by Mark Donovan
Speaker of the House Bob Daniels sat alone in his home staring despondently at a news anchor half heartily attempting to discredit the video and suggesting that it was a fake. After watching the pathetic attempt to protect the President and his administration, the Speaker of the House got out of his chair and went to a closet and pulled out a revolver and a box of bullets. He slowly inserted a single bullet into one of the chambers in the cylinder and aligned the chamber and round with the hammer and barrel. Then, without any hesitation, he placed the gun to his temple and fired the single shot.
At the White House the President raged with anger after watching the video. He had already called his Chief of Staff, the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of Homeland Security, and the Directors of the CIA and FBI to the situation room located underneath the White House. Reports were coming in from cities all over the country of riots and protests breaking out. He needed to restore order to the country before things got completely out of his control. To do so he had already decided to declare martial law and deploy the military to every major city where the riots and protests were occurring.
Thirty minutes after the President called the emergency meeting in the White House’s situation room the men and women he had called were seated in front of him awaiting his direction. Each had come prepared with initial field reports.
The President stood and summarily reported to the men and women assembled in front of him that the nation was under attack by an internal terrorist group that was intent on destroying the country. And that due to the effects of their latest actions this evening, he had no choice but to declare martial law.
“Tonight tens of thousands of people, in all of our major cities around the country, are out in the streets rioting and protesting the federal government. Though the ability to protest is protected by our constitution, which is a right I fully support, there is a time, place, and a way in which it should be conducted. What we are witnessing tonight doesn’t meet any of these criteria. Instead, we are seeing nationally, a spontaneous eruption of unbridled emotion that if not brought quickly under control, could lead to the massive loss of life and property damage. Consequently, I have no choice but to temporarily declare martial law to protect the public from itself.”
Several of the men and women facing the President showed questioning concern with his announced decision.
“Mr. President, do you really think instituting martial law at this time is the most prudent action to take,” asked the Director of the FBI, Cynthia Groven. “Shouldn’t we allow the local law enforcement in each city time to react to the protests? The information I’m receiving from our field offices is that so far the protests have been very benign in terms of violence and looting. Overall, the protests, and rioting if you will, have been mostly civil so far.”
“So far,” interrupted the Chief of Staff mockingly. “So what happens when the protest mobs become even larger and become violent? Do we want to be caught flatfooted? No. I agree with the President. We need to take swift action to prevent the protesting from getting out of hand.”
With the objection to the Director of the FBI shot down by the President’s top right hand man, the remaining questionable faces staring back at the President changed subtly to those of resignation and submission.
Seeing no further arguments to his decision the President said, “So with that settled I will announce to the nation my decision to declare martial law at 11:00pm this evening. However, before we break, I’d like the Director of Homeland Security and the FBI to report on their progress on locating this terrorist group.”
Eric McDonald, the Director of Homeland Security spoke first.
“Sir, we currently have over ten thousand agents deployed all over the country working to locate this terrorist cell. As you already know, we are positive the group is associated with the small company called NSurv, a company that is a leader in the field of nanotechnology. Unfortunately, they’ve gone silent and deep and we’ve been unable to make any significant progress locating them.”
“Gone silent? Are you kidding?” shot back Ken Hardy. “Did you see their latest video tonight? You call that silent?”
McDonald looked at the Chief of Staff and said, “I understand your frustration Ken. We are doing everything we can to locate and terminate this group.”
“And how about you Ms. Groven? Any better luck in the FBI locating this group?”
“Along with the Department of Homeland Security we’ve made significant progress ruling out false leads and tightening the noose on where these people are. However, we too are struggling to find a fresh trail of theirs.”
“Well we have limited time,” responded the President sharply. “I fully understand all of the ramifications of instituting martial law. The public won’t put up with it for long before things get really ugly around our nation. You folks need to find these terrorists quickly before our country crumbles before us. I will not let this happen under my watch. Not in this way.”
With that, the President excused himself from the situation room with his Chief of Staff following in hot pursuit. As the two left the room, Ken Hardy’s cell phone began to ring. The remaining men and women in the room looked at each other, both in quiet dismay and confusion on what they were doing, and the President’s decision to declare martial law.
Chapter 73 (March 28, Thursday 11:00pm Eastern Daylight Savings Time)
The President’s aides had rushed to put together an emergency Presidential address to the nation speech, after getting the call to do so only an hour earlier. While the White House IT staff prepared with the technical logistics of airing the address to the nation, the President, along with Ken Hardy and a speech writer hastily prepared the President’s statement in the Oval Office. The President’s statement focused on three key topics; downplaying the significance of the President’s recorded conversation with the Speaker of the House, maintaining safety and security in the country via the declaration of temporary martial law, and announcing the sudden death of the Speaker of the House. To say the least, it was a difficult combination of topics for the President to discuss and attempt to explain away to the public, particularly when so much of it had already become hard and fast fed-up with the President and Congress.
While the President and his speech writer focused on crafting the text of the address, Ken Hardy spent much of the time on his cell phone fielding calls and getting reports on the death and apparent suicide of the Speaker of the House. Party leaders in the House of Representatives were reporting many congressional members in near panic for their lives and careers. The majority and minority House leaders had also already been in phone conversations with Hardy discussing a time table for electing a successor to Bob Daniels.
Ken Hardy returned to the President’s side and gave a full report on what he had learned about the death of the Speaker of the House.
“Apparently he realized he was finished after that video aired and he chose to end his own life quickly and quietly,” explained the Chief of Staff to the President and speech writer.
“Damn,” exclaimed the President. “By him committing suicide he effectively admitted guilt and decided to be his own judge, jury and executioner. Also, by admitting his own guilt he has effectively implicated you and me at the same. If only I could have had a moment to speak with him before he made such a horrible decision. Together we could have easily dismissed the contents of that video as taken out of context. With the loss of Daniels, convincing the nation that we are not guilty of anything other than working in the best interest of the nation is going to be much harder.”
The President then stared out the dark windows of the Oval Office again contemplating what he needed to tell the public to convince them to still hold trust in him.
“I also received a phone call from Dimitris Barbas.”
The President looked back at Hardy angrily. “What the hell did he want?”
“He wants you to call him as soon as possible.”
“I don’t
need his shit right now. I’ll call him tomorrow sometime. If he calls back, tell him we’ll talk tomorrow.”
Hardy nodded and said nothing more on the topic. He understood that the President’s mind was already overloaded in preparation for the address to the nation and didn’t need any additional headaches from Barbas.
At 11:00pm the President faced the camera and the light above it turned green. The President’s image flashed on television screens all over the country. The President led off his speech with the announcement of the sudden death of the Speaker of the House, figuring he could take advantage of the human reflexive emotion of sympathy due to the loss of life. He then explained that the terrorist video shown to the nation earlier in the evening was a montage of video clips taken out of context. That the video clips were edited and weaved in such a way by the terrorist group to give the public a sense that he and the Speaker of the House did not have the country’s best interests in mind. He went on to explain that this was indeed not true, and that he and the Speaker of the House worked solely for the American public’s best interest. However, he accepted the fact that the video had instilled a national distrust of him and for members of Congress on Capitol Hill. And that this distrust has led to protests and rioting all around the country. Finally, he concluded his address by stating that he needed to restore safety and security to the nation, and in order to do so he was instituting, effective immediately, martial law. He concluded his remarks by thanking the public for their continued support and confidence in him during these difficult times.
Chapter 74 (March 29, Friday 8:30am Mountain Daylight Savings Time)
Dave and Dana departed Cut Bank, Montana at 8:00am the following morning in Ed Clemons’s Cessna 182 Skylane. The airport was deserted when they departed. The weather conditions out of Cut Bank airport had been marginal with a solid cloud deck at only 3,000 feet above ground level (AGL). However, the visibility had been greater than 6 miles. The enroute forecast and terminal area forecast into Vulcan Airport indicated similar weather conditions, overcast at 2,500 feet AGL with possible light rain. Overall, not the best visual flight rule flying conditions, but perfect for Dave and Dana’s purposes. As Dave headed northwest into Canada he maintained an altitude of only a couple of hundred feet above ground level to avoid radar detection from United States and Canadian air traffic controllers.
Dana had never flown in a small general aviation aircraft before, and as a result, remained silent and nervous as Dave focused on the terrain in front of them. It wasn’t so much the flying at such a low altitude that bothered her. It was the frequent turbulence bumps that they experienced as they hugged the mountain valley terrain that kept her on edge. If they had not been wearing their seat belts and shoulder harnesses they would have banged their heads hard several times on the plane’s ceiling. Dave was also constantly having to correct the planes ailerons to keep the wings level. Each time a wing suddenly dipped Dana would grip her seat a little tighter. They also experienced some occasional light rain along the route, which reduced visibility a little. Dana was initially shocked that the aircraft did not have windshield wipers when they first began to experience light rain. Dave had explained to her that the plane’s slip stream effectively negated the need for windshield wipers, which she observed to be true as they flew on to Vulcan Airport.
The previous evening, after listening to the President’s address to the nation, Dave, Dana and Ron had finalized their plans for the final video that they would release to the public on Sunday. They had decided to postpone the video twenty-four hours to ensure maximum public exposure and impact. As Joe and Ron had pointed out, much fewer people are home watching television or surfing the net on Saturday evenings, compared to Sunday evenings. Delaying the video release by a day would also help with their plans for Jeff Kolosky. They had concluded that Jeff would need a little more time to put together his special segment piece of the President and his administration. The only concern that Dave had with the twenty-four hour push out was the risk of being discovered and captured first. Based upon what the President had said last night during his address to the nation, there was a full court press of Department of Homeland Security and FBI agents hunting them.
“We should arrive at Vulcan Airport about an hour and a half before Jeff shows up,” said Dave over his headset. “Once we get there, we’ll scope out the airport diner to see if it can afford us the privacy to talk with Jeff.”
“Sounds good. I could use a warm cup of anything when we get there,” Dana responded.
“When Jeff’s plane lands I’ll hang back inside the diner while you go out and greet him. This way I can observe his movements, and anyone else on or near the ramp, that just by chance decides to make an entrance when he arrives.“
“I think I know Jeff fairly well. Call it woman’s intuition. I think we can trust him.”
“I don’t doubt your assessment of Jeff,” responded Dave. “It’s his boss and bosses boss that I don’t trust.”
As they arrived into the vicinity of Vulcan Airport the two maintained a sterile cockpit. Neither spoke as Dave brought the aircraft down to pattern level and then proceeded to make his pattern turns onto base and final. After they gently touched down, much to Dana’s thankful surprise, Dave taxied the aircraft over to the airport’s ramp and next to a couple of hangars. As Dave pulled out the mixture knob and shut down the engine, he gave a slow sigh of relief. Scud running had a high pucker factor and was never a comfortable experience no matter how much flight time a pilot had.
After tying down the aircraft and taking a look at the airport surroundings, Dave and Dana walked into the Vulcan Airport Diner. It was typical of most small airport diners. It looked like it had been in operation for 50 years and had never been remodeled or updated. Nearly every square inch of wall surface was covered in aviation photographs and memorabilia. It also had an old and oily aviation smell to it, most likely due to the hangar that was connected to it. The diner, however, was quite large but poorly lighted, and besides a cook and a waitress, there was no one else in it at the time. All three attributes ideal for conducting a private conversation.
Dave and Dana seated themselves at a table furthest away from the counter where the waitress stood. As they sat down the waitress, who looked like she was in her early 70s, shuffled over to them with menus.
“Welcome to the Vulcan Airport Diner,” she said as she handed them menus. “Would you like a cup of coffee or tea to get started?”
“Yes, thank you, I’ll take a cup of coffee please,” Dana responded.
“Make that two if you would,” chimed in Dave. “By the way, what is your name?”
“I’m Chloe. Thank you for asking sir,” responded the waitress.
When the waitress returned with the coffees they placed their orders and settled in for the hour long wait for Jeff Kolosky’s arrival. As they waited for their meals they went over again their conversation plans with Kolosky. They decided to do a bit of good cop / bad cop on Kolosky, with Dana being the good cop. Dana would elaborate on their request for Jeff’s help, while Dave laid out Kolosky’s future career, or the lack thereof, if he hung on with Grivas and Barbas until their soon to be demise.
It was nearly noon when a small Cessna 207 aircraft landed on Runway 34. Dana walked out of the airport diner and waited on the ramp while Dave remained inside, but watching out the windows. Dave had told the waitress that they were waiting for a friend to show up and that they’d be back at their table in a few moments. After the engine had shut down on the 207, both forward doors on the aircraft opened up, the pilot on the left and Jeff Kolosky on the right. The pilot opened the aircraft’s back door and pulled out a briefcase and a small luggage bag and handed them to Jeff. Dana went out to greet Jeff as he thanked the pilot.
“Jeff, I am so glad you came out here to meet with us.”
Jeff turned away from the pilot to let him carry on with closing up the aircraft and responded, “How could I turn you down Dana? You’re my best rep
orter and I need you back at ABO. Not to mention you hinted to giving me an exclusive scoop.”
Dana laughed somewhat reservedly at Jeff’s reference to her email indicating that they had more bombshells to drop on the administration. It was immediately clear to Dana that Jeff was still not one hundred percent on board and that they’d need to do some additional convincing to get him to turn on his bosses. Fortunately, however, it looked like Jeff came alone. As Dana and Jeff walked the short distance from the ramp to the airport diner there was no sign of anyone else on the tarmac, or lurking around or on top of any nearby buildings.
As the two entered the diner, Dave came up and quietly introduced himself to Jeff. Dave then led them to the back table where they had been having lunch. As they walked, Dave was immediately sizing Jeff up, taking in the fashionable New York City clothing he was wearing, his short quiff hair style, and his overall panache and demeanor. It was obvious that Jeff was a well-educated and polished professional and thought well of himself.
“Have a seat Jeff,” said Dave “What would you like to have to drink? Not sure they offer much more than coffee and tea, but we can ask.”
“A cup of coffee sounds great.”
Dave raised his hand to get the waitress’s attention. The diner was still empty so she had no problem seeing Dave’s hand and immediately came over.
“What can I do for you fine folks?” asked the waitress.
“Well Chloe, our friend here would like a hot cup of coffee to start with and I wouldn’t mind a fill-up,” responded Dave. “Also, I’m sure he’s hungry as well so if you could give him a menu that would be great.”
The waitress proceeded to turn over Jeff’s mug and fill it with freshly brewed hot coffee, before proceeding to Dave’s cup and topping it off.
“And how about you ma’am? Would you like a fill up too?”