The door to his office opened abruptly. Po Sin’s mood darkened instantly. His staff and been trained over the years to never ever open his door without knocking, in order to show the proper respect to a man of his position. It was a most grievous insult for someone to simply barge into his office—his inner sanctum. Fai would catch hell for it. He jumped to his feet, ready to give a tongue lashing to the fool who dared interrupt him at this critical juncture—
“Ah, there you are,” said the Party Undersecretary. The arrogance of Shin Ho riled Po Sin even more every time they met. The Undersecretary swept into the room followed by two aides and took seats across from Po Sin’s desk. Without so much as a ‘by your leave’.
Po Sin ground his teeth and managed a polite nod. He wondered not for the first time how in the world it could be that Shin Ho had gotten the promotion for the invasion.
Everything had been my idea, Po Sin thought darkly. I’m the one who found that old Cold War invasion plan and updated for modern times. I’m the one who put together the reports and briefings. I’m the one who sold the Party on the idea…Yet Shin Ho takes all the credit and dares to barge into my office…
“Undersecretary, it is an honor to have you in my office once more. Please, join me! I was just about to receive word from the local commander in Arizona.”
Shin Ho watched Po Sin like a cat watching a bird. He leaned back in his chair and assumed a pose of complete relaxation. He raised one languid eyebrow and spoke: “That is precisely why I’m here. The Supreme Leader will be meeting with officials from the Navy in a few hours. The second wave has already cleared ports along the seacoast and we’re preparing for the third. I was in the building on my way to meet with the Supreme Leader and decided to stop in for a status update.”
Po Sin bowed and took his seat. Status update? As if I am your secretary?
Out loud, he said, “Well, you could not have had more perfect timing.” Po Sin tried to put on a smile, but he knew his voice held no friendliness. He typed a few keys and the large monitor next to the office door came to life. The local commander’s face filled the screen.
“Ah, here we are,” said Po Sin. He cleared his throat and leaned forward. “Colonel, I expect good news. The Undersecretary to the Supreme Leader is here with me.” Po Sin relished the look of abject fear that crossed the face of the soldier. He stood just a little bit straighter and swallowed.
“Yes, Honorable Minister.” The man looked positively terrified. “We have succeeded in surrounding the so-called Regulators.”
“Surrounded is not captured, Colonel. Explain yourself,” growled Po Sin. He could not believe his luck. Shin Ho walked into his office unannounced and now this pathetic excuse for soldier was trying to tell him that he had not succeeded in his objective. And he was 15 minutes late in doing so. The day was turning out to be terrible, indeed.
The Colonel nodded. “Honorable Sirs, my contact successfully convinced the Regulator leadership to be in town at a specific time today. These barbarians were actually distributing supplies looted from the bodies of my men to the locals. I have been assured by our contact that the civilian population is completely against the Regulators and wishes to aid us.”
“Explain that to me, Colonel,” Po Sin said in a dangerous voice. “If the entire town wants to help us, why has no one come forward telling us where these bandits sleep?”
“Minister, from what I have been able to gather, these Regulators keep to themselves. We know that they hide up one of the mountains in the area, but there are many places they could be hiding. I simply don’t have the manpower to search every square inch of land.”
The officer cleared his throat. “In the meantime, I devised a trap with the collaborator from the town. The fool thinks he is gaining favor with us by handing over his own people…he actually came through on his part of the bargain! I arrived with my entire force a short while ago and trapped the terrorists in the local magisterial building.”
“Well,” grumbled Po Sin as he lit another cigarette, “at least you have their leaders cornered. However, I do not understand why you have not simply destroyed this building?” He inhaled the acrid smoke from the cigarette into his lungs and watched Shin Ho across the table. His superior leaned forward, closely watching the Colonel’s image on the screen.
“Honorable Minister, I..." the man's eyes shifted as if he were looking at someone else on his screen.
Shin Ho cleared his throat. "We have not given the order to attack the building because the leader of these terrorists—these bandits—is among the men trapped in the building."
Po Sin was incredulous. How dare he take control of my operation! Behind my back! Out loud, he blurted, "What difference does it make?”
Shin Ho offered a patient smile. “Go on Colonel, explain yourself.”
"Yes, sir. They have no food, no water, no supplies, and limited weaponry and ammunition. My men have the building completely sealed off and surrounded. We have overwhelming numbers and firepower. It’s only a matter of time before we get our hands on him. Once he is in our custody, we will… interrogate him…and discover the whereabouts of the rest of these Regulators. Then we can attack in force and eradicate them once and for all.”
Po Sin recoiled inwardly but was too experienced to let it show. He spoke quickly, taking the floor from Shin Ho. "Excellent news, Colonel. Keep me informed."
Shin Ho was quick to chime in: “Yes, excellent progress, Colonel. The Supreme Leader will be most interested in your progress. Please keep us informed.”
The colonel stiffened, a sheen of sweat visible on his forehead. “Of course, Honorable Ministers!” The man took Shin Ho’s comments as a dismissal and the signal went dead after a snappy salute.
Po Sin had to restrain himself from flinging the heavy jade ashtray from his desk against the side of his former friend’s head. He was in charge of the mission, he had established the secured transmission line, and he had come up with the plan to capture these Regulators while the main force of the assault group moved into California. And here, once again, Shin Ho was injecting himself into the process in order to steal the glory and look good before the Supreme Leader.
No doubt one day soon, he will take credit for this entire operation, Po Sin fumed.
Shin Ho got to his feet and his aides snapped to attention behind him, their chests adorned with campaign ribbons and medals. Po Sin got to his feet almost laconically. He was amazed that two highly decorated veterans would be reduced to menial servants of the Undersecretary. It pointed to another step his friend had taken toward becoming one of the elite political movers in China. The sense of entitlement, the waste, the ineptitude. These were all things that Po Sin had decided—with the help of his friend Shin Ho—long ago should be excised from the heart of China. The anger at his authority being usurped by Shin Ho faded, to be replaced with sadness.
For the first time, Po Sin realized that when he took ultimate power over China, Shin Ho would have to die. He was now part of the problem instead of the solution. Could he not see it?
"Oh," Shin Ho said on his way to the door. He turned back, and casually glanced over his shoulder. "You are to be congratulated on the fall of Phoenix, my friend."
Po Sin nodded. "Thank you, Undersecretary,” he said, ignoring the ‘friend’ comment. “Though the credit should go where it is deserved—with the soldiers. They did an excellent job carrying out my orders. That is the largest city in our path until San Diego, itself. Now nothing stands between the assault force and California."
"I presume it also has the added benefit of driving fear into the hearts of the Americans that stand before us and our goal?"
Po Sin nodded. "You are correct, Undersecretary. If nothing else it will make anyone still in their homes evacuate for safety. Word of the army’s approach will make the civilian population crazy with fear. This will add only to the confusion that the Federal government must face in order to get to us."
“Oh, one last thing,” Po Sin said
, pretending to just remember something. He opened a folder on his desk and pulled out an 8 x 10 glossy color photograph. "This was taken not 12 hours ago by one of the reconnaissance elements of the assault force." He handed over the picture and made no attempt at hiding his pride.
Let Shin Ho try to claim the credit for this, he told himself.
Po Sin glanced down at a copy of the photograph, still in the folder. The skyline of Phoenix—the high-rises and skyscrapers, all shrouded in thick, dark smoke. Flames consumed fully one-half the skyline. It was a beautiful. Smoke from fires that had been long burning since the summer surrounded the entire area. He’d had reports that ash was falling so thick, soldiers joked it was dirty snow.
"Truly a fiery holocaust," said the Undersecretary. He handed back the photograph.
Po Sin refused the picture. "No, no—I insist you keep it.” He snapped his fingers as if an idea had just occurred to him. “Show it to the Supreme Leader for me. Let him know that progress is being made. This and many more will be included in my official report, which I will hand deliver to him next week. By then we should be setting up a base on the Californian coast, just in time to welcome the second wave."
Po Sin's day was officially made by the crestfallen expression on Shin Ho's face. The Undersecretary turned to leave the room without another word.
This round belongs to me, old friend. Better luck next time! Once the door to his office had closed, Po Sin couldn’t help but laugh.
CHAPTER 17
A President by any other name...
HANK SUTHBY HUNG UP the phone with a smile. Today was looking to be a pretty damn good day. He leaned back in his plush chair, placed his hands behind his head and looked at the ceiling. There seem to be no end of good news today. First, word had come from upstate New York—which in and of itself was good news as they hadn’t heard from that region since the beginning of the Troubles—another power plant had come online.
Power remained restricted to the immediate area around the plant, but it was another step in the right direction. There were at least 15,000 Americans that had power once more. Word from Wyoming, Utah, Virginia, and Missouri promised even more power plants would be coming online soon. The country was slowly—agonizingly slowly—but surely rousing itself from its electricity deprived slumber.
On top of that, a fresh batch of American soldiers from Europe had arrived at Dulles international Airport early that morning. They were exhausted, they were weary, and many were wounded. Their hair-raising escape from Germany would make for a fine movie, he thought. He smiled. They were on home soil, they were ready to serve him, and they were mad as hell.
Best of all, the Secretary-General had officially named him Defender of the Realm. Henry “Hank” Suthby, Junior, was now the official leader of the newest United Nations protectorate. He wondered what the Department of Justice would have to say about that. He made a note to contact the new Attorney General soon as possible.
One more step on the way to supreme leadership. That was really what was needed to turn the country around. If he didn’t have to go through Congress—even what was left of it—or the myriad Federal agencies to get things done…if he could just issue a decree and have it carried out. God, think of what I could accomplish!
He sighed. The acid that had been eating away at his stomach unchecked for the past several months had finally subsided. His anxiety was beginning to fade. More and more members of Congress had come forth out of the wilderness, trying to make contact with what was left of the government. Increasingly, they offered their support and allegiance to President Suthby.
President, he thought. I wonder if we'll have to come up with a new term for my office. Not King, I don't want to be a king...to many bad connotations there. But I wasn't elected, and never will be. So how can I be called President? That's no better than some banana republic in South America. Technically, he thought one eyebrow raised in thought, I should be considered some sort of dictator. A benign one, with only what's best for the country at heart, but a dictator nonetheless. So… What do I call myself?
He leaned forward in the chair and rested his arms on the massive executive desk. He resolved to have Daniel solve that little problem, for it would have to be Daniel who offered the new title to the Press anyway. It would sound too much like abject tyranny were he to simply announce that he was no longer to be called President…
Shrugging that thought off, he got back to the matter at hand. Not everything was going as planned today. He glanced once more at the map on the wall. Tucson. The entire city wiped out. By the Chinese, no less. Sneaky little bastards. They used all of the drama, all of the crisis, all of the turmoil affecting the United States as cover to sneak in the back door. It had been confirmed, now. And there wasn't a damn thing he could do about it. The worst part was, the rest of the world knew that too—including the Chinese.
The National Guard has been overseas for years. We don’t have enough troops coming home yet to make much of a difference, anyway. Can’t just rely on the civilian population, they wouldn’t do too well against a trained army… Not to mention that second fleet from China the Navy spotted earlier this week. May be halfway across the Pacific by now…Jesus. They’re so confident of success, they didn't even bother trying to hide their presence from our ships still stationed at Hawaii.
He looked down at the report in his hands and tried to focus back on Arizona. The entire city of Tucson had been burned to the ground. Casualties in the hundreds of thousands. The only good news was that the vicious gangs which had taken control of the city when the lights went out had been obliterated along with the innocent.
Suthby called for Daniel. He hoped the young man could shed a positive light on the situation. The Joint Chiefs had certainly put a sour note on things at the last briefing.
When Daniel walked in the door to his office, Suthby pointed at the map on the wall. “What do we know about Arizona?” He held up a hand as Daniel opened his mouth to speak. “I mean right now. And it better be good—so far everything is going right today. I really don’t want anything to screw that up.”
Daniel shrugged. “Late last night, we received word from Governor Lewis that they’ve lost all contact with Phoenix.”
Suthby scratched that the stubble on his chin. “I said I wanted good news…” He sighed. “What do you mean, ‘lost all contact’ with Phoenix? Did a bomb go off? Did something happen to blow up the town or something?”
Daniel rummaged through some paperwork. He pulled out the correct sheet and began to read. “It was a brief communication sent—if you can believe it—by Morse code. Anyway, the Chinese moved into the area and set the town on fire. If this info is credible and we can link this to the Chinese forces that are rumored to be in the area…”
“There’s no rumor, Daniel.” Suthby stood up and walked around the edge of the massive wooden desk. “I had a briefing this morning with the Joint Chiefs—the ones that we can find at least,” he said. “We have direct video evidence of Chinese assets operating in the southwest. Someone at an air base in California spotted a Chinese vehicle. Yesterday. And now you say we lost contact with the city of Phoenix—right after reports of some sort of army burned Tucson to the ground. That adds up to an act of war in my book.”
Daniel said nothing and stared at the map. He walked over to the map and pulled out a pencil before drawing a circle around Phoenix. He looked down at the notes in his hand, then drew another circle at Nogales on the border with Mexico and a third around Tucson.
The President watched as Daniel scanned the next page in his notes and made another circle at a place on the Baja California coast. He made a triangle around the area in California where the report of Chinese vehicles was made. Finally, Suthby watched as his Chief of Staff drew a line to connect all the dots. It made a nice crescent. Daniel extended the line and found that the arrow pointed straight toward San Diego. “Why would they be going there?”
Suthby folded his arms and sat on the corner of
his desk. “The Navy thinks that they’ve picked up clues of a second Chinese fleet passing Hawaii. No one has any visuals yet. But, they were able to make contact with a few of our subs out there in the Pacific—it seems like this group of surface vessels is even bigger than the first one. The one that brought all of the medical supplies and food to Mexico.”
“Oh, my God,” whispered Daniel. “That’s a full on invasion, sir.”
Suthby rubbed his temples. “Don’t I know it?” He stood up and moved back to his plush chair and collapsed into the softness with bliss. He drummed his fingers idly on the desk.
So much for everything going right today. Well, he thought, most of the news is good. There’s not a whole hell of a lot I can do about China at the moment. People out in the southwest will just have to fend for themselves for a few more days. Maybe a week or so. Two weeks tops…
“Sir, have you tried talking with the Secretary-General? Now that we have achieved protectorate status…”
“Yes, I’ve mentioned this to the Secretary-General,” Suthby said. He leaned back in his chair, contemplating the ceiling tiles once more. “The Secretary-General is under the impression that the Chinese are completely innocent in this matter. He has launched an investigation. Unfortunately,” Suthby said as he let the chair return him to vertical, “the United States is no longer a permanent member of the Security Council. When we attained protectorate status, we had to give up our position as de facto leader of the United Nations. As such, any request coming from us is now deemed… Well, whatever we ask for is not exactly going to get top priority.”
Daniel stared at the head of the United States. “What exactly are you saying, sir? A foreign country is invading our land, we’re part of the United Nations, and they’re not going to do anything about it? Even though China is part of the United Nations? Not even a reprimand in the Assembly?”
Suthby raised his hands in resignation. “Tell me about it! China sits on the Security Council and is now—with Russia—basically the leader of the United Nations.
Sic Semper Tyrannis Page 23
