Revenge in the Homeland (10 page)

They all started speaking at one time and Gus had to calm them down. There was a mixture of happiness and confusion felt by his daughters.

“Girls, your Mom has been gone for over a year. The world was turned upside down when TSHTF. There are two women for every man in the ISA. One beautiful young lady thought that an old ugly man like me was worth pursuing. She chased me down until I caught her. She has two young kids and we are very happy. She is a Black woman and the daughter of our Vice president. I love her and as I said, we plan to marry in the fall. I am sorry to spring this on you, but we haven’t exactly been able to pick up the phone and chit chat.”

Gail spoke up and said, “Dad, how old is this young woman? You said young several times.”

“Ginny is older than Pat and younger than you.”

“Dad, you are marring a 22 year old woman?”

“Yep.”

Angela said, “You old dog. We don’t want to lose our Dad to a heart attack!”

Gail turned and gave Angela a stare that could melt steel, “That’s not funny.”

Gus said, “So the Black part doesn’t bother anyone?”

“Dad you raised us better than that. Still, I’m not calling a girl that young, Mom.”

“Deal.”

“Deal.”

“Dad, when do we get to meet Ginny and our stepbrother and sister?”

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Chapter 12

John was taking a shower when the secure satellite phone rang. He fumbled around, grabbed a towel, dried his hands and grabbed the phone.

“This is John Harris.”

“Sir, this is the Admiral’s Chief of Staff.”

“William, I know your voice by now. What can I do for the Admiral?”

“The Admiral requests that you and the First Lady bring your staff and their significant others to the Ford on Wednesday. We will pick you up in the courtyard at 1700 and serve dinner aboard ship at 1900. The Admiral has a brief meeting and some fireworks planned to kick off the new project.”

“Tell him thanks for the invitation and we will be ready on time. There will be ten total people to transport.”

“Thank you sir.”

John and his senior staff had been briefed on the “New Project” and he liked the idea of a kick off meeting, but why bring the wives? He knew the brief meeting was to discuss the Corpus Christie battle plan, but wondered what the fireworks could consist of. He couldn’t imagine roman Candles and firecrackers being set off on the Ford.”

He finished dressing and went to the kitchen to find Beth nursing Jenn and Randy and Kristie reading. Kristie was still recovering from the attack on the Bunker and still hobbling around on crutches. Jenn stopped feeding and fell asleep in her mother’s arms.

“Beth, I believe that baby eats all day and night. She will be an Amazon Warrior when she grows up to be a woman. Men and beasts will fear her.”

“She will need to be strong in this post-apocalyptic world that we find ourselves in today. Seriously John, I want her to be highly educated and trained in all facets of survival, weapons and military tactics. We need to push more training on Little Gus, Lindsey, Randy and Kristie to help them cope when we are gone. I want my family to all be as strong as Scott and you are. Everyone has to be a soldier in our country. Those attacks on Port Arthur and the Bunker demonstrated that we all have to be able to defend ourselves at all times.”

She pulled her Ruger SR9 out of Jenn’s diaper bag to demonstrate that she was ready.

Kristie spoke up to say, “Mom, you act like we aren’t in the room. I’m 17 and Randy is 15. We both have been trained how to shoot pistols and M4s. We both start taking turns on guard duty for the Compound at 18. Our daily schoolwork includes courses on everything from first aid to survival in the woods. Service in the National Guard is now mandatory so we will get even more training.”

“Darling I know all of that, but these are difficult times and I know that all of us will see more combat in our lifetimes. I just want you to be able to take care of yourselves.”

John turned to Beth and said, “The Admiral has invited us to the Ford for dinner and fireworks this Wednesday. Kristie can watch Jenn and we can have a night out on a warship. Sounds romantic.”

“Why the fireworks? What are we celebrating?

John and Beth arrived at the helipad ten minutes early and joined Gus, Ginny, George, Shirley, Steve, Janet, Sally and her boyfriend.

The men were in suits without ties and the women were wearing dresses, but no high heels. All were armed with various pistols and knives. They were all joking about it being just another night out on the town in post-apocalyptic America.

George spoke up first, “Ginny, you look so beautiful. Gus, for an old fart, you clean up pretty good also.”

“Thanks Daddy. You look pretty good and Shirley is gorgeous.”

John gave them a frown, “I need you two to behave in front of the Admiral. My Secretary of Defense and Vice President should at least act like adults in front of the head of the entire ISA military.”

Gus and George were best of friend, but loved to needle each other any chance they got. Since Gus was engaged to George’s daughter Ginny the “Daddy” comment brought swift retaliation from George.

“I will behave if you can get that old man to behave. Hey, someone bring a wheelchair and a hot toddy for poor old Gus. We don’t want him to pass out waiting on our ride.”

Even John laughed at those comments. Ginny laughed and gave Gus a big kiss.

“Mom, put a muzzle on Dad and make him act like he is a vice president.”

The helicopter arrived and they all enjoyed the flight out to the Ford.

The helicopter circled the Ford just before landing and all could see crewmen still repairing the damage from the nuclear blasts. Several large antennae were being hoisted into place for installation. They were taken through a security checkpoint and asked to turn over their arms before proceeding to their rooms.

“Ensign, is this a new security procedure?”

“Yes, Mr. President. You and the Vice president may keep your arms, but I have to have all of the others. The Admiral increased security across the board after the attack. We are vigilant for any possible threat.”

“Thanks. We don’t like handing over our guns, but I do understand.”

***

“Captain, what is the status of our drones and our targets?

“Sir, we have at least two drones covering each target and a satellite over the sub base. We are ready to launch at a minutes notice. The optimum time will be in 97 minutes.”

“That’s all and thanks for the update. Paul, send for my guests. We will eat and then assemble on the deck for the launches.”

***

Pablo Cortez was in bed with his mistress when the phone rang.

“Senior, your car will be here in 60 minutes.”

“Thanks, I will be gone for an additional day. Take a couple of days off and take the wife and kids to the beach house and have a short vacation. I will be back there on Monday and will need you back by then. Take my car; I will take the helicopter to the airport.”

“Pablo, come back to bed and I will give you something to remember me while you are gone to Paraguay.”

He took his clothes off and went back to bed. They finished in 15 minutes and Pablo was very glad he went back to bed. He gave her a kiss, dressed and walked out to the courtyard and stepped into his helicopter. Just at the last minute, he told the helicopter to leave without him and to come back in two hours. She not only left him thinking about her, but he also wanted more of her. He started back though the underground tunnel when he heard explosions from the courtyard.

Pablo’s aide left in Pablo’s car just as soon as Pablo told him that he could leave. They arrived at his house when suddenly his house exploded.

***

“Ladies and gentlemen, I am pleased that you could join me for dinner this evening. I hear congratulations are in order for Steve, Gus and their fiancées.”

He raised his glass and gave a toast, “May you live happy and productive lives. May you be blessed with peace and tranquility. Now let’s eat and afterwards, I’ll tell you all about the fireworks.”

The Admiral caught Gus off to the side with John and said, “Gus that is a very beautiful young lady that you are marrying. Would you like our doctors to check you out before your honeymoon? We don’t need the Secretary of Defense having a heart attack right after getting married to such a stunning young lady.”

Gus poked John in the side and said, “I know that you put him up to this you dirty dog. I had enough trouble telling my daughters about Ginny.”

“That’s Mr. President Dirty Dog to you.”

The Admiral turned serious for a minute and asked, “How soon can you be ready to take Corpus Christie?”

“Sir we are moving troops into the area as we speak. The plan was to begin operations in two days.

“That’s what I was told. After our fireworks show, you will be itching to start tonight.”

They finished eating and the Admiral banged a spoon on his crystal wine glass to get their attention.

“Ladies and gentlemen, we are now going topside to watch our fleet respond to the vicious attack on our fleet and the citizens of the ISA.”

They followed the Admiral to an elevator and were quickly in the control room.

“There are 120 aircraft, 33 ships and 6 land bases that will be launching missiles or dropping bombs on our enemies. The UN and Chupacabras will be decimated in 31 minutes. Yow will see missiles launched for over 15 minutes. We have timed the launches to have all missiles hit their targets at the same time. Then stealth bombers will pound any targets that we still feel need attention. There will be six nuclear bombs launched tonight. Four are aimed at the major UN bases that are preparing to invade the Northwest USA and two will take out most of the Cabra’s command and control plus the Iranian sub base.”

Just as he finished speaking, they saw bright flashes above several ships posted around the Ford and then saw streaks of fire leaping away from the ships. The flashes and streaks of fire were beautiful against the darkness of the night. They could see flashes from Mobile and all around them.

Beth spoke, “Admiral, even though I know that these beautiful flashes of fire will mean death to thousands of our enemy, I can’t help but be proud of the men and women of our fleet for suffering through such a devastating attack and rebounding so quickly to deliver swift and deadly justice to our enemies. I might add that I never supported the UN, but I never thought that it would be taken over by radical Islam and become a force for evil.”

Everyone applauded.

The flashes stopped and the Admiral said, “We have fifteen minutes before the first missile hits its target. I will spend the time reflecting on the people lost on our side and pray for the souls of our enemy who we are sending to hell tonight. I must add that we should feel a small shock and may see the sky light up a bit in that direction. There isn’t a cloud in the sky so there is nothing to block the light from the closest blast.”

There was silence and then there was a faint glow for a few seconds towards the southwest, followed later by medium sized waves rocking the ship. Then it was over.

The Admiral said, “That was the Iranian sub base on the coast of Mexico. Our intel suggests that we caught all of the major Iranian military leaders in the attack. This means that the old Islamic radical Iran no longer exists. Now we wait for damage assessments to roll in from our drones, aircraft and satellites.”

Reports started coming in at a frantic pace and the Admiral gave updates as they came to him.

“The UN bases in Libya and Egypt were totally destroyed. The UN offices in a dozen cities located in enemy countries have been demolished Still waiting on more intel on the UN.”

They were all discussing the potential ramifications from the attacks when the Admiral cleared his throat and said, “The Iranian sub-base and the Cabra’s main compound in Paraguay has been obliterated as we had hoped. Our missiles also hit Cortez’s home, office and all vehicles that he usually uses for transportation. We will not be able to verify his death until we hear from our moles in his organization.”

An aide handed the Admiral another message.

“Good news. We caught the UN fleet at sea about 500 miles from Oregon and sank every one of their ships. They were carrying over 20,000 troops aimed at attacking and taking Oregon and Washington State. Their intention was to take them back for the USA and use them as a base to regain North and South Dakota. We also shot down over sixty aircraft that were bringing paratroopers to Oregon. They are all at the bottom of the Pacific. We lost one F-18 in that attack and that is our only loss so far."

Beth was listening to the Admiral when a thought came to her, “Are any munition plants still in operation? We don’t have an unlimited supply of missiles and bombs, do we?”

“That is a great observation. We only have a limited supply of all munitions. That is true. We do have several small arms and artillery ammunition plants back in operation at a reduced capacity. Many of these plants were looted just to get the loose ammo lying around, however the machinery is still in working shape and your husband’s team has been bringing whole factories full of equipment to Northern Alabama to set up a manufacturing center close to the TVA dam at Muscle Shoals. One of Steve’s challenges will be to provide manpower and security for this crucial project. I also have the military guarding all of the major manufacturing sites for missiles, nuclear, and conventional bombs until John’s team can either get them in operation or move them to more secure locations.”

Beth smiled, “That makes me feel much better.”

“I believe you all know that we control 95 percent of the military stock piles of all types of vehicles, weapons, gear and fuel. Since we are below 20 percent of what our manpower was pre-TSHTF we have enough to last way beyond our ability to get these factories back in operation. In addition, we are working with the Pacific Coast States to accomplish many of the same goals. They are a partner and ally, but don’t like our conservative ways so they want their own separate country.”

***