The Fiery Trial Read online

  "Just something that I read once somewhere. Enoch Powell. English politician who warned that unchecked immigration would destroy that country. "Like the Roman I see the River Tiber foaming with much blood.""

  The Speaker stood and buttoned up his suit jacket.

  "I've always feared that this moment would come. Our problems were just too large, beyond the ability of the political system to cope with by ordinary measures. Sometimes, if you really want to protect something, then the only choice is to pick up a gun."

  "Ok," said the Speaker looking at Henry, "raise your volunteers."

  U.S. Central Command Forward Headquarters, Jerusalem

  "Jesus fucking Christ, what are they doing over there?" said General Dylan Mackenzie as the latest news from the homeland steamed into his Jerusalem headquarters.

  "The fuck if I know," replied General Kahn, "but it seems to be getting worse with every single passing hour."

  "There have been a few altercations about it among the troops," noted Brigadier General Gregory Talent, Central Command's Operations Officer, "but nothing that we haven't been able to control."

  "I'm more worried," said Brigadier General Casey, the intelligence officer, "about what happens if this financial situation continues. The government is running out of money to pay its bills. We have well over a quarter of a million Americans out here in the desert. If I was going to launch an all-out offensive, I might just do it at a time when it appears uncertain whether or not the government will be able to afford to resupply and move us."

  "We have the world's most powerful army sitting here," said Kahn, "I don't think that will be a problem."

  "With all due respect, General – that might be true enough for some things. We could probably seize food and fuel locally if we had to. Same for some medical supplies. But specialized spare parts? Computer gear? Prescription medicines? Those are all things that we purchase on a just-in-time basis."

  "We could barter," joked Talent, "an Abrams for a herd of cows and a horde of penicillin."

  "I think that we should plan for just that as a contingency, sir," said Casey.

  "I'm pretty sure that that's illegal," noted Mackenzie quietly.

  "If the U.S. Government goes bankrupt," replied Casey, "then I think that it's pretty much the law of the jungle out here."

  "Ok," said Mackenzie, "make contacts. Use the Israelis and maybe the Saudis. I think that's about all that we can trust. Speaking of dubious contingency plans, what sort of progress are we making on Deluge?"

  "The plans are about as well-designed as they can be," reported Kahn, "it's just a matter of how they'd play out in the real world, if they were to be activated."

  "Well," said Mackenzie slowly, "I suppose we might well find out soon enough."

  Ford House Office Building

  With the House Chamber still occupied by several hundred protestors, the Speaker and the rest of the Republican leadership had retreated to the Ford House Office Building across the street.

  "Mr. Speaker," said Michael Nelson, speaking slowly and deliberately, "I know that this is a difficult decision, but I also firmly believe that it's the only way."

  "I know that," said Rickover, "but this is momentous. I want to make certain that we are all on the same page and know what it is that we are getting into here. Some might classify this as an insurrection."

  The Speaker's words hung heavily over the room as the assembled members and staffers looked at the ground. Finally, Igor Kane, a Democratic Congressman from the Chicago suburbs who was one of the very few members of his party to have come to the meeting called by the Republican Speaker, stood.

  "Mr. Speaker, I know that this is an awful situation and that a terrible responsibility rests upon you and I know that I am speaking against the wishes of many members of my party. But I believe that the first act of physical violence was when a mob was permitted to storm the United States Capitol – an act that I can, very regrettably, only conclude was abetted and perhaps instigated by the President of the United States. The second act of violence against democracy and the Constitution occurred when the President of the United States refused to use force to defend the United States Congress from a mob. If we allow the operations of the Congress to be disrupted in this way, then do we really live in a democracy anymore? I am not so certain."

  "Well," said the Speaker after a long pause, "I don't think that anyone here can really argue against that. I am authorizing the operation."

  The Oval Office, The White House

  "Mr. President," said Jamal Anderson, "I don't think that we can put off this call much longer."

  "Well, fuck," replied President Bryan as he completed his lap around the room, "fine, put the fucking thing through."

  The President moved over to his desk and jumped into his chair with enough force that he sent it bouncing slightly off the ground.

  "Mr. President," came a voice through the speakerphone, "I'm glad that I've finally been able to get through here to you. Dan Hampton is on the line as well."

  The President scowled at the mention of the name of the President of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, but he maintained his outward reserve.

  "Great," said the President, "what have you got for me?"

  "Sir," said the Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, "I need to step outside of my normal role here and talk about what's going on in New York and in the world markets. This is catastrophic, Mr. President, and I believe that it will very soon become unrecoverable."

  "I am well aware of that, Mr. Chairman," said the President, "and that is why I have called upon the Congress to act..."

  "Mr. President," said the Fed Chair flatly, "we don't have time for posturing. I don't have time. This is financial armageddon that we're facing here. At the rate that the losses are piling up, we're going to have people flinging themselves from the fucking windows en masse in a few hours. Let's be straight: you tried to bounce the Congress and it isn't working..."

  "No, Mr. Chairman – I have the people with me. Why, have you seen their rage as expressed on the streets? A mob stormed the House of Representatives today..."

  "Mr. President, we both know that there are plenty of people on either side of this thing... And you have more of an ability to compromise than they do at this point. Especially given, as you mentioned, that that mob – whomever instigated it – just stormed the Capitol."

  "Mr. Chairman, you are overstepping your bounds here..."

  "You have no truer political friend than I, Mr. President. I was the college roommate of your predecessor. No one wants your success more than I do, sir, but I have to tell you that the reality today is very grim. I must tell you that the opinion of more than a few members of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve is that the only solution to this impasse is to see you removed from office..."

  "All exponents of change meet resistance. Fierce, even suicidal resistance – as this shall be for your sort of people!" shouted the President into the phone.

  "No, Mr. President," insisted the Fed Chair, "I believe in your policy objectives – and so do a lot of the other people here – but this is just the wrong way of going about getting them. Stretching the Constitution first and then simply trying to drive over any opposition. You've provoked too much of a reaction and now the situation has become very dangerous indeed. I would not be surprised, if this continues to play out the way that it has, to see major Democrats coming out for your impeachment, sir. Reluctantly, to be sure, because we all admire your policy stances – but as a practical matter, when it comes down to members of the Fortune 500 being able to make payroll in two weeks or not... It becomes a very complicated matter, Mr. President."

  "Coward," spat the President.

  "Excuse me?" said the Chairman.

  "You heard me," said the President, "you're a fucking coward. Fuck you and all of your crowd, if that's the way that you want this to go. So be it."

  The President slammed down the phone and looke
d up to see a grim-faced Jamal Anderson standing over his desk.

  U.S. Capitol

  Representative Jack Hawkins was one of the one hundred and sixteen members of the House of Representatives and Senate who was young and fit enough and who had the requisite experience to join the so-called "Congressional Provisional Battalion" that was now being organizes by the ex-Special Forces soldiers who Jacob Henry had brought down to the Capitol.

  Looking upon the videos from the House Chamber, Hawkins earnestly wished that he had a gun. Seeing the United States Capitol outraged by a filthy mob of worthless wretches had filled him with an unquenchable rage, unlike any that he had felt in years. When he had joined the Army after September 11th, Hawkins had wanted more than anything else to serve his country – and to be seen doing so, should he later decide to run for public office. However, while over there, he had discovered a truth about himself that he had previously only suspected: not only was he good at killing people, he actually enjoyed it. This was a rare quality among combat leaders and it made him both incredibly proficient and intermittently a liability to his senior officers.

  Now, watching the protestors, it was difficult for Hawkins to think of anything more than killing them. Everyone who Hawkins had previously killed had been killed at a distance: a bullet fired across hundreds of yards. Looking at the people who had violated the Capitol, Hawkins could not hold back his desire to inflict a much-more personal form of death upon them. He wished to grab one by the neck and to hold on, merciless and unbending, as life passed out of the eyes of the criminal in his hands. He wanted them to know who had done it and why. This, he believed, would be truly the work of the Lord.

  "We need to execute this without shooting anyone," said the trainer, "no guns. We're not issuing them and I'm telling you now: don't bring them into the chamber with you. Gas first – then batons. Just like we planned it. Got it?"

  Hundreds of pro-Administration protestors had been "occupying" the majority of the Capitol Building for hours now. The DC Police refused to come. The military and Federal law enforcement remained under the command of the President. The Capitol Police – at least those members willing to participate in the retaking of the complex – were too small a force to conduct such an operation. That meant that the Congress itself had to move – and move fast – if it was to take back control of the situation.

  "Alright," said the retired Marine Gunnery Sergeant who was leading the operation, "let's go."

  The protestors had had the foresight to blockade the lower-level door into the House Chamber, but someone had obtained several strongly-built benches to use as battering rams. As the first assault teams began to move towards the primary door, a group of one hundred men and women – a mix of members of the Capitol Police and civilian volunteers with military or law enforcement experience – moved through the upper corridor towards the viewing gallery. As the posse moved forward they began to make a liberal use of tear gas and pepper spray, tossing the tear gas canisters forward and deploying the spray against anyone who attempted to approach them too closely.

  Congressman Hawkins hung further back, standing alongside a second team of one hundred and fifty men and women who were equipped with zip ties and other materials necessary for detaining the incapacitated protestors and then physically removing them from the House of Representatives. From his position on the lower floor he could hear the sounds of a struggle emanating from upstairs, but received no individual update as to the progress of the assault.

  Once the upstairs wave of the assault reached the doors to the viewing gallery, the more hard-core protestors had begun to prepare themselves to mount a defense. Having anticipated the possibility that some police force would make a heavy use of chemical agents in order to eject with a minimum level of force, many of these protestors had equipped themselves with improvised gas masks. To counter this, the Congressional Provisional Battalion had been equipped with police-issued batons and tasers. The protestors didn't have any tasers: but they did have bats and other blunt objects that could be transformed by a mere change of intent into improvised weapons.

  Jonathan Layton was one of the protestors armed with such a weapon: a baseball bat in his own case. Later some would raise this fact as evidence of his own ill intent: why did the twenty-one-year-old man from Montpellier have a bat if he did not intend to commit acts of violence? No one has ever been able to establish the clear provenance of the bat that he was holding that morning, through multiple theories exist. That he had a bat and swung it at the provisionals has been more than established and verified by both photographic and video evidence.

  Mary Elizabeth Gibbon was a twenty-four-year-old student from Lexington, KY who had previously served in the U.S. Army and was working in the office of Representative Evelyn Greenwich as a Deputy Press Secretary. Based upon her previous service, she was one of the first people to volunteer for service in the Provisional Battalion. Based upon her proficiency as demonstrated during the very abbreviated training and organization period, she was assigned to the team responsible for taking back the upper floor in order to saturate the House Chamber with gas in order to permit an orderly retaking of the lower floor. Though smart and tough, she was also slight: it was anticipated that the people in the lower-level of the House would be required to physically drag multiple individuals out.

  As the members of the Provisional Battalion moved towards the doors to the House Gallery, wading through a cloud of CS gas, Layton charged in the direction of the masked Gibbon, preparing to swing his bat at her. Gibbon held her ground and fired upon Layton with the X26 Taser that she had been issued from the Capitol Police's stocks.

  Tasers are, of course, generally an excellent non-lethal option for subduing an attacker. However, in the case of Mr. Layton, it was later disclosed that he suffered from a congenital heart defect. The use of the taser against him triggered instant cardiac arrest. Perhaps he would have lived had he received instant medical attention, but the Provisional Battalion had a job to do and so, in what some would later argue was an atrocity and others would view as the reasonable punishment of a just God, Layton was left to die alone on the floor.

  In minutes the men and women of the provisional battalion were pushing their way through the hallway towards the entrance to the gallery. With their tactical batons and shielded by a cloud of gas they were able to batter their way forward. When the protestors moved forward they struck them again and again, battering them to the ground with one deeply satisfying thwack after another. Finally, after what seemed to be an eternity but was in fact fewer than five minutes, they pushed their way through to the gallery and began to hurl canisters of CS gas into the lower portion of the chamber, covering the protestors on the floor of the House with a visible cloud.

  As soon as the members of the provisional battalion took control of the gallery back, the men and women on the lower floor broke down the door of the House and charged on through. The protestors in the floor had had more time to prepare and many of them were wearing protective gear. Hawkins swung his baton furiously as a masked protestor charged towards him, making contact with his chin and sending the man flying backwards. Another protestor ran towards the Congressman. Hawkins, remembering his years playing football, firmly planted his feet against the ground and allowed the man to impact him. Once he did he grabbed hold of him and wrestled him to the ground, using his free hand to pummel him. The enraged Congressman threw blow after blow against the man with his baton, not being able to do as much damage as he would have liked due to their close physical proximity.

  "Motherfucker!" the Congressman screamed as he managed to gain the upper hand in the fight, standing up and continuing to strike the prone man who now retreated into a fetal position.

  U.S. House of Representatives

  As soon as the members of the provisional battalion had gained control of the House Chamber, every possible window as opened and fans were brought in to clear out the tremendous quantity of gas that had been used during the opera
tion. Members of the Capitol Police and the Congressional Provisional Battalion were positioned to prevent a further break-in into the Capitol itself. Zip-tied protestors were left to sit in the Capitol basement as the bodies of the two protestors who had been killed during the retaking of the House Chamber were discreetly moved into a dis-used freezer in the cafeteria of one of the buildings that collectively made up the Library of Congress.

  Citing the deaths, which it had been decided prudent to immediately disclose, the majority of the Democratic members of the House were refusing to attend the emergency session that had been called by the Speaker.

  "It is impossible for decent human beings to sit quietly alongside those who would murder innocent protestors merely seeking to exercise their most fundamental of rights," said the House Minority Leader in a statement.

  The Speaker's office announced that the Speaker would respond in an address to the American people in two hours.

  "You know," the Speaker said quietly to Nelson and the other operatives in the Ford Building, "I don't know if a speech from the floor of the House is quite right for this occasion.

  "What do you have in mind?" asked Nelson.

  "Well," said the Speaker, "if the Democrats are going to boycott anyways... We can kind of do what we want."

  Thus, two hours later, the Speaker found himself in the unusual place of waiting outside of the House chamber as a telegenic Congresswoman from Kentucky, chosen especially for the occasion, gaveled the House into session on one side of the Capitol as, over on the other side, the junior Senator from Maine did the same.

  "Therefore, be it enacted by the House of Representatives and the Senate of the United States of America in Congress assembled," read the Clerk of the House, "a Joint Resolution inviting the Hon. Terrance Rickover, Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, to address a Joint Meeting of Congress on the events of recent days as soon as it is practicable for him to do so."

  As soon as the yeas and nays were called for, a mighty roar of approval rose up from the floor of the House as a gratified Rickover looked on in the distance.