The major walked to the front of a caravan of trucks and Jeeps. He stepped onto the sideboard of a two-and-a-half-ton truck. Waving his weapon, like John Wayne rolling the wagons, he ordered the column to move out.
“You think we could stop off for a pizza?” Kronos said.
They snaked around the crater in the road. On the far side, a tiny buzz turned their heads back in the direction of Parks’s house. A small plane dove out of the sky.
They watched in disbelief as it crumpled into the simple wood-frame house. An instant later, the tiny aircraft exploded, shattering what was once Admiral Parks’s peaceful haven.
“A delayed explosion,” one of the troops coldly observed.
Hiccock turned to Admiral Parks and sheepishly grinned. “The government will recompense.”
“Or you will,” the pissed-off Admiral said, scowling.
CHAPTER FORTY
A “BREAKING NEWS” logo ripped into programming. A hastened-to-his-chair anchorman, Neil Peterson, was still adjusting his seat when the camera switched to him. The floor manager standing by camera one heard the cue from the director on his headset and threw his finger toward the anchor.
“CNN has learned that martial law has been declared by Federal authorities in Chavez and Eddy counties in New Mexico. We have had several reports of Army units charging into factories, stores, and private homes. One unconfirmed report speculates that any dwelling with a satellite dish is being targeted. Stories of troops fanning out throughout an office building, yelling orders, and forcing employees down to the floor are as yet unconfirmed. Although no official reason has been given by the White House, it is widely suspected that this action, which allegedly took place some fifteen minutes ago, is in response to the recent wave of terrorist attacks on American soil, but again that is purely speculation.” He paused, listening to something on his IFB earpiece. “I have just received word that we have some video of more military and police actions, again centering around technology. We’ll have that report from New Mexico coming up shortly. Until then, let’s go to Susan Hawks, for a legal perspective on all this. Susan …”
“Neil, the imposition of martial law is rare in U.S. history. Essentially, the declaration temporarily rescinds the Constitution and the Bill of Rights for the citizens and property of these two New Mexican counties. It places police or military authorities in power and affords them wide latitude to conduct search and seizures and set curfews.”
“Why? What is the reasoning behind this?”
“It’s anyone’s guess at the moment. Martial law is usually used in case of civil unrest, and as far as we know there is no civil unrest in these two counties.”
“So that leaves what, in your opinion?”
“Well, obviously the Federal government is looking for something and it must be a big and time-sensitive issue.”
“So let me get this straight. They are searching for something wholesale and don’t need any reason whatsoever in order to search and seize people, property, or assets.”
“Yes, that is correct.”
“Is this, in your opinion, a response in some way to the wave of recent terrorist actions?”
“I’d say that’s certainly a good prospect.”
“We are ready with the report now from Jasper Hines, who was in New Mexico working on a story for one of our weekend shows when all this came about. Jasper, I hear you’ve witnessed an actual event that occurred in the last hour.”
The screen switched to the reporter standing on an average American residential street. “Neil, we were here covering a story on a gathering of psychics, new-age followers, and parapsychologists when we began to notice a high level of military activity. We came across one truck full of soldiers and followed them here to this sleepy little bedroom community. What happened next was right out of an Orwell novel …”
A video appeared, shot through a news van window, showing a two-and-a-half-ton truck carrying four soldiers. The truck stopped on a residential street where the soldiers dismounted.
The reporter narrated the action. “They stopped, we stopped. Here a soldier is holding up a device, which Jim, our satellite technician, has identified as a field-strength meter. You can see him waving it around. He then apparently gets some sort of indication from the handheld device and now, here he is pointing in the direction of one of the houses on the street. At this point, we witnessed, incredulously I might add, U.S. military troops unceremoniously entering a civilian house.”
The scene cut back to the reporter now in front of the house. “Two minutes after that video we just showed you, the squad of soldiers was out of there and gone. We have here with us now the members of the Wisticki family who live in that house. Let’s start with you, Mrs. Wisticki, what were they looking for?”
The still-rattled woman looked to her husband and then addressed the microphone in the reporter’s hand. “Well, I was vacuuming when the soldiers just came through the door. They ordered me to stand against the wall.”
“What were your thoughts at that moment?”
“Why, I was scared to death. I didn’t know what was happening.”
“Mr. Wisticki, tell us what happened next.”
“The troops ran through to the living room and ordered me to get down on the floor from my reclining chair in front of the TV. More troops went upstairs to where my son was.”
“Timmy, isn’t it?”
“Yes, Timmy Wisticki, Sir,” the twelve-year-old answered the reporter.
“Tell us what happened when they came into your room.”
“They picked me up and pulled me out of my chair, sat me on my bed, and said, ‘Don’t move.’”
“What were you doing when they did that?”
“I was playing Ninja Force Four—”
“Is that a video game?”
“It’s an online computer game. I’m the national champion.”
“I strapped together three PCs and had a DSL line installed so Timmy could play faster than anyone else,” his father said.
“What happened then?
“A soldier sat at my computer and slid a disk in and did some kind of file search, then left.”
“And did anyone tell you what they were looking for?
“No.”
“No?”
“Nope.”
“A puzzling mystery. We’ll try to gather more information, but right now back to you in the studio, Neil.”
The scene switched back to the anchor introducing yet another hurried-to-the-microphone expert. “We are joined now by our own head of technical operations, Phil Shimerhorn. Phil, what do you make of this?”
“From what I just heard, the field strength meter must have been reading an intense concentration of electromagnetic energy coming from the Wisticki household. The three PCs that the father lashed together would create that kind of intense hyperactive signature.”
“So they are looking for some kind of technological device?”
“From this report, it would appear to be so.”
The anchor then swiveled to a video monitor with a feed from the remote studio where Susan was stationed. He started talking to the monitor as if she were really inside it. “Susan, with the account we just heard of this search, my question to you is, is this legal?”
“It’s covered under posse comitatus, which authorizes the military to operate as a de facto police force. I heard nothing in that account over which the Wistickis could sue or have recourse, not under martial law.”
“Thank you, Susan. So the question for now is, just what is going on in New Mexico? We’ll be right back after this word.”