It Spreads

(U.S. Army National Guard Photo by Sgt. Jeremy Bratt)

"Bertram."

Rear Admiral Theodore Bertram, U.S. Navy retired, still answered his phone the same way he had when he had been Commander, Submarine Force Atlantic (COMSUBLANT), his last job in the Navy. His relief from that post had been swift and unexpected, he had disagreed with his superiors on one too many occasions for their tastes. They desired a more compliant officer in that position, and they got one. But that had been three years ago.

"Sir, this is Colonel Jeffrey Tanaka, USMC, I'm..."

"I know who you are Colonel. Why are you bothering me?"

"Hold for the CNO, Sir."

Bertram held the phone away from him for a moment and stared at the receiver (he despised cell phones). What the Hell is going on here? He knew that Tanaka was the guy who had taken over the Pentagon, what the Hell was the CNO doing with that guy? He remembered Harry Fairchild from Ballston Spa, brilliant guy but very corporate. Academy guy, bled Navy blue and gold. Why was he with this, this, Marine rebel?

"Ted?"

"Admiral..."

"We need to get the Colonel here in touch with the New York State Adjutant General, guy named..."

"Allan Jones, I know him. Why?"

"Look Ted, this isn't a secure line and..."

Bertram sat up straight in his chair, "Holy shit, does this have anything to do with those visitors getting mugged?"

Fairchild was confused for a moment, then it hit him, Bertram had heard about the attack on the Chinese peacekeepers. "Yup, you know about that?"

"Yes, I do. Call this number..." Bertram recited a phone number.

"Is that..." Before Fairchild could finish his question, Bertram had hung up.

Major General Allan Jones was driving west on I-90. He wasn't quite sure where he was going just yet, but he couldn't stay in Albany. Not since he'd tipped off the Guard units he considered loyal to an anticipated Chinese action to seize the assets of all of the Guard units in New York. They had had some success, but a number of units, more than Jones had expected, had resisted. One unit had actually hit back at the Chinese.

He had thoughts of heading up towards Fort Drum, but he expected the Chinese might be there in force. The bastards hadn't entered every state along the northern border, but they had penetrated deeply into New York, no doubt thinking they were entering friendly territory. Like many not familiar with the Empire State, once you got away from the big cities, folks were pretty conservative. Right now, they were also pretty mad.

He nearly jumped out of the driver's seat when his cell phone rang, very few people had his number.

"Yeah."

"Hello, I'm calling from the Pentagon, seems we have a mutual friend. Guy named Ted, bit of a bobblehead."

Jones had to think hard, then it hit him, they called submariners bubbleheads, didn't they? So "bobblehead" might be enough to confuse someone listening in who might not be familiar with Navy slang. He barely was, if it wasn't for Ted Bertram...

Holy crap, the Pentagon, Ted had served with the current CNO didn't he, before he was forced to retire?

"It's fair to call him that, when he was a child he was kind of a goofball." Jones hoped the guy on the other end was who he thought, hoped, it was.

"Yeah, got himself in a few hairy situations before he grew up."

Jones realized that he had to wrap this up, so he just jumped right in with both feet. "What can I do for you Sir, you with the rebels now?"

"Kind of, I have a Marine here wants to talk with you."

Bingo, Alan Jones thought, I might be in touch with someone outside the state who still believes.

After a few moments, Tanaka broke the connection. "It's true."

"What is Sir" SFC Levine asked his boss.

"F**cking Guard unit hit a Chinese base, killed 'em all. Apparently there are a few small units in upstate New York giving the Chinese fits. One of the Air Guard Bases, Hancock Field outside Syracuse, is free and clear of Chinese units as well. Some of the locals actually bushwhacked a Chinese convoy and drove 'em off. Hancock operates drones, they jumped in and killed a bunch of Chinese 'peacekeepers.' I guess the Chinese are operating without any air support. Seems the Canadians promised them help, but decided against it when the riots in Ottawa started up." Tanaka felt the first stirrings of hope that they could actually pull this off.

"This is good news. Any Air Force guys in the building we can trust?" SFC Levine asked.

Admiral Fairchild jumped in, "Air Force Vice Chief of Staff. Flew A-10s back in the day, damned near been fired three times since he got the job. Can't stand his chief, chief can't stand him, but he's got some powerful friends in Congress."

MACS Janet Sorge had been busy on her computer during all of this, suddenly she turned and said, "Colonel, there are four A-10s at Hancock right now. They were on a cross country when the FAA shut down all air traffic. Worth a shot?"

"Outstanding Senior Chief, let's get that Air Force guy up here, ASAP."

Frank Teller felt good about having his office back with none of those damned "peacekeepers" hovering about. As the winter wore on and no Chinese response to the destruction of their compound had been forthcoming, a lot of the townsfolk were starting to get complacent. Until Jack Bishop had gone on a scouting trip to Albany.

That city was in chaos, over half of the state legislature had voted in favor of a resolution condemning the Chinese occupation of a number of towns and strategic points in the northern part of the state. The governor, Manhattan-born and bred, had ordered the arrest of a number of the political leaders of the legislature.

Last night, according to Bishop, the governor had been assassinated on his way to a political fundraiser hosted by the Chinese military "advisor" to the governor. In reality that man was the real power in the state capital, or had been. He had gone to the site where the governor and his wife had been gunned down.

He fell to an assassin's bullet fired from a nearby rooftop. Bombs had gone off all around the venue for the fundraiser, sowing noise and confusion. Though there were a sizeable number of Chinese troops in the vicinity, in the chaos that had been unable to find the sniper who had brought down their general. But they did manage to gun down a number of innocent bystanders.

The city was now torn by rioting and gunfire. The Chinese had had to stop patrolling as the casualties they were taking were becoming serious. Though the peacekeepers, most called them the occupiers, expected reinforcements from Canada, they had never shown up.

"What do you think is going on in our neighbor to the north Jack?"

"Same as here, open rebellion to the bastards who think we're subjects, not citizens. Rumor has it that the Canadian Armed Forces are attacking, and defeating, the Chinese in Canada. The reds we have here, kill them and they're not getting replaced."

Sheriff Teller shook his head, "From what I'm hearing over the law enforcement channels that are still open, no one is in charge in Washington. The President hasn't been seen outside the White House in days, some Marine colonel has taken over the Pentagon, and Congress are apparently surrounded on Capitol Hill."

"Serves most of the bastards right," Jack grunted, "What about the Vice President?"

"Yeah, odd that, reports are that a Marine helicopter crashed into the Potomac last Saturday, no survivors. Oddly enough, no wreckage either." Teller related.

"So?"

"The helicopter was Marine Two."

"Damn!"

"Yeah, things are what you'd call confused."