by Reed Hill
She looked at a U.S. Joint Forces Command report summary issued in 2008 that concluded that in terms of worst-case scenarios, Mexico should expect a collapse in the next two decades as the government, its politicians, police, and judicial infrastructure face sustained assault and pressure by criminal gangs and drug cartels. Such a collapse should be a concern to U.S., based on national security alone.
The fact that budget cuts in the past four years in the U.S. had pulled more than three thousand federal border patrol agents off the front lines was just salt in the wound. There was an occasional puff piece about new technology for security or an occasional "perp walk" photo op in the news, but most everyone of influence knew that our border security was a complete joke in Texas. The news harped on and on about the income gap and the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer the past fifteen years. Well, maybe one of the reasons poor Americans aren't making as much is because illegals in this country were willing to work for even less.
Throw in the human rights violations in the form of forced prostitution, kidnapping, child sex trafficking, and it was a hurricane of social, economic and human rights atrocities making landfall on the U.S. Bottom line is that the federal government had failed to protect the border in any reasonable way, and that hurts Texans in substantially. The fact that they were willing to prevent Texas from acting on its own to protect its citizens and secure their prosperity bordered on criminal. She had never been supportive at all of the secession crowd, but she had been forced to concede in recent years that their grievances had merit based on the federal government's desire to turn a blind eye to the illegal immigration alone. Getting socked in the other eye was really just spiteful governmental malfeasance.
Callie closed the file. What she was reading just made her nauseous. Ten years ago she had been a starry-eyed liberal, championing the new savior of America, the divine one who was going to cure all the ills of society, even rallying and campaigning for the democratic platforms. Well, the progressives like her had gotten their way for the nearly a decade, and the country just felt like it was coming apart at the seams. Now, more than half of the people in the U.S. lived dependent on the government. Race relations seemed even more polarized than ever before with every big city being home to riots every summer. Latinos protested in the street constantly lobbying for equal citizenship. She thought that the "post-racial" America was going to be some kind of utopia when she voted twice for the man who was supposed to heal the country. She could hear her father chiding her in that voice.
She'd had very high hopes and had voted for President Denton last fall, looking forward to another historic achievement with the first woman president. If anything, her policies were even more heavy-handed than her predecessor. Callie sighed. Government had the capacity to do wonderful things to help the poor and hurting in society, but the results of more programs and more money over the past decade was just more poverty, more dependency and a more polarized country. It was depressing. It wasn't really President Denton's fault. She was just the fortunate one to have inherited the tsunami which had been heading toward the shore for close to five decades. Nothing Denton was doing was helping matters, though. Conversely, it was like her administration was tugging at the fraying threads of the country rather than trying to synch them back together. She guessed that she should have been more careful with what she wished for.
A tap on the shoulder woke her from her tired, wandering thoughts. Jeremy was standing above her, smiling and admiring the view. She let the file fall to her chest and said, "What can I do for you Jeremy?" When she was annoyed she let that second 'e' fade away, pronouncing his name as if she were describing a bacteria-laden butcher's block. He certainly was a germy creature.
"Oh, I can think of quite a few things, Callie," Jeremy raised his eyebrows.
She shot him a look that would have killed his dog and let the steam escape her lips, "In your dreams, Jeremy." All the young ladies that Callie talked to at the office had mentioned more than once how they would catch him sneaking looks down blouses or at backsides. He was your basic creep who couldn't get a date, and if he ever did get a first one, wouldn't get a second.
"Oh, Callie you're such a bitch. Lighten up for crissakes," Jeremy turned and pointed across the large foyer. "Cantelli and Meacham want to talk in the small conference room," Jeremy gave another glance at the file on her chest and then in her cool blue eyes.
"Okay, tell them I'll be right there." Callie got up and straightened her blouse, grabbing her suit coat and throwing it on with a quick twirl. She always hated it when the small men of the world played the 'bitch' card because you didn't stick your butt out for them around the office, or wag your chest. Can't these losers just do their jobs? She supposed it was just a consequence of some women using their looks to get an edge in the legal world, wielding their femininity like some kind of club. That didn't sit right the way she was raised, growing up on Bell Street in Sweetwater. Despite her progressive, driven spirit, she was a Sweetwater girl at heart, more Lubbock than Las Vegas. She could hear her mom down inside her preaching about protecting your modesty – you only have the one reputation God gave you she would say. Mom was right. If having some decency and a set of morals about how you dealt with men made her a bitch, then Callie vowed she would a get a patch sewn into each of her suits.
As she turned, she saw Meacham chatting with Chief of Staff Lopez and his young, handsome deputy. She had been introduced to the good-looking young politico in the past, and thought she recalled that his name was Doyle, Jim or Jack perhaps. He was a slender, six-foot two with a refined, if sharp-featured handsome face. His light brown hair was a bit loose and curly, and it worked for him in a hip kind of way in the midst of the conservative work of Texas politics. She noticed his cobalt eyes admiring her from the edge of the 'war room', and she turned away hastily to pick up her pile of file folders. Looking how she did, she had gotten used to catching the attention of men, going back even to when she was barely a teenager. She just had developed a pretty darn good sense for discerning the difference between the creeps and the decent ones. While she didn't know him, Mr. Doyle gave her the sense that he was decent, very decent indeed.
"Callie, come on," Jeremy's voice intruded. "They're waiting for us in there."
“I’m coming Germy – keep your pants on.” Please keep them on for all our sakes.
Chapter 4
Texas State Guard – Domestic Operations - Command, Intelligence and Control Center
Austin, Texas - July 5th, 2017 – 6:06 a.m.
General Dinger dialed General Stein and waited as the phone rang. The information was really beginning to roll in, and Dinger didn’t feel so damned blind – maybe just deaf and dumb. An assistant answered on the other end and Dinger immediately announced himself and asked for General Stein.
“Hum, what do you know?” Stein went straight to the point. He was clearly juggling a bunch of communications himself, and he had operational command authority for all of the Texas Guard to boot.
“Good news and bad news. I was able to get through to Holloman AFB and obtain a GNAT-750 recon drone tasking order for a medium-altitude surveillance mission on Fort Bliss.”
“Okay, that’s positive,” Stein said dryly. “What’s the report?”
“That’s where it’s not all good. We got about 3 minutes of good video before we lost the feed sir.” Dinger just shot straight with Stein. No sense sugar-coating anything at times like this. He wasn’t any politician anyway, so he didn’t really know any other way.
“Lost it? What happened?” Stein said.
“Radar signature indicates a MIM-104 launch,” Dinger said.
“Holy Christ…”
“It appears that they have got the Patriot Missile battery functional there sir,” Dinger said.
“I would say that constitutes a major problem for us, Hum.” Stein said.
“That’s the truth.” Dinger spun his round snuff can on the table like a top. “We had success w
ith the drone missions over McAllen, thanks to Arn Martelli and the 470th at INSCOM, so I went ahead and got on the horn with Holloman to see what they had for drone support.”
“Yes, good thought.”
“I have Major Theroux working on a summary of those few minutes. Good news is that Theroux worked with the commander at Holloman to have the drone do a southern sweep of the border down through Del Rio and then up to Bliss itself.”
“Does the 750 have that kind of range?” Stein asked
“Yes, they are older models but they’re great for reconnaissance in that they have greater range than some of the newer Predator models. However, they have no weapons capability – which, of course, was not problem for this particular mission. We got thirty good minutes of video all along the border from Del Rio up the river to El Paso.”
“What intel can you give me now, prior to Theroux’s report? I may need to respond directly to the Governor or some federal official,” Stein said.
“Theroux’s report is going to say the following: we appear to have had a number of minor border breaks between El Paso and Del Rio, perhaps four or five in number, with two to three hundred per break. Del Rio proper has a sizeable number of combatants but limited in vehicle strength, has fallen to the insurgents. There was also evidence that was somewhat puzzling at first, but confirmed in some smaller border towns – some insurgents appear to be forming with them from the U.S. side.”
“From the U.S. side?” Stein inquired.
“Yes, the numbers of the insurgents appear to be being bolstered by local residents, most if not all of which are armed.”
“Okay, we have U.S. civilians on the ground joining the insurgency? Hmmm…” Stein paused. “How do we know this?”
“Well, we don’t know for sure right now, but the numbers on the U.S. side don’t add up – there’s just too many,” Dinger said. “And some of the images showed people running from inside the houses. They weren’t exactly running for cover, if you get my meaning.”
“Yes, that certainly is unexpected,” Stein paused. “Okay, what else?”
“The drone mission and Blackhawk surveillance in McAllen the missions have proven successful,” Dinger said.
“What is your summary as of now?” Stein said.
“Two Blackhawk missions flown at low level through various parts of McAllen. They engaged in moderate small arms fire and took some nominal damage in deck-plus-100 level sweeps of several portions of city offices, sector one, as well as sector three in the north. Reports show large numbers of insurgents possessing numerous vehicles and significant number of APCs of Russian, German and older U.S. make – perhaps as many as ten of them. As of 0530 hours, the insurgents control downtown and most areas in the east and north, with more than a dozen major fires reported in various places throughout the city. Police departments have failed to contain the insurgents, and emergency services appear to have been suspended as no fire or ambulance traffic is visible. Law enforcement services are light to non-existent in sectors one, two, three and with moderate levels in four and five.”
“Okay, Hum. That’s good intel. I can tell you I have been in touch with command staff at Fort Hood and both Brooks and Randolph Air Force bases, and so far everything is normal. They remain on high alert. Laughlin AFB on the other hand,” Dinger paused.
“Laughlin has been taken?” Stein said.
“We didn’t have enough time in the air with the drone to confirm, but as of right now, we have to assume so, yes. They are a secondary training base for pilots and do not have substantial defensive capabilities. We were tracking approximately 50 vehicles in the area and perhaps ten APCs – significant gunfire but I would say that the situation is negative sir.”
“What’s the damage?”
“As you know the Air Education and Training Command was transferred from Laughlin to Randolph AFB in 2012 when the 19th Air Force moved there, but a number of training aircraft remained on the base – about thirty Air Force reserve and inactive training planes, including T-38C, T-6A and T-1A. Most recent inventory reports as of…good God…April 2015…indicates eight T-38s, ten 1-6s and twelve T-1s. The status of the aircraft is unknown, but we would have to assume that eighty percent are operational, and now controlled by insurgents,” Dinger said. “About 450 families reside on the base, sir.”
“Okay, thank you very much, Hum. Please be prepared for emerging combat situations and please keep me informed as to progress on these scenarios.”
“No problem, Bill.”
“Can we assume that, given the drone tasking, the federal government is aware of them and has the images?” Stein asked.
“I would think so, yes. Arn Martelli would be required to make his report available to all of INSCOM, at Ft. Sam Houston, sir. The feds should have it in a few hours unless they are sitting on their thumbs.”
*****
Governor’s Residence
Austin, Texas - July 5th, 2017 – 6:10 a.m.
Doyle stood with Lopez as Chase waited for the Executive Committee to file into the room. In the Texas system, the voters elect the corresponding officials, giving the Governor no direct authority over them. Despite the fact that the members had considerable egos, and regarded themselves as high-profile politicians, the Committee could not have a major role in a situation like the one they were facing. The Governor was the Commander-in-Chief of all Texas military and civilian law enforcement. The Executive Committee mainly helped manage the huge state bureaucracy, which included the state’s accounting systems, land management, agriculture, railroads, education, and elections. They held sway over the 1.1 million state employees, but in a military or law enforcement matter of this scale they were mostly spectators.
The Lt. Governor strode into the room and greeted Chase with a hearty handshake. David Cutler was more of a rival to Chase than a sidekick, and arguably wielded more power in state governance than him because of how the highest officers are elected in Texas. Cutler was six-two, with lean and hawkish features and salt and pepper hair. He was a Dallas attorney would had gone to an Ivy league school for college, graduated from UT law and made a name for himself as Secretary of State and again as Lt. Governor.
No doubt he was ambitious, and Doyle had sensed that Chase and Lopez didn’t completely trust him. He hadn’t made an appearance back at the residence after leaving at around 7p.m. last night. He wasn’t part of Governor Chase’s inner circle, but commanded a small staff of his own that worked largely on legislative matters. As the President of the Texas Senate, he could be called up to break a tie in any Senate vote.
He was also the budget director and in charge of all Senate committee assignments. It was no secret around the capitol that Cutler had his eye on the top spot, and Doyle didn’t doubt that he would try to advance himself in the public view, even if it meant bucking Chase. Doyle liked that. Cutler was his own man, and didn’t care what the naysayers thought about him. He was similar to Chase in that regard
Cutler took a seat to the right of Chase. The execs got settled and faced Chase when he sat down and cleared his throat lightly. Lopez was to his left, and next to him was Solicitor General Meacham. Doyle noticed the reddish-brown hair with blond streaks and dark highlights of the lady from Justice as she passed a small packet of papers to Meacham and receded back to the oak panels of the war room. “All right, let’s settle down folks. As we’re all aware, we’re facing some serious issues. I’ve been in conference with the Texas Guard, and Ted has been managing the information he’s been getting from the Rangers. Based on what we have as of now, we’re fairly certain that an intentional border assault has occurred on at least four main points of attack: El Paso, Del Rio, Laredo and McAllen. Local law enforcement reports and Guard intelligence indicate that it is coordinated and has all the signs of planning. Based on the equipment and numbers of attackers, it’s clear they are not random rioters.
As such, I have asked our Adjutant General of the Texas Guard Bill Stein to activate the 1st Regiment in S
an Antonio, 2nd Regiment in San Marcos and the 8th Regiment in Houston in defense of the state of Texas, with the 19th, 4th, 39th Regiments on Alert. General Stein has been working with the U.S. Air Force and the U.S. Army, gathering intelligence to help identify the root causes of this insurgency and is working tirelessly to organize our response.
We’ve been in active contact with the federal authorities and they are…,” he searched for the proper word, “doing their best to help us organize a response. So far they have been able to get some drone imagery of the rioting, as well as activity based on some ANG helicopter aerial surveillance. We should have written summaries from the Texas Guard within the hour, and perhaps some video footage.”
“Why haven’t we been able to get better situation reports on these riot zones?” Lt. Governor Cutler interrupted. “I mean, the situation has been active for how long at this point, and yet the best footage we have is from a local news station?”
“Guard commanders are cooperating with the federal government on what they can share, and working the channels and a number of different agencies involved. To put it mildly, it’s like wrestling with an octopus.” The last statement elicited a few giggles, but Chase was back to business momentarily. “Which brings up the issue of the subpoena. Any news on that front, Bob”
AG Cantelli moved in a bit and rested his elbow on the long table, “Not much new here, sir. The legal team is prepared to deal with the legal ramifications. There isn’t a lot of case law where the U.S. has attempted to…” he paused, “where the facts are similar to what we face. A handful of civil rights cases. A few years ago, several states, including us refused to implement Obamacare, but were ultimately compelled when faced with the withholding of Medicaid and Medicare federal fund matching, and other block grants for health initiatives. We have been able to confirm that the U.S. Attorney General is going to be here in person and intends to hand you the subpoena herself.”