The Blood of Patriots

Chapter 13: Rebellion

"George Martov, I presume."

"Yes, sir." He smiles and offers me his hand. "I think you've met my father, Marty. He's actually George, Senior."

He nods to Hannah. He's as young as, if not younger than Chaz. Despite his youthful appearance there's a clarity in his pale blue eyes, like he takes in everything he sees.

"Why am I here?" I ask.

"I wanted to compliment you on a job well done."

"I certainly don't see anything good in what just happened."

"You're the voice of the people," he says with a smile.

"No. I'm not. Are you aware that a bunch of Americans, on both sides, just got killed."

"Yes," he says. "It was inevitable. My observers tell me you limited the damage. That was well done."

"Who are you to judge?"

"I'm just a gamer from Springfield, Sam. May I call you Sam?" I nod. "Thanks. Since I was a child I've been studying all the great military thinkers, like von Clausewitz and Liddell-Hart." He points to the pile of bottle caps on Scott. "A whole division of the US Army is arriving at this airfield and is deploying to push us out of the city. Units began arriving on Friday. What does that tell you, Sam?"

"They knew something was going down. But hey, I'm not a military guy. I'm a crisis manager."

"So I've heard," he says with a big smile, "because we got a crisis, that's for sure."

"Why don't you just let the Army have the city? Defuse the situation. Shoot the hostage, so to speak. Why risk it?"

"The battle is here."

He leans over the map and taps the old courthouse area just west of the Arch.

"So, what do you want with me?" I ask.

"You're the voice of the people."

I cross my arms and plant my feet.

"No, I'm not," I say. "I just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time."

He steps away from the map and smiles again.

"Are you familiar with Clausewitz's theory on the Trinity of War?" he asks. He rattles off something in German. "The fascinating trinity?"

"Sounds like Greek to me," I say and laugh when he creases his brow. "My mother was Greek."

The attempt at humor goes right over his head.

"I visualize it as a three-legged stool," he says. I can feel a lecture coming on. "First is the primordial violence, hatred, and enmity, the anger of the people, which is to be regarded as a blind natural force. Then, there's the interplay of chance and probability, a game if you will, played at a level where the violence is directed and manipulated, where the creative spirit of an individual is free to roam. And finally, there's the element of subordination, as an instrument of policy, which establishes a structure and truly separates war as a controlled action from a riot, which is a random act, and makes the two sides subject to pure reason. It's fascinating stuff."

"I'm sorry. You lost me."

"That's okay." He just keeps on going. "The first of these three concerns the people. The second, the commander and his army, and the third is like the government. Clausewitz said that the passions that blaze up in war must already be inherent in the people. Probability and chance depends on the abilities of the particular character of the commander and the army. But the political aims are the business of government alone and dictate direction and outcome."