WAR (18 page)

“Boris, you have done the Motherland a great service today. Prepare your teams to launch all of your ideas. At the same time, see if you can arrange a couple mutated fetuses we can blame on the radiation caused by the USA destroying our strategic weapons. The world will fear the USA; their allies will stop supporting them. The USA will find themselves alone in the world. After their race war starts, we’ll propose a worldwide protest and ban on all USA goods. We’ll hurt their economy at the same time all of the other issues explode in their face.”

“Yes Mr. President, all of this is possible. I’ll see to it at once.”

Chapter 11

Presidents Brownstone, Cruise, and Rand are reviewing the reports from Las Vegas, the Russian Federation, and the LSA. President Cruise looks at his two friends asking, “Why is Grameniko so quiet? I would have assumed he would be screaming about the loss of his strategic forces. I would have assumed he would have tried to strike back at us. He’s been silent. When he’s silent, it means he’s up to something. Where are we vulnerable? What could he do to create chaos in the USA? How will the Russian Federation and the LSA strike back at us? We need to think as they do and act first, so we take the initiative away from them.”

President Brownstone pauses when sipping a mug of coffee; he holds the mug halfway to his mouth. He thinks about what Ted just said, he responds, “Ted, let’s game this out and see where it takes us. If we were Bloomberg or Grameniko what would we do? I suggest we list all possible actions they may take and see if we have a countermove to whatever they hit us with.”

An aide to the Secretary of State asks, “Sirs, why do you think they will do something? They know whatever they do to us, we’ll stomp them. State thinks they will surrender so that their people can get their electrical power turned back on. The Secretary suggests President Rand invite Presidents Bloomberg and Grameniko to a sitdown; he thinks that the three leaders will be able to work out a compromise that works for all parties.”

Rod laughs saying, “I see State hasn’t changed. Still looking at the world through rose-colored glasses. Has any of State’s projections ever come to pass? I’ll tell you the answer, no. Nothing you guys at State thought would happen ever worked out as you thought they would. Why do you think State is in Foggy Bottom? You guys are always in a fog and at the bottom of a deep trench filled with shit.”

“Sir, if you think that way….”

President Rand interjects, “Both of you please stop it. State, I don’t think that Grameniko is going to roll over and play dead. We just declawed him in a very public and painful manner. He’s going to strike back at us in some manner. You can be sure of it.”

              The aide responds, “Mr. President, State doesn’t agree. We believe now that the Russian Federation is declawed, as you put it, they will see they have no option except to sit down and talk. We project they will demand payment for the destruction of their weapons systems. We believe they will make a claim to the world court that we illegally struck them, causing them a severe loss.”

              Ted laughs saying, “State is wrong. If I were in Grameniko’s shoes, I wouldn’t sue, I’d find a way to strike back. We all but declared war on the Russian Federation. There’s no way he’s going to sit there and take the slap across the face. I wouldn’t, nor do I think any of us would.”

              Rod adds, “Ted, then what will they do?”

              Ted replies, “I’m sure we can see Grameniko call a press conference to say we violated the old UN treaties on not militarizing space, we destroyed hundreds of billions of Rubles, he’ll want to be compensated for the loss plus associated cleanup costs.”

              Rod smiles saying, “I think you’re on to something there. Yes, I see him making a grand show out of the attack, I think he’ll try to pull in the Green factions around the world saying our attack spread nuclear material into the air and water which is going to poison the world.”

              Paul asks, “What happened to the nuclear material used in their weapons?”

              Rod replies, “Most of it was destroyed by the fires, some of it was released into the atmosphere. I’m sure it wasn’t enough to harm anyone unless they’re standing in the debris field.”

              Paul says, “That’s it. They’re going to invite the world press and the Greens to see the damage. They’re going to claim we spread deadly radioactive material around the world, demanding we pay to clean it up. He’s going to ask the world to support him in pressuring us. They’ll hit us with a cost in the hundreds of billions to bankrupt us. If he can get enough other nations behind him, it could cause us some issues. He might also try to have the world stop trading with us until we pay their cleanup costs. Paul, I’d ask Commence to check every contract to see what the cancelation clauses are. If the other nations cancel contracts with us, we should be able to invoke the cancelation clauses and sue for damages. I don’t know what the damage to our economy would be if all of these contracts were canceled. I’m sure it might have a major impact on our people.”

              Ted replies, “We could always turn off the power in any country that supported them.”

              Paul shakes his head no replying, “No we can’t. We’d become hated even more than we are. We’d be pushing the other countries into an allegiance with the Russian Federation and the LSA. I’m not sure what we can do if they cancel or refuse to honor contracts. Do either of you have any ideas what Bloomberg will try?”

              Rod says, “I think he may try to flood us with those who are unhappy in the LSA, overwhelming our border patrols. “

              Paul says, “I’ll appoint a review team from each agency to spend three days reviewing the various options and counter moves.”

              Ted laughs saying, “Three days? They won’t even come up with a name for their interagency working group in three days.”

              Paul smiles responding, “Yes they will, or they’ll be out of a job.”

              “Want to bet?” asks Rod

@@@@@

General Leninkov is reviewing the progress reports of his four spearheads moving south from Quebec towards Washington, D.C.  He doesn’t know his movements have been seen and are being watched. Stealth drones finally found the Russian military moving south.  The drones are keeping track of his movement. General Watson, in the War Room under the Pentagon, is reviewing the images from the drones. He’s looking at the maps trying to find the right location to spring a trap on the soon to be invaders. His staff keeps coming up with the same answer, “Sir, either we have to hit them in the LSA or we’re going to have to wait until they are on the Washington, D.C., line. Their route keeps them inside the LSA the entire time.”

General Watson says, “They are going to have to stop short of the border to regroup and prepare for the invasion. We’re going to have to hit them just before they kick off their invasion. Our timing is going to be very tight. And our options of hiding our attack troops are going to be very limited. If our troops and tanks are out in the open, they’ll be spotted hours before the Russians arrive. Find places for us to trap them before they can enter D.C.”

The staff nods in agreement

@@@@@

Outside of St. Louis, Missouri, five black FSB agents pass around potent drugs to a group of African-American youth hanging around a Burger King store. The group smokes getting higher by the minute. At midnight, the agents suggest someone go into the Burger King to get everyone something to eat. The youths all say they don’t have any money. The FSB agents hand one of them a small handgun, saying, “Take this, just wave it around and threaten them. Make them fill a couple of bags of burgers and fill another bag from their cash registers. We’ll eat and have pocket money for the week.”

The youths smile nodding in agreement. The oldest, Mack, who’s eighteen, asks, “Can I keep the gun?”

“You get me at least two large burgers and some cash. Man I’m starving.”

Mack laughs nodding in agreement. He takes the gun going into the store. Minutes later the group hears screaming, two gun shots and then crying. The FSB agents laugh and disappear in the dark of the night. They tell the youths they are going to take a leak behind the store. They don’t return. Turning two corners they hear police sirens heading in their direction before they enter their car and leave the area.

Mack walks into the Burger King where he waves the gun yelling for everyone to get on the floor. He tells the manager to fill four bags with burgers and one bag with the money from all of the cash registers. The manager says he can’t open the registers unless there’s a sale. Mack is confused. He’s not the sharpest tool in the shed; he yells at the few customers in the store to buy something so he can get into the registers. Of the three people in the store, only two have any cash on them. One orders a burger and a milk shake. The manager says it’ll be about five minutes since he placed all of the precooked burgers in Mack’s bag. The customer says she doesn’t want to wait and leaves. Mack is so high he’s confused by the customer walking out; the other two customers take note of the first customer walking out. They too say they don’t want to wait and leave the store leaving Mack standing in the store with the employees on the floor and the manager saying he can’t open the registers. Mack shoots at one of the registers, he misses, instead hitting the deep fryer which starts pouring hot oil on the floor. The hot oil reaches two of the employees on the floor, they scream and cry from being burned by the hot oil. Mack shakes his head, holding the two bags of burgers he walks out of the store just as the police arrive. The police are standing behind the open car doors holding their guns pointed at Mack, who yells at them to leave him alone. He didn’t do anything. The police sergeant says, “Put the bags and the gun on the ground. Lay down on the ground with your hands behind your head.”

“Man why? I didn’t do anything. I was hungry. I got some burgers for my friends and myself.”

“With a gun?”

“It’s not mine. A friend loaned it to me.”

“Get on the ground.”

Mack figures he can get away if he can make it to the corner of the Burger King. He pretends to get on the ground, rolling to his left he’s momentarily out of sight of the police. He gets back up with the gun in his hand, trying to run around the Burger King.

“STOP, DROP THE GUN.”             

Mack doesn’t answer; he starts to raise his arms, including the one with the gun when he’s shot by the police. Mack falls; he gets up and tries to aim the gun at the police when he’s shot again, he gets up and tries to fire at the police when he’s hit three more times. His friends who were smoking with him all run, they manage to disappear in the confusion. The evening news reports the shooting of a black teenager by the police. Nothing is said about Mack having a gun in his hand or his attempted robbery of the Burger King. The African-American community takes to the streets demanding the police who ‘murdered’ Mack be brought to trail and imprisoned for life on the charge of murder.

The City of East St Louis explodes with protests and marches of thousands of people filling the streets chanting “Black lives have meaning.” The protesters, who said they’d had enough after Trevon Martin and Michael Brown, demand the issue of racism be the number one item that has to be resolved in the country. Before the country can digest the shooting in East St Louis, there’s a shooting of an African-American in Austin, Texas. The local police claim the teenager, only sixteen, had used a hammer to beat an elderly women to death, he threw and hit one of the officers with the hammer. The officer’s partner fired two shots that killed the teenager. New protests break out over the two young African-American teenagers shot within two days. Before the country can catch their breath, an eighteen year old African-American girl breaks into a white upper-income home; she’s caught carrying out a bag of diamond jewelry. The homeowner yells at the teen to stop, she turns giving the homeowner the finger, a white private security guard sees the teen make a motion with her hand, thinking she has a weapon he shoots her in the chest killing her with one shot. The last straw that broke the camel's back, is a road rage incident between a white woman who shot an African-American mother with two children in her car for cutting her off on Interstate 80 in Kansas. The FSB agents decide they’ve done enough to kick start a race war which will turn into a class war forcing the USA to take their focus off of the coming conflict with the LSA and Russia. The FSB and LSA DepLIES provides the USA media with stories and images to increase the pressure on President Rand. Mass marches are organized to improve race relations that were much improved from where relations were when the LSA/USA split. Additional protests form saying the blackout of the LSA is racist because it turned off the lights of African-American and other families of color. The poorest and those least prepared, have been harmed by the USA’s blackout.

To further the race war, in Las Vegas Russian General Chekov calls a news conference where he announces he’s releasing all hostages who are African-American and all other minorities. He looks into the cameras saying, “The poor in the USA, the African-Americans, have been taken advantage of for hundreds of years. Through no fault of their own, they have been forced to take the lowest paying jobs waiting on the whites here in Las Vegas. When we arrived at this city of sin, we discovered that the rich whites are being waited on by people of color. Poor women of color have to sell their bodies to feed their children. They can’t find any other jobs. The casino/hotels hire people of color only to clean the rooms of the elite whites or wait on them in restaurants. I was shocked to see elder men of color having to shine the shoes of the elites in order to put some food on their family’s table. The poor people are kept on their knees bent over to serve the elites. We, the Russian Federation and the LSA which was built upon the fact that people are equal, condemn the rich elites who come to Las Vegas to ‘play’ by having people of color wait on them. This is worse than the conditions in the American South in the mid 1800s. We can’t accept these conditions. The conditions we found when we arrived have made me ill. I can’t hold these poor people hostage or cause their families additional pain over and above what the white elites have done to these poor people. As such, I am releasing all people of color with pockets full of the casino’s money so they can rebuild their lives to a level of the people they have been forced to wait on.”