Standoff in the Ashes by Johnstone William W

Author:Johnstone, William W. [Johnstone, William W.]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: Open Road Media Sci-Fi & Fantasy
Published: 2014-04-01T04:00:00+00:00

THREE

By noon of the next day dozens of small towns all over the USA had been seized by various groups of men and women who were weary of being dictated to by the federal government. The federalized police, the mayors, and the town councils had been locked up. For a while, at least, the yoke of federal oppression had been cracked. Osterman sent in hundreds of federal agents, and by dark on the second day of the revolt about half the communities had been retaken by federal agents. A lot of blood had been spilled, on both sides of the political issue. In those communities that had been retaken by Osterman’s goons, retribution against the freedom fighters was swift and terrible, but in most areas it did not have the effect Osterman had hoped for. Instead of crushing the spirit of those who desired to be free of federal control over their lives, it served only to strengthen their resolve.

Small groups of men and women who heretofore had been standing on the sidelines suddenly elected to step forward and be heard, to arm themselves with whatever they could find and take an active part in the growing and increasingly violent revolt.

Madam President Claire Osterman suddenly found she had a lot more than Ben Raines to deal with: she had a building revolution in every state that made up the USA. She and her socialistic allies were now facing a very nasty guerrilla war.

“A guerrilla war cannot be contained in a nation this size,” some of the cooler thinking of Osterman’s advisors warned her. “Just a few determined individuals can wreak havoc.”

“Nonsense!” said those advisors who knew as much about warfare as they did the mating habits of the troglodyte. “We just catch the leaders of the revolt and execute them . . . publicly. That will take the steam right out of the movement and it will die. That’s all there is to it.”

The room erupted into a shouting match between the advisors . . . none of whom really knew what the hell they were talking about.

Those military leaders who were in attendance remained stoically silent. They knew the present administration hated the military (loathed was the word once used by the president). Not a single civilian present had ever served in any branch of the military. Guns frightened them.

Someone called for coffee and sandwiches to be sent in. It was going to be a very long afternoon.

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