Chapter 15 xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Myles did sleep a little later than usual, but not much. He was eager to be back to work, or rather, he thought, back to the fight. With Sarah and Tanya he went down to the small dining room where Sir Walter normally had meals when at home. At his direction, Myles briefed them on the previous day's events, after which Sir Walter continued. "We'll be allowing the government people to collect the remainder of the casualties from the surrounding area" he said. Myles had briefly described the action, and the four helicopters shot down over or near the freehold territory. "After that, we will see what sort of persuasion will be needed to arrive at some sort of parley. With any luck, they will be willing to agree to some sort of temporary cessation of hostilities. We gave them a nasty surprise, and they will want time to see where they stand, find out more about us, and see what it will take to defeat us. If we can get them into that situation, it might be a year or more before they feel sufficiently confident to act against us again. And a lot of things can happen in a year." "Do you think they will agree to talk?" asked Sarah. "Probably not right away, but we have some other tools at our disposal. Before we call the casualty recovery operation in, we'll talk to Mr. Molina some more, and let him contemplate the situation for a few more hours. Then, we'll have him contact his masters and see what can be arranged." After a final cup of coffee, they adjourned. Sir Walter and Myles collected Jerry and Allen and a single squad of men, and went to see Molina. Although treated well by his captors, he wasn't in very good shape mentally, Myles observed. He was completely unprepared for having the world he had known, and no doubt believed he was entitled to, ripped away in a matter of minutes. Knowing his history - wealthy lawyer and college professor parents, living a life privileged pleasure as he grew up, prep school, elite law school, and a constant march up the road of bureaucratic success - he could easily become unhinged with a little more of this treatment. Which was why he was going to get some more of it. He also hadn't come prepared for a lengthy stay, and had now been wearing the same clothes for close to twenty-four hours. Before long he would probably agree to just about anything to get out of there and have a shower and clean clothes. The improvised prison was intended as guest quarters for visitors from other freeholds, and was not an unpleasant place. Two bedrooms with private baths, on either side of a large common room. Essentially an upscale hotel suite, at least in size. Still, a prison is a prison, and the objective is always to get out as quickly as possible. "We need your casualty recovery unit back" Sir Walter told him. "Request the same ones as yesterday. I believe a Colonel Williams was in charge, I want him today as well. The operation will take most of the day, so you have plenty of time to work on your next assignment. "I'll make it simple for you. Your operation at Penn Creek was a disaster, but a small one compared to this one. You may have been able to cover it up, and your cover story was probably adequate for people who don't pay attention. This one is going to be more difficult - you've got a lot of dead men all at once, a lot of wrecked equipment. And we are only one of many. Do I need to emphasize the word, many? And you have no way of knowing how many, or where they are, or how many men, how they are armed, or anything else you need to know to wage any kind of campaign. "Even if you try to protect all the important politicians and bureaucrats, we can still hit them as we did the first three. You simply don't have the manpower to do it. You can't put the country under martial law - you've stripped the army down to the point it couldn't cover even a small part of it. There are militias, some of they rather well organized and armed - having no connection to us, by the way - that are larger than the army, reserves and national guard included. And of course, if things get really bad, you'll have a lot of desertions. And where do you think the deserters will go? "What you've seen of us thus far is just a small part of our capability. There are some among us who would like to see you try, giving them an excuse to exterminate you without delay. Most of us, however, are interested in accomplishing our objective with as little death and destruction as possible. If your masters have any sense at all they will avail themselves of the opportunity to prevent further conflict. "Now we have some work to do. You have some time to think about that, and by all means feel free to talk to whomever you wish. I'll have your phone returned to you." He turned to Jerry and Allen. "I'll need you to go with us to collect the remainder of the casualties" he said. "Have his phone brought to him and have him make the call to get the recovery mission on the way." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ * ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Out by the landing zone they watched the incoming helicopters. After they had landed and the engines were shut down, the personnel disembarked. Sir Walter had instructed them to bring a small number of personnel, as he would provide most of the men for the search party. He didn't expect the search to take long - at first light they had flown a pair of small remotely piloted aircraft over the area, and had located all four of the wrecks. They were all at a relatively low altitude when they were shot down, so the debris fields were small. The unpleasant part would be recovering the bodies, or what was left of them. Colonel Williams left the group of men around the helicopters and walked over to them. "I brought ten men, and my XO," he said. "Excellent" said Sir Walter. "I'll have my men bring some vehicles, and we can begin. We have located all four of the sites. Do you have what you need to transport the remains?" He meant body bags, Myles knew, but was keeping the conversation as bland as possible. The recovery team from the previous night had brought them, but elected to leave the bodies in the tarps rather than experience the additional unpleasantness of transferring them. And most of those bodies had not been badly mangled. "We have what we need" the colonel replied. "Very well, bring your men, our transport will be here shortly. Given the location of the sites, I believe the most efficient and least unpleasant method will be to visit each site, locate the remains and send them back one one of the trucks before proceeding to the next one." Before Colonel Williams replied, the line of trucks began exiting the main gate. There were ten trucks, and with one or two of Williams' men in each, along with several Mike Charlie men, they departed. Williams and his deputy accompanied Sir Walter and Myles in the last vehicle. As the day progressed, they visited each crash site. It was as unpleasant as was to be expected, but was eventually done. Back at the landing zone, Colonel Williams and his men took their leave. Williams was the last to leave, and as he climbed into his helicopter he turned to look back. Sir Walter raised his right hand to his forehead in a military salute, and after a brief delay the colonel did the same. The door closed, and the engines started, the huge rotors turning, slowly at first, then faster until they were ready to lift off. First one, then the other rose into the afternoon sky and they turned away. Myles accompanied Sir Walter to his quarters for a late, and quick, lunch before returning to deal with Robert Molina. He appeared resigned to the situation, but was determined to pass his problems up the chain of command. Which suited Sir Walter perfectly. He wanted to go as high in the government as he could, with the Vice President. Involving the President would be unnecessary, as the Vice President would report to him and act on his direction, achieving the same result without appearing to have brought the government completely its knees. "What we want" said Sir Walter, "is a meeting with the Vice President. We will inform him of our conditions for a cessation of hostilities, and if necessary demonstrate the consequences of failing to meet them. Your first task is to contact him and inform him. How you do it is up to you, but your time is limited." "I don't tell the Vice President what to do" protested Molina. "All I can to is contact my immediate superior and tell him what you want." "I'm sure you've been talking to him already," said Sir Walter. "So call again, and tell him what we want. If he refuses, it's his problem, not yours." Molina made the call, and relayed the information. "He says there's no way that will happen" said Molina. "Tell him to go to his superior, then." said Sir Walter. "I'll be back in a minute." He went outside, used his black phone to make a brief call, then returned. Molina's room had a television, which was turned on one of the non-stop news channels. No doubt he wanted to know what, if anything, was being reported. "The answer is still no" said Molina. "That's from the Secretary of Internal Security himself". "Well, then" said Sir Walter. "That's a cabinet-level position, so he should be able to get something done quickly. He just needs a little persuasion. Get them back and tell them to watch his television. One or two of the news channels will do. They may want to get the Secretary to watch as well." Molina made the call, spoke for a few minutes, then asked "What is he supposed to see?" "In a few minutes there should be some news about Bentonville, Tennessee. Just watch." Bentonville was a mid-sized city, with a population of around a hundred twenty thousand. Thus it had a sizable federal building, three floors high and usually with over four hundred personnel, and quite a number of visitors on any business day. Today was Saturday, and all the offices were closed - the only people likely to be inside would be cleaning crews, and probably few if any of them. Sir Walter's call had been to a contact in Bentonville, who made another call which would initiate a report of a bomb in the building. After calling the police department, the caller would call several television stations in the area. It would soon be on the nationwide broadcasts. "It shouldn't take long to evacuate the building" said Sir Walter. "They'll have an hour from the time the police arrive - they won't be allowed time to search for the explosives." "What!" Molina looked at the television, at Sir Walter. "What are you doing?" "I warned you" said Sir Walter. "You have no idea what we can do. You're about to see a little of it." Before long the routine broadcast was interrupted, as yet another young blonde woman appeared to excitedly announce that they had breaking news. Myles often entertained the humorous image of a laboratory where the young women were grown from cell cultures into adults. He pictured them being taken out of a tank, hosed off, dried and dressed, and given a script. The lack of any originality or spontaneity had long since ceased to puzzle Myles. They were, he thought, like chickens pecking at the ground, occasionally finding something edible, other times discarding whatever they had picked up. At times, though, he thought the huge, colorful Brahma chickens at his estate displayed about as much intelligence as these people. He suddenly realized he had missed the opening of the segment, and turned his attention back to the television. "I'm in downtown Bentonville, Tennessee" she said. Behind me, across Aberdeen Boulevard, is the Frank Morris Federal Building. Just a few minutes ago, ANC 13 received a call from an unidentified individual, claiming that a bomb in the building will be going off shortly. As you can see, emergency personnel have already surrounded the building and are in the process of evacuating it. Fortunately, on a weekend there are few people in the building, so they should be able to get them out safely in a short time." Molina's phone rang. "Yes, I'm watching." he said. "It's what they said. They are going to blow up the building. He said an hour from when the police arrive." Then "I don't know. You know everything I know." The conversation ended abruptly. The news report continued through the usual process - various reporters, terrorism experts, and others appearing, sometimes in split screens with the generic blonde report, sometimes in three or four boxes on the screen, with textual information scrolling across the screen. As the hour passed, the reports indicated that the building had been completely evacuated. Hundreds of police and other emergency personnel and vehicles formed a cordon around the entire block. The hour was almost over when Sir Walter ordered Molina to get the Secretary back on the phone. Sir Walter looked his watch, and said to Molina "Is he watching?" Molina relayed the question, then replied "Yes." Sir Walter looked at his watch, then at the television. The image of the building occupied most of the screen, only the moving people and flashing lights on the vehicles indicated that it was not a still image. Then, suddenly, the building seemed to shake slightly, and then the first cracks appeared in the outside walls. Slowly at first, then more quickly yet still with seemingly unnatural slowness, the building began to collapse into its center. Dust clouds obscured the end of the process, and for several minutes did not clear sufficiently to see what had happened. Not as neat as a proper demolition job, but quite effective. The blonde reporter reappeared, emitting the usual commentary. Sir Walter displayed no further interest in the scene, but Molina seemed mesmerized. Eventually he looked at Sir Walter. "Who are you?" he asked. "What kind of people are you, to do this?" "That's a strange question for someone like you to ask" replied Sir Walter. "It's a weekend and we demolished an empty building. You deliberately kill innocent people. And you ask what kind of people we are. You have seen little, thus far, of what we can do to you. You couldn't defeat a group of guerillas with little more than rifles and improvised explosives, in over twenty years. And your forces are in much worse condition than they were then. As I told you before, you can't control this country with the entire armed forces and your police forces, even without having to contend with us. "We prefer surgical operations, with minimal casualties and avoiding danger to innocent people. If the militias and other mobs are unleashed on you, you and your kind will be hanging from street lights, and whatever happens after won't be what you planned. "Now I won't tell you again - have your masters arrange the meeting with the Vice President. Once they agree, we'll set up the conditions. You've seen how disciplined we are, he has nothing to fear from us. If you want to have an intermediate level official come here and make the arrangements, we will assure their safety. Do whatever you have to do, but get it done. We'll be back in an hour, and I want some results." Without further comment, signalling to Jerry and Alan to wait outside, he left, with Myles following. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ * ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ It was over an hour before they returned. They went to Sir Walter's office and made some calls to the major freehold leaders, updating them on the situation. Most of them had been watching the news and had seen the destruction of the federal building. After a cigar break, they returned to check on their prisoner. Molina was not happy, and it appeared his efforts had been less than successful. Which they had expected. Even one of the most important cabinet members could not set up such a meeting in a couple of hours, but keeping them under pressure was important. "He said he'll get back to me in a couple of hours" said Molina. "It should be any minute now." He was at the point of doing anything to please his captors and escape from the situation he was in, but of course he was completely helpless, and knew it. Myles suspected that if he ever returned to what he would consider a normal life, it would not be the same. All his confidence, his arrogant attitude, was gone. He might be able to pretend to his peers nothing had changed, but he would always be plagued by memories of his failure, his helplessness, his fear. Most likely, though, his career was over. He would be shunted into a meaningless post to await retirement, forgotten by those who had once sought his favor. Sir Walter was silent, looking across the room at nothing in particular. The silence was probably unbearable for Molina, but he remained silent. Molina's phone rang, and he answered. After a brief conversation, Molina asked him to hold. "The Secretary believes he can meet with you to discuss your wishes, but it may be a while before he can confirm it. Can you give us more time?" Sir Walter continued staring across the room for a while, probably seeming to Molina as if he was in a trance. Molina looked at Myles, who ignored him. Finally Sir Walter spoke. "It's late," he said. "Have him call you tomorrow with a definite answer." They left, and a guard locked the door. "Dinner in an hour?" he asked Myles. Myles nodded, and they headed to their quarters. An hour later Myles, Sarah and Tanya joined Sir Walter in his dining room. Talk was relatively sparse and inconsequential until the meal was finished, and Myles and Sir Walter fetched brandy for themselves, and wine for Sarah and Tanya, from the bar. More for their benefit than his own, Myles asked Sir Walter about his expectations. "I would guess" Sir Walter said, "that tomorrow Mr. Molina will tell us that the Secretary will meet with us. That is acceptable, as they aren't going to easily agree to a meeting with the Vice President, but they eventually will." "What do we expect from them?" asked Sarah. "It seems they can't be trusted - is there any kind of effective accommodation to be had?" "No." said Sir Walter. He paused, and Sarah gave Myles a questioning look. Sir Walter smiled. "No, Sarah, there is no truce to be had with them. There is only delay - which is good for us and bad for them. It will probably be a matter of weeks before a meeting with the Vice President can be arranged, even if they agree to it tomorrow. Partly because of the nature of the bureaucracy and in part because of their confusion. They will want to buy time, to find out more about us and to devise a strategy. So, perhaps in a month or two we'll have the big meeting. "The League will present an agreement, a peace accord of sorts, and there will be further negotiations and delays. Meanwhile, we continue not not only to increase our strength, but to reinforce our assets in other areas. We have considerable influence in some of the militias, and the ability to direct their actions to a considerable extent. There are also many small dissident organizations, many of them, ready to be turned against the enemy. Provided with information, money, and weapons even the smallest ones can do considerable damage. "They have lost, but don't know it yet. Corrupt governments are rarely reformed by political means, and those the size, complexity and power of this one can never be. Force is the only way it can be done, and that almost results in many casualties among noncombatants. And when governments are overthrown by force, the result is often, indeed usually, as bad as the one it replaced. Often worse. "So, we hope to, over a period of time, moderate its behavior, and buy time for our side. That is the strategy for the immediate future." "What happens after that?" asked Sarah. "Do we remain in an impasse, and for how long?" "That wouldn't be the worst thing, even if permanent" said Sir Walter, "but is ultimately unacceptable. And cannot be sustained indefinitely. But as I said, delay is bad for them and good for us, and the fact that they see it the other way is to our advantage. Are you familiar with the Atlantis legends?" "Certainly," replied Sarah. "There are a lot of them, a lot of books and films have been made, about a lost continent, somewhere in the Atlantic ocean. It is believed to have disappeared beneath the ocean thousands of years ago." "Indeed" said Sir Walter. "What I am going to tell you is known only by the Knights, me and the eight others. And of course our deputies, and eventual successors. In my case Myles - the others have theirs as well. It wasn't part of the original plan for the Freeholds - that was devised to protect the people from a tyrannical government, which we saw coming long ago. Atlantis is a different matter. "During the Second World War, a young Army officer, working on a project to assess the feasibility of undersea military installations. As part of the project, data on the Atlantic and Pacific oceans was compiled and analyzed. Particular attention was give to depth and terrain, as the idea was to see if building permanently manned installations there was possible. "He came across a report which described what appeared to be the outlines of a large continent, and evidence of artifical structures - roads, buildings, and the like. As the idea of underwater construction was not deemed feasible, at least not on any useful scale, the project was ended. The war was coming to an end by then, and is usually the case, many ongoing projects were abandoned. "The officer who made the discovery, however, was sufficiently intrigued by what he had found that he decided to research it further, after he left the Army. During chaos of the war, and the relatively low priority of the project, it wasn't difficult for him to abscond with the material he had found. It seemed to be old and obscure. "That young officer was my uncle. After the war he started a consulting firm which investigated various things, for substantial fees. Much of their work involved legal issues - criminal trials or civil lawsuits, in which expert witnesses were needed. His company's reputation came such that he became quite wealthy, allowing him to pursue his investigation of what he came to call Altantis, after the old legends. His company's ability to make connections with many people, who had access to many sources of information, was also helpful. "I spent quite a lot of time with him when I was younger, which is how I learned of it. He never married, and having no children he left me a considerable inheritance, which included his work on the Atlantis investigation. I was in the Army myself by then, and didn't do much with it until I retired. At that time I was able to spend more time studying the information he had left me, and was surprised at what I found." Sir Walter paused, then asked. "Anyone need a refill?" They replenished their drinks and he continued. "There's not much left to tell. My uncle's research indicated that the ocean depth in area he called Atlantis seemed to have decreased, according to several surveys over a number of years. Considerably. Probably the anomoly was either not noticed or no one had gotten around to investigating - mapping the oceans, or even parts of it, is expensive and takes a considerable amount of time. I decided to do my own investigation. Over the past thirty years or so, the ocean depth in that area has decreased by over four hundred feet. That might not seem like much, but it lies on the central plateau, where the water is only about four thousand feet deep. "So we have continued to monitor it, with assistance from the November Alpha freehold. They occupy a fleet of ships in the area, and not only keep an eye on it but to tell us if anyone else takes an interest in it. In the past few years, as recently as this year, there has been seismic activity in the area, causing some mild underwater earthquakes. Not enough to cause alarm, or any substantial coastal damage from the waves, but each time the average depth in the area desreases by a few feet. And these events are happening more often. "At some point, we suspect that the area, some two million square miles, will be above water. It could take many more years, but with the increased frequency it may be sooner. And of course, if there is at some point a sudden, violent conclusion to the process, it is likely that destruction to coastal areas around the ocean would be considerable. Any desire to explore the new land would likely be subordinated to dealing with the emergency. If that happens, we plan to exploit that delay and occupy the land and fortify it as quickly as possible. "Sir Roland, who heads the Westfall freehold, is the primary sponsor, financially speaking, of November Alpha, and there is frequent travel between the two. He is the project leader, one might say. "And that is our best hope - a new land. There is nowhere else to go in this world, unless we want to take from someone else. Claiming a new land and defending it is something we can do with a clear conscience." He looked at his watch. "We should probably get some sleep" he said. "Tomorrow should be interesting." So, after the customary round good night wishes, they headed to their quarters. "Do you think things will happen the way Sir Walter believes?" Sarah asked as they prepared for bed. "That's hard to say," said Myles. "He's a wise and intelligent man, not likely to believe in wild fantasies. I've looked at the same data he has, and so have some others. There are some interesting people among the Freeholders, including some scientists of considerable experience. It looks hopeful. But in the end, who knows?"