by Adam Yoshida
Amery rose again.
“Is the Prime Minister aware that at least fifty British citizens - the majority of them members of our own armed forces - have been reported to have been killed during the most recent round of fighting in the United States as a result of the Prime Minister’s unsound decision to take sides in that terrible conflict?”
Shouts of “shame” rose from the government benches as the Prime Minister rose once more to face Amery who, in the absence of the leader of the Conservative Party, was acting as the Leader of the Opposition.
“I thank the member for Broxbourne for his question,” began the Prime Minister, “and I must begin by saying that I am, Mr. Speaker, very aware of the terrible casualties that have been inflicted as a result of the latest atrocities committed by the American Rebels.”
Now the Opposition benches rose in fury, screaming abuse at the direction of the Prime Minister.
“Yes, yes,” said Blunt, “it is all well and good for those on the opposition benches to jump and shout, but that does not disguise the truth: this government made the decision to commit British forces to support of the government of the United States in support of our long-standing alliance with that nation and in concert with the rest of our European partners. We did this because we recognized - as did our American friends - the threat that a radical right-wing effort to take over America would represent to every cause that we hold dear in the world: to the environment, to economic equality, to the rights of women and minorities…”
The noise from the opposition rose to a crescendo as the government benches joined in and began to hurl insults back across the way.
“As I said, Mr. Speaker, they can shout: but it is the truth.”
“The member for Broxbourne,” said the Speaker, as Amery stood again.
“Will the Prime Minister be taking action on the continued flow of migrants into this country from the rest of Europe, even as the unemployment rate in this country - the official figure, I might add, Mr. Speaker - now exceeds 15%?”
The Prime Minister stood up once again.
“Once again we see, Mr. Speaker, the Deputy Leader of the Opposition - and his friends and colleagues - would rather engage in immigrant-bashing than to engage with the substantive problems that face us today.”
The noise from both the government and opposition benches rose once again.
“However, I should add that this government has, in fact, a substantive program to address the challenges that face British and European workers today, one which addresses the real problems in the global economy that has been amply demonstrated by the recent crisis: the unequal distribution of wealth, the over-dependence upon finance versus production, and our reliance upon resource extraction as a means of sustaining people. This government has solutions to each of these and we invite the opposition to become partners in the future development of this nation, rather than simply sitting on the sidelines and blaming foreigners and the poor for all of our ills.”
2nd and E. 68th Street, Manhattan
Detective Juan Mancini took a long sip from a bottle of water as he leaned back in the driver’s seat of his car, struggling (and failing) to find a position that would relax his aching back. He’s been slow to realize that the investigation of the Anderson murder wasn’t simply being met with indifference by his superiors: they actually viewed it with hostility and had done their best to suppress it. As a result he was now following the case unofficially and on his own time.
The bullet casings found at the scene of the Anderson murder had initially appeared to be a complete dead end. There were no matches for them in any of the systems that he had access to. At the time that had seemed to be that: this murder, especially in an era of strained resources, was destined for the cold case files. Then the damnedest thing had happened: the gun that had been used in the Anderson murder had surfaced amidst the wreckage of the 91st street town house explosion. And, better yet, the gun had been registered.
At first the registration had appeared to be a dead end: it belonged to an eighty year-old Vietnam veteran. However, a few clicks and typed phrases had quickly transformed that information into a promising lead: the old vet’s grandson’s Twitter feed showed him to be an ultra-leftist who bounced between supporting the Bryan Administration and criticizing it for being insufficiently radical. Young Kyle Hannigan was exactly the sort of person who might be mixed up with the ultra-radical groups floating around New York City.
Mancini had been out in front of the apartment building where the old vet lived - and where Hannigan periodically stayed - for nearly six hours. His eyes were heavy and his shoulders were slumping. He needed to be at his desk in just over five hours. He was about to call it a night when he heard a sharp rap against his window. He turned in its direction just in time to catch sight of the gun.
Texas State Capitol, Austin, TX
Acting President Terrance Rickover hadn’t left Colorado since the first days of the Rebellion, when he and the rest of the new Federal Government had been forced to retreat to the safety of Cheyenne Mountain. Now, however, in the aftermath of the intensification of the Second war between the states represented by repeated air attacks launched by both sides, the Acting President had had little choice but to hit the road in order to remind the American people of just what they were fighting for.
Of course, a lot of the military establishment - and not a few politicians - had been opposed to Rickover leaving the security of Colorado behind. After all, it was pointed out, there wasn’t even a Vice President thanks to the Constitutionally ambiguous position of an Acting President vis a vis a Vice President. That matter, thankfully, had been settled prior to Rickover’s departure thanks to the passage by the Congress of a new Presidential Succession Act that once again placed the Secretary of State behind the Vice President in the line of succession. Jon Simpson was hardly flashy or dashing, but everyone knew that he was a good man and a steady set of hands on the helm who would be more than capable of taking command if something happened to Rickover.
Not, thought Rickover as his heavily-armed convoy approached the Texas State Capitol, that they’ve left very much to chance.
Austin, of course, was far from friendly territory in an of itself. If left to its own devices the city was one of the few locations in the South that probably would have signed on with the Loyalists.
“No more than a few local disturbances,” said Governor Michael Fraser, seemingly reading the thoughts of the Acting President as he gazed out the window at the sparse-but-friendly crowd that had been allowed to approach the Presidential motorcade.
“Don’t worry,” added the Governor, gesturing out the window, “they’ve all been very carefully screened and selected. But we’ll make sure as Hell that we use every camera trick in the book to make it look like there’s a whole lot more of them.”
“How did people take the bombings around here?” asked Rickover.
“Shit, Mr. President,” replied the Governor, “most people practically stood up and cheered. I mean, they’re making an army of Goddamned drug dealers and illegal aliens and who knows what else. Whoever thought up the idea of running all of those stories about sex offenders that they let out of jail and into that army… Now that was absolutely fucking brilliant. If you watch a lot of the outlets that are still up and running, well you’d think that they’re raising an army of pedophile meth dealers to come down here and rape our kids. I guess they might as well Goddamned be, come to think of it.”
“Give or take a notch,” agreed the Acting President.
The armored SUV came to a stop.
“Knock ‘em dead, Mr. President,” said the Governor, slapping the President on the back as the door was opened for him.
2nd and E. 68th Street, Manhattan
Dallas and Moore had seen the car outside of the building before. The first time it’d been a little bit earlier in the day and they’d figured that the guy was waiting to pick up a date or something. The second time they’d been a
little warier and kept a sharp eye on the old Toyota. The third time they decided to do something about it.
Covered by Moore at a discreet distance, Dallas crept up to the vehicle, carefully staying in the blind spot of the tired man in the driver’s seat. Finally, when he approached the window itself, he took the butt of his pistol and tapped it against the window.
“Who the fuck are you and what are you doing here?” asked Dallas.
“Juan Mancini, NYPD,” replied the man in the car, “and who the fuck are you?”
“Fuck,” said Dallas before adding, “badge.”
Moving carefully, Detective Mancini reached into the pocket of his jeans and produced a badge that he showed to Dallas.
The CIA operative examined the badge for a minute, before nodding quietly.
“And who the fuck are you?” repeated Mancini.
“A guy with a fucking gun,” replied Dallas.
“Hannigan?” asked Mancini, “are you here for Kevin Hannigan?”
Dallas put away his gun.
“I think that we’d better talk,” he said.
House Chamber, Texas State Capitol
“Members of the Senate and the House of Representatives,” drawled the Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives, “I have the high privilege and distinct honor of presenting to you the President of the United States.”
As a single body the members of the Texas State Legislature rose to their feet to applaud the President. The body, already lopsidedly Republican, had become even more uniform in belief in the aftermath of the Great Mutiny and Texas’ decision to side with the Rebels when an act had been passed and signed into law by Governor Fraser providing that only those who swore loyalty to the Colorado Springs government would be permitted to sit in the legislature.
“Mr. Speaker, Lieutenant Governor Davis, members of the Texas State Assembly and Senate, I thank you for that very warm introduction this evening. I also want to thank Speaker Torres, for the very kind invitation extended to me to address you tonight as well as to Governor Fraser, who has been courageous and supportive of this nation in its hour of need.”
The members of the Legislature rose again, leading the Acting President to extend his hands into the air in a futile request that they shorten their demonstration.
“America today is endangered as it has never been before. The contest in which we are engaged is not simply one over political power, but over whether or not we shall remain one people under the Constitution and under God. There can be no middle ground in this struggle - however much some may wish to find it - because the aim of our enemies is to destroy the Constitution and the republic that exists under it. In all of my fifty-seven years upon this Earth I have never learned how we might only destroy half of a Constitution or how we might only half-annihilate a republic.”
“No, my friends, there can be no compromise. One side shall win and the other will lose. In this war, given the stakes and the divisions, there must necessarily be a victor and a vanquished.”
“And I say to you tonight that, so help me God, we will not be the latter.”
With that the members of the Legislature jumped to their feet, applauding so wildly and loudly that the building itself seemed to shake. Their shouts were intermixed with those of the friendly crowd gathered outside who more than made up for their relative lack of numbers with volume.
“Tonight there are two Americas. And, the truth be told, that has been the case for a great many years. There is our America. Our America is a place that believes in individual liberty, the sacred right to hold private property, and the protection of the rights of the people under the Constitution. There are our aims. They were the aims of Abraham Lincoln. They were the aims of the Founders. And, God willing, they will be what America always stands for.”
“And what of the other America? Most of those people in the other America are not evil and their road to Hell has been paved with good intentions. The other America is led and populated by people who believe that humanity may be perfected by the actions of the state and that no action to that end, however it may violate the rights of some, can be ignoble and wrong. They believe in their faith and preach their creed with an evangelical vigor even as they denounce the idea of God himself. It bothers them not a whit that they embrace their pseudoscientific ideas about man and society with a commitment fierce, unthinking, and unbending enough to frighten the most close minded fanatical adherents of other religions.”
“Because they think themselves right: because they think themselves to be the evangelists of an absolute and unquestionable truth, our opponents have repeatedly shown that there is no right that they will not violate and no line that they will not cross in the name of their faith.”
“Well, I say: let them keep their faith and we shall keep ours. We will see who wins in the end.”
“These are terrible days for America. Americans are killing Americans over politics as I speak. The killing will go on for some time yet. For those of us who believe in liberty, the question has now become one of whether we shall conquer or whether we will be conquered. There is no middle way. Compromise now would be nothing less than a compact with the Devil and a surrender to Hell.”
“Now, there are those who say, “well, we understand that you must wage war, but must you do it with such great violence?” To them - to those who would question our decision, for example, to launch air attacks against the camps in which the so-called Army of the United States - an army in which the government in Washington has enrolled millions of criminal foreigners in an attempt to extinguish our liberties - I would simply say: so long as I am the President of the United States, I will use every single measure at my disposal to defend our soldiers and to secure our freedom.”
“Those air attacks were no one-off event. Let it be understood, here and all over the world: we are fighting this war to secure the liberties of all of the American people. We will ensure that the Constitution is protected and that our republic survives for our children and generations hereafter. To this end, we will pay any price and we will make our enemies pay a price even steeper still.”
“For, make no mistake, this is not the end of America. Let that be realized. This is not the end of our country or its role on the world stage. Together we will win this war and ensure that the freedoms of all Americans are respected, now and forever, but this will not end there. We will remember who was for us and who was against us and we will make those in the latter category very sorry indeed.”
“Today we - and I regret to say, very many innocents - are paying for the sins of generations of Americans who made the mistake of buying into the delusion and our liberties and our power were permanent features of human life and that we were, to borrow the words of some, more than rich enough to be foolish. Bitter experience has shown us that this was emphatically not the case. It has reminded us that liberty is a living thing that must be fed and nurtured by every generation. The results is that our generation must, to borrow from John Adams, practice war and politics so that our children can study commerce and industry so that their children, in their turn, may study art and literature.”
“That is the charge - and indeed, the sacred mission - of our generation. That we will restore the America that we inherited so that we can pass it on to tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow.”
“God bless you and may God always bless, protect, and defend the United States of America.”
2nd and E. 66th Street, Manhattan
Mancini and Dallas had retreated to a nearby bar that was still open.
“I think that the guy was down for the evening anyways,” said Mancini, “I was about to call it a night.”
“Look,” said Dallas, “I don’t know shit about what you think about the situation in the country today, but I think you ought to know that you’re dealing with some very dangerous people.”
“I have lots of opinions,” said Mancini, taking a sip of his drink, “but my job is to protect the people of New York. And
I’m going to go on doing just that. Fuck politics.”
“That’s a position that I can respect,” said Dallas.
“And I fucking know that these people are dangerous,” said Mancini, “the evidence that led to this guy was found in the wreckage of that townhouse explosion up on 91st.”
Dallas winced and then quickly righted himself. He hoped that the Detective hadn’t noticed.
“All I’m saying is that I think that we could do some good if we worked together,” said Dallas.
“Oh? And who is “we” here?” asked Mancini.
“People interested in protecting Americans, just like you are,” said Dallas.
“I need to know more than that,” replied Mancini.
“Look,” said Dallas, “all I’m saying is that if you happen to come across any information that might be useful about this Hannigan guy or especially about who his bosses are - or really anything at all that you think might be of interest to people who are trying to save this country, well, we’d really appreciate your assistance.”
Cedar Rapids, IA
Jake Hunter paced outside the gate of the condominium complex where he and his family lived.
I should have asked first, one part of him said to himself, but how could I live with myself if the answer was no?
The economy wasn’t getting any better, he told himself, and the Army’s promise to pay was about as good as anyone else’s. And, in any case, he’d just had enough to Wal-Mart. Every single day, he realized, he was struggling against the same forces that the country was up against - unlimited entitlement to other people’s money and the unreasonable expectations of the undeserving. Spending every day dealing with it - within the context of a company that wanted to play both sides of the divide - was simply soul-crushing. Moreover, the Army recruiter said that Jake’s three years of college and management experience were more than enough get him an officer’s commission and, in the end, how could he turn that down?
