The Dragons of Men (The Sons of Liberty Book 2) (12 page)

“Which is what?” Jacob asked.

“An indestructible symbol that could even turn the hearts of those within our own borders,” Lukas replied. “After all, most of those who now bow to the great Imperium star would have saluted the red, white, and blue one month ago. I say we let Texas do the job of helping every town, city, and base forget the American dream for the time being. Let them fly the Texan flag for now. Let them identify and become part of a new nation. That way, when we crush Texas, every town, city, and base that had been Texan will lower their worthless flag and have nothing left to fly but that which we give them. That is the victory I desire most.” Lukas paused, leaning forward over the map as he did so. “Well, one of the victories I desire most.”

“I see,” Jacob said, pausing before raising his eyebrows and continuing. “You are right. I see we all made the right decision by giving you the Sword of Lords. But that leaves us with one opponent.”

Lukas nodded with an eager grin. “The Patriarchs.”

General Kane moved the three dimensional map. What had been the coasts of Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana were now shrouded underneath a digital canopy, leaving only a blank gray slate and the outline of the coast. They had known the Patriarchs were due to invade the port cities of the Gulf States shortly after the State of the Union address, but as soon as the Battle of DC had begun, a large number of Graystone devices had been activated in the region, blanketing the area from central Mississippi to Puerto Rico in the fog of war.

“What can you tell us about Sigmund’s initial plans for the occupation of America?”

“Not much,” Jacob replied, pausing to take a sip of tea. “I had little knowledge about Sigmund’s plans outside of overthrowing you and America.”

“Do you think he suspected you?” Lukas asked.

“If he had, I’d likely be dead right now. I think Sigmund trusted so very few other than himself.”

“Do you have any guess as to where he might be?” Lukas asked.

“Most any fool could separate the rumors from the facts and make new hypothetical conjectures. However, I believe someone who knows Sigmund better than any one of us might have a better idea of where to look. For that, I would like to introduce Intelligence Specialist Jamie Rowe.”

Jacob motioned to the attractive young woman who had entered with the others before. She had dark red hair that was pulled tight into a bun, three silver pins sticking through the thick of it. Deep brown eyes looked back at Lukas with a warm smile in between flushed cheeks. She was gorgeous—nearly as stunning as Maria—and Lukas had to force his eyes away quickly, knowing that beautiful of a face could hold his gaze if he wasn’t careful.

“She was one of the few Patriarch Agents I picked up in the week between your last meeting with Sigmund and the battle of DC,” Jacob said. “She’d spent her career working in Britain’s Secret Intelligence Service by the day while she reported anything of use to Sigmund and me by night. When Sigmund fell off the deep end, she was one of the few I knew personally that would be more sympathetic to our cause. Like you, she was for unity among our peers and hated infighting. She secured all the data and information she could regarding Sigmund and assisted me with the defense of DC. Sigmund had grown quite fond of Miss Rowe, keeping her close whenever he could. I assure you that if anyone of us might be able to lead the Imperium to Sigmund’s whereabouts, it will be her.”

“The Imperium thanks you for your service,” Lukas said cordially, nodding his head to Jamie.

“It’s been my honor,” Jamie replied.

“You don’t sound like you’re from England,” Lukas said.

“I actually grew up in America, Mr. President,” Jamie replied before her cheeks grew a dark red crimson that nearly matched her hair. “Sorry, I mean, my Sovereign.”

“It’s quite alright,” Lukas said with a smile. “Old habits die hard for all of us.”

“That they do,” Jamie replied with an uncertain laugh.

Lukas smiled, though one look at Maria’s narrowing eyes caused him to quickly move on. “So tell me, what exactly did you do for Sigmund? Why was he so fond of you, as Jacob implied?”

“Does any of us have any idea why Sigmund does what he does?” she replied with a coy smile. “I assisted both him and Jacob by monitoring and redirecting any intelligence about the Patriarchs that might have led back to them. Once your journal was released, he had me working around the clock to filter through any information that might have led back to him.”

“I see,” Lukas replied. “Now I don’t know if this is too personal of a question, but were you two ever—”

“Lukas!” Maria cut in heatedly. “That’s quite unnecessary.”

“It’s fine, and no we were not,” Jamie said quickly. “He didn’t see me that way, something for which I am quite thankful. I pity the woman he does fancy, though I think a man like him is probably incapable of loving anyone but himself. He always said I was the daughter he never had, though that never made any sense to me.”

“Trying to understand Sigmund would be like trying to gaze into a pitch-black room and describe it in detail,” Lukas replied. “He is and always will be a bottomless void. Nevertheless, I only asked because the greater the ties anyone had to him, the better our chances of knowing where he has hidden himself. Speaking of which, did you ever discover where exactly he had taken up residence?”

“I have my theories,” Jamie replied. “He always spoke about a place he called the Promised Land, but he never said exactly where that was. I thought he might have meant Israel, but I never had anything to prove that theory. I was always curious about it, but the one thing this line of work taught me well was that curious eyes and ears could easily get me killed. It wasn’t until Jacob told me what Sigmund had done to you and how he was losing his sanity that I decided the time had come to part ways with the old man. Sadly, I had never been able to discover exactly where his Promised Land was located.”

“But you said you had your theories,” Lukas replied. “Where do you think he might be?”

“My opinion, it’s somewhere tropical and close to the United States; in all probability, Haiti or Cuba.”

“What makes you say that?”

“Because I know what to look for to uncover the information others don’t want you to know,” she replied. “For example, I remember him once referring to his home on the island, though it was in passing. He also had a deeper than usual tan on the occasions he showed up after being tucked away at his retreat. Sigmund also made it no secret to me that he intended to have the United States as his crown jewel when the Patriarchs completed the Purge. If someone is watching a trophy, waiting for the time to take it, I don’t think they’d be watching from too far away.”

“An occasional tan and the one time mention of an island is hardly enough to establish his location,” Maria said dryly.

“Yes, but as I said, he
hungered
for
America. I know him and I know he sees this land as a prize that was stolen from him. Now whoever is in the Gulf of Mexico is taking careful precautions to hide their actions. The Graystone devices are not only blanketing the Gulf States. They’re also concealing the Caribbean islands. With the amount of energy and resources it takes to deploy one of those machines, I couldn’t imagine moving one to a country like Haiti for no reason. With the information I have at my disposal, I can only come to the conclusion that his Promised Land was off the coast of America in the Caribbean Sea. I know that’s speculation, but—”

“You’re here for your speculation,” Lukas said quickly. “In fact, I would very much like it if you continued to speculate and report to me daily. The Patriarchs are a den of vipers, ready to leave their hole and strike those who mean to crush them. Despite the blow we struck when we seized their eastern front, they are powerful and united behind Sigmund. We cannot hope to win this war quickly by focusing our resources on the smaller serpents such as Texas and those few pockets of rebellion.”

“And how do you propose we do that?” Jacob asked.

Lukas leaned forward, looking at the blank region on the map before looking up at the others. “We seek Sigmund out and kill the king cobra himself.”

“With all due respect, my Sovereign,” General Kane began, “I believe we should fortify your borders for the next few months, resupply and expand your military, and wait while the Patriarchs and Texas wear themselves down.”

“General Kane is right,” Rupert said. “As the czar in charge of the Reconstruction Initiative, I don’t think what you wish is possible. Despite our rapidly growing resources, I am not sure we can begin the reconstruction that you wish, defend our borders, and fight an offensive war all at the same time. That’s not to mention your previous order for us to continue hunting down those who escaped DC.”

“What about the FODs?” Lukas asked. “Use them to locate all who escaped.”

“Sir, the FODs represented an America that had fallen,” General Kane said. “They became open target practice for those who wanted to express their frustration. Not to mention every man who wanted his own high-tech drone downed one of those and began ripping its guts out.”

“So you’re telling me the tens of thousands of drones that observed the east coast have been destroyed?”

“Well, no,” General Kane said. “We have some, maybe a thousand. Maybe less.”

“So recall every FOD you have contact with,” Lukas said. “Even a few hundred will be able to deliver messages to the towns east of the Tennessee valley. In the meantime, part of your military restructuring will include the creation of a force designed specifically to hunt down and kill Sigmund. That I insist.”

“Very well,” General Kane replied. “I am sure we can manage that. Now what messages would you have the FODs deliver?”

“Those who fled DC are scared and running for their lives,” Lukas said. “They will be looking for shelter. At the same time, those smaller towns caught between our borders, Texas, and the Patriarchs to the south will be looking for a way to fall into our good graces. I say we use that to our advantage. Have the FODs travel from one town to another, requesting they detain any military personnel or individuals fleeing westward. We can then sift through those they capture and reward them for every fugitive they deliver. Have the message also request their cooperation in reporting large caches of food and weapons. There are likely ten thousand rednecks who have spent the better part of their life stocking up for a collapse, but a few of those sites might have been resupply depots for these alleged Sons of Liberty. We have food, synthetic drugs, and real security. With a few drones and a few teams of men, we can convince a thousand towns to hunt our enemies down for us.”

“You think someone who finds a warehouse full of weapons will turn it over willingly?”

“With the right leverage, yes,” Lukas replied. “For those who uncover larger collections that lead to the capture of rebel soldiers—say anything over fifty weapons—promise them drugs and free housing on the East Coast. We have more than enough vacant homes to pass around. We can send in small teams to extract those who report it, confiscate the weapons, and ambush whoever stashed it when they arrive.”

“That’s all fine, but what about the military bases nearby?” General Kane asked. “They might not be as sympathetic as a struggling town. Some might wish to join you, though I have my suspicions that most will choose to stand against you. There is no way of telling who might turn on our men or drones as soon as we’re within firing distance.”

“We take no chances,” Lukas said coldly, looking down at the map. “We destroy them, every last base within our reach. No military bases nearby means no military threat. We can move in fast and bomb them with the retrofitted MIGs we have left or use the slow bombers Jacob used to take out Fort Bragg. After that, we send in small strike teams a few days later to make sure all base personnel has been dispatched.”

“We’ll likely lose most of our bombers and fighters,” General Kane replied. “We’re bound to face some anti-air at a few of the instillations.”

“A price I’m willing to pay,” Lukas said. “Weapons we can afford to lose if it means securing our borders.”

“Which I must admit will be an easier task if we quickly pacify all resistance,” the General replied. “In fact, a border guard was part of the restructuring I had planned. I think you’ll find your ideas line up very well with mine. We can save our fleet of thousands of Yellow Jackets for the war with the Patriarchs while we train soldiers from the men who have come to the Imperium. By the time those men are ready, we could have begun to replenish whatever we’ve lost.”

“That may work,” Rupert said. “In fact, I’m sure most towns will be thrilled at the possibility of assistance. Regardless, we still don’t have the resources to do everything else you’ve asked for. We’re quite limited as to what we can do right now. You’re asking for strike teams to hit the military bases and other squads to ambush any fleeing Sons of Liberty. I don’t think we have the manpower.”

“So leave only three or four men to watch over discovered supplies,” Lukas said.

“But sir, there could be a thousand sites to watch over within a few weeks,” General Kane argued.

“So deploy three to four thousand men,” Lukas grumbled. “My friends, if we are to become limitless—an endless kingdom for a broken world to flock to—then we must think without limits. With every day we wake, we must focus on remaking this world so that it does not remake us first. Yes, we must reconstruct this shattered land. Yes, we must defend the borders we have established while expanding those borders daily. But above all else, we must seek out our greatest enemies and hunt them down to the ends of the earth.”