by Ira Tabankin
“Not that. I can’t do this job, or any job anymore. I came to resign and help you pick my replacement. I want to wrap everything up today.”
“Old friend, let me get up; damn, getting old sucks. Let’s get a cup of coffee, I think we both could use some. By the way, the cuts have healed, I think you can wash the toilet paper off your face. Also, it’s impossible to wrap everything up today.”
The two sit in a corner of the cafeteria sipping their coffee, everyone sees them and leaves them alone. Fred looks at Jay, shaking his head, “I never understood how anyone who claims they love coffee could put chemicals into it to enjoy it. You don’t really like the taste of coffee, you like the taste of warm sweet creamer.”
“Good attempt to change the subject. It’s not going to work. I’ll make it easy for you, I’m not accepting your resignation.”
“Why? I can’t do this anymore, plus, I’m not giving you an option, I’m resigning today.”
“No, you’re not. And yes, you can still do your job. You and I know it’s all you have left. I know, I’m an ass for saying that, but we both know it’s true. If you quit and sit home, you’ll waste away. Your mind is alive; you don’t really want to die. If you think you can fool me into not knowing what you’re planning, you're wrong. I won’t leave your side all day and all night. I refuse to allow you to take your own life. You know it’s one of the things I feel very strongly about. You only think you want to because of the pain you’re feeling. You can survive, you’re strong. Listen to me, you CAN survive and move forward. I need you. The state and the country need you. You’re able to do things I can’t. Fred, I know it’s easy for me to say, Lacy’s not the one who’s dead. I need you. I saved you, now, it’s your turn to pay me back and save me. I can’t handle the job and stress without your help. If you need a break, take one, appoint a couple of your assistants to take over for a while, but I want you back. I want you at my side. Can you imagine Tony doing your job? He’d set a new level of graft, he’ll sell access, he’ll sell contracts, it’s not his fault, it’s who he is. Is that how you’d like to see our new country begin? Run by the Mafia? People will pay to kiss his royal ring. We’re not in Sicily.”
Fred smiles thinking about how Tony would manage the office. “You’re right he would undo everything we’ve tried to build. It would be funny watching him sell everything.”
“Hell, he’d most likely sell tickets to tour the shelter.”
Fred laughs, spitting his coffee on the table.
“You’re going to clean that mess up, aren’t you? I’m the President, there’s a limit to what I’ll do. Windows and tables aren’t yet on my list.”
“Are you sure? What if I slip or break down or fail?”
“Yes, I’m sure. We all make mistakes; we all fail in some way or another. Anyone who doesn’t fail isn’t a success. We learn more from our mistakes and losses than we do from our success. Fred, you’re stronger than you think. I know your inner strength. I have faith in you, everyone in the leadership knows your strength. Why don’t you go start the meeting in the conference room, I want to check on Lacy again, she ought to be waking soon. I’ll be along as soon as I can.”
“Will the others start without you?”
“You’re my assistant, you’re the one who really runs the damn place, go start the meeting.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Good.” Jay places his hands on Fred’s shoulders. “Fred, it’s going to be hard, there will be days when you want to give up; fight it. Why don’t you move to the castle? There’s no need for you to live surrounded by all of the reminders of your family. I’ll send a couple of people to pack up their stuff and redecorate. If you stay in the castle, you won’t be alone. Hell, there’s usually so many people in the castle, I don’t know who half of them are.”
“Jay, please don’t, leave everything as it is. I want to keep everything as it is. I’ll feel like they’re still there.”
“Don’t give into the pain, you can fight it. You can do this. The one thing I believe in is, God does not like suicides. He placed all of us here for a reason, he doesn’t like it when we end our own lives before we’ve completed whatever it is we’re supposed to do. We all have a task to complete. If you leave the earth early, by your own hand, he won’t be happy. The one thing I know is it’s not good to piss him off.”
“How do we know when we’ve completed our mission?”
“Because that’s when we die, our mission here is then over.”
“I'm embarrassed that you can see into me so clearly. I convinced myself to leave. But, I’ll stay for a while. In which case, I better start the meeting, I bet the others are already there waiting for us.”
“Thank you, I’ll see you in a little while. Fred, I have faith in you, I really can’t do this without you. I’m here if you need anything, at any time.”
Fred hugs Jay with tears welling in his eyes. “Thank you. Thank you for saving me.”
“It’s what friends do for each other. Friends are there for each other, you are always there for me, I’ll always be here for you. My father taught me that the definition of a true friend is, when you drowning, a friend jumps in to help without asking what’s in it for them. Fred, I’m ready to jump in whenever you need something. I’m here.”
Every eye in the cafeteria watches the two, when Fred nods, smiling at Jay, everyone who has been holding their breath releases it, smiling.
@@@@@
In Washington D.C., a very pissed off President fires three senior DHS managers for losing the Tolson girls.
“Could you please explain to me in simple words how the hell someone can walk into Mount Weather and walk off with my special hostages? No one thought to question someone new walking through the shelter? Didn’t anyone question his orders? Did anyone even think about checking his orders and have them verified? Is the entire department incompetent or are you all stupid?”
“Sir, if you’ll let us explain…”
“Yes, by all means do explain how someone can just walk into a secure facility and walk out with two VIPs. What’s worse, is you helped him leave with my hostages. I’m confused, so yes, please enlighten me.”
“Sir, he had written orders, he had the correct ID card. He had the daily password. He looked the part, he acted the part. His pass worked in the scanners. His biometrics were in our scanners. The hostages, er, guests got very ill, the Major General said we had been attacked by a bioweapon, we had to transfer them to a hospital in order to save them. Shortly after the General left a couple of others came down sick. What do you suggest we should have done differently?”
“You should have stopped him! Get out of my sight.”
The President watches the DHS staff leave with their tails between their legs. He looks at his CoS,
“How do we get them back or get leverage over Tolson? His stupid son-in-law is worthless. From what I’ve read, Tolson will pay us to keep him. I’m sure you’ve seen the reports from his farm. Too many people are beginning to believe we targeted him and we killed his people.”
“Sir…”
“Don’t start with me. I know what we did. I also remember everyone telling me that they were sure we had Tolson in our sights, there was no way we weren’t going to nail him. We hit his wife, we made him angrier than he was before. We have to do something very quickly before he strikes back. Have you seen the White House? It’s surrounded by hundreds of armed soldiers. There’s a damn tank sitting in the driveway, a f-ing tank! I want my life back, find a way to take Tolson down now. If that SOB can send someone into one of our most secure shelters and walk his kids out of the front door, what else can he do? Will I walk into the Oval Office tomorrow to find him sitting behind my desk?”
“Sir, there’s no way he can enter the White House….”
“Aren’t you the same person who told me, his kids were safe in Mount Weather? He needs to go ASAP. We can’t afford to wait weeks or months. Every day he grows stronger, every day he attracts more
supporters. We have to change his image, make him the bad guy and us the good ones.”
“Yes, sir. I’ll get a team on it.”
“Time isn’t something we have. People are already beginning to wonder if we were involved in the attack. That reporter he has working for him is stirring up a hornet’s nest of problems for us. His stories are making people switch sides. He has to be stopped before we lose the support of our own media.”
“Sir, we’re issuing releases every day to cover over his bullshit.”
“Pretty soon the smell of the bullshit is going to come out, we’ve got to have the war won before too many more people change their minds.”
“Yes, sir.”
@@@@@
Franco, Tony, General Arthur, Colonel Black and John are looking at their watches wondering where Jay and Fred are. They’ve been waiting for ten minutes, John breaks the silence,
“When I was in college the rule was to wait ten minutes for a teaching assistant and fifteen for a professor, if they didn’t show within that time, class was canceled, is it the same with the President and his Chief of Staff?”
Tony laughs, “Good question, let me ask you a better one, what are you going to do if we leave and they show up a minute later, are you going to enjoy the ass reaming you’ll get from our new President?”
“You have a wonderful way with words. I’ve decided to stay for another ten minutes.”
They hear footsteps walking towards them in the hallway, Fred enters smiling at his friends around the table, “I thought you might have left, you know, like the ten-minute rule in college. I’m glad you decided to stay. I’m sorry I’m late.”
“Is Jay coming?”
“He’ll be here soon. We have a number of points to cover today. First of all, Jay believes we need to plan for what he thinks is a war we can’t avoid. He believes the Northern President will attack us no matter what we do. Jay’s also worried we may have to also fight a third party who decides the country, both the North and South have been weakened enough by the Civil War to risk an invasion.”
General Arthur nods his head, “I agree, I think the Northern President has no choice but to attack us, I’ve started an inventory of our military and all of our weapons. With some luck, he’ll hold off attacking us again until we’re ready. We’re gaining people and equipment every day. Entire battalions are crossing the border asking to join us. Our military is growing daily. The good news is our military will soon outnumber the North in people and equipment.”
Everyone nods in agreement. Before anyone can comment, they hear someone clear their throat; Jay takes his seat at the head of the table.
“General, I think that’s great, my concern is, I don’t think we can the luxury of time to plan the perfect defense and attack mission. I made some notes. If we assume we’re going to end up in a war with the North, we need to accept certain realities; we’re going to war with what we have. We won’t be able to create new weapons; we don’t have the time or funds to develop anything new. In fact, I’d like to suggest we form a committee made up of people drawn from the military and the technology companies. Not to develop new systems, but to review existing and warehoused ones. How can we get more bang from what we already have? Can we use our existing systems in different ways? Can we quickly and cheaply deploy systems which will take the North by surprise? I’ll give you an idea of what I’m talking about. Back in the Cold War when the B1 bomber was being debated, I remember reading an article about using 747 cargo planes as arsenal planes, each loaded with eight, eight round rotary launchers from a B52. The 747s would confuse the enemy by looking like commercial airliners, and each would be able to launch up to 72 cruise missiles. I remember the Navy looked into using anti-air missiles for anti-ship and anti-surface weapons. During Gulf War One, we up-armored old M60 tanks with reactive armor.
“What’s sitting in the ‘bone yard,’ we can quickly and cheaply rebuild? Can we mount a rack of rockets on top of tanks? I think you see what I’m thinking. We have a lot of ships, most of them were designed to protect a carrier from an air attack, what can we do to arm them for surface attack? Think out of the box, think about systems sitting in the warehouses we inherited. The money we save can be used to rebuild our cities and ease the lives of our people. If a war can’t be avoided, we need to hit them so hard they’ll be knocked over. At the same time, we also need to rebuild our infrastructure and improve the lives of our people. We need a plan to hit the North so hard and by surprise that the people demand a quick end of the war, letting us go because they’re scared of us.
“We need to scare them so much they’re afraid of pissing us off. What can we do to put the fear of God in them, can we convince them that God is on our side? I want you to figure out how to fight a psychological war against the people of the North. I believe the key to our victory isn’t fighting a conventional war against their military, which I agree is quickly becoming our military. If I was the North’s President, I’d try to hit us before all of their military crosses the border. I believe the question we should look at is how can we get their people to force the government to stop the war before it gets out of hand.
“Remember the Vietnam demonstrations? Think out of the box, we want their people to beg the President to let, ‘my people go.’ First on our list is to recall all of our people assisting the North repairing their grid and water treatment plants. Tell our people to disappear in the middle of the night, just slip away, leave everything behind. If they have specialized equipment, see if they can booby trap it. I want all of the military who are based overseas and want to join us be brought home ASAP. They went after my family and me, as well as the military helping us, let’s put them back in the dark. See what other Northern systems we can crash. Put them in the dark, they’ll be afraid of the monsters coming for them in the dark, we’ll become their worst fears, we’ll be the monsters who hide under their beds.”
“Jay, are you related to Moses?”
“Maybe. His plan worked, we need to crush the North the way he crushed Pharaoh. He and God got the Egyptian people to pressure the Pharaoh, why can’t we apply enough pressure so the people demand their President leave us alone. Part of this plan has to be getting the Confederacy recognized by other countries. How’s the plan to get China to recognize us going?”
Fred smiles,
“Almost there, they asked for a few items, I want us to all agree on our negotiations with them.”
“What do they want?”
“Docking privileges in Norfolk, Virginia and another port of our choosing in the Gulf.”
Jay leans back in his chair looking at the ceiling,
“I’d like to get Admiral Jefferson’s comments, I don’t see a problem, General, do you see an issue?”
“I agree; I think it’s a good idea to ask the Admiral. He’s the expert in naval matters.”
“Can we get him on the horn? I’d like to see if we can settle the issue with China ASAP.”
Fred nods, picking up the phone asking the communications center to see if they can reach the Admiral on the Missouri.
A minute later Admiral Jefferson’s voice says,
“Mr. President, what can I do for you?”
“Admiral, you’re on speaker, I hope the daily intelligence information is reaching you, I’d like to get your thoughts on granting China port privileges.”
“Thank you. I have been getting the daily briefs. I have no problem granting China two ports they can use. I believe having them recognize us outweighs any potential problems with them docking a couple of ships at ports we control, ports where we easily outnumber them. Allowing them access to Norfolk will scare the crap out of the North.”
“Admiral, my concern is if they dock a couple of freighters filled with troops and tanks, I don’t want to be invaded by them and the North at the same time. How do we ensure they can’t pull something over on us?”
“We can restrict their commercial ships to other ports so they won’t be able to combi
ne their warships with cargo ships. We can also move troops and tanks to bases where we allow them to dock.”
“General, Admiral, plan to build hidden weapons systems out of sight from the ports, if they try something, hit them so hard, none of their people survive to leave the ports. Hide automatic cannons and heavy machine guns, rocket launchers, you guys know what you’ll need. Keep the defensive positions Top Secret. Comments?”
“Mr. President, I think that’s a very good idea.” Replied a smiling Admiral Jefferson.
“Admiral, remember, ‘trust, but verify.’”
“Yes, sir.”
“Fred, inform the Chinese and let’s see how quickly we can sign the agreement. Who else can we convince to recognize us?”
Fred opens his tablet,
“Israel, South Korea, The United Kingdom and France are also interested in recognizing us.”
