Power Games: Operation Enduring Unity I Read Online Free PDF Page A

began taking up cordon positions on each end of the building, the officers were downright perplexed.
    The senior policeman jogged over to the one soldier who wasn’t holding a rifle at the low ready. “That was damn quick, but if you guys are supposed to be taking charge of this mess, why didn’t anyone tell us?”
    “We’re not taking charge of anything except this building,” hollered the lieutenant. After a glance at the policeman’s cocked head he added, somewhat quieter, “Look, I don’t know what the hell we’re doing here. We were told to ‘secure this building,’ whatever that means. So that’s all we’ll do.”
    The cop cocked his head in a show of suspicion and hope at the same time. “So…that means you’ll help clear out these assholes then, right? We’ve got these ‘flash mobs’ popping up all over town. As you can see, we’re stretched pretty thin.”
    “Negative. I have no orders to that effect. Our job is to make sure no one gets inside. What happens outside is not our problem.”
    The cop raised his radio to call his superiors, but noticed the battery was almost dead. Way too busy tonight. He waved the mike at the nervous, three-weeks-out-of-training officer in front of him. “Come the hell on, man. Most of these people are only on the streets because ya’ll are out here. I’ve never paid much attention to all this political crap and, honestly, I don’t care one way or the other. All I know is that if we don’t stop this crowd… well, I don’t want to think about that. You’re the senior military person on the scene. Who do you think will get the blame?”
    The lieutenant tried to appear cool and unwavering, but his eyes begged his platoon sergeant for advice. Whatever order the older sergeant passed back to the LT was invisible to the cop. At last, the lieutenant nodded his head. “Ok, I’ll give you a section, about half my men, just long enough to push this crowd back. Make it happen, Sergeant.”
    The guardsmen hastily fixing bayonets weren’t old enough to remember the 60’s. Kent State sounded like some type of rock band to them. What they lacked in public relations skills, they more than made up for with hard-earned experience breaking up riots in Iraq and Afghanistan. As the soldiers formed into a wedge and prepared to push the crowd back, their attention focused solely on finding threats… and eliminating them quickly.



Tallahassee, Florida
    22 January: 0800
    Florida Governor Robert Rhett could not be enjoying himself any more. He had the frigging President of the United States on hold while he chatted with Senator Dimone’s senior staff. How many people could say that? Not even those highfalutin’ Beltway insiders could get away with this. Now the president was the one having to show some respect to good ‘ole Rhett.
    The president wasn’t the only one waiting in line, but he’d answer him next. Probably. It was a prestigious phone queue, after all. A round dozen billionaires and key legislators also waited their turn to bend the ear of the man-of-the-hour. Not bad for the guy the president once called at a Correspondent’s Dinner, “The worst thing to come out of Florida since West Nile Virus.”
    Some would say it was too early to pour a celebratory drink. Metaphorically and literally, since it was still morning. That was no hair off the governor’s back. He was on top of the world as he filled up his second Southern Comfort. Kicking up his alligator skin heels, he snipped a cheap cigar and swiped a mess of leaves off his prodigious belly. He could afford better, but he’d always loved the raspy rawness of these cheap Haitian knockoffs.
    No sooner had he hung up with Dimone’s crew, with an impressive goody offer on the table, did his secretary point out that Pierce’s people were waiting. Well, time to get a competing offer. Guess the president could wait a little longer.
    His staffers came back and forth while babbling excitedly about some