by Ira Tabankin
“Is that all? That’s easy to solve, I’ll arrange for transportation for them to the border where they can relocate to the North.”
The Mayor stares shocked at Jay.
“You can’t announce that, there will be mass rioting.”
“Why? I’m giving them what you said they want.”
“Mr. President, you don’t understand…”
“Yes, I do. If they riot and disrupt the town hall meeting, they’re the ones that will pay the price. I expect you and the city council, which was elected by a majority of the people, to support me. My programs are improving their lives, or do you only represent the unemployed and those on welfare?”
“Mr. President, can’t you meet us half way?”
“I am; I’m not replacing you or arresting you am I? I expect your first responders to maintain order, if they can’t, the military will follow my orders. Do you really want the military patrolling Memphis? Do you want me to declare martial law, which takes all of your power away? Decide between now and the meeting. I’ll see you at the convention center, now if you’ll excuse me.”
Jay surprises the mayor by standing up and leaving him and his staff with shocked looks on their faces. The mayor looks at his staff,
“What do you make of that?”
“I’m shocked, I think he’s going to be a real problem, I hoped he’d come to his senses. We’re going to have a mass uprising on our hands. We could lose the city.”
“I know, what are we going to do about it?”
“What can we do?”
“I don’t know,” said the heavily sweating mayor. “I don’t know; this isn’t going to end well for us.”
Stu walks along side of Jay,
“How did it go?”
“About what I expected, make the call to General Arthur, tell him to place the local troops on their highest level of alert for tomorrow's town hall meeting. We may need to encourage some life long welfare recipients that their so called entitlement mentality will not work in our new country.”
“Yes, sir. Mr. President, the optics of a mass riot during your first town hall meeting isn’t going to be good.”
“Stu, I disagree with you. I think if you tell the full story, the majority of our citizens will support me.”
“Sir, and if they don’t?”
“Then, I’ll be out of a job, something that’s happened to me before.” Jay says, smiling at the irony of it all.
“Stu, this welfare mentality, so ingrained in too many citizens it needs to change. If they refuse to comply and riot they will be duly arrested and offered free transportation to the Northern border. It's up to them, there are no free rides in our new country, the honest working citizens are not constitutionally required to give their hard earned money to lazy, healthy citizens who are fully capable to hold a job and participate in society.”
Chapter 16
“Admiral, I don’t understand why a ship built more than seventy years ago is so hard to sink, it’s almost twice the size of our current destroyers. It’s not like they can hide it; it must stick out like a sore thumb. Why haven’t you been able to sink it?”
“Mr. President, it’s not that easy. She and her escorts shot down the twelve F16s we sent against her before any got in range to launch their missiles. Our current warships have less than an inch of armor plating, the Missouri has an armor belt that’s 16 inches thick. Our bombs can’t penetrate her armor, our cruise missiles scratch her paint and not much else. She was designed when ships slugged it out with other ships. The Missouri was designed to survive two-thousand-pound, eighteen inch Japanese shells.”
“All very nice, now will you just sink her or do I need to find someone who can sink her?”
“Sir, outside of a nuke or a very lucky strike, we can not sink her.”
“You know damn well I won’t use a nuclear weapon. Since you can’t sink her, I’ll find someone who will, you’re fired.
“Yes, sir.”
“Get me the Secretary of Defense, we need a new Chief of Naval Operations, I just fired the one he sent me.”
“Yes, sir.”
Five minutes later the President’s phone rings,
“Yes?”
“Mr. President, the SecDoD is coming over to discuss the situation with you.”
“Good, maybe he knows how to sink that bastard ship. If we can sink their flagship, the rest of their fleet will give up.”
Secretary Hill enters the Oval Office,
“Mr. President, that’s the third CNO you’ve fired in the previous four months. We’re running out of Four Star Admirals.”
“If you found one with a set of balls I wouldn’t have to fire them! All I want is for them to sink the South’s damned battleship.”
“Mr. President, I’m sure the CNO’s have explained how hard it is to locate and sink her.”
“I don’t care, we have the world’s largest Navy, I don’t understand why you can’t sink a single ship.”
“Sir, I’m sure you remember that eighty percent of the Navy joined the Confederacy. They are now the world’s most powerful Navy.”
“Keep talking shit and I’ll fire you too. Damn it, I want that ship sunk.”
“Yes, sir. I know. We’re working on sending a wolf pack of submarines after her. Her air defense escorts are too interlocked for us to penetrate.
“Just do it, once that damned ship is sunk, they lose confidence and break off any planned attacks on us.”
“Yes, sir.”
@@@@@
Lacy taps Jay on the shoulder,
“Honey, what’s that noise?”
“Huh? I didn’t sleep well last night, I finally fell asleep around 4:30, let me check.” Jay gets up, pulls on a pair of well used BDUs a t-shirt and a Glock sidearm. Opening their hotel room door, his security team snaps to attention.
“Sir, do you need something?”
“Lacy was woken by the noise outside, do you know what’s going on?”
“Sir, there are large demonstrations taking place, both for and against you. We’re watching them, none will get close to you and the First Lady.”
“Thank you, I guess I won’t need this.” Holding up his Glock,
“I hope you don’t, if you do, it means we’ve failed. Sir, we aren’t going to fail in our mission to protect you and your family. We’ll have additional troops here in less than fifteen minutes.”
“Thank you. I guess, I’ll get ready for our day.”
“Sir, would you like breakfast delivered to your room or do you and the First Lady plan to visit the dining room?”
“I think we’d like to have breakfast in the dining room, say in an hour.”
“Yes, sir, we’ll be ready.”
“What about you guys?”
“We’ll have breakfast at the same time, our relief is due in ten minutes. We’ll escort you to the dining room.”
“Thank you, we’ll see you in an hour.”
Closing the door, Lacy looks at Jay,
“What did you find?”
“Demonstrations outside, it seems we’re both very popular and very hated. We’re going to be warmly greeted by both sides. Our security detail is being increased.”
“Should I guess who’s protesting against us?”
“I think you can figure it out. We’ll see them when we have breakfast.”
“Is there any risk of them getting into the hotel while we’re having breakfast?”
“No, the entrance is blocked, anyone breaking in will have to pass through the protection detail who is armed with MP5s and M4s.”
“I’m worried about a bomb.”
“I understand your concern about a bombing; would you rather eat in our room?”
“No, I’m not going to let them win, just concerned about their ability to use a truck bomb against us. I’ll be ready in thirty minutes.”
“No hurry, I told the security detail an hour, they’ve closed the streets four blocks around the hotel, it would have to be a
hell of a truck bomb to reach us four blocks away.”
Smiling, Lacy responds,
“It’s going to be interesting when the demonstrators clash with our protection team, the protesters are quickly going to realize we believe in law and order…”
“They can protest all they want, as long as they follow the law and don’t block traffic or hurt anyone, if they do, they’re going to learn how quickly our legal system works. Many may not realize the rules have changed. This is going to be the first test of the new laws on civil disobedience.”
“If you can zip me up, I’m ready, what’s taking you so long?”
“You’ve been camped out in the bathroom.”
“Excuses, excuses, my President only gives me excuses.”
Both laugh, they hug each other, Lacy whispers in Jay’s ear.
“Be calm, everything is going to be fine. I know you’re nervous, just let your fear flow out of you.”
“Okay, Jedi Master.”
“I love you. You’ll see, everything will be fine, you’ll knock it out of the park. I have faith in you.”
“Not too long ago I was a regular guy who got lucky, look at me now, how the hell did this happen? Why me? I would have been happy on the farm clipping coupons. I’m not cut out to be a politician. I don’t do double speak very well.”
“Honey, you’re learning, just be yourself, don’t try to be something you’re not.”
“Easy for you to say.”
Lacy stands on her toes to kiss Jay,
“Let’s have breakfast, I’m hungry.”
When Lacy and Jay exit the elevator they are surprised to see hundreds of people outside the hotel screaming, some supporting the Confederacy and some pushing their favorite causes, there are banners saying,
“Black Lives Matter,”
“$20 min wage or a national strike.”
“The rich need to pay more.”
“Open borders.”
“Return the Southwest to Mexico.”
“Make America Mexico again.”
“Lenin was right.”
“Green power, stop fracking.”
Lacy laughs,
“Are they crazy? We don’t own some of the Southwest. We don’t set minimum wages, employers and states set them. We don’t have an income tax anymore, what are they asking for?”
“They want paradise without having to work for it.”
“What are you going to do?”
“Have breakfast and ignore them. They’re free to say anything and protest all they want as long as they don’t interfere with anyone else. The second they block the streets or stop people from going to work or their homes, they’re going to learn the new reality of the Confederacy. I’m hungry, let’s have breakfast.”
Colonel Black’s security ensures none of the protesters enter the hotel lobby, many bang on the hotel’s windows that line the lobby of the restaurant. When they see Lacy and Jay having breakfast they begin trying to break the windows, the security force tries to push the protesters away from the hotel windows. The protesters begin fighting with the security detail, they hit the Colonel’s people with their protest signs. They rush the security detail trying to get into the lobby. The fire department quickly arrives and begin spraying the protesters with high-pressure water which pushes them away from the hotel lobby and windows. Some try to push forward against the water, Colonel Black’s troops responds with tear gas. Some of the mob open fire at the security detail, which is a big mistake.
Jay drops his fork when he hears the gunfire. He motions to the two security agents standing near their table,
“Take Lacy upstairs, bring her anything she wants to eat, I’ll be along soon.”
“Sir, you should go upstairs too. It’s not safe outside.”
“I know. Just get Lacy to safety.”
“Yes, sir.”
Jay motions to the other agents,
“Let’s go see what they want.”
“Sir, that’s not recommended, it’s chaos outside.”
“I know, let’s see if they have a few leaders who can talk in a civil manner if so, let’s invite them in for coffee.”
Colonel Black stares at Jay as if he were an alien,
“Sir, it’s not safe for you to go out there and it’s not safe to invite them in, we have no idea what they’ll do once they get inside our perimeter.”
“Colonel, I understand, I think speaking to their leaders might cool down the situation.”
“Sir, let us surround you before you open the door.”
“Okay, I’ll follow you.”
“I don’t like it, but you’re the President.”
Colonel Black uses a loud speaker to ask the leaders of the protest to come forward and meet with Jay.
The protesters are shocked at the offer, the mob is silent trying to figure out how to respond, a few minutes later, five people force themselves through the crowd asking,
“Is this for real? The President wants to meet with us?”
“Yes, he’d like to have a discussion with you. In order to meet with him, you’ll have to agree to be searched and go through a metal detector, you can’t bring any weapons into the meeting.”
“Agreed, when is the meeting?”
“Now, he’s waiting for you inside the restaurant.”
“No shit? Really?”
“Really, you can see him through the window.”
“He’s really going to listen to us?”
“That’s why he invited you in for coffee.”
“We’re up for it, lead on.”
@@@@@
The Northern media and scientists haven’t been able to figure out what caused their rivers to turn red. To keep them unbalanced, Frank sends additional teams to hit other rivers and lakes. He sends a team to repeat the blood red invasion on the Potomac River. His teams report back; the average citizen is scared. Millions of people have had to move away from the rivers and lakes. They’re afraid of the poisoned water and the all consuming smell from the dead fish forced them out of their homes. What was once very expensive real estate is now almost worthless destroying local economies. Frank laughs watching the news reports, the reporters are scared. Fresh water is becoming a problem. He had an idea he tried out which drove the media and people crazy. He sent a team of special forces dressed as Northern troops. They pulled into Naperville, Illinois with water trucks, offering local residents free water. When the troops opened the hoses connected to the water trucks, the water that flowed out was red, horrifying the people waiting in line for free water. The people ran screaming from the trucks. Frank thought the trick was so good, he sends ten other teams to pull it off in other cities.
The Church accepts as truth, the Pope’s statement that the red water and the dead fish are a sign from God. The expansion of other red colored rivers is proof that God is upset.
Northern churches tell their members they have to repent and pray for forgiveness. Hundreds of thousands of Northerners try to cross the border into the Southern states, most are caught and turned away, others make it across the border, but are stopped by local police and escorted back across the border. Jay’s plan is working, the people are scared and have begun to publicly demand the Federal Government do what’s right and let the South go. Frank’s people seeded social media with thousands of posts spreading the word if the North follows the path of Pharaoh, and lets the Southerners go, all will be returned to as it was.
@@@@@
“Admiral, the Washington is twenty hours away, she’s able to make 28 knots on her two screws.”
“Excellent, instruct her to remain ECON, I want her to come as a surprise to the North.”
“Won’t their eyes in the sky see her?”
“That’s what’s so good about her coming north from South America, the North doesn’t have any birds looking south. We may be able to sneak her into formation without the North knowing she’s here.”
“How the hell do you hide an eleven-hundred-foot-long ship?
”
“Watch and learn, we have some tricks up our sleeve.”
“Captain, between her planes, the land-based fighters and our combined escorts we should give the North a hell of a surprise. I want the Washington to move as close to the Missouri as possible and each of her escorts to move next to one of our escorts. Their radar will see what they want to see. To further confuse them, after the Washington’s group merges with us, I’m sending two Destroyers to drop radar reflecting and radiating rafts to our east, these may draw some of the North’s fighters and bombers away from us.”
