Just as the news report came to an end, with an uneasy silence lingering in the room after my last statement, my father slowly got to his feet and made for the kitchen. Just before he left, he paused by the door and placed his hand on my shoulder.
“It’s never too late, Jacob,” my father repeated. “It’s your responsibility to protect those unable to protect themselves. It’s in your blood.”
And with that, he left to tell my mom and sister what had happened. I remember sinking deep into my favorite chair, my chin resting on my fist as the guilt started sinking in. It was the beginning of the end for my civilian life, just as the European bloodbath of that Thanksgiving was the catalyst for the beginning of the end of everything else.
A year later, in October of 2016, a few months after the guilt finally destroyed my pride and I applied for Officer Candidate School, Iran came through on a promise it had made decades earlier: to wipe Israel off the map, which they began with a deadly biological attack on Jerusalem and other neighboring cities. Millions were killed. Willing to sacrifice Muslim lives despite years of funding Palestinian efforts against Israel, Iran decided it was time to establish Islamic independence in the region by destroying the Jewish state. As many wars have over the ages, it started over religion, but soon escalated into a political debacle the likes of which the world had never seen.
Because of America’s connection with Israel, the U.S. military intervened on their behalf. At least we did our best. War had been brewing with Iran for years between the two nations, but with America’s war in Iraq wrapped up, America wasn’t prepared logistically for another major offensive in the region. Slowly and reluctantly, U.S. forces began trickling into Iraq once again in preparation for a ground assault into Iran.
But everything began to unravel when it was discovered that Iran had been funded and supervised by Russian militants the government claimed they knew nothing about. The Kremlin claimed it had been yet another splinter cell that remained from the dredges of what was left of old Soviet patriots. The public was still unsure of the truth, but the result was the ignition of yet another Cold War, worse than ever before, and the world had to sit back and watch while Russia reclaimed their lost empire, becoming an economic and military powerhouse once again.
By the time I was stuck in SERE, most of my fellow trainees and I had bitched about the fact that the world wasn’t quite crazy enough for us. No one thought Russia or Iran would become anywhere near the threat they would become, nor did anyone expect what was about to happen.
We would soon regret those words.
***
I pinched my nose again. The past was exactly that. I had to remember where I was and what I was doing. Nothing else mattered. I returned my attention to Reynolds.
“Very good,” he said before gesturing to the other man. “This is Father Vincent from the Vatican. He will be our guide to Rome and will grant you an audience with the Pope.”
I shook the priest’s hand. His face was shaped like a pear with a square jaw, strong features, and the weathered look of a man who had spent too much time in the sun, but not without a hint of handsomeness.
Combined with his age, I would describe him as “grizzled.”
“A pleasure to meet you, Father,” I greeted.
“And I you, young man. His Holiness will be most happy to meet you.”
“I’m looking forward to it. It’s not every day that you get the opportunity to meet the Pope, let alone work for him.”
Opening the driver’s side door, Father Vincent replied, “These are dark days, my son. Enjoy your opportunity while you can, but remember, there is work to do.”
“I understand, Father.”
With his ominous tone floating through my mind, I took a seat in the back of the car, closed my eyes, and couldn’t help but remember just how stupid we had been back in SERE.
***
Participating in Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape, SERE training completely cut you off from the world. As I got my ass handed to me by my captors, or should I say, my trainers, the world reached the point of no return and has yet to look back. When the Pope was targeted in 2017 by the same Iranian extremists involved in the massacre of Jerusalem, the entire world erupted in conflict.
Early one Sunday morning, as faithful Catholics gathered in St. Peter’s Square to hear Mass from the Pope, suicide bombers disguised as worshipers detonated charges strapped to their chests. Non-explosive in nature, these bombs emitted an invisible and odorless gas infecting everyone before they even knew what was happening.
It was hardly surprising that the Pope’s elite Swiss Guard managed to eliminate the targets and move him to safety, but despite their best efforts only a few worshipers in attendance made it inside. Perhaps by an act of God, the strong winds which usually swept through the region were unusually calm that day, containing the gas to the area around the Vatican, so few of Rome’s other inhabitants were infected.
The Vatican, equipped with state of the art technology cleverly concealed by its classic facade, was sealed off, and all those inside were safe.
Those outside were not.
The thought that the Vatican would be their next target had escaped every western intelligence agencies’ radar. Their rhetoric had never indicated such a move was on the table, but lacking long range missiles and the ability to penetrate America’s very competent domestic security agencies, attacking the Vatican had served as the most grievous of statements. The West, still heavily Christian, was on notice. Thousands of Catholics were murdered; a violent mass of decaying corpses littering St. Peter’s Square and a call to action was demanded.
While millions of Catholics mourned, the attack had another unexpected side effect that would unite all of Christendom in a way it had not seen since the days before Martin Luther. In an age where secularism was at the height of its popularity, and church attendance across faith based institutions at an all-time low, many wondered what kind of reaction, if any, would come about from the horrific attack
No one had any idea that almost overnight, sects of Christians ranging from Anglicans, Baptists, and Lutherans to Protestants of all sorts, were in complete support of their Catholic brothers and sisters. The situation did not progress as far as uniting all Christians under a single religion, but there were many converts, and the Pope began to influence the decisions of all Christians again, not just Catholics.
Compounding matters, Russia’s involvement was no longer in question, at least in the minds of the West as they watched it infringe on their eastern neighbors’ sovereignty, and as a result, Eastern Europe and the Balkans erupted into a battle zone between Russia and the European Union. After four years, places like Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Romania, and Macedonia were war zones. Their cities were devastated and destroyed, and consisted of trenches that never seemed to shift, only run deeper with blood.
Things only got worse in other parts of the world as well.
The conflict simmering for decades between Pakistan and India had finally boiled over. The populations of Muslims and Christians in both nations only fueled the fire, turning neighbors upon one another, in a multitude of bloody conflicts.
It became a trend the world over. Wars began popping up all over the place, neighbors finally finding the excuse needed to pick up arms against one another.
By the end of the decade, the Americas became yet another victim. North America’s southern border with Mexico became a war zone when Mexico was overrun by guerilla forces led by communists and warlords alike, who had been slowly building their armies for years, mostly thanks to Russian benefactors. Russia had succeeded where the Germans had failed during WWI, and had opened up a second front against The United States of America. Canadian and American forces were posted all along the expansive border, constantly engaged in skirmishes and pitched battles.