“It sounds like you aren’t too fond of the way the system is operating presently,” MacMillan stated.
“It is pathetic. It is not doing one thing to deter crime. One of the most interesting statistics that seems to get overlooked is that states with concealed weapons permits have lower crime rates than states with the most stringent gun laws. We will never take the guns out of the criminal element. They don’t register them,” he told them.
“So that is another area you intent to change?”
“Not change so much as look at carefully. I know one thing for sure, you try to do away with the 2nd amendment and it leads to war.”
“Amen to that,” Jason muttered.
Like all of the important issue meetings, it went on for the next several hours. One thing they knew immediately, Garrett Mann was the right person for the position of Supreme Court Chief. e might not have all the answers, but he realized that change was necessary.
CHAPTER THIRTY
WASHINGTON, DC - PENTAGON
General Ascot had been spending every waking moment, when not dealing with a crisis, thinking about his role. He knew that the United States was a democratic society. The military had been in control for almost nine months now and he wanted to wind down not only his involvement but the military’s overall.
He had spent countless hours talking it over with his aids, especially Generals Amblin and Erickson. He decided it was time to try to talk to Senator Dickerson and see if some headway could be made.
A meeting was arranged for the next Thursday at the Capital building. It was to be just the two men. To his surprise, Senator Dickerson was all in favor of the meeting. He had been expecting some resistance or even hostility but it certainly wasn't evident in the phone conversation.
****
“General Ascot,” his secretary said, sticking her head in the door.
“Come. I’m just reviewing some material.”
“Sir, a Detective, Dan Markham, from the Metro Homicide Division is here and would like to have a few minutes. He said it would be of great interest to you.”
“That’s very cryptic. Go ahead and send him in,” Ascot told her.
Detective Dan Markham was not what the general expected a homicide detective to look like. He was tall and youthful looking. In fact, he hardly looked like he could have been out of college more than a year. He wasn’t handsome but certainly distinguished looking.
“I am sorry to barge in on you like this General Ascot but I think you are going want to hear what I have uncovered.”
“Please, have a seat. Would you like something to drink?”
“A soft beverage if you have one would be great.”
“Could you bring Detective Markham a Coke?”
“Certainly,” she said heading to get the beverage.
“So, what is it that you uncovered that I will find so interesting?”
“It concerns Supreme Court Justice Glenda Foley,” he said.
“Justice Foley? You caught the person responsible?”
“Yes and no. Yes we know who is responsible but no we haven’t been able to apprehend him.”
“Okay, so who is this person?” Ascot asked.
“It was a contract hit. A professional killer actually strangled Justice Foley. His name is Odin. It’s not his real name but what he calls himself professionally.”
“And you can’t locate him?”
“Not so far. He is an international assassin and works for whoever will pay his fee. He has no real interest in the victim other than the money it represents.”
“And he was hired to murder Justice Foley?”
“That is correct.”
“Who hired him? DO you know that?” Ascot asked.
“Yes sir I do and that is why I am here.”
“Go on.”
“Sir, the hit was ordered by Hanna Cole.”
“What? Are you one hundred percent sure?” Ascot said excitedly.
“Yes sir. We have traced the call back to him, looked into her financial records and found that she has used him twice before.”
“My God. Do you realize what you are saying?”
“I most certainly do. That is why I came to see you. I’m not sure I know what to do with this information,” Markham told him.
“Holy smokes. That stupid, stupid woman. I knew she was evil but nothing like this,” Ascot moaned.
“Yes sir. The former Secretary of State, Emily Niles. She was killed in a car crash. Going back, it turns out that she was actually murdered and it was staged as an accident. Cole paid two hundred thousand dollars to have that little accident happen.”
“I don’t even know what to say at this point. Who else knows about this?”
“Captain Sellers and my partner, Jose Cartié.
“Geez. Now what? I know I shouldn’t say this but thank goodness the woman is dead,” the general replied.
“As hard to control as she was, it would have been a real dog and pony show trying to arrest her,” Markham replied.
“So I need your assurance that this will go no farther than it has at this moment. You tell both the chief and your partner that they are not to tell a soul while I try to figure out what is the right thing to do.”
“Yes sir. Sorry to have to dump this on you.”
“I’m thankful you did come to me. Any chance of catching this guy?”
“Slim to none truthfully. He is long gone. Interpol has been after him for years and years. I doubt he will show up in Washington any time soon unless she put out a hit on ex-President Quasim.”
“She was one vicious woman,” was all the General said.
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
NAVAL SHIPYARD-NORFOLK, VA
The Norfolk Naval shipyard is so large that half the people who work there have no idea where many of the other buildings are. Admiral Swanson had finally had to send an escort to direct Admiral Heathcoat and Admiral Greenfield to the meeting.
Both had been there many times before but it was always confusing under the best of times.
“You made it,” Jean said as they were shown into the room.
“How in the hell do you find your way around this monstrosity?” Heathcoat asked.
“I let my driver worry about that. I told you that we would pick you up.”
“Don’t be an ‘I told you so’. We had GPS in the car but all it did was get us hopelessly lost,” Heathcoat complained.
“Anyway, you’re here now. I have lunch being brought in so we can continue to work. We have a ton and a half of work,” she told them.
“Just one and a half. I figured at least three,” Greenfield shot back.
“It will feel like it once we get started. First. We need to get all rank and formality off the table. Do you agree?”
“You bet.”
“Absolutely.”
“Good. So Leon and Colin it is. I’m Jean so we can move on from there. Have a seat. In front of you are six binders. The top one has SUBMARINES on it. If you all agree, I would like to start there.”
“Let’s get to it,” Colin replied.
“Each submarine is listed by build date, what it cost for construction, length of time in service, upgrades, needed upgrades, and its depreciated value using the GAO’s MACRS standards. Below the general data about the sub is the current armament onboard that will go with the boat plus any ancillary items.”
“MACRS is the Modified Accelerated Cost Recovery System, correct?” Leon Greenfield asked.
“Correct,” Jean replied.
“Just making sure. The US and AR represents who currently has control of the ships?”
“Right again. If you look on the last page it gives you a visual representation of how things stand now.”
“That certainly makes it easier,” Colin replied.
“We have a smart screen so we can move ships around as we need,” she told them, “My computer whiz, Lieutenant Winslow will do the honors. So shall we?” Jean said.
The nex
t three hours were a blur of activity and non-stop discussions about each submarine. By lunchtime they had a pretty good fix on the division. At this point the United States actually would owe money to the American Republic but they all knew once they got to the surface ships that it would change radically.
****
It was going on nine O’clock by the time they decided to call it a night. They had agreed to the submarine split so that each had seven ballistic missile subs, two guided missile subs, and twenty-seven attack submarines. Each would have one submarine tender.
The carriers had posed more of a problem even though there were only eleven of them. The compliment that made up the air wings had to be factored in as well. They were halfway through when they quit.
Just looking the list over, not even considering decommissioned ships and those in mothballs, it was apparent that it was going to be an arduous undertaking.
****
“Senator Dickerson,” Ascot said shaking hands.
“Good to see you again General. Is there anything I could get you before we start?”
“I’m fine.”
“Then I guess we should get on with it. You called the meeting so, please.”
“Senator, this past nine months have been the most challenging in my long career. I am not a politician,” he said.
The Senator smiled, “Yes, that been brought to my attention.”
“I guess so. Anyway, the military does not want to control the country. That is not what this country is all about. Civilians need to have the reigns. Having said that, our old system was in shambles. Congress was no longer doing the job that the people elected them to office for. Money flows like water and no one really knows what is going on. So many back room deals are made that the public opinion of Congress was at a twenty-one percent approval rating before the war. wenty-one percent. If any company’s president was only satisfying twenty-one percent of the shareholders he would be out on his ear. And that is the crux of the problem,” Ascot told him.
“Congress is a very complicated system. The average person has no idea what it takes to get anything accomplished in Washington,” the Senator replied.
“Why?”
“Why?”
“Why is it so difficult? Why can’t the average person understands what their representatives are doing in Washington?”
“It is the way it has evolved. We have more issues and many are harder to understand. We deal with very complicated laws. Congress doesn’t want to rush through and miss an important fact that could affect hundreds of thousands of people.”
“Senator. We are making decisions that affect millions every day. Why is it so hard? If I may, I honestly think it’s because people bribe congressional representatives with money. Why would we have a need for so many minor and often ridiculous laws? What gives the government the right to tell someone they can’t have too much salt. Too much cholesterol? We put the information out so why not let them decide for themselves? Because we are concerned about their health? It’s their health. Let them make the determination.”
“General you are trivializing what we do. People need guidance. We are helping them make better decisions.”
“Again Senator, I ask you why? That is exactly the reason we are in the situation we are. We take responsibility for making bad decisions out of their hands. They don’t have to be responsible for anything. Let the government tell them what to do. I can think of a thousand areas where the government has no business poking their noses in,” Ascot said.
“People want us to make those choices. The government’s job is to protect them, even if it’s from themselves.”
“Senator. This country is simply not going to operate like that any longer. I have with me a copy of what the American Republic is doing with their Congress. I don’t expect you are going to like it much but keep in mind, I simply will not let Congress go back to doing business as before. Please take this and look it over. Take it to your group that meets regularly and discuss it with them. I am open to some negotiation but there will be changes in the way Congress operates before I turn the country back over,” Ascot reiterated.
“I’ll get back to you General. Thank you for this discussion. Even though we didn’t agree on anything today, I feel some progress was achieved.
“Likewise, Senator.”
Dickerson left wondering how General Ascot knew about the group that had been meeting weekly. What else did he know about and who was feeding him information? It seemed like every time they were ready to take a course of action, he was able to derail them.
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
AMERICAN REPUBLIC
By the one year anniversary of the end of the Second Civil War, the Republic had made progress that both pleased and displeased the President. What he had to focus on was the amount of progress that was being made and not on what remained to be accomplished.
The education system under Dr. Churchman had begun in earnest. She had put together a panel of top educators in grades K-12 and gave them free reign to offer suggestions on ways to make public education a better system. Every idea was recorded so that each could be reviewed. One thing became clear almost immediately. Some children would be left behind. Not one single educator thought that intelligence could be legislated. Children with special needs would certainly require an adapted curriculum that met their particular needs. The same applied to the truly gifted students. Gifted classes would no longer be compromised in order to balance ethnic groups or gender. ll agreed that it was much more important to focus on high interest, engaging, and challenging curriculum as opposed to State or Federally mandated tests. Some standardized testing serves an important function for students, parents, and educators. This was an area of focus for future meetings.
Dr. Churchman was fair but firm with those taking part. If discussions became hostile, she immediately put a stop to it. She wanted free exchange of ideas not political correctness.
She had decided on K-12 as the logical starting point because as she told the President, ‘that is where the future rests’.
They discussed issues from bullying to super achievers and everything in between. Teaching responsibility was a central theme along with how to better engage parents in the child’s education process.
****
Supreme Court Chief Garrett Mann was having a much tougher job trying to straighten out the court system and sentencing in general. The system was appalling. A drug user was sentenced to ten year in prison. A child molester was given the same ten year sentence but it was suspended if he went to counseling.
A mother who killed her two little girls was given fifteen years while a bank robber with a gun was given twenty-five years. Stealing money cost the perpetrator twenty-five years in jail but stealing two little lives was worth only fifteen. What were these judges thinking? Extenuating circumstances? Unless the kids were threating her life, there could be no reasonable extenuating circumstances.
He was also investigating gangs in prisons. Why were they so prevalent? He was absolutely convinced it was because it made it easier for the prison officials to allow status quo rather than breaking up the gangs. It was time to end that as well and he brought a group of prison officials together to discuss the problem and ways to change it.
The way the death sentence was handled was another hot button for Garrett. He was going to shorten the time lag to an absolute maximum of five years. If enough evidence hadn’t been produced to warrant a new trial after five years the sentence would be carried out. No last minute appeals or interference by local politicians would be incurred.
His list was long and he knew it would take several years but like it or not, the Supreme Court of the American Republic would not operate as another political arm of the administration.
****
Mary Lake, External Affairs Chief was busy with her own priorities. She notified the UN that we would no longer support or be involved with the UN. They sent a team of delegates to try to dissuade her and
even appealed to the President.
President Jason essentially told them that they needed to discuss it with Lake. He would not intervene. He would not second guess his key people.
Her second act was to start withdrawing any ambassadors that were under the auspices of the American Republic who were in countries hostile to the Republic. This resulted in the vacating of twelve embassies. She informed the United States of their decisions on both the withdrawal of ambassadors and the withdrawal from the UN.
She was now reviewing countries that we gave financial assistance to and what they actually used it for. She was for aid to indigent countries for humane purposes but not if significant amounts of money were being siphoned off for administrative fees and bribes. If the money or supplies could not make it to where they were intended, she reasoned, why fatten the wallets of the crooks?
Trade agreements would be her next big item. There was really no such thing as free trade with other countries. In most countries America couldn’t compete. Companies had started outsourcing and sending millions of jobs to other countries. That was going to change. Companies that outsourced would soon find that it was even more costly through taxation and tariffs. The outcry would be enormous but if America was going to compete on a global level, companies would have to find ways to produce goods and services right in the American Republic.
****
General MacMillan was changing the scope and the mission of the military. We would no longer be the world police. Just as with our Civil War, internal affairs of other countries would be their problems. If the UN wanted to step in that was just fine with him since we would no longer be a member.
Bases would be shared by the Navy and Air Force whenever possible. Duplications would be reduced. The Marines and Army would share bases as well. Dissention came from all sides but MacMillan explained that the savings in upkeep, maintenance, and operating costs would be passed on to the remaining bases for long overdue repairs and upgrades.
A NATION HEALING - BOOK III The Second Civil War (The Second Civil War - BOOK III 1) Page 12
