were quartered in the barracks.
The company was getting closer to Freedom Earned with just a few loose ends to tie up before it began. One loose end had brought the senator out here. It must have been important to take him out of Washington this close to zero hour. Well, all I can do, he thought, is to get ready for the ride back. His thoughts were interrupted when the special ops officer called to him. “Your bird’s ready to go whenever you are.”
“Thanks, appreciate the effort,” he replied.
*****
They took the senator directly to Colonel Duncan’s office. Time was critical, and he wasted no time on him.
“Well, Duncan, have you found our missing intruder and his friend?”
The senator was very troubled; they were on the eve of Operation Freedom Earned, and this had to happen. Before they could go on, all the loose ends had to be tied up. It was of the essence they completed everything by the 30th or they could lose the initiative. It would be some time before they would have another window of opportunity.
“No, Senator. We have two crews out now looking for them, and our forces are on alert. They seem to have dropped out of sight, but we do have the girl. They picked her up this afternoon in Lafayette and should be arriving soon. A chopper is shuttling them down now. Maybe we can get something out of them when they arrive.”
“I don’t have to tell you how important this is,” the senator said. “Everything at this moment hinges on stopping them from reporting any of this to the police. If any of this gets out, it could set us back years. We must protect it at any cost, Colonel. When they arrive, call me. I’ll be in my quarters. One other thing, has the stealth data come in yet?”
“No, sir. We are still waiting for touchdown. When it’s on the ground, I’ll call you.”
“Have you reported this to Alpha One yet?”
“No, sir. We haven’t.”
“Sir, don’t you—”
The senator held up his hand, stopping him midsentence. “Colonel, I’ll decide when it’s time to bring the council and Alpha One in on what’s happened. It’s my responsibility, not yours.”
“Yes, sir.” Duncan knew when it was time to hold back. He would give the senator a little more time. Then he would alert both Alpha One and the council about the problem. Right now though he needed a little more time for his crew to find Calvin Varner and Marion Albertson. Hopefully the girl would help.
The colonel leaned back, lit his cigar, and started going over his emergency notification list, ticking off the numbers of the alert crews and support base commanders. If anything went wrong, the abort phase would need to be started immediately. He reached over and pulled his computer keyboard to him. He opened his alert channel and keyed in his security codes. Once inside, he brought up the preprogrammed dialing list and started entering the numbers. Within seconds of being activated, they would notify the support bases and they would begin the abort phase.
The colonel thought for a moment. If we wanted the country back so decent people could walk the streets again at any hour, be it man, woman, or child of any race or creed, if we expected to receive good health, food, and decent jobs, well then, we have to succeed.
A knock on the door brought the colonel out of his thoughts. “Yes?”
“Colonel, we have installed all the proximity sensors in the areas you requested. I set up a couple of TV cameras on the southeast and southwest perimeters as requested. Although we didn’t think we would ever need them there, but with an imminent threat looking at us, well, I thought that being safe sir might be prudent.”
“Thank you and especially for your attention to details,” replied Colonel Duncan. “Call me when the senator arrives. I’ll be in my quarters.”
“Yes, sir.”
Chapter 6
The Decision
Revolutionary Council, Command Center
Washington DC
“Gentlemen, Colonel Duncan has notified us of a serious problem. Infiltrators may have compromised the integrity of our California base. I have had Senator Forthright on the hotline from there, and he has advised us to put our initial implementation date on hold until they can clear up this problem.”
“General, what exactly do you mean by ‘serious’ problem, and if it is serious, don’t you think it would be prudent to move our dates up and not back? We have come too far to turn back now. The country is in a state of near anarchy. We must be ready to fight if we expect to win. Those liberals in all parties on the hill are giving us away faster than we can count to ten.”
Perry Newcomb, senior member of the House of Representatives and one of several conservative Democrats serving in the House, was an old FDR and Harry Truman fan.
“Perry, we have the situation under control and are working on the problem. We don’t want to move before all our forces are in place. What we are doing is as close to treason as we can get. At this time, we must take control immediately, if we are to succeed. To move ahead now could cause us to fail. No, we need a little more time to bring this to a head.”
He was a staunch Democrat of the old school and was appalled by the excessive attitude of the House and what had happened to the country and the constitution. Their lust to give and give and give without those receiving to repay or contribute was appalling. He knew the only way to restore the country’s constitutional rights was to move against the administration and the Congress. He could see it was the only way to free the people and regain the eroded world leadership. It was decided—establishing a new order within was necessary. The new world order could not be a part of the country or the American people. All borders must be reestablished and then a referendum taken to settle the inclusion of both foreign nations as a part of the United States of America. If any one nation voted against the issue, it would become null and void, and the borders would be reestablished as before. At that point, all illegal aliens would be turned back from the borders and all found in the country deported. America and her people must come first.
America must reopen her factories with jobs available for all. Perry was in this to liberate the country from the foreign domination that was taking place and to restore law and order. He was a man convinced. They were tearing the country apart, and no one cared. Well, he and the council did. If the Congress, the administration, and judicial branches didn’t care, well, then they would have to go.
Perry questioned the general. “General, if this is a very serious problem, will we be in jeopardy from the military? Installations in the surrounding areas could affect our efforts.”
“No, all the installations in that area believe there is a special testing facility that is top secret, and they will pass all incoming aircraft through without hindrance.”
“Also,” the general continued, “we have managed to assign top operatives at each installation and assault personnel to take command when we reach zero hour.”
Perry was making notes of the general’s remarks and listening intently as the general continued. “As you know, we have many personnel ready to act when the time comes. We have scrutinized, planned all phases, and planned again to ensure our success. Gentlemen, we cannot
