With the front door locked it was unlikely that even one of the inhabitants with a key would enter the building today but to play it safe he made sure that he moved all of the bodies to out of the way locations. He hoped that any visitors peering through the front door windows would see no guards stationed, and merely leave, thinking that the building was off limits for the holiday. The worst case would be if one of the house members stopped in to use his office. Hopefully, he would simply think that the guard had needed a bathroom break. Makim was confident. He had time.
Makim entered Representative Cox’s office on the fourth floor. He opened the window and positioned his rifle on a tripod. As he had explained to General Redmond, he had been a marksman as a young boy and was even better as an adult, but he usually used a handgun, as rifles were harder to operate with one arm. But for today’s purpose, the tripod was almost as good as having his arm back. Today's plan was for him to cause a commotion. He would surely do that.
At 9:45 AM, Vice President Rashad, with three secret service agents in tow, walked up New Jersey Avenue from the Capitol South Metro Station. He crossed Independence Avenue and headed toward the House entrance of the Capitol on its south side.
Makim, seeing the back of Rashad’s head as he started to turn toward the door, squeezed the trigger. The bullet ripped into the back of the vice president’s head. He fell lifeless to the ground.
One agent knelt beside the body with his weapon drawn. The others drew their weapons and looked around for the probable location of the shooter. Three more rapid shots found three more lying dead on the sidewalk.
Capitol police, who were directing traffic at each corner, ran to where the bodies hugged the ground. Passersby flocked to see what had happened. Makim, not worrying about leaving any clues, left his rifle on the floor by the window and walked calmly across Independence Avenue almost parallel to the vice president’s body. He looked around like everyone else seemingly bewildered and trying to grasp what had happened. He blended in nicely.
A police officer rushed up and asked Makim what had happened. He simply replied, “I don’t know, but it looks like someone has been shot.” The officer continued toward the bodies as Makim continued up the walk.
Waiting at the House entrance was his friend with the staffer nametag and credentials that he had prepared on Friday. Makim thanked Saadi and told him to leave from the opposite side of the building to avoid even the slightest hint of wrongdoing. He put the nametag and credentials in his pocket. He admitted his eight accomplices but told them to wait for him at the door. “I’m pretty sure I have this under control but I’ll call if I need you.” He headed for the Senate Dining Room where they were to begin the takeover of the building, holding those inside hostage.
Just outside the room, he met a young man bringing a cart with a mix of breakfast sandwiches and fruit on it. He pulled his handgun and, pointing it at the young staffer, told him to leave his white jacket and to run out of the building as fast as possible.
He affixed the nametag to the jacket, put it on over his vest, and rolled the cart inside; positioning it in the center of the dining room. He stopped to look around. There were at least 20 senators in the room.
Qasim will be so proud; he thought as he pulled out and depressed the small button detonating the explosives that he had hidden beneath the white jacket. The vest held enough nails, screws, bolts, and C4 to destroy the entire room and everyone in it.
Chapter 69
The command post was abuzz with activity. Karen had gone out to get two dozen donuts for everyone at the local Dunkers Best. Josh didn’t think his men needed any more sugar to keep them revved up. Each had a donut and appreciated the gesture.
The early reports coming in gave Josh some concern. In Boston, New York, Philly, and Atlanta, the news was that the marchers were moving through the streets unencumbered. The same held true in the Central, Mountain, and Pacific zones. The leaders in various western cities didn’t seem as concerned because the time difference meant that it was very early and police patrols at that hour were not as common. But even those locales reported that it was eerily quiet as there was little to no police presence.
“Gentleman,” Josh began. “I was just on the phone with Tony DiPietro in Philadelphia. Tony was telling me that his wife, Angela, had neither been seen nor heard from since Thursday afternoon when he left for New York. During his report about the unexpected quiet, Tony said something that was inaudible. I heard him say ‘Oh shit. General’ but then there was so much static that I couldn’t hear what he was saying. Suddenly there was nothing. I phoned his deputy as well as two others from Philly on our secured network, and no one answered.”
“We know that the rallies all began at 0800 EDT. Please reach out to your field commanders and let’s get some video feed so that we can see what is happening in each city. Even if they haven’t started marching, call them and let them know that we would like them to report back to us after the first 15 minutes.
“Josh, you have to see this,” said General Rivera. “I have a video feed from Col. Harrington in Atlanta.” On the screen was live footage of the Nationalist’s running and being gunned down on Peachtree Street. Their opposition was using rapid fire automatic weapons, LAV’s with Bushmasters, and strafing fire from attack helicopters.
A call came in from Washington, DC. The general in charge there, oddly enough General Washington, reported that he was in touch with his key personnel in the Secret Service, who were stationed at the White House. These men were prepared to switch sides to help secure the White House with some of the general’s Special Forces. They reported that there were Syrian and Irani tanks surrounding the White House; not in an offensive but a defensive posture. They also reported that there were 5 Syrian Attack Helicopters on the heliport. There was no way that this was going to be an easy takeover.
“What do you think we should do General?” asked Washington.
Josh didn’t hesitate. “General have your men stand down for now.”
“What do make of this Raymond?” asked Josh.
“I don’t know. Washington’s report confirmed my fear, Josh. I thought the LAVs and helicopters might be either Chinese or Russian made. Now I’m convinced that they are. However, the forces using them seem to be part of the Syrian and Irani military.”
Another image came across the screen from one of the field soldiers in Chicago and, like those in Atlanta, these scenes were horrifying as Americans were shown being gunned down in the streets, offering little resistance. “General, I can see the decal on one of the planes,” interjected US Air Force General O’Meara. “Give me a minute and I’ll make it out.” After about 30 seconds, O’Meara reported: “Sir, there is no doubt that the symbol on those helicopter gunships is the Syrian Eagle.”
They stood there, stunned, as they watched image after image of the Syrian helicopters attacking the citizens of Atlanta. These weren’t like normal military maneuvers, though. It was more like the Syrians had gone crazy firing on everyone that moved. At first, it looked like just protestors, but then it became apparent that the choppers were firing heavy machine guns indiscriminately into crowds of people and that American men, women, and children were being killed in mass. Tanks rolled over people blocking their paths like bowling balls mowing down pins. From the looks of things, it appeared that thousands had been killed in just a few minutes since they had started watching.
“Gentleman,” said Josh. We had hoped to distract the White House and Congress with peaceful protest marches with maybe a scattering of violence. It now appears that our country is under attack by foreign forces. You will eventually need to go back to your posts in Washington to command your units but for now, you must get all of your units deployed against this apparent invasion by the forces from Syria and Iran. I’m going to make a statement via webcam that will be picked up by the major news sources.
Calls started to come in rapid succession followed by images. The images revealed a horror that no one antici
pated.
“General, this is Qasim, and I have very bad news. We have major problems here in Boston as our foot soldiers are being gunned down by LAV’s with both Irani flags and Syrian Eagles on the side, a few fighter jets also from Iran, and the worst damage has been caused by Syrian Helicopters with both machine gun and small missile capabilities. I’ve spoken to Tarif, and that seems to be the case in DC too, but I haven’t had much time for TV. Is this what we’re facing in other cities?”
“I’m afraid that is the story on the east coast and in some of the Midwest cities.”
“Well, it’s the worst scenario, General. The foreign troops seem to be firing with a vengeance on everyone whether they were protesting or not. I believe that they have gone rogue and had planned all along to take revenge on the United States for the years of fighting in their countries; fighting that saw thousands of innocent civilians slaughtered by coalition forces. I’ll keep you posted, but it’s very bleak here as it looks like thousands are dead. I have well placed friends in Syria and Iran, General, and as far as anyone knows there has been no declaration of war by either country. I expected some intervention by the US military, but I’ve seen no evidence that our national guard has even been deployed to defend the city.”
“I’m not totally surprised. Abbas must have had even better intelligence than I thought and he must be crazier than I thought.”
“If he can sneak away, Tarif is going to call you on the White House phone with some new developments on his end, General.”
A very dejected Josh hung up the phone. He could only imagine what went wrong.
“Gentlemen I’m awaiting a call from Tarif at the White House to brief me on what is going on with the troops and our government. Please keep talking to those in the field. We are at war.”
As he waited, he saw images of other cities on the monitors around the room. As was happening in Boston and Atlanta; protesters in Dallas, Houston, Phoenix, San Diego, Denver and one could only assume LA and San Francisco were dealing with devastating firepower from heavily armed military aircraft, vehicles, and then ground troops. The resistance is minimal as the Nationalists have nothing but handguns and a few rifles. They were planning to have to engage some local police and maybe some national guardsmen, most of whom would be ordered by their commanders to lay down their arms and side with them. No one was prepared for this.
“General,” said Raymond Rivera, “we are not able to reach any of the leaders in the field. All of our communication lines are down. The video feeds have also gone out, so we’re in the dark, General. All we have are the few phones with secured lines but those aren’t enough to assist our ground troops. We can’t even reach the National Guard commanders to see if there is some way that we could deploy them. We’ve been totally blacked out, Sir.”
An ashen-faced Josh stood for several minutes in the center of the room just staring into space. Finally, his private phone rang.
“Yes.”
“General, this is Tarif. I can’t talk long. I’m afraid I’ll be discovered. The president learned that I was not in Boston and he summoned me to White House first thing this morning. I can’t say how but the president and his staff were able to smoke out your plan. Knowing that our armed services were likely compromised, the president asked Syria and Iran for help in defending the country from an insurrection. What was first promised, a few hundred troops, were expanded later to tens of thousands of troops and hundreds of tanks, LAVs, helicopters, and about several hundred fighter jets. The president promised that actions by these allied troops were needed to restore order and would not be viewed as an attack on the United States. These troops along with air and ground attack vehicles were redeployed from major bases to all of the major cities in the US. As the protest marches unfolded, the attack began. There was no provocation, General.”
Josh was sick to his stomach about what was happening and upset by the indifferent tone of Tarif’s report. While he appreciated the update from Tarif, it was troubling to learn hours later that the president had called Tarif to the White House. Equally disturbing was his use of the words “your plan”, and hearing his unemotional account of the massive onslaught by enemy troops that caught them all by surprise.
Tarif continued. “At 0830 EDT the Secretary of Defense ordered all US troops to be placed on standby but that they were to ‘stand down,' meaning that under no circumstances should they deploy without his direct orders. As you may have guessed, the entire secure DOD network including all audio and video feeds have been shut down. The only working communications is a new channel that was secretly set up last week for the president and Secretary of Defense to communicate with the Syrian and Irani generals who are controlling their troops. As of 10 minutes ago, it was reported that the attacks have claimed the lives of thousands of Americans.”
“General, there doesn’t seem to be any way to defend against this. I’ve spoken to President Abbas, and I told him about how our innocent civilians are being slaughtered in the streets. His view is that he has allies putting down a revolt. I suggested military action, or, at least, halting the Syrian and Irani forces so that we can assess the damage, but he said that he won’t do that until there is complete order.”
“I’m sorry General, but it looks like your mission has failed. The president will be going on TV to declare martial law in a short while. He will continue using foreign military until his advisors assure him that the US Military is again under his control. Of course, I’ll stay on as White House Chief of Staff as I think that is where I can best serve my country.”
“I see. Does Abbas suspect that any of the Joint Chiefs were involved in today’s actions or does he merely think that he’s stopped some independent rioting?”
“General, he suspects that there was much more to this plot but I don’t believe that he has any real proof. He was able to gather intel about the street rioting and thought that if he could disrupt that, any other plans would be total failures.”
“Thanks again, Tarif.”
Josh hit the end button and looked around the room at the sad faces. “I was afraid that our first plan might fail but I never dreamed that a sitting president would call for foreign attacks on his citizenry. Gentleman, Plan B is our only recourse. I need you to follow the directions in your plans to a T. Your first job is to get on your secured private phones since the regular military network is compromised.”
“First connect with your direct reports in the field. Tell them to stand down and inform them that you are on your way to Washington. They know what that means. Then call your bosses in Washington on the standard lines to see if they are working. If they are not, use your private lines for the 2nd call as well. Your message should be simple and short. Tell them that you just heard what is going on, and you’re on your way back to Washington. Sound appalled. You need to sell this. Remember, you’re coming off of a three-day holiday, nothing more. You are returning to take command of your troops, follow up on today’s events, and make preparations to ensure that your regimens will be battle ready. Do this in the order upon which we had agreed. Every 5 minutes the next person will make his calls until you’ve all been able to speak to your leaders and either the Secretary of Defense or Chairman of the Joint Chiefs. Is that understood?”
They all nodded. “Good. God bless you all for your service and let’s move on.”
As they were about to leave, Josh’s phone rang.
Chapter 70
Even though it was a holiday and a planned day off, the president had requested that his key people be on hand at the White House. That included his military advisors who, on a normal work day, manned their offices in the Pentagon.
Inside the White House, Defense Secretary Hakim Bahar had arranged for a conference room because he wanted to hold a special security briefing to discuss their next move in dealing with the uprising and securing government buildings and the streets of major cities with US troops.
In the meeting with the secretary were General Elway B
ishop Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Sadeem Ali, the Director of the Secret Service, and Demetri Kotsopouos, Deputy Defense Secretary.
Bahar began. “Everyone knows where we stand but briefly, the protesters are not giving up, even in the face of large numbers of citizens who have been gunned down by Syrian and Irani forces. In fact, in spite of that, the number of people who have taken to the streets of our cities has grown, and the number of cities in which protests are occurring has increased, now including many of the smaller cities like St. Louis, Memphis, Raleigh, and Richmond.”
I was hoping that we could have the foreign forces stand down, but it looks like we will need them to continue the crackdown.”
“Hakim,” said Demetri, “I’m guessing that the news reports of foreign troops killing US citizens are pissing people off, and that has spurred more of them to action. We have to end this carnage. I’ve heard reports that there have been tens of thousands of citizens killed. I don’t think we have much choice but to decide right here and now that our number one priority must be to protect our citizens. We have to decide how to deploy our troops to end this mess.”
“If I may,” interrupted General Bishop. “Demetri, I’m afraid that we have to keep our troops on stand by and not deploy them. We can’t risk having the governments of Syria and Iran angry with the president if some of our troops decided to defend the protesters. After all he did ask for their help and technically these people are criminals; evidenced by their unlawful behavior.”
Hakim asked Sadeem his thoughts. “Well Hakim, I tend to agree with General Bishop. The president will look bad. He’s gone out of his way to bind with countries in the Middle East and to do anything to harm that hard work would be devastating to our efforts there. Personally, I see our jobs as ensuring we protect our leaders and that our federal buildings are secured. It’s easier for me to do that if the rioters are kept at bay as they have been over the past couple of hours.”
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