The Shelter: WAR

by Ira Tabankin

  “Okay, I’ll get it done at as a low a cost as I can. I’ll figure it out and send you an email.”

  “Thanks. Is there anything from your side, without a monster Project matrix I need to see?”

  “I have Franco’s latest update on the new shelter.”

  “Can you summarize it in a couple of sentences?”

  “I only need four words, he needs more people.”

  “Shit, he’s always asking for more people. Where in the hell am I going to get more bodies? I can’t clone them. I can’t grow them. Every time he begins to fall behind the master schedule he asks for more bodies.”

  “Now that we have the Militia performing guard duties, can’t we pull some people from the ready force and assign them to help Franco? What about asking the General for some people?”

  “My friend, it’s bad enough that everyone seems to know about our existing shelter. I want to try to keep the new one as secret as possible. Remember, loose lips sink ships?”

  “No, neither of us were alive in the Second World War. I understand, however, how long do you think it’s going to remain secret? Both the Army and the militia suspect we’re building something. Too much of the concrete is disappearing.”

  “See if Tony can locate more of the large concrete culverts. Maybe he knows other places they are stored. He ran all of the Unions before the crash. If he does, use the back road from the lake to bring them to the new shelter. No need driving them down the street in front of their camps confirming for them we’re building something large, something we’re keeping secret from them. We’ll be forcing them to try to spy on us to figure out what we’re up to.”

  “Jay, one major issue I want to make sure you understand. Please make sure no state assets, not even a single sheet of paper is used for anything connected with the new shelter. If you write a note or an email on the state laptop, we’re screwed. Please keep your laptop on your desk and set up a state office in another room. If you intermingle the two, the IG will hang you out to dry, you might give the Governor the right to take over the new shelter.”

  “Shit! Great advice. I didn’t even think of that. I use whatever laptop is in front of me. I most likely used the state supplied one for emails to you, Tony and Franco.”

  “Give me that laptop, I’ll have my sons go through it and sanitize it. To be clear, I never touched that laptop, I never saw it, my sons never touched it. We never had this discussion.”

  “Who are you?”

  “Don’t get funny, it doesn’t suit you. Let’s gather up the state paperwork and equipment and set up a new office. I’ll get Cherie, Sophie and Lacy to turn one of the guest rooms in the back into a new office. We’ll hang a sign on each, one saying personal office and one saying LT Governor.”

  “You saved my ass again. I’ve been so busy, I didn’t even think about keeping the two computers and paperwork separate. I just picked up whichever report was next. I never thought about the ramifications. See, you’re the perfect person to be my assistant.”

  “Why don’t you pay a visit to the construction site, leave the setting up of your new office to us. We’ll put it on the ground floor in the rear of the castle. We expect you’ll be getting a lot of visitors. In the rear, they won’t have to walk through your house.”

  “Another good idea.”

  “I’m going; I’ll be happy to get out of here for a while.”

  As soon as Jay leaves his castle, two armed militia troopers fall in behind him. Jay turns around looking at the two people.

  “Can I help you?”

  “Sir, we’ve been assigned as part of your protective detail. Any time you’re out of your office we’re to accompany you.”

  Jay stands frozen in place thinking, shit, I should have thought the LT Governor would have a protection detail. The damn Governor’s been gone one day and I’m already in trouble. I need a lesson on how to be a government employee. I don’t know who to ask. I can’t go to the construction site with these two following me like a shadow.

  “I’m just going for a little walk to clear my head.”

  “Sir, please don’t wander off the path or paved areas. The other areas aren’t safe, there are all kinds of mines and traps scattered around.”

  “I know that! I Placed most of them. This is my farm.”

  “Sir, part of your castle is now a state office. You’re the acting Governor until the elected Governor returns from D.C. He usually has a ten-person protection detail, since he only appointed you thirty-six hours ago, your protection detail is ramping up. The Governor caught us by surprise, your full detail will be here later this afternoon.”

  “Where will they be staying?”

  “Sir, we were hoping to discuss that with you.”

  “Ask Lacy for rooms in the castle. She’ll arrange rooms for you. There are areas in the castle that will be off limits to you.”

  “Sir, I’m not sure that’s going to work. We need to have access to you, for your own protection twenty-four hours a day.”

  “Shit. I need a few hours to consider things.”

  “Yes, sir. Where are we headed this morning?”

  “Nowhere, I just wanted to get out and feel the sun on my face. A new office is being set up for me, my assistant suggested I get out of the way so he can set up the office and meeting room.”

  “Sir, who did you appoint? You have to inform us so we can assign a protective detail for that person.”

  “I didn’t know you existed.”

  “Sir, we are listed in the package the Governor gave you when he appointed you. Did you read the entire package?”

  “To be honest, no. It’s over three-hundred-pages. I don’t have time to go through the document.”

  “Sir, you really need to read and sign each page. There are instructions on how to activate the National Guard, us, your protective details, how to travel. How to stay on the good side of the Inspector General. The reports the Governor will expect to see every week, your budget and how to purchase anything you need. We strongly suggest you spend the next couple of hours learning the summary he left with you.”

  “The three-hundred-pages is the summary? How long are the actual documents?”

  The sergeant laughs,

  “Sir, there are six volumes totaling over ten-thousand-pages.”

  “Damn it, I knew I didn’t want to be a politician. Who the hell has time to read ten-thousand-pages?”

  “No one, which is why there is the three-hundred-page summary.”

  “Well, you ruined my day. I’m going to go to the shelter to chat with John.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  They pick up a radio,

  “Merlin is going to Excalibur.”

  “Huh?”

  “Sir, since you live in a castle, and we already have an Arthur, we selected Merlin as your name and we can’t call the shelter a shelter, we named it Excalibur.”

  “I don’t want to know what you’ve named everyone else.”

  “Sir, it’s in the summary report.”

  “You knew he was going to appoint me?”

  “Of course, we had to run background checks on you. Which brings up the issue of Tony. We’d like you to restrict your meetings with him and we don’t want you to have private meetings with him. You should never be alone with a known criminal.”

  “Don’t you realize, we’re good friends and he’s my second in command?”

  “Mr. LT Governor, we’d like you to appoint someone else. How about Fred?”

  “I just appointed him my assistant. I can’t have him as my government assistant and second in command of the farm and shelter. Tony’s been my second since we built the shelter. I can’t fire him. It wouldn’t be good to fire him. Do you know his background?”

  “Yes, which is why we’re saying he can’t be your second in command. How about Franco? By the way, where is Franco, we’ve been looking for him. We have his ID card for him.”

  “ID card?”

  “Yes, it’s a speci
al ID card which means he’s cleared to be alone with you. Your senior staff with the exception of Tony has one.”

  “Oh shit, did you give Tony a card different from the others?”

  “Yes. His says, escort required. He laughed his ass off, we don’t understand what was so funny.”

  “In Tony’s world, escort means call girl.”

  “Oh, we understand. No wonder his wife was so angry.”

  “I think we better return to my office and discuss all of these issues.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  I’m going to kill the Governor when he returns. Nothing will change, you’ll be doing me a personal favor. You can hand off most of the bullshit to staff. Just be a face for the state when I’m away and sign in my absence. I should have done more research on this before I accepted, not that I was given much choice. What the hell have I gotten myself into? How am I going to inspect the new shelter without my constant shadows? Damn it, I think he expected me to build another so he gave me a security detail so they can report to him everyplace I go and everyone I talk to. I’ve got to think this through. Maybe I can convince the Governor to allow me to use my own people for my security detail while on my farm. John should be able to convince him. I’ll call John, I don’t think they’re monitoring my calls yet.

  Chapter 18

  “Jay, you have an important call on line one, it’s the Texas LT Governor.” Said a smiling Fred, who’s enjoying his position of Assistant to the LT Governor.

  “Hello, this is Jay, how can I help you?”

  “Jay, this is Richard Sutton, I’m the LT Governor in Texas, I’m calling to see if you’ve heard from your Governor yet?”

  “Richard, pleasure to meet you. In the three days since our Governor’s been gone, I haven’t heard a word from him. I’m beginning to get worried. I was going to give him until this evening, then I was going to ask our military commander for advice.”

  “You’re the last one I’ve called, none of the other LT Governors have heard from their bosses either. My Governor never goes twenty-four hours without checking in with me. Most of us are concerned the President pulled a fast one on us. I’m worried he either killed or arrested them.”

  “I asked the Governor not to go. I don’t trust the President as far as I can throw him. I warned the Governor the President wasn’t going to honor their request for an honest meeting. Have you heard anything from D.C. since the meeting?”

  “Not a single word. The Governor’s staff is really concerned. We’ve sent a number of requests, we get the same message back, they have no idea what we’re talking about. The President’s CoS told me there was no planned meeting of the President and the Governors.”

  “That’s very bad news. The general and I are about all the staff our Governor has left. Most disappeared or were caught in the fires and riots that burned most of Nashville to the ground. We were discussing where he was going to rebuild the capital when the secession issue came up. If the President had them killed, we’re in a world of hurt. I bet his next action will be an attack on us.”

  “We can only hide the fact that the Governors are gone for a little longer. The press has started asking questions. We’re lucky in that only a third of Austin burned. Unfortunately, it was the State House and Capital which were torched first. We lost many good people, as I’m sure you did. We were all happy here when your Governor announced he was going to appoint you. He’s been without support too long.”

  “Thanks, after three days on the job, I’m not sure I want it.”

  “Don’t worry, it gets worse, much worse. You can always drop off the ticket at the next elections. For now, you’re the Governor. Have you given any thought to what you’re going to say to the press when they ask where the Governor is?”

  “I don’t allow the media near our compound.”

  “I’ll have to remember that trick. Does it work?”

  “Armed guards holding M4s and a sign saying, warning, live mine fields, scares the shit out of them.”

  “I like it. I’ll give it a try. We’re both very similar, I got drafted the same way you did. I was a supporter of the governor and ran three companies when he drafted me for the job. He told me resigning wasn’t an option. We need to discover what happened to our bosses.”

  “I agree; why don’t we have a conference call with the rest of our counterparts?”

  “There are only eight of us, the other Governors never appointed a new LT Governor. Too many good people were killed in the riots.”

  “What’s going on in Virginia? I’ve heard many rumors; they’re with us, they’re not, they’re recalling their Governor, they’re not. Do you have any hard data?”

  “Virginia is tearing itself apart. Half want the governor to be recalled and join us, the other half want him to stay and join the North. They may have their own civil war.”

  “Why don’t they just divide the state in two?”

  “We all suggested that to them. The problem is no one can decide where to draw the border.”

  “Shit, we’re going to have to fight the North and each other? This damn secession is getting more complicated every day.”

  They’re interrupted by a news flash that rolls across their displays.

  Jay reads it saying,

  “The President is going to have a town hall meeting to discuss the situation in the South. He’s going to discuss what he’s calling the phony and illegal vote. His office announced the meeting will be held in three days. He’s going to hold it on live television and the web. I guess we’ll find out what happened to our governors then. If he’s going to attack us, that's the time he would do it. I think we should go on full alert. It would be just like him to be on television discussing our secession while he sends the military to crush us.”

  “I agree, we have some good news on that front, the Commanding General at Fort Hood and the other bases agreed to join us, Texas alone now has over eighty thousand military people. We also have the F16 plant in Fort Worth and all of the B1 bombers. We have Fort Bragg and Camp Lejeune. We have most of the cream of the military on our side. If the President attacks us, we should bomb the White House.”

  “Whoa, if we bomb the White House we’ll turn most of the country against us. Those sitting on the fence will turn against us. We should make sure all of us agree on the target list. If I were you, I’d send some B1s to check our borders. If they find military troops lined up at the border, they would be a legitimate target if the president announces he’s going to use force to bring us back into the Union. There’s a chance he may let us go, if so, and we attack first, we’ll be sealing our own doom by forcing his hand into attacking us. He may want us to strike first so he can claim he’s only protecting his people.”

  “I’ll ask the general to check our borders. What should I do if the bombers are shot at?”

  “Record it, we’ll use the recording against them, showing they shot first. Tell the general not to cross the border into the North. For now, I wouldn’t shoot back, I’d force the President to be the one to attack first. We should take the first punch and then hit back with overwhelming force. We’re going to have to win on the battlefield and in the media.”

  “I understand. I’ll call you back.”

  “Fred, can you see if General Arthur is around?”

  “Will do, do we need to place the farm on alert?”

  “I don’t see the President attacking us before his town hall meeting.”

  “Isn’t there a chance he will use his town hall to announce victory?”

  “He can’t be sure of a quick victory so he wouldn’t plan on announcing it at his town hall. I think he’s going to try to stir up the rest of the country into supporting his use of force. My gut says he’s going to get a surprise; one he’s not expecting and one he’s not going to like.”

  “What are you expecting?”

  “I think there’s a good chance other states may want to join with us, less than half of the population thought we were going in
the right direction, many think the government has gotten too large and too restrictive, I think he’s going to make his largest mistake holding the town hall meeting. After he sees the negative reaction, his red line will have already been crossed, he’ll have no choice but to surrender or use force.”

  “His history has been to draw red lines and then ignore them, maybe he’ll do the same now.”

  “We’ll find out soon enough. I want everyone on the line ready for anything during the town hall meeting, the kids and anyone too sick to fight should be in the shelter. Tell Franco; no work that night on his program. We’re going to need everyone we can get our hands on to man our defense lines.”