Type 88

Part 5 - The Cliff, Chapter 10

10

Six Days until the Deadline

    Melinda ate lunch in her office, a habit she picked up from her father. "Lunchtime gossip is toxic to career development," he often said. When she started her career and grasped her coworkers' level of incompetence, she finally understood what he had meant. Incompetence spread like a virus, and it was contagious in the cafeteria.

    Today she thought about Shiro as she opened the grab-and-go sandwich she bought in the lobby. In many ways, her career could be measured, brick-by-brick, by the lobbyists who funded her efforts. The organizations behind them were interested in new endeavors every few years: Jade Helm, the Freedom of Information Act, and so forth. When Melinda agreed to their funding on these, she delivered.

    Except once.

    There was one stain on her record, which destroyed the trust she had built with those who funded her.

    In 1989, the organizations behind Melinda's lobbyists began to fund classified research-and-development sectors in Japan's military. The funding exposed the lobbyists to transparent details about Japan's future, which the United States found valuable. This classified information would be available to Melinda in exchange for her cooperation with the United States' own research-and-development efforts, contracted through these organizations for decades to come. Everyone would profit.

A brash and manipulatable military general named Sang was rising through Japan's ranks. Coercing him to leak information was trivial for these organizations.

    All was going according to plan until Shiro stepped in. He added Japan to the list of the United States' major non-NATO allies in the eleventh hour. Melinda didn't have time to react. He had toyed with her. The agreement promised total transparency between Japan and the United States.

Transparency between allies is backed by an immeasurable level of secrets.

Sang went cold on Melinda's lobbyists. The lobbyists went cold on Melinda.

    Her star had a black spot.

    Her career continued to progress, but Melinda was determined to tie up this loose end. She was entitled to an unblemished record.

She picked the vegetables off her sandwich and took a bite. Crunch, crunch. She logged on to her computer and froze at the subject line of her first flagged e-mail: "Shiro Miyamoto going to prison. Japan under martial command (EOM)."

She shot up and jogged to McFadden's office. His secretary let her through, offering a passing glance from behind his monitor.

Melinda informed McFadden of the news—a terrible and dangerous blow for democracy in Japan. With the deadline looming, the country was ready to jump.

McFadden understood the situation's urgency, and scheduled a high-priority council with the president's cabinet. He would advise the commander in chief that it was prudent to consider preventative action.

McFadden grabbed his cell phone and his coat. He rushed to the door of his office, texting someone.

Melinda didn't move. She hadn't left her last contribution just yet. There was always another rung to climb, and this was no different. Time to pull the last Jenga piece. She knew where to poke to make it all come crashing down. "Sir, now is not the time for half measures," she said.

McFadden looked up from his phone and turned to face her. He seemed surprised that she was still in his office.

She explained in exhaustive and meticulous detail how General Sang's immense weapon stock was no longer protected—how the US response should not hold back the consideration of nuclear warheads.

McFadden tapped his phone on his mouth, thinking.

"We will do what is necessary to keep this country safe," he said. "Your suggestion is volatile, Ms. Shroud."

Melinda's career flashed before her eyes—graduating at the top of her class; becoming a powerful, ambitious, independent woman; and convincing her parents the military was the right next step, a challenge big enough to match her abilities. She was a decorated general and key advisor in the DOD by the time she was forty, keyed by her involvement in the American interest in Japan's natural resources.

Japan's surprise treaty with the United States meant the end of her involvement with Japan but not the end of her ambition.

Whatever means necessary to thrive.

Nothing stops this.

"Nonetheless, we'll meet with the president this afternoon," McFadden said, breaking Melinda's reverie. "I'll advise him to take chamber in the Kennedy vault for the next forty-eight hours while we flesh this out."

***

    The president was in Cambridge, Massachusetts, preparing for an address at MIT. Because of the urgency and sensitivity of his information, McFadden had boarded a plane that afternoon to meet with the president and his cabinet in person.

The team organized an impromptu assembly in a conference room at the Charles Hotel.

McFadden informed the room of the shift in the relationship between the United States and Japan. The United States would begin preliminary preparation of its nuclear sites should the need for a swift and authoritative response be required. The president would take chamber in a nuclear fallout shelter designed during the Cold War.

***

    Because the president's address was a public appearance, his location at the Charles Hotel had been planned weeks in advance. Secret service secured the hotel's perimeter for the day but took no cyber-security precautions, assuming the president would only use the venue for rest.

***

Seconds after McFadden's cabinet meeting, General Sang's team in Japan received urgent, sensitive intel over a secure and encrypted channel. Sang ordered the immediate readying of Japan's nuclear sites.

***

    Hours after Japan equipped its warheads, the United States received knowledge of an imminent strike from Japan.

Emergency airwaves informed the public to gather supplies and take shelter.

Cities aired defense sirens.

Rioting intensified. Looters kicked in front doors, fearing for their lives.

    Newscasts attempted to present a coherent story to the public. Each uncovered grain of information was a potential source of panic. Some networks reported that the voice had returned and hastened the deadline. Others blamed Russia, Muslims, terrorist organizations, and so on.

There was war and destruction on the horizon. That part was accurate.