by Rawlin Cash
He wondered what General Woo had in store for him.
Twenty-Four
The flight from Dulles to San Francisco International airport was what Hunter needed. During the flight, he finally managed to get some sleep. It'd been days. He had Margot to thank for that. She made sure that he was tired when he finally closed his eyes. For the first time in years, he didn't have the urge to bury his head in six bottles of beer before falling asleep.
Margot was sat next to him as the plane landed in San Francisco.
"We're going to board to the S-91 Triumph at Pearl Harbor. Everything is set to go."
"And the submersible device that you're going to shoot me from?"
"It's ready."
Hunter shook his head. He still wasn't one hundred percent ready to be fired from a torpedo launcher. "Are you sure they've properly tested this thing?"
"I saw the computer models. It will work."
"Reassuring."
"It will work," she said. "It has to."
Hunter didn't respond to her callous nature. In any case, he figured it didn't matter. If the torpedo launch failed, if his body burst into a bubble of red powder and organs in the middle of the Sea of Japan, he at least wouldn't have to deal with any of this shit anymore.
He'd finally be free.
At San Francisco International, they waited to board another commercial aircraft. While they waited, Hunter sat at a bar. He didn't want to watch the news, he'd been too inundated with it, overwhelmed by it, but it was on anyway. Every network in the country was taking advantage of the crisis. They filled their airtime with an endless meaningless discussion about whether or not the President or the Vice President had made the right move. It was like a sport to them.
What did it matter, Hunter thought. Those talking heads were going to solve nothing. They wouldn't be able to change a thing. It was a debate for debate's sake, and it was driving the country insane.
He called over to the bartender. "Hey, can you put on some sports highlights or something? I'm tired of this shit."
The bartender smiled. "You're watching ESPN, man. I tried."
Hunter looked up at the television. Sure enough, in the bottom left of the screen was the ESPN watermark. "Fucking hell," he muttered.
Even the damn sports channels were taking advantage of the crisis. Everything in the country had become political, and, as a result, made every political debate feel meaningless. It was cynical, all of it. The propaganda machine that ran the underbelly of the entertainment industry had become tainted.
Hunter knew why the media had taken the Vice President's side so easily when it came to North Korea. It was clear as day to see. The media industry, the news industry was indebted to Chinese bankrollers. They wanted Chinese advertising dollars. With a market of over a billion eyes, you couldn't blame them.
China didn't like the peace treaty. They wanted to control North Korea. And they didn't want the United States to interfere with their plans for hegemony in the region. Raynor's plans for peace were a threat.
On the news, Vice President Cosgrove was giving a speech.
"My fellow citizens, we've finally received confirmation about the status of the President. Rest assured, he is alive and well."
Hunter smiled. He could see the contempt in Cosgrove's eyes delivering the statement.
The Vice President continued. "I want you to know that we will do everything we can to ensure his safe return. He sacrificed his safety in the pursuit of peace, and while I disagreed with his approach, I ensure you that, in his honor, I will pursue peace with the same zealous belief in our founding fathers' vision."
The bartender placed a new pint in front of Hunter. Hunter picked it up and took a long swig.
"We've just received a videotape," Cosgrove said, "that shows the status of the President. I'm sharing it with you now."
Cosgrove stepped away from the podium, and a screen was lowered in the White House press conference room.
Raynor had a gag around his head. He was manacled to a chair and looked in bad shape. Cuts and bruises were on his head. His shirt was ripped.
A man walked up to the camera.
It was General Woo.
He spoke with a thick Korean accent.
He hadn't aged much from the picture that Margot had shown him.
He spoke slowly and succinctly.
“In four days, I will execute the President of the United States of America.”
He then stepped away from the camera.
The image went black, and then it returned to the White Press conference. The Vice President was back at the podium.
"I want our President to live. That is why I am working with the Chinese government to find a peaceful resolution to this conflict.”
The Vice President finished speaking and walked away from the podium as cameras flashed and reporters raised their hands.
Cosgrove had a snarl the whole time he spoke.
He looked like a man who was ready for war. Yet, he was preaching peace.
Hunter finished the beer he'd just been handed and sighed. He tapped on the bar for another.
"How's it going?" Margot asked.
Hunter leered at her from the corner of his eye.
"I'm fine," he said. "How are you?"
"I'm still thinking about last night. The things we did. You know what you're doing."
Hunter smirked. "Get your mind out of the gutter."
Margot laughed. "That Vice President of yours is a real dipshit. I don't believe a word he's saying."
"Don't," Hunter said. "He's either ready to bend over for China, or he's just waiting for Raynor to die. In any case, he's a cunt."
Margot ordered a drink, and the two remained in silence until their flight was called.
After they boarded the flight, they stayed silent.
She agreed with Hunter's assessment of the Vice President. There was nothing she could add. He respected Margot for that. She understood Hunter's torn nature.
The flight took off from San Francisco.
In four hours, they'd both be escorted to a British Navy nuclear sub. From there, they'd have one shot at either avoiding a nuclear war or Chinese hegemony.
Twenty-Five
They landed at Daniel K. Inouye Airport in Honolulu, Hawaii. MI6 operative, Gus Wilson, met them at the terminal. Gus had a tan, was wearing a Hawaiian shirt, and had on Ray-Ban wayfarer style sunglasses. He didn't look like an intelligence operative. He looked like a beach bum.
"You two must be the spooks," he said with a big grin. He had a Scottish accent, and his breath smelt like rum.
Margot shook his hand. "Agent Wilson, it's been a long time."
Hunter picked up right away that the two MI6 operatives knew each other.
"We'll always have Rome," Gus said, dreaming of something that felt like a lifetime ago, before turning to Hunter. "So, you're the crazy asshole they're going to shoot through the torpedo, eh?"
Hunter nodded.
"You must be a fucking quack," Gus said. "In other words, you're my kind of guy."
"I've got a death wish," Hunter said.
"You wouldn't be in this line of work if you didn't."
Gus led Hunter and Margot through the airport to an SUV in the parkade. Pearl Harbor airbase was close. As he drove down the highway toward the US military base, he updated Margot and Hunter on the operation.
"Not much has changed from a crisis standpoint," he said. "The President is still captured. The Vice President is looking for peace. And... well, the entire world is holding their breath. This outcome of all of this could determine state of Asia for the next one hundred years.”
“Has General Woo made any demands?” Margot asked.
"No," Gus said. "He's been silent." He then looked at Hunter, who was sitting in the backseat. “Your Vice President…”
Hunter cut him off. "The Vice President is an asshole."
Gus laughed. "He's a fucking psycho."
Ten minutes after leaving t
he airport, they drove up to Pearl Harbor's front gates. Gus handed the soldiers standing at the entrance his papers, and they waved him past.
Gus joked as he drove through the base. "They think we're here to repair the S-91." He laughed. "You damn Yanks are a gullible bunch."
Hunter wasn't listening to Gus. He looked out the window of the SUV. The naval base was adjacent to Honolulu and was the headquarters of the United States Pacific Fleet.
On December 7th, 1941, the base was attacked by the Japanese Navy Air Service. The United States, which had been a neutral country, entered World War II the next day. More than two thousand servicemen were killed that day, along with more than sixty civilians.
It was the bloodiest attack on US soil until 9/11.
It was a dark day.
A blemish.
Hunter found it ironic that, once again, the naval base could be the launchpad of a global conflict.
The attack on Pearl Harbor had always interested Hunter. There are many rumors about the attack on Pearl Harbor. Like many rumors, a lot of them false. But the one that stuck and weathered the test of time was the rumor that Winston Churchill and members of the United States intelligence community knew about the attack via intelligence services before it happened. Thanks to the Great Depression and an isolationist policy, the American people were not interested in joining the Allies in Europe. Conspiracy theorists have long believed that there was only one way the Japanese could have caught the United States off guard—if there was a cover-up—if certain intelligence was withheld. Non-interventionist groups were the first to suppose that there was more to the attack than initially met the eye. They believed the United States government or other Allie leaders let the attack happen so that the American public would rally around the notion that they needed to avenge the lives lost. A high-ranking official close to the FDR said he remembered that the President had told him—"The blow was heavier than he had hoped it would necessarily be. … But the risk paid off; even the loss was worth the price."
Hunter didn't know the real truth, but he imagined that the conspiracy theorists were onto something. They had to be.
Where there's smoke, there's fire.
A simple idiom that's often true.
Gus pulled the SUV to a stop.
Hunter got out almost immediately. He needed to stretch his legs. The place looked like paradise: palm trees and bright sun. The sound of the crashing waves made Hunter dream of margaritas and late nights.
What broke up the serenity was a US officer that approached them.
"You're papers, please!" the US officer said, his gun raised.
The place was on high alert.
How could it not be? A foreign power had the President. The officer's anxiety was a natural reaction. The unnatural only response was that of the Vice President.
Gus showed the same papers to the new officer as he had at the one operating the gate.
The officer scanned them over and pointed them in the direction of the S-91.
"The Triumph is over there," the officer shouted like a drill sergeant.
Gus nodded.
Modern-day Pearl Harbor was the home to over 18,000 service members, serving over 24,000 family members with schools, hospitals, stores, and recreational opportunities. It's a massive base—the largest in the Pacific. If there was one thing the military was not going to let happen again, it was an attack at Pearl Harbor.
"The captain is going to meet us on the deck," Gus said. "Once on board, we shouldn't be bothered anymore. It will be smooth sailing."
The S-91 Triumph was docked along the pier. The nuclear submarine was massive.
As they walked up to the submarine, Gus struck up a conversation with Margot.
"I missed you," he said.
"I don't want to talk about it," she responded.
"I'm sorry."
"What's done is done. You wanted someone else."
"And now she's gone."
"And so am I."
Hunter listened to their conversation carefully. He didn't know he cared, but he did. There was something about her. She was unlike any woman he'd ever met. She wasn't frightened of him and seemed to genuinely want to know who he was under his gruff exterior.
Margot's quick responses shut Gus up real quick.
He quietly guided them to the pier.
An officer met them on the deck. "Captain Murray is busy at the moment. I came here to guide you to your sleeping quarters. Follow me."
He guided them toward the loading bay that would take them into the sub. Suddenly the warning sirens of an attack blared.
They stopped.
Frozen.
The entire base erupted into a frenzy of motion. Sailers, soldiers, civilians all ran in every which direction.
Gus and Margot looked around frantically. They didn't know whether they should get off the sub or jump into the water. Hunter squinted his eyes and looked up toward the sky.
Suddenly, everything turned a bright white.
A large mushroom cloud emerged over the horizon.
PART 2 - WAR
Twenty-Six
There are thirty members of NATO. From countries as small as Albania to ones as powerful as the United States of America. At its inception, the promise of the organization was to guarantee the freedom and security of its members through political and military means. They were stronger together than apart.
NATO came to be after the end of World War II. In 1947, the United Kingdom and France signed a defensive pact at the Treaty of Dunkirk, which was expanded to include more countries in 1948. In 1949, the British worked with Washington to expand the alliance, adding the United States and Canada. Before long, Italy, Portugal, Norway, Denmark, Iceland, West Germany, and Spain were all involved.
What helped influence its expansion was the growing threat of the Soviet Union and the Cold War.
Almost immediately after World War II, the West understood that the Soviet Union wasn't going to play ball. From June 1948 to May 1949, the first international crisis of the Cold War began. It was referred to as the Berlin Blockade. Like all international conflicts, it was mostly about money and control.
The Western allies introduced a new form of currency in Germany during their occupation. They called it the Deutsche Mark. The Soviets were against the introduction of the currency, and as a result, blocked the allies from reaching West Berlin, which was surrounded by Soviet forces. The Soviets essentially had a blockade surrounding the partially Western controlled city.
The only way for the West to get to West Berlin was to fly in supplies. During the blockade, more than ninety-two million miles were flown by Western planes.
After the 1950 outbreak of the Korean War, NATO became a crucial player in all international conflicts. And it remained that way, until 1991, after the fall of the Soviet Union and the collapse of the Berlin Wall.
The Cold War with Russia was over.
And with that, many began to question the point of the organization.
With no significant threat, was there a point to it?
To politicians like Cosgrove, there was.
NATO had become a way for the United States to exert authority and control over foreign allies. It became an excuse to build US military bases on foreign soil. NATO, in a way, was a vehicle in which the US could extend its reach.
It was necessary.
And if people questioned its purpose, then that meant that men like Cosgrove had to find a new great threat. He needed a new Cold War.
He was on the phone with the Prime Minister of Canada, the United Kingdom, the President of France, and the German Chancellor.
It was an emergency meeting and concerned only those countries who had the militaries and navies large enough to do something about the problem in North Korea.
Cosgrove had requested the call.
The Prime Minister of Canada was a young, handsome man who was in over his head. He stayed quiet for most of the call, only nodding and grunting when he hear
d a statement he either agreed with or didn't support.
The British Prime Minister was oafish and had two buck teeth that made him look like a rabbit.
Those two were easy pickings.
It was the President of France that bothered Cosgrove.
“Your President has been kidnapped. Shouldn't you be sending in your troops!" the French President said.
Cosgrove gritted his teeth. If it weren't a video conference call, he would have shot back a glass of whiskey. He needed some kind of relief. He hated dealing with people who didn't see things the way he did or who didn't bend over when he asked them to.
"Listen, Mr. Jack, is it?"
"Jacques."
"Whatever," Cosgrove said. "You need to understand. President Raynor is in a precarious situation. A situation that he understood he'd be in if he went to North Korea. But we are in a real pickle here, folks, a real pickle. We need to be careful about how we proceed. Now, I would love nothing more than to send the 101st Airborne into North Korea. I would love to take the fight to them but need I remind you, China shares a border with North Korea. We need to be careful. I suggest that we seek a diplomatic approach. It would be what President Raynor wanted?"
The Canadian President nodded. He adjusted his hair. He seemed to be looking at the small display of himself on his screen. He was more concerned with his looks.
Cosgrove could have sworn he saw the British Prime Minister take a sip from a pint before nodding.
It was the French President who, once again, was like a tick in his side. "You are an imbecile. You are letting the Chinese have their way with the region, and you are sacrificing your leader. Do you realize if you back down, you will risk... sacreblue... oh my God…”
Cosgrove raised an eyebrow. He didn't know what had caught the French President so off guard. He then noticed a similar response from the British and Canadian Prime Ministers. There was a noticeable shock on their faces. Their skin had turned pale.
What the hell?
He felt a buzzing in his pocket.
He looked at who was calling.
It was the NSA.