“And what might that be?”
“Expansion of the Mertins Software facility in San Jose. It’ll bring several thousand direct jobs, and a bunch more indirect. It’s a big win for Governor Sable.”
“Goody for him,” Simpson said. “Anything else?”
“I heard you had a meeting with the Mexican Ambassador, on the same day that we talked about Mertins.”
“You heard right,” Simpson said. “So?”
“Roberto is missing,” Blake said. “Thought you might like to know.”
Simpson froze, mind racing around the conversation he had that night. “I want to see you and the heads of the CIA, FBI, and NSA. Pronto. Oh, and I want as many of the Joint Chiefs there as possible.”
“Okay, Mr. President, I’ll set it up.”
“Tell Stacey what’s happening on the way out,”
Simpson said. He got up and went to his desk as Blake left the room.
Chapter 8 – The Plan - Dangerous Road
“Feels strange out here,” General Hogan said, at the wheel of his Humvee.
“It does,” General Walker said. “Getting tired of driving? I can take over.”
“I’m good. Glad we let the kids take the other vehicles. We need time to talk.”
“Yeah,” he said. “There’s a few other things going on that I heard about while I was out of the country.”
“Like what?”
“Venezuela’s throwing their weight around again,” General Walker said. “The media is making sure the stories about it are downplayed.”
“The useful idiot actors will make sure the info comes out.”
General Walker laughed. “Yeah, any chance they have to poke middle America in the eye is impossible for those idiots to resist.”
“It’s hurt most of their careers,” General Hogan said. “What’s going on there now?”
“Rumor has it that they’re infiltrating the Mexican government. Some are even going so far as to say they’re planning a coup.”
“Wouldn’t surprise me,” General Hogan said. “Why wouldn’t they? The Mexican government is controlled by the drug cartels. The Venezuelans could bring down that government and look like heroes to the proletariat in that country. You talked to any of our military contacts down there?”
“Several have disappeared off the face of the earth,” General Walker said. “The rest aren’t talking. Something’s up.”
“Officials disappear all the time down there,” General Hogan said. “Cartels. Ransom.”
“There’s been no ransom demands,” General Walker said. “In fact, some of the drug cartel leaders are missing all of a sudden, too.”
“Really?” General Hogan asked.
“Yep,” General Walker said. “It’s getting pretty interesting.”
“We’re gonna get screwed,” General Hogan said. “The damn border is wide open. They could move just about anybody through now.”
General Walker sighed, looking out the window. “We might not be able to stop this. You know that, right?”
“Yeah, I know,” General Hogan said. “We can’t go down without a fight. Who’s on our side?”
“Airforce and Navy,” General Walker said. “Part of the Army and Marines. Most of the police and sheriff’s departments outside of the major metropolitan areas.”
“You sure about the Airforce and Navy?”
“Pretty sure,” General Walker said. “They’re hiding it, though, so keep your mouth shut. Don’t even tell your boys. At least not yet.”
General Hogan fidgeted in his seat, sweaty hands gripping the wheel. “They’ll torture us if we get captured. This is just like being a spy behind enemy lines.”
“I’m surprised we haven’t been attacked yet,” General Walker said. “Been keeping my eyes open. All of the agencies involved know we killed their assassination team by now.”
“That’s why I wanted to take I-10 and I-8,” General Hogan said. “Don’t want to get caught on some little back road. Even so, I’ve had one eye on the rear-view mirror most of the time.”
“We’re all armed, too, but if they hit us with choppers we’ll be in bad shape.”
“What’s the next town coming up?” General Hogan asked.
“Lordsburg,” General Walker said. “Last decent sized town before the Arizona border.”
“We’re gonna need to gas up,” General Hogan said. “Probably should stop there.”
“Yeah,” General Walker said. “Want me to send a text to the kids?”
“Yeah, do that.”
General Walker pulled his phone out, wrote the text, and sent it. “Okay, they all know.”
“Good,” General Hogan said. “It’s coming up fast.”
“Take the Main Street off-ramp,” General Walker said.
“Got it.” He drove onto the ramp, watching the rear-view mirror. The other Humvee and the Jeep followed.
“Son of a bitch,” General Walker said. “Look, the gas station by McDonalds is closed.”
“That the only one by this ramp?” asked General Hogan.
“Yeah,” he said. “The next one is by the last off-ramp,” General Walker said. “Sorry. We can follow Motel Drive to get there, or get back on I-10.”
“Tell you what,” General Hogan said. “Let’s get something to eat at the McDonalds and then hit the gas station on the way out.”
“Okay,” General Walker said. He sent a text message to the others, and they met in the McDonald’s parking lot.
“Gas station’s out of business, eh?” Troy asked as the young men approached Walker and Hogan.
“Yeah,” General Walker said. “Let’s buy our food and get out of here. I don’t like the vibe.”
“See, it’s not just me,” Brent said.
Jose rolled his eyes. “You pansies worry too much.”
“You calling General Walker a pansy?” Ken asked.
“No, I didn’t mean him,” Jose said.
“Two of you stay out here with the vehicles,” General Hogan said. “Tell us what you want.”
“I’ll stay,” Jose said. “Just get me the Big Mac meal and a strawberry shake.”
“I’ll stay too,” Troy said. “Order me the same. I’ll need to hit the head before we leave.”
“Roger that,” Jose said.
General Hogan glanced at the two nervously as they went inside. “Now I’m getting the willies.”
General Walker chuckled. “We’re getting too old for this crap.”
“Oh, please,” Ken said.
They got their food, brought it out to the vehicles, and distributed it.
“Okay, hang out here and eat,” General Hogan said. “We’ll be off in a few minutes for the gas station. You guys know where it is, right?”
“Yeah, the text told us,” Jose said.
Walker and Hogan got back into their Humvee and attacked the food.
“Some of the boys are worried,” General Walker said.
“Hell, all of them are worried,” General Hogan said between bites. “Not all of them will admit it.”
“Can’t say that I blame them,” General Walker said. “They might be waiting for us in Yuma.”
“Thought has crossed my mind. What if they are?”
“We’ll stand a pretty good chance of being captured,” General Walker said. “We need to test the waters before we reveal ourselves.”
“How? You have any contacts you can talk to before we get there?”
General Walker thought for a moment, looking out the side window. “Not sure anymore. The main person at the base is a known associate of mine. After what happened at your house, they might be watching him.”
“Dammit,” General Hogan said. “We’re on our own, aren’t we?”
“I wouldn’t say that,” General Walker said. “I know quite a few people who understand the problem.”
“How many of them have families?”
“All,” General Walker said.
General Hogan finished eating a
nd started the Humvee. The other two vehicles started too, and they drove down the road towards the gas station. It was busy. They got in line at the pumps and waited, watching the area nervously.
“I feel like a sitting duck here,” General Hogan said.
“Try not to get too paranoid,” General Walker said. “People have a way of picking up on that.”
“Finally,” General Hogan said as he pulled up to a gas pump.
“Want me to do it?” General Walker asked.
“No, why don’t you try to figure out what’s going on at Yuma.”
“Okay,” General Walker said. He took his phone out of his pocket and focused on it, eyes darting away every so often to keep track of their surroundings.
“Hey, dad, I’m done,” Ken said. “I’ll meet you over by the driveway.”
“Okay, son,” General Hogan said. He watched as Jose manned the pump with General Walker’s Jeep. After a few minutes his pump clunked off. He took the nozzle out and hung it back on the pump, then waited for the receipt to print out.
“I can’t get anything on Yuma,” General Walker said as Hogan got back inside. “My contacts aren’t reachable. I can’t even get the front desk at the facility.”
“We can’t go there,” General Hogan said. “Crap.”
“Got any other ideas?”
General Hogan thought for a moment, watching Jose out the window as he finished fueling the Jeep. “There’s a place in Utah that we could go.”
“Private place?”
“Yeah,” General Hogan said.
“It’s not in your name, is it?”
“No,” General Hogan said. “Let’s go north from here. Take Route 70 to Route 191.
“I thought you wanted to be on the big roads,” General Walker said.
“I do, but if Yuma is compromised, they’ll watch for us along I-10 and I-8.”
“You’re assuming that our contacts in Yuma talked,” General Walker said.
“You’re right, I am.”
“The others are ready to go,” General Hogan said. “Text them, okay? Tell them to take route 70. We’ll have to backtrack to the center of town.”
“Okay,” General Walker said. “Let’s go.”
Chapter 9 – The Plan - Tarmac Meeting
President Simpson and Attorney General Blake waited in Airforce One, sitting on the tarmac at Sacramento International Airport.
“Where the hell are they?” Simpson said, watching out the window. “This makes me nervous as hell.”
“We have a reason to be here,” Blake said. “The story was given to all the press. Don’t worry.”
“How’s Sable going to secure this area?” Simpson asked. “Somebody could have a telephoto lens. Look at the horizon. Plenty of places to hide.”
“The secret service checked it out,” Blake said. “It’ll be fine, Mr. President.”
“It there’s a leak, it’ll be your ass,” Simpson said. “I mean it.”
“I understand,” Blake said. “Look, here they come.”
Simpson looked out the window at the long limousine. “Well, at least he isn’t driving up in a Rambler.”
Blake snickered. “He’s learned a lot since those first two terms, Mr. President.”
“He still uses cheap theatrics way too much,” Simpson said.
“Let’s go down there,” Blake said.
Simpson nodded, and they got up and went to the door. They came down the steps from the plane door as Governor Sable got out of the limo. He was a thin, bald man who looked like he was in his 90s.
“Governor Sable,” Simpson said, walking up to him. “So nice to see you.”
“This is a great honor, Mr. President.” They shook hands.
Daan Mertins got out of the Limo and walked over. He was a small man, with sandy hair, looking very European in his expensive suit. “Good Morning, Mr. President,” he said. “So nice to see you again.”
“Thank you for coming, Daan,” Simpson said. He turned towards the limo and gasped as Saladin came out in full Islamic garb. “Couldn’t he have worn a suit?”
“Don’t worry, Mr. President,” Sable said. “Nobody can see. We have the surrounding area completely blocked off.”
Simpson looked at him, then back at Saladin.
“It’ll be okay, Mr. President,” Blake said. “Let’s get into the plane.”
Simpson glared at him for a moment, but then shook his head. They hurried up the stairs into the plane and went into the conference room.
“Matter where we sit?” Sable asked.
“Nope, just take a seat,” Simpson said.
“President Simpson, this is Saladin,” Mertins said.
“Hello,” Saladin said in perfect British English.
“Good to meet you,” Simpson said. “Did you grow up in England?”
“No, but I spent a lot of time there as a child,” he said. “Went to Oxford. The accent stuck.”
“Really?” Simpson asked. “I had no idea. Welcome to the United States.”
“Thank you, Mr. President,” he said.
“Shall we begin?” Blake asked.
“Yes, of course,” Mertins said.
“Before we get started, can we all agree that this meeting is to remain Top Secret?” Simpson asked.
“Fine by me,” Sable said.
Saladin smiled and nodded yes. He looked at Mertins.
“We all understand the sensitivity of what we are about to discuss,” Mertins said.
“Good,” Simpson said. “Have you been briefed on what we would like to discuss?”
“Not in detail,” Mertins said.
“I wouldn’t go into it until the meeting,” Blake said. “I thought it best, to avoid false impressions.”
“Okay,” Simpson said. “As you know, Daan, we’ve had problems making progress on our Global Governance priorities. Priorities shared by your people in Brussels.”
“The midterm elections didn’t help, from what I’ve read,” Mertins said. “Don’t beat yourself up too much. You got healthcare in place. That’s going to pay off tremendously in the future. Control of that much of the economy will allow you to make regulatory progress that you could never do otherwise.”
“We’re almost stopped on that,” Simpson said. “Congressional opposition is very strong, and we’re likely to lose the Senate in the next election.”
“You barely have the Senate now,” Mertins said. “Your Majority Leader can barely protect your interests as it is, and he’s going too far out on a limb to do it.”
“Thanks for that,” Simpson said.
“I meant no disrespect,” Mertins said.
Simpson sighed. “I know, Daan. You’ve got a good understanding. I’m just unhappy with my lack of progress, that’s all.”
“Daan and Saladin have come up with a good plan,” Sable said.
“Have you briefed Blake on it?” Simpson asked.
“No, we wanted to present it directly to you,” Mertins said.
“It starts in California,” Sable said. “It’ll dovetail in with current events easily.”
“Don’t get ahead of the story,” Mertins said.
Simpson leaned back in his chair, eyeing Sable and then Mertins. He glanced at Saladin, who was sitting silently, looking bored.
“Go ahead,” Simpson said. “Start from the beginning, but make it quick. I’ve got someplace to be later today.”
“Of course, Mr. President,” Sable said.
“Shall I begin?” Mertins asked.
“Please,” Simpson said.
“Okay,” Mertins said. He took a deep breath. “We all have common goals. Move the populations of the first world away from nationalism. Convince them that Global Governance will be a benefit for society. Unfortunately, this is very difficult to do. There’s so much talk about these issues from all sides of the political spectrum. Differing opinions cause stalemate and division. We’ve seen that in this country since the late 1960s.”
“Yeah, Democrac
y really screws things up, doesn’t it,” Simpson said with a twinkle in his eye.
“We aren’t anti-democratic,” Mertins said. “Quite the contrary, we are for a free society, were individuals can make informed choices. In order for that to work, certain voices need to be silenced, or at least discredited.”
Simpson chuckled. “In other words, you’re all for democracy as long as your side is winning. Such is the dilemma of politics.”
Saladin chuckled.
“Something funny?” Simpson asked.
“Democracy eventually disintegrates,” Saladin said. “There always has to be a strong leadership to show people the way. It’s the only way life will get better.”
“You can’t win elections with comments like that,” Sable said. “People have to be managed carefully, or they’ll dig in their heels against change.”
“Governor Sable is right about that,” Mertins said. “You guys remember that great old American TV show called Mission Impossible?”
“Of course,” Simpson said. “So what?”
“They set up situations to foil bad guys,” Mertins said. “We are going to propose a similar effort in one pilot location. We think it will work, but the only way to know for sure is to try it.”
“Get to the point,” Simpson said.
“Yes, of course,” Mertins said. “Sorry.”
“No problem, just go ahead,” Simpson said, his brow furrowed.
“Our plan is to run a Mission Impossible-style scenario in California,” Mertins said. “We have the raw material for the operation already happening.”
“And what might that be?” Simpson asked.
“The California State Pension system is on the verge of bankruptcy,” Mertins said.
“That true?” Simpson asked, eyeing Governor Sable.
“I’m afraid so,” Sable said. “We could borrow more and shift funds around again to keep things running for a few years, but eventually something has to happen. Daan suggests we let things happen sooner, and use the resulting crisis.”
“Yes,” Mertins said. “We let the pension system collapse temporarily. As a result of the crisis we also severely cut back on state-run relief programs. This will cause unrest in the cities. The Bay Area and the LA Area would explode almost immediately. Saladin will provide agents to teach local radicals how to use anger in the population to best effect. When things get out of hand, the Governor declares martial law, which should promote the idea that the government is where to look for security.”
The Plan: How the Bug Out! War Began Page 4