by P. A. Glaspy
David nodded and shut the door. He closed his eyes and thought, I hope they get here soon. I have a feeling this is going to be a really bad day.
~~~~~
The four Chiefs and Speaker Roman arrived at the White House just before dark. A city that was normally bathed in light after sunset looked foreign without it. They exited the Humvee and grabbed their duffel bags from the back, having returned to the Pentagon for the other Chiefs to grab some clothes and personal items. The military members were dressed in fatigues while Phil wore a sweatshirt and jeans. They weren’t dressed to impress — they were dressed to work.
Charles addressed the group in the waning light. “If anyone asks, we’re here at the president’s request. Carl, you head immediately to the barracks in the bunker and gather your men. I don’t think the Secret Service agents will try to stop us, but if they do, your orders are to restrain and detain. We don’t want any casualties if at all possible. I think they’ll be on board when they see we have no intention of harming him.
“Angie, you get to the radio operations room. Let them know that in Admiral Stephens’ absence, you will be taking over their assignments. Find out if Olstein has issued any orders we don’t know about regarding our deployed troops and if he has tasked them with sending out any messages. If he hasn’t gotten that far yet, it’s all good. If he has, have them immediately contact anyone they have at his behest and belay those orders until we have control of the president. Anton, you’re with me and Phil. Alright, let’s get this over with.”
They made their way to a side entrance. The two Marines stationed there snapped to attention and saluted. The Chiefs returned it. One of the Marines opened the door and held it as the Chiefs and the Speaker entered. “Thank you, Corporal,” Phil said as he passed the young woman. She gave him a small smile, nodded, then closed the door behind them and returned to her post. They broke out flashlights and made their way down the empty hall toward the stairwell that would take them down to the bunker.
“It’s so eerie without people … well, everywhere. I’ve never been here that there wasn’t somebody around.” Angie spoke barely above a whisper.
“There’s no reason to be up here,” Phil replied. “Nothing works. It’s actually easier from a security standpoint because every exterior door is manned and there is only one way in or out of the bunker now — the stairs. The elevator doesn’t work either. There are two flights of stairs, one at each end, but those are easily guarded as well. All the action is below ground, along with the provisions.”
They continued to the door leading to the stairwell. A sole Marine sergeant stood sentry. He snapped to attention at their approach.
“At ease, Sergeant,” Everley said. The Marine relaxed his stance a bit and opened the door for them. They made their way down the stairs in silence, all apparently lost in their own thoughts. What they were about to do was unheard of in America, yet they deemed it necessary to save the Republic. The founding fathers fought and died to free the country from a tyrannical ruler. Now it was their responsibility to prevent such a thing from happening again.
The door at the bottom of the stairs was manned by a Secret Service agent. He turned quickly at the sound of the handle being engaged but relaxed when he saw the group. Addressing General Everley, he said, “The president is waiting for you. Shall I tell him you’ve arrived?”
Charles replied quickly, “No, we’ll let him know ourselves in a few minutes after we get settled. We want to drop our things in the barracks.”
The agent nodded and resumed his duties. The group continued down the hall to the barracks area. When they arrived, a number of soldiers hurried over to them.
“Sirs, Ma’am, did you hear what the president wants us to do?” one of the young men asked.
General McKenna stepped forward. “Yes, we heard. I need to see all of you back here,” he said as he started toward a rear corner of the area. The soldiers followed without question.
“Angie, head down to the radio room. Make sure Olstein doesn’t see you.” Charles dropped his duffel on an empty bunk. “We’ll let you know when it’s over.”
“On my way. Good luck, fellas,” she said as she turned toward the doorway.
Anton, Charles, and Phil made their way back to the spot where Carl was addressing the troops. They could tell by their demeanor that the young men and women were apprehensive about what he was saying.
“… and we’re going to do this in a way no one gets hurt. We don’t want anyone injured or killed. Understood?”
A chorus of tentative, yet affirmative, responses came from the group.
“Good. Any questions?”
A young female corporal raised her hand. “Sir, is this legal? I mean, I know what the president wants to do isn’t, not according to the Constitution anyway. But is what you want us to do any less … well, wrong?”
Carl crossed his arms over his chest. “What’s your name, Corporal?”
“Salvia, Sir. Kelly Salvia.”
“What was the first promise you swore when you took your oath, Salvia?”
“To support and defend the Constitution, Sir.”
He waited a moment. When she didn’t go on, he prompted her, “And what’s the rest of that line?”
“Against all enemies, foreign and domestic, Sir.”
“So, if we stand by and let the president issue unconstitutional executive orders, then we are not, in fact, upholding our oaths. Correct?”
She nodded. “Yes, Sir!”
Carl looked around at the group of twenty or so young men and women. “I’m not going to order you to assist in this operation. It is far outside of anything we have trained you to do, mostly because we never envisioned a situation like this. I will tell you that the success of this mission is imperative if we are to save our country’s freedom from an internal attack at the highest level of government. We cannot let President Olstein enact the changes he wants to make. If he starts down that path, it will be the end of our country’s freedom. With that said, anyone who wants to join us please take one step forward.”
The entire group of enlisted men and women stepped toward him. With a smile, he said, “Thank you. Let’s get ready.”
Carl walked over to Anton, Charles, and Phil. “Okay, you’ve got troops. When do we do this?”
“Now. I’m going to call the Secret Service agent by the stairwell door in here. Phil, you’re on.” Everley walked over to the door and called out, “Excuse me, agent? I’m sorry, I didn’t catch your name. Could you assist us for a moment?”
The agent looked at him and responded, “It’s Masters, Sir, and I can’t leave my post unguarded.”
“Oh, we’ll put someone on in your place. Salvia? Please take Agent Masters’ post for a few minutes.”
“Yes, Sir!” The corporal hurried out to the spot where the agent was standing. The agent hesitated a moment then went to the door where Everley stood.
“What do you need, Sir?” he asked calmly.
“Actually, I was the one who wanted to speak with you, Agent Masters. Please, come in and sit for a moment.” Phil was standing beside a table and pulled a chair out indicating the agent should sit there. Masters hesitated again then went further into the room. He took the seat and looked expectantly at the Speaker. Phil sat across from him.
“What’s your first name?” he asked the agent.
“John,” Masters replied succinctly.
“John, are you aware of the new executive orders President Olstein intends to enact?”
Masters eyed Phil, then let his gaze travel up to Charles, Carl, and Anton, who were standing behind him. “Yes, Sir, he shared them will all of us a little while ago.”
Phil nodded slowly. “And what do you think about them?”
John leaned back a bit in his chair. “Off the record?”
Anton and Charles looked at each other with raised eyebrows. Phil smiled at John. “Absolutely.”
“I think it’s complete bullshit,” John said.
“You can’t just go around issuing edicts that are against the Constitution. I don’t care who you are. He tried to get us to arrest those soldiers over there,” he indicated the troops watching the interaction, “because they wouldn’t bow down to his insanity. I mean, seriously, who the hell does he think he is?”
“That’s something we intend to rectify, John.” Phil watched him closely. Carl looked back toward the corner and gave the men and women there an almost imperceptible nod. They started making their way over, spreading out so that some of them appeared to be heading for the door, while others were ambling towards bunks. All of them were positioning themselves around the room.
“How? How are you going to stop him when most of the government is at home dealing with God knows what?”
Phil took a deep breath and replied, “We’re going to have to remove the president from office. We have no intention of harming him or anyone else. But we can’t sit by and let him turn this country into some kind of dictatorship. We must do whatever we can to keep our country free.”
John looked confused now. “Again, how? Congress is gone — well, everyone besides you. You can’t impeach him. The only way …” His confusion cleared and changed to shock. “A coup! You’re going to remove him from office, right?”
“Yes. Unfortunately, we have no other option at this point. We are not asking you to assist, John. We’re just suggesting you don’t interfere. We will confine him to quarters for the time being. I will act in his stead for the next thirty days until David Tanner gets here to be sworn in.”
“Tanner is in New York. No way he has a working vehicle, and he sure as hell can’t walk that far.”
“We have already secured Mr. Tanner, and he is in route to D.C. as we speak. As I said, we are doing everything in our power to stop President Olstein from making a terrible situation worse. So, my question to you, John, is will you try to stop us?”
The soldiers had formed a loose half circle behind Agent Masters. No one knew how he would react nor whether they would have to restrain or disarm him. The anticipation hung heavy in the room.
He smiled, stood up, and extended his hand toward Phil. “Just let me know what I can do to help. It would be my pleasure to serve on your security detail, Mister President.”
Chapter 10
The sun was dropping in the sky as Damon and crew made their way through Kendall Park. Outside of a few gawkers and people shouting questions at them, they didn’t experience any more trouble. Perhaps the people had heard the gunfire from their previous altercation at the strip mall. Sound travels farther when there is no ambient noise from electrically powered transformers or running vehicles. Or maybe they were just moving indoors, as the temperature was definitely falling. Whatever the reason, the travelers were all happy to see the signs for Highway 1. When they got on the highway, they could see that there had been at least one vehicle through there since the snow had ceased, as visible tire tracks attested.
They got past a couple of residential areas and stopped. Everyone got out to stretch their legs and Marco climbed down from the roof of the camper. He bent over, stretched, arched his back, and stretched again.
“Man, that was tougher than I thought it would be! There’s no traction up there!”
Damon and Hutch were looking at a map spread out on the hood. “I think we’ll bring you back inside for now, Perez,” Hutch commented. “Looks like we’ll be out of the residential areas for a while. I’m hoping Princeton is pretty dead, with everyone already gone home for the holiday. Are you planning to stop for the night, Sorley?”
Damon shook his head. “I’d rather keep going. We have enough people so we can rotate out drivers. I think we’ll be better off driving through the night. Hopefully, most people will be indoors trying to stay warm and sleeping. We’re way behind where I wanted to be by now. If we continue on, we should be in D.C. before morning.”
“Works for me,” Hutch replied. Looking back toward the rest of the team, he said, “Let’s get some food and water passed out. It’s going to be a long night. Somebody see if they can heat water on the stove back there. Coffee would be amazing right now.”
“On it, Cap,” Stacy said as she was going up the steps into the camper. Liz had gone in and come back out with a box of MREs she was passing out. Jason and Darrell were standing watch front and back. Melanie leaned over to David and whispered something in his ear. David nodded and looked to Damon.
“Major, would it be possible for my wife to use the facilities inside? I’m not sure what, if anything, needs to be done for that to be feasible. Don’t these things have to be winterized or something?”
Hutch spoke up. “If I may, Sir, it should have anti-freeze in the plumbing. It won’t hurt anything for her to use the bathroom. I’d suggest not putting any paper in. Just flush it when she’s done. Um, well … as long as it’s just urine.” His cheeks took on a tinge of pink as he did his best not to look at Mrs. Tanner. “Just pour a bottle of water in after you flush.”
She smiled and said, “Yes, that’s all, Captain. Thank you.” Agent Stephens took her arm and led her to the camper door. He stood outside and waited for her return.
Stacy leaned out the door. “I found a coffee maker and coffee in here. Just a few more minutes.”
Hutch gave her a nod then went back to studying the map with Damon. “So, what’s the route you are proposing we take?”
Damon ran his finger along the highways as he spoke. “We’ll stay on Highway 1 until we hit 295. That will get us around Trenton. We’ll follow that highway until we can get on the Jersey Turnpike, probably from Mt. Holly Road. Satellite imagery shows that to be a commercial area so, hopefully, no residents out and about.”
“Why the turnpike instead of 295 all the way down?” Hutch asked.
“The turnpike goes through fewer residential sections and has less exits, thus fewer potential spots for an ambush. I came up that way and it was fairly quiet.”
“Okay, but remember you came through there two days ago when no one had figured out what was going on yet. It may be a whole different scenario now.”
“Agreed. I think we should have your men and women try to get some rest back there. Have two on sentry and two sleeping. Two hours on, two hours off. That will give everyone a break and keep them fresh.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Hutch replied. “When will you be taking your two hours?”
Damon smiled and said, “When we complete this mission.”
~~~~~
After they had eaten and gotten some hot coffee in them, there was a renewed sense of urgency among the team. They all wanted to get going. Marco and Darrell were extremely happy to be inside the camper for a change and offered to take the first watch while the girls slept. Stacy and Liz didn’t argue with them.
As they approached Princeton, they could see no lights and nobody out on the streets. While Princeton University itself was across the lake, there were campus facilities around the highway they were traveling as well. The sun was setting, and it was apparent no one wanted to be out after dark. An area that was usually teeming with people, even with the holiday approaching, now looked like an eerie winter ghost town.
Being on a highway, there weren’t many residential complexes right on the thoroughfare. Most of the houses were on streets off of the highway which meant it wasn’t as likely that people would be able to get outside and to them before the Humvee had already passed their road. But they didn’t see anyone even attempting to come out. The houses they could see were shut up tight, curtains drawn, and not a sliver of light to be seen.
“This is downright creepy,” Hutch said from the passenger seat. He and Damon had swapped for a while. “It looks completely dead out there.”
“My guess is something has the people too scared to venture out, especially at night.” Damon made the comment as he peered through the last dregs of daylight. Finally conceding defeat, he turned on the headlights. The road ahead was now bathed in light. He glanced over at Hu
tch and added, “Or someone. Those guys we ran into back there aren’t the only bad guys out now.”
“You’re probably right. It’s hard to believe everything has gone downhill so fast. I mean, it’s only been two days.” Hutch was shaking his head.
“Yes, but people aren’t stupid. They know it’s going to be a lot longer than two days until things get back to normal — if they ever do. No one is working, which includes police, firefighters, EMTs, doctors, or nurses, for all intents and purposes. Everything they use to do their jobs is fried. Squad cars, fire engines, ambulances, monitoring and testing machines — hell, lights and electricity, period. There’s going to have to be some serious restructuring of how we do everything until we get the power back on.” Damon had rattled all of that off without having to stop and consider his words.
Hutch looked at him a bit awestruck. “Have you been practicing that spiel?”
Damon chuckled. “I had a lot of time to think on the drive up here. It’s not like there was anything on the radio.”
Just then, Damon’s phone rang. Hutch pulled it out of Damon’s bag on the floor and held it out to him, but Damon shook his head. “You’re going to have to talk to him. I don’t need to be distracted at all right now. Who knows what might be in the middle of the road up ahead?”
Hutch flipped the phone open. “Captain Hutchinson speaking.” He put the phone on speaker and held it out between himself and Damon.
“Where’s Major Sorley?” General Everley’s voice boomed from the phone.
“I’m here, Sir. We’ve got you on speaker since I’m driving.”
“Oh. I actually want to speak to Mr. Tanner. Is he there with you?” Hutch took the phone off speaker and passed it back to David.
“Yes, I’m here, General, and you are no longer on speaker. How are things going there?”
They could not hear the other side of the conversation. Damon glanced up into the rear-view mirror and saw Tanner’s face go from shock to anger to resolve.