by Ira Tabankin
A very pretty mid forty-year-old with shiny dark brown hair and bright blue eyes enters the LSA Oval Office. “Mr. President”
“Doctor.”
“How may I be of assistance?”
“Doctor, we need to know who or what is behind this stomach flu which has incapacitated our people.”
“Yes Mr. President, do I have a team?”
“Select your own doctor. Just get to the bottom of this disease and find a cure for it.”
“Yes sir, I’ll get right on it,”
Twenty-four hours later, a very tired sounding doctor Grayson calls the Gray House, “Mr. President, I have the answer.”
“In one day? My God, you’re fast.”
“It wasn’t too hard; it was bioengineered. It’s not a normal stomach flu. I’ve seen something very close to this when I spent a year at Fort Detrick.”
“Fort Detrick, if I remember right, that’s a biological weapons lab isn’t it?”
“Yes it is and I’ll deny every working there.”
“Get back to you’ve seen this disease before.”
“Sir, it’s a bioengineered bug. It’s not the flu; it’s a living parasite. It causes very painful stomach cramps and horrible diarrhea. It can last ten days.”
“Doctor, is there a cure?”
“Mr. President, that’s the bad news, there’s no cure that I’m aware of. There was a vaccine but not a cure in the classic sense of the word.”
“Let me see if I understand, there is a way to stop someone from getting the bug, but once they have it, it has to run its course?”
“Mr. President, that’s correct.”
“How long does it take to run its course?”
“Ten days to two weeks.”
“Where the hell did this come from? I never saw any bug like this.”
“That’s because it’s not native; it’s a bioengineered bug.”
“Who the hell made this?”
“US military.”
“WHAT? Are you telling me the US used a bioweapon against us?”
“Mr. President, it’s not a WMD, it doesn’t kill, and it just makes you want to die.”
“We have to counter attack them with something. What do we have we can use on them?”
“Nothing. Really there isn’t a lab or inventory in the LSA.”
“What about at the research hospital?”
“Mr. President the only bugs they have are Ebola and smallpox. You don’t want to use either of them. If you did use one, it would be classified as a weapon of Mass Destruction. President Brownstone could respond in kind. He WILL respond in kind. Are you sure you want to risk nuclear weapons falling on LA or San Francisco?”
“With the world lined up against him, he wouldn’t dare use nuclear weapons.”
“President Brownie, he has an entire inventory of other bio-agents, some are very nasty.”
“I’ll think it over, see me in the morning.”
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Rash calls the President, “Mr. President, there’s two rumors running around the net, one is we attacked the LSA with a bio agent. The story is we gave 60% of the LSA the craps. The other story is we plan to nuke the countries that's attacked us. Mr. President, is there something I should know?”
“Rash, the first story is true, second is totally false.”
“Sir, we gave the LSA a case of Montezuma’s revenge? How the hell did we do that?”
“We developed a bug. Originally it was going to be used in the sandbox to stop Al-Qaeda. Once the bug was released, they wouldn’t be able to fight us when we entered an area they controlled. The bug is nonlethal; it’s not classified as a WMD. I asked John to send a few teams into the LSA to teach them not to side with the United Nations.”
“I don’t think it worked as proposed. It seems like President Brownie has an expert on his staff that used to work for us in Fort Detrick. She knew what the bug was.”
“You should make sure the vaccine is put in the country’s water supply as quickly as possible. I would hate to have Brownie pull the same stunt on us, and us not be ready for it. Can you arrange for C130s or C17s to dump it into all of our reservoirs?”
“Mr. President, we don’t have enough vaccine to cover every reservoir, plus we have the added problem of some of our towns get their water from wells, as do many homes in the rural areas.”
“Damn it. Didn’t anyone check everyone associated with the project was accounted for.? Someone on the original project changed sides and is now an advisor to ‘Moonbat’?” How did we lose track of this scientist? Rash, how do we turn this around? How do we get the vaccine we have to our people without scaring the hell out of them, and admitting we used it on the LSA?”
“Mr. President, I agree with you that we have to cover as many reservoirs as possible, we can also start giving it to children in school without them knowing it, we’ll call it a new flu vaccine. If I remember correctly, the vaccine is a tasteless liquid correct?”
“Yes, I like that idea. Alvin, did you hear Rash’s idea?”
“Yes, Mr. President, we’ll get right on it.”
“Alvin, what else could they hit us with?”
“Sir, that all depends on what Puten gives them.”
“Damn it, I should have seen that coming. I’m going to call Puten and tell him if he gives Brownie anything, we’ll respond in kind against Russia. John, get DAPRA looking into dropping another asteroid onto a Russian city, a large one this time.”
All agree the threat will at least give President Puten something to think about, and if not, he’ll lose a large city.
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The United Nations’ force heading to Amarillo, Texas, is being ambushed at almost every curve in the road. Teams of Americans fire two or three anti-tank missiles from the back of a vehicle, then they quickly drive off. Sometimes the Americans attack from both sides of the road at the same time. The United Nations’ forces are losing two to five tanks every mile.
General Voldodin calls a meeting of his senior staff, “Gentlemen, the current situation is totally unacceptable. We can’t afford to lose a couple of tanks every mile. When we finally reach the Pantex plant, we’ll have no armor. I’m open to suggestions.”
Before anyone can respond, mortar shells start landing in the United Nations’ camp.
General Voldodin says, “I hate the Americans. Where do they store all of the ammo for the various weapons they keep hitting us with? Captain Leninvich, please check how many were wounded in this attack.”
The Captain leaves the General’s tent, to be unlucky that a mortar round lands five feet from him. The captain is blown apart, the only thing of his they find in the morning are his boots.
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Five miles north of the United Nations’ camp, US Marine Major Grover is studying a map, he turns to three First Lieutenants, “I want trees cut to block the road here and here, this will bottle the Russians up at the next curve. Sight the mortar in, lay some claymore mines in the downed trees, which ought to give the Russians a little pause. I want to hit them at this curve; the road strengthens out after this curve for ten miles. I want to slow them down here, if possible stop them. Line the road with IEDs and place claymores along the side of the road. We can’t dig up the road and plant anti-tank mines; they’ll see them a mile away.”
“Sir, if I may?”
“Yes LT, what are you thinking?”
“Sir, why not place fuel bladders in the trees, when their tanks are under the trees, we shoot the bladders to open them, as the fuel is falling on their thanks, we shoot flares into the fuel, a mini fuel air explosive.”
The major thinks about it, “Good idea LT make it so. We have to slow the United Nations’ troops down for three days. Then the 101st will take over; they’ll bring enough force against the UN troops to kick them back into last year. Our task is to slow the down and make them bleed. LT how are the militias doing?”
“Major, they’re doing very well. They have an issue when the orde
r is to break contact. They want to stay and fight the UN troops.”
“Of course, they do, they’re fighting for their homes. Don’t place them in a position where they’ll lose too many people. Use them as support and backup.”
“Major, easier said than done; they want to fight, they want to be on the front line.”
“I know, just try to keep them in the rear areas unless you need them to fill in holes. Now let’s get the trees cut, and the firing holes are dug.”
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President Puten meets with the Russian Defense Minister, “I want this war over quickly. Brownstone just threatened us with biological weapons if we give any of ours to President Brownie.”
“Sir, do you think President Brownstone will follow through?”
“Yes I do. Look at what he just did to the LSA. He has almost 70% of their population sitting on the toilet for two weeks. He’s shut the entire country down without firing a single shot. He didn’t want to take life, think what he could do to us if he decided to hit us. We could wake up one morning to find a third of our people dying. Yes, I think he will do what he threatened us with.”
“Then we’re going to turn President Brownie down?”
“We don’t have a choice. If our people wake up dead or sick they’ll hold me responsible; our recourse will be to hit the USA with bioweapons, they’ll respond with nukes; we’ll respond in kind, there goes the entire match. World over. We have no choice; President Brownie is going to have to do without our support. We didn’t spend as much time developing nonlethal weapons as the USA did. President Brownie should easily be able to reproduce the bug President Brownstone used against him. If he needs help, tell him we’ll send him a couple people to assist him. Hitting Brownstone with the same bug should be a nice payback.”
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The United Nations’ Secretary-General is losing support for the war, he knows he has to end the war against the USA as quickly as possible; the various countries who lend troops and supplies to the war are losing them much faster than the projections. Many ships have been sunk; the Americans have decided to sink any freighter heading to the LSA. Over two-hundred-thousand tons of equipment have been lost. The Secretary-General decides the best way to win is to use the American’s heart against themselves. He orders many countries to send pre-teens running into America ahead of four armor thrusts. He plans to use the children as human shields. He knows the Americans won’t fire on the teens. He also knows once in America; the children will spread out, find places to hide and live off the American welfare system, costing the Americans billions. He hopes he can get over a hundred-thousand teens to flood across the borders. The Americans he knows, won’t be able to pay for a war and support hundreds of thousands of homeless children. Some of the children are sick, they’re carrying various illnesses the Secretary-General knows will further disrupt life in America.
Thousands of kids swamp border crossings, they dig shallow tunnels; they cut fences; they climb the fence, the kids completely overwhelm the border guards and agents. Schools in America are used to hold the illegal kids. Soon warehouses have to be opened to house them as the numbers of teen's increase, even the warehouses don’t provide enough space. The Secretary-General’s plan is working. Average Americans demand action; the outcry is so loud that President Brownstone has to deploy the military at the borders versus preparing for additional invasions.
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President Brownie orders the LSA government hackers to plant worms in all of the American systems they can get into. Three days after the hackers go to work, the American Stock exchange, now headquartered in Dallas, Texas, crashes. Two hours later ATM machines across America crash again, this time no one can withdraw or make a deposit. Every ATM shows the same message, the machines laugh at the press of every button. Banks stay open longer hours and weekends until they can debug the ATM network. Next on the hacker’s list is the credit card clearing house. Everyone with a Visa card discovers their card has been maxed out. Banks have to announce that the Visa network has been hacked. Electrical power is turned on and off at whim of the hackers.
Alvin asks the NSA to back check who caused the issues. Five hours later the Director of the NSA calls Alvin, “Mr. Secretary, we have broken the hacker’s code. The hacks, all of them originated from the computer lab in the Berkley computer laboratory. Our best guess is the LSA paid these hackers.”
“Director, can you block them from doing us any more damage?”
“Yes Mr. Secretary, now that we know what to look for.”
“Can you send a worm back into their network?”
“Of course, that’s child play.”
“What would you like us to hack in the LSA?”
“Can you turn off their EBT card network so everyone in the LSA who gets a government grant, subsidy or welfare won’t be able to use their cards?”
“Alvin, that’s easy. I have to ask; you do know the rioting this is going to cause don’t you? If their EBT system stayed offline for two days, their cities will explode.”
“Good, I can’t wait to see it on the news.”
“Alvin, you’ve got it, are you going to tell the President or do you want me to tell him?”
“I’ll inform him.”
“Good night Mr. Secretary.”
“Good night Mr. Director.”
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The stomach bug starts breaking out across the USA; some cities are bug free, and others have a high percentage of their population suffering from the stomach bug. At the end of the week, it becomes clear that only 22% of the USA is affected. Spreading the vaccine in the country’s reservoirs saves millions from suffering. Towns that use wells find many of their population ill, the LSA spread the bug in lakes, streams and rivers, plus they dumped a lot of it out of airplanes that had an approved flight plan to fly over the USA.
President Brownstone orders the airspace over the USA closed for all LSA flights which disrupt the economy of the LSA that is spread out along both the East and West coasts.
President Brownie makes an official protest to President Brownstone. Brownie receives back the message “Bite me." He throws the message slip away and yells for his aides. “I want to do something to get revenge on Brownstone,”
The Director of the National Police says, “We could round up all of their citizens who are in the LSA. We can deport them all.”
“No! And Yes. Round them up, arrest them, but treat them nice. I mean this, NICE. Don’t harm a single hair on their heads. Put them in nice hotels, don’t let them leave the hotel or covered stadium. Got me?”
“Sir, yes, but I don’t understand.”
“We’re going to ransom the people back to Brownstone.”
“Sir, that’s brilliant, I like that, I’ll get my people on this right now.”
“Director, not a hair hurt. I don’t want to get into a hot war with the USA; we don’t have our military. Brownstone will pay through the nose to get his people back.”
USA visitors to the LSA are taken into custody; in small groups, in large groups, an entire trade show of four thousand people, and a Boy Scout outing. At the end of the week, eleven thousand people have been detained. By the end of the second week, twelve thousand are in custody.
“President Brownstone, we have received a message from President Brownie, he has taken twelve thousand of our citizens hostage. He wants $100,000 per person to release them.
Chapter 29
The Chief Justice, the Speaker of the House and the Senate leader join President Brownstone in the Situation Room, the President kicks off the meeting; “Gentlemen, I’ve invited you here so we can discuss starting the phase out of Mr. Obsma’s laws and regulations. I have a set of executive orders; copies are in front of each of you. I’ve dealt with the easiest ones first, for example, I’ve overturned most of his EPA rulings to those in effect as of January 2009. I’ve overturned his executive orders on gay rights and gays receiving equal treatment in the executive branch. Mr. Speaker, ther
e were some good parts of these orders. I would rather the House and Senate pass official bills that can be signed into law, versus ruling by executive order. I’ve turned back land he took for the Federal Government to the States, I’ve signed orders to change the mileage target, plus I believe there are fifty-one other orders in the folder in front of you. Which brings us to Obsmacare.
“Gentlemen, I need your help with this one. We have to reshape 25% of our economy again, this time we have to undo the centralization that Obsmacare setup. I suggest we invite the CEOs of all of the healthcare insurance companies to meetings so we can discuss what’s available and what isn’t. It took Washington four years to prepare for Obsmacare; we have to undo it in thirty days, plus create a series of programs or policies to replace Obsmacare. I’d like the Speaker and the Senate leader to select ten members each to join the meeting with the insurance executives. Is that going to be possible?”
The Speaker looks thoughtful, “Mr. President, I’m going to need to appoint more than ten members. I can limit it to twenty. How about the Senate?”
“I would also like to have twenty.”
“Mr. Chief Justice, to make the meeting the most productive, I’d like to ask you to invite four members to attend the meeting. This way whatever they come with can be reviewed regarding the Constitution up front, versus passing a bill and having it stopped until it works its way through the courts.”
“Mr. President, that’s very unusual. Usually the court hears cases after the law has been written, and there is an impact to a person, people, group or company. However, in this case, I see why you’d like us to sit in on the meeting. Time isn’t something we have a lot of. I think the public is going to like the idea that we’re all going to be meeting together. So yes, I will select some Justices to attend, I can tell you that I think the other eight will want to attend.”
“If they want to attend, I have no objections,”
The Speaker asks, “Mr. President is this even possible or doable. Winding the clock back 6 years?”