Sons of Abraham: Pawns of Terror (12 page)

“That’s true,” Garber muttered, slowly opening his weary eyes. “But I don’t think we can spend all of our resources chasing ghosts. This is just one more reason to get Homeland Security off the ground. The sooner we start protecting our own, the sooner we can sniff out trouble from within.”

Jana Wilkes thought hard about the repercussions of having Homeland Security digging its new claws into the sides of the government. There had been a time in the past when DHS stretched out across America, pissing on the people as it sought to protect their borders and national security. The people on the inside of the governmental structure understood full well what DHS was doing, but the uneducated public was easily swayed by the voices crying out foul from every social media outlet. She wished that the days of social media controlling the population had been left in the past, but new forms of outlets continued to rise and fall in every generation. As soon as one media outlet collapsed, another was ready in its wake. There had been a hundred year span when the government used this outlet to their advantage, having strategic planners act as media criers, swaying the public’s opinion in their favor when the situation deemed it necessary. Like all good things, the lid had been blown off the project, leading to another fifty years of the people not trusting their government. That was the state the country was in when America had been abandoned due to disease outbreaks, war, and famine. The greatest country, supposedly, had been turned into a third world nation within the next generation, just before the Cybers had been born. She wondered how THAT government would handle a situation such as this.

Another thought crossed her mind. The DHS would start to look within the government for possible breaches. That would make her sessions with her blackmailers all the more difficult. If she were discovered, she’d be charged with treason and possibly executed. She doubted she could do anything for her daughter’s safety from beyond the grave. She needed to stall this forming of the DHS until she had the situation under control, but the President’s urging to have the matter resolved quickly was leaving her little opportunity to change the stubborn man’s mind.

“How does the council feel about reestablishing the DHS?” she asked. “I know it’s considered an internal matter, as in not requiring the approval of the council, but I believe it would help public opinion, as well as government approval if the council sided with your suggestion.”

“It IS an internal issue,” Garber snapped. “Besides, what would the council care about it? I’ve already spoken with King Isom, so Parasus is with us. Eden doesn’t care for anything that happens outside of their smug atmosphere, Mesa can barely control their own people, and the rest of the planets are too far out to be affected by this. Our own government, however, is a different story. We don’t NEED their approval to start the DHS, but it would certainly help.”

“I can get the ball rolling on that,” Gates started. “I could share our new training program with them, showing how we are preparing to fight the Cybers and protect our cities. It’ll take a lot more than just a few videos and progression statements to sway them, but it’d be a start.”

“I still want to know how we reached this point,” Garber replied. “I’ve racked my brain repeatedly, trying to find a reason anyone would have for attacking us. Why make such a public display of it? Why not just have the Cybers leave, if it was really about their liberation? Why go through all the trouble and shed so much blood just to prove a small point? I know this is just the tip of the spear, but there isn’t much left the Earth has to be taken away from us. We import our food, our spacecraft, and the majority of useful technologies. There were a few technologies mentioned this morning that someone may possibly want, but they have to know that those techs died along with the Cyber that created them. The planets practically BEGGED us to intervene on interplanetary disputes. We’ve followed the laws and a request of every planet, with the exception of Joseph’s killing of Lord Elsmere of course. Still, if they were retaliating for that, they would have started by killing him, not by trying to take him to safety. None of this makes any sense.”

“Since when did terrorism EVER make sense to anyone besides the terrorists?” Wilkes added. “There were centuries of people bombing their own land over religious disputes and killing women because they didn’t cover their faces in public. Tell me how you expect a terrorist to make sense to us?”

“Those attacks made more sense than you realize,” Gates offered. “The women who were attacked were acting out against their customs. The same thing happened in other countries, leading to what some religions saw as vulgarity and displays of sexualism. The men and women who attacked them didn’t want their cities or countries to fall victim to modern culture. The same could be said over religious disputes. Many of them didn’t want their religions caving to the changes of the Western world. Some of them were attempting to keep other religions off their sacred lands. It doesn’t make sense to you because you’ve never had those old beliefs instilled upon you as a child. It is possible that not every planet wanted the Earth to intervene in disputes. The news feeds from other streams is filled with protestors of the Military Advisory and Interplanetary Investigative Units from Earth. Some planets adopted laws prohibiting Cybers from stepping foot off their ships, including our ally King Isom. I think that Garber needs to ask the council’s opinion of this intervention. If aiding other planets is what led to this attack, and possibly more attacks, then maybe the council should start handling the disputes themselves.”

“We can’t allow that,” Garber snapped. “Earth has little to offer our sister planets as it is. If we start to withdraw our aid then other planets may stop sending us resources. If we were left to fend for ourselves, we’d starve within a year. The internal wars of old would fire up again as the remaining nations would annihilate each other over the few acres of productive soil left on the planet. The west side of the planet is nearly abandoned, save South America and the northern tundra of Canada. Europe and Asia left the planet centuries ago, only leaving a few million where billions once lived. We’ve managed to produce crops here in Africa and a few other countries, but not enough to sustain the population. If we are cut off, we die. It’s just that simple.”

“Maybe that’s what the terrorist want,” Gates replied. “If we have no resources to be taken, then what else is there? I’ve heard the talks from the dignitaries when they come here to the capital. I hear them pissing and moaning about how the Earth is the biggest crutch of the galaxy, how their planets could progress if they weren’t constantly keeping the mother world alive. We’re an elder mother in a nursing home and the grandchildren are getting tired of taking care of us.”

“So we should just pull the plug and die, is that what you’re saying?” Wilkes said, pursing her lips. “Cut off the nose to save the face. Does that about sum it up for you, Gates?”

She knew she sounded ignorant, but she was getting desperate. She needed Colonel Gates to vacate the room so she could talk Garber into postponing the development of Homeland Security for as long as she could. She needed time to convince the blackmailers that the technology they sought was no longer accessible. She wanted to ensure her daughter’s safety, perhaps even her own safety if she could manage. None of that would be possible so long as Andrew remained in the room. The man had a temper and she intended on exploiting it.

“What the hell is your problem?” Gates asked, laying his large hands out on the table. “You’ve undermined me at every turn. Establishing the DHS will go long ways towards securing this country, perhaps even the planet. I can’t fathom why you keep sabotaging the suggestion.”

“It’s because she doesn’t trust you,” Garber added. “As Jana pointed out, the public sees you as the face of the Cyber program. Unfortunately, the Vice President has a habit of saying the word ‘public’ or ‘government’ when she means herself.”

Jana’s face turned red as her jacket as she turned away from the two men before her. Garber had a habit of talking about her as if she wasn’t in the room, even in front of important people such as dignitaries from other planets. She often wondered if he’d treated her late husband the same as he treated her.

“I see no point in hiding my beliefs,” Wilkes muttered. “He’s right, I don’t trust you. Unless you are cleared of any involvement with the Cyber attacks, I will never sign a document declaring you the head of a janitorial committee, let alone Homeland Security. You should be held in a cell until your innocence is proven, but what do I know.”

“That’ll be all Andrew,” Garber declared, rising from his seat.

Gates opened his mouth in protest but realized that the President needed a moment in private with his Vice President. He closed his lips, taking it upon himself to shake Garber’s hand before exiting the room. The President waited until the door was securely shut before he faced Jana.

“Have you completely lost your mind?” Gates shouted. “Colonel Gates is the only man I’d trust to take on the Cybers. The fact that you belittle him, right in front of me no less, is an insult to him, to me, and to YOUR position. What the hell were you even thinking? Do you think before you open that trap of yours, or do you just vomit the words out so you don’t choke on them?”

Wilkes rose from the table, using her backside to shove the chair out from behind her. She stormed to the taller man, preparing to unleash every ounce of frustration she’d faced since the mysterious people first started using her as their puppet. It’d been too long since she was able to act on ideas that were her own choosing, and not from some blackmailer using her family’s well-being against her.

“I’m saving your ass damn it!” she hissed. “Do you have any idea what will happen when you bring up Homeland Security? That alone will be impossible for the government to swallow, and it’ll implode when you announce that Andrew Gates will be in charge of it. They’ll hang you out to dry, James. It’s my fucking job to make sure that you’re making logical decisions and I’d be failing you if I simply let you see this through.”

“For all your talk,” he started. “I’m yet to hear anything useful come from your mouth. What would you have me do, just sit here and do nothing? Some of those people slaughtered in that courtroom were friends of mine. I owe it to them, and their families to find out who is behind this and end their sorry asses. So go ahead, Jana. You’re so damn brilliant and mindful. Tell me what you would do.”

Deep down, she knew the man to be right. The capital needed to improve its security, and the DHS would be a grand step in the right direction, given that it didn’t ruffle too many feathers. It was impossible to claim he was wrong, especially when she knew exactly what the attackers wanted. She wanted nothing more than to tell him about the blackmail, to tell him what the attackers wanted. She’d be in a cell before the sun went down if she had, and her daughter would be a step closer to exile from Eden. She pictured her daughter, safe, living blissfully on the safest planet in the galaxy. She’d sworn an oath to the people of the planet, but her motherly instincts outweighed any words she’d spoken. There was little left for her to do now.

“We give the attackers a false pretense,” she started. “Make a public appearance, declaring our need of aid from the other planets. Have the media put the murdered people’s faces on the stream, add sympathy to our cause. While all of that is going on, you can take a deep breath and get some rest. You’re exhausted, we all are. NONE of us is thinking clearly anymore. When you’ve had a good night’s sleep, revisit our options. Bring the advisors in here as well as the government. Let them hash it out for once instead of taking it all on yourself. You’re one man James. You ARE the President, not the King. Go home and get some sleep. Have someone follow Gates for a while, have them dig into his activities. Even if it’s just to humor me, do it. Whatever you find, or don’t find, will only help make the transition easier. See if someone else calls out the need for tighter security and THEN suggest DHS. If you do it now, you do it alone.”

President James Garber raised a hand to his eyes, trying to rub away the exhaustion. The reminder of his lack of sleep did nothing to add energy to his body. The more the Vice President spoke, the more exhausted he became. Still, he found it difficult to argue her logic.

“I’m sorry I called you out in front of him,” he started. “You just aggravate the hell out of me sometimes. You’re right, though, I could use some rest, as could you and everyone else. I’ll call a meeting, but I want the council involved as well. I just want one shot to throw everything on the table. Maybe someone from Mesa or Parasus knows something we don’t. I’ll try it your way, but don’t think that means I’m giving up on the DHS, or Andrew Gates.”

“He’s the right man for the job,” she admitted. “I just want him cleared from this mess is all.”

Garber nodded, looking out to the sky from the windows. The busy bees continued their work as though nothing was the matter. He knew long after he was retired, or even after he was dead, that the bees would continue to mind the hive.

“We ALL need to be cleared,” he muttered.

5 CHAPTER five

Sargent Bearden and Corporal James had barely managed to reach the crossroads from the Tower when a group of soldiers stomped by. They cowered behind the door to a storage room, allowing for the sweeping death to miss them by seconds. The pistol in Janys’ hand had seven shots left, the assault rifle had twenty-five. If they were caught, they’d barely last a minute in another gunfight. They had no plan to follow, their only decision was to get themselves clear from the trap they were in. A quick glance of the map told them that they would be cornered if they stayed in the Tower, with no other exit except for the tunnel leading back to the rest of the facility. The storm brewing outside made it impossible to use an exterior door. The fact that the Cybers had destroyed one of the two exterior exits left them little choice other than to backtrack to the main halls and try to lay low while they figured a way out of their predicament.