Under New Management

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The former President of the United States sipped his coffee as he stood near the big windows which covered the front of the house. He looked out towards Chesapeake Bay and pondered the things which were occurring in the capital. He knew of events which had happened not even twenty miles from where he stood.

Federal agents murdered in the performance of their lawful duties, he shook his head and took another sip. It was just too bad that those duties were actually unlawful under a strict interpretation of the Constitution. Small consolation to the families of those dead agents.

Congress had overplayed their hand, declaring that an insurrection was underway in Maryland and Virginia was weak at best, foolhardy. The governors of both states, well, technically Virginia was a Commonwealth, had rejected the order from the White House federalizing the Guard in both those states. Active duty Army units had been sent in, and promptly, with a few exceptions, joined the "rebels," as the media liked to call them.

The media was silent at the moment, "rebels" in a number of states had seized broadcast facilities and newspaper offices, rather than broadcast their own message, they simply shut them down. Now the Internet was rife with rumor and speculation, bloggers were having a field day.

"Sir?"

The former President turned to his chief aide with a questioning look.

"Phone call in your office, Sir."

"Thank you, Tony."

Closing the door to his small office, he walked to the desk and sat down. He still had a wonderful view of the bay as his office was in the front of the house. He sighed, then answered the phone.

"Sir, this is Secretary Nakagawa, calling from Site B, I am flying down to DC as soon as my helicopter, your old helicopter, gets here."

Herbert Norville sat up straight when he heard that.

"What's the occasion, Mr. Secretary?"

"The President has had a serious heart attack and is in a medically induced coma, most of the leadership in the line of succession is missing, has resigned, or has been disqualified by the Supreme Court as being in open rebellion against the government."

"I didn't know the Supremes had such a power."

"Well, Sir, Secretary of Defense Matthew Burleson, perhaps I should say former SecDef Burleson, is at Raven Rock, up in Pennsylvania, he has called for the states of Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, and Delaware to callup their Guard units and move on Washington DC."

"He can't do that, that's the President's call."

"Yes Sir, that's correct. Burleson claims that he is the President by virtue of the President being disabled, the Vice President and the Speaker being dead, and ..."

"What?" Norville stood up, that news shook him. Though he and the Vice President were on opposite "sides" politically, he counted Robert Cousins as a friend, he'd been fishing with the man on more than one occasion. He'd even stayed here, at his retreat on the Eastern Shore, multiple times.

"Vice President Cousins and Speaker Morrisey were on a fishing trip to Louisiana, their aircraft went down shortly after takeoff. No survivors."

"The President Pro Tempore of ..."

"Nowhere to be found, Sir. He left town last week, not even his advisors and staff know where he is."

"So let me get this straight, John. You're heading to Washington to be sworn in?"

"No Sir, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court is flying in to administer the oath. I'm the interim President for now. I've heard from the President's Secret Service detail, the doctors all say that the President is probably going to die. The damage to his heart was too extensive."

"That's terrible, with the country in such turmoil, has anyone heard what the Russians and the Chinese are up to? They must know of this disruption to the government."

"The Admiral commanding USSTRATCOM¹ has convinced the service chiefs, with one exception, to allocate forces to him in order to deter nuclear war. Sir, we're at DEFCON 2². For now the Russians and Chinese are being very, very quiet."

Norville was shaken to his core.

"John, what do you need from me?"

"I've dispatched a helicopter to your location, along with a fighter escort. I want you to be my Vice President."

Norville could hear the media howling at that prospect. Many people in the country felt that he had not lost his bid for re-election, but had been cheated via ballot rigging and other illegal means. The investigators he had hired agreed with that assessment, for the most part. One of the investigators said that while things looked shaky, there wasn't enough evidence to overturn the election. He was the lone voice supporting that claim.

But Norville had stepped down, congratulated his opponent, then watched the country spiral into massive inflation and unemployment. But what else could he have done? What some conspirators were doing now? Throw the country into further chaos?

"I shall see you in Washington, Mr. President."

Nakagawa chuckled, "Not quite yet Herb, but soon. And thank you, shall we meet at your old office?"

"I'd like that."

"See you then, Sir."

¹ United States Strategic Command (link).

² Defense Readiness Condition 2, the only higher condition is 1. This is the next to last step prior to actual nuclear war. Armed forces are ready to deploy and engage in less than six hours. Missile and bomber wings are at full alert. Orders have been dispatched to the nuclear missile submarines at sea to prepare to carry out the SIOP, Single Integrated Operations Plan, the U.S. strategic war-fighting plan for the use of nuclear weapons that contains the specifics of targeting orders, scheduling, and needed weapons.