Feeling a little depressed, Cathy watched Mike hard at work on one of those special projects that arose from time to time. Not understanding why it was, she was fascinated by him. She thought he was handsome, but that wasn't the real reason. He was an amazing mixture of qualities. When working on something that really required his attention, he was focused, intense, and dedicated. She knew there were times when he stayed until late at night pursuing terrorists. When relaxing during the occasional slow times, he was reserved while demonstrating that he cared about his people. When people were stressed, he sent them out to relax. When people were depressed, he listened to their stories of woe. He always had a good word for people, praising them when they did well and consoling them when things didn't work out right.
She had seen him work at the height of crises that should have turned him surly. At all times, he was calm, cool, collected, and polite. She thought it was amazing that when the whole world was turning upside down, Mike kept his feet and led everyone to safety.
The fact of the matter was that Mike was everything that she wanted in a man. She didn't care that he was almost fourteen years older than her. He was in better shape than most men her age. He was strong, powerful, and wise. It was a combination that left her weak in her knees.
The times at work that she liked best was when he asked her to operate the keyboard for him. That was when he was unusually intense. He stood over her with his weight resting on his right hand watching what she was doing. His focus on the task at hand was almost supernatural in its intensity. She knew that he had no idea how it affected her.
There were times when she wore low cut tops to work. She hoped that he would ask her to type and would notice the swell of her breasts when he leaned over her to watch what she was typing. If he did notice, he never showed it. She knew his attention was on saving the world and not lusting after her. In a way she could understand it, but that didn't make her disappointment any less.
She tried to get his attention by doing little things that he would appreciate. She fixed his coffee and delivered it without him having to ask for it. She knew what he liked to eat every day of the week. When there was a surprise item on the menu that he liked better she knew to get it. She made sure that the office was stocked with the snacks that he usually requested.
No matter what she did, it seemed to her that he didn't notice. At first she thought that it was because of his grief over losing his wife and son. As time went by and his grief never lessened, she began to get worried. Then he started to recover although the signs of recovery were subtle at first. There were little chuckles, jokes, and smiles. He seemed to be a little more relaxed as he moved around the room. The tension that had always been present in his shoulders abated.
For about four months she waited hopeful that he would notice her as a woman rather than a coworker. He didn't and it had begun to weigh heavily upon her. She wondered if she wasn't attractive enough. There were times when she was sure that her lack of formal education was a problem. She started attending a local college when it reopened to get a degree in economics. Still he never noticed.
Although she had tried to be discreet, Joe knew how she felt. He kept telling her that Mike would notice her one day. She wanted to believe Joe, but she had just about given up hope. She had gone on a date over the weekend with a man, but he had turned out to be a jerk. The comparison between the man and Mike had highlighted everything she appreciated about him.
She sighed and watched him work. Her thoughts kept returning to the same subject time after time. When would he notice her?
The news on television covered the reaction of world to the destruction of three apartment complexes in Toronto, Canada. In fact, that was the only thing that was on the news. There were interviews with any one of any significance in the world. The Canadian Prime Minister was clearly outraged at the incursion on Canadian soil that the act represented. He stopped short of declaring war on the United States, but did say that future trespasses would not be tolerated.
The President of France declared that the United States was showing its true colors as a country that desired world domination. France was not alone in feeling that way, but it was the most vocal. Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, and Belgium quickly jumped on that bandwagon. South American countries had believed that all along and didn't even bat an eye.
Even Great Britain was rather surprised by the attack on the soil of a fellow Commonwealth country. The Press raised a riot, but the response of the Prime Minister was subdued. It was as if the Prime Minister had known in advance that it was going to happen. It was obvious that he did not approve of the action, but he didn't condemn it in public. Australia was notably quiet. It had basically followed the American plan to get rid of radical Islam.
The reaction in the Middle East was quite predictable. It howled that America was nothing but a rabid dog that would turn on friend and foe alike. They pointed to the deaths of innocent Muslim Canadians who had just been sitting at home with their families as an act of war against Muslims. The call to arms in a Holy Jihad against America was raised again. Tens of thousands of young Muslim men answered the call.
Reporters who were still predominately liberal raised a cry of protest against the actions of President Archer. To any moderately informed observer of the press, it wasn't clear what had angered them the most. Was it the fact that the President didn't warn them so that they could have cameras on the scene or was it that they viewed it as an act of war? They called for his impeachment in a soft voice afraid that the rest of America wouldn't go along with them. America didn't go along with them.
Rather than give a standard speech from the White House in which the President explained his actions, the President responded with a half hour video that looked as if it had been professionally produced. It was the first time that a President had released a documentary that covered a current event. It was a very effective manner to present the reasoning behind the actions taken by the White House. It pulled the teeth from the commentators who wanted to interpret every word of a Presidential speech so that they could put their political spin on it. The opposition party was left speechless.
The video started by showing surveillance videos of several men going into and out of a store of a mall. The front of the store had signs declaring that it would be opening soon. Small photographs of the men's faces were placed across the top of the screen. As the video played, the President's voice gave a summary of the actions that the men were performing.
The video cut to a scene of the mall a week later. The store was open, but there were dead bodies littering the floor around the store. It showed people going into the mall in Hazmat suits and then carrying the victims out of the mall. The President talked about how many people had died in the attack.
With the now famous picture of Mike kneeling between two women as the background, an audio tape of a conversation between the Canadian Prime Minister and the President was played. The President demanded the extradition of the individuals captured on video while giving details on where the men were located. The Prime Minister refused and did so with the simple explanation that no matter how serious the crime, Canada wouldn't extradite to a country that practiced the death penalty. It was a matter of principle. President Archer countered by saying that America would not respect the borders of any country that harbored terrorists known to have killed Americans. America would take any actions necessary in pursuing those terrorists. The Prime Minister hung up on the President.
The next segment showed the same individuals walking into apartment buildings. The videos were zoomed to show their faces which matched five of those across the top of the screen. Two minutes after they entered the buildings, the structures were then hit with missiles. The image was brutal, but one couldn't help but shout, "Yes! We got the bastards!"
Mike watched the half hour video with tears in his eyes. Although his features were not visible, he had seen himself moving through the mall searching for his wife. The video has shown him picking up one of the victims and carrying the young child out of the mall. He had stared at the hated picture of his misery. The image of the building collapsing with the terrorist inside left him feeling frustrated. He had wanted to be the one who pushed that button. After watching the video released by the President, Mike called his therapist and scheduled an appointment for first thing the following morning.
Early the next morning, Mike dropped into the chair and said, "I watched the President's video last night."
Given such a flat statement of fact, Lisa knew that it was actually a cry to discuss the matter. It was up to her to guide him through the subject. Settling in her seat, she asked, "How did it make you feel?"
"Cheated," Mike answered.
"Why?"
Unreasonably angry, Mike said, "I should have been the one to push the button that took out those bastards."
"Why?"
In a very angry voice, he answered, "They murdered my wife and son."
Lisa was about to probe deeper when he sagged in his chair. In a very soft voice that was very difficult to hear across the room, he said, "My wife was in a shoe store buying shoes for our son when the terrorists released the poison gas. I know that because there was one new shoe on his foot. It was a tennis shoe. The other shoe was on the floor where it had been dropped. My wife was lying on the floor beside the empty box. My son was on the floor beside her. You could see that she had held him in her arms when he died, but she couldn't hold him when the poison affected her."
Lisa listened to the story with a frown. As far as she knew, Mike was at the hospital having his left hand operated on to replace shattered bones with steel rods. There was no way that he should have known those little details. Confused, she asked, "How do you know that?"
Mike looked at her and carefully considered his words. Finally, he answered, "Because the man kneeling next to my wife in that fucking picture is me. The other woman there was President Archer's wife. I was not in the hospital at the time of the attack."
"Oh," Lisa said sitting back in her seat. A lot of little clues finally added up for her and the tremendous guilt that he felt about the death of his wife was explained. She repeated, "Oh!"
"Do you want to know what haunts me to this day?"
Nodding, Lisa answered, "Yes."
"I could only carry one of them at a time. I carried Karen out of the mall, but I was just too weak to go back for Robert. I keep thinking that his spirit must believe that I didn't love him," Mike answered with tears streaming down his cheeks. It had hurt to admit that aloud. It was the first time that he had allowed himself to even admit it to himself.
"I'm sure that he knew how much you loved him," Lisa said wondering how he had managed to keep so much guilt hidden away.
It was only by accident that Mike was able to watch the live feed from a battle that took place in Jersey City, New Jersey. Jim had a mini-drone over the area mapping out the defenses that had been put into place by the Muslims living in the area. Jim didn't even realize that a battle was erupting until well after it had started.
It had started when a New Jersey State Trooper had asked a Muslim driver who was speeding for his identification. The man had killed the trooper and drove off into the predominately Muslim neighborhood. This was the largest and densest enclave of Muslims in the country. It was from this neighborhood that the Blind Cleric Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman had helped organize the first attack on the World Trade Center.
A second trooper, who had arrived in time to observe the killing of the first trooper, gave chase. On entering the Muslim controlled neighborhood, he was killed in a hail of bullets from buildings all around the area. Before dying, the trooper managed to radio for help. More troopers and local police arrived on the scene and were met with a hail of bullets.
From the Emergency Operations Center outside the capital, the Governor called in the National Guard. By the time the National Guard had organized, the neighborhood had become a hornet's nest of activity. Groups were running into buildings and emerging later covered in blood. It was about this time that Jim realized that he was watching the beginning of a major battle.
Mike called the Emergency Operations Center and provided a live feed from the mini-drone they had circling the area. The Department of Homeland Security representative had not arrived at the Emergency Operations Center. Mike tried to convey what was happening inside Jersey City, but the State Police were more concerned with what was happening with their people. After five minutes of arguing, they hung up on Mike.
Even as the National Guard was approaching, they could see the weapons atop the buildings. Narrow streets and traffic made access difficult in the best of times, but cars abandoned in random patterns in the street made ingress virtually impossible. The National Guard was nearly beaten back when they realized that they had moved into an ambush.
With the battle escalating out of control, the Army and the Air Force were brought in to provide support. Helicopters fired rockets into buildings from which gunfire was emerging. Buildings were leveled as bombs were dropped on fortified strongholds. The fighting went street to street.
As troops moved into the buildings, the fighting reached truly ferocious levels. Attempting to spare the women and children, soldiers tried to move them out of the battle. Much to the horror of the soldiers, the women and children attacked them with whatever weapons were handy. Even as they attacked, they screamed that it was an honor to die for the glory of Allah.
Mike watched as a woman ran screaming to a small group of soldiers as if in fear for her life and seeking protection from the violence. She detonated the bomb she was wearing when she reached the cluster of soldiers. Seeing that, word quickly spread to the other soldiers engaged in the fight. It became a massacre after that.
Charlie sat at his station watching the events unfold. Shaking his head, he said, "We had nearly finished planning how to go about taking the neighborhood."
"Urban warfare is the worst," Mike said staring at his left hand as memories of his encounter with terrorists returned.
"We have better tools for taking apart an urban battlefield, but they weren't used here," Jim said in disgust. He had spent months studying that neighborhood. He knew where everyone lived, worked, and worshiped. He knew each and every danger that law enforcement would face. He smashed his fist on the table and shouted, "I'm an idiot."
"What?"
For a half a minute, Jim frantically typed the commands that would move the drone to another area of the city. The drone arrived over the target and broadcast a beehive of activity. Horrified by what he was seeing, Jim answered, "Watch what happens there."
Mike looked up at the board and saw a large chemical storage tank. There were men climbing on it. He asked, "What is it?"
"Chlorine," Jim answered feeling lower than an earthworm. He couldn't believe that he had been so caught up in watching the battle that he hadn't thought about the tactics the terrorists would use. He had seen them practice this maneuver and knew that they would explode the tank within a minute.
"We've got to warn them," Mike said reaching for the telephone.
"It's too late," Jim said as the tank exploded and released its contents into the area. The wind was in the wrong direction and it carried the vapors away from the battle and into the nearby neighborhood. He hit the table with his fist and said, "I don't know why I didn't realize they would do that until I saw them on the tank."
"How in the hell did they get that tank there?" Mike asked thinking it was a huge quantity of chlorine to be located inside an urban area. Realizing that he had stopped dialing, he resumed his attempt to reach the Emergency Operations Center outside of Trenton. They had to know that the crisis was spreading beyond Jersey City.
The four years under the previous President had really given the terrorists a chance to shape the domestic battlefield. They had used the 'ask no questions or I'll sue' tactic to move very dangerous materials into urban areas. Shaking his head, Charley answered, "Five years ago they built a specialty bottled water plant there. That gave them access to the chemicals for water treatment, including chlorine gas."
When the DHS representative at the other end answered the phone, Mike said, "This is Mike Bowman from the Department of Homeland Security. We just observed a huge release of Chlorine gas from a water treatment plant. The vapor cloud appears to be heading into Hoboken, New Jersey. Details are being forwarded to you right now."
"Shit," was the only reply before the phone was hung up.
"I've gotten the word out about the Chlorine," Mike said watching the live feed. The situation had degraded even further. Buildings were on fire and smoke made the images from the mini-drones useless.
Jim was staring at his computer in shock. He kept repeating over and over, "I should have known."
After making several attempts to get Jim's attention, Mike looked over at Cathy and said, "Help me get him to his analyst now."
"Yes, sir," Cathy answered picking up her car keys while thinking that he really knew how to take charge in a crisis.
Mike went over to Jim and helped the man stand. With a little effort, he managed to lead Jim to Cathy's car. Sitting in the back seat with him, Mike said, "Listen to me, Jim. It wasn't your fault. This wasn't our operation."
The death toll of the Jersey City battle was significant. This was one of the most populated areas in the entire country with a population density of over thirty thousand people per square mile. Thirty-three thousand Muslim residents had died in the battle while six hundred and forty-two soldiers and members of law enforcement had been killed. That was nothing compared to the real horror of the battle. The non-Muslim population living in Jersey City had been slaughtered even before the National Guard had arrived. The death toll was estimated to be over a hundred thousand. The collateral damage in Hoboken included chlorine gas poisoning with more than a thousand fatalities and the count was still rising.
What had started as a simple traffic ticket had escalated into a national crisis. President Anthony Archer looked across the table at Mike Bowman with an angry frown on his face. Furious, he asked, "What happened there?"
"It wasn't an organized effort. It started small and escalated beyond control. The State Troopers played it by ear. None of our intelligence was accessed. We were following the battle and making reports, but we didn't have any recommendations. We're not really set up to provide military decisions," Mike answered.
"In the past six years, over seven hundred thousand Americans have been killed by terrorists. Over four million have been injured. I'm not counting Muslim bastards in those numbers," Tony said. He swiveled in his chair and said, "That mess in Jersey City was the last straw. I don't want a single Muslim left in this country at the end of the month."
"It's not going to happen," Mike said flatly. He remembered the national guilt at having locked up Japanese in internment camps during World War II.
"Why?"
"There were between five and eight million Muslims in the country in 1992. That figure appears to have doubled during the previous President's term with the majority of the increase being from the Middle East, Philippines, Indonesia, Africa, and Europe. A significant percentage of the Muslim population is in the Black Community. Although in 1992, they represented almost 42% of the Muslims that has dropped down to around 26%. They are citizens, born and raised in this country. They are not imported terrorists. I know that some of the more radical groups have joined in Jihad, but the majority of them are honest Americans," Mike answered.
"Those fuckers are killing the rest of us in the name of their religion. I don't give a shit if they were born here or on Mars. I want them gone," Tony said hitting the table with his fist. It was his frustration talking. When he had heard the news about the massacre, he had gone into the bathroom and thrown up.
"Mr. President, I understand your desire, but I respectfully disagree that it will ever come to fruition. If American citizens are supporting the terrorists, they will be treated like terrorists. We will hunt them down and kill them for being a terrorist. If a Muslim is obeying the law, we will not harm them," Mike said looking across the table.
"My God man, Muslims killed your wife and son," Tony said.
"Terrorists killed my wife and son," Mike said.
"We can't trust Muslims," Tony said stating something that he only partially believed.
Seeing that Tony was frustrated more than he was serious, Mike said, "I am a Marine. Our motto is Semper Fidelous. It means ever faithful to Corp and Country. That does not mean that we will be faithful to the Government of the United States when it turns against the American People. We are faithful to the American People. I can not condone hunting down and killing an American because of their religion."
"It is a vile religion," Tony said lamely.
"I know that you take oaths very seriously. You gave an oath to protect the Constitution of the United States of America," Mike said with a smile to take the edge off his words.
Sitting back in his chair, Tony said, "You're right. I guess I sometimes need people like you around to remind me of my real duty. It is just that they butchered a hundred thousand people in their homes. The American People have turned to me and are demanding to know what I'm doing about the situation. What am I to tell them?"
Mike looked across the table and said, "You will tell the American people what you've been telling them since that day you came to the hospital to visit me. You are taking aim at the terrorists."
"Are we?"
"The military is preparing a strategy for moving into the Los Angeles and San Diego enclaves. It will be a controlled encounter that is designed to minimize collateral damage. We are providing them with the intelligence that will allow them to target the bad guys. In time, there won't be a major enclave of terrorists," Mike answered.
Vincent handed Mike a beer before sitting down at the picnic table. Smiling, he raised his beer and said, "Cheers."
Wondering why the Admiral was in such a good mood, Mike returned the toast. "Cheers."
"You won't believe what was delivered this week," Vincent said.
"What?" Mike asked. He hadn't seen the Admiral this cheerful since Karen died.
"We got a new laser," Vincent said. He watched Mike to see his reaction. This was almost too much fun.
"Okay, I'll bite. What is so great about this new laser?" Mike asked.
"The power supply is based on your design. Someone got the bright idea to swap out the rails and replace them with the electrodes of a traveling wave laser. That sucker is powerful and lightweight. We can mount it on an airplane and take out a missile with it," Vincent said.
"That's nice," Mike said wondering how his power supply was being used to power a laser. As far as he knew, it wasn't powerful enough to create the energy necessary for a laser capable of taking out a missile. His thoughts made his reaction seem a little less positive than he really felt.
"You don't understand. We're in a position to create a defensive shield around the country," Vincent said. After taking a swig of his beer, he added, "We'll be safe."
"That's good news," Mike said not quite understanding what Vincent was telling him.
Seeing the lack of understanding on Mike's face, Vincent said, "My whole career in the military has been spent knowing that one missile with an atomic warhead could destroy my entire fleet in the blink of an eye. There was always that fear nagging at me that no matter how well trained my men were, there was nothing that I could do to truly protect the fleet. With this laser, it is not just my fleet, but the whole country that is protected from nuclear attack."
Nodding his head, Mike said, "I can see how important that is with respect to a nuclear missile, but I don't think that it makes us safe with regard to other delivery mechanisms."
"I'm not worried about the other mechanisms. I think that it would be virtually impossible to bring enough nuclear weapons into the country to destroy us. The missile threat is the important threat," the Admiral replied.
"The terrorists don't have an ICBM," Mike said. He knew that Pakistan did have nuclear weapons and that several countries in the Middle East were getting blueprints for the manufacture of them from Pakistan.
Vincent leaned forward and said, "This morning, nine training camps in Indonesia were destroyed by the Pacific Fleet. The war on terror is moving to where the terrorists live. We are creating enemies and I'm not just talking about religious extremists. I'm talking real countries. I have no doubt that we will be creating more of them as time goes by. There are several countries that have the ability to throw nuclear missiles at us. One of them is going to attempt to bomb us."
"You think it is going to come to that?" Mike asked knowing that it was a foolish question. Russia, China, and North Korea all had the means of delivering a nuclear missile to the United States. The Cuban Missile Crisis of Kennedy fame had demonstrated that a country didn't need a missile program of its own to suddenly become a threat.
"I know it is going to come to that," Vincent said with a tired sigh.
Nodding his head, Mike said, "You don't like what the President is doing."
"It isn't a good way to make friends," Vincent said. After taking a drink of his beer, he said, "I know they took out the men who killed my little girl, but violating Canada's border like that was wrong. Canada might have some problems with us, but it has always been a valuable ally."
"I agree," Mike said. The current phase of operations bothered him, but he didn't have a better plan. That was the real problem with dealing with other countries. There was never a great plan that satisfied everyone, just plans that were barely acceptable to the few that had to make the decision. He said, "We are killing men who are willing to die in order to kill Americans. The real question is if Americans have to die in the process. I think a lot of the world believes that Americans deserve to die."
"We're not convincing them otherwise."