WAR (17 page)

“Mr. President, won’t you consider going to Mount Weather or Cheyenne Mountain?”

“General, my place is here. I’ll lead our nation from the front. All we can do is hope General Wilson finds and is able to stop the Russians. You have my permission to use everything in our arsenal, with the exception of nuclear weapons, to stop the invasion of the capital.”

“Yes sir.” 

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The Peace March kicks off at 9:00AM Saturday morning. Yoko Ono and twenty Hollywood stars lead the parade. There are marching bands, drummers, and flute players. Someone looking at the parade would think the hippies from the late 1960’s found their way to LA in 2027. Colonel Grover and his team didn’t shave for two days; they mixed in with the parade singing and dancing. Everyone sang, “Give Peace a Chance.”

‘All we are saying is give peace a chance

All we are saying is give peace a chance

Everybody's talkin' 'bout ministers, sinisters

Banisters and canisters, bishops and fishops

Rabbis and pop eyes, bye bye, bye byes

All we are saying, is give peace a chance

All we are saying, is give peace a chance’

(Copyright John Lennon)

The sounds of their singing could be heard for blocks. President Bloomberg threw a legal pad across his office. “Can’t you make them shut up? I need to think. Their damn singing and drumming is driving me crazy. Find a way to stop them before I go nuts.”

“Sir, we can’t. They have a permit for the parade. You gave them permission to hold the parade. We can’t stop them now. The media love them. If you send in the police or DepLIES now, you’ll look bad in the media.”

“Do you think I care what the media thinks? I’m not running in an election. The media can hate me for all I care. I’m President of the LSA for life. I’m telling you, either find a way to stop them or you’re fired.”

“All we are saying, is give peace a chance.”

President Bloomberg looks around the Gray House trying to figure out where he can get away from the noise a few blocks away. He’s getting angrier by the minute when his private phone rings. “Hello?”

“Michael, you have to give me a minute.”

“Demetri what is it? I hope you’re calling with good news.”

“I’m not. We have an agent in the Pentagon. That agent has found out President Rand has sent a wet team after you.”

“What do you mean a wet team?”

“Michael, it’s an old Soviet KGB term meaning an assassination team. The rumor is its the same team that took out President Puten.”

“Wouldn’t that team be too old for field operations by now?”

“These types of people are very well trained. They are the best. If they’re after you, they will get you. They move like ghosts.”

“It doesn’t matter how much security you have. They got into Moscow and into the secret bunker Puten lived in. They took him out and escaped from the Motherland. If they could manage that, you don’t stand a chance in Gray House. Why don’t you come here?”

“Demetri, are you suggesting I move the LSA seat of government to Moscow? Do you think my people will accept me running away while they’re suffering?”

“Michael, your people already know you have electrical power while they don’t. How long do you think they are going to accept that you are not equal with them? You could move your staff here with you; we can set up a studio that looks like your office. No one would be able to tell you’re not there. I suggest you engage a body double to take your place in the Gray House so anyone who happens to pass the House, will think you’re still there. We can forward your calls and IP address so everyone will think you're sitting in the Gray House when you’ll be here with us.”

“Do you really think they can reach me? We’ve closed the area for ten blocks around the Gray House, we’ve even moved the people out of their homes around us. The police and the DepLIES are patrolling the area 24/7. We have overlapping searchlights illumining the entire area around the Gray House; there aren’t any shadows for anyone to use for sneaking in.”

“Michael, I can tell you, if they want you, you’re a dead man. There’s nothing you can do to protect yourself. These people are like mists that appear and disappear. They are the best the Americans have. I would bet they’re already in LA making plans or just waiting for the order to take you out.”

“Demetri, I have a hard time believing that President Rand would sign the order to take my life. I don’t think he has the balls to do it. I think I’m safe here.”

“Michael, don't be naïve; you would sign the order if you thought you could get away with taking out President Rand without getting caught. Believe me, with both Presidents Cruise and Brownstone in the White House, President Rand will sign the order. I strongly suggest you quickly and quietly leave without telling anyone. Bring your senior staff with you. Tell them when the armored limo arrives to take you to LAX.”

“How many people can I bring with me?”

“How many can your airplane carry?”

“One hundred.”

“If you decide not to come, then make arrangements to move your base of government to a more secure location than the Gray House. If the USA hit team can’t access the Gray House they can still send a stealth bomber over your home and bomb it to ashes. If they want you out of the way, and I think they do, you can count your remaining days on one hand.”

“I’ll get back to you. I have a difficult time believing they want to kill me.”

“I’ll leave you with this thought - that’s what Puten said the day before they got to him.”

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President Grameniko finishes his call with President Bloomberg. He reviews the reports and images of Russia’s destroyed strategic weapons; he asks the Russian Federation Minister of Defense, “Marshal, do we have anything useful left?”

“Mr. President, we have some of the older missiles in storage, but no silos to place them in, the second we start digging new silos the bastards at the CIA will see us and most likely attack them. If I were them, I’d wait until we lowered the missiles into the new silos, just as we finished installing them, I’d launch a KEW destroying them. We have some of our old Bear bombers left and some short range missiles. The Bears are all over 65 years old; they are propeller driven. The American air force will shoot them down before we get close to America.”

“You’re telling me that we’re out of the nuclear weapons business?”

“Mr. President, unless we can find a way to neutralize their KEW weapons they can easily destroy any weapons we deploy. We have nothing that can intercept their KEW weapons.”

“What about our nuclear-tipped ABM missiles?”

“Mr. President, the KEWs move so quickly our ABMs can’t hit them. By the time a nuclear warhead fuses and explodes, the KEW will have moved past the point of explosion.”

“Will a laser takedown a KEW?”

“Mr. President, the KEW is solid, there’s nothing for the laser to ignite or explode on the incoming KEWs. In an ordinary missile, a laser burns through the skin, burning out the guidance system or releasing the unspent fuel. In a KEW, none of these things can happen. If we had a particle beam or something like that, it might destroy a KEW.”

“Do we have one?”

“No, and most likely not for many years. We understand the theory behind a particle beam, but not how to build one.”

“Then we’re totally screwed.”

“Mr. President, I’d advise making peace with the Americans as quickly as possible. Who knows what other weapons they have up their sleeves? They took down our power grid; they destroyed all of our nuclear weapons. They just proved they are at least two generations ahead of us and the rest of the world.”

“Then there’s nothing we can do?”

“Make peace. Call back General Leninkov before they find him and figure out he’s going to try to invade their capital. I think if one of our troops crosses the line into D.C. they may take out Moscow.”

“They wouldn’t dare!”

“Wouldn’t they?”

“Mr. President wouldn’t you destroy Washington if they invaded Moscow?”

“I would. If we can’t attack them from the outside, it’s time for us to attack them from the inside. We’ll hit them in their soft belly. Marshal, thank you, I don’t think you need to attend my next meeting.”

“Sir, may I remind you, hitting them anywhere will give them another excuse to strike us again.”

“Marshal, then we have to give them more to worry about than us.” Grameniko smiles at the Marshal nodding his head.

The Marshal smiles responding, “I understand. The less I know about the next phase, is better for me.  If you need me; I’ll be at STAVKA.”

“Marshal, keep the military pressure on the USA, I’ll provide additional political pressure on them. Between the two, they will have to come to the table and back off their actions against the Motherland.”

The Marshal nods and leaves the President’s office.

Grameniko tells his aide to have Boris Yelsin, the Director of the FSB, to join him. Fifteen minutes later Boris arrives. The two men move into Grameniko’s small secure conference room behind his office. “Boris, we can’t strike back at President Rand with strategic weapons; they have destroyed most of ours; we need to strike at them from the inside. I’d like to hear your ideas.”

“Mr. President, my staff has drawn up a list of areas where they are vulnerable, a few of these are: we suggest you hold a new conference next to one of the destroyed silos, the topic of the announcement is the damage the USA has done to the environment by striking our nuclear missiles, they have spread nuclear material all over the ground and the air. The material will enter the ground water poisoning millions of Russians. The nuclear material tossed into the air will spread around the world. We suggest you warn the world’s countries that they need to monitor their air supply, if they notice a higher amount of radiation in their air, they should blame the USA. We can help the press by seeding some radioactive material around the world so that other countries put pressure on the USA.”

“I like this one, put it in place, what’s next?”

“In the same thought we should invite all of the world’s environmental groups to the press conference. These groups will put pressure on the USA.”

“Yes, make it so.”

“We can protest the USA placing weapons in space in breach of many treaties. If they used these weapons against us without us using a strategic weapon against them, which country is safe from the out of control Americans?”

“Another good plan, start it moving forward.”

“Sir, we propose starting a race war inside the USA.”

“Oh? This sounds very interesting how do you plan to make this happen?”

“There are black on white and white on black crimes every day in America. All we need is one where a white member of their various police forces shoots a young black. If none happens, we can set it up. We can arrange for a young black to push a white officer until he shoots him. We’ll use that to stir up always simmering race issues. We’ll send some violent protesters into the protests that we’ll arrange; we can arrange for protests in hundreds of cities across their country. We’ll support the protestors until they push the whites enough that they decide to push back. We’ll nudge their press and their race-baiters, who are on our payroll, to stoke the fires of hatred. We should be able to stir up enough hatred by supplying the protesters with weapons and drugs. Once their races explode they will have to focus internally, not externally. We can generate enough unrest that President Rand will have to stop his actions against the LSA and us because his own country is breaking apart. I have 350 specially trained agents who I can send to the USA within a day of you giving your approval.”

“Boris are these agents white?”

“No, they are black, they are agents we used in Africa, in Chechnya and in the USA before.”

“If they get caught there can be no bread crumbs leading back to us. If they find out we’re behind it, they will destroy us.”

Laughing, Boris replies. “Mr. President, I assure you nothing can be traced back to us. Most of my agents have already worked in the USA. Most have experience stirring up trouble in the USA, do you remember their Occupy Wall Street protests?”

“Of course.”

“Many of these agents were there assisting the protests and ensuring their media showed the images and told the story we wanted them to. My people are very good at what they do.”

“Where do you plan to arrange the flare up?”

“In one of their Midwest cities. They consider their Midwest states to be made up of their so called ‘silent majority’ we’ll hurt the silent majority which will speed up the war between their races.”

“I like this plan the best.”

“Sir, I suggest we use all of the plans that will keep the USA having to focus on many different crises at the same time. Their own people want the situation in Las Vegas brought to an end, the attack on Washington, D.C.,will start shortly, as will attacks in Texas and Florida. While they’re defending against our attacks, the world’s environmentalists will pound them, their press will take the side of the environmentalists, the world will pressure them for breaking the treaties covering no weapons in space, people all over the world will be scared of the radiation harming their children and their food supply. At the same time, their races will go to war. The race war will split the USA more than the split between the LSA and USA did.”