Casing the Colors © Week 32

Casing the Colors © Week 32 • • • CHAPTER 50 • • Kate lay awake a long time, trying to focus her feelings and thoughts, trying to understand the man sleeping beside her, trying to make sense of her father's actions. The ringing telephone on Alexei's night table wakened them at three a.m. Alexei fumbled for the receiver, spoke into it in Russian and then handed it to Kate. "It's your father," he said, turning on the bed lamp. "Kate, Raqqa has just made his first public statement. He smuggled a tape to an off-shore cable network and they beamed it by satellite into the US. Raqqa explained his decision to talk to America directly, claiming it is in the public interest. The cable network said America had a right to hear Raqqa's story." By this time, Alexei was on an extension phone. "General, it's Alexei. What did Raqqa say?" "He spread out the entire history, starting with Vice President Wilson's treason and death, blaming us for killing Wilson because he knew too much. He outlined the Russia-United States agreement to divide the world for economic development but, predictably, he told the story as if our goal were to control the entire world for our own selfish economic purposes. He accused us of murdering Miguel and Browning in Geneva. He said he believes we also killed Attorney General Morrison, but that he has no proof yet. He demands a new election to replace President Wellford, with his refugees having the right to vote, too. We have 24 hours to respond." Kate listened. It was somehow all true but all distorted. "What's the public reaction?" she asked. "Pete Lowell is monitoring public reaction, but it's too early to get a clear reading." "What can I do?" Alexei asked. "Talk to Jacques LeNoir. If he can convince the French government to stay with us, the rest of Europe will hold on, too. Kate, phone General Julien and alert him. Bill Stevens will call the Moroccan king in an hour. Ask General Julien to prepare the king to give the visibly public support we need from the Arab world to counter Raqqa's charge that we have manipulated their leaders into cooperating by promising them personal rewards." "Right," Kate said. "What about Scott? It must be terrible for him." "That's the surprising part," General Gordon replied. "Raqqa never mentioned Scott." "We will organize everything here," Alexei broke in. "Can I tell Jacques LeNoir that you will phone him today?" "Of course. Bill Stevens is talking to Chancellor Gerhardt now. The President is speaking to Prime Minister Moore. The next few hours will be crucial. Stay close to your phones." Knowing the night was over, Kate called for tea and bread while Alexei shaved and dressed. "Can you stay here with me?" she asked as they drank their tea. "If you're here, I know you're safe." "I'll stay as long as I can, Darling, but I will need to talk with my coalition leaders in parliament." Fifteen minutes later, Alexei was on the phone with Jacques LeNoir and Kate was talking to Maurice Julien. "Please, please, Katharine, come to France," Maurice pleaded. "You are not safe in Moscow. If you leave now, I will fly to Rabat in a French military plane to meet you. You can be here in France before anyone knows you left Moscow." "Maurice, you know I wouldn't leave Alexei now." "There is nothing you can do for Alexei. Nothing. His story was written long before he met you." The conversation ended on an unusual bristling note. Kate went to the lounge where Alexei was still on the phone with Jacques LeNoir. She stopped when she heard him say, "Yes, Jacques, we're making good progress here. I think we can succeed. But, I am less sure about the United States. I don't think they are psychologically prepared to act in the face of a domestic situation like this. They have botched most of their attempts to stay in control of events. Whoever survives, the government will be very conservative. I hope the Alliance isn't derailed when Stuart Wellford is ousted. He can't last." She walked around the sofa and sat beside him. He looked at her, smiled weakly, and finished the telephone conversation in a different tone. "I'm sorry, Darling," he said as he put the phone down. "Don't be angry with me. I was simply trying to give Jacques my candid evaluation. I have watched a lot of failed coups and what your friends are doing in the United States has all the marks of failure. The United States isn't sophisticated about rebellion or coups. It has no core of experience or toughness to call on. Your father and General Bennett know what they ought to do, but your national history gives them no room to act. We will help in every possible way, but unless your military takes firm control quickly, the rebels and refugees will cripple America. General Gordon knows that. It is Stuart Wellford who is hesitant, trying to accommodate everyone, hoping no single group will become too powerful, hoping Raqqa will burn himself out. But it won't happen, and Russia and Europe need to be flexible enough to deal with the government that emerges. More than ever, the world needs two superpowers, no matter what their political form may be." "Do you really think the United States will fall into Raqqa's trap?" Kate asked. "It already has. Now, we can only hope that General Bennett and your father can bail out Stu Wellford and the other politicians. Pray that the military responds as forcefully as it should. When it is all over, your citizens will appreciate what they were saved from, and who saved them." • • At seven-thirty that morning, while Kate waited alone in the Kremlin for news from Alexei and her father, Raqqa announced that he was about to liberate the American southwest. His Mexican troops and American recruits were stationed all along the southern outskirts of Los Angeles and stretched along the border between Mexico and the United States in sufficient numbers to act. Predictably, some of the refugees had been his mercenaries, moving north with the civilian columns. General Bennett phoned Command in Washington to ask General Gordon's permission to attack all along the line. Jim Gordon neither hesitated nor asked the White House to concur. He gave the order and the military took full command of the future of the United States. In the following hours, as US troops bombarded Raqqa's troop positions, many Americans and Mexican refugees were killed or wounded. Americans with weapons grouped themselves into units and volunteered to support the Rangers by eliminating Raqqa's men left behind the lines in the air attack. General Bennett encouraged them and they turned on the refugee camps, shooting anyone they could find. Stu Wellford called for calm, but he was behind the curve of events, unable to respond to the violence of the American reaction. General Bennett, with the consent of General Gordon and the Joint Chiefs, called for total assault on inner city areas suspected of harboring rebels. The country reverberated with the screeching whine of missiles and bombs, intermingled with air and fire sirens. In the early hours of the offensive, the Joint Chiefs agreed in private session that if General Bennett could rally sufficient popular support to take control of the federal political apparatus, they would concur. General Gordon was assigned to President Wellford to neutralize any possible White House effort against the military and to remove him, if necessary. • • Knowing with certainty what would occur, Alexei sent an aide to bring Kate to his office so she could watch events with him. They sat silently with Alexei's top military and political advisors, watching Scott Bennett overwhelm Raqqa's recruits. It was, finally, child's play, once the US military had been freed of its political constraints. But the cost in civilian casualties was high and the refugees paid more than any of the others, slaughtered where they stood in their tent cities, dying at the end of what they had dared to hope was their march to freedom and opportunity. By evening, much of the southwest was smoldering rubble.