WAR (35 page)

“Did they get a radio call off?”

“Yes, we intercepted it, they reported four black Tahoe’s leaving the grounds.”

“Colonel, they most likely have other spotters on the road.”

“Yes, but we have a surprise arranged for them. We should be safe all the way to the House.”

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In the Honeymoon suite of the Beverly Hills Hilton which has been converted to living and command location until a new Gray House can be acquired, Dianne is briefing Kory. “Sir, we got President Cruise, we fired on President Brownstone. I’m not sure if we got him or not. We fired an RPG at his car.”

“Where was he going?”

Dianne sips her coffee saying, “We think back to the White House.”

“We have to stop him before he’s able to hook up with President Rand. If Brownstone gains a degree of authority with the US Military, we are screwed. A pissed off Brownstone is not what we want. He’s much more dangerous to us than Rand or Cruise, he’s more dangerous than both of them combined. We have to stop him before he reaches the White House or the Pentagon.”

“Mr. President, what’s the worst they will do to us?”

“Dianne, they’ve nuked terrorist locations before.”

“Come on Kory, think this through, They still consider us part of them. They’re not going to nuke us. They’ve already tried to sway us by turning off our electrical power, it didn’t break our people. Our people are strong. They aren’t going to give in to any threats they make. As long as our people are working, their welfare checks clear and the food stores have food, they’ll be fine, they’re not going to give in to any threats.”

“I hope you’re right. We missed our primary target. Cruise wouldn’t have hurt us, Brownstone will go after our leadership personally. He’ll send that SOB of an attack dog Grover after us. Once he gets a bone in his teeth, he never lets it go. Face it, we’re all dead if Grover comes after us.”

“Dianne, he wouldn’t send Grover here. He knows your DepLIES is always looking for him.”

“Mr. President, I bet he was behind the gas explosion at the Gray House and the Mint burning down.”

“Dianne, no way, he might have trained someone to blow the Gray house, but he didn’t do the mint. If he were here, your people would have spotted him and taken him down. I think both were accidents.”

“For our sake I hope your right. I don’t believe it, but I pray you are. If you’re wrong, we’ll know soon enough.”

“Dianne, how will we know?”

“We’ll be dead.”

Chapter 25

   The White House daily press briefing starts off in pandemonium. The press started yelling questions at Sean before he even reaches the podium.

“What happened in Atlanta?”

“Do we know who killed President Cruise?”

“Is it true the LSA behind the attack on President Cruise?”

“Was President Brownstone also attacked?”

“Have we retaliated yet?”

“How many children were killed?”

“Were the guns used legal?”

The press’ voices and questions yelled out cancel each other out. No one can hear anything but the noise. All of the various voices merged into a brain-numbing noise.  Sean tries to quiet the room, when he can’t their attention he pulls the microphone to his mouth yelling, “Shut up! Right now. I’ve had enough of your disrespect for this office. Either listen to me and ask your questions after my remarks or I’ll have you removed from the White House.”

“Bullshit, you won’t have us removed, you need us to report the news of the day for you.”

“Security, remove the reporter from NBZ.”

The room falls into silence as two secret service agents drag the screaming reporter out of the room. Sean says, “Remove his press pass. His White House credentials are revoked.”

The reporters in the room close their mouths mid-word with the fear they are going to be tossed out and have their credentials removed.

“Now if we can continue the daily briefing in a civilized manner, the administration has some announcements to make. “First, President Rand and the entire country is shocked at the deadly attack on the Atlanta Airport. Seven hundred Forty-eight people lost their lives in the brutal attack, including as you know, President Ted Cruise. Three hundred and four have been injured, they are in hospitals in Atlanta. The country will observe a thirty-day period of mourning for the dead. President Cruise’s funeral will be held in four days, this Friday at noon Central Standard Time. The President was born in Calgary, Canada, his will specified he be buried in Austin, Texas. Both Presidents Rand and Brownstone will attend the service. President Cruise’s body will be carried in a caravan from Atlanta to Austin starting this evening at 4:00 Eastern Standard Time. Any, who wish to pay their respects, may do so from the overpasses of the various freeways between Atlanta and Austin. The caravan will travel at 45 MPH until it reaches the President’s resting place. President Rand will be attending a national service at the Atlanta Airport on Wednesday.  The Vice President will be attending the funerals of as many of the other innocent people who lost their lives in the terrorist attack at the airport as possible. I see the looks on your faces when I used the word terrorist. Yes, President Rand considers the attack on the airport a state-sponsored terrorist attack. His comments are, he reserves the right to respond with every weapon in our arsenal at the time of his choosing.” 

A pin falling could be heard by everyone in the press room because everyone is silent hearing Sean’s words. Slowly a single hand rises, “Greta, you have a question?”

Greta says, “Sean, thank you. Yes, I have a question. Is there any proof as to who was behind the attack on the airport that took President Cruise’s life?”

“Greta, two of the bodies in the terminal were positively identified as DepLIES agents. Three other bodies were positively identified as being on the LSA’s payroll. Our answer is yes, we have all the proof we need to be confident the LSA was behind the attack on the terminal and we, the USA hold the LSA and President Booker responsible for the President’s death. President Rand has stated he will respond at the time of his choosing, he considers this a terrorist attack against the people of the United States.”

“Sean, does your last statement mean or imply that President Rand is considering using nuclear weapons against the LSA?”  

“Greta, President Rand reserves the right to respond with any and all weapons in our arsenal. He will respond when he decides the time is right. No weapon is off of the table, no action is off the table. The President will respond when he feels the time is right.”

“Sean, may I have a followup question?”

“Yes, what is it?”

“Does the President still hold out any hope that the LSA and the USA can come back together to form a true United States again?”

“Greta, yes he does, which is why he’s taking time to decide the best possible response. He will decide and will act against the LSA and any other country or person who acted with the LSA in the death of President Cruise and the other 747 innocent lives.”

A voice is heard in the back of the room, “Sean, is President Brownstone injured?”

“Ah, Rash, sure you don’t want to come up here and I’ll take your seat?”

The room tries hard to hold back laughing. They all want to know the answer to the question.

“Rash, I can confirm there was an attempt against President Brownstone, he IS OK, he is unharmed and should be here in the House as we’re talking.”

“Sean, a followup?”

“Rash, of course.”

“How was he attacked?”

“We have little information at this time, what we do know is some people hid in the trees on the edge of his property. They waited for his car to pull up to the exit of his driveway when they opened fire on this car.”

“Sean, was it his new car? If it was and anyone damaged it, woe to them, I know he’d be angry.”

“Rash, it was his armored SUV with his protection detail. As I said, he is safe and under the protection of the secret service and a private security company.”

Rash laughs at the comment, “Private Security Company” because he knows that means Colonel Grover and his team, no sane person would want to go up against. They’ve left a trail of bodies around the world of people who threatened their principal.

A reporter from CNN asks, “Sean, were the trees damaged in front of President Brownstone’s home? We all know how old and beautiful the trees there are. Everyone has to do their best to protect Mother Earth.”

Sean looks up at the ceiling, and at Rash who smiles at him, thinking,
how the hell am I supposed to be respectful of these nuts?

Sean grabs both sides of the podium, he looks into the eyes of the CNN reporter, “To be honest I have no idea if any leafs on the trees were damaged. Or how the people got into the trees.”

“Well, I and the people of the LSA think it’s important to find out and pass laws forbidding others from damaging the trees.” She stood in front of Sean with her arms crossed over her chest feeling very proud of herself.

Sean paused, looking into her eyes, he lowered his voice, “Criminals don’t follow laws. We in the USA pass laws that will improve and protect the lives of our people. We try not to waste our time passing laws to make us feel like we’re doing something that in reality have zero impact on our lives.”

The CNN reporter stared at Sean saying, “Which is why the USA is a morally bankrupt country with no future.”

“At least we recognize God created only two sexes, frankly we recognize there is a God and his ten commandants, which we try to live by.”

“Mr. Press Secretary, there is no proof of a God, we in the LSA recognize the equality of everyone. We realize some people don’t fit into a box of male or female…”

“When you can prove there are more than two sexes, come back with the proof. Until then, we are moving on with today’s brief. President Rand will address the nation tomorrow evening at 9:00 PM EST.”

While the press conference is going on, LSA President Booker sits in the hotel suite laughing, “Look at the fools, they can’t even figure out how to respond. They look foolish in front of the world. We’re winning the PR battle which is the only battle that matters. Can we still get Brownstone?”

Dianne shakes her head no saying, “Sorry Mr. President, once he reached the White House, he’s out of reach.”

“Why can’t we take out the entire House?”

“How do you suggest we take down the House without getting ourselves destroyed in the process?”

“Dianne, I’m surprised you haven’t already figured it out. Airplanes fall out of the sky all of the time. Why can’t one fall onto the White House?”

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In Burlington, North Carolina, along with the rest of the USA, the mood is dark and at the same time very sad. Every flag is flown at half-staff. People go about their business wearing black armbands in mourning for the 48 innocent lives lost at the Atlanta Airport attack. Leon Jones is wearing a black armband on his right arm. He’s walking to school with three of his friends when they are confronted by a group of minorities who demand they remove their black armbands. “Take that damn armband off.”

“Why?”

“You’re white, you shouldn’t be wearing anything black.”

“We’re honoring the dead in Atlanta, including our President.”

“He wasn’t my President, he wasn’t black.”

“He was the President of all of us.”

“You’re a sucker if you believe that.” Ripping the armbands off, the two groups get into a fight. One of the black youths pulls a knife just a police car pulls up. The officer sees the knife, he yells at the youth, “Drop the knife, NOW.”

The knife holder turns to face the officer while holding a knife. The officer sees the blade turn towards him, he sees the youth take a step forward. The officer pulls his sidearm out pointing it at the youth saying, “STOP.”

“Fuck you pig.”

The youth takes another step forward when the officer fires two rounds into the youth’s chest instantly killing him. The other minority youths yell, “Pig killed the nigger for nothing.”

Leon said, “No he didn’t. He told him to drop the knife.”

“Whitey always sticks up for whitey. Man we’re going to get you.”

Additional police cars arrive, each youth is taken by an officer to the station to get their statements. Since Leon didn’t make it to school, the school called his parents asking why he didn’t attend classes. Bob’s cell rings, “Hello?”

“Mr. Robert Jones?”

“Yes, who’s this?”

“This is the attendance officer at Hugh M Cummings High School. Leon wasn’t at his classes today. We’re calling to confirm he was out ill.”

“What? I saw him leave for school this morning. What time did he arrive?’

“Mr. Jones, that’s why we’re calling, he didn’t attend any of his classes today, nor did you or Mrs. Jones call with an excuse for his absence.”

“He wasn’t absent today.”