Chapter 21
Posted: July 24, 2007 - 01:37:06 am


Mike sat well down the highly polished table from the President trying to figure out some way to keep from exploding in response to what the man was saying. For the past ten minutes, the President had been ranting and raving about the violation of due process that had occurred when individuals, under the guidance of Homeland Security, had searched houses and removed evidence without first getting search warrants. He ended his rant with the question, "What do you have to say for yourself?"

Mike said, "You don't need a search warrant to search an active crime scene."

"You need a search warrant to enter a home," the President said hitting the table with his fist.

"You don't when some asshole was shooting at police from the window of the house," Mike replied.

"You can't say for certain which of those houses those shots were coming from. You can't go in and search every house. I am a lawyer and I know that you need a warrant to search a house," the President said.

Mike was tempted to tell him that he must have been a pretty piss poor one if he really believed that. Instead, he asked, "Contract law?"

"Yes."

"This is criminal law," Mike said. He sat back in his chair and said, "That entire neighborhood was a war zone in which people were firing upon the police. From what we observed, bullets were originating from every house. That makes each house a crime scene. The police have a right to enter a crime scene. They have a right to pick up any evidence left behind."

"You idiot! They searched every house in the neighborhood," the President shouted. His face had turned red.

"It is called probable cause," Mike said. He had spent three hours with the Attorney General making sure of that point of law. They hadn't been able to find the attorney from Denver.

"This is a nation in which we protect civil liberties. You violated the civil rights of everyone in that neighborhood," the President said angrily jabbing the table to punctuate each syllable.

Mike leaned forward in his seat and said, "Then you should be yelling at the Attorney General."

"Why?"

"Because he drafted the policy for the searches," Mike answered.

"I'll be getting to him next," the President said.

Hoping to get the meeting back on topic, Mike said, "Just in case you're interested, we recovered the names of three thousand terrorists as a result of that search. We expect to find more names before we finish examining all of the computers that were found. On the basis of what we've seen so far, we've..."

"You can't use that evidence against them," the President said interrupting Mike.

"I respectfully disagree with you on that," Mike said at the end of his patience. He opened his briefcase and stuffed his papers into it.

"Not while I'm President!"

Mike opened his appointment book and looked at the calendar. It was early November. Smiling, he said, "I'm willing to wait for the next President to be sworn into office. That should be in a couple of months."

"Get out of here!"

"Certainly, Mr. President," Mike said snapping his briefcase shut.

Bob's lawn looked like he had been raking leaves all day. There wasn't a leaf left in the front yard, but Bob was out there with the rake making the motions as if the lawn was covered in leaves. Mike got out of his car and watched Bob for a minute. Shaking his head, he walked over and said, "I think you got all of the leaves a long time ago."

Feeling a little ridiculous, Bob said, "It's all that I could think of doing."

"You're that bored?" Mike asked with a small laugh.

"No. There's been a black car circling the block every ten minutes. They've been doing that for almost an hour. I thought you should know," Bob said looking around as if expecting someone to jump out at them any moment.

"Do you mean that black car coming this way right now?" Mike asked slipping his hand under his jacket.

"That's the car," Bob said.

"I'll be right back," Mike said putting a little distance between him and Bob. He'd hate for something to happen to Bob because someone was after him. When Bob moved to put a little more distance between them, Mike figured that Bob had picked up on the general idea. He drifted towards his car so that he would have some protection if things got bad.

The black car pulled into Mike's driveway and came to a stop. Mike released the catch on his holster without taking his eyes off the car. The dark windows didn't allow him to see who was in the back, but the pair of men seated in the front looked threatening enough. Seeing Mike's defensive stance, the passenger reached over the dash board and held up something flat. It opened and Mike could see the badge. He eased his hand out from under his jacket and gestured for them to get out.

The man behind the wheel of the car got out and held up his badge. In a voice that carried as far as Bob, he said, "We're Secret Service."

Mike shook his head in disgust and said, "Don't tell me that asshole sent you to fire me."

The backdoor of the car opened and laughter emerged from it. Anthony Archer stepped out of the car and stopped laughing long enough to say, "Is that any way to talk about my predecessor?"

From next door, Bob shouted, "That's Anthony Archer! He's taking aim on terrorism!"

Mike grinned and asked, "Aren't you getting ahead of yourself?"

"You're right. We must do these things in the proper order. Let me say hello to the rather excited fellow over there. After I'm done with that, we need to talk," Anthony Archer said.

"While you are doing that, allow me to tell my housekeeper that we have company," Mike said.

When Anthony nodded his head, Mike went over to the door and opened it. Sticking his head in, he saw that Kim Sung was busy taking down the massage table. Although it was unnecessary, he said, "We have company."

"Give me five minutes," Kim said scurrying around frantically.

Tony sat down in the rocking chair with a contented sigh. After setting the chair in motion, he said, "One of the great tragedies of modern times has been the loss of rocking chairs. I've traveled this country from one end to the other on the campaign trail and I almost never see a rocking chair. I never get to sit in a rocking chair except when I'm at home."

"You came all this way to talk about rocking chairs?" Mike asked with a grin.

"No. I came to talk about that mess in Illinois," Tony answered. He held up a hand to stave off any objections and said, "Before you ask, let me tell you that I was briefed that your team was the one that identified the factory."

"Okay," Mike said sitting back in his chair. He knew that his involvement wasn't exactly a secret.

Tony said, "I need a straight answer and you're the only one who I trust to tell me the truth."

"Ask your question and I'll answer to the limits of my ability," Mike said.

Tony was silent for a long time before he said, "I thought the terrorist situation was getting pretty bad, but I didn't expect to have a major battle like that on American soil. Was that a one of a kind event or can we expect more battles like that in the future?"

"I'll tell you what I was prepared to tell the President earlier today. What we saw in Illinois was a minor skirmish. We caught them by surprise. Despite that, they kicked some ass. Next time, they are going to expect the National Guard to show up and then we'll see a real battle," Mike said.

Tony sagged down in the rocking chair feeling very tired. He said, "I was afraid that you were going to say that. When you said that you were prepared to tell the President that; am I safe in assuming that you didn't tell him?"

"We got into a discussion about the searches that were performed by the police after they got control of the area. Before we had a chance to talk about anything else he had sent me out of the room," Mike answered.

"Let me guess, he's hung up on the warrants," Tony said with a sigh. Mike nodded his head. Shaking his head in disgust, Tony said, "I can't believe that man is that stupid. Didn't he watch the surveillance satellite footage?"

"I don't know," Mike said.

"I'm going to need some position that I can take with the public regarding battles like that," Tony said. He was convinced that he was going to win the election and was now looking at how to manage expectations. One of the worst things that could happen was for him to get elected and immediately fail to keep his campaign promises. Looking at the expression on Mike's face, he asked, "What do you suggest?"

"That these situations are a result of an irregular army that has invaded America and is covertly occupying territory. The only proper response is to face them with the level of military force necessary to defeat them. There is no need to apologize for sending an army to deal with an invading army," Mike said.

"Perfect," Tony said pleased to hear Mike echo the stance that he had been planning on taking. He sighed and said, "I hope that I live long enough to become President."

"What's happened?" Mike asked.

"It seems that someone doesn't want me to become President. There have been three assassination attempts on my life in the past two weeks. All of them were by Muslims. The Secret Service managed to prevent them before there were any shots fired or bombs exploded. This information has been kept out of the press," Anthony Archer answered.

"You should spend the rest of the campaign in the Midwest. There are a couple of places that you should avoid there, but the chances of one of the terrorists getting close enough to you without being observed should be pretty small," Mike said.

"I can't do that. I've got to go into New York City, Los Angeles, and Miami," Tony said.

Mike shook his head and said, "You are ahead in the polls by thirty-three points. You're going to lose California and New York no matter what. The Peace At Any Price crowds are thick as thieves there. The rest of the country is a little smarter than that."

"You're forgetting that I won't be elected by popular vote. I have to win the vote in the Electoral College. Losing New York, Florida, and California is not an option. Even if I only lose each of those states by one vote, it will make my win look a lot weaker than it really is. I have to win at last two of them for the result to be accepted as significant," Tony said.

"You've got Florida. That should be sufficient," Mike said.

"I'm going after New York and to do that I need to win over the voters in New York City. The way I see it is -- spending New Years Eve in Times Square watching the ball drop is an American tradition. 2010 was a disaster; it was canceled last year and has been canceled for the upcoming New Years Eve. I need to make the point that at the end of my term, we will again be able to stand in Times Square and watch the ball drop as the clock reaches midnight," Tony said.

Mike frowned and said, "Give your speech at Times Square at noon, but don't announce it before hand. You don't want anyone to know that you are going to be there; not even the mayor. If anyone knows, then the terrorists will know. Bring the Press with you, give your speech, and then leave. No matter how tempting it is, don't stay there for more than ten minutes."

Jim said, "They are about to go in."

Mike sat down at his chair and turned his attention to the situation board. Three Predator Drones were circling over the factory and they were watching the feeds from them. He asked, "Has anyone shared their plans with us?"

"Charlie and I were briefed on the plans. They are going to send in a dozen radio controlled police cars just in case it is a trap and they get blown up. That will allow them to test the waters without risking their people. Unofficially, I heard that they had converted the dozen oldest police cars in the entire state and they were afraid that half of them wouldn't run long enough to make it to the factory," Jim answered with a grin.

"Then what?" Mike asked.

Charlie said, "Well, they are prepared for a full scale war. They've got tanks, fighters, helicopters, and troops ready to engage the terrorists. All they need is for the terrorists to make the first move."

Mike stared at the screen for a full minute while rubbing his lower lip with his index finger. The state of Washington was waiting to hear from him that it was safe to start the effort. Looking over at Charlie, he asked, "How many Muslims do they have in their National Guard?"

Charlie looked around wondering why Mike expected him to know that. Confused, he asked, "Why are you asking that?"

"Look at the situation board," Mike answered pointing to the screens at the front of the room.

Charlie stared at the screen for almost two minutes before he realized what Mike meant. He slapped his forehead and shouted, "Shit!"

Mike picked up the telephone and dialed the Governor. When the Governor answered, he said, "Governor, this is Mike Bowman of Homeland Security. I suggest that you call off the raid. We need to rethink our actions."

"Why?" the Governor asked dreading what he was going to hear.

"I'm watching the feeds from the Predator Drones. It looks to me like you're about to invade a ghost town. I would be real surprised if it wasn't mined," Mike answered looking at the situation board. There weren't any people around the factory. There weren't any cars in parking lots. There weren't any cars moving down the streets. Even the convenience store looked like it was closed.

Mike looked over at the old man who was standing beside Kim Sung in the center of his living room. Surprised to find an elderly man there, he said, "I assume that you are Kim's husband... boyfriend... friend..."

"No," Kim said indignant at the suggestion.

The man bowed to Mike and said, "I am the gardener."

"Gardener?" Mike asked with a frown. It was the beginning of November and not the time to work in the garden.

"Teva sent me. She wants you to be happy," the man said with a curt nod of his head. He had spent the afternoon sizing up the backyard trying to envision a tranquil garden.

Frowning, Mike said, "There's no way you're giving me a massage."

Kim Sung burst out laughing at the comment. The old man looked indignant and said, "I am a gardener; not a whore."

This sparked a rather major exchange between the two elderly people. He didn't understand the language, but that wasn't necessary to know what they were saying to each other. He wondered where the old man was going to stay. Then he wondered how much it was going to cost him. Shaking his head, he waited for the argument to end. He said, "There goes my peace and tranquility."

Election night was rather anti-climatic. Anthony Archer won by a landslide. He even won the state of New York, something that really surprised the liberal press covering the election. Despite the attempts to bolster the President's campaign, the press had only helped Archer's victory. They had misjudged the mood of the American people.

Anthony Archer was not the only victor that night that had campaigned on an anti-terror platform. The Senate had clearly shifted to a much more conservative orientation although it was not enough to make that body of august individuals conservative. The control over the House of Representatives had swung from the Democrats to Republicans. Mike figured that the cumulative IQ of the Senate and House of Representatives hadn't changed one little bit.

Mike watched the commentators discuss the consequences of the election. The arguments were very passionate. The handful of conservative commentators mentioned that the results would help make America safe from terrorism. They talked about being able to hunt down the terrorists where they lived. The main problem was that they continued to dwell on the topic of a return to American values, namely, family, religion, and the elimination of all things perverse.

The liberal commentators were bemoaning the fact that this election meant the end of civil liberties. The picture they painted was of storm troopers in the street pulling innocent men and women into detainment camps where they would be tortured. The anti-Islamic position of Anthony Archer was compared to the anti- Jewish beliefs of Hitler. They argued that America had just stepped on a slippery slope that would lead it away from the American principles that everyone valued.

Mike listened to the debate divided in his thoughts. There had to a reasonable balance between the two extremes. Recent attempts to take the terrorists forced a military response. There was no way that police armed with service revolvers were going to be able to go against terrorists armed with automatic weapons, body armor, grenades, and explosives. Still, the idea of using soldiers to arrest people grated on his sense of right and wrong.

The coverage of election results was interrupted by a news flash. Mike sat up fearing the worst while knowing that his fears were well justified. The images of burning embassies filled the screen. In one hour, it looked like twenty American embassies had been destroyed by terrorist acts. The majority of locations were not a great surprise since they included Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Indonesia, Iraq, Sudan, and Venezuela. There were a few surprise locations. These locations included Mexico, Canada, Germany, and Thailand.

The Wolf News Channel carried a feed from one of the Middle Eastern news services. It hosted a live announcement by a very well known leader of the Muslim Brotherhood. The man, Mohammed bin Laden, was one of the many sons of Osama bin Laden. He had taken over leadership of al Qaeda after the death of his father to his kidney ailment. That he would appear live in a news studio somewhere in the Middle East meant that al Qaeda had gone main stream.

With a sick feeling in his stomach, Mike listened to the translator as Mohammed bin Laden told of how the current election in America was an act of war against Islam. He called upon Muslims everywhere to rise up and strike down the Great Satan of the west. He declared that today was the rebirth of the Great Jihad against the western world. He demanded that Muslims in America rise up to throw off the evil that threatened all that was holy.

From the messages scrolling across the bottom of the screen, it appeared that people were responding to that call to arms. Mike read reports of churches being burned to the ground in various locations around the country. It was a common tactic used by the terrorists to bolster support among Muslims. They would attack a religious site and then use the retaliation to attract supporters and justify further aggression. They had done it with great success in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. He knew that within hours vigilantes would strike out at innocent Muslims thereby providing more material to be used to further justify Jihad against America.

Mike wanted to throw his coffee cup through the television when the President came on television and basically told the American people that the riots demonstrated that he had been right. He asserted that placating the freedom fighters had been the only sane policy to stave off global war. He urged the President Elect to moderate his position. It was obvious by the comments after the speech that a vocal percentage of the country agreed with the President on the matter. Based on the results of the election, it was obvious that the vocal percentage was not a large percentage of the country.

The grim faced men seated around the conference table in room 10 of the Bethesda Hospital were not happy. The world had exploded in violence overnight. Although they all knew it was going to happen, their warnings had been squashed. Those in power had not wanted warnings of potential acts of violence against Americans further eroding their political ambitions. As a result, thousands of Americans had been killed in the violence the flared up at home and abroad.

Jack Lancer said, "Despite all of the violence before today, I think that history will say that World War III began the moment the Coax News Network declared Anthony Archer the next President."

"Although history will be wrong, I think you're right," Tim Collins said in agreement.

"We are going to have to wait until January before a real response will occur. At least Archer has what looks like a workable plan for getting control of the situation," Larry said shifting around in his chair. Anthony Archer had announced his plan for regaining control of the country in his victory speech. It was a very ambitious three phase plan.

The first phase was basically defensive. None of the actions actually required the approval of Congress since they were policy items under the various government agencies of the executive branch. He wanted to seal the borders of the country by canceling all entry visas. All individuals within the country who were not American citizens would be subject to immediate immigration status review. His goal was to get the terrorists out of the country so that life could return to normal.

The second phase was offensive. Once the interior of the country was secure, he was going to take the war to the terrorists. There was going to be no place safe for them to hide. Mosque, embassy, or historical site would not be a safe harbor. Governments that protected terrorists would find that they could suffer the wrath of a very angry American Eagle.

The third phase would be a return to a defensive status. There would be a review of all nation states and a sane foreign policy would be drafted. It wasn't going to be a gentle policy. Countries would be classified as friend or foe. Neutrality was not an option. To stand by and watch as America was getting attacked was not going to be forgiven.

Jack said, "It looks like a reasonable strategy for winning this war, but there are some things that bother me."

Relieved that he wasn't the only one who was bothered, Mike said, "The potential for abuse during the first phase is too great. I hate to say this, but giving that much power to government bureaucracies scares the hell out of me."

Everyone around the table nodded their heads in agreement. Larry asked, "So what do we do about it?"

Mike said, "We can't rely on the Supreme Court to halt abuses of power in a timely manner. By the time things make their way through the judicial system it could be too late. We can't rely upon Congress because they'll play political games while people are roasting."

With an expression like he had bitten into a lemon, Jack said, "There's only one thing we can do. We have to implement a mechanism limiting the ability of our bureaucracies to trample on the rights of Americans. As much as I hate to suggest it, we'll have to ask the current President to put into place an oversight committee on the intelligence and law enforcement agencies through an executive order before he leaves office."

Larry snorted in disgust and said, "Police to police the police."

Ignoring Larry's comment, Tim said, "We'll have to assure that the committee serves as a governor that prevents the system from getting out of control. It will have to have the power to halt any real violation of the constitution. It can't have the power to write policy."

"And who would sit on this oversight committee?" Mike asked thinking that the President would do the same kind of job that he did with the intelligence oversight committee that destroyed the intelligence gathering and analysis abilities of the entire country.

"Well, the only candidates I can think of would be previous Presidents and one of us," Larry said thinking that it would provide enough tension within the committee that it wouldn't be able to act over trivial matters, but would respond to significant breaches.

"Do you think it would really do any good?" Mike asked looking around the table with a skeptical expression on his face.

"It might help in the short term," Jack said, "but if the war lasts too long then..."

"God help us," Tim Collins said with a sad shake of his head.

Larry started coughing. It sounded very bad and Mike wondered if Larry was going to be around for much longer. After Larry had taken a sip of water, Mike asked, "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Larry answered.

"You should go to a doctor and get that cough checked out," Mike said. He noticed Larry exchange a significant look with Jack. He wondered if he had just been selected to sit on that committee. He hoped not.
Lazlo Zalezac
Chapter 22