The men got up and began heading out the door. The President stopped General Black and asked him to stay behind a moment. As the room cleared he called for Captain Butler. By the time Butler arrived the two men were seated together at one end of the table. The President motioned for the Captain to join them. Black was the first to stand and offer his hand. “I figured you weren’t like these other guys,” he said with a grin. His handshake was firm, almost bone crushing.
“I just filled the General in on what you told me last night and this morning,” the President said. “Now let’s brainstorm a little. If we had to do something right now, how could we do it?” he asked.
The General sat back and looked at Butler. It was obvious he wanted to hear a little too. Butler thought a minute. “Sir, we have a lot more than we think. I took a look at the places around the country that weren’t hit. In those places you have telephone companies and equipment that are still working. We need to get all these phone people working together pooling their equipment to get some rudimentary comms going. I would suggest we get the vehicles that work and send them with a driver to get the CEOs of all these companies here as soon as we can to get that happening. Once they get their act together, we can at least talk to our bases and other places internally. Then we get with our National Guard units in those areas and have them consolidate their gear to get some radio traffic going. They also have tanks and equipment to beef up a few units. We start moving people and material from the undamaged places to where we need them,” he said.
The General smiled. “Not bad Butler. Here’s what we’ll do. I got guys sitting on their dead ass all over Washington and Quantico. We grab what trucks work and get them on the road. Let’s cut a blanket order from you, Mister President, to the COs of every unit mobilizing them and getting them ready. Then my guys will hit the road. We’ll do it all by letter and word of mouth till the comms are back up. On that part, I take it nothing’s flying?” he asked.
“Shouldn’t be. I doubt much is operating at all,” the President said. “But to make sure, I’ll get the Secretary of Transportation to ground everything except for official traffic.”
“Good. Then let me offer this,” he said leaning in. “Our CH-46s are about as low tech as they come. Might even have some other assets available that are the same way. Get word to me where all these telephone and communications guys are and I’ll send my guys up there and round them up. My choppers aren’t all that fast, but it’s a damn sight faster than a truck. We could probably have them all here within 48 hours.”
“That’ll work. Get with Commerce and get the names and addresses. Get them here day after tomorrow for a meeting right here. I may need to meet with some other people too. If so, I’ll get hold of you and set it up. At the same time, your guys can stop at each town and give their mayors and governors a message from me with some select words of wisdom. I figure they need answers and probably would like to know that somebody is doing something around here,” the President said.
“There’s more we should do,” Butler injected. “We need someone to tell us about Memphis and Dallas. According to the Brits they had ground bursts. Can you send some people there and get stuff rolling?” he asked the General. “I’ll cut orders from the President giving the authority. If you got a couple of good people in mind, they can at least get things started.”
The General thought a minute and then smiled. “Yea, I got a couple of good people. One’s General Thomas and the other’s a Colonel Richardson. Mister President, Claire Richardson may be only a Colonel, but she’s got the smarts and savvy to get this done. Cut her some orders and she’ll go to town.”
“Done!” said the President, though not wishing that job on his worst political enemy.
“Two more things. I would recommend we also get word to the radio and TV stations that are operating and reassure people. I’m sure you and your press secretary can do that with the help of a few people around here,” Butler said. “That can be delivered too. At the same time, we need computers back here to do some work. Unless I’m wrong, all our computing power is fried. The information is still there, but the computers are gone. I think we should get some of those National Guard guys to do some computer shopping. Get out there and bring back anything that works. Then we swap out the hard drive discs and we’re back in business.”
The General smiled at him. “I’ll give them my personal IOUs,” he grinned. “Butler, you’d make a good Marine. Cut the orders and I’ll get things rolling.”
The President nodded. It was nice to see two smart people at work. It made his job much easier.
Black sat back a second and thought. “What about here on Capitol Hill? Those people in Congress are probably screaming already.”
“Taken care of,” said the President. “I am going to the Hill this afternoon to meet with whoever is available. Just to let you know, I’m not declaring martial law, but taking everything up a few notches. I’ve got to try and make the House and Senate understand what’s going on and that we’ve got to stop the bellyaching and do our jobs. We’re in trouble and don’t need to have infighting.”
“Good luck on that,” said the General with a huff. “I’ve watched it grow and fester since I was a kid. That one’s going to be tough,” he said. “But let me give you some advice from the Corps. A good leader can make it happen. Not a boss, or political junkie, but a leader that’s making hard decisions and getting the right people to get the job done.” He reached across the table and placed his hand on the President’s arm. “Steve, it’s me to you now. I’ve been in the Corps a long time and I know what leadership is. I’ve seen you do a bunch of it on your way to the top — not politics, but leadership. You can do this,” he emphasized. “People like Butler and I can help get the job done, but you need to take the reins and spur us on. Don’t worry about making the right decisions. Just make some. We’ll do the rest. If we fuck up, then we can change it. But we have to get off our asses and do something first. So take charge and let’s get the job done.” He sat back into his chair and stiffened. “I await your orders, sir.”
The President looked at the pride the man wore on his body like a suit of armor. He had seen the same thing in Butler. He smiled at both men. Within an hour, convoys of trucks left Quantico and disbursed to all areas of the country.
Roger Hammond woke at his usual time, wondering why his alarm clock hadn’t gone off. He glanced at the face and was surprised that no numbers were showing. Then he remembered the events of the night before. It was with no little effort that he roused himself from his bed, showered for the day, and donned casual slacks and a shirt. The coffee pot still worked and he sat back in the kitchen savoring the hot, bitter coffee taste, a little miffed that there was no usual morning paper to go with it. As expected, the TV didn’t work and neither did his stereo in the den. Thinking about what had happened the night before, he went over and plugged in an old radio set he had owned since he was a child. It was a peach colored plastic instrument with a frequency dial and a volume knob. Turning the set on, he looked in the back and watched the tubes begin to glow like they always had. To his delight, he heard static. Turning the dial he soon came on a distant station talking about the huge blackouts on the East and West Coasts. Everything in the newscast was pure speculation, but there seemed a general panic about what happened and what people should do.