Part 34 (1/2)

Austin, Texas Juani stared from her office window at the gathering clouds. So many problems pressed upon her that it could not be said she was concentrating, or was even able to think clearly, upon any one of them. In a few days, she knew, the main body of the force to the north would arrive in the vicinity of Austin; the point of that dagger had long since come. To the east, Houston, cut off from open communication, was rumored to be in a state of violent anarchy. South the Navy stood poised to descend upon the coast. Further south, from Panama, she had been informed that the ruse was wearing pretty thin and that soon the gates of the Ca.n.a.l must be opened to pa.s.s the Marines through.

Far to the west? New Mexico was beginning, late and slowly, to imitate Texas. Nearer though, in the vicinity of El Paso, the Marines were forming up for something. Possibly to march east again. Jack had told her, though, that their supply status was said still to be terrible so perhaps if they marched, they would do so slowly. Even so, combat could not be far away; not on any front.

Besides New Mexico, not a single governor or legislature had thrown in with Texas, despite her pleas. They were sympathetic, yes. They wished her and Texas well, yes. They were ”concerned” about the direction the country would take after Texas went under, yes.

They were afraid of the same treatment...also, yes. ”Governor, if you somehow manage to survive what's coming for you then maybe we can talk.”

So deep in her thoughts was she, yes-and her bitterness, that Juani didn't notice as Schmidt entered and quietly closed her office door behind him.

He cleared his throat to announce his arrival.

”Yes, Jack?” she answered, without moving her eyes from the cold gray sky.

”Hanstadt's back.”

”And?”

”He says the Marines are going to take care of their own problems with the PGSS. For now, they are under a threat and they know it. The White House has been too canny to try to force them to do anything...but the message was clear: if the Marines decide to side with us their families will suffer for it.”

”That means that the Marine-Fulton was his name?-is going to have to turn back control to the political people that were watching him before they were arrested.”

”Ummm...no. Hanstadt said that Fulton had the less important half all shot and is holding the rest as hostages of his own.”

Wide eyed, Juanita's hand flew to her mouth. ”Oh, my my.”

”I confess, I like the man's sincerely...oh...forthright att.i.tude. Can't get much more sincere than shooting seventy-one federal agents and mid-ranking members of the inc.u.mbent party out of hand. I am pulling back the people we have facing him by about twenty miles and moving their supply dumps back thirty. We just can't know what is going to happen with 1st Marine Division and, if it turns to s.h.i.+t, I'd rather have them walking forward at maybe three miles an hour than rolling forward-using our gas-at forty.” Marine Division and, if it turns to s.h.i.+t, I'd rather have them walking forward at maybe three miles an hour than rolling forward-using our gas-at forty.”

”If things work out the way they are supposed to in California, Fulton is going to need gas though. He says that the second his people's dependents are safe then the 1st Marine Division and 3 Marine Division and 3rd Armored Cavalry regiment will declare for Texas.” Armored Cavalry regiment will declare for Texas.”

”And the other side of that,” observed Juani, ”is that if they can't rescue their families, and if those families continue to be held hostage, and if it looks like the Presidential Guard is b.l.o.o.d.y minded then the Marines might have to attack us.”

Interstate 10, Arizona Miles and miles of f.u.c.k all, thought Diaz as the bus carrying him and the bulk of his company continued on a seemingly endless track through desert and scrub.

Seated at the front, he was in position to see, or rather not to see, the other busses returning 1st Recon Battalion to its home. He could not see any of the others because they were strung out over more than one hundred miles and many were not even using the Interstate. Recon Battalion to its home. He could not see any of the others because they were strung out over more than one hundred miles and many were not even using the Interstate.

Not for the first time Diaz felt an almost overpowering urge to call home. He could not, he knew. The operation was a potential intelligence sieve already and, should the people ”guarding” the Marine's families find out they were coming, there was no telling what might happen.

Not that it was home, precisely, that Diaz wanted to call. His wife would not be there, he knew. She was comatose in the hospital. But a friend? A comrade's wife? Anybody who could a.s.sure him that she would be fine.

Even if the a.s.surance were a lie, still he wanted it.

Before leaving Texas, Diaz's initial anger had been directed toward the unknown, unnamed, likely never-to-be-caught a.s.sailants. Then his division commander had sat him down and asked him to consider a few questions; questions like, ”Whose good did this all accrue to; what happened to your wife and the others?” Questions like, ”And isn't it funny that the PGSS was ready to move at a moment's notice after after coming out of one of the bloodiest battles ever to take place in this hemisphere?” And, ”Do you suppose it's a coincidence that we voted to bow out of the current troubles and then our families were attacked?” And, ”Isn't it funny how the demonstration that got out of hand started with a speaker from the party in power? The same party that controls the PGSS? The same PGSS that was ever so ready to take our families hostage?” coming out of one of the bloodiest battles ever to take place in this hemisphere?” And, ”Do you suppose it's a coincidence that we voted to bow out of the current troubles and then our families were attacked?” And, ”Isn't it funny how the demonstration that got out of hand started with a speaker from the party in power? The same party that controls the PGSS? The same PGSS that was ever so ready to take our families hostage?”

And so, after reflection, Diaz had added up one plus one plus one plus one plus one and come up with the mathematically suspect but morally perfectly precise answer, ”Rottemeyer.”

”Bright boy,” Fulton had beamed. ”And I a.s.sure you we are going to get even...if not a bit ahead.”

Diaz wanted a.s.surance of, oh, many things. And, knowing he could not have it, he turned his thoughts, along with his eyes, to a map of Camp Pendleton and thought about the one form of a.s.surance he thought he could have.

Austin, Texas ”Time to leave, Juani,” announced Schmidt. ”They'll be here in a few hours. And you can't let them catch you.”

”I'm not leaving the Capital, Jack. Just forget it. It's not going to happen.”

Schmidt answered, ”Governor, the federals will be here in a couple of hours. They may stop and wait a bit if they think we are going to fight. And,” Schmidt held up a quieting palm, ”we are are going to fight. But the end result is all the same. Now you have to leave. Before the bullets start to fly. going to fight. But the end result is all the same. Now you have to leave. Before the bullets start to fly.

”Juani, if you don't go quietly I'll have you carried out.”

Juani set her face grimly, plainly determined to argue. Jack was having none of it, equally plainly.

She relented. ”I have a few hours, don't I?”

Seeing his nod she continued, ”Then I want to make a televised address before I go.”

”Okay, Governor. We have time for that.”

”You've never approved entirely of nonviolent civil disobedience I know, Jack. But I am going to give it one more try. Can your quartermaster come up with a great deal of transportation in a hurry?”

Camp Pendleton, California Marines can be very practical folk. Faced with a lockdown of a fenced camp, said lockdown conflicting with either the desire not to be on the camp or the fact that one is on the other side of a fence-perhaps without permission-and wanting to be on the camp, a Marine will usually find a practical solution.

Nine times out of ten, he'll cut the fence.

The fence around Camp Pendleton had been cut so many times, by so many Marines, for so many excellent reasons, that more than one 1st Division commander had contemplated simply leaving the holes there. Division commander had contemplated simply leaving the holes there.

Others had spent precious installation maintenance funds keeping the fence in constant repair.

Fulton had adopted a different approach. He had, true, repaired the fence upon his arrival. But then, somewhat unusually, he had had the likely cutting points guarded and ambushed.

For some weeks after his arrival, as a Marine cut the fence and was duly caught, Fulton had called out the battalion of the offender for a no-notice and rather strenuous roadmarch with full-rather overfull, actually-packs. The march was invariably followed by one or more weeks of pulling guard in full battle uniform, by companies, at the breach.

This worked at least to the extent that a) the Marines' breaching grew craftier and b) they tended to repair the cuts they made behind them.