Chapter 24
Posted: July 27, 2007 - 03:01:03 pm


Sitting in his hotel room, Mike watched the Wolf News Channel. President Archer had kept his campaign promise and closed the American border. No one who was not an American citizen was allowed to enter the country. All entry visas had been canceled. International airports had thousands of stranded passengers who couldn't gain entry into the country. It appeared that the airlines hadn't believed the notice not to accept passengers traveling to the United States who were not American citizens.

Mike didn't understand why people even boarded the planes to come to the country knowing that they wouldn't be allowed to enter. Despite attempts to sue for entry, there was no law stating that a person had to be granted entry. People wanting into the country pointed to pictures of the Statue of Liberty shouting that it proclaimed to the world that they were welcome to enter. Their shouts fell on the kind of deaf ears that only a bureaucracy could produce.

The reaction overseas was one of shock. Two of the most vocal countries were France and Germany. They felt that it was a violation of an international principle to stop honoring visas. It was particularly galling to the President of France that French citizens, who didn't need visas, weren't allowed into the country. He appeared to have been insulted by President Archer when he had called to protest. France was demanding an apology.

Cartoons appeared overseas declaring Archer to be Bush's evil twin with Bush presented as the Devil. It was stupid, but it reflected the attitude of a certain sector of Europe towards America protecting itself. Of course, it wasn't that simple. European countries were facing their own problems with terrorists. Bombs were going off on subways, trains, and in stores. It seemed to Mike that everyone blamed America for their problems.

The reaction in the Middle East depended upon who was telling the story. The common person on the streets of Middle Eastern countries believed that America was terrified of the Islamic Jihad. They reveled in their power to bring it to its knees. People flocked to join Jihad and help bring down the superpower. Angered by what he was seeing, Mike watched the broadcasts of crowds burning the American flag and stomping on it.

The rulers of those same countries felt that America was abandoning its support of their regimes. They were doubly worried. The Jihadists were becoming increasingly more aggressive in replacing regimes that they viewed as being supported by America. The huge pools of oil that had been the basis for their wealth were starting to dry up. For years they had been lying about how much oil they had. The lies were starting to catch up to them.

In an attempt to show that it wasn't an American puppet regime, Saudi Arabia threatened an oil embargo against America if it didn't honor the visas previously issued. The threat didn't work. The world was shocked when President Archer announced that trade agreements for oil had been signed with Russia. He also had Congress pass an emergency oil production bill that opened up offshore areas for drilling. Most of the areas had long been blocked as a result of lawsuits by ecologists. The first license in decades for the construction of a Nuclear Power Plant was granted.

It was hard watching the news without having access to the intelligence data that gave a true picture of what was going on in the world, but the break was doing Mike some good. He had slept the first three days; waking only to get something to eat and take care of his bodily functions.

On the fourth day, he left the hotel and walked to a park in town. Sitting on a bench, he watched his surroundings. Life there was so normal. People greeted each other and chatted on the street. They went into stores without fearing for their life. He enjoyed the atmosphere of an America that seemed to be disappearing.

In what was a major departure from how he normally vacationed, the fifth day of his vacation was spent doing touristy kinds of things. He spent a nice afternoon wandering around the Boot Hill Museum. It was clearly a tourist attraction, but he liked it. The place was nearly deserted and he wasted hours talking to the folks that worked there. They weren't trying to get people through as fast as possible.

On the sixth day of his stay, Mike went for another walk in the town. After wandering aimlessly for an hour, he found that he was again at the park and relaxed on a park bench. He was considering what to do about lunch when there was a lot of shouting in the streets. He stopped a woman who was rushing past and asked, "What's going on?"

"They attacked the White House," the woman answered and then took off for home.

Mike looked around and spotted an appliance store. He went in and joined the crowd watching the news. There had been a major attack on the White House. To the people gathered in that store, the White House was the symbol of government. It was an important symbol and the attempt to desecrate it angered them.

It had been a massive attack. The terrorists had driven a stolen sanitation truck filled with explosives through the fence. Security barriers managed to stop it well away from the White House. Other than breaking glass, there was only a little damage to the building when the truck exploded.

The bigger problem was that additional terrorists raced into the breach with guns. The gunfight ultimately involved over two hundred police, Secret Service, and Marines. The President's helicopter that had been parked on the lawn had been an early casualty of the attack.

The reactions of the people in the store to the news as the story unfolded at the hands of a very speculative press were honest and heartfelt. There was outrage over the attack, anger at the attackers, and concern for their fellow citizens. They didn't try to hide their feelings behind facades of sophistication. Mike stood in the midst of them feeling like he belonged. This was heartland America where flying the flag was commonplace. A tear ran down his face.

A woman tapped him on the arm and asked, "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. Just a little overwhelmed by the moment," Mike answered.

"This is a good country. We shall win this war," the woman said with the calm assurance of someone with total confidence in the future. The others in the room nodded their heads in agreement.

"I know," Mike said. Seeing the heartland of America had restored his faith that things would work out. He spent the rest of his vacation in a chair by the pool.

Cathy brought over a cup of coffee and put it on the corner of his workstation. Putting on her best and friendliest smile, she said, "You seem a lot more relaxed after your vacation."

"I am," Mike said.

She stood there a moment fidgeting while trying to decide what to say to him. Finally, she said, "I'm sorry that I used to think of you as Pervert John."

"Huh?" Mike replied rather confused by her apology.

"You know -- when you used to come here and any time I came to your workstation there was a dirty picture on your computer. I didn't know that you were really doing something pretty important," Cathy said knowing that she wasn't making much sense.

Mike laughed and said, "Oh, you're talking about the old pornographic security feature. I couldn't blame you for thinking I was a pervert. The fact of the matter is that there were a few pictures that popped up that I did like. Maybe I am a pervert."

Cathy put a hand on his shoulder and leaned over. She whispered in his ear, "There were a few that I liked too."

"Thanks for the coffee," Mike said changing the topic to a safer subject.

"I've got to go to the shrink now," Cathy said. There were times when she didn't understand what had happened to her in terms of her career. One day she's making minimum wage working in an Internet Café and the next day she's pulling a real salary from the CIA. It didn't seem that her job had changed that much. The biggest change was that she had a security clearance that had her checking under the bed for FBI agents.

Mike winked and said, "So far we've managed to fool them. They don't realize that we're all paranoid."

"Being paranoid is our job and we're good at our work," Cathy said playing her role in an exchange that was common when someone was leaving to see the shrink.

"I wouldn't say that too loud, someone is liable to be listening," Mike said with a laugh.

Cathy laughed and asked, "I'll make the lunch run after my appointment. What do you want?"

"I'll have my usual Wednesday Roast Beef sandwich with the works," Mike answered. The deli up the street had a daily special that Mike usually ordered. Wednesday had roast beef sandwiches with Swiss cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, and onions on a hard roll.

"Okay," Cathy said. She went around the room and got everyone else's orders. Some of the analysts preferred to go out for lunch finding that they needed the break from what was often bad news.

After Cathy left the office, Joe came over to Mike and said, "She likes you."

"I like her too," Mike said absently while studying the screen full of data on his computer.

"I mean she really likes you," Joe said stressing the word 'really.'

Realizing what Joe meant, Mike looked up and said, "I'm a married man."

Joe looked at the wedding ring that was on Mike's middle finger of his left hand. Shaking his head, he said, "You're not married any more. You're a widower."

"It's too early," Mike replied.

The sweep of foreign scientists and engineers working on American projects with direct ties back to foreign governments was in full operation. Mike watched as the names of arrested individuals scrolled past on the status board. Looking over at him, Shirley Holbrook asked, "Why are you so happy?"

Mike sat back and said, "For the past two decades I've been hearing about how foreign scientists have been essential to American progress. My experience has always been the opposite. They've fought progress tooth and nail. They've been keeping us back. I think that the next year we are going to see some progress like you wouldn't believe."

"Really?" Shirley asked.

"Yes. I've watched too many projects that were nearly at completion get canceled by managers who are foreigners. I've heard of too many projects that died long miserable deaths when sent overseas. Those kinds of projects have consumed a tremendous amount of our resources with nothing to show for it. I bet we've wasted well over a trillion dollars and half of our scientists and engineers," Mike said.

"You're just xenophobic," Shirley said with a frown.

Mike turned to his computer and typed a few commands. A minute later Shirley had an e-mail with links to a number of intelligence reports concerning the Chinese interference in high energy weapons development. She wasn't very happy by the time she had finished reading them. She looked up and said, "I can't believe they would actually do that. Isn't China supposed to be our friend?"

"They did and they aren't," Mike said, "Just wait until you hear their reaction to the news that their scientists have all been arrested for espionage."

"They're going to be angry if this report is accurate," Shirley said.

Jim said, "Oh, it is accurate. I did a similar study on outsourcing. The more I dug into it, the more I realized that outsourcing was actually holding back projects and costing companies more money."

"Can you give me an example?" Shirley asked.

"I'll give you one of the more extreme examples that I ran into. It was a case where an Indian working on a project for an American company talked the company into outsourcing some of their work to a company in India. Even before the contract was let, he was feeding back all of their results to the team in India. The team here kept saying that they weren't making progress. It turned out that the guy was sabotaging the project. The team in India ended up selling the solution back to the company here. Not only did the company lose their initial investment, but they also lost their competitive edge when the Indians sold the solution to their competitors," Jim answered.

Mike looked over at Jim and said, "I wasn't aware of that one."

"There are so many cases where outsourcing led to the downfall of a company that it isn't even funny," Jim said. Outsourcing was one of the few topics that really lit a fire in him. He'd lost two jobs in the past because his projects had been outsourced to India.

"Isn't that just another case of industrial espionage?" Shirley asked.

Jim nodded his head and said, "That particular case was a result of industrial espionage. For the most part the majority of problems arose as a result of a difference in expertise between the local teams and the overseas teams. In a few cases it was the result of few greedy people at work. I don't think there was a concerted effort by India to hold back American progress although I will say that the government of India did enable it."

Mike replied, "There is a significant difference between a concerted effort to hold back research and an accidental consequence of incompetence. That's a particularly important distinction to make when a foreign government is involved."

Jim said, "That's true, but they both have the same effect. I can name forty companies that had been in business for over fifty years that were brought down because of outsourcing and importing foreign employees to save labor costs. In the 1960s their stocks sold for eighty dollars a share and now they sell for eighty cents a share."

Shaking his head, Mike said, "I'd say that most of those companies failed because of incompetent management. They couldn't manage their employees and they couldn't manage the firms to which they outsourced their work."

"Of course, but that doesn't mean that there weren't concerted efforts to bring some of them down by foreign powers. In the sixties and seventies, Bell Labs, Watson Labs, Xerox Parc, and GE Labs produced research results that won Nobel prizes. How many industrial labs in America are producing research results that are capable of winning a Nobel Prize today? I'll tell you. None of them are," Jim said.

"You're saying that foreign governments are the reason why," Mike said not sure that he bought that argument.

Jim nodded his head and answered, "Of course. They provided great incentives for those companies to outsource research to their countries."

Charlie shook his head and said, "You're wrong on three counts. American corporate labs shifted from basic research to product oriented research. Many of the winners of Nobel Prizes in American Labs were foreign born. American biotech companies are doing research that can win Nobel Prizes."

Shirley looked over at Mike and asked, "What do you think?"

Mike was silent for a moment and then said, "I don't know what has happened to basic research in this country. All that I do know is that every name on that list represents an individual on the payroll of a foreign government who has been feeding back hard- earned results that were paid for by us. There are a whole lot names on that list and it makes me very happy that they are being arrested."

Mike was sound asleep on the massage table during one of Kim Sung's special massages. She watched him sleep with a sad frown. She didn't think it was right for a man his age to live so distant from everyone else around him. His entire social life revolved around three engagements a month. It was a rather pathetic schedule in which he visited his parents, his in-laws, and Sanjay.

After finishing the massage, Kim slipped out of the house and went next door. Bob barely heard the knock it was so soft. When he opened the door, he was surprised to see her. He'd never had an occasion to talk with her. He said, "Hello, Kim."

"Hello, Mr. Wilkins," Kim said giving him a slight bow.

Stepping back, he asked, "Would you like to come in?"

"Thank you, Mr. Wilkins. That would be very nice," Kim said. She entered the house and looked around. There was a very different feel to it than the house in which she lived. This house had the feel that there were people living in it. Much to her shame, Mike's house felt like a morgue.

"What can I do for you?" Bob asked wondering what prompted the visit.

"I would like to invite you and your family over for dinner on Friday," Kim said.

At first Bob thought that the invitation was from Mike, but her wording had indicated that she was doing the inviting. Puzzled, he asked, "You are inviting us?"

"Yes, Mr. Wilkins," Kim answered.

"Oh, is this a surprise for Mike?"

Kim thought about the question for a second and then answered, "Yes, I suppose it will be a surprise for Mike."

All in all, the dinner party was a pleasant affair. Mike had been surprised to learn that he was entertaining the neighbors, but didn't react negatively. Kim prepared a five course meal, but didn't join them at the table. The food was excellent and everyone ate their fill.

The conversation around the table avoided current events, focusing more on the status of the work being done in the garden. Mike had been given explicit instructions by the gardener not to look, but Bob didn't suffer from that restriction. Bob told Mike about all of the kinds of things that the gardener was having delivered to the house.

From Kim's perspective, the dinner party wasn't entirely a success. Mike was a perfect host, but he didn't fully engage in the conversation. There were periods of quiet that bordered on uneasy. There was a distance between him and everyone else but it would have been hard to point to specific examples.

Bob and Ellen had a good time, but left feeling worried about Mike. As they returned to the house, Bob asked, "How long has Karen been dead?"

"Almost two years," she answered.

"He isn't over her yet," Bob said.

"I know. It's sad."

"How are you feeling today?" Lisa Goodman asked watching as Mike settled into the chair. There was a certain indefinable heaviness about the way he moved.

Mike looked at his therapist and answered, "I'm fine."

"Has anything particularly good happened in your life lately?"

Mike scratched his jaw while thinking about it. After an uncomfortably long time had passed, he answered, "No."

"That seems to be a stock answer for you. When was the last time that something good happened to you?"

"I don't remember," Mike answered thinking back to the day when Robert had taken his first steps. That had been a good day.

Lisa picked up a pad of paper and started writing on it. She ripped off the top sheet and handed it to him. When he took it from her, she said, "That is a prescription for an anti-depressant. I probably should have given it to you a long time ago, but I've been hoping that you'd snap out of it."

"I'm not depressed," Mike said defensively.

"If you're not depressed, what would you say you are?"

"I'm in mourning," Mike answered looking away from her. There wasn't a morning in which he woke without missing the warmth of Karen's body next to his. There wasn't a night that he didn't fall asleep without missing holding her in his arms.

"The pills are also good for that," Lisa said.

Pointing to the situation board, Mike said, "Ladies and Gentlemen, we've managed to identify several dozen major enclaves of Islamic fundamentalists as a result of over a year's worth of effort. The President, with the permission of the Governors of the various states, gave orders to our military to go into them with the intent of validating visas. At least, that is the excuse that is being used since it is expected that our people won't be given a chance to even ask for the visa. We are going to take them down one at a time over the next few months. The first of these raids is going to happen today.

"Because it is our work that helped identify those enclaves, we're going to get live feeds from the Predator Drones. We also have control over three mini-drones. The mini-drones can not carry the armament of the Predators, so they are just simple observation platforms. You won't be able to make out enough details to identify people, but you will be able to watch what they are doing.

"I want Jim, Charlie, and Jack at the controls. Every time we've gone after these bastards, the guys at the top escape. I want you three to identify the thugs that everyone is trying to protect. Follow them when they escape."

Jim said, "I don't know how to operate a drone."

"The mini-drones are designed for this purpose. They use advanced AI technology to control the flight. All you have to do is to click on a moving target and it will follow it. You're going to have to watch carefully just in case it loses the target or they change vehicles," Mike answered.

"That's going to be tough," Jack said.

"Why?"

"They're going to head to one of those gas stations in their network. They're going to pick up cars there and split up on us. We won't know which one to follow," Jack answered.

Mike smiled and said, "I happened to mention that in the planning meeting. Guess what?"

"What?"

"Those stations were shutdown this morning," Mike answered. Seeing that he had everyone's attention, he added, "If you update our network display, you'll notice an absence of quite a few yellow dots."

Jim's fingers flew over his keyboard and the map showing the full network that the terrorists had built up appeared on the large monitor at the front of the room. There were huge chunks of it missing. Major metropolitan areas which had once been connected were now isolated by stretches of empty country-side. Jim pumped a fist in the air and shouted, "Fantastic!"

"Take that screen down and put up the one that was there," Mike said after the commotion in the room died down. He waited for Jim to comply and then said, "The efforts are about to start. The controls for the mini-drones should appear on your computers any minute now. They will circle until you take over control of them."

The engagement with the terrorists went exactly as planned. The troops moving into the area were attacked before they reached the enclave. A full scale battle quickly erupted. Mike watched the battlefield with a certain level of apprehension. Initially, it was obvious that the terrorists were outgunned. Then the tide of the battle started changing. The terrorists were actually taking out the APCs (armored personnel carriers) that had been brought into play.

Terry Blackmore was watching Jack figure out how to operate the mini-drone. The interface allowed Jack to do more than just click on a target. He used the zoom to focus in on the action trying to locate the target. He had just zoomed in on an area of the town when Terry noticed something unusual. He said, "Jack, hold it right there!"

Looking up, Jack asked, "What?"

"What is that over in the corner of the picture?" Terry asked.

Jack looked at it for a second and then turned pale. Snapping his fingers in the direction of Mike, he said, "Mike, you need to see this."

"What is it?" Mike asked turning to look at Jack.

Terry answered, "It's a rail gun. They've got rail guns."

Mike flew across the room to look at the picture on Jack's computer. It didn't take more than a second to verify Terry's claim. Mike swore and then said, "That's how they are taking out the APCs."

"What should I do?" Jack asked.

"Continue with your original mission. Identify the leaders and track them," Mike answered.

"What about the rail guns?" Terry asked.

"I want you to get on the phone and let the commanders know what they are facing," Mike said watching as Jack zoomed out and panned around the town.

Jim shouted, "I found them. Twenty guys escorted three men into a van. They took off with two cars in front and two cars in back."

Mike looked over at Jim and said, "Follow the big shots."

"I'm on it."

The battle was quickly ended when the Air Force entered the scene and bombed the town into rubble. It was obvious that the terrorists had not expected to be attacked without restraint. The rules of engagement had changed. No longer was terrorism being treated like a crime, but as an act of war. Mike sat back in his chair with a small smile on his face. The smile disappeared when he thought about the rail guns.
Lazlo Zalezac
Chapter 25