MacArthur's Freehold

Chapter 70

Chapter 70 -- BUVKWNMPNUE

General Anthony scanned the screens in front of his desk, noting the time. In a few minutes Margaret would appear in the door, and it would be time. The news was nonstop disasters now. The massacre of federal agents at a militia compound, more downed transmission towers, clusters of cell towers going down leaving critical areas without service. More bridges, both highways and railroads, were going down. He watched a scene of water flowing over a small embankment dam somewhere, he didn't yet know where and probably wouldn't. Events were moving too fast, and the peak of the crisis was about to come.

The gap in the dam was widening even as he watched. Evidently the final, complete failure was not far off. He could see a large lake behind it, and wondered it the people in danger downstream had been warned in time. On another screen more 'Breaking News' was being announced. He checked the time again, closed his briefcase just as Margaret appeared in the door.

MSgt Bowie drove him to the White House where, even though he was early he was the last to arrive. The meeting was in the usual room, and the faces were grim. He suspected that for the first time in their lives they were genuinely frightened. Political infighting, even the prospect of being caught in some or their misdeeds and penalized, never seemed to worry them much. Jordan came straight to the point.

"General, as I've just told Harry, we have no choice." he said. "We must impose martial law. We're all in agreement."

He waited for a response.

"No choice at all?" Anthony asked. He knew in their minds that there was not,

"Dammit, General," Jordan said "if we don't do something now it may be too late to do anything. The country is in a panic now, and if we don't give them some reassurance, we don't know what may happen. And it's not just the general population. JFK and LAX are jammed with people leaving the country. I'm talking about the ones with the money to just pack up and leave. The ones that make the country work. Dozens of the biggest ones, with private planes that can fly non-stop to Europe, have already left. The others are trying to get commercial flights out, tickets are being scalped for hundreds of thousands of dollars, just for a flight out of the country. People think it's the end."

"I see" Anthony said. And he did. It might be the end, but the end would be sooner and more decisive if their madness was allowed to continue.

"It will be primarily, almost entirely, an army responsibility," Jordan said. "So General, who is it, Harry, uh Talley is the army chief of staff. We're going to need your expertise here as well."

"What are the plans for government operations?" Anthony asked. He would need to get the president and the inner circle out of DC, somewhere he could get control of them.

"What do you mean" Jordan asked.

"With the country under martial law, you understand - particularly in light of the cause - unrest will almost certainly increase, at least for a time. People who aren't acting up now will begin to. Washington, and the White House in particular, will be the center of attention. It's not a good idea for us to be here, or for that matter for our location to be known."

"What do you think?" Jordan asked, looking around the table.

"Good point" said Springfield. "At the least there will be demonstrations and probably riots here. Where is the best place?"

"Camp David is too well known." said Jordan. "Secrecy is important."

Please say it, Anthony thought. Make it your idea.