Rumblings from the West Coast

Source

The President set the phone's handset back down in its cradle. He was alone in the Oval Office for the moment. Admiral Jack Whalen had let him know that the SEALs, under Jason Howard, had reported in, the mission had been a success. The members of the cabal were all dead, a great deal of money had been seized from their accounts, and the Russians had been extremely forthcoming with details of their end of the operation.

John Nakagawa felt a sudden urge to wash his hands, he felt dirty somehow. He stood up and turned to the big windows behind his desk. It was late afternoon, the garden, which looked so lovely in the spring, was starting to, what was the word he was looking for?

Wither, that's the word. The grass was dull, the leaves were turning brown, winter was not far away. He was beginning to regret taking this office. He shook his head, then turned from the window.

After retiring from the Air Force, he and Hiroko had purchased a small home in the mountains, outside Colorado Springs. Originally from California, Nakagawa had fallen in love with Colorado when he was at the Air Force Academy. There was something about those mountains that drew him to them.

He had gotten involved in local politics in a small way, he had become a spokesman for a group fighting against a development which would have destroyed a large woodland area. Somehow that had brought him national attention which led to him eventually being appointed Secretary of the Interior.

When things had started to go south with the previous administration, well, it was a lack of any sort of administration really, everything seemed to go in favor of those with the big money, the government didn't really seem to be listening to the common people anymore. He had gotten on board with those who wished to change things. First with the Secretary of Defense, who Nakagawa quickly realized was engaging more in a lust for power than a chance to correct things.

He finally did go into the restroom to wash his hands, he scrubbed and scrubbed, but it didn't help. Drying his hands, he then went back to his desk.

"Nancy, send in Bill Aspinall, would you?"

"He's over at the Pentagon, Sir, he's supposed to be back in about 30 minutes."

"Alright, as soon as he's back."

"Yes Sir."

Bill Aspinall was staring out the car window as they made their way back from the Pentagon. He wasn't really seeing anything, what he had heard from Admiral Choe was eating away at him.

The Navy had a rather large presence in California, so Choe, as head of ONI¹, had a lot of sources in that state. It seemed that there was a move afoot in Sacramento to secede from the United States, whether or not President Nakagawa was "approved" by the referendum he had insisted upon.

He understood the President's reasoning, he had not been elected to the office, there were many reports floating around about his use of violence to get to the Presidency. There were those who wanted to return to the way things had been, where corruption and graft were the rule, not the Constitution.

Aspinall wasn't looking forward to telling the President this latest news. It seems they really were battling a Hydra, cut one head off, and two more would spring into being.

"Damn it, we need more swords," he said out loud.

"Sir?"

"Nothing Andrew, I'm just thinking out loud."

Andrew Collins glanced in the rear view mirror, his boss had a lot on his plate these days. He'd worked in Washington for years, most of the people he'd driven around the city scarcely knew his name, Aspinall was different, he cared about people. It was refreshing to work for someone like that.

The President rubbed his eyes, he could feel a headache coming on, "Are they sure, Bill?"

"Yes Sir. One of the carrier group admirals was up in Sacramento for some function, she's a Californian born and raised. She overheard some politicians talking about negotiating their own trade agreements someday soon. She reported the conversation as soon as she got back to her hotel room."

"Is this sentiment widespread, what do we know about it?"

"The wealthy in the cities like the idea, especially the big shots in L.A., San Francisco, and around the capital. Choe's guy out at Lemoore ..."

"Lemoore?"

"It's the Navy fighter base on the West Coast, it's out in the Central Valley."

"Oh yeah, I understand the Central Valley is pretty conservative."

"Yes Sir, they pretty much despise Sacramento and the cities on the coast, San Diego being an exception. Big Navy town."

The President nodded.

"Choe's guy at Lemoore has heard rumblings about it, seems the locals hate the idea, though many of them think that kicking San Francisco and L.A. out of the country might be a good idea."

"This is going to be a problem, isn't it?" Nakagawa pinched the bridge of his nose, hard, his head was starting to hurt.

"Yes Sir, it certainly could. Admiral Whalen had a suggestion."

"Which was?"

"Martial law."

The President stood up and turned towards the windows, he was silent for a moment. Then he turned, "I'm not going to put an entire state under martial law, Matt Burleson tried that crap in Virginia and Maryland, the people won't stand for it."

"The folks in California might not be so put off if we just placed San Francisco and L.A. under martial law, not the whole state." Aspinall pointed out.

"Why not Sacramento?" The President asked.

"The Admiral didn't think that would be necessary. Roll troops into those two cities and he thinks they'll fold."

"Do we have the troops?"

"Marines out of 29 Palms could cover L.A., we could also use Guard troops. Local boys would be more palatable I think." Aspinall answered.

"We need more intel before we can move, I want a contingency plan in place, in case we need to move quickly. Get on it, Bill."

"Yes Sir."

After Aspinall left, the President grabbed a couple of Advil out of his desk. After downing those he went back to the window. "Maybe Hiroko and I should head out to Camp David for a few days." he thought.

I just need to get out of DC for a bit. "Damn it, it's always something." He muttered as he stared out at the South Lawn.

Outside, it was beginning to drizzle. A gray day becoming grayer still.

¹ Office of Naval Intelligence