Chapter 61
August 22
“I’m out of here, Janey. I’ll be gone for the rest of the day,” General Roger Dolan, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said to his assistant.
“May I ask where you’ll be, sir?”
“I’m meeting the Thing with Two Heads.”
“The what with which?”
“Potus and Flotus, Janey. The president and first lady work so closely they complete each other’s sentences. I’ve been in the Army through five administrations, and I’ve never been as impressed as I am with those two. Dee Blake is a one-woman cabinet.”
“Enjoy your meeting, sir, and please give the president and first lady my best. Better yet, how about getting an autographed picture for me?”
“See you tomorrow, wise guy.”
“General Dolan is here for your meeting, Mr. President.”
“Have a seat, General,” I said. “How about a cup of coffee?”
“That would be great, Mr. President. I could use a jolt of caffeine.”
“What we’ll talk about today will be jolting enough. I believe you’ve met Dee before.”
“Yes, sir. Good to see you, Madam First Lady.”
“Just call me Dee, general. We have too much to talk about to get tripped up over titles.”
“Our small gathering here today will be the most important meeting any of us has ever attended,” President Blake said.
The general, spilling coffee down his chin, couldn’t mask his surprise.
“I see that I’ve got your attention, general. You may want your next cup of coffee to be decaf. So, here’s what’s up. We’re going to declare war shortly on a small country, actually not a country at all. Our goal will not be to negotiate a peace settlement. Our goal will be to eradicate the organization, to wipe it off the face of the earth, especially its leader. Any guess as to whom I’m talking about, general?”
“It can’t be ISIS or al Qaeda, because we’re already at war with those entities. My guess is that we’re going to attack your predecessor, Bartholomew Martin, the slimiest scumbag on earth, along with his merry band of criminals called the Reformers. Please pardon my language, Dee.”
“You guessed right, general. Tell me what you know about the group.”
“We’re intensely focused on Martin and his group, sir, because they are an obvious source of potential danger, and because you ordered us to concentrate on them. The size of the group is substantial, having grown to over 20,000 soldiers, if they can be described that way. They occupy a large area in Erbil, Kurdistan, about 10 square miles. Martin’s pile of money guarantees him the loyalty of his people. Our research tells us that the average soldier makes over $50,000 per year, about what an Army captain earns in the U.S. They’re well trained by former American soldiers. Their equipment includes 200 tanks. They have a small air group, not much to speak of, about 100 planes in total. They have virtually no navy, just a few gunboats.”
“Have you prepared any preliminary battle plans, as you do with most potential adversaries?”
“Yes, sir. We’ve been laying out contingency battle plans against them for months. We’ll begin with a crippling first strike including massive bombing raids and non-nuclear cruise missile attacks. Then we’ll follow up the air strikes with armor and infantry attacks, which should be accurate because our imbedded spies gave us detailed maps of their entire compound. The Kurds, who seem to hate Martin’s group more than they do the Iraqis, have been invaluable. We know where the ammunition is kept and where the troop barracks are located, as well as the heavy armor compound, and Martin’s headquarters. Mr. President, don’t worry about waging another political campaign against that bastard.”
Chapter 62
August 22
“Shepard Smith for Fox News ladies and gentlemen. I have some shocking news to take our minds off our continuing August snowfall. In the early morning hours at 3 a.m. Eastern Time, the American space station, Stargazer, exploded into millions of pieces. There has been persistent speculation that Stargazer had something to do with the strange weather we’ve been experiencing for the past month. Our first encounter with mid-summer freezing temperatures came shortly after Stargazer performed a test of a satellite solar panel array. Stargazer, which was owned by the American Rosetta Corporation, became operational just a couple of years ago. Its main job was to enhance our GPS capabilities with a group of 20 satellites that also belonged to the company. The satellites were also tasked to provide weather forecasting, and I’ll leave it to you to decide if they did a good job. A supply vehicle, the identity of which for some reason hasn’t been disclosed, was connected to Stargazer when it exploded. I regret to say that two American astronauts lost their lives, Lieutenants Frank Wilson of New York City and Jack Simmons of Stamford, Connecticut.
“Homeland Security Secretary on line one for you, Mr. President.”
“Rick, do we know who blew up Stargazer?”
“I’m overstating the obvious when I say that an explosion in space doesn’t leave fingerprints. We had no idea it was coming, and we’re confused because if it’s an enemy, such as Bartholomew Martin, who wants to attack us using weather satellites, blowing up the controlling space station doesn’t make sense.”
“But Rosetta’s planning to set up a new space station, yes? Have you spoken to the Rosetta people?”
“Rosetta is in final stages of planning its new space station, Moonwalker, which they had scheduled to replace Stargazer eventually. The destruction of Stargazer has pushed the schedule forward. They tell me that the new platform will be ready in less than two weeks, including a process of launching it into space in parts and then assembling it.”
“Rick, we all noticed that it has stopped snowing and the temperature is moderating. I understand that this pattern started in the early morning hours. Do you see any connection between the snow stopping and Stargazer blowing up?”
“Logic tells us that there is a connection, Mr. President, but we have no direct evidence, other than the timing of both events.”
“My gut tells me that more coincidences are on their way, Rick. There are always coincidences when Bartholomew Martin is involved. These events were not flukes but deliberate actions.”
Chapter 63
August 23
Nancy Mullin sat in the executive cafeteria at Rosetta Corporation waiting to have breakfast with her colleague and fiancé, Bill Cranston. Her eyes were focused on the TV on the wall. The anchorman was reporting the overnight explosion and destruction of Stargazer. Bill Cranston walked up to the table and sat.
“You heard the news, I’m sure,” Nancy said.
“Yes, but I have other news, something that will freak you out. As I was walking down the corridor on my way here, I came upon Phil Duncan.”
“He told you about the Stargazer explosion?”
“No. I heard about it on the radio. But all he said was ‘good morning, Bill,’ and smiled. That’s all he said—Good morning. Something here isn’t fitting together, Nance. If you’re in charge of operating a space station that suddenly blows up, wouldn’t you want to have a chat with one of the people who operated the damn thing until a few days ago? Wouldn’t you have something to say beyond ‘good morning’?”