Chapter 67 -- NQOCOJLMTCPARRQKRV
"All right," said Dean Jordan, "everyone ready? Just over ten minutes."
All of the group were present, as well as the president. The People's Army had
made it clear in their message that their representative would be speaking to
the president and no other. It would be a minor problem - Jane Whittaker, the
president's chief of staff, would operate the mute button the desk phone he
would be using. The speaker was on but it was one way - they could hear the
caller but the caller could only hear what the president spoke into the handset.
This should be manageable, she thought, as she had to monitor all of his phone
conversations and signal to him where he was going off script.
The others sat around the president's chair in a half circle, waiting. At
1930 the phone rang, just as the PLA had promised. The president answered.
"This is President John Kelly speaking," he said. "To whom am I speaking?"
The voice would be disguised, they knew, but this one sounded quite natural.
A very good voice synthesis, if it was that, but almost as if the speaker's
voice was converted to data and then back to a synthetic voice. It seemed the
voice of an average man of middle age, but of course a fake voice was a fake voice.
"My name is not important," the caller said. "Obviously I will not identify
myself at this time. You should also be aware that I am not inside the United
States or any of its territories. You will attempt to trace this
call to its source, you are welcome to try. Now, let us get down to business.
"As we stated in our letter, we wish to discuss ending hostilities. In our
letter we stated that we were willing to enter into a truce to be observed
until such time as a treaty is arranged.
"However, there is no reason for a truce if you are not inclined to agree to
our terms, which are as follows:
"The Constitution of the United States will be restored as the ruling authority.
This means that a large number of laws, implemented over many years, must be
repealed. We will provide a list of those laws, and a framework for
expediting this action. Further, you will agree to a review of amendments to
the constitution. This will consist mainly of a clarification of the
amendments in the Bill of Rights, to prevent them from being violated in the
future. Finally, you will release a number of persons who are at present
incarcerated by the federal government. None of these people are murderers or
other violent criminals, all are imprisoned for political reasons, in
violation of the constitution. These prisoners must be released immediately,
as a sign of good faith.
"These terms are not negotiable. If you are unwilling to comply, we will
continue as before. The only result will be more death and destruction, and
more human suffering, for which you will be responsible.
"If you agree to these terms and begin to comply immediately, we are willing
to grant a universal amnesty to all members of this government, in the present
or past administrations. There will be no prosecutions or penalties,
financial or otherwise, imposed on past members of the government. If you do
not comply, we cannot guarantee such an offer will be extended in the future.
"Again, these terms are not negotiable. Aside from that, we will entertain
any questions you have."
"Please hold for a moment," Kelly said, looking around helplessly.
"Obviously we're dealing with a madman, or mad men," Jordan said. "We reject
the entire proposal. Anyone?"
He looked around, they all nodded.
"Tell him no to everything," Whittaker said, toggling the mute button.
"Whoever you are," Kelly said, "we reject all of your demands, as you
should have expected. We are willing to discuss a way to end this situation, if
you are willing to negotiate. We can not promise amnesty, as many serious
criminal and treasonous acts have already been committed. However, we are
inclined to be as lenient as the law allows, if you agree to end these actions
immediately and surrender."
"Mr. President," the caller said, "you are in no position to demand or offer us
anything other than an agreement. What you have seen thus far is nowhere near
what we are able to do. If you are unwilling to deal with us, you will have
to deal with the people. Already you are near the limits of you ability to
deal with the situation. If you will not reconsider, then we have nothing
further to discuss."
Kelly looked down at the paper Whittaker pushed in front of him.
"As I told you," he said, "there will be no negotiation. We do not negotiate
with terrorists and murderers. While we do not wish to further inconvenience
the people, we will if necessary place the country under martial law until
this situation is resolved. And I can assure you it will not end in a manner
favorable to you."
I wish he hadn't said that, Anthony thought. But he knew that was where it was
going. At least they would demand it. And when he tried to explain why it
couldn't be done, the president would fire him - would be told to fire him -
and the same demand would be made of his replacement. Which would probably be
Talley. Anthony hadn't gotten to him yet, but he had the other generals on
his list in his corner, and was fairly certain Talley would have no choice but
to either resign to avoid the ugly task or try to carry it out. And without
the men under him... Anthony had to get to him and see what could be done.
"In that case," the caller said, "there is indeed nothing more to discuss. I
will give you one more opportunity after this, if you wish it. Please record
these words: Neptune Omega Cobra. You may use them in the same manner to make
contact. We suggest that you not waste this last opportunity. That is all."
The connection was immediately broken. Anthony groaned inwardly. This was
going to be a long night.
"Well, there you have it," Jordan said.
"We have nothing," Simmons said. "What was the point?"
"For them or us?" Springfield asked. "We initiated the contact this time.
What were we expecting? The fact that they made no effort to contact us
suggests they believe they are dealing from a position of strength."
"Why shouldn't they?" asked Boling. "We nearly in a state of paralysis already.
I don't know if he was serious when he suggested they had a lot more than what
they've shown us, but if he was we're in a lot of trouble."
"Do you have nothing at all, Robert?" Lawson looked at Boling.
"We have a lot of everything," Boling replied. "We have over sixty incidents of
sabotage, mostly, a few murders - assassinations - counting Mason in DC, Richardson in Minneapolis,
two more probables - we just haven't confirmed homicide yet. You know the rest,
Chicago, Atlanta, Detroit, can't keep the lights on or water running, out of
food, bridges and overpasses on interstates and railroads being blown up - it
takes a minute to destroy what takes weeks or months to replace. If we don't
find the nerve center and kill it, we're screwed."
"And you're nowhere nearer to finding it?" asked Jordan.
"Out of all this," said Boling, "we've got a few dozen suspects whom we can't
find, we have dozens of witnesses who can tell us they saw something blow up
or fall down, nothing we don't already know."
"An army of ghosts?" Whittaker asked.
Boling did not respond, but everyone could see that was what he was thinking.
Fear permeated the atmosphere. Fear for careers, to be sure. Even now, that
was the first concern. But beneath that was the unsettling idea of something
beyond their ability to control.
"And for the kickoff of this game, Black Friday," said Jordan "we've got what?
One suspect who isn't talking, and probably won't. And if he does, what if he's
one of a hundred independent cells, none of which know anything except a voice
on a phone and cash exchanged in a parking lot?"
"You're positing something," said Lawson, "that can't exist. An organization
that tight, that well organized, that well financed, operating under our noses
for the years it would have taken to set this up. Is our years of
intelligence not yielding anything of use. We've got enough data, we've been
collecting it long enough, we should have something on every man, woman, dog
and cat in this country to know who's doing what and when and where they're
doing it. And it's doing us no good at all."
"That's part of the problem, Alice," Jordan said. "Even as we speak, our
analysts are taking that data apart and processing it in every possibly useful
manner, but it could take months, at a minimum and years at worst. We don't
have either one. The other part is this - as good as our data collection is,
it really only gets information on those who play the game. If a guy buys
explosives, or materials to make them, rents or even buys a truck to haul them,
stays at motels and buys gas along the way, he leaves a trail. Unless he doesn't
leave a trail."
"What are you talking about?" she asked.
"We can only see what is there to see," Jordan replied. "If it isn't there we'll
never see it. If our guy buys the stuff and pays cash, and pays for his
motels and gas the same way - or uses a prepaid debit card - and
otherwise stays out of sight, there is no trail. And using burner phones, and
like the cards changing them often, these people are invisible."
"I don't understand how we haven't gotten rid of both already," Lawson said.
"If we don't have those laws in development already, we should. And let this
be a lesson."
Anthony cringed inwardly as she spoke. It wasn't unexpected, but laid out so
nakedly it was unnerving. Probably everyone at the table thought the same,
but if their privacy was invaded they wanted people to go to prison. Somehow,
he thought, we have become so much like our enemies it's hard to tell the
difference. For all he know, Russia and China might be more liberal than his own
country before long. He knew what was coming, and braced for it.
"Mark," Springfield said, "if we have to go the martial law route, what will it
take to lock down the country the way we would have to?"
Explaining the facts was not an option. They didn't want facts if they didn't
fit their purpose. In the immediate situation, there was no choice. Go along,
or pretend to, long enough to get to Talley, find a way to defuse the situation.
"That's going to be a tall order," he said. "You should get with General
Talley immediately, if you intend to go that way it's going to take a lot of
planning. But there's one other thing. Our two main concerns,
internationally speaking. They're watching us closely, as they always do.
With China in particular, how to we want to act with them watching every move
for signs of trouble for them?"
If they thought they knew what meant, he said to himself, they were as wrong
about that as they were about everything else. He knew every one of them was
bought by someone, and in most cases the trail eventually led to China. They
would answer his perfectly reasonable question without realizing his intent.
"That's something we have to consider," said Barwick. "We need a China
strategy on this, and we haven't had one. I'll start by calling the
ambassador and see what he's picking up over there, and get with our intel
people to see what the trends are over the past three, four weeks. And the
idea of martial law, we should tread carefully there. The situation is bad now,
if it makes it worse..."
Anthony was thankful for the distraction. Perhaps it could be forestalled,
but he needed to get with Talley ASAP.
"Go ahead and talk to General Talley," Springfield said, "but just to be ready
in case we have to do it. Don't let any talk get out in the ranks. That could
cause real problems."
"I'll contact him immediately," Anthony said.