Chapter 54 -- OXKKVKLMEFCL
Grant Page sat with the other committee members sat around a table in their
headquarters. They had gathered there the previous night after the news of
the killings in the nation's capitol broke. They had watched well into the
night, going home well after midnight when the flow of fresh news ceased.
Since the warning the previous week by their mysterious visitor, they had been
waiting for Friday, and while not surprised by it its incredibly bold, perhaps
even reckless nature was somewhat unsettling. They watched the morning
updates and the beginning of what would no doubt be endless discussion and
analysis by innumerable pundits. The only thing missing so far was any
indication that the authorities had any useful information.
"I admit I don't know what I was expecting," he said. "But this, it certainly
wasn't this."
"It's unquestionably ballsy," Douglas said. "I guess in time we'll see whether
or not it was wise."
"It seems to show considerable confidence on the part of whoever is responsible,"
Bill said. "And considerable resources. I don't know what it took, forty or
so killings in about twenty locations around the city, getting the men it
place and getting them out afterwards. And all in about what, three or four
hours. And not a sign of who did it."
"As far as anyone knows," said Grant. "I guess we'll see what the speech looks
like. If they're smart, which they aren't, they would not say what they have,
if anything. It should be interesting."
A large map on the television screen showed a street map of the capitol, with
the White House, Congress, and some other landmarks were marked with circles,
while a number of red dots was scattered around the surrounding area. A
chyron indicated that the president would be addressing the nation, with a
countdown graphic. The time was 11:29, that would be the Eastern time zone,
an hour ahead of them. The speech would commence in about fifteen minutes.
"This should be interesting," Bill said. "That old fool can barely get through
a handful of softball questions. With this much time to prepare they will
have already prepared the questions they'll answer and handed them
out to the press. I wonder what will happen of one of them goes off script."
"They won't let that happen," said Arthur, "unless I'm seriously overestimating
their competence, which is possible. He should have been out here two hours ago,
at least."
"They'll probably avoid questions," Bill said. "Have the president make the
usual outraged statement, promise to bring the perpetrators to justice, and
turn it over to the Attorney General, or Homeland Security."
"Most likely," Douglas agreed. "They're not much better, but they won't fall
asleep or wander away in the middle of it."
The countdown finally completed. The president was introduced and began to
read the speech.
"My fellow Americans, I come before you with a heavy heart. By now you will
have heard the awful news of last night's events. As I am sure many of you,
perhaps most of you did, as I watched with horror first one, and then another,
and then more and more reports of the contemptible, cowardly, and despicable
crimes occurring in our nation's capitol. And many of you, no doubt, wept in
dismay and revulsion as you learned of the heinous murders of a number of the
nation's leaders in a series of terrorist attacks.
"It is clear that this was a calculated attack aimed at the heart of our
government. All of the victims were members of the United States Congress,
clearly an attempt to disrupt the functioning of the government. It will not
succeed. The Department of Homeland Security, the Justice Department, and
every available resource is being directed at the effort to find and apprehend
these perpetrators, and an intensive search is underway even as I speak to you.
"We will not rest until these evildoers are apprehended and brought to justice.
This great nation will not be cowed by terrorists, whatever their origin. We
have never failed to rise to meet any challenge and we will not fail now.
"I am now going to have the Secretary of Homeland Security brief you and
answer any questions you may have. Secretary Jordan."
Dean Jordan came to the microphone and delivered essentially a couple of the
standard statements, taking only a few minutes before inviting questions.
"This ought to be interesting," Grant said.
Aside from a somewhat surrealistic air to the proceedings and the completely
uncharted territory they were in, the question and answer session was
relatively ordinary. Did you have any warning? Should this have been expected?
Do you have any suspects? What sort of organization might have done this?
The questions would have been vetted and assigned to the various members of
the audience beforehand, but the last was of course a setup for the main
thrust of the event.
The most likely suspects were of course anti-government organizations, with
the obligatory mention of racist, white supremacists, and fundamentalist
religious cults for good measure. There was no mention of foreign players,
and the fact that no question was asked about told them how the investigation
would proceed.
As the procession of guest pundits and experts began, Grant looked over at the
others. Arthur picked up the remote and lowered the volume.
"Well," he said, "that' pretty much what we expected. I suppose not
considering foreign players is to be expected, given the targets. One
interesting thing, and should be to them, is why there was no apparent threat
to the president. The question was asked, whether it was in the script I don't
know, and he said there had been no indications of any attempt. I wonder if
they have any idea why."
"They probably think it's because the presidential security couldn't be
penetrated in that manner," Grant said, "which is true, but I don't believe it's the reason."
"Are you thinking what I am?" Gerald asked. "They want to bring the
government down, but leave the president in place? Not because it matters who
the president is, and they will be negotiating with him. Or the puppet masters,
thus even more reason why it doesn't matter."
"You break the government, make them negotiate," Arthur said. "I wonder what
their demands will be."
"What they most likely want," Douglas said, "is some sort of reform. Reform
being the discontinuation of various actions and policies. And some action to
ensure they don't happen again. But it would take a lot to put the government
in that position."
"Yeah," said Grant. "Particularly this one. It's now firmly in the control of
people determined to make it the next Russia. Or China or the worst of both.
Trying to envision what it would take, doesn't look pretty. We're lucky to be
in a position, if indeed we are, where another nation can't attack and take us
over."
"We could be weakened enough that China or Russia could," said Arthur. "I
would guess Russia wouldn't, given the damage they could incur even if
successful. And China is probably still counting on being able to buy us."
"If you're right about their intentions," said Arthur, "you're certainly right
that it won't be done easily. I wonder if the strategy is to turn the screws,
one step at a time, until the government capitulates. If so I'd hate to see
what the next steps are."
"Yeah. What happened yesterday was unbelievable," Gerald said. "It's still
hard to process. When you think about not only what they did - something
unthinkable to the average person, just something that no one would think of
happening."
"So to be effective," said Bill, "whatever they do next will have to top that.
And several iterations may be required."
"I don't know if they'd have to top it, or what that would look like," Arthur
said. "But it will have to be something different. They can't hit Washington
again. The place will be an armed camp, and the government people, when they
go outside, will be under heavy security."
"So no one can get close to them," Bill said. "But what if they're served
their purpose and are no longer needed. The, what, let's call them rebels,
have shown that they can do it and more to the point have sown fear into the
enemy ranks, a fear that will affect their reactions. Suppose the remainder
of their attacks are targets outside the capitol, outside the government even."
"Attacking the country," said Arthur. "I'm thinking infrastructure, that term
they like so much. Every new Congress has to have an infrastructure bill,
which does little if anything for the infrastructure but hands out gifts to
the party faithful, which is pretty much the whole government now. Anyway,
the roads and bridges, railroads, airports. How much of that is vulnerable?"
"Most of it," Gerald said. "If they were able to make a really big dent,
serious disruption, that would cause some real problems. It would make the
people very unhappy as well."
"Exactly," said Douglas. "Let's see what he have so far: a terrified government,
paralyzed for some time by fear. Not to mention having nearly fifty legislators
to replace. It could take months for anything to get done. All they can do
is try to figure out who's doing it and stop it."
"The bad laws that caused this are already in place," said Grant. "So they don't
need the legislature. It's all in the hands of the executive."
"I wonder if this first strike, and I suspect that is what it was, was just
the first shot to get the war going, and serve notice that they're serious,"
Bill said. "Now that the war is underway, what. The government will be
trying to find out who did it and catch them. Meanwhile..."
"Meanwhile," said Arthur, "if the rebels are as smart and well equipped as this
action suggests, they hit something else. If the government hasn't solved the
first one yet, they'll be getting behind fast."
"Here's the problem they might have," Bill said. "Our visitor, Brad. If I
had to guess I would say we're not the only place he's visited. He asked
about our neighbors, and there are other places like this around. Quite a few
these days."
"So we have the government off balance to say the least," Gerald said. "And
maybe about to get hit again, any day. Meanwhile you've got people like us,
they've been in contact with us, which suggests they may have plans. Now, you
remember.. "he reached for a paper on the table "this. We first saw it about,
it was the day Brad came the first time. Apparently they showed up all over
the country at that time. Millions, all identical. Who could manage an operation
like that?"
"Perhaps one that could do what happened in DC yesterday," said Grant. The five
men sat silently for a few moments, looking up at the television. A 'BREAKING
NEWS' image filled the screen suddenly. Arthur reached for the remote and
raised the volume just as the face of a young woman appeared, speaking at what
seemed to be more urgent than the usual urgency.
"..we go to Katherine Chandler in the nation's capitol. Katherine."
"Yes, Diane. I've just left a briefing by the Justice Department. We got an
update on the ongoing investigation."
"Do we have any new developments?" the woman apparently named Diane asked.
"Essentially it was just an hourly update," Katherine replied. "The Deputy
Attorney General gave us some information on where the investigative efforts
are being directed at this time."
"Did he comment on the rumors about a suspect being detained?"
"Yes he did, Diane. Apparently that rumor was not accurate. They do not have
anyone in custody at this time."
"Do they have any persons of interest?"
"Not any specific individuals," Katherine said. "They are looking at a number of
organizations around the country, some which have been suspected of
involvement in anti-government activities."
"OK, thank you Katherine," Diane said and Katherine disappeared from her side
of the screen, to be replaced by a rather non-descript man in a suit. Arthur
turned the volume back down.
"Interesting," Arthur said. "Normally, I'd think if they had someone in
custody they'd say so, but they might be smart enough to keep it under wraps
for a while. Whether they're that smart..."
"They've done a lot of damage to all the law enforcement agencies," said Bill.
"Not just the leadership, but all the way down. They've been running off the
good ones for ten, fifteen years now and the leadership is useless to begin
with. Same with the big city PDs, and a lot of the state police. I'd be
surprised if they can mount a successful investigation."
"Which means is they'll start making raids on some of the enclaves they already
have their eye on," Grant said. "Arrest a few, or maybe a lot of them, and
lock them up the way they've been doing with dissenters. They just disappear,
held without bail indefinitely.
"And that buys them time. Even if they can't find anything, they've now got
an appearance of doing something. Interest will fade, and in a week or two at
most it will be a short segment once or twice a day. And if nothing else
comes up, it may even remain either unsolved or put to rest with a few
scapegoats being sent up. That's if nothing else happens."
"I'm guessing you think they won't be so lucky," Gerald said.
"Fairly certain," said Grant. "Let's wargame a bit. I guess we all agree this
isn't a one-time deal. Something else is going to happen, probably more than
one. So we're sitting here, the feds are chasing whatever they can think of
to fix this. The first thing we have to consider is that we're on the radar.
Our neighbors already are as well. Even without this, they'll be going around
to find out what happened to the home-schooled children that didn't show up at
the public schools this year. And now this. We need to be ready.
"But on top of all that, and this, suppose the next blow falls. Whatever it is,
federal buildings getting bombed, highway and railroad bridges being destroyed,
utility lines and distribution stations being hit - any number of things that
are almost impossible to defend even if you know they're targets.
"You let a major city or two get cut off from food for a few days and it will
be chaos. Turn off the water and electricity, they don't even dare think
about it. More resources are diverted to dealing with that.
"Now, in the middle of all that, whoever this organization is - is joined by
the numerous outfits like us, going free-lance, carrying out whatever they've
been planning. And once a few of them have already been raided, killed,
imprisoned for something they haven't done yet - they'll figure there's
nothing to lose. I can see this getting bad fast."
"We have to stay on top of this," Arthur said. "Gerald, we should have Jeff
and the tech guys working on keeping us updated, let them know what the
new parameters are. And we need to get prepared defensively, and see that our
friends down the road do as well."