MacArthur's Freehold

Chapter 71

Chapter 71 -- NCQTKXSEGX 

"Our man is sprung" Donald said "and he's headed our way."

As usual the group was watching the news and monitoring the patriot channels on the Internet. Two of the screens were showing the activity at the area where a large number of federal officers had been killed two days earlier by unknown persons who where presumed to be anti-government guerillas, as they were now beginning to be called. The emergency vehicles were gone, only some ordinary cars and vans parked along the road and inside the fenced enclosure, with people moving about unhurriedly.

"Any ETA?" asked Jessica. They had been informed of the extraction of the only man captured in the Black Friday operation. The news coverage they were watching was the result of his work. Pretending to give in to his interrogators, he had given them an almost true description of an unused property in rural Iowa. They had checked it out and prepared to raid it. His escape from a prisoner transport had caused them to launch the raid early - not that it would have mattered. A large number of personnel were killed, all on the side of the attackers.

"He leaves Alexandria in a couple hours" Donald said. "It's a long flight, over a thousand miles, so there will be a stop. They'll land just long enough for him to board an aircraft that will meet them there, and then bring him here."

"So we have another guest for a while" Jessica said. "Well, we've got plenty of room. Hopefully this doesn't last long enough for it to get crowded."

The obligatory smiles at he joke didn't mask the seriousness of the situation. There was now literally a war, and their enemy had long ago demonstrated its ruthlessness, and it had only increased in intensity. It would not tolerate many more debacles like the one had just seen.

"I would guess the countdown to martial law has begun" Donald said. "They're out of options, and even though it won't work it's the only thing they have. Word is a Secret Service advance team is at Carver's Point, as of they are about to relocate the president there. If they are, it may be to use it as a command post until this is over. It would make sense to get him out of DC, and of course the inner circle has to go with him."

"Since they're in control" said Jessica. "They would have to have the whole crew there. What is it about Carver's Point? There seems to to be something..."

"It's almost an island" said Donald. "A small peninsula with a bottleneck. If I didn't know better I'd think it was a trap. I wonder. Let's see what it looks like."

Bringing up a map on one of the screens, he used a laser pointer to indicate the location the compound.

"It's out here in where it widens again after you get through the narrow spot. It's easy to defend if you have possession of it."

"Just a matter of who has possession" Carter said.

"Right" said Donald. "They'll have the usual contingent of Secret Service, but they don't have whole force to call on if they need help. They're three thousand miles away."

"So" Jessica said "If you managed to take it, you could hold it. At least, if you are in there with the president and most of his staff as hostages, I wonder what they would do. Obviously they'd build up a force outside to prevent escape, but how do they rescue the president?"

"For a while they will try waiting it out" Donald said. "Maybe start negotiations, maybe not. They probably have a plan. The question is, what good would it do to have him. If they were thinking clearly and and quickly enough, they could have the president declared disabled under the twenty-fifth amendment and let the vice president take over. Of course, that would be messy and take a while to sort out. It would probably depend on what is happening inside, how much information they have to work with.