WAR (20 page)

“Shit, we really better get you and us out of here as quickly as we can.”

The two hold up 28 who’s limping in pain. It takes them three hours to make it to the Shell station. When they reach the station, Rob runs to them saying,, “You found him. Was he shot? Is he OK?”

“He’s going to be OK; we’ve got to get out of here ASAP. The Russians know we or someone like us, were here.” Before Rob can finish, they see headlights moving out of the park.

Chapter 12

In Burlington, North Carolina, the Jones family is watching the evening news showing the images of the rioting across the country. The images scare the Jones family; buildings behind the protestors are burning out of control. Cars along the road have been overturned, most have been set on fire. The reporter shows the skyline of twenty cities, all with flames licking the sky, the fires are reflected off of the bottom of the clouds. Protesters push and shove the network camera people; they steal two cameras by running past the network people, pushing them and grabbing the cameras. CNN gleefully reports the rioting as proof the USA is not equal, the USA is based on keeping the lower classes down while the LSA is built on equality. Leon looks over towards his parents, “I’m scared, is this going to spread to us?”

Beth says, “Our teacher told us there are people in the streets as close as Raleigh.”

“Beth, don’t worry, Raleigh is about an hour away from us, I don’t think those people rioting are going to be coming here. We’re too small of a town. We don’t have race problems here. We all get along with each other.”

Leon says, “Dad, why are they burning their own towns down?”

“Leon, I wish I knew why they are rioting. It’s true some African-Americans were shot by police; some were accidents, some might have been mistakes. I think they should have waited until the grand jury reached a decision if they were going to arrest the officers or not before rioting.”

“Dad, I don’t understand why they keep saying black lives matter. Don’t all lives matter?”

“Son, yes they do. Every life matters. They feel that they are being profiled. They think they are unfairly picked on by the police.”

Carol replies, “One of the things I don’t understand about them screaming that ‘Black Lives Matter’ is that the majority of abortions are performed on African-American women. On their left hand, they say they are free to abort their babies while on the other hand they protest when any of them gets shot, even if they got shot while committing a crime. The first one shot had a criminal record; he was armed. He raised his gun towards the police; anyone who points a gun towards the police right after a crime, should know they are going to get shot. The police are worried they’re going to be shot, they have to defend themselves.”

“Mom, they say the kid, Mack, was just trying to surrender, and they shot him.”

“Leon, he should have dropped the gun or laid it on the ground when he was told to, he raised his hand while holding the gun pointed at the police.”

“Mom, if that’s the true story why don’t the protestors believe it?”

“Leon, did they say his system was full of drugs?”

“No, is that true?”

“The police released the lab report saying his system was full of drugs.”

“Then why are they protesting?”

“Because they want to be heard, they want to make a statement.”

“But Mom, they’re burning down where they live, if they don’t like white people why don’t they protest where we live?”

“I think they know our police won’t be as tolerant as they are.” answered Bob.

“Dad what are we going to do if they do come here?”

“We’ll protect ourselves. I’ll do whatever I have to in order to protect our family.”

“Dad, would you really shoot them?”

“If they or anyone tried to hurt our family, yes, I would shoot them to protect us.”

Beth starts crying, “Honey what’s the matter?”

“Daddy I don’t want you to go to jail for killing someone. Please daddy, don’t go away. I’ll miss you too much.”

“Beth, I’m not going to away. Don’t worry.”

“Daddy if you kill someone the police will come and take you away. I see it on TV all the time.”

“Beth, when I said I’ll do anything to protect our family I meant it. I won’t kill anyone unless something very bad happens. Something very bad, so don’t worry. I love you.”

“Daddy, promise me you won’t go away.”

“I promise.”

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Two former and one current US President are in the War Room bunker three hundred feet under the White House. President Cruise talks about the issues in Las Vegas. “I’ve been wondering how to dislodge the Russians from Las Vegas, we can’t use a lot of force since they are holding tens of thousands of people hostage. Since there’s not been a declaration of war, if we destroyed the hotel/casinos we could be open to a liability in excess of a billion dollars. We’ve stopped their reinforcements from crossing into Nevada from LA; we’re stuck in how to dislodge them. The only thing I can think of, is to take out the Russian leadership. If we cut off the head of the snake we, might be able to cut a deal with the new leaders to remove their troops.

President Rand thinks about what Ted said, “Ted, while I’d like nothing better than to take our Grameniko, do we want the world to see us as a country that assassinates any world leader we don’t agree with? Would any want to work with us if we did this?”

President Brownstone interjects, “It wouldn’t be the first time we took out another leader. We’ve been behind the forced change of governments for more than fifty years.  Recently, you all know we took out Puten. Of course we never acknowledged we did it, you know I ordered it, in fact, the team I sent to Russia is in LA looking at taking Bloomberg out. How is taking Grameniko out any different from taking Bloomberg out? I know some might say that Bloomberg is a rebel, but he is the head of an independent country. Didn’t we just use the KEW weapons to declaw Russia? If I were Grameniko, I’d be looking for a way to get even with us. He lost his strategic weapons; he has to make us pay in order to keep face, I think we’re looking at them invading us in another location in addition to Vegas, or they’ll strike at one of our close allies.”

President Rand replies thoughtfully, “I think you may have something there. Where do you think they will strike us next?”

“If I were giving the orders, I’d order a decapitation strike. I think the Russian army group, we lost track of and later found, is heading towards us. I wouldn’t be surprised if there isn’t another army group hiding, just waiting for the word to attack us.” 

President Rand looks at Ted, “Shit, you just ruined my day. I better check with the CJCS to ensure we have sufficient support to stop an invasion of the city. I think we may have to go ahead and take out Granmeniko’s bunker and start increasing our defenses to protect the capital.”

“Paul, should I call in the military aide with the release case?”

“Ted, I think you should. I hate targeting him directly, but it may be the only way to break the invasion with minimum loss of life.”

              Rand says, “I think we’re agreed. I’ll issue the orders to the Air Force.”

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Inside the Cheyenne Mountain, the technicians are sending commands to a stealth ‘garage’ that is orbiting over Russia. The garage is covered in RAM and is shielded from thermal sensors. The garage holds the guided re-entry ‘Thor’s Hammer’ rods that are being programmed to take out the underground bunker of the Russian Federation’s leader, Demetri Grameniko.

              “General, technician first class Larson, we’ve uploaded the coordinates of the bunker, the system is running quality checks on itself and aligning its guidance systems. We should be ready to launch in ten minutes.”

              “Larson, will the hammers penetrate the Russian Federation command bunker? It’s designed to survive a direct strike by a nuclear weapon.”

              “Sir, all of the studies say one will penetrate all the way through the earth and the bunker’s roof, collapsing the bunker.  In order to make sure, we’ve revised the plan, from two to three hammers. The first should penetrate the bunker, to make doubly sure, the second and third hammers will follow the first one down. We’ve programmed the second and third hammers to the same GPS spot. They’ll strike within a meter of the first hammer.”

              “Larson, can the Russian’s ABM system take out a hammer?”

              “Sir, the hammers move much faster than an ICBM warhead, the Russian ABM’s shouldn’t be able to track or hit the hammers. If they do manage to get one, the other two will take out his bunker. There should be nothing left of the bunker and the area around where it used to be. Sir, the hammers don’t carry any warheads, all of their destructive force is kinetic. The hammers impact is 380,000 joules per kilogram, each hammer weights 45.5 kilogram, which will impact 17,290,000 joules of energy when it strikes.”

              “Larson, how long until the hammers are released?”

              “Sir, nine minutes.”

              “Thank you, I’m going to contact President Rand.”

              Picking up the red handset, “Mr. President, General Johnson, CICNORAD, the hammers are programmed, we plan to release three of them. All will have the same impact point; they will be released five seconds apart. Our projections are that a single hammer should destroy President Grameniko’s bunker, hammers two and three will ensure there’s nothing left of the bunker or the surrounding area. Sir, I require you to release hammers.”

              “General, I’m entering my release codes, your panel should show weapons release in less than a minute.”

              In thirty seconds, technical Larson reported, “General, we have weapons release from President Rand. We’re free to fire.”

              “Larson, you have weapons free, you are cleared to fire.”

              “Yes sir, weapons free, clear to fire, sir, in five, four, three, two and one, hammer one is released and on the way through the atmosphere. Sir, hammer two is released.” Five seconds later, “Sir, hammer three is released. All are on target and dropping in a line. Their tails are going to be visible over Moscow since they’re falling through a clear sky.”

              “I’m sure the people of Moscow are going to get a very brief shock, when should the first one land?”

              “Sir, twenty seconds. We’ll see the impact from the KH15 birds sitting over Moscow; it should be any moment. We’ll see a flare first from the thermal bloom. The impact will create a mushroom cloud; many will think a nuke hit the city.”

              The large monitor shows a bright thermal bloom as the first hammer strikes the ground above the Russian command bunker. The hammer liquefied the earth in front of it; when it struck the reinforced concrete bunker it burrowed through the bunker’s roof destroying the bunker and everyone in it. “Hammer” two and three weren’t needed. Their strike destroyed the area surrounding bunker. The three “Hammers” left a crater hundreds of meters across and hundreds of meters deep. The population of Moscow panicked thinking the city and country were under nuclear attack. Without electrical power, rumors spread like wildfires across the city, followed by the country.

Chapter 13

              At the Gray House, President Bloomberg’s aide knocks saying, “Mr. President we have received reports of a major explosion in Moscow. We’ve not been able to contact President Grameniko.”

              Bloomberg looks at his aide very concerned, “I wonder if President Rand nuked Moscow. It would be like them to drop a nuke on the Russians. Can we hack into any of the satellites to get a view of the city?”

              “Sir, I’ll check. Is there is anything else?”

              “No, thank you.”

              As the aide leaves President Bloomberg lifts the gold handset which connects him to the Director of DepLIES, “I have a new idea, can you meet me in the bunker?”

              “Of course, I’ll be there within twenty minutes.”

              After the two men are seated across from each other President Bloomberg sips his coffee saying, “I think we may have lost our ally, Rand may have nuked Moscow. I think we need to have a backup plan in case our ally’s army fails.”

              “Sir, what are you thinking?’

              “I think we should reach out to a certain group of families who once ran New York City. I think you should go to New York and see how much they want to take out the USA leadership.”

              “Sir, you’re suggesting we put out a hit on the USA leadership?”

              “That’s correct, which is why I wanted to see you face to face; we can’t ever have anything in writing that mentions this.”

              “It can be very expensive, very; they will want payment in gold. They won’t accept our currency.”

              “We have a secret supply of gold. If that’s what it takes to take out our enemies, it’s worth it. Gold is only money, money we can earn or steal again. If we don’t take out their leadership, they will beat us. If we take out their leadership, we may have a better chance coming to terms with their replacements. We’ll offer to help the American people overcome their loss; we’ll offer your department to help find who committed the assassination. We’ll show ourselves as good partners with the USA. If the Russian troops heading to Washington, D.C., haven’t entered the city yet, we’ll turn them in showing our good intentions. With Grameniko gone, we won’t lose anything by turning on our one-time allies.”