainty at the time. He seemed to squirm when I said it, which kind of made me believe it. But something else changed right then. He broke off the questioning and we were allowed to escape fairly easily soon after that. I now think he may have been playing me.”
“I understand that, John,” said Torres. “The Cobra’s been playing me all along. We never let word get out, but I was almost killed by some ninja on the golf course. He was a Chinese national with some mental problems. The Cobra was quick to pick up on those details. So quick that I came to suspect she’d arranged the whole deal to make me think the Chinese were after me.”
“If she was playing you Sir, perhaps the envoy was also,” said John. “Unless you’ve spoken to the Chinese premier directly, I wouldn’t trust anything you’ve heard. I can add that Connolly is a traitor. I’m sure about that. I don’t know about the others. But it’s possible that there’s been a big Kabuki theater put on for your benefit. My gut says that’s a lot more likely than China plotting this takeover.”
“There’s another point I should add,” said Lyle. “Back in the situation room, Mr. Connolly mentioned it was Chinese FN-6 missiles taking down our planes while still on the ground. If you see the missile at work, you’d call it a Stinger missile because that’s what the US calls its version. The FN-6 is something we saw back in Israel and I think it was stocked for when an attack had to have deniability. I’d recognize it if I saw it. I saw a lot of weapons down in San Marcos, but no FN-6 missiles. And as I understood it, the air bases are under attack by Morningstar, not the Chinese troops. So there’s no way he could know they were FN-6 missiles, and they probably weren’t. His comment that FN-6 missiles were used here strikes me as a Freudian slip.”
“Me too,” said Torres. “But what’s the objective here?”
“The objective is to manipulate us to destroy China while they neutralize our power and occupy us. It removes two superpowers from the scene in a single blow,” replied Lyle. “The classic strategy used by plotters without enough power to achieve their objectives directly.”
“And who?” asked Torres.
“Whoever Morgensen works for. And Ellis. And Connolly. You probably have a better idea of the powers behind the scenes than we do,” said John.
“Unfortunately I don’t,” said Torres. “All I know is they control the world’s central banks, they own the world’s economic and political systems, and they send people like Morgensen to steer governments.”
“Maybe it’s a foreclosure,” said John. “You and your predecessors spent the country into ruinous debt, and now the owners are taking what they feel is their property.”
“Sure, after having insisted on the reckless spending and borrowing in the first place,” said Torres, leaning back in his chair to assert himself. “Look, my time is short, John. They’ll be here any second now. I’m not launching that strike, and that may be my last decision as President.”
“Sir, there’s one more thing you have to do,” said John.
“What’s that?”
“Before you lose access to the airwaves, get on the tube and tell the people the truth. Tell them what happened, what you refused to do, and who they’re facing. They’ll fight to the last man, but they need you as their legitimate leader to tell them the truth. They’ve faced deception for too long, and they see through it.”
Torres cringed at the thought. “The ones who could resist hate me. They think I’m trying to implement exactly that which is coming. They’re ignorant people, John. They’re prisoners of the system, and now they’ll only be prisoners of a different system.”
“The system that imprisoned them is falling apart as we speak, Jackson,” said John, sensing his moment and pushing ahead by speaking on a first name basis. “If you say nothing, the cops, the soldiers, the bureaucrats will quickly fall in line with the new order and it will indeed be a prison. You have to get out there and tell them it’s not legitimate. That the people are the rightful masters of their country. That they are within their rights to resist tyranny. That public employees have the duty to support the people. That after we restore our freedom, they’ll be held accountable for what they’ve done. You have to issue the orders for our troops to return home. Not to command the people or deport them to FEMA camps. But to fight alongside them to repel the invaders. Anything less and you’ll be remembered as a traitor who rolled over and let it happen.”
The look on Torres face was that of a beaten man. Looking at him, neither John nor Lyle had any degree of confidence that he could mobilize himself, never mind the people, for the battle that lay ahead.
Chapter 74:
Decision Time
The door to the Oval office opened and a line of Cabinet members streamed in, led by Hanna Morgensen. “Time’s running out Mr. President,” she said. “Get the launch codes and let’s do this.”
“We’re not launching,” said Torres.
“Did you see what they did at the Pentagon, Sir?” shouted Connolly. “How can you not retaliate against that terror?”
“This is not the time to be philosophical,” said Morgensen. “We’re under attack and this is your last chance. The troops are closing in on the White House as we speak! Do it now!”
“No,” said Torres. “Hanna, you’ve manipulated me into this situation in the first place, and I think your goal from the beginning was to have me launch this nuclear attack. I have strong doubts that the Chinese government was behind this invasion.”
“You’ve got to be kidding!” said Morgensen. “It’s their people, it’s their equipment. Who would it be if not for them?”
“Sir, who would have access to an EMP nuclear weapon near Taiwan if not the Chinese?” asked Johnson.
“I’m satisfied that this whole situation has been a setup,” said Torres. “The mere fact that we have the option to annihilate China right now is very strong proof that they didn’t plan this thing. And I believe Mr. Corson. The Pentagon was the work of Ellis’ men.”
Seeing the situation deteriorate, Connolly slid a pistol out of his jacket and pointed it at Torres. “Mr. President, I regret to inform you that as of this moment, you are mentally unfit to execute your duties. In the absence of the Vice-President, the role of the Commander-in-Chief is assumed by the Secretary of State, Ms. Morgensen.”
“I knew you were a traitor, Bill. But I had no idea you’d take it this low,” said Torres.
Morgensen walked right past Torres and sat down at his desk, already comfortable with her new role. “As my first act, I immediately order the launch of a nuclear counterattack against China,” said Morgensen. All Chinese infrastructure is to be destroyed, all cities are to be leveled.”