The Suns of Liberty (Book 3): Republic

by Michael Ivan Lowell

  Leslie bore into his eyes with a stare as hard as steel. “Sir, we’re already in a civil war. Have been for some time. And if we’re not careful, not only is democracy going to be a casualty, so are all of us,” she said, meaning everyone in the room.

  The EU ambassador smiled. “Mademoiselle is correct. My government is fully prepared to assist Dr. Gibbons and her brave band of freedom fighters.” The ambassador was careful to accentuate that last part, much to Leslie and Roosevelt’s delight.

  Just then, a member of the Capitol police, flanked by three Secret Service agents, came rushing into the room. “Sir,” one of them said to the president, “we have to get you to safety. There is...” The agent blinked, didn’t seem to believe what he was about to say. “A row of tanks heading for the building. Drones too.”

  “What?” The president was shocked.

  “Word is they are coming to take this building by force.”

  The Speaker, the Leader, and the president all turned to stare at Leslie as if she was some kind of soothsayer.

  Leslie shot a glance at Roosevelt, who nodded, and she rose from her chair. “Tarleton.”

  “What the hell do we do?” the Senate Majority Leader asked.

  The three most powerful politicians in the United States just stared at each other. Frozen with fear. Only Mitchell had any experience outside of the Council’s domination of political life. None of them had ever fallen on the bad side of the Council before, she realized. Clearly they’d never been tested in battle. Leslie wanted so badly to roll her eyes, but refrained.

  “Oh, c’mon, boys. Are you telling me you don’t know about the secret passageway under the Speaker’s other office?”

  The Speaker’s eyes popped. “Oh, yeah!” He turned, his potbelly leading the way. “Follow me!”

  They moved toward the door as a group. The Speaker turned to Leslie as they trotted. “How do you know about the secret passageway?”

  Leslie just chuckled. “I’d tell you...but first I’d have to...

  The Speaker smiled. “Kill me?”

  “Elect you.” Leslie winked.

  They emerged in the expansive House Chamber, where long ago real debates that actually mattered took place, waged by representatives who were actually elected.

  Leslie eyed the Secret Service agents as they moved in to surround the president. “Get the other members and the staff. We need to get them all underground,” Leslie barked at the agents. They stared at Mitchell for confirmation. They seemed confused to actually have to be doing their jobs. Leslie chuckled to herself.

  “Do it,” the president said.

  “You guys, too,” she told the agents. “Anyone left up top is going to die.”

  And then they were running.

  CHAPTER 47

  NEW YORK CITY

  FREEDOM RISE

  Thomas Sage gaped at the spectacle that was playing out across all the screens of the luxurious Viewing Room he once called his home-away-from home, and sighed.

  William Howke was red-faced. “Bannister, have you lost your mind? Killing the vice president? Threatening to blow up the Capitol?”

  “Killing a stadium full of defenseless traitors,” Sage added. “You made them look like the victims!”

  “Just following in the footsteps of my predecessors,” Tarleton smirked.

  “Air Force One was a mechanical malfunction as far as anyone knows,” protested Sage.

  Tarleton smirked. “And Elizabeth Lee was killed by a terrorist plot.”

  “No one believes that. She was your biggest critic!” Sage said.

  “And everyone on Air Force One was yours!” Tarleton shouted back.

  “That was a different time,” Howke said.

  “Time,” Tarleton lamented ruefully. “It’s time to end this war. I have to do something that will smoke the traitors out for good. We have to get them to fight us one on one. If they do, they’ll lose.”

  Sage shook his head. “Bannister, you can’t reinstate the Purge. The economy is too fragile. The Council is too fragile. Don’t you see that?”

  “I already have.” Tarleton cocked his head. “Or don’t you watch the news?”

  Sage ignored the jab. “Ten years ago things were already at rock bottom. If you do this, you and the Council will get the blame. Back then we were just doing what we had to do to restore stability.”

  “But you didn’t finish the job. And now this cancer has been left to rot. And it’s threatening to kill us all. I have to stop it.”

  “Kill us! Hell, we were making money hand over fist before you started all this! You Iron Fisters always forget, we don’t make profits to prop up the Council. The purpose of the Council was to secure our profits. Other than General Defense, just being a member of the Council hurts your stock price these days!” Howke said.

  “Sounds like sour grapes,” Tarleton hissed.

  “How long do you think it is before General Defense falls too? You’re not immune,” Howke said.

  “Having Von Cyprus rebuild the Aztech was suicidal,” Sage said.

  “Genocidal,” Howke amended.

  “And getting in bed again with the Doctor...” Sage struggled to find the right words. “The only thing you have in your corner at the end of the day is confidence. If you destroy that, you’ll destroy the Council and all of us with you.”

  “I have the Aztech, Doctor Rage, the Photuris, Von Cyprus, and Lithium all on my side. Confidence is not a problem. Why do you think GD stock is skyrocketing right now? Because investors know that a new day is coming, and I, and anyone who lines up with me, am going to control the world,” he said, his gaze locking on them in an obvious threat.

  Sage held up notices in his hand. “You’ve already lost eight of the twenty-five members. I have their formal resignation letters right here. They’re too scared of you to send them in person!”

  “Smart,” Tarleton smirked.

  “Thanks to you, the Council is falling apart,” Howke shouted at him.

  Tarleton waved the point away. “I will simply accumulate their voting shares. The Council is consolidating, that’s all. This is not the time to jump ship,” he warned again.

  Sage stared at the images of tanks rolling down Pennsylvania Avenue and sighed. “No, it’s not,” Sage agreed. “It’s time to change the ship’s course. Think like a businessman, not a warrior.”

  With that, Sage motioned to Howke to leave, and they marched out into the hallway with Tarleton’s words chasing after them.

  “Make your choice, gentlemen.”

  Once they were clear of the door, Howke shook his head. His face had turned pale. “I should never have made him my second-in-command.”

  Sage shook his head. “This isn’t your fault, William. It’s mine. I never thought that lunatic would rise so far. I always thought he would self-destruct.”

  Sprinting toward them from the other end of the hallway was Kendrick Ray. Both men froze. Had Tarleton already sent the Legion after them?

  “I’ve got to talk to you two. I’ve found a serious problem,” Ray said.

  “You think you got one, kid,” Sage said.

  “Lantern is broadcasting the assault all over the Internet!”

  “Bullshit,” Howke said. “We got that shut down.”

  Ray frowned at Howke then turned to Sage.

  Every second counted.

  “Sir,” Ray pleaded with him, “the American people may not be seeing this broadcast, but the Europeans are. And that means your investors are, man!”

  Sage and Howke stared at each other.

  Ray said, “Follow me.”

  Ray led them into the main board room, where the full Council normally held their meetings. Both men eyed him carefully, still suspicious of the little man’s intentions.

  Ray aimed his RDSD at the room’s big front screens, and stock tickers beamed to life. “I’ve already prepared a statement distancing you two from Tarleton. I’m ready to run it.”

  Sage checked the Europe
an futures markets. “Jesus,” he breathed. Both Americom’s and Media Corp’s share prices were back in total free fall.

  “Oh, my God,” Howke said. “When the markets open here, we’re going to bleed.”

  “I’m not sure how much more blood we have left, Bill.” Sage spun back toward Ray. “Why have you switched sides? Why aren’t you over with Tarleton?” Sage interrogated.

  Ray’s expression turned hard as steel. “I back the winners,” he said.

  Sage and Howke exchanged looks. “I don’t know...” Howke said, the hesitation in his eyes. Sage couldn’t help but fear this was one of Tarleton’s tricks.

  Ray was losing patience.

  “Sir, they think you want Congress killed!” Ray shouted.

  Sage shook his head in disgust. So much of his hard work was crumbling around him. “We’ve got to stop this slide, Bill.”

  Howke nodded.

  Sage glared at Ray. “Let it run.”

  “You wait until we are well away.” Howke was already up and moving. “Let’s get to the helipad.”

  Sage turned and stared at Ray. “You get out there and shut this Lantern son of a bitch down. Tarleton may not realize how much damage this can do, but we do. Shut him down!”

  “Yes, sir!” Ray said as they all trotted out of the board room. Ray headed one way; they headed another.

  Fifteen minutes later, the message ran.

  BALTIMORE HQ

  SITUATION ROOM

  Paul Ward darted into the Situation Room to find Revolution staring at the massive street protest in Washington, D.C.

  “The Council is collapsing? Is it true?”

  “It appears so,” Revolution said with a lot less enthusiasm in his voice than Ward expected. “Sage and Howke have both resigned their companies.”

  “Isn’t that a good thing? Isn’t that the best thing?”

  Revolution was focused on the screens showing the growing protests on the National Mall in D.C. “Do you remember what I told you the first night I brought you into the Boston HQ?”

  Ward chuckled. “You’ll have to be more specific. That was one of those ‘choose the blue pill, choose the red pill’ type of moments.”

  “I told you that a snake is never more vulnerable than right before it strikes.”

  Ward nodded. He did remember that.

  “I was wrong. Look.” Revolution pointed to the screens showing the protests in D.C.

  Ward smiled. “Yeah, they’re happening all over the country now! Wait until they find out you’re still alive.”

  The man in the metal shook his head. “All of these people could die, Paul. I’ve dedicated my life to making sure that didn’t happen. We’ve got to find a way to get them off the streets. The snake is only vulnerable if you have the blade to kill it,” Revolution said, completing his metaphor, “But we can’t swing it with all of them in the way.”

  “Off the streets, are you crazy?”

  Revolution turned on him, releasing pent-up, raw emotion. It was so sudden it made Ward flinch. “This is my responsibility!” Revolution roared. “I can’t protect them and win this war! This is my fight to wage...and mine to lose, if it comes to that!”

  There it was. That death wish thing. Like the man inside the metal had always planned to die for this cause. In some fucked-up way it was his reason for still living.

  It was un-fucking-acceptable. That’s what it was.

  Ward came right back at him. He was not going to be intimidated.

  Not anymore.

  “Who says?” he scoffed. “Some old scientist who offed himself years ago? Who isn’t here to see what we’re facing? Who isn’t here to help? James Scott is dead!”

  Ward had paced toward Revolution as he spoke, and the man in the metal spun, lunged at him. He didn’t need Kiernan Rage’s help to attack Ward this time.

  His hand clamped around Ward’s throat. Even through the bug suit, he could feel the enormous pressure. Revolution shoved, and Ward stumbled backwards. Slammed against the wall. Shelving, glass, electronic consoles shattered around them.

  “Scott was a good man! He gave his life for this cause!” Revolution’s voice was wavering, unstable, on the edge of tears.

  “I know,” Ward croaked, his own words choked. “But they want to be there. Just like me, they want in.”

  That stopped him. He just stared at Ward, but Ward got the feeling the man in the metal wasn’t even looking at him anymore. What the hell was he seeing? Was the guy finally losing it? It had to be maddening to be trapped in that shell twenty-four-seven.

  Revolution’s eyes fell. His grip loosened.

  Lantern came rushing into the room, alerted by the crash. When he saw the two of them, he froze.

  Ward was still angry. Lantern shot him an accusatory look, and it made Ward even angrier. “You say you want ‘government by the people,’ but you won’t let them in. Don’t you think they have something at stake here too? Hell, you’re the one that taught me that!” Ward was shouting now.

  Revolution lowered his arms and turned back toward the screens. The Mall was filled with citizens, Minutemen, even some uniformed cops and soldiers. It was impossible to tell them all apart.

  Revolution stumbled, staggered toward the screens. He might have been covered in metal, but the indications that something profound was washing over him couldn’t have been more obvious.

  Lantern turned toward Ward. Even concealed by the helmet, Ward could feel him accusing him of hurting their leader.

  As if that was even possible!

  Lantern zipped over to him and steadied Rev. “Sir, are you—”

  “I’ve forgotten...” Revolution stammered.

  Lantern was puzzled. “Forgotten what, sir?”

  Revolution turned and pointed at the screen. “What it was like. I’ve been fighting this war for so long. Cooped up, isolated. Unable to shed this skin,” he said, raking his gloved metal hands across his titanium-encased arms. “Sometimes I’ve wondered why they do it. Why they sacrifice themselves...when they still have so much to live for. The crowd at the stadium where Alison died, standing up to all those guns...”

  Ward smiled a pained grin at the memory and nodded.

  “...those pilots at the Hall of Chambers,” Revolution continued.

  Ward recalled the suicide dives those pilots had made into the Krill. Just crashing their planes into it, with no hope of survival. Damndest thing he’d ever seen.

  Revolution pointed to the massive crowds on screen. “And now this. They stand amidst certain death.”

  Lantern shrugged. “Desperation, sir.”

  Revolution placed his hand on Lantern’s shoulder and shook his head. “I’ve fought so long to protect people.” In his HUD, the portrait of his long dead family once again burned to life. He sighed. “Maybe I had it all wrong. My duty wasn’t to protect the people.”

  He gazed back up at the screen.

  “It was to unleash them.”

  CHAPTER 48

  BALTIMORE HQ

  SITUATION ROOM

  FINAL TEAM MEETING

  Resting on the banks of the Potomac River, the two-mile-long National Mall beckoned from the room’s main screens. The long open section of green grass in the middle, flanked by the tree-lined sides, marching a straight path from the Lincoln Memorial on one end to the Capitol Building on the other.

  “How the hell are we going to get everyone there?” Rachel asked.

  Lantern grinned and nodded toward the big screen. The picture shifted to a video image from outside the HQ. A giant twin-bladed helicopter was landing. There was no hiding this thing. Everyone on this side of the city was going to see it.

  “What the heck is that?” Ward asked.

  “That is one of the military’s latest toys,” Revolution said.

  Reynolds nodded. “First one I’ve seen in the flesh. It’s a JMR Rotorcraft.

  This one’s called the Caracara,” Lantern said.

  It was enormous. Its body was wide and
jet like, but it had dual raised rotors extended out on long wings from the side. It had a strong resemblance to the old V-22 Osprey choppers, but this was much larger, more deadly looking. If a jet fighter and the V-22 had mated, this was what they would have come up with.

  “Leslie called in a few favors,” Revolution said.

  And with that, they marched out to the helipad and loaded onto the massive ship.

  The bird actually had two floors. One for living and planning, the other for all the technology and weapons the helo carried. Revolution explained that normally the JMR’s were used for transport, but several were capable of various kinds of air defense and intervention. In the center of the Caracara’s upper floor was a spacious situation room where they continued their meeting.

  Revolution laid the map of the Capitol and National Mall out on the large square table so that everyone could see. “Alright, here’s what we know. Rage is controlling the Aztech. Von Cyprus is controlling Rage. So, we have to work backwards. We stop the Aztech first. Then we go after the Doctor. Von Cyprus comes last.”

  Reynolds nodded his head. “We take them down in the wrong order and both Rage and the Aztech could run free.”

  “That’s why the first order of business, once the Legion arrives, is for Scarlett to disable the Aztech. Then Spectral destroys it.”

  “Won’t Von Cyprus just have the Doctor stop us?” Rachel asked.

 

  Spectral had their attention.

 

  “So, he’s full of himself,” Ward said.

  “Full of shit,” Rachel added.

 

  Reynolds said, “You think he’s underestimated Rage and the Aztech?”