by Bobby Akart
“I’ve ordered thousands of these,” said Donald. “They’ll be distributed to state government personnel and law enforcement within two weeks in the southern half of the country and New England.”
Sarge was in a trance as he twirled a globe retrieved from his study. He slowed it down as the United States appeared, and then he turned it again.
“We need a bigger system,” said Sarge.
“What do you mean?” asked Donald.
“The President has a huge advantage in communications because of satellites. When he broadcasts his messages, they are capable of going worldwide and to terrestrial radio bands, like AM. He has a broader reach, and with his gift of pulling the wool over the public’s eyes, it gives him the messaging advantage.”
“Do you want me to commandeer a satellite? Just give me the word, boss.” Donald laughed.
“Well, NASA is in friendly territory—Florida and Texas,” quipped Julia.
“C’mon, guys, hear me out.” Sarge chuckled. “Think about DirecTV. They have communications satellites that are geostationary in low-Earth orbit. They revolve around Earth at the same angle and velocity. To our eye, they appear fixed in the sky.”
“Are you saying it’ll be easier to snatch?”
“Donald,” said Sarge with the tone he was practicing to be used on his unborn child someday.
“It’s like the HughesNet system we have set up here and at 100 Beacon,” interrupted Julia before Donald got a spanking. “What are you thinking?”
Sarge returned to the globe and began spinning until he stopped at Russia. He tapped his finger on the large country.
“Putin hates this President,” said Sarge. “I believe with a little bit of encouragement, financially of course, he’d stick a needle in the administration’s eye by allowing access to one of their comms satellites.”
“That could be a game changer,” said Donald, who became serious. “Even if the access is in the lower frequency bands for mobile phones or radio broadcasts, we could reach millions of Americans rather than just those huddled around ham radios.”
Sarge picked up an iPhone, which had been discarded on one of the shelves. He held it up. “Imagine if we could set up a system where text messages could be delivered phone-to-phone via the satellite’s receiver antennas and then relayed back to earth. Even if it wasn’t sent to a specific cell phone, we could send out a text message blast on virtually any subject.”
“I like it,” said Donald. “So what kind of incentive package do I need to put together for Vlad?”
Chapter 24
Friday, January 27, 2017
4:00 p.m.
1PP
Quabbin Reservoir, Massachusetts
“Henry, how much did you have to give up to encourage President Putin?” asked Morgan as he accepted a glass of scotch from Sarge. He took in the aroma. “A hint of ripe fruits, maybe vanilla.” Morgan took a taste and smiled.
“Katie found this stashed away in the safe house where O’Brien was hiding with Lau,” said Sarge. “It’s a twenty-one-year-old Matisse, inspired by the famous French artist.”
“Very smooth, young man. Please tell her thank you from me.”
“I will. She’s heading to Ohio to search for Steven’s killer.”
“Henry, perhaps you should consider letting this matter pass. Miss O’Shea is a talented operative who could be of better use elsewhere.”
Sarge stayed silent for a moment as the two men took another sip of their drinks. As the ten weeks had passed since Steven’s death, Sarge focused more on his brother’s life than the events leading up to his death. But Katie was relentless. She saw this as an opportunity to redeem herself in the eyes of the Loyal Nine. Sarge doubted he could get Katie focused on another task until this matter was resolved.
“Perhaps,” said Sarge. “She’s off to Ohio on a lead.”
“Why Ohio?” asked Morgan.
“Apparently, she found some cryptic notes written in O’Brien’s diary, which indicate a possible Ohio connection. She insisted that this was something she had to do, so I let her go.”
“She’ll be back,” said Morgan dryly. “And what do you plan to do with our guests?”
Sarge hadn’t come up with a solution yet for the disposition of O’Brien and Lau, who were safely locked away in the stockade of 1PP. O’Brien knew too much as a result of his own interrogation of Lau. Clearly, Lau needed to stay put. As for O’Brien, Steven would simply take care of him. Sarge wasn’t Steven, yet.
“Releasing either one of them could have a devastating impact on us,” said Sarge. “Setting aside the fact the President would use the information elicited from them against you and the Boston Brahmin, the scandal would completely derail our recovery efforts.”
Morgan took another sip of scotch and looked at Sarge over his glass. Sarge knew what he was thinking, and he wasn’t going to reject the idea, but he just wasn’t prepared to kill someone because they knew too much.
“Henry, I have a suggestion,” started Morgan. “Would it be fair to say that O’Brien is guilty of treason by giving aid and comfort to the enemy?”
Sarge leaned back in his chair and thought before answering. The UN troops did commit crimes against U.S. citizens, which could arguably make them an unwelcome occupying force on United States soil. O’Brien was in cahoots with them.
“I can agree with that. Also, I’m sure I can find a few violations of the President’s Declaration of Martial law to hang around his neck.”
Morgan smiled and nodded. “Would the penalties not be the same for both offenses?”
“Death, imprisonment, or banishment from the country, which was often used in the early nineteenth century,” said Sarge.
“I’ve heard that Campobello Island off the coast of northern Maine is lovely this time of year.” Morgan laughed as he enjoyed the last sip of scotch. The high temperatures on this Canadian island just off the easternmost tip of the United States stayed well below freezing in mid-January.
“Being banished to Canada doesn’t sound so bad.” Sarge laughed. “All the Hollywood types used to threaten to move there if they didn’t get their way politically.”
“Good riddance,” said Morgan as he flexed the fingers on his right hand. He was continuing to have difficulty with that side of his body. Sarge continued to finish the discussion about the prisoners.
“Lau is another matter,” said Sarge. “He insists he’s kept silent except for the information forced out of him by O’Brien. Naturally, you weren’t implicated because he didn’t know you. The only people he can identify are Steven and Malcolm Lowe, whom we’ve been unable to locate.”
“Perhaps a change of scenery for him as well,” suggested Morgan.
“Well, he speaks fluent Korean, and he has family there.”
Morgan nodded and then came full circle in their conversation. “Henry, what about Putin?”
“Nothing.”
“What did you have to give up?”
“Nothing,” repeated Sarge. “He didn’t even have to think about it. Although he struggles with English, he said, quote, ‘It would be my pleasure.’”
“No surprise there.” Morgan laughed.
“Sir, is it un-American to admire President Putin?” asked Sarge.
“Not at all, Henry. President Putin hasn’t always viewed the United States as an enemy. It’s true that his worldview saw Russia losing when the U.S. benefitted from a geopolitical issue, and vice versa. But in recent years, he has lost respect for our country, as he perceives this administration as weak.”
Sarge poured them another round. The men clinked glasses and Morgan continued. “You learned that the President of the Russian Federation will always respond in kind to a man he respects. He admires strength. But do not forget, he will expect a reasonable accommodation in the future.”
“I’ll remember that,” said Sarge.
“Now, tell me how the relief effort is going.”
“We’re learning as we go—st
ubbing our toes as we go,” started Sarge. “Our primary focus has been on coordinating the international response with the local and state governments. Building back the state-level governments requires increasing their ability to govern following the departure of the federal agencies, which are often present in disaster settings due to their increased manpower, expertise, and funding. With aid flowing into the Southern states and New England from countries around the globe, it requires a tremendous coordinated effort. Lack of communication has been a hindrance, and my arrangement with Russia will ease those obstacles.”
Julia gently knocked on the door and stuck her head into the war room. “Boys, dinner’s almost ready.”
Morgan laughed. “Come here, young lady,” he said, gesturing for her to come closer.
Julia smiled and approached him.
He reached his hand up and asked, “May I?”
“Of course,” she said, smiling. It had become a common occurrence as she began to show. “J.J. thinks I’m about halfway.”
Morgan nodded. “It feels like another Sargent boy.”
Chapter 25
Monday, January 30, 2017
9:00 a.m.
Massachusetts State House
Boston, Massachusetts
Donald and Sarge attracted a lot of attention as their entourage of security personnel entered the grand foyer. Donald was in awe of the bustling activity in the Massachusetts State House. Less than ninety days ago, the governor and most of the legislature were being held by O’Brien and the UN troops. Today, men and women in suits were speaking in the halls, laughing and trading stories. Through Donald’s efforts, power was restored to the complex, allowing the government to resume its functions.
Donald recalled the many prepper fiction books he’d read while he was away in prison. He’d easily read a book every two days. It started with the nonfiction books sent to him by Susan, courtesy of his benefactor, John Morgan. But as his interest in the subject of preparedness grew, he sought out the fictional point of view of authors who wrote post-apocalyptic books. Each had their own perspective, but the commonality was placing diverse characters in a post-collapse world.
He remembered a phone conversation he had with Susan one evening. “You know,” he’d said to her. “All of these books throw the characters into the shit and write about how they survive. But none of them reveal how to put Humpty Dumpty back together again after the great fall.”
Donald knew enough about history and political science from Sarge to realize that nation-building was wholly different from nation-rebuilding. Perhaps that was why most prepper fiction authors never addressed the subject and ended their books with the good guys simply walking off into the sunset, holding hands.
In the real world, Donald quickly realized a focus on recovery would have to consider the mutual dependence of public works with private industry. Governments bought things from private companies. In a post-collapse world, this engine of commerce ceased to function and exist. It had to be retooled one component at a time.
New England was their testing ground. After the collapse of the grid, the Loyal Nine focused their efforts on restoring order and reestablishing lawful governments. After that, law enforcement and medical facilities took priority. This ensured relief supplies could be distributed to those in need. All of these steps were logical and could be performed using organizational skills and manpower.
But the recovery process of restarting energy transmission and distribution systems required a viable private sector to put the nation back together. In the past, left-leaning Presidents pushed social-liberal solutions administered by the federal government. President Roosevelt began the practice with the New Deal in the thirties. The current President patterned his recovery plan after the financial crisis of 2008 with a massive infusion of printed money into the economy, resulting in higher deficits.
Both of these government-backed approaches resulted in economic bubbles prepared to burst. The New Deal was saved by the increase in industrial production brought about by World War II. This administration’s policies were bailed out by the cyber attack.
Morgan, Sarge, and Donald discussed this topic at length. Admittedly, the three men were not economists. They did believe, however, in free market economies. Our nation was founded on these principles, and this was an opportunity to start over.
In its purest form, the government imposed few or no restrictions on buyers and sellers. A purely free market economy didn’t exist in the world today. All nations imposed some level of central government control and regulations over commerce. New England would be an opportunity to create a public-private partnership at the local level without the heavy-handed regulations imposed by the federal government. The last time Donald checked, all of the bureaucrats at the Environmental Protection Agency were out of the office.
“Good morning, Governor,” said Donald as he greeted Governor Baker and three members of his staff. “It appears to be a busy day in the State House.”
“That it is,” said Governor Baker. “Sarge, it’s an honor to see you again. Let me once again express my condolences for the loss of your brother. He gave his life for his country and saved the lives of most of the people in attendance today.”
“Well, thank you,” said Sarge.
“I, um, we can’t thank you folks enough for everything you’ve done for the great state of Massachusetts and all of New England,” continued Governor Baker. “I’m anxious to hear your proposals for restoration of essential services.”
“Let’s get started, then,” said Donald. The aides led Governor Baker and Donald into a conference room where several legislators and members of the cabinet awaited. After exchanging some pleasantries, Donald turned the floor over to Sarge, who began the presentation with a brief summary of their approach.
“Our primary focus after order was restored was to provide much-needed relief to the surviving citizens of Massachusetts and all of New England,” started Sarge. “Our successes in Boston have been replicated in the Southeastern United States. Other parts of the country still are looking to the administration for guidance, but they are losing confidence in the federal government’s response.”
Governor Baker interrupted. “Sarge, I’ve had limited communications with the President’s staff. They claim to have a recovery plan in place and that we should remain patient while it’s implemented.”
“In the dead of winter in a post-collapse America, patience means more dead New Englanders,” Sarge bristled. Donald knew his friend well. Sarge was incredulous that these politicians would even consider relying upon the hollow promises of this President.
“Let’s hear what he proposes,” said Lieutenant Governor Karyn Polito. “If we look around us, everything positive is a result of this gentleman’s leadership, not an absentee president leading from behind.
“Thank you,” said Sarge, who seemed to relax. “We must first reestablish power to as many communities as possible. If we were starting completely from scratch, we’d probably scrap many of the mechanisms that caused our grid to fail in the cascading manner it did. Power companies, in the interest of producing cheap energy, worked to centralize electric generation in a handful of substations, all of which relied upon the others. The cyber attack effectively collapsed a few substations, resulting in the failure of the entire interconnected grid.”
Governor Baker set down his coffee and asked, “This raises an interesting point. How do we restore the grid and modify the system to prevent this from happening again?”
“We have a proposed plan to create microgrids throughout New England to be built in conjunction with location-specific power plants dedicated to government facilities, for starters,” replied Sarge.
“How does that work?” asked Governor Baker.
“Each government facility, like this State House, will be retrofitted to produce its own power via solar generation,” replied Sarge. “The same system was put into place in Fort Collins, Colorado, before the collapse. Private
residences and buildings were equipped with solar arrays and smart technology to allow energy to be consumed within the premises and excess energy to be distributed back to the grid.”
“The system was first developed in Japan following the Fukushima disaster in 2011,” interjected Donald. “Between the earthquake and the nuclear plant meltdown, the cities suffered power breakdowns and a collapse of their critical infrastructure. Hitachi designed a system to minimize the cascading effect of such a catastrophic event.”
Several of the attendees spoke among themselves for a moment, generally smiling and nodding with approval.
Sarge continued. “And so Hitachi’s electricity system is designed to provide uninterrupted service to critical systems like governmental buildings, water pumps, and hospitals in the event of an emergency. To do that, it relies on several battery storage sites as well as a microgrid, which facilitates the sharing of electricity and can operate in isolation of the main grid. A command center in the basement floor of the State House, for example, would oversee the microgrid and track exactly where electricity is being consumed and generated.”
“Sarge, how does the microgrid concept protect us from the cascading failures?” asked Governor Baker.
“We are talking about creating microgrids that, while connected to the main grid, can function somewhat independently,” replied Sarge. “The computer servers would not be interconnected, similar to the system established at the Hoover Dam. It takes the cascading threat away and allows us to restore power to the most highly populated areas first.”
“Also,” added Donald, “by adding electricity storage capability from the large-scale options like compressed air or big battery arrays on down to even the household or smart-appliance level, we would eliminate some of the problems the grid has with dispatching power where and when its needed.”
“Sounds complicated, but I like it,” said Governor Baker.
