MacArthur's Freehold

Enak Nomolos

Chapter 58 -- SXWSGQVVLGBSSQ

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"I suppose we won't get much before tomorrow morning," Donald said. "It's almost five, I should probably go over to the office and see if there's anything of interest."

"What happens tomorrow?" Jessica asked. "If they accept. That postpones the start for, how long?"

"If they accept," Donald replied, "they'll be waiting for us to contact them, as the letter says. They'll get a phone call, bounced around through several relays, several of which we own. The call will simply tell them that our reply will be sent, no only to them but to all of the American people, so everyone can see it. That's all. We will then print copies, as we did with our first message to the population. Our conditions spelled out, simple and clear.

"We will then wait for the response. If it is not satisfactory or not received at all, then we resume hostilities. Of course we weren't sure of the response this time - we're fairly certain of the next one. At that point our commander-in-chief will leave the country for a safe location, along with several key members of the Council.

"While they could probably remain safely hidden within the country, this is an added layer of security. Communications will work just as well, for us. And our communications with the enemy - the same way we're doing now. The next time they initiate contact it will be to negotiate a truce. We'll have told them how."

"Then we're probably a couple of weeks out," Carter said. "Is there anything we can be doing to prepare?"

"We want to be well stocked here for long stays, other than that we'll be ready for any requisitions of materiel. I suspect they won't be long in coming."

"We'll see you in the morning then," Jessica said.

The four of them continued watching the news for a while before returning home for the night. There was little if anything new. The endless procession of guest experts and pundits soon wore thin, and they decided to have dinner and go to their homes.

Meals had become a quick and simple affair, usually frozen pizzas or other items quickly and easily prepared. They were already living the war, even though the remainder of the population was yet to realize it.

Later, Carter and Jessica stood on the deck on the back of the house, the glass walls of winter already in place, drinking a glass of wine before retiring. The sun had just set, and in the cool twilight the calm country view seemed to be another world viewed through a window. She looked up at him, as he seemed to be looking at something far away. She suspected she was feeling the same, wondering if they would ever see the calm, normal world they had once known. After a while he looked over at her, smiled and put his arm around her.

"It'll be all right," he said. "We both know it, but it just seems a long way off now. But it will come."

They went over early in the morning. Donald had returned sometime during the night and already had the televisions on. Carter and Jessica took doughnuts and coffee to his office, where they were soon joined by Tommy and James.

It was not yet 0800, and they guessed the presidential address, if it happened, would be around the 0900 time specified. A delay of a few minutes, or probably even hours, would not cause them to act, but preparations were in place for the end of a twenty-four hour period with no response.

As they had expected, the break in the news programs came at 0851, just a few minutes before the deadline. The president was if anything more robotic than usual. Very likely the staff, whoever made the decisions, agonized over every word. The action of the previous Friday had convinced them it was a serious matter, and a response was required if only to stall for time, which was what they expected.

"My fellow Americans," he said, as most speeches began. "As many, perhaps most of you know by now, a letter was sent to the president and to the United States Congress. In this letter, an organization referring to itself as the People's Republic of the United States states that a state of war exists between this organization and the government of the United States. In this letter, a reference to the tragic events of last Friday, indicates they are, or claim to be, responsible.

"Let me be clear, the government of the United States will never submit to terrorism and will not negotiate with terrorists. And terrorist is what the people who committed these heinous and cowardly crimes are. And make no mistake, those who committed these crimes will be found and brought to justice.

"I urge you to abandon this course of madness, surrender yourselves to the proper authorities. You must be held accountable, of course, but if you do not cease and desist from such actions now, many people will suffer. As I speak, investigations are underway and are bearing fruit. I am now speaking to those people. "You cannot hide for long, and the more crimes you commit the more severe the consequences will be. And those who have aided you, or do so in the future, by providing help of any kind, will be held accountable. Anyone who has information which may assist in stopping these terrorists and bringing them to justice is urged to contact authorities immediately. Information for how to do this will be provided after this address is completed.

"As to the senders of the letter, we are willing to communicate with you and hear your grievances, whatever they may be. We are willing to examine any matters you believe require redress. But there is a proper way to do that, and we hope that you will use it.

"Finally, I urge you, my fellow citizens, to be vigilant and report any suspicious activity of which you have knowledge. Together we will defeat this threat to our democracy. Thank you."

They watched the session with the Director of Homeland Security that followed. There was little new information, aside from the admission that a suspect from the events of Black Friday, as it was now commonly being called, was in custody. They expected a break in the case any day, but the importance of 'vigilance', as it was described, was stressed. Nothing, no matter how small or innocent, should be dismissed. Including friends and family.

"Friends and family. That pretty much nails it," Carter said. "I'm surprised they're being so overt, this early."

"I have to suspect a fair amount of desperation among the inner circle," Donald said. "They're all of minimal competence at best, at everything except political infighting. They could have handled it better, bought some time, by at least pretending to start a dialogue. It would take a few more days, weeks even, to arrive at the point of no return. Which is where they are now, given that it was as good as an outright rejection."

"That was probably the worst thing he said," Carter said. "If we're already going to be planting red herrings everywhere, stirring up the independent groups to act. He just invited every busybody in the country to help us gum up the works."

"We're hoping the enemy's incompetence will help," said Donald, "and we probably won't be disappointed."

"So it begins today.," Jessica said.

"Effectively. There's a second letter to the people, probably going out in two, maybe three days. The final draft has been approved - I got the go-ahead last night - so it's just a matter of doing the distribution. Here's a copy, by the way."

He handed the copies to them. Carter looked at the single page.

"That makes it pretty clear." Jessica said. "How long did it take to the the last one out?"

"About eight to ten days total," Donald replied. "Once the finished product was in the hands of the freeholds, they went to work making copies and distributing them. Even the smaller ones could make tens of thousands, in most cases more than enough for their particular geographical area, given the population. Nice thing about technology, it's fast and cheap. They'll still be wondering when it's over how they got out there so fast."

"And for anyone who hasn't seen one yet the television and internet will finish the job," said Jessica. "The very people who try control the flow of information and try to brainwash the population help us. They can't resist getting in on it."

"Right," Donald said. "And there's no way the government can keep it from getting out. With over two million copies on the ground, telling the news media not to report it will be useless. And the ubiquity of it will make all the recipients know they're part of something big.

"Who's doing it in this area?" asked Tommy. "I guess we could help out, even though we don't have a lot of contact with the outside. I'm guessing it's one of the members up this way."

"Yeah, Pine Ridge handles this area for things like this," Donald said. "They drive across from Hannibal, right past us in fact, head back a a little north of us, leaving them in small towns, which is about all there are. Hannibal is the only city of any size in the north part of the state. They drop them off in small batches, surreptitiously, in places where people will find them, like the small free papers, scattered around on counters at post offices, gas stations. They probably put out about five, six thousand. Most of the time someone who finds one will share it, if only to ask if someone knows about it. So by a couple of days after we start the country is exposed coast to coast, and not just in the cities but anywhere people live."

"Anything else of interest come in overnight?" Jessica asked.

"Nothing especially significant" Donald said. "Other than the fact that the leash is off on our associates and other contacts whom we'd asked to stand down until after Friday. That word is already being passed, before we got the response from the government. We knew it wasn't going to be a capitulation, and that was the only thing that would have stopped. So they're free to fire at will."

"How many of them are likely to do something right away?" Carter asked. "Of major consequence."

"There's a good chance," Donald replied. "Some of the more, unstable you could say, might make a move soon. Those are the ones the government will be going after in any case, especially now. So they have nothing to lose. Hopefully some of them will make a good show."

"Is you office going to continue to be adequate for a command center?" Jessica asked "Or should we think about some changes?"

"I've been thinking about that," Donald replied. "We could build a new one in the old garage. It's been empty for a while, we can start with a clean slate. It would be mostly a matter of moving equipment and some electrical and cabling. We could probably get Grant from Copper City come up for a couple of days, we could get it done fairly quickly.

"Other than that, there's not much we can work in just now."