Foreign Enemies and Traitors Read Online Free PDF
Author: Matthew Bracken
Chinese… It won’t be popular, but there’s no other way. We need international help.
“But we have to start in the East. If we can’t reestablish permanent control of the earthquake zone, we won’t regain control of the Deep South. And if we can’t regain control of the Deep South, we can kiss the Northwest goodbye—for good.” His voice rose. Normally melodic and controlled in public appearances and on television, it cracked when he was under pressure. “And then the United States won’t even be a continental power anymore. We’ll have lost our only remaining Pacific ports—and on my watch!” He took a deep drag from his cigarette, then laid his head back on the recliner and closed his eyes. “And that…cannot happen,” he said in a whisper, before exhaling a long stream of smoke. “Not on my watch.”
Sidney Krantz replied in a soothing voice. “The Republic of Texas is going to do what it wants. But I’m still confident we won’t lose Washington and Oregon.”
“Sidney, if the Chinese get permanent bases and trade concessions in Long Beach and Corpus Christi, that’s out of my hands. That’s Aztlan. We lost the Southwest with the new constitution. It was a fair trade to get the new constitution, and now it’s settled business. And I agree, what’s left of Texas is a special case. The Texas partition was part of the Aztlan treaty, so our options are rather limited there. But now President Yao is making direct overtures to General Mirabeau for port visits in Louisiana. Louisiana might become a new gas station for the Chinese navy.”
“You know,” replied the president’s adviser, “You can never trust the military, none of them. Mirabeau’s the worst: he’s a religious fanatic and a fascist.”
“Be that as it may, at least for now he runs the Deep South, that so-called ‘emergency zone’ of his. And at least he can feed his people.” The president paused, turning away from Krantz to look over at the wall map. “On the other hand, what if Mirabeau were to be…removed?” He took another pull on his cigarette, and then stabbed it out in a glass ashtray on his side table.
“What do you mean, ‘removed’?” asked Krantz. He knew, they both knew, that General Mirabeau was polling much higher than the president was. “We can’t fire him, we can’t retire him, and we can’t just replace him with another general. He’d ignore your orders, and that would be even worse than pretending that he’s still part of your National Command Authority. It would just clarify our…impotence if we tried to fire him and he refused to go.”
“I’m not talking about his resignation, or his replacement. I’m talking about something more permanent.”
“Something like…an accident? Or an illness?” Slow-acting poisons that mimicked debilitating diseases were a hobby of Sidney Krantz. It wouldn’t be the first time that this special knowledge had been called upon to quietly eliminate a rival.
President Tambor paused, staring at the wall map while drumming his fingers idly on the arms of the black leather recliner. “That might be our best option, if we could arrange it. If we had operatives close to him…but we don’t. Otherwise, I was thinking about a truly permanentsolution. Maybe even a kinetic solution.”
“Not now, Mr. President. Later perhaps, but not now. Exercising a kinetic option at this point would be almost as bad as calling for his resignation and being publicly rebuffed. It would cement the perception that we’re not in control down there if we had to do that.”
“Even if we black-flagged it?” Tambor asked.
“Even then. Who could we blame for it? It would take time to create a plausible anti-Mirabeau group to blame it on. If we did it now, it would point straight back to us. Nobody would believe that we weren’t behind it if Mirabeau was suddenly taken out. Certainly we
“But we have to start in the East. If we can’t reestablish permanent control of the earthquake zone, we won’t regain control of the Deep South. And if we can’t regain control of the Deep South, we can kiss the Northwest goodbye—for good.” His voice rose. Normally melodic and controlled in public appearances and on television, it cracked when he was under pressure. “And then the United States won’t even be a continental power anymore. We’ll have lost our only remaining Pacific ports—and on my watch!” He took a deep drag from his cigarette, then laid his head back on the recliner and closed his eyes. “And that…cannot happen,” he said in a whisper, before exhaling a long stream of smoke. “Not on my watch.”
Sidney Krantz replied in a soothing voice. “The Republic of Texas is going to do what it wants. But I’m still confident we won’t lose Washington and Oregon.”
“Sidney, if the Chinese get permanent bases and trade concessions in Long Beach and Corpus Christi, that’s out of my hands. That’s Aztlan. We lost the Southwest with the new constitution. It was a fair trade to get the new constitution, and now it’s settled business. And I agree, what’s left of Texas is a special case. The Texas partition was part of the Aztlan treaty, so our options are rather limited there. But now President Yao is making direct overtures to General Mirabeau for port visits in Louisiana. Louisiana might become a new gas station for the Chinese navy.”
“You know,” replied the president’s adviser, “You can never trust the military, none of them. Mirabeau’s the worst: he’s a religious fanatic and a fascist.”
“Be that as it may, at least for now he runs the Deep South, that so-called ‘emergency zone’ of his. And at least he can feed his people.” The president paused, turning away from Krantz to look over at the wall map. “On the other hand, what if Mirabeau were to be…removed?” He took another pull on his cigarette, and then stabbed it out in a glass ashtray on his side table.
“What do you mean, ‘removed’?” asked Krantz. He knew, they both knew, that General Mirabeau was polling much higher than the president was. “We can’t fire him, we can’t retire him, and we can’t just replace him with another general. He’d ignore your orders, and that would be even worse than pretending that he’s still part of your National Command Authority. It would just clarify our…impotence if we tried to fire him and he refused to go.”
“I’m not talking about his resignation, or his replacement. I’m talking about something more permanent.”
“Something like…an accident? Or an illness?” Slow-acting poisons that mimicked debilitating diseases were a hobby of Sidney Krantz. It wouldn’t be the first time that this special knowledge had been called upon to quietly eliminate a rival.
President Tambor paused, staring at the wall map while drumming his fingers idly on the arms of the black leather recliner. “That might be our best option, if we could arrange it. If we had operatives close to him…but we don’t. Otherwise, I was thinking about a truly permanentsolution. Maybe even a kinetic solution.”
“Not now, Mr. President. Later perhaps, but not now. Exercising a kinetic option at this point would be almost as bad as calling for his resignation and being publicly rebuffed. It would cement the perception that we’re not in control down there if we had to do that.”
“Even if we black-flagged it?” Tambor asked.
“Even then. Who could we blame for it? It would take time to create a plausible anti-Mirabeau group to blame it on. If we did it now, it would point straight back to us. Nobody would believe that we weren’t behind it if Mirabeau was suddenly taken out. Certainly we