“Take down your banners and bring them to the front. When all are gathered, we will run up on the tanks and drape the cloth over the driver’s ports so they cannot see. They will be blind, and we will be able to continually beat against the machines until they surrender, retreat, or are destroyed.”
Within seconds, the orders were relayed to the people holding the banners denouncing the Russian government, and they were passed forward. Men tore the pieces into sections and distributed them equally across the front line. Then the eyes trained on Joseph again. “We are ready,” spoke someone.
“You three,” he said, grabbing the men closest to him. “Go find some type of construction equipment — giant trucks and tractors. We need something to oppose these tanks.”
The three ran off.
“Good,” said Joseph. “Some may die today, but it will be the best day to die. It will be a day when the Russian people took back their government and proudly proclaimed themselves communist for all time.” There came a great cheer. “Do not hesitate, do not falter, my friends. It is in the first few minutes when we will know if our efforts are to be in vain.” He had brought the crowd to a boiling point, and a few began to inch their way toward the tanks. “Go now!” Joseph yelled. And he and the people rushed forward.
“Captain, sir!” yelled Boris’s tank driver, looking out the driver’s porthole. “They’re coming.”
Boris opened his hatch just as the first few men crossed the last ten meters and jumped on his tank. He was able to get back in and lock it before they made it to the top.
“They’ve covered my sight, sir. I can’t see.”
The crowd outside was screaming, yelling, and pounding on the side. Boris was confident that he was completely safe, yet the noise was very distracting. All tanks commanders reported in that each tank had been attacked, were blind, and waiting for instructions. None felt they were in any danger.
He gave the order to sit tight. Though his battalion was engulfed in human bodies, they could not be threatened. Like any well-trained military man, he would let the crowd rant and rave, and then when their hour was up, he’d move, and he’d be unbending. His battalion would perform with a purpose, blind or not. When the bodies began to crush under the tracks, the mob will disperse. There would be no hesitation after he gave the word to roll.
“You have thirty-five minutes,” he blurted over his speaker.
The crowd stopped. Then it struck again more fiercely.
“Where the fuck is Levi, Anthony?” Anthony found himself in the Oval Office again, being torn apart by the president. “Can’t you guys get any fucking thing straight? How did this disaster miss us?” The president was referring to the TV screens in his office. CNN was broadcasting the riot in Red Square. “It is clearly larger than we anticipated, right?”
“Yes, it is, sir. We’re looking for Levi now. He oversees that division, and I don’t know how he misjudged such a huge uprising. There should have been signs.”
“You’re fucking right there should have been signs! The oddest thing is that Ochinkin can’t figure out why the tanks showed up at all. He didn’t order them. And he doesn’t know who exactly oversees the battalion. Do you?”
Anthony could only shake his head.
After a slight rap on the door, Levi entered. He knew what was happening in Moscow, and he knew why he had been summoned.
“Levi, do you know about this?” the president said, motioning toward the TV.
“I do. It’s an effort to overthrow the Russian government. The tanks rolled in, we believe, on a signal from the Saratov.”
The president was sarcastic. “Why are the protesters there at the same time, Levi?”
“Sir, my reports indicate that they were having a pro-communist rally. It is an odd coincidence.”
“They’re there for the same reason?” It perplexed Anthony.
“Apparently. We don’t know why they started attacking each other. It seems to be one giant fuckup.”
“You’re telling me that it was a fucking mistake that a riot is being fought in Red Square?” The president was in disbelief. “I can tell Ochinkin that his enemies, for some strange reason, started attacking one another?” He started to laugh, then swiveled in his chair to look out the windows onto the lawn. “Jesus Christ, has the world gone nuts? I’m supposed to hold a press conference in ten minutes. What should I say?”
“Sir, if I could suggest—” started Levi.
“Oh, please do,” the president replied with a wave of his hand.
“Well, the reporters and news agencies smell that this is some type of overthrow. Since we really can’t see where this may end, don’t commit to either side. After all, they’re fighting against each other and not against Ochinkin.”
The president spun around. “You always land on your feet, don’t you, Carp? There’s always some angle for you.”
Levi sensed that he was mad and had little room for his opinion. So he pushed it even more. It meant that Levi had to get tough with him. “Listen, Mr. President. You have avoided making any hard, concrete choices throughout the whole affair. You were looking down the road to see if you could use the situation to your advantage. You were trying to meet campaign promises by reestablishing a threat somewhere in the world so it could give you an excuse to start up weapons plants and stimulate the economy. You were selfish and self-serving. That is the course you decided on with your inaction. Now is not the time to change.”
The president sat stunned, boiling.
Levi continued. “If you commit to Ochinkin now, and he remains in power, then it is the worse for us. In a single moment, you risk losing your threat, and we continue to drown in economic stagnation. The best scenario for us is if he is overthrown.”
“What if I don’t commit, and he stays in power?”
“Nothing is hurt,” replied Levi. “Maybe a small setback in your relationship. If anything, he won’t think you’re so approachable. That will be good.”
Anthony was watching the broadcast as the two explored the political ramifications of the situation. Even after working in the CIA all those years, it finally got to him. “Stand for something, Mr. President.”
“Excuse me?”
“Stand for something, you wishy-washy bastard. Do something for someone else rather than for your political gain. Why isn’t the secretary of state in this meeting? Oh, because we kept him in the dark, too… along with your cabinet.”
It was now Levi’s and the president’s turn to be startled. They stared at him in silence.
“I’ve stomached enough of this. I resign, effective instantly.” Anthony got up and opened the door. “By the way, you spineless fucker,” he said to the president. “I didn’t vote for you.” He left.
It was an awkward silence they stood in. Levi didn’t have a comment. It was the president who spoke first. “I guess this makes you director of the CIA.”
Levi was dumbfounded. He shouldn’t have been. It was the position he had been trying to achieve his whole life, and now he had it. “Thank you, sir.”
The president snapped his fingers to bring Levi back to the situation. “Come back, Levi. We still have to figure how to play this hand out.”
“Okay, Mr. President. Let’s take it one step at a time.”
Sukudo lounged with Booker in the captain’s quarters. What he was waiting for finally came on the satellite TV. CNN interrupted with a special report from the president on the Moscow crisis. They watched the scene in the White House pressroom as the president walked in and approached the podium. Levi stood directly behind him as he glanced across his speech before he made his statement.