The Rangers Are Coming (2 page)

              The animals of the Park seemed to have a special connection to Arcadia.  They flocked to her, and loved her.  If it was possible for a wolverine to show affection, it could be seen when Arcadia was nearby.

              More and more often, Sampson, who doted on Arcadia, as if she was his own, drew her into the advanced meetings with high government officials.  He appreciated her understanding of the complexities involved in operating a country with 325 million people, and a world of seven billion who wanted them all dead, or at least not nearly as blessed and happy.  Sampson was forever trying to lure Arcadia to Washington, where her sharp mind could be used more extensively.  However, after a couple of years of trying and always given a polite “no”, he had to satisfy himself with visits and frequent phone calls. 

              One morning the phone rang and Jacob talked to the President.

“I understand, Walt.  Even when you give them everything you reasonably can, it’s never enough.”  He pushed the button to allow Arcadia to hear the President’s response.

              “We have a million Peace Corps workers in the field all over the world.  Many people are getting help and they appreciate it.  The problem is that every mullah in every mosque in the world is telling their congregations that the only reason the United States is providing this aid is so they can convert every one of their faithful to Christianity.  The problem with that is it’s working.  The number of Muslims becoming Christians is growing.  Some of the more radical Shia countries like Iran are executing the people they catch.  It’s a ghastly business.”

              “The problem is worse than that,” said Arcadia.  “Ever since the worst President in American history signed off on that disastrous deal that caved in to the Iranians, and dropped the economic sanctions and left their nuclear program intact with only their agreement to halt development on a nuclear weapon, for 15 years, the Iranians have become bloated with money and influence. They continue to destabilize the entire Middle-East and although we’ve wiped out ISIS, terrorist bombings continue, throughout the world.

              “And the time of that halt in their program is now just a couple of years away,” said Sampson.  My intelligence people say that their breakout time to develop nuclear weapons is weeks, not months.”

              Arcadia wasn’t satisfied, “Look it doesn’t have to be big bombs on top of rockets.  They probably already have the capacity to put together a half a dozen smaller bombs.  Any one of them could take out a whole city.”

              Sampson laughed, “I should have you running the CIA, Arcadia.  You think of every angle.”

              “Have they actually looked at the big picture,” asked Arcadia?

              “I guess I don’t understand what you mean,” said the President.  “Arcadia, honey, I’ve known you all your life and I’ve learned you have better instincts than half the people who work for me every day.  Is your super horse sense telling you something we’ve missed?” 

                 “I beg your pardon, Mr. President,” said Arcadia.  “Please remember that you’re from Branson, and until you became President, you were just Uncle Walt to me.  I didn’t mean to question the way you’re doing your job.  As far as I’m concerned you’ve done a wonderful job.”

              Jacob sat back in his chair and lit his pipe.  He knew his daughter kept up to date on current events from all over the world and frequently had insights that others missed.  He was interested in the analysis that Arcadia seemed about to deliver to the President.

              “Under your leadership,” began Arcadia, “after you restored a hollowed out military, and used it with overwhelming public support to lead the world in destroying the abomination that was ISIS, you began the bigger job of putting our country back on a paying basis.  You used the advantage of the advanced students coming out of the new school system and installing them in critical places within the government.  You now have the most efficient bureaucracy in the world.  From top to bottom, you have the best first team of administrators and a bench of support people that is deep and talented.”

              “Your emphasis has been on two main fronts.  First, you greatly expanded the Peace Corps and put workers into the field around the world to provide aid and assistance to third world countries.  Their expertise in farming, water systems, construction, and administration made a big difference for millions of people.  Most countries welcome the aid.”

              “Moreover, your economic policies have set our economy on fire.  Just a few years ago, the labor participation rate was 62 percent, the lowest ever.  Now it’s risen to over 90 percent. The U.S. is producing and exporting a wide range of new products and innovations throughout the world.  Our exports are ten times our imports and the money flowing in has gone a long way to reduce our Federal deficit. American products are so well built and turned out by automated systems they undercut the marketplace.  It gives the country a competitive advantage over countries, like China, who still pay their workers a fraction of what Americans receive.” 

The problem with providing all these services, products, and aid, is that a lot of the Americans who deliver them are motivated by their beliefs of service to God and seeking to do His will.  This makes them natural missionaries and they aren’t hesitant to share the “Good News” with people.  Wherever the work of Americans and American companies overlap with countries, with substantial Muslim populations, there are problems.  A tragically large number of Americans have died, for no other reason than the fact they existed as Christians.”

              “Whenever the incidents are more than isolated and American lives and property destroyed, you have reluctantly told the country receiving the aid, that the United States would simply withdraw its people and services.  Very often, the leadership of that country, particularly the poor third world nations sided with us to keep the vital aid flowing.  This has infuriated the Muslim leaders who keep up a steady rant at every mosque, telling their faithful that the hideous Christians are infidels who do not follow the truth faith of Allah, and should all be killed immediately.  And the worst and most dangerous of the bunch are the Iranians.

              There was a long pause on the phone.  Jacob spoke up, “Still with us Walt?”

              “Yes, unfortunately Arcadia is right.  We have a very sophisticated intelligence system that monitors cell phone, email, and radio chatter on a global basis.  We get regular reports for our agents all the time; the picture that’s emerging is a little scary.  We’ve increased our surveillance on all the people, and products that are coming into the country.  We intercept a lot of dangerous people and potentially deadly plots against the country, all the time.  No more St. Patrick’s massacres.  I even asked the CIA, FBI, and NSA to evaluate their success in stopping the threats and I can tell you I was a little disconcerted to learn the number is not 100 percent.”

              “So we are more vulnerable than the general public knows,” asked Jacob?

              “Correct,” said Sampson. “It does.  As I’ve watched the country evolve over the past few years, I’ve always hoped our clear policy of providing aid instead of arms would finally be making a difference.”

              “It’s making a difference all right,” said Arcadia, “we’re in greater danger now than ever.”

              Success breeds envy, and envy breeds resentment, and resentment was causing unrest and hatred among others.  The honeymoon of good will and global tranquility was ending.  As America continued to glow, the rest of the world was growing decidedly unlovely.

 
2
             

Iran
             

The meeting was held in Qom in Iran.  Actually there were only a half dozen men, very carefully chosen men, to meet in secret and review the final planning of a plan that was years in development. 

              The meeting began with a prayer from an Iranian mullah, “Mighty Allah, whose prophet on earth is Mohammad, and we declare is the true authority of Heaven.  May our jihad in your name be blessed and may the Great Satan of America and it’s heresy of your truth be stricken and all of the infidels of that unholy land perish in the fires of destruction you have decreed us to unleash.”

              An Iranian government official began the discussion.  “In just a few years, the United States has undergone a religious transformation and today the radical Christian, New Revolution Party controls the entire country.  They’ve accomplished a great deal in that period of time.  They’ve led the world in the development of new technology and improved products of all kinds.  Their universities are now the most effective seats of higher learning anywhere on the planet.  The Americans have capitalized on all their own energy sources in oil, natural gas, and coal.  They’re now independent of any need to import foreign oil.  What’s more, they’ve developed a space-based solar array that is beaming energy to the country and is rapidly replacing their need for any oil whatsoever.  They have streamlined their government, and their economy is now expanding at no less than 7 percent a year with 10 percent being the projection in the next five years.  They have virtually no debt, and full employment.  Fortunately, the rest of the world still needs our oil, so production has not declined, but the price of oil has fallen drastically and is affecting the economy of the principal oil exporting countries.”

              “We already know all that,” said the another official.  “On the surface these developments can be applauded.  The world’s economy has dramatically improved as a result.  However, along with the improved economy came a resurgence of religious zealotry on the part of the Americans.  This fanatical dedication to Jesus is being exported by the Americans to nations everywhere.  They publically say they’re only interested in improving the lives of needy people and countries, but they’re preaching their religion relentlessly.  I’m ashamed to admit that many Muslims, especially in countries who are benefitted the most from American aid, have turned their backs on the true faith, and embraced Christianity.”

              “My brothers,” said the Iranian mullah, “we cannot stand by and allow the Great Satan to threaten the true faith.  They must be destroyed!”

              “Which is the purpose of our meeting here today,” said the mullah. “Iran’s nuclear program has continued to progress secretly.  We must strike America before our supposedly dormant program brings the issue to light again.”

              “I’m pleased to announce we have developed several nuclear weapons. It’s taken us six years, but I am able to report that six such weapons have been successfully smuggled into the United States and are ready for detonation.”

              “What are their locations,” asked the Egyptian representative?”

              “New York City, Washington, D.C., the CIA headquarters in Langley, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Denver, Colorado,” said the Iranian.

              “Why Denver?” asked one of the others.

              “Because Denver is on the east side of the Rocky Mountains, and the radiation from the blast will be blown across the entire center of the country.”

              “Our estimates are that 50 million people will die immediately from the explosions and that an additional 100 million people will die from radiation exposure in the following two weeks to a month.”

              “Goodbye to the Great Satan,” cried the Iranian mullah, “Allah Akbar!”

              “Brothers,” said the Saudi, “A week from today, we will strike.”

Branson, Missouri

It was minutes before One O’clock in the afternoon in New York City on September 11.  A van pulled into a parking garage in midtown Manhattan.  At the same time, a van pulled up along the outer fence of the CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia.  Vans were also pulling into parking garages in Washington D.C., Chicago, Denver, and Los Angeles.

The drivers of each van took out cell phones and waited quietly as the moments moved toward the top of the hour.  As the phones reached the exact time, each of the drivers said in loud voices, “Allah, Akbar!”, and entered a number in their phones.  Simultaneously there were intensely bright lights that signaled the detonation of each of the six nuclear bombs across America.

In Washington, the Capitol, White House, all the monuments, the Supreme Court, the Smithsonian Museums, and every building within five miles of ground zero were instantly vaporized and the blast blew down every building for ten miles.

The headquarters of the CIA in Langley simply ceased to exist.

The Island of Manhattan became a heap of superheated rubble, as all the great buildings, museums, harbors, and the Statue of Liberty vanished in a few seconds.

In Chicago, the blast pushed the waters of Lake Michigan back hundreds of feet and when they returned, they were only washing over a steaming cauldron of devastation.

In Denver, the blast spread out from downtown, all the way to the Denver Tech Center.  The campuses of the University of Denver, and the complex of buildings that made up the University of Colorado campus in Denver, evaporated in an explosion of dust, heat, and burning fire.

In Los Angeles, the crowded freeways, the sprawling downtown, and the coastal communities were nothing more than huge piles of rubble.

Millions of Americans were killed instantly.  The Vice-President and all his staff, the legislators in both houses of Congress never knew what hit them.  The entire compliment of personnel in the CIA headquarters was blown into tiny pieces.  More millions died in Chicago, Denver, and Los Angeles.

The men and women in the orbiting space station looked down and saw six enormous mushroom clouds spreading out over the country from the Atlantic to the Pacific Oceans.