The Day America Died Trilogy Page 48

  ***

  The President of the United States was to give the State of the Union Address to the country by radio in two hours. The problem was she didn’t know if she should give the feel good canned political speech, or the one from her heart that laid out the bad with the good.

  POTUS sat down with her four most trusted advisors, Jill Rayburn her Chief of Staff, Gen John Keene the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, LT Colonel Roger McNabb the Director of Homeland Security and Gen. Joe Phillips the Secretary of State.

  “Jill, what are you hearing from your contacts about canning my cabinet and replacing most of them?”

  “Our friends love the move, and our opposition hates it. There are rumblings about a power grab. As I told you yesterday, the ex-Director of Homeland Security wants your job.”

  Gen. Keene spoke up, “Madam President, the threat has been neutralized. The NSA had a plant in his meeting with the other traitors, and we caught them with their hands in the cookie jar. The asshole even tried to get one of the Joint Chiefs to use his command to forcibly throw you out of office and install him as interim president. The CIA took care of all of those treasonous bastards.”

  “Damn, a trial at this time will be a major distraction.”

  “Ma’am, thanks to the CIA there will be no trial. A most tragic accident happened as their plane went down on the way to St. Louis. I am deeply saddened to inform you that there were no survivors. The press will hear about their engine trouble. It’s tragic, simply tragic.”

  “John, really, you are just so transparent you are almost giddy. Oh, well, I guess it’s for the best.

  Jill, please bring the new Cabinet on board, not too quickly, take a week to get them all installed.”

  “Yes, ma’am. I will have a press conference, announce the tragedy and have you say a short prayer for the deceased and their families. Consider it done,” replied a seemingly somber Chief of Staff.

  Smiling, the President said, “Oh, Jill, well done.”

  “Yes ma’am, I have to be convincing for the 5th estate.”

  POTUS said, “God help me, I’m in the hands of madmen.”

  Gen. Keene, please update me on the situation in Florida and California.”

  “I hate to keep bearing bad news, but the Cubans have landed a large contingent of soldiers outside of Miami, and the Chinese have landed over 5,000 men, tanks and artillery north of San Francisco. Both intend to carve their piece of our pie before the Russians and Mexicans take the whole country.

  The Chinese are taking prisoners and starting work camps. They currently have almost no opposition. The good news from Florida is that our Naval and Marine forces have the Cubans pinned down in one area. Mop up to begin in the next 48 hours.

  I’m rather amazed that the Chinese have such poor intelligence sources. They apparently feel the Russians are winning. We’ll have them erased in a matter of weeks. Even without a major military push, the Ruskies have no resupply train. They are toast.

  However, unfortunately, as the Chinese have landed, we need to eliminate the Russians to take on their comrades. I simply cannot understand how anyone would begin such an enterprise without a plan to resupply.”

  “So they perceive me as weak and the USA as unable to defend itself?”

  “Yes, they think we are on our heels, and a couple of blows could knock us out?”

  “Our plan is to take out the Cuban command and control in Havana and most of their military with two nuclear devices. We are still developing a plan for the Chinese. I DO NOT encourage you to use Nukes on American soil, besides it would invite in kind retaliation.”

  “You have authority to take out the Cubans as per your plan. Can you wipe out their men on our soil?”

  “Yes, Ma’am. Without resupply, air or naval support, they are doomed.”

  “Do it. I want before and after pictures to show anyone else who decides to fuck with us. Would nuclear bombs work against the Mexican Cartels inside Mexico?”

  “No ma’am, the Cartels are spread out over too much territory.”

  POTUS replied, “But, you are sure about the Mexican government backing them with men, supplies, and weapons?”

  “Yes, we have definitive proof.”

  “We can’t fight four or five wars. I say we get their president on the line and nuke their largest two military installations while I talk with him. I will nuke his sorry ass if he doesn’t fall into line after the second detonation.”

  The Chief of Staff spoke up, “That would mean that five to six million civilians would perish.”

  The Director of DHS replied, “The bastards have killed thousands of Americans in Texas and Arizona. I don’t feel we should back off from eliminating any and all threats.

  The entire Mexican power structure is in Mexico City. With their military neutralized and the command vaporized, we only have drug lords to contend with, and we will begin to take out their boss men with drone strikes. If that doesn’t resolve the issue, we’ll eventually have to move into Mexico to take them out.”

  Shocked, the Chief of Staff said, “Laura, we can’t kill millions of innocent people. We’re the good guys.”

  “Jill, the good guys, will be overrun, and we won’t have a country if we don’t eliminate these threats. Gen. Keene, doesn’t the military have a code word for when a base is going to be overrun. Isn’t it something like Broken Arrow?”

  “No ma’am, a Broken Arrow is a lost nuclear weapon. We’re usually a little more definitive about being overrun. It’s, button up, the fuckers are comin’ through the wire, or words to that effect. If used, all available military assets must come to the base’s defense.”

  “Jill, we are months, if not days from that scenario and damned few assets to come to our rescue. John, I want a Button up scenario used now for all of these known attacks on our country. Can this be done without using nukes?”

  General Keene straightened in his chair and said, “Madam President, we have the mechanical resources to end the current incursions onto our country, but we are beginning to run short of human assets. Basically, we need grunts.”

  “I will prep the country to let our people know that we are under attack and we need volunteers to fight.”

  “Ma’am, don’t scare them too much. I’d mention the cartels and the rogue Russian Forces, but not the Chinese.”

  “General, I have promised to tell our people the truth. I have pledged not to sugarcoat the national situation. If, as you say, we need grunts, we need to let them know why.

  I have faith in our American will, and they need to know why we need grunts. Clear.”

  Every attendee felt pride in their POTUS and knew she was right. No more bull shit. Tell the truth, and get the job done!

  Smiling, General Keene said, “Madam President, in retrospect, I must agree. I guess we are just not, yet, used to an honest politician. No, that’s not exactly what I meant. I think I meant a true and honest leader of this once great nation. One that will, because of you, become great again.”

  “Thank you, General, but let’s not put the cart before the horse. You know as well as I do that we as a nation may still dissolve.”

  There was no response from anyone.

  ***

  Jacob and Sam worked on several City dump trucks fitted with snow blades. They got them up, and running in record time, but too late for the snow.

  Jacob and Sam also built several small generators from tiller engines and generators to light up the police station, city hall and the hospital.

  They were scrounging to find parts to get more powerful AC generators in operation.

  They also gave lessons on how to make the bicycle generators for the single household. Callie and Paul joined in on that effort.

  We changed our last names to help keep the town folk from figuring out who we were. Naturally, Callie was now Mrs. Paul Stone, and I became Mr. Zack Stone. Mike and Joan changed to Newman for their last names.

  Only Jacob, Sam, Callie and Paul mixed with the
citizens while we kept hidden away from anyone except Jake and a couple of his deputies, the Mayor and two of town council members. There was little chance of us being outed unless a member of our inner circle ratted us out.

  Every night we monitored the Short Wave Bands and other radio channels to glean any news from the rest of the world.

  Some of the reports were unnerving, to say the least. We heard that we were gaining ground against the Mexicans and Russians, but had new attacks by the Chinese in California and Cuba in Florida. The operators only had rumors from California and Florida, but it appeared our enemies were trying to carve out their own little piece of America when we were the most vulnerable.

  The rumors were that these were not the old official governments, but rather rogue military commanders who wanted to form their own countries at our expense.

  I turned the radio off and said, “Mike, I hope the military can quickly defeat these outside attacks while we citizens handle the homegrown enemy like Prescott.”

  “I agree, we can’t pull the military into these local fights and leave the country open to attacks.”

  I looked at my friends, gathered around the radio and said, “Let’s join in a prayer for our country. Jacob, could you lead us?”

  We all still got together to hear the President’s weekly address to the country and eat popcorn while watching a recorded movie after the President’s program. This was one of the few highlights of our week.

  ***

  President’s Office

  The President of the United States was nervous as she drank a cup of lemon infused tea, and prepared herself to address the nation from her desk.

  The microphone before her took on the look of a dagger she must plunge into the heart of her beloved America.

  Taking a deep breath to stabilize her pulse and heart rate, she was able to avoid the nearly overwhelming urge to run screaming back to her quarters.

  She thought if General George Washington bending the knee to God in the snow of the blood-stained trail to Valley Forge, and Presidents Abraham Lincoln, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman, and John F. Kennedy had appeared calm in their hour of terror, then so would she. Like President Truman often said, “The buck stops here.”

  These thoughts danced through her mind as she willed herself to attain the calm needed to deliver this desperate State of the Union Address to the people of the United States of America.

  Contemplating her speech brought her to near tears, but tears were not what the American people would hear from their President this night. Her tears would fall later, in her quarters…alone.

  “3 - 2 - 1 – go…”

  “My fellow Americans, our country has survived many seemingly impossible obstacles. They each threatened the fabric and existence of our Constitutional Republic, yet, we prevailed through the dogged tenacity of our people, and the Grace of Almighty God. My friends, we face another such crisis, that we must not fail to overcome it.

  The attacks of a year ago did, without question, bring this great nation to its knees. Like our nation’s father, General George Washington kneeling in the blood-soaked snow of Valley Forge, we must, as did he, arise with faith in God and the American spirit, continue forward to save and preserve our new nation. This, my fellow Americans, we will do, for we are the world’s bastion of freedom. We are the United States of America.

  Our task is great, though not as great of that of the Founding Fathers who pledged their “lives, fortunes, and their sacred honor” to build this nation. Like the phoenix of legend, we shall arise from the ashes and begin anew to rebuild this nation.

  As you all must, by now know, this task will be long and arduous. We have a three front battle on our soil, which we will, in time win. This is not idle political promise. This is a fact.

  Following the final defeat of our enemies, we face many years of struggle to recover from the unprovoked and cowardly attacks on our great nation. I intentionally did not say, “Back to the way it was in before the attacks on our homeland.” That will not happen in our lifetime.

  However, a reachable goal to return electricity to all in our nation, with the rebuilding of our grid infrastructure is an achievable goal. The return of electric power will pave the way for a national resurgence in all areas of human endeavor. It can be done, and it shall be done.

  Today, we face several major threats to our country. A rogue military force from the former Russian Confederation, consisting of up to ten divisions, similarly sized formations from the former Chinese military, Cuba and drug cartels, backed by the Mexican government, have attacked us and desire to carve out land from our country for their own needs. Cuban soldiers have landed in Miami. Our military is currently engaged in battles with these invaders, as we speak.

  We cannot be tied down in large land battles and lose thousands of our brave soldiers.

  With Congressional approval, I instructed our military to use thermonuclear devices to neutralize the Mexican and Cuban military on their own soil.

  Cuba no longer survives as a viable nation state. As the survival of our Republic is at stake, we can no longer be constrained by concerns over collateral damage. America must come first. We have; however, taken every possible step to reduce non-military collateral damage where possible. Still, like in our own country, the loss of life has been staggering.

  The Mexican government no longer supports the drug cartel’s attempted takeover of our southwestern states. They have withdrawn their formations from our soil. We convinced the Mexican government that it was in their best interest to cease supporting the drug cartels and to turn their military against these criminals. Unfortunately, a huge percentage of the Mexican military infrastructure and manpower had to be destroyed before the Government of Mexico understood that we would not tolerate an invasion of our country.

  Our military has contained both the Russian and Chinese invaders. As they no longer have a means of resupply, they will be driven back to the coast, and into the Pacific Ocean. There will be no quarter and no survivors. Our attack submarines and unimpaired surface components have decimated their fleets.

  Western Civilization has been greatly weakened by the cowardly nuclear EMP attacks of our enemies. Our own nation has also been grievously wounded, but those who would so mercilessly attack us no longer have functioning governments.

  In mere hours following the assault upon our Republic, our attack submarine service proved to be more than capable of eliminating the governments of Russia, China, North Korea, and Pakistan. To the brave Americans of our Submarine Service, we owe a debt, which can never be repaid.

  While our other Naval Forces were replacing damaged electronics to get back into the fight, the subs ruthlessly avenged the United States of America, and because of this, the invaders have had no resupply, their Naval Forces have been sunk, and their land forces are being slowly pushed into the sea.

  I truly wish I could tell you that all of our remaining resources are being utilized to rebuild the infrastructure necessary to return America to even a semblance of what we were before the heinous attack on our country and the world.

  The world is still a dangerous place filled with those who, for whatever foolish ideas, wish us harm. We have put them on notice that we will use every resource in our arsenal to protect our country.

  Our immediate and devastating response to attacks against us has resulted in retaliation of unparalleled force and violence upon those very attackers.

  The world now realizes that we will not go quietly into oblivion. We ARE the United States of America.

  Our Naval Fleets located around the world are now operational, save for those, which were in U.S. ports during the unprovoked attacks. Even so, our Navy remains the most powerful, and destructive military force on the planet.

  As President John F. Kennedy once said, Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country. These sacred words mean more now than at any other time in our brief history as a nation.

  W
e have the hardware to defeat those enemy forces now on American shores, but we are desperately in need of volunteers to join our military, so we may more swiftly drive our enemies from our shores. I know that many of you are barely able to feed your families and have no medical care. I promise that the families of every volunteer will be housed, fed and receive medical attention. They will be housed at our current military bases and be protected by our military. The adults will be offered jobs in factories and farms that support our war and rebuilding efforts.

  Without question, we will prevail, but without overwhelming force, the process will be slow.

  A prolonged conflict will tragically mean the loss of many more American lives as the enemies of freedom strike out savagely against defenseless populations of civilians. In this new reality, every single American life is desperately needed to rebuild and repopulate our nation.

  To promise a quick and glorious victory would only make me a liar. This, I am not. If I could promise care for your families, I would, but we have no way to provide large-scale assistance across the country. I can only call upon your patriotism and a reminder that the sooner we successfully prosecute this war on our soil, the sooner we shall begin to rebuild the supply lines.

  We observe the coming victory for freedom, symbolizing an end, as well as a beginning signifying renewal, as well as change. For I have sworn before you and Almighty God the same solemn oath our forebears prescribed nearly 250 years ago.

  Therefore, my fellow citizens, in your hands more than in mine, will rest the final success, or failure, of our nation.

  Since this country’s founding, each generation of Americans has been summoned to give the ultimate sacrifice to preserve our great and exceptional nation. The graves of young Americans who answered the call to service yet surround the globe. Their ultimate sacrifice was given to secure the continuation of the United States of America.

  Now the trumpet summons us again to a call to bear arms. This is a struggle against the common enemies of man: tyranny, poverty, disease, and war itself.