Medora Wars

by Wick Welker

  He had thought the small break of sitting in his leather chair would calm his mind but the one phone call threw everything he had known into doubt. The phone call now stretched his mind to the limits of what he thought was possible; of what he thought one man was capable. Before the phone call he was angry with everyone and kicking himself for acting like a child in front of his staff. Now, he was constantly trying to bring his mind to a blank chalkboard to be able to step back and think about what to do next. Fear sprung up in his chest when the phone rang again.

  “Yeah?” Rambert said as his heart pumped.

  “Mr. President?” Mayberry asked cautiously. “We’ve just received a recording from The Sirr.”

  “Well… go get some popcorn,” Rambert said slowly, controlling his breathing.

  “What?”

  “Because we’re going to watch the recording. It was a joke.”

  “Right.”

  “Let me ask you something,” Rambert said.

  “What?”

  “Would someone ever be able to just… call me?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Is it possible for a person somewhere to just be able to call my personal cell phone who normally would have no access?”

  “You as in ‘the President’?”

  “Yes.”

  “Who talked to you?”

  “No, no one. I’m just curious.”

  Mayberry paused. “Let’s just say it would require great skill and resources for someone to be able to just call the President of the United States out of the blue.”

  “Okay. Well, shall we watch the recording?” Rambert asked. He burst from his tiny room and into the massive auditorium of CIA staff and dozens of rows of intelligence gathering computer systems. His cabinet followed him to a TV mounted in a conference room.

  Mayberry was already waiting for them at the conference table, with the image of a darkened figure displayed on the TV. “We just verified a few minutes ago. We believe it is from the brotherhood of the Sirr and that the video originated from somewhere in Maryland.”

  “You’re sure it was Maryland?” Rambert asked as he sat down.

  “Ninety percent sure, yes.”

  “Does this mean at all that the Sirr is in Maryland?”

  “We can’t really infer that the Sirr was in Maryland just because that is where the footage was transmitted from. It’s possible, but we can’t know.”

  Rambert sat down at the table as the room filled with his staff in silence. “Play it.”

  Mayberry hit a keyboard next to him, the video came to life with a dark figure crossing his legs, and clearing his throat through a voice modulator.

  “I am the Sirr,” he stated simply with a deep, modified voice, and paused for a full ten seconds. “We officially take responsibility for every outbreak of the Virulex virus that has occurred in Seoul, Jerusalem, Mexico City, Berlin, Washington D.C., and London. We attempted to infect the President of the United States from a drone that we stole from the Iranian government. We destroyed the United States, Chinese and Venezuelan navies. We have littered your skies with the bodies of your dead. We have orchestrated the invasion of South Korea by its Northern enemy. Iran will take Israel because of the brotherhood of the Sirr. Russia will invade Western Europe because of the death and destruction that we have wrought. There must be suffering before we are all cleansed by death. We do not seek new world order, but the end of this world entirely. You do not know now but you will come to understand that our work has been a Godly work, and you will love us once we become united.” The short video cut out as the dark figured uncrossed his legs.

  The entire room remained silent until Rambert spoke, “Washington D.C and London? Was he just talking about the predator and plane attacks?”

  “We don’t know anything about an outbreak in D.C or London.”

  “Well, what the hell?”

  “Maybe they recorded this a while ago but never actually attempted to attack D.C. or London… or maybe someone foiled them somehow. It doesn’t matter anyway, we have an ATLAS-M in D.C., and London has got one too,” Mayberry said, dismissively.

  “How well did the ATLAS-M even work in Jerusalem, Chuck? We’re getting totally conflicting reports. Our last communication with them was that the pulse had knocked down the infected but only within a couple miles radius, and the entire city is still in complete chaos. We can’t just kick up our heels and think we’re safe just because we paid billions of dollars for a gigantic electromagnetic generator. That is so idiotic.” Rambert took a deep breath. “Maybe they’re just trying to trick us.”

  “Well, let’s not jump to conclusions, Mr. President. It can’t all be tricks.”

  Rambert raised his nose and looked down at Mayberry. “It’s all been a trick.”

  “Let’s not be led by fear.” Mayberry looked back at him intently.

  “Everyone get out,” Rambert demanded as his staff scurried around him and left the room leaving him alone with Mayberry.

  “Don’t talk to me like that in front of my staff,” Rambert said.

  “What’re you, a king? What the hell?” Mayberry stood.

  “You have gotten us nowhere.” Rambert pursed his lips and breathed deeply through his nostrils.

  “I could say the same to you, Mr. President.” Mayberry stared back at him.

  Rambert’s mind was sick with panic as he looked at Mayberry, who calmly looked back at him. “What’s going on in Juárez?” Rambert asked.

  “We don’t know yet.”

  “Tell me when you do.”

  “Do you want to hear about our nuclear warheads?”

  “Tell me what you know.”

  “They’re safe. They’re all safe and moved out.”

  “I’m guessing that once again you have no useful information from your agent?”

  “No. I haven’t heard from him in a long time.”

  “He’s dead.”

  “Maybe... but if they did find out he was an agent, they probably would’ve broadcasted his death by now.”

  “He didn’t happen to tell you anything about the attack on the Navy? Like who the hell we might have in our government who is a spy of the Sirr?” Rambert sunk his head to the table, which dropped with a slight thud.

  “Well, you know what he has… implied about Dr. Stark.”

  “Yeah… and now we have that video that was broadcasted from Maryland. That’s where Stark was before he left to Mexico.”

  “Right. What’re you thinking about him? Do we trust him still?” Mayberry asked.

  “Do you think the only reason I sent him to Juárez was to try that half-baked idea?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “If Stark is involved, he’s not doing shit from the inside of that infected tornado.”

  “Oh, I get it.”

  “I was thinking about Caesar,” Rambert’s voice was muffled as he sat his forehead on the tabletop.

  “And?”

  “He had one hell of a country to command.”

  “Caesar was a piece of shit,” Mayberry said.

  Rambert lifted his head back up. “What do you mean?”

  “He was a ruthless dictator and warmonger who used his legions of armies to enslave countless civilizations and to hold his own supposed democratic state captive. He was a piece of shit.” Mayberry popped a mint in his mouth from his jacket pocket and crunched down on it. “The assassination of Caesar was the best thing to happen to Rome.”

  “Yeah, maybe.”

  “The same thing has been happening up until this very day.”

  “What are you talking about now?”

  “The Sirr said it himself. North Korea is going to invade the South. Iran is already in Israel, and Russia will bust into Europe any day, probably with China on their coat tails.”

  “And?”

  “But what the Sirr didn’t say is that London and France will their drop nuclear weapons either on Russia as a retaliation or on themselves as a last ditch effo
rt if their own countries become overwhelmed by the outbreak. China’s not going to like North Korea’s aggression and probably wipe them off the map, and we all know that Israel will not stand for one second that Iranian troops will set foot in the Holy City.”

  “Sounds like you’ve thought this all through.”

  “As if you’re not already thinking all this same stuff, sir. The Sirr isn’t trying to take over the world. He’s trying to bring back mutually assured destruction. It’s what he wants, and he’s just using the virus as a catalyst.”

  “It really doesn’t matter why he’s doing what he’s doing.”

  “If we understand the man, we can understand how to stop him.”

  “Do you think you understand the Sirr?”

  “Not really, I’m just guessing.” Mayberry crunched on another mint.

  “Chuck…” Rambert let out a long breath and lifted his head from the table. He looked at Mayberry’s face, which had taken on a sandpaper texture in his older age. Mayberry looked back at him with sympathetic eyes. “I’m sorry I snapped at you.”

  “Mr. President, it’s nothing. We’re both under a lot of stress,” Mayberry responded promptly.

  “I know, I know. I just feel like… there’s someone here.” Rambert motioned his hands to the dozens of people outside their room.

  Mayberry raised his ears. “Here?”

  “The Sirr knows too much. We are constantly one step behind, and I’m just terrified that the brotherhood will find out where we have our warheads.”

  “They’re not going to find out. We have them, many stories underneath an old power plant that hasn’t been used in thirty years. We’re using minimal staff there to minimize potential intelligence leak.”

  “Only a few people know the warhead detonation codes.”

  “Absolutely.”

  “But I’m afraid it’s too few…”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I don’t want myself to be overly paranoid. I haven’t given the codes to enough people. If something happens to all the people that know the codes, it would be disastrous. We wouldn’t be able to… completely annihilate the horde at the El Paso border if and when we need to.”

  “I understand.”

  “I’m going to give you the detonation code.”

  “Code? Singular?”

  “Yes, I consolidated all the codes into one, so that it works for every single warhead. I know that when we finally need to use them, we’ll need to do it fast, and I don’t want a technical error getting in the way.”

  “Larry, that is extremely risky.”

  “I know, but I learned from experience that being able to drop nuclear weapons at instant notice is full of snags. I was barely able to detonate the two in the atmosphere above D.C. and New York at all. Consolidating the codes will completely streamline the process. It had to be done.”

  “Why should I know the code? I don’t necessarily want this responsibility.”

  “Well, you’re getting it. I need you right now. There aren’t many people left that I can give the code to.”

  “How many other people know the code?”

  “Eight. And it’s confidential who they are from everyone but myself.”

  Mayberry stood across the table from Rambert, waiting. “I don’t know…”

  “I’m not giving you the choice. It is thirteen characters long and is only communicated verbally. Never has the code been written or printed, and you are forbidden to do the same. Do you understand?”

  “Yes, yes, I understand.”

  “Okay, sit down, and clear your mind. You’re going to need to repeat it back to me ten times from memory.”

  *****

  Mayberry got up and walked out into the noisy command center with hundreds of staff members making frantic phone calls or furiously typing on keyboards. He slowly walked past the computer screens and found a small room to make a phone call.

  The phone rang for half a minute with a small voice that finally picked up, “Mayberry?”

  “Malik,” Mayberry said softly. “Talk.”

  “What do you want to know?” Malik asked.

  Mayberry scoffed. “Anything that you have to say. What in the fuck happened in Venezuela?”

  “Only that the entire thing was a set up on both sides. The Chinese had no idea about anything. It was meant to just draw the United States, Venezuelan and Chinese navies into one place to destroy them. It was all too… orchestrated. Not a single brother from the Sirr was even in Venezuela. It was just a ruse and I had no idea. How sure are you that someone very high up in the government isn’t involved with the brotherhood?”

  “Not very.”

  “I’m going to meet the Sirr,” Malik responded quickly.

  “When and where?”

  “I don’t know. Probably in a few weeks.”

  “Why?”

  “I don’t know but we’re doing something big soon. Something really big.”

  “Do you have any idea what it is?”

  “It will be something in the United States. Just like I told you before.”

  “Are you meeting the Sirr there?”

  “Yes. We plan to rendezvous somewhere in Texas with him.”

  “Texas…” Mayberry said, letting the word linger in his mind.

  “I don’t know where exactly. I am almost positive that the Sirr is an American man.”

  “How could you know?”

  “Only context clues from Atash. The man has to be an extremely well connected person in the United States. He is able to lift a finger and move armies halfway across the world. He has got to be a person that knows so much about global leaders that he can blackmail his way into any situation. He’s a person who can wear a thousand different faces to anyone he wants.”

  “It is extremely useful that you mention Texas.”

  “Why?”

  “Malik, you’ve hinted to a certain person that might be involved before…”

  “Dr. Stark? Yes, yeah I do think he is a person who could easily fit the description of the Sirr but you know I have no evidence at all—”

  “Do you know where Dr. Stark is right now?”

  “No.”

  “Right on the Texas border,” Mayberry said.

  “That is interesting… If the brotherhood found out that the Sirr was just someone higher up in the American government that is manipulating us, it would completely destroy our confidence. I mean it would… it would change everything, for everyone.”

  “I need you to know that if you’re meeting him it means you will become instrumental in whatever attack they’re planning here. Mass casualties might literally be prevented because of what you do in the next few days. Do you realize this?”

  “Yes, I am aware,” Malik said in a monotonous tone.

  “Where are you headed next? Where are you now? It’s time to get you out of there.”

  “No, no, I’ve got to keep going with what I started. Can you get a hold of my ex-wife for me?”

  “Well… yeah that’s not a problem, but—”

  “Tell her the truth about what I did.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “About what happened to my son. You tell her what I did.”

  “Well, I don’t know, legally—”

  “I’ve got to go.”

  “No, no wait!” Mayberry shouted. “Do you have any idea if anyone from your group has contacted Rambert directly?”

  “I don’t know,” Malik said with a lonely voice and hung up.

  Chapter Twenty: Merida, Mexico

  “Malik, how are you?” Atash folded his arms as he walked into the room.

  “I am well, brother,” Malik said.

  “Do you think he believed you?”

  “Who?”

  Atash waited. “Who do you think I’m talking about?” he said.

  “Mayberry always believes me, he’s an idiot.”

  “Do you think they will target Stark?”

  “I’m not sure…
Maybe.”

  “Good.” Atash smiled at Malik. “The Sirr says he is our biggest threat right now. He’s only one of two people that can disarm the virus, and the other person is now in prison.”

  “I understand.”

  “Do you know that the last chapter of your life is going to close soon?”

  “Yes, I know that very well.”

  “How did you feel about killing all those thousands of people in the ocean?”

  “I honestly don’t feel much about it.”

  Atash rubbed the bottom of his chin. “I believe you, brother.”

  Malik looked down at the peeling plastic of the fake kitchen floor tiles and sighed.

  “Is something wrong?” Atash softly touched his elbow.

  “Ah, yes, you’ve sensed something in me, haven’t you?” Malik asked.

  “What is it?”

  “Nothing, I just have strange suspicions.”

  “You still doubt?”

  “I feel that things are going too smoothly for the brotherhood.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Everything goes so perfectly. We have almost no opposition.”

  “It’s because we’re being guided.”

  “You could say that, yes. We only say that God is out there guiding us but in reality he is only a mortal construct that we invent so that we can talk about otherwise incomprehensible things.”

  “Yes, of course.”

  “I don’t know how, but the Sirr gets information so easily, so, so… quickly. He knows everything that is happening within different governments totally effortlessly.”

  “Isn’t that good?”

  “It is good, but it makes me question him.”

  “Malik, the Sirr isn’t God. We don’t worship him. He’s simply a man, and he will die just like the rest of us soon.” Atash’s usual calm countenance had broken slightly when he spoke. “What do you question about him?”

  “I question who is feeding him information, and I have worries that we’re all just… being fooled—tricked into doing something that we don’t understand.”

  “Malik, you will finally understand once you meet him in person.”