Anarchy in New Enlgand (19 page)

Another eternity in seconds passed before Drake finally sighed and turned his chair, breaking the eye contact, to the immense relief of Jay and Hunter.

"Get the cameras. I need to make another statement," Drake ordered without expression. The two employees hurried out of the office.

Once on camera, streamed to News of New England’s live feed, for the second time that day, Drake addressed viewers.

"As many of you know, I have always respected the information presented by Business Ethics Review, which has long supported ethical business practices. This is why I was disappointed to learn of a shoddy, unsubstantiated post by BER to their homepage. This post cast aside the usual guidelines used by BER to establish fact-based substantive reporting, instead relying on rumors and wild conjectures to cast myself, my business, and my tragically deceased friend Mr. Barry as corrupt criminals who would murder for profit.

"I call on Business Ethics Review to remove this defamatory and baseless post, and explain to the public why their trust should continue to be put in BER after such a sophomoric display of reporting. NESA has done nothing but make New England safer, standing up today for the people of New England against a grave threat of the unbridled invasion of drug cartels, just as this company, led by my grandfather, stood up to Unified New America when they invaded New England some 60 years ago.

"The actions of BER have put New Englanders at risk by downplaying the very real threat we face today from the cartels, and selfishly obstructing the mission of NESA in an attempt to grab headlines. NESA will not allow fringe conspiracy theories to undermine the security of our customers, and everyone else whom we have selflessly agreed to protect in this time of crisis.

"Thank you for believing in the honorable mission of NESA, and standing with us in this fight against cartel terrorism. BER has shown today it seeks only to divide, while you and I know that when it comes to making New England safe, together we can."

As Drake spoke, an article appeared from News of New England titled, "Have Drug Cartels Infiltrated New England Media?" as another reporter for NNE spoke on camera about the possibility that New York cartels had been planning a takeover of New England for some time, and could easily have entrenched sympathizers in media outlets, banks, security agencies, and everywhere else. "Was the attack on Molly Metis staged?" asked another outlet, "so that a supposed victim could divert blame away from the cartels and toward the strongest security company rivaling cartel insurgency?"

Other news outlets didn’t take this story as fact, however it obscured the story from BER since most news debates began to surround the idea of whether or not cartels had infiltrated New England and to what degree. Molly’s theory, published on BER, was not as widely discussed by the mainstream outlets, though some speculated on why BER would publish such conspiracy theories.

But again some media and online commenters could not all be fooled, and many voiced their opposition to NESA’s actions, and supported the BER story Molly had written. Even if it is shoddy reporting, she had plenty of reason to draw those conclusions, they said. This prompted yet another raid of an Internet Service Provider by NESA. Drake couldn’t shut down BER or remove the story without creating a bigger mess, so he tried to black out the areas of New England most opposed to NESA rule, with help from his Minister of Resources and her influence on the power grid.

This also involved more bribes, more sold positions for the coming government, and more trumped up charges for dissenters. Atlas Protection was the only company actively opposing the violations of contract by NESA. Everyone else was following the orders of Drake, or just doing nothing.

At this point, his orders were not entirely unreasonable. Drake had his own NESA forces carrying out any sketchy raids or enforcement, while other companies who had yielded control were mostly patrolling and policing the few actual crimes and unrest that had taken place over the course of the day. The heavy militarized presence, and supposed threat from cartels had convinced most people to just stay inside and wait it out.

Benjamin remained by Drake’s side to update him as any pertinent information came into NESA headquarters. Most other employees were kept in the dark, believing that NESA was actually fighting a dangerous threat to their freedom.

"There’s a small security agency refusing to follow the orders issued by NESA." Benjamin paused, frowning slightly, and looked to Drake for a response.

Drake was staring off, not looking at anything in particular, and fidgeting with a cigar lighter in his left hand. "Let’s get a warrant issued for the CEO for conspiring with the cartels to violate select contracts. Arrest him, and disperse his employees with the threat of arrest if they continue to carry out their roles as employees of the agency."

Benjamin made a note, and continued, "We have several standoffs with Atlas Protection at this point. But they are too big to deal with the same as the smaller agencies."

"What happened with the highway standoff?" Drake asked.

Benjamin summarized for Drake all the information he had gathered.

The original motorist whom NESA pulled over was allowed to leave, but Atlas Protection units and NESA units remained on the scene, each trying to serve arrest warrants. NESA Agents managed to detain a handful of AP units through the use of flashbangs and smoke grenades, while the other Atlas Protection units had been cornered, just off the highway.

As the NESA detainee transport vehicle departed the scene, more AP units who had set up post a quarter-mile down the road threw a spike strip across the lane. The tires blew out on the transport truck, it skidded sideways, almost regained control, and then skid into the center barrier with the back of the vehicle slamming into a mag tunnel pole.

AP then swarmed the vehicle and detained the NESA units, transporting them and the freed AP detainees out of the area via skyship. When the skyship arrived at the hospital the AP police were taken in to check on their injuries from the crash, but before the NESA captives could be transported to an AP detainment facility, more NESA Agents stepped in, commandeered the skyship, and detained the remaining AP crew.

Drake gave a satisfied nod. Benjamin continued to give him all the relevant information.

Units from each company had also clashed at the detention center where Coastal Internet employees were being held, after Atlantic Arbitration refused to accept the warrants issued by Collective Arbitration. The situation unfolded similarly to the standoff on the highway. NESA Agents detained Atlas Protection units, before being thwarted and detained themselves.

"Everyone’s been smart enough so far not to use lethal force," added Benjamin. "It just seems like it is only a matter of time until something goes wrong, and gets violent. When you got all these Agents with loaded guns being aimed at each other, and military equipment being used," Benjamin shrugged. "I think patience is wearing thin."

Drake had the information he needed, and was done listening to his secretary’s commentary.

"Thank you Benjamin, that will be all."

Arbitration agencies would usually work these problems out without incident, but NESA’s arbiter was following none of the usual procedure. Adding to the problem was the fact that some arbitration agencies could not even function, since employees could not reach work through roads and mag tunnels, and others could not work remotely due to certain Internet and power blackouts, orchestrated by NESA, yet blamed on the cartels.

It seemed the media was having trouble teasing apart what had been caused by NESA, and what they had solved. News teams were on the scene when NESA Agents got one power plant back up and running. News teams had not been on the scene three hours earlier when NESA Agents had raided the plant and cut the power output.

Of course, this gridlock posed another problem for New England, where normal life had now been stopped for almost 12 hours. Since NESA was now in the business of solving problems, this just helped them get poised for the next phase, taking control as they "reopened" New England. Food shipments needed to resume (many were held at the border controlled by NESA), people needed to get to work and get their Internet back, in order to work from home.

Power outages had also posed problems for regular activities, especially with most transportation relying on electricity. Many people didn’t know that NESA had directly caused the power outages, the Internet blackouts, the gridlock on the mag tunnels, the impasse on the highways, and the stoppage of travel, imports, and exports at the borders of New England. But they knew that NESA kept saying, and the media repeating, that it could get everything solved and going again. New England residents just had to trust in NESA, and by the time of tomorrow morning’s commute, the pods in the mag tunnels would be running on time.

Some of the few arbiters that were able to stay open despite the turmoil had issued rulings and warrants against NESA. But since NESA had control of the vast majority of street forces in New England, there was no one to enforce these warrants, except an already overwhelmed Atlas Protection. NESA also said that all new arbitration rulings between security agencies would be suspended until everything was resolved, since arbiters were not functioning as they should, meaning NESA’s arbiter could issue warrants against other companies that ran power, Internet, and shipping, but other company’s arbiters couldn’t issue a ruling or warrant against NESA or any other security agency. This inadvertently helped AP avoid major warrants against it by Collective Arbitration, though some warrants had been issued before the NESA decree limiting further warrants.

Law was in a jumble as NESA tried to keep the appearance of legitimacy, while really doing anything they wanted. The appearance, however, was extremely important, at least until control could be solidified, and they could scale back the posturing. To instill confidence in NESA, Drake decided that he would coordinate all power and Internet to be turned back on, just in time for an address by himself to the people of New England. Like the earlier addresses, Drake assumed media outlets would focus on his words; so it was just a matter of creating the right talking points to keep people distracted from the real events and facts.

Drake needed to strike a balance. After his speech people needed to be alarmed enough to only discuss what he had said, ignoring other news items that would pop up.

Taking advantage of the distraction, Drake intended to send Agent White to lead an assault against Atlas headquarters. Of course the assault would be blamed on drug cartels, but some people would obviously see the connection between Drake’s desire to monopolize New England’s security forces, and the destruction of the only remaining adversary to NESA’s control. But if properly framed, Drake knew he could make the attack on Atlas headquarters into the smoking gun he needed, killing two birds with one stone.

If he initiated, and quelled, an attack on his own NESA headquarters as well, Drake assumed he would successfully throw off the trail. Then, if the right targets at Atlas Protection were taken out, the two agencies could "come together" to finally once and for all "stop the cartels." After all, once they were both attacked, it would seem as if they faced the same enemy, and the public would eat it up if NESA and AP joined forces for the greater good. But this was not going to happen with Kitt Atlas calling the shots at AP.

Agent White had remained in the same bar until the sun came up, drinking his worries away. Despite his training and professional demeanor, White could not shake the sadness that accompanied the death of his longtime partner and only friend. Not that he generally did much talking, or sharing of feelings, but the one person on earth that he could truly open up to was now gone. White didn’t want to go back to the house that the two agents owned far north in New England. He didn’t want to step foot back into the adap that the two kept near the coast, or the adap they shared in south central New England. If he went home alone, it would just compound the sadness. So far he could keep the worst feelings at bay with alcohol.

Some people in his position – having lost the most important person in their life – might feel anger, but his logical brain fought these emotions. White’s philosophy was that if you play with fire, you’re going to get burned. He had been burned before, but now he felt charred. Stumbling out of the pub with light poking over the horizon, White squinted at the sun, as if trying to discern if it really was morning already; he didn’t think to put his sunglasses back on. After swaying to the left and grabbing a railing for stabilization, he lunged right and started meandering along the sidewalk, periodically touching the brick building for support as he swayed.

Agent White took the conveyors as far as they would bring him, and then continued walking like a zombie without any destination. He smelled strongly of alcohol, and drew judgmental glances from anyone that passed – though relatively few people were out and about due to the events that were unfolding.

White still wore his "drug cartel" disguise, except he had discarded his sweatshirt in order to change his appearance slightly. He took the most rural road he could find, and started walking. Maybe it was ten minutes or it could have been two hours, but finally he found a tempting field, and influenced by the booze in his system, he cut off the road and wobbled toward a hilltop, bare of trees. Agent White sloshed through the runoff in the ditch at the edge of the street, filled with weeds, mud, and stagnant greenish water. He managed to get over a very old barbed wire fence with only some minor scratches, and continued stumbling through the long grass toward the hill. The sun had not yet reached its peak and there was still dew weighing down the grass.